Chapter 8

Surprise

I raced after Lira who began to pick up her pace. My heart was beating, I could read her memories but they really confused me, which was something that made me even more nervous. I could barely see her long blonde curls rapidly flying behind her. Suddenly she skidded to a halt in a small opening in the forest.

"Lira stop, I don't have time for this just hurry up and tell me what you wanted to tell me" I said quite annoyed now "I have to get going"

"Chris shut up!" she snapped harshly, again there was something in her voice that just made me want to obey.

She let out a shaky sigh "as you know I'm an orphan seeing that my father didn't want me and my mother is dead" she said "but that's all you know, I never told you the real story that I have to tell you now"

I swallowed hard; it felt like I was swallowing razor blades, I didn't like the sound of this.

"A born Werewolf only takes 8 weeks in the womb before being born so when I was born my dad took me in while my mother went back to visit her family" she continued "I grew up under my fathers care, he taught me everything I know, he was a skilled hunter and an amazing fighter so he raised me right"

I didn't know where she was going with this though I didn't like the direction she was taking. Whatever she was getting at I didn't like the direction it was taking.

"My father suddenly started getting nervous when my mother hadn't returned in a long time, see he was imprinted on her and could barely stand to be away from her for this long" Lira had her head hung low and wouldn't dare to look me in the eyes "after a while he began to treat me badly, seeing that it was the only way to get out his nerves. When he got the news that my mother had been killed by Vampires he disowned me and threw me out into the forest to live by myself." She said in a hurt and sour voice "I'm sure you know what happens next" she said quietly

"I don't, I cant see your memories from that point in your life seeing that you where still transforming" I said dryly

"That's not exactly what I meant" she said even softer "I mean you already know the rest of the story, I went searching for the only family I had left, the only one I could count on for help, my mother's younger brother who had only been recently transformed"

"I'm sorry Lira, that we never found him" I said softly

"That's the thing" she said louder "I did find him"

Suddenly I could feel the blood rush out of my face; I couldn't say anything so I let her continue.

"Chris" she said "Olympia is my mother and Terah is my father"

A million things rushed through my mind at that moment but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get my thoughts straight enough to form words. Shock and horror twisted inside of me, I couldn't imagine what my face looked like now.

Lira looked scared but I could barely meet her eyes to make sure.

She took as step forward towards me but I jumped backwards not wanting her to touch me. But that gave me an idea.

I walked unsteadily closer to her, I was surprised I could walk seeing that I couldn't talk.

Lira's face lit up and walked closer towards me as well.

Soon enough I was standing in arms length away from my sister daughter. That speared me through the chest just thinking those two words. For the first time I really looked at Lira. Her blonde hair and flawless skin was defiantly from Terah's side of the family seeing that my family was always dark hair and freckled skin. Nothing about her face reminded me of my sister. But then I remembered something, her personality. If you looked at it from a mental and emotional side they couldn't be more alike. The short temper, the pleasure they both got from causing me physical pain. Ha, I'm surprised I didn't notice it sooner.

"Chris are you alright?" I heard Lira's voice coming from far away. They even sounded alike. I hadn't noticed that I had completely zoned out.

My eyes focused back onto Lira. She smiled as the glazed look my eyes disappeared.

Suddenly I grabbed her by the hand and then it happened again. The overflow of images.

I saw the first time we met, the countless fights with Terah, the moment that I had told her that I was leaving her to find the Cullens. This stuff I had seen before. I dug down deeper to the times she was still in the process of changing. I saw the day that Terah kicked her out of her home, the time that Olympia kissed her goodbye as she left for California to visit us. But then I saw something that disturbed me, I saw a night that was a few nights after I met Lira. She was standing there in a dark part of the woods alone. Suddenly something looked forward from out of the shadows, to my surprise it was Terah that stalked out of the shadows of the trees. She stood there for a moment stiff.

"You know what you need to do" I heard Terah snarl, his deep voice sent shivers up my spine.

Lira nodded but didn't speak.

Terah's bright green eyes had dark shadows underneath them. He glared up at his daughter and then slapped her hard across the cheek.

"You have forgotten the reason that I keep you alive, I want you to help me kill…" Terah snapped before his voice got cut off by the blinding pain in my head again. I managed to rip my hand away from hers and fold onto the ground in pain.

Lira stood there in shock, her mouth was slightly open "When did you learn how to do that?" she asked in sheer horror.

She was just lucky enough that I couldn't bare the pain to see what else happened in that memory.

I looked up at Lira who was still bug eyed from what she saw.

"Its new" I said pulling myself off the forest floor.

Suddenly a look of sheer horror crossed across Lira's face as she looked above into depths of trees.

I looked up to see what she was try to find. Suddenly I found out what.

When I was a kid me and my family used to go on long family drives up to the mountains because my father was a workaholic and was never at home while my mom was always too busy around the house to spend family time with me and my sister who avoided each other as much as possible. Olympia was 12 and at the age where she had just discovered music so she was pushed up against the door as far away from me listening to our cousin's old MP3 player. My parents in the front seat where arguing the age old argument why men don't ask for directions and why women can never read a map properly. I was 8 so everything fascinated me. As we sped across the lonely dusty roads I remember looking at the ground that was running right next to the car. It seemed to me moving at the speed of light compared to the mountains in the distance which seemed like forever until you finally passed one. That was the thing that always fascinated me when I was 8, how things could move so fast right in front of my eyes while others took several minutes till you passed them.

This is how I felt right now. I felt like the massive mountains moving slowly along as everything in front of me seemed to speed along right in front of my eyes.

I saw something speed down from the highest branches of trees and pin me down hard against the floor grasping me tightly around the throat. I couldn't breathe although I wasn't breathing in the first place so it didn't really matter.

