There was an exasperated laugh lost on the wind. The hint of a small grin crossing Fae's face, the cold air whipped at her skin and stung her eyes. It froze her to the bone, not a chill like ice or death, no, it was the tingle of freedom, an ice-lolly on a sweltering day, the soothing nip of rain on feverish skin, a wake up call to the sleepy. The slight, delightful blur of the environment around her as she ran. Each footstep met soggy ground surefooted and silent, it hadn't rained since the weekend, there had been a few breaks in the constant cloud cover, at least in La Push, yet the ground seemed to remain as moist as it had been before.
Her jacket billowed behind her, the plush, thick grey fabric flowed like water in the wind. Her mood wasn't utterly terrible that morning, school didn't seem as daunting now she was familiar with the layout, knew the basis of her classes and the slightest conceptualisation of her classmates and even potential friends. If one could be friends with bloodsucking creatures, that is. The wind stung the bags under her eyes, it kept her painfully awake and aware of her status as in the realm of the living and close to being late for school.
The reason, however, for Fae's good mood, despite the utter fatigue she felt in her bones and eyes, was the conclusion and victory of a near lifelong argument in the Smith household. That very morning was the mark of a new dawn, she had finally managed to outwit her mother and forced her father's hand into admitting the truth, that her mother, the modern depiction of a Roman matron, had named her after a character from her favourite film as a child, Bambi. It was not even a character from the film's central cast, though, she was named Faline, as in Bambi's love interest, girl-Bambi. How fucked was that?
She often found herself wondering about it, ever since the thought was conceptualised at the ripe age of eight, brought on with a new vigour since her call with her cousin Eira the night prior had brought her to the conclusion perhaps it was something that ran in her mother's side of the family, after all her little baby cousin, Eira's sweet new daughter, was called Rayne, as in BloodRayne franchise, as in the vampire, Rayne, it was even more ironic since they were wolfbloods too.
She held the pan of scrambled eggs hostage, strategically having taken control of both the pan and plates. She'd snarled and gone in with her line of questioning and offered breakfast as boons in exchange for confirmation and or an admittance. Her father had caved after ten minutes, with an, "Oh, admittedly, your ma' did watch Bambi and the sequels quite a few times while pregnant." and all it took was a large helping of breakfast, a mini mountain on the plate and promise of all the leftovers and extra helpings of food whenever it was her night to cook. If she knew it would have been that easy, Fae would have won it long ago.
Still, a six minute and twenty three delay to her already fairly late schedule had not led to anything real. She had taken the time to eat her food properly, instead of pulling the typical movie teenager by skipping out on a gourmet meal because they were 'running late'. Although a run through the woods would do her good. Fresh air, exercise, a good wake up call, all technically beneficial and fun, it did nothing to ease the steadily growing blossom of anxiety sprouting in her chest. Would she have to explain it in the office and get a pass, or sneak in to class and pray?
Cerridwen wouldn't mind one prayer to God or Jesus too much, could she? As long as it would avoid Fae getting in trouble. A whoop escaped her lungs as she leapt over a log, Fae winced as a small splatter of greyish-brown mud marked her light blue jeans. A caw came from above, there was a hawk flying high above her, she could make out its' large wingspan and lazy glide from the breaks of the canopy.
The teenage girl threw out her arms, wide an uncaring, as though she too could fly like the bird. A confident, casual glide and careful eyes. Soon, the treeline narrowed into almost nothing. The road was busy, near hundreds of cars seemed to both be coming and going along the road, many pulled into the car park and what felt, or at least smelt like, thousands of people seemed to stand at their cars in clusters of friend groups or on the steps by the doors.
Fae skidded to a stop, thankfully, no more mud flicked up onto her clothes. She watched carefully through the treeline. She could smell them, Rosalie and Emmett, she strained her eyes and looked for the brilliant cherry red of Rose's car. The sixteen year old trudged across the road quickly, when the traffic stilled momentarily, she was on site in what felt like a flash, although she hesitated to approach her friends.
