CHAPTER ONE
SABINE REGRETS BEING NICE
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SABINE CULLEN WAS MANY THINGS. She was fast, she was smart, she was quick-witted. But most importantly - and most annoyingly, if you asked her siblings - she was impatient. Too impatient, for someone who literally had all the time in the world. Which she understood, but she also knew that her family had enhanced speed, and there was absolutely no reason for them to take so long getting ready.

She pressed her hand down on the horn, letting it ring out for ten seconds, "I am going to leave without you!"

"You don't need to shout." Edward's voice rang from the once-empty passenger seat. She turned her head and narrowed her eyes at him, "We can hear you."

"Really?" She asked, attitude laced in her tone, "You didn't seem to hear me when I was asking for the remote last night."

Edward shrugged, "It's selective."

"Oh shut up."

She turned her head back to the garage door just in time to see the rest of her siblings enter one by one, all four of them heading towards Emmet's Jeep. Her brows pinched and she rolled down her window, "Is it 'Wear white and not tell Sabine' day or something? Seriously, what's with the matching outfits?"

"Edward's not wearing white." Emmett pointed out, hopping into his own drivers seat after letting Rosalie in.

"Yeah but Edward's all dark and gloomy inside." She quipped, "Doesn't count."

Emmett chuckled and the dark and gloomy boy in question hit her on the arm. She didn't react, simply starting up her car - a sleek, black BMW - and following Emmett out of the garage and towards Forks High. She switched on the radio to a random channel and double-checked her eyeliner in the rearview mirror.

"Can you look at the road?" Her brother snarked, leaning against his door.

Sabine made a face, "I've been driving for a hundred years, Eddie, I know what I'm doing."

She saw him roll his eyes in her peripheral and smirked, finally looking back at the road in front of her just to appease him. It was raining, as per usual, but it thankfully slowed to a non-existent drizzle by the time they pulled into the parking lot. And, like every day, all eyes were on them immediately.

It made sense - six kids, all super pale and super attractive, all fostered by the same parents but dating each other at the same time. Add in the fact that half of them looked way over high school age, and Sabine could understand the stares. She hopped out of her car, locking it when she heard the sound of Edward closing his door. They met up with the rest of them and, with eyes burning their skin, walked through the double doors of the school.

They were about three feet from the entrance when Sabine hissed out a curse, and looked at Jasper desperately, causing him to raise a brow, "Did you do the history essay?"

The blonde sighed, "Of course I did." And before she could ask, said, "Yes, you can use it."

Sabine grinned, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She grabbed the paper from his outstretched hand and bounded down the hall in the direction of the library, muttering, "You can have it back at lunch." As she did so. Almost immediately after parting ways from her siblings, she ran into a soft body.

"Howdy, Sabine!" Eric Yorkie's grin was as wide as it always was. He waved and she raised a brow with an amused smile, "Good day?"

"It's only just started." She replied. Walking along, knowing he would simply follow her.

See, unlike her siblings, Sabine didn't much enjoy keeping to herself. Every time they started at a new school, she always made a point to have at least one human acquaintance. Sure, she knew she had to lie low in order to keep her existence a secret, but that didn't mean she couldn't at least talk to people, right? It's not as if she was best friends with half the school, but it also wasn't like she refused to acknowledge them when she was there. She spoke to her lab partners, her volleyball team mates, and yes, even the ever-persistent Eric Yorkie. The only kid in Forks who had the guts to talk to her first.

"So, listen, there's this new girl starting today. She's from Arizona. Anyway, I was gonna do a feature on it, and I wanted to know if you'd give me a quote?" He spoke quickly, which she liked. He was a cute kid, and she didn't mind entertaining him whenever he came up to her in the line.

Sabine raised a brow, "Why do you need a quote?"

"Y'know, for perspective. Let readers know just how shocking this is to everyone."

"It's not that shocking." Actually, it was. New students just weren't a thing in Forks, the last ones being her and her family. With a population so small and weather so bad, it wasn't exactly anyone's dream home. But she wasn't going to give a quote about it to Eric Yorkie. "Plus, I don't think this new kid is gonna want to be front page of the schools paper on their first day here."

He nodded, fiddling with his camera, "Right. That makes sense. I'm gonna ask her when I see her. She's probably in the office right now, grabbing her schedule."

