the funeral

I opened the door to find Jules standing there.

She had pulled back six feet from the door, and her nose was wrinkled as though she smelled something foul. Though her face was a mask of careful control, her clenched fists shook slightly at her sides, and silent hostility rolled off of her in waves.

For just a second I flashed back to that afternoon what felt like an age ago, when she had turned her back on me, chosen Sam over me. I froze as the pain struck me hard in the stomach—but just as quickly, I felt my face harden automatically to hide it.

Jules's Rabbit idled by the curb. Jay was in the driver's seat, hands on the wheel, and Emma was on the passenger's side. They were both watching me, and neither was smiling. A few days ago, I'd practically been one of the family—always welcome on the reservation, in on all the pack's movements. Now, suddenly, I was the enemy again.

My eyes returned to Jules. The pain was burning in my chest, now trying to reach up my throat, but I gritted my teeth and forced it back down. Getting weepy wasn't going to win any sympathy with this crowd—it was when they sensed weakness that wolves were the most likely to strike.

So I glared, mirroring her hostility right back at her. We were both silent.

"You needed something?" I said at last, a little more roughly than I meant to.

"Maybe," she muttered back in the same tone, mouth twisting. However, she wasn't looking at me, and instead her eyes warily scanned the front of the house.

"He's not here," I told her.

Jules paused. Her gaze flickered back in my direction, but she didn't quite meet my eyes.

"He isn't?" she asked, and this time the antagonism in her voice had dropped a notch. Her tense shoulders relaxed slightly. "I need to talk to you for a minute," she muttered. She added unwillingly, "If that's all right."

I didn't answer for a moment. I eyed her suspiciously, before I said finally, "All right. Come on in, then."

Jules hesitated. Her eyes flickered back to the car, almost questioningly. Emma was staring back with hard eyes, and she shook her head just a fraction.

Whatever annoyance had briefly retreated with Jules's slightly more amicable tone instantly came back in full force.

"Unless, of course," I said, raising my voice sarcastically, "Sam won't like that. Maybe you should go back and get some written permission first."

Jules glared ferociously at the challenge in my voice, and without another word, stalked forward and passed me into the house.

I lingered in the doorway a minute, staring out at Emma and Jay. Their mouths were set in identical thin lines, eyes narrowed.

I stared back at them for a long second, then shut the door on them.

Jules had gone on in, and now stood in the hallway, her back to me, hands still clenched at her sides. Her eyes darted restlessly about the room as though searching out enemies. Her gaze fell briefly on the living room, where the blankets were still sitting, twisted up where I'd slept. Her lip curled.

"Sleepover?" she said with a sneer. "How nice."

I didn't answer. It was steadily becoming clear that Jules wasn't here to make up or clear the air. Then again, I hadn't really expected her to. Not after yesterday.

I felt suddenly exhausted. "What are you doing here, Jules?" I asked, and the words came out almost a sigh. "What do you want?"

Jules didn't reply. She didn't even look at me. Instead, she continued on further into the house, eyes flickering everywhere, her feet perfectly silent on the floorboards. She went on ahead to the kitchen, lifting her eyes up as she stepped over the threshold, as if she expected a snake to drop down on her from the ceiling.

"Hey," I muttered, coming to a stop behind her as she paused beside the counter. "If you don't have a reason for being here, you can always leave, you know."

Jules finally turned to face me. She was glaring, her dark eyes almost black.

"I wouldn't step foot in here if I didn't have to," she said jerkily. "But someone had to ask a couple of questions on behalf of the pack—and bear the message."

I felt like she had slapped me, but I didn't let it show on my face. "Message?" I repeated, as evenly as I could.

Jules's clenched fists quivered at her side. She closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. When she opened them again, her face was once again a perfect mask, smooth, devoid of emotion. "One of the Cullens is here with you," she said. Stating, not asking.

I shrugged, looking away. "So what if there is?" I muttered.

"How long?" she asked calmly, ignoring my tone.

I folded my arms, looking away from her, staring hard at the far corner. "Archie can be here as long as he wants to be," I said quietly.

