Hey there! So, it's been little over a month since I last updated, and I did say it would happen at least once every month, so here it is! I would like to thank all my reviewers, and everyone who is sticking with me even though the situation is not the best. You are all wonderful support and I probably wouldn't be working so hard at getting this right and updating without you. Kisses and hugs to you all.

JPOV

Jackie was going with the squad of newborns to a small town nearby that was under the control of a competing group of vampires. I was invited to join them, of course, but I wasn't about to be so fully drawn back into the world I'd escaped all those decades ago. Not now and likely not ever.

I watched as the large group left into the woods, on their way to cause bloodshed that would never be noticed by the humans. Hector was lingering in the house, his emotions dull and bland. He wasn't going to live much longer in this world. Here, it paid to always be interested, on your toes, aware of everything. Hector was too boring, for lack of better word, and easy-going to last. Jackie, or someone like her, would take him out sooner or later and overtake his territory. It was the way of the world down here.

Time down here seemed to move differently. It blended all together in a repeating, expected schedule of planning to kill, training, turning, and killing. Survival of the fittest, meanest, most powerful, and screw everyone who stands in their way. I couldn't recall off the top of my head how long I'd been here with Jackie, Micky, Hector, Jason, and the others. It could have been two weeks or two months easily. I pulled out my cell and checked the calendar.

I had to look again just to make sure I'd read it correctly. It'd been three months, not two, one, or less. I'd been down here in the south, away from my family, for three months. Which meant I'd been missing Alice for almost a year. Just a few months left until it'd been a year… the thought was terrifying.

I needed a distraction from the thought. Hunting always managed to remove thoughts of everything but the instincts inside; it was a good option. I leapt up from where I'd been sitting and ran into the woods, travelling without a care for which way I was going. I'd be able to follow my scent back to the place if I got lost.

APOV

We'd been down here for about a month now. Demetri was having trouble finding our quarry; they seemed to up and move at random times when he was closing in on them, making him have to start the search over. It frustrated Bella immensely, and she was getting short-tempered, something I'd never seen before. Before this mission, I'd have never thought of Bella as anything less than calm, collected, and always patient. I'd apparently been wrong. Right now she was completely different. Yesterday Demetri, Alec, and I had all had to hold her back from tearing off Chelsea's head. Chelsea had been terrified, and neither of them would tell us what the fight had been about.

Bella was gone again tonight, on something mission related with Demetri. Alec and June were watching a movie in the other room, and Chelsea had gone hunting. So I was, in essence, alone.

How dreadfully boring.

The blonde vampire was running through the forest. He paused in a clearing, looking around…. He ran his hands through his hair, looking so incredibly sad….

Hmm… the blonde vampire was nearby. I recognized the tree he stopped by in the clearing as the one near the lake that Bella and I had run through multiple times on our way to town. Perhaps…perhaps if I finally saw this man in person instead of a vision, I'd be able to figure out why I kept seeing him in the first place.

Not that the view was all that horrible, mind you.

I jumped up and started out of the house. I was almost at the edges of the woods when a voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Where, oh where, do you think you are going, Alice?" Bella sighed.

Slowly, I turned around to face her. "Um... out?" I suggested.

She rolled her eyes, arms crossed over her chest. "Yeah, well, don't do anything that will get us killed. Or I'll kill you."

I smiled gratefully at her. "Sure thing Bells." I turned and rushed into the woods, running as fast as I could. I didn't want to miss him, otherwise I'd be unable to find him. Which would be totally pointless to this little personal mission.

I reached the edge of the clearing just as he started leaving it. Perfect timing!

Silently, I stalked after him, feeling an odd giddy energy throb though me. Images - not visions, just imaginings - of pouncing on him danced through my mind, usually followed by some actions that one wouldn't consider unless they knew a person well. Really well.

