Chapter 6: Uh Oh

Hailey's POV

My mind was racing much faster than my heart was and my heart was racing pretty fast. My breathing was rapid and my palms were shaking and sweaty.

Nessie was hysterical to say the least. This time I didn't know how to comfort her since I was the cause this time. Her grandfather. That was her grandfather. Her grandfather had attacked me. But why?

"What happened?" Nessie sniveled.

"He attacked me,"

"Why? Grandpa is not like that," she cried.

"He must've thought that-" I suddenly remembered the version of the story that vampire girl said she'd heard. That Nessie was being held captive against her will. That must've been the story he'd heard. The only version he'd heard. How is it that my plan went so badly? How did the story I'd given Ben to tell get twisted like that? I know Ben and he wouldn't have changed the story so someone else must've changed it along the way.

"What's happening to him?" Nessie cried. "What did you to do to him?!"

"Nessie it's okay. He's going to be okay. He's just turning human now. That's all,"

"Human?"

"Remember when I said that I could turn vampires human by biting them?"

"Yes," she said.

"That's what happened,"

She was still upset. I didn't know what to do anymore.

"Nessie I promise he'll be okay but right now I need your help,"

"Help with what?"

"I need you to help me bring him inside. We'll take him to one of the spare bedrooms and make him comfortable while he changes,"

One thing was certain. I was definitely not going to be able to lift him on my own. I was still feeling the pain of my own injuries. Usually I healed from injuries right away but not this time. Or maybe my bones just weren't aligning correctly. I couldn't be sure.

With some difficulty Nessie and I had been able to lift her grandfather and carry him inside to one of the spare beds.

"Is he in pain?" Nessie asked.

I debated whether to answer her question or not. From what I'd heard transforming into a human was the exact opposite of turning into a vampire. Rather than an all consuming fire it was an all consuming ice that reversed the process. The truth is that I didn't really know if it was painful or not. I'd never let my victims live long enough to tell me. Usually they were super disoriented by their dulled senses and that's when I'd kill them.

Nessie cleared her throat. The young girl was waiting for an answer and the least I could do after everything was give her one.

"The Truth is Nessie that I don't know,"

"He doesn't look like he's in pain," she cried.

"Then hopefully he's not. Look want to go have some hot chocolate and cookies and maybe watch a movie? I think it'll help you relax,"

She looked back at her grandfather. Worry still written all over her face.

"He's going to be like that until tomorrow at least and I don't think he'd want you to see him like this,"

She sighed. "Yeah you're probably right,"

I made her a cup of hot chocolate and one for myself while she grabbed the cookies. She seemed a little bit calmer now. Still a little bit upset but at least somewhat calmer now.

I let her pick out the movie and she chose one of my personal favorites. The Lion King. I'd gotten her to watch all the Disney classics while she was with me. The Lion King and Dumbo were easily her favorites.

She visibly relaxed after a little while and that made me feel more at ease. Once she started singing along to all the songs then I knew that she was way better.

"Hailey are you okay?" Nessie asked once I got up to use the bathroom. "You're limping,"

"I'll be fine Nessie. Don't worry,"

"You're hurt aren't you?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about Nessie. I swear,"

She didn't look very convinced but she let it go. Later that same night I took painkillers to help with the lingering pain from my injury. They helped me sleep easier that night as well. It wasn't until Nessie urgently woke me up the next morning that I woke up at all.

"What's wrong?"

"Something changed. I can hear grandpa's heart beating now,"

I listened and sure enough I could hear the unmistakable sound of a beating heart that didn't belong to me, Nessie, or Dexter.

"It's part of the change Nessie," I said as I got out of bed to go check on him. She followed me.

He looked less pale and his scent was changing to something more humanlike. His heart was beating faintly but I knew from experience that it would start to speed up throughout the course of the day. The transformation would conclude with him taking his first breath. Kind of like the way a newborn baby takes its first breath.

"I wonder where the rest of my family is," Nessie wondered aloud during breakfast. "Why is only my grandfather here?"

"I don't know Nessie. I'm wondering the same thing,"

I was kind of worried though. If her family thought I was some sort of evil monster then they'd attack me the way her grandfather had. I can barely take on one vampire at a time let alone several.

