I sat up gasping for air, my hands went to my throat. I could still feel the rough rope tightening around my neck and smell the awful breath of my captor. These dreams were surely not just dreams. Nothing could feel this real and not have another meaning. The only question was what that meaning could be.

I looked around my room and saw Matthew, my other male spirit leaning against the wall. He was my guardian, my first spirit and protector. He was tall and looked to be in his early thirties. His hair had been brown and was cut short. "So, this is what Joseph was worrying about." Matthew's voice was a deep tenor and had an accent that reminded me of London. Even though we'd met in southern California when I was three. Mom had taken a quick job from a local to rid their home of ghosts. Matthew found me playing on the front lawn with a doll and I asked him to be my friend. With his agreement my first contract was formed and when I was older it was preformed properly. His form was tinted green, the sign of a death by illness. "What's going on Bella?" I open my mouth to deny that anything was going on but he raised an eyebrow at me, "You know you're a bad liar even without saying anything. Just tell me what's going on."

I sighed and retold my dreams in detail for him. "I don't know what the black figure is but I know he isn't human or vampire." I sighed in frustration.

Matthew nodded, "Have you spoken with Delphi on this?" he asked.

I looked down and bit my lip, "No, I feel like I shouldn't tell her." Before he could say any more I began to quickly explain, "She's been acting strange and hasn't been around lately. I know she's old but even for a spirit of her age she's acting strange."

Matthew frowned, "While I approve, I understand. It started with the local seethe right? The same seethe that vampire who was here is from?"

"Yes, but the vampires here have a sort of 'agreement' with the local witches. The vampire who was here asked for my magical assistance." I explained. Matthew's first concern was always my safety. I thought that it might be because of something that happened when he was alive but he wouldn't tell me anything of his life except that he'd died from illness. "That's also when the dreams started, but I'm sure it's just a coincidence."

"You should know better than to believe that," he chastised, raising his eyebrow. "Dreams are never just dreams."

"But what am I supposed to do about them? The only common theme is my death by the figure." I was tired from the lack of sleep and frustrated. These dreams were keeping me up and my grades were showing it.

"Why don't you meditate on it?" Matthew suggested calmly. "I would also call Samuel in the morning. He may offer some insight into these dreams."

He was right, of course. I nodded taking a deep breath. I swung my legs over the side of my bed. "You're right."

He smirked, "of course I am." When he wasn't acting all old-school knight, Matthew could be quite the cocky bastard.

"Shut up," I said glaring half-heartedly.

He winked and disappeared but the chill on my neck told me he was still here, watching over me. I rolled my eyes and went to my alter, taking out my supplies. The corner of a picture from one of the top spell books caught my eye. My mom's name was engraved on the cover. The picture was of me and my mom at my old school's culture fair. I was wearing the navy blue uniform of the school and my mother was in a green blouse and black slacks.

I smiled sadly at the picture. Her face was lit up with joy, and I felt the tears threaten to spill over.

Wiping my eyes I put the photo back where I'd found it, "I miss you mom." I whispered. She'd know what to do. She'd be able to help me. I wished fervently for the millionth time that I could summon her, if only for a moment. I couldn't thought, it was against the rules of nature and if I tried would lead me into the realm of Necromancy. Unlike spirit magic, necromancy was just like humans said; it could raise the dead and force spirits, living and dead to bend to the caster's will. The price wasn't worth it.

It took me a few minutes to clear my thoughts and calm my emotions before I fell into the trance of meditation.

"Beware," a female voice said in a distinct British accent. "He's coming."

"Who is?" I tried to ask.

My question was ignored, "You are the last, you must find the protector." a second female said.

A third chimed in, "Our other half, he's close."

"Closer than before," a fifth added.

"But it will end," yet another voice said. "He will find you."

"Who will find me? Who's coming and who is the protector?" I asked expecting no answer.

I was ignored again. "He always us," voice four spoke again.

I chose to not ask questions anymore, I would obviously get no answer from them.

"Where we fail," Began a sixth voice.

"You must prevail." a seventh finished.

A group of voiced began to speak next, maybe nine or ten if I had to guess.

"Love you must find,
for he was never kind.

Major of our heart,
from whom we can never part.

Closer than before,
failure means nevermore.

Betrayal lingers; trust lost,
all will pay a heavy cost.

Beware of him, the one who hunts.
Our soul the prize he wants."

The poem ended and the second voice spoke again, "he comes."

