SOFT SPOT ― tvdu multi

PROLOGUE

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WHEN BRIAR WAS SEVEN, HER MOTHER DIED.

That was the first time she met her extended family on the other side of the country. She visited the small town where Sarah Gilbert was born and raised and met the brothers she'd left behind in hopes of starting a new life.

There was some prejudice.

Briar didn't understand it at the time, but it was written all over her uncles' faces when they met her eyes or stared down her father. She recalled years later how her brother, Jacob, would tighten his grip on her hand and their father would gently push them from the rest of the family.

She watched as they lowered the coffin into the ground — nailed shut to hide the mauled body, if the rumors were true — and cried into the flowers gifted to her by cousins she'd never met.

Years passed before Briar saw any of them again.

Bella, a friend from their youth, moved back into town and both Black siblings were pushed into the world of the supernatural. They discovered vampires and werewolves and some ancient prophecy both of them were supposedly involved in.

Fuck prophecies.

Jacob and Briar Black were not people to stand around and wait for life to happen to them. When Jacob's childhood crush fell in love with the rival vampire clan, Briar was the one to pack their bags.

She couldn't watch her brother cry himself to sleep for some girl he deserved better than.

So, in a hasty decision, Briar and Jacob ran away to Mystic Falls, Virginia, where their mother's family was.

They didn't stay with them, sitting under the guise of a "distant father" but worked the system enough to stay low and avoid prying eyes.

They went back when Bella's newborn was being threatened by their tribe, and what sounded like the vampire gods or leaders or something.

(Briar really didn't take notes.)

After they all had a huge, boring conversation — which Briar absolutely hated because she really wanted to rip apart some leeches — everyone moved on.

Everyone, except for Briar and Jacob.

The Cullens had their new family — and while Briar liked them well enough, they weren't her family — and their dad was falling in love with Bella's.

That was an entirely different story.

So, in a mutual agreement to really try this time, the siblings, and Briar's best friend Seth, moved back to Virginia.

And so, the prophecy begins.

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