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Post by Haz on Dec 17, 2009 18:16:56 GMT -5
Ah yes, Haz had a new fanfic? . Yes it's true. I got Writer's Block on my other fic and being slightly obsessed with Twilight, I wrote a Twilight fic! You might of read it on FF.Net of PC (I seriously doubt it though). Anyway, here it is and don't forget to review! Shayla’s Twilight.Author’s notes: This take place during Twilight and later, New Moon featuring my OC. I thought it would be fun to put her in the story, to shake things up a bit. The first chapter starts just before Edward introduces Bella to the Cullens. Enjoy. Chapter 1: High School (AKA Hell)
Shayla’s POVIt’s a nightmare being back here. It was like the hundreds of scents teasing me, laughing at me as I forced myself to resist them. Life’s unfair. I guess being near perfect does have its downside. I catch my reflection in the window and I start to mull over my appearance. I share the typical vampire traits such as inhumane beauty, pale skin, golden eyes (which darken as my thirst grows) and deep, purple shadows under the eyes (like my eyes, they darken as I grow hungrier). I’m pretty tall around 5’9”, last time I checked but not nearly as tall as any of the Cullen boys. I’m muscular like the boys but still quite lean at the same time. I’m not overweight due to being lean which helps me with my speed and evasion. I have long brown hair. I have a number of piercings which I’ve had to do myself despite my family’s displeasure. I have a nose stud, a small nose ring, my tongue done and my ears three times with two studs and one ring in each. My physical age is sixteen but I can pass for fifteen or seventeen even if I tried. I scowl as I play with the food I cannot eat in front if me. My adoptive brother Emmett shoots me a look from my right side, “Why the long face Shay?” He asks, a playful grin upon his face. I give a forced smile which ends up being a grimace. I sigh; he knows why I’m somewhat depressed. “It’s just so hard being here!” I growl quietly, as I glare at my untouched food. “I knew that leaving here would be a bad thing!” I stab at the pizza on my plate as though this was its fault. “Easy Shayla,” Jasper soothes from the other side of the table. He’s sitting next to Alice who in turn is sitting next to me. “Don’t cause a scene, I know it’s hard but hold out for the day. We’ll go hunting later,” he leans forward and reaches in front of Alice to touch my hand. I start to feel calmer and my anger dies down. “Damn your gift Jasper,” I whisper but no anger is in my voice. That was Jasper’s gift, he could manipulate a persons emotions. I heard him chuckle from Alice’s side as he lets go of my hand and leant back across the table. Jasper is the person I turn to in this situation; he knows how hard it is to resist the thirst and the symptoms it brings, the dry ache in my throat, the hollow yearn in my stomach, the automatic tightening of my muscles, the excess flow of venom in my mouth… Except, he prefers to suffer in silence while I tend to blab my problems out if someone asks. Not that I want to anyway. I rather keep my problems to myself. I stare up at the cracks in the ceiling, imaging my patterns to life. A wolf standing on a cliff top, a bat flying through a cave. I wish I could be free, free of this world called High School. It sucked big time, and here I was, going through it for the millionth time perhaps. I push the brim of my black flat-brimmed cap up as I release my stare from the ceiling just as a familiar scent reaches my nostrils, pushed by the flow of air from heaters. My sense of smell was stronger then my siblings because of my ‘animal-senses’ as Jasper and I like to call them. As a human, I was almost one with animals. I learnt to communicate with them through imitation of their sounds and body language. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you looked at), it didn’t work on mountain lions. I had been mauled and had nearly died but Emmett found me and carried me back to Carlisle where I became a vampire. So for some odd reason, most likely linked to ability to communicate with animals in my human life, my senses were stronger then my siblings. I could smell better, see better but not hear better. That was a downside I guessed. I could also partly shape-shift but only when I hunted or had extreme emotions such as anger or fear. But with Jasper around, that rarely happened. Back to that scent. I recognised it but couldn’t identify it, who was it? I couldn’t think! I turned my head and saw who was coming, walking towards me at typical human speed, the brother I haven’t seen in months, almost a year. “Ed!” I call, calling him by his insufferable nickname. My yell was almost lost in the babble of the cafeteria but I knew he would hear me. My brother glanced up from where he walked and the instant he saw me, his face broke into that crooked grin of his. “Shay!” He calls back as he strode towards me. I exit my seat to head towards him where he pulls me into a hug, a big bone-crushing hug, similar to what Emmett would give. A few people lift their heads to stare but soon they soon drop back down to continue eating or conversations. A particular head catches my attention. A girl with a pair of wide, chocolate-brown eyes set in a pale, heart-shaped face with long brown hair tumbling loosely down her shoulders. The daughter of Chief Swan, Isabella. Bella, she would correct everyone who used her full name. She gave a curious look at Edward and me just as the bell rang. Edward releases me before giving me a kiss on the cheek before sweeping away to meet her. He placed an arm around her as they headed off towards Biology. “Who was that?” I murmur to Alice as we head off to class. I had English with her. Jasper walked with us until he passed his Trig class. Alice looks slightly surprised “Oh, you don’t know Bella?” She asks. “How can you be surprised, when you know everything?” I hiss at her. “And I’ve been back for not even a day!” “Don’t bite my head off Shayla. That’s Bella. Haven’t you been wondering why Edward is so happy now?” I frown as we get to our English room. He did seem happier. But why? Then it hit me. “Oh!” I cry as we take our usual seats at the back of the room. The teacher, Mr Logan, enters and fiddles with his desk. I ignore him and continue talking with Alice. “Is Bella Edward’s…?” I lower my voice as the class starts to fall silent and because Mr Logan starts to set up a DVD by using a laptop and a projector to show the movie up on the blank wall above the board. The lights are clicked off and I pretend to watch the movie as he shushes the class. “So is Bella Edward’s mate?” I whisper to Alice who is resting her head on the desk. She lifts her head for a second and nods before settling it down again, her eyes never leaving the screen. I continue with my questioning, keeping my voice lower then the human ears can pick up, but my sister’s can. “Since when?” “Few weeks,” murmured Alice “She appeals to him greatly. Her blood and body- it’s like a tug-of-war match. When he first met her in Biology, he wanted her extremely but was forced to act like he hated her. He ran away to Alaska for a few days but returned, hunting more, alone, so he could meet her without risk. They talked but then there was an accident.” “What kind of accident? Like a car accident?” “Something like that. Tyler Crowley nearly crashed his van into her but Edward saved her, tried to convince her that she hit her head when she saw him shove the van out of the way. She didn’t buy it and tried to figure him out. Eventually, a family friend Jacob, whose also a Quileute tribe member at La Push, you know where that is right? The reserve where we can’t go?” She makes a face and I nod. She keeps going. “Yeah, he told her a story about Cold Ones. In other words, vampires.” She lowers her voice more as she leans in closer to me. “She did research on the net and then Edward told her, after he rescued her from some thugs in Port Angeles. He told her about his mind-reading first and then eventually admitted it.” “Why the hell would he do that?” I growl. “How can he be so stupid!?” “Shay, she made him happy. And he’s in love. There’s another thing about Bella, Shayla. Edward can’t read her mind. We don’t know what it is; even Carlisle can’t figure it out.” Well that did it. If Carlisle couldn’t figure it out, then no-one could. “Wow,” I whisper. “I missed a lot hey?” Alice nods but then clears her throat suddenly and her voice is business-like but still barely a whisper. “Right while we are on the subject on that, where have you been Shayla Cullen?” I gulp. “Maybe it’s explaining time.” “Damn straight!” she hisses back. “I’ll explain later okay?” I murmur as Mr Logan fixes us with a ‘be quiet’ look. “It’s complicated.” “Shayla…” she says, trying to persuade me. “Leave it!” I hiss as I kick her chair leaving a small dent in the side. I give it a dirty look before leaning my head down on my desk, close my eyes and fall into a phoney, dream-less sleep. About an hour and a half later (double periods of fifty minutes, ugh!), the bell goes signalling the end of the school day. Best time of the day. The rest of my family, apart from Edward, head towards Rosalie’s bright red BMW convertible. I head towards my ride, a black Harley motorcycle. I force my hat into my bag and swing over my back while stepping on the bike. I slip my helmet on, looking more like a dirt-bike helmet then a road bikes’, and pull the black goggles down. I rev the engine, earning a disapproving look from some teachers. “Time to punch out,” I growl, referring to a line from one of my favourite movies, as I lift my legs and let the bike roar its way out of the parking lot as I head towards home, closely followed by my siblings. Bella’s POVI was meant to be getting a ride with Edward again. However, he was going to be hunting with Alice. But there was something was bothering me. It was about the new Cullen I had seen with Edward at lunch. “What are you thinking about?” Edward asked curiously. He couldn’t ‘hear’ my thoughts like the rest of the human and vampire population. “I’m intrigued,” I say, glancing at him we stood by my truck. “Who was the girl sitting with your family at lunch? I’ve never seen her before.” Edward gave a small smile. “Until today, I didn’t think I would see her again,” he paused; I half wondered if he was debating whether or not to tell me who she was. “I saw you hug her,” I admit, pressing further for information. “And you accuse me of spying,” he give a grin. “I wish I could tell you everything about her but I not sure where to start.” “Is she…” I pause, trying to think of the right way to say what I was thinking. “Like you?” His face goes tight and he nods. “That’s all I needed to hear,” I say, not wanting to push him any further. “She’s the youngest in my family. She would be nearing fifty-four now.” I purse my lips as I think. “Long-lost sister?” I eventually ask. “Somewhat. She… she ran away for a while. A typical teenage rebellion. A typical teenage vampire rebellion that is.” “What’s her name?” “Shayla. She was born in 1955 and when she was sixteen, in 1971, she was attacked by a mountain lion,” he paused. “Emmett found her, mauled and near death. He took her back to Carlisle where she… was changed. She’s been with us until a year ago when she left. We had no clue where she went. I didn’t even know she was back.” He glances at his watch. “You better start heading home Bella, it’s getting late and I don’t think Alice would want me to be late.” He flashes his sparkling teeth at me. “Sorry,” I say as I open the door of my truck. “Will I see you tomorrow?” I ask as I climb in my truck. “Yes, you are coming with me, remember?” he chuckles. He was right; I cancelled my trip to Seattle for him. “Oh, right.” “I’ll come by tomorrow, you’re driving.” I start the engine and turn around to look at him. But he was gone.
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Post by Haz on Dec 17, 2009 18:19:35 GMT -5
Chapter 2: Home Shayla’s POV
I pulled up at the beautiful, white mansion. My old home. If I was welcomed back that is. Esme and Carlisle… Mom and Dad… Would they accept me back? I went straight to school when I returned. Alice had seen me return in a vision and told Jasper but the others didn’t know until I called out to them before school. After a brief reunion, it was back to normal for us.
I cut the engine of my bike and take off my helmet before just sitting on my bike for a minute, staring up at the house.
Was I welcome back? Would they hate me? Dad, oh I betrayed Carlisle, my own father! Who took me in and I walked out on him!
I hope off my bike and wheel it into the garage. The spot where it used to always sit is empty. I bet Alice had something to with that.
I leave my jacket, gloves, helmet and goggles on the bench lining the wall at the back of garage, and run, vampire speed, out of the garage and into the house. I hear Rosalie’s car pull up outside. Only her, Emmett and Jasper were in it. Alice and Edward went hunting.
I call out as I step into the house. “Esme? Are you here?”
“Shayla?” she asks and I follow her voice by heading to the dining room, blue-prints are spread over the table. She must be modifying the house again. “Is that really you?”
“Yeah, it’s me,” I mumble, shame and guilt filling me again. I really shouldn’t be back. I’m a terrible daughter.
“Oh Shayla!” She cried as she grasped me and hugged me fiercely. I don’t know why she’s so surprised, she must of have smelt me at some point. Or maybe she wasn’t sure it was me.
I hug her back though with difficulty. I tower over her 5’6” frame with my 5’9” height.
“I’m sorry, Esme. I shouldn’t of left. I’m a horrible daughter and I don’t deserve to be forgiven let alone allowed back here,” I hang my head, staring at the floor.
“Shayla Cullen,” she says sternly. “Of course I forgive you! You are NOT a horrible daughter and you are allowed back here, forever. I love you and don’t forget that. I’m your mom and you shall call me that.” She hugs me again.
Without asking, she takes my school bag and runs up to my room to put it away. She’s back in a few seconds. I cock my head to the side and grin. “You’ve gotten faster.” It wasn’t a question.
She smiles. “Only a bit. Did you know Shayla that you’re not the first to run away?”
“Hm?” I cock my head to the side again, in confusion.