"But we are new," the third voice pointed out.

"We have power," agreed the fifth voice.

"We have warning," the third voice said.

"We have hope," all the voices spoke again. Their voices echoed in my mind and I was pulled from my trance.

I grabbed a notebook and wrote down what I'd heard word for word. I read the poem several times but couldn't make much sense of it. First, who was this him the voices mentioned. I also wondered were I'd heard the voices before. I was sure there was nine of them and all had sounded like I'd heard them before, from a movie or tv maybe. Why was love so important and who was this "Major of our heart?"

I rubbed my hand over my face in frustration. Not only did this not help, I was more confused than before. I thought that perhaps this him was the figure from my dreams. Who had spoken to me though? I was greatful it was Saturday, when the sun began to peak over the horizon. Charlie saw I was awake, studying my math notes, and asked if I wanted to go fishing with him. When I politely declined he offered to stay home with me. I could tell he wanted to go though so I assured him I'd be fine.

I didn't call Samuel until later in the morning but it was still rather early for a Saturday.

"Morning Bella, why are you up so early?" Samuel seemed rather surprised, with good reason; I normally slept until late morning early afternoon.

"Samuel, I'm sorry to bother you so early but I need your advice." I hugged my pillow to my chest.

"What's wrong Bella?" he sounded concerned.

"Well, ever sense my first day of school, I've been having...nightmares," I began, "I'm always a different person but I'm always being killed by the same faceless black figure." I spoke quickly so I wouldn't lose my nerve. "I've been loosing sleep and I've been falling behind in school. I meditated today and I heard a poem. It was performed by several different female voices." I recited the poem word-for-word and the rest of what they said. Then waited to see what he'd say.

Samuel was quiet for a moment, "in your dreams, are you a mundane or a witch?" he finally asked.

I'd never thought about it, "I'm not sure but I think that I'm a mundane. I never use magic or even have magically related thoughts."

Samuel made a humming sound and I could almost see him scratching his beard in thought. "I can't say anything for sure, but I could guess that you are experiencing memories of your past lives through your dreams."

"Memories?" I asked confused. "Is that even possible?"

"I'd have to do some research but that's my best guess. From what you've told me, they sound like warnings." He paused. "I'm not sure what 'major of our heart' means; only you can know for sure."

I groaned in frustration, "I'm so confused Samuel! I'm scared, confused, and frustrated!"

"You know the gods have their ways, you'll understand in time." Samuel took on the fatherly tone that I knew from my childhood. "Is something else wrong?"

Damn him I thought, he knew me so well. I sighed, "How did you know?"

I could practically hear his smile when he spoke, "Just talent." Then he became serious, "What else is wrong Bella?"

"Well," I paused trying to decide if I should really say anything. "Have you ever recognized someone you've never met?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you meet someone new, have you ever felt like you already knew them? Like you were meeting an old friend?" I clarified.

"When I met Maggie," he said after a moment of thought. "why do you ask?"

"I...when I went to lunch on my first day of school and saw the vampires, I...I felt like that. You know that I've never met a vampire but I could have sworn that I...I knew him." I confessed.

"Have you considered that he's the figure in your dreams?"

"He's not," I said quickly. I couldn't really explain why I knew that but I just did. "The figure isn't human but he's not a vampire."

"Witch?" Samuel asked.

"He'd have to be a strong one, I would guess werewolf." I looked down at my lap, sorrow wove its way through my chest, "like the one who killed mom."

"That's a good prediction." He went quiet, "just be careful Bells, you call if you need anything the coven and I am always here for you."

I wiped tears from my eyes. "I will, thanks Samuel."

"Anytime Bella. Now," his tone got much lighter, "Tell me about Washington."

We talked for about an hour and a half, Maggie stole the phone after thirty minutes into the conversation. I spent the rest of the day slugging through math homework and cleaning when I had nothing else to do. The weekend passed much like that, Charlie spent Sunday watching football.

Monday morning was just a blanket of ice, my jeep only slid slightly. Once I got to school Jess cornered me.

"Tell me everything!" She demanded before English.

I shrugged, "There's nothing to tell, he wanted to tell me that Edward was still home sick and got the notes that I'd copied for him in biology."

"Please!" Jess scoffed, "that can't be it." she narrowed her eyes. "You do like him." she said, "you lied when I asked before, you actually like him don't you?" she demanded.

"I do not," I said a little too quickly.

