Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or Twilight, and you should all know that by now.

Chapter Four: Chatting of Vampires and Human-Avian Hybrids

Fang's POV

I thought I had misheard Angel. A vampire, Angel? I questioned. Surely there wasn't such a thing as vampires, right? I mean, they are the stuff of fairy tales; stories told to scare little children. My mind quickly flipped through what I knew about vampires. I didn't know much, just bits and pieces of stories, of fairy tales. And I might be mistaken, but Dr. Cullen didn't look like a vampire.

Yes, Fang! Dr. Cullen is a vampire! I saw it in his mind! Angel seemed frantic in my mind. I tried to calm her.

Angel, I'm sure there's a simple explanation for this, okay? Now calm down, we don't want people to get suspicious of us. Can you see if you can find out more about Dr. Cullen while I question him?

Yes… Angel said, her voice tiny in my mind. Fang… be careful, okay?

I will, Angel, I replied, and then added, and you be careful too. And tell the rest of the Flock to keep their heads up, but don't give them the details yet, we don't want them to worry.

I felt Angel leave my mind, off to probe Dr. Cullen's mind. What secrets did he hold? Were they dark and terrible, or just little secrets like having cheated on a school test? I wasn't sure. I felt bad for Angel, she is so young to have to take on so much responsibility. It must be hard for her to see into the minds of some creepy-evil scientists. But she does so without complaining, barely ever much affected by what she sees. If she is scared now, it really must be bad…

"Are they, Nick?" Dr. Cullen questioned. I snapped out of my thoughts. I tried to remember the original question. Oh, he asked if 'me and my brothers and sisters are like Max'. I still hadn't come up with the answer.

What should I tell him? There was no doubt that something was off with him; his whole mannerism, how he knew so much about human-avian hybrid DNA, and his golden eyes. Not to mention that when Angel read his mind, she found out that he is a vampire. Or something created by the School that was similar to a vampire.

That was logical. They had the ability to manipulate the human genome, so who knows what they could do. It was possible that they had created a being that needed blood to survive, as a food source. Perhaps it was just a side effect, a deadly side effect, none the less, to anyone in his way.

"I think you know the answer," I finally said, my voice hard and my eyes cold. Dr. Cullen looked startled, and then confused.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

"Sure you do, Doctor Cullen," I said, with emphasis on 'doctor'. "You're from the School, aren't you? It's no use playing still, we figured you out." I added when he didn't respond.

"What do you mean?" he asked, with a perplexed look on his face.

I was about to respond when I felt Angel enter my mind. Fang, I don't think he's from the School, she told me.

What?! I shouted to her.

When I was going through his mind, I saw things from years before the School was even created... I mean before electricity and stuff. I think he might be a real vampire, Fang! I still wasn't convinced. Trust me, I don't think he knows about the School. He was pretty confused when you started accusing him. And I think really doesn't know about us, about any of this. He is a vampire!

I wasn't sure how to respond. Could Angel be right? A real vampire, not created by the School? I didn't know, but I did know that he was dangerous. Whether he was a real vampire or some creation by the School, he still was dangerous… he might possibly drink blood for food.

"You have a secret, too, Dr. Cullen," I told him, trying to fish for more information. "Don't you?" I stared into his eyes for a long time. After who knows how long, the staring contest ended, broken off by Dr. Cullen.

"How did you know?" he asked softly. Wow, he actually admitted something? Well, he didn't actually admit anything, but close enough. My previous belief that he was from the School was slowly giving in to Angel's, that Dr. Cullen was just a regular vampire and has no involvement with the School.

Again, I was about to say something when Angel interrupted me. Fang! Wait, he's a good vampire!

A good vampire, Angel? I asked. Was there such a thing?

Yes! They don't harm humans, they use animals as a food source instead! They consider themselves vegetarians. It's actually quite funny, really.

Yes, I'm sure a blood drinking creature is quite the clown.

Anyways, Dr. Cullen is good. You could trust him. And we have to trust him, we have to help Max. I thought about that for a moment. Besides, he has a secret and we have a secret, so we're on even ground. That was a good idea, actually. Leverage. And we couldn't win in a fight against them. They are much faster and stronger.

They? I asked. There was more than one?

Yes. Dr. Cullen has 'adopted' children too. They're actually vampires that live with the same philosiphy he does.

How many? I asked, wondering if we were outnumbered.

Eight, I think. And even if we weren't outnumbered, we'd be outmatched. Angel didn't say anything more. I thought about what she said. Part of me just wanted to forget about this and leave with Max and the rest of the Flock. But Max needed medical attention, and I didn't know where the nearest hospital was. And another part of me wanted to stay and find out more about Dr. Cullen and the rest of his vampire family… if Angel was right, they would be good people to have on our side. Just trust me, Fang. If you'd ever trust me on anything, trust me on this.

I had made my decision. I was going to trust Dr. Cullen, for now at least. No, I wasn't going to trust Dr. Cullen; I was going to trust Angel. Thanks, Fang! she shouted in my mind. I just hoped I wasn't going to regret it. I thought I felt Angel leave my mind, but I heard a voice saying, You won't regret it, Fang. I promise. It was so soft though, I thought I might have imagined it.

"Sorry," I apologized to Dr. Cullen. "We thought you were with some people who are after us and trying to take over the world," I told him. A little overdramatic, maybe, but it was true.

"Excuse me?" Dr. Cullen asked politely, still confused.

"Do I have to say it again?" I asked irritated. I was never one for apologies, especially for people I had just met and might possibly be a dangerous enemy out to destroy my family."I'm sorry I sort of jumped down your throat. We thought you were with 'the bad guys'." I put air quotes around 'bad guys'.