He wasn't paying attention to me, and if we were in a city surrounded by humans, I'd say he was hunting from the focused, intent look in his dark eyes. I followed with interest, pausing to breathe in the scents on the air deeply. There weren't any humans for miles, so why was he hunting?

Ahead of us, in a sparse clearing near a creek, a small herd of deer grazed calmly, unperturbed; their scent was being blown away from them, at a slight angle towards Vison-man and I, but our scent was away from them. Vision-man crouched just at the edge of the clearing, watching the herd with a single-minded intensity that confused me. What was he…?

He dashed out of the fringe and into the clearing, causing the herd to bolt and scatter. Within seconds, he'd run down the oldest male there, launched himself onto it, and bit deeply into its neck. The rest of the herd disappeared into the trees and brush, the noise of their retreat fading into the distance. I quickly scaled a tree and perched on an overhanging branch blocking me from view partially by foliage, but not hindering my own view.

The blond Vision-man was drinking deeply from the deer, and I watched wide-eyed and amazed.

Animals. He was hunting animals instead of humans. Was he a young vampire, or old? Did this make him stronger, weaker, or just keep him as sustained as human blood would have? What changes would drinking animals have on a vampire that we don't know about? Was it just him, or were there others? Could you change an animal into a vampire? Because that would be very odd, honestly. Did the Volturi know about this, and if they did, why hadn't they mentioned it or given it a try?

I stepped forward slightly in my branch, wanting a closer look. I watched as the hot blond vision-man finished up with the animal carcass, pulling the last dregs of blood from it. How odd... did it taste good? His hair gleamed in the moonlight, honey and gold and so soft looking my fingers literally itched to touch it. I distractedly rubbed my hands roughly, yet soundlessly against my jeans. Just as I was admiring his backside, the small watch I was keeping on the future showed him turning around in just a few moments to catch me.

Holding my breath, though it obviously wasn't necessary, I fled into another tree nearby and then another, racing through the high branches and away. I dashed into the creek farther downstream and followed it for a while so that he couldn't catch my scent, though a surprisingly large portion of me wanted him to. I shook off the desolate feeling; he could be a danger to the mission, and I'd promised Bella to not bring any trouble.

Though… I didn't know if he was trouble or not. And I was still incredibly intrigued by his hunting methods. I'd never managed to catch a good scent of him, so I wouldn't be able to find him again that way. But I was more adequately equipped than others of my kind; I could track his decisions. It wouldn't be all that difficult, seeing as how he dominated my visions so much already. Now, however, he seemed seared into my thoughts. I wanted to get to know him, ask him about why he was the way he was. I wanted to ask him endlessly about his life and himself, and everything I could ever think of. Did he have a power? If so, what was it? Was he the only one to hunt animals, or were there more? Did he have a mate, or any other coven members? Was he a member of any of these southern vampires, did he fight as a general or a newborn? How old was he - when he was turned and now?

I was so occupied by thoughts of him and what I'd seen that I wandered wordlessly into the base-house. Bella looked over at me from her book, brow pulling down in concern. I sent her a small smile, and a talk-to-you-about-it-later look, which she responded to with a small nod, still concerned. I tripped, trance-like, still absorbed by Vision-man, into the room I'd claimed as my own. I sat in the middle of the bed, staring around me. My clothes - I'd brought some with me, and gone shopping regularly since Aro wasn't here to cut in and regulate my shopping time - surrounded me, yet they were of not comfort. I couldn't even find it in myself to care about them. I was so absorbed by the enigma that the Vision-man presented that I couldn't care what happened to my clothes as long as I got to learn more about him. It was an almost overwhelming, overpowering need.

Admittedly, it scared the crap out of me.

JPOV

I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration, glancing around the clearing. I'd been sure someone was watching me, but there was no one there, and their emotions were gone. They must have left, and been so calm and casual doing so that I didn't sense the change.