"You do!" Jess crowed, "You do! You do!"

"No I don't." I shook my head.

"Liar! You're blushing!" She giggled. "You should ask him to the winter formal."

No way, first I couldn't dance; second, the dance was on the anniversary of my mothers death. Even if I wanted to go I wouldn't have been a very good date. I had a ritual planned for that night. "No Jess." I said simply hoping she'd drop it.

"I'll ask him for you if your too afraid," she offered.

"I have plans that day, Jess. I can't go at all." I skimmed the poem we were going over.

She looked like I'd told her the world was ending. "You can't go." she repeated in disbelief.

"That's right," I closed my book, "Besides, I can't dance."

"I'm going to ask Mike." she took her seat.

"That's cool," I commented half heartedly. Jess was nice but she never shut up.

Math was a nightmare, I was completely lost all class so I asked Angela for help. We were going over my notes. "Wow Bella, You really are hopeless in math." Angela walked with me to biology after lunch.

"I did tell you that," I told her. "Are you going to the dance?"

"Well," Angela paused, "I want to ask Eric but I don't think he likes me."

"You won't know if you don't ask," I pointed out. "Just ask, what's the worst he could say? 'no'?"

"I know," she mumbled and blushed.

The next morning, Jess was abnormally quiet. I found out why after first period. Mike Newton came up to me. He'd been overly helpful when I got here and sort of reminded me of a dog. "Hey Bella," He came up to me and I got a bad feeling.

"Morning Mike."

"Jessica asked me to the winter formal." He was turning red, yep I knew where this was going.

"That's awesome." I enthused. "What did you say?"

That obviously not what he wanted to hear. "I didn't tell her anything yet. I was wondering if you were going?"

Now this was tricky, I had to let him know I wasn't interested without hurting his feelings, "No, because I have plans that night and can't go." I hoped that would be enough, "you shouldn't make Jess wait too long, it's mean."

"Oh, right," his head hung slightly. "I'll see you later, Bella."

Jess was beaming when we met in Spanish. Mike had told her yes and she was gushing about it. She even managed to talk all class and after on our way to lunch. Angela informed me that she took my advice and was going with Eric.

"We need to go to Port Angels and look for dresses." Jess announced.

"Where?" I asked confused.

"It's the closest town with decent shopping, it takes only an hour to get there; but it's all we have." Jess turned to me, " You'll come too right?"

"But I'm not going to the dance."

"we need your opinion," Angela insisted, "Please?"

"I need to ask Charlie," I said reluctantly. "I'll text you after school."

When I got to my jeep after school it was raining. There was a strange feeling of dread and fear sitting in my stomach like a rock. the feeling grew the closer to home I got. I saw a strange car parked on the street by the house and my heart dropped. I was confused until the drive, pushing a wheelchair came into view. Pure terror swept through me.

The Driver was over six feet tall, had russet brown skin and shaggy black hair. His dark eyes were focused on me. I wanted to run but the old man in the wheelchair spoke.

"You must be Isabella, I'm Billy Black and this is my son Jacob. I'm a friend of Charlie's." His voice was deep and if I hadn't been so afraid of Jacob I may have found it comforting.

Thankfully, Charlie pulled in. "Hey Billy! What are you doing here" he came over and clasped Billy on the shoulder.

"Hoping to catch the game on your flat screen; and we brought some of Harry Clearwater's fish fry." he held up a bag that he'd been holding in his lap.

"Great," Charlie waved them in.

Matthew was on the stairs with an intense look. "What's wrong?" he demanded. I darted my eyes to Jacob then back. Matthew nodded and stayed with me all night. I managed to stay in my room all evening once I made dinner. I had a math test on Friday and need to study.

That night my nightmares got worse...much worse. The first dream was a repeat. I was Catherine again. This time was different. The figure had a face.

I was about to chase after my brother when a hand with red-brown skin covered my mouth while a second snaked around my waist.

"Ah my sweet Mary," the voice sent a jolt of fear down my spine and I began to shake. "How wonderful it is to see you. I've waited so long, why did you make me wait?" Jacob's voice was in my ear. I screamed against his hand when I was forced against a tree I looked into Jacob's face.

The rest of the dream played out just the way it did before; but before I woke up the chorus of women sounded off.

"Where we fail,
You must prevail.

Love you must find,
for he will not be kind.

Major of our heart,
From whom we shan't part.

We have been found,
The Hunter's horn does sound."