[[A/N: The characters do NOT belong to me, they belong to Stephanie Meyers, except for Spirit and Blaze plus the odd character here and there. I just want everyone to realize that Im super embarrassed of this book, I wrote it a few years ago and it desperately needs editing so I'm sorry.]]
PROLOGUE:
"I want you gone. I never want to see your face again!" My father yelled as I cowered away from him. He's angry that I didn't find my mate in the Alpha. It's not as if I can chose who I mate, it's automatic, something which I have no control over. But he doesn't seem to realize that through his anger, all he knows is that I've failed him. I don't even want a mate; I think as I push myself further into the corner my father had trapped me in.
My mother is basically a prisoner to my father because she 'loves' him. She sits and watches him with a lovey dovey expression while he hits me or my brother. Never doing anything to stop him, seemingly oblivious as to how abusive he was towards us. Because they were mates, and when you're mated, they are the only thing that matters. Their happiness. No matter how they go about getting it.
I nod my head and run out of the door, towards our neighbor's house. It's where my brother was staying for the night, as his best friend had invited him for a 'guys night'.. I didn't want to ruin their night, they rarely got to hang out anymore as my father became more and more volatile; but I had no choice.
I knock tentatively and wait impatiently for someone to answer. Glancing over my shoulder a couple of times to make sure my father hadn't followed me, I finally decided I was relatively safe. The door swung open, revealing Mrs. Treymont who was grinning from ear to ear.
"I need my brother." She stepped out of my way, her eyes automatically becoming clouded with worry but I ignored it and I immediately ran up the stairs towards Zeke's room.
"Blaze.." I walked into the room slowly, glancing around until my eyes made contact with my twins.
"I got kicked out." I held my head high, staying as emotionless as possible, though I knew that it did no good. Blaze could always tell what I was feeling, it didn't matter how efficient I was at hiding it.
"What? Why?" Jumping up, Blaze ran towards me and swallowed me into his rather muscular arms.
"For not mating with Alpha Collin. He said to go far away, so I am. I'm tired of this Blaze.. I can't handle it anymore so even if he invites me back, I can't go back there.. I can't make it on my own either.. I need someone to come with me.."
"Of course I'm coming with you!" He looked at me as though I was stupid, which I felt at that moment. I could feel his emotions rolling off of him.
Anger, sadness, confusion and nervousness, I simply nodded numbly and sat down on the bed. Zeke put his arm around my shoulder, trying to comfort me. Honestly, I didn't need comfort, I was glad to leave. Sure I'd miss my one friend, who happened to be him but I wanted to get away from my father.
"I take it we're leaving today? Where should we go?" My brother questioned, looking as lost as I felt.
"I heard Texas has a lot of woods, they'd be good for running in wolf form I suppose."
Blaze nodded thoughtfully, then he got this faraway look to his eyes, and they seemed to glaze over slightly. I knew he was having a vision, it happened relatively often since he'd hit puberty and first transformed into his wolf. Each wolf had a certain.. gift.. that they received after their first transformation. His had been premonition, mine was fire. Not only could I put out a fire with a single glance and a twitch of my muscles, I could start them just as easily.
Snapping out of his vision, he looked at me and grinned.
"Not Texas, we're going to Washington! That state has good things in store for us! Come on, we need to leave soon if my vision is to come true!" My head bobbed up and down, as Zeke kissed my forehead.
"I'll miss you guys. Keep in touch, yeah?" Blaze and I both agreed, and Zeke walked us to the door. "One more thing! Here are my keys, it's got a full tank. Treat her well." He tossed a keychain with three keys on it and I caught them easily.
Gaping at him, I watched as he shut the door in my face then turned to my twin who had his jaw dropped at the now closed piece of wood in front of us.
"I call first drive shift!" I called out before he could even coherently form a sentence. I drooled over Zeke's...sorry Our new car. A beautiful 2008 Gumpert Apollo, seriously expensive to say the least. I had no idea what had possessed my best friend to just give it to us but I most certainly wasn't going to argue with him. I'd definitely be taking advantage of his good nature, and wonderful giving personality.
"C'mon Blaze! Get in!" My brother jumped into the car, glaring at me. I knew what he was thinking, that I was lucky for getting the first drive. That's the beauty of being a twin, almost always knowing what the other is thinking.
Rolling my eyes, I put the car in gear and peeled out of the driveway! We were long gone, before you could even say 'Stop Speeding'.
It didn't take long before we reached our destination!
-----
CHAPTER ONE:
The entire way to Washington we drove. Only stopping to stretch our legs, restroom breaks and snacks. We slept in the car while the other drove, and we made it to Washington in a little less than three days, speeding the entire time. Blaze had no idea where to go, which city to live in so he decided it would be a wise idea to drive around until he either A) had a vision. Or B) we ran out of money for gas. Naturally, I told my twin he was an imbecile and that those were the stupidest ideas I'd ever heard. He paid no attention. So we drove.
In some random city, with a lot of woods for cover, I pulled the car over. My breathing was ragged, my heart rate picking up and looking over at my twin I saw he was in the same state that I was. We tucked tail and ran into the trees, only stopping when we were far away from civilization, and waited until the moon shone in the sky.
It was full, orange and absolutely beautiful. A harvest moon, my mother said it was called. But still, it was the enemy, and I looked upon it with absolute disdain.
I felt my bones stretch and pop out of place, twisting at unimaginable degrees. More bones shrunk, and pain exploded throughout my body as I fell onto the forest floor on my hands and knees, crying out in agony. My nose grew longer as well as my mouth and jaw bones, soon my cries became howls. Not long after my brother joined me, and together we ran. His pepper colored fur whipped in the wind, ears were tucked back and his eyes darted every way, looking for a poor defenseless animal, no doubt. Suddenly he cut in front of me, racing to the left and chasing a white rabbit like his life depended on it. Slowing my pace to a walk, I continued forward, knowing that my brother would catch up after his hunt.
Hearing running footsteps, coming my way, I automatically assumed it was my brother. It didn't take long before I realized there were too many footsteps, and they treaded too heavily; as if they were running. I saw the first of the deer jump over a log straight in front of me, followed my several more. A hoof caught me on the side of the head, knocking me away from the rest of the stampede. I yelped as I hit a tree, but continued to watch the herd of deer and wonder why they were frightened.
Not long after, I figured it out. Behind them came two humans. Only they ran too fast for humans, and smelled odd as well. Not a bad kind of odd, just off. They continued to chase after they're prey, ignoring me in the process. Soon they were out of sight. Standing up I shook myself out, and waited patiently for my wound to heal. A minute later, I was all set and ready to go.
Trotting off, I began the search for my brother so that we could head back to the car before the moon went down and we were left stranded in our human forms in the middle of nowhere. Sniffing around, I caught his scent fairly quickly, as well as the two odd humans I saw not long ago. Following the smells, I soon came across all three of them. Blaze had his back arched, fur sticking up and snarling. Reminding me of a cat, almost. The other two were in a defensive crouch, staring, no, glaring at my twin brother. Blaze was facing me, while the other two had their backs toward me. I snuck up behind them, and growled as loudly as I could.
The female of the group jerked around to look at me, while the male's eyes stayed glued to my brother.
"Edward?" Her voice was melodic, and slightly nervous.
"I know Rose. Alice will be here in a few moments with the others. I can already hear her thoughts, she's only a minute away."
I walked around the two odd humans, and stood next to my brother. He continued snarling, foam covering his mouth, and to any human, you'd think he had rabies but it was just a werewolf thing. Nobody could explain how or why we did it, it was one of those things that 'just were'.
It happened in the blink of an eye. One moment, it was two on two the next we were surrounded. Blaze stood protectively in front of me, snapping at the closest 'thing' as I've resorted to calling them. My brother was immediately flung backwards, into a tree, snapping it in half when the boy, Edward tackled him. Through our connection, I felt his agony. Howling in pain, I ran full sprint at the 'thing' that hurt Blaze and threw my full weight onto him, knocking him sideways. Before he had a chance to gain his balance, I was at my brother's side. Sniffing him, I nudged him with my snout and whimpered as he opened his eyes.
