Flames [Completed]

(Hungry)

I follow Bella out to the truck, a small bubble of nervousness building in my stomach.

I haven't been near another human besides her, and that nearly ended badly. If I react badly to Charlie...

"Stop worrying, you'll be fine," Bella says, turning the engine on.

I don't reply, my mind tied down on what happened to Jasper. One wrong thought, and who knows what could happen to Charlie.

Jasper's a vampire, and I made him pass out. Charlie is human. What would that do to him?

"...Jordan?" Bella says, waving a hand in front of my face. "We're here."

I blink, realising we are in fact, sitting outside our house. Taking a deep breath, I step out of the car and walk to the door with Bella.

We share a look, and I crack a nervous grin. "Ready to face the fire?"

"I've already faced the fire. Its your turn now," she says, smiling wickedly. "Might want to lose the teeth, though."

My lips pull down in a frown as I look in the reflection of the window. Sure enough, four pointed teeth shimmer back at me.

I bite my lip, as I'm not really sure how to hide them. After thinking, and internally swearing, I decide to just concentrate on wanting them to be hidden.

"That's better," Bella says, and reaches for the door handle.

I stop her. "Bells, this doesn't...freak you out?"

She raises her eyebrow. "No? Why would it?"

"I don't know, maybe because I'm now half flippin' faerie?!" I exclaim quietly, glancing at the window.

Bella chuckles lightly and shrugs. "You've never been ordinary, Jordan. Now it's just shining through."

She walks in, leaving me feeling worse than before. Nerves make my stomach squirm uneasily.

I don't want it to shine through. I don't want to be different from everybody else.

"Come on."

She steps in and I follow, feeling anxiety for the first time about being under this roof. I feel bare. Like Charlie will be able to see through me.

"Dad, Jordan's home!"

Charlie's heavy footsteps thud loudly on the stairs as he comes into view, wide eyed and smiling.

"Jordan," he says, and launches at me for a hug.

I chuckle, enjoying his warm embrace. But his shiver is obvious when he touches my skin.

"You're freezing," he says, stepping back a little. "Did you enjoy your holiday with Jasper?"

"Y-yes," I say, giving Bella a sidelong glance. "It was nice to see him again, you know. Spend some time with him..."

"I'm glad. Though I'll admit I was worried when I didn't hear from you," he says.

"I'm sorry. My phone broke and I couldn't get it fixed. Its why I asked Bella to let you know what I was doing," I say, wanting to smile, but being self-conscious about my teeth.

"Well, either way I'm glad you're home. Both of you," he says, a grin growing on his face. "Now, let's eat! I'm starving."

"Dad...you can't cook," Bella says.

"I know that. We're getting pizza," he says, and walks off to grab the phone.

A frown grows on my face. Bella notices and comes over to me. "What's wrong?"

"I just realised...I can't eat food anymore..."

The fact is strange, and slightly saddening. Food is such a good part of life, and the idea of not being able to do something so normal is odd.

I walk upstairs and into my room. It's still, like a picture of chaos. I sit down on the bed and look around.

Slowly, like water trickling in from a stream, the absolute madness of the last week dawns on me.

I nearly drowned. Then I went to Italy. Then I was attacked by a member of an ancient supernatural cult and turned into a vampire-faerie hybrid.

And I'm eighteen.

What the actual fuck happened?

Not too long ago I was just a teen with anger issues and a slightly sick love of boxing. Now...

What am I now? I'm still me...but different. Stronger, faster. Thirster.

Damn, I could really eat something.

Bollocks.

"Hey, Bella?" I call, beginning to twist my hands anxiously.

"Yeah?" She appears, casually reading through a book.

She only looks up at my lack of response. Her relaxed face changes quite drastically.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm...um...rather hungry, if you catch my drift," I say, smiling awkwardly, able to feel my teeth morphing.

Bella freezes in place for a second. "...what...what do I do? I mean, Charlie's downstairs so..."

"Could you cover for me please? I just need fifteen minutes and I'll be back," I say.

"Sure, but don't be any longer than that. You've never taken showers like that," she says, and leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

I turn the shower on in the bathroom, walk to the window and open it. There's no one in sight.

How in the hell am I supposed to get down there?

Oh, right.

With a rather agile jump, I land on the ground gently and start running. Again, the exhilaration is startling.

Wind blowing through my hair, every single detail of the leaves being picked up and cemented into my memory like concrete.

But something drowns all of that out. The instinct to feed, the burning in my throat. An itch under my marble skin that I can never relieve myself of.

I know I have to control it. I have to use every ounce of self discipline I taught myself in boxing. Otherwise I'll lose myself in all of this again.

But right now, I'm just really, really thirsty. So let's deal with that first.

---------------------
Hey, guys.

This is the longest break there's been, and I'm sorry for that.

My life has exploded and there has been so much to do. I didn't have a lot of time, or motivation because of it.

I didn't want to write stuff just so I can write. I want to produce good work for you guys, and not some rushed piece of rubbish.

So, even though the break has been real long, remember that no matter what, this story will be finished.

And you will get to see Jordan and Jasper's happy or possibly not happy ending who knows?

:D *wave*