A few days before we assumed Alice's vision was supposed to ring true, me, Tanya, Carmen, Eleazar, Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie planned to go hunting. I hadn't gone in a couple of days, and my eyes were darkening because of it. We headed out close to noon, after Carmen had stopped cooing with Rosalie about her baby. As we were leaving, I saw Carmen look longingly at Rosalie's stomach, and then at Eleazar. Eleazar sighed, but smiled at her and nodded. Another pang of jealousy coursed its way through my body as I wished desperately for the means to have one of my own. Obviously, Eleazar and Carmen were going to actively try even harder now.
When we stepped outside, we saw Bella with Emmett and Garrett, obviously having just spared with the latter of the two. Judging from Garrett's slightly superior expression, he had been victorious, which was to be expected. Garrett was more than capable of taking a newborn.
Garrett. During the past few days, I had spent nearly all of my time talking to him. True, there were a few intense times that required my attention, most prominent being when Alistair had left, and Amun had threatened to take his coven and follow Alistair's lead. If it hadn't been for Benjamin, they would have. All those who were fighting declared themselves, myself included. But the majority of my time was with Garrett. We had sparred a few more times, and most of these I won. Garrett seemed to find it hilarious that he couldn't beat me without resorting to some sort of extreme trickery. Tanya seemed to find it hilarious that I was constantly looking for him when I wasn't with him (which annoyed me whenever I realized what I was doing). I found it exasperating that I couldn't stop thinking about him.
As Bella prepared to fight with Emmett before we left, Garrett wandered over to where we were, as we prepared to fly through the woods.
"Are you going hunting?" he asked us. It only took a half second before I realized that the other three were going to wait for me to speak. I understood Tanya's reasons for it, but I hadn't told Carmen or Eleazar anything about my feelings for Garrett. The only explanation that I could come up with was what Tanya had said a few nights ago was true: Garrett and I had a certain spark that was palpable to others around us.
"Yes," I replied. "Even vegetarians have to eat sometime."
Garrett smiled, and then got an odd expression on his face, like he was trying to work out a complicated problem. "Could I try it with you?" he suddenly burst out. "I'm curious about this, and I want to see if I can do it."
"Sure," I replied, getting that same smile on my face that I had gotten after we talked when I had shocked him. "If you really think you're up for it."
"You go with him, Kate," Tanya suddenly piped up. "It's easier to just go with one person for your first time so you're not competing with a bunch of different people for the food."
Garrett and I both nodded, so Tanya, Carmen, and Eleazar, and the Cullen's (Emmett having won his brawl with Bella) sprinted on ahead, while I raced back to the Cullen's house.
I had got permission from Carlisle to use his Mercedes, and in an instant Garrett and I were flying along the highway, taking the short drive to the mountains. "It'll be easier for you if you have carnivores instead of deer. Carnivore blood tastes more similar to human blood than herbivores," I explained.
"What's your favorite?" he asked me. I looked over at him with a furrowed brow, not really understanding. "Animal to eat," he explained, getting that devilish grin on his face.
"Oh," I said, laughing. "I should have guessed that. Canadian lynx is my favorite, but we're not going to find any here. I love a good wolf every once in a while as well. Do you think you could guess Emmett's? It'll be obvious once you know the answer." Garrett shook his head. "Bear," I replied, smiling, which caused Garrett for laugh.
"That would be Emmett," he said, still chortling. "And only Emmett would find wrestling with bears to be a good pastime."
"Oh, I don't know," I said, in a light voice. "I have figured you might try just to see if you could get away with it. That's how you tend to treat challenges you're presented with, is it not?" I completely took my eyes off the road, but not worried even though we were going over 80 miles an hour. Vampire reflexes were wonderful when we were driving. But Garrett's answer was what the majority of my attention was focused on. I had to know if I was just another challenge presented to him that he felt he needed to conquer. I wouldn't subject myself to any heartbreak if I was. I had already invested more time than was healthy in him of that was the case.
