Chapter Five

“Find anything interesting?”

Sabine asked as soon as I got into the car. 

I debated on telling her the truth because I still didn’t believe it myself. I feel like it’s easy to fall into the belief that the supernatural exists because sometimes reality sucks, but there always has to be an explanation for stuff. It was easy to be like oh he’s a vampire or he’s a werewolf, instead of possibly thinking maybe he’s good at reading body language and used leading words to get more information. But on the other hand, my aunt was into some really weird stuff.

“Just researching,” I said vaguely. 

She didn’t press it further but instead changed the subject. 

“Did you want to grab some food at the diner?” 

I shrugged my shoulders, my mind still swirling with the information. It seemed like the more I tried to learn about vampires the more I learned about werewolves as well. 

Vampires could be born or created, same as werewolves. Though werewolves turned seem to die majority of the time while vampires have a higher success rate of turning instead of reproducing. 

Pure blood vampires can develop abilities based on lineage, the same goes with werewolves.

Majority of the pure blood vampires can read minds, some have the ability to affect emotions. There were a couple of examples of rare abilities like affecting weather or manipulating the mind. Pure bloods majority of the time can walk in the sun without being burned. 

It seems like werewolves have a lot less abilities, some are just stronger, run faster, shift faster. There’s a few werewolves that have been able to affect emotions, but they tend to follow a path of mending. 

 Not every werewolf born can shapeshift into actual wolves, a lot seem to die in the process. It seems like wolves that find their mates have a better chance of surviving the transformations than others. Mates are not chosen; it’s like two soulmates meeting and knowing instantly that’s your soulmate. There’s no information that vampires have mates. 

The diner went silent for a few seconds as Sabine and I walked in before turning back to the normal chatter. Meghan waved at us, letting us know to grab whatever table was open. 

Sabine scurried to the corner booth away from a majority of the other guests. 

“Order whatever you want and whatever you think your mom would want and we can bring it home.” 

She offered as she grabbed a menu herself, sitting across from me. 

I looked through it as well, deciding to order a club sandwich for my mom and I. 

I gasped in surprise as Jax slid in the booth beside me. His thigh felt super warm against mine. I hadn’t noticed him in the diner when I walked in.

“Ms. Sabine, lovely as always.”  He gave her a slight smile. 

She looked at him briefly, narrowing her eyes and going back to the menu. 

Jax stiffened and leaned into me, sniffing me.  His eyes flickered gold and his face turned into a grimace. 

I pushed his face away, hyper aware I was touching him.

“What the fuck is with everyone sniffing me?”

I exclaimed. 

Sabine tsked. “Language.”

“You smell sweet.” Jax growled softly. 

I rolled my eyes.  “I’ve been over this with Sabine. I ran into someone and I think his cologne rubbed off on me.” 

Jax narrowed his eyes, frowning. “Is that what you told her?” 

He directly his question at Sabine, who bluntly decided to ignore him. 

“Was there something you wanted, Jax?” I was slightly uncomfortable at his tone directly towards my aunt. 

He relaxed a bit, throwing his arm on the back of the seat behind me. 

“Just missed you already.” He said, flashing me a smile. 

I suddenly didn’t feel amused by his personality, maybe it was the encounter on the way home. 

“You don’t even know me.”

Sabine stifled a laugh. 

Jax cocked his head to the side, looking at me curiously. 

“Very true. But we could change that.” 

His thigh shifted closer, the warmth overtaking my entire lower part of my body. 

“You guys decide what you want?” Meghan popped up, her usually happy self. 

“I’ll take the spaghetti with a Pepsi. And your brother kindly removed.”  Sabine said, giving Jax a sharp look. 

Meghan gave him a knowing look before nodding her head towards the counter. 

He rolled his eyes, turning back to me. 

“I’m serious though. No pressure, I want to get to know you. Even if it’s just as friends.” He emphasized the word, looking briefly at Sabine before walking off. 

I gave Meghan my order, asking her to double it for my mom and a small smile as thank you for getting Jax to leave. 

“So what research were you looking into?” Sabine asked after we got our food and she was slurping noodles. 

“I don’t really feel comfortable discussing it in public to be honest.”

“In my experience when someone says to be honest, they’re usually not being honest.” She said still eating, not looking at me. 

“I’m not lying, I just don’t know what I believe..." I told her after a few minutes of silence. 

Sabine smiled at me, putting her fork down. "Not all things have to be seen to be believed." Her eyes twinkled mischievously. 

“That’s the second time someone has told me that” Quickly losing my appetite.

“Well, you can’t see the crystals working, but they do,” Sabine said defensively.

“Or you could just think they do. It could be a placebo effect.”

Sabine eyes sharped, turning a darker green than they usually are. “No matter what you want to believe, that necklace protected you today. I think you know that.”

She pulled out a few more crystals from her purse and a satchel full of herbs.

“Each one has a protective or healing property to them. Some can be combined to strength each other.” She gave me a teal-colored stone wrapped in purple flower with silver, a feeling of peace washed over me.

“Amazonite with lavender will calm even the most anxious mind, but used separating, depending on the troubles, it might not work. Everyone processes trauma or stress differently, but the crystal and herb together empower each other.”

I twirled the pendant around in my hand, looking over at Jax and Meghan at the counter, who were staring at us intently.

“I would still feel more comfortable talking about it at home.”

Sabine followed my stare and nodded her head, sighing. “There are ears everywhere in this town.”

She threw some cash on the table and gestured for me to grab my moms to-go box.

The ride home was silent, with a thousand thoughts going through my mind.

“Did you know you were the only one of Dad’s family to reach out after his death? Everyone else just vanished.”

Sabine knuckles tightened around the steering wheel. “Not everyone is family, even if you share the same blood. You’ll understand more eventually.”

I laughed. “I understand now. I have only met you once before you offered your home to us. While Uncle Derek we saw once a week and he just stopped.”

She sighed. “There’s a lot you don’t understand about your dad. I’ll explain when the time is right. Tell me what you were so interested in about the library.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, wanting to yell at her about my dad. I palmed the crystal that I had put in my pocket and felt the anger drain. 

“Vampires.”

“Why?”

“Because the guy I met earlier was one, wasn’t he?” 

Sabine stayed quiet for a bit, parking in her driveway. We sat there, neither of us making a move or sound. I swore I could see her green eyes flickering in the dark. 

“Hayley. You can’t leave this world once you join it.” She said cautiously. 

I felt a tear roll down my cheek and I didn’t realize how much tension I was holding. “I think I’m already a part of it.”

Sabine looked at me sadly. “You are, but you don’t have to be if you don’t want to be. At least not fully. Enough to protect you.”

“That’s why you gave me the amethyst, isn’t it? To protect me?”  

She nodded. “The short answer is yes.” 

“And the long answer?”

She shook her head gently. “Not a story you’re ready for.” 

I gnawed on my bottom lip. “I want to know. Was he a vampire?”

Sabine looked up at her house. I followed her stare and I could see my mom pacing back and forth, talking excitedly on the phone with someone. I wondered how my mom was able to get her phone to work when mine wasn’t.

“I can’t be sure without meeting him. But a safe assumption would be yes.” 

“And it would be pure blood since he tried to read my mind and could walk in the sun?”

Sabine turned toward me in surprise. “Yes.”

My heart sank.