SLASH BACKSLASH ONE-SHOT CONTEST
Story Name: Longing for Thunder
Pen name: Darkira
Pairing: Edward and Paul
Disclaimer: This is AU, non-canon, weird and complicated. Probably not truly Twi either. That said, it's also lemony, more or less.
Nothing Twi belongs to me, it all belongs to S. Meyer. But I do own this story.
To see other entries in the "SLASH BACKSLASH" contest, please visit the C2: http ://www. fanfiction. net/c2/74941/3/0/1/
xxXxx
Paul's POV
Someone had thought it was an excellent idea; making a handful of kids from the Forks High School swap places with a handful of the Quileute-kids from the reservation high school. Who ever it was that came up with the idea of making the two worlds mix like this was either to be shot, or to be given some sort of a prize. Paul wasn't sure which one.
Not that he had anything real against the kids from the High School. The non-native kids. It just bugged him that a few of the ones who had left from the rez school were his friends. One kid from every grade had gone and for the rez school it had been Jake from the sophomores and Seth from the freshmen. The junior and senior had been girls so Paul had hoped that they'd get girls in return. Tough luck.
They didn't get girls...they got a random jock for a senior and for a junior...they got a Cullen. Now of course it was a bloody awful idea, but somehow, and nobody knew how , it had been decided that one of the Cullen kids would go to the reservation school. Of course neither the wolves or the vampires had anything to do with this decision and when they heard about it, it was too late. Both parties had called a meeting among their own and afterward there had been a meeting between the wolves and the Cullens and they had all agreed to wing it.
There was no way of getting out of it because the school board had pretty much insisted said that there needed to be a Cullen there, to show people they had to be a part of these things. This time they wouldn't be allowed to skip a school event to keep to themselves. They had gotten away with pushing the board around for their every whim. Or that was the word in the halls and it had carried to the reservation as well.
Paul loathed the Cullens. Before they returned everything was fine. When they came back to Forks, Sam had gone through the wolf-thing and then not much later Paul himself had been facing the same shit. Luckily he had Sam there to guide him through, but it had left him bitter, aggressive, and loathing vampires.
Not only did he know exactly how it had been for Sam, how it still was every time he looked at Emily, but he also knew about Jake's feelings towards that cunt, Bella. Then there was the budding friendship of Seth and the Cullens and he had to hear the bitching from Leah every single fucking time they were shifted. The others had had to endure the same thing. So many young guys bound forever to this supernatural shit. It was just plain wrong! Fucking hell, the Cullens should just be...
"Mind if I sit here?" the voice from his left was smooth, velvety, perfect.
He shot a look at the Cullen that had appeared in the classroom. See, they could pick the lectures for the week, the kids who swapped places, just 'to get the most out of the experience' or so they had been told. Apparently the vampire had thought he needed to learn more about the Quileute history. It pissed Paul off, majorly. There wouldn't be any classes about the history of vampires for Jake and Seth in the Forks High School.
He didn't say anything, just let his shoulders raise a fraction of an inch and then fall back.
The vampire chuckled.
It pissed Paul off even more.
Suddenly Quileute-history wasn't something he was so interested in. There was still time to bail before the teacher would walk in, so he gathered his books and got up, walking away from the classroom and to his locker. He stuffed his things inside, slammed the door and walked out of the school.
He took the route out of the yard and to the forest. What he really wanted was to go to the beach but he couldn't bother as he'd have Cullen-free classes later. It was the second lesson of the day. He had no real excuse to not be there, but then again, he could always take the detention. Paul cared very little about studying or school anyway. He had a job lined up for him at the reservation, his granddad was a carpenter and had taught Paul everything he knew. School was just for show. All he needed to know he knew already. Besides he wouldn't get any older as long as the vampires were around so yeah, if he wanted to study more, he could pass for a Senior for God knew how long anyway. He could always go to another school somewhere else if he needed to get more education later.
He walked up the path that led to some cliffs that overlooked the forest and the schoolyard. When there, he was free of the vampire stench and the constant annoyance of knowing that the bastard could read his mind. So he had told them at the meeting that he wouldn't, but who knew, right? They weren't to be trusted. Vampires were not to be trusted in general, these veggie-vamps were no different under the sparkly surface and the golden eyes.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" his mind screamed towards the too silent steps and the almost sickly sweet scent of Edward Cullen who was following him.
