A/N: I know! Guess who's back! Well we were having major computer issues, and I was like 'Oh no'. I was supposed to have, like, five more chapters by now. I was going to do a New Years scene, but I said 13 pages….I think they can deal for a few more weeks. I mean, This chapter is LONG. SO tell me what you think, yell at me for not updating since last year, tell me if it's good, bad or terrible. I just want to hear what you think.
Enjoy.
Disclaimer (Incase you forgot.): C. Vexis does NOT own Twilight OR New Moon. She is just a lowly fan fiction writer, that trying to get into Wellesley. Stephanie Meyer owns New Moon AND Twilight.
I stepped carefully out of the car, avoiding the vampires black gaze. The sickly sweet scent of him filled my nose, and I almost gagged: He even smelled strong. Betraying my earlier notions not to look at him, when I was far away, standing in the middle of the lot, I glanced back. I had to admit, for a leech, he was handsome. Bronze hair, godlike face, lanky, yet somehow still muscular, nothing compared to Alex though. Standing behind him was a girl, the girl. Chocolate brown eyes stared questioningly at me; I gazed back at them, wondering how much she knew about her boyfriend.
I quickly looked away and walked up to the office building.
"Ready?" Alex asked in a hushed voice, as he rushed to hold the door open for me. In return to his question I only gave a nod, not trusting myself to speak.
Inside the office a woman sat behind a desk stacked with papers. A nameplate told me that her name was Ms. Cope. When we walked in she glanced up from her work, and gave up both warm smiles.
"Well you must be the two new kids. We don't get many of you." Ms. Cope began shuffling through papers on her desk. "Umm names?"
"Camilta Vexis." I spoke up; deciding that now was the time to find my voice.
"Alexander Morvus."
Ms. Cope typed our names in one a computer, and printed out our schedules. She handed Alex his, then paused for a moment when she went to give me mine.
"Only 15 and you're a Senior?" She asked. "I'm impressed." I smiled, and took my schedule from her hands, thanking her for her help. She then proceeded to give us maps, and other things we would need to find our way around. "I hope you two have a nice day. If you have any trouble, just come see me."
We said thank you, then parted. As we stood outside, comparing our classes, it began to drizzle, quickly we packed our things up and ran inside, if the building.
The halls were buzzing with chatter. Squeals and hollers of laughter assaulted my ears. I looked at my schedule, and then to my map, wondering if we had went to the wrong part of the building, when Alex pointed to a door.
I could not help but notice the look some of the girls gave him: All of which he ignored, or appeared to ignore. Inwardly, I sighed, and gave him a sideways glance. Gray met brown, and he had me once again under his spell. Alex smiled, and for a second I thought he could sense it; what I felt.
We moved into the classroom slowly, all eyes seeming to follow our every step. The man at the desk was Mr. Thomas. He was in his late forties, and had graying brown hair. As we walked into the room, he looked up and smiled.
"Ah the new recruits. Welcome to AP American History." He looked down at a list, "Alexander and C…Camel? Cami…Um can you pronounce your name please?" Alex chuckled, it was a harsh yet pleasant, musical sound, I also heard a scoffing laugh, from in the back corner. Looking in its direction, I saw the vampire from earlier, sitting next to him was the human girl.
I glared for a moment, and then noticed that the last two empty seats in the class were directly across from the vampire. The desks were arranged in groups of four, and there were five clusters of desk. Not a very large class.
I told Mr. Thomas how to pronounce my name; he smiled appreciatively at me for not being angry when he got it wrong.
"Bella can you raise your hand please?" The girl with the chocolate brown eyes looked up, and Alex and I moved down the rows and took our seats. Mr. Thomas fumbled for a moment in a cabinet, after a little searching, he removed two large books, he set them in front of us, and walked back up to the front to the class, starting the lesson.
I was tense, not from nervousness about being new, but from the black eyes that I knew was staring at me. I had picked the seat directly across from the vampire, and now his stare was boring holes in my skull. For a while, I pretended that my text book was more interesting than he was, then I got fed up with his gaze, and raised my eyes to meet his.
"You'll pay if you hurt her." He whispered, so low that only Alex and I could hear. I was about to say something back, then the bell rang.