The cold breath of someone so familiar bent down a whispered in my ear "and the day finally comes where I get to kill you" the voice whispered.

He allowed me to turn my head to the side. His long blonde hair draped round his flawless face. His sharp green eyes were like knives boring into the back of my skull. Terah. I hadn't seen him in human form since the day that I left their household on my first full moon ever. It was at this point now I realized that Lira had used her paraletic powers on me.

"I can smell the fear on your skin" Terah whispered "That's right you should be frightened"

I shrank back into the ground as far away from Terah as possible. I couldn't imagine how my sister could come to love this thing that wanted to kill me so badly.

"Any last words before I carve you up slowly and painfully?" he said in a mocking voice

I tried to cough out something like 'It wasn't me' or 'this isn't what she would have wanted' although the only thing that could escape from my throat that was still being harshly clamped down on was "why?"

Terah's eyes blazed with fury, this glistening white teeth ground together "why?" he said "I will tell you why!" he yelled and continued to yell stuff in my ears. I wasn't listening, I was too busy looking past Terah to look at his daughter, shivering in fear. Tears welled up in her eyes, something that I rarely saw her do.

Me and Lira had a telepathic connection, not like the shape shifters had but something that human brothers and sisters or twins had. She could read what I was trying to tell her by the way I looked at her. The way I was looking at her how probably told her something like 'you betrayed me' or 'how could you' although the main message I was trying to tell her was something that was completely new to her. I was trying to tell her to help!

"And that's why I have to kill you!" I heard Terah finish up.

I looked back at the face of Terah. His eyes were red but he wasn't crying he was to manly for tears.

He cleared his throat "now after all these years I will finally finish you off" he said bearing his teeth. Terah, someone raised as well as he had with proper training as a Werewolf he could control his powers a whole lot better than I could ever dream of even if I spent years with the Cullen's. Terah's regular square human teeth transformed into his massive Werewolf teeth that where way too big for his human head and his hands grew larger and hairier, growing large sharp talons where his human fingernails used to be. I was surprised that he could hold his head up while these massive fangs where out. He brought his head down, stabbing me in the shoulders, he wanted me to suffer. I screamed out in pain just as Terah slammed his giant Werewolf hands down onto my rib cage which was followed by many unhealthy grinding and snapping sounds. My lungs seared with pain as I lost my breath, unable to scream anymore. He reached out again and tore deep valleys into my skin from my left shoulder to just under my left ear. My vision blurred as another deep surge of pain coursed through my nerves. I honestly thought I was going to die.

I had a moment just as Terah was about to spear me again with his fangs to finish me where everything slowed down and my life stretched before me. This could really be the end for me. I hadn't lived for very long even though I was immortal. My life was pretty meaningless up until recently I mean. Say if Terah had killed me 10 years ago I mean my parents and my sister where already dead, life would go on and my disappearance would be pretty insignificant. Well that was the case until I came to Forks. I had made friends like Jacob and Jasper and the other Cullen's. Not to mention that I had fallen in love with the most amazing girl I could ever imagine. When I had first met Leah I had gone through her memories and I had seen her whole horrible past after the bad break up with Sam. If I died now then I couldn't imagine plunging her back into that depression. That's what gave me the will to live. I felt the inferno rise through my body, the one I always felt when I was about to change on a full moon, for a moment I thought it was possible to change two nights in a row. Terah paused and looked up. There was a sharp growl and then something big leapt out behind me. I couldn't turn around seeing Terah still had his hand clasped around my throat. The thing barked again which made Terah let me go and retreat to his daughters side.

I got used to the fact that I could breathe again and slowly turned around to see a massive Russet wolf bearing his teeth at Terah who stood on defense. It was so far from the next full moon, I was surprised that he appeared tonight considering how weak he would be, but then again so was I. I knew this wolf from many people's memories; even though I had never seen it for myself I knew who it was. Jacob.

Jake snapped and growled, stepped around me and leapt forward at Terah.

Terah was smart, normally he would change seeing that his life was in danger although the full moon was only last night at he wasn't fully recovered…obviously. Terah grabbed Lira harshly and pulled her away into the darkness of the woods. Jake sprang forward about to run after them and finish them once and for all.

My body ached from the attack, my throat burned from the tight hand that used to be around it and my body was still shaking mostly from the shock although partly because of the heat that still roared underneath my skin. I couldn't help but allowing a small whimper of pain to escape no matter how small it was and I knew that Jake had heard.

Jacob turned around and lowered his head next to mine.

I closed my eyes in exhaustion; I was curious although I didn't have the energy to open my eyes. I felt myself being lifted off the ground; I really disliked riding on the Shape shifters backs although I didn't really have a choice. The fire in my body began to settle down as I felt the smooth rhythm of Jakes strides. I knew where he was taking me, he wanted to take me to that vampire doctor Carlisle but there was somewhere else I had to be that was even more important. I opened my eyes as I felt Lira's power wear off. I moved my fingers and then my feet and eventually sat up, winching in pain slightly.

Jake skidded to a halt and tried to look back at me.

"Thanks man" I said in a shaky voice, every word I spoke was agony "you saved me the trouble of jumping off while you were still moving" I leaped off unsteadily crashed onto the floor but then stood up shakily.

Jacob pulled his lip back and growled at me.

"Thanks for saving my life back there" I said warily "but I know you want to take me to Doctor Cullen, and I have to be somewhere else more" I caught my balance and with all the strength I could summon up I began to run the other way.

Jake ran as fast as he could after me but an imitation is no match for the real deal and even in this form and severely hurt, I could still manage to outrun him.