my life as a

by musicmadness

8th story whoop whoop reviews?

Written by, Scarlett Green.

The bottom of the cliff came towards me gradually, too slow for my liking it meant I had a chance to think about what I was doing. The letter explaining it all was in the front seat of my truck along with my cell. I had just called 911 giving an anonymous tip that someone was committing suicide, which was included in my last letter too. So when the ambulance or police arrive -maybe both- they will find the phone I made the call off and my letter. God I still hadn't hit the bottom yet maybe this wasn't such a good idea, I should have gone for something quicker, something easier. The cold wind bit at my skin and stung at my eyes making tears roll down my cheeks. I wasn't crying no it was because of the wind. I was wearing my favourite faded jeans and my green t-shirt which I adored, it wasn't the best combination for the middle of winter but what did I care it wasn't as though it was going to matter to me later on. Later on, I was meant to be seeing Charliie in a few hours for the first time in 17 years, with his new fiancée, Amelia, or as I like to call her, Bimbo. I knew Charliie would be slightly gutted but it was his own fault everything was his own fault, the reason I was moving to the dreary town of Forks his fault, the reason of what happened back in phoenix, his fault. Now real tears were strolling down my cheeks, thinking about home tore me up and I couldn't deal with that pain for the rest of my life, that's why I was resulting to this. From above I could hear my music blaring out of my trucks stereo it was Aretha Franklin's Rescue me. The words of the song filled my ears

"Rescue me, or take me in your arms. Rescue me."

Yes. Please, someone rescue me, anyone. The cliff bottom was getting closer and for that I was grateful. The sea was lapping against the rocks leaving behind white foam and the occasional streams of seaweed which looked like strands of blood. Gawd, I'm about to die and I'm getting all poetic and observant well soon enough it will be my strands of blood being washed away. The floor of the cliff was getting nearer and nearer and my body started going crazy, legs flailing, and arms flapping as though trying to fly. Yet, my mind however was blissfully peaceful just letting the music fill my ears accompanied with the crash of the waves below. Then I finally met with the rocks and everything went dark and quiet. As I sank into the darkness, I started to float. I could hear yelling and instructions which I couldn't understand. Sharp pressures on my body broke the numb feeling, I tried to scream out as the pain intensified but either no-one was listening or I wasn't screaming. I tried moving to show them the pain I was in but I was tightly bound down with something heavy and thick taped to my neck. The pain was unbearable nevertheless I was able to push it to the back of my mind and find out what was going on. I could no longer hear the sound of my songs coming from my truck, or the crashing of the waves, instead there was bright lights flashing every two seconds over my eyes lids. Suddenly my eyelid was yanked back and a bright light flashed into it, I tried to squirm away but it was no use I was packed tightly.

"She's back with us, get some morphine hooked up" someone ordered

I felt something sharp pierce my skin but that was the least of the pain, all down my neck and spine throbbed as I got to my pelvis and legs though I couldn't feel a thing. A lump stuck in my throat as I thought of the possibility what if I was paralyzed. Damn it I shouldn't have jumped I should have shot myself, that way there was no possibility of me coming back handicapped. More pains shot through my body as I drifted in and out of consciousness. The next time I came round no more bright lights were in my eyes instead the sun was resting across the bed I was in warming my skin. I managed to flicker open my eyes it was a difficult task, seeing as my eyes felt as though they were the size of melons. The monitor measuring my heartbeat, bleeped continuous and the sound was hurting my ears. I was in a private room it was simple but clean there was a tap on the glass door and I saw a young male in a hospital uniform smiling at me. He opened the door and I heard myself gasp. He was absolutely gorgeous, he had an angelic face, a gorgeous smile, his hair was the colour of straw and his body looked amazing. He walked over to me gracefully and carried on smiling, he pressed his fingers to a tender spot on my head and I winced. His touch was cold like he had just taken his hands out of an ice bucket his fingers swooped to my neck feeling my pulse and he pulled away checking my charts. He studied them for a while a tiny frown on his face making his eyebrows create a v shape. When he looked up his face was confused but he said in a pleasant voice

"Hello there, my name is Doctor Cullen and I have been treating you. How do you feel?"

I swallowed the spit in my mouth and said quietly

"Like shit"

His grin grew wider and he picked up a glass of cool water and put the straw in my mouth, I took a sip and it soothed my raw throat. My face contorted into horror as my stomach screamed out in pain as the water slipped down. Doctor Cullen moved quickly and got a needle with a creamy looking liquid in it, my eyes widened and I managed to growl through the pain

"Stick that thing in me and you will be two fingers down"
He laughed but stuck it in me anyway. I felt it swirl through my veins and the fogginess made my eyes close, I frowned at the doctor and before I slipped asleep I heard him chuckle.

"Come on now Carmen, time to get up" a voice said softly by my ear.

I groaned and opened my eyes to find myself staring into my doctors' face, I glared at him but he only smiled. I looked around and saw he wasn't alone a small petit woman was by his side a true beauty. She had golden eyes a heart shaped face with dimples, but her hair was what caught my eye. It was long, almost down to her back and it was the colour of golden syrup the same colour as my moms. I pinched my eyes closed feeling a headache come back with a vengeance, a soft yet cold hand was placed over mine and it was the woman's she smiled at me showing two dimples and I felt myself muster a small shy smile or it may of been a grimace. Doctor Cullen sat down on the edge of my bed, without shifting me, and his face was sombre.

"What's up, doc" I said doing a bad impersonation of Bugs bunny.

He smiled slightly but it didn't really show, this time he placed his hand over mine and said

"I am sorry for having to tell you this but, when you fell there was a lot of spine damage, and we weren't able to do anything about it believe me I tried. So I'm afraid that you are not going to be able to walk again, or feel anything from the waist down."

I felt my mouth pop open and I tried wiggling my toes but nothing happened, I gazed down at my useless legs and muttered to myself

"I should have just shot myself"

I heard the woman gasp and Doctor Cullen's hand gripped mine a bit tighter but before they could respond to anything there was another tap at the door. I looked up along with the doctor and the woman and saw two police officers there waiting for me along with Charliie and the bimbo. Charliie raced in pushed past Dr. Cullen and hit me hard round the face, I bowed my head my cheek stinging while Charliie was pulled out of the room to calm down. The bimbo sat on one side of me wearing next to nothing while the police officers sat on the other side of my bed smiling softly at me. My doctor stood at the end of my bed busying him with my charts while the interrogation began.

"Why were you at the cliff?"

"Were you trying to kill yourself?"

"Why did you leave a note?"

"Are you unhappy that you didn't succeed?"

"Are you likely to do it again?"

"Did you do this because of your mother?"

The last one did it, for all the other questions I stayed silent but this one sent me to boiling point. I grabbed my glass of water and threw it in the police officers face he jumped up and I grabbed his shirt flinging him over my bed and towards bimbo his face in her crotch.

"Just the way you like huh, bimbo" I snickered

All hell broke loose then bimbo shot up and closed her hands round my throat the police officer I threw was unconscious and the other one ran off for help. I had no idea where my doctor was but I really needed him then, my lungs burned from not getting enough oxygen and my eyes started to water. Little dark splodges started to appear in front of my eyes and I thought

Dear god bimbo really has the brains to kill someone

But thankfully before I could drop unconscious the door slammed open and a group of people walked in, a blurred lad rushed forward and pried bimbo's hands off me and said

"I really don't think you should be doing that"
by now my sight had come back properly and my strength returned bimbos face was towards me and I put as much force as I could behind landing a sucker right in her jaw. She howled and clutched at her jaw while running out of the room, I rubbed my tender throat while watching her flee the room. When she had gone, I turned my gaze to the group of people that had walked in, they were all stunning. There were two girls and three boys in total and they all looked like angels. One of the girls was tiny with jet black hair stuck up all over the show, she was pale and her body was slender. The other girl was different yet equally as beautiful she had long golden hair, really tall and extremely slim with sharp facial bones. The lads were completely different they were all tall one was full of muscles with a mat of black curls stuck to his head. The second one was just as tall, lean and mysterious looking with blonde hair and a smatter of freckles across his nose and cheekbones. The last lad caught my attention he was the one who pulled bimbo away from me he was stood at the back of the group furthest away from me but I could still see his beauty perfectly, his eyes were big not too big just right his alabaster brow looked as though it had been quirked up into a million arches his nose was straight and his lips plump and thick, he had a mess of curly reddish brown hair on his head which looked like silk, he was the tallest of the lads around my height 5" 10 his body looked as though it had been sculpted, his sweater clung perfectly to his washboard stomach. I took a breath and thought to myself

What the hell am I doing here?

I yanked the tubes and needles out of my arms and body and dragged myself to the end of my bed cautious not to fall off. The group were watching me intently and I knew there was pity behind their eyes which I hated that must have been the reason I snapped

"Take a picture it lasts longer"
I grabbed the arm of the wheelchair and pulled it as close to the bed as it could go; when I had positioned it correctly I dragged myself off the bed and slid into the chair without any problems. I yanked my heavy feet into the foot holdalls and wheeled myself out of the room I pushed past the group of lads and girls ignoring their stares and wheeled myself out into the freezing cold at the entrance of the hospital. I shoved the brakes on and watched the cars speed on by and I wondered how easy it would be to live like one of them, when suddenly someone clicked off the brakes and whirled me round pushing me through the hospital.

"You'll catch your death you know" a musical voice said

I spun round and saw the lad with the muscles pushing me he had a boyish grin plastered on his face and his eyes were bright.

"Like you care now, stop shoving the wheelchair before I shove it somewhere you don't want it"

He laughed carefree and carried on pushing me. He wheeled me back into my room where the rest of them were still waiting the big lad scooped me out of my chair easily and plonked me back on my bed softly while I grumbled. The lad with the reddish brown hair came forward slowly and asked politely in a beautiful voice

"May I" he said gesturing towards my legs

"not as though I have a choice it seems you lot do what you want"
the big lad guffawed loudly and the reddish brown haired lad stretched his fingers out and swooped them down my shin, my leg jerked painfully and I groaned from pain, then I realised what had just happened. The lad had stopped staring in shock

"Do it again" I whispered

He stroked his fingertips down my big toe, it wiggled before jerking my whole leg, this time he ran his hand from the top of my thigh down to the tips of my toes, my leg went into painful spasms and I clutched the bed sheet making sure my screams of pain didn't escape. The doctor came back in and the lad said

"Carlisle her leg it's moving"
the lad ran his index finger round my ankle bone and it jerked like a fish out of water. The doctor gasped and the lad moved out of the way as Dr Cullen ran his fingertips down my shin, but nothing happened. He tried again and again but nothing happened, the lad stepped forward and placed his finger on my big toe and it jerked erratically. Everyone stared transfixed and my doctor said quietly

"It seems like my son has miracle hands"

My jaw dropped open and before I could stop it the words tumbled out of my mouth

"What? He is your son no freaking way!"

They all chuckled and I felt my cheeks burn red, Dr Cullen sat in the edge of my bed and said

"Yes he is my son and the rest of them are my children too not biologically though me and my wife adopted she was here before"

My mouth formed the perfect O and they all laughed again, the lad with the miracle hands grabbed my legs and dragged them over the side of the bed making them go crazy. The doctor took both my hands and was about to lift me up when the door slammed open and Charliie was stood there red faced from the cold, his eyes glinting with unshed tears.

"How could you not tell me, why didn't you tell me Renée was dead. It's your entire fault"

He slammed the door so forcefully the frame shook, I felt light headed and empty my body turned to ice. The doctor pulled me up and I knew what was going to happen I was going to fall and I did my legs collapsed under my weight and I fell against Dr Cullen he lifted me back on the bed and said

"I don't think it was your fault somebody died"
I turned my face away from him and he placed his hand softly on my shoulder.

"Go away" I hissed

He slipped his hand off my shoulder and walked out the room, another hand touched my shoulder and I spun round gazing into the dark eyes of miracle hands lad. Before I could yell at him to go away he pulled me off the bed clinging onto me as my body tried to crumple. His hands held me under my armpits and very slowly he pulled me forwards my feet skidded towards him but I didn't walk. He lifted me up so my feet were on top of his and we started moving slowly, he held me up with one hand while the other kept bending my knees when I needed to. After a while he put me back on my feet and pulled me back towards him and I managed to walk slightly even though it was more like a shuffle I still walked. I grinned up at him and said

"Thank you"
he smiled back and said

"No problem"

He helped me shuffle back on my bed and pulled the quilt over my legs when the door opened. I turned my head to see a curvy, large woman with frizzy orange hair brandishing needles at me.

"Come on honey time for more meds"
I glared at her and said

"I don't think so"
she laughed and shook them in front of my face, I moved over on the bed and fell out shuffling myself into the corner she bustled round the bed and looked at me disapprovingly.

"now, now honey don't get like this we just want to help you get better and you need to rest so hop back on the bed and we'll make it all go sleepy"

I glared at her and said

"How about no"
this time she glared back at me all her friendliness gone and she hissed

"Get on that bed now or I just give you the drugs there where you will pass out for about eight to ten hours fancy that"

I held her cold gaze when the lad- who was all but forgotten -coughed

"Nurse I don't really think that is appropriate my father is one of the highest doctors here and I don't think he would be best pleased to find out that one of his staff is treating a patient like this especially his patient"

I smirked up at the baffled nurse and she nodded, leaving the needles on top of the white cabinet.

"Okay then but when you start to get in pain hit the buzzer"

She left the room and I dragged myself up onto the bed, while the lad stood there watching me. When I was finally up on the bed, I watched the lad look at his watch every two seconds.

"Somewhere to go" I asked

He looked at me for a moment before saying

"Yes, my mother she has friends over and wants the whole family together"
"well go then"

"But don't you need me here?" he asked confused

I rolled my eyes before replying

"No I think I'll be okay not as if I can do much with the way I am"

He left the room in a hurry and I leant my head back, closing my eyes exhausted. I shot up straight as I heard the door open and bimbo walk in with a burly dark guy at the side of her.

"Another customer Amelia" I asked sarcastically

She just looked at me and whispered something in the muscular guy's ear, when all of a sudden he landed heavily on me his hand clamping over my mouth, while his rock hard body pinned me to the bed defenceless. My eyes widened as I watched bimbo get my injections with medicine in. She got some clear thick liquid out of a vial in her bag and poured it into my needle. I gulped suddenly scared; I decided that I didn't want to leave the world right now despite the fact I had tried to kill myself a while back. Bimbo started walking towards me slowly, her heels clacking against the tiled floor. When she got in front of me she taped the needle threateningly and whispered

"Don't worry Carmen it will just be like going to sleep, just with more gut-wrenching pain"

A cat-like grin spread across her face as the needle broke the skin in my arm. I winced as a burning hot pain spread through my arm getting higher and higher to my shoulder. I writhed underneath Mr Bulk, jerking erratically and he got off me. The burning was now spreading throughout my body and it felt like I was in the pit of hell, when all of a sudden the door crashed open. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the lad who helped me walk, he grabbed the looming figure of bimbos associate and threw him across the room unconscious. Bimbo slipped out of the room and I was able to manage a whimper. The lad spun round and looked at me his eyes were wide and black. I cringed slightly away from the black fire pits of his eyes but the pain jolted my body sending it into tremors. The lad hastened to my side ripping the needle out of my arm my body convulsed and I gripped onto the lads forearm. Then all of a sudden there was a commotion the lad slammed his fist down hard onto the red button and doctors and nurses flooded into the room. I bit down hard as the pain intensified, while the lads' cold hands swooped over my face whilst whispering in a soothing voice in my ear.

"Carmen calm down you need to relax for them to help you, you need to stop moving round that's it I promise I will make you better I promise."

His voiced lulled me to sleep like a lullaby. When I next woke up it was brighter and I was hooked up to more machines by the sound of it. My eyes opened slowly and I was alone I pulled the tubes sticking up my nose out and swung my legs out of bed, settling down in a wheelchair. I wheeled myself down to the common room where I saw a grand piano. Without thinking I shoved the door opened and rolled into the empty room, coming to a stop in front of the beautiful mahogany piano. I heaved myself up onto the leather stool and flexed my fingers over the keys nervously. I hadn't played the piano in five years, but back then I was an exceptional player winning awards. I started playing the melody to one of Renée's favourite tunes I composed and started to sing along

"You are my sweetest downfall, I loved you first, I loved you first, beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth. I have to go, I have to go. Your hair was long when we first met, Samson went back to bed, and I'm a chairlift on his head, he ate a slice of wonder bread and went right back to bed, and history books forgot about us and the bible didn't mention us, and the bible didn't mention us, not even once. You are my sweetest downfall, I loved you first, I loved you first, beneath the stars came falling on our heads, but they just don't light, they just don't light, your hair was long when we first met. Samson came to my bed, told me that my hair was red, told me I was beautiful and came into my bed, oh I cut his hair myself one night with berry doll scissors in the yellow light, and he told me that I'd done all right, and kissed me till the morning light, the morning light, and he kissed me till the morning light. Samson went back to bed and I'm a chairlift on his head, he ate a slice of wonder bread and went right back to bed. Oh we couldn't bring the columns down yeah we couldn't destroy a single one, and history books forgot about us and the bible didn't mention us not even once. You are my sweetest downfall, I loved you first."

I ended on the last note softly and sniffed the well of emotions in me down. I hadn't realised anyone had entered the room till I heard a slow hand clap coming from the door. I swivelled round and saw the lad by the door, I smiled wanly at him and he walked forward. When he got to me he moved me over on the stool and sat next to me and replaced my fingers with his over the keys and said

"Will you play me another?"

I placed my hands over his and pressed down on the keys, playing the melody. He turned his face towards mine his eyes lighter today and whispered

"Sing too"

I started the melody again and started to sing

"been awake for a while now got me feeling like a child now cause every time I see your bubbly face I get the tingles in a silly place, it starts in my toes and I crinkle my nose wherever it goes I always know you make me smile please stay for a while just take your time wherever you go, the rain is falling on my window pane we are hiding in a safer place under covers staying safe and warm you give me feelings that I adore, it starts in my toes make me crinkle my nose wherever it goes I always know you make me smile please stay for a while now just take your time wherever you go what am I gonna say when you make me feel this way I just ooo and it starts in my toes makes me crinkle my nose wherever it goes I always know you make me smile please stay for a while now just take your time wherever you go. I've been asleep for a while now you tucked me in just like a child now cause every time you hold me in your arms I'm comfortable enough to feel you warmth It starts in my soul and I lose all control when you kiss my nose the feeling shows cause you make me smile now just take your time holding me tight. ,wherever, wherever you go, wherever, wherever, wherever you go, wherever you go I always know cause you make me smile here just for a while"

The song drifted to a close and I slipped my fingers off the lads he turned back to look at me and asked

"How are you now?"

I grimaced and rubbed at my black and blue arm where the needle pierced me. The lad laughed and I said

"You realise you have saved me twice from bimbo Barbie and helped me walk again and I don't even know your name"

He grinned wryly and said out of the corner of his mouth

"My name is Edward"

I smiled shyly and said

"Hi Edward I'm Carmen nice to meet you"
he laughed and I found myself smiling back. The door opened as we were sniggering I turned and saw Dr Cullen and the small girl with spiky black hair from yesterday. The small girl smiled and took a dainty step forward, but Dr Cullen put his hand on her arm to make her stop. Edward scooped me into my wheelchair, my legs were no longer a dead weight instead I could move and wiggle them. Dr Cullen pushed me through the wards and into my room, while talking to other patients and staff. When I was in my room I clambered onto my bed and rolled onto my stomach, swinging my legs in the air behind me.

"So how long do you reckon till I can get out of here" I asked

He was wiping my black and blue arm with an antiseptic wipe when he answered me.

"well I guess if you behave tomorrow without anymore incidents, then I guess on Sunday you can be out of here but you will be taking some medication for a while to help heal you okay"

I nodded enthusiastically and he asked

"So where are you going to school then"

"Err I think its called forks high"

"Ahhh my children go there" he said with a smirk on his face

I spun over and propped myself up on one elbow.

"seriously, right I need to know what's everyone like, what type of clothes do they wear, what type of cars do they drive, is everyone split up into groups like jocks pretty girls nerds etcetera" I asked intrigued

He started to chortle and he said in-between laughing

"Now as a girl who expresses her personal opinion on almost anything am I detecting a hint of oh I don't know a lack of self-confidence"

I felt by cheeks burn slightly and I mumbled

"Well, I have as you may say a lack of confidence in new surroundings and round new people"

Dr Cullen smiled kindly at me and put a needle in my arm draining out some blood I grimaced and he murmured

"I know what you mean I used to have the same problem. But you seemed okay when you met my family especially Edward when he helped you"

I shrugged popping some bubblegum into my mouth and said

"Well that was different you know I felt at ease with you all"
Dr Cullen smiled deeply and I asked blowing a bubble

"So seeing as you know my name what's yours?"

My bubble was a huge green dome and Dr Cullen burst it with the end of his pen making a loud popping noise

"My name is Carlisle Cullen and I shall see you tomorrow Miss Carmen Swan"

He left the room and I yelled

"See ya"

All day I had no visitors and it gave me time to think about things, I was going to have to go to Charliie's place to stay with miss bimbo. At least I had my own room I could lock them and the rest of the world out when I wanted. I fell asleep peacefully and when I woke in the morning I felt cheerful for once when I was scraping my hair back up into a ponytail Dr Cullen walked in the room whistling he beamed at me and I fastened the bobble into my hair. He sat down on the edge of my bed and looked at my charts writing notes down.

