Hunter

School started; I have no other excuse than that for how late this is.

The-girl-alone-in-the-corner - Cool! Most of my readers are from America, according to the story stats. It's nice to see that my audience is a little wider.

Rockstarvampire - Gee, thanks. I have noticed that my characterizations of Bella are getting progressively more badass. I'm glad you like her. Twilight-Bella always seemed kind of wimpy. Maybe it's because I love reading horror novels, but I would have been a lot less ignorant and wussy when it came to discussing vampire lore. The most annoying thing I remember about the book was when Edward told her about how he and Emmett had gone bear hunting. I would've been totally fine with it, but Bella's reaction threw me. Hello! What did you think they've been eating? Bunnies?…I'll stop ranting now.

MSPT91 - I looked it up on the Twilight-Wiki. I know that Esme was turned after Edward, but she was technically born before him. That's why she's older.

A Violet Kind Of Violence - Yeah, you should probably ignore that. I heard it on House once. A patient mentioned how the nurses always talked about Dr House, and he replied with that sentence, referring to his you-know-what. It stuck with me. You can probably find a bunch of other quotes from TV and movies in my stories. I love collecting quotes, as lame as that sounds.

Angel of the Night Watchers - Cool name. And thanks, I love making people laugh.

I Just Won A Free Toaster Oven - Once again, cool name. If I ever change my name, I think I'll call myself, "Queen of Cliffhangers". Or maybe Gweezle. I have to give it a little more thought.

FICTIONAL-STAR - "NOO. YOU DID NOT JUST CLIFFHAND ME" Oh, I believe I did, but this chapter should make up for it. Try reading The Shining. Hands down, best horror story I ever read. I actually had to stop reading it for a little while because I was so freaked out. (Granted, I was thirteen at the time, and not exactly used to his material). Pet Sematary comes in at a close second.

Enjoy the chapter.

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Bella's POV

Visions.

My appetite disappeared. I put down my knife and fork with more care than was strictly necessary. I swallowed the remainder of the food in my mouth, unable to taste it anymore. My head swam dizzily, so I rested it in my hands, using my elbows as leverage to hold it up.

"Visions?" I repeated. I wanted to kick myself when I heard my voice crack.

Alice apparently wasn't expecting my reaction. She frowned, but I knew she wasn't angry. She looked frustrated and confused. Had her visions shown her what I could do? Had she hoped that I would relate with her? Was that why she always acted so nice?

"Yes," she confirmed, still puzzled by my reaction. Edward gave her a sharp look and I saw her eyebrows narrow in concentration. Was she hiding something from him?

"I can see the future, and I can see things that are happening around the world right now. It used to be difficult to control, but now I'm almost an expert. Of course, depending on a person's choices, the future can change. I see vampires better than humans. Your future is a lot less clear than I'm used to seeing, even for a human."

"Always be unpredictable. That's my motto," I said flatly. I didn't like this. Being caught off guard. I had been fully prepared to drop my bombshell with casual grace, and to carry on as if it were no big deal. Honestly, I was sure the vampires could handle it.

Now, I didn't know where to start. Alice obviously knew something. Hopefully, not everything. Choices, she said. Choices affected her visions. If I chose not to reveal too much, then maybe I could keep my darkest secret hidden for just a little longer.

It was time to see how well these vampires handled my world.

I folded my hands on the counter in front of me. The remainder of my lunch would go to waste, but I couldn't feel bad about that at the moment. I needed to phrase this just right…

I took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay, I know about your gifts, so I suppose I should tell you about mine." I looked up at the faces of Edward's family, saving his for last.

You can do this, Bella.

"I-I have these nightmares…" I started, and then I couldn't look at anyone. I studied my hands and finished my sentence in a whisper. "…and sometimes…they come true."

