A/N: I'd like to give a special thanks to _NachoCheese_ for the lovely cover she made. :D Thanks buddy!
P.S. That was the original title.
Rose's P.O.V
I opened the front door and stepped outside, where the sky was grey and cloudy. This was just how I liked it.
I smiled as I laid down on the lush green grass. A cool breeze tickled my skin. This was amazing.
But my comfort was cut short when I felt something solid blocking the wind. I opened my eyes that I just now realized were closed all this time—and cried out in shock.
Someone was on top of me, someone I've seen before. A male with pale blonde hair and dark hazel eyes. My heart made a wild leap.
Ken.
He was hovering above me, holding himself up with his hands that were on either side of my head. He had a wicked smirk on his pale face.
"Hello, Angel." He cooed.
"Ken." I spat. His smirk widened.
"So he told you about me, huh?" It disappeared and he stared at me with cold eyes. "The evil psycho uncle who'll never stop wanting revenge?"
He leaned closer and buried his nose in my neck, sniffing deeply. I stiffened, hating his close proximity to me. "Mm, I understand why he likes you so much." He raised his head again and we locked gazes. "History certainly loves to repeat itself, doesn't it?"
I furrowed my eye brows. "What do you mean?"
"You'll find out in good time, Rose." He got off me and I almost breathed a sigh of relief before standing up myself, watching his every move. "All in good time."
I shook my head at him. "Where are your comrades?"
"Can't tell." He said mischievously. "Face it, you're not going to get your answers from any of us." I opened my mouth to say something, but suddenly I was thrown against the wall of the house.
I groaned in pain, my eyes fluttering open, but then he was in front of me again. He had a firm grip on my upper arms. "Isn't it ironic that the last time we met, I was throwing you around like a rag doll?"
I gritted my teeth. "If I remember correctly, I ended up kicking your a** until you had to flee." He gave me such a cold look I had to keep myself from shrinking back.
"Really?" His eyes narrowed at me and suddenly, I could see Diana and the twins behind his shoulder. They were writhing in agony. I gasped.
"Rose, help us!" Diana shouted in pain, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Please, it hurts." Matt grunted. They were all breathing heavily, trying to calm their screams but failing.
"No!" I yelled. "Stop!" I lunged forward, but Ken's grip on me tightened. I looked helplessly back at him.
"I've got a story to tell." He yanked me closer, causing me to cry out. "Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love."
He was calling Fallon the devil. I couldn't deny how accurate that sounded. He looked back into my eyes. "Opposites attract, huh?"
"Let them go, Ken!" I demanded him after a few seconds of being speechless. He broke into a fit of laughter.
"You need to know your place, girlie." The next second, there was a blur and I felt a sharp pain in my neck. I let out a scream. He had dug his fangs into my neck.
And it only lasted a few seconds, because he pulled back and licked his bloody lips with a grin. "Now I can take over your body whenever, wherever I want." He said icily. "And there's nothing you can do about it."
"Rose!" I stared at him, too horrified to notice someone yelling my name. "Rose!"
My surroundings started to blur. I couldn't make out anything, until it was all blackness.
"Rose, wake up!" I bolted up, gasping for breath. Blinking rapidly, I glanced around. I was in the living room on a couch. Did I fall asleep?
"Rose, are you okay?" I turned my head to see Matt staring at me with concern in his green eyes. "We've been shaking for you for five minutes."
I stared at their worried faces, all crowded along my couch. I pressed a hand to my forehead to discover that I was sweating. "W-What happened?"
"You started screaming," Diana explained. She frowned. "And you said, 'Ken'."
Then it all came back.
I can take over your body whenever, wherever I want.
I hurriedly reached to my neck, and my eyes widened. "Oh no..." There was blood there; a huge gash on it from what I could feel.
My wild eyes found Diana's and I glanced down at her neck. A bite identical to mine was still there, fresh as ever. I knew what it meant now. Ken could take over her body too.
Whenever he felt like it.
***
I walked towards the door again, then hesitated in opening it. Would I find Ken there?
Don't be silly, I told myself. He's not there. It was just a dream...A creepily very real dream that he could somehow harm me in, but still a dream.
I took a deep breath and turned the knob, swinging the door open. But I couldn't go outside, because someone was standing in the doorway.
