Crescent • A Twilight Story

The Change

The effects of the toxin wore off, just as Duke burst through the cottage door.

"Where is she!" My phone buzzed at just the same time

"It's happening. Just as you said."

I swallowed, Duke bounding toward me as I got to my feet.

"I only see one outcome."

I crushed my phone, the vision coming back to me.

"What's happening?" He gripped the edge of my shirt, on the verge of turning. "Where is she!" I pushed him off, wiping my brow.

"You'll see soon enough."

We changed then, heading out to the wood. I caught her scent before him, taking the lead.

And another's.

The strange female. The one from the coffee shop. She had done something to immobilize me. My parents...

No, I would have seen their deaths. And in the whole of my life, I hadn't.

I knew where Rory would be, howling out for the others as I showed Duke a plan. We'd make the meadow inescapable.

"Please," The panic in her voice caused him to slip, a flood of memories pounding into my skull.

The moment he imprinted on her, the feeling of needing to protect her consumed every facet of his life. When he learned the extent of her mother's death, he was terrified of telling her the truth. That she'd hate him.

If she died... His mind reeled. If she changed...

I tried to shove down my own thoughts, to conceal them as I always had. But in his lack of control, my own slipped. And a single thought fell through the cracks.

The thirst.

I quickly threw back up a wall, repeating a mantra.

Make it in time.

I got to the open field before them, Rory laying in the center. The she-devil was holding her there, so close to her neck.

Only there were two heartbeats. Not one.

She looked up at us, eyes narrowing. And then back behind her, Duke charged from the rear.

She flipped him off. And then bit down.

No!

"See you soon, friend." She stroked the mark, frowning. I opened my mouth, ready to snap.

She skirted around me then, just missing the end of my tail. A fog fell over us, I could hear Duke going in for the kill.

But then it was just us.

She was gone.

Rory stared at our forms, sheer terror in her cries. She attempted to crawl away, bracing her neck. The blood, I swallowed, watching it drip from her throat, down the length of her chest.

Duke had already ran back to the edge, and I barked orders to the approaching others to follow after the girl. He changed back, and I with him, pulling on shorts.

She was shivering and gasping, looking between us as she collapsed onto the forest floor.

"It's gonna be okay," Duke picked her up, examining her neck with a curse. He applied pressure, and she cried out.

"It burns."

"I know." His eyes were brimming with tears. "I know."

I could still hear them, catching up to the vampire on a cliff. The splash.

Rory was coughing, blood spurting from between his fingertips. The smell was so intoxicating. And Duke seemed to sense this.

He screamed the same haunting words that had been in my dreams, every night since I'd first seen her. "What have you done!"

I sunk to my knees, and he held her away from me. "My parents. Maybe they,"

"It'll be okay." He hoisted her up, running back to the house. I bolted ahead of them, her heart growing weaker.

"Mom!"  He set her on the living room couch. She was starting to lose consciousness.

"What happened?"

I gave her the run down as she examined the wound.

"Is she turning?" Dad bounded down the stairs wiping sleep from his eyes.

Rory started to cough up blood, sending a hot spray on my face.

"Ward!" Several arms grabbed me, and I snarled at them. Two of the guys had returned, looking to Duke for answers.

"I want him out of here." He commanded through gritted teeth, stroking Rory's hair and holding her hand.

"What's going on?" My dad whirled around them, gearing for a fight.

"Your freak son wants her blood" Fuller started. "Like one of them!" He pointed to mom, my dad beginning to shake.

"Let go of my son and get out of my house." He shouted. "Now!"

His voice rumbled, still as commanding as an alpha as ever, even if they weren't his pack. When they released me, their eyes darkened, Littlesea and Fuller slamming the screen door.

"If you think for one second I'm leaving my imprint," He clamped a hand on Duke's shoulder, turning to me. I snapped.

"I'm not leaving." I was keeping a distance, shallow breaths as he tossed me a towel. Duke shot me a dirty look. "I've got a handle on it."

Rory laid back, her body going limp.

"It's not changing her." Mom held a rag to her neck, sniffing. "Her body, it's expelling the venom."

"Will she be okay?" Duke said, eyes wide.

"I don't know."

Hours past.

Slowly her heartbeat grew stronger. Blood weakly continued to pulse through veins. Her skin still twinged with the slightest warmth. And the teeth marks closed, like it'd never happened.

And then her arm clicked back into place, the bones resetting themselves.

She was alive. Impossibly alive.

My mother sucked in a breath, asking the question surely on all our minds.

"What are you?"