Instinct made me tense my shoulders. I fully anticipated some sort of attack after such an admission. Or, at the very least, I thought I'd be yelled at. Learning that a vampire - a mythical creature - could see the future was one thing. Learning that a human could do the same was a whole 'nother level of supernatural weirdness, and such deviances were rarely tolerated in the Hunting Community.

Edward's family reacted, but not with disgust.

"What?" Edward asked.

"But how can this be?" Carlisle questioned.

"Wait. What?" Emmett interjected.

Jasper and Rosalie gave me equally surprised and weary looks. Esme stared at me with wide eyes, but I detected no hint of real malice in anyone's expression.

Carlisle sat down beside me and gave me a cautious glance. "Are you sure it wasn't just coincidental?"

I gritted my teeth. "That's what I thought the first time it happened, when that security guard was killed."

Edward's eyes widened in surprise. "You saw what killed him?"

I shook my head. "No, not then at least. I only saw the eyes." I stopped talking and frowned, remembering Nicolette Colt's description of the one who killed her son. How his eyes were like hellfire.

I glanced at Edward's eyes, shining like the brightest topaz, and relaxed.

"Then I had another dream the day you came to pick me up," I continued. "This one was a lot more detailed. I figured out where and when the attack would happen. Honestly, I thought I was just going crazy, especially when the guy didn't go after the girl he was supposed to. Course, then he went after me."

"Alexander, I suppose," Edward snarled, his face twisting in disgust.

I nodded. "Yup, it was close. Of course, these were all dreams. The one that really cemented the whole deal happened while I was awake. Remember when I nearly got run over?"

I saw Edward's mind drift back, and then his eyes widened in understanding. "Your headaches…" he murmured.

I nodded again. "That one was a whopper. Still, it's nice to know that you were willing to expose yourself to save me." I grinned as his mouth dropped open. "I saw you stop the van…one-handed! Just shoved it away like it was nothing. That's when I figured that there was a lot more going on than I'd thought."

"That still doesn't explain how you figured out what we were," Rosalie grumbled. "You told Edward that you'd never seen anything like us. Did you dream about us too?"

I shook my head. "No. Jacob, an old friend from La Push, told me about you guys."

Their reactions threw me.

"The little-"

"Does this mean we can-"

"I'm sure it wasn't like that-"

I raised an eyebrow, looking first at Rosalie, then Emmett, and finally Carlisle. "What's the deal? It wasn't like he believed it."

My eyes narrowed as I thought about Sam and his Lieutenants. They were another story entirely, but I didn't want to give the Cullens anything else to worry about. If the boys became a problem, I would deal with them.

"Anyway," I continued. "I would've figured it out eventually. My ancestor, Nicolette Colt, described what vampires look like in her journal. Even if she is the black sheep of the family, I'd have been stupid to ignore that."

"This is all really interesting, Bella," Alice began. She bounced on the back of her heels exuberantly. "I've seen you practising this speech in some of my visions, and I'm glad you trust us…but there's one thing I can't see."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Which is?" I prodded.

"How did you start getting visions? You said that they started just over a month ago. Did something happen to you?"

I understood why she was so confused. I had decided never to speak of hell to anyone, and that was why she didn't know. Still, the thought must have crossed my mind at some point. Maybe she hadn't been looking for it then. Despite how powerful her visions were compared to mine, she wasn't omniscient.

I shifted and looked down. "Yeah, something did happen to me," I confirmed.

I looked back up at the Cullen family, and stared pointedly at Edward. "You remember that first day you talked to me, when I told you about a deal I made?"

His face scrunched up in thought. "Yes, I remember. You and your mother were in a car accident…I suppose that wasn't the truth," he deduced.

"Not entirely. We really did get into a car accident, only…the other driver wasn't exactly human." I bit my lip as I remembered. "We were coming back from another Hunt. It was late, and I was hungry. I asked Renée if we could get something from the store, seeing as we weren't going to have time to eat once we got back to the hotel. I whined about it, really. Eventually, she gave in. We turned to go down the street where the store was, and then a semi crashed right into us."

