I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT; ALL KNOWN CHARACTERS WERE CREATED AND STILL OWNED BY STEPHENIE MEYER.

Chapter 1: Hybrid

EPOV

I hated school. I supposed the one way to truly repent my sins was to spend a significant part of everyday boring my head off. The teachers never had anything new—after all, what could possibly seem new to a being that had been living for almost a hundred years and a decade? Nothing at all. But still, to keep up the annoying human façade, my brothers, sisters and I had to spend a large part of every single day in the so-boring-its-incredible dreary building known as school.

Forks High School was even worse than the hundred other institutions I'd been to in my…not lifetime, my existence. The incredibly tiny student body consisted of so little humans I doubted it had even four hundred people.

Everyone knew everyone else. New students were rare to the point of non-existence.

Worse, everyone was pumping thick rivers of mouthwatering, deliciously tempting blood. Being vampires did have major problems, especially if you're a vegetarian. Even worse, being a mind-reader, my constant thirst was intensified four-fold because I wasn't the only supernatural being in the school.

My brothers, Emmett and Jasper, were equally thirsty. This was bad; we should have hunted last night. Carlisle had told us, but I had thought we could manage one more day. Rosalie, one of my 'sisters', looking stunningly beautiful as usual, had her hand covering her eyes. I 'heard' my other sister, Alice, giggle as she complained to her mate, Emmett.

"Why are you sitting like that?" he asked Rose.

"My eyes," she wailed quietly. "They're black! Black, Emmett! I look horrible with dark colors, especially my eyes. We really need to hunt!" I must look so horrid right now. No wonder all the silly humans are staring at me. We MUST hunt tonight.

I hid a laugh as I listened to her musings, ignoring the hundreds of other minds I could hear right now in my head. Oh, how I wished I didn't have THIS ability! Living would have been so much more peaceful and quiet.

But I couldn't stop the grin. Our extraordinary appearance always attracted huge amounts of unwanted attention. To human eyes, we appeared too beautiful and exquisite to be real. We even smelled amazing. I knew it all. I could see and smell everything the fragile humans were seeing and smelling. Anything the brain controlled, I could feel it. So right now, I would be looking at a thousand different part of the same crowded cafeteria even if I had my eyes closed. Once again, I wondered what I would have been like if I didn't have the stupid mind-reading power.

But most of the humans today were thinking about the new female student. Apparently, she was the daughter of the chief of police here in this teensy town. Name, Isabella Swan. But she preferred to be called "Bella" as I watched her correct everyone who addressed her by her full name.

On normal days, the arrival of a new student would barely have had any effect on me and my pointless existence. But somehow, the very second I had 'seen' her enter the school grounds through the boring eyes of Jessica Stanley and her friend George Saylan, the strangest thing had happened.

Every time I glimpsed the girl through someone else's eyes, a strange feeling would coarse through me, an emotion so powerful, I felt almost winded and breathless. Jasper was as confused as I was, considering he could feel as well as alter other's emotions. The very sound of the girl's name would send the most amazing flutters through my insides, and I would catch myself hoping to befriend her.

But as soon as I thought that, misery swept through me. I could never be friends with someone human, and this Bella person seemed so much more fragile and delicate than any other human I had ever seen. It seemed just my breath could snap her into pieces.

I winced silently as I imagined the horrible the mental pictures. As soon as I cringed, I was confused. Why was an insignificant human female having such a strong effect on me?

But I knew part of it was because, somehow, I couldn't read her mind. I couldn't even so much as even a whisper. Why was she so silent and mysterious?

She blushed and tripped so much it was hilarious. Once again, I was confounded by what was happening. Was I losing my mind, finally, after listening to so many others for such a long time? Was I snapping?

I sensed Jasper's amusement as he felt what I was feeling.

I don't think so, he told me mentally. It's more like you're in love, Edward.

I smirked and looked away. Right. Me, Edward Mason Cullen, was in love.

But I couldn't dwell on Jasper's ridiculous theory. And that was, once again, because of the girl, Isabella Swan. Somehow, I knew she had a big secret. Something huge, something rare, something…sinister.