"So what's the diagnosis doc?" I enquired

He laughed and said

"Well seeing as how well you are doing and the speed of your recovery is remarkable I should say you are ready to go home"

I tried to smile but it didn't quite happen, Dr Cullen patted my hand comforting me and he asked

"Is everything okay at home Carmen do you need some sort of help"
I shook my head sharply and hopped out of bed. Dr Cullen hovered by my side

"Am I not allowed my privacy anymore"
he shook his head sadly and I said

"Don't worry I'm not going to kill myself in the few seconds you leave me to get dressed"
his eyebrows burrowed together and he nodded once leaving the room waiting outside. I slipped the hospital gown off and shrugged on some new underwear, my ribs and stomach were covered in bruises and scars-fresh and old. I yanked on a plain green t-shirt and some jeans when I was lacing up my shoes the doctor walked back in. He handed me my bag and said cheerfully

"Well thank you for staying at hospital forks, we hope we don't see you soon"

I laughed and took the bag off him slinging it over my shoulder, when he said wistfully

"Carmen I'm afraid your truck was taken in, impounded and I'm sorry to say crushed so seeing as you have no ride home I would be willing to give you a ride with my son Emmett as well"

"My poor truck" I whimpered

I managed to compose myself and looked up into the doctors' honey coloured eyes and I murmured

"Sure okay thanks"

The door opened and the muscle lad from yesterday swaggered in a broad grin on his face. He took my bag off me and said

"Why hello, I'm Emmett nice to meet you and I'm guessing you're Carmen"

I smiled and said

"You guess right, nice to meet you"

He turned to Dr Cullen and then back to me

"Ready to go then"
I nodded and the three of us walked out of the room and out of the hospital into the parking lot. We came to a halt in front of a silver Aston martin vanquish. My mouth popped open and I managed to gasp

"Wow!"

Emmett chuckled and pushed me into the backseat while he climbed in the front passenger seat with Carlisle driving. The engine started and Emmett turned round in his seat to look at me.

"So how you doing now after the attempted suicide?" he asked casually

Dr Cullen smacked his hand against his sons head hard and Emmett winced rubbing his tender head, as I giggled.

"Dad what was that for"
"don't be so insensitive" he hissed

Emmett turned round and he rolled his eyes and said

"I'm sorry for my lack of sensitivity"
I snickered as he got another wallop round the head but this time Dr Cullen was laughing. The car stopped suddenly and we were parked up outside my house I sighed grabbing my bag and opened the car door. I shut the door and leaned in through Emmett's open window and said

"Thank you Dr Cullen for the ride"

He smiled and said

"My pleasure but please call me Carlisle"

"Thank you Carlisle"

I started to turn away when Carlisle yelled my name, I spun back round and he said softly

"Don't worry about school tomorrow everything will be fine"
I smiled encouraged by his promising words and turned to go into the house, listening to the engine rev and car roll away. As I got to the door I wondered what should I do, knock on the door or walk in. I took a deep breath and turned the door handle, the door pushed open wide and I heard the TV blaring from the living room. I shut the door lightly behind me and walked towards the living room Charliie was sat on the sofa bimbos head resting on his thigh while she thumbed through Victoria secret magazines. I coughed and both their heads spun to meet my gaze, bimbo snorted and turned her head away from me. Charliie on the other hand kept his gaze on me for a while before grunting

"Your rooms upstairs on the top floor with your own bathroom, don't come down till tea"

I nodded and tugged my bag up the stairs. When I got on the third floor I realised that this was my floor, I looked in the bathroom it was small but essential. It had a shower a toilet and a sink. I walked down the hallway till I came in front of my room; I opened up the door and smiled. I had a king sized bed and the huge window overlooked the front garden, drive way and forest. My room was simple but it was mine there was a bolt on my door so I could keep the other two out, a desk which I could set my laptop on, a wardrobe, chest of drawer, shelves and a bedside table. I set my bag down on the desk and started unpacking all my clothes and items I brought. An hour later I was finished and exhausted. I placed a picture of Renée on the bedside table next to my lamp and smiled at the picture. Her hair was vibrant pink which clashed horridly with her pale skin, her lips were pulled back to reveal a dazzling smile, she had a smatter of freckles over her cheekbones and nose. Her piercing green eyes cut my gaze and made me miss her even more. I turned away from her photo and grabbed my mobile, looking through my contacts I saw her name and number I hit call. The phone rang for what seemed millennium until finally her voicemail kicked in

"Hi this is Renée I'm not in at the mo so if you are nice and leave a message for me I may just ring ya back cheerio"
a sob welled in my throat and I coughed it away throwing my phone on the bed when Charliie yelled

"Carmen!"

I walked downstairs and he was in the kitchen a pizza box in his hand he handed it me without a word and I grabbed a can of coke taking them both upstairs as I was passing Charliie and bimbos room I heard her cry

"Charliie hurry up honey I need my massage"

I gagged and carried on walking, when I got in my room I wolfed down the pizza famished and polished it off with the coke. My clock read 11pm and I was dead beat but I managed to haul myself into the shower feeling clean and refreshed. When I was dry I pulled on my pyjamas, one of Renée's old t-shirts which was, long and baggy on me I scrambled into bed and closed my eyes dropping to sleep instantaneously. My alarm clock woke me up in the morning bleeping away continuously. I groaned and shut it off pulling back the covers, my body was instantly covered in goose bumps, and it was extremely freezing. My teeth chattered as I walked barefoot to the bathroom, my hair hung perfectly straight over my shoulders and I had a pillow crease across my cheek. I padded downstairs getting colder and Charliie was in the kitchen already dressed in his policeman's uniform. I grabbed a plate and placed two pop tarts on it, when Charliie said

"Those are Amelia's she likes to eat them"

"Huh yeah guess she has to keep her strength up somehow" I muttered sarcastically

All of a sudden Charliie's fist caught me in the eye painfully, I dropped the plate and it smashed to the floor. I looked up at Charliie through my good eye and he was breathing heavily, his hands still in fists. I crouched down picking up the shards of plate and throwing them away when I was finished I turned my back on Charliie and walked back upstairs to the comfort of my room. I peered in the bathroom mirror at my rapidly swelling eye and winced as I touched it, damn it was going to be a shiner hard to cover up. I sighed and brushed my teeth while trying to cover up the black eye. I gave up trying to conceal it, it just wasn't working, and I shuffled back into my room pondering on what to wear. I peered out of my window and saw it was raining. I pulled out a pair of well worn jeans and an emerald turtleneck jumper I shrugged them on and was pulling on my sneakers when I heard the front door slam. I gazed out of my window and saw Charliie climbing in his police cruiser I threw on my raincoat and shoved my woolly hat on my head, the one Renée made me. As I was walking downstairs bimbo Barbie's head popped out from her and Charliie's room and as she saw my eye she laughed while gasping out

"About bloody time he hit you, he should do it more often"
I gave her the finger which shut her up and I walked downstairs slinging my bag over my shoulder and grabbing my keys. I walked into the garage and picked out the cherry red Harley from the back and pushed it out to the driveway while shoving the helmet on my head. I jump started the bike and it growled from under me, I slammed the visor down and sped off away from the house and towards school. The school wasn't hard to find like any other school it was just off the freeway, when I got to school grounds I slowed down to the speed limit and dodged in and out between the cars. I had no idea where to park so I followed the other cars when I finally found a spot everything was quiet and everyone could hear the purr of my bike. I parked up kicking down the kick stand and looked round yep Everyone's eyes were on me curious, I threw off the helmet and stored it under the seat while sorting out my helmet hair. I pulled my raincoat closer making sure I didn't get too wet. I saw a sign that said reception and I followed it ignoring the stares from everyone else, before I got to the reception though there was a tap on my shoulder I spun round ready to give the seven layers of hell to whoever it was, but it was only Emmett. He smiled at first then his mouth dropped open and he gazed at my swollen discoloured eye

"Who gave you the shiner" he asked

I shrugged and then all of a sudden his family were behind him staring at me strangely, I started feeling uneasy when Edward almost growled

"Who hurt you?"

I stared at him confused and I saw Jasper put a restraint hand on his bicep.

"Who hurt you" he asked again

"no-one" I muttered

Edward reached out a hand and brought it up to my face my breath caught in my throat and I thought

Dear god he's going to touch my face

But before his hand came anywhere near me he dropped it back to his side staring at the petit girl with spiky black hair. Emmett looked round him and said

"Ah yes well this is our family you already know me and Edward so we have Jasper Rosalie and Alice"

The little one called Alice smiled broadly at me while the glorious looking Rosalie turned her nose up at me. Jasper went to stand in front of Edward. I smiled as best as I could and said

"Hi I'm Carmen"

Alice's smile got even bigger and she took a cautious step forward before placing a tiny peck on my cheek. I took a step back and raised my eyebrows and she laughed a breathtaking sound and I watched in amazement. Abruptly the bell rang and a flurry of people pushed pasted to get indoors, Emmett grabbed my elbow and led me indoors. He guided me to the reception the woman behind the counter was way too old and wrinkly but I swore she fluttered her eyelashes at Emmett and pressed her chest out so it strained painfully against her powder pink cashmere jumper. I turned my laughter into a cough and I heard Emmett chuckle quietly next to me and said in a soft voice to the receptionist

"My friend here is new and she needs a timetable, her name is Carmen Swan"

The receptionist glared at me and turned her attention away from Emmett to retrieve my timetable. When she cam back thrusting my timetable into my hands and started flirting with Emmett again, I snorted turned away and pulled an amused Emmett along behind me. When we got into the dining room I leant against the wall and looked at my timetable, Emmett snatched the timetable out of my hands and read it with a curious expression on his face

"Hmm it seems that me you and Edward share nearly all our lessons together"

I smiled and he said

"Well looks like we have music first so come on"

I trailed along behind Emmett and we stopped in front of a cherry red door with music notes drawn on in black felt tip. Emmett opened the door and pushed me in front facing the class and a teacher wearing a bright blue Hawaiian shirt, who smiled at me.

"Now, now, now this must be our new student then, Carmen Swan I presume"

I nodded and he stated

"Well then Miss Swan our school rules say that all coats and hats must be removed in a class room"
I nodded and pulled my hat off smoothing my hair flat and wrenched off my waterproof. All of a sudden the room went quiet and a few of the lads wolf whistled at me, I felt my cheeks flood with colour as everyone kept staring at me.

"It seems that Rosalie Cullen has some competition don't you think lads" the teacher said laughing

The lads in the room simultaneously nodded and I must have looked confused because Emmett spoke softly

"He says this because all the lads think you look smoking hot much better than Rosalie Cullen"

My cheeks burned and I ducked my head my hair covering my flaming face. I heard a chiming giggle and I shot my head up and saw Alice sat next to a blushing Edward. She indicated the empty seat next to her, and I sat down in it ignoring the stares I was getting and Emmett sat down on the other side of Edward who was still blushing and talking in a voice too low for me to hear. Alice turned to face me and asked

"So Carmen, do you play anything"

Before I could answer her Edward interrupted flashing me a brilliant smile and murmured

"She plays piano really well actually"

"Wow how long have you been playing for then" Alice asked me

I didn't even hear her question though my mind was still reeling from Edwards's smile he was still looking at me a smile tugging at his lips. His eyes burned into mine and everything else around me seemed to melt away, Edwards hand slid closer to mine on top of the table and my heart beat tripled. The tips of his fingers brushed against mine, they were unusually cold but it seemed to burn where he touched me. I stretched my hand out so my palm was over the back of his hand and my fingertips were at his wrist. I was about to trace the bluish veins in his wrist with my fingers when all of a sudden he fell back off his chair I peered around Alice to see Edward sprawled on the floor looking confused, while Emmett hooted with laughter. He got up and sat back down on his chair but this time he placed his hands on his lap instead of holding my hand. My palms and fingers still tingled from when he touched me and I felt my body shiver.

"So how long have you been playing" Alice asked again

"Since I was little"

"Who taught you" she asked

"Renée, my err mum" I said quietly

Alice placed her hand over mine and like Edwards it was freezing cold, just like Carlisle's and Emmett's hand. I smiled at her and she grinned deviously which made me laugh. The lessons flashed by quickly with various lads coming over and asking me if I needed any help. As the bell rang for break I got out of my chair storing my raincoat in my bag. Alice, Emmett and Edward left the room swiftly and I was getting a few looks off the lads I gulped nervously when the teacher signalled me over to his desk. I walked over making sure not to trip up and I perched on the end of the desk.

"Well Carmen seeing as this is a very advanced class you did remarkably well. Really, you have a talent."

"Thank you" I said softly

"and don't worry about the lads they'll soon calm down its just like flashing a shiny object at a child"
I laughed and the teacher dismissed me, walking down the corridor everyone stared at me the new girl and it made me feel even more self conscious. I had my face buried in the school map so I could try and find my next class, Spanish, when all of a sudden someone knocked me to the ground

"Ow" I grumbled

I got up rubbing my sore back-side when someone wrapped their hands round my waist pulling me closer. I looked up and saw a lad with sandy blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Now in the past this is the sort of guy that would have had me trembling at the knees but now I preferred reddish/brown hair coloured lads. The lad drew me even closer so I was pressed up against his chest and I was suffocating from his aftershave.

"Well hello miss hottie" the lad exclaimed

I was aware that everyone else was watching including Emmett Edward Alice and Rosalie.

"Do you mind getting off me" I asked politely

"Not just yet" he murmured in my ear

His hand was trailing slowly down my spine and I figured where it would end up. I raised my knee till it slammed into his crotch painfully, he let go of me quickly clutching his nuts tenderly. I picked my bag off the floor and sorted out my crumpled sweater.

"I did ask nicely" I told him

I marched round him and walked out into the field the cold wind whipping my hair all over and making my teeth chatter. I grabbed my map again and started looking for the Spanish room when the bell shrilled again. I darted inside ambling to next lesson; I found the right room and opened it nervously. Inside Alice was sat next to Emmett and Rosalie when I walked in the room everyone went quiet again. I took a spare seat at the back of the class and hunched my shoulders slightly against the chill creeping in from the window behind me. Halfway through the lesson Alice spun round and waggled her delicate fingers at me, I smiled back and Rosalie spun her head in my direction her face wrinkling up in disgust. By the end of the day I was exhausted and all I really wanted was to go home climb into a bubble bath and relax. Instead, as I was climbing onto my motorcycle fastening my helmet on Alice twirled in front of me and said while smiling.

"Carmen what are you doing tonight"

I pouted and said

"Not a lot I'm planning on complete relaxation"

She pointed at my blackened eye and raised her eyebrows I smirked and said

"Well try and have complete relaxation"

She giggled and said

"well how about you come to my house we can watch some films order some take out, be girly and relax so what do you think"

"Are you sure" I asked softly

She swatted me lightly around the head her hand smacking my helmet and nodded

"Okay I'll follow you home"
she smiled and raised her tiny fist in the air while twirling off to the other car. I waited till the car started to drive away and I revved up the engine and followed behind. Alice's head peeked up looking out of the back window of her Mercedes and she waved sticking her tiny tongue out at me. I increased the speed till I was almost touching the boot and Alice was laughing hysterically at me. I followed them down a gravel path in between the sides of a forest till we got to a beautiful giant house. I killed the engine and got off the bike pulling my hair out of my helmet and looking round the outside of the gorgeous house. Alice pulled on my arm and dragged me into the grand house as soon as we stood indoors I was hit by a blast of heat. Jasper smiled apologetically and said

"Sorry we kind of like it hot in here"
I smiled back just as shyly and said

"I don't mind this is my type of weather"

He cracked a grin and walked further into the house calling out

"Carlisle, Esme!"

They both came slowly out of the living room hand in hand smiling brightly.

"Well what a surprise how very nice to see you again Carmen and not in a hospital bed"

I laughed and Esme walked forward and planted a tender kiss on my cheek while smiling softly at me. A wave of emotions suddenly crashed over me she reminded me too much of Renée, I shut those feelings away quickly before they got a hold of me and I managed to say

"You have a really lovely home"

Esme smiled at me cheered by this compliment and I was sweltering in my wool sweater, I yanked it over my head grateful I put a thin blue vest on this morning underneath. Carlisle walked forward and looked at my healing scars, he stroked his finger over a puckered pink scar on my shoulder and I winced.

"Still tender" he asked

I nodded and he muttered

"well they are healing fine just give them a few more days and it should be back to normal"
I nodded and Alice made a grab at my arm but before she cold do that Edward grabbed my hand and whirled me round. His hand this time was warmer not the same heat as mine but it was a wonderful texture against my hand like silk. I was faced in front of a huge piano which was beautiful; Edward pulled me along behind him and sat me down on the cushioned stool beside him. He nodded toward the piano keys and placed them on top of them and I started to play a new song I composed last night about Edward.

"if I don't say this now I will surely break, as I'm leaving the one I want to take, forgive the urgency but hurry up and wake, my heart is starting to separate, ohhh oh, ohhh oh, be my baby ohhhhhhhh oh. Ohhh oh, ohhh oh, be my baby I'll look after you. Their now steady love, so few come and on go. Will you want to be the one I'll always know, when I'm losing my control and the city spins around, you're the only one who knows to slow it down Ohhh oh, ohhh oh be my baby, ohhhhhhhh oh. Ohhh oh, ohhh oh be my baby I'll look after you and I'll look after you. If ever they worked it out my loves still leans into me, this most assuredly counts he says most assuredly. Ohhh oh, ohhh oh be my baby, ill look after you, after you. Ohhh oh, ohhh oh be my baby ohhhhhhhh oh. It's always high but never whole and you've become to feel like home. Yeah, yeah what's mine is yours to leave or take, what's mine is yours to make your own. Ohhh oh, ohhh oh be my baby, ohhhhhhhh oh. Ohhh oh, ohhh oh be my baby, ohhh oh. Ohhh oh, ohhh oh be my baby, ohhhhhhhh oh. Ohhh oh, ohhh oh, be my baby, ohhhhhhhh oh."

The song came to a close, when the tears started. A fat tear rolled down my hot cheek and I blinked copiously to try and stop the tear flow but I wasn't succeeding. Out of the corner of my eye Edward got a white handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed under my eyes and wiped the tear track running down the side of my face softly. I looked at him and murmured

"Sorry"

"It reminded you of your mum didn't it" he guessed

I nodded and he asked

"Is it about her, did she write this"

I shook my heard and muttered suddenly embarrassed

"I wrote it last night, it's not about her it's err about someone else"

I heard Alice behind me understand what I meant and she gasped

"Ahhh"

I watched Edward eyes turn to honey and he stroked the back of my hand softly with his thumb before placing his hands on the keys and crooning a song too perfect for words.

"And I'd give up forever to touch you 'cause I know that you feel me so now you're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be and I don't want to go home right now. And all I can taste is the moment, and all I can breathe is your life, and sooner or later its over and I don't want to miss you tonight. And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am. And you can't fight the tears that aint coming, all the moment of truth in your lies. When everything feels like the movies, yeah you bleed just to know you're alive. And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am. And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am. And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am. I just want you to know who I am. I just want you to know who I am. I just want you to know who I am"

I grinned when he stopped and I guessed

"Let me see a girl you dated, you thought she was special decided to write a song about her. And about how you want her to see the real you not the mask behind. That you, don't care what others think; you love her and will never stop."
His mouth dropped open and I heard Esme laugh at his bemused expression

"Am I right" I asked

He nodded and I murmured softly

"Lucky girl"

His head snapped to mine in a flash and his eyes smoldered. Quickly his hand was against my check his index finger running along my cheekbone, without realizing I leaned forward his whole palm now cradling my cheek and I rested my head on his shoulder sighing lightly. His body turned to unresponsive stone beneath me and I breathed against his snow-white throat

"Edward"

His hands twitched by my sides and I had the urge to cuddle myself further into his shoulder when I was pulled back off the chair by Alice and she growled

"We are meant to be relaxing"
"I was relaxed" I pointed out

I heard Edward groan lightly and I itched to turn round and see what his face was like but Alice dragged me all the way upstairs. She led me along a corridor with doors located all over. She pointed to a door with carved patterns in and said

"My room"

She opened the door and I felt my mouth drop open. Jasper was sat on the bed in a pair of boxer shorts and nothing else. Alice squeaked and Jasper shot off the bed like a bullet from a gun. Alice spun round to me and said in a high pitch voice

"Okay our family are weird you know none of us are related so this is okay me and Jasper are going out and Rosalie and Emmett are together too."
I held her shoulders steady and said

"Whoa hold your breath before you pass out its seriously okay, I don't care that you are together I think it's sweet when you fall in love no matter who with."

She let out a breath and I said timidly

"Is Edward with anyone?"

She laughed out loud and shook her head while shaking with silent laughter and pulled me into her room and stood me in front of her mirror. Jasper walked out the bathroom fully clothed and red faced, he left the room and Alice pulled my vest over my head. I squeaked as she pulled down my jeans too while I wrapped my arms round my body I asked

"What the hell are you doing?"

She waved her hand through the air and covered my eyes with a silk scarf. I hung my arms limply by my side as she yanked things over me while murmuring opinions under her breath. When she pulled the scarf off my eyes I sucked in a deep breath.

"What on earth have you dressed me in?" I asked

She grinned brightly and answered

"We are all going to the park tonight we always do at the beginning of each term and what not so I thought it would be nice if you came with us"

I nodded grinning and she smiled with me. I looked in the mirror at my transformation and shook my head not believing what I could see. She had dressed me in a tight green short dress the skirt was flared out like a tutu while the top was a tight corset with darker green stitching. She stepped me into some black strappy heels and tied the ribbon round my ankle delicately. I was about to step out of her room when she sprayed me in a gorgeous scent. I walked down the stairs carefully in the new heels and watched the sun set outdoors. As I got downstairs Edward was still sat on the piano stool but he had changed into different clothes. He was wearing a dark green polo, with dark blue jeans and sneakers. As I got in view of him, he shot up off the stool and looked at me his eyes roaming all over. He turned me round slowly so my back was towards him and he coiled my hair up into a bun with a quiff fringe. I was certain I felt his lips graze the back of my neck but he spun me round before I could be certain.

