Bella POV

When I woke up, I couldn't remember my dream. I remembered I was in it, as was Edward Cullen. And Arcee, and the rest of the Autobots. It was only three in the morning, but I couldn't fall back asleep. So I slipped out of bed and—silent as a ghost—went through my morning routine, taking a bath in my favorite strawberry bubble bath instead of a shower. It was four by the time I was ready, and I quickly ate a bagel with some peanut butter while watching CNN. Charlie came downstairs at five-thirty, the expression on his face questioning my sanity. I shrugged off his questioning. At six, he was out the door. I checked the computer for some good wooded areas I could lose myself in and—at six-fifteen—I grabbed my wallet and a book and went out to Arcee.

"I need a dirt-bike," I said quietly, placing both hands on the hood of the rusted truck. "A little help?"

Arcee whined very low and long, then transformed into a slightly-rusted pink dirt-bike. I climbed on and we took off.

Arcee laughed through the radio. "This feels so good!"

We turned left onto the highway, and the wind whipped my hair back behind me. I didn't have to steer, so I leaned my head back and let the mist that was falling drip onto my face. I grinned. "Arcee we've got to do this more often!"

She agreed and we flew faster. I couldn't help myself; I let out an exhilarated whoop and laughed like a maniac. I directed Arcee in what general direction to go, and she got me to a small dead-end road with a trail. My eyes found another well-worn path. Arcee volunteered to stay, and I walked along the trail. Roots and rocks tried to trip me, but I kept myself upright. I spotted a thinning of the trees and raced ahead, then bust into the clearing. The clouds were thin and the sun shone weakly through them. I sat on the damp ground and pulled from my tote purse a book I hadn't read (The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold).

My cell phone rang and the caller ID had a bunch of symbols I didn't recognize.

"Hello?" I asked as I opened it.

Arcee's voice greeted me. "Bells, we have a problem. Don't yell at me for the Cybertronian on the caller ID, but you've got someone coming your way. I was testing the radar and someone's moving through the woods pretty fast. Like supernatural fast. I say you have 30 seconds."

"Okay... So I have T-minus 30 seconds before a random person that runs fast comes into this clearing?"

"Pretty much so. And one thing—whoever it is, is humanoid and has no heartbeat."

I felt my grip on the cell phone tighten. "Um... How long?"

"Fifteen seconds. Bells, you're cutting it close! Get out of there while you can!"

"Crap!"

I grabbed my book and shoved it in my bag, then stumbled towards the tree line.

"Ten! Nine! Eight. Crap... It's there. Whoever it was, was going faster than I thought."

I almost dropped my purse. "Arcee, I'm going to kill you."

"I'll be there in a minute."

"No! Wait, Arcee!" but it was a wasted effort. The line was dead.

I turned around, and I wasn't sure what I was expecting. A monster? An alien? Another robot? When I looked around, I saw a shadowed figure standing in the tree line. Whoever it was, was tall and lean. I squinted slightly. My eyes made out pale skin, and the mussed-up hair. I could hear the faint humming of Arcee's engine far off. But I looked closer; sure I knew who it was. Then it hit me. "Edward? Edward Cullen?"

I stepped closer. He stood stock still. I moved closer. Arcee's engine grew louder, and then cut off in a whirring noise, and she skidded to my side as a human. "I tell you it has no heartbeat and you step closer to it? Bella Swan, you are a MORON! How the hell am I supposed to keep you alive if you continue on with this stupidity?"

I rolled my eyes. "Obviously you're not right in the head. 'It', as you call him, is a he and he is normal-is. No need for protective Guardian stuff."

"Bella, he's not what he seems," she grumbled under her breath.

Edward stepped from under the tree line, suddenly unfreezing, and I glared at Arcee over my shoulder. "Bella? Who's your friend? I don't recognize her from school."

I went to step forward, still glaring at Arcee, and she grabbed my arm. "LOOK!"

I turned to look at him, and he was glowing, literally. But the glow was black, and he was smiling the smile of a devil. I took a step back. Then Edward was upon me.

"I'm sorry, love," he whispered, and then bit my neck.

