Valeria Cullen was glad to be returning to Forks, Washington — she hadn't even wanted to leave in the first place. It was, after all, the first town she resided in as a newly turned vampire and a member of the Cullen family. Of course, she hadn't made close life-long friends, knowing it would hurt to see them grow old and die while she remained frozen in time, but there were people she had missed seeing each day.
So, when they moved back, Valeria was ecstatic because that meant she could see Jessica Stanley give her Valedictorian speech and go to Tyler Crowley and Mike Newton's last baseball game. She'd get to go to the Senior Prom — she had forgone the Junior Prom the year before due to lack of a date.
She was happy to be back at Forks High School to finish out her senior year for the first time — her sudden death had stopped her the first time around. She was also pleased that her siblings were a bit more social this time around, meaning they all ate lunch with Bella's human friends.
Valeria was sitting at a table with Edward, Bella, Angela, Jessica, Eric, and Mike. The young vampire was sitting next to Angela and helping her write addresses on graduation invitations. With the two of them working, they'd likely be done by the time they had to part for class, something Angela greatly appreciated.
Next to them, Mike had stolen Jessica's notepad and was helping her write her Valedictorian speech — or so he claimed.
"My fellow students," Mike began, earning a chuckle from the others. "Right?"
"Yeah," Eric encouraged him, which he probably shouldn't have done.
"Right," Mike said, grinning as he continued.
"Cute," Jessica said sarcastically as Mike pointed to her for her input.
"We are the future. Anything is possible if you just believe," Mike added, packing on the cliches.
"Nice," Valeria said, smirking at him before filling out another invitation.
"Don't encourage him, V," Jessica said, shaking her head.
"Blah, blah, blah. Perfect. And got yourself a speech," Mike said, scribbling all that nonsense down. Then he ripped the page from the notebook and handed it to an unimpressed Jessica.
"No, this will be my speech. When I want everyone to throw diplomas at my head. So—" She crumbled up the speech and threw it at Mike. "Thank you."
"Ya gotta embrace the cliches, Jess," he told her, leaning back and smiling proudly.
"They are the bread and butter of all valedictorians," Eric claimed.
Angela smirked at her boyfriend. "And that is why you are not valedictorian."
"And Jess doesn't need cliches," Bella spoke up. "The speech is gonna be epic."
"Epic?" she said, grinning. "It'll change lives."
A moment later, Alice and Jasper joined them, the blonde politely pulling out his girlfriend's chair for her. They placed lunch trays of food they wouldn't eat on the table.
"I decided to throw a party," Alice announced suddenly, grinning brightly.
"Really?" Valeria asked, excitedly. In her two years with the Cullens, they'd never done something so surprising.
Jasper nodded to her with a small smile. "After all, how many times are we gonna graduate high school?"
"A party? At your place?" Angela asked for clarification.
Jessica's eyes were wide as she looked at Alice. "I've never seen your house."
Eric rolled his eyes and nudged her shoulder. "No one's ever seen their house."
"Another party, Alice?" Edward asked, clearly not thrilled with the idea.
"Oh please, Eddie," Valeria whined, pouting for effect.
She knew that Edward was digging through her thoughts as she made her argument for the party. Sure, her siblings were tired of going to school, but this would be the first time she would be graduating. So this party would be a fun celebration for both her and Bella. And what better way to give Bella the full human experience than to have her attend a graduation party?
"It'll be fun," Alice added.
"Yeah. That's what you said last time," Bella said in a somber tone.
Valeria rolled her eyes, remembering quite well how Bella's birthday party had gone. She didn't think it was fair to throw that out, especially when Jasper was sitting right there. She could feel guilt creeping up on him and squeezed his hand comfortingly under the table.
Suddenly, Alice froze, forgetting all about defending the party. Knowing that she was having a vision, Valeria quickly scrambled to cover it up, taking the attention off of her.
"I know Jessica's already finished hers, but Mike, Eric, do you guys need help filling out graduation invitations when I'm done helping Ang?" she asked, leaning her elbows on the table.
"Yes," Eric said, sighing in relief. "Mom gave me a huge list of relatives overseas to send them to. You're a godsend, Val."
"I wish," Mike mumbled, sinking in his chair. "Mom said I gotta handwrite them all myself. And she'll know it's not my handwriting."
"Bummer," Valeria said, chuckling. "Maybe I can help stuff envelopes or something."
