2000 fans mark* (2016 note: holy moly a lot has changed.)
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"Evie, give me your phone you've been on it all morning."
I sent Chelsea a frown. "I'm trying to get hold of Michael."
"You've been trying all morning." She filled her mouth with already made salad sold in the mess hall. Amy was still smiling from this morning so she didn't bother involving herself with this conversation. "Come on, try in the evening. Give me the phone."
I held the phone to my chest as if it were my baby. "No."
"Give it to me, Evie." She reached for it. "I'll give it back to you later."
I looked down at the phone with a sigh. All morning I'd been trying to get hold of Michael. Katherine said he was still sleeping and she even sent me a cute picture of it. I couldn't disturb him, he looked so tired. I'd have to tell him about Tate later on. It's been an eventful morning what with that spectacular prank from Amy and John's constant questioning. But the skiing this morning has helped me keep my mind busy.
"Set for later?" Chelsea asked after tucking my phone into her pocket.
I raised a brow in question.
"The race?" She smiled.
"Oh, come on you weren't being serious were you?" Amy asked after she dropped her crusts on the plate. "Where are you going to do it anyway?"
"The slopes in the evening of course. They won't be as packed and we can go a bit higher, didn't I already explain this?"
I shook my head. "Not really."
"I don't want to go too high, Chels. I don't want to cripple myself from a cliff jump, do you?"
"Of course not. And we won't because we won't be going extremely high you lemon." She giggled. "We'll take one of those bigger snowmobiles up. I was talking to this guy that works here and-"
"You managed to get him to agree to let us use one." Amy finished for her. "Of course you did."
"Be quiet, I am not that predictable."
"Yes you are."
"You know, technically, I'm still not talking to you from this morning."
"Come on, Chels, stop being a child."
"What you did was mean!"
"If you were hung over, it would have been ten times worse."
"Girls." I laughed. "Seriously, be quiet."
Amy fixed her glasses on her nose and winked. "Chels is just sad she couldn't get the cream out of her hair this morning."
"Amy-!"
"After the third scrub to the scalp, it just wasn't working," Amy carried on. "That poor blonde head of hair of yours." She patted her head and ducked when Chelsea aimed to hit her.
"I don't know how I ever managed to put up with you two." I chuckled.
**
Amy and I weren't exactly paying attention to the ride up the mountain that evening at seven o'clock. Although, I wish we were. I hadn't even realised we'd been riding straight up and past the lights for twenty minutes. I swung myself off the snowmobile after it stopped and dropped to sit on the fresh snow.
"We aren't supposed to be this high..." Amy mumbled as she swung off herself. "This is unmarked snow."
"Amy's right." I sighed.
Chelsea grimaced and I could truly see she didn't mean to drive us this high. "Okay, I miscalculated the ride up here. You want to ride back down? Or race down?"
I looked down the darkened slopes and the small bundle of lights that signalled the lodge and the lights around the marked slopes. Chelsea really did miscalculate the distance.
"Amy, ride back down just in case."
"Just in case what?!" Both Amy and I said but in slightly different words.
Chelsea shrugged and moved her goggles over her eyes. "Something happens."
"I'm not doing this if it risks death, Chels. There are trees and cliffs and..." I exhaled sharply. "I've done jumps but come on."
"Let the adrenaline pump through your veins, Eve. This is our last night here. I know this is stupid even for me, but I'm not coming skiing again any time soon."
If Michael knew I was here he'd murder me... The sky was getting darker. Even the ride back down on the snowmobile would be horrible.
I groaned. "Chelsea, I hate you."
"Yes!" She cheered and grabbed her board off the back. "Amy go down."
"Evie, are you seriously considering this?" She asked incredulously. "We know Chelsea's a moron but-"
"I know, but," I clipped my skis on tighter and stood. "You only live once."
She gave me a small smile but sighed. "Beat Chelsea so she can sulk all evening please." Chelsea hit her arm before handing her my phone, which she'd kept in her pocket all day and her own phone.
I nodded with a wink and watched as she rode down the large hill. If Chelsea or I didn't die, then I was going to kill her. My heart was pounding through my ears so loudly I barely heard her say, "...wind is picking up a bit."
"Oh. Great." I shuddered slightly at the sharp breeze. "So what. Three, two, one, go?"
