Midnight Star
by Lady Dawson
Chapter Eleven: Quileute Visitors
Edward pulled up next to my house and shut his car off, looking directly at me. We hadn't talked the whole way home and barely spoke through Science, after I told him about Valentine and the cryptic message that she had given me. I don't know what he was thinking, but I was trying to figure out what she meant by that.
It didn't make any kind of sense. A half-blood who is now something else? What on earth could that be? Once a demigod, always a demigod, isn't that the way it goes? How and why would one become something else?
"Do you know what she meant by that?" Edward said at last, finally breaking the silence and looking sideways at me.
"I don't know," I said with a sigh. "I tried to ask her, but . . . she didn't say anything else, she just disappeared." Suppressing a sigh, I leaned my head back, looking back at him. "It doesn't make any sense. If you're a half-blood, that's something that you were born with, you don't just become something else."
"She said something about danger heading towards you, right?" Edward asked to clarify.
"Yeah," I said, my hand tightening around my necklace, reassuring myself that it was still there. Danger didn't really frighten me; I've spent my whole life in it. But if Valentine was warning me about it, it had to be bad.
Suddenly, Edward reached over and touched my chin gently, forcing me to look at him. "We're going to figure this out, all right?" he promised me. "You're not alone in this; you have me. And I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
I stared at him, studying his golden eyes intently. "You know something, don't you?" I asked him cautiously. Edward didn't say anything, just looked away. "What is it? What do you know? Look, you can't keep stuff from me, Edward, if this is going to work, then we have to be honest with each other. That's what a relationship is, it's trusting each other and being honest with each other."
"I know." Edward still stared ahead of him, then sighed. "Did you happen to hear about those animal attacks in Mason County?"
"Yeah, of course," I said at once, remembering why Charlie had taken off almost every night for the past couple of weeks. He had been heading down there so he could help out trying to track down the animal and it was heading closer to Forks, last I'd heard about it.
"What you probably haven't heard—what the police are leaving out of the reports," Edward said grimly, "is that the bodies have all been drained of blood."
My hands froze automatically and I stared at him uncomprehendingly before I understood. "Are you telling me that there are other vampires around here?" I asked. "And they're responsible for these attacks?"
Edward nodded. "There's others out there, not many, and usually just one or two nomads passing through," he explained. "There aren't very many covens as big as ours is. Ours is one of the biggest," he told me. "It's very rare for our kind to live together in such a big group. And we come across them from time to time. From the looks of things, it's at least two vampires. We've been trying to track them, but they're elusive. Even Alice is having trouble finding them with her gift," he explained.
"And you think that Valentine's warning has something to do with these vampires?" I asked uncertainly.
He sighed. "I don't know. It's too big of a coincidence and yet . . ."
"There's no such thing as coincidence," I said flatly. "Coincidences simply don't happen, Edward. Things are almost always connected, especially if it happens to be supernatural and especially if there's a demigod involved."
Wrapping his arm around me reassuringly, Edward told me, "Look, we're going to figure this out. Nothing is going to happen to you. I'm gonna tell Alice to keep an eye on you and she'll see if there's any danger."
Nodding once, I snuggled closer to him, laying my head hesitantly on his chest, looking up at him to see if this was all right, but he didn't look like he minded. In fact, his arms moved around me protectively, smoothing my dark brown locks away from my face.
"I miss her so much," I said quietly.
Edward nodded. "I know," he said gently. "It must have been hard for you to see her like that."
"You have no idea," I mumbled. It was hard seeing Valentine as a ghost, almost as hard as it had been when we were burning her shroud. "Edward, do you want to come inside? I really don't want to be alone right now," I said in a small voice.
He hesitated, glancing over his shoulder. "I would love to, but I'm afraid Charlie's coming home and he's not alone," he said unhappily. "Unfortunately, it's with company that wouldn't be wise to mix with." I frowned. "I'll explain it to you later, but as soon as they're gone, I'll come back," he promised me. "You should get inside. I'll be back soon."
"What company?" I demanded as I reluctantly pulled away from him. Edward glanced over his shoulder and I followed his gaze, spotting an unfamiliar truck, followed by Charlie's cruiser.
But even though I didn't recognise the truck or the passengers, I guessed at once who they were: the man had to be Billy Black, Charlie's friend from the reservation, and the kid was undoubtedly his son (Jack? James? Something beginning with a J).
"Oh," I said with a sigh. I looked sideways at him. "Those Quileute legends that I've heard . . . are those true?"
Edward gave me a pointed look, eyebrows raised and I sighed. "Right. I'll see you later."
"Be safe," he whispered as I climbed out of his car. "And I won't be far. If something happens, just call for me."
"I will, I promise," I assured him, closing the door and Edward pulled out of the driveway, keeping his speed limited in front of the Chief and turned around the corner, pulling out of sight.
