Author's Note: Yay, an update! Thanks for the faves and reviews! :)
There's a lot of drinking in this one, but I plan to make the next chapter more fun and less alcohol oriented.
Summary: In the thousands of years that she's been alive, Kila has only loved one person. Leah is the reincarnation of that love, and when she meets her, will find any way to stay in town and get to know her. Leahxoc, femslash.
Chapter 4
Dancing the Blues Away
"What are you doing?"
"I'm hugging Maria, what does it look like?"
"… like you're about to make out with your car. Should I come back later?"
"Shhhh," Kila soothed, gently caressing the smooth blue metal. Her long limbs were extended across the roof of the car, while her body pressed firmly against the cold door. Goosebumps rose along her skin at the temperature, but her genuine joy of having her car back made her stay still. "Don't listen to the crazy lady. You're the only girl for me," She whispered, and then continued to rub her face up and down against the newly polished surface.
"So where are you going, anyway? You always mysteriously leave on Saturday nights, and return on Sunday with a monster hangover and covered in glitter." Emily asked, taking a seat on her porch step. Her tan arms propped themselves on her knees and half-bandaged face rested comfortably on the palms of her hands.
The young woman looked quite small suddenly, and Kila took a moment to look at her.
When they first met, just half a year ago, Emily was a confident, yet reserved, woman that stood with her head tall and greeted everyone with a kind warmth that could melt the coldest of hearts. As she sat there, the werewolf realized just how much she'd changed. Her shoulders were slouched, her eyes sunken from lack of sleep, and her body looked as if it might cave in on itself any moment. She had gained a little bit of weight, skin had paled, and pimples were beginning to appear on the side of her face she was willing to expose to the world. The bandaged side was covered by her long hair, more often than not.
Whenever people visited, anyone other than Leah and Kila, she would shrink within herself and avoid interaction. Even when her parents visited she would shy away.
"Is that your question for the day?" Kila asked, removing her body from the car and stepping towards her. Her right hand stayed on the car, her fingertips lightly pressing against it, as if she was afraid it would disappear otherwise.
"Sure." She said with a shrug. "Why not?"
A smile sprang to Kila's lips and, hesitantly at first (leaving her car for even a moment caused a pain to ripple through her chest), galloped over to the slouched teenager and gently grabbed her hands. "Then I'll show you."
Emily raised an inquisitive eyebrow, but nonetheless allowed herself to be pulled to her feet and led back into the house.
2.
When they arrived at their destination, Emily was shaking in her seat. Her one exposed eye looked around her in trepidation, eyeing the various scantily clad men and women entering what appeared to be a bar. "You brought me to a bar?" She asked, watching as a very tall, very masculine 'woman' enter the "Dancing Tigress" with a scantily clad woman at her side.
"It's a gay dance club. You've gone social dancing before, right?"
"A few times… but, I'm not 21."
"Don't worry about that. Just act like you belong and you will." Kila said with a wink, her eye shadow sparkling brilliantly against the faint light of a nearby streetlamp. "This is basically social dancing but with more mini-skirts and alcohol. Trust me, it'll be fun." She assured, her hand temporarily squeezing the other girl's in order to instill some confidence.
"… Okay." She said after a moment, and gave a weak smile in return.
"That's my girl! Let's go have fun!" Kila said happily, and after checking for traffic, exited her car.
Kila was, not surprisingly, decked out in a very short sparkly dress and extravagant diamond necklace. Large feather earrings hung from her ears and short brunette hair stuck out in all directions, a 'messy' look that had taken her an hour to achieve.
Her companion, by contrast, was wearing a very simple and low key outfit. She was adorned with a few pieces of jewelry, a conservative neon green shirt, and black baggy pants that allowed her legs to breath. The black shoes on her feet weren't her nice dancing shoes, as per instructed, but would work with the situation.
When they entered the bar, they were immediately greeted by a wave of hot air and hugs. "Kelsey!" Many people exclaimed, and immediately threw them into a tornado of chaotically moving bodies.
Kila locked her hand with Emily to keep from losing her, and after a few introductions guided her to a table on the side of the building floor.
