Disclaimer- I do not claim what is not mine… Kale of course is mine.

Chapter 21

Max's POV

I stared at him in disbelief and just sat there. Fang was dead. Those words played in my head as I tried to accept the fact. I felt tears coming to my eyes and for once, I didn't try to stop them from coming. They flowed freely down my face.

I don't know how long I stared at Fang's lifeless body before I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I didn't even react. It could have been erasers for all I cared.

Another hand grabbed hold of Fang and lifted him up. I continued to stare, sightlessly, at the spot he had been laying. The arm on my shoulder moved to my hand and pulled me back up to my feet gently.

Tears were still running down my face and I couldn't take being here anymore, being so close to Fang's dead body, so I flew off. I spread my wings and flew off.

I had no clue where I was going but anyplace would be better than staring at Fang's dead body. I landed somewhere and I finally managed to pull myself together enough to get my bearings. I realized that I was with my flock. I had to tell them.

I hid my thoughts from Angel, as painful as they were; I still managed, and gathered everyone together. Iggy asked Nikias if he could give us privacy for a moment after Nudge told him I had been crying.

Everyone gathered in a circle and even Nudge remained quiet. "Guys, "I said in a whisper, "Fang is dead." Nudge, Angel, and even Gazzy started to tear up, and Iggy looked horrified.

"You-you mean, he's actually dead?" he said, even more quietly than I had spoken. I whispered a yes and all the younger ones ran over to me. I hugged them all and even Iggy joined in.

After a moment, we heard a commotion by where Nikias had gone. The werewolves must have followed me somehow. I pulled out of the hug and went over towards the commotion, trying to compose myself. I wiped the tears from my face and hid all emotion… Just like Fang did.

When I reached them, Nikias was demanding to know what happened as he saw Fang and the werewolves demanding to know where I was. I cleared my throat and they immediately turned to face me.

Nikias stepped forward and spoke first. "What happened?" he asked. I shook my head to say that I wouldn't talk about it now. He got a stubborn look on his face. "Max, I demand to know what happened. Fang's dead and I want answers."

I glared at him and said with venom in my voice, "That's just it. Fang's dead. That's all there is. Fang's dead and I'm not. The only reason he's dead is that I wouldn't agree to work with Kale! I was stubborn and now Fang's dead! Now you leave and go join the Cullens like a good vampire!" He looked like he was going to say something else but I stopped him. "Leave! Now!" I screamed at him.

He listened and flew back towards where the Cullens were. I stood there, letting my fury die down before I spoke again. But then what I had said sunk in. It was my fault Fang was dead. I had caused this and anguish surged through me.

I heard one of the werewolves cough and realized that tears were coming again. I composed myself before facing them again. "What do you want?" I asked, trying to hide my pain.

"Fang is alive," said Jacob. My head snapped up. If Fang was alive then… A small groan sounded and we all looked to the source. Fang, Fang had groaned. Fang was alive. I heard the rest of the flock come up behind me. Arriving after finally being able to compose themselves.

"Fang's alive," I whispered incredulously. "He's actually alive." I blinked a few times then returned to my normal Max mode. "Guys, we need medical supplies for him. Iggy, check for wounds. Gazzy, Angel, Nudge, find the Cullens and get them here." I received odd looks after that and yelled, "Go!"

Iggy moved over to Fang to check his pulse and got an odd look on his face. Fang was starting to move a little more so we knew he was still alive but Iggy said, "There's no pulse." I looked over to him. If there was no pulse then they had either changed Fang or this wasn't him.

I walked up to him, kneeled in front of him and asked, "When Max 2 was here, how you knew she wasn't me?" He looked confused for a moment but answered.

"I could always tell. She wasn't like you Max." He said these quietly but sounded pained. I cleared my head of those thoughts and decided to ask one more question.

This one would be a trick question. "What gift did you give me after my fifteenth birthday?" I asked.

"Flowers," he said a little uncertainly. I was right. This wasn't Fang. I shook my head and he dropped the façade and stood easily, his body shifting back to what it was before he became Fang.

Iggy didn't know what was going on so I said, "Iggy, get away from him! He's not Fang!" Iggy jumped back quickly and the werewolves around us morphed into their wolf form and we both spread our wings and took off. We had to find the rest of the flock.

I led Iggy along until I saw a dark mass coming towards us, way off in the distance and also saw a small cluster of people below us. It was the flock and the Cullens.

Angel and Nudge were both trying to pull Alice after them and Gazzy was talking frantically to Carlisle using lots of hand motions. The rest of the Cullens and Bella were watching in amusement as the two girls tried to budge Alice who had not moved at all.

It was Esme who noticed me and Iggy above them, coming closer to land. She interrupted Gazzy and told Carlisle to look up in time to see us land a few yards away. "Is Fang alright," he asked, obviously concerned.

"I don't know," I said then continued, "The person we found wasn't Fang. It was another one of Kale's vampires. He was meant to trick us into thinking Fang was with us." I waited for the flock to take in the news.

"So, Fang's not dead?" questioned a confused Gazzy. I shook my head, "Not that we know of."

Angel and Nudge exchanged glances and seemed to have a mental conversation. I wonder what they were thinking of. After a moment, Angel turned to face me and asked, "Are you going to be okay Max?" I smiled weakly at her.

"I'll be fine but we need to find the real Fang." She nodded as well as the rest of the flock and the Cullens.

Carlisle was the first to mention the dark mass coming towards us. "What are we going to do about that?" he asked pointing towards the flying portion of the dark mass.

"Uhh… well, I suggest we fight to the death, preferably theirs," I said in a calmly, recalling the future that the voice had shown me. Apparently I wasn't the only one remembering that future because Gazzy and Nudge stared at me, Angel looked ready to cry, and Iggy got a look of determination on his face.

All of us took off into the air, got into battle positions and held our own until they would meet us in the air. Looking down, I saw Edward pull Bella behind him protectively as the Cullens also took on positions.

I turned my face up again towards the quickly approaching mass of erasers and froze in shock. I had never felt so betrayed as I did now. Replacing the initial shock, I felt fury heat my blood until it felt like fire was racing through my veins.

I turned to the flock, who had just seen him, and said, "I'll take care of him." I turned again, just as the erasers started closing the gap between us and we were met with the cloud of erasers and with Fang, who had been leading them.