There were four others with them, all pasty, paler than her even, and there seemed to be something off about almost all of them. A short girl with dark hair and a pixie cut, an average height brunette that tucked her hair away and seemed to communicate through dramatic blinks and then two boys, one with blonde hair, the other with a more bronze, near reddish tone. All except for the long haired girl smelt sickly sweet, like the monsters, although somehow, they felt more monstrous than both Rose and Emmet combined.
They all stunk of half rotted citrus, burnt sugar and falsities. The other girl with them had a perfume that smelt like roses, although not the typical, pleasing kind of rose aroma that most perfumes seemed to use, it was one rather strong, like the kind a grandmother would use in her bathroom, or the kind used at funerals that had been delayed just a little too long. Fae winced and stayed away. What else could she do? It would be suicide to put herself amongst a, what was the term for a group of vampires? Council? Were they a vampiric council?
Or would they use the term coven like nuns? Fae felt her lips pull to the side as she pondered, after half a second, she gave up and strolled inside. It was already idiotic enough to consort with the enemy, let alone a horde of them and their weird, Renfield-esque side kick, not even a good Renfield though, the girl with them certainly does not look like Nicholas Hoult.
It was a little warmer in there, although it seemed much louder. Noise echoed in from every single avenue and corner, luckily, the warning bell hadn't gone yet, so it wasn't as much of a fight in order to reach and open her locker. Fae twisted the lock dials around until they reached the combination, there was a click, although it didn't pull open on the first try. The girl rolled her eyes and pulled it harder, the door opened with a low groan, the same cry it did yesterday, because of course it couldn't have been a one time occurance. The new kid had to get stuck with the munted locker.
She twisted her bag to her stomach and loaded in her books in accordance with the schedule she had haphazardly taped to the back of the door. The pastel pink highlighted column, like her sweater! Fae grinned at the accidental matching. It was Tuesday, so as the schedule stated, she'd have biology first, followed by an hour of PE, a free, then after that,lunch, and finally in the last two hours or so of the day, it was math and then legal.
Fae scanned over the times, the rooms, the teachers and mentally recited the order of her day until it was the first thing she could recall. The block of pastel pink memorized like it had been inscribed into the squishy lobes of her brain. Her hand shook as her wrist wobbled under the weight of two particularly thick and heavy textbooks as she pushed them up onto the shelf. Fae cringed at the thud they made on the metal.
Her useless notebooks and little purse-like bag for emergencies was thrown on the shelf. All it had in it was a few band aids, tweezers, nail scissors and a file ,hand sanitizer, a few pads and tampons, generic painkillers and hay fever medication. Ewan always used to get terrible hay fever, should she stop carrying around a box of the tablets though? Fae frowned, it would feel wrong to not have them on her. She'd have to go through her things, consciously as to not put extra snacks in her bag for Katie or spare stationary for Lexi too. A harsh frown pulled at her lips and a strange, sorrowful cold seemed to seep into her bones. Cold like death and loneliness.
Fae glanced at her first aid kid, although it was more so a junk drawer of stuff she'd lose if she kept separately. Although there were some specialised things in the bag too, more discreet remedies for wolf-related conditions, like a little bag of dried wolfsbane flowers, which a single petal could numb her enhanced senses down to that of a normal person so she wouldn't have a freak out, or the other bag of lupine flowers to soothe transformation aches in a way ibuprofen simply couldn't.
The bell rung, a loud sequence of beeps reminiscent of a rapid succession of typical bell chimes. Fae shoved the last of her stuff in her locker like a bolt of lightening and tried to neaten up the mess that was her bag without half of its contents. Brown eyes shot to the door and the sudden increase of noise. A stampede of teenagers, tired and stinking, like an apocalypse of zombies coming right for her.
Fae's fingers bit harshly into one of the zippers as she dragged it to the other one. She had no choice, she'd have to beat the horde, if only to find her way without getting caught up in a sea of people. The Cullens' breezed in front of them though, the group with her friends in it, Emmett and Rosalie were on the far side of the hall, although they both smiled at her as they approached.