"Emmett! Don't attack." The 'thing' Edward called out, just as I noticed another about to pounce on me. "She's just worried about her brother. Leave her be." With that, they all backed away a few steps, watching us intently. I wouldn't look at any of them, I just concentrated on my brother. I watched as a gash on his side closed slowly, the skin stitching itself up. Just a minute later, he was standing up and staring at the 'things' intently.
"We're not 'things', we're vampires.. just for future reference." Edward said softly.
Did he just read my mind? I questioned myself silently.
"Yes I did."
Hmm, well that's not cool. Edward smiled a bit, a kind of crooked smile that probably had girls melting at his feet. I checked all the other vampires, not meeting their eyes, to make sure none were planning on attacking us again.
"They won't don't worry." Edward replied to my minds question. Nudging my brother in his shoulder with my nose, I began to trot back to where we left our clothes at the edge of the woods, near our car. I could tell without looking back that the vampires were following us, just by the light sound of their footfalls on the mossy forest floor.
Edward, you might want everyone to turn around unless they plan on seeing us naked.
"She says to turn around, and stay that way until she says otherwise." As they all nodded, they did as they were instructed and it wasn't but a few minutes later that the moon began to leave the sky, and the pain of the change set in.
----
CHAPTER TWO:
My howls soon turned to cries of agony, but as soon as the change was over I got dressed as quickly as possible. Looking over to my brother to make sure he was dressed, I walked up to Edward, tapping him on the shoulder.
All at once, it seemed, they turned to face us. It was really something seeing seven vampires in perfect coordination turn around like that, very unsettling to say the least.
"We're suppose to go with them. The visions tell me so." Blaze's voice whispers in my ear, and I know instantly by the way the vampires straighten up that they heard him talking.
"You have visions too?" A squeaky and excited voice questioned, as she clapped her hands in pure glee. Glancing around I saw the girl who had spoken, she looked like a pixie with her short and spiky black hair. Her golden eyes danced with excitement. She was short, and thin and all around beautiful. I looked back to Edward, then resumed walking again. As our car came into sight, I dug the keys out of my pockets and got into the front seat. Honestly, I didn't want to go with the vampires, but Blaze's visions tell us to.
It seemed I had no choice, and as Blaze spoke with them about where they live and such, I turned on the radio. I changed the station from Blaze's rap songs, to classical music. A piano concerto came through the speakers, instantly relaxing me. Sinking into the leather seats, I closed my eyes and waited patiently for my brother to be done.
I glanced at the door as it opened, only to see Edward getting in my car.
"Your brother is going with my family, and I am going with you to show you the way to our house." As soon as the door was closed, I was racing down the streets, Edward seemed perfectly calm, but I suppose him being a vampire means he doesn't have to worry about getting into wrecks. Unfortunately the same can't be said for me, I can be killed. Granted not as easily as humans, but I wasn't invincible like a vampire. Silver is the easiest way, then there's--
"Stop talking about ways to kill you, you're giving me ideas." Edward mutters from the passenger seat. Glancing over at him, I wonder if he actually has the thought to kill me.
"It depends on how much you annoy me." Edward smirked slightly, and I turned my gaze back to the road, swerving just in time to avoid hitting another car. I followed the vampire's directions until we made it in to a giant house, more than half of it being windows, and got out. Blaze was already waiting for me out front, along with the pixie girl. "Her name is Alice." The annoying creature beside me growled softly under his breath so that nobody other than me could hear it.
I walked forwards, careful not to trip over the flat surface, which was extremely easy to do if you're as clumsy as I am, and stood next to my twin brother. He looked over to me, and as I looked into his bright green eyes, I could see that he was trying to tell me something with them. Unfortunately I had no idea what it could of been. However Edward seemed to know exactly what he was thinking, as he glared at my brother, before stalking off into his house.
What was that about, I wondered silently, before turning to Alice. "What's stuck up his butt?"
"I have no clue. I'll go talk to him, you guys should probably stay here for a few minutes, just until I give the O.K, okay?" After my brother and I nodded, she raced off into the house, following after Edward.
"I mated." My brother's statement had me gasping. He mated? With who? As if he had read my mind, which he probably had, he answered my unasked question. "With Alice."
"How the hell did that happen?" I yelled at him.
"I didn't mean to Spirit! I just looked at her and BAM! It was as if the world had fallen away from under me, leaving just her and I."
Oh my god. My brother has mated a vampire. Those were the only words running through my mind, I was completely frozen in shock, thinking as hard as I could about this predicament. If he could mate a vampire then so could I! Oh Hell No!
"I'm finding a store around here. I suddenly feel the need for sunglasses." I knew that I could not mate with anyone if I could not see directly into there eyes. If there was a thin piece of glass separating our gazes, then I would be safe. I could not, would not, mate with a vampire. I walked off, not bothering with the car. In a small town like this it would just cause too much attention. As I jogged down the road, a pretty girl with brown hair, brown eyes, and extremely pale skin came into view.
"Hey!" I called out to her before speeding up, trying to reach her quickly. "Hi! I'm Spirit, and new around here. Do you know where I can find a store that sells sunglasses?"
"Yes! I can take you there if you'd like! I'm Bella by the way. Bella Swan." The girl, around seventeen, smiled hesitantly before thrusting her hand out for me to shake.
"I'd appreciate that. So where you headed Bella?"
"Well, my boyfriend Edward, went on a...camping trip, so I'm going to go visit my best friend Jacob." I knew immediately that she was lying, it was every werewolves instinct to know when someone was lying. She knew, as well as I did, that her Edward wasn't camping.
"Does Edward have any siblings?"
"A few adopted siblings."
"I think I know him, actually. Just met him today. I think my brother and I are suppose to be staying there for a while."
Bella's eyes went wide, and I knew that she knew what they were. "So you know, hmm?" I questioned.
"K-know what?" Her voice took on a hint of nervousness as her eyes darted around, as if to see if someone was listening.
"That he's a vampire. I know that you know already, there's no need to get freaked out." I smiled at her, trying to calm her down. Instead of answering, she simply nodded her head and continued forward while I followed only a half step behind her.
"You wanna come with me to Jacob's house after you get your sunglasses?" I was honestly taken aback by her question, I mean she barely knew me but here she was asking me to join her.
"Um...Sure, I'd like that. Thanks Bella!" Without another word she led me to a store just down the road. After I had payed for my sunglasses, I tore the tag off and shoved them onto my face, before once again following Bella outside, and towards her friends house.
----
Chapter Three
I knew as soon as we came onto their property, I never expected this Jacob boy to be a shifter. But the smell was all around me, so even if Jacob wasn't one, there were some living on this Indian Reservation. Therefore, I was trespassing, and even I wasn't stupid enough to barge onto their property without being invited, no matter how careless I usually was.
"I need to turn back, Bella. I'm sorry, but I shouldn't be here." I glanced around, checking for the shifters but the roads were empty of all life forms.
"You'll be fine. Jake won't care."
It's not Jacob I'm worried about, I thought to myself before backing up a few steps. I could feel their approach, the air crackled with power, strength, and danger. I had no clue from which way they were coming from, but either way, I needed to get off of this godforsaken reservation. I turned around, about to run when I saw that they were already behind me, looking really intimidating as they glared at me. I glanced around, only to notice Bella was talking to another shifter around the same age as us, perhaps a year younger although it was hard to tell with their species exactly how old they were.
I got ready to bolt, as there was no way in hell I was going to wait for the shifters to figure out what to do with me. They could kill me in an instant just for trespassing if they felt like it, I wasn't waiting around for them to kill me.
"Take off the glasses, Rogue." The oldest one, obviously the Alpha, spoke loudly and clearly. I couldn't take the chance of mating with one of them, so there was no way I would take my sunglasses off. I shook my head, before beginning my search for a way out. Two more shifters waited in the woods, so that was a no-go. There was only one behind me, and three in front of me. But if I decided to turn around and run the opposite direction that means I'll be on their property longer and their could be many more where these came from. So straight ahead it was. I would have to go around them, which would prove to be undeniably difficult.
<Blaze?> Tentatively I called out in my mind, hoping that for once our twin telepathy would work when I really needed it. It tended to go off and on, sometimes working exceptionally well, sometimes not at all.