The bar was separated into two parts; one room was for dancing, while the other was for drinking. A heavy door separated the rooms, but was open frequently to let people come and go. Tables were scattered on the edges of the dance room and bar area; most people were dancing, but there were a few groups mingling and taking shots at the bar.
"What did you get me into!?" Emily asked loudly over the music, even though a large smile covered her lips. "This is crazy!"
"Liz, darling, can you grab us a couple of shots?" Kila asked a girl that was walking past them, and she nodded.
"Coming right up, hot stuff." The waitress said with a wink, and wacked her notepad against the dark woman's shoulder as she walked away.
They had wandered up to the balcony of the building, where they could overlook the various dancers below them. Some of them were professional dancers that were practicing to improve their skill, while others were beginners just wanting to have fun; in both cases, laughter mixed with the booming music and smiles graced everyone's lips. It was crowded, and people bumped into each other constantly, but in the chaos as a beautiful harmony of music being transformed into physical expression. Glitter covering the dance floor and disco ball hanging from the ceiling gave it a magical atmosphere.
"Who is this little lamb?" A man asked as he approached them, and sat down in one of the empty seats. The blond and blue eyed man extended his hand to her, a smile blending into his red face. "I'm Sean!"
"Emily!" She replied, a wide grin tugging at her lips as she shook hands with the man.
"That's a cool mask!" He complimented.
"Thanks!" She replied, an embarrassed blush rising to her cheeks. A beautiful hand-made mask, a gift from Kila, covered the half of her face that was scarred from Sam's attack months ago.
Beautiful swirls and colors covered the gold surface of the mask, and extremely detailed celtic-styled carvings decorated the edges of it.
"She has to wear the mask to hide her scars from the war." Kila explained to him. "She saved her entire squadron and the lives of three civilians." She said, and watched as the man looked back at Emily in awe.
The masked woman glanced at the other woman in surprise, but when the attractive man got closer and started talking to her more enthusiastically, she couldn't help but fall into the conversation.
2.
"Usually I get laid at the end of those dances." Kila commented, and watched as her young friend puked up the last of her breakfast in the empty alley way. "That's why I don't get home until the next day.
"Sorry…"
"It's ok, I was just teasing. I'd rather hang out with you any day." She said, and raised her arm up towards her, a waterbottle in her hand. "You should hydrate."
Before she could reach it, she was puking up the contents of her stomach again. The werewolf set the waterbottle down next to her, where no puke had reached yet, and stepped out of the alley to say goodbye to a dancer from earlier. In order to avoid embarrassment for the young woman, she tried to distract them from her.
"Tell the cutie and I look forward to seeing her next week." Sean said as he passed Kila, adding wink and a nudge.
"Will do. Night, Sean."
"Good night! Sleep tight! You're okay to drive, right? Do I need to give you a lift?"
"I'm fine to drive. I didn't drink too much."
"I noticed! Usually you're humping every girl in there by the end of the night." He commented, and she laughed awkwardly.
"Good night, Sean. Have a safe drive home."
"You too! Night!"
They both waved to each other as he walked away, and once he rounded a corner to walk down another street, Emily reemerged from the alley with a puke-covered mask in her hand.
Kila quickly lunged towards her as she began to fall, and barely caught her before she reached the pavement. "That guy… that guy was cute." She mumbled, and leaned against the older woman.
Carefully, the werewolf picked her up bridal style and carried her the rest of the way to the car.
"I think he liked me. And so did the other guy! And I think that one chick touched my butt."
3.
"Sssssssshhhhhhhhhh…." Emily shushed to the loud voice on the phone, her free hand pressing firmly against her forehead.
"Emily, James was attacked and almost killed last night!"
"Sssssshhhhh…." Emily hushed again, but this time slouched forward and rested her head against the cool table.
Kila, not missing a beat, set a fresh cup of coffee on the table in front of her and took the phone from her hand. "Emily isn't feeling too well. What happened?"
"James was doing patrol last night and was attacked."
"Is he ok?"
"He's recovering now, but he's still in a lot of pain. We had to have Carlisle drive down and fix him up."
"Is he still attending to him?"
