Imprinted: A Jacob Black Fanfic

Chapter 14: Desperate Times

If you look up the word 'heavenly' in any reputable dictionary you'll find the definition "The smell of Emily's kitchen". While Margaret was getting a little annoyed that she couldn't stay at her own apartment, she wasn't too upset. Emily was an amazing cook. Margaret couldn't really complain when she got to wake up every morning to the smell of Emily's baked goods and kisses from Jacob. She was growing rather fond of kisses from Jacob. They were an expected part of her morning routine.

Except for on Saturday mornings. Jacob was responsible for the late night patrols on Friday nights, so he usually didn't come in until midday on Saturday. One rainy Saturday afternoon Margaret was helping Emily clean the kitchen when she realized Jacob wasn't back yet.

"Should I be worried that we haven't seen Sam and Jacob today?" she asked.

"I don't think so," Emily frowned. "I'm sure we would have heard if something was wrong." The vampire situation was beginning to visibly wear down on her too. That's how Margaret knew it was getting more serious. Emily always had a smile on her face and an optimistic attitude. If she was blatantly showing worry like this, then there was serious cause for concern.

Margaret sighed and turned back to the dishes. The boys never showed up. Margaret and Emily continued to stress. They cleaned the house for another three hours. It was absolutely spotless after the first hour, but they needed something to do to keep their minds off their missing boyfriends. So they continued cleaning the same, already clean rooms.

Around sunset Margaret started looking up the cost of a funeral. She and Emily had decided that surely their boyfriends were dead and they now had to plan funerals for every boy in the pack. They were not dealing with the stress very well. Emily was just looking into coffin sizing when Same and Jacob finally stumbled into the house.

"Jacob," Margaret threw herself at him as he walked in the door.

"Margaret," he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. He held on as tightly as he could without hurting her. He'd been practicing the art of not crushing his girlfriend when he hugged her. "I'm sorry I'm back so late," he mumbled into her ear. His voice was thick with exhaustion.

"It's alright," she said. "You sound like you need to go to bed." While Jacob wasn't crushing her with his arms, Margaret could feel him leaning on her more and more. This man was almost a foot taller than her and made of pure muscle. There was no way she could hold him if he put much more weight on her. She looked over at Sam to see how he was holding up.

"We chased the vampire all the way to the Canadian border before he vanished," Sam said from the dining room table. He had managed to make it to furniture before collapsing. Even then, Emily had to help hold him in his chair.

"Ok," Margaret nodded. "Jacob, let's go to bed. Come on." She pulled him towards the stairs.

"Yes Ma'am," he followed Margaret while refusing to let go of her waist. He was scared he would collapse from exhaustion if he wasn't holding onto her. She was his anchor. She was the only thing keeping him together.

It was slow going, but she managed to get him to their room. He flopped dramatically onto the bed.

"Goodness Jacob," Margaret shook her head. "At least take your shoes off. We're not wild animals here."

Jacob snorted, but didn't move.

"Fine, I'll do it myself," Margaret feigned exasperation. It was nice being the one taking care of him for a change. He was always taking care of her. She took off his shoes, pulled the blankets over him, and put a glass of water on the bedside table. She started to leave the room but Jacob called her back.

"Wait, I didn't say you could leave," he groaned.

"It's really cute when you try to give orders after I just tucked you in bed like a toddler," Margaret laughed.

"Margaret," Jacob said using a voice that Margaret could only describe as desperate. "Please come back."

She stopped laughing. "What's wrong?" She walked back to the bed and sat down beside Jacob.

That's when Jacob started crying.

Jacob had never cried in front of her before. He'd always tried so hard to keep it together, to pretend like everything was fine. But now it was most definitely not fine. Three more bodies had been found in the area. The vampire was running in circles around them. They couldn't catch him. The woman Jacob loved was in Danger. He couldn't stop the vampire and now he couldn't stop himself from crying.

"No no no," she whispered while crawling under the blankets with him. "It's okay. I'm here," she repeated over and over again. Jacob just continued crying and curled up next to her. He put his head on her chest and made himself small. Margaret wrapped as much of herself around him as she could. Maybe if she squeezed hard enough she could put everything back together again? Maybe if she gave him enough kisses he would feel better? What was she supposed to say to make this better? What was she supposed to do? All she could do was hold him.

It didn't take long for Jacob to fall asleep. Margaret was grateful for that. His breathing evened out, his shoulders relaxed, and his tears finally stopped. Still, Margaret didn't move. She didn't want to risk waking him. It wasn't until it was dark outside when she had to move. She had to pee so bad she thought her bladder would explode. So Margaret sprinted to the bathroom and back. In that one minute she was gone Jacob had started crying again.

"It's ok," she whispered while she covered Jacobs face in kisses. "I'm back, it's okay." This time it took longer for Jacob to go back to sleep. Margaret mentally hurled insults at her bladder for making her wake him up again in the first place.

She tried assuring Jacob that he would certainly kill the blood-sucker soon. He couldn't evade them forever. But that didn't help. Then she tried convincing him that they were all safe at Emily's house. That didn't help either.

"I love you," Margaret whispered. Jacob looked up at her. His eyes were still puffy from crying, but now he had a smile on his face.

"I love you too," he whispered back.

"I know the vampire situation is rough. It sucks. I'm sorry there's not more I can do to help, but please talk to me about it." Margaret tucked Jacobs hair behind his ear. "We've talked about this before. You have to communicate with me."

He sighed, wiped tears from his face, and started talking. "The blood-sucker is obviously trying to get to someone important to us. We think he just wants to get at one of the girls. We have no idea why though" He slowly sat up, keeping his hand on Margaret the whole time."We can't outrun him, so there has been a few discussions about setting a trap."

"Ok, how do you do that?" Margaret asked.

"First of all," Jacob hesitated. He stopped looking at Margaret and looked down at his hands. He was quiet for a long time. "We need bait."

"What bait?" Margaret immediately regretted asking the question. She already knew the answer. She didn't want to hear the answer, and Jacob didn't want to give it. So they sat there in silence contemplating what needed to be done. Thunder rumbled in the distance.