Esme gave a little gasp and touched my shoulder gently. I fought not to shake it off.

"It hit the driver's side. Mom was unconscious, and badly hurt. I was okay, a little dazed, but fine. Then the guy got out of the truck. I thought he was coming to help, but then I saw his eyes. It was a demon."

I clenched my fists, remembering the taunting smile and its eyes. They were the colour the sclera of your eyes turned when your liver failed. When I was fourteen and Mom was bleeding out in the back of the Impala, that was the colour the traffic light turned, making me slow down and waste precious seconds because I couldn't get caught driving. It wasn't just some black-eyed nothing. It was one of the big guns. Why it chose to go after us that day was a mystery, but I never hated anything so much in my life.

I breathed out and relaxed. "Luckily, someone saw what had happened. They called an ambulance and the police. It was a small town, so the demon didn't have time to break through the protective symbols we put on the car, like this," I said, twisting around and pulling my shirt up so the Cullens could see the Devil's Trap tattooed on my lower back.

"Sweet!" said Emmett. Rosalie smacked him and they waited for me to continue.

"So, the demon takes off, and the ambulance arrives. I was more scared than I'd ever been in my life," I admitted. "Mom was in bad shape. I mean, really bad. They rushed her right into the operating room, but even I could see that they didn't have much hope. The doctors find out I'm only sixteen, and they send in this damn social worker!" My fists clenched again at the memory and my voice sounded strained. "She starts going on about the grieving process, and asks if I have any family members to look after me. I just wanted her to go away. I knew Renée would flip when she saw what happened to the car, and I needed to get to it before they found the weapons in the trunk."

I stopped talking and looked at my audience sternly. I felt the need to say something before I told them the truth. To clarify so that they wouldn't think less of me for doing what I did.

"I did what I had to do, okay? It was my choice! I knew what the consequences would be! I just didn't expect it to turn out like this."

My tone caught them off guard. Carlisle's eyes widened. "I'm sure that you did what you felt was right," he said soothingly, like he was my father, not a centuries-old vampire, whose adopted son I was in love with.

"You believe in God, Carlisle?" I asked suddenly.

"Of course," he said without hesitation.

I gave a short laugh. "Well, I don't."

He frowned. "Really? Even after all you've seen?"

"With all I've seen, why would I believe in God? I've seen innocent people get killed and eaten, and not always in that order! I've seen things that you couldn't even imagine. Vampires are just a very small section of my world. There are over a hundred different nasty things out there that want nothing more than to kill everyone on this Godforsaken planet! But the worst of the lot has got to be Crossroad Demons."

I knew they were curious, but they remained silent. I explained. "Crossroad Demons are not your run-of-the-mill demons. They're more powerful, and, debatably, more evil. You think taking down a plane of innocent people is bad? Get this. A Crossroad Demon's job is to trick those same innocent people into giving up their souls in exchange for one wish. That way, instead of sending them to heaven - or wherever good people go after they die - hell gets a new chew toy."

I glared at my unfinished lunch as I spoke. "Usually, they give you ten years, but I'm a Colt. We've been Hunting for over six centuries, and that red-eyed bitch saw the perfect way to finally end it."

"You made a deal to save your mother," Edward stated. Wonder and horror battled in his tone.

I nodded. "She gave me a year." I scrunched up my nose. "Sealed the deal with a kiss. Then I went back and pretended that everything was okay."

"Wait! You kissed a girl?" Emmett bellowed. Rosalie smacked him again. He turned to her with a hurt expression. "It was just a question," he whimpered.

I laughed, unable to contain my amusement. Honestly, it was like he was frigging five!

"Yeah, I guess you could say that, if you use the term girl a little loosely. It wasn't exactly pleasant. Sorta like tonguing an ashtray. But, hey! Rule thirty-four. Whatever gets your rocks off." I laughed again.

