You probably fucking hate me, people who are subscribed & really liked this :/ I'm sorry. I've also changed the name of the fic. Oops.

I have stalled and stalled and stalled again but here comes the SEVENTH CHAPTER!

Again, I'm incredibly sorry for stalling for MONTHS. I know some of you were pretty into it and I let you down D=

Well… Here it goes! :D

Chapter 7: SURPRISES

I'm a werewolf.

The words bounced around in my head for a while until I grasped their true meaning.

A fucking werewolf. Jacob was a freaking werewolf this whole time and I didn't know it. Hell, I didn't know there was such a thing as a werewolf. Werewolves were like zombies, something that humans had always claimed were real and made gory movies about, but could never prove were real. I'd been alive for three-hundred years and I had never once encountered a werewolf.

I shook my head, hoping that somehow, by doing it, I would look back up at Jacob and he would tell me he was joking. Only he didn't. I pressed my palm against my forehead, trying to create a logical string of words to say, and failing. Horribly.

"Nessie… I know that this is a total shock, but I…" Something changed in his voice as he studied my face. "Are you okay, Nessie? You look sick."

I tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a choking cough. I honestly felt like I was choking. Choking on this bombshell, this hellish nightmare. Of course, I'd been through things much more hellish than this, but this was just sick and wrong.

Why did it have to be Jacob? Sweet, caring Jacob, to be chosen to live in this world of monsters? I couldn't fathom the reasoning behind this, why for any reason he of all people was a werewolf. I imagined it was a tremendous burden.

What exactly did he do as a werewolf? I took it upon myself to stammer, "How? Why? When?"

He grinned, but it was intended to be more comforting than happy. "It's in my blood. It's part of my tribe's history. There's nothing I can do about it. The transformation is triggered when vampires are around. As for when… It happened in the middle of freshman year. Not the most exciting thing ever."

My head spun. Vampires triggered the transformation? I was the reason for Jacob being a werewolf? I tried to block that out, push it aside, but my brain wanted to shove it right back into the limelight. "But… Freshman year?" I stuttered. "My family's only been here for a couple weeks… That part must be some kind of mistake…"

He shook his head. "You guys aren't the only vampires in town."

"Alex," I breathed. "Of course. I forgot that he and Toni have been here for a couple years."

Jacob looked at me as if he was disappointed. "They're not the only ones. Mr. Russo is a vampire, too."

"WHAT?!" I screamed, making Jacob jump. "Mr. Russo is a vampire? And I didn't notice it!" Wow. I'd really messed up by letting that slip by me. I knew my teacher pretty well already, but… well, I hadn't guessed that he was a vampire. I didn't know what it was about him that made me decide he wasn't. He was normal; he drank coffee, walked around in the sun…

"Jacob," I said. "There's no way Mr. Russo is a vampire. He's in the sun all the time."

"I wish that he wasn't Nessie, but he is," he repeated. "What happens to you guys in the sun, anyway? I mean, I know you can go out in the sun…"

I nodded. "I can. My skin doesn't give off a prismatic reflection."

All I needed from him was a look to know I should dumb it down.

"It looks like thousands of little diamonds imbedded into their skin," I explained. "They don't burst into flames or melt or anything like that. It's just kind of strange to see a sparkling person walking down the street, you know? With my skin, it's more of a shimmer, iridescence. Because I'm half human."

"What's that like?" he wondered, and then became hesitant. "Do you… you know, drink blood?"

I smiled darkly. "Of course I do. I don't drink human blood, though."

"What?"

I got up to get myself a glass of water. "I drink animal blood, much to my own disappointment. My family frowns upon the idea of feeding off of humans," I said, irritated by my family's preferences. "In actuality, I want human blood. All vampires do, it's just that some are better at repressing it than others." I lounged in the chair, feeling more relaxed after my drink.

"But, if you wanted to, couldn't you live off human food?" He was scared, freaked out, by the idea of me drinking blood. He had every right to be, though. I didn't blame him one bit. I actually just wanted him to run out of my house and never come back. It was what I deserved, anyway.

"Yes," I answered. "I have before, but it gets boring. Hunting for bargains isn't the same as hunting for… well, humans. Even hunting for animals is better." I realized that this might scare him more than the idea of me drinking blood. "It is part of who I am, though… part of all vampires, regardless of whether we're full or half."

Jacob was getting frustrated, though I couldn't figure out what with. I hadn't said anything too bizarre, had I? I decided that he was frustrated with himself. "I guess what my real question is… Do you like human blood?"

I laughed, though I was only slightly amused. "That's what you're getting at? That's the silliest question I've ever heard. Yes, I like human blood. I like it more than almost anything else in the world. I like the power it gives me, the strength. The exhilaration of the hunt. It's all outstanding, something that a human—or even a werewolf—would never understand."

This puzzled him. "Oh…"

I chuckled ever so softly. I had no idea why I found this so amusing, but I did. "I knew this would freak you out. Even more so than you being a werewolf freaks me out. I guess I'm just less prone to being caught by surprise. You're certainly more human than I'll ever be, so that must play a factor in that as well."