When, after a few moments, he didn't answer, I knew I was truly alone in this. Breathing deeply, I put my weight onto the balls of my feet, stared at the Alpha for a moment, then began to sprint as quickly as I could.
Apparently I wasn't as fast as I had hoped, because in less that twenty seconds, I was being tackled to the ground, my face skidding across the dirt and it began to burn instantaneously. I struggled as one of them picked me up off the ground. My back was to him so that I couldn't see who it was but it wasn't the Alpha, as he was now standing in front of me. If looks could kill, I'd be pushing up daisies right around now, his glare was so intense. I held his gaze, not that he could tell because my sunglasses were still on my face meaning he couldn't see how honestly terrified I felt at the moment. I put on a brave front, straightening my spine and tilted my head upwards, squaring my jaw in the process.
"Bella, who's your friend?" The boy who she had been talking to questioned, staring at me intently.
"That's Spirit. I just met her on my way here, she knows Edward." When she said this, everyone's gazes hardened and even the ones who weren't angry before, were now shaking with rage. Crap. This is it, they're going to kill me!
<BLAZE> I screamed as loudly as I could through our link, but still there was no answer. Why now, of all times, did the twin link have to stop working!
"Let me go!" I growled angrily, which probably didn't help my case. Whoever was holding me tightened their grip and I could feel my shoulder straining, if he pulled any harder it would pop out of place. Gritting my teeth, I fought the urge to struggle away from the pain, knowing that it would only hurt me even worse in the end. My guard pushed me forward, making me stumble a bit but even then I kept my head up. I had lived with my father for seventeen years, I could handle a few shifters.
"Jacob, tell them to let her go! She didn't do anything wrong!" I could hear Bella yell at him, sounding distressed.
"Sorry Bells. It's Sam's call."
"Let go, damn it! I was just leaving! I didn't realize this was shifter territory!" I shifted a bit, trying to get more comfortable and relieve the tension on my shoulder but he tightened his grip once again, and I felt my shoulder slide out of place. I held back the whimper that tried to escape my lips, biting my lips as well until I tasted blood. I snapped my head backwards, knocking it into my captors face. His hands immediately loosened, I didn't bother trying to run again as I knew that I was too slow, I simply just rubbed my shoulder. I could already feel it trying to heal itself but until someone put it back in socket, nothing could be done. I would have to get someone to re-dislocate it, then set it correctly later...if I survived this encounter.
"Keep your hands off of me!" I snarled, pulling back my lips. The one who was holding me began to shake in anger, and I backed up a step knowing what was coming. Shifters, when angry, phased on the spot unless they could learn to control their emotions. Real werewolves weren't so lucky to be able to phase on command, like shifters were either. We were limited to full moons.
"Paul, calm down." The Alpha's voice resonated throughout the street we were on, echoing slightly with the power of an Alpha. Unfortunately, despite his command 'Paul' continued to shake.
Just as suddenly as he had begun to shake, he phased and lunged for me. I barely had time to bring up my arm and put it in the way of his razor blade teeth that were aiming for my face. Several snaps alerted me to the fact that my arm was broken, most likely in multiple places. I brought my fist up, catching the giant wolf in the ear. He made another desperate attempt to kill me, and I was on the ground barely able to keep his teeth from crushing my head.
"Why isn't she phasing to try and protect herself?" Jacob questioned, I didn't pay any attention to him though, all my concentration was put into not getting eaten my a big bad wolf.
"Stop. Please!" Hot tears trailed down my eyes, blurring the wolf's figure. I hadn't cried in years, and I wished that I hadn't started at this time but it was too late now to fix it. Paul hesitated, and I pressed on, desperately.
"Please? Just stop." The wolf backed away, but still kept his eyes focused on me, never letting me leave his line of vision. Without the use of my hand it was difficult to push myself off the ground, but somehow I managed. "Let me go home. I promise to never come onto your territory again. I didn't know before, but I know now."
The Alpha nodded, and with my eyes still tearing up due to all the pain, I walked off their territory.
---
CHAPTER FOUR:
"Holy shit! What happened to you?" Those were the first words that came out of my brothers mouth as he jumped up and rushed over to me, after I walked in the front door. I turned my injured should towards him, and stared at the ground.
"Pull and set, please." One of the vampires came down the stairs at a human speed, he had golden blonde hair and extremely angular features, with the golden eyes all the vampires in this house seemed to have.
"AHHH, you sick son of a --." I screamed as Blaze pulled my shoulder, then set it quickly. Resetting it was always the most painful, but staring at the vampire it almost seemed as though he shared my pain. The shoulder wasn't even the worst of it, the bones in my arm would need to be broken again, since they set crookedly but I decided to wait a bit on that.
"Shifters." I answered his question about what had happened to me before leaning against the wall. "Met Edward's girlfriend, who wanted me to meet her friends, who turned out to be shifter wolves, They didn't take to kindly to me trespassing apparently. Then, I had to be stupid and piss one off."
I held my broken arm, and pushed myself off the wall before walking into the living room so that I could sit on the couch. I was quite stunned to see the rest of the vampires sitting there, staring at me. One of them, who I assumed to be the father figure in this odd family jumped out of his seat after taking a good look at me.
"He's a doctor. Naturally, he wants to help you." Edward smiled another one of those crooked smiles, but I just looked away.
"I don't need help, but thank you anyway. I heal by myself."
"Yeah, your cuts and bruises. What about that broken arm of yours?" Damn stupid mind reading vampire. I sighed in defeat and let the doctor lead me up a set of stairs into an office.
"I'm Carlisle Cullen."
"Spirit." He nodded as if to say that he knew that while he gingerly took my arm, placing it on a table. To take my mind off of the pain that was inevitably about to come, I began to think about Zeke. I wondered if he was thinking about us, wondering if we had wrecked his Gumpert yet, and if he had found his mate. Those thoughts, unfortunately, did nothing for the pain as Carlisle broke my arm. He did it so carefully, but it felt as though he had just crushed my entire arm. I slapped my free hand over my mouth in a desperate attempt to muffle my screaming, not that it mattered. I was in a house full of vampires, and a werewolf.
The doctor set it before wrapping it in a brace so that it would stay in place as it healed, which would only take roughly an hour or two. I sat in one of the office chairs, too embarrassed to go back into the living room after everyone had heard me scream like a child who cut their knee, and waited.
An hour and a half later, I walked into the living room looking as if nothing had happened to me. I had taken a quick shower, and changed clothes which left me looking as good as new and smelling like strawberries.
"Good evening Bella!" I smiled at the girl, liking her despite the fact that she led me to the shifters. It's not as if she knew about me, or what they would do, and she did try to talk Jacob into letting me go.
"Spirit!" I was tackled into a hug, something that had never happened to me before. I simply stood frozen to the spot, probably looking extremely surprised at the show of affection. "Are you all right? I'm sorry about Paul and everyone! I swear, I didn't know."
"It's fine, see, nothings wrong with me." I twirled around for exaggerated effect to prove my point, smiling all the while. There was no point in making her feel bad about what had happened, no point for her to blame herself, it was no one's fault except my own. I sat next to my brother on one of the two couches, beside him was Alice, and next to her was the vampire with the golden hair and angular features. My sunglasses were nicely in place as I looked from person to person, taking in their features.
A big bear of a man sat beside the prettiest one here. His arm was wrapped around her shoulder, fingers tracing circles on her skin absentmindedly as he stared at my brother and I. The atmosphere was tense, and it seemed everything was on edge, but I guess thats the way it was expected to be when it came to vampires and werewolves.
"This is awkward." I smiled as the words flowed from my lips in a desperate attempt to make it more bearable in the room. Bella's bubbly laughter as well as Alice's filled the room, while Blaze chuckled, Edward smiled and the bear of a man grinned. Nobody else made a single facial movement. "Okay then, if this is what we're going to be doing today, I think I'd much rather take a walk."
Nobody volunteered to come with me, and for that I was grateful as I really wanted to be alone. The walk was nice, so it went on a little longer than I thought it would. I went to the school, walking around the building a bit. I would need to sign myself up, and Blaze as well, though I didn't know if you could even do that without a parents signature. I was only seventeen, eighteen in three short months but I don't think they would care about that piece of information. Perhaps Carlisle could help out a bit.
