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Blood.

It's what brings life to all creatures, pumping in a thousand shades of red through the world, linking people, animals and families.

It's what drives me mad. Pushes a burning thirst into my throat that screams at me to kill and kill again until the lust for it is sated…but I know if I did, it wouldn't matter.

The thirst would come back, searing like flames and twice as worse as before.

Blood, pumping through the very earth itself, driving me mad and linking all creatures in the circle of life.

Except mine.

I stand outside, isolated.

But not alone. Never alone. I have family, friends who stand by my side, on the outside looking in.

But a lifetime ago, when blood still flowed in my veins, I had another family. And that's what brings us to this; my mother was dead.

It was a bright, sunny day when they buried Renee.

Which meant I couldn't be there.

I couldn't say goodbye to my mother before she was entombed in the cold earth.

Charlie was there; Phil wasn't. He'd died in the same car crash that had taken my mother.

Sue and Seth, even Leah.

But her daughter wasn't.

I was locked away, forced from my final respects to my mother by my duty to the secret of my new family.

At night, when the world turned dark and the secret was safe, I went to go see my mother's grave.

I pulled the BMW compact I'd rented at the airport into the sprawling cemetery outside of Phoenix, it halogen headlights casting an eerie blue light over the granite headstones.

I slowed the car down when I reached the row of plots that Seth had told me my mother was laid to rest in.

I stopped the car as a roaring Harley Davidson passed me at breakneck speed, its loud tailpipes rattling the windows in my car as the rider weaved out of the cemetery at speeds that shot past "reckless" and moved into "stupid".

I sighed in annoyance and then opened the door and climbed out of the car. I stopped for a moment and looked behind me as the lingering smell of the motorcycles exhaust washed over me. The bikes single red taillight had disappeared back into the night.

I looked back at the car at the empty seat next to mine and sighed again, this time ragged with sadness. Edward had wanted to come with me. He'd practically begged me. But I though that this was something I had to do on my own.

Now I wished he was here, more than anything.

I walked unto the cold, neatly trimmed grass of the cemetery and slowly walked over to my mothers grave.

And then, with a tearless sob, I fell to my knees.

Five hours later, I stumbled to my feet and back towards my car.

I got in and turned the key, vaguely noticing that the engine was making some kind of a ticking noise.

I pulled out of the cemetery and unto the long road that led back down into the city.

Unconsciously, my foot began to press further down on the accelerator as I went faster down into the valley, desperate to get away.

I heard a loud boom and suddenly everything into the car seized up except for the steering, and I had to quickly slew the car to the side of the road, trying not to slide out as I did so. I got the smoking BMW unto the side of the road just as it ran out of momentum, piling up rocks form the gravel shoulder under that tires as it came to a halt.

I sat for a moment in stunned disbelief as the super heated engine clicked.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to cry.

I wanted to curl up into a ball and never move again.

I wanted to laugh.

But all I ended up doing was staring in stunned disbelief out at the sky as the first purple traces of daylight spiked unto the horizon.

I was still sitting there, motionless, as I heard a throaty roar coming towards me from the bottom of the hill. It built and built until I saw single headlight come around a corner, and it grew brighter and brighter until I could make out the shape of the same massive motorcycle I had seen in the cemetery.

It started to slow when it came in sight of my broken down car, and the biker eyeballed me as he rode by. I stared back blankly, and then he was past.

I watched in the rearview mirror as the rider swung the bike into a wide U-turn and then gunned the engine. He passed me again, only this time he came to a stop on the gravel shoulder in front of my car.

My eyes, keen at night as they were in daylight showed my his profile as clearly as if my headlights were still shinning down the road; the rider wore black form head to toe; black jeans, black t-shirt, black leather vest and a small, round black helmet that would absolutely nothing to save him the event of a crash. The only splash of color came form the patches swen on the back of the vest; leering, golden-winged skull in a red motorcycle helmet sat sandwiched between to crescent shaped patches, with bold red lettering on both. The bottom spelled out "Arizona" while the top one…the top one read… "Hells Angels".

I blinked.

The biker took off his helmet and hung it form the handle bars.

He flexed his massive tattooed arms as long brown hair fell down over his shoulders, almost hiding the top patch on his vest.

My cell phone began to ring; when I looked down and saw Alice's number, I snapped it up and brought to my ear.

"Alice! What…" I began, but she cut me off.

"It will be alright Bella," She whispered, "Just get out of the car and walk towards him."

"What?" I demanded, but the line was dead.

The biker got off his motorcycle and took a heavy flashlight off his belt.

"Hey, you okay lady?" he asked.

Oddly nervous, I got out of the car and took a few steps towards him; I wasn't afraid. I knew he couldn't hurt me. But instincts long unused were screaming at me to be careful.

"I'm fine…"

"Looks like you threw a rod. You called a mechanic yet?"

"I…" for the first time, I saw the bikers face. I knew it instantly; I saw features much like it every time I looked into a mirror.

From the sudden intake of breathe I heard, the biker recognized me too.

"Bella?"

I smiled slightly. Yes. This was him.

This was my brother.