Forks, who names a town after an eating utensil? And if you were going to name it after one you could at least choose an interesting one, like sporks or maybe even chopsticks. It's not like it even matters to me anyway, I had no choice in coming here. I didn't even want to move but Charlie thought there were too many bad memories in our old place. So it's goodbye sunny Phoenix and hello cold, wet and dreary Forks.

I sighed and looked out the window of the car into the thick green forest. Too much green if you asked me, but then again nobody ever does. The forest seemed to go on forever, but I guess that was a good thing being that there would be plenty of room for running and hunting. Back in Phoenix there was never much room for that stuff and when I did go out I had to be extra careful so no one saw me. In a way Charlie was right, this move would be for the best, and it would be easier not having to walk past that spot every day, the spot where my mother was murdered.

It's been a couple of months since she died, and for a while I was in a catatonic state. After a while Charlie, finally put his foot down and decided to move us to stupid Forks, Washington. So here I am sitting in the car, waiting for the never ending forest to end and the small town to come into view.

"So Bells, how…uh...I mean…you excited to start school here?" Charlie has always been a bit awkward but I thought he was a bit better at small talk than this.

"Absolutely thrilled," I replied in a monotone voice.

"Well, that's good….I guess."

"Yup," I said popping the p.

Silence reigned for the rest of the long car ride, and when we finally arrived to our new home, I was almost glad to be there…almost. The house we bought was a nice two story with a giant backyard leading into the forest. I couldn't wait to shift and go for a run, but that would have to wait until I got all my things unpacked. The one thing I didn't like about the house other than what town it was in was the fact that it only had one bathroom. I'm not the girly girl type, in fact I'm quite the opposite, but I do need my space, especially in the bathroom. I never had to share a bathroom with Charlie before and I just hope to god he doesn't leave the seat up or leave anything unpleasant lying around.

I found my room to be a pleasant surprise; it was not at all what I expected it to be. The walls painted a nice forest green color and there was a window that took up a good portion of the wall facing the backyard. There was already a bed, desk and a small dresser set up. I quickly unpacked my things, in a hurry to go out into the forest and stretch my legs after the long car ride.

"I'M GOING OUT FOR A RUN," I yell to Charlie before jumping out of my window and taking off at a sprint.

"Be careful," I heard as I felt myself start to shift, this time it was almost painful seeing as I haven't done it in such a long time. Though the feeling of my paws hitting the ground and the strange almost flight like feeling of running through the trees at unimaginable speeds was one that I had missed a lot. I ran and ran for what seemed like hours through the never ending forest and only stopped when I came to a small lake. Looking down into the clear water, I was reminded of my first shift.

(Flashback)

I had always loved the supernatural world as a child. Werewolves, vampires, succubi, shape-shifters, you name it. My mother was a part of this world and she often told me stories about creatures she had met or stories passed down from her parents but that's all it thought of them, that they were stories. Since Charlie was mortal she never thought that her genes would be passed down to me, but when I started showing signs of shifting she took me into the woods to explain to me in more depth.

"Mom slow down, you know how clumsy I am," I yelled after my mom who had disappeared behind some trees. I didn't understand why she was making me hike out into the middle of nowhere; all she said was that she needed to explain some things to me. By the end of this explanation I'll most likely end up hospitalized.

"Bella sweetie, hurry up we don't have much time." When I finally caught up with her, she was standing in front of a small lake with a grin plastered on her face, a grin that I wanted to smack off of her for torturing me with this hike. She moved to sit on a boulder and gestured for me to follow her.

"There are some important things we need to talk about….."

"Listen mom," I cut her off, "if you're gonna give me the sex talk you're a little too late for that I'm afraid. You gave it to me when I was 8 and I really don't want to listen to it again."

"That's not exactly what I'm talking about," she ran her hand through her hair, a nervous habit that I picked up from her, "I don't…..really know how to…explain this."

"Just spit it out, rip the Band-Aid off quick and all that," I joked trying to lighten the tension that filled the air. I saw the slightest twitch at the corner off her mouth but other than that, nothing.