"Most of the time," Garrett said, his voice low. "But I've found something lately that I hope will turn into much more than just a challenge to be unlocked." He was staring at me intently, and I tried to force myself to hold his gaze. But after a while, I just couldn't do it anymore. There was something in his stare that I'd seen thousands of times over my millennium, but never directed at me. I saw it in the stares of Carmen and Eleazar, Carlisle and Esme, Rosalie and Emmett, Alice and Jasper, Edward and Bella. At the time, I had called it love in their stares. But now Garrett was giving me that exact same look. If he was directing it at anyone else, I would have still called it love. But I was hesitant to give it the same label when it was for me.
I tore my gold eyes away from his burgundy ones and focused on the road. I sped up the car another 10 mph to get to our destination faster. We were close now.
A few minutes later, and I parked the car in the parking lot of a hiking trail. There were forest guides around to make sure everyone started on the intended path, but they wouldn't be any problem in a couple minutes. As a precaution, I glanced back at Garrett to make sure he wasn't having problems and going to attempt to eat the guides. Then, I would have no choice but to shock him to his knees.
However, he didn't seem to be having any issues controlling his thirst. His eyes were dark enough that they could pass for dark brown or even black to a human's dull vision. Only I could detect the faint hints of red around the rims of his irises.
As we got out of the car, Garrett took my hand. I looked up at him, raising my eyebrows to ask my question. He leaned down close to my ear to answer.
"It'll keep them from bothering you too much," he told me. I glanced at the guides, who had previously been watching me with hungry eyes. The second Garrett grabbed my hand, they slumped down, looking defeated, but stopped watching me.
We made sure to control our speed so we didn't seem to be anything more than a simple human couple going for a stroll. As we walked by the guides, one of them was still looking at me with a lustful look in his eye, but Garrett quelled that longing with a hard stare that would cause even the bravest men to shake in fright.
We walked for a couple minutes in silence this way, until I deemed it safe enough to go hunting. I dropped Garrett's hand, reluctant to do so despite my concerns about him, and dashed off the trail, with Garrett following right behind me.
We travelled up the small mountain together, hunter's senses on full alert. I used each of my senses to try and find the blood that was pulsing through the plethora of animals the mountains of Washington had to offer. Before long, I caught the scent of something that smelled utterly delicious.
Garrett caught the scent at almost the exact same time that I did, and we raced for it together. As we drew closer, it became apparent to me that we were tracking two mountain lions battling for the right to a certain mate.
They didn't have any idea what hit them as we came upon them. Garrett and I each tackled one of them. I didn't waste any time sinking my teeth into its throat, feeding from its supply of life. After just a few moments, the lion stopped struggling, dead.
Garrett did things a different way than I did, but the norm for one who had hunted humans their whole life. He preferred to choke the life out of the animal before he bit into the soft skin. But after just a couple gulps, he pulled away, with an odd look on his face. It somehow reminded me of the expression a young child wore when forced to take medicine. The sight was so comical it sent bursts of laughter to come from me. I filled up the sky with my laugh, and the air around us echoed with it, making it seem as though a hundred Kate's were laughing with me.
It took several minutes for me to compose myself, during which time Garrett simply stared at me with one of his eyebrows raised. "You done?" he asked in his teasing tone of voice when I had finally stopped laughing. I nodded, but was unable to keep the smile off my lips completely. He raised his eyebrow even further asking me the question even more effectively then if he used words.
"What?" I asked immediately defending myself. "Your expression was hilarious."
"It tastes weird," he muttered. "I don't know how to describe it exactly, but it's definitely not what I'm used to. It's not necessarily bad, it'll just take a long time to get used to."
"Well are you going to finish that?" I asked, my eyes dancing. "Because I'll take it if you won't."
"No, I think I can finish my own meals," Garrett said, the old familiar spark back in his eyes. He bit into the puncture wounds he made in the lion and drained it of blood, the same expression that had sent me laughing on his face the entire time.
All in all, it was a very interesting day, to say the least. I was satiated quickly, but Garrett kept on wanting to find different animals, trying to find something that tasted closer to human blood. I kept on telling him that he'd already gotten as close as he was going to get, but he was determined to try and prove me wrong. But by the end of the day as the sky was growing increasingly darker and we had to get back to the car. Carlisle was forgiving of many things, but I didn't think he'd like it too much if we got his Mercedes towed. Garrett had been filled, finally, so he was alright with this plan once he figured out what the consequences were going to be.
