The Shifter // Colby Brock

~ Part 46 ~

I watched as Rachel slowly woke herself up. Her eyes fluttered and her heartbeat picked up for a few seconds. I was right there by her side anyways. Our eyes met and she smiled. "You're okay..." I helped her sit up. Everyone except Kevin, Elton, Corey, and Colby were gone.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I smiled at her as I grabbed her hands. "But Edward's in here so we should really leave, yeah?" She nodded so I pulled her slowly out of the garage, making eye contact with Colby on the way.

"We have to protect her, you know." Sam said from upstairs. "You can tell just how much she means to Ness. That practically makes her one of us."

"I know... why do you think that is?" Kat questioned sounding extremely confused. I would be too, Kat.

"She was a hunter, she is a hunter. That might have something to do with it." His voice was slow and careful.

"Maybe she has some sort of pull to Ness?" That caught my attention but it didn't make sense. Apparently, Rachel was a hunter who's only just had her first turn, which does usually result in passing out, so why is it that I, now a vampire, want to protect her? I sat down on Rachel's bed but she didn't join me. She was just staring off at the window.

"You alright?" I asked. She glanced at me for barely a second, her hand on her chest. "Rachel?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied quickly. There was a beat of silence. "It's just, I'm a bit scared."

"Sit down with me." I leaned against the wall and looked at her until she finally gave in and came over to me. She sat down, leaning against the wall. "You're scared. Of what?" Her eyes flicked to mine. 

"Everything." When I frowned, she moved to continue. "I mean, there's a literal vampire downstairs who wants to kill me and dozens of others scattered around the entire house who all seem to want to protect me." I placed my hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "This sort of thing isn't normal. I'm supposed to be in high school enjoying the mostly stress free life but I don't even know what that's like anymore and it's only been a short period of time." She sighed at herself, her eyes trained now on the tattoo on her wrist. I knew she was confused, as anyone else would be.

"Well, I didn't have a normal life at all so I guess you could say that I understand that. And it's not like my life got more normal, in fact it got even crazier." She smiled as she looked at me and nodded. "But we do have to talk about that tattoo." I said, tracing my fingertips over the ink delicately. She looked at her wrist in shock, as if she'd forgotten.

"Yeah... I don't know what happened earlier. I saw his vampire face and freaked out. Next thing I know, I feel incredibly powerful and there's a stake in my hand." She admitted.

"I'm going to explain everything to you so strap in, alright?" She nodded. "So........"