The corner of Jules's mouth tightened, but otherwise she didn't react. "Have you informed him of the situation with Victor yet?" she asked evenly.

I felt suddenly queasy again at the thought of Victor, and fear distracted me briefly from the storm of other emotions swirling in my stomach.

"Yeah...I told him."

Jules turned her gaze back to me. "You should know that, as long as one of them is here, we can't watch you here anymore. You'll only be safe in La Push."

I kept my eyes on the floor. "Yeah," I said in a low voice. "I get it."

"Okay," she said. Jules didn't look at me as she strode past me, in the direction of the door. However, she paused beside the table.

"One more thing," she said abruptly.

I waited for her to continue. When she didn't, I said finally, "Yeah?"

Jules kept her back to me. "Are the rest of them coming back, too?" she asked. Her voice was calm—almost too calm.

I felt like something had lodged itself in my throat, and for a moment, I couldn't respond. "No," I said at last, very quietly. "They aren't."

Jules nodded once. "Okay. That's all then."

The conversation was over. I continued to stare at the floor as Jules's silent feet carried her from the kitchen and to the front door. I waited to hear the front door open, but of course, it was silent. The awkward, loud and and clumsy Jules was long gone. Now, she was all Sam's. Graceful, strong, and full of bitterness.

I stumbled back against the kitchen counter, and all strength seemed to have gone out of my limbs. I couldn't blame Jules for acting like this. I'd turned my back on her first, chosen the bloodsuckers over her. Even though I knew it wasn't really like that when it came down to it, I knew that was how it must feel to her. Would things go back to the way they were before once Archie left? Or had I destroyed everything beyond all hope of repair?

My lungs burned, and though I tried to breathe, I couldn't seem to take in enough air. I bent my head to my hand, covering my eyes, trying to get my hitched breathing under control.

"Beau?"

I jerked, startled, and looked up through blurry vision to see Jules standing in the kitchen doorway. Apparently she hadn't left after all.

The muted hostility in her features was gone, and her eyes were wide and uncertain.

I swiftly spun, turning my back to her, and I wiped roughly at my eyes. "What?" I muttered. My tone was almost sullen.

Jules crossed the kitchen, coming to stand beside me again. She leaned over to peer up into my face, her expression earnest.

I looked away from her again, sniffing and wiping my nose. My eyes were probably embarrassingly red.

"Sorry," she said softly.

I couldn't speak without my voice cracking, so I just shook my head. She wasn't the one who needed to apologize.

Jules leaned back with a sigh, folding her arms. She shook her head. "I already knew what they were to you," she muttered, staring at the floor. "I knew how you'd react if you saw one of them again. I don't know why I was so blindsided like that." Again I saw the loathing in her eyes as she thought of them.

I looked away again. I wanted to tell her the Cullens weren't bad. They were just like the wolves, using their powers to protect people. But I knew there was nothing I could say to her to get her to understand.

At last, I shook my head. "Sorry," I mumbled.

Jules shook her head, and she let her arms drop. "Well," she said, and her voice was surprisingly bracing. "It's only a visit, right? He'll be gone again soon. And then things will go back to normal." She didn't quite smile, but her face was softer than before.

I sighed. My throat had finally loosened, and my eyes were clear again. "Can't I be friends with you and him at the same time?" I asked.

Jules looked up at me, and her expression was hard to read. "It just doesn't work that way, Beau."

I kept my eyes on the sink beside me. At last, I drew in a deep breath and nodded once. "Okay," I said. "But you'll be my friend again when he has to go? Even though you know what they are to me...and that won't change...you'll come back?"

Jules was silent for a long minute. At last she said in a low, slightly husky voice, "Yeah. I'll always come back, Beau. I'm your friend through it all, even if I'm not always here. Even if you are a vampire-lover."

I looked up at her, and I felt a slow smile spread across my mouth. "Okay," I said. That would have to be enough. Even if the rest of the wolves couldn't stand the sight of me and things would never be the same as they had been again, everything would be fine, as long as that was true.

Jules looked back at my expression, then she smiled a little too. She suddenly sighed, and I felt her lean into my shoulder. Her arm went around my back, and my arms automatically wrapped around her in response.

