Blood Moon
Chapter 2: Conversations
After all the guests left, I went up to my room, changing out of my dress and into my shorts and a tank top, letting my hair fall done my back. I walked back downstairs, where Em and Jazz sat on the couch. "Hey, where's Alice?" I asked them.
Jasper looked up at me. "She's in the kitchen with Rose and Esme. Everything okay, Gwen?"
I should've known he wouldn't felt my distress but I really didn't feel like expressing my boy problems with my two older brothers. My two…really big, menacing-when-they-want-to-be brothers. So I shook my head and walked into the kitchen, where they were finishing cleaning up.
"Hey, guys." I smiled softly and they all looked at me, smiling back and waving.
"How're you feeling?" Alice asked and I bit my lip, shrugging.
"I was kinda hoping we could talk about that." I said and Esme turned from the dishwasher to look at me.
"Everything okay, dear?" She asked and I nodded, not wanting her to worry.
"Yeah, everything's fine. I just wanna talk to Alice about something." I said, taking Alice's hand and leading her up the stairs to my room, ignoring the worried glance from my brothers.
I went over to sit on my bed, which was useless but I love the comfort of it, while Alice shut the door behind her, coming to sit beside me. She rubbed my shoulder and I sighed, looking up at her.
"Why do I feel so confused, Alice? I mean, I know I shouldn't involve myself with Seth because of how you're watching the Volturi and all but I don't mind how sweet he is to me. I-I actually enjoy." I finished in a whisper, feeling slightly guilty and she rubbed my arm again.
"Well, I hate to say that you can't be with Seth but I guess I have to for now, I'm afraid. With the Volturi watching us so closely, I wouldn't be able to see anything if you two were together. I'd be completely blind." She said softly and I knew she was trying to break the bad news to me as easily as she could.
I nodded, staring down at my feet and she wrapped her arm around my shoulder, hugging me.
A soft knock on the door announced that someone was there and we looked up to see Carlisle standing in the doorway.
"Everything alright?" He asked in his soft voice and we nodded but you couldn't fool Carlisle, especially if you were his daughter. He walked in, shutting the door behind him and came to sit on the other side of me. "What seems to be the problem here, hmm?" He asked, using his doctor voice.
"Gwen's feeling conflicted." Alice answered for me and I silently thanked her.
"How so?" Carlisle asked and I sighed, looking up at my father.
"Because tonight I noticed Seth Clearwater taking a bigger interest in me than I ever thought he would. And I honestly didn't mind it at all…" I whispered, searching Carlisle's golden eyes for and answer.
He sighed, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, resting over Alice's arm. "Well, Gwen, as I'm sure Alice has explained to you—"
"I can't involve myself with him because she couldn't see if I was safe or not from the Volturi." I answered for him, mumbling sadly.
He sighed again, squeezing my shoulders once before standing. "Gwen, I'm afraid Alice is right. The risk is just too great and we couldn't risk you getting hurt because you'd be with the wolves. The only one of us that could see you would be Edward, but since he's on his honeymoon…" He trailed off, running a hand through his blonde hair.
I nodded, feeling numb. "Okay. Thank you guys for trying to help." I whispered, standing as I went to walk them out of my room. As I shut the door behind them, I turned around, sighing, when I noticed something move outside of my window. I gasped a little but when I stepped closer, I saw the outline of Seth Clearwater sitting on my balcony.
I shook my head, laughing, as I walked over to let him in. When he stepped into the light of my room, my breath caught in my throat. He was shirtless and wearing a pair of khaki shorts and I knew he'd been phasing recently.
"Hey, Gwen." He greeted me, leaning down to kiss my forehead and I smiled shyly, knowing I would be blushing if I could.
"Hi, Seth." I whispered and went over to sit by him on my bed. As soon as I sat down, he reached down and took my hand, twining our fingers together and smiling softly at me. "W-what brings you here tonight?" I said, loosing a little bit of my concentration when his thumb rubbed circles on my hand.
He smiled slyly at me. "Maybe I wanted to see you." I smiled a bit, looking away shyly, only to have him turn my face around back to him. "So…how're you?"
"I feel bad." I blurted out before I had the chance to stop myself.
Within a second, his eyes narrowed and his grip tightened on my hand. "Why? Did someone hurt you?" He demanded and I smiled a little, shaking my head.
"No, no one's hurt me, Seth." I answered but I knew he wasn't going to take that.