The next three classes flew by, and I was bored out of my mind. This boredom continued until the class I had before lunch.
I walked into Mrs. David's anatomy class, introduced myself, and took a seat. I got a few furtive looks, and excited whispers, but those had all been normal throughout the day.
My breath caught in my throat, when Edward the vampire walked into the class. He was alone, no girlfriend, or any other vampire. As soon as he walked into the room I closed my eyes and began to wish desperately that I had chosen to sit with a bunch of perky girls. Sure they would have annoyed me something awful, but anything would be better than sharing a table with him.
Edward Cullen paused when he came to the table. For a second he just stared, his eyes quizzical, but then he sat down right next to me. Without a word he took out his books, and sat back, obviously trying to ignore me
He may have been able to ignore me, but I was not able to ignore him. His very scent made the magic in my veins hum; it sickened me with its deathly sweet smell: It was so strong. Ten minutes into the class and I had a massive headache.
After a few boring minutes of note taking, the teacher assigned a worksheet. We were to fill in a diagram of the human skeletal system, and describe the functions of some of the main parts. It was and easy task, and could be done in under fifteen minutes. But I highly doubted that the vampire and I could get along for that long. So after a small staring contest, we began sliding the paper back and fourth between us, each time we would fill in something. I hated the fact that his handwriting was much neater than mine: My handwriting had never been neat. We finished the assignment in ten minutes, and we still had a lot of time to spare. When the teacher came to collect it, she told us that we could talk amongst ourselves. The vampire and I both exchanged glances, and I saw the corners of his mouth twitch.
'Stupid leech,' I thought.
"Stupid hunter," he said aloud.
My head snapped up, and I locked eyes with him. His black ones bore into my hazel ones. I was determined not to look away; I would not give him the satisfaction, so instead I challenged him.
"Would you like to repeat that?" I asked in a low dangerous voice.
"I think you know very well what I said." He replied nonchalantly. His voice was low and even, he did not seem to be at all bothered by my apparent anger. Suddenly I wanted to provoke him; I wanted to let him know that I was not someone to be ignored. And so I let a little bit of my power out. It wafted in the air, making it thick and heavy. I saw the vampire tense, and could not hide a satisfied smirk, then as quickly as I let the power out, I drew it back in.
"Please don't insult me." I said. "You'll find that I can be very scary if you get me angry." Just as the words left my lips the bell rang, I grabbed my things and moved swiftly out the door, leaving the vampire still seated.
I met Alex at the entrance to the lunch room; it was raining very hard outside now, and there looked to be a great amount of lightning. Alex looked a bit angry. I could tell because his shoulders were lightly hunched, and his eyes were darker than usual. When I was at his side he turned, and bent down to meet my eyes.
"Are you inane?" He hissed. "I felt that from the next building! Do you want to get us all killed. You must have better control."
He must have been talking about the energy burst in anatomy class. I gave a sad apology and immediately saw him soften. He straitened up and led me into the lunchroom.
After looking at the lunch the school had to offer, we decided that the lunch Juliana packed for us would be healthier and most likely better tasting. We sat down at a table near the doors, and ate in silence.
"Your mother is a great cook." I said uncomfortable with the silence.
Alex paused from the club sandwich he was eating, and smiled.
"Yes she is. Does your mother cook?"
I thought about his question, it should not have been very difficult to answer, but for some reason it took me a while.
"She does," I finally said, "But not as well as Juliana."
Suddenly the image of burned turkeys and lousy dinners came into mind, and I had to stifle a giggle. Alex noticed and flashed me an odd look.
"Funny memory?" he questioned.
I shook my head, and we spoke no more. The rest of the day went by smoothly, there were no more incidents, and I began to like school. Soon all the days melted into one, and I found myself changing. While with the Morvus' I was at ease most of the time, and I hated the difference between them and my real family.
They were so loving and kind, while my family was….not. I began to wonder why, but every time I did, it just brought back sad and solemn memories. Before I knew it two weeks had pasted and it was Thanksgiving. The food had been amazing…no beyond amazing. Juliana had been teaching me how to cook in between our healing lessons. There had been a really funny incident involving me and a can of creamed spinach.
The days passed, and I was happy for the time being. Then like all good things it ended.
