Emmett was sitting on the ground, leaning with his back against the kitchen counter while holding Maddie down on his lap. Her legs were trapped under one of his, while he had his right arm around her upper body, effectively immobilising her. His left hand was cupped over her mouth and nose to keep her from breathing.

She was still not herself, Emmett was sure of that. Her chest was still heaving as she was trying to inhale even through his restraining hand. But at least her eyes weren't darting like crazy anymore - they were just narrowed in anger and displeasure. Being restrained was probably the worst feeling for any vampire, especially when they were longing to feed. This pent-up energy found no release and it was maddening.

Another thing was, that she was being restrained by a rival and probably didn't know what to make of it. She wasn't dead or injured yet, so Emmett wasn't sure how she would react if he let go of her now.

Sounds coming from the garage caught his attention, and he was glad that Rose had finally arrived to help him out. He had no clue how to get Maddie back to normal, as everything he had tried had mostly brought him pain.

He could hear car doors being opened and slammed shut again, then Rose's soft footsteps heading for the door. Only a second passed and she entered the kitchen, the look on her face grave.

When she noticed her sister struggling in Emmett's arms, her eyes blazing with fury at the sight of her, she tzked.

"She's still not back to normal?"

"It's harder than it looks, babe," Emmett retorted and clamped his hand down harder on her mouth and nose as the boy's scent was on his lovely wife. Yuck.

"Maddie," Rose said while approaching them with quick steps, kneeling in front of them.

"Maddie, it's us. We are no threat to you, come on, you need to recognise us," Rose told her in a soft tone of voice, hoping her and Emmett's presence would be enough to make her come back. But the opposite seemed to be the case, as the smell of her prey was all over Rose and that's why she must assume she had stolen what was hers.

A low growl rumbled in her chest and her eyes narrowed even more.

"Snap out of it," Rose demanded, this time using her no-nonsense voice.

And Maddie stilled - she stopped struggling against Emmett's grasp, even though she was still growling at Rose, and then she looked her older sister straight in the eye.

"Snap out of it, calm down."

Slowly, Maddie's eyes changed again. They weren't narrowed in rage anymore, but softened as though she was slowly realising that she had lost her quarry. Now she had to defend herself, so she wouldn't lose her life.

A moan coming from the garage distracted them and Rose cursed under her breath as she straightened up again.

"All right. I'll go check on him. Hold her down," she said, then left the room and entered the garage once more.

"Hilarious ... what else would I be doing, huh?" Emmett asked and clenched his teeth as Maddie once again tried to jerk free when the door to the garage opened.

Great, and now she knows that the stupid boy is still alive ...

Rosalie noticed the boy stirring as she looked at him through the window of Emmett's red jeep. Yes, she had placed him in the car, hoping that way his smell wouldn't waft through the house and make Maddie want to chase after him again.

Luckily his lip had almost stopped bleeding, but it looked to be tripled in size.

What now? As glad as she was that they didn't need to explain an addition to the family to Carlisle and Esme, she now had to keep him quiet and help Emmett get the girl to snap out of her vampire mode.

Deciding that his injury needed to be explained somehow, and it was still too early for Maddie to come close to him, Rose hit him in the face to knock him out.

She didn't use full force and she didn't break his bone, of course, as she didn't plan on making him bleed again. That would definitely be counterproductive.

Seeing that the human would be sleeping for a longer time now, because he suddenly stopped moaning and looked like he was unconscious, she walked into the kitchen once again.

Maddie wasn't struggling any more, but quite frankly, the last time Rose had seen her that pissed off was during her newborn phase.

A low growl still emitted from her throat, but Emmett covered her mouth and rocked her on his lap, trying to calm her.

That almost made Rose snort. She was a vampire in feeding frenzy ... not some whiny baby that couldn't go back to sleep.