"You look nice" he said unsteadily

"You too"
he smiled at me and Alice pulled me along outside and shoved me into a beaten up old truck I sat by the window and gazed out towards the stars. After about twenty minutes we stopped driving we were at the edge of a trail, and I was in heels. I climbed out of the car and everyone started towards the trail, I glanced down nervously at my killer shoes and balked. Emmett spun round and stared at me curiously.

"Err I don't think I'm going on the trail in these shoes" I admitted

He laughed and scooped me up onto his shoulders; I squealed and clutched his head so I didn't fall off.

"What the hell are you doing put me down you'll snap your back" I yelled

"puh-lease" was all he said

Through the trail it was pitch black and I could hardly see but as we got further into at the end I could see some twinkling and bright orange fire balls. We hurried quickly to the edge and when we got to the clearing I held my breath it was just so, beautiful. All over there were hundreds or fireflies just happily flying all over while the sky was clear with the stars looking down on us, I reached a hand up as a firefly grazed past it.

"Beautiful" I whispered

While Emmett was pulling me down off the shoulders he whispered quietly in my ear

"I don't think Edward would say that with you here"

I felt my eyes widen and my body shiver, Emmett grinned at me and set me off my feet while he walked over to Rosalie. Alice and Edward were having a rock paper scissors game, Emmett and Rosalie were holding hands and walking round. Carlisle and Esme were sat in the grass staring into each others eyes as if they could see every secret, every desire. Jasper came over to me a smile on his face and he held his arm out for me to link. I did and he led me round the little meadow while making small talk

"So what do you think of the high school" he asked

I wrinkled my nose and said

"Personally I don't like it but who enjoys school"
"did you make any other friends"

"There was one kid Mike Newton he seemed friendly, not like the rest of the lads whose goal was to get in my pants"

I frowned while Jasper chuckled, we stopped by a willow tree and I spotted a white lily up on top.

"My favorite flower" I whispered to myself

Jasper swung me up in the air holding onto my waist tightly. I picked the lily off the branch and I was lowered down. While I was tucking the lily behind my ear I heard a snapping noise and a grunt I looked up and saw a man with coal black hair and crimson colored eyes I cringed away from him in horror but he just matched my steps. Jasper was nowhere to be seen and I gulped in fear. Red eye man reached a hand out as though he was going to stroke my face tenderly, but instead he grabbed my jaw sharply lifting me off the ground.

"Where are the freaks" the man hissed in my face

I gritted my teeth together and when he let go of my jaw slightly so I could talk I spat at him, my spit running down his cheek. He set me down on my feet with a broad grin and my stomach flipped nervously. His hand shot out so quickly striking me hard around the cheek, so hard that I fell to the ground in a heap. Sharp nails dug in my scalp as he picked me up by my hair; his face was right in front of mine as he snarled

"Where are the Cullen's, tell me where they are now"

He said Cullen's with such malice I knew something was wrong, he wasn't going to yell at them for breaking a gate he was up to something dangerous. I spluttered slightly but I managed to whisper

"Bite me"

I gave him a cocky smile but the emotions across his face had changed. Instead of being angry his eyes had softened and his mouth was moving closer to me.

"As you wish" he whispered

He kissed me roughly on the mouth and I felt his teeth pierce my bottom lip painfully. He held my head tightly in his grip so I couldn't move away. Abruptly his face was torn from mine I fell forward hitting the ground with a soft thump, my lip was burning and I was in agony. Someone flipped me over and in the distance I could hear sickening snapping and crunching noises. I looked up and found Alice staring down at me her face anxious.

"Carmen are you okay"
I tried to speak but my lip was too painful, I managed a whimper and she stroked my face softly soothing me. The burning intensified in my lip and I clutched tighter onto Alice

"Carmen" she asked puzzled

I managed a scream and the pain started to spread

"I'm burning, I'm burning" I screeched

Alice pulled back my bottom lip and blood burst all over her hands. She recoiled back and I carried on screaming

"Carlisle" she yelled anxiously

In a flash Carlisle was in front of me grimacing he held my bottom lip out painfully and I tried to wrench myself out of his grip.

"Carmen, shush, shush I need you to stop moving and screaming so I can find out what happened okay"
I wriggled to a stop not making a sound and Carlisle muttered

"He bit you"
I nodded and his jaw clenched his nostrils flaring

"Carmen this is important he didn't put anything into your mouth apart from his mouth"

I shook my head and he breathed a sigh of relief he ran his thumb over the cut softly and I felt the pain subsiding he let go of me and I heaved myself up unsteadily my surroundings spun round me and I felt the ground face me Jasper grabbed me quickly pulling me to his side securely

"Whoa head rush" I muttered

He chuckled and held me loosely by his side ready to catch me if I fell again; I staggered towards the car and slumped in the passenger seat resting my throbbing head against the dashboard. Light fingers traced across my cheekbone and I opened my eyes to see a concerned Esme looking down at me.

"Did he hit you" she asked

I nodded and her hand curved fitting my cheekbone lightly, when we got back to the house Alice helped me in setting me down on the sofa while Carlisle inspected my head and lip when I was all clear I stood up and whispered

"I think I'm going to go home"

Alice nodded sympathetically and I heard Edward mutter under his breath

"Good"
I spun round making my head spin but I said outraged

"Where the hell do you get off if you didn't want me here in the first place all you had to do was say"

He squared his shoulders to me seeming more terrifying that ever and he said

"Who said I wanted you here"

I spluttered at that and then realized how stupid I was

"I can't believe I thought that you and that I gawd I've been so stupid" I mumbled

"You can say that again"

I flashed my eyes up to Edwards and hissed

"I think you made my intellect very clear"

His jaw grew harder and I asked

"Tell me one thing then if you didn't want me here then why did you comfort me act like you cared hug me"

He seemed as though he was struggling for words but he burst out

"Pity that's why I pitied you"

Pity I had, had enough of that for one lifetime not to mention hundreds of them I turned my back away from him and said to a silent Carlisle and Esme

"Thank you for having me round it was really kind of you"

Esme nodded while Carlisle murmured

"No problem"
I grabbed my jumper and tugged it over my head and said to Alice

"I'll wash the clothes and give them you tomorrow"
"that's it run away again" Edward snarled

I whirled round and this time he was closer to me his violent tone rolling off him and striking me.

"what the hell are you going on about now"
"you run away from everything that hurts you the way you ran away from us, school, Renée"

I glared up at him and said in a cold voice

"Don't you ever talk about Renée Ever?"

I felt my emotions cut off from me and I prodded him hard in the chest

"And what would you know about problems you have the perfect home, family, lifestyle you have everything you ever need you don't have to deal with losing the closest thing to you, your best friend, your mum. You don't have to worry about going back to the father who abused you with his friends or have to worry about getting more marks off him."

I lifted up the skirt to show him the dark scar running down my thigh his mouth opened slightly and I said

"I don't want your pity I don't even want your friendship, from now on don't talk to me"

I turned my back on him and walked out of the house closing the door behind me I got off the porch when I heard the door open again I spun round and Emmett and Rosalie were stood there

"Do you want a ride" Emmett asked

I shook my head

"No thanks I need the air"
"do you want me to walk you back" he asked

I shook my head and said

"I'll be fine thank you anyway"
he nodded and turned indoors Rosalie following when I got away from the house pulled the shoes off and walked barefoot. A car pulled up beside me and I was about to yell at the driver when the window opened and Mike Newton peered at me

"Looking for a ride pretty lady" he drawled in a southern accent

I couldn't help but smile as I climbed into the comfort of his car, he turned the heat up for me and placed his hoodie over my head it was huge but warm. Gratified I turned to him and whispered

"Thank you"

He placed his hand over mine and said

"Rough night"
"you could say that"

"Want to talk about it"

I shook my head and he placed his hand back on the wheel

"So where to"

"Take the next left and then the second right it's my street"
he nodded and drove in silence. As he parked up in front of my house the lights were on and I gulped charliie was going to have a fit and I was going to pay for it. I started to take Mike's hoodie off but he held my hands still and said

"Keep it for now you can give it me back tomorrow"

"Thank you" I whispered again

He smiled at me and noticed charliie glaring at me from the window I gulped and mike whispered

"go get him tiger"
I grabbed my shoes and opened the door a cold breeze drifting in I ran to the front door and opened it I spun round and waved at mike who was pulling away from the curb. I stepped indoors and shut the door behind me softly hoping I could race upstairs and lock my door before charliie could get me, but no such luck. As soon as the door was shut Charliie's hands closed round my throat as he pinned me to the wall.

"Where the hell have you been" he demanded

"Out" I whispered

"Why the hell didn't you let me know?"

"Like you would have cared" I told him

He stared at me for a moment before dropping me to the ground; I took a deep gulp of air and climbed off the floor. Charliie walked out of the room and I climbed sluggishly up the stairs and climbed into bed fully dressed. When I woke up the next morning there was a rattling against my window I sat bolt upright and shrugged the dress off and inspected the window. Mike was at the bottom of the garden throwing rocks when he saw me dressed in my underwear the stones fell out of his hands and his mouth dropped open. Ignoring his reaction I opened the window and leaned out

"What the hell do you want Newton?"

He grinned brightly at me and yelled

"Well I was going to offer you a lift to school so come on and get dressed"

"Do you mind if I grab a quick shower you're welcome to come in and wait?"

He nodded and I yelled

"Doors open"

I darted into the bathroom and hopped into the shower. When I emerged out of the bathroom I heard Mike whistling downstairs and I hollered

"I'll be ten minutes I just need to grab some clothes"

Looking out of the window and feeling the warm breeze I pulled on a white vest which landed somewhere near my belly button, and shrugged on a pair of my slouchiest jeans and sneakers. I grabbed my bag and purple bottle cardigan while running out of my room. When I got downstairs Mike was looking through the vast varieties of books in my small room which was my library. I ran my fingers through my sopping wet hair curling the ends slightly and said to Mike

"Lets go"
I followed him to the car locking the door behind me. As we started to drive to school I realized Mike drove, speedily.

"Do you like driving like a maniac" I muttered

He laughed and tuned the radio to a rock station

"Feeling better now" he asked me after a while

I shrugged and he drove slowly into the school parking lot, when he picked an appropriate parking spot I jumped out of the car hearing the bell ring. I started to run towards the schools entrance and I shouted to him over my shoulder

"thanks for the ride"
the hallways were deserted as I raced to my science lesson, when I finally found the right room I opened the door timidly and saw a kind round face smile at me

"ah miss swan nice to finally meet you I'm Mr. banner and will be your science teacher for the rest of your time here so welcome and lets see the only available seat is next to Edward Cullen so if you'd like to sit down"

"Err sure" I murmured

I dragged my feet forward to where Edward was sat his gaze in an opposite direction. When I slumped into my seat Mr. Banner announced cheerfully

"Right class I shall be back in about fifteen minutes I have to go start another class and find the materials for our surprise lesson"

He winked and walked off just as the door opened, Mike walked in saying hi to some people then he saw me and strolled over. He rested his elbows on my lab table and grinned

"You didn't give me chance to talk to you before you just hopped out of the car and ran off"

I smiled at him and said

"I didn't want to be late"
he returned the smile

"Anyway there was something I want to ask you about"
"shoot" I told him

"I just wondered what that tattoo was of?"

I felt myself blush and I muttered

"Ah you saw that did you"
"well what did you expect you open the window in your underwear I couldn't help but scope a glance"

I hit him lightly round the head and said

"It's a picture of a fire lily"

His eyebrows raised and I said

"It's my favorite flower"

I could hear Mr. Banner coming back through and Mike said in a rush

"Oh another thing I wanted to know if you'd come sit with me at dinner"
I pondered it for a moment and finally said

"Okay then"
he went to sit in his chair and I grabbed my notepad and pen from my bag taking notes from Mr. banner when he got out some equipment from a box and grinned broadly

"working in pairs on your lab table work out what each of these chemicals are don't forget safety measures"
I got out of my chair and grabbed two pairs of safety glasses and handed one over to Edward. He walked to the front of the class and grabbed the equipment and set it up. He slammed a beaker down on the table making cracks run up the side of it I tutted under my breath when Edward grabbed me under my armpit and dragged me out of the room. Mr. Banner didn't pay attention to what was happening all he did was say

"Nice to meet you miss swan"
Edward pulled me out to the parking lot and dragged me over to his car and threw me in the passenger seat, he climbed in the drivers seat locking the doors and started the engine

"Let me the hell out now" I bawled at him

He ignored me and sped off down the streets hitting eighty miles per hour.

"What the hell is going on with you and Newton I thought you didn't like anyone but you open the door to him in your underwear" he asked angrily

"And this has what to do with you and I opened my window not door" I grumbled

His hands drew tighter round the steering wheel and he pressed down on the accelerator more I buckled up and said

"Can you at least slow down a little?"

He snorted at me and asked

"So are you going to go out with Newton then"
I turned to glare at him while I hissed

"Yes I will and it has absolutely nothing to do with you"

He surprised me growling sharply and turned the corner harshly the tires squealing when all of a sudden my scream mingled with them. A truck slammed into the driver's side throwing Edward out of the car and a mile down the road, the sound of the car metal crunching up hurt my ears and I was still spinning shards of glass hitting me in the head. I finally crashed into the Cliffside my body was thrown forward and I slammed my head against the dashboard making dark spots obscure my eyesight. I closed my eyes willing the spinning to stop inside my head when all of a sudden I could smell gasoline and smoke. My eyes popped open wide and fearful, the car was going to set on fire with me in it. I gulped not wanting to die trapped while being burnt alive, I tugged on my seatbelt but it wouldn't come undone and I was wedged in-between the frame of the car. I tugged my arm up and almost screeched in pain my arm was jammed in-between the seat and he door. I looked behind me and saw Edward as still as stone lying in the middle of the tarmac, the burning smell strengthened and I started to tug more forcefully on my arm and seatbelt but nothing was happening. I started to panic and had no idea what to do I jumped up and down in my seat making my body ache all over but I didn't want to die. Smoke started to fill the car making my eyes water and I screamed out

"Edward! Edward! Get up please Edward get up Edward!"

I looked behind and saw him start to twitch, the car started to feel like the inside of an oven and I was the cake stuck inside.

"Edward!" I screeched

This time he got up to his knees looking round confused, when he saw the car and me trapped inside he gritted his jaw and ran forward. Suddenly his face popped up from the driver's window and he yanked it open and crawled over to me tearing the seatbelt off me, he started to tug at me and I squealed in pain

"What's wrong" he asked worried

"My arm it's trapped between the chair and door"

He groaned and with his foot pushed the passenger door out so I could free my arm, I gaped at him in wonder at his strength but he scooped me into his arms and pulled me out of the car and running away. Behind him I heard the car burn up and all the windows smash, with my face tucked in Edwards throat he asked me

"Carmen, are you okay where do you hurt"

I realized we had stopped running and I managed to whisper

"My arm, my head, my legs, my tummy"

He ran his fingers down my mutated arm softly and I whimpered in pain

"Its okay we'll get you to Carlisle he will sort you out"

I nodded ducking my head back into his throat and he started to run again to the hospital. After what seemed a few seconds but must have been hours we ended up at the entrance of the hospital, the bright fluorescent lights made my eyes burn and I pressed my face further into Edwards shoulder. Rapidly, we were in Carlisle's office and the lights were softer in here. I heard Carlisle gasp and I ducked my head out from Edwards shoulder.

"Dear god what happened?" he asked

"A lorry hit us" Edward murmured while looking at me

Carlisle made a move to pull me out of Edwards's arms and I choked a sob while clutching onto his neck with my good arm even tighter. Edward secured me to his chest closely and whispered in my ear

"don't worry I'm going to be here for you I wont leave"
I nodded against his cheek and carried me out of the room and onto a ward he laid me down softly on a bed and held my good hand while Carlisle examined my mutilated arm

"Now Carmen I have some bad news and some really bad news" he said ruefully

He perched on the edge of my bed and I muttered

"Bad news"

"Bad news is your arm is dislocated, really bad news is I have to set it right but problem is you can't have any anesthetic I'm afraid"

I nodded tightening my jaw and mumbled

"Just do it"
"okay Edward I need you to sit behind her and hold her up against your chest so I can angle it properly"

Edward lifted me off the bed lightly and pulled me against his chest holding my hand in his softly.

"okay Carmen take a really deep breath after three, one two three"
I sucked in a deep breath and feel the excruciating pain run up into my shoulder blade my nails bit into Edwards palm but he didn't pull away thankfully when my arm was in place Carlisle said softly

"Carmen I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to strip down to your underwear so I can make sure there are no other injuries Edward can wait outside"
"no" I yelped

Edward smoothed my hair down and whispered

"If you don't want me to go, I wont"
"stay" I said softly

He nodded and pulled me off the bed delicately

"I'll wait outside tell me when you are ready" Dr Cullen said before leaving and securing the curtains round us.

I tried pulling off my vest but it wasn't working I turned to Edward and grimaced

"I need your help getting my clothes off"
a smile tugged at his lips but he didn't laugh at me, he pulled my vest off carefully and helped me peel off my jeans when I heard him gasp. His hand shot out and held my waist securely while he scrutinized all the tiny scars

"How, how did you get them" he said slowly

I curled my good hand into his thick hair and spoke softly

"You know when I said to you that Charliie used to hurt me with his friends well this is what I got when I said no and when I didn't do as they asked"

I figured that Edward would pull away repulsed but he shocked me by leaning forward and pressing his lips briefly to each little scar. I held my breath as his lips left little damp patches on my skin then the curtain opened and Alice walked in just as Edward was kissing my tattoo on my hip underneath my panties. Alice's jaw locked and Edward shot up looking embarrassed

"I have it from here" she snapped

Edward pulled away and I pouted not wanting him to leave, he touched my pout with the tip of his finger and whispered

"I'll see you later"
he left the room while Alice gave him the evils and as soon as he was gone, face first she fell onto the bed groaning.

"Alice" I asked hesitantly

"You and Edward should choose whether you want to be all flirty, flirty or I hate you and leave me alone"
she looked up then and said

"Gawd you look like hell"
"a car crash can do that to you" I shrugged

She grinned at me before asking deadly serious

"Do you fancy Edward"
I ducked my head, nodding while my cheeks flamed. When I looked back up her face had gone deathly white and her eyes looked as though they were haunted. I shook her with my good arm slightly and she flinched away from me getting closer towards the curtains

"Alice" I asked

"I err have a few things to do ask Carlisle to drop you off at our house when his shift is over"
she fled from the room a confused expression on her face when Carlisle walked back in.

"Well I finish in about 15 minutes so I shall make you my last patient and then I can get you back to mine okay" he said

I nodded and he flashed his light into my eyes making my pupils contract. He pulled my hair back from my hairline and I winced as he prodded a tender spot

"Hmm looks like you will have some tenderness there for a while and quite a bruise too I should imagine"

He analyzed the rest of my body not mentioning the rest of my scars and he handed me a long hospital gown which thankfully closed at the back.

"Come on lets get you back so Alice can change you into something more appropriate and you can stay the night if you'd like"

"I'd like that" I said politely

He smiled and took my arm helping me to his car. I climbed in and Carlisle helped me buckle up and started the engine.

"Carmen, I know this is a personal question but I'd like to ask you something"

I nodded and he carried on

"Well its just something I don't know whether I'm being pushy or anything but I wanted to know if well if you liked Edward in more of a friend way"

My cheeks burned the same way they did when Alice asked.

"Yes" I said softly

Carlisle's lips went into a grim line but he didn't say anything else. He carried on driving till we got to his driveway when he stopped, gripping the steering wheel hard. I listened carefully and could hear raised angry voices coming from inside which sounded like Edward and Alice. All of a sudden the front door slammed open and in a flash Rosalie was yanking me out of the car painfully, she gripped the back of my neck agonizingly and my face screwed up in pain. Carlisle was stood in front of me his hands held up like he was trying to keep the peace.

"Rosalie" he warned

Her nails scarped the back of my neck painfully and I whimpered. The door opened again and Edward ran out Alice shortly behind him and came to a halt next to Carlisle. Edwards face was full of fury and Alice's was grim.

"Rose, let her go it's not her fault"

Rosalie shook her head sharply while snarling

"No its Edwards stupid fault for making her like him now she's going to mess things up I have to do this"

Emmett walked out looking exhausted when he saw Rosalie with a death grip round my neck his face was rapidly alert. He walked slowly over to us till he was in front of me but gazing at Rosalie.

"Honey, let her go"

"No I cant Emmett she is going to destroy everything we have ever built if I let her go, she has to die" she whispered

Emmett shook his head and took my chin in his hand turning my face towards Rosalie's

"Rose, look at her she doesn't deserve it, she fell in love hon and when have we ever hurt someone for falling in love."

Her grip loosed for a brief second but then she was grasping me tighter than before

"I cant Emmett, I don't want to go back to living as we used to do, I like this now, and she's spoiling it for me" she winged

Emmett looked at me sadly and whispered

"you kill her, you kill Edward, hurt Alice, Jasper will be hurt because of Alice's hurt, Esme would be upset because you hurt them, Carlisle would be unhappy for Esme's pain and me I don't know whether I would be able to look at you again if you kill her. Think Rose you aren't just killing her to save your life, you kill her, and you ruin the rest of our lives."

Emmett walked back over to Edward looking defeated; Rosalie grabbed my hair and said

"I need time to think and she has to come with me"

Edwards face was livid but Alice looked at peace

"Remember what I said" Emmett told her sadly

Rosalie dragged me along to the forest and after walking for a while she sat me on the ground while she placed herself opposite me, scrutinizing me.

