When Al didn't show up at home after the party, her parents filed a missing person's report. It didn't take long for the police to track down her last known location and the local K9 unit found her coat, torn and blood-stained, wrapped around the rocks where she landed. The police concluded that no one could've survived the fall and that with the tide must have carried her body out to sea. The police report was issued yesterday. It was perfect cover for us, but Al would still have to cope with the fact she could never return home again. She was effectively dead to her family, and had to remain so for her family's safety. Al would be a bloodthirsty newborn, and soon.

Going back to school after all that had happened was more difficult than I thought it would be. I had prided myself in my acting abilities, to play human, exist nonchalantly in the shadows, that whole bit, but returning to this place after Al's death and knowing she was actually at my place was a heavy lie to carry.

Carlisle was insistent that we act as normal as possible. Thankfully, no one questioned our family's absence from school during Al's transition. The Administration reasonably believed all the Cullen children were taking Al's loss hard given that she was relatively close to some of us. Some of her other friends had missed some school as well, Hayley and Brianna included, so that helped matters for us too.

Driving the Mustang over to the school with Seth, there was utter silence.

"How are you doing, Seth?" I asked, pulling into the student parking lot.

Seth. He had imprinted and not only that, he had imprinted on a vampire. I about tore Edward and Carlisle a new last night when they didn't stop contemplating the whimsical implications of the imprint process on nonhumans. They were way too scientific and thus callous about the situation. Did I mention they forgot that Seth was in the room?

"Seth." I shook his shoulder. "Hello?"

He turned to me with a cloudy gaze in his eyes. "Yeah?"

"You're thinking about her." I knew that much. I would see it on Jake's face when he was thinking about Ness and vice versa. I suppose I looked like that too when I was thinking about Emmett. "How are you doing with all this? She still doesn't know after all."

"I'm good," Seth said flatly.

I regarded him suspiciously. "You're good? I would've thought you'd be going out of your mind with her not know how you feel about her. It's pretty powerful stuff. Like gelatin really…"

It was Seth's turn to eye me suspiciously.

Ugh. "I mean watching an imprintor and imprintee ogle over one another gets pretty thick, you know?"

"More than you will ever know." He tapped his temple. All yes, the pack's collective consciousness.

"You're sure you're alright?"

"What do you want me to say, Logan?" I watched Seth closely. "I'll be what she wants me to be. Right now, all she wants is blood. Blood. Blood. Definitely not love or any of that. And if she doesn't, that's find by me."

No love? "Going through life without a better half," I stopped short. "Don't tell Emmett I said that!" Seth nodded. I shook my head. "Going through life without a better half is awfully lonely. What's really going on in your wolfy head?"

Seth clucked his tongue. "I guess I'm just worried that she'll decide to change her palate to something I can't handle."

Bam. And there it was. I knew it was fear he had, but until now he hadn't said it out loud. "Blood?" I asked rhetorically.

"It's in my mind every waking minute. If she has a mistake or just wants to drink it it, I can't stop her. I don't want to…"

"Well, I don't mean to interrupt your little lovers' chat, wait scratch that… I do. Seth, she's dead or you gotta play it up like that. Stop pining over her for a couple hours. Get my drift dog?" Rose was standing at the hood of the Mustang, her arms crossed, and a fiery glare in her eyes. She rolled her eyes and headed towards the front door of the high school. For added measure she ran her finger across the entirety of my hood, drawing a deep gash across it.

Emmett had repainted my Mustang for our ninth anniversary.

"Bitch," I whispered, more to myself than for her to hear.

Seth went to pull the latch on the door. "She's still mad at you…"

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for the reminder, Captain Obvious." Seth and I ducked through the hallways mostly unscathed. Nobody spoke to us, but they certainly stared a lot. I guess the shock at what had happened was still fresh here. It had only been four days since she "died" after all.

As we entered our Calculus class, I saw Hayley sitting at her seat, picking at her thumbnail forlornly. "Remember everyone, Al's dead…"

My voice was supernaturally quiet, but Seth's reaction didn't bode well for the wool we needed to pull over everyone's eyes. "She's not dead, Logan!" he roared, his heart stuttering. "Don't say that! She's not fucking dead!"

"MR. CULLEN!" our teacher gasped. "Take your seat!"

The room was silent. Seth knew what he did. And I knew why he did it.

"Sorry, Mr. Lancaster," Emmett began. "It's uh just, Seth's taking it pretty hard." The sincerity in Emmett's deep voice was palpable. He was a good liar.

Hayley rose from her seat and agreed. "We all are." She turned to Seth. "It'll be okay." In that moment, Hayley didn't appear to be that flighty teenager Seth said we met on the first day of school. Maybe something about Al's death made her grow up or something? Death had a way of doing that. It was sad. Al didn't die, but she was dead to this world at least. And if we wanted to exist in this world, we would have to pretend as best we could.