"Ew, an ashtray?" he asked, cringing.

I nodded, grinning at his reaction. "Caught me off guard, too. I didn't expect to be violated by demon-tongue, otherwise I would've brought some breath mints."

Rosalie glared at me. "So, I'm guessing you got out of your deal, and that's why you're hiding out here?"

I glared right back at her. "I didn't get outta nothing. November rolled around and I paid my dues. The hellhounds came and ripped me apart, and the next thing I know, four months had passed and I'm waking up in my own grave."

"Wait!" said Emmett. I started to think that that was his catchphrase or something.

"Yeah?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He leaned forward, an awed expression on his face. "You mean you went to hell and back? I mean, is that normal?"

"If it was normal, I wouldn't be hiding out here. You were listening when Jo came. Don't you remember her mentioning all the Hunters who want to kill me?"

Esme put her hand over her mouth, shocked. The younger Cullens' expressions ranged from uncaring to furious.

"We believe that what's dead should stay dead. And, considering my recent psychic episodes, I can't say that I don't still believe that."

"What?" Edward yelled. He surged forward and took my hand, his eyes wide with urgency. "You can't believe that, Bella. You've done nothing wrong. In fact, you managed to save an innocent girl by using your gift. Anyone who feels that you're a threat because of them is an ignorant, vile, unethical being who doesn't deserve to be in the same room as you!"

I blinked at him. Then I gave him the most lovey-dovey look I could conjure up. "Aww, you're so cute when you get all worked-up like that."

Then I couldn't stand it and burst out laughing.

"Oh, relax, Superman!" I said, holding up my hands. "The other Hunters have bigger things to worry about. Besides, killing me would be risking Renée's wrath." I stopped for a second and murmured, "Wow, alliteration."

"And what's so scary about that? She's just one human." That was Rosalie, of course.

And that was disrespectful.

I smiled and closed my eyes, while at the same time, I climbed to my feet and placed my hands on the counter. I wasn't tall, and I wasn't too intimidating, but that didn't mean I couldn't make her eat those words.

"If you would open your ears for a few seconds, you would understand that my family is not like other Hunters. We've been Hunting since The Black Death first appeared in Scotland. The first one of us to ever send a demon back to hell was only fourteen! He was also the one to discover the effects that demon-blood had on weapons. He and his father went all over Europe, killing every evil thing they could find, and they were considered the best. Most new Hunters die within the first few months. We have a saying, 'Last a year, and you're welcome here.' That is how long a good Hunter is expected to live."

I leaned forward and tilted my head up a little farther, peering at the blond bitch through my bangs. "You know how long the average Colt lives? From first Hunt to last, you can expect about three decades of consistent work before they ride the pale horse. That means we're thirty times better than a good Hunter. We are not just a bunch of kids running around, shooting Casper in the face. We were raised like warriors. We start Hunting younger, and we don't stop until we can't move enough to shoot a gun or stab a knife."

I leaned down and lowered my voice. "And if you think…that someone is gonna take me out and not live in fear for the rest of their Very.Short.Life…then you're even dumber than you look, Thorny. I wager that the guy'd be choking out his last breath before I even started to rot."

My rant had the desired effect. Rosalie didn't look so cocky anymore. In fact, I would almost say she was scared.

Honestly, the whole family looked taken aback. Maybe I shouldn't have laid it on so thick.

I sat back down and rested my head on one hand. "So, can I see the rest of the house now?"

My poorly executed segue had the desired effect. Edward agreed without hesitation, and the others began to clean up as we started to leave the kitchen.

"Hey!" Emmett called just as I reached the doorway. I turned around. He grinned at me. "You know when you beat up those guys who were robbing the grocery store?"

I thought back and nodded.

"What'd that one guy say to tick you off?"

I felt my mouth grimace at the memory. "He called me…babe." I injected as much vitriol into the word as I could. "Nobody calls me…babe."

