005 | Their Alter Ego

NARRATORS' POV

The next day started off like any other; the 4 devilishly handsome classmates of Isabelle woke up around 9 AM and the 5th was already up and cooking up a mess in the kitchen.

One by one, they all piled into the modern kitchen, and the eldest groaned when he saw who was making breakfast this Saturday morning.

"Nathan, why are you cooking?" He said as he sat at the island behind the counter.

"Sorry that I wanted to do something once," Nathan replied as he flipped another made pancake onto the stack that was keeping warm in the oven.

"Yeah, but you're the number one out of all of us that makes a crazy mess every time you decide to 'do something nice'." Haylor chimed in.

"Cooking is an art! It's never clean. Now, eat your food." He put the pancakes, eggs, and a jug of OJ from the fridge, onto the counter, and the men closest to it passed it down to set it on the island in front of everyone.

Someone grabbed the whipped cream from the fridge and they all fixed their plates, eating their breakfast with very little silence.

"Hey, Logan are we on for that run to Springfield tomorrow?" Luca asked with a mouthful.

"Yes, and stop talking with your mouth full."

"It's just the 5 of us! You've seen much worse from us."

"Yeah, don't remind me. Xander did Isabelle make it back home alright?"

"Um," He set down his cup of orange juice "Yeah. She still wouldn't let me take her to her house though."

"What do you mean?" Haylor asked as he looked beside him.

"I mean she told me the street she lives on but she didn't actually walk up to a house until I left. I watched through the rearview and when I turned the corner, I got a thank you text from her."

"Are you still suspicious of her Logan?" Nathan asked as he piled on the cream when Luca suddenly said:

"You better not let that touch your eggs." As he watched him.

Just to be spiteful, Nathan washed a forkful of eggs in the spirally cream and ate it. But his face later cringed and he washed it down with juice. Luca laughed.

"No, I'm not. I mean, she looked pretty loaded last night and as we know that can't be possible. . She could have been faking though."

"She wasn't faking." Haylor declared, shaking his head.

"Guys, yes she has pale skin, but her cheeks glow with a rosy color frequently. And she's warm--" Xander started

"Not to mention kind."

"Nathan, what does that have to do with anything??" Luca chuckled.

"She doesn't look like she could hurt a fly."

"I still did a background check on her yesterday when I was in the lab. Her last name's Anderson and I found something weird." Logan stabbed a few triangles of pancakes he just craved out.

"What??"

"Firstly, I didn't find a birth certificate--"

"She said wasn't born here in Brokewood."

"Yeah but she also said her parents died, right? I didn't find any death certificates of any Anderson's either."

"She never said they died here. She never even said how they died."

"Logan, you're looking for a needle in a haystack. For all we know, her parents might not have the last name, Anderson."

Nathan nodded in Luca' direction.

"But what are the odds of that?" Logan retorted "Anyway, I didn't specify a birth certificate for Brokewood; I just typed her name. A baby born with those kinds of eyes must have been talked about in newspapers or something right??"

"Who reads newspapers!? Look, Logan, she's not a scout. You're being paranoid." Xander said frustratingly as he looked at his housemate.

"You don't even have a lot on her to go off of anyway," Haylor added as he got up to discard his dishes and start to clean the ridiculous mess Nathan made.

"Her eyes are odd though," Nathan mumbled.

"I've never seen anything like them and we all have been on this planet for decades."

"Yeah, what gene pool will you have to have to have eyes like that?"

He wasn't wrong; Isabelle's eyes were never seen before and far from humane.

"Hey what are we doing for today?" Haylor asked the group still at the table.

"Well, I need to go into the center to check out the bookstore to build upon the collection I have. I could use y'all help?" Logan asked his best friends.

"The library it is," Nathan exclaims aloud.

"You've been paying way too much attention in biology class," Luca said to Xander who was showing him something on the screen of his phone.

ISABELLE'S POV

"Alright so tell me about your love life. Are you still dating that 'jock-head' Jason?" Ashton had asked me from the other end of the aisle and he 'basketball slam-dunked a plastic container of salad in the cart I was pushing.

"Very intelligent, tweaking of your vocabulary," He was substituting the 'head' compound word that had male anatomy at the beginning of it "And no."

"Woah, wait, really??" He suddenly stopped and turned around.

I huffed. I saw this coming.

"You two broke up? What happened? Are you okay?" He comes closer to where I stood.

I nodded and brushed it off. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm the one who broke it off. Thing's just got to be too much."

". . .Well if you broke up with him then I know you're not the one in distraught," Ashton said after a while of trying to read my eyes.

