Sorry it took so long to update- im blowing off another fanfic for you guys so be happy! Being a Sr. means having sooooooooo much to do & soooooooooooo little time. Plus the flu didn't help much. Im back & ready to write so let's go!
As promised, the next morning was wet and depressing. I laid still in the bed for hours until I heard Grandpa Stephen finally get out of bed. Waiting for others, especially sleeping ones, was new to me, but I didn't mind as much as I would have thought. It made me feel normal, like a human, and surprisingly, I like that idea. Already, the normal, human lives around me had changed me. What if immortality wasn't my only choice? Could I be happy growing old with a human guy, maybe starting a family one day? I'd be able to keep friends and Grandpa Stephen, but I'd lose contact with my vampires.
"Ha! Me. Stay human! What was I thinking?" I laughed before jumping out of bed.
It was still too early for a teenager to be out of bed during Spring Break- eight o'clock- but I was ready to start the day. I quickly got dressed, combed my hair, and went downstairs for breakfast.
"You're up early," Grandpa said, putting down his cup of coffee and paper. "Was it the rain?"
"No. I'm used to the cold and wet. What do you have for breakfast?" I looked around the tiny kitchen. The walls were white, and the stainless steel refrigerator, stove/oven, and dishwasher stood out. There were few cabinets, and Grandpa had filled every inch of space with glasses, mugs, plates, and cooking pots. I could see no food anywhere.
"Umm… I've got some Cheerios in the bottom left door by the fridge."
Grandpa picked up his paper again and began quietly grumbling to himself. I laughed as I hunted for my breakfast. After a few unsuccessful tries, I finally found everything I needed and joined my grandfather at the table.
"I have to work a few days this week, and today's one of them. You don't mind, do you? I can take off it you want me to," Grandpa said.
"No, no, don't do that. What do people do around here, though?"
"Well," Grandpa said looking deep into his paper. "There's the theater down town, but you've probably seen everything it's showing. We've also got an arcade and a little library, but your dad usually went out of town to buy books. Does he still read a lot?"
"Yeah, and Mom still draws. Are there any music stores around here?"
"Marley's down the street has some good music, but Dillon's music store- like instruments and stuff- has a better selection of Cds and band stuff. Do you still play that old flute?"
"Hey! Don't diss my flute. I don't play as much anymore, but Wini's making me play again. Dad thought me piano, too."
"Impressive." He put his paper down and looked at me. "So you'll be OK today? The truck's yours, and you can go anywhere in Brandon. Just don't go to Coquille on your own. I don't want you getting lost."
"To be honest, I don't think I'll be spending much time there. In case you didn't pick up the hints last night, they don't like me."
"Don't be ridiculous. Some still hate your father's family for God knows why, but they won't ignore you because of things the Reynes did before you were born. Now listen: don't leave town alone. It's my only request."
And with that he folded his paper, took a last swig of coffee, and walked upstairs. I ran to the sink and forced my cereal down the drain.
"Pros and cons of Brandon," I sighed. "I can learn about my family, but I'm forced to eat three meals a day. And sleep all night."
I didn't want to leave before Grandpa, so I explored the grounds. The backyard was open and full of boulders and double-trees with limbs so large all three free-standing trees touched and made a canopy. The thick, green grass was wet but only from the dripping leaves; no actual rain hit most of the yard. The faint, cool, wind splattered some rain in my face, and my damp hair stung against my neck every time the wind struck it, but there was a sense of freedom in the air that I couldn't ignore. In two, easy jumps I was sitting high in a split tree, one trunk behind my back, the other acting as a high food stood.
A few feet to my left was Grandpa's second story window. The blinds and curtains were shut, but the wind blew them back and forth, a visible sign that he left the window open..
"The Camptown ladies sing this song
"Doo-da, doo-da.
"The Camptown racetrack's five miles long,
"Oh, da doo-da day."
I had to bite my tongue and cheeks to keep from laughing. My sharp canine teeth sliced my tongue, and my unique blood ran down my throat. Just because my lack of appetite made blood sound less inedible, the taste was still revolting, and my small amount of bitter venom made it taste even worse.