It was two weeks before Christmas when I got the news. Juliana came bustling into my room, a smile on her face.
"Guess what Camilta?" She said brightly. I had been reading a book and looked up when she spoke; Juliana took it as a sign to continue. "We're going to your family's house for Christmas!"
My mouth must have been hanging open, and I knew that my eye were wide in shock. Whose dumb ass idea was this? I mean, who could have possibly thought that I wanted to see my family?
"Oh you must be so excited!" Juliana hugged me, and I was engulfed in her mane of rose scented hair, which calmed me down.
"Yeah," I said as she turned to leave, "I'm dying to go."
Really I was dreading it. The thought of being with them again terrified me. But unfortunately, I could not let Juliana and Alex know. They would be frustrated if they knew the reason why. The flight back to Michigan was long and tiring. Juliana was complaining about how the food the flight was unhealthy: That's the only time she complained: when someone's nutritional values were at stake.
Mr. Morvus picked us up at the airport. He was still as foreboding as the first day I say him. Upon seeing me his icy eyes locked on mine, and I froze in my steps. He looked me up and down quickly; much like Alex had done the first time he saw me, then spoke.
"You have been following my diet." I shivered at the sound of his voice. When Alex and Juliana got back from getting coffee, Mr. Morvus embraced his wife in a warm hug, and gave his son a pat on the head. "I've missed you both." And for once his voice did not frighten me, it sounded warm and caring.
'So even he can be nice,' the thought came suddenly, and I pondered on it for a moment, so much so that I did not see Alex offer me a steaming cup of coffee. I nodded in thanks and he smiled.
We followed Mr. Morvus to his car, a sleek black Porsche. The drive was calm, and the classical music that was playing lulled me into sleep. I accepted gratefully, hoping that I would wake up back at the house in Forks.
"So she passed out again has she?" The harsh voice of my father pulled me from pleasant dreams. I opened my eyes, and say the face of Marcus Vexis. I groaned, and looked at the person that was holding me: It was Alex.
"No," Said Juliana's voice, "She fell asleep and I did not want to wake her."
"You can put me down now." I whispered in Alex's ear. He grinned and whispered back.
"What if I like holding you?" he said, almost shyly. I laughed as he lowered me to the floor. I looked around me, almost surprised that I had once lived here; everything was exactly as I remembered it, yet it all seemed so foreign.
The ten foot walls were painted a soft blue, The living room, which I could see clearly was a lighter shade of blue, with a dark oak coffee table, and a large plasma screen television on the wall. Also there was a wrap around leather sofa, almost the same shade f brown as the table. The floor was a light wood, with some carpet here and there. I now stood in the small entrance way. A glass table stood in front of me and on it was a vase.
'It can't be.' I thought. The vase was an exact replica of the one that Naomi had made me break. It was shining and glittering in the light. Involuntarily I took a step back. Juliana followed my horrified gaze and smiled.
"It's lovely Tanya, where did you get it?" I looked up and saw my mother. She had just entered the room and was staring at my head. I suddenly realized that my hair was the exact shade of brown as hers was.
"It was a gift from Naomi." My mother said a proud smile on her lips. Suddenly she turned to me and the smile vanished, replaced by an uncomfortable look. "Lets just hope this one can stay intact."
'Of course it was something she did.' I thought. A strayed from Alex's side long enough to help my mother take the Morvus' bags to the guest rooms. After that I went up stairs to get myself settled in. I got one of the biggest shocks of my life when I saw Naomi sitting on my bed.
"You're back?" She said, flashing me a cool smile. "Did you see mothers gift? Cost me huge bundle to get one from the exact same time period as Great-Gran Naomi."
"Well I'm sure mom loves it."
Naomi stood and sauntered forward, each step reflecting our hatred for each other.
"I hope your hand does not slip again this time Camilta. It would be a shame to ruin Christmas for us to...oh wait you already did. You jut being here destroys my holiday, then you bring them!"
"You're just upset because Alex does not like you." I paused, a smile growing on my lips. "I still see the bump. It's huge!" Naomi's hand flew to her forehead, and she gave a loud shriek and rushed, most likely to her room.