I smiled, "Our relationship just reached its end."

For a second, my head drifted back to the man that was kind of the reason for it.

"Can you grab that head of green cabbage behind you?" I changed the subject and pointed over his shoulder.

We finished shopping maybe an hour after that. I can't repeat enough how much I adore being around Ashton. The atmosphere is never dull with him, he makes me laugh, and it genuinely feels like I'm hanging out with my brother whenever I'm with him. I'd do anything for him and I know he'd do the same for me. He's overly protective.

"I love you, Ashton." I go out and tell him as I place the last thing on the conveyor belt.

He stops a mouth beat he was making and turns to me for a brief look of confusion before a cocky grin conquers it. "Just not in the way I want you to."

He took out his wallet and I walked past him and rolled my eyes. "I'm serious."

I lifted the bags back into the cart to take them to his car and waited for him.

He never responded until after he got the receipt.

"I love you too, raven. . What is going on in that head of yours? This is extremely random." He whispers and slips past me after pressing a hard kiss on my hairline.

We make our way out of the supermarket and empty both our groceries into his car. I check my notifications while he put the shopping cart away. I was expecting a text from Xander. It wasn't founded on anything but today was the first day of spring break, there was that party last night, and although it's a blur, we had a nice time. . so why wouldn't he text?

I and Ashton get in the car and drive off with the windows down and music softly coming from the radio. With my shades on the bridge of my nose, I rake a hand through my hair and look over at my driver and see his shades on too.

He felt me staring and pulled up to a red light. "We're both extremely good-looking people to not be dating each other. I know."

He wasn't wrong; just about anybody would but we were very attractive in his top-down white convertible, our hair slashing in the wind and pitch-black ray bans on our eyes. We looked like celebrities. And you know what they say about the best kind of sexy: the one where you're not even trying.

I laughed at his words. "Why are you so flirty?"

He smiled and I just shook my head, watching the landmarks I normally cross on my way home.

"On a serious note, what happened yesterday when you got hurt? What are you going to do about that Regina person??"

"Nothing. There's nothing that I can do." I shrugged.

"Isabelle, that girl is bullying you. I know its wrong to engage in something that you know you have the upper hand on but--"

"That's it. There's nothing else to say after that. I can't stand up to her because that will make me noticeable. I can't do that in this form and I sure as hell can't stop her in my original one."

"How is the other you doing?" He glances over and I could tell he was trying to look at my eyes "I haven't seen much of her."

I and Isabella scoffed. "You've never seen her at all,"

"And she's fine."

"I bet she isn't proud of your 'tur the other cheek' notion either."

"You're right, she isn't, but it's my decision. If things go crazy, I will stand up to her but for now. . I can take it. I can heal and it never hurts that bad."

"Yet. This is the first time she's done something Izzy. What if next time she does something profound that should leave a mark or should break a part of your body?--"

"It won't--"

"Exactly. You will heal from something that should have left something even as small as a bruise. Don't you think that will get you noticed? That nothing happened to you when it should have? If the nurses or authority figures don't notice, Regina definitely will since she inflicted it. It will cause her to be curious and that's how all bad things start."

"What do you suggest I do?" We pulled up to the front of my house.

"I suggest that you nip it in the bud. You didn't start it so you shouldn't feel bad for sticking up for yourself. You need to end it before your unwavering strength starts to be questioned." He takes off his glasses and gives me a hard look.

I admit, he was right in THAT sense. I never looked at me getting noticed in that way. If Regina ever did inflict something crazy to either break my wrist or leg, it wouldn't work but it should at least leave a bruise. And when that doesn't happen, that will turn heads. I mean, I literally walked away from falling maybe 3 feet in the air. I was surprised no one looked at me sideways because of it.

Suddenly, my head tries to playback its blurry photos of last night and all I can think of is a fruity drink, too much alcohol and I made a new friend.

I don't respond to Ashton with words and nod my head. I also sighed.

He helped me bring my groceries in the house and I only told him to set them on the ground so I can personally put them away. When we were done, I bid a goodbye with a hug and a promise to text him later. Then, I tucked my hair behind my ears and got busy; cleaning up the kitchen while simultaneously putting the food away. I was proud of myself to have a balanced amount of food categories. I think about the money I get monthly in the mail. The money I use for this food. In fact, when they first started coming there was a note in the envelope that instructed me how to use the money. It was all in cash at first but then there was a card and that gets refilled every month. I never tried to see who was the face behind my expenses. I do know they mean well, though, because this arrangement has been like this for 2 to some years-- ever since I moved out of Ash and Luke's place.