"Well you see, thousands of years ago in the Olmec civilization there was a line of shaman-warriors, specifically trained and bred to defend their people. It was said that the leader of this line sought out the Wisdom of one of the most worshiped animals of the Olmec people, the jaguar. The Olmec people were under attack and he feared that they would not be able to save them. So he set out into the forest wearing nothing but a jaguar skin, and wandered aimlessly hoping to find the Rain deity, who was said to have great supernatural powers, and also the characteristics of a jaguar."

"After wandering for who knows how long, the shaman came across a stream. Sitting there by the stream was a gigantic jaguar. It was bigger than many men stacked atop each other, but his size was not the only strange thing. The jaguar seemed to flicker from gigantic cat to an almost transparent man, who was also an impressive size. The man was very tan and had blue almond shaped eyes and a down turned mouth." My mother was now in full story mode now, her eyes becoming glossy as if she could see the events playing out in her head.

"Knowing that this must be the rain deity, the shaman knelt to the ground in front of the large beast. He told the jaguar of his journey through the forest and why he was there. He explained about the pale, cold-skinned demons that were attacking his people, and drinking their blood. He told him how they could not be killed no matter what they tried. By the end of his tale the man was in tears, begging for some sort of knowledge on how to kill the demons. The deity looked upon him with intelligent eyes and then bent down to touch his nose to the shaman's brow. It is said that in that moment man merged with beast to form a partnership greater than anything ever known, the shaman was transformed into a were-jaguar. He was able to call upon the jaguar spirit that had been merged with his own and shift into an enormous jaguar with strength to match. The deity told the shaman how to kill the demons and sent him on his way."

"When the shaman arrived back to his village the demons were killing everything in sight. Calling upon his spirit jaguar he shifted and ran out of the woods straight into the fight. Harnessing his God-given gift he jumped at the demons and tore them to pieces. The deity had created the perfect hunter of demons. Within minutes all of the demons were torn apart. Shifting back he was met with cheers from his people and after burning the demons they celebrated. Within weeks all of the shaman-warriors had become were-jaguars and swore to protect their people with their lives, which was pretty much forever considering they could choose to be immortal. All the decedents of that line of shaman-warriors has a spirit jaguar merged with their own, I'm a direct descendant of the very first were-jaguar." She finished her story and looked up at me with a glint in her eyes.

"Okay…and you're telling me this because?" I was still confused as to why she had dragged me up the side of a mountain to tell me a story about our ancestors.

She let out a small huff and buried her face into her hands, "Bella, what I'm trying to tell you is that I am a were-jaguar, as are you. I thought maybe Charlie being mortal would mask the gene in you, but you've been showing signs of shifting soon." She has got to be crazy, how could she think I would buy that? A person turning into giant cats and blood-sucking demons, my mom has officially gone bat shit crazy.

"Guess I'll just have to show you," she lets out a gigantic sigh and starts removing her clothes. God, I can't believe she's really going to do this; I'll have to tell Charlie about this later.

I stare at my mom with one eyebrow raised as if to say 'are you really doing this right now?' she just lets out a chuckle and tells me to watch. Her whole body starts to shake and for a split-second I thought she was having a seizure. In that second, my world was turned upside down. Standing where my mother was just seconds ago is an 8 foot tall jaguar, even being scared out of my mind I had to admit that it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever saw. The coat was golden with dark black rosettes in random patterns all over her body. The most beautiful and equally disturbing thing was her eyes. They were a vivid green color but despite being bright they looked thousands of years old and held a kind of hunger in them. Even with all of that they still looked like my mother's eyes, kind and full of love and acceptance. Still, despite thinking she was beautiful I did what anyone would do after seeing their mom turn into a giant cat. I screamed and ran.

AN: please review, favorite and all that. this is my first story and i'll be the first to admit that i'm not that great of a writer, but i'm trying :) sorry to cut it off on a flashback but i couldn't think of anything else to put for the life of me.

-Emily