Chapter Four

Jacob and I started university the following day, and, fortuitously, Ian's class was our very first. As we sat in the sizeable lecture hall, Jacob had the look of a child on Christmas morning. He was practically bouncing in his seat. "Nessie, can you believe this?" he laughed. "Ian's going to try to teach!"

"Yes, Jacob," I chuckled, patting his hand. "I know." I looked around the classroom and took in the other faces. Most were clearly fresh out of high school, and half of them looked petrified. I was deeply displeased to notice several of the surrounding women shooting Jacob admiring glances.

It was a fairly plain classroom, devoid of any real decoration. At the front of the classroom was a handsome young man with pale brown skin and piercing dark eyes seated on a stool. Probably the teacher's assistant, I realized. A strange feeling passed over me as his eyes met mine for a moment, and then moved on.

I blinked and looked at him again. I gasped softly. "You have to be kidding me…" I murmured.

"What?" Jacob asked, managing to calm himself briefly.

"Look at the guy at the front," I murmured.

Jacob glanced at him and then did a double-take. "Holy crap," he murmured, all traces of humour vanishing from his face instantly. "Is that a…?"

I nodded. "A vampire." I inhaled deeply, wondering why I hadn't caught the scent earlier, but it was almost indiscernible amidst all of the human smells.

He rolled his eyes. "Are we being stalked or something? Seriously, every single time we go somewhere, someone's already beaten us there."

"Do you think Ian knows?" I whispered.

As if on cue, Ian arrived then. "Good morning," he said as the metal door swung shut behind him with a slightly ominous clank. "And welcome to American History 101. As you already know – and if you don't then this is definitely the wrong class for you – I am your new professor, Dr. Ian McMaster. Now take notes here, newbies. The 'doctor' part is important. I like to be reminded that I'm smart. Also, I like my last name, so please use it responsibly, so no Dr. M or Dr. Mac nonsense, but if you do so desire, you can call me Master."

There were several nervous chuckles.

"And this," he said, setting his bag on the desk and turning to look at the vampire seated at the front of the class. He froze in mid-step and stared at him. He recovered after a few seconds. "Uh…this is my assistant…" he glanced at the paper in his hands for a reference. "Mr. Karan Rai. I don't know about his name preferences, but if you get it wrong, he'll probably tell you."

A female student raised her hand.

"A question already. Great," Ian smiled. "Yes, miss?"

"How old are you, Dr. McMaster?" she asked.

Jacob gagged.

He chuckled. "I am twenty-four years old and very married, miss. Very married." He winked at her and gestured to his ring.

I chuckled. I'd have to tell Tara about this.

As Ian began the lesson, I found myself unable to stop staring at the TA. He was very still as he sat the front of the room. He kept his gaze divided between Ian and Jacob and me. Jacob sat rigidly in his chair, his body leaned towards mine slightly, although I doubted that he even realized he was doing it.

When the lesson ended, Jacob and I made our way to the front of the class to speak to Ian. He was packing his bag, maintaining a cautious distance between himself and Karan.

"Hey," Jacob said in a guarded tone.

Ian looked at us. "How did you like the lesson?"

"It was good," Jacob said. "Do you think we could uh…talk?" he said, shooting a quick glance at Karan.

"At home," Ian said with a purposeful look. "I have another class to prepare for."

"Sure," Jacob said. "See you later."

Ian nodded and left the room, Jacob and I close behind him. We made our way out to the campus. Once we were out of earshot of the nearest humans, I spun around to face him. "Okay, time to come clean. What's going on with the packs? What were you and Sam talking about the other day?"

Jacob looked at me for a moment and hesitated.

"Come on, Jake," I said firmly. I was irritated that he would keep it from me for this long as it was. "You know I'll pry it out of you anyway, and if you don't tell me, I'll just go to my father. What is this about? I know there's a vampire nearby, but I know there's more to it than that. What aren't you telling me?"

He sighed and sat down, resting his back against the trunk of a tree. He gestured for me to sit down beside him. I paused, and then acquiesced.

"Like you said, there's a vamp around here, and I'm thinking that it was probably our friend Karan. Anyway, he's been hanging around the area for about a month and it's got Sam on edge. He wants him gone. If he's not out of here by the end of the week, Sam's planning on hunting him down."