Whilst I was cleaning up, I thought about the party. Usually, I don't drink that much but the memory loss I experienced from it never lasts too long because I have a double personality that doesn't get affected by intoxication. I pried her for details I was missing and while I rearranged the fridge, she shared her thoughts with me.

I could now remember meeting Jason when I got there and he was my excuse for drinking so much alcohol. I'm not even sure what kind of drink it was; it was in a red cup, lined up with the rest so I drank it. I remember meeting a nice guy and even nicer girls and then thoroughly enjoying myself with my classmates. Lastly, I remember meeting the guys and spending the rest of my night with them. We danced to the faint music below us, we gossiped about our school's characteristics and teachers, and Xander told me why none of them was as tipsy as I was.

. . Wait.

"Because vampires can't get drunk so I don't see the point."

. .No.

No, no, he couldn't have said that. I stood up from the ground and knitted my eyebrows as I played the flashback in my head over and over.

"Why don't you have a drink?"

"Because vampires can't get drunk so I don't see the point."

Was that. . . Was he saying he was a vampire?

"That couldn't have been. . ." I whispered aloud, looked at the ground, and tossed the rag in the sink.

"Did he say that?"

"Why don't you. . "

"Because vampires can't get drunk. . ."

He did.

Toppling everything in the refrigerator, I leaped over the plastic bags and jogged to the living room. I picked up my phone from the table and rushed to the sporadic text messages between me and Xander and hit the call button. Placing the phone to my ear, my heart raced and my confusion was raised by every ring. The last time I saw a vampire here was FIVE years ago and everything about him screamed bloodsucking, fang, night predator. The call picked on the last ring and his accented voice spoke through the speaker.

"'ello, gorgeous."

I pulled the phone and decided to speak on speaker.

"Hey, um," I snowed a hand through my hair "Can I see you today?"

"Yeah. I and the guys are at the central square library right now, but I can come to get you after?"

"Oh, you're there, right now? I can actually meet you there." I already started grabbing my keys from the table and a jacket.

"Are you guys gonna be leaving soon?" I'm going to be walking there so it's not like a quick 3-minute drive.

"Yeah, soon but not right now. You sure you don't want me to come to pick you up--"

"Yeah, I'm fine. See you in a bit." I hung up the call, flicked all my lights off, and headed back outside. Gearing up with my jacket and pair of shades, I took a right and walked as fast as I could to the library.

NARRATORS' POV

"Logan, I think i found the apothecary and natural medicine book you were looking for," Luca called out and weaved the aisle to find his friend.

Logan was at a computer, looking at the archives.

"Logan, if you don't stop with this Isabelle investigation. You're getting more clingy than Xander is." Nathan abruptly glided his hand on the keyboard to disrupt any progress Logan was making and Luca pulled him up from the chair.

"I wasn't looking up Isabelle, I was trying to find any wolf history here. Or any sign of other supernaturals."

"Take the book."

"Can we go now?"

"No, I have to find a book of organic chemistry in drug design." Logan rebutted and walked away.

This library wasn't the quiet kind. It had an open floor plan where there weren't a lot of walls and there were aisles between bookshelves that could lead you right out of the store. It wasn't quiet and you didn't have to "check out" books. This was a small town and relatively quiet minus the bustling uptown so all the books were relatively returned and there were a few people that kept up with the maintenance of the entire place. There were a few water fountains for drinking and some fountains for coin tossing behind it with a few eatery places. It was a nice environment.

The boys followed far behind Logan when Nathan's words made Luca notice something.

"It is weird that we haven't heard from a scout in this long. It's been, maybe, 3 months?" He said.

"Maybe Travis gave up."

Haylor scoffed. "Yeah, this is stuck up, pinhead, attitude."

Nathan looked confused at his comment and Xander helped clarify. "He doubts he did." He whispered.

"I mean, whatever, does it even matter? He's not sending anyone after us anymore. It was getting tiring anyway for the past 12 years he's been doing it. We always send all of them back with no success anyway. If he stopped then good riddance. We can finally put that place behind us." Xander said as he balanced books in his hand.

A few of them shrugged and Xander blew air out of his cheeks. "You know what? Logan, take these. I'm gonna wait at the car."

"We'll be right behind you." Haylor took the books in his hands.

