Disclaimer: I think I've established that I'm not Stephenie Meyer by now...

A/N: Okay... long chapter! I think... but one of my favourites, nonetheless :) Enjoy!


13. An Eavesdropper's Regret

After that hunting trip, we spent the next few days staying at home during the day and going out at night as the weather was not on our side. Being bright and sunny during the day, Jake and I sat in front of the television when we weren't eating pizza we'd ordered over the phone, attempting to learn one of the eleven official languages of South Africa.

Eventually Jake gave up, not being able to find his way around the tongue clicks, and he switched to the movie channel. Much to his dismay, there was a romantic chick-flick playing. I took this advantage of this opportune moment and scooted closer to him, till my head lay against his shoulder, my face inches away from his.

The rest of the family, except for Esme (who was reading in the room) and Carlisle (who was out doing more medical research), were out hunting and left the two of us in the lounge alone. How convenient.

Almost as if he'd read my mind, his arms found their way around my shoulder and he tilted his head to the side so that our lips were barely brushing. I took advantage of the small space between us and leaned in, catching his lips with mine and my arms wrapped around his neck.

He faced me fully now and his tongue traced lightly around my lips, begging for entranced. I teased him a by breaking away from the kiss, but he took this as an opportunity to explore the length of my neck, his lips a trail of butterfly kisses.

Traveling back north, his lips came down on mine, harder this time with the pressure and passion that built. This time when his tongue ran across my bottom lip, I granted him entrance, parting my lips slightly.

My hands decided to take advantage of his half-nakedness and explored his broad shoulders, over his chest and down to his stomach muscles where it stopped, crushed between us.

The slam of the front door broke us apart, and we turned our attention to the television. My heart was racing and both our faces were flushed, evidence of our actions. Hopefully dad would be too occupied to listen to my or Jake's thoughts…

Alice came in the lounge, grabbed the remote off the couch and switched from the movie to the news. The rest of the family followed behind them, anxiety written all over their faces.

"Two bodies were found in the sugarcane fields in Kwa-Zulu Natal an hour ago," said the news reporter. "Both we females aged seventeen and nineteen. They were found with a hole in each of their necks, all the blood seems to have been drained out. Police suspect this was done to make muthi."

"What's muthi?" I asked.

"We'll tell you just now," answered Jasper, his eyes fixed on the television.

"This isn't first time we've seen something like this," said the police officer of SAPS. "Recently there has been an increase in muthi crimes. We urge everyone to be."

"No arrests have yet been made," the news reporter concluded. "In other news…"

Alice switched the television off, and went to sit down on the couch, her face scrunched up in concentration. More future searching, no doubt.

"There's more of him?" asked Mum horrified.

"Looks like it. Maybe even a whole coven," answered Rosalie.

"More of whom?" Jake asked confused, "And what's muthi?"

"More of the vampire we met the other night," answered Dad, "and muthi is a "medicine" made by herbalists or "sangoma's" here in South Africa."

"Um… what's a Songoma?" I asked, even more confused.

"A Sangoma," Emmet corrected, "It's a term given to traditional healers."

"If Carlisle is right," Esme said, "then the Volturi will definitely step in sooner or later. Even though the police think it's a being caused because of muthi, these vampires aren't doing a good job of covering up. The truth may come out and the Volturi don't want that…"

"WHAT?" I raised my voice, "What is going on?"

Dad sighed, "Ness, those two girls who were killed, they were HIV positive. Carlisle phoned us just after they were discovered. He was asked to take a look at the bodies."

Then everything clicked, there must've been another vampire, just like the one that attacked the girl at the beach, who attacked HIV positive people. That wasn't good…

"Which leaves us with one option," said Jake through gritted.

"My thoughts exactly," said Dad, "We need to get out of here soon."

"But Carlisle's research?" Rosalie asked.

"I'm sure he'll agree that we need to get out of here soon," Jasper replied, his arm around Alice. "Can you see anything?"

"Well, the weather for the next few days looks good," she replied as she opened her eyes. "But I can't see anymore killings; everything is so blurry."

There was a silence and the tension was unbearable.

"So, we're going to have to fit a month's worth of fun into one week," I smiled.

"Yeah, I agree Ness," Emmet nodded, glad for the change in subject.

"Whatever happens, we must go to the beach again," Rosalie added.

