Elizabeth bit her lip in a carelessly thoughtful way as she closed her book. She was trying to read but her thoughts kept drifting back to Dwayne. It had been fun - beyond fun, really - to hang out with Paul and she was glad that she could enjoy some one on one time with him again but it was also kind of weird to have not seen Dwayne at all. She hadn't even caught a glimpse of him. She knew it was healthy for them to not be in each other's pockets twenty four seven but she couldn't deny that she missed him.
She missed his touch, his smile, the dark and serious gaze of his eyes.
She sighed. There wasn't much to be done about it, she knew that she would see him in the evening and the thought lifted her spirits immensely.
She glanced out of the window and pursed her lips at the sight, moving to drum her fingers on her little table. It was a horribly cloudy and overcast day and she had actually tugged on a sweater, replacing her simple t-shirt early on in the morning. She'd worn jeans, too as well as thick socks. She wasn't trying to be dramatic but it felt like a pretty big departure from the summer heat. Grandpa had told her a storm was coming and that the weather would clear up and be back to usual afterwards and she hoped the old man was right.
She was surprised to be welcoming a storm but there was no denying that it was positively gloomy outside.
It was a little gloomy in the house, too, come to think of it.
She hadn't thought Grandpa's house could ever be considered gloomy as such but on a miserable day and with nobody around, it kind of felt like the scene of a thriller and she didn't quite like it. Being alone and without the sunshine to brighten the place made her appreciate just how many pairs of eyes were watching her from the hundreds of nooks and crevices. Taxidermy was a cool skill but it didn't really sell itself on a day like this.
The boredom she was feeling didn't do much to help matters, either.
She didn't even have a TV for company and Grandpa had changed the lone radio to some insane evangelical preacher while keeping the note commanding the listener not to go messing with the dials. Lucy had gone to work, Grandpa and Nanook had taken yet another trip to see the famous yet mysterious Widow and Sammy had scarpered to be with his newly established best friends. She'd ribbed him quite a lot after breakfast, laughing him out of the kitchen when he suggested that horror comics were actually kind of compelling in their own right. She'd told him the Frog Brothers were changing him and he'd almost, almost blushed before the defensiveness kicked in. They squabbled for a bit but he'd popped his head into the kitchen and given her a wink on his way out and she knew they were good.
She liked teasing Sammy, she loved fighting with him and while she thought his foray into horror was stupid and surprising, she was glad to see that he seemed to be even more confident in himself and his choices. Santa Carla was already old news to him, he seemed really well settled. She guessed having friends - weird, annoying, creepy, frustrating though they were - was a good thing for him.
He did seem a little embarrassed in his choice of friends at times but he was so comfortable with them and around them that it didn't really matter. She didn't like them, she knew she never would like them but she was happy for her brother. She had her boys, he had his. They were both doing well and that wasn't a bad thing. Of course, her boys were infinitely better but it wasn't like she could gloat about it or one-up him. They were her secret. She could endure Sammy's jibes about her being a loner because she knew they were in jest and because she knew that she wasn't one but Sammy would never be able to brush off a joke at the Frog Brother's expense.
She smiled a little, glad that she could still goof around with her little brother. She wondered how it was all going to change when school started and then she paused, her fingers freezing against the wood of her table.
How would it change when she changed?
It wasn't something she had thought long and hard about before but for a moment, it really hit her. When she chose to be with the pack, she would be leaving her family. It wasn't something she had discussed with Dwayne because it was so powerful, so serious that she barely even wanted to think about it herself but she knew that she wanted it to happen after graduation. It wasn't so far off and she gave a hesitant, somewhat unsure smile as she thought about her forever with Dwayne.
Dwayne was...God, he was everything.
As she thought about the man she had come to love, come to need and cherish the smile on her face was anything but hesitant.
She wondered on his strength for a moment, blushing a little when her thoughts turned to the defined muscles of his arms and chest. There was no denying the power in his body and she wondered if he had been so well built when he was a mortal. It sounded like he'd lived a hard, physically demanding life and she thought that perhaps it showed. Paul and Marko were undeniably handsome and defined in their bodies but they were slender. Dwayne was...she grinned...he was pretty damn stacked.
