Don't own anything except OC's.

Chapter 24: Seattle

Quil's POV.

Claire and I were together. Claire and I were in a relationship. Claire and I were boyfriend and girlfriend.

It was all I could think of from the moment we had agreed to become more than best friends. Claire, my imprint and the girl I had watched grow up, was my girlfriend. Although I was ecstatic, happier than I had been my whole life, I couldn't help but be a little freaked out. I mean, I had picked her up from kindergarten, watched her start her first day of High School, and now we were moving onto the next level of the imprint stages: lovers.

Just the word sent me into a frenzy.

Other people were also finding the whole thing weird. People around town, who knew my actual age and knew Claire, were whispering. They thought I couldn't hear them when I walked down the streets or went to the local shop, but I could. Their accusing scowls and murmurs that I was far too old for Claire to be with. Even though I knew it shouldn't, even though I knew that they knew fuck all about Claire and I and our situation, they were getting to me. Odd comments from people, mostly my mom's friends, like 'Isn't she a little young?' or 'how many years is their between you two again?' made me almost phase a few times. There were only thirteen years between us and while that may not be a massive thing outside of La Push, for a small town like us it was gossip heaven.

Claire had agreed to take things slow with me. And after our disastrous first date, she had been even more understanding of my feelings on us. The date, in which I had acted like a complete jackass, ended terribly. I had gone home with a heavy heart and guilt swarming inside me. Then Claire came to me the next day and we talked and suddenly things were good again.

Though the slow thing was mostly for my sanity, it was also partly for Claire, too. I knew she wanted more, she made that obvious, but I didn't want to rush things and have her regret it later. Taking things slow meant we were both ready and prepared when the right time came. I didn't want our hormones taking over— which they nearly had multiple times when she put her perfect, soft lips against mine— and ruining the start of our relationship forever. Claire and I were going to be together for the rest of our lives (hopefully) and I didn't want her, or me, to regret the start.

My memories of Claire weren't helping the situation. When things got hot and sweaty, my brain would suddenly play a memory of her learning to talk or blushing when I smiled at her (sometimes she still did that, it was adorable) and I would have to stop, because even though Claire was the most beautiful, sexy, amazing, gorgeous woman in the world, it was hard to forget the many years of her growing up. I suppose it was just a time thing, the more Claire and I were together the more I found myself forgetting about school runs and piggy back rides.

I had thought our transition into something more would be easy and swift, that was how I imagined it before. But imagination and real life were different, and when I actually got to hold and kiss her it wasn't as smooth as I anticipated. She felt perfect in my arms and when we kissed it blew my mind—everything about her blew my mind. However, there was always a tiny bit in my brain that told me I was rushing her, that she was still too young for me to get serious with the imprint. She was eighteen, she had her whole life ahead of her, and I didn't want her decisions to be based around the imprint and how we could be together. I wanted her to live her life how she wanted, to be free and reckless like other young adults, and I didn't want her to be tied down before she was ready and have her resent me later.

So in March when she told me about a party in Seattle, I was pleased. Scared shitless about her being alone with two other eighteen-year-olds in an unknown city, but also happy I wasn't stopping her from hanging out with friends and partying, which I had feared I would. I missed her like crazy, even if it was for one night, so I spent the night in my apartment with Collin, who was also missing Gabby.

"This movie is awful," Collin whined at the pathetic horror movie we had picked out from the local DVD rent shop, which was also a fishing shop and second-hand clothes store. "Why did we pick this?"

"You picked it," I replied, taking a swig of my beer. Technically, we couldn't get drunk unless we had at least three galleons each, but the taste was nice. "I wanted the one with the scary kid in it."

"That looked weird," Collin groaned. "The kid had red eyes, that's just wrong."

"You only think that because of vampires."

"Whatever man, it still freaked me out."

I chuckled and turned my attention back to the movie. It really was awful. It seemed the creators had just tried to put as much blood on screen as they could, meaning the movie had no plot and terrible actors. I sighed and had another slice of pizza from the four boxes we had ordered. As I went off to get another beer for us, Collin's cell phone rang. He answered as I came back into the room.

"Gabby?" he said in confusion. "Are you alright?"

"C-Collin!" Gabby wailed hysterically. Collin immediately sat up and I listened intently, my heart sinking at her frightened tone. Claire was with her, what had happened? "I-I've l-lost C-Claire and B-Behati! I-I don't know w-where t-they've gone!"

Time seemed to stop, my head started spinning and I felt queasy.

"What do you mean you lost them? Are you okay?"

"I-I'm f-fine," she sobbed. "C-Collin, p-please come d-down."

