Vampires were a very territorial species. Or at least that's what I put it down to when I nearly got bowled over by my aunts and uncles who ran to claim their old rooms back.

"So I guess I'll just find mine on my own then" I shouted up to their figures although they had already disappeared behind closed doors. The only room left to claim was my fathers, I knew, as I made my way up to the third floor. I used to sleep here when I was younger, I thought opening the door and looking at the large bed adorned with gold covers. It smelled just the same as it had all that time ago, like vanilla and jasmine, but I could also detect a slight musk gifted by the emptiness this room had seen over the past years.
As I looked around I noted for the first time that this room seemed smaller than the others in the house and laughed at the fact that it had once seemed so big to me.
Something I also remembered was how soft these carpets felt on my young feet. I smiled to myself as I slipped off my heels and walked across the room tenderly, savouring every fibre of the rug on my skin., stopping as I reached the wall to wall glass panes which let a vast amount of natural light. Just then, I remembered then why I loved this room so much; the view was spectacular. From the back garden and the overgrown wildlife, across the stream, into the massive expanse of Forrest and beyond to the hills and to La Push. These were the views implanted in my memory and although I had a virtually vampiric mind I could see now, that I had not done this justice at all. I felt my heart grow as I touched the glass and looked out onto the garden. I was a girl returning home, finally.

And then, it was there again, that feeling I'd know anywhere, alerting me to his presence even though I could not hear him or see him yet. I turned to smile as he walked in the room
"Glad to be back?" He asked lightly
"Of course" I took a breath "it's just how I remembered it and at the same time not at all the same"
"New eyes seeing old memories" he muttered as he brought in a cardboard box and a suitcase. "I suppose you'd better start unpacking then, you know, seeing as how you're staying and all" he teased as I unzipped my bag and took out a few piles of clothing. I stopped when I reached my wolf. The toy wolf jake had won for me at the Forks fair, right before we left...

"I love you, ness, and even when I can't be with you, I am always protecting you" he promised as he wrapped my hands around the tiny russet coloured toy.

Smiling wryly as I picked it up, I looked over to see him watching my face intently. I held the wolf up to my face before putting it down in the middle of the pillow to keep guard from a high vantage point.
"Nice" Jake chuckled.
Just then my mom came into view, popping her head around the door "hey, ness, it's getting pretty late now, finish your unpacking tomorrow if you want, we'll let you sleep before arranging the furniture" she smiled
"Thanks mom, are you going to the cottage tonight?"
"I think so, for a bit at least, we need to move some of the stuff over there, could take us a few trips"
"Okay, I'll see you in the morning then"
I turned to Jake when she left "are you staying?" I asked hopefully. Now that it came down to it, I wasn't sure I was ready to let him leave yet, I'd only just got him back. As I touched his palm I showed him my worries, I showed him how I felt when he wasn't with me, and how happy I was to have him back.
"God, I missed that" he breathed clutching my hand to his face, "it's amazing how much you can miss something that's so surreal. But this, showing me you, God I missed it" he whispered, kissing the side of my palm. I don't know whether it was his words or his movements that made my breath hitch, or whether it was just him. I had only been with him for an hour or two and already I had learned to need him more than I ever had before. We were changing, our relationship was changing, and it wasn't a mental change, more of a physical change, like a lock clicking into place.
"Stay" the words were out of my mouth before I knew i needed to say them. I could sense Jacob wasn't breathing as his eyes pierced mine.

I had never known how to explain what it felt like to look at Into Jacob's eyes, but every single time I was transported back to that newborn baby girl who saw her imprint for the first time, her new world. Every time I looked into his eyes now, It was like reaffirming that connection, like seeing my world for the first time all over again.

"Renesmee" the firm voice of my father broke my reverie as I moved my hand away from Jacobs cheek. I turned to him from where I stood. My private moment wasn't so private, I thought wryly. I sighed looking at his stern features, all the emotions I felt before fizzled away into thin air, taken like water by evaporation.

In that moment I wanted him to understand, more than anything I needed jakes presence, and a part of me thought that he did understand. In the same way he needed my mother I think I needed Jake. I always had, thinking back.
But then again, sometimes I knew not to push my luck. I turned back to Jake then as he sat, still, on my bed. I plastered on a hopeful smile as I asked "you're coming back tomorrow, then?" He gave me a knowing smile, got up and lightly placed his hand on my cheek "of course, I'll be right outside, ness"
I frowned "you started regular patrols again?"
He looked up at my father quickly and back down at me again "Just a precaution. There's enough of us now we can patrol a larger area than just la push"

I scoffed "what, protecting one town isn't enough for you?"
"Protecting one town isn't much in the way of saving the world from terrifying vampires such as yourselves now is it?" He poked his tongue out and stroked my hair "I'll see you in the morning okay?"
"Don't stray too far from me" I said as he walked out the room
"Never" he promised as he closed the door.