Biting her lip, she looked at her neatly made bed and sighed, leaning back in the chair slightly.
She wanted nothing more than to be in his arms, to be wrap herself around him.
Circling her finger around the button of her jeans, she marveled at his strength and stamina. Really, there was noting they wouldn't be able to do together...
It was a compelling thought and she bit her lip, biting down a smile as she thought of all the positions they could try. She could image herself wrapped around his body, imagine his powerful arms supporting her fully as she arched her back into the air, feeling him inside her-
Creak.
-Elizabeth jumped in her seat, completely shaken from her thoughts.
Heart stilling, she frowned as she heard the little door at the base of her stairs open, the creak painfully obvious in the stillness of her room.
Someone was in the house.
Heart suddenly thudding in her chest, she froze despite a terrifying wave of adrenaline coursing through her.
Her door only ever creaked like that when it was opened slowly, hesitantly. Nobody in her family would ever open her door in such a way, they would announce their presence loudly, Sammy himself probably racing up in the middle of a scrap to use her room as a sanctuary. She knew that Lucy wouldn't sneak like that and Grandpa would definitely knock hard first before even touching the handle...and none of her family were even in the house.
She felt sick, her stomach dropping.
Who the fuck was creeping around down there?
She glanced out the window to check, though she knew it was a pointless exercise. There were still many hours left to pass until sunset and while the day was overcast, she knew that Dwayne was constrained by the sun, not the clouds.
It definitely wasn't him.
Wondering if she should hide, wondering where she could go or what she could do, she looked at the door...it was the last one blocking her room from the top of the stairs and clear as day she heard a little squeak. This time it came from the stairs rather than the door and Elizabeth shivered, curling her hand into a fist, sitting still as a rock.
Someone was creeping. If you took the steps steady and normally, like a person with nothing to hide and no reason to tiptoe, the stairs were silent. Someone was creeping and getting closer.
"Who's there?" she called out, voice trembling, trying to think where the nearest phone was.
It was down stairs, near the door...wasn't it? Did Grandpa have one in his workshop too?
She swallowed, knowing that she would have to barrel past whoever was blocking her path, knowing that she was trapped in her little attic.
Even if she slung open her window and screamed, there were no houses, no neighbors for miles.
She stood, jumping to her feet as if she'd been shot as her door suddenly opened. Jerking towards it and then thinking better of it, she backed painfully into the table behind her gasping in shock.
Through the smallest crack in her door peered a soulful, heavily lined and undeniably doe-like eye.
...it was a familiar if not shocking sight.
As the door opened fully, the unwelcome visitor stepped somewhat hesitantly into the room.
"S-Star?" Elizabeth stuttered, shocked to see the beauty stood on the threshold of her room.
Her heart was still pounding and she no longer felt afraid but she felt a different kind of wild adrenaline.
Was Star trying to giver her a heart attack?
What the ever loving fuck?!
"Jesus, you scared me!" she gasped, slouching forward a little, resting the palms of her hands atop her thighs, "I thought. God! I thought there was a home intruder or something!"
"I'm sorry" the girl demurred, "I didn't mean to frighten you"
She was wearing jeans and a white tank top, her hair was clipped back in the most effortlessly elegant way and even though she was also in jeans, Elizabeth immediately felt self-conscious. If it was a beauty competition, Star would win hands down.
"Wha..oh my God, what are you..why are you here?"
Star?
If felt like lifetimes ago that they had met, it felt...God, it felt like they never even had met.
She'd forgotten all about the girl but...Jesus, wasn't it Star that had invited her to meet the boys all those weeks ago?
She stared up at her visitor, eyes wide and confused, heart still thudding. She was shocked to see Star, shocked to not really remember Star, shocked that she was currently in her room, shocked that she'd almost come face to face with a masked murder creeping around her home, shocked that-
"-you look surprised to see me..." the girl murmured demurely, running her hands over her jeans as if she was getting used to the fabric and Elizabeth blinked.
