A/N- Hope you like this. I don't own anything.
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Peter
Oh, fuck.
Jasper and I had been a bit too far behind Izzy to stop her before she lunged at the man in the alley, and to be honest I didn't want to stop her. That fucker had been choking the life out of a woman that he had obviously overpowered and had wanted to take advantage of. That asshole deserved to get his dick ripped off, and whatever vengeance Izzy was now going to dole out.
Jasper moved towards her but I blocked him from advancing. He struggled for a moment before I sent him a wave of determination, knowing he'd get the hint. Whatever Izzy was going to do, it needed to be done. Something told me that this man's death would help Izzy find peace with feeding as a vampire. At least feeding from the scum of the earth.
We watched as Izzy released the man's broken and dangling wrists and growled menacingly, venom dribbling past her parted raspberry red lips. If she wasn't my baby sister, I'd have to say that there was something incredibly primal and sexy in her at that moment. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jasper tense and his own lust leaked out of his usually well contained emotions. I shrugged mentally-must be the animalistic side of us.
Izzy threw the man against the brick wall behind him, hard enough to shock and hurt him, but not hard enough to break his spine. He was sliding down the wall, whimpers and groans escaping his throat. I could see Izzy's eyes zeroing in on his neck, and she shot forward and used her fingernail to slice through the skin covering his jugular. Her lips attached themselves to the blood flow and I could see her taking small pulls of his alcohol tainted blood.
Without warning she released him, a look of utter disgust in her face. The man had slumped down into a sitting position, on the verge of passing out. I took the opportunity to release Jasper and he picked up where Izzy had left off. His pulls of blood were strong and the man's heartbeat quieted after a minute.
I approached them calmly, knowing that Jasper was still in a feeding frenzy and could not be startled. Izzy on the other hand looked like she wanted to toss her cookies. I wondered if we would have another self-loathing episode on our hands. I fucking hoped not. Jasper stood from his crouched position near the dead man and turned to Izzy and myself. The silence wasn't terribly awkward but it wasn't comfortable either.
I eyed Izzy warily, waiting for her to speak but she was still making rather funny faces. I suppressed my chuckle; I couldn't laugh until I knew there would be no pity party. Jasper approached her tentatively, hands up in surrender. I felt like I should get a fucking medal for my restraint, I mean honestly, why the fuck was he walking to her like she was his goddamn executioner? Warlord Jasper was looking slightly afraid of a newborn. Now I'd seen it all.
"Holy Fuck! That man tasted like horse shit!" Izzy finally broke the silence. A beat passed. Jasper looked confused and I finally let it go and laughed my immortal ass off. I saw Izzy scratching her tongue, like she was trying to scrape off any traces of the man's vile flavor. My gut wrenching laughter just increased. She looked like a little kid that had swallowed some nasty medicine. Jasper began to chuckle quietly as well.
"What?! He tasted horrible! What is so fucking funny?" Izzy looked frustrated. I began to calm down. Jasper had finally dropped his hands from their previous hilarious position and had wrapped his arm around her shoulder. I reached over and tousled her long, silky strands of hair and pinched her cheek noting the lack of blood on her face. Apparently she was a neat eater. She growled at me, but I just grinned back at her.
"Kitten, that was the funniest shit I've seen in years. No newborn I've met has ever been so fucking picky as to stop feeding before draining their meal. The look on your face! For a second there, I thought we might have to hide the matches from you, so you wouldn't start a bonfire and jump in. Then you finally bust out with how bad he tasted? Priceless!" I snickered. Jasper looked half amused, half worried. Maybe I shouldn't have reminded her that she and Jasper just killed a human. Before I could begin to worry about my runaway mouth, she smirked. She fucking smirked!
"Yeah well, I probably should have sniffed him before trying to feed. Then I would have saved my poor tongue that torture." Izzy grimaced and shuddered. Jasper squeezed her tight for a moment before dropping his arm from around her shoulder altogether. I noticed that both of their faces looked pained for a moment before becoming neutral. Izzy began to lead the way out of the alley and we followed closely.
"Should we have done anything with his body?" Izzy whispered to us. I shook my head and began to explain.
