Full Moon

I rushed to get ready; dressed, teeth brushed, running down the stairs when Charlie stopped me. 

"Where's the fire? Do you know what time it is?" 

"Yeah; I gotta see Jules." I grabbed my keys and wallet. 

"But the stuff with Sam--"

"I know; it's a misunderstanding. I need to talk to her."  

"Slow down." He blocked the door with his entire person. "Sit down, eat some breakfast. I don't want you passing out from low blood sugar."

"Not hungry." I thought about ducking around him, or maybe jumping through a window. But that would require me explaining my bizarre behavior to Charlie later. 

"Nobody at La Push is going to be awake yet," he said gently. "It's not even seven yet."

I paused and worked on controlling my breathing. "Then why are you awake?"

"Ah, there's going to be a hunt for those wolves. Rangers are going out, taking armed volunteers. A lot of the hunters in town are joining, setting traps. They're offering rewards for wolf carcasses."

I froze. "You're going to kill the wolves?"

Charlie took in my horrified expression. "Well, yeah, Bella. There was another attack, close to the hot springs this time. Someone saw a wolf nearby. That's nearly fifteen people that are dead now." 

I suddenly felt very sick. I eyed the gun on his hip. "You're going with them?" 

"I've got to make sure nobody gets too excited. That's a lot of firepower in a small area. People get too worked up, accidents happen." 

Charlie put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, Bells. There will be plenty of people in the woods. It won't be long now. You'll be able to go out hiking again in no time."

I hadn't put together the missing hikers with the wolf pack. Maybe I could talk to Jules; maybe there was a way they could avoid killing people, like the Cullens. What did werewolves eat from people anyway? I didn't study up on the lore. 

Charlie would be safe surrounded by people, surely. There would be dozens of people out in the woods today. Maybe they could choose who they killed and would avoid Charlie as an act of kindness. 

I gave Charlie a tight hug anyway. "Be careful, Dad. I mean it."

He gave me a smile that crinkled his eyes. "Always am."

"I'll stay out of the woods." I headed to the truck, gunning it to La Push. My thoughts raced as I drove. 

There had to be a way around the wolves killing people. Something. Maybe it wasn't for hunger, for survival; maybe they just couldn't help themselves.

The thought terrified me. 

I was now stuck at an impasse; I wanted to tell Julie, to warn her about the hunters that would be trying to kill her. 

But would telling her lead to more murders? 

I shivered at the thought. If it had been anyone but Jules, the answer would be easy.

The Black household was dark when I pulled up. I knocked on the door anyway. After a few long moments, I heard Billy's voice. 

"Come in." 

Billy was sitting in the living room, sipping a cup of coffee. The morning news was playing. He turned to look at me. His eyes widened just briefly before he sighed. 

"Well good morning, Bella. You're here early." 

"Charlie and about half of the men in town are all heading into the woods to hunt wolves this morning." 

Billy's expression wavered for a moment. 

"So I need to talk to Julie about that. Where is she?" 

He sighed again and waved his hand at me. "Bedroom, she's still asleep."  

I walked down the hallway, shamelessly opening the door. 

Stretched diagonally across the new double bed, Julie was snoring. She still wore the same clothes from last night. Her legs were hanging off of the edge of the mattress. There were deep bruises under her eyes that I hadn't noticed before. 

She looked like my Jules again. Not the angry person I'd encountered yesterday just outside this same house.

I slowly closed the door and stepped back into the living room with Billy. "I think I'll get her sleep a bit longer."

Billy nodded. His eyes were guarded, curious. But I swear I saw the barest hint of a smile. "She told you." It wasn't a question. 

"On accident, but yes." I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "Look, I'm going to be at the beach. When she wakes up, can you tell her to come see me? Please?"

Billy nodded. 

I doubted if he really would, but maybe my newfound knowledge of the situation would help now. What secrets did Billy have left to hide from me? 

I drove to the beach. I walked through the mist, eventually finding  that same twisted tree that we had our little picnic at. That seemed like so long ago. Even longer still, the conversation that altered the course of my life.

I sat on the ground and stared ahead.

The sun was low in the sky still. It was really beautiful with the waves and the mist in the distance. I couldn't make out much of anything ahead. I shivered and pulled my coat tighter around me. The air had some bite to it this morning. 

