Hey readers! Yes, this is the sequel to Solstice, it takes place 28 years after it as you will soon see, and while I reccomend reading Solstice, I'm trying to make it to where it makes sense without it for new readers. But first, a quick question and answer session.

Q: Do you own Twilight?

A: No :(

Q: Do you own Kelsey, Caleb, Shelby, Abby, Collin, Luke, Ivy, Ava/Rosalie, Megan, Lilly, and Mason?

A: Yes, yes I do. :)

Equinox

"'Oh,' I said. That was slightly unsettling, knowing that there was still a probably vengeful vampire out there, likely plotting my sister's death, but I knew there was very little chance she'd actually try anything, and an even smaller chance she'd succeed."

--Solstice

Chapter 1.

"Seth, I'm worried about Caleb," I said, climbing into bed after another wearying night of sitting up, waiting for Caleb's fever to go down and for the medicine to set in. He'd been sick since Friday night and now it was Sunday.

"I'm sure it's just a bug or a growth spurt or something," Seth mumbled, still half asleep.

"You know who else thought it was just a growth spurt?" I asked referring to the painful days before I changed.

"Kelsey, there are no covens of vampires here, there's no reason he would be changing," he reassured me.

One of the main reasons we had moved to Bozeman, Montana, was that it was developed and sunny enough most days of the year that vampires would usually stay away, but there were always wanderers and it was December, so it had been pretty cloudy for the past few weeks. But where could Caleb have been around a vampire casually enough to have made the change? My first guess would be that that one had somehow managed to slip into the school system, even being in the vicinity of a vampire could activate the genes, not cause a transformation, but definitely the physical preparations, so maybe Seth was right. If anything it would probably be just a few days of painful preparation which came to nothing. At least tomorrow was the first day of their winter break and he wouldn't have to go to school for a couple of weeks, that would give him time to recover.

Just as I was falling back of asleep, I heard footsteps come into the room again.

"Mom, Caleb's moaning again," Shelby whispered. She was only ten, but being the offspring of two wolves I worried about her going through this too.

I sighed. I had the feeling it was his metabolism speeding up, just like a wolf. "Alright, go back to bed honey, I'll be there in a second." I picked up the bottle of ibuprofen from the bedside table. Once Shelby was out of the room I shook Seth awake again. "Seth, I'm serious, I want you home as soon as you get off work tomorrow, there's just too many signs," I whispered getting off the bed.

"Alright baby, but I'm telling you he's fine," Seth said, rolling back over to the middle of the bed.

I got a cup of water and went back to Caleb's room where he was sprawled out on the bed, eyes closed, muscles tensed. I brushed the hair off his burning forehead and he opened his eyes. He seemed to get older every time I saw him. He was only sixteen, but his looks were pushing eighteen now. Seth summed this up as part of the growth spurt, and while I was hoping for this too, I couldn't help but believe it was a change, just to be prepared.

He sat up and took the pills, then collapsed on the bed again. "At least I don't have to go to school tomorrow," he groaned.

I saw the opportunity to check my school theory. "So, Caleb, how is school? Anything new?"

"Yeah, there's a new girl in my science class, Megan, so now there's an even number and she's my lab partner instead of Jeff and Toby."

That didn't mean anything. I pressed on. "What's Megan like?"

"She's kinda quiet, but she's nice and she's pretty smart. I think my grade in that class will be better now."

"Oh, that's good," I said quietly. At least he didn't say anything about cold pale skin, changing eye colors, amazing beauty, or a sickly sweet smell. We sat there for a few more minutes and finally Caleb fell back asleep.

Caleb was sick for a few more days, but while his temperature continued, his aches and pains were gone and he was back to his usual self by Wednesday, just in time for Abby, Ivy, Luke, and Collin to come into town.

"Oh my goodness! You've gotten so big!" I said picking up Ivy. I couldn't believe she was four already. I could remember when Abby was that age. How did time get by so quickly? "You seem to have gotten bigger too," I grinned, glancing down at the small bulge in Abby's stomach, it was hardly noticeable but definitely not the bulge of someone who was just getting fat. "Is there anything you'd like to tell us?"

