𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 4:
𝙄𝙁 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙂𝙊 𝙊𝙐𝙏 𝙏𝙊 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝙊𝙊𝘿𝙎 𝙏𝙊𝘿𝘼𝙔 𝙔𝙊𝙐'𝙍𝙀 𝙎𝙐𝙍𝙀 𝙊𝙁 𝘼 𝘽𝙄𝙂 𝙎𝙐𝙍𝙋𝙍𝙄𝙎𝙀..
"She's my singer"
After being rushed out of school by a stressed and brooding Edward, the family all sat within the living room of their home watching as the boy paces the entirety of the room practically burning holes into the wooden flooring. He was losing it to say the least, he'd been sat next to Isabella all of his biology lesson and had never had such a urge stronger than the one he had in that moment to rip someone's throat out. To top it all off the receptionist lady refused to move his class to another one and at the very same time Bella had walked in to whiteness his distressed state.
Things really weren't going well for him.
"We figured" Annie rolls her eyes, arms crossed over her chest with her feet pulled up on to the edge of the sofa, a frown on her lips.
"Who's pissed her off?" Emmet asks aloud, eyes looking around the room accusingly. His statement made everyone pause to look at Annie, her furrowed brows and pouty lips indicating something was definitely going on in that head of hers.
"Me" Alice admits shamefully.
"Oh what've you done now?" Emmet groans, throwing a pillow to hit Alice square in the face. She lets it too.
"Brought up you know who and her lack of wanting to find her mate, I assume" Rosalie snips, if Annie was pissed then there was no way she'd be on her side about Edward, the only time she ever really won arguments in this family was if Andromeda agreed with her so she didn't need the girl being annoyed in times like now.
"Ding ding" mumbles Alice.
"Oh Alice you absolute-"
"Please stop speaking about Annie like she's not in the room" Esme scolds the bunch, walking behind the girl who sat with her lips in a frown and placing a comforting hand upon her shoulder.
"Sorry Esme" Alice apologises quietly, her head down and hand within Jaspers.
"It's not me you should be apologising to Alice, you know better" the mother in Esme really jumps out in moments like this one, her tone is stern and gaze unforgiving making Alice flash puppy eyes at Annie.
"I know, Annie I'm so sorry about what I said I wasn't thinking" she was being sincere, truly sorry for bringing up the topic again and again knowing it was too much for the girl. Annie couldn't stay mad at her for long however.
"It's fine, you meant no harm"
"Can the attention come back to me? I'm in the middle of a crisis" Edward exasperates, throwing his arms up into the air. His life had just been flipped upside down in the span of one biology lesson, and the even worse part of all this is now Alice knew full well what would happen and kept it from him. He could've killed someone.
"Oh get over yourself, you want to leave the town because she smells abit too fresh for you? Get a grip" Rosalie seethes at him, walking up to him and jabbing at his chest harshly; Emmet smirks fully amused by the situation.
"Rosalie" Esme scolds.
"I wanted to drain her dry Rosalie!" bellows Edward.
"Why's that my problem? You controlled yourself didn't you?"
"Barely"
"Good enough for me" he was getting no where asking advice from the blonde, he turns the one who will give an honest answer matter what.
"Annie what should I do?" He asks her.
"Don't ask her! Her gift!" Carlisle quickly stops him as he enters the room, knowing just from the atmosphere that Annie's calm headspace had been shifted and he didn't know what that meant when it came to her rash decision.
Andromeda rolls her eyes at that but stands to her feet and walks towards the anxious boy, holding onto his shoulders whilst looking him dead in the eyes.
"Go to Alaska, sort yourself out and come back when you feel ready enough to handle all of this" she whispers, feeling his whole body relax under her touch.
She used her gift to help him.
"Yes Annie" his eyes are glazed over, body calm and controlled, eyes wide with trust as he processes everything she tells him to do.
He'd do it, for her.
"I thought you were going to tell him to eat her" Rosalie raises a brow, not sure whether she was hoping for that option or not.
"Would you rather me-"
"No!" Carlisle exclaims earning a grin from the girl who looks back at Edward with a soft shake of her head.
They truly don't put a lot of faith in her humanity.
"As I expected. I'm going to hunt, have a safe journey Edward" she leaves him with a kiss on his cheek, using the open widow to make her exit.
"Bye Annie"
"This is ridiculous, you're seriously running from your problems Edward?-"
Rosalie's scolding is the last she hears before she takes off into the woods, running at an incredible speed with only one thing on her mind. Blood. She was starving, dying for just a drop to coat her tongue since it had been almost a week since she had last done so.