That was an understatement.
"I don't...I mean..holy shit, what are..." Elizabeth trailed off.
Star gave the smallest, ghost of a smile, "they're rubbing off on you, you know? I can't imagine the old Elizabeth ever swearing" she smiled bitterly before shrugging softly, "anyway...I thought perhaps you wouldn't be surprised to see me. I thought maybe they would have warned you?"
"I have no idea..look, I'm sorry but how-why.." Elizabeth took a breath, letting herself sink onto the table. She had no idea what was happening, what the girl was talking about, "can we maybe start from the beginning here? This is kind of uh, this is pretty overwhelming right now. God, I think I'm going to have a heart attack or something"
"It is?" Star asked, completely ignoring the residual effects of the terror she had instilled.
"Well, yeah"
"Why?"
"I mean...you're here. It's been so long and..wa-how..how did you even get in? Isn't the door locked?"
She was trying to think, who had been the last to leave? It was Sammy..no, maybe it was Grandpa? The two of them left the house at the same time, Nanook in tow, looking excitedly between the two.
"No, it isn't. The door was unlocked, Elizabeth. I did knock but it was open and nobody responded, so..."
Elizabeth knew that from now on she was going to have to double check the door every time somebody left her alone in the house. For all she knew, next time a masked murderer really could come by for a stroll, "you didn't, I'm sorry but you didn't think to knock harder or? Why would you..."
Why would she creep around uninvited?
"Well, Michael invited me in" Star said, her voice a little bit hard for the smallest of seconds before returning to its usual huskiness, "he said that I'm always welcome in his home and I need to talk to you, Elizabeth. That's why I'm here, I need to see you"
"Well..I...where is he? You didn't come together?"
Did Star really come alone? Wasn't that strange? Sure Michael may have told her she was welcome but surely nobody would actually invite themselves into a house, walk around until an occupied room was found...right?
"He's working" Star said with a smile, "I knew you hadn't forgotten him, Elizabeth. I knew it!"
Star seemed to be talking to herself and it only added to Elizabeth's confusion.
"...what are you talking about?" Elizabeth asked slowly, "he's my brother...how could I ever forget him?"
This was the strangest, most surreal thing and Elizabeth shook her head. It was so strange for Star to invite herself into the house, to politely barge into her bedroom and talk what could only be described as total nonsense.
Star said nothing and Elizabeth shook her head, carrying on, "and...Michael doesn't work though? Are you..Star are you OK?"
At least her heart was calming down, the horrible sense of terror she'd felt had almost gone. The confusion left in its wake was less than pleasant but at least she was no longer in fear of death.
"They told me you had forgotten him but I knew you hadn't!"
The girl seemed almost gleeful, like she'd been vindicated but it was all lost on Elizabeth.
The situation kept getting weirder and weirder.
Elizabeth could never forget Michael. He was her brother and she loved him. What was going on? Sure they hadn't interacted in a while but that was just because everyone had been busy. What was the girl talking about? Why did she think Michael was working? And who were 'they'?
"Uh? Who are 'they'?"
Star shook her head, entering the room fully, "you have a really beautiful room"
"..uh...yeah" Elizabeth agreed, blinking stupidly. She wondered if mental whiplash was a thing, "it's nice. I haven't had time to uh, you know? Haven't found time to decorate so much but um yeah. It's sweet. I like it.."
"You're a lucky girl"
"Um..yeah?"
What was happening?
Star smiled softly, "your time in care was good wasn't it? And you were adopted into a wonderful family, you're comfortable. You have a bright future..you're very, very lucky, really..."
Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Elizabeth merely nodded. What did Star know about her history? Had Michael told her or had she made assumptions? Either way it was a little weird.
Where was this conversation going and why on earth was it happening?