"Christ, Paul. Stop yelling." Edward muttered. "And before you snap at me, I wasn't listening but you were wide open for a moment and things can slip through if you practically scream like that," he said in his annoyingly calm tone, like he was talking to a child.
"Fuck off Cullen." Paul turned his gaze back to the view.
He had walked to his favorite spot and sat on a fallen log to calm down. Much good had it done, right?
"I think we need to talk." Edward said quietly, walking closer but staying ten feet from him, leaning his back to a tree.
"About what? I don't want you here. You know that. End of the story." Paul nearly growled, trying to relax himself before his annoyance would get out of control. He didn't have any spare clothing with him. If he'd shift now he would have to go home to re-dress and explaining that to the teachers wouldn't be easy.
"You shouldn't have to bolt like that. From your own class. I'm here for a week only, Five days, Paul. Can't we co-exist even if we have a few classes together every day." Edward tried to plead to him.
What could he say to that? No, they couldn't? Because he hated the bloodsuckers, this one especially. He had the perfect human girlfriend who Jake was constantly worried about because Jake was in love with her as well. What Jacob saw, Paul and the rest of them saw. There were no secrets among the pack.
He couldn't agree either. His stubbornness prevented him from doing that. Paul had made up his mind long ago. The moment Sam had told him why everything was happening to him.
Paul turned his eyes to look in to the golden ones not far from him. He stared at Edward and opened his mind.
Pain. Confusion. Loneliness. Hopelessness. More pain. Growing so fast it seemed, no, it was impossible. Night terrors. Shifting. Having to tell his grandpa he needed more clothes again because he couldn't control the shifting and lost more clothes than he could afford to buy with his allowance, which wasn't much. Hatred. Bella. Jake's feelings towards her. Being connected to Jake when he had one of those days, the ones where he could barely function because he was so miserable. Having no secrets, having every little thing exposed to the others as soon as they shifted. Hatred. Pain.
Paul tried to close his mind again, but before he could do it, the most secret of his thoughts, the one he constantly protected from the pack was revealed to Edward.
Longing.
Paul's eyes snapped quickly back at the amber-ones of the vampire's. He could see curiosity, sadness, and something resembling understanding in Edward's gaze before he could feel he was losing it.
His whole body was shaking, Edward was backing away. And then there was no human in front of the vampire. There was a massive black wolf there, snarling, with it's fur sticking up from between it's shoulders.
"Go get dressed. I'll figure out an explanation." Edward said and then he was gone.
Paul got a surprised question from...Sam.
"Paul, what's going on? Shouldn't you be in school?"
"Shouldn't you be patrolling and not listening to me?" Paul snapped back at his alpha.
"You pretty much dropped in my head. I am patrolling. Stop with the snarling, it echoes in my head. What happened?" Sam asked in a caring tone that didn't cross the boundaries Paul had. His tolerance of caring or pity or anything remotely like that was very limited and all the wolves knew it.
"Fucking Cullen. I don't want to talk about it. I need to run home and change anyway. Nobody saw. Everything is okay. Stop worrying," he said and he was already running.
"Okay. Just..."
"Yeah." Paul said, trying not to sound snappy. He knew what Sam had not said.
Behave. Don't snap in the school. Don't cause trouble. Behave.
He was home in a few minutes and got re-dressed. It was easier now. He was more in control, usually. He had an actual wardrobe again.
Paul picked jeans and a tank with a dark green hoodie and put on some sneakers. He never wore his favorite pair anywhere he could bump in to vampires. He didn't want to lose those shoes and boy was he glad he hadn't worn them today as they'd be in shreds in the forest now.
He got back to the school a few minutes before the next class was about to start. Nobody asked about a thing, luckily. It was an Edward-free class so that was good.
Lunchtime...not so much.
He sat in the nearly empty table, listening to Embry and Quil chat about something mundane and tried to look like he was listening. Paul was eating his food while letting his gaze wander around the small cafeteria. Then he spotted Edward. Oh how much it annoyed him to see the vampire sitting there, pretending to eat when all he did was to tear apart the roll he was supposed to be eating and play with the orange he was supposedly peeling. He wasn't. His long fingers were breaking pieces of the peel of the fruit very slowly, buying time.
The fingers were long and lean, pale and strong. Paul found himself mesmerized by the sight and suddenly a very low growl erupted from his chest before he could prevent it. The rest of the pack in the table looked at him, shooting him warning glances and Jared looked at Edward who had stopped what he was doing.
