*A vague memory*{Keisha}

Gwen shifted from side to side, her feet getting a little irritated at her just standing there. She backed up against one of the bookshelves and slid to the ground. She continued to read the book, her interest in a romantic story oddly increasing. For the first time in two hundred years. Maybe it was a replacement for the one she was most likely never going to have. Sighing, she pulled her knees to her chest and sighed. A soft ding went off in the background, as she continued to be enthralled into the story. Though she paused when something awful hit her nose. Gwen felt her nose wrinkle slightly when the scent filled her nose. What was that? A few seconds passed before it registered that it was a shifter. Gwen rarely came across them, and even though there were two packs near forks, she had yet to meet one here.

The female vampire stopped her knee-jerk breathing and tried to not smell as much. She decided to ignore the werewolf. Even though they were natural enemies, Gwen really had no problems with shifters. Well she had a problem with one particular shifter for breaking PJ’s heart. And causing him, and by default her, to travel around the world in search for her. Oh well. Can’t blame all the shifters for one idiot’s mistake. Gwen heard footsteps come around the bookshelf. She didn’t bother to look up since there is no point in acknowledging the shifter. They weren’t going to interact. And if they did, it would not end well. For either of them. Or the bookstore. Mostly the bookstore. She read the third chapter in the book she was holding, adjusting herself on the carpet ever so slightly. Better keep herself in a ball to avoid any contact. Don’t want to disturb her reading or irritate either being. Gwen suppressed the urge to wrinkle her nose again as the shifter walked past her. By the look of her slim legs, it had to be a female. Not that that mattered.

When the legs of the shifter disappeared, Gwen was elated. At least the shifter was either leaving or going to the other side of the bookstore. Flipping another page in her book, she heard the footsteps in the next aisle and shook her head slightly. Whatever. Suddenly a book went flying off of the shelf and landed right in front of Gwen. She glanced up at the book with a glare that could kill. Thank god her power was controlled through her hands and not her eyes otherwise that book would be a pile of ash right now. Heaving a heavy sigh, she reached for the book and stood up. “Did you want this?” Gwen asked trying to hold back her hostile tone. She went to hand the book to the shifter but froze when she finally saw the face of the shifter. Her hand went limp and the book fell to the ground once more. Her glare intensified as she felt her hands heat up. Dropping her book, she sprinted to the next aisle that the blonde was in.

Gwendolyn squinted her eyes at the female shifter. It couldn’t be? After over a century of looking the idiot that left her brother was standing right in front of her. What would she say? What could she say? After the first fifty years, Gwen decided to stay out of PJ’s messy love life. She had her own to face. That she still had issues with dealing. Her eyes glanced down at the book that the idiot was holding. Locking her jaw, Gwen took a step back and sighed once again. “That’s a good book,” she stated in a monotone voice, before willing her body to relax. There was no point in confronting this shifter. It was PJ’s battle and hers. But he was her brother, her family. Gwen wanted to look out for him. But sometimes looking out for someone means to not create waves. Wow, it took two hundred years, but Gwen was starting to grow and change. A little bit. “I overreacted; I thought I knew you from somewhere.” Thinking about it now, Gwen had only met her once in passing years ago. This woman probably didn’t even remember her. Maybe she didn’t even remember PJ.

Oh if that was the case. Gwen inhaled sharply. No, PJ would want her to be nice and to let it pass. He would say its not worth it. He would say that this girl meant a lot to him and would want Gwen to at least polite to her. To treat her like she would treat everybody else. Well okay not like everybody else. Like how she used to treat people when she was still human. She was a little nicer then. But still sarcastic. Though Gwen could only be polite for so long. She had to do something in character otherwise she might burst into flames. Which at this point might be very possible. “Do you know a Keisha Catori?” Gwen asked, slowly feeling her politeness slipping. The female tilted her head and gave her a fake smile. This was going to end very. VERY badly.

