Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer not me.

Author/Note 1: This story is the sequel of Our Dawn 5. For the ones who don't know anything about Our Dawn Series, you can always read Our Dawn 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and Our Dawn Series Specials but if you don't want to bother I have a resume on my profile page. As it would be expected this is a next generation story and as such, it's focused on Jake and Leah's children.

A/Note 2: A huge thank you for everyone who reviewed Our Dawn Series so far.

A/Note 3: I'm not a native English speaker so I'm sorry for my grammar and spelling. Thank you for reading.

Alpha

Book I – The Third

Isaac Black

4. Vacant House

The Vacant House was located on the north side of the Uley's property and was named that way because no one really lived there, no one owned it but many people had lived there.

It was a big house made of wood, recently painted in dark green, which made her blend with the surrounding trees. From the front window in the first floor we could see a path that would take us to Sam and Emily's house a couple of kilometers south. The path was surrounded both sides by trees and bushes, except for a small clearing site on its right side, where several years ago a small playing field had been made for the kids to play.

Year after year, the house kept being remodeled, painted, and many extra rooms had been made. Right now I believe it had about ten bedrooms, two living rooms, a kitchen, four bathrooms, a basement, an attic and a dining room the size of two bedrooms.

It wasn't bigger than the Cullen's mansion located outside Forks, it wasn't even fancy enough to be compared to the beautiful house they had once lived in but it was big enough to take in several guests. Almost every piece of furniture had been used or bought in second-hand. Despite the Vacant House's size, the comfort was not much. The walls were naked (there was only one painting inside one of the living rooms), there were three television sets but only one was working. There were also rumours that many children born in La Push had been conceived in the Vacant House's only couch.

There was water and electricity, but that was all. I remember that many children liked to visit the house because it was a nice playing site. However many of them were afraid of going there alone. From afar the house seemed almost inviting and beautiful, but on a closer range it was dark and scary. There were spider webs, dust, ashes on the fireplaces and the furniture made squeaking noises without being touched.

I used to be scared to death of going to that house when I was a kid.

Unfortunately, after the fire that destroyed part of our house ten years ago, we stayed two weeks in the Vacant House and I could still remember all the stories Harry and William made up about the old house to scare me.

One was about a family who had been murdered by an eight feet tall blind man with pointy teeth. Other was about small monsters under the beds that would come out by night and take us to their holes where they would suck out all of our blood before ripping out our flesh.

I cried every night for two weeks while they laughed at me enjoying making an eight-year old act like a baby. Right now I felt embarrassed of those times. I was such a coward. After all I was much smarter than my brothers and yet I had let them scare me and fool me so easily that it was actually comical.

It was Old Quil who told me the truth about the house when I was eleven years old. That day after a quarrel with my brothers, I decided Harry and William would never scare me again.

"This property belongs to the Uleys. It used to belong to the Blacks but Samuel Lewis Uley seized it as payment for being forced to leave the Tribal Council many years ago when I wasn't even born. Since then all of this huge property belongs to them. It now belongs to Samuel's descendants: Thomas, Ellen and Joshua. Thomas died long ago, he was arrested and ended his days in a cell, I believe he was about twenty-two years old. Ellen married Ronan Lowrey and moved to her husband's house, and Joshua… he vanished leaving his wife and child behind. The Vacant House was supposed to be Thomas' house for when he came back from jail but since he never did, it passed on to his nephews, Sam, Caleb and Beatrice. However they all have their own houses now so they decided to rebuilt it and use it when someone is in need of a roof. Your parents lived here for two weeks when your house was burned, Brady and Maddie came to live here last year when their house collapsed after a storm… this house has known many occupants but it's always vacant."

I could still hear Old Quil's voice telling me that story. That day I learned about many other things about the Uleys and the Blacks. Old Quil was a great story teller but now it was time to say goodbye.

It was early in the morning when the first people started to arrive at First Beach. Usually we would bury our dead on the tribe's cemetery on the east side of La Push. It was common belief that since the sun rises on the east every day, our dead should also be buried in the eastern part of the Reservation so that their souls could also rise one day.

But Old Quil had specifically mentioned he didn't want a common burial. His wife Molly Swan had been cremated and her ashes thrown at the ocean. Old Quil wanted to join her. He used to say that the wind would take him to her after so many years apart. It was a heart-warming feeling to think that way.

The pyre was ready. The entire Reservation was coming to see the ceremony. Once Old Quil's coffin was incinerated, his grandson Quil would gather the ashes and put them inside of a small silver urn.

Women were on the left side of the pyre while men stood on the right side. I looked around and saw many familiar faces but there were no signs of the Cullens or the Denalis. The Heiltsuks were there though. The women were, of course, separated from their husbands, in a clear act of respect for our traditions.

I saw Aunt Gwen clutching Susie to her chest while holding her sister Glenda's hand. It seemed they had finally put their differences behind. I also saw the reason for all the commotion that had ensued last night at the Vacant House.