So Rose knelt in front of them again, smoothing down her sister's hair. It was a mess, but that wasn't why she wanted to pet it. It would hopefully calm Maddie. The physical contact and her and Emmett's smell would bring her back quicker.

"Take your hand away, she needs to pick up both our scents," Rose said to Emmett and waited for him to comply.

He looked at her like she was joking. "Rose, my hand is over her face. She's surrounded by my scent, but her crazy vamp mind obviously couldn't care less."

"Let's try it."

Reluctantly, Emmett took his hand away from her face, but kept her restraint so she wouldn't lunge at Rose and try to rip her face off.

"Sshh, Maddie," Rosalie whispered, "calm down."

"Calm down? Rose, that doesn't work, trust me," he told her. "I tried everything already."

"Did you try using trigger words?" she asked without taking her eyes off the girl. "Or tell her what happened before the frenzy to jog her memory?"

He gaped at her. "What?"

She groaned at his inexperience with young vampires. "Just talk to her like you always talk to her."

And then he understood. "Tiny," he said, hoping his little nickname for her would do the trick. "Tiny, come on, we cannot play Xbox as long as you are trying to rip me to shreds."

The growls emitting from the girl's throat got quieter as Emmett spoke softly to her. "You promised me we would play tonight, remember? Before you left the house, you said we would play Street Fighter as soon as you come home again, Tiny."

She tilted her head to the side as she seemed to really listen to him, and Rose even got the feeling that her eyes weren't as black as before anymore. She became stone-still and stared straight ahead, right past Rose. Even her breathing ceased.

They didn't know if her apathy was a step backwards, but at least she wasn't snarling or thrashing around anymore.

Rose nodded for Emmett to continue talking to her, while she got closer to Maddie to gaze straight into her eyes.

She reached out and patted her cheek in an affectionate manner, but flinched away when Maddie suddenly snapped at her like an angry cobra.

Huffing, Rose slapped the side of her upper thigh and raised a finger in warning.

"Watch it," she admonished. If Maddie bit her fingers off, she'd be in major trouble with her, seriously.

"Ssh, it's just Rose, Tiny."

Maddie's eyes widened instantly and she gasped.

So finally! she was coming around. Took her long enough.

"What-"

"You fed," Rose cut her off.

Maddie drew in a sharp breath, but Rose stopped her with her hand over her mouth.

"Slow breaths."

Maddie nodded, her eyes - now the colour of dark caramel - showed that she felt uneasy and disturbed. They darted around the room, but this time she wasn't searching for her victim to drain it. She needed to get a sense of orientation, remember how she got here and what had happened. Her head snapped back up and her eyes locked with Rose's as she remembered that she had been outside with a human and had ... tasted his blood. But had she drained him?

"He is neither infected nor dead," Rosalie told her, and Maddie closed her eyes for a moment, her features softening in relief.

When she looked questioningly back at her sister again, Rose explained some more to help her reconstruct the story.

"We got a call from Alice after you left, just in time."

Thank God.

"You did have a little control over yourself, didn't you? You didn't maul him in your frenzy," Rose said in an attempt to calm her, to reassure her. She was aware that Alice was the one who had prevented worse from happening - she had made sure they would reach Maddie before it would be too late. Maddie would have killed the boy, then headed off to find herself another victim - there hadn't been a spark of control left in her. But would it help the situation to tell her that? Definitely not.

Maddie pulled her arm up and Emmett loosened his grip around her. She rubbed her hand over her eyes, like remembering was giving her a headache.

"It'll come back to you as soon as you are completely calm and collected again," Rose told her and leaned back. "Stand up."

Maddie stood, then took a step to the side and leaned against the counter with her back, her hands against her temples.

Only fragments were coming back to her - short little flashes of things she couldn't quite put together again. The smell of rain ... a broken tree ... her arms pinned to her sides. It didn't make much sense, but she trusted Rose that she would be able to remember soon. It was a horrible feeling not knowing what she had done.

