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Intensity Thirty-Six

Paul's POV

For hours on end, I felt like I was sitting in a fire pit being spit-roasted alive. It was hours upon hours of flames and intense heat before I was drifting, floating, hovering in an unknown space. I tried to get a sense of where I was, but couldn't place it. It looked like a studio of some sort. There were mirrors covering the walls, which surrounded a wide expanse of well-worn wooden floors; what looked like double handrails were attached to the mirror, and there were two large bay windows that overlooked the street. There was a storage closet to the side of the room adjacent to the double doors which led in and out of the space.

The sound of footsteps running disrupted my thoughts. "Mom? Mom?" a desperate voice called.

"Bella? Bella? Where are you?" I heard Renee's worried voice coming from the storage closet. A teenage Bella went rushing towards the voice.

What the hell?

Bella opened the closet door. There was a video of her as a little girl dressed in a pink tutu playing on a small television. She must have been seven or eight-years-old at the time. She was sitting on the floor, pouting, with her arms around her bent knees. Renee had her cuddled close to her side.

"There you are. What are you doing in there?" Renee asked.

"Everyone makes fun of me."

"Come on, you're a wonderful dancer, Bella."

"Mom, I suck."

I chuckled. Yeah, she did suck at dancing, but her two left feet were part of what made her so endearing.

"You do not suck." Renee hugged her daughter with all the love she had for her. If there was one thing I could say about my ditzy mother-in-law, it was the fact that she loved her children fiercely.

And then I heard an evil laugh. Bella gasped and turned around; her eyes wide with fear. A blond, male vampire, shirtless and in his bare feet, approached her. He shoved her up against the wall and stroked her face with his two fingers while explaining how he had lured her to the dance studio by making her think he was holding her mother hostage. Since she had made it too easy for him, he planned on filming her being tortured by him.

"Bella, get the hell out of there!" I shouted. "Bellaaaaa!" I tried to get to her, but I couldn't. No matter what I did, I couldn't get to her.

A brave Bella whipped out a can of pepper spray from her pocket and showered the vampire's eyes with it. She attempted to run from him, but to no avail—he was much too fast for her. Angrily, he swiped his hand and knocked her clear across the floor. She hit her head against a pillar, causing her to bleed.

The sick, twisted vampire stalked up to her, video camera in hand. "Beautiful. Very visually dynamic." The sight of Bella injured and suffering was arousing to the prick. He wanted more. He crushed her leg with one sharp blow. I heard the distinct sound of her bones breaking. Poor Bella howled in agony.

"Take your hands off of her!" I cried. "Leave her alone!" No one could hear me, of course. This was, by far, the worst nightmare I'd ever had. I felt as if I was being tortured alongside her.

The sadistic vampire continued taunting her. He was laughing sinisterly, clearly enjoying the torture he was inflicting on Bella. He nuzzled his nose into her neck and inhaled. He teased her about Edward, and how much he was going to enjoy leaving video evidence of her death for him.

It was at that moment that Edward crashed through the window to save her. A fight ensued, but the psychotic vampire was too strong for him. He was momentarily subdued, and the blond vampire took advantage and sunk his teeth into Bella's wrist. Edward managed to knock the vampire off of her, but the venom was already taking effect.

Suddenly, the dream whisked me away to La Push—to the teenaged me. Something was wrong. I was clutching onto my head and stomach in agony.

"I'm cold. It's so cold. Make it stop!" Josh Uley was with me. He had a blanket covering me and was rubbing my shoulders to keep me warm. "Help me!" I begged. "Aaaaahhhhhhh!"

"Everything is going to be okay, son. Everything is going to be fine." He wrapped his arms around me, trying to reassure me as the pain ripped through me.

"It hurts! Why does it hurt so much?"

"Shh… Only Taha Aki knows the answer. You must trust the spirts."

"None of the other guys have gone through this much torture."

"Sam did. Sam did when he hurt Emily," Josh replied.

"Yeah, but that's because his imprint was hurt. I don't have an imprint. Why are the spirits torturing me? What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing is wrong with you, Paul. Nothing at all." He rocked me in his strong arms, doing his best to comfort me, whispering calming words. "I've got you, boy. I've got you. Shh…"

I remembered the incident. It was March. I had been patrolling the woods when a sudden, inexplicable pain hit me so hard that I lost control of my body. Sam and Jared had to carry me back to the reservation. Billy, Harry, and Old Quil were unable to help. They kept looking through the archives for answers. Josh was the only one who did his best to alleviate my suffering.