After a quick laugh I walked down the stairs, my family was sitting in the living room; the smell of hot chocolate was fresh in the air. The Morvus' all sat on one couch, while my family sat on the opposite end, between the two couches was a coffee table, and to the left end of the coffee table, was a soft chair in which I sat.
The minutes that followed were boring, the adults talked about things like politics for a moment, and when that became boring, they changed to more interesting things like magic.
"Well I don't see why the Morvus women aren't allowed to fight." My mother said. "We do and we still manage to be good women," she threw a withering glare at me, "Most of us that is."
Mr. Morvus leaned forward.
"It's not a matter of being women; it's a matter of stature. Morvus women don't fight because the lack of impure magic hones their healing skills. Healing magic is only so far away from spiritual magic. The women of the Morvus line could beat any man.
My father sat back in the couch.
"How? If they cannot fight, how will they defend themselves?"
"Marcus, my dear wife here can suck the very life force from your body. She can drain you of magic and make you as weak as a newborn child."
This confused me. Juliana Morvus looked so calm, so harmless. But I knew better than to judge people by how they looked. My lessons with her had taught me exactly how strong she was. Juliana could beat anyone she wanted blindfolded.
"Dante, any man could also do that." Once again this was my father.
"Marcus, have you ever heard of a male doing white magic? It is truly a feminine brand of sorcery. Not because it's weak, it's jut because we don't have the…"
"The instinct," Juliana finished. "A woman brings life into the world. It is only fair that she can take it away. Power, it is not only a man's domain."
"Sounds like a leech to me." Naomi stated. At that moment, my sensitive ears picked up the sound of three things. The first was Juliana's cry of disgust, the second, Mr. Morvus' shout of anger, and the third was my own racing heart. Naomi had just insulted Juliana, she had compared he to a vampire. That was unacceptable.
"Naomi!" I cried, jumping from my chair and to Juliana's defense. "The only one here that is like a leech is you! You self-centered, death dealing, wanna-be super-hunter bitch!" The words left my mouth before I could stop them. They came out almost as fast as it took for Naomi's fist to hit my cheek.
"The last time I checked Camilta, you were a death dealing wanna- be super-hunter bitch too. The only difference is that I am much better at it than you are." With a growl of frustration I launched myself at her, taking her to the floor. Each punch felt like a release. The anger, the hatred, everything flew into my hands, my fist, and it powered me.
I was so lot in my revenge that I did hardly felt the arm the wrapped around my waist. Suddenly I was looking down at the now bloody face of my sister, she was stunned, and so was I. Her blood covered my hands, and I was really surprised that she was still breathing. She looked up at me with those brown eyes, wide with shock and anger: I wanted to rip them from her eyes.
"Camilta! Camilta! Calm down!" It was Alexander's voice, full of worry, it made me relax. I struggled from his grasp and looked around the room. My parents stared, Mr. Morvus looked livid, and Juliana looked positively sick. I did not bother to look at Alex, I did not want to see the look in his eyes.
As I closed the door to my room, I heard my mother apologize for my rue behavior, then I heard Naomi groan outwardly, that was the last thing I heard that night. In all of three seconds, I had finished my sobbing and fell asleep huddled in a corner.
Christmas morning dawned, and I was being shaken awake by a gentle hand. The smell of spices was strong and heavy in the air; suddenly it dawned on me that someone was cooking. I opened my eyes; the fuzzy outline of Alex was standing in front of me. In his hands was a warm mug, it smelled like hot chocolate.
"Here…" His voice was as gentle as his hands. "My mom said you might need this."
I took it with a small nod of thanks, and brought the mug to my lips. There was a faint hint of mint in the hot chocolate, and it tasted amazing.
"My father is rather upset that you lost control like that. He says that when we go back home he will talk to you about it." Alex grimaced, a slight smile coming to his lips. "That can't be a good sign. Your brother is here. He came in last night."
My heart beat doubled, and I shot up, the mug nearly falling from my hands.
"Cain is here!" I was extremely happy. With lithe, quick steps, I launched myself from my room, forgetting about my compromised situation. As soon as I took three steps out of the door, I was wrapped in a tight bear hug that took my breath away.
