I tried to break my habit of ending on cliffhangers, I really did…but I couldn't. Sorry for sticking you guys with yet another overly suspenseful ending.

Chapter 23: Hunted

Edward was between them in a flash, mirroring James' attack-ready posture, animalistic growls issuing from deep in his throat. For the first time since they'd met, Elle was almost scared of him.

Laurent was astonished. "What's this?"

"The girl is with us," Carlisle said firmly.

"Of course she is. Keep your snack to yourselves, by all means."

Carlisle's expression hardened. "I said she's with us."

Laurent's eyes widened to saucer-like proportions; Victoria merely seemed puzzled, while James looked annoyed. "I am afraid I don't understand."

"My family's lifestyle is quite different from yours, especially in our attitude toward humans. This one in particular."

"I see." Laurent's tone was conciliatory as he tried to diffuse the sudden hostility between the two groups. "It seems we have much to learn about each other."

Carlisle nodded, relaxing slightly. "We maintain a permanent residence nearby; if you'd like to accompany us to our home I'm sure we can come to an understanding."

His interest obviously piqued, Laurent accepted the invitation. "Very well. And of course we will not harm your human pet - we don't hunt in territory that has already been claimed."

James glared at him, then glanced at Victoria, whose edgy gaze flicked from face to face. Her eyes kept returning to James, though, and Edward didn't need to read her mind to know that James was the one she really looked up to, not Laurent; he was the real leader of their little coven. For the moment, however, he took his cue from Laurent and backed down.

Edward realized this was the best opportunity to put distance between them and Elle he was likely to get. "Come on, Elle." He tugged gently on her arm.

"Huh?"

"It's time to go."

Finally she gave in and allowed him to lead her away, her usual defiance temporarily giving way to confusion. "What the hell just happened?"

"Later." As soon as they were under cover of the trees, he pulled her onto his back and ran. Emmett and Alice had followed and tried to keep pace, but even carrying Elle he was faster. At any other time he might have let them catch up, but not now, not when a tracker vampire had just set his sights on Elle - getting her away from James was all that mattered. He didn't break stride until he reached Emmett's Jeep and deposited her in the backseat. "Strap her in, Emmett."

Emmett climbed in beside Elle and buckled her into an off-roading harness, working quickly just in case she decided she didn't want to be strapped in and started discharging electricity. Luckily for him she didn't, at least not until Edward started driving alarmingly fast, crashing through foliage and even running right over a small log, which made her bounce crazily in the seat and threw her against the harness. And she still didn't know what was going on.

"Edward?" He showed no sign of having heard her, so she gave him a mild shock. "Don't ignore me, dammit! I want to know what happened back there!"

Edward sighed. "James is hunting us - more specifically, he's hunting you."

"Why? There're people all over…or am I too tasty to resist?"

Emmett laughed, much to Edward's annoyance. Alice just rolled her eyes.

"This isn't a laughing matter, Emmett! Elle, your blood isn't what James wants, or I should say it's not all he wants. He's a tracker - the hunt is his obsession, and it just so happens that people like you are his favorite prey."

"People like me?" Elle's stomach lurched, and not because of the rough ground they were speeding over.

"Hunting other vampires is too dangerous, and ordinary humans don't present enough of a challenge. A human with special powers, on the other hand, makes for a very exciting target, and with my family protecting you he thinks this will be the best game he's ever played." Edward sounded disgusted. "He is set on you; Jasper put his best effort into keeping everyone calm once they arrived in the field, but still, if I hadn't been in his way he would have killed you then and there."

Elle took a moment to digest this. The idea of being hunted like she was some kind of animal whose head James wanted to mount on his wall was disturbing, and not at all what she'd signed up for when she accepted this assignment - also, it seemed unfair that this tracker vampire knew exactly what she was while she hadn't been aware that his kind even existed until less than a week ago; the Company obviously wasn't as omniscient as they pretended to be - but still, it wasn't like she'd never been in danger before. All in all, the situation didn't upset her nearly as much as it did Edward. "Nobody's going to kill me," she tried to reassure him.

