By the time Isabelle pulled up to her beach house, she was in a somewhat better mood. She couldn't deny the attraction she had felt toward the handsome stranger, but just thinking of what he had done still pissed her off. Abby sat in the passenger seat, a bit frazzled by the angry driving of her best friend and happy to be home.

Isabelle grabbed her few bags that she had thrown into the backseat and hopped out of the car. Determined to be in a better mood and forget about the happenings of the day, she skipped up the drive to the porch steps and looked back at Abby. The blue-eyed girl was struggling with her load of bags and couldn't get the car door shut. Isabelle laughed at her and called in a teasing voice, "Looks like I beat you this time, Mrs. Shopaholic."

Abby slammed the car door with force and turned to Isabelle, a scowl etched deep onto her face. "So? I have so much more stuff than you do. What do you have, a shirt-and-jacket combo? I have an entire wardrobe. Give me a break." With that she huffed and adjusted the twenty or so bags that hung on her athletic arms.

"You shouldn't have bought so much, then!" Isabelle said with a laugh as she walked in the house. Abby had a nasty habit of overdoing the shopping thing, and Isabelle was waiting for the day that her friend bought more than she could handle.

Isabelle sat her bag with her shirt in it on the bed and made her way back into the kitchen. She dug through the bag of chocolate goodies on the counter and pulled out her cookies. Just as she perched on the barstool, Isabelle saw a winded Abby walk through the door with her many bags. "Took you long enough," she said with a grin.

Abby rolled her eyes. "It takes a while to gather everything up, you know. I'm not like you, only having a few bags."

"That's your own fault," Isabelle said with a mouthful of cookie. "You shouldn't have bought so much."

"I can't help it," Abby said in a fake whine. "There's just so many things in the world that need to be bought. Who better to buy them than me?"

Isabelle shook her head. "I worry about you sometimes. You don't need all those things; you just don't like wearing the same outfit twice like normal people."

"Well not everyone is a goody two-shoes like you, only having four outfits for every week. I actually go out and have fun; I can't help it if I don't like people seeing me wearing the same thing over and over again."

"See!" Isabelle said laughing. "You want the stuff, you don't need it. If you could control your urges then you wouldn't always be broke."

Abby rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm going to put the fruit of my urges in your room." She puffed out her chest and sashayed into Isabelle's room, the bags hitting the sides of the doors along the hallway.

While Abby was in the room hanging all the clothing, Isabelle silently sat at the bar eating her cookies. The chocolate served as a reminder of the incident earlier, and her mood instantly turned sour. It irked her to no end how the man had behaved, but what bothered her most was her reaction to him. She had practically drooled all over the guy.

She was still frowning down at her remaining cookies when Abby walked back into the kitchen. Abby's mouth turned down at the corners when she saw her best friend's expression. "What's wrong, Izzy?" She asked hesitantly.

Isabelle rolled her eyes and handed one of her remaining cookies to Abby. "Nothing much. I was just remembering the guy from earlier. Why would he do that?"

Abby shrugged, nibbling on the treat. "I don't know, but you didn't have to react like that. He was just trying to be a gentleman and pay for your food. What's wrong with that?"

"I don't really know why I yelled at him the way I did," Isabelle said, "I guess I just don't like players that think that they can get any girl they want. I'm not a number on a list, you know? It pissed me off. I'm just glad that in a city this big I'll probably never see him again."

Abby nodded, deciding not to approach the subject any more. "I suppose so." In truth, to her the man acted like a perfect gentleman. She wondered why Isabelle saw it in such a different way.

The girls fell silent and ate slowly at the last of the remaining cookies. Isabelle looked outside of the sliding glass door and watched the waves lap at the shore. "What time is it?" She asked suddenly, glancing at Abby.

Abby looked at her dainty wrist watch. "About six. Why?"

Isabelle grinned widely. "Because this officially means that my parents are gone for the next month, and we get the house all to ourselves." Her parents had gone on a business trip to Tokyo, and were to be gone at least a month, if not longer.

Abby grinned and threw her hands in the air. "Freedom!" she yelled loudly. "...for now." She feebly added at the end, making Isabelle giggle.

Isabelle nodded, trying to stifle her giggles. "For now," She agreed. "This means we need something to fill our time while they're gone. We've already been shopping today, what should we do next? Movie, maybe?"

