The Dark Enemy Tales of Lauren Mallory: Chapter 38

Lauren's POV

When we were done with teaching me how to fight, which turned out to be not so bad after all, me and the others stood around one of the trees. Leah was standing next to Embry, Skyler, and Jacob. She seemed a little less bitter than I remembered her being back in December. She just seemed bored. "Well the training's over, what are we going to do now?" Jacob shrugged. "Any ideas, people?". Everyone started whispering to each other and debating on what to do next. I could see Bella, Alice, and Edward all whispering to each other in one corner. They then stopped and Alice cleared her throat loudly. Suddenly everyone became quiet. "Okay guys, Bella has suggested that we go to the local diner. She said that Charlie Swan might be there and also maybe some you guys, the non-vampires of course, might be wanting breakfast." "Hmm...", Embry responded. "Wow, Bella cares about whether or not we're hungry.", remarked Rory. "Rory!", Cassandra said, but of course I would've been the same way he was. "I personally think it'd be a great idea. How about you?" "Yeah.", everyone else replied in unison. Jacob smiled, "Well then the diner it is!"

At the diner

Me, Rory, Cassandra, and the others walked in through the door. The smell of warm pancakes and waffles, coffee, toast, and bacon & eggs filled my nostrils and I could feel and hear my stomach grumbling. The hostess came to us with a big wide smile on her face and showed us where we'd be sitting. "Here you guys go.", she said politely. She showed us our tables and left. But before I sat down, I saw Officer Swan at one table and at the other were Jessica, Georgia, Mike, Angela, and Eric. "Guys", I said to the others. "Yeah?" "I'm gonna' go talk to someone. I'll be right there." I started walking towards my friends and Jessica said "Hey Lauren! Where the hell have you been?" "Yeah, we've been scared half to death by that whole case thing. The reporters, news people, and police got into it all too.", added Georgia concerned, "Are you okay, girl? Are you hurt?" I sighed and shook my head. I'm happy that they were concerned about me and that they cared enough about me to ask but really what happened wasn't a big deal. "No, not all, I'm fine. Actually, Rory isn't too bad of a guy." "What?!", the five gasped in unison, suprised by my answer. Considering that Rory was still a grumpy mope when they would see him at the store. "Really. He's not bad at all. He's actually..very caring and sweet." My voice was now soft and my eyes became relaxed. If I saw myself in the mirror, I'd probably look like a lovesick princess thinking dreamily about her prince, except, I'm not in love with Rory. "The f-", Mike reacted. "And I even helped him find his long-lost sister.", I beamed, "Hey Cassandra! Maybe you could introduce yourself to my friends! There's no need to be shy!", I called to the tall, petite light blonde girl. She let out a nervous chuckle before walking to us. "H-H-Hi..guys..You must be Lauren's friends. Lauren told me about you yesterday. Hehe..." Angela and Eric smiled at her. "And your Rory's sister? Weren't you that girl who got abducted years ago?", asked Eric. Cassandra looked around the room then answered, "Yes. Rory and Lauren actually saved me too."

"Wait, Cassandra? Cassandra Casden? The little girl?", said Officer Swan, who was just talking to Bella, in disbelief. "Yes.", Bella replied. "Really? You're back? How did you escape? Who abducted you?", Officer Swan was asking Cassandra these questions. "Well, Lauren told Rory about the suspects and actually really was the Loffsons. They lied so that I wouldn't be brought back. When Rory and Lauren got there, there was a fire. They saved me, but the Loffsons died." Earlier we had her promise to tell people this when they'd ask so that Rory wouldn't go to jail for killing the Loffsons. "Really? Wow. I guess it was mighty brave of you guys to do that for her then.", said Officer Swan, looking at me and Rory, "And Cassandra, it's great that you're back. I'll tell everyone soon that you've been found." "Oh Officer Swan, you're too kind.", Cassandra beamed. "You deserve a warm welcome back and people's awareness.", Officer Swan told her. Cassandra's eyes gleamed and filled with happy tears before letting out a light, quiet "Thank you."

