Chapter 10
As the days slipped away from me, I began to really miss Arubey's company as I would sometimes day dream about us immortals being together for a few years and then we break apart because we fight too much or don't get along. The worst thought that came to my head that what if we were never meant to be. I know that Alice and Jasper are legally bound but how do you find your other half- Alice saw Jasper coming to her, I don't have the Sight, I can walk on water and that's it. I'll sit on the beach for hours every day doing homework while I'm sitting there and I wait for him but he never comes to me.
I argue with myself if I love him or not and I decide I want too. I drove to my mothers the Saturday before Homecoming and I told her about my dilemma and she asked if I thought he felt the same way. I didn't say any names because then Duane would make the connection with and talk to Arubey- it was something he'd do for sure and I can't risk that.
She changed the subject after about twenty minutes of me describing him, "Are you going to Homecoming?"
"No." I muttered.
"Your brothers all are, I mean except for Dana, Rachael, and Jared but your older ones are."
"Duh mom, Dana and Rache are not boys and Jared isn't in high school." I groan, "Mom, I don't know what to do."
"Talk to him."
"We decided to not be friends, well okay- fine we decided it would be better if we not become closer then what we are."
"What's that exactly?" she asked.
Neighbors… immortals… dark dressers, I wanted to say but didn't. "Classmates," I whispered in a sullen groan. She giggled, "Why is that funny?" I demand glaring at her.
We're in her bedroom, Shane is outside with the other siblings and they're building a play house for Dana, Rachael, and Jared- Nathaniel and Terry are going to paint it and I've already agreed to paint my own mural for Dana on a wall, then one for Jared, and a third for Rachael.
I can paint and walk on water- yay (sarcastically), I got that talent from my father who got it from his mother and she spent her life as a rookie artist so she worked up the talent and passed it onto her son, then I got the gene. My grandmother has her own company now and she goes around to schools, doing presentations to get people interesting in art and painting and wood carving and sculpting. She's thin with a sickly hourglass figure and a large blond hair-do. She likes to wear jean-style clothing, vests, dresses skirts and jeans most of the time. She rarely is seen in cashmere or anything else. I never really bothered to learn her and her husband's name and if I've seen a photo- I forget what they look like.
Gina is wearing a fall dress, brown with a tan lining across the hem and sleeves, it's rather pretty but I don't wear dresses unless forced too or going to a wedding. I promised William years ago that when he married- I'd wear a dress for the wedding and he laughed and said I would forget my promise or say I did and show up in bellbottoms and a turtle neck sweater. She answers my question with a grin.
"I realized that I think you do." She whispers.
"Do what?" I snap and get up from the bed, she moves to her stomach and I cross my arms and lean against the dresser.
"Love him Kyra; why else would you not go to the dance next week."
"I hate dances; they're boring and smell like B.O. within two hours at least of it starting."
"It's outside I heard, according to your uncle Charlie; they take place outside under an enormous white tarp-."
"I can't go," I say, about to start teasing her.
She frowns and asks, "Why in the hell not?"
I smirk, "Because the tarp is white." She scowls and throws a pillow at me, I laugh and we talk about the perfect house. Something we never do anymore, mother-daughter time. It was nice talking to her, but I was still careful in describing Arubey Karew. I was self-conscious; with the feeling someone was watching or listening to us. I hated that feeling and I had it all the time.
We laugh and talk at the same time as we leave her room, Shane and my brother- Jared are waiting for us. "We're done." They say at the same time and Shane picks up Jared and holds him with one arm as we're led outside.
Mom and I are silent as we're led outside and I see my older brothers waiting for our responses as they wait under a shady tree. Dana and Rachael are giggling and holding printed pictures of butterflies and cats they want me to paint for them. Jared's picture is of dinosaurs and a sunset.
"Oh my!" Gina gasps at the large playhouse standing in her back yard; I laugh and wonder if Shane will help me get paint. It'll take a while to get it all done. Dana runs over to me to show me the picture she wants me to paint, I say we'll go over colours later and she giggles and takes my hand as mom and I are given the grand tour. The entire playhouse is ten-by-fifteen and the wood used was pure oak and pine with a cedar door. Rachael keeps silent as we're shown where all the toys and things will go- Jared jumps onto my back and I laugh as he wraps his legs around my waist. For the first time since they moved to Los Angeles, I consider moving back in with them- then Jason steps into the sun light for a moment when he thinks I'm not watching and my consideration disappears.
Shane tells me that I can start painting the same day and I agree, the sooner I get it done the better. I go back to my house and change into older, more mess-making clothes, jeans with already stains in them and a white-collar shirt with four buttons. As I'm leaving a car pulls into the Karew driveway, two men get out and I see them supporting Arubey on their shoulders. I forget our deal that we had made and I run over there, they look back at me and are silent.
"Go away Kyra," Arubey groans.
