Hey guys!!! I hope you're liking the story so far. This chapter will be mostly Kate and Garrett (all their POV), but there is one small scene with another character. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I am not Stephanie Meyer, and therefore do not own these characters.

Kate's POV:

About a week after Garrett arrived in Forks I had become accustomed to his presence. He was like a magnet. Wherever he was I always ended up, and if I wasn't looking for him he often found me. He and I always ended up in friendly debates about one issue or another, and our battles of wit soon became a daily ritual. What drew me to him was that he was one of the few people I'd ever met who could match my wit all the time. Our battles almost always ended up in a draw, simply because we were so evenly matched. I noticed that while I should've been terrified by what was coming, I was able to ignore it most of the time. Part of that was because Garrett never pushed me to talk about it. So many others asked me about Irina, and what she was normally like, what I thought about the situation, and hardly anyone except the Cullens, the Irish Coven, and Garrett seemed to understand that Tanya and I didn't want to talk about it. Usually Carmen, Eleazar, one of the Cullens, Maggie (who had become closer to me than any of my new acquaintances except Garrett) or Garrett inevitably came to our rescue during these interrogations. I wasn't ready to talk about Irina yet, and even if I had been, it wouldn't have been with strangers. Garrett was becoming my best friend, and we were well suited to one another.

One day, a week and a half after Garrett arrived in Forks, we were discussing the merits of hunting animals versus people.

"Why do you do it?" he'd asked.

"Because taking a human life seems wrong when there are other options. It's in-humane. Just because I'm not human anymore doesn't mean I want to loose all my humanity," I replied, and was satisfied when he looked impressed.

"What's your favorite thing to eat?" he pressed on.

"The arctic fox," I said. He raised an eyebrow, so I continued, "Well, it's a carnivore, so its blood tastes better than other animals that are herbivores. Also, it's fairly common in Alaska, which is how I began eating it. Also, Carlisle, who's been a vegetarian longer than any of us has, believes that we are similar to our favorite foods,"

I paused, and he butt in, saying, "So, you are what you eat?" I had to laugh at that. He always managed to get me laughing.

"Yes," I said with another chuckle, "But unlike the human misconception it isn't that we turn into what we eat, it's that we eat what we're similar to. Foxes are known to be clever and stealthy--"

"So obviously you'd eat those," he said with a smirk, "Cunning little Katie, just like a fox." I couldn't help but laugh again. Something about him was contagious, and I laughed more around him than around anyone else. A small part of me noticed what he'd called me. No one had ever called me Katie, I had always been Kate, but it seemed natural that he'd call me that. It was just part of how we were together.

"I have a feeling you'd like the arctic fox too, if you tried it," I replied, "Though perhaps you'd like sloths, after all, you can be a bit slow." It was my turn to smirk, as he rolled his eyes.

"Doesn't it make you weaker?" he asked.

"A common misconception," I replied, "Animal blood doesn't make you any weaker, if anything it makes you stronger. If you can withstand the lure of human blood as my family and I can it bonds us together and strengthens our unity. Not to mention it strengthens our self control. Not everyone is strong enough though, and I would never think less of someone who couldn't manage it. Not all are as strong as we." I finished in a smirk. It was a challenge, and he took it as such.

"I think I could handle it," he said in the cocky smirk he gave when he was trying to prove a point, usually about his own superiority.

"Fine," I said, still smirking, "Impress me. We'll go for a hunt tomorrow, vegetarian style," and with that I turned and walked away in search of Maggie, still smirking.

When I found her she said, "What's going on between you and Garrett?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. Was I that transparent?

"You know what I mean," she said, and then I remembered her gifts for telling the truth from a lie.

"I don't know," I said truthfully, "He's my best friend."

"You've only known him a week!" she said incredulously.

"Yeah," I said, "But I might as well have known him years...he gets me," I knew it wasn't the most complicated answer, especially considering how complicated our relationship was becoming, but I didn't know how else to put it. I liked him, a lot, but I wasn't sure how much 'a lot' was...definitely more than I'd ever liked another man or vampire, but all the same, I didn't really know what I was feeling.

"Well," she said, "You know you can always talk to me about it."

"Yeah," I said with a smile, I was glad to have found a friend who I could really talk to who wasn't a part of my family.