I climbed higher in the tree and around the large branches, hoping to find the rain. I was at the very top when I finally escaped the canopy, and the heavy rain drenched me. I opened my mouth and let the cool rain wash away the blood.
I looked around the town. It wasn't as glamorous as it normally is in movies. All I could see where the thick, grey clouds spreading on forever; more enormous, green trees; and a few house tops. Sometimes when the wind blew, the limbs would move just enough to see the street below or a small piece of the town. Maybe it was the pounding rain or mass amounts of trees that ruined my experience, but I couldn't understand why kids loved climbing trees. Personally, I preferred mountains.
"Maddy! Madison Where the hell are you?" Grandpa shouted over the rain.
Hurrying to see him before he thought something bad happened, I jumped down four to five branches at a time until I could see the splitting trucks merging into one. Grandpa, looking nearly twice his normal width under his large, yellow Chief's jacket, was standing outside the back door.
"I'm here!" I shouted as I jumped down to the spilt. "I'd never climbed a tree before, and I wanted to try. Sorry."
"Climbing trees? In this weather? Why? No, how?"
I shrugged. "The rain doesn't bother me, I guess, and it was easy. Uncle James took me Appalachian climbing once, and if you can climb that, a tree isn't hard at all."
"Isn't that illegal?"
"James does what he wants. He can talk, fight, or bribe his way out of anything."
I tried to shrug it off and hoped the conversation would go anywhere else but James's illegal doings.
"Right," Grandpa sighed, shaking his head. "Well, I 'm going to work now. I'll be back by five, and we'll go eat, anything you want."
I smiled half-heartedly and jumped down from the spilt.
"I'll probably hang out in Brandon today; don't worry about me."
Grandpa didn't say anything else as he left. I watched him leave, and then I packed my draw-string bag with Eragon, my camera, wallet, ipod, and cell phone. I walked by the fridge to look for the keys and found them under a falling post-it note.
Madison, It's an old truck- older than mine. '87 Ranger. So no automatic windows or locks. The round, silver key opens the door; the square, blue one starts it.
I took the keys, surprised because I'd never heard of two keys operating one car. I threw on a light jacket and walked out to the lonely truck. I was smaller than the F-150, and was blue like the ignition key. Inside everything was blue, too: the leather bench-seat, the steering wheel, and the dashboard. On the sides of each door was a crank the roll the windows, and even though it was old, I loved it!
I sat in the little cab and listened to the rain and smelled the faint scent of tobacco- obviously from when Jerry owned it since Mom hated tobacco and alcohol. It sounded much harder than it would have in my Acura, but my car at home was built stronger than this moving pile of tin, too. I turned the key in the ignition and tested out the radio. Surprising it worked; however, I couldn't say the same about the heater or the gearshift. It took a few angry jerks to move the stick from park, but soon I had the windows down, radio up, and truck on the road.
Rain didn't seem to bother the majority of Brandon citizens. Early morning shoppers were huddled under their umbrellas, their young children jumping in puddles and enjoying the wet. A few people even dared to drink their morning cups of jo' under the café's overhead.
I wasn't exactly sure where to go or what to do today, so I drove until I found something interesting. Sadly enough, it was the music store that caught my eye. Normally I would have said that was because it was right next to the fire station or because it was shocking red with electric blue and yellow lightning bolts across it. What really caught my attention was the small group of Coquilles laughing and pushing each other in the small lakes on the sidewalk. I'd never seen Caleb so carefree and relaxed. Even at home around his friends he seemed distant.
They stopped laughing at each other as I parked around the corner from them. I quickly turned off the radio and began jerking the gearshift into park, again with much difficulty. I rolled up the windows so I couldn't hear their howls of laughter, but they were too loud.
"I'm glad you got rid of that old piece of crap!"
"For now, you mean! When the Halfling leaves, Cale gets his car back!"