Most teenagers hated school, I wasn't one of them. I loved school. It was...entertaining to say the least. Mostly I just liked being known as the "Badass". It didn't take much to impress teenagers now and days, say a few curse words, don't turn in your homework, be late to every class and don't make any friends.
I was actually excited for tomorrow. Monday. Hopefully I could get registered and be able to start late Monday or on Tuesday. I would have so much fun.
----
Chapter Five:
Tuesday morning I woke up bright and early, excited to get ready for school, so I can make my impression upon it! Showering took a bit longer than normal, as I decided to wash my hair twice, hoping to give it an extra shine. I didn't bother to put makeup on, as I didn't feel the need for it, werewolves had naturally clear skin, and my eyes stood out enough as it was, needing no eyeliner. After drying my hair, I put on the tightest skinny jeans I had, along with a shirt that stopped just above my naval, and the leather jacket I bought yesterday that went to the bottom of my ribs. Staring in the mirror, I flashed my famous smirk before tossing my hair, putting on my sunglasses and going downstairs to see if anyone else was ready.
Blaze had decided not to start until tomorrow, for reasons that I couldn't comprehend, but I assumed it was because it was sunny outside and his dear Alice was staying home so she could go shopping. Seeing them together made me sick to my stomach, not because I was jealous but because he looked at her as if she was God. Like she could do nothing wrong, and I didn't want to be like that. Just another reason I kept glasses on my face so that I wouldn't mate; I wanted to know peoples faults and fall in love without the werewolf instinct, I wanted to decide my own fate.
So, because he wanted to follow her around like a lost puppy, I walked to school by myself. I wasn't technically allowed to drive my own car, simply because it would cause too much attention, and nobody really needed that. Normally, I suppose, people would be nervous on their first day of school, but me, no, I was basically hopping up and down waiting for the bell to ring signaling the start of first period.
I walked into my first class, after thoroughly studying my new schedule. Biology, how boring. Nearly every seat was empty except for a few in the front, but I ignored all of them and made my way towards the teacher.
"Can I help you?" I had already forgotten his name that I had read off the schedule not even three minutes ago.
I simply shrugged, putting on my "I don't give a flying fuck" face before handing him the slip he needed to sign saying that I'd actually bothered to show up to his class.
"Spirit. Such a unique name." The teacher gave me the once-over, making my skin crawl uncomfortably, before pointing to a seat in the front. "Sit there." I did as he said, sitting in my seat sideways, so that my feet stretched out into the aisle, making the other students have to step over my legs.
Someone tapped my shoulder from behind, and I lazily moved my head around to face him.
"Yes?" I drawled. The boy had blonde hair and brown eyes, making his face have the "baby look" to it, but he was built pretty well, with wide shoulders and I'd have to guess he was a football player.
"I'm Nathaniel." I nodded before turning away from him, I don't know what would make him think I actually cared about who he was. Before he could say anything else, the bell rang and the teacher came up to the front.
"We have a new student today, why don't you introduce yourself." He smiled, staring at my chest.
"Hey, my eyes are up here," I said loudly, glaring up at the disgusting excuse for a Biology teacher that we had. He jerked his head up, seemingly irritated at having been called out on it before staring at me, waiting for me to begin to 'introduce' myself.
"My name is Spirit, don't think you can get away with fucking with me just because I'm a girl, I'll still kick your a-"
"Language!" The teacher cut me off, and I scowled at him before leaning back in my chair and closing my yes.
"Actually, sir, this is biology, I thought you'd know that!" The class snickered, before cutting off abruptly when the teacher glared at them.
"Spirit, we don't allow sunglasses to be on during school hours. Take them off and put them away." He chose to ignore my previous comment, which was smart of him.
"Sorry Mister, I can't do that. I need them they're...uh prescriptive!" I smiled before waiting patiently for him to get on with his job.
"My name is Mr. Bacceli (bah-ch-elli), you'd do well to remember that." I nodded absentmindedly, my thoughts already away from class all together and on my brother instead. I wondered what he was doing, following her around the mall, perhaps. Most probably. Then I went on to think about the vampire family we were living with.
I still only knew Carlisle, Alice, Edward, and Rosalie's names. I wondered why I hadn't made it a point to learn the rest, I mean I've been staying at their house for the last three days.
"Spirit!" The Mr. Bacceli called out, jerking me out of my daydreaming.
"What?"
"Pay attention, next time it'll be a detention with me after school." I nodded, before standing up just as the bell rang, and walking out of the room. I pulled a folded piece of paper out of my back pocket, checking to see what class I had next. Trigonometry, awesome. Can you taste the sarcasm?
Mrs. Sanchez was a nice lady, who I quite liked. She never asked me to take off my glasses, nor did she make me introduce myself to the classroom. She couldn't have been more that twenty-five, and she was slightly chubby but everyone in the class seemed to love her. Because she seemed so awesome, I didn't want to cause any trouble for her so I actually behaved myself.
English with Mr. Marks was completely boring, and I nearly wished for one of the vamps to be with me so I'd have someone to talk to, but unfortunately all of them had stayed home today due to the sun, apparently...they sparkle. I'd never seen it, but Edward had explained exactly why they have to stay home. I would have laughed, but I had the feeling that Edward would punch me if I had, and as much as I like to fight, I don't want it to be with someone I'll be living with for only God knows how long. Mr. Marks voice was like the buzzing of a bee, annoying as hell.
The history teacher, whose name I can't pronounce was a bit better. His voice was silky smooth and sounded like it should belong to the sexiest man in the world, unfortunately it didn't. He was thin and lanky, with giant glasses on his face, not to mention the fact that he was nearly bald. The bad part is, he was probably only in his early thirties. He was nice though, and didn't creep my out like Mr. Bacceli, but he did make me introduce myself.
"I'm Spirit, my brother and I just got adopted by Dr. Cullen and his family." He asked for me to talk more about myself, favorite colors, animals, etc, but I just shook my head and leaned back in my desk, staying in that same position until the bell rang for lunch.
The food looked disgusting, to say the least. The salads lettuce was browning, and just the smell of the enchiladas hurt my sensitive nose. I sat down at a table that was completely empty, just watching everyone come and go.
"Spirit!" I recognized that voice, and smiled as I turned to look at her. Bella came up to me, smiling slightly, before looking around. "Why don't you come sit with my friends and I?" Shrugging, I stood up and followed her over to a table that was nearly full, with only two seats empty.
"Hey, this is my friend Spirit. Spirit, this is Angela, Mike, Jessica, Tyler, Eric, and Lauren." I nodded, sitting in the seat next to Bella, and tried not to look too disgusted as everyone ate the school lunch.
"So, Spirit, when did you move here?" The boy, Eric, asked. His hair was black, and looked a bit greasy and he had a few pimples on his face, but he seemed nice enough.
"I got here on Sunday, Dr. Cullen adopted my brother and I." They nodded as if they could sympathize with me.
"So where are the Cullens, and your brother?"
"They all went camping, now that it's finally sunny out, but that's not really my thing so I stayed behind." The lie flowed perfectly from my mouth, telling them exactly what Carlisle told me to say.
"So what's it like, living with them?" This question came from Angela, and I could see that she was extremely curious and wanted to know all that she could about the Cullens.
"It was awkward at first, but it's getting better. They're all relatively nice." I smiled politely, before the bell rang and I stood up to leave.
"What class do you have next?" Tyler asked, looking me up and down while Lauren glared.
"Art. Bella, would you mind showing me the way?" I questioned, before Tyler had the chance to volunteer. I didn't need the drama it was bound to bring, it was obvious that Lauren like Tyler, and he, just like any other man, was completely clueless to the fact.
"Sure, c'mon." I followed her through the small school, before she led me outside to where a couple of small buildings were. "Building C is Art class." Bella pointed to the right, where a giant C sat on the door to one of them, and I walked over to it, pulling open the heavy metal door.
Decorations covered every inch of the room, from masks made by students hanging from the ceiling, to paintings and sculptures. It definitely gave it a warm look, and I knew immediately that I would love this class. Handing Mrs. Borden the slip of paper for her to sign, I sat down at an empty table. There were twelve tables, each one having two chairs but every table was already filled except mine.