"Not everybody is as blessed as you are"
Elizabeth blinked, feeling a little affronted. She had never considered herself to be unlucky in her life or situation but she didn't appreciate the girl's words. She was happy, she was content and she was loved and yes. Sure, her time in care had been fine - she'd been fed, watered. She'd been well looked after but did that mean she hadn't experienced hardships? Loneliness? Hurt? Pain? The Emerson family was her family but hadn't her Grandmother been downright cruel at times? When the divorce had been in progress, didn't her father threaten Lucy with full custody of just the boys? Hadn't she been cut from his insurance right away? Elizabeth knew she was lucky, she knew she had it made but Star seemed to think her life had always been perfect and that just wasn't the case. Sure, she was lucky - especially compared to some - but that didn't give Star the right to enter her room and start making assumptions, talking about a history she knew nothing about.
"...I think, um...yeah. I mean, people are uh..yeah. I mean, different people are blessed in different ways" Elizabeth shrugged, her habit of being polite winning out over her jumbled but angry thoughts, "sorry but you um, you kind of skipped a question there? Who are 'they' and why are you here, again? I'm still lost..."
She felt like a bumbling idiot but the situation she found herself in was just so damn weird.
"I wanted to talk to you"
"Uhuh.."
"Listen...it's very important and...probably difficult for you. It's difficult for me..." Star began, "please sit down?"
Elizabeth did so, settling herself further onto her desk, plopping her sock covered feet on the chair she'd vacated in fear, wondering exactly what it was that she wanted. She'd had absolutely zero contact with Star since…when had they first met? It felt like years ago. Her time in Santa Carla had merged into an incomprehensible mesh of events and occurrences with no distinctive time frame and honestly, Star just didn't feature in her memories. She was a passing acquaintance, nothing more.
"Star are you pregnant?"
Star shook her head, "no.." before rubbing her hand over her perfectly flat stomach in a brief and loving way. She sounded hurt, "no, that's not…for now it's not…it's an impossibility for me…"
"…oh"
It had been a long shot, a random burst of thought but Elizabeth genuinely couldn't think why else the girl would have sought her out.
"Anyway, I already told you...this is about you, Elizabeth"
Elizabeth said nothing, feeling a little uncomfortable. Prompted by the silence, Star continued, taking a breath, "Dwayne is a monster"
Elizabeth sat upright, rigid and cold.
She felt as if a bucket of ice cold water had been dumped all over her.
Wherever she thought the conversation could be going, she'd not expected to hear Dwayne's name.
"It is a monster. Dwayne? Please, please trust me when I tell you that the man it has shown you, the man you think you know...he isn't real. It's all an illusion. Dwayne is not a man, not a he. It is a monster and you need to protect yourself"
Star's eyes were wide and sincere and she had clasped her hands close to her stomach, imploring and serious but Elizabeth felt cold all over.
Dwayne was her everything. She was stunned into dumb disbelief at the words that had been suddenly thrown at her and so when she spoke, her voice was clipped but faint, "I have no idea what you're talking about"
"You don't know?" Star whispered, eyes wide and shocked.
Elizabeth said nothing, feeling oddly sick and detached
"Elizabeth...it's a vampire"
Star watched Elizabeth closely for any sign of a reaction but the young Emerson sat was still, rigid and cold as her voice.
"A vampire, Elizabeth! It's a vampire-"
"-he"
"What?"
"Not it. He"
Elizabeth felt like she was floating away from the conversation but that was a point the needed to be clarified. The thought of Dwayne being referred to as an it, as something less than human, like a lesser being was repulsive to her.
"You do know" Star whispered, her eyes wide and her voice heavy with despair, "oh you silly girl. How could you-"
"-stop. Just...stop"
Elizabeth shook her head and placed her hands on her knees, still feeling frozen, moving like she was a statue.
How did Star know?
What did Star know?
What the hell was going on?
"Oh Elizabeth" Star said, running her hands through her hair in open despair. She seemed frustrated when her hands met resistance, she was obviously used to having her hair down and pouring over her shoulders. She moved to sit uninvited on Elizabeth's bed, plopping down heavily on the mattress, "you know so little about the life you're running toward, please let me help you. Please listen to me, I'm begging you"
"I don't know what you think you know-"
"-I know everything"
Elizabeth's eyes narrowed somewhat.
