Now we can have some fun… TEENAGERS! YAY! XD
Chapter 2
Emily's POV
"Emily, Kyle, TIME FOR SCHOOL!" I heard my mother yell from across the tiny house.
"WE'RE COMING ALREADY!" I replied hastily as I grabbed my backpack and stormed out of my room. Down the hall and into the kitchen I found my mom – Leah Clark – already about to leave for her job. She never told my brother, Kyle, or I exactly what she did during the day, but it must make us good money.
Not that they cared for it enough to get a better house.
I hated this house. It was small and crowded and old. My dad – Kevin Clark – always told us we had plenty of money if we wanted to get a new house but the case had always been that he and mom loved this house too much to give it up. It had been in our family over a hundred years. I guess I should respect it… but that was harder than it seems.
My mom turned to look at me. "What are you standing around for?" she asked as she grabbed her brief case. "Let's go! In the car, now!"
"Kyle!" My dad yelled as he stormed down the hallway and past us into the living room. "Hurry up! This is why you can't stay up past 11:00!"
"ONE MINUTE!" I heard my brother's voice boom down the hall. Wow, this morning was worse than usual.
But, of course, Mom and Dad managed to make it even worse. "Lee, ready to go?" Dad asked as he bent over a few inches to give Mom a kiss.
"Ready as ever. I'm counting down the days," Mom smiled at him in that strange way I only saw Mom smile with him.
"Ew! Just trying to live a normal life here!" I screamed as I opened the door with a hard shove. I slammed it back into the house frame. I could already hear my Dad complaining about how we had to be gentler with the house.
I sat in the back seat passenger side with my arms crossed. I scowled and waited for the rest of my family to trip out the door. How was almost every single morning this hectic?
Not a minute later, Mom joined me in the car. She sat in the driver's seat as we waited for the boys. She exhaled loudly but seemed perfectly relaxed. There was one thing that baffled me about my parents. While I'd gone to my friend's house and seen their parents with gray hair and tons of dye, it would appear neither my mom nor dad ever changed. I'd scoured through family photos from all the way back to when I was a baby. They still appeared to be in their twenties.
Perhaps it bothered me more than it should, but it was a fair question to ask. I stared up at my mom now – her hand up and ruffling her pitch black hair. She looked tense. Then again, she almost always did. "Mom," I asked in almost a pleading voice, "will you please tell me what you and Dad do during the day?"
Her brown eyes turned back to me. "Emily, dear, we've been over this. K- I mean, your dad and I prefer to keep our jobs a secret."
"Will you tell me one day?" I asked.
She didn't even think about it. "Yes. In fact, we've got the date set. You can meet our employers, the Cullen's. They'll be coming to town in about a week."
"The Cullen's?" I probed.
"Yes, you remember Uncle Seth, don't you?" Mom asked me stupidly. Of course I knew who Uncle Seth was! Mom's brother who strangely still looked 16. "Well, Uncle Seth's friend Jacob Black lives with the Cullen's. They're a very large family, but they're good friends of ours. You'll enjoy meeting them when the time comes. Especially Emmett, he's always quick to make a joke."
I rolled my eyes as Mom feebly attempted to make up for everything she wasn't telling me. "What do you do for these mystical Cullen's?" I asked, hoping to learn something else.
She flashed me the kindest smile she could muster and laughed quietly as if I'd told a joke. "Emily, there are some things in this world you don't know," her gaze was serious now. "But when you're old enough, I promise I'll tell you."
Biting my lip, I nodded. The boys were coming. "Fine," I swallowed.
My mom smiled back at me, amused. "You're just like me when I was younger," she murmured quietly. "Before I met Kevin."
I didn't know what she was talking about. My mom and I were almost complete opposites. She was so easygoing most of the time… usually when Dad was around. Thinking about it she always became anxious and nervous when he was out of sight. Like now. As he stepped into the passenger seat, I saw her exhale and smile tenderly at him. "Hey, K," she said as if she hadn't seen him in a week, never mind a minute.
