After I walked several hundred meters from the beach, chased away from the sun. First off, I had no money to buy a new phone, and I couldn't just up and find a person and ask if I could use their phone during the day. I looked up at the sky, scowling. I wanted a rainy day. Why couldn't the clouds that rained two days ago come now? Hiking through the trees, I tried to think of something, anything. Break into a house and use the phone? If it came down to it, I might have to just do that.
I came to the closest house from where I stayed on the beach and listened carefully. There were several humans moving about at this early hour of the day. I hoped they would be leaving the house soon. Several children and a man eventually left the house. Focusing on the house, I smelled a human still inside. I saw through a window that it was a woman, probably the mother. I frowned when I realized she seemed to be one of those stay-at-home moms. No breaking in, then.
I looked at the shadows leading to the front door, relieved that the sun won't give me away.
Could I really just go up and ask?I wondered, I could say I was hiking and got lost in the night and needed a ride back to the hotel...
With this plan in mind, I went to the house and knocked a few times then waited. The woman answered, and took in my appearance.
"Hello, how can I help you?" she asked, curious.
"May I use your phone? I lost mine and I got stranded in the woods, so I just need to yours, please?" I asked politely.
"Oh no, go ahead, feel free," she said, looking worried and looked outside to assure herself that no one was after me, or something.
"Thanks," I said as she invited me inside and led me to an end table by a couch in the living room. I took the phone off the cradle and dialed the number.
A tri-tone answered me and announced, "I am sorry but this number you are trying to reach is not available and..."
I hung the phone up and tried dialing again, figuring it was wrong. But it couldn't be, I know it's the right number! I'm a vampire for crying out loud. The annoying tri-tone entered my ears again and I gritted my teeth. What's going on? Why is this happening?
I stared at the phone for a long time until a clearing throat disrupted my angry trance.
"Is everything all right? Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked, wringing her hands together nervously.
"Yeah, uh yeah, everything's fine. It's just... I can't reach my family right now for some reason."
"So many misfortunes," she said sadly, "I'm sorry, I wish there was something I could do for you..."
"It's fine, I'll get it sorted out," I said with a tight smile, eventually. Remember, you've waited decades to see them again. Just wait a little longer, I told myself as my impatience wore away at me. I let out a sigh as I put the phone back into the cradle and stood up and made my way to the front door.
"Where are you going?" she demanded. "You should wait here."
"Sorry, ma'am but I need to start looking for my family, I know where I am now, thanks," I lied. "Thank you for letting me use the phone."
"Even though it wasn't of much use..." she said with a grim smile.
"I'll be fine," I assured her then I closed the door.
Well, I guess I'll have to wait it out, I thought with a weary sigh as I reentered the woods. The woman was right, I was having way too much bad luck as of late. Danger magnet... yeah, I totally forgot my status as a person in attracting trouble. Or bad luck in this case.
With another irritated sigh, I broke through the line of trees, back at the beach again, but within the shadows of the palm trees. I was starting to get tired of this place now. My thoughts drifted to the phone calls I tried to make. I knew I dialed it right, my finger had not made a mistake. Did something happen to them? I frowned, trying to think of possible scenarios. One of them was that it had been all an hallucination and my phone never existed. But I knew that couldn't be, vampires didn't hallucinate. Did they run into some trouble and had to cancel their number?
I stood there for awhile, trying to ponder reasons, it was then I heard someone behind me and I spun around, wary of the intruder. Instantly, I knew he was a vampire, my run-in with the Japanese had taught me to always be aware of who was exactly who they were.
"Hello, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," a vampire said, but I didn't relax. For all I knew, he might be tricking me, what with the war and all.
"Who are you? Are you alone?" I demanded, "How did you know I was here?" Then smacked myself mentally. Duh, this island is a small place! He must have smelled me out. "Sorry, don't answer the last question."
He chuckled and nodded, "My name is Leo Micheals, and I'm a nomad, so I'm alone," he said with a shrug as if to say it was nothing impressive. "I thought I'd meet this vampire I've been sensing lately since it's been awhile since I've met one."
I didn't say anything, just studied him. He had medium length hair in black curls, with Italian features on his face. Leo was about a good seven or eight inches taller than me. And of course, pale skin and beautiful, but that didn't take the caution off in my mind.
"So, what's your name?" Leo asked conversationally, pretending not to notice how tensed I was.
"Marie," I stated, watching him. Like with the other two vampires in Washington, I was not about to give my identity away so soon.
"Well, it's nice to meet you then, Marie," Leo said with a relaxing smile, moving closer to me and stopped when I tensed up even further. "I was wondering if you could help me with something?"
"And what's that?" I asked, becoming even more wary.
"I'm actually on a hunt to collect some bounty rewards, have you been keeping up with our world?" he asked, tilting his head as if to wait for my answer.
Bounty? What? Is he after the Cullens? I thought, alarms sounding in my mind.
"Yes... are you after the Cullens?" I ventured to ask and he grinned in answer.
"Yes, can you imagine the awards they will give if we capture even one?" Leo asked. "Fact is, I know the movement of one of them, the mind reader I believe. So, I just need someone to help me out a bit."
Edward? He knows where Edward is? I exclaimed in my head, realizing that he was in danger. Shit, what do I do? I have to wait here in case the coven arrives, but he'll find someone else to get help and get Edward!
"Sure," I said, "I actually have been entertaining the idea of catching one of them to get something from the Volturi. But I couldn't, you know, because I work alone."
Leo nodded in understanding, still smiling, "Yes, I know what you mean. So, will you help me find the mind reader?"
"Yes, I'll help you out," I said with a smile while my mind screamed in protest against the idea of hunting Edward, of all things, like an animal. "So, where is this vampire?"
Leo's grin only grew bigger at my answer then grew serious after contemplating my question.
"In Cuba, I believe," he answered, "and after that, my sources tells me that it'll go to South Africa."
"And how are we getting there?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the sun.
"Easy, with the technology of today, they just never ceases to amaze me," he answered, tossing something onto the beach and it exploded, causing me to jump and hide behind a tree. As the smoke cleared, my jaw dropped at the sight.
It was some sort of an airplane, but not what I was used to. Apparently, I still had a lot of catching up to do.
"What's this? How...?" I asked, stepping around the tree to get a better look.
"It's sort of a combination of helicopter and a jet. Only thing similar to a helicopter is that this jet doesn't need a runway to take off. And as for how I was carrying it, see this?" he said, showing me a pill-shape thing of no bigger than a regular sized medicine. "It's called a capsule, any vehicle, or any gadgets really, can downsize into this pod."
"And I'm assuming only the rich can afford this right now?" I asked studying the purple and blue capsule in his hand.
"For the most part, yes," Leo said, putting it away. "It was invented only ten years ago and went on the market less than a year ago. Shall we take off?"
I looked at the jet again, biting my bottom lip in concern. I wasn't too worried about plane crashes, unless it caught fire of course. I was more worried about what I would do if I finally found Edward and how to protect him. I nodded and followed Leo to the plane.
It was time to find my Edward and save him from Leo.