A/N: Thanks so much for reading and your reviews are awesome! Thank you! I can't thank you guys enough. Here's another chapter! I'm having some fun with writing this. Poor poor Edward…

I don't own anything save for the witches and warlocks. I would like to have Jake and Edward and I wouldn't mind stealing Sam either, but - sigh - I can't have them…

The Midnight

"What are you doing here?" he growled roughly. I peeked out from behind the tree. He was standing right in front of me.

"I was taking a hike," I said, trying to sound casual. His eyes were smoldering, like coal aflame. They were surprisingly beautiful. I took a step forward. "I could ask you the same."

"It's none of your business," he replied. He actually looked ready to attack me, as if he was hunting me... He had that sort of hungry look on his face again, and if possible, his skin was whiter than I remembered it being.

"Well then… where is your car?" I asked, letting that non-answer slide since I already knew he was "hunting". Hunting what though?

"It's around."

"In the woods?" I asked. "You know that Volvos aren't made for off-roading? Are you dense?"

"It's parked on a road. I'm not an idiot. You, on the other hand are. You shouldn't have followed me here!" He was angry, I could tell, but his expression didn't sway from that hungered look.

"I felt like taking a hike – I didn't feel like going on the trail – so sue me if I was bugging you," I said back to him. "I wasn't following you."

"Yes you where, I just saw you at lunch. How did you get here so fast?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" I retorted with a sardonic smile.

He let out a heavy breath. His fists were shaking. "You should get out of here before something bad happens," he said slowly and calmly. He looked in pain with his eyes closed and his mouth set in a firm line.

I rolled my eyes. "I can handle myself, thank you. What about you?"

Edward didn't move for a few seconds. If he was so afraid that something was going to happen to me, why didn't he worry the same about himself? He was the one that was supposedly mortal. Except, maybe he wasn't…

Then, he spoke, "I feel like murdering you, actually," he said, not looking at me as he opened his smoldering black eyes. "That's why you should get out of here."

I laughed. "You would murder me just because you think I followed you on some crazed hunting trip? Are you insane?"

His eyes grew tight as he looked at me sharply, his jaw set. "How did you know?" he asked, the dangerous growl back in his voice. When I didn't answer he almost shouted, "How did you know?"

I shrugged. I hated when that happened. My mouth got the best of me. "I don't know," I replied lamely. "I saw you – I thought." I felt dumb stumbling over what to say. I wasn't going to let myself be afraid of him. I could easily ward him off with a spell or… kill him… but I didn't want it to come to that. I hated killing mortals, or warlocks, whatever he was. I lapsed into silence. If he did the talking, I would get myself into less trouble.

But he didn't move for the longest time. I noticed he wasn't breathing. I almost thought he passed out standing up, but that was impossible. My brows furrowed and I reached out to touch him… to make sure he was still living. No person should live that long without breathing. Was he trying to commit suicide? I jumped as he grabbed my wrist with his hand. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

I raised my eyebrow. "I would remember to breathe next time, if I were you," I said acerbically. His hands were freezing. I looked down at it. "Are you cold or something?"

He shook his head and let my hand drop. "You should go."

I rolled my eyes again. "I thought we were passed that, I'm not going anywhere."

Swiftly, he bounded forward and scooped me up into his arms, holding me tightly against him. I screamed, pounding on his rock hard chest. "LET ME FUCKING GO!"

"Stop moving," he growled as he carried me towards the outer skirts of the woods. I huffed angrily. How the fuck could he lift me? I wasn't exactly what you would call the lightest girl in the world.

"Ain't I too heavy for you?" I asked, not wanting him to drop me and wanting to kick him so he would drop me at the same time.

"No."

I struggled and felt his arms tighten around me.

"Stop doing that!" I noticed his face was gaining back that hungered expression again. His eyes smoldered dangerously and I let out a frustrated sigh.

"I would stop if you would fucking put me down!"

