Chapter Twenty-Four

Nessie's POV

Everyone had been tense around here since Nickolas Ravenwood, Fang's twin!, showed up in the middle of the night and tried to kill Fang. That had taken so much explaining that even I'm still confused about everything.

Flashback

A howl in the dead of night woke me from my sleep. Jake stiffened in bed beside me and listened for his wolf brother to howl again.

One howl meant 'Cullen trouble,' two howls meant 'vampire scent.'

When the second howl didn't come, the two of us jumped out of bed and quickly dressed. I went to wake up Bex to tell her to keep an eye on the triplets while we went to check out whatever was happening at the Cullen Mansion. She nodded sleepily and pulled her blanket into the nursery to keep her warm coziness.

Jake decided not to phase, which only slowed our running down a minute's worth of time instead of the three minutes it would take him to un-change and then re-change at the house.

Seth was patrolling outside the house. He was the one who had signaled for Jake. Angel must have contacted him.

When we got there, the Flock, as well as the Cullens, were all wide awake and sitting on the couches in the living room. I counted heads and found fifteen people in the room. That was strange. Maybe I miscounted. There were supposed to be only fourteen, minus Annie and Arian.

I looked at the faces again as Jake and I entered the front door and I did a double take. Two Fangs standing side-by-side and each being put under Jasper's 'happy gas.' I could tell by the way they were both not scowling.

"You found Fang's clone too?" Jake asked, confused.

The Fang with a five o'clock shadow at three in the morning growled. He looked more masculine (if that was even possible for someone who already looked like Fang) than the cleanshaven one closest to Max, but the two shared a lot of similarities. Those dark eyes and olivie skin, as well as having dark black hair.

But the more I looked, the more differences I found. Though Fang II seemed taller, Fang had slightly wider shoulders. Fang II's hair was slightly lighter too; more coal black than jet black like Fang's. And the new teenager was shaking his hand constantly, something that normal Fang wouldn't be able to master considering he pretty much never moves. The boy is a statue.

"I am not a clone." Fang II stated angrily. "I was the original!"

Fang rolled his eyes. "Technically, we both were originals." He said calmly. Yup, definitely Fang.

"Twins?" I asked in disbelief. That would explain the differences.

Everyone else seemed to find this old news; or at least the Flock did. My vampire family didn't look shocked about it though.

Fang nodded. "This is Nickolas Ravenwood." He pointed to the boy beside him.

"Wait, I thought your name was Nick?" Esme asked. "That's the name you gave the school board. You seemed pretty set on using it…"

Nickolas grinned and Fang tried not to look at the smugness on his brother's face. "You missed me, didn't you?" He asked. "Maybe even regretted killing me?" He prompted and I gasped.

"Can someone please explain this?" Jake asked, looking at Edward for help.

Nudge looked eager to be the one to explain and she took off like a rocket. "Well, when we were at the School, Nick was part of our group and Alex, aka Fang, wasn't considered worthy of being with the other Avian experiments so we didn't really see him. I joined the group when I was like three so I was still kinda young, but apparently Nick, Iggy, and Max literally grew up together.

"When Fang and Nick were six, they were told to fight, like literally fight, each other. Fight to the death. Anyways, Fang won because at the time, Nick was a weaker fighter so he didn't stand as much of a chance during their four day fight. The scientists were mean to make them fight, especially because they were twins, but They wanted to see if their perfect little weapons had what it took to go all the way.

"But I mean, they were just six years old. Fang didn't really understand why it was wrong 'cause that's how the scientists had always taught him. Kill or be killed, and I mean, that's kind of our motto too but we at least try to find a way to make things not so black and white. Grey area, right Max?"

Max turned to Nudge and nodded, though she was refusing to look at either Nick or Fang at this point and it was blatantly obvious to everyone.

"How are you alive then?" Carlisle asked, astounded. Apparently, he forgot the part that the Flock was always talking about where the School brought back Max's little brother Ari to life two times.

"The School." Nick replied, his voice was deeper than Fang's too, but that was probably because he was trying to sound threatening. I couldn't be sure. "They spent three years reviving me, but by that time, the Flock had already left with Jeb and I was left prisoner without anyone that I knew."

"And the Eraser part?" Max asked quietly. "You and Ari were changed together?"

Nick nodded, though Max still didn't look in his direction. "They tried to implant the DNA for a year, but it was Ari's blood that really made it stick in my system. That's why they used the same needle to inject it in us both."

"Ari was three and I was ten when it happened." Nick went on to explain. "It took four years, but we finally mastered the art of morphing from human to Eraser. But by that time, Jeb was back."

"Jeb left his three year old son at the School?" Rosalie asked, getting furious.

Most of the Flock nodded, most of them with guilty looks on their faces, and my aunt got even angrier.

As much as Rosalie wanted to be human and have children, she wanted those that were already in the world to be taken care of twice as much. I bet she would make a great adoptive parent if it weren't for the whole 'kid smells like dinner' thing.

"You need to forgive Fang, Nick." Angel spoke up, eying Nick with wide eyes. "I know we never got to meet before 'cause I wasn't born when all of this happened, but I know that you love your brother. And you and I both know that you wouldn't feel as angry if the Flock hadn't left. Fang didn't do that, Jeb did."

Nick scowled and I could see Jasper trying to get a better grip on the boy's mood. "What about killing me? That's just forgiven around here, like it was nothing?" He asked angrily.

"I killed Ari." Max admitted quietly. The non Flock people looked shocked. She had named her son after her half brother and she had been the one to kill him? It didn't make sense.

"The School brought him back, but the image was still in my head. It haunts me in my sleep. I see his face everywhere." Max said in just barely a whisper.

She finally looked at the Fangs and Nick met her gaze. "I know what my husband is feeling, trust me on that. The guilt, the shame, the need to try and forget about the twisted things that we did…"

All eyes were on her, but she ignored them. When Fang went to hold her hand, she didn't stop him, but she still kept eye contact with Nick.

"We were just kids when all this happened, playing cat and mouse for the School. We were all just Their puppets, don't you see?" She asked, trying to convey the message to her brother-in-law.

That was what broke through to Nick. He promised to stop trying to justify his feelings to kill Fang and let them go.

End Flashback

Nick has become like a part of the Flock, or as much as someone can be after they tried to kill one of its members, and they've been working through their issues. Part of me wonders if this will be a mistake down the road, but I push that part aside as I lean against my husband's bare chest. Things couldn't change much more, could they?

AN: Well, thats the end of this story.

Don't get too disappointed now young readers. Due to the fact that I am addicted to the way this story is shaping up, I cannot give up on it. I am making another sequel to this (I would just continue on this one, but from here, there are big changes and it deserves its own story, so bare with me.) It's called "Imprints, Soul Mates, and Other Halves" so please check it out. :)

THANK YOU TO MY REVIEWERS! You guys really kept me going on this and gave me inspiration when I needed it. (And to those who don't review, but still read my stories, I thank you as well...)