With each passing second, Maddie got more and more aware of what she had done and how badly it could have ended. She was completely shocked that she had lost control like that. But what shocked her even more was that there was still a lingering taste of his blood on her tongue.

It had been so delicious and satisfying, that she was already worrying about the next time she had to drink deer blood or something similar as nasty.

She had been hunting a few days ago, and it made the contrast between human and animal blood even more prominent. Now even bear seemed oddly stale and unsavoury.

Could she ever be close to humans again? Now that she knew how tasty they were, how perfect their blood was to satiate her thirst ... she'd never regain her self-control, it was impossible.

Emmett breathed a sigh of relief and stood up while cupping his groin.

Rose lifted one eyebrow at seeing him do so. "What happened to you?" she asked.

"Nut kick," he replied in a strained voice.

His wife gave him a sympathetic look, hoping he would recover soon.

"Emmy, I'm so sorry!" Maddie suddenly cried and covered her mouth with both her hands when she saw that he was still unable to stand completely straight.

"It's all right, Tiny," he said and ruffled her hair.

And she felt horrible. Well, she felt horrible since she was back, but seeing that she had hurt him was making everything so much worse. "Rose-"

"It happens, Maddie. Calm yourself."

They sat down with her, watching her to see if she would be able to control the urge to breathe. Since she wasn't really used to breathing much around humans anyways, it wasn't impossibly hard for her. But everytime the boy moaned as he slowly reached consciousness, her eyes darkened involuntarily and she made to stand up like she wanted to head for the garage.

"We cannot wait much longer. You need to control yourself, Maddie." Rose said when she walked into the living room again. She had checked on the boy to see how he was doing.

"I'm trying," she replied through clenched teeth, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes in an attempt to keep her instincts at bay.

"You're doing well, just don't breathe," Rose praised and patted her back, then cleared her throat to announce their next course of action.

"All right. That's what we'll do: We need to give him a few bruises and maybe tear his clothes a little. Then you, Maddie, need to make him forget about what happened and tell him you two had been ... hiking. He was a little clumsy and fell."

"I think it would be easier to just kill him," Emmett threw in as he watched Maddie nod at Rose. She didn't look too comfortable with Rose's idea, but more like the thought of going near the boy was causing her physical pain. He got up from his chair and walked over to the door that led to the garage.

Rose slowly turned her head towards him and glared at him.

"What?" he asked and blinked at her. "I mean-"

"He is alive and will stay alive until he dies of natural causes, all right?"

Emmett held her gaze, then buried his hands in the pockets of his jeans and kicked against the wall. "Internal bleeding is a natural cause ...," he grumbled.

Rose made her way over to her sulky husband.

"Stop talking about bleeding!" she fiercely whispered into his ear, then pointed over her shoulder at Maddie, who was hugging herself as she started to shake a little.

"Xbox, Tiny?" Emmett offered, his voice as well as the look in his eyes was apologetic. He didn't mean to cause her unnecessary distress - he just tended to say the wrong things at the wrong time when he was under stress.

"You two can play after we have taken care of him. Let's try it, Maddie, come on."

But Maddie shook her head. "I can't."

"Yes, you do. It's only for a minute, you can do that."

"No!"

"We need to fix this, so stop defying me. You were still under control when we found you, and I know that you can do it again."

"But I hurt Emmett, I don't wanna lose it again and end up hurting him," she said and sounded like she was close to tears.

Of course she would be concerned about that ...

Emmett sighed. "You won't hurt me, Mad, trust me."

Biting her lip, she looked up at him. "Okay," she breathed, then made to walk to the garage.

Rosalie held up a hand to stop her. "Maddie ... I did not mean to push you, I'm sorry. Are you sure you are ready to come near him?"

Maddie frowned. She had trouble focussing on anything but her self-control and keeping herself from drawing a breath that might pull her back into feeding and attacking mode. That's why she had trouble following Rose. "Emmett?"