Then he was gone, before Sabine could tell him how stalker-ish he was acting and that he would probably scare the poor girl off. Whatever. She sighed and entered the library, sitting down at a random desk and scribbling out Jasper's essay pretty much word-for-word, with a few necessary tweaks here and there.

When she was done, she rushed to her English class - where she wrote in the back the entire time - before walking briskly to the gym for her second period. They were playing volleyball, again, and Sabine sat patiently at the top of the bleachers while Jessica and Brodie picked teammates one by one.

"-shouldn't let me play."

Her ears perked at the muttered conversation going on between the Coach and a brunette girl she didn't recognise. Her gym gear was one size too big, and she kept running a hand through her hair as she spoke.

So this was the new girl.

"I'm sorry, Isabella, but it's school policy. All students are required to take gym."

"But I'm, like, really bad at volleyball. At all sports, really."

Sabine watched the back of Isabella's head with intrigue. Something about her was off, or different. Something about her made Sabine watch her as she tried to argue her way out of playing, only to ultimately end up walking back towards the bleachers with her head down, defeated. Then Jessica called out Sabine's name with a nervous stutter, and the older girl was forced to look away from the new girl and join her teammates on one side of the net.

Turns out, Isabella was right. She was awful at volleyball. Too many times had she been hit, and too many times had she missed the ball. She ended up loitering at the back, ensuring she didn't get too involved, and Sabine felt this urge to help her out. She didn't say anything, of course, but she did deflect the ball away from her whenever it got too close. Unfortunately, the other team caught wind of her tactic and ended up shooting it right towards the girl when Sabine wasn't looking. Isabella, caught by surprise, threw her hand out haphazardly and shot the ball right into the back of Mike Newton's head. Sabine snorted, which earned her a few concerned looks. Probably the first time they'd heard a Cullen laugh before.

She couldn't help but listen in as the girl apologised for her mistake, and Mike shamelessly flirt with her, while Jessica cut in with a jealous insult about Bella - the name she preferred - being too pale. The conversation was painful, to say the least, but it was over quickly and soon enough they were back to their game. Forty minutes later, and Jessica's team were riding out their victory in the locker room, which was wild with chatter.

Sabine changed back into her clothes - black jeans, black boots, grey shirt - and slung her bag on her shoulder before leaving wordlessly and heading outside to where she knew her siblings were gathered. They always met by the cars before lunch, which they said was so they knew they were all ok, but Sabine said was so they could make a dramatic entrance. Which they did, every time.

"There she is!" Emmett grinned when he spotted her, raising his hands at her, "Forks' front page model!"

She rolled her eyes and flipped him off, "I am not the front page model. Eric didn't even ask me to be on the front page, he just wanted a quote."

"And you said-?" Rose asked, tilting her head.

"I said no." She blanked.

"Just wanted to ask," She said amusedly, "since you're, like, best friends with that Eric kid."

Sabine shook her head at her sister's smirk, "Just because I'm not an anti-social hobbit like you guys are, doesn't mean I'm going to be in the paper anytime soon. Or ever for that matter."

The pair chuckled, just as Alice and Edward joined them, with Jasper following behind. Sabine reached into her backpack and pulled out the essay the blonde had lent her, stretching it out to him, "Thanks, Jas."

"No problem." He muttered back. His southern drawl was prominent, and she swallowed, her throat suddenly tight. She met Alice's eyes, and she did nothing with her face, but Sabine knew exactly what she was thinking.

It was unspoken, the whole Jasper being Sabine's mate thing. The only reason Alice knew was because she saw Jasper coming. Even Edward had no idea, but that was easy enough to pull off - all she had to do was not think about it, which she loved to do. Sabine had learnt pretty early on how to hide her thoughts from her brother, and Alice swore that she wouldn't let Edward see until Sabine was ready to tell Jasper.

You see, the only reason Jasper didn't know was thanks to Sabine's thing. Her quirk. Her superpower. Whatever you wanted to call it. While Edward had mind-reading, Alice could see the future etcetera etcetera, Sabine was a wraith. She had the excellent ability to keep herself quiet, and hide herself from anyone she didn't want seeing or hearing her. She could also mask her scent, which wasn't as strong as the rest of her family's anyway. Hence why Jasper had no idea he was tied to Sabine the way he was - because he couldn't smell it on her.

