Hey ya'll, here's that chapter I promised you! Even though I didn't get all the reviews I wanted -_- Hope you enjoy this one! I BETTER get more reviews this time! LOL
A Cinderella of Sorts
Kim's POV
"Kimmy bear wake up. It's time to get up," a familiar voice said warmly while shaking me gently.
I smiled up at Jared when I finally managed to open my eyes. I screamed when I saw his face.
"Jared! Oh my gosh, Jared what happened to your face!" I screamed, reaching my hand out to touch his cheek but I recoil before I make contact though so as not to hurt him.
"What do you mean, Kim?" He asks tilting his head to the side in what looks like authentic confusion.
How can that not hurt? Jared's beautiful face is covered in several little scratches with five very large gashes slashed across his whole face from left to right. And his skin is black and blue and mottled with what looked like small finger sized burns. I watch horrified as before my very eyes invisible claws rip a path down his broad muscled chest, cutting through his shirt, then skin, then muscles. The scars so far deep I can see his fucking bones. With one last swift and sickening gash I can see the contents of his abdominal area spill out of his body and onto my floor. I screech as some of his blood spatters onto my arm and scramble on my hands and knees backward from him.
"Jared. No, no, no Jared," I am sobbing uncontrollably now while reaching my arms out to him but not moving in his direction.
I squeeze my eyes shut at the agony spreading through my chest coming from watching my Jared gurgle and choke before collapsing onto my bed motionless save for the occasional spasm.
"Oh poor Jared, he really wasn't invincible was he?"
My eyes snap open and I gasp in fright. Elaine is standing on the other side of the bed behind where Jared would have been standing. My eyes are drawn to the thick syrupy looking trail of glossy red sliding down the entire length of her left arm. When I reach the end of her palm my eyes widen even further.
"Y-you-your f-fingers..." I trail off staring at the ends of her fingers in disbelief.
"Shiny aren't they?" Elaine giggled maniacally, bringing a slender claw up to her mouth and giving it an experimental lick.
She immediately spit Jared's blood out of her mouth and onto the floor.
"Ugh! Nasty!"
Her amber eyes flit to me again. She brings both hands up in front of her chest and extends her fingers. Her claws recede slowly into her nails and she gives me a taunting grin.
"Take a nice long look at your boy when you wake up, Kimmy. Because I promise, when I catch up with you it's going to be the last time you see him in one piece," she smiles menacingly.
She stalks leisurely around my bed coming towards me. I scream and frantically try to remember what Dr. Cullen had said when we were practicing harnessing my powers.
Deep breath, in, out, in, out. My eyes snap open and lock onto Elaine's still moving figure not three feet in front of me. She halts suddenly when she sees my eyes I don't stop to wonder why. I thrust my hands out in front of me palms facing her and summon as much of my power as I can and surge it in her direction. I watch in victory as turquoise-green tinted light burst from my palms and smashed into Elaine sending her across the room and through my wall. I scream in fright when I realize I can't stop the power surging through my hands and it is starting to hurt. My body is shaking and my muscles are on fire, my bones feel like they're breaking in several different places all at one time. Now I am screaming in agony.
It's just a dream, wake up, Kim! WAKE UP! I cry in my head, still yelling at the top of my lungs in high pitched blood curdling screams.
My eyes snap open when I am dropped onto a soft surface and I know I am awake for real now. Still in a panic the first thing I look for is Jared's comforting face. I find it across the room from me he is being held back by Leah and Paul. I glance up and find Dr. Carlisle standing beside my bed looking cautious.
I groaned lowly and rolled onto my side facing the doctor. I pushed myself up onto one hand and he took a step closer as if to help but I put my other hand up as a negative and he stopped then backed up again nodding his understanding. Peripherally, I can see Jared has stopped struggling and is now just watching me intently desperation and need plainly spread across his face as well as pain at seeing me in pain. My groans turned into loud wails of agony when I pushed myself up onto my hands and sat up against my headboard. As soon as I took the weight off my arms and back and relaxed against the headboard the searing ripples going through my body's muscles ceased as did my screaming. I lolled my head back and with a sharp smack it hit the wooden headboard. I barely winced. I can feel large beads of sweat rolling a long trail from beneath my hair to my neck and all the way down my soaked shirt. Gasping and panting heavily, I loll my head once more to the side and rest it on my shoulder. Glancing through hooded I eyes I take note of everything about Jared making sure he is in fact safe. He is. I breathe a quick sigh of relief amidst the heavy panting. My chest slows more and more as each minute goes by, about five minutes later and it is no longer heaving painfully.
"Kim?"
I languidly opened my eyes and looked to Dr. Cullen.
"Yuss?" I slurred.
He frowned and came to stand beside my bed once more. He put his hand on my forehead and quickly snatched it away when it hissed and sizzled upon contact.
