My brain conjured up the cloudy human memory. I did not expect that it would be so uncomfortable to remember. Like trying to squint through muddy water.

I remembered how I felt, the awe, the fascination, as I watched the four figures – one by one – fling themselves off the cliff towards the ocean. So free, so unthinking. Spinning and twisting gracefully through the empty air for what seemed like an eternity.

My own experience seemed a lot less blissful.

I dropped through the open air like a meteor, Victoria still pinned under me. Her shocked hiss sounded loud in my ears. The wind resisted, trying vainly to fight the unconquerable gravity, pushing against me and twirling me in spirals like a rocket crashing to the earth. The wind tore Victoria out from under me, and we separated as the trees sped closer.

I felt the branches whip against my marble skin with a force of a soft caress. I heard as both of us crashed through the first thin layers of canopy. The wind whistled deafeningly over me, the sound only punctuated by the snaps and shattering of tree limbs. Leaves and pine needles exploded into the air, raining down after us.

I felt the soft lashes gain strength as my body dropped onto the thicker branches further down the trees. The crack of wood on stone echoed loudly.

I suddenly realised I no longer heard Victoria's descent. Wheeling my eyes around, I zeroed in on the flash of red hair and white skin. Victoria had managed to stop her fall, purposefully grabbing on to the thick trunk of a spruce, fingers gouging marks in the hard bark.

Her red eyes flashed with anger, teeth bared and face twisted in frustration, as I imagined once again her warring instincts. Fight or flight?

She knew what waited for her on the forest floor. Her eyes locked onto mine for the briefest moment before she fled nimbly from the tree, racing off into the forest.

A strong oath came to mind as my plan fell apart.

I continued my spiralling freefall as the ground quickly hurtled up to meet me.

"You are utterly reckless." His beautiful voice disapproved. I closed my eyes and sighed.

The powerful collision resounded through the forest, knocking the breath out of me – air flying out of my lungs in a painful whoosh. I felt the earth and stone give way under my body as it came to an excruciatingly sudden stop. The sensation reminded me of what bad whiplash would feel like as a human. I heard and felt the trees shudder from the massive tremor caused by my impact.

I lay there, stunned, as I struggled to regain my senses.

The first sense I reclaimed a hold of was my smell. The smells of the forest and wet dog pervaded the air. Sounds came next; five sets of beating hearts and heavy lungs, a low whine from close by.

I felt a deep ache covering my entire body. If I were still human, I knew I would have been killed. But the sensation was comparable to being entirely plastered with bruises. It was far from pleasant. Finally, I managed to open my eyes.

My perfect vision spun in a very contradicting way. I watched, dazed, as leaves and branches showered down over me. A long path of broken and mangled tree limbs documented my plunge.

I groaned, and closed my eyes again, feeling the painful sensation radiate through me.

I heard a soft yelp from somewhere above me.

I cracked my eyes open just enough to register Jacob, as the massive reddish-brown wolf, move into my field of vision. He towered high over me, looking deeply concerned, wolf-brows mashed over his familiar eyes, filled with alarm. I struggled to find my voice.

"I'll live." I finally managed to gasp, "Victoria is escaping."

Jacob turned his gaze away from me. My eyes followed his as he locked on to the dark eyes of a similarly massive black wolf. I assumed it was Sam, the rest of the wolves were flanked behind him, standing tall between the trees. I couldn't help but notice how they gazed at me, their animal faces mainly full of shock and… awe?

Silent communication flowed between the two Alphas for a brief instant. The black wolf nodded, and the four wolves scattered, sprinting off into the trees.

A few long seconds went by as I listened as the wolves pressed deeper into the woods. I took several shallow breaths, settling my nerves and my spinning head. The red haze over my vision had completely dissipated, returning the forest to its usual too-green state.

Jacob yelped again softly in concern. I took a deeper breath, wincing at both the pain it caused and the repulsive smell of werewolf. Slowly – even by human standards – I pulled my stiff body forward, feeling my aching muscles protest as I pushed myself to my feet. I braced my shoulder lightly up against a tree and stood there for a few seconds, waiting for my vision to stop spinning.

