After days of trying to come up with a suitable excuse for you all, I've failed miserably. So, I'm resorting to the honest truth: School sucks and I'm lazy.

Anyway, this is the LAST chapter of this story. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and stuck with it through all of my inconsistencies. I hope you guys enjoy the last chapter!

(Edit: This chapter's contents were updated 08-26-09)

Celeste's POV

I lunged at him, but he was quicker on his feet. I howled in agony as he collided with me, forcing me backwards into the trees. I tore at his skin, desperately trying to get him off of me.

He snarled at me, and his hands clasped around my throat. He forced my head into the dirt, trying to crush my neck instead of cut off the airflow. I gagged and pulled at his arms, I gave up when my efforts earned me nothing but a laugh.

I snarled at him. I refused to be mocked. I elbowed him in the face, satisfied with the resounding crunch that followed. He let go of me, and I wasted no time in retreating to the shadows.

I coughed as quietly as I could, massaging my bruised neck. My head was killing me.

"That wasn't very nice." Gaston grunted as he pushed his broken nose back into alignment. I started. I wasn't being nice? He was the homicidal, emotional torture freak.

Where the hell was Parker?

I couldn't afford to get cocky here, not with someone so dangerous. I tried to swallow the fear in my chest, feeling the backlash of self-loathing when I realized I was quaking in terror. I hated being scared; it made me feel like I was human again.

I snapped my fingers; it was time to get serious.

Or not.

I snapped again, trying to summon fury, but all that would come out was panic. My hands didn't even produce a spark.

Gaston tackled me out of nowhere; I hadn't even heard him move. I shrieked, kicking and punching at him one the way down. I tried to use my fire again, reaching down into the depths of my soul for enough anger, but all I could find was fear. Nothing came out, not even a flicker.

Gaston pounded on my frame, and I did my best to block him. I tore at his eyes and face, willing to take any cheap shot I was handed. He latched on to my wrists, bending my arms around behind my head. I heard the bones crack even before I felt the pain.

I couldn't get out from under him and his physical strength was far beyond anything I could ever hope to achieve.

I was fucking screwed.

Parker's POV

She was in pain. She was terrified, and she was in pain. I snarled as I raced forward, Jasper running along side me. This is what I constantly worked to avoid, this was the one thing I wanted to prevent from happening again. Celeste was in danger, and as soon as I got to her, someone was going to die.

Jasper, gave me a confused look out of the corner of his eye. "What's going on?"

I bit out the answer. "She's in pain."

He growled and picked up his pace. "Can you talk to her?"

"No, I'm too angry." I was half expecting him to try and calm me down with his unique powers, but he didn't. He just nodded and stared straight ahead. I half smiled to myself. No wonder they got along so well, Jasper always seemed to understand.

A vaguely familiar scent wafted through my nose, mixed with Celeste. I hit the brakes, stirring up dirt and gravel as I skidded to a stop, unnatural panic spreading through me.

Jasper stopped as quickly as he could, turning back to give me a worried expression.

"What's wrong?"

I swallowed hard. "It's Gaston."

"Who?" He raised an eyebrow.

"The vampire that changed me. We're in deep shit." I didn't like to curse. But there really wasn't a better word to describe the situation.

Jasper stayed quiet for a minute, sorting through our options. He sniffed the air a few times, and then glanced back to the house. "Can you reach Emmet?"

I looked at him blankly for a spilt second, wondering why Jasper would want to send one of his family members to impending doom. He just raised an eyebrow at me, and I realized Emmet might be able to match Gaston in his unnatural strength. I nodded at Jasper, feeling a little less anxious. Maybe with the three of us…

Celeste's POV

Gaston was back to crushing my neck again. He'd thrown me into a few trees, tossing me around the clearing like he was beating up a rag doll. He seemed fond of slow deaths.

I still couldn't summon fire, and I was losing hope by the second. Where was Parker? Or Jasper? For the first time I wished I had Parker's telepathy instead of my own gift.

Gaston laughed above me, and finally decided he'd had enough fun. I was positive it was my last few seconds with a head. I closed my eyes and waited.

A resounding clap of thunder sounded just above my ear and Gaston was gone. My eyes snapped open and I coughed, clutching my throat, I didn't even bother to see what had happed to Gaston. He wasn't killing me and that was all that mattered at the moment.

I rolled over onto my stomach, gasping for air. Unnecessary as it was, I need to reassure myself that my trachea still existed. I straightened out my arms, letting the bones fuse back into place as I executed extensive damage control on my body.

Several feral snarls finally reached my ears and I looked towards the noise. Parker, Emmet and Jasper were fighting with Gaston on the ground. I could have melted in relief. I closed my eyes and leaned back against a nearby tree to wait for my body to heal. Those three were more than welcome to this fight.

