46. Peeping Mike

BPOV

I pulled Alice aside, while the other girls finished their meals. "Alice, have you seen Edward? I'm worried that he's not here yet. I've been trying to pretend nothing is wrong and have been successfully distracting myself with other things, but I really expected him to be home long before now."

"You worry too much, Bella," Alice smirked. "He just wanted to pick up something special for you, in case you two would be able to steal a few moments alone together."

I blushed. "Oh, have you 'seen' it then?"

She scoffed. "No, he told me before we left school today. You know I can't see anything when I'm surrounded by wolves. You're the one who told me that. You told me how I can't get any visions at all when I'm in close proximity to any of the wolves. Maybe if Leah was completely on the other side of the room right now, I could possibly 'see' something, but certainly not with her this close to me. All I get is a bad headache. Besides, I can't 'see' anything whenever any of the wolves are involved. The entire Volturi guard could descend on our house tonight, and I would be just as completely clueless as the rest of you, since the wolves are with our family and would join us in the fight against them. I love the werewolves and all, but they put a serious hurting on my gift. I'm really not used to being so blind, and I really don't like it. I'm hoping if I get to know them well, I might be able to learn to 'see' them, to expand and develop my talent to encompass them as well. Of course, I have no idea whether or not that will work. Do you know how I feel to have to say something like that about my own future? Ever since I woke up to this existence, I have relied on my visions of my future to keep me on the right path. Now, I have to guess just as much as the rest of you. It sucks to be normal."

I laughed. "Yeah, it sucks to be normal, says the hyperactive, vegetarian vampire pixie who lives comfortably amongst both werewolves and humans. What the heck do you know about normal, Alice? Sorry, babe, but you don't get to whine about being normal until you can't jump fifteen feet straight up into the air and run faster than a jet airplane."

"Thanks for being so supportive, Bella."

"Hey, that's what friends are for, right? To drag you out of your self-pity pit when you've dug it too deep?"

She looked at me in surprise and cocked her head curiously. "I never really thought of it that way before." Her expression turned mischievous. "Don't worry; Edward will be here before too long. I refused to let him interfere with the early evening festivities, so he decided to make the trip to Seattle to get what he wanted. The way he drives the Vanquish, it shouldn't take him long at all. I'm sure he'll be back before ten."

I grinned and shook my head slowly. She was so 'Alice'.

MikePOV

I had parked my SUV just inside the Cullens' long driveway, close to the road. I had pulled it off into the trees, parking behind some bushes. I was sure that all the guests had already arrived, but I didn't want to risk any latecomers noticing my vehicle where it didn't belong. The last thing I wanted was to end up facing Chief Swan over trespassing charges. I had only recently earned the kind of trust relationship I wanted with my parents, and I had no desire to endanger my freedom. Obviously, I didn't care enough to stop what I was doing, but I was certain I wouldn't get caught.

What was the good of having all the nifty surveillance equipment at the store if I never got to use it? Besides, this could easily be classified as research—trying to learn how the different equipment worked. It would help me make the sale, as I would appear knowledgeable and trustworthy to a potential buyer if I could demonstrate the proper uses of the item I was selling. It had worked for me before, in the past. So, I was really helping my parents by testing out the equipment tonight. Yeah, that sounds good, just in case.

I hiked through the woods toward the house, using a GPS devise to maintain my sense of direction. I had overheard the Cullens making references to dogs at their house over the past couple of days, and I didn't want to alert them to my presence. If the dogs started barking, someone would be sure to come out and investigate. Why did they have to get pets now, when they never did before? It's like they were deliberately setting out to ruin my fun. I took a roundabout pathway so I would come out on the correct side, facing the wall of windows, but kept myself downwind from the house, so I wouldn't alert the dogs. I was wearing mufflers on my feet and stepping carefully as I approached the house, knowing how excellent canine hearing is.

I finally made it to my destination. I was at least a football field's length away from the house, which should keep me effectively hidden. I looked around and saw a tree that had fallen against another tree, making a triangle with the ground. I went to the base of the trunk and started walking up it, like walking up a rough round slide. As I got higher off the ground, I went to hands and knees, lowering my center of balance. The binoculars were hanging from a strap around my neck, and I moved them onto my back so they wouldn't bang against the trunk. I crawled up until I was about eight feet off the ground. At this height, I had an unobstructed view of the house and yard. I could see figures, but couldn't see enough details to even pick out faces.

I pulled my trusty binoculars around again and peered through them at the beautiful women inside the house. To my extreme disappointment, they were all simply eating dinner. They hadn't even changed into pajamas yet. How boring. Well, on the bright side, that means I haven't missed anything either.

