AUTHOR'S NOTE: It was pointed out to me that I made an error towards the end of this chapter, so I have corrected that. I have also made a few minor changes – nothing significant, just a few things that bugged me. And also, my Spanish is a wee bit elementary, so if you see any MAJOR mistakes, please feel free to comment.

DISCLAIMER: Twilight and its original cast belong to the lovely Miss Stephenie Meyer. I'm just playing "what if" games.

Ch. 1 Dante's POV (The Ignorant Pack)

I tugged the hood of my jacket closer to my face, trying to make the opening as small as possible. It seemed that even here, beneath the canopy of the forest, the rain was able to find me.

The rain… I shuddered, and not just from the cold, though I was freezing. It seemed to rain constantly here. Ever since I had come to this Olympic Peninsula it had been raining relentlessly. I should have rented a car back in Seattle when it was still an option, but no. I had to get the lay of the land. I rolled my eyes and slapped my forehead for my stubbornness.

I heard a branch break and quickly clapped my hands together calling Lerato, mi espada de la Alma– my Sword of the Soul. I pulled his hilt from my palm and held him before me, ready for an attack. I waited, but no attack came. Just as I was relaxing my guard, I heard another resounding crack.

"Who's there?!?" I shouted at the trees. My temper was beginning to rise; I took a steadying breath, letting my senses spread. It was strange; there were three large wolves in the trees surrounding me. I crinkled my brow in confusion, surely wolves would have attacked me by now unless… I chuckled and relaxed my stance, keeping my guard up without seeming to.

"You may reveal yourselves," I called. "I mean the Wolf-folk no harm."

I waited and sure enough, two of the wolves revealed themselves before me. I admired their skill: they seemed to melt from the very trees themselves.

I turned myself to face the largest - the one that looked to be the alpha male. He had a black coat and was as big as a horse, though more muscular. I met his eyes and bowed at waist level, acknowledging him as leader of this area.

"My name is Dante Águila," I stated calmly, hoping they could understand me in their wolf forms. I waited until the silence became awkward before stating the obvious.

"You know," I began hesitantly. "This would work better if we were both in human form…"

The one I had dubbed as "alpha" nodded to his partner. Though I didn't hear it, I figured they must have said something because the second wolf disappeared into the trees and seconds later a man emerged. He was slender and tall – very tall, probably 6' – with black hair that fell to his shoulders. His skin was a copper color and his eyes were the brown of a dreamer trapped in reality. He looked to me and bowed stiffly, as if it pained him to do so. I couldn't help but notice that his bow was shorter than mine, more of a head jerk really.

"I'm Paul, and this is Sam," – he jerked his head to the large black wolf – "why are you here?"

"I'm simply taking a walk," I smirked. "Surely you allow that?"

Paul ground his teeth. The wolf, Sam, remained impassive.

"That isn't what I meant."

"But it's true," I insisted just to aggravate him further.

"Fine," he snapped. "Let me rephrase the question: what are you?"

"I resent that. Isn't it obvious? I'm human."

Paul barked a laugh.

"Please, don't play around. We know you're not a human or a bloodsucker," – I assumed he was referring to vampires – "and we know you're not a werewolf. So what are you?"

I glared at him, tightening my grip on Lerato.

"How dare you?" I whispered fiercely. "Just because your noses are dead, you assume I'm not human? You dare lump me together with leeches and dogs? If I were not so gracious a guest, I would slaughter you where you stand."

I saw Sam tense his muscles, preparing to pounce on me if necessary.

"I see I struck a nerve," Paul said smugly. "But there's no need to be insulting, after all" – he broke into a grin – "someone could get hurt."

"Why don't you call in your friend lurking amongst the trees, dog, and we can prove who among us is the strongest." I brought Lerato out before me and could feel the blade humming in eagerness for the mongrel's blood.

Paul's eyes held the same eagerness as my blade. I allowed myself a small chuckle; I was going to enjoy putting this pup in his place. Just as I was preparing to strike, a long, low howl broke the tension. I turned to face Sam in time to see him finishing his transformation. Were previously there had been a large black wolf, there now stood a tall, muscular man. He had the same color hair, eyes, and skin as Paul, but with broader shoulders and such an air of authority that not even a fool would think him a follower. He was also – I couldn't help but notice – completely naked.

Under ordinary circumstances, I would have averted my eyes to give him some form of privacy. But these were not ordinary circumstances and I couldn't afford to take my eyes from either him or Paul. As it was, I had the grace to at least blush. Thankfully, my discomfort didn't last long; he quickly pulled on a pair of pants that were tied to his ankle.