They walked almost like they were in slow motion. Each of their strides were perfect, practised, like a cult. There were small details that made them all seem alike to one another in a way, unholy? Fae would not quite link them to any belief system, although once she remembered seeing something oddly demonic in an illustrated book at church, from way back in primary school on the day her class had to go visit a Catholic Church. The coven of nuns had said made a joke about the sweet innocent of children with a forced laugh as Lexi nocked down a golden candlestick taller than their teacher. The man, Mr G. had grimaced and made unfunny jokes as though it would soothe the womens' ire.
"Convent." The bronze haired guy hissed at her as he passed.
What the fuck? Fae thought, her arms folded and brow quirked. The brunette girl with the long hair turned slightly and gave Fae the stink eye. Oops, did I say that out loud?
Rosalie paused for a moment and spared her a glance. Her golden eyes seemed to radiate with a subtle inquiry. Fae shook her head briefly, she was going to simply pretend that didn't happen. Fae shoved her way into the opening of the crowd and trekked her way to the second biology classroom, once she sat down in the room, the desk in the second row from the back of the room did she realise her mistake. It was not a coven of nuns, but a convent.
But how had the bronze haired boy known she was using the wrong term when she was only thinking? Fae chewed on the inside of her lip, unless, the nightmare was true, there were people at school that could read thoughts, not just people, vampires. Could all vampires do so? Did Rosalie and Emmett know exactly what she was thinking yesterday? Did they laugh at her panic? It didn't seem so, unless they were gifted with incredible poker faces. She'd have to test her theory at least, and be a bit more discreet with using the term in her thoughts even.
Cerridwen behold, that sounded like something out of a dystopia. Thought crimes, only they could genuinely be found out. What an invasion of privacy. Like the others that filed into the classroom, Fae pulled her notebook from her bag, she opened the pale violet gingham printed on the vinyl, skipped the first two pages and began aimlessly copying down the words being written on the whiteboard, the topics they were to cover this year, the way the teacher would prefer citations. Maybe Orwell was right, 1984 is the path of the future, especially if the bloody creatures can read minds.
Ms Wesley, the biology teacher, spoke with an accent that sounded sort of transatlantic, yet also the distinct vocal tones of Finnish that seemed to dominate some words. Although she seemed passionate about her job and the content they would all cover this year, that sparked a feeling of hope in Fae's chest, it was always easier to learn when the teacher cared about the work. She handed out copies of their assessment schedule as well as a sheet of rules that they were to paste into their books, else they'd be kicked out of the lab whenever the class would get to do practicals and other experiments.
It was over with the turn of the hour and the class' collective promise to read over the first chapter of the textbook for homework. Fae smiled at it. Nothing too hard as of yet. Dark eyes scanned for Emmett and Rosalie as she wandered the hall, Fae wouldn't risk trying to sniff out their individual scents amongst the bustle of the hall. Finally, she spotted the hulking form of Emmett Cullen strolling along. He was on his own and going the opposite direction than her, but that was fine, they'd pass by each other and all she needed was to think, after all.
You look like if James Charles had a baby with Daniel Radcliffe, the Rock and a sad middle-aged man that still worked at McDonalds, then that baby was hit by a car and became an opioid addicted gym rat. She made sure to stare directly at him, so that if he read her thought, he'd know it was directed at him. He was more likely to show a reaction than Rosalie anyway, especially if he heard that.
There was no reaction to that, there would have been if he could hear her thoughts. Fae felt a wave of relief come over her, Emmett wasn't a freaky mind reader at least. He spared her half a glance and waved, she dramatically pointed at him and pretended to gape, like she hadn't seen him in a century, he copied her reaction.
She could proceed to PE with one conclusive experiment. Her next play would either be at lunch with Rose or whichever one of the v-, them, whichever one of them she could smell or sight coming in her direction.
