Hunter's Moon (The Hunter's Moon Saga; Edward BXB)

6: The Killer Exposed

I'm walking through the woods to the Meadow. Our Meadow. Alice, things are. Things are bad again and only getting worse. Without Paul, I just.. I can't stand it. There's twelve dead bodies now. I don't see Edward anymore. Will it really feel like he never existed? I will find the place where I can see him again. I arrive at the Meadow, having a memory of Edward and I laying down together, enjoying each other's company. I crouch down, and feel the soft flowers, and feel a pain in my heart, and I sob, and straighten back up, in horror at what I see the distance. Not just in horror of me realizing I'm not in the meadow, but in horror of who I see in distance. Laurent. "Cor." He says. "Laurent." I say. "I didn't expect to find you here." He says, and begins walking towards me, and around in a circle. "I went to visit the Cullens, but the house is empty. I'm surprised they left you behind. Weren't you sort of a. A pet of theirs or something?" He asks. "I'm nobody's pet." I say, and he smiles. "Do the Cullens visit often?" He asks, and I see the illusion of Edward. "Lie." He says, and I gasp. "Every chance they get, which is most of the time." I say. "Lie better." He says. "I'll make sure to tell them that you stopped by." I say, smiling. "But I probably shouldn't.. tell Edward. Because he's pretty protective. Really protective." I say. "But he's far away, isn't he?" He asks. "Why are you here?" I ask. "I came as a favor to Victoria." He says. "Victoria? The woman whose been hunting me since forever?" I ask. "She asked me to see if you were still under the protection of the Cullens. Victoria feels is only fair to kill Edward's mate, given he killed hers. And well, to finally kill you after hunting you down. An eye for an eye." He says. "Threaten him." Edward's voice says. "Edward would know who did it. And he'd hunt you down." I say, and he shakes his head, smiling. "I don't think he will. After all, how much could you mean to him if he left you here unprotected. Especially from killers." He says, and sighs. "Victoria won't be happy about my killing you, but I can't help myself. You are so mouth watering." He says. "Please, dont. I mean, you helped us." I say, shaking my head, and we appears in front of me. "No, no." He says, shushing me, and touches the sides of my face. "Don't be afraid. I'm doing you a kindness." He says, and puts his hands down. "Victoria plans on killing you slowly, painfully, whereas I'll make it quick. I promise." He whispers softly in my right ear, and touches my chin with his left fingertips. "You will feel nothing." He says, and puts his hand down, stepping back. "Can I ask a final death wish?" I ask. "Very well." He says. "What do you know about the Hunter's?" I ask. "The Berty's. The Berty's are a family of them. You're a Berty." He says, and I gasp. "What? Berty is.. oh, my God." I say, and close my eyes. "Edward, I love you." I say, and hear a twig snap, and open my eyes, and turn to my right. "I don't believe it." He says, and I hear a low growl, and see a huge black wolf, coming forward, snarling, walking over to us, and stands on its hind legs like a human and back down, and then I see four other wolves, and see running after Laurent, and a dark silver one stops and looks at me, and I gasp, and it looks at me in the eyes. I know those eyes. I know I do. I see him growl and lean forward, running forward, charging after Laurent, and I see the black one get knocked backwards, and goes after Laurent again, and I start running to my truck. I can see my truck about ten feet away, and then someone suddenly grabs me, and throws me on the ground, as I scream, I turn around quickly enough to see their in a black hoodie and shades, with their face completely covered up about to attack me, and I kick the in the rib cage with my right foot, hard, and I hear a male's voice groan, and fall next to me. I get up, and run to my truck, opening it with my right hand, and get in, closing it behind me with my left. I arrive home, running into the house after opening it with my right hand, and closing it behind me, and see Dad and Harry in the kitchen. "Dad! I saw them. And the killer." I say. "What's the matter?" He asks. "In the woods. There not bears. The killer or one of them jumped me but I managed to kick him in the ribcage." I say, shaking my head. "What do you mean, in the woods? Corn, what the hell were you doing out in the woods?" He asks. "They're wolves. I mean, they're like huge wolves. I know who the killer is." I say. "Are you sure about those wolves, Corn?" Harry says, as I look at him. "Yeah! I just saw rhem. They were after.. something. A rabbit, I think. Dad, Berty is the killer." I say, and he looks down, and back up to me. "You knew that, didn't you? But no evidence?" I ask. "We got a saliva sample from the last victim. Another one today. Thirteen." He says, and we look at Harry. "All right, well, Harry, feel like going wolf hunting? Get some of your guys together?" Dad asks. "Sure, yeah, I'll just.." Harry says, and walks past me. By now, those wolves would be dead, and Laurent would have told her I'm unprotected. And Charlie. "I should go to the Station." Dad says, and stands up. "Yeah, you should. You should go." I say, and he walks past me. "Can you just stay in the house? I mean it." He says, and I nod, and turn to the cabinet, and hear the door open and close. I open the cabinet with my right hand, and pull out a paper coffee cup and lid, and grab the pot with