Emmett held up an OK sign. "Gotcha, I'll remember never to say that to you."

I laughed and waved. "See you later, Magnus."

Edward was quiet for a few moments as he led me up another flight of stairs. All the doors on this floor were closed, except for the one at the end of the hall.

"This is my room," he said awkwardly.

I walked inside and looked around. A window took up one whole wall, while the others were painted bright white. There was a sleek white couch pushed to my left, a big-screen TV positioned on the wall in front of it. Behind that were shelves and shelves of books, movies, and music.

"Dude!" I exclaimed, totally awed. "This room is like the coolest place ever! It's probably bigger than most of the hotel rooms I've stayed in."

Edward chuckled, but the tense atmosphere remained. I turned around and bit my lip guiltily. "I blew it, didn't I?"

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

I held my arms out at my sides and splayed my fingers. "I completely ruined the whole meet-the-parents thing." I dropped my arms back against my sides and tilted my head down.

"You didn't-"

I cut him off. "I should've just kept my mouth shut. God, I can be so stupid. I basically told your sister that my mom would kill her if she did me in. Not to mention Esme; I'm sure she thinks I'm a delight. Carlisle, Alice and Emmett are the only ones who weren't completely weirded out. And I'm pretty sure that Jasper wanted to eat me."

He snickered. "That's hardly your fault. Jasper's new. And the others like you…" he trailed off. "Well, aside from Rosalie, but she has her reasons. Esme adores you, trust me."

I crossed my arms and sighed. "Guess I can't argue with a mind-reader. Still, I hope I didn't scare you guys too badly."

This time he laughed quite a bit louder. "Shouldn't that be my line? After all, I was introducing you to my vampire family."

I rolled my eyes. "Honey, I've been to hell and back. You think a few fangless, glittering rocks are gonna scare me?"

The comment was meant to lighten the mood even further, but Edward's face took on a sombre tone. "Speaking of hell…"

I rolled my eyes again. "Oh, here we go."

"Bella, please be serious for a moment," he pleaded.

I sat down on the couch and crossed my legs. "Okay, since you asked nicely." I leaned back and put my hands behind my head. "Ask away. I'm an open book."

He gave and short laugh again and crossed his arms. "You were in there for four months?" he asked.

I fought to keep my expression from giving anything away. He didn't need to know the truth. "Yeah, but honestly, I don't remember too much. Except, I sometimes dream about it. And sometimes I can still smell it!" My nose wrinkled at the memory. "It always smelled like blood. That was the worst!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Humans can't smell blood."

I gave him a questioning look, wondering if he was being serious. He was.

"Well, I can. It smells like rust and salt. Ugh, and in Mr Molina's class, we had to do that stupid blood-typing thing. That was bad enough, but one of the other classes must have been working with chemicals because the whole room smelled like sulphur. Nearly gave me a panic attack," I admitted.

Edward didn't seem too pleased with that. But that was the point. I needed to keep him from guessing the worst by hiding behind something less awful, but still pretty bad.

"Is there a chance that something…a demon or something else will track you down and try to…hurt you?" he asked hesitantly.

I looked up at the ceiling and wondered just that. Why hadn't they found me yet? It wasn't like I was running.

"I'm not sure. If they knew where I was, they probably would've sent the hellhounds weeks ago."

"Hellhounds?" he repeated.

"They're kinda like hell's bounty hunters," I explained. "After you've made a deal, they're the ones that come get you once your time is up. You can try to run, barricade yourself in a salt ring, use holy water, iron, or Goofer Dust, otherwise known as graveyard dirt to most, or you can hang a Devil's Shoestring over your door. But sooner or later, they'll get in."

"What do they look like?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Giant dogs, I suppose. They only people who can see them are the ones going to hell, and they're not really in a chatty mood when their skin is being flayed open." I ignored his flinch and kept going. "Me, I saw them, but I was pretty wasted when they came for me. No sense going out sober."

