A/N: be very proud of me. Admittedly, I had already written this chapter, but still. Hope you like it…reviews welcome (and wanted!) x

While i remember, Twilight doesn't belong to me...Certain new characters do though. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Instant reaction.

A pair of dark eyes snapped open, the girl's face openly confused and vulnerable for less than a second before wariness leapt into it, lips curling back into a menacing snarl which revealed her bright white teeth and had me recoiling instinctively. This…creature was more different than the sleeping child of only moments ago than I could have dreamed, and the transformation had newborn Bree leaping unwanted into my mind again. Alice, however, did not even flinch, deceptively delicate hands closing around the girl's wrists as her fingers curved like claws.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

A growl sounded deep in the girl's throat, but she made no attempt to move. Her dark eyes flicked to and fro with a wildness which reminded me of an animal, something predatory in the way they scanned over my face and finally settled on Alice. The little vampire only leant closer to the child she held. "Speak," she hissed, startling me with the pure venom in her voice.

The girl stared at her for a long moment, and I noticed her sudden trembling. Not with fear, I realized; with anger, and a memory was flung into the forefront of my mind. Jacob, shaking with rage –

I forced the image away as the ache was reopened, felt a new wave of unease surge through me. "Alice," I started apprehensively, "I think –" The words froze in my throat as the girl's gaze spun towards me, a fresh snarl twisting her lips. Her eyes abruptly widened, then narrowed and slid back to Alice's face as she finally spoke.

"Let me go." Her voice was softly lilting, almost musical. It was the voice of an angel, and once again I was struck by the similarities between her and the Cullens. "Let me go," she repeated, and it was with incredulity that I saw Alice's hands release the girl. "Go back in the house. There's nobody here. You haven't seen anyone."

To my utter amazement, Alice stood up slowly and turned around, face oddly wooden as she began to head towards the house. I caught her arm, and her eyes slid slowly to look at me. "Alice. Alice!" I put a hand on each of her arms, stared directly into her face. "Alice, what are you doing?" She gazed at me blankly for a second before suddenly shaking her head, golden eyes clearing.

"Bella?" Then her expression snapped to one of fury, which I had only seen on her face once or twice before. She spun around, moved in a blur of speed to where the girl had slunk from beneath my truck and seized her once more. I saw the disbelief on her face as she found herself captive again, opened her mouth to speak. "Don't even try it," Alice told her tightly. They stared at each other for what seemed a very long time, eyes black and gold, as though each was attempting to stare the other down, but I suddenly noticed how Alice was straining to maintain her grip on the girl's wrists even as the other struggled to get free. My heart sped up as I realized that Alice had no obvious advantage, but the flash of surprise and fear across her opponent's face told me the strange girl was as at a loss as I was to understand what was going on.

Finally she stopped, lowered her head in an obvious sign of submission.

"No tricks," Alice told her, quietly threatening. "Come." Still holding onto the girl, she motioned me with one curt toss of her head to precede them into the house. Awed, confused and frightened, I obeyed, only glad to be able to look away from the awful battle of wills which simmered between them.

Although Alice was half-dragging the girl, she was as silent as the little vampire herself, and I cursed myself for constantly trying to find similarities. It was impossible. No vampire slept, had a heartbeat. And yet, no human had that pallor or was strong enough to challenge Alice.

I stepped well back as Alice pushed the girl down in Charlie's chair. "Bella, I want you to call Carlisle," she ordered me. "Tell him to come here; I'm not risking moving her." Irritation and anger flared in her golden eyes, prompting another snarl. "Don't start that," she hissed, and the girl fell instantly silent, instead glowering with those dark eyes which followed Alice's every move.

I picked up the phone, dialled in the number of Carlisle's mobile with fingers that shook. He didn't answer for such a long time I was almost convinced he wasn't going to, but then I heard his voice. "Charlie?" He sounded anxious, and I thought I heard more voices behind his.

"Actually it's Bella," I told him. "Alice is here too, but I had to call because we couldn't leave her and –"

"Bella." Carlisle's beautiful voice was calm now. "Tell me."

I took a deep breath, met Alice's eyes across the room. "There was a girl sleeping under my truck," I summarized. "She's…odd. Alice is watching her, but she didn't see her. She wants you to come here; she can't risk moving her. She said she smells strange," I added. "She's not…like me. Please come." I tried not to let my fear show in my voice, but I think I must have failed.

"Is she hurt?" The question snapped out briskly, but I heard the worry.

"Alice is fine. So is the girl, I think. She's not hurt, anyway."

"Tell him it's important." Alice didn't move her eyes away from the girl, her face calm. I found myself wondering at her composure.

"She says –"

"I heard her. I'm on my way. Be careful, Bella." I nodded, forgetting for a moment that he couldn't see me, but before I could remedy my mistake – feeling like an idiot and, of course, blushing – he had hung up.

"He's coming," I told Alice pointlessly, knowing that she would have heard both sides of the conversation.

"Thank you, Bella." Her eyes swung towards me for a fraction of a second. "If I suddenly decide to let…our guest go, I want to you slap me, Bella."

I felt my eyebrows rise. "Slap you?" I repeated stupidly, but Alice had already turned to face the girl who sat sulkily in the chair. She was tensed as though ready to run, wariness obvious in the tautness of her posture. She reminded me once more of an animal; cornered, hostile and frightened. Her clothes were damp, stained with grass and mud, bare feet tucked up underneath her,

"What's your name?" Alice asked, her tone level.

