Enemies In The Woods ~ Jacob Black

Welcome to Forks

My head is pounding. I can't hear my own thoughts. The world around me is spinning uncontrollably, and the dense forest probably doesn't help. I hear the unmistakable howl of a wolf - a werewolf - who's hot on my tail. I haven't encountered werewolves in a long time, not since I fled from home. America was supposed to be a new start for me.

Look how well that turned out.

I can hear them getting closer, stalking my every move with extreme precision. This wolf is no junior pup, they're experienced and deadly to the core. Strange, considering that they don't seem particularly old. I don't keep up with wolf trends though, maybe they're just evolving to be stronger now.

I'm clawing my way through tree roots and moss when I spot a house in the distance. A house? What kind of weirdos live in the middle of the forest? The wolf behind me is growling from the back of their throat. Nevermind, how wonderful for them to live in the middle of the forest. I make a break for it and sprint towards the house with the last bit of energy I have on reserve. I hear the wolf charge forward, and then retreat with great reluctance when they look up at the building ahead. Thank goodness, I quite like having all of my limbs. I turn around to see a very modern family home, with big windows that reveal a cascading chandelier in the stairwell and hundreds of graduation caps hung on the wall like a mural. The door opens. I get ready to defend myself. But instead of the attack that I was expecting, a tall blonde man with a kind smile steps out of the doorway.

"Hello there, would you like to come inside?" he says. His teeth are so perfectly white, as if he's never dirtied them by eating food in his life. And that hair definitely has to be a wig. It's not even swaying in the wind. Not that it changes the fact that this man is extremely handsome.
"Are you injured?"
"No." I stuttered, embarrassing.
"Then please, come inside." He's holding out his arm in a way that looks like he plans on embracing me. I don't know why but I feel like I can trust him. Slowly, I walk past him and inside the house. The interior is more extravagant than I had imagined. The man leads me up a flight of stairs and into a perfectly spotless kitchen, it looks almost unused. The wood used for the counters is a rich orangy-brown colour, and is littered with little black spice holders. The man doesn't look like someone who would be able to handle any spice above salt, but nonetheless. Next to me at the tope of the stairs is a large book shelf, completely filled with all kinds of novels old and new. I am someone who greatly appreciates an aesthetic bookcase so this is quite appealing.
"Do you like to read?" He noticed me staring I suppose.
"Yes, although I struggle to find something that I can truly get into."
"That's an interesting accent."
"I'm from England."
"Where specifically, if you don't mind me asking?"
"East London."
"Interesting, I've never been myself sadly. East London has a rather-"
"Terrible reputation? Yeah, I know. I got stabbed once."
"That must've been a very frightening experience, I'm sorry that happened to you." His voice is so smooth and steady that it comes across as inhuman. He's more like a perfectly tuned machine, always running the right pace and never faltering.
"You are suspicious of me."
"I'm not."
"Humans tend to look to the side when they lie. You just looked to your left, which means that you still have most of your human mannerisms. You couldn't have turned any longer than a week ago."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"There's no need to be afraid, I promise you. You probably don't understand what is happening to you, but I can help. I'm like you." Suddenly, a group of other people enter the room from the staircase and other rooms. There's too many for me to focus on one of them, and frankly I'm starting to panic. I don't think I'd survive an eight v one, even with my newfound strength.
"That's not true," one of the men say. He's pale with a chiselled bone structure and tired yellow eyes. He has brown hair that is slicked back and rather thick eyebrows. His lips are thin and pursed into a fine line when I look over, "if you wanted to, you could take us all down. You're stronger than any of us right now."
"What are you talking about?"
"He means-" I take a step backwards and startle a curly-haired man that's standing behind me, "he means that you're a newborn," the first man says.
"I don't know what that means."
"We know what you are, miss. And we can help you. You just have to let us."
I don't know why but I once again got the feeling that I can trust this man, despite only meeting him roughly ten minutes prior.
"My name is Carlisle, and this is my family," he explains whilst gesturing around the room. "We are vampires, and so are you."
"That's impossible."
"I know it's hard to believe, but -"
"No, I know vampires exist. I just mean that it's impossible for me to be one. I haven't been bitten."
"That arm says otherwise," remarks a very built man with brown hair that's leaning on a wall to my left. He's referring to a scar of a vampire bite that I have on my left forearm.
"This is from years ago."
"And what about that?" he questions whilst pointing to my right shoulder, to another vampire bite.
"That's from six months ago."
"Emmett, stop pestering the poor girl," a blonde who is draped over the side of, who I now know to be, Emmett's body says. Carlisle clears his throat.
"You've clearly had encounters with vampires in the past. Not good ones."
"Vampires are monsters, of course they weren't good encounters," I scoff.
"We are different from others of our kind. We feed on animal blood. We protect the humans of this town. I'm a doctor. We can teach you to control your thirst just as we do, to blend in with the humans around you and live as normal of a life as possible."
"You can even go to highschool," the curly-haired man joked. He seems to have a very strong southern accent, although I don't know very much about American accents so it may not actually be southern. I watch too many movies.
"Why would you help me? You don't even know me."
"Because that is what we do," Carlisle is slowly walking towards me now, "we help our own kind." I let him get closer to me, and I don't reject him when he pulls me into a hug. I think this is the first time that I've been hugged since I left home. I miss it.