"Yeah, and they're here at my house, for some reason. Since James' mom doesn't know about wolf stuff, they didn't want to take him home. Vampires stink."
"I'll be there in ten minutes. Let them know that I'll be arriving." She said, and didn't wait for a response before hanging up on her.
"Is he ok?" Emily asked groggily, and took a sip of her coffee. She managed to sit up and rest her elbows on the table tiredly.
"Yeah, his healing ability will likely take care of him. I'm going to drive down and check it out. Do you want to come with me, or stay here?"
"Stay here." She said without thinking, and carefully stood up with her coffee in hand, making her way towards the couch.
"There's a wet cloth on the table next to the couch. Rest up and I'll be back soon. Did you have fun last night?"
"Hell yeah." She said, and set the coffee mug down next to the wet cloth as she stumbled tiredly onto the couch. "Can I go back next week?"
"We'll see." Kila replied, and grabbed the car keys from the kitchen table.
4.
"Hello, Dr. Carlisle." Kila greeted immediately after walking into the house. Her eyes surveyed the situation; took note of every person, object, sounds, and smells in the room.
Her demeanor was much colder than usual. She was rigid and alert.
The vampires, shapeshifters, and human all had similar demeanors.
"Why, hello, Kila. Or do you go by a different name now?" Carlisle asked warmly as he went to shake her hand, temporarily stepping away from a conversation with Jacob Black.
"Lately it's been Kelsey." She replied. "You're the pack leader, right? Jacob?"
"Yeah." He replied. "And you're the Ancient one."
"Call me Kelsey." She said with a fake smile, and looked back to Carlisle. On the couch just a few feet away from them, a very bandaged and bloody shapeshifter groaned in pain.
"What happened?"
"Well, it was definitely a wolf. My guess is a werewolf, judging by the savagery of it." Dr. Carlisle informed her, and didn't miss her curious gaze drift to the other vampire in the room.
"You try to mess with my emotions and I will rip you apart." She growled at the blond vampire, her teeth shining brightly against the light and eyes changing to a yellow tint.
"Ok." He said, putting his hands up and taking a step back. "I'm only here to help make sure things don't go out of control."
"No one from my pack would do something like this. I mean, sure, he was annoying sometimes, but-"
"That's not what I meant I said 'werewolf'." Carlisle interrupted, trying to be more careful with his words. "You and your pack are shapeshifters, meaning that you can transform into a wolf whenever you feel like it. A werewolf changes without any control."
"They're just as dangerous, if not more, than vampires." Kila added, and gazed again to the teenager on the couch. "I don't know how his body will react to the werewolf venom. He could die from it."
"Wait, die? No, no." Jacob spoke, putting his hands on his face and looking away for a moment. "There has to be a way to save him. What if we got the venom, or whatever, from the werewolf and used it to create an antidote?"
"It doesn't work that way." Kila said coldly. "The only thing we can do is wait another month and trap it before it attacks someone else."
"Kelsey," Leah spoke suddenly, entering the room and interrupting the conversation. "Hey, uh, how's it going?"
"Aside from the new werewolf in town, pretty good. How about you stay with Emily and I for the next few days? I'd feel safer if you were with us."
"Umm, sure, I guess. Do you know who the werewolf is?"
"No, and we won't find out for another month. Werewolves can only transform once every 30 days, unlike shapeshifters." She informed them, her gaze lingering on the girl. "And before you ask, no. It doesn't have to be on a full moon."
1.
"Hey."
"Hey."
They both sat awkwardly on either end of the couch, a heavy silence blanketing the room. Emily was upstairs sleeping, so it was just the two of them.
"So I heard about your… wolf thing." Leah said, and the other girl smiled.
"I heard about yours, too." She replied, and caused the girl to chuckle. "Do you have any questions for me?"
"No… but I do have an apology to make." Leah stated, holding the pillow against her chest tighter, but determined to keep eye contact with the wolf woman. "I'm sorry for how I treated you. I shouldn't have called you all those names, and I really don't have a problem with your… lesbianism. I'm not entirely comfortable with it, but you're a good friend of mine, so I'll just have to get over it." She said, her soft brown eyes drifting away towards the end of her apology, but coming back to see her reaction.
