A/N YAY! I got more reviews (hyperactive much?) So, I'm supposed to do a dis-claim-er. I am not JP or SM, moreover, I never have been, and I never will be. (Remember Max in the third book. . .hehe?) Oh, and Stop. But don't Stare Please (urg. . .long name) please tell me the name of your story because there's thousands of Twilight things. Remember, review! It gives me the warm fuzzies! But I think I should stop writing so much all at once (the quality of my writing will go down r-r-e-a-l-l-y fast) so I'm going to wait until I have five more reviews (by different people than I've been getting, although thank you). Urg. I've been blabbing so much! On with the story!

MAX POV

"What in the world are you doing here, Jeb?" I snapped, propping my hands on my hips.

"Fang called me." He said.

I turned my glared to Fang, shocked. How could he do this to me? "Fang, why?" I said.

Fang's gaze met mine. "Max, you're going to die in eleven days unless Jeb deactivates your expiration date. It's the only way you'll survive."

"But. . " Urg. I just. . didn't trust Jeb. At all. Angel, you get anything from him? I asked.

No, her reply came regretfully. As always.

Jeb was watching me. "It's been so long, Max. Four years. You've really grown up!" I hadn't seen Jeb since we ditched the Lerner school.

I narrowed my eyes at him, ready to spit fire or something. I turned around to my flock. "How long has he been here?" I asked quietly.

"Two days!" Alice squealed. She handed me a plate of pancakes. My stomach rumbled. I was starving. I looked down at the pancakes, and shrugged, and started eating. My flock had been scarfing them down for three days, so I assumed they were all right. Even if I was going to die, I still needed food.

"Where's Total?" I asked Angel, desperately hoping that she'd left him behind.

Angel frowned as she read my mind. "Total's asleep. Upstairs." She knew that I didn't exactly approve of Total. I mean, the dog talked way more than Nudge and was full of himself.

"And why am I wearing these clothes?" I asked, looking down at the hideous things I was wearing. Ga. A skirt. I was wearing a skirt. Not only a skirt. A miniskirt.

"Alice dressed you," A vampire said apologetically. I looked up at her. She had long dark hair that fell down to her waist, and was very pretty. "Hello," The vampire said, stretching out a hand. "I'm Bella."

"You already know me. I'm Max," I said, shaking hands with her. Her hand was icy cold, but I managed to resist flinching. I was feeling pretty calm, despite the fact that I was in a room full of vampires and my (urg) father. The flock was alive, we had food, and no one was pulling out a taser.

I turned back to Jeb. "So, Jeb, what's your grand plan for deactivating my expiration date?" I ate while I stood, my stomach grumbling.

Jeb hesitated. "Well, I don't have the technology on me. It's something that's part of your brain; when you turn a certain age, it'll go off and you'll die. It's sort of like an. . .aneurism."

"What the hell is an aneurism?" I snapped, forgetting to watch my language. Oops. I covered my mouth. After all, Angel and Gazzy were still little kids.

"Basically, an aneurism is a swelling of blood vessels in your brain. When it ruptures, you die. All experiments are built with an aneurism in your brain. When they reach a pre-programmed age, it will start to swell and eventually rupture. What I need to do is program the technology so that your blood vessels will start to swell at say, two hundred years old. You probably won't live that long, so you won't have to worry about that."

"Huh." I sort of got that. The vampires were nodding, understanding everything, which made me feel like an idiot. Well, they'd probably lived for ten million years. "So, that's all you need to do? Where's the technology for it?"

"In two places," Jeb said, still hesitant. "One place it's in. . .the School."

"No!" I snapped. "Never! I'm NOT going back to the School. I'd rather die!"

Jeb nodded, understanding. "Although if you don't get this taken care of, Max, you'll all die."

Huh? "What?"

"All of you have these pre-programmed expiration dates in you. I need to deal with all of you at once, and I needed to move your expiration dates."

I scowled. "Well, we're not going back to the School. Where's the other place that has the technology."

"No," Edward, the mind-reading vamp, said suddenly. "Not there, Batchelder. That place is unsafe. Are you sure the technology isn't somewhere else?"