"Not anymore. I talked Dad into getting me a real car! One that works. I'm surprised though. It may be a piece of junk, but I thought it was drivable."
"It probably is, but remember what's driving it!"
The three boys nearly fell from laughing so hard. Trying hard to growl, I grabbed my bag and got out of the truck, slamming the door harder than necessary.
"No need to break it, Halfling," Caleb laughed as he and his friends followed me inside Dillon's Music Store. I refused to answer. "What's your problem? I though you'd be happy to be here. This is what you wanted, right?"
"Would you make up your mind already?" I spun around and almost hit two of the boys, Leader and Harvey, with the store's glass door. "Sorry. Are you going to be a jerk or civilized person… dog or whatever?"
"I'm not normally like that. Before I was scared. I've never seen a… nosferatu, and I didn't know what to think of you. I had to talk to you, but you seemed so much like what we're told nosferatus are like. The point is, you're here, and you know about the príos coming. So much for making the others think the area was claimed."
We all walked inside the music store and looked around awkwardly. Instruments, selves of band books, and solo music wrapped around the shop. The middle of the store was filled with chairs, cabinets of records, cassettes, and Cds. In the very back of the shop, near the instrument repair corner, was the check-out desk and a man I assumed was Dillon. I walked over to one of the cabinet label "Classical."
"You never said what you wanted," I reminded him.
"That was basically it. We may not all like it, but as lupi, it's our job to protect humans from nosferatus. The majority of the tribe is still loyal to Legend, even if they don't act it."
"Never take Cale seriously. He's just upset cuz he's still a little pup," joked Harvey.
"Yeah, and look how that's getting you!"
"Cool it, guys, before this gets ugly," Leader ordered. "I just want to know how you've never been in a truck in sixteen years?"
"What?"
"And Stephen's truck doesn't count," Harvey laughed. "You drive that old thing like it's a sports car!"
The trio laughed and yanked my keys out of my hand. Harvey wrapped one hand around my face, his fingers so large they clamped my mouth shut. With his other arm he scooped me up and carried me outside to the truck. The other two treacherous Coquilles followed, howling and laughing, eager to help the kidnapping.
"Take the keys. Leader, you're driving, Caleb, you get on that end, and I'll hold the Halfling in the middle with me," the lycanthropy ordered.
A few people stopped and stared at us, but most walked away without calling for help or anything! The fire station was right there! Calling for help wouldn't have hurt anyone.
"Grandpa!" I shouted as Harvey shoved me in the cab like a sack of potatoes.
An older man with grey hair and a cigar leaned against the gleaming fire truck and nodded as the Indians smiled. Grandpa wasn't too far behind him, sitting on top of the engine with another cup of coffee. I saw him lean down to see what was going on, but as soon as he saw the boys, he laughed and waved.
"You're going to bring her back, aren't you? I don't want to be the one to tell Christopher that I lost his daughter," he called from inside the station garage.
"Yeah," Leader answered. "She leaves Sunday, right? We'll get her back before her plane! Brandon's too dull. Where are the dog fights on the streets?"
Then Leader pulled out onto the street and somehow got the truck zooming down the road. Caleb blasted some music as Leader took us out of town. Harvey still didn't loosen his grip on me despite my attempted kicking and hitting fit.
"Calm down," he laughed. "You'll thank us for this later. Now pay attention to Leader in case you're forced to drive a truck again."
"Loosen up, Maddy. We're not racing a pro here; we're just rolling down hills at max speed and weaving on the road. We're free." The three dogs whooped as Leader pushed my little truck past sixty.
We drove for over an hour, listening to the radio, swapping stories about school or the tribe, or talking about me in Coquille- and knowing that I didn't speak a word of it! At last I demanded English answers.
"Where are we going?"
"Out," said Caleb.
"Do you want me to let you go or tell you where we are?" Harvey said. I glared. "Ok, we're going to Myrtle Point, the closet big town down south. It's not raining there, and I'm spending my whole Spring Break stuck in Brandon and Coquille."
