Title: The Scarred Angel
Rating: T
Full Summary: After being attacked by a werewolf, Bella Swan moves from Phoenix to Forks to live with her dad. After all, she's been scented and it's well known that werewolves tend to steer clear of cold, wet places like Forks. But where there are no werewolves then there are lots of Vamps. An admittance into the Association of Angels and a friendship with a shape-shifter later, Bella finds herself falling for the Vamp in the woods, Edward Masen. But what has Edward got to hide that means him staying clear of society? And why do him and the other Vamps act so…human? Everything Bella knows is being turned upside down and while she ponders these new changes and views, the enemies are closing in. And there's a fine line between enemy and friend.

Disclaimer: Twilight and its characters are all property of Stephenie Meyer. No profit is being made from this piece of work. No copyright infringement is intended.

PART 1: THE SCARRED ANGEL

1. First Vamp

My father's reaction when he saw my face should have come as no surprise to me but it did. His eyes widened and a look of disgust danced along his features before he composed himself. My dad, Charlie, had never been good at hiding anything though and I knew he found it uncomfortable to look at me.

"It's nice to see you again, Bells," he said, focusing on gathering my bags rather than talking to my face. "It's a shame about the circumstances though."

I only nodded, mute as we left the airport and loaded up his police cruiser. We didn't talk during the long ride to Forks which was both good and bad. Good because it had been ages since I last saw Charlie and I didn't know what to say; bad because it left me alone with my thoughts, reminded me of why I was here in the first place.

When I was three years old, my mom left my dad in Forks and moved to Phoenix where she met and married Phil. Everything was fine. I would go and spend a few weeks of summer with my dad up until I was twelve, then I decided not to go anymore. It wasn't because I didn't like spending time with my dad. It was just because Forks became a haven for the Vamps. It's not unknown that Vamps prefer cold, wet towns as opposed to the hot, humid cities.

Werewolf sightings were quite common in Phoenix but, as long as we followed the correct procedure on full moon – draped mistletoe over all the entrances of the house – we were safe. Or at least we were until I messed everything up a few months ago.

Being attacked by a werewolf is painful. But I was, surprisingly, one of the lucky ones. I might have been scarred for life but at least I was still human.

"Bells, we're home," Charlie said as he pulled up into the driveway of his – our – home. I knew then it was going to be hard settling in. Charlie brought my bags upstairs – I was too tired to protest.

"I'll leave you to sort yourself out," he said gruffly, always averting his eyes away from me, before he left the room. I listened to his heavy footfalls down the stairs and into the living room, he switched the TV on. It was a good few minutes before I realized I was still rooted to the spot.

Unfreezing myself, I made my way into the bathroom. Being human, I wasn't used to luxury so the creaking floorboards and the thin windows didn't bother me. I was just surprised this house had stairs. Back in Phoenix, everybody lived in single-storey cabins – except for the odd Vamp of course. The Arizonian heat kept us warm though buckets could be found round the house whenever we had a freak rain shower. The roof wasn't sturdy enough. I always wondered why Vamps couldn't build our houses too. It's not like they don't have the strength or the time.

The bathroom was small but had a tub – something else I wasn't used to. I caught my eye in the mirror over the sink but didn't recoil as I would have done a few months ago.

My injuries from the attack meant I had a large scar running from the right side of my forehead down to my jaw line on the left side of my face. I was lucky to still have two working eyes though they wouldn't be noticed amidst the smaller but still present scars all over my cheeks and nose. Under my clothes I had an even worse scar running up my left inner leg from where it had been stitched back up after it'd been sliced open. I had loads of scars running across my arms and my torso too. That was another good thing about moving to Forks; not only was I safe from the werewolves but the cold weather meant I could get away with hiding my marks under layers of jumpers and coats.

Silently, as if in a trance, I lifted my shirt up and over my head. Tossing it to the floor, I reached up to the hollow of my throat and traced my worst scar down to the top of my cleavage. This, the doctors told me, was the Killer Scar. The one that, if they had not operated and removed the parasite fast enough, would have made me one of them.

Night had fallen by the time I got out of the tub and changed into my pajamas. I'd always slept in a T-shirt and sweats just in case we had to make an escape during the night.

Charlie was still in front of the TV when I got downstairs. We regarded each other silently. I could tell he was trying not to look at the marks up and down my arms.

"School tomorrow," he stated, unsure of what to say. I nodded mutely again before realizing I needed to start finding my voice if I wanted a new start.

"Thanks for taking me in, Dad," I said, sitting on the sofa next to his armchair.

"Don't thank me, Bella," he said seriously. "You're my daughter. You have every right to be here."

"I'm sure Renee would be grateful too," I said, thinking of my poor mother hauled up in some jail cell back in Phoenix.

"Did you see her before you left?" Charlie asked, keeping his eyes fixed on the screen so as not to look like he was hanging on to my every word. He was so obvious.

"No," I replied sadly. "They said I wasn't allowed."

"And by 'they', you mean…?" Charlie trailed off but we both knew who we were talking about.

