DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Twilight' or 'The Lord of the Rings' and make no profit from my writing.

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CHAPTER ONE

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BELLA

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The fucker was fast, that's for sure.

Jane and I had been after the rogue vampire for three days now. He was a serial killer who had a nasty habit of murdering blonde females, both human and vampire alike. A grieving mate of one of the victims came to Volterra and asked for aid in catching the fiend, though we had to take him out before he exposed himself to the humans as he was mad with grief.

We've been chasing this guy all over Europe. From Luxembourg to Germany through Poland before trekking across Belarus and finally deep into Russia, where we are now.

We could smell the rogue, he was around here somewhere amongst all the pines and the snow. I took a moment to marvel at the huge grey jagged snow-capped mountain range glaring down at Jane and I.

"What mountains are these?" I asked Jane, almost in a trance. There was something eerie and odd about this place. I couldn't place my finger on what it was though, but ever since we entered the shadow of the mountain strange chills had been slithering up and down my spine - and not in a pleasant way.

Jane scanned the surrounding area for our quarry a moment longer before she turned around and looked up at the dark mountains.

"This is known as the Kholat Syakhl or in english; the Dead Mountain, it's a part of the Ural Mountain range"

I stared at the mountains again a moment longer before looking down to Jane once more. "It's creepy. And can you feel that? The place is really emitting some weird vibes" I shuddered at the faint pulsating energy the mountain range let off - in all my 80 years of existance I had never been around a mountain range that actually felt alive almost, felt like it was watching you. Night would soon be here and the last thing I wanted was to be under the gaze of the Kholat Syakhl when the moon kicked the sun's ass out of the sky.

"I do. Many of the locals believe this place is cursed. And with us knowing that there are things that really do go bump in the night, I don't doubt it" she sighed before looking over to the tree-line again. "Let's just burn this cretin already, I don't want to be here longer than necessary"

You and me both sister!

The sun was a deep orange and pink and hung low in the sky, casting a beautful contrast against the pristine white of the snow. Truly, being a Volturi guard certainly took one to remarkable places.

The forests were ghostly quiet, not one twig was heard snapped by a deer, not one squirrel munching on a nut nor one bird rustling between the leaves of a branch. He was in here, that was certain. Though what worried me was that whenever we got too close to him - as proven over the past three days - his scent would diminish in potency, leading us to believe that he could perhaps have some sort of gift of Evasion.

The further we walked into the woods the more the tall pines seemed to close in on us, darkening the area considerably. If I was still human I would most assuredly be sweating like a pig and hyperventilating like a crazed tween fan-girl being introtuced to Jordan Beaver at one of his music concerts.

"Bella... is there a reason why you're gluing yourself against my back and knocking my heels with the tips of your shoes?" asked Jane in mild annoyance.

I looked around at the groaning trees that for some reason seemed to be getting taller and taller. "It's awfully dark in here isn't it?" I murmured in a timid voice feeling as though the big scary trees were going to morph spooky faces and belt out dramatic evil laughs at any second.

Jane swung around and looked at me bewildered for a moment. Many emotions flashed through her gleaming ruby red eyes; disbelief, scepticism, incredulity and finally shock - at least I think it was shock, I couldn't be sure, I wasn't an Empath like Jazzy. "You're scared" she said it less like a question and more like a statement.

We had been exploring these woods for hours and the criminal had still not been found, his scent growing ever fainter while the sun had completely vanished. Damnit, Demetri should have been with us, but he was off on his own mission down in South America.

"Well, not really - I mean no!... maybe. Yes" as she opened her mouth to reply, I quickly cut her off, wanting to explain why I was feeling less invincible than usual. It had to do with this whole mountain range and its forests, I'm sure of it! This place was really setting off some dark voodoo vibes. "I keep looking back expecting a horde of fuckin' Sasquatch to come stampeding down the mountain with giant clubs raised in the air ready to smash us to dust!"

Jane sighed dramatically before rubbing her eyes as if she were tired.

"This place is really freaking me out Jane, the energy, the aura here is just... wrong. There could be bigger and badder things than us hanging around here. And I'm not so arrogant to think that I'm completely invincible and I'm certainly not immune to fright" I finished off by glancing around the woods once more.

