Capture My Heart

I could hear screaming coming from Maura's spare room as Gianna twisted Poppy's ankle back into the right position. The town's medicine man wasn't available, so Gianna, who had four children, was going off doing it herself.

She had insisted that we couldn't allow it to heal improperly anymore. She had four children, two of which had suffered this same injury, and she believed she knew enough to help her.

I had protested obviously, and so had Violet, but Poppy was all for giving it a shot, not wanting to walk around with that her ankle twisted at that odd ankle.

De'Andre was in with her, holding her hand probably. He and the others had been retrieved by me after we were invited to say, and everyone but Beck, Violet, Poppy, De'Andre and me were out getting food from the village and meeting other people in this village that they would stay with.

Violet winced and I held her tighter to me while grimacing myself at the sound of the slow crunch of bone. Couldn't Gianna at least be quick about this?

Levia and Kauldi were peeking into the house and I told them to leave, but clearly they couldn't understand me, only running away from the entrance to the house when Poppy screamed again.

Kauldi, all chubby and young almost fell a few times, with no help from his sister leaving him behind without a thought.

It made me a little sad to see this, since it reminded me of my own sisters, who knew nothing about the wolf secret and would have no idea what had happened to me since my dad couldn't tell them i was taken by vampires.

Violet, sensing my slight depressive thought, without needing to read my mind, rubbed my shoulder.

"I should be in there," Beck grumbled, and I was grateful that I didn't have to remind him that Poppy didn't want him in there, because Violet did it for me, although nicer than I'd have been.

"She doesn't need anyone to see this. The only reason De'Andre's aloud is because he's the closest thing she has to a brother."

"Did you get that from her thoughts?" Beck asked, in a a tone that I might've hit him for using with Violet. She just ignored it and nodded. Beck huffed and shook his head, muttering in Italian.

"How much longer?" he asked Violet after a few more minutes, Poppy's screams had become quieter and more controlled. Finishing up, I guessed. Making sure there were no mistakes when they re-created her injury.

"Not long at all," Violet said and sighed before disentangling herself from me and standing up. There was relief on her face.

Maura was smiling as she poked her head out of her bed room and then moved out of the way so that De'Andre could get through, Poppy clinging to his ratty prison shirt.

Her ankle was multicolored again, and swelling, but it seemed to be back in the right position. I sighed in relief at that. I wouldn't have been able to handle it if anything gone wrong, what with all that my friend had suffered in there.

"She should be good to go, but we'll have the doctor check her over when he gets back in town." Gianna said in her thick accent.

Violet nodded and thanked her while the woman waved her away. "Its the least I could do for such a menina forte e jovem bonita." Gianni said happily, speaking Portuguese.

"You are very brave. You remind me of my eldest daughter, she went through the same treatment and screamed much more." Gianna said affectionately, directed at Poppy. I figured both that and whatever she had said earlier were meant to be compliments.

"We should meet the others now, I'm sure Joana and Jerome are worried," De'Andre said for Poppy, who seemed perfectly relaxed.

Maura said something of an explanation and hurried into the other room, reappearing with something in a bottle.

Alcohol? She gave to Poppy, explaining with a few words and Poppy seemed to thank her, although she seemed hesitant.

"Its supposed to help with the pain," Violet said quietly to me. I raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

XxX

We all ate like complete and total animals at first, enjoying the hospitality that was shown to us and even enjoying even the less appealing dishes that were offered to us, way to grateful to refuse.

When Poppy was done shoveling food in her mouth, she started to drink her special drink at Gianna and Violet's insistence.

I didnt see how getting drunk was gonna help her, but Violet knew what she was talking about, and I let her do what she had to.

It didnt take long for her to be completely out of, as that was some strong stuff, but at least she wasn't in any pain.

De'Andre kept an eye on her, and kept Beck away from her as she had asked him to before going under. They sat a bit away from the rest of us, so I could just barely hear Poppy talking to him in her drunken stupor.

I looked away from her for a second to see what was happening with everyone else in our group.

Briana and Kyle were eating still, not saying a word to each other, and Jay was lying on the ground next to them groaning. Beck was nearby him in a similar position, but staring at Poppy.

Jeremy was playing with the clothes someone had given him, scratching the hell out of his shoulder and Jerome and Joana were cuddling and feeding each other small bites of things.

Violet was trying to drag me up so that we could head over to the place Maura told her about and bathe.

I eventually spared her the embarrassment of trying to get me to move, and went with her. She wanted to spend some time with me and who was I to refuse her that? Besides, I was aware that I reeked.

