Chapter 12:

Maserati!

Maserati!

Two Maseratis!

Asking which was mine was stupid because one, I didn't want to know the answer and two, I knew the answer.

One was a convertible, the soft top down and exposing the white leather seats with blue trimming, the Maserati trident on the headrest of each seat. The other was a coupe, with a hard top and dark tinted windows. I couldn't tell the inside but I had a feeling it wouldn't be much different to the convertible.

I was just staring at them. Luckily my mouth wasn't open like a fish but I was sure my eyes were wide as I stared.

"Alexis," Luke nudged me from the side and I blinked.

"Well, what do you think?" Magnus asked. He was grinning and I could hear the pride in his voice.

How do you answer that question?

They're gorgeous.

They're beautiful.

I'm overwhelmed.

Why the hell would you buy these!?

What the hell did I deserve these for!?

Why the hell are you buying me two!?

God I think I've gone weak at the knees.

I love them!

I can't have these!

I wonder what they're like to drive…

I'm not driving one!

My mind was racing through the two conflicting sides of my brain. One the side which Jacob had smoothed and polished in all of our garage time together and the other which was to proud to accept something so expensive. There had to be about five-hundred grand sitting in front of me.

"Um… they're… beautiful…" I managed to stutter out.

"Dad, what happened to discrete?" Mum asked sounding somewhat annoyed. Maybe she didn't want me being spoilt?

"Well after you told me about her I just had to get the perfect match. The colour is perfect don't you think?" Magnus grinned as Thalia was somewhat indifferent, she didn't look like she knew how to feel.

"Two?" I managed to choke out ever so lightly.

"Well I've come to understand what Forks is like, raining every hour of every day. I liked the idea of the convertible, an extra touch to get me over the boundary of missing nineteen birthdays, but you couldn't have such in the rainiest place of the Continental US. So I got you another with a hard top as well. So the convertible is for here in Athens and the coupe I'll send to Forks with you when you leave." Magnus smiled.

One for here and one for there? These people were insane.

And yet the excitement that Jacob had created was slowly gaining control from the rational part.

"Um… I mean, they're nice but… no I couldn't, I mean you shouldn't…" I couldn't have stuttered more as I tried to find the words to say it.

"Do you like them?" Lucas wondered as April watched me with wonder, as though surprised I wasn't just racing to the door and getting in to take it for a drive. Maybe this kind of gift was normal for them all and not overly priced or over the top? With all the cars in this carpark it wouldn't surprise me if that was the way.

"They're gorgeous, lovely colour, good physique. What's the engine like?" I couldn't help it I ran forwards to the coupe and pulled the leaver inside the driver's side door to pop the hood.

I propped it up and my eyes widened.

"90 degree V8 engine of about 4,691 cm³…" I breathed as everyone moved behind me slightly listening. My mother had a smile on her face as everyone else was somewhat surprised "That generates what," I thought as I calculated the math in my head "About 460 HP at 7,000 rpm, and a maximum torque of 520 Nm at 4,750 rpm." I muttered with excitement. "And it's got aluminium gas dampers coupled with the Skyhook electronic system!"

"Dia you never said she was good with cars?" Lucas grinned.

"Compliments of my husband's, best friend's, son." Mum smiled "The two have been together since he was old enough." she confessed "They worked in his garage on all types of motors through their years."

Embry and Quil are going to have a heart attack! I don't know if I'll ever run again with this thing.

No. No, bad Lex, you are not accepting it!

I closed the hood.

"Well I'd say this was a successful choice." Magnus said to Thaleia.

"I can't take these, it's way too much." I said and Magnus looked surprised, April too. Luke looked like he expected it after my worries and Lucas looked at my mother who didn't look at all surprised.

"Every nineteen year old needs a car." Magnus said.

"I have one." I said.

"Darling, that's mine."

"Cause you need two." I rolled my eyes at my mother. It was true, it was like her second car, but LaPush was so small that I didn't need to worry about it much, and with my sudden speed, it was even less necessary.

"Just accept it Alexis, we feel bad for not being there for you while you were… going through the changes." Thaleia said

"It wasn't your fault." I shrugged and I saw my mother roll her eyes.

