In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 28 – the return of Peter and Charlotte, and the arrival of Crazy

November 9, 2039

A few days after Marcus Volturi's unexpected visit, Jasper announced that Peter and Charlotte were returning for a week. I was glad. I liked the quiet Texan and his bubbly mate.

The day they arrived, Jasper didn't come to the house. My feelings were hurt, as I felt left out. I had been looking forward to seeing Charlotte. I had to keep reminding myself that these were not my friends, after all. I was living in Carlisle's world. I was not living in the freedom of the wild, where I could count vampire allies as my friends openly. In Forks, my contacts were filtered through the Cullens, and I was beginning to chafe a bit.

The next day, however, when I got up, Jasper, Peter, and Charlotte were already downstairs. Charlotte had a big smile on her face when she saw me and was holding a big box for me to open.

I took the box and opened it. Inside was a white cowboy hat and matching fringed leather jacket and chaps. I loved them. Of course, I would need to wear them over pants. Charlotte had brought some jeans in a separate brown paper bag. Carlisle and Jasper spoke quietly for a minute, and then Carlisle said it was ok to try on my gift. Carlisle had selected the clothes I wore since the day I arrived, and so I had worn dresses with tights every day. The day we met in Chicago, I had been wearing my usual uniform of jeans with a Led Zeppelin album art t-shirt. That outfit didn't make it from Chicago to Forks. The jeans probably wouldn't have fit anyway, with the weight I had gained since July.

I went upstairs and put the new clothes on. I already knew how to put on the chaps, since I had been at Isaiah's. I came prancing back downstairs, delighted to be wearing jeans again.

Carlisle gave an indulgent smile, but Jasper's was broader and genuine. He clearly liked me seeing me dressed this way. I had a feeling that Charlotte had picked up the outfit for me on Jasper's behalf.

Jasper had told Peter and Charlotte the story of my first op, so they had questions. They were experienced fighters, having fought with Jasper in the Southern Wars. Actually, Jasper had created both of them to fight in the Southern Wars. They were among the very few who had survived, as Jasper had let them escape.

All of their questions came from a military perspective. They were especially curious about how many vampires I had killed at the hunter's lodge.

I replied that I never counted the number of vampires I killed on a mission, which was true. When I fought, I went into the moment and killed whoever stood between me and the humans I was trying to rescue. My c.o. made sure that someone collected the deceased vampires' papers, so he had a body count from each mission. I quite frankly didn't care. My focus during a mission was not on revenge, but on the liberation of humans.

Peter and Jasper also wanted to know how I was doing the killing when I fought. I simply answered that the resistance, having had twenty years to study vampires, had come up with weapons suited to the task. When they saw I wasn't giving them details, they let it drop for the moment, and we started talking about the Home coven boys Jasper had squared off against a few weeks ago.

Jasper commented that the Home coven boys moved well together. He had only trained newborns in the Southern Wars, whereas the boys were mature vampires who had trained together for years. I told him that while I had heard of the Home boys for years, I had only actually met one of them prior to Leah's visit. Rodrigo and the boys he had brought had been strangers to me.

I snuggled in to Charlotte's side while Jasper told Peter how coordinated their moves were, and the feelings he got during their mock standoffs. The glances Jasper gave me as he talked made me think that some of those feelings Jasper sensed from Rodrigo had probably been possessive of me.

I liked being around Charlotte. It was nice to have female company, since Alice and Rosalie wouldn't talk to me in human, and Esme acted motherly. I needed someone I could just be myself with. I knew that wouldn't work completely with Charlotte, but she was as close to a friend as anyone since Leah left. I was really starting to miss Crazy.

Later in the day Emmett came over, and the four began to discuss their plans for Saturday night. They were going clubbing in Seattle. It was just another reminder to me that I was human, and couldn't participate.

Then the cousins forwarded a message came from Crazy. "I have a surprise for you. Don't ask the mind-reader to spill the details. Just be ready to meet me outside on Saturday."

