Destined (Vampire Awakenings) (6 page)

  
David nodded as he grinned at Stefan.
“Some of them. That’s Ethan, A
iden, and Ian,” He said, nodding to the group still gathered on the porch. “
Those are my friends Mike, Doug, and Jack. I told you about them
before
.”

   “Yeah, I remember,”
Stefan
replied dully, his gaze quickly searching the three men on the porch. He had heard of vampire children, had been told that they were normal looking, but he had never actually
seen
one. It was completely amazing. “Who was the girl?”
he
inquired
.

   “The
girl
was our sister, Isabelle,” Ethan, or at least he thought it was Ethan, replied coldly.

   Stefan’s
eye
brows rose at the fierce tone in
the boy’s
voice, but he refrained from saying anything. “What is going on?” Delia asked shrilly.

   “Someone’s going to have to take care of them,” Stefan said, waving a hand at the humans behind him.

   “Not me,” Jack announced. “I had enough of
doing
that with Kathleen years ago.”

   “What did you do to my mother?” Jess
nearly shrieked
.

   “What are going to do to us?” Delia cried, backing steadily away from the porch, her gaze darting wildly around. Her fear was palpable as it radiated through the air.

   “That’s all you guys,
it’s a perfect training session
for honing your powers of persuasion
,
” David said
, grinning as he nodded
to the men on the porch. “Why don’t we go somewhere a little less chaotic
and catch up
?” he asked Stefan.

   “That sounds like a very good idea,” he replied.

CHAPTER 4

   Isabelle woke with a groan to the endless pounding of a hammer, and the annoying buzz of a saw ringing in her ears. Moaning miserably, she grabbed her pillow and pulled it over her head. She had barely slept last night, and this was not the way that she wanted to be awakened. Why the hell were they working on the new house so early in the morning?
S
he wondered angrily.

  
Then she realized
that she was being
ridiculous. If they had started later, she would have been over at their house, dragging them out of
bed in order to get them moving
. She was just angry because she hadn’t fallen asleep until the sun had
already
started to peak its head over the horizon. She groaned again as she clearly recalled the reason
why
she
’
d
had
so much difficulty falling asleep.

  
Him
.

   Moaning again she pulled the pillow tighter over her head. The gesture was useless, it dimmed the pounding, but it did nothing to shut out the image of him that had been seared into her brain. She clearly recalled
the story
her mother had
told her
about the first time
that
she had seen her father, and how the world had seemed to disappear for
a moment. Nausea twisted in Isabelle’s
stomach. She didn’t want to be her mother and father. She only wanted a quiet, peaceful life, where she needed no one but herself to survive.

   With another loud moan, she finally conceded defeat to the fact that she wasn’t going to get anymore sleep. Sighing angrily she threw the pillow aside and tossed off her sheet. She was getting way ahead of herself where he was concerned
.
J
ust because the world had seemed to disappear when she saw him
didn
’
t mean that she had met her soul
mate. All it meant was that
she had finally encountered her first vampire, outside of her close knit family and friends, and it had shocked her. That was all. That was the only reason that things had been so strange last night.

   However, no matter what she told herself, or how fervently she thought it, she couldn’t shake the image of him from her mind, or the strange feelings that he had provoked in her.

   Thankfully, he would be gone today.
Or h
opefully
, he already was
.
She had thought that notion would be pleasing; she was disgusted to realize it wasn
’
t.

  
“Isabelle!” her door burst open with a loud bang as it slammed
forcefully
against
t
he wall.

  
She jumped in surprise,
sigh
ing
wearily
as her sisters burst into the room like a t
sunami
.
She did
n
’
t bother to turn and face Abby and Vicky as
she swung her legs out of bed
. She had never known
privacy;
she didn’t bother to
try and have
any
now. She quickly gathered her clothes together as she moved toward her small half bath.

 
“What’s up?” she asked tiredly.

   All she wanted was to wash her face, it would help her feel better, and wake her up. “What’s up?” they demanded following her to the doorway. “Don’t you know?” Abby charged.

   No, she didn’t know what their new melodrama was, and at the moment she didn’t care. Isabelle shut the door on Abby and leaned against it. “Hurry up!” Vicky yelled.

   Sighing tiredly she stood away from the door. She turned the cold water on and liberally began to splash her face, relishing in the feel of it as she slowly began to wake up. Feeling much better, she dressed quickly, pulled her thick hair into a ponytail, and opened the door to face her sisters. They were sitting on her bed, their hands clasped before them as they stared eagerly at her. Whatever they had to tell her had them nearly bursting at the seams.

   She knew she was going to regret asking, Vicky and Abby could go on endlessly when something had them excited
.
Isabelle usually
ended up
with
a headache
from trying to follow their inane chatter
by the time they were done, but ask she did. “Know what?”

   “They’re staying
here
!” Vicky exclaimed. “We can’t get in the bathroom now! Let alone with two more people in the house!”