Luke beamed, wrapping his arm around her.

"Well, I would have told you earlier, but we just found out last week and figured we'd just surprise you when we came up. I'm pregnant," Abby smiled, and Collin and I embarrassed her badly by making a big fuss about it.

"Congratulations!" said Caleb, giving her a hug.

"Caleb, you're burning up!" Abby exclaimed at his touch, she put her hand to his forehead.

"Yeah," I said, pulling him back, "he had a pretty big growth spurt this weekend and he still has a little temperature, but he's fine."

"The boy takes after his mom," Collin said, putting his hand on Caleb's shoulder, "I remember when you went through a spurt like that, it was like you went from a little girl to a woman that week," he said wistfully.

"Well, we need to get all this stuff inside," I said picking up a suitcase. Hopefully this would get Collin away from his reminiscing quickly enough for him not to remember my five day disappearance right after the "growth spurt."

Later, Abby and I were making dinner, Collin and Luke were attempting to help us, but neither of them knew how to cook very well. Seth was upstairs changing from his work clothes, and Shelby was playing with Ivy in the living room, then Caleb walked in. "Hey mom, I sort of forgot to mention this, but we have a project to do over the break for science, and I have no idea what Mrs. Miller means by some of the stuff she wants us to do, so I asked Megan but she couldn't explain it over the phone. Is it okay if I take the car and run by her place for a little while?"

I frowned at him. He really should be around when the family comes to visit, but it wasn't like there was anyone near his age, and he had been too sick to work on the project until now. "Be back by seven, that's when we're having dinner," I said as he grabbed the keys and walked out the door.

"Alright! Thanks mom!" I heard him shout as the door slammed behind him.

It was eleven o'clock. Caleb wasn't home yet. He called saying he'd be a little late at six forty five, but he hadn't come home yet. Shelby and Ivy were in bed, which was good because Abby and Collin were trying to keep me from having a nervous breakdown while Luke was trying to do the same for Seth downstairs as he was waiting at the door.

"I'm sure he's fine. Teenagers are irresponsible and reckless. I bet he's just hanging out with his friends," Abby said, attempting to reassure me.

I paled yet again. What if he gotten in a car wreck while being irresponsible and reckless with his friends?

"Abby, I don't think you're helping," Collin said, pulling me out of my pacing. "Caleb's a good kid, but he's sixteen, teenagers will do things that upset their parents. Remember when you took Abby and disappeared for five days?"

Would he ever stop using that against me? It had been twenty-eight years! Still, this brought another possible scenario to my mind. What if he and Megan had gotten into a fight and he changed? I had already suspected Megan was a vampire, what if he got hurt? I got back up off the bed and started pacing faster.

"Dad, I don't think you're helping either," Abby said quietly though I could hear the slight amusement in her voice.

Finally I heard the door open. Collin and Abby wouldn't have heard it; the improved senses from my transformation had remained even after I had stopped changing. Jacob thought we could still change in emergencies, but I hoped we would never have to.

I heard Luke coming up the stairs; Seth had started to interrogate Caleb. "He's back!" Luke said, sticking his head in the room.

I sighed. I could hear them shouting now. I was pretty sure that human ears would be able to pick this up.

"But Dad! That's not fair!" Caleb argued.

"I'll tell you what's not fair! What's not fair is us waiting up half the night for you to get home when you said you'd only be a little late!" Seth yelled.

"But I told Megan we'd meet here tomorrow!"

"Well you'll just have to call her again and tell her you can't."

Suddenly I heard a loud thud followed by an ear shattering howl. One of them had changed in their anger.

"What was that?" Abby asked.

"Ummm…I think I left the T.V. on. I better go turn it off," I offered weakly as I hurriedly left the room and ran down the stairs.

Seth was feebly trying to calm Caleb down as he ran around the living room in his wolf form, bumping into almost every piece of furniture possible.

"What did I tell you Seth?!" I exclaimed as I caught another glimpse of Caleb's copper colored body turning the corner and going into the kitchen.

"Okay, you were right! What do we do now?" Seth said as more crashes came from the kitchen.