"Miss Águila," he addressed me formally. "My name is Sam Uley. Please, I apologize for my brother's insulting conduct."

I relaxed slightly. At least this Sam seemed to understand some of the rules governing our world's societies.

"Please Sam," I said pleasantly. "I prefer Dante. Miss Águila is my mother."

"If you will allow me to continue?"

I nodded my head.

"The fault cannot be held entirely by my comrade. It was you that entered our wood. You are not recognizable to any in our pack, yet you claim to be human. We have been having some… difficulties lately. Surely you can understand our hesitation."

I studied him cautiously, but his ignorance seemed real. Could it be that this tribe had been isolated so long that it lost its knowledge of our world?

"Do you honestly not know what I am?"

"We wouldn't ask if we did," Paul grumbled. He stopped short when Sam shot him a glare, but his rude remark proved my suspicion.

I laughed the first heart-felt laugh I'd had in a long time. When I was able to pause in my laughter, Sam asked coldly: "Could you share the joke with us?"

"I'm sorry," I gasped around peals of giggles, "But I had know idea that such an ignorant pack existed!"

"Why you –" Sam stopped Paul from finishing what was obviously meant as an insult.

"Do you truly not know?" I asked again, just to be sure they weren't somehow fooling me. Sam shook his head. "Maybe you should call in your packmate, it would probably be best to tell all three of you at one time."

"Caden is keeping patrol."

"Very well then, I'll just tell the two of you. I, my dear wolflings, am a Hunter. I belong to the Eagle Clan – we deal specifically with vampires."

"Deal?" Paul interrupted.

"Yes, my little pup, deal. If this world were composed of only humans, I would be what is known as a bounty hunter. There are six Hunter clans, each dealing with specific problems; the Eagle Clan polices the vampires. When there is a problem, a seeker – that's me – is sent in to check it out. If it's a false alarm or misunderstanding, I clear it up with the men upstairs." I leaned back against a tree to show that I was finished. I was surprised at how honest I had been, only leaving one thing out: that the seeker could also double as an assassin.

"What if it's not a false alarm?" Paul asked shrewdly.

"Then an execution team is sent in," I shrugged casually. I wasn't lying, I just wasn't being completely honest.

"You mentioned six Clans. What 'problems' are the other five responsible for?" I figured Sam would catch that little comment; he just didn't strike me as the imbecile I took Paul to be. I looked him in the eye and answered him as honestly as I could.

"If your pack doesn't have this information, then I cannot discuss it with you."

I could tell he didn't want to, but he had no choice except to accept my answer.

"So why did you get offended when I said you weren't human?" asked Paul.

"Because, my naïve little pup, I am human. I admit that Hunters live longer and have certain abilities that separate us from society, but nonetheless, we are human."

"But nothing besides a werewolf's tooth could harm a vampire, except for another vampire, of course." I looked at Sam in shock, but he seemed to believe what he said.

"Dear Alpha," I said a little patronizingly, "My sword here," – I held up Lerato so that he was easily visible – "could not only slice a vamp in half, he also burns the monster from the inside-out so that when I'm done, there is nothing left but a pile of ash."

The two werewolves looked at Lerato nervously.

"I sense that you're telling the truth," Sam began. "But I don't understand how this can be."

"This is what happens when you don't establish a clan in the Americas," I sighed to myself.

"Huh?" I looked up to explain to Paul.

"When some of the Elders came to the Americas with Cortez, the Aztecs recognized us for what we were. They worshipped a couple of vamps; they even offered them sacrifices." – Both of the wolves frowned in disgust – "When they saw Cortez, they originally thought he was one of them – a vampire – because of the way his armor glittered in the sun. They welcomed him with open arms, but us they forbid from touching ground. We don't like to cause blood feuds with native peoples if we can help it, so we stayed out of the Americas. Occasionally we come over for a job or something, but we try to stay out of the Western Hemisphere as much as we can."

"So you just left them in the clutches of those leeches?!?" Obviously Paul was having trouble accepting our decision.

"Look," I said staring him directly in the eye to make sure I had his full attention. "They were perfectly aware of the situation they were in. If they had been ignorant of the dangers the vamps posed, then we would have interfered. We are merely Hunters, if a human wants to spend time with vamps, then that's their problem. It's when they lure innocents that we get involved."

Paul looked as if he was going to protest, but Sam stopped him.