Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Claws

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 06:

“This could be disastrous.” Rose complained to the head of the family. “She knows what we are. She has been bitten and scratched by vampires and wanted us to see. She looked right at us after taking off her jacket! The girl was playing with us! What possible reason could she have to be here besides us?”

“Perhaps to live with her father and go to school?” Carlisle suggested. He had not been certain what problem could be so great that he would be called away from the hospital for a family meeting. The man did have to agree on some level with Rose.

Though Carlisle was doing his best to appear calm, he knew Rose may have had a legitimate concern. From everything he had heard about the day, this Bella Swan had been playing with his children. They had been home three hours now from school though and in that three hours Jasper had given a bit of good news at least, calming the four vampire teens in the living room.

“Charlie Swan is her father and her mother has recently moved to Florida.” Carlisle reminded them of what Jasper had found. “Perhaps she was bitten by a vampire before and survived somehow. You say the other scars were definitely vampire scars Jasper?”

“Yeah. I checked her background and it was perfect.” Jasper told him. “Almost too perfect. You would think if she was attacked by a vampire, bitten and her arms marked there would be some sort of medical record of treatment. Even if the venom had somehow been sucked out of the wound, those other scars are definitely vampire and would have bled quite a bit. Straight, long, pale, almost as if someone drew them on her skin instead of being cut. Fingernails. Vampires cut the hell out of her and I am guessing if you did an examination on her, those aren’t the only scars on her body.”

“I may not be able to read her mind but she sat next to me and there was no trace of fear.” Edward added. “She seemed relaxed, maybe even a bit bored but absolutely no fear. If she had been attacked by a vampire and knew what we were, she should have been terrified. Her heart didn’t race, she didn’t sweat.”

“Exactly.” Jasper agreed. “Every human heart either from desire or fear beats faster around us Edward.”

Emmett wasn’t surprised as the rest and actually laughed.

“Of course she isn’t scared. Why would she be scared? She isn’t human and obviously has tech. What about those tiny speakers we found? All the heartbeats we were surrounded by? I swear I heard a cougar in a tree above us and then the whole area was drowned in heartbeats. She is probably some half cougar half human hybrid who doesn’t think she needs to be afraid of us.”

“Because she has fought vampires before and won.” Edward concluded.

“She also kind of smells like a cat.” Alice pointed out. “But not a house cat. Wilder, like a cougar but… different, maybe a lion. She smelt human too though. She must be a shifter.”

Jasper shook his head. Whatever Bella Swan was, he knew she was no ordinary shifter “The shifters I have run into are killed by vampire venom and humans are changed. I smelt venom in her blood. She has vampire venom in her… maybe. She is also immune to all our gifts. I couldn’t feel the emotions of the new gym teacher or the history teacher either. I checked the history teacher when he gave some idiotic curriculum to see if he was serious. Nothing. I checked the gym teacher when he not only didn’t ask us why we were sitting out but didn’t ask Bella Swan. I would guess if Bella showered with the other girls, they may have more to freak out about than just scars on her arms and her sexual preference. Whatever she is, those two know it.”

“She isn’t a pure shifter regardless.” Edward agreed. “The last time we lived in Forks and ran into the Quileute tribe, they smelt like wet dogs, even in human form. Bella didn’t smell… I don’t know. I’ve never encountered that scent before.”

Esme stood up from the arm chair, deciding to put an end to this. “It doesn’t matter. ” She told the assembled Cullens.

The others were a bit surprised by this but let her speak.

“What would you all suggest we do?” she asked. “Attack the Chief of Police’s daughter because she might be different like us? She hasn’t threatened us. If she was truly watching Emmett hunt and had these devices in the tree to confuse his hearing she could have attacked, hidden that she was different at school. The girl had the perfect cover to get close and harm us. She did none of these things. Maybe what she is just isn’t our business. Perhaps showing you all the scars was just her way of warning us all off. Let it go, all of you. If she seems threatening in the future we can reevaluate. If she is that interested in us, she will approach one of you.”

No one said anything, not wanting to disagree with her in front of everyone else. Jasper couldn’t let it go and neither could Rose. Rose felt she was a threat and Jasper finally had a puzzle to solve.

Was she a danger? Jasper didn’t believe so. Was she dangerous? He had no doubt.

“Have any of you even asked to speak to her privately and just asked her what she is?” Esme continued. “You wanted to compare scars, ask her over to get to know you. Of course she isn’t going to come here when the first thing she is asked by one of us is to compare scars.”

Esme gave a pointed look towards Jasper who admitted to himself it probably wasn’t the best introduction.

