A TOAST TO LIFE
Xx~xx~xX
"I think being a Quileute just ruined the whole rollercoaster experience for me"
"Clearwater..." he warned, sighing heavily and rolling his eyes. She had been at this for the duration of their time in the slow moving in the queue for the ride. Grumbling, whining and complaining.
"I mean seriously...!"She pointed with unnecessary energy up at the ride and scowled at it as it twisted and curved at high velocity, causing its passengers to scream in terror. "Why are people so interested in this thing!?"
"Lady, could you move?" a low irate voice breathed from behind them. They both ignored it and shuffled lethargically forward, sure to leave a good few steps in front of them so there was a marginal space between them and the two other members of their party "Could you move some more?" the man sighed.
"Why would anyone want to have goofy pictures taken of them?" Leah carried on, shaking her head in reproach.
"Lady, just get out of the line if you're scared..." the man behind them sneered "And let us, who paid good money for this, get to the damned ride!"
"Shut up until after the ride" Charles nudged Leah out of the way gently and peered into the man's eyes, pierced into his mind. The man was lost in the dark emerald eyes, his heart stuttered minutely before returning to a slightly raised tempo and when Charles had returned Leah to her position in front of the man...
The man blinked in confusion. He knew he wanted to say something, anything to the tall dark woman who had been complaining insistently during the thirty minutes they had been queued. He opened his mouth but then saw the man she was with; the handsome man with the peculiarly violent green eyes, and he shut up. His mouth slammed shut and a sweat trickled down his neck as though the very thought of speaking was a strenuous activity.
"That was unnecessary, Charles" Leah sighed.
"You ask me what I want to do for my birthday, and when I decide that an amusement park would be fun..." Charles said morosely "You complain the whole way. You complained at the Tea Cups, you complained at the shooting range..."
"I complain because this is what you always want to do!" Leah threw her hands in the air and frowned at Charles "Because I knew this is where we were heading, to the damned rollercoaster...!"
"You puked on the ride we went to when I was ten..." Charles smiled "I told no one. If you puke now, I promise to only tell Jacob..."
Her eyes were wide and fearful on his face. "You... wouldn't"
"He has been so serious of late..." Charles said airily, watching Leah from the corner of his eye. "Always discussing things with Atka; obsessed with other shape shifters. Maybe he'll obsess about the curious incident of a wolf puking because of high velocity when she's the fastest thing on the land"
"If you tell Jacob... about..."
"So you do confirm that you will be puking all over the place again..." Charles grinned "Oh fearsome she-wolf?"
"I will not be puking anywhere!" Leah snapped "Back then, things were different"
"Different how?"
"I had taken a blunt" Leah said matter of fact, nodding her head as though that was a righteous enough reason and would be held with honour in any court.
"You are a wolf..." Charles smirked and raised a thick eyebrow. "One little blunt will only levitate you what... a foot off the ground?"
"Did I say blunt? I meant a whole garden" Leah corrected herself. "I was exiting the stratosphere..."
"I don't know how Renesme will feel knowing she left you in the care of her only child while you were high..."
"Higher than a motherfucker" Leah grinned toothily "And drunk as hell but you still had the best birthday now, didn't you?"
"Why did you need get high?"
"Your mother and father" she answered. "Those two could make the Pope crave for a shot of something, the way they behaved back then..."
"Like that's changed much now!" Charles scoffed, folding his hands over his chest.
"Renesme is nice" came a little voice in front of Charles.
"Katherine, Renesme craps too" Leah pointed out.
"Actually..." Charles murmured and Leah blanched. "Once in a while"
"I don't know if the information on a hybrid's bowl movement shocks me more..." Leah gasped "Or that you count the number of times your mother poops"
"You got high and put your imprint in danger" Charles breathed. "You don't get to judge anyone today"
"What's an imprint?" Katherine asked and the man in front of Charles growled low.
"Could you two shut it?" Seth hissed. "This is the worst..."
"Double date?" Charles grinned, his sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight dangerously.
"There is no double date going on here" Seth said, looking behind Charles. "And Leah's thumbs up tells me she agrees fully"
"She's just scared she'll puke on me again" Charles chuckled. "Aren't you Leah?"
"If you keep on with the puking jokes, I might be forced to tell Eddie you're using your powers for evil"
"What evil?" Charles asked innocently and Leah pointed behind her, at the silent man trying to nudge her forward after the section with two and a half Quileute's and a werewolf did not move forward and left a considerable gap in the queue.
