Authors note: I don't own Twilight, I am just obsessed with it.

Having read the novella "The short second life of Bree Tanner", I didn't want Bree to die, I thought it would have been interesting to see how Bree and Fred lived after their escape, I also wanted to follow her path of discovery as she unravels the truth about the Cullen's and their lifestyle.

Don't read this if you are expecting lots of drama and action. This is just my way of giving Bree a second chance, even though the Volturi wouldn't have, if she had stayed around long enough to find out.

Please feel free to add reviews and comments, but be gentle with me. This is my first attempt at fan-fiction, so don't expect miracles.

Chapter One SECOND CHANCE

The Volturi don't give second chances, but I was oblivious to that fact as I ran swiftly away from the horror scene, darting through the trees, narrowly avoiding the low branches of the thick forest that had surrounded the clearing. I could still smell the sweet scent of the funeral pyre even though I must have run several miles. It had been terrifying. The sharp metallic noise as the vampires clashed with each other, ripping sounds as their rock hard bodies had been torn apart and the peculiar howling I had heard, like nothing I had ever heard before. Was this some kind of battle-cry that vampires used when they were sensing victory. I didn't think so. It sounded more like a cry of pain, the sort of noise a dog would make.I wasn't sure where I was heading, I just knew I had to get away, and fast!

Of course, being a vampire I was fast, very fast. I moved effortlessly through the forest hardly touching the ground. I kept checking back over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't being followed. I knew my keen senses would normally pick up any movement around me if I were, but I wasn't feeling exactly normal at the moment, and I was paying little attention to anything other than my need to put as much distance between myself the yellow-eyed family as I could. Yes, family, that was what they had called themselves. This was a strange term for a coven of vampires that I couldn't really get my head around. It suggested love and trust, certainly not something I had even thought remotely possible since my creation, and not something I had witnessed as a human either if I was being honest. And yet I got the impression that this family was capable of love and compassion, even thought I had spent just 5 minutes in their company before I had made my escape. I had not felt threatened by them, apart from the blond scary one with the scars, but I did not feel he would have hurt me unless he were instructed to, or allowed to maybe. He wasn't in charge. The softly spoken one with the kind eyes, the one they called Carlisle was in charge. How different he was to Riley, I shuddered at the name and brought myself to a stop suddenly as I had ran out of land. Yes, I was running from Riley rather than the yellow-eyes, running for my freedom, running from the horrific battle I had just narrowly avoided being a part of, and running from the pain of knowing that Diego was dead.

The huge expanse of water opening up in front of me was not a problem, being a vampire I was a strong swimmer. It just seemed that I had ran for long enough now and this was a suitable place to take a breather. I didn't need a breather in the normal human sense of the word, I could run for hours and not need a break, but I wanted a few minutes to contemplate what I had just witnessed back there in that clearing.

I glanced around with my senses on red-alert but there was no scent or sound of any pursuit. I had chosen my escape carefully when I could see the family were distracted by the Volturi's imminent approach, not that I knew what that meant, I just sensed that it was something to be afraid of.

In any case, I was pretty sure that Jasper character would surely have caught me by now if he were in a mind to. Yes, I guess the family had other, more pressing things on their mind right now. An escaped newborn was hardly on the top of their priority list. Besides, maybe I had done them a favour by escaping. Now they wouldn't have to argue about me, wouldn't be their problem. The warrior "Jasper" really didn't want me around anyway, "We can't have any of these newborns associated with us when the Volturi come" he had said. Besides I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to be under his watchful supervision for the foreseeable future any more than I had wanted to remain with Riley's miscreants. Not that I was comparing Riley to Jasper. There was no comparison. Riley was a thug, and a liar.

Riley had lied, about pretty much everything, but I was also sure he had been lied to by our creator, or at least she had decided not to tell him any more than he needed to know. I recalled our last brief conversation and decided yes, Riley had been betrayed too, but that didn't overwhelm me with sympathy for him.

I briefly paused to consider where they had gone. Had he found her, or was he still wandering around searching for her scent, not realising he had served his useful purpose? I smiled to myself as I imagined her running wild somewhere, laughing at how she had created such havoc in the area surrounding Seattle in such a short space of time, and then disappeared without trace. What if he had found her, if she had been waiting for him? Unlikely, but I needed to consider it. Would they come looking for me if they uncovered my recent scent fleeing from the scene of the fight, or had they disappeared long before the fighting even started? As they were virtually unaware of my existence I decided they would not give me a thought, and even if Riley recalled our last encounter he would probably just assume I had been killed along with the rest of his soldiers.

No, I firmly believed she would not have waited for Riley and she would have been rather pleased with herself for shaking him off. He had been useful at first, but at the end, when his purpose had been served, he would have become just an annoyance. I wondered if she knew the outcome of the fight, wondered if she would return if she knew her little army had failed, wondered if she would reassemble another army and try again. I recalled the threat from the cloaked characters. She had been given 5 days to achieve her goal or they were going to seek her out and burn her. I guessed she was in hiding then, and would be for a very long time.

One thing was for sure, I was not going to hang around to find out. I wasn't sure which scared me the most, her or the cloaked characters.