I shake my head, "Here, take him or get the door." I decide to get the door; the one who gave me the choice spoke with a British accent and wore a long leather coat that nearly touched the ground- his combat boots made him stand an inch taller then he really was. His blood-red shirt hugged his form, but he didn't have the arms, back, legs, and torso that Arubey had. The other man, though- he sort of did. All three were handsome, but I only wanted one of them. He wore a shorter leather coat and dress shoes, he wore a long sleeve gray shirt- a near turtleneck. Both were sharp dressers- or at least the darker haired man was- the longer coat had beach blond hair and soft gray eyes. The darker haired man had brown eyes and they were worried.
It wasn't until they got him on the couch, that I realized that all three were actually hurt, "What happened?" I asked them.
"We- who are you-."
"Her name's Kyra Darkline, neighbor-."
"And a concerned one- either you throw me out yourself or I stay here and help." I sighed, "I doubt you have any thing here, I'll be right back." I said and took off to my grandfather's house- I had crossed the threshold when the phone rang- I ignored it and heard that it was from my cousin, Bella. Something about her mother and her new stepfather. I got back to his house and I saw that blond and dark haired men had taken off their coats to see where they were hurt- I went to Arubey first, I knelt down next to him- he held his hand over the large gnash that was producing all the blood.
"You shouldn't be here, if the others get home- with this much blood… they could hurt you."
"I'll take that chance, shut up Arubey and let me be your friend and neighbor- would you rather call Dr. Cullen?" I asked slowly, giving him a choice this time.
He only shook his head and I pulled out what I needed and fixed him up first, I had give him stitches. "Nickolas- I should have watched him more closely." I muttered to myself.
"You're doing fine," he whispered.
I felt the eyes of the other two on my neck, "Who are they?" my eyes looked to the side to motion to the other two."
He chuckled, "Sorry- Kyra, meet Angel and Spike- they have souls."
"Which means what?"
"They can't harm humans without feeling the guilt about it later- Angel is also known to be Angelus and William the Bloody- for Spike I mean." He corrected himself, "Why are you here- we can take care of it." He was trying to say it nicely, but he failed in it.
"Whatever," I snapped. "If you don't want me, then tell me and I'll go and get my own projects done."
"Go right ahead," he growled through a tight jaw. I stood up, he watched me as I left.
Damn him to hell and back- as long as he doesn't stay away long, I think bitterly as I get to my house. I grab another change of clothes in case if we go out for dinner- excluding that I don't eat. Shane had talked of treating his kids of a nice dinner like a family so I had a suspicion that he'd take us out tonight. As I thought up excuses for not eating I realized that my older brothers would be thinking of some as well. They're vampire's now- I haven't really talked with them since I found out. School was hell right now- I was surrounded by vampires, the Cullen-Hales, Karew-Dawson, and now my brothers. Fourteen, I believe in all that attends my high school. What would the teachers say if they knew what they were teaching? Scream and run, cry and beg for mercy? Maybe not even believe whoever tells them; I knew that Doctor Carlisle Cullen has them in school to make his children seem more like humans. Now that Jason, Terry, Nathaniel, and William were immortal- they eternity to finish high school and get their diploma.
I shake my head as I see my brother, Terry chasing Jared around the front yard- my younger brother sees me and runs to me and I move him behind me. "What are you doing?" I ask Terry.
Terry's not out of breath as Jared is begging for air to enter and exit his lungs, "He bit me. I was going to bite him back," my eyes go wide and I hit him. "Oww!" he yells, Jared laughs thinking Terry just pretended it hurt a lot. "What the hell was that for?"
"You know what Terry!" I yell back and usher Jared into the backyard where I can keep an eye on him. Jared's tan coloured pants are stained with paint as he stirs to mix the colours better and Dana watches as her picture of a large butterfly becomes a reality for the young girl. I spent maybe an hour just sketching it out first, adding my own ideas and then erasing them because I hated it. The butterfly took up the entire wall with a flower behind it, she spoke only twice to ask if I could change the colour of the antenna and the body- I had smiled and said 'of course sweetie'. The painting didn't start the same day; I wanted to wait until I had everything done, Rachael's was next. She had changed her picture to a garden scene, but had been worried I'd refuse to paint it because I wanted so much. Shane had gotten dozens of small bottles of paint and when I saw I had every available colour the store had, I decided I might as well use it so I agreed and when she came at me with another picture of a horse, my mind raced and decided to paint it into her garden on the wall of the playhouse. I spent another four hours sketching it out, refusing to stop- it kept my mind clear, no thinking was allowed when I worked. It fucked me up otherwise. When I was finished with her wall, I stepped back to admire my pencil markings. Shane came in and took a photo of me and the sketches, I wasn't paying attention, I only saw the flash go off and he was gone.
I decided to stop for the night and start-finish Jared's in the morning- they were getting ready to go dinner, like I suspected. And what was expected was that my brothers went off in another car saying they felt like something totally different from what Shane and my mom, sisters wanted. I said told mom, I wanted to shower and go to bed. She agreed and gave me a copy of her house key so I could grab the paint from the basement and get to work right whenever I wanted. I thanked her and went home.