Probably not the best idea for someone of her kind to do but she had just been so busy...well she hadn't but everyone once in a while even vampires can become lazy.
She knew exactly where to go to find the best herds, Deers were her favourite animal to feast upon, their blood was soft and light almost like what water feels like to humans and for some reason Annie just enjoyed that better than any others blood. A mountain lions blood was thick and rich, it could easily become sickly and a rabbits blood...well there just wasn't a lot of it.
Coming up to a large clearing filled with a herd of eight deers, she takes her time to pick which one she wants before she lets her blood lust take over.
Pouncing, she sinks her teeth into the deers neck and gulps ferociously, practically inhaling the animals blood as to not waste a single drop. Her fingers grip into its neck, a groan emitting from her throat as the blood fills her mouth and takes over her senses. It's an almost bitter taste, nothing compared to the blood of a human but it satisfies her enough so that humans were remotely safe when around her.
Continuing to suck the animal dry with no care of the world around her, a loud scream that resembles that of a young boys' catches her attention immediately, snapping out of her blood lust shes quick to drop the animal and wipe her lips clean before following after the noise without a second thought.
It doesn't take long to reach the part of the woods the sound came from, coming up to the edge of the Cullens treaty line she finds a young boy dangling by his foot from a tree branch, body twisting and turning in fear with horrified sobs leaving his lips.
"Help me please!" He wails, arms swinging whilst sniffles leave his lips. Andromeda pauses for a second contemplating on whether she should, fear building up inside of her at the thought she could possibly hurt the boy infront of her.
"Is someone there? Please help me!" he begs, now crying hysterically as he whacks his arm off of the base of the tree from swinging.
She has no choice, she can't leave him.
With her breath held incase there was any blood on the scene, Annie gently approaches him and touches his arm letting him know she was there.
"Hey..hey. Shh you're okay" she assures, climbing up the tree herself so she could unhook his trainer from the rigid branch it was caught upon.
"I'm going to pull you off now. Is that okay?" The boy nods frantically and closes his eyes tightly, from the glimpse he had seen of her she was only slim and he doubted- no matter how much of a feminist he was thanks to his sister- that she could lift his full weight without dropping him.
As gently as she could, cursing in her head at the way he hisses from the cold contact of her hand on his warm skin, she detaches his foot and swiftly makes her way to the ground before lowering him down with her, supporting his back so he can lean back against the tree once fully on the leaf covered floor with his injured leg out infromt of him.
He was still hyperventilating, tears streaming down his face from what she could only imagine was pain from his foot. Thankfully he wasn't bleeding.
"Can you take deep breaths for me?" She asks calmly, sitting infront of him and mimicking deep breathing for him to follow. He catches on to her rhythm, following the way she slowly inhales and exhales until he feels himself calm down; the tears in his eyes coming to a halt and his ragged breaths evening out.
"Good, that's good" Annie praises the young boy, giving herself a pat on the back for being so helpful. She wouldn't admit that doing things like this definitely made her feel better about herself, she couldn't wait to tell Esme.
"You're really strong" the boy whispers amazed, mouth agape whilst holding his leg and looking back up at where he had just been stuck. She had removed him from the tree like he weighed nothing, no struggle or anything. He was amazed, she must work out alot to do that.
"Thankyou" Annie laughs at the compliment, now taking a closer look at him. He's smaller than her by quite a bit leaving her to believe he could only be around twelve or thirteen, he has russet skin and shaggy black hair and chubby cheeks. He looked like a baby.
"But you're freezing. Are you cold?" The boy acknowledges the way her hands had felt on his skin, his own worry that she was freezing herself to help him building up in his mind. He didn't mean to cause anyone trouble, he had just wanted to explore.
Andromeda plays off the question easily, having had this conversation about why her skin was so cold from many who've been in contact with her, she had a different excuse for every scenario at this point.
"Yeah, I should've brought my coat out here with me" she tells him with a soft smile, she wouldn't dare be mean to him, he was just a small boy that had obviously gotten himself into a bad situation. Luckily she was there to have helped him, she didn't even want to think of what others were lurking in Forks at the moment possibly in these very woods. There had been animal attacks again, they weren't from her-which she had been accused off due to the state of how their bodies had been found- which means that there were nomads in town.
This poor boy would've been the perfect plaything for them.
"I think it's broken" with a frown upon his quivering lips the boy looks up at her with wide puppy eyes, still in pain.
"Can I take look?" Andromeda was no expert on how to be a doctor for humans but having a person in your life that never left you alone and was determined to show you how to become a better person, which included learning how to care for humans, taught you a few things.
The boy nods and let her slip his trainer off, trying not to shiver at the coldness of her skin; he thought about thanking her for helping him with a pair of gloves.