Thankfully, it wasn't Ken. It was Fallon.
He looked at me sideways after inhaling deeply. He had smelled the blood. "Are you...bleeding?" His eyes wandered to my neck, where I didn't even bother to properly hide the bite. Nope, I just cleaned the excess blood off. I nearly jumped when he let out a vicious growl.
"Who did this?!" He demanded, walking into the house.
"Did what?" Joe poked his head in the doorway, then spotted my wound and his gaze darkened. "What happened?"
"Ken happened." I told them, avoiding Fallon's gaze. I made a promise to Nate, one I understood the reason for and respected, and I intended to keep it. No matter how much it hurt. "I fell asleep and he could somehow harm me in my dreams."
They were silent before Fallon sighed, shaking his head. "That probably means you're not safe when you sleep anymore."
"What else did he say?"
"Because of this bite," I moved my hair away from my neck. "He can take over my body any time he wants to. It won't heal, and I have a feeling the bite on Diana's neck was caused by him too."
Fallon swore and turned around, covering his face with his hands in exasperation while Joe spoke to me. "If we thought weren't safe before, this is ten times worse." He muttered, shaking his head. His gaze had dropped to the ground.
"Where is that blondie?" Fallon asked. Then he stiffened as he sniffed the air again. "They were here." He frowned in confusion and looked at me.
I raised my head and held his gaze. "Yes, I couldn't find you two when I woke up and they were already inside. So we decided to wait for you to come back."
"Where are they now?"
Diana's voice sounded from the living room, "Right here!"
Fallon furrowed his eye brows and, in a second, he was in there. "Hope you don't mind," she continued, throwing a smirk over her shoulder. "We made ourselves at home."
Matt sipped a glass of blood. He grinned, showing his red-stained teeth. "Want some?" He offered Joe. He squinted at him in response.
"Why the hell are you guys here?" Fallon asked him, crossing his arms. My eyes followed the movement, watching his well-muscled, not-too-bulgy arms. He was gorgeous.
"We need to find a witch." Matt told him, licking his lips after emptying the glass. "And we need your help."
Fallon's eyes narrowed and he turned to look at me. I nodded, then averted my gaze. I can't get too close to him. I can't.
"You do, now?" He asked emotionlessly.
"Yes, we do." Nate snapped, rising from his seat. "As much as we hate your very existence, we need to work together because of this damn threat. But if it weren't for that, we'd be more than happy to get rid of you." I frowned at him. I didn't know he had that much of a beef with him. Fallon didn't do anything wrong.
There was a silence before Fallon started chuckling. "Words of a pure punk." Nate's eyes were blazing. "But I admire your courage to stand up to me. If only you knew." He said shaking his head at him slowly.
Matt frowned. "Knew what?"
Fallon blinked, then averted his gaze. "Nothing. Let's just go and find that witch." Then he and Joe left the living room. I frowned and glanced at everyone else to see them also mirroring my expression.
What was Fallon talking about?
I was getting even more determined to crack the mystery called Fallon Davidson by the day. Is that even his real name?
I chewed on the inside of my mouth and followed the others outside.
"So, how are we going to do this?" Joe started, clasping his hands together.
Diana stepped forward and explained, seeming like she knew the answer to everything in the world. "First, we're going to channel all our energy to one point and let it like circulate among us to combine it. In order to do that we need physical contact with one another."
Fallon's eye brows sunk down. "You mean like hold hands?"
"Exactly." He looked disgusted but hid it well. I turned to see the twins having a look of distaste on their handsome faces too. I smiled at their unwillingness. "There's a chance you'll feel temporarily lethargic once you release it, but with time you'll be as good as new."
"How long are we talking?"
"Maybe a few hours," Diana estimated, frowning slightly. "Depends on how strong you are. Usually tapping into someone's vein can help speed up the process but..." she trailed off and I glanced at Fallon just in time to catch the ghost of an evil smirk threatening to break out onto his face.
"Well, once we release it, one of us will feel another supernatural response to it. Like a sharp tug at your heart. It isn't specified who will feel it nor if what presence we find is even a witch or not, but it's our best shot." She shrugged her slender shoulders and at the corner of my eye, I saw Nate watching her like a creep.