There was a change of scenery again, and I was back at the ballet studio. The rest of the Cullens, minus the blonde woman and the mother, had arrived to help Edward. They immediately joined in the fray. The scarred one and the big guy dispatched the evil vampire with ease. Meanwhile, Dr. Cullen, Edward, and the seer worked on Bella. The doctor gave Edward three choices: let the change take effect, kill her, or suck the venom out of her. He explained that with the latter, she would be able to retain her humanity. Edward chose to suck the venom out of her system and keep her human because that's how he loved her best—as a human Bella—as the Bella we all know and love.

My dream spiraled into a different place. We were back in La Push, or maybe Forks. I didn't know. I just knew we were back in the forest I used to patrol in wolf form when we were in danger from vampires. I focused in on the area. We weren't too far from the Swan house. Edward Cullen was breaking up with Bella. Cruelly, he ripped at her confidence and told her he didn't love her—that she was just a plaything—then abandoned her in the forest.

As he ran through the forest back to his car, he agonized out loud. "What have I done? I'm so sorry, Bella. I truly am sorry, but it was for the best. I am a monster and you… you are a treasure. You are meant to love someone with your whole heart, have children, grandchildren, and pass on your goodness as you live out your human life. Carlisle, Jasper, and Rosalie are correct. You are meant to live out your human life, and I cannot be so selfish as to take that from you. I will always, always treasure our time together Isabella Marie Swan."

After that, he ran like the wind away from Bella with a tortured expression on his face.

Bella went running through the same forest searching for Edward, calling out his name. She was crying desperately for him—heartbroken. She lost her footing and tripped over a tree stump. She crumpled into a ball and started sobbing. The dream took me to a different part of the forest, teenaged me was running through the forest, completely confused, in search of… I don't know what. I remembered that day. I was crying and upset, but I didn't know why. I only returned to La Push when Sam found me and ordered me back to La Push.

The dream then whisked me off to the meeting on the same day. Billy Black had issued the command to search the forest and find Bella Swan.

"Why the hell do we have to find her? She's nothing but trouble!" I argued.

"Paul Lahote! She is human. Like all humans, she made a mistake in dating Edward Cullen, but it's no reason to disregard her life. These woods are dangerous," Billy chastised.

"Yeah, well, dating a leech should count for like a hundred mistakes, don't you think?"

"I agree with Paul," Fuller said. "Why waste our resources on the leech lover?"

I had forgotten the term "leech lover" originated from Tony Fuller. I'm ashamed to have ever referred to Bella that way.

Harry Clearwater glared at him with daggers in his eyes. "Charlie Swan is a close friend, and a friend to the tribe, Tony. Regardless of the fact that Bella Swan dated a vampire, we need to find her. If my daughter ever went missing, I would pull out all stops to find her."

"Yeah, well, Leah wouldn't be stupid enough to date a leech," I sassed. "I don't want to waste my time on a girl like that."

"One day, you'll rue your words, Paul," Joe Cameron admonished. "You will look for the girl, not because you've been ordered to, but because all human life should be valued. While you search for her, you will think hard about my words, boy!" When I rolled my eyes at him, Joe grabbed my chin, so my eyes met his. "Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," I replied, and went tearing through the forest in search of Bella Swan. At the time, I needed to find her because I was hot-headed and wanted to chew her out in person for causing so much trouble.

It was Sam who found her, thank God, because I have no idea what kind of hurtful words the pigheaded, teenaged me might have spewed. Sam, unlike me, understood the value of human life. He cradled her in his arms and sat down on the forest floor. "You're so cold, you poor thing. What happened? What did the Cullen do to you?" He picked her up and carried her out of the forest, keeping her warm with his body heat. "I'll always protect you, little one."

There was another shift. I was now on the reservation, specifically at the Black Residence. It was mid-afternoon, Jake and Angela were in his room having sex. Really? What the hell kind of nightmare is this? I shouldn't be exposed to horrific porn in whatever strange trip the spirits have taken me on.

"Jake? Jake? I thought you were going to meet me after school? Angela suggested I should probably check up on you at your house so I'm here," Bella called as she walked into the house.

Wait a second! Angela told her to check up on Jake? That bitch set her up so she'd get hurt.

"Bella, leave! Don't go in there!" I yelled to no avail.

"Jake, where are you? I know you're…" She stopped speaking and stood motionless as she took in the horror she had stumbled upon. Angela and Jake were literally mid-fuck.

"How could you?" She paused and looked between the two. "Both of you? I thought you were my friend, Angela? And Jake… How? Why?"

Jake imprinted on me," Angela boasted with a smug smile on her face.

"Then why didn't you tell me? Why? I would have understood." Bella was attempting to keep it all together, but she couldn't stop the tears from flowing.

