Charlie's POV

I took a drink from the beer in my hand before setting it down on the small table beside my chair, listening to Sue going on about the legends of the tribe. I had no idea why she was telling me all this; it wasn't anything I hadn't heard before. Most of them were rather boring, but then, I'd never been big into the supernatural, mystical stuff. Two particular stories, though, I'd always found...beyond ridiculous. Wolves and vampires. Yeah, right.

"So these...cold ones," I said. "They're the enemies of your people?" Even I could hear the skeptical tone in my question.

Sue stumbled over her answer, and the look she shot Seth and Jake raised the hair on the back of my neck.

Where are they going with this? Why are Seth and Jake even here?

My thoughts were a mess, racing from one question to another.

I turned my gaze on the boys, neither of whom so much as twitched a muscle. Finally finding my voice, I spoke like the cop I was, like I was interrogating a suspect. "Boys, what's going on?"

When no one said anything, I spoke again. "Why are you telling me these stories now?"

When Jacob spoke, it was calm and authoritative, making him seem much older than he was. "Because they're true."

I couldn't help it. I barked out a laugh, slapping my hand down on my thigh as I shook my head. "Good one, kid," I said between chuckles. "April Fools' Day was yesterday. You have to get up pretty damn early to pull one over on me. You should know that by now."

I drained off the last of my beer, shaking my head again at the ridiculousness of it all. Wolves and vampires, I thought, chuckling again. Those were things straight out of Hollywood, not real life.

"It's no joke, Charlie," Jake insisted, sounding rather firm.

"Yeah, Charlie," Seth chimed in with a serious look on his young face. "We're serious."

Fine. If they were that determined to pull my leg, I'd make them really work for it...

Smirking, I said, "Fine. Prove it," expecting them to back down and agree they'd been fucking with me.

Instead, what I got was quite different.

Without a word, Jacob and Seth stood, moving to the back door of the house. Sue held out her hand, waiting for me to take it.

Unsure of what was going on—a feeling I hated completely—I wrapped her smaller hand in mine and let her lead me to the back steps.

Jake was out in the yard, standing away from everything and everyone. Seth stood on the steps with me, one hand on my shoulder.

"What's going on?" I asked Seth, who just nodded out Jacob's way.

I turned my head again just in time to see him strip off his shirt and shorts. Whipping my head around, I saw that Sue had her eyes covered.

"What the hell? Jacob Ephraim Black, why in the hell are you getting naked in my backyard?"

That was when time seemed to stand still. The air almost seemed to vibrate, and between one blink and the next, the young man I'd known since birth was gone and a huge, horse-sized, reddish tan...wolf stood in his place.

I gasped, stumbling backwards and nearly falling on my ass on the top step leading into the house. I scrambled to get myself back to my feet, automatically reaching to my hip, where I always carried my sidearm.

"Shh, Charlie," Seth muttered beside me. "Chill, man. It's just Jacob. He's not gonna hurt you."

I was still gasping, unable to draw big, deep, effective breaths, and I was sure I was doing a great impression of a damn fish.

"What the hell is that thing?" I was finally able to vocalize.

"It's Jacob," Sue said with a sigh. "Like we said, Charlie, the legends are true." She paused before adding, "All of them."

I felt anger boiling up from my gut. I wasn't sure what I was most upset about—whether it was because I'd been deceived all my life, thinking this shit was just made-up stories that got told generation after generation around the campfire, or because for whatever unknown reason, they'd interrupted my otherwise orderly life, turning it into something from a sci-fi movie.

"Why did you tell me this?" I finally growled. "Why didn't you just let me live in my safe little world, where I didn't know this supernatural shit exists? Don't I have enough to deal with right now?"

I stalked down the few steps to the ground, pacing back and forth as I muttered to myself. I was careful not to turn my back on the beast out in the yard. Beast...Jacob...

Shit, how the hell did I not know the son of my best friend was a...a monster? And if he's one of those things, does that mean...

That thought shook me, and I realized Seth was standing at the bottom of the steps just a few feet away, watching me.