"Apology accepted. Thank you." Kila said with a slight nod, and let a grin tug at the edges of her lips.
"You've been so kind to me since… well, my dad died… and even before that, you were nice. I wrecked your car, called you bad names, attacked you… and you still helped me out."
"You're starting to grow up, little one." Kila commented, and reached over to tossle her short hair.
Leah stuck her tongue out at her and swiped at the bothersome hand, glad that they had patched things up. A bubbly warm sensation spread through her, and as she looked at the other woman, wondering if she could ever go back to not having her in her life.
2.
That night, Kila transformed into her wolf form and patrolled the forests nearby. She hoped that she would find a lingering scent of the other werewolf, but with the on and off rain, that made it unlikely.
She had informed Jacob earlier that evening that she would be roaming the forests, so that they wouldn't mistake her for the one that attacked their brother. Although she smelled the wolf pack from time to time, she rarely actually saw them, except for flashes and blurs.
Considering her appearance, she wasn't surprised that they didn't want to hang out. In her wolf form, she looked terrifying.
Her eyes were large and blood red, while her fur was black as the night sky. She was a little smaller than the shapeshifters, but she was still larger than the average wolf, and her devilish form scared off any threat by just a glance.
The paws beneath her were larger than the shapeshifters, and had claws that would extend and could kill with just one strike.
When her lips curled back, sharp teeth would glisten ominously in the moonlight. Deadly venom lie dormant in her saliva.
Unlike shapeshifters, transforming into her wolf self wasn't a particularly freeing experience. It was painful, tiring, and enraging. She was pumped with so many hormones that she wanted to kill everything in sight simply because she felt so miserable, and when she consumed any food it would digest poorly in the following days.
You stupid squirrel, I'm going to find you, your family, your friends, your friends family, and shred you all to fucking pieces!
3.
"Will you teach me how to dance?" Leah asked one day, causing Kila to pause what she was doing and look up at her. A semi-clean dish threatened to fall from her hand, but if she heard correctly, she really didn't give a damn.
"Dance? You want me to teach you?" The dish fell from her hand and back into the soapy water.
"Yeah… would you mind? I mean, you and Emily look like you're having so much fun when you do it…" She said, trailing off at the end from the unusual stare she was getting. "It's ok if you don't want to, I just-"
"No, no, I'll teach you. I'd be glad to. I just didn't think that you had any interest in it."
"I have two left feet." She admitted, reaching her hand up and rubbing the back of her neck.
The werewolf smiled, an awkward and happy giggle piercing the silence. "What do you want to learn? Tango? West Coast Swing? Waltz?"
"I don't know… whatever you and Emily do."
"West Coast Swing is what we usually do, but it's one of the trickier dances."
"That's fine." She said with an awkward smile and red cheeks. "When can we start?"
"How about today?"
"I already agreed to shop with my mom today…"
"Thursday?"
"Sounds great."
4.
Kelsey went to the mall that day to shop for a new dancing shirt for Leah's lessons. It was more out of boredom than necessity, considering how little there is to do in her town of residence, but gave her a chance to be giddy and shop for her 'not really but kind of date' with Leah. Emily was busy moping in her room and refused to do anything, Leah was out with her mom, and none of her typical hook ups were free. She'd already read most of the books in their house, and browsing the internet started to become a bore, so she was left with shopping.
When she was looking through the clothing at a Macy's, in particular a very sparkly blue shirt, she saw a familiar couple a few aisles away from her.
Discreetly shielding most of herself from their view, by turning and hiding behind a pillar that doubled as a mirror, she watched them with narrowed eyes.
The couple kissed. Their hands were locked. A matching smile was on their faces.
"Embry, you're so weird."
"You're one to talk, Leah." They jested, and playfully shoved each other.
They walked past her, unaware of her presence.
She glared, feeling like her heart was ripping in two.
She knew it wasn't fair for her to be jealous, but the pain was the same nonetheless. 'She lied to me so that she could be with him' kept repeating in her head.
Her hand moved on its own, putting back the article of clothing, and she found herself leaving the store, unaware of her movements or surroundings.
