I made changes to the first chapter so I am re posting it and I will re post the second chapter. Thank you my beta Re-vamped!

BPOV

When I describe my life it's really nothing out of the ordinary, and that's basically I have felt about it my entire life. I'm twenty-three year old woman without many of the basics of life, mainly family or any form of love life. My parents recently passed in a freak car accident, and there is still an ongoing investigation to find out what exactly happened. What little I have been told was that my parents were killed while they were driving their car overseas and a tree mysteriously fell on their car. That was something I really couldn't wrap my mind around, something that I was going to have to come to terms with.

There would be morning that I would still wake up thinking that I could still smell my mom's pancakes cooking on the griddle. I love them so much, especially her special chocolate chip ones. When I would come into the kitchen my dad would be at the table reading over the morning newspaper with a fresh squeezed glass of orange juice and every morning he would greet me with the same line, "Good morning my sweet bubble bee."

My parents were extremely overprotective of me, especially when I was younger too. I guess that is what you get when you are as clumsy as I am. I could remember that my mother would reprimand me constantly if I just tripped, telling me that she was always so worried that she would loose me some how, but no matter if I just got a scratch or even broke a bone she would always shower me with all the love you could imagine. You might even say that love oozed from every pore of her body, and that was something. My father was such a strong soul, a natural born protector, one that would fight to the death to protect his family. Both of them together they were a vision of true undying love, and I would sit as a child on the sofa and just watch how they would sit and stare into each others eyes, I even envied them. That was how I envisioned my future love… one just like my mom and dad. Now that they are gone I miss those loving looks, the warm hugs, the quick kisses on the cheek as they passed me by on their way to work, and even the nights we would sit up for hours watching movies. Now my life was forever changed and I was just going to have to come to terms with it.

So, here I am …Bella Voltanna, sitting in the back row of one of the many lecture halls at UIC, daydreaming about my past, missing my parents desperately, lonely and longing for some form of love. I shouldn't complain really. I have friends, some really great ones too. They are my family now. They say that your friends are the family that you choose for yourself and I guess they are right. People don't have to share a blood tie to be that special to you, to consider them family, but there was still that place deep within my heart that felt as if it would never be filled. I was suffering from one of those moments that you felt like you were standing in a room with thousands of people, but you felt as if you were truly alone. The sad thing was that I was suffering from them more often than I truly should.

"Hey Bella, wake up! Class is over."

I jerked a little when I noticed my friend Mary Beth shaking my shoulder, hoping to bring me back from my daydream. She was staring down at me wondering what sent me off into that deep place in my mind, but she was one of those people that wouldn't ask, and at this moment that was a great quality.

"I was not asleep… just not physically here at the moment," I said as I stood from my seat. I quickly picked up my belongings and joined in the heard of students that were trying to get out of the building and off to their regular lives.

"It will get better Bells. That much I promise you. I know it isn't the same as it was when they were still here. You won't forget them, but they wouldn't want you living in the past either. Trust me, I know these kinds of things," she said with a soft smile as we pushed our way out into a rainy Chicago afternoon.

"You are coming to my place to night right? I will make that Italian Crème cake you been begging me to make for you," I said as I used the electric lock button on my beautiful Nissan.

I couldn't help but smile as I admired the car. It fit me perfectly and I loved it so much too.

Mary, know as MB to me and her many other friends, reached her car and opened the door, but paused for a second before she turned back to me, her hand still on the door handle. She must have thought I was kidding or something.

"Are you serious?! For Italian Crème cake I would drive through Chicago's worst winter day," she chuckled as she got in the car and rolled down the window for a minute. "How about I come over around six? I have to get home and I have to feed my puppies and that even includes Eric."

"Sounds good to me," I called back to her.

She quickly waved by to me, rolled up the window, and was backing quickly out of the space leaving me alone again.

Mary Beth was my best friend, more than a friend… she was my sister in every sense of the word. She is a couple years older than I am, but that doesn't matter, she's like a big kid at times and she's been here for me through think and then and honestly, I couldn't ever thank her enough for being around. She wasn't one you really wanted to mess with either. She was one of those people that would get severely pissed if someone criticized a friend or someone she cared about. She wasn't a true city person, but she had style, growing up in the southern part of Illinois really rubbed off on her at times.

She had a great fiancé who was beautiful beyond words. He has dirty blond hair, well built body and six foot five and all man. You can't really find them like him that often around here either. He also is finishing his residency as a cardiothoracic surgeon. There was a time that we would read massive amounts of romance novels and we would say that the men on the covers put men in real life to shame, but I had to say that Eric must have been swept up off the pages because he has the looks and the attitude that all women are in search of.

My girl is going to law school in hopes of becoming a high priced litigator, and I have to say that is the perfect job for her, especially since she can argue about anything and win. I couldn't help but chuckle when I thought back to the moment I met her especially since her arguing skills were coming into play then. It was three years ago when I was walking from one of my classes to see this brunette woman dressed in a tan dress and black Gucci stilettos. Her heel was stuck in a drain hole, and she was bent over trying to pull the shoe loose. It was when her bags spewed out all over the ground that she started yelling.

