Chapter Start: Dog gone too far.

"I always say the truth is best even when we find it unpleasant. Any rat in a sewer can lie. It's how rats are. It's what makes them rats. But a human doesn't run and hide in dark places, because he's something more. Lying is the most personal act of cowardice there is."
― Nancy Farmer, The House of the Scorpion.


"Are you fucking mental? That is the most stupid thing I've ever heard." Paul groused, arms full with the wounded, unconscious body of his pack brother Jared. Sam gave his irritable beta a stern look, hackles ruffling slightly at the question of his authority.

"Paul. I am the alpha of this pack and you will do as I say." It wasn't a command, yet, but it held a silent dare for the other to object. Paul fell into line surely enough but with a furious growl. Sam straightened out his spine, rising up to his full height and squared his shoulders, dipping his head as he snarled right back.

It had been months since Paul had pushed his standings with Sam, and had stopped after Sam had promptly handed Paul his ass on a platter. While the alpha didn't want a repeat, hating to discipline any of his pack, he would if Paul back down and submit. Now was not the time for pack disputes. As if sensing this, Paul deflated like a popped balloon, ducking his head in mock submission. However, his eyes gleamed, brown bleeding into startling amber. Not an outright challenge, but nor was it complete obedience.

Sam would let that slide, for now.

They'd all had a crap night and it was on a fast-track to even shittier territory.

However, despite whatever he, or Paul for that matter, thought, there were protocols the pack had to abide by. And Sam needed Paul to have his back on this. It was just the three of them, Paul, Jared and he, to defend Fork's from vampires. They needed to be a unified front, and considering one of their three-man pack was going to be out of commission for at least a few days, Sam really needed Paul to step up and to take orders, regardless of what they were, no questions asked.

"Fine. I'll be ready if you need back up. No need to fucking bite my dick off." Shoulders shaking, Paul turned and marched off into the trees, silently stalking through the dense undergrowth, Jared dangling from his arms.

Sam inhaled deeply and dropped his shoulders as he tried to relax. Once sure that Paul wasn't lurking just out of earshot, he turned on his heel and headed for the treaty line.

Paul had been right, of course.

Involving the local leeches in this wasn't exactly one of Sam's finest ideas. But it wasn't so much an 'idea' as it was more of an unspoken obligation. And also, unbeknownst to Paul, a direct order from Billy Black. Sam shot through the trees in a blur of russet skin. His feet squished through the softened earth and the rain whipped at his torso. He rolled under fallen trees, leapt over stumps and wholly let his senses guide him.

He was just about at the treaty line when the first traces of vampire began to pollute the otherwise clean air. It wafted on the wind, ripe with rot and cloying with a chemical stink that always reminded Sam of bleach.

They were waiting for him. How they had known to be at the treaty line was a mystery he couldn't even begin to riddle out. While he might have been more than happy to chalk it up to weird vampire tricks and be done with it he was also smart enough to know there was more to it than that.

Shaking water from his choppy locks, Sam stepped out of the cover provided by the line of pine trees and made his way to where they stood, ethereal and glowing like polished marble in the barely-there moonlight. It took every bit of willpower he possessed not to phase then and there. Not even the heavy rain could douse out the smell of them.

"Sam." The leader stepped forwards and greeted him politely.

"Carlisle," Sam gave the leech a terse nod. "There has been an incident."

The vampire glowered. Marble hard skin rippling as muscles twitched beneath that milky white surface. It was both horrifying and fascinating to watch. As if someone had managed to animate a china doll but wasn't quite successful in quite making the porcelain mesh with the mechanics.

"Does this involve the nomads?" Another asked. Male, all cherub blond curls, and dimples that seemed entirely comical on the face of a killer.

Sam nodded once again and said.

"A civilian was involved."

The female immediately to Carlisle's left gasped, hands flying to her mouth. Shock and worry flashing across her pretty face.