"Right here," Kyle said loudly as he sat to my left.
"Voice down!" I complained and glared at him. "You're louder than a speeding train!"
"I wish I were a speeding train, then I could run you over!"
"Shut up!" Dad growled at both of us, quieting us quickly. When Dad got mad, it wasn't pretty. He would at first let Mom take care of it. When Mom trembled and ran away he would yell at us for making her so upset. Then he would run off and comfort her. Usually they'd take a half hour before they got back. Then Mom was usually so ruffled up she would literally growl at us.
By the time I'd thought over all this, we were in front of the high school.
"Now, go!" Dad exclaimed. "Don't be late for classes!"
Kyle and I stumbled out of the car and began walking into school.
"Kyle, has Dad ever told you what he and Mom do for a living?" for unknown reasons I felt propelled to find this out today.
"Nope. You?"
"Mom told me that we'd be meeting their employers, but that was about it."
"Okay, well, see you at lunch." I said. He was a Freshmen while I was a Junior. We didn't see each other too much due to this which was probably a good thing.
There was something different about this family. I wasn't sure what, but I could feel it. And someday, I was going to find out exactly what it was.
Kevin's POV
"Emily asked about our job again," Leah stated as we drove away from the high school. "When did Jake say they were coming?"
"Saturday exactly." I answered her.
"Good," she paused for a moment, eyes on the road with unnecessary concentration. "Kevin, are we ever going to tell them what we are or what we do?"
"I hardly doubt that Kyle will start phasing afterwards." I replied. Two werewolf parents meant a werewolf son, right?
No, I didn't exactly want my children to phase. I wanted them to be happy. Stuck with minds linked to their parents wouldn't exactly be a great world to live in. But I was also hesitant about the dangers they would face if they became loyal members of the pack. The bloodthirsty vampires and the wrath of the Volturi at least.
Leah emphasized with my feelings easily. "What do you think about Emily?" her voice was hardly a whisper. She was more concerned for our daughter; probably because if she ever did phase it may be under similar circumstances to Leah's own phasing. Neither of us wanted to torture our daughter with the horror of being around 30 male werewolves – one including her brother.
"I think that there's a less chance the fever will hit Emily just due to the fact she's a girl, but there's always a chance. With you as her mother, I can easily say she'd bring a lot of pain to the pack." A devilish smile crossed my face, the one she would understand as my playful teasing.
Leah laughed at my response. Now we were pulling into the Cullen's driveway. Down through the wooded area. She parked the car and we stepped out, walking toward the house. Taking the key out of my pocket, I walked up to the front door, opened it, and walked in.
The scent of vampires had long since faded from the walls of the house. I glanced around, satisfied with the up-to-date, sturdy windows and ceiling. We walked into the kitchen. "Okay," I breathed to Leah. "We've kept it perfect over the years, now it's time to get it ready for living in."
"Yes," she agreed. "On Wednesday, we should start with grocery shopping. They were sending the extra money for that. It should arrive on Tuesday," she continued my thought.
"What about the cabin?" I asked. She'd talked to Carlisle over the phone. "Do they want that ready as well?"
"I don't know. They didn't say anything but better safe than sorry." We'd also made sure the cabin still stood. It was modern enough.
"We've got a lot to do in a week, let's get started." I told her. "Where should we begin?"
"Let's start in the garden," Leah told me. "Most of the flowers are beginning to bloom, but I want them to be perfect for Esme. I'll work on that. You can start weeding around the cabin – in the back area. It'd be a special surprise for Edward and Bella."
"On it, Lee." I gave her a kiss before running out to the cabin with werewolf speed. I jumped the river with a single bound.
After a few hours of perfecting the garden, I returned to see Leah was already done and dusting off every inch of the living room. There wasn't much considering we'd made a good life's living of caring for this house. $50 dollars a day. That's how we'd made our fortune. The best part of our deal was that they let us choose our own hours. Honestly, it was too kind of them, but after we'd decided to have Emily and Kyle, we hadn't had time for a real job.
