A/N: hey you guys! Thank for reading chapter 1! I hope you liked it. Anyway, here's chapter 2 for your reading pleasure!
So, you know the drill; read, vote and comment!
>> The picture on the right is how Castella looks. Try iamgining her with Black hair and blue eyes and you got Castella! >>
---------- Chapter 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Castella...what a beautiful name! I mean seriously, Castella is an amazing name! Hmm, that's a kind of Japanese cake, right? Exotic!
"Earth to Henry Black! Come in, Henry Black!" Bella's voice chimes somewhere far away, I'm not even sure I hear her...
"Why don't you go hang out with Alice, Bella? I want to speak to Henry for a moment," Edward's silky voice seems much closer to me, but again, I really think it's a figment of my imagination. Until the car lurches from under me and I snap back to reality. Edward and I are the only ones in the car.
"What's up, Edward?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing, Henry. Who is Castella?"
Right. Sucks to have a grandfather that can read your every thought. Sucks more to have a grandfather who's basically my age and better looking than me!
"She's just someone I met at school...no big deal, right?"
"I'm not sure about that," Edward mutters under his breath, obviously not intending for me to hear it. Guess that the downside of having a family of vampires/shape shifters/hybrids; they hear everything!
Edward pulls up in the garage and I nonchalantly walk out. I try my best to get up the stairs without anyone noticing, but I'm stopped by a "Henry Charlie Black, come back down here!"Damn! So close!
I stalk back down the stairs and head to the kitchen, where mum and dad are snacking on a bowl of fruits, "Yes, mum?"
"Are you okay, hun? You were all doom and gloom in school today."
"Gee, you think?! Hmm, maybe it's because this is my third time in high school? No, maybe that's not it...maybe it's because I know more than my teachers?!"
"Don't be snotty with your mum, Henry," dad says lazily from mum's other side. Mum, on the other hand, looks livid. And even though I'm easily a foot taller than her, I still cringe a little. Before I know it, Edward is in the room, holding mum down in her chair. Then Jasper appears and the irritation, anger and fear drain out of me, replaced by a sort of lethargy.
Alice dances into the room, takes my hand and leads me up to her room, where Bella is sitting on the bed, watching us. I can hear Rose and Em in their room, sickening, much?
"Henry? Bella, Edward, Jasper and I are going shopping. Why don't you join us?" Alice sings, okay, well I know she isn't singing, but still, it sounds so melodic. However, being away from Jasper just send all my emotions shooting throughout me in every which direction.
"I don't need you guys to protect me from my own mother!" I mutter under my breath, not fully convinced it's true. I may be a guy and a foot taller than her, but she is half a vampire, whereas I am only a quarter vampire.
"That's true, but you do need me to pick you something amazing to wear if you plan to impress the girl!" Alice says nonchalantly. Bella laughs at my shocked expression and leaves the room, probably to find Edward.
"How do you know about that, Alice?"
"Edward told me"
Darn him! DARN MY IRRITATING, NOSY GRANDFATHER!!!!!
I stalk out of the room and up to mine, slamming the door closed behind me. I glance at my room; my guitar sits in a corner, next to the amplifier. On the opposing wall, my floor-to-ceiling bookcase is filled with all sorts of books. My bed is huge! Esme was so excited to buy a bed, mostly because no one other than mum and dad really, actually needs a bed...to sleep in, anyway. I grab my guitar, hook it up to the amp and drown out everything!
But, living with a house full of nosy people ensures my quiet time doesn't last very long. Eventually there's a tentative knock on my door. I don't respond, but it's not like that makes a difference. Mum pushes the door open, dad following her close. They close the door behind them and sit on my bed facing me.
"Henry, put the guitar down," dad says, his serious voice on.
I reluctantly put it down and walk over to my couch. I sit on the armrest, watching my parents.
"Henry, is there something you'd like to say to your mother?" Dad prods, in his usual, 'subtle' way.
"I'm sorry, mum. I shouldn't have used that tone. But I'm not sorry for the things I said, because I meant them."
"Apology accepted, Henry!" Faster than I thought possible, mum is hugging me, then sitting down on the couch beside me. "Now, why don't you tell us what's going on? It's obvious something is on your mind."
"I don't know...I just feel irritated and angry and frustrated. Nothing fits. My days are full of pretending to be an ordinary high school student. And at nights, I can hear all of you going at it, while I TRY to pretend I can't hear you! And I'm fed up being the only odd one out! All of you have somebody! But I don't!"
"You have us, kid..." dad says, a smile tugging the sides of his lips. I guess he has a point, but it doesn't make me feel all that much better. I know I should appreciate the fact that I have so many people who care about me...but I can't.
"Yep," I murmur under my breath. Mum and dad catch each other's eye and the love behind the looks is enough to make me want to barf. I look out my huge floor to ceiling windows to the woods in the backyard, when a sudden flash of colour catches my eye.
In a matter of seconds, I'm already in the woods, looking for what caused that sudden flicker of colour. My eyes are too sharp for me to have imagined that. The smell of painfully strong cleaning reagent assaults my nose, telling me there's a vampire in the woods with me. Being half shape shifter/werewolf, vampires kind of reek. But then again, the vampire part of me finds dad stinky too. Yeah, so basically, I smell, really bad, all the time! My vampire family thinks I smell like a mutt, while dad thinks I smell like a walking hospital. Tough luck, eh?
