Chapter Text
You know, it’s surprising how few people visit La Push beach. Especially this time of year, Forks is as warm as it’s gonna get and the waves relatively calm.
Although, it’s probably better that they don’t, as La Push and Forks in general seem to appeal to the supernatural like moth to a flame.
“Seth, go call Dr. Cullen. Quil, watch the perimeter, make sure no one comes. Leah, carry her to the Cullens house,” Sam was directing everyone with a sharp, quiet voice, it being way to late in the afternoon for yelling without drawing unwanted attention.
Leah obeyed her orders, picking up the fish-woman and racing towards the forest. The woman was strangely light for such a long tail, looking like something from a fucking Disney movie. Blood still slowly dropped down her side, despite the sand matted to the wound.
When the pack (sans Jared and Embry, who were shopping for Emily) had gone down the beach to relax a little, trying to unwind after a long week of working and helping the Cullens with whatever the fuck, the very last thing they expected was a mother-fucking mermaid to be laying on the shore, dry as the driftwood around her.
She had had a dangerously large pool of blood around her, and her breathing had been very shallow, pulse barely strong enough to feel. Completely unconscious, hair-like ropes like dreads in a sandy mess around her head. Not the strangest thing Leah had ever seen, but definitely up there.
It wasn’t a very long run to the Cullen residence, but long enough for Leah’s arms and front to be soaked in rapidly cooling blood by the time she passed the creek. It smelled like salt and iron, almost enough to disguise the putrid scent of blood-sucker.
The first to greet her was Carlisle, with Jacob right behind him. The latter paused and gawked at the sight of Leah carrying a fucking mermaid, both of them coated in blood. The mermaids tail was dragging on the forest floor, leaving a trail of bloody streaks that they would have to go back and clean later.
“What happened?” Carlisle asked, voice calm and steady, which is basically the norm for the vampire. Leah told him all she knew as she passed the woman in her arms to him, which wasn’t much at all. Carlisle nodded nonetheless and ran back into the house, almost blurring as he went as fast as could with the fish-woman in his arms. He must’ve been prepared.
“Are you alright? What about everyone else?” Ah, there’s Jacobs rapid-fire questioning. Good to know he’s feeling like himself. “Were you attacked?”
“Shut up dude, I’m fine, so is the pack,” she said, crossing her arms, before immediately cringing and spreading them again so she can look at the damage. The shirt was definitely done for, but maybe the shorts can be salvaged.
Alice showed up then, wide eyes growing wider as she took in Leah’s state. “I’ve got some clothes that might fit, if you’d like.”
Leah piped up a little, relief that she won’t have to trek back through the forest and put more effort than usual into dodging anyone she might come across flooding through her. Her silence must’ve been an answer itself, as Alice smiled and beckoned her inside.
The house smelled awful of course, but not bad enough to curb Leah from following the tiny woman upstairs and into the nearly useless bathroom. Alice left her there, leaving to find something for her to wear.
It’s been a while since the whole vampire-baby thing, and while there was still a little tension between the two supernatural species, it wasn’t nearly as bad as before. Leah would never admit it to anyone, but she was a little glad.
She peeled off the shirt and the bra underneath, both needing to be thrown away. That was alright, she didn’t feel particularly attached to the two items. The shorts she liked a lot, so she took them off and put them in the sink, filling it with water to soak. Her underwear was untouched, so she put them in their own spot.
Leah was about to hop into the shower when Alice knocked a little tune, then opened to door just a crack to place a pile of clothes on the counter. “They might be a little tight, sorry,” she said, waving into the room before slipping her hand back out and closing the door with a soft click. Leah murmured her thanks to the open air, knowing Alice heard her, before turning the shower on hot.
Climbing in and feeling the semi-dried blood on her arms flow down and into the drain felt refreshing. Her hair had matted a bit with the red stuff so she ran her hands through it until the knots and blood were gone.
Then she heard a commotion somewhere else in the house. Did the mermaid wake up? Did the rest of the Cullen family go nuts from the blood? Alice seemed just fine, so maybe not. Leah hurried through scrubbing the blood from her legs and belly before turning off the water and drying off.
Dressed in a green tee-shirt and blue jeans, clothes in the washer and hair still dripping, she walked downstairs and outside, finding Jacob and Seth on the steps, likely talking about what happened. The blood that had smeared on the porch was gone, the smell was too.
“Oh, hey Leah,” Seth said, grinning and waving over Jacobs shoulder. Leah nodded to him, before getting to the point. “What happened after I left?” Seth got serious, reporting that Paul, Quil and Embry were going along the trail cleaning away any trace of what happened, Sam and Jared were going along the coast looking for any sign of a fight. Something must’ve happened for that woman to be injured like that.
They sat there for a bit, before Renessme jogged out of the tree line, Rosalie and Emmett close behind her. Rosalie locked onto the werewolves sitting on the steps and sent a questioning look.