Feeling around the area of his foot as gently as she could, she couldn't find any swelling and nothing out of place meaning he had probably sprained it when he got it caught on the tree.
She'd be sure to thank Carlisle for being so annoying now.
"Here can you try and stand on it for me?" When she gets a confirming nod, she hoists him up with ease and holds his arms to support him whilst he places his foot onto the ground, a hiss leaving his lips at the feeling.
"Hey it's okay, you're doing good. Now can you try and move your ankle in a circle" her voice is soothing to him, her calm state helping him push through and do as she says.
The pain shoots through his leg, his hands gripping onto her arms as hard as he could, the sharp stabbing he felt in his foot not letting the thought of how hard her skin was stay in his head for long.
"Good, I think it's just a sprain but you should still get it checked out" she helps him settle back down on the floor again, not wanting him to put too much pressure on his injury before she found a way to get him back home.
A thought crosses her mind, what was a young boy doing so far into the woods and near their household at that? No one was ever in these parts of the woods.
"Where are your carers?" She asks, hoping that he wasn't all alone in these woods and had some adult present near by. This maze of greenery and wild animals was dangerous for children, they had people like herself lurking within them.
"Over there" he points over to the other side of the creek, Annie only now realising how close to the Quileute land she was. If he was from their land there was no way she could help him get back to his family.
"The reservation?" Annie's eyes widen, the treaty coming to her mind as he nods happily with a smile at the thought of his home.
"Mhm"
"Bollocks" whispering to herself she whips around to make sure she's not being watched by any wolves, you could never be too careful on whether this was all just a trap. Even with her...okay past with the shifters the new generation was nothing like the old, the new generation hated vampires and took pride in killing them.
She didn't know what was with her lately, first being nice to a human girl Angela and now helping a what seems to be a normal human boy, her old master would be rolling in his throne seeing her now.
"I'm going to call my...dad to come and help. Is that okay?" She needed Carlisle, if the boy from from the reservation and needed to get home he was the only one that could contact the pack to send out a message that a child from their land needed help crossing from their side.
Stupid treaty, if they didn't have it then she could get the poor preteen over there herself.
"Yeah" he nods, watching as she pulls out her phone and with a few clicks of different buttons swiftly lifts it up to her ear. From the corner of her eye she sees him pout in jealously, he mustn't of had the privilege of getting a mobile just yet.
Within two rings, the leader of the coven picks up.
"Carlisle" Annie breathes out.
"Annie? What's wrong?" The man asks her, the couch shifting as he obviously stands up in worry at her anxious tone.
"There's this kid-" she starts to explain with a deep breath, hoping she wouldn't get into trouble for using her strength infront of a non-vampire boy.
There was the sound of someone entering the room, the door slamming open quickly from a person who had been listening in.
"A kid? What's happened? What's she done?!" Rosalie exclaims, her accusing tone making it feel like Annie's heart had just been ripped out of her chest and stomped on. Her first thought was that she had hurt a child, Rosalie couldn't trust her enough to even think that she wouldn't go as far as to hurting an innocent child. She felt that guilt that had been drowned away from helping the boy infront of her come back, dark images flashing in her mind before she shook them away quickly.
She wouldn't ever hurt a child...not again.
"Shut up Rosalie! Annie are you okay?" Alice cuts in, only having seen Annie hearing a scream before she couldn't see anything anymore: she had been worried of her sister.
"I've done nothing Rosalie! And yes Alice I'm alright" Annie hisses at the blonde through the line before assuring the pixie like vampire that all was well with her. She hadn't hurt anyone, she hadn't done anything bad; she helped someone.
"She hasn't hurt him, dont even think such a thing" Esme scolds the hale girl, her protectiveness for her first daughter shining through clearly for all to see. She wouldn't let anyone speak about Annie that way, Alice got an earful once the girl had left for bringing up a subject sore to her too.
The blonde goes silent on the other end.
"Calm down Annie, tell me what's happened" Carlisle soothes her, realising from the small cough in the background that the girl was still on the presence of the child.
"There's a boy. He's from the reservation but he got lost on our side and has hurt his ankle, I can't take him back over there for obvious reasons" Annie explains in a voice quiet enough so that the boy can't hear, the blonde man on the other end of the call immediately knowing what she wanted him to do.
"Ask him if he knows Billy Black" he instructs her.
She turns towards the boy and awes at how he smiles up on her, pearly whites on show and nose scrunched before asking what Carlisle told her to.
"Do you know a man named Billy Black?"
"Yes, he's my dads friend" the boy nods, he knew Billy very well. He was practically a second father to him.
