Jane's POV
I never felt like a truly had a home. Even as a human, my family moved around so much that I never even bothered unpacking my bags. I could still vividly remember the day my mother told me we were moving to America. Granted, I was furious. Moving throughout Europe had been enough but how to a completely different hemisphere?
When I first arrived in the states--a little town in Florida right beside the beach, too sunny and warm for my taste--I kept my suitcase packed just in case Mother changed her mind again. But she didn't. And a year passed, so I unpacked my things and accepted the fact that we were bound to stay.
A week later, I changed.
So the place I almost called home became dangerous and a stranger's territory. I ran from it only taking the things I could grab in a minute's time. A family picture when we went to Disney World our first week in Florida. The old jewelry box my grandmother gave me on my thirteenth birthday. My beaten stuff-rabbit toy I had since I was a baby. A single blue thread from a woolen blanket. Only the sentimental things. Only the things I considered my own. They were my definition of home.
Pulling up to the familiar antebellum home with the lights dimmed inside and the porch swing rocking the wind, set a feeling in my stomach. Never had I really thought about the fact that Jacqueline and Bernard's house was my home. It was the place where I could be myself, where the people I cared for sat beside me, full of laughter and love and hurt and anger.
Val was the first one to say anything as we stepped out of the car. "My God. It's beautiful. To think something this exquisite is hidden from the world."
Victor sidled around beside me. "You don't expect us to live in some second story apartment on Main Street, do you? We have to keep the history alive seeing as we're walking artifacts ourselves."
Luke leaned over to me. "You know, I don't think I've ever really seen it from the outside. When I came, I was under compulsion. When I left, you sort of knocked me out."
"Yes, sorry about that," I told him.
"How long have you lived here?" he asked me. "I know at some point you were somewhere else--when you met Derek. And you changed in the eighties, so that would mean..."
"Eight years," I said. "I met Derek around...2001, perhaps? So, yes, I started living year in 2004. After things went down with him, I traveled around for while trying to find my place. And then I discovered Bernard and Jacqueline. I met them at a charity event a town away. I only got in because I compelled the owner. They immediately recognized what I was and invited me to stay with them. I haven't turned back since."
Luke nodded. "So you were the last one to join? Before Ava, I guess."
"Yes, Victor was the first member of our little clan when he met Bernard during the Civil War. William came just a bit later. Angelina arrived around the thirties or so, I believe. But it wasn't like I was a Newborn or anything." I shrugged. "I always felt out of place. Bernard and Jacqueline had each other--they were smart and kind, and together they were almost something from a fairytale. Victor and Angelina were gross--always around each other laughing and pecking each other on the cheek. And William was the broody one in the corner making remarks whenever he saw fit. You see, I didn't have bond. Whoever changed me didn't have the connection. Neither did William. For a few months, I guess I thought that maybe we could make things easy and just get together. But alas, life doesn't work that way. It's never easy.
"Mine and William's relationship has always been tough. We've never seen eye-to-eye on anything. But Jacqueline always talked about how we must've been from the same far off planet. She mentioned that we were a lot more alike than we ever imagined. Both with troubled past, searching for a better future. Both having almost given up. But we were different. William enjoyed being a vampire, he said it was what made him. I couldn't have agreed less. Becoming a vampire is what ruined my life. I was almost...happy. Then I walk down that alleyway and bam! My whole life is changed."
Every other day I realized the life I was leading now wasn't a dream. Sometimes I sat alone and relived the last few days of my human life. A girl so naive, so stupid to believe there could possibly be good in the world. To believe in happiness. To believe in hope.
"Ever since I changed, I felt lost," I said in a quiet voice. "Everything I thought I knew changed in the blink of an eye. You know, I never went back to my family. I just left. They probably thought I died. I used to think about finding them all the time, but then I realized," I shook my head, "I realized that I wasn't a person anymore. I'm not human. I don't age. They would know something was wrong with me."
His eyebrows came inward over the baby blue eyes. "So you haven't seen your family in over twenty years?"
"Being here with Bernard and Jacqueline and the others...this almost feels like home." I looked up at the monstrous house before us. "I didn't realize how much I missed it until now."