-
The rest of the day had passed without issue. Fae made sure to hold her face calm and neutral as she made certain to compare Rosalie to Nadja and doll Nadja, even mentally call Emmett what she had thought to him in the hallway. The other creatures- Cullens' had not filed into the lunch room yet and Fae could only roughly pinpoint their scents to be on the far side of the school, so there was no chance of it getting back to them unless she truly had a massive slip up. Rosalie did not react, nor did she show any of the subtle signs she had when the girls at another table had talked about her.
The small flickering flame of relief had grown into a steady burn, a campfire on a cold night. It was the others that she was still unsure about. Two down, three to go, Fae thought to herself on the walk home. As she had passed by the cars, the human girl with them had scoffed and rolled her eyes at her as she said bye to Rosalie and Emmett. The brunette girl insisted upon planning out her strategy on the walk through the woods home. She couldn't try and pick out personal attacks or comparisons for the ones she didn't have an idea of, so she'd have to go for shock value or snide mental comments. If they were immortal beings, she surely could find something to hit them where it hurts.
They were all white, after all, and had been alive for near decades, if not centuries or even longer. Some of them probably supported slavery, the confederacy or potentially even Hitler, or they would still clutch their pearls at the thought of a queer person or anything remotely sexual. Fae could work with it pretty much anything, after all. Mentally sing raunchy lyrics, wonder if they ever drank HIV positive blood and if it gave them HIV or tasted different, or other things, like thinking that one of them looks racist, pick apart relationships or sense of style and potential contributing factors like her and her friends used to do to strangers when they'd go out for lunch in the city.
Would it be wise to risk her life again by insulting creatures potentially all capable of reading her mind and killing her? Probably not, but Fae was very partial to the logic of 'fuck around and find out', she'd already almost died once and was well aware of the consequences, she was also fairly certain that none of these ones would insist on making it feel so, so, rape-y either. Would any of these vampires, who'd all established themselves so well into the Forks community really risk fucking it up by murdering her?
Fae plucked a leaf from the low hanging branch of a tree as she passed by. Especially when she had an idea of what it took to take them out? She peeled the green texture apart, along the veins and then the midrib. The giant wolves of La Push had showed her how, and Fae had a vague idea of the force of her claws and teeth she'd have to use to puncture stone, or to sever cold, dead limbs. If she played it smart enough, she could take out one of them, at least in a one on one situation.
The girl hummed a melody as she wandered along. Cerridwen's song. The creation myth her father had always sung her to sleep with as a child, although half-way along, one of the harmonies sounded more so like a Taylor Swift song, so Fae morphed the tune to fit. Cerridwen is a poetry goddess, she'd understand, like it even.
Fae pulled her phone from her pocket, she flicked through games, the kind of stupid games one would get under South Park clips or reddit stories. The walk was quiet and Fae trusted her senses to not lead her headfirst off a cliff or into a tree. She was nearing the border between La Push and Forks anyway, so she was relatively safe, at least. Her ears remained pricked for any sign of danger regardless, she was idiotic, not careless. Fae wandered along, a little slower than she should have been, but losing speed made it easier to not fall on her ass whilst checking her socials.
Though the first thing she laid eyes upon when she pressed the icon of the hellsite app was truly day ruining, Fae brought herself to a stop to bask in the mystifying glory of whatever the fuck had landed there. It was an essay. A massive, poorly punctuated essay with no paragraph spacing, yet six individual concepts treated as their own paragraphs of a Tumblr post about fucking Harry Potter. It discussed topics of how the poster believed Harry and Ron were more than just friends and that Cedric was actually Voldemort, while Hermione was somehow the daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange and Sirius Black even though they were literally cousins and hated each other, as well as the author's real name and the argued for existence of the wizard world.
