AIR
Brynn
A subtle breeze passed through the pages of my journal and ruffled them, pausing my pen and making me lift my head to the sky to enjoy it for the few seconds it would last. I had sworn once, when I was around eleven years old, that I would never again be caught dead in the heat that came with Florida, but apparently a life on the run meant going back on a lot of the things you once said. The sun was hot enough that my skin felt almost too warm, and I took a second away from writing to make a grab for my glass, but the ice had melted and the water had warmed, and it looked a lot like fate had decided to render me sweaty and dehydrated. I let out a sigh that hopefully told the universe how upset I was with it, and the responding cut-off of the breeze only made me slam my journal shut.
"I forgot how dramatic humans can be," a voice said from behind me, causing my eyebrows to pull down together and my pen to go flying over my shoulder. My target must have either caught or dodged the weapon, because they made an unimpressed noise. "Brynn. Was there even a point to that?"
"There isn't a point to anything, Rose, only misery."
"Every day I hope the separation from your mutts will get easier, and every day you prove me wrong."
"Rosalie," I said evenly, biting into the skin of my cheek to keep the full retaliation at bay. "Insult my family if you want, but I'll have a lot more fun insulting yours."
It was the one qualm that came with my chosen travel partner, and it proved to be a hurdle with each day that went by. At first Rosalie had been quiet, letting me grieve the time lost with my pack, even occasionally rubbing my back when my sobs were rocking my entire body. But with the state of numbness came her distaste for the pack, and it never went unnoticed whenever her lip would curl or her nose would scrunch whenever we spoke about them, as if her kind could ever possibly be something better than the wolves. She would say things she shouldn't and then so would I, but when the person you're arguing with was the only person you had to talk to, you learned to forgive and forget fast. It was like having an older sister; she wanted the best for me, but she also didn't know what that was and couldn't understand it if she tried.
"Your unhinged hound nearly attacked Emmett yesterday," Rosalie said after a moment, and when my body stood and turned to face her she was looking annoyed, almost bored even, sitting in the shade of the hotel room and away from where the sunlight ate up the balcony. "Excuse me for being just a tad standoffish."
"You're lying," I said, my voice coming out a little wavy as I made my way into the room, closing out the heat behind me as the sliding door slammed shut. "Paul would never, he knows how important the treaty is."
The scoff that Rosalie gave me made me want to pull her hair. "Didn't seem to care last night."
Last night. For too long the connection that Paul and I shared had been stretched too thin with distance, making my body physically ill even as I tried time and again to reach out to him. There would be a flicker of anger here, a twinge of pain there, but ultimately the bond would have a distant buzzing sound to it that made me feel as if my lifesource was draining, like the sun shining above me was nothing more than a last-ditch effort to keep my soul alive. But last night I had felt such an intense shrill of something sickeningly sad that I knew it was him, and I cried and cried at that feeling, at the acknowledgement that I was still there and he was still missing some part of me. I had thought it to be just a silver lining in an endless streak of black, but the fact that there had been a run-in between the wolves and the Cullens made it all clearer. If there was anything I was an expert at in my short seventeen years of life, it was the ins and outs of Paul Lahote's mind. There was no shock value to being face-to-face with the family of vampires that had helped me disappear that would cause his short fuse to explode, so there was no reason to be surprised by the tug on our bond.
"So?" I asked, grabbing at a pair of shorts to slip into after ridding myself of my bikini. "What did Emmett do?"
It was a cheap shot to get a rise out of the blonde-haired vampiress, and I only said it because I knew it would work. Rosalie's head whipped around to me instantly, lip curled because how dare I assume that her precious meathead would ever cause strife with my own precious meathead.
"You can keep it a secret if it's too embarrassing," I soothed, a human taunting a monster. A mouse taunting a cat. "I could always call Carlisle myself."
"They were chasing Victoria," she finally answered, words stiff as she fixed her hair beneath her sun hat. "Emmett crossed treaty lines during the hunt. Your pet just so happened to be in the way."