"Yes, let's watch a movie. Let's eat the cookies first, though. I don't want to leave them here and forget about them. Knowing us, we'll forget about them and your mom will come home and kill us for dirtying her house. You and I both know that it's not going to get cleaned until an hour before they get here." Abby said with a wink.

Isabelle threw her head back and laughed. "Your right about that. Alright, let's hurry. I really want to watch Burlesque." She finished her cookie in one bite, watching as Abby did the same. They quickly finished the last of the remaining treats and got up from the barstools.

They threw their garbage away and Isabelle put her chocolate pie in the refrigerator. The girls headed into the living room and Isabelle grabbed the remote. "Netflix or a DVD?" She asked Abby, plopping down onto the luxurious sofa.

"Netflix," Abby said without hesitation. "There are so many more options to choose from than what you have on DVD."

Isabelle nodded. "Alright." She logged into her Netflix account and started going through each category, trying to find something that called to them. After finding something suitable, the girls turned off the lights and sat back, content.

Later, after watching 22 Jump Street, Burlesque, and Red Riding Hood, Isabelle stood up and yawned. "We should go to bed now. It's way past midnight."

Abby nodded. "Alright, I'm fine with that." She yawned also as she stood up. "I think I'm going to stay in the guest room from now on. You snore way too loudly for me to get any real beauty sleep."

Isabelle grabbed a pillow off of the couch and threw it at Abby. "I do not snore, and you know it. If you're going to be like that, you're not going to be allowed in my room for the rest of the month. Remind me again why your parents are letting you stay here for so long?"

Abby shrugged and smiled evilly. "I don't know, they trust me I guess. Teaching me responsibility and whatnot before we going off to college."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Remind me to call them later and beg them to bring you back home so I can have some peace and quiet."

Abby pretended to think about it for a moment before shaking her head. "Nope, no can do. I'm thinking I like it here."

"Whatever," Isabelle replied, rolling her eyes. "I'm going to bed now." With that she got up and sauntered into her room, turning off the television and locking the front door as she went. She grabbed Abby's overnight things and placed them outside in the hallway before silently shutting the door. She padded to the bathroom and brushed her teeth before pulling on a long thigh-length nightshirt. She walked to her plush bed and sat down on the edge, running her fingers through her now pulled-down hair to get all the kinks out.

Once she was ready, she laid back on her pillows and sighed in contentment. The fan blew gently on her form, keeping her from becoming overheated. Isabelle's eyes slowly drifted shut, her breathing slowly evening out. Her last thought was of blue eyes as she floated into unconsciousness.

Wolves surrounded her. They poured out of the forest toward her, and a large house that Isabelle didn't recognize. People were streaming out of the house past her toward the oncoming wolves, but Isabelle knew that they wouldn't be hurt. Not terribly, at least. There may be a few deaths, she knew, and this saddened her immensely. She knew these people on a deep level, and she loved them with all of her heart. She wanted to protect them like they protected her. The people surrounded her in a circle, fully prepared to lay their lives on the line for her well-being.

Someone pulled into an embrace from behind, strong arms wrapping around her. She leaned into the person, feeling completely safe. He would protect her. She knew without a doubt that her life meant more to him than anything. It became silent for a moment, the calm before the storm. Then the war began. The first wolf from the forest snarled and leaped, aiming straight for Isabelle's throat. The people that surrounded her quickly shifted, changing into their wolven counterparts. They attacked fiercely, knowing full well that they may not make it out alive. Isabelle silently prayed that her people would make it through this. When the fighting started to escalate to a dangerous level, the person that held her started to pull her away, trying to bring her to safety. Just as she was turning to follow her protector, an enemy broke through the line that shielded Isabelle. The wolf spotted her and growled, it's teeth gleaming with the blood of her fallen comrades. The world began to turn in slow motion. Isabelle felt the shift of the person behind her just as the wolf leaped-

Isabelle was jolted awake out of her nightmare quite suddenly. Dazed, she tried to look around but found that her head was held firmly to the pillow under her. Cloth covered her mouth and nose, a sickly sweet smell enveloping her senses. Her mind began getting hazy. Chloroform, her mind whispered almost silently. Her vision began tunneling, and she weakly looked up into a pair of icy blue eyes. She stared into those eyes as she was pulled deeply and forcefully into oblivion.

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