Chapter 4

"Mom, we went hunting yesterday" I reminded mom as I sat in the back seat of the Volvo dad was driving. I had let mom drag me to the car but that didn't that I understood mom's insanity.

"I know, but Carlisle, Rosalie, Esme and Emmet haven't been hunting yet" mom replied.

"So, they are all perfectly capable of hunting by themselves, since when were we their babysitters?" I retorted in exasperation. Mom was definitely lying to me about something. She had never suggested anything so ludicrous before, none of us had ever felt any compulsion to go hunting as a family, so why did mom feel that her, me and dad had to accompany everyone else and if the case was that she wanted us all to go as a family then why weren't auntie Alice and uncle Jasper coming with us? Yes, mom was lying to me about something, she was hiding something from me; a secret and that is something I hate.

"What is it, mom? What are you hiding?" I demanded of mom.

"Nothing, Renesmee, why would you jump to that conclusion?" mom replied, scowling.

"I know you're hiding something from me, mom, don't bother even trying to lie to me" I retaliated angrily.

"Bella, love, maybe you should tell her, she knows you're lying to her" dad said to mom in an undertone, not meaning for me to hear, but unfortunately I heard anyway.

"Mom" I growled. My anger rising as I saw mom's stubbornness deciding not to tell me anything.

"Bella" dad sighed quietly, again, not meaning for me to hear. I guess I was more sensitive to all the sounds around me today.

"Edward, don't even try to argue with me about this, my mind is made up" mom informed dad adamantly.

"Bella, she'll find out some day, sooner or later, wouldn't you rather it be sooner coming from you rather than someone else" dad disputed, seeming to forget I was there, listening.

"I know, Edward, and I will tell her myself when the time is right and the time is certainly not right at this moment" mom argued back. The shock this remark caused me suddenly erased all my rising anger as I realised that whatever mom and dad were hiding from me was something that directly involved me.

"Bella, are you sure that you're not just procrastinating the moment when you have to tell her?" dad queried shrewdly.

"Edward, I promise you that that is not the case" mom answered tetchily. Dad said nothing in response, and I could tell that he didn't believe mom, but he said nothing as he pulled up in the garage by the big white house that aside from me, mom and dad, all the Cullens lived in. Mom, dad and I didn't exactly live in the tiny, stone cottage that was nestled in a clearing within the forest; we just had our bedrooms in there which we used only for the night. Well, I used my bedroom to sleep in during the night, as vampires, mom and dad didn't sleep at all so they didn't quite use their room in the same way I did, I shuddered, I didn't want to let my thoughts travel down that path, especially with dad within hearing range. Anyway, during the daytime hours, mom, dad, and I hung about with the rest of the Cullens in their huge, beautiful, white house.

"So, what do we now that we've reached the end of your little hunting act?" I glowered at mom. Dad laughed as I saw right through mom, sometimes mom was so transparent that she might as well be glass.

"You don't want to go hunting" mom enquired, raising an eyebrow at me. I rolled my eyes, when was she going to drop the pretence, for god's sake?

"Nessie, maybe it would be a good idea if you went hunting today, as a precaution" dad suggested. I stopped my glowering contest with mom to consider dad's suggestion. It was true that I didn't find resisting all the temptation around me in school half as hard as I thought I would, but it wouldn't hurt to just take some precautions in order to decrease the risks to a minimum. I nodded to dad to show my agreement, mom smirked in satisfaction, happy that she got her way, for once, I suppose. Dad grinned at me when he heard that thought, I just rolled my eyes at him theatrically causing him to have to fight laughter.

"So, I take it you have all decided to join us, then?" Grandpa Carlisle asked us as he walked out the house, followed closely by Grandma Esme, Aunts Alice and Rosalie, along with uncles, Emmet and Jasper.

"You're all coming hunting?" I enquired incredulously, my eyebrows halfway up my forehead.

Auntie Alice laughed: "Jasper felt thirsty, he wasn't really into the hunt yesterday, and so didn't get much out of it. I told him he'd feel thirsty today, but does he ever listen?" she complained, shaking her head.

"And you know how much I love the bear season, bring on the grizzlies!" Uncle Emmet exclaimed excitedly. I laughed along with everyone else, uncle Emmet acted so much like a kid sometimes, that I sometimes felt like he was the one who had just stopped maturing rather than me. It wasn't that I was unhappy hunting with my whole family, on the contrary I was thrilled to hunt with all the people I love for the first time, it was more the fact that I felt this was all happening because they wanted to hide something from me.

"Well, can we go already before Emmet wets himself trying to stop himself from running on ahead?" Auntie Rosalie questioned jokingly. We all laughed again as uncle Emmet scowled at auntie Rose, then before uncle Emmet really did do something silly in his impatience, we all began to race forward towards the centre of the forest, making absolutely no noise as our feet hit the ground again and again.

