I know I'm early with this month's update, but don't worry, it's not a sign of the apocalypse. I've just been inspired to work extra hard on this story lately, and I have some exciting news to share at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 27: The Alliance

Outside La Push, WA - 3 days later

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Niki raised a hand to shade her eyes as she peered around the wide open field that lay somewhere between the town of Forks and the La Push reservation. "This seems like a weird spot for a meeting."

"I'm certain this is it," Mohinder assured her, before looking to Leah for confirmation.

The female wolf-shifter nodded. "Yeah, it is."

"Okay then." Although she had been very surprised to hear from him now that she had cut all ties with Primatech and was settling back into a mostly normal life with Micah, Niki's gratitude for Mohinder's efforts to save her life was strong enough that she hadn't hesitated to book a flight to Washington when he called, especially after he promised his current business wasn't connected to the Company in any way.

Matt and Hiro had likewise dropped everything when Peter got in touch with them, but none of them had expected to find themselves cooling their heels in no man's land.

"Pretty scenery," Hiro commented, "but why meet way out here? Why not in town?"

"Sun's out today," Matt observed with a glance up at the sky, which held only a few scattered, fluffy white clouds. "I guess that rules out the Cullens going into town." He remembered how assiduously the three of them he'd met had avoided the sunlight when they went to Odessa to confront Adam, though he wasn't sure why, if they needed to stay out of the sun, they had agreed to meet in an open space like this.

Leah looked sharply at him, wondering just how much the beefy human - who Mohinder had told her was a police detective - knew, but before she could question him, the vampires arrived in a blur of speed: all seven Cullens, plus Bella, Elle, the three former Volturi guards, and Peter, who could now run as fast as any of them.

Matt's eyes briefly widened in comprehension when they stepped out into the light and he saw how their skin reacted to it, the isolated meeting place suddenly making a lot more sense, before their dazzling luminescence forced him to squint instead.

Claire, who had eschewed Peter's offer to give her a ride to the field in favor of hiking with Mohinder and Leah, merely rolled her eyes. "Showoffs."

"What the..." Niki placed a protective hand on Micah's shoulder - bringing him along had seemed like a good idea at first, as she had hated the thought of leaving him so soon after their long separation, and he'd wanted to go when he heard that the girl who rescued him from Linderman's headquarters would be there, but now she found herself wondering if she'd been too hasty.

Her misgivings only grew when she recognized one of the sparkling figures as the girl who'd stopped her and DL from prying Micah's location out of Linderman and allowed him to escape, but then Micah pulled away from her and ran toward the brunette standing next to Niki's one-time adversary, shouting, "Bella! Remember me?"

She caught him before he collided with her at full speed, then let him hug her and even returned the embrace. "Of course I do. How could I forget our daring escape from Kirby Plaza?" she asked with a laugh.

Micah squeezed her tighter for a moment, then loosened his grip so he could pull back enough to look up at her face. "What happened to you after that? Why are you all hard and...sparkly?"

"She looked the same when I met her and Peter in Texas, and again when we discovered Kensei's escape," Hiro offered. "Never saw her in sunlight before, though, only indoors or at night."

"That's why we brought all of you here," Peter spoke up, raising his voice enough to draw everyone's attention, "to tell you that people like us, with special abilities, aren't the only unusual thing in the world. In fact, compared to what else is out there, we're practically boring."

"What else is out there?" Hiro repeated excitedly. "You mean like aliens?"

"No," Matt helpfully supplied, sparing Peter from having to say it. "I'm pretty sure he's talking about vampires."

"I know it's hard to believe," Mohinder interjected, sensing that Niki was about to dismiss the idea out of hand, "but it's true. I've seen it with my own eyes."

"Me too," Matt added. "Or at least I've been inside a vampire's mind."

"Cool," Micah said, "as long as they're good vampires like Blade and Vampirella, not bad ones like Starbreaker or Dax Novu or the Nosferatu in 30 Days of Night." He twisted around to look up at Bella again, a worried frown crossing his face. "You guys are good, right?"

"Bella is," Hiro said confidently. "She helped Peter stop a villain who would have destroyed the world. A good vampire would not be friends with evil vampires, so these others must be good too."

