A/N: I'm sorry for all the fluff in prior chapters. Too often I find myself writing about what happens in a "normal" day rather then moving the story along. I'm going to try to move the story forward now. I hope you enjoy. Comments are always appreciated.

…

"Dude, the beer's gettin' warm!" yelled a partygoer. His name was Jackson and he was 300 pounds of solid defensive tackle—a nice enough guy, but a real hot head when someone messed with his beer, clearly.

Emmett caught my eye and I knew what I had to do. I waltzed over to the keg and offered to take a look at it. Jackson was so inebriated that he wouldn't notice what I was about to do. My granite finger "tinked" the metal keg and frost shot out like a wave. "Try it now," I offered.

Jackson dumped his beer at my feet (the asshole) and refilled his red Solo party cup. After chugging it, and another, he gave me a big swat across the back. I pretended to be thrown off balance. "Thanks, dude!" He lumbered towards the bonfire. I had an afterthought to make sure he didn't fall into it, but decided that the lug probably would smother it out before he really got burned. Well, not really.

While I was observing Jackson, Emmett snuck behind me and slid his hands around to my front. He whispered, "I'm getting tired. You wanna head home?"

"Turning into quite the bottom bitch, aren't we Emmett?" Seth whispered from across the party. My mouth about hit the ground.

Please don't kill my best friend, please don't kill my best friend, please don't kill my best friend, I chanted in my head.

"Getting more than you, pup! How long has it been?" Emmett growled. "Ah, yes… never." I sighed to myself. Low blow, Emmett.

"Cops!" Jackson yelled. My peripheral vision caught the red and blue flashes of a policeman's car. I would've reacted to their scents earlier too if Emmett hadn't been distracting me.

"I'm getting tired too, Em," I whispered.

"Right!" he replied.

I surveyed the partygoers, most of whom were scattering into the woods. I caught each of my family heading into the woods themselves. Behind a bush, I heard Jake whine as he was forced to hop onto Ness's back. She was as fast as her father and it wasn't like Jake could just phase in the middle of a party. Better to see a blur than a seven foot russet wolf, right?!

"Better find, Seth," I suggested. I had lost sight of him so Emmett and I split up to cover more ground. Seth's scent told me he was nearby, but I was having difficulty with all the other human scents—difficulty in that I needed to avoid slaughtering any of them.

"Found him!" boomed Emmett who was near the farthest bonfire. I stole a glance in his direction and saw that Seth was piss drunk. He probably downed a whole keg himself. Drunk ass.

"I'll cover you," I whispered. Emmett nodded. By now most everyone had scattered into the woods, but there were still a few drunkards lumbering about, trying to find keys or hide evidence. The police had stopped on the other side of the ridge and were making there way on foot. From the sound of the foot stomps, there must be a half dozen running this way. We had fifteen seconds before we were discovered.

Emmett pulled Seth onto his back, none too gently, and they made their way toward the tree line. I surveyed my surroundings again and found that no one was looking in my direction. I hopped high into a fir tree and hid behind its voluminous branches. As the police came around the ridge, I lifted a bottle of Everclear with my mind and threw it into the nearest bonfire. It exploded with a fury and threw the police off for the one second Emmett would need to make his escape.

There were only six people remaining on the ground and they were all so drunk that they couldn't move. The police were scouring the party site for more teenagers to slap with MIP's. One cop, an obviously smart one, held his flashlight into the trees, looking for, well… me. Shit.

I hopped down from the tree as the cop's light flashed over me. "Hey you!" he yelled, but I was already behind him. I tapped his shoulder and he whipped around. I dodged his glance with ease and slid behind him again with a flurry of wind. I tapped his shoulder again. This time, the cop spun around and drew his gun. Yeah, it probably wasn't good to play with him any longer. I ran at a human's pace toward the tree line and grabbed a ball cap off one of the passed-out kids. He wouldn't need it where he was going, poor bastard. I pulled the cap over my head and lowered the brim to cover my face as best as I could.

"Hey! Stop!" the cop yelled. "You are under arrest."

I couldn't withhold my laughter. Bitch, please! I stepped into the woods and two of the cops ran after me. I thought about toying with the cops a little more, but decided better of it. Carlisle would skin my granite hide if he knew about the shoulder tapping. A hundred feet away from the partygoers, I was at the cliff face hovering above the bay fifty feet below. The moon was awfully pretty tonight.

I heard some more shouts and the pattering of three heartbeats getting ever closer. Three?

"Time for a dip," I whispered to myself and I somersaulted into the surf. I focused my mind around my body and created a tiny air pocket in which I could move. I didn't exactly feel like getting wet despite the fact the temperature wouldn't bother me if I did.

I held myself just under the surf and saw the two cops take turns looking over the side into a blank nothingness. God, I loved being a vampire.

Where was that third heartbeat though? I let my head pierce the waves to get a better look at the cliff face. Maybe I could spot him.