Besides, it was nice to know that taking care of the house helped out the Cullen's for when they would return. I know how nice it is to return to a clean home after a long day – not that that was usually the case, though. At least not with our family.
I began polishing the counters. This reminded me – we should stock the bathroom. Things that regular human females would need and things that all of them would definitely need – such as shampoo and conditioner and lotions that Alice would like.
Making my way to the bathroom, I wiped down those counters. And the toilet that was never used. I turned on the shower. It worked. Flushed the toilet ran the sink. Okay… the water was working. I already knew the furnace worked, just as it had been for the last hundred years.
After hours of work, I sighed and began walking out toward the car. "Leah!" I exclaimed. "We've got to pick up Emily and Kyle!"
Before I knew it, she was at my side. "Want to drive or should I?" I asked her.
"You can. I'm tired." She climbed into the passenger's side.
I entered the driver's side and sat down, putting it into gear I began backing up. "So let's review our week," I said. "Tomorrow we'll polish the cars and make sure they have gas…"
"Edward is very fond of his Volvo," she put in.
"Wednesday we stock the kitchen."
"Important for the human act."
"What about Thursday?"
"Umm…" she thought for a moment. "Thursday we need to shop for bathroom supplies. If we have time we could do that on Wednesday too."
"Friday we can dust and take care of the flowers again." I put in.
"And Saturday they come home!" Leah finished our week. "There we go. We have a week!" I rolled my eyes.
We made small talk up until we pulled into the school. "Heaven help us," I prayed out loud.
"For the wrath of Emily," Leah mocked.
Leaning over, I gave her a quick kiss. She looked back at me. We were going to be running wolf tonight, I could tell by the look in her eyes. On the list of things that were not good about Kyle and Emily, the fact that they hated us being affectionate around them is the top thing.
As I heard them get into the car, I immediately inclined away from Leah. Ugh. Imprinting was a painful process in such cases.
With Emily and Kyle, we set off for home. No words were spoken yet, but I was sure that more were to come.
Emily's POV
It was a long ride home. When we did get there, I went straight to my room. This was the only place I really somewhat liked in this house. It was modern enough for me. For some reason, my parents were obsessed with wolves. The wolf calendar they'd gotten me for my birthday was hanging on the back of the door. My bed was next to the window. While my room was small, it made me feel safe. I covered the window with the deep purple curtains and began rummaging through my closet. It was small and hardly held all my clothes, but those weren't what I was looking at.
Taking out a box, I blew the dust off it and set in on my bed. I sat on my bed and began rummaging through the ancient photos.
Many of them were from when I was a baby. Dad and Mom and Uncle Seth ended up with me most of the time. Rarely there was Uncle Cohl. Uncle Cohl wasn't really related to us, but he did visit once and a while. The last time had been just over a year ago.
One picture showed me with a russet-skinned man I didn't recognize. I was about five years old. Flipping it over, I read: Emily with Uncle Jake.
So that was him… Jacob, who lived with the Cullen's. I hadn't realized I had so many Uncle's. The next picture showed my mom. She was in between Uncle Seth and Jacob. They all looked like they were siblings at a family reunion. Another picture showed Dad with Uncle Cohl. Between them, they held the picture of a yet another russet-skinned man hugging a bronze-skinned woman with black hair. The side of her face was horribly scarred. I flinched as I turned to read the back.
'Kevin and Cohl holding picture of Sam and Emily.' Flipping it back, I stared at the woman in the photo. That was Emily? Mom had always told me I was named after her cousin Emily Uley, but I'd never seen her. She died many years before I was born along with her husband Sam Uley.
The next picture puzzled me greatly. It was colored with age, the edges torn on spots. I handled it delicately as I inspected every detail. There were about 30 boys. All of them appeared to be messing around with each other. The only few I recognized were Sam and Emily who were in front of the group standing next to… I gasped. My dad. My dad was in this old paper. He looked only maybe a few years younger than his current age.