That's when Bella asked, "Hey Dad, any news on the town?" Officer Swan thought for a second. "Well..me and my team found four people dead yesterday morning. Three women; one who suffered heavy bleeding and had a bite mark on her neck, one who had her arms and neck broken, and one who had a stab wound. All three of them seemed to have been drained of their blood. Then there was the taxi driver who had his throat slit.", he explained. The Cullens, Rory, Cassandra, Amity, Skyler, Jacob, and I looked at each other knowing what that meant. "Blood? Bite mark? Stab wound? Draining?...Kuri.", I whispered to myself, "Shit." "And that's not all", added the mustached Officer, "We're guessing it happened the other night and that same night, a building was blown up, nothing left but the sign and the parking lot." "Oh my god", Alice gasped. "Anything else Officer Swan?", Jacob asked. "Last night we found a girl whose arm was gone and her shoulder had deep bite marks. They looked more like fangs than teeth though, and they were bigger than the mark on the woman in the taxi. A woman says she saw her right after her death and suspected it to be a huge rabid lizard." Rory sighed. Then in a low, almost menacing voice, said, "I have to go to the bathroom." He brisk walked towards the bathroom door of the diner and could be heard muttering strong swear words on the way there. "Don't worry about him, he's kind of burnt. He might be under stress too." Bella looked at her dad who had a confused face from what happened. "So Officer Swan, ain't it a suprise for to see us all this morning?", Jacob asked. "I'd say so. But it is a comfort to see Bells and Nessie. Me and Sue are also doing okay."

Suddenly, Cassandra grabbed my wrist. I looked at her. "Do you think we should check to see if he's okay?" "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." The two walked to the bathroom. "Wait. Maybe this isn't such a good idea, Cassandra." "What do you mean?" "What do I mean?", I scoffed, "C'mon Cassandra, he went into the men's room." "Men's room, shmen's room! He needs us!" I turned the knob and strangely the door was unlocked. There I saw Rory stand over the sink with his head down. "F*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ckity, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck! I f*cking let this happen! ***damnit! I knew! I knew this was going to happen! That! That! What the hell am I going to do?! How am I going to tell Cassandra?! This is all my fault! I should've busted Lycoris when I had the chance!", he said under his breath. Cassandra walked up to him but I grabbed her arm. She didn't know what Rory could possibly do to her if she did anything, and also because Carlisle talked about how fire dragons lose their temper easily and can get into violent rages. I took a couple steps forward. "..Rory?" "What?!", he shouted, his head turning towards me. His face was contorted with anger, his face was bright red, and sweat was pouring down his forehead. "Sorry. I just-", I started walking away assuming he would yell at me if he didn't. "No, Lauren, please--", he stammered before briefly and quietly swearing again. "Please--", his voice became softer, "Please--don't go." I stopped. "Why?" "Look, hone-I mean, Lauren, I'm sorry I yelled. I'm just so angry right now." "Why? What is it about Officer Swan's words that made you upset?", inquired Cassandra. "The part where he said about that woman thinking it was a huge rabid lizard that killed that girl, and having sharp fangs, that could only mean one thing..", he looked at me and Cassandra, "A dragon." The two of us nodded. "And I think that it might be Lycoris, after murdering my parents, and now he's with Kuri and coming back to kill me." "But what makes you say that Lycoris killed Mom and Dad? What if it was another dragon?" "I know! I saw it happen with my own eyes!", Rory shouted, his chest was now heaving and his throat was constricting, "I know I have schizophrenia, and clinical depression, and post traumatic stress disorder, but I know that they died that way!" His head fell into his hands and Cassandra and I heard a muffled moan and sob come out. Cassandra's eyes widened and she wrapped her hands around the redhead. And that's when it hit me, Cassandra was the only real close family member he had left. He lost his brother, his father, and his mother. All of them. I still had my parents and siblings. I could come home to Gretchen and Candice doing whatever, Tim playing basketball in the backyard or doing his homework, my dad and mom having come home from their jobs and asking us how our days were. Rory didn't though. Or he might have before remembered coming home to Cassandra playing with her dolls, Lycoris going chores or doing an activity, and his parents asking them how school was. But not anymore. And Cassandra had to live with those jackass Loffsons for ten years, without her mom, dad, and brothers. And without her toys too. The small bathroom was now filled with reminiscence, pain, and sadness. I looked at Cassandra comforting Rory and could truly sympathize them.