"How about you take one for a drive and then tell me if you still want it?" Magnus grinned.

"That's not the issue, I want it but—"

"Well that's all settled then!" he cut me of and I looked at him slightly annoyed. Everyone chuckled at my expression.

My argument was completely lost at this point. There was no way I wasn't accepting them, willingly or not now.

"Come on, you can drive one later, I'll show you around." Luke took my hand and pulled me away from the two beautiful blues and back towards the elevator.

"I feel weird." I admitted

"How so?" He asked as he pushed the button

"Well… I'm overwhelmed with happiness but I feel selfish and spoilt…" I muttered. He laughed.

"I guess you don't get such grand gifts then?" He asked

"Not that grand. I have this one set of friends who spend way to much on everyone but normal gifts aren't really more then thirty dollars. Eighty if you're feeling generous." I said

"That's nothing."

"You rich folk." I grumbled and he laughed again as the elevator stopped and we walked out.

Luke took me around most of the giant mansion. You know it was more of a castle in disguise. Maybe a hotel even…

We found the kitchen, a few people darted around cooking and preparing. I was given a slice of cake while I was there. He showed me the main places people spent time. There were many sitting rooms and then one giant ass games room. It had a very large screen at the other end with several couches and chairs before it. It was one of those giant screens you saw in sports stadiums or when you went to a concert and the person on stage was also on the screen behind them.

"You guys wouldn't happen to be sport fanatics would you?" I wondered

"I guess you could say that." Luke grinned. The screen was on and playing what looked like a TV show. It was in greek so I didn't know what it was about.

The room also housed a pool table, air hockey, table soccer, even a few set ups for gambling with one another. Another screen, much smaller, was connected to a playstation being played by two little boys and there was another similar which a person was doing exercise on.

We moved from that room and I was shown a gym, several people were in here. I wasn' sure why that other person was exercising in the games room when they had a gym…

"What's the point of a gym when you have all those trees just outside your boarder?" I asked Luke as we passed it.

"We don't really leave the estate." he shrugged

"Why not?" I asked with a grin "It's so much funner outside of a boundary, where nothing can stop you and you're pretty much free." I said and he looked at me with some sort of surprise.

"I don't know, guess we just never have needed to. The estates so big after all…" he said and I nodded. I guess that was understandable.

"So does not leaving the estate count for things like shopping sprees and city visits and beach visits…" I began and he rolled his eyes.

"No." he promised.

"And what do you guys do with school?" I asked

"There's a seperate building just west of this building, within the boundary which is our school." Luke admitted

"What do you guys learn?" I wondered

"Same as everyone else I'm sure, English, Maths, Greek, history, science, geography. But then we have our more personal history."

"You learn about our kind?" I asked surprised and he nodded.

I wonder why I found that surprising.

"The teachers are the oldest of us all, clearly." he admitted

"How old's the oldest person?" I wondered

"Somewhere around eight hundred." he shrugged and I couldn't help but look surprised. That was older then Carlisle! By a lot!

"It's not that surprising." he assured

"So people have really reached that age and died?" I asked

"Course, we still age just very slowly, you've seen Magnus and Thaleia."

"How old are they?" I was scared of the answer

"Somewhere around a hundred." He confessed before pausing "Or is it two hundred…"

I just shook my head and told him to stop talking.

Next he showed me a really large and public bathhouse. It was huge. It had your typical greek columns and the room was filled with steam. The water was clear and a calm green from the slight green touch on the tiles within it. A few showers lined the walls, a few cushiony chairs as well. What the point was of cushions in a steamy room I wasn't sure but…

The windows were steamed up but it was a natural fog glass, steam just added to it. But the green grass and blue sky could be seen through the blur, a few flowers and bushes added to it. The bathhouse itself had a few Orchids and ferns around it to add some colour. There was a small water fall coming from the wall on the far side, streaming into the water.

"There's a mens and womens bathhouse as well." Luke said as I stared at it, looking at the high glass ceiling.

"You guys don't do anything halfway do you." I muttered

"Not really." he grinned before we left.

