LOST >[1]> Twilight

23.

"First off, what does it actually mean to be a hunter?" I asked, crossing my arms, standing in front of Alicia, which also happened to be in front of the whole family. No one was playing video games, or doing work or teaching others to play the piano, nope. Everyone was listening intensely to my sister-to-sister conversation.

"It means that we dedicate our lives to killing anything that poses a threat to the human race." Alicia answered simply.

"Is it a choice or..." I trailed off. Alicia shook her head.

"It is literally in our blood... Have you read 'Mortal Instruments'? It's sorta like that. Think of it like we're Clary and we were born to be hunters. There's no way around it." My sister explained.

"So no early retirement for me?" I asked, and everyone laughed, though I was being serious. She shook her head.

"I'm afraid not, baby sister." Alicia replied. I nodded.

"I don't understand why I feel the need to kill vampires every time I'm around them though." I confessed. Alicia sighed.

"It's a second nature," I looked at her confused and she went on. "Its like...your mind registers that vampires are the enemy, so you feel the need to want to kill them." Alicia explained. I was getting it.

"How did you feel, fighting me a few days ago, when we were training?" I tilted my head, not really understanding what she was trying to get at.

"I don't know.. I don't really think about how I feel when I train. I guess I do t think at all." I confessed. Alicia nodded and looked around the room.

"Um... Rose, stand close to Eli." Alicia asked. Rosalie stood up from her place next to Emmett and stood a few metres away from me.

"Eli, how do you feel?" Alicia asked, standing up and walking over to her bag, grabbing a large, meta pipe.

"A little uncomfortable, but that's probably because I've spent my whole life believing that vampires are the enemy and not the ally." I replied. Alicia nodded and pressed a button on the side of the metal pipe and it extended out to a metre. I Realised that it was a staff. Alicia chucked it to me and I caught it with ease and wondered what it was for.

"Eli, I want you to hold onto that. Don't do anything with it. Rose take a few steps closer to Eli."

"Are you crazy?!" Rose cried. Alicia shook her head. Rose hesitated before taking a few steps closer to me, making her less than a metre away from me. She looked somewhat scared, and when I looked around the room,mothers were mixed expressions. Renesme, Esme and Alice looked worried, Emmett, Jacob, Edward and Jasper looked intrigued and Carlisle and Bella wore expressions I couldn't read.

"Eli, how do you feel?" Alicia asked. I thought about it.

"What's the point of this?" I asked. She shook her head.

"You feel really uncomfortable don't you?" I nodded my head. She looked at Rose.

"Take two steps forward." Rose took in an unnecessary breath and hesitated before taking two decent steps towards me. She was now within reach. I gripped the staff in my hands and my body was tense. Out the corner of my eye, I could see Rose internally crapping herself.

"How do you feel?" Alicia quizzed.

"Like I want to hurt her." I whispered. Rose took a sharp breath in and her eyes widened.

"But..." She waited.

"But I won't." I gritted my teeth, as Alicia told rose to move closer to me. She was now standing right next to me. I was starting to shake and it was scaring me, because I had no idea why I felt like I did.

"Thank you Rose." Alicia nodded, and Rose sped into Emmett's arms, who chuckled at her state. I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding in and dropped the staff. Alicia picked it up and pressed the same button, it retracted in, turning back into a small pipe. She looked at it and threw it to me.

"Keep it." I was still confused.

"I still don't get it." I confessed. She sighed.

"That little exercise with Rose was to see how well you could... stand a vampire to be near you. It's instincts for us to rid them and it's second nature you know what I mean?" I nodded my head. Carlisle opened his mouth to say something, but Alicia bet him to it.

"Yes Carlisle, it's like that for all vampires. No exceptions." He nodded and I leaned against the wall, crossing my arms with a sigh.

"It's not fair." I mumbled. "Why can't I be normal." I complained. Alicia smiled at me.

"There's no early retirement until you can learn to control your instincts, Eli. I want to do exercises like that just for a little while every day, just to get you under control." I nodded.

"How come you're fine around everyone?" I asked. She laughed.

"Because I'm part vampire remember?" I cracked a smile and nodded.

"How long will it take me to be in control?" I asked, and Alicia shrugged.

"It's different for everyone. Both mum and dad were in control at a young age because it was even more dangerous back then, but it could take you anywhere from... three days to three years. It's hard to tell, but..." Alicia stalled off.

"But what?" I asked, moving closer to her.

"No-no that's a terrible idea, Alicia." Edward stood up and walked over to Alicia, so did Alice. I was confused, as was the rest of the family.

"I agree with Edward. We don't know what could happen." Alice added in.

"What? What's going on?" I asked.

"I know this spell...we could use it to see what we're up against, in terms of your hunter...ness." Alicia stated.

"That's a terrible, horrible, incredibly foolish idea," I paused. "Let's do it and see what happens." I sighed.

"El, we don't know what could happen." Alice walked over to me and held my hands. I looked at her worried face.

"I know, but I want to see how bad my hunter instincts are...if they even are something to worry about." I told her. She didn't look convinced.

"But that's why we should restrain me- just in case of...incidents." I stated. Alicia and I looked at Emmett and Jasper.

"You mean you want us to hold you down?" Jasper asked and I nodded. Alicia clasped her hands together.

"I'm going to need chicken blood, salt, five candles and a bottle of vodka."

"Vodka? For the spell?" I asked. She shook her head.

"No, that's just to make me feel better about unleashing your inner hunter."