Be Careful What You Wish For

Chapter Eighteen

1 Leah finally managed to drag herself away from the shower at some point, put on some fresh clothes, brush her hair out, and leave the bathroom to face the world again. Unsurprisingly, Sam was there, as were her mom and Billy. Sighing inwardly, she joined them in the living room and dropped herself on the old but well-maintained couch. She'd always loved so much to spend lazy hours lounging on that thing, reading a good book. Better times. Great times. For about a minute or so, they all just sat there – Leah and Sue on the couch, Billy in his wheelchair opposite them, Sam standing around and brooding.

Finally, Leah could take it no longer. She threw up her hands, rolled her eyes, and said, "Bring it, guys. I can take it."

"It wasn't your fault," Billy said, his tone allowing for no protest. "None of it. Stop blaming yourself. You did the best you could with what little you had. That was brave."

Leah couldn't even say why, but those words made her feel so, so heavy. "Can we put off the heart-to-heart until I've caught some shut-eye? I haven't slept in a while."

"None of us have," Sam said. When she looked up, she saw that he was glowering at her. "Look, I know it must've been awful, being forced to work with that...that leech, but you had no choice. I'm willing to accept that."

Something about how he said it made her want to chuck a lamp at his stupid head. Had he always been this condescending? Good gravy. "I have always had a choice, Sam. I'm not a damsel in distress who reacts to things and gets pushed around by the powers that be. I took action. Demetri helped me. He didn't force me to do anything. We teamed up to stop you idiots from killing yourselves by attacking super-charged Cullens. Don't presume to tell me what my choices were."

A heavy, awkward silence ensued.

"I was just trying to hold out an olive branch," Sam snapped.

It took Leah all she had not to roll her eyes. "Don't, okay? You made your choices; I made mine. The mess that resulted is on all of us. We all have to deal with it. Just stop it with the pack-leader shit. I'm my own pack-leader, now, and I am so not in the mood for one of your little lectures." She was her own leader until the vampire venom wore off, at least. No-one knew what was in store for her, then.

"What do you think your vampire friend is gonna do next?" Sue cut in, before a full-fledged argument could unfold.

Leah shifted her weight to get a proper look at her mom – her poor mom, who had so much crap flying her way, it was a marvel she was still functioning. The least Leah could do for her was respect the fact that she obviously didn't want to talk about Seth. "He wants to hunt the death-baby and its drones down," Leah said, after discreetly clearing her sore throat. "I'm going with him."

"Yeah, I figured," Sam said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Leah, that has got to be the single most stupid-"

"I didn't ask for your opinion," she interrupted coldly. "You have your responsibilities here. I have to do something useful, but I'm of no use if I sit around at home. I can help catch that freak-"

"And my son," Billy said quietly. Everyone looked at him. He was calm and composed, but it wasn't hard to recognise the colossal effort that this took him. "If the vampires go alone, they'll kill him without thinking twice about it. You need to be there. You need to be that leech's conscience. You need to. I need you to."

"If that freak's even capable of having a conscience," Sue said grimly, shaking her head, looking down at her hands in her lap, her face a grimace of repulsion.