Total eclipse of a heart (Embry Call)

41. Father's failure

"She's not dead." Sam handed a beer to Valerie's father, aware the man is out of his mind with worry and he might need something to take the edge off. A hunter on edge is never a good thing.

They've tried to explain everything, finding he's more than willing to listen in his state, but his opinions are hard to change. When all you're taught is hate, love and understanding can be hard to find later in life.

"And you know that because that one is magically connected to her through some mock soulmate crap?" Words laced in sarcasm and disbelief, his eyes heavy from losing sleep almost two weeks, ever since he found out his daughter left Volterra without even telling him.

"With all due respect, Mr. Silver, I love your daughter and all I'm sure of as of this moment is how much pain and fear is in her heart. We're losing valuable time babying you!" Slamming his fist against the wooden table, Embry stood again and no one could stop him this time around.

No one bothered to get in his way, not even Sam.

Jacob sighs, rubbing his forehead, confounded by this turn of events. He was willing to let her go and watch her be happy with Embry and just as they were supposed to have their happily ever after, destiny intervened again. He couldn't help but wonder if that's a sign he backed off way too easily.

"We'll come too." Paul stands, more than ready to fight for Valerie's safety, realizing she grew on him too. She was more than just Rachel's friend and Embry's imprint, she was important to him too. She might have bad taste in friends considering her closeness to Jasper, but he didn't want her harmed.

"We can start from the Cullens and follow her scent from there." Jared confirms, standing too and soon enough, they all stood with their brother, their hearts aching for his lost imprint.

"I want to go too." The famed hunter wanted to join too, receiving a chuckle from Quill.

"You can't keep up. Better to stay here in case we need you after."

And as Embry looked at the defeated father, giving him a silent promise of what he'd do to bring his daughter back, he felt his knees buckle and his mind blanked.

The pain swallowing him whole, Embry's scream erupted from deep within his chest, violently ripping it's way through, blinding him.

Cold sweat washed over every inch of his skin, the very skin he felt boiling as if fire is coursing through his veins. Shaking, crumbling to the floorboards, Embry felt the pain subside. The feeling never disappeared, simply fell into the background, once again reminding him it's her pain he's experiencing.

It was never so vivid, never quite as gripping for his soul, but this was disturbingly overpowering, overwhelming his entire being. He couldn't hear his brothers as they fussed over him, shaking him, talking, anything to pull him back to reality.

He couldn't explain it in any other way but one. Embry just knew.

"A vampire. She's taken by a vampire."

As Emily tended to Embry who folded his body into a fetal position, Sam was calling the Cullens for answers, Paul took on the duty to calm her father.

"She was bitten. Wasn't she?" Seeing Paul nod, he shakes his head. If anything, it was his life mission to stop that from happening. Her mother gave her life to protect her, he failed. He failed his wife, his daughter, his family.

"You don't seem too worried about your daughter being a monster you're hunting." Paul remarks, folding his arms across his chest, realizing there is more to the story than the Silvers let on.

"That's because she won't be a vampire. Vampire venom works differently on hunters."