“Edward did. He found a mate called-“
“Oh yeah, yeah I know all about Bella, Alice told me,” I cut in impatiently, thinking back to English.
“Oh. Did you head to school?” She frowns when I nod. “I hope you hunted first. When you’ve been away that long it can be difficult to resist.”
“I did Mom. I knew I had to. I’m not stupid.” I grin as I lean back against the dining room wall.
“So you should know all about it. Shayla, I’m so glad you are home! Which brings me to the point, where have you been!?”
I grimace; I knew I would to explain it sooner or later. And later would be better. “Well, I would love to tell you but I think it would be better when everyone else is here.”
Jasper’s POV
I could feel Rosalie getting more and more impatient as we sat in the BMW. I was surprised Emmett was lasting this long as well. I ignored them both and focused on the emotions coming from the house. There was guilt and shame radiating from Shayla but now there was relief. Esme had nothing but happiness coming off her.
“Alright, can I drive in now?” Rose cuts in, her voice impatient.
“Yes, it’s fine now,” I reply as I lean back into the seat.
Rose speeds into the garage, almost crashing but stops in time and we leap out. I’m rather anxious to see Shay. She has been miserable all day, fretting over how she would explain everything to Esme and Carlisle.
“I hope she’s okay,” Emmett said, slightly frowning. He was worried about Shayla, I could tell.
Esme was looking over her blueprints when we entered. She was beaming when we entered.
“Hello Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett,” she said cheerfully. “Where’s Alice and Edward?”
“Hunting,” replied Emmett. “He’s taking Bella somewhere tomorrow.”
“Where’s Shay?” I ask.
“In her room, I-” she starts to say but then the loud, pounding noise of drums came thundering through the house.
Emmett whoops, “Hell yeah I’ve missed that sound!” before he sprints up the stairs.
Shayla’s POV
I had heard my siblings enter the house and I decided to give them a little ‘gift’.
I sped up into my room. God, I missed it. With the poster covered walls, double bed despite me being unable to sleep, desk with my laptop and sketches strewn all over it, my twin samurai swords in the case hanging above my bed, and most importantly, my electric guitar and drum-kit.
I grinned as I sat down at my drum kit. I twirl the sticks in my fingers before slamming them down on the snare, before rocking into a beat, while trying not to break it.
Emmett pokes his head into the room with a huge cocky grin upon his face. “Slamin’ Shay is back!” he calls, referring to my somewhat hated nickname.
“Shut up!” I snarl as I finish with a crash of the cymbals.
Jasper came to the room next. “Do you want to go hunting now?” he asked.
I nod. “It’s been a while since I’ve hunted with someone,” I confess to him. Jasper smiles thoughtfully.
“Don’t worry about it,” he replies. “I sometimes prefer to hunt alone. Especially if there are newborns around.”
“Hey!” I say, irritably, “I’m not a newborn anymore,” Jasper grins. He’s probably remembering the time he first took me hunting…
“Come along Shayla, it’s time for you to go hunting,” Jasper said as he took my hand in his as he pulled me from the forest floor.
“Err, hunting?” I asked.
Jasper smiles. “Hunting is what we do Shayla. We’re vegetarians in a way. Surviving on animal blood is better in a way then drinking human blood.” he cocked his head to the side when he saw my confused expression. “Although, I wouldn’t mind going the other way.” he gives a sly grin. My mouth dries and my stomach tightens as I listen to him.
“Easy Jasper,” Alice warns. “Don’t temp her. The last thing we need is a newborn running around. You have got to take her deep into the forest where there will be no human scents.”
Jasper’s grin drops. “Sorry,” he murmurs to her. He turns to me. “Come on. I’ll need to show you your instincts.”
He takes my hand again and we run, faster then anything I’ve seen before. Jasper then releases my hand and I feel like I’m flying. I leap over an outcrop of rocks, with him closely behind me. Through the air, I start to lose balance. Instinctively, I try to curl into a ball, but I land on all fours instead, before leaping into the air again and before sprinting away, still on all-fours, like a cheetah or dog.
Suddenly, a scent catches my attention. Not just one, but a whole group of smells, each one smelling more mouth-watering then the last. It’s a herd of deer grazing to the west, or to my left. I stop and half turn around, almost running into Jasper. I pull myself upright and sprint towards them before crashing through the shrubs near where they are grazing. They panic and start to flee but I outrun them all. I manage to form them into a tight circle with the biggest buck at the front, snorting and threatening me with his antlers.
I growl and drop down to all fours, shifting my weight so it felt more comfortable. I bare my teeth and snarl like a leopard just as Jasper runs round to the other side of the herd. The buck goes to turn and rush the herd away but I leap at him. The tips of my fingers morph into long, lion-like claws which I thrust into the buck’s neck. It gives a grunt as it tries to throw me but I dig my toes into its rump, smaller but identical claws to my fingers erupt from my toes to break the skin. The smell of its blood reaches my nostril and I bite down hard on the animal’s neck, and start to drain it of its blood. It cries out and bucks like a horse, nearly throwing me. I grasp the antlers in my unbreakable grip, snapping them clean off the head. I fall onto the ground and the buck turns to flee in a feeble attempt to save its life. I see Jasper out of the corner of my eye, run towards the buck and he throws himself onto it. I leap up, snarling and bite him on his bare arm. He doesn’t growl or cry out but merely leaps out of the way, off the buck.
“Mine!” I growl as I grab the buck and hold it in my arms while I drain it of blood. I drop the body and turn to the now-buck less herd. I snarl and run forward like a cheetah again. The herd starts to run, away from where I land near them, in the middle. I snatch a doe in my grasp and break its neck, killing it instantly. I drink greedily from it and turn to snatch another. But the herd was gone. I give a roar of outrage and kick a boulder which shatters on impact. I sniff the air, trying to pick up another scent. Jasper came up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder, calming me for a moment. But I was still thirsty.
I shrug his hand off and sprint back into the forest. I ran on all-fours because it felt so natural to me. I track the scent of a wild goat to a mountain where I pounce on it and greedily drink from it.
When I satisfied my thirst with three deer, an elk and a black bear later, I remembered Jasper. I was at the river, near where I first drank.
“Jasper?” I called, wondering where he got to.
“Up here,” I heard him reply with a small chuckle. He was standing on the branch of a mighty spruce, a fair few feet above me.
“What the hell are you doin’ up there?” I asked. He laughed at me and leapt down.
“You were getting a bit territorial for a moment,” he says. “I got a bite from you earlier.” He gestures to his forearm where a double crescent-shaped moon scar is located. It seems slightly paler then the rest of him. And that’s when I notice all of the scars on him. They were all pale and all shaped like double-crescent moons. Vampire bite marks.
“Oh my God Jasper,” I gasp and as I gaze at him, the scars start to glitter, just like the rest of him as the suns breaks through the clouds. I then gaze at my own skin. It imitates Jasper’s, glittering like diamonds were set into it.
“It’s nothing,” he answers as he steps back into the shade. I follow him and we lean up against the tree. “All the scars I have are from newborns like yourself.”
“I’m guessing a newborn is someone who just became a vampire, right?” I asked. He nods and I gaze at the scar I gave him. I felt bad for hurting him.
“Don’t be upset,” he then said as he placed a hand on mine. “It’s natural for newborns to fight over their food. It’s instinctive.”
I rub his new scar with one finger, like it would make the scar go away. “It’ll fade in time.” He said when he noticed what I was doing.
“Do humans see these scars?” I asked as I lifted my hand from his and touched my own on the base of my neck.
He shook his head. “No.”
“Okay, but tell me this. Is our venom the only thing that harms us?” I was curious.
“The only thing that leaves a mark. The venom cannot kill a vampire though. You destroy a vampire by ripping them apart and burning the pieces. Not pleasant.”
“Didn’t think so,” I murmured. There were so many things I wanted to ask.
“One more thing Jasper,” I say. He gives me a curious glance. “When I was hunting, I kind of grew claws and I could run faster, on all-fours. Is that normal? For vampires?”
His topaz eyes light up. “It’s rare but not unheard of. That may be because you bring your best quality with you when you become a vampire. You were close to animals and so you become nearly one of them when you hunt. But it’s rare that you have a gift though like I said,” he adds.
“Cool,” I said as I glace down at my shirt. It’s caked in dirt, mud and blood. It’s also torn. I groan and Jasper notices.
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll get better as you hunt more and you’ll learn to concentrate better on not spilling it. That being said,” he gives a grin. “you’re still cleaner then Emmett.”
I chuckle as he offers me his hand again and we sprint back through the forest.
I grin as I remember the memory. Jasper and me had been hunting partners ever since.
“Alright let’s go.” I finally say to him and the two of us sprint outside and into the woods to have a long hunting session.
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Post by Haz on Dec 17, 2009 18:23:24 GMT -5
Chapter 3: Explanations
Shayla’s POV
It was twilight. The best, and worst, time of our endless days. We could do what we want- hunt, tune our vehicles, compose, whatever. But it was a reminder of what we are.
Emmett and Jasper were playing a ridiculous and extensive game of chess near the back wall with multiple boards but of course, I wasn’t allowed to play. Rosalie was directing Alice on our touch-screen computer (had to be tweaked by Edward and Carlisle as it was sensitive to temperature) around the corner from the boys on Rosalie’s fashion design project. Edward was composing on his piano, a favourite pastime of his. Esme was upstairs, reading in Carlisle’s study while Carlisle was doing his night shift at the hospital. I haven’t seen him yet.
I came downstairs to see what everyone was doing. I was going to play my violin, something I haven’t done in a while, but I then quickly decided that I wouldn’t. Rosalie drifted from Alice’s shoulder to the couch where she switched through the channels of our flat screen without pausing.
I sighed as I went back upstairs to grab something I hadn’t used in a long time, my surfboard. I change into my wetsuit (if anyone was watching I need to wear one) but wore my board shorts and white shirt over it. I needed to use a car though. I wanted to go surfing.
Edward. I thought, knowing my brother would hear.
He pauses on the piano; I know that’s when he heard me.
I might head for a surf down at the beach outside La Push. Ask Emmett if I can borrow the jeep. I say to him in my mind.
I push my flat-billed cap on my head and pick up my surfboard. I also grab a CD that I play in the cars whenever I used one.
I hear Edward call to Emmett. “Hey Emmett, is it okay is Shay borrows the Jeep?”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” I hear Emmett call back as he knocks Jasper’s knight out. “What’s she doing?”
“I’m going surfing,” I answer for myself as I leap downstairs, my board underneath my arm. “It’s kinda been a while. I’ll be back in a few hours. See yas.”
I head into the garage and place my surfboard in the back and load my CD into the player. I start the engine and the CD comes to life, pumping hip-hop tunes that are soon rumbling the Jeep. I rev the engine and speed out of the garage, towards the beach.
Alice’s POV
I hear Shayla leave for the beach and smile to myself. She was a rather keen surfer and being half Australian, I figured surfing was natural for her.
“Hey Rose, what do you think of this?” I ask Rose. She’s at my shoulder in an instant, checking the design I made for her.
“Looks good,” She says, rather enthusiastically “I love it. Let’s order it now!”
I touch the appropriate buttons and charge it to my credit card. “It’ll be here by Tuesday.” I told my sister who returned to the couch. I shut the computer down and turn around to watch the boys. Emmett has his back to me so I mouth his next moves to Jasper. We share a grin at each other. Emmett curses as his favourite knight is knocked out.
I tried to tune into Shayla, to see her future. I knew she wouldn’t be at the beach quite yet.
I see her sitting on her board on the calm water, staring up at the stars. She shifted her weight back and starts to paddle; a wave was coming up behind her. She catches the wave and stands up, in a relaxed way; she seemed to lean back and let her feet guide the board. I could hear her singing to herself. “'Cause everything you want, everything you do, you try so hard to be everyone but you. Everywhere you turn, you just gotta learn it's easier if you don't try so hard.”
Edward enters the room. He sees my vision and smiles at it. “Try to Hard.” I say, referring to the Pink song. “That’s her favourite song.” Edward gives a grin.
“I see she’s holding up well,” he notes as he leans against the wall, watching the boys playing their Ultimate Chess game. I nod my head and mouth Emmett’s next move to Jasper.
“Has she told you where she’s been?” I asked him, but I already knew he would know already.
He frowned “Yes, I do know. But…” He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. I couldn’t see what he was going to say. “I really think it would be better if you asked her yourself. But be careful,” he warned. “She’s a bit touchy about it.”
I nod, mulling it over in my head. I’ll talk to her when she gets back. I say to him in my head.
He nods before disappearing out the door. No doubt to visit Bella again. And I didn’t need to have a vision to figure that out. He always went to see her at night.
“Yes!” Jasper cries as he snags Emmett's Queen.