There was a small hopeful part of the back of my mind - the very back - that insisted only someone with talents like, oh, say… Alice, would have been able to know that I was on to them and disappear so quickly. But that was such an unlikely idea I dismissed it immediately, not wanting to even slightly get any kind of hope up that she was nearby.

I disposed of the animal carcass quickly, and turned to head back to Jackie's house and my living on the fringe of Southern Vampire society.

3rd POV (This will probably always hint that I'm jumping to the remainder of the Cullen family)

After being such a large family for so long, having only four members was rather disconcerting to the Cullens. Carlisle never quite realized how entirely they all depended on each other, but it was more than apparent now.

Rosalie, who was usually so steady in her beliefs, was taking the hardest hit of them all. It seemed that without the constant support system of everyone, she broke down. Emmett did his best to keep her happy and not thinking about the three - or four as they all liked to think since they had wanted Bella to join them - family members missing. And likely never coming back. But there were always subtle reminders.

Rosalie refused to work on her cars in the garage because she'd have to see the two empty slots that were a Volvo and Mercedes. And she barely ever touched the two cars that had replaced them, the Maserati and Lexus. She tinkered with them to keep them in shape and running, but never took them out.

Emmett began to grow more and more restless without anyone to wrestle or play games with. Esme only dusted the room upstairs that everyone hated passing.

Though they weren't as firm in their hope as Jasper - they didn't even acknowledge it - all of them couldn't dare disturb what belonged to those missing from the family. Jasper's books were left lying where he had last set them; Alice's clothes and make-up remained untouched and scattered across one of the bathrooms. No one could stand to look at Edward's piano, yet neither could they bear to move or cover it.

Rosalie sat in the driver's seat of her BMW, staring blankly out the windshield. Today her thoughts held a slightly more morbid, brooding, and dark taint to them. Everyone was leaving Forks today; the Denalis had finally convinced them to visit. Perhaps the Cullens were all a bunch of masochists, but they were reluctant to leave their Forks home. Moving away would feel too much like moving on, and none of them - especially Rosalie - felt like healing yet. When you have eternity to do so, why rush?

The passenger door opened and closed as Emmett silently took his place in the seat next to her. He couldn't think of anything to say that hadn't been said before. There was only so much he could do to help her; the best he could manage now was to be there for her when she needed him.

After a couple minutes in silence, Rose turned the key in the ignition and pulled onto the drive. Behind the BMW, Carlisle and Esme followed in the jeep, quiet themselves. Esme was hurting, the same hurt that had thrown her off that cliff all those many, many years ago. It was even more painfully obvious that half her family was missing. There was no silver Volvo holding the majority of her children. Instead it was a red BMW holding the only two left.

She had run out of sobs and tearless crying months ago, months after the four were gone. For a time, they'd made a short reappearance when Jasper left, but she knew he was alive. That went a long way to offer comfort and relief.

Carlisle hoped that Jasper found the strength to live wherever he had gone to. Without Alice, he had seemed so defeated, so dead. The oldest Cullen was hoping that finally taking his remaining family to Denali would bring some life back into them, and lead to their healing.

When they arrived, the three Denali sisters were outside to meet them. All three of them were saddened by the sight of the broken - in more ways than one - family before them. Kate immediately wrapped Rosalie, then Esme, in hugs, conveying as mush as she could with the simple gesture. After a disinterested, yet obligatory question of where Eleazar and Carmen were - off for some alone time or something according to the sisters - an awkward, uncomfortable silence fell.

They all returned inside, Kate going straight to a man standing at the far side of the room. She grabbed his hand, smiling softly, and led him to the Cullens.

"Carlisle, Esme, Rose, Emmett. This is Garrett. He's new to our way of life… but he's quite determined to adjust."

Garrett smiled at them all, nodding but knowing that speaking wouldn't get any sort of reaction out of these people. They were far too depressed. Instead, everyone sat down and Tanya broke the silence.

"Why don't you tell us the full story of what happened," she suggested, not unkindly.

