No matter how many stars I wish on, I don't own Twilight or it's characters, darn it! Twilight and it's original characters are property of Stephanie Meyer. All original characters (Not many of them, but the few that are here) are the result of too many late nights and too many energy drinks! :) Take care all! ~AD

Chapter 7

Putting my dreaded Ex out of my mind, I drove quickly towards the Quileute reservation. After only breaking a few speed limits, I pulled in to Jacob's driveway in record time.

I forced myself to move at human speed, and ran to the front door. I heard the conversation going on from the front porch, but decided that to just sit there and eavesdrop was rude.

I knocked, and Jacob's wife, Catherine, opened to door and invited me in. The smell of a wood fire, cinnamon rolls and coffee wafted out of the open door. They were nice homey smells, reminding me of being human and curling up on the sofa on rainy afternoons. The smells didn't quite make my mouth water like it once had, but the memories that they recalled were welcome.

The feeling didn't last long, as I caught a glimpse of the frown on Catherine's face. She told me where the group was, Then slowly made her way back towards the kitchen.

I followed the voices, and knocked on the closed office door.

Jacob answered the knock, releasing a frustrated breath. "Thank you for coming. Maybe you can help me make sense of what the kids are talking about."

I nodded, "All right, old man. Sit down before you break a hip."

Jacob glared at me, and I just grinned. There were a few snickers that were clumsily covered up with a round of fake coughs.

I glanced around at the young pack members in the room. Peter Uley, 17 year-old twins Micah and Nathaniel Clearwater, Avery Ateara, and Derek Call. All were great kids, and all were direct descendents of the wolf pack Jacob had been a part of so long ago.

There was so much tension in the room, I simply couldn't resist trying to lighten the mood. "Okay," I said, "What happened to get your tail in a knot?"

"Bells," He said warningly. Then, "Avery, tell her."

Avery, a petite 16 year old female, immediately stood up and nodded a greeting at me. "I was running along the Northern border about two hours ago, when I caught the scent of an unfamiliar vampire." She looked to her right, and spoke to Micah. "Micah was with me, and we decided to check it out, just in case it was a vamp that wasn't part of a treaty with us."

I frowned. "Who was it?"

Avery shrugged, "I don't know. They took one look at us, then ran in the other direction."

Jacob looked at both Avery and Micah, "You both have been introduced to the Cullens and Bella, so you' d have their scent. If you find an unfamiliar scent, you're supposed to let the others know."

Micah nodded, elbowing Avery so that she'd agree as well. "We know, and we should have, but we would have felt like failures at lookout if we'd called out the pack on a wild goose chase over one of the Cullens that we hadn't met yet."

Jacob nodded, "Even so, please contact us next time."

"Yes, sir," They chorused.

"OK, ok," I said, stepping between the teens and Jacob. Jacob was trying to go all Alpha on them, which would work on the wolves, but wouldn't appeal so much to their human side. "Down boy," I said.

"Can the dog jokes," Jacob grumbled quietly.

"Can't," I said, shrugging. I wasn't trying to make him mad, but I looked like I was still a teen, I hung out with teens all day, and I thought I'd have a better chance at relating to the kids through humor than frustration.

I was rewarded with smiles all around.

"all right guys," I said, sitting on the arm of the nearest chair, "Tell me what else happened."

"Just what Avery said," Micah said. "We came up on them, and they took off."

"Did they say anything? What did they look like?" I asked, trying to get to the reason that I'd been called out here.

"There were three of them," Avery started. "Two men and a woman."

"The guys were both dark complected with dark hair," Micah supplied.

"And the lady had bright red hair," Avery said.

I felt a jolt of recognition go through me. "No way," I said, shaking my head. "No friggin' way."

Glancing at Jacob, I saw him rub both his hands over his face wearily. He looked me in the eyes and seemed to silently dare me to deny it.

"Well, hell," I said. "Just what I need to make a reunion complete."

Victoria. And it sounded like she wasn't alone.

Chapter 8

"Avery, you said it was only two hours ago?" I asked.

Avery, sensing that something important was going on, even if she didn't understand it, nodded. "Yes. Well, about two and a half hours, now."

I hurried to the door, shouting to the pack behind me. "Contact the rest of the pack. I need as many pack members as possible to meet me at the Northern border. If it was so short a time ago, hopefully we can still catch them!"

I heard Jacob shouting orders of his own, but I didn't stick around to listen. I was out the door, and running as fast as I could north. "Damn, damn, double damn," I muttered to myself. This couldn't have happened at a worse time.

