It was very dark, and Angel could not see anything.

"Angel..." the voices called out, blending together; Iggy, Max, Fang, Nudge, Gazzy. "Angel..." they whispered.

"Angel," Max said, by herself. "Baby, it's not time for you, yet. It's not time for you to come to us."

"But Max!" the girl cried out, reaching into the darkness for these phantoms she could not find. "Max, I miss you. I want to see you again. Please, take me with you!"

"Max is right," the next voice was her brother's. "Stay a while longer, Ange. Where you are now, a future awaits you. Live, please. Live for me. Live for all of us..."

The voices faded out, just as the images of her family faded in. Angel cried out again and reached for them. The five of them all smiled sadly, and waved at Angel, who was screaming for them, reaching out to grab them, only to have them disintegrate when she touched them.

"Max! Fang! Iggy! Nudge! Gazzy!"

She called out to them again and again, until her voice became one, loud, wordless scream.

"...up. Wake up, please," a soft voice begged. "Please, you're scaring me!"

Angel shot straight up in her bed, body protesting every motion. She cried out in pain, and her arm went to her side, where three deep gashes had been carved into her. She felt under the foreign clothes she was wearing that they were bandaged. Her wings were squished under the hospital dress, which was uncomfortable, but not unbearably so.

"Um...hello?" the tentative voice came again, and Angel looked to her left, where a girl - she couldn't really pinpoint her age, but a dip into her thoughts was enough - was sitting, waiting for her to look.

"Renesmee." Angel said, and the other girl's dark brown eyes brighted.

"Grandpa Carlisle was right; you can read minds, just like my father!" Renesmee enthused. Her face fell a little. "Um, well...now you know my name...so what's yours?"

"My name is Angel." the blonde replied, dipping her head in greeting. "Max -" a twinge of agony burned through her at the name, but she cleared her throat and continued. "Max named me."

Renesmee's eyes, which had already gone from excitement to curiosity, shifted to something sad. Pity. "You were...calling out for someone named Max. Also...Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy." Her eyes searched Angel's. "They're your family?"

"They...were." Angel looked away from Renesmee's sad brown eyes, out the window on the other side of the room.

Renesmee waited for an explanation, that she didn't get. "I...well, do you feel okay enough to go downstairs?"

"Will they eat me?" Angel asked, already knowing the answer. She swore she heard laughter from downstairs.

"They won't," Renesmee shook her head. "We're about the same size; I can bring you some clothes, so you don't have to wear the hospital gown."

"Please," Angel nodded, turning her head back to look at her. With speed that was slightly dizzying, Renesmee stood and zipped to the door.

"Renesmee?" Angel piped up, right before the dark haired girl was gone. "Do you...have a jacket you don't mind me ripping up? Um, and also a shirt?"

Renesmee turned back to meet her gaze, and smiled. "Sure." she nodded. "And, please, call me Nessie. Everyone does."

Ten minutes later, and Angel was into her clothes, sensing all the while Renesmee's amazement, knowing all the while that Renesmee's father - Edward - was drawing from his daughter's thoughts as she pulled on the jacket, making sure that her wings could fit through the slashes. The blonde also gathered that Edward and Carlisle were sharing nothing with the others, which was driving them insane.

Standing at the door's threshold, Angel felt scared for what felt like the millionth time in her life. "Nessie?" she asked. "Will you please hold my hand?"

A half-second later, the dark-haired girl's warm - hot - hand was in Angel's, and she was gently tugging her forward, out the door and down the stairs.

Within a minute, they were down the stairs, and Angel was surrounded by vampires. Animal hunting vampires, granted, but vampires all the same. And, Angel was part animal.

There was silence as Angel examined each person, delving into their minds. She knew that they were studingying her, and the odd shapes they could see in the clothes.

"Are you lost?" the woman with short hair - Alice - spoke first.

"No, Alice." Angel denied.

"What happened to you?" Carlisle asked. "It looked like you were...attacked by a wolf."

A Native American-looking boy in the corner looked up, lip raising in an animalistic snarl. "No one would have harmed an innocent in the woods."

"It wasn't one of your wolves, Jacob," Angel looked him in the eye. "Or one of Sam's," she added. She met Carlisle's eyes. "It was an Eraser. Probably the last of his kind, like myself."

Silence for a moment. Then, Carlisle spoke. "You're killing them with the wait. Go on, show them."

Angel met his eyes. "I suppose I should..." she mused. "It's not like it'll be the weirdest thing you guys have seen, right?"

The nods weren't encouraging, but Angel slipped her jacket off anyway, and twisted her body a bit so she could still hold Renesmee's hand, and not hit her as she stretched out her snowy-white wings, flexing her shoulders as she stretched, feathers ruffling slightly.

Emmett cussed in amazement, and Rosalie hit him, staring pointedly at both Angel and Renesmee. Angel didn't have the heart to tell the vampire blonde that she'd heard much worse before.

Alice flitted up to Angel suddenly, reaching out to stroke the soft down. "How?" she asked. "How on Earth...?"

"White coats," Angel said. "They messed with genetics, not knowing what they'd get."

"White coats," Alice's mate - Jasper - spoke up. "Soldiers?"

"Scientists." Angel corrected. "Monsters, I think of them as. As did my family. And the Erasers. And ever. other. experiment." Angel's chest heaved and fell with every word. She closed her eyes for a moment, wrapping her wings around her body in a way that allowed her to keep Renesmee's hand in hers, but made her feel solitary. "Sorry."

"Angel?" a gentle looking woman standing by Carlisle - his mate, Esme - spoke up. "Sweetheart, I know that it is probably difficult for you...but will you tell us? About...about your family? And yourself?"

Angel met her golden eyes, and saw the loving heart of a mother there. She'd seen the same look in Max's eyes, however infrequently.

"If you'll do me a favor," Angel said finally, and she couldn't bear to look in the woman's eyes after she nodded. "If it's really that bad for me to know about you, please kill me when I'm done."

The shock at her request hit her in a wave of emotions, and only Renesmee's hand in hers kept her from falling on the floor. As it was, she staggered, gasping, her wings shuddering. "Jasper!" she croaked, and his soothing influence swept through the room a second later. Angel gasped a 'thank you.'

"You're...not serious?" Esme's voice - high pitched before - was killer on Angel's sensitive ears.

"Esme..." Angel met her eyes again. "After you hear what I have to say, I think you'll understand my request." With a feeling of exhaustion falling over her, Angel eyed the soft white couch off to hers and Renesmee's right, until the young girl got the hint a moment later and led her over to it.

"Can you guys...um, sit?" Angel asked. "I mean, I know you don't have to, but the strangest thing I'm used to being around is an Eraser, and even they're more human than lupine."

Angel blinked, and they were already sitting. With a nervous laugh, Angel released Renesmee's hand, snuggling into the warmth of her own wings.

She picked some dirt and dust out of her feathers, until Alice said, "You're stalling."

"I try," Angel said, dropping her hands to her lap and looking up to meet everyone's gaze. "God knows this story needs to be told...but He knows that I never wanted to be the one who had to tell it, even more."

With a deep breath, Angel began.

I'm so sorry for my short and crappy chapter, but this is pretty much how my writing's going to be, although I hope I'll get better as I continue to write. I hope you like the story!