Chapter 2:

Settling In

If only Maxine could just see that I was remembering Demitri without pain. Would she understand then? Probably not. I haven't talked about it much with her. All of these thoughts raced through my head after Maxi had lightly tapped on my shoulder, her bright and chipper ring in her voice made to anger me, "Laura, we're here!"

I was far too happy and blissful to wake on the wrong foot. I didn't try to throw her across to Japan; I smiled and went up to hug her. I felt my heart open up and also embrace the woman around her waist, which was covered by a purple plaid skirt and her shirt of white, my smile uncontainable. I was so happy, just SO so happy. I didn't care who knew it, I didn't care if Jo held this against me, I didn't care what anyone would think or say--they wouldn't be able to break me down.

"For a vampire, you sure act as if had a nice nap, La-Chan," Not even the name bothered me, I was that blissful. I held her tighter, her chipper attitude only contributing to my own.

I breathed in her scent--strawberry, with a hint of rose, "I love everyone, Maxi," I exhaled.

"Hey, hey! She's mine!" Joseph griped at me, and I only turned to him, releasing his fiancé as implied, his brown spikeless hair looking a haystack. Pleasantly, he wore black jean shorts, a black Alice Nine T-Shirt, and black Nike's.

"I may be bisexual, but she's merely a sisterly figure to me. I would never betray Demitri like that, JoBo!" My voice... was warm... almost a murmur, but not that quiet. Punching him in the arm, a giggle shoved its way through my lips, and lightly caressed and tended to the wounds surrounding my heart.

"Still, we've got to hurry. You've got to get to the house before the sun does." Oh. That's right. The sun burns vampires, as seen in the movies and text books. Joseph's reminder sent me leaning down to the floor, where my gray crimson striped tote lay. I grasped it by its black straps, quickly opening it. I absentmindedly rummaged through the contents until I felt soft, satiny or silky fabric meet my fingertips. I yanked it out, and then slipped the cloak over my head and through the collar, my arms entering through the black, silken sleeves, the rest tumbling down to my ankles. I put my hands up to my head, pulling up the hood along with the small vanity voice speaking and reminding me of my hair. I wasn't planning on impressing anyone and who cared, anyway?

Vivi's arm detached from Daisuke's arm, her amber warm eyes overjoyed as caramel colored bangs hung above them, her hair pulled into a side braid that reached to her shoulder.

Daisuke's hair was no more than the norm of his nature-- naturally sleek, and long, flawlessly in a ponytail. It was amazing how from the back of his head, his figure was suspiciously alike to Demitri...

Honosuke's hair was... SPIKELESS?? Such green hair deserved spikes in my opinion.

Jessi's hair was still spikey, her now black hair sleek, and flawless--just as she. She had bangs that covered her eyebrows, black and shiny with two small strands to match

Now, her husband, Alex, had a neon green mohawk, his hair coming off as scarily attractive.

I looked behind me, Annalize's hand tapping my shoulder. My eyes peered at her long, layered purple locks as they shined in the white light. She also had her cloak on, I noticed. Good. I craned my head to the left of her, seeing that Daisuke was cloaked, but I only saw his pink shoulder-length layered hair, along with Honosuke, who was at his right talking in a circle with Mathew and Alex-- his hair in it's normal mid back length ponytail. He worked it, though. No split ends, it was the perfect style for him, so no complaints here. Matt was in the process of cloaking himself. In less than a few vamp moments, his spikey black hair coming up, his eyes darting to me. I only saw his left eye-- his other eye was covered by orange bangs that layered and neck length.

I snapped my head forward--my body soon to follow--, seeing that all of the vampires in my coven-- Maxine, Honosuke, Jessica, Vivi, Daisuke, Annalize, Andrew, Angel, and Mathew-- also were repeating the same action, going in slow motion so we wouldn't stand out.

Grabbing my tote and slinging it through my arm and on my shoulder--after digging in it to get a scarf to hide my face and very large sunglasses for my eyes-- I walked after Vivi, Maxine, Joseph, Jessica, Annalize, Angel, Andrew, Mathew, Daisuke, and Honosuke.

I smirked as I walked towards the stairs at the entrance of the airplane, seeing the cloakless Joseph. Max, Jess, and I huddled together as I motioned for them to come to me. Pointing to him, I shouted obnoxiously, "So, one is the loneliest number. Isn't it, Jobo?"

"Up yours La-La." Aw, he must be waking up. So irritable, adorable, and fun.

