CHAPTER XI ―

LA PUSH, BABY!

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐀 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃, and she didn't know how she'd gotten stuck giving up her Saturday morning sitting in the back of Tyler's van, chewing on a piece of strawberry licorice and reading To Kill A Mockingbird, but here she was, dressed as warm as she could with her big parka jacket, shivering occasionally when the wind from the ocean blew her way. Why had she agreed to this again?

La Push, Washington, was a small resort village, even if you could call it a village with how small it was, that sat on the edge of Forks. It was apparently tribal land and had amazing waves to surf on. Well, that's at least what Candice, Jessica, and Tyler preached to her as they pleaded with her to go this weekend.

At this moment, Nora hated Candice. If she'd only stuck up for herself and said no, she wouldn't be cold and hating her life. No, she'd be at home in her bed, eating the most unhealthy foods and watching tv. Simple. That's how Nora liked her life. Curse Candice's pleading.

"You should join us, Nora!" Candice called out from the beach, waving her hands. "C'mon, it's not that bad!" Nora chuckled to herself, waving her book in the air. "Lame!" Candice playfully called back, laughing with Tyler and Jessica as they all went back into the ocean.

It was only a short few moments later that Nora heard a familiar vehicle loud kickback and rattle of the engine, a door creaking open and slamming shut. "I didn't think you'd come," Nora smiled, looking at the small brunette walking towards her, dressed just as warm as herself. "I didn't think it was really your scene."

"Well, this beats staying at home with my dad," Bella mumbled. "All we'll do is watch reruns of old football teams and stuff." Nora chuckled, shuffling over to let Bella sit with her, holding out a cherry-flavored licorice wand that Bella took with a smile. "How do they do that?" Nora hummed, looking out to the water where her friends were.

"Hmm, I personally think they're insane," Nora joked. "I'd never go in the water when it's this cold." The two girls chuckled to themselves and idly chatted about random things.

"Bella? Is that you?" Before Nora could blink, Bella was out of the van and running towards the unfamiliar voice, her arms wrapping around him. Nora frowned, watching at the two interacted, chatting faster than Nora could comprehend. Plus, she really wasn't paying attention to them, but the guys next to him.

They were all tan, quite tall, too. Jet black hair that was more luscious than her own brown locks, or Candice gorgeous blonde ones. Sharp features and dark eyes. "Nora, c' mere!" It was Bella this time, ripping her from her thoughts.

Setting her book aside and grabbing another wand of licorice, Nora nervously made her way over. "This is Jacob, but you can call him Jake. Remember how I told you I grew up here?" Nora nodded. "Well, this is the Jake I told you about, the one I grew up with."

"I'm Nora." Jacob, or well, Jake smiled.

"I know," he chuckled, gesturing towards the taller brunette. "Bells won't stop talking about how helpful you've been, she's told me you're pretty much her only friend." Bella playfully shoved him. Nora's lips pulled a small grin at the sight. They were two best friends in love and didn't even know it. "This is Embry and Quil."

"Hey," Nora mumbled, shyly smiling. Embry and Quil grinned, widely.

"C'mon, Nora, let's leave these lovebirds." Embry, the taller one, grinned wolfishly and pulled Nora away from Bella and Jacob.

"I can still kick your ass, Call!" Jake called out, leaving a laughing Embry and Quil.

"You can dream, Black!"

...

The three walked down the beach, chatting together. "So, you're telling me that Jacob's been in love with Bella since they were kids and she's never realized it?" Embry and Quil nodded. "Wow, that's rough. I mean, I could tell and I've only known Jacob for the last five minutes. He looks at her like she's built his world."

"You think that's bad? She's been back, what-? All of a week now?" Embry looked at Quil, who nodded. "He'll debate about calling her. "Should I call her?" "What if I call her and hang up?" "What if she answers?" It literally never ends," Embry laughed.

Nora chuckled. Looking out towards the waves and her friends, who were now just dunking each other in the water, before her attention shifted back to Embry and Quil. "Do you know much about the Cullens?"

There was an instant shift in the air. The openness and ability to playfully chat was gone and replaced with stiffness. She watched as their jaws tensed and ticked. "What about them?" This time it was Quil.

Swallowing, Nora pushed back a lock of hair that fell into her face as the wind blew. "Uh, well, I don't know much and everyone in my school obsesses over them. I hear a few things about legends?"

Embry and Quil looked at each other before they looked back at Nora. "Well, there are lots of legends," Embry sighed. "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. 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?"

"Yes," it was Quil this time. "There are stories of the cold ones as old as the wolf legends, and some much more recent. According to legend, Jacob's great-grandfather knew some of them. He was the one who made the treaty that kept them off our land." He rolled his eyes.

"His great-grandfather?"

They both nodded. Embry sighed. "He was a tribal elder, like Jacob's 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."

"So, you're saying that the werewolves enemies are these cold ones?" They both nodded at Nora's question.

"So you see," Embry continued, "the cold ones are traditionally our enemies. But this pack that came to our territory during Jacob's 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 his 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." Embry winked at her.

Nora frowned. "If they weren't dangerous, then why?"

"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." It was Quil this time, deliberately working 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."

Nora swallowed. "So how does it fit in with the Cullens? Are they like the cold ones that Jacob's great-grandfather met?"

"No." Embry paused dramatically. "They're the same ones."

...

It was later that night, when Nora returned home, that she continued to think about the conversation with Embry and Quil. It seemed to be the only thing that had been able to move her out of her stupor. How could they be the same exact people that Jacob's great grandfather met? It wasn't humanly possible... unless the legends were true and they were what Nora suspected... vampires.

It wasn't physically possible, it couldn't be. Edward Cullen and the rest of his family were just unbelievably beautiful humans, right? It didn't make any sense. How was it possible? Vampires were just folklore, just like witches, werewolves, and elves. This wasn't some kind of fairytale or tv show, this was real life.

Grabbing her laptop from her desk, Nora sat crossed-legged in bed and powered her laptop on, quickly opening her browser. Her father was nice enough to pay for a decent modem that loaded the pages fairly quickly. Thank God for dads, she thought to herself. Looking down at the keyboard, her fingers began to type before she even thought of what she was going to type: vampire.

It was a simple word, but enough to load up pages and pages of theories, questions, answers... if only Nora had known exactly what she was getting herself into the moment she typed that word in, she would want to turn time back.

...