Chapter 2: In the Light of Day
She had left him before he had even walked into the room. Her eyes had snapped to his and held his gaze throughout her song. No! Her mind screamed, This is why we left, so this wouldn't happen! Why do the fates hate me so much?
But even as her mind protested his presence, she could feel the pull of him. She managed to shake the feeling from her mind and smiled brightly at the applause.
"Kendal, that was great! Are you sure that you can't stay another night? LA can wait!" Douglas the bartender slid a drink down the counter and into her open hand.
"No, I really do need to go." She controlled the urge to jump to her feet and run away. His eyes on her were a warm hand on her back as she made her way to the "dressing room" in the back. It was little more than a room with a vanity. She managed to control herself long enough to close the door. As soon as the lock clicked into place, she was moving with inhuman speed; throwing her few items into the bag that she brought with her. With a curse, she remembered all her other things upstairs in the room that Doug had let her use while she was in town.
Jacob's POV
He watched her walk to the back of the stage, looking like her skin wanting to crawl its way off her body to hide. She's going to run. The mental voice of his beast growled. She knows, and she's going to run away. We have to stop her.
He had actually take three steps toward the door she had went through before he even realized it. He made himself to stop moving. His wolf protested and tried to force its instincts on him. In his mind he could see the wolf pacing behind the iron bars of his control. It turned its amber eyes and lashed violently at those bars.
I can't force her into this. She needs a choice. Just take is slow, Jake.
He took a deep breath as he walked to the door. He raised his hand to knock, he cleared his throat preparing himself to introduce himself. As his hand began to fall towards the door, it slammed him in the nose. And it all went black.
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Oh great. Now not only is he here to tie me down, I have to go and break his damn nose. Can't just leave him like this. "Shit!" She cursed her rotten luck.
She bent down and looked at the unconscious man lying on the bare floor. He was quite the specimen. Tan skin met her eyes all the way from the open buttons at his throat to the rippled abs that flashed in his prone state. The muscles covering his arms begged her hands to touch and see if they felt as hard and warm as they looked. Get a hold of yourself, Kendal. You're panting like an virgin school girl.
"Is he alright, Kendal? Should we call an ambulance?" The barkeeper called from his position at the end of the bar.
"He'll be alright. Just help me carry him up to my room." She had rented a room above the bar and it was only a quick trip up the stairs.
A few of the patrons helped her carry the large man to her room and laid him none too gently on top of the covers. The entire bar had picked up on her aversion of the man. They are being protective, how cute. She laughed in her own head at the irony.
As the motley group left the room, Kendal noticed how large the man looked lying on her small bed. The fluorescent pink blanket under him placed emphasis on the deep chestnut of his long hair. His nose was still leaking blood, but it was much slower now.
She gently placed the ice pack against his quickly bruising face. Damn it, anyway. If I stay here, I'll be stuck with him. But if I leave, he may go looking for me! Damn imprinting, foolishness! She pouted as she watched his chest rise and fall with an even rhythm that tempted her to lay her head down and let that rhythm rock her to sleep.
She let her eyes wander over his body, pausing in place to appreciate the wideness of his shoulders, the strength in his thighs. She heard a quiet laugh from him and realized he had come to, and thought she had been staring at his crotch.
"See anything you like?" The man on her bed asked in a slightly nasally voice. She blushed.
He lifted the ice pack from his face and sat up on her bed. The room seemed much smaller and stuffy with him looking at her so intently. "My name is Jacob Black." He stuck out his right hand.
She looked at his hand a moment as if it were a viper poised to bite her, then she stretched out her own. "I'm Kendal Ravers." The awkwardness did not fade once they had been introduced.
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The vicious smile returned to Veronica's face as she watched the orange flame lick at the remains of the bloodsucker. The image of her dying family returned to her mind as she watched the last remnants of the bitch fade into ash.
As soon as she had stepped out of the car into the driveway of her home, she had sensed that something wasn't quite right. The woods that surrounded her cozy cottage seemed more ominous than they had ever been. As she neared the lovingly painted red door, she saw that it hung open.
"Angie?" She had asked as she stepped through the threshold. Her oldest daughter was always in the kitchen when she got home. Her sweet face would brighten. "How was your day, mommy." She had always asked. But not today.
Today was like a nightmare.
The first thing that Veronica had noticed was the blood staining the pure white tile of the kitchen floor. Second was the pale hand still clutching a knife tightly.
"Angie!" She barely managed the strangled cry as Veronica threw herself down next to her sweet daughter. She gently touched the girl's soft blonde locks. Her skin was still warm, but she was gone. Veronica numbly heard a voice asking why, not knowing it was herself. She brushed the long hair from her daughter's face and noticed the tell-tale bite mark. Vampire.
Remembering herself, she took the knife and silently made her way up the stairs. She met the dead stare of her son, Samson. He lay in a heap halfway out the door to his bedroom. The vampire had caught him before he knew what was going on. It will pay! My only son! Her mind screamed, but she could not grieve yet. As she rounded the corner heading to her middle child's room, she heard a small gasping. Felicia! Moving with superhuman speed that only a Pan-Were could possess, Veronica threw herself into the room after her daughter's captor.
The vampire had heard a brush at the door as she entered. Quickly as she came in the bloodsucker was out the window running on the ground, her blonde hair flowing out behind her. The vamp had unceremoniously dropped her daughter onto the floor with a sickening thud.
Seeing that the vampire had escaped, she pulled her daughter onto her lap. Felicia's eyes were beginning to close. "Don't go, sweetie. I need you to stay with me." Veronica cried rocking her child as she took her last breath.
"On the life of my children, I vow that the blonde bitch who did this will die!"
Veronica was pulled out of her dark memory, but the smell of vampires approaching. She quickly threw herself into the woods at a full gallop. Thank God for the wolves in the area. The leeches can't follow me there.
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Emmett's POV
Emmett decided to wait for a while and let Rosalie cool off. She wasn't the most understanding person he'd ever known. As he watched in the direction that she had went, he saw the orange flickers between the trees. Then a pillar of smoke began to rise, the hair on the back of his neck rose. Something isn't right.
"Carlisle, there's a fire going in the trees. We better take a look." Edward looked at him suddenly.
Yes, it might be Rose. Emmett thought as he took off in the direction of the fire.
A/N: Yes another cliffy. How will Emmett react? Please review!