=X=

And I woke up to my bedroom. I bolted upright in my bed, and I had a cold sweat beading up on my forehead. I took a look around my room and my racing heart slowed. I pressed my fingers to my temples, trying to press the bad dream out of my head. I slid out of bed, and walked to the window. I pushed aside the curtains, and it was sunny outside. The ice on the ground was shining like diamonds, and the snow was glowing a pure white. I groaned. I stayed in my PJs and went downstairs. The TV was still on the local news—Charlie must have forgotten to turn it off. So I grabbed a bowl of cereal and wolfed it down as I watched.

Then I got ready and went outside. I climbed into Arcee's cab and got the truck started. "Ugh... Too early! What's up?"

"We're going to the library because, A) I hate my computer and, B) I have some research to do. Now stop complaining and get going!" I exclaimed.

Arcee grumbled and we headed to the local library. Arcee basically ejected me at the front door and came back thirty seconds later as a human, complete with the same black tresses, honey-tan, and green eyes. I rolled my eyes at her. "Of course you would. Come on!"

We went inside and sat at two computers across from each other. I typed in a single word.

Vampire.

It was the only conclusion I had come to from my dream. All along, I had known Edward Cullen was something more than human. His eyes had changed color from onyx black to topaz gold. My dream had him biting my neck, and for some reason I knew it wasn't just something from my imagination. It wasn't from reading too much Dracula. And I remembered a story I had been told when I was little, when Renee had forced me to come to Forks during the summer. My friend Jacob, his father had told us stories about the Cold Ones. He had told us of the bad ones with the red eyes, and the good ones with the gold eyes were said to hunt animals and not humans. I had written it off as fantasy. But I was reconsidering.

I sorted through movies, stupid books, and bands until I found a promising site called Vampires A-Z. I scrolled through the list. All the reports are bad vampires, save one. An Italian vampire they called the Stregoni Benefici was supposed to be the enemy of all vampires allied with evil. I sighed, and copied down exactly what it said. Arcee grabbed my arm and pulled me over to look at what she had on the computer screen. "This is the greatest thing ever!"

She was playing a computer game called Fire Boy and Water Girl. I rolled my eyes and said, "It's just a pointless computer game, Arcee. Nothing special."

She shrugged and waved me away. "Still awesome. Now go back to whatever you were doing."

I sighed, and sat down at the computer. I checked my e-mail. I had one from Mikaela.

Bells,

Check the news, CNN or something. NOW! I'm sorry I haven't e-mailed. You'll see why when you look at the news. Love you! GO LOOK AT THE NEWS!

-Mikaela

I wrote back immediately.

'Kaela Beans,

I'm gonna check the news. It's fine. Slap Sam for me. I'll get in touch when I check the TV. I'll probably call you. Love you, love you, love you. Keep safe.

-Bella

Then I went over to one of the TVs on the wall and changed the channel to CNN. What I saw made my jaw drop. On the television screen was what remained of Mission City, Nevada. The reporter was live outside the city limits, talking about how the government refused to comment on how it had happened. I grabbed my cell phone, and punched in Mikaela's number. Her voicemail picked up.

"Hey, you've got Mikaela! I'm so sorry I can't take your call, but I'll get back at ya later. Do your thing at the beep!"

I left a very quick message. "Mikaela, what the hell did you do? I saw the news report and... Ugh, did the Autobots do this? Just call me back ASAP. Love you lots."

Then I hung up the phone, gawked at the TV for a few more seconds, and went over to Arcee. She was talking very quickly into a small pink cell phone, in a language I didn't understand. I tapped her arm, and then tapped my wrist as if signaling to a watch. She nodded, and quickly hung up the phone. "You saw the TV report."

I nodded once.

"It wasn't us. Well, slightly us but not really our fault. It was the Decepticons."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Decepticons are like us in terms of what they are, but really bad. They hold no value to human life and they want the All Spark. I was talking to Optimus through the comm link and apparently they were fighting the team and things got out of hand. Megatron—their leader—is dead thanks to Sam. Sam killed him with the All Spark, destroying both. He saved Optimus's life." Arcee managed to spit out in two breaths.

I broke in before she could continue. "So it wasn't your fault?"

She shook her head. I smiled. "Sam contributed to stopping the bad guys?"

She nodded. I smiled more widely. "Calm down then. Everything's good, right?"