Xander guided himself back out of the maze and behind the building where the fountains were. With his hands in his pocket, he walked on the rock-paved paths to a lone lane and the car was on the other end of it. By the time he got to it, he already heard the guys closing in behind him. He didn't stop thinking about Isabelle since she called and he thought about what both of them could do today. Whenever he's with her it feels like his heart actually stops in his chest and breathes warmth through his whole body. He's felt like that since he met her; she had this instant effect on him before they were in a relationship. He kinda wanted whatever plan it was to be secluded; he didn't want to share this time with Isabelle with anyone else but the 2 of them. He constantly thinks about having her close--

"Hey!"

Xander quickly turns around at the sound of an out-of-breath Izzy and he smiles. "Hey, you."

"Hi. Are you a vampire?"

And then everything that he was thinking about, washed away. His smile slowly fainted, he felt fear turn the hairs on his neck upwards, and he lost the words she spoke to him.

". .What?"

"Are, you, a vampire?"

"So you did say that." He mumbled to himself. His eyes slowly trailed up, behind her and she followed his eyes to the 3 guys standing behind her, feeling exactly how Xander was. But Logan was missing.

".. You all are?" She pieced it together and asked the rest who looked like their worst fear came to pass.

Then suddenly Logan comes from behind the car and presses the pressure point curve behind her ear and she falls to him unconscious.

ISABELLE'S POV

When I came to, my closed eyes flinched from the headache I already felt starting to heal.

My head hung low on my shoulder and something about my body's position immediately didn't feel right. I blinked the tiredness out of my eyes and when I finally opened them, their voices came from my rearview into focus.

"What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!"

"What the hell are you gonna do?"

"What did you say to her Xander? You said something!"

"Xander?" When I registered I was tied to a chair my hurt and weak voice cut through their banter like a bulldozer.

I don't know what they were bickering about but I'm not about to let whatever agenda they have to tie me to a chair for, happen. All their focus turned towards me-- it was the 5 of them and the different dynamics of my person and theirs that made me feel inferior and intimidated.

"Why am I tied up??" I tugged on the rope around my wrists.

None of them responded. They all just stared at me. And then Haylor turned to Logan.

"What are you thinking about right now?" He asked.

"Yeah, what are you gonna do Logan?" Nathan added.

Logan's eyes were still on me.

"You can't just tie her to a chair--"

"Well, I also can't just let her go either." Was Logan's response to all of it.

What the hell is happening? I begin to systematically pull on the restraints around my wrists and ankles and my imagination running free made me sad and panicked. "What's going on guys? Let me go."

"Logan, what do you mean, ' you can't let her go' ?"

"What exactly do you plan on doing with her here??"

Everyone's words started coming out at once and overlapping each other. There was enough panic to go around. Logan's name was mentioned many times and it soon turned into entire arguments amongst a number of them. I looked at Logan and I could see the wheels spinning in his head. If someone found out my truth I would be worried about them telling others too. They'd have to be quiet and there are only 2 ways that can happen. One, that person would have to keep it a secret and swear that they won't tell anyone else. Two, that person won't be around or alive to tell anyone.

Which one of those requires that person to be tied down to a chair in what looks like a plane hangar? Precisely. And that's what I'm afraid of. When Isabella surfaces she doesn't let go of control easily. She inflicts pain and fear until she decides it's enough.

The last time I gave Isabella control was years ago. It was a messy time and other than full moons, she never sees the light of day. I never let her out and I never tell anyone about her. The only people that know about her are the ones I consider family and no one standing in this building has that title.

I'm scared I might have to give her control.

There's no way they are killing me tonight because of who I am and so I am trying to talk them out of it before they announce that's why they have me here and before they know my truth like I now know theirs.

"Everyone, hold on, and let me think!" I jump as Logan yells above everyone and starts pacing back and forth.

I'm still twisting in the ropes and it burns against my skin. I whimpered in my attempts and didn't care much that I was making it obvious that I was trying to break free. And then their truth hit me: They're vampires.

I slowed down and looked up to look at them as if it was the first time. They're supernatural like me. The kind with pale skin, sharp teeth, and the gift of compulsion. All 5 of them. They do have the dominating demeanors. Xander told me about them and the very next day here I am...

Xander's going to kill me...

My eyes welled with tears. I know what I felt wasn't one-sided. Why would he pursue me as hard as he did; was there something else behind dating me other than genuine intentions? How could all of this even happen so swiftly like this? I've been careful and cautious for practically my entire life and somehow I managed to make out with the next threat to my life? After all the precautions I took between me and him, how could this slip right under my nose?

He caught my eyes on him and I saw his body tense from here as my tears fell.

"Okay, Xander, what did you tell her?" Logan stopped in front of the man in question and pointed at him.

