Chapter 42 Chapter notes

Brady, as the second-oldest Pack member, takes it upon himself to hunt down Edward Cullen, the vampire he's certain is still in the area, causing the tribal members to transform.

The only thing is, he's never actually been close enough to a vampire to know what they smell like.

Which might be a problem.

The chapters with Brady are integral to an upcoming conflict.

The chapter title belongs to Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora

Chapter 42 Wanted Dead or Alive Saturday, October 28th

Brady, as the second of the Pack to phase, has just celebrated his twentieth birthday. If you'd asked his mother, she would have told you that he was destined for great things. Standing at a modest six foot one, he was the shortest of his kin, a family of towering ship builders.

But when mothers look at their sons, they don't always see what truly stands up in the dusty jeans and muddy boots. Brady's mom had seen a handsome boy with dreams and aspirations that were within his grasp, due to his intellect and determination. The reckless, impulsive nature of her only son was ignored, and she secretly hoped it didn't eventually drive him to a consequence he couldn't walk back.

With his glossy hair and carved features, he wasn't unpleasant to look at, and the girls, and then women on the reservation had taken notice. Due to his excellent tutelage at home, Brady learned what schools sometimes fail to teach: the love of knowledge and the ability to learn.

He never got the chance to live up to his mother's expectations, as she died suddenly when he was ten years old. His father, a kind and gentle man, raised him up after that, and it was just the two of them in the old cabin that they'd built themselves, surrounded by books and old bits of gear from the boats of his father's youth.

The Atria family no longer build ships but the complex knowledge of the craft had been imparted to Brady from the time he was a toddler. He could tie exquisite knots before he could hold a pencil, and wowed his friends with the intricate things he did with simple lengths of rope at least twelve inches long. When anyone on the reservation needed something tied, bound, or secured, they knew who to call.

"The sea has cradled the Quileute Nation like a mother. She is vast. Learn her and she will sustain you." His father's last words, committed to memory, are his mantra. With the money he is slated to receive from Edward Cullen's gift, he could move to Seattle and realize a life goal: find a ship, take no salary, and learn the sea.

But life is a coy mistress, and he finds it uncommonly strange that the money to fund such a trip is finally within his grasp, bestowed by the very monster that he's about to hunt to its death.

The prejudice surrounding the cold ones is as old as the Nation itself and is imparted to all Quileute children in the form of legends and stories. By the time you can slap down a buck for a beer, Brady thinks, you know everything you never wanted to know about blood drinkers and their foul lifestyles.

When he'd sickened and phased was the first that Brady learned of their actual existence. That the tribe was protected by treaty wasn't comforting, and Brady was secretly thrilled to hear that a fellow Shapeshifter named Michael had actually broken it by spying on the Cullens behind their house. He'd thought them threatening and had unwisely chosen to target them before any crime had been committed.

Of all the members of the Pack, Michael seemed the most prejudiced against the vampire family that lived in their midst. He said he'd seen them come and go, to and from work and school, pretending to be human while existing as nothing more than animated corpses. When Jasper had gone mad and come onto the reservation and snatched Emery from his mother's porch, it was no more than Michael had expected.

The Cullen family had been banished for Jasper's crime, but Quileute continued to phase, leading the Council to think that Edward Cullen, whose family had lost track of him, remained in the area.

That Brady has decided to hunt down and destroy him, without permission, and before the Council makes its ruling, will be seen as a gross dereliction of duty, but Brady's mind is made up. Edward Cullen won't skulk around Quileute land, waiting for his opportunity to snatch up a kid like Emery—not if Brady has anything to say about it.

Brady only has one problem: he doesn't actually know what Edward Cullen smells like. He doesn't even know what he looks like. Actually, he doesn't know what any vampire smells like. When the bloodsuckers had been called by the council to answer for their crimes, he'd been in Montana caring for his aunt. She'd been in a debilitating car accident, and Brady had stayed with her through her first round of physical therapy, which lasted a little over two months.

Fortune favors the bold, after all. Or is it the foolish? Whatever. Brady has them both covered.

Brady thinks he's fortunate that he's off the schedule at work for the next three days. He wakes early and finds little food in the house, as he had forgone shopping the night before in lieu of planning this pursuit. Thrilling to the idea of taking down a deer, something he's only done with his brothers, he dresses and heads out of town, toward the deep forest.

He walks up the path, sparing not a backward glance for the reservation his actions will serve and protect. He's deep in thought, purposefully doing his thinking before he phases, when afterward he will need to keep his mind blank.

It's fortunate that tonight is an occasion on the reservation. The committee will be on the beach early today, setting up for the annual bonfire and covered dish. Others will be home, preparing food. Yet others will be at the Town Hall, making that building ready in case of a downpour.

So, he feels that today of all days is the perfect time for him to 'go off the reservation', so to speak. He doubts that any of his brothers will be galivanting in the forest, when there's so much to be done to prepare for the event.

Once under cover of the outer forest, he sheds his clothes and places them under a rock near a cedar tree. He pulls a pair of ragged shorts through the thong on his ankle. There's no path, so he walks until he sees a clearing and begins to run, and in moments he bursts into a gigantic brown Wolf.

He smells a small herd of deer grazing around a clump of trees and presses his body to the ground, inching toward them. He hurls himself at the largest one, chomping the shoulder. The animal squeals and falters, galloping off a few yards. In one short burst of speed, Brady runs it down. He rips huge chucks off the body and swallows them nearly whole. He's starved but doesn't feel like he has the time to eat the whole thing, so he digs a hole and buries the remaining carcass, then begins the hunt for Edward Cullen.

Brady trots up the mountain and down, side to side. He purposely keeps his mind blank and instead concentrates on feeling the wind through his fur. He stops to drink at a crystal-clear rivulet that meanders down the mountain, and after sleeping for a few hours in a patch of sweet-smelling ferns, takes off again. He keeps his nose to the ground for that syrupy scent that he's been told is a hallmark of the vampire scent.

The border to the reservation lies just over the next rise and Brady jumps a narrow stream, squeezes through close-growing cedars and finds himself on the other side. His mood is electric; he inhales the clean air and trots through a meadow, nose in the air.

He scampers past fringes of mountain hemlock and through virgin forests of towering, ancient Sitka spruce, fords shallow creeks and wades rushing streams. He dodges otter and beaver, runs past bears preparing for hibernation and scatters thin herds of deer, foraging for sustenance under the sparse winter snow.

Brady runs on, nose to the ground, ears pricked for any sound. If Edward Cullen is out here, Brady is going to find him.