"What is it Paul?" Jared asked worriedly but Paul just shook his head angrily before getting up and going to trash the remnants of his meal.
And then the vampire was there. Behind him in the line, getting rid of the mess he had made with the roll and the orange. Paul wanted to get away from the situation, fast, so he wasn't watching when he reached to put his glass away and suddenly the back of his hand brushed against Edward's ice cold fingers and it felt like hot iron. Scorching his skin and burning his arm and the fire spread through his system so fast his eyes widened at the sensation.
Luckily the glass had been the last item in his hands because anything else would be spread on the floor right now. His whole body was reacting, he could feel some strange current coursing through his whole being.
What the hell was this??
"Don't talk to me. Don't come close to me. Stay the hell away!" his thoughts growled at Edward who looked slightly...taken aback and surprised?
There was no doubt in Paul's mind that the vampire hadn't felt it too.
What. The. Fuck?
He practically escaped from the cafeteria and to his locker and grabbed his books.
That's when Mrs. Greymane - also known as 'Hound' as they lovingly called her - grabbed his sleeve in the hall.
"Paul, I need a favor." she said in her 'try to argue with me and I'll make you suffer'-tone.
"Yes? Mrs. G?" he added the name after a pause so that he wouldn't get in to too much trouble if this was about him skipping the class earlier.
"Well, Edward Cullen told me that you showed him around the area around school so that's why you two missed the second class. I was thinking, as he has signed up to your next class and you two have bonded so nicely already, would you mind sitting next to him and seeing that he can keep track on what you're studying? Of course he is a bright young man, but I would like to make sure we're doing everything we can to make him enjoy his stay here..." The Hound was babbling now.
Paul was getting annoyed and not just because he knew there was no way out of this 'request'.
"Yes, I'll do it. Can I go now, I'm almost late?" he tried to sound like he wasn't snapping at the woman who looked at him a bit funny and waved her hand.
"This will look good for you when you get in to further trouble. I'd be more happy to have this opportunity if I were you." the old hag called after him and he huffed while nearly running away from her to the class.
No, he wasn't late yet but he wanted to make sure he could pick where they'd sit. Back row as usual. Oh fuck this would be a lovely two hours...
When he got to the class, he could see Edward already there. Luckily the vampire seemed to share his view of where to sit as he was in the back corner, as far from the door as he could get. The row was long, this was the biggest classroom in the school, so the other side of the back row was already taken. Great.
He stomped to the back and to the other side of Edward.
"Move." he said but for some reason, for the first time, there was a hint of defiance in the amber hues that peered at him.
"No. I'm sitting here. There's plenty of room to pass me." Edward said in a low, determined tone.
"Fine." Paul snapped and did the awkward thing people do in movie theaters, looked at his feet so he wouldn't stomp on Edward's toes and tried not to fall down on the vampire's lap while passing him. He sat so that there was one seat between them.
"Didn't she say next to me?" Edward asked in an amused tone but quiet enough so nobody else would hear them.
"Bite me, Cullen." Paul hissed in his mind but shifted to the seat next to Edward, mainly because at that moment The Hound decided to peek in to the classroom and smiled at Paul.
Edward chuckled and muttered under his breath something in...Latin?
"What was that?" Paul had to ask. He knew the basics of Latin but not much.
"Nunquam lamiae morde me dice" Edward repeated and wrote something in to his notepad in an elegant script, handing the paper to Paul. It was the phrase he had used. "You can Google it." His smirk was so damn annoying.
"So are you in trouble lot?" Edward asked in a moment of total silence.
Of course he had listened to the conversation. He could probably pick up any conversation from the school. Damned vampire senses!
"None of your fucking business."
That's when the teacher walked in and began to explain what the next two hours would be about. Some boring lecture about something very random.
Edward leaned to the desk with his elbow and scribbled something on his notepad. Then he turned it a bit so that Paul could read it.
"I'm not here to cause you any trouble. I wouldn't be here if they didn't insist. You know that I wouldn't come to your territory like this."
"Makes no difference to me." Paul let his guards down for a moment and let Edward read his mind.
Edward wrote another few lines.
"Do you think it's easy for me to be here instead of being back at the High School?" he shot Paul a pointed look.
Paul thought about it for a moment. Then he figured it out and chuckled a bit.
"Oh shit...never saw it like that... Jake is there with your girlfriend now, isn't he?" the tone of the thought was obvious.
