A/N: Here is Chapter 5 from Echo's point of view. -remainNameless6

Chapter 5

Echo

I'd gone ten miles into the woods, and no sign of the gold-eyed wolf. I was tired. It had been a long day and an even longer night. I slept under a tree, shivering in the snow and wishing for my car.

And it actually looked like that wish was a reality when a dark jeep crunched though the trees. My biggest question was how that thing had even gotten though the dense woods. It pulled up in front of me, blinding me with the bright headlights. You see - I can see in the dark so this was just painful for my night vision eyes. The door opened.

"Get in," it was Theo, the guy from the reservation.

I shook my head. "I can't."

"Why not? Come on. You've got to be freezing out there!" I was. The shirt was big, but thin. I was not dressed for the weather. Reluctantly I crawled into the passenger seat. The scent of our long drives filling my brain with nostalgia. I leaned against the window, refusing to look at Theo.

"How did you find me?" I asked, filling the silence.

"Followed your scent," he responded.

Yeah- I had a pretty good nose, but I was no bloodhound. "Really?" I looked up. "What do I smell like?"

He pondered on this for a moment, "spices. Like cinnamon and cloves."

I gave a short laugh. "What dose Morrie smell like?"

"Sugar," he told me and this time a let out a real laugh. Sugar and spice and everything nice.

"How is she?" I was almost afraid for the answer.

"Upset - understandably of corse. You just abandon her when she needs you the most."

The anger roared up inside of me. "I did it for her. Everything I do is for her."

"You should know- who ever it is your so set on taking out- your sister will fight for him." He told me mater of factly.

"She has no reason to." I spat. What did he know? He'd only just met her.

"Yes. She does. I've seen it happen with some of my pack mates, it's called an imprint. When you meet the person your supposed to spend your life with you mark them. You're bonded to them."

"Are you saying," I snarled though clenched teeth, "that Morrie has 'imprinted' with this monster?"

"...Yes."

"…. I'm still going to kill him… after what he did…"

"What did he do? Mora wont tell me."

"…. He killed me." Hollow. Why was I always so hollow?

"You say that- but I'm never quite sure what you mean." What a clever way of demanding information.

"Give me one reason why I should tell you," I hissed.

"Because I wont tell the others. No one has to know. But I need to know that you have a good reason other then cold blood." For about ten minuets we drove in silence.

I startled him when I spoke. "I don't remember it really. Just bits. Flashes… bottom line is that he made me… this," I gestured to my self.

"And that's bad?"

"It is when you black out once a month only to find out that you've ripped innocent people to shreds." My thought scratched.

"Oh," was all he said. My sister thought I was a monster, I knew I was a monster, now so did this guy. "You can't control it?"

"Not in the least bit. Its like I'm there, but I don't know what I'm doing is wrong. That's why Morrie was so scared when I tried to tell her she was a shifter. She thought she had been bitten," I explained.

"So its transferred by bite… the shifter gene is transferred by blood line. My guess is that you would have been one too."

Great - so not only had the bite taken my family and my humanity, it also robbed me of a superpower. Just keeps getting better and better. "So - where exactly are you taking me?" I demanded the edge back in my voice.

"Back to the reservation, Mora needs you. She's imbalanced right now. The first shifts are not exactly painless, and begin as upset as she is, she's shifting a lot."

I nodded, feeling guilty by getting so caught up in revenge that I let my sister fall to second priority.

"So echo, where are you from?" His voice took on a lighter tone.

"Main," I answer simply. The last thing I needed him doing was researching my past and to find the newspaper article that displayed the deaths in our home as "savage violence" and the "work of a feral, rogue wolf." He didn't need to know how messed up I was. I should have stayed with her. She had tried to help me though my changes, I should have returned the favor.

"So - when do the shifts stop hurting her?"

"It shouldn't take long, after awhile they become second nature. What about you, how long until they stop hurting?"