"So I guess we better protect it," Derek interrupted walking over. "You all head inside. Val, stay out here and watch my back, if you don't mind. We need to make sure this house and the land surrounding it is a Hunter-free zone. Well, except for us, of course."
I rolled my eyes as everyone else walked up the front porch steps to Jacqueline's welcoming arms. "Oh, Derek. I believe your arrogance hasn't depleted even slightest bit. It's been almost ten years now and you still manage to make my hair curl."
"Yes, of course." He smirked over at me. "I live to get Jane Parker's knickers all in a bunch. You better watch out, Luke. She'll take your heart and stomp on it ten times before placing it back in your head."
"My head?" Luke asked, confused and his eyebrows raised.
"Let's just go inside," I suggested, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him along. "Derek's not a pleasant personality. Don't listen to him. All you have to do is trust him with your life. That's the only promise he's able to keep."
"What exactly happened between you two? I mean, the way you act around each other. I get that you were in a...well, whatever. How did things end to make you two so..."
I sighed. If there was ever a story I hated telling it was mine and Derek's. What a twisted tale with the most unlikely ended.
"Story short, we broke a million rules and then each other's hearts. Not sure if whatever we felt towards each other was ever true. Maybe it was just both of our ways of making it. Two sad people living two very sad lives. The only thing we had was each other's sorrows to grovel in."
Luke kept a silent composure as we walked into the house and were immediately greeted by Jacqueline and Bernard. Bernard quickly waved and smile before exiting the house to Derek and Val. Jacqueline embraced me as if I were own. Something that made my heart flutter and my stomach drop.
I smelled her hair, the scent of vanilla and jasmine oddly combine to something wonderful. For a minute, I imagined it was my mother in front of me with her arms wrapped around my shoulders as I walked into our house for the first time in twenty-eight years.
Jacqueline stepped back with a more serious look on her face forcing me out of my imagination. "What did you think you were doing? Running off like that with the boy!" She stepped over to Luke taking his hands graciously. "I am so sorry for anything Jane or the others might have done. I promise that your presence here will be as fair and sane as you'd like."
Luke glanced over at me. "Thank you, but I'm fine. Jane didn't do anything to me. Except, well knock me out. Then she left me locked up in a car while she got herself locked up. But other than that, I'm cool. We're cool."
"Good to know," Jacqueline said assessing us. A light, sly smile crossed her lips as she noticed something between Luke and me. There was nothing, I reminded myself.
"You go on," I told him. "I'm sure your hungry. The kitchen's to your left."
"Eat those Poptarts, please!" Angelina shouted from the couch.
Jacqueline turned to me, her blonde eyebrows up and curious. "Jane?"
I shook my head. "It's nothing. He's just a silly human boy."
"Who you like." She placed her hand on my shoulder. "Jane, you do understand that after all of this is over, Luke is going back to his home. He has to have a life. He has to live. Taking him without letting him forget about our world was a mistake, Jane. This is dangerous. Him being here is a risk to his life. Him knowing is."
"But he's different," I insisted, my stomach all in knots. "You should hear him. He doesn't care, and it's like he understands. He chose to come with us to get Ava. He wouldn't have it any other way. I just wanted him to have a choice. I didn't want to take his memories."
"Memories of you, perhaps?"
I licked my lips, my chest building up with a strange anger. "Nothing happened between us, Jacqueline. And nothing is going to. I know how it is. I'm a vampire and he's human. And he's in love with someone else. I'd be stupid to believe knowing a boy for a few days could work any sort of magic."
Jacqueline nodded shortly, arms crossed, but an odd expression remained on her face. "Yes, you would be."
Just then a string of yelling came from outside. Jacqueline and I quickly ran out the front door to see what was going on. Standing in the middle of the front lawn were Val and Bernard, faces donned with fury. Derek watched on with raised eyebrows like he was just enjoying the show.
"What is the meaning to all of this?" Jacqueline asked, breaking Val and Bernard from their little spat. "There is a war going on here!"
Val was practically fuming. Funny how in the past couple of days, every blonde in our little party managed to almost rip someone's throat out. Her reason for fighting with Bernard was curious though.
Bernard shook his head and breathed deeply. "Pardon us. Valerie Sumner seems to believe I'm not on our side. She thinks I'm a traitor."