Edward's jaw clenched and there was a light cracking sound from the pencil he was holding.
"Come on, vampire boy. This is getting interesting..." Paul taunted him.
Edward made no move to write anything more.
Paul smirked and began to repeat "Jake and Bella, sitting on a tree...K-I-S-S-I-N-G..." over and over again in a singsong tone.
The pen snapped in half.
"STOP THAT." Edward wrote with half a pencil.
"Why would I do that? For once I have material to fuck you up." Paul pretended to be interested in the lecture, just as Edward was pretending to be taking notes.
Instead he wrote one sentence.
"You asked for this."
Paul shrugged.
Edward scribbled down a few more words and showed it to Paul.
"Why did you phase?"
The answer Paul gave him, even if it was a thought instead of words, was a tangled up snarl.
"Why do you care?"
Edward thought for a while and wrote down one word and underlined it without looking at Paul.
"Cafeteria."
Paul's head snapped up, turned to the side and his trademark 'cross me and I'll rip your throat out'-look was on his face.
He blocked Edward as well as he could. Neither of them tried to talk, think, or write anything to the other for the rest of the lecture. When the lecture was over, Paul gathered his stuff and walked away, not past Edward but in the other direction and waited for some girls to clear out of his way. When he was free, he went to his locker, gathered the books he needed and went home. Without looking back.
Sure, he would have had a couple more classes but to hell with it all. When he got home, his grandpa asked nothing, even though Paul's schedule was on the fridge door and the old man knew it by heart. The good thing about grandpa was that he never asked questions. Ever.
Paul went to his little room and plopped down on the bed, his mind whirring enough to drive a weaker person insane. For a moment he was trying to actually think about what it was that was happening.
When he was sixteen, there had been a girl called Sofia. The same thing had happened with her. Every time they touched, there was an electricity running through Paul's body. Every time his mind went in to overdrive. He had never asked the girl out and then she had moved with her family.
He still missed her sometimes, because the connection had been so strong. But this? Feeling the same thing with a guy? And with a vampire? This was some fucked up shit alright.
Paul sat up and got his cell out of his pocket. With the phone a crumpled piece of paper fell out. Oh, the phrase. The phone long forgotten he sat there, his feet on the floor and looked at the paper in his hands. 'Google it'?
He ran his fingers through his short hair, almost grumbling at himself for even thinking about checking it out. Without really thinking, he reached for his laptop on the nearby table and opened it. While the operating system started and the connection was made, he went to find himself a can of soda.
"I'll cook something later, grandpa. Tell me when you're hungry," he said to the old man who was sitting in the living room, watching daytime soaps like the usual. The gray haired man nodded without taking his eyes off the screen and Paul sighed.
How many years was it now? Seven? How many more?
Paul never felt truly sorry for himself. There were people who had it way worse than he did. Having no dad, living with your grandpa and mom until she passed away because her organs gave up due to her alcoholism when you're twelve...nope, not that bad.
It wasn't until grandpa got arthritis and diabetes and had to stop working as a carpenter that things got tougher . Taking care of his diet was one thing, but having to do almost everything around the house while knowing there was no way he could put his own grandpa in to a home, even if his memory got worse... It was rough now. Of course Paul was older, but now there was the wolf-thing as well.
He knew the principal of the school already cut him a lot of slack. Just because of how he lived, the circumstances weren't so special, there were other teenagers looking after their parents or grandparents in the reservation as well. They got by with what they got and with the help of the community, but Paul wouldn't take help from anyone. He was too proud.
The only thing he wanted for himself was the laptop and the internet connection along with enough clothes to have some to spare when he'd always eventually end up phasing unexpectedly.
Speaking of the laptop.
Paul went to the bedroom and sat down on the bed, placing his caffeine hit on the bedside table.
Google.
He typed in the phrase as Edward had written it down and hit enter.
And then he spent the next few minutes laughing his ass off. It felt so good. So damn good.
"Never say 'bite me' to a vampire..." he muttered and then began to laugh uncontrollably again.
At least the bloody bloodsucker had some sense of humor, eh? The thought led him in to another bout of laughter. 'Bloody bloodsucker'? Seriously?
xxXxx
The next morning Paul was still in a better mood. Somehow laughing had released some of his pent up anger. It was easier now to just...breathe. He made breakfast, drank his coffee and said bye to grandpa who was having a better day and was actually building something in the backyard.
