Kyle (c) Penmaster51, Shayla (c) Ha-Za-A, All Twilight Characters (c) Stephaine Meyer! Story being worked & worked on...lol, finally got my lazy butt to updateXD

Chapter 6: Secrets of the Past

Shayla's POV

It was a relief not to have to hide our feelings for each other anymore. Kyle had this huge, goofy grin on his face which widened as I took his hand in mine and led him upstairs.

"Where we going?" he asked.

"My room," I answered. "I thought we could use some privacy where people can't stick their fat Southern noses into it!" I heard Jasper laugh from downstairs.

Kyle grinned at me before chuckling. "Alright then."

I stopped at my door. "My room," I told him, gesturing for him to open it. He did and he walked in before stopping in the middle of my room, gazing around at it, surveying it. I watched him as he studied my belongings.

He wandered over to the corkboard by the window and examined a photo. "Who's this?" he asked, pointing at the photo of a girl around my age with long, straight brown hair. We had brightly colored feathered boas around our necks and feathers in our hair. You could tell that we were holding the camera ourselves to take the photo.

"That's Maddy," I answered as I joined him. "We were celebrating her fiftieth birthday. She's my best friend."

I pointed to another photo with three boys and two girls. We had our arms wrapped around each other as we stood in a line, grinning madly. "That's Maddy there…" I pointed her out before gesturing to an older boy with spiky brown hair and an oval-shaped face. "That's Matt, her mate and there's Tiff…" I pointed to the black haired girl who was on my right side with another boy, slightly older with short blonde hair. "And that's her mate Theo. Funniest guy you could ever meet." I chuckled to myself as Kyle examined the third boy who had short, dark-brown hair and dimples.

"Who's that?" he asked me. I glanced at it before averting my eyes from it.

"Peter," I answered quietly.

Kyle glowered at the photo for a long minute before giving a small growl. I sighed out of sadness before sitting down on the bed. Kyle sat next to me.

"I know I shouldn't care about it anymore," I remarked. "But I do. I know it's stupid but…" He stopped me talking there by placing a finger on my lips, sending shivers down my spine. If I had a heart, it would've skipped a beat.

"It's okay Shayla," he whispered to me, his breath tickling my ear as he leant in closer to me before, although hesitantly, wrapping his stone arms around me. "I don't know much about you but I know enough to understand."

I turned my head to look at him, still caught in his embrace. "How much do you know about me?" I asked him. But he didn't answer straight away.

"Kyle?" I asked warily, standing up and moving to stand opposite him. He didn't meet my gaze until I said his name. I asked my question again. "How much do you know?"

Kyle's POV

Oh god, I'm dead. Her whole body was tense and wary now; I felt a sick feeling of dread come over me. Her dark brown eyes narrowed suspiciously at me and I swallowed the nervous venom down, shifting uncomfortably. I would have darted my eyes away from her but… well, she's Shayla. I couldn't take my eyes off her if I wanted.

"N-not a lot… but…" I stammered, standing up and staring deep into her eyes. I wanted her to drop the whole thing so we could go back to hugging each other, to feel her confidant touch to my self-pity one.

"Kyle! How much?" she demanded and I inwardly flinched. But my own tongue flared up.

"Look, Shay! It's not that bad! I know that Peter left you- why I couldn't care! I should rip his damn head off for it! And-and…"

My voice trailed off in an angry growl corrupted my speech and my hands clenched into fists. I was like Jasper in a way, a kill or die part of me was always lurking in my head. I could picture easily how Peter's head would slice off if my teeth got a hold on him or how I'd break every bone in his body before giving him the freedom of death.

"Kyle." Shayla's tone made me drag my eyes back up to her. Without any control, my voice returned and I spoke again.

"Shayla… I told you everything. Shall I tell you my story? My parents died when I was young- I was sent to live with my grandparents for the rest of my life! I had a loose friendship with a few guys and we made a band. One night, the lead guy and me had a huge fight and I stormed off- ironically, in a thunderstorm. I took the woods' path but…" I growled again and my hands started to clench and unclench in a desperate way to control my anger.

"There was someone there to meet me. He was a human-eater that-that… he bit me. He was going to drain me but another one of his coven came along, telling him not to do it and let me change since I was already a goner from a human life- he bit me too to get the venom moving faster probably in hopes that the process would move much quicker."

"The venom soak through my body like fire. My savior was an old vampire I guess and under estimated my hunter… the guy killed the other one and burned him on the spot. My hunter came over to me and said… stuff."

I paused, took a deep breath and repeated the husky, deep, dark words my hunter told me: "I should kill you now… but it'd be more fun to watch you grow into a full grown one of us and track you down that way."