The girl stared at her silently, belligerence in every angle of her face. I studied her features properly for the first time, noting with a quick surge of envy how pretty she was. Why were all the people I kept meeting so perfect? She had golden skin – despite the pallor – shining, blue-black hair which fell thickly just beyond her shoulders, and those dark, deep eyes framed by long, curling lashes. It struck me suddenly that she bore a startling resemblance to the Quileutes; to Jacob's people. A fresh ache hit my heart, and I hastened to think of something else.

"You're not going to get away." Alice's soft voice broke through my reverie. "I'm not going to let you escape."

I found myself almost holding my breath as I waited for the girl's answer, eyes roving over her face. It came at last in that angel's voice. "You are Alice?" There must have been some sort of confirmation on her face, as the girl nodded. "And Bella." Those dark eyes turned to me, studied me with a naked curiosity in them which brought the image of the sleeping child crashing back. The girl's head flew suddenly back to face Alice. "She's not like you," she announced almost accusingly, and I heard the child in her tone in spite of the glorious music of her voice. "You smell…sweet, but she smells…" The girl's eyes, all at once darker, widened and she began to tremble again, hands clenching into fists which whitened her knuckles. With a sudden jerk of a movement that had Alice springing to pin her down, the girl clamped both hands over her face, fingers digging into her own forehead as she struggled to control herself.

I stumbled back two paces until my back thumped against the wall, feeling all the blood drain from my face. This was Laurent, and Bree, and Victoria all over again. And this time only Alice was here.

The words of Edward's note seemed to mock me as I stood there frozen, unable to move even when Alice snapped the order for me to get out. Take care of my Bella, Edward's voice whispered again. What would he say if he could see the trouble I'd managed to get myself in this time?

There had to be something wrong with me. Why did there always seem to be some creature which shouldn't by rights exist thirsting for my blood, seeking to kill me? Of course, if I'd had it my way I wouldn't be in this danger now, I thought sourly. Graduation had been and gone, if only Edward –

My gaze was drawn back to the girl who seemed to be fighting some colossal internal battle, and it struck me that this was the first of them who had fought against leaping across the room to devour me – I gave a shudder at the thought – without any firm prompting from one or another of the Cullens. Even before Alice had flown between us, this strange girl had struggled to stop herself. What was she? I found myself wondering again. Not a vampire, not a werewolf and definitely not human.

The trembling had almost stopped, but the girl kept her hands tightly clenched together, face averted from me as she spoke, voice suddenly husky with apparent effort. "Could you…do you have some sort of food I could have?"

The request had me staring at her like an idiot. The circles beneath her eyes seemed darker, I noticed. "Food?" I repeated idiotically. "What sort of food?"

She shook her head, sending mesmerizing waves of shining blue-black hair cascading over her shoulders. "Anything. Fruit, a biscuit, anything at all. Please, Bella," she added cajolingly, and the use of my name shocked me into turning numbly into the kitchen. I glanced around. Fruit, a biscuit… I seized an apple and hurried back, stopping dead with it in my hand. I didn't want to go any closer than necessary. Call me a coward, especially as Alice was so close to those snarling teeth and inhuman strength the girl had displayed before, but I wasn't a vampire. Yet.

"Pass it here," Alice ordered, and I hesitated only a moment before tossing it as gently and accurately as I could towards her. It veered off far to the left in a course that made me flush with embarrassment, way over the girl's head, but one hand snapped up to snatch it out of the air with a blurring speed that made me stare. How could she not be a vampire? I was distracted as the girl sunk her teeth viciously into the fruit, unable to stop myself shivering as I pictured those same teeth cutting through my flesh.

She took her time nibbling around the core right down to the seeds, watched by both of us. I couldn't see Alice's face, but had the feeling that Edward's sister was more than a little nonplussed by the strange creature before her.

We were both surprised even more when the girl murmured, "Thank you." She settled back in Charlie's chair, eyed Alice. "I'm all right now," she told her. "I can see you're not going to let me go, are you?" A speculative note entered her eyes and she began to open her mouth but Alice got there first.

"Don't even consider it," she told the girl sweetly, in the exact tone she'd used on the phone to me earlier. Barely half an hour and an age ago.

Suddenly a little girl again, she shrugged with a mischievous smile that lit her face to breathtaking beauty. "I wasn't really serious."

Alice and I exchanged quick glances, but the girl seemed oblivious. "Are you going to tell us your name now?" Alice asked carefully.

"I'm Callie." The girl tucked a strand of hair back behind one ear with her free hand. "Have you got a bin I can put this in?"

"Sure." Housekeeper was a role I could play, so I was almost happily comfortable as I entered the kitchen, hesitating only a moment before grabbing the small bin and carrying it through. I held it out to the girl – Callie – and wasn't even surprised when she tossed it casually right into the basket from the other side of the room.

"Thank you," she said again, licking her sticky fingers in a childlike gesture which was such a marked contrast to the spitting, snarling animal she had been before that I found myself at a loss to understand her. "Why are you," she looked at me, "here with her? Aren't you worried at all?"

My eyes met Alice's. She shrugged. I didn't know what Callie could be talking about, because how could she know what Alice was? "This is my house," I explained carefully. "What are you doing here?"