“Alright, you won this one bro but wait until next time!” Emmett roars as he leaps at Jasper and the two engage in a mock fight. It’ll turn into a real wrestling match for sure. Emmett would win, not that I doubted Jasper; it was just that Emmett was stronger. I should help him out when this thing turns real.
Emmett had Jasper in a headlock and was giving him a ‘noogie’ when I pounced. I saw that Emmett would release Jasper and then tackle him again.
I creep behind Emmett just as he let go of Jasper. I leapt forward and grabbed Emmett’s arm, twisting it up and behind his back.
“Oh great, you’re here,” he makes a face. “Now we know this fight really won’t be fair.” I let go of him and grin at him.
Jasper takes the opportunity while he’s distracted to attack him. He leapt up and pulled him backwards and into a headlock. Emmett reacted by grabbing Jasper and tossing him over his shoulder.
I sigh and back away from them. They’ll be at for hours or until Esme or Rosalie tells them to knock it off.
I check the clock. It’s 11:44. Shayla left at 11:10. She should be heading back soon. I see her in my vision. She’s realized the time and heading into shore. She will be back by five to twelve.
I head towards the couch and see that Rose has gone to tune her BMW, leaving me in control of the TV. I was anxious for Shayla to return, I wanted to know where she had been. I couldn’t see if she wanted to tell me or not.
Ten minutes later, I detect the familiar rumble of Emmett's jeep and Shay’s hip-hop CD.
She enters the house, her hair wet but starting to dry, it wouldn’t knot like humans hair. She would smell of salt for a few days but she would have tried to wash the smell off at the beach’s shower that they have there.
I could hear her singing to a song I didn’t recognize. But then I realised. It was by her favourite artist Pink (or P!NK).
“This used to be a funhouse. But now it’s full of evil clowns. It’s time to start the countdown. I’m gunna burn it down, down, down. I’m gunna burn it down!” Her voice was bold and confident. She hit the notes right and sounded like a real rock star.
She burst through the door and struck a pose. “Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Fun!”
She caught me watching her. She grinned and I giggled at her antics. “Like it? It’s Funhouse by-“
“Pink, I know. Your favourite singer,” I say, cutting her off.
“You remember!” She cried as she dropped the board and hugged me. “God, I’ve missed you Alice.” She added. She let go of me and stepped back, smiling down at me.
“I hate it that you’re taller then me,” I say, slightly annoyed. Shayla gives me that grin of hers, the one that reminded me of a Labrador Retrievers smile, with cheek written all over it.
“Oh you’ll get over, shortie,” she replies, still grinning before picking up the surfboard. “Anyway, I might head up to my room. Catch ya.”
I watch her head up the stairs, shaking the water out of hair. Esme wouldn’t like that.
But for now, it was time to found out what she has been up to for the last year.
Shayla’s POV
I reach my room and change into drier clothes. I stand there for a while, gazing around my room, I can see that my stuff is in the exact same place since when I first left.
My room was a large room on the corner of the second floor, with a large window with glass shutters set in the back wall and an identical one set in the right wall. My bed was on the left hand side with a flat screen mounted on the wall across from it. My closet was beneath it. My desk was on the right hand wall with my music collection (not nearly as extensive as Edward's) on several shelfs in the corner just near the window.
I wander to my CD player on the shelf on the top shelf of my CD rack and hit play. Pink’s Runaway starts to play and I find myself singing along to it as I sit on my windowsill, leaning against the side.
“I've got my things packed, my favourite pillow, got my sleeping bag. Climb out the window. All the pictures and pain I left behind. All the freedom and fame I've gotta find. And I wonder how long it'll take them to notice that I'm gone. And I wonder how far it'll take me…” I sing my voice low at first but rising as I get to the chorus.
“To run away! Life don't make any sense to me. Run away! This life makes no sense to me. Run away! Life don't make any sense to me. Run away! Life don't make any sense to me. I was just trying to be myself, you go your way I'll meet you in hell. It's all these secrets that I shouldn't tell I've got to run away, it's hypocritical of you. Do as you say not as you do. I'll never be your perfect girl and I've got to run away.”
“I'm too young to be taken seriously. But I'm too old to believe all this hypocrisy. And I wonder how long it'll take them to see my bed is made. And I wonder if I was a mistake. I might have nowhere left to go but I know that I cannot go home. These words are strapped inside my head; tell me to run before I'm dead. Chase the rainbows in my mind. And I will try to stay alive. Maybe the world will know one day why won't you help me run away.”
“Life don't make any sense to me. Run away! This life makes no sense to me. Run away!”
“I could sing for change, on a Paris street. Be a red light dancer in New Orleans. I could start again, choose a family. I could change my name, come and go as I please. In the dead of night, you'll wonder where I've gone. Wasn't it you, wasn't it you, wasn't it you that made me run away!” I turn the volume up louder and I sing to it louder, nearly screaming. I shake my head as I sing, I feel like a rock star. Singing was one of my passions and I loved to do it.
“I was just trying to be myself, you go your way I'll meet you in hell. All these secrets that I shouldn't tell I've got to run away! It's hypocritical of you; do as you say not as you do. Never be your perfect girl, I've got to run away!”
Life don't make any sense to me, run away! This life makes no sense to me, run away. Life don't make any sense to me, run away! Life don't make any sense to me.”
“This life makes no sense to me, it don't make no sense to me, and it don't make any sense to me. Life don't make any sense to me…”
I finish singing and listen as the next song comes on. I shift my weight so my legs are hanging out the window just as I hear a knock on my door.
“Can I come in?” I hear Alice say.
“Yeah, it’s cool,” I answer my voice was barely more than a whisper.
Alice enters, walking like she was dancing. “That was good,” she told me. “You’re the best singer in the house.
“Thanks Al,” I smile weakly. She dances over to the CD players and skips back to Runaway. She fast-forwards to the bridge. “That’s my favourite part.” She admits.
“I could sing for change, on a Paris street,” I sing for her, my face serious. “Be a red light dancer in New Orleans. I could start again, choose a family. I could change my name, come and go as I please.” I stand up on my window still; it was tall enough for me to leap off without hitting my head. I grin at Alice as she has a vision. She gave a gasp. “In the dead of night, you'll wonder where I've gone. Wasn't it you, wasn't it you, wasn't it you that made me run away!!!” I back-flip off the edge and soar down the side of the three-story house, smirking all the way down, before catching myself on one of the branches of the mighty cedar trees. Noticing that one of the branches arched up towards my other window. I run up it and slide in the other one, to Alice’s disapproving glare.
“Don’t do that again Shay!” She hisses. “You could have impaled yourself!”
“Chillax, Alice, I’m not that delicate!” I laugh as I lean against the wall. “You could see I wasn’t going to anyway.”
“I could see that if you haven’t grabbed that branch you would have.” She counters.
I frown, I wasn’t that clumsy. “When I was away Alice, I learnt a lot. FYI, I learnt to go faster, be more agile. You should see me hunt now,” I give a smirk at her.
Alice sits on my bed and looks up at me. “Are you ever going to tell me where you’ve been?”
I sigh. Guess it’s time.
“It’s a seriously long story. Might go for a few hours.” I say before checking the clock. 12: 15.
“Shay,” Alice rolls her eyes. “We have plenty of time.”
I sit on the bed beside her, cross-legged. “Well, you know that when I first… changed, I had only tasted animal-blood,” I study her, trying to predict what her reaction will be. But she remains normal and just nods. “Yeah well, I was kind of selfish and for the past few weeks I had been having this ache inside of me. I couldn’t figure it out. I tried feeding more but it didn’t help,” I tried to get my words right, to try and make her understand.
“But it didn’t help like I said. But I spoke to Jasper. He said I was craving human blood.”
“Jasper said that?” Alice said, frowning. I knew she would slap him later.
“Do not blame him for what I did. It was just a theory that he thought up but little did he know that WAS the reason.”
“I knew I couldn’t control it for much longer so I headed up to Alaska for a few days. I stuck to the forests, staying away from human settlements. But once I lost control the first time, it was too hard to resist,” My voice is bitter as I speak.
Another knock is heard on the door. Jasper steps in followed by Emmett.
“Hey, what are you girls going?” Emmett asks us. I give a snort because he was interrupting us. Jasper tilts his curiously as he glances at me.
Alice ignores him and speaks to Jasper. “Shay is informing me of where she was for the last year.”
“I cannot be bothered to tell them the start again so you wanna fill them in?” I ask Alice who agrees. She whispers in both their ears and when she’s done they nod. Jasper leans against the wall while Emmett sits on the floor, leaning against my desk.
“Okay, anyway…” I start to continue. “I was trying to resist feeding on humans. I drank animal-blood more then necessary, sometimes getting a painful ache in my stomach. But then I came across him and that’s when the monster won…” I shake my head and stare at my hands, shame filling me.
Alice leans forward and hugs me. “It is okay, Shay-Shay, keep going,” she urges.
“I was outside of Denali when it happened. I came across a lost hiker in the woods. He was close to death and I could have saved him by taking him into town. But if he hadn’t been bleeding…” My voice shakes. “I wouldn’t have done it. But it did feel oddly satisfying.”
My voice disgusts me. I’m satisfied with myself that I killed a human, just to quench my thirst! I completely loathe myself.
Jasper moves closer and rests a hand on my shoulder. “This is my fault,” he says quietly. “I put the idea in your head. I’m sorry Shayla.”
“No…” I shake my head at him. “I would have figured it out sooner or later. But that man wasn’t the first I killed. I still hunted animals but as time went on, I drank their blood less and humans more. . I’m a monster.” I hold my head in my hands and my shoulders shake.
Alice leans forward and lifts my head from my hands. “Shayla…” She whispers.
I turn away from her and look out the window.
“Hang on,” Emmett said suddenly, frowning. “If you killed people, how come your eyes were normal when you came back?”
“I planned ahead. I stayed in the forest for about a week, up in the mountains. I needed to look normal, well as normal as you could for a vampire. I got my bike from the storage shed place in Seattle and rode back here yesterday,” I reply.
Of course I’d taken precautions. I wasn’t stupid enough to go to school while thirsty. I wasn’t as strong as the others.
I flare my nostrils out as I feel myself getting more disgusted and mortified with myself. I was my own stupid fault and not anyone else’s. Jasper rests his hand on my shoulder. “Shayla, I know how you feel. Remember all those times I’ve killed? Even though the feeling of guilt never goes away, you know you can prevent it from happening again. You can resist.”
“Right Jasper,” I’m being rather sarcastic now. “Guilt never goes away. Good advice,” I roll my eyes when he drops his hand and makes an angry and annoyed noise. “But I don’t feel guilty for killing people. Except for the first man I met, I killed the worst in society. The second person I killed was a wanted serial killer. The third, a mugger. The list goes on. The feeling I have is disgust that I’ve have stooped that low just to get what I want. I’m selfish.”
“No you’re not,” Emmett answered. “It’s… natural to want human blood. I myself fell off the wagon,” I raise an eyebrow. This I didn’t know. He catches my surprised look. “What? Even the best of us fall off the wagon,” he adds cheekily.
In response to his cheek, I grab one of my pillows and pummel him with it. He doesn’t even attempt to fight back.
“Alright, get of here you guys,” I eventually say as I replace the pillow on the bed before laying back on it. “I need to be alone.”
Alice nods and dances out the door, pulling a less-then-enthusiastic Emmett with her. Jasper follows but pauses by the door. “Shay…” he says. I look up and he’s gazing at me, like he wants to say something but doesn’t know how.
“Yeah Jasper?” I ask, sitting up again. He hesitates before speaking again. He crosses the room to me and lays a hand on my shoulder. He doesn’t try to manipulate my emotions this time though.
“It’ll be okay,” he whispers. “Everything will be fine.”
“Yeah, yeah I know,” I reply, my voice almost rude. “Just leave me Jazz, alright?”
I can almost see the hurt in his face as he turns and exits the room, shutting the door behind him.
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Post by Haz on Dec 17, 2009 18:28:30 GMT -5
Chapter 4: Flashbacks
Shayla’s POV
I decided to wait in my room until Carlisle gets back from his shift. Everyone was in their rooms so I could talk to him privately. Well, as privately as you could with a mind-reader in the house.
Luckily for me though, Edward was still at Bella’s place.
I get up out of my room and wander to the staircase, leaning against the top rail as I wait. I close my eyes and inhale, breathing in the familiar scent of my family.
“Shay?” It was Rosalie.
I turn around to find her standing just behind me; her hands on her hips, an anxious expression on her face. But I didn’t need to be worrying about her now; I was too busy fretting on how I’m going to explain everything to Dad.
