AN: Thank you all for the reviews, and thanks Annette Curtis Klause for brilliant characters and a great setting. This one's relatively short. I'm using it sort of as a transition of more to come. Also, I'm going to play with this chapter a little bit more than usual, using a "Vivian's point of view" approach to it, instead of the one I've been using normally. Not to worry, I think it's just going to be for this chapter only, and you'll see why...

Chapter Six:

The air in Vermont was not as sticky and hot in the summer. But unlike my old home, there was the faintest hint of a breeze here. I lay on the itchy grass, breathing in all of the scents of late summer. The Five were playing a pick up football game with Uncle Rudy, and most of the pack was out to watch. The inn was in full swing this time of the year, but this late in the afternoon there weren't very many people coming in, so we could spend a lot more time out. The smell of barbecue still hung in the atmosphere from a pit nearby. I closed my eyes, and was about to fall asleep, when a little pudgy hand touched my cheek. I looked up at Katherine's little green eyes. She smiled, and I got up to play with her for a little while. I was walking her over to the new swing set in the backyard, when Aunt Persia called me back inside. I let Katherine go walk over to her mother.

"Close the door, please." I closed the door, and the last cool breeze out. The room was twenty degrees hotter than even outside, and the itchy stuff from the grass was covering my glistening skin. "Vivian, there are still some more things you still need to learn."

"Like what?"

"Not now. First you have to get ready. Go get clean, and put this on." She handed me a simple linen robe. I walked across the hall into her bathroom reluctantly. The shower was too small, and there were little clay pots of things where ordinary soap and shampoo should have been. I was afraid to use the wrong thing, so I just let the water rinse me clean. The linen robe was dry and starchy, like it had been hung out to dry. And considering Aunt Persia's nature, it probably was.

The living room was empty, and my Aunt called me into her room. I thought the living room was too hot, but she had managed to get her own room hotter. The air smelled old, like being stuck in a cave. There were the familiar bouquets of herbs drying on the ceiling. She was seated by a card table, looking into an earthenware bowl. From my angle it looked like she was staring at a bowl of water, but I didn't ask too many questions. Finally, after what seemed like I had been standing for an hour, she called me to her side.

"Listen carefully. I need you to stretch, get very limber. Breathe heavy, let yourself become lightheaded, and then breathe in some of this, and sit across from me." I nodded, and did exactly as she told me to do. The hardest part was allowing myself to become lightheaded. I realized why she had made this room so hot and stifling. When it seemed like I was close to fainting, she handed me a small vial. The liquid inside it was opaque, and I inhaled it. It smelled too sweet, like honey, or perfume. The fumes made my eyes blurry, but the edges were getting sharper by the second. I stumbled onto the seat across from her, and rested my head against my fists, taking deep breaths so I wouldn't pass out.

"Look at the liquid inside the bowl." It scared me how far away her voice sounded, like she was two rooms away from me. My hands were trembling as I pulled the bowl closer. The water inside the bowl didn't move like it was supposed to. I could barely open my eyes. At first I could only see the smooth surface of the water. "Focus, Vivian." What am I supposed to be looking for? I tried squinting, but the water was still just smooth and still. "What do you want to see?" I thought for a moment. I want to see Gabriel. The water rippled like someone was shaking the table.

At first there were just a lot of colors and blurry shapes. It seemed like twenty minutes passed, and all I could see was just swirls of colors that wouldn't stop to form shapes. Then one of the larger swirls started forming itself into a shape. The shape was lean, and muscular, and it was attached to something. A long time passed, and the shape gradually became an outline of Gabriel. His eyes glinted like they do when I'm making him happy, or when he's amused. The way he stood was full of the cocky confidence I had grown to love. I tried to control my breath and focus. Is this supposed to show me my future? Or my past? Then another color slowed down. I could see a curvy shape. I assumed it was me, and I was giving Gabriel a hug, or kissing him, or something.

The background was unfamiliar to me. It seemed like a bar, like Tooley's, but there was too much going on, like a club or a party or something. I saw the marks on Gabriel, and the lines on his face. It looked pretty recent. Then the figure he was holding onto took shape. She was blonde.

I ripped myself away from the vision, and looked up at Aunt Persia with hot tears stinging my eyes. "You shouldn't have done that. It takes time to fall out of a vision. That will hurt in the morning, Vivian."

"I don't care! What did I just see?"

"It's hard to say. I couldn't see what you saw. That could've been a long time ago, or it could've been a few days ago or perhaps it was your future."

"That was not my future."

"What did you see Vivian? Tell me. Maybe I can help you understand your visions."

"No. There's only one person who can help me understand." I walked out of the room, breathing in heavily, running towards the inn. I climbed the stairs three at a time, and opened the door to our room. Well, I didn't open it as much as kick it open.

"What do you do when you're gone? Where do you go?" I startled him, and he looked up from the book he was reading. That's right, he reads in his spare time, go figure.

"What are you talking about? Come here and sit down, you look agitated. What on earth are you wearing?"

"No. Just answer my question. I need to know."

"Viv, I don't know what you're asking. You're not making any sense."

"Damn it, quit being so calm! I just want to know where you go, and what you do when you're not here at the inn."

"Please stop shouting. Viv, calm down and talk to me rationally." I realized my voice was too loud, and I was panting like the room was stifling me.

"Fine. I'm calm. Now, tell me who she is."

"Who? What are you talking about?"

"Don't act dumb with me. You're gone from here long enough. I should've known, or at least guessed something was up soon." He got up and walked close to me, and tried to put his arms around me. I wasn't going to let him.