Once the conversation started flowing, she cast a worried glance at Alice and Edward. Whatever she had seen seemed to be troublesome based on the slight scowl on Edward's face. But it wasn't the time to ask about it.
So, Valeria turned back to her human friends who started asking questions about the party. The girls were worried about the dress code, and the boys were concerned about what kinds of chips there would be — Mike would be bringing Cheetos just to ensure there were some.
"What's a party without Cheetos?"
☽︎
"Valeria," Carlisle said in a firm tone. "Focus."
The youngest vampire quickly looked away from the squirrel that she had been following with her eyes. The rest of her family — sans Edward — stood in the forest, quite near to the treaty line.
They were there because Alice had seen a vision of Victoria, the vampire who was after Bella, passing through the area. They were hoping to catch her off guard and catch her before she could hurt anyone else.
"I'm focused," Valeria assured him, standing straighter to prove her point. "I know the plan."
"Repeat to us the plan," Rosalie said, giving her a pointed look.
Valeria sighed a bit childishly but did as told. "Run super fast and touch her. Then, once I have her power, I'll be able to catch her."
As far as vampire abilities went, Valeria's was by far the most unique. In her human life, the girl had the awful habit of copying those around her in an attempt to fit in and succeed. So, when she was turned into a newborn, that characteristic transferred over in a very literal sense.
If Valeria were to put her hands on another gifted vampire and make skin to skin contact, she would then be able to replicate their gift from that point on.
Victoria had the gift of enhanced self-preservation. It was why it was so easy for her to evade attacks from both the Cullens and the wolves, who were hunting her. But, if Valeria could copy her power, then it would cancel Victoria's out, leading to her capture.
To be a replicator — that's what Carlisle and Eleazar called it, but Valeria preferred the term copycat — was a powerful thing. But she didn't want to read minds and see the future, meaning she had strict rules about Edward and Alice never touching her. She had copied Jasper's ability on her first day as a vampire, meaning she too could feel and alter the emotions of others — though she wasn't nearly as powerful as he was and was able to tune it out unlike him.
Despite the large number of gifted vampires that Carlisle knew, Valeria's collection, as she liked to call it, was rather small. The main reason was that Carlisle didn't want word to spread. The leader of the coven knew that the Volturi would come and snatch her up against her will if they knew about the power she possessed. Aro wouldn't need an ever-expanding guard if he had one almighty Valeria at his side.
Granted, now that Bella was on their radar, it likely wouldn't be long before the Volturi learned of the newest member of the Cullen coven.
The other reason that Valeria didn't have a plethora of powers at her disposal was because she felt it wasn't fair. Being a vampire was a hard enough adjustment, and collecting dangerous gifts like baseball cards would make it even harder.
The first of Valeria's gifts was Jasper's, who she had bumped into rather quickly after her transition. She was thrown for a loop when all of the sudden she was overwhelmed with everyone else's emotions, and it took a long time for Jasper to calm her down.
They immediately took her to Eleazar, who confirmed that she could mimic the gifts of others. And thus the "Alice and Edward can't touch Valeria" rule was born. This, of course, annoyed Alice to no end, as she couldn't force Valeria to wear the fancy, designer clothes she made everyone else in the family wear.
The next gift that she collected was from a vampire in Egypt by the name of Benjamin. Like with Jasper, it had been an accident. And Benjamin still didn't know that his power had been copied by the girl. Perhaps if she'd have talked to him about it, he could have taught her to use it. Valeria often struggled with controlling the four elements and continued to learn.
The last of Valeria's ability — and her most treasured — came from a vampire in Haiti.
The vampire by the name of Emmanuel hadn't wanted to give his power to Valeria. He wanted to be the only of his kind, but he owed Carlisle a favor for something that happened hundreds of years ago. Valeria couldn't imagine what Carlisle must have done for him to warrant him changing his mind on something he was so adamant about.
Nevertheless, Carlisle brought Valeria to meet him and offered Emannuel's power as a gift — or rather apology for forcing her into the life of vampirism without asking.
Emmanuel's gift was humanity.
Now, Valeria was still a vampire. She still sparkled in the sun and needed blood to survive. But there was no bloodlust burning through her mind. The craving had disappeared as soon as she made contact with his skin. Now, she hunted when her siblings had to in order to keep her strength up.
Valeria was thankful for this, as she had been a particularly difficult newborn to control, worse than any of them had ever seen — even Jasper who had trained armies of newborn vampires. Without the gift of humanity, there'd be no way that Valeria would've been able to go to school with the others so soon after turning.
