Chapter 10: Betrayal

Brendon laughed. "Sure," He said as he led Kaylee to the other side of the dance floor.

Oh great, I thought to myself. Now I have to dance with Tybalt.

He bowed dramatically before he placed his hands naturally around my waist. I rolled my eyes.

"What do you want?" I asked icily.

"Too much," He replied, to my confusion.

I furrowed my brows, "What?"

"We need to talk." He said, still not answering my questions.

"What about?" I asked with pure curiosity.

"Well," He began, "Now that I've found you, I think you have the right to know my story."

Now I was completely and utterly confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, Ness. Give up the act. No one can hear us, anyway." He said, his blue eyes flaming.

Did he just call me "Ness"? And I totally wasn't acting, either.

"We're so much alike, you know, besides the obvious." He continued.

"What's the obvious?" Okay, okay, so I was acting a little.

He sighed. "We're both half-vampires, remember?" He whispered with an eye roll.

"Oh yeah!" I said sarcastically, "I completely forgot."

"Listen, do you want to hear how I got here or not?" He asked, completely serious now.

The truth was, I really was curious as to where he came from and why he was here now. I sighed, "Fine."

"Okay, well I'll have to start from the beginning. And please don't interrupt me unless it's absolutely necessary." He told me.

"Fine, fine. Just talk!" I was becoming impatient.

"My father was born in England in 1929. He never told me how he became a vampire, but Dempsey never told me many things. He seduced my mother, Jacqueline, when he was staying in Paris for a time about fifteen years ago."

I interrupted, I couldn't help myself. "Wait, you're only 15 years old?!" I asked in outrage.

"Yes…why, how old are you? And what happened to no interruptions?"

Now I felt embarrassed. "I'm a little over 50. And this interruption was necessary!"

He chuckled. "Well, anyways, after my mom got pregnant with me, she asked my dad if she would live. And he promised her that he would save her, one way or another."

"Wait, hold on. Did your mom know what your dad was?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, she had an idea…I'll explain more about that later. Now stop interrupting me! So, the day came when I was born. After a very scary and stressful birth, Dempsey could plainly see that my mother was dying—and fast. But, he did absolutely nothing to try and save her." He looked down. "He didn't love her. No matter how many times he said that he did, he didn't."

There were tears in my eyes. Poor Jacqueline. "So how does that relate to you being here?"

"I'm getting there," he promised. "So, Jacqueline had a sister, Veronique. They were very close. When my mom first met Dempsey, she told her sister, and between the two of them, they had basically figured out what my dad was. Then, when my mom became pregnant, her sister knew too, which didn't make my dad too happy.

"About three years later, when Veronique found out that Dempsey hadn't bothered to save my mom, she became furious. By that time, she had done her vampire research and knew about pretty much everything, including The Volturi and what they could do. So, thinking that they could somehow punish Dempsey for what he'd done, Veronique went to the Volterra and told them straight out what had happened. But, the one thing she didn't know about vampires was the only rule: keep the secret. When The Volturi saw her, they had already made up their minds to kill her. But before they did that, she had to tell them who my dad was. And that's why they then showed up to kill my dad and me."

I gasped out loud, and my mouth hung open for a short while. "Are you serious? That's why you came here? To escape The Volturi?" I whispered in shock. I didn't mention that this wasn't the greatest place to try and escape them, considering the many times they had visited Forks in the past.

He nodded slowly. The song had ended, though for some strange reason I didn't want Tybalt's hands to leave my waist, which was very weird. But then we saw Brendon walking towards us, and our conversation was over, for now at least. But, just before Brendon made it to us, Tybalt leaned in and whispered, "Bathroom," in my ear.

Don't go. I told myself. You came to the dance with Brendon, so dance with him.

But my mouth apparently didn't listen to my brain, because I found myself saying, "Excuse me, Brendon. I'm just going to take a quick trip to the ladies room," and running off. I don't know what made me do it. I was scolding myself the whole time my legs carried me towards the restrooms out the back of the gym.

I turned the corner, looking for him, though I don't know why I actually followed him. What was I thinking? I don't even like Tybalt! I was looking around when someone was suddenly right in front of me, saying "Boo."

"Tybalt!" I shrieked, more surprised than anything. He really had startled me. "What the hell was that?!"

He just stood there, grinning, his blue eyes pouring into mine. "I want to show you something." He took my hand, which was surprisingly comfortable in mine.

What are you doing?! That little voice inside my head was shrieking. Are you crazy? You don't even like Tybalt! Which was very true, I didn't. But then why did I run off to the bathroom to find him? And why does his hand feel so good and right in mine? I felt like my brain had divided in half: one side the normal, practical side, and the other this new, crazy side. The crazy one seemed to be taking over my body, at least. Great, I thought to myself, now I'm going crazy. Emmett told me this would happen someday…but I thought he was just kidding…

Tybalt stopped. We were in a random deserted hallway in the middle of the school. "Ready?" He asked me.

