7. Fear

I told my dad that I had a lot of homework to do after dinner; I made Alfredo pasta with grilled chicken. There was a basketball game going on that he was excited about, so he didn't mind that I was opting out of our usual Netflix movie night for once.

Once in my room, I flopped onto my bed and pulled my laptop out of my backpack. I took out my textbook and finished up the essay I had been working on earlier. Soon enough, with a little help from some coffee, I finished up the rest of my homework. I cuddled up into my blankets and searched the web for any and facts about vampires.

I found a promising site - Vampires A-Z. I waited impatiently for it to load, and found a simple white background with black text. Two quotes greeted me on the home page:

Throughout the vast shadowy world of ghosts and demons there is no figure so terrible, no figure so dreaded and abhorred, yet with such fearful fascination, as the vampire, who is himself neither ghost nor demon, but yet who partakes the dark natures and possesses the mysterious and terrible qualities of both. - Rev. Montague Summers

If there is in this world a well-attested account, it is that of the vampires. Nothing is lacking: official reports, affidavits of well-known people, of surgeons, of priests, of magistrates; the judicial proof is most complete. And with all that, who is there who believes in vampires? - Rousseau

The rest of the site was an alphabetized listing of all the different myths about vampires throughout the world. The first one I clicked on, the Danag, was a Filipino vampire that was supposedly responsible for planting taro on the islands long ago. The myth continued that the Danag worked with humans for many years, but the partnership ended one day when a woman cut her finger and a Danag sucked her wound, enjoying the taste so much that it drained her body completely of blood.

I quickly read through all the other descriptions. It seemed that most vampire myths centered around beautiful women as demons and children as victims. They also seemed like constructs created to explain away the high mortality rates for young children, and to give men an excuse for infidelity. Many of the stories involved bodiless spirits and warnings against improper burials. There wasn't much that sounded like the movies or TV shows I had seen, and only a very few, like the Hebrew Estrie and the Polish Upier, who were even preoccupied with drinking blood.

I searched up ways to protect yourself against vampires and found that most of them were the same cliches that were found in movies. Expose them to sunlight, blessed items, holy water, garlic, putting them on fire, cutting of their heads, never inviting them inside, and etc.

I carefully dug out the holy water that my mother had packed with me and sprinkled some on my windowsill and the window itself. I then sprinkled some on myself, just in case. I texted my mom about the possible dangers that lay ahead of me, but she never replied. She didn't even pick up when I called her either. I was still pretty freaked out and and decided that I needed something else to distract me. I opened up Netflix on my iPad and tried my best to concentrate on Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. My eyes felt heavy and soon enough I drifted off to sleep without the aid of my T3s for once.

I opened my eyes to a familiar place. I was aware in some corner of my consciousness that I was dreaming. I recognized the green light of the forest. I could even hear the waves crashing against the rocks somewhere nearby. I knew that if I found the ocean, I'd be able to see the sun shine against the beach. I was trying to follow the sounds of the undulating waves, but suddenly Jacob was there, tugging on my hand, pulling me back toward the blackest part of the forest.

"Jacob? What's wrong?" I hurriedly asked. His face was frightened as he yanked with all his strength against my resistance; I didn't want to go into the dark.

"Run, Elizabeth, you have to run!" he whispered, terrified. I knew that he meant it when he said my full name instead of my nickname.

"This way, Eliza!" I recognized Jessica's voice calling out of the gloomy heart of the trees, but I couldn't see her.

Suddenly, Jacob let go of my hand and yelped, shaking, and falling down onto the dim forest floor. He convulsed on the ground as I watched on frozen in horror.

"Jacob!" I screamed moving towards him. He was gone before I could touch him, and in his place was a large red-brown wolf with black eyes. The wolf faced away from me, pointing toward the shore, the hair on the back of his shoulders bristling, low growls emanated from between his snarling mouth and exposed canines.

"Elizabeth, run!" Jessica cried out again from behind me. I stood frozen watching a light coming toward me from the beach. Edward stepped out from the trees, his skin faintly sizzling, his eyes black and dangerous. He held up one hand and beckoned me to come to him. The giant wolf growled at my feet.

I took a step back and Edward smiled then, his teeth sharp and pointed. They looked too monstrous to be real.

"Come to me," he purred moving ever closer. His mouth slowly warped until it looked almost exactly like a Wendigo's gaping maw.

I took another step back and rapidly shook my head. Shit. My pendant burned against my chest. My heart felt like it was about to be ripped out my rib cadge, but I couldn't run for some reason. I dimly realized that I was too scared to run.

The wolf launched himself across the space between me and the vampire, fangs aiming for the jugular. I saw Edward's sinister grin as he down brought his clawed hands as though to crush my godbrother to death.