"This is kind of a sucky situation," I muttered.

She gave a humorless laugh. "No kidding." She turned her head into the shoulder of my shirt. However, sniffing once, she suddenly wrinkled her nose.

"Blech. You really need a shower, Beau."

I frowned. "I just took one last night. I can't smell that bad."

She was smiling a little, though her mouth was still tight. "It's because of your bloodsucker buddy. You smell like one of them—kind of sickly sweet, icy. It burns my nose."

"Yeah, well," I muttered. "Archie was going on about how bad I smelled yesterday, too. Like I said, I just took a shower. I'm not going to drive up Charlie's water bill just to satisfy you two."

Jules considered this. "Huh. So maybe they don't like the way we smell either. You must have smelled like me."

I knew she was probably thinking of that moment in my truck, and I looked away, my mouth set in a firm line as I fought the color creeping up my face.

She suddenly grinned. Her arms around my back tightened, pulling us closer together, and she buried her face in my shoulder. "He'll probably want you to take another one now," she said with obvious glee. Irritating vampires apparently was enough to make her day.

I rolled my eyes, but I didn't push her off.

We were both quiet then, and neither of us moved. Eventually Jules's mischievously tight grip on me relaxed, but she didn't let go, and I didn't either. I distantly felt the even pounding of a heart beat, but I couldn't be sure if it was mine or hers.

Everything was such a mess. It was so good to have Archie back, more great than I could describe—but when Jules walked out that door, our friendship would be on hold until Archie was gone. I didn't know when I would see her again, and it was almost too much to take.

"I'll miss you," Jules said softly. "Every second. I hope the parasite gets lost soon."

I shook my head. "It doesn't have to be that way, Jules," I said in a low voice. "It could be different."

Jules sighed. "You don't understand, Beau. It's better for me to stay away. They're beasts—but I know to you, they're family. And beasts or not, I'd hate to kill any family of yours."

I didn't answer. My throat had constricted again.

Jules slowly drew back, releasing me.

I still wasn't ready for her to go. She had only pulled away a little when, without meaning to, my arm tensed, locking up around her. She gazed up into my face, and I looked down into hers.

I focused on relaxing my arm, making my gripping fingers at her waist go limp. However, Jules had stopped moving, and she didn't try to pull back again. Instead, she gazed up into my eyes. I stared back down into hers, and I saw my own reluctance at separation mirrored back at me. When she raised her hand to grip my shoulder, it felt as though she didn't want to let go anymore than I did.

As I watched, something in her eyes changed. The fear, the desperation softened, replaced by a new kind of intensity. The hand on my shoulder slowly slid up, first pressing against the side of my neck, then cradling my jaw. Her hot, feverish skin burned against mine. Her face moved a fraction closer to mine.

I was frozen.

I knew what was about to happen if I didn't stop it—but I still hadn't made my decision yet. Jules was my best friend, and she had pulled me from the shipwreck that was my life, from my perpetual state of drowning. Just being around her was like finding a patch of sun in a dark forest. She understood me, accepted me even when I was at my most disfigured, and even if she lost her wolf's temper and lashed out at me, she always came back.

We were just friends—but it could be more than that. It was up to me. Could it work? Would it feel right? Maybe it would—maybe it wouldn't feel like a betrayal. After all, the only person I would be betraying was myself.

Jules stared up at me, our eyes locked together. She moved with deliberate slowness, until I felt her hot breath on my face. Her dark eyes gazed deep into mine, as though trying to read my mind.

But I was sure she couldn't tell what I was thinking—whether I would turn away, or wait, and let her close the short inches between us. Because I still didn't know myself. I didn't want to make this decision right now—not yet. But it felt like I had to. The time had come. Should I? Would it be wrong? Would it be wrong not to?

"Beau," Jules said softly, passionately, and as I felt her breath on my face again, I knew my time was up.

I opened my mouth to answer—still having absolutely no idea what I was going to say.

