A/N: Hello and Happy Holidays! It's been a while since I've updated, so I've brought you this quick little chapter. I hope that you know that I appreciate all of you people, the ones that review and the ones that read silently but support me anyway. Thank you and I hope that you enjoy this little update.
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Sadie sat there on the edge of a home examination table while Carlisle poked and prodded at her. The vampire doctor had rushed over from the hospital when Emmett called him a half hour ago and had taken Sadie under his wing. She hated when he shone some light in her eyes, but made no comment as she finished off the fries that Emmett had bought her.
"Well, without an x-ray, I can't see any physical damage," Carlisle said, turning the penlight off and stowing it in his medical kit. "But I think it would be wise for you to take it easy today and have someone watch you at night. A concussion for a wolf is just as dangerous as it is for a normal human."
"I don't need anyone to watch over me at night," Sadie muttered, looking up at him. "I don't think that I'm in any danger."
Carlisle offered her a small smile. "Please, humor me on this one, Sadie. I would feel better knowing that you are being watched for any sign of danger."
"I can watch over her," Emmett volunteered from the doorway to the room. "It's not like I have anything better to do at night."
Heat flooded up to Sadie's face while the rest of her body grew chilled. She looked over at Emmett and saw that he was still staring at her with that weird gleam in his eyes again. Fear caused her stomach to clench in painful knots, choking her words.
"I was thinking more of Esme or Alice," Carlisle told the other male vampire. "Someone of the same sex."
"I'd rather have Alice watch over me," Sadie said, wrapping an arm around her stomach. "Rosalie would hate me more if I took you away from her for twelve hours, Emmett. And I don't want you to stink up my room."
"Why are you so mean to me all the time?" Emmett asked, tilting his head to the side. "What did I do to make you like this?"
Sadie shook her head and pushed herself off of the examination table, refusing to look at him. "I don't want Rosalie to think that there's anything going on between us. Not that there is anything going on, but I don't want her to think so. Besides, it's better if we're not close friends. I've seen bad things happen when my friendship circle gets too big." She crossed her arms. "Don't try to push yourself into my life, Emmett. It's better if we don't get too chummy."
Emmett pouted at her, but she turned her back on him. Carlisle had a frown on his face, but Sadie knew that he was used to this kind of thing happening in his house. She held a hand out to him.
"Am I free to go now, Carlisle?" she asked. "I want to go be by myself for a while, since I obviously can't go back to school today."
"Yes, you may leave," Carlisle told her. "Just take it easy. No running or fighting, okay?"
Sadie nodded and left the room, brushing against Emmett on the way out. His scent stirred around her, filling her lungs with its warm flowery quality. She bit her bottom lip as her head swam with the pleasant scent.
No, no, no, no! Not now, not ever! Sadie mentally protested with her body, forcing herself to move quickly away from Emmett. I can't go through this again. I won't go through this again! Not ever. I can't let it happen. I can't take the pain again.
The wolf wrapped her arms around herself once more, holding herself together. Images of the past flashed past her eyes and the heavy smells flooded her body. Her chest grew tight and hot tears flooded her eyes. She closed her eyes and drew her breath in as a hiss.
Don't let them come for me, Sadie begged, opening her eyes and letting a few tears slide down the curve of her cheek. Don't let them come and ask me what's wrong. I can't tell them. Not yet. I can't put the truth before them until I can face it myself. And I can't let myself get drawn into the same things that my sister paid the ultimate price for.
She shook her head and hurried up the stairs to her room. Closing the door behind her, Sadie moved over to the windows and drew the curtains. Certain that no one would be able to disturb her, Sadie threw herself on the bed and buried her face in the soft pillows. Angry tears mixed with tears of sadness and fell on her bed as she sobbed into it.
Sadie stirred a few hours later, not completely sure when she had fallen asleep. She slowly lifted her head and looked in the corner of the room to find Esme sitting beside the window. The motherly vampire turned her amber gaze onto Sadie and a soft smile touched her face.
"Sadie, how are you feeling, dear?" Esme asked, rising to her feet and moving to stand next to Sadie's bed.
"I'm okay," Sadie muttered, swiping at the sticky remains of her tears as she sat up. "I just needed to have a quick cry to make myself feel better." She offered a small smile. "I'm okay now, Esme. Really, I am."
Esme sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at Sadie as her mother once had. "Sadie is there something you want to talk about in private?" she asked, placing her hand on Sadie's knee. "Because Carlisle and I are always here if you need to tell anyone anything that's bothering you. We won't pressure you into telling us anything that you're uncomfortable in revealing, but we'd like it if you would trust us enough to let us help you through all those painful memories and feelings."