"They don't." my hollowed out voice answered.

"I'm sorry."

"I don't see why you would be. It should hurt worse for what I've done," my nails dug into my palm.

"But that's not you."

"Its some part of me."

"Does your sister know, that you remember?"

"No, and I'd like to keep it that way…. So what else is there? So far we've got werewolves and shifters." I changed the subject.

"There are a lot, vampires mainly."

"Seriously? Dracula?" I laughed bitterly.

"I've only met the ones across the border of La Push. The ones we have truce with," he spoke calmly, like this was just another day in the neighborhood.

Before I knew it we pulled up into a driveway of a house I've never seen before. "Where-"

"The Clearwater's house. Leah is the only female shifter we've got, so we figured we should leave her with Leah." He explained.

"Really? So females are rare?"

"Here, yeah. I don't know about in other places."

"So…" I paused, thinking of the right word, "you guys are in… packs? Like wolves?"

"Yeah, there are two here. Leah was part of an older pack, but she joined ours in the beginning."

"Oh, why?"

"Don't know," he shrugged. "Had something to do with the suckers in forks. Before my time."

"How old is she then?"

"19, we stop ageing when we change. If we ever decide to stop permanently though we begin to age again." I nodded. Really, it was fascinating- that something so similar to me could have so much… choice in the matter.

"Echo-" his voice took on a lower, more serious tone. "As far as anyone's concerned your 100% human. I don't know how they'd react if-"

"I know. I'm a monster." I looked down.

"No, different, like your sister told me. People don't like different until they get to know it. So let them get to know you first."

We got out of the car, and I lovingly kissed the hood of the car good bye. "What?" I responded when I caught the wired look Theo was giving me. "I love that car. We're 'imprinted.'" I mocked.

He gave a quick laugh before opening the door and leading me inside.

"She's out back in the shed. We didn't want her to hurt anyone or herself. You can go in there though, but make sure you back up when she shifts…." I toned out his words. I froze, a deer in the headlights, little red riding hood coming face to face with the big bad wolf.

"Theo?"

"Yes?"

"Don't leave me alone in here. I'm going to kill him."

I eyed the golden eyes. A growl rising in my thought.

"hello." he spoke. The growl in my thought deepened.

With out a thought my body launched into autopilot, I lunged for him. For a knife. For blood, but Theo grabbed me just in time, his arms wrapping tightly around my waist and arms.

"You see that little wolf girl?" he smirked. "You're more of a monster then the wolf."

"I'll kill you!" I rasped, my body struggling to break from Theo. I couldn't explain it, but all I wanted was for him to feel what I had, to know what he had done to me. I wanted him to understand the pain he caused me. I wanted him dead, just like I was.

"My point exactly. You like the hunt, don't you? I know I did and the kill too. If you're going to be a monster, you might as well enjoy it." He snarled.

I fought to tune out his voice. How the hell could my sweet, loving, good sister imprint on that? It was all kinds of wrong.

"Why the hell are you here?" Theo demanded.

He grinned, "Well, it seems that I own the sister, thank you by the way."

"You will not touch her!" I rasped.

"No. I won't. That's how I'm thanking her."

"You will stay away from my sister. Do you understand me? I don't care if your 'imprinted' or some sort of crap like that. You will stay away from me and if you touch her— I will find the most creative way to end you life." I snarled.

"I don't doubt that, but I wont stay away from her. It works both ways. She's my…mat—mine. That's something entirely different from a shifter's imprint. I can't hurt her. It's impossible for me to harm her intentionally. It would hurt me more then you can imagine."

"She isn't yours," I spit, I stared into his eyes, trying to find some sort of soul in them. But they were hollow.

And so were mine. I shivered.

"But-" pain spiked though me. A ragged gasp tore my throat raw. "You should know, that I can force you to change- not just on a full moon. That's the perk of giving the bite." My back arched and I screamed, dropping to the ground from Theo's grasp. Then it stopped. I laid there gasping on the floor, practically sobbing as my bones crunched back.