"The L.W.C," I confirmed. It had taken all my control not to put an ugly adjective in front of the agency's name.

"Forks High is a nice school," Charlie said after a beat of silence. I almost smiled at his attempt to change the subject.

"I'm sure it is," I agreed, happy to go along and pretend everything was normal and safe; that we were fine and equal in the world.

(*)

Charlie had bought me a truck to drive to school in. It was nice of him and I was happy to have it until he mentioned Renee and Phil had put to it. It saddened me to know that they'd be spending the rest of their lives in jail and so had decided to spend what little remained of their money on me.

Forks High was a lot smaller than my old school so I had no problem navigating my way around. People rarely spoke to me but I had no problem with that. People rarely spoke to me back in Phoenix. It wasn't uncommon for children to play together as toddlers under the watchful eyes of our parents, oblivious to the dangers that lurked around us. But once we were old enough to understand what was going on around us, friends withered into acquaintances. To get too close to somebody was dangerous; there was no telling whether or not you would lose them in the next full moon. And there was also no telling if they were a werewolf themselves until full moon. And, in situations like mine, nobody wanted to befriend somebody who had been scented.

But nobody turned against each other. Living in a city populated with werewolves and run by Vamps really made people band together if not in the closeness of friendship.

That was why I was thoroughly surprised to hear a blonde girl talk badly about another girl as I waited to go into my English class. I couldn't help but stare at her as she continued to be rude about 'Angela Weber'.

"Stupid freak," she practically spat at her comrade next to her. "What does she think she's doing? Trying to bring about world bloody peace?" She emphasized on the word 'bloody' and I shuddered. No doubt about it; she was a Vamp Wannabe. She didn't look like the type of girl who had the brains or the decency to Qualify for a VQA though.

"Just ignore them," a tall girl with short brown hair spoke to me from behind. I turned round, surprised when the girl gave me a friendly smile rather than flinching at my scars.

"I'm sorry?" I said because I wasn't sure whether the girl was on about the blonde girl and her pack or the boy up ahead who was commenting rather loudly on my scars.

"Lauren and Jessica," the girl explained, nodding her head in the direction of the two girls. "They're Vamp Groupies."

"Groupies?" I commented, smiling despite myself. Nobody should want to be a Vamp in my mind and those type of people disgusted me. Still, I liked the word.

"Yeah, what do you call them back in Arizona?" the girl asked.

"Wannabes," I said before adding, "But I prefer 'Groupies'."

The girl laughed. "I'm Angela by the way."

I automatically looked over to where Lauren and Jessica stood, now watching us with interest. I wondered what they thought; were they pleased to see the 'stupid freak' and the new scarred girl talking?

"Yeah, I'm that Angela," Angela confirmed for me, rolling her eyes.

I blushed slightly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"It's okay, Bella," Angela said, because, being a small town, everybody already knew my name.

I'd already found out from the Office Staff that the whole town was shocked to find the daughter of their Chief of Police had been attacked by a werewolf. I'd overheard them talking about it as I picked up my timetable. They'd made it sound as though Charlie should have been there to protect me.

I felt rather than saw the line behind me start to move as the class filed into English. To my surprise, Angela grabbed a seat next to me. Nobody had spoken to me face-to-face all day and I wasn't sure how to act. I'd heard people whispering about me in the halls and that was enough to throw me off-balance.

"So what do you think of Forks so far?" Angela asked as the teacher busied herself at the front of the room before class began.

"It's wet," I replied, looking out the window where the rained pounded down hard as if to prove my point.

Angela laughed. "That it is," she agreed.

The teacher then turned to face the class. I noticed the blood-red band around her wrist, letting everybody know she was Qualified. I thought of my poor grades and wondered what the future held for me.

"I want to go into politics," Angela told me quietly. She must have seen me staring at the band around the teacher's wrist. "But everyone tells me it's a Qualified Career."

"It is," I whispered back. "If you're going into politics then the Vamps at least want you on their side."

Angela grinned at me, her grey eyes sparkling with mischief. "But I'm not," she said.

I decided I liked Angela a lot.

At lunchtime I sat with her, both of us picking at the food the cafeteria had to offer.

"You seem like just the girl I'm looking for," Angela said nonchalantly, keeping her eyes on her sandwich which she was inspecting. "I've been looking all over town for somebody who hates Vamps as much as me."

"I was attacked by a werewolf, Angela," I reminded her, "Not a Vamp."

Angela looked up at me, frowning. "I wasn't talking about your scars," she said, so sincerely that I believed her. "I was talking about the way you looked at Miss Bunker's wristband and the way you grinned when I mentioned Lauren being a Vamp Groupie."

I smiled again at the name and Angela nodded enthusiastically.

"So you're telling me everyone around here loves the Vamps?" I asked.

"There are loads round here," she explained, "One of them is even in the hospital."

I choked on my sandwich. "The hospital?" I asked, once I'd taken a swig of my water to ease the coughing.

Angela smiled at my reaction. "He's been there since before I was born," she told me.

