burning at the stake | o.r.

chapter 8: the moonlight of her past

"Swan."

Billy wore a smile that was noticeably fake as he spoke, "Do you know where you get that last name from?"

"My mother." Mariposa replied, the fire slowly reaching the fuse that was her temper. Why would her personal information be of any value to this man?

"And how did your mother die?"

The line had been crossed as a personal part of Mariposa snapped, "I'm sorry, what does this have to do with anything?!"

"Young lady, it has to do with everything," the man in the wheelchair laughed sourly as he looked down at his wrinkled hands.

Olivia soothed Mariposa, caressing her hands as she sensed there was something between the lines that they weren't seeing, and if it had something to do with Mariposa and her safety than the last thing she wants to do is leave and miss out on a way to help her. After all, Seth seemed like a good guy, it's possible they're all good people and maybe this is their way of offering help.

Mariposa's chest had began to heave as she looked to Olivia, still seated in her chair. One look was all it took for Mariposa to understand. Any outbursts would have to wait until the end of whatever this conversation was.

She sighed reluctantly as she looked back to the man who was already skating on thin ice. "How does my mother's death contribute to this matter?"

"Mariposa-"

"It's Mari." The girl corrected sternly, her eyes narrowing.

"Mari," Billy began, "Your backstory is the main reason why we're all here today, and I think you 'ought to know it, but the only way I can tell it to you is if you trust me."

She could see that he meant well, for his unarguably kind eyes finally held geninuity, as well as what could be seen bright as day, waves of inexpressible sorrow.

Mariposa felt for him, and with a reassuring hand squeeze from Olivia, she was sure she could trust the man, and was ready for whatever it is she had to hear.

"Okay, I trust you."

The man nodded as he prepared the story that he'd known by heart. Hell, he watched it happen in real time.

"Mari, your mother... was Isabella Swan. She moved up here when she was in high school, she came all the way from Jacksonville and settled here with her father, Charlie. He was a good man," Billy spoke, nostalgia making ripples in the air with every word.

Mariposa had already been caught off guard. He knew her grandfather? Why didn't she remember seeing him at the funeral?

"It wasn't a month that she had lived here before she started messing around with that Cullen boy," he shook his head as he remembered the panic that struck the pack at the news of their relationship.

Mariposa flinched, Cullen, the name that every one of her siblings had acquired, the name of her grandparents... the name of her father.

"That Cullen boy of course, was your father. Edward was completely taken with Isabella, as Isabella was with him. The only issue was that he was a vampire, and she was human. But, they decided to set it aside for a while, or at least for as long as they could."

Mariposa froze. Her father was a vampire?

"To everyone else, they looked like a normal and happy couple. They looked in love, and everyone believed it. All except for my son, Jacob."

Each girl reacted differently as they heard the name drop, as Olivia had made the connection from the words she had heard spoken by Sam before. Mariposa, however, felt a pull, almost gravitational, almost like a tugging at her soul as she helplessly tried to remember where she'd heard it, before the story rolled along.