Chapter one

Bella's POV:

It was Emmett's turn up to bat, Alice was pitching, Jasper was on third and Edward was on second. Though my understanding of sports was not exactly up to scratch, I had gotten a vague sense of the game from watching the Cullens. Emmett had teasingly told me that pretty soon I'd understand enough to start playing myself, I grinned and told him not a chance. I knew he was joking, no one in their right mind would put a baseball bat in my hands, but I think he was also hoping I might decide to give it a try. Emmett loved to win, and winning for him would be pitifully easy if I were playing against him.

So as usual I sat on the sidelines, so to speak, it was really just an old log set alongside the broad field, and watched the vampires light up the game with their speed and strength. Rose and Esme were referring; well, Esme referred, Rosalie was more interested in watching Emmett flex his muscles as he got ready to send the ball soaring. Edward kept glancing over at me and laughing to himself, I pretended not to see him, and sat straight with as much dignity as I could muster with the too-big baseball cap seated jauntily on my head.

When I had told Charlie I would be going with the Cullens to play, he had insisted on giving me his old baseball cap to wear while my companions played. I think he meant it as a joke, and I had no intention of wearing the thing either way, but at the moment Charlie was handing it to me Edward had arrived to pick me up. He caught onto what Charlie was doing right away, stupid mind reading, and had insisted that I wear the hat. I was adamant, I would not wear it, it was the most lurid shade of orange I had ever seen, and was large enough to cover a bowling ball, who would even buy such a hat?

Charlie said he'd bought it in Vegas with my mom, they'd seen it in a gift shop and he'd tried it on as a joke and my mom had laughed so hard at the sight of him that he bought it on the spot. He blushed as he recounted this story, I knew he was uncomfortable talking about Renee; he had never really fallen out of love with her, while she was now remarried.

Edward and I had left the house, me still holding the hat but determined not to put it on my head, and looking pointedly away from Edward. I knew he was waiting for me to make eye contact so that he could persuade me to wear the cap. But once we were in the Volvo it was only a matter of time until I glanced over at him, and then I was toast. He made his amber eyes larger than I would have thought possible, begging and compelling at the same time. "Please, Bella," he said in a low voice, pronouncing the word carefully so that his alluring breath blew toward me. I blinked and tried to pull my gaze away, "no," I said, pursing my lips to keep them from blurting out an agreement of their own accord. "But Bella, it will be wonderfully entertaining." He said, leaning toward me, going in for the kill. Oh god, I was such a push over around him, it was pathetic. "Um…" I tried to remember my resolve; the hat-the hat was orange, it was heinous, no way was I wearing it… "Please, for a laugh, Bella, for me." That was it, I was done for. I sighed, which didn't help because the air was full of his delicious smell, and nodded dully. His mouth pulled up in a stunning grin, and he reached over and settled the hat on my head. He leaned away to get a better look at me, and burst into laughter. I scowled at him, but I couldn't take it off, his laughter was too enchanting, I didn't want it to stop.

He chuckled all the way to the field, and I was greeted with similar reactions from all of the Cullens when they set eyes on me in the neon abomination. But I gamely wore it throughout the evening, trying to maintain what little dignity I had left by not backing down. Did that even make sense?

Thunder was sounding in the distance, muffling the echoing crack of the bat as Emmett hit and sped to first base before I could blink. It would start to rain soon, Alice had predicted, so I had my raincoat in my lap, secretly grateful for an excuse to take off my badge of shame. I felt a drop land on my cheek and turned my face skyward. I couldn't see any stars above me, just massive, opaque clouds heavy with rain and illuminated from within by lightning. I gratefully pulled my arms through my raincoat and tugged the hat off my head so that I could secure my hood. I saw that Edward looked disappointed when he saw me remove the hat; I smiled at him and suppressed the desire to stick out my tongue.

Jasper had made his run for home, skidding to a stop twenty yards from the base near the perimeter of trees, waving the battered base in the air like a trophy. Ha ha, "stealing base", clever. Jasper always seemed more exuberant when he was playing, not as withheld as usual, and I could tell it made Alice happy to see him having fun. I smiled, watching as Jasper did a victory lap around the field, paying no heed to the rain, he was just a blur to me. And then suddenly he stopped.