"How could I be any more human than you? What do you mean?"

"What I mean, Jacob," I explained, "is that until you officially became a werewolf, you were a human, weren't you?" He nodded. "I've never been human a moment in my life. You can decide what you want to be when you want to be it. My choices are not that simple. I can neither be just a human nor just a vampire at any given time. I am forced to be both, yet neither."

That adorable expression of frustration returned to his face. "That's a little confusing."

I smiled, sweetly this time. "It will become clearer to you once you begin to ponder it more."

He regarded me curiously, but then launched into almost the entire history of werewolves—or, more politically correct, shape shifters. We talked for hours and hours and every single minute that went by was a minute that things between us become clearer and less awkward. The only awkward thing about our conversation was how often I thought about how much I admired him. I didn't know what had suddenly turned on these feelings of affection, but they were strong. When he explained werewolf legends to me, I was reminded of how young he truly was.

It was nearly dark outside when I started to feel very thirsty. The darkness reminded me that I would have to meet my father soon. I glanced over at the digital clock on my microwave, and the time read 7:57. Just enough time to wrap things up with Jacob.

He saw me look past him at the clock. "Got a hot date or something?"

I shook my head. "No. I just have to meet Edward in about an hour so I can hunt. I haven't hunted in a little over a week." I studied him, and he made no sound or expression at the thought of me hunting for blood. Looking at his neck, I wondered how his blood would taste. It was tempting for me to compare, considering that I'd had both human blood and the blood of a wolf. "Do you trust me, Jacob?"

He nodded hesitantly. "I…"

"Do you trust me?" I repeated.

Jacob's response came after a short pause. "Yes."

I leaned over, running the tip of my nose gently against the side of his neck before sinking my teeth into his flesh. I heard him gasp in shock and try to push me away, but I was stronger than him and kept him pinned down. I pulled away and licked my lips after only about thirty seconds. My eyebrows pulled down. "You don't taste as good as I'd anticipated…"

His eyes were wide with shock. "How could you—Why did you—Vampire venom kills werewolves!"

"Relax," I commanded, rolling my eyes. "I'm not venomous. Female hybrids are never venomous."

"But… Still!"

I looked back toward the bite mark, running my thumb over it. It had almost completely healed and there was almost no evidence of him ever being bitten. "Wow. You heal rapidly. That's pretty impressive."

"Why did you do that?" he asked, his voice quiet and timid.

I shrugged. "I was curious. I wasn't going to kill you or drink you dry. That would be ridiculous."

"How so?" His voice was still quiet, but it was huskier and surer.

"You're pretty much the closest thing to a best friend I've ever had, like I told you before," I explained. "I think that if I lost you now, I'd be totally screwed in English." He actually mustered a laugh. "And I can talk to you about almost anything. And now that you know my big secret, I really can be open with you." I awkwardly realized that I was still straddling him, sitting on his lap. I smiled, and waited until he smiled back before I kissed him. My mouth tasted like his blood, but I doubted he noticed much. Neither of us was willing to let our tongues travel outside of our own mouths quite yet.

I had no idea what it was about this boy that made me feel so alive, but his very touch was maddeningly fulfilling. I'd kissed plenty of men in my life, but all of them paled in comparison to this one boy. It was frustrating and satisfying at the same time. Had I found my match? Finally, after all these years? Or was I tricking myself? Why was it him? Jacob Black, the small-town boy with the big secret?

I marveled at the feelings stirring up in me. My emotions had been almost completely shut off for about thirty years. How could this one boy, this simple, sweet boy, inspire so much… emotion? He was just a good match for my pessimism, my bitterness. He balanced me out. I'd only known him for a short time, yet in that short time, my feelings had grown into something I hadn't experienced for a very long time.

I pulled away, leaving him breathless. I got up from his lap, and returned to the seat opposite him. "So, does that beat the last one?"

He nodded. "Of course it does. What exactly was that for?"

I shrugged. "I was feeling… Hmm, I don't know… Inspired."

"Inspired," Jacob repeated.

"Yes, sir." I smiled, surprised by how genuinely happy I felt. "I don't know why, but I feel like there's something… I don't know. Something that pulls me to you. Like, whenever you're around, I want to be right next to you. It's weird. I mean, there was this one guy in the eighties that I was really into, but I never felt physically tethered to him."

I immediately regretted saying those words. "Physically tethered'? Wow, was I ever an idiot. I'd long since realized that I liked Jacob, but what with the pull? Honestly, I did feel it. I felt connected to him in a way I wasn't with anyone else, which was really odd, considering how close I'd once been to my family. That bond had somewhat been severed about two-hundred and fifty years ago.

I felt so ridiculously stupid in that one moment that I almost tried to cute the conversation short.

That was, until he dropped—what I would soon discover was—yet another bombshell on me.

He looked down, obviously nervous. "That the other thing… I sort of… imprinted on you."