GIFT
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Thick grey clouds blocked the sun as the trio walked outside, their heavy outlines in the sky predicting rain for today.
Bree's shoes crumbled against the short sand path. It led them to a huge backyard. She wasn't surprised at its sheer size. The Cullen's seemed to be quite rich.
The grass had been shaved recently, making it look healthy and well cared for. Some roses and tulips grew on the sides of a shining river. They looked intentionally placed, leaving her wondering who had put them there.
Body stiff from anxiety, she looked back to the house. This had been a mistake. She wanted to go back inside. At least there, she could stay in a corner and look at her room's door, guarding it from attackers. Out here, anyone could try hurting her. She was an easy target for anyone.
Horrifying thoughts slipped into her mind. What if Jasper and Emmett had brought her here to kill her? They were alone. All the other Cullen's were still inside the house. The scarred boy had wished multiple times that she were dead. Bringing her here alone, under the guise of wanting to test her powers, surely meant he planned to murder her. Perhaps Emmett also wanted to get rid of her. The other vampire had not vocalised his opinion about her, but maybe he was hiding it for a reason.
She took a step back, away from the boys. Her eyes widened. She had to escape.
As she moved, Jasper's warning snarl erupted into the air. His amber eyes locked to her, like an eagle's. "This is your last and only warning, Bree. If you dare to move even an inch, you will find yourself in pieces." He said strictly.
"Dude, you need to calm down! The newborn hasn't even started running yet. She just took a step back, right, Bree?" Emmett glanced at the southern vampire, worried, and then settled his gaze on the girl. "You aren't going to move." The brown-haired boy said, looking at her meaningfully, almost commandingly. His face was serious.
His words made her legs freeze in place. She felt too frightened to move. Maybe she was 'fluffy' like Emmett had proposed earlier. She acted so immensely emotionally that she even wondered if she would break and fall to pieces on her own without anyone needing to dismember her.
The newborn's legs felt like they had turned into roots. They seemed to dig their way strongly into the ground, preventing her from moving. She wasn't sure if they were able to realise the danger she was in and help her stay still. Or if instead they hoped she would die? How would she know if her legs worked against her? She hoped, from the bottom of her unbeaten heart, that they still cared for her. If her body parts would start retaliating against her, what was she supposed to do in a situation where she needed them? They were supposed to work together with her brain to help her function.
The air felt humid around Bree. It stuck to her skin uncomfortably, surrounding her like a fog. Her focus went to movement in her right eye's corner. Her gaze recognised Alice. The pixie walked towards the trio, looking annoyed. "Jasper Whitlock!" she shouted. "What did I just see?! We have already talked about this! Multiple times in fact."
The young teen turned her head, terrified at the raven-haired girl's appearance. She wanted to hide. All of her instincts were now telling her to get away from the situation. She didn't want to be in the backyard anymore.
Jasper seemed embarrassed as he saw Alice's fierce eyes. "I know you are aware of what I think about the newborn! She could have easily escaped. We cannot risk letting her go. Catching her was hard enough!"
"She won't escape from us, Jazz." Alice berated him. "I've seen it!"
"You do not see split-second decisions, Alice. If she had escaped, you wouldn't have been able to see it early enough." The southern vampire reasoned with the pixie.
Emmett and Bree stood silently, gazing at them. Alice and Jasper continued talking heatedly for a few more minutes, turning the backyard into a place of tension. It hovered in the oxygen, filling the brown-haired girl's lungs with it. She felt it almost inside of her. Or then it was her own emotions making her think that way. She was still on edge, worried that something would happen to her.
The wind picked up and started bothering the nearby tree branches. It travelled to her hair, scattering her strands all around her face. A familiar smell made her body turn in its direction. She felt a small smile form on her lips. That scent. She had not expected to smell it but was glad to recognise it.
Fred.
She hadn't thought the boy would come to find her. He had made it clear that he would not search for her if she did not come to their meeting spot. She wondered what had made him change his mind. Maybe he had decided not to want to be alone and hoped Bree would still be alive. She brushed the idea out of her head. That was very unlikely. Fred loved to be alone. He wouldn't come to her because of loneliness. There had to be another reason for his appearance.
The newborn saw Jasper's demeanour stiffen. His eyes turned to look at the direction the scent had come from. The other two Cullen's soon followed his gaze. "Alice, Emmett, stay here with Bree. I will go investigate who that scent belongs to," he ordered before bolting off towards Fred's scent. The scarred vampire disappeared into the forest.
"C'mon dude!" Emmett shouted after him. The boy looked disappointed. His face dropped for a second before he turned to look at Bree and Alice. The pixie had walked closer to the younger girl without her noticing. The proximity of the yellow eye scared the teen. She took a step away from her as her emotions whirled inside of her, warning her of the raven-haired vampire.