He jerked to a halt with such force I thought he must have hit something, an invisible wall. He turned to look at the woods a few yards away, not seeming to notice the rain pelting right into his face. His nostrils flared and I saw all of the Cullens stiffen. Alice shot to Jasper's side and took his arm, standing on tiptoe to whisper in his ear, but he didn't seem to be listening. He took a step forward and Carlisle, Emmett, and Edward all made to move toward him, but their attention was caught by something a little beyond Jasper. Through the rain and darkness it was hard for me to detect what exactly they were looking at, but I caught a flicker of movement in the trees, someone or something was in the woods. A second later a figure broke from the cover of the leaves and stumbled as they emerged, nearly loosing their footing, but catching themselves and standing up, running.

I narrowed my eyes trying to make out the face more clearly, I stood up and took a few steps forward, Edward and Emmett were moving toward Jasper and Alice and the figure near the woods, I sped up, what had them all so on edge? As I neared them I stopped, my eyes fixed on the figure, whom I could now make out clearly. It was a girl, a human girl from the looks of her, she had none of the grace and agility of a vampire, her run was labored and tired-looking. She looked a little younger than me, she had a backpack swung over one shoulder and her clothes were muddied and wet, she had no protection against the rain. She looked harmless to me, exhausted-looking and dirty, not a vampire and not even a particularly imposing human.

But then I noticed what the others must have seen, probably smelled, right away. The girl's shirt bore a large red stain at her shoulder, there was a long gash across her cheekbone, and the left leg of her jeans was saturated with blood. She was injured, and she was bleeding heavily, and Jasper's eyes were fixed on her. His posture was rigid, and his face was strained, Carlisle and Alice were both clutching his arms and talking into his ears, trying to make him move.

Out of all the Cullens, Jasper struggled most with the thirst for human blood, he generally avoided contact with humans because he often found it so difficult to resist his craving, and he would never intentionally be in the vicinity of a bleeding human, because he knew all too well how overpowering the lure would be. Carlisle and Alice were pulling at his arms, trying to draw him away, but he stood stiff, his stance taking on a predatory, feline look. He strained against their grips, his nostrils flared toward the smell of fresh blood. And the girl was running toward them, oblivious to the fact that twenty feet away a bloodthirsty vampire was fighting to spring at her.

She stumbled again, and this time she fell, hitting the ground with a soft groan, her hands palm down on the dirt, her fingers gripping the grass, as if trying to will herself to stand. At the moment she stumbled Jasper let out a guttural snarl that made all the hair stand up on my neck, and broke Carlisle and Alice's hold, lunging toward the girl lying immobile in the grass.

In a flash Emmett and Edward were wrestling Jasper away from his prey, who didn't move even as Jasper lunged with hands outstretched to rend her. She didn't seem to hear the horrible growls and snarls as the three vampires fought only a few feet away from her. Jasper tore savagely at his brothers as they exerted all their strength trying to pull him back. Carlisle, Rosalie, Esme and Alice were beside them as well, dragging Jasper away from the injured girl, though all the faces except Carlisle's were taut and strained, they tried to turn away from the scent of human blood but it was clearly difficult to ignore.

As the Cullens battled Jasper away from his prey, I ran toward the girl. I heard Edward shout something at me but I didn't hear, the only thought in my head was to help her, get her away from Jasper. I turned her over onto her back the better to pull her and felt at her wrist for a pulse. A pulse was pulsing steadily under the cool skin, and I took hold of her arms and tried to pull her to her feet. "Jordan," she muttered, slumping in my hold, her legs unable to support her weight, "Jordan please…" her voice was soft and weak, she opened eyes that were foggy with fatigue and blood loss, she looked up at me through the wet hair falling into her face.

"You need to get up, " I said quickly, still trying to steady her, "can you walk?" I got her to her feet and she stood for a moment with me still clutching her elbows. "I think…" She took a step and her knees buckled, I caught her before she dropped to the ground and pulled her up again, letting her lean her weight into my chest. "No," she said, looking over her shoulder at me, her eyes still unfocused, "my leg is... I don't know-I think he bit me..."

"He didn't bite you." I said, dragging her a few steps away from the struggling vampire clan. If he'd gotten close enough to bite her she'd already be dead. I suppressed the rising panic in my chest and heaved her a few more steps, nearly falling over an upraised root, which I assumed had tripped her in the first place. "He did," she slurred disjointedly, sagging further into my hold as I tried to pull her toward to cover of the trees.