"You love Edward" she stated simply

I nodded afraid my voice would give away the fear I felt

"But by loving him you are going to end up ruining your life"

I tilted my head confused my hear words and she smiled sadly bowing her head

"It isn't my place to tell you, but for your sake you don't want to live a life like us with Edward trust me"

She looked up at me and she whispered

"I won't kill you now because of Emmett but if it comes down to it, I will not just for me and the others but for you too"

I nodded just wanting to get away she helped me up and guided me back to the house everyone was still in the driveway looking as though they hadn't moved. Edward moved the quickest he shot up straight glaring at Rosalie but she held her palms up.

"I'm not going to kill her" she said calmly

She pushed me forward into Carlisle's arms and he pulled me inside Esme was waiting in the kitchen with a bowl and some savlon. Carlisle sat me down on a stool while Esme sorted out the nail marks in the back of my neck. When she was finished she asked me

"Are you okay"

I nodded and said

"I can't stay for long I really should get back to Charliie or else I'll be in trouble"

Esme nodded smiling slightly and handed me a plain blue cotton dress, she helped me slip it on and Edward walked into the kitchen casually.

"Let me give you a ride home" he said

I nodded and followed him out to the garage; I climbed in his silver BMW silently. He started the engine and rolled away from his house keeping to the speed limit for once. The drive was quick to my house and he cut the engine as he stopped outside the house.

"Carmen" he said softly

I turned to face him and his eyes were cold and dark.

"I don't think we should be friends" he said

My mouth opened slightly and I was about to argue when he cut through me

"No don't argue I'm not a good friend for you, or for anything more than a friend. I'm sorry I have to do it this way but we shouldn't talk to each other or even acknowledge each other. Tomorrow Mike Newton is going to ask you out tomorrow and you should say yes he likes you and I know deep down you like him so if I were you, you should date him and be happy okay just ignore me and my family I don't want you to talk to the rest of them either"

He stopped talking and I said angrily

"What if they want to talk to me?"

He shook his head and said

"They wont trust me, don't make me have to hate you, I just want you to ignore us the way we will ignore you, just pretend we aren't there"

I thrust my chin up to the air and hissed

"fine then"
I climbed out of the car not wincing when I tugged my arm painfully and slammed his car door shut making the windows rattle. I stalked up the porch stairs and heard his car drive away. I opened the door ready for the wrath that faced me, but what I saw I wasn't prepared for. I walked into the living room and there was blood splattered all over the walls and sofas my eyes widened then I heard a weak yell of pain. I ran into the kitchen to see big pools of blood on the floor, I took a deep breath as I peaked round the corner to see Charliie stood over Amelia a bloody knife in his hand.

"Who's the big man now huh?"

He swiped the blood encrusted knife down and I head another soft moan, I looked down Alicia was sprawled out on the tiled floor blood leaking out of her rapidly he skin pale and her eyes wide and fearful. He raised the knife again, but this time pointed the blade downwards so it would plunge straight into her. I started to run towards him slipping on the blood I jumped on his back and slammed my elbow into the side of his throat. The knife dropped to the floor with a clatter and Charliie slammed me back into the glass cabinets sending glass flying everywhere. I fell onto the floor with him some of the larger shards of glass piercing my skin. In a flash Charliie was scrambling on the floor retrieving his knife he spun round swing the blade with him and it caught my collarbone making me gasp in pain. I didn't have time to bother with the pain, and the blood on my chest because Charliie was going to jump on me stabbing me with the knife. I did a backwards roly-poly and ran out of the room Charliie thundering behind me, I grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket and called 999 and slipped the phone back into my pocket recording what was happening. I got to the cupboard under the stairs and hid in it locking the door from the inside, Charliie slammed into it making the joints groan.

"That's it hide, just like Renée did when I chased her round the house with a knife."

My heart slammed against my rib cage and blood roared round my ears.

"You did what!" I yelled

"that's it I killed your mother, she was just like you a fighter but still hid like you trapped and alone, no-one even presumed I could of done it even though I was away that weekend in phoenix all I had to do was drive to your house and luckily you were out I knocked on the door and she opened it without realizing as soon as she saw me and the knife she ran screaming"
I grabbed the shelf for support as he carried on yelling through the door

"It was a pitiful murder not much fight in her, but it was good to hear her screams of torture feeling her body writhe beneath me listening to her heart slowly stop, pure pleasure"

As I was gripping the shelf I felt Charliie's gun I switched the security clasp off and checked the magazine it was full. Charliie slammed into the door again bellowing

"Get out of there now before I come in and make you sorry, I'm going to cut you up the way I cut up Renée the way I cut up Amelia before you interrupted"

I took a deep breath holding the gun in my hand the way I was taught to and poised my finger on the trigger and kicked the door open Charliie swung the blade up ready to slash it down until he saw the gun in my hands. He faltered for a moment before grinning cockily

"Oh going to shoot me are you, well missy I'm afraid to tell you there are no bullets in the gun"
"really" I said walking forwards

He moved a step back the knife still gripped tightly in his hand

"And what happens when you shoot me you will just get sent to jail"
"you think so" I asked keeping the gun level with his face

He gulped nervously and said

"You don't even know how to shoot one of those things"
I pointed the gun in-between his feet and pulled the trigger slowly. The room erupted in a loud bang and Charliie jumped back, I leveled the gun back up to his face and he had beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Nervous Charliie lost your big macho man act"
the knife shook in his unsteady hands and with an enraged yell, he lunged forward knife held high. I aimed the gun at his shoulder and pulled the trigger for the second time, there was another loud bang and Charliie fell backwards screaming, dropping his knife so he could clutch at his bleeding shoulder. I kept the gun aimed at his writhing body till the door opened and I could hear sirens I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder and a rough voice say close to my ear.

"Put the gun down miss, just give it to me okay"
I faltered for a second but let it slip out of my fingers and into the persons open hands. Police and paramedics entered the room and darted off all over while they handcuffed Charliie. I was steered out of the room and placed in a police cruiser and driven down to the station. During the ride over there it gave me time to reflect everything, I now had no-one left, my mother was killed by father, and I shot my father unfortunately not killing him just wounding him as I was told by one of the police officers. When I got to the station I was placed in a plain room and sat in a hard vinyl chair while there was a two way mirror across from me. I knew people were watching me behind it but I didn't care, I had a gash running across my collarbone and a shard of glass stuck behind my ear following my hairline. I looked a mess covered in blood and sweat. The door opened and a large big built man walked in followed by a smaller more chubby man, the big one was the bad cop while the fatter one was the good cop. They sat down across from me and the fat one said

"I'm detective brown and this is detective smith now what's your name"
I kept quiet not giving them any information. Detective smith started to get angry his neck went a deep purple and a vein in his temple started thumping away. He leant over the table to me and asked

"Can you tell us what happened"
I kept my mouth shut again and he jumped up the chair clattering to the ground as he towered over me thundering

"why are you staying silent we only want to know what happened and why one of our officers is at the hospital being treated for a gun wound which you gave him"
my mouth stayed shut and the fat one said

"John why don't you go outside and get a drink or something I can handle it"
'john' stormed out of the room slamming the door shut behind him and detective brown said

"That looks like a nasty cut does it hurt"
I ignored him and stared at the cracks up in the ceiling, he pulled out a phone and said into it

"hi its detective brown down at the police station, sorry to wake you up at this time I know its late but there's been an incident and well I need you down here please okay then thanks"
he cut the person on the phone off and folded his hands together waiting patiently. Twenty minutes later the door opened again and I figured bad cop was back for round two but instead Carlisle Cullen walked in smiling. Detective brown jumped up and shook his hand while murmuring

"Thanks for coming in I'll give you some time"
good cop walked out of the room and Carlisle brought a chair round to sit next to me while he laid a small black bag on the metal table. He stared at me for a while before saying

"We meet up too often Carmen"
I shrugged pulling at the cut on my collarbone and Carlisle sighed and opened up his bag while saying

"I heard you used a gun to shoot Charliie"
I nodded and he took out a needle and some stitch thread

"And that Amelia his fiancée was found in the kitchen covered in blood barely alive"

I remembered Amelia and I whispered hoarsely

"Is she okay"
Carlisle looked me in the eyes and said softly

"She died on the way to hospital the wounds she received hit her main arteries and she lost too much blood"

"I tried" I mumbled

Carlisle stopped what he was doing and looked up at me

"Tried what" he asked

"I tried to help her"

Carlisle grabbed the needle and thread and started to sow up the wound across my collar bone while murmuring

"after I have you sorted out you can come back to our house while Esme will go back to your house and clean it up for you"
"but the police" I whispered

"Don't worry I'll talk to them they can't keep you here your only a minor and they don't have enough evidence on you, they had the call recorded the whole time they heard Charliie's confession to your mothers murder"
I nodded and he pulled the glass out from behind my ear and started stitching that up too. When he had finished cleaning me up he handed me a glass of water and some Tylenol

"Take that and I'll be back in a moment I just need to talk to the detectives"

He came back five minutes later and said

"Come on lets get you back"

He piled me into his car and drove back to his house silently, the neon clock read 1.30am but it felt as though it was morning. When we got back to his house it was eerily quiet and he sat me down on the sofa while murmuring something to Esme who left the house. Carlisle sat down next to me and asked

"Carmen, I would like you to tell me what happened"

I owed him an explanation after everything he had done for me.

"I got in and went to the living room the walls were covered in blood and I panicked I heard a noise coming from the kitchen and went to investigate, there were pools of blood gathered on the floor and Charliie was leaning over Amelia with a kitchen knife covered in her blood and was stabbing her with it. I had to stop him to try and save her so I jumped on his back and he slammed us both into the glass cabinet. He had dropped the knife but as soon as we were on the floor he grabbed it and stabbed me. I ran out of the room him following me and I managed to hide in the cupboard under the stairs and hide. He kept ramming into the door while screaming about killing Renée and how she died when I found the gun. I took the safety catch off and checked the magazine and kicked the door open. He stopped still and started to taunt me with the gun so I shot the floor showing him how serious I was. He started to worry then but he was stupid enough to launch himself at me so I shot him in the shoulder knowing it wasn't going to do much damage. He was on the floor screaming out in pain when more people entered the room and took the gun off me bringing me to the police station"

He was quiet and his face a picture of calmness

"Your hands are shaking" he noted

I looked at my hands in my lap and saw they were trembling; Carlisle placed them in his grasp holding them tight and asked

"First time using a gun"
I nodded and he sighed as though he was exhausted, the door opened and Esme walked back in and whispered

"Your house is clean now don't worry"
I thanked her and got up pulling my hands out of Carlisle's and he said

"Hold on I'll give you a lift back"
I shook my head and muttered

"I could do with the air and time alone"
he nodded and I walked out of the house feeling the cold breeze whip against me but I was too numb to feel it. By the time I got back it was 3am but I wasn't tired I was more awake than ever. The house was clean now no traces of blood anywhere; I dragged myself upstairs and huddled up in bed closing my eyes ready for a fitful sleep. When my alarm clock went off at eight I felt like hell my head throbbed and chest stung with every breath I took but still I dragged myself out of bed and tied my hair back into a bun while shoving on a black turtle neck and slouch jeans with holes in. I grabbed my bag and climbed in my old Chevy and started the engine cranking up the heat. By the time I got to school I was toasty warm in my truck and didn't want to embrace my first day of hell in school. When I clambered out of my truck, I knew that everyone had heard the story of me shooting Charliie by the way they kept looking at me while whispering. I stalked past them all ducking my head and walking to first lesson music with Edward Emmett and Alice. When I walked in everyone was already seated talking amongst themselves as soon as I entered everyone went quiet and started talking in hushed voices. I took a seat in the front row on my own while the teacher left the class to go get some work. As soon as the teacher was out of the room the comments started.

"So what was it like shooting your father?"

"Murderer" someone hissed

"Did you enjoy watching the woman get cut up"
"what was it like to try and kill your dad"

"Were you happy when you found out that the woman died"
I gritted my teeth and ignored them when someone said

"Did you enjoy hearing the details of your mother's death?"

I jumped up out of my chair snatched my bag up off the floor and walked out of the room and down the corridor. I hid in the toilets till lunch time; as soon as the lunch bell rang I opened up the cubicle and walked into the dining room avoiding everyone's gazes on me. I was stood in the line to get lemonade when all of a sudden to warm hands wrapped round my waist and rested their chin on my shoulder.

"Hey gorgeous" a voice whispered in my ear

I turned round to see Mike smiling at me which made me feel happy for the first time since last night. He squeezed my hips lightly and said

"Let me guess rough day"

I nodded and rested my head on his shoulder he rubbed my back soothingly while steering me to his table. He sat down next to me and held one of my hands in his while introducing me to his friends who were friendly towards me. Mike looked at me and asked

"What are you doing tonight"
I pulled a face and said

"Nothing much why got something in mind"

"Well yeah I wondered if I could take you out you know on a date in Port Angeles if you want"

I nodded and he grinned brightly

"Okay then I'll pick you up about 5pm that gives you an hour to get home and get ready okay"
"sure"
he grinned back at me and the bell rang indicating that lunch was over I trailed back to the toilets and stayed there for the remaining hour. When the last bell rang I walked out to the parking lot and climbed in my truck when there was a tap on my window. I rolled it down and Mike was stood smiling at me. I smiled back and he said

"Don't forget I'll be there at five sharpish"

I nodded and drove home in double quick time; I hopped in the shower cleaning all the dirt, grime and crusty blood off me. When I got out I pondered on what to wear and finally stuck with wearing a white shirt which cut in at the hips and a knee length green netted skirt with flats. I combed my hair letting it curl at the ends and threw on some green beads, there was a loud beep from outside I looked out the window and saw Mike in his car grinning, I checked the time it was dot on five. I locked the front door and climbed into his sleek black Toyota while saying

"Right on time a man of his words"
he just smiled at me and placed a kiss on my cheek, my face burned red but thankfully he didn't notice. He drove slowly into town and by the time we got there it was dark and I was ravenous. He parked in front of a little restaurant called La Bella Italia and escorted me indoors while holding my hand softly in his. We were seated in a secluded corner of the restaurant, I looked round and saw all the other guests either making out or gazing into each others eyes lustfully, I didn't want to do either of them.

"Hey I'm your waitress Amber, what can I get you?"

I looked at my menu and said

"Can I have the pasta"
she nodded and turned to Mike who was smiling at me and said

"I'll have the same"

She walked away while Mike grabbed my hand on top of the table, I looked up at me and his lips burrowed up in one corner and I asked

"What's up Mike"
he took a deep breath and said

"I don't want to make you upset by mentioning it but I fell like we connect on a huge level so I'd like to share with you some information"
connect on a huge level? Was he crazy? I hadn't felt much of a connection but it seemed he was being serious

"Shoot"
he grinned and said

"Well it's about the Cullen's I have a theory"

I took in a deep breath not wanting to talk about the Cullen's and his 'theory' but it seemed he wasn't going to stop talking

"You know they are all slightly different from the rest of us, well recently I have started taking an interest in them and I have found out some quite horrifying truths"

I nodded encouraging him and his nonsense

"well you see I think they are vampires"
my spit got stuck in my throat and I started to choke, Mike came round to my side of the table and banged on my back a few times, when I found my voice again I spluttered

"You think they are what"

"Its okay you don't have to be frightened it seems as though they don't want to hurt you, yet"
I stared at him my eyes wide and he carried on enjoying himself

"well see they are all chalky white their eye colour changes and I think when they are 'thirsty' for blood they are darker but when they have 'fed' they seem to be lighter a sort of golden honey look. They are cold to the touch, never eat or drink apart from blood. They have superhuman strength and speed and are all alike and I'm going to stop them all soon"

I stared at him my mouth slightly open from his ridiculous accusations when he lunged forward thrusting his tongue in my mouth his hands formed manacles round my wrists stopping me from moving away while he violated my mouth. He finally pulled away when the food came and released my wrists. I glared at him while I wiped his spit from my lips and hissed

"Who the hell do you think you are?"

He stared at me confused and said slowly as though talking to a baby

"I'm your boyfriend"
my mouth opened in shock and I told him

"In no way are you my boyfriend"

I stood up from the table and snapped quietly so no-one else would hear

"first of all we have no connection on a huge level, secondly the Cullen's aren't vampires and why you would talk to me about it I have no idea since I used to be friends with them and thirdly you basically kiss rape me and a hint for the next unfortunate girl who gets stuck with you, less tongue"
I stormed out of the restaurant figuring what to do next when Mike spun me round to face him, his face set in angry lines

"You are an ungrateful little bitch did you know that, everyone has been talking about you all day on how you tried to kill your dad, but I was the only one who defended you. I take you out connect with you tell you my theories honor you with a kiss and you yell at me oh no I don't think so"
I stared coldly at him and snarled

"No way am I getting back in a car with you so tell me where I can find the closest cab rank"

He looked as though he was thinking hard for a moment before saying slightly happier

"Go up the road take a right, then take the first left, it's a bit of an alley but at the end there is a cab rank"

I was surprised by his sudden change of mood but pushed it to the back of my mind turning away from him and taking a right at the end of the street. It was quieter this way and it gave me chance to think, the Cullen's, vampires, I think not. I took the first left down the alley which was pitch black still contemplating about the ridiculous theory about the Cullen's being vampires when I heard more sets of footsteps behind me. The alley went on for ages and it was pitch black. My heart was hammering in my throat and I took a deep breath before running. As I set off I heard a chorus of curses before their footsteps picked up, I ran as fast as I could without falling over when I tripped over a loose cobble in the ground and slammed to the ground. I cussed out loud and scrambled up my knee stinging, slowly I could see an orange tinge of light at the end of the alley and I picked up pace when someone grabbed my wrists hauling me to them

"No you don't, girlie" a gruff voice barked out

Without being able to see I sent my foot up curving it into an ark in the air listening to my foot slam into my grabbers face and set off running again. I could feel sweat running down the nape of my neck and under my arms when I finally got to the end of the alley, but the street was empty. I cursed out loud again and set off turning to the right hoping to find some civilization. I got to a row of shops which had all shut up while I could still hear my pursuer's footsteps behind me when a cold hand grabbed my arm and dragged me down a small alley and pulled me into a shiny red convertible. I turned my hair and saw Rosalie face contorted into anger and she put her foot down on the pedal slamming my body into the leather seat

"Seatbelt" she snapped

I pulled it on and she sped down the side streets her hands gripping onto the steering wheel tightly.

"Are you okay" she finally asked

"Yes" I whispered

When we were far away from Port Angeles she turned to face me and I noticed her eyes were coal black and Mike's theory slammed into my head like a bull. I gasped out loud as I remember every single detail. I had never seen them eat in all the time I was round them; they were all chalk white and cold indestructible. My mind flashed back to the car accident and how Edward scrambled up off the road after being slammed out of it by a lorry without a single scratch on him and how cold they all are to the touch. The speed and strength they all have is alien and there eyes are always varied in colors. Mick was right they were vampires. Rosalie was staring at me strangely and I managed to gasp out

"You're all vampires"
she slammed down on the brakes sharply causing me to slam against my seatbelt she looked at me

"What" she whispered

Then I realized what Mike meant by I'm going to stop them all soon he was going to hurt the Cullen's. I turned my attention back to Rosalie and said

"Your vampires aren't you"
she nodded slowly and I leant my head back against the seat and she said oddly

"Why aren't you running away in fear, screaming at me or laughing at a stupid joke?"

I looked her in the eyes and said

"Because I'm not afraid and I don't care what you are"

"Don't care what we are, we are monsters we drink blood!!" she hissed at me

"No your not monsters if you were I wouldn't be here now, you are anything but monsters"
she slammed her head against the steering wheel and mumbled

"Edward is going to kill me"
"no he's not come on I think I need to go back to yours so everyone can decide on whether to kill me because I know"
she looked up at me sharply and said

"By going back there they may decide to kill you"

I shrugged and said nonchalantly

"About time"

She smiled at me softly and said

"You're different than I thought you were I really hope they don't decide to kill you it could be fun hanging round with you"
I grinned back and mumbled

"thanks"
she sped off again and we got back to her house within 5 minutes as soon as we got in she led me to the dining room where everyone was sat waiting anxious. Rosalie placed me at the other head of the table and everyone turned towards me. I watched Jasper take a deep breath and say

"You're bleeding what happened"

I gazed down at my knee and saw the skin was torn and bleeding

"Fell over" I mumbled

Rosalie smiled encouragingly at me next to Emmett who looked doubtful.

"Right well I guess it goes to a vote then on whether to kill me" I said cheerfully

Alice looked up and started to say

"Well there…"

But Edward placed his hand over her mouth and glared at her. I looked towards Carlisle who grimaced and said

"I am sorry Carmen but I can't risk my family for you"
I nodded understanding and turned to Esme

"I'm with Carlisle" she said wistfully

I looked at Jasper and he said

"I'm sorry but I have to protect Alice"

I turned to Alice and her eyes were clouded over

"I can't see any other way, I see something bad but I'm sorry I don't know"
I looked at Emmett and he said sorrowfully

"I won't fight against my brother and father sorry Carmen"
I looked up at Carlisle knowing what the ending was going to be so I stood up and said

"So where do you want to do this"

Jasper got up from his chair his top lip curling over his teeth menacingly when Edward erupted in a feral snarl which made me cringe he crouched in front me and snarled

"You touch her and I will rip you apart bit my bit"

Rosalie stood next to him in a crouch too when Alice gasped

"Carmen you didn't get the idea of us being vampires by yourself did you"
"no Mike told me why"

"Because he's going to kill us now"

I spun round and saw Mike behind Edward in a flash with a wooden stake in his hand I grabbed mikes wrist and drove the stake into my stomach instead howling in pain, then all hell broke loose. I glared up at mikes face and screeched

"You complete and utter asshole!!"