Seth carefully sat at his desk. His heartbeat steadied. "Sorry," he whispered.

"I know," I replied. "Me too."

The day was awful. During the morning announcements, Al's funeral arrangements were given. It would be this coming Friday with a Wake at the school the evening before. The rest of the day held a cold, damp feeling to it. It was like the loss of Allison Wellington caused a gigantic rain cloud to perpetually levitate above the school. The ebb and flow of emotion was too much for Jasper and by third period, he faked having the flu so he could go home. Al had undoubtedly left a mark on the island. Finally, the final bell rang and I made haste to get out to my car. As I passed by the Principal's Office, the principal herself pulled me into her office.

"Is there something wrong, Mrs. Adams?" I asked, genuinely confused.

Coraline Adams was a forty-year veteran of the public school systems. From the little else I knew of her, she was no-nonsense and upfront with both teachers and students alike. "If you want to be treated like an adult, act like one!" she said at a school assembly last week. "I will start by treating you like one." The school assembly was about "pizza cutters," a rather disgusting teenage prank started in some school in the Midwest. Allegedly, a person would run up to his or her victim and slid his or her hand between the victim's butt cheeks all while yelling "pizza cutter!" Apparently, that phrase was necessary to complete the prank. Gross. But that didn't stop Emmett from playing pizza cutter with our siblings for a day. Esme put a stop to that. Thank the Lord!

Mrs. Adam's cleared her throat and I pushed the memory of Emmett running his fingers in between Edward's cheeks out of my mind.

"No, there is nothing wrong, Mr. Cullen," Mrs. Adams said typing away at her computer. "Is there something you would like to discuss?" Was she trying to get me to confess? Her glare read, "I know you did something. Might as well confess now." Or maybe that was the glare she gave everyone. She was a veteran bloodhound when it came to student havoc and debauchery.

"No, Mrs. Adams, there is nothing wrong. I guess I just miss Allison." One part was the truth. The other was a lie. And somehow, I had to make them both work.

"Good to hear," she said with an empathetic smile. "I wanted to speak to you regarding Allison's funeral. I spoke to her parents earlier today and they indicated that they were in need of pallbearers. Allison's family is small and there aren't enough men to carry the casket."

"A casket?" I asked. Uh… no body!

"Yes, I am well aware there is no body, Mr. Cullen," Adams started again in a spat. Maybe she was Edward's distant cousin? "The Wellingtons are going to fill the casket with her most precious things—pictures, clothes, mementos—items of that nature." It all sounded sweet actually. "Would be willing to be a pallbearer? Mrs. Wellington said that Allison spoke fondly of you despite the short time you had known her."

I mean how could I say no to that? I promptly agreed to assist the Wellingtons and made my way out to the student parking lot. It was utterly deserted save my defiled Mustang. Apparently, everyone else felt the heavy cloud today too and wanted to clear out. The only thing that made it better was Emmett. He sat up against the hood with a careful smile plastered across his dimpled cheeks.

"That's a great thing you offered to do, babe." He pulled me into his arms and gave me his signature bear hug. My face hard pressed against his chest I inhaled sharply. I tried to let his sweet scent lift my spirits out of the dismal cloud that was swirling about.

"Where's Seth?" I asked. I guessed the answer before Emmett spoke, but Seth did ride with me into school this morning.

"Home. Wanted to go hunting with Allison. Them two plus Carlisle and Esme were going."

"Hmmmm," I replied.

I tried to catch Emmett's eye then, but he pretended to be uninterested in my face. I guess he found the tennis courts to be more interesting. Bitch, please.

"What is it?" I asked. Did someone see Al at our house? Oh my God… "Did Al kill someone?"

Emmett shook from my grasp and walked to the driver's side door. "No, nothing like that… Yet. Come on, let's get home."

I watched him suspiciously for a moment, but decided to let it go. I made my way over to the passenger door, but something caught my eye. An imperfection. Another imperfection actually… in my Mustang. I glared at Emmett, but before he could stop me I was hovering over my now shattered, pummeled, and utterly destroyed headlight.

"If it's any consolation, babe," Emmett gulped. "She blew out her $900 stiletto doing it."

"Are you fucking kidding me, Emmett? A stiletto? Really?"

"It's a quick fix." Emmett hastened over to the headlight and me. "Look we can stop over in town and pick up a new one. It'll be as good as new."

I hissed. "It's not about the headlight and you know it! The bitch's going crazy! And I can't take her passive aggressive shit. If she has something to say, then why doesn't she just say it."

I knew Emmett was choosing his words carefully. He did this strange little dance when he was nervous. "You know, it's Rose. She'll come around."