"But its doesn't have to be that way." He headed to the door, "Shifter- don't come after me, you know what I'll do to her." And with that he left. My arms shook as I tired to pushed by self up, my muscles quivering like I'd just held a mountain. I fell back down, my body limp, my mouth tasting like blood. I gasped against the cooled tile. Theo helped my up and over to the couch. Everything hurt. My body had never stopped mid-change. It was bad enough to change once a month- I could only imagine how many times I' have to shift if he made me. I sat there for a few minuets, not enough time to fully heal, but enough that I was stumbling outside on my own.

Theo had told me that Leah had just left so Morrie was alone. My legs had only collapsed once on the way over, but my lungs still burned.

I pushed the door open with a creak. It was bigger then I thought it would have been. There were duffel bags and boxes piled up to the ceiling with names; I assumed they were the names of the pack mates. Note to self: after she stops sifting, have Theo grab Morrie's bag so she has something of her own to wear. Maybe mine too… this shirt was falling off my frame, big time. In the corner Morrie was sleeping, in her human form. She was clad in a too-big flannel shirt like me and some sweats.

I approached her.

"Morrie?" I asked, shaking her shoulder. She was so hot, like she had a fever. "Morrie, its me, Echo."

She blinked her eyes opened. "Echo?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you going to stay?" She sounded so young and weak.

"Yeah, Morrie. I'm going to stay. Together forever, right?"

She nodded, wrapping my hand in mine. "I'm so tired."

"Yeah, Theo told me the shift takes it out of you. Do you want me to go get your clothes?"

"No," she clutched my hand, "don't go."

"I won't." I brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I promise."

"Can we go inside? I'm really tired," Morrie yawned.

"Sure thing. Come on Morrie," I picked her up bridal style and pushed open the now unlocked door. Her shirt hung awkwardly on her shoulders, it was so big we could both fit in it and have room to spare, but she had knotted it so it didn't slip off. The gold-eyed wolf waited for us. His eyes meting mine, brimming with hate.

The instant he looked at Morrie… it was like he melted completely - he looked almost… sad. This was not the guy who had just threatened lives in the other room. Theo stood in front of him, like if when serious crap went down, gold-eye would have to get though him first. The steps were icy, though, and my muscles were still weak from the half-change. It was inevitable; really, I should have had Theo come get her. I could barley support my own wait. None the less- I fell and Morrie with me. My knee hit first, sending a spike of blinding pain up my spin, but the wind was knocked out of Morrie, and she gasped, trying to force the air into her lungs.

"You idiot!" Gold-eyes roared, charging forward despite Theo's attempts. "You hurt her!" He pushed me, hard. The insult I could handle, even the push, but the instant he touched my sister the world blurred out of focus and all I could see was his hand on her arm.

"Don't freaking touch her!" I shrieked, shoving him away and pulling Morrie behind me. "Don't come near her! I'll kill you!"

"Echo," morrie rasped, her breath coming back. "Echo, its okay. Nick isn't going to hurt me any more then you would." I didn't like those odds. Not one bit. Mora moved forwards an inch, towards Nick. "Its alright see?" She spoke to me like I was a wild animal- a cadged wild animal. Desperate to survive and I was. Just every bit as desperate.

Running forward, I have every intention of slashing his face to bits, but Theo lunged and my nails dug across his face. He swore, blood running down his cheek. My eyes widened. There was blood on my hand, under my nails. Horror filled me as a watched the blood fall in beads to the snow.

Red on white. The devil's delight.

I fell back, reeling. "I'm so sorry." I breathed. "Oh god, I'm so sorry." The blood stained his hand, matching mine.

"It's fine, we heal fast." That doesn't change that fact that I just tried to rip your skin off.

Nick's voice sounded so cold in my ears. "See? Your more of a monster then me."