What you need to know…
Takes place during New Moon.
Bella is at Emily's house after seeing Paul phase.
Everything is as it was in New Moon; Cullens are gone, Bella is the vampire girl, Jake & Bella are best friends. Eventual Jake/Bella pairing.
Finally, thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoy it! Please review and let me know what you think, and I will do my best to update twice a week.
All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.
CHAPTER ONE
BELLA POV
I grabbed a muffin, knowing that I needed to eat something to help calm the emotions that were running through me at that moment. I placed myself in the corner of the kitchen, leaning against the counter and feeling very awkward. Emily's words had said it all; I was the vampire girl, so of course I didn't belong here. Not that she had made me feel unwelcome, in fact she had been very friendly even though I was pretty much the enemy in this situation. After all, one of the pack had just got so angry at the sight of me that he had turned into a wolf and tried to attack me. Luckily Jacob was there to protect me, as always. My stomach churned at that thought; was Jacob okay? Embry and Jared didn't seem concerned, but that wasn't helping my nerves.
As I took little bites of the muffin, Sam walked through the door and glanced at me briefly before striding straight over to Emily. I thought I had been feeling awkward before, but now I felt the overwhelming urge to run through the door just so that I could get away from the emotional scene before me. The love that radiated from both Sam and Emily was sickening to the boys, but it caused me physical pain.
I tried not to look at the loved up pair, but couldn't help notice the adoration on Sam's face as he kissed Emily's scars. My mind instantly wandered to memories of Edward, but luckily the reappearance of Jake distracted me from the burning hole in my chest.
He walked into the house with Paul, and I was surprised to see them laughing and pushing each other playfully. I let out a relieved breath when I saw that Jacob was in one piece. He scanned the room and when his eyes found me his face broke into a huge grin, which I returned with a small, weak smile. He headed towards me and my eyes flickered across to Paul, who was watching me intently. He quickly looked away when our eyes met and sat himself down at the table with the others, and I looked back to Jacob as he came to stand at my side.
"You okay?" he asked me, draping a comforting arm around my shoulders.
"Yeah," I mumbled, as it wasn't entirely true. I quickly looked him up and down as I said, "Are you?"
He scoffed. "'Course I am, Bells. Paul's got nothing on me." He laughed, squeezing my shoulder slightly. I felt eyes on me again and looked back at the table. Paul was once again staring at me, with an expression I could only describe as confusion. Whatever it was, I was just glad he no longer looked like he wanted to kill me. He held my gaze for a few seconds, then turned to Jared.
Sam spoke up then, stepping forward without breaking his embrace with Emily. "OK guys, we have news," he announced in a business-like tone. "We now know what the red-head is after, so we can change strategies starting with the next patrol. It should be pretty straight forward to catch her now."
I glanced around the room, taking in the expressions. Jacob and Paul didn't look phased by this information, but Jared and Embry were looking at Sam in confusion.
"Go on then, what's she after?" Embry asked when he realised Sam wasn't going to continue. Sam and Paul both looked in my direction, and Jacob tightened his hold on me.
"She's after me," I announced, surprising everyone including myself with the strength of my voice. "Long story, but yeah… she wants to kill me."
"It's OK, they'll know the story when we next phase," Jacob whispered into my ear. "Shared mind, remember?"
I nodded, remembering what Jacob had just told me on the beach about the pack being able to hear one another's thoughts. That would save me from having to tell them all about my run in with James last year.
"Right, well I'm gonna get Bells home now. She's had a lot to deal with today." Jacob told everyone, giving Paul a meaningful look which made him bow his head.
"Just wait a few minutes Jacob, we need to discuss things with Bella. She plays a big part in the hunt now." Sam told him, turning his head to face me. "Bella, would you mind spending as much time as possible on the res for now? Just until we catch the red-head. We can protect you better if you're on our land."
"Yeah, anything I can do to help," I replied, nodding. "I need to think of something to tell Charlie though…"
"Don't worry about that Bells, we'll sort things out." Jacob told me with a reassuring smile. I smiled back, feeling very appreciative towards the pack. After all, I was the vampire girl, and they were all putting their lives on the line to protect me.
I looked away from Jake to address them all again. "Thank you all, for everything. I know I don't deserve your help, so… thanks." I said, feeling pathetic. How did I always end up in these situations where I couldn't protect myself? I hated feeling so helpless and weak.
"Not like we have a choice!" Paul suddenly muttered, earning a look from everyone else in the room. I heard a low growl come from Jacob, and Paul abruptly jumped from the table and ran out the back door.
"I'll talk to him." Sam said quietly, looking at Jacob. He nodded in reply and started to steer me towards the front door. He didn't speak until we were in my truck, Jake driving.
"Ignore Paul. He's kind of an idiot. Never known anyone with such a short fuse, so it doesn't help that he bursts into a wolf every time he loses his temper." he laughed, giving me a weary glance. "Are you okay?"
I nodded. "He's kind of scary."
Jake snorted. "Don't let him scare you. He'll never hurt you, I promise."
I gave him a small smile, feeling exhausted. After five minutes of silence he spoke up again.
"So, if you pack some things together tonight I'll pick you up in the morning to take you to my place. Don't worry though, I'll be patrolling round your house tonight so you'll be completely safe."
"Are you sure Billy won't mind?" I asked uncertainly. During my persistent attempts at contacting Jake over the last couple of weeks, I hadn't exactly been polite to Billy.
"Sure, sure. He loves you, Bells." He told me, shooting a reassuring smile at me. "Plus, Charlie will feel better about you being away from home if you're with us, you know how much he likes me." He said, wiggling his eyebrows and making me laugh.
"Yeah, he really does love you." I thought of how Charlie was with Jake compared to how he behaved with Edward, and chuckled at the difference. We sat in a comfortable silence for a while, and I realised that I hadn't even flinched when I thought of Edward. Maybe things were going to get better for me now I had Jacob back again.
As we pulled up to my driveway I felt a little pang of loneliness at the thought of Jacob leaving me, even though I knew I would be seeing him again in the morning. We both got out of the truck and he walked me to the door.
"So, I'll be here in the morning for you. I'll know when you get up, so I'll wait for you to get ready and we can take your truck."
"Okay, see you tomorrow." I told him, as he pulled me into a rib-crushing Jacob Black hug.
"Sleep well, Bells." He grinned, before running off into the forest at the side of my house as I unlocked the door and let myself in.
It was only four in the afternoon but I decided to take a bath then have an early night, having had quite an eventful day. When Charlie got home from work I told him about my plans to spend spring break with Jake on the res. He was confused as to why I wanted to go to stay with Jake after how upset I had been the day before, but Billy must have already spoken to him because he didn't seem that surprised. I went up to my room and changed into my tank top and shorts, taking a quick look out of the window to see if I could spot Jake. A hint of russet fur amongst the green of the trees eased my anxiety, and I went to bed feeling much safer than I had in a long time.