Sunrise

Chapter 3: Heaven Forbid

Heaven Forbid: The Fray. (this song doesn't fit the chapter, but it does fit the story. I couldn't find a song for this chapter. I searched for like an hour!)

Ugh. I want my books from Amazon. I want them NOW. Gr.

Sry, I'm a bit on the impatient side. Now, if anyone thought I was contradicting anyone when I said, "freaks of nature" in a chapter in moonrise, I didn't mean anything by it. It's an inside joke with my friends ABOUT US. We are the freaks of nature. Not other people. Just wanted to clear that up, because I don't want any more PMs threatening my life.

OOO

When I arrived back to the room that I shared with Matthias, I froze. There was a maid in there, and I stood like an idiot in the doorway as she looked at me calmly. She didn't know who I was? What I was? My eyes were still red. Hello?

"Matthias had an assortment of clothes imported for you, from the finest stores in Volterra," she explained, handing me a box with a satin ribbon.

Of course he did. Had I expected any less?

Well, truth be told, I had expected a lot less. I had thought he would treat me badly, maybe call me names. I had expected to throw it right back at him, too. That is, until I learned what his power was.

He was able to control people. I didn't know the mechanics of it, but I did know that normal vampires couldn't accomplish that. I also knew the golden bracelet had something to do with it. I contemplated it all as I got dressed into a pair of designer jeans that Alice would kill for, and a tank top that wasn't too flashy.

I liked the way I looked in the mirror, even if my hair was still wet. Matthias had done good here.

Matthias. I groaned. It seemed everything I said put him into a tantrum. I didn't know what to do. I did know I had to apologize, again. Man, that was becoming a habit.

So I exited my room and stalked angrily down the hallway, glaring at the mosaic tile. Damn Matthias, damn him to the deepest pits of hell.

Of course, I didn't actually feel that way. I was just mad because he kept making me be nice to him. He was turning me soft. Cara Cullen wasn't soft. But I knew I had to apologize. It had been a rather bold question. Rather personal, too. I didn't really have a right to ask him.

I was just about to round a corner when I heard a heated, but quiet argument. Being the nosy person I was, I pressed myself against the wall and listened.

I gasped quietly. One of the voices was Matthias.

"I don't care what you claim, Lucas. Aro didn't want to speak with me. You were lying through your teeth. Why?" he demanded.

"I only wished to speak with the girl." My dead heart constricted. I did not approve of the Lucas dude. I didn't even like him. He seriously freaked me out; the way Matthias had dragged me away from him and glared at the other guard had me shaken.

"Speak with her? Oh, I'm sure that was your intention." There was a loud bang and I felt myself grin. Who punched who?

My question was answered as Matthias rounded the corner, fuming and muttering a few extremely explicit profanities under his breath. As he saw me, he stopped in his tracks, raising his eyes guiltily to mine. "How much did you hear?" he mumbled.

"Enough to know that you punched him," I admitted. He frowned. "Why?" I ordered.

He raised his eyebrows innocently. "Why what?"

I gave an exasperated sigh; he wouldn't budge. He was just as stubborn as I was, so I changed the subject. "Why the awesome clothes?"

He shrugged. "I didn't think you'd want ugly ones." He flashed me a grin. "But it was just a guess."

I mumbled nothing in particular. He grinned.

"I thought you were angry," I said at last as we walked together. I saw him frown in the corner of my eye.

"Yes."

I sighed. One-syllable answers, was it? "I didn't think you'd be angry," I stated. His frown deepened.

"I'm sorry," he said after a while. "You see, I'm not exactly a wonderful person… Cara." I turned to look at him in surprise, feeling a shiver of that darn temptation as he said my name. He hadn't ever let it slip from his lips before, and I felt wave upon wave of satisfaction that he was warming up to me. "I…" He stopped, a frustrated angle to his features. He was at a loss for words, but I smiled anyway. "I wish there was some way to make you trust me, and 'sleeping' with you is definitely not the way to do it."

"Well, I kind of have to trust you, right?" I asked, a grim smile flashing across my face. "I mean, you could tell me to go rip myself to shreds and light myself on fire, and I'd do it."

"But not because you want to," he finished. I nodded reluctantly. I couldn't lie to him—he'd just demand me to tell him the truth. What was the point?

