We had walked to the forest to have a “Privet” conversation. As we walked, neither of us dared to be the first one to break the silence. Even though I had questions that I was dying to ask Jacob, and I knew he had some of his own.
We came to a clearing and I took a seat on one of the rocks, Jake on the one across from me. We just sat there, staring at each other, trying to figure out who would go first. I finally decided to make the first move, but with something easy to answer.
“How long have you been one?”
“A Few months.” He went on to tell me the legends of his trib. That when there were ‘Cold Ones’ near the tribe, certain families that carry the gene become shape shifters to protect the tribe. How anger can easily make a shifter change. Which explained why he was shaking earlier. Then the pack and everything else.
He then turned to me. His hand made it’s way to the right side of my face. I won’t lie. I flinched when his thumb started to trace my scar. I looked away from his loving eyes.
“What happened?”
I took a deep breath. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ll try to keep up,” He promised.
“Well, I guess you could say I’m part of a story of revenge.” He looked at me, very confused. “*Sigh* I guess I should start at the beginning. I have two older half-brothers named Sam and Dean. We share the same dad.
“It’s their mom where the story begins. Sam was six months old and Dean was four. Mary, Their mom, heard something in Sam’s nursery. So she went to go check on him. Five minutes later, Dad heard Sam screaming! He looked around and couldn’t fine Mary. He ran into Sam’s nursery to find her sealed to the roof and then she burst into flames.” Jake looked at me in surprise.
“Yeah, I know it’s hard to believe. Dad got the boys out of the house and made sure they were safe. From then on, Dad became obsessed with finding the thing that killed Mary. And on his way, he and the boys killed every evil thing that crossed their paths. Ghosts, monsters, you name it, they’ve fought it.”
“But how did you come into the picture?” Jacob asked.
“Well, my mom, Lucy Sallem, was a photographer. She moved into a house by a set of forests. She had no idea that her new home was haunted. Dad knew though, He tried to convince her that it was haunted, and that she was in danger. She, uh, she slammed the door in his face. After all, she had just bought her dream home, and some random stranger was trying to get her to move out?
“However, after some incidents, my mom started to worry. Things would fly across the room, she’d hear rattling, and see things out of the corner of her eye. One day things got really bad. I grotesque rotting ma was in front of her bed. She screamed as he lunged for her. She jumped out of the way and tried to run out of the door, but the ghost was suddenly in front of her again, wring his pale ghostly hand around her neck.
“That’s when Dad busted down the door. He’d been watching her house because he knew something would happen to Mom. So he never left. He shot some salt bullets and the ghost—“
“Why salt?” Jacob asked.
“Well salt and iron repels ghosts and demons. However, it’s only temporary if you use it as a weapon. They come back. In order to kill or get rid of a ghost you have to salt and burn whatever they are attached to in this world. Normally it’s their bodies.
“So while Dad was protecting my mom, Sam and Dean were trying to find the right grave. Dad grabbed an iron crowbar and stood over my mom to protect her. When the ghost recovered and charged at them again, it burst into flame. Sam and Dean had found the right grave just in time.
“Well before Dad and the boys left town, he and my mom sorta had a one-night-stand. But apparently that was enough because ten months later I was born.”
“Mom never told Dad about me and she never told me about what my dad did for a living. But it came to a point where that was no longer an option. An evil shape-shifter came to town when I was about thirteen.
“Mom knew she would have to call Dad. She also knew she’d have to tell him about me. Imagine my surprise when I open the door to my long lost dad and brothers. Sam instantly started treating me like his baby sister. Dean didn’t know what to make of me and just stayed quiet. Dad, well, Dad was in shock.
“Shortly after I found out about my new family members, my mother’s life came to a sudden halt. With no one to turn to, and nowhere to go, I considered running away before social services could come to collect me, just to ship me off to foster homes across the country. Dad, being there when Mom had died, tried to find me. He drove around town, as did my brothers, looking for me.”
~Flash Back~
‘How could she be dead? She wasn’t even so post to go with them!’ I thought as I walked into the bus station. I had a back pack and my duffle bag full of cloths and a couple of electronics.
I wasn’t going to give myself up to a flawed system.
“Excuse me, can I get a ticket for California?” I asked the woman at the nus station.
The woman was old, and noticeably grouchy. Her short, dyed hair, stuck up in all directions. She glared over her square rimmed glasses at my direction. I couldn’t help but shrink under her gaze.
“Where are your parents?” She snapped.
It was so hard not break down right then and there. I mean come one! I’m thirteen and my mom died not two hours ago in my arms! But this woman didn’t know that and I had already cried all the way here. I was sure she would have been able to tell if she could see my eyes under my sunglasses.
“They dropped me off. This isn’t the first time I’ve bought a ticket.” I tried to keep my voice steady. I’ve never lied before and I couldn’t tell if I was good at it or not.