"Then two more of his coven came and destroyed him for some reason. They were young and stupid… apparently my hunter's name was Roy and he tormented people in the processing of changing. Luckily my skin was becoming hard otherwise I wouldn't be here today… the two, they-they… started to beat the crap out of me like… like a soccer ball or something. They left their mark all right."

I snorted and shook my head, grinding my teeth in frustration. Then I stood up, flipped up my shirt and showed the teeth marks on my back, where somehow my skin didn't heal the bite marks.

"These are from my hunter, the guy that tried to save me and a few I think… I don't even remember anymore. It was pretty hazy from my transformation. I actually forgot my name when I ran into the Cullen's." I chuckled lightly but when she didn't say anything, I stopped. "Maybe some of them are from the guys that had beaten me but I don't care. They're gone away."

She said nothing and I knew then that I wasn't off the hook. She stared hard at me, her eyes taking this furious animal look in them. No matter how attracted I was to Shay, the connection just kept getting stronger and stronger. But I knew I feared her anger. I didn't want her to feel my wrath ether.

"What about my transformation?"

"I know that you were changed by Carlisle because you were mauled by a mountain lion. Emmett found you while hunting alone and brought you back to the house, pleading to Carlisle to save you. Before that, you were a farm hand's daughter and lived with other families. Your father's boss whipped you badly with anything, that ass," I snarled the word. "There are scars on your lower back to prove it."

Her mouth popped open with a small popping noise. Obviously, she had not expected me to know that much about her transformation. Also that her father's boss had practically tortured her throughout her childhood until she came about the age of fifteen.

"But when you were first staying with the Cullen's, after your transformation, you found out about your father's boss was still around. The one that struck you," I growled again, "with the cattle branding iron besides. It's a scar on your hip. With Rosalie's help… you killed him."

She hissed angrily and leapt up, pacing in front of me. I didn't dare look her in the eye.

"What about before that?" She questioned still.

"After the boys you grew up with, left to find jobs, you were supposed to be taught about the lady skills or something like that. You didn't take the classes so you entertained yourself with the animals. You came to be almost one with them, Shay. When you were still human… anyways, you left the Cullen's for a rebellious spell. Far longer than I did- I was gone for maybe, twenty-four hours or so. Then came back."

I paused, mustered my courage and looked up. I realized that the fury in her eyes was building up like water against an almost broken dam. I continued.

"You were doing fine after you arrived in Alaska; you stayed in the woods. But you came across a hiker… he was really hurt and bleeding… you couldn't control yourself. You drained him," she flinched from the memory, "and soon, drank animals less and less. Humans became more frequent. But they were useless, unwanted men and women. Murders, thieves and anyone bad, I guess."

I shrugged, stood up and watched her with wide, fearful eyes.

"I don't know much after that besides the story of Cullen's and Bella… they left you out, though and I didn't suspect a thing."

I shrugged again, hoping to roll off the matter and saw that her back was to me. I walked towards her and timidly touched her arm. She recoiled back like I had hit her and spun around to face me. Her lips were curled into a giant, feral snarl. Each of her words was each like whiplashes.

"Who told you this? Why didn't you tell me- or at least, ask me?" She growled.

"Shay, come on! Ed was only trying to help; I had to figure you out first before I could start tracking. I'm not some magician that magically pulls out vampires from hats! I had to understand your personality a bit better and your background helped a lot."

"So you went behind my back-"

"I barely knew you then," I retorted back at her, struggling to keep calm.

"Kyle, you're so-so, urgh!" She snarled at me, a great grizzly's sound built up and erupted from her.

"Don't get mad at me! It's not my fault! And I think it's a fair trade! I told you everything now, Shay! Why can't-"

She raced out of the room, pounding her feet against the floor angrily and raced off into the woods before I could start spilling my guts. My hand ran through my hair and a small whimper escaped my lips. I slowly strode down the stairs, my head hung low and the whole family was standing there. They were confused and I realized something: Shay and I were yelling. They heard everything.

"What?!" I snapped.

"Kyle-" Edward started.

"Shut-up! You don't know anything!" I shouted at me, feeling stupid and childish immediately after the outburst.

"Where'd she go?" I growled, ignoring the shocked look from Esme and stared at all the guys.

"Fine! I'll find her myself!" I yelled at them, stomped away and tore after Shay.

Why would she be so mad? I mean, yeah her human life sucked. It majorly sucked but I mean, didn't all of ours? The end is always painful and sometimes the stuff that built up to the end was really bad too. I shook my head angrily and let out an angry huff. My childhood was pretty messed up too but at least I wasn't beaten or banded like an animal.

