"Alice!" I exclaimed when I discovered her perched on my bed. I almost jumped out of my skin.
"What do you think you're doing?" she said, a frown on her face. I didn't understand why she was looking at me like a disapproving mother.
"Um, I was about to get dressed for Skye's party," I said warily.
"I know. I found these lying on your bed." She was holding a pair of jeans between her thumb and her forefinger, away from her body like they were contaminated. "Skye told me what your idea of dressing up is."
"What's wrong with jeans?" I said. "I'll be wearing a nice shirt."
She rolled her eyes. "I thought you, of all wolves, would have a little sense-"
She stopped mid-sentence and smiled one of the most frightening smiles I'd ever seen. She held up a hanger with a plastic clothes bag on it.
"Oh no," I said, backing away.
"Oh yes!" the devil pixie said, stalking towards me.
Several swear words later…
"Ow!" I exclaimed for the thousandth time as Alice pricked me again.
"Stop being such a puppy," she said, holding fifty of the little demons in her mouth.
She made me put on a button up shirt that was the same color as Skye's eyes. Also a pair of dress pants and the most expensive looking shoes I'd ever seen. I drew the line at a tie.
Alice had muttered something that sounded like "Just wait until your wedding".
She then proceeded to pin the shirt in because she forgot I was a bit smaller than Jacob and the others, and I was ready.
"Thanks, I guess," I called after her as she zoomed off in her yellow Porsche.
I drove up the Cullens' long driveway in my old white pickup. Collin and Brady were in the backseat complaining about the stench. I had forced them to come to the "bloodsuckers' lair" and now they were giving me hell about it. I told the both of them to shut it.
The outside of the vampires' house looked the same as always. No extravagant decorations or anything. So far so good.
We walked through the door and in an instant Alice was by my side, checking over my clothes.
"Good, you didn't get anything dirty," she said.
"I knew you'd bite my head off if I did," I replied. Alice just laughed her tinkling laugh.
"Since the weather is so nice tonight, we're having the party out in the back yard," she told us.
"Gee, Alice, I wonder how you knew the weather would be nice?" I joked. She tapped her head and zoomed off.
As Collin, Brady, and I stepped out into the Cullen's expansive yard, my mouth dropped open.
A large canopy tent had been erected and was lit by blue and green lanterns. Elegant streamers hung from the ceiling of the canopy and many other surfaces. Delicate flowers were arranged artfully. The color was in a theme of light green, sky blue, and white. Everyone was dressed formally as I was.
"Okay, everyone's here!" Nessie called out excitedly.
"Alice is bringing Skye down right now," Bella told her.
Fireflies lit the night around us and soft music came from the piano in the corner where Edward played.
Collin made a beeline for the buffet table to join Jake and Embry who were shoveling food into their faces.
Brady went over to a group of girls from Skye's school, probably to start flirting. I didn't know any of them since school let out before I arrived.
Quil was with Claire over by the door, his arms wrapped around her shoulders. Claire was wearing a chocolate dress that was a little tight around her middle. I wondered why Alice let her get away with that.
Suddenly my attention was focused on the miracle that walked through the doorway.
Skye was absolutely radiant. Her face was glowing with a brilliant smile. She had on a sky blue knee-length dress that fit her perfectly.
She was wearing her dark hair in a braided knot on the top of her head. Silver jewelry seemed to make her shine ever brighter. Her dazzling dark green eyes searched all the guests until they locked on mine.
I walked up to Skye and Seth squeezed past me, grabbing his daughter in a tight bear hug. Smooth, Seth.
"Dad," she laughed. "You're going to mess up my dress."
"Oh yeah. Wouldn't want the evil little vampire to murder me."
Everyone started out towards the dance floor as a graceful song came on over the sound system.
"Would you honor me with the first dance?" I asked Skye as elegantly as I could. She nodded and put her hand on my arm.
We started swaying gently around the other couples. I kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear, "You look beautiful tonight."
She blushed.
After several dances with me and others, Skye came over to me at the snack table.
"Come on. I need to tell you something," she told me. I took her hand and we went out into the shadows of the forest.
It was a clear night and the stars shined clearly through the overhead branches.
"Will you phase, please?" Skye asked.
"How can you ride with a dress on?" I replied.
She rolled the blue material up to reveal jean shorts underneath. Clearly she'd planned this beforehand.
"Where are we going? This is your party. We'll be missed." I told her.
"Alice knows about this," she said. "Can we go to the cliffs in La Push? I know it's kind of far."
I nodded, unable to resist my imprint anyway.
As I changed, Skye called, "I'll carry your clothes."
Good thing too, or else she would've been talking to a wolf all night.
She climbed up, wedged my clothes between her stomach and my back, and we were off. There was blessed silence in my head, since the rest of the pack was back at the party.
A jolt of adrenaline raced through me when I felt Skye whisper, "You looked really good in your new clothes." Her breath in my ear sent shivers down my spine.
Soon, we arrived at the cliffs. The full moon was a yellowish color and seemed huge tonight.
I let Skye off and went to phase. When I came back, my heart was beating a thousand miles a minute.
