Midnight Moon (2)

Chapter 5 - Nightmare and Scares

Seth

I woke up shivering, in a pool of my own sweat. Moonlight seeped through my room, tracing outlines of the stacks of papers on my desk. I sat up, head aching.

What had I dreamed about?

My hands wouldn't stop shaking, yet I felt feverishly hot. The house was silent, Mom was sleeping, I could hear her heartbeat, and Leah... Where was Leah? There were no sounds coming from her bedroom.

I closed my eyes, trying to focus. No, not enough strength, I'd have to phase.

My wolf form was comforting. Like returning home after a long journey. But the peace did not last long.

Inside my head, Jacob and Leah were yelling at one another, practically screaming, and through their visions, I saw why.

"They broke our treaty!" Sam yelled

"You have got to let go of that excuse! Are you fucking out of your mind? Since when have the Cullens ever not asked permission? And since fucking when did they ever attack humans?" Leah screamed

"They let their kind on our land!"

"They do not represent the entity of vampires! Sam, I know this is hard for your tiny brain but please see some sense!"

"Enough!" roared Jacob "We came here to find out who died, not to rant about Sam never using his pea sized brain."

"It was Annette Miller."

That sounded too familiar. Where had I heard that name before?

I paused mid stride, almost crashing into a tree, to search through my memories of that name.

Miller... Miller...

"She wanted to take me away," Neveah bent her head, focusing on threading the grass bracelet she'd weaved around my wrist.

The autumn breeze parted clouds allowing slivers of sunlight to navigate their way down the trees' branches, patterning her skin.

"Who?" I asked softly, watching her work. I let my fingers trace her curls.

"Ms Miller, my social worker, she worked for child services." Neveah sat back, smiling at her work
"That's why I ran away. Tristan was mad though, I'd never see him yell that loud before—"

So that's where I'd heard her name. Annette Miller, Neveah's social worker who'd brought her to Forks and wanted to take her away.

I shook my head, pacing back and forth, my paws thumped hard against the forest floor. There was something that I was missing here, and I just couldn't find it.

"Seth? What are you doing up?" Leah had detected me "Go back to bed, you have a calculus test in 5 hours, you need to rest."

"Are you going to hunt the vampire?"

"Go away Seth, I'm shutting you out." said Jacob, followed by silence.

I grumbled, but an Alpha's orders were final, so I turned and made the slow trench back home.

Neveah

He laughed.

at me.

It was when it sunk in. Caius had the power, next to him, I was nothing. He could do whatever he wanted and only I would suffer the consequences. The dawning of this felt like I had slowly been drowning without ever realising it.

I was sinking deeper into the watery depths of an endless ocean with only my bubbles of breath to keep me company.

The sound of ocean water did not escape my ears for the next week. Not even during my training with Felix and Demetri, not during the times where Chelsea kept pestering me about how I felt about Caius, my betrothed. 

"He's not..." I protested

"Don't try kidding yourself, sweetie." Chelsea said, stroking my hair back. "Say, what if I got all the wedding preparations ready for you? We can have a glorious affair, with chandeliers, gold, diamonds, jewels and the best, purest, freshest blood this world has to offer."

"I haven't even agreed yet!" 

"Tut, tut," Chelsea held my shoulders gently, "Its not for you to agree, sweetie. It's for you to accept, because it's a fact now. Even Aro has spoken to me about the wedding arrangements."

Aro hadn't made anything better either. Each time I saw him, he grinned at me, and that sinking feeling would overwhelm my whole body again. The bubbles were disappearing, I was losing my breath, and I couldn't even tell which way was up to the surface or down to the deep watery depths of my fate.

My bedroom door suddenly opened, startling me and Chelsea who hadn't noticed the footsteps of the intruder.

Felix smiled at the sight of both of us sitting on my bed. Chelsea was decked out beautifully in a modern tight fit green dress whereas I was wearing my only pair of comfortable clothes—a large shirt and some sweats.

All of our clothes were always uniformed from the Volturi and resembled the winter wear of royalty from the 1800s. Thick and black, covered in jewels. Vampires didn't get uncomfortable, but I did. Heavily.

My clothes had been stolen off of the body of corpses that the guard had feasted on. They'd been washed thoroughly and smelt completely clean, yet I couldn't help but feel I was still wearing a dead man's clothes.

"Excuse us ladies," Felix said courteously, the door widened, revealing Demetri behind him. "We've received orders to escort young lady Neveah to Caius' chambers."

Chelsea squeezed my hand.

"I was off anyway. Hopefully we'll get a juicy bunch for tonight." She sashayed out of the room, letting her arm linger on Felix's shoulder before disappearing around the corner. Felix and Demetri watched her leave. 

I considered running over to the balcony and throwing myself off while they were distracted but they were too quick for me.

"Shall we get going?" Demetri asked

"I'd rather not." I replied with a false smile. Within seconds, I had been hoisted unceremoniously over Felix's shoulder and carried out of my room.

I struggled the whole while to Caius' quarters, kicking Felix and yelling at Demetri who followed behind smiling simply at my protests.

"Put me down!" I yelled

"As you wish." Felix dropped me onto the ground. Before I had a chance to register where I was. They'd both left the room slamming the door behind them. I heard a lock click.

"Were you really against seeing me again, darling?" A familiar voice asked.