Disclaimer: Characters you recognise are Stephenie Meyer's. Characters you dont, are mine.

A/N: Thanks to everybody who has stuck with me through this. I know I've kept you waiting for this update for a while but I hope you enjoy.

Thaw

Sleeplessness is a strange feeling. The world seemed dull and intense at the same time. I had been awake for three straight days waiting for my brother to come around. Carlisle had already told me he was going to be okay but I wasn't leaving anything to chance. I willed him to get better, apologising for everything from letting the bitch get her hands on him, to breaking his GI Joe when he was nine.

He was sleeping peacefully, his temperature at a normal level. According to Carlisle, the sudden drop in body heat had caused him to slip into a coma, slowing down his ability to heal. I didn't understand much of the medical mumbo jumbo he came out with, but I did know that this was something I would never forget and I certainly wasn't going to let it pass.

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It was noon by the time I woke up. Seth was still sleeping, sprawled out on the bed while I huddled in a chair but I didn't have the heart to grumble. I was just happy that he was going to be okay, even if he did snore loud enough to wake the entire house.

There was a tentative knock on the door before Esme slipped her head around and crept in quietly.

"It's okay," I told her. "Not even a bulldozer could wake him up."

She smiled softly and set down a steaming mug of hot chocolate on the table. "Why don't you come downstairs, Leah? I can make you something to eat. Seth will be okay for a little while. I can even ask Bella to watch over him, if that makes you feel better."

I shook my head. "Thank you. But I'm gonna stay here for just a little while longer. Just until he wakes up."

Esme nodded and walked over to the door. "If you change your mind, I'll be in the kitchen."

I gave her the most sincere smile I could muster. She was probably going to spend the next two hours cooking enough food to feed three packs of werewolves, so it was the least I could do.

"Leah....,"

I must have dozed off because I didn't hear anyone else come into the room. Felix was standing in the door way, his face clear of that shit eating grin. He glanced over at Seth, dismissing him almost immediately but then, compassion isn't that important when you spend your life slaughtering people.

"What do you want?" I spat at him. I was far too tired to play nice and even if I wasn't, I certainly wasn't going to begin with this leech.

"I'm here to check up on you." He rolled his eyes at my answering snort and moved closer to the bed. His expression shifted a little, so subtle that I could barely make it out. "It wasn't your fault."

Asshole. I didn't even try to hold back the growl that bubbled in my throat. "No, it was yours."

"Mine?" The sincere shock, the raised eyebrow, the amused grin---I wanted to rip it all off his face. Hell, I just wanted to rip his face off.

"Yeah, yours. You and your fucking friends. He wouldn't even be in this situation if you lot hadn't of come here."

My arrow didn't strike as hard as I wanted it to, or as hard as I expected. That grin is still plastered firmly on his face. "Or, more likely, he could have ended up a lot worse without the Volturi as back up. Do you really believe that The Order wouldn't have found their way here?"

"Yes," I spat, even though I wasn't so sure. "We've been in one fight already and I don't recall you or your leech buddies making an appearance."

"No?" He asked, his eyebrow going up again. Goddam it, I thought these freaks were supposed to be carved out of marble or something. I didn't answer. His expression was daring, confident that my answer would be wrong. I snarled my lip at him and turned back to Seth.

"I pulled you out of the way."

The sentence sent a chill through me as I thought about that leeches hands on my skin. Chances were, he was trying to trap me into saying something wrong but I racked my brains, trying to remember if I had seen him there.

"No you didn't" I replied, hating the shock that twisted my voice.

"I think you'll find I did. I arrived just before she grabbed Seth. You, in a tactically unsound and stupid move, tried to attack her, so I pulled you away before you got yourself killed."

And I remembered. The anger worming its way through me, my body responding on instinct and strong arms pulling me back. "Why would you do that? You were threatening to kill me the other day, why would you try to fucking save me?"

He stepped closer to me and I automatically stood, giving me more opportunity to fight back should it be warranted. He reached over, brushing a strand of hair off my face, and I moved away as though I had been scalded. His hand lingered in the empty air for a moment before he smiled and dropped it to his side. "I can't believe you thought I was serious the other day. I'm on strict orders not to kill any of you." He took a step back. "As for why I saved you, well, that's simple. I was protecting my interests."

"What the hell does that mean?"

He was already at the door but he threw another grin over his shoulder. Though it soon disappeared as he spoke. "It means, Leah, that you interest me."

I stood there for a moment, dumb and stunned, looking for any sign that he was playing a sick joke on me but he seemed deadly serious. After a few moments, he left, leaving me rooted to the spot, with only one thought in my mind.

Fuck.

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A fire blazes bright in the hearth but Beth appears to be looking straight past it. Mai notes her distant gaze with some concern. She moves a pile of thick woollen blankets from the sofa.

"Come sit down, Beth."

Beth shakes her head. "That vampire, the blond one, he was telling the truth when he said they didn't kill humans."

Mai sighs. "They lie, and even your senses are not infallible. Especially when it comes to their kind."

The girl turns her head, she regards Mai with a gaze that seems even more intense under the light of the fire. "I know. That's why I checked. Besides a few random cases, there have been no vampire attacks in Forks or the surrounding areas for a good few decades. Plenty of animals kills, enough to give PETA a heart attack, but no evidence that these people have been systematically killing humans for food."

"Where did you find that information?" Mai asks, though she doesn't stop picking and cleaning and fiddling with this, that and the other. Her actions are obviously an irritation to the girl.

"I googled it." She folds her arms, sets her jaw. She looks every bit as dangerous as Mai knows she can be and a chill runs up her spine.

"Did you know he lied to us?"

Another sigh. "He didn't lie."She adds a soft laugh in an attempt to diffuse the situation but Beth will not be deterred.

"He told us that all vampires were evil. That they are a danger to society. He said that they had to be stopped before they destroyed us all."

"And they do. Look what they did to Shane and Carla. Their whole family wiped out because of paranoia and fear. They do not distinguish between us so why should we distinguish between them? We are all the same to them, Beth. It doesn't matter if you are a werewolf, a cat, or someone like me. If you are different, gifted in a way that they are not, then you are a threat to them."

Beth's eyes narrow and Mai thinks it has something to do with her speech, until she notices that the girl is peering over her shoulder.

"There is mice in my bed."

She turns, startled by the voice behind her. Katie is standing in the doorway, her dark hair a tangled mess. There is a pillow crease on one side of smooth skin.

"Mice?" Mai asks. She knows by now that such creatures keep their distance from the two girls.

The younger girl nods, an exaggerated pout on her unusually pretty face. "Yes, they keep moving and waking me up."

Mai looks to Beth for clarification. "She means mites." The young girl answers. Katie looks past Mai, her gaze searching out Beth. "What should I do?"

"Turn your mattress over and go back to sleep." She replies. Katie opens her mouth to protest but Beth expression shifts into one that even Mai can read the meaning of. She will not brook intolerance, not now. And it is both strange, and admirable to see the control she exercises over her younger, wilder sister.

After the little one has gone, Mai returns to her chores but Beth's mind is still on the fight. "Katie and I exist as executers of justice. It's our duty to protect and defend humans, not to take part in some petty revenge scheme."

She unfolds her arms and stalks towards the door. Mai grasps her by the shoulder, loosing her grip as she feels muscle tense underneath her fingers. "You know how angry Shane can get, Beth. Please don't do anything foolish."

Her only reply is a long stare, and an almost instinctive feeling that things are about to get a whole lot worse.

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