"I'll be there in ten minutes, I promise."

He shut the phone and we ran off together without saying a word. I phased at the edge of the forest and ran so hard my legs ached. Claire was missing. My Claire-bear had gone. I needed to get to her, I needed her to be safe. The only thing on my mind was Claire as I sprinted to Seattle. How had I not noticed through the connection? If she was in pain, I would know, right? Her pain was my pain. Maybe she wasn't in pain, maybe she was just lost. Either way, I had to find her.

Collin and I phased back when we couldn't run in wolf form any longer. Following Claire's scent, I was led to Seattle University where a large, loud party was still underway. I sniffed hard, ignoring the strong stench of sweat and sex, to sniff out the familiar lilac and kiwi I loved so much. Collin went inside the University, in which I could smell Gabby's peach and vanilla scent, and I went off to the right. I pushed myself through the throng of people and down the side of the building. Behind some bins, I saw some red heels peeking out. My heart leapt in my throat and I rushed over to see Claire passed out on the floor.

"Claire," I yelled. "Claire, are you okay?"

She didn't respond but I could hear her strong heartbeat. Careful to not hurt her, I scooped her into my arms and walked to the front of the University where Collin was comforting a sobbing Gabby. When she saw me with Claire she let out a cry of relief.

"Oh thank God!" she blubbered, coming over to inspected Claire's face. "Did you find Behati?"

"No, when did you see her?"

"When she was throwing up in the toilet, she was gone when I went back, oh God, if only I'd stayed with her!"

"We need to get them home," Collin stated.

"How? Claire's out of it."

"Try to wake her for a bit while you run home."

I nodded and placed Claire on the floor, softly shaking her and shouting for her to wake up.

"Quil?" she murmured finally. She fluttered open her eyes and an immense wave of relief washed over me. "Quil? What are you doing here?"

"Gabby phoned," I told her. "You need to wake up so I can take you home."

"I'm so tired, Quil."

"I know, honey, but I need you to do this for me, okay?"

She nodded and Collin came back with a bottle of water for her. After gulping it down, she took off her heels and handed them to me while getting shakily to her feet with Gabby's help. She was unsteady and kept yawning, but it was good enough. I got the string from my pocket and tied her shoes to my ankle.

"Make sure you keep tight hold of her, okay?" I said to Gabby.

She nodded through her tears and we ran to the edge of the forest. I phased behind the trees and popped out just enough for the girls to see me properly. Collin lifted them onto my back and they clung to my fur, it was painful but I didn't care at that point.

"I'll look for Behati," Collin told me. "You make sure they're both alright, yeah?"

Nodding, I took off into the forest, smoothing out my movements so the girls could hold on properly. It took me an extra half an hour to get back and once they climbed off near the apartment, I phased in the bushes and put my slacks back on. Claire was already nodding off when I walked back over to them. I carried her bridal style to the apartment and placed her on my bed, Gabby sat beside her, silent tears sliding down her cheeks.

"What happened?" I asked Gabby, making her a cup of tea to calm her. I could hear Claire's heavy breathing and steady heartbeat in the bedroom and it relaxed me.

"It all went wrong after this man gave Behati some drinks for us," she started sadly. "Claire downed hers and so did Behati once we got on the dance floor, but I dropped mine when someone knocked into me. Behati and Claire started to act really strange, they kept tripping over themselves and looked pale. Behati went off to the toilets to be sick and I followed her, thinking Claire would, too. When I realized she hadn't, I went back to get her to make sure she was okay, but she was gone. When I went back to get Behati to find Claire, she had gone, too. I panicked and that's when I called Collin."

"Do you think this guy drugged you?"

"That's the only thing I can think of," she shrugged, wiping away tears. "I knew we shouldn't have gone to that stupid party…"

My cell phone rang, stopping her. I leaned back and grabbed it from the counter.

"Collin? Have you found her?"

"Not yet, man, but I can smell her," he said. "Quil, I can smell vampire, too. I think one was here."

"Shit...shit," I ran my hands through my hair. "I think I should call Sam."

"Yeah, tell him to send more down here. If there's a vampire on the loose, I can't take him myself."

"Alright."

I put the phone down and reluctantly called the Uley house, knowing they would all be asleep.

"Hello?" a groggy Sam answered the phone.

"Sam, hey man, sorry about the late call but something's happened."

"Quil? What's going on?"

I told him what had happened and he grumbled bitterly. "Alright, shit, I'll get some guys to go down to Seattle now. Quil, you stay with Claire and Gabby, make sure they're okay."

"Right."

