Betaed by Ms. Marie S Cullen. Check out her stories and follow her on FB!

Now Playing – On the Hunt by Lynyrd Skynyrd

JPOV

The entire pack and our families gathered around the large bonfire. The leaches were on patrol tonight. The pack had the evening off; most of us were enjoying the night free from the protection detail. Food was plentiful and being passed around. Many of the elders were a beer or two (or four) into a six-pack, and everyone seemed jovial for the moment.

Except me.

Why were we doing this? Why waste time? I understood the value of a good time, but this felt premature—our work undone. It was one single vampire that was causing all of this trouble. I didn't understand the need for all the strategy, all of the thoughtful planning. Did we need that when we took out the French-fried leech that almost killed Bella? No. We attacked, and we won. Why were we treating this one any differently? Because she was a little extra slippery? Because Bella was a vampire now? The easy atmosphere of the evening was disturbing to me.

It was because they weren't as worried. It wasn't their family the redhead was after. It wasn't the girl they loved that had been drained by a blood-drinking demon.

This wasn't over yet. I was a mythical creature too, right? I could accept Bella as she was. This was what I reasoned. Though her heart no longer beat, I still yearned for her. I imagined her curled into Edward's stone body with a shudder. I didn't care what she was; there was still a chance. She wouldn't age, and I didn't have to either. The certainty of this in my mind and heart smoldered like the coals in the center of the great roaring fire. It wasn't too late. I could still make her love me, and I could still make her safe. Her, and the people that mattered to her most.

Sam was in disgustingly a lighthearted mood.

"Jake, stop worrying. Let the leeches clean up their own mess for the evening. Their little seer will know if anything is going to happen. We'll go back out at first light. Charlie Swan is safe, and we don't have to worry about Bella anymore."

Easy for him to say. Bella's change had quelled most of his worries; they were prepared to handle the redhead of she crossed into her territory, but no one seems to be inclined to seek her out. They didn't seem to see that it wasn't only Bella in danger. She'd always be hunting somewhere. Were we suddenly turning a blind eye to anyone that wasn't being hunted in our area? I harrumphed in response to him but said nothing. He shook his head and walked away to reclaim his place next to Emily. He had his girl, so of course, he didn't care as much as I did.

I watched as the party died down. Couples split off on their own and the fire was dying down. I could hear the waves break against the shore in the distance to the west.

Maybe I could run some trails on my own tonight. Just to see if the redhead was near. They'd scold me in advance, but if I got her, I'd be praised. If I said nothing, I could circumvent Sam's orders. He said I couldn't hunt her, but never ordered that I couldn't run the forest. If I did this, then I would know I had done everything I could. I would've made every effort to give Bella what she didn't even know she needed.

I handed Billy another beer and eyed his lowering eyelids. Another beer or two and he'd be down for the count.

I would go when everyone was gone.

BPOV

Now Playing—Eyes of the Insane by Slayer

We gathered in the clearing that I instantly recognized as the same clearing that I had watched the Cullen's play baseball in on the fateful evening that James had decided to make me the object of his hunt. I had followed Edward, Alice, and Jasper into this clearing unknowing of exactly where we were heading, and it surprised me to find myself there. The magnitude in which things had changed since the last time I stood here astonished me. Was I even the same person?

I answered the question myself in my head, with a resounding No. Nothing was the same and nothing ever would be, ever again.

Edward was the first to speak.

"Bella, Jasper has great experience when it comes to combat. He will teach you how Victoria may fight, ways to defeat one of our kind. Then, you'll be able to apply this to your own style, as it develops."

I gaze again at Jasper, his silver scars glinting in the moonlight. How many had tried to take him down and failed? I was pleased to have him as a teacher.

"Victoria seems to have a gift of evasion." Jasper chimed in, "the first obstacle is simply catching her." He walked with purpose towards the center of the clearing. "Ok, Edward. Try and catch me."

And then, Jasper was a blur as Edward charged him like a cougar, grinning while he snarled. Edward was impossibly quick, but so was Jasper. It looked like Jasper had no more substance than a ghost - any time it seemed Edward's hands had him for sure, his fingers clenched around nothing but the air. Then, he froze.

Jasper had him from behind, his teeth an inch from his throat. Edward cursed under his breath.

"Again," Edward insisted, his grin gone.

"No, I want to try." I interrupted. They both looked at me in surprise. "I'm a doer, more than a watcher." In truth, I just wanted to be able to do something with the energy inside me. Just watching wasn't making me feel productive.