"Viv, I honestly don't know what you are talking about. I have been nothing but faithful with you. Look at you, why would I need another?" Those words were meant to soothe, and the smallest part inside me was already melting, but I winced. I was more afraid than I had been in a long time.

"Just tell me who she is."

"There is no other besides you, and there won't be. How many times do I have to keep saying that until you start believing me?" I looked at his blue eyes, willing them to speak up for him, willing them to tell me the truth. I saw you kiss a blonde. I saw your cocky smile, and the way your eyes looked at her. I turned on my heel and ran back out the door into the woods. He didn't follow me. Maybe he thought I needed to clear my head, or maybe he didn't know what else to do. I felt the grip of fear tightening up against my lungs, filling them until I couldn't breathe.

I threw my cloak off, and changed into a loup-garou. The change was faster than it had been in days, but I didn't notice it, or anything. I ran for a very long time. I ran until the tears stopped streaming from my eyes, and the ground became too dark to see in front of.

Then my head cleared, and I looked around, and I realized something… Shit. I was lost.

The sky was dark and cloudy, and the moon was barely visible. I could hear all the noises of the woods, and they didn't make me any less nervous. My hair bristled on end, and my claws dug into the soft ground. I heard a rustle in the trees behind me, and I leaped against them, but the noise stopped. It was just the wind. This is going to be a long night.

The wild noises forced me to be focused, and think straight. I was suddenly overcome with a sense of deep shame. I was wrong for yelling at Gabriel like that. I should have asked Aunt Persia to interpret my visions with me, instead of acting like a child about it. I should have let Gabriel explain himself, and I shouldn't have run off and gotten lost in the middle of this forsaken retreat.

I howled as loud as I could, so that maybe one of our own could hear it, and come and get me. I tried running back the way I had come from, but the trees all looked the same, and so did the rocks, and the ground. I decided to just stay where I was, afraid to get lost any further.

Ten minutes passed. Then twenty minutes, and finally an hour went by. I worried I would be lost in the park for a very long time. People got lost in these forests all the time, but… they weren't loup-garou.

I took that new confidence with me, as I walked around, smelling for something familiar. Maybe my scent would have lingered on something. The night was pitch-black, and from the way the moon was hanging above me, I knew it was probably midnight already. I could barely see ten feet in front of me, and my eyes were glinting off very little light. The foliage above was making the few rays of moon thin, and I was scared that pretty soon I would be all the way enveloped in darkness.

Then my hearing picked up another sound behind me. I crouched down low, ready to spring at whatever was behind me, but then got second thoughts about that plan, and decided to make a run for it. The thing behind me caught up easily, and the small amount of light reflecting off of it was twisting it into all kinds of unfamiliar shapes. I wasn't thinking straight. Whatever it was was chasing me, and I had to lose it, or kill it. I stopped suddenly, and turned to face this creature of the night head on.

It growled, and I bared my teeth at it. I'm not going to lose to you. I was about to pounce when a breeze blew in my direction. The scent caused my throat to close up. I should've known. I walked over to the shape hesitantly, trying to find it scent. The dark was hiding him, so I couldn't have known. But a ray of moonlight shone off of his blue eyes, and I was ashamed all over again.

I stepped back, and half changed. "Gabriel?" He growled and leapt towards me, sinking his teeth into the scruff at the back of my neck. I was shocked, so I changed back into a loup-garou immediately. What's going on? He nudged me hard on my ribs and started running north. I followed him, easily catching up and running to his side. We kept up a ferocious speed until I could see the edge of the forest, and the inn a little off in the distance. Gabriel stopped and looked back, making sure nothing was following us out. I was vaguely aware of being still in my loup-garou form, and the inn being very busy this time of the summer.

My robe was still strewn across the floor, and I picked it up as I ran back towards the inn. Gabriel grabbed my hand and held it as we climbed the stairs back up to our room. Finally, he closed the door, and looked at me. I was afraid he was going to hit me or something, the way he was trembling. But he grabbed me by the arms and pulled me against his burning chest. "Don't you ever, ever do that to me again." For once I was at a loss for words.

"I'm so stupid" I mumbled, burying my face in his neck.

"No, you were scared. I can understand that. What I can't understand is why you would run out into that reserve, at this time of the night. Vivian, we're not the only creatures out here. There was something else out there with us, and it was tracking you down." I felt my skin crawl.

"I just, I saw you… with a blonde, and I thought…"

"I know. But that blonde was … I've already talked to you about her."

"You mean, she's …" I felt my cheeks turn hot. The blonde was Gabriel's first love, the one he killed, just like I could've killed Aiden. "I'm so stupid."

"No, you're not. I don't know what I would have done if I were you. You were brave for handling it the way you did. I just wish I could prove to you there will never be any other." I looked up into his blue eyes, letting myself get lost in them.

"You already have." I kissed him, and bit his lips, and apologized and thanked him all in one kiss.

The next morning it was incredibly difficult to get up off of bed, so I decided I just wasn't going to. Gabriel was still sleeping next to me. I looked at his face, and watched him breathing deeply. And I knew I would never have to be afraid of him being unfaithful ever again. I looked at the ceiling, where we had started to paint a sky scene. You could barely see them in the morning, but there were tiny glow in the dark points hidden in the painted clouds, that looked exactly like stars when the lights were off.

I stroked his face lightly, not wanting to wake him up, and got closer to his side, smelling his scent, and feeling his calm heartbeat next to mine. I let myself fall asleep in his arms again. That is… until someone barged in to our room.

"Wake up you two. There are some people downstairs to see you."