"Ebony, I don't know what to say right now." Carter pulled me aside from the others. "I feel so ashamed for what I did and for keeping it from you. I know nothing I can say will ever make what I did ok." Carter stood in front of me with complete sadness across his face.

I looked away from his broken-heart face. I knew he felt disgusted by his past, he had told me many times about the things he had done, but I had no idea he had actually done those horrible and unthinkable things to me.

"Why did you choose my pack? There are hundreds of wolves out there, why mine?" I kept my eyes off him.

"Your father was the pack leader and a well-respected one at that. He had great power over the forest, and I knew if I wanted respect from my peers, he was the one I had to take down. I knew he was too strong for an attack, so I had to come up with another way," he said softly. "I was sick of being called weak because of my wolf side, so I decided to show everyone that I was more than a half-breed. I wanted their respect and loyalty more than anything, and money doesn't cut it in the vampire world killing does."

"So, you killed my family and tortured me until you nearly killed me as well so you could prove you had a bigger dick than all other vampires?" I yelled at him. "You ruined my brother for nothing more than your ego?"

"I did it to prove I am a ...."

"What? A man Carter? A big tough man who hurts little kids? What?"

"I did it to prove to my wife and son that I am a leader, and I can protect them from anything. I did it to prove to myself that I am more than the mistake people thought I was," he yelled, pushing over a tree in rage like it was nothing more than a flower. "I wanted to be respected in my world like I was here, and that was the only way I knew how." he covered his face and took deep breaths as the cold wind blew around us. "I'm sorry," he whispered in the wind.

"I know you are, but I need you to know that I can never forgive you for what you did. I will never forget the horrible things you did to me. I will always know what a true monster you are."

"I know. You hate me, don't you? Of course, you do, you should hate me. Trust me, right now no one could hate me more than I hate myself," his eyes were closed as he spoke, and a single tear was falling from his eye. He was hurting himself more than I could ever do.

"Carter," I said, walking towards him slowly.

He said nothing.

"When I meet you, you said you would slaughter my family if I didn't agree to work for you, but you knew they were already dead, so that was no threat, was it? You were planning on killing me that night and confessing the things you had done. You were tortured and still are by the memories of what you did, and instead of being selfish and killing me like a coward would have done, you opened up your home and heart to me and tried to make up for the things you did as a real man would. You faced me, your one true fear and helped me get through my fears. For that, I thank you."

He opened his eyes one at a time and stared at me with complete confusion, terror, and relief. "What did you just say?"

"I said thank you," I repeated, standing in front of him. "Thank you for giving me a chance at life when I know it was against everything you believed in at the time. I know that was a huge sacrifice on your part, so thank you."

He raised an eyebrow sharply at me. "See, every time I think I have you all figured out, you go and punch me in the arm instead of slapping me in the face like I think you will. You amaze me, you always have, and if there were a way for me to go back in time and take back what I did, I would go in a heartbeat no matter what the cost. I was a monster Ebony, I was your monster, and yet you still don't fear me, just like when you were little. You always stood up to me and met me head-on no matter how scared you were. That's how I knew you were made for great things. I knew you were going to make a difference in this world. I just never thought it would be through me," he touched my face with his hand. "I meant what I said, I love you more than anything, but I understand if you want to leave me. I promise I will leave you alone this time," I could hear his heart beating fast in his chest, even though his face showed no emotion at all. I also knew my next words were going to hurt him deeply.

"I will never forgive you, Carter, I want you to understand that. Never. I can't, and I won't."

"I understand," he nodded.

"I hate the monster that hurt me, and I always will," I said, pulling away from him. "Nothing will ever change that."

"I understand," he said, looking down.

"I hate that monster more than anything, but I can't deny how much I love you."

He looked up at me and started to speak, but I wouldn't let him.

"I have despised you my whole life without even knowing why and yet I'm still completely head over heels in love with you because you are not that monster anymore, Carter, and you have to realize that yourself if you want to move forward."

