broad lips. I could see he was going to try to make this good. I focused
on keeping the vital interest I felt out of my eyes.
"Do you know any of our old stories, about where we came from — the
Quileutes, I mean?" he began.
"Not really," I admitted.
"Well, there are lots of legends, some of them claiming to date back to
the Flood — supposedly, the ancient Quileutes tied their canoes to the
tops of the tallest trees on the mountain to survive like Noah and the
ark." He smiled, to show me how little stock he put in the histories.
"Another legend claims that we descended from wolves — and that the
wolves are our brothers still. It's against tribal law to kill them.
"Then there are the stories about the cold ones." His voice dropped a
little lower.
"The cold ones?" I asked, not faking my intrigue now.
"Yes. There are stories of the cold ones as old as the wolf legends, and
some much more recent. According to legend, my own great-grandfather knew
some of them. He was the one who made the treaty that kept them off our
land." He rolled his eyes.
"Your great-grandfather?" I encouraged.
"He was a tribal elder, like my father. You see, the cold ones are the
natural enemies of the wolf—well, not the wolf, really, but the wolves
that turn into men, like our ancestors. You would call them werewolves."
"Werewolves have enemies?"
"Only one."
I stared at him earnestly, hoping to disguise my impatience as admiration.
"So you see," Jacob continued, "the cold ones are traditionally our
enemies. But this pack that came to our territory during my
great-grandfather's time was different. They didn't hunt the way others
of their kind did — they weren't supposed to be dangerous to the tribe.
So my great-grandfather made a truce with them. If they would promise to
stay off our lands, we wouldn't expose them to the pale-faces." He winked
at me.
"If they weren't dangerous, then why… ?" I tried to understand,
struggling not to let him see how seriously I was considering his ghost
story.
"There's always a risk for humans to be around the cold ones, even if
they're civilized like this clan was. You never know when they might get
too hungry to resist." He deliberately worked a thick edge of menace into
his tone.
"What do you mean, 'civilized'?"
"They claimed that they didn't hunt humans. They supposedly were somehow
able to prey on animals instead."
I tried to keep my voice casual. "So how does it fit in with the Cullens?
Are they like the cold ones your greatgrandfather met?"
"No." He paused dramatically. "They are the same ones."
He must have thought the expression on my face was fear inspired by his
story. He smiled, pleased, and continued.
"There are more of them now, a new female and a new male, but the rest
are the same. In my great-grandfather's time they already knew of the
leader, Carlisle. He'd been here and gone before your people had even
arrived." He was fighting a smile.
"And what are they?" I finally asked. "What are the cold ones?"
He smiled darkly.
"Blood drinkers," he replied in a chilling voice. "Your people call them
vampires."
I stared out at the rough surf after he answered, not sure what my face
was exposing.
"You have goose bumps," he laughed delightedly.
"You're a good storyteller," I complimented him, still staring into the
waves.
"Pretty crazy stuff, though, isn't it? No wonder my dad doesn't want us
to talk about it to anyone."
I couldn't control my expression enough to look at him yet. "Don't worry,
I won't give you away."
"I guess I just violated the treaty," he laughed.
"I'll take it to the grave," I promised, and then I shivered.
"Seriously, though, don't say anything to Charlie. He was pretty mad at
my dad when he heard that some of us weren't going to the hospital since
Dr. Cullen started working there."
"I won't, of course not."
"So do you think we're a bunch of superstitious natives or what?" he
asked in a playful tone, but with a hint of worry. I still hadn't looked
away from the ocean.
I turned and smiled at him as normally as I could.
"No. I think you're very good at telling scary stories, though. I still
have goose bumps, see?" I held up my arm.
"Cool." He smiled.
And then the sound of the beach rocks clattering against each other
warned us that someone was approaching. Our heads snapped up at the same
time to see Mike and Jessica about fifty yards away, walking toward us.
"There you are, Bella," Mike called in relief, waving his arm over his
head.
"Is that your boyfriend?" Jacob asked, alerted by the jealous edge in
Mike's voice. I was surprised it was so obvious.
"No, definitely not," I whispered. I was tremendously grateful to Jacob,
and eager to make him as happy as possible. I winked at him, carefully
turning away from Mike to do so. He smiled, elated by my inept flirting.
"So when I get my license…" he began.
"You should come see me in Forks. We could hang out sometime." I felt
guilty as I said this, knowing that I'd used him. But I really did like
Jacob. He was someone I could easily be friends with.
Mike had reached us now, with Jessica still a few paces back. I could see
his eyes appraising Jacob, and looking satisfied at his obvious youth.
"Where have you been?" he asked, though the answer was right in front of
him.
"Jacob was just telling me some local stories," I volunteered. "It was
really interesting."
I smiled at Jacob warmly, and he grinned back.
"Well," Mike paused, carefully reassessing the situation as he watched
our camaraderie. "We're packing up — it looks like it's going to rain
soon."
We all looked up at the glowering sky. It certainly did look like rain.
"Okay." I jumped up. "I'm coming."
"It was nice to see you again," Jacob said, and I could tell he was
taunting Mike just a bit.
"It really was. Next time Charlie comes down to see Billy, I'll come,
too," I promised.
His grin stretched across his face. "That would be cool."
"And thanks," I added earnestly.
I pulled up my hood as we tramped across the rocks toward the parking
lot. A few drops were beginning to fall, making black spots on the stones
where they landed. When we got to the Suburban the others were already
loading everything back in. I crawled into the backseat by Angela and
Tyler, announcing that I'd already had my turn in the shotgun position.
Angela just stared out the window at the escalating storm, and Lauren
twisted around in the middle seat to occupy Tyler's attention, so I could
simply lay my head back on the seat and close my eyes and try very hard
not to think.
