Enchanted to Meet You

Her icy fingers released my arms. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to…scare you.”

I swallowed, unintentionally reminding myself of my bare neck. The late summer night was chilly, but it felt colder when I was all alone with her.

“Stop staring. It’s rude.”

I dropped my eyes very quickly. “Do you need something?” My voice was pathetic. But I was scared, and I didn’t see why I should hide it.

Her dress was a one-shouldered dark color. I couldn’t see for sure in the darkness, but I guessed the shade matched her eyes. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Me?” I squeaked.

She checked behind me briefly, indicating that the distance we were away from the party wasn’t that great. It meant that if I screamed, they would hear it.

She stepped away from me, giving the space I needed to breathe. “Before I moved, Seth told me…something. And I want to know if he told you the same thing.”

I was curious, but I was terrified, and it was overtaking my curiosity. She seemed to be waiting for an answer. “I - I don’t think I understand.”

Elena watched me, shaking her head with pity. “I see the way he looks at you, Valerie.” She spit out my name offensively. “Everybody sees it. And when he looks, he doesn’t see anything else. He looks at you, and he’s not here anymore. It’s unreal, for someone to care so much. You mean everything to him. And if something happened to you…”

My chest tightened with fear again, as she trailed off, eyeing me again.

“If something happened to you, it would be like losing an entire piece of his life. He would never be the same. Never.”

She took innocent but threatening steps closer, inches away from me again. “It’s a great feeling, isn’t it? To know someone loves you more than you could ever imagine?”

I thought I knew where she was going. I blinked, keeping my eyes closed for an extra second. I whispered his name in my head.

“Before I moved, he told me the same things. He loved me like the love most people think doesn’t exist. But he told me what it really meant, what I really was to him.”

Elena’s eyes tore into my soul, fishing for what she was looking for. She found it, and when she did, it flashed across her face for mere seconds.

She became distracted, her fingertips reaching hesitantly for the side of my neck. My blood ran cold when they grazed over my skin, above the pulsing vein underneath it.

“Please,” I whispered, finding it turn into a whimper. “Please, don‘t.”

“I didn’t know how it felt before tonight,” She dropped her fingers. “I hadn’t caught the scent of human blood. The Cullens made sure of that.”

It was as if she paralyzed me, but just with her words.

“I knew what to expect, though. It was the whole reason I went through all of that trouble in the first place.” She laughed once at my expression. “Yes, I did. I killed myself on purpose, because I knew Seth wouldn’t be the same without me. You’re very smart.”

I grimaced.

“Don’t look so appalled.” She said. “I did it for you, so you would stop torturing yourself with a lie.”

“You knew he would want you turned?” I asked for clarification.

“Of course, do you think I’m crazy? It was the first step in reminding him of how much he cares about me. You know, before you came along, when he was certain of it.”

She was crazy. Insane, even. I could see it clearly. But what was she trying to say?

Elena leaned close to me to answer the question, her lips a small space away from my ear. She spoke slowly, and confidently. “I am his imprint.”

She brought on those awful feelings of being the rebound. I couldn’t believe her, I shouldn‘t have believed her, but I did. I believed her, even though there wasn’t much reason to. He didn’t need me to be there for him like he needed her. He turned her into the shape of the enemy, just so she wouldn’t leave him forever. He went to ridiculous lengths for her, and why would he do it if he didn’t still care?

He loved me, I knew that. But not in the way I thought he did.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered again, her mouth descending towards my neck. “I know how it feels. It sucks, doesn’t it?”

“Elena, what the hell are you doing?”

I opened my eyes to his voice, the voice that had been a lie this entire time.

To the left, two large silver and brown wolves snarled at us. I noticed them, but my vision was spotted with black dots.

“Well, if it isn’t the man of the hour.” Elena yanked me by the wrist and pulled me closer to Seth. He stood, frozen in confusion. She stopped a few feet from him, using her hand to prop my neck at the right angle.

My vision granted me clarity to see the panic in his eyes, but I convinced myself it was my imagination.

His eyes widened, watching helplessly as Elena positioned her mouth over my skin. She was using those eyes of hers to challenge him, waiting to see if he would do anything to stop her.

I felt her breath on my skin, and felt more whimpering climbing my throat when Seth did absolutely nothing.

The wolves sounded like thunder, grumbling and making the earth shake.

“Don’t hurt her.” Seth said emotionlessly. “Please.”

She let go of me after another moment, shaking her head again. “You can’t have two imprints, Sethy.”

“Elena-”

“You can’t!” She shouted, and the wolves sprung like toast from a toaster.

In the same movement, Seth phased to meet the giant animals in the air. He was protecting her. But was he protecting me?

My vision started to disappear again, the snarls and growls deafening. The people back at the party had to hear it.

My lungs seemed to be closing, my breathing labored. It was all too much, the wolves, the vampire, the imprinting. I was breaking down.

I screamed at the sudden pain in my hand, the bones in my fingers cracking when she closed her fist over them. I collapsed to my knees, clutching my hand to my chest and watching the three wolves fight over nothing.

Elena disappeared, and they stopped in their tracks. All that was heard was my broken cries over my hand, and a relentless ringing in my ear.

The spots grew even larger, and I closed my eyes, falling unconsciously into a pair of warm arms.