She nodded with a smirk but it faltered. What has she gotten us into?
"Ready?" I asked a little shakily.
"Yes. What about you, Red?"
"Ready." Like hell I was.
"Three," She started preparing herself.
Oh Jesus. What if one of us got hurt? What if she hurt herself? With if I hurt myself? What if we got in trouble when we got down there?
"Two,"
I don't even know if Amy got down there in one piece. What if we got down there and Amy wasn't there yet? What if she got into trouble.
"One."
Awh, hell.
"Go!"
We launched ourselves into the fresh snow smoothly. I used the zig-zag technique I remembered from Austria and then bent my poles into myself to gain speed. Chels was next to me trying to gain speed too. I turned swiftly away from a huge jump to a smaller one; something Pam taught me. Sharp turns. I glanced at Chels to make sure she was okay. She was still going.
Slightly ahead actually. She flashed a smile my way and, with a cocky wave, moved further away and jumped from a higher dive. I growled and started gaining more speed. My legs shook all of a sudden when my skis accidentally caught on something hard. I used my sticks to balance out but regained posture and carried on.
I was head to head with Chels again. I watched her effortlessly slide down the snow.
Of course, I should have been watching myself.
I heard her scream. But it was a scream for me to look. It echoed off the mountains and there was a sudden clap that went along with it that caused the ground to vibrate.
I snapped my attention ahead of me and didn't even realise the large jump that had appeared in front of me. Very large. I tried to stop but it was too late.
My body soared off the edge quickly. I didn't scream like most did in movies. That required effort of the lungs. And the air was being pushed out of them. My eyes widened and closed at the distance from the ground as I fell.
If I didn't die immediately, then I'd break my head open. If that didn't kill me, the broken spine would. If that didn't then the heart attack I was having right now fucking would.
As I neared the ground, that's when I screamed bloody murder.
Because something broke my fall.
And it was rolling with me. Painfully so. It was like I'd landed directly into a brick wall. My ski's were still on and were now half broken but I'd dropped my sticks.
The ice sliced at my face as I rolled over, and over, and over, and over again. Then I screamed out as my wrist bent in a way it wasn't supposed to be bent.
I could feel my vision blurring. My stomach was churning as I rolled.
Then I stopped. It was so sudden. So abrupt that my body ached from it.
I must have blacked out for a second because I was being picked up... My feet were free of all restrictions and the helmet was ripped from my head forcefully. Someone must have...
Something was... Carrying me... I was in the snow again. And there was... Shouting... I didn't have time to comprehend what - it was a mans voice - was being said because he'd grabbed my arm and yanked me up. He pulled me into a forest...? I blinked several times. Yeah. A forest.
He pulled me up against a tree, pulled me into his chest and pressed my entire body to the tree. His hands moved beside my head and pressed against the thick tree trunk. My body was beginning to fail me but one of his arms wrapped around my waist to hold me up.
The force of something big and hard hit the tree. My inattentive eyes strayed to the sides and noticed the over sized piles of snow landing beside us on both sides of the tree. The tree cracked loudly and I understood now that the man was holding the tree up.
I looked up into his face finally regaining my sight and wasn't surprised to find him here. His face was straining, his blonde hair draped over his forehead and shuddered from the gusts of wind. His eyes were squeezed shut and his jaw was clenched so tight, he'd surely crack a tooth.
The air became extremely still and he slowly slid his hand off the tree. It cracked as he balanced it but thankfully stayed up. His grey eyes shone toward me worriedly.
Chelsea's scream had caused a small avalanche. It must have been freaking loud and sharp if it did. And didn't resorts like these have some fort of avalanche control or something? We must be pretty high...
"Evie?" He released his arms from around me but placed his hands on my forearms. "Are you okay? How's your head? Your chin?"
I was suddenly aware of the pain on my forehead and touched it. No blood, just a massive bruise. Along with the rest of my entire body. I touched my chin and flinched. Ow. That hurt.
"The top layer of skin's been ripped off by the ice." He said.
I looked at my finger tips. Blood. It was only a square but it still stung. I glanced up into his face but was surprised to see that he wasn't concentrating on that. But then I noticed the stillness of his body.
He wasn't breathing. And he's probably used up most of his breath on those sentences.