Leader made a sharp turn off the highway and into a real city. He parked at the first store we came to, and everyone clambered out, Harvey forced to let go of me to get out. I took advantaged of the opportunity and ran down the street.
The sun felt so good, and even the fact that I was stuck with werewolves all day couldn't spoil the moment. I didn't glance at the people staring at me, didn't try to explain that I wasn't being kidnapped by the boy running after me at full speed. I jumped over the nice, cast iron benches on the sidewalk and kept going without stumbling. When the street ran out I finally let Harvey catch me. A few minutes later Caleb and Leader arrived, both panting and about to collapse.
"Damn," is all either of the two pups could say as they leaned against another bench.
"How did you do that? Madison, I have fully phased; I'm a lycanthropy! I am faster than vampires and definitely faster than a human. That was almost an even chase." Harvey sat me down and held my arms down.
"Halfling," I reminded him, but that wasn't good enough for him. "My venom is what makes me… different. I'm not venomous, so if I bite you wouldn't become a vamp…or die in your cases. It just makes me stronger and faster and… well, look at my skin. Humans don't glow white like this."
"If you have venom, shouldn't you be a… you know?"
A teenage couple walked by us, staring at the odd site. Three dark guys over a helpless-looking girl normally does cause a scene. Harvey and Leader backed up, but still stared at me. Caleb stayed beside me, ready to shake answers out of me.
"I was born like this, so I guess not. Besides, it's part of my blood, not taking over it. It's dangerous for me to lose a lot of blood, more dangerous than it would be for others, and I can't donate or accept blood. The good news is, my heart rate rarely changes, even after running away from you guys."
"Weird," gasped Harvey.
"Yeah, well, on the bright side, I can easily do this!"
I kicked Harvey out of the way and cart wheeled down the street and ended with a double flip.
"Show off," Caleb grumbled.
"Let's just eat," Leader sighed.
I let the three fill their stomachs, and I explored the city. I walked into a used book store and got myself lost in the old pages. I knew I'd been there a long time, but I hadn't expected to be there for three hours! I quickly shut the book I was reading and walked to the counter to pay for it. I stuffed it in my bag and stood outside looking for the Coquilles or the street Leader parked on. I decided to ask the book store owner for directions, but when I opened the door, I accidentally hit a young brunette women standing beside the door, her back turned away from me. A man studying an atlas stood beside her.
"What where you're going!" she hissed, her black eyes poised to kill.
I bent down to pick up the stack of magazines she'd dropped, but her smooth, white hand slapped mine away. She moved quickly, but the sunlight still caught her long, ruby red nails, sending sparkles on the sidewalk and store door. Her chocolate brown hair fell over her face.
The man, probably in his late twenties or early thirties, rushed between us and stared at me. His eyes, too, were black, but his face seemed kinder. He smiled politely and helped me up.
"Have a nice day, miss," he said with a slight French accent.
The two walked off, but not before I heard the woman say, "Perfect. How long?"
"It's about time we found you, Madison!" Caleb called from across the street and down the block.
I ran as fast as I could to them, slightly shaken for some reason. Leader took us back to the truck, and we left Myrtle Point. Brandon seemed even smaller and duller after seeing a city again, but I missed Grandpa. I'd been warned that Grandpa couldn't cook to save his life, so I'd already told him I'd taken kitchen duty during my stay. Now I just wondered what I was going to cook in a house with no food or utensil organization.
Leader parked in Grandpa's driveway even though I'd told them I'd take them home, but the three insisted that they'd rather run. From my bedroom window I saw three wolves running down the road. The middle, Caleb the next Alpha, was a gorgeous black and white husky. On his right, Leader his future second-in-command, was all white, and on Caleb's right was the full lycanthropy, a pretty grey. Not far behind them was Stephens's truck.
I met him downstairs in the kitchen. He took out a few pots and pan and laid a plate of raw fish on the counter.
"Paul Redbane, Leader's grandfather, sent that. Sound alright?"
"Sure," I lied. All I could think was Anything but more fish!