"But if he's teaching then he can't be that much of a threat," I pointed out. "He's got to have some capability for restraint."

"Yeah, but this is just too weird, Nessie. What are the odds that a vamp TA shows up in our university, in our class, just as we're arriving, with Ian teaching the class, no less? You can't tell me that that's not weird."

"Sure, it's weird," I conceded. "But what were the odds of us meeting the Winters?" I countered. "What were the odds of another vegetarian vampire clan attending the same school as us?"

"That was rare," he agreed. "But things like that never happen twice, which is why this is weird," he said. "That was a fluke. But this? This just seems way too strange to be an accident."

"How would you explain it, then?" I asked him coolly.

He was clearly surprised by my tone, but refrained from commenting. "I don't know, but it's definitely not normal."

"What is?" I asked rhetorically. I watched the students milling about the campus, arms laden with laptops, binders and books. I envied the carefree air with which they carried themselves. They had hope; it was a new semester, and a new opportunity for many of them. I wondered what this year would be for us.

"Should we call Carlisie?" Jacob asked.

"What's Grandpa Carlisle going to do?" I snapped.

He frowned. "Nessie, what's wrong?"

I looked away.

"Come on," he said softly, touching my hand. I pulled it away. "Talk to me. Since when do we–"

"Since when do we what, Jacob?" I hissed. "Since when do we keep secrets from each other? That's a very good question. Why didn't you tell me what you knew? Do you no longer trust me?"

He stared at me in surprise. "No! Of course not! You know I trust you! Nessie, seriously, what's this about? There's no way that you're this upset over something like this. It's not a big deal!"

"Not a big deal? Trust is not a big deal to you?" I stood up quickly and walked away, slinging my bag across my shoulder.

"Nessie, come on!" he called. "Wait!"

I stared at the ground furiously. I slammed into something hard suddenly. I looked up to see Karan watching us with his unreadable black-eyed gaze. "Oh," I said. "Sorry."

Jacob appeared beside me and pulled me away from him, a low growl starting in his throat.

Karan paid him no attention and looked at me instead. "I apologize, Mrs. Black," he said in a fluid, slightly accented voice.

I blinked. How did he know my name?

"If you will excuse me." He stepped around me and walked away.

I stared after him for a moment. As he shrank father into the distance, I became aware of Jacob's hands on my arms. I yanked myself out of his grasp and stormed away. He made no attempt to stop me this time.

The drive home was long, and exacerbated by the cold, stony silence that hung between us. The sky darkened as we drove, promising a storm. It matched my mood perfectly.

I made my way to the library when we got home. I sighed and collapsed into one of the white leather armchairs facing the fireplace.

"Are you okay?"

I muffled a scream, startled by Emily's voice.

She grimaced as she appeared from behind one of the towering bookshelves. "Sorry."

I exhaled. "It's okay."

"So…what's wrong?"

I crossed my arms defensively. "What would make you think that something's wrong?"

"Well, the scowl on your face was a bit of an indicator."

I rearranged my expression into one of neutrality. "I'm fine."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? You could have fooled me." She sat down across from me. "Talk," she prodded.

I gave up on pretending. I raked my fingers through my hair and sighed again. "I hate fighting with him. How do you and Rob do it all the time?" As the words left my mouth, I realized how bad it sounded.

She looked mildly offended. "Gee. Thanks, Ness."

"I didn't mean it like that."

She chuckled. "Sure you didn't."

We both glanced up as the door opened. Dad came in, and then paused in the doorway when he saw us. "Oh," he said apologetically. "I suppose I can come back later."

"No, no," Emily said. "Come in, Edward. It's fine."

"Are you certain? My business isn't pressing."

"Yes, of course."

"I'll be as swift as possible," he assured us.

I sat back, waiting for him to leave. Emily, however, seemed to take little notice. "Trust me, after a few years, fighting will be as natural for you and Jacob as–"

"Please!" Dad said in a horrified voice from somewhere behind the books. "Don't."

Emily grinned. "Sorry."

He snatched his book and retreated quickly.

"You did that on purpose," I accused her, blushing wildly.

She smiled. "Did not," she said unconvincingly. "Anyway, what was the argument about?"

I explained the predicament to her and watched her process my words. When I finished, she was frowning. "What?" I asked.