I put my hands on my knees and bent my body forward to breathe heavily. My mind was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. If Tate wasn't there... I wouldn't...
I felt sick. My face was burning, my wrist was protesting as I put all of my weight on my knees. My head was pounding hard probably from the amount of times it smashed into the ice. I glanced up and croaked out, "I'll be fine. Just bruises and scrapes." I lied. "You shouldn't be around me."
He glanced around the tree briefly and held his hand out to me. I took it without a hint of hesitation and let him lead me down the hill. My legs were still jelly so my body wasn't cooperating. He slowed a little and stepped beside me to slide his arm under my shoulders.
"Where's Chelsea?" I breathed out. "Is she okay? Is she...?"
"Your friend is fine. She got just beyond half way before the avalanche hit." Now he'd run out of breath.
I lightly turned my whiplashed neck toward him and mumbled, "Breathe."
His nose flared briefly before he glanced at me. He inhaled sharply and exhaled. His arm tightened only briefly and his nose wrinkled.
"What are you doing up here, Tate?" I stumbled over my feet a little and pulled for him to stop so I could unclip my broken skis. My stomach rolled again. I dropped into the snow and put my head in between my legs to take deep breaths. When I looked up, there was a frown on his face.
I suppose I should have started with a thank you.
"I'd been hunting. I was crossing the unmarked snow, might I add, when I saw you and your two friends on the hill. Trouble was all I smelt surprisingly." He said sarcastically. "So I stayed, waited to see how it played out and here we are." Tate's grey eyes were burning with disappointment and slight anger. "Your friend was stupid for going that high."
"I know. But that's just the way Chelsea works. Take me down, I need to know she's okay." Although my burning body and pained limbs were protesting the request.
He helped me up with little effort and led me down in silence. We'd entered a small wooded area when flashing lights came into view and Tate halted. There were crowds, lodge staff, Pam's worried face dancing from face to face as she talked on the phone, and then Amy's face. Amy was talking to an authority figure with a calm demeanour but I knew her better. She was cracking her knuckles. Nervous. I couldn't see her eyes but her cheeks were glistening with tears.
I leaned around the tree supporting my weight and sighed with relief when I saw Chelsea sitting on the steps to the back entrance of the lodge being checked out reluctantly it seemed. Her eyes were also touching everyone's faces. She must have fallen as well because when she lifted her hands to show the EMT, they looked like they'd been rubbed with sand paper.
"Stumble out of these trees and you'll be fine. Right now, they're about ready to call a search party for you. And that blonde vampire? She's called your vampires friend, Jonathan. Your vampire is on his way as we speak so that's my cue to leave." He slowly let go of me and there was a sense of reluctance in his eyes that faded quickly. "Will you be okay?"
I nodded but regretted it. His eyes zeroed in on my chin briefly before he shook his own head and went to leave. But I grabbed his jacketed arm and yanked him back.
I looked him directly in the eye when I said, "Thank you."
He nodded once and went to leave but I held on tighter. "No, Tate. Thank you. It was pure chance. I wouldn't have lived through that. Honestly, my luck is abysmal. So you saving my life is a sign that maybe my damned luck is changing. So please, remember how much I thank you right now. Because I owe you."
"You owe me nothing." He said whilst staring at the ground. "And you're welcome."
He went to leave again but I squeezed. "No matter what happens," I lifted my hurt wrist and lightly touched his cheek. His jaw clenched underneath my hand and he blinked. "I trust you. And I trust that whatever you do is because you're being told to do it. You are my friend. And nothing will change that."
He shut his eyes briefly and stood there completely still. I let to go of his arm and cheek after a silent moment between us and watched him turn away and disappear into the shadows.
I turned my gaze back to the havoc in front of me. I emerged from the trees and couldn't focus on the people blurring past me, toward me and around me.
Now that Tate had gone, the pain had caught up with me. I was led to the back of the ambulance. They checked if I had a concussion, checked my face, and cleaned my chin which stung like a bitch, dressed it in gauze that required tape to keep it in place.
The young EMT gave me a cute smile as he said, "Hard fall?"
I sighed. "You could say that."