We all stopped suddenly in the forest, once we were sure that we were deep enough, and allowed our senses to roam outwards into the air, searching for some prey. I crouched forward and crept forward slightly, eastward. I then caught the scent of some deer some distance away, I crouched forward and darted towards the scent of the deer's blood, staying close to the ground. I continued to fly forward when I suddenly felt a different instinct demand my attention. The familiar sense of self-preservation told me that I was being pursued.

I skidded to a halt as I swivelled around, my eyes ranging around my surroundings as they sought my pursuer. My ears listening for any sound, then I heard it. A rush of wind as something hurtled through the air towards me; I whirled around in time to see a huge dark thing falling towards me, I had just enough time to throw a good kick with all the force in my leg at the thing. The thing grunted as it smashed into a nearby tree. But no sooner had I straightened up then the thing got up and tackled me to the ground.

It was in that instant that I realised that this was a vampire attacking me. I had blood running through my veins so obviously a carnivorous vampire would think of me as their ideal meal. But I wasn't about to give in, I wasn't some weak human unable to fight back; I had enough vampire in me to try to pulverise this monster. I kneed him in the stomach, obviously he couldn't quite feel pain, being a vampire, and he would be more stone than flesh, but I kneed him just hard enough to distract him so that I can push him off of me.

I quickly pulled myself of the ground where he tackled me as he did the same. Before he could properly stand upright, I grabbed a nearby branch and pulled it backwards so that it would swing forwards with extreme force, just like I had hoped; the branch swung forwards and hit my attacker in the middle causing him to fly into the air backwards. As soon as I saw the branch hit him, I turned around and fled the way I came. I couldn't fight him, he was stronger than me, and I was part human after all so I had that much vulnerability in my system.

I only wanted to reach my family before my pursuer could catch up with me again. But, I didn't know where anyone was, how was I supposed to find them? Surely, Auntie Alice would've seen the future and know that I could be in danger right now. Of course, the future only became clear to Auntie Alice when a decision was made, and no decisions had been made right now, unless I decide to call for help, either auntie Alice will see a vision that might tell her that I'm in danger, or if I get close enough to him, dad will hear me calling for help within my mind. I wasn't going to use my voice, which would only tell my pursuer where I was.

"Dad, mom, anyone, please help me, a carnivorous vampire is trying to go for my throat, I can't fight him, he's too strong, please help me! Help!" I thought frantically as I continued to sprint as fast as the wind. I kept shouting pleas for help in my mind as I ran desperately when I heard a sound that interrupted my internal, repeated cries for help; the rush of wind, and the soft thud of footfalls on the ground as someone chased me through the forest. I swiftly grabbed hold of a low tree branch and used it as a trapeze to launch my self higher into the tree. I continued to climb the tree until I was at the very top; I launched myself on to the branch of the neighbouring tree, and continued my escape that way, hoping that this change of route might deter my attacker.

Then, so suddenly that I didn't have time to plan my next move, I felt something crash into me from behind. Then we were both falling through the air as he tackled me, not realising in his thirst that we had been on the tops of the trees. We plummeted towards the ground; he locked my arms and legs in a chokehold so that I wouldn't be able to try anything else. I realised that this was the end, there was no way I could fight him, and he was much too strong. I felt my back land on the ground; I closed my eyes tight, hoping that death wouldn't be too painful. I could feel his breath on my throat as he leaned in closer. I didn't open my eyes, not wanting to see the face of the monster that would kill me in a couple of seconds, terror froze every muscle in my body, and I refused to open my eyes.

Then, I felt the constricting grip around me slacken ever so slightly, and then suddenly it was gone, was I dead? It had been so quick that I never even felt anything; I heard the sound of fists cracking some bones. Surely I wasn't dead then if I could hear that, unless I was in hell, funny, I'd always imagined hell a place of torture. But then I felt my self being wrenched off the ground so fast it made my head spin, which forced me to open my eyes. The first thing I saw was my mother's face, her eyes glistening with the tears she couldn't shed, her expression was so relieved that I felt immediately confused.

My mom couldn't die, so how was she here with me, she smiled before enveloping me in a warm embrace. It was then that I heard the thrashing and the kicking, and groaning; I looked over mom's shoulder and gasped. I wasn't dead, because if I was, aunts Alice and Rose wouldn't be looking at me with the same relieved expressions that mom had had, and Uncles Emmet and Jasper most certainly wouldn't have a handsome, half-crazed vampire pinned against a tree, whose nose was bleeding, and was staring at me with a slightly demented look in his eye.