Some Day I'm Gonna Find it

Summary: When Hermione's family is threatened because of her past, she calls upon her inner darkness and war training to save them. But who will save her from herself? This story will be set AU Eclipse and I believe that most of the Harry Potter sequence will be AU after Order of the Phoenix.

Warning: This story is rated M for reasons other than sex and swearing. It will be extremely dark for Hermione's character and a bit graphic at times. I suggest you pass on this one if seeing a hard, cold, ruthless, closed off, and sarcastic portrayal of Hermione bothers you or if a bit of blood and guts just isn't your thing because I have no intention of changing it.

Disclaimer: I unfortunately am not the owner of the Harry Potter series or the Twilight saga. I'm just playing with the characters.

(And now, a few words from Peter)

"But what does an eternity of damnation matter to one who has found for one second the infinity of pleasure?"

Charles Baudelaire's words are some I remember having heard when I was a human. They were spoken to me in passing by none other than my Captain, George S. Patton, in September of the year 1918 during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive*. In the midst of the one hundred day, non-stop battling against the Imperial German Forces, that quote helped to remind me of the future I was fightin' for. Those words became my drivin' force and served as my mantra when I felt like I didn't have the will to survive one more day in the harsh conditions of the Great War.

To this very day they still affect me just as profoundly as they did all those years ago. Their elusive promise of discovering such vast amounts of pleasure became more tangible once I awoke as one of the eternally damned. And they once again rang through my memory as I sat on a stark white sofa pondering my new place amongst the Olympic coven.

Each and every member had found that infinity of pleasure I've been seekin' for the past ninety years. All of the little things that make their coven such an oddity amongst us creatures of darkness only made them happier with their lot in life.

Their diet.

Their integration into society via work or school.

The compassion for human life.

Their ability to co-exist peacefully.

None of those are things I would've believed possible for such a large grouping of vampires based on my previous experience as a member of Maria's coven from hell. In fact, I shot Jasper down several times when he invited me to join based on that sole experience. I simply had no faith that my eternal happiness would be cloaked beneath such strange ways of life. But yet, here I am eatin' my previous denials, because now that I'm actually livin' amongst them, every word he ever spoke to describe this family of vampires has been proven true.

They are what a family is meant to be, loving and supportive. Each member has their own niche…their own little role to fill. Carlisle and Esme are the quintessential doting parents. Rosalie is the over-protective, high strung older sister you both admire and hate. Emmett is the happy go lucky brother. He's always waiting in the wings with a punch line when you need to smile. He's always there to offer advice if you need it. And he's always a willing sparring partner if you need to vent some anger. Edward is that pretentious and annoying know-it-all little brother you want to smack around a few times. Alice, bless her heart, is the midget you try your damndest to avoid lest you want to be subjected to her shopping addiction. Jasper tends to be the calming influence on the family. He's the one everyone unconsciously leans on and looks to for guidance in their times of need. Last but not least is the human girl, Bella. She's a real sweetheart and perhaps the most important part of the family. She shows everyone unconditional acceptance. She gives them all a bit of their humanity back whether she realizes it or not.

I got to say that I can definitely picture myself changin' my diet and enjoyin' my existence far more here, as a part of the Cullen family, than I ever have before.

To tell you the truth, I can't even pinpoint why I was truly so disinclined to trust Jasper's description of his coven. I just know I'll be eternally thankful for the events that led me back to my brother and into the home of my new family.

It was All Fools Day. An unofficial holiday on the first of April that I hold great appreciation for. Why? Not only did the humans get up to some truly funny shenanigans on this day every year, but the scum of society saw April Fools as a holiday created especially for them to capitalize on even though it likely existed long before Chaucer or any other literary great made it popular by referencin' it in their works.

It was one of the best days of the year for me to go huntin'. The truly cunning criminals would bank on the happy go-lucky feelings always in abundance on world-wide prank day. It was insanely easy for them to lure their victims to them by claimin' to need help with an elaborate prank. Most of the time this occurred at bars where their victims were already well on the way to becomin' incredibly intoxicated.

Once they had them outside is, of course, when they would strike. Murderin', rapin', or muggin' the person gullible enough to leave the safety of the bar to help a complete stranger.