Xander took a minute and looked away. "When we were at the party last night, I told her I wasn't drunk because vampires were immune to it but I didn't think she'd put that together and since she was wasted to the point of not being able to walk straight, I didn't think she'd remember."

Some of the boys looked at him like he was out of his mind. Xander's eyes never left my face but he could feel the anger from the others. I bet he also felt foolish now. Logan slowly put his head in his hand and backed up. "I knew it. I knew it, I bloody knew it this whole time."

"Logan, that doesn't mean she isn't human--" Wait, what?

"How else do you explain this! She shouldn't be able to remember that!" Logan's skin turned red.

"She knows something no one else in this town has figured out in nearly 10 years. ."

"Yeah, this is all your fault," Haylor grabbed Xander by the collar of his shirt and shoved him "What the hell were you thinking, telling her something like that!?"

"Lay off, Haylor--" Xander started.

"No, because you killed her!"

Xander tensed again and didn't respond to that.

"You killed her. You're the reason she's here and it's all your fault." Haylor's anger scared even me and it was odd to see that concern in this atmosphere. Where was that when you all drove me to this place?

"No, no, can't we just compel her to forget?"

"If we could that would have been the first thing we'd done." Luca refused Nathan and crossed his arms over his chest.

". . . No. There's no telling if compulsion would work on her. She has to go."

And hearing it out loud dawned on me and my head slowly turned to see Logan.

"Now, hold on a bloody minute--"

"What?!"

"We can't risk what could happen if she sticks around here with a secret like that. Killing her is the only way to make sure we all stay a secret and none of you will try something careless like this again,--"

"Let me go."

Logan faced me and I turned all my words onto him. "Please, just let me go. Take these ropes off me and we can let this entire thing go."

They're not gonna listen.

Logan slowly walked up to me and squatted to my chair level. "You're not even gonna promise not to tell anyone?"

". . Just let me go, Logan. I didn't want any of this to happen--"

"How did you even remember that night? Xander was right and we all saw it; you couldn't even stay on a conversation topic for 5 seconds without giggling or asking something you asked for 5 times before that. How did you remember? And how did you walk away from that fall Regina inflicted on you?"

He noticed that fall? I bit my tongue and furrowed my eyebrows at the ' vampire glint ' showing in his eyes and I was all too familiar with it. It was that look where they spoke to their prey like it was helpless and they held all the power. And that nothing they were gonna say was gonna change anything that was gonna happen in the next few minutes.

I wasn't giving his question an answer so he shook his head and stood up. "No. . ."

"Logan, we are not doing this."

Isabelle, they aren't going to listen. Give me control.

"Who's going to do it?" He put his hands in his pocket and I looked around us for anything.

"What?"

"You're not killing her, Logan." Xander startled me when he pushed past Logan on his way to me before Logan had stopped him.

"I am gonna do what it takes to keep us all safe. And think about it: have you ever thought about what secrets she's keeping from you?" Logan's strength threw Xander into a hole in the wall several feet from us and the debris dirtied the hardwood floors and dusted the area "You know that she is! She never lets you see even the porch of her house, she somehow remembered that conversation. I mean, her freaking eyes aren't human. That can't be! What would Travis do with her if he knew about all of this? This is what's better and you know it." He seethed so he could hear him.

From looking around, I didn't see anything. And I was looking because that meant they were going to kill me with their bare hands.

Xander looked at me quietly once he dusted all the dust and drywall off of him. He had already dug himself out of the wall.

Isabelle, how do you acknowledge this but you're still thinking about what to do. . .

"I'm not harming her," Nathan said.

"Neither am I,"

"Logan, if you want to kill her, then do it yourself. We're not going to keep your conscience clear for you. None of us agreed to do this or even be here."

"You were using me." He knows who my words were directed to.

"You didn't care about me." I scoffed.

Isabelle.

"I do care about you--

"If you cared about me you wouldn't have let it get this far." I cut him off as I felt anger being the dominating feeling; because it wasn't just my anger. Suddenly everything about him felt so wrong.

"I don't know why but you took me out on a date. I felt. . calm with you. I still can't seem to think straight whenever you're close to me. I felt drawn to you. You made me feel vulnerable. I felt happy around all of you and none of you gave two sh*ts about her!"

At the last of my statement, that voice wasn't my own. It was pitched and crackly. It felt unnatural and uncommon as I felt my skin peel away and flip like a coin from my toes to my hairline.

The room had dimmed out as I retreated to the back of my mind and I was no longer in control of our body anymore.

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