"I know, because I won't let him near you."

###

Edward drove at breakneck speed to the Cullens' house; the instant they arrived Emmett unstrapped Elle, folded her into a protective hold against his chest, and took her inside. The rest of the family was already there and, for some reason, so was Laurent.

"What is he doing here?"

Edward hurried to put himself between his mate and the newcomer. "Relax, love, he's not here to attack you." He turned and glared at the red-eyed vampire. "James is tracking us," he announced. "He wants Elle."

"I was afraid of that." Laurent leaned toward Elle and sniffed the air. "Her scent tells me she's his type, but your defending her certainly didn't help matters."

"Are you saying I should have stood by and let him-?"

Carlisle held up a hand, silencing Edward. "Can you dissuade him?" he asked Laurent.

Laurent shook his head. "Nothing stops James once he commits to a hunt. I've never seen anything like him in my three hundred years - he's absolutely lethal."

"We'll stop him," Emmett growled, flexing his muscles menacingly.

Elle rolled her eyes and tried to slip away - a plan was forming inside her head, one far more appealing than sitting back and letting the Cullens protect her like she was some helpless little girl - and she didn't want Edward reading it in her thoughts.

Unfortunately, he didn't want to let her out of his sight. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Bathroom." Elle suddenly realized that no one had ever told her if vampires had any use for bathrooms; it was hardly something she'd thought to ask about. "You do have bathrooms in this house, right? Ones that work?"

"Yes, of course."

"Then I'm gonna use one. And no, you're not coming with me!"

"All right. Go upstairs, fourth door to your left." That one should be safe enough since it was located in the center of the house, away from the windows. Anyway, Alice didn't expect James to attack their house tonight; he would wait to see if they left Elle alone, and they had hours before he would realize that wasn't going to happen.

###

Elle locked herself in the bathroom, and turned on the tap in the sink to mask the sound of her cell phone powering up. She was relieved to see that it was receiving a strong signal, even out here in the woods. It began beeping almost immediately, the screen flashing a message that her voicemail inbox was full - of messages from Thompson, no doubt. Well, I was gonna call him anyway. And the minute I get home I'm complaining to Daddy about him practically stalking me!

She sent him a text message: R u there? I'm at the Cullens', can't talk. Text me.

He replied a moment later: Where have you been? I waited at the apartment for hours.

Been w/ Edward. S**t happened & I need to get out of here. Will probably need backup too.

Thompson smiled. When Elle hadn't returned to her Port Angeles apartment he had called Mr. Petrelli, and he had said he was going to assemble an extraction team, including Bennet and Eden McCain. One way or another the Company was taking back its rogue agent; if she came to them willingly, so much the better. He texted back: I can do that. Can you meet us?

When & where?

ASAP at the Seattle facility.

I'll be there.

There was a soft tap on the door, and Alice's voice asked, "Are you okay in there? You've been running the water so long it sounds like you're trying to drown yourself."

Elle locked her phone's keypad, turned the faucet off, and opened the door. "Nope, not drowning myself. What do you want?"

"We've decided Edward's going to get you out of here while the rest of us take care of James and Victoria. Laurent doesn't want to be involved in this fight, so he's leaving town."

"Great." Running away wasn't really Elle's style, but running away with Edward? That definitely had potential.

"We need to trade clothes before you go-"

"Excuse me?"

"To mask your scent," Alice explained. "It won't fool James for long, but it should get you away from Forks safely."

She took off the moment she was dressed in Elle's clothes; by the time Elle got into Alice's baseball outfit and went downstairs at her slower human pace the place seemed to be empty of everyone except Edward. Before she could quiz him on the others' whereabouts, he swept her up and ran out to the garage, where the Volvo was already running - with the door up, of course, to prevent a deadly carbon monoxide buildup.