To be honest, this really brought about the whole What Would Jesus Do dilemma for me.

On one hand, I could just go about my day- turning a blind eye to what's happenin' to these relatively innocent humans while I find myself a more dangerous sort of criminal elsewhere. On the other, I could kill two birds with one stone. Get myself a yummy snack and do my weekly good deed.

So about the time they are lured into a dank alleyway is when I take the opportunity to swoop in and save the day.

Over the years, I've sort of began to fancy myself a dark and misunderstood vigilante. I've been savin' the world from total destruction one scum ball at a time since the 1940s.

Minus the cape and awkward face masks of course.

Anyways, I was passin' through the shadier side of Denver, Colorado on April Fools and had just saved this overly busty Marilyn Monroe wannabe from bein' bludgeoned to death for the measly twenty dollars in her purse when I saw somethin' that definitely caught my attention. There against the dumpster I had unceremoniously tossed the muggers body into was a newspaper dated the thirtieth of March.

The front-page headline read "Mysterious Death's on the Rise in Seattle".

It immediately sparked my interest because Seattle was a mere one hundred and thirty miles away from where Jasper's family was currently living. I quickly snatched the paper up, eyes scannin' the article avidly. Sentences such as "Death toll almost reaching the triple digits", "All of the bodies have been found drained of blood without any apparent cause," and "These deaths are occurring at a time when there has been a severe influx in missing persons reports" stood out.

The only thought I could associate with such information dealt with a part of my past that was extremely unpleasant. Newborns. This screamed that someone was attemptin' to create an army.

The drained bodies… the missin' people…

These sorts of things in the news were classic signs of freshly turned vampires that I learned to identify back durin' my time in the Southern Territories. Such things helped me determine where our enemies were feedin' so that I could use my gift to gather intel on their movements, special talents, and numbers.

Unfortunately, this newspaper article was also a sign that their creator was an amateur who didn't know jack shit about controllin' em. I knew for a fact that such work couldn't of been from someone experienced like Jasper. It was just too sloppy and indiscreet. If Major Whitlock was back in the business of fightin' for territory then no one would be the wiser until he came knockin' on their front door army in tow.

Which meant it had to be a nomad who'd gotten their feathers ruffled and decided to challenge a coven in the immediate Seattle area. And the only coven in the state of Washington I was aware of happened to be Jasper's.

I had begun running through the dark streets of Denver and back to my Harley before I was even aware of the decision to do so consciously runnin' through my head. I couldn't go lettin' Jasper be caught unawares. He needed to know what he was dealin' with and my gift would be perfect for finding out. Just like it had been during the wars.

Besides, there was no way I was gonna leave my brother on his own when I was aware of the fight coming towards him. No way. No day. No how. It just wasn't gonna happen.

Roughly twelve hours later I found myself slowin' down as I rolled through the town of Forks. The scent of vampires was heavy in the air, so I merely followed the trail till I came to a barely visible driveway bout six miles outside of town. As I slowed to make the turn, a big ol rusty Chevy with a pretty brunette behind the wheel was just swingin' in from the opposite direction.

A pretty brunette that was human if the heartbeat and flushed cheeks were anythin' to judge by.

I admit. My interest was immediately spiked by this. I followed the monstrous beast as it slowly made its way up the winding dirt road. The roar of this humans engine nearly put the low and menacing rumble of my Harley to shame. My contemplation of what modifications I could add to my bike to make it rumble louder than the humans truck was cut short when I rolled to a stop. There were five vampires coming out of the large Victorian era mansion. Two of them were blonds, two were brunettes, and the last was an awkward lookin' redhead. Jasper's mop of dirty blond curls and the pixie's jet black spikey do were definitely missin'.

I figured these vampires had heard the approach of the two vehicles instead of one, most likely realizing one of us wasn't human due to my absentee heartbeat, and decided to investigate. In a show of submission I remained sittin' astride my bike. I didn't fancy losin' any limbs.

So while they analyzed me and the evidence of my human drinkin' ways I pretended not to notice by watching the brunette exit her truck. She did so in the most ungraceful manner ever. While shuttin' the door she had somehow managed to catch the front pocket of her baggy sweatshirt on the manual window lever. Which in turn caused her to stumble.

