Chapter 25

Liz's POV:

The three of us turned and watched the front door, wondering what exactly was going on in the clearing.

"Do you think –" Kim started to ask but Emily cut her off, glancing back at Lydia.

"I'm sure everything's fine."

"Right," Lydia said, narrowing her eyes at the three of us. "What's going on?"

"It's the wolves," Emily said, the lie coming easy to her. "The boys have been trying to relocate them further into the forest but they keep coming back."

Lydia looked at the door in worry. "Are those the same wolves that attacked all those hikers last winter?"

"I don't think so," Kim said, which was the truth. Seth had told me it had been a vampire killing all those people around Forks last year. Still, I felt bad for keeping Lydia out of the loop. I'm sure our behavior seemed really strange. I hoped she didn't think that everyone in La Push was completely insane.

"Is it normal for them to come so close?" she asked curiously.

"Not usually," Emily answered. She turned back to the oven, her movements strangely rigid as she scrubbed it clean. Kim turned back to the book in front of her.

Lydia looked between the two of them in alarm before grabbing my arm and pulling me back into the living room. We stood right outside the doorway to the kitchen, Claire and her sister ignoring us as they continued to fight over their doll's outfits. "What's really going on?" Lydia whispered. "And don't say nothing! I can tell that something's wrong."

I shrugged, trying to think fast. "It's just the wolves, Lydia."

"So they are dangerous?" she asked.

"They are wild animals," I pointed out.

She looked at me in concern. "Should I be worried about Brady?"

"No," I said, forcing a smile. "I'm sure everyone's fine." I was just about to suggest that we go back to playing with the girls before they murdered each other Barbie clothes, but I heard the front door open and Emily call out Sam's name.

I quickly turned to see Sam standing in the front door, his huge stature taking over the entire doorframe, with a large grin on his face. "Everything's fine," he said as he walked in the door. Jared, Brady, Quil and Seth quickly followed him.

I hadn't realized how tense I'd been until I saw Seth's face. It felt like I could finally breathe again now that I knew he was completely safe. My nightmares hadn't come true; he had survived the fight. His eyes quickly found mine as he made his way across the room, a huge smile on his face. He threw his arms around me, holding me tightly as he said, "I told you I'd come back to you."

I watched over his shoulder as Brady greeted Lydia with a wide smile and a kiss on the cheek. She gave him a quick smile before whispering, "You have a lot of explaining to do." She pulled him to the other side of the room as Quil joined the two children on the floor.

I turned my attention back to Seth, clinging to him as I said, "I'm so glad you're okay."

"You shouldn't have even worried, Liz," he said. "We outnumbered them almost two to one. And we surprised them. They –"

"Seth," I interrupted him. His voice was carrying across the room and I could see Lydia eyeing him curiously. "Can we go for a walk?"

He seemed to catch on to what I meant. "Sure," he said, grabbing my hand and leading me out the front door.

As soon as we were in the trees, I stopped and turned to him. "They were surprised?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess they had just expected to come out here and wipe out the pack in order to avenge that vampire before looking for Bella," he answered. "They didn't expect the Cullens to be there with thirty of their closest friends."

"So what happened?" I asked, suddenly curious to see if my nightmares had been all wrong in terms of what actually happened in the clearing. Maybe I was only able to predict where and when vampires would show up but not their actions.

"Well, they went back and forth over whether Bella's daughter was an immortal child or not for a while."

"Immortal child? Is that as creepy as it sounds?" I asked.

He nodded. "Vampire babies. Like, real human babies turned into vampires. They'd be stuck as babies, physically and developmentally, for all eternity."

"Okay, that's really weird," I said. "Why would anyone want to have a baby forever?" It didn't make any sense to me. Babies were cute but they were constantly crying and pooping themselves. Who in their right mind would want to change diapers indefinitely?

"Well, I guess they turned older children too. I think it's because vampires can't have kids. Or at least the female ones can't," he said. "Anyways, these Volturi guys outlawed them because the kids weren't very good at keeping their secret. It was a big thing a couple centuries ago and now they just immediately execute anyone in possession of an immortal child."

"But that's not what Renesmee is, right?"

He shook his head. "No, but she does look like one. I know the Cullens had been worried that they wouldn't even stop to listen before they attempted to kill them all. That's why they had all their friends come, so they could witness the fact that Nessie's different."