"That's the problem."

"Yes."

"That's it?"

"That's not enough?" I asked in disbelief.

"Well, yes, it's irritating, I agree, but is that really all that's troubling you? You're usually not so…emotional in your reactions."

I cursed her acuity and she regarded me with her ice-blue eyes. "Yes," I lied, realizing even as I said it that the attempt was futile.

Her gaze hardened into a glare. "I find it very offensive when people who know about my gift try to lie to me."

"Sorry," I murmured. "Reflex."

"Well if you think you get away with it when you lie to the others, let me assure you, that's not the case." She studied me. "So what's really bothering you?"

I pursed my lips and debated whether or not to tell her. In the end, I decided against it. "It's complicated, and I'd rather not get into it. No offence."

"None taken."

I cleared my throat. "So how's work?"

"It's great," she said. "Thank you for asking. I'm enjoying it very much."

"How's Rob handling all of the blood stuff?"

"With difficulty, but he hides it well."

I nodded.

Presently, the front door opened on the main floor. "Carlisle?" Ian called, his voice strained. The memory of this morning's events rushed back instantly. An uneasy feeling gnawed at my stomach. Jacob was right; this was far too strange to be coincidental.

Emily stood quickly, her brow furrowed. She hurried out of the room and down the stairs. I followed close behind her. "Ian?" she said concernedly, pausing on the stairs to look at him. His face was pale, even for a vampire, and he looked more afraid than I'd ever seen him. She flashed down the remaining stairs and hugged him. "Are you all right?" she asked. "What's the matter?"

"I'm okay, sis," he assured her. "Do you know where Carlisle is?"

Grandma Esme joined us. Her expression was slightly wary. "He's still at the hospital."

"What about Rob?"

"He's at the hospital as well. Ian, is everything all right?"

Ian looked at me. The uneasiness in my stomach grew a thousand times worse. "Can we sit down?" he requested.

Emily nodded. "Of course. Everyone, get down here!" she called, and then guided us into the living room. I sat down across from Ian as we waited for everyone else to arrive. Once Tara and my aunts were seated, I inquired about Uncle Emmett.

"He's out buying groceries," Grandma Esme told us. "Please, tell us what happened."

Ian took a breath. "My teacher's assistant, his name is Karan Rai." He looked at each of our faces to see if anyone recognized the name. When no one reacted, he continued. "He's a vampire."

There were gasps all around the room accompanied by murmurs of confusion.

"A vampire? At the university where you're teaching, in the class you're teaching, no less?" Aunt Alice said suspiciously.

"That's what Jacob said," I commented.

They all looked at me. "You knew about this?" Grandma Esme said.

I nodded. "I have Ian's class first thing in the morning."

"I wish that were all," Ian said. "I'm almost certain that he's not the only vampire in this area."

"How do you know that?" Aunt Rose asked, frowning.

"Because he's a newborn."

"So? His creator could have moved on," Aunt Alice pointed out.

"No, Alice. He is very new. He can't be more than a month old. There is no way that such a young vampire could curb his thirst enough to work in a university full of humans of his own volition. Trust me, I remember." He shuddered slightly. "No, there's someone that's taming him, someone here."

A fearful silence crept over us. One additional vampire was risky enough, but two…

Uncle Emmett stood with a broad grin. "All right. Let's roll. Ian, how do you want to do this? Should we call the others or just claim the glory for ourselves?"

"No," Aunt Rose said. "There has to be another way to approach this."

Uncle Emmett looked at her in amazement. "Can we leave the pacifism to Carlisle, please?"

"No, she's right," Grandma Esme agreed. "We don't know enough yet. Running into this blindly would be the most perilous course of action and this point, and the last thing we want is to draw attention to ourselves."

"I don't understand what you mean," Uncle Emmett frowned.

"There could be more than two," Aunt Rose suggested. "They could be part of a coven."

"Surely I would have seen that," Aunt Alice said, but her voice was uncertain. The vulnerable look in her eyes made me uncomfortable. I hated to see my little aunt doubt herself, particularly since her visions were so vital to us.

"I don't know what this means for us," Ian said gravely. "But Esme's right, we can't draw attention to our family, not again. We managed to scrape by last time, but chancing the Volturi's patience twice would be most unwise."