"They are," Claire assured him, before shooting the trio of human drinkers a look and adding under her breath, "for a given definition of good, anyway."

Niki looked around, saw that nobody else seemed to have a problem accepting the premise that vampires were real, and shrugged; there was definitely something different about those sparkling people with their red or gold eyes, and she supposed vampirism was as good an explanation as any. "Okay, so these guys are vampires. Why bring us all the way out here just to tell us that? Why tell us at all, for that matter?"

"I requested this meeting place to accommodate my people."

Everyone turned at the sound of the new voice to see Sam striding out of the forest, accompanied by Jacob, Paul, and Jared in human form and the rest of the pack in their fur. Those who didn't already know about the wolves reacted with shock and alarm; Hiro pushed his glasses up his nose as if to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him, and Niki ran to place herself between the pack and her son, bracing herself to fight if necessary.

"What the hell are those things?!"

"I'm not sure 'things' is the right word," Matt said thoughtfully, tilting his head as he peered at them through narrowed eyes. "I tried to read a dog's mind once, and all I got was a bunch of sounds, images, and instinctive urges with no real structure behind it, but these wolves... Their thoughts are as intelligent and complex as a human's, and...their minds feel the same as ours."

"Wolves with human brains?" Niki repeated with a startled glance at the telepathic cop. "Are you saying they're some kind of...of werewolves?"

"We prefer 'wolf-shifters'," Leah said archly. "Just 'wolves' works too."

"Wolf-shifters," the blonde echoed with an incredulous little laugh. "Sure, why not?" This whole thing was already so crazy, it didn't really matter what they called themselves.

"As for your second question," Sam continued, "I'm as confused about why the vampires have chosen to reveal themselves to you as you are."

"Our existence isn't exactly a secret anymore," Rosalie said dryly. "Haven't any of you turned on a TV in the last couple weeks?"

"Hospital massacre, you mean?" Hiro's eyes widened behind his glasses as he put the pieces together. "That girl was a vampire?"

"So people have seen that accursed recording as far away as Japan? This is worse than I thought," Jane muttered.

Mohinder nodded in response to Hiro's question. "One infected with an engineered strain of the same virus that nearly killed Niki, yes. Fortunately, Dr. Cullen and I were able to create a cure."

There was a collective release of tension at the news that the viral crisis had passed, but before they could fully relax, Peter spoke up. "The outbreak still got the government's attention, though; a couple dozen humans died, and that video's sparked a lot of panic and conspiracy theories-"

"It's not the first time that's happened," Sam interjected. "People love their conspiracy theories, but give it a few months with no new developments and they'll find something else to obsess over."

"They might, but my brother - New York's freshman congressional rep, Nathan Petrelli - told the president the truth. Not just about the girl and the virus, but also people like me, Matt, Hiro, and Niki, and even your tribe's wolf genes. I don't think he'll be forgetting that any time soon."

This revelation was met with exclamations of fear and outrage from the humans and growls from the wolves; Paul and Jacob actually started shaking, and would have exploded into giant balls of fur and claws right then and there if not for Sam ordering them to get a grip.

"So what happens now?" Niki asked anxiously. "Do we all get carted off to labs that are even more well-hidden and heavily guarded than Primatech's, or what?" As strong as she was, she didn't know how she was supposed to protect Micah from the full force of the American military, though she would certainly try. She would die trying if she had to.

"I don't think you have to worry about that just yet," Peter told her, albeit with a dark note in his voice that wasn't exactly reassuring. "Right now it's just vampires the president wants to get rid of since they're the biggest threat, with the whole blood-drinking thing."

"He wants to wipe out vampires? With what?" Jacob scoffed. "Assault rifles and grenades won't cut it against a vamp."

"You're right, normal humans can't fight them, even with the best weapons they can make. That's why he wants to enlist the rest of us to do the dirty work."

"No way!" Micah burst out. "We can't do that! You won't do it, right, Mom?" he added with an imploring look at Niki.

"I'm with the kid, but are we being given a choice here?" Matt wondered aloud, frowning. "What happens to the people who don't want to become vampire hunters?"

