Midnight

"'More than a year ago, a woman by the name of Christina Greer, came forth with once confidential information. What once were believed to be fairy tales and folklore have been proved to be real, and it couldn't have come at a better moment. Pandemonium has struck entire countries across the globe, and sources say that it will only get worse. If you are human, please seek shelter immediately!"

The television flashed to reveal a video clip of Ryder not even days after she'd left.

"Trust your instincts, everyone. If something tells you to run for cover, do it. Don't trust anyone you don't know, and don't, for any reason, leave the safety of where ever you find shelter. Hell has risen to Earth, and it's going to stay that way until we can fix it." Her eyes focused on the camera , she sighed. "Don't try to be a hero unless you know what you're doing. It's only going to get you killed."

I sat on the couch at Emily and Sam's house, thinking that the last part of her warning was directed toward me. Ryder has been gone for fourteen months and no one has seen or heard from her since. With the exception of six year old Skylar, the entire Greer family was gone. Leah had stopped phasing two weeks before the love of his life, and the love his life's family, disappeared. She was caring for Skylar, and her five month old daughter, Alyssa. She was entirely happy, but at least she was coping.

I felt like shit and there wasn't anything or anyone could do about it. The world was a different place now that the Volturi declared war. They were right, it did look like Hell on Earth out there in some places.

Most places had a rise in crime, but only during the night. We had a lot of work lately with the Pack since all kinds of things were getting bolder – leaving the cover of night to attack people. Our Pack grew to over twenty, and I was carrying half the weight willingly. I knew dealing with the original pack members was hard enough on Sam, but twenty? It seemed like more and more in Washington was becoming known, and all of the shifters were seeking us out.

It was a shock to us. After all, we used to think we were the only ones in existence. Those were the days when we were naive. Now? We knew better, and we knew that you could only trust your family. Every day, Skylar grew more like us despite his young age. On his sixth birthday, along with a serious growth spurt, he got cold along with the rest of us. It was a rarity to find him kidding or laughing. The only emotions that were a constant were apathy and, occasionally, loneliness. The only time that had changed was when he found the three large birthday presents on the front porch of Leah's new home. He'd cried, and Leah had held him for hours while Brady, who had Imprinted on Alyssa, cared for the baby.

“Jake, we need you outside,” Skylar said from the front door. I stood up and went outside. A girl stood in front of Sam with two boys behind her. “This is Yentl – a shifter. She won't say where she's from, but she seems legit.” He reported.

“Thanks, Sky,” I said, scratching the scruff on my chin. I stepped on Sam's right and Paul came up to the left. He was the unofficial third-in-command. “And you two?” I questioned, jerking my chin in the direction of the boys behind Yentl.

One of them stepped forward. He was just as dark as us, but he had gray eyes. “Jonathon. This is my brother, Kaden.” he said, motioning to the boy on the other side. He looked the polar opposite. Jonathon was as dark as us, russet skin and long back hair. Kaden was light, almost as pale as the bloodsuckers, with stark white hair. The only dark thing about him was his obsidian eyes.

Paul and I looked at Sam but he said nothing except, “Sky.” His voice was cold and his face emotionless. I felt bad for him. Emily was pregnant and he was scared someone was going to get her and his unborn daughter. Skylar brushed past all of us and circled the three people, he scowled at something and then nodded. “You'll be introduced to the Cullens tonight and go through initiation,” Sam said.

Sky motioned for Paul, Sam, and I to step aside. He grimaced and looked up, “Watch out for the two boys. Something's off about them.” he said and bounded into the house to help Emily in the kitchen.

Sam turned to us and shook his head, “This is getting ridiculous.” he said.

I nodded, “Yeah, but its going to pay off when those fucking leeches-and-friends come at us. At least with new people, we'll have more information about the different types of creatures. It wouldn't hurt to check with Dr. Fang and his coven to see what they know.”

Paul nodded, “I'll take a few of the others and head down there.” He said.

“No,” Sam said, “We're all going...except Seth, Brady, Darius and Damon, Kyle, Jocelyn, Iliana, and Ryan. They'll stay behind to watch after our family,” he said. Paul went to go inform the others while I stayed behind with Sam. “Sky says she's coming back,” he informed me.

“Oh,” I said. I couldn't bring myself to believe that she would come back now after she'd been gone for so long. I understood that she was doing what she thought was right...but if it was right, why did it hurt so bad to be away from her? “You know her birthday is coming up?” I asked.

“Really? What day is it?” he asked, seeming to be thankful to have something to keep his mind off of the problems at hand.

“Halloween.”

“That's exactly three and a half weeks away,” Sam mused, “She'll be back before then.”

