claudia | embry call

fourteen : victoria

"Can't Paul go?" Claudia frowned. Embry sighed, shaking his head.

"Him and Sam are out with Quil right now." His fingers ran lightly over Claudia's cheek. "And I can't just let Jake go into vampire territory unprotected."

"What if they're all back?" Claudia's voice was laced with sorry. "Jake said there were seven of them, you'll be outnumbered."

"If something happens, Sam will bring the others." A loud horn sounded outside, and Embry sighed. "I'll be back before the funeral." Claudia leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his torso. He chuckled, his hands raking through her hair.

"Please come back." She mumbled into his shirt.

"I'll always come back to you." He leaned down, kissing the top of her head. The horn sounded again and he sighed. "I'll be back." She nodded, letting him go. After she heard the front door shut, she sighed and fell backwards, sighing deeply. After a few minutes, she pulled herself out of bed and began to get ready for the funeral.

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"What do you mean Bella's gone?" Claudia whispered.

"She and the bloodsucker left in the bloodsuckers car and Jake ran off." Embry shrugged. "She yelled something about taking care of Charlie, so I dunno if she's coming back."

"You think they're gonna turn her?" Claudia's eyes widened.

"Dunno, but if they do they break the treaty." Embry pushed open the door and they finally stepped out into open air. As soon as the door shut, his voice returned to normal volume. "Sam told us to go let Jake cool off, and he'd go find him after the funeral."

"I hope he's alright." She frowned. Embry stopping, moving to stand in front of Claudia.

"Don't worry about him, okay?" His hands rested on the sides of her face. "Jake's a dumbass, but he'll be fine."

"But Victoria's still-"

"There's no way in hell she's coming back anytime soon." Embry chuckled. "Besides, she was after Bella, right? Bella's gone, so I'm sure the redhead's moved on by now anyway."

"Embry..." Claudia rested her hands over his. "I'm scared." Embry's face got serious.

"You have nothing to be scared of, do you understand? Nothing." She recognized a fierceness in his eyes like she'd never seen before. "Nothing, bloodsucker or otherwise, will ever hurt you." She could only nod. "Good." His smile returned, and he relaxed. "Now come on, I need to get out of this suit I feel like I'm about to burn to death." She snorted, shaking her head lightly as he took her hand and began leading her towards his truck.

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"Hey Uncle Billy." Claudia breathed. Embry and Quil were out on patrols, so she'd decided to come check on Jake, who Sam'd already sent home. "Jake still here?" Billy sighed.

"He left about ten minutes ago." Billy frowned. "Mentioned something about going down to First. Send him home if you find him, will you?" She nodded.

"You doin' okay?" She asked lightly, and Billy sighed again.

"I'll be fine, Claudia." He nodded.

"Alright." She began to turn away. "I'll tell Jake to come home when I see him."

"Thanks." She nodded again, and heard the door shut softly as she stepped back onto the grass. Sighing, and pulling her jacket tighter around her, she began back towards the woods. It wasn't a long walk down to First Beach, but the slowly increasing rain didn't make the trip any easier. By the time she got there, her boots were caked in mud, and the rest of her was soaking wet. Her hair stuck to her face as she trudged through the sand, looking around for Jake.

"Just my luck." She mumbled as she leaned against the sea wall. Jake was no where around, it didn't look like anyone had come down to the beach at all today, at least not for a few hours. She sighed, pushing herself off the stone and turning around. A flash of bright red made her jump and freeze in place. In a second, a woman was standing in front of her. Thought it only took a second for Claudia to realize who it was. "Victoria." She whispered, and the shrill laugh that followed only confirmed what she'd known.

"So you dogs do know who I am." The voice that came out of Victoria didn't match her appearance. She sounded like a sweet, innocent girl, but she loomed a few feet from Claudia like a starving predator, ready to play with her food before attacking. "Funny, I've never seen one of you look so human." She leaned forward, making Claudia jump back. Victoria laughed, inhaling deeply. "Ah, I knew there was something different about you. You are human." Victoria took a step closer, so Claudia moved back. This continued until Claudia was pressed against the sea wall with nowhere to go. She stared back into Victoria's crimson eyes, terrified.

"I wonder how you know about me, then." Victoria advanced another step, looking expectantly at Claudia. "Well, aren't you going to tell me? I'd at least like to know before I kill you." Claudia flinched as Victoria took another step. "Tell me." She said in a low voice.

"Embry." Claudia squeaked out. "And the others. The wolves."

"You're friends, I take it." Victoria chuckled. "What is it with the creatures in this area and keeping human pets so often? First those Cullens, now the wolves. Maybe there's something to it that I'm just not seeing." Victoria took another step, now within arms reach. Claudia cringed back against the hard stone as much as she could. Victoria inhaled again, sighing. "Mm, you do smell good, though." Another step. "If I kept you around, well...I don't know if I'd be able to control myself." Victoria's hand raised and Claudia flinched away, but it was no use. Victoria caught a piece of Claudia's hair between her fingers, leaning closer and smelling it.

"You smell better up close." Victoria took another step, now less than a foot from Claudia. She flinched against as the cold, stone-hard hand of Victoria brushed against her face as she dropped her hair. "Then again, I could just turn you. It might be fun to hunt the wolves with someone who knows them so well." Victoria licked her lips. Claudia's hands pressed against the wall behind her, but as she flinched away from Victoria one of them slipped, slicing against the rough, uneven surface. In a second, Victoria's hand was wrapped around Claudia's wrist as she held the now bleeding hand in between them. "Mmm, a taste test? How generous." Claudia tried to struggle away as Victoria licked the blood from her palm, but Victoria's grip tightened.

Claudia's wrist let out multiple loud popping sounds and Claudia cried out in pain, Victoria only rolling her eyes. "Humans are so breakable." She sighed, almost as if she was bored. "I guess I'll just have to make you less breakable, won't I?"