Chapter 14

Claire followed Louis as he made his way through the dense underbrush. She gracefully climbed over thick tree roots, fallen logs and a number of smaller trees, trying to reach toward the sun above the canopy. Every once in a while, Louis would take her hand. As always, Louis' hand felt cold as ice, yet hard as marble. Louis questioned Claire constantly, wanting to know about every little thing in and about her life: her favorite color, flower, gemstone, and her family.

"Can I ask you a question?" Claire asked timidly.

"You may ask anything you like," Louis responded honestly.

"How old are you?" Claire wondered. Louis smiled and answered, "Twenty-four."

"Okay, how long ago were you changed?" Claire inquired.

"Oh, you were wanting to know how long I've been around," Louis realized with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking. I was from Louisiana, back when it was still a French colony in the 1790s."

"Oh wow," Claire gasped.

"I'm sorry," Louis replied hastily, taking in the wondrous look on Claire's face. "I didn't mean for that to shock you."

"No, I'm all right," Claire replied earnestly. "It just took a minute to sink in. I was just thinking about all the things you have had to see in your……existence."

"Yes, I suppose that would be slightly daunting," Louis responded, his accent slightly more pronounced, knowing he was able to relax a little around her and show his true nature.

As they continued to trek through the forest, Claire noticed the trees beginning to get thinner, less dense. Soon she was staring at a beautiful forest glen with a gap in the canopy, showering the forest floor with warm sunlight. Claire released Louis' hand to stroll into the glen, gazing around at the glory of the Alaskan wilderness. For a few moments, Claire was so engrossed by her surroundings, she forgot about Louis, waiting in the shadows. She beckoned him forward with a shy smile, and watched as he unbuttoned his shirt slowly and let it hang open. Looking back at her, Louis took a few deep breaths and stepped out into the pale sunlight.

Claire's breath was caught in her chest as Louis stepped into the edge of the glen. Louis, immortal duplicate of a Greek god, his pale skin exposed to the sun, was an enthralling vision. Where the sun touched his alabaster magnificence, it seemed there were sparkles coming from within, almost prismatic. Seeing Louis in the sunlight was the single, most beautifully unbelievable image that Claire had ever laid her eyes upon. Louis continued to stroll casually toward Claire, and Claire found herself moving toward him slowly, almost unconsciously. As they met in the middle of the clearing, Louis slowly began to raise his hand, so as not to shock Claire, and tenderly cupped her cheek, rubbing his thumb over her warm flesh.

"Does this bother you?" Louis asked hesitantly. Claire had to remember how to breathe, her lungs grateful for the gasp of air that escaped before she responded, "No……I don't mind."

Slowly, never taking his eyes off hers, Louis gently guided her to sit down next to him. The forest floor was cool, but Louis' touch was icy, so cold that where his skin touched hers, Claire felt as though she had been burned, but no pain accompanied the sensation. As they continued to gaze at one another, Louis' expression seemed to go through many changes.

"Is anything wrong?" Claire asked.

"This is wrong, being along with you like this. Yet I cannot bring myself to be apart from you," Louis confessed. "You can't even begin to imagine how it feels to finally be able to find someone you just feel so right about being around, but also knowing that you could so easily harm them if you lost any degree of control."

"No, I suppose I wouldn't know," Claire answered honestly.

Louis and Claire sat in silence briefly. Before long, the sun re-emerged from behind the clouds. As the sunlight hit Louis' skin and shattered into a thousand prismatic sparkles, Louis lay back onto the grass and closed his eyes. His pale lavender eyelids looking so delicate, were almost too compelling to touch. Claire's hand seemed to be drawn towards Louis' skin, and as she slowly reached toward his exposed forearm, she hesitated, looking at his face. After a moment, Claire lightly traced her finger over the contours of his perfectly chiseled muscles. Glancing up, Claire saw Louis' eyes were open, gazing at her.

"Does this bother you?" Claire inquired. Louis smiled sweetly, closing his eyes as he let his head rest on the ground, and replied, "No, chérie. You wouldn't believe how wonderful that feeling is. To have that warmth so close is……almost too tempting to ignore." The smile on his face was seductive, yet wary. As Claire continued to trail her fingers over his magnificent form, Louis lay perfectly still, a constant reminder of his true identity.