"Then tell me what's wrong, Gwen." He reached up and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, resting his hand on my face.
I reached up, curling my fingers around his and I sighed. "Alice says I can't be with you…" I whispered, that numb feeling returning.
Seth's eyes narrowed again. "What do you mean?"
I looked down, trying to ignore the hardness that I didn't even knew existed within his gaze. "You know Alice's visions?" I continued after he nodded, squeezing my hand. "Well, remember when you and the wolf pack left the clearing after Jake got hurt? Well, as soon as you guys left, the Volturi stepped in and they basically threatened to keep an eye on Bella and the rest of us until she was a vampire."
"So what does that have to do with us?" He asked, rubbing my face with his thumb.
"Alice has been keeping an eye on them to see if they make any decisions to come after us again. And she can't see you guys so if you and I are together and away from the house, she won't be able to see us." I answered, sighing and looking down.
He sighed again, removing the hand from my face and dropping it in his lap. "So basically there's no chance you and I can be together unless Bella gets changed?"
I nodded, feeling more miserable than I should have. I mean, I was a vampire and he was a werewolf. There was no way the Volturi handle us as well as they did Edward and Bella. But I couldn't explain anymore about them to Seth-the less he knew about the Volturi, the better.
He let go of my hand and I wrapped both of my arms around my stomach, curling in on myself. I felt his eyes look down at my face but I kept staring across the room at the full-length mirror hung on the wall.
I saw a miserable reflection of myself, my bronze hair falling in waves around my face and down to the bottom of my ribcage, like it had been for over 100 years now.
Seth, however, looked strikingly beautiful to me and I thanked God that I couldn't blush. His short hair fell in little droops to hang over his forehead, just barely covering his dark, black eyes. His tan skin was the color of cinnamon sugar and I bit my lip, hating that's how I looked at him.
He looked up and saw me staring at him through the mirror and his lips cracked in a smile, causing a small one to form on my lips. He stood, taking my hand and pulling me to my feet. "So if Alice can't see us, how about you and I go out for a night?"
I gaped at him for a moment. "Are you dense? Did you not just hear a single word I said?" I smiled a little at the end, letting him know I was kidding about the dense part, even though part of me though it could be true.
He rolled his eyes, leading me over to the open French doors to my balcony. "Live a little, Gwen. You're what, 105 now? I think you need to have your first sneak out night."
I rolled my eyes at him now and he squeezed my hand, stepping up onto the balcony rails. I gasped, gripping at his hand. "Are you nuts?" I rasped at him, my eyes wide.
Seth sighed, jumping back down to stand in front of me. "Don't worry about the jump, Gwen; worry about what follows." The wink he gave me made my head spin a little and I looked away, up at the full moon.
Seth turned my face towards his, his eyes searching mine. "Gwen, are you okay? Is there something you need to talk to me about?"
Yes! I thought mentally to myself. I need to tell you that you're driving me nuts yet making me fall in love with you every moment of the day! But that would sound so overly desperate and even if I was a vampire teen, I still worried about sounding clingy and desperate. I had always been that way.
I shook my head, reaching up to remove his hand from my chin but he grabbed it in his hand, twining our fingers together.
"Come on, Gwen. Jump with me then we can go for a walk and talk, k?" He said, stepping back up onto the railing, still holding my hand. He gave my arm a light tug and I gulped, my fear of heights returning.
"I-I don't know, Seth. I'm not a huge fan of jumping off my balcony in the middle of the night without my family knowing." I smiled softly at the end and he grinned.
He pulled my arm up, grabbing my waist as I stepped up beside him and he pushed me a little in front of him on the wide railing, his arms going fully around my waist. The sharp pang in my stomach made my smile because I enjoyed that feeling of his arms around me more than I should have.
"Don't worry, Gwen, I've got you." He whispered in my ear and a chill ran over my body. He tightened his arms around me and breathed "Close your eyes" before he jumped, sending us both off of my balcony, to the ground 3 stories below.
I opened my eyes when I felt my feet hit the ground and I tried to step out of Seth's arms but he held me there. I twisted around to face him and I realized his face was too close to mine for me to be a bit comfortable.
"Gwen…" He breathed my name and my eyes flickered up to meet his as he brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. "What are you so afraid of with me?"
I looked down and realized that wasn't my brightest idea. I came face-to-face with his bare chest and I bit my lip, knowing I would be blushing if I could have, before I looked up to meet his eyes again.
"I-it's complicated," I whispered.
