Author's Note: This is my second Leah fanfic, and I got the idea from reading some amazing stories and falling in love with the pair. I haven't decided how it's going to end yet, but I know that I want a lot of hardships for Leah and Marcus ^_^! I'd like to thank Lonely Scarecrow for inspiring me with the story Cupid's Arrow. If you love these two as much as I do, it is definitely one of the best stories I have read.

And now I know that I am boring you to tears with my constant babbling, so I tell you one last thing:

I do not and unfortunately never will own Twilight.

Enjoy!

If I smile and don't
Believe
Soon I know I'll wake
From this dream
Don't try to fix me;
I'm not broken
Hello
I'm the lie
Living for you so
You can hide
~Hello by Evanescence

Ch. 1
Leah's Pov

Well, perfect. Just perfect. Just when I thought that I would finally be able to get on with my life, fate drops another bomb on me. Why am I not surprised?

Let's go back to the beginning…

I am, against my will and better judgment, acting as a witness to prove to the vampire royals that Bella and Edward's baby is not an immortal child. So, my life continues to suck, with everything in it revolving around the idiotic Bella Swan.

I'm lost in my thoughts, not paying attention at all to the stupid event. Why the hell do I care? What have they ever done for me?

Then, I happen to look up, and everything in my world changes.

I see him, for the first time. And, just as Jacob once told Bella, it is suddenly not gravity holding me here on the planet anymore. It's him.

A vampire. A freaking vampire. Why can't I be normal for once and imprint on a normal human boy? Why? Does fate really hate me that much?

As I stare, I can sense that the pack knows what has happened to me. I block out their minds, not wanting to listen to anything they have to say about it. Edward is also looking at me now, his mind reading abilities proving exactly how intrusive they are.

In my desperation, searching for a way to leave and avoid any confrontation on Edward or the pack's part, I end up just running away yelling screw it in my thoughts. I ignore the weird looks that I am sure I am receiving for my sudden spaz attack.

As I run, my feet pounding against the ground, I lose myself in the exhilarating feeling of the run. But soon I have to go back because of my new bond to one of the mysterious cloaked vampires.

As I enter again, his eyes meet mine, and I can't look away. They are like twin pools of blood, diluted by milk. It should creep me out, but instead I think that they are the most beautiful eyes in the world. Ugh. What has imprinting done to me?

Another one of the ancient leeches, the one who seems to act as leader, walks over to my imprint, noticing his distracted expression after he looks away, and lays a single hand on his. Then he looks over at me, smiling like an idiot. I roll my eyes, thinking about how stupid he looks.

Then he walks over, to my greatest horror.

This day just can't get any worse, can it? I think to myself.

"What are you doing, Aro?" An angry voice calls out. I follow the idiotic leech's gaze to a very pissed looking vampire; with the only color he has being his lips and red irises.

"Caius, relax. I am just going to have a discussion."

That's when I find myself in the center of a bunch of furry bodies.

Ugh, guys! I whine. I'm a big girl now. I can take care of myself.

Sam and Jacob roll their eyes at me.

The vampire that pissed albino called Aro continues to come forward. Either he is brain dead, or he has a death wish. My wolf brothers aren't going to move anytime soon; so he's wasting his time.

"Wolf," he says by way of greeting. The growling coming from the pack and myself sounds like thunder. Hopefully he will realize that we are prepared to use violence and run away like the sissy he is.

He doesn't even take a single step back. There is just no getting through this guy's thick skull!

Edward walks forward then, his lips twitching in barely suppressed laughter.

"Um, Aro? Maybe we should allow them to phase back, and then have this discussion," he suggests.

"Of course. How rude of me." He says.

~0o0~

"Seth, can you tell them that I got sick and had to stay home?" I moan. I really don't want to deal with this crap right now.

"Sorry. You heard Jake. That was an order."

I groan and push myself to my feet, dreading every step that takes me closer to the leeches' territory.

"Leah, stop being such a baby," Sam says. I contemplate slapping him before I decide that fighting him is more trouble then it's worth. I settle for pushing him out of the way as I attempt to enter the room gracefully. I fail miserably, tripping over Sam's foot.

"Mature," I say sarcastically. Then I punch him in the face.

He tackles me down and we fight before I finally manage to pin him to the ground.

"Don't mess with me when I'm in this type of mood," I hiss, jumping off of him.

I ignore the looks that I receive and sit calmly in an armchair. Today's my lucky day! Leeches, and Jacob, and Sam, oh my!

"You wanted to discuss something?" I say innocently and nonchalantly.

"Leah, I don't think you really want to do this," Edward says, emerging from the kitchen.

"Yeah. Tell me something I don't know." I reply venomously. "Leech," I mutter for good measure.

The three vampires in front of me exchange glances.

"We, meaning I in this particular case," Aro begins.

"If you have something to say, just say it." I snap. Why do vampires enjoy annoying cryptic hints at the truth?

