Sorry for the delay. So here is the final part of the 'Stories of the Past' chapters. But there is still more story to come.

Little side note, I changed a bit to the history and made it that Bella already knew about Jasper's past and about Maria

Sorry if it seems a bit rushed, didn't mean for it to seem that way and tried to fix it. Hopefully the next chapter wont seem that way


Bella POV

I quickly shut off the ability I borrowed from Jasper as the tension and emotions in the room started to get too strong, especially from Edward. "I going to tell you all this part of my story, but I need everyone to remain calm and flip out" I looked at both Edward and Emmett when I said this. "Its hard enough retelling it, so no interruptions please" I looked around and everyone nodded, Edward squeezed my my hand in encouragement. "Ok, like I said I was exploring Brazil..."


~Flash Back~

I loved Brazil, it had to be my most favorite place I have ever been so far. I thought that Africa was amazing, but that was nothing compared to hunting in the Amazon. Plus with cloud and tree cover I could be out in the day with out being exposed to the sun. I had spent the last two years zigzagging a crossed the Amazon basin and was starting to seriously consider staying here permanently. I had met several vampires that call the Amazon home and they seemed to like it here just fine, although they did not partake in my feeding habits.

It was Sunday and I had spent most of the morning exploring the forest canopy when I decided to take a break to hunt a little. Just as I hit the forest floor I caught the scent of a panther and took off in its direction. When I found it, the panther was stalking a large boar. Just as it pounced on its prey I lunged, taking both down in one swoop. When I had finished off both of them I straitened myself out and neatly disposed of their corpses.

I was just about to head back up into the canopy when I caught another scent. The scent of a vampire. This was a new scent and unknown vampire. It smelled of sea water, ginger and warm spices. I decided to follow the scent further into the jungle wondering who this new vampire was. Thats when I picked up the scent of another vampire. It smelled of sun, chili peppers and citrus. The second scent was much stronger. I knew that there was a small village near by and wondered if these two vampires were feeding off of the villagers. Both scents made a direct approach to the village. As I came near the village I was hit with another scent, a much stronger scent. Blood, lots of blood. Running at full speed I broke through the trees surrounding the village to find a massacre. There were bodies strewn everywhere. All dead, an entire village wiped out.

I was brought out of my stupor by a woman's bloodcurdling scream. I followed the sound of that scream as it started to fade into a gurgling sound. As I came around one of the large huts I was hit with the stronger of the two vampire scents again and found a vampire clinging to a dying woman as she fed. Moment later she dropped the woman's corpse and righted herself. She must have just noticed my presence because a split second after dropping the body of her victim she whirled around into a fighting crouch and started to growl. She was petite, probably very close to my age when she was turned, she had long black-brown hair that was braided to her waist. She had large eyes and her pale vampire skin had a caramel undertone to it, from the way she looked and dressed I would have to say that she was Hispanic most likely.

I put up my hands to show that I mean her no harm and say "I'm sorry, I did not mean to disturb you. I was just passing through when I caught your scent and the scent of another vampire. I knew that there was a village here and came to see if you were feeding" She straitens out of her crouch at my words but is still on edge. Her facial expressions looks as if she is trying to figure out the meaning of what I said when she says "Of course I came here to feed, why else would I come to a human village. Why do you care. This village is mine now, go find your own." She has a defiantly Hispanic accent. I didn't like how she said the word human, as if it was a disease or something filthy. "No you misunderstand me. I don't feed off of humans, only animals. I just came to warn you that you should not feed off this village or any in the area because this entire area is claimed by the Amazon coven. But I see I'm too late for that." As I say this I can see her flinch when I mention the Amazon Coven, she must already know of them I think to myself. "I did not know that the territory had already been claimed, my coven mate and I were just passing through and got thirsty" Speaking of which, were is the other vampire I had smelled. My train of thought was interrupted by a very familiar manic laugh coming from behind me.

I didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. Victoria. Automatic I drop into a fighting crouch and turn to face her. "Well, well what do we have here? This must be my lucky day. Once again the very person I want nothing more than to see suffer comes to me. Tell me Bella, how has your immortality been? Lonely? Torcher? Endless suffering without your Edward?" Victoria says. I flinch a little when she uses Edwards name. The other vampire hisses and says "So this is her, the one you wished to track down and seek revenge upon? This is the one who knows of my Jasper?" When the other vampire uses Jasper's name I whip back around to face her. How does she know Jasper and what does she mean by 'my Jasper'. "Yes Maria, this is her. She knows all about your Jasper and the vampires he claims as family now" Victoria says. So this is Maria, the one who turned, used and lied to Jasper. I growl at her and say "Jasper is not yours, he will never be yours again. He is were he belongs with his family. Oh and did I mention he is with his mate, why would he want you if he has her?" I knew that this was going to come down to a fight, so I decided that I would make the first move, right after putting my shield up that is.

Maria growled and launched her self at me barring her teeth. The instant she came in contact with my shield she flew backwards into one of the huts causing it to collapse down on her. I heard a small gasp from behind me and turned to see a shocked and slightly confused Victoria. "What, did you think killing me would be that easy? Didn't count on me having gifts did you?" I knew my best strategy would be to piss her off enough so she would try and attack. "Too bad James is dead, I would have loved to try out my gifts on him. Then again it was all too easy for Edwards family to rip him apart, it was almost like he just gave up. Pretty pathetic if you ask me" I could see that she was seething and my last statement put her over the edge. I watch as she throws her head back and screams right before launching herself at me. Right before she hits my shield I lower it enough to let my arm out and I grab her by the throat. Once again she is stunned momentarily by my actions and I use that to my advantage. I swing her around by the throat and send her flying in the direction of the hut that Maria flew into. She collided with Maria as she was emerging from the debris, creating a thunderous sound. Both of them quickly right themselves and sink into a fighting crouch. I have rarely had to fight and did not enjoy doing so. Plus I have never taken on more than one at a time, but I knew that if I did not take them both out now that they would go after the Cullens and I could not bare that happening.

I would have to end both of them here and now. A silence had fallen over the forest clearing as we stood there for what seemed like forever, staring each other down. I decided that it would be safer to let one of them make the first move this time, now it was just waiting to see who was first. Finally Maria got tired of waiting and lunged towards me. I was ready for her. This time I lowered my shield as she approached and this time I grabbed her by the head and swung her around. A horrible grinding metal sound filled the silence as I tore Maria's head from her shoulders sending the rest of her body flying into Victoria. I used that distraction to my advantage and pounced on Victoria as she was pinned by Maria's body. I try to pull her head off as well, but she quickly kicks me back, and since I did not have my shield up this time her kick sends me flying backwards this time. Quickly righting myself I go after her again, but she is faster than me and dodges my every move. I need a new strategy. Thinking of my other gift I wonder if it was possible to use any of the copied gifts that I learned in the past. Thinking quickly I remember Benjamin's ability with the elements, including fire and decide to try it out. Thinking on this I can feel the ability flow through me and suddenly I feel a warm sensation on the palm of my hands. Looking down I am stunned to see a small flickering flame hovering above the palm of my right hand. I look back up to see an equally stunned Victoria. She is so dead now.

Firmly holding my ground I concentration on the flames and I can feel them grow in intensity. All this time Victoria has been circling me like a predator stalking her prey, just as she lunges for me I focus my hand on her sending a large ball of fire at her. She my be quick, but not quick enough. The fire ball hits her, knocking her backwards to the ground as she quickly over come by the flames. I watch as her body is reduced to ash before setting Maria's remains ablaze. I continue on setting the rest of the village on fire to erase all evidence of the fight. As I watch the village burn the shock of what just happened finally hit me, I was free. Free from the fear of Victoria. She would never come after me or any one I cared about ever again. From beginning to end the fight lasted five minutes. In the span of five minutes I took out not just one, but two vampires that were both much older than me. It made me happy that I was able to take out Maria for Jasper, knowing that she was still looking for him had me very worried for not only his safety, but Alice's as well.

Thinking about the Cullens had started to make me not only miss them, but also miss the kind of life they lived. Being around people, socializing, even going to school. Maybe it was time to put my nomadic life behind me and start a new chapter in my eternity. Taking one last look at the dying flames of the burnt out village I bid farewell to Brazil as I take off running north.

