Chapter 6

Alliance

Edythe convinced me after the second night of searching Seattle for my dad that we had to stop. I didn't like it but I knew she was right. "What would you do if you ran into one of the newborns?" She asked on our way back to Forks right at sunrise.

I didn't have an answer. I knew that running into one of them would be bad news; there'd be no way to keep it from coming to a fight and with the way they'd been failing to dispose properly of their victims they'd just fight us with no regards for the consequences if any humans happened to see. Edythe was right; I just had to accept the fact that my parents both were gone. The realization hit me hard about the time we entered Port Angeles and I broke down, dry sobs coming from deep in my chest from the grief that was starting to overwhelm me. It felt weird; that this body couldn't cry but Edythe cradled me in her arms. If there was anything that could have helped more, I don't know what it was.

I knew it was silly, but I always hoped that there was going to be a way to bring my dad just close enough to the world of the supernatural, especially since with him being friends with Bonnie and the Clearwaters he was already a lot closer than he realized he was. Maybe if he could have known the truth, known the real reason he should have been nowhere near Seattle right now he might have stayed away.

It had turned overcast again when we got into Forks, so Carine pulled the Mercedes into a gas station to fill up. I went inside and saw the headline I feared the most in the Olympic Tribune. In big bold letters read, 'Local Police Chief missing in Seattle, Feared Dead'. Seeing that made it real and I got a copy of the morning's paper. As we pulled out I began reading it.

'Forks Police Chief Charles Swan was part of a volunteer force to assist WASP and Seattle PD in looking for clues as to the motive to and anything else in the investigation into the suspected serial killer that has been active in and around Seattle in the past few months. The last report of him anyone had was when he reported a meal break at 1800 hours on Thursday night. No one has heard from him since then.

As of now, the confirmed body count of the killing spree in and around Seattle stands at 133, with several hundred more disappearances that, while not confirmed as homicides, the missing are feared dead.

Any tips on the location of Chief Swan or any of the other missing should be relayed to WASP at 206-555-6396 or Detective Dallas Watkins of Seattle PD at 206-555-2543.

Chief Swan has no survivors as his son Beau died in May of this year in a car accident in northern Nevada and his ex-wife and her husband went missing from Dallas in June. They are also feared dead. A memorial is planned for Monday at Forks High School's gym at 6:00 PM.'

Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to attend the service in keeping with the entire I was supposed to be dead façade, however Edythe, Carine, and Earnest would, in addition Archie would tell me what he saw going on. There was one problem with this plan, since I was sure that Bonnie would be there and that also meant that a few wolves would also which would limit what Archie could see.

I was surprised when we got back to the house to see Julie already there. I assumed that she had heard the news and had come to see how I was taking it. That changed when I saw Sam also with her. Julie and her friends had been fairly cordial when they were here, but Sam was still as stubborn as anyone else; she hated me.

When we all stepped out of Carine's Mercedes, Bonnie was pulled out of the other car in the driveway by Jules. I smiled. I just couldn't help it. It was just so good to see her again, but her look was stern. She was pissed and Edythe, I assumed reacting to her thoughts, hissed. I turned to my fiancée and gave her a warning glance. I didn't need a fight between Bonnie and the Cullens tonight. There was more than enough on my mind now.

"Hello Bonnie," Carine said diplomatically, her smile completely welcoming.

"Carine Cullen," she said with her tone not conveying what she was here for. Was she ready to start the war between The Quileutes and the vampires?

"What can we do for you?" Carine asked still polite, diplomatically even. Edythe held me close to her and I wondered why. I mean, what were they here for?

"I take it you know why we're here?"

"Yes," Carine answered, her tone and expression both solemn. "We've been looking for Charlie for the last two nights, but have yet to find any leads."

My emotions began to get the better of me and I just collapsed to my knees, all of my strength gone. I wanted so badly to break down and cry but this body just wouldn't let me do that. I didn't know what to do any more.

"I'm so sorry Beau," Bonnie said as she started towards me, but was stopped by Julie.

Edythe looked at me, her eyes almost as sad as mine were. "Are you okay Beau?" She asked as she tried to help me up.