"Camilta, I've missed you little sister!" I looked up at my brother and smiled, returning his hug with as much force as I could muster. Like my father, my brother was well built, but instead of being bulky, he was just a little muscular. My brother was the only person in my family that seemed to understand me. He was what kept me sane. In those few months after my twelfth birthday incident, he let me know that I still had someone that cared. I reached up on my tiptoes, and ran a hand through Cain's buzz cut head. "Yeah, I changed it again…"
"You look like Father." I said lightly. And indeed he did greatly resemble our dad, he was almost the exact same height, had the same hazel eyes, and even had the same features. "It's scary." Cain chuckled.
"Speaking of 'scary', I heard about what you did to Naomi." His eyes held a mix of amusement and anger. "You should not have lost control like that, but I'll forgive you since you put Naomi in her place." At that moment, Alex walked from my room and gave Cain a nod. "He's a good kid." My brother whispered in my ear. I punched him lightly on the arm when he added 'I approve.'
"It's not like that." I whined. The laugh I got in return made me think that Cain did not believe me.
After hearing some of Cain's stories about Japan, the three of us walked down to the kitchen. There my mother and Juliana were busy preparing breakfast. Actually it was more like Juliana was teaching, and my mother was learning. As we walked into the warm, fragrant room, Juliana turned and gave me a frown, at her sad look, I remembered my appearance, and with speed that even a vampire could not have matched, ran back up to my room, into the shower.
After finishing, I changed into a cream colored knit sweater, and a pair of extremely comfortable jeans. Out of habit I holstered my knife, and strapped it onto my upper arm. As I was putting a light spray of lilac scented perfume on, which Juliana had given me, I heard a knock on my door. Promptly I opened it, and regretted it as I was slammed into a wall.
"You filthy little bitch!" Naomi hissed. She had no signs of the beating she had been through: that angered me slightly; I wanted her to remember it. Her fist raised and came plummeting toward me, my reflexes kicked into place. Quickly my hands shot up, stopping her punch.
"No need for insults dear sister. The Morvus' may not train like we do, but they do indeed train well." With a grunt I pushed her away. "I'm not going to be prey for you Naomi." Waving, I pushed pass my stunned sister and put my bedroom, door.
The day was filled with snow and laughter. Alex, Cain, and I went outside and had a snowball fight, which I lost: (Only due to the fact that they were both against me.) As night fell, the three of us settled into the dining room for a few pre-dinner Christmas movies. A Christmas story was just winding down when Juliana came in and told us to go get ready to eat. As I walked pass her, her hand gently squeezed my arm. I gave her a small rare smile, and walked up the stairs and to my room.
When I came back down, everyone was gathering in the dining room. I took a seat next to Cain, who sat to the right of our father, my mother took a seat to my father's right, next to her sat Juliana, in a seat that was normally Naomi's. Next to Juliana was Alex, who wad directly across from me. He gave me a small grin. Sitting directly opposite from my father was Mr. Morvus. Ever since I had sat down, his gaze had not left me. I could tell that he was still angry about what I had done to Naomi.
My eyes widened when I realized there was only one spot at the table left, and I highly doubted that she would be sitting on the floor.
"Diner smells divine mom!" said the great bitch herself as she came bounding down the stairs. She plopped down next to me, and struck up a conversation with Cain. In our family, presents were opened after dinner, I don't know why, but it did not really matter to me: I always got the same things anyway.
"Why thank you sweetie! I don't deserve all the credit though Mrs. Morvus is the real cook." All the while saying this, my mother looked a little sick. She may have been playing the part of 'good hostesses, but she still could not hide her dislike for the Morvus'.
I glanced at Naomi, who gave me a cold glare back, along with a large smirk.
"So, Camilta," She said slowly. "You did not get to close to moms' vase did you? Don't want another repeat of the last one do you?"
I ground my teeth together, using all my control to stop my hands from shaking at the memory.
"What happened to the last one?" Juliana asked. I bit my lip wondering what they would say.
"Camilta accidentally broke it." My father replied tensely. I snuck a peek at him and met his eyes, only for the briefest moment. "It was nothing," He paused, "Easily dealt with."
Absently, I ran a finger along the edges of scar on me upper arm. He had given it to me, when he had thrown me against the wall: My own father! Quickly I calmed the rapid breath that threatened to tear my lungs from me. Looking up again I saw my father whispering in me mother's ear, at the same moment, my mother gave me a dark look.