He gave me a strained smile, but I knew he was anything but amused.

"Lighten up, Superman. You think a little thing like eternal damnation is gonna stop me?" I joked. Then I stood up and brushed myself off. "You know, not that I wouldn't love to stay and chat, but I got like four hours of sleep last night. You should get some sleep too. No offence, but underneath all the hotness, you guys always look completed worn out."

He shifted uncomfortably at that and suddenly looked guilty. "Uh, no, uh…we don't sleep."

I raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? Not even in a coffin or something?"

He actually laughed for real at that. "Myth."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, make fun of me for at least trying to make you guys seem cooler. As if munching down on Bambi and wearing Gucci clothes wasn't enough. I tell you, for your reputation, you guys are like the lamest monsters I've ever met. You're lucky you're a good kisser," I said flirtatiously.

He raised an eyebrow. "You have a lot of experience with kissing monsters?" he teased.

I rolled my eyes. "Ugh, don't get me started. If they're not trying to kill me or eat me, they're trying to make me go Bride Of Frankenstein or something. Before Alexander or the Crossroads bitch, there was this Trickster. Frigging hate those things! They like to screw with jerks by playing a few pranks on them. They're basically demi-gods. Powerful guys. So, this dude has a professional critic get eaten by alligators, because he'd just written a paper on how stupid people were to believe that they could actually exist in the sewers."

I paused and held up a hand. "They don't. Seriously. We've checked."

Edward snorted.

"So, next thing he does…" I couldn't help it. I grinned. "He has this football player from college get abducted by aliens. Apparently, they probed him…a lot." I giggled. "Course, since this is a Trickster we're talking about, he adds his own twist, and the guy-" I laughed again. "The aliens made him slow dance to Lady In Red!"

Even from Edward's room, I could hear Emmett's booming laugh.

"I thought it was hilarious too. Still, he's killing people, so Renée and I have to put him down. He takes Renée out, no problem, but doesn't hurt her. Said he liked Hunters, or something. I'm just about to stab him with a stake. To kill it, you've got to dip the stake in the victim's blood and stab the Trickster in the heart. Not as easy as it sounds, mind you, since they can basically bend reality to their will," I explained nonchalantly, enjoying Edward's stunned expression immensely.

"So, I go in for the kill. He grabs my arm. I'm thinking I'm done for…and then he plants one right on the mouth!" I stuck my tongue out at the memory. "I mean, there's no sugar coating it, Superman; you're pretty old. But these guys are ancient! I'm talking B.C. here!" I made another face and shook my head. "Still, I have to admit, not many other high school freshmen can gloat that they made out with a god."

"Did you kill it?"

"Damn right! Nobody kisses me without permission and gets away with it…except for the Crossroads Demon, but I guess I can let that one go."

He gave me a tight but genuine smile. "You should get going. You need your rest." He ducked his head a little and spoke more softly. "If your nightmares get to be too much, I'm sure Carlisle can give you something."

I waved the offer away. "Nah, I need to stay sharp. Besides, I doubt Valium holds up against psychic visions and whatnot." I gave him one last friendly smile. "I'll see you in school tomorrow, Edward."

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I know you're all going to hate me for this, but there's one other reason that this is so late. I've been kind of thinking up a new story. I've got a bit written down in a notebook, but I've decided not to post it until I get a few more chapters of this done. It's not a Twilight story, which I why I'm hesitant to start it. I don't want to get too far off base and forget what I need to do with this.

If you haven't noticed already, I went through all the chapters of Hunter and gave them titles. My favourite one is Ash And Sulphur. It's sort of a play on words, as Ash is the name of a Hunter I mentioned earlier, but it also has to do with hell, like sulphur. I think it's cute, but I'm sure you all know by now that I'm somewhat insane.

Check my profile and vote for your favourite story of mine. It's shameless ego-boosting for me.

I have to go to bed now. I look forward to reading your responses.