"Spirit, the student that usually sits there, Jasper, isn't here today so you're on your own. As for the rest of you, I want you to work in your group and come up with poster for the schools Prom, which is in a few months. The theme is Renaissance, so anything you can come up with with that theme will be fine, the best one will be posted all over the school for everyone to see. Get to it!" Mrs. Borden smiled, handing out supplies to every student.
I got to work immediately, already having the idea I wanted to put down. I was finished before anyone else, and I knew that we had the next few classes to complete it but I was a quick person when it came to drawing.
I sat my head down on the table, counting down three minutes until the bell rang, signaling that I could head towards the music room. I was excited to get there, it was by far my favorite class, and I practically ran through the hallways to get to the room. Instruments lined the walls, and a baby grand piano sat in the corner. I made my way to the teacher, his hair way white and fluffy and his face sagged a bit but I didn't think he was really too old. Maybe in his fifties or so.
"Hi I'm Spirit." I smiled at him but he didn't return it.
"Do you have an instrument? If not, you'll need to buy one if you plan to be in this class." I nodded, telling him that I'd have one before the end of the week. "May as well get out of my class, if you're not playing you're just in the way." I walked out of the classroom, feeling rather let down that I wouldn't be able to be in this class today, but I didn't let it show. I simply stuffed everything in my locker before walking out of the school.
---
Chapter Six:
Knowing that I had a whole hour to myself before I had to go back to the Cullen's house, I took off walking into the woods. Finally, when I knew I was alone, I took off my sunglasses, putting them on top of my head. My eyes were unaccustomed to the sudden light, and I had to blink several times in order to adjust them but I guess that's what I get for wearing sunglasses for the last few days.
The moss that covered the forest floor squished against my shoes, still wet from the rain two days ago and water droplets that still clung to the bright green leaves dropped down on my head every few seconds. It was quiet here, somewhere you can come to relax or read without having anyone interrupt you.
Well, that was what I thought, until I smelt the unmistakable scent of a shifter in the vicinity. Pulling my glasses back onto my face, I quickly looked around for him but saw nothing. I knew he or she was here, there was no doubting the smell of a shifter, it was...indescribable. They smelt good, like the ocean and the woods, with a slight hint of a dog smell to them. It might sound gross but honestly I could inhale it all day long and never tire of the scent.
I saw the shifter's eyes before I could hear him coming towards me, immediately recognizing them as the same from the wolf who had attacked me before. Backing up slowly, I held my hands up in an attempt to show him I wasn't a threat. I noticed the pair of shorts and a t-shirt that was tied to his hind leg and I sincerely hoped he planned to get dressed before showing himself in his human form.
Luckily, I got my wish. The shifter, Paul, I think his name was, walked back into the brush and I could hear the unmistakable sound of bones shifting and clothes rustling before Paul came back out. We stared at each other for several minutes, an uncomfortable silence filling the air and tension so thick it could be cut with a knife.
"Paul, right?"
He nodded but didn't bother to talk, his face was way too serious and I couldn't help but feel that he needed to lighten up a little bit, perhaps if he smiled just once.
"I'm Spirit." Once again his had just bobbed up and down, this no-talking deal was beginning to irritate me just a bit. "You know, normal people say 'Hi Nice to meet you'."
His guttural growl echoed through the woods and I sucked in a deep breath, suddenly feeling scared. Sure I was stronger then a normal human when I was in this form but definitely not stronger then a shifter. Even when it was the full moon I highly doubted I could beat a shifter, there wasn't even a point in trying when I was stuck as a human.
Blaze? I called out in my mind, hoping that our connection would actually work this time.
Alice saw it; we're on our way. Oh thank God. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that in nearly no time my brother would be here.
"Look Paul, I'm not trying to fight."
"Change into your wolf form. I know you're one of us, so go ahead and do it."
"I can't Paul. I'm not one of you."
"Don't lie to me!" His voice was powerful and I wanted nothing more to do as he asked but that's not how my powers worked, I don't think he'd believe me if I told him my limitations. I didn't say anything, hoping that he would calm down but it seemed to have the opposite effect. His body contorted before bursting into a giant sandy colored wolf with just a shade of grey mixed into it.
I didn't wait for him to get the chance to pounce, I immediately took off running, dodging random trees and roots, but it didn't do any good. He jumped over my head, and spun in the air just before landing so that he was facing me. Skidding to a stop, I tried to go back the way I had just come from but he was in front of me before I even full turned around.
"I can't shift Paul, I'm sorry!" Another growl reverberated through the trees surrounding us before he pounced. I closed my eyes as a reflex, waiting for the impact yet nothing came. The sounds of fighting sounded from my right and as I quickly opened my eyes to take in the sight before me, I nearly cried out. Blaze had tackled Paul away from me and I could see small rivulets of blood running down his arm where there were obvious bite marks.
My mouth didn't seem to be working, nor did my feet so I stood there and watched while my twin brother got beaten by a shifter. Where was his mate?
Suddenly gaining the ability to use my legs again, I ran over to my brother to help him as best that I could.
I pushed Blaze out of the way, taking the attack that was meant for him. The adrenaline that raced through my veins made it impossible for me to feel the pain, and for that I was glad. This claws had raked across my throat, down my arm. The farther down my arm the injury went, the deeper it got, and I knew that it would leave one hell of a scar, but I couldn't be bothered with that, as Paul was already making another attack.
His thick, iron hard skull smashed into my chest, sending me flying past the trees, and landing in soft patch of dirt. I heaved myself up off the ground before ducking as he tried to head-butt me again. I could smell a rather clean smell, which I had learned to associate with vampires, and the distinct smell of woods, ocean and dog. Shifters. They were all heading our way, from different directions, and I didn't know what would happen if they all met up with each other. It was obvious that they had a mutual hatred for one another, but I didn't want them to fight in a battle that Paul and I had started.
As the huge sand-colored wolf dove for me once again, his jaws opened wide and his aim was lower. I didn't even have time to dodge as his mouth enclosed around my left leg. I froze, knowing that there was no way I could win, but the moment before any pressure could be applied, a howl filled the air, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Paul growled, slowly removing his teeth from my thigh, and backed away three steps, as more wolves joined him. I looked over my shoulder for my brother, only to find him surrounded by the Cullens. They stood behind me, seemingly ready to jump in if another person were ready to attack me. Blaze had a gash and bruise above his right eye, that was healing at a rapid pace.
The sandy wolf, Paul, walked into the trees, only to return a few moments later wearing cut-off shorts. His glare was enough to wish that I was dead, but I pushed that thought to the back of my head and attempted to ignore his murderous looks.
After a moment, two more wolves went into the woods to change, and came back out. I recognized the two as Jacob, Bella's friend, and the Alpha, whose name I couldn't remember.
"I would like to apologize for Paul's behavior." I nodded, wincing as the adrenaline from the fight faded, leaving me with the pain of the gashes that started at my neck, trailing down, and the bruises that littered my back, from the head-butt I'd received. The blood traveled in rivulets down my arm before dropping down my fingers and dripping onto the forest floor, forming shallow, deep red puddles.
Everything felt surreal, as if I were walking around in a dream-like state. The edges of my vision were blurred, but the thing that let me know that I was not in a dream, was the pain. My entire body hurt, the right side of frame burned like fire, while the left half couldn't seem to stop shaking.
"She's going to change." Paul stared hard at me, expectantly, waiting for me to burst into a ball of fur.
"No. She's not. Because she can't! We're not shifters, dammit! We're werewolves, we don't just explode into wolves whenever we want, it only ever happens on the full moon! You've been attacking my sister, for nothing. NOTHING! She didn't lie!" Blaze's eyes were on fire, and he shook worse than any angry shifter could. His face turned an ungodly shade of red, and still the Alice girl stood by his side, looking at him as if there was nothing wrong with him the world.
I shook my head at him, telling him with my eyes to just drop it, but even I knew it wouldn't be that easy.
This was going to take some convincing.
----
Chapter Seven:
"That's enough, Blaze." I growled, getting in between Paul and my brother, my back turned to the shifter, which is a huge risk, as he could attack me at any time, but I had to take that risk so that my brother wouldn't do anything stupid. "Blaze, stop. He didn't know. I'm fine, you're fine, let's just forget it, okay?"
