Finding Bella

EPOV

I was stalking a mountain lion. My favourite. Just as I lunged for its throat the wind changed bringing an unfamiliar, but unusual scent with it. As I turned, I heard a faint heartbeat. I ran as fast as I could, as the heart beat got louder, I also heard sobbing. Ahead I saw a thinning in the tree's, just as I reached the edge of the tree's the sobbing stopped. I looked through a gap in the tree's to see a girl huddled in a ball in the middle of a clearing rocking back and forward. As if sensing I was there, she stood, faster than I would of thought possible, for a human.

Now that I could see better I noticed she didn't look any older than eighteen. A heart shaped face bordered by beautiful dark hair streaked with red. Her skin was pale -almost as pale as a vampire- unblemished and streaked with tears. Her mesmerizing blue eyes gazed at me furiously. She was a very pretty human. She wasn't as beautiful as my Rose but still pretty.

"I know your there! Come out." she growled in a low menacing voice. Before I could stop to think I was stepping in to the clearing, into the girls view. I only noticed that she was in a fighting stance as I stepped in to the small but wide patch of grass.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I said in a loud enough voice so that she could hear me. At that moment I heard my families troubled thoughts. They were moving towards us. Alice had filled them in on the girl I had just found."What's your name?"

"Why do you want to know?" she snarled at me trying to back away. Suddenly she gasped. "You're one of them," it was more of a statement than a question."What do you want Vampire? What? Am I on your land?"

I was still frozen from her question when my family reached the clearing a minute later. They stayed back in the bush trying not to scare the girl. "What's this? There are more of you?" she glowered behind me while saying this.

My whole family was frozen all kinds of thought's running through their mind. The first one to take control of their thoughts -which were paternal seeing the girl's appearance-was My Rose."Yes, there are seven of us," she said "I'm Rosalie." she added in a motherly voice walking into the clearing and coming to stand next me.

"Hello, dear. I'm Carlisle," he said stepping out from behind the brush. "And this is my family." Carlisle said listing the names as each person stepped into the clearing.

"This is Alice," Carlisle announced as Alice glided from the bushes-before he even said her name- to stop next to Carlisle "and this is Jasper as well as Edward." He said pointing to Jasper and I as he stepped from the brush and stood on Alice's other side.

"This is Emmett," Carlisle said finally. There was silence. No-one stepped out of the bushes. I couldn't hear his thoughts anymore either. "Emmett." Carlisle called loudly, where is he, Edward? He thought. I shook my head once acknowledging his thoughts. I'll find him, I thought projecting it to my family.

For some reason the girl looked shocked as if she had heard it too. I turned towards the way we had come in, the last thought I heard before I left was that of the girl.

Her thoughts were horrible. It was like her sole was a black hole and the last thing that I caught was, I have to survive I won't let it happen again. What won't happen again? I thought. My thoughts were answered as a sixteenth of a second passed she thought of a body. What I was looking at was horrible and sickening, even to a vampire. It must have been her body because it was small and fragile looking, but the blue and black bruises were not. They covered most of her body. Her thighs, once flat stomach-now covered in welts- and worst of all her back.

Before I knew what I was doing I shot off smashing all the trees in my path. I had only seen bruises on her body and I was sickened to my un-beating heart. She had looked to be about 18. How could anyone do that to a teenage girl? It was just sick and wrong. Just thinking about it made my anger flare.

I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts to hear -or smell- Rosalie until she was at my side holding my hand. Her thoughts were based around the girl and how she brought out such a strong emotion in me. I projected to her the picture and the girls last thought. If looks could kill, the forest would have burnt down with all the animals inside, and us as well.

"H-h-how could anyone do that? Sh-sh-she's just a child. If I get anywhere near the person that did that I-I will watch the life leave his eyes as I strangle him to death." Rosalie stuttered out furiously. I've only ever seen her like this once and that was the day after her change. It was a horrible sight all the same.

I sat on the ground bringing Rose with me. Slowly rocking her shuddering body. Her thoughts were set to the reason she had been changed, Royce King. She was imagining that night with Royce and all his friends. Except instead of Rose it was the girl. Her cries were hard to hear over the laughter of the men as they beat and raped her, then left her to bleed to death in the streets.

"Stop it," I said forcefully to her. "don't think like that. I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for this." Even as I said it I could see the doubt as the most prominent emotion on Rosalie's face.

"Let's go find Emmett," Rose said. I stood, extending my hand to help her up. "Race ya." she said ignoring my hand and standing up on her own. Before I even uttered a word she shot off like a bullet from a gun, disappearing from the trees and into a patch of light.