Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga, Life and Death, or any of the accouterments in the series.

AN: As with anything I write. Sometimes I write it... and sometimes it writes itself. This definitely fits into the latter category.

Chapter 13 - Killer

Jules led the way back to Sam and Elliott's house in her wolf form, turning back and narrowing her eyes as we got close when she must have recognized my scent in the area.

"You never showed up at my place," I muttered by way of an explanation.

She huffed at me before continuing on. I had no idea what she meant by it.

It only took a few more minutes before we reached the same house I'd been at before. She wolfed, motioning with her head toward the sliding glass door so I kept moving forward, giving her the time she needed to shift back and get dressed.

When I reached the forest line, I stopped, uncertain if I was supposed to carry Jaelyn inside or what. Jaelyn, for her part had been stubbornly silent since I'd started carrying her.

"Come on," Jules said a couple minutes later as she walked by me.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked.

She turned back to look at me, placing her hands on her hips. "You just saved Jaelyn's life, and quite likely her imprint's as well because it's highly unlikely he would have gone on without her. So yes, I'm sure."

In my arms, Jaelyn whined.

Talk like that would upset me too, if I was in her shoes, so I didn't blame her.

Jules spun around and marched the rest of the way to the house. In spite of the very seriousness of why we were here, I couldn't help that my lips twitched at her actions. I followed her to the house, going inside as she opened the sliding glass door.

The inside of the house was small, quaint. You could see clear to the small blue front door from the back doors I'd just come in. There was a small sitting room with a couch, a chair, and a tv; then a dining area with a large kitchen.

Elliott was in the kitchen, but he turned as he heard the sliding glass being shut. It was then that I noticed the same scars on his face, were on the back of his hand. He was wearing a long-sleeve sweater, so I couldn't see his arm, but I assumed the scars probably ran down it as well.

Elliott's eyes widened as he saw Jaelyn in my arms, and he quickly glanced at the dining room table but I shook my head. The wolf in my arms weighed far too much to be placed on the flimsy table that was in this house, I was quite sure.

Jules spoke softly. "Their bed is upstairs. Take her up there." Then she looked towards Elliott. "My mom is at Charlie's so we can't call her unless it's a last resort. Call Holly and see if she can come over. If she can't, then try Quilla."

Elliott immediately went over to the phone that was hooked to the wall. I headed upstairs as Jules told me to. If I thought the first floor was quaint... well this part of the house could only be described as tiny. I crouched slightly, worried about hitting my head.

There were two closed doors, and one open. It was obvious that the open one was the bedroom and I shuffled awkwardly through it in an effort not to bump Jaelyn before placing her gently on the bed.

"I wish I could help, Jae, but I don't know wolf anatomy." In practice, I didn't know that much about human anatomy either, but the truth was that the first months after I became a vampire, I spent almost every night reading Carine's books and I knew a lot about human anatomy as a result. Sure, it was a hundred percent theoretical, but I still knew it.

She eyed me, raising her lip in a slight snarl.

I sighed, shaking my head. I turned on my heel and headed back down the stairs. The others still hadn't arrived, but I knew they were taking care of the camp site. Elliott was just hanging up the phone as I reached the first floor.

"Holly will be here soon," He said to Jules, glancing at me as he did so.

"I assure you, I'm a hundred percent in control. There's no way anything smells appetizing given the heavy wolf stench."

Jules laughed.

I turned toward her. "That treaty between us. I think it should be instated. I should go home and you should forget I exist."

She sobered immediately. "Why do you say that?"

"So far Victor hasn't been in La Push territory, which mean if the treaty goes back into place, all of you will be safe. I'll deal with him. He's my problem."

She growled, the sound was far more wolfish than human. "No."

"Julie, all of you are safer away from me. Away from him."

Jules eyes flashed angrily. "Would you, for once in your dang life, stop being a martyr!" she shouted.