He picked up my injured hand so lightly I barely even noticed until he said, "I'm going to need you to tell me if it hurts when I press on your wrist." He turned my wrist over palms facing up and barely even skimmed his finger over the inside of my wrist before I cried out quietly in pain. He kept hold of my wrist as he picked up a sling and asked me to curl my arm into my chest. "You're going to need an X-Ray. Do you need us to contact your parents Ms...?"
"O'Shea. And yes please, I left my phone with my friend."
The door to the ambulance opened and Pam popped her head in. She smiled sadly. "How's it looking?"
The EMT strapped my arm to my chest tightly to make sure I didn't move it. "Not too good." I answered. "Possible broken wrist, possible concussion, a bleeding chin and my body is killing me."
Pam cringed. "Ouch. You got out alive I suppose that-" Her nose flared all of a sudden and she tilted her head curiously. "What-?"
"Evie?" Chelsea popped her head in. "Are you okay?"
I sent Pam a knowing look before turning to Chelsea. "I'm okay."
The guilt on her face was hard to mistake. I asked the EMT if I could get some fresh air and he reluctantly agreed and said ten minutes. Pam helped me out of the ambulance effortlessly and her nose flared again.
She opened her mouth but before she could say what she wanted to say, Chelsea stepped toward me. "I am so, so sorry. I-"
"It's fine Chels. As long as we're all okay, which we are. And plus we both agreed to it."
Her eyes turned glassy as she stared at my arm. "But..."
I let go of Pam's hand to hold Chelsea's wrist. I looked down at her bandaged palms and frowned. "Chels, I love you to pieces and you know that. We've gotten ourselves into worse situations. Remember two years ago at Brian Martin's birthday party we ended up going to the hospital because we managed to blow up an aerosol can when we strapped the lighter to it?"
Pamela snorted beside us and I lifted my heavy foot to kick her shin discreetly. She chuckled before walking away to talk to one of the rangers.
"I strapped the lighter to the can, Evie. And yes I remember. We were stupid." She muttered.
"It was fun." I tried squeezed her wrist.
"We almost burnt our faces off." Chelsea said sceptically.
"But we didn't. And we laughed our heads off in the emergency room."
"We were intoxicated." She added. "Of course we laughed."
"You're getting too old and somewhat responsible. You won the race, Chelsea. We should have made a bet." Chelsea was beginning to smile. "See? There's that smile."
Amy popped up beside us with a frantic look to her eyes. "You," She snarled as she pointed at both of us. "You both almost gave me a freaking heart attack." She wrapped an arm under my shoulders when I started to sway. "And you, Evangeline, if you didn't die, I'd kill you myself."
I smiled sheepishly. "Oh, ha... Well-"
"I don't think Amy will be the one doing the killing anyway." Chelsea's eyes had strayed off to the crowd.
"Why?" I followed her gaze and breathed out heavily. "Oh."
The girls slowly moved away after wishing me good luck. Before I could even blink back toward the direction he was coming in, I was swept into a familiar warm embrace. Seeing him after four days, standing here in his arms, letting myself forget about what was around me and concentrating on only him, had me relaxing and wishing that this could last forever.
But of course, that wouldn't happen.
Michael cupped my cheeks in his hands and stared deeply into my eyes. His green orbs were like hardened crystals now. He was furious. His nose were flaring just like Pam's was and I finally understood why.
Tate's scent was on me.
Could I not catch a break? Am I not allowed to at least try and be the good girlfriend and tell Michael before something like this happened? What's funny is that I actually was going to tell Michael about Tate being at the lodge last night. And now he's going to think... Hell, I don't even know what he's going to think.
Before I could comment or even begin to explain what had happened, someone tapped my shoulder lightly. I turned my head out of his hands to gaze at the EMT.
"We have to take you to the hospital now. Will anyone be joining?"
Pam appeared at the corner of my eye. She glanced at Michael briefly before looking at me. "I'll take the girls back to the lodge."
I nodded in agreement and watched her walk to the girls. Michael let me go off into the ambulance although his eyes said it all. He didn't need to voice what his eyes were saying:
'You have a shit load of explaining to do.'
***
The ride back to the lodge was torture. Rolling in the snow wasn't as bad as this. It's almost twelve-thirty now, we'd been in the hospital for over three and a half hours. It's funny. This is the only unvampire related incident to happen. I mean, this is literally the only incident I've been involved in that has nothing to do with vampires and I still managed to get extremely hurt.