"I don't know," I said and in truth I didn't know what she was asking me. If she was asking about my thirst, which was so far down the list it wasn't funny. I wanted so bad to destroy whatever was behind whatever was going on in Seattle, but I knew that losing my temper would only get us in more trouble than we were already in.

Edythe sat next to me and rubbed my back. I could tell from the smell that Julie started to come closer to us to help me. She looked as sad as I was and the beginning of tears were in her eyes.

"It was one of your kind, wasn't it?" Julie said as she sat on the other side of me from Edythe. "Another bloodsucker."

I nodded. "Probably."

"Someone has been creating a lot of newborn vampires in Seattle the last few months," Carine said softly to Bonnie and Sam, even though the three of us were more than twenty feet away from them I heard them as clear as if they were next to me, "but whoever it is hasn't taught them anything about our laws. They simply turned them loose on the humans in the city."

"Your kind has rules?" Sam asked sounding surprised. Did she really think that vampires had been hidden for millennia without a few rules?

Carine nodded, "Only one really, with a thousand components. That the existence of vampires must be kept secret."

"Oh," Bonnie gasped. She was thinking about something, but I wasn't paying much attention to them right now. Grief over the loss of my dad was hitting me like a ton of bricks and I just wanted to punch something. Maybe going deep into the woods and just destroying a couple of boulders might be a good idea. It was something that I had done before; a safe way that Edythe could show me how strong I was now. Granted that I wasn't as strong anymore as I had been in my first few weeks to the new life.

I couldn't believe all that I'd lost in the last couple of months since I met Edythe. My humanity was way down on the list. I thought I'd been willing to bear the cost of being with Edythe forever, but now I wasn't so sure. Both my parents and Phil deaths was too high of a price; but for some reason I had a feeling that they weren't dead. I still felt them; I can't explain it, but I did.

"Seriously Beau," Julie said which brought me from deep in my thoughts.

"Huh?" I looked up at Julie and was surprised at how soft her face looked, almost like she was taking Charlie's loss as hard as I was

"That's not a bad idea," Edythe said to Julie.

"Dammit leech! Get out of my head!" She yelled.

"I don't do it on purpose," Edythe said as she looked towards Carine and Bonnie, "but it is a good idea."

"What is it Edythe?" Carine said turning her attention from Bonnie.

"Well, most likely the newborns are being created to deal with a threat somewhere around Seattle," Edythe answered. Had Julie really thought this so far through or was this Edythe putting pieces together that she only randomly gathered from Jules? "And since we're really the only thing that could be perceived as a threat"

Sam put everything together and answered Edythe's speculation, "They're coming here?" Sam's voice was rough and panicked.

"Most likely," answered Edythe.

"But I would have seen that," Archie said coming out to join the discussion.

"Unless someone is behind this who knows a lot about your talent," Edythe said.

When Edythe said that, I realized that there was only one real possibility. Carine was confident that it wasn't the Volturi behind this and that was good enough for me, so that left Victor. But how would Victor possibly know anything about how Archie's gift worked?

I put it together in another second. Victor wouldn't, but Lauren might and her loyalty to Joss and Victor might still be enough that she'd tell him everything he learned about us. She had spent time in Denali with Tavar's coven. Surely the Cullen's closest friends would know about the gifts of us. And then there was Elena. With her talent being gift identification, surely she'd know more about a vampire's gift than almost anyone else. Victor must of picked Lauren's brain for information about our gifts before asking her to come and try and pick off someone in the surrounding area. There was no way to know exactly whom her initial target was. But they hadn't counted on the wolves.

I finished putting everything together as I heard Carine ask Sam, "Would you be open to an alliance?"

Sam looked intrigued. "It's an interesting proposition," she said thinking about it. Surely a few of them would be willing to join us in this fight, but still for the wolves to risk themselves for me, it made me feel both ecstatic and also horrified. Despite the fact that the wolves were huge, almost the size of horses, they still seemed oddly fragile. But if they were able to deal with Lauren, then they'd definitely be able to help.