I told her Jasper and the others would be leaving Saturday to go out, she should time her arrival for early evening after they left. I didn't see any need to have someone as combustible as Crazy around someone like Jasper.

Saturday night rolled around, and I got a message from Crazy, telling me to find a way to get outside without Carlisle. So I gestured to Carlisle I was going out on the patio, just for a minute, while he was talking on the phone and looking up something on his computer. He nodded, and I stepped out.

Crazy was standing outside by the fence. She stuck a note on the fence that read "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," grabbed me, and jumped over the fence. We hadn't gotten to the front yard, when Carlisle came around the fence. One of the allies, timing everything to the minute, pulled up. He got out of his delivery truck and asked Carlisle to sign for a package. He got between the two of us and Carlisle, allowing us a few precious seconds to get to her car.

Crazy took off in a flash, and we hit the airport quickly. The plane was on the tarmac, motor running. The door opened and she leapt through it, carrying me. She said she could see Carlisle arriving on the ground as we were taking off.

"So," I asked. "What's the surprise?"

"I'm taking you out for your birthday! I've got outfits and everything ready. We're going clubbing in Seattle!" she replied excitedly.

I giggled, thinking how the Cullen kids were in Seattle too, with Peter and Charlotte. "You know who else is in Seattle?" I asked.

"Let's see - the residents of Seattle? The Easter Bunny?" Crazy replied.

"No – Jasper, Emmett, Edward, and Peter are all there, with their true loves," I answered.

"Oops – maybe should we run across them?" she said excitedly.

"I don't know what they'd think. No, let's make that I know exactly what they'd think…" I said, laughing.

"Then let's do it!" sang Crazy. "They'll never recognize you in this outfit. This will make it even more fun!" She pulled out some ridiculous outfit I was supposed to wear and carefully zipped me into it. The she started working on the hair and makeup. She was doing my make-up in the geisha fashion that was the rage in some places. The opaque white makeup hid my human complexion. She topped it with a hat with a veil, and dark glasses. Great, I'm a mix between a geisha and a 1940's style veiled lady. And I'm wearing my six inch Manolo Blahnik heels from our ill-fated Boston trip.

"I won't be able to see, much less walk, in this outfit," I told her.

"You'll have to try, baby. I need you to do that 'floating down the catwalk' strut that we used to practice in the hotel room. You may not be able to move at vampire speed, but with that walk, slow counts. You'll be able to pass in a crowded room," Crazy responded confidently.

When we reached Seattle, Crazy had a limousine waiting for us on the tarmac. She had champagne on ice waiting inside of the car, but I wasn't going to drink any until after I did my catwalk strut in the clubs. Bubbly and high heels would not be a good mix for me tonight.

Crazy had a list of clubs that she wanted to hit before the night was over. We stopped at Club Noir first. She walked in next to me, and I did my best strut, eyes fixed straight ahead, never looking down or to the sides. We got part way across the room, and she signaled me to pause. I stopped, never letting my eyes waiver from the fixed point I had chosen on the other side of the room.

Suddenly she zoomed to my other side, where she was quickly rammed by a large body.

"Oh, excuse me," came Emmett's voice.

"Watch where you're going, oaf. You almost knocked me over! What are you, some klutzy newborn?" Crazy started in. I waited for her signal to move, and then we made it across the club and out the back door. Once outside, we got into the waiting car, and I let out the breath I'd been holding.

"Are you kidding? That was Emmett! He almost knocked me down!" I started.

Crazy was laughing hysterically. "Yep, and the others were sitting at a table in the corner. The blond, Whitlock, couldn't take his eyes off of us. He was sitting with his back to the corner, his arm around some sickly looking chick with black spiky hair. Her makeup couldn't hide the circles under her lackluster eyes. The two blonde ladies looked healthy enough, though. Too bad, 'cause those guys at the table were fine."

"That was them. What do we do?" I asked.