"You're not okay, Spirit! Look at you! You can barely breath, as I can imagine that your ribs are probably broken. There are three claw marks running from you throat down your arm to your elbow, and they're bleeding out at an incredible rate. That's not what I would call being 'fine'!"
The moment Blaze mentioned my injuries, the adrenaline that had been rushing through my veins seemed to drain away, leaving me in pure agony. I stumbled, not quite realized how badly I was hurt until just then.
"Again, I would like to apologize for Paul's behavior. He had no right to attack your sister on neutral territory, and I assure you he will be punished accordingly."
"No!"
Everyone turned towards me, no doubt wondering if I'd lost my mind. "Don't punish him, I've already forgiven him. It was my fault for antagonizing him in the first place."
I backed up from the shifters, standing even a bit away from my brother, closer to the blonde haired boy I still hadn't figured out the name of.
The Alpha nodded, glaring at Paul as he held his head down towards the ground.
"Spirit! He deserves to die for all he's put you through, how could you have already forgiven him?"
"Just forget about it, Blaze. I'm already healing."
Unfortunately, the moment I'd finished saying that, a god awful pain wracked my abdomen, causing me to groan and nearly making my knees give out from underneath me. Luckily someone caught me, easily holding up more than half of my weight. Looking behind me, I noticed the blonde vampire was the one who did it, and I smiled at him appreciatively.
I gulped down my cries, so that I could say thank you to him for not letting me fall on my face and embarrass myself.
"Don't mention it." His voice sent shivers down my spine, it had a slight accent, though I couldn't quite place it, but it was a mix of husky and smooth. His face looked as if he were sharing the same pain I, myself, was, but I didn't see how that could've been possible so I threw that thought to the back of my mind.
"We should get her home," the boy turned to look at Carlisle, who stood protectively in front of Esme.
"Of course, Jaspar."
Jaspar. It was a name I'd rarely heard before, but I liked it nonetheless. I watched as the Alpha of the shifter pack nodded to us all before instructing Paul and Jacob to head back to the Reservation.
The boy, Jaspar, offered to carry me but I declined his offer, so instead his ice cold arms stayed wrapped around my waist, helping support my weight as I limped back to the Cullen's house.
Black spots dotted across my vision, making it beyond difficult to see, I tripped over every thing in my path until eventually, I just let Jaspar pick me up bridal style.
I'd never let anyone pick me up before, I'd always been scared that I'd be dropped, however when this vampire did it, I had no such qualms. With barely ever talking to him, I trusted him.
"Thank you," I muttered as he layed me down on the couch in their living room. Carlisle came out with bandages and spray disinfectant, that's when the nervousness kicked in. I knew he was a capable doctor, but these were some serious injuries, I'd never had anything like it, even when my father would beat me, and never had I been in such pain before.
"Beat you?"
Sighing, I shook my head, I'd forgotten that Edward was in the same room as I was, and not being able to keep out of my mind, he'd heard what I said. Nobody except Zeke ever knew about my father, and now I had to entrust these vampires, that I'd barely known a week.
"That's what I said...or rather, what I thought."
"You were abused?"
I didn't answer, turning away from him instead to focus on the doctor who was just about to spray the disinfectant on the wound running from my neck to my arm.
"I should take off the shirt so that I can reach all of it, is that all right, Spirit?" I nodded, not caring. I was wearing a bra, and all the scars they'd see they would automatically assume it would be from fights similar to the one I'd just had.
With help from Alice, I managed to raise the shirt about my head with minimal pain, and I was told to lay back down again.
"Yes," I answered Edward's question, feeling guilty for distrusting him. The Cullen's had taken us into their homes, they at least deserved to have their questions answered, no matter how personal said questions were.
"By who?"
"Our father," I hissed out in pain as the first cold spray hit my neck, jerking in response, and I clenched my hands into fists, letting my nails dig into my palms.
Suddenly my hand was pried open, and Jaspar shoved his palm against mine. "You can squeeze if it hurts, it wouldn't bother me." I stared into his golden eyes, smiling slightly at his thoughtfulness. I'd have never thought vampires could be so nice before.
Alice giggled, causing me to glance over at my brother and her, who were staring into each other's eyes, looking as if they knew something that nobody else did. It was weird, and slightly unfair. Two people who can see into the future together, they'd end up knowing everything, and they'd never tell anyone.
I groaned as Carlisle went further down my arm with the disinfectant, before squeezing the frozen hand.
"Almost done, then I'll wrap it."
I nodded, showing that I'd heard him. Despite the immense amount of pain I was in, I didn't want to show my weakness, so I held in my moans, and didn't clutch onto Jaspar's hand, nor did I release it however. He still provided comfort in just being there, if I let go of him I was afraid that he'd leave.
I didn't want him to leave.
----
Chapter Eight:
For two days, I couldn't go to school, my wounds were reluctant to heal and I was stuck on bed rest until they had. Luckily, I had company those two days.
Jasper had stayed with me, making sure that I had plenty to do and never had to get up unless absolutely necessary. Meaning only to shower or use the toilet. He taught me to play chess so that we had something to do, and even watched movies with me if I got bored of him winning. The longer we stayed locked up in my room, the more I realized just how sweet he really was... for a vampire.
The stories he told me about his younger vampire days were amazing, yet undeniably sad. Having to be a Major of an army of newborn bloodsuckers must have been exhausting, and it was obvious that he regretted ever working for the girl, Maria, who had changed him in the first place. He had been so sure that she loved him, while the entire time, he was just a pawn in her games.
Over the course of those two days, I'd learned so much. Chess, Jasper's life, vampire laws, the kings, anything he could think of telling me, he told. He made me feel as though he trusted me with all his secrets, and that in its self meant more than anything else he could have done.
It, in turn, made me trust him, Jasper Whitlock, a vampire.
Throughout those two days, I'd actually felt the intense need to remove my sunglasses, but...I was scared. I didn't want to turn out like my mom, like a zombie who couldn't live without her mate, ignoring her children getting beaten repeatedly.
"Are you okay?"
Jerking, I stared up at Jasper. He had said he needed to go hunting...so why was he here? He only just left; he couldn't have made it passed the living room before coming back.
"I felt you getting nervous and scared, I wanted to be sure everything was all right." He answered my unasked question, making me feel like he was the mind reader in this house, though I knew he wasn't.
"Fine, fine. Sorry, I was just thinking, that's all. Go...do your thing."
Instead he made himself comfortable beside me on the bed, "Do you want to talk about it?"
I planned to say no, but he'd trusted me with so much, how could I not do the same for him, it didn't seem fair.
"I was thinking...about mates. For the longest time, I hadn't wanted one, because it made my mother stand by my father through everything...even when he'd hurt my brother or I. It sickens me to think that I could turn out like her when I find my own mate, which is why I wear sunglasses constantly. It's not because I have some eye problem, it's that if I have a layer of anything between my eyes and someone else's, I won't mate with them."
An ice-cold arm enveloped my shoulders, pulling me closer and butterflies seemed to erupt like a volcano in my stomach.
"I doubt you could ever be like that. Even if your mate was a cold hearted bastard like your own father is, I know you wouldn't put up with it because of what you've already went through. You don't want to go around wondering "what if"...like..what if your mate was a great guy...whenever your ready, I think you should take the glasses off."
I smiled at the man before me, nineteen years old physically, but God only knows how many years he was mentally. I could probably add it all up, but I was too lazy to do the math with no calculator.
"Thanks Jazz-I mean Jasper. Thank you Jasper."
I fake coughed, trying to cover up the nickname slightly, though I doubt that it helped even a bit.
"Call me whatever you like, little wolf." I glared at him before pushing him off my bed. I'm very skeptic that I actually pushed him off myself, I'm sure he helped a lot, because I know that if he didn't want to be pushed off, he wouldn't have budged even if I used all my weight against him.
"Go hunt."
~*~*~*~*~
When I finally made it to school, I was ecstatic simply to be out of bed, even if I did have to wear long-sleeved turtlenecks to hide my scars otherwise the humans would wonder where they had come from as they weren't there just a few days ago.