We ran back down to the path and started walking back into the car, both of us in high spirits. Garrett had even more questions about vegetarianism now that he had tried it himself. He kept wanting to know if there were any benefits to it, besides not killing humans.
I was about to give him an answer that I knew would just lead to more questions of his (I thoroughly enjoyed them at this point), when we neared the gate. I knew that the guides were going to be there again, and even from this distance, I could smell the alcohol they had been consuming in their bloodstreams.
Garrett took my hand again, and we attempted to make it to the car inconspicuously. I let my long blonde hair fall in a way so that it would cover my face.
But we didn't have to worry about the guides. I couldn't believe neither Garrett nor I hadn't noticed the scent earlier. Once we caught it, it was plainer than day. Two other, unfamiliar vampires, had crossed our path. They were standing over the bodies of the guides, both completely drained of blood now. One had a lighter in his hand, which was carelessly throwing flames on the corpses, and before long, they were nothing more than ashes, blown away in the wind.
When they stood up, fresh from their kills, their blood red eyes told me immediately they were newborns. Even Garrett, who had been hunting humans all his life, didn't have eyes that vivid of a color. The newborns were both males, with a physique just slightly smaller than Emmett. As soon as they looked up, they saw us.
"Hey, check it out," one of them said with a bad southern accent. "We can have that bitch for a snack." I raised my eyebrows and gave them a look that would send most people running, but apparently they weren't very bright in the intelligence department, because they kept advancing.
"You dipshit Drew, they ain't food," the other one said. "They vamps, just like us."
That didn't hinder the other one, Drew. "I can smell Cal. She don't look like no vamp though, with those freaky eyes. Don't mean we still can't have fun with that bitch." And then, only with the speed a newborn could manage, he was right next to me, grabbing my arm and attempting to drag me away. I answered in the best way that I could: gave him such a big shock that sent him tumbling to the ground and ran back to Garrett's side before he could get back up. I didn't want to kill them, but I would if I had to.
"Dude, you can't hold on to your women," Cal laughed. Drew got up, a snarl plastered on his face.
"Bitch shocked me!" he yelled. Cal gave him a confused look, but Drew didn't notice. He was too busy trying to get back to me.
And suddenly, I was pulled in the opposite direction I was expecting, and I found myself staring into Garrett's face. He only had time to whisper a rushed "Don't freak out," before his mouth was on mine, attacking me in the most wonderful way I had ever been attacked.
It was as if my senses were heightened. I was aware of everything I could be without my sight, because my eyelids shut the instant Garrett connected his lips with mine. One of his hands was on the small of my back, the other on the back of my head, both hands pulling me even closer to him. My arms were wrapped around his neck, hands tangled in his long hair. I heard the shocked gasps from the other two, but they couldn't be more inconsequential to me. All I could feel was Garrett. I hadn't ever even imagined that life could be this beautiful or feel this good until now. Not once in over a millennium had I ever thought that even if I had found a mate, the experience would feel half so amazing. He wasn't gentle either. His mouth opened impatiently against mine and without a second thought I let him deepen the kiss, let him slide his tongue into my mouth.
All too quickly, and as suddenly as he started the kiss, he ended it, but keeping one arm possessively around my waist. "She's my bitch," he told the other two, suddenly using the same bad accent. I was about to yell at him, furious, but I saw the barest hint of a wink in my direction, and I suddenly, understood. And I knew I had to play along.
"Yeah, and I ain't no whore," I said, my voice too dipping into the accent. "I only have one man at a time." We were going to be white trash, the whole nine yards. Speak the language of the newborns, and we could get out of here unscathed, and without having to kill them.
"Just keep your hands off my bitch," Garrett said. Drew still looked like he wanted to argue, but Cal nodded.
"Oh, shit, sorry man," he said. "We respect other men's bitches. We'll leave yours alone 'kay? We'll back off now man."