The soft gasp that left my mouth at the information was far from dramatic. The Paul I had known was sweet and gentle, protective of the things he loved, a proud warrior for his people. But just because I had seen him one way did not mean I was blind to the beast that lived inside of him, to the anger living in his chest that made him such a talented fighter. The fights and trouble he enjoyed getting himself into was in the past, but those anger issues still lived vibrantly inside of him. If Emmett had crashed into him, in the midst of a hunt no less, it was a miracle there hadn't been more than just a slight altercation. The damage that my disappearance would have on that peaceful energy Paul had adopted whenever I came around was not lost on me; I knew the beast had returned, that there was an anger prevalent in everything he did these days, that there was still so little reason to my leaving in his mind. It was shocking he didn't attack Emmett for that reason alone, it was unbelievable that he didn't attack a Cullen out of misplaced blame.
"Did they fight?" My voice was small, my eyes locked on the pattern of the hotel bed's comforter.
"No," Rosalie answered quickly, for once taking pity. "Bella was smart to leave Edward behind for communication reasons. If he had arrived with Bella I don't think it would have ended so peacefully."
My mind put the scene together before I had given it permission to: the brawl that would take place between Paul and Emmett, and the one that would soon follow as the Pack and the family involved themselves in the conflict. Bella was being left in the dark by Edward and had been sent off to where Rosalie and I currently resided, Jacksonville, to visit her mother the moment Alice had gotten the psychic insight that Victoria would be making an appearance. She had left Edward behind after a conversation with me where we got to decide how risky it would be to not have someone there who could communicate between the wolves and the vampires.
In the end, we made the right call.
"What time is she getting here?" I asked. The desire to think of anything but the idea of Paul causing wars was too loud for the subject change to be casual, but Rosalie went along with it.
"Within the hour. Are you still wanting to do it this way?"
It was a question I had been forced to answer multiple times since Bella's arrival, from both the human and the vampire, and I didn't answer any more optimistically than I usually did as I gave a tight-lipped smile with a nod. The original purpose of getting Bella out of town had been to keep her in the dark about the bloodthirsty monster that was hunting her, but the opportunity to drive Bella back to Washington, to have a way to see my father again, was an opportunity that I could not pass up. The road trip would feel like nothing with Rosalie behind the wheel, and after a life on the road I had grown familiar with the many ways to sleep in a car. Besides, Florida had been the longest stay of the states we had ventured into, and it only made sense for us to leave it now.
And maybe, just maybe, a part of me yearned to feel Paul that close to me again.
There was no chance I could see him or the wolves when their heads were so easily messed with by Adrian, but being on the soil that I called my own would make it worth it. I would see my father, let him know that I was fine, that Rosalie was doing her job in keeping me moving, that he didn't have anything to worry about. There was a stack of ultrasound photos he had to give me, the only updates I would get on Emily's pregnancy without being able to speak to her. I had considered seeing her, but the Pack was already on red alert on where she went and for what reason and it would be near impossible for her to get out of La Push without them knowing something was up, just like it would be impossible for me to sneak into the house without my scent blanketing everything. I was a walking secret anymore, hiding from both the enemy and my family, and it made me just as sad as it did angry. I wanted my life so badly it hurt, but I wanted their lives even more.
For once, Rosalie took my silence for the hint that it was and left me to the slow task of getting ready. There wasn't much thought put into what I was wearing, simple spandex shorts to go under a shirt of Paul's that was big enough to seem like a dress on my frame. Putting effort into getting ready seemed futile when I cared so little about who saw me and what they thought whenever they did. The only one I wanted to impress wouldn't be allowed to see me, but I still pressed my nose into the collar of his shirt, closed my eyes, and remembered the way his chest would rumble with approval every time I wore his clothes. Paul forced his way into my every thought no matter how badly it hurt, and after a solid month of being hurt by the reminders, I now looked forward to them. They were the only glimpses of fresh air I got, like the space between us were hands wrapped around my throat, squeezing and tightening until there was no room left for my lungs to take in air. I knew this all had a reason to it, that I was doing something good for everyone, but that didn't make it any less painful. I loved him enough to break our hearts every single day. If it meant that our family was safe, that the battle would end sooner, I would make the decision over and over again.
