GODS AND MONSTERS ↝ P. LAHOTE

[36]

Lark drove through the gravel roads at the end of the reservation, willing her car to go faster through the trees as she searched for Paul's house in the darkness, also keeping an eye out to not accidentally run over any of the other wolves in the process. A bag filled with the cookies she'd made with Alicia, Leonora, and Anastasia sat next to her in the passenger seat as she drove, ready to meet Paul outside the house following the meeting with the Volturi about Renesmee. 

Lark pulled into the driveway, killing the car's engine and hurrying to the front door, cookie bag clenched tightly in her fists as she stood on her tiptoes, running her hand along the top of the doorframe where she knew the Lahote men kept their spare key. She grabbed the key in her spare hand, turning it in the lock and entering the dark house, Paul's dad once again away for the weekend for work and leaving the house empty.

Setting the bag of cookies on the entry table, Lark flipped on the light switch, making her way down the hall and into Paul's bedroom, where she began rummaging through his dresser drawers for a clean pair of clothes, grabbing his favorite t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. By the time she carried the pile back outside, the familiar massive form of the dark silver wolf sat in the driveway next to her car, eyes illuminated in the glow spilling from the outside light. 

She stood back for a moment, watching the wolf that towered over her car at over six feet tall. The last time she'd seen his wolf form was from the day he'd lost control on the beach, and she'd never gotten the chance to actually see what he looked like. Despite taking the obvious form of an animal, his eyes remained the same, humanlike, watching her intently with an almost amused expression at the look of awe on her face as she studied him.

"Do you do tricks?" Lark finally asked him with a smirk, breaking the silence that had fallen. "Okay boy, roll over!"

Lark could almost hear Paul sigh even in wolf form, but nonetheless, the giant creature shifted from his sitting position, rolling over in the grass as she applauded him. He pulled himself back into a standing position and trotted over towards Lark, tail wagging.

"Sit," Lark instructed, chuckling as he did so and scratching the top of his head between his ears. She set the pile of clothes down next to him. "I'll meet you back inside." she said. "And then I want to hear all about it."

Lark left Paul outside while he got dressed, grabbing the bag full of chocolate chip cookies and taking a seat on the couch, getting a head start to be able to eat at least a couple before the werewolf devoured the rest of the bag. Paul walked inside a couple minutes later, taking a seat on the couch next to her and turning on the TV, slinging an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders and instantly grabbing a cookie from the bag. 

"What are these for?" he asked.

Lark shrugged. "We needed a way to pass the time. You guys were gone for a while. So, tell me everything."

"There were so many of them." Paul explained. "They ended up putting the Cullens on trial, I guess you could say. Wanted to know the ins and outs of everything, how Renesmee grows, what she eats. The abilities she has. There were so many of them, the field smelled absolutely awful with all the bloodsuckers around."

"But they're innocent?" she asked. 

Paul nodded. "They wanted to kill her." he said grimly. "Get rid of any risk she could pose to the humans and vampire secrecy in the future once she's grown, since they had also never heard of a creature like her. But here's where things get interesting: she's not the only one."

"What?" Lark asked, eyebrows furrowing together. "What do you mean she's not the only one?"

"Alice and Jasper came back." he explained. "I guess when they left, they went searching for answers to the Ticuna legends you mentioned, and they found a hybrid living with his aunt, a woman he'd bitten and turned when he was young. His father's a vampire that thinks of himself as a scientist, trying to create this new breed. They're rare, but they exist. There are others like Renesmee."

"An entire species of vampire human hybrids?" Lark asked in awe, her jaw dropping. "So there are others out there."

"I wish you could have seen him." Paul said. "It was actually pretty cool."

"Careful, Paul, or one might think you're starting to like vampire lore and legends." Lark teased, and the boy scoffed in response.

"Hardly," he said. "Just a once in a lifetime opportunity, is all."

"A very long lifetime, by their standards." she added.

"You know, they never would have found him without all your research." Paul pointed out. "Everything you did, every legend you read. You saved them, Lark. You saved all of us."

"I just read a couple stories." she protested, shrugging it off. "You all being there to witness, that did so much more."

"Don't sell yourself short, Hudson." Paul assured her, absentmindedly grabbing another cookie from the bag and taking a bite as Family Feud returned from its commercial break on the television. "Without you, they never would have known where to look for the answers that stopped the fight. You might just be a human, but you're a damn good storyteller."

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they turned their attention to the game show, the only words being uttered occasional guesses to the answers on the board, and after a while, Lark's grip on Paul's hand grew a little tighter. After so long of one obstacle after another, she couldn't believe that she was now free to be with the boy she loved, without the threat of impending death constantly looming over them like a shadow. They were finally free to be themselves, free to enjoy each day as it came.

"So what happens now?" she asked, breaking the silence as she looked back up at him.

Paul shrugged. "We live."