Why she didn't want him to know was a whole other story, one she didn't like to think about, for obvious reasons (Eddie McMindReader).

Her only issue? She knew. She'd known since before she'd even met him, and as soon as she caught a whiff she was a goner. I mean - the hair, the face, the accent? She couldn't help it, and trust, she wished she could.

That wasn't her only problem, though. Of course it wasn't. She couldn't just have it easy, could she? No. Even though Jasper couldn't smell it on her, even though he didn't know she was his mate, there was still that connection. Untethered, unbroken. And of course he's going to feel it. Of course he's going to be that bit more protective, stand a little closer than he would the rest of them. He doesn't call her his sister like he does Rosalie or Alice. He lets her borrow his books, and copy his homework. He does all the things a mate should, without even realising it. And it kills her.

But she can't tell him. And she can't think about why she can't tell him, so she tries not to think about it at all. But occasionally her resolve cracks, only for a moment, and Alice looks at her, and she looks back. And then that's it.

Oh, and Jasper can read emotions. The icing on top of the cake, really. Super helpful for her.

"Did you guys hear about the new girl?" Alice asked as they made their way to the side door to the cafeteria. She bounced ahead of them, just behind Emmett and Rosalie, bracelets jangling with her movements.

"I think everyone has." Rose muttered back, side-eyeing the windows as they walked past.

"She's in my gym class." Sabine informed them from where she walked next to Edward, "Her name's Bella. She's from Arizona."

"Arizona." Emmett sighed, "We need to move there one day. Why haven't we been there already, man?"

"Because we're way too pale for Arizona." Jasper quipped, "What, you think we live here because of the sights?"

Sabine smiled, "Bella was also too pale for Arizona."

"Maybe she's one of us." Emmett said in mock-interest, widening his eyes dramatically as he opened the door. They all chuckled as they entered the room, shaking their heads at the notion. The chatter from the students quieted ever-so slightly, but they kept their heads up and walked to their usual table in the back.

Sabine spotted Bella, in a green bowler shirt over the top of a grey long-sleeve, sat with Jessica and her friends. She glanced back at them momentarily, as Jessica tried to be subtle about her gossiping. Although to be fair to her, she didn't know about the sonic hearing.

"The blonde girl, that's Rosalie, she's with the big dark-haired guy, Emmett. They're like a thing. It's super weird."

Sabine smirked, Edward smacked her arm.

"Jess, they're not actually related."

"Yeah but they live together, it's weird! Anyway, the little dark haired girl's Alice. She spends most of her time with the blonde one, who looks like he's in pain. That's Jasper. It's so crazy, Dr Cullen only adopts, like, super hot people."

"Who's he?" Bella asked. Sabine didn't look, but she knew who she was asking about.

"Oh." Jessica chuckled knowingly, "That's Edward. Totally gorgeous, obviously. But no one here's good enough for him. And then Sabine, remember from our gym class?"

"Yeah." Bella muttered, "Are they...?"

Sabine screwed her face up grossly. Jessica laughed loudly, along with the girl beside her, "Uh, no. No. They're the only ones who are actually related. They're twins."

"Oh."

"But Sabine's much nicer than Edward. She actually talks to people. Sometimes. Edward doesn't even look at anyone else here. Not that I care." She chuckled awkwardly. "Seriously, don't even bother."

"Wasn't going to."

Sabine sat, across from Edward and beside Jasper, watching as he stared at Bella. Kicking his shin under the table to get his attention, she made a face, "Stop being creepy."

He scoffed and looked back anyway, scrunching up his eyebrows in distress before looking back. Sabine sent him a look but he ignored her and chose to focus his attention on his plate instead. She was about to ask him what was wrong, concerned as always, but was quickly distracted by a hand latching tightly onto her wrist. She twisted her head to face Jasper, who's body was stiff as all hell - like, rigor mortis stiff - and who's eyes were locked tightly on something across the room. She followed his gaze to a kid she knew was on the basketball team who had just walked in, wiping a tissue across his nose.