"Dude?" Charles sighed at the man. "You're ruining my birthday?"
The man pointed at two children bickering at his sides, and shrugged, before pointing at his throat and shaking his head in wonder.
"Kids, could you give your old man a break?" Charles chided and the children looked up at him in wonder, before resuming their squabble. "You were rude to my imprint" Charles told the man. "You don't get to talk until after the ride"
"Do you have any understanding of discretion" Leah sighed. "You might as well wear a t-shirt that says, 'I'm a weird human hybrid vampire wolf thingy who has lost my compassion for other humans'"
"Humans and their humanity are both overrated" Charles began before frowning "Did you just call me a thingy Lee? You ruined my birthday, Clearwater. Seth, your sister ruined my birthday"
"I don't fucking care!" Seth hissed into Charles ear. "If you haven't noticed, I am trying to get to know my imprint... who still thinks I'm a jerk!"
"All you Clearwater's are jerks" Charles sulked, inching forward with the queue. "Leah refused to give me a kiss for my birthday, grumbled the duration of my special day at the amusement park and revealed that she used to get high and drunk in my presence..."
"I am finding it very difficult to sympathize!" Seth hissed at Charles before groaning, and helping Katherine into the ride (after shoving the attendee far right and growling at him).
"No" Leah said before Charles could speak, helping herself into the stall behind Seth and Katherine. She strapped her belt on and gripped the rail in front of her with firm conviction.
"I have never been drunk or done half the stuff you guys have" Charles grumbled, checking if Leah's belt was secure before strapping himself in.
"Venom" Leah stated and Charles rolled his eyes. "Can't get higher than that"
Xx~xx~xX
X
Xx~xx~xX
RENESME CULLEN
The lilting sound of birds, far away laughter of children and the lethargic pull of the ocean gave a heavenly retreat from a bruising war, a powerful enchantment from a dark memory and for some, a reprieve from a life of damning.
"You don't have to spend your time baking, Renesme..."
Angela wouldn't understand the change that was in me. Angela wouldn't know the light that had pierced the darkness, the power that had overthrown my weaknesses. I was free. Finally, and truly...
I was free of my sins, of sins that were not my own... except of course, this one little thing. The thirst...
It reminded me explicitly of my first kills, my first murders and my first taste. I had to bake, I had to clean and I had to be busy... I had to not be still, listening to heart beats, feeling the heat from their bodies, his body... smelling the salt of sweat, the sweetness of blood, the elixir in his veins, yearning for scorching heat to sear my tongue, wishing to listen to the that drumming instrument playing a tune of divinity, hating that I remembered the sweet power I had stolen from so many men, from the laboratory.
Every kill, every murder, all that blood...
It reminded me of my first taste, and it did no justice to the potency of Jacob Black's blood.
"Renesme!" Angela yelled.
I jumped, knocking back into the kitchen table and breaking it in the process. The cupcakes I had been icing went into the air and I watched them as they hit the ceiling in slow motion and thundered right back down to the floor.
"Shit" I breathed. I didn't look at Angela; my heart was fluttering wildly in my chest, my vision blaring, her heart was raised too and with it, my thirst roared and my nostrils flared. I was grateful for the burning smell coming out of the oven, muting her adrenaline laced blood.
"What has gotten into you?!" Angela demanded, walking over to me. She took the empty tray from my hands-tugging hard-and placed it on the chair. She surveyed the broken table, it leaned awkwardly to the left, were its leg had come off.
"Renesme, why are you so distracted?" she asked softly, touching my arm. My eyes snapped to her hand, glared at the contact and yearned for the warmth pulsating from her skin.
"What's going on?" Jacob swaggered in, frowning. He was sure not to look at me, staring at the ruined cupcakes on the floor instead. "Five second rule but if you are a wolf it really is five hours, so ladies... just pick them up so we can get to the meeting sometime in this century?"
"Yes" I rasped, removing the apron hastily, throwing it on the broken table. "Angela, the meeting..."
"The muffins are still burning" Angela said dryly, looking at me suspiciously. I switched the oven off, deciding to open it much later when the supernatural beings had gone to the beach to organise Charles surprise party... they would hate to have their noses aggravated.
"Could you take it easy, you haven't slept since..."Angela whispered.