I slammed my fist with as much force as possible into the side of his head, his knees crumpled beneath him and he went out cold. I rubbed my tender fist and shuffled into the kitchen grumbling under my breath. As soon as I was alone in the kitchen I grabbed a tumbler and grabbed a bottle of vodka out of the fridge. I poured the vodka into the glass and murmured

"Bottoms up"
while I was drinking the vodka my other hand yanked out the wooden stake

"Dear god!!" I screamed

I put down the drink and stake and inspected my stomach, it barely went in me but it didn't half hurt. I wiped away the trickle of blood and walked back into the dining room kicking Mike on my way. I stood back behind Edward and Rosalie looked up at me to giggle. I glared over my shoulder at mikes still figure and sighed.

"So what's going to happen then? Am I going to die, going to live"

Carlisle looked at Edward and said

"Edward I can't see any other way you know what we argued about but you won't so this is the only option"

Edward curled his arms round my waist pulling me tight to his back and whispered

"Please Carlisle don't do this to me"
all of a sudden Alice's face lit up with a huge grin on her face and looked at me and Edward

"Carlisle I need you to trust me on this, don't kill her she wont tell anyone, I can promise you that"
he nodded and Edward jumped up crushing me to his chest and spinning me round, I laughed and he placed me back on my feet looking at my knee disapprovingly

"Come on lets get you cleaned up"

He pushed me up some stairs till he opened a door and he said

"My room"

It was huge, he had no bed but a huge black leather sofa pushed up against one of the walls, while the other wall was filled with millions of CD's and records. He sat me down on the sofa and whispered

"I'll be back in a moment"

I couldn't sit still, I got up and moved round to the last wall, it was a huge window overlooking the forest all deep rich colors pouring in and you could gaze up at the stars. Edward walked behind me and murmured

"It's beautiful isn't it"
I nodded and he pulled me back towards the sofa and started cleaning up my torn knee. When he had finished he fished out a long shirt and a pair of shorts out of his dresser and handed them to me.

"I suppose you don't mind staying the night"

I shook my head and he grinned

"Okay I'll give you a minute"

When he had left the room, I pulled on the clothes and curled up into a ball on the sofa there was a light tap on the door and I murmured

"Come in"

I was expecting Edward to stick his head round the door but instead it was Jasper his upper lip curled over his teeth.

"Sorry Carmen I can't let you do this"

I jumped up off the sofa and pressed my back against the glass window and said

"Jasper, don't do this please, I wont tell anyone about you I swear"

He shook his head and said

"It doesn't matter whether you tell anyone about us, because soon enough it's going to come down to two things. You either die or you become one of us and you don't want to live like us"

I gulped and he stalked me climbing over the leather sofa. I slid open the balcony door walking out into the rain, Edwards clothes stuck to me like a second skin and Jasper followed me out. I held onto the slippery rail when jaspers hand shot out and hit me round the face I slipped to the ground groaning and he picked me up by the throat dangling me over the balcony. I clawed at his hands so I could breathe but it was no use he was made of stone.

"This is for the better Carmen believe me" he whispered solemnly

He released me and I grabbed onto the railing dangling helplessly for a moment before letting myself drop softly onto the grass. I stumbled for a moment and looked up to see jaspers face full of fury. He grabbed hold of the rail and climbed over and I started to run. I ran into the forest the wet dirt squidging into my toes but I didn't stop. Behind me I could hear Jasper growling and snarling into the dark I scrambled painfully up a tree and hid in one of the branches covered by the wet leaves. I watched as Jasper stood near the tree looking round confused when he yelled into the dark

"Don't bother hiding Carmen it won't help you"
I gulped knowing he was right when I heard another deeper growl and Jasper darted off. I looked down again and I saw Emmett looking round for me

"Carmen" he said softly

"Up here" I squeaked

He looked up to where I was and smiled kindly at me

"Why don't you come down don't worry I wont let him hurt you"

I nodded and started scrambling down the tree, Emmet caught a hold of me and lifted me above the ground and I asked as we were walking back towards the house.

"Jasper said something about what was going to happen"

"What was that?"

"That I was either going to die or I was going to be one of you"

Emmett stopped moving and spun me round to face him and sat me down in his lap as he collapsed on the floor.

"It's up to Edward" he finally said

"What do you mean" I asked confused

"If he has the will power, he will keep you alive and let you live a human life. But if he slips up then you will die. He wont change you into one of us he doesn't want you to lead that type of life no matter how much he likes you"
I took a deep breath and said

"But what after a while I wanted to be like him and live forever with him"

Emmett stopped breathing and whispered

"You'd want to do that"

I nodded and he stood back up and said fiercely in my ear

"Don't talk about this to Edward okay"

I nodded and he carried me indoors both of us dripping wet. As soon as we got indoors Edward swept me up into his arms holding me recklessly close. Jasper was stood in the corner of the room his head hung looking ashamed of himself, Emmett stood next to him and put a hand on his shoulder murmuring too low for me to hear.

"Don't be mad at him" I said to Edward

Everyone's head swiveled to mine and looked at me as if I was crazy

"What it wasn't his fault he was only trying to do right by you lot, he was just thinking of you" I said quietly

Edward loosed his grip on me and set me down on my feet smiling slightly at me.

"Come on lets get you into some dry clothes"

I let him pull me upstairs and give me fresh clothes to change in to. When I was dry he bundled me up in a thick duvet and held me against his chest on the sofa, where I slowly fell asleep.

"Carmen, Carmen time to get up" a voice whispered in my ear

I opened my eyes slowly and saw Edwards pale face in front of mine. I smiled at him and stretched while groaning

"What time is it"
"about eight, Alice has got you some clothes to wear for school"

I nodded and stumbled out of bed, bleary eyed, I shuffled into Alice's bedroom and she dragged me into the bathroom making me up for the day. When Alice had finally finished her makeover, she showed me what I looked like. She had dressed me in black tights, black shorts and an artful green t-shirt with little holes running across the stomach. I grinned at her and ambled my way back into Edwards's room slightly more awake. As I walked in Edward smiled at me and said

"Morning sleepy"
I grinned at him and said

"Morning yourself"

He took my hand softly in his and led me out of the room and downstairs into the dining room where the rest of his family was. Alice smiled at me and pushed a plate of pop tarts and a glass of orange juice towards me. I stared at the pop tarts on the plate, suddenly remembering when Charliie hit me telling me that Amelia ate them. I took a deep breath closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose to stop my headache from building. Edwards hand rubbed across my shoulder blades and I shrugged away from him and walked out into their back garden sitting down on one of the metal chairs, next to various flower pots. I placed my head in my hands and took deep breaths willing the headache to go away, when the back door opened and footsteps sounded against the patio slabs. I looked up to see Carlisle smiling down at me sadly he crouched next to me and said

"The rest of my children have gone to school and I will drop you off in a moment I just wanted to talk to you first."

I looked at him and he carried on

"I have just found out that Charliie isn't going to go jail or even get a fine. The phone recording your argument was mysteriously stolen and now there is no evidence as to what happened and unfortunately he is going to move back home and you will have to stay with him by law till you are eighteen"

I stared open mouthed at Carlisle and whispered in a rush

"Carlisle if I stay with him he will kill me"

Carlisle folded my hand in his and said fiercely

"I promise you that he will never hurt you again"

I nodded and Carlisle smiled pulling me up from the chair while saying

"I'm on the way to the hospital now so I may as well drop you off at school"

I let him drive me to school and as I was climbing out of the car to rush into the lunch room for break he said

"Carmen don't worry about Charliie, it will all work out"

I nodded and dashed into school listening to Carlisle accelerate away from the school premises. As I got into the dining room I saw the Cullen family sat round one table where they looked up and saw me walking in. On another table Mike was sat with a group of friends, where he had a deep purple bruise on the side of his face thanks to me. As soon as I walked in Mike jumped up from his chair and made his way over to me something tucked into his fist. I turned towards Edward who smiled at me and I returned it when Mike hissed

"Awh how sweet vampire love, but did he tell you he already had a little friend he already loved"

I spun to face Mike and he was holding a picture up I glanced at it and felt the blood in my body run cold. The picture was of Edward kissing a pale skinned beauty so tenderly as though she would break. My knuckles were white against the hideous green of the chairs as I gripped it tighter.

"Hmm it seems Edward has a blood buddy and doesn't need you"
I gripped the chair tighter and swung it up so it hit Mike hard in the gut, he keeled over dropping the photo groaning. I swooped down picking up the photo and staring at Edward kiss another vampire I assumed.

"Carmen" I heard Edward whisper behind me

I gripped onto the chair and swung it high into an arc, while it slammed into Edwards head knocking him to the ground heavily. I dropped the chair on the floor and glared at Edward.

"I don't like being lied to" I hissed

He looked confused so I dropped the photo and it landed in front of his eyes, when he saw the photo he closed his eyes sighing. I turned my back on him and stormed out of the dining room and to first lesson, algebra. I was the first one in lesson and I landed heavily in my chair, while the room slowly filled up with people watching me. Alice, Edward and Emmett walked in whispering to each other. Alice and Edward went to sit at the front of the class whereas Emmett plonked himself into the seat next to me staring.

"What?" I grunted

He smiled softly at me and said

"We didn't lie to you, it just never came up"

"Still a lie" I mumbled

I turned my attention back to Mr. Varner my algebra teacher, when the door suddenly swung open and Mrs. Cope the receptionist trotted in, with two men behind her, my father Charliie and Jake. I jumped up out of my chair slamming against the wall my chest heaving up and down as the fear ran through me. Charliie and Jake watched me as I stood there my eyes flickering all over the place to find an escape route. Everyone else was also watching me strangely and whispering, Emmett looked up at me and reached for my hand to calm me but I yanked them behind my back.

"Miss Swan will you please come outside with us" Mrs. Cope asked me

I gave a jerky shake of my head and barked

"No"

The receptionist looked annoyed, Charliie frustrated, Jake amused.

"Miss swan outside now!" Mrs. Cope growled

Jake grinned at me and leant forward so I could see his face

"Come on Carm we all just want to talk" he drawled

I said a bad word out loud telling him what he could do, he grinned but looked bored. He strode forward to my desk slinging my bag over his shoulder and picked me up off the ground and dragged me outside, despite my futile attempts for him to get off me. I saw Emmett get out of his chair and start towards me but he stopped sitting back down in his seat watching me get carried away like everyone in the class was doing. Jake carried me out into the quad with Charliie stood there while Mrs. Cope disappeared off, when a man in a suit stepped out of the shade and stood next to me smiling.

"Hello I'm Mr. Grace and I'm here to discuss your father's custody over you and your mother's partner's step-son Jake Dodge. Now you have to by law live with Charliie until you are eighteen do you agree with these terms?"

I nodded and Jakes grin went even brighter, he mock punched me on the arm and whispered

"This is going to be great, me and you living together and so many things to talk to Charliie about"

I glared at him and hissed under my breath while Charliie was talking to Mr. Grace

"Mention anything and I'll pull your finger nails off"
he smiled at me and I turned round to go back to lesson but Jake grabbed my arm tightly in his grasp. He turned me round pulling me against his chest Charliie and the lawyer guy now gone and he bit down on my earlobe lightly

"At least give us a kiss first."

The bell rang shrilly and I glowered at Jake

"When hell freezes over, well maybe not even then"
he grinned cockily at me and said jokingly

"What happened to the old Carmen I knew"

"She died" I hissed

He rolled his eyes at me when there was a cough behind me; I turned my head seeing as Jake still had a death grip round me, and I saw Alice looking up at me.

I kneed Jake in the crotch and he dropped me

"What's up Alice" I asked

She moved away from the glare of the sun and whispered urgently

"I need you to find Edward for me"

"Find him yourself" I hissed

Her bottom lip trembled and she dragged me indoors and into an empty classroom.

"I would find him if I could, but I can't. Another vampire took him Carmen thing is she put him in the middle of nowhere, the sun beating down on him. Carmen the sun kills us if we stay in it too long"

I felt my chest stop moving, my breathing pause and the words came out in a rush

"Where and how long do I have"
she breathed out a sigh of relief and gushed

"Take the one-oh-one north, get off on the third junction, go round the freeway till you come across nothingness a long road sand and hills either side, blistering heat. Park up and find him, when you do take him to shelter cool him down and ring me"
I nodded and she shoved her car keys into my hand and whispered

"Hurry"
I sped out of the room and flew of the car park and flung myself into Alice's tiny Porsche. I slammed on the as and soon I was on the one-oh-one north, where the traffic was horrendous. I spent twenty minutes in a line when I finally got bored and decided to be dangerous. I spend through the middle dividing the lanes of traffic crashing into signs smashing the windshield but I didn't care I didn't have the time, neither did Edward. I got off on the right junction and sped down the road sand flying everywhere. I parked up the car and glanced round looking for Edward but all I could see was sand. I ran through the sand dunes screaming out his name over and over, till lady luck found me, and I found him. He was spread eagle facing the sun, his eyes yellow and a strange odor radiating from him.

"Edward" I screeched

He looked up smiling at me. That's when I noticed how real Alice's fear was of Edward being out too long, his skin was waxy like he was melting, he looked weak but at the same time hungry, with his yellow eyes. I gulped and sprinted over to him screaming out his name, yet he still continued to grin at me. I fell down beside him on my knees and gripped his boiling soft arm in my grasp and heaved him up off the sand.

"Come on Edward lets get you to my car and we will get you help okay" I whispered

As soon as I said that there was an enormous bang like a bomb had just exploded. I looked to where I had parked my car but all I saw were thick tendrils of smoke rising. Edward gripped my arm and hissed

"Let's move she will be back soon"

I nodded and peered round the sand and saw a motel. I held onto Edwards limp body harder and dragged him towards the hotel and whispered

"Don't worry its all going to be okay"
As we dragged our feet I kept looking round nervously looking out for whoever had taken Edward. Edward started to get weaker and weaker as time went on, and the sun blared down on us, but thankfully the motel was just a few more minutes away. I gripped onto Edward tighter and said through my Sahara dry mouth

"Its okay Edward we are here now we'll get you better"

He mumbled something but it was too low for me to catch it, we staggered forward till we got to the reception and I managed to ask

"A room for two please"

We got given a key and we hurried forward to get to shelter from the sun. When we slammed into the room Edward collapsed to the ground. I gasped and heaved him up off the ground and he hissed at me

"I need bath and ice, cool down"
I nodded shoving him towards the bathroom and pushing him into the tub putting the cold water on full blast till it reached the rim. Edward leant back sighing and I said

"I'm going to get ice; I'll be back in a minute"

He didn't answer so I ran out of the room finding the ice machine, and filling the bucket up to the brim. I raced back to the room and dumped the ice into the tub where Edward sighed happily. I grabbed an elastic band and tied my hair up into a bun, while watching Edward struggle pulling his top off. I leant over him and helped him tug off the wet, stubborn, t-shirt, when he gripped my arms in his grasp tightly.

"Edward what are you doing" I asked

His fingers bit into my skin painfully and I felt myself wince under his touch.

"Edward" I whispered

My phone started to shrill out of my pocket and Edward chose that moment to slam me away from him. I rummaged round in my pocket till I had the phone in my hand and the number was Alice

"Carmen" she screamed

"Its okay I got him we are in a motel somewhere not too sure" I told her

"What's Edward like" she asked tentatively

I glanced at Edward and nearly dropped the phone out of my hand, he was leant back against the tub his head lolling around beads of sweat running down his face and he was moaning lightly.

"His eyes are butter-yellow, he is groaning, sweating, and boiling hot. I think he is coming down with something" I gulped

Alice took a while before saying

"If I asked for a favor would you do it"
"Yes" I whispered

"Let Edward bite you" she said

I faltered for a moment then asked

"Will it work?"

She was silent again and she whispered

"What you're going to let him"

"If it helps him then yes"

"If he starts to hurt you, talk to him tell him to stop he might stop, but Carmen he might kill you too" she told me gravely

I took a deep steadying breath and said

"Its okay Alice, he'll be home soon"

I cut the phone off and walked slowly over to Edward and sat on the side of the tub stroking his hairline, he groaned and I pulled him up so his mouth was near my throat. He started to growl deep and low in his chest and his hand came up to wrap round my waist.

"Go on get better" I whispered

He nudged his face further into the crook of my neck and I felt his teeth tear at the skin; my breath came in a wild gasp as he started to draw the blood out of me. His hand round my waist stroked the violin curve in my hip while his other hand drew patterns with his fingertips on my knee. I rested my head on his head and sighed happily I had never felt so full of love for some reason. Then suddenly he pulled away pulling me into the water with him while pressed his lips softly up and down my throat while murmuring apologies at me. After a while he drifted asleep and I climbed out of the cooling water and pulled the plug watching the water and ice drain away. I yanked the wet denim off my legs and padded round the bedroom in my underwear, looking for anything else to wear when I heard a creak from behind me. I spun round and a woman smiled at me before grabbing my throat in a chokehold and hissing lightly

"What did you do to my Edward?"

I stared at her wide-eyed and spat out

"I saved him, you tried to kill him"

She grinned looking innocent when I realized where I had seen her face before; she was the one on the photo who Edward had kissed so softly and tenderly. The woman tossed me on the bed hard and rummaged round the room, I took this chance to pounce off the bed and slam into her back painfully. She gave a strangled yelp as I closed my hands round her marble throat. She slammed us both onto the bed and I barked out in pain as she landed on me heavily. Something sharp swiped me across the toes but I ignored that and got ready to jump on her, but she was too fast. Her hand shot out and slammed into my cheek painfully as I was flung against the window hearing the window pane smash and crack. I got down as she swung a lamp high in the air ready to slam down onto my skull. I closed my eyes but instead of hearing my skull smash into a thousand pieces, I heard a sharp crack and a heavy thump. When I opened my eyes Edward was stood next to the woman's limp body on the floor and he looked furious. He had my phone in his hand and I could hear Alice's voice chirping out.

"Edward is she okay, Edward!!"

Edward looked over at me his eyes a golden colour and he asked softly

"Are you okay"

I nodded and he said into the phone

"Alice she's okay"
he exchanged a few more words with her then cut the phone off and handed me my now dry clothes. I yanked them on and he said politely

"Wait outside please, Alice should be there"
I stepped outside and saw the bright glare of headlights and realized it was darker now, night time. I climbed in Alice's car and she smiled at me whispering

"Thank you"
I ignored her and turned to look out the window, Edward climbed in murmuring to Alice and we sped off back home. The drive home was in complete silence but as I was stepping out of the car to go home I heard Edward mutter

"Thank you"

I didn't know what to say so I said nothing and walked indoors shutting the door behind me, I was waiting for Charliie to fly off the handle at me but instead I was greeted with a smiling Jake. He stopped smiling when he saw my face but instead asked

"Bad day"

"You could say that" I murmured

"I'll go get you a glass of water"

I slumped down in the living room and Jake passed me the glass of water, while I chugged it down in one. When I was done Jake took the glass off me and moved closer to me grinning, when things started to go blurry and fuzzy

"Jake" I heard myself slur

I made to stand up but I fell to the ground, my body jerking all over the show. I was flipped on my back Jakes anxious face above mine when I threw up all over myself. Jake scooped me up and dragged me outside and into my car, shoving my head out of the open window while I hurled down the street.

"Where are we going" I slurred

"Carlisle's" he said

I groaned and threw up some more, then we were at the Cullen's house and Jake was dragging me out of the car keeping a safe distance making sure I didn't puke on him. All the lights were off and no sound was coming from inside. Jake hammered on the door, the wood groaning under the pressure till Jasper opened the door looking like he had been asleep.

"Jazz hiya" I squealed

Jasper stopped looking asleep when he saw me he just pulled me into his arms and carried me indoors yelling.

"Carlisle I need your help here"
I was carried into the kitchen and laid down on the marble breakfast bar, when the room was filled with Emmett, Carlisle, Edward and Rosalie. Edward flitted to my head and tilted me up so I didn't choke on my own puke. Emmett turned to Jake and growled

"What the hell has she taken?"

Jake looked sheepish and whispered

"She said she had a bad day so I just gave her an E"

"Jerk" Edward hissed

Rosalie moved to my face wiping away the puke and putting tiny sips of water into my mouth.

"Carmen" she asked softly

"Mmm" I said

"What happened to your neck?"

I gazed up at Edward and smiled shyly at him

"I slipped" I said softly

There was a silence before Edward clenched his jaw together sharply.

"Carmen what's this on your toes" Carlisle asked

I glanced down at my bloody toes and murmured

"The woman she slashed me with something I don't know"

All of a sudden there was a commotion going on. Rosalie had Edward slammed against the kitchen wall her face turned up in a grimace while Emmett grabbed me in an iron grasp. That's when I smelt the burning of flesh and felt the pain run up my legs. I clenched my jaw, shutting my eyes so the tears wouldn't leak over, and concentrated on something else. When the burning had stopped and the smell was gone, I unclenched my jaw and opened my eyes to see Jake grinning at me. A hot burst of rage ran all over my body and I jumped off the table slamming into Jake we toppled onto the kitchen floor and I hit him where I could

"I hate you, I hate you! After everything what the hell would make you think I wanted to do all that again you complete prick"

I slammed my fist into his nose and I heard it crack, Jake rolled us over so he was on top and he trapped me staring down at me.

"Stop it" he hissed

"How could you" I demanded

"Why not Carm, you liked it lots before so what's stopping you now"
I smiled at him sweetly and he released his grip on me slightly, and I slammed my head into his definitely breaking his nose. He gave a screech and rolled off me clutching his bloody nose. I scrambled off the ground and clutched my throbbing head, when I noticed a small photo sticking out of Jake's pocket. I leant down and snatched it out of his pocket, peering at it, and then I booted Jake really hard in the gut.