"This way," Violet said, sounding happier than she'd been since I'd known her. She ran forward and I followed, catching up quickly since my legs were so much longer.

One of her arms were holding the pair of new clothes she was given to wear and a rag to scrub herself clean. A new set of clothes were in my arms too and I already knew they wouldn't fit right but that was okay.

I felt happiness and hope fill me as her tiny fingers laced through my own, her reaching out her available hand to hold mine. We ran together in silence, her sometimes dragging me along as we headed to the north part of this small little town.

"Here," Violet said as we approached a pool of river water, that seemed to be surrounded on all sides by trees, except over the one thin stream that led into the cove.

"Wow," I muttered, and all the memories of Violet's pool suddenly came rushing back although the two places were completely different.

"Its just like the spring," I mumbled, smiling and Violet gave me a curious look. "What spring?" she asked, and my face turned sad.

I forgot, for just a short second that she didn't remember about her spring or anything else that had happened before the vampires got her.

"Oh, nothing, never mind," I said and Violet suddenly frowned too. "Jacob," she said quietly, and I let my new clothes drop to the ground. The sunset lit the water on fire. It was slightly see-through, but not crystal clear.

Before Violet could continue her sentence I headed down the slight dirt hill and into the water without a backwards glanced. I looked up to see Violet standing there, a slight sad look on her face before she dropped her clothes and followed me.

The only difference was that before jumping in, she shed herself of her prison shirt and pants. Jeez, I'd forgotten how comfortable she was with nudity around me.

"You okay Jake?" Violet asked innocently, wading past me in the water, as if she weren't the most gorgeous thing in the entire world, and she wasn't standing there with almost all of her skin exposed.

I nodded, swallowing and rubbing the back of my neck, refusing to let her see how nervous she made me.

I threw my shirt up by our stuff while Violet's back was to me, deciding against shedding my pants.

I sunk deeper in the water, and swam to where she was, standing on her tippy-toes so her head was above water. Shorty.

I chuckled at her and she splashed me, pouting. I just laughed louder.

"Shut up," she moaned, hopping on her feet and then kicking them under the water so she could stay afloat.

"No, your too cute," I said, relaxing. I started floating on my back, with my hands behind my head while Violet grumbled to herself and waded to the slightly shallower water.

It only went to about five and half feet deep, and that was towards the opening that led out to the river, everything else was less deep.

Still muttering at no one in particular, Violet started to scrub at her skin with a rag to get the remaining dirt off of her body.

She handed it to me once she was done and I did the same before tossing it onto the shore with everything else. Violet was the one floating now, and I swam over to her.

The sun had set and the stars were out, no rain falling tonight. She was more captivating than a few lights in the sky though.

"What?" she asked shyly, shifting so she was standing in the water and staring at me with worry.

"Nothing," I mumbled, cupping her face after I brushed some of her hair back. She was still avoiding my gaze.

A blush crept over her wet cheeks when she saw I wouldn't explain myself, and that I kept staring. Her soaked hair moved to hide her face a little.

"Then why are you staring at me?" she asked in a small voice, biting her lip a little at the end.

I shrugged, "Well...its just that...your just...your..." I lost my words, staring into her bottomless brown eyes.

"Jake," she scolded, getting frustrated. I watched her mouth as she spoke, and a drop of water fell from her hair, falling down her face and stopping at the corner of it.

"I'm sorry, I just...I really, really care about you Violet...and I just really want to kiss you right now," I said boldy, although in a whisper.

Her eyes widened and she smiled just a little, which made me get that warm fuzzy feeling inside my stomach that was driving me crazy. "Then what are you waiting for?" she asked quietly, stepping towards me slightly.

I didn't give it a second though and leaned down and pressed my lips softly against hers, losing myself in her and her sweet taste.

She pushed her lips harder against mine and her arms wrapped around my neck as she clung to me, moaning my name into my mouth. "Jake," she groaned, and rubbed my back as I pulled her tightly against my body. "Vi," I mumbled, sighing.

We kissed for who knows how long, just enjoying each other before finally she pulled away from me, breathless and flustered, before sliding slowly down my body and running her hands through her sopping wet hair.

"We should...get back," she said quietly, not sure how she was feeling probably, before I nodded sadly, grabbing a hold of her hand and following her back to get dressed.

We walked back to the camp, not caring for running, but just wanting to have some quiet time just being with each other, both of us lost in thought.

We stayed with Maura, while De'Andre and a drunk slap-happy Poppy went home with Gianna and everyone else went home with different neighbors, all somewhat close together.

I fell asleep with Violet curled up on my chest and relaxed, determined to think that things were finally going the way they were supposed to between us.