Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

32 - ᴀ ɴᴇᴡʙᴏʀɴ

ATHENA HAD just pulled herself from beneath the overwhelming relaxation that came with her lavender and orchid scented bed so she could soothe the subtle thirst that lingered in her throat. She had picked up the habit of a weekly Saturday hunt, whether she needed it or not. It became a sense of normal in her very confusing existence and she would stick to it, otherwise that sense of normal would get thrown off and she would risk falling into some numbness once again. She had escaped the numbness and moved on to happiest for herself, finally deleting the one number in her phone that bought some sort of comfort. She was sick of talking to a brick wall and even though it was cathartic, she knew that the past months hadn't been very healthy. An overwhelming sense of bliss overcame her once she looked at her phone and no longer saw his name. She missed him of course, obviously she did but the unconstant reminder allowed her mind to drift got a little while. A while long enough that she could forget.

She hopped down the steps and pulled the nearest coat off the hanger, which happened to be her green one when a clattering echoed through her ears. Her gaze caught the glint of silver and she found herself picking it up without even thinking twice. She smiled as she turned the bracelet that she thought she had lost in the woods over in her hands. It was one that Billy had given her during the one visit back to Forks she had allowed herself during the two hundred years spent away. It had been a very discrete meeting that involved a lot of planning yet also a huge amount of sporadity. It had been a rainy day, so there were fewer mortals out and about but the weather had no damping effect on the day. It had been a much-needed reunion where they talked until the sun went down. There was no trace of her in Forks during or after, just the way it had to be.

As she clasped the bracelet back on her wrist and reached for the door to go hunting, another interruption caused her to sigh deeply and loudly. This disappointment was soon exchanged for panic when she heard the thudding, quickened heartbeat of the person on the other end of the phone. "Billy? What's wrong? Why is your heartbeat so quick?"

"It happened." The answer came simple yet she could not for the life of her decipher what he meant. She thought deeply, taking seconds to do so but still could not come up with what could have happened. It was a very blind moment for her, one that Billy would take the mick out of her for the years to come.

"It? Oh!" she paused, finally making the revelation that had Billy chuckling as she sat down on the nearest chair. "Tell me how," she continued excitedly as she tucked her legs up underneath her body, giving him her full and undivided attention as she waited for the story. It was moments like these that made her feel like a mortal teenager, gossiping over some event in her friend's life. She missed that feeling greatly.

"He came home from movies with Bella and looked all sweaty and agitated. My first thought was that he looked weird and if he was okay so I asked him that, then the anger just worsened and he turned right at the front of the house. Sam sensed it and was in the forest to get him after so everything could be explained so now I'm just waiting for him to come back."

"Lucifer, this is incredible," she chuckled, stating the complete obvious yet her mind was still in some dulled form of shock. She sighed, automatically asking the questions that popped into her mind, "I take it I'm not supposed to come anywhere near for a while?"

"No no, you can still come here. We'll just have to have a reevaluated chat and lay the rules again," he answered quickly, making his voice as persuasive as possible since he knew how she was in these types of situations.

"Are-"

"Athena. It'll be fine."

She paused, letting the message sink into her mind. Her brian thought it would be fine but something in her body knew it wouldn't be. She knew that something would happen, fate and all that. But she wanted to be there to celebrate this with them. So, she ignored that feeling she had trusted ever so much over the many years of her existence. "Okay well, i'm about to go hunt so i'll be there in like fifteen minutes? Depending on how lively the deer are feeling," she trailed off, smiling at the comforting chuckles that came from the other side of the phone. Moments later, the two had said a quick goodbye and she had hung up - running out of the house to hunt as quickly as she could.

The deer spot she usually went to luckily had one just wait for her as it sipped from the river. She hunted, feeling the comforting fullness of her stomach return before she made her way to the reservation. She wiped the very corners of her mouth as she stepped onto the Black plot of land, hoping she hadn't got any blood on her face. As she stepped towards the house, getting a mere four steps onto their land - a great brown wolf came hurtling towards her from the forest. Once the initial shock left her body, she quickly read the boarding thoughts of the wolves mind and found it to be Jake. Instead of now feeling safe, she worried more. He just stared at her with big wolfy eyes that were full of apprehension. He snarled and glared as she stared back, trying to figure out whether she should be so nervous. Then she found her answer. His mind rattled and swam with one word, danger. Danger, danger, danger.

"Jake," she whispered, moving her hands very slowly as if in surrender just to prove her point. Instead of this being a comfort to the new wolf, it had the opposite effect. The wolf pounced, scratching a deep and awfully painful crater in her arm. Her anger flared up and she almost attacked but stopped herself, knowing that he didn't truly mean to do so. "It's okay, I won't hurt you," she whispered, covering her anger and pain with a soft smile that calmed his mind down a bit.

"Jacob!" Billy yelled from inside the house, having watched the entire interaction from one of the windows. The wolf turned its head and the danger lessened even more until he finally realised himself. The wolf whined softly in an apology then darted into the forest.

Athena ran towards Billy, keeping one ear trained on the forest to listen out for Jake. slightly frazzled. "Are you okay?" he asked, taking her arm with his hand as her mind was clearly elsewhere.

"Peachy," she chuckled softly, watching her skin sitch itself back together as a now human Jake ran out from behind the forest line. A relief shone through her, not because he was no longer a wolf but because his first turning hadn't harmed him in any way.

"I'm so sorry," he apologised as soon as he reached Athena (who had gone inside the house with Billy).

"It's okay," she smiled. "I mean it's kinda funny, you're literally the same as your Dad."

A silence flowed between the three of them, broken by Billts failure to stifle his laughter as Jake grew increasingly more confused and half concerned. "How...?

"Same colour fur, eyes and you both tried to kill me," she shrugged, pouring a glass of water so she could water the one plant that lived in their house. It would be dead without her help, something which she told him off for. "Attacked the same arm too," she chuckled, looking down to her arm that had now been perfectly restitched.

"I don't know whether I like that," Jake added as he rubbed the back of his neck. Athena laughed loudly whilst Billy took an expression of offence, looking as if he would tell his son off for making such a comment. She enjoyed it thoroughly though, especially the look on Billy's face.

After that, the thirty-minute lecture about rules when it came to her followed. It was the usual blurted information, no harm to her and trust her as one of the pack blah blah blah. It was important, obviously, she safely relied on it and all but Athena had heard it so many times over that she found herself just zoning out completely. Only coming back into the zone of Forks when Jake gently nudged her, before Billy could notice.

She sighed deeply and stood once he had finished talking. "Right now that's over, want me to show you some of the fun things about being supernatural," she asked with a cocked brow. Jake looked to his father, asking the question with only his eyes. Billy just sighed and left the room, leaving the two to their antics. Jake nodded and that began a very cathartic and interesting night. They ran and ran and ran, only stopping when they came across a random camper in the woods.

The running and leaping soon became Jake's favourite part of being a wolf.