Dr. Cullen looked even more perplexed. "Even though you know my secret, you don't think I'm a bad guy?" he asked.

"Well, no," I said, and then paused for a second, quickly thinking of what to say next. "You haven't given us a reason not to trust you, like drugging, capturing, torturing, or experimenting on us that many doctors have done in the past. And I know you're whole story, well the gist of it. You're like vegetarian vampires, right?"

Dr. Cullen's face was classic; it was hilarious. If the situation wasn't so serious, I would have laughed at it. It was the face of a person who couldn't believe what he was hearing; and that face belonged to a vampire for goodness sakes! And when I told him that I knew what he was, I thought his eyes were going to jump out of his head.

"How did you know?" Dr. Cullen asked again, but this time with much more authority, and not as much of wonder.

"Well, that's a long story," I said. He just stared at me, and I knew he was going to want it. "Okay, here it is. First, there were your eyes. And I just had this feeling, you know? And then when I told you that we are a human-avian hybrid, you didn't move at all, not a single muscle. And it didn't hurt that I have a certain mind reader looking for any signs of trouble." I paused again. "Okay, maybe isn't that long of a story. But the story of how [about us, I mean] is a lot longer."

Dr. Cullen was silent, trying to see if I was joking or not, I think. "One of you is a mind reader, too?" he finally asked.

"Yep," I said, popping the P. Wait, too? I thought.

I was going to tell you, Fang, Angel said, his adopted son, Edward is his name, I think, is a mind reader too. Not like me though. He can't control people's mind or speak to them in their mind or anything like that.

You could have told me earlier, I told Angel. Any other abilities he or his family has?

Yes, Angel said. One son, Jasper, can control emotions.

Control emotions?

It's hard to explain. And Alice can see the possible futures. Bella has some sort of powerful mind block… I wonder if I could read her mind? But anyway, Edward and Bella's daughter can show you her thoughts in pictures, kind of like what I do for Iggy sometimes.

Great, I grumbled. Not only were there nine vampires, but some of them had special abilities too.

"Nick?" Dr. Cullen said.

"Oh, sorry again, doc," I said. "I was just talking to my sister."

"Talking to your sister?" he asked.

"Yes. We can communicate telepathically." I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to tell him that, but Angel did say we can trust him. But I wasn't going to spill the beans about al our secrets.

"Amazing," Dr. Cullen murmured. "Simply amazing."

"Yeah, I get it," I muttered. "But back to Max. We're going to trust you for now, okay? But remember we know your secret, so if you say or do anything, we can tell everyone. And we have quite a few tricks up our sleeves, too." Dr. Cullen just nodded. "Okay, so can you help Max?"

"I'm not sure," he said. "I've never seen anything like you guys, let alone try to figure out what's wrong. It may just be natural… but none of you seem to be exhibiting the same symptoms, right?"

"No," I replied.

"Okay," Dr. Cullen said, nodding (again). "With your consent, I'd like to give Max some morphine to help with the pain. And then we can see if we can figure out what the underlying problem is."

"Do it," I said.

Dr. Cullen just nodded, yet again, and then walked out of the room, saying over his shoulder, "I'll be right back with some Morphine."

I sighed. I wondered if I had made the right decision. Should I have trusted Dr. Cullen? He seems nice enough. But I didn't know for sure. Only time would tell. The only thing that was important was that Max got better and the rest of the Flock stays safe. And, if nothing else, this is definitely going to turn out to be an interesting stay in Forks.

Okay… there's chapter four. I hoped you liked it. I'll try to update again soon. It really helps if you review, though. I am not going to go and say, "I'll update once I get x amount of reviews." I never liked that. I know you can't control whether other people review or not. But like I said, they definitely help, and I usually update faster when I get reviews. Speaking of reviews, thanx to everyone who has reviewed! It's one of the reasons I write, besides just for myself and practice… it's nice to see what other people think of my writing. Anyways, thanx for reading this far either way! Oh, and I was just wondering if you guys like the "Random Quotes/Smiles of the Day" part I always put at the end? I mean, does anybody actually read it? Let me know, please, so I know if I should continue to put them.

Random Quotes/ Smiles of the Day:D

Some Murphy's Laws:

*Murphy's Law states: If it can go wrong, it will. Summer's law says: What do you mean "IF"???

*Any time you put an item in a "safe place", it will never be seen again.

*Anything dropped in the bathroom will fall in the toilet (or the sink).

*Any tool dropped in a workshop will roll to the least accessible corner. Any object dropped on the way to the least accessible corner will land on your toe.

*Anything you try to fix will take longer and cost you more than you thought.

*Corollary: If there is a worst time for something to go wrong, it will happen then.

*Everything goes wrong all at once.

*Everything takes longer than you think.

*For any given software, the moment you manage to master it, a new version of that software appears on the market.

*If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

*Just when you think things cannot get any worse, they will.

*Problems multiply as the deadline approaches.

*When you are waiting for someone for a long time, he/she will knock when you are in the bathroom.

*You click on the send button, just when your eyes see the mistake on the email.

*You are only very busy when your boss is not at the office.

*If you drop your toast, it will land butter side down.

*It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

*Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently capable fool.

*Make something idiot-proof, and they will build a better idiot.

*The minute you sell something you will want to use it again.

*Law of Irrational Optimism: Actually, Murphy was unduly optimistic.

*Corollary to the Law of Irrational Optimism: The "If" clause is both redundant and superfluous.