Storyline: Cassidy Ákil is a seventeen year old girl from Iceland. When she moves to Forks, Washington at the beginning of New Moon, she discovers dark, hidden secrets. But Cassidy has a secret of her own.
A/N: For those who need an explanation on what is a Loup Garoux, you can of course either Google it (or use any other search engine to find out) or simply rent the movie Blood & Chocolate. For those who are really lazy and don't have time to do either one of those things, Loup Garoux are men that change into wolves - or rather wolves that change into men. They were worshipped throughout Romania, and were the best of man and best of beast. Not monsters, not like werewolves. They were above human kind, the next thing to Gods. They're not like Stephenie Meyer's wolf-people either. They don't change into huge wolves when they reach puberty, they change into ordinary wolves - but they do have superstrength, speed, smell, sight and all of that. That's how Cassidy was able to hear what Carlisle whispered into Bella's ear, and she would have recognized the vampires' smell instantly if she hadn't had a cold. But, on with the story!
P.S. Reviews make me happy :D
Chapter three: Where destiny awaits.
Standing there in my wolf form, I could smell them clearly. The reeking stench of their immortal bodies - alive, but yet dead - almost burnt my nose. They were still staring at me in shock. But Carlisle was the first to recover. Of course. He must be the oldest - the 'father'. Their creator.
"How fascinating!" he said in a stunned, but curious voice. "Very fascinating, indeed. A werewolf?" he mused.
I rolled my eyes at him. Werewolves changed into horrifying beasts at a full moon and drewled all over the place. To think I was a werewolf was.. well, an insult. The moment I rolled my eyes, Emmett relaxed his tense position and his booming laughter echoed through the big house.
I held up my paw in a gesture to say 'Stay here, I'll be right back'. And then I collected my clothes together and ran into the bathroom, still fourlegged. I changed back to my human body and put my clothes on. They were a bit torn - the flaw of having claws - but didn't reveal anything they shouldn't so I walked back into the living room.
When I came back, Carlisle told Rose and Emmett to take Jasper outside. He still had his teeth bared and that wild look was still in his eyes. Edward hadn't relaxed a bit, and his face was even whiter than usual. And that was something for a guy who had chalky white skin. I could tell he wasn't breathing. But I wasn't watching him, really. I was watching Carlisle. Everyone else in the room had stopped breathing, but Carlisle acted like he was just human. The smell of human blood hadn't affected him the least.
"How do you do that?" I asked him.
"Shouldn't I be the one asking questions?" He smiled.
"Probably. But I'm curious. Why doesn't human blood affect you?"
"Oh, it does. But I have had centuries of practice. I'm a doctor, Cassidy. I deal with the scent of human blood every single day." While he talked, he walked over to Bella and knelt down beside her, closely examining her bleeding arm.
"Here, Carlisle." Alice said, handing him a towel.
He shook his head. "Too much glass in the wound." Carlisle reached over and ripped a long, thin scrap from the bottom of the white tablecloth. He twisted it around Bella's arm above te elbow to forma tourniquet. She seemed to be dizzy.
"Bella," Carlisle said softly. "Do you want me to drive you to the hospital, or would you like me to take care of it here?"
"Here, please," she whispered.
"I'll get your bag," Alice said to Carlisle.
"Let's take her to the kitchen table," Carlisle said to Edward.
Edward lifted her effortlessly, while Carlisle kept the pressure steady on her arm and they carried her to the kitchen table. Edward's face was still grave. I followed them into the kitchen where Alice stood. Carlisle black bag was already on the table. Edward put Bella gently into a chair, and Carlisle pulled up another. He started picking glass from the wound at once. Edward stood there, still as a statue, hovering protectively, still not breathing.
"Just go, Edward," Bella sighed.
"I can handle it," he insisted, but his jaw was rigid; his eyes burned with clear thirst and I felt the urge to throw myself onto him, to keep him away from Bella. To protect her. I sighed internally. My heritage was both a blessing and a burden.
