"Protect me from starving,
I'm eighteen,
Protect me, you,
I don't know what to do...
Protect me,
Demons that come at night,
I don't know what they say,
Their whispering sends the night air away,
And makes me forget.
I hope they come,
Again and again..."
-Protect me, You (By Sonic Youth)
As I sat alone in my room that night, I silently cursed Edward and his stupid ways of 'protecting' me.
Oh yeah, having a family council about the Batons and them not even inviting me was insulting enough, but the fact that I wasn't aloud to know what it was all about was worse.
What were the Batons? It made my head spin to think about them… and it made my heart ache that Edward didn't consider me important enough to let in on the secret.
Christian was so nice. His sister Hero was so cute and sweet, and his brothers were fun and jokey. Gala was an ice queen, but I could over look that. Jeanette was so warm and motherly, she was so beautiful and kind, and Bassanio was a good man.
And they were a gang of supernatural murderers.
Was Forks really some epicentre for supernatural beings to meet and clash?
Was it me who somehow managed to lure them out from their dark hiding places into the open to harm the people I love?
I pondered these questions and more as I sunk into my pillow, and prepared myself for a night of restlessness. There was no way I could sleep until I was back in Edwards arms.
xXx
I was walking in a dark building. I was by myself, but I knew that I wasn't alone. There was someone else here, and I was looking for them in the dark maze that I was in.
In my minds eye I had the memory of a laughing girl with long honey coloured hair. The girl looked young, even though I felt I had known her for years. I felt a pang of hatred, and I didn't know why. I had a feeling that it was her I was looking for.
I stopped for a minute. I listened closely, and I could hear a slow heartbeat coming from the upstairs. I donned the stairs, and followed the sound down a hallway, until I was facing a doorway. I swallowed hard, and pushed the creaky door open.
The room was dark. There was a single candle on the floor, illuminating sections of the musty room.
And at the back of the room, hung a hammock.
There was a body lying in it, with one arm dangling lazily over the edge. The posture was casual, but I instinctively knew that the person was deathly alert.
The candle illuminated the silhouette of the body. I could make out a straight nose, the collarbone, the rounded breasts, the flat stomach, the hips… it was definitely female.
"Hello, Christian," came a low, sweet voice. "You came,"
I shuddered. The body rose, and the woman sat up in the hammock, her face still shrouded in darkness. She stood straight, and wore a red t-shirt and rolled-up sweatpants, with a pair of battered flats. Her face was still shrouded in shadows.
"I said I would," I said coldly. "Are you finally agreeing to our terms?"
I heard a small laugh, and the figure rose up out of the hammock. She was about average height, with a muscled build. I backed away slowly. I suddenly became aware of two other heartbeats outside the room.
"Christian, your terms don't work for me, m'boy!" she laughed. She walked into the little pool of light, and bathed in the light. She looked me in the eyes, and I felt my heart stop for a moment. Her eyes, thought I saw similar eyes every day, sent a shudder down my spine.
They were my eyes. Exactly the same pattern of green freckles crowding her once deep blue iris'.
I looked into her heart shaped face. I knew her, but she was different to the person I remembered in my dream. I got a flash once again of the girl before, a stark contrast to her now. She didn't wear her hair long and dark blonde anymore, she wore it in long dreadlocks down her back, dyed a shocking shade of platinum blonde. It was pushed out of her face with a green headscarf.
Her icy green eyes were lined in thick black liner with a flick at the corners, to emphasise their lightness, and to give her a menacing, catlike look.
"You've changed, Luca." I said quietly. She laughed a high, manic laugh.
"So have you, m'dear," she cackled. I shuddered with hatred, and took a step forward.
"Leave the area, Luc," I said with strained civility. "You've caused enough damage and ruined enough lives for a lifetime."
"I was already planning on leaving, Chris. Let me guess, Doctor Jackal sent you?"
"No, Bassanio doesn't know I'm here. I came to warn you, Luca, because I haven't become an inhumane savage like you. He's going to come here with Seb, Andy and Jean to talk to you, and if that doesn't work… well tough shit, Luca, you're done for. I'm just giving you time to run."
"Listen, Chris, just in case you aren't as observant as some, take a good hard look at my eyes," she said, walking up close to me, widening her eyes to allow me to see that they were almost completely freckled with green, and the cobalt blue that they should be was barely visible underneath the jamboree of ice green. "It should only be a few more hours,"
My heart started beating faster, and I began to breath quickly. I was afraid for the people of the town, but the reason was still foggy in my mind.
I acted on instinct. I lunged at the girl, shoving her up against a wall and pinning her there with one hand on her throat and the other one pinning her arms behind her back.
"Don't make me do this Luc! Why do you have to be like this?!" I cried. "Why can't you just accept what we are and not have to use it to harm people?!"
"Last I checked Gala was still hiding in Alaska after ravaging that young girl in New York," she spat viciously, struggling against my iron hold on her. " I hear her family are still looking for the body. Does she even plan to return it? I always return most mine."
"Leaving the bodies at the scene doesn't count as returning them, Luc, its called being lazy and irresponsible. And you know we can't return her without exposing ourselves. And besides, that was different, Gala didn't mean to harm her, she just wanted to know what happened to Noah,"
"That's why I say never get involved with humans," she yowled, and I felt a pang of guilt. "Keller!" she yelled. I suddenly felt myself being flung across the room. I smashed a small table upon landing, and looked up. Standing over me was a tall man. I quickly sprang to my feet. I had to look up to see the face of the man.
I recognised his dark skin and dark eyes, with only a thin rim of green at the edge of the iris. His hair was also in dreadlocks, which were tied up at the back. He was absolutely massive, tall and muscled like a bodybuilder. His dreamlike figure growled down at me.
"I think it's time for you to leave, mate." he said in a thick London accent. "before things get ugly."
"I was just leaving," I muttered as I walked towards the doorway. "Don't say I didn't warn you, Luc, along with your pack of ferals. This is the last time I'll see you."
"See you on the other side, darling," she cooed.
I sighed and left the room. Outside glaring at me was a tall, thin young man, who looked like a 1980s male supermodel. I stopped and stared at him. His dirty blonde hair fell over his forehead, and wore thick rimmed black Clark Kent-style glasses on his thin face. His attire was completely formal, with a crisp white shit and black pants.
"Ahh, Christian," he sneered, in a BBC London accent. "It's been a frightfully long time since we've seen each other. How are you these days?"
"Up yours Lars," I muttered as I exited the building.
My eyes shot open. I was lying in my bed, drenched in sweat.
"Edward…" I gasped. But I was alone. Edward was still at his stupid family meeting. I glanced at my clock. It read 1.12am. Why wasn't he here? I needed him… what was that dream all about? Who was that Luca girl? Why did she want to kill people? Why was Christian stopping her if he was a monster as well?
I couldn't be alone right now. I didn't even bother to put on any trousers as I climbed out of bed. I stayed in my long, holey t-shirt, stuck on my boots and got a jacket as I left the house in a hurry.
There was only one place I wanted to go, and that was a small reservation fifteen minutes outside town.