"Speak for yourself," Paul said with an eager gleam in his eyes. "The pack was made for this."

"Actually, our purpose is to protect our land and our people," Leah reminded him.

"Yeah, from them." He waved a hand at the twelve vampires grouped in a loose semicircle across from the wolves. "What better way to do that than by eliminating all of them?"

His words got a rise out of some of them - mainly Demetri, Jane, and Alec, though they weren't alone, as Emmett, Jasper, Elle, and Rosalie didn't take kindly to Paul's opinion either - and while Carlisle and Esme appealed to everyone for calm, it was Claire who succeeded in deescalating the mounting tension. "Sure, you could do that," she said coolly, "if you think being a shortsighted idiot is the way to go here."

Paul froze, his face a mask of indignation, but Sam turned a more thoughtful look on the former cheerleader. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, the vampires might be the ones they want to get rid of now, and it's not hard to see why..." She paused to offer her undead friends an apologetic look. "I mean, you guys are pretty scary, with your whole 'moving faster than the eye can see, strong enough to crush armored cars with your bare hands and skin like Kevlar' deal. Jane and Alec there aren't exactly the bruiser type - no offense - but they could still take down an elite Special Forces unit without even using their powers. And with the bloodsucking, humans have good reason to be afraid of what they can do... But if they're gone, what's the next scariest thing after them?"

Jacob stepped forward from his place at Sam's right hand, his dark brows coming together in a frown. "What are you saying - that you think they'd turn on us next?"

"Why not?" Bella moved toward him until they were less than five feet apart, meeting his eyes with a challenging stare which she then swept over the rest of the pack. "It's easy to think of us as monsters; after all, we do drink blood and we're not human, but neither are you. Not all the time, anyway. The president might want you as allies now because he's more afraid of my kind, but if there were no more vampires, how long do you think it would take for someone to decide you're too different, too powerful, to be allowed to exist?"

"She has a point," Jared said quietly. "This country's government has already tried to exterminate us once, and they justified it then by making us out to be less than human. Imagine what they would do to those of us with wolf blood, who really are half animal?"

None of his pack mates had an answer for that, but it was clear from their troubled expressions that this argument gave them pause, even Paul.

While they mulled it over, Peter took the opportunity to address his fellow evolved humans. "Bella, Claire, and Jared are right - and if the wolves are the next to go after the vampires, they'll come for us after that. Nobody can say we're not human, but we have powers the rest of them don't, and that scares people. Once we've outlived our usefulness, they won't want us around either."

No one spoke for a long moment, but the tension in the air ratcheted up several degrees; now everyone, regardless of their species, was equally uneasy.

It was Niki who finally took it on herself to break the silence. "If you're right-"

"Based on what I know of human nature, I believe he is," Mohinder interjected. "Historically, human beings have been unwilling to tolerate those they deem unacceptably different from themselves."

"And if anyone finds out about Sylar and gets worried about someone else like him coming along, I'm pretty sure that would put us firmly in the 'unacceptable' column," Claire added grimly.

"So what do we do?" Hiro queried, his boyish face unusually somber.

"We don't go along with their plan," was Peter's firm answer. "If we let them use us against each other, it weakens all of us until they can pick us off one by one, but if we all stick together now and let them know we won't stand for being treated like freaks of nature to be rounded up and studied or monsters to be wiped out...they might not like that we're here and we're not going anywhere, but they will learn to live with it. They'll have to, because they can't fight all of us. The only question is if we can put aside our differences and make it clear that we're in this together."

"If that's what it takes for my son to grow up in a world where he doesn't have to live in fear, then I'll work with whoever I have to - even vampires and were- ...Wolf-shifters," Niki said at once.

"We want the same thing for Molly," Matt agreed with a glance at Mohinder, who nodded affirmatively. "We'll do whatever we can."

"Me too," Hiro chimed in. "Together, we will save the world - again!"

Peter was relieved to know they were on board, but still found himself holding his breath as he waited for the other parties to speak; his motley collection of superpowered acquaintances were not, after all, the ones who believed anyone else present to be their natural enemies, or had centuries of distrust and prejudice between them.