"You don't need to be a hero," Bella said, and for a second I thought she was talking to me, but she was looking at Edward with eyes full of love and sympathy. The guy wanted to freaking drain her body and she was all sympathetic. Alice was right. There was a glitch in her brain. I suddenly wondered what I myself was still doing here. "Carlisle can fix me up without your help. Get some fresh air." She winced as Carlisle started stiching her arm together.
"I'll stay," Edward said in a hard voice.
"Why are you so masochistic?" Bella mumbled.
"Edward, you may as well go find Jasper before he gets too far. I'm sure he's upset himself, and I doubt he'll listen to anyone but you right now," Carlisle said.
"Yes," Bella eagerly agreed. "Go find Jasper."
"You might as well do something useful," Alice added.
I felt like I had to say something too. "Yeah, go help your brother. If the rest of your family over here try to eat Bella, I'll just kick their ass." I smirked confidently. Carlisle shot me a nervous glance and my grin grew wider.
Edward's eyes narrowed as we ganged up on him, but, finally, he nodded once and sprinted smoothly through the kitchen's back door. Alice disappeared out the kitchen doorway, too, after a moment. I didn't blame her. The scent of Bella's blood was stronger than the reeking scent of the bloodsuckers. I decided to follow Alice. There was no use for me in the kitchen, at least not doctorwise.
I found Alice outside on the steps, curled up in a ball. I was sure she would be crying if she were human.
"Alice?" I whispered. She just nodded. "This isn't your fault." A voice in my head asked me why the hell I was comforting a vampire, but I shut it up. Vampire or not, Alice was the nicest person I'd met in Forks. She was my friend, and I wasn't going to let her suffer for what she was. I knew how it felt to carry that burden.
"Yes, it is," she sobbed. "If I hadn't planned this stupid birthday party, none of this would have happened. Do you know what I saw in my vision? He wants us to leave!"
I was confused. "Wait, vision? Who wants you to leave?"
She cleared her throat and looked up at me. I sat down beside her.
"Some of us vampires have special powers. Not like superstrength or speed or none of that. Something else. We don't really know why. I can see the future, Edward can read minds and Jasper can control your emotions."
Well, that explained his behavior. "So, in this vision, what did you see?" I asked her.
"Edward. Us. All of us. The Cullens, leaving, never returning." She smiled a tiny smile. "That's why I wanted to get to know you, you know. I saw a vision of the two of us as best friends. Rosalie was so pissed at me about it. She's scared that Edward and me will reveal our secret, with all our mingling with the humans. But I knew you were something more, though I couldn't put my finger on what. Now I know."
"But.. why do you have to leave?" I felt cold, but it wasn't the weather.
"Because my stupid, stubborn brother wants us to. He thinks it's too dangerous for us to be here anymore, to be in Forks, to be near Bella. He tried it when he first met her you know. He left... But he came back. He couldn't stay away from her. He loves her, and he's going to leave her! I would never leave Jasper." She sounded really angry at Edward.
I groaned. "Ugh, this is so the story of my life. Yeah, move to America, meet new friends your first day there, they turn out to be vampires and they're gonna leave. Typical." I shook my head. "If you leave.. you'll keep in touch, right? Like emails and stuff?"
"Not if Edward can help it. It's really annoying to have him read my mind all the time. There are no secrets. It's so unfair, because we can't read his mind back."
I thought about that for a moment, then decided I didn't like Edward very much. "What a dick."
Alice raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"
"Edward. Thinks he can just do whatever he wants, control you guys like that? Break Bella's heart? I can see the way she looks at him. She'll be devastated. Not that I understand why the hell she loves him - he's a stupid, overprotective dick."
Alice nodded, thoughtful. "You're right. He is a dick. But.. he's still my brother."
"Yeah, I know the feeling. My brother, Alec, is like Emmett but with Edward's personality. Only funnier."
"Lucky you." She laughed. I joined in.
"What's so funny?" A velvety voice asked behind us. I turned around to find the gorgeous blonde named Rosalie, standing on the steps beside us. She sat down so that I was in the middle of her and Alice.
