First attempt at fan fiction, I've enjoyed the process of taking some ideas whirling around and committing them to paper. Can't wait to see where these characters take me.

I don't own any of the characters; they, and the Twilight-verse are Stephanie Meyer's brain-child. I just like to take them out to play with.

Enjoy!

Chapter One: Emmett's to Blame

If blame is to be laid than Emmett's at fault; it was Christmas break and we had just returned from spending the majority of it visiting relatives up in Alaska. The weekend before heading back to the monotony of life at Forks High, Emmett had become restless; in his eagerness to experience the latest copy of a PS2 game he picked up but forgot to take with him to Alaska, he had completed the entire series in 2 days flat, a new record even for him.

Wrestling with our brother Edward was a lost cause because despite his obvious physical advantage of being a dominating burly powerhouse in comparison to svelte Edward, Emmett could never be bothered to learn a new technique. The two of them would stand off, paces apart and predictable Em would rush in head first, leaving Edward to sidestep to the right and it was the pine tree being battered and not Edward's face. Most would give up after a few tries but Em was determined to beat Edward so they kept at it for a good hour. Edward won every single time.

Now, at this point, under normal circumstances, Emmett would shake off his defeat, strut over batting his eyelashes and whisper sweet naughty nothings into his wife's Rosalie's ear and soon the two of them would be racing off into the woods to commune with nature. Unfortunately earlier that day after completing the PS2 game, Emmett had wandered into the garage and decided to try his hand at mechanics by tinkering with her baby – a brand new Porche. Absorbed in the task at hand, he didn't see Rose descent into the garage from the house, to come up behind him and wallop him a good one at the back of the head.

"What the heck do you think you're playing at! This is my car not yours. Get your stinking hands off and don't even think about laying them on me!" she screeched at him.

"But Rosie-baby!I wanted to install these killer rims for you, as a surprise…." he pleaded, hands rubbing the back of his head.

The Ice Queen merely glared at him, headed towards the work bench to retrieve some tools, leaving Emmett no choice but to sulk back into the house.

This brings us to Friday night and Emmett desperately needing a distraction. He was roaming aimlessly from room to room throughout the house, interrupting the rest of us engaged in our own amusements: Alice seated cross-legged on the floor, Edward on the white leather couch, chessboard resting on the matching ottoman between them, both deep in thought planning their next move. A 'simple' game of chess can last days, what with Edward being able to read Alice's thoughts and she in return being able to predict his next move. Most of the game is spent with each of them with a hand poised over the pieces yet never actually touching any of them.

"Not now Emmett, we're going to finish this game even if it takes us all night." stated Alice dismissing him with a wave of her hand.

"But…...," Emmett started to reply but the death stares coming from Edward were enough to make him pause "Mever mind," he quickly said backing away from the two of them and headed towards the dining room where Esme sat at dining table pouring over paint and fabric swatches trying to decide how to redecorate the room (again). One look at the table covered in a rainbow of colours, textures and sparkly bits was enough to stop Emmett dead in his tracks and change course before she asked him which colour scheme he liked.

He paused at the door leading out to the garage, where Rosalie was working on undoing the damage caused by Emmett's ill-placed good intentions, saw that she wasn't acknowledging him and realized that perhaps she still needed some time to simmer down.

As for myself, I was upstairs in my room strumming on my guitar. At the sound of Emmett running up the stairs, I darted to the door and shut it close, hoping he'd get the hint. I really didn't want to wrestle with him, especially if it meant hours of dodging full on attacks.

Poor Carlisle ensconced in his office seated at his desk, reading the latest issue of The New England Medical Journal was not immune to Emmett's disruptive behaviour.

"Damnit Emmett! Go find something to do!" Carlisle hissed at him, when he looked up over the pages and caught Emmett just leaning against the door jamb watching him read.

Hands in his pockets, head down, Emmett tramped back down the stairs, crossed the living room, where Alice & Edward still hadn't made a move, opened the front door leading to the porch and seated on the top stair and stared into the night sky hoping inspiration would hit.

Just when we thought we could all settle into a pleasant Friday evening he came bounding in the house, eyes a blazing, yelling, "Guys! I've got it! The perfect idea! It'll be awesome!"

