⌜ chapter two ⌟

"You are aware that you're doing the same thing as when you give Edward crap for just randomly showing up in Bella's room?" Emmett asks as he walks out of his bathroom and into his bedroom.

"I needed to get out of my house for a little while, and my options are limited." Jay says. "You, Alice, and Jasper are the only ones I know here, and apparently neither of them are around."

"That's what happens when you show up unannounced."

"Did you want me to leave?" She's laying on his couch, her eyes on the ceiling.

"I don't care what you do." He says as he then walks over, controller in hand. "Move your feet."

She pulls her feet up so that her knees are bent, and he sits on the end of the couch to play video games. She listens to the shooting sounds coming from the tv and her eyes close as she thinks back to all of the times that Jeremy would beat her when they played back home. She misses him, and she misses her sister; and some days it hurts more than others. That's why she came to the Cullens' house, she was hoping that Jasper was around.

"Don't you have a two-story house, plus the basement?" Emmett asks after a few minutes of silence between them. "Why did you so desperately need to leave?"

"Damon's been bugging me, and Stefan isn't home to make him leave me alone. Plus Marie just moved in... I don't exactly like being around humans at the moment." She explains.

"That's the witch?"

"Mhm."

"I haven't been around witches much." He says, still playing his game. "Why isn't she with her family?"

"Her dad died when she was little, so she was raised by her grandmother after her mom left her and her sister. She died, and then her sister died bringing her back to life." She tells him. "People in our hometown think that she's dead, so it's just easier for her to be here instead."

"She was dead?"

"Yep."

He pauses for a moment, thinking that one over as he plays his game, then he decides it's probably best if he doesn't ask for clarification. "So, she doesn't know where her mom is?"

"Bonnie found Abby awhile ago, but then Damon turned her into a vampire. She left Mystic Falls to try and cope with her new life, but she checks in periodically. Actually, I'm not sure if Abby knows that Bonnie's dead. I'd imagine she'd have to if she knows that Marie's alive... Or does she know?" Her eyebrows furrow as she looks at the ceiling.

"You don't know if your best friend's mom knows that she's alive?" He questions.

"Bonnie and Marie have never liked talking about Abby. She left when they were so young, and they didn't have answers; I guess I just learned to avoid the subject. Just like Marie never asks me about my father." She tells him.

"You don't know your father?"

"Nope." She shakes her head. "I don't know his name, I've never seen a photo, I don't even know how old he is. I know he was friends with my mom and my biological mother, but my mom was a couple years younger than her, so..."

"Do you know your biological mother?"

"I did...unfortunately. Damon turned Isobel into a vampire a few years ago because she wanted to turn, but she was compelled to kill herself." She tells him, and his eyebrows furrow.

"Vampires can't compel other vampires."

"You can't compel me, but Klaus could." She explains. "Actually, he can't. I drink vervain."

Emmett pauses his game and looks over at her. "You what?"

"Have you ever been compelled?" She asks. "It's not fun."

"Who the hell is Klaus?" He asks, and Jay takes a deep breath as she sits up.

"I believe he's actually Satan." She mumbles sarcastically before looking at him. "Have you ever heard of the original family?"

"Just that they're the beginning of vampires like you and me." He says, and she nods.

"When they were human, the youngest in their family was killed by werewolves during a full moon, so their mother — a witch — turned them in order to protect them. They were meant to be stronger and faster than the wolves; the bloodlust was a...an accidental side effect.

"Anyway, you, me, your sister...Rosalie — our bloodlines are all tied to them. And they can compel vampires. Klaus spent a thousand years looking for a doppelganger to break a curse that his mother placed on him. She had an affair years prior, so his father isn't her husband. She suppressed his werewolf side, and he wanted to undo it.

"The doppelganger is my sister, and my biological mother found Klaus. I don't know if she was trying to help us or Katherine, but either way, it bit her in the ass. He compelled her to make sure we knew that we weren't safe, and then was to kill herself. She had a necklace with the same stone as Stefan and Damon's rings. She took it off in broad daylight, and... Well, I think you get the picture."

"What about your adoptive mom?"

"Uh..." She clears her throat. "In order for Klaus to break the curse, he had to sacrifice a vampire, a werewolf, and the doppelganger. He was going to use Tyler and Caroline — two of my friends — but Marie and I saved them. And one of his witches killed Marie...and then he turned my mom and used her as the vampire sacrifice... So, Ric became our legal guardian."

Jay then explains what happened to Ric. He had the Gilbert ring, died with it on too many times, had an evil alter ego that was hell-bent on killing all vampires and vampire sympathizers, then the original witch turned him to use as a weapon to kill her children. Jay has a hard time talking about the conversation that she had with him on the beach, then she gets into what Damon told her about how Ric actually did turn, and he almost killed Caroline and put Elena in danger.

Next she explains her situation with Elena, and how she turned into a vampire, which ultimately resulted in Ric's death. She goes over the search for the cure, Silas, Jeremy becoming a Hunter as one of the Brotherhood of the Five, the trip to Nova Scotia, Rebekah screwing them all over on the island, Jeremy's death, Elena flipping her switch, all the way to Kol killing her in the street, and then Marie coming back from the Other Side because of Bonnie's spell.