Neither of us checked our phones as they both went off, knowing that it would be Bella announcing her arrival in the hotel lobby. I tossed Rosalie the kimono she had been wearing to avoid the sun, grabbing the handle of my suitcase before heading towards the door. I left the keys to the hotel room on the desk without bothering to wait for a receptionist, the adrenaline already starting to make my body feel jittery as I gave the valet a shaking smile and the handle to my suitcase. Bella met us as I slid into the passenger seat, turning to face her as she clumsily made her way into the back. For a moment we just stared at each other, me taking in her sunburnt cheeks and the mixed emotions in her eyes, and I didn't doubt that she was doing the same to me.
"Your hair got lighter," she said to me, lips in a tight line.
"Your face got burnt," I said, following in her lead of ignoring the elephant in the room. "I guess the sun gave us both a kiss goodbye."
Rosalie got into the driver's seat and didn't bother with a greeting towards Bella before she began driving. I didn't turn around and Bella didn't take her eyes off me, both of us waiting out the other for the information we wanted.
"He's angry all the time, but he's started spending time with the Pack rather than keeping himself shut away in his house," Bella finally said, the words coming out like she couldn't control them. "That's all Emily would tell me."
I gave myself two seconds to process what she said. "Edward sent you away because Victoria is back. Emmett and Paul had a run in because Emmett crossed the treaty line."
"Jesus Christ," Rosalie sighed before turning the radio on. "I hate my life."
It was what we both wanted, so I turned away from Bella and left her to digest what I said as I did the same to the new information I got. The weird ground she and I stood on was shaky, but at the end of the day we could tell each other what was going on behind the other's back, and things like that were vital. I stored all the information the Cullens through around to feed it back to Bella, knowing that I would never take being left in the dark by the Pack if something happened concerning my safety. It was never something I had to worry about, not with the Pack seeing me as one of their own rather than a dainty flower, and that was what had me spilling the beans to Bella every chance I got. She may be human, but she took a right hook like a champ and got off her ass with a light in her eyes; she was not weak. They were the only ones making her feel lesser by feeding that idea to her.
The drive lasted forever, even if it was almost cut in half with Rosalie behind the wheel and taking backroads that allowed her speed to be uninterfered. It was mostly a silent ride save for the times Bella and I spoke up about bathroom breaks and needing to eat, which Rosalie took with an eye roll due to her detachment from human necessities. The Rally's burger I got ended up only having a few bites taken out of it, finding that the return to the west was curling my stomach so tightly that food wouldn't go down easily enough.
I knew we were back in Washington when the clouds bled into a grey mass with no breaks in them, though the rain stayed at a drizzle. The other telltale sign was the way that string around my heart seemed to come to life; the distance being cut so short meant I felt Paul almost as strongly as I did whenever we were both on the reservation. Rosalie's speed slowed as we drove through Seattle, searching for the hotel my dad had sent me the address to. I was the only one to get out of the car once we got there, grabbing my suitcase from the back as Bella climbed into the front seat. Both women looked at me through the open window, jaws tense at the idea of me being left alone for even a moment.
"My dad will be here in half an hour, guys," I said, my fingers fiddling with the golden 'P' around my throat. "I'll be fine."
"I'll be back after dropping Bella off," Rosalie said, voice clipped in a way that could have seemed unkind, but I knew was just stress. "Don't be a Bella."
The car pulled away after that, leaving me to walk into the hotel lobby alone. I checked in using my dad's name, grabbing the keycards and making my way towards the elevator. The glass walls allowed me to take a good look at myself as I moved up the floors, able to see where my freckles had become more pronounced and my skin darker, dark hair taking on a slightly lighter shade from my time spent in the sun. I had always liked myself more in the summer, but now I despised the reflection looking back at me. I remember being excited to spend the warmer months with Paul, to take him to the beach, to watch him see me at my happiest with the sun on my skin and the sand under my feet.
I left the elevator feeling bitter at everything, but especially towards myself.
I checked the room number again, scoffing to myself when I saw the 406 stamped on the key. I wrote it off as coincidence as I made my way into the room, flicking on the lights and rolling my suitcase inside with little to no care when it fell over. I felt my phone vibrate in the waistband of my shorts, ignoring the feeling to walk deeper into the room.
I stopped short when I saw a man sitting in the recliner by the window, facing away from me and looking all too calm for me to feel the same. His long, dark hair fell over the back of the chair as his feet crossed at the ankles on the windowsill, seeming to be enjoying the unseeable sunset happening outside. I didn't move, didn't run, knowing that there was no point. I felt naked with my lack of weapons, everything being stored into my suitcase. He would kill me before I even got it flipped over. I was royally and truly fucked.