It had been bleeding, that much was obvious, but it wasn't anymore. Which was good for them - dried blood wasn't as much an issue, and was also pretty unappealing. Like burnt toast. But Jasper had already been having a tense day around their human classmates, that much was obvious, and the scent of even dried blood was sending him into a frenzy. His grip on her arm was tight, but the hand she placed over-top of his was light and gentle as she tried to gently calm him down. The rest of them looked on intensely, ready to reach out should he make any sudden movements.

Thankfully, the boy sat with his friends closest to the door, further away from the Cullens across the room. Jasper's grip didn't falter, but he did look away and tried to make conversation with Rose. Edward looked back at Bella. Sabine held in her thoughts.

___________

"I'm going to Alaska."

Sabine turned from her laptop and looked at Edward in the doorway, "What?"

He was tense, she could tell, and nodded at him to sit down on the sofa beside her. He did, wiping his hands on his jeans even though he didn't sweat. He was nervous, and she was worried, "What's wrong?"

"It's the new girl." He muttered, "Bella."

"What about her?" She asked sitting up. She knew she felt something off about the girl in gym that day, but brushed it off as nothing. Just a new scent she wasn't used to. Now Edward was worried? This was something.

"I can't-I can't read her thoughts. I can't see into her head." He said through his teeth, "And her smell-her blood, it's-it's strong. Too strong. I need to get away from it."

"So you're going to Denali?" Sabine responded, tilting her head, "For how long?"

"Until it passes."

"Until what passes?"

"I don't know." He stood, "But I'm going. I'll see you when I come back."

He was gone before she could say anything back, and she could hear him packing across the house. The sofa dipped next to her and she looked to see Emmett smirking at her. She made a face, "What?"

"Tanya totally wants to bone him." He grinned, making himself comfortable, "He's gonna have a blast in Denali."

"Ew, that's my brother." She said disgusted, looking back at her screen, "Besides, Edward is, like, a super virgin. He's not touching her."

Emmett scoffed, "Twenty bucks says he does."

"You're on." She smirked, taking his outstretched hand. She didn't care much that Edward could hear them, she just wanted to make some easy money.

Then Alice was gracing the doorway, smiling like she always did. She looked out the window as Edward's car sped off - thanks for the goodbye, asshat - before going to say something. Then she stopped. And stared. Then she gasped.

"What?" Sabine asked, jumping to her feet alongside Emmett. Esme and Carlisle sped in, and Jasper wasn't too far behind. "What did you see?"

"The girl." She whispered, "Bella. I saw her-with Edward. They were...running together."

A hush fell about the room. No one said anything for a solid ten seconds, until Carlisle stepped up, "Well this is news. But you know the rules, no meddling. If this is going to happen, we let it happen."

They all nodded silently, none of them really knowing what to say. Bella, a girl they'd known for half a day, was going to be one of them. Edward said her scent was strong, stronger than all the others. Maybe that was tied to her fate. Maybe...

"Where's Edward?" Rosalie asked, walking in, handful of shopping bags. She flipped her hair back gracefully, "I can't smell him for miles."

"He has a crush on the new girl so he's running off to Denali to bone Tanya. Get his mind off it." Emmett laughed, strolling towards her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

Her face screwed up, "Bella? What the hell's so special about her?"

"Nothing." Sabine said before anyone else could. If she knew Rosalie, which she did, she knew that she wasn't going to take Alice's vision lightly. Or at all, really. It was best keeping it from her for the now, at least until Edward got back and found out.

For now, they were to keep their mouths shut.

________

- mills speak!

aaaand here we go. another twilight fic. i attempted a harry potter one but lost interest. turns out twilight is just my thing.

this time we're on daddy JASPER 😍 and the oc is a vampire, so a complete switch from petrichor but hopefully it'll be just as good. maybe not as much angst

unless...

anyhow, like pet some aspects of the twilight world will be slightly altered here. i'm not too sure what yet but if you do get confused just remember this fic isn't exactly canon compliant.

also prepare for some more dodgy posting schedules. i'll try not to take months off at a time but if you read pet before it was complete you'll understand the struggle

speaking of pet...would we be interested in a Lena cameo??? possibly a feature???? lmk x

anyway i'll let you guys continue on, and i hope you all enjoy THE WRAITH 🫶🫶