Sorry for the really short chapter guys! I really wanted this to be more of a stand alone chapter because of the content and just for the flow. I'm curious what people are thinking of the different perspectives between Edward and Nathan - I'm trying really hard that so that they both have their voice in this story. So if it seems like I'm focusing too much on one or the other let me know!

I'm *always* open to some sort of constructive criticism, since its easy to get caught up on your own story.

Just a warning - some people may not care for this chapter because it lacks a certain amount of...fluff. But I think the content is pretty important for the story and the development of the relationship between Edward and Nathan. It also lets you all know what Nate is capable of. So if this isn't your cup of tea please wait it out we'll be getting back to the norm next chapter! :-)

Enjoy!

Edward

The entirety of the ride was spent wanting to tear Nathan's throat out and gorge myself upon his blood. With every second passed my desire multiplied ten-fold; when I had initially decided to pick up the boy my intentions were ambiguous. I was, of course, aware of what the consequences of killing the boy were, but at that very moment I was more than willing to put my family through them. Anything to get what I wanted from Nathan.

"Edward, stop the car." Nathan commanded with no trace of fear in his voice.

However, his heart betrayed him. With each new question I could hear the increase is his pulse; the boy knew he was in danger. The fear excited me – even more was his perseverance of hiding it. However amidst all of this, with no a clear ambition of killing this boy, I could feel my foot pressing against the break and came to a complete stop. It wasn't something I wanted to do but seemed to be an instinctual response.

Nathan, in a moment of temporary boldness put the car into park for me.

"I'm leaving." Nathan hissed, and grabbed the handle to leave the car but not before I grabbed his arm; fully prepared to begin my feeding in mere seconds. Before I was given the opportunity, a warmth from his began to tingle down my arm. The sensation made me gasp and let go of Nathan – it was mere seconds later that my entire body was covered in the prickling touches.

I allowed my instincts to take over – making eye contact with Nathan so I could see his reaction as I lunged at him, as I bled him dry. It was only then that my world slipped into those eyes; a molten pool of gold and green.

It was less than a minute before I came back to reality, sight, scent, and touch all returning too me within moments of each other.

There wasn't a sign of Nathan – I couldn't see or hear him, and there was virtually no scent to track. It was as if he was never there.

It was only after the third angry buzz from my handheld did I extent the effort of answering it. I didn't bother to check and see who was calling; it was going to be Alice.

"Hi." Was all she said – She knew I'd lured Nathan away, and was obvious prepared for the worst.

"I'm on my way home." I sighed.

"Okay. We're already making the preparations."

"No need…I don't think" I trailed off.

"I didn't see what happened, only that you took him away. Everything is alright then?" Alice asked, sounding significantly less worried.

"It's complicated. I'll be home soon." And immediately hung up; avoiding another onslaught of questions from my sister.

I drove home as fast as the Volvo would take me, managing 90 miles per hours for the majority of the ride. Everyone was already waiting for me, seated at the dining room table, and absolutely prepared for another one of our "family meetings" The last time we were forced into a meeting like this was because I had slipped up again. Fortunately this time that wouldn't be the case, however it seems like we were all faced with a far more serious threat.

Who or what was Nathan Aldan?

I wasn't about to be bothered with moving at a human's pace; within seconds I was inside and seated at the table with everyone else, their golden eyes looking me over with a clear anxiety.

"What happened?" Carlisle asked in a neutral voice, but he nor the rest of my family could hide their thoughts from me.

I told them all, in great and absolute detail, from my intention of bleeding the boy dry to the curious condition he had left me in before disappearing without a trace. Everyone, and Jasper especially, were concerned with my explanation of the events that had taken place. No one else had heard of anything remotely similar to the effect Nathan had placed over me, except for Jasper.

The second I mentioned the triple-coloured irises Jasper's thoughts shot at me with a violent flashback. I only saw fragments of the memory that he was carefully hiding from me with a blanket of hatred; the damage had been done though. My single glimpse was of a blonde woman so beautiful I couldn't help but gaze even at the memory – and then there they were, eyes baring an incredibly similarity to the ones I'd seen from Nathan.

"What is it Jasper?" I asked the necessary question.

"I've faced one of his kind before. Nearly 50 years ago the woman had slaughtered most of the Vampire covens in Texas within a month single handed. She was able to do things I hadn't thought possible…" Jasper trailed off.

Alice picked up where Jasper had left off, being the only other one knowing the story she felt a certain responsibility, even obligation to her family, to divulge the information.

