Author's Note (Emergency Room Edition):

Justin: C'mon Tequila! Faster!

Tequila: -wheeling in a gurney- I'm going as fast as I can Justin! You know, maybe if you hadn't left it for so long we—

Justin: Don't talk like that Tequila! It can make it! It has too! –prepares defibrillators- charging 300, CLEAR!

Tequila: Nothing. Justin, this is hopeless! I told you time and time again that it needed your attention before, by now it's much too little, too la—

Justin: No! Tequila, it's going to pull through. I swear it! Even if I have to stay here for hours working on it, it will pull through! CLEAR! –beep beep beep beep-

Tequila: -gasps- Justin… it's… ALIVE!!!!!

Disclaimer: if Justin was Stephenie Meyer, he would have an editor to rag on him to write… but instead all he has is Tequila… who is bad at it :(

Certified Freak

It was twilight, the pathway between two stories, the middle ground between two opposing sides, the meeting place of two lovers, the intersection of many secrets. It was twilight, and the majestic setting sun was sinking towards the west, signaling the end of the day, but the start of the night. It was twilight, the dawn of our day, the time when we could go out into our world. It was twilight, and the birds were singing a soft farewell to the sun; their melody was one the purest things that I've ever hoped to hear. It was twilight, and at this time, all the sensible,m weak humans in town were retreating to the safety of their homes—if unaware of exactly what was stalking them, they were at least aware of the danger of the night. It was twilight, and I breathed a sigh of relief. They were always calmer in the dusk—only a couple ever screamed around this time. It was twilight, and it was time for the hunt.

I turned to the beautiful woman beside me. Maria.

It was amazing the effect she had on me. I no longer wanted to claw at my own skin, tear someone—something, anything—anyone apart. She eased the constant torment within me. The desire to run, run far away and never look back, to stay and destroy every last new born, to… save them, was gone. Instead there was calm, and certainty. A certainty that this city would be mine. Followed by more and more cities, until our empire expanded and we were as powerful as the Volturi themselves. There would be no one to oppress us then.

Maria gave me a sidelong glance and a smirk. "Well Jasper…" she purred "Are you ready?"

I nodded. As ready as I'd ever be, in any case. Even she couldn't save me from it. It was the one reason I was glad I couldn't sleep at night. It would have given me nightmares. Even without the nightmares I was insane, a freak. Different. I had always been different from the others. Only so far I had been lucky enough to be spared. Barely.

But barely was the difference between true death and un-death.

She took my hand, and we flew. The city didn't know what hit them.

It was later now, pitch black. I was alone, and the air smelt as repulsive as I felt. It was thick with newborns, and blood, and venom, and old heartbeats. How could any of them want it? The warmth, the wetness, the terror, the fear, the guilt, the denial, the stickiness, the blood? How could I not? How could I not want the pure, concentrated power. It was life. It was the life that we had lost, the lives I had seen taken away, the lives I had ripped from their human bodies. Everyone loved life. Everyone except me.

I should have been locked up. I should have been imprisoned from the very start, for my own good. For everyone's good. They should've put me away when I was a kid, because I was showing all the signs of a first class certified freak.