Disclaimer: All Twilight characters and related events and ideas belong to Stephanie Meyer.
All original characters and related events and ideas belong to me.
A/N: Okay so I just wanted to thank BlackRosesNeverDie6666 for reviewing again and also to twilight 208 because I was goignt o stop writing this story but I was really happy when I saw those new replies. So thank you!
Sorry about not updating so often. Things have been crazy. I just moved states and everything's been so chaotic.
Also, I've been fixing everything in the earlier chapters so that's been taking some of my time as well.
So thank you to whoever has been reading this because it makes me happy to know that somebody is.
Anywho, Chapter 10.
Yay! Ten chapters!
The Perfect Daughter
Chapter 10: I'm The Hero of the Story. I Don't Need To Be Saved.
Capri
Friday June 1, 2024
9:25 PM
The yellowed and cracked walls of the old bar surrounded Capri and made her feel slightly claustrophobic. Smells of alcohol and smoke mixed with sweat and some other offending stench she couldn't place- and also didn't really want to- penetrated the air along with a mustiness that enveloped the overall unattractive pub. Downing her second beer, Capri thought this was the perfect setting for her business tonight.
She was meeting with a vampire.
In her family, these creatures who took blood from others were horrible and terrifying beings. But to Capri, they were just another misunderstood person. A thing that was generalized far too often.
They were people in Capri's mind, but to her family vampires were soulless objects that were only there for the wolves' destruction. Yes, there were despicable vampires in the world. Yes, most of them were evil. Capri knew this and yet she promised herself to never judge one without first seeing what they had truly done. Did they hunt children or people who were on their death beds? Did the vampire draw out the death, or did that "leech" make it as swift and painless as possible?
A mostly corrupted, but misunderstood race that lived underneath the world to hide from the dominant population of humans found a place in the young girl's heart because she understood the need to hide and lie and do bad deeds.
Though Capri pitied the vampires as a whole, she was not naïve. Although she didn't harbor the same prejudices as others who were aware of this race's existence, Capri knew that most of the scarce race was truly horrible and unprincipled. The one she was seeing tonight was just that.
His name was Elyas and he was without a doubt one of the true monsters in the world. Originating from 1310, Elyas was an old and overall insane vampire.
And he was late, which made Capri regret ever agree to meet him at Madison Pub which was overrun by ugly drunks who were looking perversely at her. At least, she thought amusingly, she knew how to fight them off. If one thing went wrong tonight with Elyas, she would be his next meal without having a chance to defend herself at all. But, that was how Capri liked living. Always in the middle of life and death, a place filled with adrenaline and alcohol. Her favorites.
So when Capri checked her watch to find the vampire was now ten minutes late, she ordered a third beer. The bartender didn't ask for ID and she didn't give it. The beer tasted bitter, but the girl had acquired a taste for it long ago. Maybe being an alcoholic at the young age of sixteen wasn't an ideal life for most, but to the girl who was drinking a warm beer in an almost rundown bar with the stoned bartender name Fred giving her a sidelong glance every thirty seconds it was absolutely perfection.
When the vampire entered the bar, he drew the eyes of the few people who were still sober. Like any other of his kind, Elyas was beautiful in an inhuman way with his pale skin and perfect symmetrical beauty. The only thing not heavenly in his beauty were the bright crimson eyes which seemed to bleed the color red. It was obvious to Capri that Elyas had just hunted.
Elyas walked lazily to her, but in a way that showed her his strength. The need to show the sixteen year old the fact that he could kill her behind the old building- or maybe right in the middle of the bar- was unnecessary. She understood that to him she was just like a cow was to people: the next fat juicy steak. Except that this steak talked and didn't need A1 sauce.
With an arrogant smile on an otherwise blank face, he ordered a beer.
"You wanted to talk?" Capri asked before promptly taking a swig from her brand name beer. Elyas nodded.
"I hear that you know a friend of mine? Aldwin?" Elyas stated before tipping his bottle with hers and drinking the bitter alcohol. Capri was slightly surprised that he drank it. He would likely wretch back up the liquid before twenty four hours was up.
"I know Aldwin, though that doesn't explain why you wish to speak with me," Capri replied after downing the rest of her beer. Yes, Capri knew Aldwin. He was slightly more humane than Elyas, but both vampires were monstrous and Capri didn't like associating with their type more than necessary.
"But it does." The answer was direct and firm. Sighing before lighting a smoke, she decided to stop playing dumb and give the man what he wanted. But not enough of what he wanted to get herself killed. If she was useless to the vampire, Capri was as good as dead before the end of the hour. Should Elyas choose to follow her home, then the werewolves at the reservation would kill him.
Capri hoped he died for being late. Promptness was important.
"What is it you want to know?"
And while Capri told him the information, she saw that this would be the last night of his existence.
So, as the dim bar light fell on the pale skin of a man who in 1326 lost a beautiful wife and daughter while being forced into a life of loneliness and isolation, Capri started to pity Elyas. While his blood red eyes screamed killer, the sixteen year old saw what most people could not. A man who lost everything and eventually lost his mind because after almost seven hundred years of being frozen and cold, he still missed the family he once had so long ago.
Capri envied him despite this. Because while Elyas could miss being warm, Capri could not.
You cannot miss what you never had.
And Capri had always been cold.
She decided she would be his friend before he died. Everyone deserved someone like that. Someone who cared if they were living still. Elyas hadn't had someone like that for a while, and by the time they said their farewells at the end of the night, the old vampire almost felt bad that he was going to kill her.
Saturday, June 2, 2024
4:06 AM
Elyas was dead.
