The crutches were already digging themselves into my armpits as I walked up to the Cullen's residence. Their house was noticeably light for vampires. Edward chuckled.

The inside of the house was no different from the outside. It was so pretty, I wish I could rearrange my own house to resemble this place.

But, as half my brain tried to hide the other half with pretty colors and fabrics, I just wanted to run and see Quil.

Edward pointed to a staircase, "He's upstairs. Do you need some help?" He offered his hand to me and I handed him one of my crutches and limped over to the bottom of the huge staircase.

I placed my right elbow, the one without the crutch, on the railing and hoisted myself up on the first step. I winced a little. But, I reminded myself that I would rather be doing this than have Edward carry me or something... that might cause some sort of scene, I was afraid. So I hobbled my way up, tiring myself out quite a bit when I reached the top. Edward appeared suddenly beside me, reaching his hand out with the crutch in it. Thank you, I thought and continued down the hall way.

Edward walked at my side and opened a door for me. No doubt the room Quil was in. I smiled at him and excitedly made my way in to the room. There was my Quil, laying down, looking up at the ceiling; dazed.

"Claire," he sat up, the dazed expression gone. "Are you okay?" He obviously didn't notice I was on crutches.

"I'm totally fine, Quil, what about you? Shouldn't you be lying down?" I asked, suddenly worried about his mental health as he wore such a weird expression on his face.

"Can I hug you?" He asked out of the blue. I tried to fight back a huge smile as I let my crutches fall to the floor and wrapped my arms around his neck. "What were you thinking out there, crazy girl, you could have got.." he shuddered and then I knew what he didn't want to say.

"But I didn't," I reminded him. "And you can't always be the brave one. You don't always need to be the one to save me."

"And now because of me, you're hurt," he wrapped his arms around my shoulders tighter and pulled me on to his lap way too easily.

"No, I am hurt because of myself. I could have ran, but I chose to try and help you, Quil," I told him, stating what I thought he already knew.

His head pulled away from mine and I saw his brown eyes bore in to mine, almost like he was casting some sort of spell on me. He pulled my hair behind my ears. The moment his hot skin touched my cheek and then my ear my heart and breath stopped.

The door slammed open and Quil swung me off of the bed quickly. My head spun and I felt like fainting. But when I saw who was at the doorway, I stood up straight.

But the blush on my face revealed what had happened, "Hey Sam," I said, laughing a little, that was innocent, was it not?

"It doesn't seem like you need as much recovery time as the doctor planned out," Sam strode across the room and grabbed the collar of Quil's shirt. "The pack, along with some Cullen's, are having a meeting down in the dining room. Perhaps, you should join us. You seem to have rested enough."

And just like Quil did with me, but much less gentle, Sam swung Quil right off the bed and on to his feet. Quil did not have any faltering moment, he just started following Sam out of the room.

I grunted and leaned myself against the wall. I tried to lean over and pick my crutches on the ground but instead I started to fall. Great, it seemed like these crutches were going to cause me more pain that I already had. But before I could hit the ground I felt two, cold, little hands grab me by my waist. All of a sudden I was up right and the crutches were under my arms.

"I'm sorry," I heard a light, girlish voice behind me. And then she was in front of me.

Alice. I hadn't known her too well, only admired her from behind, "I didn't scare you, did I? I just... I saw you and I couldn't resist. With all these shape shifters and part vampires around nowadays, it's nice to finally have a human around to see ahead of time."

It took me only three seconds to decipher what she meant. Of course, she could see things before they happened. She must have been down the hall when she saw I was about to fall. And, well, with all this freaky, quick vampire stuff, it couldn't have taken her long to get to me.

"No, thank you very much, actually," I told her, my voice poorly imitating her soft voice. "The last thing I need is another broken leg," I shrugged and she laughed.

Her face turned serious, "Do you need anything at all? I know the men are all talking about this thing that's happening... do you want a sandwich? Oh maybe a manicure?"

I shook my head, gladly, "No, don't worry about me... I'm fine. But, I am sort of curious on what they're talking about."

Her face lit up like I had just suggested some great idea or something. She tugged at my hand and whispered, "Come on, I know where you can listen and be hidden. It's not really needed in a house where we all have super hearing, but it will be perfect for you."

She put her arm around my waist and leaned my crutches at the wall. Somehow she managed to walk at a human pace and I didn't have to limp much, she basically lifted me up at her side. She was odd and after only knowing her a minute, I was wondering if she ever had a bad side.