She droned out, frowning "I haven't seen you sleep at all since the break out?"
"I can function" I snapped.
"Then what are you doing to yourself...?" she began but I opted to run from her, zooming to the other side of the dining room that was operating as our 'board room', or as Katherine had put it 'bored room'. She frowned at me by the door, allowing Embry to lead her in and sat down, still throwing me suspicious glances.
The room felt like a sauna with all the wolves. I sat by the window sill, opening the window wide and inhaling the outside.
"I have contacted Dominic" Jacob announced. He sat at the head of the dining table, his large hands clasped in front of him. "He has arrived in Malwood and he will relay the details of The Company and God's People to his elders, and we will see if they are willing to assist us in any way possible"
"Was our biggest concern not finding a place to roost before we mobilise to England?" Embry asked.
"Why can't the Cullens make their way to Malwood?" Angela asked. "England seems so... small... for all of you"
"Malwood is a community of werewolves" Embry said "We would be putting the Cullens at such a risk"
"Embry is right" Jacob said slowly "And I think our cause would be better heard without vampires. Do not forget that the reasons why other supernatural beings hide, Angela, is because vampires attempt to wipe them out"
"My family will not be sitting pretty in England" I murmured, looking out to the little garden. I knew they would be watching me, Maria too. "I believe they are considering involving the Volturi"
"Involving the Volturi?" Angela scoffed "Were the Volturi not already involvedas it is?"
"Your suspicions are warranted, the Volturi are exceptionally undependable if their help will result in their defences becoming susceptible to threats" I spoke slowly "But understand... the humans are not operating alone and as much as Aro may think he had them fooled, it is the other way around. Vampires, werewolves... and any other supernatural creatures Jacob thinks may be in hiding..."
"Don't start with me" Jacob warned.
I ignored it fluidly, looking at the table filled with shape shifters "We are all at risk. The level of organisation, weaponry and unwavering devotion that Lorraine has in her... imagine it spread out amongst a thousand humans. We will be wiped out. It's as simple as that"
"We... need... the Volturi?" Jacob tried the words. I could see him in my peripheral frowning, as though the notion of it was causing him to want to hurl. It probably was.
"We need the Volturi" I said and then clarified. "Of course, if your mission to help supernatural beings is including vampires?"
"I guess..." he said in a hollow tone. "We need to find out more if there are more of you?" he waved his hand at me, mildly petulant.
"Imagine how many 'Maria's' could be littered all over the world?" I whispered "Dangerous. Isolated. Entirely vulnerable to this... extraction process The Company coordinates? Joham may be the only known vampire to father half vampires..."
"Edward" Collin said airily.
"Joham?" Maria asked. "Is that my biological...father?"
"Your biological grandfather" I said.
"It's up to us, isn't it... to find other part vampires?" Maria asked. She was unusual, she was human, she was full of empathy-she was everything I wished I could have been in my youth. I tried to console myself to the fact that she had been allowed to grow up, to have a human family, to have human years...
"It is up to you, Maria" Jacob answered and I watched as Maria's eyes widened, her full lips parting slightly. When Jacob looked at her and smiled-no doubt approving her naive heroicness-her heart beat picked up pace just the slightest bit. I wandered if her palms were sweaty...
I wanted to flip her hand over, feel the skin there... She returned her gaze to me and I smoothed over my frown.
"It's not as easy as Jacob so immaturely makes it out" I smiled.
"I think if you find other half breeds..." Embry stopped talking abruptly as Maria let out a slew of fervent coughs.
"Half vampires" she said "Or bi-species, please"
Both Embry and Jacob looked at her in disbelief... this would be the moment they burst out laughing at Mother Teresa in all her natural seventeen years of age-that showed mentally, physically but not emotionally (oh, she was centuries ahead in the emotion department).
"I am so sorry" Jacob didn't laugh and Embry continued to look at her with wide eyes, shame spreading over his features. "That would be like how the leech... I mean vampires, call us dogs" he pointed at himself and then at Embry. "Bi-species... yes"
"But you aren't bi-species" Embry said "You have what, barely there vampire genes in you?"
"It doesn't make her any less vulnerable to the humans" I said slowly, now watching Maria with that annoying green tinge in my heart "She is probably fertile and both the humans and Joham have a fascination with genetics"
"I thought the only male was Nahuel?" Jacob asked.
