Sunrise

Chapter 6: The Red

The Red--Chevelle

Guys, I am so sorry, but updates are going to have to be reduced to once or twice a week. I can't keep updating everyday like I used to. Too much stress now that I'm working on my other book (original, which I am never posted, due to the fact I wish to get it published) and school. So I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait. Don't lose hope, I will finish this story, but Tainted moist likely will be deleted.

Sorry for the wait:

OOO

I lay there, darkness on me, my mind closed. Vague images flitted past my consciousness, strung together into a picture that made no sense. Then there was one that did.

"No, not the locket," I heard my voice say. I sounded breathless. The picture, though, was blurry, fuzzy around the edges. I could only hear voices.

"Why not?" It was Matt. His voice was strained, needy.

"Remember what I told you about Alice?" I asked as the view became more organized and stable. I could see two figures on a bed, the sheets twined with their legs. I realized with a jolt they were au natural.

"Oh," the man figure muttered. It was Matt's voice, but the figure was almost unrecognizable. Almost. His hair was messy and mussed, his body slightly flushed. As to why, I didn't know. His eyes held an emotion I could not decipher, and they were ice blue. Odd.

Then he was kissing the other figure's neck, fingering the topaz pendent connected to the locket. The other arm was around her waist.

"Thank you." I mentally blinked. My voice was coming from the woman's lips. The woman was me? I looked closer. It was.

"Cara," Matt moaned. His voice was far away.

I mumbled his name in consent, but then I felt a shake. The picture began to fade. I didn't want to leave it; It was too nice, too peaceful. "Cara!" Matt's voice was closer this time.

I opened my eyes and saw Matt's face right in front of mine. His now red eyes roamed over my features, my head in his palms. There was no longer silence though. I head something faint.

Bump-bump.

"Cara?" Matt whispered. His voice was no longer concerned, but had an edge. His eyes were hard, angry.

"What?" I asked irritably. I wanted to go back to sleep. And that was when it hit me.

Bump-bump. Sleep.

Vampires didn't sleep.

"What the hell happened?" I sat up, realized I was unclothed, and pulled the sheets up to my chest. Matt just shook his head. "Matt?"

"I've seen you, already, Cara. No need to act so modest." I blushed. Wait… blush? "Well," he said smugly. "At least you remember things."

"What happened?" I repeated more firmly. He gave me a grim, wry smile.

"I don't know, Cara," he said. "Why don't you tell me? All the sudden, after we were… done, you declared you had a headache and passed out. Which absolutely made no sense. I thought maybe it was an aftershock of Jane's torture or something. But then your heart started beating. Explain that."

I just looked at him.

"And you're still human," he commented.

"H-Human?" I stammered. "I can't be! The Volturi!" I was panicking, and Matt could see it. He went to lay a hand on my shoulder, but stopped halfway, his hand dropping.

"Try and change back. I can't touch you like this." His eyes began shifting, and I concentrated on being immortal, vampiric.

Pain flashed before my eyes and I cried out. I doubled over, holding in my chest as the pain rippled down my body. I felt Matt's hand on my shoulder. The pain ebbed before disappearing, and I opened my eyes.

"Well," he said oddly. "I guess that's your power. Not extremely useful, is it?"

"No," I agreed as he pushed me down. He looked at the locket.

"You do realize I'll never get over having to deal with that thing?" He looked up at me, his ice blue eyes piercing.

I grinned and he kissed me.

OOO

It became clear soon enough that the Volturi would not approve. So, we kept our distances, playing the role of lovers only in bed. And you couldn't even call us that. I could care less about his life, and he didn't care about mine. He had explained his reasons for pleasing me many times. And I believed them. Never would I will my life taken for his. Never would I care about his belonging to the Volturi. He had done too much to me.

And yet, we used each other. The two that hated the other's guts, and we used each other for pleasure and sex. Wow. I had never thought I'd stoop so low to my own hellish version of Wuthering Heights. (The title of that book sounded strangely like a Soap Opera. Huh.)

After nearly a year of staying in the city, it just so happened that whenever I was scared or startled, I flashed to my human form, before I was changed. So I kept my head in check around Jane and Lucas. The former scared the shit out of me. What had he wanted to do when Matt had been supposed to speak with Aro? It didn't take a genius to figure it out.