Tara frowned and rubbed his back soothingly. "This could still be all right," she said. "This doesn't necessarily mean that Rai and his creator mean us any ill will. They could just be fascinated by the Cullens, like Cael and the others."

"It's possible," Emily nodded. "But you can't tell me that you don't find it just a little suspicious that they would choose this way to come into contact with us?"

I sighed and massaged my temples. It seemed like every time we got over one crisis, our lives would almost immediately become complicated again.

"I suppose all that we can really do at the moment is to be extra vigilant," Ian said. "As long as we keep an eye on things, we'll have time to react. But I think that, for the present, at least, we should continue in our routines and see how things develop."

And develop they did.

News of a grisly murder was all over the headlines of the local newspapers the following day. A body had been found just two kilometres outside of Seattle. I refused to allow myself to think that it could be connected to the other vampires in the area. The thought was far too daunting to entertain. The rest of my family avoided the subject as well. No one wanted to believe that our peaceful interlude from vampire affairs could be over so soon. Everyone became edgy, including Jacob and me, which did nothing to improve the state of our relationship.

"Been talking to Sam lately?" I asked coolly over dinner one evening.

Jacob did not reply. He sat at the end of the table, his expression broody. His dinner plate was untouched, despite the fact that we had been served almost half an hour earlier.

Giving up on a response, I rolled my eyes and returned to eating. I noticed Emily shift awkwardly as I bated him, although I didn't see why it should bother her. She and Rob were always fighting, and it was almost always over matters more trivial than trust. "So, Emily," I said, my voice still frosty. "How is work going?"

She swallowed and shot me an uncertain glance. "Um…it's….great, Renesmee. Thank you." She rose abruptly and picked up her plate, cutlery, and her glass of wine. "You know, I think I'm going to go find Alice and Jasper. I've got to ask them something."

"You know, I will too," Tara said, collecting her things quickly and following her sister.

The tension between Jacob and I seemed to reach a climax when we were alone. I tried to ignore it as I finished my meal, but it made me more and more irritated the longer that it stretched on. When I could take it no longer, I slammed my fork down on the table. "That is it!" I exclaimed. "What is the matter with you, Jacob? What is with this constant silent treatment? You can't deign yourself to talk to me?"

The TV in the adjacent room turned off almost automatically and I heard the room's occupants fleeing the vicinity.

Jacob glared at me. "I could say the same thing about you, now couldn't I?"

I jumped to my feet. "You want to accuse me of not talking to you? As I recall, it seems to me that you were the first one to start keeping secrets, so don't you dare start implying that I'm the problem here!"

He rose as well, his eyes blazing. "Yeah, I'm the problem! You were way out of line the other day! You had no reason to get that upset over something as little as me not sharing what Sam told me in a private conversation!"

"Not telling me just proves that you don't trust me, and you expect me to be okay with that?" I demanded.

"You are beyond reasoning with!" he said exasperatedly. "It's not the end of the world! Why do you have to make a crisis out of everything?"

"I am not the one making a crisis!" I turned on my heel and stormed out of the room. I returned to our room and slammed the door behind me, the room shuddering with the force I'd exerted. A framed photograph of Jacob and me on our wedding day fell over on the desk. I glowered at it, and then threw myself down on our bed. Tears of anger and sadness stung my eyes. I hated fighting. Growing up, there had been very few times at which Jacob and I had fought; I had assumed it would be the same once we were married. I gave a hard laugh at my own naïveté.

The door to my room opened and then closed softly once the entrant was inside. I didn't have to turn to know that it was my mother. She sat down on the edge of my bed and laid a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked.

I wiped away the few stray tears that had escaped my eyes and sniffed. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She chuckled.

I pushed myself up and wrapped my arms around my knees. "I didn't know how hard this was going to be when we got married, Mom."

She half-smiled sympathetically and stroked my face. "I don't think anyone ever does. So don't give up. There's nothing wrong with you two because you fight. Fights can even be good for a relationship. But you need to choose your battles carefully." She gave me a knowing look.

"Dad?" I guessed.

She pursed her lips. "He was concerned."

I rolled my eyes.

"The fact that he didn't tell you doesn't mean that he doesn't trust you," she told me. "But you have to be prepared to accept that there are just some things that are between Jacob and the pack."

