𝐏𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐑, sam uley ✗

𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

┏━━━━.˚✧˚₊ ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ.━━━━┓

WHAT IS A "LA PUSH"

DESPITE RETURNING TO VOLTERRA among the rest of the guard, Talullah spent the entirety of their meeting with the Volturi leaders thinking about her return to Washington.

Whenever her gaze wandered, she'd started to see Sam's face in every shadowed corner and crevice around her. Even when they'd been dismissed, with Jane thankfully omitting Talullah's brief outburst in front of the Cullens, she was tucked away in her quarters still thinking of him.

Based on the image that flashed in her mind when she'd seen him, she got the feeling that he was incredibly special to her in her human life. It was all very troubling to her, and rather than go to Demetri to confide in him like she'd always done, she paced around her room alone. He would only go straight to Aro if she told him, because he was their leader and Talullah was merely the youngling that Demetri took under his wing. He was loyal to Aro, first, just as she was.

But each time Sam's voice fluttered around in her mind, painful doubt warped around her entire being. Despite what the man could teach her about her true origins, she knew she would always return to where she belonged most. She didn't fit in amongst the wolf shifters, didn't fit in amongst the amber-eyed Cullens, and most certainly didn't fit in amongst the humans.

At the end of the day, she fit in most among the Volturi. Alongside her coven, alongside Aro, and especially alongside the leader she was sired to, was where she belonged. It was shocking to her how bitter she felt about that realization, lips curled in frustration at her frenzied emotions as of late.

But it wouldn't hurt to try and uncover her missing memories, right? 

.˚✧˚₊

Talullah stood silently in the woods, three days after she had last seen the Cullens, and the shifters, and Sam. She stared at her hands, flexing them and rolling her shoulders back as she settled into her cloned being.

She'd followed the man's lingering scent from when they had last been in contact, glancing at the slight familiarity of the trees around her. It was beautiful, she thought, especially since there was no wolf snarling down at her and obstructing the view.

The brunette vampire never considered herself a patient person, but as time passed with not a single sighting of the gruff looking man, the minimal patience she had wore thin. It was only as the sun dipped beneath the horizon, darkness being casted throughout the dense forest, that she heard a rustling sound to her left. The odd pulling sensation she felt three days ago returned, alerting her of the company she had been expecting.

There he stood. Hands in his cargo pockets as he approached her slowly, seeing the frustrated look settled on her face. Her eyes weren't as hazy as the last time he'd seen her, but he knew they weren't as vibrant as they should've been.

"You're late, Sam," she noted, chin raised to reprimand the man who came to a stop in front of her. His name slipped out of her with ease now, and based on the shifter's ghost of a grin, Talullah figured he noticed.  

He nonetheless shook his head. "You never told me a time, Lulu," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. This provided the vampire the opportunity to notice just how muscular he was before she felt her eyes averting back to his. "I figured you would like the dark."

And there it was again, that pesky nickname that once again made a wave of comfort wash over her being. Sam, now noticing the tension in her shoulders deflate, gestured his head before he began stepping away. "Come walk with me."

Talullah felt compelled to follow, and so she did silently. She didn't mind the silence as they walked, the vampire putting a decent amount of distance between them, but the lack of noise was beginning to bother her. "We sparkle in direct sunlight," she blurted out, only twelve minutes in their walk.

Sam's gaze flickered to the girl next to him, confusion crossing his features. "Sparkle?"

Talullah merely nodded, unsure of why she was spilling vampiric secrets to the man she'd only re-met a few days ago. "And forget you heard me say that." At such a demand, Sam only seemed amused by both her antics and the fact that his kind's sworn enemy could actually sparkle in the sun.

As the pair reached the tree line, Talullah hesitated as the sound of rushing water reached her ears. "Welcome to La Push," Sam declared, trudging past the end of the forest and stepping his bare feet onto the sand like he'd done thousands of times before.

He caught her reaction to this as she followed closely behind. Her face scrunched up, nose twitching as she addressed him. "What the hell is a La Push?"

Sam only laughed, recognizing that even as a vampire his best friend still had the same mannerisms. "It's a place on the rez," he started before continuing, "but this is the beach."

Sand surrounded them as Talullah looked to the crashing waves before her. She bummed in thought, glancing around as if she was trying to figure out how this might trigger a memory within her. "You've brought me to a beach," she grumbled out after she felt nothing happen — no flashes of images in her mind, nothing.

"Your favourite beach," Sam corrected her, grin widening as he saw the frustration deep back onto her pale face. "I taught you how to swim here."

The young vampire snapped her head in his direction at lightning speed. "I couldn't swim?" she asked, absolutely baffled. She was a great swimmer now, faster than Alec when Aro would send them overseas for something he required. It was almost laughable to think that there was a time where she couldn't.

"There was an accident once, when we were seven," he said lowly, eyes focused on the raging waters rather than the girl beside him. She studied him as he spoke, noticing the small breaths he took as his bare chest rose up and down. "You couldn't swim back then. Took me and Dawson eight years to get you back in the water."

Talullah noticed that Sam's face was pinched tightly, jaw locked as he seemed to remember what happened. She followed his gaze as it zeroed in on a mountain of rocks protruding out of the ocean, just metres from the shoreline, and went rigid.

An image in her mind, then. A young girl with wild brown hair, frightened brown eyes as a wave sent her toppling into the rock formation. She watched the young girl submerge further below the surface, distant yells rattling around in her mind before she snapped out of it.

Reaching for her forehead instinctively, she could almost memorize the scar that should've been there reaching into her hairline. It was nothing but porcelain marble now, but Sam noticed the action. "I got hurt," she said, already knowing what the answer was. She was the little girl in the vision.

"Yeah."

It was obviously a sore subject to the taller man, who unbeknownst to her had managed to inch closer while the girl was absorbed in the memory. For an odd reason, she observed Sam's stormy gaze and felt she didn't enjoy seeing him this way. She couldn't change the past, much less her human past, but a thrum of exhilaration shot through her. Another memory.

"So, where will you take me next?"

.˚✧˚₊

[ wyn's note ]

chapter eight; a glimpse into how sam (+ the pack) will help our girl talullah get her memories back! and she's beginning to tolerate sam — small win!

thanks for reading! the next chap should be out in the next couple days after my last round of examinations wrap up.

all love!