As I settled myself into bed that evening, I couldn't help think of mine and Jake's relationship, and of course when anyone wonders about the future they think of how their past has led them to their present. I had always been exceptionally grateful for Jake's continued presence in my life, I had grown to love him in the way you should love another person; because of their goodness and because of how they make you good. Sometimes it felt like my most cherished qualities were all a bi-product of him; kindness, patience, honesty, warmth. I loved him for those things. And I'm not stupid, I know the imprint was a large part of our connection, but to me it wasn't unearthly and it wasn't supernatural. Humans found this kind of love; I was just fortunate enough to find mine when I was only a couple of hours old.

Whenever I thought of my future, Jake was unquestionably a big part of it, but which part he would play was another matter entirely. He had been my Protector, my Brother, my Confidant, my Friend. He had fulfilled those roles so well when I was a child, did he really have a place with them any longer or had we grown too old for those foolish parts? It nagged at me that I might not have the time to figure all this out what with impending doom heavy on our heels. Would I always bring this much suffering to my family just because I had lived?

"Okay, you ready?" I shouted across to my uncle, a grin spreading wide across both our faces. He crouched as I poised, ready to attack. He always wanted me to attack first.

I took half a second to breathe and with planned movements sprinted directly toward him. He was ready for me of course, I could see it in the way his eyes lit; he knew what I had planned. And so, at the very last moment, right when I should have attacked, he lifted his arm in order to swing it at me right as my body leaned back on itself and my head rolled back on my neck. With super speed I had narrowly avoided his swinging arm and had turned to face his back jumped on and grabbed his head as if moving in to kill. A round of applause came from my impressed audience.
"Very nice, ness" Jaspers southern drawl appreciated as he turned to me. I jumped off his back and wiped my jeans clean.

"You ready for the next part?" He looked at me knowingly. Running. Crap. Don't get me wrong, I liked running and i was good too. I had inherited something special from my dad and could run fast. But I would be kidding myself if I thought I could run faster than a vampire. I couldn't do anything as well as a vampire could, and if we are being honest, in a fight I'd most definitely lose my head - quite literally. I banished the thought before my father could catch onto it and nodded at jasper who awaited my answer.
"Let's do this" I agreed, turning toward the Forrest. Emmett came to stand alongside jasper just then as we had agreed a long time ago, it would be more realistic to practice with two chasers because in a fighting situation, there probably would be more than one enemy hot on my tail. I took a breath and readied my muscles as well as I could before running off into the forest, jumping across the stream. Emmett and jasper would give me a four second head start and then head after me. They had drilled it into me that four seconds would be vital in my survival. Just four seconds. Four seconds would be the difference between survival and fatality. I just had to hope I had four seconds in a real life situation.
Rule one of running was to know where you were going, even if the terrain was new to you, let your head guide your feet and your feet guide you, and don't ever second guess yourself, because that's one second you don't have. I thought of this as I ran into the Forrest I once new but had changed so much to me in all the years we had been gone.
Rule two was to never ever use 100% of your ability from the word go. Only ever reach 80% and save the last 20% for when you truly needed it.
Rule three, know your enemy. (Something tells me my uncles nicked this one from the rules of war but hey ho, it applies to all situations I guess). Know their weakenesses, their decisions, listen to their movements. For example, Emmett was heavy footed, it takes him approximately 2/8ths of a second longer than jasper to pick his foot off the ground when running, and 5/8ths longer than it took my dad.
Just then, Emmett -who I was watching from the corner of my eye -took a swing for me. He was 4 and a half steps behind me and his arms were long, and as a rule Emmett always always went for the straight forward attack. As he lifted his arm to swing at my side, I side stepped mid-run and avoided the blow without losing any time from my precious four seconds. I hadn't slowed but neither had my opponents.
Rule four, never underestimate your chasers (again, I don't think this was an original idea). Jasper would always take longer to make a move, strategically planning before attacking. I came to a river and without a moment's hesitation, used a large rock to bound off the bank and across to the other side. Jasper and Emmett must have used the same rock, but although jasper got across easily, Emmett faltered and fell in the water. Of course I didn't look around to see this, I used my senses and could hear the splash as well as the subsequent lack of footfalls from the heavier of the two men.

The land in front of me looked slightly turbulent I noticed which may be difficult to navigate around, and so with that I made the decision to jump. I landed on the tree I intended to and swung from one branch to the next.
I was good at tree-moving, I had been doing it for years, and usually it confused vampires because they ran more than they 'swung' (why would they need to tree hop when running gets you there so much faster?) Of course that doesn't mean they are bad at it. As I latched onto my fifth tree, jasper pounced. He was almost on top of me when I loosened my grip on the bark and fell gracefully to the ground. In moments I started running again.

In those precious seconds I had gained from losing jasper, Emmett had returned with avengance, if I was going to survive I needed to get rid of him. Thinking about my next plan, jasper returned to flank one side and Emmett the other. I could see their movements before they happened as they both leapt at the same time for me. I jumped with more strength than I probably should have used and gripped onto the tree. If this plan didn't work I would climb to the top of the fern and tree hop from there where it was easier (although I knew my parents would go nuts if they could see me doing that so high up). The moment I latched onto the tree I heard an almighty crash as jasper and Emmett flew into each other at full speed. I knew it couldn't have hurt them because of their tough exterior but I still winced as I heard the sound. If this were a real attack I would use this opportunity to land on them both and tear their heads off, using approximately 1.8 seconds to end them both. I showed them this of course by landing on top of them and placing my hands to their necks.