Drew and Cal turned to leave, but before they did, Drew turned back. "Make your bitch scream for me tonight man," he said, a wicked gleam on his face. Garrett smiled sarcastically back. I knew it wasn't a real smile. It didn't fit Garrett at all.
"I don't need you telling me to do it to make my bitch scream!" he yelled back. Drew and Cal grinned suggestively, and then they were off into the mountains, heading for Oregon.
Garrett kept his arm around my waist until we were safely in the car. The second the doors we shut he looked at me a little worried. "If there's anything I have to apologize for, tell me now. I was just trying to get us out of there without having to kill them, I swear. I didn't mean anything that I said." His voice went out of the accent the second he didn't have to use it anymore, and I was beyond grateful for that. Garrett's natural voice was so much lovelier.
"You're fine," I said reassuring him. "I totally got it. I didn't really want to kill them either, but they were getting on my nerves in a big way. Trust me, I was fine with it." A sudden, reckless feeling struck me, and before I could even think about the words I muttered, "A little more than fine during some of it."
This made Garrett smile, but not in the way I was used to. It was a tentative one, almost like Garrett had gotten a surprise so fantastic that he couldn't comprehend it. "Am I finally getting through to you Kate? Did it really take two newborns trying to steal you away?"
"I really hope you're finally getting through to me," I whispered as I leaned towards Garrett even as he was leaning towards me. Our lips met once again, but in a much different way. This time, we were curious, and eager to explore, but cautiously, ever so cautiously, as if we were afraid of breaking each other. After a minute, Garrett slid one hand up my arm to cup my cheek in his palm. I leaned my face into his hand immediately, and couldn't help but give a little sigh.
We pulled away just barely, keeping our foreheads pressed together. Our breaths intermingled and if I had a heart that still beat, it would have been flying as fast as I could run. Garrett suddenly put his arms around me, hugging me tightly against his chest. I put my hands on his back and rubbed small circles into his skin.
"Come on," I whispered into his ear a few minutes later. "We have to get back to Carlisle's." Garrett smiled that different but special smile at me, kissed me quickly once more, and then I flew off down the highway, heading back towards what would be a very tense couple of days, but I was happier than anyone could be to have stolen my own moment of peace with Garrett.
When we got back to the Cullen's house it was nearly empty. Almost everyone was still out hunting. It was the last time we'd be sure to go before the Volturi came. Garrett and I had been arguing playfully about the animal blood and the benefits about it. He was still skeptical about committing his life style to vegetarianism.
"But Kate, it doesn't taste as good as the human blood. You'll never be fully satiated," Garrett was saying. Bella walked in, and Garrett and I nodded to her in greeting, but both of us were almost solely focused on our conversation, a true feat for a vampire.
"Yes you will," I argued. "I used to feed on human blood until Tanya showed Irina and I a different way. At first, yes, it's difficult, but it takes less than a decade to get used to it. Eleazar used to be in the Volturi guard, and even he found it relatively easy."
"But why even bother changing your diet?" Garrett asked yet again. Out of all the things I said, this was the one thing he couldn't understand. "I mean, I understand if you want to preserve human life, but this is what we're made for in the first place."
"Because I don't believe that just because we are vampires, we should be given the right to kill," I sighed. "There was a time in my past where I saw an entire village massacred, and to this day, that is the single most disgusting thing I have ever seen. Never, ever again could I manage to drink human blood after seeing that scene that the immortal child wrought-"
"Wait, an immortal child?" Garrett asked. I cursed myself internally. I didn't want to tell even Garrett about Sasha and Vasilii. No one except for Tanya, Irina, and I knew, and we had almost an unspoken agreement to keep it that way until the days we died. The memory was still too painful, after all this time.
"Kate?" Garrett asked gently, wanting an answer I couldn't give. I just shook my head.
"Not yet," I barely managed to croak out. "Not yet." Garrett nodded, and seeing that I was close to vampire's own form of tears, he took me in his arms and held me close to his chest. "Maybe someday you can know part of the story, but not now. I just can't talk about now."