“’Sup, Rose,” I mutter and turn back around to peer around the bottom of the stairs. Carlisle would’ve left the hospital by now, his scent was getting stronger.
She sighs impatiently and moves beside me, her hand on my shoulder.
“You’re waiting for Carlisle, aren’t you?” She asks.
I shrug. “You don’t need to be a mind-reader to know that. Or a fortune-teller,” I hear Alice make an annoyed noise from her room and I smirk at myself.
Rose smiles too. “What are you going to tell him?”
“No idea,” I leant my forehead against my hands, my elbows resting on the banister. “A little help maybe? Oh right, I haven’t told you-” She cuts me off.
“Emmett told me, even though he shouldn’t of. But I don’t think I can really help you in this situation.”
I sigh and lift my head off my hands. “This…” I growl. “Totally sucks!” My chest rumbles with another growl, an inhuman one though as I turn around and start to stalk into my room. “I’ll be in my room.”
I don’t know why I’m feeling pissed off but whatever the reason is, it makes me slam the door of my room.
Rosalie’s POV
I watched Shayla slam the door with unnecessary brutal force and feel a ripple of anger course through me. Honestly, it wasn’t MY fault that I couldn’t help. I didn’t even get to hear the story from her.
I remember the first time I met Shayla- and she has irritated me since that day. Not in the insanely mean way, but she’s just somewhat annoying.
I give a gasp of shock as Emmett runs through the back door of the house, not even bothering to open it. “Emmett, what are you doing?”
“Where’s Carlisle?” he grunts, ignoring my question. “I need him!”
That’s when I saw what he was concerned about. A mangled and bloodied body was in his arms, her head hanging limply to the side.
Emmett places her gently on the coach before roaring, “CARLISLE!”
“Emmett, what’s going-”I start to say but he shoots me a look. Then, Carlisle was at his side in an instant.
“Emmett, what’s wrong?” he asks.
“She was mauled by a mountain lion in the forest. Save her, please save her.”
“What’s going on?” Alice asked quietly. She was at my side soon followed by Esme, Edward and Jasper.
“You saved me Carlisle when I was mauled.” Emmett growls to his creator. “Now, I’m asking you to save her.” I have never seen him act or look so serious.
Carlisle face remains calm as he makes his decision.
“Carlisle…” Alice whispers. “I have foreseen her becoming one of us and becoming a sister to me. Do it… for me.”
There is silence but then Carlisle answers. “Alright,” he says and he turns to Esme. “Esme, get a wet towel. Jasper, Rose, Alice, Emmett, Edward, outside, now.”
Alice takes Jasper by the hand and they flit outside followed by Edward. Esme returns with a wet towel and hands it too Carlisle who wipes the blood off the girl. I take Emmett's hand and go to move outside but he won’t budge.
“No,” he growls. “I’m staying right here. Rose, get outta here.”
“But…” I start to say. Why was he so determined to be at her side when he had me?
“Now,” but it was Esme this time that spoke.
I give a huff and stomp outside. I turn around to see Esme hold the wet towel to the girl’s head, Emmett holding her wrists down and Carlisle leaning in towards her neck. I run up into the forest where my siblings are but I am not fast enough to avoid hearing the girl’s frantic screams.
Two days later, she isn’t any better. She is tough though. She holds her tongue and refuses to scream and instead shudders and haemorrhages worse then anyone I’ve ever seen.
“It’s almost finished.” Carlisle said as she began to shudder violently. “Someone will need to take her out into the woods.”
“I’ll take her,” Alice offered. “Jasper will come with me.”
“No. I’ll do it,” Emmett growls.
“Emmett, you’ve done enough.” Esme says. “Jasper, Alice, take her now.”
Jasper lifts the girl in his arms and then he and Alice run out of the house just as the girl gives a loud, ear-splitting scream.
Jasper’s POV
I could feel resentment, jealousy and most oddly of all, concern, coming from Rosalie. I give a snort and turn to Alice who is pouring over school textbooks and who then looks up.
“What?”
“Rose is being Rose,” I say thoughtfully. “Do you think I could influence her to be just a tad nicer?”
“Don’t be mean,” she scowls and playfully punches me in the jaw. Though playful, she still manages to dislocate it. I pull it back in place with a CRACK and push her off the couch.
“Hey!” She frowns as she hops back up. I chuckle and kiss her on the cheek.
Her golden eyes blaze. “Hate you.”
“Yeah, I love you too,” I reply cheekily. I duck when she tries to swipe at me.
She giggles but suddenly sits up straight. She was having a vision.
“What do you see?” I ask.
“Just Shayla and Carlisle. It’ll go well,” she answers.
“Planning to tell Shay?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course I am,” she frowns and punches me in the arm. “Don’t be an idiot.”
I chuckle as she dances out of the room leaving me alone. I could Shayla playing music next door, Human by the Killers. How ironic.
I start to think back to when I first met her. She was halfway through transforming into one of us when Alice offered for us to take her out into the forest.
I place her on the forest floor, making sure there are no sticks or stones nearby. She grips the dirt with her fingers, leaving deep grooves. Her breath is coming out in pants and her heart is beating faster then before.
“Will she be okay?” I whisper to Alice.
Alice nods. “It’ll be much more painful though, since she is holding it in. I have also foreseen who she is.”
“Who is she?” I ask, curious.
“Shayla Kara Brown, or Cullen, if she joins us.”
I pause. “So she becomes our family?” Alice nods and I turn my attention to the girl. She arches her back and her heart beat accelerates until it sounds like it’s about to burst out her chest. She shudders wildly and gives a shrieking scream.
And then, nothing. She has no breath, no heartbeat, and no pulse. It is done.
I creep close to her and touch her arm. She wakes with a start and sits up.
“What… What’s happening?” she mumbled, staring the forest. “Am I, am I dead?”
I glanced at Alice. “Help!” I mouthed to her. She was at my side in an instant, deliberately moving at vampire speed.
Alice bent down close to the girl, Shayla. “Hello, I’m Alice and this is Jasper. Do you remember who you are?”
The girl forms a name on her lips. “Shayla.”
So Alice was right then. Not that I doubted her.
There is a silence. I’ve never had to explain to someone that their now immortal and have to now feed on blood. “I’m calling Carlisle,” Alice finally says. She flips her phone out and dials a number. “Yeah, it’s me. It’s done. Do you want us to bring her back or what?” I hear Carlisle’s response with ease. “Bring her here. She’ll need to hunt soon.”
Alice nods, “Okay Carlisle, it’s just that, we’re not quite sure how to explain it. Bye,” she snaps the phone shut with a twist of her fingers.
“Explain what?” Shayla says from behind me. “What’s going on?” She tilts her head to the side and looks up into the cloudy sky. “Wow, never noticed that colour before. Has that always been there?”
“She’s displaying unbelievable control,” I say in a low voice.
“Look, is anyone going to explain to me what the hell is going on?” Shayla suddenly hisses.
Mood swings, great. I can feel that she’s scared, worried and confused.
“We will soon,” I promise. “We were just going to take you to our father so he could explain.
Alice offers her hand. Shayla gazes at it and then accepts it, allowing Alice to pull her to her feet.
“Climb on my back,” she instructs Shayla. Although hesitant, she hops on.
“I don’t understand,” she murmurs. I can see she was a good foot taller then Alice.
“Hold on and close your eyes.” I told her. She wrapped her arms so tight around Alice that it would have strangled a human, even more so now that she had changed.
And they took off. I hear a gasp from Shayla and I follow, running after them. I catch up to Alice and glance at Shayla. Her eyes are open and she’s smiling in utter shock. She was stunned at what Alice- and her- were doing.
“Wow,” she breathes. “Amazing!”
Alice and I glance at each other. This was going well.
Soon we reach the backyard of the house. I call out to Carlisle and Esme. But Emmett is the first one we see. A feeling of relief washes over him.
“You’re okay,” he cries as he goes to step forward. Shayla catches sight of him and fear swamps her. It must have been his size.
“Stay back Emmett.” Alice warns. I don’t want to manipulate Shayla’s emotions, it might scare her.
Emmett nods his head sadly and steps back. “Carlisle is inside,” he then told us.
Alice runs inside to the couch and gestures to it. “Off you get Shay.”
“Shay?” Shayla’s brow furrows in confusion. “How did you know that’s what I like to be called?”
Alice shrugs. “Thought it might be a nice nickname for you.”
Carlisle enters with Esme, Rosalie and Edward. Shayla instantly shields back at the unfamiliar faces and numbers. There was one of her and though she had become somewhat attached to Alice and I, she was still outnumbered by the others.
“Shayla…” Carlisle spoke first. He pulled a chair up from the dining table and sat on it. “I am Doctor Carlisle Cullen. This is my wife Esme,” he gestures to Esme who gives a small smile. “And my adopted sons, Emmett and Edward and my adopted daughter Rosalie. I assume you already know Jasper and Alice,” Emmett gives a wave while Edward is gazing curiously at her. I know he’s reading her mind.
Carlisle takes a deep breath. “It’s time for you to know what you are. You are what humans call a vampire.”
“What?” she gasps. “Vampire? Are you being serious? I thought they were just made-up!”
“I can assure you that we are being serious,” Carlisle says gravely. “You are a vampire Shayla. I bit you and transformed you. You were so close to death but my son and daughter, Emmett and Alice, convinced me to save you. And here you sit.”
Shayla eyes go wide. “Really? That’s… interesting. I think. But does that mean I have to kill people?”
Esme speaks this time, a small smile on her face. “No, we like to call ourselves ‘vegetarians’, our little private joke. We only hunt animals, not humans. You are free to go and live your own life but we would like to accept you as a member of our family.”
Her eyes lit up. “So I’ll have a family? A real family?” Esme nods. “But there are more things we have to tell you about… us.”
“Like what?”
“Well, for one thing, we are immortal and nearly indestructible,” Carlisle explained. “Our bodies are ‘frozen’ and we cannot grow. It’s like we are carved from marble or granite. See?” he lifted her hand and held it in his own in front of her eyes. “We cannot go into sunlight when any human is watching. Step into the patch of sunlight there, go on,” he gestured to the doorway where sunlight pooled in.
Shayla slid off the lounge cautiously and took a few steps towards the sunlight. She gazed at the large spot of sunlight before stepping into it. Her mouth fell open in surprise as her skin sparkled, sending spots of light around the room. She stepped out of it and turned to face us. She seemed to ponder as she gathered her thoughts.
“So what else is there to know?” she asked.
“Why don’t you take a look at yourself? Rosalie, can you pass me that mirror please?” Esme caught the mirror Rose threw at her and handed it to Shayla. She gazed at her reflection for a second before her mouth fell open in surprise. Well more-like jaw-dropping surprise.
“That’s not me,” she said so firmly that we all stare at her in surprise. “There is no frigging way that I am that beautiful.”
“When vampires hunt human, they are meant to draw their prey in with their face, their voice, even their smell,” Carlisle explained as he bent down lower to examine her pale, alarmed face. He brushed her hair back from her face. “You are beautiful Shayla Cullen,” he hesitated; he was going to explain everything now. “Your abilities are now enhanced. Your speed, your strength, sight, smell and hearing, is now much more powerful and who knows, you may have an extra ability.”
“Extra ability?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Some vampires have extra abilities whether it be a mental or physical power. Edward here can read minds. He has no choice in it. And Alice can see the future. Emmett has super-strength and Jasper can sense and manipulate emotions. Calm down an angry person, excite a lethargic crowd. Rosalie has great beauty and Esme has to ability to love passionately.”
“Do you have a gift?” she asked him.
“He is extremely compassionate.” Esme answered her. “He saved five out of the seven of us.”
Shayla smiles but then her brow furrows. “Ugh, my throat hurts so much. Is it meant to?”
“Your thirsty, that’s why. You have to come with us. It’s time for you to feed,” Alice answers.
“I’ll come too,” I whisper to Alice. I had a good feeling about her.
Alice moves to Shayla’s side and offers her hand to her and the two walk out the door with me by their side.
I smile at the memory. I’m glad Emmett had found her. The two were almost inseparable now except for when Rose was around. And she was great friend. She was loyal, tough and a protector of the weak. Not that she just protected the weak. She would stand up for anyone that was being picked on by bigger vampires or humans. “Cowards” she would call them, right up to their faces.
And that is why I love her.
Shayla’s POV
I smell Alice when she comes to my door. She doesn’t even knock when I call out to her. “You can come in Alice.”
She dances into the room and stands at the foot of my bed. “I have foreseen how things will go with Carlisle.”
“Good or bad?” I ask as I sit up on the bed.
“Good. He’ll forgive you. But I didn’t need to see that.”
I give her a hug. “Thanks Alice. I know I can count on you.”
