A/N - So this is my first twilight fanfiction and it's basically just an AU where the Volturi let Bree stay with the Cullens. I'm obsessed with Bree and it's always really upset me that she was killed at the end of eclipse and I think she deserved more, so I thought I'd write a fic where she gets to live. If you have a chance I'd appreciate it massively if you left a review. Thanks!

Disclaimer - I don't own twilight or the characters in it.

Chapter 1 - A Third Chance

Despite my apparent lack of knowledge of the vampire world, I was certain that I was about to die. I'd known that the instant I stepped on to the battlefield, however originally I thought my demise would be brought about by the belligerent wolves or the members of the yellow-eyed coven, or even by one of my own coven who'd been caught in a frenzy of violence and decided to go rogue. But no, in the end I was to be killed by the eerily placid vampires in dark cloaks - Volturi, I'd heard them called. I wasn't upset about the fact that I was going to die, after the death of the only person I'd ever truly loved, Diego, I suddenly found myself having very little to live for. I was more nervous about what would happen to me after my body was disassembled and burned. I was never religious in my human life, but after I'd discovered that vampires and evidently now werewolves too were real, I couldn't help but end up believing in some kind of afterlife.

It was time. I closed my eyes and readied myself for the inevitable agony of what was to come, meanwhile mentally thanking Diego for the one day of pure, unadulterated happiness he had given me. I took my final breath.

"Wait."

Or perhaps not.

"We could explain the rules to the young one. She doesn't seem unwilling to learn. She didn't know what she was doing." The redheaded mindreader said before turning to Carlisle for approval.

"Of course," Carlisle agreed. "We would certainly be prepared to take responsibility for Bree." Jane looked from the redhead, to Carlisle, and finally to me with an expression that was an odd mix between amusement and surprise. She'd obviously not expected the yellow-eyes to be so generous, and, for the first time since meeting her, the she-devil seemed to genuinely not know what to do. I knew that Jane's eventual answer would be no, but I was overwhelmed by the kindness of the yellow-eyed vampires nevertheless. I would be eternally grateful to them for trying, even if they knew what the answer would be before they asked. Jane took a few seconds more of pointless deliberation before speaking.

"As long as you are able to keep her under control, I can't see any issues with that arrangement." The air was knocked out of me in shock. I found the idea of a coven like the yellow-eyes even suggesting taking responsibility for me unlikely, but Jane agreeing that they could do so was well into the realm of impossible. I dared a peak at the yellow-eyes' faces. There was a wide range of emotions printed on their features, from Esme's look of joy to the blonde girl's vexed shock, but most of the yellow-eyes simply looked taken aback at Jane's sudden generosity. Like I had suspected, they hadn't considered the possibility that Jane would take them up on their offer to care for me. I wasn't offended, just worried that they'd change their minds and leave me to die. From what little I knew about them, this coven seemed to be so good to and close with one another, something that I'd never experienced in either my first or second life. I could see myself enjoying an existence with them if given the chance.

"You agree that Bree can stay with us?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes. The Volturi don't give second chances to the guilty, and, in my opinion, this girl isn't guilty of anything other than following the orders of other vampires who took her ignorance of our world and used it for their personal gain. If we were to kill anyone today it would be those who's orders she was following, however you seem to have done that for us." Jane concluded in her silvery tone. There was something else about what Jane had said, something hiding underneath her diplomatic words. She had an ulterior motive behind letting me stay with the Cullens, but I didn't care. I watched as Carlisle looked to each member of the coven, including the unbearably delicious smelling human, for a nod of approval. Each gave one without a second's hesitation, except for the slightly scary looking honey-blonde boy, who was unsure for a few moments but eventually nodded, and the ridiculously beautiful blonde girl who neither nodded nor spoke a word. Carlisle finally moved his eyes down to me and broke into a kind smile.

"Bree, welcome to the Cullen family." He said. I got up as quickly as I could, and ran toward the yellow eyes that I now knew as the Cullens or, even more excitingly, my new family. Esme wrapped her arm around me and pulled me into her side, in the process making herself the most motherly figure I'd had since toddler-hood. I was still shaken up and nervous, but now, for the first time in my four months of being a vampire and fifteen years of being a human, I felt safe.

"We thank you for your generosity and understanding." Carlisle said to the Volturi, smile still on his face.

"That generosity and understanding will always be extended to your coven, so long as you continue to obey the laws we put in place." Jane turned her crimson stare to the human before continuing "Which brings us to Bella here. I'm sure you're aware of the law that forbids human knowledge of the vampire world. Perhaps my senses betray me, but it seems to me that Bella is still human. Is Volturi intervention going to be necessary?" Jane asked, keeping her silky voice even. The small Cullen with the black pixie-cut stepped spoke before anyone else could.

