Chapter Fourteen

As they ran through the forest, Tanya was confused. Who was this person and why did he save her? And how was it that none of them had sensed him until it was too late? She watched over his shoulder as they flew through the forest, and was also curious on why the hunter wasn't following them. Finally she had had enough. "STOP! Put me down, I am perfectly capable of running on my own thankyouverymuch. And just who are you? Why aren't they following us? Do you work with them?" she asked suspiciously.

He continued to run, and didn't speak either. Just as Tanya was about to start beating him over the head with her fists he came to a stop. They were no longer in the forest, but at the edge of it, but not near her apartment. They were on the other side from where she had entered. Brilliant red eyes stared at her from under a mop of dark hair that looked like it could use a comb. His features were pale, of course, but he was beautiful to look at. Tall and lanky, he was dressed in carpenter jeans and a simple white t-shirt. When he spoke, his voice had an accent to it. "I don't work with them. If I did, I would have let that idiot have you. Now, can we please get somewhere safe before I explain my entire life story that you are demanding from me?" He actually tapped his foot impatiently.

Tanya blinked. "Are you seriously tapping your foot? Whatever, where do you think you're taking me? My place is on the other side of the forest."

He shook his head. "And where do you think they will look when they get over the shock, and Mr. Hunter's friend pulls himself together? I have a place a little ways away we can crash at for a bit. Now, are you coming or not?" He didn't wait for an answer, he just took off, albeit a little slower then he had been going.

Tanya groaned and took off following him. She was rewarded with seeing a small house after a little bit. He stopped when he reached the steps, and jogged up them lightly, opening the door for her. "Ladies first," he said.

Tanya rolled her eyes and stepped inside.

-

Not finding any trace of Tanya anywhere had all of them worried. They searched the town, Edward listening for her thoughts even, and came up blank. It was like she had disappeared off the face of the earth. Dejectedly, they all headed back toward their rented car. Garrett pulled out the cell phone that he had acquired while adjusting to a more permanent lifestyle and hit the button to call Kate. It was not a call he wanted to make, but had promised her.

He listened to the phone ring on the other end and could hear the fear in Kate's voice as she answered.

"Garrett? Did you find Tanya?"

No use beating around the bush, Kate was as straight forward as always. He sighed. "I'm sorry Katie, but there is no trace of her. It's like she just went out and never came back. We have been all over this town, but no one has seen her. We searched the woods too. We found a trail to a clearing," he paused before continuing. "But when we got there there was nothing. And no trail by her leading out either. But we didn't find any fires or a fire pit either," he added hastily at the end.

Kate was silent on the other end before she let out a wail. Garrett held the phone away from his ear. When she had stopped her screaming, he placed the phone delicately against his ear again, ready to pull it away at a moments notice. "Kate?" he whispered.

"I'm here," she replied in a subdued tone. "Do you need me to come and help you?"

Garrett looked at the others gathered around him. "Give us a little bit more time. If we don't find anything by this time tomorrow, I'll be at the airport to meet you." The other guys nodded their approval.

"Be careful. We don't know what we're dealing with. I don't want to lose you too," her voice was soft. "And I have a feeling that I wouldn't last too long here if Edward, Emmett and Jasper were to disappear," she tried to joke. She forced a laugh.

"We'll be careful. I'll talk to you soon, Kate."

"I love you. Take care of yourself," she said.

"I love you too, and I will." he replied before hanging up.

He looked at the others and sighed. "We have to find her. Or at least what happened to her."

They nodded and Edward spoke up. "Why don't we split up and we can search the area more thoroughly. We've been all over this town, lets take the woods. Emmett, you come with me, Jasper can go with Garrett. We'll start at the west, you two start at the east. We'll work our way toward the middle meeting there, in theory."

Garrett shrugged and looked at Jasper. "Let's go then."

Jasper nodded and they headed toward the eastern edge of the forest, while Edward and Emmett took off in the other direction.

They were both quiet as they worked the forest up and down in vertical lines, looking for some sign of anything. After several circuits, Jasper finally spoke. "How are you adjusting to the 'vegetarian' lifestyle?"

Garrett glanced at Jasper before considering his words carefully. "It is... difficult. When we go anywhere in town, I usually spend most of my time holding my breath. Kate makes sure I hunt before we go, and that helps. But it's still not easy."

Jasper looked satisfied at that answer. "It does get easier, but I am not sure it ever gets completely easy. I've been doing this for fifty years and I still have problems at times controlling my thirst around humans. Alice makes it easier though," and he had a small smile at the thought of his pixie-like wife.

They had made progress through the forest and still hadn't come upon anything when Jasper bared his teeth and let his eyes start sweeping the area. A second later, Garrett heard it too. It wasn't an animal, it was moving too fast. The wind came up and the sweet scent of another vampire hit them both. Immediately they both dropped into a crouch, watching the area around them warily.