"Hit the next club, of course! I made that list of places with the intention of hitting every one of them tonight! It's been a long time since I smuggled someone underage into a club," she answered excitedly. So we went to Dark, followed by a visit to the Den, and did a repeat of our strut across the room at each place.

Dark was a high tech club, with lots of lights flashing from a computerized board, and wild techie music to dance to. The Den was a darker place, more of a biker bar. It featured go-go girls and a few topless dancers on a stage. There were couples going at it against the wall, too, not very discreetly. I saw more than I cared to. Guess that's why they called it the Den, for the den of iniquity.

I couldn't stop thinking about Emmett. Finally I broke down and texted him, using a throw away phone Crazy had bought for the evening. She had set up the phone so that "Mystery Lady" would appear on the caller i.d.

"u big oaf u almost knocked me down. Where did u learn to walk" I texted, and then we waited for a response.

Emmett replied almost immediately. "sorry about that, let me buy u a drink".

I replied "I'm safer somewhere else. U'd probably knock me down getting the drink. Besides, u would probably bring me blood, gross."

(Emmett's POV)

We'd gone to Seattle and settled into our usual table at Noir. It was good to get out, Rosalie was looking smoking hot. Jasper and Alice came with us, and they brought Peter and Charlotte. Can't say I thought much of this Peter guy, but Charlotte was built for love, all curves.

Jasper sat with his back in the corner, gunslinger style, as usual. It was my turn to get drinks. The waitress had come on to me a little too strong while leaning over the table to take our order, and Rosalie was acting up. It was easier for me to go get drinks than to deal with Rosalie. I was in too good a mood to deal with her pissed off attitude.

On the way back, I was looking at a real hottie sitting alone at the bar in a red dress slit up to here when I nearly stumbled into a vampress. When I turned to apologize, I realized I had been looking in the wrong direction. The diminutive blonde vampress I had almost run into was hot, really hot. Her lips were painted bright red, and she had a feral look in her eye. I would have bet money she was a succubus.

But the babe next to her was the real eye catcher. She was frozen mid-step. Her eyes were focused straight ahead, not looking to the right or left. She was thinner than I like them, but there was something about her, something that caught my eye. I made it back to the table without tripping, and got a glare from Rose. Jasper was watching the odd duo as well.

"Seen them before?" I ask him.

"No, but the brunette seems familiar," he replies.

He calls the owner over and asks him about the two ladies. The owner tells Jasper that he hadn't seen either of the girls before, but they were making quite the impression. The entire club had been watching their odd little march across the room.

We went back to talking after the two strangers left. About an hour later a text pops up.

"u big oaf u almost knocked me down. Where did u learn to walk"

I nod to Jasper, and show him the text. The night was about to get interesting.

I type in my reply, "sorry about that, let me buy u a drink".

Seconds later I get a puzzling response, "I'm safer somewhere else. U'd probably knock me down getting the drink. Besides, u would probably bring me blood, gross."

What the heck, what was so wrong with offering to buy her some blood? This place had first rate blood, they kept human pets in the back, and everything was fresh to order!

So I answer, "name ur pleasure", and wait for the response.

"if it's human blood, that's gross."

Hmmm, playing coy. Maybe she likes animal blood? "u want me to run u down a deer or something"

Reply "I don't do blood u jerk. Whazza matter, forget me so soon?"

Now that's confusing. Do I know her?

"have we met?"

"Grizzly bear newborn" comes the reply. 'Grizzly bear newborn' is one of Carlisle's little pet's stories. OK, this is a joke. I look around the table, and say "What's up, and who's in on this with her? Is Edward here?"

Jasper looks puzzled, so I show him the texts. He grabs his phone and calls Carlisle. They speak for a few seconds, and he snaps the phone shut, and says, "Carlisle says his little human vanished from the yard hours ago. He, Edward, and Esme have been looking for her ever since. There was a note left on the fence saying 'Girls just want to have fun'."

Was it possible? Was the slinky girl really Carlisle's little 99? But I didn't hear a heartbeat or smell her!

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