Straightening up, I ran my eyes automatically over my surroundings. I froze as my eyes skimmed over the ground. I felt the humourless bark of laughter escape my lips as I registered my vampire-shaped crater on the forest floor. I shook my head slightly while I saw Jacob roll his eyes in the corner of my vision.

Now that my life was no longer in such immediate danger, I felt a hysterical mirth that followed my life-or-death adrenaline rush. I felt almost giddy; I had actually fought off one of the dangers I always seemed to attract. No more running, no more enduring. I gave my body a quick one over, noting nothing of too much concern. My body was stiff with pain, my clothes were branch-torn, and I didn't want to imagine how long it would take to get all the bits of forest out of my hair, but I was alive!

Well, in a sense. I amended.

I knew I was being slightly irrational, but in my slaphappy state, I couldn't really care. My rational side reminded me that there were other things that required my attention. Mentally sobering up a bit, I turned to Jacob.

"Are the others still chasing her?" I asked.

He nodded his massive head, but shrugged at the same time.

"She's getting away, isn't she?"

Again, he nodded. I felt the barely audible hiss escape my throat. My brief high was replaced with anger, frustration, and guilt. The guilt hit hard because she would continue to hunt around Forks, killing those who would have been otherwise safe because of me. Not to mention the staggering risk she posed to the wolves, who continued to pledge themselves to her destruction. I felt horrible, I seemed to unintentionally cause more harm then good – even to my best friend, who was giving up everything to help me.

"I don't think I could fight her again right away. Falling off a cliff wasn't the smartest idea." I admitted ruefully. Even with the guilt, it would do no good to get myself killed. I would wait until my body no longer throbbed with pain.

Jacob chuckled deep in his throat, and the corners of his mouth pulled up in a grin. Suddenly, his eyes widened with surprise, and his chest rumbled with a low growl.

"What is it?" I asked, alarmed. Did Victoria turn to fight the wolves? Was someone about to get hurt or killed? Jacob's eyes narrowed, but he simply shook his head and snorted with exasperation. One way communication was so maddening! Couldn't he just hop behind a tree, phase, and then tell me? Or even scratch a message in the dirt?

Jacob beckoned me forward with a flick of his head, and began trotting through the forest, opposite of the direction that Victoria and the wolves had gone. I followed, wondering what on earth was going on.

We ran through the woods for a few short minutes, running in the direction of the meadow, I realised, displeased. I couldn't help but regret not pushing Jacob to move camp. However, I couldn't quite think up of an excuse that I would be comfortable telling. Oh, Jacob, this is where I fell in love with a sparkling vampire, and I tried to use you to help track it down, just like I used you to cheat on a promise I made. Mind ditching this place?

Real nice. I thought to myself. My empty chest flared with the aching loss. The gaping hole seemed to consume my entire being, making my stone body feel oddly weak. Where Victoria had failed, this sensation would rip me in half. Once again, I was staggered by the strength of my new emotions.

I heard as Jacob grumbled and huffed as we ran, clearly deeply annoyed with something. His tail twitched in irritation. Suddenly I picked up the noises of another wolf, running swiftly as it angled toward us.

Within a minute, the wolf caught up enough for me to catch glimpse of him while he wound through the trees. The wolf was not quite as large as Jacob, and had grey fur with black spots on his back. It wasn't one of the two who had accompanied Sam to the meadow during our agreement making, and I had assumed Sam to be the largest black wolf. Jacob mentioned that Embry hadn't come to the meadow with Sam, so was this him? Jacob had also mentioned why he thought Sam didn't bring Embry.

Oh. Was that why he followed us now?

I couldn't help but feel gratitude towards Embry if my guess was right. I was happy that he had chosen Jacob over Sam to lead him. I couldn't help but notice how Jacob didn't seem to feel the same way. Maybe my guess was wrong?