But I couldn't concentrate on my own thoughts anymore because the girl who was haunting my mind just walked into the room. I inhaled sharply as I looked at her skin through Mike Newton's eager eyes.

She was so frail, like a bubble about to pop. It seemed as if the slightest brush of an immortal hand on her wrist could shatter her into a thousand pieces. Why was she was delicate? And I could also sense her discomfort and embarrassment. Of course she could feel everyone talking and thinking about her. Every single student's mind in Fork High School was busy speculating about her.

The males were imagining themselves asking her out to dinner, then moving their relationship one more step to movies and private dates. Within seconds, they were imagining her falling in love with them. Someone even imaged their marriage. How repulsive.

The females were wondering how to befriend her, knowing that becoming Isabella Marie Swan's best friend would boost their reputation in school to no end. Maybe that could even provoke some guys to ask them out or something. Ugh. How could anything get more stupid and irrelevant than that? But it seemed Mike Newtown and Jessica Stanley were already timidly friends with her.

I watched with Jessica as she entered the cafeteria with her and Mike and pick out her food with them. She took surprisingly little food, obviously nervous about her first day at school. The poor thing.

Hang on, I was…pitying her? Me? What was going on?

Once more, Jasper tried to explain.

I told you, I think you're in love. You're confused greatly, but I'm completely sure you're in love. Congrats, but…with a human? Couldn't you find someone more durable? She looks so breakable.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not, Jasper," I told him quietly. I noted as my other siblings deliberately pretended to ignore our one-sided conversation, but I could hear each of them listening closely. Except Rosalie. Right now, she was musing about her hair contrasting with her 'horrible black' eyes.

"I'm not," I insisted as Jasper started to contradict my statement. "Why on earth would I be? That's the most ridiculous statement I've ever heard" For the strangest reason, I was hesitant about saying Jasper's theory out loud. Why was that?

Alice laughed, her tinkling voice bouncing lightly around the huge room. "Okay, I don't know what you're talking about, but, Jasper, Edward's not consenting on whatever you're thinking about no matter what you say. Or think."

"Exactly," I sighed, relieved for her support.

I turned back to the hideous pile of sickening human food stacked on my lunch tray. At least we didn't have to eat this disgusting 'food' in Forks. In Alaska, we had. I shuddered at the memory.

Alice opened her mouth to ask me what Jasper was thinking about to me when she froze, in the midst of another one of her visions.

I watched curiously as Isabella walked past our table in Alice's mind, but stopped a few feet from Emmett's chair. Immediately, my future-self in the vision froze, stiffening swiftly, but seconds later, I twisted around in my chair to face the girl. The images darkened and eventually ended.

"What was that about?" I asked Alice, even though I knew she was as confounded as I was.

"I don't know," she said, replaying the bizarre vision in her head. "It didn't make any sense, but why would you—?"

She didn't get a chance to finish her question, because Isabella just walked by our table. Moments later, she froze, staring at me directly with eyes that didn't show the tiniest hint of fear or discomfort common for humans around us. Instead, she looked delighted and absolutely thrilled to see us. I probed mentally at the covering which hid her mind from me. Why could I read her mind like everyone else's?

Finally, I couldn't stand the frustration. I decided to see if direct eye-contact would help, so I spun in my seat and faced her directly. So soon as I moved, her expressed turned to utter delight and happiness so intense I was dumbstruck. What was wrong with her?

Her expression swiftly changed to one of anticipation. I felt my own face turn to shock as she smiled a heartbreakingly beautiful grin and strode happily over to us. Everyone's confusion was so overwhelming, but I couldn't concentrate on that—I was too busy trying to figure out this especially fragile human's bizarre actions.

"Hello!" she said brightly. I was taken aback. She hadn't been so cheerful since she'd entered the school.

"You're the Cullens, right?" she continued chirpily.

I felt Alice having another vision, but I didn't really notice. I was staring at Bella with dumbstruck eyes. Also, there was no way she could have known our surname. She hadn't asked about us from any student and she certainly hadn't seen any of us before now.

At least Emmett had the sense left to answer.

"Yeah...um, hi," he said, clearly awkward.