"You're coming to Volterra with us," Aro says.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You're coming to-"

"No, don't say it again!" I exclaim, exasperated. They look at me, clearly wondering what the hell is wrong with me. "I am most certainly not going with you to your crypt."

"You are." He says. I believe that he is trying to give me an order. Too damn bad. I take orders from no one besides Jake, on the few occasions when he has used his Alpha Voice.

"Um, vampire?" Jacob says. "Leah and orders…they don't match so well."

"For once I am actually glad that you added your opinion, Jake," I say, giving him a friendly punch which he returns.

"You have no choice in the matter." This leech is really starting to annoy me. He just cannot take a hint!

"I am not going with you, and that's final!" I shriek.

"Leah, we might need our ears one day," Edward calls in from the kitchen.

The two crypt keepers and my imprint exchange looks. Clearly they are not used to being so disrespected. I might actually be good for them, if I went. Just the thought that I can annoy them to death makes me rethink my hasty refusal.

Before I know it, lead vampire's ice cold hand is on top of mine. I snarl and pull it back, but his smile tells me all that I need to know. Stupid vampires and their mind tricks.

"Mmmm, yes." He breathes. He opens his eyes and his gaze pierces mine. "You are coming."

"Fine." I snap. If nothing else, I can annoy them until they are truly dead. That would be an easy and fun experience.

Edward comes in, chuckling from what he heard in my mind. "She wants you to know that you will most likely become so annoyed within the first hour that you will bring her back screaming in agony for us to take her from you." Edward says, trying to control his laughter.

Traitor, I think at him. He winks at me, much to my displeasure. I have to choke back a growl.

"I shall enjoy the challenge," Aro and albino say at the same time. I roll my eyes. Again.

"Oh, by the way, I'm going to be bringing someone from the pack with me," I add.

"No." Albino says flatly.

Why the hell not? I think.

"So it's okay to drag me across the world to Italy, but it's not okay for me to bring someone to ease the pain of being away from home?"

"One wolf is enough." I think I might actually hate albino more than idiotic happy vampire. Shocking.

"Now, Caius, it's only fair-"

"Aro," albino interrupts. "No."

"Caius, I'm going to agree to this." Aro says with a smile at me. Seriously, does this guy ever get pissed off? "It's a small price to pay for what will be gained from her presence in Volterra.

"Aro," my imprint says. "Why?"

"Because I feel like it."

My head snaps up when I hear my imprint speak for the first time, and I take in what I couldn't with our gazes locked earlier. He has pin-straight raven black hair like the leader, except his falls to his shoulders. He has the same chalky skin as the others, but his features are classic and defined.

Eventually, the matter of me coming to Italy with them is resolved, and the lucky pack member coming with me is Embry. I know. Join in with my groan fest. No one wanted to be away from the imprints, and I wouldn't let Seth come, so Embry got lucky enough to come with me, though he didn't seem that depressed about it. That increases my opinion of him greatly.

The packs were actually really supportive. I know, surprising, right? They wished me luck, as if I was following a normal human guy to Italy instead of chasing after my carnivorous vampire imprint. I almost feel bad for being such a jerk before.

Carlisle picked up Embry and I at my house in his black Mercedes. The ride to where the overly happy vampire, Aro, told us to meet is silent. It's almost too quiet. Right before we pull up, Carlisle turns to look at us.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asks.

"No need to worry, Dr. Fang. We're all good." I say. Then the car rolls to a stop and I jump out the door.

"Oh my God." I say, taking in all of the vampires.

"The smell is going to suffocate us," Embry agrees.

"Sorry that you're going to die with me," I say, actually meaning it.

"Don't worry about it. Maybe we can take them down with us."

"Doubt it."

We walk over to where the five black-cloaked leaders are standing. I quickly introduce Embry and wait for them to introduce themselves. I now know their names: overly happy vampire is Aro, pissed off albino is Caius, my imprint is Marcus, blonde number one is Sulpicia, and blonde number two is Athenodora.

"Do you have a, um, shorter version of your names?" I ask the two women.

"I usually use Cia as a nickname," Sulpicia says.

"I guess you could call me Dora. Or Athena."

"Dora it is."

Once we board the flight, Aro points out everyone. Chelsea and Afton are in the front two seats, followed by the twins, Jane and Alec. Then there is Felix and Renata, followed by Demetri and Heidi. The rest I didn't care enough to pay attention to.

Guess what? Give up?

The Voltouri have a freaking private jet. And let me tell you: that thing is pure luxury. Oh my God, it was an awesome and very comfortable ride to Italy.

Once we get to the castle (there's no better way to describe it), Embry and I decide to head to sleep early. We have agreed that tomorrow is going to be a long day.

Aro decided that our rooms should be right next to each other, much to our annoyance. I had to suppress a really loud, exasperated groan when he told us this. This is practically sharing a room with Embry. It's disgusting.

I toss and turn for a few hours before I finally manage to fall into a sleep-like state.

Author's Note: So, how was it? Did you like it? Please comment! I can't tell you how important your comments are to my writing. They help me make myself continue, even through slumps.

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