Paul walked to school, it always helped him wake up and clear his head a bit. The weather was nice, it was early autumn so nature was at its best.
Jake had called him last night, babbling about the High School and Bella and how things were different. When Seth had IMed him and asked about Edward, Paul had given short answers and chosen not to share the phrase with the kid.
Somehow it felt private. He had a feeling Edward didn't joke like that with just everyone. He was always so reserved, so collected. Having something private with someone made Paul feel a bit better.
His first class was French so he knew Edward wouldn't be there. At least he hoped so.
xxXxx
Edward's POV
It was so foreign to him. Feeling like this about someone.
When you didn't have to sleep you had all the time in the world, quite literally, to think about things. And thought he had.
It felt different. The attraction. Edward was old enough to know it was attraction, intense physical chemistry that rolled between himself and Paul like clouds of thunder. Now he was waiting for the lightning to strike.
He sat in the classroom and stared out of the window. The view was just forest, nothing interesting enough to actually look at even though he saw it so differently than a human would. He wasn't paying attention, merely staring as his mind was on overdrive.
Bella. He had fallen for the clumsy human for her blood and for her amazing mind that kept Edward out. Of course the girl was quite intelligent and witty and her sarcasm was also refreshing. Even though the physical chemistry was there as well, even though Bella kept pushing it a bit too much sometimes, it was nothing like the surge of heat that had jolted Edward the previous day in the cafeteria.
After going home at the end of the day Edward had done research. It was surprisingly easy to find out things about Paul. Dad gone, mom dead, living on minimum income and taking care of his grandpa. Average grades and no passion for anything but carpentry.
Edward understood now. Why there was such longing inside of Paul. He wanted something to complete him. Oh how well the vampire knew this kind of longing. He had thought Bella filled that for him, but no.
Whether things were real or not, with Bella, was a different question. There was always the fact that she was his 'singer'. Her blood was the most powerful thing in the world to him. He longed for it, even though he could control his thirst now, he longed for the blood even when he wasn't anywhere near her.
Paul's blood? Nothing. Wolves had a different scent to them. Their blood would probably taste bad for a vampire. Nature's way of pointing out enemies? Or more like supernatural's. The thought made Edward grin.
"What are you so smug about?" a now familiar somehow naturally a bit husky voice asked him. Of course he had known Paul was approaching, but the voice still made him blink. Attraction.
"Oh, just thought about something funny, that's all." he replied and grinned again, his 'crooked grin' that 'dazzled' people, like Bella put it.
"I bet." Paul said, but the tone wasn't as snappish like his usual would have been, Edward could tell. Something had shifted.
"So, did you?" he just had to ask and suddenly there was a chuckle from the wolf and he flashed Edward a rare grin, looking nothing like his usual self.
Oh. God.
Briefly the thought of 'thank God I don't have a heartbeat' flitted through Edward's mind.
"Yeah, I'm curious like that. Was funny." Paul admitted and then turned to open his books.
What made this sort of change happen, Edward didn't know. But it was good that the massive doze of animosity wasn't there anymore.
"You know that when this week is over, everything will be back to the usual, right? No vamps in La Push." The tone of the thought Paul was giving him to read was neutral.
"Yes." Edward said quietly. Somehow he felt sad about it already.
Then he wrote something in the corner of Paul's notepad. "What happens in La Push, stays in La Push."
Paul snorted in an attempt to hide a burst of laughter, which made the teacher look at them sharply.
"You're actually a funny guy, Cullen. I would have never thought so. You're usually so uptight it's ridiculous."
Edward didn't react.
"I mean sure, I bet the whole 'I need to keep myself in check so I won't drain my girlfriend' cramps your style, but still. There's dead and then there's Edward Cullen." now the tone was teasing, though not in a malicious way.
Edward took it as Paul's way of somehow trying to make up for the whole attitude-thing he usually had going on.
They were sitting together like the previous day, next to each other in the back of the classroom. Edward was about to write something as a reply for the thoughts when the nib of his pencil broke and he sighed. He didn't have a sharpener with him.
Automatically Paul handed him his own and Edward took it. Gasping a breath when their fingers touched briefly. The same thing again.
Paul's muscles tensed visibly. He was clearly trying to block Edward from his mind and to give him space Edward tried not to pry.
Instead he used the sharpener and pushed the item back towards Paul, careful not to touch him at all. It was difficult enough as it was. The scent of the wolf beside him was something he was used to by now. After all he hung out with Jake and Seth some. The scent that was purely Paul was different though. As was the body temperature, no, body heat, that was radiating from the young man next to him.