“That’s the advantage of being a fortune-teller,” she crosses her arms and pretends to be angry.
“You’ll make a fortune down at the carnival.” I grin, ducking as she tries to punch me.
We get into a mock fight. She manages to get on top of me and I let her push my arm up my back. “How can anyone so small be so annoying?” I say cheekily, earning a slap on the back of my head.
Suddenly, Carlisle’s scent reaches my nostrils. I gasp and leap up, knocking Alice off. I sniff, trying to pick up the direction. He was not home yet but he’s getting closer.
“Carlisle’s coming,” I say. “I better… I better go downstairs and get ready to meet him.”
I walk out the door and head to the top of the stairs. “Alice…” I call just as she dances over to her door. She turns around.
“Stay with me...” I plead. “Please?”
She smiles, runs up to me and gives me a peck on the cheek. “Always Shay.”
And with her behind me, I run down the stairs and am on the couch just as Carlisle pulls up.
“Here goes nothing,” I murmur as the door swings open.
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Post by Haz on Dec 17, 2009 18:33:04 GMT -5
Chapter 5: More explanations.
Carlisle’s POV
I had just pulled up in the garage when I had smelt her. I run up to the house at vampire speed. But if I was mistaken, if she wasn’t there… I swear, it would surely kill me.
I enter the house and there she was, Shayla Kara Cullen, my youngest adopted daughter, sitting on the couch with Alice.
“Shayla…” I breathe and she looks up.
“Dad…” she whispers as she stands up from beside Alice.
I move towards her and hug her, holding her gently as though she was a baby. How I had missed her.
She steps back and looks up into my golden eyes “Carlisle…” she whispers. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for running off, for betraying myself and for betraying you. I… I feel absolutely wretched that I did this and I understand if you don’t forgive me.” I can see the sadness in her eyes as she speaks.
“Shayla, you are my daughter. Although I disapprove of you running away, you did not betray yourself or me. I forgive you.”
“No,” she shakes her head. I must be missing something here. “I did betray you Carlisle. I… I killed people.”
And then she tells me. She tells of her staying in Alaska, killing the worst of society. She spoke of her gut-wrenching fear of what will happen when she eventually returned. She spoke of her begging for forgiveness from me when I finally stop her by holding up a hand.
“Shayla, craving human blood is normal behaviour for a vampire. I accepted Emmett when he fell off the wagon. The same with Edward and Jasper. I can forgive you and accept it.”
She smiles a little bit. “Thanks Dad. I love you from the bottom of my still, frozen, dead heart.” she gives a grin and her stance relaxes. She’s going back to being herself again.
“I love you too. You are my daughter and forever will be.” I kiss her forehead.
“Alright then!” Alice stands up and claps her hands. “Shayla, you look terrible, no offence, so you are getting a makeover! I just needed you to talk to Carlisle first.”
“Oh no!” Shayla groans while I laugh. Trust Alice to think that.
“I’ll see you later girls, I’ll be in my study.” I say as I run up the stairs. Esme is at the top.
“How did it all go?” she asked.
“Fine, I am so glad that she’s back. I missed her.”
There was a crash from downstairs and I hear Shayla and Alice laughing.
“Hmm.” Esme purses her lips. “I didn’t miss her wrestling matches with Alice much though.”
I laugh as I wrap my arm around her and kiss her forehead.
Shayla’s POV
After meeting Carlisle, I was feeling very relived. I was back in my room, and sat on my bed until Emmett poked his head in. It was about morning now, around 7:30.
“Everything good?”
I give him a thumbs-up and but then I remember something I saw on the late news. “Oi Em!”
He walks in. “What?”
“I saw on the news that there is a massive bear running around in the mountains. It’s gotten a few people and there’s a reward. Wanna go get it?”
“I dunno.” he rubs his hand through his hair. “How do you explain that we caught a massive bear to humans?”
“Forget the reward then.” I grin. “I bet you fifty bucks I can get it and kill it first.”
“No way! You’re on!” he grins back and I run out of my room to downstairs. He catches up in an instant.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Alice asks us from her spot on the couch.
“Going to go catch a bear.” I answer. “And I’m making an easy fifty bucks out of it too.”
“No way!” Emmett says. “You are going to be so sorry that you bet against me.”
“Bring it,” I give an evil smirk.
Alice sighs. “Just be back before it starts to storm. I expect Jasper and you too Emmett, would wanna play baseball. Oh and Bella is coming over. Edward came back and told me when he needed to change but I did see it already.”
I nod. But I’m worried. Would I be able to control myself? I didn’t know. I doubt that Alice would know either. “Cool, baseball. Haven’t played that in a while. But would I be able to-“
“It’ll be fine Shay. Go hunting,” Alice speaks up from the couch. “It’ll help.”
“Whatever,” I reply before turning and running out the door. Emmett is close behind.
We head into the forest. Occasionally we slow to human speed but we didn’t talk, which was an unusual change. Until we passed a trail.
I grab Emmett’s arm and yank him back. “Check this out,” I point to some tracks on the trail. They were not bear tracks.
“They just look like tracks to me,” he says, sounding a bit annoyed.
“Yeah but what kind of tracks,” I knew his answer before he said it.
“Bear?” He guesses.
I shake my head. “No but according to the news, it’s not the same size of the one their following.”
“What are you saying?”
I slap my head and groan. “They are not bear tracks idiot! There are no claw marks and they are too long. This is not normal.”
“There’s blood there as well,” Emmett points out. He’s right. A single drop of blood is one of the footprints. A few more are splashed around further down the trail.
I sniff the air, not bothering to bend down close. “Its human blood,” I realise just as I spot something further down the trail at a fork.
A jumbled mess of the animal’s footprints and a boot prints is there, obviously a fight had happened. There are shreds of what had been their clothing. There is a mix of scents as well but worst of all…
The puddles of human blood. Emmett puts a firm hand on my shoulder and I stop breathing, to resist the temptation. If I hadn’t hunted a few days before… I don’t think I could have stopped myself.
“Let’s go Emmett,” I speak, forcing myself to breathe again and smell the tempting scent. “I can’t be here. Forget about the bear or whatever it is.”
With his face tight, he nods and we run back, full speed.
We get home and Emmett heads inside. No doubt to see Rosalie. I however head into the garage. I set up my toolbox next to my motorbike along with the turbo I have never bothered to install until now just when Jasper comes in.
I turn and face him. “Hey, what’s up?”
“You’re back early from hunting,” he points out. We were out there for less then an hour.
I shrug. “Didn’t feel like hunting anything anymore,” I start to fiddle with my bike.
“Shayla…” he says, his tone low. I ignore him as I take part of the engine out. He sighs and I focus my attention on him. “What?”
“What happened out there? Something made you anxious, I can feel it.”
“There are no secrets in this house is there?” I mutter. He smirks.
“Idiot,” I mutter again, trying not to let him hear. I’m unsuccessful. He shoves me, knocking me into my bike. I catch it before it falls. “Hey! Knock it off.”
Jasper chuckles and gives a grin. “So what happened out in the forest?”
I shoot him a glare. “Nothing!” I growl.
“I’ll go to Emmett,” he threatens.
“Fine! We found some animal tracks and there was human blood, happy now?” I snarl at him. I get up and stalk out the door and into the house. He follows.
“What’s wrong Shay-Shay?” he demands to know as he grabs my arm. I calm down just a bit.
“I don’t know Jazz. I… I feel like an outcast now, not part of the family anymore. I don’t feel like I belong here anymore,” I bit my bottom lip like a human would do as Jasper pulls me into a brotherly hug.
“Shayla, you’ll always belong here. You’re that annoying little sister who keeps us laughing,” he grins and I smile back at him. He lets go of me and I step back.
He suddenly stiffens up. “What have you done Shayla?”
“Huh?” I’m confused.
“Your arm? Show me it!” he hisses. His sudden anger scares me for a moment. But then again, even though I tried not to think about it or show it, Jasper scared me altogether.
I show him my right arm reluctantly. The scar of a fresh bite mark, shaped like double crescents moons, was on my forearm. Although it was already healed, it was still quite sore.
“What happened?” he asks.
I pause, wondering whether to tell him. But finally I speak. “Newborn.”
“How the hell did a newborn manage to bite you?”
“I was kind of bored and I was hanging around Port Angeles when I first saw what he was doing. He was stalking and attacking women so I decided to teach him a lesson,” I punch my right fist into my left hand and crack it. “He put up a fight though.”
Jasper frowns as he examines the bite mark. “When was this?
“Last night,” I reply. “I was looking for something to do.”
“Thought so,” he murmured. “I couldn’t smell you so I assumed you were out hunting again. The others were worried but I told them that.”
“Thanks,” I mumble. I curl my hand into a fist and tense my muscles. The scar seems to ripple across my skin. There was a brief silence.
“But surely boredom wasn’t the only reason you did?” he suddenly says, shooting the question at me.
I pause to think about it. I furrow my brow as I try to talk, to try to make him understand. “If I kill a monster, does that make me less of a monster, or more so? I wasn’t thinking straight, I was trying to be a hero. I was mucking around, playing night vigilante, keeping the peace but he… he made me angry that he could just play with those girls, with those, those women and then kill then like they were nothing!” I have never felt so furious in my entire life. “I followed him into the woods near in La Push, he didn’t know of the treaty obviously. And I made him pay. He probably thought I was another newborn, showing off my strength or perhaps trying to seduce him,” my voice turns into a growl. “So I attacked him Jasper. He managed to get a bite on me but I tore him apart and burnt him before he could really do any real damage. And I do enjoy a real fight,” I exhale out of habit. “I wasn’t trying to lose control on purpose but he just made me so mad!” I have a strange impulse to stomp my foot.
Jasper takes a few steps back. I think my anger and rage might be overwhelming him a bit. I realise my mistake.
“Going upstairs. Later,” I mumble lamely and I run upstairs to my room. I lock the door to insure some privacy but I knew that wasn’t possible in this household.
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Post by Haz on Dec 17, 2009 18:34:46 GMT -5
Chapter 6: Here comes the human…
Shayla’s POV
“Shayla, come downstairs,” Esme calls from the lounge room. I give a grumble as I head to the top of the stairs.
“What for?” I ask grumpily over the edge.
“Don’t be rude Shayla,” Carlisle warns as he walks and comes into view. “And to be polite, Edward will be home soon and you are going to meet Bella.”
“Okay then. Just let me be decent first,” I turn and head to the bathroom where Alice is located, brushing her hair in the front of the mirror.
“Why so grumpy Shay?” she asks as she hands me my blue brush. I don’t answer straight away but merely sigh as I think about what could possibly happen if I do go downstairs to meet Bella. At the same time Alice realises my fear.
“Shayla, nothing will happen. One, you have much better control. And two, Edward or anyone else will allow it to happen.”
I frown, and look down. “Yeah, I know. But still, I don’t want to risk it.”
“Shayla, you are going to meet Bella. I can foresee it.”
“The future can change,” I retort back. Alice turns and tries to punch me in the arm as a joke but I grab her hand and force it down with no effort at all. She stares at my hand before raising her head to stare at me.
“Sorry Alice,” I mumble as I turn away to her to search in my bathroom drawer for a hair band. I can feel her eyes burning into my back. She grasps my shoulder- hard.
“Shayla is something wrong? You never used to react like that.”
I shrug. Alice releases my shoulder and turns away. At the same time I lift my arm and trace my scar with one finger. It’s still tender.
“Sore?” Alice then asked. I could see her looking at it.
“A little bit, it’s just a bit tender. It really hurt when he first bit me though so this is an improvement.”
She touches my shoulder again but it a gentler way. “Shayla... Are you in pain?”
I nod. It did hurt. Not much we could do about it though. Morphine or painkillers wouldn’t work on us and I couldn’t even swallow a tablet to ease the pain.
“Show me it,” I allow her to examine it as I tuck my hair behind my ears with the other hand. “I think there might be venom still in it.” She concludes as she drops my arm. “Maybe you should get Carlisle to-“
“He doesn’t know,” I say. “And I don’t plan to tell him. And you shall not either.” I fix her with a glare. “I mean it Alice.”
Alice frowns. “But he’ll find out though.”
“I know. But I don’t want him or anyone else to freak out over this. It’s not a big deal.”
“But-” Alice starts to say.
“Just drop it Alice. Please just respect my wishes.”
“Fine then,” she goes back to brushing her hair. I go to my room and get dressed. I choose to wear my designer jeans (which Rosalie kindly sent to me from her and Emmett’s honeymoon in Paris a few years back) and my favourite plain white t-shirt. I place my black and white Element cap on my head (which Emmett had ordered for me from Australia to make me feel more at home) and head to the stairs. Alice and Jasper had already gone done. I can see all of them in the lounge room. I hear Alice laughing and Bella talking.