We found the entrance hall again and I remembered how to get here from last night, as well as to Magnus' office and the dinning hall.

"I'll show you were your mum's room is." Luke offered and we began to make our way up the stairs.

I'll tell you this, I will not be going to mum for small matter while we are here. Her room is much to far from mine. In fact, Luke's is closer then her's is. Yeah he tapped it when we passed and told me.

Luke then decided to take me outside.

The garden was a hell of a lot bigger then the house. There were tennis courts, basketball courts, netball courts — seperate not joined like most — Badminton also had it's own court. Pretty sure the most interesting thing was the go carting though. Yes, they had go carting.

There were quiet places where people sat and read, or painted, or listened to music, or even made music. Luke had showed me the music hall as a passing thought, it had a stage and clearly there was a group of cats who were part of the orchestra somewhere.

Of course there was an outdoor swimming pool. Of course there was an indoor swimming pool.

Fountains littered the garden and then there was one section which was just trees. They weren't tall like in Forks, but I insisted we went for a walk through them.

The smell was different. The sounds were different. The air was different. The trees were different. It looked different. But it still felt nice to just stroll.

"So, what's America like?" Luke asked me

"Big. Unhealthy. Kinda stupid some times." I though as I twirled around "Dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Luke asked

"Well we don't all live in closed off environments. You got bad humans who do stupid things, car crashes, muggings, murders, rape, what ever else you want to think about." I admitted "And then you've got the supernatural kind which you can't really hide from." I said "Although being so close to Italy you guys might have something similar in that respect."

"Wait, you know about other supernaturals?" Luke asked surprised "I thought you were kept out of everything?"

I laughed.

"They tried."

"So you've seen other things?" Luke said and I looked at him to see him looking intrigued.

"Yeah… I guess locked up here you guys wouldn't huh…" I realised

"We're not locked up." he rolled his eyes

"You know what I mean." I said

"So what have you seen?"

"Vampires. Werewolves." I said

"Really?"

"Yeah they live in Forks."

"I didn't think vampires would live in one place…" he confessed

"Not most. Most are nomads who just pass through, wondering forever. Then you've got the southern vampires who are constantly fighting for territory. And then there are the occasional who actually settle down."

"And you've met some?" Luke asked

"Sure, I'm friends with them." I smiled and his eyes widened

"Friends with vampires?"

"Well they aren't exactly a danger to us." I said simply, somewhat confused he didn't know that.

"But they still kill people." He thought

"Best thing about my friends." I swung around a tree and grinned at him "They don't."

"What do you mean they don't? How do they live then?"

"They survive on animal blood. They consider themselves vegetarians and refuse to harm humans." I said "They're very good at it, they go to school and college and everything and don't get the temptation." I smiled "One of them just got married actually to a childhood friend of mine."

"A vampire married a human!?" Luke was beyond shocked at this.

"I know weird. They're currently on their honeymoon. Their wedding was four days ago. I'm hoping Alice will send me the photos at some point. I was her bridesmaid." I grinned

"And this is… normal?" Luke asked slowly as he stopped to think about it

"Oh god no." I chuckled "Weirdest, annoyingest and definitely the most dangerous relationship you could have I think."

"And they still did it?" Luke asked

"Well, the girl, my friend the human, she's very stubborn and she went through a hell of a lot of danger, almost died a few times I will admit. The vampire, he tried very hard to protect her, even left for eight months which was a disaster and it turned out that them being apart was more dangerous then them being together." I explained

"It's a bit of a really long story to be honest."

"Sounds like a nightmare." Luke muttered "And what about the werewolves?"

"Well they're a little different, they're more like shapeshifters I guess." I thought "They don't need a full moon to change. They don't loose their minds and they shift into giant as wolves."

"Wolves?"

"Yeah. Giant wolves bigger then cars, fast as vampires, their teeth is strong as hell. They're a lot like us actually. Warm bodied, sturdy, strong, fast and bloody hell are they tall. About sevenish feet each."

"Shapeshifters."

"Yeah, enemy to the vampire shockingly enough." I rolled my eyes as I jumped up onto a log in my path "But an alliance was sort of formed and a friendship seems to be on the horizon, though sort of hanging by a string." I sighed

"Your world sounds more complicated then mine." Luke smiled

"Tell me about it." I sighed "I can't keep mine within such a controlled environment."