"Yeah," Jake agreed, though his thoughts were clearly somewhere else.

Another awkward silence.

"So, what were the two of you doing before we got here?" asked Emmet, his eyebrows raised suggestively.

"Oh, just watching television," I replied coolly, "learning a new language."

"Are you sure this dress is fine?" I asked Jake, holding it up.

"Hmm."

He considered the black number as I held it against me.

"It looks good," he said, "But…"

"But what?"

"But I think you'd look better without it on," he said with a mischievous glint in his eye. He smirked as his comment made me blush.

"Hey," I laughed, punching him playfully in his shoulder, "Don't let Dad catch you saying something like that. But seriously, this dress won't make Nahuel ogle?"

The humans ogled enough, no way was another hybrid going to do the same.

"No," he said, "I don't think he will. Not with me watching."

"Ooh, a little jealous are we, Mr Black?" I teased, as a walked out the door to my room to get changed.

It was our second to last night in South Africa and as a treat, Carlisle was taking us all to The Royal; a restaurant on the beach front. It was actually just for Jake and I – the rest of the family couldn't really eat the food anyway. Carlisle hadn't been too happy about the idea of going home early and not finishing his research, but our safety was more important.

After Rosalie did my hair and make-up (I wasn't so good with that sort of thing), we all went to the car and Dad drove us to the place. It wasn't too far from the hotel, but walking there would've been a pain, especially in heels.

When we got to The Royal, Nahuel was already there waiting for us. I smiled in greeting when I saw him, to be polite. But when his gaze swept over me, I looked away, blushing. Jake's arm around my waist tensed and I wished he'd do something to make it obvious that he didn't like me being ogled at; that I already had Jake.

Almost as if he'd read my thoughts, he leaned towards me and kissed me lightly on the lips. If there wasn't an audience, I would have taken advantage of the situation… but of course we had to behave graciously in public and I'm pretty sure PDA wasn't a sign of graciousness.

I smiled at him when he pulled away, a trace of fire on my lips.

"Good evening Nahuel," greeted Carlisle, "It was nice of you to join us."

"Evening, Carlisle," Nahuel replied evenly, "It's my pleasure. But I'm am disappointed that you are leaving so soon"

He gaze shifted from Jacob, to me and back to Carlisle.

"Yes, we are also disappointed to have to cut our visit to South Africa," said Dad, "But we need to get back as there are many things to be done before Renesmee starts at high school."

"Ah I see… maybe I'll come and visit you when I come to America," Nahuel replied, "I plan on settling here in this country. It's a lovely place, don't you agree?"

"But what about Huilen?" I asked concerned, "Won't you miss her? And your sisters?"

Huilen was Nahuel's aunt, so to say. She and his sisters were the only family he really had. I know I'd never be able to live without my family; so I don't how he'd live without his.

"Yeah, I will miss them," he sighed, "But I do like it here. And I can visit them at anytime and they can come here. Who knows? Maybe they'll come here for a visit and find that they like the place and will also want to settle."

"True," said Jasper, "Maybe we should go sit down and you three can decide what you want to eat."

After getting a table (along with a lot of stares from the humans), Jake Nahuel and I were the only ones who ordered proper meals. The rest of my family ordered coffee or drinks to fit in with the human disguise.

"So, you like the game here?" Nahuel asked, "Better than the animals you're used to?"

"Way better," Emmet grinned. "Definitely going to make one more hunting trip tomorrow before we leave tomorrow."

Everyone laughed and it sounded like the chime of bells; that response was so typical of Emmet.

"But he is right," Esme added, "The taste of the blood is sweeter, more distinct."

"Yes," Aunt Rose said, "We'll definitely miss the blood here."

"Totally," Jake sighed dramatically.

Another round of laughter at our table. The waitress who was serving us came with our order and our food on the table. Encouraged by the growls from my stomach, I immediately tucked into my Portobello Tramazzini.

"Honestly, I don't understand how you Cullens survive on animal blood," Nahuel complemented, "I don't know how I'd be able to cope with human blood."

"It's like a human living on tofu," said Dad, "But it gets easier with time and experience. Once you start and commit yourself, you find it rewarding that another human life could be saved."

