Mmm, oh, traveler
What have you seen?
Were there crossroads
Where you been, where you been?
I once was standing tall
Now I feel my back's against the wall

May I stand unshaken
Amid, amidst a crashing world

- "Unshaken", by D'Angelo

"What happened," Liam asked when I picked up, his voice softer than the first snowfall in winter.

"It was a mistake," I said quickly, glancing over my shoulder at the two still as death vampires staring at me from the living room. "Just some druggie I think, trying to get in. I'd had to come back to get my purse and then my phone died because I'd left my charger –"

"Enough, Isa," he said, and my mouth shut with an audible click. I was a horrible liar, and the whole practice made me feel bad, so I very rarely even tried. It didn't help that Liam was essentially a human lie detector – apparently even over the phone. "Are you safe?"

I nodded before I remembered he couldn't see it. "Yeah."

"Good." There was a deep exhalation on his end, like he'd been holding a tense breath and I realized that he'd been worried about me. "Are you busy tomorrow?"

I glanced back at the vampires again and my chest tightened strangely at the nervous look on Peter's face, as well as Jasper's blank one. "Yeah, I'm taking the day off. It's been a long couple of weeks and since Jake is back, he can run the show for the day."

"You should have let me get you some help," Liam said with a hum of disapproval. "I told you that you were going to stretch yourself too thin."

"I told you I could handle it." I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. "And I have, just fine."

"That was never in question, Isa," he replied, gently. The familiar warm feeling in my gut when he used that tone with me bloomed and I turned my head to hide the slight smile from the vampires who still stared at me. "You're a strong independent woman, that was never in question. But you have a tendency to take on more than is good for you simply for the sake of independence."

"If that's the worst thing about me, I guess that's okay. I could be a gambling addict instead," I joked, twirling my fingers through the long coiled cord as I leaned my hip against the counter. "Sounds like you lucked out, Meyer."

"It can be just as dangerous as any addiction, Isa," Liam said seriously. "But you are right. I was very, very lucky to be the one to catch your eye."

I felt rather than hear the twin growls from behind me and it spurred me into action to cut this short. We said our goodbyes, and I avoided both bloody gazes as I tripped over my parting 'I love you' before hanging the phone up on the hook.

Jasper's strong voice cut the silence first. "Who was that Isabella?" There was a slight emphasis on my full name I couldn't place but I was too tired and high strung to break that down.

"My boyfriend, Liam."

"Liam what?"

I put both hands on my hips as I stared him down, chocolate brown locked with deep oxblood. "Going to run a background check on him, Whitlock?"

"Yes," he said, taking me by surprise. He took advantage of my silence to continue, "He's an unknown, and I don't tolerate unknowns when it comes to those I've –"

I slapped my hand against the counter, "Those you've what? I'm not some toy to be fought over, Jasper! I barely know you, and know even less about him," I stabbed a finger at Peter who flinched slightly and damn I felt a little bad for that one, "but somehow you think you can just barge back into my life because you think you have some sort of claim on it?"

Jasper drew himself to his full height then, and in the low-ceilinged space of my cramped trailer he seemed even bigger and broader than he actually was. The weak overhead light cast strange shadows over his beautiful face and I was suddenly, acutely aware that these weren't normal men. These were full grown, human killing vampires and for all that I had gotten stronger, I was still very, very much human.

"Yes, I do, actually," he said softly, slowly closing the distance between us. "Because that's how the vampire world – our world - works." He braced both hands on the counter between us, leaning forward so that his face was close to mine. "You are a human who's had the misfortune to attract the attention of more vampires than you realize. Do you know what would happen if Peter and I were to leave you alone?"

I had a guess, but I really didn't want to know. He told me anyway. "They would come for you, curious to see what the fuss was about. Best case scenario, you would be changed, dragged into a world you think you know against your will and wouldn't even be able to escape because your sire will be unable to let you go. And even then that's not a guarantee, because some sires simply don't have the patience to guide their newborns and will rid themselves of them."

He cocked his head, clearly reading my emotions before continuing. "The worst case scenario, as you may have guessed, is that they kill you. If you're lucky, it'll be quick. If you're not…" he dragged his eyes from my head to my feet and back up in a lascivious dressing down that was so out of place on the Jasper I knew. "Humans are fragile. One would hope it wouldn't hurt to much, but most vampires don't care about the opinions of their meal."

