One minute, you were happy and peaceful, enjoying the quiet while you hunted. The next, there was mud in your nose, mouth and eyes, and something was clawing viciously at your back and body. Unable to breathe, you try to struggle to your knees, gasping in pain.

That's when you hear the growling. Fiercer than the animal that just attacked you. You realize that this is it for you; you are going to die. Animals have come to feast on your flesh.

You collapse again, this time on your back. The animal, which you now realize is a bear, takes another swipe at you, tearing at the skin of your chest, and at your face. Then you realize the growling isn't coming from you; it's from the beautiful angel that launched herself at it.

No, you want to scream. Don't, it will kill you. Run for your life! You can't help me. Just run! But you can't, because the pain has sealed your mouth shut and made your vocal cords malfunction. Your vision is blurring, and some of the pain is going away. Is this what it feels like to die? You realize you must be close now.

You do what most other men do at this point: you begin to pray for your family. God,you pray, I'm sorry. Take care of my parents-- don't let them feel sad. I didn't want to marry that girl, but my parents were so happy about us together, and she loved me so much. Don't let her feel sad either. Help her to let me go. She didn't do it in life, now let her do it in death.

It's dark now. You can't see anything. You sigh, wincing in pain as you do so. An angel voice suddenly echoes in your mind. "Please don't die. Don't leave me. I'm going to help you." the girl? She fought the grizzly and won? You're confused.

And then you're flying. You must be on your way to heaven now. That was the only explanation. God sent the angel to destroy the bear and take you to heaven.

More voices echo in your mind.

"What the heck, Rosalie?" a boy's voice says in astonishment.

"What happened?" asks another voice. There are cold hands on your mangled skin.

"I found him. He was being attacked by a bear when I was hunting-- look, you have to help him." the angel's voice breaks.

"Oh Rose," sighs the boy's voice. "I'm sorry. He'll be okay, Carlisle will take care of him."

"Edward, Rosalie... leave the room." This voice must be Carlisle. He sounds very kind and gentle.

Suddenly, more tearing at your skin, the burning. This was not what you expected in heaven. After all, all those angel voices mean that you should have been getting closer. You should be there already. Not burning.

Your confusion increases as the burning spreads throughout your body. You were wrong, you conclude as the bewildering pain consumes you. You were rejected from heaven when you died. That angel was sent to escort you to hell.

The fiery pain rages on. Time goes on for so long, it seems to have lost meaning. You don't know how long you've been burning, but if this really was hell, you want to die. You wish you were never born. You wish that that angel had just left you alone.

Suddenly, you're very aware of the things going on around you. There's much more room in your head, and that confuses you.

Your wretched angel's voice cuts through the fire in your mind. "It's almost over now. Can you hear it?"

You hadn't heard it, actually, until she mentioned it. You had wondered about it at some point, what was wrong with your heart, but you couldn't find it to find out. Now, you wish you hadn't. It was unbearable. Your heart lurched and twisted, trying to get away from the fire as it galloped out of control, but it was too late. The fire was consuming it too. And it was getting hotter every second, until you wanted to scream. But you couldn't. The fire was choking you.

The fire was choking you. Your throat felt parched, like it had been charred to ashes in the middle of the Sahara. The thirst that overtook you then was almost as unbearable as the fire.

"Edward," you angel hisses. "Can you hear him?"

"Yes. You shouldn't have mentioned his heart to him. The pain is bewildering. He's wondering what's going on."

"Oh." she reaches out, her cold hands touching your face. The action should have been soothing, but it wasn't. "I'm sorry," she whispers, and her voice is like the whistling of the wind.

What you're more concerned about at that moment is how that boy Edward knew what you were thinking.

He chuckled. "He's wondering how I know what he was thinking. He is more confused that ever."

"I'll tell you a secret," she says to you, and your painful mind is intrigued and glad for the distraction. "Edward reads minds."

Oh. that makes sense, you guess.