The muscular boy's face suddenly lightened up, and a smile cracked on his face. "We can test your abilities without Jasper then. It's his own fault for leaving when we were going to practice them."
Bree gave him a bewildered gaze. Shouldn't he be worried for his covenmate? He had left alone to chase Fred. She had thought the Cullens were more like a family than a coven.
That should mean they would get worried for each other. Right? At least that's what she understood from the TV while watching it as a child. Families tended to care for each other.
Well, most families did.
"So…are you still up to test them?" Emmett asked. He glanced at Alice questioningly, waiting for a response from her.
The young teen's face changed into confusion. She couldn't wrap her mind around why the boy would ask the question first from her and then look at his raven-haired covenmate, expecting an answer from the pixie. It was idiotic. Why ask the question from her if her answer wasn't going to be the one listened to? And why did the hulk-like boy think Alice was going to know her answer?
"I guess." The red eyed girl answered. She silently decided not to reveal that she had recognised Fred's scent. She didn't want to let the yellow eyed coven know how she might be able to escape from their house in the future with the help of her former covenmate. She was sure he was going to help her. If she were to tip them off to knowing the vampire's scent, she'd surely be locked inside and not let out before Fred would give up freeing her. Did he know she was being held captive? She would need to find a way to contact him and tell him about the mess she was in.
"Nice." The muscular vampire grinned. He clapped his hands together, rubbing them against each other. "Let's begin! How does your gift work?"
The newborn looked at her shoes. She wasn't exactly sure how. It just happened. Her gift had activated on its own when she needed it the most. She squinted her eyes thoughtfully, still making sure to keep an eye on the two Cullens looking at her. "I think it might activate when I'm in danger."
"Can you try activating it without that? What do you think and feel when you become invisible?" Alice asked. She smiled at the teen, seeming to try to calm her nerves down.
Bree didn't appreciate the pixie's attempt. She was rightfully careful and nervous around the yellow eyes. There was no reason for her to trust them. Sure, they had not killed her yet, but that did not mean they were trustworthy. She looked at the raven haired girl, opening her mouth. "I don't know...I felt terrified every time my gift was activated."
"Well, it might not be that great of an idea to make you terrified," Alice sighed. She pressed her lips together.
"It would be very easy, though," Emmett joked. He got a disapproving look from the amber eyed pixie. He shut his mouth but continued smiling. His gaze laughed.
The young girl held back her desire to snarl. Instead of making the noise, she pushed the urge deep inside of her. It wasn't funny that she was on edge. She just wanted to feel relaxed, but it looked like that would not happen before Fred would hopefully help her escape.
The two other vampires tried to make her power work. They suggested different ways to activate it. Telling her about the gifts of their coven's friends. Apparently, they had somehow acquired proper friends. She had understood that vampires really didn't have real friends, only acquaintances, but the yellow-eyed coven had gotten many friends over the centuries. It was strange.
As the sun started to set, Jasper returned. They had spent almost the whole day working on Bree's ability without much process, much to her dismay. She had hoped to gain better control over it. Learn how to activate it, at least. But nothing had happened. She still couldn't do anything with it. Were gifts supposed to be so hard to control? Or was she just incapable of learning the use of it?
"Jazz?" Alice asked, worried. She danced to the scarred man, interrupting their practice.
Jasper took Alice's hands gently and started balancing between looking at Emmett and the raven-haired girl. "I didn't catch the vampire. They seemed to have some type of gift. Every time I got closer to them, I started feeling too repulsed to continue going in their direction. It was frustrating. If they come closer to our house, we might need to figure out a way to dodge their ability."
Alice and Emmett nodded.
The newborn, listening to the boy's words, felt relief. Fred was safe and sound. Her unexpected emotion made Jasper's gaze turn to her and focus on her face. However, the boy did not say anything. His eyes burned her. She was almost able to sense his confusion. Her crimson eyes filled with nervousness yet again as she wished he wouldn't ask her anything. She needed to be careful around the southern vampire and try not to feel much emotion. It would be hard, even impossible, but she didn't know what else to do. He couldn't figure out that she knew the vampire in Cullen's territory.
"What did you see?" the hulk-like boy's voice said, taking the teen out of her thoughts. She focused her gaze, confused, at the trio standing still. Both Emmett and Jasper were looking at Alice. The girl's eyes looked distant, like she would have been somewhere else.
The raven-haired vampire shaked her head lightly and then concentrated on the two boys. She side-eyed Bree quickly. "We shouldn't talk about it in front of Bree."
The words made shivers go down Bree's back. What could the pixie have seen that she couldn't hear about? She felt a rush of panic rise in her body as the worst-case scenarios played in her head. She glanced around, hoping to see what the vampire had seen, but the backyard looked normal.