I had won.

And I could tell from their faces they thought so too, jasper smiling with appreciation and Emmett used his grumpy voice to congratulate me on my win. Emmett made me laugh at times like this because he took losing and winning so seriously, yet of course, if this training ever came to good use I knew he would be exceptionally proud of me.
"Okay, that's enough you lot" Alice and mum came running up to us "Jacob and Edward are going off their nut and it's almost sundown. Well done Ness, you were gone for a good couple of hours"
My mouth dropped as Alice's words hit me, we were running for hours? I had outran vampires for hours? I grinned up at jasper then as the realisation of her words hit me.

Mum came to drape her arm across my shoulder as we walked back, "you tired?" She whispered, understanding how much I hated feeling weaker than all my family. I looked to where Alice, jasper and Emmett were a few yards in front of us talking animatedly before nodding my head once toward my mum. "Hungry too" I added. "can we go hunting tomorrow?" I asked hopefully.

"Actually" she paused "we were thinking of going tonight. We were going to stop off at the hospital on the way out of the state to get some donations for you" she looked at her shoes guilty. 'Donations' that's what she called them, as if the humans had gone to blood banks in order to donate to the mysterious blood sucking creatures of the world and not the dieting patients in A&E who actually needed it. "You do need it Ness" she argued, and I looked down realising she had grabbed my hand. Damn it, I really need to get that under control.
"Mum, I don't just see why I can't go hunting with you guys"
"You can, ness. We love hunting with you, but human blood makes you stronger, it's just a-"
"Precaution, yeah yeah I know" I said as I snatched my hand away from her and moved toward the White House which was now in sight.
"Ness, you want to be strong enough, don't you?"
"Yeah mum, I do. It's fine, I'll have the blood" and really there was no point arguing, because that's what all this training was for, wasn't it? To be strong enough to fight fully fledged lethal vampires who wanted nothing more than to kill me. And I needed to be strong enough to protect myself, to protect my family. Taking human blood was just another thing that separated me from them though, it was another thing that I was dependant on, and it was another thing that made me a monster-because I drank human blood. Blood which had been selflessly donated across the country by humans who wanted to help make the world a better disease-free place.

"Ness" my father's voice admonished as I walked through the back door "you can't see it that way"
"But I do, dad, I do see it that way" I turned from him and ran up to my room, too tired to argue or even bring the energy to eat. I slumped down on my bed for the second night's sleep in a home that held so much disaster above its front door.

And so that is how I found myself the next morning, glaring at a thermal flask filled with 1 pint of warm human blood (O Negative of course) and wishing I was anywhere other than here.
"Appetising" I commented dryly to my awaiting audience; mom, dad and grandpa.
"Drink up, ness" Jake said cheerfully as he entered the room. I grimaced remembering how I woke up this morning holding onto the hope that Jacob would object to this form of 'strengthening'. On the contrary I found he was all for any plan which would increase my chances of survival against an army of vampires who wanted me dead. I sighed as I took the flask in hand. Later on I wanted to go see Grandpa Charlie, Sue and Billy, but I knew drinking this now would increase my attraction to human blood and I worried about the consequences of that. Jake had promised me nothing bad would happen, his faith in me never wavering, but I worried.
I sighed knowing I was outnumbered by eight vampires and a werewolf; my odds weren't great. I took a deep breath as I held the flask to my lips and let my vampiric thirst take over, shutting down my brain and letting my true nature flow through my vemon-filled veins. The taste was amazing of course, which made me hate it even more. Every drop was an excruciating pleasure. Clearly this had turned me into a masochist. Great.
As I finished my last gulp I put the flask back on the table with slightly more force than strictly necessary, grunted, and walked out the back door. I didn't mean to sound so ungrateful, I knew my family were doing this to keep me strong, to save my life. And if drinking this helped me to protect them then of course it was the right thing to do. I just resented that this was the only way I could do that.
I knew that no matter how much training I completed, none of it would make the slightest bit of difference if I wasn't strong enough to take on the vampires in the first place. I was an athlete whose reality was steroids because their metabolism was too high. Nurture fighting nature.

I'm not sure how long I sat on the tree swing for but eventually Jake came out and sat beside me, he didn't say a word, his silence was the only reassurance I needed. A little while later, my moms voice rang out from the house,
"Ness, are you coming to visit Charlie with us?"
I froze in fear, knowing this part would come but too terrified to face it
Jake grabbed my hand and my fears were exposed to him
"Ness, I trust you, you'll be fine, and we'll be there. We love you, we wouldn't let anything bad happen to you or to Charlie" he whispered, his voice never faltering.
"Come on, Slow poke, I want to see the look on Charlie's face when he sees you haven't changed. One. Bit" Emmett teased as we moved our way into the garage and to the cars.
"Uh, nah-ah, there's no way you're coming, Rose was looking for you last time I checked and you're not escaping with us" my mother tutted to him as she got into the car. I chuckled myself at the forlorn expression on his face as we drove away.