Chapter One.
"Bella? What are you doing out here? It's freezing," warmth enveloped me and my body was lifted from the damp porch floor. "Bells, your ice cold, you don't even have a pul-" A thud, as the porch complained about my body rushing to meet it. The wood groaned even more as Jacob began to shake, violently. He hissed, "Cullens."
"No, no Jake, it wasn't them- please, take me inside." I could feel my eyes start to sting as tears tried to manifest. Jacob's body began to slow its shaking and he once again bent to pick me up. "You don't smell any different you know."
We made our way into the Black's house and he set me delicately on the old worn couch in the living room, pulling the blanket off the armrest and covering me in futile. He smiled slightly, laughing at himself, before remembering the situation and frowning. I swallowed, praying that he would give me the chance to explain what had happened to me.
"I went to visit Renée one last time before I was changed," I ignored his growl. "I went alone, to spend real quality time with her. On my last night, there we went out to supper at a restaurant and I left my purse there by accident so on my way to the airport the morning after, I stopped at the restaurant but I was attacked. I've only just become truly familiar with my abilities so I returned to be with the Cullens again.
"Edward threw me out, he claimed I planned to be turned, so that I wouldn't have to marry him. But, as a vampire, I saw him as a vampire and not his prey. He's hideous, Jake. His mean, sunken eyes, how could I have not seen that before?" I was still dumbfounded by what had happened with the Cullens. How could Edward simply throw me out of his house? "I just, I didn't know where to go Jake."
"You know what the treaty says Bells. No vampires on the reservations, there's no exceptions. Even for you, Bells." He sniffed. "You smell the same though, I don't understand why my wolf doesn't want to kill you." He frowned, thinking. "I'm going to explain this to Sam." I nodded, I would submit to anything if it meant at least keeping Jake in my life.
I was beginning to wonder where they had disappeared to when I heard his voice and another, deeper voice coming from the woods behind the house. Sometimes, being a vampire was just plain handy. They walked into the house, fixing their gym shorts on their way in, followed by Embry, Paul, Jared and Quill. I could feel my nerves start to take over, I kept my eyes to the floor.
"Bella, can you tell us all what happened?" Sam had such a smooth voice, so melodic.
"She's a goddamned bloodsucker and you want to hear her story?" Paul had always detested me. "Burn the bitch!"
Sam gave Paul a dirty look, forcing him out the door and onto the porch. Once everyone had settled down slightly, I took a deep breath. I made eye contact with each of the boys, my eyes lingered on Quill, his gaze seemed to penetrate my very soul.
I cleared my throat and told my story again, my eyes still drawn to Quill. He reacted to the story so much stronger than Jacob had, shaking violently before running from the house. He barely left the porch before phasing. Jake, already knowing what had happened to me in Florida, chased after him. I finished my story telling to the boys, Sam nodding his head.
"Why don't you smell like blood? Don't you feed?" Sam's brow was furrowed in confusion.
"Well, yes, I'm a vampire, I kind of have to feed to live. But I only feed on animals; I have no desire to feed on human blood. I can't."
"I'd like to test that theory, Bella," Billy rolled into the living room, supposedly tired from eavesdropping in the kitchen. I smiled at him, happy to see that he was doing well; he nodded back to me, producing a knife from his shirt pocket. Pressing the blade to his skin, hissing as he broke through, he held his hand to my face. The smell of warm copper permeated the air and had my stomach churning, even before I had tasted the red substance.
Everyone watched intently as I pulled Billy's hand to my lips. He nodded to reassure me, and I slowly fed from me honorary father. Before I even felt the blood slide down my throat, I was up and running to the door, emptying the contents of my stomach into Billy's flower garden. The pack cringed as a whole, some mumbling apologies as I made my way back to the couch.
I took Billy's hand in mind, and, extending my fangs, let two drops of my venom fall onto the wound. The pack watched, shaking as a group, as I rubbed the venom into Billy's hand. He stared at his hand, amazed.
"The cut," he whispered, "it's gone. It's completely gone."
"My venom doesn't change humans, it heals them." I had been amazed myself, to find that my venom was harmless to humans. "It has something to do with my blood. I have Quillette blood somewhere and I think that it affected my change."
Billy was nodding along with my speech. Boy, these Quillettes sure did know how to nod. "You share a relative with the Blacks on your mother's side, although it's pretty distant. That's probably why Jacob never did imprint on you."
Speaking of Jake, he and Quill chose that moment to return to the house. Quill's eyes instantly found mine and mine, his.
"Funny you should mention imprinting," Jake began.