Midnight Star

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Fourteen: A Visit From a Goddess

Edward did not take the news well when he slipped into my open window that night. I was kind of reluctant to tell him considering that Charlie was sleeping in the next room, but he did keep the explosion minimal. As soon as I told him what I had figured out, his eyes grew black with a mixture of worry and fury and he kept his distance from me until he had gotten his temper under control, staying on the other side of the room until he had reined it in.

And really, who could blame him? The idea that the vampires that had slowly been creeping towards Forks ever since I had arrived in town were actually here because they were after me was not at all comforting.

But even Edward admitted that my logic made sense. I've never been a big believer of coincidences. Two vampires—or at least, they assumed it was only two of them; it could very well be more than that—starting a killing spree almost as soon as I arrive in Forks, someone compelling Tyler to hit me with that van, the weird phone calls that I had been getting lately, and then, tonight, someone looking into my window, someone with red eyes, which was the usual colour of vampires' eyes . . . no way, there was no possible way that it could be mere coincidence.

There was most definitely a connection between the three events. No one could dispute the facts, not once they had been laid out in front of them.

As a result of my discovery, Edward became highly overprotective of me, refusing to let me go anywhere by myself. It was a tad annoying and a little embarrassing to have him fussing over me at every moment. He wouldn't even let me go to the bathroom alone; he had Alice go with me. And he had her watching my every movement, just in case the vampires happened to show up whenever they weren't around.

But even with him being the protective boyfriend—gods, I loved saying that word. It brought a smile to my face every time that I so much as thought it—and a couple of homicidal vampires hanging around, I felt giddy and excited as the homecoming dance drew nearer and I found myself looking forward to going to the dance, which was highly unusual for me. This time was different, though; I was going with the one guy that I actually wanted to spend it with.

Even though I had been forewarned, Alice came over roughly about two hours before Edward was supposed to pick me up to help me get ready. I tried to tell her that I didn't need that long to get ready, but she refused to let me out of her grip. I was practically kept under lock and key as she pinned me to the chair and forced me to stay completely still while she worked her magic.

Charlie probably though that I was being tortured or something, because he knocked on my door more than once just to make sure that everything was all right.

When she was done and turned me around to face the mirror, I barely even recognised myself. It took me a full minute to find any of my own features in the radiant girl's face. My dark brown hair was set in an exotic hairstyle that I never would have been able to do on my own, with wisps of curls falling casually into my face, which she had perfected with just the right touch of make-up. Not too much, but enough to make me gap at my reflection, stunned.

If any of my friends back at camp had seen me, they probably would have fallen over in shock. I never wore make-up and dresses were out of my league. Anyway, it's way too hard to fight monsters when you're in a skirt. I always wondered how Valentine managed.

I descended the steps in my formal attire, climbing down to where Edward and Charlie were waiting for me. Edward gazed at me in a way that no boy had ever looked at me before . . . it was like he was looking at an angel or a goddess.

I blushed crimson as he took my hand, unable to suppress a smile as he tucked my arm underneath his. Charlie had his camera all ready, snapping a few shots for "mementos," as he referred to it, but I had a feeling that he was going to send them to my mom.

Not that she would appreciate the gesture, but he just wanted to remind her that she had another daughter that she had conveniently forgotten about, a daughter who was growing up to be a young woman with her first real boyfriend. Walking into the gymnasium felt like I stepped out of the real world and into a fairy tale as Edward and I stepped into the gym, which had been completely decorated, looking more fit for a ball than a high school dance. It was hard to believe that they could take something so ordinary like the gymnasium and make it as beautiful as they did, but somehow they managed.

As promised, the rest of his siblings were there. As always, Rosalie scowled at me as soon as she saw me, but other than that, she didn't say anything, too busy with Emmett to be concerned with me, which was more of a relief than I wanted to admit. She looked absolutely radiant and the envy of almost every single girl there.

I hardly even noticed anyone else, though, my attention was focused solely on Edward the entire time that we danced together, linked together in perfect harmony, both of us moving as the other one did. If Mike and all of the other boys who'd asked me to the dance were upset about my tiny lie about having a friend coming out of town, I didn't notice. I did feel a teensy bit guilty about having lied to them, but if I had say yes to any of them, I would have felt even more guilty, because I knew that they weren't who I wanted to be with. So basically, it was just a never-ending cycle.

For the first time in almost three days, Edward began to relax, much to my relief. I knew that he had been looking to this dance and going to it with me, which was both flattering and exhilarating. It would have been such a shame for him to miss out on an experience that he had been looking forward to just because a bunch of vampires were looking for me. (I had opted not to tell him "So what else is new?" I didn't think that he would be too happy about the idea that I was used to people hunting me.)