The wolves, meanwhile, had huddled together, the ones in human form whispering among themselves. At last, they broke apart, turning to face the others as a united front while Sam, the alpha, spoke for all of them. "I can't pretend this was an easy decision. Allying ourselves with the cold ones goes against everything our people have stood for since they first intruded on our lands and attacked our ancestors. However, the scope of this threat is beyond anything we have faced since the white settlers arrived on these shores. We survived then, and we will do what we must to survive now."

He paused to take a breath and held up a cautionary finger. "We will need some assurances, though. Our ancestors made a treaty with the Cullen clan because their leader-" He nodded at Carlisle "-convinced them that we could coexist. If we're going to fight for the preservation of the vampire race, we want that treaty extended to all of you."

"You want us to stay off your lands? Done," Jane said disinterestedly. "I guarantee that none of us are eager to visit this place again."

"Good, but that's not enough. Protecting human life is our purpose, our reason for existing, so if you're going to fight alongside us - and these others who are human themselves - we need to know that you're willing to share in that mission."

"That's not an unfair request," Peter said before any of the former Volturi guards could speak, "and I think we'd all feel better if you agreed. It's hard to really trust someone when you know they'd be looking at you as food if not for some genetic fluke."

"So you want us to...what? Live like they do? As...vegetarians?" Jane asked with a slight shudder. She was careful not to sound too disdainful or argumentative while addressing Peter, but still looked at him like he'd just force-fed her a lemon - which, from her perspective, wasn't too far from the truth.

"That would be ideal," Bella cut in, "but I know it can't be easy to change the way you've lived for hundreds of years, so maybe, in the short term, we can compromise. You can ease into the dietary change, and in the meantime, be more...judicious with the human blood. Keep it to the bare minimum you can get by with, and steer clear of innocent people. There are some humans out there who wouldn't exactly be a great loss to society."

She glanced at Peter, who correctly guessed what she was thinking - how much pain she could have been spared if her rapists had become a vampire's dinner before she crossed paths with them - and gave a slight nod, grateful that she had offered a solution everyone could (hopefully) live with. "Sounds reasonable."

He watched the trio of ex-guards closely as he waited to see what outward reactions would emerge from the conflicting emotions swirling inside each of them; there was anger and indignation at being told to change their lifestyle, naturally, as well as apprehension and disgust at the prospect of trying the Cullens' diet, yet also a certain sense of resignation, of recognition that their world had changed, and they just might have to change with it.

At last, Demetri shrugged. "Well, I have to admit that hunting animals looked a lot more exciting than being locked in a room with a dozen clueless humans, like fish in a barrel. I'll give it a try."

Jane shot him a subtly disgruntled look, but her brother had another concern. "Even if the three of us agree to these terms, you do realize we can't speak for all of our kind, don't you?"

"You did once," Edward countered. "Aro, Marcus, and Caius were the ones who handed down the laws, but you enforced them, and I don't believe it's an overstatement to say that the Volturi's fearsome reputation was due more to their employment of formidably gifted individuals - of which yourself and your sister are probably the most notorious - to act on their behalf than anything the brothers did themselves. If you spread the word that it's no longer safe to prey on humans with impunity, that a growing number of them are developing abilities that allow them to pose a legitimate threat to us, people will listen."

"Perhaps Carlisle and I can assist in the transition as well," Mohinder offered. "If we can isolate the property that makes evolved humans' blood less appetizing, we could create a vaccine of sorts to lessen the appeal of all human blood, to make the change less distasteful. There are also several exciting new developments in the field of lab-grown biologics that could one day allow us to produce an artificial substitute that would eliminate the need for vampires to prey on living creatures altogether."

Carlisle enthusiastically promised to devote his full energy and efforts to whatever projects the geneticist deemed worth pursuing, and after a moment's consideration, the other parties agreed as well. The former Volturi guards seemed to appreciate that someone was at least trying to think of ways to make the great changes their species was being forced to adapt to easier, while the wolves conceded that if vampires were able to live in harmony with humans, there would be no reason for their enmity to continue.

When Jane, Alec, and Demetri shook hands with Sam and his lieutenants, everyone watching - at least those who were familiar with the long history of animosity between the two species - felt that they were witnessing the beginning of a new era, one they hoped would be better for all of them, with less hatred and suspicion and more unity...until Matt spoke up, shattering the moment.