"Is there anyone else I could get the story from?" he asked gently. I debated on whether to send him to the Cullen's, Carmen, or Eleazar to get the part of the story that they knew. Garrett was obviously something special to me, even my old cynical self couldn't deny that anymore. The question was, what exactly was he to me? We had kissed earlier, but that didn't necessarily mean that we would fall in love. Was this just a fling, doomed to end sometime soon? Or would we endure throughout the rest of our lives, however short they might be?
My old cynical nature screamed at me to tell him to leave. There would be less heartbreak that way. Cut it off before it could carry on too far, which would only be more painful. But this new, more venerable, yet more hopeful side yearned for him to stay. And two little words made my decision for me.
Old. New. Cynical Kate was old. Garrett had transformed me into someone new. I was still a bit cynical. That was such a strong trait that it would never completely go away. But this cynicism was mingled with hope and trust, and most of all, newfound love. Because whatever happened in the future, I couldn't deny that right now, in his arms, I loved Garrett. Not in love with him surely, but definitely something stronger than simply being fond of someone.
"The Cullen's, Carmen, or Eleazar," I said softly. "Don't ask Tanya, whatever you do, and don't let her overhear. It hurts just as much for her as it does for me." Garrett nodded, and continued to hold me, putting his chin on my head. I allowed this for a few more moments before I pushed away.
"I'm sorry," I said. "You shouldn't have to see me like that, so weak. I'm not weak," I said, almost snarling the word 'not'. That was one thing that could never change. I hated feeling weak.
"Having feelings isn't a weakness Kate," Garrett said, not smiling anymore. He didn't necessarily look angry, but a more intense look was definitely apparent on his features. "Having feelings proves we're still humane. We might be monsters, but we're still people. We still feel things, and that's the best thing that we can do. You can't be strong all the time. Sometimes, you have to let others be strong for you, Katie."
Katie. No one had ever called me that before. Occasionally, Tanya and Irina would call me Katrina if they were mad at me, but to the world, I was Kate. Simply Kate. And Kate was a strong name, indicating that I myself was strong and independent. I had always seen myself like that.
Katie was more feminine, a little more venerable sounding. Willing to let other people in, willing to take the backseat every once and a while. Every time I heard the name Katie previously, I had thought of a little girl with pigtails, skipping through a field and sucking on a lollipop. That's not what I pictured when Garrett said it.
Instead, I had a vision of the two of us together, in my bedroom in Denali. We were on a large, ornate bed with a purple and black comforter that was pulled up around us. My arms were wrapped around his bare torso, sliding up and down his back, and his were everywhere, loving me with his entire being. And I loved him back.
One of his hands travelled down to my stomach, which was swollen like Rosalie's. My hand went down to cover his. I noticed a ring on my finger, a silver one with diamonds sparkled around a large blue colored diamond in the center. Even Garrett's finger had a simple gold band around it.
As suddenly as the vision it appeared, is faded into my memories. A life that I could easily have with Garrett. I wasn't Alice, and I knew this wasn't the exact future, just my imagination, but I knew it could happen. All of my fantasies had been leading towards this moment of truth. Do I accept him and let him in, opening myself to heartbreak, or deny him again?
The answer was easier than I expected.
"No one's ever called me Katie before," I whispered. "But I like it."
Garrett grinned at me. "And is that just Kate talk translated into you'll start letting people take care of you now?"
I smiled and rolled my eyes at him. "Maybe. Maybe yes." I bumped my shoulder into his and kissed his cheek. A new thought came into my head about something he said. "But if you think we need to be humane, than how can you get on my case for refusing to eat humans?"
Garrett laughed, the sound filling up the whole room. "I just wanted to see if you would keep to your beliefs even when I was arguing with them," he said. "And besides, I like infuriating you. It's actually pretty amusing when you give me that look of yours that says 'are you being serious right now?'." I rolled my eyes at him, which just made him laugh harder. I tried to stop myself, but before I knew it I was laughing alongside him, alto and bass sounds floating through the house like music. He grabbed my waist and pulled me on top of his body on the couch. He rested his chin against my head again tightened his grip around my waist. And that's the position that Tanya, Carmen, Eleazar, Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie found us in when they came in just seconds later.
