It's here. As the curtain falls on Act I of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, they fall in love. And when Romeo is a werewolf and Juliet a vampire, things can only go downhill from here…
How does a dog fall for a leech? The leech was human once…
Not that it's much comfort.
Up with the curtain. Actors, take your places. This is gonna be good.
Enter ALICE CULLEN and JASPER HALE, putting the finishing touches on Ellie's sweet 16 birthday bash…
"Come on, Jas, that stereo won't move itself!" Alice commanded from her perch on the banister. Jasper glared. "Why aren't you moving it, then?" he demanded. She smiled angelically at him. "Because I am overseeing the layout, master planner that I am, and watching for the guests. Who are less than a minute from the door. Move. The. Stereo."
Jasper groaned, but budged it 2 feet to the right. "Happy?" he asked her. She beamed at him, then dashed over to take his hand. "Let's go upstairs before the people show up," she said quietly. "I know you don't want to deal with it."
He smiled at her, then they both disappeared as Edward and Bella entered. Edward was dressed as a Civil War soldier (advice courtesy of Jasper) and Bella wore a housewife outfit circa 1860. Behind them, Rosalie and Emmett chose the music, Rose stunning as always in a form-fitting witch's dress and Emmett dressed, ironically enough, as a werewolf.
"Where's Ellie?" asked Bella quietly. Edward leaned in and murmured in her ear, "Sulking, but she's getting dressed and planning on making a grand entrance."
Bella smiled grimly and held her breath as the door opened and guests poured into the dark blue cavern that was the nightclub Alice had designed.
Edward greeted all of the guests, even Mike Newton's daughter, who was instantly deemed a 'slut' in Rosalie's mind. The room filled with people, the lights so dark it was hard to tell where the vampires had mingled in. All that was missing was the lady of honor.
It was as the door at the top of the stairs opened that Alex, Dave, and Quentin all snuck in. Dave inhaled sharply. "Damn," he muttered. "So many hot babes!" Quentin nodded vigorously, but Alex's eyes were on Katie, dressed as a butterfly. She was so beautiful… his heart ached. But her eyes weren't on him, or any other guy. They were where everyone else's were, on the figure slowly descending the stairway.
Ellie smiled nervously behind the dark blue mask dotted with silver stones. The middle-length blue dress she was wearing was working – no one could take their eyes off her. Just how she had wanted her party to go. Underneath the vampire exterior, she was still a girl. Except, she noticed, three guys had their backs turned to her. She sniffed in annoyance, but regretted it was she smelled wolf. Damn. Bella did mention she had invited wolves, but it was so crowded and hot in there the stench had flowed all over the room and she could not tell where it came from. Ignoring the boys, she smiled at her guests and floated down the staircase. This was a perfect 40th sweet 16.
Alex wrinkled his nose in the middle of staring at Katie. The whole room smelled like vampire, but the short one had managed it so you couldn't tell them apart by their skin – the eerie blue lights made everyone the same. Dave and Quentin were nudging each other and pointing at pretty girls, so Alex, feeling lonely, finally turned to look at the stairway.
Ellie couldn't help but feel irked by the way those boys were treating her, especially the one staring at that little (insert swear of choice here) Newton girl. Feeling in the mood to treat him to a poisoned golden glare, she swiveled her head so her eyes met hers.
At the same instant, both their worlds froze.
Alex's breath caught in his throat. The girl was not dressed skimpily, but she still looked stunning. Her blue dress flowed over a flawless body, and dirty blonde hair cascaded down the dark fabric. Her features were mostly hidden by an ornamental blue mask, but he could make out amber eyes gazing at him. She was dressed as the night, and he had never seen anything more lovely. The world shifted sharply on an angle as he drowned himself in her stare.
Katie wasn't beauty. This girl was. She was perfection. He needed to make her happy, this perfect creature, needed to do something for her, anything…
With a sickening jolt, he realized he had just imprinted.
Ellie paused on the bottom step. The boy was handsome, even by her standards (living with vampires made it hard to appreciate human beauty). His black hair flopped slightly over his dark eyes and angular nose. He was tall and well muscled underneath his soldier's uniform, his helmet tucked under his arm. If she had had a heart, it would have been pounding loud enough for all the world to hear.
Shaking herself slightly, she continued into the crowd, but she couldn't stop feeling the intensity of his gaze.
Alex grabbed Dave's arm. "Who is she?" he asked, shell-shocked. Dave looked up, but the beautiful girl had already disappeared into the crowd. "Who, Alex?" he asked, looking at him. Alex shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. "I gotta find her," he muttered, and took off into the pulsating throng of dancing bodies.
Edward watched Ellie socialize with the Forks teens. He was impressed – he could not have pulled that off when he was here. He smiled slightly at Bella, who, he could tell, had the same idea. Even with her aging illusions going, she still looked stunning to him.
As he bent to kiss her, Jasper rocketed into the room. "I smell dog," he growled under his breath. He glared at Edward. "Those three boys. I fought two of them in the alley, and the other is Black's son. Let me throw them out."
Black's son? He hadn't expected that. But he couldn't let Jasper hurt them. "Bella invited them as a peace offering. You heard Chief Roberts today. Breaking out of jail is a nuisance, and we'd have to move again. Keep it cool, Jasper, let Ellie enjoy her party."
Jasper glowered at Alex Black, and muttered something that sounded like, "eventually." He then disappeared as fast as he had come.
Ellie kept her smile plastered to her face as she hunted for a free space to think. She couldn't help but glance over her shoulder every few seconds to try and find the boy who had caught her eye. Finally, she ducked behind Emmett's massive stereo system, where the noise was lower as the music pumped away from her.