I lean against the rail and just stand there, debating whether I should go down.
Alice made the decision for me.
“Hey Shayla, come down and meet Bella,” she calls so Bella can hear.
I smile politely as Bella looks up at me. “Hi Bella.”
Jasper calls up to me as well. “Don’t make me drag you down here.”
“I rather jump over the edge then get beaten by you,” I retort, giving a sly grin. I see Edward whisper something to Bella who was glancing between me and Jasper. “Ignore them, they bicker non-stop. They don’t mean it though.” He adds when Bella raises her eyebrows.
“Go on!” Jasper dares me to. He doesn’t think I will. Well some things change, especially when you’ve been away for a year.
I step out of his view line before charging at the rail. I propel myself over the rail with one hand and land on easily, but not generally in a graceful way as Alice would’ve done, on the balls of my feet. I brush my hair back from my face and grin.
Jasper looks surprised but he then adopts a smile. He seems to forget that Bella is in the room as he runs towards me to hug me but I, remembering that a human was in the room, sidestep him at vampire speed before holding a hand up signalling him to stop. A quick look from Alice also does the trick. He looks sheepish and steps back from me. I decide to introduce myself to Bella.
“Hi, I’m Shayla. It’s nice to meet you.” I offer her my hand and she shakes it. She smiles shyly at me and I smile back. She seems nice enough.
Bella’s POV
Shayla defiantly surprised me. As Edward and I drove up here, he warned me about her.
“She can be dangerous,” he had said. “She is similar to Jasper in a way except she might be able to control herself. I am not sure.”
But to me, she was just a nice and kind person. After she’d introduced herself, she had stepped away and stood by Jasper and Alice.
“Shayla had only recently rejoined the family.” Carlisle explained to me. Edward flashed him a look before glancing at Shayla. Carlisle ignored him but glanced at Shayla as well.
“What?” she asked. “You can tell her whatever you want, I don’t really care. But I don’t think it’s necessary”
“I would like to know though,” I say, throwing in my two cents.
“I just met up with some old friends in Alaska, nothing too major,” she gives a shrug. “Tried to get rid of a couple of monsters up there but realised I too was one. So I ran back here to my family to beg their forgiveness. I also headed to Australia to find out about my human life.”
“I hardly think you had to beg,” Carlisle said. “We would of accepted you back here no matter what you had done.”
“Thanks Dad. That means a lot to me,” she smiles at him. I noticed that she always has a grin or smile on her face.
There is a brief silence before Shayla speaks again. “Anyyyyyyyway, moving on from my ‘holiday’…”
Jasper and Alice sniggered and Edward coughed, hiding a laugh. I heard Carlisle chuckle and when I looked, Esme was smiling.
“Say Shayla,” I begin to say. “Edward mentions that each one of you brought your most dominant feature from your human life into this one. I’m curious, what did you bring?”
I heard her chuckle. “Glad you asked. When I was human, I could communicate with animals well, like I was one with them. So, I brought my connection with animals with me which practically morphed into me being nearly one of them. My sense of smell is heightened and I am more athletic then the others like for example, I have more stamina and better agility. Edward might be the fastest but I can run for longer even though I am slightly slower. I can partly shape-shift as well but only when my emotions become too much for me or when I’m hunting. My hearing is worse them my family’s as well.”
“Why?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Beats me. Maybe someone decided I needed a flaw.”
She didn’t say anymore. I wondered why. Shy perhaps?
Carlisle’s expression distracted me from this train of thought; he was gazing meaningfully at Edward with an intense expression. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward nod once.
“Well, I have to step out for a minute. I’ll see you all later.” Shayla says from nearby. She shoots Edward a look before running outside.
Shayla’s POV
I keep running at human speed until I hit the woods. At the first tree, I scale it with ease and leap to the next, leaping from branch to branch like a spider monkey. I keep going until I am in what is our usual hunting area. I drop from the branch I had stopped on and start to walk human-speed through the forest. What I was doing I didn’t know but I knew I had to get out of the house. If I acted like my mind wanted me to do Bella… Bella wouldn’t be here and neither would I. I would be a pile of ashes in the yard.
I hunt a herd of deer followed by a few small animals to ease my nerves and to calm down. I wash my hands in the river when I smell one of my siblings. The scent was too faint to tell who it was but I knew they were looking for me.
“Shayla!” I hear them call out. It was a female’s voice.
I wonder whether to respond or not. They’ll find me anyway.
“By the river,” I call, not loudly but as though they were only nearby.
I hear a crash of footprints and then there is Alice standing in front on me. “Shayla, what are you doing?”
“Nothing. I just needed to be out of the house,” I sit down on one of the large rocks lining the river. “Why did you look for me?”
She rolled her eyes. “To get you to come back, duh!”
She thought I was running away. “I’m NOT running away Alice,” I growl. “I am merely staying the hell away from Bella so I don’t kill her and my bro doesn’t end up killing me in return.”
Alice frowns. “That wouldn’t happen. You know perfectly well that as much as I, even without seeing visions.”
I snort and stand up from the boulder I’m sitting on. “Alice, I had been drinking from humans for almost a year, and have recently become a ‘vegetarian’ again! What did you think would happen!? Seriously! Think about it!” I was angry, angry that she didn’t understand how hard it was for me to resist and to act like her. She could be around humans and still be somewhat normal. Not me though.
She is silent but I know she’s having a vision. She exhales and says. “Calm down Shayla or you’ll do something you will regret.”
I scoff. “Like what?”
She narrows her eyes. Now, I know I’m not Edward but something about her face gives me the answer.
Me hurting her. My sister, my shopping partner, my best friend…
“No…” I whisper. “Alice, you are my best friend. I wouldn’t do that!”
“Shayla, Jasper says your rage and anger is over consuming you. That’s why you are going to attack me.”
I try to calm down but I’m shaking. I grip the rock that I sat on in an effort to keep steady but it shatters like it was nothing more than a clomp of dirt. I clench my fists and stare at the ground. Others of my family are coming now. Do I care? Not really.
“Shayla…” Alice says as she takes a cautious step forward. “Did something happen in Alaska? Is that what is making you angry all the time.”
Yes, I wanted to say. Yes, something did happen. Something that had shattered me and that had made me like this. But how to explain…
“He did this to me,” I say softly. If I could cry, I would be doing it. Instead a dry sob escapes my throat as I let myself fall to the ground. I curl into a ball and lean my face onto my arms resting on my knees. I stop myself breathing.
Alice kneels down. “Who did this to you?”
I manage to chock out a name. “Adrian.”
“What did he do to you? Tell me Shayla.”
I look up and manage to silence my dry sobs. “I though he was the one, my mate. He became the one to hold me when I had done what I did. The one to comfort me when I expressed my longing to return home but when I knew I couldn’t.”
“But...?”
“He changed from the boy I loved. He became a bully. He told me that I belonged to him and I couldn’t go home. He told me I was a monster and I should rot in hell for killing the monsters.” I exhale as I become angry. “But I knew it wasn’t true. One day he tried to abuse me after I tried to leave him but I fought back. I managed to kill him before he could get a bite in. I knew I had to come back there and then. I needed my family, the one which I had left because I was sick of living by the rules. You know the rest of the story.”
“Oh Shayla…” Alice reaches out to me and rests her hand on my shoulder.
“Leave me Alice,” I whisper as I push her hand off.
“But Shayla, you need to come back.” She answers as she grips my arm hard. “Why do you think I’m here? We all want to help you.”
Now I don’t know why but the next thing I know that I do is that I snap. All the anger, all the rage that I have been holding in me and that has been building inside of me for months bubbles to the surface. I give a snarl. “Leave me Alice!” and then push her away, unintentionally with all my strength, from me. She is propelled into a tree, leaving a significant dent in it, before she scrambles to her feet. Shock and horror cross her face just as Jasper bursts into the clearing. Jasper sees the dent in the tree by Alice and then me in a defensive pose, and he puts two and two together.
“Shayla!” he roars as he runs at me. I brace myself for the crash but it doesn’t come. Alice has her hand around his arm and is holding him back. Rage crosses Jasper’s face. You never attacked another vampire’s mate unless you wanted to die or be mauled.
“Jazz, stop it. I had foreseen it. If it wasn’t me, it could have been Esme or Emmett or Bella,” Alice tells him. It was true of course. I feel like killing myself. How could I let that basterd of a vampire destroy myself? Hurt my family and friends? He may be dead but I was still wrecked.
And that’s when I decided. That man might have broken me, but I will repair myself and make things right. I would return to being me.
“It’s not going to happen again though,” I say so firmly that they jump in surprise. “That was the past. But the future is bright for me, I’m home and I will move past from what that ***** has done to me.”
They exchange looks. “So you’ll start laughing and smiling again? And you won’t stay cooped up in your room?” Jasper asks. I nod in response.
“And you’ll stop being angry and violent?” Alice asks in a cautious voice but I grin at her.
“Hell to the yeah. Hey, I’ll race you all back!” I answer before running off. I hear them laugh and they start to follow my complex track back through the woods.
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Post by Haz on Dec 17, 2009 18:38:49 GMT -5
Chapter 7: Since when did vampire liked baseball?
Edward’s POV
Bella and I were in my room. I had told her how I felt about her and how she makes me feel. I was worried that one day I’d say too much and she’ll run away screaming. Bella guessed what I was thinking.
“You are still waiting for the running and screaming, aren’t you?” she asks.
I feel a faint smile touch my lips and I nod.
“I hate to burst your bubble, but you’re really not as scary as you think you are. I don’t find you scary at all, actually,” Bella says to me, teasing me.
I raise my eyebrows in disbelief and flash my sparkling teeth at her in a wide, wicked smile.
“You really shouldn’t have said that,” I chuckle at her before emitting a playful growl from my chest. I shift into a crouch, like I was a lion about to pounce.
Bella steps back, glaring. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I launch myself at her and we crash into the sofa, my arms holding her right so she was barely jostled. She tried to right herself but I curl her into a ball and hold her as tight as I could without hurting her. She looks up at me in alarm but I merely grinned at her.
“You were saying?” I growl playfully at her again.
“That you’re a very, very terrifying monster,” she answers breathlessly, though I detect a hint of sarcasm.
“Much better,” I approve, still grinning.
“Can I get up?” she asks and I laugh in response.
I then hear Alice ask if she can come in from the doorway, speaking for Bella’s benefit. “Can we come in?” I see Jasper at her shoulder and Shayla behind him.
Bella struggled to free herself and but I readjusted so she was more conventionally sitting on my lap. “Go ahead,” I chuckle.
Alice dances in, finding nothing unusual about our embrace. Jasper pauses at the door, his expression one of shock but Shayla; she bounded in and like Alice, finds nothing unusual about us. She turned to check on Jasper and waved a hand at him, beckoning him forward. He shook his head but Shayla sighed impatiently and tugged him in.
“If I can be in here, you can,” she said, too low for Bella to hear. Jasper growled a response but Shayla jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, signalling him to be quiet.
Alice ignores them both and announced. “It sounded like you were having Bella for lunch, and we came to see if you would share.”
Bella stiffened but I grin. “Sorry, I don’t believe I have enough to share.”
“Oh we can change that,” Shayla answers, her face serious. I growl at her and she bares her teeth before giving a grin. “Chillax Edward, I would never do that.”
“Actually, “Jasper said, smiling. “Alice says that there’s going to be a real storm tonight, and Emmett and Shay wanna play ball. You game?”
I hesitated, should I bring Bella?
“Of course you should bring Bella!” Alice chirped and Shayla nodded in agreement. I thought I saw Jasper glance at her.
“Do you want to go?” I ask her, rather excited.
“Sure,” she answers. “Um, where are we going?”
“We’ll have to wait for thunder to play- you’ll see why.” I promised.
“Will I need an umbrella?”
All four of us vampires laughed.
“Will she?” Jasper asked Alice.
“No,” She was positive. “The storm will hit over town. It should be dry enough in the clearing.”
“Sweet as kangaroo blood!” Shayla grinned but it dropped as the rest of us stared at her. “What? Its vampire slang from Australia. I went there for a few months to dig up some info about my old family and I met up with some nomads. Kangaroo blood is very sweet in flavour.”
I roll my eyes and turn back to Bella. “Good then,” Jasper says his voice enthusiastic.
“Let’s go see if Carlisle will come,” Alice says.
“Like you don’t know,” Jasper teases and Shayla snickers. “Yeah Alice.”
And then they were swiftly on their way.
“What will we be playing?” Bella demanded.
“You will be watching,” I clarified. “We’ll be playing baseball.”