My heart was pounding, and I wanted to put more distance between myself and Jasper but I was frozen in place. I was nervous, bordering on afraid, and could feel the tears starting to well in my eyes when Peter appeared behind him, and with a rough hand on his shoulder, yanked him back.

"Enough," he hissed, a fine mist of venom spraying in Jasper's face as he went toe to toe with his brother. "You've made your point."

Jasper bared his teeth and my mouth fell open with surprise as I saw fangs. I gasped, jerking back when both blond heads snapped to look at me instead.

"You've got fangs," I said.

Peter looked at me like I'd suddenly sprouted two heads. "We're vampires, sugar," he said slowly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I know that." I replied quickly. "But Edward said you guys were venomous, that the fangs were a myth." I was proud of myself for not stumbling over his name, not too long ago, I hadn't been able to say it, let along trip over it.

Jasper rolled his eyes, and it was unfair how attractive he made that look. "'Course he did. I bet he a said a lot of things so as not to scare you."

And because my mouth obviously felt like it was lonely without my foot in it, I blundered on and asked, "Can I see them?"

They glanced at each other with a curious look, having that same silent conversation as before, then back at me. Jasper stepped aside and let Peter come around to my side of the counter. I leaned toward him, drawn in by his scent; there was the underlying cold smell of vampire but over that I could smell a melody of foreign florals I had no name for, with a mysterious bite to it that was almost peppery and spicy. It warmed the back of my throat as I breathed it in, heating me up from the inside. It was sensual.

This close I could see the differences between the brothers; he was shorter than Jasper but only by an inch or so, but was stockier, brawnier, more on par with Emmett. If Jasper was a lion, then Peter was wolf. There was something wilder about him than Jasper, like the beast all vampires had wasn't quite as well caged as his brothers was. Maybe it should have been alarming, frightening even, but it'd been an on-going joke that my fight or flight instinct was broken.

His hands came up to cradle my face oh so gently, and I leaned toward him like a blossom towards the sun.

And then he smiled, a slow, creeping, wicked smile that had my toes curling against my peeling laminate floor. It took some effort to tear my eyes away from his and I watched as his razor sharp-looking canines extended. I leaned in to get a closer look and had the errant thought that it was probably a good thing they were retractable, because it'd probably hurt if I sliced my tongue on one of them.

Almost as if he'd read my mind, the fangs receded as his dipped his head toward me, clearly going in for a kiss but was stopped by Jasper's loud clearing of his throat. Peter stiffened, but pulled away, his hands coming to rest at his sides in loose fists.

"Does that answer your question?" Jasper asked, and I was momentarily thrown by how reasonable his voice sounded while I was still coming down from my intense moment with Peter.

I braced myself one-handed against the counter and nodded, my other hand pressed firmly over my heart as I willed it to slow down. I was going to die of heart-failure by vampire at this rate, and not because they drained it dry of blood.

"It's late," he continued after a moment, then reached into his pocket to pull out a slim black cell phone, which he then slid across the counter to me. "If you don't mind, I'd like to have your number."

I pulled out my phone and switched it on, before sliding him my phone as well, and punched in my contact details into his phone, as well as the phone Peter slid in front of me. It felt a little surreal, doing something so normal as swapping phone numbers with two essentially supernatural creatures and to my exhausted mind it was much funnier than it actually was.

"Be safe going home," I said out of habit as I walked them out, leaning against the door jamb. I then realized as I scanned the area, that the only vehicle in my driveway was mine. "Did you run here?"

"How did you think we got here so fast?" Peter asked with a teasing grin.

I pointed down my drive lane and said, "Go, please, I'm begging you. I need to sleep."

"So eager to dream of me?" Peter continued and Jasper rolled his eyes and slapped him upside the head.

"Christ, Peter." After throwing me one last look, Jasper hooked a hand around the protesting Peter's bicep and then they were gone, so fast that they weren't even a blur.

