AN: Hello again and I want to apologize for the long time between chapters. Part writer's block, other hobbies, and real life (aka work). I'm hoping to have next chapter ready within a month, but can't make any real promises. The fight is two more chapters away though.

Chapter 16

Prom

I ran back to the home not long after eight. It felt good; not just to run, which was fun in its own right, but to now have everything in the proper perspective. It looked like it was possible that Jules and I could still be friends. But still I wondered, why had I been so lucky? How and why did a vampire have to fall in love with me and why did I feel as strongly about her as she did about me.

I had barely crossed the boundary line of the Cullen's property when I started hearing music blaring from the house. What in the world was Archie up to and why in the name of all that was holy would we be having a party tonight?

Archie had run out to meet me and for some unknown, but surely to be horrible, reason he was wearing a tux complete with a corsage. And he smelled like flowers; roses, lilies, I sniffed again and caught lilac and jasmine as well. "You better hurry and clean up Beau," he all but laughed as the two of us man-hugged.

My head instinctively turned a little sideways trying to figure out what he was up to. As much as I wanted to claim Edythe for however long we'd have in our little slice of forever, I wasn't sure if Edythe was ready for that just yet. I had relented to allowing all of Archie's insane fantasies be fulfilled with our wedding.

Archie smiled, but shook his head. "Naw," he laughed again, "it's not a surprise wedding. There's just one human experience that Edythe wants to share with you just in case anything happens to either of you before the next time we start all over again in high school." He winked as he added, "Not that I see anything happening to any of us the day after tomorrow."

"Archie," I growled frustrated in whatever shenanigans he was up to.

"Your tux is in my room. Hurry up and clean yourself up and get dressed. You've got twenty minutes!" He was almost threatening but then he smiled and laughed, "And you smell like wet dog." Apparently he must have seen how I would look and I just shrugged and jumped into the open window in our room. For some reason, I thought about not even taking a shower but the smell of Julie would have driven everyone nuts so I decided to. Though we were completely cold normally, I understood why Edythe loved to feel my old human warmth against her skin. Even now, water that would have been scalding until very recently felt incredibly pleasant to my new body.

The first three minutes of my shower, I just let the water run over me. But then I started frantically scrubbing myself trying to get as much of Julie's scent off of me. It wasn't easy, but with the help of scented soaps and body washes it was possible to mask it enough. My hair, however was going to be a different story. No matter how much I scrubbed it and no matter what shampoo or anything else I used, I could not get rid of her wonderful, well not really, ode de wolf.

I knew I was close to the end of the time that Archie had allotted me to get ready so after four different attempts at concealing Julie's smell in my hair, I finally got frustrated enough where I decided to just say forget it. I turned off the water and dried myself as best as I could in the few minutes I had left. I went to quickly run a comb through my hair with it still kind of wet. Unfortunately this was another of my carryovers from humanity. My hair always did kind of have a mind of its own and did whatever it wanted.

"Two minutes!" I heard Archie yell from downstairs as the music's volume increased. The songs sounded really slow and kind of mushy. "Two minutes and I bring you down ready or not," he sang yet again in his soft arpeggio.

Knowing that the one thing I didn't want was him to make good on his threat and carry me downstairs half dressed, I quickly abandoned trying to force my hair to do what it would not and looked at the clothes. Yep, he wasn't kidding. On a hanger in the closet on the right side completely by itself, was a black tuxedo with a black cloak with a vibrant crimson lining. When I saw it, I face-palmed in frustration. Did he really expect me to wear that?

"Ninety seconds," Archie sang again.

I sighed in defeat and quickly dressed. It was easy enough to throw everything on in only thirty second, the only issue I had was the bow tie; I had never even thought of wearing one before now and had no clue on how to tie it. So in frustration I just left it on the hanger along with the cape and jumped downstairs making use of the window instead of the stairs. It was weird, being so dexterous now as before the word "klutz" wasn't even enough to describe how clumsy I was. But now, this new strong body was more graceful than I ever could have imagined I'd be even after the first time I thought me becoming a vampire was even remotely possible.