"Cassidy has a brother who's like a combination of Emmett and Edward. Poor girl." Alice shook her head in mock sympathy.
Rosalie smiled. "Yes, I can see how that would be amusing."
"How's Jasper?" Alice asked, her voice suddenly anxious.
"He's calmed down a bit, but he's very upset with himself."
Alice sighed. "I'm pretty sure Bella will never let me plan her birthday again. This gives her one more reason to hate it, besides the getting older thing."
I raised one eyebrow. "What, she doesn't want to turn eighteen?"
"No," Alice said, and she seemed to be debating on something. After a moment, she added in a quiet voice, "Bella wants to become a vampire."
"She knows? I thought that was against your law." I was stunned. She knew and she was okay with it? She wanted to become a monster? This made it final, there was a glitch in her brain.
"Yeah," she sighed. "Bella is strange in many ways."
"But.. how can someone want that? I mean, I get the whole superstrength and speed and inhuman beauty and all, but.. she wants to become a monster?" I shook my head, trying to make reason of this new information.
"Bella doesn't see it that way," Rosalie said in a cold voice. "She's so humanly blind. I envy her. She can live her life normally, get married, have kids. Have a future. And yet she chooses to become stuck in the past. A shadow of the person she once was, wandering around for an eternity." I had the feeling Rosalie wasn't talking about Bella anymore.
Alice rolled her eyes in a 'tell-me-about-it'-way. "Being a vampire is so overrated. Werewolves are way cooler."
This time, I was the one to roll my eyes. "I am not a werewolf. I'm a Loup Garoux."
"A what?"
"A Loup Garoux. The best of man, the best of wolf. Not a werewolf, a human that changes into a wolf, but a wolf that changes into a human. And we don't need a full moon to do it. We don't get bitten either, it's in our blood. Our heritage. Well, that's a short explanation, anyway."
"Loo Garoo?" Alice repeated. "How do you spell that?"
"L-o-u-p G-a-r-o-u-x. Loup Garoux."
"Huh. I've never heard about Loup Garoux before... So you're like wolf shapeshifters then?"
"I guess."
"But how does that work? Are everyone in your family elle-gees then?"
"LG's? Hm, no. Well, everyone in my father's family are. My mother is a totally human. Me and my brother, Alec, we're both wolves."
"Cool."
"Yeah.."
We sat there in silence for a moment. I heard soft footsteps on the wet ground and looked up. I probably wouldn't have heard Edward coming if I were human, his walk was so quiet. But, since I was a Loup Garoux with superhearing, I did.
"Is Jazz okay?" Alice asked, looking at Edward with hopeful eyes.
"Yes." Edward's jaw was tight. "But he's not the one I'm worried about. Excuse me."
I stood up so that he could walk up the stairs to the house. I wondered why he hadn't just used the back door again.
I sat down on the steps in between Alice and Rosalie again, and sighed.
"What is his problem? Everybody makes mistakes." I turned my head to look at Rosalie. "It's not like he's perfect, like he's never lost control! We've all done it, except Carlisle."
"Done what?" I asked the beautiful blonde.
"Attacked a human. Even Esme has done it. If anyone's close to perfect, it's me. I only killed my murderer."
I raised my eyebrows. "Murderer? I thought Carlisle'd changed you."
Rosalie smiled. "Carlisle only changes people that are nearly dead. He would never waste a life. My fianceé almost killed me, with help from his pathetic friends." She wasn't smiling anymore. "But that is another story, for another time."
I nodded and glanced at the watch on my wrist. "Shoot, I have to go. I was supposed to be home fourty-five minutes ago."
Alice stood up. "I'll get the car."
I shook my head. "No, don't worry 'bout it. I'll just run home. You go take care of Jasper."
"I'm not going to make you run all the way back to your home, just because of me," a quiet voice said and I looked up to see Emmett and Jasper walking towards us. Alice ran to his side.
Emmett grinned at me. "I'll drive you! Where do you live, anyway?"
"Um.. I'm not really sure what the address is. It's a creepy gray house in a small street to the east of Forks."
