AN: Whats up everyone. Many has it really been 4 months since the last update? Sorry bout that. I've been so busy with so much stuff this summer. Gonna have more time soon in the next few weeks, so hopefully I'll be able to get more stuff up quicker. But if you guys want more stuff, please let me know in reviews and PM's. Thanks everyone.

Chapter 12

Cold Ones

"So where did the whole feud with the vampires come from?" I asked to Saul as the sounds from Royal and Jessamine sparring filled the clearing. It was really loud, sounding like two boulders were crashing into each other. It was so different than when Jessamine and Eleanor went at it. El was just so… frontal with her attacks while Royal was a little more tactical. In any case, Jess was just so amazing, easily dodging and countering every attack Royal tried.

"Ah," Saul answered, "that's an interesting story." He looked at the lesson still proceeding in the clearing and looked like he was a little surprised. Carine's face was still as warm and open as ever and it looked like she had accepted the wolves into the fold as part of our extended family. And when looking at many of the wolves, it looked as if a couple of the wolves had wanted to test their skills in combat with Jessamine. Although a few times, she did have to restrain herself from actually wanting to attacking one of them. I assumed that had to do with the emotions they were feeling.

"That brings us to the first time that our ancestors ever encountered your kind, the cold ones that is. It was a few decades after Taha Aki gave up her spirit wolf and her daughters had learned her ways well and taken over protecting the tribe when several young men from the Makah tribe in the north began to disappear; always at night with no remains ever discovered. The Makahs had blamed our spirit wolves at first but Taha Wi, the new acting wolf chief knew that none of our number were responsible for this. Taha Aki had insisted that she take five of her sisters and find the true culprit to prove it to them.

"It didn't take them long before they came upon the smell of the one they thought was responsible; one whom possessed a strange, sickeningly sweet odor that hurt their noses to the point of pain. They followed the trail of this scent and there they found the one responsible, with another young man in her grasp. But she was able to quickly run into the ocean leaving her victim writhing in pain from the injuries she had inflicted. Not knowing what could be done for this young man, the wolves decided that the merciful thing would be to end the suffering of the man, despite how difficult this would be for all of them."

I thought about the great sacrifice that they had to inflict on this member of their allied tribe. Knowing what I did now about vampiric nature, I understood why killing the man was, most likely, the best option for them; the most humane option. Assuming he had actually been bitten, letting the change progress what absolute insanity. Leaving a newborn without any supervision was unheard of, despite what was happening in Seattle right now, was the ultimate act of savagery. It made me respect Archie all the more as his creator, even though she knew that she would likely be killed by Joss. She still had known well enough that Archie would be safe and adapt well to the new life, even without her to guide him.

"After putting the man down mercifully, the girls carried him back to the Makahs to allow him to be prepared for burial. This was a huge sacrifice that weighed heavily on all of the girls, but the peace between The Quileutes and the Makahs was saved again.

"Taha Aki was terrified that this woman would return again, so she insisted that at the first sign of any disappearances, the Makahs immediately tell our people. The Makahs, of course agreed and as chance would have it, a few weeks later another young man went missing. Taha Aki begged her oldest daughter to be careful, suspecting that the creature was extremely dangerous but Taha Wi was cocky.

"The six wolves crossed that familiar sweet and sickly smell just north of the edge of the Makah's village and began to give chase to the creature. When they confronted a girl who was beyond beautiful, gently leading away a young Makah brave, Taha Wi ordered the three youngest to return to their village. She did not want to risk the lives of any of her sisters than was necessary.

"The youngest three who were sent back waited for several days, changing into wolves by the hour hoping to hear anything from their sisters but they heard nothing. A few weeks later, Yaha Uta, the oldest daughter of Taha Aki and her third husband returned, badly injured but alive. She told of a creature that was cold as stone and strong as anything she had ever seen before.

"Taha Aki grieved greatly for her lost daughters and for the first time in a decades, she began to feel the strength of her spirit wolf returning. But the old chieftess had vowed that she would not allow herself to change again, as she hoped to be united again with all of her daughters and former husbands in the great spirit world beyond this one again soon.

