I drove my Porsche to the Cullen's with a giddy feeling in my stomach, listening to The Fame Lady Gaga CD the whole way. I was in a good mood. You know that sort of thrill you get when you are sneaking around, doing something wrong but totally fun? I had that. Which was dumb, because Embry had fully given me permission to go. Not that I needed it anyway. He was my boyfriend. No authority over me whatsoever. So I was doing something wrong, but nobody cared. So that should have taken away some of the excitement, but it didn't.
I got there to find Cocoa already outside, on the steps, waiting for me.
"Awww, you missed me." I cooed as I got out of the car. Great way to start things off, I know. By making her angry.
"Don't flatter yourself, wolf girl." Cocoa said snarkily. "I just like being outside."
"Really?" I asked, surprised. Cocoa had never exactly been outdoorsy. "What is this, like, a leach thing?"
"Must be." She shrugged.
I started to step on the porch next to her.
"Don't." She said, leaning away. "Do you want me to kill you? I'm not that strong. Yet."
I contemplated what Embry would have done if he had been around to hear that comment, and thanked God for keeping him in La Push. Then I stepped down and went back to my car, perching on the hood. "You can hear me from here?" I whispered, curious.
"Duh." Cocoa said. She spoke loudly, and I could hear her from the Porsche."I'm immortal now, member? I can do anything."
"I wouldn't say that." I said smoothly. "You can't have me nearer than five away from you."
"Don't piss me off, Cat." Cocoa snapped. "The wolves aren't here to protect you this time. Don't tempt me."
I rolled my eyes, already getting annoyed. "So this is how its gonna be now?" I asked. "Constant death threats?"
"Pretty much." She shrugged.
I bit my lip, deliberating whether or not to ask yet.
"So I take it you can't really be in public for a while?" I asked her. I'd never been one for patience.
"Yeah…" Cocoa said suspiciously. She knew me too well.
"Canitakeurjob?"
"Come again? Even a vampire can't understand you when you talk like that."
I inhaled deeply through my nose. "Can I have your job? At Starbucks? Because Claire and Blaire are getting bigger and I won't be able to-"
"Cat. You're rich." Cocoa said flatly.
"Not as rich as you are now." I pointed out.
Cocoa didn't say anything for a while, just pursed her lips and looked away, her black hair falling over her eyes. She really was beautiful now. In a short chunky-curvy kind of way.
I leaned back on my car and looked up at the sky. The clouds were so thick that it wasn't blue anymore. Gray, sure. Purple in places. But not blue. The wind whistled through my hair, whipping it across my face. I shivered slightly, wishing I could be back in my room, curled up with Embry, watching a movie on my laptop.
But I had to do this. I was flat broke. My parents may not have been, but they really weren't the alowance types, and the Young's were 'taking pity on me' since my concussion. They didn't want me to 'wear myself out' taking care of a few 'unruly little girls'. Right. They just didn't want me falling asleep or something on the job.
Starbucks, on the other hand, wasn't picky of choosy at all about their employers. They couldn't have been, if they hired Cocoa. And, even more surprisingly, kept her. They had absolutely no idea about my accident. And even if they did find out, I kind of doubted they would care. Which was why I needed this job.
"Oh My God!" Cocoa's sharp voice broke my reverie. I sat back up, looking at her. Though she wasn't doing the same to me. She was staring past me, into the depths of nothing, her red eyes alive with horror.
"What is it Cocoa?" I asked, frightened. I'd never seen Cocoa look like that, human or otherwise.
"I'm…I'm…" She shook her head, seemingly unable to go on. Her ample chest rose and fell heavily in exertion from i-don't-know-what.
"What?!" I demanded, this time getting off of the car. "Cocoa, you're scaring me!"
She ignored me. "Oh, God!" She wailed, leaning over and putting her head in her hands, the picture of despair. "I'm in love!"
I stared at her for a moment, stunned. Then, the shock wearing off, melted back onto my Porsche, giggling uncontrollably.
I know. I am fully aware of how hypocritical that sounds, what with my relationship with Embry and all of that. I don't find my love for him humorless at all. It is a very serious matter, very close of my heart. Or at least the black hole where my heart should be. But you don't know Cocoa. You don't know how incapable she has always seemed of emotion, how disloyal, petty, and cruel she is. She was the last person I ever, ever expected to fall in love.
Clearly, she felt the same way. If the look on her face was of any indication.
But it was true, I knew, plain as day. Or night, in the Olypic Peninsula's case, as it was hardly ever bright out. Cocoa was in love, and with somebody she once swore she didn't care a lick for. Lying through her teeth, even if she didn't know it. Heath was hers, always had been. And now, she was his, whether she liked it or not.
And that, my beloved readers, is what was truly hilarious.
Epilogue
Neutral POV
Derek ran for days, days, days without stopping. He didn't have to, you see. He never tired. And as he ran, he thought. He thought of how lucky it was that he escaped the wrath of the wolf packs, the Cullens. The Volturi had lied to him, Amanda and the other newborns, putting them under the impression that they were weak, love struck creatures who gave in, gave up, all to easily. Were it not for the Voluri, he knew, his beloved would still be alive. His mate. His everything was gone.
And he wanted his revenge.
He ran south, straight into the south tip of Argentina. There, he was forced to stop for a quick hunt. Had he been paying more attention, he would have known that he was huting in territory already taken.
Territory taken by a few female creatures that smelled remarkably like that half-vampire-half human child he had taken before.
Taken by sisters whose father that they were so devoted to had been recently destroyed, tortured ripped and burned, by the very same people whom Derek was angry with. And only for trying to create something for himself, trying to gain power, something the Volturi was all too guilty of doing.
And they too, wanted revenge.
Hey everybody! Okay, so this is the end, but I have a third book to this one-and a fourth but that one won't be posted until I'm done with the third- called War of the Wolves. So READ IT AND PLEAE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVEIW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And read Waking up-the 1rst one in the series- and Just a Memory, if you like Quil and Claire.
Thank you kind peoples.