Claire, moving slowly, sat back on her elbow and scooted towards Louis. Realizing what Claire was wanting, Louis lifted his arm to allow her to snuggle close to his majestic body. Claire carefully placed her head on Louis' shoulder, inhaling deeply. His shirt smelled of something heavenly, yet Claire could not put her finger on exactly what the fragrance was: a hint of jasmine, fresh linens, a touch of freesia and a light spritz of citrus. The aroma was intoxicating. Louis, his arm around her shoulder, pulled Claire closer.

"Tell me about some of the places you've seen, Louis," Claire requested softly, looking down as she fiddled with a button on his shirt.

Louis' hand smoothed her hair as he retorted, "I used to travel a great deal until I found Tanya's family."

"Where did you go?" Claire inquired gently.

"Europe, mostly; wandering through the countryside, by night of course, searching for others like myself," Louis explained, his angelic voice turning bitter.

"What happened?" Claire whispered, looking up to see Louis' face twisted into a mask of anger, which then melted to sorrow and regret.

"That bad, huh?" Claire guessed quietly.

"Yes, it was that bad," Louis finally managed to whisper, his body trembling slightly.

Claire slowly reached for Louis' other icy hand, grasped it and pulled it up to her chest, laying it palm-down directly over her heart. Breathing very deliberately, Claire concentrated on keeping her heart rate steady, hoping it would help to calm Louis. I didn't mean to upset him, Claire thought fiercely. Louis' trembling began to subside as Claire focused on remaining clam, keeping her heartbeat stable. Slowly, Louis' hand moved from her chest to her chin, pulling upwards so that their eyes met. Louis' eyes were full of sorrow, and it pained Claire deeply to see him so vulnerable.

"Forgive me, chérie," Louis whispered. "I have not spoken of these things in a very long time."

"I didn't mean to upset you, Louis," Claire said honestly.

"Oh I know," Louis replied softly. "But thank you."

"For what?" Claire inquired.

"This," Louis stated simply. He lifted his hand and placed it directly over her heart again. Claire's heart jumped at his glacial touch and began to thump erratically. Louis smiled sweetly as Claire's heart began to slow again, soothed by Louis' presence.

"Ah…" Louis sighed, allowing his hand to drop back to his side.

"What's the matter?" Claire wondered. Louis gazed at Claire and replied, "I should get you back home. Someone might come looking for you."

"Let them look," Claire retorted. "I'm allowed to have a private life."

"Yes," Louis agreed. "But it could still be dangerous for us to be alone together for too long. Knowing what I'm capable of, I would never forgive myself if I were to ever hurt you."

"You won't hurt me, Louis," Claire reassured him. "I know you won't." Louis looked at Claire lovingly and said, "Thank you, Claire. You have much more faith in me than I realized. I only hope that I'm strong enough to maintain it."

Louis helped Claire back through the forest toward the trailhead where they'd left Louis' car. They hadn't gone too far when Louis stopped her and asked, "Do you still want to see how we run?"

"Oh yeah, that sounds awesome," Claire exclaimed. Louis brightened up as he took Claire's arm and gingerly swung her onto his back. "Hold on tight," Louis instructed. Claire hooked her arms and legs around Louis' stone form, resting her chin on Louis' shoulder.

"Here we go," Louis laughed. And then they were flying through the forest, trees whipping past them in the blink of an eye. Claire struggled to keep her eyes open, but the disorientation finally forced her to tuck her face into Louis' frosty neck. She could feel Louis' legs moving under her, yet the motion was so fluid it didn't seem possible that he was running. The only give-away was the crisp snap of air as they rushed through the forest, darting through gaps in the foliage. A few moments later, Louis stopped and whispered, "We're here, chérie."

Claire opened her eyes and glanced around quickly as Louis detangled her arms and legs from their death lock around his body. Her muscles stiff from squeezing Louis so tightly while he was running, Claire stretched out as Louis watched.

"So…how was it?" Louis asked, chuckling slightly.