Once Carlisle and Esme left the room. the remaining Cullens all looked at Edward. The boy rolled his eyes. They hated when he read their minds but wanted him to say what everyone else was thinking.

“Yes, Esme is going to watch Bella.” he told them, not bothering to wait for the question. “Esme thinks she may just want friends.”

“Friends?” Alice perked up.

Edward shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe she is right. I think we have all learned today that there are things we don’t understand and haven’t seen before. If she were a threat, she could have stayed low and waited for an opportunity to attack. She likely recognizes we aren’t a threat and therefore she is not a threat to us. We should probably just leave her alone… so I suppose you will all be watching her?”

“Yep.” Rose confirmed. “We can take shifts. There are five of us and we only have to cover 16 hours after school.”

Edward laughed and stood up to walk to his room. “There are four of you. You can’t seriously believe she won’t guess we are watching her? I’m sure that won’t antagonize her at all. Have fun everyone.”

Edward walked away leaving the two mated pairs alone.

“So who is first?” Rose asked. No one said anything. The blonde growled and ran towards Bella Swans residence.

Rose would have a wait on her hands because Bella was actually at her part time job, in a Blackhawk chopper being piloted by Dante. The sun was falling and they were twenty minutes away from the site of the body found less than 24 hours ago.

“Okay gang, easy one to start with.” Bella briefed her new team. “It is 56 agrees outside and a Sasquatch has a body temp that runs at 110. It has a heightened sense of smell but sight and hearing are normal. It kills humans it deems threats and kills wildlife for food. It is not necessarily a predator but left unchecked it will strike again. It will be easy for me to track. It stays on the ground and likes to find underground areas to hide in. If it is dug in, we will have to draw it out. Tear gas usually works. Enough bullets of the type you are using will kill him eventually but your best bet is fire. Actually your best bet is me. My body temp is 104. Track us using infrared and my GPS. I will identify a location to herd him into then we will all attack. This thing is incredibly strong. It prefers to tear body parts off its victims.”

“Like a Wookie, huh?” Ty asked.

Bella looked confused and raised an eyebrow.

“You know, a Wookie?”

“I’m not familiar with that species.” she told him.

“You’ve never seen… of course you haven’t.” the man realized and added those movies for their next marathon.

Bella took the knife from her side and tossed it to Connolly.

“It will cut through anything. Make sure it gets back to me. Its one of a kind.”

Dante looked back at the assembled team. “Coming up to site in five minutes. There is a very small clearing a half mile away and a larger one 1500 yards past that.”

“Take the farther landing spot.” Bella told him. “It moved, it could be miles away or still in the area hiding. I’ll track it and we can move accordingly. If I can’t get a scent we can search with infrared.”

“A quick word about your classmates, Bella?” Connolly asked.

Bella shook her head. “Later. They aren’t a threat so they don’t matter.”

“You sure?” the man asked.

“I watched them for a minute after school. One of them drives a Volvo.”

Connolly thought of this for a moment and had to agree. Worrying about them would be a waste of their time.

“Time for me to take my leave. I’ll have my com in.”

Ty stopped Bella with a hand on her shoulder. She turned and the man noted her eyes had already turned yellow.

“You remember your code phrases, right?”

Bella nodded. She and Ty had spent an hour going over these the weekend before.

“If I see something confusing, I say what the fuck. If I am slightly injured, I say fuck that hurt. If I am angry, fuck you and if I am very angry fuck you bitch. If I am seriously injured, I can say either fuck me that hurt or fuck this shit, I’m out.”

The man smiled and fought the urge to hug her. “I wish I could adopt you.” he whispered. “Now go kick that fucker’s ass. We will be right behind you.”

Bella looked out the open chopper door, two hundred feet above the darkening forest alone. The body had been removed by the police but the scent of the monster would still be there.

She dove out the chopper, heading straight down, arms in front until she reached the first limb and latched on, swinging her body through branches at high speed, landing on the ground seconds later.

Her superior night vision began scanning the area. Weapons would be a preferable method of weakening the creature until she could claw its heart out or bite through the incredibly tough hide and rip the throat out.

Bella saw the tracks that could be easily misinterpreted as a bear, albeit one that walked on two legs constantly. The paw was not as massive as she thought it would be. It also didn’t exactly match any track she had seen of these creatures.

Bella took to the trees again, staying low to the ground but continuing to follow the scent trail. The stronger the scent, the more off it was.

Landing on the ground, she sniffed around and took in the steady tracks until they disappeared.

“What the fuck?” the girl asked, alerting her team that something was off.

“What’s wrong Bella?” Connolly asked.

“Do not split up, stay together and watch… Oh fuck.”