At that moment, Billy wheeled into the room. Jacob tried to go to Bella, but he was still naked. Billy's face turned quickly from one of shock to anger. He quickly reached for a hysterical Bella and pulled her onto his lap, holding her, attempting to calm her down.

"Get the hell out of her! Both of you!" he yelled at his son and the monster who was his imprint.

The couple quickly got dressed and disappeared while Bella sobbed her eyes out.

"Oh, Bella." He shook his head. "I'm so sorry that my son has been so inconsiderate. I thought he had told you." He tilted her chin up so she would look him in the eyes. "Listen to me. You need to be brave. You need to show those two what you're made of. Go to the prom with your head held up high. Prove to them that you aren't going to put up with them treating you so callously. After that, graduate from high school and go to college." He hugged her close to him. "You go to college and make something of yourself, and when you come back to see us in La Push—you come back stronger and more confident than ever because that's what you really are, Bella." He paused and smiled at fondly at her. "I will always be your Uncle Billy, and will always love you like a daughter."

Bella had cried herself to sleep. Billy called Sam, who drove her home in her beat-up red truck. He carried her up to her room and tucked her into bed. He kissed her on the forehead and departed quickly. "Jacob will pay for this," he vowed as he slipped back out of her window and ran back to La Push.

At the same time, Jacob was sitting on the forest floor with his hands in his face, sobbing his eyes out. "I'm so sorry, Bells. I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you." He looked up into the night sky. "God, somebody, anybody, please… Please help me! It hurts! I love her! Why are you taking her from me?"

Later that night, I had been patrolling the woods behind Bella's house. I could hear her soft cries. I knew what had happened because Billy had informed us earlier in the evening. My heart ached for her. I didn't even like Bella then, but I knew Angela and Jake had burned her in the worst way possible. It was at that moment that I vowed to find and kill the redheaded leech. I wanted Bella Swan to have one less thing to worry about. She didn't need any further trauma in her life. She had suffered enough.

I drifted once again to a different time and place. This time, I was at the house I grew up in. My mother was alone in the house, slumped on the floor, with her back resting against our old, beat-up sofa. She had a bottle of gin in one hand and a framed photo of me, from my college graduation, in another.

"I fucked up today, Paul. I fucked up big time. I tried. I tried so hard to stay sober—just once—so you could be proud of me." She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. "I used to not be like this. I used to be smart—really smart. I don't know what happened. I have no idea, but the drugs and alcohol suddenly started taking over, and I lost myself." She looked at my picture with longing. "Paul, I want you to know how proud I am of you. You went to college and became a success. You rose above the crappy life I gave you and made something of yourself." She paused and took a swig from the bottle. "I've loved you from the moment you were born, and I will love you even after I die."

At this point, my mother reached into her pocket and produced a bottle of Vicodin. She opened up the lid and stared at the contents.

Holy shit! Is she going to do what I think she is? "Mom! No!" I cried. "No, I want you to live. You can beat this! Mom!"

She closed her eyes and bit her lower lip. She shook her head and started hyperventilating, warring with herself. Finally, with a look of determination, she lifted the bottle of pills to her lips, emptied the contents into her mouth, and washed it down with the gin.

She turned her eyes up to the heavens. "Please, Taha Aki. Please look after my son. He's a good boy—he always has been. Guide him to someone strong who will love him unconditionally, and look after him." She tapped one finger under her chin as if she was thinking, before looking up again. "Make sure that she's pretty, too. I want beautiful grandchildren because if there's one positive thing I gave my son, it's my stunning good looks."

I laughed at her sense of humor. My mother fixed her eyes onto the photo of me and smiled. I had forgotten how beautiful she was when she smiled.

"Stay good, Paul. I love you." As soon as the words left her mouth, she took her last breath, and her eyes glazed over. She had died alone. Her final thoughts had been of me.

A few hours later, a concerned Sue walked into the house to check on her. She screamed in horror at the sight of my dead mother. She immediately dialed 911 and gave her CPR, but to no avail—my mother had already died.

"Oh, Paulie. Why? You were doing so well." Sue saw the photo of me in my mother's hand. "I will make sure Paul knows you loved him."

Until this moment, I had no idea my mother had taken her own life. I thought she had overdosed after a night of heavy partying—at least that's what the coroner's report said.

There was one final change of scenery. This time, I was back in Phoenix at a familiar dive bar. An extremely hot girl with long, wavy, brown hair and the sweetest body I'd ever seen had just tripped over her own two feet. I reached out with both arms to grab her so she wouldn't fall. She looked into my eyes and smiled to thank me.

Bam! There it was… Intensity!