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Chapter 107

Single or Not Single? That Is the Question Here

Leah

"Esmé get some clothes over here for both of you," Dad said with a damn relieved gaze.

I smirked.

Had he worried too much about us again? 'You'll soon be worse than Mom!'

"I have seventeen and a half years of catching up to do and not as much practice as your mother," he smirked back slightly and gave me a kiss on the forehead before leaving the room.

My eyes immediately fixed on Marcus again. He just stood there and looked at me.

At the end of the bed. His look said many things, but none of them felt familiar. Fear, confusion, disbelief.

Time passed. His cell phone dissolved our mutual rigidity.

"Sorry," he mumbled and turned toward the door. "My father," he explained afterwards.

I took one deep breath as Esmé entered the room and pushed the door shut behind her.

"How are you, little one?" she asked immediately, caring.

"Better. Still weak, but definitely better," I meant.

She helped me to stand up. I was still a little wobbly on my feet, but I felt the strength coming back into my body with every second.

Esmé said she had tried to wipe all the blood off us, but had only been moderately successful, since she had not wanted to wake us. She accompanied me to the adjoining small bathroom, supported me some more and I threw the bathrobe aside.

"I guess I'll go take a shower?" I asked rhetorically.

Esmé nodded with a slightly horrified gaze.

I looked like a stabbed pig. She had only dealt with the scratches on my neck, not with the hole on my belly.

"Edward didn't say where you hurt everywhere," Esmé defended herself.

I gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"It doesn't matter, Esmé. After all, you can't read minds," I smiled at her, at this subliminal rebuke to her son.

She smiled back.

I got into the shower and washed away the blood everywhere. Then I put on the clothes that Esmé had taken from our house. Besides underwear, only a tank top and sleep pants. After all, it was the middle of the night. The only thing we were left to do today was to go to bed. For Jake, she had also brought only boxer shorts and sweatpants. I rubbed my hair dry with a towel and immediately went out into the hallway.

Marcus stood with his back to me.

I did not see his face and yet I had the feeling that he was unhappy.

Dad pointed in my direction, and he turned to me.

I thought I saw a hint of relief in his eyes. I walked the few steps that separated us toward him.

Nothing about him gave the impression that he wanted to touch me. Let alone take me in his arms. In contrast, I felt the need to feel his arms around me and to run over the scar on his eye.

"Princess!" I suddenly heard Emmett from the side, rushing towards me and spinning me through the air.

I swayed as he set me down again.

Marcus took a step towards me though, but immediately stopped again.

Dad held me with one arm and hit Em with the other.

I chuckled at that.

"You might want to talk about what happened out there in the woods," Carlisle said.

I nodded and Marcus did the same to me.

Dad whispered to me that he basically hadn't said anything yet. At the same time, he warned me that Mom would be here very soon and that she would with deadly certainty interrupt our discussion to see her daughter.

I nodded and went with Marcus to the library across from the examination room.

Esmé was the best. She followed with a plate full of sandwiches and small water bottles. But first she gave me a glass of ice-cold Coke, which I drank in one go. I was starving and the Coke was certainly good for my circulation. She asked Marcus in a strict motherly tone to help himself to it. He did so.

For a brief moment, we ate in silence.

I sat on the reading couch, he sat on the sofa under the window.

"How are you, Leah?" he broke the silence in a gentle tone.

"Better with every minute," I answered truthfully.

"That's nice."

"Yes."

Silence ... More silence ...

Then I got tired of the silence and wanted to scream in his face, what we all are, when Mom came frantically through the door. She had almost knocked me over; she was so impetuous on the way. She had been crying. I could see it on her eyes.

So, I quickly calmed her down and emphatically said that it hadn't been that bad. Edward would certainly have exaggerated wildly.

I pressed her against me once again and pushed her out of the room determinedly.

Dad smiled indulgently and received her at the door.

"Not so bad?" asked Marcus then irritably as the door was closed again.

Um ... did I miss something? Why was he being so harsh now?

"Are you serious? Jake could barely stand on his feet in pain. Jules was unconscious. And YOU almost bled to death out there! ... And you say it wasn't that bad and that your father exaggerated wildly! Are you off your rocker? I was afraid that you three wouldn't survive!" he yelled at me.

