[Jess Arc]
"The Vampire and the Wolf"
"Goodbye may seem forever. Farewell is like the end. But in my heart's the memory, and there you'll always be." - The Fox and the Hound
Chapter 2
My eyes did not release their disbelief over the fact I just witnessed the massive wolf in the distance CHANGE into a human. Like a wizard. I just finished the Harry Potter series...maybe Hogwarts was real? The threat level once maxed out in my body dissipated into the hint of a whisper. A human was non-threatening. The wolf, threatening. Human, non-threatening. Why did it change? Also...my eyes popped out of their sockets…he was naked. I resisted my hands insistent drive to cover my eyes. I kept them by my sides while my gaze held on his face. Both of us remained deathly still. No sudden moves. This stranger must have wanted something from me. But what?
"WHAT THE F**K, Jessica?" The tan, massive man shouted at me as he stalked closer to where I was standing. I carefully stepped away on pace with his advance without ever removing my eyes off of his. His eyes were dark. The brown almost obscured into his iris. But it was a shade lighter. Nonetheless, a raging storm was brewing in them. He was...angry. Why did he think I was this Jessica person? Do I correct him or run? I have the advantage while he is human. My eyes almost slipped to reassess his human form when I recalled he was still nude. Before I diverted my eyes back to his face, I took in his tan skin glistening in the sun. His muscles were large and defined. He was possibly bigger than Emmett...but his skin didn't sparkle like ours did. It was different, but still nice to look at. Focus, Jess.
"I am sorry, but you're confused. My name is Jess and not Jessica. I am not who you are looking for." My voice was calm. I didn't fear him anymore. In a flash, his eyes faded from anger to confusion.
"You look...different. And reek. But...you are Jessica. What game are you trying to play?" He asked slowly. Resentment seeped from each word in his question. "Also," he quipped before I could respond, "Jess is short for Jessica, so it IS you." His words rolled off the tongue with a confidence I never had in knowing who I was.
I stood dumbfounded as his rage swiftly reappeared. "Look at you." He deliberately shook his head in anger… or possibly disappointment masked with his fury. "All fine and dandy while everyone in Forks thinks you're dead." My eyes caught his forearm muscles twitching. His gaze upon me once a raging fire became an intense, cold stare without any warning. I flinched under the scrutiny of this stranger's eyes.
"You turned into one of them…" His spite was evident that by them he meant vampires. "…and you just left us. You never came back. Not to even let me know you were actually still existing. I won't dare say you're alive because we both know you're not. You don't have a beating heart in that…" His eyes flicked below my neck. "…chest." The veins in his neck popped as he struggled to keep a lid on the volcano swirling inside of him. Why was I the cause of this imminent eruption? "Was Bella, right?" His shoulders slumped forward in defeat. His Adam's apple bobbed before he choked out, "WAS SHE? Did you want to turn? Is this what you wanted?"
I felt trapped in this moment despite pleading for time to pass quickly. I was free to go though, wasn't I? Why was I subjecting myself to his beratement of actions that were not my own?
A blank stare took form in my eyes as I desired to not waste anymore thoughts or emotions on this creature. He was the one who interrupted my time in the first place. I stole the confidence from the air he at first wanted to pin on me with this false identity. "You are confused. I am Jess. I don't know you...sorry."
A low growl released from his lips. At me. Or in response to what I said. He was frustrated upon realizing I was right.
Jessica.
My knees fell forward to the ground as I slammed my hands over my ears. Stop it!Covering my ears wouldn't do anything. It was a false gesture in order to manifest my combat of that voice from within. My name is Jess. Jess. Jess. Jess.
"Jessica?" This time the voice was external and hearing it made my stomach flutter instead of convulsing. It was his voice and it didn't carry far. He was standing too close to me now. I snarled to warn him from approaching closer.
"Stop it! My name IS Jess." I wrapped my arms around my torso. My body wouldn't stop shaking uncontrollably though. If I was smart, I would have hauled ass away from the naked shapeshifting man. Instead, with a sudden flick of my arms, I ripped off the lower half of my shirt. I tossed it to him for coverage. His eyes finally dropped to his exposed lower half of his body. I expected him to turn away in shame or to turn a shade of red to mark his embarrassment. Instead…a cocky grin sprawled across his face before he winked at me. "Like what you see, Jessica?"
