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Safe aura test
Unfortunately, Autumn couldn't join us. According to her the teachers had all lost their minds over Christmas break and were flooding them with loads of homework and a big project which Olivia and her would need the entire weekend for.
I had asked the Cullens to leave. Basti and Leah had arrived an hour ago and Leah had made breakfast for us. I just picked at my food though. I felt sick.
"It's going to work out. It always works out in the end," Leah soothed.
"There's always a first time," I muttered darkly. I jumped at the sound of the doorbell. Julia knew that she could just come in, but she always rang the bell to announce her arrival before she allowed herself in.
"Let's move over to the living room," Basti suggested. He and Leah went ahead and I followed with a heavy heart. Julia entered the living room from the opposite side with a bright smile that faded when she saw me. She rushed towards me with concern evident in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" she asked softly, grabbing my arms, "Did they pester you again?"
She glared shortly at Basti and Leah.
"No, they didn't. I – We've got to talk," I sighed heavily.
"Okay, let's go up to your room."
"No," I held her back, "here. Basti has something to tell you, too."
She frowned confused. I led her to the large couch and Basti and I sat down on either side of her.
"Did someone die? Marie?" she asked starting to panic.
"No, no. Marie is safely back in Hamburg. Nobody died. This is about our tribal secret and the secret of your family."
"You're vampire hunters and my family used to be the same. So what?" she asked still confused.
I took a deep breath. Basti nodded encouragingly at me.
"I told you that no normal human can fight off vampires. There's a reason why we fulfill the preconditions. And it actually takes more than them to kill a vampire. It's some kind of gene anomaly. When we reach a certain age, usually at about sixteen, and there are vampires in the area, the gene is activated. Our bodies change to prepare us for becoming protectors of the tribe. We grow fast, grow muscles and our body temperature rises to a seeming fever. When the preparation is finished," I gulped and continued in a low voice, "we phase."
"Phase? What do you phase?"
"The correct question would be into what we phase."
My stomach churned. I couldn't tell her.
"What does that mean? Do you… change into something else?"
Her heart beat sped up. This was not good. I nodded weakly.
"Into what?" she whispered and stiffened. I opened my mouth to say it, but I couldn't get the words out. It was as if I had been alpha commanded. I closed my useless mouth and looked pleadingly at Basti. Leah held out a picture frame to me that was turned downward.
"If you can't say it, maybe you can show her," she said softly.
I turned the frame, shielding the picture from Julia's view. It was a picture from my room which showed Leah as a wolf. I wondered when she had taken it downstairs. I looked back at Julia.
"Keep an open mind, please," I whispered.
She nodded hesitantly and squirmed uncomfortably. I handed her the frame and she stared at the picture for a moment. Then she looked back up at me with furrowed brows.
"That's what we turn into," my voice broke. Her eyes widened rather slowly before she dropped the frame and bolted off the couch. She whirled around and stepped backwards, not leaving me out of her sight, staring at me with horror-stricken eyes. My heart stung and I felt as if with every step she took away from me, someone was tearing at my heart with more force, trying to rip it out of my chest.
"Wait, Julia," Basti interfered now, "There's no need to judge him. Shape-shifters don't kill, they pro-," she cut him off.
"Shape-shifters?" her voice trembled, "I'm not dumb, Basti. He's a werewolf! A monster! No better than a vampire! Are they even your natural enemies? Or was that just a trick to get me to trust you, so that you could bite me and turn me into one of you? I know I'm probably not able to outrun you. But I'm going to try."
And with that she whirled around and darted for the door. Leah was up in an instant and dashed to the door, successfully reaching it before Julia and blocking it. Julia recoiled.
"You're one, too!" she accused, "So did you already turn Basti? Made him your weak-willed subordinate?"
Tears streamed down her face. I wanted to solace her so badly, but I was afraid to approach her. She would probably freak out or faint.
"Nobody turned anybody here!" I said desperately, "It's all in the genes. Nothing would happen if I bit you. And even if I were able to turn you I never would!"
"No need to keep me prisoner then, right? Let me go. I promise I'll keep my mouth shut."
She made a hesitative step towards Leah and the door. My sister shook her head.
"You can't leave Seth. He needs you."
"If I actually mean anything to him, he'll understand me and let me leave."
Leah made no move to give way.
