Chapter 1: Strange…

~Bella POV~

"Do you smell that, Jacob?" I asked. I saw his nose twitch as he pulled in a bit of air, sampling it. He immediately sneezed, his enormous head, jerking it to the side, I took that as a yes.

"Renesme, stay with Jacob." I told her, not sure what to make of this new smell. It was sweet like a vampire, but not nearly as strong, and it had a hint of something I couldn't quite place. Like an animal, I supposed, but it was like no animal I had ever smelt before. It was both appealing and appalling at the same time. Strange... I decided not to take any chances, especially since it had only been two weeks since the Volturi threatened my daughter's life. "Come on, let's get back to the hou-" I stopped when I heard a heart- beat, closing in on where we were standing. Apparently Jacob heard it as well. He let out a menacing growl that vibrated the air around him, and almost immediately heard several howls in the distance. Sounds like Jacob called in for reinforcements, guess he wasn't taking any chances either.

The heartbeat stuttered when Jacob growled and stopped moving towards us, but didn't run away like a normal animal would have. I was immediately on the alert, if this thing wasn't frightened away by Jacob's warning growl and accompanying distant howls, and the fact that he was a horse sized wolf, then that was definitely something to be concerned about. My eyes started to rake the forest, absorbing every minuscule detail in an attempt to find this thing.

Then I spotted something I'd never seen before. Two ice blue eyes met mine, true I'd seen plenty of blue eyes, but these were ,by far, the bluest I'd ever seen, but that wasn't the scary thing about them, these eyes actually glowed, as if with bioluminescence. Almost like a newborn vampire's eyes, but much, much brighter. I couldn't make out any other details about this creature, but those eyes told me everything I needed to know. It was dangerous, menacing, ...and strangely... sad. I heard Jacob huff and shuffle to put himself between Renesme and whatever was watching us. Following his gaze, Renesme saw the eyes and gasped. Immediately those eyes twitched to meet the gaze of my daughter. I watched in curiosity as those eyes widened with surprise... and hope? and faintly heard the words "It's true..." so this being could speak... I decided to try and communicate.

"We don't mean you any harm," I said in a calm voice, "why don't you come out and we can talk peacefully." Wow. My peace making skills sucked, I hoped that whatever it was, it wouldn't laugh at my pitiful attempt at diplomacy. It's strange eyes shot back to mine the millisecond I started speaking. Just then I heard the galloping footsteps of Jacob's pack approaching from behind and felt a little more secure for Renesme's safety in numbers.

The creature looked at Renesme one more time, sadness apparent in its eyes and then shot off with the sound of thunder. Jacob's pack immediately gave chase before I could tell them to stop, and disappeared in the trees. "Come on, let's go." I whispered quietly, still unnerved at the sight of those eyes. Renesme immediately jumped into my waiting arms and I shot towards the house with Jacob at my heels. I heard him whine with confusion. "I know what you mean." I chuckled humorlessly. What I saw was very odd, what I smelt was just bewildering, but the emotions I saw in those confusing eyes were almost heartbreaking, the sadness, the hope. Whatever it was I hoped that Jacob's pack didn't catch it, after all it didn't seem like it wanted to hurt us. Strange...

~Seth POV~

Leah, Quil, and I had been running patrols, trying to ignore Jacob's silent compliments and praises when Nessie did something "awesome" when I caught a flicker of fear from Jacob's thoughts. I felt him growl when he said to us (Something's watching us...) I immediately started howling, joined by my sister and Quil, to let the others know something was up, and took off towards Jacob's location.

(Whoa.) Jacob said, and we focused on what he was seeing and it almost stopped us in our tracks. What he saw were two of the weirdest eyes I had ever seen. Most of the tribe had dark colored eyes, so "normal" eyes were bright to us, this however this was taking it to the extreme, these eyes GLOWED! They put the newborn's eyes to shame with the brightness of them.

(Head in the game Seth) Quil said, breaking my train of thought.

(Sorry, what do you think it is?) I asked, hoping they might have an idea. Just then we saw, through Jacob, the thing's eyes shift to Nessie and we all felt Jake's surprise when we heard the words, "It's true..." come from the creature.

(You know, we should have a name for whatever it is besides creature or thi-) I started to say.

(SETH!) everyone yelled at once, irritated that I wasn't focusing.

(Sorry, jeez I was just sayin...) I muttered.

The second we stepped into the small clearing the creature took off and Jacob told us to run after it, concerned for Nessie, as always. We started to give chase but had to rely on following the scent trail cause we couldn't see it anymore. Damn it was fast! We heard its light footfalls about a mile ahead of us and we hadn't been chasing this thing for 10 seconds! After about another 30 seconds we couldn't hear it anymore and realized that we would never be able to catch up to it.

(Let's get back to the rez, Seth you go and patrol the Cullen's place, make sure it doesn't double back on us.) Quil took charge since Jacob was focused on Nessie.

(Helping the leeches as always I see,) Leah grumbled, her usual self.

(Shut up, Leah, and good idea Quil. Sorry to zone out on you guys, I didn't know what the hell that was back there.) Jake said.

(Ya, that was really strange, have you ever seen eyes like that?) Quil asked.

(No, never. Maybe Edward or Carlisle might know...) Jake responded. Trailing off at the end remembering those eyes.

~Carlisle POV~

"Hmmm... glowing blue eyes? No, I can't say that I have ever seen anything like that." I responded to a very nervous Jacob and pondering Bella. "What is it Bella?" I asked noticing her confusion and surprise.

"Nothing, it's just, what I saw was beyond weird. Those eyes were the scariest things I have ever seen, but the fact that it didn't attack us or make any aggressive moves is what is confusing. I don't think it wanted to hurt us, for some reason, I think that if it wanted to harm any of us, it wouldn't have a hard time of it." She said in a distant voice, still picturing what she saw in her mind.

Just then we all heard it, a low, rumbling whining sound, like a wolf howl, but much, much deeper, and it echoed in the air far longer then I thought possible. The room, which had been filled with conversations about our mysterious guest, quieted to listen to the eerie sound. It lasted for a full minute before dying down. That was when I had a strange sense of deja vu.

"Oh my God..." I whispered in absolute terror. I had only ever heard a sound like that once in all of my existence. Jasper turned to look at me with worry in his eyes. Edward's face was probably a mirror of my own, horrified.

"WHAT!" Everyone yelled almost simultaneously. Before I could answer there was a deep throated rumble that was so deep, the windows started to vibrate. Both Jasper and Edward were overcome with my fear, and theirs, everyone glanced the both of them, then looked at me.

"What is it, Carlisle?" Emmett asked, clearly unnerved by my facial expression, along with Edward's and Jasper's. I was about to answer when I heard a heartbeat coming through the forest. I immediately dashed to the wall and pushed the panel to close the metal shudders. Just before they closed I glimpsed the eyes that had been the topic of conversation this evening staring at me. It felt like I had been welded to the floor from the strength of its gaze. That is, until I heard Jacob yell one word that filled us all with dread.

"SETH!"