"No!" I screamed, wrenching upright out of my bed.

My sudden movement caused the holy water to clattered onto my wooden floor. I glanced at my closed window and my iPad that was still playing the movie I had been watching. I turned it off and anxiously looked around my room. It was five-thirty in the morning. I sighed and put my bottle of holy water back onto my side table.

I groaned, fell back, and rolled over onto my belly burying my face into my pillows. It was far too early to be up. I heard my dad bustling around in the kitchen. I hoped that he was making eggs, bacon, and pancakes again. I could feel the braid in my hair. It felt like an uncomfortable ridge along the back of my skull. I turned onto my side and ripped the rubber band out, quickly combing through the plait with my fingers. I pulled a pillow over my head. It was all no use, of course. My subconscious had dredged up exactly the images I'd been trying to avoid. I was going to have to face them now.

I sat up, and my head spun for a minute as the blood flowed downward. I sighed and trudged towards the bathroom for my morning ritual.

My shower was just the thing that I needed to perk me out of my funk. I even felt better enough to take the time to blow-dry my hair. I happily brushed my teeth and flossed. Wrapped in a towel, I crossed back to my room. I could tell that my dad was about finished making breakfast because he had started whistling. I smiled to myself and started getting ready for the day. He said he wanted to go fishing with uncle Billy today, alone for once. I think he missed his alone time with my godfather.

I slowly pulled on dark jeans and a thick sweater then made my bed before I went downstairs for some breakfast. I heard the shower going as I went down to get some food. I sat at the table and took my portion of bacon, eggs, and pancakes and happily gobbled it all down with my usual orange juice. Soon after I finished eating my dad came down, dressed in his fishing gear.

"Thanks for the breakfast," I happily stated.

My dad rolled his eyes and grabbed a piece of bacon for himself, "You know it's because I love you kiddo."

"Are you sure I can't come along? I wouldn't have to come on your fishing trip. I could just hang out with the other kids at the reservation while you two go fishing," I chirped.

"Sure. You can go bug your godbrother to get better grades," he cheekily stated. He looked down at his watch and sighed, "If you're coming along, you better hurry up and get your things."

I grinned and ran up the stairs to grab my backpack. I stuffed it with the things that I thought I would need for the day. I ran back down ready in a flash, and my dad chuckled at my enthusiasm. No one else was free today and I felt that I needed to spend time with my other childhood friends too.

I had a pretty good time hanging out with Jacob, Quil, and Embry. It seemed as though our other friends were busy as well. It turned out Quil had a Wii now. He probably got it after I had left last summer since he didn't have one before. They bitched and moaned about how Sam was gathering some sort of weird group while we played Mario Kart. I didn't really know Sam all that well, so I didn't participate in their griping. Later on in the day, we fried up the fish my dad and my godfather caught. It was pretty good. I texted my mom again, but she still wouldn't reply. I was getting really worried, but there was nothing I could do if she didn't want to talk to me. I just wanted to know why though.

I slept dreamlessly that night, exhausted from beginning my day so early, and sleeping so poorly the night before. I woke up, for the second time since arriving in Forks, to the bright yellow light of a sunny day. I skipped over to the window. I was stunned to see that there was hardly a cloud in the sky, and that they were just fleecy little white puffs that couldn't possibly be carrying any rain. I opened the window and sucked in the relatively dry air. It was nearly warm and hardly windy at all. I smiled against the sunlight. Today would be a good day.

My dad was finishing breakfast when I came downstairs, and he offered me a plate of waffles and sausages. I grinned and accepted the proffered plate gratefully.

I dug into my food and grinned around my fork, as he took a seat across from me. He soon sat down to eat some of his breakfast, and noted my wide smile.

He raised his brow at my chipper attitude and chuckled, "Nice day out."

"Yes," I agreed with a grin.

He smiled back, his blue eyes crinkling around the edges, as he popped a piece of his waffle into his mouth.

I ate breakfast cheerily, watching the dust moats stirring in the sunlight that streamed in the back window. My dad kissed my cheek, wished me a good day, and quickly said goodbye. I happily smiled at him, wishing for him to have a good day at work. I heard the cruiser pull away from the house while I pulled on my anorak and my sturdy leather boots before I walked over to my truck.

With a bit of elbow grease, I was able to get both windows in the truck almost completely rolled down. I was one of the first ones to school; I hadn't even checked the clock in my hurry to get outside. I parked and headed toward the seldom-used picnic benches on the south side of the cafeteria. The benches were still a little damp, but I didn't really mind.

I took out my seldom used sketchbook and looked out at the blue sky. My mind wandered as I sketched random things that I conjured up with my imagination. After a few minutes, I suddenly realized I'd drawn five pairs of scary looking dark eyes staring out of the page at me. I scrubbed them out with the eraser. That wouldn't do. I fingered my pendant and let out a thoughtful hum.