Alone at last, I decided there was only one remedy for a night like this. My stash of dark chocolate was gone, and I'd eaten the last gingersnap, so I turned on the over and pulled out the mixing bowl. By the time someone knocked at my door, I was pouring chocolate chips into the cookie dough.

Whatever irritation I felt at having more company was erased when I saw a sprite of a girl with neon smurf blue hair that sprang from her head in riotous curls, wearing enough eye makeup to supply a professional cheerleading squad for a month. In one hand she held the camera I'd lent her, and the other, a large basket.

"Hey, Bells! Jake sent me over to give you this and to get me out of the way while he butted heads with Sam over pack business. Another wolf phased today, literally an hour after we stopped by the rez to see Billy before we headed home." She rolled her eyes as she handed me the camera and basket. "Emily also said she's pretty sure you've let your fridge run empty again and that you can give it back when you come down to see Charlie and Sue for dinner next week."

"Hey Hotaru," I said, and waved her inside.

"Besides," she continued as she came in and toed off her shoes, "the new wolf was cute. With a little stripe here –" She ran her finger down her nose. "He wasn't going to hurt me. I was just calming him down and Jake and Sam came in and had a cow – oh yum, cookie dough! Can I have some?"

Hotaru was Jacob's wife and imprint. She was stunningly beautiful, her father being a Japanese man who'd come to the States to get an engineering degree when he'd met her Haida mother. Her features were an arresting blend of the two cultures, and she looked like someone who should have been modeling or starring in movies, but instead she was a Ph. D. engineer working at the Pacific Northwest Laboratories in some sort of government hush-hush project. She was actually five years older than Jake, but whether it was because he looked older than he was, or because she looked closer to nineteen rather than her actual age of twenty-six, nobody who didn't know made that connection.

"Did you dye your hair especially for your father?" I asked, finding a spoon and handing it to her with a healthy glob of dough.

"Of course," she said, taking a bite, then continuing to talk as if her mouth weren't half-full. "It makes him feel all fatherly if he can complain about something, especially since he doesn't get to see me much. Besides," she said with an air of righteousness, "I'm a grown ass woman. It'll wash out in a week or two. When I was tired of the lecture, I just told him he was lucky I didn't use superglue to put spikes in like Quill did. Maybe I'll do that next time I go visit him. This is good stuff." She started to put her spoon in the dough for another round, and I slapped her hand.

"Not after it's been in your mouth," I told her. I gave her another spoon, finished mixing in the chips, and began dropping cookie dough on the pans.

"Oh, I almost forgot," she said, after another bite, "Sam sent me along with a message. It was needlessly cryptic, but I knew you'd tell me what it meant. Are you ready?"

I put the first pan in the oven and started loading the next one. "Hit me."

"He said, 'Got the scent, don't fret. Paul and Embry are on the trail." She waved her empty spoon at me. "Now explain it to me."

It didn't surprise me that Liam had reached out to Sam. He'd accidentally been let in on the secret when Jacob and I got into a heated argument that caused him to lose his cool and phase. No one was hurt, but Sam had to come up from the rez and fill him in on the need-to-know version of the stories: that phasing is a tradition of the tribe to protect it from their enemies. I'd been surprised that he didn't go into detail about the Cold Ones, and when I'd asked Sam about it later, he'd said that less was more. The two of them ended up hitting it off and occasionally Sam would come up from La Push or Liam would go down to the rez to have a drink and hang out.

I suppose I should have respected Sam's alpha status and his need to protect his pack and their imprints, but he was the one who sent Hotaru along with the message, so this one was on him. "It's possible Victoria's been sniffing around again. Sam and the pack must've caught her trail." It was a reasonable guess, given what little information I'd given Liam.

I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek to avoid telling her that there was nothing for them to find, not anymore anyway. The wind had already blown away the smoke of the Victoria barbeque and the ashes with it.

"Really? After all this time? Maybe they'll get her." She dropped the spoon in the sink next to the first one, then boosted herself up to sit on my counter and conducted a rapid question and answer session all by herself. "Was that what you called Liam about earlier? He and Sam were together when that happened, and he was fit to be tied. How come you called Liam and not Jake or Sam? No, wait. Unless you didn't think it was a vampire trying to break in, it makes more sense to call in a human. But it wasn't a human trying to break in, which is why Sam took off so fast." She paused. "So how did you escape? Vampires are faster than humans, and no offense to the Beast, it's not winning any medals in the speed department. Did you have to distract them? Did you have a gun?"