The possibility of her fallin' and scrapin' herself up in the presence of six vampires just had 'bad' written all over it. I was off my bike with an arm wrapped around the humans petite waist to steady her before anyone could blink.

I sensed all of the other vampires immediately shift closer as they growled lowly in warning.

The girl stiffened in my arms. Her heart-beat stuttered then accelerated wildly. I looked down to see two soulful chocolate colored eyes lookin' me over from head to toe in confusion.

"I know I'm one sexy beast, Sweet Cheeks, but its mighty rude of ya to go undressin' me with yer eyes when I don't even know yer name," I teased.

And that comment from the less analytical and more flirty part of my brain earned me a loud chorus of growls. I quickly released the human and backed away with both of my hands raised above my head in a show of submission.

However, the human didn't seem upset. Judgin' by the soft snort of laughter and her twitchin' lip, I'd say she was rather amused by my bout of word vomit.

"Names Bella Swan, and you would be?" She asked, meeting my burgundy eyes without portraying an ounce of fear.

I couldn't decide whether she was brave for doin' so or just stupid, but I liked her immediately. This little human girls got balls of steel and I can definitely respect that.

"This would be my brother, Peter Whitlock," a voice I haven't heard in person since the day he tore out of Philadelphia with his mate to find this coven rang out.

In unison we all turned to see a slightly windblown Jasper strolling out of the forest to our right all non-fuckin-chalant like with the fortune-teller right on his heels.

"Took ya long enough to join the party Major," I drawled. "I was startin' to think I'd be dust in tha wind before ya showed yer pretty face."

Jasper merely rolled his eyes at my snarky comment while pullin' me into an awkward brother-man hug thing. "Your lookin' good Peter!" he exclaimed, his Texas Twang much less noticeable than it used to be now that he's taken up livin' like a city-boy.

The rest of the vamps had relaxed once it was obvious I wasn't gonna go flyin' off the handle at them or the flowery smellin' human. Now they were just watchin' our exchange with a shit load of interest. The surprise on their faces indicated that they weren't used to seein' the Major quite like this.

"What brings you here? It's been nearly seventy years since I laid eyes on you or Charlotte. Speakin' of, where is that hellcat we call a sister?"

A slight grimace pulled at my lips. Charlotte leavin' wasn't exactly somethin' I wanted to be thinkin' bout cause it was the first time I'd been alone since becomin' a vampire. I just didn't know who I was anymore without her or Jasper there to define my role in life. I didn't feel like I had a purpose for my existence if I wasn't needed as a soldier or brother. To be honest, those few years after Charlotte and I split ways were extremely hard on me, but I eventually realized that I didn't need anyone else to give me a purpose because I needed to live for myself and no one else.

So, to keep Jasper or anyone from pryin, I answered as nonchalantly as I could manage. "Oh that's a real cock an bull story right there. The short of it bein that she found her mate bout three an' a half decades ago when we were roamin' round Europe. Jus been me, myself, and I ever since. But I aint here to shoot the shit with ya Major."

I paused in the middle of my answer and took a step back so that I could look him in the eye. I wanted him and his family to know I was being entirely serious when I asked what I came all this way to find out.

"Ya want ta tell me why some nomad that's too big for their britches has been able to make a newborn army a mere hundred miles from here without ya noticin' the obvious fuckin' signs?"

"Peter, can I ask you something?"

The soft question jolted me out of my recollections on how I came to be sittin in the Cullen livin' room feelin' all lovey-dovey towards em. The human I had been put in charge of watchin' twelve hours ago was sitting on the white love seat across the room from me. I tilted my head to the side and took note of her mannerisms as she nervously chewed away at her overly full bottom lip.

I'd taken a real shinin' to her these past couple of months so I was aware of her normal behavior when she approached anyone in this family. And this just wasn't it. Right now she was just actin' all kinds of wonky. I admit that this wasn' a terribly new development. She had been actin' funny ever since she had hissed and grabbed at that bracelet on her wrist round noon. Her behavior was even more off when she came back from havin' a human moment a few minutes later.

She was all quiet, broody, jumpy, and shifty.