"Not my new shoes! I just spend three months of paychecks on you. Damn you!!!" she screamed.

I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that she acted as if the shoes where at fault for getting stuck. Obviously no one ever told her not to walk over storm drains in heels. After a few minutes more of watching her struggle, I walked over to her and pulled out my petroleum jelly out of my purse and loosened her heel with minimum damage. Ever since then we have been inseparable.

My daydreaming had sort of cut into my time so I had to race home if I was going to get a cake baked before she arrived, and she would be prompt too. It always made me laugh when I brought of the subject of Italian Crème cake… she was obsessed with them! I got home in less than twenty minutes which was good considering the traffic. My apartment was located in the suburbs in a really nice neighborhood. After loosing my parents, I had to find a new place to live and originally I planned on getting a one bedroom, but Mary Beth couldn't handle that. She quickly said that she needed space at my house, mainly because she was sleeping on the sofa or sharing a bed with me when she stayed over. It also had a nice kitchen which was a necessity since I loved to cook. Plus, MB wasn't going to be opening a restaurant any time soon.

I barely pulled the cake from the oven when I heard a knock at the door. Running to the door, I jerked it open to see Mary Beth standing just on the side, a smile on her face.

"OH! I smell yummy delicious cake, give me!" she said as she raced into the kitchen.

I ran for the kitchen and swiftly pulled the cake out of her reach before she could destroy me hard work.

"No… not yet it needs to rest for a little while," I replied only to get a look of death in return.

I couldn't help myself when I burst out into laughter, and her face turned to one that you would see on a kid that was having their favorite toy taken away from them. She really had no idea how important she was to me and that she was one of the few people that could bring a true smile to my face.

"So when are you going to finally tell me about your family history?" she asked, changing the subject.

Honestly, I didn't know why she was so interested in my family, but I had agreed a while back that I would finally tell her. My family history might actually be the most interesting part about me to be completely honest. Slipping from the kitchen, I went to the living room to pull down the photo albums and the books of research that my parents had done on their families. I never knew why my parents found the family histories interesting, but they were very adamant about me learning about it, almost like my life might depend on it someday. I sat the books down on the table, cut a piece of cake for both of us and made some tea before I insisted on going back into the living room.

"Okay it's not much but, this is where I come from," I opened the first book.

"This is a photo of my great-great aunt Rosalie. She was nineteen in this picture, from her engagement party."

The photo of Rosalie was magnificent; she was a classic beauty of her time. I wished that I had only a fraction of her beauty, if I did, I would have men falling at my feet, begging for my attention. She was dressed in a beautiful gown that showed her long slender neck, her hair up in a beautiful diamond hair clip, her faced framed with golden ringlets

"They found her fiancé dead a few weeks after the engagement party. They just assumed she was dead as well. They had a funeral with no body, and till this day they have found nothing. She had a sister who was a year older than she was. Her name was Jana, and she is my great-great grandmother. She married a man named Jacob Whitlock from Texas. From what we have found out about Jake Whitlock, he never met his father, but his name was WilliamWhitlock. He was around nineteen when he got my great-great grandmother pregnant. He enlisted for the Confederacy in the Civil War, he even had to lie about his age to join the army and he was never seen again. He probably didn't even know she was pregnant. We never found out Jacob's mother's name, but he and Jana had six kids. He died a few years after the birth of his last child. They have come to think he had some form of cancer."

I turned to see Mary Beth focused on my words, deep in thought about what I was saying. She had to educational loves, the law and history, and she always was saying that I needed to gain an appreciation of the past for it influenced us all in the future. I quickly turned the page and continued with my story.

"Jana tried to find another husband to take care of her and her children, but she was too old. Most of the men were in search of young vibrant women, not one with a brood of children in tow. So, she became a seamstress and worked long hard hours just to feed her family. One of her daughters, Jessa, married a man from England. They met while he was studying at the Washington University. His name was James Cullen and his family dates back way before the 1600's. Their daughter Renee, my mother, married Charlie Voltanna. Honestly, I think my mother's family is a little more interesting. My dad's family is Italian and dates back thousands of years. The family name used to be Volturi but over time it changed to Voltanna. My dad was always telling me stories that his ancestors were the ruling class of vampires, but I never really paid much attention to him, but he said that if I didn't listen and mind him and mom that they would come and take me away and I would never see them again."

I finished with a deep sigh. Hmm… that really wasn't that long of a story.

"Wow! That's something I tell you. My name doesn't even really leave southern Illinois," she said as she took a sip of her drink. "Show me pictures of the rest of the family or the ones that you have".

Thank you my wonderful sister! I hope you all enjoy it. Please review

And thank you my beta for the help of the names!