chapter 8: Shane

I woke up hearing the sounds of distant voices and I was in a bed. I sat up, disoriented. I was in a small room that was dimly lit. As I stared at the wall across from the bed I suddenly saw a figure, a shadow that moved across the wall. The voices were still there, but muffled.

Another shadow moved across the wall. My heart was pounding as I stared wide eyed and confused. Then I heard Kale's voice. My heart wasn't beating like this just because of confusion, but also because he was close by.

Then without warning, the wall opened and one of the shadows came out of the wall, standing before me. That's when I finally understood. I was in a tent. A fire was blazing very big and very bright behind whoever stood in the opening. I could see the wolves, including Jason and Anya. Jake was close by them. I looked at the figure. It was Kale. He smiled.

"He won't be able to find you here." He told me, coming into the tent, sitting at the end of the bed.

"Where are we?" I asked quieter then I was expecting my voice to be. He seemed hesitant.

"Somewhere where me and Jake shouldn't be." He was looking at me carefully.

"Why?"

He looked toward the opening that was cracked open just a bit.

"It's their land. We can't stay long." He glanced at me as if he said something he shouldn't have. He looked at me as if hoping I didn't catch what he just said. As he looked at me, I began to understand. My heart stopped jumping around and sank.

"Oh..." I breathed at him. "You're leaving again." I couldn't force the sadness out of my voice.

"You have to stay here. Dante won't come near this place. He won't even think about it."

"No." I managed to squeak out as I moved down the bed to him. He pulled me into his arms, kissing my lips before I could protest anymore.

"I hate leaving you." He pouted, pulling back slightly. "But I have to protect you, and being a vampire, I can't be here. Especially since I'm a clan leader. It won't be too long before another pack takes in our scent. They'll be at the campsite as soon as they do."

I rested my head against his neck.

"How long can you stay?" I tried to talk past the lump in my throat. I've said goodbye so many times and yet every single time it just hurts worse.

"15 minutes...maybe less." He said quietly into my hair.

He pressed his face into the side of my head as if taking in my scent. I turned my head, lifting my face and meeting his lips once again. His arms closed tighter and pulled me closer to him. He moved very suddenly, keeping our lips and bodies together but now he had both arms on either side of me, trying not to smother me as I layed beneath him. My hands entangled in his hair. Time was against us. It wasn't enough. I wanted more. His lips pressed harder against mine as his fingers traced down my body.

"Kale...." I gasped. He let out a low moan. He kissed me even harder and then pulled back, gazing down at me. His jaw was tense.

"I don't want to leave you." He growled.

His voice was pained almost and full of emotion. My voice was lost. I could only look at him, not able to speak. His head came down, he rested his forehead against my chest. I ran my fingers through his hair. He turned his head, laying on me completely now but didn't hurt me.

"Keep breathing." He whispered. I smiled.

"I kind of have to."

He laughed. I felt the corner of his lips move against my skin. I continued to run my fingers through his hair.

"That feels good." He sighed.

"Does it?"

"Mmhmm."

It seemed like he was drifting off to sleep. His finger tips gently stroked the side of my neck.

"I like that." I told him now. His hand moved down, over my collar bone.

"Still?" He asked softly.

"Even better." I breathed.

I felt his smile against my skin again. But then he suddenly stiffened, which made an anxious feeling overwhelm me. He shot up, spinning around to the opening of the tent. He grabbed my arm, pulling me to my feet behind him effortlessly. He pushed the opening to the tent aside with the back of his hand. Everyone looked at him confused. He didn't meet any of their gazes. And then she came out of nowhere, standing in the light of the fire. Those who were sitting stood.

"Figures..." I muttered.

Kale, or Zero, glanced over his shoulder at me. Anya's arms were crossed, she was the closest one to Anabelle. Anabelle's eyes found her first. She smiled bitterly.

"Hello Anya." She sneered.

"Anabelle..." She acknowledged her between her teeth.

Anabelle smirked. "I'm surprised you're not a mut tonight."

