Before the Grey:

No other face could catch my attention so quickly. There was no other human whose face I paid close enough attention to and could spot-without fail-a mile away. With out a doubt I knew it was her, the only human alive that knows my secret. She is so far away now; I don't even know where she is, if she lives in the same house she did when we left.

I can tell by her face that she isn't a little human anymore, her natural traits were still there-heart shaped face, long deep brown hair- but shadowed by her inhuman beauty. I haven't felt anything like it in a while, so when a stab of emotion ripples in my chest I know myself well enough to feel what it is. It infuriates me- this isn't the only time I've ever been jealous of her, but last time it was because she was human, this time it was probably because she was gorgeous.

I Picked up the remote and hit the play button again. There she is flickering on the screen; I feel so close to her, as if I still know her. But, something is wrong, she is not human, her features weren't just special effects.

I take out my phone from my back pocket and dial a number I know by heart. It rings three times before someone answers. "Hello." Esme's soft voice seems hard, as if she had to stop a fight a minute earlier.

"Hey, mom it's Rosalie, you will never guess who I just saw on the television." I pause only for a second to be sure I have her attention, "Isabella Swan." Then there is silence.

Chapter 2:

The Black

There is something about the rain that has a calming effect on me. I have only been in this small town for about two hours and I already love it. Maybe it's the fact that I can walk around in the day with out being exposed for what I am by the sun. Here there is almost no sun; a thick layer of dark clouds hangs menacing above all the time.

The machine beeps so I pull the gas pump out of the bus and head toward the small building to pay. At the counter there is a girl buying candy, she turns sharply to stare shocked at me. She wrinkles her nose and glares, I take a step back, not out of intimidation, of coarse, but because she smells worse than anything I've ever smelt. When the cashier gives hands her change she stalks out of the store quickly. I step up and hand him a bill, smiling.

When I walk out of the store the foul smelling girl is there, waiting. I ignore her and walk quickly to the bus; I can see her jaw drop when I turn to get in to the driver's seat. She bolts from her position against the wall, into the woods and disappears.

In the passenger seat, Aubrey's face is contorted into a look of confusion. He looks at me and I can only shrug, so he goes back to flipping the channels of the radio. Once we're out of the gas station, I hit the gas peddle hard, and push down all the way to the floor. I roll down my windows and sigh in contentment. The needle is barely over a hundred miles when a sign whips past us; it says we have past into the city limits. This forces me to slow down; I don't want to run anyone over. Now that wouldn't be healthy for my conscience.

People on the side walks stop and stare as we pass through. Aubrey curses loudly; I look into my mirror and see the red and blue lights of a police car tailing me. I sigh and pull over, wait impatiently for him to walk over and look up into my tinted window.

"Would you please step out of the car ma'am?" It isn't really a question, but the way he says it sound like one. His voice is gruff, his hair graying along the roots and thinning out. His eyes are brown and stern looking, but behind them I can see another, more heavy emotion, sadness. I respect him, I don't know why but he seems like a good man to me.

I open the door slowly and step down, he is several inches taller then me, but height isn't what instills the respect for him in me. I smile and fold my arms across my chest and ask, "Am I going to get a ticket?"

He just looks at me with a dazed expression on his face, like he's trying to find the most suitable punishment for me. After a minute it starts to get awkward, the curtains in the windows tremble.

He clears his throat, obviously pulling out of his reverie, and looks hard at me, "Not this time young lady, I'll cut you some slack today, but the next time I see a giant vehicle speeding down my high ways at such a speed I'm going to have to do something. Do you understand miss?"

I flash him another smile, "Yes, sir." He seems at a loss for words; a second later it looks like he remembers something and closes his mouth, only to open it again to say something.

"So what are you and your friends doing with this monster?" His eyes travel along the length of our intimidating black bus with dark windows.

I laugh at his comparison, and shake my head, "Well my band, Eclipse and I are heading up north to record." His curiosity peeks at my mention of Eclipse.

"Where to up north?" he says.

"Denali." I answer. He nods and turns to walk away.

"Remember what I said, take care." I smile, open the door and climb in. The officer looks dazed again, but quickly recovers as it has started to rain again. He jogs back toward his flashing car.

"Let me guess, you charmed him into letting you off the hook?" Asher's spiky head rests on my shoulder; his arm reaches out to change the station.