According to Sarah, the Vacant House should change its name to the Looney's House. I was supposed to meet my family last night at the Vacant House after apologizing to Jay but when I stepped outside of his room I received a text message from my sister instructing me to go home instead.

Mum explained that things were a bit tense at the Vacant House and they decided to return home. She ordered pizza and after dinner they said they had to go and talk to Quil to make the arrangements and set the pyre at First Beach and left. Mum instructed us not to go to bed too late and Dad said they'd probably be out all night. Harry and William left only a few minutes after our parents.

Then while JJ played Uncharted: The Eye of the Storm, Sarah told me everything that happened when they went to the Vacant House earlier that evening.

As they reached the porch, they all heard people screaming at each other. There were several cars parked outside, announcing the presence of the Heiltsuks. They were all inside and it seemed that all the screaming had one single reason: the surprise Glenda had to present Aunt Gwen.

Only it wasn't one surprise, but three. They were four months old and Glenda and Kinley had named them: Elana, Emma and Enzo. Triplets. Aunt Gwen snapped and slapped her sister. Glenda cried. And Kinley insulted Aunt Gwen. Uncle Seth tried to soothe his wife to no avail and they all ended up yelling.

Then Aunt Gwen and Kinley began to tremble as if they were having a seizure and they were taken outside by Lance, Glenn, Dominic and Uncle Seth. That's when our parents decided to leave.

Last night's episode at the Vacant House was probably forgotten but I could hear Kinley complaining about Aunt Gwen to Uncle Seth, who was simply shrugging.

"They are sisters. Let them solve things for themselves." Said Uncle Seth.

"Glenda doesn't know about… you know… all of this…"

"And I'm sure Gwen won't tell her."

"She's always reminding me about imprinting and how that will hurt Glenda and the kids… And when I told her I'm going to propose to Glenda she said I'm being an idiot because marriage won't solve anything. One day Glenda will realize something's wrong."

I had no idea what Kinley meant by 'imprinting' but I couldn't go there and ask them.

"I'll talk to her okay?" Uncle Seth promised.

"Thanks." Kinley watched baby Enzo sleeping in his arms and smiled. "I have something to ask to your friend Doctor Cullen."

"Sure. I'll take you to him later."

Uncle Seth and Kinley stopped talking when Quil asked a minute of silence after thanking everyone's presence at his grandfather's funeral. Then my grandfather Billy gave a small speech about Old Quil's long and happy life and finally Quil set the pyre on fire. The coffin took about twenty minutes to burn completely. Tomorrow at sunset, Old Quil Ateara's ashes would finally meet his wife's.

As promised Jay met me after lunch in a discreet coffee shop in Forks. I had to lie to my mother so I could borrow the car but I was too interested in what Jay was going to tell me to worry about a harmless lie.

He was still pretty bruised after our fight and frowned when he realized I was alone.

"Sarah was supposed to come with you." He said sitting down across from me.

"She came with me but she's not here right now." I explained. It was another lie but he didn't need to know that Sarah was at home.

"The deal was I get to see Sarah and you get to know the truth."

"You saw Sarah this morning at the beach."

"From afar." He pointed out.

"It works for me."

He clenched his fists but said nothing.

"Aren't you going to offer me a drink or something?" He asked.

"This is not a date."

"But I'm hungry."

And so was I. Rolling my eyes I walked to the counter and ordered two light meals hoping it would be enough for him and went back to my seat.

"Can we get to the point now?" I asked him and Jay nodded. "You said you know the truth about my family."

"No. I said I know stuff about the secrets they keep from you."

"I don't want to waste time with semantics. Just spit it out."

"Okay… what do you want to know Isaac?"

Was he kidding me?

"Everything. You said you know where my father goes at night."

"I asked you if you never realized your father leaving at night and coming home at dawn."

"So you don't know."

By then I was beginning to suspect Jay had been mocking me all along.

"Of course I know." He grinned.

"I'm losing my patience Jay!" I warned him.

"To the woods." He simply said. "He goes to the woods."

That was not what I was expecting.

"The woods? That's your brilliant break-through?"

He shrugged.

"My house is surrounded by woods! Of course my Dad would eventually go there!" I fumed. He was definitely going to meet my right hook.

"It's not just your father Isaac. Your mother and your twin brothers are involved too. As well as others… Seth, Sam, Embry, Paul, Brady…"

"How do you know?" What I wanted to ask was 'what do you know?' but I felt that with Jay I would have to go slow.

"Do you remember that tornado years ago?"

"We were at Campbell." I didn't remember the tornado but I had seen the damages it had caused when we arrived.

"That's when I noticed something was wrong."

"Why?"

"After the tornado my father went to Alaska to work in that oil platform. I stayed with my grandparents but they had lost their house so I went to live with Brady Fuller. I stayed with him and Madeleine for quite a while."

"I remember that."

