Chapter 4

My first lesson in learning being a vampire was about to hit me in the ass.

I went back to the field again where I'd last picked up Bree's scent. I still couldn't track her out of the field. It was frustrating.

Damn, I thought. Where are you, Bree? Then it dawned on me: what if the yellow eyes had won? I actually laughed out loud. I dismissed the idea as quickly as it formed; it was too ludicrous.

"Well," I said aloud. "This sucks." I decided to go back to Seattle and hang out there.

I headed off in a new direction, and I crossed an invisible boundary that I could sense and smell. I was a few miles outside of Forks when the hair on the back of my head started to stand up. Something was out there and it was watching me. I grinned to myself. What was I freaking out over? I was an immortal, nothing alive could kill me. And whatever watching me was definitely alive. I could hear its blood swooshing through its veins, but it didn't make me thirsty; it kind of made me want to puke.

And then I heard another heartbeat and that same god-awful smell. So, real casual-like I turned around and was about to beat it out of there, when I was suddenly standing in front of two gigantic wolves. There were bigger than horses. Instinct started to take over and I crouched down into an aggressive stance. I bared my teeth and was ready to rip up some BFW's.

The larger one looked at me and kind of sniffed, like it was rolling its eyes, thinking, "Oh, please." As weird as it sounds, the wolf looked intelligent, like it knew what I was thinking. The smaller one nodded at me. What the fuck?

I held up my hands like a surrender. "Nice doggie," I said, glancing behind me making sure when I turned to haul ass there weren't any more big ass wolves in my way. I started thinking about the foulest thing imaginable and both wolves took a couple of steps back, shaking the odor out of their heads and started to yak. This was my chance to get away.

All of a sudden, this big ass wolf started to shake harder and before I could blink—if I did blink—in its place was a naked woman. I was too stunned to move.

"God, that's so gross. Did you do that?" She was still gagging.

"What the fuck?" I said, still too stunned to move. I mean, seriously, a wolf changed into a chick. Right in front of me. And she was fine.

"Is that your 'special skill'?" she asked. "It's gross."

She caught me staring at her. She snorted and reached down and took something that was tied to her leg. She slipped a dress over her head. "Now, stupid, can you concentrate?

"You're on our land and technically I could rip you apart and burn the pieces, but Alice told us you'd be coming, so I'm supposed to make nice."

She turned to the wolf that still was having a hard time with the image in his head.

"Will you stop that?" she yelled at me. Dumbly, I complied. "Thank you," she said sarcastically.

"Seth, go get your little bloodsucker buddies. I'll keep him here. And don't worry, if he tries anything, I'll just show him my tits. I don't think he's ever seen a naked woman before."

"Hey," I said defensively. "I've seen plenty of naked women."

"Sure, "she said rolling her eyes. "What are you waiting for, Seth? Go!"

The wolf took off and we both watched him until he disappeared into the trees. She turned back to me and tilted her head to the side, completely checking me out.

"What's your name?" she asked suddenly.

"Uh, Fredrik, Fred," I stammered.

"No kidding? Fredrik?" She laughed. "You must be a junior or something. Nobody names their kids 'Fredrik' anymore."

"Junior," I confirmed. "After my dad."

"Really? After your dad. Is that where the junior comes from?" She rolled her eyes again.

This chick was really starting to piss me off.

"So, Junior, what's your whole name?"

"Fredrik Matthew Strydr. Uh, Junior."

The chick sniggered again. We just kind of stared at each other after that.

It took about five minutes before the wolf returned and with him were two vampires. One was this real cute girl with dark spiky hair and a blond man. He had a tense look on his face, but the chick smiled at me.

"You must be Freaky Fred," she said, still smiling at me. I looked at her face and froze. Her eyes were golden, just like Riley had said. I looked at the other vampire standing close to her; protecting her. His eyes were darker, almost black, but they had a golden rim around the irises.

"He's got a mean gift," the wolf-girl said. "Not bad for a bloodsucker." She actually sounded impressed.

"Leah," the male vampire said, shaking his head. But he did smile. "Be nice."

I thought that I couldn't get any more confused, but I was. How could these vampires be so…civilized? This was definitely not anything close to how Riley described them.

"Look," the chick, Leah said, scrunching up her nose. "I'm outta here. The stink's getting to me. You can hang around with your bloodsucker pals if you want, Seth, but I have to get some fresh air. Bye Freaky Fred," she said waving back at me as she ran into the woods.

"Wow," the male vampire said, trying to suppress a grin. "Leah must like you."

The vampire chick came closer to me and I kind of cringed. I don't know what I was expecting, and then all of a sudden I felt this calm fall over me. I wasn't going to run away or 'skunk' them. I wanted to listen to the girl.

"Thanks, Jasper," the girl said. She looked lovingly at the man and I felt a wee bit jealous that she wasn't looking at me that way.

"My name is Alice," she said kindly. "I saw you coming. You're looking for your friend, Bree." That wasn't a question.

I nodded numbly.

Alice sighed. "I want you to come with us. We need to talk."