Yeah, they definitely have a thing going on.
"Alright," Joe took his hands out from where they were jammed into his jeans pockets. "Let's do this."
"The release has to be in the middle of town in order to get a more accurate result," Matt spoke up, hands on his hips. "In this case, it's a deserted road that looks like some sort of jungle about five miles away."
Fallon sighed. "Lead the way, then." He told him, getting down on his hands and knees. None of us questioned what he was doing because we already knew; he was shifting into an animal.
"And please," Diana spoke up quickly again, throwing Nate a look over her shoulder. "Set aside your grudges. At least for now."
Nate huffed and attempted to argue with her but then decided against it at her stern expression, grumbling to himself as we all started shifting as well.
All vampires could shift into several different kinds of animals if we were strong enough, thankfully we all passed the border. I was a strong vampire since I was half vampire before I was turned; a half-blood. I had the strength of at least the twins, so I could also shift into animals.
The things that differentiate us from normal animals is that our eyes always stay their true color; red.
I cringed as his bones started breaking and bending backwards as he turned into a big black wolf. When turning into any animal, we still keep our clothes on as we shift back and forth because of power. It becomes part of us while werewolves are creatures of nature, less powerful than the creatures of the dark. They come out naked when turning back into human.
Silky black fur identical to the hair on Fallon's head started surfacing and his canines grew longer, his mouth twisting into a snout. His eyes turned red and stretched across the whites too, making it seem as if his whole eye ball was dark crimson. The end result was actually pretty scary. He was at least as tall as me when I'm standing. He looked vicious, dangerous. Dark.
Soon he had completely shifted and he made eye contact with me for a second before his head turned to look expectantly at Matt, who was shifted into a graceful and unusually large grey owl.
Nate had turned into a crow, since he loved flying more than almost anything, and he figured that birds attract less attention since they're in the sky. It was pretty smart of him considering Matt's the wiser one, which explains why he usually turns into an owl if we have to go anywhere far away.
Diana had turned into a wolf as well; a beautiful golden and brown one that looked friendly and small as opposed to Fallon's wolf despite the red eyes. But it was just the fact that Fallon's was insanely huge while hers was normal sized.
Before turning into a blue and white falcon, I glanced to the side to see Joe as a...snake?
A huge red-tan one. He looked my way and I was met with red snake-eyes. I could've sworn he smirked at me.
I huffed and gave him an amused look before taking off full speed after the others.
Everything around me seemed as a blur except for Matt's owl that was the only thing I focused on. The cold air ruffled through my feathers at great speeds, causing a virtual smile to appear at my golden beak. Nate was right to adore flying. Every time I do it, I remember how amazing it felt. Back before I turned, I've always wondered what it was like to fly. I felt envious of the birds, and now here I was.
Too soon for my liking, we arrived at our destination and shifted back. I kept my eyes on Fallon, mostly because I couldn't help it. I was regretting promising Nate that I'd stay away from him but it was for the best. The outer covering may be beautiful, but the inside is evil and flooded dark secrets.
I tried to convince myself that by repeating it over and over again in my mind, hoping that it would become easier. But so far, I had no luck.
He blinked hard, seeming to clear his mind before he got up from the ground. I saw that something had formed onto his shoulder. I frowned and concentrated hard on it while I still could. Thankfully he was wearing a black undershirt so I could see it clearly with the help of my enhanced vision.
It was the upper most part of his arm, basically on his shoulder; there was something thick and black.
Was that a...Tattoo?
It was in the shape of a dragon, curled in a round position. It was beautiful, and it suited him so well.
But then his gaze caught mine and he glanced at his own shoulder.
He looked back up at me, carrying my gaze away from the tattoo. His eyes were the same calm, empty pits of darkness as he locked my eyes onto his own. They were so captivating. When I realized what he was doing, I quickly looked back at his shoulder and gaped in disbelief.
There was nothing there; just plain, smooth and very cold-looking skin.
Why was he hiding it? He had no reason to...
Unless it carried some evil meaning.
I slowly carried my gaze back to his face, where I could spot the starting of a malicious smirk that carried nothing but darkness inside it. My blood froze. He really was different.
That made it easier to keep away from him because now I understood how bad this guy was, just by one unintentional smirk.
