in a flash - a Jacob Black Tale

Tess was paralyzed. But she couldn't be sure if it was from some sort of power as a vampire, or was it that her mother was still a gypsy at heart.

Her mother. It finally fled through her like a painful thought. She didn't know. She didn't. But still there was Jacob. Her future. Tess strained to fight back this power that was consuming her to stay put. She could not move. But still she wanted to save her mother. Or did she want to save Jacob?

It was confusing.

STOP. It was all she could think. Not a chant of a gypsy curse or any hex or any of the so called crap she'd had to contend with all her life, and yet Tess meant business. If her mother could do this to her... she'd have to have the faith inside herself to STOP THEM NOW. Tess squinted harder. Ever part of her being tensed. She could sense it. She could control it. Whatever it was. It was from her heart, her soul. Like a prayer perhaps. It was a part of her she had no idea she had nor had ever tapped into.

And suddenly. Everything stopped. Perfectly.

Tess just blinked. It was unbelievable. It was magic. But she was still stuck. She could not move. How could she undo this? Get out of the predictument. Wasn't like she had suspended time. Exactly. Just Jacob from hurting her mother.

OK. Calm. Just be calm she told herself. She'd have to think herself out of this. She took a couple of calming breaths. She'd have to believe she could do it. She could. She had stopped them like statues. This was life or death. She had the power to do it. But how? It didn't seem exactly logical. But she had to think clearly. A pure thought. Yes, that was the key. Wasn't it. Mind control. Compulsion. Repulsion. Something had to work, but it wasn't like a science experiment she could do research on in beakers. This was the real deal. This was her life.

She focused on the state of things. Finally she slipped down the wall in a spli second but when she finally hit the ground...she lost focus. And everything came undone. Jacob was attacking her mother.

Tess winced. Ready to give up. Some power she had. She looked to her hands. Why couldn't she be stronger? Why didn't she know what to do next before something awful happened? Finally Tess told the hands what to do. It was just a chance. Her strength was not in muscle, but the mind. Instantly she sucked her mother into the nearby wardrobed and locked it. In just one wave of the hands. Instantly. Tess couldn't help but grin with a bit of satisfaction.

She saw that Jacob bleeding, but rapidly breathing. She was about ready to cry, thinking it was all over. But she had to keep her faith that she could keep her mother in the wardrobe because her mother was fighting to get out. The rodrobe rocked about. Finally it was still. She had to see about Jacob, who's werewolf status was fading fast and there he was in the flesh.

Of course, Tess couldn't be sure if it were her own doing, or his or someone else's. It was then that Tess saw the blood. Jacob had been bitten on the shoulder.