A/N: Ok, so it's been like weeks or something since I last posted. My bad guys... kind of hit a writer's block.
Chapter Thirteen: One drink, two drink...
Bracken slid the glasses across the table to each of the vampires; Bella looked down at her shot glass nervously. Edward lent down to grab her glass when Emmett stopped him "no chance bro, she's in it with us", Bella nodded her head "Emmett's right Edward, I need to do this with you all". Edward sighed and sat back in his seat as Bracken looked around "right, drinking game. We're playing I never, the rules are really simple and it's great to get to know everyone. Everyone takes it in turns to say something that they haven't done, everyone who has done it then has to take a shot...get it?", everyone nodded and Bracken went first "I never sucked a guy off". Everyone except the guys and Bella took a drink; Emmett laughed "well as expected. Ok my turn...I never fucked anyone outside", everyone except Bella took a drink. The game went on for a few hours; everyone had drunk plenty and were well on their way to tipsy. Bella on the other hand hadn't drunk that much so she was still pretty level headed. Edward could see what Bracken was doing by coming up with the drinking game and he was very thankful to her for it.
Emmett had grabbed some bigger glasses and filled them up, pushing the empty shot glasses away. Everyone had grabbed a glass each and sat back in their seats to relax, Emmett thought or a minute and then spoke quietly "So...you were made to work in that joint". Bracken looked down and quietly replied "yeah I was...when I was 11 wolf years, 111 in human years. We had moved to Seattle for a while and Callum decided that I was old enough to earn my keep. After watching me defend myself against my 3 older brothers, Callum learnt that I was a very good fighter. I spent two decades fighting in that place before we had to move again; I had more injuries in those two decades than ten humans in their entire lifetimes". Everyone watched Bracken as she looked down, everyone knew Emmett had gone too far but they were glad someone asked her. Bracken took a deep breath and carried on "to be honest I was more willing to work there than my other jobs", Alice looked at Bracken in confusion "other jobs?" Bracken nodded "Callum decided that I was not good for the normal female roles, I was not allowed to carry out male roles so callum had to find some other way for me to be useful". Bella knew where this was going from the vision Bracken showed of her past but asked anyway "what way did he find for you to be useful?", Bracken sighed "well...we had a lot of males in our pack".
Bracken stood and paced the room as she continued "a female role in the pack is to look after the young ones, to cook and clean and basically look after the home. The male's role is to provide and protect the pack and basically rule over the females." Bracken paused to look at everyone before carrying on, "Callum decided that the males had needs that I could take care of, even as a young cub. The males paid a price and got some time alone with me, no questions asked, no one stopped them. I was left torn and bruised but no one was allowed to do anything to help me. Anastasia and grandpapa decided that I needed to be raised differently from the other girls, I was raised to think and act more like a boy so that I could be better prepared mentally to protect myself from the horrible attacks". The young vampires watched as Bracken sat and poured a glass of vodka and blood, looking into the glass she took a sip before talking again "I was taught to fight, to hold my head high no matter what and to believe I was someone of importance. I was taken away from the normal lesions a girl cub would learn, things like cooking and cleaning, dress making and raising young. I was taught to think and act with courage and to believe in my choices even though no one else might. By the age of 10 werewolf years I was exactly what my grandpapa had raised me to be...but then he died, right before we had to leave Russia. Bracken spoke quietly, she knew she had to make them understand better "close your eyes"; everyone did as they were told. Bracken took a long drink before closing her eyes as well.
Russia, 1900:
The door to Bracken's room creaked as it was opened, Bracken didn't even look up. "Father wants you in the library, now" Romulus said from the doorway, Bracken sighed and nodded as her brother left the room. Bracken took a deep breath and stood up; she walked down the corridor to the library with her head held high like she had been told hundreds of times before. Bracken knocked once on the library door and opened it slowly, walking in she saw that there was only Francis, her uncle, stood by the window. Bracken looked over her shoulder as she heard the door shut and looked back at the man who was her uncle; he looked at Bracken not as a niece, but as a piece of meat. Bracken stood still as Francis strode slowly to her, she knew better than to move or even to try and fight him off. No matter how much it hurt her she knew it would be worse if she put up any kind of resistance; Frank stood over Bracken and smirked. He lent down and spoke in a quiet, threatening tone "clothes off. Now" Bracken nodded and removed her clothes, she knew he wouldn't want to leave any trace of blood. It went on for a long time...as usual, and bracken was bloodied and sore. No matter how much it hurt her or how bloodied she got, she never cried. Never showed them how bad it was, she always kept her head up.
As she walked quietly to her room and got into the bathroom, her body felt like it had been ripped apart. She stepped into the shower; the hot water loosened her aching muscles. Bracken stepped out of the shower and dried herself off, dressing in her night clothes and walking into her bedroom. Anastasia was sat on Bracken's bed waiting for her. Bracken looked down and nodded sadly, knowing her mother had come in here to see how she was. Anastasia walked to her daughter and hooked her finger under Bracken's chin, lifting her face up. "Bracken, remember what your grandpapa says. Never let your head drop, always keep it up" Anastasia whispered to her broken daughter. Bracken nodded to her mother and gave her a small smile; Anastasia tucked her daughter in bed and left the room quietly. Pulling the door closed nearly all the way, Anastasia sighed and wiped a tear from her eyes. Her only daughter, her little girl, was being sold to other pack males by her own father. Anastasia hated herself, there was nothing her or her father could do to stop it, Callum was the pack leader and no one could challenge his decision. She walked slowly to the master bedroom, knowing her husband was waiting for her to service him. Anastasia sighed as she approached the door, as her hand rested on the door handle, she thought of her mate...her true mate. A wolf who was not her husband, but that choice was taken away from her a long time ago. As Anastasia opened the door and walked in, she failed to notice Bracken watching her from the shadows.
Prestant day:
Everyone opened their eyes and stared at Bracken in shock; Bracken nodded and downed the last of her drink. "Kind of fucked up right?" Bracken asked with a bitter laugh, everyone nodded, unsure of what to say. Bracken poured everyone another drink and lifted hers, "It's in the past, and it was another life. The Bracken I am now is nothing like the Bracken I had to be then. Now I have a loving family, a mate who completes me and every chance in life now my curse has been lifted. I don't have to do any of that stuff ever again; life can be very sweet for me". Everyone knew what Bracken was saying, they were celebrating her new life and the last thing she needed was for them to put a downer on it by being sad for things that happened in the past. Everyone cheered up and started partying, putting everything they had seen behind them and enjoying the music now blasting from the stereo. The boys and Bracken were sat on the sofa's talking and laughing while the girls were by the stereo dancing. Alice looked over and saw Bracken watching her, Alice smiled, knowing that this was the end of one chapter and the start of another... for both Bracken and herself.
A/N2: ok so who noticed the end of chapter reference? I know this is a bit short; it's only 3 pages in word2007. It's kind of a filler chapter really, linking the end of the Bracken the street fighter chapters and on to the next big bad whatever. Plus now were going to spend more time seeing Bracken adjusting to Cullen life instead of it all being about Bracken being abused. There's more action and I want to get into it...and I wanna bring Jake in soon so I need to get on with it. Gonna update sooner. I promise