There was no lie in Star's words.
"...then...maybe you should explain?"
"I'm trying to but..this is difficult for me. I'm ashamed, so ashamed of my darkness..." she shook her head, "it's hard for me. I want to do the right thing, I know I am doing the right thing by helping you but it's so difficult for me"
Elizabeth swallowed, speaking slowly "what...darkness?"
"My inner darkness"
At least Paul's nonsense was funny, "that's just a vague, poetic term and it explains nothing. What do you know? Why did you come here?"
She was finding it hard to keep her cool, to keep her facade of calm.
She actually felt like she was close to losing it.
"I know that Dwayne is a vampire. I know that you are involved with the pack. I know that...I know that you want to join them, Elizabeth" Star met her eyes, "that's why I came here"
"...how?"
Star gave a sad laugh as she shook her head, "'how'? You don't know..they didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"I was in their pack, Elizabeth. I was one of them"
Elizabeth took a shuddering breath, trying to still her racing thoughts. There was no way Star was one of them, there was no possible way she could have been in their pack. Dwayne would have told her, hell, Paul or Marko would have told her.
There was no way, absolutely no way.
They would have told her.
"I have no idea what you're talking about" she repeated, her voice clipped.
"You think I'm lying" Star said, smiling tightly, "you think they would have told you. You think that...you think that by denying everything, you're protecting them somehow? I'm just some interloper who found out their secret? Sorry but you're wrong. I know everything, Elizabeth. You're a mate, Dwayne is a vampire. David is the leader, they live in a cave-"
"-they would have told me" Elizabeth said, shaking her head.
"No" Star retorted, "they wouldn't have. They never would have told you"
"...why not?" she didn't want to ask but Star was so serious, so sincere in her words that Elizabeth couldn't help herself. She wanted to leave, to shut the conversation down but Star was so, so sure of herself.
"Because they're monsters and they know that I know. Has it been romantic? Has Dwayne been sweet?"
Elizabeth said nothing.
"I know this must be hard for you" Star said, a small hint of sympathy in her voice, "I'm not here to hurt you but-"
"-you want to help me. I heard"
Star tried to smile, "Dwayne is not romantic, he is not sweet. The person you think you know doesn't exist. It's a lie"
Voice tight, Elizabeth asked once more, "why wouldn't they tell me?"
"You feel loyal to him don't you-"
She felt loyal to Dwayne, to the pack and she was starting to feel sick, "-just answer the question"
Star nodded, "...because I know everything. That's why. They were thinking of what to do when you arrived, talking about kidnapping you. Killing your family, taking you. They stalked you, they watched you. There was no romance, no sweet words. He wanted you, so they wanted you and they were going to do whatever to get you"
Elizabeth felt sick, really, truly sick, "that's not true"
"It is"
"They would never..Dwayne would never-"
Kill her family? There was no way that could be true.
"-hurt your family?" Elizabeth sat still and Star shook her head, "they already did. They hurt Michael. They hurt him, then you fell for their tricks and so they hid him from you. They made you forget him, that way you would never think to ask. You would never find out the truth. I understand it now, I do. I was so confused, they said that I had made you forget Michael but there is no way, absolutely no way...I would never, I could never..."
Star met Elizabeth's eyes, "..I love him. I would never do anything to hurt him, to confuse him..to..to mess with him. They did...and then they tried to blame me"
"They didn't hurt my brother and I...I didn't...I didn't forget him" Elizabeth protested with a frown, feeling like she was trying to walk through water. It was difficult to think, to process everything that was being thrown at her.
She couldn't forget Michael, that was impossible but...she shifted minutely. She hadn't thought about him in a long, long time..had she? She frowned a little, trying to think, trying so hard to remember, trying to find reason in her confusion.