So, as I walked into the bedroom that night, it was no more than a few moments until two arms snaked around my waist, pulling me into a perfectly molded body. I moaned instantly—without thinking, it was so routine. His lips we at my ear as his hand brushed down my arm, as he hitched my leg up.

"God," I muttered, trying to keep my voice steady. "Can't you wait five minutes? You're like a teenager—raging hormones and all."

He chuckled lowly. "You can't be saying you want me to wait. And I am a teenager, last I checked."

His hand caught at my side, and I arched against him. He turned me around so that he could kiss me, and stopped.

"Are you being human again?" he asked randomly.

I blinked. "Um, no."

"But your eyes are green."

I looked at his. It was hard to tell in the dark, but I could faintly see traces of ice. "And yours are blue. What's the problem?" I grabbed the hem of his shirt, but he brushed my hand away.

"What did you say?"

"I said, 'yours are blue,' you twot." I rolled my eyes.

"Blue?" he asked in disbelief, rushing to the mirror. I sighed.

"Isn't it supposed to be the girls who obsess over their appearances?" I scowled at his reflection. "Will you calm down? You're eyes have been blue every time we've had…" I broke off. I could think it, do it, but I couldn't say it.

"Why didn't you say anything?" he growled.

That's when all systems shut down. I felt myself go cold, angry, even hurt. I didn't say anything, I kept my face smooth, but I was sure my fury showed in my eyes. "Why—" he broke off as soon as he saw my face. "Cara—"

"No, no," I said, my voice slightly high. A human wouldn't be able to tell, but Matt did. "You're right. Why didn't I tell you about your eyes?"

He saw the ridiculousness of his statement. "I know. I…"

"What?" I asked. "Are you sorry? Do you apologize? No. You're too much of a man to. I guess I'll see you later."

As I headed to the door, I felt a pressure of my arm. I shook it off. "Cara, I am sorry. It's just… I haven't seen my eyes blue in nearly fifty years!"

"I missed the part where that's my problem." I yanked open the door and stepped out into the dark hallway. I briskly kept walking, and I instantly knew that I could never love him. I had hoped in the past few months, that maybe, just maybe we could be something a little more than lust partners, but I knew it was no longer possible. That one question had brought back everything he had done.

How could I love someone who had tried to kill me? Capture me? Control my every move? It was impossible. I couldn't trust him any longer.

As I collapsed into an empty room, I realized I felt empty. I didn't have anyone I could lean on. I had never needed it before—a shoulder. But, I guess now that I knew that there was no one available, it made me resentful. All my life I had pushed people away, and now I wanted them with me.

I missed my family.

That's what I wanted—a family. People who wouldn't judge me for what or who I was. People who would accept me instead.

And now, now that was something I would never have.

"Lost?"

My head jerked up and I scanned the room. It was a male voice I had heard before, but it wasn't Matt's, Aro's, or even Demetri, who had spoken a few words to me.

My eyes fell on the owner of the voice, and my insides clenched. He was leaning against the door, blocking my exit, a smirk on his face.

I didn't dare say his name out loud. It scared me too much. Scare. The word sent shivers down my spine, and my head ached. I couldn't turn human, I willed myself. Not now. I hadn't seen him in a year. Why now?

What a stupid power I had.

"Lucas," he introduced, holding out his hand. I glanced at it, but did not shake it. He raised his eyebrows and withdrew the thing, shaking it as if it had been burned.

"I know who you are," I said casually. He nodded, as if this fact was already known to him.

"Of course. And why are you here? In the library?"

I didn't answer. Instead I hoisted myself to my feet and caught his eyes. "Please, move," I demanded. He laughed. I hated that laugh. The classical bad-guy laugh. The "I know something you don't know" laugh. I felt my eyes narrow.

"I don't think I will. You see, it's been a long time since I've had the slightest chance of having you alone, to myself. Catching on yet?"

I did catch on, unfortunately. But I stayed silent.

"So, I can't just 'move' and let you go. That's like, say… a shark biting a man in the water and deciding after he's obviously winning that it's no big deal. You can punch all you want, darling. I'm not moving."

"You do realize," I said slowly. "That—" I broke off, realizing everything.