It was unusually still. Hardly any wind was coming off the ocean. Skye was sitting on the ground facing the moon.
I had thought she looked beautiful before, but in this light she was unlike anything in the universe. If there was a scene I'd ever want to paint, it was Skye's profile as she gazed upward. I'd never do it justice.
I sat down and gathered her in my arms. Her hair had come loose and was waving softly in the gentle breeze. I moved my fingers over her smooth cheek as I waited for her to speak.
"You know I love you, right?" I said quietly when she remained silent.
A tiny crystalline tear streaked down Skye's face and her lips trembled.
"I don't know if you will, after this," she whispered, in a tone that brought agony to my heart.
"If you've ever believed anything I have said, believe this," I told her with firm and gentle conviction. "I will love you even after the heavens have faded away. You are my whole existence, my entire reason for living. Neither the seen nor unseen could keep me away from you from you for long."
I felt Skye start shaking though no sobs came out.
"I can't live without you," she said. "I love you, Daniel."
It was the first time she'd ever said that to me. I was so filled with joy, knowing that this perfect angel was for me!
I kissed her, conveying all my feelings through that touch. Skye broke off.
"Dan, there's still something I need to tell you."
She put her trembling hand on my cheek. It was so cold.
"I'm a half vampire," Skye whispered.
My mind flew into overdrive. My first thought was one of disbelief. My second, "How could I have not seen it?"
Suddenly all the clues fit together.
Her skin was cold.
Her cinnamon scent only slightly burned my nose.
Her deep green eyes seemed endless compared to a human's.
She wasn't shivering when we were up on that mountaintop.
She was very adept at riding on me.
She'd never eaten in front of me.
I must have been frozen in shock. "Dan?" said Skye worriedly.
"How?" I asked, looking her right in the eye. How could she have kept this from me? Why would she do that?
"First you have to answer my question," she whispered in an anguished tone. "Do you still love me?"
For a moment I'd been looking at a vampire. When she asked me that, I was once more gazing at the girl I loved more than life itself.
"Skye Clearwater, I will always."
She went limp in my arms, crying into my chest with tears of joy.
I pressed my lips against her hair and we stayed that way until she'd calmed down.
"Want to explain now, love?" I said, trying out a new term. It didn't sound as awkward as I thought it would.
She sighed. "It's complicated."
"I have all night."
"Well, do you know anything about Dad's past?"
"Um, no not really…"
"Okay, then I'll just start at the beginning."
"When Seth was nineteen years old, he met Mai. She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. She was a Japanese exchange student at the University of Alaska, where Seth was a sophomore and she was a freshman.
Seth was in love with Mai, but she didn't love him. He couldn't figure out why, and she refused to tell him.
"Finally, one day he decided to confront her. Seth followed her scent through the woods, puzzled as to why she was out there. He caught her hunting.
"She turned on him and attacked. Of course, he phased. It only lasted for a few minutes. She fought him and he tried not to hurt her.
"The fight ended when Seth bit Mai on the arm, and it actually bled. He was so shocked that he phased back into his human form. They both calmed down and everything was explained.
"Mai's mother had died giving birth to her, as in other cases with half-vampires. Her father was unknown. She lived with her mother's family in Japan, but could not stand to be around them. As soon as she graduated high school, she moved to America.
"Seth, in turn, told her all about the pack, the Cullens, everything. He again told her that he loved her, and this time she admitted to loving him in return. She confessed that she had stayed away from him to protect him from what she was.
"Eventually after college, they were engaged. Everything was going perfectly. Since Nessie and Jake's union had preceded theirs, the elders had no issues with it.
"Two weeks before the wedding, Jared's cousin came to town for a visit. Dana was pretty, but normal. Seth took one look at her, and imprinted. "
"What?" I yelped. "I thought he had imprinted on Mai!"
"So had everyone else, including Seth. He had been so in love with Mai and had showed all the symptoms of imprinting. At first, everyone thought something had gone wrong and he had imprinted twice. Turns out he had not.
"The engagement was broken and a new date was set for Dana and Seth to be married. Mai left town heartbroken. Seth felt enormous, unimaginable guilt for what he'd done.
"Mai reassured him that it was not his fault, and despite it all she still loved him. She never became bitter, as Leah had.
"Nine months later, Mai arrived on Seth's doorstep, carrying me in her arms. She handed me to Seth, said "I love you," and disappeared into the forest. She was never heard from again. I assume she's dead."
"So you're the daughter of a half-vampire?" I asked.
"Yes, but I have all the same traits as any other half-blood, except for one thing. Carlisle has puzzled over it for some time. I mature at a normal human rate. I look sixteen because I am sixteen. Yet Carlisle has reassured me that I carry the gene for immortality. I will stop aging at seventeen or eighteen."
"Yes!!" I jumped up, excitedly.
"Dan, have you been worrying about that?"
"No, darling. Not a whole lot," I said, sitting back down and wrapping my arms around her.
Skye sighed contentedly.
"What happened to Dana?" I asked.
"Car accident," she said swiftly.
"Oh," I replied.
"Dan?"
"Yes, love?"
"Do you promise to stay with me forever?"
"Until the end of eternity."