"Go get some clothes for him and figure out something to tell everyone. They can hear this loud and clear. I'll go try to calm him down."

"Are you sure?" Seth said anxiously. "He's pretty worked up. What if he hurts you?"

"What if he's just scared? Remember, you're the one who's mad at him; he isn't going to respond to you. I have to do it Seth, now go before they come down to see what's going on."

He kissed me lightly on the forehead before turning and hurrying up the stairs.

I walked into the kitchen and something hit my legs. I fell to the ground as Caleb rammed into me, interrupted from his circles. I tried to grab him, if I could get him to be still he might listen. A sharp pain ran up my arm. It felt like I had been stabbed in about five different spots. I gasped in pain as the daggers were removed. Caleb had finally stopped moving as he stood over me in shock. I realized he had bitten my arm and it was now bleeding pretty badly all over the floor and my shirt. He whimpered and nudged my shoulder. I used him to steady myself as I sat up; it was only a little dizzying.

"Shhh, it's okay baby. I'm fine." I whispered, stroking his head. I slowly got up to bandage my arm while Seth was still upstairs. He would freak out if he saw me like this. Caleb balanced himself on his hind legs using the counter as I washed my forearm until the bleeding stopped. He opened the cabinet and knocked down the first aid kit. I opened it up and applied five large band aids to my wounds. Caleb used his mouth to pull down a couple of paper towels and started to mop up the blood on the floor.

"Caleb, really, let me do that; just wait by the door. We'll go take a walk once Dad comes back down with some new clothes," I said, wetting some more paper towels to get up any blood that had dried.

He wouldn't leave my side though as I scrubbed the tile clean and sat down at the table. He paced and started to whimper again.

"Hush," I said, pulling him over with my good arm. "Everything's going to be fine." I heard Seth coming down the stairs.

"Okay, they think that you fell down the stairs, but that you're fine...oh my God! What did that boy do to you?!" Seth exclaimed rushing over to me.

"It's fine Seth, it looks worse than it actually is. It'll be like nothing happened in two or three days," I stammered. Another thing I still had from being a wolf was fast healing, although it had slowed down significantly, my wounds still healed faster than the average person.

"How did this happen?" he growled at Caleb as if he could answer.

"Seth, you're being ridiculous! It's not his fault! Besides, I 'fell down the stairs.'"

"No! I won't let him hurt you!"

"It's our son, not a murderer," I said, lowering my voice, if he knew I was calm he might calm down too.

Seth stood there for a while, just quietly staring at Caleb. "Alright," he finally sighed. "Let's get you changed back." He opened the door and Caleb scampered out. Then he walked over and wrapped his arm around me. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Apologize to Caleb, not me."

We walked into the backyard and Caleb paced a few circles before sitting down.

"The first thing you need to do," said Seth, "is make sure you're completely calm, for the first few days if you're too stimulated then you'll never be able to control yourself. Now are you calm?"

Caleb nodded.

"Alright, now all you need to do is visualize your human self and focus on that, I know that for some people it helps if you run while you do it, so if you can't do it just sitting there, jog around the yard a few times."

Finally after fifteen minutes of alternating between jogging and just sitting in one spot Caleb finally changed back. Seth handed him his clothes and he quickly got dressed. "What just happened?" he asked, still examining himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Caleb, do you remember the stories I used to tell you when you were little about werewolves and spirit warriors and 'cold ones'?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, but those are just stories, right?"

"No Caleb. Those stories are actually true. The presence of a vampire has caused you to make the change from a boy to a man and wolf so quickly. That's why you were sick this week."

"Wait...you said vampires. Like, Dracula and silver bullets, crosses, and stakes vampires?"

"Well, not exactly like that. It's more like the blood sucking part, plus super strength, speed, and heightened senses. It's like the ultimate predator, and their prey is humans," I explained.

"You know about this too? So, you two can both...?"

"No," Seth said, "not anymore. While you're a wolf you stop aging, which really isn't bad for about five years because that's about how long it takes to catch up to your looks, but as long as the vampire influence isn't too heavy, and you don't willingly change you'll eventually become a human again and start aging."