"Every day, more of her daughters and granddaughters began to change into their spirit wolves. But then, a few months later, more young Makah braves began disappearing without a trace. All of the children were eager to help their great allies again, but none of them wished to risk the lives of any more of them for this.

"Taha Aki's third husband was a very wise man and even agreed with her on this. Despite the fact that it was difficult to let them go into a very dangerous situation, they could not condemn the Makahs to the slaughter that was now afflicting them. They all realized the sacrifice that might be required, but the only way to assure the success of their mission was to overwhelm the beast with the maximum strength they could oppose it with.

"Against her better judgement, Taha Aki sent all of her daughters who had changed out knowing that her husband was right. Overwhelming numbers would, most likely, be their best option. Days past again with not a word of news from her daughters. This had to be absolute agony for Taha Aki; knowing she had probably sent her own daughters to their deaths but in the end, there wasn't any other choice. She could not allow someone to coldly murder our allies without a response.

"It was almost a week later that six of the eight daughters who were sent out returned relatively unharmed. They carried the bodies of two of their daughters whose bodies were badly misshapen but still alive. In addition to the corpse of the creature responsible for the disappearances. Even still, the body was cold as stone and hard as granite, but as beautiful as any other creature they had every laid eyes on. The girls told of the ferocity of which it fought and the unbelievable strength that she had possessed.

"As the victorious warriors feasted to celebrate their victory, one of the young girls happened to look at the pile of remains from the creature. No one had been sure what to do with the remains, so they were left in a heap until the elders could determine the best course of action. The girl, of course, sensed something was very wrong.

"She saw the remains looking to reform themselves and, in a panic, screamed in horror. Yaha Uta, whom had taken charge in the aftermath of the loss of Taha Wi, out of instinct most likely, grabbed a burning log from the fire and set the torch to the body of the creature. It didn't take long for all those present to see that this was the only way to permanently be rid of the creature.

"When the flame touched the pile of remains, the flame rose higher than the level of most of the people there. In modern times, it would have looked like the remains had been soaked in gasoline before the match was set. The smell was strong and, according to legend, smelled like the burning of the sweetest incense.

"What none of us had counted on was the the stone matron had a mate. Less than a week past before he entered our village with a fury that none of us could even fathom. His concern was purely revenge as he quickly killed anyone he came across, not bothering to drink their blood.

"Out of fear, many of the non-magical chose to flee into what they thought was the relative safety of the oceans in their canoes but the stone creature was even more adept to aquatic warfare than even the best of navies. His speed was even greater as he cut through the water and his body tore through the hulls of the small boats as if they were made of nothing but paper. Some even tried to swim out even further into the ocean away from their boats, but he found them with ease and killed them as well, shattering crucial bones and condemning them to the slow death that comes from drowning.

"Taha Aki saw all of this in horror but could do nothing. She had long ago given up her spirit wolf and had forgotten how to summon the beast. She looked around and saw only five of her wolf daughters left.

"Having rammed all of the canoes, the creature turned his attention back to those on shore. He started again turning his wrath on all of the wolves he could find. It was strange, the woman that the wolves had killed was a skilled fighter, but this one was even better. It didn't help that by merely biting the wolves that they were immediately incapacitated and dead within minutes.

"There were only two wolves left, the first daughter of Taha Aki and her third husband and one other. Taha Aki tried to shield her love with all of the strength she had but it was about to cost their first daughter her life. The girl was on the ground, whimpering in agony from the injuries that she had obtained in the fight and Taha Aki knew that it would not be long before she would be killed as well, then there would be no one left to defend the tribe… not unless.

"And then the magic filled the old chieftess again. Seeing her youngest wolf daughter about to be killed, Taha Aki's wolf-self sprang forth again. She was old and gray with years but was as strong as ever. But still, this was not enough to stop the stone man. He easily overpowered the old wolf and was quickly at his mercy.

"The third husband was no magical being but he did possess one thing that the cold one could never have counted on; incredible courage. He unsheathed his dagger and ran it along the fold in his elbow, willing to risk his life if it meant that he could save that of his wife and her daughters.