"Where's your tie and cloak?" Jessamine joked seeing that I was missing them, at least I think she was joking.

I just nodded my head in the general direction of upstairs. "Don't know how to tie the darn thing. As for the cape, the less things for me to trip over, the better."

There was a chorus of laugher from everyone; well everyone except Archie who simply sighed.

"What?" I asked towards him slightly challenging.

Royal stepped up to me and surprisingly offered to help me, looking incredibly sharp in a white tux himself. "Come on," he said, "I show you how to tie one."

I still couldn't believe how impressive he looked. I had heard the expression 'dressed to the nines' many times but this was the first time that anyone came anywhere near that. I could tell from the way he wore his clothes that they were expensive. No doubt, evening clothes were one of the few articles of clothing that Archie actually allowed to be worn more than once. But finding quality dresses and tuxedos was something that was not easy to do, especially in a town such as Forks. But any of them would have looked stunning in anything they wore, even simple jeans. I didn't see myself that way.

Royal and I ran back up the stairs in a blur. He started tying it and was talking me through what he was doing but I wasn't really paying that close of attention to it. In any case, how often would I have to wear a bow tie? Hopefully not very often. Growing up in Phoenix, bolo ties were much more common than even regular ones. And they were so much easier than even regular ties.

I looked into the mirror as Royal pulled his hands away and was shocked. Royal was a genius when it came to how to look sharp; maybe even better than Archie except that Archie could see how stuff would look before he even bought it.

"Wow," I gasped looking at how everything looked together. Well almost everything. The cape wasn't going to happen very often, hopefully never if I had my way.

Royal smiled back. "That's one of the reasons that I let Archie buy all my clothes. His vision is second to none."

"But why do," I started but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Opening the door stood Edythe in an absolutely stunning floor length dress that was tight against her middle and showed off a lot more of her skin that was acceptable in public to do with deep plunging back and necklines, in a purplish-red that I'm sure has a name and I have no clue as to what it is. I felt my jaw all but hit the floor and then Royal gently tried to close my mouth.

"I'll leave you two alone for a minute," Royal winked at me before he sped past Edythe who took his place right beside me.

If there was one thing that was unfortunate about being a vampire, it was how fast my mind could race. I thought of about twenty different things to say to her but before I was able to open my mouth, I stopped all of them because they sounded so stupid.

Her smile was breathtaking. Had I still been human, she very well might had stopped my heart. I couldn't believe that this stunning creature was as in love with me as I was with her.

"You look very charming," she commented seeing my wardrobe.

"Duh, uh," I muttered, random sounds coming out of my mouth. "You too." My hand smacked my forehead with the sound of two boulders smacking together, followed by several snickers and chuckles from downstairs. I still got just as flustered as ever when I was around Edythe. Apparently this was something that was never going to change. "I mean, you… look… incredible."

"Thank you," she answered her smile filling her face again, hitting me as hard as that first day I saw it. "Now," she motioned her head towards the door, "shall we go to our prom?" So that's what was going on tonight.

"Wait," I said as I grabbed her right hand. "I really think we need to talk first."

"I knew this was coming." Her answer surprised me. "Archie said there was something tonight that was going to change our future but we wouldn't tell me anything more than that no matter how sneaky I tried to be. I just thought that you were trying to get out of dancing."

"You," I answered wondering how anyone could keep anything from her. "Why would you need to be sneaky?"

"My gift only works on whatever thoughts are going through someone's head at that particular moment. Now if my gift was more like Sulpicia's, then even with the most causal of incidental contact I would be able to see any thought you would have ever had. Well, maybe still not you, but you get my point."

I nodded. Carine had speculated that anyone with mental related powers might have issue with me, including the young twins. "So how did he keep you out of there this time?" I asked with a wry smile which she answered.

