It was great to have Nudge there, don't get me wrong, but I can't help but wonder why she was there. Nudge never does anything like this without a reason. All suspicions that I had pointed to me cornering and grilling her. Both of which were not valiable options when an Injured Fang is using me as a pillow and I'm trying not to wake him.

"Nudge, shhh!" I said and rose a finger to my lips then pointed at Fang.

To my dismay Nudge just looked at me confused. "What?" She asked. Isn't it obvious?

"Fang's a-" I looked down. "Wake." Yep, that's right. A big pair of shiney brown/black eyes starting at me... Again. "Will you cut it out with the non-blinking staring thing already!? It's -REALLY- creepy!" I said shouting at the head on my shoulder.

"Maaxxx!" Nudge was trying to get my attention.

I turned my head to face nudge again. "Yes?" I asked. This had better be good.

Nudge looked apperhensive for a moment and then just blurted it out. "Where is all that blood from?" I looked down to where she was pointing. There were dinner plate sized blotches of blood on the sheet. Oh crap.

"Fang? Fang are you okay? I think you tore your stitches." I said and his arm off of me.

"I don't think so. I'm sore, but not in agonizing pain." Fang said and slowly sat up. I pulled the sheet away to see that Fang's bandage was still in place and the wounds were clean and appeared to be healing nicely. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Then a thought occured to me. If it's wasn't Fangs, and it wasn't mine... Then who's was it?

I through the blanket over and heard a sharp metalic clunking. Frowning I looked over the side of the bed. On the hardwood floor was a pair of bloodied scissors. Fangs scissors if the big, bold, sharpie written word "Fang's" was any clue.

"Nudge, we've got a serious problem." I said to her. She looked at me and then down at the floor.

Suddenly a voice of such pure clarity entered my mind and with a whisper made my heart sink. "Ella" I bolted out of bed and nearly succeded in steping on the forementioned scissors. I ran past Nudge and ignored her protest as I made my way down stairs. Once I got into the livingroom I found Ella. She was sitting on the couch watching some show.

"Ella, are you okay?" I asked. Ella looked at me and frowned for a moment. Then she smiled. "Of course, Max. Why?"

I knew she was lying to me. Both me and Ella got our lying skills from Mom, which is to say that all three of us won't be going to Vegas any time soon.

"You're lying. What's wrong?" I demanded. A flurry of emotion crossed her features for a moment untill they settled back to her "cheerful" face.

"It' just school stuff." She said and turned off the tv. Ella started to head to her room when I grabbed her arm. The reaction was so microscopic that I might have missed it if I wasn't looking for it. She winced. I pulled my hand away and saw the blood ooze onto her shirt.

"Ella? What happened to your arm?" I asked suspiciously.

Ella snatched her arm back and covered the rapidly growing bloodstain with her hand. "It's just a scratch. Jenn's cat bit me yesterday and I'm begining to thing that I should have gotten stitches. It was a tottal accident." She said and walked away, ending the discussion with a turn of her back.

"I, for one, am not buying that at all." Nudge stated behind me.

I watched Ella close her bedroom door with a sinking feeling. "I'm with you on that one, Nudge. You just might be onto something." I turned around to see Nudge looking the most worrisome I've ever seen her. "Things around here aren't usually this dramatic. I'm so glad you're here, I've really needed to talk to somebody." With this I wrapped her in a hug.

Then I practically dragged her to the kitchen. "I'm starved so I know that you're probably famished. How'd you get here anyway?" I asked.

Nudge sat down at the table and looked around. "Well, I took a flight. Like, on a plane. It's weird being on a plane when you can actually fly. But it's so much easier!" She exclaimed.

I was rummaging through the cabnets and looked at her from around the door, "So, pancakes or poptarts?" I asked.

A wicked expression presented itself on her face. "Depends. Who's cooking?"

"I'll have you know I can cook now!" I exclaimed. I'm not that bad of a cook, come on now.

"I don't want to be poisoned my first day here so lets go with poptarts." Nudge said as if it was a decision that had taken much thought. I tossed her both the poptarts and a glower.

Suddenly her mood became somber, this is not my Nudge. "Max... There's something I've got to tell you. I'm not sure how you'll take it, so please don't hate me." I heard her spew.

Okay, so maybe this is my Nudge after all. "Uh, okay." I say, still holding the poptart box in my hand.

"Max, you're in great danger. It's not Itex or the usual suspects." She said in that "I'm - dancing- around - the- bad- part" way of hers.

"Oh really?"

Nudge looked at me. "Fang called me about you're car. He wanted me to check into it. I hacked into the goverment's satelite network and I know who did it." She said and looked at me.

My legs were starting to go weak as I sat down on the seat next to her. "And?"

"You aren't going to like it." She said wincing.

"Nudge, I'm a big girl now. I think I can handle it." I said and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Nudge reached into her jacket and pulled out a manilla envelope. "I'm not so sure about that." She said and pulled out a couple photo's and slid them across to me.

I looked at the first picture, there was a guy there, a guy with wings. He stood there holding out a baseball bat to somebody off screen. It had to be shadow, unfortunately, the angle of the shot made it almost impossible to make out his features. I grabbed the second picture and looked at it.

In this one a girl was taking the bat from him and looking towards him. I couldn't make her out because her hair was in the way. The third picture floored me. The girl was standing on my hood, bashing in my windshield. Finally after a few more pictures of the destruction the girl looked up. My blood ran cold in my veins. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"This is a lie. Complete crap. You're pulling my leg arent' you, Nudge?" I asked. She only looked down at the table. "Come on Nudge, tell me it's a joke."

She took a deep breath. "Just because you don't like what you see, doesn't make it a lie, Max." she said softly.

I through the picture onto the table. "But it can't be true!" I exclaimed.

Fang stepped into the room and he seemed concerned. "What's going on here girls?" I turned my face away and looked at the floor.

"I got that information you wanted, Fang." Nudge said very quietly.

His expression became very serious. He limped forward and grabbed the back of my chair for support. He grabbed the picture on the top of the pile and looked at it. First his brow raised and then I watched as he bagan to build up his rage.

"Where is she?" He asked.

Nudge started to say something but for once, I interrupted. "We don't know."

Fang looked murderous and stormed out of the kitchen and a few moments later I heard the front door slam. I waited untill his car was out of the drive before I stood up.

Nudge held out a hand to stop me. "Max don't do anything stupid."

I took a breath. "I don't plan too." I replied and turned to her. "I think I just saved her life." I said and picked up the picture again. I looked hard into the eyes of my betrayer.

"Why, Ella?"