"Then a few months later there was that incident at your place. There was a fire and… Madeleine had nightmares every night about the fire. She would wake up screaming and Brady would comfort her and tell her she was safe and that the pack would protect her."

"So what? Maddie found out she was pregnant around that time. Pregnant women have nightmares and…"

"What do you remember of that night Isaac?" Jay cut me off. "You weren't hidden under your bed like Sarah, were you?"

"You talked to Sarah about it?"

"Once or twice… but I never told her about my suspicions. She doesn't remember much anyways. But you… I think you remember more than you say you do."

Should I tell him about my nightmares? Should I tell him everything? He would never believe me.

"I remember being in my bed, hearing Sarah crying out Maddie's name. I remember JJ crying downstairs and Maddie yelling. I remember the smell of smoke and that's it." I decided against putting a hairy monster on the mix. Jay would think I was crazy.

"I think you remember more." He stated.

"You think I'm lying?"

"No. I think something is blocking your memories of that night."

I looked at him with caution. What if he was right? I was taking meds since that night to control anxiety and panic attacks.

Our meals arrived and after thanking the waitress, we resumed our conversation though I doubted he had anything interesting enough to tell me. All Jay had told me so far were just assumptions.

"You know Maddie spent weeks having nightmares… and then one day I heard Brady telling her he was going to speak to your father. So that night I followed him into the woods and I overheard their talk."

"And what did you hear?"

"Brady told your father about Madeleine's nightmares. How she's wake up sweating every night screaming about someone or something coming after her and how she feared that her baby would have some sort of special gene. Your father said and I quote 'Tell her the monsters won't come after her because we killed them all, tell her the pack won't let anything bad happen to her and tell her that her baby is going to be okay.' That's what your father said."

Monsters? Madeleine had nightmares about monsters? Could they be the same monsters from my nightmares?

"I need more details." I said.

"I didn't hear anything else. Brady went further into the woods and your father went home. I didn't have the courage to follow Brady anymore because of the wolves."

"The wolves?"

"There were wolves on the forest. I heard the howls."

"There aren't wolves in La Push for more than eighty years."

"Well that night there were."

"Have you talked to Madeleine about this?"

"No. She was pregnant. I didn't want to stress her out more. And then a few weeks later I went back to my grandparents' house. I never spoke of this with anyone before."

"What do you think it's going on here?"

"I think Brady and the others are in some sort of… cult… a gang called the Pack… I don't know…" He shrugged. "And I think you and I should try to figure out what happened that night."

"I have to go back to Arizona the day after tomorrow."

"I thought you're a genius Isaac. People like you don't need to go to classes. Stay here for a week and I'm sure we'll have some answers before next Friday."

I didn't accept Jay's suggestion immediately. I didn't know if his suspicions were solid enough for me. After all he had made me believe he had all the answers to my questions. It happened that he hadn't. He knew only bits and pieces of a reality that was still as slippery as a snake. But there was something that had caught my attention.

Madeleine had dreams about monsters. I needed to know if her monsters were the same as mine. Was she dreaming about a hairy beast with claws and sharp teeth? Or was she just having nightmares due to the trauma? There was only one way to find out. I would have to speak to her directly but I couldn't just bring up the subject because that would raise suspicions.

As Jay and I left in different directions after our meeting in Forks, I found myself spending the entire afternoon at the cliffs wondering what to do.

Should I stay like he suggested? Should tag along with Jay to unravel the truth? Were my parents and the twins part of a cult? And what kind of cult could it be? But what if my nightmares were only a product of my imagination?

That doesn't erase the fact that they lied to me. I argued with myself. Captain Kurt Reynolds wrote down that no window of the house was broken that night. And these marks on my shoulder are proof that something happened to me. I just need to remember what.

When I returned home I stood near the window of my bedroom for a while. The sunset still lingered casting orange and red shadows through the glass. Assuming what my parents had told me was true then ten years ago I had broken my bedroom window, cut myself on the process, fallen from an eight meter high balcony, and survived with only a sprained ankle and a few scratches on my left arm and shoulder. An eight-year old skinny kid would never survive a fall like that and if by some miracle he could've done it, he would've had some major internal injuries.

I think something is blocking your memories of that night. Those were Jay's words and I was starting to agree with him, so when my mother called us for dinner and she asked me if I had taken my meds, I discreetly put the pills on my pocket and nodded affirmatively. Then I texted Jay.

'We have until Friday to find the truth.'

Thanks for the reviews: Guest(s), CentaurPrincess, brankel1, MelkiSihou, Island Mama, Weave the Magic, Kary G, almondbutter, rocklesson86, TheSlytherinQueenbee.

I'd also like to thank all the followers of this story: Arian Eripmav, CentaurPrincess, Gabby-Paige, Honiahaka02, MelkiSihou, MyFunHouse, Shadows of Darkness, SilverAngel1234, TheSlytherinQueenbee, almondbutter, missartey2012, rocklesson86.

Take care, Karisan