The Peace Keeper

A day after the night at the diner, Benjamin left without telling me where he was going. I'm never sure where Benjamin goes when he's not with me or Victor... Although, he does enjoy bigger cities like Chicago or New York. If we do get into contact with him, it's usually by chance... But, as to why he left without speaking to me, well, I suppose the demon might have been a bit angry after our little conversation in the car. It was tough for him to see me with someone new.

After all, he was Aidyn's little brother.

~~~

The morning after Benjamin left me, Victor returned to the apartment. He slumped in through the door with a look of... Shame? Embarrassment? Perhaps just down right indignity upon his face.

"Rough time?" I asked incredulously, looking up from the magazine I was reading on the kitchen table.

Victor, head still bowed, just nodded. "You know Ed and Bec... They always party hard..."

I smiled, returning to the ink-filled pages in front of me, "Qué vida más bruja ¿no?"

My brother nodded again, and flopped down on the couch, promptly fell asleep.

~~~

The day after Victor returned, I got a call from Carlise, saying I could get my cast off.

Victor drove me to the hospital, and we had my cast removed with little hassle. Carlise then replaced the cast with an odd, black, metal and plastic contraption that had a band around my mid-thigh, and the top of my calf. In between those bands were two joints on either side of my leg.

"It can go on over your clothes," the vampire doctor instructed, "And you can take it off during the night while you sleep." I nodded in understanding, and got up to stand, but Carlise pushed me back down, "But," He told me sternly, "I strongly advise you to keep using your crutches and stay off your feet as much as possible. One bad slip, and you might not walk again." His crystal-honey eyes penetrated my own hazel ones.

"I understand."