"Oh, heavens." She actually managed to look remorseful, turning her face into the nook of Carlisle's chest. In a moment that was surprisingly tender, Carlisle wrapped a consoling arm around the female's shoulders and gently patted her back, murmuring soft words of reassurance to her.

Sam wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to feel about the vampire's acting human, so he ignored it. While he was equipped with the 'tools' to kill vampires, he lacked the capacity to understand them. Not that he wanted to. He was just fine with seeing humans as human, and not walking bags of blood.

"Are my medical skill required?" Carlisle inquired sounding like he already knew the answer.

"No. The girl is fine. A minor head injury. However…" he broke off, suddenly looking anywhere but at the vampires in front of him. The request he had sounded so fucking idiotic, even in his own head. So without a word Sam thrust his fist at them, holding out the shredded remnants of the girl's blouse.

As if the scene that unfolded was stolen from a nineteen- eighty's horror film, the gathering of vampires all shied away quickly, hands flying to cover their noses.

Oh right. Blood.

Whoops.

"What is the meaning of this, wolf." Another female leech stepped forwards, her eyes as black as a starless night and her long platinum blond hair flying wildly around her head and shoulders. With her plump red lips pulled up over her gleaming fangs and her hands clawed as they were, she looked like a harpy. Beautiful but deadly.

"I meant no offence." Sam quickly tried to placate, swallowing down the growl that threatened to escape his trembling lips, but still needing to lisp slightly around the feel of his slightly elongated eyeteeth. His was wolf clawing to get out from the inside. Swelling within his chest and pushing out through the skin of him.

"A cover up is needed to protect not only the girl but both of our secrets. We need as much evidence as we can. Billy—"

"Oh!" Unexpectedly trilled a dark haired pixy looking vampire, effectively cutting Sam off as she danced over to him and snatched up the shirt with a wrinkled nose. "I'll do it." She affirmed, nodding with a sunny smile. She was tiny. Short dark hair spiked and blown into an artful craze due to the storm unfolding around them. Lightning crashed in the distance and her eyes flashed in the light.

Sam stared in baffled confusion.

"I wasn't done explain—"

"I have sewing skills. And I have a blouse similar. I'll get it back to you within the hour." She cut him off again, winking as she skipped back to Carlisle who tilted his head at the dark haired vampire as if her quirky behaviour was completely normal. Then the leech turned his amber eyes back on Sam.

"Was there anything else?"

Sam thought about telling him of the nomad's demise and the other issue he would no doubt have to deal with at a later date but decided against it.

"No, I will meet you back here in an hour." With that, he turned bodily to retreat into the trees.

When he looked back the vampires were gone, leaving only the stink of the undead behind as evidence they had been there.

Leaving his pants hanging on a low branch, Sam shifted and raced towards to road, massive black body melding into the shadows around him. He had a lot of cleaning up to do.

Jared is sleeping. How'd it go? Paul's voice sounded distant even though their shared mind. He'd phased at Jared's house, staying close to his wounded pack brother. An unconscious crossover from the wolfs animal instinct to protect its fellow pack member. It was a good sign. Paul was growing. Probably in subtle ways, he wouldn't notice himself, but Sam did. When Paul had first phased he'd been an out of control menace. Attacking not only Sam, and but Jared who had phased mere months before Paul. He'd also fought every order Sam had given him.

As well as can be expected I guess. If this is to go smoothly, we need to be careful. Billy can only do so much. Head over to his place and see what you can so about the girl's car. Get any parts you need from my garage. At the very least replace the windshield.

Now that the worst of it was done and over, Sam felt calmer. Sure, it had included a rather nasty tongue lashing from Billy, and had involved asking damned vampires for help, but it was done. A cover-up was underway and Sam and his pack's secret was safe. For now.

Paul was looking in at Jared through the lone small, dusted bedroom window and Sam watched through his pack brother's eyes as Jared moaned in pain. Skin knitting back together over the torn muscles exposed over the teens ribs. The bone gleaming pink and oh-so-white against the red of blood and gore. Jared's leg, however, was the worst of the injuries. Bones not broken, but more splintered. It was a good thing the girl had done a good job getting the shards back where they needed to be. Otherwise, they would have had to re-break it and reset it.

