Chapter 18

Cyrus

My head snapped up. I could feel the power radiating from the body. I have to get to that body! Releasing the blonde woman I held in my grasp, her body sucked dry, I stood. The blood dripped down my chin, despite my many years of vampire-hood. I liked eating like this. It made me feel powerful, knowing that the blood coursing over my skin was not my own, but the blood of my victims.

Leaving the young woman lying in a crumpled pile, I left the alley and raced into the night, following the pulling sensation that would bring me closer to my quarry. I hadn't intended on moving so quickly, but the pulling had gotten stronger as I grew less and less thirsty.

As I ran through the night, I smirked to myself. Vampires feared me. They feared my powers. They feared the animal within me. I loved their fear. I almost felt bad for the Volturi. They couldn't have me. I didn't want to be tied down to such a monarchy. I liked being my own person. I liked being able to roam freely, and with the Volturi as my masters, that would not be possible.

With each passing day, I grew closer and closer to that one body. It dragged me throughout the day and night, not allowing a single hour to pass that I did not feel the intense pull at being closer to it. When I find that body… I pity whoever is closest.

Being able to raise the dead was a gift I had seen in no other, not even my sire. I had never heard of another vampire with my particular powers. Not only could I raise the dead, but my second ability was more common. I could sense the powers that a mortal or an immortal have. I have heard of, and can name, at least one other vampire with that basis of power. A vegetarian in Denali can sense the abilities a human would have as an immortal and the abilities another vampire has. He worked with the Volturi for a bit, but he found his mate, Carmen, and left with her, moving in with the Denali coven.

From what I could tell, this human would be a very interesting specimen once it joined the legion of the undead. From the distance still between us, I could not tell if the human was dead or not. I just felt the pull. From the strength of the pull, I knew it was a special human, whoever it was.

On my fifth day of travel, I entered the town called Forks. What an interesting name for a town. Washington certainly is an interesting place. I had heard that the Cullens, another 'vegetarian' coven, lived here. How they could live in one place and drink the blood of animals is beyond me. Why waste the human blood that is so often paraded right under their noses?

Edward

"Alice? Alice what do you see?" Jasper sounded frantic. I set Renesmee down and listened to the conversation below.

"Something's changed," Alice murmured. "He's moving quickly. He isn't planning on stopping until he reaches us. He seems… intent on something. Or someone?" She sounded unsure. I went quickly down the stairs and sat on her other side, Jasper already occupying the seat to her right.

"The stranger," I said, looking at Alice. "When will he reach us?"

"Five days," she whispered. I caught the fear in her voice and met Jasper's eyes. He could feel the fear in her and he was concerned, just as I was.

"We had better warn the pack," I said. Alice nodded and gave me the silver cell phone with Max's number in it. I punched in the number and waited semi-patiently for the phone to be answered.

"Hello?" Max sounded as if she had just woken. I glanced at a clock and realized it was 4:37 a.m. Whoops.

"Max put Jacob on the line," I said quickly. Max grumbled something unintelligible.

"What," Jacob muttered darkly. He clearly did not like being woken up. I wondered vaguely how she had gotten to him so fast.

"That vampire we told you about? Our visitor? He's coming. We only have five days. Alice just saw him changing his plans. He hadn't been moving so quickly, but now he is. He'll reach us late that night." Jacob was silent. "Jacob?"

"Yeah, I heard you," he growled. "I'll tell Sam in a few hours, when normal people are awake." I ignored that remark and pushed on.

"Fine, but be sure to let us know if something else happens. We'll do the same," I assured him before another snide comment came through the line. Jacob grumbled and snapped the phone shut.

"Will they be ready?" Jasper asked softly. I shrugged.

"I'm not sure. Jacob and Sam should be able to get things under control, but I'm worried about this newcomer. We don't know who he is, yet he knows us? Why is he coming here? What could he possibly want?"

"I don't know," Alice put in, her voice thick with worry and frustration. "He hasn't planned accordingly to his intentions. He began moving faster, that's all I know."

"It's alright Alice," Jasper said soothingly, putting an arm around her shoulders. He hugged her lovingly and planted a kiss on her white forehead. "You're doing all you can."

"But is it enough?" she wondered aloud. Neither of us had an answer for that.

Max

For some reason, the trees surrounding me didn't seem as calming and protecting as they usually did. I raised my head and looked around me, automatically checking my surroundings. It was a hard habit to lose.