I gazed at her in disbelief. "I can't believe you are taking his side!"

"I'm not," she said quickly. "But I think you should just consider carefully which things you choose to fight about and which things you choose to let go." She rose, correctly sensing that I was not in the mood to discuss this further. "Just something to consider," she said defensively, and then left.

I sighed heavily. I knew she was right and I hated that fact. I owed Jacob an apology, but that was not a prospect that I relished for my ego. Oh grow up, I told myself harshly. Just go apologize.

I rose unwillingly and made my way downstairs. I passed the living room and paused in the doorway. My parents and grandparents were congregated in the room, discussing something quietly. Before I could say anything, my father pointed outside.

I nodded. "Thanks." I opened the front door. I found Jacob sitting on the front steps. He did not turn at the sound of my approach. I pursed my lips and hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should come back later and wait a while before trying to bring this up. No, I decided. Just say what needs to be said.

I sat down beside Jacob and exhaled quietly. "Jake…I shouldn't have been so unreasonable. I'm sorry. I was out of line. There are some things that are between you and the pack, and I can respect that."

He gave a humourless chuckle. "That wasn't the problem, Nessie. I've never kept anything from you, not even about pack stuff. I don't have a problem sharing what's going on," he said, looking at me purposefully. For a moment, I was sure that he'd found out about what Tara had said to me. I shifted uncomfortably and waited for him to continue. "Nessie, I hope that you trust me the way I trust you. I hope you would tell me if you think I screwed up. I can't read minds like your dad. You kind of have to tell me if I've done something that you don't like."

I came very close to admitting my struggle to him for a moment, and then thought better of it. "The only thing I didn't like was not being included in what happened during your conversation with Sam."

"And I'm sorry for excluding you. I didn't know it was that important to you."

I shifted to face him. "Jake," I said, taking his hand. "You are important to me. You are the most important thing to me. And the pack is important to you, ergo, what happens in the pack is important to me."

He kissed me. "I'll remember that for the future."

"So what's the latest, then?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. "Has anything else happened?"

He shrugged. "Whoever it is has crossed the border a few more times."

"Sam can't get him?" I asked, surprised. "Or her?" I added after a moment.

"He's had some of the younger guys on patrol and they're not the best at…well, anything."

I half-smiled.

"He's trading some of them up and he wants our pack with 'em. He wants to make absolutely sure that none of them get through."

"'Them'?" I asked.

"There's at least three."

I grimaced.

"And uh…" He sighed and shuddered. "On a really unrelated note, apparently Paul's knocked up my sister." Paul's imprint was one of Jacob's older sisters, Rachel. They'd been married for four years already.

I covered my mouth. "Really?"

He shuddered again.

"Well," I smirked, elbowing him. "You're going to be an uncle."

"Please don't."

"Jacob Black is going to be Uncle Jacob."

"Nessie, for the sake of my sanity…"

"What sounds better, Uncle Jake or Uncle Jakey? Because personally, I think–"

"All right, all right," he said, smiling in spite of himself. "You're going to be Aunt Nessie too, you realize?"

"Yeah, but do you hear me complaining?"

He sighed again. "I always thought Rebecca was going to be the one to have kids first." Rebecca had already been married for almost a decade. She and her husband lived in Hawaii, which made visits few and far between.

"It was bound to happen eventually."

"Gee, I feel so much better."

I grinned. He returned my smile. We gazed at each other in silence for a moment. After a moment, I laid my head against his shoulder. He laced his fingers through mine and pressed his lips to the top of my head. "I like this whole not-fighting thing," he commented.

"Me too," I replied. How much do you want to bet that if we turn around right now, they'll all be staring at us? I said using my gift. We exchanged glances, and then both looked back at the house. My parents, grandparents, aunts and foster-sisters all turned away quickly.

Jacob sighed. "Too freaking predictable."

"They just never stop, do they?" I said, although I wasn't the least bit surprised.

"Well, let's go back inside," Jacob said. "I still have to talk to Carlisle about what's been going on in La Push."

We rose and went inside to find everyone busily doing something, avoiding our gaze and pretending to be unaware of our presence.

"Oh give it up already," Jacob said. "You were all eavesdropping and we all know it. Now let's get right to the point, shall we?"

