Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I only like to play in her world from time to time. I do own Liz, Emma and whoever else you don't recognize so please don't try to take them.

A/N: Thank you to Bible Chick, Lecia, KajiMori, Nikkirenzo59, Hailey-Stone, sakuraxcherryxblossom, Ally, LebaneseBella08TJ, Day of the Wolf, Leave your hat on, hunterjumpertwilightfan, and gymgurl for the reviews! You guys are pretty much the reason why I ended up writing this so fast. I have another extra, a small one where Seth gets a little jealous of someone since Bible Chick said she'd like to see something like that. So review if you'd like to see it! And let me know what you think of the story, what you like and don't like or any kind of suggestions you might have. I also set up a livejournal for all of my fiction, and I'm posting the extras in there as well. So if you want to read them with all of the proper formatting then you can find it as the homepage link in my profile. They're friends only though so you'll have to friend the journal so you can read them. Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter as well!

Chapter 7

"I'm a werewolf."

I shook my head. There was no way that I had heard him correctly. "What?" I asked.

"I'm a werewolf," he repeated.

So I definitely wasn't hearing things. Now I couldn't decide if Seth had lost it or if he was just messing around with me. "No you're not."

"Yes I am," he said. The corners of his mouth were twitching as if he were trying to hold in a smile.

"Okay, Seth," I said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. "You're a werewolf. And I'm Hermione Granger. And tomorrow I'm going to London so I can catch the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9 and ¾."

Seth sighed in annoyance, although he broke out into a full-blown grin. "Liz, this isn't the time for your nerdy book, okay? I. Am. A. Werewolf. I'm not lying about this."

I was really starting to get annoyed with him now. I don't understand why he was playing this practical joke on me. It wasn't even funny. "Okay, Seth. Joke's over. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. You can stop this stupid charade now."

"This isn't some kind of joke, Liz!" Seth said loudly, the exasperation evident in his voice and his smile was gone. He rubbed his forehead, like someone would do when they had a massive headache. "Shit," he muttered. "I'm doing this all wrong."

"Doing what?" I asked. I was starting to feel like I had a headache too. "Look Seth, maybe I should just go home."

"No!" he said, grabbing my hand. I fought the urge to pull away. I could tell now that he wasn't trying to mess around with me. He actually believed that he was a werewolf. I didn't know if that was worse. This was just great, my best friend and the guy that I was falling for was absolutely, completely, one hundred percent insane. As if he could read my mind, he said, "Liz, I'm not crazy. Just let me explain, okay?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. I really doubted there was any other explanation besides insanity, but I was willing to hear him out. "Alright."

He started to pace in front me. "Have you heard any of our legends?" he asked, not really looking at me.

"No," I answered.

"We have legends that claim we descended from wolves," he said. "But not normal wolves, really, but wolves that turn into men. And the true descendents of these wolves, or werewolves I guess, still carry the gene that causes the transformation. And it's triggered by our natural enemies."

"Werewolves have enemies?" I couldn't believe I was even going along with this. He was sounding crazier by the second, descending from werewolves whose DNA gets triggered whenever an enemy is near. He might as well have been writing a TV show for the science fiction channel.

"Just one," he said. "The Cold Ones." I raised my eyebrows skeptically at this, I had never even heard that name before but I'm sure it didn't mean something good. He stopped pacing and stood directly in front of me. "Vampires."

"Vampires? Oh come on, Seth," I said. I was really starting to get annoyed with him now. I reached out and pushed him back, although he didn't move an inch. "Did you and Quil dump Claire and I off at Emily's so you could do some peyote or something?"

"Liz, I'm not on drugs!" he said. He sounded exasperated but I could see the corners of his mouth twitching, as if he was trying to fight a smile. "There are such things as vampires. They're the reason why we're here, actually. There was a family of them living near here and they set off the genetic mutation. We hunt the ones that come into this area so they won't hurt anyone."

"You hunt them?" I asked. "What? Did Buffy contract you guys out?"

"Come on, Liz," he said, his face falling. "You promised you would be open minded about this."