I sighed, and picked up the pace. Where'd she go?

Shayla's POV

I hated him. Stupid Edward! He might be my brother, but as of this moment, I hated him! There was a reason why I didn't tell Kyle of my past – it was shameful and I tried not to linger in it. Whenever someone brought it up, all these feelings that I had successfully bottled up, spilled up and caused me to become all emotional. I hated it – don't live in the last, the future is now.

I growled angrily to myself and smashed my way through the trees of the woods, running flat-out in a sprint until I was out of our territory, and even past the La Push boundary. As long as we had any of Jacob's pack, preferably Jacob himself, we were allowed into the La Push territory. But right now I diverted away from it, heading more easterly and into the mountains.

I finally slowed my pace when I came to a small cave sat deep in the mountains. No humans could get to it, due to it being surrounded by sharp jagged rocks and being up high in a stone wall, not to mention the trees surrounding this particular terrain.

I ground my teeth in frustration before I leapt down the slope towards it, like a cat of some sort, before I bounded up the rocks and flipped off a conveniently tree, landing snugly in the perfectly round cave. I landed crouched on the rough surface just as a rumble of thunder sounded outside.

Feeling depressed, I moved between two small boulders lining the right-hand wall of the abnormally small hole-like cave, and pushed myself between them. It made me feel safe, to have something there, something surrounding me.

The rain soon pelted down and then, the longer I sat there, letting dry sobs rock my chest. I was such an idiot. I had probably scared him off now, who could ever love a freak like me?

"I'm so stupid," I growled to myself. "I'll never get him back."

The wind blew through the deep yet small cave, sending rain water onto my face and making an echoing noise throughout the stone cavern, making it sound like a demon was howling with pain. The only other sound was my wails of despair. The two noises together made the rocky place sound haunted, demonic even.

And then, as I sobbed into my crossed arms resting on my knees which were pulled up to my chest, a scent hit me. One I had smelt many times before. On whose I had grown to love. It smelt of red rocks, tumble weeds and made you think of lonely desert highways in the outback, where the only life was the roos bounding across the hot sand in a mad dash for safety.

I knew whose it was, and I dreaded it immediately. It came from deep in the cave and I, ignoring the sleet that was bucketing down, vaulted down from the cave, using a tree as leverage.

I couldn't help the dry sobs that were booming out of my chest. I turned and saw the owner of the scent standing on the ledge of the cave, his black eyes bearing down at me. His lips pulled back in a furious grimace and, behind him, four other vampires, all males wearing black cloaks, stared furiously at me too.

It was a nomad gang. These were common in Australia and they made smaller covens band together with others, for protection. The gangs were like human gangs; they stole, bashed and murdered those in their way. The average size of one was three or four members, with a leader. They invaded territories and they caused most of the clan wars. They were also unstable, because if their prey (humans) were not in supply, they would fight to the death over one another's kill. They were truly evil, monstrous vampires. But there was one other fact that made them lethal.

They were also known to be hired as highly-trained and deadly assassins. They tended to get hired with promises of shelter, food, money, power and most importantly, territory. The large capital cities were once swamped with vampires but the Volturi stepped in and eliminated most of them, leaving the ones with the more power, the more controlled ones to survive. Newborns were a rare thing, only the nomads could have the patience and time to create one – the gangs were too bust trying to knock off the competition in their area.

I shuddered at these thoughts before I saw the main man's chest rumble with a ferocious, threatening growl. I grimaced before I realised what the growl meant. It was a threat and order in one.

And so I fled.

I sprinted as fast as I could across the rocky landscape. My pursuers were near, I could hear their pounding feet, their growls and orders being barked from their mouths, and their even breathing. When the land became a trip hazard, I leapt into my 'normal' run.

My arms and shoulders seemed to move down a fraction, and my legs seem to do the same, but by moving back across my body. I let my claws loose, letting them help propel me across the forest ground.

I went in circles, back-tracking and going in wide curves, before I reached the dense tree line of the forest near home. I scaled the trees easily, like a big cat simply just springing up but for dozens of meters at a time, before I flipped and soared through them.

I stopped in the canopy a few moments later, feeling relived my chasers were gone. I climbed closer to the ground and picked up a trail of their scent.

Instead of leading away, it leaded towards the river. A feeling of dread coursed through me.

It was leading towards home. They were going after my family. They had to be stopped. I would not let my family get hurt because of him.

I raced after them, running faster then I have ever done before.

They would not pay for my foolish mistake.