The excitement rolling off of him was enough to put away my guitar and draw me out of my room to head down the stairs. Emmett's brilliant idea was to launch ourselves across Highway 1, from one tree top to the next without being detected. He had put a lot of thought into this plan which he excitedly outlined for us:

"It's a moonless rainy night, we do move faster than any human could spot us, therefore brilliant idea because really, what were the chances we'd get caught?"

His child-like pleading, even stomping his foot, was enough to convince me to give this a go.

"Awesome Jasper!" he stated, dancing on the balls of his feet in anticipation.

Alice didn't foresee any eminent danger, except perhaps to Emmett's pride as he would be the one with butterfingers that night, agreed to come along. The little pixie kept that knowledge to herself, but the smile creeping across Edward's face gave her away. As well, sensing he was never going to get anywhere with the chess game against Alice, he too was willing to humour Emmett.

"Certainly better than wrestling, I'm in," Edward informed Emmett, rising from the couch.

Rosalie, coming in from the garage, wiping her hands on a rag, also relented, only because despite how mad she was, she just couldn't resist her cherubic faced husband, bright eyes light up in excitement, that soon the five of us headed down to Highway 1, leaving Carlisle & Esme in peace at home.

Racing away from our modern home nestled deep in the temperate rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula, to Emmett's chosen spot, with the wind rushing past me, helped to clear the diaphanous emotional cobwebs that often stuck to me. Em's restlessness, Rose's mild annoyance, Edward's frustration at not being able to win the chess game, and even Alice's chirpiness, I couldn't help but shake myself, in the vain hope of removing the faint traces of lingering emotions. I find the wind is indifferent to emotion, a balm to my weary dead heart.

True to Alice's prediction, on Emmett's first attempt a sudden gust of wind caught him off guard and instead of the graceful landing onto the topmost branch of the tree directly across the highway, he veered to the side, left hand outstretched swung around the tree like a flag flapping in the wind during hurricane season. All of us roared in laughter and had Emmett been able to he would have blushed a dozen shades of red. Even Rosalie had to admit it was hilarious to see her burly mate make such an ass out of himself.

"Serves you right Em! Karma's a bitch sometimes!" she laughed into the night.

What none of us were able to predict was that evening a lone female driver would happen by. Don't get me wrong, that in and of itself wasn't an issue. It was the highway and drivers would be passing by. That was the point to Emmett's game, to be playing chicken with unwitting drivers, returning home from holidays, weary and tired.

Normally a human is a human is a human to me. They all melt together into one emotional roller coaster, with two main themes: excited, or angry. With some variation in between but truth be told, humans are shallow creatures. They may like to think they're all enlightened and can experience every emotion on the spectrum but they're deluding themselves. They are either excited or angry. Sometimes fearful. Usually only so around our kind, but you can't fault them for that – we are predatory beasts demanding a fearful reaction.

And I prefer to keep my distance from them, not surprising given my "unconventional" upbringing and tendency to view them as prime rib and not as sentient beings who should live in blissful ignorance of our existence. "We are to live among them, not hunt among them." Carlisle, patriarch of our family, has drilled into our brains ad nauseam. Ok, he drilled into my brain ad nauseam.

This driver, well she was different. We heard her about 20 miles to the east of our position, singing along to Meatloaf's Bat out of Hell, fingers tapping along the steering wheel. Killer vocals and excellent choice of music aside, it was her emotional flavour that was what initially caught my attention, growing stronger as the distance diminished between us. She was genuinely happy. It was a deep seated – from the core – sense of happiness and it washed over me like waves lapping at the beach. How she was able to project such an emotion from such a distance, caught me off guard and I could feel it warming my deaden heart, coursing through my icy veins and a smile begging to creep across my face. Her emotional state affected me to the point that I couldn't help but project that warm giddy sensation to Emmett, Rosalie, Edward & Alice. Soon all five of us sitting in our respective tree tops were laughing lightly to ourselves, the bell-like tinkling being carried with the wind.