Looking completely confounded he looked over to Jared and beckoned him, "Jared I need you. Come here for a second. Feel her forehead."
Jared immediately ripped himself out of the grips of his pack members and strode quickly to my bedside thrusting his hand out and touching my forehead. He gasped in horror and yanked it away as well.
"It's hot. Carlisle no human should be hot to us! We run a temperature of 108 for crying out loud for her to be hot to me means she is well over that!" Jared frantically spit out glancing at me fright clear in his eyes. Carlisle shook his head slowly and gave a weary sigh.
"I don't know Jared. See if someone can find a thermometer and bring it to me please. I need to see just how hot her temp really is. And can one of you get as much ice as possible? We need to br-" Carlisle's instructions were cut off when he looked at me again.
Jared spun around to look at me as well and he gasped softly.
"That wont be necessary, Carlisle. Thank you though."
It is as if my voice is not my own. And suddenly I know what I need to do. I smile at him from beneath my still hooded eyelids and raise both of my now glowing hands off the mattress and hover them over my chest. I close my eyes and my smile fades replaced by a frown of concentration.
I spread my fingers and flatten my palms out face down as the pulsating power beneath my hands throbs and heats warmer and warmer until it feels as if it is searing into my bones. I don't cry out this time. It is as if I am used to the bone-deep pain. Instead I focus all my strength and project it out from my hands and onto my chest. The beautiful shimmery turquoise drifts in a soft mist out from my palms and sprinkles onto my chest wafting down in waves to touch the rest of me. Despite the burning warmth at the source of the power the mist that settles onto me is quite chilly in a refreshing way. Everyone in the room takes several steps back and away from the bed as the mist drifts off the bed and onto the floor billowing outwards like a fog cloud before melting into the floor. They are all gaping at me like fish, it is quite comical. Well, except for Carlisle, he has more class than that.
After about five minutes my hands gradually stopped glowing and the mist ceased flowing. I rested my head for a moment still a just a tad spelled by the display of power but feeling otherwise completely refreshed. My eyes snap open after a moment and a smile explodes on my face as it finally sinks in that I am okay and so is my Jared and for now we are safe. I jump off the bed and throw myself into his arms, completely and incandescently happy at the moment.
"Kim, what happened to you?"
And now it is ruined again. Carlisle's bewildered question bringing my ghastly dream to the surface once more and though I am safe in Jared's arms, I know it will not be long before she comes to take him from me forever. I shudder into Jared's chest as I recall the sickening squelch his intestines made as they spilled out of his body and onto my bed and all over the floo-
"Kim? We need to talk about this," Jared's warm but firm tone broke me out of my reverie.
I peeked up at him coyly from underneath my lashes and met his loving stare. He grinned when he saw what I was doing. I put my hands behind my back and tapped my foot against the ground shyly.
"Do I gotta?" I whined lowly stretching out the word "gotta" playfully.
He chuckled but nodded his head yes. I pouted, sticking my lower lip out slightly and lowering my eyes to his chin demurely. He stopped chuckling and his eyes darkening with what I had learned was desire, zoomed in on my lips. I blushed furiously but kept teasing him. I put my hands on his lower abdomen and slowly slid them up his chest to his neck and wrapped them around. I stepped closer, kept the pout, but moved my eyes to his. I could see him gulp as his beautiful brown eyes flitted between my hooded eyes and my pouted lips. He gulped again when I batted my thick lashes once and then once again and pouted deeper leaning into him. I could hear Paul and Leah snickering in the background and I let my pout lift up a little on one side in mirth.
"You go Kim!" Paul hooted.
Leah seconded that and I burst out laughing ruining the little spell I had Jared under and he frowned shaking his head in confusion. Even Carlisle cracked a smile. But then I turn serious once more as the mirth wears off.
"I really don't want to talk about the dream, so instead I'll ask: why is everyone here? What happened while I was asleep?" I ask looking at Carlisle while sitting back on the bed with Jared to rest.
"It happened again didn't it?" I interrupt him before he can start.
He just numbly nodded and took on a look of contemplation as if he was thinking it over.
"I know why it happens now," I confessed looking up at Jared and then back at Dr. Cullen.
"Why does it happen then?" He queries curiously looking at me with fascination.
"It was like you said before. It is my body's defense. And it happens at will. In my dream I was able to channel my power and successfully use it as more than just a reflex defense this time it was a conscious decision to use it and it worked."
"Do you know why you were in pain when you woke?" Carlisle asked.
Jared's arms tightened around my stomach pulling my back up against his chest protectively.
"The pain was like nothing I have ever felt before in my entire life," I whispered as I recalled, "The pain of what…Jackson did to me could not ever compare. It was a burning like fire. It felt like it burned all the way down into my bone. And it throbbed. Like….like my heartbeat. With every heart beat came a flare of the fire. I couldn't stop. That was the problem the power was coursing through my veins and out through my palms and I couldn't stop it. It was draining my life force and I don't know how I knew but if I hadn't willed myself to wake up I am pretty sure it would have literally sucked the life out of me."