The shrill ring of the phone on the counter just beside us cut through the quiet, and we both jumped. I was too numb to react, and so at last Jules reached over and picked up the receiver, putting it to her ear. However, her gaze never moved from mine, her concentration unbroken.

"Swan residence," she said in a low, intense voice.

Someone answered, and Jules's expression altered in an instant. Her eyes were suddenly flat and cold, and she pulled away from me, her shoulders rigid, back straight. Sam's military posture of discipline and forced restraint.

I had a sneaking suspicion it was Archie on the other end, and I reached over, trying to signal Jules to hand it over to me, but she twisted so it was out of my reach.

"He's not here," she said abruptly, with acid.

The caller said something in reply—a question—and Jules responded grudgingly, "He's at the funeral."

Jules slammed down the receiver and glared at it as if it had personally attacked her.

"Beast," she muttered. "Filthy, blood-sucking—"

"Hey," I said, cutting into the epithet. The spell from a moment before was gone, and I could feel my irritation rising. "What was that? You answer my phone in my house, then you hang up?"

Jules rolled her eyes. "Give it a rest. She hung up on me."

It took me a second to register the pronoun. She.

It felt like the air had been knocked from my lungs. Though a sudden, boiling fury coursed through my veins, my voice was low and hoarse as I whispered, "Who—Who was that?"

Jules's mouth twisted, her expression halfway between disgust and amusement. "Dr. Carine Cullen, apparently," she said with a drawl.

I couldn't believe it. Another ghost from my past I hadn't expected to ever hear from again.

My voice was low and dangerous as I said, "Why didn't you let me talk to her?"

"She didn't ask for you." Jules was completely back to her bitter, sarcastic self. She barely looked at me as she spoke. "She asked for Charlie. I told her where he was. I don't see the problem—If she wanted to talk to you, she would have asked for you."

My eyes dropped to the floor. She was probably right, but I said quietly, "You should have at least told her I was here."

Jules made a sharp, impatient gesture. "Like I said, if she had wanted to talk to you—"

She suddenly broke off. Her eyes were wide with shock, and her gaze flickered back over her shoulder.

Jules's gaze went briefly back to me. "See you," she breathed in a rush, then spun and bolted from the room.

"Hey—" I began, starting after her, but I'd no sooner passed through the kitchen door than I ran into her, standing stock-still in the hall.

"What the," I muttered as I staggered back, rubbing my chin. "What are you—"

Jules whirled, and she met my gaze for a fraction of a second. Her eyes were wide and wild like a trapped animal. Then she barreled past me as though I wasn't there, in the direction of the back door. However, she had only gone a couple of steps when she froze.

Archie was standing there, at the foot of the stairs. His features were drawn, the skin of his face as white as I had ever seen it. His golden eyes were glazed, far away.

The expression sent a barb of panic through my chest, but I mastered it, and I pushed around Jules to his side. "Archie?" I said uncertainly. "What is it? What's going on?"

His vacant, distant eyes suddenly sharpened into focus and his gaze came to rest on me. His face was stricken, the whites of his eyes visible around his irises as he stared at me with horror.

He only said one word. "Edythe," he whispered.

I didn't comprehend immediately. But even so, I suddenly felt as though the floor was tilting beneath me. As though there was no safe place in the world left to stand.

I didn't realize I'd staggered back against the wall until I felt a strong hand grab me by the arm to steady me.

"Beau," said an urgent voice in my ear. "Beau, what's wrong?" I heard an angry hiss, deep with loathing. "What did you do to him, you little freak?"

If Archie replied, I didn't hear it. I felt Jules's arm under mine as she helped lower me down to sit at the foot of the stairs. I clenched my hands around the material of my pants, struggling to get control as a voiceless panic surged through my mind.

I forced myself to raise my eyes to Archie. "What..." I began hoarsely. "What's going on? What did you see?"

I'd never seen Archie really freak out before. Even when things were serious, the most he ever got was a grim look on his face. Because even if a lot of the possible futures he saw looked bleak, at least he had an idea of what to expect.

However, at the moment his eyes were wide with shock. "I don't know, man," he said, speaking so fast the words were barely comprehensible. He gripped the sides of his head, and he said through gritted teeth, "All of sudden, out of nowhere, she just—I don't get it! How could she possibly—?"

