A/N: This chapter is a bit longer that some of the others, but the next one is shorter so it works. Sorry for the ending. Please review!

Chapter 9 Close Calls

"Hello," Sam answered his phone on the third ring. "Wait, slow down Jared, I can't understand a word your saying."

We waited to hear Sam's next comment. "Oh...you re sure?"

It was Jared, one of my dad's old pack friends, and judging by the alarm in Sam s voice, he wasn't giving him good news. There was probably another member of the pack. Poor Coda! Jared's son is seventeen and I guess he's going to be next.

"Yeah, that s what it sounds like. Not much we can do. Our boys are just about done, and Billy changed a week ago."

"No. He didn't tell anyone until they got here. I guess they thought it was just him, something to do with being around the Cullens," He explained to Jared.

Did they really think we would hide this from them on purpose?

"Ok, well keep us posted, a few of us will come by to check on him soon....bye." Sam hung up the phone.

"Looks like Coda is next to join the new pack, Sam mumbled as he slid his phone back in his pocket.

"So, that puts them at five." Leave it to my father to state the obvious.

"There will be more." Sam looked distressed to see the boys of La Push all turning into these massive wolves.

"What makes you think that?"

"I just don t think five is enough. Look how many we had Jake. There were over fifteen of us in the end!" Sam shouted angrily.

"Yeah, but that s not how it has to be this time. It could be a small threat, something a few of our boys could take out and this could all be over before you know it."

I could see my dad grasping to the idea that no more innocent kids had to be brought into this particular club. I didn't really see the big deal, I mean yeah it was painful for a couple of days, but we were wolves for goodness sake. I thought it was pretty cool.

Dad's voice broke my thoughts, "C'mon guys, lets get back to grandpa Billy's. We have things to discuss and phone calls to make."

When we had been walking a couple of minutes, I saw Sammy grab my sister s hand again. It didn't bother me. She seemed ok with it, so I was ok with it too. She was right after all; I did know better than anyone how useless it is to fight that pull. I was already consumed by thoughts of Rissa again. I really hope she was being careful. I felt terrible that I wasn't there to take care of her and keep her safe.

I hung back to talk to Sammy on the walk back.

"So, who do you think is the beta?" I asked him.

"Beta?" He looked confused.

"Oh sorry. That's what my grandma Bella and Dad call the second in command."

"Oh, um.... I don t know. I hope it s me." He looked so hopeful. I hoped it could be him too, but I wasn t sure how all these things worked. We could ask our dads but they both seemed completely submerged in the conversation they were holding ahead of us.

When we got back to the house, I excused myself from the group and went to call Rissa. I couldn't take it any longer; I needed to hear her voice. As soon as I was out back, in the makeshift garage if that s what you could even call it, I dialed her number.

She answered right away. "Hey babe, I'm so glad you called."

"Me too. This whole day has been so crazy, and all I could do was think about you."

"So what s the big news, what s going on with your friends in La Push?" she asked in her sweet concerned voice.

"Oh. Well...they are changing like I did, we just don t know why yet."

She was quiet for a minute, "Well, what kinds of things cause this to happen?"

"I only know of one thing...." I couldn't tell her that our only enemies were vampires. Could I?

"Well, what is it?" She sounded impatient.

"Honestly, I don t know if I should tell you. I wouldn't want to scare you, and I m not there to read your expressions."

She laughed, and quickly reassured me. "Billy, if I was going to run away screaming from something you didn't want to have to tell me, then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. I think I can handle it. Tell me. Please."

I couldn't resist the cute begging voice. I was like putty in her hand. "Fine. But promise you won't freak out."

"Promise."

"Ok. Well we change for only one reason, and that is to protect our people from....vampires." My heart was racing so hard that I barely got the word out, and it was in a near whisper. But she heard it just fine.

"Vampires? Like real vampires? The kind that suck your blood and sleep in coffins?"

"Well, sort of. The kind that kill people. And it s our job to stop them."

She was kind of giggling now, "You re serious? There really are vampires? I guess it shouldn't surprise me."

"Yes, I'm serious. And yes, they are real. Are you ok?" This was so much harder than if she had been standing in front of me. At least then I could have stopped her from running away. Or I could have taken her in my arms to make her feel safe again.

"I'm fine. But, have you ever encountered a vampire before, do you guys even know what to expect?"

I was going to have to tell her, wasn't I?

"Yeah, I've been around my share of them. They aren't all bad. Some of them are as normal as you and I, and don t feed on people. A lot of the stuff you believe about them is probably untrue."

"Really. Do I know any?"

Why was she taking this so well?

"Actually, you do."

Silence.

"Who?"

"My entire family....other than my dad. Even me and my sister are a quarter vampire. My mom is half vampire, half human. I hope that doesn't freak you out."

"Not freaked out, just curious. So are your family the kind that don t kill people?" I was so relieved to hear that she wasn't revolted by my confession.

"Uh huh. I ll tell you all about them sometime soon. For now, I should probably get going. My dad needs to talk to the whole family about some possibilities."