my left hand, pouring some plain black coffee into the cup, and put it back on the machine, and put the lid on. I open the last drawer on the right, and pull out a huge plastic bag, and put it in my right pocket. I pull my leather gloves out of my left pocket, and begin put them on, and look around for a pen and a piece of paper, and see one on the table, and decide to make a note. Dear Dad, if you're reading this, I'm probably in danger. I'm at the school getting a saliva sample from Berty. I love you. Love, Corn. I turn around, and run out the door after opening it with my right hand, and close it behind me. I soon arrive to the school, and head to Berty's classroom, and see his door is wide open, and he's grading papers, and I walk in after turning my recorder on that's in my left pocket, and he looks at me. "Hi, Mr. Berty." I say. "What the hell could you want?" He asks. "I, uh. Damian said that coffee with cream and sugar." I say, smiling, and set it down, and open the lid with my right hand. "He did, did he? Well, maybe I'll like you a little less." He says, and picks it up with his right hand, and sips it, and spits into the cup, as I hold the plastic bag open, and he spits into the bag instead. "What the hell is this?" He asks. "It's called, Gotcha. I know you killed thirteen people." I say. "I had help. And I did it because it was fun." He says. "Well, people in Prison hate child killers." I say, and he stands up, and I pull my phone out of my pocket, and stop the recording, saving it. "You little bastard." He says, and launches towards me, and I run out the door, heading for outside. I manage to run outside as I'm dialing nine one one. "Nine one one. What is you're emergency?" A female voice asks. Julia. "Julia, it's Corn, Charlie's son. My English Teacher is trying to kill me." I say, and run to the other side of the street, about to get hit by a car, and it suddenly stops, making a screeching sound, and I look at the driver, and see it's a Police Car. It's Charlie. He gets out of the car, and walks over to me, as I smile, and he takes my phone. "This is Charlie Swan. I got it from here." He says, and hangs up. "How you know to come back?" I ask. "I left my phone. I could of sworn I had it in my pocket." He says, and I laugh, and he pulls his gun out, and we turn around, seeing Berty. "Dad, he confessed. I have it all on recording. And a saliva sample." I say, handing him the bag, and he laughs. "But he's not in pain, which means there's another one out there." I say. "It's gonna be all right." He says. I'm at home, in my bedroom, laying next to a baseball bat, and hear a clattering, and then another one, and I sit up, looking at the window, and grab the baseball bat with both hands, and get up, slowly, and walk over to window. "Corn!" Paul exclaims, as I see him shirtless, and put the baseball bat down, and open the window. "You scared the shit out of me. What the hell are you doing?" I ask. "Back up. I'm coming up." He says, and I back up, and see him climb the tree, and climb up the window, and slide into my room, and I gasp. "Hey." He says, and I roll my sleeves up. "Look, I'm sorry." He says, stepping forward, and I put my right hand on his abdomen, stopping him, and put my hand down, and I look down, and back up to him. "For what?" I ask. "I wish I could explain. But I literally can't." He says, and walks past me, and I turn around, seeing him near my bed, and hear him sigh, and he turns back to me, and I cross my arms. "Have you ever had a secret you couldn't tell anyone, one that wasn't yours to share?" He asks, and sits down on my bed. "Well, that's what it's like for me. But worse. You have no idea how tight I'm bound to this." He says, and I walk over to him, and put my hands down. "I hate this." I say, and put my left arm on his tattoo. "I hate what they've done to you." I say, shaking my head, and put my hand down, and he holds my left wrist, gently, looking at the bite scar from James, and I cover it with my right hand, and we look at each other, and he lets my hand go, and stands up. "I mean, the damn killer part is, you already know." He says, and looks down, and back up to me. "Corn, do you remember when we walked on the beach at La Push? The.." He says, and it sounds like he can't say the story, and he shakes his head, and I nod. "The story. The story about the Cold Ones and the wolves." I say, and he walks past me, back over to the window. "There's gotta be something that you can do. Something I can do." I say, crossing my arms. "No. I'm in it for life." He says, and I shake my head. "Well, maybe we should just get out of here for a while. Just leave, just you and me." I say. "You'd do that?" He asks, and I nod. "I would do it for you." I say, and he shakes his head, looking away from me. "It's not something I can just run away from, Corn. But I would.." He says, and looks at me. "Run away with you.. if I could." He says, shaking his head, and I nod. "I ran away from my fate of people hunting me and I won." I say. "I gotta go. They'll start wondering where I am." He says, walking back over to me, and I look down, and back up to him, as he approaches me. "Come here. Are you okay about what happened today?" He asks, and I nod, as he wraps his arms around my back, and so do I, rubbing his back, and lower my hands to his waist, as it's so warm. "Please, think." He says, softly. "It'd be so much easier.. if you knew." He says, and we release, and he runs towards my window, and jumps out it, and I run to my window, seeing him land on the ground.