"Seth, how can I be open minded about something like this?" I asked, practically shouting in my annoyance. "You sound like a complete lunatic! Werewolves and vampires are not real! I mean, what are you going to tell me next, that Claire is actually a three hundred year old fairy?"

Seth smiled at that. He actually smiled! He was obviously losing his damn mind if he thought smiling at me right then was a good idea. "Don't be stupid, Liz," he said. "There's no such thing as fairies."

I groaned in frustration and turned back towards the woods. "Just take me home, Seth," I said as I made my way towards the trees.

His burning hot hand was on my shoulder then, stopping me before I could make it into the forest. I whirled around, ready to yell at him again but I stopped when I saw the expression on his face. He looked so upset, like a little kid who had just found out that Santa Clause wasn't real. "Wait, please," he said softly, his voice sad and pleading. "Look, I'll… I can prove it to you, okay? Just don't leave."

"Prove it how?" I asked. I knew I shouldn't be encouraging his delusions but I had to admit, I was really curious about how he would go about proving something that outrageous.

"I'll phase," he said simply.

"Phase?" I asked, confused.

"Yes," he said slowly, as if he were talking to a five year old. "I'll turn into one right now."

"Don't you need a full moon for that?" I asked, skeptically. This was such a bad idea. I should have just kept my mouth shut. I could just picture him now, getting down on all fours and howling at a moon that wasn't out yet.

"Of course not," he said, looking at me as if he thought I was the crazy one. This was just great, he wasn't even following werewolf canon so I had no idea what exactly I was dealing with. And then he took his shirt off.

"What are you doing?" I asked shrilly, trying to avert my eyes. Seth's chest was very muscular for someone so gangly and it was hard not stare at it. And I did not want to be ogling him right now. I mean, he thought he was a werewolf, for crying out loud! It's not a good thing when you find yourself attracted to the mentally unhinged.

"I can't wear these," he explained. "It'll completely shred them if I do and I'm running low on pants as it is." Oh, this was just great. Not only was he going to get down on the ground and start howling like some kind of lunatic, but he was going to do it naked. This was getting more ridiculous by the second.

He quickly lost his jeans and then he was standing in front of me wearing only a pair of boxer shorts. I was trying not to stare at him, looking around at pretty much everything but him. "Liz," he said softly, as if standing practically naked in front of me was the most natural thing in the world. "Don't freak out, okay?"

I nodded, not really answering him. Of course I wasn't going to freak out because he only thought he was going to turn into a werewolf. It's not like he was going to grow fur and start hunting around for human flesh. I mean, it wasn't even a full moon! I don't care what Seth said, every thing I had ever heard about werewolves involved full moons.

His whole body started to shake, as if he was really pissed off about something, and then fur literally exploded out of him. And suddenly, Seth wasn't standing in front of me anymore. Instead, there was an incredibly large sand-colored beast in his place. It was more like a bear, really, because it was just so big but it had wolf-like features. I felt my eyes go wide and my mouth fell open in a mixture of shock and... well, fear. It's really stupid but I have always had this completely irrational fear of wolves. It had started when I was really young and watched some stupid television show in which a rabid, blood-thirsty wolf got loose and tried to eat everyone in the town. I know it sounds completely ridiculous and yet… there it was. And this wolf that I was facing now was easily three times the size of any normal wolf, maybe more. I was barely five feet tall and it was around the same height as me. It was like I had just stepped into one of the nightmares I had had all the time when I was six.

"Oh my God," I whispered. Somehow, I knew that the wolf was Seth. It had the same warm brown eyes, eyes that were both too kind and too intelligent for an animal. So either he had been telling the truth or I was just as crazy as he was. But obviously we weren't crazy because what were the odds of us having the same kind of hallucination? And yet I found myself wishing that I was insane because… well, because my best friend had just turned into some kind of fucking giant wolf. He must have noticed the absolute fear written all over my face because he took a step towards me. I instinctively took a step back, not really wanting to be any closer to him at the moment. Then he whimpered and pawed at the ground.