That night

"And that's how I hunted my first deer!", Alice said. Alice was telling everyone about her first deer hunt shortly after she joined the Cullens. The story itself was pretty interesting but me and Cassandra didn't like the couple gory depictions. "Wow Aunt Alice! That sounds so cool!", said Renesmee amazed. "You sure didn't forget to mention ripped limbs and gushing blood. Do you have any other stories to tell us?", Cassandra inquired. Me and Rory both noticed. Even though Cassandra was now eighteen, five feet and six inches tall, and quite mature, some of her mind was still eight years old. She still loved dolls, toys, children's shows, princesses, and angels, was slightly scared and disgusted by blood and gore, and had no visible interest in boys.

Another thing was that she was close to flat-chested. And poor Cassandra! Rory has been heckling her about it all day. Talking about how he hasn't expected her to have such a small build and mentioning it during conversations, I just wanted to slap him across the face! Despite Rory often acting grumpy or sweet, he could also be ornery too.

"I personally thought the story was freaking awesome! I've never hunted animals since I drink donor's blood, but I'd bet that it is fun for you guys.", Skyler beamed. "It actually is pretty fun. Especially because me and my Jacob often make a game out of it.", Renesmee replied happily. Jacob smiled at her. "But it is. Hey Cassandra! Do you want to go play that game again?", Renesmee asked Cassandra. "Sure Nessie!", Cassandra answered smiling. She then turned to me, Rory, Edward, and Bella. "Nessie and I are going to go play Monopoly again, see you guys later." "Alright.", Edward said. Cassandra and Renesmee left the room. It was already 11:49 p.m. and I was wondering what to do next. Obviously Alice wasn't going to really tell us any more stories and the others seemed busy. That's when Rory walked up to me. "Sooo, what do you want to do tonight?", he asked, moving his eyebrows and giving me a rather kooky grin. "I don't know.", I said. "Hmm, well, we could go into the room now instead of later." "That's fine. I guess we could." "Great! Let's go." Then the two of us went up the stairs and we walked into the room, Rory closing and locking the door behind us.

"So what do want? Were you planning on doing that 'absolutely inappropriate' thing you talked about doing this morning?", I asked. Rory stared nervously before saying, "Lauren, I-I thought maybe, well, with what you did for me these past days, having me talk to you about my past, helping me find my sister, and maybe even when you and Cassandra were comforting me in that bathroom, I decided, I want to do something in return." I was amazed. He didn't seem to be all like that ever before now. "You know, you really don't have to.", I told him, "Just a 'thank you' is enough for me." "But, I feel like I have to. Ever since that night in December I've been-I can't say it. I-I feel-" He seemed uncomfortable letting it out but I sort of knew what he was talking about. "You're sexually attracted to me?" He gulped and said, "Okay, fine, yeah, I am, now you think I'm some pervert who just wants to get into your pants probably." "No. I'm kind of attracted to you, I'll admit. What were you talking about anyway?" "I was thinking, I was thinking, you did these things for me that most others wouldn't have done and I want to give you pleasure to show my gratitude. Mainly just want to try some things I'm curious about." I didn't say anything. I just nodded and shrugged. Now he was just staring at me. So what would he do? I thought to myself, if he said that to me while I was in my high school popular girl phase, I would say "Hell no! You ugly pizza face! Go find some other girl!", but I've known him for a bit of time sort of and I've changed since then, but I still debated on what to do. Then I made my decision, "Rory," "Yeah?" "Go ahead. Do what you want."