Chapter One
Renelle's POV
I woke up to the sound of my alarm. After ten more annoying beeps, I turned it off and lay on my bed.
Ugh," I groaned, putting my pillow over my head. The dream from last night came into my memory. It was so weird yet so familiar...
"No!" I'd yelled at the top of my lungs. Seven pairs of golden-eyes had looked at me in disbelief. One of them came to try to reassure me but I stepped away. The girl in front of me, with chocolate-brown eyes, tried to tell me to stay.
"Nellie, stay please," she pleaded. I couldn't leave her, but I had to.
After my little scene, I'd raced down the stairs in a speed that could only be identified as inhuman. I heard footsteps following me, but that only made me run faster. By the sound of them I knew it was the little girl. My feet took me through the door and into the forest. A growl made me turn around. A wolf was coming towards me, but my feet only made me run faster, deeper into the green trees and into the streets of the town. I went through the meadow on my way, it's flowers welcoming me, but I couldn't stay there now.
As soon as I was on one of the streets, I saw headlights coming, so I'd slowed down. The cruiser had been about to hit me, although luckily it didn't. It stopped right in front of me and I stepped back instinctively. Someone came out of it, a police officer who was a grown man. When he looked at me, he rushed out, leaving the door open.
"Renelle, is that you?" He asked in a sort of gruff voice. Probably had a bad day at work. I swallowed a little too loudly and he put his hands on my shoulders. "What are you doing running away from home? What happened?"
"Everything's fine, I'm just going to do some errands." The police officer didn't seem convinced, and he shook his head to show it. The little second of confusion and doubt was all I needed, and I shook his hands off. His eyes widened, knowing what I was about to do, but I was too fast for him. After one last look, seeing that he had a phone out, I took off again. The full moon put some light into the streets, although I could already see well enough. The greens of the forest concealed me a bit, but that was all I needed.
I'd ran past stores, restaurants, into streets and sidewalks, gas stations, auto places, and homes. Some homes were stuck together, looking the same. One had a stone entryway and the door was big, painted a light red, and the house next to it had the same design. Other homes had grey, white, and even russet looking doors. The only breaks I took was to use the restroom and sleep for one hour somewhere well concealed. On the second morning, I'd felt my throat burn and realized I needed to drink something. Even though I was running for what seemed like forever, I wasn't tired at all, not panting a single bit. One forest looked promising, so I ran into it. By the looks of it, I thought where I was was in Illinois. This seemed like a good place to stop at. An elk greeted me and it smelled delicious. I crouched, then lunged for its neck.
I gasped. What did that mean? That last detail was kind of frightening, and I couldn't seem to process everything. This was my family, not the one in my dream. The next word that came into my head made a shiver go down my spine.
Vampire. NO! I was not a blood-sucking being. But then again, why did I go into the forest a lot and for the elks, without realizing what I was doing, as if it were a habit! I decided to look it up on my phone. My hands were shaking a little bit now, from fear I guessed although I tried to control myself.
My phone took an extra second to process the word, too, but eventually gave me some sources to choose from. One of the links looked promising, Vampires A-Z. Certain sayings about vampires were everywhere on the screen. There was a little link that said, How to Tell a Vampire From a Human. That seemed to help so I touched it and bullet points filled part of my screen. Some were crazy, like:
-Burned by the sun
-Sleep in coffins
-Come out in only the nighttime
-No reflection
There were others that seemed to make my shiver once more.
-Very pale
-Inhumanly beautiful
-Skin shimmers in diamonds in the light
-Red eyes
-Impossibly fast and strong
-Immortal
This couldn't be. Sure, I was super fast and I could see that, but I wasn't too fast. I seemed to have all of the qualities, except for the red eyes. Instead of my eyes being red, I had bright blue-green eyes. When I looked at the side of the screen, I saw a little link that said, Vampire Hybrids. Huh. I was almost certain that I was for some reason, but I had to check to make sure. A description filled my screen, and I read through it.
