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QUILEUTE LEGENDS

BY THE TIME THEY REACHED SAM'S PLACE, EMBRY WAS ALREADY STANDING BY THE FRONT DOOR WITH HIS HANDS ON HIS HIPS.

A growl was sent Sam's way, and the alpha didn't take any offence given the situation; Billie's tear tracks on her cheeks were a testament to the pain she was experiencing that radiated from her ankle— something Embry didn't appreciate. So, Sam merely deposited the blonde girl into the boy's arms before leading them inside.

"Did you trip over your own two feet again, Billie?" Embry asked with an eye roll before setting her down on the couch. He took a seat right next to her, needing to be in his imprint's space now that she was hurt.

Her ankle had began to swell, and Sam went to go get an ice pack. "Tripped over a log this time," she responded with a choked laugh, leaning her head onto Embry's shoulder in an attempt to soak up the heat his body was producing. "Thought I saw something and fell."

That last part was whispered out, as though Billie was afraid to utter the words out loud, but both shifters heard it as clear as day. Sam came back into the room, placing the ice pack onto her ankle  and crouching in front of her. "Tell me what really happened out there."

Billie swallowed, ignoring the sting radiating from her foot. "I think I was being followed," she couldn't help but mumble out, eyes averted to the space on the floor in front of Sam.

Both shifters stiffened significantly, thinking perhaps she'd had a run in with a certain vampire they were trying to track. "Did you see who?" Embry questioned immediately. His gaze flickered to Sam's, also asking, "did you catch a scent?"

Sam was quick to tell the boy what information he knew, and paired it with a sigh through his nose. "The only thing out of place on the trail was Billie," he supplied, and the pinched look on his face was telling to the fact that he was trying to relive what he'd witnessed. "Nothing was out of the ordinary..."

The blonde girl took that as her chance to share what she had seen, even before she entered the trail from the street. "Someone tall, and they didn't have an umbrella," were the key details she told them. "I don't know— I just kept getting this weird feeling."

"What kind of feeling?" Sam asked with furrowed brows.

Billie thought about it for a moment, really trying to formulate what she had felt in the woods into words. "It didn't just feel like I was being watched," she shook her head, and when her breathing seemed to hitch slightly, Embry's arms wrapped around her more firmly. 

"It felt like I was being hunted."

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Embry didn't leave Billie's side for the rest of the afternoon, even when his mother had tried summoning him home for dinner. Once Emily returned home from the grocery store, she called Tiffany Call herself to ensure her that they'd be having dinner at the Uley residence— Billie obviously included.

Emily also had to call Katherine Burbank on Billie's behalf, considering that the girl's phone must have slipped from her pant pocket when she'd fallen. Sam ensured her that he'd send one of the boys to try and retrieve it before the bonfire, which they were presently headed to.

Billie's ankle was bandaged up, and despite not having any spare crutches lying around, she had one friend who was more than willing to hoist her onto his shoulders and walk her to wherever she needed to go.

She, and Embry by proxy, were instantly corralled into sitting near Billy Black, the Black patriarch insisting that the billies needed to stick together. She was more than happy to oblige, given that they were in his backyard and she was the outsider, after all.

Well, evidently not the only outsider, considering as just as they were about to begin, Jacob waltzed towards the fire with Bella Swan in towe. Instantly seeing her friend, Billie sprung upward from the folding chair she'd been given and waved her forward.

Thankfully, Bella approached her so that Billie wouldn't have to hobble over on her dead foot. The two friends embraced, Billie only pulling back to take in her friend's presence. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Bella chuckled, before her attention drifted down to Billie's bandaged foot. "What'd you do?"

"Just fell— Sam says it's a little sprained," she reassured her friend, pointedly avoiding mentioning the fact that she fell whilst being followed. She didn't want her friend to worry, not when the pack promised they'd be on the lookout for anything odd already. "It's no biggie, really."

"If you say so," Bella answered in a somewhat disbelieving tone of voice. She was about to add something else when Jacob approached them, side stepping Bella to give Billie a hug that she relished in. She was glad Bella and Jacob's friendship seemed to be patching itself up.

"C'mon, it's gonna be starting soon," he told Bella, tugging on her sleeve to get him to follow. With a last glance, Bella was pulled across from Billie in the large circle that formed, everyone eager to listen in on the stories Billy was about to share.

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"The Quileutes have been a small tribe since the beginning, but we have always had magic in our blood."

Listening to Billy discuss the Quileute legends, stemming all the way from their elder chief Taha Ali and his third wife defeating the cold ones. Billie didn't need to be a genius to figure out what the cold ones were— they were vampires.

The wolves and the vampires seemed to have been at odds for generations, really, so it was no surprise that the shifters only ever had bad things to say about the Cullens. She listened to the whole story with intent, especially when Billy wrapped up his story with the following words;

"Something terrible is coming, and we must all be ready."

And then, everyone began dispersing, signalling that the bonfire of old legends was well over.

Billie tensed in her seat next to Embry, her hand mindlessly fiddling with a flayed piece of fabric from his cargo pants before she turned to him. "What did Billy mean by that?"

Embry's face was one of confusion. "You don't know?"

"Know what?" she asked, almost begging to be made aware of what was going on.

"We thought Bella would've told you, considering how close she is with the Cullens," he started, and their name on his lips was said in a subtle sneer. "We've been hunting this redhead for a while now, 'cause she tried to kill Bella, but she disappeared a couple weeks ago. We're still trying to track her."

A bucket of ice must've been dumped over her head at the revelation. No, Billie was not told about this mysterious redhead that the wolves were trying to trace— a redhead who tried hurting her close friend. No, because once again, she was completely in the dark.

Her gaze travelled to Bella, the girl still across the yard conversing with Jacob and a younger boy she was introduced to by the name of Seth. She seemed tense, probably from the slander of the cold ones in the stories, but other than that, she seemed fine.

She seemed like she wasn't being hunted herself, and at that, Billie's mind was racing. "She didn't say," she told Embry, hand going to scratch at her neck anxiously. "Should I tell her about... y'know."

Embry thought it over, a hardened look dancing across his face. "You shouldn't."

Billie sniffled slightly, "why not?"

"I physically can't say," he ground out, rather uncomfortably, "but the less she knows, the safer you are— okay?"

She trusted Embry with her life, but the Call boy wasn't cryptic, and especially never around her, so his words were particularly jarring. Why was telling Bella about what really happened such a bad idea?

And what the hell was everyone hiding from her?

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[ wyn's note ]

seems like no one wants billie involved in the supernatural drama... but oh boy oh boy is she literally already in the middle of it. #awkward

but yeah, homegirl has a stalker. but the graduation is next chap, so it'll be a little bit of calm before the storm xx

thanks for 12k guys!! hope you guys are enjoying this so far :)) all my love always xx