Suddenly we weren't the only people in the clearing. Jacob and Leah came out of nowhere and stood between me and the giant wolf. Leah was facing Seth, yelling at him. "What were you thinking, Seth? You can't just –" And then suddenly I couldn't hear what she was saying anymore. The only thing I could pay attention to was the fact that Leah was shaking just like Seth had before he had exploded into a large mass of fur. Did this mean that Leah was one of them too? Did Sue know about this? There was a loud ringing in my ears and I was having a little bit of trouble breathing. I was officially freaking the fuck out.

Jacob was in my face then. "Liz, are you okay?" I shook my head slowly, still staring wide-eyed at the massive wolf in front of me. He turned to Leah and Seth and said, "Maybe you guys should get out of here." Seth whimpered again and stared sadly at me. Leah started stripping down and I knew that my suspicions were confirmed. Before she could morph into another wolf, Jacob stopped her. "Really, Leah, don't you think you could do that somewhere else?" She shot him a dirty look and then moved into the trees with Seth following reluctantly behind her. Then he turned to look at me. "Maybe you should sit down," Jacob said. "You look like you're going to hurl."

I sat down on the forest floor and put my head between my knees. Jacob patted my back, probably trying to calm me down, but I shuddered when I felt the burning hot warmth radiating off of his hand. Oh God, what if he was one of them too? Once I knew I wasn't going to throw up when I opened my mouth, I asked, "Are you a… a werewolf too?" The question would sound ridiculous to someone else but it was of the utmost importance to me at that moment.

"Will you freak out again if I say I am?" he asked.

"Probably."

"Well, then I plead the fifth," he said, smirking at me.

I groaned in annoyance. "Isn't that the same thing as admitting it?"

"No, it's more like I still have to drive you home and I don't want you to puke in my car."

That got my attention, the fact that he was going to take me home. Right now all I wanted to do was get in my bed and pretend that this whole day hadn't happened, that Seth hadn't just turned into some huge freaking werewolf. It was kind of cowardly, actually. I had just found out that the world was a lot different than I thought it was, the supernatural was actually real, and all I wanted to do was go home and act like there were no such things as werewolves and vampires and who knows what else. I got to my feet quickly and said, "Let's go."

We walked through the forest in silence and ended up at Sam and Emily's house again. "Wait here," Jacob said. "I'll go get my car." I sat down on the steps to the front door, hoping that no one would come out and try to talk to me right now. I wasn't really in any kind of state to have a conversation, I was still trying to find a way to explain away what I had just seen. Of course, luck wasn't on my side that afternoon.

I heard the front door open and watched out of the corner of my eye as Emily sat down next to me. "Liz? What's wrong?"

I didn't know what to say to her. I didn't know if she knew about the completely freakish genetic mutation that was turning La Push residents into huge beasts that fought the supernatural so I didn't want to bring it up. Frankly, I wished I didn't know about it. "Nothing," I said, staring straight ahead. I tried to keep my face void of all emotion so she wouldn't probe any further but I failed horribly. I didn't have a mirror on me but I just knew that I still looked completely freaked out.

She stared at me for a minute and then sighed. "Seth told you, didn't he?" Well, I guess she knew about the giant wolves then. I had no idea how she could be completely normal about this, it felt like my whole world had been turned upside down. I didn't really know what to say so I just nodded in response. "I know it's a little weird –"

I cut her off. "A little weird? Really?"

She pursed her lips. "Okay, maybe it's more than a little weird but… he's still the same Seth he was before, Liz. And I know that you cared about that Seth a whole lot just an hour ago." What she was saying didn't make any sense to me. How much I cared about that Seth didn't matter because I knew the real Seth now, the one who turned into a wolf so he could hunt vampires. That Seth, the before Seth, had been lying to me. Well, maybe not really lying but he had definitely been keeping things from me. I couldn't help but wonder if that's what he had been doing Friday night when he randomly showed up in my kitchen. I couldn't stop myself from shuddering at the thought of that giant wolf running around Emma's house.

Thankfully, I didn't have to answer her. Jacob's small red car pulled up. "Bye Emily!" I said, jumping up and running down to the car.

