Chapter 1: I am.. numb
[Third POV]
A lone car drove through the dense forest, its headlights guiding the way for the girl in it. Nearly two days had passed in which she'd consumed about 100 ounces of coffee and a mountain of candy, judging by the wrappers on the seat next to her. In all, she'd made it on three fuel stops and none to sleep. It was safe to say that at this moment in time, she was running on sugar and caffeine, her mind registering only two things.
One; The car was driving. That's a positive.
Two; There's a coffee stain on the passenger seat. Damn, that will be a pain to get rid of.
What she didn't notice, was a giant, sand colored wolf running parallel to her car, trees and darkness obscuring him from her view. If she hadn't been a living zombie, she might have noticed him, sensed him. Like he'd sensed her.
And it unnerved him.
At first, the wolf had been patrolling like any other night, with nothing to entertain him but a bug causing his pack mate to nearly bite his own tail off. That was, until he'd smelt it. Although he was pretty sure he felt it first. Some kind of feeling in the pit of his stomach, drawing him in like the sweet scent that filled his nostrils. It was faint, almost vampire like, which made both him and his pack mate at the other side of the residence stop in their tracks.
'I'm going to check it out.' The sandy wolf thought.
Adrenaline pumped through the young shapeshifter's body, coursing through his veins like the wind crashing through his sandy fur. What was this feeling? It resembled that of a vampire entering their territory, but then again, it was different. A different kind of sweet. A different kind of pull.
'You're just spending too much time around the freaky Adams family. The stench is becoming like candy to you.' Embry scrunched up his snout to stress his point and Seth rolled his eyes at the older wolf's antics. For as far as wolfs could roll their eyes to begin with. The Cullens weren't that bad, just a bit… special.
Another snort emitted from Embry, as he was getting closer to one of the only roads leading in and out of La Push. Seth's silent need to get there quickly, urged his legs to run faster as well.
'Yeah, "special".' Embry barked a laugh after he vividly pictured Alice, Renesmee and Jacob happily skipping around in the Cullen's backyard, hands animatedly swaying by their sides as they sang and chased a butterfly. It managed to get Seth out of his confused state to let out a laughing bark in return.
Jake would kill Embry if he'd found out. Chances were Seth would make sure he would, that would be nice payback for-
Seth's train of thought stopped as the face he'd been trying to study through the tinted window of the SUV he'd been chasing, whipped up right at him.
'They heard you bark, you idiot', Embry accused him. But Seth was gone.
Lost in the faint contours of her face, her faint smell, the faint tug that had gotten considerably tighter. 'It's a she', Seth let him know defiantly, right before losing the girl's searching gaze and…
Running into a tree.
It looks like the creepy preschool from Nightmare on Elmstreet. No joke.
That one, scary movie with the pedophile gardener, who ends up being burnt to death and later killing teens in their sleep with his rake for a hand? (Hands up if you've seen it. Now, hands up if you've slept well ever since.. Yeah, me neither.)
Eleanor let out a strangled breath as she leant against her SUV to survey the house she'd be living in from now on, arms folded over her chest.
"Just my luck. I'm not even going to live to attend my own housewarming party." She muttered and snorted at the idea of being murdered on her first night here, before sighing and turning away from the battered house. It had been her mother's old home, the place she'd grown up in. If there was one place in La Push where Eleanor had wanted to stay, it would be here.
Upon contacting the real estate agent, they sounded like they couldn't be glad enough to finally get rid of it. Eleanor's inheritance was sufficient to buy her a mansion with a fountain in front of it and little monkey butler dressed like a penguin. Instead, she preferred not to spend the money her parents had left her and intended to renovate the house herself.
As she trudged up towards the darkened house, the hairs on the back of her neck finally rose and she halted. Something was watching her. Eleanor's two deep brown orbs darted around the edges of the forest surrounding her, the picket fence around her front yard hardly enough to keep a bunny out, let alone anything angry.
It was then that something clicked inside her head. Weeks of being totally cut off from the world and reality ended as she finally found herself in the middle of an unknown forest in an unknown state, all alone. Apart from whatever was lurking in the shadows, urging her to come closer.
Her gaze then moved towards her body, looking weak, disheveled and unprotected with both suitcases immobilizing her hands to do anything if danger might suddenly appear.
Whether it was sheer exhaustion or possibly fear, she didn't know, but tears started rolling down her cheeks and she watched them plummet down to the ground in awe. Eleanor hadn't cried ever since she'd been told her parents wouldn't be able to kiss her goodnight or wish her good morning ever again.
Suddenly, the prickling sensation she felt however, lifted from hostility to something softer..kinder. It was as if the forest suddenly felt sorry for her, wanting to support her.
Eleanor's reddened eyes once again scanned the shadows around her, before taking a deep breath, tightening her grasp and walking up towards the door. Eleanor didn't need pity. She'd be fine on her own.
"Welcome to La Push, I-"
Seriously?
It's nine in the morning. Who welcomes people that early in the morning? That's more like telling them to go to hell, right?
Eleanor steadied the woman she'd nearly run over in a hurry to leave the house, her other hand shooting downwards to catch the plate of cookies plummeting towards the ground from the woman's hand. The brief euphoria about the fact that the stranger had brought food, was quickly demolished at the sight of their eyes, widened in surprise.
Panic crept up on Eleanor as her eyes darted towards her hands and back, hoping the nearly inhuman speed with which she'd responded to the situation would be passed off as quick reflexes by the woman and nothing more.
That would just be typical though. Revealing what Eleanor really was when she'd barely even unpacked her raggedy old duffel bag.