"Oh, he knows many ways to keep things he doesn't want me to know in his own little way. Today he was translating the entire Bible into any language he was fluent it."

I shook my head and laughed. It was just so Archie.

"Now Beau," she said looking almost like she was begging, "what has you so troubled?"

"I really screwed up today Edythe and I don't know if you'll ever forgive me for it."

"I bet there will be some way that you can make it up to me," she teased back.

"Julie and I had a little heart to heart today," I started but she interrupted me.

"I know."

"You do?" I had expected any answer from her… but this one.

"Of course I do. That mangy mutt called over here and bragged that she almost had you."

I felt what blood I still had in my body burn with rage. How could she?! How could Julie tell her that? But even more, why would she? Could she really still be hoping that the two of us could be more than just friends? I thought I made that abundantly clear. And with me being a vampire now, that shed realize that it was impossible.

"I don't blame you Beau," she said which made me feel even smaller than I was already.

"You should," I tried to offer, hoping that she would rake me over the coals for even now still wanting to see Julie even if it wasn't in the way that Jules would want.

Her look seemed to convey something more than she was saying and for the first time I wished that I could hear her mind to know what Julie had told her.

"No Beau, I shouldn't. I knew with the way you were stolen from the human world that there would be…" she searched for the right word, "complications, not that I really expected this. The Quileutte's memories are normally very long and I thought that none of them would ever see you as anything other than a bloodsucker, to use their favored term for us. You must had made quite an impression on her when you two were still human together."

I just shook my head. Exactly what had I missed last night when I was busy with Lee?

"Last night wasn't just insightful for you," she said seeming to answer my question. "The two of us seemed to become even bigger rivals for you even though I know that you've made your decision already but you're just not confident in yourself yet."

How did she figure this one out? She was dead on the money. It was almost as if me being changed in the way I did forced two sides of me to be in competition with each other; the side meant to be with Edythe forever and the side that still wants to be friends with Julie. I never wanted to be any more than that with her though. My love for Edythe; there was no way that I could describe it. That's how much she really means to me. But still, to be able to be just friends with Julie; was that even an option anymore?

"We can talk about anything you want later," her angelic voice said with all seriousness, "which I'll forgive you for by the way. But for now, I don't think we should keep Archie waiting any longer or he's liable to drag us out by our hair."

"I heard that!" Archie joked in a funny sing-song voice. "And don't temp me." Then there was a chorus of laughter from downstairs and I knew that waiting would not do any more good.

"Sure, prom," I answered still not completely sure what was going to happen next despite the sound of slow, mushy sounding music playing.

Edythe took my hand and led me through the door back out to the living room and then to the backyard which had been all decked out with balloons and streamers everywhere. Even though I knew how the Cullens liked to decorate- especially Archie, with everything inside so very open and bright, it still seemed kind of weird with all the flashing lights and everything on the back lawn. It reminded me of an outdoor disco.

"Told you so," Archie bragged to someone, most likely Jess.

"As usual, you were right Archie," Royal answered. I never thought that his black tuxedo would work with the fuchsia, but it kind of does."

When I got into the living room and could see through the back wall of glass, it reminded me of movie portrayals of a prom. Banners, balloons, tables and chairs. I mean, none of us would actually need to sit down; it just seemed like a giant waste. But then again, Archie never did anything halfway.

"You've outdone yourself this time," Edythe commented even though she had to know about this for a while. There was no real way to keep secrets from her unless, as I just learned, you really tried.

Archie smiled as he was swaying back and forth with Jessamine, even though I didn't hear any music coming from the impressive collection that the Cullens had, in just about any format you could imagine: vinyl, cassette, CD, iPod, heck they even had a couple of eight track tapes around. "Call it a dress rehearsal," he belted out in his gentle tenor.

"For what?" I asked.

Archie raised his eyebrow in surprise, with a look that said, 'well what do you think?'