Drawing her knees up to her chest, she squeezed her eyes shut, the breath she did not need coming in short gasps, her confusion and fear masking how much the scent of werewolf got to her.
Alex fought his way through the crowd, knowing Dave and Quentin were looking at him like he was crazy. He had seen her streaking through impressively fast for wearing a dress and head towards the speakers.
He screwed up his face as the music got louder and louder. With the writhing, dancing crowd sweating and constantly moving, the smell of vampire had penetrated every part of the room, messing with his senses even more.
He looked around quickly, hands clamped over his ears. He couldn't find her – he felt sick at the thought of never seeing her again…
And then he saw a small, fair figure hunched behind the towering black stereo. He picked up his pace, wanting, needing to get to her. He was so close.
He bent down to be level to her face. She was so tiny next to his big werewolf hands. Everything seemed to grow farther away as she raised her head, and then disappeared as her amber eyes met his black ones. Faintly in the background, he noted ironically, We The King's "Check Yes Juliet" played.
Ellie gasped when she realized how close he was. "Uhm…" she said shakily. "Hi."
Alex stared. "Hi."
They gazed at each other for a bit, then Alex said in a rush. "Look, I know we just met, but you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my whole life, and I – wow, this is awkward – can I just kiss you and not get slapped?"
He looked so eager and embarrassed that Ellie had to laugh. "You're such an idiot," she chided. "I think you're pretty cute, and you seem normal. And a kiss sounds like it might be nice." Her eyes widened as soon as she said the words. She was a vampire – she could hurt him. Hurt him so, so badly. She didn't want that. But she couldn't turn him away. Something in the pit of her stomach wouldn't let her move away.
She rose, slightly stiffly, onto her knees so their faces were at the same height. Alex put one warm palm against the back of her neck, and drew her lips to his.
Ellie stifled a gasp as soon as her icy lips met his warm ones. At this close proximity, she could smell his blood over all the other smells. It was a beautiful, heady combination of scents, reminding Ellie vaguely of smoky firewood, burning flowers and the sea, with something vaguely sour stirring beneath it. It was all she could do to pull back when she did. She couldn't hurt him.
Alex dropped his hand as soon as he felt her cold lips pulling away. What had he done wrong? He felt his face burning with embarrassment as she ducked her head.
"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I'll just go…"
"No!" Ellie's head shot up to look at the boy. He looked confused and awkward. She wanted to kiss him again, just to make him look happy. "I'm sorry. It's just that… that's the first time I've ever been kissed, and I'm…"
"Ellie!"
She whipped her head around looking for who called. Of course. It was Alice, always worried because the wolves being invited had messed up her vision.
The boy was staring at her. "Ellie?" he asked incredulously.
"ELLIE!"
"I have to go," she whispered, and brushed her lips as lightly as she possibly could against his. She was careful to keep under control as she took one more look at his eyes for the road.
In a flash, she was gone.
Alex's hands shook. Ellie. No wonder everyone had been staring at her. She had been Ellie the birthday girl, Ellie the host… Ellie Cullen.
He had imprinted on a vampire.
He swiveled around and fought his way back through the crowd. He needed Dave and Quentin's help. Now.
Ellie caught up to Alice in no time. "Yeah?" she said happily, as though nothing was wrong. Alice beamed at her, caught up in the success of the party. "Bella's looking for you, they're going to cut the cake and you need to be there to fake it."
Ellie made a face. She hated faking eating, but with the anorexia paranoia everywhere she needed to do it a lot.
As she followed Alice towards the dining room, she looked over her shoulder at the dance floor. The boy was standing there, talking to his friends and glancing at her. Closing her eyes to remember his scent, she suddenly recalled something much more disturbing. There had been a sort of foul underscent to the delicious one she had smelled. Now that he was gone, she recognized it with a sickening jolt of despair.
It was the scent of wolf. She had just kissed a werewolf. Oh, no, it was worse than that. She had just fallen in love with a werewolf.
She had to know his name. She needed to know. Tugging on Alice's sleeve, she jerked her head and spat with as much false annoyance as she could manage, "Who are the wolves?"
Alice turned, looking at her with suspicion tinting her gaze. "They're Quentin Ateara," she pointed at the lean skinny one, "Dave Uley," the wider, more muscled one, "and Alex Black." The boy she had kissed.
She nodded, her mind churning furiously. If he had kissed her, then that would mean he didn't know she was a vampire when it happened. Which meant he might have imprinted. That thought made her stomach squirm happily.
Ellie was smiling the whole way into the dining room, where a group of guests was waiting. She kept smiling until she saw Bella, and remembered.
The Volturi wanted her.
Alex finished explaining to Dave and Quentin, who were looking at him with something close to horror. "You imprinted on a vampire!?" Dave hissed through clenched teeth. Alex nodded sheepishly. "It could be possible," Quentin mused. "Vampires were humans once."
Alex nodded, and ran a hand through his hair. "I have to see her again," he said desperately. Dave glanced at Quentin, who nodded and said, "Don't worry, man. We'll help you with this. We're here for you."
Alex smiled grimly at his friends. Life had just gotten a lot more complicated.
-pounds self in face- I think I killed the description of imprinting. GAH!
But Act One concludes with Ellie confused about what to do next and Quentin, Alex and Dave scheming to reunite the boy with his vampiress love.
What will happen now? How are two lovers to meet in a home where the residents never sleep?
This probably won't end well…
The actors are breaking now. Act Two will begin soon. Take your seats, ladies and gentlemen, before the curtain rises again….