He trailed his fingers down the side of my face and titled my face up to look up at him better. "Tell me,"
I bit my lip again and looked back at the dark woods that seemed a bit menacing this late at night. Seth turned my face back around and followed my gaze, sniffing the air like he was checking for something. "Can we walk and talk? I don't want my family to hear." I whispered, glancing back at the house.
Seth nodded, letting go of me but kept a strong arm around my waist as we started walking towards the darkness. As soon as we were covered in darkness, Seth walked me over to a fallen down tree and sat down on it, placing me beside him. "Okay, so start, Gwen."
I sighed, looking down at my feet and he squeezed my waist once. I gulped before looking up at him, whispering so I was positive we wouldn't be heard. "The Volturi only came this past summer to check on Bella, to see if she was still human, not to kill off the newborns." Seth's eyes narrowed and I put my hand on his arm, telling him it was okay. "Well, they're only tolerating her being human because Aro believes she'll have a great power once she is changed and when she is, he'll ask her to join the Volturi. We all know she won't but he'll be stubborn."
"I still don't know why you and I can't—" I cut him off my placing my hand over his mouth and I felt his lips curve up under my palm.
"Let me finish, Seth." I whispered and he nodded, and I started to take my hand of his lips but he reached up and held it there, kissing my palm once before holding it in his own hand. "Uh, well, if they're not happy with Bella and Edward, there's no way they'd be happy with you and I. I can't just risk you getting hurt just because—"
He cut me off this time, placing his huge, warm hand over my lips. "Don't worry about me, Gwen. With the Volturi keeping tabs on you guys, I'm going to be spending a lot more time around here. Nothing of harm will come to your family, understand me?"
I gulped, nodding under his hand and he smiled softly, pulling his hand away. "Just be careful…" I whispered before I breathed something I never thought I would've said to him. "For me…"
He leaned down, resting his forehead against mine and I smiled softly. "I would do anything for you, Gwen…" He breathed and I sighed, pulling back so that I could hug him. He kept me held against his chest and I smiled, completely content at that moment.
Seth walked me back to my house just before the sun rose and he grabbed my waist again, using his werewolf abilities to jump from the ground, climb the tree closest to my window and landing on the balcony, all while carrying me. He set me on my feet just as the sun broke through the trees and I smiled warmly, going over to stand out freely in the sunlight.
When my skin started to sparkle, I heard Seth gasp and I turn around to face him but I bit my lip shyly when I saw him staring at me. "What?" I asked quietly as he stepped up towards me.
"Beautiful," He murmured, brushing back my hair and I smiled softly up at him.
"Seth, you've seen all of us sparkle before." I whispered and his eyes flashed down to meet mine.
"Yes, but I've never got the chance to see only you and I'm wondering why I haven't gotten that chance before." He breathed and I gulped.
"Seth—" I started to say but when he started leaning closer to me, I put my hands on his chest and pushed a little.
"What's wrong?" He asked me softly and I looked away, at the bright sun coming up.
"I just can't risk us right now, Seth. I'm sorry…" I replied, looking back up at him.
He let go of my waist and stepped back, looking down at his feet. "Sorry, Gwen." But he looked back up at me with a grin on his face. "I'll be waiting for you." He whispered before stooping and kissing my cheek, right next to my lips before he jumped off my balcony again, running towards the woods.
I smiled, leaning against the balcony as I watched him run off. I felt so guilty for telling him that we couldn't be together when it was probably the thing I wanted most right now but I did it to keep him safe.
"Werewolves are stubborn, aren't they?" I heard Alice's voice from my doorway and I gasped, twirling around to see her leaning against the doorframe of the balcony doors, a small smile on her face.
"Oh, Alice! I'm so sorry! I know I shouldn't have gone out with him but—" I started, my eyes going wide. Alice may not look scary but she could be.
"Don't worry about it." She interrupted my apologizing, coming to stand beside me and her skin started sparkling. "I know how he feels about just by looking at him. It's the way Edward looks at Bella, Em at Rose—"
"Jasper at you?" I said smugly and she rolled her eyes.
"Yes," She nodded. "So there's no need for you to worry. I believe he's honestly in love with you, Gwen."
"Yes, she does have the loveable quality, doesn't she?" Esme stepped beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
I smiled, shaking my head and looked out towards the sun, flashing back to the night before I spent with a werewolf.
A/N: Well, there you have it! The second chapter is up! And Seth and Gwen are starting to get closer! :D R & R please!