And as quickly as the waves of contentment were lapping at my heart, they stopped, swan-diving off the cliff into nothing. She became an emotional void, a deep dark abyss. The total absence of emotions from humans normally only triggers one thing – death. And the sudden switch from happiness to nothing with no slide in between, signalling the life force draining away, truly frightened me. Me! The God of War! Frightened by the abrupt death of a measly human. My hands and legs were twisted around the branches with such force that the tree threatened to snap under the pressure. In tangent with her emotional void we saw in crystal high-def vampire clarity her car slow down, her slumped over the wheel and veering slightly to the right and then come to a stop against a tree. Silence.

The wind whipped past me and although it carried the driver's perfume of lilacs and sunshine, there was no trace of fresh blood in the air, a relief for me the struggling vegetarian. But it did cause all of us a moment to pause as none of us, in our combined 450 odd years of witnessing and sometimes, albeit more often than not due to Emmett's tomfoolery, causing, car crashes, we have never seen such a crash were blood was not spilt. This wasn't normal. Had I been Peter Parker, my spidey sense would be tingling. Especially given that ever so faintly her heat was still ticking. This driver was not dead.

Five minutes passed before any of us moved. It was Rosalie, sitting in the tree closest to the car, who first leapt to the ground and approached the car, checking under the hood to see what was amiss. Figures Rosalie would care more for the BMW than the poor human.

Muttering to herself, "Strange, this engine is in top form, as if it was just driven off the lot. I don't see any frayed wires, loose connections. There's no reason for it to have just stalled like that. Aside from the headlight breaking on contact with the tree, this car is fine. Even the airbag failed to deploy."

Not bothering to care about dirtying her clothes, she rolled under the car to check out the undercarriage, "Yeah breaks look fine, no leaks, everything is as it should. Whoever she is, she's got one damn good mechanic."

Edward, descending cautiously from his tree top, was the one who thought to look in on the woman. He approached from the driver's side and opened the door. My radar was picking up a confused vibe from him.

He did look decidedly perplex, as he said, "Odd, one moment her thoughts were scattered with remembering the lyrics, wanting to check out her new place, and wondering what the students would be like at Forks High and in mid sentence, they stopped. There was nothing."

The touch of his cool fingers, against her neck checking for a pulse must have been what caused her to stir, as slowly her heart beat quickened, her eyelids fluttered, her right hand raised to her rosy cheek and she began to rub her face and suppress a yawn simultaneously. Only Edward would put on a show of acting human in front of an obviously unconscious human.

"Calice! It's Saturday and I want to sleep in. Buggar off," she mumbled and tried to bat away at Edward`s hand. She shifted in her seat, crossed her slim ankles, and adjusted her head against the steering wheel, her dirty blonde shoulder length hair fanning around her. The emotional void that was moments ago there was replaced with her deep seated happiness, tinged with tiredness. I found myself releasing a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

Edward's eyes widen, the disbelief tsunamied off of him. Stuttering, "I….I …. don't hear anything! Nothing!"

"Really Edward, clean your ears, she told you to buggar off. Even I heard that from up here." Emmett jumping down from the treetop and walking over to Edward's side, declared.

"Taise-toi! leave me alone, I wanna sleep in." our mystery driver said again, still bating at Edward's long since retreated hand, pressing her head harder against the wheel.

went the horn inadvertently as she tried to snuggle against it.

The noise brought me out of my reverie, as did the gust of wind carrying with it the scent of Carlisle and Esme, trailing after them a sense of concern and worry, with an undertone of annoyance. Still perched in my tree top, I saw Alice standing at the side of the road, talking on her cell phone. Ahh that explains Carlisle's rapid appearance, thoughtful Alice calling in the reserves.

"Shit! I'm awake! I'm awake!" the driver yelled out loud, jerking away from the steering wheel, arms flailing around.

Her abrupt shift from happiness to shock and confusion was starting to give me whiplash. She blinked quickly several times and looked around."What the?"

My curiosity was getting the better of me and I scaled down the tree and walked towards the car, keeping myself well out of reach of the car lights, behind and to the left of Carlisle.

"It's alright dear. It appears that you've had a car accident. I'm a doctor. Everything is going to be ok." Carlisle calmly told her, replacing the increasingly agitated Edward, at the driver's door.

"It doesn't make sense. There's nothing there. But she's awake. I don't get it."muttered Edward under his breath to no one in particular, as he paced along the side of the road.