Archie broke off, then straightened, reaching into his pocket for a cell phone. His fingers punched in the number so fast I barely saw it, then he pressed the object to his ear.

"Roy, get me Carine now, and I mean freaking now." A pause. "Fine, the second she gets back then. No, I'm getting on a plane just as soon as I can—have you heard from Edy at all?"

Silence. Archie's tense expression went from shock, to disbelief, to pure rage. "You—You what?" he choked. His normally carefree features hardened, and he clenched the phone in his hand so hard I thought I heard the casing crack. "Yeah?" he said roughly. "But it turns out you're wrong. He's totally fine, he's right here—my vision was wrong. That's a story in and of itself...Oh yeah? Well, you were wrong about that, too...Yeah, that is what I saw."

Archie looked angrier than I had ever seen him, his lips drawn back from his teeth. He really looked like a vampire.

"Yeah, go ahead, apologize all you want, I really don't care. As far as I'm concerned, you can go to hell."

Archie snapped the phone shut and shoved it back into his pocket.

I stared up at him. My thoughts were muddled. I couldn't seem to make sense of anything. However, one thing seemed to make it through the fog, seeping down to my brain.

"Carine should already be back," I said slowly. "I mean, she called us just a second ago. Jules spoke to her."

Archie stared at me, and there was a look of such defeat on his face for a second I couldn't breathe.

"How long ago?" he asked dully.

I shook my head. "Maybe thirty seconds before you showed up."

"What did she say?" He spoke in the same dead voice. He was looking at Jules now.

Jules had been sitting beside me, but now she stood up from the stairs. Her narrowed eyes flickered back and forth between us.

"What?" she said resentfully.

"What did she say?" Archie asked again, more insistent this time.

"Jules," I said, almost pleadingly.

She looked away, mouth twisting. "Nothing. She just said, 'This is Dr. Carine Cullen, may I speak to Charlie Swan?' I told her he wasn't here."

"What else?" Archie pressed.

Jules bared her teeth at him. "That's all, shorty. Then she hung up on me."

"No," I said, remembering. "You told her Charlie was at the funeral."

"Same difference," she muttered, arms folded, glaring at Archie.

Archie's face slackened, and he groaned. His back bent as though a giant weight had been dropped on his shoulders.

"What is it?" I asked urgently. I lurched to my feet, and before I knew what I was doing, I had reached out to grip Archie by the collar. I shook once, hard. "What's going on, Archie? Tell me."

Archie raised his eyes to mine, and there was a despair in them I had never seen before. "That wasn't Carine on the phone," he said quietly.

"You think I'm lying?" Jules cut in, eyes narrow. "She said—"

Archie continued in a low, lifeless voice, "It was Edy."

I stared back at him for a long minute, my hands still clenching his shirt. My mind shot ahead, finally connecting the dots I hadn't gotten before. I felt my death grip slowly relax.

"She thinks I killed myself," I said calmly. "Royal told her I did."

Archie gritted his teeth, and the ugly, dark look came back into his pure features. "Yeah, that's exactly what that—what he did. The next time I get my hands on him..."

The idea of slightly short, wiry Archie trying to start a fight with Royal—who looked like he'd stepped right off the cover of an issue of Fitness RX—was a little unnerving, and I hoped he was just saying that.

I worked to trace the order of events in my mind. "She called here," I said thoughtfully, "trying to find out if what Royal said was true. So when Jules said, 'He's at the funeral,' of course she thought Jules meant my funeral." I nodded. It was all starting to come together now.

Archie was staring at me, mouth slightly agape, as though he couldn't understand how I could be so relaxed. I was starting to get a little irritated. He'd just about had me in a panic.

"I don't get what you're freaking out about," I said. "It's just a misunderstanding. We can just call her back and get it all straightened out, or maybe she'll even call us back. What's the worst that will happen? She'll sit around feeling horribly guilty for a few minutes. She'll forget about it as soon as we get it all worked out."

