Chapter One - Runaways
Bree Tanner's POV
We just checked all the islands surrounding Seattle. What would force them to go that far out? I had a sudden realization, and stopped.
"Bree?" Diego asked.
"Diego... We don't have to go back." I told him.
"Are you kidding? Of course we do. The ninja's need to know what Riley is up to!" He was half joking, and half serious.
"But what if we didn't? We know that we don't burn in the sun, therefore, we could survive out of that basement." I pointed out.
"That's true... But I'm not sure. What if Riley comes after us?"
"Riley has better things to do, like attempt to keep the peace." I said. I thing Diego was trying to find a flaw in my plan..."Besides," I continued, "Riley seems to have no problems finding more dregs kids."
"Okay. I can't argue with that." He laughed, and I laughed with him. "Don't you want to get away from Raoul, and his gang of morons?" I asked. I hoped I could convince him. It would be nice, nice to have a life away from that hate, away from the fear of being ripped to shreds by the people who were meant to be on your side.
"Bree... Listen... I don't think we can."
"Why not! I really don't understand. Riley won't come after us! We'll get killed if we stay." I pleaded.
"I understand. I really do. Okay. Okay, okay, okay. We can do this; I mean we are ninja BFFs after all." He laughed.
He held out his hand, and I took it.
"Where to first?" He asked. I considered it for a second, but something told me we should go to Vancouver for a while.
"How does Vancouver sound?" I asked.
"Simply awesome." He smiled, and still holding my hand, started running.
"Do you have any idea where you're going?" I called, over the sound of the air whipping past.
"Honestly?" He asked.
"Yep."
"No idea." He admitted.
"Well get there." I smiled and shut up, and ran. Diego let go of my hand.
"Race ya!" He offered.
"Well, if neither of us knows where we're going, how are we supposed to know where to meet?"
"We are vampires! Honestly, Bree!" He laughed.
"Yes. We are vampires! I'm glad you noticed… But what had that got to do with anything?" I asked.
"We can catch each other's scent!" He pointed out, in a tone that implied that I'm an idiot.
"No, I don't want to split up." I admitted.
"Okay, but there must be a reason for that, can you share that reason with me?" Diego asked out, as I hoped he wouldn't, but knew he would.
I shook my head. It was too embarrassing. "Diego, we should keep moving, preferably before we get caught running, and Riley feeds us to Raoul."
"Not until you tell me." He insisted.
I took a deep breath and sighed. "It's because I don't want to be alone. That's all this life has been up until now." I admitted. Diego didn't say anything, just grabbed my hand again.
"You owe me a race." He whispered and we kept on running, hand in hand.
"Sounds like fun." I smiled as we ran. It felt so right to be here with Diego, rather than being cooped up in a dark basement, for no apparent reason, except that Riley didn't want us to know we could go out in the sun, just in case… Well, just incase everyone else started doing what Diego and I are… I don't think he could replace all the vampires he kept in those basements. I let go of his hands, and we started to pretend to me actual ninjas, throwing the rocks at each other, pretending that they were those Chinese stars ninjas throw.
We decided to just keep moving, incase Riley came across our scents before we're far enough away. We didn't want to be close enough for him to bother to follow us, not that I personally thought he would bother, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
"Diego, if we continue now, you owe me a game of ninjas!" I told him.
"I think I can handle that, just let me get this straight. You owe me a race and I owe you a game of ninjas."
"Yes." I smiled and we went. We were long out of Seattle by now, and maybe even out of Washington… I'm not sure.
"Bree, we're here." Diego told me. I was so focused on running that I didn't realize how far we had really come. I smiled at the thought of how far that was.
"What are you smiling about?" Diego asked.
"What? Me?"
"No, Bree. There's someone else I'm talking to." He rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"Sorry, I was caught up in though." I told him, and before he could ask, I told him what that was about. "I was just thinking about the life we just got ourselves, and the life we just got away from. The people and places we left behind, and the friendship we have ahead of us. The people we will meet, the good ones and the life we will have." I told him. He looked like he had nothing to say.
"Was that too much?" I bit my lip. He shook his head, and leant down and kissed me. Just a peck on the lips.
[A/N: Stephenie does do the 'rocks as stars' in the book, I am aware, but since that part of the book isn't in this, I decided to use it there instead.]