5:47 AM
She was going to make breakfast this morning. That seemed like the nice thing to do. And it was the only thing she could cook.
While her parents and siblings attended dinner at Paul's house and stayed late, Capri slipped home and scrubbed her body until it was raw. If her father smelled an ounce of vampire or alcohol on her body, there would be trouble.
Capri had just gotten the pans out for bacon and eggs, Jared came through the door looking as exhausted and tired as Capri felt. But instead, the daughter looked clean and fresh and ready for the day. Jared smiled wearily at Capri before slumping down at a chair next to the island in the kitchen.
Returning the smile briefly, Capri turned back to the task at hand.
"Tired?" the girl asked her father. Jared took a long time to answer.
"Just a long night. We caught a vampire. Tough son of a bitch. Collin was injured and so was Vince. Sam's takin' care of his boy while he heals. The leech crushed the poor man's leg."
"Are you alright, Jared?" Capri probed while cracking as many eggs as could cook in the large pan. Two teenage boys and a werewolf along with three others were tough. Money was tight, as per usual around the reservation, and their family was no exception. They got aid from food stamps and the government but that wasn't enough to keep her father from working two jobs. Add that to the Pack duties and even Capri could understand the anxiousness from Jared as he pleaded to the spirits for one of his children to phase.
Flinching at the fact his teenage daughter no longer addressed him as her father, Jared felt self-pity course through the man before he put it to a halt. It was a phase, Jared told himself. It wasn't forever. One day, she would call him dad again. He had to believe.
But it had been so long. And Jared's patience was dwindling. He was her father, god damn it. And he had earned his title long ago. He changed her diapers and fed her and loved her and she couldn't even appreciate that. Not even through his name. It hurt Jared more than he'd like to admit, and the fact that Capri rarely spent time around him or even talked to him made Jared feel inadequate as a father and made the man want to try harder for Capri's affections.
But Capri's love was a harsh thing. It was rarely given and even more scarcely shown when attained. Being Capri's father didn't mean he had her undivided love. And although Capri knew exactly how much it pained Jared, she had little sympathy for him when little over an hour ago, he killed someone who had been her friend, even if only for a few hours. Even a friend that had planned on murdering her for knowing too much about him.
Jared shook his head.
"I'm fine."
And so the day went on as most did for the Cameron family these days. Breakfast came and went. Capri made some fake excuse to get out of the house. Blaze was going to Adrian's house. Kaden was hanging out with some friends. Venus made plans to spend the night at a friend's while wondering what exactly her older sister had been up to lately. They hadn't spoken really since her birthday. Kim was working part-time at a local drug store and Jared had to patrol.
Everything in La Push was constant. Capri hated the steady and normal.
She really wanted a smoke.
12: 30 PM
The old bell gave an odd noise as Capri entered the ice cream parlor. It was where she worked and where you could find the only person who knew Capri well enough to be counted as a real friend of hers. The old man smiled at his companion from his place behind the counter.
Capri graced him friend with a true smile. Not the false one she bestowed upon most. When the girl truly grinned, it was very beautiful. It made the man proud to say he had seen it.
His name was George. He was 79 years old and he ran the local ice cream parlor. George lived in the apartment above the store and Capri often went with him up there. The old man was always happy to see his young friend come visit him. George was wise as was usual in people as old as he. His voice cracked and his vision was bad and his legs didn't work well anymore, but he got around just fine and worked the shop just as well.
"Hey," Capri greeted. George smiled and turned back down to his book. "Watcha reading?"
"A book." Capri grinned at his answer and went to sit in one of the chairs located at the other side of the counter. The two sat in companionable silence and after Capri pulled out a tiny chapter book, they read in companionable silence.
After a while, George asked Capri if she would mind playing the piano for him. The young girl agreed and up they went.
Long ago, Capri had learned that George Brown had had a wife named Rolanda who died many years ago. He had no children and the old man had never loved a woman since his late wife had passed on. It was hard being a man with no one to give your love to. It was hard to be lonely. It had broken the old soul.
Usually, two broken people together never make each other happy. Two imperfect halves didn't make a whole. Once in a while though, it happened, and Capri knew the loneliness that possessed George and on that, they had found common ground. Connected from years of solitude, they had found solace in each others company. A feeling had grown between the pair which made both of them feel not so alone anymore.
When Capri came to him in the middle of the night, wasted and puking, he let her sleep on his couch and kept a bucket under her chin. When George was missing his musical wife, Capri would play piano for him. Occasionally, she would sing. She had a pretty voice and it was a shame people didn't hear it often.
Their friendship was an odd one.
At thirteen when she had first met George, the girl had little ability to read or an understanding of anything she was learning. Capri had gotten through school cheating and lying. He had been the one to teach her to read, and it had been a hard journey. With her extreme dyslexia and her unwillingness to learn-at least at first- it had been tough. But even though Capri had thrown her books many times and screamed at them, she finally knew how to read. And for that she loved George. And George loved her.
This was a dangerous thing, though, to love George. Capri knew he would die before her. And she also knew it would hurt her because she had let herself love him. She loved George probably more than her father. Capri felt as though George was more of a father to her than Jared could ever be. Mostly because Jared could never know the truth, and partly because Capri felt he would never want to.
Once she was done with the melody on the grand piano which happened to be the most expensive thing in the man's apartment, Capri confided in George what she had done the night before. She always told him everything. It was sort of like a confessional to her, like telling a priest all the bad things you had done. Except George wasn't serving god, and Capri wasn't asking for forgiveness from any all-knowing being in the sky. Because frankly, the only all-knowing person she knew was herself.
And anyone could tell that Capri would never be a good enough person to be a god.