Her brow crinkled in confusion, her life had gotten very insane over the past few months, yet getting a Harry Potter post on her feed was one of the weirdest occurrences yet. Fae frowned, didn't she unfollow all the Harry Potter tags and blogs over three years ago? Dark eyes roamed over the endless stream of hashtags, oh, it was tagged with the marauders. The singular tag she couldn't bring herself to unfollow. But still, why the hell would someone come to all of those frankly egregious conclusions in six paragraphs of text? God, it was almost as bad as a love story with a forced love triangle with a weak female lead and two mediocre, frankly quite creepy male characters, with racist undertones and also implied that necrophilia and a frankly insane age difference was romantic and not at all weird. Wait a minute, Fae paused, her feet planted in the earth, did I leave my bio textbook in my locker?
Anyway, that's enough internet for me today. Fae nodded with wide eyes and a grimace, as she fiddled around and hit the block button to the original poster and closing the app. She shoved her phone into her pocket. If she had left her biology textbook in her locker, she was fucked. It was only the second day, she couldn't give her teacher a reason to hate her so early into her academic career there. She wrung her hands together and resisted the urge to turn and check her backpack for the textbook. It was too late now to turn back anyways, she might as well hold off until she got home, Fae reasoned to herself.
The border grew nearer, Fae could smell it, the slight notes of wolf indicated one of the giant ones was there, Fae smiled, she hoped it was the one she had walked with yesterday. He seemed nice.
She took a deep breath and let the scents of the forest overwhelm her senses, a dull hum escaped her throat and her head felt a little fuzzy, but the world felt sharper and clearer, like someone had put a high definition filter over everything and the scents formed trails of coloured paths like clouds of something spectral. Each trail materialised with a colour and a unique splatter of information utterly individual to each creature, the orange-green mix of mountain lions, the gold of a doe that had passed by hours before, if her nose was right, the doe would soon be a mother, although she prayed it would not receive the same fate as Bambi's mother.
The rain had come whilst she was at school. It dulled most of the scents for miles and miles around, muddied them and made it all begin to blur at the edges into one incoherent mass of colour and information. She could pick out each individual factor with a bit of effort, but the teenager was unwilling to bring on what would become a truly terrible headache until after she had completed her math homework.
She pursed her lips as she focused on the path ahead of her. Fae's feet were planted, she could hear the cicadas chirping in the distance, across the space she had taken to call the border was a wolf, that was for certain, yet, she picked apart the factors of the wolf smell. It was different, if only slightly, than the grey speckled wolf. There was a resemblance, beyond wolf-smell or that a pack would have, human. The giant wolves were definitely humans underneath, yet the familiarity in scent lied beneath that, the human aspect of it seemed familiar to the tone she remembered the other one's scent held, perhaps like a sibling, maybe?
Fae sped back up, it didn't matter either way, really, but she wanted to meet this wolf too. It felt rude to keep them, the wolf, waiting. Her steps were light and swift, Fae was fleetfooted as always, as Cerridwen had made her to be. The teenager darted beneath branches and leapt over bushes. Her limbs felt near weightless as she clambered across a giant log and ran along it, almost as though it was a fast paced dance.
Her heart thumped fast in her chest, each individual beat like a drum, her breaths and the heaving of her lungs like trumpets, a soft harmony and repetitive pattern, the tension of her muscles being plucked like the strings of a guitar but humming softly like that of a violin. The forest air in her lungs, the open sky above her and the delusion of the wilderness sunk into her skin. She could hear the babble of the creek in the distance, the song of the cicadas and birds and even the crashing of the ocean. This was life. This was freedom. This was safety and sanctuary.
The scent of wolf grew stronger with each step, yet Fae found herself slowing down. It would not be a good idea to startle a creature fully capable of tearing her limb from limb. Perhaps I should make a catchphrase, like a sad old person on a dating site, something dumb like, "flirting with death" given how many times I've almost died and messed around with supernatural creatures over the past four days. Fae pondered, she could see a mass of dark fur not too far from the space the speckled wolf had occupied the day prior.
She took a steady inhale, wolf, thankfully, as she expected and not a bear. The teenager crept closer, taking care to stomp a little louder than the usual near silence of her steps, her foot had even found it's way to breaking a brittle little twig with a harsh snap. The mass of dark fur snapped to attention.