"That we know off" I said slowly and then, deliberately to Maria I whispered "Your grandfather has no aversions to incest... I should warn you"
She had turned into a saint in an oversized sweater and dirty sneakers that could give birth to more saints, in the blink of an eye. I could see them looking at her, in wonder. She was young, truly and naturally young and sacrificing her life for this... for out of everyone, she would be most likely to merge in with society freely. She had no baggage save for her war wounds.
"Do you want something to eat Maria?" I smiled at her "I made cinnamon buns..."
"You mean you burnt cinnamon buns" Jacob grumbled before saying wistfully "Esme never burnt them..."
"I am not Esme so be grateful for what I can do!" the windows shook, the wolves cringed back and as I made eye contact with him and his eyes widened, his slight fear shocked my own anger into retreat. I looked away quickly, searching for the warm smile once more.
"I am sure they are like your grandmothers" Maria smiled nervously and I made an effort to ignore Jacob's 'if cinnamon buns were coal'. "I am... tired" Maria sighed.
"Yes, what with your being human and all" I smiled "Angela, are you..."
"I am not tired and yet still intolerably human, Renesme" she snapped.
Maria followed me then, waving shortly to everyone before stumbling so perfectly human over the carpet. I caught her easily "Careful" I said "No injured soldiers"
"Thanks, Renesme" she smiled "I just don't have the stamina for their never ending strategizing and all the security protocols Leah and Seth have put over everyone..."
"Imprinters" I explained "They tend to fuss over all of that when their imprints are in the vicinity"
"Imprinters?"
"Oh, poor daisy..." I gave her a quick side hug, careful not to shatter her ribcage "There is so much you don't know"
"Yeah..." she chuckled nervously, sitting on the stool while I took the cinnamon buns out of the oven. They were not badly burnt, unfortunately. I had a feeling she would have eaten them regardless, had they been charred to oblivion "Everyone here is... bonded. Like, a lifetime of this..." she waved her hand in the air "I could never have imagined there could be such a world"
"You were perfectly sheltered" I told her "I envy you"
"You envy me?" she scoffed "I envy you! Imagine growing up in a house with humans, Renesme, and thinking you were human when you could feel it in your bones that you were something other..."
"But you are human" I explained to her "Perfectly human, Maria"
"No... I am not" she whispered, pinching a piece off from the cinnamon bun and plopping it in her mouth indelicately "Rene..." I hated that I liked the new nickname "...even before I was abducted, I knew there was something wrong with me"
"Why does it have to be something wrong?" I asked her "It makes you superior to humans... even if it's by a miserable quarter. At least, you could put up a bit of a fight before you were killed by a vampire?"
She blinked at me, a sliver of terror flashing over her eyes.
"You are a little scary" she said.
"I am a lot vampire" I smiled. "Do you want some tea with that?"
She looked behind her, to the boisterous sound of the shape shifters welcoming the birthday boy from his mundane excursion before sighing a little "Yeah, tea would be good"
"You miss your home?" I guessed.
"You see, that's where you have it lucky" she murmured, eating more of the cinnamon bun "You get to keep your family. I get to lose mine for this"
"Those humans were not your family" I told her.
"As far as I care, they are..."
"Aren't you the least bit curious on whom it is that you belong to?"
"I belong to no one right now, and that's just fine by me"
"Spoken like a teenager" I smiled.
"I am a teenager" she smiled back. "Thanks" she took the cup I had placed out, and balanced it carefully as she picked up her cinnamon bun "I'm going to call it a day"
"Going to bed so early?" I asked her. "It's five?"
"Just a nap but honestly..." she whispered "I hate this. I hate it all, and I am trying to deal and be mature about it, I mean that's how my father would have handled things... but all I wake up and want to do is go to school and hang out with my friends... not save the world"
She paused and a tear slid down her brown cheek.
"Does that make me selfish?" she asked softly.
"It makes you human" I smiled and it hurt inside, because I had been her once I realised "It makes you... normal"
"Goodnight, Renesme"
"Don't you mean good evening?" I smiled back. "The night is only just beginning"
Xx~xx~xX
"What is it with you and house chores?" she complained, stuffing herself with the salvaged buns and scones, while sipping her wine endlessly.
"It's just something I learnt from Esme" I murmured "It's therapeutic"
"Your grandmother was a vampire" Angela said.