"Camilta," Cain said, as he stood up, "I forgot to show everyone my pictures from Japan. Can you help me go get them?"
I was quite positive that Cain was more than capable of getting the pictures himself, but the tone of his voice told me that he wanted to talk. I excused myself and followed him upstairs.
Quietly he opened the door to his room, and we both stepped inside. His room was square, and was the second largest in the house. The floors were a dark, polished wood, and the walls were painted a deep shade of green. In a corner was a king-sized bed that had blankets and pillows the same shade of the walls, it was made in the exact same shade of wood as the floor. In another corner were a desk and a comfortable armchair. I sat down in the chair, while Cain sat on the bed, giving me a serious look.
"You did not tell them did you?" his tone was serious and low, a tone that he almost never took with me.
"No. Why would I?" I said defensively. Cain knew that I never told anyone about what happened to me. As far as I knew, only Mother, Father, Cain, and Naomi knew about it, which was probably good for them. But the look Cain gave me was strong enough to make me think otherwise.
"You trust them don't you?" He stood and walked the few steps over to me. "One day you should stop keeping secrets from them."
I sighed, "They won't understand. They'll go ballistic," I stood. "And if you think Dad is scary when he is angry, watch out, because Mr. Morvus runs on a very short fuse."
"Oh." Cain said skeptically, "And how would you know? He seems like a nice enough guy to me."
I blinked, "Are you serious? Every time he looks at me it's like the skin is about to peel off my bones."
Cain laughed, and then went back to his bed to fish around in a large black duffle. I watched a he turned around, holding what looked like and entire box filled with pictures.
We went back down, immediately we noticed the banquet of food that had been sat out. A ham sat in the middle of the table, next to it was a delicious looking turkey. There were garlic potatoes, green beans, roasted apples, and tons more. I didn't have a memory of a Christmas dinner that nice since mom had hired a caterer.
I took my seat once again, and watched as Juliana bustled around putting food on people's plates. After all the time I spent with her, I still did not know why the woman was so damned nice. She even gave Naomi a compliment. The woman was a huge mystery.
Mr. Morvus face held the hints of a soft smile when his wife walked past him. Suddenly, I saw his hand wrap gently around her slender wrist, he paused, then brought Juliana's hand to his lips and gave it a quick kiss.
"Merry Christmas love." He said quietly, I hardly made it out over the clatter of knives and forks that were now scraping eagerly over plates.
Blushing, Juliana lightly pulled her hand away, only after returning his kiss, and walked away. That was the second time I had seen Mr. Morvus display any form of emotion, it confused me as much as it had the first time. How could a man that was so outwardly cold be so loving on the inside? Well he is human….sort of.
Christmas dinner went by slowly; everyone savored ever delicious bite that they ate. There was little conversation between my family and the Morvus': They did not want a repeat of last night. So instead of talking to my parents, the Morvus' listened to Cain tell about his trip to Japan. This interested everyone. He talked about Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto: the places he went while living with his friends. In the middle of him telling us about some big store he went to, Juliana stood up and went back into the kitchen. She came out holding a try laden with small cakes and candies; they all looked and smelled wonderful.
"How about we eat these while we open presents?" She suggested. My mom agreed. And we all went back into the family room, where the tree and at least fifty presents were.
Juliana sat her tray down on the coffee table.
She looked at me and gave me a smile. "What you want to drink dear?" She asked quietly.
"Could I have more hot chocolate?"
"Me too mom." A voice said from over my shoulder, I looked up and saw Alex standing with a smirk on his face. With a nod Juliana was off, after she left, Alex sat down on the floor next to me. "I'm still trying to figure out how Mom got all those presents on the plane."
"Me either." I said, "Does she always buy so many?" About 85 percent of the presents under the tree were purchased by Juliana. She had gotten them all the day before we left.
"Here you go sweetie." Juliana had come back with our hot chocolate and more. Now the tray was loaded with mugs of coffee, tea, and the warm hot chocolate that I now reached for. Alex took his mug, and turned t face Cain, who grabbed a cup of coffee.
"This is nice." He whispered as he sat down beside us.
