┏━━━━⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆☾ ﾟ｡⋆━━━━┓
AND SO WE MEET AGAIN
"DEAR MISS AUGUSTINE,
I'm afraid I don't entirely know what you mean; tell me, what is this 'puzzles' you speak of?"
Augustine Cullen and Alec Volturi had been exchanging letters for the past week and a half, and had the ravenette fessed up and told the coven's patriarch about it yet? Nope.
Her internal reasoning was that she saw Alec as an opportunity to befriend someone of her own kind, on her own accord. She'd never take up the Volturi's offer, especially as she settled back into her day to day life in Forks, so she didn't seem the harm.
Plus, it was really entertaining educating Alec on the human things she still loved— hence their ongoing conversations about puzzles. Granted, she should've assumed that such governing vampires didn't have time to complete a puzzle or two, but on her latest trip to the post office she picked up a smaller one along the way and shipped it off to Italy.
"DEAR ALEC
I sent you a puzzle to do; it's Italian themed (aka it's just the leaning tower of pizza— is that how you spell it?)! Figured that was right up your alley."
Life was peaceful for a moment. Returning to the high school in the middle of the semester was not the most ideal thing in the world, but Augustine couldn't really complain. She hated doing the online stuff when they were in New York, so sitting in an actual classroom was thrilling.
And, on their first day back, an ecstatic looking Will Dilaurentis bounded over to her and nearly scooped her up off the floor as she stood in front of her locker. "Shit, teeny, would it have killed you to text me back?"
With a grimace on her face, she jumped into the story that she'd curated; her phone's data card hadn't been working when they were in Italy, so he shouldn't take it to heart that she didn't respond because she would've if she could've.
Surprisingly, he took it with a grain of salt and just bumped her shoulder with his. "No sweat," came his relaxed response, leaning back against the lockers beside hers. "Any cute Italian boys catch your eye?" His eyebrows started to suggestively wiggle.
She only shrugged, thinking of the only Italian boy she'd really met out there with a barely there grin. "Maybe."
⋆☾ ﾟ｡⋆
The normalcy of the day was cut short whenever night fell and Alice received visions of Victoria prowling around on their territory.
But on that night, when the entire family was stood in the darkness of the forest, even Augustine could tell that they were extremely close to the treaty line. Victoria had usually picked one side or the other, taunting the Cullens or toying with the wolves, but now? Augustine had no idea what she was up to.
It was their entire coven, plus the wolves, versus the red-haired vampire; meaning, Augustine wasn't benched for the first time in her life. She would've been jumping up and down at the fact that they were involving her, but stomped it down to focus. This was serious, and she had to remind herself that Bella's life was at stake— again.
Perhaps it was smart of Edward to drag her out to Florida to see her mother.
They were all on high alert, Alice's eyes closed as she watched a vision flash behind her eyelids. Her eyes opened, staring off into the distance as the forest became dense with eerie silence. Augustine stood next to Rosalie, eyes filtering around the greenery when Alice called out, "on your left!"
Instantly, the herd of Cullens darted in the direction Alice pointed them in. Augustine watched as that oh-so familiar fiery red hair dove into view, watching as Emmett pushed forward with resolute speed. He had managed to get a hand on her shoulder as the pursuit continued, but Victoria was smarter than that.
She grabbed his hand and flipped him over top of her, sparing him a fleeting glance before she continued her sprint. The ravenette watched as Emmett sprung back up, angrier than she'd ever seen him be before, and shot off like a rocket.
Then, Victoria leapt onto the other side of the creek that ran between the two territories. Carlisle put his hand out, stopping the others from following. "Wait–" he urged, and Augustine nearly sighed when she realized just where they'd ended up. "She's in their territory."
Sticking to their side of the creek, they followed the enemy vampire. "She'll get away!" Esme called out, suddenly in front of Augustine who was just behind her.
"No she won't!" Jasper responded, eyes noticing the new presences of the pursuit before anyone else did.
She almost started lagging behind when she heard the tell-tale snarls of the shifters ring through the air, their bodies coming into view on their side as they chased after Victoria. As Augustine ran, the smell of distinct evergreen weaved into her nose. If it wasn't for Rosalie nudging her forward, to keep going, the young girl thought she would've stopped altogether.
Emmett was leading them now, the rest of them observing how two wolves were hot on Victoria's tail. She started jumping from one side of the creek to the other as if she knew that territory lines had been drawn; she was clearly using it to her advantage.
Only, when Victoria suddenly leapt to the other side of the creek and Emmett was the closest one to her, Augustine could practically read the thoughts rolling through his head. He was angry that she'd tossed him aside, he was the strongest of them all, and he wanted to finish this once and for all.
It seemed Rosalie knew what he was about to do, too. "Emmett, no!"
In an instant, Emmett tried to dive onto the other side of the creek where Victoria had vanished, only to be roughly intercepted by a flash of silver fur. Augustine felt her unbeating heart drop to her stomach, instantly going to the very edge of the water while the others stopped further away.
She'd recognize that silver shifter anywhere.
The wolf threw Emmett's body into the rushing creek water below, snapping its jaws angrily as the vampire resurfaced with a heaving chest. He and the shifter were having a snarling competition, Emmett's body rigid where he stood knee deep in the water.
As the ravenette watched Emmett take a predatory step towards the silver wolf, the strangest thing happened. Instantly, Augustine found herself in the water, standing between the agitated vampire and the equally as agitated wolf with her hands stretched out.
But she wasn't doing it to protect Emmett— no, the stance she took was to prevent Emmett from hurting Paul. She didn't know why she was doing it, but it was like her instincts had fully taken over.
Emmett was her brother, but her brain was telling her that he was the enemy. "Back off, Em," she pleaded, her own frantic eyes searching his to try and persuade him to just walk it off. "Please."
Emmett, in all of his newfound fury, looked between the girl he considered his little sister and the wolf, whose snarling seemed to cease, that was stood less than a metre behind her. Augustine could see the recognition in his eyes and immediately knew that he'd made the connection.
This wolf was the Paul. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."
Augustine kept her eyes trained on the stocky vampire, who Rosalie eventually coaxed out of the water and only spared the younger girl a tight grimace before the two vanished. The ravenette felt her lip quiver, never having heard that much disdain in Emmett's tone before— especially directed her way.
She was broken from her daze at the sound of Carlisle's voice. "Let's get you home, August." It was paired with a gesture of his head, signalling it was time to go— everyone cashing in their defeat when they realized Victoria had disappeared amidst the chaos.
Augustine's neck craned before her before she could even stop herself from doing so. She looked at him, really looked at him, and dug her nails in her palm. "This does not mean I forgive you," she said, just low enough for the shifter to hear.
"You seriously owe me, Lahote."
⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆
[ wyn's note ]
the infamous brawl!!! and hot damn, did we expect august to have a reaction like that ?! (to be fair, she didn't expect it either LOL).
i cant even tell you guys how much i love reading your comments, they really make me giggle!! thanks for the endless support <3
all love! xx