The rest of our dinner continued with laughter and stories about everyone's past. Emmet continually brought up how they busted Jake and me kissing on the beach and Nahuel kept giving me strange looks. Our conversation was broken when Nahuel's phone rang.

"Excuse me," he said and then answered his phone, "Hello… yes. No I'm busy having dinner." His voice dropped lower and gritted his teeth. "Fine, I'll meet you just now."

He cut the call and looked at us apologetically. "I'm sorry, but I urgently have to meet someone now. It was great to see you all. I hope we will meet soon."

Nahuel smiled at us and put some money on the table, "This is for my meal. Goodbye Cullens. Bye Renesmee."

As he left the table to get to the door, passed me and let his fingers linger on my shoulder. I shivered as if a cold breeze had hit me.

I personally found his departure rather fishy. What could have been so urgent that he had to leave? Did he have friends here in South Africa? And if he did, he must've been here longer than we'd thought, long enough to make friends. And why hadn't he introduced us to his friends or at least tell us about them?

A while later, after we'd ordered dessert, I excused myself from the table to go to the bathroom. Not that I really needed it, but it was an excuse to make sure I still looked alright and to check if perhaps I needed to…powder my nose. On the way, I saw a few human boys give me some suggestive looks which I wasn't scared to return with a death stare. I smiled in satisfaction when their eyes widened with surprise and they looked away, flushing.

When I'd come out the bathroom, which was near the exit of the restaurant, I was distracted by the sound of a familiar voice.

"What?" said the voice, "That stupid excuse for a vampire almost ruined it like the other one had; what else did you expect me to do?"

"There is no need to get angry, Nahuel," a deeper, soothing voice replied.

"Well, I didn't see you doing anything about it," the first voice retorted, angrily. "I don't what you think, but personally one could expose us. You promised me by introducing me to this way of life there'd be none of this nonsense. You do realize the Volturi could get involved…"

With my curiosity getting the better of me, I inched closer to the exit of the restaurant to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Yes, I do know the consequences of that happening," the deeper voice said, "That's why I need you to help me…"

"Now what?"

"We need to get rid of him. By tearing off his arm, you've probably angered him and once it has joined back to his body, he'll come after you. And with the HIV blood in his system, he could easily take you down. And you don't want that do you?"

There was a silence and I edged closer. My suspicions were confirmed; Nahuel and vampire, also rich-skinned and so beautiful he could be a Runway model, were outside having an argument.

"No…"

"So, come with me now and let's get rid of him. By the way, I have figured out another way to get our supply and not get caught. A clean way of getting HIV blood."

"Elaborate?"

"Down at Addington Hospital, there are a lot of patients being treated for the virus. If we could sneak at night whilst everyone is sleeping, we could easily nick one human every time we get thirsty. That way we can get our fix and don't have to worry about getting caught."

"And what about the patients which will go missing?" asked Nahuel. "Surely they'll notice something fishy. Yet another risky idea of yours."

"Yes, but we could also hunt normally," the other replied, "One time from the hospital, and the next time we do a normal hunt. Easy."

It took a while for everything to process in my mind, but I wasn't dreaming. Every word that came out their mouth was real. Nahuel and this other vampire were behind the attacks on the HIV infected humans. The frail humans who were dying because of this illness. Did they not feel remorse? Were so… so heartless?

I inched more forward trying to see what else I could else I could hear. I was practically standing outside now.

"Stop," said the vampire with the deep voice as Nahuel was about to take off. He looked around, his eyes wild and blood red. Then he saw me.

"Grab her!" he hissed to Nahuel as he tried to make a swipe for me. I ducked and ran back into the restaurant. But before I got to the tables, a pair of arms grabbed me from behind, pulling me towards to exit.

I tried to scream, but another pair of hands covered my mouth. I sank my sharp teeth into the fingers that were trying to gag me and tried to yell to get someone's attention.

"Jacob," was the word that left my lips.

All I remember was seeing white figures in the distant before I was knocked unconscious.


A/N: Ah, how I LOVE cliffhangers... only when I'm writing the story ;) Firstly, I want to thank my friend Yanx for my AWESOME birthday present :) I'll post pictures up soon! Anyway, I've decided enough is enough; I'm starting a new fanfic story. I miss writing it! It's probably gonna be a Harry Potter one. The Lily and James one I've been dying to do!

Cookies to those who review!

KTHANXBAI