Sure, I had the pack behind me...while I definitely had the element of surprise behind me there; they were all still so young and untrained. Avery said she'd seen two other vampires with Victoria, but who knew if that was all she was travelling with these days.

"Damn," I said one more time...just for good measure.

I heard the pack coming up behind me, and spared them a quick look. Granted, I didn't take the time to count them, but it sure looked like there was at least half of the pack already.

Hopefully the others weren't that far behind.

Looking ahead once more, I strained every one of my enhanced vampire senses trying to find something pointing to Victoria.

We all came to an abrupt stop at the Northern borderline. The smallest of the wolves, and petite brown and white wolf that I recognized as Avery, separated herself, and began sniffing around. Suddenly, she raised her head, and whimpered.

The others started forward at a run, and that's all the confirmation that I needed.

We raced onward, me following slightly behind as they tracked the remaining vampire that still haunted my thoughts. James and Laurent had been dealt with, but Victoria had always been in the back of my mind. I'd always wondered about her.

The thoughts were always when she'd show up, not if. It was never a question that she'd have to be dealt with, but the timing of it was a total mystery to me.

Now that time had come. All I could hope for was that the pack had enough practice, and that no one would get seriously injured or killed.

One minute I was running, and the next I was flat on my back with a strong arm around my throat.

"Call off your dogs," a heavily French accented voice demanded into my ear.

The wolves snarled nearby, and I waved them back a step or two.

The person on my back slowly rose to his feet, dragging me upright with him. "I mean no harm to this one," He said, "But I will kill her if you come closer."

The wolves, unsure of how to proceed, stayed back.

"I'm going to release you now. Please behave."

Yeah, right...

His arm slowly retracted, and pulled away. I turned to face him, ready to fight.

Before me was a tall, olive-skinned vampire. He was one of those perfect-hair-and-teeth guys that just reeks of an aristocratic background. With his black hair and blood-red eyes, he made an imposing picture, but he had his hands held out in a sign of truce.

"You are the one called, Bella, are you not?"

I gave the barest of nods. "Who are you and what do you want?" I asked.

"I am Emmanuel, of the southern France Nomads." He actually bowed.

"And that should mean something to me...why?" I asked impatiently.

"Recently, we were approached by a woman claiming that she knew the identity of those responsible for the killing of a former clan-mate of ours." He said, straightening up once more. "Alexandre and I joined her."

"O.K..."

He looked at me pityingly, probably thinking I was a little slow in the thinking department. Honestly, that's a little how I felt. One moment I was running through the woods, looking for Victoria, and the next...

Oh, hell...

"Let me guess," I said, warily, "Victoria."

"Yes."

"So," I said, "Why tell me this? Surely you didn't stop to fill me in on all this out of the goodness of your heart. Victoria's a raging psychopath, and never does anything without a reason."

"That is true," He said, nodding his head. "She has plans of her own, but little that seems to do with my reason for joining her. She left me behind to give you a message."

"And that is?"

"She said, 'You took my family, so I'll take yours.'" He frowned. "She has an agenda beyond what she had told us, and I do not agree with it."

"Uh, huh." I was not impressed. "So why pass on her message?"

He shook his head, "This is not my fight. I have no wish to exact revenge on innocents, and that is what she insists on doing. Those who killed our Laurent are dead, and yet she goes on."

I had to focus. "What did she mean by my family?" I asked. "My family is gone."

"There is one that you think of as family," He stated. "A Jacob Black."

I froze. "What?"

"She insisted that we take Mr. Black as insurance that you would come and face her." He motioned towards the snow-capped mountains in the distance. "He is there, with her. They are waiting for you."

"So, where does that leave you in all of this?" I snarled.

He actually retreated a step. "I have no quarrel with you or Mr. Black. I have no knowledge of Victoria's plans for you. All I do know is that this is not what I agreed to. I stayed to give you the message, for I felt that you needed what little information that I know. I want nothing more than to go home."

The snarls of the wolves surrounding him let him know their thoughts on that plan.

"I've heard this protest before." I said, angrily. "Laurent said something similar once, just before he turned around and betrayed us all."

I turned to look at Gabe, Jacob's eldest son. "Go to the house, I'll be right behind you."

Gabe let out a protesting whine, appearing torn as to whether to stay or go.

"Go," I yelled, and he turned to start running.

"All of you join us at the Black house as soon as you can." I turned to Russell, the oldest and most experienced of them all. "He's all yours," I said.

I turned and ran after Gabe, the sound of snarls, screaming and the grinding sound of a vampire being torn apart followed me.