Emmett's grin widened. "I know where that is! Typical for you mythical creatures to live in creepy houses."
I rolled my eyes. "Look who's talking. Besides, we're not mythical. We're barely legendary."
"Whatever, goldielocks."
He ran into the garage, and came out the huge door on a even huger red jeep.
"Nice ride," I commented.
He was still grinning. "I know."
--
The drive to my new house was loud. We didn't talk much, but Emmett was listening to Eminem all the way there, with the volume at it's highest. Alec came running out the front door, the moment Emmett parked the car in the driveway.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to call you for the last twenty minutes." My overprotective brother was paranoid, as always. "And who the hell is this?"
I got out of the car and Emmett did the same. "Chill, bro. Something came up. This is Emmett, Alice's brother."
Standing there with the two of them on either side of me, I felt extremely small. They were both just so huge.
"Whatever. Let's go, Mom's waiting for you." He tugged on my arm.
"Bye, Emmett. Thanks for the lift. And wish Bella a happy birthday recovery from me," I said with a smile that Emmett returned.
"Will do. See ya, goldielocks." He waved and got into his car. He did it a little too quickly. I felt my hand go a bit numb as Alec tightened his grip on it. A low growl rumbled from his chest. Crap.
"Alec, before you do anything rash, listen to me." But he didn't. Listen to me, that is.
"Vampire," my brother snarled. He tore up the driverseat's door on Emmett's car and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him out.
"Alec, he's not evil!" I shouted, but he wasn't listening to me. He stared at the vampire in front of him with a furious expression, his nostrils flaring voilently.
"Blood-reeking leech." Alec narrowed his eyes and looked at me. "What the hell where you thinking? Getting into a car with a vampire? Have you completely lost your mind?"
I sighed. "Alec, he only drinks animal blood. Look at his eyes if you don't believe me. They're golden, not red. He doesn't feed on humans. He's good. The others are too."
My brother's eyes widened in horror. Oops. "Others?" he repeated. "There are other vampires? How many? We must communicate with the pack instantly!" Ugh. There he went with the pack thing again. Why couldn't they just use the right word for it? Family. Heritage. Not a freaking pack.
Emmett answered his question. "There are seven of us. The Cullens. Carlisle is our leader. Look, man, chill. We don't mean no harm, and besides, we've already made a truce with the other werewolves."
Both mine and Alec's head snapped up as we stared at Emmett. "Other werewolves? We're not werewolves. There are werewolves here, too? What kind of freakshow town is this?"
"Yeah, other werewolves. The Quileute tribe up in La Push were somekind of werewolves. But they're not like evil with a full moon and stuff, they're the 'protectors of humankind' or something." Emmett said, ignoring my other questions.
"So.." Alec began slowly. "Let me get this straight. Seven vampires. A werewolf tribe. And us. Are those the only mythical creatures in this town? Or are there any others we should know about?"
"Hold up. Emmett, what do you mean were somekind of werewolves?"
"There haven't been werewolves in La Push for a long time. I think Ephraim Black was the last one, and Jacob, his grandson, is your age. So I guess it's just us vamps and loups now." He smirked widely.
"Alec? Cassy? What are you kids still doing out there?" My mother was standing in the doorway.
"Shit," I muttered. "Coming, Mom!" I called back to her. "Bye, Emmett. And thanks again for the lift."
"You're welcome, goldielocks." He grinned and got in the car.
I followed Alec, who was already walking up the small pathway to the house.
My mother gave me a warm smile. "Hi, honey. Who was that boy?"
"Emmett, Alice's big brother."
"Oh. Is he cute?"
I groaned. "Mom! Please!"
She rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I sometimes forget that I'm not supposed to ask questions about boy stuff. But I was a teenager too, once, you know."
"Mother," I sighed. "I am fully aware that you were once a teenager too, but even if I thought Emmett was cute I would never date him."
"Yeah, no vampire's gonna get his filthy hands on my lil sis, that's for sure." At some points in my life, I very much wanted to kill my brother. This happened to be one of them.