As if sensing Sam's thoughts Paul spoke through the link.

Almost a shame Jared won't get to thank her. While the words themselves were about as sweet as Sam had ever heard Paul be, with how thickly they were laced with innuendo completely detracted from the sentimentality. Sam rolled his eyes as he padded out onto the road, following the trail of broken glass, the smell of Jared's blood and the nose-crinkling stink of leech.

I'm going to be here a while. Make sure you get that car window fixed. Sam sent back to Paul, who grunted and nodded in cursory acknowledgement.

Yeah, yeah. I'm going now.

The link went silent signalling that Paul had shifted, probably returning inside to tend to Jared before heading over to Billy's.

Sam shifted soon after, head tilted as he watched the headlights of Billy's truck lumbering up the road. It pulled to a stop and a pair of cut-offs were flung out the window at the naked werewolf.

"Put those on quick before someone sees," Billy commanded, face hard and voice flat. Without so much as a second thought, Sam obliged quickly and quietly, sipping them on and buttoning them up.

"Are you sure about this, Billy?" Sam addressed the elder while unpacking a few things from the trucks tray.

"Am I sure I don't want people seeing you running about with your pink bits on display? Gee, let me think a minute 'ere." The words could have been light and teasing but the atmosphere was tense and a heavy weight had settled on Sam's shoulders.

"I didn't mean—"

"I know damned well what you meant, boy. I've known Bella her whole life. Let me handle her. You just get this mess cleaned up." And with that, Billy handed Sam a broom, and promptly wound his window up, cutting off any reply or questions Sam might have had.

Sighing, Sam, broom in one hand and bucket in the other, watched as Billy sped off. It felt very, very wrong somehow. While he wasn't sure how exactly Billy planned on explaining all this away, he couldn't help but hate himself just a little for going along with it.

Sam might have owed Billy Black a hell of a lot, this somehow felt like crossing a line. Shaking his head of such thoughts, Sam placed the bucket on the road and began the long tedious task of making the evidence 'disappear.'

It took hours. Though the rain had worked its magic in washing away the blood, with it went a lot of glass and Sam spent most of the night sweeping and hunting through puddles of water and mud trying to find every tiny little piece of the scattered remnants of the girl's windshield. His fingers were a mess of tiny cuts by the time he was done and the sun had just started to peek over the horizon.

The skyline burned and the clouds were beginning to glow golden as flares of peach and crimson were dashed across the velvety black backdrop of fleeing dusk as it morphed into the colours of dawn.

Grabbing the bucket and broom, Sam fled the scene before any of the early risers spotted him picking his way across the road, never once noticing the tiny piece of glass he'd left glinting innocently on the road.

He dumped the bucket at his place then raced to the treaty line, surprised to find the dark haired vampire by herself, shirt in hand.

"Sorry, I'm la—"

"Late? Doesn't matter. I knew you would be. I only just got here myself."

"How'd you know I'd be late?" Sam queried, weary and puzzled and annoyed all at once.

The vampire laughed. A high tinkling sound that was all wind chime sweet and a little unnerving.

"I know a great many things."

Unable to help it, Sam glowered at the strange vampire, taking the blouse from her hands with a grimace as his fingers accidently grazed her cold skin.

Her smile went from sweet to toothy, shiny and sharp like a knife.

"And I know things are about to get very interesting."

She turned with a flap of her hand and danced away on her the tips of her toes, stopping just long enough to say.

"Say hello to Bella for me." And then she was gone.

For a moment all Sam could do was stand in the pouring rain, soaked through and heart thumping against his ribs.

Bella.

Bella?

Why did that name sound familiar?

Dismissing the question and shrugging his broad shoulders, he turned and made his way across the soggy ground.

"Bella, my name is Bella."

The memory struck him as suddenly and as hard as a hammer between the eyes, staggering him briefly.