"For what?" I didn't think my heartbeat could have gotten any faster.

"Just watch." He advised. He was standing about two feet away from me, when all of a sudden, he wasn't there anymore.

"Tybalt?" I called, looking around.

"I'm right here," his voice came from two feet in front of me, but he most definitely was not there.

"Right where?" I asked, completely confused.

And then something moved my hair, but I felt no wind. And then he was there again, inches from my face.

"What was that?" I asked, enunciating each syllable.

"I have," he stated calmly, "the power of invisibility."

I just stared at him for a long moment. I knew that half-vampires could have powers, I mean, just look at me. But the thought of someone else, someone outside my family having a power, well, it just seemed so foreign to me.

"So that's why Dad was so stumped by the going in and out of range thing…" I mumbled to myself.

"Huh?" Tybalt asked, but I just shook my head. His face was still inches from mine…

And then he was kissing me, our lips moving together, and I was kissing him back! What was I doing?! I finally broke away from his mouth…his beautiful, luscious…

Stop it right there! I told myself. You are in love with Jacob!! Jacob! You got that?

And then I remembered something very important. I remembered that I wasn't the only one who was in my head, and my dad now knew everything. I internally swore as I turned from Tybalt abruptly and ran towards the gym with him calling after me.

I found Brendon talking to one of his friends near the cookie table.

"Hey, sorry I took so long," I was saying when I spotted Tybalt emerge through the back doors of the gym. Luckily, Kaylee caught him before he could reach me.

"No worries. Hey, are you feeling okay? You look a little pale," Brendon commented.

I almost said, "I always look pale, idiot," but I didn't because that would be very rude. Instead, I said, "Actually, I'm feeling a little under the weather. I'll just call my mom and have her take me home…"

Brendon interrupted me. "No, no! I'll take you. It's getting late anyway. It's no problem, really." He assured me.

We made it out to his car, and I figured that if he really wanted to go back to the dance he could after he dropped me off at home. When I got in the car, I thought very clearly, "Dad. Do NOT tell Jacob. Please, I'm begging you. Don't tell him. At least not yet, okay?" I prayed to gawd that he heard me.

A couple minutes into the drive, Brendon took a deep breath and said, "Nessie?"

"Yes…?" I replied.

"Ireallylikeyouandifyoudon'tfeelthesamewaythat'sokaybutIjustthoughtyoushouldknow," He said the words so fast that they all slurred together.

Great. Just what I needed. As if a make out session with an insane invisible half vampire wasn't enough romance for one night.

"Brendon," I started reluctantly. I obviously couldn't tell him the truth: that a werewolf had imprinted on me and we were very happy together. At least, we were happy at the moment. So I had to lie. "I'm so sorry, but I'm still kind of getting over this guy I dated back in Alaska, so I'm not really going to be dating in the near future." There. That sounded normal enough, right?

He looked a little disappointed, but not too depressed. He nodded understandingly, and we were luckily to the house by that time.

"Thanks for the ride," I said, getting out of the car. "I had an awesome time. See you Monday!"

I walked through the front door and just burst into tears. I don't know what came over me, but I just couldn't hold them in any longer. I noticed my dad sitting on the couch, alone.

"Did you hear everything?" I asked in my mind, because I don't think I could have formed words with my mouth.

He just nodded slowly and patted the seat next to him.

I sat down. "So does everyone know now?" I asked bitterly in my mind again.

To my surprise, he shook his head. "I didn't tell them anything, I promise you. I just told them to all go away for a little while and to not ask you any questions."

I found my voice, finally. "I'm sure Mom agreed to that in a heartbeat." I said sarcastically.

"She didn't," he agreed, "But I convinced her that it was best, and she gave in."

I noticed that all the pins in my hair were starting to become uncomfortable. I wondered where Alice was…

"Alice?" My dad said one step ahead of me. She danced down the stairs and began taking out the many bobby pins that had ended up in my hair. It felt so nice, and I breathed a sigh of relief. She finished quickly, and sat down on my other side.

She looked into my tear-stained eyes. "Nessie, are you alright?" Her voice was deep with concern.

My dad was not happy that she had broken his "no questions" rule. He made a very loud coughing noise and shot her a look.

"It's an acceptable question!" She qualified, turning back to me. "But, really, are you okay?"

I stared into her angel-like face. My lip began quivering and I shook my head. And then another flow of tears began running down my cheeks again, because, I really wasn't okay. My whole life had come crashing down over the course of an hour. I'd betrayed Jacob. He was my best friend, my boyfriend, my brother, my whole life. And I'd just ruined everything.