"Ebony, I don't think I can," he whispered, looking away and closing his eyes again.

"You need to. To prove to your son and to prove to me that you are ready to move on and make up for what you did. You need to heal yourself before you heal the world." I touched his face, and he opened his eyes. "I love you, Carter and nothing will ever change that, but if you want a future with me, you have to let go of that creature and its memories and learn from them instead. I need you to be strong inside as well as out," I smiled.

I smiled at his now bright silver eyes flashing at me. "I will make up for my past." He whispered. "I until I die."

"I know you will, and saving the world today is a great start," I smiled.

"I love you so much, baby," he whispered.

"I love you too, but I'm going to need time to make sense of all this," I said, rubbing his cheek with my thumb. "I need to heal, as well."

"I know, I promise I will be the man you need from now on. I will make a difference in this world to honour your family and protect you. I will kill the monster inside me."

"I know you will," I kissed his cheek softly and walked away from him for what I hoped would not be the last time.

---------

"You understand that if he catches us, we are dead?" Edward said quietly as we approached the loud cheers of Leon's army in the woods. "No, scrap that he won't kill us, just torture us until we are nothing more than a corpse in the ground."

"One thing you should know about me, I ALWAYS get what I want, and if I don't then, I have three very pissed-off vampires behind me who will make sure I do" I smiled in my brother's face.

"Can we really trust him, Ebony? After everything he has done to us, can we trust that vampire?"

I felt the fear in his heart as he spoke. "I don't know a lot of things, but I do one thing. I love him even after everything he has done to me because I know he loves me more than anything, and he always has. I promise you, Edward, he will not harm you or allow anything to harm either of us. I know you don't trust him, but you can trust me." I held his hand as we walked. "I'm so glad you found me."

"I thought you were dead, Ebony. Even after Genevieve told me that Carter was abusing her and their son, I knew you were alive. I just knew it."

"Wait, Genevieve, his ex-wife told you he hurt me?"

"No, she told me Carter hurt her and their son and that he was a monster who wanted them dead as well." Edward looked confused. "You know of these vampires?"

"You mean the son that is fighting alongside his father, not his mother?"

Edward stopped walking. "That was his son?"

"Yes, his name is Callan, and he lives with his father. His mother tried to have him killed for that. Callan is a strong, intelligent, and funny vampire whom I would trust with my life. He is like a brother to me, and I will kill for him, just as he has done for me."

"This whole thing is so screwed up Ebony, but I trust you. By the way, what was with all the holy water back there and the word pussy? Do you have many cats?"

"Stop. Don't say that word out loud. It's a code word we use to check on each other, and the holy water was because Jake was convinced you were a demon. That's a long story, but on the plus side, you passed with flying colours," I smiled, giving him the thumbs up.

"You thought I was possessed?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at me.

"Yes, it's been a long day. Sorry about that."

"Ok, I guess it could have gone down a lot worse. Don't ask, don't tell right," he put on a brave smile.

"That's the spirit" I patted Edward on the back. "Are you ready to do this?" I said as I pulled him close and hugged him tightly.

"I'm ready," he said softly.

"Ok then, let's save the world then."

"Let's do this," he said, holding my hand again and pulling me towards the loud cheers. "Stay close, so you don't get lost in these.."

"You there! What are you doing here? You are not allowed to walk these grounds. Oh my, it's you. You are actually here. BOSS!" a guard yelled in front of us. "She is here, the girl is actually here,"

"Shit, we need to get out of this place." Edward pulled on my arm, trying to run backward.

"Well, well, well," a deep voice hissed next to me. "I have waited a long time for this moment, young lady, and now I finally get to play with my brother's favourite toy," the voice laughed in my ear. "Such a pretty toy too."

I turned to see two bright yellow eyes right next to me, and I gasped loudly as I felt a hand grab onto my neck tightly.

"LEON."