More time passes, but you don't know how much. The burning starts to go away. Maybe God decided you belonged in heaven after all. He was God, He had the right to change His mind if he wanted. And you were extremely glad that He did.

You heart, now aching uncontrollably as the burning intensified, stuttered, before picking up again in double time. You had no clue what was happening, but you were certainly hoping that it would be over.

And then it was. Just like that, your heart stuttered again. But it never picked back up. I'm dead for sure now, you think as your eyes flutter open. It's finally over.

The image that fills your eyes is different than what you imagined. You're laying in a bedroom with floor to ceiling windows. You can see the different colors of the rainbow as the light spills through. Then you turn your head, and the most amazing woman you have ever seen appears in your vision.

Finding that you can move again, you reach out to touch her. She is so beautiful it makes your head hurt.

A chuckle rings from across the room, and an unearthly growl rises in your throat. Protect her. Protect yourself. As soon as the thought has entered your head, you are across the room, teeth bared at the bronze-haired boy leaning casually against the wall. You swing one arm back, in defense of the pretty girl.

He laughs outright. "I won't hurt you. You don't have to protect her. It's okay."

You just growl again.

A blonde man enters the room. Well, you don't really know if he's a man or just a boy like the bronze-haired one. You know he can't be older than eighteen. But the blonde one-- well, he seemed more like twenty-one or -two. Or maybe he was just barely older than the bronze one.

The bronze one smiled wryly. "I'm seventeen. Carlisle isn't sure how old he is. He's guessing twenty though, when he was changed."

Oh. that one must be Edward, the one who can read minds.

He tips an imaginary hat. "In the flesh."

You turn to see the beautiful girl. She's watching you anxiously. You reach out to touch her again. "You're so beautiful." the words slip from your mouth before you can contain them. "You don't have to worry anymore, okay?"

Something in her eyes dissapears, and she smiles a wide, genuine smile that should have made you dizzy.

Part of your mind notes that it didn't and another part wonders at how on earth you moved so fast. The rest of your mind is busy staring endlessly into those amazing golden eyes of hers. You had never seen anything like it before. It was mesmerizing.

Carlisle, the blonde one, cleared his throat. "How are you feeling?" he asks, interrupting your moment with the angel.

You turn to look at him. "Confused. Overwhelmed. What's going on? What happened to me?"

Edward studies his hands. "You're immortal."

"Immortal?"

"Yes. Like your angel." he sounds sort of mocking at the end, to which your angel hisses angrily for.

Carlisle holds up a hand in warning. "Hold it, now. First, do you remember what your name is?"

You stare at him. "Of course. I'm Emmett."

"Emmett. I'm Carlisle, and this is my son, Edward, and my daughter, Rosalie."

It fits, you decide as you look back at her. She's as pretty as a rose.

"Well Rosalie, it looks like your new friend Emmett is clearly smitten by your beauty."

She smiled at the thought, and you grin with her. Her smile makes you so happy, it's utterly confusing.

Carlisle chuckles before bring the topic back to what it was originally. "You are immortal, Emmett,because we made you that way. You are a vampire."

"No way."

Rosalie nods when you turn back to her.

"Aren't you one too?"

"Yes," answers Edward, "And the reason why she didn't eat you is because we don't hunt humans."

"We don't hunt humans?" good Lord, you're a vampire, not a parrot. "And get out of my head," you grumble irritably as an after thought.

Carlisle answers this time. "No. we hunt animals."

"You too, Rosie?"

she smiles childishly at the nickname. "Yes, me too. And now you too."

"Cool. So, do I have like, secret powers or something?"

She chuckles. "Well... Edward has a secret power, you know. His reading minds and also his speed."

"Speed?"

"We're all fast. It's a vampire thing. And strong. You're stronger now because you're young, and because there is still miraculously human blood inside your body from when you were human. But Edward is exceptionally fast."

"I bet I could beat him."

She laughed. "We'll see sometime if you can."

"Yes," Carlisle agreed, nodding. "But first we must get you food."