Maybe I'm just cursed forever.
My wrist wasn't broken thankfully. A grade two sprain or whatever. They wrapped a splint around my wrist and hand to stop me from moving it. They recommended me to ice it for ten-twenty minutes every so many hours for the next two days. It'd already swollen up; it just looked like it'd been blown up with a pump. They gave me a bag filled with prescribed pain killers for my body and hand. From the drop into the ground, I'd managed to bruise the right side of my ribs, my left and right thighs, and get a little bit of whiplash. My parents were called at the hospital and they'd pick the girls and me up tomorrow morning. And I refused to tell them what kind of state I was in. They already had one child in hospital, I didn't need my mother having an aneurism because her other child was.
So basically, I feel like shit. I'll be in bed for a week tops. Now that Michael's blood is practically out of my system, I'll be healing normally now.
Michael stopped the car in front of the lodge. I glanced at him briefly before carefully getting out of the car trying my hardest not to grunt or cringe at the pain soaring through my muscles. Michael was at my side in a heartbeat helping me inside. The kind woman at the desk gave me a sad smile. "I've been waiting for you to come through. The blonde woman, Pamela, told me to tell you the girls got settled in alright. She left a key here for you as well." She held it out to us and Michael took it.
"Thank you," I smiled at her politely.
"I'll have breakfast sent up tomorrow morning for you girls." Her smile outlined the ageing lines on her eyes and cheeks.
"Okay. Thank you again."
Michael slid a hand over my hip and pulled me against his side. He smiled tightly at the woman and started leading me toward the stairs although he didn't know where he was going himself. I managed to lead him up to the second floor to the room. I opened the door and quietly walked in. The living room was occupied by both Amy and Chelsea leaving the bedroom empty. The girls were asleep on the pull out bed.
I turned to Michael still standing in the doorway and mumbled for him to come in. We entered the bedroom together silently, the tense atmosphere becoming thicker as I shut the door. I pressed my hand to the switch on the wall to turn the light on. Michael kicked off his shoes and shrugged off his jacket.
"Michael-" I started.
"I don't want to hear any-"
"No, I think you do. Last night, Tate came here-"
"Tate?" He interrupted incredulously. "Is that his name?" Michael scoffed. "Prick." He mumbled under his breath.
I was surprised at his choice word and glared at him. "Stop being wicked and listen to me. He came to the lodge last night. John told me this morning you followed him here and he was. He came in. Told me he no longer has to watch me."
"You invited him in." Michael seemed to have ignored everything else I'd said and focused on the fact that I'd invited him in. He scrubbed his hands through his hair. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Believe me, I tried. I called your phone but it was off. John called me and told me you were asleep. I called Kate but she said you were still sleeping, plus she sent me an adorable photo of you which I'll show you later," I sat down at the edge of the bed. "So I went out with the girls and promised to try call you again later."
"What about how you survived that jump?"
"He was hunting nearby."
"And you're sure that is the truth."
"Yes."
"Because you trust him."
I nodded slowly.
"Why do you trust him?" He seemed truly curious.
"Because..." I paused and sighed. Why did I trust him? The few choice words in my head didn't seem like a fitting answer for Michael.
"Tell me why." He pressed.
"Because- because he is a frightened human under all of that hard exterior." I matched his tone. "He is scared just like-"
There was a quiet rasp on the door. The door opened a little and Amy popped her tired head in. She blinked against the light and said, "Is everything okay?" She croaked.
"Everything's fine." I whispered. "Go back to sleep, we'll talk in the morning."
She nodded sleepily and smiled at us before walking back out closing the door behind her.
He sighed tiredly and dropped into the seat only for a second before he jumped back up to sit beside me. "Although I still haven't had the... Pleasure..." His jaw clenched at the word. "Of meeting this man, I owe him for saving you. For that I am grateful." He took my good hand in his. "When John told me you had an accident I imagined the worst."
"Of course you did."
"Come now, Evie. If I hear you've gotten into a skiing accident, obviously I was going to imagine the worst." He shifted forward and skimmed a thumb over my cheek. I shut my eyes at his tingling touch. "I was unbelievably worried."
"I'm alive." I blinked one eye open. "But I'm in a hell of a lot of pain."