"We'd have to consult with the elders," Bonnie said to Carine. "This is not something that my grandmother would have ever considered, but times have definitely changed and you have proved yourselves everything you claimed to be and then some."

Carine's smile was dazzling. "Thank you," she said softly as Sam started to take Bonnie back to the car.

"Can I stay?" Julie asked to Sam.

"I'm not sure that's wise right now," the alpha answered. "We need to be prepared for anything if those leeches try to attack La Push."

"They'd cross here first," Julie answered, muttering it just above a whisper. Sam finally relented and gave a silent nod.

Another few minutes later, Bonnie was loaded back into the small sedan and Sam drove off. I couldn't say that Julie looked comfortable here, but she wasn't near as nervous as she had been before. "So what's up with you and Sam?" I asked a few minutes after they left.

"Oh, you know," she answered as we walked around the river bank behind the house. Edythe had left the two of us so we could to talk.

"Not really," I replied with a nervous chuckle. "Anything interesting going on with you guys?"

"A couple of things," Julie answered trying to laugh everything off, "but I don't think a leech like you'd be interested in anything that we're up to."

I smiled. It was just so easy for the two of us to be ourselves even still, which normally meant jokingly insulting each other. "Yeah, probably. You dogs are weird."

That did it. Julie burst out laughing, nearly filling the entire forest with the sound. "Well, a couple of things. Sam's been letting me do what I want a lot more, almost like she knows I'm gonna fight her for alpha one day."

"You want to be alpha?" The surprise evident in my tone. If Julie was the alpha and we were still friends, then that would make things a lot easier for both sides.

Julie shook her head. "Not really. I didn't want to be involved with any of this. I didn't want to be some mythical guardian of the tribe, let alone their leader. Even still, when I first started to control myself, Sam offered it."

"Did she not want it?"

"Naw," Julie laughed again. "She loves being in charge. It's just the bloodlines, you know? My great-grandmother was the last great wolf chieftess, so it should fall to me. At least that's how the legend works."

"Chief Julie," I whispered thinking about what that could mean. If Julie was the chief, then we could maybe amend the treaty to allow some things that we couldn't now. It'd be nice, but just not workable right now.

"Yeah, I know. Mom says I should of embraced my legacy but it's hard. But getting to spend time with you is really great."

"So let's assume that Bonnie and the elders agree with Carine and you and your friends will help us. What would that mean?"

Julie smiled; kind of a sinister smile that she wore when she was trying to not show how hyped she was about something.

"What?" I said. How much had she thought this through?

"Well, it would mean a lot of bloodsuckers that we'd get to kill," she look excited about the possibility. "That one was a lot of fun but there hadn't been any more that had come anywhere near our lands."

"Hey Jess!" I called back towards the house, maybe a little louder than needed but she still came out quickly flanked by Archie. This would certainly be something that we should ask Jessamine about since she knew a lot more about newborns.

She started sizing up Julie and I was a little worried that it might had come to a fight right there but I was relieved when Jess slacked out of her crouch. "You're very confident about yourself," Jessamine said to Julie.

"Ain't met the leech yet that could take me," Julie answered laughing again.

"Maybe if you sparred against me you might learn some respect," Jessamine was definitely issuing a challenge right now, flashing her teeth slightly.

I felt Julie start trembling all over her body, but no sooner had it started than her eyes closed and I felt her breathing grow deeper and slower. She was trying to calm herself.

"Jules," I said after a few seconds and she opened her eyes. They looked completely peaceful again like she was still happy to be in my company. Now that I was sure that Julie wasn't going to explode into a wolf right there, I turned on my sister. "You shouldn't goad her like that!" I shouted as I crouched forward ready to stop Jessamine from trying any more to start a fight between them.

"Impressive," Jessamine said, looking awed at me. "Beau, I've never seen a newborn in such command of their emotions like you have been. You were scared when I challenged your friend, and then showed such loyalty to protect her from hurting herself and me as well. You're challenging a lot of my beliefs about newborns."

"So wait," I said the confusion evident in my voice, "you were testing me?"

"Yes but a sparring session with some of the wolves would be useful. If they are going to help us with this fight, then they'll need to know how to defeat the young ones."