"Y-You're one of them, too, aren't you?" I gasped, again reaching for my gun, which unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately—for me was locked up in the gun safe inside. I knew I was probably overreacting. After all, Seth and Jacob were like sons to me. But shit! How the hell else was I supposed to react, learning two young men I'd spent years being around could change into wolves? And vampires were real, too? Christ!

Seth nodded slowly. "Yes, sir. I shifted for the first time not long after Jake." He frowned. "Charlie, you're perfectly safe from both of us. We're not going to hurt you." Then he grinned. "Jake's just a big puppy."

I looked out into the yard and unwillingly chuckled when the wolf that was Jacob flopped onto his side, rolled to his back, and looked over at me, tongue hanging out. Then I thought of something and realized they'd never answered my questions.

Hands in my pockets, I moved ever so closer to Seth, still slightly wary, despite their reassurances and Jacob's antics.

"So, uh...why did you tell me this?" I asked again. "I mean, why now? Why tell me at all?"

Out in the yard, the Jacob wolf rolled smoothly to his feet, grabbing the discarded clothes in his teeth, and then kept his head down as he moved off to the trees.

"Where's he going?" I asked Seth, looking at the wolf's retreating back.

Seth smiled, although it didn't seem like a happy smile, but rather a sad, resigned one. "He's going to shift back and dress." He turned to look at his mother. "Mom, you wanna go check on the baby?"

"What?" I asked, wondering if I'd missed Lizzie crying. "Why?"

Sue looked long and hard at Seth for a moment, and then her gaze slid to me. Finally, she nodded, sighing, and turned to go inside.

"Seth? Tell me what's going on. Now," I ordered, again using the tone I would've used on a suspect while on the job.

Just then, a noise at the back of the yard caught my attention, and I turned, expecting to see Jacob walking out of the trees. My guess had been right, but the person next to him, walking slowly, deliberately, shocked the hell out of me.

I gasped her name quietly, feeling my eyes welling with tears I'd miraculously been keeping at bay since the day she hadn't come home.

"Bella..."

Before I could think, my feet were propelling me forward, and I rushed at my daughter, needing to make sure she was real.

"Whoa, Charlie," Jake said, holding me back just before I reached her. "Take it slow, man."

I started struggling against his iron-clad grip and then stopped when I really took a good look at the girl in front of me. She looked the same as I'd seen her last...but different. Her skin was even more pale than normal, her hair seemed more shiny, her lips darker and more full. But when my eyes reached hers, I recoiled, stepping back from Jake's grasp in a rush to protect myself from the deep red eyes of the creature my daughter had become.

Bella was a... "Vampire," I gasped, feeling my heart sputter and clench in my chest.

"Breathe, Charlie," Jake instructed, towering over me as he kept from running. "Everything's gonna be okay."

"Your eyes..." I started, worried because they weren't the golden color described by Sue a few minutes before; they were the color of fire, of blood, and Sue had said those red-eyed demons were killers.

Bella was utterly still in front of me, her arms wrapped around herself, like she was holding herself together—something I hadn't seen her do since the Cullens had left town.

"Don't be scared, Dad," she said, her voice almost bell-like, but shaky. "They, uh... They'll change colors soon, just like the ones in Sue's story."

Shaking my head to clear it, I asked the question I was dreading most. "Did you..." Fuck, I didn't know if I wanted the answer to this or not! I ran a hand through my hair, tugging at the strands that were too long to be comfortable, and finally looked back up into those frightening eyes. "Did you kill someone?"

"No!" Bella gasped, shaking her head quickly. "Animals, Charlie. Not humans. It takes time to change colors after..."

Eying her warily, I nodded. "Did you, uh, ask for this?"

I had no idea who she'd have asked. As far as I knew, there were no red-eyed creatures running around Forks. The closest I could think of were the golden eyes of...

Suddenly, it all made sense. How the good doctor always seemed cold when he shook my hand, his eyes—hell, his entire family's eyes, pale skin, and unnatural beauty.

The Cullens were vampires.