"Now that all that's settled, how do we deal with the president?"

Oval Office, the White House - 28 hours later

"I'm glad you decided to come back, Peter." The president stood up briefly to shake his hand before resuming his seat behind his imposing desk, clasping his hands in a businesslike manner where they rested atop the shiny wood surface. "I assume you're here because you've thought over my offer."

"I have," Peter confirmed, "and talked it over with some friends."

"You could have brought them along." Despite Nathan's claims regarding what his brother was capable of, the president wanted to recruit as many 'specially talented' individuals as possible; aside from Peter's strange reluctance to use his powers for the greater good, it wasn't realistic to expect one man to singlehandedly wage war against an entire race of monsters.

"No, I couldn't...but if you'd like a more hands-on demonstration of what I can do, I could take you to them. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe."

The vice president and chief of staff, who were currently the only other people who'd been fully apprised of what was going on, began protesting, while Nathan merely watched his brother through slightly narrowed eyes. What are you up to, Pete?

Peter, however, ignored both the vocal objections and the silent question. "It was a pretty big leap of faith for me to come here, Mr. President, to trust that you didn't have a team of black ops guys waiting to grab me and throw me in some hole until I agreed to do what you wanted," he said softly. In fact, Bella had expressed concern about that very possibility when, during the intense planning session that had gone on for most of the previous day and into the night, they got to the part involving him walking into what could very well be an ambush, though he had alleviated her worry by reminding her that, as long as the government didn't have access to Primatech's power-suppressing drugs, there was no hole they could stick him in that he couldn't escape from - but the president didn't need to know that. "If you want my help in stopping vampires from killing people, you're going to have to trust me too."

The president had to admit he was right - trust was integral to any successful partnership, which was what he told himself he was after, trying his best to ignore the insidious whispers in the back of his mind that insisted on considering less ideal scenarios, formulating contingency plans in the event that a more forceful approach proved necessary... Still, if he could prevent the worst case from happening in the first place, all the better.

It was with that thought in mind that he swiveled his chair toward Nathan. "You know your brother better than any of us, Mr. Petrelli. If he gives his word that I'll be safe, can I count on that?"

"Absolutely." Regardless of their recent disagreements and the resulting distance between them, Nathan knew his younger brother was a good person - probably the best he'd ever known, and certainly not the type to assassinate a government leader or take him hostage. Peter may have done some crazy things in his life, but not criminally crazy. "If he gives you his word, you can take that to the bank."

He wondered if he should regret giving this assurance when Peter teleported him and the president - the vice president and chief of staff having been left behind to cover their boss's absence - to some forest that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, where they found themselves surrounded by a handful of vampires, a couple of Native American guys, and several enormous wolves.

"What in the world...?" The president spun around, his eyes widening to saucer-like proportions as he took it all in. "Where are we?"

"Washington state," Peter replied evenly, "a few miles outside the charming little town of Forks."

"And are these..." The president swallowed hard as he surveyed the pale, inhumanly beautiful faces around them, though his eyes kept darting back to the wolves, who were larger than horses and far more dangerous, with their wickedly sharp teeth and claws. "Are these the friends you mentioned?"

"Some of them. This is Sam Uley and Jacob Black, the alpha and second-in-command of the Quileute pack, and over there we have Leah, Paul, Jared, Seth, Quil, Embry, Collin, and Brady; don't worry, they won't be offended if you don't shake their hands," Peter joked as he pointed out each wolf in turn. "And this is Dr. Carlisle Cullen and his wife Esme, Alice, Jasper, and Bella. There are some others who'd like to meet you later, but we thought it'd be better to limit the number of vampires we introduced you to at first."

They had also chosen the most nonthreatening members of the family to act as their representatives (except Jasper, who was there to keep the discussion from getting too heated), while Hiro, Matt, and Niki had decided to sit it out; if things went sideways, they didn't want their identities known, assuming Nathan hadn't already exposed them as he had Peter.