Along with the lack of hunger, the gift of humanity made Valeria very similar to how she'd been as a human, bringing back traits she thought were long gone. She slouched. She was awkward at times. She was clumsy.
Carlisle Cullen certainly hadn't been prepared when the attention deficit disorder came back at full force and now couldn't be treated with medicine. Vampires were supposed to have eidetic memories and lethal senses, things that Valeria was now without for the most part. She had become an imperfectly perfect vampire.
So, even though everyone in the family adored Valeria, one could understand why they were worried about the plan that relied heavily on her and her ability to focus.
If only Edward hadn't run off to Florida with Bella. The mind reader would've been able to tell when she was getting off track and bring her back to the task at hand. Without him, they had to watch Valeria carefully to make sure she wasn't focusing on the changing colors of the leaves or singing a song she heard three days ago in her head.
Jasper kept a careful watch on Valeria's emotions, feeling it as soon as the boredom once again set it.
"You sure this is where you saw her?" Jasper asked, looking at Alice.
Her eyes were glazed over as she focused on her visions of Victoria. "She's almost here."
That was enough of a warning for Emmett to squeeze Valeria's shoulder, who tensed up. Her eyes scanned the trees, feeling her nerves creep up as she waited for any sign of the enemy vampire.
"On your left!" Alice said suddenly.
Emmett bolted, and so did Valeria a second later. They both spotted Victoria running through the forest a few feet ahead of them, the trees racing by. Valeria and Emmett had the head start, and for a moment, it seemed as if Emmett would be able to grab Victoria and throw her towards Valeria.
However, as soon as his hand touched her, Victoria heaved him over her shoulder and then tossed him into Valeria, all without breaking her stride.
The two were quick to get back to their feet and chase after her with the others. However, Victoria made a great leap across the ravine that served as the treaty line. The Cullens had no choice but to halt and watch her from afar.
"Wait," Carlisle warned, mostly to Emmett, who was the most impulsive. "She's in their territory."
"She'll get away," Esme worried as they ran in pace with the redhead on their side of the territory.
"No, she won't!" Jasper shouted, frustrated with the entire situation.
On the other side of the ravine, they could spot three giant wolves appear, beginning to chase Victoria as well. Valeria couldn't help but smile hopefully. She'd never met any of the shifters and knew there was no alliance to be had, but they could take comfort in the fact that they wanted Victoria dead just as much as they did.
As the three wolves gained on Victoria, she leapt across the border once more.
"All ours now," Emmett said, speeding up.
As Victoria jumped from tree to tree, Jasper made a leap for her, but she spun out of the way. Valeria pushed her legs harder, remembering how Edward taught her to use her strength to run even faster. Emmett raced alongside her, ready to grab the redhead if Valeria didn't reach her first.
Her fingers were inches from Victoria's wrist, but then she jumped over a boulder that Valeria hadn't spotted, sending the young vampire tumbling to the ground. Victoria then crossed the border once more.
Emmett, determined to catch her, didn't seem to care. Rosalie took note of how her husband wasn't slowing down and called out to him.
"Emmett, don't!" she shouted.
But it fell on deaf ears as Emmett followed. His feet had hardly grazed the dirt on the other side before a wolf was tackling him, knocking him back into the river.
Victoria was all but forgotten as Emmett glared at the wolf, snarling angrily. Low, threatening growls sounded from the wolf with silver fur that was easily the size of a horse. The two continued to standoff, Emmett not getting out of the water. Both were seconds away from attacking.
A splash broke the tension as Valeria hopped in the water next to Emmett, paying the wolf no mind. Her golden eyes were narrowed at her brother as she flicked him on the forehead. Emmett flinched and looked down at her.
"Don't give me that look, Emmett. I'm the baby and even I know not to pass over," she said. Valeria then grabbed the sleeve of his soaking wet hoodie. "Now my Saturday night is wasted."
Emmett begrudgingly let Valeria push him out of the water and back onto their side of the border. Though he did look back over his shoulder and glared at the silver wolf that was still growling and shaking angrily.
Valeria, as social and polite as ever, looked at the wolf and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about him. Just didn't want her to get away... which she did. A real bummer."
Of course, the silver wolf didn't give a damn about Valeria's apology, hating her just as much as he hated Emmett. But still, she offered an awkward, close-mouthed smile to him and then the other two wolves that stood behind him.
Valeria didn't know enough about the shifters to know if what happened next was odd. But as she looked at the largest wolf present, with dark black fur and brown eyes, the mood seemed to shift.
