The Tale of the Brokenhearted

Chapter 23: Shared Midnight

"So here we are alone in the wilderness under a full moon. A normal human would be nervous," Leah said playfully as she stalked sinuously between the trees toward me. "At midnight I might just turn and attack you." I chuckled and gathered her in my arms.

"Yes, a normal human would be petrified, because they would be ignorant to the truth about your kind. I, however, know better. I know that you're just a little puppy. However they would be scared senseless at the sight of me … you should be, too." I jostled her in my embrace, and she just grinned at me.

"Oh, I am, Mr. Cullen, you have no idea. And just so you know, I'm by no means a puppy." She snorted, sighed, and placed her head on my shoulder. She thought about how my being a supernatural being was the last thing she was afraid of. She had learned to accept the fact that I was a vampire, she more afraid of the fact that I was a man. A man that had unwittingly taken her heart and had the power to hurt her worse than anybody else could. Her grip tightened around me as her thoughts slowly sobered her mood.

"I won't hurt you, Leah, I promise." She snorted, and she doubted my sincerity, but she had decided to live in the blissful delusion of this moment. "I'm serious, I won't." I was determined no one else would, either.

"Not on purpose," she whispered and held me closer, she almost had me in a vise grip. I rocked her back and forth for a moment. I wished I could disarm her worries. I would set out to do just that, after we had handled our immediate worries of danger. I needed her to be prepared to fight.

"Alright Ms. Clearwater are you ready to, as you said, 'get your Rocky on'? I want you to be able to ruin any evil vampires in your path." She snickered and pulled away from me.

"Yeah coach, I'm ready!" She began bouncing around like a boxer. It wasn't until then that it occurred to me that I had the poor girl out here in her pajamas; actually it was just a long, faded blue shirt and some grey shorts. Of course, Leah looked beautiful regardless, but there was nothing like viewing her under the light of a full moon. As great as she looked, it would probably be more logical if she transformed into her alter ego.

"You should probably change," I suggested, even though I wasn't thrilled about it. She twisted her mouth up and to the side, giving my proposal some thought.

"I don't really feel like it, can't you just explain it to me. It will all be stored up here." She tapped her head, indicating the magic of her beautiful ideate mind. I glared at her, but conceded because I didn't really want her to be a wolf right now either. I would actually have preferred to be in my car, just driving and talking, or at her apartment just being together.

"Fine," I groaned and motioned for her to close to me. She skipped to me playfully and stood right in front of me. I chuckled at her playfulness, this was much better, it was much more like how we used to be, but better on many levels. I cleared my throat and pushed all thoughts of romance aside to focus on the task at hand. "When a newborn approaches you they will be a lot like a wild animal. They will focus primarily on using their intense strength to crush their opponent. They'll grab you at your waist, something like this." I gripped just above her belly button and crushed her to my chest. "They'll put you in a bear hug, and then maneuver you to try to bite you and suck you dry." I angled her so that her neck was exposed and brushed my lips against its pulse point. She shivered in response. She liked the sensation of the pop rocks against her neck. She giggled and pushed away a little.

"Okay, what else?" She took a deep breath. I'd gotten to her without even trying. "Stop looking at me like that! You're so damn smug, you know that?" She shook her head and turned her back on him.

"I don't know what you're talking about? How am I smug?" I tilted my head to the side and crossed my arms against my chest. I was shocked but still amused by her outburst.