Anya tensed. "I'm surprised you're still chasing Zero."

Anabelle hissed at her, her eyes shifting to Jason as he spoke;

"You know you shouldn't be here."

"I'm just looking for--" She spoke as her eyes wandered around the fire. She stopped when they landed on Zero. "Ah! Found you!" She grinned. He sighed.

"Were we playing a game?" He murmured. She shrugged.

"If we were, I won." She spoke as if satisfied. "Where's your little pet of a girlfriend?" She asked, really having no idea I was behin him. Then I remembered what she had said about both mine and Zero's scent. She had completely lost his, maybe she lost mine now too?

He pulled me beside him now. She frowned, looking angry. The fact that she had no idea I was behind him or here at all really must have pissed her off. He put his arm around my waist. She was glowering at me. Zero rolled his eyes at her then looked down at me, meeting my gaze.

"Headlock?" He whispered. We both snickered quietly.

"Don't you dare." I giggled.

He shook his head.

"Master Zero..." Jake gasped. We looked at him. All the wolves were staring in one direction as Jake looked at Zero and Anabelle still sneered at me.

"You three should get out of here." Jason finally ripped his gaze from out in the forest. It was easy to see we were in an open area of this forest. Anya appeared beside me, resting her hand on my arm.

"We won't let her out of our site. She'll be safe." She promised Zero. He stared at her, reading her and decided she would stay true to her word.

"You better. Or I'll come after you muts next."

She didn't retort, she just nodded. She let go of my arm as he reached for it. He turned me toward him, pulling me into his arms.

"We'll pick up where we left off when I come back to you." He said in my ear.

I nodded, looking at him. Our eyes locked. I almost started to tremble. The look in his eyes told me that this time he wouldn't be back right away. That this time was going to take a lot longer.

"I love you so much." I broke. He frowned, seeing that I caught on, that maybe I was paying too much attention to details lately.

"I love you, Jamie. More then I could ever tell you." He kissed me before I could respond.

"Zero." Jake seemed to warn.

He pulled away from me hesitantly, met my eyes one last time and spun around.

"Let's go." He ordered, moving past Anabelle. She spun around too and followed him.

"You'll be safe, Jamie." He assured me. I nodded.

"I know. Be careful, Jacob. Make sure Zero does too."

He smiled, almost half-heartedly. He looked like he was going to come forward to embrace me but changed his mind at the last second.

"Will do." He promised then spun around on his heels, disappearing with Zero and Anabelle.

"Come now, let's get you back inside." Anya took my arm again and pulled me back into the tent, shutting it.

"The other pack should be here any second." She whispered. "I don't think it would be a good idea to let them know you're here quite yet."

I nodded, understanding what she wanted. We both stared, seeing pefectly everyone's sillouhette perfectly. Then the sillhouettes multiplied. One was bigger then the others, obviously standing in front of the pack that had just shown up.

"Chief Maverick, what brings you here?" It sounded like Jason who spoke innocently. The Chief's arms were crossed.

"I'm interested as to who was just here moments ago." He spoke deeply and very calmly.

"Just us." Jason shrugged. His sillhouette was very visible.

"That's a very curious statement. I think you all know we're much keener then that. Three of those who were here just left and the other is hiding? So, who and what was here?"

There was a very irritatingly long silence.

"Are they in there?" His sillhouette pointed to the tent we were in. I held my breath.

"Chief Maverick, please. Anya had a little run in with vampires. I think that's the scent you might be picking up on."

"Where is she?"

"Resting."

"In there?" He reffered to our tent again.

"Yes. But I would prefer it if you didn't bother her. I'll let her know you stopped by."

More silence. Anya seemed to be holding her breath now too.

"I hope, for your sake, what you say is true." He finally spoke. "Come. We'll be back to check up on our land. Make sure no one is here who doesn't belong." Maverick stopped, momentarily looking at someone's sillhouette. Whoever it was looked right back at him, not moving at all as far as I could tell. Then Maverick continued on. We waited again in silence. Awhile past then Anya finally spoke.