"That's why they had all those people show up?" I asked. "I thought they were coming to help the pack."

Seth laughed. "Those vampires don't care about us."

I felt a little stupid. Of course they didn't. I remember what Alice had said about her guests, how most of them had quite a different diet from the Cullens, and realized that the pack probably would have tried to kill them if the circumstances had been different. "Well, did they finally believe that she wasn't one of those eternal toddlers?"

"Yeah, eventually. And that's when they mentioned that they were just there to take revenge against the pack," he said. He sounded so casual, as if foreign vampire royalty threatened his life all the time. I rolled my eyes at him as he continued, "It was so cool! Edward was basically just like 'I'm sorry but we can't allow you to do that.'" He tried to imitate Edward's velvety voice and failed spectacularly. "And then all hell broke loose. Bella's power worked so nothing they did affected us while we just tore into them!"

He sounded as if he had had a blast. I was actually starting to feel embarrassed for worrying so much. But then again, I think I'll always be worried when he goes off to protect the area from bloodsuckers, no matter how capable he was. "It was really that simple?"

"I know it sounds surprising but it really was," he replied. "They were totally relying on their abilities to win but Bella stopped them all."

"So everyone's okay?" I asked in surprise.

"Well, one of the Cullens friends got torn in half but she's okay now." It sounded completely ridiculous. She was just torn in half but don't worry, she's cool now. I wondered vaguely if someone had slipped me some hallucinogens back at Emily's house. "I can't say the same for those Italians, though. We killed quite a few of their guard."

"Did you get those creepy twins?" I wondered out loud.

He looked at me strangely. "How did you know about them?"

I shrugged. "Dreams."

He bit his lip before pulling me in for a hug. I snuggled up to his chest, glad to be in his arms again. It was still a relief to feel him there, alive and safe. "Did we win against them in your dreams?" he asked quietly. I shook my head and he tightened his grip on me. "Is that why you've been so worried?"

"Of course," I answered.

"Well, I am extremely glad you were wrong," he said, his lips lingering on my forehead.

I laughed. "Me too. But you didn't answer me. Did those creepy kids get the axe or what?"

"Yeah," Seth laughed. "Bella killed the female one herself. It was amazing."

"Good," I said. We stood there for what felt like a long time, simply holding each other. It was all I needed to assure myself that we had made it through this. I suddenly felt a lot more secure in our relationship. I mean, if we could make it through threats from super vampires then I don't think there was much we couldn't handle. True, Seth had done all of the fighting but I like to think that my dreams had helped combat them as well. Finally, I said, "So what happens now?"

He shrugged. "Edward doesn't think that they're going to come back, at least not for now. They lost too many of their guard. They really relied on them to keep control. Edward and Carlisle are actually a little worried about what that meant for the rest of the vampires in the world."

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"Because they were the ones who kept order," he explained. "They made every vampire on the planet follow their rules and keep their secret from humans. The news of them getting beaten is going to spread quickly. Carlisle's not sure how other vampires are going to react once they figure out that the Volturi won't be able to enforce their rules for a while."

"So basically they might decide to expose themselves to the world since these guys can't stop them?" I said. "That doesn't seem like a good thing."

"I don't think they're going to intentionally come out and announce that they're vampires," he replied. "I think it will be more like they won't care if humans start to notice anything strange as they feed on them and fight each other."

"The pack's going to be really busy now, huh?" I asked sadly.

"Probably," he smiled, actually seeming excited at that fact. "But don't worry about anything, Liz. This is probably going to be one of the safest areas of the entire country, with us and the Cullens here."

I held on to him even tighter. It was impossible to worry about that now that he was safe and in my arms.

It was strange, really, how normal life seemed to get after that. I had gotten so used to dealing with one supernatural crisis after the other that the next few week's normalcy was actually quite refreshing. That wasn't to say that I didn't see any of the supernatural beings that had come to occupy my life, though. Alice still stopped by every once in a while to update me on what was happening with the vampires. Bella had finally been able to pull back and stop blocking her powers so she was able to finally watch the Volturi again, although they weren't doing much of anything. According to her, they were hiding in some castle in Italy, trying to act like they hadn't just gotten their asses kicked by a clan of vampires that they deemed inferior simply because they drank from animals instead of humans. She said word of their defeat was slowly spreading through the vampire world, and their friends had left to try and gauge how the other vampires of the world were taking the news. As much as they disliked the Volturi at the moment, they weren't really sure if they wanted complete anarchy in the vampire world.