I saw her roll her eyes. “Vampires like baseball?”
“It’s the American pastime.”
Shayla’s POV
“Yo Carlisle! Wanna play ball?” I call as I bound into his study. The boys had been teasing me about my gait- they said it was like of a kangaroo, always leaping, always bounding around.
He looks up and chuckles just as Alice danced in behind me followed by Jasper. “I guess I can’t say no?”
“Nope!” Alice chips in from behind me.
“Ok righto, I’m going to ride up on the bike and go via the old dirt track,” I say. “I’ll meet you all there.”
Before they object I am in the garage hopping on my bike while slipping my helmet on. I rev the engine- loud deliberately, and I hear Rose growl angrily from upstairs. I give a chuckle and pull out.
Instead of heading to the road, I go into the woods and find an old trail that is now a dirt bike track. I go over the old jumps, the noise echoing through the woods. I kill time for half an hour and then head to the clearing.
I pull up at the outcrop of rocks that Carlisle, Rosalie, Esme and Emmett are sitting on. Jasper and Alice are throwing a baseball with their bare hands a few yards away, the ball almost invisible.
“’Sup?” I say as I put the stand on the bike down and take my helmet off, pulling my hair out as I go.
“Nothin’, just waiting for Ed and Bella to get here,” Emmett replies, grinning as he reaches up and ruffles my hair. I hate it when he does that.
“Hey, knock it off!” I say as I as return it to its normal, neat state. “Rose, hurt him for me.”
“Got it,” Rosalie slaps Emmett in the back of the head. “Behave Emmett.”
I chuckle and dodge the punch Emmett throws. Carlisle then darts off to make the bases just as Edward arrives, leading Bella out of the woods. Rosalie rose and stalked off towards the outfield with Emmett looking after her for a long time. I run out to Jasper and Alice while Esme goes to meet Edward.
“What’s up with Rose?” I murmur as low as I can but she still manages to glare at me. I respond with my own death stare.
Jasper whispers back. “I’ll tell you later, okay?”
“Meh, whatever,” I shrug. “Right, Bella’s here. Whose team am I on?”
“You can be on ours Shay-Shay,” he replies. Alice starts to flit over to Edward and Bella. I follow, bounding over.
“Its time,” she says to them. I look up and a deep rumble of thunder shook the forest before crashing near the town.
“Eerie isn’t it?” Emmett says to Bella.
We all head into our positions. Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and I were on the batting team while Alice, Edward and Carlisle were fielding. Alice was pitching and Jasper catching for the other team. To Bella’s surprise, we didn’t have gloves.
Esme called. “Batter up!” and Emmett was on the base. Alice was her usually stealthy self and managed to get a strike in but on the second pitch, Emmett smacked the ball with the metal bat, sounding like thunder, into the outer woods. He would have got a homerun but Edward caught him out. I could hear Esme talking with Bella about the rules of the game and about how we played it. “I keep them honest,” she said.
“She thinks we cheat.” Emmett said to her, his tone clearly stating that he was innocent. But we all knew that he wasn’t. This was Emmett that we were talking about.
“I don’t think you cheat, I know you cheat,” Esme said back and Bella giggled.
Jasper managed to hit a ground ball towards Carlisle to avoid Edward and then he raced to second base, Carlisle shadowing him. My father and brother then smashed together, sounding like boulders smacking together but still safe. I saw Bella jump up in concern but after I give a laugh she sits down again. “They are tough Bella,” I say “They will be fine.”
“My turn,” I say as I step up to the plate. I admit I was overconfident a bit. I held the bat in one hand and when Alice pitched, I swung it one handed, over Edwards’s head and into the woods. I sprinted around the bases and I smell Edward running back. I was just past the third base when he emerged from the wood, his face discouraged. He saw me and I grinned. I leapt into my ‘hunting run’ aka, on all fours to everyone’s shock. I leapt at the last moment when the ball pelted towards Jazz, and crashed on the base. I move onto my side and look up at Esme. “So, am I out?”
“Safe,” she says after a moment’s deliberation. I grin and pull myself up, high-fiving my siblings.
We were up by one. Rosalie flits around the bases thanks to one of Emmett’s long flies before Edward caught them both out, signalling the change over. I jog out to pitch and we resumed play. Carlisle smacked a magnificent hit; it almost hurt my ears, so Edward and him both get home. The score kept changing to my disappointment and we went through several innings.
Carlisle was up to bat and I was the furthest out, between third and second base. And then, a scent in the forest catches my attention. I whip my head around, nostrils flaring just as Alice gasped. Edward looked up at her and then at me. I twist my head back and forth until I’m facing the direction where the smell is the strongest.
I run back to the base where Carlisle is calmly dealing with Alice and Edward. “Can you make it?” he asked Edward.
“No, not carrying-” he cut short. “Besides the last thing we need is them to catch the scent and for them to start hunting.”
“How many?” Emmett and I both asked Alice at the same time.
“Three,” she answered tersely.
Emmett scoffed something about letting them come and I relaxed, but only a little. But I agreed with Emmett. “Yeah, there are eight of us and three of them.”
No one agreed with me. Carlisle deliberated for a second before declaring us to continue with the game as they were only curious.
Esme asked Edward if they were thirsty and fortunately, they weren’t. Esme was relived and so was I. Edward went to referee and sit with Bella while Esme was backstop. We all hovered in the infield and no one dared to hit harder then a bunt. I kept turning to keep catching the scent and to sweep the forest with my sharp eyes. The other kept doing the same.
Then the scent of the other, unfamiliar vampires was strong in the right field. I turned and called out to Carlisle. Everyone ran to him and we swept the forest with our eyes before standing in front of Bella to hide her from view who had since taken her hair down.
“That won’t help; I can smell her from across the field,” I say to Edward.
“I know,” he says sadly, a hint of frustration in his voice.
I fold my arms and stand protectively in front of Bella as we wait for our ‘visitors’ to enter the clearing as their footsteps become louder and louder.
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Post by Haz on Dec 17, 2009 18:42:14 GMT -5
Chapter 8: Tracker
Shayla’s POV
I gave a snarl as the three vampires emerge from the woods. The first male fell back allowing the other olive skinned, dark haired male to go forward, displaying who led the pack. The third was a woman with a startling amount of tangled, red hair.
As they approached close I noticed their gait was very cat-like and on the verge of slipping into a crouch. They were dressed in backpackers clothing with button-down shirts and jeans with heavy, water-proof fabrics. They were barefoot and their clothes were frayed with wear. Although the men had neatly cropped hair- the leader was down to his shoulders- but the woman’s was a wild, tangled mess of orange with leaves and debris from the forest caught in it. She seemed to walk like a feline of some kind.
The first man flashed a smile at us but I never relaxed my stance. I stood with my arms crossed slightly in front of Bella and between Edward and Jasper. Jasper elbows me, and shoots me a disapproving look. I drop my arms and relax my stance as the vampires creep forward. They remind me of lone animals that are approaching a big group of their own kind.
The man in front was the most beautiful; I could admit that, his skin olive-toned underneath the paleness, his hair a glossy black. He was of a medium build, hard muscled but he was nothing compared to Emmett’s brawn.
The women was wilder, her eyes shifting between the men in front of her and the loose group consisting crowding around Bella, her hair ruffling in the breeze. The second male hovered near her, his hand twitched towards hers. His light brown hair and regular features both nondescript. His eyes, though completely still, were somehow the most vigilant.
Their eyes were a deep burgundy red colour. I glanced at Bella to see her reaction. She gave a small shiver. I admit it did look scary; it made them look disturbing and sinister. That was how my eyes once looked.
The dark haired man then spoke. “I thought we heard a game,” he said in a relaxed voice, with a touch of a French accent. “I am Laurent and this is Victoria and James,” he gestured to the vampires behind him. Victoria gave a small nod of her head in greeting but James simply tilted his head, keeping a steady eye on Edward. I resisted the urge to growl.
Carlisle introduced us, calling us out in groups and not drawing attention to us. Bella seemed surprised that he called her name.
“Do you have room for a few more players?” Laurent asked sociably.
My father matched Laurent’s friendly tone. “Actually we were just finishing up. But we’d certainly be interested another time. Are you planning to stay in the area long?”
“We’re headed north, in fact, but we were curious to see who was in the neighbourhood.”
“No, this region is usually empty except for us and the occasional visitor like yourselves.”
I sensed Jasper was using his gift to calm the situation from a tense atmosphere into casual conversation.
“What’s your hunting range?” Laurent casually inquired.
Carlisle ignored the assumption behind the inquiry. “The Olympic Range here, up and down the Coast Ranges on occasion. Shayla sometimes head to the coast,” I flashed him a look but he ignored me. “We keep a permanent resident nearby. There is another permanent settlement like our up near Denali.”
Laurent rocked back on his heels slightly.
“Permanent? How do you manage that?” there was honest curiosity in his voice.
“Why don’t you come back to our home with us and we can talk comfortably?” Carlisle invited. “It’s a rather long story.”
Victoria and James exchanged a surprised look at the mention of ‘home’ but Laurent managed to control his expression better then them.
“That sounds very interesting, and welcome. We’ve been on the hunt all the way down from Ontario and we haven’t had the chance to clean up in a while,” his eyes moved appreciatively over Carlisle’s refined appearance and that’s when I realised what he just said. I open my mouth in alarm but Esme shoots me a look. I get a lot of those.
“Please don’t take offence, but we’d appreciate it if you’d refrain from hunting in this immediate area. We have to stay inconspicuous, you understand,” Carlisle explained.
“Of course,” Laurent nodded. “We certainty won’t encroach on your territory. We ate just out of Seattle anyway,” he laughed. I bite my lip to stop myself saying something I will most likely regret.
“Well, we’ll show you the way if you’d like to run with us- Emmett and Alice, you can go with Edward and Bella to get the Jeep. Shayla, you can get the bike and head with them as well,” he casually added as we start to head off. I watch James as he stared curiously at Bella. I didn’t like the look.
Then three things happened at the same time. One, Bella’s hair rippled with a breeze, two, Edward stiffened and three, James suddenly whipped his head around to face Bella, his nostrils flaring.
Edward and I drop into a crouch followed by the rest of the family who dart back. Esme pulled Bella back and Edward bared his teeth, a feral snarl ripping from his throat. I snap my teeth together and give a deep growl. Victoria leapt into a crouch beside James and I lined up in her view, blocking Bella from her line of sight. I give a snarl and she responds with a hissing noise. I feel my hands shake and then my silver, lion-like claws burst out of my fingertips.
“What’s this?” Laurent exclaimed in open surprise but I merely hiss at him before baring my teeth menacingly like Edward. None of us relaxed our aggressive poses. James feinted to the side and Edward shifted in response. I flex my claws menacingly.
“She’s with us,” Carlisle’s firm rebuff was directed at James. I could see Laurent had caught the scent less powerfully then James but awareness dawned on his face.
“You brought a snack?” he asked and he talked an involuntary step forward.
I give a loud growl and remove my gaze from Victoria. “She’s with us!” I snarl at him as I step forward, ready to rip him to shreds. Edwards snarls more ferociously at him, harshly, his lip curling above his bared teeth. Laurent steps back.
“We said, she’s with us,” Carlisle corrected in a hard voice.
“But she’s human,” Laurent protested, no aggressiveness in his voice, merely astonishment.
“Yes,” Emmett was very much in evidence at Carlisle’s side, his eyes on James. James slowly straightened out as did Victoria and I but I could see that his eyes never left Bella, his nostrils wide. I gave a small snort and bared my teeth again. Edward stayed tense like a lion by my side.
When Laurent spoke again, his tone was soothing- trying to defuse the sudden hostility I guessed, Jasper could of done a better job. “It appears we have a lot to learn about each other.”
“Indeed,” Carlisle’s voice was still cool. How, I would never know.
“But we would like to accept your invitation,” his eyes flicked between Bella, Carlisle and Edward. “And, of course, we won’t harm the human girl. We won’t hunt in your range, like we said.”
James glanced in disbelief and aggravation at Laurent and exchanged a look with Victoria whose eyes were still flickering eagerly from face to face before resting on mine. I stared at her, challenging her for look away. She in turn glared back, daring me to do what I was doing to her.
“Stand down Shay,” Alice murmured from nearby. I gave an exasperated growl and at the same time, Victoria and I turned away from each other.
Carlisle, Esme Rosalie and Jasper were leading the foreign vampires across to the woods which led home. I followed the others, shielding Bella from sight to the other side of the woods. Not bothering to wait, I ran ahead, bouncing off the trees with Edward close behind followed by Alice and Emmett.
I get to the bike and turn to see Edward throw Bella in the Jeep. Alice is in the front and Emmett in the back. I hear Edward growl a series of swear word and profanities before getting in the front seat and he stomps on the accelerator.