"Exhilarating……but disorienting," Claire replied honestly.

Louis took Claire's hand and led her to the Mercedes. As Louis helped Claire into the car, his hand lingered upon her exposed neck and throat, his fingers brushing against her face. As soon as Louis shut her door, he was instantly opening his. After he started the car, his hand reached over to take hers, his cool skin sending a delicious shiver down Claire's spine. As they headed back towards her apartment, Claire began to ask some more questions about Louis' past.

"So how did you come to be like this?" Claire inquired gently.

"Well, I suppose it was due to my maker's loneliness. That is usually the main reason," Louis answered honestly.

"But how did you become a Cullen?" Claire asked. "Renesmee said that you were, like, Carlisle's nephew."

"Yes that is what we say," Louis chuckled darkly. "I was not always a 'vegetarian', although I tried to live like that right after I had been changed." Louis stopped and sighed heavily. "It was a hard road that brought me to Carlisle. After some extremely difficult events I was forced to endure, I eventually stopped feeding and wandered through the wilderness for many years."

"Is that how you came to meet Carlisle and his family?" Claire prodded gently, not wishing his musical voice to be silent.

"Well, I met their extended family, the Denali clan. That's where I realized there were others like me who wished to be different, to………not be as others saw us, but rise above the natural urge that is our horrible curse."

Claire sat silently for a few moments, gently stroking her thumb again Louis' skin, attempting to console him. They had reached the parking lot of Claire's apartments, where Louis pulled into an empty spot. Louis squeezed her hand lightly as he said, "I hate the thought of leaving you," Louis confessed. "It makes me nervous not to be near you."

"Then why don't you stay?" Claire offered. "Would you like to come inside?" Louis looked at Claire like she was speaking an alien language. "I feel nervous when I'm not around you, too," Claire explained. Louis' expression turned serious as he said, "You really shouldn't be spending so much time alone with me. What if this……all ends horribly wrong?" His angelic face looked truly frightened at the thought.

"Stop worrying," Claire replied gently. "Everything will be just fine."

"You should probably head inside," Louis suggested after Claire's stomach growled loudly. She suddenly realized she was famished, noticing the sky was growing dark, a few faint rays of blood-red sunlight stretching up from the western horizon.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later, right?" Claire half-inquired.

"Yes Claire," Louis replied huskily., leaning towards Claire slowly. "Just promise me one thing?"

"Name it," Claire said breathlessly, leaning towards Louis' exquisite face.

"Be safe," Louis breathed on her face, knocking Claire slightly loopy. As she regained her senses and opened her eyes, Louis' face was inches from hers. "Hold very still."

Claire froze, not even daring to breathe, as Louis' face drew even closer. Very lightly and gently, Louis' lips trailed from the top of Claire's forehead, down to her temple, kissed both of her eyelids shut, moving across the line of her cheekbones, to her jaw line and down to her chin. Louis pulled back as Claire's eyes fluttered open. He put a hand on the side of her neck and using his thumb, tilted her head back, exposing her bare neck. Claire watched Louis dip his head down and felt him place his icy lips at the base of her throat. Claire inhaled sharply as an electric surge chilled its way through her body.

As Louis pulled slowly away, Claire struggled to remember how to breathe. Louis looked at her tenderly and cupping her face, reminded her, "I'll see you later." Louis reached across to open Claire's door and as he did, he suddenly went rigid, crinkling his nose as if he smelled something unpleasant.

"What is it?" Claire asked.

"A slight problem, is all," Louis replied bitterly. "You should get inside."

Claire barely recalled getting out of the car. As Louis leaned over to shut her door, he pulled her back into the seat with his arm around her waist, saying, "And Claire?" Claire half-way turned around in the seat to look at Louis over her shoulder as he gazed at her with his mesmerizing eyes and sighed, "Sweet dreams," his breath sweet and intoxicating flowing over her face, redoubling its earlier effect. Claire stood shakily and stepped away from the car as Louis shut the door and sped away. Claire turned away from Louis' departing vehicle, freezing in her tracks as she saw someone standing on the sidewalk, waiting for her.