"Why the hell do you have this" I screeched

I looked back at the photo of Renée and felt my heart break all over again, I slumped on the floor and mumbled again

"Why do you have this?"

Tears ran down my cheeks and fell onto the crime scene photo of Renée covered in blood. Edward knelt down next to me taking the photo out of my hand and scooping me in his lap holding me close to his heart. He smoothed my hair back off my face and whispered in my ear

"Shhh its okay its okay"

I shook myself and stopped the tears from flowing, and held Edwards hands in mine. Alice bent down to look at me and asked

"So are you going to ask us or what"
I grinned and said

"Will you all come to my show tomorrow in the park, I'm playing piano and singing"
Edward pressed his cheek next to mine and whispered in my ear

"Of course"
Alice pulled me up off Edwards lap and pulled me upstairs till we got to her room. She handed me a nightgown and I pulled it over my head, while climbing in the bed. Alice scrambled in and gave me a hard hug then asked

"So what was it like, when Edward y'know bit you?"

I smiled into the dark and whispered

"I, well its hard to explain, I had never felt so loved and never felt so err sexually aware of him"
Alice laughed and gave me another hug and said more seriously

"Thank you for saving him"

"My pleasure" I whispered

She kissed my forehead and I closed my eyes slowly falling asleep. My eyes snapped open in the dark to find Alice out on the balcony with Edward Jasper and Rosalie. I stretched and clambered out of bed walking out onto the balcony feeling the cold breeze whip my hair round my face. As I pulled back the screen doors all four pairs of eyes turned to me. Edward smiled softly looking at me from under his lashes'; I felt my heart skip a beat while Rosalie linked her fingers through mine, while I leant my head on her shoulder.

"What time is it" I whispered

"Just gone half four" Jasper told me

I yawned noisily sleepiness knocking me off my feet again; Alice combed her fingers through my tangled hair and gave my hip a playful slap

"Go back to sleep, you have a big day tomorrow"

I nodded and leaned forward resting my head against Edwards chest sighing lightly

"Okay goodnight"

Someone steered me indoors and curled me up in bed, wrapping the quilt round me tightly before I fell asleep. When I next woke up the sunlight was streaming through the open window, a cool breeze caressing my skin. I yawned loudly and looked round the room still half asleep, I climbed out of bed in a skimpy nightgown Alice gave me and made my way downstairs. As I was walking downstairs I hear laughter and happy voices rising from the kitchen, I trotted into the kitchen and stood in the door jamb awkwardly. Emmett looked up first and his mouth dropped open wide, his eyes bugging out of his sockets everyone stopped talking and my awkwardness tripled.

"Morning" I whispered

Esme got out of her chair and walked slowly over to me smiling. She directed me into the living room where a dress bag was draped across the sofa; she pulled down the zipper and showed me the dress. I felt myself gasp and whisper

"It's beautiful"

I looked down at the dress it was black with a low dipped front and black, it was long and had a slit running up the thigh.

"Alice and I made it; we thought you could wear it tonight when you sing"

I smiled softly at her and pulled her into a hug while squealing

"I love it, its amazing, wow thank you"

I pulled her out of my grip and smiled brightly, pulling the dress against me twirling round happily. Rosalie darted out of the kitchen and scooped me up in her arms carrying me upstairs while squealing

"Yey makeover time"
I laughed as she threw me into the vast bathroom, I sat down on the toilet seat while she flitted around the huge space filling her arms up with all sorts of bottles and lotions for me. When she had finally stopped moving round, her face puckered up and she shoved me in the shower yanking the nightgown over my head. I whimpered as the cold water hit my skin and she handed a bottle of shampoo with French writing on and a tub of body wash. I lathered my hair up in the gorgeous smelling shampoo as I scrubbed my body with the body wash which smelt of limes and lemons. When I was finally squeaky clean and smelling amazing I wrapped myself up in a towel and sat back on the toilet seat as Rosalie prepared some wax strips.

"After three okay Carmen one, two, three"
she yanked the strip off my leg and I clamped my jaw down hard through the pain, Rosalie started to giggle, until I heard the doorbell ring and Charliie screech

"Carmen, I know you're in there get out here now"
I sighed and walked downstairs with only a towel round me, as I walked into the hallway I saw Carlisle trying to reason with Charliie but I could see it in his eyes he was too angry to be reasoned with.

"Charliie" I muttered as I came into view

Charliie slammed past Carlisle and the back of his hand hit me painfully in the cheek I stumbled back against the wall as Charliie's fist came up to slam into my face, when a shadow loomed over me. I looked to my side and saw Carlisle stood next to me his face terrifying, Charliie recoiled backwards as Carlisle snarled

"Get out now and don't ever touch her again"

Charliie ran out of the house as though the hounds of hell were snapping at his ankles and I looked up to see Emmett holding Edward in an iron grip, his face set in determination. I looked up at Carlisle and his face was still set in angry lines, I leant forwards and fell against his side, giving him a half-hug and said softly

"Thank you"

He patted my arm gently and Emmett let go of Edward, who ran towards me. I fell into his arms feeling myself relax and feel like I had come home, he ran his fingertips softly down my cheek as I blushed and he smiled shyly at me. I returned his smile as Rosalie dragged me out of the room muttering about hairstyles and makeup. For the rest of the day I let myself be primed and made up and thankfully it was all worth it. Rosalie had placed my hair in slight curls and made my face up perfectly giving my eyes a sexy smoky look. Alice brought my dress up and helped me climb into it while taping the loose parts of the dress to my skin; the neckline plunged to my belly button while the back part drifted near the bottom of my spine. As Alice was fastening the ribbon of my shoes to my ankles Emmett called up

"Come on hurry up we are going to be late."

I checked myself over in the mirror once more and walked downstairs feeling the nerves settle in. Alice and Rosalie ran down the stairs and I walked slowly to the top of the stairs taking in a deep breath, I stepped cautiously down the staircase and as I reached the bottom I heard a ragged gasp.

"Wow Carmen you look…different" Emmett chuckled

I grinned up at him and Carlisle linked his arm through mine, his eyes shining with what looked like pride. He led us out to the front of the house where a silver Mercedes and a black Aston martin was waiting. I slid in the front next to Emmett who was driving; Rosalie, Edward and Alice were sat in the back while Carlisle, Esme and Jasper went in the other car following behind.

"Are you nervous" Rosalie asked me softly

I grinned unsteadily and whispered

"A little"

Emmett patted my trembling hand and said smiling

"Don't worry I'm sure you will be fine"

I turned to look out the window listening to Alice and Edward murmur a conversation too low for me to hear, while Rosalie and Emmett chatted loudly making me laugh every now and again. I took a deep breath as the arch to the opening of the park came into view and the nerves settled in again, Emmett parked up and I climbed out while handing Alice a white envelope.

"Give that to the security dude, it gives you front seats and I guess I'll see you soon"
"good luck" Esme said softly

I smiled tensely and turned my back on them all half running to get backstage I was late and was going on in five minutes. I made it backstage with a minute to spare I sorted out my hair and gulped down a bottle of water when my voice was called out from the stage. As I walked out on the vast stage I hoped everyone couldn't see my body shaking, all of the Cullen's were sat around the closest table to the stage and they all gazed up at me. I took my seat in front of the shiny black piano and I leaned in towards the microphone and said shyly

"This song is called, I will be and it was inspired by someone close to my heart"
I kept my gaze away from the Cullen table and started to press my fingers down while singing

"There's nothing I could say to you nothing I could ever do to make you see what you mean to me all the pain the tears I cried still you never said goodbye and now I know how far you'd go I know I let you down its not like that now this time ill never let you go I will be all that you want and get myself together cause you keep me from falling apart all my life ill be with you forever to get you through the day and make everything okay I thought that I had everything I didn't know what life could bring but now I see honestly your the one thing I got right the only one I let inside and now I cant breathe cause your here with me and if I let you down ill turn it all around cause I would never let you go I will be all that you want id get myself together cause you keep me from falling apart and all my life ill be with you forever to get you through the day and make everything okay without you I cant breathe I aint gonna ever, ever let you leave you're all I got you're all I want cause without you I don't know what id do I could never ever live a day without you here, with me, do you see you're all I need I will be all that you want and get myself together cause you keep me from falling apart and all my life ill be with you forever to get you through the day and make everything okay I will be all that you want and get myself together cause you keep me from falling apart and all my life ill be with you forever to get you through the day and make everything okay"

The song came to an end and I smiled sweetly at the crowd as they began to clap and yell out words of appraisal. I looked down at the Cullen to see them all smiling up at me apart from Edward, his face looked pained but as he saw me staring at him he rearranged his features into a smile. I started to rise from my seat when there was a crash and a scream, I spun round only to be knocked flat on my back and onto the crowd tables, Edward crouched in front of me. We were hidden from sight and a voice on stage yelled out

"Cullen's where are you come out come out wherever you are"

I recognized the voice it was the guy who had bit my lip, I listened very carefully and heard a menacing laugh come from a woman. Edward turned to stone beside me and I grabbed the front of his shirt and whispered in his face

"Go home, get your family home and go"

"You are coming with me" he insisted

I shook my head and said

"No you need a distraction and I am very good with the lighting, ill make a distraction you run and I will meet you at your house"

Edward nodded his eyes troubled with worry, I saw his family hiding under one of the tables and Edward whispered

"Hurry and be safe"
I saluted smiling slightly and slid over to where the lights mains were. I had no idea how to control the lights but I figured id just switch them all on with the full light. I flipped the switches on and covered my eyes from the blinding light there was a collective group of screams, I watched Edward and his family run away swiftly and I started to follow suit when I was grabbed in an iron grasp.

"Now, now, now what do we have here?" a male voice asked

I gritted my teeth together as I was lifted on the stage, where the lights had now been smashed glass all over the floor. I groaned as I was dropped on the floor bits of glass embedding in my skin, three faces watched over me and I saw the man who bit my lip, recognize me.

"Well hello again" he said politely

I glared up at him and he lifted me off the stage floor and asked

"Where are the Cullen's"
I kept my mouth shut but he just grinned at me his cold hand sweeping over my body and he murmured

"What a pretty dress you have on, was that your beautiful voice I heard singing before"
I nodded confused at the turn of conversation, he leaned forward and hissed in my ear

"you wont be singing very well when I rip your throat out, now tell me where the Cullen's are"
I shook my head and he shook me hard, my back teeth rattling, he held me high above his head and he growled showing me all of his teeth in a threatening matter.

"Tell me where they are" he asked one last time

"No can do" I whispered

He slammed me back down to the floor painfully and the woman he was with shrieked a growl at me before she cocked her head to the side slightly a curious look in her eyes, she took a step forward but lip biter man put a restraining hand on her arm and whispered

"Not yet not yet"

I gulped wondering what he was going to do with me in the meantime he crouched back down next to me and smiled politely

"I'm sorry I'm afraid we haven't been introduced properly my name is Rory, over there is Leo and that pretty lady over there is Charlotte and I'm guessing you are Carmen, the Cullen's little pet"

I glared at Rory and he smoothed his thumbs delicately over my cheekbones, when Leo said

"C'mon lets move Rory"

I was lifted up over Rory's shoulder and he dashed like a cheetah through the park, dark blurred shapes all around me. When I started to feel sick Rory came to an abrupt halt, I spun my head round and saw we were at a warehouse, and then I really did start to feel sick. Leo lifted up the metal shutters and Rory whispered cheerfully

"Welcome home"
I was carried indoors and thrown on the floor, my head slamming against the cold concrete floor, I moaned despite myself and looked round. It was a plain simple room no windows thick concrete walls a metal table with leather straps and splatters of blood against the grimy walls, a single light bulb was switched emitting a low orange glow and the metal shutters closed, imprisoning me. Charlotte stalked towards me Rory and Leo right behind her she smiled as sweet as sugar at me and asked in a honey voice

"now sugar plum, it would be awfully good of you to tell us where the Cullen's are, if not the consequences well they aren't pretty and I'm sure you don't want that fantastic figure of yours to well be messed up now would you"
I grinned back at her and said sweetly

"Screw you"

Charlotte screeched a shriek and her hand hit me across the face slamming me back into one of the concrete walls. They walked forward again and this time charlottes hands closed round my throat and she lifted me up off the floor my feet dangling helplessly off the ground.

"Now this time you are going to tell me where the Cullen's are, or god help, me so"

Instead of telling her I lifted my foot and slammed it painfully into her stone features she groaned and dropped me on the floor with a thud cradling her face. I tried to scramble away but I received a kick in the gut off Rory, I leant back against the floor trying to get my breath back. Leo leant over my face smiling a glint in his ruby red eyes and he whispered

"Rory, May I"

I heard a razor sharp growl and then

"in a moment but I want to do something first"
Leo moved out of the way and I saw Rory holding a handheld camera with its red light flashing, recording me.

"Now Carmen this camera has a video link to the Cullen's household wherever it may be and they are watching you now say hi"
I stared at the video camera my eyes wide and I said weakly

"Turn it off"
Rory laughed and said

"Now why would I want to do that when I can infuriate the Cullen's more so?"

This time my eyes narrowed in fury and I screamed out

"Turn of the goddamn camera now!"

Rory just laughed again and said quietly

"Leo"
Leo was suddenly leant over his lips trailing down my throat his tongue tracing my thudding pulse in my neck while his hands started to pull off my dress.

"No" I yelled

He carried on removing my clothing while kissing my skin I continued to scream no at him but he wasn't listening instead I tried a different approach.

"Leo" I said huskily

And as predicted he lifted his head up to look at me his eyes burning, I locked both my hands together and slammed them into his face, he rolled off me and I took my chance to scarper away. I didn't get very far I was slammed against the wall my neck snapping back painfully Leo was glaring at me his eyes full of fury this time, Rory was still behind us with the camera poised in his hands. Leo leant his lips down to my neck and dug his teeth in deep, I gasped loudly and clenched down on my teeth making sure I didn't scream out from the pain. When Edward had taken my blood he was soft tender and it felt like love but with Leo there was lots of nipping and fingernails clawing my back. I gripped onto Leo's shoulders as I felt myself begin to sag and crumple, when Rory said loudly

"Leo"
Leo got off me and supported me up to stop me from slipping to the floor. I felt oddly weak and all I wanted to do was sleep, my eyes drifted shut but they snapped open when Rory yelled out

"Ready to tell us where the Cullen's are or, more torture instead"

I grinned briefly and murmured

"More torture please"

Another growl cut through the air and I felt myself being flung into the wall again my head spinning, my stomach lurching uncertainly. This time Charlotte was in front of me grinning maliciously she grabbed my wrist and I thought she was going to help me up, but I was wrong. Instead she snapped my wrist where I heard the sickening snapping noise I sucked in a lot of air and held it in stopping me from crying out, tears formed in the corners of my eyes but I batted them away.

"Come on honey don't make me do that to the rest of you" she said snidely

I let out the breath I was holding in and managed to whisper

"Bring it on"
her laugh was shrill and unfriendly as she kicked me in the gut over to the shutters, where I slammed into them painfully. Rory this time was leant over me the camera shoved in my face, I turned away but he grabbed my face and turned so I was staring straight into the lens.

"You can end all of this by telling us where they are"
I shook my head and he slammed my face into the ground, my nose making a crack. I turned back up to the camera and he growled

"Want to change that answer"

I laughed out a bitter laugh and managed to say

"You don't get it do you, no matter what you do to me I'm never going to turn them in"

Rory leant down even closer and hissed

"What if I was to rip off all of your fingernails and toenails and slowly start to burn you, starting off with your eyeballs? I think you might change your mind then don't you"
I took some deep steadying breaths and muttered

"I don't think so"
he growled and flung me behind him I landed in Leo's arms. He backed me up against the wall his arms trailing up my thighs till he hooked off my underwear, I whimpered but all he did was laugh.

"Carmen you can stop this all, all we need is the address"

I ignored him and Leo, but instead of Leo doing anything all he did was ram his nails into my thighs, and throw me on the floor. I started to crawl away when his foot stood on my knee where an ear-splitting crack echoed around the room. I didn't feel the pain at first but when I did it hurt, a lot. I spun round and stared down at my mutilated leg the camera was zoomed in on my face and the pain etched on my face, when all three of them crowded round me Leo by my knee, Charlotte by my head trapping my arms to my side while Rory was taping.

"Last chance Carmen" he growled

I ignored him when I felt a nudge at my leg which brought tears to my eyes. As I looked down I saw Leo had a silver, rounded type of instrument, it reminded me of the thing you struck a triangle with, and he was pushing it into my leg. Instantly I tried to writhe away the pain was excruciating, but with Charlotte having a death grip on me I couldn't escape the pain. The silver instrument was dug in further and my back arched in agony.

"Beg for death Carmen I can see you won't tell me where the Cullen's are so instead beg for death let your friend's hear you beg for your life to be over, beg for the torture to stop, torture they made you endure"

Through the pain I hissed

"Didn't I mention, I love pain, all pain no gain"

Rory glared down at me in fury, while Leo dug the instrument further into my leg I was still writhing around when they all went still. I stopped moving and looked towards the shutters where the other threes gazes had strayed, when suddenly the shutters war ripped to shreds. It all happened so quickly, if I blinked I would have missed it but I didn't. A group of shrieks and roars of outrage echoed around the dank warehouse as a group of men and women ran through the room at a startling speed. My three captors ran like the hounds of hell and everything went quiet, I hoped that if these vampires were going to kill me they would do it quick. A woman bent down to my face her face a heart shape, her eyes golden.

"Carmen" she said softly

"Yes" I whispered

She smiled at me and said

"We've been looking for you"

She scooped me softly and swiftly into her arms and said

"Lets get you back to Carlisle you are in a nasty way"
I drifted in and out of consciousness as we travelled back to the Cullen's house. My leg was in agony but I didn't think about that as I fell into the bottomless pit of dreams I had. My eyes snapped open as I heard a door open and I was back at the Cullen's everyone watching me anxiously their faces a strange colour of ash.

"Carmen" Carlisle whispered horrified

"It hurts" I whimpered

He nodded and pulled me into his arms and soothed

"I know I know, don't worry it will all be okay"

"Edward is he okay" I asked worried

Carlisle nodded slightly and had a hint of a smile on his face

"Edwards's fine, worried about you though"

I was in a huge bedroom which I had never been in before and Carlisle led me down softly on the bed, which still sent a thousand bolts of pain running through my body. Esme slipped into the room and pulled my dress off in one fluid motion and pulled a nightgown over me instead. While Carlisle looked at my leg Esme sat by my side stroking my hair and whispered

"Carmen what you went through to make sure we weren't found, I'm grateful but also deeply sorry I never wanted you to go through that pain. Even though I didn't want to be found I was begging that you would tell them where we were so that the pain would stop."

I smiled up at her and whispered brokenly

"I didn't want to show you how much pain I was in, didn't want to make it harder for you"

Esme made a strange sound in the back of her throat and her eyes glistened like she had tears in them. She leant forward and pressed her lips to my forehead softly when Carlisle moved my mutilated leg. My shriek pierced the air and Carlisle soothed me with nonsense, when I had finally calmed down Carlisle spoke softly.

"Carmen your leg it's been badly broken, and I'm worried about your head. You slammed it against those walls a couple of times and your eyes don't look right. I need to get you to a friends house, they have all the medical equipment we need is that okay?"

I nodded and the door opened again this time Edward stumbled in and when he saw me he went still and pale.

"Carmen" he whispered softly

I sniffed and he fell to his knees next to me holding my good hand in his

"I'm sorry I'm sorry" he murmured over and over against my hand

I couldn't think of anything to comfort him and Carlisle broke the silence and said

"Edward you're going to have to move, I need to take her up to Tanya's and Kate's to get her sorted out"
Edward pulled away from me unwillingly and asked

"Can I come with you"
Carlisle looked uncomfortable and said quietly

"Edward I don't think that's the best idea"

Confusion crossed over Edwards face but then it dawned on him whatever Carlisle was trying to say, he nodded his head and shuffled out the room his head bowed. Carlisle lifted me up in his arms and carried me out to his car and laid me down straight in his back seat driving to the house. After a moments of silence I asked

"Carlisle why did you tell Edward not to come"

Carlisle took a deep breath before he answered and when he did I listened intently

"Watching you today get tortured for information about us, you have no idea how much that hurt me. It made me feel disgusted for myself and my kind for inflicting that type of pain on an innocent especially you. Carmen I think this time you should keep away from us detach from us for good, so you never have to go through the pain again please not just for your sake but ours too."

I stared at him and nodded he smiled softly at me and said again

"I really am sorry for this, I never thought that this would happen I am sorrier than you could imagine"

I nodded and patted his hand softly, without moving too much. When we finally got to Tanya and Kate's house, it was empty but that didn't stop us. Carlisle took me up onto the third floor where it was like a hospital, he strapped me down to a bed and removed the metal spoke out of my leg while I screamed, cried and writhed. He fixed my leg up in plaster and gave me a C.A.T scan which showed bruises on every inch of my skull, when I was finally all fixed up Carlisle helped me downstairs and gave me some crutches to use. I made my way out to the car and slid into the passenger seat painfully, I turned to Carlisle and said

"I'll respect your wishes and stay away and I just wanted to say thank you, not just for this but for everything"

He nodded and whispered

"Thank you"

He dropped me off outside my house half an hour later and I hobbled out, Carlisle waited till I got to the front door and drove off. When I opened the door Jake was coming out of the kitchen still with bed hair and wearing a pair of boxers and nothing else. His mouth popped open when he saw me and he dashed over and looked me up and down.

"Jesus Carm what the hell happened?"