In his arms was a woman that resembled my mother. But she too was maybe a year younger.
After examining closely, I realized they weren't all men. There were several girls worked into the shot next to certain men whom they all either hugged or held the hand of. The back of this page read: 'The Pack and their Imprintees'.'
"What the heck?" I whispered as I flipped it again and stared at the people. Imprintees? What was an imprintee?
The next picture was already turned upside down. The back was labeled plainly: 'The Cullen Coven.' Supposing this meant the Cullen family, I turned it over to see who it was.
(You should be able to figure this out, but for the next couple paragraphs when she's looking over the picture, these are the nicknames she gave the people. Carlisle is Blonde, Esme is Brunette, Edward is Bronze, Bella is Chocolate Brown, Jasper is Scars, Alice is Pixie, Emmett is Muscles', Rosalie is Goldie, Jacob is Jacob, and Renesmee is Jacob's Girl.)
Several people were in the shot. In front was a beach blonde man. To his side formally, he held a brunette woman. Directly to the blonde's right was a bronze-haired man with hair styled strangely. Blonde had his hand on Bronze's shoulder. Bronze apparently was paying no attention to Blonde, but to the person he was hugging in front of him. It was a considerably short female with chocolate brown hair. She gazed back at the man so seductively I wanted to vomit. Her hands were rested on his around her waist
To the left of Blonde and the Brunette he held was a scary looking honey-blonde man. He had hair falling to about his jaws. His gaze was all for the girl that hugged him to his side as they posed. The girl at least had enough decency to look at the camera like Blonde. She smiled. Her hair was dark brown and stood out in clumps in a pixie-like way. The honey blonde man had scars all over his arms.
To the left of Scars and Pixie was a very large, scary-looking man with huge muscles. He smiled in a devilish way. His hair was army-cut like my dad's usually was and deep brown/black. His arm was wrapped around a girl with long, golden blonde hair. She was tall and slender, scaring me.
Finally, the last two people in the shot were to the right of Bronze and Chocolate Brown. It was Jacob – I recognized him immediately. He was standing beside a girl who was staring awkwardly at Bronze and Chocolate Brown, as if she were embarrassed by their behavior. Jacob's Girl's hair was bronze.
Looking at the picture in whole, I was chilled. Going from left to right, I made out the people. Jacob, Jacob's Girl, Chocolate Brown, Bronze, Blonde, Brunette, Scars, Pixie, Muscles', and Goldie. What scared me the most wasn't how pale all their skin was (except Jacob's) or the way they seemed all paired off, but it was their eyes.
Every single one of their eyes (Except Jacob and his girl) was golden butterscotch. Who had golden butterscotch eyes?
Another thing I noticed was the pendant they all bore. Around Jacob, Muscle's, Scar's, Bronze's, and Brunette's wrists was either a cuff or bracelet. Wrapping Chocolate Brown's, Pixie's, Golden Blonde's, and Jacob's Girl's necks was the pendant on a necklace.
Finally, Blonde had the pendant as a ring on his finger.
I'd seen that pendant before. My father wore it like a cuff and mother like a necklace. What did they call it? The Cullen Crest? I vaguely remember seeing Uncle Seth sporting it.
Only a few pictures were left. I picked through them, seeing no new faces. But the last one confused me more than anything I'd seen today.
Two wolves were in the shot. One was tan with darker patches of brown and sandy eyes. The second was silver with brown eyes and ginger dappling her head region. I didn't understand this picture at all. How had they gotten it? The tan wolf held his muzzle to the silver wolf and sat at her side as if he'd been posing. The silver wolf almost looked to be smiling and looking down like she was embarrassed.
What sort of strange parents had I been born to?
I put the pictures back in the box. As I was setting the box back up in the closet, I noticed something else high on the shelf that I hadn't seen before. Picking it up, I took it down and stared at the cover.
Quileute Legends
THE HISTORY OF THE SHAPE SHIFTER
BY LEAH CLARK
Staring at the cover, I cocked my head. My mother had written this? When? I opened to the first page to see the publishing date.