There was movement in the tree outside the sliding glass door. I was glad, because I was relatively sure that Sam would agree with me. I looked away from her, stepping over to the small window in the front of the house so I could look outside, "This is my fight, Julie. And what happened today... how much worse it could have been... is only proof that all of you need to stay out of this."

The sliding glass door opened. And I heard the others coming into the house.

"Unfortunately, that isn't how our job works." That was Sam.

I turned around to look at all of them. "Surely you can see the wisdom in what I'm suggesting, Samantha. Go back to following the bylaws of the treaty and you can keep protecting your people. I'll do what I can to stop Victor, or at very least lead him elsewhere."

"And what happens if he kills you?" Sam asked.

"Then I won't be your problem anymore, will I?"

Jules took a step toward me – trembling slightly – but Sam's hand flew out, grabbing her arm to stop her. "No. And tell me, Beau, what would have happened today if you'd already been dead?"

"He wouldn't have been here anymore if he'd killed me already."

"Are you a hundred percent certain that he won't stick around after you're gone? Or is it possible, that much like your Cullens, there's something about this area of the country that is just appealing to your kind and after you're gone he'll stick around anyways."

"He's after revenge. There would be no reason for him to stay?" The statement sounded like a question in my own ears, so I knew they could hear it too, because she was right. I couldn't say with a hundred percent certainty that he wouldn't stay. It didn't make sense to me though. Honestly, if I was him, after I was done with me, I'd go after the Cullens.

"What revenge?" Paula vocalized.

I looked away, turning back so I could face the window instead of them. It was easier to talk about it if I wasn't focusing on them. "He was the mate of the woman who bit me, Joss. I truly know next to nothing about Victor. The Cullens and –" I took a far less than necessary breath as I prepared myself to say her name "– Edythe specifically were never worried about Victor. They hadn't realized that Joss and Victor were actual mates. Mostly, I must assume, because Victor was so confident of Joss's abilities that it never occurred to him to be afraid for her.

"If Victor wasn't thinking of anything specifically emotional, like fear or love, then the Cullens never would have realized the connection. Frankly, if it weren't for the fact that Lauren had told me she was with him, it never would have occurred to me either."

"What does he want with you then?" Embrianna asked.

"According to Lauren, he feels it would be fairer to kill the mate of the one that killed his." I shook my head. "Which is ironic on all counts. I may never be able to stop loving Edythe, but if she truly saw me as her mate then she'd be here, instead of halfway around the world. It's even more ironic because she didn't kill Joss. Eleanor and Jessamine did that. Edythe was too busy trying to save my life at the time to have killed Joss."

"What would happen if you told him that?"

"I'm still the reason his mate is dead. Ultimately, if she hadn't been hunting me, the Cullens never would have gotten involved. Besides, after the trick I played on him to save Jae's life... Well he wouldn't believe me anyways. And on the off chance he actually did. Then he'd be going after them instead of me. And no matter how they left me... I'd never do that to me."

"So, what's your plan, assuming we did reinstate the treaty for you?" Sam asked, curiously.

"I don't know, I doubt I can kill him in a fair fight. I'm not a hundred percent certain of his age, but I believe he's at least as old as Lauren was, which makes him three hundred years old. Or more. The amount of skills he could have earned in that time..." I shook my head. "But there are places I could lead him to where he'd be as outmatched as I am at the moment." It would probably get me killed too, but I saw no point in mentioning that.

"Places like where?"

"Mexico or Italy. There's other places too that exist, like areas of China, but I don't know enough details about them to know how to use them to my advantage if I was to get him to follow me there."

"Why Mexico?"

"It's a turf war in Mexico. The vampires there would be none too happy if new vampires appeared in their territory."

"And what would happen to you, Beau?" Jules' voice was sharp, so I was relatively sure she'd already figured that answer out.

I shrugged.

"No. You may be alright with being a martyr, but it isn't happening on my watch." She was angry.

I shrugged again.