"Adrian," I whispered, watching the way his lips pulled into a smile before he turned to face me. My hands were fists at my sides as he stood, red eyes locked onto me. "Adrian, where is my dad?"
The sick, melodic laughter that left his throat chilled me to the bone. I choked on a cry, a scream, something, but nothing came out. Another life destroyed by me.
"Don't worry, dear, he isn't dead," he reassured, flicking his wrist in a bored way. "Sarah is keeping him preoccupied until I tell her all is well. Then he will get here, find your suitcase, but no you."
Sarah. My blood ran cold at the name, at knowing that the first woman my father had let into his life since my mother died was just a ruse. This entire time my father had been making her dinner, spending nights with her, and she had been using him as a trap for the monster before me now. But he was alive and safe, and it was that fact that gave me a surge of power, of determination as I dove for my purse.
Adrian did not interfere. He didn't stop me when I moved for my bag, and he didn't stop me when I put the blade hiding in there against my own throat. His head cocked to the side, curious like a cat, and his eyebrow raised in the universal sign of being unimpressed.
"My young Brynn, please," he sighed, as if he were tired. "You aren't going to slit your own throat."
"It would be better than letting you kill me," I stated, feeling the sharp edge bite into my throat as I spoke. I felt my bond burn inside of me suddenly, felt it come to life like a caged animal being set loose, and knowing Paul felt my fear was enough to make me want to cry. "I won't let you take my life anymore than you already have, Adrian."
"Yes, you will," the vampire said, smiling once more as he leaned lazily back against the recliner he had been sitting on. "You will put down the blade, stand by my side, and walk with me out of this hotel. You will be taken to where you will die peacefully and with no protest, and you will die the same way."
"Why would I ever do that?" My fingers on the blade tightened, pushing the tip into my skin more. I saw his eyes track the movement, felt the warm of a trickle of blood begin, and shuddered when he licked his lips.
"Because if you don't, I will have my sweet and trusted Sarah kill your precious Emily," he stated, moving as he spoke. I moved away from him as he neared me, but eventually my back hit a wall as his fingers came up to my throat. I don't know when he had gotten the bandage, but he pressed it over the shallow cut and took the knife from my weak fingers. "Your father still spends time with your little mutts, did you know that? Felt so comfortable in his new companionship that he brought her to their home, introduced her to every, even your little Paul. Sarah frequents Emily's home quite often these days, being a nurse and all. You wouldn't imagine how close the two have gotten."
I felt bile rise in my throat, the taste so strong that my body crumpled. My knees gave out and I slid down the wall, gasping for breath as fear and hopelessness shook me to my core. My Emily, our Pack Mother, looking down the barrel of a gun all this time and having no idea. And Sam, the way he would feel if he lost her, the way the other's would look at me for bringing this pain on to them all… I could feel my body shut down, feel the fight leave me as Adrian's cold hands cupped my cheeks, tilted my head back to face him fully.
"How do I know you won't kill them after me?" I whispered, terrified and exhausted.
"They have been rather large pains in my ass, my Brynn, but they are of no interest to me. I don't want any of them; I want you. I will move on from the Quileute tribe once this is over," he said back, voice soft and reassuring as he pet his fingers through my hair. I want to shiver away from his touch, wanted to shout that he could be lying, that he would never get away with any of this, but I knew that there was no use.
"Come now, sweetheart," he said, fitting his hands under my arms to haul my body up from the floor. "Let us go somewhere more private, shall we?"
I didn't fight and I made no scene as we left the hotel, his hand powerful against my lower back as it moved me. He sat me into the backseat of a black car, and when I checked the handles they refused to open, locking me in. It wasn't as if I would have tried to run; he had eyes on the only thing I cared about.
He finally won.
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Um, hello! Anyone still here? Sorry for the long hiatus, a lot has happened and continues to happen, but I finally found my way back to this story. I'm not sure how long this one will be, as so much action is already happening and it's only chapter 2, but there are still so many loose ends to tie up. What do you think of this chapter? How are we feeling about the eerily calm reunion between Adrian and Brynn? Let me know when you review, review, review!