Nessie launched herself at Jacob, grinning wide as she told him about her time at the lake. Emmett greeted them each with a fist-bump and gave Rosalie a kiss, then disappeared, his form blurring as he ran into the house.
“What happened?” Rosalie asked, looking between the three as Nessie hugged Seth next. “We were on the beach and found a…” Leah fished (heh) around for a good word before deciding to just be blunt. “A mermaid. She was injured bad, Carlisle is with her now.”
Rosalie’s eyes went wide, her eyebrows raising in what looked like skepticism.
Nessie chose that moment to wrap her arms around Leah with a cry of “Auntie Lee-Lee!”, a nickname she’d given her a long time ago. She had to admit, it made her a little happy that she’d gotten a warm reception from the half vampire kid. Seth took over from there, explaining what went down as Nessie sat in Leah’s lap, legs kicking as she told her all about her day.
“What, no hug for Auntie Alice?” Alice piped up from behind them. Nessie giggled and stood up to throw herself at the short vampire. Jasper stood behind Alice, in the doorway as he nodded his greetings at the pack.
“Okay, go say hi to grandma, she misses you!” Alice said cheerily after a few moments, and Nessie ran into the house, hugging Jasper as she did.
When she was out of earshot, Alice turned to her audience. “Carlisle says she’s stable, but he doesn’t know much else. He’s in there right now running some blood tests,” she said, lips in a thin line. “Her injuries seem man-made, precise. He thinks she was attacked.”
Leah felt a little sorry for the mermaid. The injuries were bad, must’ve been painful. She wants to see the woman, curiosity killed the cat and all. She doesn’t know what else makes her ask to see her.
Jacob and Seth seemed surprised, Leah is too, but Alice just gives her this look, like she expected this, and leads the way to Carlisle’s office. Leah could hear Nessie chatting with Esme in the kitchen as they passed. Esme is nice, oohing and awing at Nessie’s tales.
Alice opened the door and walked in, while Leah stood in the doorway, taking in the scene.
The woman was laying on the hospital bed, the tail that was twice as long as Alice was tall resting on two medical trays spaced out. Her dreadlock-ish hair was spread out to one side, long and glossy.
Now that she wasn’t covered in sand and blood, Leah could see that her grayish-blueish-beige skin was raw and flaking, like a very bad sunburn, and the little sliver of skin on her back that Leah could see looked darker than the skin of her front. The seemed to be gills where her ribs were, frilled and twitching as she breathed. At least she seemed to breathe air.
The wounds on her stomach and back were wrapped up, and her previously nude chest was covered in medical cloth. She looked very thin, yet muscular. Leah couldn’t help but wonder if she spends much time on land, and if she was as strong as she looked.
Carlisle was looking at a screen, eyebrows drawn. “Anything?” Alice asked, walking up to him and looking at the screen, on her tiptoes next to him to peer over his shoulder. Leah stepped into the room, letting the door close behind her as she went up to the bed.
The woman’s face was… not the vision of beauty that the tales tell of. Her jaw and cheekbones were sharp, nose a little crooked. Way-too-hollow cheeks had ridges, just under her eyes. Her lips were cracked and cut, apart slightly as she breathed. Inside her mouth seemed to be a grinder full of sharp teeth. Leah would hate to be bitten by that.
Looking a little closer revealed that her skin wasn’t like human skin, but scaly, freckle-like patches on her face, alternating from tiny pinpricks to thumb-nail sized blotches. Her hair wasn’t hair at all, instead she had a head full of some sort of thin tendril-ish flesh. Despite all of this, Leah felt… mesmerized.
The mermaid seemed to call to her. Was this what the stories always told of? A terrifying force of nature that’ll draw in any unsuspecting bastard?
Distantly, Leah heard Alice gasp, whatever she was holding falling to the floor with ear-crushing clatter. Carlisle ran to the other side of the bed, worried, as Alice stared at the two woman, but Leah didn’t register any of it. She was too busy staring into the inky pools of black in front of her.
A feeling, loud and quiet at the same time. Screaming at her as it caressed her skin, violently digging up her organs and cradling them with care and love. The mermaid stared back at the werewolf, eyes too wide and round to be anything other than supernatural, if the lack of any color other than pure, unadulterated black wasn’t enough to prove that.
In that moment, Leah finally got what Jacob told her. Like you’ve found your center, your reason. But it wasn’t like that of an older sibling to their younger sister, familial, caring. It was like fire, burning her out with the force of the… the love, pure and swirling within her. The love towards the one thing worth living for. The woman, staring blankly up at her, mouth opening in a gasp as Leah sighed.
Alice, ever the empath, put her hands on Leah’s shoulders and pulled her away without obstructing the woman’s view of the mermaid she just imprinted on. Carlisle took her spot and finally broke her focus, but Alice had her out of the door and into the hall before she could become hostile.
It felt like Leah’s brain had squeezed through her nose and flipped her off as it jumped through a window. What the shit…. Now that the she was away from the mermaid, her thoughts were somewhat coherent. Was that… holy shit.
The pack would never let her live this down.