My left hand met my forehead again, and like every time I'd done that, I was shocked at the sound. Two rocks colliding. "Can we not think of that right now?" I asked, more out of frustration that anything else. Tonight had been what I needed with both sides of me. Even though Julie tried to force our relationship to another level that I didn't want, even if some parts of my body did, I saw in her that her desire was not to lose me in whatever capacity we could be friends. I didn't think that was possible but still held out some hope.

But in knowing that Edythe felt threatened by Julie as a potential rival for my affection was enlightening, even if it was ridiculous. Her hold on me was indescribable, like the sun's to the earth. And knowing how vampires almost never changed in any sense, it was comforting to know that the two of us would be in love forever.

Seeing all four of them swaying and dancing like angels still surprised me. Sure, I knew that Archie was more than capable of cutting up a rug, but the other three just shocked me. No one more so than Eleanor. After all, she was the definition of a tomboy. To see her cleaned up, sporting such a beautiful evening dress shocked me. Sure, Royal didn't surprise me at all, even if he hadn't helped me with my tie and there was something simply elegant with Archie's tux. Even Jessamine wasn't normally one to get all girly often but to see them all in a formal setting made me wonder about what Edythe and my wedding would be like. For one of the first times I wanted it, even if it still scared the living hell out of me a little bit.

Another song started to play and Edythe led me out onto what was serving as a dance floor. "Shall we?" She asked.

"Okay, but don't get mad if I step all over your feet."

She smiled her dazzling smile again with a gentle laugh. "Just remember it's all in the lead."

The two of us swayed for I don't even know how long, with both of us at times leaning our head onto the shoulder of the other, not to mention other PDA's that may or may not have been appropriate judging by the reactions of the rest of the family. I'm still not sure about the rules when it comes to vampires… or proms for that matter. But I had a feeling that I would get more than a few chances to find out if the Cullens did continue living the way they had for the century or so since Edythe was changed. After an about an hour of dancing without a break, I finally admitted, "This isn't half bad."

Her smile was indescribably beautiful; one that would have taken away my breath if I still needed to breathe.

It was late, that much I knew, even if I didn't have a watch on. "So where are Carine and Earnest?" I finally asked.

"Probably leaving Vancouver about now," Edythe answered sounding a little dejected about something and I could only guess that Archie had one of his visions and Edythe had heard and didn't like it.

"Hunting?" I asked again trying to think of any other reasons for them to leave like this.

"Not exactly. They were meeting Elena and Tavar, hoping that they could convince them to help us with whoever is coming tomorrow night. Archie didn't think that it would work and Carine had to call in almost every favor she could to even get them to meet but she still had to try."

"But aren't they supposed to be like your best friends?"

"How do I explain this?" She thought out loud but not for very long. "Vampires can be driven by very few desires in life. The most powerful being thirst, lust, and vengeance. Unfortunately just before the wolves permanently took care of Lauren for trespassing on their lands, she and Ivan had begun to become… involved. He thought they could be mates but Lauren would not give up human blood for her, or anyone else for that matter. She cheated a lot, and was caught just off the Quileutte's lands hunting."

I knew what that meant. Bonnie had explained it to me in that first meeting after I had been changed. The Quiluettes- tolerated, that was probably the best word to describe it- tolerated the Cullens in the area because they didn't hunt people. If they did come across another vampire who was actually killing people, then they would do whatever they had to so they could stop them. "So Ivan wants to settle a score with them then?" I asked, putting it together.

"Exactly. Tavar had offered their help if we gave them our permission to take care of the wolves."

"And Carine wouldn't give it?"

"Of course not," Edythe all but snarled back. "She doesn't take something like that lightly. While the wolves and we don't exactly see eye to eye on almost anything, both they and we do hold human life in high esteem. Killing someone, anyone isn't something that either of us would be okay with." I wasn't sure exactly why, but she added emphasis on the last part and stared daggers right at Royal. I wondered what that was about.