"No, the boy," Rose clarified.

"No," Maddie admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. She wasn't sure. She didn't know if she would snap again, she had no clue what it would be like being around humans from now on.

It scared her. She felt like a ticking time bomb, that could blow up any minute. Like a newborn. Well, not exactly like a newborn, she just feared she would be like a newborn again.

"We're right next to you," Rose said and put an arm around Maddie's shoulders, offering strength and support as they walked into the garage.

Maddie did not breathe when they entered.

As she walked past the car, she saw Chris lying on a work table off to the side. Rose must have pulled him out of the car a few minutes ago. First she had just opened the car door, then left the garage door open so his scent would enter the house - it was a test to see if she could still keep herself from breathing and snapping even though he was so close nearby. But now that he had stopped bleeding and she had calmed down, they needed to take care of him. If it really wouldn't work - today or maybe tomorrow - they might have to beat him into a coma or kill him, then get Maddie away from civilisation for a while ... but they wouldn't dismiss their previous plan just yet.

Maddie approached him and noticed that she was still calm. She had never really felt an attraction to him, so seeing him now wasn't triggering any odd instincts. That was good to know.

When she looked down at him with curious eyes, because there was a dried blood stain on his shirt, her eyes widened and she flinched back, but Rose kept her in place.

Maddie looked at her and she nodded.

OK, yes. Dried blood didn't trigger her instincts either. She remembered having been in a similar situation before, and even though she had kinda panicked, she hadn't killed anyone. That was also good to know.

And then Chris opened his eyes.

He looked a little groggy ... and confused.

"Huh … ow," he uttered and reached up to nurse his – probably – smarting cheekbone. Rose had hit him good.

"What … where … Maddie?" he asked when his eyes locked with hers. "You have amazing lips, babe …," he blabbered, probably not even realising what he was saying, and Maddie bit her lip. She could see Emmett's jaw clenching out of the corner of her eye.

But it was good that this guy had obviously not understood a single thing that had happened around him.

"I'll give him bruises all right," Emmett growled under his breath and Rose glared at him.

"I'd rather do it," she replied, giving him a pointed look.

"Oh no, I have taken a kick to the nuts for this little punk, I'll hit him good," he said and took a step towards the table, his hands balled into fists.

Rose grabbed him by his forearm and held him back. "No, you won't!" she hissed.

He let out a little gasp, then nodded his head. "Yes, I will! How dare he even think about touching her?! And I can still smell her scent on his breath, that little bastard!"

Maddie reached forward and touched the guy's hand that he held out towards her. Emmett slapped first his, then hers away.

"Emmett, stop it! She needs to do it!"

He huffed in response, then crossed his arms and glared at the boy.

Maddie reached out again and took his hand in hers. "Zone out," she said and watched his eyes go blank.

Emmett frowned when she did that. "What are you making him unconscious for?"

"He doesn't need to feel the pain," Maddie explained, using up the last air she had in her lungs. She would need to draw a breath to speak again, and it appeared to make her visibly nervous.

"Oh yes, he does!" he countered, making Rose roll her eyes.

"Would you stop it? Turn around, both of you," she ordered and waited until they did as she told them before she buckled down to the task.

She hit the boy several times, inflicting new injuries and future bruises. She tore his shirt a little and was glad that his clothes were already a little muddy and stained.

Fishing his cell phone from his pocket, she then crushed it in her hand and let the pieces fall to the floor, then shoved them under the table with her foot.

"Continue." was all she said.

Maddie turned around and looked at her sister.

"You know what to tell him."

Maddie nodded. And so she took a quick breath with a hand over her mouth, then told him that they were hiking in the morning and he fell, hurting himself. He lost his cell phone and Maddie's battery was low, so she had to wait for him to reach consciousness again before she ran back to the house to get her siblings, so they could help her bring him back.

After that, Emmett brought him over to his house, telling his parents, who had just arrived the day before, what happened. They thanked him for his help, then brought their son to the hospital.