I must be though because she gave me an annoyed look before pulling out a ticket and saying “$40 for round trip.”
“Um can you make that one way?”
“$20 then.” I handed her the money and she gave me the ticket. “We are not responsible if you lose or if your ticket is stole and there are no refunds.” She grumbled. “Bus leaves in an hour.”
Not even responding to her, I found a seat in the back of the bus station and sat down. I reached into my duffle bag and pulled out a picture of my mom and I. Tears streaked down my cheeks again. They slid under my sunglasses and landed on the glass of the frame.
‘Mom, what am I going to do? I have nowhere to go.’ I thought as I continued to let silent tears run down my cheeks.
Someone took the seat next to me. I didn’t bother looking up to see who it was. I didn’t care. They wouldn’t care who I was. They would look at me like a runway.
“What are you doing Andrea?”
My head shot up at the sound of my name. It was Joh—uh—Dad. I quickly wiped my tears so he wouldn’t see them. Even though I knew he’d already seen them.
“I’m going to California. I have lifeguard training. I’ll get a job at the beach.”
“Look, Andrea—“
“Andy. I go by Andy.”
“Andy. Why are you running off?”
“I’m not going into faster care!” I growled.
“You don’t have to.”
“I know, I’m leaving before social—“
“No, I mean, you could live with us.”
That took me completely by surprise. I hadn’t even thought of that. In fact I didn’t think that he or his sons would want anything to do with me. His oldest just sort of looked at me as if I were hiding something. The younger one was nice though….
“I know that I never played a big part in your life, and even though I can’t really change that. But I want you to—“
I hugged him before he could finish. Just the fact that he wanted me was enough. I could feel that he excepted me as his daughter.
Dad’s phone rang. “Hello?” There was a pause, then talking on the other line. “Yeah I found her. We’re at the bus station…. We’ll be out in a minute. Tell Sam to stop worrying.” He hung up. “You know, your brothers went nutts when you went missing. ‘Specially Dean.”
“Dean? But he didn’t seem the least bit interested in me…”
“He practically tore your mother’s house apart looking for you.”
~End Flash Back~
“After that, my dad and brothers trained me how to hunt evil creatures. Ghosts, demons, and many other things. But we still had our primary target.”
“The thing that killed Mary?” Jake asked
“Yeah. The ‘Thing’ is a bad ass mother f***er demon with yellow eyes named Azazel. Until recently, no hunter ever knew of a way to kill a demon, just send it back to hell. That is until…..”
“Until what?”
I explained to him about the cult and how important it was. That’s when I motioned to my scar. “Azazel gave me this because I wouldn’t give him the cult. But he did get it, along with my father’s soul…”
Jacob traced my scar again. I avoided eye contact. The fact that I had just told him my life story and didn’t seem to care, it was strange. A word rang in my head. Imprint
“You haven’t said anything.”
“What do you mean?”
“Normally, when someone finds out what my family does for a living, they kinda freak out. They can’t except the concept that there are demons out there.”
“Well, granted what I am, and with the leaches around…” His smile nearly took up his whole face, and was contagious, because one found its way onto my face. That’s when he started to move in.
‘Crap! I know where this is going. What do I—?’ My thoughts were cut off when his lips met mine.
~ Imprint~
I pulled away slowly. Jacob’s eyes were so intense that I nearly lost my train of thought. His forehead was pressed against mine. I don’t know how, but my fingers had intertwined with his.
“Jacob?”
~ Imprint~
“Andy?”
~ Imprint~
“What’s an Imprint?”
He broke eye contact. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He then pulled away from me. As he did so, something inside me felt a pull. As if there was in invisible cable that connected us. That if he moved away, it forced me to go with him.
“What do you know about the subject?” He asked. His back was turned to me, so I couldn’t see his face, but his voice was deathly calm.
I thought for a moment. “Just that I think I am one. But I— I’m not sure what that mean, if it’s a good thing or not. Just that people keep saying it around me.”
Jake whorled around. “Of course it’s not a bad thing!” His face softened. He took a breath before he continued speaking. “ But you may not like it.”
“I’ll try to understand it.”
He looked away again. “There is a concept, that some people don’t believe, that there is a person out there that is perfect for you. More commonly known as a soul mate. Well in our tribe, when someone who is a wolf see’s their soul mate, they instantly know it. Suddenly it isn’t gravity holding them to this world, it’s her. She’s his life, his reason for living. He becomes whatever she needs him to be. A boyfriend, best friend, a brother. We call this Imprinting.” He finished.
I was frozen. My eyes were now closed as I tried to proses what had just been said to me. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move. It was like my mind was on over drive but my body was being dragged down by chains .I wanted to jump up and call him crazy, run away, but I couldn’t move.