Sadie placed her hand on top of Esme's and squeezed the vampire's fingers, feeling the chill of the older woman's skin against her burning fingers. "If I was to tell you everything, you'd look at me in a different way." She sighed. "But I need to tell someone what's going on in here," she said, poking herself in the head. "Or I'm going to have a major meltdown in the near future."
"Do you want me to go and bring Carlisle here?" Esme asked, watching Sadie's face. "He's just downstairs and it would be so easy to have him come up here."
"Is Emmett still here?" Sadie asked.
"I believe so."
The wolf shook her head and pulled her hand back. "I can't talk with him around. Just you, Carlisle, and the pack leader from the reservation. At somewhere private."
"Okay, dear." Esme rose to her feet and backed towards the door. "I will get everything together and we'll have a long talk, Sadie." She placed her hand on the door. "Know that I love you, Sadie, just as if you were my own child."
Nodding, Sadie offered Esme a wan smile. "Thank you, Esme. I really appreciate that."
Esme left the room with a motherly smile, leaving Sadie alone to her own thoughts. Sadie raked a hand through her disheveled hair and moved off of the bed. Her stomach was still twisted in knots from her thoughts before she'd cried herself to sleep. And she couldn't believe that she was going to reveal anything of her past to people that she'd barely known for a month. She shook her head and moved over to the window, pulling one of the curtains open.
Her eyes lowered to the world beyond the window. Emmett was working on his vehicle with his shirt off. She stared down at his toned body and the glittering diamonds in his skin as the sun occasionally landed on it. Black marred his perfect skin, but Sadie didn't mind.
She stepped back away from the window when Emmett looked up as if sensing her staring eyes. Sadie shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself, feeling chilled.
Don't let this happen to you, Sadie thought, reaching into her wardrobe and pulling out a hooded jacket. You know what happens when this kind of thing happens. You can't go through this again. Don't let it happen.
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Carlisle and Sam had come to terms on a meeting spot for Sadie to talk to them in private at. It was at a park that was neutral ground for both species. Esme had her arm around one of Sadie's, keeping her close to her side. Sadie's eyes scanned the area as the group settled at one of the picnic tables that dotted their area of the park. She sensed no one beyond their group and knew that she could speak without being overheard by people that had no business in what had happened to her or why.
Sadie sat on one side of the picnic table with Carlisle and Esme flanking her. Sam sat across from her, frowning as he waited for her to speak.
"There's a good reason that I'm not afraid to be around vampires or bothered by their scent," Sadie began. "That's probably obvious, considering how comfortable I am around your family, Carlisle. I'd fit in just as easily with your pack, Sam. That's the hand that Fate dealt me and it's been a bitch dealing with that."
She looked down at the weathered wood of the table. "My pack was a dozen strong and my sister was the oldest member – the Alpha of our pack. She was the only blood family member that I had left when our parents died in a car accident. But the others, they became my new family once I became a wolf like them." Sadie picked at the wood. "We were a pack for five years before we were attacked."
"By vampires?" Sam guessed.
"No." Sadie shook her head. "It would have been better if it had been vampires. It would have made more sense if vampires had been the ones that attacked my pack. But they didn't. Vampires weren't the reason that my entire pack was destroyed."
"Was it because of humans?" Carlisle asked.
Again, Sadie shook her head and looked up at Sam. "My pack was destroyed because of a different pack of wolves."
Alarm lit up Sam's eyes and Esme wrapped her arm around Sadie's shoulders, holding her close. Sadie leaned her head briefly against the woman's shoulder, fighting back tears that she didn't want to shed. She needed to tell them what had happened without tears because if she started crying, she knew that she would never be able to tell them anything else.
"Why would another pack of wolves attack your pack?" Sam asked in a heavy voice.
"Because of the choices that members of my pack made when it came to who we allowed among our ranks." Sadie looked down once more. "There weren't just the dozen of us wolves. There were five others. Five people that weren't wolves or humans."
"Vampires," Esme gasped.
"Yes. Vampires," Sadie whispered, seeing the images of her pack mates flash before her face. "A few of my pack mates found themselves growing super close to those vampires and the vampires were just as much pulled in to them." A single tear slid down the curve of her cheek. "My sister was one of them. She was the Alpha of my pack and the lover of a vampire coven leader. And they were the ones that protected me until the very end."
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A/N: Well, what do you think? I don't know how many more chapters there are going to be in this story. I want to get some more action into this and provide some more background, but we'll have to wait and see what comes from my mind when the Plot Bunnies agree with me. Thanks again and happy holidays everyone! -Scarlet