As the wolf sunk down on its back legs, his companions seemed annoyed. The closest thing to a scoff that a wolf could muster left the one with silver fur, and the other seemed to be shaking his head as he looked back and forth between the big wolf and Valeria.
Too bad the mind reader wasn't present to tell them what was going on in their heads.
"Are, uh, are you okay?" Valeria asked, tilting her head. Behind her, Rosalie scoffed, not caring about the well-being of the wolves. "Did you, like, twist a paw or something?"
Of course, the wolf didn't answer. It just sat there, continuing to watch Valeria. Her vampire hearing picked up what she thought might have been a whimper, which further supported her hypothesis that he was injured in some way.
Then Jasper grabbed her shoulder and turned her away from the border. "Leave it. The mutts heal."
And then the family of vampires was running back to their home, ready to come up with a new plan to catch Victoria.
And as they ran, Sam Uley's imprint got further and further away.
☽︎
One moment, Sam had been furious, full of rage. Not only had one of the leeches dared to come onto their land, but it had distracted all of them, and the red-haired bloodsucker got away again. Neither Paul nor the big leech was going to step down as they continued to glare at the other.
Sam was getting ready to command Paul to leave it alone, but someone beat him to it.
One of the other leeches had dropped down into the water. At first, Sam tensed up, thinking she was there to help the other one fight Paul. But then she was flicking her fellow bloodsucker on the forehead like a child.
"Don't give me that look, Emmett. I'm the baby and even I know not to pass over," she reprimanded. Sam froze for a moment, stunned by how alluring her voice sounded. But he shook it off, knowing it was likely one of the tactics vampires possessed to lure in human meals. The girl then grabbed the sleeve of Emmett's jacket. "Now my Saturday night is wasted."
The wolves watched warily as the girl pushed the boy twice her size out of the ravine. They stayed alert, concerned that they'd make a sudden attempt to cross over again.
And then the girl smiled sheepishly at Paul, who was angered even more by the sight of it. Sam steadily ordered for him to calm down. "Sorry about him. Just didn't want her to get away... which she did. A real bummer."
Sam and Jared found it odd that the leech was apologizing — and Paul would've thought so too if he hadn't been so pissed off. Then she smiled at Jared apologetically before her eyes traveled to Sam.
It felt like all the breath had been knocked from his body. Sam fell back on his hind legs as they began to shake unsteadily. A warmth like no other filled him as the world faded away. He didn't hear the annoyed complaints coming from Paul or the disbelieving looks from Jared. All that mattered was her. He took in her golden eyes, her soft lips, her shiny hair, her delicate hands that were nervously fiddling with the hem of her t-shirt.
"Are, uh, are you okay?" the girl — his girl — asked. At the thought that she actually cared about him, Sam's heart sped up without his consent. "Did you, like, twist a paw or something?"
And god, Sam couldn't do anything but pathetically whimper, still not wrapping his head around the fact that the one thing he now cared about most in the world was a vampire. A beautiful vampire who wanted to make sure he wasn't hurt despite being enemies.
And then his girl was gone, disappearing with the rest of her coven, leaving behind a scent that drove him wild. It wasn't a sickly sweet stench with hints of death. She smelled like wildflowers and strawberries.
Paul was the first to break Sam from his trance, roughly knocking into his shoulder.
"This has gotta be a fucking joke, right?" he asked harshly through their link. "She's a goddamn leech, Sam! We should be ripping her to piece—"
Paul didn't get the sentence out as Sam pounced on him, growling loudly as he pinned him down. The need to protect his imprint, even from his friend, was stronger than anything he'd felt before.
Through the link, Jared was quickly muttering for Paul to apologize. He may have thought it was crazy that Sam imprinted on a vampire, but he at least understood the emotions that Sam was feeling for the first time.
"Right. Got it," Paul said begrudgingly. "Not touching the leech girlfriend."
When Sam let him go, Paul made sure to get a few feet back. With his temper, he knew he was bound to make another snide comment about the imprint and wanted to have a head start at running away when he did.
"So, what are you gonna do about this?" Jared asked hesitantly. "I mean, the treaty and she's a Cullen. The Elders say being away from your imprint makes you want to die. Oh god, and the others aren't gonna take this well."
"I've got to meet with the Elders."
Sam shook his head as they raced back to La Push, his mind racing a mile a minute. The only thoughts that were constant were ones of her. And he didn't even know her name.