During first period biology, Mr. Bacceli stared down on me as he taught, but I didn't feel nearly as creeped out, probably due to the bear of a vampire who sat next to me. Emmett. I'd learned everyone's names last night and was glad for it as I didn't feel like such a stranger in their home anymore. Anytime Emmett caught Bacceli leering at me, he'd do something stupid to take the teachers attention away, and I was unbelievably grateful to him.
In my trigonometry class, Mrs. Sanchez simply did a pop quiz type of thing to review what the class had learned in the last couple of weeks and to see how far along in the curriculum that I was.
Needless to say, I failed miserably. A big fat sixty-six sat in red sharpie at the top of my paper causing my brother, who sat next to me, to chuckle. On his sheet of paper was a beautiful eighty-eight. Prick.
"Jasper, you did amazingly well as always. Perhaps you could help your newly adopted sister by tutoring her?"
"I'd love to." His smirk directed itself towards me, causing my stomach to flutter uneasily, and his voice was like honey.
Snap out of it! I turned back to face the blackboard, copying the notes that had been written in Mrs. Sanchez's gorgeous penmanship and waited impatiently for the bell to ring.
Alice and Blaze were in my English class, and Jasper, Rosalie and Edward sat around me in History but it was Lunch that I was looking forward to. I was hungry.
Of course, that hunger only lasted until I saw the food being served. Over the last couple of days that I had to spend out of school, I'd forgotten how disgusting it was so instead I once again sat at an empty table with nothing to eat.
Not five minutes later, a brown bag with the Burger King crest on it was sat in front of me and as I looked up, I couldn't say I was surprised to see Jaspar standing there.
"Thanks," I mumbled, twiddling my thumbs in my lap. I honestly expected him to sit by his family at the opposite end of the cafeteria, but he surprised me by gracefully sitting himself in the chair next to me, acting as if it was a completely normal occurrence. Apparently he shocked everyone else as well, which I realized when I noticed them all staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
I ate as prettily as I could considering it was a pretty simply double cheeseburger and fries. I didn't want to disgust the vampire sitting next to me. Afterwards, I dumped my trash in a garbage can and sat back down next to him.
"Tomorrow, will you sit with us at our normal table?"
"Yes, if you want me to."
"We do."
---
Chapter Nine:
During lunch the next few days, I sat with this family of vampires, and though it might sound odd, I actually felt like they were family, more so than I ever did with my own parents.
"I'm pretty sure we all think of you as family too." I turned to look at Edward, and knew he was telling the truth due to my werewolf instincts.
"Thank you."
It seemed as if nobody else had seen or heard this mini-conversation, and so I turned back to my bag of food, feeling somewhat sick all of a sudden, and it took me a while to figure out why this feeling had come over me. The only other person I'd been so close with was Zeke, and it had been nearly two weeks since I'd seen or talked to him. I missed him.
"I'll see you later guys, I have something I need to do." I rushed out of the cafeteria, leaving my food untouched, but I wasn't worried, I knew that Blayze would eat it for me, it was I that would suffer, with my stomach growling through the rest of the day.
I came to the front of the school, whipping out my phone as I walked. It didn't take me long to realize that the entire two weeks I'd been gone, my phone had been turned off. I listened to the starting song as it loaded up, only to be bombarded by texts and missed calls the moment the screen popped up.
Most of them said something along the lines of: *Where r u? Evrything ok? Txt back!* and a few were from a few of my old pack, wondering where we were, what had happened, etc.
The voicemails left on my phone weren't from friends, but rather from family. As I pressed the 'listen' button, I immediately had to push the phone as far from my ear as it could go as high-pitched yelling from my mother was heard, followed not far after by the deep rumbling of my father.
"They don't sound too happy, do they?"
I jerked around to stare at the boy...err, man...behind me. His golden hair fell around his head beautifully. Shaking my head, I turned back to the offending device before pressing the END button.
"No they don't, Jasper."
"So, who was it? A friend you forgot to say 'adieu' to?"
"My parents, actually."
He made a sound in the back of his throat before pulling something out from behind his back. "You forgot your lunch."
I smiled, looking up into his golden eyes through my sunglasses before grabbing the bag he held out to me. "Thanks Jazz."
I tucked my phone into my pocket, resolving to text Zeke later tonight when I was alone in my room before plopping myself onto the cement ground outside the school. Jasper looked down at me, amused, before pointedly looking to my left. I followed his stare, seeing the bench that wasn't more than five feet away from where I sat.
"I am such a fail."
"Nonsense, my dear," he followed my lead, sitting just a bit more gracefully than I had, and grinned over at me. "You're just a bit vision impaired. Maybe if you took off those glasses, you wouldn't have to worry."
His voice was as husky and sweet as it always was, yet this time it seemed more carefree than ever before, and his country boy accent shown through.
"I can't."
He waited patiently for me to continue, and so I sighed, deciding to give him just what he wanted. "I don't want a mate, I've already told you this Jasper! I don't want to risk it."
"Would it be so bad. It's only me around, right?"
I thought about it, and I mean really thought about it, and right when I had made my decision to yank the glasses off, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and the start of fifth period.
* * *
We walked to fifth period Art together, and all through the period we didn't bring up the subject of my sunglasses again. Mr. Treymont, the music teacher, had not been happy with me the last few days as I never had the money to buy an instrument. Blaze had no problem asking for anything he needed, but I would not ask the Cullens to buy my supplies, instead I planned to transfer out of the class, regardless of how much I loved making music and playing my violin, I couldn't afford it.
The class was shared with Edward, Rosalie and Emmett which amazed me, in all honesty, that someone as big as Emmett could play something as small as a flute, but my god, was he amazing. Rosalie preferred the guitar though she could also play the piano, flute, harp and cello. Edward had the baby grand piano, and he was obviously the teacher's favorite, though nobody could blame him as Edward played beautifully.
"Do you have your instrument?"
"No sir."
"Then I'll have to ask again tomorrow. Goodbye."
The moment I was out of the class, I walked towards the library. I refused to go back to the Cullen's while all the kids were here, nor did I want to go anywhere near the forest after what had happened before with Paul.
The library was surprising empty, just two students looking through the shelves and the librarian sitting behind her desk, a small historical romance book practically glued to her face.
For the hour I was stuck there, I did nothing but homework, but I was glad that I had finished so that I wouldn't have to waste any of my time at the Cullen's house doing it, I desperately had to call Zeke.
* * *
As the phone rang in my ear, I checked around to make sure nobody was there to eavesdrop on me. The tree I sat in was only about a quarter mile away from the house, but I didn't know how far their advanced hearing ranged out, so I was being extremely careful.
"Spirit!" His voice answered, sounding a mix between excited and slightly fearful.
"Zeke, what's up? Sorry I haven't called in so long, I had my phone turned off."
"Your dad has been harassing my mom, Spirit. At work, at the grocery store, at home. He wont leave us alone. What should I do?"
His voice, usually so cheerful, was now wary, and sounded as if he was exhausted. I could practically see him rubbing his face into his palm as he fought off a yawn.
"What does he want? Does he say?"
He didn't answer. "Zeke, what does he want?"
"You. He wants you."
"Then I'll be there."
"No, Spirit just wa-", I hung up on him, before jumping down from the tree, and heading straight towards Zeke's old car. I had a long drive ahead of me. I wouldn't let my friend and his mother be harrassed by a man who only wanted me. He was just a bully, and I would handle him myself if worst came to worst.
* * * * * * * * *
On account that I had to sleep and had nobody else in the car with me to drive as I slept, it took about fourteen hours longer to make it to my old house. I parked the car two blocks away, using the dark of night as a cover to climb into Zeke's window.
"Zeke," I whispered, glancing at his unmade, yet empty bed, and his piles of clothing that littered the floor. "Zeke, where are you?"
He was obviously not in his room, nor in the bathroom, or in the top floor at all. As I went down the stairs, I heard the unmistakable sound of a woman crying, though it was muffled.
I opened the first door to my right, which I knew to be Zeke's mom's room, and stuck my head in.
"Mrs. Herrington?"
"Spirit? You shouldn't be here, baby girl." Her voice was hoarse, and as I turned on the light to her room, I could see the blotchy redness of her face...and the ropes that tied her to the bed.