I smiled and said

"Got in a bit of a fight"

He shook his head at me and stroked my hair softly and asked

"Are you okay, need anything"
"not really no, err can I have a coke and some Tylenol please"

He nodded and dashed back into the kitchen to get what I wanted, while I hobbled up into my room to collapse on my bed, exhausted. Jake walked in and smiled softly at me and sat next to me and handed me a can of coke and two Tylenol tablets. I swallowed them down swiftly and grimaced as the tablets hit the back of my throat.

"So what really happened Carmen, Edward he didn't well hit you did he" Jake asked

I groaned rolling my eyes and said

"Jake I got in a fight as I said before you think id let Edward hit me"
Jake nodded and smiled his eyes now far away in the past

"Yeah true, I remember when you use to kick my skinny ass, because I wouldn't wash up or do my chores"

I smiled remembering too and he carried on

"But you always felt bad, remember that time when you thought you broke my nose when we were 13."

"yeah I rode all the way down to the hospital on my bike, and waited for two hours just to find out it was a nosebleed"
we laughed together reminiscing about the past after a while Jake broke the silence

"We had an okay childhood didn't we?"

I took a breath and muttered

"yeah for the most of it"
"and you are never going to explain to me about all the times you had bruises covering every inch of your skin or how you just shut off from the world completely getting involved in other things" he muttered angrily

I shook my head smiling slightly and said wistfully

"You have your own problems why add mine to that pile"

He grabbed my good hand in his and said quietly

"Because believe it or not Carm, I have feelings of my own and I care about you"

I patted his hand comfortingly and closed my eyes, falling asleep feeling okay for once, when I woke up I was the total opposite. I felt like rubbish, my head throbbed, leg ached but at least my wrist was okay. There was a tap on my door and Jake called through

"Up you get missy, time for school"

I moaned and rolled out of bed careful of my leg while pulling on whatever clothes I could grab at. I ended up yanking on a deep blue shirt on and a pair of faded jeans with frayed hems, I manoeuvred my jeans over my bulky cast and laced on one of my sneakers. As I hobbled downstairs Jake peered up from the bottom of the stairs and smiled

"How bad do I look" I asked him

"Like you've been beaten up by a brick but don't worry it will pass" he told me sincerely

I grinned and hobbled the rest of the day downstairs, Jake took my bag from round my shoulders and opened the door for me. I slid into the passenger seat of his beaten up old Volkswagen while he fiddled with locking the front door. When he was finally done he started up the engine and drove us to school, the road was slick with ice and everyone was being slow on the roads. We got to school early and everyone was still milling around the car park lobbing snowballs everywhere, as I climbed out of the car Jake helped me pull on my coat. I walked indoors my head held up high while everyone stared and pointed, out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward and his family watching me but I ignored their stares and carried on walking. Jake helped me get to my first class music and the teacher then took over, as soon as I was settled in my chair the questions started.

"So Carmen I never knew you were into boxing"

I smiled slightly and said

"Neither did I"

Mr Lennox my music teacher perched on the end of my desk and scrutinized my face

"Carmen you know if anything happened that you want to talk about or if you just want to talk to me then you know I am always here for you"

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and said

"Yeah thanks"
he looked like he wanted to say more but the door opened students milling in, staring at me, and he went back to his seat. When the class was finally full and everyone quiet Mr. Lennox said with a slight smile

"Right well today, I want you to compose a piece of music and it will be performed on an instrument and you can if you wish accompany it with singing. At the end of the lesson I will pick on a few to perform their piece. I all ready had a song brimming in my head from yesterday when Carlisle was driving me home I reached for some paper tugging the stitches in my hand and I winced. Looking down at my palm where my hand was cut by the three vampires a drop of blood dripped down on to the white paper. I stared transfixed at the contrast between brilliant white and deep crimson red, when the atmosphere suddenly changed. There was a deep low growl I barely heard but when I spun round to see Alice's eyes blazing with fear as her Emmett and Edward kept a death grip on a struggling Jasper. I cleaned up the blood and Edward escorted Jasper out of the room and came back ten minutes later looking grim, I finished composing my music and at the end of the lesson the teacher called on me to perform it, I hobbled over to the piano and slumped down on the padded stool and let the music fill my body till I felt no other pain and my voice started to sing out.

"Two to one static to the sound of you and I undone for the last time and there this was hiding at the bottom of your swimming pool some September and don't you think I wish that I could stay, your lips give you away I can hear it a jet engine through the centre of the storm and I'm thinking id prefer not to be rescued two to none roads that lead away from this I'm following myself just this once and I got spun it appears your spun as well and it happens when you pay attention well this could take all year but when its quiet does she hear me a jettison to the centre of the storm and I'm thinking id prefer not to be rescued and ohhh I can feel her she's dying just to keep me cold and I'm finally numb so please don't get me rescued, rescued and its unclear that this may be the last song oh ohhh I can tell she's raising hell to give to me she got me once so please don't get me rescued, and ohhh say you'll miss me one last time and I'll be strong whatever you do please don't get me rescued cause I'm feeling like I might need to be near you and I feel all right so please don't get me rescued."

I finished singing and the room went silent and the teacher murmured

"Carmen, believe me when I say this you have a pure raw talent. Have you ever considered becoming a singer or a song writer"
"I did but decided I preferred keeping them to myself like little secrets" I said softly

"Well I think its time for you to share them all"

I hobbled back to my seat and sat in silence for the remaining time left. Over the next two months I fell into a similar pattern as I did back in phoenix, it consisted of coming to school trying to be invisible ignoring everyone, going home doing as I'm told and sleeping. It was like I wasn't even alive, I managed to get my bulky leg cast off and my scars had started to heal leaving just silvery lines. Edward and the rest of his family had kept their promise about leaving me alone and I did the same, even though it hurt so much to trail round school being a no-one being alone. I was sat in algebra on my own, the numbers meshing into one another when the door slammed open Jake looking frantic he locked gazes with me and ran up to me grasping my wrist tightly in his hand.

"You have to leave now"

I frowned at him and asked confused

"What are you on about Jake?"

He half dragged me to the door and said

"It's Charliie"

With those two words I understood what Jake was trying to say to me, Charliie was coming and it wasn't to bring me lunch, it was to hurt me. I grasped the door handle when it crashed open and I stumbled back on the floor my head slamming against the chair leg. I looked up and Charliie stared down at me, my mouth opened ready to scream but I couldn't then everything around me seemed to speed up while me and charliie were still stuck on pause. I got up slowly cautioning him while everyone ran out of the room, across Charliie's torso there was a thick belt, with a bomb strapped round him.

"Charliie what are you doing"

"Something I should have done a long time ago" he whispered

"And that is" I asked slightly confused

"Kill you"

I gulped and got an idea I slammed forward into Charliie and smashed my fist into the fire alarm box, the bell rang shrilly and everyone was running outside people shouting the word

"Bomb"

I was momentarily distracted by everyone outside that I didn't see Charliie strap the bomb belt round my stomach, I gulped making sure I didn't move and Charliie murmured

"That's a good girl now come outside don't try anything funny I have the detonator, and if you even try to take off the belt it will blow"
I took a deep breath and he barked

"Outside now"

I walked slowly outside my back ramrod straight with Charliie's hand round the back of my neck pushing me forward. We got out to the parking lot where all the students where and silence fell upon them, Charliie carried on pushing me forward when Jake pushed his way through the crowd. He stood in front of me his hands outstretched I slammed my elbow really hard into his chest and he slammed into the ground and I hissed

"Go home Jake"
he stared up at me tears in his eyes and I looked away when Charliie stopped spun round to find Edward holding onto Charliie's neck his mouth near his ear

"Let her go now" he growled

Charliie laughed and held the detonator near Edwards face and said

"no I don't think so"
Edward grasped Charliie's wrist and snapped his hand the detonator falling out of his grasp, Edward threw it over to Alice and Edward threw Charliie on the floor and pulled me into his arms. He started to take of the belt and I struggled in his grasp saying

"No, no, no it will blow if you take it off"
he took my face in his hands and whispered

"I'll get it off you I promise"
I nodded and he wrapped his arms round my waist his fingers moving against my skin like a whisper when the belt fell off onto the floor. I looked round bemused then launched myself into Edwards arms burying my face into my neck, he pulled my face back slightly his eyes burning into mine, then he kissed me. As soon as his lips pressed to mine I knew what it was like to finally be loved, it felt like I was finally whole that everything I went through was for this moment in time. My head swam my eyes drifted shut and my hands lay against his perfect chest. His hands cradled my face delicately in his smooth cold hands and he cautiously pressed the tip of his tongue to my lips. He pulled away slowly pressing kisses to my chin jaw and ear, when he finally looked at me his eyes were burning a brilliant gold and he grinned, breathing heavier than usual. My head spun as his breath masked my face I leaned in even closer inhaling and Edward laughed a throaty chuckle.

"Are you okay" he finally managed to ask me

I nodded and realised I was still in his arms my legs around his waist but I didn't want to move yet to break the spell, as soon as I moved they would all go back to ignoring me again. Edward traced the crease between my eyes and smiled softly, when all of a sudden I was yanked away from him. Jake carried me in his arms away from Edward but he didn't get far before Edward was towering over him.

"Put her down now" he demanded

Jake put me down on my feet and Edward wrapped his arms round my waist pulling me to his chest. Jake looked at me cradling his chest and he held out his hands showing the nearly faded scars from his wrists, I showed him my same scars and he started to cry. Edward let me loose so I could wrap my arms round Jake and hold him tight.

"It's okay, it's all okay" I soothed

"It's not Carm, it's anything but okay" he whimpered

I stared at him strangely and he pulled himself out of my arms and set off running home, Edward came up behind me and stroked the nape of my neck softly. I leant back against him and he helped to pull me up. When I was finally upright and calm I turned back to Edward and realised that he wasn't going to talk to me ever again.

"I guess I'll go then"

I turned to walk away when he wrapped his arms round my waist and pulled me back to him and he murmured in my ear

"You don't get away from me that easily, let me take you out tonight please" he begged

"What time and where" I said happily

"I'll come pick you up about seven"

I nodded and he pushed me towards Jake's Volkswagen, where the keys were in the ignition.

"Go home relax you've had a stressful day" he insisted

I climbed in the car and watched as Edward walked back into school, and I edged further towards home. As I got home Jake wasn't home I figured he would be out drinking on his own, I walked downstairs fixing something to eat. When I had eaten and cleaned down all the surfaces, it was late and the sun was starting to set, it was six pm and I decided it was time to get dressed. I walked into my room and pulled on a light cream plunge, baby doll dress with black tights and black flat shoes. I danced out of my room humming to myself and turned the bathroom handle, but it was locked.

"Jake" I asked hesitantly

There was a groan and I tried the door again but it wasn't opening

"Jake" I said more loudly my voice edging hysteria

Another soft groan came from the bathroom and I slammed my whole body against the door, and it shattered to pieces. Stood in the doorway of the bathroom I froze my blood turning to ice, Jake was in the bath tub blood oozing out of his wrists, an empty bottle of vodka on the tiled floor next to my prescribed sleeping pills. There was a blooded razor blade in one of his hands and I realised that Jake had cut open his wrists and taken an overdose of my sleeping pills. Jake was trying to kill himself. In that moment I jumped forward falling to my knees pulling my dress over my head swiftly I tore it into two shreds of material and knotted them tightly over his open wrists. Jake grasped my shoulders tightly the razor blade digging into my collarbone and he begged

"Let me die, please"

I shook my head and knotted the other wrist too, Jake dropped his hands from my arms and I noticed I was covered in his blood. He slumped further down in the bathtub and I panicked what to do, I was about to pick him out of the tub and carry him to the car when I heard Edwards voice say

"Carmen"
I spun round and sure enough Edward was stood in the smashed bathroom doorway looking worried at the amount of blood on me. He then noticed Jake, the blood, the pills and he scooped him into his arms easily

"Get in the car now" he ordered

He didn't need to tell me twice, I ran downstairs grabbing the car keys and I fumbled with the car and getting it open. Edward placed Jake in the back of the car and crouched down next to him talking in a low voice.

"Drive to the hospital, quickly"
I slammed down on the accelerator and we shot away from the house and onto the freeway after a while the silence was killing me.

"Will he be okay" I asked quietly

"Maybe his cuts look clean not deep, it would help if I know what pills he took though"

I gulped and said

"He took my pills, sort of like sleeping pills, they stop me from having dreams"

Edward looked at me and pressed his palm against my cheek, my skin boiled where he touched it and I managed a watery smile. I turned off on the next exit and hair tailed round a street corner till we came in front of the hospital, Edward again pulled Jake into his arms and ran into the hospital, me trailing behind dressed in only cream and black matching underwear, tights and a pair of flat black shoes. Edward handed Jake over to Carlisle and a bunch of other nurses and then he walked back over to me and held my hands softly in his.

"How are you holding up" he asked softly

I shrugged my shoulders and he pulled me down on his lap on one of the plastic chairs, while he zipped his leather jacket over me. I snuggled up against his chest and took a deep breath, I stopped suddenly breathing the jacket again, and it smelt incredible. It wasn't some sort of cologne or aftershave, it smelt of Edward, I leant my head against Edwards shoulder and took a breath, he smelt exactly the same as his jacket. Edwards's arms circled my waist and he pressed his cheek against my hair his nose gliding along my jaw.

"Sorry our date got cancelled, I'll make it up to you"

I looked up at Edward hesitantly and asked

"Edward you know that night after the park incident, Carlisle told me to keep away from you and that you would all keep away from me. Do you still want me to keep away from you?"

Edward sighed heavily as though he was a weary old man and held my chin in his fingers so I couldn't look away from his piercing black eyes.

"I never want you to keep away from me, you intrigue me. When I first met you, it was like I was a blind man seeing the sun for the first time you were so unbelievably beautiful, even after you fell from the cliff. I tried to stay away form you it isn't a good idea for one of our kind to become obsessed with a human the end results well they aren't too good. But I couldn't, you reined me in with your smile your looks your remarks. I have been a vampire for nearly a century and for the first time in that time, I feel more human than I ever have, even in my mortal life. I need you Carmen Swan more than I need blood, humanity, my family I need you. But when I finally had you I realised what type of monster I was, I was keeping you from everything else. I was keeping you from a normal human life, and that hurt me more that it should of. I wanted to keep you but it was unfair of me to do so. My whole family loved you especially Emmett and Alice, Esme and Carlisle were happy to see me happy and they loved you for bringing back the old me. But then it all changed I was exposing you to danger, to my kind. I couldn't let that happen to you, I promised I would never ever put you in danger again, but again couldn't keep that promise. You got hurt so badly that night after you performed, it felt like my whole world had collapsed hen I saw you lying broken on the bed, I hated myself and I realised that I could not do this to you anymore, I couldn't cause you anymore pain. So I stayed away, I hid in the shadows but it didn't mean I had forgotten you or didn't need you as I needed you before, if anything I needed you more than ever. And I will do everything to keep you safe, from my kind and from me."
When he finished his little speech, I wrapped my arms round his neck so tightly that I would have strangled any normal person. Edward held me close to him and pressed his lips lightly back and forth along my jaw line, until I felt light headed and pulled away my ears ringing slightly. Carlisle came over to us both and said softly

"Carmen, we have him stable now he lost a lot of blood and if you hadn't of acted when you did, well he wouldn't be in such a good state. He is going to be here a while so why don't you go back to ours for the night and I'll ring you if anything happens"
I smiled and nodded climbing off Edwards lap, Edward reached for my hand and I intertwined both of our hands together. Carlisle smiled at us both and said

"Get a good night sleep, the both of you"

Edward pulled me along behind him and pushed me onto the passenger seat while he drove swiftly back to his house. He parked up in his garage and turned off the ignition sitting as still as stone, I reached over to him and stroked his cheek lightly he turned to me and I asked softly

"Are you okay?"

He shook his head and yanked ma across the seats till I was straddled on top of him, he kissed me hard across the lips and held his hands in my hair, when I was finally able to breathe I asked him

"Better now?"

He shook his head again and went to kiss me again while his hands slowly unzipped his leather jacket off me. Once the jacket was off I was the one in control, my hands were in his hair, and my fingers were undoing the buttons of his shirt. When we eventually came up for air, Edward was shirtless and his hands were hooked into the waistband of my underwear breathing hard

"And now" I breathed

He nodded but again leaned forward to kiss me, his lips trailed down my throat and the tip of his tongue stroked the thudding pulse in my neck. I moaned softly and Edwards's mouth sucked lightly on my throat giving me a love bite so to speak, when suddenly there was a tap on the driver's window. We broke away and found Emmett's bright face smiling at us both wrapped round each other.

"Now, now children save it for later, in the bedroom. Now come on in Alice is waiting to make over Carmen again"
Emmett left us and hopped back inside as soon as he was gone Edwards mouth sought mine again for another breath taking, knee trembling kiss. We broke apart suddenly and Edward bundled me close to his heart breathing heavier than ever and carried me indoors, he shot past the living room where everyone else was and ran into his bedroom. I didn't get chance to look at his room more closely, as he rushed into another room which was a huge sparkly white en-suite, he plonked me in the bath and stated to fill it with warm soapy water. As the tub filled slowly I started to rub at my skin, rubbing away jakes blood, rub away at the memories creeping their way back into my head, Edward walked out of the bathroom and I could hear him cluttering around in his bedroom. When the water had gone tepid and all the blood was gone, I climbed out of the bath dripping water and walked slowly into the bedroom. Edward spun to look at me and his hands stilled on whatever he was writing, he crossed the room to me in three steps and swung me up into his arms holding my wet body against his cold chest raising goose bumps all over my skin. I was about to raise my head and kiss him when he went still and as cold as ice, his arms held me recklessly close and his hand covered my mouth stopping me from making a sound. I watched as he took a deep breath and wince clutching tighter to me, when everything went black.

"Carmen, Carmen wake up now, come on" a voice cajoled me

I opened my eyes and regretted it instantly; mike was standing above me smiling down, like all his birthdays had come at once. I groaned lightly as I realised I was strapped down to a metal table and mikes smile deepened as he caressed the side of my face.

"Mike" I managed to say

"Carmen, how nice to see you again and I brought some of your friends isn't that nice"

I turned my head to where he was looking and felt my chest cave in; Rory, Leo and Charlotte were stood together grinning. I turned my head to the other side and saw all the Cullen's chained dup against the wall cringing as if they were all in pain.

"What did you do to them" I asked outraged

"Well we did a little research and found something that vampires actually hate, pure silver. So we chained them up with shackles made of pure silver, great isn't it?"

I rested my head back closing my eyes and I asked

"So what are we doing here mike"
this time his face didn't look happy at all, instead it looked like remorse was shining in his eyes.

"Today is the day we make history and Carmen you are going to be the first part of it, the most important part. We are going to look for a vampire cure."

My eyes widened and I gulped

"What do you mean, a vampire cure, am I a guinea pig for you!"

He nodded and I took long deep breaths trying to stop the room from spinning, my eyes watered and it felt like my heart was thudding in my throat.

"What are you going to do to me" I asked

Mike grabbed my hand softly and said

"Were going to get Edward to bite you, or inject his venom into your system, then we are going to get you to drink his blood. After that you will start to transform, and that's our cue to inject you with the cure, which hopefully will get you back to human"

I took deep breaths hoping that I don't get sucked under again, when Mike left the room and Charlotte's face peered at mine from above.

"Well were going to have some fun today aren't we" she drawled

"I wont, I wont give it you, don't hurt her just let her go, please" Edward begged

I turned to face him as Leo, Rory and Charlotte walked towards him while pulling on thick workmen's gloves. Rory and Leo held Edward back as Charlotte got a pair of pliers and rested them on his finger nails, and I felt nauseous as it dawned on me what she was going to do. Luckily I managed to wiggle one hand free of my straps and I yelled out

"Charlotte, do you really want to have all your fun with a vampire made of stone who can't feel a thing or, would you rather torture a soft human who hates pain"

As expected she spun round her eyes glinted a deep ruby red and as she got closer I hit her. She screamed and crumpled to the ground while I managed to get free of my other straps; I hopped off the table and looked around wondering what to do when I was knocked to the ground a heavy body slamming into me. When I opened my eyes I saw it was Jasper, his face set in lines of pain, he crouched defensively in front of me his ankles and wrists smoking with pinkish burns round them. I got up off the floor as I felt a pair of teeth sink into my shoulder from behind, I screamed out and then they were all gone and I was on the floor shivering uncontrollably. Jaspers face blocked my view as he saw my shoulder and recoiled in horror, a second later I could hear chains snapping and deep bass growling. Carlisle's face came into my line of vision this time and his face was anxious as he stared at my shoulder

"Make it stop" I begged

He looked perplexed when he asked

"Make what stop Carmen"
"the voices" I screamed out

They all went quiet and I could hear Edward sobbing somewhere in the background, when Emmett strode forward and grabbed my shoulder and yanked painfully. I saw a pink fleshy thing thrown onto the floor and the voices faded slightly, I was pulled towards Edward and Emmett growled

"You need to take her blood; it might help her, ease her suffering"

Edward shook his head still sobbing silently when Alice's hands spun me round to face her.

"I'm sorry Carmen" she whispered

Her head bent as she bit into my jaw line drawing out the blood and after a few seconds she pulled away and looked at me. The voices had stopped and I felt stronger somehow, I smiled slightly up at her and she smiled back her face radiating out hope.

"Better" she asked

I nodded and found the energy to scramble up off the floor and run over to Edward launching myself into his arms, while kissing his tear stained cheeks. I held his head in my grasp while he stared at me and I whispered softly

"I love you"
his eyes shone into deep amber liquid and he whispered back

"And I love you"
he wrapped me up in his arms and kissed my forehead as I dozed asleep. When I next woke up I was in a comfortable bed with a cool arm draped around my waist, I opened my eyes groggily and rolled over so I could see who the arm belonged to. Edward smiled at me his eyes still burning brightly and he stroked my face, making me smile.