He was hiding something from us. Did I really want to find out anymore?
"Hey guys," I snapped out of it when Nate called us over, glancing suspiciously between us. "We're ready. Come on." He motioned us over with his head.
I walked over without looking at Fallon's face, but kept my eyes on his shoulder as I waited for the mark to come back. It didn't.
He was using his power to hide it, like we use our power to put up human disguises in place of our real appearances. What else was he hiding?
I couldn't decide whether I wanted to find out anymore.
We all went closer to each other, forming a circle, and I had to ignore Fallon's penetrating stare as I locked hands with Joe and Nate. I glanced momentarily at Joe, wondering if he was also hiding the same thing as his brother.
Probably.
He had the same ring, which most likely served a dark purpose. He also possessed many qualities Fallon had including the evil feeling radiating off of him.
He didn't look at me despite us holding hands but kept his gaze straight ahead, a serious expression etched on his features.
I sighed and let my gaze trail along their faces from Joe, whose strong hand held mine firmly, to Fallon's blank expression, then Diana's soft features, then Matt's, and finally Nate's. His and his brother's green eyes seemed to hold an eerie glow in the dark roadside as they glanced at one another.
"Ready?" Diana spoke up. We nodded and started focusing on channeling our energy to the center of our bodies. I inhaled deeply and concentrated hard, and soon enough I could feel heat radiating off of me in huge waves.
A few moments later I almost jumped as I felt an insanely huge amount of power thrumming through me. Looking at the others, I realized they were also slightly alarmed but hid it well. Everyone except Fallon and Joe, who looked confused if anything. Probably from doing this for the first time.
We all glanced at each other and nodded for confirmation before we released it. I gasped as I almost stumbled from all the power one release held. I may have underestimated the power of these two brothers.
But nonetheless, I still concentrated carefully for the feeling of another supernatural presence close by while also watching everyone else's face.
After a few seconds, it happened.
Matt's body heaved one as if he were soundlessly coughing and he immediately glanced up, alert. He had felt one. "I've got one." He said.
Another movement caught my eye and I turned to see Fallon's body mirroring the movement. "Me too." His deep voice seemed to echo in my ears.
"Hey, I also felt it." That was Diana. She looked up at all of us, her face serious.
"So we've got three locations." I started as we let go of everyone's hands. "Any specific supernatural being coming to your mind?" They shook their heads.
Nate took over, stepping forward. "Okay then, we'll split up in pairs of two."
"And how are we going to decide who goes with who, Genius?" Fallon asked him bitterly, crossing his arms.
Nate shot him a venomous glare. "Maybe I'd tell you if you weren't so busy trying to pick fights with me!"
Fallon scoffed. "Pick fights with you? Trust me, if I was trying to pick a fight with you, you'd be begging for mercy." Joe sighed and ran his hand over his face in exasperation. He must have to deal with this kind of behavior from his brother a lot.
"Oh yeah? Well I-"
"Nate!" Diana put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her angry brown eyes and I watched in amusement as he practically crumbled under her gaze. They would make a perfect couple. "I said to put aside the grudges."
"But-"
"No." She snapped. "No excuses. Be the better man." At that, Nate shut up but eyed Fallon with distrust. He gave him an amused yet dangerous look in response.
Every time I look at him, my danger-sensing alarms go off.
"Hey, Rose." He suddenly spoke up, his gaze still locked with Nate. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"
I faked a confused face, mostly because I didn't want to confront him. I didn't know what to think about him. He could be life-threatening, but he could also be insanely irresistible. I didn't make up my mind about him yet. "Here? It's in the middle of town."
He moved his eyes to me, where I could recognize with a chill that same unreadable look that sent back that intimidated feeling around him. I gulped. "We can move a little farther down so we could have a little—" he gave Nate an irritated look. "Privacy."
I glanced at Nate for confirmation. Fallon's eyes narrowed at him threateningly, his posture practically radiating power. Then slowly, Nate's gaze shifted to me and he nodded slightly.
I looked back at Fallon to see him watching me again. I followed him with our enhanced speed until he abruptly stopped. Over here, the trees seemed to grow everywhere and there were even a few dead ones poking out of the ground. It bared a resemblance to the gloomy woods at the edge of town.