Covering her mistake up with a bright smile, she let go of the woman, handed back her cookies and apologized, rubbing her upper arm in a slightly awkward fashion. It made her seem less deliberate killing machine, more helpless girl next door. "Sorry about that, I was kind of in a hurry. Are you alright?"
The woman's eyes remained as wide as that of a shocked lemur. Though to be fair, lemurs always seem rather startled. Unease seeped through Eleanor's bright expression until the elderly woman finally snapped out of it, shaking her head with a wary smile and holding out her hand for the young girl to shake. "I'm sorry, you just really remind me of someone I grew up with. They used to live in this very house actually."
Eleanor's face paled considerably, feeling where this conversation was headed, while giving a feeble handshake in return "Are you by any chance-"
"Eleanor Lightwood, pleasure to meet you-..", the girl trailed off, once again regaining her composure.
"Oh, where are my manners, I'm Sue Clearwater. I live just down the street, so we'll be neigh-", Sue was already midway in gesturing towards her home further down Elmstreet, when Eleanor once again cut her off.
"Well, Ms. Clearwater" in the blink of an eye, Eleanor locked her front door and twisted herself around the cheery woman "It's been a great pleasure to meet you, thank you for welcoming me, that's really kind of you, but I should be on my way." As the young girl backed away towards her car, she left no room for a response, all the way smiling a smile which didn't quite reach her eyes. "Have a nice day!"
With a wave, the Lightwood girl was half way in the car when Sue finally snapped her attention to the brunette's retreating figure "But the cookies-"
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm severely lactose intolerant." And with a slam and rev of her engine, she was off. The purr of the car soothed her, as she leant back, letting her muscles relax. All in all, Eleanor only told one lie, which was a pretty good number, considering.
Upon arriving to town, Eleanor had had no intention of moving in with Tiffany Call and her son Embry. When a couple of weeks ago, New York's most famous 'Sight', a magician with fortune telling abilities, had told of a new prophecy that would change the supernatural world, the attention soon rested on Eleanor.
The shadowhunters' endless database of knowledge had led them to relatives, whom her mother had told stories about. Distant fairytales, nothing more and nothing less. The nephilim thought it was obvious that Eleanor would stay there and wait for the prophecy to unfold itself and give her a chance to battle the evil.
Eleanor couldn't do it, though. She couldn't knock on the door of an aunt she'd never met like the orphan she was and expect the woman to take her in. She couldn't go through the whole pity process she'd dealt with once again. Arriving in New York and becoming a shadowhunter had been like a new start and even though she didn't want this life for herself and although she wanted to learn more about her parents' lives, she couldn't reveal her true identity.
Somewhere deep down, she wished she could have the best of both worlds. Do her duty and fulfill the prophecy, while remembering her parents in a time when they were happy and carefree, honoring their wish to try and stay as far away from the shadowhunter community as possible.
Sadly, demons were everywhere.
Including in furniture stores, apparently, because the overexcited, bouncy saleswoman who greeted Eleanor upon her arrival surely didn't look human.
Eleanor silently cursed the internet for not delivering sofas and beds in her postbox, and followed the other girl deeper into the shop situated in the middle of Port Angeles, hoping the woman who had greeted her earlier that morning, wouldn't still be there when she got back home.
"You really do look like an anxious, overeager puppy, dear." The sight of her tensed son clenching his fist in an attempt to keep still, while jerking his knee up and down rapidly at the kitchen table brought a smile to Sue Clearwater's clouded expression.
Seth, who really couldn't care less, quickly stood up and almost kicked his chair back in the process, although his question stuck in his throat as he saw his mother place the tray of freshly baked cookies back on the counter. Sinking back into his seat, her mother now noted he looked more like a beat up puppy than anything else, and it broke her heart. "Doesn't she like cookies?"
Slight relief filled her up, as she answered "No, honey, she can't eat them. Apparently she's severely lactose intolerant."
"Oh," he processed this piece of information, before going on, but Sue beat him to it.
"Her name's Eleanor. Eleanor Lightwood." The woman removed the clear foil from the tray of biscuits and placed it in front of her son, who for once, didn't even bat an eye at them. "She seemed.. familiar, but in a hurry."
Now, the boy frowned. "Does that mean you didn't invite her over for dinner?'
His mother shook her head "No, but that doesn't mean you can go and run yourself into a tree again, Seth", with a hint of laughter, Sue Clearwater left the room while Seth's hand involuntarily reached up towards his forehead.
After the bruise on it had healed, and Seth had spent 27 hours circling Eleanor's house, he'd been given loads of chores by Jake, to ensure he wouldn't, quote "Do anything stupid." Psh, like Seth would…
Eleanor. Her name's Eleanor. It sounded… perfect.
He tried it. Tried to whisper it to himself and chills spread all over his arms, which was a very rare thing, considering he ran a temperature which would allow you to bake an egg on his abs with a nice side of baked peppers.
Everyone; the pack, his family and him included, wondered if this was it, if Seth had finally imprinted without even meeting the girl properly. Some guys were still wary of her, both Seth and Embry had felt a pull far from normal towards the girl, and it seemed like she'd arrived here all by herself.
Thanks to them, Seth hadn't been able to greet her himself this morning and even though they felt like his cheeriness had been slightly off the last couple of days, he'd be damned if he didn't get to meet her now. Even if he had to spend another day laying outside her house.
As the door of the Clearwater residence slammed shut behind Seth's back, Sue Clearwater finally heard the dial tone stop and a voice emit from her phone "Hello?"
"Hey Tiffany, it's Sue. Listen, could we meet up any time soon? You're not going to believe this."