"Gee, acting like an old fart ain't gonna getcha laid any quicker!" Jess called, igniting us ablaze with uncontrollable laughter. As I drew in a breath, the overwhelming aroma of human blood welcomed my nose, adding oil to intensify the burn of my thirst. I clutched my throat, resisting the urge to scratch at it.

"Heh, pay back's a bitch, Laura!" Jo, that asshole...

"Look who's talking!" Max shouted angrily, a loud growl in her voice. 'Jo hit below the fucking belt. That son of a bitch... as soon as we are not in public, he's gonna get the bitch of a lifetime.' Wow. She never protected me like this. Probably because she was feeling the pain, as well.

I felt bad for him. They'd get 'quality' time, alright. Soon enough; Max had to pick up her red Sonata, Vivi and Daisuke's beige Toyota Camry, Jess and Alex's teal Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Mathew and Angel's Mini Cooper, Annalize and Andrew's Ford Taurus, and my electric purple Aprilia Tuono 1000R. (Cars were a couple thing-- not only that, it used less gas than the other cars in my coven.

After a swift roll of my eyes with a complimentary sigh, I flashed my eyes to the bag under Maxine's arm, like a purse. Scanning her dark purple tote, I saw an adorable Invader Zim's Gir in the bottom right hand corner, his face smeared with white frosting and sprinkles. Scribbled on the bag in a variety of fonts and formats in white was the word, 'Cupcake' in any direction possible. I snarled, her bag proof that there was something wrong with my taste in style. It showed in everything from shoes to curtains, from restaurants to hairstyles.

To hide my surprise, I sprang for it spazzistically, eyeing it wildly. "OMFG, you have, like, the best taste in bags, Maxi," I complimented after taking it into my hands and holding it close to my face in the worst of snob voices.

"Like, I know! Thing was imported directed from Paris at a very rare and rich store-- Hotteh Topeec, " See? I told you, everything I can do Max can do better. (Que the music.) Her snob voice sounded bitterly sweet, and sounded as if the chime in her voice were to mask the devious and sinister ideas, thoughts, and habits that lurked within her... not that I was surprised. She was pure evil at times, but she wasn't a snob. She had her moments. After biting my lip to stop the laughing, I kept my lips sealed, my legs running on a high-wire; any sudden happenings would set me off the deep end with my thirst. I needed to hunt. I can't risk total exposure like that. Not now. Not with innocent people, and children that didn't deserve to die early.

Shuddering, my eyes caught something from the right of me, the voice aggressive and in-command, but having just an ounce of humor, "You assholes, don't make me laugh! But, I top yours, both of yours. I got mine in Arabia-- Hottsheh Topeesh." Yup. That was definitely Jess-- the zest tone in her voice, and the sarcastic choice of humor to match.

"That's Italian, dumbtard." Max corrected, clicking her teeth and rolling her eyes.

Jess was right. Her's topped mine, but I don't know abut Max's. Her bag practically forced my bag to pale in comparison. As my found a picture of Jack Skellington standing on a curved hill as seen as the story, it was colorless except black. It must have been a silhouette because a wide moon had Jack's attention, his head turned to it as he stood tall. I couldn't stop myself from critiquing the illustration of Jack-- tall, lanky, and practically bones.

Okay, now I felt stupid. Of course he'd be skinny; he's a skeleton for fuck's sake. 'Back to kindergarten with you.' I chastised myself, biting my lip in order to hide my embarrassment.

I got to give props to the designers; they really chose the content of the bag wisely. Lucky the bag wasn't black; otherwise I'd have told Jess to take it back. Immediately. That would've made her seem awfully cheap and redneckish. But who was I to talk? I didn't even have much fashion expertise myself. Aaaaaah well, it can't be helped. I still don't think that the bag should've been light blue-- it's one of those things that don't really go well with everything. It was a one-time usage thing.

Since when did was I able to rotate from moods so easily? I wasn't this happy too often-- in fact, I was usually the leader who kept realiciness and seriousness in my coven. What happened? How did I lose that role in only a matter of seconds? What could've stripped that ability from me? Did joking around with the twins screw up my niche in this coven? What good was focusing on Demitri if he only distracted me? My coven deserved much more than that-- if they put their lives on the line constantly from being my friends or comrades, then the least I could do for them was be alert of a surrounding such as this. The surrounding in which anyone could die, anyone could. . . could . . . it's just risky!!

"Come on, you guys, I can't let anyone steel our so called 'crap,'" I urged, stopping a good four yards away from the door that led from the walkway to the airport. Getting the messege, they sped up to me-- in top speed. Glaring at them in warning, I clenched my fists; quickly looking over my shoulder at my speed, making sure no one would suspect me from looking paranoid over my shoulder.