"The scent of the husband's blood instantly overwhelmed the cold man and he moved to taste it as quickly as possible, not wanting any of it to go to waste. But this diversion was enough to allow Taha Aki to regain the upper hand. Not only that, but seeing the sacrifice of their father, many of their daughters who had not quite entered womanhood also saw their wolf selves spring forth to help their mother. It was easy for them then. The scent of blood was too much for the blood drinker to ignore as every time he started for the husband, he was cut off by another wolf until finally they were able to destroy him as well."

I could see it; the bright ruby eyes of the mated vampire pair knowing that they would demand revenge for their mate. It made sense why Victor would hold such a vendetta against the Cullens but it still shocked me. I was always a turn the other cheek kind of guy but could I forgive someone if they took Edythe from me? Probably not.

"What happened next?" I asked wanting him to go on with the story.

"Unfortunately, the third husband's wounds were too deep for our medicine man to treat and he died shortly there after. The loss to Taha Aki was so great that she would only allow their children to go near their father's body, anyone else she all but attacked them. It was strange to all of them; here was our great chieftess who had more than a century to her experiences, known three husbands and loved them all, but the loss of this one was what broke her.

"The daughters, with the help of our priestess prepared his body for burial in the ways of our people. Still as a wolf, Taha Aki watched them like a hawk, even snapping at a few for even the slightest perceived error. She would not allow any mistakes that may corrupt his spirit so the two of them would not be reunited in the next world.

"Following the funeral and burial, Taha Aki ran off into the woods and was never seen again. But some of the girls still say that, on occasion they can hear the howl of a wolf crying out for her one true mate, her imprint."

"Imprint?" I asked.

"When the girls find their mates, it's much deeper than simply love at first sight. Every part of them is tied to their imprintee. In fact, that is the only reason that they can disobey a direct order from Sam. It's thought to be very rare, as only Sam and Jaime have found theirs as of yet."

I thought about it some more. When I met Edythe, it felt so much deeper than just a random crush. It was as if I had been waiting for her since I was born. That wasn't fair to her since she had been waiting much longer.

The sky had begun to darken, which meant the first light of a new day was not far behind when Carine, assuming that the wolves had to be near exhaustion decided to end the exercises for the night. "That will be all for today but we will be training again tomorrow night shortly after midnight. You are all more than welcome to attend that as well."

"Thank you,'" Edythe said translating from Sam's thoughts. "It might be helpful, though if we could learn all of your scents so that in battle we could limit any mistakes made."

"Of course," Carine answered, her smile as welcoming and accommodating as always.

Sam stepped forward first, joined by the rest of them as all my family stood still as statues as the gigantic wolves sniffed every one of us. Immediately after registering each our scents, it looked as if they were about to hurl. Eleanor actually held back laughter at a couple of the wolves' reactions.

"I probably won't be back tonight," Saul said as he began returning to the car that he and Julie had brought. "But it was very good to see you again, Beau. You take care of yourself."

"You too," I said in answer. It really was good to see him.

"Lee," Julie said to the grey wolf who was beginning to walk away with the rest of the pack.

The massive wolf, the second largest one there turned its head and looked right at Julie with a look that wasn't animal at all. It looked… anxious; maybe even scared to death to be here. The sandy wolf on its right also stopped as if to defend the other but its expression was nothing like the other. She looked… well more relieved. Almost as if the sense of finally having all the legends confirmed made her even more trusting of the good doctor who made such an impact on the young girl. I almost wondered if the way she saw Carine was similar to the way Earnest did the first time he was treated by our matriarch, even if the romantic feelings weren't there the way they may have been between Carine and Earnest.

"Why don't you phase and take your dad home. I wanna talk to Beau for a little more."

Even though I knew it was impossible, I almost thought that I could hear the grey wolf muttering every curse and swear I knew, and even a few I didn't. Looking at Edythe only made me more certain as she looked embarrassed as well.

The sandy wolf's reaction wasn't anything like the others. She almost looked like she wanted to stay, as she was whining a lot.

"No Sarah," Julie answered to the sandy one, "you go home too."

And then it happened; the air shimmered around the grey wolf and where it once stood was now the body of Lee Clearwater, completely butt-naked. He looked completely buff and I looked at Eleanor whom I think muttered something like "Mama like" which got a snarl from Royal in reply.