I smiled a little, already anticipating hearing the sound of her voice again—her real voice, not delusions. Even if it was short, even if it was just to confirm I was still alive, it would be like the sun had come back—for a few moments at least.

Jules was watching me, her expression impossible to read.

However, Archie's grave, ashen features didn't change, and my smile slowly faded. "What is it?" I said uncertainly.

Archie drew a deep breath, then slowly let it out. "Beau, man, she's not going to call again. She has her answer already."

I shook my head. I didn't get why he was acting like this. "So? So call her back. Or if she won't answer, someone go and find her. You aren't just going to leave her to sit and feel bad."

"She isn't sitting," Archie said, so quietly I barely heard it. "She's already left. She's headed to Italy."

I stared back at him for a minute. Then it struck me like a bolt of lightning.

Her words from so long ago, from another life, drifted back up from the depths of my mind.

"Obviously I wasn't going to live without you. But I wasn't exactly sure how to get it done...I thought maybe I could go to Italy. Do something to provoke the Volturi...The Volturi rule over our kind. They make the laws to make certain we stay hidden and unknown to the human world at large. If you do anything to break those laws...you are..."

"Executed," I finished in a whisper. I backed away from Archie slowly. My entire body felt numb. I barely felt it as my heel caught the first stair, and I tripped, collapsing back hard. I realized dimly that I was shaking.

"It can't be," I breathed. I couldn't seem to get enough air as I said, "It doesn't...make sense. Maybe back then, when we were—But now? It doesn't...doesn't make sense."

Archie was eying me. "You know what I'm talking about," he said. "About Italy."

My breathing was coming faster now—almost hyperventilating. The words tumbled out in a rush. "She told me once. About them—but why? It doesn't make sense, not now."

My hands were clenched so hard together my knuckles shone white beneath the skin, and they continued to shake.

"What can we do?" I could barely get the words out.

Archie hesitated. "We're probably already too late. I saw her going to the Volturi...asking to die..." He clenched his fist, then added, "But I can't see the Volturi's decision yet, not until she asks them."

"So they might decide not to kill her?" I whispered.

Archie's mouth was pressed in a grim line. "They might. Sulpicia and the others know Carine, so that could be a factor—Sulpicia has a lot of respect for Carine, and she might be reluctant to do anything to upset her. But that doesn't matter, because if they don't, Edythe plans to force their hand anyway. She's going to break the single most important law of our kind—right there in their own city."

I couldn't speak for a moment. I opened my mouth, and a strange, choking sound came out. My entire body felt too weak to move. I swallowed hard, but my voice still cracked as I said, "So—So—"

Archie looked at me. "So if they grant her request at the outset, we won't make it. If they say no and she comes up with a plan to force them to act quickly enough, then it's over, too." He paused. "But—if she waits...gives in to her more theatrical side..." There was a spark in his gold eyes. "We might have a chance."

I sat there for a moment, gazing back at him.

"If she sees me," I said quietly at last. "That's our only chance."

Strength suddenly surged back through my limbs, and abruptly I was on my feet. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

In a moment I was already at the door, seizing my jacket on the way.

Archie didn't move right away, instead watching me go, his expression conflicted. "I don't know, man. I don't know if I can ask you. You'll be surrounded by vampires. And these aren't vampires like us—they hunt and eat humans. Sulpicia, for the most part, has her guard prey on what she considers the bad, destructive elements of human society, but accidents happen. All the time."

I stared back at him. "Are we going now, or am I going without you?"

Archie's gazed back at me for a moment. Then the corner of his mouth turned up in the hint of a smile.

"Right. Then I'll go order us some airplane tickets. You go grab your wallet and leave a note for Charlie."

I froze in mid-step. "Charlie," I muttered to myself, eyes wide. I'd forgotten about my dad. Victor was still out there, looking for me. What if Victor came here while I was gone, and searched the entire house for me because I wasn't there? What if, in a fit of rage, he...

I felt a hand gripping my arm and I turned. Jules had been standing by watching our swift exchange, her entire form shaking slightly from the proximity to Archie. However, for a moment she was perfectly still as she looked up into my eyes.