I couldn't help unfortunately smiling a little at that.

"It wasn't bad!" I stated again. "Jake and I have been through far worse than that!"

"What are you?" he asked directly now, in a more measured tone of voice.

I looked down at the floor for a moment and took a deep breath to collect myself.

"A monster, a mutant ... or what?"

I looked up at him, startled. My heart skipped a beat as these terms entered my consciousness. I squeezed my eyes shut.

The night at the lake stood before my mind's eye. When I had shown Ben the truth. All his insults droned in my ears.

Tears gathered in my eyes and there was nothing I could do about it as I covered my ears to stop hearing Ben.

"Leah, please forgive me!" I suddenly heard Marcus' deep voice very close to me.

I opened my eyes and Marcus was standing right in front of me. His hands were gently resting against my cheeks.

"I'm sorry if I offended you with that. I'm just trying to understand what you are. What I saw in the woods. What attacked Jules."

I nodded slightly and swallowed the lump in my throat.

"I'm a shapeshifter!"

A long moment passed.

I didn't know whether I should say anything more. He showed no reaction at all. He couldn't possibly do anything with just that term, but on the other hand, he didn't look like he would necessarily want to hear more. But maybe he was just waiting that I explained this word to him in more detail and he didn't want to say anything hastily again.

"We don't know why we of all people belong to it or where it all came from. My father was also a shapeshifter. We inherited it from him, but our aunts - twins like us - aren't. If Jake and I weren't twins, maybe only one of us would have gotten this ability," I began to explain.

"Ability? ... The ability to turn into an oversized dog?" he asked more specifically.

I growled.

Well, as a human it looked pretty silly and a smile apparently wanted to flit across the corners of Marcus' mouth, but damn it, I wasn't a DOG! Maybe I should pay his biology teacher a visit and request him to explain to his students the difference between a dirty dog and a graceful wolf.

"Wolf!" I made unmistakably clear.

"Wolves! Okay ... You're scary, but you seem to be able to control it. Different to how werewolves are, I think ... But why can you do that? I mean, sure, you don't know where it came from. That's what you said. But what's the point behind it? What are you doing as ... wolves? Why do beings like you exist? How many of you are there?"

"We exist for one reason only ... We are here only to protect our people - or, in fact, human beings in general - from the creatures that attacked you."

"THE creatures? ... It was just that strange woman," Marcus said, confused.

"No, there were two. A man and a woman. They apparently noticed Jules and were on the way to you. Jake stood in their way. He's only so hurt because I wasn't there yet and he fought them alone, who were pretty well matched to each other. The woman withdrew herself from the fight, leaving her companion behind. Only to go for Jules."

"Why only Jules? Why not at me? Maybe Jules could have run away then ... What exactly did she do to Jules?" he pondered.

"She drank her blood!", I said directly and Marcus sucked in the air between his teeth.

"Like vampires?" he asked incredulously.

I nodded tentatively.

He let go of my cheeks, ran his hands through his hair erratically, and turned away from me.

"What kind of shit did you drag me into?" he inquired.

I wasn't sure if he was smiling out of fear or mockery. But I answered honestly. And snotty!

"I didn't drag you into anything. If we hadn't been there, you'd both be dead now!" I said and put my hands on my hips.

"So, Edward, whom you so affectionately call 'Dad,' is also a vampire?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes. He is!"

"Why don't you kill him? Like you killed that woman in the forest?" he asked bitingly.

"Because he is my father!"

"How can he be your father? If I've understood everything correctly so far, you only exist so that you can destroy monsters like him!" he became angry.

I was searching for the right words to explain this to him when he seemed to come to mind with something else.

"What about your mother? Is she maybe a witch or something? That would fit in nicely, wouldn't it! It would especially explain why she seems to have no problem surrounding herself with nothing but monsters from horror movies!"

"Nonsense! Mom is just a normal person," I could interject, while he restlessly gathered new breath.

"You're protecting a vampire! Leah! Do you still notice anything? Your perfect family is one big lie!" he said angrily, his head glowing with anger.

"None of them are monsters! They are our family! They are not a danger to humans!" I shouted back.

"How do you know? Maybe they're just playing with their food!"