He tried to concentrate on the advanced grammar the teacher was trying to get through to them and which Edward could have taught to the class himself.
He sighed and ran his fingers through his already tousled hair.
"What?" Paul asked in his mind after a while.
Edward took the pencil in to his hand and with elegant script, wrote to Paul's notebook one word.
"Longing."
He could hear the wolf swallow hard.
Paul seemed thoughtful so Edward stayed out of his head for now.
Fifteen minutes and thirty-four seconds passed.
Suddenly the heat from Paul's leg felt more prominent. Edward realized the wolf was deliberately moving his jeans clad leg closer to his. He sighed, realizing he had held his breath. Unneeded breath. How stupid was that.
The current began to form between their legs. Edward shifted his foot so that their shoes were almost touching.
Maybe it was his lack of sexual experience or the fact that he couldn't touch his girlfriend intimately at all, but he could feel himself getting hard. Slightly nervously he ran his fingers through his hair again.
Next to him, Paul took a trembling breath.
"Maybe I got a call from my grandpa and I need to go check on him. You offered to give me a ride because we 'bonded' already?"
Edward could hear the thought loud and clear. So Paul had thought about this then? The attraction, the strange sort of pull that was suddenly in between them.
Slowly Edward nodded.
At the same time, both of them moved their legs so that their knees bumped together.
Lightning.
They both gasped, luckily nobody was sitting that close to them so they didn't attract attention.
Feeling brazen all of a sudden, Edward placed his hand on his knee with his fingers spread but not touching Paul.
How had they gone from mortal enemies to this was beyond him. Right now he didn't care about anything but the person sitting next to him and the rolling thunder he could hear in Paul's heartbeat.
The wolf mimicked Edward's action and put his hand on his own knee.
Even if their fingers weren't touching, it felt like the heat from Paul was making some strange magnetic pull that called to the cool body of Edward's.
"If the room was dark there would be visible electricity between our pinkies right now." Paul said in his mind, his tone was sort of lazy, in awe and filled with excitement at the same time.
It sounded weird, but somehow Edward knew perfectly what the wolf's emotions were right now.
"Have you ever...before..." Paul's next thought drifted to Edward's mind and then it paused in the middle. "I mean...you're old. Is this..."
He knew Paul was trying to figure out if this was as rare as he thought it was. Edward nodded.
"Never before." he whispered with his lips barely moving.
How they both had missed it before was strange but extremely lucky. Maybe it was because Paul never came close to the vampires unless he had to. Maybe, just maybe they could keep it in control after this week was over. When he'd go back to Bella and Paul would be free of the vampire invading his territory.
The last minutes of the class were long. Maybe longest in all of Edward's years.
When the bell rang, they were off for the door and Paul practically ran to the principal's office to explain the phonecall from his grandpa he never received. As usual, the principal was understanding, Paul thought that the guy really was a tool.
Without looking back the wolf and the vampire walked out to the parking lot and got to Edward's Volvo.
When they got in and headed towards Paul's house, Edward realized his grandpa might be home.
"Is he at home?" he asked and looked at Paul.
"No, he said he would go meet a friend. Won't be home until the evening. Watch the road." the wolf said, his fingers drumming his knees, nervous for both ending up in the ditch because Edward wasn't looking where he was driving and because of what they were clearly doing.
"I don't need to." Edward smirked but turned his head to look forward.
And then he lifted his cold hand and placed it on Paul's thigh.
There was a loud gasp from them both, the electricity inside the car doubled and both of their breathing picked up.
"And you don't even need to breathe..." Paul chuckled as Edward parked the car in front of the little house Paul shared with his grandpa.
You would think a vampire would be a bit more graceful and a wolf wouldn't be too far behind. Nevertheless, they both scrambled out of the car and towards the house. The door wasn't locked, they never bothered to lock it. Everyone knew each other in the reservation and no outsiders came here.
Paul walked straight to his little room and turned around to face Edward.
The golden eyes never left Paul's deep brown ones. Edward never looked around in the room, never cared for where they were. Instead he stepped right in front of Paul and for a moment they just stood still, staring at each other.
Very slowly Edward raised his hand and traced his cold fingers from Paul's temple, down to his cheek and chin. Paul gasped at the sensation.