I exhaled and rested my head on his chest with a resounding "tink." "Fuck it, let's go home."

Emmett gave me a double thumbs-up and before another word was said, we were on the highway towards town. Apparently, we were going to get a new headlight.

"Shit's getting real, isn't it?" Emmett asked, breaking the silence.

I glanced over at my mate. He had a goofy smile on his face. "Honestly, Em, I don't know what her problem is. I mean, I get it. I really do. Rose is pissed that I changed Al without her permission, but Carlisle said she would've died from her injuries."

"Carlisle isn't always right though," Emmett pointed out.

I shook my head as if trying to get a fly out of my ear. "Just give me this small point of solace. Thank you."

"What if she wanted to die, Logan? Did you think of that?" Emmett's voice reverberated in my head long after he finished speaking. His point was fair.

The promise I silently made to Al sprung into my consciousness front and center. Should I tell him? I hadn't told anyone. Shit. What about Seth?

"Look," I began. "I have to confess something to you. You have to promise not to tell anyone, and keep it out of your mind. Edward doesn't know either."

"I promise." Emmett glanced over at me, but he took my hand into his own to reassure me.

"During Al's transition, I told myself that if she didn't like the creature that she would become, that if she rather have died on those rocks, that I would end her life as it stood now."

Emmett's face was unreadable. "What about Seth?" His tone was tight and even.

I scratched my chin. "That complicates matters. But who would've thought he'd imprint on her!? A vampire!" I waited a moment before speaking again. I was trying to figure out what Emmett was thinking. "Em, tell me."

He gritted his teeth. "If someone offered that option to you and you took it, I couldn't… um…" Emmett's brow furled and his eyes slammed shut. Pain and loss showed through every smile line on his wondrous face.

He was still driving too.

"Emmett, don't think that. Please!" The thought of Emmett in pain was as unbearable to me as his thoughts of losing me were to him. I squeezed his hand and tried to coax a smile out of him. "Shit is getting real," I whispered.

He smiled weakly and regained control of the Mustang, having drifted a little over the centerline. He cleared his throat. "I do respect you though."

"How?" I asked.

"No matter all that has happened and all the repercussions you'd face, I know you well enough to know that you will still give the offer to Allison when the time comes. When you make a promise, you keep it through thick and thin." Emmett returned a squeeze to my hand and I reveled in it.

My reveling didn't last long because the sound of spinning metal pierced my ears. It was nonexistent a moment ago and was now increasing in volume exponentially.

"Uh?" Emmett watched the speedometer and hunched his shoulders. He was perplexed.

I wasn't. I knew my baby, my Mustang that is, well enough to know what the fuck was going on without having to see it too. I looked nonetheless. I pierced through the plastic and metal of the car with my ability and witnessed the problems—plural. Or should I say, "imperfection?" Yep. I had two additional imperfections to add to my list of car problems.

My voice was hoarse. "There are diamond-studded earrings sticking out of the tire treads of the front tires. Oh, and when I say, tires, there is an emphasis on the both of them."

Emmett pulled off the road and got out. I did too, only I slammed the door closed so hard, the glass shattered. Before Emmett could even comment on the glass, I was knee deep in muck feeling the rims of my car. They were utterly destroyed. They'd have to be replaced. Why hadn't we noticed we were driving on rims before?

Heart to heart's with Emmett were most distracting, I guess.

"Um, I know these diamonds cost a fortune, so the joke is on…" My trembling features cut Emmett off.

Yep, I was done with this bullshit. "Emmett," I thundered. "Don't tell me how you know the value of Rosalie's shit. I don't care. In fact…" I didn't finish that sentence. Instead, I backed away from my scratched, broken, and deflated car and threw the full weight of my ability onto it instead. Metal twisted and wires sparked as the vehicle that comfortably fit Emmett and I just seconds ago crumbled into a mass the size of a basketball.

"I'm surprised it didn't explode," Emmett commented nonchalantly, picking up the contorted ball and tossing it to me. "Feel better?"

I spun it on my finger like a Harlem Globetrotter would. "No. Not yet."

Emmett bit his cheek and squinted his left eye. "Uh?"

"Follow me," I commanded. With Emmett hot on my tail, I sped to the family garage. I noted the absence of my Mustang in its usual spot next to Rosalie's brand-new Volkswagen Beetle Supercharger. I clutched onto my metal remnants angrily as if it were a teddy bear or something. I probably looked comical.

Outstretched from beneath Edward's Aston Martin, was a pair of oil-stained boots, size fifteen. Jake.

"Where's Rosalie?" I asked gruffly. The door of the house slammed and she swaggered into the garage as if she had been there all day.

"I'm right here," she said sarcastically. "What's up!?" The smile plastered on her face ate at me. She knew that I knew she knew that she got me.

