(2) Katnis Swan: Moved On?

Chapter 13: M.I.A

Jacob never called.

The first time they called, Billy answered and told them that Jacob was still in bed. They got nosy, checking to make sure that Billy had taken him to a doctor.  Billy said he had, but, for some reason they couldn't nail down, they didn't really believe him.  They called again, several times a day, for the next two days, but no one was ever there.
Saturday, they decided to go see him, invitation be damned. But the little red house was empty. This frightened Katnis and Bella—was Jacob so sick that he'd needed to go to the hospital?

They stopped by the hospital on
the way back home, but the nurse at the front desk told me neither Jacob or Billy had been in. Katnis asked Charlie to call Harry Clearwater as soon as he got home from work. They both waited, anxious, while Charlie chatted with his old friend; the conversation seemed to go on forever without Jacob even being mentioned. It seemed that Harry had been in the hospital . . some kind of tests for his heart. Charlie's forehead got all pinched together, but Harry joked with him, blowing it off, until Charlie was laughing again. Only then did Charlie ask about Jacob, and now his side of the conversation didn't give them much to work with, just a lot of hmms and yeahs.

Katnis drummed her fingers against the counter beside him until he
put a hand over hers to stop her.

Finally, Charlie hung up the phone and turned to them.

"Harry says there's been some trouble with the phone lines, and that's why you haven't been able to get through. Billy took Jake to the doc down there, and it looks like he has mono. He's real tired, and Billy said no visitors," he reported.

"No visitors?" Katnis demanded in disbelief.

Charlie raised one eyebrow. "Now don't you two go making  pests of yourselves. Billy knows what's best for Jake. He'll be up and around soon enough. Be patient."

Bella didn't push it. Charlie was too worried about Harry. That was clearly the more important issue—it
wouldn't be right to bug him with her lesser concerns.

But Katnis was not having it.

"He could at least allow us to speak with him just so we know that he's not dead somewhere in a ditch." She hissed.

Charlie sighed. "Look, I know you're both worried about him but you just need to be patient. Give him a few days."

Katnis reluctantly sighed. "Fine, a week, but that's it."

*****

The following days, Katnis started going for walks in the woods to clear her mind. Today was a bit different though. She found her self thinking about the last person she wanted to ever think about again.

Edward Cullen.

He was on her mind so much that when she looked up, she realized that she had no idea where she was. A dizzying array of emotions shot through her in a second. The first was surprise; she was far from any trail
here, and she didn't expect company.

Then, as her eyes focused on the motionless figure, seeing the utter
stillness, the pallid skin, a rush of piercing hope rocked through her. She suppressed it viciously, fighting
against the equally sharp lash of agony as her eyes continued to the face beneath the black hair, the face
that wasn't the one she was in any mood to see right now...or ever.

Next was irritation; this was not the face she wanted to see, but it was close enough for her to know that the man facing her was no stray hiker.

And finally, in the end, numbness.

"Laurent!" She groaned.

Laurent had been one of Victoria's coven when they'd first met. He hadn't been involved with the hunt that followed—the hunt where she was the quarry—but that was only because he was afraid; she was protected by a bigger coven than his own.

"Katnis?" he asked, looking more astonished than she felt irritated.

"You remember my name. How great." She spat, sarcastically.

He grinned. "I didn't expect to see you here." He strolled toward her, his expression bemused.

"Isn't it the other way around? I do live here. I thought you'd gone to Alaska."

He stopped about ten paces away, cocking his head to the side. His face, despite the irritation she felt towards him, was the most beautiful face she'd
seen in what felt like an eternity. She studied his features with a strangely greedy sense of release. Here was
someone she didn't have to pretend for—someone who already knew everything she could never say.

"You're right," he agreed. "I did go to Alaska. Still, I didn't expect… When I found the Cullen place empty, I thought they'd moved on."

"Oh." Was all she said.

Laurent waited with curious eyes.

"What? They left. They moved on," she groaned.

"Hmm," he murmured. "I'm surprised they left you behind. Weren't you sort of a pet of theirs?" His eyes were innocent of any intended offense.

She glared at him. "I guess you'd know what that feels like."

"Hmm," he said, thoughtful again.

At that precise moment, she realized why he looked the same—too much the same. After Carlisle told her00
that Laurent had stayed with Tanya's family, she'd begun to picture him, on the rare occasions that she thought
of him at all, with the same golden eyes that the Cullens had. That
all good vampires had. She took an involuntary step forward, and his curious, dark red eyes followed the movement.

"Do they visit often?" he asked, still casual, but his weight shifted toward her

"Lie," the velvet voice whispered anxiously from her memory.

She growled at the sound of his voice, but it should not have surprised he'd. Was she not in the worst danger
imaginable? The motorcycle was safe as kittens next to this.

She ignored what the voice said to do.

"Why do you care?" She growled.

"Hmm," he said again. "The house smelled like it had been vacant for a while…"

"You must lie better than that, Katnis" the voice urged.

She rolled her eyes. "They're visiting family in Greece. They said they'd be gone a while a few weeks ago but they'll be back in a few days," she said. "I'll let Carlisle know you popped up though I will try and keep Edward from hearing about you. You know, because, he doesn't like you and all."

"Really?" Laurent asked pleasantly… skeptically.

"Yeah, really. He hates you, really." She laughed.

Laurent took a casual step to the side, gazing around at the little meadow. She didn't miss that the step brought him closer to her.

The voice responded with a low snarl.

Katnis took a step back. "You're not as slick as you think you are, Laurant. You don't need to come any closer."

"Don't move," the voice whispered.