Lee ran to the car and threw on a pair of old looking ratty sweat pants but no shirt and grabbed the keys from his dad. Then the two of them got back into the car and drove off, with the sandy wolf who I now thought was Lee's little sister Sarah running alongside it.

"Well that certainly was… interesting I guess," Julie said as she led me deep into the forest. I hadn't even noticed that we had climbed up thirty feet into the branches of a couple of tall Olympic pines.

"So," I added, "this whole imprint thing; did you find yours?"

She looked down at the ground and I assumed she was looking for someone, probably Edythe. My worse fear was that she thought that I was her imprint. True, if not for Edythe, it might have been a possibility. But now I was fully committed to Edythe, even if she still had her doubts and many regrets over what she thinks she stole from me. In honesty, my only regrets revolved around not being able to share my wedding with family and my new friends I had made in the short time that I had been in Forks.

Her searching seemed to take forever, but finally she answered, "I thought so, but he's taken."

"That was stupid of me to ask Jules. I'm sorry." I should have known that she would have said something like that.

"'S okay. Besides I know you feel kind of the same way." This surprised me a little. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like she wasn't insanely beautiful since she began changing into a wolf, but her beauty couldn't compare to Edythe's. It wasn't just her supernatural beauty but the fact that Edythe was exactly made for me. "After all, I'd kinda had a crush on you for a while."

If I could have still blushed, I would of. "Jules, I think we should go back." This was getting dangerous. Edythe could definitely find us, if she wanted to but I was glad that we had a modicum of privacy right now. It was almost as if Edythe wanted us to have this conversation; like she knew we needed to have it out once and for all even if my choice was already as set in stone as I was.

"In a little bit. First, I want all the juicy details. Seriously, don't leave anything out."

I stared into her eyes. It was just too easy to be myself around her. "What do ya wanna know?"

"How'd you become like that?" She asked as she rubbed my right arm.

"The girls didn't give you the story?" I asked with a shrug.

She shrugged back. "Sure, but I'm sure they left some things out. Come on, give me all the gory details. The bloodier the better."

When she mentioned blood, my throat constricted and I felt venom pool in my mouth. Instinctively, my hand left hand cupped my throat trying to soothe it from the outside.

Julie must have realized her mistake and instantly blushed. "Sorry, I guess that was kind of a dumb thing to say. But seriously, I want it all. How'd you become… well a bloodsucker?" Even though she used Sam's derisive term for us, when she said it, didn't hold any of the animosity that most of the others had in it.

"Well, you remember that day on the beach, right?"

She nodded. Of course she remembered that. After all, it was the day that her life and the life of all of her tribe should have been at the mercy of the Cullens. According to their treaty, the Cullens would had been justified in slaughtering the Quileutes, but Carine never would have allowed it; not after realizing that Edythe and I were meant to be mates.

"Well, after that I thought about it some and nothing seemed to make sense." I laughed remembering how absurd I felt looking up anything I could find about vampires on the internet. "A couple days later, I went with a couple of the guys from school to Port Angeles so they could get stuff for a dance at school. I wasn't going, so I just tagged along hoping to find something good at the bookstore. God knows that there wasn't much in Forks."

Julie laughed. "You think Forks is bad, try the Rez."

I laughed too. "Yeah, I guess that would suck. Anyway, after not really finding anything in the bookstore and knowing that I had about half an hour before the movie we were going to see started, I started wandering. But I stumbled on a gang up to something."

She laughed again. "You always did have terrible luck."

Again I fought back chuckles. It was just too easy to be myself with Jules. "Yeah, I guess. But Edythe found me and scared the pants off of them and then all but dragged me into her car. I'm still not really sure how I did it, but I managed to talk her out of going back to deal with them." I left it there; surely Jules could put two and two together here. "But she did insist on taking me to dinner first before bringing me back home. And on the ride back, she confirmed all the legends you told me were true."

I waiting for a few seconds before I saw here get impatient. I knew she wanted more details. "Alright, alright," I surrendered. "So a couple days after that, I went to play baseball with her family."

That did it; Julie burst out laughing. "You? Playing… baseball? OMG, I would of paid to see that."

