Chapter Two - Artist

I had a hard time falling asleep. It didn't help that Ashling was in the room right next to me. Like an idiot, I placed my ear to the wall in hopes to hear anything. There was complete silence. What was I expecting to hear?

Then the knock on the door startled me.

"Ephraim?"

Shit. She was at the door. I brushed my tousled hair down with my fingers and stared at the door.

"Ephraim, are you awake?"

"Uh yeah, hold on."

I slipped on my jeans over my boxers and opened the door.

"Hey."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Nah, it's okay. I couldn't sleep anyways."

There was complete silence and I didn't know what to say. She looked at me with those massive alluring eyes.

"I didn't take you for a quiet type."

"I'm not. I'm just thinking."

"About?"

Come on, Ephraim. Make something up. But nothing. Nothing popped in my head.

"I'll leave you alone, Ephraim."

She turned her body to leave, and I wanted to pull her back. Without thinking, I grabbed her arm. She looked at me, and I leaned down to her. I wanted to taste her and meet her lips.

But she pulled back, "What are you doing?"

I blinked and realized what the hell was I doing? "I'm sorry, I thought..."

"You thought by me knocking on your door late at night that I wanted something sexual from you? Oh God. You're like any other guy out there."

She pulled her arm out of my hands and stormed out of the house. I decided to follow her. I didn't want her to think I was like any "other guy."

She went deep into the woods when I found her. Her arms were crossed against her chest and she had her back towards me.

"Why are you following me, Ephraim?"

"Ashling, I wanted to apologize. I read everything wrong. I shouldn't have tried to kiss you."

"Do you know why I'm here?"

"Uh, I honestly don't know. I don't even know who you are?"

"My mom sent me here. She said my life isn't in Italy. I have no idea why I'm supposed to be here, but she said soon enough I would know."

"Italy? You're definitely far from home. But your mom sounds like my parents. They're forcing me into something I don't believe in."

"And what's that?"

"It's a family thing. Weird. You wouldn't understand." I was too embarrassed to tell her. Before I could provide her with a more in depth answer, we heard some rustling in the woods. My instinct was to protect her so my back was against her and my arms blocked what I could of her body. I smelled a familiar unwanted scent.

We saw a blonde hair vampire stand in front of us.

"Luca!" She screamed out his name and next thing I realize, she ran towards him and they embraced in a kiss.

I felt a sense of jealousy within me. She had a boyfriend. Of course. No wonder she wouldn't accept my kiss.

"Ashling, are you alright?"

"Of course, I'm fine. I've missed you."

She placed her head on his chest and he pulled her in closer. He finally looked up and saw me.

"Who's this? He has a different smell to him."

"He's harmless. His name is Ephraim. I'm staying at his grandparent's house."

He brought his hand forward for a shake, "I'm Luca. I'm Ashling's boyfriend."

I shook his hand and didn't care to give him too much eye contact.

"Ephraim Black."

"Black? Wait a minute. Your mother is our queen. Renesmee Black?" Luca seemed intrigued when mentioning my mom's name.

"The one and only."

Luca turned to look at Ashling, "You didn't tell me you were staying with our queen."

"I'm not, Luca. I'm staying with Renesmee's parents. Ephraim ran away and decided upon staying with his grandparents. That's where I met him."

"I didn't run away. I'm visiting them."

There was too many conversations happening at once. I had to straighten everything out. I turned to look at him.

"Luca, why are you here?"

I kept studying Luca and realized why Ashling would be attracted to him.

"I'm here for Ashling." He stared at Ashling for a moment, "Are you ready?"

I was confused. "Ready for what?"

She smiled at me with sincerity, "Ephraim, I'm not going to be a prisoner here. I came to stop my mother from constantly talking to me about my destiny. Luca and I are going to leave here. I'm writing my own destiny."

"Wait, what do you want me to tell my grandparents?"

"Tell them anything you want. They don't need to worry about me."

Within a moment, they both masked into the darkness of the evergreen forest, and she was gone.

I ended up taking my time heading back to the cottage. As I dropped myself on top of the bed, I tried closing my eyes but it was hard trying not to think about her. I knew I was rebellious at times, but at least I reasoned with my parents. I've never defied them with the exception of our recent meeting. I finally had enoughh and sat up on the corner of the bed.

I decided to go inside her room. She didn't take any of her belongings. I saw her sketchbook and went through her drawings. She was talented and did amazing work. I flipped through each page and studied her drawings. When I reached the very end, I was dismayed at what she drew.

The last few pages were portraits of me. It wasn't a couple of pages, but more like ten pages at least. She had only seen me clearly once, yet she drew me in different angles.

"Ephraim?"

Bella startled me.

"Grams."

"Where is Ashling?"

I didn't know how to explain to her, but Gramps, who was standing behind her, already read my mind.

"She's ran away. Did she say anything else?"

"Um no. She left with her boyfriend."

They both left without saying anything to me.

"Does someone want to tell me what's going on?"

I followed them into the woods to help search for her. It didn't take long and we heard crying. When we reached the area, Ashling sat there alone. She was curled up into a ball with her head buried into her knees.

Bella slowly approached her, "Ashling, honey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

She wouldn't look up. I wanted to comfort her but I didn't know if she thought it would be too weird.

Edward looked pissed as hell, but when he spoke to her, his tone was calm, "Ashling, he's not going to hurt you anymore. We're going to protect you now, do you understand?"

She nodded her head and finally looked up at Edward. She took Bella's hand and was comforted by her.

As we made our way into the house, Bella made her some tea. I sat at the table with her and didn't know what to say. She finally spoke but couldn't look me in the eyes.

"You must think I'm stupid."

"I never thought that. Tell me. What happened out there?"

Bella gave her the tea and spoke before Ashling could answer, "Ephraim, I think it's late. Let's let her rest and we can talk some more tomorrow."

I walked her to her room and she curled up on her bed. She noticed her sketchbook was open.

"I'm sorry, Ashling. I shouldn't have pried but I didn't think you were coming back."

"No, it's ok. It's just sketches."

"You're a talented artist."

"I draw what I see. My visions just conveys what my fingers should do."

"I noticed the drawings in the back. Particularly the portraits."

"Yeah. What do you think?"

"I think you're one hell of an artist considering you've only seen a glimpse of me once, and tonight you were able to draw me in all sorts of forms and angles."

She smiled and didn't know how to answer.

"Ephraim, I drew those a few months ago."

"What?"

AN: Thank you for reading! Please stay tune for more!

-kl