"Max? You coming?" Jacob looked back at me. I nodded and resumed following him. My first day walking again, and the forest feels… wrong. I don't like it.

"Does something feel weird to you?" I asked, jogging to walk beside Jacob. He looked down at me.

"No, why?" His black eyes looked with deep concern into my brown ones.

"No reason really," I said, shrugging. "I just feel like the forest isn't as safe as it normally is."

"Want me to check it out?" I thought about it and nodded. If Jacob and the pack went searching, I would feel a lot better. "I'll be back." I nodded again and watched his retreating figure.

Jacob was gone no longer than twenty minutes before I heard something I had hoped to never hear again. It was the sound of metal landing on the forest floor. I scanned the trees and spotted them, about a hundred feet away. They knew I was here. How did they know? And how are these Flyboys alive? I thought Jeb said they'd sent the entire force to Denali.

"We see you little piglet," a Flyboy snarled. The group moved in, running closer to me. I knew I could walk and run, but how would my fighting be this early in my recovery? Looks like I'll have a chance to find out. Great.

"Shit, guns," I muttered under my breath. Trust a machine to need another machine to do its dirty work. Damn Flyboys and their stupid guns.

"My, my, haven't you grown," a sickly sweet voice said from behind me. I spun and my stomach dropped. A group of Erasers was clustered not ten yards behind me. I counted ten Erasers and ten Flyboys quickly, assessing my situation. I was still too close to La Push to scream for the pack. If someone else heard me, I could jeopardize not only the pack, but the Cullens and me as well.

Two Flyboys charged me, breaking me out of my thoughts and into the here and now. Leaping into the air, I planted a roundhouse kick on one, and a nice punch in the face to the other. A swift kick to the back of the neck for both, and the metal freaks went down. An Eraser came at me from behind, thinking to surprise me. Don't they know I can hear them? Idiots…

I spun and knocked him backwards, crushing his face with a powerful kick that Emmett would have been proud of. It turned into absolute mayhem after that. I was throwing punches and kicks left, right, up, down, and everywhere in between. I was knocked around quite a bit myself, but I suppose that is what I get for being so out of shape.

Eventually, there were only a few Erasers and a single Flyboy left. I had stolen one of their machine guns and was duking it out with the remaining fighters that way. It was like a real war: me behind a fallen tree, the Erasers and Flyboy hiding behind trees, jumping out only to shoot at me. I managed to get a few good shots off, and they counted. I was running out of ammo with two opponents left, both with guns. I had just felled the last bozo when a sound behind me made me spin. Acting on instinct, I shot off a few, hitting my target at least twice.

I dropped the gun and leapt to my feet. The giant russet wolf in front of me crumpled to the ground, the huge head falling to the forest floor. I rushed to Jacob's side and lifted his head. His eyes were closed, his breathing suddenly labored. His body began shaking, and I didn't understand why until he shifted back into a human, black sweatpants dangling from one leg. I tried my best to ignore the fact that he was naked while I quickly slid his pants on.

Hoisting Jacob onto my shoulders, I made my way as quickly as I could back to the Black residence. The entire way, Jacob's labored breathing reminded me of what I had done. I tried to stop the tears, but I didn't even have a free hand to wipe the streams of salt water coursing down my face.

"Max?" Billy came into the room quickly when I banged into the front room of his house. "Jacob! Max what happened!"

I set Jacob on the couch and ran out, running as fast as I could to Sam's, praying he was there. Luckily, he and the rest of the pack were huddled in his kitchen. They looked up, surprised to see me.

"Max?" He looked behind me, and seeing no Jacob, became instantly concerned. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Jacob," I managed to choke out. The pack leapt up and they all ran with me to Jacob's house. I stopped outside and let them go in first. I didn't want to see their reactions to what I had done.

I cringed when I heard several roars of fury and more than a few cries of agony at seeing their brother lying on the couch, bleeding from two bullet wounds. I crept into the room, staying beside the door. Sam turned to me, fury and pain in his eyes.

"What happened?" he roared. I cringed.

"I didn't mean to," I whispered, my eyes locked on Jacob. I couldn't bear to look at Sam. "He came out of nowhere, and I was scared."

"You shot him?" Billy cried. I cringed again. "You shot my son!"