Maxine bit her peach glossy lip while Jessi had this guilty glint in her eyes-- like two shameful puppies, murmuring in a soft, almost satin, voice, "Sorry."

Now, I knew they got it. I unclenched my fists-- and unhunched my shoulders (I must have done that.)-- and turned to flick the door gently open, holding it for the two. Once Max entered after Jess, I followed, putting my hood on to scare off locals. I wanted them to think ill of me. I mean, I wanted them to steer clear of me. I couldn't have anyone stand in my way.

But they did. It was crowded, but who was I to complain? A smirk etched on my face through the blackened silhouette of my head as I prepared my precision and grace, which came naturally with the vampire package.

I groaned, having to sniff my suitcase out; I hadn't any time for delaying and trying to sight my suitcase. The sun couldn't wait. Drawing in a burning breath of human infested air, I sniffed for my own scent-- roses and rain. I kept on sniffing in every direction, turning in a full circle, scratching the air for my scent.

I found many scents-- the bitter sting of perfume, the powderiness of cosmetics, the nose burning of smuggled drugs, the repulsive scent of both fresh and new urine and waste, the chalkiness of baby formula, and fabric of many scents which were both appealing and uncomfortably disgusting. Sequence, leather, drug seeping wool, wool in general, and furs were taking the joyous of scents away from the air that I searched. It thwarted cashmere, silk, faux fur, cotton, clean clothes, and the crisp scent of rubber. I wrinkled my nose, new scents contributing or decreasing the pleasant and unpleasant scents in this airport.

My eyes flashed open, my head snapping in the direction forty degrees southeast of me. My scent was faint, but it grew sharper by the second. Rose and coffee entered my nose, my own personalized scent entering my nose. I knew I couldn't rush towards it as my joints commanded. I grinned, seeing a crowd before me.

The aroma of business people, tourists, foreigners, locals, employees, and us vamps entered my nose, the sweet scent of honey, expensive perfume, pine, colognes, fabric softeners, metals, cosmetics, fabrics, paper, booze, lilies, flowers, tears, blood… blood… blood… and more blood!! Through the battle of vile, tolerable, and heavenly scents, the blood overcame the negative and positive. It was both.

The burn didn't yanked at my throat, making me cough. Swaying with uneasiness, inhaled deeper, and wishing the temptation would satisfy the thirst. I burned, and burned, and burned, and burned for what seemed to be all of eternity.

I felt like Pandora. Watching temptation, illness, lust, natural disasters, and all that threatened the human population erupt from the chest. Watching, trying to subdue the negativity by hopelessly trying to execute the things from the air. Trying to breath in something else. Stripping the air for something that didn't burn me.

But the new opponent that entered the battle—blood—easily overthrew all the terrible, tolerable, and joyous scents at once. Sending me into it's new kingdom, an oligarchy, a hellhole, an empire full of guilty pleasures, self-indulgence, and indesperation.

Seeping through the wall I created to protect me from the dehydration, it grasped me by the arms, guiding me to a vulnerable mother and her children as they headed to the restroom, her luscious aroma of peaches, grapes, and leather sending a pleasant shiver down my spine. I closed my eyes and let it push my body towards the bathroom, picturing the woman's tan, thin, smooth throat in my mouth, my hands pinning her to the wall. I would let myself stroke her neck with my nose, a tremble of terror would react to my action. The pleas of her and her children would be oblivious t—

No… no... no! Tears would flow down their face, their beautiful, angelic voices stained with hysterical fear, sadness, and torture as I killed the mother.

I flinched, freezing dead in my tracks. James…

*Flashback*

"No, I'll do it, just leave my grandma alone!" I shrieked, scratching against the metal bars that held me captive.

"No, not by this man! I'll be fine, we'll always be together! In your heart, my baby, in your heart I will be!!" My grandmother said quickly, "Think of the stone, Laura! The sto—"

She was saying goodbye! She can't! I can't lose her! No, she's got so much more to do! She can't, she wouldn't, she won't!

"Fuck the damned thing! It means nothing if you die, now!! I'll do it, James, Anything, just leave my g-grandma alone! I'm here, so take me! Just leave her alone!!" I cut her off, screaming louder as the silhouette of the man holding the grandmother in a headlock—preparing to break her neck.

"You promise?"

"Y-Yes, I promise, now let her g-go!!"