   Isabelle blinked in confusion as she dropped her nightgown into the hamper. “Who is staying here?”

   “Kathleen, and her kids!” they cried
in miserable unison
.

  
Isabelle
swung toward them, her mouth dropping open. She had completely forgotten about Kathleen, Delia, and Jess in her own confusion, and self pity, last night. “What?” she nearly yelled.

   “Yeah,” Abby said, nodding her golden head enthusiastically. “Kathleen starts a new job in two weeks, she thought it would be nice to stop by and surprise mom. They invited them to stay for the
entire
time!”

   Isabelle felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her head as
her entire body went completely numb
. “What about Jess’s boyfriend?” she
croaked
.

   “He is so hot!” Vicky gushed
, batting her eyes dreamily
as she folded her hands under her chin
. “Do you know he’s the one that told David what was going on with mom and dad? He’s over two hundred years old!”

  
Isabelle didn’t care about any of that. There was only one thing she did care about.
“Is he staying here?” she managed to choke out.

   “Yeah, he’s helping out with the new house right now!”

   Isabelle’s eyes widened as her throat went dry and her heart jumped into her throat. There was no room in either house now, where would everyone stay? A cold chill of apprehension began to trickle through her as she gazed wildly around he
r
room. There was more room at the other house. There was an extra bathroom, and if someone bunked up... Isabelle shut the thought down as panic began to constrict her chest.

   “He’s going to be staying at the other house with Jess. She doesn’t go back to college for a few weeks. Maybe they’re soul mates
like mom and dad
! That’s so romantic!” Abby cried.

   Isabelle felt as if she had been slammed in the gut with a fist as she struggled to catch her breath, and absorb everything that they were saying. He was staying
here
? With Jess? For two weeks? Her thoughts were a scattered mess, none of which were in the least bit romantic. Most of them were pure terror.

   “I d
on’t think they are,” Vicky contradicted Abby
. “They sure don’t act like mom and dad. I mean he didn’t even see Jess after he left with the stooges last night.”

   “That’s true,” Abby said
, biting
thoughtfully
on her bottom lip
.

   “Isabelle what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Vicky demanded.

   Blinking herself out of her horrifying thoughts, she forced herself to focus on the identical faces before her. “Ah, nothing. How are they going to stay here? I mean, Kathleen is mom’s friend from
school;
she fainted when she saw her last night! They can’t possibly stay here!
How can any of them possibly explain that none of them have aged in the past twenty five years?
”

   “Stefan took care of that. His powers are really strong since he’s so old!” Abby breathed reverently. “He’s made it so that whenever Kathleen, Jess, and Delia look at mom, dad, and the stooges
,
they see people that look like they’re in their forties.”

   Isabelle gaped at them in surprise and horror. She could forge people’s memories, but only a moment or two of them, and it always left her tired and drained. She couldn’t begin to imagine the amount of power
it would take
in order to accomplish such a feat
, it
must be astronomical.
“He can do that?” she breathed.

   “Yeah, isn’t that awesome!? Can you imagine what else he must be able to do?”

   No, she couldn’t, and she didn’t want too. She shuddered involuntarily as her sisters continued to prattle on about Jess’s boyfriend. “Isabelle.”

   She jumped in surprise as her mom’s head appeared in the doorway. “Yeah?” she asked shakily.

   Her mother frowned as she stepped fully into the doorway. “You okay?”

   “Yes,
”
she lied.

   Her
mother’s
gaze rapidly searched her face, but Isabelle forced herself to remain calm and serene, even though inside she was a seething mass of turmoil. “I see you’ve heard the news.”

   “Yes.”

   “It will only be for a little while, and Jess goes back to school in two weeks. Plus, the new house will be finished soon.”

  
Isabelle nodded numbly.
“It’s okay mom.”

   “Well, until the house is ready, I was wondering if um...”
Isabelle’s
cold chill be
came a frozen iceberg as
a knot
of fear
formed in her stomach, and her
terror
from earlier blazed back to
fierce
life. If somebody shared a room, there would be more beds open at the other house, and Aiden was leaving soon for football practice, too soon. Please no, she
begged
silently. Please. “If you wouldn’t mind staying with the guys, and Jess?”

   Isabelle’s
shoulde
rs slumped as her silent pleas
went unanswered. “
I know it’s a lot to ask, but A
iden leaves for college on Monday, and Ian leaves in a week and a half. In no time at all you’ll actually have more privacy over there.” At any other point in time,
Isabelle
would have jumped at the opportunity, but now the thought made her stomach cramp painfully. “It will also give you a chance to catch up with Jess. You two were close as children,” her mom continued.

   “Do you think they’re soul
mates mom?” Abby asked excitedly
, completely unaware of Isabelle’s silent terror
.

  
Her mother
smiled softly as she shoo
k her head. “I don’t know honey,
m
aybe.”

   “That would be so awesome!”
Abby gushed, ever the romantic at heart.