A/N Sorry about the wait for updates! Been busy at work, but I promise to keep it coming a bit faster now!
Thanks to everyone who's reading my story and reviewed! I really appreciate hearing from you all!Chapter 10
The last couple of days of school flew by again with both Dawnafus and Josephine filling me in on what had happened after the audition. Surprisingly I got most of the details from Josephine, as Dawnafus seemed to enjoy keeping people guessing.
The weekend finally arrived and I was sat at home eating cereal on the couch with my Jacob's head on my lap. We had the TV on, as we usually did, but it was turned down low. Mom and dad sat on the other couch, his arm around her, stroking her shoulder gently. Grampa Carlisle was in his study, and Granma Esme was cleaning the kitchen, again.
I loved my home, everyone seemed to exude happiness and content. I finished my bowl and set it on the floor then sat back and started playing with my Jake's hair, stroking it away from his face and running my fingers through it.
I could have stayed like this all day, had it not been for Alice coming down the stairs, jasper a few steps behind her.
"Nessie, the twins were bored this morning and have just decided to go exploring the woodland around their home." she told me. I could hear a subtle hint of something in her voice but couldn't quite place it. My dad's eyes snapped in Alice's direction quickly, obviously knowing what she had seen, and waiting for her to tell me the rest.
She added that they would choose to stray from the path, something I said I always do, and would be in danger because of it.
"When will they be going out?" I asked, slightly panicky. I didn't think my friends would ever go for a walk in the forest by themselves. They never seemed the outdoorsy types.
"In an hour. You'd better head over there soon."
"Ok. You coming Jake?" I asked as he moved so I could stand.
"Of course." he replied with a cheeky grin. I'm not sure what he started thing about, but I could hazard a guess when I heard my dad grumble his name under his breath.
We held each other's hands and ran back to the cottage quickly so I could change out of my pyjamas. I put on a dark green t-shirt, some khaki bottoms and tied my curls into a high ponytail. Then we ran through the woods to the twin's house.
Keeping hidden in the trees by their front door, we waited for them to step out. Twenty minutes later, the door opened and Josephine stepped out. I smacked my hand over my mouth to stifle the laugh as I took in her outfit. She was wearing jeans that cut off just below the knee with trainers and a jumper. She only had a summer jacket on, but had an umbrella in her left hand. Sure, it all matched, even the umbrella, but she was going to be so cold in no time! Fashion always came first with that girl.
As she stepped out and put up the umbrella, Dawnafus came into view. She wasn't much better off, obviously being dressed by Josephine for the last few weeks had brushed off on her. She had on a thinker looking jumper and much warmer looking coat, with jeans tucked into wellies. Once again it all matched, and once again the only protection from the weather was an umbrella.
Jake looked at me and shook his head with a smile.
"Those two are nuts." he whispered with a quiet chuckle.
I giggled in response and we made our way deeper into the forest to stay out of sight.
We followed them around for a couple of hours, with nothing dangerous happening, when I caught the scent. Mountain Lion. I felt the vampire inside me squirm and my ears pricked with more intention than before.
"Predator to the north east." I whispered to Jake. "Stay with the twins, I'm going hunting."
He gave me a quick kiss, and then I ran off to find the lion before it found my friends.
I climbed the trees and jumped from one to another until I had it walking beneath me. With a lithe jump, I landed just behind it in a crouch. It stopped and turned instantly, sensing a threat. By the time it had turned to see me, I had bound into the air again, landing a few feet in front of the beast's face. It whipped its head back to the front just in time to see my reaching hands.
With a loud snap, I twisted its head and broke its neck. I had never enjoyed drinking when the animal in question stilled bucked or writhed beneath me. I sunk my teeth into the fur around its neck, sensing the still throbbing vessels, and pierced the skin. I gulped the warm oozing liquid down quickly. When I finished, I licked my lips clean and stood to check for any damage to my clothes.
I was blood-free. I shook my head slightly to try to clear my mind from thinking hunter thoughts. I didn't want to smell my friends scent and endanger them with another predator. I ran back to find Jacob and we carried on trailing the girls again in silence.
Not long later Josephine turned to Dawnafus and grumbled.
"This is boring Dawnafus. And my trainers are ruined. Shall we just go back? I could do with a good hot bath." she finished rubbing her calves for emphasis.
"Yeah ok Josephine. It is pretty, but I really don't see why Nessie loves it so much out here."
I smiled to myself, still licking the remaining taste of blood from my teeth. They would never understand the beauty of this place like my family did, but if it kept them safe, I didn't mind.
We made sure they got home again then ran back home ourselves.
Sunday morning I got a call from Dawnafus. She invited me and Jake round to her house to hang out. My dad offered to drive us, but Jacob was going to have a quick catch up with the pack on the way so we decided to run instead.
"How is everyone?" I asked as he ran back to join me and I handed him some clothes.
"Same old. Leah might be coming home for a visit soon according to Seth. Not that we'll see her though. She made it quite clear that she's only really interested in catching up with her mom and Seth."
"Understandable. She's still trying hard to become as human as possible again." I answered as we walked out of the forest and joined the path that lead to the twin's home.
I knocked on the door and waited patiently as someone came to open it. A woman, in her mid forties, answered. She had lovely chocolaty hair with a few blond-grey streaks, and the same grey-blue eyes as the twins.
"Hello Mrs Rittlerup, I'm Nessie and this is Jacob" I smiled politely. Grownups loved me, and she was no exception.
"Hello, very nice to meet you. Come in! The girls are in the living room." she led us through the hallway into a bright room to the right. It was very spacious. Josephine sat on the sofa, with Dawnafus on the floor in front of her, braiding her hair. When they saw us come in, the hair was forgotten and they both jumped up to greet us with hugs.
We spent the afternoon giggling and playing sports games on the Wii. Me and Jake tried so hard not to take advantage of our inhuman speed and agility, but after a while it became apparent that our competitive sides had taken over.
In the end, we beat the girls by miles, but they seemed to be having fun watching us against each other, and we all enjoyed ourselves.
When it started getting dark outside we went to leave and hugged the twins goodbye.
"See you tomorrow!" they called as we walked down the road. I took Jake's hand in mine and we raced each other home. I had thrown a couple of games so he didn't sulk in front of the girl's, but I wasn't going to go so easy on him this time.
A/N Will try and get the next chapter up in the next day or two. It just needs a bit of tweaking :)