As we sway around the room, barely even noticing anyone else in the room, our eyes on each other, both of us drinking in the sight of the other, Edward said softly, "Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?"

"Maybe once or twice," I replied, smiling. "And you look very handsome yourself, mister."

And it was true; I don't know how it was possibly that he could look even more handsome than he already was, but he managed to pull it off. Of course, he had Alice in the house, who was an even more fashion fanatic than Valentine was, so that might have helped.

It was a night so unlike anything that I had ever experienced before and so away from the supernatural world that I had engulfed myself in for so long . . . even though my boyfriend and I weren't exactly normal, it was nice to be able to have a normal night like that dance. To just go to a dance with my boyfriend . . . it was a night that I never thought I would ever experience and to be completely honest, it was something that I really needed. Forget for a little while that I was the demigod daughter of Poseidon and just be a normal girl, even if it was just for a little while. It was nice . . .

Of course, I should have known that it wouldn't last. I should have known that the normalcy would only last for a little while.

It was the last dance, a soft, wistful tune, filled with longing and hope and joy and happiness. My head was lying on Edward's shoulder as he held me against him, our hands entwined as he took the lead, his eyes closed as his chin lay on top of my crown.

My eyes were halfway closed, just allowing myself to dwell in the moment. Just for that moment, just that one moment, my whole world was perfect and I never wanted it to end.

But that's the thing about perfect moments. Sooner or later, they always end.

And all it took was for those last few chords to stop and my head to lift up and my eyes opened.

There was a woman making her way through the crowd towards Edward and me, her gaze hidden behind sunglasses, but I could sense power from her, even at the distance and I tensed automatically.

Sensing my reaction, Edward pushed me behind him as she approached, a deep growl escaping from deep within his throat.

"Calm yourself, Cold One," the woman said. I frowned as soon as she spoke; something about her voice sounded familiar, as though I had heard it before and not that long ago. "I mean no harm to you or your mate." Edward hesitated, but lowered his defences slightly as she turned to me. "Come with me, Susan Dawson."

"Why?" I asked, not as willing to lower my guard as my boyfriend was.

The woman sighed and turned back to me, lifting her sunglasses to reveal startling grey eyes . . . Annabeth's eyes . . . Stefan's eyes . . . at once, I realised who this was.

"Come with me, Susan Dawson," she said again, inclining her head for me to follow her.

"Who is she?" Edward murmured to me.

I gulped, knowing that this could come from no good. Athena didn't particularly like Percy or me because of an age-old rivalry with our father and she really didn't like the fact that my brother was dating her daughter. Me, she really detested because she thought that I was the reason behind her son's treachery. Besides, gods never sought out heroes for no good reason.

"Athena," I muttered back to him. "I'd better go see what she wants."

Edward tightened his grip on me only for a moment before he released me, obviously recognising that I needed to talk to her or else she would get mad. And you don't want to get a god mad; they tend to blow stuff up when they do. Literally.

Hitching up my skirt, I hurried through the gymnasium, following where Athena had gone to, slipping out the door and saw her waiting outside for me. Taking a deep breath, I made my way towards her.

"You choose your friends very poorly, daughter of Poseidon," she commented coolly, not turning around to face me, her dark hair shimmering underneath the streetlight. "Is it in your nature now to befriend monsters instead of fighting them?"

I took a deep breath, choosing my words very carefully before I spoke. "That depends on your definition of monster, my lady," I said courteously. "I don't believe that what a person is should define them as human or inhuman. Being human isn't about what you are; it's about who you are. And the Cullens have never done anything to hurt me. With all due respect, they are no more monsters than you or I are."

Her lips thinned as she turned to look at me directly. "Perhaps," she responded coolly, "but you walk a thin line when you ally yourself with vampires."

"My lady, I doubt that you sought me out just to discuss our opposite views on my boyfriend and his family," I replied.

"No," Athena agreed. "I suppose you and I will have to agree to disagree on that front, but I would advise you to think long and hard as you go down this path. This is one fork in the road that you can never come back from. Once you go down it, there is no turning back."

"And I have made my decision," I said quietly, a little sick of people trying to tell me what to do when it came to Edward. Billy, Annabeth, and now Athena. I wasn't some little kid who didn't know what she was getting herself into; I was sixteen years old, for crying out loud!

"All the more reason for you to think about that decision," Athena replied coolly. "But I didn't come here to discuss that. I came here to discuss my son."

I raised my eyebrows; of all the things I had expected her to say, I wasn't expecting that. "Stefan?" I sought to confirm and she nodded, watching me closely. "What about him? I haven't seen him since he was banished from camp over a year ago. I don't know where he is and to be honest, I don't really want to see him again."

"That decision is no longer in your hands."

I hesitated, uncertain. "What do you mean?"

