The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter CXV: Jacob's Point of View

I shoved Annie behind me, hoping that I would be able to cover her and keep her away from the vampires around us. It just wasn't possible. "Ryanne." I heard the bell tolling, but it only made me want to vomit.

"Fuck." Why did she have to be there? I mean, okay she lives there, but couldn't they have just kept her away for one God damn afternoon. I wrapped my hand around Rye's arm and towed her towards the door. "We're leaving," I announced, tugging her towards the door. Bella appeared in front of us.

"Please!" she shouted at us, the little spawn behind her. "I just want to talk."

"Move," I growled.

"Please, just let me talk to my sister. She's the only family that I have left. Please," Bella begged. I watched her take a step closer to Ryanne, who shoved me away from her and stepped towards the leech.

"I'm not your family!" she shouted, not for the first time in this house. "Not anymore; you are the reason that things are coming after me. Again!" I could sense her distress jumping at her heart, clawing at the rest of her organs.

"Go," the one with the strained look on his face said. "Outside." I grabbed Annie's arm and pulled her over to the door, watching the rest of the vampires part and block Bella from us. I don't know what I was hoping for; I thought that maybe being outside would make her feel better, make her calm down. But I could feel her panic rising.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"My sister won't leave me alone, that's what's wrong. I can't do anything to get away from her. She's a heartless, soulless, parasitic bitch!" she screamed back at the house. What the hell was going on? This wasn't my Annie. We were a pair that completed each other so well. I was the one that walked around insulting people and Annie was the one that told me that I was wrong.

"What's wrong with you? Annie this isn't you!" I said, grabbing her shoulders and looking into her sad tear-filled eyes. "You're the one that is supposed to believe the best in people," I continued. She didn't say anything, just stared at me. "Ryanne!"

"What do you want me to say?" she finally shouted at me. "What the fuck would you like to hear, Jake? Do you want me to tell you that I'm scared? That I don't want to be in this house? That I think that my sister has officially lost her mind? That I'm scared about what losing Bella officially will do to my dad? What is it you'd like to hear from me?" she screamed.

"Any of those will do," I replied, pulling her against my chest and resting my chin on her head. I waited until her energy was flagging and she was leaning against me fully. "I want to hear what's on your mind, not just the things that you think you're supposed to say. I want to hear that you're scared because it makes me feel like there is something that I can do to fix that." I brushed a hand over her hair, loving the satin feel of her ringlets. "I wish that I could do something about the fact that you're in this house. I want to take you away from here, but I can't." She shivered against me.

"As much as I hate to admit that any of them were right, getting these leeches on your side is the best chance that we have right now. At least while I come up with another plan." I paused, trying to remember the rest of her list of things that she wasn't sure if she wanted to tell me. "I don't care about Bella, Ryanne. I haven't in ages and you know that. Okay? You know that. Whether or not Bella has lost her mind doesn't matter. There's more space for her to figure shit out now so neither one of us has to helper her with that." She sighed a little, her tiny fingers clutching at the skin on the small of my back. "We'll figure out what to do with Charlie, Annie. We'll figure it out together, just like we've done everything so far.

"But this isn't you, baby. You're not this bitter person. I know that you're afraid, that you don't want any of us to know it. But I know you, Annie. And when you get to this, when you start acting colder than the vampires in the house there, that's when I know that you really need my help. So I'm standing here telling you that I'm trying to help you," I said. "No matter what happens, I'm not going anywhere."

I liked to believe that it was a side effect of my mother's death, but being left alone was one of our greatest fears. Those four words were the keys that unlocked the dam that she'd been building, the battering ram that finally found the right place to hit. Everything came crashing down. "I'm so scared," she admitted in a high pitched voice just before she broke down into sobs. I didn't hush her or try to tell her that she was being ridiculous. Because she wasn't. She was scared shitless and I understood that.

I was like the unwritten guide to Annie that no one else knew about. The map to the mental minefield, if you will. She was such a complicated pain in the ass. Very few people knew what she did to put up her defenses. See, most people got happier to the point where you knew that they weren't actually feeling it. Some people, the rare ones, let the emotions they felt show. But Annie was one of those people who turned everything that she felt into anger. Anger that she then locked away into a freezer where it could fester and ice over her heart. But that one organ was the thing that I wanted to protect more than anything else. Her heart, her will to be her, was what I loved most about her.

It seemed like ages later when Annie raised her head from my chest, the spot slick with tears. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"For what? Being human? Annie, it's okay to feel things. I know that your'e scared and it's okay to be scared. Everyone will understand. But you can't lock down on me like that. You can't shut me out," I said although it probably sounded more like I was begging her. I was.

"I should apologize," she whispered. That was my girl. Ryanne was a bitch and said whatever came to mind, but she always felt bad and tried to atone for it. "I said some things that were pretty bad, huh?"

Nothing that she had seemed that out of line. To me. But that was how I actually felt about all the people that we had encountered. Annie was far too curious not to wonder about their powers, about how they came to be together. She hadn't asked any questions when we'd been introduced to them, which should've been my first sign that something was wrong. She always had questions about something. But she'd been blinding herself with her rage at the time. Her fear.

"Yeah, you did," I finally said. "Especially to the spawn. You were pretty ruthless there," I admitted. It had surprised eve me when Ryanne had shouted at her and told her that her mother was a liar. The kid didn't even know how to react. It was one of the brief moments where I wished that I could be in Edward's head. He heard everything going on in people's head, everyone's thoughts. Except Bella. I wished I could've been there in that moment when he realized that his precious Bella had manipulated her own daughter into believing a lie.

"Ryanne?" It wasn't Bella's voice, but one so similar it could only belong to the half breed. Annie sighed and turned to face the little girl. She reached up with a hand again, but I pulled my imprint behind me. Did people not understand that I didn't want them touching her? I mean, was it really that difficult to just stay the fuck away. "I didn't mean to upset you earlier. I can... I can show you what I was talking about if you'd like," she added.

"What do you mean show?" Annie asked. The little thing took a step closer to me and my girl. But this time, Annie stepped out of my hold and towards the monster.

"I can show you," she claimed. Show her what? Her death? The little thing ate human blood like every other parasite in that house.

"Annie," I began, but she stepped away from me and turned to face me.

"Renesmee, right?" she asked, but her eyes were fixed on me.

"Yes."

"Let's you and I go for a walk. Jake," she put a hand on my arm, "we'll stay within sight. But I have to apologize to her." I swore on my life if she did anything - "I'll be right here," she insisted. Reluctantly I nodded. She needed to make herself feel better and this was the way to do it.