"You're Emmett McCarty," Bella said confidently. I heard Rosalie gasp. "Yes, and you're Rosalie Hale, of course, I've heard so much about your beauty. And your misfortunes in you human life. And you must be Jasper Whitlock. Yes, from the Southern Wars, obviously from your scars. And you're Edward Mason Junior, of course now you're Mason Cullen. You were changed while dying from the Great Flu, I found out. And you're Alice from the asylum. Such a fascinating gift you have."

I swallowed nervously. There had been no chance this tiny human knew so much about us. And she'd even hinted that she knew we were not human. We were vampires.

Alice swiftly recovered her wits.

"I suppose we should go out and talk, huh?" she said, sounded winded.

Unexpectedly, that unfamiliar feeling brushed through me as Bella smiled shyly at Alice's suggestion.

We all rose from the table. Bella didn't so much as flinch when Emmett stood right next to her. What was she? She wasn't afraid of vampires, at alone even intimidated by them. Was she human, or something else?

Once we were standing at the door, Bella quickly whispered. Her words flowed much swifter than a human but slower than an immortal's. Strange. Fascinating. I'd love to study her. I carefully took a whiff of her blood.

I couldn't believe what I smelled. She was NOT human. A strange mixture of them both. There was blood and a pulse in her veins, but her scent was thickly covered with the sweet smell of vampire nature. She must be a hybrid. Carlisle had told me once about them. Human mother and immortal father. I'd even met one many years back. A hybrid named Nahuel in Brazil. But most of all, her scent was very sweet, and extraordinarily powerful. I knew that: la tua cantante. My singer. But there was enough of the vampire smell for me to control myself.

"I knew a place in the forests at the back of the school grounds," Bella whispered quickly. "Follow me. And Alice, I'd appreciate it if you stopped thinking of me as a threat. I'm a friend, I assure you. You too, Jasper."

I blinked in shock. Could she read minds as well?

"Yes," she said, looking right at me. The feeling fluttered through me once more. "I have several…abilities. I'll reveal them at the right times. Now, please, follow me, we really have to talk."

I swallowed back the storm of questions building in my head.

She took a small step forward, smiling at every one of us in turn before running across the parking lot right into the small backyard. Whoa. She was as fast as any of us. God, she definitely not human.

I kept my eyes fixed on her, too fascinated by her blinding beauty to notice anything else. For the first time, I didn't hear the babble of voice (both verbal and mental) in my head, I didn't feel everything through Jasper, I didn't see the future through Alice. All I could see the stunningly beautiful creature darting with breathtaking grace. I never through I'd see the day when Rosalie's beauty would be challenged. But this girl…she seemed almost painfully beautiful. And yet so fragile…

As I followed her with my family through the darkening woods, I noticed that the clumsiness had been a façade. She moved with a grace so incredible, I caught myself wondering if this was a dream. Of course it couldn't be, vampires never dream. Never. Of course not.

"Thank you for not mistaking me for an illusion, Edward," Bella called, still running. I blinked as I realized she'd heard what I had been thinking about.

I barely noticed where she was taking us. All of a sudden, we ended up at a grassy clearing. It wasn't bright or flowery or sunny like anyone would expect. It was simply an ordinary forest clearing.

She was standing, smiling beautifully at us, as we approached her carefully. I was too entranced by her to be cautious.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I know this must be very confusing for you all."

"You have no idea," Emmett muttered.

I listened in wonder to Bella's tinkling laughter. How could such a wonderful, enchanted sound exist in this dreary world?

"So, first of all, I need to introduce myself," she continued cheerfully. She folded herself carefully and sat down on the grass. My family and I stood still for a few minutes. Alice combed the future for danger, but found none, so we followed suit and stand down in a straight line in front of her.

"You vamps don't need to tell me who you are," she laughed happily. I froze. So she did know about us. Obvious, considering she was half-vampire. "I know everything there is to know about you.