Jake pulled himself from beneath the Aston Martin and walked over to his workbench. A tiny portrait of Ness hung on the wall above it. "Look, Logan," he said cleaning his hand with a dirty towel. "Take your spat outside. Edward will kill me if I… What is that?" he asked finally raising his head to see me.

I spun my metal ball on my finger again and glared over at Rosalie.

"That," Emmett started cautiously, "is… um… Logan's Mustang." That caught everyone's attention because Jasper, Alice, Bella, Edward, and Ness appeared at the entrance to the garage in a flash. I guess Carlisle and Esme were still gone along with Al and Seth.

Alice, meanwhile, was bouncing up and down in excitement. Oh, geez.

Edward approached. "I do not that it is a good idea, brother." Bella, Jasper, and Ness were eying my Mustang, trying to discern if all the pieces were in fact there.

"What the hell are you two yammering about?" Rose spat.

Alice rocked back and forth in anticipation. She threw her forearm out to block Jasper from moving forward. "No. Wait."

I glanced over to the Beetle again and then at Rosalie. But over her shoulder was something even better… "Dodgeball," I whispered. I clutched the ball firmly in one hand, spun like a shot putter, and flung my Mustang right at Rose's face.

She dodged my projectile easily enough, but that was her mistake.

Rose was about to start towards me when a bright flash erupted in her peripheral vision. She spun on her heel and watched as a gigantic mushroom cloud of fire and heat erupted from her BMW M3. The one vehicle she had for as long as I had known her. The one vehicle that was her pride and joy. The Beetle was to save from putting too many miles on the M3.

"You must have just gassed her up, aye? Were we thinking of going for a drive?" I asked making sure to throw in as much metaphorical venom as I could muster.

The explosion was bigger than I thought it would be and Emmett contemplated about the Mustang's own gas being compressed like in an air compressor. Regardless, it became clear that Rosalie's M3 was shattered, pummeled, and utterly destroyed. It had caved in on itself, right where my Mustang had landed, with perfected accuracy I might add. There was even a crater blown out from beneath the melted tires.

The sound that erupted from Rosalie's throat was nothing less than rabid. She crouched low to the ground and spread her fingers as if they were talons.

"Bring it, bitch!" I yelled posturing myself as well.

Rosalie was on me before I could react. She knew if I could concentrate, any hope she had of winning this would be over. I had to concentrate because I wasn't the best fighter. And I didn't want my family to see that.

She got her talons around my neck and flung me across the yard. I landed, hard, at the base of a large oak tree that sat at the end of the property. I lifted myself clear of the dirt and debris, but before I could find Rosalie, she was on me again. This time she kicked me in the stomach so hard, her stilettos disintegrated. Apparently, she had put on a fresh pair.

"What the fu…" I gasped for air. I didn't need it to live. I needed it to speak. "Is your prob…" Yep, I couldn't finish it. She found me again and clutched my shoulders, piercing my skin, simultaneously kicking at me. She had found perfect leverage in clamping down into my skin. Her legs were fucking dangerous.

I felt myself tearing, pain seeping from the cracks.

I heard my name then, in a low, feral tone followed by someone ripping me away from Rosalie's. I traveled across the yard again. This time I landed near the remains of the M3, cutting a Logan-size divot into the relatively new pavement. I shook my head furiously in a vain attempt to find clarity. What happened?

My eyes fell upon Rosalie and my instincts threatened to take over. Why bother? I thought rationally. She'd just owned me again.

Emmett raced away over to me. "Let's go," he said. He had his long arm around me, the other motioning toward the house.

Inside the safety of our bedroom, Emmett enveloped me with both arms now, a double layer of protection. He held me tight and rested his chin on my forehead. "Are you okay?"

I choked on a sob. Why was I being like this? This is not me! I'm cool, calm, and collected. Not someone who gets his ass handed to him by his sister even if she is a vampiric nut job! I shook from Emmett's grasp.

"I'm fine. I'm fine."

He put his bear paws on my shoulders. "No. No you are not. Look." As if tearing tissue paper, Emmett pulled the remnants of my already-torn shirt off. The tears in my skin weren't healing. They were as deep and ghastly as they were painful.

"We need Carlisle," Emmett announced. He yelled for Edward, for Jasper, for anyone to get Carlisle here.

I stumbled over to the bed. Standing was getting too hard. I shoved my hands into my jeans pockets and noticed my hip had partially separated. I rubbed the gash through the fabric, hoping it would seal up. I was starting to feel sick, and for a vampire, that's unheard of. I had almost forgotten what it felt like. The sickness became a pain; one so blinding, I started to pant. Just keeping track of Emmett's location in the room was tiresome. "Emmett… um… I think I need to…"

Silence.