Alice led me down the hallway some more and in to a hall closet. I gave her quite a wild look, it was hard not to.

She explained herself quickly, "There's a vent on the floor in the back of the closet that leads straight to the ceiling of the dining room. I always thought it would be a perfect eavesdropping spot, but since I already have excellent hearing and can hear everything in the house, what was the point?"
The incredulous look could still not be wiped away from my face.

She started to pull aside some coats and boots so that there was a little pathway to the back of the closet. She stepped in and turned on a light. I saw the vent automatically, since my eyes had been sweeping around the closet for it.

"Why are you telling me this? Obviously, they didn't want me at the meeting..."

She shook her head, "I think it's wrong to keep you out with this. It's a bit hard to explain, so I thought I would let you figure it out for yourself."

That brought me back a bit. Here was this girl I just met personally a few minutes ago, and she acted as though helping me was not much at all. It was a lot in my book. I thanked her once again and she helped me sit down in the closet (I really wanted to scream for putting myself in this cast). She shut the door almost silently but left the light on.

I tried to turn off my other thoughts and focused on listening to the guys downstairs.

"There must be a way we can protect all of them at once... what if we keep them all in one household until we kill this bloodsu—guy," Jared's enthusiasm about killing something was how I knew it was him speaking.

"Why is this even a big issue? There's a million of us, and one of him?" Seth's younger voice asked.

"Well," now Edward had started to add in, "I learned quite a few things when he was near enough for me to focus on his thoughts. His name is Zachary and he has a very interesting power. He can basically hide himself—his scent, that is—and that is how he sneaks up so easily and how he gets away so easily. But, we do have a few unfair advantages of our own. He can't hide his mind, so I can read him just like any other and of course we have our unusual numbers..."

My thoughts scattered all of a sudden. I had little clue what the hell anyone was talking about. I almost gave up at deciphering their words when I heard a very familiar voice say something.

"Anyone mind explaining why he's after our imprints after all?" Quil asked, and his tone was holding back so much anger that it scared me.

Wait, imprints? I searched my brain, trying to remember if I'd ever heard that word before. Nope. Maybe it was another weird wolf thing... I would have to ask Quil later on to be sure.

The crowd all mumbled some 'yeah's. Edward cleared his throat to speak again, "Well, I know this is hard to believe, but Zachary was one of Victoria's victims. It was many years ago, but I'm sure you all remember our fight against all the newborns."

An odd voice popped out of nowhere, "One got away?" Jasper hissed, and I had no clue why he would be so angry or what fight they were talking about.

Another wise voice spoke now, Carlisle, "Yes. Edward and I had discussed this a little earlier and I believe, since Zachary had the talent that he does, that he escaped after he realized he had little chance of surviving. We were all to in to the battle to even notice an absence."

This is where it got interesting. Another new voice, Paul I guessed, spoke, "You're blaming this on us?" He said very defensively.

"Absolutely not, it's none of our faults, really. We were all caught up in everything to do anything about it," Carlisle said, in his doctor voice now.

"Wouldn't Edward have read his mind and figured out he was escaping?" Jared asked, through clenched teeth, or so I imagined.

The room silenced for a few seconds. Edward spoke, "I wasn't at the fight, remember?" He asked, his tone very cold.

"Then it's your fault!" Jared accused imediately, "You were a coward! You should have been there, that day, and went after that bloodsucker!" I gasped a little when he actually said it, "And now that man is after our reasons for living! He wants revenge, and you should have killed him that day!" I heard a lot of shuffling around and clanking of things. I hoped Quil was all right.

"Back off, Jared!" A woman's voice sounded more defensive than Jared had been earlier. It sounded like Edward's wife, Bella. "If he would have been there, Victoria would of managed to kill me, possibly even Seth! You should shut your mouth and think before you make such accusations," I heard very loud stomps that were traveling out of the dining room.

I didn't know Bella was like that at all. Every time I had seen her, she was always very polite and almost silent. But, I guessed that was what happened when some one physically or verbally attacked some one you loved.

"I'm leaving," Jared mumbled loudly, making sure everyone heard him. More footsteps followed with him as he left. I hoped Quil wouldn't leave with him.

Then the small conversations were too quiet for me to hear, so I leaned in the corner of the closet and slowly closed my eye lids. It had to be almost ten o'clock by now. I was sort of tired.

I didn't want to fight the blackness as it settled over my eyes, I was too happy to be asleep.

It was quiet and calm, quite a contrast to what I had just experienced.