Title: Firebrand in Forks

Summary: There's a newcomer in Forks, a young man with a devil-may-care attitude who might be more intricately connected to the notorious Cullen family than he or anyone else could imagine.

Disclaimer: Lots of these characters aren't mine, but some are… I'm sure you'll know the difference. I don't want to get in trouble in any way for this, so if I make any mistakes, please forgive! :D

Author's Note(s): First off, I wanted to point out that this story is very slightly a cross-over between Twilight and Gilmore Girls. I admit I am totally in love with Jess Mariano's character from Gilmore Girls and take inspiration for him for my character of Damon Arlington. It's not obvious enough to actually list this as a cross-over story, but it might be obvious for followers of Gilmore Girls like me, so I just wanted to point it out and make sure I don't get in trouble for borrowing ideas from different places. I did try my very best to add enough of a twist to the character to make his experiences my own even if all of his characteristics aren't, so I hope that works.

Secondly, this story has more of a drama-base than a fantasy-base to it. To begin with, it's more of just a story about high school students, but as it progresses, I do intend to add the Twilight intrigue that we so love. It still borrows a lot of ideas from Twilight including characters, settings, etc. so I thought it best to include it in the Twilight fanfiction realm. Please read and REVIEW! I love reviews as much as any other author thirsting for some honest critisism of their work!

Chapter One: Midnight Bristling

"Hello?"

"How's my baby doing?" The voice on the other end of the line was overly cheerful to a point of flaw. "Did you find Margaret and Carlos okay at the airport, sweetie?"

"Yeah."

"And you got settled in and everything fine—you took everything you need?"

"Yeah."

"Just let me know if you're missing anything, okay? I'll send it over right away."

"Sure."

"So, come on! Tell me how it's going in more than one-syllable responses, please."

Damon Arlington sighed into his cell phone. "I'm contemplating jumping, Mom."

"What?!" His mother's voice rose by at least seven pitches, making him jerk the phone away from his ear. He winced, listening to his mother's hysterics. He admitted he had done that one completely on purpose.

"Damon—baby—don't do it! Where are Uncle Carlos and Aunt Margaret? I swear I'm going to kill her, can't believe she left you alone, but, listen to me, baby, please j-just listen to me for a minute—"

"Mom, relax," Damon drawled out. "I'm contemplating jumping out of my second floor-window onto the tree outside so I can climb down and get away from this hick town."

There was an odd noise made up mostly of relief and a bit of shock on the other line. Damon allowed himself to smile at his success of shutting his mother up and waited for the lecture. His mother did not disappoint, but he also didn't want to hear it. "Hey, Mom," he cut her off, "I'm going to have to hang up now. I don't wanna talk on the phone while climbing down the tree 'cuz that would just be too dangerous, don't you think?"

He snapped his phone shut and slipped it into his back-pocket. He looked down at the ground below—not an awful jump, but it would probably end up in at least a broken bone, so he decided not to risk it. Instead, he carefully stepped down the slope of the roof until the point where the long branch of the tree next to his window crossed over and stepped onto it. Within thirty seconds, he was on the ground, rubbing off the wood dust from his hands on the back of his pants.

"This is going to be too easy," he whispered to himself, looking up towards the bedroom window he had just exited. Suddenly, the glow of lights appeared in the sliver of window he could see from his angle. He ducked and slinked away into the thick darkness of the woods behind the house as he heard his aunt's voice behind him, "He's done what? Oh, my God, Carlos! Carlos!"

She sounded so much like his mom who was the one who had called her, he was sure. Great, he thought. This was just what he needed—being trapped in this god-awful little settling that didn't even deserve to be called a 'town' with another Mom. He zipped his jacket up to his collar-bone, shivering slightly in his damp surroundings, and continued walking at the edge of the woods until he thought it was safe. He stepped again in the backyard of yet another dingy little house and silently rushed past it to the main road—the only road—of Forks, Washington.

It was eleven o'clock at night and most of the houses around him were mostly dark and silent except for a few lit windows through with the flickering of television sets could be seen. He continued walking until he hit an area of small stores, most of which were—once again—closed by now. He stopped in the middle of the road, searching his memory. "Liquor store, liquor store," he whispered.

He remembered having passed it on his right on the way here. Perhaps he was in the wrong area of town… perhaps there were two whole streets in Forks but he just happened to miss the other one because it was so damn inconspicous! He continued walking, not particularly caring to find his destination as long as he was away from the house he had just fled.

His cell phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw his uncle's name printed across the caller-ID. He flipped it open. "Hello, Aunt! What has you calling me so late at night?"

"Damon, you get your ass back here this minute, do you hear me?"

"Relax, I'm just exploring the neighborhood," he replied nonchalantly, looking at one sight after another of the tiny little stores dotted between the homes on either side of him. He did a double-take when he saw 'Forks Community Library' hanging over what he had first thought to be a separate garage-unit of of a nearby home. Okay, it wasn't that small, but by no means could it ever qualify as a library.

His aunt took a deep breath on the other end of the line. "Damon, I swore to your sister that I would take care of you, but I wish you would stop making it so difficult. Please come back."