After a few minutes of growls and the ear splitting sound of ripping vampire flesh, Parker was in front of me. He took my face in his hands and I lazily opened my eyes. I just stared at him, too tired to move. He scanned my body for any obvious wounds; luckily most of them had already healed.

My head was foggy, and if I could have slept I'd have been out ages ago. But for now, I had to settle with being overly cranky and much less grateful for the whole life saving thing than I should be.

Jasper and Emmet were beside me as well. I inwardly groaned; I wanted my personal-space bubble back. Parker could stay though; Parker could always stay.

"Are you alright?" Emmet asked me.

I hate that question. It's Parker's equivalent of an 'I told you so.'

"Shove it up your ass, Emmet. But, thanks."

Jasper and Parker were chuckling before the words were out of my mouth.

One Week Later (And epilogue of sorts)

Parker's POV

Celeste was in one of the worst moods I'd ever seen her in. She'd gone hunting ten times in seven days, and she was still irretable.

She hadn't regained use of her power, nor did she know why she'd lost it, although Carlisle had a few theories. It had created a problem over the past week. (Particularly because Emmet considered her less dangerous and took the opportunity to annoy the crap out of her.)

At first, Celeste was content to just lie around the house, recuperating with the rest of the family. She went shopping with Alice, Rosalie, Bella, and Edward (who was refusing to let Bella out of his sight; we had to call her dad and tell him they were taking a week to go visit colleges).

But now, she was starting to get depressed. All she wanted to do was mope around and sulk. The rest of the Cullens seemed to understand, particularly Edward, but it was driving Jasper and I insane.

On a better note, Jasper didn't seem like he not so secretly wanted to kill me. He was actually being nice to me, which honestly scared me the first few days.

Celeste and Jasper had talked for almost three days straight. Any spare chance they got, they were rattling off things that had happened. Alice was a large part of these conversations too, but I chose to keep my distance. I'd been there for most of Celeste's escapades, both as a vampire and a human, and I was sure to get a retelling of Jasper's life story on the way home.

"Hey, babe."

I glanced up as Celeste sauntered into the library, sliding into my lap when she got close enough. "Hey. What's up?"

She sighed. "Same old, same old. Emmet's making me mad, I'm never going hunting with him again, selfish bastard." Make that eleven times, in seven days.

Jasper snorted, looking up from the book he was reading in the corner. "He's married to Rosalie, it was bound to rub off sooner or later."

"I HEARD THAT!"

Jasper wasn't phased. "Good. And tell your husband to stop going through my sister's things."

Celeste smirked in appreciation. "Thanks."

"I don't know! In about five minutes you're going to be pretty thankful for the nosy part of Emmet." Alice announced her arrival as she danced through the door and into Jasper's lap.

Jasper glanced at her curiously. "Why?"

Alice shook her finger at him. "Can't tell you, it might not work then. Oh, but I do you have to tell you that you're not allowed to actually kill him, Celeste."

"Why? What did he do now?" Celeste was already angry. I became slightly concerned about the fact that I had a ticking time bomb seated in my lap.

"Nothing, just found you underwear."

I stared in horror as Emmet made faces at Celeste from outside the doorway, her underwear on his head like he was four. If Celeste wasn't going to kill him, I was.

Jasper's jaw dropped while Alice giggled and looked at Celeste expectantly. Celeste stared at him, she couldn't decide if she was murderously angry or horribly embarrassed. Either way, if she could have turned redshe would have looked like a tomato. Emmet, in the first mature and self-preserving action of the week, took off like a bat out of hell.

Celeste snarled, leaping up after him and down the hallway, screaming various unrepeatable profanities as she ran. It wasn't until after I heard the resounding crash of her tackling him in the backyard that I noticed the scorch marks.

"Aw, man. Couldn't she have been a little more careful with the walls?"

Alice appeared at my side, beaming. "Aw, don't worry about those, Esme's been wanting to repaint anyway. Besides, Celeste has her power back, aren't you happy?"

Jasper started laughing quietly under his breath; he already knew what I was feeling.

"For her, of course I am. But for my personal safety and my shrinking ability to actually have some sort of say in our relationship? Not really."

"I HEARD THAT!"

I winced and started bolting for the door, but Rosalie cut me off in her flight down the stairs. Probably to rescue her husband from my wife.

"Then tell my husband to get another woman's underwear off of his head or I'll take it off at the shoulders!!"

Or not.

Well, that's all folks! I hope you liked it, please tell me what you think, what I can do better for future stories, whether or not you want a prequel (about Celeste, Parker and Jasper's human years (in my fannon world at least)) and all that jazz.

Thanks again to everyone who's reviewed. Untill my next story (and if you have any ideas for one let me know),

l8er

~colonelZ