"Furiae, come join us," the vampire says icily. "You have what we need."
His foreign accent lingers in my mind. What and why would he want anything from me? The Cullen's mentioned I'd be wanted by a group called the Volturi if they found out about my ability. All I can think about is if they are possibly linked together. I kick another rock into the stream that I stand by. The stream isn't far from the Cullen's house.
Jacob stands nearby on top of an embankment; his strong arms are crossed as he watches over the horizon. I watch him for a brief minute until he notices I am staring and looks down at me. Quickly, I glance away, my cheeks heating up. I am not even sure if we are together or if we are just really close. We haven't had much free time together since I arrived, since we've been focused on trying to get my memory back.
"To be honest with you," Jacob breaks the silence that been between us since we left the house twenty minutes ago. "When I first got better after my transformation, I thought you had left on your own. I kind of felt betrayed."
I figured he'd feel that way, especially since no one told him where I went or how I got there. I twist towards him with a frown and shake my head, "I am sorry you felt that way. Part of me thought you wouldn't have even cared that I disappeared but something kept pushing me forward to come back."
"It wasn't like that at all. I might have had a thing for Bella at the time, I still felt strongly attached to you even though we just met-now I understand why."
"Because of imprinting? It takes affect before you actually imprint?" I ask.
"Not all the time," he releases his arms and lets them fall to his sides. He takes careful steps down the embankment towards me until he's about a foot away. "But I did."
I consider this. Even on the first day we met he snuck into the room just to talk to me, and fell a sleeping doing so. He was always smiling though, at the time, I thought it was mostly for Bella. And when we first touched hands eating popcorn while watching a movie, an electrifying feeling shot through my arm. I wonder if he felt the same but played it off cool. When I don't respond right away, he continues on.
"So, about the vampire that was chasing you, do you think he's linked to the one in your memories?"
Giovani, the Italian vampire that chased me across Idaho and into Washington before Edward and I dispatched him. He mentioned something similar to the vampire in my visions, but it was more of 'they' than a 'come join us.'
"I don't know; I guess they could be linked."
I close my eyes when the images of my father dying and my mother hurt, replay in my mind. My fingers gingerly touch my right temple. It all stops so suddenly when Jacob grabs my hands and brings them to his chest. Just underneath my touch I can feel his heart beating. It's fast and strong, every beat screams that he's alive and here with me.
"I'm not going to let him take you," Jacob promises, his eyes stern and attentive.
But I am afraid there isn't much he can do. My father was an expert marksman from the look of it, and clearly not human with how he died. Whatever he is compared to Jacob-could Jacob really protect me?
"I don't want you hurt." I mutter. His hands tighten around mine.
"It's my job to protect you, and it is something I need and want to do."
He starts to lean down, dispersing the distance between our faces until he gently locks his warm lips with mine. The first thing I notice is that he tastes like mint, the second my heart quickens, and I can hear the blood pulsing behind my ears. I give into the kiss by closing my eyes and pressing my body closer to his until our chests touch along with our hips. A sensation runs through my body that I can't describe other than delight. I lift my hands to run my fingers through his hair to the back of his scalp, where they linger.
He's the first to pull free, but only to rest his forehead against mine.
"I will protect you," he promises in a whisper. His hot breath skims across my cheeks. Not only does his lips taste like mint but it smells like it as well.
"Just be safe," I reply. I don't want to lose you too.
Jacob and I sit on the black leather couch in Carlisle's office, watching as he types away at his lab top. His face is still like stone, and concentrated. Beautiful and serene, but completely focused on whatever he is reading and typing. He does this so quickly that his movements are a blur, occasionally having to slow down for the lab top to keep up.
"What do you think he's found out?" Jacob leans close to me and whispers.
I shrug. He called us in here just a few minutes prior to him typing away, so something must have caught his attention. I just don't have an idea what it could be.
"I've gathered what was important keys to all this," Carlisle begins, pausing on his typing to look over at with us a gentle smile. "The laurel wreath on the shield may be the biggest key. It is significant in Greek mythology, which with the way you describe the armor-helmet and shield-reminds me of a Greek soldier. And then I added in your ability, the light that comes out of your hands and arms that was able to burn the vampire you fought. Now, what I am about to bring up might be farfetched but it is the only thing that links these three keys together. Does the name Apollo, ring any bells for you?"
Apollo, Apollo, Apollo. The name somewhat lingers in my mind, and my heart frets as it beats quickly in my chest. "Sort of, why?"
Carlisle gets up and walks over to the bookshelf to his right. He skims over the spines of his books until he reaches one in particular, pulling it out and walking over to me. Flipping through a couple of pages, he stops when he reaches his destination and turns the book to me. A page shows a depiction of a marbled statue of a man –tall and athletically built- with curly hair. Though the statue is white, one can easily put blonde hair and blue eyes on his figure. My eyes widen in awe and a little bit of shock. He looks like my father.
"That looks like him. Like my father."
"Really, are you sure?"
"Yeah."
Carlisle turns the book back to himself; a very serious expression growing on his face. "If this is right, then the world we know it just grew a lot wider than we thought."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Apollo is a Greek god, the god of the sun. One of his symbols is the laurel wreath and bows and arrows, at which he used during battle. During battle, most likely he wore similar attire to other soldiers, the classic gold breast plate, helmet and rounded metal shield." He closes the book with one hand. "If this is true- and he is who you think he i. Then the Greek gods and goddesses are real, and Apollo could be your father."
"So, she might be a demigod or something?" Jacob asks.
"If she is correct that Apollo is her father. The Greek gods were known to mingle with humans on occasion. My question would be, why is a vampire going around killing Greek gods?" Carlisle places the book back where it came from and sits back down at his desk.
"Because he is a fucking vampire," Jacob curse, but then he glances over at Carlisle, "Sorry Doc."
"He also killed my mother, I think. He was there in the vision I had of my mother. She was bleeding and had a broken leg. I can only assume he killed her since I don't remember anything else."
If that's the case, both my parents were slain by a vampire, who, for whatever reason wanted me to join him.
"All we can do now is hope you have more memories that will link this information together. If the Greek gods are real, we have to question, ha anymore been killed." Carlisle frowns, "And how it would disrupt our reality. Since Apollo, if he is who we think he is, died- then obviously nothing much has changed. The sun still exists, it still goes up and down every day. And if the Greek gods exist, what other gods are existing among us?"
Jacob and I look at one another; his eyes are serious but I can see relief behind them. We might know what I am, giving us the opportunity to figure out if I am a threat or not to the tribe.
A demigod? Of Apollo. The sun god. Explains the ability to burn things. What other abilities do I have? Do I have other family that are alive? Like my father's father or mother? Or am I alone?
Time will only tell.