"I didn't mean to!" I cried, my voice breaking. "He confused me! I thought he was one of them!"

"One of who?" Sam growled, stepping towards me.

"An Eraser," I whimpered, shrinking away from him. He stopped, surprised.

"A what?"

"They're mutant wolf-men," I explained quickly. "They found me again… I didn't know… I thought it was an Eraser sneaking up on me!"

"Get out," Embry snarled, looking more menacing than I had ever seen him. I didn't hesitate. I fled, running as fast as I could away from the house full of Max-hating wolves.

I had no other option. I ran straight to the vampires. As I reached the steps, Edward and Bella met me outside. They looked concerned.

"Max! What's wrong?" Too many people have asked that in the last twenty minutes.

"I didn't mean to!" I blubbered, unable to control myself. "He… he snuck up on me! I didn't mean to shoot him!" They both went completely still.

"Who did you shoot Max?" Edward asked, trying to stay calm. He must have seen the pleading look on my face and guessed. "Jacob!" I nodded mutely, my lip quivering.

"What?" Bella screeched. "Max what have you done!"

"I thought he was an Eraser!" I moaned, unable to even think of stopping the tears now. I could tell that Edward was trying desperately to read my mind, seeing the fear and surprise I felt being cornered like that.

"Get Carlisle," Edward said, trying to calm Bella down. She was glaring furiously at me, her amber eyes piercing right through me. Nodding slowly, Bella ran into the house and came back out seconds later, the rest of the Cullens in her wake.

I caught a glimpse of the furious faces of Bella, Edward, and Renesmee, the uncaring in Rosalie and Emmett, and the confusion from the others. That was all I needed. I ran back to La Push, hoping something could be done. I felt the vampires following me, and I faintly wondered how Carlisle would help. He couldn't cross the line.

I burst through the front door and stopped. My hand flew to my mouth as I saw what I had done. Jacob was lying on the couch, two bleeding holes in his chest. The blood was coursing down his body and dripping onto the floor. No one seemed to care. Jacob's eyes were still closed, his chest moving up and down slowly with what could have been sleep, but wasn't. It was his breathing. He wasn't able to breathe correctly. I prayed, which I never do, that I didn't hit anything important.

Every pair of eyes turned to glare murderously at me. Even Emily was looking at me with a snarl on her half-perfect lips. Embry and Quil took a step towards me, their faces clear. They were not happy with me, and I had to pay.

"Embry," Sam snapped. "Quil. Get over here." The two boys glared at me for a few seconds longer before following orders and resuming their place at Jacob's side.

"What can I do to help?" Carlisle asked from the door. Not one of the people inside seemed surprised or angry to see him and the rest of the Cullens. Billy gave a short nod at Sam's questioning look. That's right, Billy is an Elder! He can make a decision without the other Elders if the need is great enough.

After the Cullens had joined the pack in the Black living room, I sidled out the door, hoping to catch a few minutes alone. I couldn't break down in front of everyone. It just wasn't O.K.

I ran across the street and hid in the safety of the trees. I stayed as far from the dead Erasers as possible. Sitting in a tree and crying was what seemed best at this point. That is exactly what I did. I cried. A lot. For like an hour or two before I heard the sounds of someone on the ground below me.

Wiping my eyes on my arm, I looked down and flinched. The entire pack, plus Bella, Billy, and Emily, were on the ground beneath my tree. The same look of murder and pure hate was in their eyes. I floated slowly to the ground, keeping an eye out for anything unexpected. I kept my back almost right against the tree, trying to stay as far from them as I could.

"I—." That was all I managed before Sam cut me off.

"Shut up," he snarled. I clamped my mouth shut. "You are no longer welcome here." My heart squeezed in a very painful way. I looked to Billy, hoping he would say different, but his eyes were pained and hate filled as they looked back at me.

Turning, I clawed my way up the tree. I barely cleared a branch when I felt the air right below my foot move. I looked down and saw three giant wolves and an angry vampire jumping at my heels. The wolves were snapping furiously, trying to scare me more than anything else. They did a damn good job. I was hyperventilating as I climbed higher and higher, trying to get out of their reach.

I reached the top and leapt off, spreading my wings and soaring on the air. I could hear the howls below me and it sent shooting pain through my chest. I pushed myself, moving as fast as I could away from Forks, away from Washington entirely.