I scowled for a second, but couldn't stay mad at her. "Well, actually I just watched. It did give me a chance to get to know Earnest. Like, did you know that everyone Carine changed was on their deathbeds? She only did it because it was that or death."

It almost looked like she had even more respect for our matriarch than before. "She's better than any of us would of thought."

"Yeah. Well, that was when I met Joss, Lauren, and Victor. They heard the Cullens playing and wanted to join in. When they smelled me, Joss wanted me. Apparently, I smelled really good to vampires.

"So Archie and Edythe helped me get out of town. I had to all but destroy my dad to get him to let me leave and I hate it that I'll never be able to make it up to him but there just was no other option." I thought for a second, remembering Archie's and Edythe's argument in the Jeep. "Well, the only other option would have been to change me right then and there but my dad still would have lost me. I had to do it the way I did to have any chance of things getting back to normal.

"I went to Phoenix with Archie and Jessamine, while the rest of the Cullens were trying to deal with Joss."

"When you say 'deal with'?" Jules asked expectantly.

"You know some of those action movies? Deal with extreme prejudice. They were going to kill her. We never thought anything of any ramifications from that."

"What do you mean?" she asked sounding a little concerned.

"Well, Joss and Victor were mates; ya know, basically husband 'n wife, so it almost seems like Victor wants revenge on us for killing Joss." Sure, Archie still wasn't a hundred percent sure who was behind the carnage in Seattle but a vendetta by Victor seemed to be the most likely; the only thing that made any sense at all.

"In Phoenix, Archie told me about his past; how he wasn't sure how he was changed but when he woke up, he saw Jessamine. He knew that when the time was right he'd meet her. In fact, that's about the only time that Jessamine, who is well experienced with newborns remembers hearing of a newborn who didn't completely ravage their surrounding area when they were on their own. Archie thinks it was because of his gift. He also told me about how someone becomes a vampire."

"I knew those leeches couldn't be trusted," Julie cursed at the family under her breath. She sounded pissed. I had to stop it from getting worse.

"No Jules, it wasn't like that. I asked him. It was something I wanted to know about." Secretly, it was something I dreamed about. Well, not exactly. It wasn't the being a vampire. I had no desire for immortality. It was being with Edythe that was the only thing I cared about. The fact that it is for eternity is just a bonus. "That was the first time I realized how much I wanted it. Once I knew it was a possibility, I wanted it bad Jules."

"The next morning, we were supposed to pick up Edythe from the airport but I got a call from Joss just before we were supposed to leave. She told me she had my mom Jules. I couldn't not go. It didn't matter if I died or not, I couldn't allow someone else to sacrifice their life for mine. So I planned to find a way to escape. I figured that if Jessamine was with me, I'd have a better chance. She went with me while I got breakfast in the food court but I lied saying that I had to go to the bathroom. That was why I needed Jess; she wouldn't follow me in.

"When I got to where Joss wanted me, she beat me up pretty good. Broke my left leg, right arm, some of my ribs. She really did a number on me." I smiled. I knew I probably seemed kind of crazy for that but I could laugh about it now. "She hoped that she'd be able to get me to tell Edythe to go after the tracker later. So that's why she bit me the first time. She hoped that by biting me, the scorching heat from her venom would make me beg her to kill me; that I would do anything she asked, even that.

"Well, long story short, Edythe got there in time; Joss didn't have the chance to finish me off and they took care of her. Edythe tried to suck the venom back out but Archie knew it was too late. I only had two options: either Edythe killed me to stop the conversion or I went thru with it." I smiled at what was the easiest decision I ever had to make. "And you see what my choice was."

"Interesting story Beau," Julie said as I had finished telling my story. "And I see you put a ring on it."

I smiled. "Gotta follow Queen Bey's orders right?" I joked back. While I was never all that interested in pop culture, Single Ladies was one of my mom's more recent favorite songs. "Just kidding, but I know that she's my one true love, Jules."

Julie looked almost hurt, almost crushed by what I had said. Sure, I didn't think there was any chance of us even possibly being an item now but, in the past it might had been possible. That is, in a world where Edythe didn't exist; if she had died, really died in 1918, it might have been possible that Julie and I would have fallen in love and lived out a normal human life together. And the more and more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I would have liked that future. But that future was all eclipsed the very second I saw Edythe and the two of us realized how much we loved each other. That and that there was no way that she would be ever able to hurt me.