"And what are they doing here?" the president asked warily. Once he got past being startled by their presence, he hadn't reacted with the terror or disgust Peter had braced himself for, but he was definitely on guard.

"Well, before you make up your mind that vampires are irredeemable monsters that don't belong in this world, I thought you should meet some of them. Carlisle here has spent more than a hundred years using his heightened senses and reflexes to become one of the country's best surgeons - probably saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives during that time-"

The doctor ducked his head in embarrassment, and Esme gave him a mildly chastening look as if to remind him that there was nothing wrong with taking credit for his good deeds.

"-Esme enjoys preserving and renovating historical buildings, Jasper was the youngest major in the Civil War, Alice could be a world-renowned fashion designer if she wanted to, and Bella had planned to pursue a career in criminal justice so she could help other victims of violent crime like her...and yes, they're all vegetarians."

"That's good to hear."

"We all wish more of our brethren shared our belief that human life is too precious to be sacrificed for the sake of a more satisfying meal," Carlisle said earnestly, "and our community has recently undergone certain upheavals which give me hope that a substantial change may be on the horizon. Our kind do have an unfortunate propensity for becoming set in our ways, but I'd like to think that, as a whole, we are not so blindly stubborn that we can't adapt when necessary."

"You're saying you think that the threat of public exposure and the emergence of people like Peter who aren't helpless prey might encourage more vampires to adopt your lifestyle?" the president clarified. At Carlisle's nod, he said, "That would be great, but I'm hearing too many 'maybes' here. What if your...'brethren'...aren't willing to give up hunting humans? Now that we know you're out there, do you expect us to just take this lying down?"

"Define 'us'," Alice rejoined with a rather sharp-edged smile. "You haven't told the general public what was really behind that weird video they saw, and you're not going to, because you don't want to deal with the panic it would cause."

"We're prepared to be more forceful in our efforts to persuade others of the virtues of our diet than we've been in the past," Jasper said quietly while projecting an air of conviction that made it seem like he could persuade anyone to do anything. "We agree that things have to change - the shadows we're used to hiding in aren't as deep as they used to be, so feeding on humans whenever we want isn't likely to be a viable option much longer - but if you think you're going to exterminate our entire race, that you can offer us amnesty in exchange for fighting against our own kind, our friends... Do you expect us to take that lying down?"

The aura he exuded abruptly shifted from convincing to subtly - or perhaps not so subtly - menacing, causing the president to stumble back a step.

"The same goes for the pack as well," Sam added with an air of grim finality. "If you move forward with trying to destroy the vampires, you'll have to fight us too."

"What-? I thought you said they were natural enemies!" the president hissed with an accusing glare at Nathan, who could only shrug helplessly.

"That's what Peter told me," he muttered back.

"That is how it's always been," Sam confirmed, "but as Dr. Cullen said, times are changing, and vampires are no longer the greatest threat we face. You are."

"We're not helping you wipe them out just so you can turn around and do the same thing to us once we become the biggest monsters on the block," Jacob added, while the giant wolves behind them nodded in agreement.

"I've talked to the others like me that I've met, and they all feel the same way," Peter finished. "If you're okay with committing genocide against one species that you think is too different or too dangerous, none of us are willing to bet that we won't be next."

The president shot an annoyed look at Nathan, clearly wondering why he hadn't foreseen the possibility of Peter rallying his superpowered friends against them and gotten ahead of it, prompting the empath to say, "Don't be mad at my brother; he can't get around as fast as I can, and he's not exactly used to me being proactive."

"If you say so. So where does this leave us? Do I need to prepare for an inter-species war here?"

"You could do that," Jacob sneered, "if you're feeling suicidal. How do you think you're gonna fight all of us, plus the guy who nearly nuked the Big Apple all by himself?"

"That was an accident," Peter mumbled as the president's eyes, wide with shock and more than a hint of fear, fastened on him. "You don't have to worry about me blowing up cities, though; my control's a lot better these days. I've also picked up some new abilities since then, found less destructive ways of making problems disappear..."

Using Stephen Canfield's power, he opened a black hole big enough to swallow a tank and levitated a fallen branch into it before collapsing the hole, allowing everyone to see that the branch was gone. Although he hadn't voiced an explicit threat, the president's face turned ashen as he imagined entire military units getting sucked into the void, never to be seen again.