In spite myself, I find myself hoping she could hear me, Come back, Ryder. We need you. I need you. I wasn't expecting some miracle when I thought that. I wasn't disappointed when nothing happened. Honestly, I felt sort of stupid believing that just thinking something was going to bring her back, when night after night we'd searched for her those weeks following her leave. She was in the sky and our ground search was useless. Our avian shifters found nothing in the skies, either.

The rest of the pack followed us in human form through the forest and into our usual meeting spot. Sam, whose sight was far better than any of ours, gasped, “I'll be damned,” he said, astonished.

I strained my eyes at the same time everybody did and all of us were equally awestruck. It wasn't just the pack that had grown. It was the Cullens as well. Their coven now contained...I lost count after thirty-seven. “Never seen anything like that before...” I whispered.

“So...many...” I heard a few of them whisper. Carlisle stepped forward, motioning the others to follow. Sam brought us all to the center of the clearing and we grabbed Jonathon, Kaden, and Yentl, pushing them into the space between our two families. “They're new,” I informed them.

Bella looked over at me and frowned, “Still no news, Jake?” she asked, her amber eyes curious. I shook my head and her frowned deepened. Six vampires stepped forward.

“I'm am Zafrina, this is Senna, and Kachiri,” the tall, athletic, copper colored woman said. Her black hair was in a long braid, and she was dressed just like those chicks from the movies. The Amazonians.

A large, but stunningly beautiful woman came forth, tucking her blond hair behind her ears. “I am Siobhan, my mate Liam, and Maggie,” she introduced. We all moved forward to memorize their scents. For safety measures, we went around got all of their scents and, as we pass, they do the same to us.

Yentl shifted uncomfortably and looked up at the sky as the shadow of an unnaturally large bird passed by us. We all paused and sniffed the air. The scent wasn't familiar yet, at the same time, it was. We froze as a ridiculously tall man walked from the cover of the forest. We took notice of the large, blinding white wings stemming from his back. Two more came from the forest, while three humanoid creatures stalked from the other side.

Sam exchanged a suspicious look with Carlisle and immediately we were on the defense. The angels – we presumed that's what they were – laughed good naturedly while the others smirked and came at us full speed. Quin and Luke snarled, phasing. The things laughed arrogantly and flipped over them, landing directly to my right. I stiffened, they smelled of burning wood and danger rolled off them. Every instinct told me to kill them or at the very least protect the females of our pack.

“Relax,” the biggest of them said, sounding eerily like a snake at the end. His form seemed to shift out of focus before becoming that of a human male of about thirty, with pitch black hair and eyes. His teeth were ultra-white, and his skin an ash white.

The other two creatures shifted into the polar opposites of each other. One of them was a tall and slim woman with the same pitch black eyes, but her hair was an ash blond. The other female was short, with skin as dark as the sky and silver eyes that contrasted with, not only her dark skin, but her equally dark hair. “This here is Teressa, and that's Genie.” He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the blond girl first, and his other thumb in the direction of the dark one. “I'm Rex. I'm the son of, well, that's not important, and these lovely ladies-” He shot them a look that disgusted the rest of us, “-are Banshees.”

We turned our attention to the others. The man with the largest blinding white wings nodded his head. “I am Gamaliel and these are two of the other elders.” Two children, no older than Skylar, came out from behind him.

The boy was lean, tall for a six year old, with wavy auburn hair and bright green eyes. They looked almost identical, except one was a boy and a girl. “Beta,” the girl said, curtsying.

The boy rolled his eyes at his sister and spoke softly, “Theta.”

I was more than a little astonished. Elders? The kids were barely old enough to know how to dress themselves properly, let alone be making decisions that would affect someone's life. Both of them quirked an auburn eyebrow in my direction, as if having heard my thoughts.

“Why are you-"

Gamaliel interrupted by saying something that stunned the hell out of all of us. “Lucian is alive and has joined ranks with the Volturi's army. Unfortunately, the other races are...divided. Half of everything is on their side. Even some of the gods.” Gamaliel shook his head.

Rex slithered – it was the easiest way to describe it – up and put his arms around Gamaliel, giving him what would be a brotherly shake. “Not to worry, my brother. Ares, Artemis, and Hades are with us!”

“And so are the Celtic, Native American, and Egyptian pantheons. Reshep has been dying to get his hands around Aro's neck,” Teressa said, cocking her head to the side with a sickening cracking noise.

“If they're gods, why don't they just do it anyway?” Paul questioned. It was a valid question, but the skies darkened and the ground shook from the deafening clap of thunder.

Genie smirked, amused by our perplexed expressions. "Gods, for the most part, don't do anything unprovoked."