I promised myself that I'd finish writing this by Tuesday, a promise that I was able to keep mostly because I managed to lock myself out of the house for and I had to wait for my brother to come home. I passed the time writing the draft of this chapter on a yellow pad.

17

Leader

A chill passed through me.

Vampires? In the forest? Now?

I couldn't help but think of the Siren—no, Victoria—the first time I saw her, here in this very forest. Powerful didn't even begin to describe her, it felt more like I was prey and she, the predator. It didn't even feel as if Corrine and I were fighting her, more like she was toying with us.

I had the feeling that if she had wanted us dead, Corrine and I wouldn't have lasted a second.

My thoughts must have shown on my face because Paul said, "Don't worry, Mr. Swan, I'm pretty sure that we can handle a few leeches." I have never seen a smirk that I wanted to punch so badly.

"Charlie," I said. Mr. Swan brought out too many memories of a time when there was a Mrs. Swan.

Billy was a bit more reasonable. "Your Alpha just walked out on you, you can barely even control your Phasing and Jared's injured. I'm pretty sure you can't handle a few leeches. You don't even know how many of them there are." He said the last part with a meaningful look at Jared.

"I counted three of them before I…lost control." Jared's voice had gone very small, as if merely recounting the incident brought him pain. Or embarrassment, I added mentally, noting the way Jared was looking everywhere except at Billy or Paul's faces.

If Billy noticed, he didn't let it on.

Just as well, I thought. The poor kid probably had enough to worry about without anyone rubbing it in.

"Three? And you're sure that none of them are the Cullens?"

I held my breath as I waited for Jared's answer. Billy already told me that the Cullens were vampires, but up until now, I had no idea about the pack's relationship was with the Cullens. I feel a stab of terror as I think of my daughter going to school with them. With him.

Should I have gone straightaway to find Isabella once I found out what the Cullens were—what Edward Cullen was? Should I really be standing here, helping Billy out when my own daughter needed me?

Fear and worry tasted bitter against my tongue.

"Charlie." Billy's voice had an odd bite to it. "Bella's safe. The Cullens…don't drink human blood."

Was I that transparent? What did Billy mean by saying that the Cullens didn't drink human blood? Did they drink animal blood then? Elk blood?

Billy's assertions did not make me breathe any easier.

"I'm sure, Mr. Black," Jared said quietly. "They didn't look like any leeches that I knew."

"Didn't smell like them too," he added.

So did vampires have different smells now? My head was spinning. For every answer that I got, a thousand more questions took its place.

"See Mr. Black? We have to check this out!" Jared was quick to say.

I could see that Billy was thinking about what to say next. Can't say that I blame him; werewolves or not, these two weren't exactly what I would call "experienced".

They looked more like they were going to run headlong into whatever vampire they come across.

Speaking from experience, that's not a very good tactic and it was more likely to endanger the boys than actually do anything to help. I could see that Billy was trying to come up with an excuse not to let them go.

"Jared's injured," he said lamely.

"I'm okay now, Mr. Black," Jared protested, though the strain in his voice belied his words. "I can fight."

Paul cottoned on quickly. "We werewolves heal fast, Jared will be fine."

A spasm of pain crossed Billy's face at the phrase "we werewolves". I had no idea whether Paul had said that as a dig or he did it unintentionally. Either way, it was a problem for another day.

"Billy," I began. "I could go with them, keep them out of trouble."

My friend stared at me as if I had suddenly grown two heads.

"You're not our Alpha, Charlie," Paul growled. I'll take that as a compliment, seeing as how their Alpha walked out on them.

"Well, you look like you need an adult." I glared at him, daring him to defy me.

Paul glared back, but credit to him, he didn't say a word.

"Jared? Any objections?" I said this while deliberately keeping my eyes on Paul. If anyone was going to give me any trouble, it was him.

"No objections, Mr. Swan," Jared answered. It's Charlie, dammit.

"I…Charlie, I wish I can go with you," Billy said. "But…" He looked meaningfully at his wheelchair. I understood immediately; with the uneven terrain it was pretty obvious that my friend was not coming with us.

Paul saw the exchange and misunderstood, "It's all right, Mr. Black. We'll take care of Charlie."

Billy grunted. "That's not what I'm afraid of." I could see that he was gripping the arms of his wheelchair very hard as he spoke. My head was too full of Isabella and vampires for me to think on what it meant.

I turned back to the werewolves, noting that Jared still needed to lean on Paul for support.

"Jared, can you lead us back to where you found the vampires?"

Jared nodded.

"Did they know you were there before?"

He looked down at his feet. "I…don't know, Mr. Swan."

I sighed. "Well, we'll try to keep out of sight this time." Or smelling distance, apparently.

Paul grinned wolfishly at me. "Try to keep up, Charlie."

So saying, he took a running leap into the air and I must've blinked, because the next thing I saw was a giant wolf, bounding into the forest.