Jared growled and the rest stayed silent though I could tell no one liked the thought. Carlisle grimaced and I smiled. Yeah you're probably wondering why I am smiling with all this depressing shit happening right this second…it's because I am just now starting to understand just how much these people love me. And I am truly happy at this. Jared raises his eyebrows slightly when he sees me smile but doesn't ask.
"Man, I am starved! Think we could get some steak?" I joked loudly to break the silence.
That did it. Everyone burst into raucous laughter at the suggestion. Jared's roaring chuckles shook my body causing twinges of pain so I sat up. Jared immediately stopped laughing.
"You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, honest!" I shrug.
"Yeah well we really should talk about that dream," Carlisle gives me an apologetic look.
Oh poor Jared, he really wasn't invincible was he? The smell…his blood…its metallic. Everywhere. I can't get it to go away.
"Kim?"
Take a nice long look at your boy when you wake up, Kimmy. Because I promise, when I catch up with you it's going to be the last time you see him in one piece. She cackles. It echoes. My ears are ringing.
"Kim? Answer me," the voice pleads.
"Please, don't make me," I beg, avoiding looking at anything but the bedspread clutched between my fists.
"Please, just…please," I continue compulsively clenching and unclenching my hands.
Jared wraps his warm arms around my body over my arms and tucks my head under his chin.
"Okay," Is all he says.
It's all I need to hear. My lips curl into a small smile and I sink comfortably into my love, letting out a slow deep breath.
"But, Jared-"
"You heard her," Jared says with such venom in his voice, I could practically see the vampire-like glower on his face.
I giggle childishly.
"What are you so giggly about?" Jared teases me by wiggling his fingers against my sides just enough to make me squirm.
"Jared! Stop," I squeal between peals of mirthful laughter.
He smiles and concedes stilling his fingers. He leans forward and I close the remaining space. The kiss is warm and comforting.
He's here. He's safe. Nothing is going to happen. He's here. He's safe. That was all that I kept repeating in my head as I massaged his lips with mine tenderly. I pulled back after a few seconds and heaved a large sigh.
"Alright then, let's take this bully by the horns," I huffed out with what little courage Jared's kiss had instilled in me.
They all looked at me strangely, making no movement.
"What? Why are y'all looking at me like I am an alien who just suggested we all walk to Canada to pick pinecones from the evergreen trees while dressing up moose as chickens?" I asked dead serious.
Again with the damn stares. What is this? A staring contest?
Jared took one of his hands from my waist and put it on my forehead palm up. I smacked it away impatiently. They want me to tell the story right? I need to do it while I still have nerve.
"What in Dove Chocolate's name are you doing, Jared?"
"Seeing if you have a fever, and you obviously do just by what you just said," he chortles.
The group laughs with him. I just scowl lightly before shrugging and nodding that he's right. I mean I AM slightly weird.
"Ok, ok, enough laughing," I chided after a moment or two of giggling with them and they still hadn't stopped.
"Um, ok, the dream- no the nightmare- was basically me in bed and J-Jared was trying to wake me up. And-and, he had scratches and bruises and burns and-" I started hyperventilating.
"Kim, sweetie, I'm right here! Ok? Calm down, Kim. I'm fine," Jared assured me, rubbing circles on my hipbones slowly and kissed my hair.
My breathing slows back down, but not fast enough. Only one thing can either calm me or excite me depending on the situation. So I jerk my body around in Jared's embrace and smack a big one on him, earning about a thousand gasps from the room. The kiss was slow and wet, and Jared responds immediately, almost as if he knew I was gonna do it.
Of course he knew. He knows everything about me, I smile into the kiss.
"Ok, quit sucking face and tell us the damn story!" Paul and Leah yell in unison.
When they said it in perfect sync everyone glances at them strangely, but no one has wider eyes than the two reluctantly blushing teens themselves. They take small steps away from each other in embarrassment.
"Hmm, looks like you two should be sucking face instead," I smirk mischievously.
Leah and Paul both growled at me and in turn Jared growled fiercely back at them in warning. I snuggle into his chest and decide to ignore the obvious compatibility between Leah and Paul, but file it away in the rat's nest that is my brain for future scheming.
"Alright, the story. Elaine was there again, obviously. And-" I stop abruptly when I hear a strange metallic clatter after I stand up from the bed to pace.
Turning around I glance at the floor in confusion, searching for what made the sound and freeze in place. On the floor where I was sitting is a single shiny blade. A reminder. Suddenly I am not so afraid anymore. Just angry. How dare she threaten the love of my life? I felt my powers swell in my soul , reminding me of their newfound strength. With the confidence that this reassurance instilled in me I took a deep breath and told the story of my nightmare.
REVIEEEEW :)