"When Jasper and I hunt in the city, we don't necessarily need to dispose of the body. Sometimes we make sure it looks like a crime gone bad, but since you sliced his jugular with your nail, it will look like exactly what it was; someone sliced his throat. If you had used your teeth, we might have had to clean it up a bit. Authorities usually report vampire teeth wounds as an animal attack. When we feed in the desert we usually bury the bodies." She nodded in understanding.
Izzy led us to a peach colored building, two stories high that spanned the length of the whole block. A stairwell was placed on either side of the building and we climbed the stairs on the right side. The smell of human food, laundry and of course human blood filled the air and it both disgusted and tempted me. We stopped at a door with the number 22 on its face. Izzy looked around and quickly snatched a key that had lain hidden on the top frame of the door. We entered her apartment behind her and took in the small space quickly.
The single room was about fifteen feet long and fifteen feet wide. The window that faced the street was large and covered by a white curtain, simple and plain. The room housed a full size bed, a chest of drawers and a small desk. Izzy's personality infiltrated the tiny living place subtly. Her human scent still lingered, strawberries and freesia. A few pieces of jewelry, papers and a carton of cigarettes lay atop her dresser drawers. Her desk had more papers, books and what looked like a leather journal. While Jasper and I looked around I hadn't noticed that Izzy had suddenly stilled. I opened my mouth to ask something when I noticed how unnaturally she was standing. Like if she moved, she would crack.
Jasper picked up on my emotions and followed my eye line to Izzy. She was staring at her reflection on a full-length mirror that stood in the corner of the room with scarves, and a coat draped over half of it. Apparently Izzy wasn't much for checking herself out in her human life. I realized that she had not seen her appearance once since she had woken up, we had no mirrors at camp and we had been too preoccupied at her old house to even glance around too much.
I saw her eyes trace the features on her face and then slowly travel down her body. Surprise and incredulity were written clearly in her beautiful features. She shook her head slightly before turning to face us as if not affected by her new appearance.
"So this is my apartment. We'll meet back her next week. I'll hide the key again where you saw it. Let's go back to camp before the sun comes up." She breathed out in a rush, clearly flustered.
She made to usher us out of the room but Jasper reached for her hand and stilled her. He caught her eye and spoke with sincerity.
"You are beautiful Isabella. You were beautiful when you lay on the floor changing into a vampire and you are beautiful now. You are still Isabella Swan and an enhancement in your features doesn't change who you've always been."
Damn. That fucker was smooth. I knew he spoke the truth and exactly what she needed to hear and I was grateful. She had gone through so much since she had awoken to this life, and I knew that it could be scary as shit. Any reassurance that she was essentially the same person deep down would be welcomed.
A tiny grin graced her features aimed at my brother. He looked awestruck for a moment and I couldn't stop my chuckle. Their heads whipped towards me and I realized I always seemed to be interrupting some kind of meaningful moment or look between them. Oh well, if I wasn't getting any, they weren't either. For now.
"Yes, honey you are beautiful and precious and all that mushy shit. Now let's get the hell out of here before we expose ourselves and get fried by the Volturi." I stepped out the room and started down the stairs, listening to Jasper and Izzy follow behind me.
"The Volturi? Who are they?" Izzy asked. Most newborns we trained never needed to worry about the Volturi, especially since Maria disposed of them after their strength waned. We had reached the edge of the city and began to run at vampire speed back to camp. Jasper and I explained all we could about the Volturi and vampire laws. It wasn't a long explanation really, as the main rule was 'Don't expose the existence of Vampires'. As we neared camp Jasper veered off and sped up, intent on keeping up with appearances.
I looked over at Izzy and saw that her face was thoughtful and calculating. A strange feeling began to grow in my stomach as I watched her. Fuck. That look meant something more than just plotting against Maria. It was going to be huge, I could already feel it.
If Izzy was involved then I knew Jasper would be with her. If they were in the middle of a shitstorm then I knew I would be there too. I just hope that at some point I could take a fucking vacation. A mate would certainly help ease my tension. Hmm…
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A/N- Short chapter, I know. There will be drama next chapter, so stay tuned. The coup d'état will also be in the next chapter or two so review and give me your opinions so I can churn some new chapters out!
Thanks for reading!
Oh, and if you have suggestions or criticism, let me know!