Once they were on the road he told her, "The others are out in the woods, laying a false trail. James is tracking them and the woman is in town, probably breaking into the high school to find your home address."

"They really think I'd be stupid enough to go home?"

"Most humans retreat to places they feel safe when they're threatened. Of course James and Victoria probably know I wouldn't allow you to go home, but they may hope to find a family member to hold hostage - you never know when a bargaining chip might come in handy. Your father isn't due back from New York this evening, is he?"

"No."

"Good." Edward reached over and took Elle's hand. "There really is nothing to worry about. Even if something goes wrong with our decoy, I'll make sure James doesn't get his hands on you. I'll do whatever it takes to make you safe again."

Elle offered a weak smile in return. "Thank you. No one's ever really gone out of their way for me like this, and I want you to know it means a lot to me." Not that I really need protecting… It's just nice that someone cares enough to want to, even though I bet I could take on James myself.

Listening to her thoughts, Edward didn't know whether to admire her or fear for her. She had to be one of the bravest humans - no, one of the bravest people, human or vampire - he'd ever met, but she was also the most recklessly, dangerously overconfident. And yet…if there was any human on the planet who could fight a vampire and come out on top, he would bet everything, including his piano and favorite car, that it would be Elle Bishop.

###

Carlisle called four hours later with bad news. "We almost had him, but then Victoria joined him and the two of them managed to evade us. I'm sorry, Edward. Alice says he's realized what we were doing and that he's on the right track now."

"And where is this track leading him?"

"Alice's visions show him in a multilevel parking garage; no way of telling the precise location, but it could be at an airport. Where are you?"

"Still a couple of hours from Seattle." Edward glanced at Elle, who had reclined her seat as far as it would go and was fast asleep, completely undisturbed by the hushed conversation. "I'd thought we might go somewhere from the SeaTac airport, though I hadn't picked out a specific destination - in light of Alice's vision, though, I think I'll be changing our plans."

###

Elle woke up on an unfamiliar bed, to the unfamiliar sensation of someone's arms around her. "Edward?" It had better be Edward holding her, or they were in for a nasty shock.

"Yes, love?"

She twisted in his arms so they were facing each other, their heads resting on the same pillow, mere inches separating them. "Where are we?"

"Holiday Inn, Seattle."

"How's your family doing with James?"

Edward was surprised; although she wasn't making any effort to get up or move out of their intimate position, she was clearly in a straight-to-business mood, more like someone on a mission than a teenage girl alone in a hotel room with her boyfriend. Well, she had the right attitude - they couldn't afford to relax until the tracker had been dealt with. "He's very good - he saw through our ruse in just a few hours. We don't know where he and Victoria are now, but Alice had a vision suggesting he may be headed for an airport, so for the time being we'll avoid traveling by plane."

"Does that mean we're driving somewhere?" Elle hoped he wasn't planning to take her to some remote place like Alaska - she had an appointment with Thompson, and if she missed it the Company would assume she'd gone rogue. Then James and his partner wouldn't be the only ones hunting her.

"We're not going anywhere until we have a better idea of where the tracker is," Edward told her, and Elle relaxed a little.

"So what do we do now?"

"Lay low."

Everything went well for something less than an hour, and then Elle began exhibiting a classic symptom of sociopathy: inability to tolerate boredom. "Does laying low mean we don't leave this room at all?" she asked crossly.

"It would be better if we didn't."

Elle let out an aggravated huff and stalked over to the window, which was covered with heavy drapes. "I'm hungry."

"I can order room service," Edward said calmly.

"I don't want room service," she snapped, "I want to get out of here!" She pulled the drapes aside and peered out. "There's a Starbucks down the street; can we go there?"

Edward sighed. "It's broad daylight out there, Elle, and the cloud cover is pretty thin. I had better stay here."