"Vampire?" my mother asked with wide eyes. Thanks, Alec. Thanks a lot. Now mom was going to be all paranoid for no reason. Great. Freaking fantastic.
"Yes, a vampire. In fact, I think I'll just tell you, since Alec will anyways; there are seven vampires here in Forks and I hung out with every single one of them this afternoon. Happy?" She didn't look very happy.
"Cassidy Joanne Ákil! What will it take for you to get it? Mythical creatures are dangerous!"
"Yeah. Like dad, and me and Alec. We're dangerous too, Angelica!" I snapped, using her first name instead of Mom. "And we can fucking protect ourselves from a couple of vegeterian vampires!"
My mother's face turned a bright shade of red. She wasn't very fond of swearing. Actually, that was an understatement. "Cassidy. Go. Into. Your. Room. Right. Now." she said through her teeth. Even though I was the legendary female wolf shapeshifter, my mother was way scarier. I gritted my teeth and ran up the stairs. I heard my mom mutter something about teenage wolves and their temper. Yeah, she should know. She married one. But I'd inherited my temper from her, not my father. My father had, in a strange way, always reminded me of Tolkien's Gandalf, or Rowling's Dumbledore. Professor-like, wise and leader-ish. Always so calm and collected. He was the Loup Garoux leader. The pack leader. I would have been the next leader. Usually, women ruled the wolves. They were leaders. But my grandmother didn't give birth do a daughter, and my father was such a good leader so he took over when she died. I would never become the leader now. My mother had seen to that.
I slammed my door shut and turned the key to lock it. Then I threw my self onto the bed and let the tears fall. I hated arguing with my mother. I hated being here in Forks. I was supposed to hate vampires. And yet I didn't. I understood them. I sympathyzed with them. But I wanted to go home. I wanted to see my friends again, my family. Hell, I even wanted to see my ex-boyfriends. I wanted to see Iceland. The quiet, intimidating mountains. Black, rocky beaches. The deepblue see, and the endless fields of yellow and green. I had the strangest feeling in my stomach. It was like it was empty. No, not empty. Missing. Like I'd left it back in Iceland. But most of all, I missed my father, Caleb.
A quiet thud on my bedroom window made my head snap up. Alice sat on a tree branch outside of the window. I stood up from the bed, wiping the tears from my eyes, and opened the window.
"Alice? What are you doing here?" I asked the fairy-like vampire.
"I don't know what to do! I don't want to leave Forks! I-I.." she sobbed. She looked at me then and her golden eyes widened. "Cassidy, are you crying? What's wrong?"
"It's just.. I just.. I miss home." I shrugged.
She nodded, frowning at the floor. "I'm going to have that feeling soon, too."
I thought that over for a minute. "But, Alice.. Why do you have to go if Edward leaves?"
She sighed and sat down on my bed. "There's no denying Edward when he gets this stubborn. And we're family, we can't just leave him. We.. I.." She was sobbing again.
I sat down next to her and put my arm around her tiny shoulders. It felt a bit like hugging snow. "Yeah. I'd do the same for Alec. What is there that you don't do for your brother?" I mused.
She just nodded. We sat there for a moment before she sighed quietly and stood up. "I have to go, Jasper needs me."
"Okay. Will I see you tomorrow at school?"
She stared at nothing for a moment with a concentrating expression on her face. Finally, she smiled. "I hope so. Edward's not leaving just yet."
"Alice, when he decides it's time to leave, can you come say goodbye?"
"Of course." She smiled and I smiled back at her. "Goodbye, Cassidy." Then she vanished out my window so fast that human eyes would not have seen the blurry movement. But I did.
I undressed quickly and put on my pajamas. I lay down on my bed and the tears began to stream down my face again, now that Alice was gone. I fell asleep dreaming of another world. A better one. A snowy white one, with quiet, intimidiating mountains, black and rocky beaches, deepblue seas, endless fields of yellow and green and clear blue skies. A kingdom of fire, earth, air and water. Lots and lots of water. My home. Iceland.