"I stopped to rest…just for a minute… I only just got away…" She looked down at the blood soaked denim of her calf, "wow" she murmured, "I didn't think it was that bad."

I couldn't spare breath to correct her, we were almost at the trees and the roars and bellows from behind were still strong, though the Cullens had managed to pull Jasper a few yards away I gathered the lure of the blood was still potent. I looked down at her leg, at the cut on her cheek and the red stain on her shirt; I gathered that all these wounds were still open. The stain was spreading on the white cloth, it had transformed almost her whole chest into a scarlet field, and the right side of her face was caked with dried blood.

"Ok, come on, just a little farther…" I said it more for my benefit than for hers, as I didn't think she was listening anyway. I wasn't sure what protection the forest would give us, but I suspected it wouldn't be much. I knew the scent of her blood would be easy to follow, even in the woods with so many other competing scents; it would take less than a second for Jasper to lock onto the smell. Outrunning him would be impossible, especially since his prey couldn't even stand, let alone run. But it might be difficult for him to corner us within the close-knit trees and thick underbrush. I tried not to conjure images of a crazed Jasper ambushing us in the darkness, the feral snarl as he lunged at her throat… I shivered and pulled my companion up a little straighter as we entered the shadows of the forest.

"What are you doing?" came a sleepy voice from below my chin. I looked down at her face and tried to smile encouragingly, but it felt more like a tensed grimace. "We're going to try to go deeper into the woods, and find somewhere safe…" There was no where safe in Jasper got loose, I could only hope to get her far enough away that he would be able to overcome his thirst, and that the Cullens would be able to hold him back. "Woods?" she repeated faintly. "Yes." I said, trying to sound relaxed, as if I weren't trying to drag her away from certain death.

"No," she said, and there was an edge to her voice now, I paused. "What?"

"We can't go into the woods-can't-he's in here…" she began to struggle in my grip, trying to unfasten my arms from around her torso even though they were the only thing keeping her on her feet. "Go back!" she said, trying to extricate herself with still more force, "you can't be here, he's coming- let me go!" She wriggled like an eel with sudden vigor; it took all my strength to keep her in my hold. "Calm down, you can't stay here, we have to keep moving-"

I stopped, I'd heard something, below the constant patter of the rain, the snap of a twig, maybe twenty feet away. I turned my head very slowly in the direction I'd heard it, and I could dimly make out a dark form through the trees. It couldn't be Jasper, the others would have followed him, and he couldn't have overpowered them all. But there was someone, moving toward us with deliberate stealth and slowness. I didn't think he knew I'd seen him, and he was coming closer, slowly, trying not to squelch in the mud or rustle too many tree branches.

There was another quiet snap as he pushed past a bush, a sound you could never detect unless you were listening for it. The girl heard it too; she went still for a moment and cocked her head, then whispered, "He's here,"

"Who is it?" I breathed, my eyes still on the approaching figure.

"Let go of me, walk away slowly, he doesn't want you, don't run, it'll just attract his attention…"

"Who is he?"

"Please just leave me…"

I didn't answer, didn't move. Instinct was screaming at me to run, but logic told me I couldn't run with the girl, and I couldn't leave her. The figure was now only a few feet away; he had paused and seemed to be watching us through the tree branches. It was definitely a man, tall and lean with broad shoulders, his silhouette stood at least half a foot taller than me. He didn't move, neither did we.

He cocked his head a fraction; I heard a faint intake of breath, and then a harsh exhalation. Then he let out a low groan, which deepened into a canine growl, and the form hunched, the back arched and the arms clutched the chest, he began to shudder and his breathing grew loud and ragged. There was a sudden terrible snarl, different from Jasper's though just as chilling, followed by a continuous, rough growl, like sand paper against gravel, and a shape that was no longer a man was moving toward us again.

The head and body had elongated and grown, the limbs had bent and warped, and I could now make out the eerie green glint of staring eyes. I took a step backwards, clutching the girl, feeling the panic and terror filling my throat like bile, building up to a scream. The growl broke and there was a loud, piercing howl and the creature lunged at us, I closed my eyes and screamed…