"He is looking for you, even now as we speak," Athena replied, her gaze staring off into the distance. "My son has fallen very far since last you saw him . . . so far that I think he may never recover from."

"And you want me to do something about that," I said with a sigh. "Lady Athena, with all due respect, I can't do that."

"Can't or won't?"

There was nothing I could say to that; she wasn't wrong. "Look, Stefan made his choice three years ago, when he decided to ally himself with Luke and the Titans. He made the choice to betray Olympus, betray all of us, and now you want me to help me because he didn't think this all the way through? I'm sorry, I can't do that," I insisted stubbornly. "Let him come after me if he wants, but I can take him. I've fought him before and I'll fight him again, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to help him. He made his choice. And I made mine," I added, turning away from the goddess of wisdom.

"And I would advise you not to turn your back on him," Athena warned me. I stopped where I was. "He has grown more powerful than the last time that you saw him. You won't be able to fight him as you did the last time you defeated him."

Counting silently under my breath in Ancient Greek, I slowly turned around to face Athena again. "Milady, I came here to live as normal a life as possible and I am doing that, with my friends, with my boyfriend. The last thing that I want is to get involved in Stefan Dalloway again. He betrayed me, not the other way around. I'm sorry, but I can't help. If he comes, then he's going to find himself in more trouble than he can get himself out of."

"If any of your . . . friends strike my son down, then I assure you that they will be struck down with him," Athena said quietly.

"It wasn't them that I was talking about," I retorted. "Lady Athena, I made the choice when I was fourteen not to stop Stefan when I had the chance and a lot of people died because of that choice. And now you want me to do what exactly? Save him? I'm sorry, but I think that's beyond our capabilities. If he comes after me or any of my friends, I'm going to stop him by whatever means necessary. He killed Peter and he as good as killed Aria, too. If he hadn't died, she never would have gone back home and she never would have been ensnared into Medusa's lair."

Athena's grey eyes blazed with power as she took a step towards me and I gulped. The last thing I wanted to do was make the goddess of wisdom an enemy, because she could be a terrible enemy. If she wanted to destroy me, then she would get it done and do it in a way that I would never be able to escape from him.

"You chose to ally yourself with vampires, daughter of Poseidon," she said quietly, "and you walk a very thin line. My son has chosen exile and in so doing, he has fallen much further than anyone could have dreamed possible. Certainly I never anticipated it."

"What do you want from me?" I asked in exasperation, throwing up my hands. "Stefan is my enemy now, not my friend. He turned from us a long time ago, before I even met him. He was working with Luke long before I arrived at camp. What do you expect me to do? Stefan turned his back on Olympus before he even met me."

"I am aware of the facts, Susan Dawson," Athena replied. "It has not been so long that I have forgotten the past. I know my son is wilful and headstrong, capable of great destruction if he sets his mind to it, and he was always very good at convincing people to do things, even if they didn't want to do them." If I had been paying a bit more attention to her instead of growing more and more exasperated, then I would have realised that she had been trying to give me a clue. "That has not changed; if anything, it has been amplified. He now walks a similar path to yours."

"What? Has he fallen in love with a vampire too?" I asked, snorting, but Athena wasn't smiling and my laughter fell away quickly. "My lady, what exactly is it that you want me to do? You can't seriously expect me to convince Stefan to go back to camp."

"He would no longer be welcomed there, even if he begged my father's forgiveness for what he has done in the past," Athena said grimly. "Even if Zeus did forgive him for the crimes he committed, Stefan would no longer be welcomed at camp."

"Why?" I asked softly.

"You'll find out soon enough," Athena answered briskly. "Help my son in any way that you can. And if he cannot be stopped, if you cannot make him see sense, then you will have to do what you have to do."

"The ultimate showdown," I said. "Daughter of Poseidon against the son of Athena. It's seems almost poetic," I muttered grimly. Athena didn't smile, but she nodded solemnly. "I don't suppose you want to fill me in on any of the details, do you?"

"Tell me, daughter of Poseidon," Athena said, "why do you always ask questions to which you already know the answer?"

"But I don't know!" I protested. "I don't know what's happened to Stefan or why you're so desperate for my help!"

Athena just gave me a searching look. "I'm putting my trust in you, Susan Dawson," she said quietly. "I would advise you not to let me down. If you cannot save him, then . . ." Her voice trailed off for a moment. "Then I would advise you not to hesitate as you did two years ago. Your blade knows what to do; all you have to do is trust in it."

Before I could protest, she began to glow and I just barely managed to avert my eyes as she transformed into her godly form, which is lethal to any human who gazes upon it, and she disappeared from sight.

"So who is this Stefan Dalloway anyway?" Edward inquired as we were walking up the hillside towards the clearing that he had taken me to the night that we had learned each other's true identities. The day was sunny and bright, so his family was staying indoors, but as he had promised me that he would show me what he looked like in the sunlight, he showed up at my doorstep bright and early and began driving to our spot.