"My fingertips feel like they're on fire." Edward's voice was barely a whisper.
"Your skin feels like ice."
"I've never felt anything this powerful before..."
"Now I know what I've been longing for..."
Paul leaned in and inhaled the sweet scent of the vampire. It wasn't so bad now. He chuckled and Edward raised a brow questioningly.
"Getting used to the stench." Paul thought and his eyes flashed amusedly.
When Edward threw his head back to laugh out loud, the wolf thought he had never heard anything so beautiful in his life.
Having the opportunity, he closed the distance and sneaked his fingers to the vampire's tousled hair at the nape of his neck. His mouth found the cold skin over where Edward's pulse had once been.
A low moan resonated in the non-existent space between them.
"I want to feel more of you."
Edward heard the thought and tugged Paul's shirt off before lifting his own hands so that his own shirt could follow Paul's to the floor.
Suddenly the room was filled with gasps of surprise and awe and pleasure.
Where Edward's skin was pale white and ice cold, Paul's was deep russet and hot like all the wolves' were.
For some reason neither of them made any effort to kiss the other, maybe it was a last frontier in intimacy-sort of thing? After all they were enemies, meant to do anything but this.
But those things weren't really what they were thinking. There were no thoughts of vampires and wolves, of Bella or of any resentment there might have been before.
All there was, were hands and mouths on each other's throats, chests, stomachs.
They stripped to their boxers and grinned a bit awkwardly, but the fact that they were both so lost with this all made it easier to get through the awkwardness.
Paul laid down on his bed, moving to lay next to the wall to leave room for Edward. It was an awkwardly narrow single bed, not meant for two full grown males.
"How did this escape us for so long? How is this even possible?" Edward breathed, looking at Paul who was so different now, as he laid on his back next to his mortal enemy. Or immortal enemy, what ever. There were endless puns in this, Edward was already ignoring most of them.
"I don't know. This is so new...so...insane..." Paul said out loud, smiling a bit.
"You should smile more," Edward said as he dipped his head to nip at the skin on Paul's collarbone and neck.
"I never had the reason before. And I certainly never thought the reason would turn out to be a vampire near my jugular." Paul chuckled and Edward couldn't help but to join in.
"Have you been attracted to a guy before?" he asked Paul as he traced patterns with his fingertips to Paul's chest and abs, making the wolf shiver with cold, excitement and slowly building arousal.
How it had turned in to this slowly building heat from the strange all-consuming electricity from before was beyond Edward, but he didn't care. This felt just as good in a different way.
"No...and you are my first vampire as well." Paul said and Edward nodded.
"You're my first wolf, though I have..." So he had been with another male. Luckily it didn't seem to bother Paul.
Suddenly there was some doubt in Paul's eyes.
"What?" Edward asked, his hand stilling on Paul's chest where it had ended up.
"Giving control to a vampire... Letting you so close." the thoughts made Paul's expression change in to hesitance.
"If they'd find you here dead, don't you think they'd come for me first? I wouldn't hurt you. I know you don't necessarily believe that but Paul...I don't even see you as a human in the blood source-way. You're something different, you're...I want you in a whole different way..." Edward said and his eyes darkened with the words.
"Have you had the talk with Carlisle? About the venom. I know it's sort of toxic, isn't it?" Paul asked.
"Have I asked my sort-of-father if I can fool around with a werewolf without injuring them with my venom?" Edward quirked an eyebrow and looked very amused.
Suddenly they both laughed out loud, unable to stop. It was so surreal...the whole situation. How the hell did they get to this?
They laughed so hard they actually clutched to each other and then suddenly the laughter died down in an instant.
Paul's hands were around Edward's waist and their faces were almost touching. Their chests were pressed together and then the electricity hit them again.
"Lightning." Edward muttered.
xxXxx
Edward's POV // Paul's POV
His hands were hot on my skin, his lips scorched my skin and as he licked my neck I moaned to his hair, my erection growing painfully hard.
His skin tasted nothing like a human's would. It tasted like...him. Something strange but good, something wild in a whole different way. I wanted him more than I had ever wanted anyone.
His scent invaded my senses. His blood never called for me, but I could hear his heartbeat and it sang to me, the faster it got, the more beautiful the sound was. I had never wanted someone to live so badly.
The fact that he was cold underneath me, the fact that there was no frantic heartbeat in his chest, didn't bother me. The vampire scent didn't phase me anymore. When I nipped at his skin, the sounds reverberating from his chest were all I needed.
