I don't own Twilight or the characters.

Chapter 2

Bella POV

Love, life, meaning…over.

I lay curled in on myself, unfeeling, numb. Nothing mattered anymore. I was in a state of shock, the latest twist in my life had lead me into an unending downward spiral. My life had left. Just walked away leaving me in the forest alone. His words kept replaying in my mind. Him telling me he didn't want me, I was no good for him, and lastly, It will be as if I'd never existed.

I'd known from the beginning I wasn't good enough for him. He was perfect, I on the other hand was just…plain. I knew one day he would realize that, but somewhere along the way my hope took over. I thought maybe, maybe everything would be okay. I suppose I was just being naïve, because somewhere along the way fate caught up to me. She seemed to be a cold, spiteful bitch with the soul purpose of ruining lives. I'll never know what I did to anger her, but for now everything was over, nothing mattered.

It will be as if I'd never existed. If I wasn't so numb I may actually be hysterically laughing, like he didn't exist. Did he really think my frail, weak, human memories would just disappear taking him with them? How could it ever be like he didn't exist, he was everywhere, any place I went I'd have memories of him and his family.

His family, I froze. In all my inter turmoil I'd forgotten about the rest of the family. How could they just leave without so much as a goodbye. Rosalie, I could understand. She'd always hated me. I'll never understand what I did to her to cause such a reaction, but she always acted as if she wanted me to drop dead, like I was a pariah. I don't think she even realized how much I looked up to her, that I thought of her as a older sister. She was easy to look up to; always so beautiful, not caring what anyone thought of her, and she was so strong, emotionally, I mean, of course was physically strong.

I could even understand Jasper, the last time I'd seen him really wasn't the best of circumstances, not with him lunging across the room at me. Though, I really hoped he didn't feel guilty about that, I didn't blame him. Who could I? I'd forgiven him before it happened, I'd known from the beginning something like that could happen, known it probably would happen, I'm a complete klutz, it was bound to happen.

It saddened me that I never got the chance to know him, he'd always kept his distance from me, because everyone claimed he had the least control. I suppose after what happened that I should believe them, but I don't. I just keep thinking about the moments before he lunged, everyone's eyes were pitch black, except for Carlisle. My only thought while it happened was that there was no way Jasper would be able to handle everyone's bloodlust. Even with five vampires bloodlust and his own, he didn't even lunge until I got thrown into those stupid crystal plates, and with that much blood who could blame him, the only one who could stay in the room with me had been Carlisle, even Esme had to leave.

Which brought my inter rambling back to the point, I could understand the two of them but what about the rest. Emmett, was my big teddy bear of a brother, he was always there to make me laugh and unfortunately blush. I would really miss his bear hugs that made breathing impossible, along with his booming laughter. Alice was my best friend and sister, she was always there when I needed her. I would miss her hyper personality. Hell, I would even miss her constantly dragging me shopping. Carlisle and Esme were parents to me, I could count on Esme more than I could my own hair brained mother, I actually felt like the child for once, instead of the adult. Carlisle was a father to me just like Charlie, but he wasn't afraid to show emotion to me.

And now they were gone, taking everything I knew and held close with them. I couldn't stand it, how could they just leave, had I just been some kind of a pet to them? How much longer can we make the pitiful human feel like family before we crush her. And what had he said about a clean break, this wasn't a broken arm. This was my life, I felt like those crystal plates he'd thrown me into, jagged, broken, shattered, and stained, dripping dark red blood. Totally annihilated, never to pieced back together. I felt like parts of me were slipping away, leaking out of me.

In my misery I barely noticed I was shaking and shivering, as rain pelted down around me, soaking me completely. I just gazed in front of me, taking in but not taking in my surroundings. Uncaring about anything, except the raging havoc in my mind. A snapping sound alerted me that I wasn't alone, not that I cared. Whatever was moving around out there could have done anything and I wouldn't have cared, I wished it would come finish me off. Maybe if it killed me the gaping hole in my chest would disappear.

