A quick recap: "You knew," she uttered plainly. "And you didn't tell me."

By the time the rest of us had stepped out of the car, she was had disappeared into the hills.

Chapter Ten:

The Dagger

[Molly P.O.V

I was beyond angry – I was irate. Josh – my brother, my best friend – had lied to me. Joshua Johnson – the most loyal, honest creature to walk the earth – had lied to me. True, he lied about his identity daily, but this was on a different level – this was a betrayal. He who constantly spouted about God and integrity – he had become nothing more than a liar. Josh knew that Nathan wasn't who he said he was, but he didn't deem it necessary to warn his tormented sister that the human she was worrying her pretty little head over wasn't worth a moment of her endless time.

I knew that I wasn't exactly who I said I was either – but I did it to keep people safe. Nathan clearly had other, more sinister intentions. The anger in Josh's eyes when he pulled me from the dance floor would have made the most vicious of vampires hesitate. The disgust that plagued Edward's face when he turned to look back at the bewildered boy standing off to the side – Edward knew more than I had yet been told. Yes, Nathan wanted me to sleep with him, but Edward had seen other images in that twisted teenage mind.

Nathan had gotten me to trust him – I had let myself forget that humans were so capable of cruelty. Of course, he dared trust me – a vampire that could sooner kill him than kiss him. The situations were different! I couldn't keep rationalizing his actions – I accepted that I was a creature of the night, but Nathan Lancaster was purely a human of demented purpose.

I watched the water swirl around my feet – the hem of my beautiful dress was ruined, but I needed to be in the clear, clean water. I needed to be away from my deceptive family. Could I no longer trust anyone? Had I been living in a delusion for the past hundred and fifty years? Eventually, self would always win – how could I, for a moment, think that any creature that walked this earth was any less evil than those that had destroyed me? They were no less prone to a corrupted mind than I.

I took a deep breath of midnight air and tried to think rationally. It had taken so many years to convince myself of man's capacity to love. I had come to that conclusion through trial and error; in my long life, I should expect to come across some adversity. There was no reason to throw away more than a century's worth of work; there was no reason to succumb to my rage.

Josh was a man of God; he wouldn't do something he so adamantly avoided without reason. Edward had seen what was in Nathan's mind – if it truly was terrible enough to keep from me then I could not blame him either. Bella was my confidante – I trusted her because she never made rash decisions (knowing that once she made a decision, we were powerless to stop her). Lisa cared more than she would like to admit, and in agreeing to let me attend the dance, she had trusted the others' judgment in the situation. Neither my family nor friends deserved my hatred; just that ill-intentioned boy.

Now that I was calm, I stepped out of the churning water and hiked up my skirt to run home – only to crash into my brother's chest.

"Hi," I said, stepping back and looking up at his black eyes.

"I came to look for you."

"I see that." I smiled, showing him that he was forgiven. "You need to hunt soon."

"I know." He sighed, raking a hand through his messy curls. I noticed that he wore a ratty pair of jeans that I'd begged him to dispose of, and an old concert tee. He'd thought to change out of his nicer attire; I noticed him taking in my destroyed dress.

"I'm sorry," he said, sitting on the rock at the edge of the water. I sat by him, and leaned backwards to look up at the stars.

"You did what you thought was best," I said plainly.

"I was scared of telling you. I knew better." Josh admitted, looking up at the stars with me. "I thought that I could protect you."

I laughed feebly. "I've been a teenager for nearly two-hundred years. I'm going to have to learn that not everything is bubbles and fairytales sooner or later."

"Edward wanted to kill him, right there, when we staked out his house. We've gone back, a few times – we never stay very long." Josh was barely whispering.

"Tell me, Josh," I said, sitting up and looking at my brother. "If I am going to sit next to him and avoid him for the next couple of months, I want a reason. I want to know why you, of all people, lied to me."

Josh winced at the severity of words, but pulled me up to walk with him. "He was a gang member. Convicted of juvenile crimes, but suspected in more than a couple of missing persons cases. The ones that turned up were raped, beaten and murdered."

"Is that why he's here?" I asked, finding myself scanning through the trees, though I would know immediately if something else was out there.

"It seems so," Josh said stopping for a moment. "We don't know why he does this – but you're not his only intended victim."

"Don't try to save the world Josh." I cautioned. Bella was right – Edward and Josh were far too alike. "God won't punish you for not being able to protect every at-risk individual you come across."

"You say that as if it were a joke," Josh stared me in the eye, daring me to say more.

"I'm sorry," I looked at the detailed forest floor. "'Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,' says the Lord. 'I will protect them from those who malign them.'"

"I didn't know that you'd even read the Bible," he smiled for the first time that night.

"I wanted to know why it meant so much to you," I explained. "That promise is certainly a good reason. I don't necessarily believe it, but you know what they say, 'he's got the whole world, in his hands'."

Josh laughed, playfully punching me on the arm. I didn't tell him why the verse had struck a chord with me – why I both hated it, and hoped that I was true. We raced home.

There were more than just three other vampires in the house. I stopped, smelt the wonderfully comforting scent on the air, and ran through the door.

"Molly!" A giant of a man pulled me into his arms, swung me around, and put me down, where I was bombarded by his polar opposite – a short, black-haired woman.

"Alice!" I yelped as she pulled me into a hug.

"It's been far too long," She said, moving back to look at my face. "You haven't aged a day!"

"I wonder why," Esme Cullen pushed her way over to pull me into another hug. "We've missed all of you so much."

Josh was being greeted in much of the same manner – rather exuberantly. I chuckled before I realized that Rosalie was behind me.

"No hug for me?" She teased as we embraced. I had missed this family – our closest friends, though we rarely saw them anymore.

"I hear that you got into a spot of trouble," Carlisle said a few minutes later. "Alice saw you all leaving the dance in a hurry, and given what Edward told us, we assumed the worst."

"I think I'm okay now," I assured him, thinking: great, I really was the only one out of the loop.

"Good," he said, "we like things that way."

As the group returned to chatting – Edward had filled them in on the situation from earlier that evening – Josh excused himself to hunt.

"So," Dr. Cullen called the room to attention, "we need to discuss what we're going to do about this issue, since you've all expressed your worry for the safety of the female population of the town."

Though I was momentarily glad that we all seemed to be on the same page – we knew about Nathan's crimes, we ought to hinder him – I couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding as I watched my brother drive off towards the woods.

As if there was something out there, and he would come back a changed man.

OOOOOOOOO

"Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand?"

- Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 44 - 45

Quote in chapterPsalm 12:5

Author's Note: This is one of my longest chapters thus far! I want to hear what you think. As you know, I alternate the point of view each chapter, so next chapter is a look at Josh's reaction.