This chapter may be a little rushed, because it was finished on my Get-Shit-Done day.

Warning: Someone said they wanted the Cullens to get trounced. They aren't the Cullens, but vampires do die in this chapter. If you're uncomfortable with that, I won't make you stay to read.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, and I'm pretty damn happy about that.

As a frequent guest of the cheapest motels in America, Val knew all their shortcomings. Thin walls, the ice machine, and the décor were just a few. There were even more when you had roommates. Naturally, because Beck was the only one small enough to sleep comfortably on the couch and Leah was a girl, Val and Moses had to share a bed with each other, and Moses wasn't pleased with this. Not because he really didn't want to share with Leah; it was just that he really didn't want to share with Val. The feeling was mutual, and really mutual, but Moses told Val to keep his hands to himself just the same. The dhampir didn't realize how lucky he was that most of the weapons were out in the truck.

When dhampires were your roommates, motels really sucked.

But unlike Val's truck, motels had air conditioning and, if you got lucky, they didn't have Wi-Fi. Cecil wouldn't be able to Skype. He hadn't even called yet. Maybe the techies had taken pity on Val.

Or maybe Cecil had executed someone and was too tied up in that.

These were just a few of the thoughts bouncing around Val's head at four in the morning. He'd slept well from about ten thirty to three, and then woken up when his chest seemed to be burning. Moses had, while asleep, moved so that he was almost lying on top of Val. It was awkward and sort of painful. Why did all half vampires have such hot skin when full fledged vampires were freezing cold? It was like God had created them, along with mutts, just to defy his own logic. Or maybe God hadn't created them. Maybe the Devil had. It would make more sense.

'Keep your hands to yourself,' indeed, Val seethed before trying to doze off again. The next time he woke up it was because Moses yelled out loud (still asleep) and nearly sent him flying out of bed. After that things were quiet enough but Val couldn't sleep. It was some sort of law his body invented and hadn't told him about—if he woke up more than twice, he was going to stay awake.

Being awake gave him time to go over things. Such as why the hell had he agreed to this? Maybe it was one of a grief-makes-people-do-crazy-and-stupid-things episode that the bereavement counsellor had told him to expect. His father and wife had both been murdered, the latter happening only two years ago while he was in the house, and Val still had nightmares about it. The trouble was he wasn't depressed all the time anymore. There were still times when he had to sit down and close his eyes because of the flashbacks, and he had nightmares, but he no longer needed counselling.

He hated to admit it, but he actually wanted to do this. After her story, Val couldn't help but want to see Leah somewhere where she'd be safe. Even though he suspected Moses was right, and these Cullens would come after them, that just gave him all the more reason to help her find a place where she'd never have to see them again.

Stupid honour system. It made Val feel good to help people, but right now all he wanted to feel was sleepy. But that was, apparently, too much to ask.

So he opted for the next best thing; a little early-morning hunting trip. Val managed to separate himself from Moses, put on his boots, take the room key, and get his gun and ammunition from his suitcase.

"Where are you going?" Leah asked, nearly scaring Val into loading the gun.

"Hunting vampires. You want to come?" Even in the dark, he could see that she was nodding enthusiastically.

Like all new hunters, Leah was excited. Unlike a lot of the new hunters, she wasn't trying to run off on her own, with big dreams of becoming the youngest Senior Assassin in history or something. Val didn't doubt that she could take care of herself, but he didn't want to spend all night looking for her and worrying that she'd had another bad experience with venom.

"How many vampires have you killed?" Leah whispered as they cut through a dark alley.

"Enough to make me cautious," Val answered. "Although, just one good fight with one will do that."

"No offense, but you aren't really the type I'd picture hunting vampires."

"And you really, really aren't the type I'd picture as somebody the people back in Forks would dislike." That came out before he could stop it.

"Thank you…"

They continued in silence until things got too uncomfortable. "I didn't know there were actual creatures called mutts. I thought the word was just a slur for a wolf," Leah said.

"It is. It's kind of a slur for my kind, too, but it's easier to say than 'dhampir-werewolf crossbreed', which is the technical term. You really haven't heard of us?"

"No. Everything I know comes from the Elders and the vampire coven."

Again with the vampire coven. Maybe they really should have been on the kill list, along with Leah's alpha. Perhaps the alpha especially, because what Val had heard reminded him of Cecil, who often jumped to conclusions and made other people pay the price for it. When Val was a teenager, he'd been forced to explain away more than one bruise.

"Was that the first time your alpha did something like that to you?"

"Yeah…" Leah didn't speak again. Nobody liked talking about abuse. Val knew Moses had suffered from Cecil's wrath a more than anyone else, but he always shut people down when the subject was brought up.

"We won't talk about him anymore," Val said, more to the memory of Cecil than to Leah. But Leah seemed grateful too.

"So how does a guy like you kill a vampire?" she asked. Val was about to explain, but a scream from further down the alley distracted him.

"Watch and learn."

As much as Val detested all the traveling, lack of sleep, and Cecil being Cecil that came with the job, there was something immensely satisfying about sneaking up behind a pair of vampires (a mated pair, one male, one female) with a loaded Strayer-Voigt Infinity, especially when said vampires were standing with a look of hunger over a young girl, who was so drunk she probably didn't know what was going on. A bullet wouldn't wound, much less kill, a vampire but it would shatter their sensitive ear drums.

The girl looked as if she'd given up any thought of rescue. Val gnashed his teeth and fought the flashbacks. That same look, from another time, another place, another girl, and I couldn't do anything. Just like that, he was on autopilot.