They, Fae decided, since it was wrong to refer to any of the wolves as it since she was certain they were human beneath the fur and fangs. They had the eerie golden eyes of a wolf rather than the amber-brown of the speckled wolf. The wolf was taller too, stockier and held an air of authority around them. They stared at her, gaze blank although their golden eyes seemed careful. Why were they here for her?
She did not draw closer. Fae wrung her hands about and her teeth dug into the flesh on the inside of her cheek. What was she meant to do? Wave? She blinked, like a person did when confused or attempting to calm themselves down. An awkward, false smile crossed her lips and she made sure to posture herself like a suburban dad, she even raised her hand in character as a greeting and nodded her head.
"Hello." It left her lips blunt and short. The wolf nodded their head. Fae nodded again. They gestured to the path to her house, as if to tell her to get going. Fae made certain to give a deadpan look to the wolf, they nodded again and pushed forward, they herded her like a sheepdog would to a flock. "Ok, bossy."
The black wolf was the alpha of the pack, if she recalled the interaction. The other three wolves all looked to them for guidance when the woman had her. The other was not there, why was he not and why was the alpha of the horse-sized wolves now in charge of escorting her home? "Where's your friend? You know, the one that led me home yesterday."
The wolf looked at her and slightly shook their shoulders, the motion was not quite a shrug and so Fae was careful to not interpreted it as an 'i don't know' rather more like a statement of 'busy'. She nodded, "Alright. Cool. I mean thanks for looking out for me, and all of you guys saving me the other day."
The wolf nodded and let out a sound akin to a chortle, Fae turned her head and met the golden eyes with a dry look. They threw up a paw, gesturing her to keep moving, so she did. Why was she being escorted home like a girl in an old Hollywood movie. It wasn't the forties. The teenager fiddled with her thumbs and looked up through the trees. Would it be rude to walk in silence?
Fuck, what could she talk about, it needed to be a neutral topic, one she could talk about in a very much one-sided conversation yet still engage with the wolf. "So is the, the, erm- Vampire hunting thing a bit of a common occurrence?"
The wolf with fur of pitch raised a furry brow. Fae closely studied the reaction. Golden eyes were wider than they had been previously, as though they were shocked she figured out what the creature that attacked her was.
"It tried to kill me, I saw its' teeth, felt its' cold. I watched as you all tore it to pieces. I could smell her sweetness, her sickness, the taint and evil. Wolves as big as bears aren't a natural occurrence." She started, the words felt heavy on her tongue, like her mouth was filled with lead. The sensations and fear were fresh in her mind, in her blood. She had seen something die. She had seen dead people before, witnessed the life fading from her grandfather in the hospital, but had she ever felt the relief she had witnessing the demon being killed?
The ache of hands around her throat were still there when she closed her eyes, the cold terror that coursed through her at the thought of being trapped, subjected to that once more. Yet she had to face it, did she not? She knew what that woman was, she knew what Rosalie and Emmett and the other three were, she was even running an idiotic experiment with them! Fae had a right to be fearful, but she had a right to face it, had a duty to ask her saviours about them, if only to prepare for the worst.
Flirting with death was fine, she was brave, she had to face the pale haired monster, face them all. She had her wit, her pack and the La Push wolves to fall back upon. She used to be the alpha of her own pack, her mother was the alpha of their old pack of wolfbloods, she was smart and brave. The words bubbled from her throat, "I'm not stupid. If there are more of those things roaming about, ready to slaughter me like a hunter does a deer. I deserve to know about it."
"I can smell them all throughout Forks, I'm aware of them and I plan appropriately," as much of a lie as the planning appropriately was, an idea and the duality of both avoidance and the concept of fuck around and find out, was a plan none the less. Fae knew that, was admitting her senses to another being the wisest? Yes, especially if it brought her and her family a greater sanctuary within their new home. "but I need to know, okay, bossy-wolf? Was it grabbing me a freak accident, or a common thing?"