I had to chuckle at this comparison, which only made Marcus look confused.

How many times had Mom told us as kids not to play with our food. When we neatly draped the peas, put the letters from the soup together to form words, or when, without hunger, we just moved everything back and forth on the plate, hoping it would disappear on its own. And last Saturday, at night in the woods, we actually played a little bit with our booty.

"The eyes!" I said simply and calmly.

Marcus hesitated and looked at me questioningly.

I made myself comfortable sitting on the lounger, opened one of the water bottles and reached for the next sandwich.

"Can you remember the woman's eyes?" I asked calmly as I chewed.

He nodded disgustedly.

"Blood red."

"And my family's eyes?" I continued almost bored.

"Don't know. Yellow. Almost gold."

"It's because my family doesn't drink human blood, they only hunt animals!" I commented, continuing to chew with relish. "This eye color - or rather, this kind of diet - allows them to have an almost human life. Carlisle says that it affects social behavior. Most vampires live together in only small groups. Two to three people. Maximum. My family consists of seven vampires. And they not only call themselves family, they live like a family. None of them are biologically related to anyone, but they love each other, belong together, and protect each other."

Marcus seemed to rethink my words.

"And how did you get into this family?" asked Marcus then quietly, sitting down on the floor in front of the lounger and grabbing another sandwich as well.

"My mom ..." I began to say.

I told how all the vampires were once humans and how they moved to another town every few years again ... because they never changed. How Mom met these vampires twenty years ago and fell in love with Edward. Actually, I told our whole family history in outline until the day Edward showed up at our house.

"... my mom's blood sings for Edward. That's what they call it. But Edward can't do anything to Mom."

"Then that's what he meant by Jules smelling good? He meant her blood?" he asked attentively.

"Yes. Maybe it sang to the woman, too, and attracted her that way ... I followed their trail in the woods. It looked like they were going to run around the town until they changed their direction and ran right toward you."

"How often does it happen that you encounter such beings?"

"Not very often," I smirked. "Most of the time we're pretty bored as wolves." If he already knew the truth about me, I might as well confess. I mean, while we were at it. "On Saturday," I said, and Marcus looked at me with interest.

But his eyes were quickly wide as he apparently guessed what I was about to say.

"David didn't skype with our grandpa. Dad gave us only a reason with the message that we could disappear temporarily."

"Then was the scratch ... on your neck ...?" he asked, but left it hanging unfinished in the air.

I nodded.

"Yes. But such little scrapes happen to us all the time. Even without running into such creatures."

"So, you're the bouncers or bodyguards in case a stranger comes into their territory?" asked Marcus suspiciously.

"No, nonsense. They can defend themselves quite well, if it were necessary at all. Jazz and Alice ran into them by chance. But since as wolves we mostly have nothing to do, they asked us if we wanted to take care of them," I explained, and Marcus seemingly tried to comprehend those words as he continued to nibble on his sandwich.

"Is it a curse or a blessing for you?" he almost smirked afterwards.

"A little bit of both, but the blessing outweighs. We're pretty fast, as you've noticed yourself. And earlier I was going pretty slow on the way!" I chuckled as Marcus' jaw dropped. "We're a lot stronger than our looks would indicate."

"But you are never stronger than me!" he stated.

I just raised an eyebrow.

"Never!" he insisted.

I chuckled, cleared the lounger and challenged him in arm wrestling.

A victorious smile played around his mouth.

"Come on!" he said, still optimistic.

Poof ... and his hand was on the cushion.

"Wait a minute! I wasn't ready yet!" he defended himself.

Another attempt. I held still this time while he braced himself against my hand.

Cute!

"Okay, I give up!" he then said in a huff.

Lost in thought, he got up and went to the window. It was pitch black outside.

"My girlfriend is stronger than me!" he muttered indistinctly, almost in a whisper.

My heart gave a little jump.

He had said 'girlfriend'. Apparently, I still was.

"I also hear and see better than you!"

Surprised, he lifted his head in my direction. At first he looked confused, before he smiled then.

"And what else?" he wanted to know.

"Mmm ... Strong, fast, enhanced senses, I heal back on my own, high body temperature ...", I pondered.

"Naughty!" he interjected in my enumeration.