The time Gwen had for this situation did not exist. There were things in this world Gwen wished she could just erase with her mind. This shifter was one of them. The female vampire understood that she didn’t use the best tone but the intention was there. It was clear the intention was not there with this blonde shifter. This interaction was slowly escalating in the worst way possible. Maybe Gwen should just have ignored both the book and the bitch. Everything would be good then. She wouldn’t have to keep her anger in check. Wouldn’t have to worry that in a matter of seconds she could burn down the whole book store. But of course life didn’t work that way. It always seemed to work against her, and this time was no different from any other time.

Gwen rolled her eyes at the other’s comment. Please, it is a known fact that it takes a number or shifters, regardless of rank, to take down one vampire. And that would be a newborn vampire. She was 200 years old. This little chick didn’t frighten her in the least. So if that was her goal it didn’t work. When will other learn that Gwen doesn’t care easily? And that she is relatively sure she has yet to match someone with her hostility. Also known as her default mode. “What are you? The big bad wolf?” Gwen questioned with heavy sarcasm. The female vampire suppressed the urge to roll her eyes once more. This was ridiculous. She really, really needed to start thinking these confrontations through. Sometimes Gwen thought with her heart more so than her brain. And that’s what got her in trouble most of the time. Okay got her in trouble all of the time. Again she wondered how PJ put up with a woman like her.

“Neither do I.” It was something she muttered to herself. It was ironic that Gwen was a vampire but didn’t trust her species to save her life. She hated her nature, therefore hated others like her by default. It was just how it all worked for. Especially those demons with the red eyes. They were the worst thinking they were better than most because they drank human blood. Gwen stepped back as the shifter so rudely walked past her. Neither one of these girls were that friendly to the other. They were just a hot mess waiting to happen. The poor store clerk, he had no idea what was transpiring right under his nose.

Gwen watched as the other girl kept walking. She was going to assume that she was going to ignore her, but she did answer her after a few seconds. “My brother, PJ,” Gwen stated suppressing the urge to smirk. She knew this shifter was Keisha and this was surely going to prove her right. She just had to watch carefully for any sign of reaction. Surely if she loved PJ at all there would be some form of reaction. Then again if she didn’t react than Gwen was right about something else. This girl felt nothing for her brother. She tore his heart out and did not care. Gwen wouldn’t be happy to give the news to PJ but at least it would make him stop with this nonsense adventure. He would stop dragging her around the world and they could finally go somewhere that she wanted to go. It wasn’t like she didn’t enjoy the places they went to. But they were so random and they were usually small towns. Gwen missed being in a city. She missed seeing the building. Once PJ gives up this adventure the first place she was going to visit was London. Gwen and PJ left once she was convinced to move around with him. But they never went back. It was half because they were following this blonde bimbo around and half because Gwen was afraid of running into her past love. This is probably why PJ and Gwen got along, they both bonded over lost love. Loves that left them behind.

“I rather not have my favorite store get destroyed over a little pride,” Gwen stated with a blank tone. She knew any fight they got into would result in the store being destroyed. Especially with her power and how uncontrollable it gets. Her gloves could come off and a simple touch would send the store, Keisha, and her up into flames. It was a very cool power when you think about it. Controlling fire from inside, being able to set fires with just the tips of your fingers. It felt amazing and made her feel powerful, when she was aware of using it. But it was tied to her emotions. Which is why she wore gloves all the time. Gwen was every hostile and sarcastic, no gloves would cause everything to burst into flames. All the time. So wearing gloves was better than trying to keep her emotions in check. Let’s be realistic, no female really has control over those. Unless they just don’t acknowledge the fact that they have emotions.

Some people, vampires especially, were like that. It would be better if a person didn’t let their emotions run wild to just shut everything down and not acknowledge any of it. All the hurt, the pain would go away. And by default so would all the happiness. The feeling of happiness, love, and all that fun stuff. Is it worth losing all of that so you just don’t’ feel anymore? There are some days that Gwen would say yes to that. To just forget about Tristan. Forget about the giant hole he left in the middle of her chest. To be able to just let go and just live her undead life. But if she let go then wouldn’t that mean she also leaves behind the happiness. The few times a day her brother makes her happy. Or the fun she feels when hanging out with her friends. The enjoyment she felt while messing with Blake. Sometimes all of that was just not worth it. But more times than not, Gwen would rather feel her emotions. The only thing she hated was when she let her emotions get in the way of decision making. When people used those emotions against her. Yea, there were many cons to emotions. And very few pros. But the pros were worth the cons.