~End Flash Back~


Once again I met by Stunned silence. But this time the silence is short lived as I am quickly pulled into a hug, from Jasper of all people. "Thank you Bella. You have know Idea what it means for me to know that Maria is finally gone. I have gone off many time in search of her so I could destroy her myself but I could never find her and had started to believe that she had already been destroyed. Thank you so much darlin'" Jasper finally lets me out of his hug only for another to take his place, Alice this time. "Oh Bella, thank you so much. You not only stood up for Jasper against Maria but for me as well." She gives me one more tight squeeze before relinquishing me to Edwards arms. Edward looks as if he is deep in thought when he says "The idea of you going up against any vampire let alone Victoria and Maria still scares the hell out of me, but I have to admit that you must have been spectacular to watch" I was about to say something about being happy that he did not overreact when I was once again interrupted by Emmett. "Hell Yes! It would have been awesome to see her in action. I got to say it Belly-bear, life with you around is so much more fun" I give him a sour look over the nickname, which earns me a round of laughter from everyone.

Esme had a worried, motherly look to her face before scolding me in a motherly tone "I can't believe you took on both of them alone. You could have been hurt or even killed" I gave her an abashed look and said "It's not like I really had a choice. If I had ran they would have followed me and I was tired of running, tired of being afraid of Victoria" Alice decided to change the subject and asked "So what happened after you left Brazil?" Grateful for Alice's save I say "Well after my encounter with Victoria I wasn't really sure what do do next. I had not really admitted it to my self, but she was the whole reason why I chose a nomadic life." That statement earned me several lifted eye brows and confused looks "Let me explain. I Think I was so afraid of settling down in one area for too long because I was terrified of the thought of making any friends only to have her find me and hurt them, just as I had been terrified of her or James going after any you when they were hunting me the first time. So I had just kept moving from one place to another and told myself that it was because I wanted to explore, but the truth was I was just plain scared" I paused momentarily lost in my thoughts over the past when Edward gave my hand an encouraging squeeze, urging me to continue.

"So after I left Brazil I headed strait back to the states. I was tired of the whole nomadic life and wanted to give a 'normal' life a try. So after doing a bit of research on where would be a good place to start my new 'normal' life I settled on upstate New York. Created a new identity, if I remember correctly I believe I chose the name Isabella Swanson"


~Flash Back~

After finally choosing the small town of Long Lake, New York I started working on my back story and new identity. I decided that I would pose as a high school transfer student from the west coast. Made up a story about my parents always travailing for work and what not. Over the years I had amassed a good amount of money through various investments so it made fitting into the human world a bit easier. After submitting all the necessary paperwork I secured a place to live on the outskirts of the town before even arriving. Over the years I had also amassed quite a bit of belongings in the hope that one day I would be able to settle in one place long enough to enjoy them. After contacting the storage facility when it was all kept I had them send every thing to my new home. It was a beautiful fall day then I arrived in Long Lake, thankfully it was also very overcast outside as well.

After unpacking and setting up house I decided to hunt in the surrounding forest. There was plenty of deer. After hunting my fill I decided to explore the town. I got plenty of curious looks from the town folk, the look that any new comer gets when they first move to a new town. After making my presence know I went back to my house to prepare for my first day of school the next day. I knew it would be difficult being so close to humans, but I knew that I was ready. I decided to hunt again in the morning before school just to be safe. The looks I got from the students as well as the staff was a mixture of curiosity, as well as standoffishness. But after a few weeks everything seemed to be settling down and more and more of the humans began to see me as one of them, just a bit odder. It was a little difficult at first being so close to so many students, but it got easier with each passing day. I hunted as much as possible to keep up my resistance. I even made a few friends or as close to friends as I would allow myself to make. But my stay at that school would not last long, I knew that eventually something would happen or some one would begin to ask questions about my past or my 'parents'.

As predicted did not last as long as I had wished. After almost a year had gone by the school administration began to get a little to curious over my 'parents' absence and started to ask too many questions. So I forged more paperwork stating that my 'parents' had settled in some European country and I was moving there to live with them and continue my schooling. At least I got to say goodbye to the friends that I had made this time. After that I moved onto my next location. I never stayed longer that a year or two in each location and I never used the same name.

