Chapter TwentyThree
I run to the wreck and phase back to human form and inspect the damage, the hood is completely crumbled as if she hit a post or something, there's a perfect hole in the windscreen and blood just above it. I move around to look inside there's blood on the steering wheel too and on the deflated airbag. I run round to the other side trying to find any trace of her but there's none then I see her now broken cell phone on the floor. I bend down to retrieve it and see it's shattered beyond repair what's left of it has clearly been crushed by a hand, you can see the indentations of a palm perfectly. There's a drop of blood leading into the trees and I'm filled with dread, my car didn't wrap around a post it wrapped around a vampire and it's followed her in there. "Adrian!" I scream out but there's no response.
I go to phase to track her but I don't have the strength to and it hurts to even try. The last thing I remember is falling to the floor.
I could hear my Dad calling my name as I came around, I knew I was at home it smelt like home. "Riddoc? Can you hear me?" Dad asks and I force my eyes open. He sighs in relief when my eyes meet his and then my Mom comes into view her eyes bloodshot and teary. The room spins and my head pounds, a sharp pain shoots to the back of my head.
"Are you ok honey?" Mom asks
"I think so" I tell her trying to sit up, there's a hideous snapping sound and a red hot pain shoots everywhere. I lie back down and take a few deep breathes. "Did you get em Dad?" I ask and he smiles.
"Yeah we got him"
"Both of them?" I ask
"You got the other one Riddoc, don't you remember?" my mom asks me.
"No there was another, the one that went after Adrian? The one that totalled my car?" I say and they exchange a look "Hasn't she told you this? She hit a vampire with my car I saw the wreck. Where is she? i though Shila was with her" I ask
"She's upstairs, she's ok" Dad tells me
"She is not ok Jacob" Mom snaps at him, she'd called him Jacob instead of Jake I knew it was bad now "She's scared out of her mind, your father! Ordered the boys not to speak to her so they wouldn't tell her something before you did meanwhile your laying down here unconscious while she's freaking out" Mom says drawing in a deep breath.
"I meant that she wasn't hurt" Dad mumbles quietly receiving a scowl from Mom.
"Where's Willow?" I ask noticing her absence "Is she with Adrian?" I ask
"Not exactly" Mom tells me "she's with Brady"
"Is he hurt?" I ask and they exchange that look again.
"Son?" Dad starts carefully "Brady and Kai caught up with the vamp first they caught up to him out by Floyd Johnson's peak, it got rough and Brady got hit pretty bad"
"Is he alright"
"Riddoc he got hit off the top" Dad explains and I feel my body go cold; Floyd's peak was a precipice of rock at the top of a waterfall, and it was really fucking high. "He's unconscious still, I don't know how bad the damage is yet, Kim just got here"
"Do you think Dr Cameron can help?" I ask
"She's gonna do everything she can Sweetie" Mom tells me.
"I wanna see Adrian now" I say trying to sit up, my Mom grabs one shoulder and my Dad grabs the other pushing me back down to the table.
"No!" they both say in unison
"You have to let your ribs set first I don't want you puncturing another organ" Mom tells me
"Another one?" I ask
"You punctured your lung Riddoc then ran four miles on a broken leg with two broken ribs and the inability to properly breathe, you're lucky your alive" Mom scolds me "What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking I love her" I shrug and she rolls her eyes. There's suddenly commotion upstairs. A door slams open then there's running.
"Let go of me!" Adrian screams, there's some more ruckus then I hear Adrian huff it sounds like they're on the stairs. "I'm sorry Shila but you made me do this" she tells him. There's a slight thud closely followed by a bone breaking and Adrian crying out.
"Shit are you ok I told you not to do that" Shila says in a panicked voice.
"You Dick!" she shouts
"Me? you're the one who punched me" Shila complains
"Angel!" I call out to her
"Riddoc!" she shouts back.
"No I'm ordered not to let you in there" Shila says
"Put me down!"
"Shila bring her in please" Dad Finally calls out to them. Shila comes through the door with Adrian under one arm like a football.
"Oh for God's sake Shila put her down" My mom tells him. He doesn't even look to Jake for acknowledgement, Adrian's upright and on her feet in a second. That's the funny thing about my Mom maybe it's because she's the Alpha's wife but the second she tells one of the wolf boys to do something they do it without question even if my Dad had ordered them to do just the opposite.
"Mom? Dad? Could you give us a second?" I ask not taking my eyes off of Adrian. There were purple bruises forming under her eyes probably from the airbag and a large cut on her forehead. Her knees were scrapped and her thigh was bandaged up with what looked like the shredded remains of someone's T-shirt.
Everyone filed out of the room in silence leaving us to our business; we had a lot to discuss. The second the door clicked shut she was across the room and in my arms I bit my lip to try and muffle the grunt of pain but she heard it anyway and pulled away.
"Riddoc I don't understand anything that's happening" she sobs and I brush her hair back from her face.
"I know but I'm going to explain everything ok?" I ask and she nods. "What did you see at the house today?" I ask her.
"Two men, or what I thought were men, but they jumped over the lake like they were on wires or something and you, you crumpled the door handle with your bare hand. They weren't human no one in this house is are they?" she says and I sigh
"That's not true, you are" I say with a small smile but she just glares at me. "We're human at least all but two of us are mostly human anyway"
"Oh good, and which two freaks aren't so much human?" she snaps and I wince at her word choice.
"That would be me and my sister" I tell her and her eyes widen. "Our Father is a shape shifter like the ones in the legends I told you about on our first date. I told you how the magic awakens when our enemies are near? Well the two men you saw at the house they are our enemies and they're not human" I tell her
"Then what are they? Bad shape shifters?" she asks
"No, vampires" I say, she stares at me for a second.
"You've got to be shitting me?" she sighs and I shake my head
"I know it's hard to believe, but you saw the way they moved"
"This is unbelievable. This is jet lag, this is just a horrible horrible nightmare" she says to herself
"No it's not its real and you know it is" I tell her
"Ok if your Dad is a shape shifter or whatever what does that make Ness?" she asks
"My Mom's what we call a vampire hybrid, human mother, Vampire Father"
"Right because that's not a whole new level of messed up"
"It's all very complicated, trust me I had to go over it a thousand times as a child before I finally grasped it, you're not gonna get it in one night. It'll take time, if you're willing to give it. You're not obligated to stay"
"I was just in a car crash, strangled by what I'm now going to guess was a vampire, chased here by two huge wolves and I just found out my boyfriend is a vampire shape shifter hybrid... hybrid! I'm sitting here with you knowing that and you think I want out?" she asks "if I wanted out I wouldn't be anywhere near you" she tells me "Are you alright you look like shit?" she asks and I laugh
"Thanks. And I'm not just your boyfriend for the record"
"What do you mean?" she asks
"Well... you're my imprint" I tell her
"I'm you're what?" she asks narrowing her eyes at me.