"What time is it" I croaked

"It's just gone eleven" he said

I nodded snuggling my head into Edwards's chest and he smiled happily. I looked down on his chest and saw the silvery half moon scars embedded into his skin, I stroked them and asked

"How did you get them"
"after I was changed, I went off on a rampage and got in many fights"

"Did it hurt?"

"Like acid being poured down my throat" he sighed

I pressed my lips against each one of his chest scars and moved onto the ones on his arms and back. When I had finally finished Edward was breathing heavily and stroking my back as he said

"I love you, so much more than you could imagine"

I held onto him tighter and kissed the tip of his nose, when I heard movement downstairs.

"Come on lets go down" I suggested

He pulled me up from the bed spinning me round in his arms while we laughed and he threw a long shirt over my bra and knickers. We walked hand in hand into the kitchen where everyone else was and they all smiled at the two of us together, Alice suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the piano and said

"I saw you composing a new piece of music, let's hear it"

"It's not very good" I told her

She shrugged and pointed to the keys; I took a breath and pressed my fingers down softly letting the music flow between my fingers. There were no words for the music but it told its story for itself, starting off with slow long tones then moving onto a faster rhythm and finally ending in a calamity. Everyone was silent after my piece of music and a knock at the door made us all jump Alice hopped up to answer the door and she came towards me a few seconds later and said

"Someone for you"
I walked towards the door cautiously and as soon as I saw the person stood on the porch I froze. She smiled at me and waggled her perfectly manicured nails, I willed myself to walk forward and found myself stood in front of her breathing in her disgusting perfume.

"Oh babes it's been, like so long, like ages. And now here I am, in dreary old forks, well you know beggars can't be choosers, anyways how are ya honey" she squealed

I stared at her blankly and asked

"What the hell are you doing here?"

She grinned at me and waved a hand about

"Oh babes, I heard about your poor mama and then papa and then I heard about Jake. And luckily I was in forks and guess what I'm here to stay, mommy got a new job and daddy transferred so here we all are, like little buddies again."

She lurched forward wrapping her skinny arms round me and murmured

"You know you could do with a makeover hon, your looking a little worn out"

She pulled away and peered into the Cullen's house, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I spun my head round and Edward was stood there smiling at me, I leaned into him and smiled happily back.

"Oh, my, gosh, have you finally got a boyfriend Carmen, wow he is cute!"

"Edward this is Sarah, someone from back home, Sarah this is Edward my boyfriend"
Sarah stepped forward and placed a kiss on Edwards cheek while smiling.

"Nice to meet you" Edward said indifferently

Edward was back to smiling at me and he started to stroked the back of my neck, which made me shiver and tremble. I turned back to Sarah and smiled

"Nice to see you Sarah, but I have things to do so I might se you round, okay, buh-bye"
I shut the door in her face and turned to look at Edward; he cradled my face softly and kissed the tip of my nose. I grabbed his hand suddenly and started to lead him upstairs, when we got in his room and the door was tightly shut, I turned to him. Stroking the black circles I murmured

"You're hungry"
he smiled sheepishly and teased

"Why are you offering"
I bit my lip and avoided his penetrating gaze

"Were you" he asked in a strangled voice

"I like the way I feel when you do, it's like no-one could love me as much as you do in those few moments"

He kissed my cheek tenderly and whispered softly in my ear

"It's like that for me but a million times better"

I smiled at him and he asked his eyes growing darker

"Are you really offering"
I nodded a smile breaking across my face and he leant forward kissing up my arm and shoulder, his lips paused momentarily while he murmured again my skin

"I love you Carmen"

Before I had time to respond his teeth sank into my shoulder making my mouth drop and me curl round him like an extra layer of skin. He moaned lightly against my shoulder and pulled me closer to him while his mouth carried on sucking out my blood, I wrapped my fingers through his hair when he pulled away, resting his head against my shoulder breathing heavier than usual. I cupped his chin in my hand and raised his head so I could see his honey coloured eyes smouldering at me in the dim morning light.

"Love you too" I whispered

He smiled brilliantly at me and traced my face lightly with his fingertips; I was about to lean forward and give him a kiss when Emmett shouted up

"Come on you guys, get dressed we are going out"

Edward pulled me up off the bed and in one swift, fluid moment he pulled a mid-thigh length thin smoky grey cashmere jumper. I was pushed back onto the bed as he laced up a pair of calf high black boots, I combed my hair down and took Edwards smooth, stone hand. We walked slowly downstairs and as we got to the bottom everyone was waiting, impatiently. Alice grinned at me and scooped me into her arms, and then we were flying. My eyes were wide and fearful as we flew through the forest, dodging the thickening trees. Alice moved with the grace of a ballerina yet the speed of a cheetah, Edward was close behind but she dug in and moved faster, when she came to a shuddering halt. I slammed forward and would have fallen to the ground if she hadn't caught me in her stone grasp

"Alice" I asked breathlessly

Her hand clamped over my mouth painfully as she sunk into a crouch her teeth bared

"You have something of ours" a voice echoed through the trees

My eyes widened even further as Alice carried on crouching round through the trees, when suddenly she threw me into a shrub and I heard her outraged growl pierce the air. I stayed hidden in the bush as more growls erupted, when they had finally stopped I peeked through the leaves and saw nine vampires pinning the Cullen's down to the ground. I noticed Charlotte, Rory and Leo, Rory was squaring up to Edward both of them circling each other menacingly.

"Where's our little pet, Cullen we need her"

Edward ranted out words in a long strand of screams but I got the gist of what he was screaming about. Rory growled warningly at Edward and another stronger looking vampire joined his side, I saw Edward twitch nervously and I realised they were going to kill him in front of me. I racked my brains wondering how I could distract them when I saw a sharp rock on the floor and my healing cut along my jaw. I picked up the rock and held it against my jaw, in the background Alice screamed and I whispered

"Edward"
I stood up spinning round to face Edward, Rory and the other vampire and sliced the rock into my jaw. Blood seeped between my fingers and ran down my jaw like a river flowing, Rory got transfixed with my blood and ignored Edward to saunter over to me. Over Rory's shoulder I could see Edward and a vampire fighting and growling but it was like all my attention was focused on Rory. I could still hear Alice screaming out in the background, but it was just turning into a hum. He held his stone cold hand over my cut on my jaw and whispered

"No, no honey that's not what we want"
in a flash he was holding an injection in front of my face, with clear liquid in. He slowly injected it into the crook of my arm while it slowly spread through my body peacefully. I was so calm and numb I didn't even notice when he took some of my blood and put it in a little container, labelled SUBJECT ONE. When I felt like it I sat up straight and looked around, all the other vampires had gone and the Cullen's were watching me sadly. Carlisle strode forward and took my hand softly

"We're leaving"

"Where are we going?" I asked

He shook his head sadly and said

"My family and I are leaving"

Fear crashed down on me and I whimpered

"You're leaving me"
he nodded and I asked

"Why can't I come too?"

He took a breath before he said cautiously

"Carmen, we don't want you"
"you, don't, want me" I repeated hollowly

He nodded his eyes a grey colour and I nodded looking at the grass blades sway in the wind.

"go then" I hissed acidly

"Follow the trees and you will come out near your house, and then go to the hospital about your chin"

Carlisle let go of my hand and stood up there was a soft whoosh noise and when I looked up again they were gone. I don't know how long I sat there for, feeling empty, I sat through the drenching rain and the cold breeze until it started to get dark. I got up gingerly my jaw throbbing with pain and very, very slowly I started to walk back to the house. On the way back I peeled off the clothes he had given me to wear including the shoes, and walked through the rain in my underwear and footless. As I got towards the house and saw the lights on I remembered Jake. I hurried towards the porch and as I threw open the door I was greeted with a blast of hot air. I walked further into the house shivering from the heat and peeked into the living room to see Jake sprawled out on the sofa, thick bandages around his wrists, snoring lightly. I padded in softly and pulled the old afghan off the back of the sofa onto him; he stirred slightly but didn't wake up. I walked slowly upstairs my muscles screaming out in agony and instead of climbing in the shower to be greeted with hot water; I collapsed on my bed bringing the covers round my cold, wet body. I woke up halfway through the night screaming at the top of my lungs and Jake was shaking me slightly

"Carmen, Carmen, calm down, its okay it was just a nightmare, just a nightmare"

I clamped my mouth shut and looked around the dark spaces of my room, while my eyes welled up.

"Jesus wept Carmen, you're wet through and frozen" he pointed out

"I was in the forest" I explained

Jake scooped me easily into his warm arms and carried me into his neat room, he plonked me lightly on his bed while he handed me some boxer shorts, a tank top, a pair of hockey socks and a hooded sweatshirt. I yanked them on over my numb body and Jake pulled the covers round the both of us in his bed.

"I'm sorry, I took all your pills, I forgot what you are like when you don't take them, we'll get you some more tomorrow"

I shook my head stubbornly and said

"No, I don't want them"
Jake didn't say anything instead he just stroked my slightly damp hair away from my face, and wrapped his warm arms round my waist while I fell back into a restless slumber. The next time I woke up I wasn't screaming, Jake wasn't around me and I could hear the clatter of pots and pans coming from downstairs, all I wanted to do was curl up into a ball and pull the covers over my head, but curiosity got the better of me and I went downstairs to investigate. As I got downstairs Jake was searching thoroughly through the cupboards pulling out pots, pans and other things. When he stood up he spun round and held up a frying pan

"Pancakes" he asked bright and cheerful

I shook my head and grabbed the carton of orange juice out of the fridge, and turned to go back upstairs, when Jake grabbed my wrist and murmured

"Carmen what happened to your jaw."

I felt the cut across my jaw and said

"I cut myself its no big deal, it will heal"

He shook his head at me and I shuffled back upstairs into bed, but not for long. Jake came in ten minutes later and said happily

"Oh no don't think so, out of bed time for school"

I groaned and he yanked the covers off me and I scrambled out of bed reluctantly. He grinned at me and went back downstairs. I dressed in black to match my mood, right down to black hair slides. As I trampled downstairs my boots slamming down on the wooden stairs, Jake opened the door and beckoned me outside. As I sat in the passenger seat of his truck, my feet up on the dashboard he asked softly

"The Cullen's skipped town didn't they"

I nodded once my lips going into a tight line and he grabbed my hand softly

"This seems odd, whenever one of our parents skipped town, you would always comfort me not the other way round."

A sudden wave of emotions crashed down on me and I squeezed his hand back and whispered brokenly

"They didn't want me"

Jakes grip tightened on my hand and then he removed it and said brightly

"Hey at least you wont be watched 24/7 to make sure you don't top yourself with soap from the toilets"
I giggled lightly and asked

"Are you okay"
he nodded and sighed lightly

"Not really but I am glad it didn't work out, I wouldn't have wanted to leave you"

We were getting closer to school but I had to ask

"Jake why did you do it"
he took a while before he answered me but when he did I listened to every word

"Remember a couple of years ago, we were both fifteen and me and you went out drinking on the cliff"

I nodded remembering the dim memory and he continued

"You remember when I told you to go home and wait for me"

I nodded again

"And when I never came home, for what three weeks and when I came back I was covered from head to toe in bruises"

I nodded again trying to find out where this was going and he sighed

"What did Renée and Charliie tell you when I didn't come home"

"They said you had gone to Christmas boarding school to work on your grades. I was so mad at you for leaving me not even saying goodbye."
He smiled at me and whispered

"I wasn't there Carm; I took some pills with the rest of the beer then went over to the supermarket, where jimmy and all his crew used to hang out. I gave them some hassle and they beat me to a pulp, where I spent the next three weeks in hospital"

My breath caught in my throat and I found it hard to breathe, when I could finally drag air into my lungs I asked outraged

"Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because of your mum and my dad, they were always threatening you. Saying things like they would hurt you even more if I didn't behave, always threatening to hurt you even more. I never understood at first but I started to behave and then it dawned on me hurt you even more. What did they do to you Carmen?"

"I don't want to remember" I told him

He nodded and we were at school, everyone watching us. Jake looked afraid of going out to have everyone watch him and I said

"Don't worry I'll go out first, people still haven't got over the whole oh my god you tried to murder your daddy"

"Thank you" he barely whispered

I climbed out of the truck and walked indoors my head held high, while everyone watched. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jake climbing out of the car, discreetly without anyone noticing him. As I walked into science the table which me and Edward used to share made me feel more alone than ever. I spread my books over the table to make it seem not so empty but it didn't work. Halfway through the lesson, there was a tap at the door and the receptionist was stood there

"Carmen, can you come with me please"

I rolled my eyes sighing, what had I done now? I followed the reception down to the sick bay where Jake was led down on the bed, a thermometer stuck in his mouth. He grinned lazily at me and I snickered

"What now Jake"
"feel sick" he grumbled

I pressed my palm against his blazing hot cheek and whispered

"Holy hell Jake, you're burning up"

"Don't I bloody know it" he whinged

I helped him up off the bed and said to the school nurse, who was badly in need of a comb

"Don't worry I will take him home or to the hospital to get him sorted out"
the woman nodded and I helped carry Jake across the parking lot and push him into the passenger seat. When I finally had him buckled in I ran to the other side of the truck and clambered in, as we were cruising down the empty highway and turned to face him

"Jake you look like hell" I giggled

Then everything changed, Jake gave a strangled scream of outrage and his body started to tremble and tremor. I recoiled in horror as he bared his teeth at me and his hand shot out something sharp cutting my back. Thick reddish brown hair poured out of him as he was flung out of the cab of the truck and suddenly he was a wolf. I gazed at him terrified and transfixed, he stared right back at me and he shook another time and he was back to his normal self, minus the clothes.

"Carmen" he gasped

"Get in" I said softly

He climbed in and I handed him the spare blanket in the back of the truck, he wrapped it round his waist and he whispered

"I don't know what to say Carmen"

"You don't have to say anything, I understand"
he glared at me and said

"How the hell do you understand, you don't understand anything about me"

"Wrong, I know everything about your kind" I hissed

"What did your little bloodsucker friends tell you that" he sneered back at me

This time I was the one lost for words, Jake knew that the Cullen's, wince, were vampires yet he never said anything.

"You knew" I managed to whisper

"Oh yeah I knew, I knew all along what they were filthy parasites"
"don't you dare" I snarled

"Look at you, still protecting them after everything they did to you Carmen. You think I didn't know what had really happened when you came home covered in cuts or bruises even puncture marks. I can see every single scar on you"

I looked closely at Jake and saw the fury and rage etched onto his face

"You don't know anything about them Jake and you never will"
"Then how the hell will you ever know fully about me"

"Because I pay goddamn attention, and I asked Carlisle what was wrong with you and how could I help you. He told me to not agitate you and when it happened to be careful not to get hurt, but looks like that went out of the window"

Jake suddenly looked down to my bloody, torn back and his eyes were filled with ancient sadness

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have, I'm supposed to be in control, you surprised me, I didn't, I wouldn't" he stuttered

"We need to talk" I said angrily

He nodded and stared out of the window for the rest of the journey. When I parked up outside the house, Jake shot inside and I took my time collecting my thoughts together. I walked straight into the kitchen and downed a glass of water, while I splashed it on my cheeks. I peeled off my shirt carefully minding the cut and gazed at the wound up back and wondered how I was going to sow it up carefully. When I was looking in the mirror I could see jakes reflection, he was now dressed in a baggy pair of sweats and a horrified expression. I turned to face him and he avoided eye contact.

"Jake, c'mere" I said

He shuffled towards me and I handed him a needle and thread, he looked confused and I explained

"I need you to sow me up; I can't get to that bit so you have to do it for me"

He nodded uncertainly and started to tug though my skin; I winced but made sure I kept still so I wouldn't jolt him. When he was done, I looked at his handiwork and smiled

"Thank you" I told him

He threw himself at me, wrapping his arms tightly round me his face burrowed in my hair and he said in a choked voice

"M sorry Carmen, I'm so, so sorry, I think I'll leave"

I gripped him tighter to me and whispered sadly

"Don't leave me; I'll have no one then"

He stroked my hair softly and murmured

"Okay, I'll stay, I'll stay"

I stood up off the chair and Jake pulled me in the living room and onto the couch. He sat down next to me and whispered

"What happened, when they left"
I closed my eyes trying to shut away the pain that flooded through me but I managed to spill out the story.

"We were in the forest when we stopped suddenly, Alice threw me in a bush where I hid and more vampires came. I watched as the vampires held the Cullen's down and as they squared up to Edward. There were three of them that were obsessed with me they had captured me before tortured me but Edward always saved me. They were looking for me that night but Edward wouldn't tell them, and they were going to kill him. I couldn't watch him die in front of me, so I figured I could create a distraction, give him a fraction of a second to defend himself, but it didn't work. I picked up a rock and cut along my jaw, blood flowing and the leader got distracted. He walked towards me and injected something in my arm; I was part of an anti-vamp drug trial. I didn't hurt; it just made me feel calm and peaceful. Then Carlisle came over and said they were leaving, but I thought they meant me too, but obviously not. He said that they didn't want me, and then they just left"

Jake was silent for a moment, and then said outraged

"How dare they leave you, after everything you did for them? How could they"

After Jake had stopped mumbling under his breath I asked softly

"Jake, if I asked you to do something with me would you"
he nodded and I whispered even quieter

"Will you come with me to their house?"

He looked at me his eyes growing softer

"Of course I will"
he led me to the truck in the dark, and I huddled close together on my seat to keep myself from falling apart.

"I'm observant too" he suddenly said

"What do you mean" I asked quietly

"Every time you think or someone mentions the Cullen's you curl yourself up into a ball. Look your doing it now, it's like you're trying to hold yourself together"

I ignored him holding on tighter to myself as he drove slowly towards the Cullen's house. We got there quickly and as Jake parked up I climbed carefully out of the truck, making sure I didn't fall or feint. Abruptly, there was a growl and movement coming from the house, I stopped in my tracks and whispered as quietly as I could

"Jake, get back in the car, now"
he did as he was told when I heard another deeper growl and I flung myself back into the car, locking the door behind me. The door indented into my side painfully as the vampire flung itself into the side of the truck and Jake started to judder painfully and I said

"Jake calm down and move!"

He did as he was told and we flew down the streets both of us looking behind every few seconds. We only calmed down when we were safely in the house, all doors and windows locked tightly. When we stopped moving, I started to sway unsteadily on my feet rubbing at my tender head. Jake led me down carefully on the sofa and I grumbled

"I think I banged my head, when he slammed into the side of the car"
Jake growled but kept a hold of himself, he pulled a blanket round me and whispered

"Go to sleep, you could do with some rest"

I closed my eyes obediently and fell asleep abruptly. As I started to rift back to consciousness I could hear voices, jakes voice to be precise. He was yelling into the phone quietly, so not to wake me, and I paid attention to what he was saying

"How could you leave her" he hissed

He was talking to one of the Cullen's, about me. There was a pause as he waited for a response, and when he finally got one he wasn't happy.

"What do you mean she was safe, Carmen is never safe? She has a danger magnet attached to her, to receive danger in a five mile radius."
Another pause

"Yes that danger also includes me, I hurt her not much but I could have. And you lot are nowhere to be seen"

He waited a while and rubbed at his temples.

"Don't I feel bad enough all ready"

This time there was a shorter response

"How is she? How is she! How the hell do you think she is? She's a wreck you have only been gone what 48 hours and already I can tell she is a wreck. It's not shown on top unless you break down her defences; it's in her eyes it's like she's dead. I do not want to go through all that again"

I took a deep breath as he waited for a reply to that

"What you mean she never told you? I figured she told you everything huh basically to sum it up, when things got tough at home I mean real tough, she would come out of her room head to toe in fresh bruises and cuts. She never talked and when you touched her she screamed like a real harpie. It got real bad I was thinking about running away with her but we both knew that wouldn't solve things. Instead she got into a bad spiral of self destruction; she drank, did drugs, got in with the wrong groups, got into various fights and cut herself. I can see it in her eyes again and it's haunting and it's your entire fault you bunch of leeches"

"Edward how could you do this to her, seriously just today..."
Jake never got a chance to finish what he was saying, because as soon as I found out it was Edward he was talking to I flew across the room. I snatched the phone out of his surprised grip and breathed into the phone

"Edward"
there was a complete silence, and then the phone cut off. Jake took the phone out of my lax hold, and led me back down on the sofa murmuring nonsense in my ear till I fell back into a restless sleep. The next morning I felt like hell, Jake was sleeping sound asleep on the floor his hand still wrapped around mine. I sat up abruptly remembering last night and Jake jerked awake, he looked at me confused and I mumbled

"Why did Edward cut me off last night"
Jake's face suddenly closed off and he murmured

"I'm sorry I never meant for that to happen to you"

I shrugged and climbed off the sofa stretching, Jake jumped up and shifted his feet side to side.

"What's up Jake" I asked him

He bit his bottom lip and mumbled

"I, well I need to go hunting. Would you be okay here for like three hours"
I nodded and said

"Sure, have fun"

He walked out of the door and before the door closed I yelled

"Happy hunting's"
I heard a throaty chuckle and then the door sung shut, as soon as that happened I searched around till I found jakes cell phone. I dialled Alice's number quickly and after the first ring she picked up

"Jake what do you want, were having a bit of a crisis"
her voice sounded annoyed but I didn't care I felt so much happier just hearing her voice.

"What do you want Jake" she snapped

I took a deep breath and finally whispered

"It's not Jake, Alice"

She was silent for a moment before she breathed quietly

"Carmen, what is it. I'm not supposed to be talking to you"
"no Alice, please don't leave me. You have no idea what it's been like without you here"
she was quiet for a few moments before she spoke again

"I miss you too, stupid Edward, I don't see why he just doesn't change you"
I sighed heavily thinking the same thing and I asked her

"Alice, what's the crisis you have?"