"No, I didn't charm him; he let me off the hook." I swat his arm away, and turn the volume button loud; my favorite song fills the car. He wrinkles his nose and mutters something too low for me to hear, but I make out the words 'stupid' and 'Debussy'.

I ignore the chief's order, and floor the gas as soon as I pass the city limits.

I'm so excited when I phase, I sprint ten times faster than I usually would when I'm looking for him. I can't wait to see the look on Jacob's face when I tell him the little discovery I made today.

Leah, your evil Quil shouts in my mind, once he's aware of my thoughts, of course after he gets over his own shock. I'm a little disappointed when I notice I'm not alone. Through his eyes I can see he's closer to the house than I am, I don't need to read his mind to know he plans on finding Jacob before I can get to him. This pushes me harder, and I all but fly through the forest.

The adrenalin and excitement help me reach speeds I had never touched before so, naturally, I get there before Quil. I phase back into human form and try too look casual. I force myself to walk slow and frown. If he knows something is out of the ordinary from the start he'll know to expect something, if doesn't expect anything he'll fall harder into his pit of sorrow.

I close the door slowly and sit down at the table after greeting Billy. Embry, Jared and Jacob are sitting too, eating lunch. I grab a chip from Jared's bag, and ignore his black glare. They all look guarded now that I've joined the table; I can't help but smirk at their weariness.

"Today I went to the gas station; you know the one up in Forks." I start out. Jacob looks at me like I'm stupid and looks like he going to die of boredom soon. I'm almost too eager to see his face crumble in pain to delay my news any longer.

"So?" Paul cuts me off. I look at him for a minute.

"Anyways," I clear my throat and try my hardest to keep the smile inside from surfacing, "You'll never guess who I ran into there." I say it slow emphasizing my words. Now that I see that I've gotten their reluctant attention, I drop the bomb, "A vampire. I think her name was Isabella Swan."

In that moment, Quil bursts through the door fallowed by Sam –who, by the way, looks royally pissed off- takes one look at Jacob and knows he's arrived too late.

It's two in the morning when the rain stops for good, in its stead snowflakes swirl around outside my window. I throw down the remote control frustrated, Seth laughs hard, rolling on to the floor. I shove my fingers through my hair, and contemplate violence if he doesn't stop. I stand up and kick him hard in his side; he grabs my ankle and rips it off the ground. I fly back and hit my head on the granite table top, a loud pop shakes the bus.

My back hits the floor hard, fallowed by the pieces of rock that were chipped off, they rain heavily down into my hair. Hissing, I shove my heel into the bridge of his nose with all of my fury. There is a crack underneath my foot and he gasps. His grip on my ankle is the only thing keeping him from flying upon impact. He snakes his arm around my waist and aims a punch, I block with my forearm, the nails of my other hand dig deep into his abnormally dark skin.

With out a second thought he slams his forehead into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. The bus shakes hazardously; I can hear Asher hit the wall in the shower. "Knock it off!" He thunders.

We both pause and stiffen. Taking advantage of this unplanned distraction, I grab Seth by his cute, little curls and throw him off me. He lands lightly, hunched on all fours and smirks darkly at me. I heave a sigh and stand up shaking the razor sharp shards of rock out of my hair in Seth's direction.

The door to the shower opens lightening fast and smacks loudly into Seth's face, Asher steps out in nothing but a towel, his shiny smooth hair laying flat against his head down to his chin. His expression is furious, looks at me with accusing eyes. I smile and shrug, turn and go to sit in the passenger's seat next to Riley.

There is a scuffle in the back of the bus, and some cursing. I look back to see Seth in a headlock, a ferocious expression on his face. Aubrey sighs heavily, wandering out of the back room, side steps Seth and Asher to fall heavily on the couch. When Seth slams Asher on to the ground, the bus rocks hard.

Aubrey sighs heavily again and moans, "Are we there yet?" Riley's face lights up and he points at the landscape on the other side of the glass.

"Yes!" His voice is mildly amused. I hear Seth backhand Asher, he, and Aubrey appear next to me looking out the window. The sun, barely raised over the mountains, casts an orange glow through the bus. Some one turns the lights off and we all stare quietly in to the approaching sunrise.

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