Just as I made out the smell of the low burning campfire in the clearing, the two wolves motioned for me to continue on while they phased. I had just tossed a couple logs to get the fire going when the two broke through the tree line as humans. It was Embry, and he looked ecstatic. Spotting me sitting at the fire, he waved. Jacob still looked annoyed.

"Hey, Bella!" He greeted good naturedly. I was glad he didn't seem overly put off by what I was. I greeted him back as the two took spots across the fire from me. Embry flared his nose at my smell, but otherwise didn't say anything.

"Anyways, you're probably wondering why I'm here." He started.

"Not too much, I heard that you were still friends with Jacob."

"That still doesn't mean that he should have ditched the pack just for me." Jacob grumbled.

"C'mon, I already told you why. It's also because of Sam. He's being a real jerk right now, both him and the others, especially Paul. I'd rather have you lead me, then have to listen to them tear you down behind your back."

"But I don't want to lead anyone!" Jacob spat, exasperated.

"Nothing much will change, I will patrol as usual. Plus it would be a lot easier for you if you had someone to coordinate strategy with mid-fight. You wouldn't be held back for being a single head."

"Whatever, but y'know, this stupid renegade pack thing ends once Sam agrees that it's safe enough to let Bella live."

"Sure, but for now, I'm choosing to cover your back."

Jacob sighed, seeing he was fighting a losing battle. Embry turned his attention toward me, awe in his wide eyes.

"Man, you are seriously lucky. Getting all the action to yourself!"

"What?" I asked, shocked.

"Yeah, you should have heard the others! We were all super jealous. We heard all the snarling and crashing up on the mountain. Paul just about tried to climb a tree, he was itching so much for some action."

"Are you kidding me?" I spluttered, taken aback.

"No way! Well, they were thinking some other things, which is why I got fed up with them. I mean, it's not your fault you're a bloodsucker, but still… they didn't have to think so resentfully of you. To tell you the truth, the others were honestly hoping that the red-haired bloodsucker would finish you off."

I felt a flash of hatred towards Sam, I felt my eyes narrow.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Bella. I didn't hope for that, I know how good of a friend you are to Jake." Embry glanced in Jacob's direction. "They didn't care though. They were convinced you were just another undead parasite. Totally lame, if you ask me, I saw how you felt when Sam was talking to you. I'm really sorry, Bella, about everything that's happening to you."

"Thank you." I murmured. Despite the fact that he seemed to have no issues about life-or-death fights, Embry seemed a nice guy.

"Yeah, well. We were all really surprised when you weren't killed. I was the only one actually glad about it though." He added, rolling his eyes. "But then all of us were really impressed that you didn't seem to get hurt too badly at all. Did you?"

"Um, no, I managed not to during the fight. But hitting the ground after pushing us off the cliff was pretty painful." I confessed, noting that the pain in my body had already reduced to a dull ache. I imagined it would be entirely gone by sundown, in an hour or so.

"You pushed her off the cliff? You didn't just fall or anything?" He asked, eyes wide with surprise and admiration.

"I was trying to get her down to where you guys could help me." I admitted.

"Wow, that's awesome."

I rolled my eyes, and I heard Jacob snort with amusement. His own expression had gained a portion of Embry's incredulity.

"Maybe next time you'll be able to stop her, you seemed to be the only one able to keep up with her. You guys are both wicked fast." Embry added, looking slightly envious.

"Next time." I echoed, dreading when that would be. In the mean time, she would continue to kill innocent people around Forks. Hopefully, my letter to Charlie would keep him from coming out into the woods, searching for me. I needed to make sure, though.

"Hey, Embry?" I asked nervously. Noting my sudden change in tone, both Quileute boys eyed me carefully.

"What's up?" He said carefully.

"Did you hear anything more about Charlie?" I kept my eyes on the fire as I asked, feeling the guilt over the pain I must be causing my father. Even focused on the flames, my perfect peripheral vision catalogued both of their expressions change from careful to sympathetic.