Several, but I didn't keep any at the garage. I probably needed to update that personal policy.

She had paused, waiting for me to explain myself and I found myself avoiding her eyes as I tried and failed to come up with an explanation that didn't sound like complete bullshit.

"No, and yes," I said, answering her two questions, while still being intentionally vague.

"Awesome." She grinned, kicking her feet. "Didja shoot 'em?"

"No," I said carefully. "I didn't even fire it, just waved it around a little." I might as well have tried holding back a tidal wave with my bare hands, it would have had as much effect.

"That's cool too," she said. "I mean, guns are dangerous but sometimes just showing them off is a good enough deterrent, but I didn't think it'd work on vampires. Maybe they didn't know they were a vampire and reacted like a human?"

Most humans were ignorant to the world of vampires and werewolves but being Jake's imprint, she'd been drawn in whether she'd wanted it or not. It was just the icing on the cake that she not only wasn't scared of the supernatural but was enthusiastic about it. Shortly after the first time I'd met her, which had been at the same time as Jake, who'd literally tripped over himself to help the pixie-like girl as she struggled to change her tire on the side of the road, she'd asked if I was a shifter like Jake. I told her my story of how I'd fallen in love with a vampire and had been abandoned by him and his family. She'd nagged me for details of what they were like, utterly fascinated by the idea of there being creatures out there that weren't human, and I'd given in because I couldn't exactly unload it all on my therapist. It'd been more cathartic than I'd expected, telling someone about the people I'd used to know.

"I don't know," I lied, avoiding her eyes as I took out the first pan and replaced it with the second one. We ate some of the cookies and I gave her a loaded plate covered with tinfoil to take back with her for her and Jake, as well as another for Emily.

Her phone rang before she could fire off another line of interrogation. "Hey babe," she said brightly, and I swore for a second I could feel the love radiating from her smile.

It made me a little sad, and maybe a little envious even. I knew I loved Liam, but there was a difference between the love between the two of us and the nearly palpable affection between the wolves and their imprints. My battered heart was still sweet on the idea of soulmates, even after all it'd been through when I thought Edward had been mine. But whereas the relationship between Edward had been unbalanced, the wolves and their imprints were in perfect sync. Watching them was like watching a fairytale come to life, and while I didn't want to be any of the wolves' imprint (we were all family by this point, blood be damned) I knew I wanted what they had.

Liam was safe. He had kind eyes and warm hands, and his constant steadiness was good for me on the occasional days I felt like I was going to fly apart. Our love was a quiet kind of love, but a little rebellious part of me wanted something more. I wanted to be loved wildly, without abandon, with passion and –

Peter and Jasper's bloody eyes flashed through my mind and I clenched my hands into fists, my nails digging deep into my skin.

For a moment, I hated Edward. I hated that he was my first love and that he'd been more first foray into romance, because he was a lesson for everything I did and didn't want. He'd been too careful, so cautious to the point of controlling everything about my life down to what and when I ate. I hated that my first glimpse of love had a been a vampire who sucked at being a vampire.

I wanted everything that was bad for me. I wanted to be loved wild, and what was more wild, more passionate than a vampire true to their nature?

I sent Hotaru home shortly after, and took my time cleaning my kitchen, taking care to put everything away just so, and unloaded the stuffed basket. Emily was a great cook and I liked her a lot. I have Sadie a treat before following her back to the bedroom when I crawled into bed on top of the covers and curled up on my side. Rather than curl up at my feet, she came up and laid down behind me, the long line of her body pressed warmly against my back and let out a long, satisfied sigh.

The tears soon came unbidden, and I cried myself to sleep, curling further in on myself as I tried not to fall apart all over again.

A/N: Look. I can deal with sparkles. I can deal with the ridiculous OP-ness of the vampires. But I cannot abide them not having fangs. If you want a reference as to what Liam and Peter look like, I've got Liam based off of Henry Cavill, and Peter is a white-blonde Landon Liboiron (I fell madly in love with his character in Hemlock Grove)