Suddenly, everything made sense. How when we first met, he went from anger to calm in no time flat. Why he kept staring at me as if I were his one and only. And why he was so protective over me.
“So I’m not just and Imprint… but— but I’m Your Imprint?” I heard the words come out of my mouth. But I didn’t feel my lips move. My eyes were still shut. I heard something in front of me and I opened my eyes to see Jake sitting in front of me.
This face, oh this face. He looked so vulnerable. Suddenly, I was reminded of all those families my brothers had saved, that had just grasped the concept that there are things out there. Things that can’t be explained. This was Jake’s face now. Was he trying to except something that he thought impossible?
He’d try to say something, think about it, close his mouth, and then try again. This went on for a minute when I decided to give him my answer to his unspoken question.
In one quick motion, I caught his lips with my own. I felt him relax under my touch as he returned my kiss. In this kiss full of relief and acceptance, I felt his smile on my lips. I pulled away again.
“But I’m okay with it.” I said as I smiled softly at him. Though the smile felt forge on my face. It was a smile that hadn’t appeared on my face since my mother was alive. But it felt good to smile like this again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Break~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We walked back to my car at the café. Jacob wanted to make sure I got home safe. Even though I could take care of myself, I didn’t mind him tagging along. It was nice to have some company again.
He told me about the members of his pack, and I told him about some of my hunting adventures. By the time we were done, we had arrived back at my home. I parked the car in the garage and we got out. I could hear the dogs barking.
“Do you want to come in?” I asked.
Jake smiled and reached his hand out for mine, I gladly took it.
We walked into my house and the dogs swarmed us. Lenni took one look at Jacob and I‘s intertwined fingers and turned his snout up. Kena and Alu just continued to sniff Jake’s feet.
“Jake, this is Alu and Kena, and the one over there giving us the cold shoulder is Lenni.”
Jacob smiled his big, goofy, contagious smile, and started petting the dogs. “Why three?”
“It’s a big house for one person.” I started. I took a deep breath. “Jake, do you know why the vampires are after me?”
“Jake’s head shoot up and looked at me cautiously. “We aren’t exactly sure. Do you know?”
I told him about the room with the telescope. How when I moved in it had been there, how every time I came home, and what it was pointed at. “But, I uh, have another theory. And it worries me.” I said as Jake and I sat on the couch.
“What is worrying you?”
I bit my lip. “Well, my other theory—“ I was interrupted by a sudden boom of thunder. It started to pour. We watched the rain pound against the glass. In the forest outside, I saw a flash of white. “– is that some of the vampires could be working for Azazel.”
Jacob wrapped his arms protectively around me. I couldn’t see his face, but I didn’t have to too know the emotion behind what he said next. “They will never touch you.”
I smiled to myself. If Dean and Sam saw me now, they would think I was possessed and would try to exercise me. I was never one for “Chick Flick Moments”.
But as I saw another blur of white, I frowned. I got up (taking Jacob with me) and walked over to the sliding glass doors. I pointed out the blurs to Jacob and he stiffened. “The Hoo-Doo bags I put up this morning is supposed to keep things that intend me harm out.” I explained. “It was tiresome coming home to vampires every day.”
“What are they doing?” He asked.
“My guess? Trying to find weak spots.” As those words came out of my mouth, three vampires came charging towards the house. I pulled my dagger out of my right boot as Jacob got in a protective animal like crouch in front of me. We held our breath as the started closing in. Then, something happened that made me smile with victory.
The vampires much like the demon that had tried chasing me across the border, bounded back like had just run into a wall. The bounced back at least twenty feet and back into the forest. Jacob stud up in surprise.
“Whoa.”
“I’m just glad it worked.”
We opened the sliding glass door and both headed outside. I could see the vampires running around the forest about fifteen feet away. I could sort of see the footsteps from this morning from when I had set the bags in place. Jake saw the dagger in my hand.
“where did that come from?”
I smiled sheepishly. “My boot…”
Jacob looked up and down as if to find any of my other hidden weapons. “Did you have that the whole time, and still you fought all those idiots bare handed?” I shrugged.
I followed my foot prints until they were about twenty feet away from the house. I stopped in my tracks, and stopped Jake as well. I shook my head. “This is as far at the spell goes.”
As soon as those words left my mouth, the two vampires that had tried to ram my house were now in front of us. Jake growled and got in front of me protectively. It was the same two vampires that had been with the blond one from yesterday….. or maybe two days ago…. They are just here so often I can’t keep track.
I smirked. “Hello boys, what’s the matter?”
The one on the left growled. “Why don’t you some out Andy? Come out and play.”
I went to take a step forward but Jacob wouldn’t let me. So instead I said “Not on your afterlife, Leech!” And with that I threw my dagger down on the spell line. The blade stabbed the ground. The hilt pointed to the sky as if it were a warning.