I leap on the bike and rev it angrily. I follow him and over take him as I think angrily to myself, knowing he would hear. I should rip their faces off!
But then, he turned away onto the highway, heading away from Forks. I missed the turn-off and shot past.
Idiot! I scream at him in my head. What the hell are you doing? Oi jackass!
I guess he didn’t hear me. I scowl and go faster towards home. When I get there, I skid my bike in, nearly hitting Rose’s car and sprint into the house to find Rose, Carlisle, Esme, Jasper and Laurent.
“Shayla, where’s the others?” Rosalie asks as I skid to a stop in the lounge room where Carlisle was having a civil conversation with Laurent.
“Edward’s taking Bella away from Forks for some dumb reason,” I growl. “And I’m assuming Emmett is helping him, the idiot. Alice won’t go down without a fight, I bet,” I then realised only one of our new ‘guests’ is present. “Hang on, where’s Victoria and James?”
“I don’t know,” Laurent said sadly. “I believe James might start tracking the human and Victoria is helping him.”
“What the fu-” I start to say but Jasper puts a hand over my mouth to stop my swearing. I give him a dirty look and he releases me. “Hate you Jazz.”
He doesn’t smile for once. ‘What are we going to do about this Carlisle?” He asks Carlisle instead.
“I know what I’m going to do!” I rant “I’m going to rip James’s face off!”
“No Shayla,” Carlisle spoke. He had a firm grip on my arm. “I know you now consider Bella a member of the family and I also know how protective you are of us but for now we need to consider our options.”
“I see only one option,” I growl. “Kill him or let him kill Bella. Your choice Carlisle.”
“There are other options Shayla.” He said again, firm and calm. Esme glanced between us and Jasper placed his arm on my shoulder. I look up at him.
“You agree, right Jasper?” I ask. He doesn’t answer which bugs me.
“What are the other options?” He then asks Carlisle.
“We wait until Edward comes home and then we’ll figure it out,” he said, still calm.
“But that could take ages!” I protest. “Edward is stubborn! He would do what he thinks is best for Bella.”
Before anyone could answer me, I flip out my phone and speed-dial Alice. “Alice, what’s going on?”
“We are heading back now. Bella’s telling her father that she is going home to Phoenix. Jasper and I are going with her while Edward, Emmett and everyone else stays to hunt James.” She explains. She knows that I would know that James was a tracker.
“What do you want me to do? Protect or hunt?” I ask.
“Come with us, we’ll need you.”
I sigh. I wanted to hunt James. “Okay. Are you heading home now?”
“Yes. Shayla, please be careful and don’t go after him now.”
“I won’t,” I promised even though I was seriously considered it “I’ll see ya soon.”
“Bye Shay-Shay,” She hung up and I turned to the family. “You heard all that?”
They nod and we stay silent for a moment until Rosalie decides to speak.
“Why should we help her in the first place anyway?” Rosalie asked. I give a feral snarl at her. Rosalie hissed back sounding like an angry snake. “She is causing nothing but trouble.” She hisses angrily.
“Bella is with Edward Rosalie.” I snarl, sneering her name slightly “And I don’t know about you, but I protect my family. Even if it does so happen to include a human.”
Rosalie bared her teeth and sneered at me. I growl at her, bared my teeth in return. She shifted into a crouch-like position, a sign that she may attack. Rose and I rarely fought, but when we did, it was horseplay just like I was wrestling with my brothers. But I had never attacked her seriously in an attempt to harm her or worse, tear her to shreds.
I don’t adjust my body to an attacking position. Instead I fold my arms and narrow my eyes at her. “I won’t fight you Rosalie.”
She glares at me and I glare back. “Why Shayla do you need to protect her?” she then asks.
“’Cause Edward would kill me if I wouldn’t. You know me Rosalie; I protect my family and friends- even if it means getting injured in the process or even killed.”
“You are willing to sacrifice your life for Bella?” she asks, quite surprised.
“Yes,” I simply say, bowing my head.
She seems to consider straightening up but instead she shifts forward. I shift into a crouch position, identical to hers. So she still wanted to fight eh?
“Stop it you two,” Esme cut in, her mothering voice on “Fighting isn’t going to solve anything.”
“It might solve her attitude problem,” I murmur, knowing fully well that she would hear.
She hisses again and gives me the ‘Ice Queen’ stare. “Shut up Shayla.”
“Make me.” I reply, rather immaturely.
“I’ll make you.” She snarls coldly. Carlisle and Esme glance between us, wondering whether to intervene or not but they know that once Rosalie and I start to argue, almost nothing will shut us up. She was pigheaded and I was just as stubborn.
“Two words:” I give a smirk “Bring it.”
Rosalie launches at me so fast that she’s a blur but yet, I still have time to sidestep her easily. Well not sidestep exactly, but rather leaping out of the way. She turns and snarls at me. I growl in response. She tries to leap at me again when I decide to infuriate further.
She throws punches and swipes at me which I dodge when I recite my favourite lines from the TMNT movie. “Funny thing about anger… Let it consume and soon enough…” I duck underneath her outstretched arm and creep behind her, and say the next line near her ear. “You lose sigh of everything.”
She swipes again, spinning around for me but I am behind her again, where I was standing from originally. She glares at me. “You are nothing but a stupid smart-ass Shayla.”
“And you are nothing but a pigheaded ***** Rosalie,” I counter, dropping my smirk. I guessed this would turn into the worst fight we would ever have.
We stare at each other for a long time before Jasper intervenes. “Rose, Shay, stop it now! Fighting isn’t going to solve anything. Right?”
I nod with my jaw tight. “Yeah, I guess. Sorry Rosalie.”
She flares her nostrils. “Sorry Shayla. And you’re right Jasper.”
I suddenly whip my head around. I smell Bella’s scent along with Edward’s, Alice's’ and Emmett’s. I also smell James’s but his is further away. I snort with frustration. “I can smell the tracker. His scent is sickening.”
“I know,” Jasper says softly. “Just don’t breathe.”
I hold my breath and the absolutely foul stench disappears almost completely. But the taste-like sensation stays in my throat.
The door flies open and Emmett races in, clutching Bella. Edward and Alice soon follow. Laurent, who has remained quiet the whole time, rises from the couch. I heard Emmett give a grumble as he set Bella down beside Edward.
“He’s tracking us,” he announced, glaring balefully at Laurent. Laurent’s face was unhappy. “I was afraid of that.”
Alice danced to Jasper and whispered in his ear; her lips quivering from her almost silent speech. They then flew up the stairs together. I decided to fly up as well. Not bothering to use the stairs, I run towards the wall by the side of stair case and leap, bound off it, grab the railing in one hand and propel myself over it. I ran into my room, almost breaking the door, and grabbed a backpack from my closet. I stuffed a change of clothes in there and headed back downstairs, slinging the bag over my back as I went.
Laurent was talking again. “Are you sure it’s worth it?” he was talking to Carlisle about Bella, no doubt. Edward gives an enraged roar and I give a furious snarl. Laurent turned to look at me for a moment before cringing back.
Carlisle ignored me and Edward and said gravely to Laurent “I’m afraid you have to make a choice.”
Laurent understood what he meant. He deliberated for a moment. His eyes took in every face, and finally swept the bright room.
“I’m intrigued by the life you’ve created here. But I won’t get in the middle of this. I bear none of your enmity, but I won’t go up against James. I think I’ll head north- to that clan in Denali,” he hesitated. “Don’t underestimate James. He’s got a brilliant mind and unparalleled senses. He’s every bit as comfortable in the human world as you seem to be, and he won’t come at you head on… I’m sorry for what’s been unleased here, truly sorry,” he bowed his head and I saw him flicker a curious look towards Bella.
“Go in peace.” was all Carlisle said and Laurent hurried out the door.
The silence didn’t last long.
“How close?” Carlisle asked Edward and me.
I sniffed, trying to pick up a scent. “By the river, about 3 to 4 miles out. The female’s is further away, around 5 miles away.”
I look at Edward for conferment. Hr nodded at me and Carlisle. “He plans to meet with her.”
“What’s the plan?”
“We’ll lead him off; and then Shayla, Jasper and Alice will run her south.”
“And then?”
Edward’s tone was deadly. “As soon as Bella is in the clear, we hunt him. Shayla can run back if she’s like.”
“I guess there’s no other choice,” Carlisle agreed his face rather grim.
“No, I think it’s better if I stay with Jazz and Al.” I cut in, my face determined. Edward sees this and says no more, before turning to Rosalie.
“Go upstairs and trade clothes,” he commanded but she merely stared back at him with livid disbelief.
Bad move Edward.
“Why should I?” she hissed “What is she to me? Except a menace- a danger you’ve chosen to inflict on all of us.”
I see Bella flinch back from the absolute venom in her voice.
“Rose…” Emmett murmured, putting one hand on her shoulder. She shook it off. “Shut up Rose!” I suddenly snap at her “You’re not helping!”
I turned to Edward, knowing of his temper. But he ignored her, and acted as though she hadn’t spoken, or even existed.
“Esme?” he asked calmly. Esme would, I knew she would.
“Of course.” my mother murmured and then she took Bella upstairs.
I could hear Rosalie arguing almost silently with Emmett. I rolled my eyes and pulled out my mobile. I hit speed dial for my Australian vampire friend, Matthew.
“What are you doing?” Carlisle asked curiously.
I put the phone to my ear before answering. “My friend Matt is in town. I want him to take my bike, so James will think it’s a decoy.”
I hear a Matt answer the pone. “What’s up Shayla?”
“Hey, Matty-boy, how’s it going? Listen, I need a favour. We got a small tracker problem and I need you to take my bike for a few days.”
He didn’t ask for details. “When?”
“Now.”
“I’ll be 5 minutes.” he promised.
“You know where our place is? It’ll be out the front.” I say as I run out into the garage and start wheeling the bike out.
“Yeah, okay then. See you soon Shay.”
“Peace out bro.” I smile. Matt and the rest of his friends, both boys and girls, were like adopted brothers and sisters to me while I stayed in Australia for a few months. I hear a small chuckle from him and then the line goes dead. I snap the phone shut.
“What now?” I ask when I run back into the house. Bella and Esme are back. Esme is in Bella’s clothes and Bella in Esme’s. Everyone was ready to leave and Carlisle was handing out cell phones to Esme and Alice. He was also was giving last minute instructions to Bella and Edward.
“Will they take the bait Alice?” he then asked Alice. She closed her eyes and became still.
“He’ll track you. The woman will follow the truck.”
“Will Matt be okay? On the bike?”
She nodded. “He’ll head back to his hiding place, a cave in the mountains. I see two girls and a boy with him.”
I think before giving a nod. “Ah… Maddy, Tiff and Theo. Theo is his best friend, Maddy is his mate and Tiff is Theo’s mate.” I turn away from her face and glance out the window, now worried. What if my friends got hurt because of me?
“Let’s go.” Carlisle walked toward the kitchen.
I walked there with them just as Edward pulled Bella to his side. He seemed unaware that his whole family was watching as he lifted Bella and kissed her with her feet off the floor. I glanced away, feeling uncomfortable and when I glanced back, he was gone along with Emmett and Carlisle. The others looked away from Bella as she had tears coming down her face streaking noiselessly. I walked over to her and held a hand on her shoulder, as gently as I could, to comfort her.
“Bella, it’ll be okay,” I whisper, even though I didn’t know if it would be.
She made no moment or sound to say that she heard me. The silence seemed to drag on before Esme’s phone rang. It was at her ear in a flash.
“Now,” she said. Rose stalked out the door, throwing a glare at Bella and I. Esme followed but lingered by Bella, her cold hand brushing her check.
“Be safe,” she whispered before turning to me. “Take care of her Shayla.”
“I will Mom,” I murmur. “I promise.”
She slipped out the door and we heard the truck thunder for a moment before slowly fading away. Then the roar of my motorbike was heard before it too faded away.
We waited. Alice’s phone rang and was at her ear before it seemed to ring. “Edward says that the woman is on Esme’s trail. I’ll get the car.”
I followed her and slid into the front seat. As it slowly backed out, I sighed and threw my head back. She shot me a questioning look while raising her eyebrows.
“I said it would be okay,” I mumble. “I told her it’ll be fine. But what if it’s not, what if I’m wrong?”
“I don’t know,” she frowns “There are a thousand decisions being made by everyone, it’s impossible to see.”
We stopped then and she ran out into the house and returned with Bella in her arms. She slid her into the back seat before following and Jasper slid into the driver’s seat.
“Let’s go.” I said impatiently and we pulled out into the dark night, leaving the bright lights behind us.
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