All she could think about was that one moment in the hospital. When Leah rested peacefully in her arms and she smelled so much like her lost love. When her warm body rested against her own, and rose up and down with each breath.
Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears and adrenaline pumped through her veins. The raging beast inside of her wanted to let loose and destroy everything.
"Sorry, can't dance tomorrow." She texted to Leah, and then opened another text dialogue with someone else. "Busy tonight?"
5.
"You're drinking this early?" Emily asked, watching the werewolf take another swig of 151 proof rum. (A/N: if you didn't know, that has a 75% alcohol content… by contrast, most beers are around 8%, and Vodka is 40%) The werewolf shrugged, took another drink, and consumed 3/4ths of it.
After a moment, and taking in a breath of air, "It's never too early to drink." She said, and then set down the bottle to take a drink of her organic coffee. "What the hell am I doing? I should make a mixed coffee drink. That way I don't have to go back and forther." Clad in short boxers and a sports bra, she began searching the alcohol cabinet for the appropriate liquor, and began a concoction of various alcohols and coffee.
"Are you okay?"
"Are you okay? I think you need a drink."
"I'm fine, and no, I don't need a drink… I've never seen you like this. What happened?"
"I don't feel like talking about it. Let's watch a movie." Kila said, the last sentence morphing into an ancient language.
"What? Look… I heard from Leah that you canceled dance lessons… does that have anything to do with… this?" She asked, gesturing towards the several bottles now covering the counter. In the middle, a very large mug reeking of alcohol, sat.
"She lied to me. WhyshouldIcare?" She slurred, picked up her coffee, and started walking to the living room. As she went to follow, Emily noticed that there were several newly consumed bottles in the recycling bin.
The drunk woman plopped herself on the couch (barely avoiding spilling her drink), and sat there a moment, her face scrunched up in concentration. "Kelsey-"
"What should we watch?" She asked, once again slipping into the old language. "Something easy…. to drunk watch."
"I can't understand you." Emily told her, watching cautiously and noticing that her eyes had a strange tint of red to them. "Please, talk to me."
"She was with that dick." She said, and snorted. "Ha, 'dick"."
"Embry?"
"His new name is 'Dick". Ha, 'dick'. Like penis. But funnier. I'm fucking hilarious."
"You're upset because you saw them together?" She asked.
"I shouldn't be. I have no right to get between them. She's not Lati. Lati wouldn't cheat on me. Lati was amazing. She had a scar on her left hip that shined like the moon. She prettier than Leah." She rambled, eyes watering and tears flowing down her face. "Lati was my true love, and she's dead." She sobbed. "No amount of sex can bring her back. No amount of alcohol, booze, food, alcohol, tacos, cool cars, sex, or sex or alcohol can bring her back."
Emily gently took the half-full mug away from her and set it on the nightstand. Kila grabbed a pillow, put it on Emily's lap, and laid her head there, sobbing.
Emily, adorned in pajamas and long braided hair, gently petted her hair. She cringed at the loud sounds the woman made.
6.
"What happened to Kelsey?" Leah asked as she walked into the room, noticing the crying woman on the couch and a bored looking cousin next to her.
"She drank too much." Emily replied. "Now she's crying about everything. Actually, I don't even know how she's alive right now. She should be dead with how much she drank."
"Latiiiiiii!" She sobbed on the couch. Emily sighed.
"Who is Lati?"
"An old girlfriend of hers that died a long time ago." Emily answered, and went back to petting her hair. "She's been like this for an hour."
"But it's 9 in the morning."
"Yep. How did you sleep through this?"
"Heavy sleeper." Leah said with a shrug.
"Why did he have to take my coffee? Why did he have to be such- such a dick?"
"What language was that?"
"I have no idea. She keeps randomly speaking it."
"She tried to kill me after I had sex with her!"
"What a weird language."
"How did the date with Embry go last night?"
"Pretty good. I broke up with him."
"Why?"
She shrugged. "He was too clingy."
"Lati, why did you have to fight the vampire?! Latiiiiiiii! I'm going to kill you motherfucking vampire ass holes!"