Blood Moon [a Twilight Saga FanFiction]

Going Home

ONCE ALL THE STUDENTS AND STAFF HAD RETURNED TO THEIR FAMILIES, I sat in my car and thought about the lives that wouldn't be here anymore if I hadn't come to work. Kyle, Josh, Chloe, Robyn, Mr Mason... and who knew if the kids of Ian's English class would have been able to keep Mark on the ground until the police showed up.
     Five lives, maybe more, saved. I refused to think about the lives lost... refused but their faces, still, unmoving, pushed themselves into my mind.
     So, without sparing the school another look, I went home. My head flicking through all the faces, dead and alive. Mr Green... right between the eyes. The English students. Lauren's determination. Robyn's fear.
     Once home I couldn't bring myself to get out of the car straight away, even though I could hear Lucy and Igor waiting for me inside. Partially I stayed in the car because I had realised the moment I cut the engine, that I hadn't changed out of my blood-and-rain soaked clothes. The other part was because I wasn't ready to face Lucy's sympathy or Igor's empathy. Even though all I wanted, mainly, was for Igor's arms to wrap around me for the rest of the year and for us to never have to move. To feel safe in his embrace and forget the world, forget how dangerous and manic humans have become in the years we had been vampires with their new inventions of war and pain and bloodlust.
     Aro had been right in his little speech against my brothers family, humans had created weapons of mass destruction, and if it ever came down to it, they could destroy us. Yes, bullets reflect off us, to steal a human term, we are bulletproof. But the canon of a tank, especially the more modern ones, would definitely make a mark, bombs or mines, if close enough could potentially blow us apart. Then there were the nuclear weapons...
      Humans were terrifying.
     And with that thought, I got out of the car, carrying my spare clothes and without looking at Lucy or Igor, I avoided the front room and jumped up to go directly into our bedroom and made my way into our en suite.
      By the time I was in the shower, Igor had come upstairs, taken my bloody clothes and taken them outside to burn. I had to thoroughly wash my hair to ensure there were no traces of blood still there, and even though the rain had washed away the blood on my skin, I still had to make sure.
     Once finished, I dried, dressed and walked straight into my studio. I was honestly surprised that neither Lucy nor Igor had said anything, tried to confront me, talk to me, even touch me. Lucy stayed downstairs and Igor watched, always there, close enough if I needed him. But neither of them made a move.
      It wasn't until I started sketching rather absentmindedly and Igor moved to open up the windows in my studio to let in some fresh air that I caught his scent.
     Lucy had told him to keep his distance, wait for me to approach him instead of him immediately check on me like he really wanted too.
     "I want to check on her, too, Igor, I want to hug her and apologise. I don't know why but it's a bad idea." Lucy had told him.
      I chuckled and looked at Igor as he looked over his shoulder to me.
     "I'll be okay," I told him.
     "You haven't witnessed a shooting before," he stated.
     "Of course I have, in Nanaimo in the ED."
     "I meant a school shooting. I know what you're like when children die, Miss Elizabeth."
     I put down my sketch pad and pencils.
     "I don't even want to blink," I began. "Because all I see are their faces. All of them, just laying there. I'm trying to keep thinking of the positives. The lives saved. But there just, was too many. Too many children. But I will be okay. I will be."
     He pulled me into his arms and I rested my head onto his chest.
     We were like that for an hour before we heard the approaching thick, heavy, padded paws that after a moment when the wolf was just out of sight, phased and became Seth.
     "Hey," Seth said from outside, looking up towards the house. "I know this is crossing the line, Quil told me not to come, but you're Ed's family so I wanted to make sure you were okay. See, Charlie called Billy, and Billy told us because even though you lot are bulletproof, you still have emotions, right? So..."
     Igor and I ran out to join him, Lucy sat on the couch with a sigh.
     "That's very kind of you Seth," Igor stated. "But Miss Elizabeth is fine."
     "Are you?" Seth asked looking at me. "You're like, Ed's favourite aunt... well you're his only aunt but still."
     "I will be," I encouraged him. "The sad part about being immortal is that you see a lot of people die. It always affects you, but you get used to it. Thank you for coming to check on me though, for Edward."
     Seth nodded before looking between us, and then to Lucy inside.
     "Is she going to be called in for questioning? or did they catch the asshole?"
     "Language," Igor hissed.
     "Sorry," Seth said and laughed.
      "Students helped knock the shooter out. So he's going to get what he deserves," I explained, not mentioning my own involvement in the knocking out process. "And besides, Forks doesn't even know Lucy exists."
     "Okay, cool... um... well," Seth muttered awkwardly. "Then I'll just be across the line if you need us. Bye."
     "Goodbye, Seth," Igor said.
     Seth nodded again before running into the trees, not even bothering to remove his shorts before he phased.