Vampire hybrids are known to be half vampire and half human. Their eyes aren't red, but instead a regular eye color, like brown or blue. One of them is known to have bright blue-green eyes.
Hold up! Wait what? Calm down, I thought to myself. Maybe it's someone else they mean. I continued to read the passage.
They are even more inhumanly beautiful and grow at an accelerated rate until after seven years when their body has reached a mature height. As they grow, blood still runs through their circulatory system, and a faint blush fills their cheeks. Their heart beats stronger and faster than the average human. Hybrids' temperature is warmer than the average human temperature, reaching up to one hundred and five degrees Farenheit. Even though they are stronger than the average human, they aren't as strong as vampires. They also aren't as fast as vampires. They still have thirst but they eat food as well, and drink water, although they prefer blood.
This could not be. I was not one of them, but decided to delete the history, as I didn't want anyone to know that I was looking this up. They'd probably think I was crazy and I didn't need any of that. If it were true, I had to keep my secret. I got dressed after locking my phone and did my hair. When I looked in the mirror, those bullet points filled my head again. My bright blue-green eyes looked back at me with worry and yet just mostly curiosity. My cheeks were a little flushed, and I could hear my parents', Emily and Jerry, heartbeats and their breaths as they slept in. I could also hear my own heartbeat.
I sighed as I put my hair in a ponytail and curled a portion of my bangs, leaving them in my face.
I bounded down the black spiral stairs and into the kitchen. The stairs actually lead into the dining room, but an archway stood between it and the kitchen. It was a stone archway, and it was huge. The tiles changed to wooden floors as I entered the kitchen. After everything I've had to process this morning, I decided to settle on a granola bar.
Looking at the time, I could see that it was quarter to six. It was going to be some forty five minutes before I had to pack everything and walk to the bus stop, which was five minutes away from home. My school was fifteen minutes away from home in total.
I threw away my wrapper in the garbage and went back upstairs to brush my teeth. After that, I put my makeup on and watched some TV until it was time to pack my things and start walking to the bus stop. That's when I realized that the new girl had moved in, and her first day here would be today. I had to admit, I was curious to meet her later today.
At the bus stop, I could see the new girl. She had earrings that were circle shaped with a crystal charm on each. She had brown hair that went down to below her shoulders and was dyed lavender at the ends. The girl had blue eyes that seemed to look shy and curious. She wore a black leather jacket on top of a blue sparkly sequin top, with blue jeans and navy blue Converse.
When the bus came, we all got on, and as usual, I sat in the back with my friends. The new girl came to the back and turned to look at me.
"Do you mind if I sit with you?" She asked. I nodded and slid to the side, next to the window to give her room. She sat down and looked at me again. "My name is Antoinette, but you can call me Nettie."
I nodded. What a nice name, my aunt's middle name was Antointette as well.
"I'm Renelle, or Nellie, as my friends call me," I responded. "It's nice to meet you Antoinette."
"It's nice to meet you, too, Renelle."
The bus's engine revved and started to be on its way.
"So, where did you move from?" I asked, eager to start a conversation.
"Forks, Washington."
The name sounded really familiar for some reason. I shook my head, I've never went there before, so I could not be familiar with that place.
"It's really rainy over there," Antoinette continued. "So my mom wanted to move over here. It is good that my brother gets away from all the teasing though."
"Your brother got teased a lot?" I got teased here and there, but this seemed worse.
"Yeah, because he has down syndrome. I hope people here are nicer." Her expression held anger and sadness, but also something stronger, like protectiveness.
"I'm sorry about that," I said.
"Don't be," she responded.
The rest of the bus ride was quiet, and I kept thinking about how her brother must have gotten teased before. That must have been awful, and I made a silent promise to keep an eye out for anyone who teased her new brother.
When we got to school, before getting up, Antoinette turned to me.
"Can we be friends?" She asked.
"Of course," I answered, smiling that I could help her and be her friend. We shook hands and got off the bus together. I hoped Nettie and I would have classes together.