Carlisle took the burden of telling the story, and his family became stonier and stonier as they listened to it all again. Fury swelled from them, almost a physical force, along with pain, grief, and desperation. All of them, in some way, were wondering what they could have done to make things end differently.

Kate frowned slightly when the story was finished, biting her lip. Garrett, noticing, leaned close and whispered into her ear too quietly for anyone but her to hear.

"What is it, woman?"

She rolled her eyes at the term, but couldn't stop the small smile. From him, it wasn't derogatory, it was affectionate, and she liked it oddly enough.

"The time frame… weren't we in that general area when it happened?"

Garrett pulled away slightly, staring off into space as he thought it over. After a couple moments, he turned back to her. "Yes. That was when we met, just about."

Kate grinned. "I knew that. Just checking though." She leaned over and whispered to Irina, who in turn frowned and whispered the message to Tanya.

Tanya frowned as well. "That's true," she said.

"What is?" asked Carlisle. He was the most alive of his family, though it wasn't saying much. Perhaps it was because he was the one who had to put up some sort of front on a daily basis, what with work at the hospital. That wasn't to say the people there didn't notice; they did. Nurses gossiped about trouble at home, with the kids going off to college, with money, with Esme. The rumors were endless.

Kate spoke. "You see… that was about the time we picked up Garrett. And it was even in the general area of Winfield."

"So we were close enough that we should have noticed," Tanya concluded, nodding thoughtfully.

Carlisle looked at Tanya oddly. "What do you mean, you should have noticed?"

Shifting uncomfortably, the strawberry blonde said with a frown, "Unless I'm mistaken, like I said, we were around that area when you say that they were at the cabin. I bet we even know the one you're talking about. Thing is… if a bunch of vamps were killed, we should have noticed the smoke."

Kate nodded again. "It would have been noticeable for miles and miles around, if not by sight, then by smell."

Esme stared wide-eyed; Emmett looked around at all the silent vampires then asked loudly, "So you're saying that we were lied to?!" He smacked his fist into a hand. "I'm gonna kill someone."

Rosalie shot up from her seat. "We need to leave. Go to the cabin… anything! We have to find some way of finding out if what you're suggesting is true."

Life suddenly seemed to be surging through the Cullens. The simple possibility of their family - anyone in their family - being alive still had brought forth the hope they had been hiding and denying for so long, and in such a strong rush. It had to be the closest thing any of them had felt to an adrenaline rush in decades.

"Hold up there," Irina said. "We can't go rushing off to Canada."

"Why not?" Emmett snapped, standing alongside Rosalie, his arm over her shoulders. As always, he was all for muscling his way through situations, and was fully supporting his wife.

"We have to find a day or week that it'll be overcast and rainy down there. We also have to…"

Both Rosalie and Emmett drowned out what Irina was droning on about. They didn't care about safety. Hell, Rosalie - who was usually the one most concerned with keeping her family's secret just that, a secret - couldn't care less if a human noticed a couple sparkling people. It's not like anyone would believe them anyways.

"Alright, alright," Emmett grumbled, slumping back down onto the couch. "We'll wait. But you better hurry up with all that."

Irina and Carlisle headed upstairs, talking lowly and quickly about plans. Esme and Tanya followed after them after looking uncertainly at the other four. Emmett was lounging on the couch, already flipping through the channels on TV, Garrett and Kate were whispering and sharing smiles with each other, small touches and looks giving away the love they felt. And Rosalie was pacing, full of locked up energy.

The group of four waited until at least five minutes had passed before sharing a look. Within seconds they were up and out the door, starting up their respective cars.

The rest of the family didn't have a chance of stopping them in time.

So there's this month's installment of Sorrow. The plot is finally starting to make an appearance, at least part of it. There is more going on in this story than them all finding each other and getting back together. Aro sent them down to the South for a reason, remember? lol Anyways, please review!!!