"Hi, Bella."

Julie's voice made me jump. It was soft, shy. I couldn't immediately see her in the darkness; her voice had carried. She stopped a few feet away from me.

"Dad said you stopped by; I knew you'd remember. Just didn't know it would be that quick." She kicked her feet into the the rocks anxiously. 

"Yeah, just had to remember the right story," I said with a small smile. 

It was quiet for a long moment. Neither of us knew what to say. 

"There's hunters and rangers going into the woods today. Charlie is with them."

"Yeah, we know. It's nothing." Something in my tone set her off. She started pacing nervously, making circles in the sand and rock.

"Jules, they're offering cash for wolf carcasses. That isn't nothing."

"We can take care of ourselves, they won't catch us. They're just going to make everything more difficult. And then they'll start disappearing, too." 

I paled. "Julie, they're people. Charlie is out there." 

"I know, Bella, but what more can we do?" 

"Oh, I don't know, you could try not eating people!"

Julie paused in her pacing, turning to me. Her face was wrinkled together, dumbfounded. "What?"

"If vampires can find a way to survive without murdering people, can't you?" I asked softly. "Maybe eat animals or something?" 

"Wait, you don't care that I turn into a giant dog?" Julie seemed thrilled, beaming ear to ear. "Really?" 

I was clueless. "Yeah, Jules... You being a wolf is fine. It's the murder that I'm taking issue with." 

Jules started laughing, clapping her hands over her mouth. I stood, staring at her, trying to understand what was happening. 

"I'm not a murderer, Bella. We don't hunt people. You saw us in the clearing; we hunt them."

I paused, taking that information in fully. "So... the missing hikers..."

"Are from your pale-faced friends. Well, that black-haired one didn't seem like a friend. We made sure of that before we made a move." Her hand flexed, trembling. She kept her distance. 

"But some more just went missing. Did Laurent get away?" 

Jules blinked. "Who?" 

"The vampire in the clearing." 

I felt myself smile, my muscles twitching entirely on their own. It felt so nice to actually be able to talk about them to somebody. Like a dam being released. It felt horrible, smiling at someone else's demise.

"Oh, no, he's super dead. There's another one, redhead. Super fast, very evasive. Impossibly so. Pisses Paul off. She bends like water." She paused, looking at me. "You're green. You friends with that one?" 

I sat back down on the tree. Jules made her way beside me, curious. 

"Her name is Victoria." I felt nauseous. With her scout gone, she had to find a way in herself. "I met her before." 

Jules studied my face, not understanding. "Any clue why she's hell-bent on getting into Forks? We killed her mate. Thought she'd go aggro on us, but she just dances around the edges like she's playing with us." 

"Laurent wasn't her mate. James was." 

"You gonna deliver me some wicked backstory or continue being cryptic?"  After thinking for a moment, she asked, "How many vampires do you know?"

I sighed. "When I was dating Edward, we came across this small, nomadic coven of vampires. James, Victoria, Laurent. James wanted to hunt me. He did a pretty decent job." 

I held out my wrist, showing her the silvery scars in the shape of a bite. Jules held my wrist carefully. Her fingers traced the outline. 

"How did you survive?" She asked quietly. 

"They stopped him. And then the venom was sucked back out, like a rattlesnake bite." 

Julie grimaced and released my hand. She was trembling again, and moved to pace a few yards away from me. 

"What is that?" I asked. "The way you shake. New side effect?" 

She scoffed. "Yeah. I'm basically having to practice meditation until I can stay under control." 

"Or what? You Hulk out and throw a tree?" 

Julie smiled bitterly. "You know how I said I wasn't allowed to be around you any more?" 

"And then I figured it out; problem solved." 

"Not quite." 

I looked at her curiously. She sat beside me, tremors gone as quick as they came. 

"It's not entirely safe for you to be around me anymore. Not closely, anyway. I shouldn't have hugged you last night, that was stupid of me. If I get too upset, mad... any negative emotion. You might get hurt. Especially if you're close to me." 

"How? You just shake." 

She gave me a strange smile. "I'd turn into a wolf, Bella. That's me holding it in. Or it trying to come out. I have a decent control over it, for how fresh it is to me. But my emotions are raw, stronger. They're harder to wrangle in. It's like electricity, and every little thing sets me off, just arcing at any stimuli." 

