Better Than Revenge

Seth's POV:

I was surprised. Well, they were surprised, I just kind of went along with what they were feeling. I guess it’s an accomplishment when you go hunting for the first time as a new vampire. Like a baby taking their first steps. Elena did okay, I guess. I didn't go with them. But Bella is adapting well, and that's good. The Cullens sort of invited us to Bella's awakening, like it was some kind of party. Sam says we're just here to watch out for Jake.

Anyway, I was busy feeling about something else, or someone else. And because I was spending so much energy feeling about Valerie, the whole pack was feeling the same guilt and urgency to see her as I was, which messed everybody up.

Way too much feeling for a bunch of guys.

'Thanks for the compliment.' Leah spat.

'Yeah, well I’m glad you approve.'

'Knock it off.' Sam butt in. I didn’t expect him to get involved. He usually just lets us bicker until we get bored.

Then Leah sent another wave of feeling that we all were familiar with.

It was almost too overwhelming to hear Alice's warning.

"I can't see where they are, but you need to hurry. We don't know what she's capable of."

'What?' I asked anyone that might have heard her.

'Shit!'

'I told you somebody should have stayed behind!'

Everyone started sprinting east.

I stayed put, confused. 'What is it?'

'Where do we even look?'

'They could be anywhere!'

'I can't smell her anymore.'

'What's going on?' I demanded.

'Seth, it's Elena. She's got Valerie, and we don't know where they are.'

It totally flew over my head. 'What?'

'We can't waste time with him.'

'You can't leave him out.'

I still couldn't grasp it.

'Seth, focus.' Jacob tried to convince me. 'We have a plan, but you have to promise you'll go along with it. We need you, or it won't work.'

I finally gathered the guts to start running to catch up. 'What do I have to do?'

. . . . . . . .

Valerie's POV:

Why doesn't she just kill me already?

She fell away from the window. "When he get's here, do not open your mouth. Understand?"

I simply stared at her, expressionless. Even though on the inside, I was ready to die from the anticipation of what she would eventually do to me.

She brought us to a little shack that was set hidden by the dunes on a beach. It wasn't any beach I recognized. We don't have rickety old lifeguard houses in La Push.

She blindfolded me to get here. It was either that or removing my eyes from their sockets. 

I shouldn't be joking, because this isn't a joke. I see the complete insanity in her eyes, and it isn't funny.

Those devilish eyes bore into my soul and tore through it like tissue paper. I hugged my knees to my chest, trying to stay as far away from her as possible.

"You know," She pondered, stepping closer to me. She crouched down to my level, contemplating my face. "I think you could use a makeover before Sethy gets here, don't you think?"

. . . . . . . .

Seth's POV:

My feet wouldn't take me fast enough. I had a feeling I knew where she was, but no one believed in me.

I ignored them.

I picked up my pace and ran faster than I knew I could when I heard the patting of big feet running right on my heels.

'I’ll come with you.'

'No.' I couldn’t hide from Jacob in this form.

'Seth, let him come with you. You can’t go alone.' Sam ordered, but what he really thought was 'Seth, you’re too young and pitiful to go by yourself.'

'Come on, I think Seth’s a big boy now.' I was going to strangle my sister, even though now she was sticking up for me. I think.

'Fine.' I didn’t have the time to argue with them, so Jake followed.

. . . . . . . . 

Valerie's POV:

I could not bring my eyes away from the dark red stain on her shirt. 

It was my blood, but I just couldn't grasp it.

I could not stop shaking. I was freezing cold straight to the core.

"Aren't you going to ask why I've invited you here?" She spotted the stain and frowned, casually ripping the shirt off of her body. She wore a dark tanktop underneath.

My mouth tasted like burning rust. I shuddered as it reminded me of those few moments of unbearable pain, before she sucked her own venom from my system. She had no intention of keeping me around forever.

"Sethy and I came down here a few weeks before I moved. This beach is beautiful, isn't it? Hard to believe it isn't that far away from home."

I was working too hard to pump air through my lungs.

"We found this shack last summer trying to get out of the rain." She giggled. "It sounds so cliche. But it's true." She smirked at me, detecting the jealousy. "We have the best memories here."

I connected the dots easily. Why doesn't she just kill me already?

. . . . . . . . 

Seth's POV:

'Jared and Quil aren’t far from here. We should stay close just in case.' Jacob was trying to tell me what to do again.

I spotted the beach up ahead and found even more motivation. 'Are you kidding? I’m phasing back'. I realized I didn’t have any shorts to put on.

'You can’t phase back, moron. You’ll get killed when your back’s turned.'

I spotted Jake’s shorts tied tightly to his ankle, and nipped at them. He jumped away.

'Come on, just let me have them!'

'No! Sam was right, you can’t do anything by yourself without screwing up.'

I growled and lunged for his ankle again, this time succeeding. His shorts were hanging from my teeth. Except one of the pockets was still attached to Jacob’s ankle.

'It’s your life.' That’s the last I heard from Jacob before phasing back and slipping on the shorts. The missing pocket left a big hole on the side of my thigh, but I cared just about as much as I cared about Jacob at the moment.

The sight of that little gray-blue beach shack made my stomach jerk. I put up a wall to prevent anything from changing my mind. My sweaty hands molded around the rope handle and I tugged it open.

The space was large, but restricted by random fishing nets and folded up lifeguard stands. The little body curled up in a ball consumed my attention.

I couldn't get out a sigh. Elena appeared from behind the door and closed it over, watching me the entire time.

"I was worried, Sethy. It took you so long to get here."

"What are you doing?" I asked, not as intimidating as I was going for.

"Don't you remember this?" She questioned, running her pale fingers down the doorframe. "I knew you would."

"Let me take Valerie home. Please." I examined her surroundings, noticing a bunched up shirt tossed next to her feet. I saw the stain and felt my heart in my shoes.

"Why? We were having so much fun. I think we're getting along well."

Valerie didn't defend herself. She wouldn't even show her face. "Elena-"

"We talked about lots of things. I was just about to congratulate her on the impressive acting skills. It's hard to pull that off, using someone to get to someone else."

I wanted to scoop her into my arms and take her away from this, but I knew Elena would have my head. She plays games for some sort of sick fun, but I play to win.