"Only there and at the School," Jeb replied, seemingly unperturbed by having a conversation with a guy reading his mind. Well, I did it all the time. It wasn't so hard once you got used to it.

"What's so bad about Volterra?" Angel asked Edward, frowning. Her eyes widened as they had what appeared to be a conversation. "Oh!" She exclaimed. "That's not good. . .but there's no other place."

I grew impatient. "What are you talking about?" I asked Angel.

Angel looked up at me. "Volterra is a place where the. . .royal vampires live! Max, and there's a lot of them! And they drink human blood!"

I frowned. "Don't all vampires drink human blood?"

Carlisle shook his head from where he stood by the sink. "No. We drink the blood of animals."

I thought about that for a moment. Vampires that drank the blood of animals? Well, if I was going to believe in vampires, why couldn't I believe in anything.

I shook my head. "Wait. Is the place in Volterra a branch of Itex?"

"Yes," Jeb said. "But it was shut down years ago, although the technology should still be there."

I shook my head, thinking. On one hand-bloodthirsty royal vampires. On the other hand-the school. This was a difficult decision. I turned to Fang, who had been quiet the whole time.

"What do you guys think?" I said aloud.

"You should go to the School. I've heard a lot about it, but it certainly can't be as bad as the Volturi," The motherly-looking vampire advised us.

"Like I care," The barbie vampire muttered, crossing her arms. I instantly disliked her.

The other vampires muttered that, "Volterra isn't a safe place."

"No way are we going back to the school," Fang muttered, lips pressed tightly together.

"Oh my god Max this is such a tough decision! I think we should go to Volterra because I've never been to Italy and I've heard its cool do you think we could get a plane again that would be so awesome to fly over the Pacific mmph!" Thankfully, Iggy put his hand over her mouth.

"Ig? Gazzy? What about you?" I asked.

Iggy frowned, thinking. "Hm. Well, if we go to the School, we can blow it up when we're done."

"But," Gazzy said, also frowning, copying Iggy, "If we go to Volterra, we can blow it up."

"Excellent idea, my apprentice," Iggy said, slapping Gazzy a high-five. I shot Fang a glance. "How many bombs did they make while I was asleep?" I muttered.

"I lost track," Fang muttered back to me. Great. Just great.

"Angel, what do you want to do?" I asked her gently.

She looked up at me with wide blue eyes. "I don't ever want to go back to the school, Max. Not ever. Never." I nodded tightly.

"I'll agree with Angel," Total said, yawning in a way that only a small, black scottie can yawn. He trotted down the stairs and hopped into her arms. "I can use this as a chance to bite some vampire ankles!" I rolled my eyes at his arrogance.

"I don't want to go back to the school," I said, looking at the Cullens. "I think we're going to Volterra. Can you please give me some new clothes?" I shot daggers at Alice. She giggled. "And thanks for all your help."

"Wait!" Edward exclaimed. "If you're going to Volterra, at least let some of us come with you. To protect you."

I glared at him. "What do you mean, protect us? We're perfectly capable of protecting ourselves." I propped my hands on my hips and strengthened my glare.

"Not against vampires."

I scowled. "Oh, you think you're so good, huh?"

"Max," Angel said. I looked down at her. "He's right. We're strong and can fly and stuff, but the vampires in Volterra are stronger."

I surpressed a groan. "Fine. Some of you can come. Only some."

"How about we all go?" Carlisle suggested. My eyes widened. Had he just completely ignored me? Gr. . .

"Good idea! Sounds like fun! Body guards to the bird kids!" The largest, bearlike vampire said, punching the air with his fists.

"No, absolutely not! I forbid you to come with us!" I snapped, knowing that it would do no good.

Alice's eyes lost their focus for a moment. She blinked and grinned. "Yay! We're all coming with you!"

"What makes you say that?" I snarled.

"I had a vision!" She squealed. Huh? Vision? Well, I'd heard of weirder things. I shook my head and turned to Carlisle. "Um. . .doc, then, can you get us some tickets?"

He smiled. "Absolutely. We can be heading out today."

And that's how I left the continental U.S. for the second time in my life.

Phew! I hope this isn't totally cliched yet! (I live in fear of cliches.) Please read and review. Please. Please. Man, I've written so much today.