Seeing that the futility of fighting them had been well established, Bella decided it was time to offer an olive branch. "This doesn't have to end badly, Mr. President," she said softly, silently asking Jasper to create a more relaxed atmosphere with a glance. "We don't want to fight you - we just want to live our lives."

"It may take a while to get to a point where every single vampire can do that without posing a danger to humans, but finding a way for all of us to coexist really is the best option," Alice added. "Otherwise, there might not be a future for any of us."

This grave warning hit the president like a sucker punch, almost literally rocking him back on his heels, and for a long moment he said nothing, though Peter read the thoughts racing furiously through his head loud and clear. The idea of living in the same world as nearly invincible, insanely powerful, blood-drinking vampires still inspired an unreasoning sense of bone-deep horror - the existence of a class of people who had somehow developed abilities that all previously known laws of logic and science said should be impossible and creatures that seemed like werewolves to him no matter what they said also made him uncomfortable, though not quite as much since at least they didn't sustain themselves on the lives of others - but he was a practical man above all else, and everything he had seen and heard today told him that making enemies of all three of these groups wasn't the least bit practical.

At long last, he asked cautiously, "And what does your idea of coexistence look like?"

"We'll need to focus on mitigating conflicts between us and humans, obviously," Esme answered quickly, while everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief that he was at least open to discussing solutions. "My husband has been working with a scientist who has some promising ideas on that front - blood substitutes and the like - and we'll do what we can to persuade as many others as possible that change is necessary, even essential to our survival."

"We'll also keep an eye out for people like me," Peter added. "Not everyone who gets these powers has good intentions, plus there are others who have trouble controlling their abilities even though they don't want to hurt anyone. We'll do our best to help them...and to keep the bad apples in check." He decided not to mention that an organization already existed for this very purpose; while the idea behind Primatech might be good in principle, their methods left a lot to be desired, so he didn't want the president seeking an alliance with them. If there was any chance of them working together, he wanted to do things differently.

The president was glad to hear that Peter and his friends didn't intend to let their superhuman cohort run roughshod over everyone else, but there was one stipulation he felt was too important to leave out: "That sounds good, but I want to be kept in the loop...and one day, when it's safe, I think we should consider taking all this public. Regular folks deserve to know the truth about what's out there, because when people are kept ignorant, it's too easy for someone to take advantage. Not that I'm saying that's what you're trying to do..." he hurried to add, but Peter held up a hand to stop him.

"No, you're right; there should be some level of accountability. If nothing else, regular humans wouldn't be such easy prey if they knew what they were up against. Exactly what kind of arrangement do you have in mind, though? No offence, but I'm not sure how I'd feel about working for you, or whoever takes office after you."

"How about working with me? The last time we spoke, I offered to compensate you for your trouble; I'll be happy to extend that offer to anyone else you think would be a good addition to the team. We can set you up as part of a semi-independent task force, with a few highly placed liaisons in intelligence to provide a little oversight - they'll be thoroughly vetted before they're read in, of course, to make sure they can handle it - and your brother can be the primary contact if you'd rather not deal with a bunch of suits..."

His voice trailed off as his racing thoughts outpaced his mouth; then, a moment later, he shook himself out of the contemplative haze he'd sunk into long enough to ask what Peter thought of his proposal, and the empath replied that, while he still had some questions about the finer points, the broad strokes of their potential partnership sounded workable.

"If you'd like to go somewhere more comfortable, we can talk about it some more, and you can meet a few other people who might be part of this task force of yours."

Recognizing that the invitation for further discussion was a good sign, the president happily agreed. "Where...?"

"My family has a house not far from here, if you'll follow me." Carlisle and Esme took the lead, setting a pace any moderately fit human could keep up with, and most of the group followed while the wolves melted away into the trees.

"They'll rejoin us after they change back into human form," Sam explained.

To his credit, the president managed to nod as if people slipping away to shift from wolf to human was a perfectly normal occurrence, and struck up what appeared to be an easy conversation with the leaders of the wolf pack and the largest (now that the Volturi had disbanded) known vampire coven.