"How's that for only being fifteen?" The little brunette takes a deep breath as she shakes her head and looks away from him.

"I've never flipped the switch." He says, and she looks up. "Leaving my family behind was hard, but I couldn't imagine doing that."

"How did you turn?"

"It's a pathetic story. I was hunting in the woods — I tried to keep my family supplied with enough game." He tells her, and she nods. "I was mauled by a bear, but Rose found me. She gave me her blood, healed me...and I went looking for the bear. I'm sure you've heard of men and their egos." He says, and she smirks.

"I only live with the biggest egomaniac on the planet." She tells him, and he chuckles.

"Well, it had been...probably right around the twenty-four hour mark since Rose had given me her blood, and I found that damn bear. I killed it, but not before it clawed me pretty good. She wasn't sure if I'd survive — or if I still had her blood in my system — so she brought me to Carlisle and asked him to turn me. He bit me...and I woke up a little different than them. I'm like you mostly — my eyes didn't change, sunlight burns, and so does vervain. I can compel humans, but I don't usually; only in circumstances to protect my family." He explains, and she nods.

"And do your eyes..." She makes her own change the way that they do when she smells human blood or feeds: the whites turn red and the veins become more prominent underneath.

"Yeah." He nods. "The best Carlisle can figure is that I died with Rose's blood in my system, and so I would've woken up in transition anyway. But since he also bit me as a precaution, all his venom did was magnified my strength. I'm the strongest in the family."

"So... You're, like, a...vampire-vampire hybrid. Two variations of the same species rolled into one?" She asks, and he shrugs.

"If you wanna overanalyze it, I guess so."

"I think you got lucky. Blue is much better suited to you than Carlisle's eye color...and you just wouldn't look as good all pale like that."

"Thank you. I think." He says, and she smirks. "What are you gonna do about your sister?" He asks, and she takes a deep breath.

"I don't know." She shakes her head. "I think I'm past the anger of her leaving me... Mostly because I want to turn it off too. Waking up to the heightened emotions and trying to deal with all of the grief I already felt, I... It almost sounds better not to feel anything at all."

"The grief isn't the only thing that's been heightened." Emmett says, and her meets his gaze again. "Everything else is too. The joy and happiness when you're with your friends, and I've heard some of Bella's stories about you guys. You'll get back to that, and it'll be better."

"You really think so?" She asks, and he nods.

"Hell yeah. If you can survive everything you just told me, you can get through this too. That's not to say it won't be hard at first, but it's not impossible." He says. "And you have people that you already know and trust helping you with the hardest of it all. I came into this life being led by strangers, and I turned out alright." He reasons, and she smiles.

Emmett shuts off his video games then, and Jay takes control over the tv. He smirks as he watches her excitedly go through the guide, trying to find something that'll take her mind off of everything that's been going on.

"Fear Factor!" The little brunette hops to change her position on the couch so she's better angled to see the tv.

"What's that?" He asks, and she slowly turns her head to look at him.

"You've never seen Fear Factor?" She questions, and he shakes his head. "You're missing out on the finer hilarities in life, my friend. It's a good thing you met me."

"What the hell?" He mutters as he looks back at the screen. "Are those cockroaches?"

"Mhm." Jay nods as she covers her face and looks at the television through the slits between her fingers, a shudder shaking through her body.

"Why would anyone sign up for this?"

"The cash prize if they win." She explains. "I don't like the bug challenges. The physical ones are better to watch."

"Could you do any of these challenges?" He asks as he glances over at her. "Never mind, you can hardly even watch." He chuckles.

"It's just the bugs." Jay tells him. "I could do the snakes, and any of the physical challenges. But no way in hell am I eating anything they have on this show."

"Eating?" He questions, and she nods.

"Worms, and one time I remember a guy had to eat a scorpion."

"That seems cruel." He says. "To the worms and the scorpion, not the dumbasses who sign up for this show."

She squeals and covers her eyes when she sees a bug almost crawl into the contestants mouth, and then Emmett changes the channel saying that they're done with that. Jay uncovers her eyes then and smiles when she sees SpongeBob.

"Glad to see you're well-versed in the weird crap that you watch." The dark-haired vampire says as he looks at her.

"Who doesn't like SpongeBob?" She questions. "He's a moron, and it's hilarious."

"That's your argument?"

"It's a children's show. How much do you really expect out of it?"

"To at least understand how a crab has a whale for a daughter." He says, and she looks at him with a quirked brow.

"I wouldn't think that I'd have to explain adoption to you." She says sarcastically, and he narrows his eyes at her.

"The guy's money-hungry, and you're telling me that he went out and adopted an orphan?"

"My mom was only a teenager when she basically adopted me." She argues. "Besides, who says that Mr. Crabs was always so greedy?"

"Why am I having this argument?" He shakes his head. "It's a cartoon about a sponge that lives in a pineapple under the ocean."

"Don't forget about Squidward. He lives in one of the heads from Easter Island." She chuckles, and then her eyes suddenly widen. "I'm calling your brother Squidward from now on!"

"Please do." Emmett laughs as he looks at her.