I caught movement in my peripheral vision, as a woman stepped in front of me. It took several minutes to recognize her. She looked different from the last time I'd seen her, worst for wear. The stupidity of that thought was sort of humorous, of course she looked worst for wear her mate was killed, and really I was the one laying in the mud, shivering as it rained.

With that in mind I still couldn't help but compare the differences, the last time I'd seen her she'd reminded me of a feral cat, waiting for the kill. She'd had a aura of cool determination and quiet confidence, that clashed vividly with her fiery red hair and pale features. Not however, her hair was matted with mud and other debris, her clothes were shredded, and that confidence and determination was gone, replaced instead with a deep sadness.

She stood there staring at me for several minutes. I just gazed back waiting, a thought had accord to me, maybe I wouldn't have to feel this pain very much longer after all. Maybe, I'd been wrong about fate, she just sent me the one person who hated me more than anything. Now if she'd stop staring and just kill me.

"Please, just kill me, get it over with." I begged from where I lay on the ground. That snapped her out of her trance, she slowly start to walk toward me, like she was afraid that I'd run or something. When she reached me, she knelt beside me, reaching out her hand to brush my hair out of my face. I was shocked to say the least, but didn't pull away, her cold touch was comforting. However, her words, weren't.

"Bella, I'm not here to kill you." She stated quietly.

"Why not, because of me James was killed?" I questioned her desperation clouding my voice.

"Because I came to the realization that James was just using me for my ability. He's not worth trying to avenge. I actually came here to ask for your help, but it seems I won't need it anymore." She sighed quietly, lost in thought.

"What kind of help were you wanting?" My inquisitive nature got the best of me.

"Well, you see when I was first turned, the vampire that changed me, only hunted evil humans. I followed that diet for many years, but after I joined up with James, I started to hunt all humans. After he died, I realized he'd been using me, I was going to switch back to my old diet, before I decided that I'd rather feed off animals like the Cullen's do." She froze, as I stiffened at the name. "Sorry," She whispered.

"It's fine," I stated roughly. "But that still doesn't explain why you're here." I was getting confused and annoyed; confused because I didn't know what she was talking about, annoyed because I was still breathing.

"You see, I needed to talk to them about there diet. But I couldn't just walk up to them, they would have killed me on sight. So, I thought it I could get you to take a message to them, that I wasn't a threat, they would help me to switch diets. Not that it mattered anymore."

An uncomfortable silence had descended around us. Suddenly, she stood up, I started at her a second before she reached down lifting me into the air. She was holding me in her strong grasp, like you would an infant. I started to protest, struggling to get her to put me down.

"Shh, if we don't get you back soon, there's going to be some kind of search party." She quickly said, before she stopped breathing. I stopped struggling and stayed silent as she began to run. I suppose I could have continued to struggle to a point where her control would have slipped, but as much a I wanted the pain to be over, I wasn't going to cause anyone pain over it. She seemed to really want a chance at not being the monster James had turned her into, I wasn't going to ruin that chance for her.

After a few minutes we reached the edge of the forest, I could see Charlie out front with several men, they were gathered around a map that was laid out on the hood of his cruiser. I was a little surprised by this, they really were sending a search party. Glancing around I noticed for the first time that night had fallen. Victoria quickly put me down and started to back away. Panic flooded my system, as I realized she was leaving. I not sure why I was surprised, nothing was stopping her from finding the Cullen's now that they obviously didn't care what happened to me.

"Wait! Where are you going?" I asked sounding desperate.

"I can't go over there, not with red eyes. Also, I need to hunt." She looked a bit self conscious as she continued, "Umm, you wouldn't happen to know what is best to hunt around here, do you?"

I actually laughed at that; here Victoria, the vampire that had haunted my nightmares for months, was asking me, a human, which animal was best to hunt? Could life get any stranger, probably.

"Yeah, try to find a bear or…m-m-mountain lion," I stuttered over the last part. She nodded and started to back up again, before disappearing into the forest. However, I could have sworn I heard her say "See you later tonight." as she disappeared.

Yes, I thought, as I turned, and started toward my house. Yes, life could get stranger.