Fighting Fate

She woke up confused for the second time that week. She was in an unfamiliar house, but there was a familiar head of black hair on the bed next to her.

"Seth," she whispered, shaking the boy. "Seth, wake up."

"Wuzgoinon," he mumbled, lifting his head. He looked like shit. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked like he hadn't showered or changed in a couple of days. "Hunter!" He grabbed the girl in a bonecrushing hug. "You're finally awake!"

"How long have I been out?" the girl asked, shoving him off.

"About a week now. You've woken up sporadically, but you've always gone back to sleep. This whole thing with Jake is wearing you out," Seth answered. Hunter noticed how he avoided saying the truth- the thing with Jacob wasn't just wearing her out, it was killing her. "He came by, while you were sleeping. Carlisle wouldn't let him in here alone though. So I had to listen to him tell you things I'm not going to repeat, because that's for him to tell you and-"

"Seth, breathe!" Hunter interrupted him, grabbing his hand. "You can catch me up later. Where's Carlisle?" At the mention of his name, the tall, pale doctor stepped into the room. Though this wasn't her first time seeing him, he still blew her away. Not by his looks, but the compassion in his golden eyes. It never ceased to amaze her that someone in his situation could be so pure.

"What do you need, Hunter?" he asked.

"Can I go home?" she answered his question with a question, sitting up with a little difficulty.

"That's really not advisable at the present time, Hunter," Carlisle responded, frowning. "You're still healing, both physically and emotionally. The cuts on your face are healing quite nicely-"

"What cuts on my face?" she asked, noticing, for the first time, that her vision was a little off. "What's going on?"

"What do you remember?" Carlisle inquired, pulling up a chair.

"Emmett, asking him to kill me..." Hunter admitted, her face flushing in embarrassment. "He called me his singer. Then Jacob was there... I don't remember..."

"Jacob attacked Emmett. You were in the way..." Carlisle went over to a desk and ruffled through it, pulling out a mirror. He handed it to Hunter.

Her face terrified her. Three diagonal slashes started just over her right eyebrow, ending on the other side of her face, down near her chin. Her eye was swollen shut, bruised and purple. She'd met the fate she'd tried to avoid- she was like Emily now, scarred by the one who was destined to love her forever. She was ashamed to feel a tear streak down her face. She'd never thought of herself as beautiful, but she had liked her looks. Now her face was permanently disfigured.

"At least let me go find Jacob and murder him," she whispered, raising her hand to touch her face. She winced as she brushed against the series of stitches. "Then I'll come back."

"Sam already attempted that," Seth piped up. "That's why Jake came here, so Sam couldn't chase him. He's been at Bella's since then." Hunter felt fury rise in her stomach at the mention of Bella's name. "Hey, chill, hothead. Did you notice you're not coughing anymore?"

"Yeah, I did," she muttered. "I just thought somebody slipped me medicine, though."

"He accepted the imprint," Seth explained. "He only accepted you as a friend. But it counts, though, so you're not gonna die."

"Lucky me," Hunter grumbled, flopping back onto the pillows, tossing the mirror across the room. She winced as it broke. "Fuck, that probably means even more bad shit is going to happen to me 'cause of Jacob." Muttering obscene words under her breath, she went back to sleep.