"They never figured out exactly what she was, but she forced the vampires on one another, and not in the way immortal powers work either. It was aggressive, and incredibly effective. She would pick off the stragglers while everyone was fighting, but whoever came close enough to her was burnt to ashes with a single touch." Alice explained.

The sense of security we all felt plummeted after hearing her brief explanation, the ways to react to our situation echoed amongst everyone. Emmett, Rose, Jasper, Carlisle…my entire family all had different ways to respond to this affront, but they all came down to two choices.

Kill or Run.

Carlisle was about to speak but Jasper cut in with a voice so deadly, filled with pure undiluted hatred, "It needs to die."

Nathan

I was sandwiched between my covers to the point where I probably couldn't have moved even if the desire arose. I was exhausted after brewing about the events that occurred earlier today with Edward, so much so, I attempted to go to bed early to avoid thinking about it any longer.

Clearly, that plan wasn't working out very well.

I laid there in a dreamlike state – moments away from falling into the dream world. A world where there was no danger, no stress, and everything would be simple again. Alas, just as sleep began to take hold and I was more than prepared to enter a dream about bunnies and rainbows – there stood my mother.

Beautiful even to me, her golden blonde hair trailed down to her ankles in an effort elegance. We were embraced by the warmth of the rising sun, in which her sunsplashed skin reflected the light in a golden luminescence, as if there had been golden glitter sprayed upon her skin. However, the two were not even comparable.

She stood and looked down at me with Sidhe eyes that mirrored my own and brought me in to a warm hug. The warmth from my mother and the sun became one – we were beings of nature, at this very moment my mother, Eliziah, was the sun and I the moon. Our skin began to glow softly amidst the embrace.

"Someone is coming. Wake up. Wake up and fight." She whispered next to my ear in a way that was both sexual and motherly at the same time.

"Wake up."

I awoke with a fierce gasp, instinctively wiping the sweat from my brow. I sat there uncertain for a few moments while I replayed the events that just occurred in my dream. Had I been human, it would have been easily dismissed, but I was Sidhe as well, and these things were more or less commonplace.

There were some questions to consider though. The first question would have been "Who is coming?" but I was rather confident that was already answered. Edward Cullen was on his way to finish what he'd attempted the first time. Because I was confident in this face, there was very little concern on my part. I moved in a rehearsed and well practiced manner, making very little noise, making efficient use of my time, and most importantly, remaining calm.

It came down to one simple fact. He was human, and I was not.

I pulled out a violin case that had been stashed in my close, unlatched it, and took out your standard sawed-off shotgun. Of course I knew how to shoot, not that I really needed to aim as long as I was within ten feet with this firearm. There shouldn't be a need, but luck favors the prepared.

Certain precautions had been made when I had moved to forks, precautions such as the shotgun I was holding. But more importantly, a piece of Sidhe magic called wards. They'd been placed all over the premises of my host mother's house, who was conveniently away on a date with her current boyfriend. If someone entered the area of a ward wishing me harm would simply go elsewhere. A change of heart, fear, the reason varied from person to person. That's exactly why Sidhe magic can be so powerful, it's incredibly subtle in that one has no idea they are under the effect until it's usually too late.

I doubted Edward would get past my wards – but you never know.

This was not the time to worry myself with my illusions. Whoever was coming after me either already knew I Sidhe, or wouldn't likely survive the encounter regardless.

It sounds like I'm a murderous bastard, but I'm truly not much of a fighter. However, when you are like me, harboring such a powerful secret, there is a desperation to preserve this façade we put on. And right now, this pursuer would disrupt the human life that I so passionately wanted to live. I would kill for that life.

I had the shotgun loaded with extra ammo prepared in seconds. With a large "click" I shut the chamber anxiously before taking my post back on my bed. This was where it got tricky…

Looking at the shotgun, I visualized what it would feel like to hold a viola in my hand rather than this sawed off shotgun. I thought what it would look like, carrying this viola with care while sitting in my bed with the television on. The trick was to leave a small part of yourself with this thought so it became anchored in reality, so it visually became that to everyone, including myself. I couldn't explain it any more than that, was what I was doing magic? No idea, it was simply a part of me.

Both my mother and I believed our kind was given this ability so we could live amongst humans – now I was using it for violence…thinking that way made me feel more ashamed than I probably should have. However, I knew whoever came in right now would see an innocent high school student rather than a cold-blooded killer. I needed that sort of element of surprise.

I waited and waited. It took surprisingly long for it to occur to me to even look at the time. 2:45 am. I groaned, if I survived this encounter, I would be miserable at school tomorrow. But what if I didn't…?