"What's his name?" Carlisle speaks again, needing his information so that he can contact Billy and come to a quick agreement with him without anyone getting harmed. He wouldn't risk the life of Annie because a child- that meant no harm but still got caught up in a situation Annie had to help him with- crossed the treaty.
"Can I know your name please?" Sitting down next to him again, she helps him tie the lace of his shoe that he had been struggling with whilst keeping the phone wedged between her shoulder and ear as if she didn't have supernatural hearing.
"I-I'm Seth. Seth Clearwater" Seth answers, shyly moving his other foot out to her so she can redo those laces too. She just made them into such pretty bows.
Annie smiles and happily does the same on the other foot for him. She has a soft spot for children, they terrify her after what happened all those years ago but that soft spot still remained no matter what.
"His name is Seth Clearwater"
"A Clearwater? Harry's son? This is going to stir some trouble" Carlisle inhales deeply and Annie can tell he's rubbing a hand over his face. So this boy was definitely from a line of shifters then.
"Hes not a shifter, I would've smelt it" Annie tells him quietly, shifters have revolting scents. It's a mix of wet dog, B.O and mud, she had never once met a shifter that smelt even slightly pleasant.
"Obviously not yet, he's just a kid" Emmet chips in, his grunts following after indicating he was definitely playing on his games console in the living room, most likely having Jasper next to him.
"What should I do?" Annie asks Carlisle, refraining from rolling her eyes at the man child in the background.
"I'll call Billy, I'm on my way" with that Carlisle ends the call and was quick to get in contact with Billy Black, Annie being unaware of the disaster Carlisle was dealing with from Seth's worried mother panicking about him being left alone with a vampire they all knew had feeding...issues and his father demanding locations in anger his son had disobeyed his tellings of not going into the woods.
"Hey, my dads going to go and get your family to come for you okay?" Annie sits back against the tree next to Seth and let's the boy lean his head upon her shoulder, she was shocked about how fast this boy came to trust her and be comfortable with her, even more shocked about how she was letting it happen but she just let the thoughts go for now.
"Thankyou" the russet skinned boy sincerely thanks her, she didn't have to help him but she did and she did it all without hurting him more. He was definitely going to tell all his friends in school about her.
"It's alright" she brushes it off, thinking she'd do it for anyone when in reality she knew full well had that've been a full grown man she'd have left him dangling.
After a moment of silence, Seth perks up realising something.
"What's your name?" He asks.
"...Annie" she answers, hoping his family hadn't told him any gruesome tales about her.
"Annie what?" He had heard the name Annie a few times from his dad, he just couldn't place where and there went many Annie's in Forks.
"Cullen" the way Seth's eyes widen tell Andromeda tell her all that she needed to know.
"You're a cullen?"
"Yes"
"My mom and dad said to stay away from your family" she gave him points for being truthful, a smile painting her lips at his blatant honesty yet he still didn't move from his place snuggled against her shoulder.
He couldn't explain it, he felt so safe with her. He'd never really felt like that with anyone other than his family, especially not a stranger but he just...it was like he knew she'd protect him from harm even if they'd only just met. He could feel it in his bones that after this, he'd see her again. Even with what his father told him about the Cullens, he just couldn't believe it with how comforted her felt in Annie's presence.
Really?"
"Mhm" he answers with a small nod against her shoulder, a kitten yawn leaving his lips.
"Why's that?" she was genuinely curious as to what was said about her family, she wondered how they played it off without saying the word vampire to their little ones. Sure once they shifted they could know the truth, but whilst still in their 'normal' states before their turn they weren't allowed to know.
"He said you're different and evil" Seth answers honestly again, making a mental note to go off on his father for saying such mean things about such a nice normal girl. She had shown him nothing but kindness, it wasn't her fault that she came from a family they didn't like.
"Is being different a bad thing?" Her father had been the same with her when she was human, if someone was different they were immediately a bad omen and needed to be gotten rid of, especially woman whom were seen to be witches in that time for so much as not being married off.
"No, different is cool" Seth thought that it was good to be different, it made you unique and brought some excitement into the world. If everyone was the same then nothing would be interesting, it would get boring and repetitive.
"Then don't let his views cloud your judgment kid, if I was evil would I help you?" Everyone's views these days were mostly based off of society's and parents views, they could corrupt a young child's made and make them hate others for no reason.
For a reason she was unknown of, Andromeda didn't want Seth to hate her.
"No" he answers back.
"Exactly" they sit watching the stream flow effortlessly between the two sides of land, the water smashing against the rocks that sat within it until they settled again when it all went smooth with no jagged blockage, a waterfall waiting at the very end.
