What's going on? You ask yourself, your voice a faraway whisper. You don't even know if you can hear it or it's just your imagination playing a trick on you. One minute you're in a house full of vampires waiting to decide your fate, the next you're pulled away by your consciousness. A memory is replaying in front of you, but you're only focused on the racing beating of your heart. The sound is so loud and vigorous you can hear it echo against your ears.

Thump, thump, thump...

"What are you doing?" You hear yourself ask, but your voice is different; willowy and less mature. You recognise it as the voice you use whenever you speak to your sister, Gee.

Gee lifts her head from the book she buried it in, grinning at you so widely you can count her teeth. She's bright like the sun, completely different than you, but you know that you love her to death and you'd protect her with everything you got.

"I'm reading, silly. Can't you see I'm holding a book?" She gives the long staff you're holding a bored look. "You're the brawn and I'm the brains, remember?"

You roll your eyes at her. She's your twin, sure, but she's thirteen minutes younger, so she should have some respect for you, especially considering you're mountains stronger than her. She's a single finger compared to your whole fist. You've never done it before, but you know you can crush her body with a single hit. You huff at her and sit down next to her on the grass, twirling your big staff around you in impressive, concurrent twists. You've long since mastered the science behind holding weapons stronger than you, and Gee knows that, so she isn't impressed by the show.

"I meant to ask you what you're reading." You ask her. You rarely pause in your training to talk about books. You were more focused on being strong and securing a future where your stupid and brute werewolf husband can't get a leg up on you. You don't have time for books or reading, even though you secretly enjoyed reading.

Gee stares at you with a raised brow. "What’s with the sudden interest?"

You shrug. You honestly don't know. You've been training with your weapons for the last couple of hours. You hadn't even noticed Gee joining you on the hill to read her book under the whispy breeze of the afternoon. But something seemed to be pulling you towards her direction, and after a short water break, you found your legs taking you to her, curious of the age-old book she's gently cradling in her hands. You've been pulled by a mystical power, and now you find yourself sitting next to her, eager to tell you about the content of her book.

Her face pulls into a dreamy smile as she stares at the fast expanse of grass in front of her. "I'm reading about soulmates."

You scrunch your face in disgust. "Soulmates? Really, Gee?"

But you don't even sound all that surprised. Unlike you, your sister is a complete romantic. Ever since she was little she was hellbent on meeting her prince charming and having an epic romance. She's not even straight, but she is hung up on Disney's fairytales and the idea of finding your one true love. You don't understand her; you never do, but being her older sister, you don't have it in you to pull the rug from under her feet. If she wanted to be helplessly naive by the notion of love, who were you to deny her of her dreams?

You don't want her to end up being like you: cynical and so full of indignance. You don't even know why you ended up being so disgusted by the notion of love and meeting someone you can count on. You had a perfectly normal childhood - before venturing into the supernatural  - and your parants adored you. Yet somehow, you grew with the sole idea your survival had to count on only you. This is why you were the brawn to begin with. You will never allow anyone to protect you or decieve you with the idea of innocent love. You always believed yourself to be the only one to rely on. You think love is about making decisions to one another, but you dislike anyone thinking for you, or putting you in their mind when they want to make things for themselves. You don't want anyone to sacrifice anything for you.

"What?" Gee snaps, face scrunching into an ugly scowl. "Don't you think the idea is absolutely romantic? Just one single person who is made for you, to cater to your needs and wants, to help you with your difficulties, to love you even through your shortcomings, to look at you as if you brought the moon down to them?"

"Why would I want anyone else to cater to my needs when I can do it myself?" You tell her, frowning at her, "everything comes with a price, Gee, even love. No one will love you if you don't give at least half of your soul to them. Honestly, the idea is absurd. If I have myself, then what does loving someone else matters to me?"

Gee stares at you like you're dumb, and maybe you are. You take a lot more to understand concepts as complicated as love than her. "Soulmates are different, doofus. And I mean supernatural ones. Did you know that when a werewolf imprints on someone, they can feel their emotions? Their sadness, their happiness, their helplessness. Imagine someone so severely intertwined with you they can know when you're about to cry?"

"Does that also mean they can feel it when I'm about to take a ?" You scowl. "Why would I want to be so dependent on someone else to the point they'd be able to peer past everything I use as a wall to hide my inner self?"

She grimaces in disgust. "That is what love is. To be absolutely bare towards one another."

"I'm fine being covered my whole life. I don't want anyone to know about my darkest feelings. It's creepy."

Gee sighs deeply at you. "You're hopeless. I hope you have a soulmate that would change your mind."

You huff, standing up from the grass and wiping the slight dirt on the back of your pants. "We're humans. We don't have souldmates. And thank God for that."

The memory swipes past your eyes, and the colors that came alive in your vision slowly begin to dissipate. You realize you're back at the vampire's vintage house, staring - with mouth wide open - at the vampire standing in front of you. You're well aware of the pace your heartbeats are running in, and you're aware of th