"Eliza!" I heard someone call. The voice sounded a lot like Jessica.

I looked around and realized that the school had become populated while I'd been sitting here absentmindedly. Jessica ran towards me happily waving.

"Hey, Jessica," I called, waving back with a slight smile on my face.

She came to sit by me, her mass of curly red hair shone a deep orange-red in the sunlight. Her grin stretched across her face. It felt good having friends at school for once. Friends that did not want to kill me.

She glanced at me for a second before her grin widened, "I never noticed before, but your hair has red in it."

I let out a laugh, "Only in the sunlight. You're still our group's redhead, Jess."

She rolled her eyes and shrugged, "The world needs more redheads, Eliza." She smiled against the sunshine and sighed, "Great day, isn't it?"

"My kind of day," I agreed, adjusting the hem of my dress.

"What did you do yesterday?" she asked, taking a seat on the picnic table next to me.

"I went down to La Push with my dad since I finished my paper already. I spent some time with my godbrother and my childhood friends," I stated stretching out my back. I titled my head towards her and cheerfully asked, "How about you?"

She bit her lip and tilted her head back a bit, "I had to help my mom with the diner. Hey, the paper's due Thursday, right?"

I blinked repeatedly and shook my head, "Nope, Wednesday. I think."

"Wednesday? That's not good..." she frowned and sighed. Jessica stretched out her arms and shot me a curious look, " What are you writing yours on?"

"Whether Shakespeare's treatment of the female characters is misogynistic," my lips quirked into a slight smile.

She snorted out a laugh, "Ahh. It seems like something you would do. Mehh. I guess I'll have to get to work on that tonight."

I glanced at my watch and found that it was only a couple more minutes before the first bell rang. I poked her shoulder, "Come on. It's almost time for class." I gathered up my backpack and shoved my sketch book back inside. Jessica hopped off of the picnic table and we quickly made our way to our separate classes.

Later on when I saw Jessica in Trig, she was bubbling with enthusiasm. She, Angela, and Lauren were going to Port Angeles tonight to go dress shopping for the dance. They wanted me to come along too even though I didn't need one. I was indecisive. It would be nice to get out of town with some girlfriends, but at the same time...I did love having lazy days spent indoors. I made up my mind and told them that I would talk to my dad about it first. Even if I did want to go, it wouldn't matter if my dad said no.

She enthused about the dance on the way to Spanish, and all through out the class. It was actually quite impressive since she continued on our entire conversation in Spanish. I did my best to follow along, but I wasn't exactly the best at Spanish. She continued talking about it once class was over, but thankfully switched to English. As we crossed the threshold of the cafeteria, I felt the first true tingle of fear slither down my spine and settle in my stomach. Would they be able to know that I knew? Could vampires do that? I glanced towards the coven table. A shiver of panic trembled in my stomach as I realized it was empty. Where they hiding? Hope trembled in my chest as my eyes scoured the rest of the cafeteria, hoping that they truly weren't there. The place was nearly filled - Spanish had made us late - but there was no sign of Edward or any of his family. Relief rolled down on me in waves.

I cheerily walked along behind Jessica to go get some food. I ended up picking out some burgers and fries with a tall bottle of lemon aide. We were late enough that everyone was already at our table. I plopped down by Angela while Mike held a chair out politely for Jessica. Her face lit up in response and I inwardly squealed. They were so cute. Angela asked a few quiet questions about the Macbeth paper, which I easily answered as I ate my food.

When I entered Biology with Mike and Angela, I felt my heart squeeze painfully. Was he going to be waiting to get me here in Bio? I saw his empty seat, and felt a new wave of relief.

The rest of the day passed by at a slow nice pace. In Gym, we had a lecture on the rules of badminton, instead of actually do anything, so that was kind of a downer. He didn't even finish the lecture so I had that to look 'forward' to tomorrow.

The drive home was pretty normal. Right after I walked into the door of my house, Jessica called to cancel our plans. Apparently, Mike had asked her out to dinner, which I found was pretty sweet. She rescheduled our shopping trip for tomorrow night.

Which left me with little to do since my dad had offered to get some take out for us for dinner tonight. I spent a focused two hours on homework. After that I texted my mom again:

"Why aren't you answering my texts, Skype messages, or calls? Are you and Phil okay? What's going on?"

Just as I expected, my phone stayed silent. I groaned and flopped onto my bed. I fingered my pendant and worried for a while before deciding to pat myself down with holy water again. Just in case. I did the exact same thing with my window and door pane.