"What's happened?" Gabby whispered.

"He hasn't found Behati," I said quietly. "But he can smell vampire. This guy who gave you the drinks, what did he look like?"

"Um, he was tall, really handsome—"

"I think a vampire drugged you," I said and she whimpered. "We're trying to find Behati but it's harder in human because she's in the city."

She sniffled. "Okay," she got up and sighed. "Thanks for the tea, Quil. Do you mind if I go to sleep?"

"No, go ahead."

She went into my bedroom and I sat on the sofa, awaiting a call from Collin or one of the guys for information. At some time in the night I fell asleep and woke up to the ring of my cell phone. I rubbed my eyes and answered it, slapping my face slightly to make me more alert.

"Hello? Collin?"

"Quil, we found her," he sounded sad at this and I frowned.

"And?"

"She was down a back alley about three miles from the University...Quil, she's been bitten."

"Bitten?"

"Yeah, the vamp got away, Aiden found her about an hour ago. She didn't have much blood left, I don't think he meant to turn her. I've rang the Cullen's and they're coming down to help her and stuff."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and gulped. Behati was only eighteen and she had had her human life ripped away from her. It was going to devastate Claire...it could have been Claire. I felt sick at the thought. My Claire...a vampire. I would love her, of course, she was perfect human, vampire or anything else, but to know she would be immortal and basically lifeless...I couldn't even imagine it.

I heard Claire stir in my bedroom and jumped to my feet. She was sat up, blinking rapidly through the dim light that my bedroom had when the curtains were closed. She looked at me when the door squeaked and then glanced at Gabby who was asleep beside her.

"Quil? What happened? Why am I here?"

Gabby shuffled at Claire's voice and awoke, yawning widely and loudly. She sat up and peered around the room.

"Gab, what happened?" Claire asked quietly.

"Oh Claire," Gabby sighed, leaning to hug her. I walked over and sat near Claire's feet. "God, you scared the shit out of me last night."

"What, why?"

Gabby recited the story she had told me last night and Claire gasped, tears springing into her eyes. I got up and sat beside her, taking her face in my hands as tears slid down her cheeks.

"I was drugged?" she whispered tearfully.

"Yeah, but you're fine now, Claire."

"How did you find me?"

"I sniffed you out, you were behind the University near the bins, unconscious," I wiped her tears.

She scrunched her face. "Oh God," she cried. "What about Behati? Where is she?"

"Claire," I gulped, letting go of her face. "Behati...well, we found Behati about an hour ago."

"What? Is she okay? What happened to her?" Gabby spouted off questions quickly.

"She's...she's been bitten," I repeated what Collin had said. "The vampire—he tried to kill her but he accidently left her changing into a vampire."

"She—she's a vampire?"

"She's changing, yes."

Claire burst into tears, closely followed by Gabby. I didn't know who to comfort so I took Gabby into one side of me and Claire into the other. They sobbed into my shoulder and my heart broke a little more each time Claire shook from crying so hard. I kissed Claire's head and buried my nose into her hair, whispering comforting words into her ear.

"Gabby?" Collin suddenly shouted into the apartment.

Gabby lifted her head from my shoulder as Collin came into my bedroom. He immediately cradled her and I turned my full attention to Claire, stroking her hair and rocking her slightly. She was curled into a ball when I pulled away to look in her eyes.

"The Cullen's are coming down to help her," I assured her. Her chin wobbled. "They'll make it easier for her, I promise. They know what they're doing."

"But B-Behati, her f-family!"

"I know, I'm sorry," I mumbled as she started to cry hysterically.

I hugged her tightly into my chest and closed my eyes. I hated Claire being in pain. I hated that Behati had had her life taken away from her. I hated the whole situation.

For now, though, I had to forget about that. Claire was hurting and I'd be dead before I let her handle the pain herself. I hugged her closer and kissed her head, my heart aching as her sobs became louder.

Thoughts?

Thanks for the reviews, alerts and favourites! You guys are the best!

Just wanted to let you know there's 9-10 chapters left and then Quil and Claire's story is over. I'd tell you what I'm going to do afterwards, but I'm not quite sure, so...I guess I'll have to figure it out.

Someone PMed me last week and asked if I was going to do Collin and Gabby's story... the short answer is no. If I was to continue on, I'd do a story about the children of the pack. I have it all planned out, I just need to find the time to write it and figure out if people are interested or not. However, if anybody wanted to write their story, or even just ask me questions about them, you can! If you're interested, let me know. But if it's literally just that one person that cares about them and the rest of you are like "Who are they again?", then totally ignore me :)

-Laylax