"The date has been set. Bella will become a vampire." She said. Jane nodded. Ah - so that's why they were keeping the human around, they were going to turn her.

"Good. I was hoping that would be the case. Our covens have an alliance dating back centuries, I'd hate to see it broken over something as simple as the secrecy law." Jane said, a civil smile on her face. "Since we have no more business to attend to, we'd be best to leave at risk of overstaying our welcome. Thank you, again, for saving us the trouble of dealing with the newborns, and good luck with her." The sadist hit me with one more of her cold glances before disappearing among the trees, along with the rest of her coven. After a few seconds of silence, I turned to the rest of my new family to see all of their yellow eyes on me.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." I gushed. "You have no idea how much this means to me." If I could cry, I was almost certain I would be weeping. The kindness these strangers had shown me was unlike anything I had ever known before, and it was magical.

"You don't need to thank us Bree, we're just glad to have you safe." Esme said, beaming. Her words touched my heart - to hear someone say they cared about me and my safety and mean it was incredible. Nearly everyone in my life as human and as a vampire had only kept me around because there was something I could offer them, extra welfare and a punching bag for my dad and newborn strength for Victoria, but with the Cullens it was different. I had nothing to give them but they still took me in without a second thought. The feeling of love I had for these people was already deeper than the instincts and urges I'd been allowing to control me for the first few months of my new life.

"We're all excited to have you as part of the family. I can already tell you're going to fit in." Said the small, black-haired girl from earlier. "My name is Alice and this" she pulled on the arm of the honey blonde boy "is Jasper." I shot Jasper a small smile. He seemed wary of me but returned the gesture.

"It's very nice to meet you Bree." He said. His voice was a little tight but I could tell he was trying to be friendly. The muscular brunette boy who reminded me of a bear was the next to speak.

"I'm Emmett and the sulky blonde bitch here is Rosalie." He chuckled. Rosalie didn't find his quip funny and pushed her lips into a thin line before crossing her slender arms over her chest. She refused to make eye contact with me and wouldn't say a word. I felt incredibly uncomfortable and out of place, but fortunately the mindreader seemed to picked up on that and spoke.

"My name is Edward." He said "This is Bella, my fiance." He gestured to the human, who then gave me an awkward smile. My throat burned with thirst for her blood. I'd been able to push her scent to the back of my mind because of the constant distractions, but now she was there. In front of me. The temptation was almost too much, I was one tiny lapse in concentration away from slaughtering her. Bella seemed to pick up on this, but, strangely, didn't come across as scared but instead apologetic, like it was somehow her fault that I was being overwhelmed with the urge to drain her of her life force. Edward, once again, came to my rescue.

"I think we should get going. I'll take Bella home." He said. "It's really been wonderful meeting you Bree." Without another word he took Bella on his back and was gone. Within a matter of seconds, her scent was too far away for me to pick up on and I could breathe again.

"He's right. It's been a long day and it's time we showed Bree her new home." Carlisle said. Everyone (except, of course, Rosalie) nodded and without hesitation, we left. As we raced through the woods and back to wherever my new home was, ecstasy took hold of my entire body, filling every inch of my being. At last, I had I a proper, loving, functional family, who weren't, from what I could tell, going to hurt or use me, but simply love me unconditionally. The Cullens represented everything I had craved through both my lives. They were the moms I'd seen on the first day of kindergarten, holding their children close before reluctantly letting them go into the brightly decorated classrooms. They were the dads I saw in the park, cheering when their kid was finally able to ride a bike without any help. They were the older brothers and sisters I'd seen through my freshman year, defending their little siblings from the cowardly bully that was trying to antagonize them. They were the family I'd always wanted and always needed, but never had, except now I did have them, and they had me. I let a smile break my face. I was no longer Bree Tanner with an alcoholic dad with a temper or a coven of instinctual, animalistic, newborn vampires. I was Bree Cullen, who had a mother, a father, siblings and, most importantly, an eternity to spend with them.

A/N - So that was my first chapter! It's not my best work, but I just want to get it out so I can move on to the exciting bits of the story. I know this isn't that long but I'm almost finished writing the next chapter and it's already more than twice the length of this. I'm going to update at least once a week, hopefully more since I'm on summer at the moment so I have a lot of free time. Again, please leave a review if you have the time. Thanks for reading my first chapter!