The wolves weren't quite as worried. Of course, they cared about how the vampires around the world would react but they knew it wouldn't change anything in La Push. They would be around to protect the citizens of the Olympic Peninsula, no matter what. Still, Sam had decided to increase patrols just in case any bloodsuckers were curious enough to come and check out the vampire-werewolf team that had managed to kill the majority of the Volturi's guard. Seth said that he was also worried about the Volturi coming back to take revenge despite the fact that Alice hadn't seen them make any kind of decision. I guess other vampires had learned how to get around her visions before and he was worried that the Italians would do the same.

Things with Emma were improving, although it was very slow going. She didn't flip out like I thought she would when I asked to see someone about getting birth control. Instead, she took me without any complaints, although her face did have this weird pinched look the whole time we were there. And she seemed to have a hard time leaving me alone at all. It was like she thought I would find a way to get syphilis or pregnant in the ten seconds I was alone in a room. Still, she continued to let Seth come over, despite the fact that she watched us closely and got that same pinched look on her face any time we touched.

Even though Emma hated leaving me alone, she still had to work and I was a little too old for the day care that the hospital ran for its employee's children. I was actually a little surprised that she hadn't tried to take time off, considering it was the holidays and everything. Turns out, she didn't like to make a big deal out of Christmas, which I could understand. I imagine things had been lonely the past few years. She didn't get along with her son or her brother so she had spent the past few Christmases alone. She didn't seem to mind, though, because she was able to make a little extra money by picking up as many shifts as she could. She had been worried about me, but I was glad to be alone for the holiday. My father and I were not really religious but we had still celebrated Christmas and it was weird to be spending it without him. I missed our tradition of watching as much of the twenty-four marathon of A Christmas Story as we could before ordering Chinese food. It wasn't much but it was our tradition, not doing it made me feel strangely empty inside. I was sitting on the couch in front of the television, still in my pajamas even though it was the middle of the day and trying not to let myself get too upset when the front door suddenly opened.

"Seth!" I said, looking at him in shock as I quickly ran my hands through my hair. I was suddenly very aware that I hadn't bothered to brush it that morning. "What are you doing here?"

He smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, Liz. I know you said you wanted to be alone today but I was worried about you."

"I'm fine," I said quickly, feeling a little ashamed of my behavior. I didn't want Seth to know that I had spent most of the day wallowing in self-pity.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "No you're not," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for telling me how I'm feeling."

"I don't mean it that way," he said. "But I understand. It's my first Christmas without my dad too." I frowned. I always seemed to forget that, which probably made me a horrible girlfriend. He sat down next to me and put his arm around me, pulling me close to his chest. "Being alone is only going to make you feel worse, you know."

I couldn't stop myself from smiling. "If you say so."

He snorted. "Are you really trying to act like you're having a great Christmas?"

"And how long were you watching me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"You're ignoring the question," he said, ignoring my question.

I tried to glare at him, but it was so hard being annoyed with him when I knew that he was simply telling the truth. I was having a pretty crappy day, but I didn't want to admit that he was right. "And I'm assuming that Emily's party was a blast, since you've been lurking outside my house for God knows how long."

"My mom brought Charlie," he frowned. "I don't know. I mean, I'm glad that she's happy but it was just weird seeing them together like that. Not that I haven't seen them together before but…" he trailed off, clearly having trouble explaining how conflicted he felt.

"I get it," I said. "Celebrating Christmas together makes it that much more official." It was a weird way to put it but I figured that celebrating holidays together cemented a relationship. Seth had never really seen her with anyone except his father. I could tell that he wasn't begrudging his mother's relationship with Charlie, but there was a part of him that missed his dad.

"Yeah," he agreed, looking down at me. "Besides, I'd rather spend my Christmas with you."

I couldn't help smiling at that. "Well, I'm glad you showed up."

He grinned at me and my day was instantly better. "Me too." He turned to the television and groaned. "You're watching this too? Embry wouldn't let me turn it off, even though it had been on for hours. It's not even that funny the first time around!"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Oh, but that stupid Transformers movie was totally amazing the fifth time you made me watch it."

"Watch it," he laughed. "That movie is a classic. And the only reason I wanted to watch it so many times is because you kept distracting me." I rolled my eyes, it's not like he had been complaining about my distractions at the time, and turned back to the television. "Where's Emma?" he asked curiously.