I exhaled in protest. It was beneath myself to acknowledge his tasteless joke as he wrapped the orange cloth from my shirt around his waist. It barely did anything but was better than nothing. I snickered. Then it dawned on me that I was no longer subject to that dark place. When did my body stop shaking? Normally, I didn't return to a right mindset until after-
"You just going to ignore me?" My head seared with an unfamiliar touch as I found his hand resting upon my head. Heat? Warmth? Those were my first thoughts before I backed away from his touch. I was appalled he had the audacity to even touch me. My facial features let my internal sentiment be known. Yet…he just chuckled at me. Like I was funny. I rested my stare upon his eyes that swirled with emotions I could not place. When my ears focused on the lingering echo of his chuckle, hesitation was left in its dust. It was a tiny fraction of that confident chuckle, but it was present. I smiled upon the victory of my assessment.
The man playing me with his self-assurance of who I was, actually doubted it himself. He was slightly hesitant that maybe he did not have the right person. And he did in fact have the wrong person. I just needed to let him know it. The man tilted his head to the side as he assessed my recent shift in demeanor. I too felt the smugness I was now exuding.
"You know it as well as I do you have the wrong person. My name is Jess. I am a vampire. We never would have run in the same circles before…werewolf."
I felt myself scrutinized by the man in front of me as his eyebrows shot up. "Actually, its shapeshifter." I felt myself bite back the hiss begging to be released. I would not succumb to his level.
"Wolf. Puppy. K-9. Fido. Werewolf. Potato, tomato. Regardless, we are natural enemies." My voice clearly lacked enthusiasm as I made my assertion. It was kinda bullshit. I wondered if he knew it too. It did seem like the natural order of things that super natural beings opposed each other though, right?
That damn chuckle made an appearance again, this time pairing with a smirk that shook my core. His eyes were dancing in delight. Was he mocking me?
"Normally, yes…" My fingers flexed before they curled into fists. I had to channel my annoyance somewhere. Who did this man think he was? I felt my chest, despite myself, lean forward as my body wanted to pry more information out of him to reveal why he said those words in that way.
My silence prompted him to finish. "But not us. You are an exception."
I examined his face. He was handsome. A different handsome then Edward. Edward's features were a delicate, refined type of beauty. This man's face…was rugged and distinct. His dark features should have drowned out his eyes. But they were what stood out most to me. "Why?" That one worded question escaped from my lips, so I could break my stare on his face.
Genuine sympathy flashed in the stranger's eyes as if it finally sunk in that I too was a stranger to him. "You really don't remember anything before you turned? Your family or...me?" He rose his left hand to his heart while dropping his right hand from the cloth already tied to his waist. When I focused on his left arm, I noticed a faint tan line where he once wore something somewhat permanently on his wrist.
I shook my head. Did he know me before? Who was he to human me? A friend? Alice and Edward must have forgot to mention him to me. Probably because he wasn't a vampire as well. His veins coursed with blood as his heart beat strummed at a steady rhythm.
My forehead wrinkled as I did another assessment of the sun's placement in the sky above. It was beginning to lower. I had to move or risk Edward looking for me. I would never have alone time again if he learned of this close encounter. "Goodbye." I turned around to begin my head start back to my family.
"Wait!" I paused but didn't turn around to face the owner of the desperate voice. "Don't you want to know my name or who I am to you?" I reflected on his words before I shook my head once again.
"There is a reason they never mentioned you after...I became this. I am sorry. I trust them." I remember nothing from my past. There has to be a reason for that, right? Maybe all my memories died when my heart stopped beating?
I sprinted off in the distance before I could change my mind. He didn't follow me. But deep down, I wished he had.
Lalaland972's Response to a review:
Wpear: First follow + First review!? Glad you wanna see this out with me! ^_^ Maybe he will bring out those memories!…things will spice up next chapter for her second encounter with him. Thank you for the review and compliment :)