Brave This Storm

Mariana’s eyes opened slowly, and she blinked a few times as she tried to figure out where she was. When she realised she was lying in the forest, all the memories came flooding back to her, and she whimpered. That cold hand clamping down on her shoulder. Who was that? And where are they now?

“Mariana?”

That voice. No, she must still be dreaming! That voice couldn’t possibly be real. He was dead!

“Mariana, you’re awake! I was so worried!”

When Juan stepped into view, Mariana realised she wasn't dreaming and screamed. Quicker than humanly possible, Juan shot forward and clamped his hand over her mouth, silencing the noise. Tears filled her eyes at the touch of his ice-cold skin and the sight of his blood red eyes. What was going on? What was he? She didn’t understand.

“I’m going to let go, but you’ve got to promise me that you’ll stay calm, okay my love?” Juan said softly.

My love. He always used to call her that. Mariana nodded slowly, so Juan removed his hand. Apart from his skin being paler and the strange colour of his eyes, Juan looked exactly the same as when Mariana last saw him. The wildly curly hair, the playful smile, the tall muscled body…but something was different. She couldn’t what it was, but something was definitely different.

“I promised that I’d find you, didn’t I?” Juan smiled, crouching down in front of her.

Mariana just nodded, whimpering softly. This couldn’t be real! She saw the blood around his head!

“Hey, my love, calm down. I’m here now and that’s all that matters,” Juan soothed.

“W-What happened to you? I saw the blood around your head. I saw you writhing in agony. You should b-be dead!” Mariana whispered.

“You won’t believe me,” Juan frowned.

“Try me,” Mariana said, swallowing heavily.

“Always so brave,” Juan mused, “Okay, here goes. That man who attacked the block wasn’t human. He was a vampire…”

Mariana’s breath hitched in her throat, making Juan frown but carry on regardless.

“He intended to kill me, but Frankie and Paul from the apartment below lunged at him just as he bit me, so he didn’t get the chance to kill me. When he finished slaughtering everyone, he looked at me and picked me up from the ground with no effort at all. That’s when I knew he was different. I blacked out then and didn’t wake up until 3 days later, and I saw that man in front of me. He threw me three packets of blood and told me what I was, and the basic rules of being a vampire. Don’t go out in the sunlight because we apparently fucking sparkle and attract too much attention. Don’t annoy the Volturi because they’ll send warriors to destroy us. Don’t kill too much at one time – even though he’d just slaughtered 50 people. After that he left me and I’ve been on my own ever since,” Juan explained.

Mariana’s head swam with the story, but she knew it was true. After all, she was now dating a shapeshifter.

“How did you find me?” she asked softly.

“Well, at first I just spent my time hunting and getting used to my body. If I was stuck like this, then I was going to deal with it properly. About a month ago I went back to our apartment and picked up your scent from a sweater you’d been wearing. Nothing’s been touched in our apartment because the city council don’t know what to do with the apartments. I’m still new to all this so tracking you down took a while, I kept getting distracted and then I had to feed…but anyway, I finally found you down here tonight. Why were you running? What were you running from?” Juan asked, frowning.

Mariana swallowed heavily. If Juan found out that she had a new boyfriend, he wouldn’t be happy. If he found out that her new boyfriend was a wolf, he’d be furious.

“Nothing. Just had an argument with some friends,” Mariana lied, forcing a small smile.

Juan frowned a little more, clearly not believing her, but nodded. He stood up and helped her stand upright too, taking her hands in his.

“Everything will be okay now, my love. I’m back. We can go and get Donovan and leave this place. We can make a new life for us,” Juan said warmly.

W-What? He wanted her to leave with him?! Yes, she still loved Juan dearly, but…but what about Paul? She loved Paul too.

“I-I like it here,” Mariana stammered.

“Why? It’s so deserted, so boring. What could possibly tie you down here?” Juan frowned.

Mariana opened her mouth to reply when Juan’s head suddenly shot to the side and he inhaled deeply, before looking furious.

“Wolves? Are you fucking kidding me?” he hissed to himself.

“Paul!” Mariana whispered.

Juan glared at her, letting go of her hands.

“You know the wolves? Are you…you’re fucking one of them?!” Juan yelled.

Mariana whimpered and stumbled backwards, tears filling her eyes. Juan had never spoken to her like that before. He’d never yelled at her, and it frightened her. This wasn’t the man she’d fallen in love with. This was someone completely different. This wasn’t the old Juan.

“Juan, please, you don’t understand,” Mariana mumbled, still edging backwards.

Shouts of her name filled the forest around them, only making Juan angrier. Mariana took the chance and started to run away, but Juan caught her easily. Mariana shrieked as he spun her around but whimpered as she stubbed her toe again, making it bleed. Making it bleed. Juan’s eyes faded to black at the scent of her warm blood, making Mariana panic as he opened his mouth, revealing his sharp teeth.

“PAUL!” she screamed.

As Juan’s teeth brushed her flesh, something slammed into the both of them, knocking them to the floor. A large grey wolf. Paul. Mariana groaned in agony as she tried to move, sharp pains shooting up her side and her leg.

“Don’t move, Ana, you’re hurt pretty bad,”

Mariana turned her head to see Jacob completely naked, but she didn’t care. She just started crying.

“T-That vampire is Juan,” she sobbed.

“The Juan?” Jacob said, shocked.

Mariana just nodded. “He tracked me down and wanted me to leave with him, but then he smelt you guys and got mad…Juan’s never yelled at me before, that’s not the man I fell in love with,”

“That’s because he’s a vampire now. Come on, I think Paul broke your ribs and leg when he crashed into you. I’ve never seen him so mad at a vamp before,” Jacob sighed.

“I’d bet he be even madder if he knew it was Juan,” Mariana murmured.

Jacob just nodded, before quickly pulling on the jeans tied around his ankle. He motioned someone over, who turned out to be Embry, also wearing just jeans, and the two of them carried Mariana out of the forest.

“Please make sure Paul’s alright,” she murmured.

Even after everything he’d put her through tonight, she was still worried about him.

“Sam, Jared, Quil, Collin, Seth and Leah are out there with him. He’ll be fine,” Jacob soothed.

Mariana smiled softly as her vision faded to black, a lone howl echoing in her ears as the last thing she heard.