I didn't mind the new brace, and adjusted to it quickly (it was a bit awkward at first, without the cast, my leg felt so light). Mostly, I was happy to be free of the wheelchair.

~~~

By the end of that week, I was happily moved into the new house. It was still quite under-furnished, but I really didn't mind.

All of my friends (new and old), with the exception of Benjamin, took time to stop and see the house.

My first notice of company was from Ed and Bec... It wasn't them, per se, but a large housewarming gift basket they left on the front porch. Upon approaching it, I found the card stuck to the front of the wrapped parcel. It read "Hey, Em&Em, happy new home!" with their signatures underneath. I thought for a moment how odd it was that they new I found a house... and that they knew exactly where it was... Well, that was until I flipped the card over and found another message that read: "We're just that good."

The entire Cullen family, and Bella, assisted me on the move. Which I'm grateful for, because otherwise, Victor would have been stuck with all the lifting by himself. But, add seven super-fast, super-strong vampires with a super-awesome sense of decor... Well, let's just say shit gets done fast. It took only a few hours for all of the things from the apartment to be transferred, as well as some other things Victor had shipped over from Philly. Once everything had been put in it's proper place, the Cullens (and Bella) were able to stay for a while. It was nice to speak to them all together. I missed the type of family setting they gave off...

After the Cullens left, Victor returned to the apartment, where he was planning on staying for the rest of his visit. I took my alone time to step outside and get another grand view of the house. It was a tall, three story monster of a building. Obviously old, anyone could tell just by looking at it. The porch covered the first story of the facade of the house, with white painted railings and pillars that held up the roof. The walls were a dull blue-gray, with white shutters that had been tainted with age. White balconies patterned from the second story, and two chimney's jutted from the black roof. Although the house might seem dreary at first, Forks' gray skies contrasted nicely with the colors, and with the forested background, the entire scene had an old-fashioned homely feel. A big change from the loft I lived in previously, but suiting nonetheless.

Satisfied, I returned to the porch, where I had brought out my laptop and a can of diet coke. Resting myself on the large swing that hung from the ceiling of the porch, I opened my laptop and soda, and began to relax.

I checked my e-mail for the first time... well, the first time since I came to Forks, really.

I had about 300 unread e-mails...

Sighing, I began sorting them into "junk" and "not junk," then "business" and "not business."

I was only about half an hour into my sorting when I heard movement in the forest surrounding the front and right side of my house (the back and left had about three square acres of empty field before it met with the forest again). Sitting on my porch gave a great view of the lining of the woods that began approximately 25 feet from my house.

Stiffening, I perked my ears and strained my eyes to see through the dense trees, but saw nothing unusual. When the noise did not continue, I returned to my computer work, but kept a cautioning eye on the space between the trees ahead.

Another twenty seconds went by, then I heard a similar noise coming from the trees again.

My head snapped up immediately, and I caught movement this time. Slowly, I stood up, abandoning my crutches, and hobbled into the house, returning to the door moments later. I had retrieved my one current method of protection.

A 30 Caliber Winchester Model 24 Saddle Ring Carbine.

Now, to be clear, I do not condone gun usage. But when you're in the middle of the woods, in a giant empty house, and hear strange noises outside, you're going to want some sort of protection! And that's solely what my rifle's for. Shooting things that want to kill me.

So there I stood, near motionless in the door way, my 30 Cal. hidden behind one side of the frame while my eyes hurriedly scanned the tree line.

Again, I heard the noise... And soon the one noise became many rapid ones. A snap of a twig, the rustling of leaves, a scuffle here and there. Accompanying the increasing noises were quick motions and blurs, which my darting eyes could barely keep up with.

Then for a moment, everything was quiet...

Of course, after the eerie silence, a flurry of movement hurtled out of the woods, strait at me.

In a second, I had the gun barrel cocked and pointed at the (which I now identified as) giant creatures that were galloping towards me. When my aim had finally settled, the creatures stood dead still, almost fearfully. It was then I got a good look at them.

"Oh my god!" I sighed in relief, lowering the rifle. "It's just you guys!"

Before me stood four horse-sized werewolves of different colors, each one staring with wide and disbelieving, human like eyes. I quickly scanned them, having no trouble recognizing who each one was. Peacekeepers have an uncanny talent; we can identify werewolves in their wolf form, after meeting them in their human form, as well as vise versa.

In a line from left to right was Seth, Paul, Sam, and Embry.

Seth was a cute sandy-colored wolf, who had more of a puppish look to his face, and was just a tad smaller than the rest. He had his tongue lolled to the side, and his muzzled pulled up in a way that looked almost like a grin.

Paul was a sleek silver, and the second largest of the bunch. He gazed at me with challenging eyes, in which I returned a light-hearted smile.

Sam was easily the biggest, looking about the size of a draft horse. His coat was a deep, pitch black. Even though his composure was lenient, his presence alone gave off that superior and threatening vibe.

As for Embry, his coat was my favorite (next to Jacob's, that is). It was a amberish color, with an off-white under belly. The coloring of his coat matched the color highlights I usually get in my hair, they accentuated the dark brown quite nicely... I made a note to get them redone later.

I sighed, and rested the gun down, inside the house, propped against the wall. Turning back to the four, I apologizing.

"Sorry about that," I smiled meekly, "I'm a bit paranoid..."

The wolves relaxed, and approached the house. They stopped a few feet in front of the porch steps, and gazed about the property.

I stepped back outside and grabbed my crutches. Hopping to the front of the porch, I addressed them, "So guys... What brings you here?" I asked with a smile, as not to sound rude. "You visiting or on patrol... or something?"

My only reply was them staring.

I nodded in the awkwardness that came with having a one-sided conversation. "Well, I suppose you were one patrol, seeing as you're all... Furry. Logically, you would probably come to visit on two legs instead of four." I shrugged, reasoning with myself.

The wolves glanced at eachother, sharing one thought. Then all of them looked back at me, and sounded these odd barks that resembled laughter.

I pursed my lips in annoyance, "Oh, ha-ha. I'm sure whatever you all just said was hilarious. And no doubt about me, and how awkward my speaking must sound from your end of the chat." My voice dipped into a sarcastic pitch, "Hilarious, really."

Embry then took a few steps forward, coming right up to where I was standing (with me on the porch, and him on the ground, we were almost eye-level), then he gave me the same kind of grin Seth had on, and licked me, right up the side of my face, as if apologizing.

I pouted, in an attempt not to laugh, and wiped the werewolf spittle off my face. But then, I looked into his eyes and couldn't help but burst into a fit of giggles. "That's so gross!" I attempted to sound serious, but failed.

I took the now wet hand hand dried it off using the fur on Embry's neck, still laughing. Instead of removing my hand, I just brought it up to his ears and began scratching their bases. Embry wagged his tail in delight.

Feeling left out, Seth approached my other side. I smiled, and scratched his ears with my other hand.

"You guys are so cute looking as wolves..." I murmured mostly to myself as I glanced at the four again.

Sam and Paul gave me a look.

I shrugged, "All the other werewolves I've met are usually all white, because they all live in tundra climates. The only other forest pack I know had only three wolves in it, and they're all just boring shades of brown..."

They nodded in understanding.

"You're color especially, Embry," I addressed the wolf, "Seriously, can I snag some of your fur and bring it to the hairdressers with me? I want that color..."

He replied by pulling his head out of arm's reach.

I gave a faux sneer, "Fine, then!"

I felt something nudge my left arm. I turned and noticed Seth had pulled his head away from my hand and was now prodding my forearm with his snout. When I gave him my attention, he gave me a hard stare, as though trying to speak to me.

But I, of course, cannot read doggy-brains. I glanced over to the other wolves, and noticed they were all giving me the same hard stare. I could only raise my eyebrow at them.

Seth bumped my arm again, and I finally got it.

I made an 'oh!' shape with my mouth, and in realization, said, "You're Seth." The werewolf grinned again, and placed his head back in my arm's reach. I continued to pet him, and named the other two, "You're Paul," I nodded to the silver, "And you're Sam." Concluding, I nodded towards their leader.

They all gave me their own showing of approval, and I grinned back.

The four stayed for another fifteen minutes or so. Mostly, their time consisted of me petting each of them, and deciphering a conversation (if you could call it that).

When Sam turned to leave, I wrapped it up, saying, "Could you guys do me a solid and NOT tell Jake about the gun thing?" Looking down, I elaborated, "Like, I'm sorry I pulled it out on you guys... It's just, the last time I saw giant things running through the forest, I ended up...You know," Nonchalantly, I flicked my wrist, "Falling off a cliff and stuff... But yeah, I just don't think he would approve of me having a loaded rifle in the house, but I'm a bit too paranoid at the moment to leave it be, yeah?"

They passed another glance to eachother, before Sam nodded.

Grinning, I continued, "Thanks guys." Then added, "Like I know he'll find out eventually, but still, the confrontation can be prolonged, right?"

With that, they barked (no pun intended) another laugh and turned to run back into the trees.