"Carlisle Cullen, your 'father', was changed in one of his vamp-hunts. He was miserable by what he was and changed his diet and fed on animals. He's very sweet and loving and very nice. He changed you, Edward, when your mother asked him to do everything to stop you from dying from the deadly flu. He changed his mate, darling Esme, when she jumped off a cliff in depression from a lost child and failed marriage. You, Rosalie, were abused disgustingly by your to-be-husband. When you were changed, you rebelled against your inability to become a mother, but your happiness was restored when sweet Emmett here was found. He was attacked by a bear and changed by Carlisle at your request. You're mates, of course, now. Alice, I know you don't know your past, but I know nothing more than this: your human parents were scared by your scanty abilities and sent you to an asylum where a veggie-vamp fell in love with you. He was forced to change you to save you from a sadistic vampire called James. I'm sorry, but I don't know his full name. You, Jasper, were changed during the Vamp Southern Wars. You left Maria and her sisters—" Jasper flinched when he realized just much Bella knew about him "—when you couldn't stand taking human lives so repeatedly. Alice, here, found you through her visions and together, you two joined the Cullen clan. This is all I know about you."

Everyone was frozen in shock. I, for once, was speechless. This was a true miracle. How had such a tiny being found out so much about us? She even knew Maria! How could that ever be?

Bella giggled lightly as she read our shocked faces.

"Surprised, huh?" she laughed.

"Hell, yeah!" Emmett boomed. "How did you…?"

"I suppose it's time for my own story, huh?" she sighed, her good mood vanished. I suddenly felt devastated as her face turned to one of immense sorrow. She looked a year younger than me, and so beautiful. And sad…

"First of all," she began slowly. "Know I'm not Chief Swan's biological daughter. I was adopted by him. I'll explain that in time.

"I met my real parents. Mother was human when she got married to Father, but she died seconds after I was…born." I knew why she hesitated. Hybrid births were violent and bloody. "Father couldn't live without Mother, but he couldn't leave me all alone. I matured at age seven and had remained the same way for twenty years now. A few years after my maturity, Father explained why he had to kill himself. I understood. He was destroyed just a decade ago." Her voice broke here. She dropped her face, staring at her feet, and I watched, horrified, as a single tear rolled down her face and dropped to the ground.

"Anyways," she said, brushing the drop away and taking a deep breath. "I had been alone for around five or so years before I wandered into Forks several years back. My adoptive father, Charlie Swan, Chief Swan to you, adopted me soon afterwards. I had discovered the 'veggie' way of life with my father, so being with humans was no trouble at all. I had huge funds from my father (almost as much as you Cullens do) all over the world. So I told Charlie to let me travel around for a few years. He was hesitant, but agreed. I left around a year or so before you all moved back into here."

"Back into here?" I repeated. How had she known we'd lived here before?

"I know everything about everyone the moment I see them," she replied calmly. "That's one of my abilities. I had several, in fact. I am heavily coveted by the parasitic Volturi, of course, but I refuse to ever join them and their foul ways.

"Anyways. I heard a powerful coven was moving in here, so I decided it was time for me to come home."

I felt a wondering smile break across my face. "What else can you do?"

"My main ability is weather control," she answered. Everyone gasped loudly.

"For example," she said. She closed her eyes for a moment, her fingers fluttering rapidly. Within seconds, snow was falling heavily all over Forks. I was astounded.

"Wow…" I heard Alice murmured, pleased. "This is incredibly, Miss Swan."

"Call me Bella, please," the stunning creature in front of me answered, smiling happily. "Its great to meet a renowned coven like yours, you know."

"I'm surprised we haven't heard about you before," Jasper mused thoughtfully. He was flipping through his memories rapidly, looking for traces of Isabella.

"I was careful not to make too many contacts," she told him. "I didn't want to attract the foul Italians' attention, but that was inevitable, of course."

Just then, a tiny white flake landed right on her nose. She scowled at it, annoyed. I saw her hands moving swiftly again, and the snow was quickly replaced by the usual rain. I watched quietly, fascinated.

"What else?" Jasper wondered. "What else can you do?"

"Well, I'm also a shield, mental only, and a mind-intruder, like Edward here," she said happily, pointing at me. A swell of happiness filled me as I realized she was looking right at me.

I knew right then that Jasper was right. I was completely in love with this beautiful creature.