I scanned the rock face for any signs of life. None.

I started down the coast towards home, however I didn't get far. Just around an inlet, I peered back at where the party had been. Someone was clinging to the rock face and the two police officers were just above her. The police hadn't noticed her because of the way the cliff face was angled, but the weight the police were putting on it was causing it to erode away.

If that kid wasn't careful, he had a fifty-foot drop to a very rocky and very shallow shoal below.

Fuck.

I heard a scream and as I arrived at the rocks, a human body slammed into the shallow surf with an unnerving splash and thunk. Rocks.

I risked a glance above, but the cops were gone. They never heard the scream, the crashing waves were too loud.

"Logan?" I heard a voice croak.

The scent of blood pulled me in the direction of the voice. I saw a head bobbing in the water and an arm attached to a outcropping of rock. She was holding on for dear life.

"Allison?!" I yelled as I pulled her to my side. She was limp and broken. Her heartbeat was slow and her body temperature was far below what it should've been. I had to do something.

Minutes later I pulled Al from the surf near our house. I yelled for Emmett, for Carlisle, for anyone. The scent of blood drew everyone. I'm sure they feared I had slipped up. I could never slip up with Allison. She was too pure of heart.

"Where's Carlisle?" I yelled noting his absence.

"Night shift," Esme whispered. "I'll call him. Bring Allison up to the boat house and get her warm!"

I nodded and lifted Al up slowly and gently. Even so, she screamed in agony, the sound pierced my ears and my soul. This poor girl.

As I laid her on one of the guest beds, I cranked the heat in the room and snapped my fingers towards the fireplace. A fireball erupted and the room began to warm quickly. Not quick enough. I yelled for Seth and moments later he came into the room.

"Strip!" I yelled.

Seth looked unsure of himself. I was momentarily unsure of my choice of him, but I concluded that he wasn't drunk anymore. Chop yet another one up to impeccable wolf metabolism.

"Survival 101, we have to get her body temperature up," I instructed.

Seth nodded and ripped his clothes off. He climbed into bed with Al and held her as gently as he could. She yelled in agony again. This time her pain was so intense she passed out.

"She can't lose consciousness," Edward advised as he came into the room with a box full of medical supplies. He took a stethoscope from the box and began hearing for Al's heartbeat. I thought it unnecessary, I knew what her heartbeat was and wasn't. It wasn't good. I guess the stethoscope made Edward's hearing even more precise?

"Carlisle is going to get here as fast as he can," Edward said. "He was in the middle of a surgery."

"Edward, can I look at her internal injuries and show you so… at least so we can get some sort of sense of what's going on?" I asked frantically. I didn't want to lose my one human friend. Not like this. Death by old age was ideal.

Edward nodded. "Keep it silent though."

I knew what Edward was saying. Shit. Why did I bring her here? I'm risking exposure. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Calm down!" Edward commanded. "We'll figure this out."

I nodded. I scanned over Al's crumpled frame and let my vision pierce her skin. Edward read over what I was seeing. I didn't have to be a Doctor to know what I was seeing though.

"We could change her," Seth suggested. "I mean… it's preferable to death."

I was frankly shocked that Seth, a nonvampire, would suggest that. It seemed obvious, really. But it wasn't planned, it wasn't thought out, it wasn't discussed with the family. Edward looked unsure of the answer too.

"Would she survive the transition?" I asked Edward.

He gritted his teeth. "I've seen the power of venom." He was right. Bella practically came back from the dead after all.

"It has to be her choice!" Rosalie yelled. When did she come in?

Emmett walked into the room too and sat on the bed nearest me. He kissed my forehead. He nodded.

I shook Al. It was useless. She was unconscious, probably entering a coma for all I knew. Shit. "She's not waking up."

Edward got a vial out of his medical supplies and fitted it to an old style syringe. He injected the medicine into Al's arm. "Stimulant," he said. "Would wake a hibernating bear."

Nothing.

Shit.

"Fuck it," I growled. I bent down to Al's face. Her jaw was fractured in three places and her neck was sitting at an uncomfortable angle. "Wake up, Al. Please!" I whispered in her ear. "Please."

Nothing.

Shit.

I glanced at Emmett. His eyes were hard as stone. He blinked once and I knew he agreed with my choice. I knelt at Al's neck and found her sweet spot, it pulsed with the life force that was draining away slowly.

"Pull me away if I can't, you know… stop," I commanded to Emmett behind me. Seth peeled himself away from Al.

I was about to pierce Al's skin when Rose flashed unnervingly close to me. "No! You can't just do it without her permission!"

I had had enough of Rose's annoying high-mighty speeches, and clearly Emmett did too because when Rose grabbed my head to tear it away from Al's neck, Emmett drop kicked her through the brick wall across the room and into the water. Rose did not return like I thought she would.

Emmett turned to me and roared. "Do it, already!"

I breached the skin of my friend and ended her life.