We have at least one or two other vampires in the area here... not Tanya Garrett thought, hoping Edward could hear him.

Jasper let out a growl just as they came into view. Perhaps "they" was not quite the word. It was the hunter, and his companion, but the other man wasn't quite himself. The hunter carried his head in one hand, and his body in the other. The hunter seemed totally unconcerned to have run into them. "Garrett. And you have a Cullen with you. This just may make up for my spectacular failure earlier today," he said conversationally. He tossed the head and body he was carrying aside haphazardly and dropped into a crouch himself.

Both of them hid their surprise, but Jasper and Garrett were shocked to hear that the hunter knew who they were. It was all the more unsettling because they had no idea who he was. "I suppose having a decapitated friend there could be called a spectacular failure," Garrett said, gesturing toward the headless corpse that was now trying to find it's head.

The hunter smiled maliciously. "Yes, it was rather inconvenient. It's hard to believe that no one sensed the other coming. If any of us had, my partner wouldn't be in the predicament he is in right now."

"The other?" Jasper growled the words, he was ready for a fight. He shifted ever so slightly closer to the hunter, but he took a step back.

"Oh yes, some other one came and snatched that bitch out of my partner's grasp. I can only hope he was also sent to kill her."

Garrett growled and lunged, but the hunter countered and swung his arm out to clothesline him as he flew through the air. Garrett's throat connected with the stone arm and he fell with a thud to the ground, fury clouding his gaze. Jasper had attacked as Garrett was falling and now the two were circling each other, looking for a weakness. Garrett shoved the strands of hair that had come loose out of his eyes and watched before he got an idea. He clamored to his feet an got into the dance the other two were doing. They continued to circle each other, but when Garrett came close to the decapitated one, he suddenly lunged for him instead, taking the head out of the reach of the crawling body. It was enough of a distraction that Jasper could lunge at the hunter, and take a chunk out of his side before the hunter dodged him. Garrett set to ripping apart the other body while Jasper and the hunter went back into the dance.

Garrett gathered the pile of body parts and dug a match out of his pocket, lighting it and dropping it on the writhing pile. Jasper and the hunter had taken swipes at each other but neither had done any damage aside from Jasper's initial attack after Garrett's distraction. Just then, they all heard two more pairs of feet approaching in at a rapid pace. Edward and Emmett burst onto the scene. The hunter, distracted once more by the two, was plowed over by Jasper. He kicked Jasper off, and as he flipped himself back to his feet, just as Emmett barreled at him. Stepping to the side, Emmett missed, but Edward grabbed his arm and yanked. A sickly tearing sound was heard as the arm came off. Seeing his move, Garrett jumped on the hunter's back and placed his teeth at his throat. Sliding them across the exposed skin, he then yanked and the hunter's head came off. Garrett tossed the head on the fire as the other three dismembered the body and tossed it on the fire as well.

As they watched the purple plume of smoke rise, Garrett sighed. "That takes care of that threat. But where is Tanya?"

The others looked at each other and everyone sighed as it was back to square one.

-

He paced the floor, apparently a nervous habit he had carried over from his human days. Or something. Tanya wasn't sure, as he hadn't started talking yet. She watched him pace, impatience seeping into her voice as she finally spoke. "Well. You promised me some answers, so now, I have some questions. Who are you? Where did you come from? How was it we didn't know you were there until the last moment?" She fired the questions off rapidly.

"Calm down. I will explain. I'm just not sure where to start," he said irritably. Finally he stopped pacing and faced her. "My name is Jesse. I came originally from Australia," he smiled a bit. "However I don't think that was the question you were asking. I stay here, and when I heard of this gorgeous new woman in town, I had to check it out. And there you were. You were so impossibly beautiful you had to be a vampire, but your eyes intrigued me. They still do. You really hunt only animals?"

"This is not my time to talk, it's yours," Tanya replied.

"Anyway, I was intrigued so I followed you. I watched you hunt. You couldn't sense me," he interrupted before she could say anything, "because I am able to conceal my presence from others of our kind."

Tanya nodded. This made sense, why else wouldn't any of them in that clearing have sensed him until it was too late? "So you just happened to be watching me when they came along?"

Jesse nodded slowly. "I've been trailing you for awhile now, trying to figure you out. It's the whole feeding on animals instead of humans thing," he said dismissively.

"And this gift you have? It extended to me when you carried me?"

"Yes, though it's fairly difficult to push it out, I can do it if needed. But I have to be touching the person to do so."

Tanya was still suspicious but he had saved her from the hunters, and so far she was safe. She glanced around the small house and then back to Jesse. "If I'm going to stay here for a bit, I had better call my sister," she said with a resigned sigh.