Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

New Born

Bella

At first all that existed was the unyielding darkness, a malicious current of fog that pulled me further away from the surface.

And then it came. The fire. And I was torn from the silent murky shadows of that non-place, only to be born into a sudden existence of pain. Unbearable. Relentless. Everlasting.

Molten lava flowed through every vein, along every nerve, searing though every muscle, every sinew of flesh, getting hotter still with each passing second. Spreading…

I wanted to die.

I would have done anything to embrace death if it meant stopping the pain. There was nothing in this world that could possibly be worth the agony. My screams gave me no relief.

Time stretched on and eventually fell away altogether. Had it not been for the ever increasing pain I would have questioned its continual existence as I battled the inferno within.

I was dying. Or at least I hoped I was. An eternity of torture was too much to bear. And yet somewhere in my slowly expanding intellect I knew that this taste of hell was by no means a permanent feature on my menu, because you see, an eternity ago a voice had called.

"Bella..."

***

"... Bella..." the familiar voice sobbed from above.

I was pretty sure it was an angel. From some remote corner of my brain I knew there had been an angel once. A different sounding angel with a voice like velvet. But one could hardly expect all angles to sound the same, I reasoned as I drifted through the darkness. And why was this one also sobbing? Angel's shouldn't cry.

The pain in my neck seemed to pull me to the surface and soon other sounds that broke through the darkness. Voices, footsteps and the sound of growling.

"Oh my god... He bit her!" another voice spoke with disbelief.

Someone else was cursing.

"Is she going to die?" asked someone else.

I couldn't be dying, I wanted to say. Death couldn't hurt this much.

"It's too late to save her, she's going to turn," yet another voice spoke.

An older, deeper voice growled. "As if we need another filthy bloodsucker. I say we kill her now."

"No! She was the victim here! It wasn't her fault!" the angel snarled.

"We know how you feel about her man, but she's becoming one of them! When she wakes up she won't be that girl anymore." More snarling.

"Both of you shut up!" That voice had to be the leader.

Everything went quiet. Someone else was whining.

"We have to do it Jake," the leader spoke again. "I'm sorry man, but Paul's right. When she wakes she'll be someone else. The young ones are feral and dangerous. We can't take the risk."

"No!" the angel's voice cried again. His voice was full of agony.

"Jake... Be reasonable! What's going to happen when she runs back home, gets a little hungry and kills Charlie?"

"She won't kill Ch –"

"You don't know that Jake! And so what if she doesn't? She'll just as easily kill anyone else."

"I'm sorry – "

"Hey! WHAT THE HELL – Come back here Jake!"

And then I felt strong, warm arms embraced me as the voices faded in the distance.

***

It's amazing what you notice when you finally manage to wrap your head around the burning agony and the idea that your body might be charred beyond recognition.

Sounds of cars. Music. A ringing cell phone. Someone breathing. The cool smell of tiles and the overpowering smell of wet dog…

I questioned this last observation but decided that I was in too much pain to open my eyes and ascertain the source of the offending odour.

I realized soon enough that the fire hadn't really been getting hotter; I had just been getting more sensitive to it and was thankful when it finally levelled off to a constant burn. In fact it even felt like it might have been… decreasing?

Yes, soon my fingertips and toes felt blissfully cool as the heat redistributed itself across my chest and over my heart.

But the pain was incredible. Every beat was slower and more painful than the next as my heart strained under the concentrated heat.

I felt my screams died in my lungs as my breath rushed from my body. As my heart drummed out its final beat, the flames faded completely. At long last the eternal torture came to an end and finally, I opened my eyes.

***

Everything was so clear. Like someone had adjusted the TV and set it at an impossibly high definition.

I watched, transfixed as dust motes spiralled in the dim lighting that seemed to come from behind me, refracting row after row of eight-coloured rainbows off the white symmetrical tiles. Nothing had ever looked so beautiful and I would have spent all day captivated by the sight if I hadn't notice something very big moving in the periphery.

In less than a second I had launched upright, standing in a defensive crouch facing the threat as the rest of my thoughts took in the surroundings. I was standing in a medium sized bathroom and the thing I had previously been lying in was a large white tub.

Loud, feral snarling echoed off the walls before I realized half a second later that they were mine. In another half an instant I was no longer crouched but standing upright, all snarling gone as I fully focused on the person standing on the other side of the bathroom.

"Bella?" Jacob tone was full of concern although he made no move to come closer. He looked so disturbingly sad that I wanted to cross the room and hug him.

He watched me cautiously as I took a step forward. "Do you remember who I am?"

I was thrown by this question. Thrown and slightly irritated. Of course I knew who he was. He was my best friend, my personal sun in this sunless place – or at least he was two weeks ago…

"Of course I know you, Jake," I snapped, rolling my eyes. "Are you going to tell me why we're in a bathroom and why the hell you haven't been answering my calls? You sure don't look sick."

And just like that Jacob cracked a grin and I felt my eyes narrow in suspicion as I watched relief flooded his features.

"You're still the same," he laughed, but he must have seen my expression because he quickly straitened his face. Did he think this was funny?

