Fate was clearly smiling at me, not without a touch of mockery — I understood that for sure when that damned blonde, who hadn't really been planning to do anything about our mutual attraction, tried to share the air and this very mutual attraction with yet another damned blonde. And this second one had a completely different attitude towards the whole situation — and towards me in particular.
To put it simply, these Cuck-alens got some unexpected relatives visiting after the nominal father of those half‑wits decided to share the news of my and Tomiko's presence with his elder comrades. And apparently it was partially done to clarify one quite logical question. Whether they had ever come across anyone like Tomiko in all the years they'd been alive.
And yes, I found out about the age — and not only that — of this crazy blonde that came down here from Alaska, and I learned everything within the last two days. A little more time than that had passed since my encounter with those nomadic bloodsuckers, because these new "vegetarian" vampires didn't arrive right away. And both meetings — with the nomads and with the rather mature beauties of the lightest behaviour (and of a respectable age, mind you — well over five hundred years) — forced me to reveal sides of myself that I'd rather those folks — mostly clinical idiots and pathological whiners — had never found out about.
Tatyana — that is, Tanya — who is partly the reason behind this world's succubus myths, just like her sisters, was a mature lady with an extremely limited understanding of what constitutes appropriate behaviour.
This shy — now that was something I never expected — Rosalie could at most steal glances at me out of the corner of her eye, trying not to give her husband any reason to think anything odd about her fixation on me.
That didn't stop me from noticing her attention and shooting glances back.
It's not like we'd crossed paths all that often before these past two days — the days of everyone's burning misery (everyone's, that is, except Charlie, the best dad on the planet — at least in this context). He was busy running around, searching for the cause of death of that drunk from the docks, so my interactions with other people didn't interest him much. Still, he made sure to get ready‑made food for me and Tomiko straight from a diner — almost making me tear up, if I'm being honest.
Yes, he bought the tackiest red‑and‑rust‑coloured car just to support his friend from the reservation, and not for his daughter's sake.
This man served in the police not because of some psychological quirks like a thirst for control and self‑affirmation.
No, he was silently caring and consistently reasonable.
That's exactly why Renee — who constantly needed drama and words of reassurance — didn't appreciate him at all.
And that's also why it only fully dawned on me over these past two days how much Dad's car purchase had actually helped his friend Billy's financial situation — without humiliating either him or Jacob.
If only these realisations hadn't come to me at the very moment when a giant brute, about the size of humanity's first computer, was trying to shove me out of Blacks' house. The brute was named Sam; he was the first moron-wolf of that reservation, clearly suffering from anger issues and generally not on good terms with the concept of reasonableness.
At the time, I'd already caught a glimpse of him before Billy told all the "initiated" about my unusual nature and the very existence of Tomiko.
In short, if we cut the story short — everyone's arses were really on fire.
The Carlisle's vampires' arses were burning up because they'd nearly messed up, succumbing to the charm of that nomadic scumbag. And the whole situation was, in fact, all because of that Ed-diot's desire to make my ex-girlfriend his current.
Meanwhile, Rosalie joined in on the burning anus trend, when her inaction gave that newly arrived sexy blonde the opportunity to talk to me — a blonde who was, once again, taller than me and also triggered pleasant associations at first glance, if not at first talk. And that aforementioned sexy blonde was also fuming because of my rather low — both outward and inward, basically — interest in their little "two by two" games.
As my dear Tomiko had already told me, I'd have to leave this world later if I wanted more variety in life — and I did want that, in all the actuality.
And so, my barely exchanged glances with Rosalie suited me better than this serious lady who'd been looking for her "two by two" soulmate for at least five hundred years. Maybe for millenia, even.
Everyone else in her coven was also fuming, because they weren't lacking in observation skills and had definitely noticed my exchanged glances with Rosalie — with at least 85 % certainty, yes.
Emmett, of course, didn't care at all — his confidence overflows so much that I want to smash his face all over the wall. if I decide to truthfully express my feelings for once.
I wasn't happy at all about the changes unfolding around me and the complete loss of any chance for a quiet life.
But I had no idea how utterly things would go to the pits of hell — just one tiny drop of negativity was enough to stir it all up…
***
***
Jake Black was looking at me and his father as if we'd just kicked a cat right in front of him. Angry Sam loomed behind Billy Black, along with another hulking guy whose name I couldn't recall. So, even though Jake clearly couldn't stand Sam, and I hadn't bothered to let my childhood friend know I'd arrived at his house, Jake seemed absolutely certain we were hiding something from him. After all, the conflict between Sam and me three summers ago had been the starting point for the complete lack of any kind of friendship between those two.
Unlike the canonical Bella — who, as I gathered from the dearest vixen's explanations, didn't even come here every year and never made any close friends in this town — I'd hung out with the guys from the reservation every June-July during my school holidays. It was with my classmates that I had no chance to get acquainted, and there was no point in hanging around Forks itself — I came here to roam the forests and the countryside, not to chill at the diner.
Another thing was that I didn't really let anyone get too close, for pretty obvious reasons. But I definitely hadn't willingly interacted with Sam — who was older than me and came from a not‑so‑well family — since the time I'd broken his nose and refused to apologise. I never liked the idea that boys might tease a girl just because they were boys.
And until this year, my father, during our weekly phone calls, would never in his life have said anything good about Sam — he'd hardly have said anything at all. But this year, now and then, a few remarks slipped through, which had surprised me a bit at the time. Now I could piece together the timeline after learning when Sam had transformed and when the Cullens had shown up here after their long absence.
Simply put, as soon as this guy got all that praise and respect — purely on the principle of "first come, first served" — Sam immediately started asserting his position in the tribe. Before that, according to the stories from the girls I talked to on every visit, the thought of college had only crept into his plans because of his girlfriend's dream. Whom he'd recently dumped for unclear reasons, yeah.
The guy had neither any special abilities nor much brains, and then suddenly all this luck and the title of the top alpha of this swamp fell on him.
I could generally understand the temptation to boss everyone around and knock some sense into them, but how had my warning about the nomadic vampires suddenly become something bad that I could be blamed for? And that's exactly what alphaest-alpha Sam was doing right in front of a stunned Billy — before Jake caught us at it.
"I don't get it at all — what does Izzy's warning have to do with anything? And are you saying that all those legends are actually true?!" Jake blurted out, his eyes wide like saucers and his voice trembling slightly from the shock of his life, that's for sure.
"Ow‑ow‑ow, well, that's on you…" I muttered in reply and started to get up from the sofa where I'd been sitting — honestly, like on pins and needles — because while the vampires irritated me, the werewolves unsettled me.
"Not so fast," Jake narrowed his eyes and made me sit back down with just a stubborn look. "I want to know everything! And I, like Dad, want to get why you don't think you're in danger when you're dealing with those freeze-brains."
I sighed and inwardly made up my mind — these would be the first people, well, relatively speaking, to whom I'd tell about reincarnation.
They had a mystical mindset and believed in souls.
They should believe me.
Right?..