She paused for a minute, then looked over at me curiously. "I know it's a sore subject, but can I ask you something? Preferably without you going green again."

"I don't think there's anything I have to hide from you anymore." The idea was exhilarating.

"The redhead. You said the Cullens took care of her mate. So why's she back? Why isn't she trying to hunt them down?"

I grimaced. "Oh, she's trying to kill me."

Julie stared at me. She grew exasperated when I didn't explain further. "Say more words."

"Edward killed James, so Victoria wants to kill me. Equal exchange to her. Except he left, so..."

"So the Cullens left you with a psychotic vampire actively hunting you down?" 

I hesitated. I didn't have any defense for that. "Yeah, I guess." 

Julie sneered, stepping away again. "Those idiotic bloodsuckers are stupid enough to just abandon--" 

She continued muttering to herself, pacing. She was like that for several minutes. Several explicatives came out that made me raise my brows; Julie had picked up a habit for vulgarity in my absence. Eventually she calmed down enough to turn to me. 

"As horrible as this is, it's good news. Now we know what she wants. It's not ideal, but we know exactly who to protect. I've got to tell the others." She looked around for a moment. "I'll walk you to your truck. Wait for me there for a few." 

I watched as she disappeared into the treeline. I shook my head and did as told, sitting in the driver's seat. I turned on the heat and shivered, waiting. 

"Sorry for the wait." Julie climbed into the truck, adjusting her tank top. She paused when I flinched. "I can ride in the back, if you prefer." 

Slowly, I shook my head. "It's not that. I'm just freaked out. It was one thing, worrying about her killing me. Now you're getting put at risk."

"You gotta give me a little bit more credit than that, Bells. It's insulting. It's literally what we're made for." 

"How do you kill them, anyway? Their skin is like marble."

She grinned widely, tapping a fingernail to her teeth. "Cuts through instantly, like porcelain to glass. How do the vamps take care of eachother?" 

I grimaced. "They... tear eachother into pieces and burn them." I shook my head. "Where'd you go just now?"

She clamped her lips together. 

"Another secret?"

"No, it's just weird. So, when we're wolves, we can kind of read eachother's minds. No matter where we are, if we're wolves, it's like a radio shouting into the void. Really useful when hunting, but a total invasion of privacy otherwise. No secrets." 

"So they already know that I know? Cause you were a wolf last night, after you saw me?" 

She grimaced. "Correct. Sam is disappointed but not surprised. I'm probably going to get a mouthful for bringing you with me. I kept it short so they wouldn't realize you were tagging along. We're meeting them where we ride our bikes at, by the way." 

"Sam wouldn't have been able to stop me." I tried to alter my view on Sam, to see him through Julie's eyes, but it didn't lessen my hatred of him. I started driving. 

She laughed. "He could stop me though. He's the Alpha; his word is law, if he really means it." 

"That's why you couldn't tell me. Because he commanded you not to." 

"Correct. He had good intentions though." Julie paused. "You seem weirdly okay with... all of this." 

"The transforming thing is a lot to swallow, along with the rules thing. But you're not the first mind-reader I've met." 

"The vamps?" 

"Just one. Edward can; some of them have like super powers. Alice can see the future, Jasper can control emotions. Apparently they carry traits from whenever they were human." 

"Freaky. There's legends about ones that have weird abilities."

My hand automatically reached out for Julie's. She hesitated for a moment before taking it. She relaxed a touch, rubbing her thumb along the back of my hand.

"You're still warm," I noted. "Is that a wolf thing?" 

She chuckled. "Yeah. You're stuck with a permanent space heater."

We drove for a bit. I finally whispered, "The Cullens are vampires. You're a werewolf."

With a deep sigh, I added, "I can finally tell you everything." 

"It killed me, not being able to tell you for a few weeks. I can't imagine not being able to tell anyone for a year."

We pulled up to the spot. "They're not here yet. Aren't you supposed to be fast?"

Jules snickered. "Come on. You can hide behind me. I'll protect you."

"It won't be that bad, right?" Silence. "Right?"

She gave my hand a squeeze before opening the door to the truck. "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?"