"They did. I saw him first and I knew, I knew in my heart that I loved him and he..well, he felt the same about me. He feels the same about me" Star told her, her voice intent, "they saw him as their in, as a..an organic way to meet you, to get you into their pack...they used me, they used him and when they realized they had you, they cut us, dumped us like trash-
"-wh-"
"-you know they gave him food and made him think he was eating maggots? They laughed, God they laughed. They loved it. They played with his head Elizabeth. They gave him wine and made him think it was blood-"
"blood?"
For a moment, it seemed as if Star couldn't meet her eyes.
"Star, they made him think he was drinking blood?"
"They made me think he was drinking blood" she clarified in a somewhat shifty way before meeting Elizabeth's eyes with her chin jutted outwards a little, "does that make it any less terrible?"
Elizabeth shook her head and ran her hands through her hair.
What was happening?
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I'm leaving. I've saved myself, I've saved Michael and I want to do the same for you"
"Thank you for...for trying to help but.." Elizabeth didn't know what to do or say.
Star seemed so honest but the idea of Dwayne doing anything like that, knowing how much it would hurt her?
It felt impossible.
She trusted him. She loved him.
She needed to see him, to talk with him.
She knew that whatever Star was saying would need to be addressed and she trusted that Dwayne would be truthful and honest with her. She knew it, she trusted that-
"-you're in too deep, aren't you?" Star said, sounding mildly horrified, "after everything I've told you...you're going to go back to it? To the pack? I can see it on your face..you don't believe me.."
"Star..."
"You had...oh my god, you didn't, did you? You..did you..did you have sex?"
Elizabeth said nothing, shocked that Star would even ask.
"You did! You were a virgin, weren't you? He took your virginity?" Star said, her voice full of sadness and horror, "Oh, Elizabeth...that's precious..that's your most precious thing and he took it from you? You let him take-"
"-he didn't take anything" Elizabeth replied tightly, feeling heavy but lightheaded, "I gave it to him and it's just sex"
She kept her words hard, feeling anger start to bubble down in her stomach.
"Oh but it's so much more than that"
"I'm not defined by my body, it's just..it's just sex"
It wasn't. Not with Dwayne. It was more than just sex, it was like nothing she could ever imagine, it was indescribable...but she wasn't going to share that with Star.
"Elizabeth that made you his!"
"What?"
Elizabeth blinked, taken aback by the sudden passion in Star's voice. She didn't understand it. Besides, she was already his. She had given him her heart before she had given him her body.
"Elizabeth you're so ignorant, so young-"
Elizabeth cringed a little at that, shaking her head.
"-you don't know what you're doing. If you give a vampire your virginity, you give it everything! That's why you're in so deep!"
Elizabeth inhaled a sigh, not trusting the girl's words this time, not trusting that she knew what she was talking about. She trusted that Dwayne would have told her if that was the case. She wasn't in deep because she had been a virgin, that was nonsense.
She loved the pack because she loved the boys. Paul's rambunctious wildness, Marko's self-assured power, Dwayne and his..well, everything about him. It had nothing to do with sex, nothing at all.
"Star, why did you come here?"
"...to help you. I told you that but we're going in circles!"
Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest, "please just leave me alone. I don't want to talk about this, I don't..I don't want to engage with you about this, I don't-"
Suddenly, Star felt dangerous. Not like David...David was calculated and smart, he was dangerous because he was strong, intelligent. Star felt..she felt clumsy. Dangerously sloppy and Elizabeth suddenly found herself wishing the two had never met. It was hard to push the words she had said from her head and she didn't like the way she couldn't dismiss them.
"-but you have to!"
"Star..."
"I love your brother. We're going to go away but I can't in good conscience go knowing that you're-"
"-wait, what?"
Michael was going away, too?
"I feel terrible knowing that you're heading for the life I was smart enough to rej-"
"-about my brother?"
"...we're going away, Elizabeth"
Michael was going away?
"What are you talking about? No he isn't-"
"-yes. He is. We are
"Michael wouldn't-what are you talking about? Where is he going? Why?" Elizabeth stood, sliding off from the desk, shaking her head as she spoke. There was no way Michael was just going to leave.