"I won't let anything happen to Charlie," she said, and even though her voice was sour, her eyes were determined. "I'll break the treaty if I have to."

I nodded once, and though she was scowling at the panic in my eyes, I felt a flood of gratitude. However, there was no time for thank-yous, and I spun for the kitchen. I began ripping out drawers, searching for a pen.

Jules was already there, and she wordlessly held one out for me, and the pad of paper we used for phone messages. I took them, pulling off the cap of the pen with my teeth, and ripping off the top page of the pad in a jerk. I scrawled quickly, leaving ink blotches across the paper.

Dad, I've gone with Archie. Edythe's in trouble. Feel free to ground me when I get back. Know this is a crappy time. Really sorry.

Knowing this might very well be the last communication I would have with him, I added, Love, Beau, at the end, then set the pad back next to the phone.

Now that Archie was out of sight, all Jules's trembling hostility was gone. She looked up at me, eyes pleading. "Beau, you can't go there. You'll die."

"Take care of Charlie," I said in one breath, before I dashed back out to the front room.

"Wallet," Archie reminded me again. "Please tell me you have a passport, because there's no time to get one forged."

I nodded as I turned and raced up the stairs. I did have a passport—for a while my mom had entertained the idea of marrying Phil on a beach in Mexico, and I'd gotten us all passports before the plans had inevitably fallen through. I'd never been more grateful to my mom and her harebrained schemes than I was right now. I'd have to write her a card when we got back—if we got back.

I tore through my stuff, first quickly shoving some random things in a duffel bag—I couldn't travel halfway across the world without at least an overnight bag without looking suspicious. Then my hands closed around my old leather wallet. Once I double-checked to make sure the passport was in there, I spun and raced back downstairs. I felt a strange sense of déjà vu—I'd run away from this house in a panicked hurry once before. Only this time I was running to find bloodthirsty vampires instead of escape them.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I found Jules and Archie standing on opposite sides of the open door, glaring at each other and having some kind of heated argument.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Jules demanded. "You might as well take him out in a boat and throw him to the sharks! It's dangerous enough for him just being around you. You might be a beast, but you put in a little effort. These monsters—you can't take him there!"

Archie's lips were curled back over his teeth. "I know what they are—better than you do, dog. Beau knows the risks, and you heard his choice. You going to try to stop him?"

Her face was a shade darker than usual with fury, her lips curled back from her teeth. A shudder ran down her spine.

"Cut it out," I snapped as I raced for the open front door, running between them. "You can fight when we get back, let's go!"

Archie moved so fast for the car, he seemed to vanish where he stood. I dashed through the door after him, pausing automatically to turn and lock the door.

I felt a hand seize my arm.

Reluctantly, I raised my eyes to look at Jules.

She had stopped shaking, her features no longer angry. Instead, her face was tense with pain and dread. I saw something glimmer in her eye. "Please, Beau," she whispered. "Don't go."

My throat felt tight. "I have to," I whispered back, my voice low and rough.

"No you don't," she said softly, earnestly. "If you go there, Beau, you'll die. Please—stay. For Charlie. For me."

The engine of Carine's Mercedes purred to life, and Archie revved it impatiently.

I just shook my head, and pulled my arm slowly, gently away.

Jules let me go, though she stared at me with desperate eyes. "Don't go," she choked. "Please, Beau."

I looked back into her haunted, terrified face, and I realized this could be the last time I ever saw her.

Unable to say anything that could possibly convey all I felt in these few moments we had left, I reached forward and wrapped my arms around her in a brief, yet fierce, hug.

"Take care of Charlie," I whispered in her ear.

Unable to look her in the face, I pulled away, turning and dashing for the car.

I threw myself in the open passenger door, slamming it behind me and snapping my seat belt into place. As Archie hit the gas and the car spun in a shriek of tires as he turned us toward the road, in that one instant, my eyes flickered back to the house.

The front door was closed, the driveway empty. I could hear nothing above the roar of the engine, but as my searching eyes scanned over the trees, I caught a glimpse of something just on the edge of the forest. The white remnant of a shoe.