They all stopped pretending immediately. My grandparents shot me sheepish smiles, but the rest of them seemed utterly unrepentant. How typical.

Everyone moved to sit. I was about to call for my uncles, Rob and Ian when they suddenly appeared in the room.

"Oh," Jacob blinked. "Okay then. Let's move on. So, as we all know, we've got some weird stuff going on: Ian's freaky vamp TA, the murder…but it gets weirder."

"How so?" asked my grandfather.

"Well, there are vampires near La Push, too," Jacob said.

With the exception of my father, everyone froze, stunned. After a moment, Grandpa Carlisle recovered. "Could it all be the same two, perhaps?"

Jacob shook his head. "Sam's picked up the scents of at least three." After a long moment of tense silence, he added, "Judging by the smell, he thinks they're all pretty young."

"Oh no," Rob and Uncle Jasper murmured in unison and then exchanged grave glances. "Do you suppose…?" Rob began.

Uncle Jasper shook his head. "No. She would never venture so far north. She wouldn't dare, not with the amount of Volturi activity that this area had has over the past decade. Aro hasn't officially banned newborn armies as of yet, but she knows she's toeing the line. She always did."

Rob nodded. "You're right. But who else could it be, then?"

Neither seemed to have a suggestion.

"It may not be an army," Ian said. "It is possible that this could all be coincidental, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's possible," Grandpa Carlisle conceded. "But it seems highly improbable."

"Carlisle's right," Emily agreed. "One or two newborns could be a coincidence, but not three, especially not given the other anomalies we've been experiencing lately."

There were mutterings of agreement.

"I know we agreed to simply be vigilant when we discussed this earlier," Tara said quietly. "But given this new information, I think a more…proactive, shall we say…response is required."

"What would you suggest?" Rob asked.

"Maybe we could seek them out instead of waiting for them to find us," she offered.

"What would we do once we've found them?" Grandpa Carlisle asked, a hesitant look in his eyes.

"What we have to," she said evenly.

"Hey!" Uncle Emmett said, a spark of excitement gleaming in his eyes. "There's an idea. Screw all of this craftiness, let's just have a war!"

"Amen," Jacob grinned.

Grandma Esme smiled at him, and then said gently, "But we don't want that sort of attention on us."

"So what do we do, then?" Aunt Rose asked.

For once, no one had an answer.

A quiet, uneasy week passed. Karan did not return to Ian's class, which made us all the more wary. Whoever he was and whatever he was doing here, it didn't seem good.

It was around dinner on Friday when Emily , Rob and Grandpa Carlisle returned from the hospital. Emily swept into the house ahead of them, brandishing a newspaper that was soggy with the day's rain. She slapped it down on the table at which Jacob, Ian and I were working. Tara, Mom, Aunt Rose and Aunt Alice, who were seated on the couch across the room, looked up as well.

I glanced at Emily expectantly, waiting for her to explain.

Ian picked the paper up gingerly and read the headline aloud. "Seattle Slayer Strikes Again. Oh how perverse. They've named him now?" he said disgustedly. "Have these people not a shred of shame?"

"What does it say?" asked Tara, laying her book aside and crossing the room to stand behind her mate.

"Seattle's infamous Slayer seems to have picked up right where he left off in 2007, bringing the total body count up to 10. His latest casualty is 20-year-old Amanda Joshua-Wright, who, ironically, was the girlfriend of Jack Morriswell, who disappeared last month, along with 23-year-old Christian Whitehall. Stranger still, Whitehall's girlfriend of two years, Melody Gurnish, was found dead near Green River eleven days ago." Ian looked at us. "It goes on to say that the FBI is sending a behavioural analysis team to investigate."

"Well this is a mess," Jacob said.

"A huge mess," Mom added.

"And now they're sending the FBI," Rob said solemnly.

"Maybe we should move again?" Aunt Alice said.

"I think that would make us look even guiltier," Emily pointed out.

"But if we stay and they discover us…"Aunt Rose trailed off.

It would be the end of everything, I finished silently.

"Hold on, hold on," Jacob said. "This is all assuming that they're going to connect us to the murders somehow. We'll just stay below the radar. We'll be fine."

"Let's just hope it's that simple," Grandpa Carlisle said.