Forks could be a very beautiful place.
When feeling eyes burning into the side of her head, Annie turns to find Seth's puppy eyes staring intensely at her, she raises at him.
"You're pretty" he compliments with a cheesy grin, cheeks puffing out cutely whilst his nose scrunches up. Was it too early to say she'd die for this kid?
"I know" Annie replies confidently, nodding along with him in agreement making Seth laugh aloud.
"My sister would hate you" he tells her still giggling to himself, the pain in his foot being forgotten for a moment as laughter takes over his whole body, shoulders shaking and cheeks hurting.
Annie pulls a face at his words, hiding her amusement at his giggling state.
"She would? Why's that?" She asks, not really sure what he meant by that.
"Because you know your worth and are smart about it, she hates overly confident people" explains Seth, looking up to the taller girl with sparkling eyes.
"Hm does she now?"
"Yep, she's a little mean but she's nice when you really get to know her and don't tell anyone I told you but she's going through a really bad breakup right now" Seth was very fond of his sister, Annie could tell that much. It was cute, she could see that he looked up to her and was very protective over her.
"She is?" Annie raises a brow at that, urging the boy to continue with telling her the drama within his family.
"Yeah"
"Why's that?"
"Her idiot boyfriend dumped her for our cousin" Andromeda choked on air, she definitely wasn't expecting that to come out of the preteens mouth
"Yeah I know, low blow am I right?" Seth nods at her reaction, a sneer on his face as he thought about his sisters heartbroken face as her boyfriend dumped her.
"Why would he do that?" Annie asks, folding her leg up under herself to get 'comfortable' hearing the young boys story time. If it wasn't Romeo and Juliet, she was a sucker for hearing of tragic relationship stories.
"I don't know, I mean Leah can be mean sometimes but she really loves people hardly you know? He's making a huge mistake" smiling at his protective nature, Annie pats his head and agrees with him.
"Oh I'm sure of it"
"Yeah, she was in love with him" he goes on, Annie filling with amusement at how he was sharing his sisters love failure to a complete stranger.
"Time will help her move on" she assures him, time did heal if you let it. Maybe she should take her own advice.
Seth seems to think for a moment before turning to her in curiosity.
"Have you ever been in love?" He asks making Annie still completely, tensing up as her ex wife flashes before her eyes; a awkward chuckle leaves her lips.
"Me? I'm only eighteen" she plays it off, the boy didn't know she was lying; he obviously hadn't been told of them being Immortal beings.
"Oh...would you like to be?" He pushes, he loved love so much. It was one of his favourite things to hear about whether it was his parents falling in love story or his friends dolly crushes he just loved hearing about it.
Annie didn't know what to say, if any one else asked her this question she'd immediately shut them down and walk away from the conversation, keeping up her facade that kept her safe in her own little bubble.
But she felt like she could trust the young boy next to her.
She knew she could.
"...one day Seth, one day" Annie admits, her head spinning at the confession. She'd never admitted to anyone that really she did want a partner in the future, that she was jealous of seeing happy couples and marriages that went to plan whilst she was dwelling on the past believing no one would love all of her.
Annie needed someone fierce but caring, someone who'd never hurt her but ground her and never let her hurt herself. She needed someone who'd understand she wasn't perfect, who could look past what she had done in her life and help her look past it herself, she needed someone to cherish her and make her see the good in herself.
She didn't just need it, she craved it.
Seth beams up at her and sighs happily, resting against her shoulder once more.
"Me too, I want a girlfriend that I can treat like a queen and spoil. I'd take her to the beach and make her some burgers and toasted marshmallows around a campfire~" he goes on a ramble of the things he wants to do with his future lover, the sickening sweetness of it making Annie giggle.
She hoped Seth did turn out the way he wanted to as he grew, she'd seen many boys have their kindness taken away and turned out to be complete arseholes once grown.
"That sounds wonderful Seth" she pats his head softly, his innocence being a bright change to her sinful world.
"You girls like all that right? I always ask Leah for tips but she never tells me saying I'm too young for a girlfriend" he pouts, huffing whilst crossing his arms.
Annie laughs aloud, the magical sound of her laughter making Seth beam brighter than he had before in her presence. He'd like to make her laugh a lot more, he could tell she didn't do it often.
"I'm sure any girl would love to have you as their partner when you're older Seth"
"Really?"
"Without a doubt" with that he sits chuffed with himself, grinning at the assurance.
A shout and a truck pulling up diminishes the peaceful atmosphere created, Annie's guard falling back into its place as she becomes alert of the angry people who've entered the woods in search for their son.
"Seth!"
"Here we go"
❀