===========================================================================
7. NIGHTMARE
I told Charlie I had a lot of homework to do, and that I didn't want
anything to eat. There was a basketball game on that he was excited
about, though of course I had no idea what was special about it, so he
wasn't aware of anything unusual in my face or tone.
Once in my room, I locked the door. I dug through my desk until I found
my old headphones, and I plugged them into my little CD player. I picked
up a CD that Phil had given to me for Christmas. It was one of his
favorite bands, but they used a little too much bass and shrieking for my
tastes. I popped it into place and lay down on my bed. I put on the
headphones, hit Play, and turned up the volume until it hurt my ears. I
closed my eyes, but the light still intruded, so I added a pillow over
the top half of my face.
I concentrated very carefully on the music, trying to understand the
lyrics, to unravel the complicated drum patterns. By the third time I'd
listened through the CD, I knew all the words to the choruses, at least.
I was surprised to find that I really did like the band after all, once I
got past the blaring noise. I'd have to thank Phil again.
And it worked. The shattering beats made it impossible for me to think —
which was the whole purpose of the exercise. I listened to the CD again
and again, until I was singing along with all the songs, until, finally,
I fell asleep.
I opened my eyes to a familiar place. Aware in some corner of my
consciousness that I was dreaming, I recognized the green light of the
forest. I could hear the waves crashing against the rocks somewhere
nearby. And I knew that if I found the ocean, I'd be able to see the sun.
I was trying to follow the sound, but then Jacob Black was there, tugging
on my hand, pulling me back toward the blackest part of the forest.
"Jacob? What's wrong?" I asked. His face was frightened as he yanked with
all his strength against my resistance; I didn't want to go into the dark.
"Run, Bella, you have to run!" he whispered, terrified.
"This way, Bella!" I recognized Mike's voice calling out of the gloomy
heart of the trees, but I couldn't see him.
"Why?" I asked, still pulling against Jacob's grasp, desperate now to
find the sun.
But Jacob let go of my hand and yelped, suddenly shaking, falling to the
dim forest floor. He twitched on the ground as I watched in horror.
"Jacob!" I screamed. But he was gone. In his place was a large red-brown
wolf with black eyes. The wolf faced away from me, pointing toward the
shore, the hair on the back of his shoulders bristling, low growls
issuing from between his exposed fangs.
"Bella, run!" Mike cried out again from behind me. But I didn't turn. I
was watching a light coming toward me from the beach.
And then Edward stepped out from the trees, his skin faintly glowing, his
eyes black and dangerous. He held up one hand and beckoned me to come to
him. The wolf growled at my feet.
I took a step forward, toward Edward. He smiled then, and his teeth were
sharp, pointed.
"Trust me," he purred.
I took another step.
The wolf launched himself across the space between me and the vampire,
fangs aiming for the jugular.
"No!" I screamed, wrenching upright out of my bed.
My sudden movement caused the headphones to pull the CD player off the
bedside table, and it clattered to the wooden floor.
My light was still on, and I was sitting fully dressed on the bed, with
my shoes on. I glanced, disoriented, at the clock on my dresser. It was
five-thirty in the morning.
I groaned, fell back, and rolled over onto my face, kicking off my boots.
I was too uncomfortable to get anywhere near sleep, though. I rolled back
over and unbuttoned my jeans, yanking them off awkwardly as I tried to
stay horizontal. I could feel the braid in my hair, an uncomfortable
ridge along the back of my skull. I turned onto my side and ripped the
rubber band out, quickly combing through the plaits with my fingers. I
pulled the pillow back over my eyes.
It was all no use, of course. My subconscious had dredged up exactly the
images I'd been trying so desperately to avoid. I was going to have to
face them now.
I sat up, and my head spun for a minute as the blood flowed downward.
First things first, I thought to myself, happy to put it off as long as
possible. I grabbed my bathroom bag.
The shower didn't last nearly as long as I hoped it would, though. Even
taking the time to blow-dry my hair, I was soon out of things to do in
the bathroom. Wrapped in a towel, I crossed back to my room. I couldn't
tell if Charlie was still asleep, or if he had already left. I went to
look out my window, and the cruiser was gone. Fishing again.
I dressed slowly in my most comfy sweats and then made my bed — something
I never did. I couldn't put it off any longer. I went to my desk and
switched on my old computer.
I hated using the Internet here. My modem was sadly outdated, my free
service substandard; just dialing up took so long that I decided to go
get myself a bowl of cereal while I waited.
I ate slowly, chewing each bite with care. When I was done, I washed the
bowl and spoon, dried them, and put them away. My feet dragged as I
climbed the stairs. I went to my CD player first, picking it up off the
floor and placing it precisely in the center of the table. I pulled out
the headphones, and put them away in the desk drawer. Then I turned the
same CD on, turning it down to the point where it was background noise.
With another sigh, I turned to my computer. Naturally, the screen was
covered in pop-up ads. I sat in my hard folding chair and began closing
all the little windows. Eventually I made it to my favorite search
engine. I shot down a few more pop-ups and then typed in one word.
Vampire.
It took an infuriatingly long time, of course. When the results came up,
there was a lot to sift through — everything from movies and TV shows to
role-playing games, underground metal, and gothic cosmetic companies.
Then I found a promising site — Vampires A—Z. I waited impatiently for it
to load, quickly clicking closed each ad that flashed across the screen.
Finally the screen was finished — simple white background with black
text, academic-looking. Two quotes greeted me on the home page:
Throughout the vast shadowy world of ghosts and demons there is no figure
so terrible, no figure so dreaded and abhorred, yet dight with such
fearful fascination, as the vampire, who is himself neither ghost nor