"Julie is right. There's no guarantee a scheme like that would work, and even if it did –" Sam paused, and I raised an eyebrow, not that she could see it "– Well, you have important work here. You're needed."

I spun so I could look at her. "Wasn't it you that offered to put me out of my misery at one time?"

"Maybe I was rushing to judgment."

I opened my mouth to reply, but I heard a truck pulling up out front so I shut it. As the engine stopped, I heard both doors open, and I turned again, wondering who was here with Holly.

"Young man with a wide face and broad nose. Eyes slightly smaller than traditional... perhaps I should go wait out back." My words were soft and spoken far faster then I normally let myself talk.

"That's Kirk, Jaelyn's imprint. You said earlier that you'd be fine, is that still true?" Julie said.

"Yes, as bad as this place smells, one of them could put a bleeding wrist under my mouth and I'd still be able to resist." That was probably a slight exaggeration, but it wasn't by much.

"Let's not test that particular theory, but it's good to know that we're that strong of a deterrent."

Holly and Kirk walked up to the door, neither of them even glancing at the window which I was right behind. When they opened the door and came in. Holly's reaction upon spotting me was interesting.

"Beau." She nodded and then proceeded up the stairs. Her heartbeat had never even changed in tempo.

Kirk, on the other hand, had a much more... appropriate reaction, as Eleanor would have said. He screamed, stumbling back into the corner of the house, his heart racing.

I laughed in genuine humor.

"Kirk, this is Beau. He's not going to hurt you. In fact, he saved Jaelyn's life," Sam said, I could feel the disparaging look she was giving me.

Kirk looked away from me, trying to pull himself together.

"I promise that you're perfectly safe," I said, muting my voice into a soft velvet, looking at him intensely until he glanced my way and his breath caught.

His heart sped up for a moment before settling again. I looked away – feeling wrong about what I was doing – breaking the glamour.

"What... was that?" Kirk demanded, his heart racing again.

"I'm an apex predator, and as such I have a glut of abilities in my repertoire. I'm fast, strong, venomous, visually attractive, smell appealing – at least to humans – and then there's the deeper buried abilities. I used to call it dazzling when she would do it to me. However, I've found that the more appropriate term is glamour." I looked back at the wolves. They're faces were a mix of disgust, supposition and intrigue. "After all, why should we have to chase our prey when we can simply make our prey follow us to the slaughter."

"That's freaky," Kirk muttered.

"As you cold tell." I looked back at him. "It didn't work all that well. You're male and obviously straight. There's some things that even our glut of abilities can't overcome."

"Have you done that to us?" Sam snarled.

I turned so I could face her directly. "I've never tried, and I doubt it would work even if I did. You're as much of an apex predator as I am." I shrugged.

Just then, a scream that had nothing to do with fear pierced the air. I raced up the stairs. Jaelyn was on the bed, clearly still unclothed, but thankfully a sheet was covering everything I'd rather not get an eyeful of again. Her leg was bent wrong, looking mutated in a weird way. Holly was a few steps away from the bed, probably having moved back so she could shift.

I pushed myself in front of Holly, kneeling down so I could look at her leg better, memories of the numerous books I'd read coming to the forefront of my mind. I ran my fingers over her leg gently, barely touching it as I tried to find the source of what, precisely, was wrong. "It appears to have healed partway in your wolf form, the wrong way, I might add."

"That's... pretty obvious," Jaelyn muttered through gritted teeth.

I could sense Sam crowding into the small room behind me. This room wasn't designed to even fit three, let alone four, which was making the room feel like a sardine can.

"I can fix it, Jae." I looked directly at her as I spoke. "It will be very painful because your bone needs re-broken and set so it heals properly. It's the same thing a doctor would do, but I'm just going to use brute strength to do it, instead of tools."

Holly spoke behind me. "Tell Sam where it needs broke, and she'll do it."

