i LOVE this chapter. still not for the reasons you would think, but ahh. :) i love it. you (hopefully) will too.

R&R for more! :)

16. Light On: David Cook

"Emmett!" I squealed, louder than I remember saying anything in the longest time. It was the first thing I said, because why bother with hellos?

Auggie was asleep on my bed, but when she heard that, she popped up with her tail wagging violently. Not only was she happy to see me, but she knew who Emmett was. She loved him too. She got so excited that she actually barked.

"Emmett! You, and I, and you . . . Emmett!"

His deep booming laugh stopped me from freaking out further. "Hey, Mayzie! I've missed you too, baby doll. Tell Auggie hey for me."

"Where are you?" I demanded. "You promised you would be back, and it's been four months! You're gonna miss my seventeenth birthday if you don't hurry!"

He laughed. "Relax, Mayze. It's still November. Your birthday's not until December."

I couldn't help but beam. "You remembered."

"Of course I did. You're my baby doll, my Mayzie-pop."

"You still didn't answer my question," I reminded him, right as Charlie said,

"Mayze!"

He let out a sigh. "You're right, Mayze. I didn't. And, you see, about that . . . we kinda . . . well . . . ."

I walked out of the hallway and into the hallway, where I was passed by a fuming Bella. I didn't understand it, but something was pissing her off; something downstairs it seemed.

Auggie, of course, was following closely behind me, so close I could feel her soft fur on the back of my leg the entire way.

I frowned but continued down the stairs. "Emmett, tell—"

But, there was no going on. When I got downstairs, I saw Charlie with that same grin he had when I went upstairs to get my phone. Beside Charlie was Emmett, with, of course, Rosalie beside him. Then, there was Carlisle, Esme, Alice, and Jasper. Alice was happy dancing, Jasper was grinning at me, and Esme looked as if she might cry with joy.

I sucked in a breath as Auggie let out a yelp of excitement and ran over to Rosalie, who was one of her favorites. "Oh my tigers! You guys are actually here . . . in my house!"

Emmett was the first to rush—I'm talking as fast as possible—over to me and hug me tightly, tightly enough that a few of my ribs literally cracked. He heard it too, because he instantly let me go.

"Oh my gosh, Mayzie! I'm so, so, so sorry!"

I winced but shook my head. "Don't be, Emmett."

Rosalie was glaring at him, though, probably at his slip. Charlie only seemed slightly surprised, because he knew about vampires. He just didn't know about what they could do.

Now, I cringed away from Emmett, who seemed to be slightly confused. "Em . . . Charlie kinda knows . . . about vampires . . . ."

"What?" Rosalie screeched, a bone chilling sound like nothing else I had heard from her. "Why did you tell him?"

"I didn't," I snapped, glaring right back at her. "Relax, Rosalie. Bella did, not meaning to."

"How did she find out?" she hissed. "Did you tell her?"

I shook my head. "No. Jacob did, but Edward—" yet here again, I found myself freezing when I say his name.

Everyone noticed too, especially when I started lightly shaking. Alice and Esme were the two that came running up to me, hugging me gently in their arms.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Esme said gently, kissing my forehead softly. "He'll be back soon. I'm not sure when, but he will. We talked to him yesterday, and you wouldn't even believe how bad he is. He is miserable—I would almost say dead."

Emmett snorted. "We should call him now and have him talk to Mayze. That'd get him back real quick."

Alice's eyes lit up. "Emmett! That's a great idea!"

"As much as I love that idea," Carlisle interjected, shaking his head gently. "Doing that won't prove anything. He has to come back on his own terms. If he doesn't, he'll just do it again later, thinking he can survive without her."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "As much as you know I don't like you, that boy can't live without you. It's really sad."

Charlie's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait. So, you guys didn't leave because Esme wanted to live in the Colorado Mountains?"

Carlisle shook his head. "No, Charlie. Unfortunately, we didn't. If it was that simple, we would've been back a long time ago—all of us. Edward was the reason we left. He wanted to leave to protect Mayze, because you now know what we are."

"Vampires," he whispered, not looking at all afraid. "Yes, Carlisle. I'm aware."