"They're different than you?" Julie asked. I was wondering too since from what Jessamine said, I was so different that any of the newborns she had ever seen so much so that I was making her question a lot of deeply held beliefs in our world.

"Archie is fairly confident that only very young vampires will be coming to this battle. Being so new, most of our kind only know how to fight with their brute strength. Learning strategy comes much later in this life."

"So only brute strength then, huh?" Julie said sounding like she was thinking out loud.

"Yes," Jessamine continued, "all they will be expecting is a frontal assault. They wouldn't even know that your kind exists. That could give us a great tactical advantage."

"We'd help you?" Julie said, and I knew that she meant help the way Jessamine had been mentioning, not simply fighting with us.

"Immensely."

"Well then, I guess I better get home and convince Sam to let us help."

"Assuming you are successful," Jessamine added smiling, "bring as many as you wish tomorrow night. Y'all will need some training in eliminating the newborns."

"Kay," Julie said as she gave me a parting hug. "You take care of yourself Beau."

"You too Jules." Julie started running towards the river and in mid stride was replaced by a huge russet brown wolf. She was majestic, graceful even. "Tomorrow night?" I asked Archie.

"I can't see anything, so I assume they'll be here." Archie laughed as he said, "I can't even tell how many."

I smiled for a second before panic set in. Julie and her friends were going to risk their own lives save me. Another minute later I realized that it wasn't for my benefit, but they'd be fighting to avenge Charlie. I knew that Bonnie would be one of the fiercest advocates for the plan now. One of Victor's creations had killed Charlie and Bonnie wouldn't be able let that go. Not only would the newborn responsible pay for that, but Victor would as well.

Then another line of thought crossed my head. It was something I asked Edythe about but still I wondered why Julie had been so cool with me since she learned the whole truth. "Hey Jules?" I asked.

Instantly her head perked up. She ran back into the trees and a couple of seconds later, she was back in her human form. "What's up Beau?"

"Why are you still my friend?" I hoped she wouldn't be insulted by the question. I would be eternally grateful for the fact that she was. "I mean aren't we supposed to be enemies?"

She burst out laughing. It was just so Jules; the completely opposite reaction that I expected. "Beau," she said but thought for a few seconds to think of the words she wanted to use, I assumed, "I'm still your friend," again a slight pause, "despite the fact that we both kinda changed but, at the same time, we're both still the same people. It's just now there's… I don't know… more on top, I guess."

"That's a good way to describe it," I said. I still felt like me.

"Yeah I know," Julie answered. "But if you can still like me even though I'm a terrifying werewolf," Julie had a huge grin on her face and I couldn't help but return it, "then I guess I can deal with it if you're a reeking bloodsucker too."

I busted up laughing too. I just couldn't help it. It was just too easy to be myself around Julie; my old pre-vampire self anyway.

Julie's smile got bigger too. "Thanks Beau. I still don't understand it though. I mean all of our legends said that infant vampires were terrible. They couldn't be controlled; reasoned with."

"Yeah, I think I know why," I admitted.

"You do?" Julie said, but both Archie and Jessamine both looked interested in my hypothesis.

"Yeah, I mean I was reading of Carine's psychology books. I was bored. Reading always has been one of the ways I like to entertain myself. So I was reading about Freud, you know? The id, ego, and superego and it kinda makes sense. Babies, human babies that is, are completely consumed by their ids; the whole if it feels good do it, if you got an itch scratch it, if you're hungry eat, if you gotta poop… you get the idea. But eventually the ego develops and you start making connections with other people. And then you start understanding cultural traditions and whatever." I looked at Jessamine to explain. "It makes sense that newborn vampires would be the same way. Ya know, the very young ones are dominated by their id, and in time the ego and superego develop."

Jessamine looked at me stunned. "I never thought of it that way," she said. "Maybe there are more in common with our kinds than I thought. Our psyches at least. And because so much was expected from you, not only from us but also yourself, maybe that's why it's been so easy for you."