I wasn't sure how long had passed but it didn't seem long enough. The sky had darkened so that meant dawn wasn't far off. During a few of the songs, when I looked over at Archie, he had all sorts of looks on his face; everything from approving smiles to absolute scowls. The second time I saw the latter I just looked at Edythe.

"He's judging your reaction to see what song we should have for our first dance after we get married."

"And he doesn't like this one I take it?"

Archie looked right at me, mouthing the word, "Duh."

"What about what you want Edythe?" I asked, knowing now I was ready for our next step together.

"You've given me so much already. I'm happy with whatever song you want."

I always thought that was just one of those things that should be more up to the bride than the groom. I get her… forever. Even if now that means a completely different thing than it did when I first realized why she acted the way she did when she first met me, it was still true. I was living the first and last day of my forever. And so far, it had been incredible.

"What are you thinking?" Edythe all but begged.

"Just how lucky I really am," I answered. In reality, it was nothing but the truth.

Edythe's face fell and she started muttering, "Falls in love with a monster who steals his whole life from him, and he thinks he's lucky?"

I lifted her chin so she could look right into my eyes. She had to understand this; if she didn't, I honestly couldn't figure out how we'd be able to get through anything that life would throw at us in the however long we have together.

"Edythe?" I asked wanted to make sure she was listening as attentively as possible. "I meant everything I have ever said to you. I love you. I'm happy with the way everything turned out." This was only a partial untruth. Sure, I would have liked to have things happen just a little different, but this was what I wanted in the end. To get Edythe forever. The fact that no one would really know other than the family; I guess I could live with it. We just needed to get through the next little bit first. "My first night with you as a vampire, I told you that I'm always good when I'm with you. I meant it. Please stop blaming yourself for what you think I'd lost." What I didn't add was that I didn't feel like I had lost anything.

Edythe's answering smile was even more dazzling. I thought that for the first time she finally began to understand how much I wanted this, to have our futures stretching out together for eternity. And there was an absolute joy in her that I never thought I'd seen before, which I think I would have noticed. She looked like she was finally completely over any guilt she felt for changing me like that. "You're not the lucky one," she said finally. "I am."

I put my finger over her mouth to stop her. "We both are." Then I removed it and my lips were desperate on hers. Now all we had to get through was one more mess that we both had created. But we would get through it together, as a family, which is what we really were. None of us would be able to stand the loss of anyone else and I felt entitled to my own revenge; revenge on Victor for killing my father.

Archie stopped dancing at that second, looking lost in some vision of his and I saw Edythe's eyes go wide in understanding.

"What is it?" I asked looking right at Archie.

"They're coming," Archie breathed in answer.

"The newborns?" I asked.

Archie looked even more worried as he shook his head. "Not just them. Jason and Audrey will be there after. And more of the guard too."

The damned twins, the most feared vampires in all the world. The ones who could incapacitate an immortal in a mere instant with their gifts.

"The Volturi will be behind to annihilate any survivors from the army. I can't tell if they be after us or not too. The newborns will leave Seattle just before first light the morning after tomorrow. We'll intercept them just outside the baseball clearing."

Just what we needed; another challenge. But looking at Edythe again I could tell that there was something else in his vision; something he wasn't sharing with anyone but Edythe right now. I could ask her about it later but for now we had a little while longer with our prom.

"How will we do?" Royal asked, looking right at Eleanor.

"I can't tell that yet," Archie answered. "But we'll have to meet them out there. We don't want them getting within ten miles of Forks and hunting. We don't need any more issues with the Volturi right now."

I wondered what he meant but we didn't have time to worry about them. One issue at a time. Right now, we had to deal with the newborns and then we could deal with the Volturi. The wolves would have to get out of there before the Volturi got there. Jason wouldn't hesitate to slaughter them for knowing about us, even if they were also a part of our supernatural world with their own secrets to keep, even if the whole tribe knew about their legends. This was something that we had to tell Jules and Sam soon. Luckily, Jules and her gals would be by tomorrow to nail down our strategy. This was going to be an interesting couple of days, especially today. The one before the actual fight.