Steamin' at the Seams

I've been running for at least ten minutes now. I've moved past the stage where the muscles in my legs were screaming in protest – I'm not much of a runner – and now I'm almost completely numb.

Something white flashes out of the trees ahead of me, and I slam into something rock-hard and very solid. The impact throws me backwards, and I land on my ass on the wet ground. I look up at whatever I smashed into.

There's a very tall person standing in front of me. His skin is pure white, and his body is covered in muscle. He's wearing a tattered black t-shirt and cut-offs, with no shoes. He's got dark circles under his eyes, like he hasn't been sleeping well, and his irises are dark, with a hint of ruby around the edges.

Something in me tells me that I should be afraid of this man. I stand up slowly, and his eyes follow my every move. I take a step backwards, and he smiles slightly.

"Are you OK?"

I nod. He looks like he could be one of the Cullens. I know who they are now, I've seen a few of them around town. Yes, he looks like one of them…only more feral. More dangerous. And his eyes are wrong.

"Bruised at all?" He takes a small step towards me.

I take another step back, shaking my head.

"Are you afraid of me?" He asks softly. His smile grows into a smirk.

I shrug. "Should I be?"

Another step towards me. Another step back. "Yes."

I see something huge move out of the corner of my eye, and the man before me sees it too. His eyes widen, and I glance to see what it could have been.

A huge black wolf is walking through the trees towards us. Another wolf, smaller and gray, comes too, a few yards apart from the black one. I hear more movements around us, and see that there are giant wolves coming out of the trees every couple of yards. I do a quick count in my head and come up with seven wolves. Holy shit. I'm going to die.

I look back at the man in front of me and see that he has taken a few steps back. He's looking at the wolves in disbelief, and…fear? He turns and runs away into the trees.

The wolves take off after him. One of them, a huge wolf with shaggy, russet colored fur, stops momentarily as it passes me. It looks at me with huge, familiar brown eyes, and then runs off after the rest of the pack.

Some scared noise erupts from my throat, and my knees give out. I sink to the ground. Those wolves were the size of horses. I never imagined that monsters like that would live in the quiet woods around Forks and La Push.

Realization of what I just saw sinks in, and I scramble up, my heart pumping ten times faster than normal. I sprint back in the direction from which I came, the only thought in my mind being that I have to get away from here before the huge, mutant – for I suppose they must be mutated in some way to have gotten so big – wolves come back.

Running faster than before, I make it back to Emily's house in less than ten minutes. She's sitting out on her porch with a worried look on her face. She stands up when I run out from the trees.

"Lacey?"

I come to a stop when I reach her, and bend over, leaning my hands on my knees. After a few minutes, when I've caught my breath, I stand up, my eyes wide.

"There are huge wolves in the woods!"

Her expression changes, laden with anxiety. "What happened?"

"There was this guy, he looked like he could have been one of the Cullens, but different, and he was talking to me in the woods, and then all these wolves show up!" I say, waving my arms around.

"Did he try to attack any of them?" Emily asks anxiously.

"No, he ran away, why would he have attacked them?" I ask.

Emily shakes her head. "I don't know, stupid question."  insert # 2

"What happened next?"

"He turned and ran away. The wolves ran after him," I say.

"Did any of them come back?" Emily asks.

I shrug. "I don't know, I bolted after they were gone. Scared the shit out of me!" I pace back and forth in front of the porch.

"Come on, sit down, you need to calm down," Emily says. She puts her hands on my shoulders and pushes me down onto the front step.

I sit obediently and start picking at my peeling blue nailpolish.

Something is nagging at my thoughts. The big russet wolf, with the dark, staring eeys. Those eyes looked so familiar.

An image pops unbidden into my mind. Jacob's face. Jacob's eyes. The wolf had Jacob's eyes.

I suddenly remember the story Jacob told me at the bonfire, weeks ago. That the Quileutes were descended from wolves. That they could turn into wolves. That they had one enemy. Vampires.

Vampires. That the Cullens were vampires. That creep in the woods, with such an uncanny resemblance to the Cullens…

OK, let's make this a hypothetical situation. Let's say, hypothetically, I ran into a vampire in the woods. And, hypothetically, it was going to eat me. Or…would it be drink me? Oh, well, either way, he was, hypothetically, going to kill me. Then, hypothetically, my Quileute friends showed up in 'wolf form', and chase away the 'vampire'. End of hypothetical situation.

Abruptly, I turn to Emily. "The story Jacob told me at the bonfire? The one about the werewolves and vampires?"

"Yes?" She says warily. I can tell I've hit some soft spot.

"Tell me about the wolves!" I demand. "Those huge wolves in the woods, they're not normal. It seems like it must be connected with the legends somehow."

"Lacey…" Emily starts, shaking her head slowly.

"No, Emily!" I say, shaking my head angrily. "I'm not as naïve as you all must think I am. I know that something is going on around here, something you are all trying to keep hidden. But it's too late, I know something's up. With these giant wolves in the forest, and that guy who looked like the Cullens, things around here aren't normal. The story you guys told me, it's the only explanation in my mind. It's the only story that fits!"

"You're right."

Emily and I both snap to attention, turning to look at Sam, who just appeared out of the woods.

My eyes widen. "What?"

"You're right," Sam repeats. His eyes are sad, and his face is showing conflicting emotions. Guilt and…determination, I think. "You guessed right. We are wolves, can turn into wolves anyway. Jacob was supposed to tell you."

You know, this news should shock me. Frighten me. I should be asking if I've been punk'd. But I only get more angry. "What do you mean, Jacob should have told me?"

Sam sighs. "I can't tell you why it should have been him, but it was his responsibility to let you in on this. You're a part of this now."

"You can't tell anyone," Emily says quickly.

I nod. "I won't." I feel so…out of it. Like I’m dreaming. Only I know I’m not. I don't know why I'm taking this so rationally. I don't know why I'm taking this at all. But something deep in me, close to my core, knows that this is right. That Sam isn't lying. That the stories really are true.

"Hey, wait a minute," I say, realizing that the other part of the story is probably true, too. "So, that guy, that freak in the woods, that was a vampire?"

Sam grins a little at my incredulous tone. "Yes."

"Was he going to kill me?" I ask.

He nods seriously. I shudder a little. "Creepy. So the Cullens are really vamps, too?"

He nods again. "Yeah, and we actually have to call them and tell them what happened…the others should be back soon."

Just as he finishes speaking, Quil and Embry walk out of the woods.

Quil grins. "So, Lacey, now you know."

I grin weakly. "Now I know."

"Sound the trumpets, Lacey knows the secret," Jacob grumbles, following Quil and Embry out of the woods.

My anger immediately flares up again. “It’s your fault I didn’t know before!”

“Well maybe I didn’t want you to know,” He shoots back.

“Why not?” I ask heatedly.

“None of your business!” He yells.

We continue glaring at each other for a few moments while our friends stare at us silently. I tear my gaze away, turning to Emily and Sam.

“I’m gonna go. Will is at Leah and Seth’s, I’ll walk over and get him to drive me home.”

Emily nods, and Sam says “Do you want Quil or Embry to go with you?”

I shake my head, my narrowed eyes flashing. “No, that’s OK. I’ll be fine by myself.”