Disclaimer: I do not own Carlisle Cullen and Ash Redfern. Never mind how I wish I owned Carlisle. I would tie him up on my couch.

Chapter 1: The Shadow

"Sarah, can you grab some tea for the old ladies at table 5?"

It was her Step-Aunt again. It had now been six months since her move here. 25 weeks. 281 days. 4344 hours. 260 640 minutes. No matter how she counted it, it still only felt like a short while since the day she moved here. 2 weeks after attending the funeral of her Mother, Step-Father, and her little sister Megan.

Six months since here Step-Aunt demanded she come help her at the old inn she ran. Sarah liked it mostly the Willows Inn. She loved to chat with the old ladies and play with the kids who stayed for about a week then left. The inn itself was old but sturdy. However much she liked it, it was starting to end. The weather was getting colder and days shorter. Also her Aunt was getting crabbier with things. Sarah knew that her Aunt was just using her. Sarah made beds, cleaned, cooked, and served the guests. Hell she was pretty much running the place.

"Sarah! Stop standing there and serve them!" Snapping out of her depressing thoughts, Sarah pasted on a smile. It wasn't the usual pretty smile that she was used to. The one that she had before the accident. People used to tell her it lit up her blue eyes and added a glow to her fair skin. She knew that she was really pretty, with her long chestnut hair that went straight to her hips. The thick eyelashes that framed her huge blue eyes, the only thing that took it away was her height. She hated her height. At 5 foot 11 she was taller than most guys in her old school. However it was her height that saved her.

It was a horribly hot night. Her mother had taken them all out to get some ice cream. Megan was jumping in her seat, and wouldn't put on her seat belt. Her step-father as usual just kept talking to her mom not paying attention. That was when the car struck them. It was quick and fatal. She was told that her sister had gone through the windshield and that both her mother and step-father were crushed. The doctors said that because her body was so long it kept her from being thrown about.

If she thought about it, she wasn't that upset about it. She missed her sister the most. Her poor innocent eight year old sister. She didn't know anything that had gone on in the hell house. She didn't know that her mother was into drugs and that her step-father had snuck into Sarah's room when he had a little too much to drink. She didn't hear the arguments that Sarah had with her mom, trying to get her to believe her about it. She was the only thing that had stopped Sarah from running away and starting a better life.

It was the age difference, she thought, it was how I raised her because mom was to into the new drugs to care. At age 19 she had lost her only thing she could call family. 'Oh well.' She thought, 'now to survive this hell hole.' She took the tray to the women sitting by then window.

"Sarah, don't you look lovely today," Mrs. Redfern said. Mrs. Redfern was Ash's mother, and Sarah liked her quite well. She also liked her son, Ash and his new wife Nina. They were a nice couple, always ready to help if it was needed and to keep her company. They felt like older siblings, if she knew what those were.

"Have you seen my son yet? He and his new wife went out about an hour ago to take a walk but they haven't been back yet. Could you maybe go look for them?" Mrs. Redfern asked, looking up with eyes that looked as if they were blind.

"Sure ma'am. I will go in a minute, just after I serve this tea." Sarah replied. She would love to go out and get away from her Aunt. She was tired already and her Aunt might have sensed that. Her Aunt, being around 400 pounds, was a lazy as lazy could be. She didn't pay Sarah for working, made her cook her own food plus her Aunts, and any money she did earn; her aunt took it, for 'raising fees' as she liked to put it.

She was just tugging off her work apron when Mrs. Redfern reminded her about her promise. Sarah hadn't forgotten, she was just slow today. She told Mrs. Redfern she was leaving now. She ran out the door before anyone else could stop her. She loved to be outdoors. It was beautiful in Ireland. She loved living here. When she was outside it made all the bad moments in her life seem to disappear. She started to walk down the path she new Nina and Ash would have taken. She was half way down when she started to her a weird noise coming from the bushes. Then she heard something like a moan. OH LORD! She thought. It sounded like Ash, but what could they be....

"Ash! Nina! I am about to come in the bushes!" Sarah warned. She pushed the bushes aside and stared. She didn't know what to think. All she saw was Ash in the ground holding his shin and his face scrunched up in pain.

"She freaking kicked me in the shins! She is INSANE! Damn-it! It hurts!" he whined.

"Excuse you?" Nina asked. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring at Ash. "Stop crying and act like a man. I only kicked you in the shin, I could have aimed higher." Nina looked up and found Sarah staring at them. "He spilled all the berries I managed to pick. I swear if it wasn't for his looks and his ability in bed I would divorce him. What's up?"

"Mrs. Re-Redfern is looking for you two. She wanted me to some look for you," Sarah stammered. She was too embarrassed at the bed comment to do anything else. Nina picked up the basket and after telling Ash to get off his ass and help, walked towards Sarah and lead her back towards Willows Inn. She loved Nina and Ash like a sister and brother; they were the only ones that were going to stay the full year. Their mother was going back within the next week, and was excited to come back next year.

"Sarah your pretty quiet, is something bothering you? You know you can tell me," Sarah was startled out if her thoughts by the question. She looked at Nina, and took noticed at how she looked. Her skin, a creamy chocolate color, was nice; her big brown eyes were sincere in their worry for her. Nina being only 5 foot 6 was shorter then her. She and Ash made a cute couple.

"Only worried about how I'm going to clean up after everyone leaves this summer. I know Auntie is not going to help me. She needs to hire more help but she is too cheap to do it." Sarah lied. In truth she was worried about making new friends so that she wouldn't have to be alone when Nina and Ash were gone. She never got to go to town yet so she knew nobody except for the delivery personnel who dropped off supplies, and even then they were old men.

"Don't worry. If it's that bad maybe I can trick Ash to help you. He is awesome at cleaning." Nina joked. Nina loved Ash. However when people saw them act like this, they thought she was just taking advantage of him. Ash love Nina too, he always looked at her with deep love in his eyes. He understood that she was like that. Once he told her, when Nina went to get changed, that the reason for marring her was that she was her own person, she didn't care what others thought.

As her and Nina were passing the stony path to Dead Man's Hideaway, Ash caught up to them. He was slightly limping but he still put his arm around her. As he did Sarah felt a pang in her chest, she wanted someone to have his arm around her. She was just about to turn away from them when she saw a dark shape of a man in the shadows from the path to Dead Man's Hideaway. She knew that he was looking at her, and she knew it was a he but not human. Her heart started to pound in her chest and he took a step closer, and turned his head as if he could hear it, but she still could not make out his face. Then, as she started towards him, Nina and Ash both asked at the same time:

"I'm hungry, when is supper time?"

"Sarah, you got pale all of a sudden. Are you ok?"

Then Nina started to get after Ash, saying how he ate all those berries so he should not be hungry. By the time Sarah looked back to the path, the shadow of the man was gone.

AN: This is my first story ever so I could use some feed back people. Also ideas would be great. I will try to update it soon.