I held in a sigh and reluctantly looked at Fallon. He looked angry.
"Confess." He demanded. I furrowed my eye brows, pretending to be confused.
"Confess what?"
"You know what. Why are you avoiding me?"
I knew I couldn't talk my way out of this, so I gave him an uneasy smile. "Funny story, actually. It's hilarious, you'll laugh at it. Really." My uneasiness grew with every word as he stared at me with those cold, dark eyes that somehow held a burning anger inside them. With each thing I said, he was walking towards me threateningly and I had no choice but to take steps back unless I wanted to get lynched by him.
That is, until, he lunged forward with a huge burst of speed and suddenly had me slammed against a wide tree. I cried out in shock.
I looked up to see his eyes blazing, hands on either side of the tree at my head, caging me in. I shrank back as his head swooped lower, staring down at me with the look of an angry predator.
This must be what his victims feel like.
It wasn't that hard to believe that he had all this rage bottled up inside his seemingly calm demeanor. He certainly looked calm a few seconds ago with the others.
"Explain yourself." He demanded. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. "Now!"
I flinched and avoided his penetrating gaze, instead looking straight ahead where his chest happened to be. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."
"Bullsh*t," he snapped at me angrily.
I shook my head, my gaze dropping to his stomach. Why did I feel so weak, so vulnerable when he was like this? "It's nothing."
"Damn it, Rose!" His voice had risen in volume and I was hoping so bad that the tree would just turn to liquid and swallow me up. "Why are you avoiding me so much? Why is it that you can't even look at me? What the hell is bothering you?"
I was too overwhelmed by his questions that I had no control whatsoever over my mouth. My head snapped up to meet his stare. "You!" His eye brows drew together. "You are the reason I'm avoiding you. You said so yourself, there's so much I don't know about you. But you are freaking dangerous as hell and being with you, even being your friend could get anyone killed."
There was a split-second change in his face from confused to almost...Hurt. I felt my heart drop at the sight, but then his face went emotionless. Closed-off.
"That's what you think of me." It was no doubt a statement. There was an unreadable look in his eyes and he turned his head, glancing away from me. A few long minutes passed by, during which I regretted everything I said but just didn't have the courage to apologize, and he finally spoke again.
"That punk did this." He said, shaking his head absently. "He made you promise to stay away from me, didn't he?"
"Fallon-"
"Didn't he?!"
My own temper snapped and I glared at him. "He did it to protect me!" He scoffed. "He's just looking out for me."
"Because I'll accidentally kill you?!" I didn't say anything. "Does he know anything about me?!"
"He knows enough to be smart about it. He can sense enemies and he's getting a mixed signal from you. He says you and Joe are bad." He started laughing humorlessly, leaving me staring at him in puzzlement.
"I'm going to kill him." He growled once he was done, dead serious.
"Don't you dare."
"What are you going to do about it?!" He leaned closer. "Rosie?"
I gritted my teeth. He was ticking me off right now and it was hard not to show it. "You can't kill him."
"And why is that?"
"Because he's like a brother to me!" He fell silent but I still felt his gaze on me as I looked down again.
A long moment of silence passed by before he spoke. "One more strike and I'm ending him."
I gasped soundlessly and stared straight ahead. I was afraid for Nate's life right now. Fallon was that willing to kill him, one of my best friends?
"Am I understood?!"
"Yes." I muttered in a monotone. What else was I supposed to say? What could I say?
"Good." His hands slipped from the bark and chose that time to raise my eyes to his.
I immediately wished I hadn't.
His eyes had turned to ice and he looked at me with a cruel expression. He seemed to freeze the surroundings with his darkness. The hairs on the back of my neck rose.
"What are you?" I whispered before I could even think about it. His jaw clenched and I couldn't help but find that attractive.
"Evil." He said darkly, backing away from me. Him looking at me with that expression almost made me fall apart and I closed my eyes as a tear threatened to escape. His voice seemed to come from everywhere. "Pure evil since the day I was born. I never wanted to be this way, but apparently some people are meant to stay dark forever."
Nate's instincts were beyond correct, because Fallon just admitted practically the same thing.
I could see a big red glow from behind my closed eyes and they snapped open. I got off the tree bark, searching wildly for him.
But he was gone.