"He's an old friend," I confessed. I'd told him everything about my conversation with Athena the night before, but hadn't exactly given him all of the details. I wasn't sure how much I should tell him. "He was my first friend at camp, taught me how to use a sword, and showed me the ropes when I was learning the truth about my dad. And when I went on a couple quests, he usually went on them with me. Two years ago, though, we found out that Stefan was spying on the camp for Luke and . . . well, let's say that things didn't end well."

Edward studied my expression carefully. "You loved him," he observed and I was surprised that there was a touch of jealousy etched in his tone.

I shook my head. "No," I protested. "Maybe I could have loved him . . . he and I had been friends for so long that I think we both thought we owed it to ourselves to see if it could become something more, but it never really happened. When I found out he had betrayed me, turned his back on me, and found out that our whole friendship had been a lie . . . it went downhill pretty fast. Half the reason my friends were killed was because he fed information to Kronos about which friends he should go after, which ones would cause me the most pain and which ones I might do anything to save." I sighed, lacing our fingers together. "But even if things had gone a different way, I don't think we would have ended up together. He and I were a bad match from the start. Neither one of us could ever keep our tempers; we would have ended up killing each other. And there just . . . it wasn't passionate," I said at last, stopping and forcing him to look at me. "I love you, Edward. You've got nothing to worry about. Not by a long shot," I promised.

He smiled and kissed me, passionately and fervently as wind blew through the trees. "All right," he said, sighing. "So what do you think he wants?"

"Me," I confessed, "dead." Edward growled protectively under his breath, his eyes going pitch black, and I laughed, touching his face gently, pulling the anger away from him as easily as though I were moving water. "You don't need to worry about me; I can take care of myself. Stefan's a good swordsman, but he's got nowhere near my skill. I can take him," I assured him.

"You won't need to," Edward replied firmly. "We'll deal when him when he decides to come."

"Edward, you have enough to worry about with this vampire on the loose," I reminded him. "I'm not some damsel in distress that needs a prince to rescue her. We're a team. Divide and conquer, remember?" I said patiently. "I can deal with Stefan; you just worry about that rogue vampire."

"I don't like it," Edward replied uneasily.

"And you worry too much; have I told you that lately?" I inquired as I moved around him, making my way uphill again. "Besides, Stefan isn't fool enough to try and challenge me here, where my dad has so much influence. Anyone would be crazy to try and kill a daughter of Poseidon here. Now stop worrying; I thought we agreed that this was going to be a worry-free weekend."

"That was before Athena showed up," Edward sighed, but he obeyed, quickening his speed and overtaking me before I had even taken another step, circling around me and scooping me up into his arms, planting a kiss onto my neck. I shivered at the feel of it.

"You play dirty," I muttered as I lay comfortably in his arms while he easily carried me up the hillside, only letting me down when we had reached the clearing at the top of the mountains. The flowers had faded slightly with the coming winter, but were still beautiful, bathed in sunlight.

I smiled as I stepped out into the clearing and turned back to him, where he was remaining in the shadows, his face unreadable as he took a deep, unnecessary breath before closing his eyes and made his way out of the forest that ran around us and stepped out of the shadows, directly into the sunlight and I gasped with shock and surprise.

It was nothing like I could have imagined.

His skin glittered like a thousand diamonds, sparkling and radiating for the whole world to see and it was incredible that no one could see if, even as far up as the mountain as we were. No wonder vampires couldn't go out during the daylight; everyone could see, as soon as the sun touched them, that they weren't normal, that they weren't human.

Edward made his way towards me, his expression unreadable as I reached out and touched his skin, marvelling at the way that his skin glittered before I looked back up at him, smiling at him. "I don't see any difference," I whispered to him.

"Then you don't see things clearly," he said quietly. "This is the skin of a killer, Susan, don't forget that."

"And maybe," I replied, "I see things more clearly than you do."

"Quite impossible, seeing as I'm a vampire," he countered, but his glittering face was smiling as he bent down to kiss me and I pulled him closer to me, deepening the kiss as he lowered me into the flowers, gently placing me onto the ground.

We were so immersed in our passion, in our make-out session, that neither one of us noticed that we were being watched.

By a pair of crimson eyes belonging to another vampire standing not so very far away from eyes, watching our every move and plotting his own.

AN: Hey, guys, I'm a really sorry for the long update, but I've been trying to work on my own stories, not fanfiction, so I've kind of been neglecting any stories here. But you have my best friend to thank, because she keeps bugging me to update this story and won't let up until I do so. So I'm going to try to work on this story as well as my own. So let's hope that my muses keep on this one as well as my others.

Anyway, sorry again and please review, because I really love those!

Lady Dawson