Speaking of missing out, I turned to look at the boys in the yard. Most of them had already finished dinner, and they were engaging in some roughhousing and arm wrestling. I saw that half of them were from La Push. How confusing. I thought the natives didn't like the freaks. I mean, the pale faces are supposed to be the enemy, right? Well, I don't think they'll ever find faces paler than the Cullens'. So how come they're all buddy-buddy all of a sudden? I narrowed my eyes in frustration. Does that mean the perfect Cullens would start coming to First Beach now? That's one of the places I was intending to invite Bella, since I knew Cullen wouldn't come. Jerk ruins everything.

I let loose a massive fart and smirked. It accentuated my opinion of Cullen perfectly. To my surprise, as soon as I let go, I saw almost every guy freeze and turn their heads in my direction. What the heck? I know they couldn't possibly have heard that. I couldn't hear the conversations they were having. It was just a freaky coincidence. Must be an animal somewhere in front of me. I zoomed in my binoculars for a closer look and saw Emmett Cullen meet my gaze. I dropped the binoculars and almost fell off the trunk. I put my hand over my rapidly beating heart and tried to calm myself. There is no way he could possibly see me all the way out here, especially in the dark.

I reassured myself and lifted the binoculars back up to my eyes. I immediately noticed three of the La Push guys disappearing around the other side of the house. I looked back to Emmett and found him huddled in conference with Jasper. The two of them kept looking in my direction and then back to the house. I wondered if they were planning on doing something to the girls. I grinned. Maybe they were staging a panty raid. I saw Alice and Rose come to the window and look down at Emmett and Jasper. It almost looked like they were carrying on a conversation, but I knew that was impossible. They wouldn't be able to hear each other through the window. The girls then looked in my direction and evil grins appeared on their faces. They looked back at the guys and said something. The guys shared a look, shrugged, and then started laughing. I wondered if the girls were planning to play a prank on the guys. This was going to be such an entertaining evening.

Suddenly, I heard growling coming from the woods. More growling issued from either side of me. I started trembling. The growling kept getting closer, like something was stalking me. My heart was racing, my adrenaline rushing, my hair standing on end. What the heck was out there? I rapidly adjusted the binoculars and scanned the forest in front of me, looking for the source of the sounds. I saw something and immediately wished I hadn't. Something big with really sharp teeth was headed my way and completely focused on me. I suddenly understood what the chicken feels like when faced with a fox. If I lived through this, I was going to have terrible nightmares. I heard snarling adding to the growling and whimpered. I looked around me without using the binoculars and messed my pants. Directly in front of me and on either side of me, eyes glowed in the moonlight merely six to ten feet away from me. I felt tears running down my cheeks. What were these things? They sort of reminded me of wolves, but they were the size of horses! They must be bears! But bears don't attack in groups. Unless this is a mother and her two almost grown cubs? Who cares what they are? I just want them gone!

"Leave me alone! Go away! Shoo!" I screamed, waving my arms, hoping to scare them away. The growling and snarling was replaced with raspy coughing noises. Huh? Did they have hairballs or something? At least they'd stopped growling. "Shoo! You stupid animals! Don't you know humans are at the top of the food chain?"

I heard loud laughter booming from somewhere nearby.

"Are you sure?" a creepy voice whispered, the voice carrying on the breeze. I really started freaking out.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I yelled, terrified. There was no answer, just creepy evil laughter that sent chills down my spine.

The beast in front of me came forward, reared up on its hind legs, and put its front paws on the trunk on either side of me. Its mouth full of razor sharp teeth was right in front of my face. It licked its chops and opened its mouth wide. I gazed up at the gaping jaws in terror. That mouth was big enough to swallow my whole head! As the teeth slowly began to move toward me, I shrieked and fell backward off the trunk onto the hard ground. I curled up into the fetal position and slowly opened my eyes. I saw three giant mouths open, saliva dripping onto my hair, hot breath on my neck.

"I'm too young to die!" I shrieked at the top of my lungs. How could the world possibly exist without me? How could fate be so cruel as to take me out of the equation in my prime? The women of the world would mourn the loss greatly. They would never get the chance to find ecstasy in my bed.

My heart felt like it was trying to jump out of my chest. My lungs couldn't fill with enough oxygen. As the edges of my vision started fading to black, I could have sworn I saw one of the creatures lift its leg and actually start relieving itself on me. Nah. Must have been my imagination. And then everything faded to black.

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I know short! BUT I had to leave it here! :D

One more on the way!

<3Y