"In the amount of time it's going to take me to teach what needs done, her leg is going to heal even more, which wouldn't be a good idea."

Jae looked over at Sam for a moment, then looked at me. "Do it."

I reached forward, snapping the bone in the two places – where it had healed improperly – fast. I pulled her leg straight. She let out a string of curses that would likely make a sailor blush.

I stood up, looking away from her. "There's not much point in setting it in any sort of cast with the way you're healing. Just don't move until it's done healing."

I stepped towards the door, making Sam step back so I could get by and head back downstairs. I continued on to the back door. When I reached Jules, I stopped briefly, putting my hand on her shoulder. "I don't belong here. I should get going," I murmured.

It was so obvious to me that this wasn't my place. Both Kirk and Elliott were genuinely afraid, not that I could be really surprised by that. Embrianna and Paula were both tense, as were Sam and Jaelyn. Even Jules seemed unsure how to deal with me being in this abode. In fact, it seemed that the only one who wasn't all that concerned was Holly.

I continued to the sliding glass door, shoving it open and heading outside. The door slid shut behind me. I was just entering the forest when I heard the glass slam open and Jules racing after me. Since I'd been merely walking, she caught up to me almost too easily.

She grabbed my left hand with both of hers. "Stay"

"This place isn't for me, Jules."

"It's just going to take time for all of us to get used to you being around here."

I shrugged and continued walking, unlike her, I was physically able to pull her along even when she was resisting. She quickly let go and started walking along beside me, keeping pace with me.

"Beau, I'm not reinstating the treaty."

"You should."

"Why? Because you want to be some sort of martyr?"

"Because Victor and I are torn from the same cloth," I snarled angrily.

"Really? What makes you say that?" Her voice was flat.

"Were you not there when I put both you and the rest of the wolves down like it was second nature? Did you not see how quickly I reverted to being the monster in me with Kirk? Did you not hear how willing I was to put Jaelyn through pain?"

She stomped in front of me so she could glower at me. "You seem to have memory problems, Beau, because none of that is what I saw. I saw you risking your life to save the neck of someone who has treated you with nothing but contempt for months. I saw you trying to comfort someone in a way that was natural to you and when you realized what you were doing was wrong, you stopped. I heard you offering Jaelyn the quickest method to be relieved of pain, even if it caused a little more initially."

I shook my head and shouldered my way past her. "That may have been how it looked to you, but you have no idea how very easy it was for me. All of it. I may not be a killer yet, Jules, but the instincts are there. We should both go our separate ways before either of us gets any deeper into something that's never going to work." I wasn't a hundred percent sure I was just talking about the partnership we had.

"If you want me to let you go, then make me believe it."

And because I knew Jules so well, I knew she wasn't talking about making her see sense. Frankly, I knew I could talk until I was blue in the face – and my face would never turn blue – and I knew she'd never really agree with me. She was just too stubborn.

"I already told you, I don't think that would work on you."

"Then I guess you're stuck with me."

I spun, angrily, grabbing onto her shoulders as I looked into her eyes. I didn't think I could do it. I'd never deliberately tried to make someone obey me before, and yet, she'd done it to me, plenty of times, and I'd seen her do it to others as well. I could force the same intensity as she had, I was sure. "Julie, I want you to forget our friendship. I want you to let me go."

Jules stared at me, and for a moment, I was sure it wasn't going to work, but then her pupils dilated slightly and her breathing sped. She gave a small nod of acceptance.

I let go. I knew it wasn't going to last, the talent wasn't meant for her kind, it was meant for humans.

I took off, racing away from her as fast as I could.

AN: The end of this chapter marks the halfway point in this story. So that being said. I probably won't be posting on this story again for about a week, maybe a little less or a little more. I will, however be posting another chapter in my other full length story in that time, as well as finishing off Future Black. Finally, I'll be writing another one-shot (at least for the time being) that will feature Beau in a far different universe. It will be called It's A Twin Thing. Stay on the look out for it.