"You don't remember anything that happened, do you?" His watched my face anxiously, waiting for some sign of recognition, but I was coming up blank. "Three days ago in the meadow that blo– vampire bit you. We were too late to stop it…"

He trailed off into silence and I heard myself gasp as dim memories came rushing back.

Laurent! He had attacked me in the meadow before the wolves had arrived and scared him away. And yet Jake had said 'we'. What did he know about those massive wolves?

"But how did you know? You weren't there –" At long last I finally realized the implications of his tale. Backed up by my dim memories and the excruciating pain I had felt, there was only one thing that made sense.

"I am a vampire," I said, testing the strange sentence out loud while another part of my brain registered the slight hint of wind chimes that rang through my new voice.

Jake nodded miserably. "We were too late."

"We?"

"Us. The wolves." He met my gaze for a long moment, both willing me to understand something and afraid of my reaction. "Remember the tale I first told you on First Beach? The legends are true, Bells. The Quillettes are werewolves."

Werewolves?

He waited several seconds as I processed this information. My mind was reeling in shock. Jacob Black and his friends were werewolves?

A tired smile crossed his face and he slowly shook his head. "You know beyond doubt that vampires exist," – he motioned towards me – "and yet you have trouble believing in werewolves?"

Well, if he was going to put it that way…

"How long have you known?" I asked, even though I could make a pretty good guess.

"Since that night after the movie."

I felt myself nod. Everything was finally making sense – Jacob avoiding me all of last week and how he started hanging out with Sam. They weren't a strange cult like I had thought, more like a pack.

"I'm so sorry Bells," he continued. "I wanted to tell you but Sam said that I couldn't. Against pack rules or something, which I found so frustrating because all this time you already knew about them."

I winced as his mere reference to my lost family found my heart like a knife. He noticed and looked apologetic.

"I'm sorry," he apologised again. "I know you don't like talking about them."

I didn't respond to that. There wasn't much to say. They had left and everybody in this town knew how I felt.

"Where are we?" I asked instead.

"Cullen's house, ground floor bathroom." He sensed my obvious disapproval and continued. "The pack can't touch you on this land and I obviously couldn't take you back to Charlie."

Charlie.

I felt a mental whiplash at the mention of my father name. My human father. I was a threat to him now, a threat to my mother, Phil and everyone I knew. They could no longer be in my life, the risks were too great and suddenly it felt as if my heart was breaking all over again.

But my tears did not fall. And they never will again, a small part of me thought as the other part surrendered itself to the crushing grief.

Jake broke his stance and moved closer to where I sat. He was still wary of the potential threat I posed, but I was too upset to feel offended. The smell of wet dog grew stronger as he lowered his large frame to sit beside me and I could feel heat radiating off him.

"Bella," I heard him whisper through my tearless sobs. His tone was hesitant and his expression guarded, but the familiar sound of his voice was comforting. Then without warning I felt the searing heat of his body as his arms threw themselves around me in a sweltering hug.

I froze. My entire body was screaming at me to attack him. His scorching heat was a natural warning against my skin and I held my breath as the canine stench became unbearable, and yet somehow I managed to make myself absolutely still, forcing my body not to fight or flee.

This is just as bad for him, I realized, momentarily wondering how cold and hard my body would now feel to him. I knew this was his way of telling me that he was still there for me, still my best friend despite what I'd become.

So I ignored the discomfort and hugged him back, pretending not to notice the loud thumping of his very warm wet heart so close to my ears as I buried myself into his chest. I had lost everyone I had from my human life and I'd be damned if I was going to lose Jake too. I needed him, my very own personal scorching sun, and I was going to hold onto this friendship with everything I had.

Eventually he released me and stood up and I followed him out of the bathroom. I felt myself grimace as I breathed in the stronger smell of dog that now clung to my clothes.

"You stink Jake."

"Huh. I guess I don't smell good to you either," he said laughing at my disgust. "Must be a 'natural enemies' thing. You smell awful too."

"I do?" I had always thought the Cullen's smelt so nice. Like honey and sunshine.

"Yup. Too sweet. Sickly sweet. It's like breathing in chemicals."

Now it was my turn to laugh at the disgust on his face as he sat down on a large white couch and theatrically plugged his nose. Then he yawned, allowing me to see half way down his throat and for the first time I noticed how haggard he looked.

"You look like hell, Jake. When was the last time you slept?"

"Don't know," he mumbled, his eyes closing already.

I felt a twinge of guilt. Had I kept him up for the past three days? "You should sleep then."

"I should take you hunting," he mumbled again, and at his words I felt a previously forgotten pain flare sharply in my throat. I was so very thirsty, though the idea of hunting was daunting and twisted my stomach.

"Sleep now. Take me hunting later," I insisted, regretting those words instantly as I felt the thirst burn.

A/N: Okay, I admit. It would have been pretty weird to start Bella's pov and skipping the change completely. I guess there's a time and place for everything.

I know this chapter didn't contain that much new plot info, but a review would be awesome. :)