Bella jumped back into the trees and spied the broken smaller branches and the hair that had been left on bark as the creature passed.

“Retreat and watch the trees on the way out!” she told her team. “Stay together and if you see anything move, open fire and run faster. Get back to the chopper!”

“What is going on?” Connolly asked, not willing to retreat unless she had a good reason besides wanting the kill to herself. Judging by her voice she did because for the first time he had known her Bella sounded nervous.

“It’s not a Sasquatch. It took to the trees. It’s probably a Wendigo. I’ve never encountered one but I know they are expert hunters, thin, strong and fast. They like to attack from above and carry their prey into trees. Guns up and get back to the chopper.”

Bella heard no further argument and relaxed a bit. Perhaps they actually followed her advice. Though they were her support team they had no obligation to follow her orders. From what she had read of them, they weren’t much for chain of command orders anyway.

But if they got killed at least it wasn’t on her.

For thirty minutes, Bella followed the trail, as frustrating as it may have been. This was not an area the Wendigo was passing through. This was obviously it’s hunting grounds and she was on the enemy’s turf. Its scent was all over the place.

Jaguars were one of the most feared predators in the world and she was the ultimate predator. She would find it or it would find her. No way the thing would allow another predator to encroach on its territory the way she was.

Her back was pressed against a tree trunk, claws on her feet and hands dug into the bark when she decided to wait. She needed to have patience. It was leading her and now she would force it to find her.

Her wait was not long. She heard the slow, muffled heartbeat a half second too late. The creature moved around the thick trunk with ease and tossed her to the ground by her throat.

Bella rolled back before the Wendigo fell on her.

She had a second to take it in. Not overly large, perhaps 6’5, much thinner than most bipedal monsters she had come across. Much faster. The talons from its fingers were longer than hers and the mouth was completely filled with fangs.

“Alright big boy. Want to dance huh?”

Bella’s incisors grew. The creature howled loudly, and the girl roared.

The fight was a blur to human eyes. The creature slashing into open air as Bella dodged, slid and spun under its attacks, making her own strikes to its body. Unfortunately her strikes had little effect. She needed to get to its eyes or latch onto its back but this Wendigo was fast as well and seemed to anticipate her moves.

Sliding under one backhanded swing, she was struck by the other arm, then picked up by her leg and tossed at high speed into a large tree trunk.

“Fuck that hurt.” Bella whispered. She could feel her extremities but her back was injured and she had a hard time standing. Halfway to her feet a large hand slapped her, talons cutting through her skin and tossing her away once again. She tried to stand and was struck again, this time a foot.

Bella saw the creature slowly stalk towards her as she lay in pain on the ground. The girl knew what was next. It would go for her throat. That’s what she would have done. Bella felt herself being lifted in the air by her throat and then the world lit up in gunfire.

“Connolly’s team, finally having a clear shot at the Wendigo’s back, opened fire, sending hundreds of rounds into the monster in seconds.

Unfortunately those rounds weren’t enough. Annoyed that he had been disturbed from his hunt, the Wendigo began walking towards them, despite the steady barrage of bullets from the five men.

The men spread out, firing in all directions, head and chest shots before the creature finally slowed.

It didn’t slow enough, charging towards Connolly who remained in front. Before the Wendigo could reach out for the man, a roar was heard and Bella was on its back, claws dug in and teeth clamped onto its throat. She slid one hand under its chin and pulled the head back.

Connolly took the knife she had given him and thrust forward, the blade easily splitting the tough skin and piercings its heart. He followed with a slash across its throat, sending blood everywhere. Bella took advantage of the fresh cut and latched her incisors into it, tearing the gap further.

The Wendigo fell to one knee.

“Get out of the way,” Connolly and Bella heard Hawk yell. They both dove and rolled, a column of fire striking the dying Wendigo, engulfing it in flames.

The forest quieted, the only sounds were the crackling of the fire that used to be the Wendigo and the teams’ heavy breathing.

Connolly was fine, only covered in the monster’s blood.

Bella was a mess and passed out. They couldn’t determine how much blood belonged to the Wendigo and her but the slashes on her body and face made it obvious she was injured. Ty noticed her lower leg was twisted in an unnatural direction and reset the bone causing her to wake with a scream.

She lay there for a moment, Ty above her looking guilty for snapping her leg and the rest standing above her in a half circle.

“Fuck this shit, I’m out.” she whispered, getting a smile from the tense men. She lifted her head and looked at her prone body, taking in her practically shredded suit.

“I really liked this suit. Can someone get me in touch with Charlie? Anybody got a phone with service?” she asked, voice still shaky. It was a surprising request but Dante quickly handed her the phone.

“Bella?” the worried man answered.