The breath in his lungs left him in a great whoosh and he spun around so fast his neck cracked, hunting for even a glimpse of the fairy-like vampire girl. But she was gone, and Sam was left feeling disturbed and very, very confused.

The wolf found himself clutching Bella's shirt in his fist as if it was the only real evidence of what had just happened. It took a lot to rattle Sam, but he found himself shaken. Unsure what had just happened and perplexed as to why it had felt like a threat.

Billy Black found Sam standing on his porch, pale and wide-eyed, gripping Bella's blood-soaked camisole hours later.

The girl known as Bella was fast asleep on the couch in the lounge room, breathing soft and smelling of strawberries and wild flowers. Sam, however, wasn't appeased until he was permitted entry and marched to the girl's side. He stared down at her for a clue or something that would make what the odd Cullen vampire said make sense.

But all he found was the small, vulnerable form of a sleeping girl, forehead freshly stitched and face drawn up in lines of pain and undoubted tormented by nightmares.

Billy wheeled into the kitchen and motioned for Sam to follow him. Without a word, the wolf did so, ducking his massive frame to fit through the doorway.

"You want a coffee?" Billy offered. Dazed and still rather confounded, Sam nodded, neck stiff and mouth pulled into a tight line of displeasure.

"Good, I'll take one to."

Realising he'd just been played, Sam stood, filled the kettle and got out two mugs. It wasn't until he was dumping sugar into the cups that he realised how badly his hands were shaking.

"You gonna tell me what's going on, Sam?" Billy's voice was quite, no doubt not wanting to wake the sleeping girl in the next room. Sam poured the water, fetched the milk and delivered the coffee, placing it on the table in front of Billy.

As it was, Sam eyed the man, inhaled, and then scrubbed a hand over his face. He had no idea how to even begin to explain what had transpired. Or even why it had him so unsettled. So, he sipped at his coffee, placed it down and then basically gave the man an instant replay.

By the time he was done, Billy himself was as white as the flaking walls behind him. Sam shifted to peer into the darkness of the lounge room and asked quietly.

"How well did you say you knew Bella?"

Billy twisted to gaze into lounge room himself, grizzled face pulled up in a deep look of contemplation.

"I thought I knew her pretty damn well, but Sam, there's more to this."

Sam rotated back to Billy with a blank look marring his otherwise high-set features.

"What do you mean?"

Billy took a large drink of his coffee as if to add effect to whatever he was about to say.

"The Cullen's have been here what? Barely a year?"

Sam bobbed his head and waited patiently for Billy to continue.

"Bella hasn't been in in two, nearly three years."

Silence, yet again. If Sam was picking up was Billy was putting down, it didn't show.

With no other way another other than to come out and say it, Billy finally snapped maybe just a little too loudly.

"There's no way that vampire could have known her name."

It took a moment, and then it was as if a lightbulb had gone off in Sam's head. A look of understanding washed over his face. And when it did, it was soon followed by yet another look of alarm.

If the timelines didn't match up for Bella to have any association with the Cullen's, then how did one of them now her name?

For yet the second time that night, Sam felt as though the proverbial rug had just been snatched out from under his feet.

End Chapter.


Ugh, I am so unhappy with this chapter. It feels… clunky and short.

Those of you that stuck with this story after the lengthy gap between chapters, I want to thank you. If not for the reviews and private messages I don't think I would have come back to this. And that would have been a shame, because I have so many ideas for it, and it is going be a long process of getting it all down.

A few words for those unhappy with the last chapter.

What Billy did was wrong. I did not like writing it because if anyone did that to me I think I would crumble. Sadly, however, it was necessary. Bella needs to grow and be strong for the road ahead. She needs moments that shake and maybe even break her so that she is given the chance to pull herself together, brush herself off, and go, 'No, I am stronger than this.'

But don't think for one second that Billy is not getting his comeuppance because that is one thing I am big on. Karma is a bitch, and those that are on its list can run and can hide, but eventually, you reap what you sow.