"Let me show you one more time with Alice," Jasper suggested, with a tone in his voice that felt almost scolding. "Alice will be able to show you some of the evasive tactics that Victoria may use."

My impatience flared inside of me, but I watched Alice carefully.

Jasper stalked toward where his mate stood.

He sprang, disappearing. Suddenly he was on the other side of Alice. She didn't appear to have moved.

Jasper wheeled and launched himself at her again, only to land in a crouch behind her like the first time. All the while, Alice stood smiling with her eyes closed.

She was moving - I'd just been missing it, distracted by Jasper's attacks. She took a small step forward at the exact second that Jasper's body flew through the spot where she'd just been standing. My human eyes could have never followed their movements.

Jasper closed in, and Alice began to move faster. She was dancing—spiraling and twisting and curling in on herself. Jasper was her partner, lunging, reaching through her graceful patterns, never touching her, like every movement was choreographed. Finally, Alice laughed.

Out of nowhere, she was perched on Jasper's back, her lips at his neck.

"Gotcha," she said and kissed his throat.

Jasper chuckled, shaking his head. "You truly are one frightening little monster."

Alice climbed from his back, while he regrouped. "You see, however, that we can move like the wind; there and gone. Victoria has shown some of these same abilities, and now, you have them too. However, she doesn't have the advantages that Alice has."

"My turn," I said fervently.

"Batter up," Edward whispered in my ear. I instinctively crouched, and stalked closer to Jasper, my eyes locked on his.

I closed on Jasper, and this fight was more even than either of the others. Jasper had a century of experience to guide him, but I was slightly faster, my newborn strength helping me to move swiftly. However, the moves Jasper used were unfamiliar to me. He came at me again and again, instinctive snarls erupting constantly. He began to move too fast for me to really understand what he was doing. Before I knew it, I was on my belly on the ground, Jasper's hands around my neck.

"Damn it!" I shouted.

"Don't be discouraged. That was very good for your first time."

Edward stood on the edge of the clearing, a disconcerted look on his face. Despite my being indestructible, he clearly did not enjoy seeing me engage in hand to hand combat

I went up against them countless times, switching off between Edward, Alice, and Jasper as adversaries. Edward was taking it too easy on me; I pinned him twice. I never touched Alice, and Jasper was somehow able to catapult me across the clearing anytime I got my hands on him.

But I was getting better.

Stronger.

I could feel it.

We continued long into the night until songbirds began to sing at the morning's first light.

JPOV

The black forest flew around me, the bracken covered ground thudded under my paws as I ran. I was heading north, making a giant circle around Forks and the Rez'. If she was in the area, there was no way I'd miss her. The circle's diameter grew with every pass.

I imagined and hoped that I was right, that the pack was enjoying the few hours of sleep they would have before their patrol began again. If someone phased and heard my thoughts, Sam would be on me like white on rice.

I maintained a wary distance between the edges of my circles and the places I knew the vamps' would be. Some would be at their nest, den, whatever, and some near Charlie's house. I didn't need their input. I was careful to avoid detection.

I continued my circle for hours, expanding the circumference and retracting, searching for the distinct smell of the redhead. It'd be sickly sweet and almost bleachy like the Cullens, but I had been around them enough to know the difference. When I ran across her trail, I'd know it was her, and I could end this.

I was imagining the different scenarios of how it may play out when I told Bella I had solved the problem; that I had made her father and her friends safe. I imagined her falling into my arms and thanking me. I imagined though it would never again come to pass, her cheeks blushing when I held her close to my chest. I fantasized that she would come home to La Push with me—that we could think of a way to fix this. I knew we could, there's nothing we couldn't surmount together. She wouldn't have to leave; she could stay just as much a secret in La Push as the wolves were. I didn't have a clear plan, but I knew I could make this work. I just had to make her see.

Close to dawn's break, I was yanked harshly from my reverie by a scent. The scent I had been waiting for. My heart thudded under my fur as I skidded to a halt, my nails gouging trenches in the dirt. It wasn't a trail—she was near. My hackles bristled and my fur stood on end. This was it.

A childish giggle from above startled me. I immediately looked above me into the canopy of tall trees and saw nothing.

"Aw, do we have a stray puppy wandering alone in the forest this evening?"

I answered with a ferocious growl that seemed to shake the darkened forest around me and reared up to claw at the tree I knew she was in. It shook violently.

She giggled again in response, still invisible in the branches above.

"Heel, dog."

I growled at her command.

The swish of the wind around her was audible as she took off through the treetops towards Forks.