A lot of things happened then in a very short amount of time.

First, I yelp. Now, I know I'm supposed to be ready-for-anything-super-wolf, but I don't care what you say: a surprise attack is a surprise attack. That's the whole point.

My next thought is something like aw, shit. Because, God, it really sucks to think you're getting away from all this drama only to find out that you walked right into more.

That was when I realized that it was a vampire. The thing that was trying to kill me, I mean. I hadn't yet caught it's scent, but after a year of bloodsucker ass-kicking, you kind of develop a…sixth sense about this. Not in the I-see-dead-people kind of way (although, if you want to get technical, I suppose I do see dead people…), more like you can just sense their presence. And the minute I come to this conclusion, I simultaneously want to choke on the too-sweet smell, and freaking maim it.

All of this transpires in about two seconds, which, frankly, when your dealing with vampires, is two seconds too long. So I turn around and let out a growl, ready to fight.

Then I see it's eyes.

This seems like a weird thing to notice when you're about to kill someone, but I always like to look my prey in the face before I go in for the kill. Maybe it's a wolf thing. Or maybe it's a me thing, I don't know – all I know is that this vamp doesn't stare at me with burgundy orbs like I was planning on. No, these things are gold, I'm sure of it, and as soon as I see them I have another flash of thought and quickly decide that, as much as I hate the Cullens, I'm not going to kill one of their long-lost relatives and start up a most likely centuries-long war between supernatural species. If that was going to happen, I was taking down Edward myself, not some blond parasite in the middle of nowhere.

So I phase, quickly, and push the vamp away before it can inflict anymore damage.

"Hey, stop!" I yell. "I'm not here to kill you!"

The female bloodsucker that had been attacking me actually rolls her eyes.

"Well, of course you're not going to kill me, mutt."

I sigh. You know, considering most of them had been around hundreds of years longer then me, you'd think they'd have picked up some manners.

"I mean that I'm not your enemy," I explain. "I'm part of the pack in La Push, the reservation down in Washington."

She looks at me like she was expecting more. I figure that she would know about the treaty, considering your choice of diet, but I decide to do some name-dropping anyway to trigger her memory.

"I know the Cullens," I say. "I'm, uh…friends with the Cullens. My name is Jacob Black."

"Oh," she says. "You're one of those dogs."

I clench my teeth. "Yes. Who are you?"

She looks me up and down, as if she were grading me or something. "I'm Kate. Do you know where you are, kid?"

"I have a pretty decent idea…" I say. The truth is, I'm actually not that sure. Last night I had been fairly sure of where I was, but with the morning light it was a bit disorienting. Everything looked the same around here.

Kate smirks. "You're in Denali, Alaska."

"Alaska?" I ask incredulously. She nods. "Jesus."

She chuckles, and I can't help but notice that it sounds kinda condescending. "Jesus isn't going to help you now, baby."

I roll my eyes. "You can go now," I tell her.

"Oh, but I've been enjoying talking to you ever so much."

I think I grunted. "If you're not going to leave…" I started to walk away.

"Hold on," Kate said. "I believe I've been quite rude. I'm not personally too fond of dogs, but any friend of the Cullen's is a friend of mine. We do have human food around here, you know. Let me get you something to eat."

"No, thanks," I say. "I'm not exactly partial to vampire hospitality."

"Suit yourself," she shrugs. She crouches as if getting ready for a run, when I know that she doesn't really need to do that.

I groan. "Fine. But if you try anything weird, I'm out."

Kate smiles. "Fair enough. Follow me."

She takes off running.

Now, us werewolves are quite fast. I mean, even in human form I could beat out pretty much any Olympic athlete. But we're also all really tall and big and…all that weight can make us slower than bloodsuckers. It's fine in battle, 'cause what we lack in speed we make up in pure brute strength, but it's not so nice when a vampire tells you to tailgate.

"Hold up!"

Kate stops with no warning and I slam into her, both of us falling on top of each other into the snow.

"What are you doing, mutt?" she screeches.

I snort. "Oh, right, like I'd want to hit on you!"

"Just try to watch we're you're going next time, alright?"

We both get up and brush off before bursting into a run again. This time, I'm ready, and within no time we've made it to what looks like a house.

Don't get me wrong; it was a really nice house, just not what I was expecting. I guess when I heard Alaska I just figured there'd be ice castles and igloos and all that crap, but this was just a house. A house filled with vampires, that is.

This is gonna be interesting.

--

TBC