-GUNNER-
If you had told me when I was sixteen that I would be bitten by a vampire and fall in love with a werewolf before I turned eighteen, I would have called you a damn liar.
And probably ask you what kind of drugs you were on.
On the vampire bite: it's on my wrist. I got it from a vampire named Maria, who was after my sister, Maisie. The only reason I didn't turn into a vampire myself was because Maisie sucked the venom out. Then Carlisle Cullen, another vampire, stitched up the bite for me.
There's kind of a lot of vampires here in Forks, Washington, actually.
Now I have a silvery, raised scar on my wrist. The skin healed, of course, but it's cool to the touch now.
On the werewolf: her name is Leah Clearwater. She's beautiful. She could totally kick your ass. I'm entirely in awe of her.
That is all.
Maisie breaking it to our parents that she was going to move to Alaska with Jasper Hale—her vampire boyfriend—was actually a perfect cover for me and my stitches at the time. She told them before she ever even graduated. Mom was so busy helping Maisie pack and buy things, and Dad was so busy hiding how much he disapproved over it, that neither of them noticed the six weeks I had to have the stitches.
I had no idea how Maisie managed to keep Jasper's being a vampire from our family and her friends for nearly two years. She dated him through her junior and senior years of high school before they moved to Alaska.
Leah was there with me the night I got my vampire bite. She held my hand while Carlisle stitched up the bite and pumped me up with clean blood. I had lost a lot that night, partially thanks to how deeply Maria had sank her teeth into me, partially because of how much Maisie had drained.
I don't remember a whole lot about that night. Blood loss does that to you, apparently. Maisie tells me it's a good thing I forgot so much of it. One thing I remember with perfect clarity was laying my head in Leah's lap after Carlisle was done patching me up. She was warm, so warm that I could feel the heat of her skin through her jeans, burning into my cheek. I remember how Leah ran her fingers through my hair.
"You're okay now," she whispered to me. "You're safe. No one's going to hurt you anymore."
She stayed with me that night, too. Maisie had gotten all the venom out, but I could still feel the after-effects of it. I woke through the night, jolted awake by the burning in my wrist or an otherworldly chill making its way down my spine. Every time my eyes flew open, there was Leah to cup my face and whisper to me until my heart stopped thudding and I could go back to sleep.
At the time, I didn't know about imprinting. I wasn't aware it was something that often happened with the werewolves of the Quileute tribe. Something—fate, or whatever—chose us to be together. Leah knew before I did, since she's the one who did the imprinting, but I don't mind. I wouldn't want it any other way.
No matter how much of the supernatural world I saw, I never thought I would get used to it. Especially when my girlfriend greeted me the way Leah did.
"Hi," she told me, leaning forward to kiss me. I let my backpack fall to the floor of her bedroom. One of the things I had learned from my older sister was that pretending to do homework was a great way to spend tons of parent-approved time with the person you liked. "Bet you didn't know there were three vampires in town last night."
"As in, Cullen vampires or Maria vampires?" Maisie didn't know I classified vampires this way. Cullen vampires meant those vampires who blended in with the human world and, likewise, didn't harm humans. Maria vampires were vampires in the traditional sense—bloodthirsty assholes.
"Maria vampires." Leah pulled me down onto her bed beside her. Unlike my own parents, Leah's mom, Sue, didn't care if Leah shut her bedroom door when I was at their house. I guess there wasn't much else you could worry about when you knew your kids were werewolves that regularly fought vampires, like Leah and her brother, Seth.
I kicked my shoes off and stretched out beside Leah. She wrapped her arm around my waist, throwing one of her legs over mine. "One day, I'll get it through your head that most vampires are not of the Cullen variety."
"What can I say?" I twisted a piece of her short hair around my finger. "I'm nothing if not an eternal optimist."
Leah was always so warm. Her skin burned against mine, a side effect of her werewolf nature. She rolled herself on top of me, straddling her legs across my hips. "Optimism will get you killed one day, Gun."
"I think I've survived worse than looking on the bright side." I ran my hands up the length of her legs, palms on fire as they moved up toward the edge of her shorts. Her dark almond eyes drifted shut under my touch.
Sue not caring about the door being shut really came in handy. For us, anyway.
"Wait," I said, my voice muffled as Leah pulled my shirt over my head. "Seth's not here, right?"
Werewolves, I had learned, had super hearing. And seeing. And strength and speed. Really, they're abilities (except for shapeshifting) were not that different from a vampire's. Not that I would ever tell Leah that, because I valued our relationship and my life.
"No, he's with the pack at Sam's."
"Goo—"
I didn't even get to finish that one word, because Leah leaned down to kiss me. Everything about her was heat. Fiery fingers and palms working at my belt, undoing my jeans. Burning thighs that wrap around me.
It's really a wonder I had never been reduced to ashes in Leah's bedroom.
"Hello, Gunner Rhett Thompson, it's your favorite sister. Talking to your voicemail is real fun and all, but I would like to actually talk to you. Call me back or I'll fly back to Washington just to kick your butt, and we both know I can."
Maisie had always been unapologetically forward. In the background of her message, I could hear Jasper laughing at her.
You're dramatic, I texted Maisie after my second listen of the message. I would be a liar if I said I didn't miss my sister. We were only ten months apart in age. For my entire life, Maisie had always been there…until last June. It was February now, but I was still getting used to her empty bedroom.