She whirled around, eyes wide with anger and frustration. For a moment he expected her to zap him, but she reined herself in. "Then I'll go by myself." She left the window and came closer, slipping into her sweetly persuasive mode. "I know you'd rather I stayed with you, but if it's too sunny for you chances are James won't be outside either. It'll be perfectly safe."

Edward reluctantly gave in. "Be careful."

"I always am." She kissed him before leaving.

###

Once she was safely inside Starbucks, she called Thompson. "Edward and I are in Seattle. Want me to bring him to the facility?"

"No, I want you to come alone."

Elle blinked. "What? My whole reason for being here-"

"Your only reason for doing anything is if we tell you to," he snapped, "and right now I'm telling you to leave your boyfriend and meet me. The Cullens are no longer your concern."

"Whatever you say. You're the boss." Elle rolled her eyes; being jerked around by her bosses got very tiresome sometimes. And it looked like her time with Edward was up, not that she had really expected to be allowed to keep him forever anyway. Well, it was fun while it lasted. Suddenly, she wished their last kiss had lasted longer. Maybe the Company would decide to bag and tag him later, and they could be together again, except he probably wouldn't be very happy when he found out she had lied to him the whole time they knew each other. At least he would be spared that for now, but he'd still be hurt that she had run off with no explanation.

He'd have been better off if we never met, she thought as she left the coffee shop without waiting for the baristas to finish making her latte. This must be what remorse feels like...and it sucks. She caught a taxi on the street corner, shoved some money at the driver, and told him the facility's address.

"Primatech?" he repeated, nonplussed.

Elle nodded. "It's a paper company."

"Not too many teenagers interested in the paper industry," the driver remarked as he slowly pulled out into traffic.

"My dad works there," Elle said tersely, wishing he would just shut up - she wasn't paying for conversation. Hoping he'd get the hint if she appeared busy, she took out her cell phone again and texted Edward: I had to do it. Sorry. She wondered if they would ever see each other again, whether she would miss him for long if they didn't, if he would ever forgive her. None of those things seemed very likely, except maybe the part about her missing him.

The drive was short; after getting out of the taxi, she headed for the entrance on the third level of the employees-only parking area. It was just dark and quiet enough in there to be almost creepy. Elle wasn't bothered by the atmosphere, but then she heard another set of footsteps besides her own on the concrete. She jerked to a halt. The strange footsteps continued for a second before they too stopped. "Who's there?" she demanded.

A throat was cleared off to her right. She spun toward the sound and saw a familiar gray-haired figure leaning on a Company van. Elle growled softly. "Thompson! Were you following me?"

Thompson didn't answer.

"You know, you've been really anal over the last couple days," she said as she strode toward him, her shoes hitting the concrete with a sharp, angry sound, "flipping out when I was a little late for my check-in, burning up my phone calling me practically every ten minutes, ordering me to forget my assignment and drop everything to meet you right this minute… I'm starting to think you have a thing for me. Which is kinda gross, by the way."

Thompson never said a word, or moved, or gave any indication he was even aware of her. It was beginning to get on Elle's nerves - being ordered around was bad enough, but for him to just stand there and act like she didn't even exist… "Hey, Thompson! Are you deaf?" She grabbed his arm and gave him a little shake…and he crumpled to the ground, his lifeless eyes staring blankly upward.

"Thompson?" Elle squatted beside him, feeling his neck for a pulse. There was none, but his skin was still warm - he must have been killed just a moment ago. His eight remaining fingers were bent at odd angles; two had been cut off. Looks like he was tortured before he died. When Elle took her hand off his neck, his head flopped limply to one side, exposing a ragged tear in his throat. Something a ripped a chunk out of him - with their teeth, maybe? "Vampire," Elle murmured.

Someone clapped behind her. "Very good, Elle," James said pleasantly.

Next chapter: vampire smackdown! Also, we learn something unexpected about James and the Company.