"What's your name sweetheart? Do you mind if I take a quick look at you?" Carlisle implored the young woman, kneeling in front of her, opening his black medical bag to remove his stethoscope and flashlight.

"Anya." She stated slowly, "Anya Simms." shifting to the left in her seat, right arm outstretched to Carlisle, waiting for him to take her proffered dainty hand.

It was only at this moment that she raised her head, that I was able to get a good look at her face over Carlisle's shoulder. She was pale, freckles scattered over the ridge of her nose, blue wire rim glasses framing her deep green eyes. She had a youthful look about her, mid-twenties at the oldest. Her left hand was working its way across her high cheek bones towards her eyes to wipe the sleep from them.

"Yeah sure, a quick look", she repeated Carlisle's words and he began to check her pulse at her wrist and visually look for any lacerations on her face. "What happened… " she trailed off, blinking at the sudden illumination of the flashlight in the cramp space, jerking her head back, causing her to looked Carlisle square in the face.

I sucked in a breath and took a step back into the shadows. That's it…pupils dilate, the fear is going to start and the adrenaline will be pumping into high gear forcing her body to flee. But no, this human, this Anya Simms went from shock, settled into confusion with…what's this? Equal doses of merriment? What? What's humorous about this situation? I inadvertently widen my eyes and Edward shot me a look of pure disbelief that read, "Come again? Did I hear that correctly? She's amused?"

Carlisle, noticing her staring him eye to eye, and smiling no less, smoothly and calmly told her, "Well Ms. Simms, it appears you lost control and veered off the road. You're lucky that we happened to be driving along a ways back behind you. Does that sound about right?"

As she took a moment to process this information turning her face down and away from Carlisle, he quickly whispered, "Children, I think it's best of you head home. Esme & I will see to this."

"You sure Carlisle…?" Alice whispered back.

"Yes Alice, everything will be alright." Waving his hand, Alice, Edward, Emmett & Rosalie disappeared into the trees heading for home.

Ignoring Carlisle's request that we head back, I lingered in the shadows of the trees, watching my parents interact with the enigma that is Anya. Her emotional state was one of happiness, with an undercurrent of mild amusement. I could even see her biting her bottom lip in an attempt to mask a giggle trying to escape.

Turning back towards Carlisle,"Yeah I guess you're right Dr….?"

"Cullen, Dr. Cullen. I work in Emerge at the local hospital."Quickly adding, "And I sit on the local school board, you're the new school librarian, we've been expecting you I thought your name sounded familiar." On that note, Carlisle finished his quick initial check of Anya.

"New librarian, yes of course." Anya weakly repeated, absently running her right hand through her hair. "I must have fallen asleep at the wheel,"laughing lightly she continued on, "Silly me thinking I could manage the drive from Seattle at night. I should have waited until morning."

"There appears to be no cuts, bruises or broken ribs. You're very lucky Ms. Simms." He replaced his stethoscope and flashlight into his bag and snapped it with a flourish.

"Please, call me Anya." she interrupted him.

"Well Anya," Carlisle started again, "You're quite lucky, falling asleep at the wheel can often have disastrous results. However just to be on the safe side how about Esme, my wife, drive you home, and I'll follow behind in the other car? Esme?"

"Yes dear, not a problem." Piped up Esme, walking towards the car.

"Umm sure, yeah, that's probably a good idea,"she agreed, beginning to get out of the car, thus allowing Esme to slide into the driver's seat.

Offering his left arm,"You're still a bit shaken up, allow me to walk you around to other side?"Carlisle suggested.

"Thanks." Anya replied, resting her hand on Carlisle's arm.

"Anya, where are we heading?" Esme inquired once Anya was settled into the seat adjusting her belt.

A shot of panic rose in Anya, gulping, "Ummmm…" then her eyes focused on the dashboard, "The GPS! I programmed the address into the GPS, just listen to Tom-Tom and he'll get you there. He hasn't gotten me lost yet." she replied.

Esme laughing, "What would we do without technology? Lead the way Tom-Tom!" and with that she manoeuvred the car onto the road and headed towards town.

Carlisle had long since darted back home, most likely to retrieve the car they were supposedly driving and rendezvousing with the ladies in town. Running my hands through my hair and giving myself a mental shake, I jogged after the car curious to see where this was going to lead.