CHAPTER 4
Isabelle woke with a groan to the endless pounding of a hammer, and the annoying buzz of a saw ringing in her ears. Moaning miserably, she grabbed her pillow and pulled it over her head. She had barely slept last night, and this was not the way that she wanted to be awakened. Why the hell were they working on the new house so early in the morning?She wondered angrily.
Then she realizedthat she was beingridiculous. If they had started later, she would have been over at their house, dragging them out ofbed in order to get them moving. She was just angry because she hadn’t fallen asleep until the sun hadalreadystarted to peak its head over the horizon. She groaned again as she clearly recalled the reasonwhyshe’dhadso much difficulty falling asleep.
Him.
Moaning again she pulled the pillow tighter over her head. The gesture was useless, it dimmed the pounding, but it did nothing to shut out the image of him that had been seared into her brain. She clearly recalledthe storyher mother hadtold herabout the first timethatshe had seen her father, and how the world had seemed to disappear fora moment. Nausea twisted in Isabelle’sstomach. She didn’t want to be her mother and father. She only wanted a quiet, peaceful life, where she needed no one but herself to survive.
With another loud moan, she finally conceded defeat to the fact that she wasn’t going to get anymore sleep. Sighing angrily she threw the pillow aside and tossed off her sheet. She was getting way ahead of herself where he was concerned.Just because the world had seemed to disappear when she saw himdidn’t mean that she had met her soulmate. All it meant was thatshe had finally encountered her first vampire, outside of her close knit family and friends, and it had shocked her. That was all. That was the only reason that things had been so strange last night.
However, no matter what she told herself, or how fervently she thought it, she couldn’t shake the image of him from her mind, or the strange feelings that he had provoked in her.
Thankfully, he would be gone today.Or hopefully, he already was.She had thought that notion would be pleasing; she was disgusted to realize it wasn’t.
“Isabelle!” her door burst open with a loud bang as it slammedforcefullyagainstthe wall.
She jumped in surprise,sighingwearilyas her sisters burst into the room like a tsunami.She didn’t bother to turn and face Abby and Vicky asshe swung her legs out of bed. She had never knownprivacy;she didn’t bother totry and haveanynow. She quickly gathered her clothes together as she moved toward her small half bath.
“What’s up?” she asked tiredly.
All she wanted was to wash her face, it would help her feel better, and wake her up. “What’s up?” they demanded following her to the doorway. “Don’t you know?” Abby charged.
No, she didn’t know what their new melodrama was, and at the moment she didn’t care. Isabelle shut the door on Abby and leaned against it. “Hurry up!” Vicky yelled.
Sighing tiredly she stood away from the door. She turned the cold water on and liberally began to splash her face, relishing in the feel of it as she slowly began to wake up. Feeling much better, she dressed quickly, pulled her thick hair into a ponytail, and opened the door to face her sisters. They were sitting on her bed, their hands clasped before them as they stared eagerly at her. Whatever they had to tell her had them nearly bursting at the seams.
She knew she was going to regret asking, Vicky and Abby could go on endlessly when something had them excited.Isabelle usuallyended upwitha headachefrom trying to follow their inane chatterby the time they were done, but ask she did. “Know what?”
“They’re stayinghere!” Vicky exclaimed. “We can’t get in the bathroom now! Let alone with two more people in the house!”
Isabelle blinked in confusion as she dropped her nightgown into the hamper. “Who is staying here?”
“Kathleen, and her kids!” they criedin miserable unison.
Isabelleswung toward them, her mouth dropping open. She had completely forgotten about Kathleen, Delia, and Jess in her own confusion, and self pity, last night. “What?” she nearly yelled.
“Yeah,” Abby said, nodding her golden head enthusiastically. “Kathleen starts a new job in two weeks, she thought it would be nice to stop by and surprise mom. They invited them to stay for theentiretime!”
Isabelle felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her head asher entire body went completely numb. “What about Jess’s boyfriend?” shecroaked.
“He is so hot!” Vicky gushed, batting her eyes dreamilyas she folded her hands under her chin. “Do you know he’s the one that told David what was going on with mom and dad? He’s over two hundred years old!”
Isabelle didn’t care about any of that. There was only one thing she did care about.“Is he staying here?” she managed to choke out.
“Yeah, he’s helping out with the new house right now!”
Isabelle’s eyes widened as her throat went dry and her heart jumped into her throat. There was no room in either house now, where would everyone stay? A cold chill of apprehension began to trickle through her as she gazed wildly around herroom. There was more room at the other house. There was an extra bathroom, and if someone bunked up... Isabelle shut the thought down as panic began to constrict her chest.
“He’s going to be staying at the other house with Jess. She doesn’t go back to college for a few weeks. Maybe they’re soul mateslike mom and dad! That’s so romantic!” Abby cried.
Isabelle felt as if she had been slammed in the gut with a fist as she struggled to catch her breath, and absorb everything that they were saying. He was stayinghere? With Jess? For two weeks? Her thoughts were a scattered mess, none of which were in the least bit romantic. Most of them were pure terror.
“I don’t think they are,” Vicky contradicted Abby. “They sure don’t act like mom and dad. I mean he didn’t even see Jess after he left with the stooges last night.”
“That’s true,” Abby said, bitingthoughtfullyon her bottom lip.
“Isabelle what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Vicky demanded.