"And you're in the elite guard... wonders never cease"

I looked down at Jane's angelic face with a knowing smirk on my own. "You're freaked out too" I said teasingly.

She scoffed and folded her arms against her chest. "I fear nothing!"

I stopped in my tracks and folded my own arms against my chest, my smirk still firmly in place. "Oh really? Then why are you doing that thing that you do when you are on the verge of panic and fear?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" spoke Jane haughtily as she tore her eyes away from my own and continued to follow the faint scent.

"That eye twitch of yours. You're doing it as we speak!" I laughed.

"No, I'm not! You're full of rubbish" huffed Jane, her left eye still playing 'now you see me, now you don't' with itself.

The two vampire guards and close friends continued on their trek through the large forest so absorbed in their jovial banter that neither noticed the shift in air and energy. Or the many pairs of eyes watching them.

"Yeah whatever, I still say Felix is a closet-tranny and-" Bella stopped dead in her tracks as her feet scuffled though damp leaves and moist soil but no snow.

Jane followed Bella's line of sight and she too widened her eyes at the sight of the forest floor. Not one bit of damn snow. Where did it all go to?

The duo then began to notice how muggy and close the forest air was, that wasn't right, Russia had been freakin' cold, it was snowy and windy for goodness sake. Also, the trees seemed never ending in height and so much thicker - there was not one pine in sight. They couldn't see the night sky any longer as the giant canopy of leaves completely blocked out the sky like a thick heavy evergreen blanket.

The very air too was... different. Unknown. Unfamiliar.

It was too clean, too pure, unpolluted.

Jane had been to every corner of the earth during her time with the Volturi and never had she come across such sweet and pure air. Never had the air hummed with such energy. She stopped over to a gigantic tree and placed her hand against it, though quickly retracted it as though it had burnt her.

"What is it?" asked Bella with worry as she watched Jane who looked up at the tree with a puzzled expression before placing the palm of her hand back against the bark.

After a moment Jane then turned towards Bella with a look on her face that could only be described as awe and wonder. "Come feel"

Bella stepped towards Jane and the massive tree unsure, but placed her hand against the dark bark in any case. And what she felt was undescribable. The fuckin' tree had a pulse! It was alive with energy.

Jane was flitting around the area touching each tree she saw, and every one of them pulsated with life just as the grand one where Bella still stood. She had never experienced anything like this before. The whole forest had a life of its own - literally. It was amazing.

Though magic trees aside, it still did not explain just where they were. The whole place felt foreign to Jane, it felt... unearthly. They were no longer in Russia, no longer in Europe for that matter and quite honestly her senses were telling her that she and Bella were no longer on 'earth'. But how? Perhaps the locals of Dead Mountain were right and the place was cursed or something.

Bella herself soon came to realize that the place they were in was not of the earth her and Jane lived in. All of her instincts told her that they were in otherworld territory. But where? And how? She knew it had to do with that damn mountain range, the energy there was just so unnatural. Were they pulled unawares into a time warp? Unknowingly transferred into a different world or realm? Such a thing was unheard of, nothing but fiction and myth. Though Bella was seriously starting to believe that myth.

Damn them for not paying attention to their surroundings, she thought angrily. If they had just stopped jabbering about nonsense perhaps they could have noticed a change in air or the landscape or seen ripples in the air ahead of them or something. How were they going to get home? Were they stuck here for good? Were there even humans here, and if not, what would they feed on?

Both of them glanced at one another realizing they were both sharing the same thoughts.

Jane stepped towards Bella and stood in front of her, her keen eyes ever searching the dark forest for threats. "Well we can't just stand here feeling up trees, we have to keep moving and figure out what's going on. God, I can't believe this. How did this happen? Did we lose our senses for a moment? We're Goddamn vampires, even in deep conversation we were supposed to sense the changes around us! Aargh!"

Jane stopped her rant when she realized Bella was paying close attention to something behind her. Bella's eyes were wide, her mouth hung open and before Jane could ask what was wrong Bella's garnet red eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed to the ground with a hard thud.

Jane swiftly spun around and stared on in shock and horror at the eight pairs of large inky black eyes which stared right into her own.

'Oh shit'

Chapter One complete! I hope you like it!

I will be updating weekly.