Sunday, March 13, 2005
I woke up late.
Not "missed the bus" late. More like "stared at the ceiling overthinking my life for so long I accidentally fell back asleep" late.
Still, I dragged myself out of bed, threw on running clothes, and headed out. Because if I didn't burn off the nervous energy vibrating under my skin, I was pretty sure I'd spontaneously combust.
It was now midday and I had been running for about two hours, but I was still one intrusive thought away from a heart attack.
Why?
Because tonight I was going to dinner at Leah Clearwater's house.
As her boyfriend.
Yes, officially.
I finally manned up the other day and asked her after she finished her shift at the store. I even brought flowers; a tiny, respectful bouquet because Leah would surely punch me if I showed up with a dozen roses like some Hallmark CEO.
But when I handed them over and awkwardly stammered out the question, she tilted her head in that beautiful, infuriating way she has and said:
"Aren't we already?"
I deflated on the spot like someone stabbed a cartoon balloon.
All that stress… for nothing.
But then she kissed me; deep, slow, toe-curling, and any oxygen my brain lost during that moment was 100% worth it. And after the kiss, she invited me to dinner.
Dinner with her family.
Dinner with her mom, her dad, and Seth.
Something in my chest did a weird little somersault. And that was exactly why I was currently running like a lunatic through the forest, trying to escape my own overflowing emotions.
The sky had started darkening with storm clouds, low and heavy. A storm was rolling in fast; thunder grumbled in the distance like an irritated old god.
But I kept running anyway.
Wind, trees, mud, thoughts of Sue Clearwater judging me unworthy.
Thunder cracked again, louder, closer, and something clicked in my brain.
I slowed down and looked up for a moment.
…There was something I was forgetting.
Another thunderclap blasted overhead like the sky was yelling at me personally.
Right.
The gift.
I forgot to get a gift for Leah's parents.
"Son of a…!" I pivoted and started sprinting back toward town. Maybe, maybe I could stop by a store before dinner.
The forest rumbled around me as I neared the Cullen property. Lightning flashed through the branches.
And then, I wasn't alone anymore.
A figure stepped into my path.
Barefoot, shirtless under an open orange jacket. Long dreadlocks swinging. Dirty jeans, and skin that somehow looked both dark and pale at the same time.
Eyes like rubies and predator's smile.
My heart plummeted straight through the forest floor.
'Laurent,' my brain supplied the name instantly.
Canon had finally decided to speedrun my death. So it wasn't just the gift I was forgetting…
"Well, well," Laurent purred, stalking forward with movements so smooth they were almost liquid. "What do we have here?"
His bare feet barely made a sound on the forest debris. Not a crunch, not a single snap despite all the dry branches.
I swallowed hard.
"Uh."
Brilliant start, Mike.
Laurent inhaled, nostrils flaring. His eyes narrowed. "You smell… peculiar."
"Must be the sweat," I lied. "Been running for, uh… over two hours."
My voice cracked, and not a single drop of sweat was on my body.
Laurent tilted his head, fascinated. "No, no… you smell human. But there's something else underneath. Faint. Hidden. Not entirely appetizing, but…"
His lips curled into a wicked smile. "…I'm not one to reject a meal that delivers itself to my hands."
He blurred.
One second he was ten feet away, the next he was right beside me.
I swung on instinct, a half-formed movement fueled by pure panic, and somehow managed to smack him hard enough to send him crashing into a tree.
Laurent hit the trunk with a sound like exploding lumber. Splinters rained, and the tree cracked down the middle.
He stood up slowly, eyes wide with shock. "You are strong…" he murmured. "Not as strong as a vampire, no. Perhaps half as much… but strong nonetheless."
His fingers flexed excitedly. "What are you?"
But he didn't wait for an answer and lunged again.
I didn't react in time. I had just started to say something stupid, probably "wait", and that half-second of distraction was all he needed.
His hand clamped around my throat like a metal vice and my feet left the ground.
Then Laurent pulled me close, lowering his mouth toward my neck.
"Stop!" I choked out, but my voice broke into nothing.
His breath was cold on my skin.
And something inside me snapped.
Like a wire pulled too tight, finally breaking.
Pain exploded through my bones, blinding and hot. My body tore itself apart, shredded skin and bursting muscle giving way to something bigger, heavier, and much stronger.
White fur erupted everywhere. My clothes disintegrated into confetti.
Laurent was blasted backward by the force of the transformation alone, crashing through another tree. He staggered up, horror and awe twisting across his face.
"What… impossible…" he whispered, voice trembling.
Because in front of him now stood a wolf the size of a nightmare, towering and monstrous. Easily over nine feet at the shoulder, another three or so feet if you add the head.
When I saw him turn around and prepare to run, instinct took over, I didn't even stop to think.
I moved so fast he barely managed to lift a foot before my jaws closed around his torso in a single, unstoppable bite.
CRUNCH~
His body split cleanly, the top and bottom parts hitting the forest floor with dull thuds while the midsection dangled from my jaws.
And then there was silence.
With only the storm continuing to rage above us.
…
I spat out the foul thing in my mouth, the thing that tasted like bleach mixed with corpse-water, and let it hit the ground with a wet splat. Laurent's severed head at the side rolled once before settling in the pine needles, his face frozen in a look of pure horror. His eyes were still wide open, like he hadn't quite caught up to the reality of being dead.
I stared at him, waiting for something to hit me. Nausea, regret, panic, anything really.
But I just felt nothing.
Nothing except an overwhelming urge to scrub my tongue with a wire brush.
And that bothered me a little, how normal this all felt. How natural. Like this wasn't a nightmare or a moral crisis but a task I'd been built for. Designed for. Like my body had finally done what it was always meant to do.
A faint twitch caught my eye and I tensed, watching closely. Sure enough, the scattered pieces, an arm half-buried under a log, a hand twitching near a fern, the torso lying at my feet… right, paws now… were moving. Barely perceptible, but moving. Trying to pull themselves together.
Right. Tearing apart a vampire wasn't enough. Eventually the parts fused back, good as new. The only way to finish them was to burn the pieces.
I looked down at my massive paws, dark, enormous claws still glistening, and snorted. Yeah, not exactly compatible with handling matches.
I closed my eyes, tried to breathe, tried to calm the wolf enough to shift back, but my pulse was still thundering. My muscles still thrummed with adrenaline. My whole body was locked in that hyper-alert, ready-to-kill state. No coming down from that yet.
Fine. Then I needed help.
Through the trees, I caught a glimpse of the Cullen house, more like a mansion really, all glass and clean lines, impossible to miss. They already knew my secret, so what was one more awkward moment? And I could always nudge Edward with my thoughts if knocking politely on the door wasn't an option in wolf form.
I hesitated only a second before lowering my head toward Laurent's dreadlocks. God, I did not want to do this again. But I wasn't risking him reattaching himself while I went for backup.
Grimacing internally, I grabbed a fistful of dreadlocks between my teeth. And the taste was even worse the second time.
With a deep growl of disgust, I turned toward the mansion and started trotting through the trees, Laurent's head swinging with every heavy step like the world's most cursed handbag.
Hopefully, somewhere in that house they had a fireplace.
And hopefully they didn't mind helping me murder one of their species.
...