"They're gone." She stood then came turned back to me. "You should come out to the fire." She frowned. "Maybe you shouldn't be alone like this..."

It was then that I realized I was tearing up. Kale leaving really hit me. I opened my mouth to speak but changed my mind and decided to just nod. I stood, following her out of the tent. She sat down beside Jason, I sat down beside her. The fire crackled.

"Do you want a s'more?" Jason asked. I looked at him curiously. He reached behind him and pulled the chocolate, graham crackers and marshmellows from a bag. He looked back at me and laughed.

"Don't look so surprised! So you want one?"

"Sure." I finally nodded. I couldn't help it, I was so used to the clans never eating it took me a moment to get used to the idea of the pack eating.

"Well I wasn't going to take no for an answer." He informed me, handing me marshamellows and a metal skewer to roast them on. I took it and began to roast them. The others did the same.

"You guys do this often?" I asked curious still.

"All the time." Jason glanced at Anya. She smiled as if she knew something I didn't.

"Really?" I asked skeptically.

"No." One of them murmured across from me. Jason shot him what looked like a warning look. Anya sighed.

"We figured you would like it. I mean, it seems like to do when they camp out."

"So everyone's being forced to eat s'mores because of me?" I raised my eyebrow. Everyone glanced at eachother.

"Well, it's not like we haven't eaten them before. We just don't do this everytime we come up here." One of them let me know.

"Up here?" I changed the subject as I pulled my marshmellow out of the fire. They didn't need to pretend to enjoy human activities just because I was intruding on their lives.

"We're kind of at the very top of a mountain." I stared at Anya as she spoke.

"I didn't realize that." I breathed wide eyed.

I was handed a graham cracker with a piece of chocolate on it. I placed the marshmellow on the chocolate and put the top of the graham cracker on. I took a bite. It was so good. I actaully hadn't had one since I was a kid. However, my mind was still stuck on the fact that we were at the top of a mountain. So I ate my s'mores with a group of wolves, listening quietly to them talk about there pack.

"Maverick's pack is really on us." One of them muttered with a full mouth.

"He has to protect our land, you know that."

"It's not going to get any easier."

"No. It's not..."

"The vampire situation isn't helping."

"That's exactly why they left." Jason interjected.

"Why are we doing this again?" One of them grumbled under there breath. I looked down at the fire.

"We have a friend amounst the vampires. And besides, I owe him one." I looked up at Jason. I heard those exact words come out of Jake's mouth before.

"How do you owe him?" I couldn't help but ask.

He looked at me now.

"Well, I've been friends with him for as long as I can remember. A few years ago, I got into a little trouble with some vampires. I was out-numbered and I hate to admit it but when we are out-numbered like that, vampires can be pretty damn strong. They literally cornered me and then he came out of nowhere. At that point I hadn't seen him in 5 years, so imagine my surprise when he appeared. Somehow we managed to fend them off. Long story short, he came to my side when no one else did, he protected me, so now I'm protecting you."

"I guess that's a good way to pay him back." I didn't really think so. He shrugged.

"It's what he wanted."

"An eye for an eye." Someone stated. Jason looked at him.

"A life for a life...." He said tensly.

"That serious?" Someone asked surprised. Jason nodded, glancing at me.

"Di d you have a family before you ran into the vampires?" Anya abruptly asked after a few minutes of silence. I bit my lip.

"I did." I couldn't get my voice above a whisper. "But i've been living on my own for the past two years. I really haven't had any contact with them since I moved away. It's not like they miss me..."

"What's your full name?"

I looked at her.

"Why do you want to know that?" I asked. She shrugged.

"Curiousity..."

"Jamie Luna Lamberg."

"That's pretty."

"Thanks." I blushed and smiled at her.

*****

We stayed out there and talked until it was much lighter out and the fire wasn't as bright anymore.