I spent another little while reading books on my iPad, but that didn't take up a lot of my time either. I decided to kill a couple more hours with some gardening. I gathered my gardening tools and headed out to the backyard. There I finally found my dad's second surprise. I let out a delighted laugh and ran over to the flowerbeds that he had apparently planted. I grinned and noticed that there were a couple plants that he hadn't yet gotten to. I felt warm and fuzzy inside. My dad hated gardening, but I had said that I would really want one when I switched over to live with him. I rubbed away the water that collected in my eyes and sighed. My dad was great.

I pulled over the plants that still needed to be transplanted and got to work. It took a while, but I finished up and stared at the flowering and growing plants that now decorated my dad's backyard. I happily sighed and laid down on my stomach, crossing my ankles in the air as I just stared at the plants. It felt good to be surrounded by nature. I rolled over onto my back with my eyes closed as I pushed my sleeves up as high as they would go. I felt the sunshine warm my limbs as a light breeze blew tendrils of my hair around my face. I had my hair down, for once. It fanned out on the grass below me, and tickled my neck. I squinted against the sun and found that the heat that touched my eyelids, made me sleepy. I decided that a little nap wouldn't hurt and closed my eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun lull me to sleep.

I was jostled awake by the familiar engine of my dad's cruiser. I sat up surprised that the light was gone. I looked around, muddled, with the sudden feeling that I wasn't alone.

"Dad?" I called out looking around. Feeling the tingle of fear run down my spine, I hurried back into the house not daring to look back. My dad came into the house, looking pretty tired. I decided to forgo jumping on him today, and settled on giving him a tight hug. He shot me a worried look as he hung up his gun belt and stepped out of his boots.

"Welcome home, dad," I muttered into his chest. My dad patted my back and gently said, "Thanks, sweetie."

He pulled me off of him and sighed at my sleepy expression. He handed me a big brown bag with a grin, "I brought home diner food."

My dad could sense my unease so we ended up eating in the living room like we used to when I as little. We watched funny sitcoms on TV as we ate our deep fried chicken, french fires, and cole slaw in relative silence. We animatedly talked about how our days went once desert rolled on through. I finally felt relaxed enough by then. It also helped that I loved the chocolate pies that Jessica's mom made.

"Dad?" I asked during one of the commercials. I chewed and swallowed my last piece of pie.

My dad ate his pie at a sedentary pace and nodded, "Yes, sweetheart?"

"Jessica, Angela, and Lauren are going to look at dresses for the dance tomorrow night in Port Angeles, and they wanted me to come along. What do you think?" I happily slumped into my seat and rubbed my expanded belly. I was so full. I should not have eaten that second slice of chocolate pie.

"Jessica Stanley, Angela Weber, and Lauren Mallory?" he tilted his head and asked.

He gave me a confused look, "But you're not going to the dance, right?"

"Nope. I'm still doing that errand you wanted me to do that day, dad. With Edward, stupid face, Cullen," I stated. I still didn't understand why my dad wanted me to do that. It all seemed off to me.

"Thank you, honey. Make sure to be back home for dinner though, okay? I'm going to be making chicken burgers for dinner tomorrow, " he stated finishing off his chocolate pie.

"Okay. We'll leave right after school, so we can get back early," I leaned against my dad's shoulder as we continued watching our sitcom.

"That's my girl," he stated smiling warmly at me.

I had a relatively good nights rest with the aid of another T3. My nightmares had died down ever since I had religiously started patting myself down with holy water. They still popped in towards the end, but I wasn't as scared any more.

It was sunny again in the morning. I dressed for the warmer weather in a cheery yellow V-neck t-shirt and sturdy jeans. It seemed like the appropriate thing to wear today.

My day was just as good as yesterday, and I couldn't keep a smile off of my face. I may have looked hysterically happy when I found that the coven table was still empty today. The cheery that topped it all was when I noticed that I had my Biology table all to myself again. My pendent didn't heat up all day, and the only thing that could make this better would be if my mom finally texted me back.

The Port Angeles scheme was back on again for tonight, although Lauren did have to back out because of familial obligations. I toyed with the thought that I could also do a little clothes shopping as well.

After school, Jessica followed me home in her Jeep so I could ditch my books and truck. I brushed my hair up into a bun when I was inside. I plopped my books and backpack by the door, but tucked my pepper spray, phone, wallet, keys, and holy water into my anorak pocket. I texted my dad where I was going and what time I was expecting to come home. He quickly replied with a 'take care' and a smiley face. I shot my mom a text too, but I wasn't hopeful that she would answer. Her texts were far and few in between lately, and I had the horrible feeling that it had to do with something in Forks. We went to Angela's house next, and she was waiting for us. My excitement increased as we actually drove out of the town limits. We'd be fine. Tonight, would be great. I hoped.