Gwen caught the slight reaction from the girl. The beauty of having amazing eye sight, you saw close to everything. Which made reading people that much easier. “Sure it is,” Gwen muttered with heavy sarcasm. The two only met once and it was in passing. Back then Gwen would have tolerated the girl. Honestly they probably would have ended up friends. But she left her brother. And while PJ might be willing to forgive her, she wasn’t. It sucked when you dated someone with close family ties. You weren’t just dating them; you were dating their family and friends. It was kind of bothersome. Which is why Gwen stayed away from the whole dating scene. Well it was between that and the fact that her mate pretty much tore her heart out and fed it to the dogs. Figuratively speaking of course. Though that might explain a lot if she truly didn’t have heart. It wasn’t like she needed the organ to survive anymore. She dead. Dead, dead.

That was the thing about being vampire, you were didn’t have a soul left. Or at least the red-eyed vampires didn’t seem to have one. The gold-eyed ones, like her, seemed to have souls that riddled them with guilt and pain every time they caused someone else hurt. “I can’t. I have been dragged around every place on this planet because of you. Letting it go is just not that easy.” Gwen wasn’t trying to start a fight. She wasn’t trying to be mean or spiteful. But there were many things Gwen held Keisha responsible for. All of which she wasn’t going to let go. Though Gwen really had to make sure she was keeping her feelings for her and Tristan separate. Though it was a bit hard since they both pretty much did the same thing. Yea, it was a little hard to let it go. Just the thought of PJ going through what she went through put Gwen into an angry tail-spin. The female vampire never wished that feeling on anyone.

How PJ could forgive this girl and go around the world to search for her, was beyond Gwen. This girl avoided anything that resembled Tristan. As much as she loved him, and as sure as she was that he was her mate, she wanted nothing to do with him. Gwen would never try to follow him around the world, begging for forgiveness. For a do-over. But that’s what made the two vampires different. Well that and their social ability, but that another thing entirely. Gwen just couldn’t believe that PJ wanted to apologize to Keisha when all Gwen wanted to do was rip Tristan’s heart out like he did to her. Okay so the girl was more than angry and bitter about the whole situation but she had every right to be. She shouldn’t take her anger for Tristan out on Keisha though. It was her brother’s problem not hers. But that’s what family did, they got into each other’s business.

“You’re right I don’t understand. I don’t understand how someone can leave the person they love. But what I do understand is how PJ felt when you left him. The pain and the despair.” Gwen paused trying to keep her emotions somewhat in check. “And what I really don’t understand is how he feels like it was his fault and the determination he has to find you.” Okay, so keeping the two situations separate wasn’t really working at this point. But the shifter didn’t know what she was really feeling. Again, Gwen wasn’t trying to start anything. She just wanted to understand. To understand what was going on in her head when she came to the decision. What was going on in PJ’s head as he traveled around the world looking for this girl. Gwen couldn’t image how hurt he felt each time he ran into a dead end. Why he kept doing it over and over again, was beyond her comprehension.

Gwen felt herself following Keisha out the store. She really should have let it go. Truly just let the shifter walk away and pretend this never happened. But she couldn’t. “I want to understand though,” Gwen called out to her. “How can someone just leave the person they are meant to be with?” The question wasn’t asked with a hostile tone. Her tone was filled with sadness, hurt, and curiosity. What went through their minds? How did they make that decision? This was the closest thing to an explanation for Gwen. She wasn’t going to find Tristan and ask him. Keisha was the closest thing to it. But would she feel better about everything? Would Keisha’s answer change how she felt about her possible mate? Probably not. Her answer would not change the fact that Gwen could probably never trust Tristan. Or trust anyone outside of PJ. It probably won’t change her outlook on love. It the vampire’s mind it was all black and white when it came to love. If you loved someone, you stayed with them. You would never leave them; you would try to work it out. How could you leave them when they were everything to you?