Run➳Jacob Black [Book 1]

13.0

They reached the Cullen's house in no time and Emmett immediately removed her from the car and dragged her into the garage where the rest of his family was waiting for them.

Esme ran at her the second she saw her, "Kate, sweetie, are you okay?"

She ran her hands along Kate's face to wipe the tear tracks that were there.

"I'll be fine," she sniffed.

Rosalie walked up behind her, "This is all Bella's fault."

There was some part of her, an evil part, which agreed with Rosalie. Kate's internal demons wanted to kill Bella for putting her and the Cullen's in this danger. But the real Kate would cut off her own arm before hurting Bella.

"I just wish I was stronger. Maybe then, none of this would have happened," Kate's voice started rising. She felt Jasper come near her and try to calm her down, "Dammit don't do that. I'm pissed. I'm supposed to stop things like this happening. That's why I'm here. I can't even fight one of you how am I supposed to protect you."

By the time that she had finished, Kate's voice had risen to such a volume that the metal racks were shaking. None of the Cullens said anything to her and just looked at her with pity.

The rest of the Cullens came in and Jasper began to talk business most likely to smooth over Kate's emotional outburst from before.

"I've had to fight our kind before. We're not easy to kill," he told Emmett.

"But not impossible. We'll rip him apart and burn the pieces," Emmett growled.

Carlisle shook his head, "I don't relish the thought of killing another creature, even a sadistic one like James."

Rosalie came to stand next to Kate, "What if he kills one of us first?"

Everyone ignored her question.

"I'm going to run Bella and Kate south. Can you lead the tracker away from here?" Edward said quickly.

"No, Edward. James knows you'd never leave Bella. He'll follow you," Carlisle answered.

Alice came up to Kate's other side, "I go with Bella and Kate. Jasper and I will drive them south. I'll keep them safe Edward."

"Can you keep your thoughts to yourself?"

"Yes."

Alice dragged Bella to her car and put her in the back seat. Kate stood watching Edward and Rosalie waiting so see what would happen.

"Rosalie, Esme," he said handing them each one of their coats, "will you put these on so the tracker will pick up their scent," Edward asked them.

"Why," she asked him, "What are they to me?"

"For Kate then, Rosalie," he begged.

"She means nothing to me either," Rosalie snapped.

Kate couldn't pretend that her comment didn't sting but it was the truth nonetheless. Rosalie and Kate's friendship went as far as mutual respect and nothing more. Neither of them were really willing to lay down their life for the other.

Carlisle had apparently had enough, "Rosalie, Bella is with Edward and Kate has chosen to align with us. They're part of this family now and we protect our family."

Rosalie glared at Edward some more before reluctantly grabbing Kate's coat and shrugging it on. Kate went to Alice's car and slid in the back with Bella. Kate was temped to turn her phone back on but knew that she would only be hurting herself if she did.

Jasper punched on the gas and the car spedforward and out of the garage.

Kate didn't know how long they had been driving for. Bella kept trying to get in contact with their mom but Renee never picked up. Kate sat in the back of the silent car drawing on her notepad. She kept drawing a wolf over and over but she couldn't seem to get it the way that she wanted it. After scraping three drawings, she finally gave up and went to her usual pastime of leaning her head on the window and watching as the scenery passed her by.

It was morning by the time they reached Phoenix. The second that Jasper stopped the car, Alice went inside to go check in to a hotel. The hotel was nice but none of it really mattered. Once inside, all four of the sat down in the sitting area and just waited for news. Kate amused herself by making her pencil do spins in the air. She was interrupted when Alice suddenly gasped.

"What is it?" Jasper asked her, "What do you see?"

"The tracker. He just changed course," Alice responded dreamily.

Jasper grabbed paper and snatched the pencil that Kate had been levitating right out of the air.

"Where'd it take him, Alice?"

"Mirrors," she said slowly. Kate watched as her hand flew all over the paper and in seconds a complete drawing was laid out before them.

"Edward said the visions weren't always certain," Bella halfway asked.

Jasper looked up at her, "She sees the course people are on while they're on it. If they change their minds, the vision changes."

"Okay so the course the tracker's on now is going to lead him to a ballet studio?"

Alice stopped drawing, "You've been here?"

Bella nodded, "Kate and I took lessons as kids. The school we went to had an arch just like that."

"Was your school here in Phoenix?" Jasper questioned.

"Yea."

Bella's phone rang and she ran to the opposite side of the room. Jasper, Alice, and Kate all stared at each other not really knowing how to proceed from here. Kate looked down at the photo and felt as if she'd entered a dream. She didn't remember ballet lessons but somehow she felt that she knew that room.

"Edward's lost the tracker. They're on their way here now. They'll be here tomorrow," Bella came back and told them.

Kate stood up, "And Charlie?"

"Esme and Rosalie are there to protect him."

Kate didn't respond but went to the kitchenette and poured herself a glass of water. As she sat there sipping on it, she couldn't help but feel like they were missing something. Like there was some key to the puzzle that James was putting together.

"We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning," Alice told them.

Kate nodded and left the room. When she got to the bedroom that she and Bella were sharing she collapsed onto it and rolled her face into the pillow. It took all of her willpower to not let out a scream. She rolled back over and stared up at the ceiling. Twenty-four hours ago she'd been nice and warm in her own bed and now she was running away from a murderous vampire. When did her life get to be so complicated?

She scolded herself when she had a moment where she regretted moving to Forks. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have become a siren and she wouldn't be in this mess. A voice in her head interrupted her and pointed out that if she hadn't, she wouldn't have met her best friends and she would still be all alone.

Kate groaned and rolled back over onto her stomach and fell fast asleep. The whole time there was this nagging in the back of her mind telling her she needed to stay awake.