"Oh, Already?" She sounded so disappointed. I hated the thought of making her sad. So I told her we could keep talking as long as she wanted. Twenty minutes later she gave in and said she had to go too. I still had something I wanted to tell her.

"Rissa...."

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"Oh, babe....I love you too!" I could hear the smile in her words. She was happy. And she felt the same about me.

"Ok. I ll talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight sweetie."

"Goodnight babe."

When I got back into the house, Mom and Dad were sitting in a corner talking quietly. Grandpa Billy, Sammy, and Edward were all sitting on the couch talking as well. Sam had gone home. Bella and Carlie were in the kitchen preparing some dinner for those of us who actually ate. I could see the two of them snarling up their noses at the food, but Grandma Bella had made me dinner before and it wasn't half bad, so I wasn't too concerned.

I went to join the conversation with my grandfathers and Sammy. They were talking about how this must be a vampire problem, and how Edward intended to get the rest of his family here to help track down the threat and take care of it.

Half an hour later, mom and dad were still deep in their very private conversation, when Carlie came to tell us dinner was ready. Billy, Sammy and I all rose from our seats to go make a plate. Edward informed us that he was going to use this time to place a phone call back home and update the rest of the family. My parents didn't move.

I walked over to where they were sitting and nudged my dad. "You going to eat?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there."

I shrugged my shoulders and went to the kitchen. After I had made my plate, I went to sit at the small kitchen table. Carlie was sitting next to Sammy, watching him eat. Bella was standing at the sink, cleaning the dishes from preparing the meal. Grandpa Billy was showering Bella with compliments on the food.

"This is amazing, Bells."

She just glanced at the ground, acting a bit shy, as if she would blush, and mumbled, "Thanks, I m glad I haven t lost my touch."

Dad came to join us a few minutes later. My plate was empty and Sammy's almost was too, if he hadn't been so distracted by my sister practically sitting in his lap, he would have been eating twice as fast. Dad made a plate and sat down in the last empty chair.

"So, I guess Edward went to call Alice?" Dad asked between bites.

No one made an attempt to reply, so I answered him. "Yeah, he's outside talking to her now."

"Oh, I'm interested to hear her take on this; she will undoubtedly know where to be looking now. That should help, if this is in fact Bloodsuckers, she will see them."

"Jacob!" My mom shouted at him and then nudged him in the ribs. He didn't flinch.

"Sorry...Vampires," he mumbled without looking up from his plate.

I got up from the table to take my plate to the sink. While I stood next to grandma, watching her rinse it off, she looked up at me with her eyes full of worry.

"Honey, you ok?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm fine. You ok?"

She put the plate down in the dish rack in the opposite side of the sink, picked up a towel to dry her hands, and then came over to put her small arms around my waist. I hugged her back. It felt like hugging my sister, she was so small, and looked so young, but to me, she was grandma Bella, and she was always so comforting.

"Billy, your so much like your father was twenty years ago. And you look just like him too. I'm just worried about you boys, like I was for your father and his friends back then. You know we were best friends?"

"Yeah, I know. Was he ever scared?"

"Not that I can remember. He was always so ready for the fight. He wouldn't miss the action for anything. I'm sure this is hard for him. Letting you take the reins and him sitting back and watching."

I laughed, she was probably right. I bent down the almost two feet to kiss her cheek, before walking back into the living room where Sammy and Carlie had returned to. I wanted to talk to him in private. Just as I walked into the room, Edward was coming in the door.

"So when will they be here?" Dad asked as soon as he spotted Edward.

"They are catching the 1:30pm tomorrow. They will be in Forks around 7pm with the time change." He looked at me then. "They aren't coming alone, B."

My mind quickly processed what he had said. "Why? Is something the matter?"

"Well Alice saw a vision she doesn t quite understand. But she saw Rissa on the plane with them tomorrow. She is searching for the trigger or reason. I'll hear from her when she finds it."

What could be the reason for her to come here? Did she really need me as badly as I needed her? Would she really come all the way here, just to see me?

I excused myself again and went outside to call her. I needed to know if she was planning to come, or if something was going to happen in the next fourteen hours that would put her on that plane and she didn't even know it yet.

I hit the call button to automatically re-dial her number since she was the last person I had spoken to on the phone.

It rang four times and went to voice mail. "Hey sweetie, it's me. Just wanted to ask you something real quick. Call me when you get this, no matter what time it is. Love you."

I hung up and paced the yard for about ten minutes, thinking of all the reasons she might not answer. Maybe she went to bed; it was almost eleven o clock there right now. Maybe she was in the shower. I could call again in a few minutes and she would answer. Maybe she lost her phone, or the battery could have died. Maybe she just needed to charge her phone.

I hit the call button again. After four more rings I got her voice mail again.

Thoughts of terror started flooding my mind. I was pacing again. It had to have been another fifteen minutes and I was about to call her phone again when Edward came running out the back door toward me, with his phone in his hand. The rest of my family came running out behind him. The look in his eyes was one of empathy. His voice was just above a whisper.

"Something is happening to Rissa."