My breath caught in my throat.
2035?
But that was impossible! 2035 was nearly a hundred years ago! There must have been another Leah Clark back then, too.
Opening to a random page, I began reading.
Chapter 13
The Third Wife
One of the most inspirational stories to imprintee's everywhere is the story of the Third Wife. It is a tale of great courage and sacrifice. It tells those of us who possess no magical powers that we are still more than just the damsel in distress. We can be the hero as much as any werewolf.
The story of the Third Wife begins with Taha Aki. Taha Aki was one of the first Spirit Warriors at the time – as you have already learned. In his extended lifetime, he'd had three wives. Above all, the wife he loved most was the Third Wife.
Taha Aki quit phasing to raise a family and grow old with the Third Wife. But, one day, the warriors of the Quileute Tribe came across a creature. He looked like man, but he wasn't. He was cold as ice and hard as stone. He drank the blood of humans.
This was not to be tolerated. A long fight followed, killing several Spirit Warriors. But eventually, the teeth of the wolves were able to tear apart the hard skin. Yet only fire could truly kill the beast.
Many of the people lived in fear that this cold man had not been alone. They were right.
The cold man's mate came to the village to extract her revenge. Only so many people were old enough to phase within the society. The last Spirit Warrior – Taha Aki's oldest son – was killed in battle against the cold one.
Out of anger, Taha Aki phased to kill the cold one himself. But by this time, Taha Aki was old and tired. He never stood a chance against the cold one.
Seeing that Taha Aki had no chance of winning this fight alone, the Third Wife took action. Grabbing a knife from the body of Taha Aki's son, she stabbed herself.
The scent of blood threw off the cold one long enough for Taha Aki to kill her, but the Third Wife was dead. In grief, Taha Aki dragged her body into the woods. He was never seen again.
The Third Wife's courage was enough to save Taha Aki and the whole village from certain doom. Many cases since then involving Third Wife inspired actions have taken place, but those are stories for another Chapter.
I stared at the page for a moment after. Obviously I'd missed something. My fingers fumbled ahead to another page.
Summary – The Cold One
They stalk the shadows of death itself, keeping the secret from the pale faces. It is our job as shape shifters to protect the world from these monsters, but before any battles can take place, anyone must know their strengths or weaknesses.
Garlic, holy water, crosses, churches, sunlight, and nothing else like that affect them. The only way to kill a Cold One is to rip them apart and burn the pieces. Yet their skin is hard as stone and it takes but a great creature to accomplish such a task.
They can run faster than a speeding jet. They are stronger than any sort of machine ever built. Many of them bring a certain trait from their human life into their immortal life in which that sole trait is enhanced. Such examples are compassion, love, premonitions, sensibility to others, and even stubbornness.
To us – the shape shifter – the venom of a Cold One is toxic. If too much is injected or a wolf is too weak, he or she will die.
But even as horrible as they sound, not all Cold One's are bad.
If one has eyes of red, that means they drink human blood and are to be killed on the spot.
But rarely have there ever been a family of Cold One's that don't drink human blood, but animal blood. The side effect to this diet is eyes of golden.
The Cold One's aren't all bad and any fight with them can end up critically for you. Before challenging a Cold One, be sure to see what kind you are dealing with.
"Ugh…" I closed my eyes and shook my head. What the heck was I reading? Setting the book on my nightstand, I slipped under the covers of my bed. It wasn't bed time, but I didn't feel like staying up to ponder what I'd just read. It was so confusing… too much.
With that, I fell into a deep sleep.
So back in Eclipse (the first time I read it) I was kinda pissed with Jacob so I might've kinda only skimmed through the Quileute Legends. If any of that is inaccurate, I apologize.
Anyway… a few confused kids are nothing. How to break the news? "Hey kids, you're kind of the children of two powerful – not to mention mythical – creatures." This is gonna be fun. XD
READ, WRITE, AND REVIEW!