“That’s the boundary! Now tell me,” I demanded. “Who do you work for?! Is it Azazel?”
They looked confused for a second before one started to answer. “Who? We work for—“ Be for he could finish though, thundering footsteps were heard, and then four wolves charged into the clearing and chased off the two vampires. Except the black wolf that stayed behind to face Jacob and I. It was the same wolf from before. He stared down at the two of us.
Jacob seemed to know what the wolf wanted though. “She guessed Sam!” He glanced at our intertwined fingers. “ –And she knows about imprinting. She sort of figured that out too.”
‘Sam’ gave a small growl.
“Hey it’s the truth!” I defined
Sam looked at me regardingly before nodding at us. He gave Jacob a meaningful look.
Jake groaned. “Do I have to?” Sam gave Jake another look before Jake sunk hi shoulders. “Fine.”
Sam ran off in the same direction as the other wolves had. Jake gave a heavy sigh before leading me back to the house.
The second we got into the house, we heard ringing. Which confused the living daylights out of me because I don’t have a house phone, and my cell was in my pocket. I looked around for the source of the ringing. My eyes landed on my open laptop. The screen was blinking. My eyes widened.
“Jake hide!” I pushed Jacob out of view from the camera. Jacob, who was very confused, sat on the opposite couch as I pressed the ENTER key. Sammy and Dean’s images popped up on the screen. “Heh, hey guys.” I smiled. I tried to ignore the curious glances from Jacob and the suspicious ones from Sam and Dean.
Dean looked rather irked for some odd reason. “Andy, this is the third time we’ve called! Where were you?”
“Shesh Bro, calm down. I was outside with some….. friends.” I glanced at Jacob for half a second.
Sam looked nervous. “Are they still there?”
“No.” Lie.
“Good, because Sammy—“
“Sam -.-“
“— had a dream last night.”
My heart stopped. “One of…. Those dreams?” I asked.
Sammy looked nervous. “Maybe, do you know anyone with red eyes and pale skin?”
I tried to control my reaction. I could see Jacob stiffen. Instead of freaking out, I forced myself o laugh. “Uh-Haha- no. Are you sure it wasn’t just a dream Sammy?”
Dean and Sam didn’t look all to convinced. “Andy, you wouldn’t normally laugh at something like this. We could be talking about demons here!”
“Dean calm down. I know people at school who wear red contacts. And everyone here is pale.”
“And here is?”
“Dean, every time you ask that, every time I’ll give you the same answer. I tell you were I am, and you’ll come and take me away. Don’t deny it.” Jake froze. I guess the thought of my brothers taking me away worried him.
I changed the subject. “So how was your last hunt?”
Sam and Dean looked at each other. Sam finally spoke. “We uh, ran into a coven of vegetarian vampires….”
This time I froze. ‘Did they run into the Cullen’s? WERE THEY HERE IN FORKS?”
I got my barrings back before addressing them. “Vegetarian? That’s not possible is it? What have they been drinking instead?”
“Cow blood apparently.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. The Cullen’s mostly hunted deer, bears, and mountain lions. “So uh, how’d the hut go?”
“We let them go.”
. . .
. . .
“YOU WHAT?! Mr. ‘There are no shades of gray in this job’? Sure I can see Sammy letting them go,” Sam glared. “No offence Sam. But you actually let them go without a fight?” Sure, I believed in shades of gray in this job. Jacob, the pack, and the Cullens were proof of that. But Dean is…… well, Dean.
Dean looked mad and confused. “Believe me, every fiber in my body told me to kill them, but we had someone else to deal with. Another hunter was on the job with us. He kidnapped one of the vampires and tried to make her drink Sam’s blood to prove to us that they were still dangerous. The dude was crazy. Killed his own sister after she had been turned into a vampire.”
“*gulp*. Wow, talk about heartless.” I looked at the time. “well, I’m going to let you guys go. Don’t be reckless.
“Dean smirked. “It’s as if you don’t know us at all.”
I smiled before closing my laptop. The second it was closed, my smile disappeared and I put my head in my hands. I felt a hand on my shoulder two seconds later.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t know how they would react if they had saw you.”
“I understand.”
“So what did uh, Sam tell you.”
Jacob groaned. “He wants you to come over tonight and meet the pack.”
My head shot up and I smiled. “Sounds like fun. You wanna head over now?”
~3rd Person~
Sam was going through newspapers, looking for a new hunt. While Dean was drinking a beer and cleaning his gun.
“Anything Sam?”
Sam looked up from his newspaper. “Well, there are a lot of disappearances in Seattle Washington.”
“How many.”
“Atleast twenty people have gone missing or have been killed. Police have no leads.” Sam explained. “And what bodies they do find, look like they’ve been torn apart by animals.”
Dean smirked. “Looks like we’re going to Washington.”