"Aww, you said 'please'." Damon was barely listening but he decided to indulge her. "Tell you what, I'll be back before midnight. How does that sound?"

"Damon--!"

"Love you too, Aunty dearest," he snapped the phone shut, not bothering to listen to the rest of her complaints. He was sick of pretending to care for those who were pretending to care for him. If his parents had been so bent on sending him to this hell-hole without even consulting him, then he at least deserved to make up his own rules and that was exactly what he was going to do.

Suddenly, he stopped, his ears picking up voices. He turned to his right and saw the sign for Forks High School. He looked around the general vicinity of the signs but saw nothing but a thick gathering of more houses behind a big empty lot. Shrugging it off, he stepped off the road and into the path leading to the lot, following the voices.

"You don't want to go home?"

A girl giggled.

"Carlisle will murder me… okay, then Edward will when he comes back from Dartmouth… yeah, but that doesn't mean he'll want to tear me from limb to limb for keeping you out so late—"

Damon could easily hear the low voice of the boy as he slowly walked around one of the buildings closest to him, but he couldn't hear anything from the girl except for soft laughter.

"—okay, I'll take him on then, just for you—wait—"

Damon stopped and turned around quickly to make sure no one was around him. The voices had stopped suddenly and he wasn't quite sure why. He frowned and took a slow step forward. He was sure the couple were just around the corner in what appeared to be dim lighting at the back of the building. He heard what sounded like a low growl. The boy whispered 'no'. Damon took another step forward, even more intrigued.

He finally rounded the corner and saw a very large, bare-chested figure half-cloaked by shadows beneath a small lamp attached to the back of the building. Behind him, almost covered up by the width of his shoulers, was the girl. "Wow," Damon laughed slightly, pressing his shoulder into the cool brick of the wall and crossing his legs. "Isn't it a little past your guys's bed time?"

"Who are you?" The boy demanded. No, he growled the words was more like it and he was pretty damn good at it too.

"You know, you should try out for a career as one of those animation voice-overs. You've really got that deep, dangerous growling thing going for you." Damon's eyes traveled to the girl's as she stepped around her boyfriend. She was mostly hidden by the shadows of the night, but her skin glowed pale against the darkness. She crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one leg, a natural authority obvious in her stance.

"Hey, who the hell are you, punk?" the boyfriend growled again, stepping forward.

"Relax, buddy," Damon scoffed. "I was just out on a walk and heard voices… well, I heard one voice at least. Thought I'd come make sure you weren't raping your girlfriend or anything."

"Did it sound like I was raping anyone, kid?"

Damon shook his head, grinning at his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the couple exchange what appeared to be confused looks, then turned back to him. The boyfriend crossed his arms. "You made sure she was okay. You can go now."

Damon looked at the girl from beneath his lashes. She had been silent all throughout the encounter, but it was obvious by the quirk of her head that she had several things to say. "She talk at all?" He asked.

"None of your business."

Damon kept his eyes focused on the girl, feeling the warm smoke curl into his lungs. "What's your name?"

She rolled her eyes and looked towards her boyfriend.

"I think you need to leave."

"Good for you," Damon replied sarcastically. "It's good to think once in a while."

The boyfriend shook his head, laughing darkly. He took several menacing steps forward, now completely in the darkness, and said, "Tell you what, kid. You seem to be new here, so I'm going to let you go this once. You better run back home to mommy and have her tuck you into bed."

"Damn, you're really tall, you know that?" Damon looked him up and down. He was at least 6'7" or more. "What the hell did your mom feed you in this podunk town?"

He snarled—the guy actually snarled—at Damon. "Whoa—whoa, take it easy, man!" Damon said quickly, putting up his hands defensively. "I don't wanna fight, especially not with you. I mean, you look like you could punch my skull in."

"And I'd be happy to also if you don't leave—"

"Jacob." The girl stepped forward, her soft voice ringing out with perfect clarity through the night. Damon blinked, turning to her finally. With her brilliantly pale skin, she seemed more like a walking night-lamp than a human. He could barely see her face, but he knew she would be beautiful.

"Oh, so the girlfriend does talk," he smiled widely at her. "And here I was, thinking you were mute."

"Weren't you about to leave?" She asked him, her hand on Jacob's shoulder.

"As soon as you tell me your name."

Jacob twitched.

"I mean—I know this guy's name now. How ya' doing, Jacob? But seeing as to how I'm new to town, it's only proper manners that you introduce yourself too, isn't it?"

"I don't give a damn about proper manners," the girl replied, smiling.

"Ouch," Damon sighed, pressing his palm against his chest with a soft pout on his lips. "And I almost thought that you being so gorgeous and shy and all, that you would give a damn."

Jacob stepped forward quickly and Damon, expecting the response, jumped back. He laughed. "All right, all right! I'm out. Have fun, kids," he winked at Jacob and turned around, deciding he probably pushed the guy enough for the night. Interesting couple, though, he thought, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket. Especially the girl. He turned one last time to wave cheerfully at her—an action that was not reciprocated.

As he strode back home, grinning, he couldn't help but wish to get to know her more just so he could see that gigantic lump of her boyfriend bristle with anger again.