"Oh. Yeah. I heard he… called off the search. But he's still pretty frantic. He's been harassing Billy constantly for information on where Jacob and you might have gone. 'Course, Billy claimed to have no idea, but I think he gave him some false leads. Just for false hope. Billy says Charlie's real torn up. So apparently, Jacob's always had dreams to live in Northern Canada."
"What?" Jacob snorted. I ignored the two as they continued to bicker over Billy's choice of false lead. I dwelled over what Embry had said, letting the words repeat themselves endlessly in my mind. Frantic. Torn up. His hardly a legal adult daughter, running away from home, of course he would be. This was the second time now that I'd faked running away because of vampires. But this time, I wouldn't be returning.

Agony washed through me, flooding my mind with blurry recollections of taboo memories. The broken expression on Charlie's face as I ran out of the house that night, trying to evade my hunter, surfaced relatively strongly through my murky memories.

I was pulled back to the present by the rising voices of the Jacob and Embry, who had now thrown my name into their argument.

"You don't have to leave once Bella's no longer dangerous. That's just stupid!" Embry retorted to something Jacob had said.

"Well, I can't just rejoin Sam's pack. I don't think it works like that."

"Yeah, but just because you'd be a separate pack, doesn't mean you'd have to leave La Push."

"Well, I don't want to be around Sam while I'm still actively phasing. I'll probably travel around a bit until I can get the control to quit being a wolf. Once I do, I'll probably come back, get back into school and what not."

"You can quit being a werewolf?" I interjected, suddenly curious.

"It's hard." Embry explained, "To make sure you don't accidentally phase, you need to be able to control your temper. After a while without phasing, you start aging again."

"You're not aging?" I demanded, stunned.

"Nope." Jacob cut in. "Or else Billy'd probably skin me for missing so much school. I'll have plenty of time for high school after everything blows over." He laughed.

I sat there for a moment, as I took that in. While I struggled to form a response, Embry spoke.

"What about you, Bella? What are you going to do after all of this? Once Sam is convinced you won't kill anyone, and gives you the ok to leave?"

"Um, I'm not really sure yet. I heard about some animal drinking vampires up in Alaska though, they might help me out."

"Oh, other than the Cullens?"

I winced as he said their name, and Jacob flashed an angry glance at Embry. Embry looked confused for a second, before his eyes widened, and immediately looked guilty.

"Yeah," I said in a quite voice, "other than them."

"Huh. Ok." He said in an equally quiet voice. The silence extended uncomfortably for a long moment, before Embry broke it, voice stilted with awkwardness.

"I'm going to get going. Jake, I'll pick you up a tent unless you want to get soaked tonight. Forecast is calling for lots of rain. Need anything else?"

"No, get going then." Jacob dismissed him in a slightly irritated tone. I couldn't tell if it was because of the prospect of rain, or if was still because of Embry.

Embry was right about the weather. Minutes after he left, the clouds unleashed their worst upon Forks. Both Jacob and I took shelter under the fringe of trees, although I didn't really need it. The fire quickly weakened and died under the deluge. Embry showed up about half an hour later with a medium sized tent and a dusty old blue tarp that he borrowed from Billy. He helped Jacob to set them up before he left again.

"You sure you're fine staying out in the rain?" Jacob asked, confirming what I'd already told him.

"I'm fine. It's warm enough for me, plus, y'know, the smell." I told him wryly. Jacob nodded in agreement. I couldn't help but tell he was equally pleased that he wouldn't have to spend all night in a small enclosed space with a repulsive smell.

Jacob scrambled into the tent before he got more soaked then he already was. I took seat on a low wide branch of a maple. Leaned against the trunk, I was all but protected from the weather.

The clouds darkened with both the rain and the coming nightfall. I sighed and looked out over the clearing, watching the heavy rain fall. Before long, I could hear how Jacob's breathing turned into a light snore. I, on the other hand, felt no call for the human necessity.

This was going to be a long night.