A.N - I kind of like this chapter. Particularly the ending.

Let me know if you agree?

:)

Three

Bella had lived with the Blacks since the age of eight when her parents had been cruelly taken away from her by fate. Since then, she'd always regarded the Black household as her own, even after Jacob's sisters – her closest friends – grew up and moved away. Bella always considered that house her home; her comfort zone.

Now, however, it mockingly smiled at her, inviting her inside it's falsely safe walls. Convincing her that it held protection for her – an apparently blatant lie. Bella sat behind the wheel of her car, staring up at her home, refusing to enter the dangerous walls.

The door opened and a tall, muscular boy filled the doorway, wincing as the sun shined upon his russet-toned skin and squinting his eyes to find Bella in the driveway.

"Bella!" Jacob called, smiling widely at her and gesturing for her to come inside. "There you are! Dad was getting worried."

The pain of worrying Billy was evident upon her face as she climbed out of her car, her backpack slung over her back. Mixed in amongst the pain, however, was the obvious fear etched into her skin.

"Bella?" Jacob asked worriedly, reaching out to pull her into a tight hug the second she was close enough. "What's wrong? Why are you scared?"

She smiled wryly; of course Jacob would notice how scared she was. He was her best friend. Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes, threatening to fall with a single blink.

"Jacob?" She whispered. "Vampires aren't allowed on the reservation, are they?"

His grip tightened noticeably, worry and protection instantly overriding any other emotion in his system. "No." The one word managed to portray every single ounce of hatred towards these vampires that he had in his body before he continued in a softer tone. "But you know that, Bella. So, what's up?"

She tipped her head back to look up at Jacob's friendly face as he held her tightly in his arms, his warm chin resting on the top of her head. "Mike Newton is arranging his annual La Push party again." Jacob nodded, knowing of the tradition. "He invited Edward – one of the vampires – and he accepted."

Confusion spread across Jacob's face as he realised they were stood in the doorway and pulled her gently inside their home. "Did Newton say where -?"

Bella's frantic nod had him cutting off his question immediately. Silence reined heavily in the room before Bella broke it again, her voice strong as she voiced her fear. "What if these vampires are so strong, the … the thing that keeps them away from here means nothing?"

Jacob shook his head in dismissal. "Vampires are creatures of their words." He insisted. "It was their own kind that promised to not touch reservation soil. They'll keep their promise."

"So, why…?"

Jacob merely shook his head, struggling with the information as much as she was. "Go into town the day of the party, Bella. To Port Angeles. I'll stay here and make sure no vampire turns up, and if they do, well … I wouldn't want you to be here anyway."

Betrayals of her mind, begging her to object to his plan were too tempting to ignore; but ignore she did. Jacob meant more to her than anyone in the world and he'd only recently recuperated from a completely incapacitating illness that had him rendered bed-ridden for two weeks with a temperature higher than should have been possible for a human being. She didn't want to antagonise him so soon after his recovery stage.

"Okay," she nodded. "Fine. I'll go and catch a movie, or something."

He pressed warm lips to her temple as a form of comfort. "Good girl."

She pulled away from his warm embrace with a stern expression on her face. "Don't patronise me!" She teased him. "I'm older than you, you know."

"Yeah," he shrugged easily, completely willing to forget about vampires and the supernatural for the time being. "But you're so short, it hardly matters."

The omnipresent clouds in the sky darkened the day, providing the buildings with a rainy mist of protection from the ever-lacking presence of the sun. There'd been a time when she'd despised the rain, the snow, and the cloudy days. She longed to see bright blue skies and feel the blistering hot sun warm her face. Now, however, she found comfort in the rain and the cold. Whenever the rain poured from the sky, or froze and fell in snowflakes, she thought of Forks. It was comforting to her.

She turned a corner, noticing how busy the streets were. People bustled among each other to rush into their next shop, an attempt to escape the threatening downpour.

She almost didn't notice him.

Which, of course, was stupid. Everybody noticed Edward Cullen. His copper hair shone, even with the day as dull as it was, his pale skin encased in a turtleneck sweater and loose jeans, held up by a mesh belt. He was in front of her, so she couldn't see his face. But, from what she could see, she couldn't help but notice that he really was remarkably good-looking.

The fuss that had been made on his first day was totally justified.

Was it really, Bella wondered, so bad to be attracted to him? To a vampire?

His arms looked like they could hold you tightly, embrace you with protection and love without him ever having to say a word.

He stopped and turned, his eyes clashing with hers. The butterscotch colour she'd come to anticipate was absent and, in its place, flecks of dark hunger bled into the centre, mixing with the raven black colour of his pupils. He grinned, teeth straight and gleaming a brilliant white directly at her as the smile caused his eyes to sparkle. Using his hand, he pushed a stray copper curl back from his forehead, allowing his fingers to thread through his hair.

It was – he was utterly dazzling.

And Bella suddenly remembered what he was. Hardly even believing she forgot in the first place.

One last longing look towards him and she turned on her heal, backtracking on herself in an attempt to get away from him.

"Wait, Bella. Wait." Edward was at her side in the next moment – unbelievably quick. Another reminder of what he was. If only his voice didn't have her instantly entranced. "I was hoping to find you."

"Why aren't you in La Push?"

Bella's question was curt and direct; Edward winced.

"I had a fight with my sister," his lie was spoken so clearly and without hesitation that she probably should have believed him. "I wasn't welcome there anymore."

That, at least, was the truth.

"Well, I have to get back."

Bella moved to walk away from him again but cold fingers locking around her wrist stopped her. She gasped at the thrill of longing she felt shocking through her and her eyes moved from his long, sculpted fingers to his darkened eyes within a split second.

Her heartbeat was drumming loudly – embarrassingly so, given present company – and she felt the customary blush spread across her cheeks.

"Please, Bella." Edward's voice was choked. "Spend the day with me. Let me convince you that I'm worthy of your company." Her hesitance must have been visible on her face, if Edward's immediate insistence was anything to take into consideration. "Please. At least give me an hour. I promise you that, if you still want to, I'll take you home."

And, incredibly, she found herself agreeing and wound her fingers with Edward's with a nod and a smile. The cool touch of his hand in hers sent explosions of warmth through her body and the calm touch of his thumb as it smoothed the back of her hand had Bella suppressing content sighs as they walked in silence to what could very well be her downfall.