Garrett's POV:

The day of my first 'vegetarian' hunt was cloudy, as days usually were in Forks. Kate and I left at about 8:00 AM, after Kate had told Tanya, Carmen, and Eleazar where we were going. I was excited for this new challenge, and was determined to try this new way of life, at least for a while. It wasn't just the challenge that made me so determined to do this, though that would've been enough. I really wanted to do it because I knew it would impress Kate. I wasn't sure why it mattered so much to me, but it did. She insisted she didn't judge others for their eating habits, but I was beginning to judge myself. The way she'd describe it yesterday was so humane, and I wanted to be like that too. I wanted to see my eyes turn golden, though I knew from Bella, that they wouldn't for a few weeks at least.

As we ran through the forest, Kate about two paces ahead, I thought about what drew me to her. She was, as I'd said before, gorgeous, but it was much more than that. Her personality was infectious, and I found myself drawn to it, like a bee to honey. Everything about her was intoxicating; her laugh, that smirk she got when she was sure she was right, the gleam in her eyes, playful and challenging, her wit, everything. I became closer to her than I'd ever been to another vampire. I traveled alone because I'd never met the right vampire to travel with. It frightened me a little that in less than a month I'd become so attached to her. I knew that this type of obsession wasn't good for me, but it wasn't something I could control. I liked that she challenged me. I liked that she was strong. I liked that she thought she was better than me and could match my wit, something no one else had been able to do. I liked that she was a passionate individual. I'd always, even as a human, been the rebel. I never wanted someone else to control me, and Katie was the same. I surprised myself slightly the first time I called her that, Katie. Everyone else called her Kate, but I didn't want to be like everyone else. I hadn't meant to do it, it just was natural to call her Katie, and she didn't seem to mind at all.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I almost didn't register Katie stopping. She turned around and said, "You smell that?"

I closed my eyes and let my senses take over. I could smell it. It wasn't disgusting, but it was no where near as appealing as human blood. Something told me it was elk, and I said as much.

"Yep," she said, "By the river. A herd of them. Come on," I opened my eyes in time to see her run off, and I followed. We stopped just before they could see us. There was a small herd of about 8 or 10 elk drinking from the river.

"Do you want me to go first?" she asked, "Show you how it's done?"

"I think I can manage," I said with a smirk. And in one leap I bounded to the largest of the females, snapping her neck in a single movement, and drinking. It didn't taste as good as human blood, but it wasn't bad either...it was sort of like celery for humans, tasteless, but filling. I heard a rush and a snap and looked over to see Kate sucking on the neck of the largest elk, a male. When she finished she stood up, and I noticed she didn't have a hair out of place. Her skinny jeans were completely free of mud and grass stains, her sky blue blouse perfectly in order without a tear, and her side pony tail in perfect conditions. She didn't have a speck of blood or dirt anywhere...even her mouth was perfectly clean.

"Are you always this messy an eater?" she asked with a smirk. I looked down to see that my t-shirt was ripped, as was the knee of my jeans, which were covered in mud. I wiped my mouth, and was glad to see that at least it wasn't covered in blood.

"Well," I said, standing up, "I don't normally eat my meals in the middle of the forest, and they normally don't have hooves. Give me some time to adjust."

"Fair enough," she said with a smile. I loved her smile as much if not more than her smirk. It was the same smile she got when she laughed, and I liked to think that she only got it around me. It was bright and happy, and totally honest. "Ready to try again?" she said.

"Sure," I said with a smile.

We found our next pray to be two mountain lions I took mine first, and only when I'd finished, without further damaging my cloths, I might add, did Katie take hers. I'd never really watched another vampire hunt, because when you travel alone who is there to watch? She was so graceful it took my breath away, metaphorically speaking obviously. There was something so very graceful and powerful about the way she hunted, but that was how she was as a person, so it seemed natural for her to hunt that was as well. She bounded towards it and in one swoop and everything about her movements was elegant.

"Ready to go back?" I asked, when she'd finished and stood up.

"Yep," she said, and we took off at a run, though this time no one was leading.

"You know what?" I said as we ran.

"No, what?" she asked.

"I'd like to go hunting with you again sometime," I realized how that sounded so I quickly added, "That is, if you want to take me." I didn't want to force my company on her if she didn't want it, but I desperately hoped she did.

"I'd like that," she said with a smile, before it turned into a smirk as she said, "Race you back!" and bounded out of sight.

I sped ahead, chasing after her, not that I hadn't been already...

I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and I like how their relationship is developing. Tell me if you liked it, how you liked Maggie, and whatever else you want to say...I LOVE reviews!!!

XOXO

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