"Can I try one thing first?" She asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Okay," I said but instantly was terrified.

She scooted over to me and proceeded to wrap her right arm around my shoulder. Man she did stink, but the warmth coming off her skin was very comfortable. I understood what Edythe had said about me before I was changed. The she looked right into my eyes and that's when it happened.

Her lips planted on mine and I turned into non-responsive stone. I wasn't in fear of losing control and biting her; her smell was that revolting. But I did worry about giving into the desires of mine that I hadn't been able to express with Edythe yet, since she wanted to protect as much of my soul as I still had left- granted I still felt completely like me- and I wanted to protect all of hers that I could. That meant, assuming that most religions were correct about adultery, waiting until our wedding night before we actually went all the way.

Our lips stayed locked for almost three minutes. Her breath kind of surprised me. It didn't taste like an animal. Well it did, but not like the way the rest of her smelled. And then her hands wandered down, stopping at my belt. I felt her trying to undo the buckle, that's when I did something stupid.

I pushed her off the branch, trying to stop this before it got any more out of control. For the first time, I didn't control my strength and accidentally pushed her out of the tree. I worried that she was going to be seriously hurt from the fall, but halfway down, she was replaced by the huge russet wolf I had been accustomed to and landed gracefully on all fours, even if there was a slight cracking sound. Then again she shifted back to human, completely naked as a jay bird, favoring her right hand.

"Sorry," she said from the forest floor.

I tried to avert my eyes from her, as I was still a little turned on by what had happened. I didn't want to chance myself by actually taking a long glance at her exposed body.

"I mean it Beau. I didn't plan on trying to get you like that. But I do hope that showing you how I feel might make you think about your options."

"You're being silly," I laughed back, still trying not to look at her.

"Do me one favor."

"What's that?" I asked back.

"Take one good look; at least tell me that you do find me pretty."

"That's not it Jules. I've always thought you were pretty. It's just that…" how did I say this without insulting or destroying her. "Well, you remember when Saul was talking about that imprinting thing?"

"Yeah," she answered sounding like she knew where this was heading and it was exactly the opposite way that she hoped for.

"Well, that's how I feel about her. It's like she and I… we're meant to be. Please don't ask me to choose between her and you, because it's no contest."

"I knew it," she said sounding completely defeated as she sank to her knees. My eyes had wandered to her body, not even thinking. She was beautiful; there was no denying that but she couldn't ever hold a candle to Edythe's subtle beauty. Yeah, some things she had were better than Edythe's, I mean Julie's boobs had exploded in size since she started changing while Edythe's were considerable smaller, they looked so much better proportioned- almost more classical on Edythe. Maybe that was why I was so drawn to her. After all, mom had always called me an old soul. Maybe I really was.

I jumped down hoping to console her a little bit and pulled off my shirt to give it to her. She put it on willingly enough and I helped her back up. It was big enough that it did cover the area south of the border, thank god.

"Well, I had to try Beau. Sorry about trying to take advantage."

"No biggie."

She smiled again and started walking off deeper in the woods towards the boundary. "Hey, come by tomorrow. Bonnie really wants to see you anyway."

The sun had risen and some of the rays had snuck their way through the canopy, the light shimmering off of me in a brilliant rainbow of eight colors.

"Super freaky Beau," she said with a smile as she started to vibrate again. And then she was off running on four legs, with no sign of the injury she had suffered when I accidentally pushed her out of the tree. Now I had only one thing I had to deal with, and that was the fact that I hadn't pushed her away when she kissed me faster. Secretly, I loved it when she kissed me but it was never going to compare to how I felt about Edythe. It wasn't a choice. Edythe was my mate, of that I was completely sure. But a piece of me still wanted to love Jules. Maybe it was just that we were friends for so long or maybe something else. But I knew there was no choice, no conflict between the two that could ever that would make me choice Julie over Edythe. We just had to get through this issue and then I would be ready to meet her at the altar for the start of our forever together in the best way that we could no matter if human, vampire, or anything else. To declare ourselves to each other in front of our family, friends, and maybe even god.