The dark wolf stood taller, a loud sigh escaped their muzzle whilst a resigned look came over their face. It padded off into the woods, then vanished behind a tree. Fae threw her hands up. Why the fuck was the wolf walking away, she had asked an important question! She stood there as the wolf vanished from sight. There was the sound of cracking bones and fur moving. A head and shoulders poked around the edge of a tree. Fae's brows furrowed. Was that the black wolf?
"You alright, mate?" She called, dark eyes trained on the face of the man. He was incredibly tall, well over six feet tall and he had the typical dark olive tone of the Quileute people, his face was stern and harsh, sullen even, but he didn't look old, he had to be twenty five at the oldest.
He held out his arm with a thumbs up. He did not move out from behind the tree. "Yeah."
His voice was very deep, Fae noted, it did hold the same slight undercurrent of authority as her mother's did. The teenager made sure to remain still, if only to maintain a wide enough distance between herself and the man. The wolf was now a he, if her assumption that the man was actually the wolf was correct. "Cool."
"To answer your question, the pack usually kill them before they get a chance to attack anyone. So yes, freak accident. You're safe in La Push." He nodded, his voice was firm.
That was relieving at least, Fae gave him a double thumbs up. "Thanks."
The border was definitely the edge of their hunting grounds then, she was under their protection as long as she was on their land, so perhaps there was a boundary or some mutual agreement between the vampires in Forks. Then there would be rogue vampires that crossed and were hunted in turn.
That was oddly relieving, at least. The teenager exhaled and blinked slowly. She'd only have to be extra careful in Forks, then. A small grin split her face at a sudden realisation! She could relax in her own home again! If what the man had said was true, she'd be fine, safe even. She wouldn't have to dose up on melatonin just to be able to fall asleep.
The man tilted his head, his tone was more of a statement than a question. It seemed curious and near demanding. His arms were folded and his chest leaned around the edge of the tree like a cartoon. He was near cartoonishly well built, like a muscular action figure from the eighties. "How do you smell them? In Forks."
Oopsie, Fae thought, it was a little to early in the game to share a secret that wasn't just hers with a stranger. So what if he saved her ass before? Her mother would kill her if she found out she blabbed to a stranger less than a week into their time there. Fae pulled her bag up her shoulders, just in case she'd have to bolt, which seemed like a fairly decent plan.
The girl smiled, although it came out more like a grimace. Sarcasm lined her voice. "With my nose."
"Not what I meant." The man fired back, just as quickly. He didn't really sound angry. It sounded more so tired and exasperated. He folded his arms and levelled a questioning look in her direction. Fuck. New plan, gaslight then dip. Fae felt one side of her face contort into a wince.
She wrung her hands again, she made the effort to blink innocuously and added in a saccharine tone, "I have no clue what you're talking about. Bye, thank you, have a good day!"
She was scrambling down the path at near inhuman speed. She had time, he still had to shift back and then pursue. She wasn't a threat to anyone and he knew that, but that didn't mean she wanted to answer his questions just yet. He was a random stranger to her, she didn't owe him anything. The green of the forest was like a warning and she could see the road and her home. Her parent's car was in the driveway. Fae ducked down and bolted across.
She had passed the mailbox by the time she felt confident enough to finally glance over her shoulder. The black wolf was there, in the underbrush and he looked very unamused. Fae smiled awkwardly and clambered up the porch steps.
sorry for any typos, spelling mistakes or phrases that dont make sense, i literally forgot how to type but thats kinda my own fault for writing after like 7 vodka redbulls
+ im not having adults imprint on literal children ok it's so weird it happened once let alone twice, idc what mormon meyer says is canon, i do what i want. if she wanted me to follow canon then she should have respected the Quileute nation in her portrayal of them and not tried to romanticise so much creepy shit, cause stalking and sexual assault is not cute ok. can promise u all now that 'nice guy' jacob and creepy edward and his stupid view of women through the madonna/whore dichotomy is also gonna get them bashed just as badly as 13 year old me dragged bella, because fantasy men are the worst.
sorry this an is like a chapter on its own but i felt this all needed to be said. hope you all enjoyed :)