The time passed glacially slow. I couldn't allow myself to be distracted by the television. A simple distraction would give my pursuer the opportunity they needed. Although I wasn't fully human, I was nearly as fragile one. Even with my mixed blood I was no match for a trained killer; human or otherwise.

There was no warning to my pursuers presence. This wasn't like the movies where a glass dropped, something tips over, or the dog starts barking. No warning at all, before my very eyes he was simply there. There was no time to react or to consider who stood in the doorway before me. I didn't need to aim at this range, I pulled the trigger letting the piles of buckshot soar in my target's direction without giving it a second's thought. The trigger let out a howling boom that could was probably heard up to a mile away; I had bigger problems right now.

Panic began to itch deep in my throat making me hold back the desire to scream for help. I stood from my seated position resuming a defensive stance. Both of my arms held the shotgun despite the raging urge to go and see if my shot had connected.

I cocked the shotgun to prepare for my next shot. Somehow the man disappeared, he should have taken a point blank shot, no one could move so fast after that attack. I glanced at the doorway where I had shot him in, there were stray bullets and wooden bits everywhere – but something very important was missing. There was no blood…

I heard a sound but had less than a second to react. A blow hit my chest knocking the wind from my body. The pain was indescribable; I was blinded and dazed by the sheer magnitude of it. I think I was sent flying somewhere but couldn't make sense of it. All I heard was the crash from my body landing into a hard object. My finger had pulled the shotgun trigger out of pure instinct causing my ears to ring from the distress.

It took me a moment before I could see my attacker. It was only then that my entire body went into complete shock. The man, or maybe I should say the boy…was familiar. Very familiar, but it wasn't who I expected; it was Jasper Cullen. What was going on? Had Edward figured out what I was and sent his brother? No, that couldn't have been a possibility. Something was not right with this situation…He was too fast, too strong. Jasper Cullen was no more human than I was.

I could feel the heat rise in my body as my skin began to glow like the moon. My eyes looked into his yellow tinted eyes pleadingly. Here I was, half conscious in my purest most natural form in front of my killer. Jasper took a step back as my body began to glow and let out a low monstrous growl that left me whimpering. I didn't dare move at this point, he was too fast for me and I knew it.

"Your kind cannot be left to live" he said in a cold, emotionless tone.

"Scream." I whispered with as much emotion as I could muster.

I opened that door that I kept locked day in and day out. That door made sure that everything bizarre would not gravitate toward me, it kept the magic out and made sure I remained appearing human day in and day out. Whatever this energy was, it seemed to be a magnet for strange occurrences; the exact kind of situations I so desperately wanted to avoid.

Jasper noticed a change in me and chose not to give me any time to react; he was in front of me. There was no movement; he was simply there. He grabbed my arm and yanked it into a position where it didn't belong. I heard a loud pop followed by a rush of pain in my shoulder that felt something between fire and aching. The anguish continued and multiplied until there was nothing else but the pain. I had a single moment to use this pain, to take advantage of the fact that Jasper looked straight into my very inhuman eyes ; a calculating expression that seemed to be hiding something more.

Pain.

I thought of not only the physical pain that was consuming me, but the emotional and psychological darkness that plagued me day after day. Everything that created me into this reclusive and paranoid person was concentrated into a deep single thought of misery. I willed these horrors onto Jasper, my skin reached a point beyond luminescent, it was pure shine radiating through my being as I felt the energy collide between the two of us. My horrors transferred onto him; I forced Jasper to see, experience, and relive every physical and emotional horror of his life.

Jasper screamed in a pitch that I couldn't fully comprehend. He fell to his knees in confusion and clasped both of his hands tightly against his skull as if that would do anything. His body contortioned and thrashed against the floor, his fists creating gaping holes in the hardwood floor as he flung them downward. My own pain was beginning to subside into a dull roar, the adrenaline was gathering in my veins; I was going into shock. Jasper looked at me with crazed eyes, the magic still running loosely through him, and began to stalk toward me like a predator; and I was the prey.

The fear had left me and was replaced by acceptance. I sat there with broken wood surrounding my near-lifeless body ready for my death until I saw Edward…

Much to my benefit – my assumption was wrong. Everything was a blur as I watched what I thought to be Edward collide into Jasper. I heard growls and an array of sounds coming from their direction but everything was a daze. I wasn't able to hold it in anymore, I was tired of fighting, and at that moment I didn't mind dying right there and then.

I closed my eyes and allowed myself to slip into the darkness.