"Take the pain killers before going to sleep. They'll help you get through the night."
"Will you stay?" I asked quietly.
He smiled and pressed his lips to mine. The kiss started out as soft pecks before he lightly skimmed his tongue across my bottom lip to deepen the kiss. I allowed our mouths to move in sync and sighed quietly at the slowly satisfying craving I didn't even realise I'd accustomed since being away from him. Michael was a drug I knew I wouldn't be able to give up. Not for a very, very, very long time.
He pecked my lips one last time before he mumbled the words, "Of course."
Michael helped me undress and dress into my pyjama bottoms and top. Although his wandering hands and careful caresses to my bruised body made the process slower, I thanked him nonetheless.
After brushing my teeth, ignoring the mirror afraid of what I'd see, and taking the few pills to help dull the pain, I slipped under the cool sheets and snuggled up to Michael's side. He had kicked off his shoes and his black t-shirt leaving him in a pair of jeans.
"Mike, I am sorry I didn't tell you this morning..."
"I have been sleeping a lot. I'm stressed about not finding this..." He shifted beside me so my head rested on his should and his hand was rested on my hip. "So I'm not holding it against you at all. Not even a little bit."
I shut my eyes after moving to rest my sensitive head on his chest. I was so tired and drained a bear in hibernation could even compare to me.
I was glad Michael was here with me. I was glad he was here to have a meaningless conversation with me. I was more than glad to have his finger tips drawing unintelligible shapes on the bare skin uncovered by my pyjama top on my hip.
I showed him the picture Katherine sent me and couldn't even attempt to put up a fight to stop him from deleting it. I glowered at him playfully and rested my bad hand on his stomach. "I was going to frame that."
"What's the point when you have the real thing?" His eyes were closed as he said this.
"A picture lasts forever."
That made him smile. "And I don't?"
"Hmm..." I pressed a soft kiss to his jaw and continued down his neck to the little spot between his collar bone and shoulder where he tensed. "You may have a point."
***
"Mom, calm down." I glanced around at the lingering gazes and turned back to my hysterical mother. "It's only a few scrapes and-"
"What a load of crap." She cursed.
I rolled my eyes and watched her bury her head into my father's shoulder. Michael left before I woke up this morning, leaving me a note of things I already knew I had to do and a promise to come over later. After looking in the mirror this morning and seeing the purple and blue bruise on the right hand side starting half way down my forehead, I thought disguising the bruises would be easy. What an understatement. My ribs were also purple and blue and thankfully, my thighs weren't discoloured at all.
How lucky am I?
"You're as beaten up as a dropped peach." She sniffed unattractively. Amy winked at me as she passed us with the remaining bags. "Why didn't you tell us you were this bad?"
"Because I didn't want to worry you or make a scene like you are now." I whispered harshly. "I'll have the splint off in a few weeks."
"Oh, Evangeline, what if something worse happened? What if you broke bones? Or died?"
"But I didn't." I sighed and begged my dad to calm her down with my eyes.
He cleared his throat and turned to her with a reassuring look although I could see the conflict in his own eyes. "Come on, let's get them home. Evie's fine."
She hit her hand to his stomach and he flinched. "Don't you care she could have gotten seriously hurt?"
"Of course I do. But she's asking us as her parents to trust her when she says that she's okay." He pressed a delicate kiss to her temple and I smiled at the sight. My mother's cheeks turned a slight pink and her lips twitched up into a smile. It always made me smile that my mother and fathers relationship was as close as it was. Her smiles were as if she was hiding a secret and his eyes were as if she'd just walked into his life. Its one of the things I wished I had when I got in a serious relationship once I got older. But I don't wish it anymore. Because when I'm with Michael, it was exactly what I'd wished for.
"Okay." She sighed and my father rubbed her arm. "We'll check you girls out; get yourself in the car before you hurt yourself anymore."
"Funny." I smirked at her and waddled slowly exit after thanking the lovely woman that owned the lodge. Chelsea met me outside and took my hand despite the fact they were covered in bandages to help me to the car.
"How'd it go?" She asked.
"Well, she stopped crying." I grinned. "Now it's trying to get her to let me leave the house."
She squeezed my hand only a little. "Sneak out."
"You never stop do you?" I laughed.
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