Anyway, following the unfamiliar vampire scent sends me on a kind of high. I can hear mum and dad running swiftly somewhere behind me, but they won't catch me. Eventually, I manage to pick out the trail of my prey and I run like I've never ran before. I bet even Edward would be impressed! Whoever I'm following obviously doesn't know the woods very well. For if he did, he'd know he was heading to a huge waterfall.
I get to the waterfall and my eyes scan my surroundings. No one to be seen. Obviously he jumped. I take a deep breath and dive in. Phew! I have never been so exhilarated in my life!
I swim to the bank and pick up the trail again. My wet clothes weigh me down a little, but not much. The scent soon becomes overpowering, and I know I have my prey! I turn to the huge tree right in front of me, I take a step back and in one bound, I'm on the highest branch, face-to-face with my prey.
I gasp, and in my shock I take a step back, losing my balance and falling off the tree. With a sickening crunch, I know I've broken something, but before I can identify where exactly the damage is, I feel excruciating pain, where my bone pops back into its joint. As soon as that is over, the pain is gone.
"Ohmygosh! Henry?! Are you okay?"
My prey, Castella, leaps down and lands gracefully on the balls of her feet, a foot away from me.
"Castella...umm, hi! I, err, I mean, yeah, I'm okay?" I stutter. Way to go Black! Real smooth!
She giggles and holds out her hand to pull me up. I take it, gladly enough and dust myself off. "We really should stop meeting like this, huh?" she chuckles, the sound all bells. Hell! I should have known she was a vampire! It's so obvious! The unbelievable beauty, the grace, the smell!
"Hey Henry, I didn't know you're a vamp too! You're pretty hot for a vamp!" I smile smugly and her eyes widen when she comprehends what she just said. "Oh! Not like that! I meant...hot skin...no! I mean you felt warm...too warm for a vampire!" she stammers, worst than me!
"Castella, you're all wet! Maybe you would like to come to my house and dry up?"
"Yeah, that sounds fantastic! You don't by any chance live in the mansion on the outskirts of the forest, do you?"
"Actually, I do. I saw a flicker of colour from my room, and that's when I came down."
"Then you're fast! Real fast!"
"Not as fast as some people...but pretty fast."
Castella follows me back to the mansion. And when we get there, I can basically feel the tension, even from the yard. I walk at human pace through the front door, only to find my entire family in the living room, all tensed up for a confrontation. For a minute, I panic, wondering what happened, and then I realise they are worried about my bringing Castella here.
Castella shyly follows me, and I take her hand, surprising myself with my sudden bout of confidence.
"Hey guys, this is Castella. From school."
"A moment, please, Henry?" Edward says between clenched teeth, obviously livid at me. His usual velvety voice is sharper than I've ever heard it before. I can't help but recoil just a little at the obvious implication of my wrong-doing.
I follow Edward to his room, where he locks the door behind me, not like it matters of course. He turns on me so fast, I flinch back in shock. "What is the meaning of this?! How can you be so irresponsible as to bring a stranger here?! How could you put your whole family in danger like this?!"
"What danger?! She's just a girl! One girl! What could she possibly do to the 11 of us?!" my voice matches his, steely, heated and yet barely more than a whisper. Even then, I'm pretty sure everyone can hear me. NO PRIVACY! AT ALL!
"Geez, Edward! Do your thing, and satisfy yourself! I am going down to introduce Castella to the rest of the family." I stalk out of the room, running back down to Castella's side. I feel her relief having me by her side, and it makes me insanely happy.
"Hey you guys, this is Castella! She goes to school with us and guess what? She's a vamp too!"
"Pretty obvious," Rose mutters acidly then turns on her heel and walks up the stairs, with Emmett shadowing her, not before he gave Castella a huge smile though.
Everyone slowly drifts off, leaving just me and Castella in the living room.
"So...I kinda got you into trouble, huh?"
"Nah...everyone is just really careful. You know how that goes, right?"
"Yeah. Totally. I didn't know all of you were vamps. That's kinda cool. I live with my brother, Julian. We're pretty tight. I'll introduce him to you in school tomorrow."
"Oh, yeah. That sounds great."
"So...there are 11 of you? That's huge! I didn't even know so many of us could live together."
"Heh. Abstinence makes one more refined, I suppose."
"What?"
"Oh. My family doesn't drink human blood. We drink only animal blood."
"Wow! I've never heard of anything like that! Mind if I ask how all of you met?"
"Oh, yea. Carlisle turned Edward, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett. Jasper and Alice came joined the family out of the blue. Edward turned Bella. They had Renesmee-"
"They had?!"
"Yeah. Bella got pregnant and everything. This was before she was a vampire herself though. Anyway, Jake is a Quilette shape-shifter, and I'm their son."
"Their son? As in biologically?"
"Yup. Carlisle and Esme, Bella and Edward, Rosalie and Emmett, Jasper and Alice and Renesmee and Jake are together."
"Wait, so, you aren't a vampire?"
"I'm a hybrid, mostly."
Just then, I hear a growl coming from the kitchen. Before I know it, Edward lunges at me, his granite skin smacking into my much more damageable self. He smacks me so hard, I think I'm seeing stars, then a tangy, coppery smell alerts me to the fact that I'm bleeding, in a house full of vampires!
FML, much?