Once I was inside, Jacob cleared his throat. "Look Liz, you can't tell anyone about what you saw, okay?"

I laughed at that, probably sounding hysterical. "Like anyone would believe me," I said. "If I said anything about that to anyone, they would stick me in a padded room and throw away the key."

He nodded at that, probably silently agreeing with me. There was no way that anyone would believe me if I told them about this. Hell, I hardly believed it and I had just witnessed it first hand! Then he said, "He didn't ask for this, you know. None of us did."

"Jacob, I don't really –"

He interrupted me. "Just listen, okay? None of us even got a say in this, we were just born with it. We don't exactly revel in the fact that we're freaks of nature."

"So why do you do it?" I asked.

He barked out a hard laugh, the kind people use when they don't actually think something is funny. "It's not exactly something we can control." He shook his head. "We all thought they were just stories. We never imagined that they were our actual history, you know? Seth was the same way. He didn't even know it was real until one day he just turned into a wolf. Believe me, there is nothing freakier than that. And now he can't turn it off, although I'm sure he'll wish he could after today." He gave me a pointed look, letting me know that my reaction would affect Seth and the way he viewed this curse that fallen on all of them. And then it all came rushing back to me. This was Seth we were talking about, not some monster. I had kept picturing that wolf that I had been so scared of as a child, the one that had delighted in actually eating people. But that was just something from a horror movie, that wasn't Seth. Seth was kind and probably the sweetest guy I would ever meet. He wouldn't hurt an innocent human. He had even mentioned that he had to turn into a werewolf so he could protect people from vampires. Suddenly I felt incredibly guilty on top of everything else. I had seen exactly how much I had hurt him in his eyes before he had taken off into the woods earlier. And I didn't want to hurt him, even if he had really scared the crap out of me today.

I groaned and put my head in my hands. "I really hurt him, didn't I?" Jacob nodded. "I didn't… I mean, it's just so weird!"

"Believe me, I know," Jacob said.

"I just need some time, I guess," I said. It was the truth. And I didn't think I could be around Seth while I got used to it. Because it would definitely take some getting used to. I didn't want Seth around to see that, even though I didn't want to hurt him, I was still kind of scared of him. What can I say? It takes a while to get over your irrational fears.

Jacob nodded again, apparently satisfied with my answer. We had reached Emma's by then and I had to stifle a groan when I saw her car in the driveway. I really did not think I could keep a straight face for her right now, and there was no way I could tell her what was really going on with me. Somehow, I knew that 'Sorry, I'm just a little freaked out right because I just found out that your best friend's children turn into gigantic werewolves when vampires are near' wouldn't really fly that well with her.

I walked into the house, trying to be as quiet as possible so that I could escape up to my bedroom. But that stupid mutt blew my cover by running into the living room, barking her head off. Emma stood in the doorway and said, "Liz, where have you…" She stopped when she saw my face. I hadn't looked in a mirror at all but I guess I looked pretty bad. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. I just… don't feel good. That's all."

She nodded so I guess I must have still looked sick. "Where did you go?"

"I went over to Seth's," I said. Please don't let her say anything about that. I didn't think I could handle her teasing me about him right now.

She smiled like she had just won the lottery. "What did you guys do?" I shrugged and bit my lip. She frowned when she realized I wasn't going to say anything. "Did you guys get into a fight?"

"What?" I asked, my voice higher than normal. "No. Of course not."

She looked at me skeptically. "You don't look so good, Liz. Maybe you should go lay down." I nodded and made my way quickly to the stairs. "Hey Liz," she called after me. I turned around, praying that she wasn't going to push this right now. "Next time you go out, leave me a note. I had no idea where you were. I was getting really worried."

That kind of shocked me. I had never had to leave things like notes before, mostly because no one had ever really worried about where I was before. I nodded slowly before turning around and practically running up the stairs. I went straight for my bedroom and got into bed without even bothering to change out of the sweater and jeans I was wearing. I put my pillow over my head to block out all of the light and tried desperately not to think.