I stuck my tongue out at him for this bottomless insinuation.

"See. That's what I'm saying. Naughty!" he chuckled. "And when were you planning on telling me all this if it hadn't happened like this today?" he then asked seriously.

I let my head hang a little.

I didn't have an answer for that.

"I don't know. We've only known each other for two weeks ... I was with my last boyfriend for half a year, and he was flinging insults at me when I tried to tell him. Called me freak. And mutant ... He also only knows the part about the wolf. That there are vampires, he has no idea ... Actually, we are not allowed to tell anyone. Even our grandparents don't know about it. I haven't given much thought to when I would tell you about it."

"Does Becky know?"

"Yes, but with Jake and Becky, the things are a little different."

"Why? Is Becky also a ... wolf?" he inquired.

"No, she isn't. But I think maybe Jake can tell you better," I meant and yawned.

Involuntarily, I looked at the clock on the shelf.

It was almost one o'clock in the morning. Would Dad grant us tomorrow off from school because of this evening?

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door and Dad walked in.

It was clear. I rolled my eyes. Dad must have listened in on everything.

But I wondered a little.

He looked kind of ... disheveled.

"Not everything!" he said inhumanly quietly, but he immediately changed to a normal volume. "You should go to bed soon. It's already late and the evening was undoubtedly a bit nerve-wracking ... Marcus, you'd like to sleep by your sister, wouldn't you?" Dad asked.

Marcus nodded.

"And you go to bed now, too!" he followed sternly in my direction.

"In mine from before lies surely already Becky!", I complained meekly. I'm not really tired yet, I thought, stifling another yawn at the same time.

"Now don't act like there aren't enough beds here to choose from!" dad was still raging as I walked past him.

In the hallway, I stopped once again.

Jules would definitely be to the right of the examination room. The only guest room to the right of here - so I would definitely have to go to the other side. I turned around, Marcus came after me and stopped right in front of me.

"Good night, Leah," he murmured, taking my hand in his and giving me a soulful kiss on the back of my hand.

Startled, I realized that it would remain with this kiss on the hand, when Marcus had already turned away from me. On the way to his room he didn't turn to me anymore. I just stood there, as if I had been hit in the head, when I saw Mom in front of me. She pushed me into the nearest room, and I let myself fall with my back against the wall and slid along it to the floor.

I did not know what this behavior of Marcus should mean. A kiss on the hand! Pah ...! That was nothing!

Mom sat next to me, her arms around me. She cradled me comfortingly.

I was not able to cry, but somehow I felt like I had to cry.

Did I still have a boyfriend? Or did I no longer have him?

When Dad entered the room, I frantically raised my head to him.

'Say it!' I urged him in my mind!

He sat down on the other side of me, putting an arm around my shoulders.

"I don't know, Leah. We'll have to wait and see how he processes this. Right now, in his head, it's all over the place. He's overthinking everything he learned tonight," Dad meant, and with my head on Mom's shoulder, I sank into a fitful sleep.

The next morning I was in bed in 'my' room - at Carlisle's house - and Mom woke me up.

I had slept badly and had woken up again and again.

Mom handed me the obligatory cup of coffee.

I asked about Marcus and Mom gave me a letter while she sat with me.

With shaky fingers, I unfolded the sheet.

Dear Leah,

first of all, I want to thank you for saving Jules' and my lives.

I have no idea how you felt about last night. Whether it was dangerous by your standards or more like a walk. I was really scared and only really realized in the course of the night that our lives could actually have been over. However, I'm less worried about myself in the process. I didn't have time for that yet. I was afraid for Jules and for Jake. But most of all for you.

Thank you for telling me the truth tonight. From what I witnessed in the woods, you certainly didn't really have a choice anymore, but you certainly couldn't have told me everything or talked your way out of it or downplayed it. To be honest, I can't really grasp all this yet.

I don't want to lie to you! I like you a lot, Leah, but we've only known each other for two weeks. We don't know what the future holds for us. Whether we both - with or without this fact - have a chance. I don't know what to do with this truth. How I can deal with it. Or what I should think about it in general. Please give me time to think about whether I am ready for such a dangerous world or if I just want to forget about it all.

Marcus

PS: I hope Jake made it through the night okay.

Thanks for reading!