Chapter 6-

JPOV

After I told Bella what my gift was and that the whole family wanted to help her with whatever she was going through she seemed shocked but she relaxed a little bit.

"Bella, can Carlisle look at your arm now? He won't hurt you and if you start to feel uncomfortable he will back off." I asked quietly.

She looked from me to Carlisle and then slowly nodded her head. Carlisle moved forward slowly so as not to startle her. When he touched her arm she winced and bit her lip to keep from screaming. He examined it carefully, cleaned it, and then wrapped it so that it wouldn't be exposed.

Carlisle took a deep breath and asked, "Bella, who…what… Bella, how did this happen? It smells slightly of vampire venom."

Bella looked down at her knees her hair falling to cover her face. I could feel her nervousness and fear. "Bella, if you aren't ready to tell us you don't have to. Carlisle just needs to know as much as possible to help your arm heal." I said.

"No, it's not that I'm not ready to tell you. I just don't want you to think poorly of me. It's kind of hard to know where to begin and what to tell you." She confessed shyly, still looking at her knees.

Carlisle nodded and said, "Why don't we go down to the living room. That way everyone can hear it from you. There is also more room down there. Jasper can carry you down there, so you don't have to walk."

She nodded and I picked her up and carried her bridal style down the stairs, into the living room and set her on the couch than sat next to her. Everyone came down after us and sat around us where Bella could easily see them.

BPOV

I took a deep breath and said, "Okay, please don't interrupt me. I don't know if I could start up again."

Jasper rubbed my back and said, "Bella, don't worry about us interrupting you. We just want to know what happened."

"After my mother met James she was truly happy for the first time in a while. So I didn't say anything about her dating a younger guy. Once they got married, James took about a month and a half off from soccer and helped us move in with him."

"After we were settled, he told us that he was a vampire. My mom thought it was a joke but then we both noticed his eyes. They were a funky goldish-blackish color, from, as he put it, hunting the big wild Irish game, which scared the heck out of my mom and me. He let us get our fright and shock out of our systems, and then said that if my mom didn't want to be with him anymore that he understood."

"My mom knew that she was still in love with James even though he was a vampire. James gave me a choice. I could live with them; live in my own house nearby or have him pay for a ticket to live with my dad in America. I choose to live with them."

"Up until about six months ago everything was fine. My mom was happily married. And I was, thanks to James, getting straight A's. That all changed when James was called away for a last minute weekend training camp for his soccer team.

"The day he was supposed to be home I went for a walk in the forest behind our house. I went about 6 or 7 miles to a lake where we used to go swimming as a family. I sat on the shore and just kind of zoned out for who knows how long.

"I noticed that the sky was gradually getting darker so I started for home. As I started home I heard someone or something following me, I started jogging. Before long I was flat out running," I paused, taking a shaky breath and closed my eyes, and remembered that day.

"About 2 miles from the lake, there was a flash of lightning followed closely by a peal of thunder. Once the spots had faded from my eyes, I saw a dark haired female crotched in front of my snarling. I skidded to a stop and stared at her."

"I heard the soft sounds feet hitting the ground behind me, but before I could turn to look, someone wrapped steel arms around my torso, effectively pinning my arms to my sides.

The person behind me growled, in my ear as I started to shiver in sheer terror, "You are lucky your stepfather, James, is so feared in our world. Otherwise, you would have disappeared a long time ago. Your blood smells so sweet and calls to us." I shivered.

Even just thinking about that day had me shaking with fear. I felt waves of calm and courage roll over me, but they only helped a little. Carlisle said, "Bella is you don't want to go on you…" But I shook my head saying, "No, I have to tell you this," so I continued.

"During this little speech, the female had crept closer to the person holding me. " Luke, we need to take her with us now. James is a tracker. He'll find us if we don't move now." She hissed, her eyes darting around in fear.

"Laura, who said we were going to take little Bella with us?" Luke said, "I plan on leaving her here with a little…reminder, shall we say?" He chuckled evilly. With that he moved one of his long nailed hands to grip my upper right arm and dug his nails painfully deep into my skin causing me to scream bloody murder. My arm felt like it was burning as I shrieked and groaned in pain. He dropped me, licking my blood off his nails and whispered, "I will come back for you at some point, my dear." Then he turned to go only to turn back and say, "Oh, and Bella, before I came here I soaked my nails in my venom. So the wound is going to start to burn like the very fires of hell itself. Oh, and it will never heal completely. Ta, ta, little Bella." He laughed."

"At this point I passed out from the pain and from blood loss. When I woke up, I was still on the forest floor. I heard James calling my name and moaned. I heard or rather felt James running towards me. When he reached me he gently picked me up and asked me what had happened."

"When I told him everything he was absolutely livid. That was the first time I ever felt truly scared for my mom and I. After that I basically locked myself in the house only leaving for school. When James's soccer team started traveling my mom was worried about me staying home alone. So I asked Charlie if I could come live with him. I hadn't visited him for about 5 years so he was excited about me moving in with him. And you all know basically the rest of the story."

By the time I was done I had tears running down my face and was shivering despite the blanket around my shoulders.