Cold Front | Paul Lahote

dix-huit

It was dreadfully dull in the Cullen home. Furniture was covered in white sheets, rooms were dark and empty. The dust that coated the house was thick and heavy, making her thankful that breathing wasn't required.

Walking around the room, she left bloody footprints in her wake. Smear and smudges from her hands were left on white walls. It was haunting, something that could be taken right from a horror film. It was laughable how the humans acted as though the demons and monsters of the world were for entertainment. She believed that she could tell them stories that could make even the bravest of men weep.

If they wanted pretty girls on a screen to be murdered as entertainment, she could easily give them a live show.

Navigating the house, Erica let her powers come forward. She froze the house, letting beautiful swirls of snow and ice cover every surface she could reach as decoration. She watched as the wide windows cracked under the pressure of the sudden shift in temperature before they too froze over.

Getting a glance of herself in the mirror, she stared at how blue her eyes shown even in the dark. It was an icy, cerulean blue that looked far too innocent, something that reminded her far too much of her human self.

Her eyes grew hard and with a clench of her jaw, the mirror cracked. Millions of jagged lines spread through the reflective surface distorting her appearance. She thought it was fitting, the way the ice and breaks showed what kind of monster she truly was.

Turning away, she continued into the front room but stopped in the entrance. The couches were coated in a dusting of snow that continued to fall from thin air; the mantle, tables, ledges were all white. It was not enough.

Pulling from deep inside of herself, she let the cold seeped out of her heart and through her palms before exploding in a burst. Snow fell quicker, harder. It was dense, settling over the room in thick layers.

Erica felt at ease, like this was how she was meant to live. Drinking and feeding, bringing Jack Frost's wrath upon humanity relentlessly. Humanity was over rated when you possessed immortality.

"Erica." She was snapped from her mind at the sound of his voice. Close, very close. Scanning the room, she found it to be inches deep in snow. Reeling it all in, she pushed her powers at bay and felt her eyes slip back into that haunting burgundy colour that she attained after a fresh meal.

"Erica!" he called again. She could hear the rage in his voice from here.

"Stop shouting, you'll wake the neighbors," she replied loud enough for him to hear.

She walked in, sitting on a couch comfortably in the snow as it hugged her like a blanket. She could smell with getting close, her mouth involuntarily watering at how delectable he was. She was summer heat, and warm breeze, strong iron, and musk. She didn't understand how, but the different smells melded together perfectly.

She was smiling when he came barreling in, brows furrowed and body shaking. His shoulders hunched over, under what she presumed was the weight of his packs fury and sorrow. She continued to smile when he took in her appearance. His eyes blew wide, watering at the sight over her crimson stained clothes. She could visibly see the way his skin paled at her blood-stained hands and feet. His knees grew weak at her mouth, red painting the bottom half of her face.

"I apologize for my appearance. I'm a messy eater."

Paul continued to stare at her, body jerking and twisting with emotions. Part of his mind screamed that she was evil, that everything about her was wrong. Part of him wailed because he just wanted to be happy with the girl that is supposed to be his other half, his soulmate.

Erica continued to smile as he asked his question.

"Why?" the shifter breathed out, all signs of a fight leaving him.

"Why? I warned you but you did not believe me. I am every bit of a monster that you and I both know I am," she spoke to him as though he was a child.

"Why?" he repeated.

"I just told you wh-"

"Why did you do this Erica?" Paul asked desperately.

Bewildered, she stood up and moved so that she stood directly in front of him. "Why? Because you had constructed some sort of deranged image of me in your head. You looked at me as though I put the star in the damned sky and I needed to stop it before things got out of hand. Look at me! I am the bad guy! I am your natural enemy!"

"So you killed-"

"Yes! I kill people! I kill people because I like it, and I kill people because it's fun. It's all a game for me, everything is a game for me," she raved. "I do everything, calculate my every move so that I always end up on top. He was just a piece in the grand scheme of things."

Paul moved forward, taking her by the arms and shaking her. His fingers curled around stone skin, tiny cracks forming under the force. "You're sick. You're absolutely disgusting. Is this how you think?" he growled the words in her face. "Am I just a game to you?"

"Of course, you were! In the beginning, you were my biggest game, the biggest challenge I would ever face. Taking out the Cullen's was a warm up compared to the challenge that is a mate," Erica hissed. "But then it wasn't, you weren't. I couldn't- I can't win when it comes to you because either way I lose. If I had a choice, I would turn you and be done with it but I can't."

"So, what was it? This grand scheme?" Paul held her harder, her arms groaning in protest.

Erica was quick to snarl at him, teeth snapping close to his face as her arms cracked like the mirror had. Millions of dark lines showing on snowy skin. Paul let go as though she was on fire, horror flashed in his eyes once he realized that he was hurting his imprint. They stared at each other, the tension between them electric.

"You," she admits in defeat. "To keep you away from me. I- I'm not good for you. Your life is so fragile that I fear it'll be my fault that you lose it.'

He stepped forward, and she took a step back. "Look at you. After everything I have just said, after killing one of your people, you still gravitate towards me. These feeling you have for me are destructive, do you not see that? Look at how you still come to me. I'm manipulative, everything about my appearance draws you in."

"I don't care," he told her.

"I will do nothing but hurt you. I won't try to push you away again," she warned.

Paul sprang forward, arms circling her waist. He leaned his head into her neck, breathing her in. It was intense, his touch far different than the way it was before. This sent heat down her spine.

"I will stop at nothing to kill the Cullen's, and if you and your little pack get in the way I will consider it collateral damage," she murmured in his ear.

Erica took hold of his head roughly, pulling him away from her and didn't waste a moment before slamming her lips into his.

•••••

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I know it's been a while since I've updated but I've had serious writers block for this story. I wrote this chapter over and over again but I still feel like it's pretty awful so I'm sorry if it sucks.

Unedited.