Carlisle gave him a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry, Charlie. I'm sure you haven't gotten a single explanation. My family and I, we're not like other vampires. We drink animal blood instead of human blood, so that leaves us more capable of blending amongst humans. We kept our natural look, for the most part, but humans see us as inhumanly beautiful people. We're very strong, and obviously very fast."

Emmett grinned, looking up at me and away from Auggie for a second. He was kneeling down, petting her while she tried to lick him. "Sorry about your ribs, Mayzie. You okay?"

"I'm fine, Em," I assured him, unable to stop the smile that spread across my lips.

"Edward's gonna be glad to know you're doing better than him," Alice input, trying to lighten my mood even more.

Charlie snorted. "Oh no. You guys didn't see her before. Up until she got home just a few minutes ago, she was like a zombie—literally. Not even Seth and Embry could make her smile."

Emmett laughed. "I knew I smelled 'em on you. What'd they do this time? Was it the impressions?"

I shook my head. "They didn't do anything, not that actually helped. I ran into Laurent."

Everyone in the room grew silent, except for Charlie, who just looked confused. So, he said, "Who?"

I sighed. "Well, Dad, I'm sure you remember that day . . . months ago . . . that ended with me in a coma, the one where I told you I wanted to leave."

He looked down and nodded, eyes going impassive quickly to hide the pain. "Of course I remember."

"Well . . . ." I looked over at Carlisle, and he nodded; a signal I could tell him. "That wasn't exactly what it seemed. I was running away from a vampire. If I left, she would leave you alone; she would leave Bella alone. She became obsessed with my scent, and she was willing to do anything to kill me."

"Why?" Charlie asked slowly, frowning. "I don't understand."

"The hunt is an obsession," Emmett explained, shrugging. "Vampires don't stop until they have their prey, the one they're hunting—even us, in a sense. When we set our sights on an animal, we go until we've got it."

I nodded. "Exactly. So, I was running from her. Well, she caught up with me and nearly killed me." I frowned. "Laurent was a vampire who helped us find her." I beamed up at Emmett. "Guess what."

Emmett just grinned. "What?"

"He's living with the Denalis," I informed him, pursing my lips. "I think he said those are family friends of yours? I don't remember. Either way, they're a vegetarian coven too, and he's learning to be like them."

Emmett laughed. "Cousins, I suppose, is what you would call 'em."

I nodded. "Right. Well, anyways; sorry, Dad. The point is, she bit me." I held my wrist out towards him, the left one that had the silver bite mark—the one that was also more pale than the rest of my body. "As you can see, there's a bite mark. Well, when she bit me, we thought she didn't inject any venom."

Carlisle's eyebrows furrowed. "She did?"

"Yes," I answered softly, biting my lip. "Which kinda explains the different colors of skin I have. You see, Laurent was telling me about this. He knows more about it than I do, but what he said is that the venom she injected was strictly into my nerves. The burning I went through was to replace what normal vampires go through. My process will be slow, and from now on, painless. I slowly lose feeling to every part of my body, and once I go completely numb, I'll either have to live like that—completely numb, one hundred percent—or I'll have to be changed into a vampire."

Rosalie hissed. "What?"

Jasper busted out laughing; a rather maniacal laugh, if you ask me. "He so owes me a thousand bucks!"

Alice shook her head. "Not yet. He has to choose to change her for you to win, remember?"

He scowled. "That's true, but he so will. We already knew it would happen."

"Score!" Emmett exclaimed, hitting his fist against mine. "This is awesome! We'll just have one huge party forever and ever and ever and ever!"

I smiled. "Something like that."

"Wait, wait, wait," he said quickly, eyes wide. "Do Embry and Seth know?"

I nodded. "They weren't too happy, but mostly because Sam's a jack—" I glanced over at Charlie, only to find him and Carlisle off in the living room talking; about what, I don't know. Then, when I looked back to Emmett, I was grinning. "Ass."

"You so just wanted to say ass," he whispered, laughing his deep, very loud laugh to go along with it.

"But, he really is," I insisted. "Seriously? He told them they're not allowed to be around vampires unless they're killing them."

Emmett snarled. "That bastard is so dead."

"I'm in," Rosalie input brightly. "Anything to kill a mutt."