"Where's Zeke?" I questioned as I rushed over to her, untying her hands as I went.
"Next door," she sniffled.
"At my house?" I practically yelled, appalled that he could be with my own father, terrified for his safety.
"No. He went to Jared's for the night."
Sighing in relief, I ran a shaking hand through my hair. I had been scared that my best friend might have been stuck with my heartless father. "You need to go over there, make sure he's okay. Do you understand?"
Nodding, she rubbed her raw wrists which were already healing due to the werewolf blood in her, and I walked her to the front door.
"When you get there, have him call Blaze, okay?"
"Where are you going?"
"To have a word with my father," I spat the word, feeling my hatred for my parents bubble up inside of me, lighting my blood on fire. I didn't wait for her to say anything, instead marching right up to the front door and knocking on it. Probably not one of my smartest ideas, but I couldn't have cared less. I was pissed.
----
Chapter Ten:
"Where the hell have you been girl?" My father screamed as he yanked me inside the building that I used to call 'home'.
"What, no 'welcome home'," I muttered sarcastically under my breath before jerking my arm out of his grip. "What the hell is your problem, harrassing Zeke and his mother? How dare you!"
My father's handsome face became red and his hand clenched together forming a tight fist that could, undoubtedly, break my jaw easily. Those were the same fists I'd always been terrified of, from the time all the abuse started when I was seven. Even now when I was older, more mature and not nearly naive, I was terrified of those humongous hands that had the power of four horses hooves kicking out.
Gulping down my fears, I straightened my back and looked into his eyes. Evil. Merciless. Heartless. Father. His eyes gave him away as the bastard he truly was, if only everyone else could see him for what he was...if only Mother could see him for who he really is. Too bad it'll never happen.
"How dare I?" He scoffed, raising an eyebrow, "How dare YOU run from me, you had no right!"
"No right!" I screeched, hurting even my own ears, "You kicked me out, you worthless excuse for a fath-" Pain exploded in my cheek, spreading out across my jaw and right eye. I reeled backwards from the force of the punch that I had never even seen coming, my head throbbed painfully and small black dots swum in my vision, though it didn't take long for me to recover...and even less time for me to retaliate.
I lunged at him, attempting a tackle, though he only stumbled back a few steps due to my slight size. I wasn't even half the size of the man who stood before me, no longer my father. If I couldn't even tackle him...how did I ever expect to win against him?
Backing away, I drew myself up to full height and looked around to see what I could use as a weapon. Nothing. It's as if he saw this coming and prepared for it, taking away anything I could've used against him.
Once again, I was too busy thinking of a way to win to see the giant fist coming towards me. The back of my head slammed into the hardwood flooring and I couldn't help but to groan. Rolling over onto my stomach, I managed to push my abdomen off of it before a kick was sent into my ribs. It was painful but I'd experienced much worse in my short life so I fought through it.
I'd only gotten two misplaced hits on the man once known as my father before I was thrown into a wall, my lip split and bleeding.
"You'll be coming back to live with your mother and I as of now, so get up and go back to your room!"
I shook my head while simultaneously fighting back tears of pain. "No." I wouldn't become what I once was, a ghost of my self, taking the hits like a professional boxer. I was stronger than that, I wouldn't take the abuse lying down and I would fight back!
My 'fathers' face contorted in anger and his eyes began to sparkle dangerously, warning me silently that I was walking on thin ice and if I were to say one more thing, I'd be punished.
I didn't care, I kept going as if I'd never saw the warning in his eyes.
"You're no longer my father, I want nothing to do with you and most of all, I want you to leave me, Blaze and my friends alone."
Like a bull chasing the red flag, my father charged towards me, his meaty hands raised up and ready to strike. Ducking, I winced subconsciously at the sound of flesh smashing through a wall, and I ran underneath his arms back into the middle of the living room.
I realized, for the first time, how truly stupid I was for coming here alone. Why would I do that? Blaze was nearly as tall and muscular as our father was, Jasper could've easily beaten him even...so why did I feel the need to come alone without any backup?
Groaning, I allowed myself just a moment of wallowing in my own pain and humiliation. I was going to be beaten by my own father and there was nothing I, nor anyone else, could do about it.
Too busy focusing on my father, I never noticed that someone else was in the room and I would've continued on fighting unaware of them if they'd never attacked me from behind. Most probably I would've had no problem with a fist or even a foot catching me in the head, but I heard the metal sounding 'thud' of when whatever it was crashed into my skull before I fell onto my hands and knees and my ever-present sunglasses to slide off of my face.
Neither person, my father nor whom I assumed to be my mother (though I hadn't seen if it really was yet) wasted a moment before jumping onto me, immediately holding me down so that I didn't have a chance to move. Or protect myself from their attack.
Groaning, I did my best to cover my head as slaps, hits, punches and kicks rained down on my body. Fire and pain spread throughout my body, making it hard to concentrate.
The banging that sounded at the door no more than five minutes after the beating had begun seemed like a life-saver. The silver lining on my near-black clouds. When neither person answered the door, it was promptly busted down and three people rushed in. My brother, always there for me when I needed him, Zeke, my best friend in the entire world who was just as much of a brother to me as Blaze was and last there was...Jasper.
His pale skin contrasted to our slightly darker tans, though not as dark as the shapeshifters. His eyes were dark and I could feel the anger pulsating off of him in thick waves. I knew his eyes would look murderous even without looking at them directly.
I breathed a sigh of relief as the pressure of whoever was holding me down was released and I took an easy breath in, blocking out the pain in my body easily. I didn't move though, too scared that the wall blocking my emotions and hurt would crumble leaving me in a crying mess. I couldn't do that, I needed to be strong, to prove that I wasn't a child and I was tough.
Who I was trying to prove those things to, I had no idea though I think it was more for me than anyone else.
The smell of blood brought me back out of my thoughts and I realized by the scent that it was my parent's and not my brother or best friend. Jasper couldn't bleed as far as I knew but I also knew that he would win without a doubt.
Whether they were dead or just injured I had no idea, but the noise of fighting had died down leaving a eerie silence in it's wake. Where my eyes were staring at the floor, I could just make out a pair of shoes as whoever was sporting them came towards me until they bent down to pick me up.
Whimpering as they touched me, I realized just how much pain I was truly in. My body throbbed at that slightest breeze touching my bare skin and it hurt me just to take a small breath in. My eyes squeezed shut for several moments as whoever it was continued carrying me out of the house until a frozen hand closed around my own.
Snapping my eyes open, I looked up at the man holding me and I knew immediately that Jasper was my mate, the one I'd never wanted, as I looked into his eyes. It hurt, physically and mentally, to think about how I didn't want him. I'd forgotten all about my sunglasses as I was attacked and though I'd never wanted a mate, I couldn't bring myself to feel anything other than pure happiness that I'd found mine.
What a day...
* * *
Months later, I could be found sitting in the Cullen's living room snuggled happily into Jaspers lap as everyone debated on where to move to next. They still wouldn't be leaving until after Edward and Bella's wedding, but still, it was nice to have a general idea of where you would be next. I stared at Jasper as he debated with Carlisle about the best place for our family to be.
Edward and Bella sat across from us, a dopey crooked grin on Edwards face as he stared down at the beautiful ring on his fiance's finger while Bella herself seemed to just be staring off into space.
Alice and Blaze were looking over wedding catalogues in a corner of the room, planning their own wedding which was set for right before Edwards.
Despite my previous aversion to being mated, I didn't have to worry about abuse or any nonsense of the sort from Jazz. He was perfect and I knew that he would never lay a hand on me.
"Spirit? What do you think?" My mate wrapped his icy arms around my waist, pulling me closer towards him. Jerking out of my thoughts, I turned towards his golden gaze.
"About what?" I questioned, having missed the conversation.
"Where should we go next?"
"OH! We should totally go to England next!" I excitedly replied, bouncing slightly. Nobody really agreed with England so we should continued to debate over it.
This was the good life.
*End*
[[A/N: I have no regrets about how quickly this book moved along or how fast it ended. It's designed to be a SHORT story and the only thing I actually regret is how badly it was written but in my defence I was pretty young so... yes. Okay, hope someone enjoyed this haha.]]