Vampire or human, those sorts of things were never a good omen.

But I digress because the point is that her usual calm demeanor had deteriorated even further than it already had as she addressed me. Her thin body was tensed. Her heart-rate was elevated to nearly 90 beats per minute. Her delicately arched left eyebrow had begun twitching slightly. She was fiddlin' with the leather and silver bracelet on her right wrist even more than she had earlier.

She obviously thought whatever she was going to ask would upset me.

"Ya already have, but ya can ask me anythin else ya'd like, Sugar. I aint got any need for a-keepin' secrets," I assured her.

Her body relaxed a bit though I'm not sure if that was in response to the words I spoke or the lulling quality of my ever present southern drawl.

"Alright, well I know from Jasper's history that you were in the Vampire Wars with him so you're more than capable of handling newborns. But I was wondering why you keep disappearing and why you and Jasper lock yourselves away in his study when you get back."

I ran one of my scarred hands across my jaw as I thought of the best way to answer her question. It was a habit from my human life that had carried over.

"When I disappear it's so that I can hunt and gather information on Victoria's movements."

Her brow scrunched up all cute like at my blunt answer. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't very detailed either.

"How?"

I directed a small grin at her to let her know I wasn't upset by her confusion as I propped my feet up on the coffee table and generally just spread my well muscled six foot five frame out across the couch. I knew doing so would make myself seem a bit more human in her eyes which is what I wanted for this conversation. I wanted her to be more comfortable with me. She returned my smile, albeit rather nervously, before lookin' down and fiddling with that bracelet some more.

"Well, by now I'm sure yer rather aware of how I hunt down criminals so I won't get inta that. But ol Vicky is a bit more complicated. Ya see, I've always been capable of bein' a very slippery fella when I wanted ta be. I was great at bein' sneaky as a human. That trait became my gift after the turn. It could be classified as either stealth or mental manipulation -maybe a bit of both- because I'm capable of makin' myself virtually invisible and untraceable to any human or vampire bar those who posses a mental shield."

Her pouty lips formed a perfect 'O' shape. Realization dawned in those pretty brown eyes. "So, you're using your gift to spy on her," she concluded.

I nodded, and waited. I just knew that she had a ton of other questions to ask now. Her curiosity was relatively predictable.

"Wou…would you mind telling me the rest of your story? I don't mean to be rude or anything by assuming I deserve to know. It's just…well…You see, it seems like your going to be around here for awhile and I really like you and I was just hoping you would tell me."

She had slightly stuttered while asking this next question, then began rambling. I couldn't suppress the small chuckle at how adorably shy and afraid she could be while asking these questions, but look me in my crimson eyes any other time without exhibiting any symptoms of fear.

"I'd be happy ta share my story with ya Bella. So how about ya get yourself comfortable and I'll start talkin' hmm?"

She gave a curt nod at my suggestion then stood and disappeared into the kitchen, presumably for whatever in there would make a human comfortable. She came back a few moments later with naught but a bottle of water in hand. I watched with a raised brow and in silent bemusement as she sat cross-legged on the floor in front of me then nonchalantly made the universal, two fingered hand symbol for me to continue.

"Unlike most vampires, I didn' lose the majority of my memories regarding my human life. I'm not sure why, but that's just the way it is and I aint never been one ta look a gift horse in the mouth," I started, flashing her a little grin when I heard her giggle at my unmistakably southern idiom.

"Alright, so from what I remember, I was born in July of the year 1894. My Ma's name was Lillian and my Pa's name was Matthew. I don't remember our last name, but I know that both my parents were from Louisiana. However, when Ma married my Pa, she moved with him to his ancestral plantation just outside of Lafayette.

It was a beautiful place. I loved it there. We had huge trees that lined the road to the house. There were Magnolias and Weeping Willows in the yard to climb and play on. We had this gorgeous field of wild-flowers beside our house that my Ma would diligently tend to in the Spring. Out back by the sugar cane fields was this huge barn for the hay, horses, and farming equipment. We had tons of other animals too 'cause we each were allowed ta keep our favorites as pets. My Ma loved rabbits. She raised a ton of 'em. Mine was this ol' blue tick hound my Pa gave me for my tenth birthday. His name was Patches an' he could sniff out a coon faster 'en two shakes of a sheep's tail."