He had his family, his future. He couldn't..what would he do? Where would he go? How would he survive?
It was crazy.
"To start our life together"
"Star you're insane!"
The brunette beauty blinked, stung. Her eyes were filling with tears, "no I'm not. Don't say that. We're in love-"
"-you just met!"
"So did you and Dwayne!" Star all but spat, also standing, "and the life you're going towards with him is far, far worse than-"
"-you don't know anything-"
"-I was one of them!" Star shouted.
Both girls stared at each other in stunned shock. Elizabeth was trying to process the barrage of information she had been drowned in and Star seemed silenced by her own admission.
"I am one of them. I am a half and I hate it. I hate myself, I hate my life, I hate my curse! The pack promised to free me, OK, Elizabeth? In exchange for you, I get my freedom but they lied. They lied to me, they lied to you and they'll do it again!"
Elizabeth sat down again, hard on the chair. It was lower than the desk and Star stood over her.
Michael was leaving? Star had been...she had been part of the pack? Elizabeth was...she was an exchange?
"I know what you're rushing towards because I did, too" Star said quietly, nostrils flaring a little as she clamped her mouth hard, staring at the door, "you're a silly little girl and I want to help you. I had a terrible life and I saw a solution, I saw my out...in vampires, I saw my solution but it's not a dream, it's a nightmare. There is no light, no happiness in the life of a vampire. You have everything, everything to live for. God, look at your room! Your family. You have everything and you're going to throw it away for...for what?"
Had David accepted Star? He wouldn't accept her, not yet but Star had been one of them? Why had nobody mentioned it...was she really so different to Star? She thought, uncomfortably, of David's long speech about not being her friend, not accepting her until she had taken the steps to become one of them and she felt a little wretched to think that David had accepted Star but not her...Star, not even a full vampire...
"They are not good people. I know. You have to trust me"
Elizabeth shook her head.
Michael and Star were..they were together. And Dwayne..he'd not even thought to tell her about Star's history? She had been in the pack, accepted by them...did they know that Star was leaving with her brother? If she had been one of them then they must have..how could they not?
She suddenly felt horrible, thinking about Michael's few rough mornings during their earlier Santa Carla days. Was Dwayne responsible? Star? Was..she didn't want to jump to conclusions but puzzle pieces that didn't even fit were being rammed together in her head.
"I know what you're flinging yourself towards...I'm a half vampire and every day-"
"No..."
"I am, Elizabeth" Star insisted, her voice taking on a pained tone.
"It's light-"
"-it's such a dark day...I'm weak now but it's...it's easier for me to fight the part of me that is begging for sleep, begging for total darkness...it's hard for me..but I've seen what they are, what they do. It's pushed me to fight against it. I know better. I'm not like them...and neither are you, Elizabeth"
"No...they..Dwayne would have told me"
She knew he would have, he would have told her everything...but she felt uncomfortable, nervous and sick.
She was starting to doubt herself.
"He didn't. He wouldn't" Star said, her voice bitter, "they are liars. They thrive on pain and suffering and I'm sure it's all the more sweeter if it's yours..."
"...why?"
"You're the ultimate victim, Elizabeth" Star said, eyebrows furrowed, fist kneading into her thighs, "you fell in love with a vampire. You gave yourself to it, you're giving yourself to the pack..it's a game to them. You're the game. Your seduction...then destruction. They're going to take your mortality, your humanity and twist it to what they want, to their sick idea of what a vampire is. I've seen it, I've seen how they crush people-"
Elizabeth remembered her fear as David's icy voice had entered her head..but that was over. That was a misunderstanding, wasn't it? Of course it was, it was in the past. They had a million chances to hurt her, if that's what they wanted.
Star was wrong, she was lying. She had to be.
"-no-" she interrupted, shutting down her own thoughts as well as trying to shut down Star who seemed to have found her confidence and her footing.
"-so many times...do you think you're the first girl?"