The man disappeared, my ears waiting to hear a snap—but it never came. I smiled, my grandmother's body running towards the door, wrenching it open and running to me. I opened my arms, but felt someone's cold hand slam me to the wall of the house, a snap of my back forced a scream exited my lips, shock and pain coming first. Then the bruising, hammer hitting pain came later, only making the scream increase in volume. I fought to stand up, ignoring the pain in my spine.

I panicked, looking about me as I searched for a bare-chested man, pale white, and torturously beautiful blonde hair. Flinching behind me, I scanned my surroundings, taking my karate stance, listening for a flicker of grass, or a gust of wind, or a snap of a tree branch, or any signal of his presence.

A pair of withered and frail arms wrapped around my waist, my grandma's tears soaking the bruise in my back. I flinched from the pain, so she loosened her grip on me. Instead, I turned around, holding her close to me protectively. "Laura, my baby, my girl…"

I knew now that I didn't need a mother—I had her. My real mother was probably making a profit or merging with another company. As usual, she didn't really care about me as long as I made the family look good. My grandma actually cared. I didn't feel this… this driven to protect anyone but my dog, Chiriko. She clutched my waist tighter, tears running down her face and on my shoulder.

A pair of hands snapped me away from her, my body not going very far. A good four or five feet away from my grandmother. I was pinned to the ground, James's penetratingly beautiful garnet eyes staring into my widened blue eyes. I couldn't move; he was poisonously handsome. I could picture kissing him, him kissing me, going farther…

"Get your hands off of her!" Mimi! Snapping out of his trance, I writhed under his grasped, fighting effortlessly. 'You can't break free, so don't waste your energy.' The Pessimist voiced, her voice bring sense into me. I froze again, sighing.

"You change her, you change me!" My grandmother bargained, shoving his arms away. It was like she was pushing a volcano. With a temporary flick of his arm, she was crashing into the window, followed by an African vampire, and then all I could here was her screaming.

"What did you d—"

"You'll see."

*End of Flashback*

I held a blazing breath, and then went to the luggage claim in a military march. The roses and rain changed its course—had I waited too long?? Did the employees toss it in another location?

Daring myself to take another breath, a squad of burning cacti charged for my throat. I snapped my eyes shut, shutting off all blood scents and hung onto my scent like Pandora and Hope.

It was… behind me. I flipped around fast, sure that others were too busy to care who was doing what. A few other scents caught my nose—oak and wool. That was Joseph. The mixture of sunflower seeds and Axe body spray stained the blood.

Also, I smelled strawberries with a hint of rose—Maxine's scent--mixed with a pair of black thick-heeled shoes, the heels standing a good four inches. Next, was a pair of black tinted tights, covered by a blue jeans skirt. Above that was a… either red or pink, I can't smell--T-shirt, matching arm warmers.

Then, oak and wool—Joseph. He was wearing blue baggy jeans, a plain white T-shirt, and… oh, no—he's wearing Alex's black and white Converse, the one with the high top, the one he almost killed Joseph for.

Turning around to look at him nervously, realizing that he was wearing a black sweater, "Jo, get those off!! Alex will—"

"It's okay, Laura. He gave them to him. Alex bought other ones." Maxine informed me, her white skin tight with frustration. 'I can protect him as well as you can, Laura.' Jealousy.

"Oh… okay." I let my shoulders slump from my alarmed and straight posture.

Then, the herd of scents pounded my mind and torched my throat. Cinnamon and leather, newspaper and Axe Phoenix cologne, vanilla, rain, cherry and paprika, lemon and rubber, watermelon, and silk and rusted silver. I recognized them as Jess, Alex, Vivi, Daisuke, Annalize, Andrew, Angel, and Matt. In that same order.

They sped to where Maxine, Joseph, and I stood, there bags in hand.

"Do you have the address Yondaimei gave us?" I asked.

Some of them said, "Yes" aloud, others gave a quick nod of their head.

"Then lets go."

Then, it occurred to me that I didn't know what… or who awaited us in forks. I didn't have Joseph under my supervision.

I didn't dare tell the others—we'd waste time forming a defense system while the truck that composed of our furniture waited. They'd probably leave. Plus, Alex and Daisuke would start a riot if they knew—and over-enthusiastically boasted about their strengths. Maxine, Angel, and Annalize would worry of who would be protecting Joseph. Joseph would be aggravated that we knew he was weak. And I, would be fighting for their attention.

Plus, the coven would fight much better on impulse.

So, we walked out the door—their minds filled up on the worries or the excitement of seeing the Cullens once more; mine was full of paranoia and annoyance at the thought of seeing Edward scowl at me once more.