Twilight: The Last Hunter

*Ring*

The bell rang, the haze of that vampire presence had dulled to a lingering weight behind my ribs. Not gone. Just waiting.

Bella and I stepped into the hallway together, both quiet. The crowd around us shifted and swirled with casual energy—laughs, footsteps, slamming lockers—but none of it reached me. Not really.

I tracked movement out of habit. Faces. Patterns. Exits.

Bella looked at her map again, then up at the signs on the walls. "Cafeteria?"

I nodded once. "This way."

We walked side by side, close but silent. Her shoulders were a little tenser now. I could tell the encounter in biology still sat with her. Whatever she'd seen on that vampire's face—whatever she'd felt—it wasn't something she could explain yet. And she wouldn't ask me to. Not now.

But she would. Eventually.

The cafeteria doors opened into a space filled with noise and artificial warmth. Long tables, the sharp scent of reheated food, and hundreds of heartbeats. Normal. Predictable.

But something was off.

That subtle pressure—distant this time—brushed against the edge of my senses. Vampires. Nearby, but not close. And not just one.

I kept my expression even.

Bella had already grabbed a tray and was shuffling through the lunch line. I passed on food, opting instead to keep my hands free and my attention clearer.

A soft voice spoke beside me as I moved to the drink coolers. "Hey. You're Alaric, right?"

I turned slightly. A girl with straight dark-blonde hair and wire-frame glasses stood just behind Bella, holding a small plate of salad. She looked polite, reserved—less interested in social climbing than in being helpful.

"Yeah," I said.

"Angela," she offered. "I sit near you in English. If you're not sitting with anyone, you can sit with us."

Bella turned toward her with a quiet smile. "Thanks."

We followed Angela to a corner table near the windows. A few other students were already there—Mike Newton with his over-eager grin, Eric Yorkie talking too fast about something tech-related, and Jessica Stanley leaning in with calculated interest.

Introductions were brief. Names, nods, surface-level pleasantries.

I didn't care much about any of them—but I listened.

Angela, thankfully, steered the conversation away from me. "You came in with Bella, right?" she asked, glancing between us.

"Yeah," Bella answered. "We met in the parking lot."

Mike perked up. "You guys already know each other?"

"Not really," I said.

That seemed to end that.

I took a slow sip of water and let my gaze drift.

Then I saw them.

Seated at the far end of the cafeteria, separated from everyone else, were five students who didn't blend in no matter how still they sat.

The Cullens.

Angela followed my gaze before I could ask. "That's their table," she said quietly, voice dipping just a little. "The Cullens. Well, technically, the Cullens and the Hales. They're all… adopted."

"They keep to themselves," Jessica added, not bothering to lower her voice. "Like, a lot."

Angela continued, more thoughtfully. "The blonde girl—that's Rosalie Hale. Her brother is Emmett Cullen. He's the big one."

I followed the direction of her gesture.

Rosalie was impossible not to notice. Her beauty was sharp, almost aggressive—long blonde hair, perfect features, posture like a blade. Cold eyes. Watchful. She didn't speak. Just sat beside the broad-shouldered boy Angela had named Emmett, as if the noise of the room didn't apply to them.

"She looks like she hates everyone," Bella murmured.

Angela gave a small, awkward shrug. "She's just... intense."

"That's Alice Cullen," she went on, "the short girl. And her brother, Edward. The one sitting across from them is Jasper Hale. He's newer, I think."

I focused on Edward. He was quieter than before. Still pale. Still still. But something in his posture was different. Guarded. Hollow.

He wasn't looking at Bella anymore.

He wasn't looking at anything.

Rosalie's eyes flicked toward our table for the briefest second.

I didn't look away. Neither did she.

There was no smile. No scowl. Just a neutral gaze, unreadable but razor-sharp. It wasn't curiosity—it was assessment. Like she was trying to place me and couldn't.

I let the silence stretch a second longer before I turned back to my tray.

"Rosalie doesn't talk to people," Jessica added, eager to insert herself again. "None of them really do. I heard they were homeschooled until a few years ago."

"Dr. Cullen's their dad," Angela added. "He works at the hospital."

"And they're all… adopted?" Bella asked.

"Yeah. Rosalie and Jasper are twins, supposedly," Jessica said, "but honestly, they don't look it. And Alice is just kind of... weird."

Angela frowned a little. "They're quiet, not weird."

I stayed out of it. My mind was elsewhere.

Five vampires.

I'd suspected more than one after biology—but hearing their names, seeing them all together, confirmed it.

This was a coven. A full one.

And they were pretending to be students.

Why?

I'd seen blood drinkers play roles before—doctors, teachers, police—but teenagers? There was something unnatural about that kind of pretense. Immortals didn't live quietly unless they had to. So what made Forks important enough for five of them to dig in?

And why the tension?

Rosalie had noticed me. That much was clear. She'd seen something—felt something—and she didn't like it.

Good.

Let her wonder.

Let them all wonder.

"I thought you said you moved here six months ago," Bella said softly beside me, voice low enough for only me to hear.

"I did."

She gave me a sidelong glance. "Then why haven't you started school until now?"

I didn't answer right away. "I needed time," I said finally.

"For what?"

"To disappear."

Bella looked at me, but I didn't elaborate.

After that, she didn't ask again.

The rest of lunch passed in shallow waves of conversation, none of which touched the undercurrent humming in my head. The Cullens were too close. Too organized. And Edward—whatever that reaction in biology had been—hadn't just noticed Bella.

He'd felt something.

And so had I.

---

Later, between classes

My final class of the day was forgettable—chalk dust, a droning voice, windows fogged by the endless mist—but I couldn't relax. The weight of their presence pressed against my senses like a storm building just past the tree line.

I hadn't encountered a coven this… integrated before. Their control was surgical. Their cover flawless. But not perfect.

That moment in biology had cracked something open.

And Rosalie—

There was something about the way she'd looked at me. Not attraction. Not hostility. But suspicion, sharp and narrowing. I could almost feel her gaze even when I wasn't looking at her.

Like she was still watching. Like she knew I didn't belong either.

I walked alone through the parking lot after the final bell, camera slung across my chest again.

My car was cold, rain still misting across the windshield. I didn't start the engine right away.

Instead, I sat.

Breathing slow.

Thinking.

Planning.

I needed more information. About the Cullens. About why they were here. About what they wanted.

And about why a vampire had nearly lost control at the sight of a quiet girl from Phoenix.