I smiled. When Archie first told me about the transformation, about what I should be expecting and what newborns normally were like, I kinda feared it. It was the whole part of the process that terrified me the most; that would have kept me from even bringing it up to Edythe or Carine. But it had been so easy for me and I just never put the pieces together. Finally I asked to Jessamine, "Why am I so different than everyone else?"

But it was Archie that came up with the theory. "I wonder if it's because you knew what was going on."

"Wonder?" I asked before joking with him, "Some psychic you are."

Archie smiled again briefly before retuning to hypothesizing, but not before explaining how his gift works. "I only see actions Beau, not the reasons behind them. Maybe that's why my gift works on you but not Edythe's. But back to your control. Beau most people when their bitten," he backed his words back by shaking his head violently, so much so that a human would have been dizzy from it, "when they're going through the change, all they can do it scream. They've got no idea what's happening to them. You did; you knew what was going on. Not only that, but you were held on to and guided through it with people you love and who care about you." He thought for a second before adding, "Even Royal, though he'd hate to admit it. And maybe that allowed you to, when you made the choice to join Edythe," a large smile was back on his face, "and the rest of us," he winked, "to go through it, maybe that's what made it so that your ego and superego came with you intact through the change. You didn't abandon them. You knew why you were going through this, and it was all in the superego. It wasn't just for you, you know… you were doing this for Edythe. You were doing it for Carine." He didn't say, but I knew he wanted to that I was doing it for him as well.

"It's not like I wasn't doing it for myself too," I kind of mumbled.

Archie grinned again. "True, but it wasn't just for yourself." He made sure to emphasize the word 'just' with pointing to his lips as he said it.

He was right. If one day Edythe had asked me; if she had finally gained up enough courage and confidence that I wouldn't be damned for being changed and told me everything herself, I don't know what I would of said if Archie hadn't told me what he did in Phoenix. But at the same time, everything Archie was saying now made sense.

"Quite a plausible theory," Jessamine said with her arms enjoined with Archie's.

"Or maybe it's just Beau's special," Archie sighed dismissively.

I laughed. Either way it was fine with me. "So Jules, see ya tonight?"

"Umm," she thought for a second, "I probably shouldn't. I'm supposed to run patrols tonight with Sarah Clearwater; kinda show her the ropes a little, ya know? But tomorrow for sure. I'll work on Sam."

"So how's she doing with all of this?" I asked even thought Sarah didn't really worry about her. It was Lee I was more interested in. Being the only male werewolf in the tribes known history had to be awkward.

"Not bad," Julie answered, "her control still kinda sucks and physically she's still really awkward but she's getting better." Yet again, Julie looked at me smiling, deciding something. "She'd really like to meet you."

"Me?" I shrieked.

"She's kinda like I was, ya know. Not really liking the Cullens all that much, but she has enough friends through the computer that live in Forks that really trust Dr. Cullen. Maybe once she hears all the legends again, knowing that they're all a hundred percent fact, she might change her mind. Then again, knowing her… probably not. Lee's been kinda annoying," she offered without any other prodding.

"It's not his fault," I said trying to defend him. I'm sure I didn't know the whole story between Sam and Lee, but for her to dump him for his cousin was pretty cold.

"It is and it's not. Ya know? I mean, most of us try to cooperate as much as possible. Not think about things that would upset another sister or brother. But he keeps bringing up stuff that some of us would like to forget."

"Like?" I prodded.

Julie shook her head. This was a sign that I shouldn't pry any more about these things right now. If she was right, and Sarah would want to meet our family then maybe she'd answer some of my questions.

Julie looked hopeful again. "Tomorrow night?" She looked right at Archie.

"I can't see anything tomorrow," Archie said, "so that probably means at least some of you are going to gonna be here."

"Awesome!" Julie crowed. "I'll see you tomorrow night Beau."

"See ya Jules."


AN: Hello everyone again. There it is, another chapter posted. What did you guys think? Please take a couple of minutes to let me know. Next time, our friends learn something that worries them all to the core. I'm also still working on getting all of Royal's story complete, including how he got back at his fiancée for having her lover beat him to death. It's gonna be really dark and will probably need a trigger warning. If anyone is open to giving me feedback on this, please PM me. Other than that, I hope you guys are having a good new year so far.