"So…what am I supposed to do? Go hunt down the vampire or something?"

"No, you're not supposed to do anything. If we were at La Push we could see if there were any others going through the same thing. Were there any voices in your head?" Seth asked.

"No…why?"

"Pack mentality, the other members of the pack can hear your thoughts and know your feelings." I explained

"Strange…usually there's at least a few, but they may not have been in form, and the Cullens aren't in Forks right now are they?" Seth asked.

"No, last I heard they were going around South America, hiking in the Andes and stuff," I said. Thinking of the Cullens, I remembered I definitely needed to tell Rosalie about Abby being pregnant. Hopefully Alice hadn't seen yet, and if she had, hopefully she hadn't told. I wouldn't put it past her, Alice liked to drop huge hints if she saw something important, like when she sent me a congratulatory card three days before Seth proposed.

"Do you think we should call Jacob or something, see if there's a pack in La Push still?" Seth interrupted

"Maybe in the morning Seth, it's after midnight," I said. Jacob and Ellie were probably sleeping, or at least getting ready for bed.

"Alright, I guess there's not much we can do for now is there?" he said. "I'll go get you some different pajamas, you'll freak them out going in all bloody like that." He turned around and went inside.

"Do you have any more questions?" I asked Caleb once Seth was inside.

"Yeah, a lot, but it'd take too long to ask them," he said shyly.

"I know; Dad and I went through the same thing at your age. I'm sorry it had to happen to you though."

Caleb shrugged. "It wasn't like there was anything you could have done."

"Considering that the vampire probably snuck into your school somewhere, I could have homeschooled you."

"Ummm…no thanks," he said with a look that showed that he thought it was the worst idea ever.

"Well if you have any questions just ask."

"Okay," he said somewhat absentmindedly.

"Where were you tonight?" I asked.

"I just got caught up with Megan. We got to talking and lost track of the time. She seemed really shy in class, but it was like I met a whole different person tonight, she's totally awesome."

"Well, your father's punishment is final, but maybe she can come over some other time this week."

"Yeah. We still have a little more on the assignment to do, and I really think you'll like her."

Just then Seth came to the door. "C'mon! It's cold out there!" he called. We came in and I changed into the clean clothes he had brought me. Seth and I then agreed to make Caleb go upstairs and apologize for being so late, which he did without protest because he was still freaked out about accidentally biting me. I probably could have told him to drop and give me twenty and he would have done it. Of course Abby and Collin attempted to defend him in the process.

"He still has a fever Kelsey, you shouldn't have let him out," Abby argued. It was funny how she acted like a second mother to Caleb sometimes. He was born when she would come up and visit Seth and me on the weekends, and so they had always been close.

Collin managed to bring up how I had "lost track of the time" for five days. Usually, Collin was just about the best father anyone could have, but when he remembered that incident he used it ever opportunity he got, convinced that I would tell him where Abby and I went. Of course, I never could, but considering that was really the only thing I could complain about was seriously one of the best things ever. Finally though, things settled down and everyone went to bed.

"I told you so," I teased Seth as I got into bed.

"I know," he said, trying to sound cheerful, but there was something wrong in his voice.

"What's wrong baby?" I asked as he climbed into the bed with me.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head, "it's just been a long day."

"I know; tomorrow will be better."

"I love you so much," he whispered anxiously, running his fingers along the edges of my multiple bandaids.

"I love you just as much…only more," I chuckled, moving his fingers from my arm and pressing them to my lips.

"Haha, like that could ever happen," he grinned, pulling me on top of him.

"What are we going to do about Caleb tomorrow?" he asked suddenly.

"I don't know, I guess we'll just see what happens, I mean, maybe the vampire was just coming through town or something. We'll call Jacob and ask him tomorrow," I yawned. There was no time for thinking about things right now, it was almost 1:00 in the morning and the vampire didn't seem to be threatening us so we had plenty of time...right?

I'd like to thank Shelby and Megan for reading this beforehand so that I might not have the horrible grammatical errors that come with changing POV in the middle of the story...as always, read and review! I always love to hear your suggestions and comments!

Hufflepuffbrunette :)