I managed to keep Nessie distracted for the rest of the day. I'd taught her more advanced math and sciences since I felt that she was ready. When we were done with that she wanted to practice her riding.

After that she helped me decorate the house for Christmas. She was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had already bought her some presents and managed to keep them secret from her.

We ordered pizza and dessert that evening. Nessie laughed when Dexter grabbed a slice off of her plate. I couldn't help it. I laughed as well.

We were talking and laughing when we heard it. The unmistakable first necessary breath of a vampire turned human.

"Is he-"

"Yes he is,"

Nessie ran to the room and I had to grab her before she could get to him and accidentally hurt him.

His pale skin was gone. His eye color was a perfectly normal human color. Blue. His heart was beating rapidly for a human but maybe that's because he was nervous. He was breathing.

He didn't say one word as he stared at me with his piercing blue eyes.

"It's disorienting. I know. I'm sorry,"

He blinked a few times. Probably trying to adjust to the loss of vision he undoubtedly went through.

"What happened?" he looked surprised by the sound of his voice. It didn't sound smooth like a vampire's. It was much more human like.

"Grandpa!" Nessie shouted. I grabbed her before she could run to her grandfather. I got irritated looks from the both of them.

"Just take it easy Nessie. Remember you're stronger then him now,"

"Oh right. I'll be careful. I promise,"

I watched the two of them hug for a very long time. Nessie cried happy tears as did her grandfather.

I watched in puzzlement when she pressed her palm up against the side of his face. I saw flickers of emotion dance across his face and when they were done he looked up at me. There was a look of sadness on him.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Sorry for what?"

"All day I've been listening to you and my granddaughter interact and from what she's just shown me I see that I judged you wrongly Hailey,"

"What she showed you?"

"Yeah I kind of have the power to show people what I'm thinking," Nessie said. "I showed everything from the moment you found me up until now,"

"There's nothing to forgive sir. If it were my daughter or granddaughter I would've reacted the same way,"

"Please don't call me sir. It makes me feel old. It's Carlisle," he said. "What happened to me though? How am I human?"

"It's my gift and my greatest weapon. I can turn vampires into humans and humans into vampires. My venom works both ways. I'm sorry but when you attacked me I didn't m-"

He held up his hand to stop me. "It's okay Hailey. I understand. It was my fault anyway. Just thinking my granddaughter was in danger made me crazy and-"

"I get it Carlisle. Honestly I do. Why don't we go talk somewhere more comfortable?"

He nodded in agreement.

Carlisle still looked very disoriented from all the new changes. It took him awhile to realize that strange feeling in his stomach was actually hunger for human food. He was even more surprised by how tasty Pizza and Coke was.

"Hailey I just want to say thank you for taking care of my granddaughter. I could tell she has been in good hands with you. I should've found out what was really going on first," he said. "We heard a rumor that she was being held captive here. I volunteered to go on my own to rescue Nessie because I was afraid that my family would destroy the town as they looked for her. When I saw you and thought you were torturing her I just lost it,"

"I don't blame you one bit Carlisle. What I don't understand is how that is the story you heard. I told my friend to tell everyone to spread the story about Nessie living here not being held captive here,"

"Something got twisted in that story," he said.

"I can tell,"

"So you're a hybrid as well?"

"Yes I am,"

"Hmm I wonder,"

Huh? "Wonder what?"

"You look a lot like a couple of friends I used to know. Haven't seen them in years though. They used to claim they had a daughter named Hailey that disappeared years ago. The girl would be about 30 years old now. I used to believe they meant a human daughter but now I'm wondering,"

"What're their names?" I asked curiously.

"Scarlett and Eric,"

I was speechless. Those were my parents names if my memory served me correctly.

I went to bed that night thinking about that piece of unexpected information. For a long time I could not fall asleep.

I heard something crash through the door followed by a ton of barking by Dexter and a lot of growling by something much larger than him.

I ran to see what was the matter and I saw a large reddish brown snarling at me. About as big as a horse. He bared his teeth and looked ready to kill.

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