"I thought Vamps liked to travel," I pointed out, remembering the few Vamps back home. I'd had one for a History teacher in the seventh grade but he'd only lasted one semester before he moved on to 'bigger and better things'. He was one of the main reasons I couldn't stick their species. So it was alright for them to come and go as they pleased but yet they controlled us, herded us around like…like sheep?

"See, this is the thing," Angela continued in a hushed whisper. "I've lived here all my life so I've always assumed they stayed in the same place. It was only when I did some research that I discovered our Vamps are a bit weird."

"How do you mean?" I asked. The thought of weird Vamps freaked me out a bit; they were bad enough when they weren't weird.

"They all seem to be friends," Angela explained, looking round the cafeteria as if making sure we weren't being listened to. "Usually, so I've read, they only interact with their Mates."

"How many Vamps are here?" I asked.

"Six," Angela answered. "We do get the odd nomad coming through but six of them have been here permanently. My dad said some of them moved here when he was a boy."

"Great," I whispered. I knew what my move to Forks would entail but I'd been hoping not to take notice of the Vamps who lived here. Now though, it seemed inevitable that I would run into them pretty often.

I'd always been a klutz but now I was hoping I wouldn't land myself in hospital too many times. The last thing I wanted was to be treated by a Vamp doctor.

"Hey, Bella!" a boy called, walking over from a nearby table. He called to me as if he knew me but I barely recognized him from my Spanish class.

"Tyler," he introduced himself, taking a seat on the other side of me. Angela wrinkled her nose at him but I decided to give him a chance. I smiled at him, hoping I didn't look to grotesque. "How are you liking Forks?" he asked, smiling. I tried to find some disgust in his eyes but alas there was none.

"It's okay," I said, shrugging and smiling shyly. I was aware of Angela gawking at the side of me and of the people on Tyler's table looking at us but I tried to ignore them. Boys had never really showed interest in me back in Phoenix. This was new…and nice.

"It's even better on weekends," he said. I laughed a little with him.

But of course it was too good to be true. Once Tyler had gotten me relaxed and comfortable, he went in for the kill. Leaning forward so our faces were just inches apart, he smiled and said, "So, a werewolf, huh?"

Angry tears burned my eyes and I stood up quickly, my chair scraping against the floor behind me. I heard laughter from Tyler's table as I stormed out of the cafeteria. Angela was calling my name. But I blocked them out. I hadn't wanted anybody to know in the first place but my physical injuries were a constant reminder; my neon signs of scars. If it weren't for them, nobody would have known. The last thing I wanted was for people to make my fun of me, to target me because of my attack.

Unfortunately, lunch wasn't over yet so I made my way into the girl's toilets on the second floor, content with staying there until the bell for Art rang. However, the toilets weren't empty.

Lauren and Jessica stood there, admiring their reflections in the mirror. They caught my eye on the reflective glass as I entered the room and turned round at the same time to greet me, lipstick smiles plastered on their faces.

"So, Bella," Lauren said casually. "Is it true that they actually got the parasite out of you in time?"

My breath caught in my throat. This wasn't fair. It was like I couldn't escape it.

"Because we've heard stories," Jess said, taking the reins, "About werewolf victims who thought they were cured but come next full moon…" She trailed off, arching her brows in mock sympathy for me.

I tried to ignore them and went straight to the sink pretending I needed to wash my hands. All the while I was aware of them watching me.

"How did it happen?" Lauren asked suddenly. "What did you do? Go up to it and ask for a hug?"

I had been drying my hands on a paper towel when she asked and, in my frustration, I threw the towel in the bin and headed out the door before I could say anything I would regret.

They didn't understand. None of them did. They'd grown up in a world filled with Vamps. I bet they had never even seen a live beastie in their lives, never had to endure the snarling as they paced outside your bedroom window looking for a way in.

The bell rang as soon as I exited the toilets, much to my relief. I found Art easily by the way it was decorated. The corridor had paintings from students all over its walls and glass cabinets lined the hallway filled with creative models. I shivered. I didn't belong here; Art was never really my thing. I wondered if I could ask the Office to skip this lesson and take an extra English class instead.

I was even more persuaded to do just that when I saw the teacher.

Angela wasn't in this class but the tables were all individually set out, thank goodness. I found a seat at the front of the class – a place where nobody could talk to me without the teacher hearing every word.

The teacher didn't have a red band around her wrist when she entered the room. Instead the blood red color was found in her eyes as she focused in on me; the new student, the fresh blood. You could tell she was into Art by the way she dressed in clothes that were quirky yet fashionable. At first glance she was so small with spiky black hair that I would have mistakened her for a boy.

Her voice, however, was definitely not a male's. It was high without being shrill, and sweet without being sickening. Overall, it lured people in and got them listening, as was the idea.

"Hello again!" the Vamp greeted giving everybody a big smile. Her sharp white teeth were enough to intimidate even the tallest boys in the class. I wondered if Tyler was here but I couldn't take my eyes off the little Vamp to turn around and check.

She zoned in on me then. "My name is Alice Whitlock and I'll be your Art teach for the year," she said. I balled my hands into fists.

Day One in Forks and I'd already encountered my first Vamp. Great.