He almost seemed amused by this. "You have quite a mouth on you."

I growled, gritting my teeth. "PUT. ME. DOWN," I harshly annunciated. Suddenly he dropped me and I landed on the grass with a thump, bruising my tail bone. I winced and glared up at him. "I didn't mean DROP ME, you idiot."

"You said to put you down," I calmly stated. His calm made me want to kill him. He should be anything but calm at least. I hated it when people where calm while I was angry. I felt like kicking him.

I hurried to my feet and brushed off the back of my jeans. "You're ridiculous!"

"Am I supposed to take offence to that?"

I let out an angry huff of breath. I wish, anything would be better than that stupid unreadable expression and the calm tone of his voice.

"Are you going to tell me why you followed me here or not?" he asked, staring at my car that was only about 50 feet away.

I shook my head. "Not unless you tell me why you're here as well." Which I knew already and let it slip, but he would never say hunting in a million years. For one, he wasn't in the proper attire. Normal people don't wear Armani to go hunting, do they?

"You followed me here, I know it, you little-" He sighed, his hands balling into fists. "Just get out!" He pointed to where my car was and I crossed my arms over my chest.

"I'm not moving. This is a national wildlife reserve and I have a right to be here."

"Did you know there are horse-sized wolves running around out here?" he asked with a grim smile.

"Pfft – like I believe that load of bull. Wolves - maybe. Big bears I'll believe, but horse-sized wolves? You have to be out of your mind to believe that." I nearly laughed. It wasn't as if I couldn't take care of myself even if I met one. One word. One thought. That was all it took. I could easily kill a horse-sized wolf, if there was such a thing.

"You have to go," he said tersely, stalking toward me; he had that hungry look in his eyes. I backed up against a tree. If he did anything I was ready to ward him off. I could smell a strong scent of something sweet in the air. It enveloped me and I stiffed, realizing it was him. I breathed in, feeling myself getting almost drunk of the scent. It was strange. I tried to clear my mind of it. Was he trying to seduce me or something? I looked away. I could feel that barrier in my mind getting weaker but I built it back up again as panic rose within me.

I heard him whisper very softly. "I'm not going to do this." I know I shouldn't have heard it, but witches and warlocks tended to have good hearing.

"You aren't going to do what?" I said, not looking at him.

He took a step back. "You heard that?" he growled.

"Obviously."

"You're a very strange girl, you know that?"

"This isn't the first time I've heard that. You're very strange yourself."

Then he asked, out of the blue, "What are you thinking?"

I let out one laugh. "I'm trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with you."

"How is that coming along?" He was calm again; his expression unreadable. Brilliant.

"It's fucking difficult when you have more mood swings than the average nursing mother," I retorted sharply. "Where is your car anyway?"

He pointed in the opposite direction of my vehicle and my brows furrowed. "It's in the woods?"

"There's a road not far from here."

"That's at least two miles away!" I said in surprise. "How did you… what did… do you have an ATV?"

He shook his head. "Can you just leave?" He was back to being the stiff angry person now. Great.

"Fine, but this conversation isn't finished!"

He groaned.

"I'll talk to you again sometime, unless you have something that you want to confess right now?" I asked nicely. I had a feeling I was pissing him off, but he pissed me off as well.

He shook his head. "Not unless there is something you want to tell me in return."

I opened my mouth and thought for a second. "As a matter of fact…" I paused. "I know more about you than you think, so if you think this is the end of this, you're wrong."

With that, I turned on my heel and strode through the weeds to my car. I quickly opened the door and got in without looking back at the woods. When I put my lap belt on, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

Edward was sitting in the passengers' seat.

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Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate any reviews you can give me, they help motivate me, as they do with everyone. Edward was being kind of contradicting in this, well… I think it would be hard to explain why unless I did the chapter in his POV, which I could if you wanted me too. It'll all pan out in the next few chapters though. Thanks again!