And Ava. Since Maisie wasn't around to help Mom fulfill all of Ava's many requests, the task had fallen to me. Ava made no secret of the fact that I did everything 'wrong' and 'not at all how Maisie would do it'.
Almost as soon as I hit send on the text, my phone was ringing in my hand.
"See? Dramatic."
"Oh, whatever." I could practically hear the eye roll in her voice. It made me smile. "You'll think this is dramatic, too. I have an important question to ask you."
"And that is?"
"When's Forks High's spring break this year? Late April again?"
I tried to think, but I couldn't remember. Unlike Maisie, I didn't keep a copy of my academic calendar in a binder.
"Uhhhh," I trailed, making her sigh.
"Never mind, I'll ask Mom. By the way, scale of one to ten, how likely do you think Mom would be to say yes to you coming to Alaska for spring break?"
That we both knew the answer to, so I wasn't sure why Maisie was asking.
"Dad would be down for it," I said instead.
"We've never had to convince Dad about anything. I'll pay for your ticket. Pull the 'I'm eighteen now' card, Gun."
I was eighteen, and Maisie was almost nineteen. Really, the only kid our parents had any say over anymore was Ava, since she was six.
"You mean Jasper will pay for my ticket?" I asked. I never heard the end of it from our parents, because Jasper—and the whole Cullen family—was rich. Yeah, Carlisle was a doctor, but really, they had more money than a doctor married to an architect—Esme—should have. But no one in Forks questioned that.
"Excuse me, I have a job."
"You work in the campus library."
"You better be nice, or I might forget to buy Leah a ticket, too."
My ears perked up at that. "You would get her one, too?"
"Duh. I like Leah better than I like you most of the time. Hopefully Sam doesn't throw a fit about it."
"The only one complaining will be Jacob, but you know that. He's had a stick up his ass since Bella went back to Arizona."
"I don't know, I hear the pack has been busy," Maisie mused. "Sounds like Forks is still getting unwanted guests."
When Maria brought her little newborn vampire army to Forks, it left behind a stench even after all the newborns were killed. Except a girl named Jasmine, who switched sides and helped the Cullens before joining their family…or coven, as Leah called it. According to Leah and the other werewolves, vampires had a pungent smell. Forks already smelled like vampires thanks to the Cullens' permanent residence, but the newborn army had made it worse. Months had gone by, but the scent had stuck around.
Now transient vampires were nothing new. Leah called it a 'pest problem', but there were more than enough werewolf pack members to take care of them.
"Yeah," I agreed, closing my bedroom door so our parents and Ava wouldn't overhear. "Those in the know in La Push have been worried about it."
"You mean the elders, and Sue. I'm sure Sam and the rest think it's fun."
"Of course they do. Seth's taken a few out solo. Hopefully Carlisle isn't too upset about it. I'll work on convincing Mom. Surely Dad'll help me, and she can't really say no if you buy the tickets."
"Exactly. I'm looking at them right now. Hopefully Leah doesn't mind the vampire smell here. Besides Jasper living with me, Jasmine and Edward are our neighbors. Also, Carlisle makes it a point to explain the treaty to every stranger in Forks. It's on them if they don't listen to him."
I looked down at my wrist while we talked. The light caught on the scar there. Even with it healed, the skin looked more silvery than a scar usually was. I was lucky in that I was fair skinned, anyway, so the scar didn't stick out too much.
"You're okay, too, right?" I asked. It was only after I said the words that I realized I had interrupted whatever it was that Maisie was saying. She stopped midsentence, not bothering to finish what she had been saying before, and immediately changed topics.
"Yeah. I mean, as okay as I can be. The whole blood drinking part isn't fun, but it's better than the alternative…you know, dying and what have you."
Maisie thought she was good at acting brave. She was, most of the time, but I could hear how nervous she was in her voice.
"And Jasper's research?"
"Not going great. I'm a unicorn of the vampire world. A few vampires remember the practice, like Garrett, but I guess most of the ones actually around at that time were killed long ago. Or we just don't know about them yet, which is what Carlisle is hoping. Charlotte and Peter are still sending letters, though."
We were quiet for a beat. I still hadn't figured out what you say to your sister who knew exactly how her life would end: a death from a failing body and poisoning by the venom in her blood or a death brought on by more venom, but one that resulted in a new life…that she didn't want.
"If nothing else, you'll see me this summer if Mom says no. Promise."
"Okay. I love you, Maise."
"I love you, too, Gun."
When we hung up, I laid back on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Who knew moving to Forks would change our lives like this?
A/N: I can't even begin to explain to you how much the outpouring of love I got yesterday touched my heart. Y'all are more amazing than you know, and I appreciate each and every one of you so much.
On another note, I had to use a WikiHow and some videos to figure out how snowboarding worked for the last chapter. So if any of it is wrong, I'm so sorry! I've never been snowboarding, I live in a desert, but we all know Maisie is adventurous so of course snowboarding would be something she would do in Alaska.
Anyway, this was Gunner's first chapter! If you don't remember, the story will rotate between Maisie, Gunner, and Jasmine point of view chapters. So, the next one will be told from Jasmine's perspective. I'm going to try to keep the chapters even between the three (in other words, not favor Maisie as much as I want to!), but it won't always be in a Maisie-Gunner-Jasmine pattern so that it doesn't get repetitive.
Alright, sorry that was so long! I think I got everything out that I wanted to say. If not, it'll be in the note on the next chapter. ;)