"My grandmother was a caring and patient woman" I whispered "That is how she did it. Not because she had limitless energy and no need for sleep. She cared that everyone was taken care off... she took care of Jacob, when I left"
"When you left?" Angela asked, the bun hovering expectantly over her open mouth.
"Back then" I whispered, sipping the wine before swirling it gently in the glass. The satin colour stained the bulb of the wine glass exquisitely and my throat burnt. "I broke him into a thousand pieces" I took another sip and this time my throat swore at me, cussed me out for denying it the genuine wine. I looked at Angela and watched as the precious vein by her neck throbbed and retreated succinctly before erupting again, and again...
I looked away and glared at the calm outside, the rose bush Leah and Charles had planted earlier on in the day partially hidden in the shadow of a tree "He would have starved himself if it were not for Esme and Rosalie"
"Rosalie?" Angela asked.
"You haven't met her... formally" I said.
"I met her in high school" Angela had finished her wine and waved the glass at me impatiently. I moved humanly slow towards her, watching her in fascination. She had been intent on eating herself into her grave since we escaped, as well as her new fondness for ciders and wine.
"How was she then?"
"Beautiful... scary" Angela said raising her hand for me to stop pouring the wine when her glass was a quarter full.
"Rose, the eternal beauty" I raised my own glass in a toast "My true mother"
"You're tipsy" Angela chuckled, shaking her head.
"You are drunk"
"I function"
"It bothers me that you say that so proudly" I sighed.
"It bothers me how nice you are to Maria when you and I both know you can't stand her" Angela laughed. I was glad we were alone; the whole house-except Maria-had gone to the beach to prepare the bonfire and a little party for Charles.
She continued laughing until tears were in her eyes. She was laughing at me, her face red and flushed... such a waste... of blood, in the hilarity of my insecurities...
The wine glass smashed in my hand, the red liquid spilling over my fingers, spraying over the counter and dripping to the floor through my clenched fist. She stopped then, looking at me in puzzlement but long gone was Angela Weber's fear of me. She knew I would never hurt her; not because my father had grown attached to her...
But it was I, instead, that found her compelling. She compelled all she touched, with her raw kindness and lack of consideration in reigning in her wayward disposition. It was as though the moment she was free from Isabella, she had begun to live fully and ripened in her old age of forty something...
"Wipe it before it stains then" was all Angela Weber had to say of my exhibition, taking her glass of wine with her and swaying out of the kitchen in the direction of the patio "One must learn to handle a bit of competition..."
"Competition for what?" I scoffed, folding my arms over my chest and glaring at the shards. I caught my reflection in them; paler than I should be in the sunshine of our new location, eyes wide and deadly dark. What could I want from Jacob, which he hadn't given already?
A taste...
Xx~xx~xX
The fire had only just begun to blaze. It was an orange ruby in the middle of the sand, its flames guttering upwards violently. Around it, the men sat chatting animatedly.
She didn't really want to go there, she didn't really want to be seen, she didn't really want to be left out either as much as she thought that she could return, one day, back to her high school and back to her simple life as a teenager.
"You can sit by me" I told her.
"It's not that I am shy..." Maria tried to explain although her heart clutched in her chest when the wolves gave her too much attention. Angela had told her not to be too concerned about that; they were forever stuck as teenagers and had very little female interaction save for Leah (who wasn't an easy target for teasing) and I... well, they had written me into the legends as the witch, hadn't they? They were excited to have someone pretty to talk to, was how Angela had put it. That may have been true...
"They are perpetually horny and will follow a female turtle into the depths of the ocean" was how I had put it "Nothing to get yourself all worked up about, Maria"
"I am not shy..." Maria clarified yet again "I just... don't like attention"
"Everyone wants a little bit of attention?" I smiled. I was leading Maria and Angela to the beach, the twilight had abated, the darkness had swallowed up the wood area and the surrounding perimeter of the little beach house.
"I have a boyfriend" Maria said primly, pursing her lips and glaring at Collin's not so subtle wink at her. She raised the grape juice indicatively, a little reminder that she was not going to be joining their planned night of drunkenness. She saw his expression darken and sighed when he resumed his conversation with the rest of his pack mates.
"Well... he isn't here to give you attention, now is he?" I teased.
"I wouldn't take romantic advice from her" a very drunk Angela laughed. "Although, it is true that a little bit of attention can do wonders for one's self confidence"
"I love him" Maria stated but something in her tone sounded two shades bitter.