All of their golden eyes followed the sounds of laughter to us on the couch. Tanya and Emmett both broke into enormous grins, Carmen, Esme, and Rose smiled in amusement, and Carlisle and Eleazar raised their eyebrows, with hints of smiles on their own faces.
"Just remember, if you hurt her, I will hunt you down and rip you apart," Tanya said cheerfully as she came to sit next to us on the couch. Garrett just laughed lightly again in response. "Oh, and no face sucking in front of me," Tanya continued. "That's just plain nasty."
"Anymore rules, Tanya, Miss Kate-You-Need-To-Get-Together-With-Garrett-Because-You're-So-Cute-Together-Go-Now-Now-Now?" I asked my old sarcastic nature, one part of me that would stay the same no matter if I were to live for a thousand more millennia. Tanya rolled her eyes at me.
"I could give you the big sister speech," she said. "In which little Katrina would be getting scolded right now."
"Don't call me Katrina," I said, lifting my head so that I could glare at her. She knew I hated being called Katrina. Tanya lifted her hands in mock surrender, smiling. I nodded, still glaring, and settled my head back down against Garrett's shoulder.
"This is what I needed," Emmett said satisfactorily. "I lost a bet with Bella and I'm not allowed to make sex jokes about her and Edward anymore, and it was killing me. I can do it with the two of you!"
"Because we've developed a sex life," I said sarcastically, not even bothering to lift my head again to look Emmett in the eye. I was much too used to his jokes to even be annoyed with them. "And I could make all the jokes I wanted to about you and Rose. I could also have you on your back, gasping in pain. So don't even start with me."
My slight threat earned me a small warning snarl from Rosalie. "Relax, Rose, you know I'm not going to do anything. I value my life just a little too much. Besides, I think the Volturi put a claim on my head, and I would hate to deprive them of that opportunity. That would just be incredibly inconsiderate." The people gathered around me laughed, and we were able to have a wonderful night, one where friendships and laughter and family were prominent in every corner of the room. It was so peaceful, and I loved being a part of it. I didn't know any other coven who had formed so large or strong a family as Carlisle and Tanya had been able to put together with our two covens. It was enchanting, and if I could still cry, a single tear would have slid down my cheek at the wonder I felt to be a part of something so unique and beautiful.
"Kate? Can I have a quick word?" Eleazar asked, appearing at my shoulder suddenly. I nodded and quickly got up from where I was still lying across Garrett's body. Eleazar led me to a corner of the Cullen's living room, as far away from the rest of them as we could get. Eleazar looked uneasy, so I had a fairly good idea that I wasn't going to like whatever it was that he was going to say.
"Kate, I know you have strong feelings for Garrett," he began, and then stopped hastily when he saw my glare. "No, please, just hear me out," he begged. "I don't believe Garrett means us any harm, and I like him very much, but look at what happened the last time we let a nomad into our coven. That's what the trigger to this whole mess was. And I don't think Laurent meant any harm to us either."
"Garrett doesn't have any crazy friends that want to kill people we're close to," I shot back. "And besides, he didn't even say he was coming with us. I don't know what his plans are if we get out of this. We'll deal with that when the time comes, Eleazar. Please, just let me enjoy the time with him that I have now. We might be dead in a couple days anyway. You know I wouldn't ask unless it was important to me."
Eleazar still looked pained. "You know you're like a sister to me, Kate," he said. "I don't want to see you get hurt in the same way Irina was. I know that I'm acting very overprotective, but I'm just looking at what has happened in the past. I don't want history to repeat itself."
"It won't," I said, with much more conviction than I actually felt. "Like I said, we'll probably be dead in a couple days. And I'm a big girl, Eleazar. I can take care of myself."
He chuckled darkly. "I know that," he said. Finally, he sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Alright, I'll give him a chance. And like I said before, I like him very much. Perhaps this will all work out for the best and you'll have a mate when we return, eh?"
I rolled my eyes at him. "You sound like Tanya," I complained lightly, but gave him a quick hug and bounded back over to Garrett. Swinging my legs up, I returned to my former position, and my magical night played out until the first rays of golden dawn.