"Let her go, Leah," I said somewhat blankly.
"No. I will not watch you suffer over her loss."
"Let her go," I growled and tried to put my former Beta force into it, only to regret it instantly when Julia flinched and fear returned into her features. Leah ignored her and growled right back at me, proving that I wasn't Beta anymore and wasn't close to becoming it once again either. She turned back to Julia.
"Let him explain completely. And maybe you should ask Basti how your family hunted vampires. If you still want to abandon him in the end, I will – most reluctantly – let you."
Julia's head shot to Basti.
"Our family has the same gene anomaly. You and I both carry the gene that made some of our male ancestors turn into wolves whenever they smelled a vampire. Women always only carry it and hand it over to their children, so you could never change. But your sons could. In our family's case, the gene of a man can be activated between the fifteenth and thirtieth birthday by touching a vampire. That's why I always keep my distance to the Cullens."
Julia stared at him and sank to the ground.
"I think I might faint," she murmured.
"There is nothing bad about descending from a line of shape-shifters," I tried to assure her, "Shape-shifters are the good ones. We fight vampires to protect humans. I told you before and I'm saying it again: I'm not dangerous at all. We protect and the only creatures we kill are vampires. We're not venomous or something like that. We don't bite people when we're in wolf form. Our human minds are still in charge and I would never do anything as a wolf that I wouldn't approve of when I'm back in my human form. I could never hurt you. Please, Julia, you have to believe me," I begged.
She looked up at me and I could see the indecision in her eyes. She got up and came closer. Again not leaving me out of sight, she fumbled for the picture. The glass had broken and she winced when she cut her finger. I leaned forward, the urge to protect her from any harm taking over.
"Stay where you are," she begged and retreated backwards with the picture in one hand and the bleeding finger of her other hand tucked in her mouth. She studied the picture and I was glad that Leah had brought that one and not the one of Embry and me play fighting. Even though we had been playing it looked aggressive to an outsider. Leah's picture on the other hand was that of a friendly looking wolf. The tail was a little blurred, indicating that she had been wagging it.
"That's Leah," I stated hoarsely.
"So, all those pictures in the VIP room," she had never stopped calling it that, "that's you and your friends?"
"Yes."
Suddenly her eyes shot wide open again.
"Oh my God," she got up from the floor and walked towards Leah, "I'm leaving. I listened and now I'm allowed to go."
She kneaded her fingers nervously, waiting for Leah to step aside.
"You haven't heard everything yet," my sister stood adamantly rooted to the ground.
"Wh-what led to this decision, Julia?" I required with trembling lips, "I mean, one moment you sit there and seem to adjust to the thought and the next you are shocked and get up to leave. What crossed your mind that shocked you?"
"Emily's scars. You said it was one of the wolves."
"But I also said that it was an accident!"
I got up and made a hesitative step towards her.
"Please, Julia. Don't leave me. I will never hurt you. And I'd rather die than let someone else hurt you."
"Who was it?" she stepped back every time I stepped forward, so I stopped trying to approach her.
"Sam," Leah answered.
"Sam!?" Julia exclaimed disbelievingly.
"He was inexperienced. The phasing is triggered by anger. A shape-shifter can learn to control that and not phase whenever he's angry, but Sam had only been phasing for a few weeks and didn't know how to control it. He got angry and Emily stood too close when he phased. Today all of us, except for Dave, have a lot of years of experience and don't phase unless we want to. Hell, if I still phased whenever I got angry I would have phased when Archie attacked you! And then again in the middle of Drew's kitchen."
"A lot of years of experience? I thought it starts when you're sixteen. And now you're nineteen. Three years aren't a lot."
I sighed.
"I'm not nineteen."
Her eyebrows rose.
"What?"
"When we start phasing we stop aging. Once we stop to phase and sort of retire, we start aging again."
"So what, are you a century old, like Edward and Alice?"
"No, none of us is that old, although it would be possible. I'm twenty-nine."
She plopped back down on the ground.
"What else should I know?"
I took in a deep breath. Telling her about imprinting right after she learned that there was a thirteen year gap between us didn't really seem that promising.
"Remember what I said about Jake and Nessie's relationship? And Collin and Janelle's?"
"Weren't they supposed to be soul mates?"
"Exactly. That's called imprinting. Not all Quileute can imprint, only the shape-shifters."
