Paris, France.

mardi douze
Juillet
dix-neuf trente deux

"Bonjour Geneviève," Madame Pilkins called out to me as I walked over to her market stall with my catch of the day; ever since my father got sick, I had been out catching whatever I could to feed my family.

"Bonne journée Madame Pilkins," I greeted back with a short, polite curtsy, it wasn't necessary, but I was always taught to be polite no matter how formal or informal you are with the person.

"Bon Anniversaire," she said with a happy grin as I felt my cheeks flush, it was my birthday today, and I had already been up a fair few hours before the sun even rose in the sky.

My father had become too sick to work, leaving my mother scrambling for work, which was hard enough in our current world, nowhere was giving out any work, nor were they paying well for the jobs she was doing.

"You remember," I answered in broken English, only knowing a few phrases, Madame Pilkins had come from London, England, or so she told me. She said she hopped on a boat and came to France for a new start, now she owns a fruit stall.

"Of course," she replied, putting a few apples in a paper bag and handing it to me with a wink "18. Un si doux âge" I giggled at her dramatic sigh before taking the bag from her; she has always been pleasant to my family.

"Merci madame, Au revoir!" I said with a small wave before making my leave. I needed to return home; my family was probably waiting for me to make my birthday breakfast.

Not that it would be anything extraordinary, but it was the love my family put into making it that made it special, and now with the apples, it would be even better.

Walking down the cobbled streets, I smiled, seeing the orchard that was directly behind our small rickety house; we weren't rich by any means; in fact, we were pretty poor at this point.

But having the sweet-smelling Jasmine flowers fill my home whenever we opened a window made me feel rich.

Gently breaking off one of the flowers, I held it up to my nose and gave a delicate sniff. Somehow this small white flower had a power over me; it calmed me down within an instant.

Placing the flower in my hair, I skipped to my front door and pushed it open eagerly to see my family waiting for me.

Quebec, Canada,

Present Day (2006)

Dropping my meal to the ground, I wiped the blood from my mouth. "I wish you would treat them more like human beings," my coven mate, Eva, complained.

I glanced at her with a scoff. "If you cared about them so much, why are you still drinking their blood?" I shot back, nudging the body with my boot insensitively.

Eva gazed down at the still body cradled in her arms "because, like me, you like the taste, right?" I sauntering closer to her as she looked at me, worried about what I might do to her.

"You're a bloodsucker cupcake; get used to it," I hissed into her ear before turning and throwing the body of the man I had just killed over my shoulder.

"I'm older than you!" Eva screeched from behind me as I walked away; we were like water and oil; we just didn't mix well. Eva had been envious of me ever since I joined their Coven and never stopped.

"Then act like it" I clapped back, ready to dispose of my meal as I trudged through the snow, leaving a trail of red behind, not that anyone would care seeing it.

We lived in the middle of nowhere; even if someone did see it, they would instantly put it down to an animal attack.

"You really shouldn't fight with your sister," A familiar voice drawled as I turned to see my 'father figure' leaning against a tree, his red eyes glancing between me and his other 'daughter' as she stormed off.

Henry Von Carmichael was my father; for all intents and purposes, I had been with him for 74 years now. He was the one who found me all those painful years ago.

At first, I thought he had changed me, but I was wrong. I spent my first few years trying to find my creator but to no luck, so instead, I went to Henry, and he brought me back to his Coven, and that is where I stayed.

After all, I was alone now; my real family was gone, so what was the point of fighting someone who wanted to provide you with a home and an unlimited amount of food.

Henry's ruby eyes that mirrored my own followed my movements as I threw the body to the ground once again. "She is not my sister," I grumbled, wiping my hands on my jeans messily.

"It's been 74 years, Mon chèrie. I think she has earned the right of that title. They all have earned the title of being your family," The older man argued as I put my hands on my hips and rolling my eyes.

"What are you waiting for?" he questioned as shaking his head at my attitude.

I looked at him confused as my eyebrow knitted together; I wasn't expecting that question, "Pardon?".

"I took you into our coven to be part of the family, but after 70 years, you're still acting like an outsider, a nomad," Henry explained as I looked back towards the house I was supposed to be calling home "you have not settled yet, mon petite fille."

Raising an eyebrow at his french words, I tried to keep my eyes from rolling again. Henry was the only one in my Coven I could stand, other than his mate Juliette.

I was the youngest vampire and the youngest in human years, too, so I was often treated like a teenager still, and it didn't help that Henry liked to keep me home safe with them.

Especially when the Volturi have been collecting more gifted vampires by the day.

Other than Henry, I was the only gifted one in my Coven, something my 'sister' Eva was thoroughly jealous of. "So what did you want to talk to me about" I questioned, deflecting his investigation into my vampire life.

We weren't a very big coven; we had Henry and his mate Juliette who both were frozen at mid '30s, Eva and her mate Thomas, forever 26, then Kameron and his mate Lee, also both mid 20's.

Lee and Kameron were often talked about, some of the other covens and nomads didn't understand the same-sex relationship they were in, but that was back in the day of men needed to be like cavemen and have women nipping at their ankles.

I thought the fact that they found each other and stuck together through everything was admirable; it was something I respected. You can't choose your mate or la tua cantante. Destiny does that for you; if not, you're forced to roam this earth alone for however long you may live.

Even worse, you could find your soulmate and then have them ripped from you. I've yet to physically see someone like that; Henry says one of the Volturi leaders, Marcus, unfortunately, had his mate taken from him, and it left him in a state of eternal sadness.

Henry just eyed me closely, a smile tugging at his lips. I knew I was his favorite child, "how do you know I wanted to talk to you?" I just smirk and raised my eyebrow, knowing better, he was approaching me slowly like you would a doe.

"Out with it," I sighed, my french accent ringing out thickly. After all these years, it hadn't lessened at all, another thing Eva was jealous of. My French accent could charm anyone, but for me, I hated the attention it brought from humans; they loved someone 'exotic.'

"I was wondering if you would like to come with me to visit an old friend," Henry questioned, crossing his arms over his chest, and I sucked on my cheek.

"Vampire or human," I quipped as he sighed, knowing my repulsion of the human race, as shown by the state my victims were often left in.

"Vampire," I perked up a little but didn't let it show as I shot of some more inquiries.

"coven or nomad," he smiled at my quick questions, knowing I'd probably go anyway just to get away from here for a little while.

"coven," I grimaced a little, both Covens and nomad could be difficult, but Coven's always seemed to be more trouble than they're worth; however, I continued on.

"just us or them" my question was quiet by the motion of my head was enough for my 'father' to figure out what I was trying to ask him without upsetting him.

Henry gave me a soft look as he walked closer and smoothed my hair back, kissing the top of my head gently "just us. Father and Daughter expedition".

I smiled and curled myself into his arms for a second before letting go, "Where are we going?" I questioned the older man as we made the trek up the snowy mountains to our home.

"Well, ma petite fille, we are headed to Forks, Washington."

TRANSLATIONS:

From this chapter on the french words will be written in English and bold.

Bonjour Geneviève - Hello Geneviève.

Bonne journée Madame Pilkins - Good day Mrs. Pilkins.

Bon Anniversaire - Happpy Birthday.

18. Un si doux âge - 18. Such a sweet age.

Merci madame, Au revoir! - Thank you ma'am, Goodbye!

ma petite fille - My little girl

Mon chèrie - My dear