Billy Black's expression was unreadable as he pulled into the parking spot that Edward had just vacated, Charlie right behind him. Judging by the look on his face, though, I would have to say that he knew exactly who I had been with . . . or rather, what I had been with.
"Hey, Susan," Charlie greeted me the moment that he climbed out of his car while the two visitors were getting out of their truck. Actually, the son was just getting out, grabbing a wheelchair out from the back for his father to get into. "How was school, kiddo? Who was that you were just with?" he asked curiously.
"Uh . . . just a friend," I said quickly, not wanting to get into an explanation, especially if I was right and Billy knew exactly who and what the Cullens were.
"Oh." Charlie looked puzzled, but he didn't press it as he looked towards the two visitors. "Well, I'd like you to meet my very good friend Billy Black and his son Jacob. Guys, this is Susan."
"Hi, nice to meet you," I said, moving forward to accept Billy's hand and then Jacob's.
"A pleasure," Billy said, though he was regarding me searchingly. "I was wondering when we would finally get to meet you. Charlie here hasn't shut up since he found out that you were coming here." He grinned suddenly towards Charlie, who rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, we were planning on watching the game," Charlie said, shooting his friend a dirty look. "You're welcome to join us if you want to."
But of course, he knew by now that I wasn't exactly a sports fan. I could watch them on occasion, but I couldn't watch them for very long without getting antsy. So rather than agree, I just waved my hand away.
"That's okay, I've got homework to do anyway," I said, shrugging. It wasn't a lie; I did have a couple of chapters to read for English, plus a history report to write. "So I'll probably be stuck in my room all night away. You guys have fun."
I could feel Billy's gaze on me the whole time that I was unlocking the door and letting the guys inside, even while Charlie was setting up the television and I had disappeared into the kitchen to grab something to eat. I hadn't eaten much lunch and I was starving.
"You guys want something to eat?" I offered, not wanting to be rude. "Uncle Charlie?"
"No, we're fine, thank you," Billy said while Charlie took me up on my offer and I disappeared into the kitchen, making a couple of turkey and cheese sandwiches and putting some chips in the bowl, taking it out to the guys before I headed upstairs with my sandwich.
As it was, I didn't get as much homework done as I would have liked; I managed to get about half of the history report done and finished about half of the chapters for English before Charlie insisted that I come downstairs and have dinner with them. And I couldn't exactly refuse, even though every inch of me was screaming not to go down there. I couldn't refuse his request, considering I was going to have to eat dinner sometime.
So I forced myself to go downstairs and make polite conversation and be the dutiful niece, but I had the feeling that Billy was going to try and force me to talk to him and I was right.
After Jacob had gone back out to watch some more television and Charlie had excused himself to go to the bathroom, Billy seized his chance before I could make my escape.
"Susan," he said as I was cleaning up the plates. I glanced back at him. "I noticed this afternoon that you were in the company of one of the Cullens."
"Yes," I said, my voice even. "I was."
If he was surprised by my calm admission, he didn't show it, just met my blue-green eyes seriously. "If you don't mind my saying so, I don't think that's the best idea," he informed me. "The Cullens are not the best people that you should be getting involved in."
"And maybe I know some things that you don't," I replied, turning away from him and starting to run the sink full of water.
"The Cullens are dangerous, Susan," Billy said forcibly, as though trying to make me see sense by sheer will. His dark eyes were serious. "More dangerous than you could possibly understand."
"See, you're wrong there, too," I said pleasantly, looking back him. "I know exactly how dangerous they are and I'm not about to deny that fact, but let us be perfectly clear about something, Mr. Black: they are not the most dangerous thing out there. Pretty far from, actually."
Billy sat back in his chair, regarding me suspiciously. "They are not the first legendary creatures that you've come across, are they?"
"That," I said delicately, "is not something that I'm planning on discussing. My past is not something that I'm going to up and share with anybody, with all due respect. But let's make something clear, Mr. Black. I can decide for myself who and what is dangerous, because believe me, I've had my fair share of danger in my life and the Cullens are far from the most dangerous things that I've seen."
He studied me intently then sighed. "I suppose that I'm not going to be able to change your mind about this."
"No. I appreciate the concern, but I am more than capable of taking care of myself."
"But I will tell you that if you are ever in need of our assistance, we will help you. Charlie is my best friend and if you ever need help, we will be more than happy to help you," Billy told me. "I know that you think otherwise, but if you ever need help . . . we'll be waiting."
"You'll be waiting for a long time, Mr. Black. This is my life and I'm gonna decide how I'm going to live it."
"Just so long as you know that you have someone to turn to, should things not go as you plan."
I shrugged. "Most of the time, stuff rarely goes the way that I plan. I always seem to find a way out of the trouble that I get myself into."