Julia shrugged.
"So?"
"Make a guess."
She thought for a few seconds. Then her eyes widened yet again.
"No way."
My hurt must have shown on my face, because she rushed towards me.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it that way!"
She crouched down in front of me and took my hand in hers. I immediately felt better, now that she didn't keep her distance anymore. But would it last?
"I just, I mean, I guess," she stuttered before she was able to sort her words, "I can't believe that I have a soul mate. And a shape-shifter, to top it off. But… I guess I'm glad that it's you."
Hope warmed my heart and I smiled uncertainly. There had to be a rub in it.
"I like you and somehow, I always felt safe with you, even during the time I thought you were a criminal. I just have to stop picturing you as a werewolf and remember that. I understand now why I was able to help you so much. I guess I can imagine what I would do to you if I told you that I never wanted to see you again. I couldn't do that anymore. But I'll need a few days to wrap my head around it, okay?"
I nodded weakly.
"I'll be back. Promise," she squeezed my hands and let go.
"Will you feel uncomfortable, knowing that I'm in my wolf form in your garden, watching over you? I can stay away," I offered reluctantly.
"Um, no. I mean, I have vampires watching over me at times. I shouldn't mind a supposedly harmless shape-shifter. But don't try to contact me in any way. I'll come to you when I'm ready."
"Okay," I smiled sadly. Julia headed for the door and this time, Leah let her pass. I watched her through the window as she got into her Mini and drove away. Leah stepped beside me and caressed my back.
"She promised to come back. Everything's going to be alright."
I nodded numbly. It still felt like I had lost her. What if she just felt obligated to return and pretend to be my friend, but would never really be comfortable with me again?
When I was lying in the snow in her garden that night, I heard her restlessly tossing and turning in her bed. From time to time she grunted frustrated and cursed in German. Around four o'clock in the morning she finally managed to fall asleep.
Without having slept myself I went to La Push the next day. There was a wedding at the Den and I could need the work to distract me. Basti and I rearranged the tables and decorated them while Leah and Emily were busy in the kitchen. A car pulled onto the parking lot and Basti looked up.
"The guests aren't coming for another hour, right?"
"That's Julia," I said surprised and tried to restrain the hope that was trying to settle in my chest. I had recognized the sound of her Mini before I saw the red car. Not a minute later she came through the door, an unsure smile on her pretty face.
"Hey," she let the syllable slowly fade away.
"Hey," I smiled. Don't get your hopes up yet, my inner voice pestered me.
"Can I just silently keep you company?" she bit her lip.
"Sure," I frowned, "But why would you do that? You're usually not exactly silent."
She blushed.
"I just need to see something."
"What?" I asked curiously.
"I'll tell you later," she said and plopped down on a chair. I felt a bit self-conscious as she watched my every move. But it had to be a good sign that it didn't seem to bother her when I came close and started putting name plates on the table she sat at. Right?
"Ten minutes until the guests arrive. Are you ready, guys?" Leah called from the kitchen.
"Just finished," I replied. Julia got up from her seat and neatly placed the chair back into row.
"Come outside with me for a moment?" she asked me quietly.
She put her arm around my back and I couldn't stop the grin that spread on my face. That definitely was a good sign. Outside, she leaned against me and looked up at me.
"You passed the test."
"Which test?"
"The safe aura test."
"The what?" I chuckled.
"What I wanted to see while I was sitting there was how I felt in your presence today. Yesterday was uncomfortable and scary, even in the end. This morning I decided that there was no need to fear you. But I wasn't quite sure if I just told that myself because I knew that I couldn't abandon you or if I really believed it. So I came here to see if I was subconsciously still scared. I wasn't. The safe aura you used to radiate was back."
I put my hands on her waist and picked her up to spin her around. She squeaked in surprise and laughed. I put her back down gently and hugged her.
"Thank you so much," I whispered.
"I'm sorry I freaked," she replied.
"Doesn't matter now."
"Is it… is it normal that I feel a pull towards you?" she asked hesitantly.
"Yes, that's the imprint bond."
She started shivering and I led her back inside to warm up. Behind us the first car filled with people in fancy clothes turned onto the parking lot.
There's not much left for this story so it'll probably be complete by the end of this week. And then we can get started on the sequel :)
Please review, I can never get enough of them.
Next update on Wednesday.