"You should go rest. We're all going to catch up on some sleep too." As Anya spoke I finally noticed all the other tents surrounding the area. What was wrong with my lack of attention to detail, seriously? I nodded and stood.

"Umm, I hope you don't mind," Anya began. I turned to her. "Shane is going to stay with you tonight." She told me quietly, looking past me. I glanced over my shoulder. It was the only one with hazel eyes, the one that was obviously different from the others. He smiled at me, a little shyly almost.

"I didn't want to say anything in front of Zero or even Jake." She continued. "I hope you don't mind." She repeated.

"No. That's fine." I wasn't going to be rude. She looked past me again and nodded at Shane. I spun around and headed to my tent.

"Sweet dreams, dolcetto." Anya called after me.

Shane followed behind me. I turned around when inside the tent to ask him a question. He was closer then I expected him to be and I jumped back.

"Sorry." He apologized quietly, taking a step back. I sighed.

"That's okay. D-do you want the bed?" I asked. He stared at me as if studying me. Then he suddenly started laughing.

"No. No, it's yours. You sleep in it."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." He smiled. I bit my lip.

"Well, then you can at least take the other side."

His smile faded slowly. He glanced at the bed.

"Are you sure?" He asked now. I nodded.

"Positive." I sat down on what would be my side. "You didn't ask to be the one to stay in here with me. It wouldn't be right to make you sleep on the ground."

"The ground doesn't bother me." I raised my eyebrow. He cleared his throat. "But I guess sleeping on a bed couldn't hurt."

I smiled at him. He moved to the other side of the bed.

"I'm shane by the way." He introduced, climbing under the covers as I did the same.

"I know. I'm Jamie."

"I know. I'm not human."

"I know. I am." I laughed.

"I know." He laughed too. "Sorry. I'm not used to—First vampires and now a human, it's not everyday this sort of thing happends."

"Yeah, you're telling me..." I agreed. He glanced at me.

"Oh. I guess it's not every day you run into vampires and such."

I shrugged. "I've gotten used to it."

"So....Dante is after you because he wants you turned?" He asked as we both layed there quietly.

I nodded. "He's crazy persistent."

"Jake and Zero are protecting you because they don't want you to be turned?"

I nodded again. "It's not too hard to figure out."

He nodded now too.

"But you don't want to be turned?" He was asking now. Once again I was biting my lip.

"Well, it's....it's complicated I think...."

He sat up, looking at me. "How?"

"The thing is, I want to be turned."

"So all of this is for nothing?"

"No." I answered faster then I was expecting to. "I don't want Dante to turn me. I want Zero to but he refuses to do it."

"It would be over sooner if he just did it." He muttered.

"That's what I've been trying to tell him." I sighed.

"He's very stubborn."

"He is." I nodded, agreeing with him. "But he's just trying to protect me."

"I guess that makes sense." He concluded after a moment.

"It does." I yawned.

"Oh. Sorry. You should rest."

I nodded. "Thanks for doing this Shane." I breathed.

"N-no problem...Jamie." He responded in a whisper. Then I drifted off to sleep.

*****

My heart lept. My eyes fluttered open. Kale was standing beside the bed. He looked down at me and smiled. I sat up.

"Kale! You're back!" I whispered loudly.

"I shouldn't be here..."

"I know..." I continued to whisper.

"I had to come back to tell you something important." He stared down at me.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" I breathed.

He pulled me to my feet, like he had done so many times before.

"I want to turn you." He finally spoke.

"You..." I looked up at him. His eyes were hauntingly black.

"You're mine." He growled bearly moving his lips. He came toward me so fast I gasped and my eyes snapped open.

It was only a dream but my heart was still pounding around. He was close, I knew he was but I also knew he wouldn't show himself. He wouldn't put any of us through the goodbye once again. I looked around, I could tell it was still light outside. A few extra hours of sleep would do me some good. I glanced over, seeing Shane sleeping soundlessly but he still seemed alert. This, for some reason, comforted me. And so, I drifted off to sleep again.

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The picture in this chapter is Shane