~End Flashback~


"The last place I was in was Portland, Oregon. I was going by Isabella Elizabeth Montgomery. I was posing as a freshmen at Portland State University. I really did enjoy college life. But I was well into my sophomore year when people started to notice that I was looking a bit to young for my age, so once again I had to come up with an exit plan. I came up with some 'family' emergency and packed up. Being so close to Forks started to make me home sick and also wonder what it looked like after all these years. So after wrestling with the idea I decided to return. I knew it meant going back to high school and possibly bring up old memories from my human life. But I never thought that any of you would be here, although I secretly hoped you would be" "I just cant get over how easily you can fit in with humans, its like you never even went though new born madness or even struggled with being around humans and human blood" Jasper says. "I would not go that far, I mean yes I have never bitten a human or had human blood but it does not mean that I have not been tempted. But every time I was tempted I imagined who ever that human was as my dad or someone I new and just forced myself to go the other way. Mind over matter" I say.

Changing the subject from humans and blood I say "so that brings us the present. I just arrived in town the other day. I am currently set up in a house on the other side of town. As far as any of the humans here know my name is Bella Marie Swan. I am 17 and I'm an emancipated minor. My 'parents' died in a small plane crash two years ago living me with a large sum of money. I was 'living' in LA, but wanted to move somewhere quiet and chose Forks." "But your going to move here with us, right?" Alice said with an excited tone. I'm not really sure how to respond to that, I mean part of me would love to but part of me is still afraid to get to close. "I'm not sure that that would be a very good idea, at first anyways. I think it would look odd if I just moved in with you all after just arriving here. I mean its odd looking enough being '17' and living on my own. I would rather not draw too much attention right now." I say to Alice, who looks very disappointed. "But it does not mean that I wont eventually" I say to her in hopes of lifting her mood and it works.

Edward had remained quiet for quite so time so I turned to him and asked "Is everything ok?" Edward looked up at me and I could have sworn I saw tears in his eyes "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. If I had not over reacted all those years ago you would not have had to go through any of this. We could have been together all this time. Because of me you lost everything and we lost the last 80 years together. Can you ever forgive me?" Choosing my words very carefully I say "Edward, you have already apologize for what happened and I forgave you. What happened in the past is the past. But I don't regret the life I have lived, yes it has had its sad points as well as some dangerous ones but it has been an amazing adventure. Yes we have lost out on the past 80 years, but I see this as an opportunity to start over, get to know the new 'us' and we have an eternity to do that. 80 years is just a drop in the bucket compared to the time we will have. But don't get me wrong; I love you, but we still have a lot to talk about, a lot to figure out. There are still hurts that will take some time to heal, but like they say 'time heals all wounds'" Edward seems to be thinking hard on my words before looking up and saying with my favorite crooked smile "I love you and I very much am looking forward to getting to know the 'new' Bella" I snuggle into his embrace and just lose myself in the comfort of his arms.

My new found comfort is quickly interrupted by Alice. "So since it is now technically the weekend how about that shopping trip we were talking about? We can make it a girls weekend. Just you, me, Rose and Esme. What do you say?" Alice says as she is practically bouncing in her seat again. "Well I guess I could use a new wardrobe and anyways who am I to deny you a chance to go shopping" I say with a smile. Alice jumps up shouting "YAY! Finally someone around here appreciates my love of new shopping. Excellent, I'll go book the plane tickets and you all get ready to head out" with that Alice was up and gone faster than a human can blink. All the men seem to groan at the idea of Alice's shopping habits "You've created a monster, you know that right?" Jasper says. Before I can answer I hear Alice say "I heard that" from up stairs. We all get a laugh from that. "Hey, there is nothing wrong with a healthy amount of shopping" The rest of the family look at me as if I had grown a second head and I remember a faint human memory about me hating shopping. "It's just another thing that has changed with me. Thats all" Before I could go into a further explanation Alice came running back down into the living room and started ushering both Rose, Esme and I towards the door. With one last kiss I say to Edward "See you in a few day" and with that I am out the door for some quality female family bonding.


Working on the next chapter and will have the title and a snippet of it up soon. As always please R/R :)