Storming Sky

WOLF BOY

Why I made the decision to walk home, I had no idea. About a half hour ago, it seemed like a good idea. Now, I was pretty sure I was an idiot for leaving Bella's house.

While Forks was a small town based on population, it certainly wasn't small based on size. To walk home would take me hours, and that wasn't an exaggeration. We were nearly at the line of La Push, which was Quileute Land, which was nearly a half hour from the town center.

That's why, when a car pulled up next to me on my way home, I was surprised, but very grateful.

"I thought you were staying at Bella's" A voice said from the vehicle. I don't know who I expected my savior to be, but I certainly didn't expect it to be Jacob Black, of all people.

"I changed my mind," I said, and kept walking. I had decided that I was angry with him.

"Come on, don't be like that," Jacob said. "If you give me your permission, I can drop you off at your house on my way home." I stopped walking then. I really needed that ride home.

"How did you get that car anyways? Didn't you ride home with Bella?" I asked him. He seemed relieved that I stopped trying to walk away from him.

"Some of my friends followed me. When I went back to Bella's and realized you weren't there, I kicked them out and made them walk so I could come looking for you. There's a vampire running around, remember?" He said, jokingly. Oh, so jerk face wanted to be my friend now. Got it.

"Yeah, unfortunately," I would be a liar to say I hadn't been scared to death that Victoria would find me before someone else did.

"Look, I don't want to cause any trouble. Let me just give you a ride home so I know you're safe," He pleaded.

"Why do you even care?" I asked him. He didn't care about putting my brother's life in danger, so why would he care about me?

"You fascinate me," he shrugged, patting the passenger seat next to him. "It's up to you, though. You can say no."

"If I lived closer, and there wasn't a vampire on the loose, believe me, I would. I'm not your biggest fan right now, Jacob Black," I told him, making it clear where I stood.

"I know, and I am sorry about that. If I knew..." he grumbled.

"If you knew what? My crazy life story? You made it very clear that you didn't care for my family, so why do you care so much about me?"

"Look, I'm not psyched about any of this either. You think I want Bella risking her life out there? Who are these 'Volturi' bloodsuckers anyways?" He asked. We were on the road again.

"I wish I could give you an answer," I told him honestly. This was the first time I was hearing about them.

"They keep you that far in the dark? Are you sure you're not their slave or something?" He asked, almost a little too seriously.

"No, I'm definitely their daughter. I'm assuming you want to know the whole story?" I asked him. It would keep him from asking other kinds of questions if I just told him where I came from.

"Only if you want to tell me. I am curious though. Most humans tend to stay away from them, I thought."

"I was too young to know any better," I started. "I'm biologically related to Edward," I told him. "He's my great-uncle, or something like that. He was keeping tabs on my mom and me when a vampire tried to kill us and succeeded in killing her. Apparently I watched it all happen so they tried to change my memories by telling me over and over again that it was just a car accident, but in the mean time they decided they didn't want to send me back again, so they adopted me. I legally became Danielle Cullen."

"That's a bit selfish given everything involved," Jacob snarled. I looked at him.

"I know, but, I wasn't going to have anything better. At least this way, I have a forever family. I have people I can look up to. People I can love."

"People," Jacob scoffed, then looked at my hurt expression. "Sorry," he apologized. "Seriously, though, how do you do it? They're dangerous. This life is dangerous," he said.

"It's complicated," I told him. I was still trying to figure that one out for myself. He just nodded and we slipped into silence. I stared out the window wondering where Alice and Bella were. If they had gotten on the plane okay and if they were going to make it.

"We're here," Jacob said, pulling up to the end of the street before my house. "Do you have a key to get in?"

"Yeah, I kept one when we left in case I ever decided to run away," I told him. He laughed and rolled his eyes. I laughed too, pretending it was a joke, but it really wasn't.

"Stay safe," Jacob said. He was a piece of work.

"You too, wolf boy," I told him. He just shook his head. I was going to have to think of some new material if he was going to be hanging around.

It took me about ten minutes to walk down the street to my house. I wondered why Jacob couldn't have just driven the rest of the way. When he and Alice were talking, they mentioned something about a treaty, maybe it had something to do with that.

My heart jumped up into my throat when I saw two sets of cars in the driveway and the lights on. Everyone was home. Well, almost everyone.

"Danielle!" I heard someone shout from the front door. I walked up and hugged Rosalie, the owner of the voice.

"Danielle, where the hell were you? We were so worried when Carlisle called and said you weren't at Bella's anymore."

"Sorry, I decided to walk home, and then I got a ride," I explained. I hoped that they wouldn't ask any more questions. I didn't want to get into the whole Jacob Black thing right now.

"It's late, and it takes hours to walk home. Were you going to spend the night walking the outskirts of Forks? Something could have happened to you, and after everything with Edward right now-" I stopped Rosalie right there. She had no right to lecture me on that right now.

"Well, we wouldn't have to worry about Edward right now if it wasn't for you," I told her, pulling away. Jasper came behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. It was his way of telling me to calm down.

"We all thought she was dead, Danielle," Emmett reasoned. He would always take Rosalie's side.

"You didn't need to tell him," I spat out.

"Danielle!" I heard my mother say, running up to me at vampire speed and hugging me. "Oh my darling, we thought something happened to you!"

"I heard," I said, softly, but she heard my sarcastic response.

"If you ever do something to scare me and your father like that again, you will be grounded for the rest of your life do you understand?" She actually waved her finger at me.

"Yes, mom," I told her. She hugged me again before Dad came in and gave me a similar lecture.

"So what happens now?" I asked my family. My family who, in my seventeen years of life hadn't aged a day, yet, right now looked like they had aged a lifetime.

"Well, my love, it seems we actually have a lot that we need to tell you about," Dad said, wrapping his arms around me.

"Yes," Mom agreed, sadly. "It's time you learned who the Volturi are, and why you must never be allowed to meet them in person."