"He almost looks comfortable with them, doesn't he?" Bella remarked as she hung back with Peter, Alice, Jasper, and Nathan, watching them.

"He's not," Jasper informed her, "not completely, not yet, but he's trying. If enough other people - us and them - are willing to try too, then maybe there's a chance we won't all end up killing each other."

"Right now it looks like we're off to a good start," Alice said brightly.

"I'm glad to hear you say that...and I guess this task force idea means we'll be seeing a lot more of our new friends from now on." Jasper bumped his shoulder lightly against Peter's while shooting a meaningful look at Bella. "Hope you're up for a little competition."

"Competition?" she repeated, her eyes darting between the two men as she tried to figure out what Jasper meant and gauge Peter's reaction. "What competition? Peter, you know I was never interested in Jacob, right? And I never will be."

To her relief, Peter didn't seem bothered by Jasper's insinuation; in fact, he almost seemed to find it funny. "Who said anything about Jacob? Didn't you notice how Micah ran over to hug you when he and Niki first got here, and how he's been hanging around since then, chatting you up every chance he gets? That kid's got it bad for you."

"Micah? Are you serious?" At first she was embarrassed - the kid couldn't be older than twelve, if that - but when her boyfriend and so-called new family members continued watching her with obvious amusement, enjoying the situation much more than she thought they should, she decided to take her revenge. "Well, he is pretty cute." She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and flashed a devilish grin at Peter. "Give him a few years to grow up, and you might need to watch your back after all..."

Peter and Jasper were rather taken aback at how she had turned their teasing back on them, but Alice just laughed and said, "Elle will be so glad to know she's rubbing off on you."

"She would be," Bella agreed, "but you're not going to tell her. I'd never hear the end of it."

"I won't say a word...if you can catch me before I get to her!"

Alice took off, weaving through the trees at top speed with Bella in hot pursuit. Jasper joined in the chase, leaving Peter alone with Nathan, who had barely said a word since he found himself whisked away from the halls of power, where he was in his element, and dropped into the middle of a gathering of mythical creatures. He wasn't sure if it was the situation itself that had stunned him into silence, or the fact that Peter - his idealistic, aimless, indecisive little brother - was running the show, and had essentially cowed the leader of the free world into going along with his wishes. Nathan never would have imagined Peter had it in him to do something like this, though he had to admit (if only to himself) that the sheer nerve his brother had displayed, not to mention whatever it had taken to forge an alliance between three species whose fundamental natures should have made cooperation practically impossible, left him feeling almost...impressed.

Still, now that they had some semblance of privacy, he had to ask, "Are you sure this is what you want, Pete? You've never wanted any part of politics before."

"I still don't, believe me, but if this is what it takes for us to find a way to all live together without a war breaking out, I don't have a choice."

"Just as long as you know what you're getting yourself into. What you're trying to do won't be easy," Nathan warned. "You may have convinced the president, but there'll be others who won't want to accept a world with vampires, wolf-shifters, and people like us...or worse, who want to use you."

"I know that, but I have people I trust to watch my back." Peter left out the part where, at the moment, he wasn't certain whether to include Nathan in that list, though he hoped that one day they would get back to a place where he could. In the meantime, he knew he could rely unconditionally on the Cullens, the pack, the other friends he'd made along the way, like Matt, Mohinder, and Hiro - even Demetri and the twins weren't so bad now that he'd gotten used to them - and of course, Bella. With her by his side, no obstacle was insurmountable.

"Whatever comes next, we'll be ready."

Fun fact: I recently saw a headline on the internet (though I didn't have time to read the article) about lab-grown blood being transfused into humans, so Mohinder's idea about a blood substitute for vamps may not be as farfetched as it sounds.

Now for that exciting news I promised... As you may have surmised, this pretty much wraps up the last major conflict here. There is a little more I want to write to tie up the last remaining loose ends, so you can expect a couple more updates, kind of like a two-part epilogue, though I expect them to be relatively short. In fact, I'm hoping I can post the first of these vignettes later this month, and finish this story for good in January. If I don't succeed in pushing out another December update, though, I'd like to wish all of you a very happy holiday season.