"Hey," Emmett said when he reentered the house a little while later.

Rose was sitting on the couch with Maddie, who had her blanket wrapped securely around herself. The scents of home were comforting to her as was the way Rose let her fingers run through her hair.

The poor girl, he thought. She had amazing self-control, but it had probably been just a matter of time until she would slip.

He had killed several people while he had been a newborn, and he had slipped even after that phase, so he knew exactly how hard it was to deal with the thought of having failed.

But this wasn't about him now - it had happened to her, and she was beating herself up over it.

She probably didn't want to hear it, but she shouldn't be upset about having fed. It was an instinct, after all, she couldn't help it.

He walked towards them, then slumped down next to Maddie, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close.

"Sorry about your … balls, Emmy," she murmured into his chest, sounding bashful and really, really sorry.

He laughed a little and ruffled her hair. "Just don't do it again. But you weren't yourself."

She grimaced, but seemed to believe him that he wasn't mad at her.

"Besides, " he added, "I threw you into a tree."

He glanced down at her as she pulled away and sat up again, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Ah," she muttered, and suddenly her eyes shone with realisation. "I remember the tree."

Now it was his turn to feel really bad about something. "Did I hurt you?" he hesitantly asked, then grabbed her by the arm and pushed her forward a little to check her over for injuries.

"No, I don't think so. Must have been the adrenaline."

He let go of her and nodded. "Yeah, probably ... hey, anyone know how to fix the floor?" he asked and pointed at a spot near the front door. There was a crack in the wood and it was splintered - just where he had tackled her to the ground when she had tried to get away from him.

"We'll think of something," Rose said, hoping they would be able to hide it from Carlisle and Esme. Since they hadn't called yet, she was pretty sure Alice hadn't told them ... and Rose didn't want to mention Maddie's little accident in the same breath as greeting them.

It was silent for a moment, until Emmett spoke again.

"How did it happen anyways?" he queried and looked at Maddie, who suddenly averted her eyes.

"It was an accident, Emmett," Rosalie answered for Maddie, giving him a look like she wanted to tell him to drop the subject.

"I know, but how did it happen?" he asked again, looking curiously at his little sister who all of a sudden seemed to be oddly interested in the pattern of the floor.

She so did not want to tell him. She remembered everything by now and knew, that Emmett wouldn't like to hear the full story. Normally she could talk to him about everything, but he was so protective of her that she wasn't sure what he would do.

"Come on, Mad, I won't judge," he said and nudged her shoulder with his.

She just lifted one corner of her mouth in a little grimace, but still didn't reply.

"I think you kissed, am I right?"

Now she lifted her head, staring at him with wide eyes. Was he okay with kissing?

"Am I right?" he asked again.

She looked away and nodded, and that made him sigh.

"Anything else? Did he touch you?" His eyes darkened for a brief moment when he said the word 'touch'.

"No," Maddie told him and shook her head, then glanced at him to see how he would react.

She could see him relaxing. He was genuinely relieved, Maddie could tell, and that relieved her.

But Emmett wasn't done yet. "Remember what I told you? If someone touches you?"

"Uh-huh," she said and pulled the blanket even tighter around her shoulders.

"So?" he prompted, waiting for an answer.

"Hurt 'em."

Rose sighed at hearing that answer, but Emmett smiled, obviously proud of her. "Exactly."

Carlisle and Esme will arrive in the next chapter ;-)

But this was the last update for a little while ... I was a bit bored yesterday and so I booked a flight and I'm leaving tomorrow. I'll be back in three weeks and then I'll continue with this story! Two more chapters, I think.

To keep you occupied for ... well, half a minute of these three weeks, I made a poll! I have never made a poll before, I really hope it works :-/ I have a few story ideas and that's why I want you to tell me which story you'd like to read! You can find the descriptions on my profile page. Please vote!