"Love my dear..." I scowled at Jacob and Atka from far off "Is overrated. When you return to him and tell him that you are not human, were do you think your love will be then?"
"I am human"
"Humanish" Angela raised her finger in correction.
"You are undying" I said sternly "Forget about your human love. It is brief, fickle and infantile. It will stunt your immortal growth; it will offer you no protection from this world and provide nothing but disappointment"
"Do you have a mate?" Maria asked me. I released her hand then, as we had arrived by the bonfire and walked ahead, before throwing an irate "Your father" at her.
"She can be rather cruel" Maria whispered to Angela, still refusing to acknowledge that her audio world had changed and I could hear her clearly.
"It's only because she loves intensely" Angela laughed, squeezing Maria briefly. "It's a difficult love to earn... but it's worth it in the end. She's a special girl, like you, even if you both don't know it"
Xx~xx~xX
X
Xx~xx~xX
"I do miss Dominic and Annabelle" Collin sighed "They added..."
"Numbers" Bradley scoffed. "Dude, Dominic was hard work and Annabelle had two expressions; constipated and death..."
"Dominic was only hard work once a month!" Katherine cried, leaning away from Seth. "And Annabelle... er, she... had that humour of hers?"
"A constipated dead cynic" Bradley said dryly "What's not to miss? And if Dominic wasn't a werewolf... he had those large eyes of his and that curious affliction..."
"What curious affliction...?" Katherine demanded, now clambering over Seth to get closer to Collin and Bradley's teasing.
"You know..." Bradley pointed at his own eyes indicatively and then not so subtlety, he pointed opposite them, behind the large fire at Leah. "His attachment to involved women"
"I suggest you speak a little nicer about the Eriksons" Seth hissed.
"Why?" Collin and Bradley challenged in unison, mischief glinting in their eyes. "Aren't you the slightest bit concerned that he will involve himself with another attached woman? Or maybe it will be Annabelle-those Erikson's may just like swimming in clear waters"
"A little respect for the Eriksons is in order because that's where we are heading before we go to England" Jacob announced. "Atka and I spoke with Dominic..."
"I think Jake replaced you" Bradley snorted at Seth.
"Idiot, Atka is an Alpha of the Polar Bears" Seth rolled his eyes "He is representing his tribe in this, dumb ass"
"Dumb ass is the guy who bought grape juice instead of champagne for the party" Collin hissed at Seth.
"I had to think about Katherine in this!" Seth hissed.
"I was hoping to get Maria a little tipsy for the event but she saw the damned grape juice..." Collin grumbled "Still a major cock blocker, eh Clearwater?"
"When did I cock block you?" Seth asked, covering Katherine's ears with his hands. She struggled to free her head of his large hands and settled herself to sulking at the fire.
"You used to get laid like a duvet?" Bradley sneered "With everyone... including that Katie, that cute waitress in Forks? I liked her...?"
"Quileutes and grudges!" Seth heaved, releasing Katherine and shaking his head "Dude that was last lifetime!"
"I am only forty" Bradley said soberly, his perfectly twenty year old face dead serious "My life time hasn't passed yet... so yes, it does feel like yesterday"
"...Malwood is well organised" Jacob was giving a speech that the left side of the bonfire cared little for "We will be safe, Dominic swore to it. Although our stay will not be welcome..."
"When has our stay ever been welcome" Leah scoffed "Hopefully this time Embry wont sleep with anyone's sister..."
"Er..." Embry avoided Atka's glare and busied himself with Angela-who was giving a detailed account of Isabella's obsession with Edward, until the point that the two had become a couple (Renesme was sitting at the edge of that group, listening intently with a sleepy Maria at her side, gazing at everyone in wonder).
"Okay, you know what... I could give you an 'Elder Speech'..." Jacob began and a series of 'Please Don'ts' erupted around the fire "But I can't, it reminds me of Billy..." a series of 'I feel bad now' rumbled out "And... really, we rescued vampires from a human laboratory? I think that's all the speech that is needed. We are legendary!" Jacob raised his bottle of whiskey "Happy Birthday Charles... may there be many..."
"Oh, there will be so many that the kid is going to wish for a deathday" Embry laughed.
Jacob grinned at his son, his friend "To an eternity of joy, Charles Edward Black"
Xx~xx~xX
"Hey!" he called out to her. She was skipping over the sand easily, a bottle of wine in her hand and her hair dark and wild around her face. He thought she was dancing, she thought she flying; to him, they had never been more on equal ground.