Billy studied me. I think he was trying to figure out whether or not I was joking, but he just shrugged and nodded, not saying another word, but that might have been because Charlie came back into the room.
The Blacks stayed for awhile longer, but Billy didn't say another word to me and certainly didn't say anything to Charlie, but that was only probably because Charlie was already kind of mad at him for being prejudiced against the Cullens, as Jacob explained to me when Billy sent him to go help me do the dishes.
"So Seth Clearwater's been talking about you ever since you came down to the reservation that day," Jacob told me with a grin. "I think that he might have a little bit of a crush on you."
"Oh, is that so?" I said, chuckling. "Well, you should probably tell him that I've already been taken. Don't be mean, though. He's a sweet kid. He actually kind of reminds me of my brother."
"You got a brother?"
"Well . . . half-brother, technically. Percy and I share the same father," I explained, shrugging. Speaking of which, I should probably give him a call later, just so he could be reassured that I hadn't been killed since the last time I called him.
And to prevent him from taking Blackjack out here and whisk me away back to New York where he could keep an eye on me.
"Hey, I'm sorry if my dad was giving you any trouble earlier," Jacob said unexpectedly. "He offered to pay me twenty bucks if I would clear the room so he could talk to you."
I chuckled. "Well, don't worry about it. He's a pretty decent guy and his heart was in the right place."
"Let me guess, he was telling you stay away from Cullen?" I looked around at him in surprise and Jacob laughed. "Dad's pretty superstitious and takes all of those old legends to heart. I wouldn't listen to what he was telling you too much if I were you."
"Don't worry about it, Jacob," I assured him. "He and I reached an understanding. And tell him to pay up," I added, grinning at him.
"Will do," Jacob promised.
We chatted for a little while longer, but it wasn't too long before the Blacks had to leave. I said goodbye to them and bid Charlie good night, under the pretence of doing my English reading, but really, I wanted to get upstairs as soon as possible. I was already feeling that tingling feeling, the electric shock that meant Edward was nearby.
Sure enough, the moment that I stepped into my bedroom, Edward was sitting cross-legged on my bed.
"So you want to explain why exactly you had to take off as soon as they got here?" I asked him curiously, closing the door behind him and crawling onto the bed. Edward scooped me up, depositing me into his lap and playing with my hair affectionately.
"Well, mostly because the Quileutes aren't exactly friendly towards us," he explained. "And they have a long memory, which is why we don't go on to their lands. Most of the stories are nothing but legends now, but the oldest of them are bound to remember the old stories. We formed a treaty with them the last time that we were here."
"Yeah, one of the local boys Seth Clearwater told me about that," I said, shrugging. He looked at me in surprise. "He said that your family was here before and you guys made a treaty with them. So long as you kept off of their lands, they wouldn't reveal your true identities."
"That was only part of it," Edward said matter-of-factly. "The other part of the treaty was that we couldn't bite or turn another human or the truce would be over."
"Wow," I muttered. "So basically, it was just 'no screw ups or we're going to declare war on you.'"
Edward smiled. "Basically. That was out of line, though; he shouldn't have warned you to stay away from us," he muttered.
"I should have known that you would be eavesdropping," I complained. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that that's quite rude?"
"No," Edward said, chuckling.
"Forget about it; I let him know, in a very ladylike manner, that I appreciated the advice, but I could take care of myself."
"Ladylike?" Edward looked incredulous and had trouble keeping a straight face.
"Hey, I can be ladylike if I want to," I said, giving him a look, but he just kept smirking, his golden eyes amused. "Shut up."
"Yes, ma'am," he said obediently. "So . . . I was thinking that maybe you'd like to meet my family." I looked at him, shocked. "Maybe tomorrow, after school?" he offered.
"Um . . . do you really think that's the best idea?" I asked uncertainly. "I mean, your brothers and sisters have exactly warmed up to me." I certainly didn't want to go where I was unwelcome. "And what about Valentine's warning? We can't just ignore it."
"We're not going to," he assured me. "But Alice will keep an eye on things and warn us if she sees any trouble heading our way. And don't worry about my family; I've already talked to them and they're up to date on everything. They'll be good, I promise."
I took a deep breath, suddenly nervous about meeting his family. But I also realised that I did want to meet them.
"Aphrodite sure knows how to pick them," I muttered. I would bet my last fifty bucks that I had in my bank account that this was what the goddess had been planning when I came here. I'm pretty sure that this is what she had told me about.
Edward frowned. "What?"
"Nothing," I said too quickly. "I'll tell you one day, when I think that you're ready to hear it." I took a deep breath. "Okay, tomorrow it is. And by everything, do you mean everything?"
"Everything," Edward promised. "Beautiful, demigod daughter of the Sea God."