Somehow wordlessly we agreed not to take risks with my venom. Who knew if it would actually be worse for him than it would for a human, even without it getting to the bloodstream? No risks. I felt him kiss his way down to my stomach and my whole body tensed with the sensations of his scorching heat on my cold skin.
His body was foreign to me in so many ways. It was like mine was, so the familiarity was there as well. But to see his skin up close like this, to taste it and to move my hand over the hard muscles under the cold skin... I was turned on by it all. Who would have thought?
When his fingers sneaked under the waistband of my boxers as his mouth moved to my nipples, I stopped breathing. I couldn't help it but that part of me, no matter how well trained it was, was overridden in an instant. Startled, I looked at him, to see if I freaked him out.
"Did you think that I didn't already know you were technically dead?" I asked, letting the words in to the room, my voice husky from the desire. He chuckled and the sounds turned in to a moan as I bravely slid my hand in to his boxers and wrapped my fingers around his cock.
My laughter turned in to a loud moan and a buck of my hips when I felt the heat around my length. His hand covered a lot of the surface on the most sensitive part of my body. The heat was almost too much, almost... "Oh...God..." I moaned and my eyes must have rolled back to my head as soon as he began to slowly pump his hand around me.
I hadn't done this before. Not for another guy. But I found myself fascinated with the act, with the way he was similar and different and how he sounded. His guttural moans and hisses and some strange almost purring sound that vibrated under my lips as I bit down to his nipple, that sound was purely Edward, or purely vampire, who knew.
I was lost. For once I was lost in the ecstasy which I knew was what had destroyed all those dwellings my family had lived in. I knew why they felt sorry for me for not having anyone to complete me. No one to trash those bedrooms with. The thought amused me and made me sad at the same time. I still had nobody like that. The ecstasy began to rush towards my center from my limbs. I knew I was close.
His body tensed under my hand and mouth. I moved my lips upwards to his neck, to the spot I had realized was sensitive for him just as it was for me. His hips bucked and I began to twist my hand around him, bringing my thumb over the tip of his cock a few times and squeezing more firmly.
Suddenly it felt like someone hit me with something. The orgasm made my whole body tense, my back arch and a growl rumble out of my chest as I clung to Paul's shoulders.
There was something wild with how he came. Something that made my wolf-side slightly cautious. The edge of control was there for both of us for a moment. Visible, in reach but not needed. As soon as his body relaxed again, I pumped a few more times and laid down next to him. It was a peaceful moment. He was breathing again, which sounded so loud in the room now. Of course I realized he must have breathed some to be able to make all those sounds but it seemed so odd now.
I looked down at him and smiled. "That felt amazing." I could see his eyes look up at me, knowing he knew how good it had been. How close to the brink of losing it I had been for a moment. I could have felt his wolf-side almost vibrate with tension when I came. "Close call, eh?" I murmured to his hair.
"Yes. It was strange." I answered him. Edward was relaxed now, but the split second before that... It had been a close call between our natures. I would have hurt him if I had phased right there and then. I had been nowhere close to that but what if...
"Don't think about it. Nothing bad happened. Something good did, though." I murmured, stroking his cheek and I lifted his chin with my fingers to get him to look at me. When he did, I placed a chaste kiss on his lips, our first shared kiss, and I felt him smile and his lips move a bit but never opening. This felt right and wrong at the same time.
He was about to touch me again, to bring me pleasure, when he suddenly went still. "Your grandpa." he said, and because I knew he could hear so much better than I could so I didn't doubt him. I told him where the bathroom was and he jumped up, gathering his clothing and went to get cleaned up.
I knew there could never be us. I also knew that one day I'd imprint to someone like Sam had imprinted on Emily. Who it would be, I didn't know, but I knew it would override everything in me. Including this passion I had for this particular vampire.
I knew there were days still. The rest of the week. I would get pleasure from him, and he from me. There was no way either of us would let this kind of thing slip through our fingers. This was rare. This was powerful. This was unique.
I could never have Paul, but I had this week with him and it would be enough. Maybe one day, when Bella was a vampire I could have what my family had too? Maybe things would change?
Maybe one day I wouldn't just thirst for what I couldn't have and there would be more than longing for me?
I hoped there would be a storm within me when Bella was finally a vampire. I didn't like the idea of her becoming like me but Alice had seen it long ago. So maybe, just maybe, I would hear the thunder?