"Alright, now that we have everything, let's open presents!" My mom said. Quickly she went over to the tree, and pulled out a large dark purple box. After looking the name tag she handed the package to Naomi, "This one is from her father and me."
Naomi eagerly ripped at the paper, until she got to the present. It was a lacquered wood box, decorated with painted flowers and vines. As soon as I saw it I knew what it was: another one of our precious family heirlooms. Inside this box was a complete weapons set, one that had everything a mage needed to kick some major butt. A few years ago, Cain had received a similar one. I sighed and sat back against the couch, watching scornfully as Naomi opened the lid and began to remove various weapons inside.
"It's beautiful Mom!" She embraced her, and then turned to Father. "Thank you, I love it!"
The next few minutes went by slowly; I sipped my hot chocolate, and watched as everyone became emerged in coils and folds of wrapping paper. This was what it was like every Christmas for me. Normally I got something, but it was never anything to get jumpy about.
"Camilta, you have a big stack of presents waiting in the corner." Juliana told me. "Why don't you go open them?"
"Oh," I said dumbly. "I...I wanted to give you guys your presents first." I stood, and walked over to the chair the sat in the corner. I reached behind it, and curled my fingers around the handle of a bag. I pulled the bag out, and sat it on the chair. After a moment of searching, I drew out Juliana's gift. It was a bottle of perfume, one that I knew she liked and was almost out of.
"Why thank you!" Juliana cried as she wrapped me in a tight hug. I tentatively hugged her back. After that, I went around and gave everyone their gifts, I even got one for Naomi, but that had been Juliana's idea. Once that was done I opened my impressive haul of presents. Clothes, gift cards, and books from the Morvus', special they may have been, they all paled compared t what Alex got me.
It had been wrapped in black velvet, with a small tag telling me who had bought it. When I opened it, I was shocked to see that there was no box, inside; lying neatly nestled in another layer of red velvet was a long silver bracelet. On its link were alternating pearls and onyx, each one having a magical marking engraved in it in either black or white. I could feel the magic that resided in every one of the small beads of pearls and onyx.
"Do you like it," Asked the honey voice that I secretly loved. "I had a hard time picking it out. I needed to find something that…suited you." He looked so cute struggling for word, his jet black hair reflected the lights from the tree, and he looked amazing.
"You should have told me you got me something so nice, I would have gotten you a better present." Almost sadly I eyed the videogame set I had gotten him.
Gently, Alex reached out a hand and entwined his fingers with mine.
"Now why would I do a thing like that?" He said easily, "If I would have told you, it would not have been a very good surprise."
I giggled; it was a strange sound that made Alex smile. I looked at our hands, then back up to his face. The once playful features now held a quizzical look. Shyly, I smiled and looked away again.
The day after Christmas, the Morvus' and I left to go back to Forks. Mr. Morvus would be joining us in a few weeks, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that Cain would be staying with us to. He had claimed it was to 'watch over his little sister' but I knew better.
The plane ride back was not as trying as the first. To keep myself calm I drew magic from the bracelet that was now permanently attached to my wrist: If it was up to me, that was where it would stay. A chauffeured car picked us up from the airport and took us back to Forks, where Cain got his first look at the house.
"This is a very nice place." He said to Juliana, who stood next to him in the foyer.
"Yes it is." Juliana's lips pursed. "It's gathered dust since we left." She sighed; it was not a sad sigh, but one that said she was happy to be back. "Well I'll be in the kitchen if anyone needs me."
At the thought of her cooking, I jumped into action. "Juliana we only just got back." Her answering smile told me that I would not persuade her to not cook. "At least let me help."
"Alright, you need more practice anyway." Smiling, I followed her into the kitchen, stopping when I smelled something. It was not sweet like a vampire; instead it was strong and pungent. I put my hand on Juliana's shoulder to stop her, she turned to me, and I nodded my head towards the kitchen.
'I know.' She mouthed. 'Wolves'
I had never been close to a werewolf before. O found myself becoming excited and a little scared at the same time. As we entered the kitchen, a new voice met our ears.
"Sorry for the unwelcome visit ladies, but we need to talk." There were four of them, all russet skinned and big. "I'm Sam Ulley."
A/N: MY fingers!!! They burn. Did I spell Sam's last name right? I don't think I did. Review please!
C. Vexis