"What?" she blinked over at Star.
"How many girls do you think Dwayne has been with? Huh? How many of those do you think were virgins? How many of those do you think he said were special? How many of those do you think-"
"-stop it"
She was his mate. He was her mate.
They were meat to be together, she could feel it deep inside herself.
"I don't want to hurt you Elizabeth, I want to help you..please, please let me help you"
Elizabeth swallowed.
"Dwayne.." Star said the word as if it was a poison, "is not a good person. He is a monster. He is using you. It's a game to him. The pack betrayed me, Dwayne has already betrayed you. It's all a lie. They lie. It's a game"
Elizabeth shook her head.
"It is" Star approached Elizabeth and knelt down before her, moving to clutch her hands, "please, Elizabeth. I'll be gone in the next hour and I need to help you, I need to help you and I was hoping that you would help me-"
"-stop..stop talking"
She wasn't a game. She wasn't...Dwayne loved her..she loved him...
"...it's not a game..."
"Yes, it is"
"No.."
"You're not special. He's been with thousands of women-"
"-practice makes perfect" Elizabeth replied, her voice cold and clipped, despite the turmoil she felt swathed in. She was surprised at her retort but found that she couldn't stop herself. She was hurting, she was thinking thoughts she didn't want to, "and he's pretty damn perfect so if that's all you have to say about the situation-"
"-he's going to kill you!"
"-you can go, I don't see what else there is to talk about"
"They're going to use you and torture you and twist you so that you become like them! A cold blooded murdered who thrives on pain and suffering!"
Elizabeth shook her head again.
Marko had taken a long time to make his first kill, hadn't he? Why would she be different?
"You'll never know the real them, Elizabeth" Star murmured, "you think they've accepted you? You think Dwayne has accepted you? What do you know about him? About them?"
Elizabeth moved to pull her hands back but Star squeezed them tighter.
She just couldn't believe that Star was a half vampire, that she had been part of their pack. She was stung that David had accepted Star but so far had been cold to her. He refused to be her friend. That hurt but above that, she couldn't believe they hadn't told her. Dwayne hadn't told her that her older brother was involving himself with...she took a shuddering breath.
"You'll never know their histories, you'll never know about their lives, about the real them...they'll hide behind their masks, luring you to be with them..and when you're one of them, they'll show you how cruel they really are.."
Elizabeth took a breath, closing her eyes for a moment.
She knew their history. Dwayne had told her everything about his past, as had Paul. She'd seen snippets of Marko's though she knew it was dark so she never pushed but she knew..she had been told...they had shown her.
What was...Star seemed to sincere, so honest but..was she lying?
Did she know as much as she claimed to?
Noting was adding up but Elizabeth couldn't stop the feeling of dread that was overcoming her.
"-Star, why did you come here? Why are you doing this?"
"I feel guilty that I involved Michael and-"
"-why?"
"What?"
"Why do you feel guilty? Why do you care..why are you trying so hard to help me?"
Elizabeth stared at the girl, a very unpleasant feeling starting to take root in her stomach.
"Elizabeth, I just want us to help each other-"
"-Star-"
"-they are monsters! We can help each other-"
Elizabeth didn't taker her eyes off Star as Marko's words suddenly, thankfully, seemed to flash in her memory.
"...get out"
"Elizabeth-"
"This is my house just as much as it is Michael's..I want you out"
She wanted Star out, she wanted Star gone.
It was too much. She stood, shaking as she tore her hands away, before barking angrily and painfully clearly, "get out of my house! You're not welcome here!"
Closing her eyes against what seemed to be a burst of icy, strong and deafeningly loud wind, she jumped as her window banged open, the frame shaking as it was thrust upwards.
She opened her eyes as it died down as suddenly as it had started.
Star was gone.
A/N: Thank you so, so much for the reviews and very kind words! So, what happens next? Does Elizabeth trust the rambling, desperate and confused story that Star told her? Does she trust the pack and her mate without question? Does she have a choice? Who knows!?