But that got me thinking. I pursed my lips, staring past Matthias towards the opposite wall. My mind didn't register the fact that he waved a hand in front of my face.

"How does your power work?" I asked finally, locking eyes with him. "I mean, what are the restrictions, the complications? What are the pros, and what are the cons?"

He looked away, probably contemplating whether or not he should answer. I figured he'd just change the subject and embarrass me, so when he spoke, I was surprised. "You see that band around your wrist?" he asked, and I nodded. How in the hell could I miss it? "That's how it works. I have to make one of those mentally, and make contact with the person's skin. Vampire or human. You can see why the Volturi keep me," he added bitterly.

I had just been about to question him about that.

"But, a complication and comfort about this gift is, it has to be a direct command," he told me. "I can't use anything where the person could refuse, otherwise it doesn't work properly."

I thought that through. "So, if you say please, or ask a question, I won't have to do anything and everything you demand?"

He smiled grimly, matching my grimace. "But that's just it—It wouldn't be a demand." He sighed. "But other than that, you've pretty much got it."

"My… dad said once that we get our powers from something that happened to us in our human lives. A trait or characteristic, maybe?" I asked hopefully. If Matthias wanted me to trust him, he would have to tell me more about himself.

He frowned again, and this time it was a little more anguished. "I already told you," he said curtly. "I don't remember anything about my human life." At my disappointed expression, his eyes softened. "But," he added, "I've been told that—as a human—I could appear to be exceptionally persuasive."

I nodded. "I've always been bad at making people do what I want. I can always punch them though."

At Matthias's following, slightly nervous laugh, I remembered something. Something vague. It had happened with Jaime, that I remembered, in the school parking lot. "Aw, damn," I hissed, and Matthias looked at me, the expression is his eyes looking as if he wanted to back away… very slowly.

"What?" he asked, his tone wary. Did I really look that upset?

"You were the jerk I punched in the parking lot?" I wailed. He chuckled; I took that as a yes. "B-but, you had blonde hair, then!"

"Yes, a wig," he confided. "It's amazing how itchy those things are."

"Why the hell did you say that to me?" I hissed after I had gotten over the initial shock. His cheeky words as he leaned against the doorframe of my car that day ricocheted through my mind. He frowned.

"I didn't think you would actually punch me. Truth was, I hadn't done my homework. My job was to get you alone so I could either change you or kill you." He averted his eyes at the last comment. "It was an order," he added weakly.

I nodded. I couldn't really hold that against him. He was a guard, which was like the army, I guessed. I mean, if you were ordered to kill someone, you did it. You didn't just stand there and look stupid, insisting that it wasn't humane to kill an innocent bystander.

"I'm sorry I asked you… that," I muttered, back on the subject of my sex-life. It was an extremely uncomfortable subject, but I needed to fix it.

He looked at me, his eyes unreadable, and changed the subject. Again. "Why do you wear that locket all the time?" he demanded (well, sort of). "I mean, I haven't seen you take it off once. Not even when you were in the pond. And it's silver. Aren't you worried about it getting tarnished?"

I shook my head. "When I said goodbye to Jaime—"

"The dog?"

I glared at him. "Jaime," I insisted. "My brother. Werewolf, not a dog. Big difference. Anyway," I continued as he mouthed a Sorry, "When I said goodbye to Jaime, I made him promise not to tell my… family what had happened to me, or what was going to happen."

"Why?"

I sighed. "You interrupt, a lot, don't you?" He nodded with a grin. "Because, twot, they are one protective bunch of vegetarian vampires, and they would rush after me like a pack of Supermans."

"Ah," he approved. "Carry on."

"So, I figured Alice would see me anyway—"

"How?"

I gritted my teeth in frustration. He was doing this on purpose. Stupid, purpose-traitor. "Because," I growled, "she can 'see' things. Like me. She can see what I do." When he nodded, I began again. "So he gave me a few bits of his hair to put in my locket so Alice wouldn't be able to see me—"

"Why wouldn't she be able to see you?" I chanced a glance at him. He was smirking. He may not know the answers, but he was definitely trying to piss me off.

"Alice can't see werewolves because they are our opposite in every way, that's why." His mouth formed a small O of understanding, and I continued with my story. "So, I can't take it off, or I won't have contact with essence of werewolf, and Alice would see me, my family would come running, blah blah blah, and then someone would probably die. Not fun."