"It's not that controlled actually, those who first change are like rabid animals remember." Luke rolled his eyes and I stopped confused

"What do you mean?" I asked and he looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"When people's genes first break through? The animal becomes much to strong and they're rather wild." he said "You remember."

"I was never a rabid animal out of control." I confessed and now he looked confused "I yelled a lot, my eyes changed a lot, I snarled a little and I wasn't very in control of my strength but I was never rabid and it only took me a few weeks to have everything under control." I said

"You never bit anyone, scratched someone, went full on cat on your parents…" Luke listed

"Of course not." I said surprised "That happens?" I asked

"Yeah, to everyone. The cat gene is too strong for the human part at the beginning and it completely takes over. You end up with kids streaking through the halls and hanging from chandeliers, hating baths and water, or going outside and never coming back in." Luke said

"That never happened to you?" he asked shocked

"No!" I said surprised that was even a thing. "My parents didn't even know my gene had awoken until I was bitten by a vampire and it forced my change." I said

"You got bitten by a vampire!?" Luke asked shocked

"Yeah, we were protecting the town from a newborn vampire army coming to kill my friend who's in love with the vampire." I muttered

"Newborn army?" his eyes were wide.

"Long story," I waved it away and continued to walk.

"What do you mean they didn't find out until you changed?" Luke asked walking beside me.

"Well, imagine my gene is enclosed in a glass jar." I began thinking it over "There was a point were I got so angry that the glass jar cracked. So the gene began to spill out but it was still held within the jar, so I got my heightened senses, my strength, my speed, my rapid healing and a few other things but I didn't change physically otherwise. And then I got bitten by a vampire and the venom shattered the jar entirely, or my body shattered the jar in order to fight off the venom. That was when my body changed physically." I explained

"Maybe that's why you didn't go all animal on your parents then, you didn't get the entire change all at once."

"No, everything just got seriously upgraded while I was unconscious." I shrugged

"You know, that could also explain the difference about you!" Luke suddenly thought "Vampires are the worlds best predator, everything about them draws in a human, and the similar thing is coming from you. Perhaps the venom effected you even just a little." he offered.

I thought that over. From what Luke has said, that would make sense, but would it work with the werewolf gene? After all vampire venom was poisonous to the pack… or maybe I just had no werewolf gene in me to begin with.

I hadn't even considered that the vampire venom could have down something to me… was that possible?

"Plausible theory." I muttered

"You got another one?"

"Well I have considered my father having something to do with it." I admitted

"You father? How? He's only human?" Luke said confused and I smirked.

"He is but his blood isn't." and the boy looked at me confused.

"Those werewolves I talked about, my brother's one of them." I confessed and his eyes widened to the size of saucers. Figuratively.

"My father is part of the Quileute tribe which are descended from wolves. Their ancestors were these spirit warriors who could detach their spirits from their bodies. They used it to protect their land. They could influence the wind and animals. Then after a certain event one of the spirit warriors morphed with a wolf. Then all of his ancestors were able to change into wolves after a certain age as well.

"Eventually the vampires came into the picture and from then on the boys only changed and became wolves when a 'cold one' was nearby and they protected the tribe. My father's a Quileute and my brother's gene activated." I confessed with a shrug.

"I was wondering whether my mother told her parents about that or not. You seem rather close to them so I'm assuming she didn't."

"So you're a cat and your brother's a wolf?" he asked

"Pretty much." I nodded "My best friends are wolves too."

"And your friends with vampires?"

"Yep."

"Man…"

"Yeah." I grinned.

I did have a fun life.


HELP!

Okay so here's my first question:

Should I expand on the idea of the vampire venom actually being in Lex's system? Like in a vampire sort of way besides the alluring bit which was an accidental connection to be honest.

(I actually didn't even consider this idea until I wrote it in this chapter)

If Yes, then should I give her a vampire ability?

If Yes, what should it be? (It needs to somehow relate to her personality or something and no double ups are allowed)

Or Should I just… leave it?