"Working," I said. "She's working two shifts today, because of the holiday and everything."

"But she won't be home for a while, right?" he whispered, leaning down to kiss my neck.

I sighed, suddenly finding it very hard to concentrate on the movie. "Not until eleven."

I could feel his lips pulling into a smile against my skin. "Nice," he said, moving his lips slowly up to my mouth before kissing me hard. His tongue traced the outline of my lips and I lost all semblance of coherent thought after that, at least until I felt his hands burning my skin as they moved underneath my shirt.

I seemed to lose all control of my body after that. I whispered his name against his lips and laid back on the couch, pulling him down with me. He pulled away to smile that amazing smile at me, and my stomach started doing back flips. It was funny how he still managed to make my heart feel like it was going to burst out of my chest, even after all we had been through. And suddenly it didn't matter if we decided to continue to take things slow or did everything tonight, I just wanted to be as close to him as I could get. I reached up and touched his face, my thumb tracing the line of his cheekbone before pulling his face back down to mine. Of course, the phone chose that moment to begin ringing loudly.

He groaned and buried his face in my neck. "It's probably Emma," I sighed. "She's been calling every couple of hours to check in on me."

"Let me guess, if you don't answer she'll probably leave work and race home to make sure you're alright," he said as he disentangled our limbs and sat up. I hadn't even realized that I had thrown one of my legs over his hip in my quest to get closer to him.

I chuckled. He knew my aunt well. "Probably," I said, getting up to answer the phone.

He groaned again, running his hands through his hair in frustration. I could definitely understand how he felt, it seemed like every time we were starting to get somewhere interesting, the universe would step in and stop us. I guess it was just a further reminder that we weren't ready for that, no matter what our bodies told us.

After assuring Emma that I was absolutely fine for the fifth time, I finally got her off the phone and sat back down as close as I could to Seth without climbing into his lap. However, it didn't get the response that I was hoping for as he continued to stare at the television, a look of concern on his face. "What's wrong?" I asked.

He didn't say anything, just nodded to the television. It seems that the movie had been interrupted by a special news bulletin. A man with severely bright teeth was saying, "Amanda is on the scene with the latest."

Then the camera switched to an older woman with large blonde hair standing in front of an alleyway, the opening closed off with yellow police tape. "The police are not releasing any information yet, but sources have revealed that the bodies have been mangled in a brutal manner. In fact, they are almost certain that this is the work of the gang that haunted the streets of Seattle earlier this summer."

The anchorman in the studio was back on, looking incredibly grim. "Police were never able to learn much information about this particularly brutal gang, although they believe that it is responsible for the deaths and disappearances of over forty people during the months of March and April. We will keep you updated as we learn more."

I looked at Seth in confusion. "But those murders and disappearances in Seattle… I thought Victoria was behind those."

"She was," Seth replied.

"And the pack killed her," I said, still really confused.

"Technically, Edward killed her," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "So there's no way that she's behind this, right?"

"No," Seth said. "It sounds like other vampires, though. Carlisle said something like this might happen after word got out about the Volturi. I don't think he imagined it would happen this fast, though."

"What are you saying?" I asked, although I was sure that I wasn't going to like the answer.

"Well, it would seem like that they don't care whether or not people catch on to their secret as long as they have enough blood to drink." He sighed and ran his hands over his face in frustration. "This isn't good. I should tell Sam about this. The Cullens have to know too."

"But you just got here," I said, my voice taking on an annoying whiny quality that I wasn't exactly proud of. I didn't feel ashamed, though. I was finding that there wasn't much I wouldn't do to keep Seth safe and away from vampires, even if it was only for a little while. "And it's Christmas."

"I thought you wanted to be alone this Christmas," he said, smiling at me.

"Well, I've changed my mind," I said, pushing him back against the couch and snuggling up against his chest. "I want to be with you. At least watch the end of the movie with me."

"But we already knows what happens!" he protested, although he didn't move. "He gets the BB gun and manages to not shoot his eye out. That's really all you need to know."

I brushed my nose down the side of his neck, trying not to smirk at the way it made him shiver. "Maybe I could find a way to distract you, then."

A/N: Well, that's it! Hope you liked the story. I should be posting the extras I had sent out soon. Once again, I'm sorry it took me so long to finally finish this story. Let me know what you think, if you've managed to make it this far with this story! :)