But, according to Jacob, Laurent was gone. Was that really possible? Edward - I clutched automatically at my chest - had told me how difficult it was to kill a vampire. Only another vampire could do the job. Yet Jake said this was what werewolves were made for...
He said they were keeping a special eye on Charlie - that I should trust the werewolves to keep my father safe. How could I trust that? None of us were safe! Jacob the very least of all, if he was trying to put himself between Victoria and Charlie... between Victoria and me.
I felt like I might be about to throw up again.
A sharp rap on the truck's window made me yelp in terror - but it was just Jacob, back already. I unlocked the door with trembling, grateful fingers.
"You're really scared, aren't you?" he asked as he climbed in.
I nodded.
"Don't be. We'll take care of you - and Charlie, too. I promise."
"The idea of you finding Victoria is scarier than the idea of her finding me," I whispered.
He laughed. "You've got to have a little more confidence in us than that. It's insulting."
I just shook my head. I'd seen too many vampires in action.
"Where did you go just now?" I asked.
He pursed his lips, and said nothing.
"What? Is it a secret?"
He frowned. "Not really. It's kind of weird, though. I don't want to freak you out."
"I'm sort of used to weird by this point, you know." I tried to smile without much success.
Jacob grinned back easily. "Guess you'd have to be. Okay. See, when we're wolves, we can... hear each other."
My eyebrows pulled down in confusion.
"Not hear sounds," he went on, "but we can hear... thoughts - each other's anyway - no matter how far away from each other we are. It really helps when we hunt, but it's a big pain otherwise. It's embarrassing - having no secrets like that. Freaky, eh?"
"Is that what you meant last night, when you said you would tell them you'd seen me, even though you didn't want to?"
"You're quick."
"Thanks."
"You're also very good with weird. I thought that would bother you."
"It's not... well, you're not the first person I've known who could do that. So it doesn't seem so weird to me."
"Really?... Wait - are you talking about your bloodsuckers?"
"I wish you wouldn't call them that."
He laughed. "Whatever. The Cullens, then?"
"Just... just Edward." I pulled one arm surreptitiously around my torso.
Jacob looked surprised - unpleasantly so. "I thought those were just stories. I've heard legends about vampires who could do... extra stuff, but I thought that was just a myth."
"Is anything just a myth anymore?" I asked him wryly.
He scowled. "Guess not. Okay, we're going to meet Sam and the others at the place we go to ride our bikes."
I started the truck and headed back up the road.
"So did you just turn into a wolf now, to talk to Sam?" I asked, curious.
Jacob nodded, seeming embarrassed. "I kept it real short - I tried not to think about you so they wouldn't know what was going on. I was afraid Sam would tell me I couldn't bring you."
"That wouldn't have stopped me." I couldn't get rid of my perception of Sam as the bad guy. My teeth clenched together whenever I heard his name.
"Well, it would have stopped me," Jacob said, morose now. "Remember how I couldn't finish my sentences last night? How I couldn't just tell you the whole story?"
"Yeah. You looked like you were choking on something."
He chuckled darkly. "Close enough. Sam told me I couldn't tell you. He's... the head of the pack, you know. He's the Alpha. When he tells us to do something, or not to do something - when he really means it, well, we can't just ignore him."
"Weird," I muttered.
"Very," he agreed. "It's kind of a wolf thing."
"Huh" was the best response I could think of.
"Yeah, there's a load of stuff like that - wolf things. I'm still learning. I can't imagine what it was like for Sam, trying to deal with this alone. It sucks bad enough to go through it with a whole pack for support."
"Sam was alone?"
"Yeah." Jacob's voice lowered. "When I... changed, it was the most... horrible, the most terrifying thing I've ever been through - worse than anything I could have imagined. But I wasn't alone - there were the voices there, in my head, telling me what had happened and what I had to do. That kept me from losing my mind, I think. But Sam..." He shook his head. "Sam had no help."
This was going to take some adjusting. When Jacob explained it like that, it was hard not to feel compassion for Sam. I had to keep reminding myself that there was no reason to hate him anymore.
"Will they be angry that I'm with you?" I asked.
He made a face. "Probably."
"Maybe I shouldn't - "
"No, it's okay," he assured me. "You know a ton of things that can help us. It's not like you're just some ignorant human. You're like a... I don't know, spy or something. You've been behind enemy lines."
I frowned to myself. Was that what Jacob would want from me? Insider information to help them destroy their enemies? I wasn't a spy, though. I hadn't been collecting that kind of information. Already, his words made me feel like a traitor.
But I wanted him to stop Victoria, didn't I?
No.
I did want Victoria to be stopped, preferably before she tortured me to death or ran into Charlie or killed another stranger. I just didn't want Jacob to be the one to stop her, or rather to try. I didn't want Jacob within a hundred miles of her.