Bella Swan

The last one to join our coven was Kyle.

After we lived in Alaska for a few years, going through high school yet again, we moved on to London. I had to admit, I was excited; I had never been out of the country before.

We had enrolled in high school there as juniors, Julie and Adam posing as our parents as usual. He was alone in the territory and after an hour of just sitting and talking, he just fell into place. It turned out he was a tracker, which instantly made me distrust him, but he was very friendly and reassured us he wasn't sadistic about it. It worked so that once he had caught the "tone" of anyone's mind, it was like a game of hot and cold. But since it worked inside the mind I was immune to it, which, admittedly, did give me some sense of reassurance. He had the normal vampire feeding habits, but was awed by our resistance. He even asked us to take him hunting. It seemed that at the end of the day, nothing had to be said; he would stay with us. He readily adapted to our version of life and I never had a reason to feel wary about him since then. It was so easy to like him; I often thought it was a gift, something he brought from his former life. Whenever he laughed, his black hair flopped around his face and his laughter was contagious.

When it was time to move on, it was only natural that he came with us, and he was more than happy to have found a coven to stay with.

As each new member added to our coven, I felt myself be tied down, one rope at a time. My pain was not enough that I would cause them misery if I went off myself. It was like it was with Charlie; I was surviving for my family, not myself, not for hope; they were the only thing that kept my alive. There may have come a day when my own pain would outweigh theirs, but until then I had to but on a content mask. In truth, I got better at hiding my pain every day, though the pain never decreased at all. So why did fate seemed determined to make me as miserable as possible?

Skipping ahead to when Bella has been a vampire for 50 years.

Bella Swan

"Where will we go now?" Kyle mused as we sat in the living room and discussed our future home. We had just graduated college; again.

Julie spoke. "I've been doing some research on some of the most sunless places in the world. I found a little town called Forks." My chest rippled worse than usual, but I hardly flinched. She went on, "It's on the Olympic Peninsula, almost never sunny and a tiny population, not to mention a vast array of wildlife surrounding it."

"No," I tried to say to say calmly, but my voice shook a little with the pain.

"Why not?" my sudden outburst had startled Carter.

"That's where I lived before…all this," I tried to explain without revealing too much.

"But it's been, what, fifty years?" Emily contradicted.

"Yea, but Forks is so small, anything is big news. When people go missing, it's huge. I'm bound to have left rumors behind, even after all this time." I felt a wave of sadness as I remembered Charlie and how he must have grieved when I was "dead".

"But," I said, trying to deflect their plan, "I found a little town called Neah Bay. It's even further north, and just as cloudy. Surrounded by mountains and forests, too." My logic was unshakable.

"I don't see why not," Kyle conceded. "Better safe than sorry, right?"

We had visited the town that weekend and found a large, three story house that about half of the walls were all glass. It had an unnecessary kitchen and seven bedrooms, though we only needed four. Julie and Emily automatically planned future renovations and remodeling that could be done. I bet Esme would have loved it. I winced a little as the thought stung me. We had about a ten minute run home and we were already packing everything up. It would take about half a week to ship all the furniture there, but, even though we could have moved it all up there in a matter of hours, we had to wait. We used those days to say our goodbyes to the town and go hunting.

When we did move there it was the same thing. We were enrolled in the town high school and of course, our new arrival brought so much gossip they may as well have put in the newspaper. The first day of school was always the worst and best day.

It was the worst because it was high school, and it was the best because it was the most amusing. The humans, of course, only had to look at us, and then we had to find a hundred different articulated and tactful ways to say 'stay the hell away from me'. At lunch we regrouped to complain and compare.

"Twenty!" Emily complained. "Twenty times in one hour I was asked out. Not to mention these!" she dumped a little handful of scraps of paper onto the table. Each one had a name and phone number on it, or some suggestive question.

"Guys, just wait like a month or two. We'll blow over soon enough," he struggled to stay optimistic, and not to crush something with his bare hands.

"I dunno Kyle," I said, feigning uncertainty. "I'm not sure they'll ever get tired of that sexy British accent!" I cooed, imitating every girl I'd heard all day. He shoved my shoulder hard.

Carter and Emily had tried to make it as obvious as possible that they were with each other, while wishing us the best of luck at fighting off the unsuspecting, lust-crazed humans. We were almost desperate enough to fake that we were together; but not quite.

After we lunch was biology, English, and gym. In biology I was lucky enough to have a table all to myself. But that could not stop half a dozen boys from making an attempt to approach me.

"So you moved from Alaska? Don't they have sun there?" one asked me. I saw the fear in his eyes. Unfortunately it was only fear that he had offended me about my unusually pale skin, and not fear of me.

"Sometimes," I replied coldly and curtly. He took my icy rebuff as dismissal.

It went on like that for the rest of the day.

One day down, a lot more to go.

A week or so later

In idea popped into my head.

"Later guys!" I yelled to everyone, who were sitting in the kitchen.

I raced down the coast; no one was around to notice me, not they could see me anyway.

I kept going until the forest seemed to take on a familiar glow.

La Push.

I stopped on the beach; it was cloudy enough that I could walk there safely. I walked down the familiar shore to where I saw a landmark; the whitewashed tree Jake and I used to sit on and talk when he wasn't trying to hunt down Victoria. I wondered if he was still here; that was the reason for the visit.