Bang!

The male vampire screamed and clutched at his ears. Val's stomach was starting to flutter because he knew what he wanted to do and he had stage fright. Vampires were made of marble. Mutts were made of flesh and blood. That didn't mean they broke easily, but pain was always pain.

Sometimes, though, pain didn't matter. Moses was right; things like that should not exist. Thank God the Innocent Life rule could be revoked if a vampire was a human blood drinker. The creature's demise could be quick because Val had a lighter (this would've been pretty pointless if he didn't) but something about this particular vampire made Val angry. He wanted to fight.

I could do it, he thought. Right hook. Slam my fist in his eye. After all, he's pissed me off. Isn't that what we're supposed to do, Cecil? Cullens? Hurt something, hurt someone. The moment our fists make contact, we feel better, right, guys? Let it out. Punish them so they won't do it again. Right? Isn't that the way?

If Val started a fight, he was goint to have to win. Otherwise, the vampire would beat on him until there was nothing left to beat on. Val's fingers curled into a fist.

Their eyes are the weak spots. First advice the Seniors gave you. Val jumped out of the shadows and punched the vampire in the eye. The human girl ran down the alley as fast as her legs could carry her.

Hitting the vampire was satisfying. A roller-coaster rush. Even better was the look of surprise on the vamp's face: his mouth rounded into an O for a second before tightening into an uncompromising line. He thought he could get away with it, Val thought, adrenaline making him giddy. He never thought someone might stop him.

God help me.

The vampire didn't punch Val. He slapped him. Val wondered for a moment if his head would go in a complete circle, Linda Blair style. It didn't, though, and nothing was broken. Mutts weren't that weak. Another slap, though, and he'd have a large fracture and a helluva case of whiplash. Val could hear a flurry of curses and thuds behind him; Leah must've attacked the other one.

The second blow was coming, and Val ducked. The vampire's fist hit the building. He swore and Val saw his advantage. It was like being back in training with Moses, learning hand to hand combat. Get his arm behind his back, Jeppeson, that's the way. Hit him in one eye, then the other, and keep doing that. He's groaning but don't let that stop you. Contact and contact and contact.

Moses would be pissed about missing this. Val was almost pissed that Moses was missing this; Leah had made quick work of the other vampire, and they needed to get rid of it before it pieced itself back together

"Leah! Come take a shot!"

"Leah?" the vampire gasped. "Leah Clearwater?"

"Val," Leah groaned. "Did you have to say that?"

"Sorry. Come here, take a swing at him. You'll feel better." Before Leah could do anything, though, the vampire spun and grabbed Val in a vicelike headlock.

"Come quietly and I won't kill him," he snarled. Val, even when choking, rolled his eyes.

"You… get that… from James Bond?" He wheezed. "Seriously…you think I'm…gonna die that…easily?"

"You're a human," the vampire sneered, apparently forgetting that a human could not have punched him that many times without breaking their hand. Val was annoyed that he couldn't correct the vampire, but he'd used up too much air.

The vampire turned on Leah. "What did you do to Renesmee?"

"Nothing!" Leah snarled. "It's just those stupid Cullens overreacting!"

"I've known Jasper since he was in Maria's coven, and he wouldn't lie to me. They told me you did something to Renesmee, you dog. I can't understand why vampires would trust you freaks of nature. A group of mutts."

Mutts? MUTTS!? Leah looked almost as mad as Val felt. She screamed and there was a loud screeeeech, and suddenly Leah had stolen the Headless Horseman's calling card. The vampire's grip loosened on Val, who scrambled for his lighter. Leah looked both proud and nauseous. She was breathing in huge gulps and sweating buckets.

"You… you must think I'm crazy…" she whispered.

"Why, because you killed a vampire? I kill vampires for a living. I think we passed crazy a long time ago. Are you hurt?"

"Probably not as badly as you are," she replied, smiling ruefully. Val's hands and cheek would be black and blue in a few hours, and they stung, but that was life. At least those vampires had it much worse.

Val was certain that the hand of God was involved in the situation somehow. Nobody had come running to the alley. Leah and Val placed the shredded vampires in a trash can and lit them on fire. They had a long walk back to the motel.

"I think their names were Peter and Charlotte," Leah said. "I remember them from the time the Volturi came."

"This is bad. It means the Cullens are sending people after you. I hope you can do a repeat of that stunt you pulled back there with his head, or we're all up the creek without a paddle." Val would take Cecil, violent punishments and all, over an angry vampire any day. Thank God for Moses' flamethrower, but Leah had mentioned an army back in the truck. Vampire armies usually numbered forty or fifty, but if these ones had faced off against the Volturi and won, there had to be more than that. A flamethrower, a dhampir, a werewolf, and a mutt could only go so far against a vampire army. Plus there was Beck to worry about. If anything happened to him, Val wasn't sure what he'd do.

"Come on. Let's go back to the motel."

They ran all the way there. It was starting to get lighter out, and Val didn't want anyone stopping him to ask about his face. Luckily their room was on the first floor, and not very far from the lobby. As expected, Val was finally ready to fall asleep, even if he had to share a bed with Moses. Hell, he would've shared a bed with a serial killer by this point, if it meant he could lie down and close his eyes. Val put the pillow over his face and sighed.

Almost…asleep…

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Of. Course.

"Good morning," Moses chirped, pulling the pillow off Val's head. Val took no little satisfaction at the look on the dhampir's face when the bruises came into view. He knew Moses was looking through his memories.

"No…"

"Yes," Val replied. "We are now officially screwed."

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