"Leah... you'll get yourself swept by the ocean" he rushed to her, picking her up in his arms and twirling her in the air. She giggled childishly as he planted kisses all around her face. They were far from the others, from their large family. It was like before, when they would travel through states just the two of them...
Except, it wasn't like before. They were on equal ground, as high as they were; maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the weed, maybe it was the fact that he had rid his system of venom and with her in his sights and life, he could see so clearly.
"Ahhh!" she squealed as he spun her supernaturally fast. "Throw me in, then!" she cried.
"What?"
"Throw me in the sea!" she demanded "Imagine were I will land... maybe in Atlantis!"
"You'll drown" he whispered, slowing his spinning. Her limbs lowered, her hands going around his neck. He propped her up in his arms, her legs automatically winding around his waist. "I can't lose you, Leah" he breathed, looking at her.
Her eyes were large and free, the light pulsing in them, through them.
"You won't" she said this with such natural ease that he had no grounds to refute her. She believed it, and it felt petty for him to deny it when she was so resolute.
"You could be taken from me" he said. Her hands were in his hair, combing and tugging lightly. He hadn't let her go; he hadn't let her feet touch the ground.
"Taken?" she giggled lightly, shaking her head "By whom?"
"Anyone" he said shyly "Any... thing?"
"You are my haven, Charles" she told him.
"You are my heaven" he told her gently, forcing her to come closer to him. He held her thigh, and she was aware of this through the haze of bliss, he used his other hand to push her hair away and see into her eyes much easier.
Green bore into her brown, through her fear and saw right into her soul. Something in her pulsed, it felt foreign and it scared her and then so suddenly, she remembered it. Lust. Want. Yearning.
"I can't..." she was about to say more and his crooked grin silenced her.
"We wouldn't do that while we were high, Ms Clearwater" he chuckled, his voice lowered and enchanting. "I would have to give you the world, all of them... to earn you. But for now, could I get that kiss?"
She giggled again and shook her head left and right, pouting "No"
"I have never seen you like this" he smiled.
"I have never been... like this" she said in wonder.
"You don't want with that kiss?"
"No"
"Liar"
"I don't want with my lips..." she said sultrily and his eyes darted automatically to her full mouth.
He kissed her quickly, lightly and the air knocked out of her. She leaned in to kiss him fully, so suddenly ravenous and he leaned back from her.
"I don't want with my lips" he told her cheekily.
"I don't give a damn!" she hissed, tugging his hair violently and crashing her mouth to his, winding her legs tighter around his waist and rocking her body forward. She gripped his hair mercilessly, she kissed him with undying passion and they tasted sweet nectar in each other.
"Ah...!" he tried to tug her away, feeling their hold on reality slipping dangerous territories that he knew they were not ready for but she was adamant, stubborn and strangely immature. She refused his restrictions, when he lowered her to the ground she stalked him dangerously and he backed away anxiously.
"I... want... you!" she breathed, she never remembered being this famished for warmth and love.
"Want me when you're sober" he chuckled, catching her in his arms and placing a deliberate kiss on her forehead , using more strength to keep her from causing him to throw his resolve to the ocean and just... be a silly teenage boy, drunk out of his mind, and happily alone with the woman of his dreams.
She meant too much, she was everything and this, would not satisfy that sacredness at all.
"Charles?" she breathed, but he was gone. The only tell of his departure came from the sea, were a disturbance had occurred. She looked out to the darkness, catching his pale form in the waters and thought to swim to him and just throw all her fears, doubts and stupid morals away.
But the cold air hit her face and she realised that she had just kissed him, she had wanted him; she had felt him want her to. He waved at her and she was sure she could see the smile on his face "See you at the house, Ms Clearwater" his lips moved.
She smiled, suddenly incredibly shy and waved at him. She walked back to the house, and sat silently in a corner with another bottle of wine... and a silly grin on her lips.
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AUTHORS NOTE:
Welcome, to They Set Out to Save Worlds!
What to look forward to? Well, once again our heroes have split into two groups; so there will be two factions playing out in the story until they are united. Romance wise, yesssss! Plenty of it, I predict.
Things will be a little heated for a bit while everyone sets out to save the world... hehe,
See you soon.
XX
TJ
P.S Don't forget to review!