I must have closed my eyes while I was rememberin', cause when I popped my peepers open to judge her reaction, the grinnin' brunette wasn't alone. The others had returned from huntin' sometime during the first part of my speech. They were all perched around the room, listening in fascination. This would be the first time for any of them, bar Jasper, to hear my story.

"Right, well I had a younger sister named Lelia and as Ma used to say, she and I could definitely make the misere. Thinking back, I sort of feel sorry for my Ma cause there is no denyin' that I was definitely very canaille as well as a possede," I mused.

The unique mixture of words that belong solely to the Cajun's of Louisiana** were slidin' off my tongue easily at the memories of my past even after all these years of actively suppressing them from my speech. I took note of the slightly confused expressions my audience was sportin' and knew that I needed to clarify.

"You see, my Ma grew up speakin' Cajun which- if you don't know- is a mixture of the French, Indian, and Spanish languages. It's nearly a dead language nowadays, but it wasn' back then. She still spoke it consistently even after leaving her home deep in the Bayou Teche, so I always associate it with her in my memories. When I say "make the misere" it means that Lelia and I liked to cause trouble. When I refer to myself as being canaille, I meant that I was sly and sneaky which ultimately meant that I was a possede…a very bad little boy."

I finished my explanation off by giving a mischievous smirk. Bella and the others laughed outright at both my explanation and accompanying hand gestures.

"Oh, I have no doubt at all that you were a very bad little boy Peter. No doubt at all," Bella exclaimed, her brown eyes lit up with joy.

"Right, so if I let one of those words slip into my story and I don't remember to clarify, just ask me." I ordered in a mock stern voice.

They gave me a quick little nod and Emmett eagerly shouted for me to continue.

"Well, I remember bein' very protective of my sister growin' up. If anyone other' en me was mean to or insulted Lelia, I didn' hesitate to beat em up. I got in trouble at school a lot for that. By the time we were teenagers, she'd become a gorgeous young woman. Her hair was the same dark ash blonde color as mine which contrasted beautifully with the dark skin and eyes she inherited from our Ma. Whenever we went ta town, I would sometimes feel like I was goin' motier foux, half crazy, when it came to keepin' an eye on her and makin' sure men didn' try ta take advantage of her.

There's one time in particular I remember. It was 1915. I was twenty-one and she was sixteen. Pa finally decided I was mature enough ta drive our newly acquired Buick the few miles into town for supplies without gettin' into trouble.

Lelia spent the week leading up ta my trip whinin', wheedlin', and beggin' ta come with me. Pa finally relented and let her come with strict instructions for me ta keep an eye on her.

So I did as he said and watched her like a hawk the entire trip. It wasn' until I was loadin' up supplies to bring back to the plantation that trouble started. I noticed she was missin' about five minutes after I started. I wasn' too worried about it though. She was a real curious girl, so I figured something musta caught her fancy. I finished loadin' up the rest of our supplies then started lookin' for Lelia.

I found her a street away just outside of the dressmakers attemptin' ta get past this burly city boy. Every time she would move ta step around him, he would block her path. It wasn' until I saw him roughly push her up against the wall that I lost it. I drug him away from her and started beatin' the livin' hell out of him right there in the street. In fact, I didn stop punchin' him until I was physically removed by the-"

"-What a riveting tale. I'd love to hear more, vampire, but, unfortunately for you, story time's over," an unfamiliar, high pitched female voice cackled, stopping any more words from leaving my mouth.

~Side Notes~

*The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was a large series of battles occurring over a 100 day period during World War 1 in which the main objective was to breach the Hindenburg Line and force the opposing German forces to surrender. This Offensive was supported by the largest front-line commitment of troops from the U.S. Army during WW1.

** These words of Cajun origin are ones that have English, French, Indian, and Spanish roots, but no viable translation in any of those languages because they are often interwoven. Their definitions are hard to ascertain unless you are familiar with those whom speak old world Cajun. I learned many of these words growing up by listening to my family on my father's side substitute them in sentences when they were too excited or upset to think of the correct English word.

Review and let me know how I'm doing!