Then I heard the soft whisper of the rest of my family following, and instantly felt qualms of not explaining this further. It was crucial that a group of us were not found on Quileute land.

"What are you doing?" Emily demanded.

"Bad, bad, bad! Go back! Like now," they didn't seem to get it. "Seriously guys, it's bad enough I'm risking this, but if we're all here it's really, really bad—"I stopped talking when I heard the heavy padding of paws. It sounded as if they're were six or seven.

"Dammit," I hissed. I shoved as many bodies as I could in the direction of home. "I swear I'll explain all of this later! Just go!"

No one seemed to be listening to me. "What is that?" Carter demanded, taking a protective stance by Emily.

But by then, it was too late.

"Aw crap!" I complained, momentarily panicking about how I was going to talk us out of this.

They came in a line, a large russet wolf at the point, a Black no doubt. They circled us, teeth bared and snarling with black fury.

"Bella?" Adam seethed. "What the hell is going on?!"

"Ummmm, parley?" I tried in a feeble attempt to lighten the tension. They didn't find it amusing.

"Ugh, dammit!" I almost shouted. Then I did shout, "Jacob Black if you're not in a wheelchair, you get your furry butt out here!"

The wolves growled and inched closer.

"Bella," Julie whimpered desperately.

I took a deep breath. "Does the name Cullen ring a bell?" I asked, trying unsuccessfully to keep my voice from shaking.

The growls stopped and they looked at each other warily, undecided. Then the russet wolf started to shudder.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I may be sixty-eight years old, but I still have the innocence of my eyes!" I protested, holding one had up as a shield and looked the other way. Once I was sure that he had his shorts on I peeked in his direction; luckily he was clothed. He was definitely a Black; he was the spitting image of his dad, or grandfather; I wasn't quite sure.

"You are the Cullens?" the boy asked. His voice was husky and rough, just the way I had remembered Jacob's.

"No," I answered. Growls erupted. "But we are like them. Vegetarians, if you will." I couldn't help but chuckle at our tongue-in-cheek name. "I came to visit an old friend. Jacob Black. Your grandfather, I believe."

His face was shocked.

"Look," I said, a bit impatient, "My eyes; they're gold, not red. Animal blood dilutes the color. I just want to talk to Jake."

The boy still looked undecided. Then he nodded. "Follow me."

"Bella!" Julie shouted, exasperated.

I glanced at their rigid faces and stances. "Ah, of course; introductions. Everyone, the Quileute werewolves, Quileute werewolves, everyone."

My family stared at me dumbfounded. So did the wolves.

"Who are you?" Jacob's grandson asked.

"Bella Swan. Have you heard of me?"

~~~~~( '_')~~~~~~~~~~~~~( '_')~~~~~~~~~~~~~( '_')~~~~~~~~~~~~

They brought us to the center of the reservation and to the little house I used to spend all my time in. I smiled.

The boy opened the door, and walked in calling out, "Grandpa!"

Jake came to the door. Well, I thought it was Jake. He was older and wrinkled, but he looked like Jake. He looked up. "What is it Charlie?" I smiled and my eyes stung a little when he said my father's name. Then he noticed me and a giant, boyish grin spread across his face. "Bells!"

I smiled warmly. "Hey Jake." I walked over to him and hugged him as tightly as I could without breaking him. His arms were warmer than I remembered as he hugged me back. I pulled back, looked at him and frowned.

"You're old," I complained.

Jake chuckled. "You're older than I am," he pointed out.

"Psh, and I still have less wrinkles," I said.

"Jake? What's going on?" a woman's voice came from the house. The first thing that caught my attention was the glimmer on her left hand. My mouth fell open with an audible gasp.

"I missed your wedding?" I said quietly, feeling remorseful. "Some best friend I am," I sulked.

"I would have sent you and invitation but…" he said cheerfully. The woman had reached his side by then. "Bella, you know Leah Clearwater."

"I'm so happy for you two," I said, shaking her hand; I was shocked to find her grasp as warm as her. She smiled shyly.

"What about you, Bells? How have you been?" he said, humor gone, his brow furrowed.

I shrugged. "I never change," I said simply.

"Bella?" Julie whispered. I'd forgotten about them momentarily.

Jake glanced over my shoulder and smiled wryly. "I see you're not a hermit anymore," he said slyly.

"Nomad," I corrected indignantly.

"Sure, sure," he said in the same patronizing tone he'd always used.

I stuck my tongue out at him and he chuckled.

"Well I suppose I have to go seeing as how they're all fearing for there lives," I said nodding my head towards the rest of my family.

Jake chuckled. "Come visit more. They won't hurt you."

"Later Jake," I smiled. "Come on guys, no one's dying tonight."

After the run to our house I braced myself for the worst.

"What the hell was that!" everyone screamed at once.

Sorry guys. This one took me a while to write I think this was the longest chapter I've ever written. The good parts are coming up in the next chapter! And before you ask, BELLA DOES NOT LOVE KYLE! Nor will she, nor does he.

Trust me guys, Bella is not the one Kyle falls in love with.

But what did that mean? Kudos to anyone who figures it out before I get the next chapter out.

I write for reviews, and I won't post the next chapter till I have a total of 10 reviews!

~SuzieQ~