“I won’t be home for a while. Probably dawn. Call the school and tell them I won’t be there.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Bella lied. She could feel the familiar itch as the gashes on her face, back and chest healed but some bones felt broken and would take longer.

“Its your second day. What should I tell them?”

The girl fought back the urge to growl.

“I don’t know Charlie. Its your job to make excuses for me. Tell them I got into a brutal fight with a Wendigo, got my ass kicked and I need some personal time. I don’t care what you tell them, just deal with it.”

The man said nothing for a moment and Bella prepared to hang up.

“You got your… are you okay?” he asked.

“What part of got my ass kicked is confusing?” she snapped and took a painful breath. Ty thumped her on the forehead with his finger.

“Sorry. Yeah, I am pretty messed up but nothing that can’t heal soon. I’ll live.” she told him in a less antagonistic tone.

“Should I get some painkillers from the pharmacy? Bandages? Ice packs?”

Bella hated this. Her body and pride were hurt and she wanted to focus on healing. She hated that she liked the concern in his voice.

“No, I’ll be fine. Leaving right now, should be healed by the time I get ho… to the residence. Thank you for your concern.”

She ended the call and gave a sharp look at her friend kneeling over her.

“Why the hell did you thump my head?”

“You were being a dick.” Ty told her. “I get that you got some serious issues with the man but he was trying to be nice. Now shut the hell up. Hawk is gonna carry you out of this place.”

Bella stood on her own.” I don’t need anyone…”

Bella hit the ground once again, realizing the bones in her lower right leg were definitely not healed and her spine felt like it was on fire.

She didn’t complain when Hawk picked her up nor did she complain on the way home while Webb cleaned blood off her face.

Once the helicopter landed, she was able to walk with a severe limp but Dante had taken her bike and drove away before she could attempt to claim it. The remaining team drove back to Forks in a red SUV, not saying a word until they arrived at Bella’s house.

“You want to stay here or come with one of us?” Connolly asked her.

Bella thought for a moment and shook her head. She wanted to be alone.

The girl exited the car, refusing help and began limping to her front porch. The door opened before she had the chance to reach for it.

Charlie said nothing, his heart breaking at the sight of her. She was obviously in pain and had deep red marks on her face he suspected had been open cuts not long before. Her tight black suit that he had only seen once was shredded. He noticed the limp and the way she was slightly bent at the waist, her left hand pressed to her lower back.

“I got it.” Charlie told Connolly who had walked behind Bella to the door. Connolly looked at him for a moment, waiting for Bella’s reaction but she didn’t say a word or look at either of them.

He nodded to Charlie. “See you at work in a few hours, Chief.”

Charlie shook his head slightly. “I think we should both take the day off.”

Bella moved past Charlie without a word but decided not to attempt the stairs, instead going to the couch, laying on it carefully and closing her eyes.

The girl was not sure how much time had passed but she knew she had passed out. She also felt something cool on her jaw and around her ribs.

Opening her eyes slowly she was surprised to see Charlie sitting next to her holding an icepack on her jaw. Her eyes looked over her body and saw a cool gel wrap over her ribs, on top of the shredded black suit she had worn into battle.

“Sorry.” the man told her sheepishly. “Your jaw was swelling and you had a lot of bruising around your ribs. It is getting better. I know you are supposed to heal on your own but you seemed to like the cool… I’ll leave you alone.”

“What time is it?” Bella asked, her throat dry and scratchy. She supposed she had been asleep longer than she expected.

“It’s seven… at night. You’ve been asleep for fourteen hours. I thought… I’ll leave you alone.”

“No!” Bella told him, surprising herself and him. “I… uh the ice feels good. If you wouldn’t mind holding it a little longer… unless you have something to do. Its fine if you do. I should be good now. I can go upstairs…”

“I don’t mind staying. I want to if you don’t mind I mean. Are you hungry?”

Yes, she was, but Bella was too tired to eat. She had been in brutal fights before but that creature had taken her by surprise and was as fast as she was. She had never taken this long to heal. Of course Bella had never taken a beating like the one she had suffered. If she had been alone, the girl had no doubt she would be dead.

“Yeah, but not now. Now I… I just want to sleep.”

Bella could feel herself drifting off again. The girl was so exhausted she didn’t flinch when the man brushed a stray hair from her eyes.

“Rest. When you get up, I’ll be here and cook whatever you want. I won’t leave you.” he told her.

The girl opened her eyes long enough to get a good look at the man. His eyes were tired and red. He had been crying. He looked as exhausted as she felt and a part of her wondered when the last sleep he had gotten had been.

“Thank you.” she whispered and fell back into a deep sleep.