"No, not fun at all," he agreed, but I detected a sarcastic tinge to the sentence. "Now that I understand that, I think it's my turn to open up a bit."

I raised a brown brow. "How so?"

"You may… call me Matt."

I blinked before an evil grin sped across my face. "How about… Matty?" I teased.

"No," he said sternly, shaking his head. "Matt."

"Fine," I grumbled. "Why?"

He laughed. "Matthias is so… Greek. It gets annoying sometimes, that's all."

"Does anyone else call you Matt?" I asked; I was curious.

He thought for a moment, looking at me as he leaned against the wall. "Not really," he answered at last. I felt a twinge of satisfaction. "I think the Volturi influenced my name. I think it used to be Matthew when I was human."

"That sucks."

He frowned; I noticed he did that a lot. "I guess."

I shook my head disdainfully. "You, sir, have got to learn what 'sucks' means. Actually, you've got to get your speech up to date on all this new, hip slang." I tried doing my best Gansta imitation. He just looked at me blankly.

"If you were human, I would insist you've had way too much coffee." He smirked. "But since the stuff is vile, I believe that it would be impossible."

I threw my hands up in surrender. "God. You're so formal!" I groaned, stalking away.

He chuckled. "Would you like it better if I was… what do they say? 'From the block'?" I shot a backwards glare at him.

"No. You couldn't pull it off if you wanted to," I challenged. He thought about that, and grabbed my arm, making me face him again.

"You're probably right," he admitted. His breath blew in my face. It was his number one weapon… besides the controlling everything about me thing. "I couldn't pull it off, nah. But…" His smile took a mysterious turn. I tried desperately to keep my face blank.

He leaned in, backing me towards the wall. It hit it and he placed both hands on either side of my head, a glinting in his red eyes.

I knew what his intentions were. Hell, how could I miss it? But I also knew he would respect what I said. So I could stop him if I wanted too… I think.

Truth was, I wasn't ready to kiss him. I was sure I'd be happy once it was done, over. Maybe even pleased. But I was only warming up to him, and kissing led to other things.

"Why did you burn the deer?" I asked quickly. He blinked, once, twice, three times, and the trance was over. He backed away, shaking his head.

"Why do you do that to me?" he growled. I started, pressing myself against the wall.

"Do what?" I asked. I seriously had no idea what he was talking about. Did he mean interrupt him? Or maybe something else?

"Tempt me like that!" he exclaimed. I gave him an incredulous look.

"I tempt you?" I asked in disbelief. "All I did was look at you, twot."

"That's what scares me," he admitted reluctantly. I swallowed. I'd have to be more careful than I'd thought. If he was that entranced by me—when he'd only known me for a grand total of one day (unless you count the stalking me and drowning me thing)—than I'd have to make sure I didn't do anything else to make him want me.

Were vampires just more prone to lustful emotions? Who knew.

"I think I'm going to talk to… um, I have to—"

I sighed, which halted his stream of words. "Will you stop stuttering? I'm not mad at you. Now, tell me why you burned the deer."

He blinked again. "I burned it because even though the Volturi know that you're a… that you don't consume human blood, they are going to try and make you. I heard them talking about it before you came, when I was trying to get you alone. They said that if you're going to be one of them, you'll have to convert to our ways of life. But, again, I didn't really think it was quite fair."

"Matt," I said, and mentally cussed myself out. Stop saying his name, you twot! "Why are you being so nice to me?"

He sighed, a long, drawn our sound. "I'm not entirely sure, but I'll be sure to let you know when I figure it out, homie."

He grinned as he walked away, and I made myself a mental note, shaking my head.

Italian boys and Gansta accents don't mix.

OOO

Okay, okay. 7 pages, that's long enough.

To answer a question:

Mary: Yes, Jasper did tell the Cullens where she went, but that is an outtake that I will post once this is done.

Another thing, if you guys aren't seeing the chemistry between Matty (oops, I mean MATT) and Cara by now, go beat yourself up with frying pan. Okok, not really. But that would make me feel as if I'm not getting the message across, and that would mean I'm a bad writer, so DON"T hit yourself with the frying pan, but don't tell me you don't see it.

PS: not edited, sorry.

Jamie