"Well... Yeah. Yeah, it is," Arcee replied, and grinned right back.

Then we left the library and Arcee became a truck again. We headed home, and I was unaware that I was being watched from the shadows.

=X=

I was curled up in the rocking chair in the corner of my room, studying my Calculus, when my cell phone rang. I picked it up quickly, recognizing the ringtone as Vanity by Christina Aguilera, which was Mikaela's custom ringtone.

"Let me explain!" was the first thing I heard.

I chuckled. "Arcee already did the completely-spazzing-out thing. Don't do it again."

She sighed in relief. "Yay for Arcee! Sam's fine, just really banged up, and he won't change out of his shredded clothes. He smells like sweat and fear, and pee."

"Okay ew," I managed through my laughter. "I guess that's like his football jersey—he bled in those and everything."

"Don't you just love guys? And I'm guessing something big's up on that end, because you can only stay outta big shit for so long," Mikaela replied.

I bit my lip, deliberating. "Okay, so on Friday, I almost got hit by a van, and someone saved me. And not by pushing me out of the way, he just stopped the van with his bare hands; didn't even brace himself against my truck. His name's Edward Cullen and he's my biology partner. So that started me thinking that he's different." I paused, thinking and catching my breath. "And his eyes change color, he's super pale, and he's really strong. Super-fast, too, because he was standing on the other edge of the parking lot just before he saved me. I had this dream—and don't say I'm going crazy—that he bit my neck and he didn't have a heartbeat. It's not me reading too much Dracula."

"You've gone insane!" Mikaela shouted at me.

I huffed and continued, "That's not what even sealed the deal. It's the stories that Billy Black used to tell us when Renee brought us down for the summer when we were six about the Cold Ones and the werewolves. I think Edward's a vampire, and his family, too."

Mikaela was silent for a few beats. Then when she spoke, her voice was oddly calm. "I remember the stories. I used to believe them. I don't anymore."

"So you don't believe me?" I asked disbelievingly. "We've been best friends, and stuck like glue through everything. You've believed everything, and then laughed when I'm wrong. Please, Mikaela. Please. And if I'm wrong, you can call me crazy."

The last two sentences were pleading, and my twin's tone changed. "Oh, Bells... You know I can't argue with that tone. We're sort of having a quiet patch, so how about I come down? I'll even bring Sam if it makes you feel better!"

I laughed at that. "Alright. Thank you. And I love you, 'Kaela. Remember that!"

"I love you too, sweetie," she replied. "I'll call when I know my flight's gonna land."

"Bye, sissy," I murmured.

I could hear the smile in her voice. "Bye, Belly Bear."

I set down the phone on my desk and just sat there for a moment, reviewing my conversation. Then I threw my calculus book onto my bed, grabbed my jacket, and ran outside. I needed to see something. I got Arcee to turn into a dirt bike, and she let me drive. I knew where I was going. As soon as I got to the trail, I burst into the woods. I was running as fast as I could, dodging trees and picking myself up as I tripped multiple times. My eyes found the thinning of the trees, and I stumbled into the perfectly circular clearing.

I blinked a few times, making sure I wasn't dreaming again. I pinched myself with my index and thumb nail, drawing a speck of blood in the process. I wasn't dreaming. I leaned down and trailed my fingers through the grass. My cell phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it open.

"Hello?"

"Okay, good, you're alive!" was Arcee's reply. "What were you looking for?"

"The clearing from my dream. I found it. It's real," I mumbled.

"What clearing? What dream?" she asked. I had forgotten to tell her.

I described the dream, telling how I had seen the clearing. Arcee was silent for a couple of beats, and then spoke. "Well that's just freaky..."

"What's freakier is that I... I have this feeling that I know this place, too. Like I've been here before. I drew it in Biology, when I was bored." I stumbled through it. "God, I'm creeping myself out."

"You're creeping me out more than you're creeping yourself out."

I frowned. "Thanks."

"You're welcome!" Arcee chirped. "Now, get back here!"

I grumbled in response and hung up. Then to make her happy, I stumbled back through the woods to go home.

2,828 words without the author's note I'm adding. TOTAL WIN! Sorry I haven't updated for a while... :)