I had been about to say "That I am a newborn." But recently a few things had been changing. My eyes weren't as red. They were changing, turning a rusty color, on their way to gold. I had felt my strength ebbing, my power's becoming more distinguished. I was more able to control myself lately.

He had really done his homework. I hadn't seen him in nearly a year because he was waiting for the opportune moment. He was waiting till I was weaker. And I was. The same dynamics of anatomy for humans applied to vampires. He was a guy, I was a girl. No offense, ladies, but men are stronger than females.

He knew what he was doing. I couldn't stop him.

"Ah, but I think you realize." He gave a quick grin. "Human yet?"

Aw, shit. He knew I changed forms when I experienced human emotions, too. I stayed silent, willing myself to stay a vampire. His grin vanished.

"We can do this the hard way, or the easy way," he sighed. "Either isn't looking great for you."

"And you're not getting either way, dumbass."

And I was right. Men may be stronger, but women were smarter. On so many levels.

His eyes flashed and he lunged at me. Damn! I hadn't been expecting that. I screamed. Loud.

I felt my strength flicker, my eyes began to ache. I slashed my fingers across his face and tiny streams of venom dripped to the floor. He grabbed my arms and flung me against the wall, but in the process he ripped off my locket. Pain and stars exploded behind my eyes. I was definitely human again.

Through the slits my eyes had become, I watched him advance. The locket was a few feet to the left. Maybe I could reach it. No, I had to. I couldn't let my family see me so defenseless.

Determination sparked through me. I felt myself become perfect, stronger, and better. I heaved myself to my feet and performed a roundhouse kick. He stumbled back and I watched him coldly, hands on hips. The perfect feminine, kickass pose.

"Oh, what then?" I asked. It was childish, but I was seriously pissed.

And it was also the worst thing I could possibly do. His red eyes flashed, and he slapped me. I stumbled back. Slap me? What the hell? Okay, that was even more childish an my comment. How cliché.

He grabbed my arm and held me steady, his other hand pulled at my hair. I tried to kick, but I couldn't reach. Oh god, I thought. Please no. Not without my locket.

"Lucas!"

The voice wasn't mine. It wasn't Aro's, Jane's, nor Demetri's.

It was Matt's.

I had never been more relieved to hear it. Never felt more safe. I felt myself being torn away from Lucas and strewn to the floor. And even if I did feel safe, I flickered back to human. I reached for my locket, and as I did so, something flashed to life in my mind.

"I'm losing her," Alice was saying.

"No," Bella yelled. "Please Alice, no!"

Carlisle looked at Edward, whose eyes were anguished. "But we know where she is," he said strangely, reaching out to put his arm around a sobbing, but tearless Bella.

"What do you mean?" Emmett asked. Jasper and Rosalie's eyes flickered to Edward.

"Lucas," Carlisle said, "is a familiar face and name. From what I've gathered, he's part of the Volturi."

"What?" Bella whispered. "She's with the Volturi?"

There was a grim look on Edward's face. "Apparently. And the young man who came to Cara's aid… I've spoken with him before we came to Montana and found Cara. That's why I was so surprised in the parking lot when she punched him. It looks as if he's changed sides."

Bella looked confused. "What—?"

Alice groaned. "Damn. She's gone."

My hand had closed around the locket. And, suddenly, I knew something. Turning human wasn't my only power. I knew things, too. Hunches, I used to call them. Because what I'd just experienced was no vision. No, it was something more accurate. Something that was set in stone, something happening. And what's more, it had not played out like a movie. I just suddenly knew it happened.

I was dimly aware of Matt pinning Lucas to the ground, spitting profanities in his face. I was also aware of my vision coming through long tunnels, blackening.

"Matt?" I chocked out. My throat felt tight. My hands shook.

I knew his head snapped up, that he looked at me, one hand pinning Lucas, the other reaching for me. "Hold on," he whispered, his voice far away.

I didn't hear him. My hand loosened on the locket. "Help me."

Black closed in as my eyes shut.

Man, did I hate the color black.

OOO

This chapter was one of the most important. Took a long time to plan, long time to write,

So, again, sorry for the wait. Julie wrote that little part in the bedroom, I just provided the dialogue. So, kudos to Julie.

Again, she's been with the Volturi with a year. So, think about it. (PS: there's a spider-man quote in here somewhere. See if you can find it.)

Jamie.