AN: I know, I know. I'm evil for leaving you on that cliffy. I've heard it. xD

But I'm making it up to you with such a quick update. Don't expect me to do it again; I had time to kill. So, enjoy. Or not.

Alice grabbed my hand, and dragged me out the back door. "Time to test out those legs," she said with a grin. I don't know how she managed to make me feel so terrified with that smile.

With that, we started running. We went as fast as bullets, speeding through the forest smoothly. The wind blew my hair and pushed against my face as we dashed away from the sirens that could expose me.

Then, I was jerked back to reality with a tug on my hand as we came to a skidding halt. Alice motioned for me to duck behind the bushes and signaled for silence. I held my breath and held still, which was surprisingly easy.

I wasn't sure how long we stayed there, but no whistle blew. There was complete and total silence until the sound of crunching footsteps rang loudly through the night air.

An all-too-familiar voice barked out, "Search the forest for them. Their cars are still here; I'm sure they haven't left yet." I almost died. Charlie was here. If he found me, I really would die, immortal or not.

Then their scent hit me. The wind began to shift my way, blowing the wonderful, flowery, mouthwatering scent of their blood into my nostrils. Without my consent, I started breathing in. Yet again, I felt something else in me take over. I crouched down, more than ready to hunt.

Beside me, Alice's eyes widened in fear. She grabbed me around the waist from behind, pinning my arms down and trying as hard as she could to restrain me. "No, Bella!" she whisper-shouted.

But for me, it was much too late. I was thirsty, and nothing could stop me. I ripped away from Alice, and without another thought, I was in front of the nearest human.

Dimly, in the back of my mind, I registered that I knew this human. Something nagged at me, telling me that I needed to stop, that there was something different about this person. But the part of me in control ignored it thoroughly. All that mattered was that I was thirsty.

I crouched, and stared Charlie straight in the eye. He looked absolutely petrified and he said, "Bella? Is that you? What are you doing here?"

I reminded myself that this human was simply prey, and there was no reason to let him live. He was simply an inconvenience to me. I snarled, and pounced. His neck was broken with one simple snap, and without a pause to think, I was drinking his blood.

This human's blood was possibly the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. It was rich and warm, flowing over my tongue and down my throat. When it was gone, I broke off suddenly, wishing that my slice of heaven had not just ended.

Alice, who had been watching helplessly from the bushes, came up to me and said, "Bella! Don't worry about it; it's fine…" her hands fluttered around, and she seemed as if she was in indecision.

Suddenly, another shout burst through the calm night air. "Come on, men. They're not here; let's pack up and leave."

By now, the gravity of what I had just done was catching up to me. I had just killed my own father. I dropped to the ground, putting my head in my hands, ashamed. I began to sob, but no tears fell from my eyes. "He's dead," I choked out.

Alice was watching me sorrowfully. "I'm sorry, Bella," she whispered. "I would have stopped you, but you're stronger than me. I couldn't do anything."

A whistle reverberated through the forest, and she picked me up with ease. I turned my face away from her and simply kept sobbing. Alice ran easily back to the house, where she deposited me on the couch.

Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett were already there. Everyone except Edward was watching me, confused. Edward simply looked at me with sympathy. Jasper walked over to Alice and placed his hand on her arm.

"What happened, Alice?" Carlisle asked in his calm way. "We didn't hear anything from where we were."

"Bella met Charlie," Alice explained quietly.

There was a low intake of breath from the watching audience. "Oh no," Esme said sadly, shaking her head.

"She couldn't control herself with a human so close," said Alice, watching me warily. "We'd better watch her. She's plotting."

"Oh dear," Esme said, and she walked over to me and placed her hands on my shoulders comfortingly. "I know there's nothing I can say that will make you feel better."

I nodded at her, hoping that she could sense my appreciation. She was absolutely right. Nothing she or anyone else could say anything that would relieve my absolute desolation at the murder of my father. Even worse, murder committed by me.

I sped up to the room I knew that Alice had prepared for me. It was a light red color, with gorgeous mahogany furniture. There was a dark tan couch in the corner of the room, and I lay face down on it, closing my eyes and trying to let myself drift.

After what was probably a few hours, I heard light footsteps approaching my room. I didn't bother looking up. It was probably Alice, coming to apologize again, which I really didn't need at the moment.

There was a knock at the door, and Edward asked, "Bella, may I come in?" This was such a surprise that I sat up immediately.

"Of course," I replied, my voice rising in pitch in surprise.

The door opened, and he stepped in, looking unbelievably gorgeous, as usual. For some reason, he didn't seem as arrogant now. He seemed more compassionate and sympathetic. This was definitely going to be about the capital crime I had just committed.

He hesitated for a second, and then sat fluidly on the floor. "I came to talk to you about Charlie," he said. I raised my eyebrows expectantly.

"Well," he sighed in a velvety voice, "You see, when I was still a fairly new vampire, I did much worse than you. I went away for a while and struck out on my own. I was tired of the vegetarian life. So I began to hunt humans, but selectively. I chose humans that were criminals, or were considering it. I figured that if I was saving human lives and taking only criminal ones, then I would not be committing such an awful sin. Obviously, I was wrong, and I came to realize it. But I understand how you are feeling right now, truly."

I felt grateful to him for sharing his story with me, but I said, "Well, at least none of them were related to you. I just murdered my own father!"

He nodded, and I could see the sorrow in his eyes as well. "You're right. But you're a newborn, and it can only be expected that you slip up. It just so happened that you met humans before you were ready."

"That doesn't excuse it," I snapped at him. I thought back to his story a few minutes ago and said slowly, "Wait a second. You said that you hunted humans that were considering being criminals? How would you know that? Can you see the future too?"

He sighed and said, "Well, you certainly have a right to know. The fact of it is that I can read minds. Although this isn't exactly how I had planned on telling you."

Uh-oh. "So you know what I'm thinking right now?" I asked hesitantly.

A slightly frustrated look crossed his face, and he said shortly, "No." He must have seen the relief on my face, because his face softened, and he said, "Yet another reason I find you so intriguing."

I blinked. "Hold on a second," I said, clarifying. "I'm intriguing? Did you actually just say that? I'm possibly the most uninteresting person in the world."

"Not in my opinion," he disagreed. "I know absolutely nothing about you. I just find you interesting."

"I found you interesting as well," I admitted. "But then I came to the conclusion that you were arrogant. I'm not so sure that's true now."

He smiled ruefully and said, "Maybe I was," he said. "But I changed my mind. I didn't want to be so distant anymore."

"I'd rather you not be," I said, surprising myself. "I think that as brother and sister, we should know more about each other. Besides, what else is there to do at night?"

He laughed and said, "That's true." He began to tell me about himself, and his history. It was actually very interesting, although I found it hard to wrap my mind around the concept that Edward was actually a hundred years old.

That began a whole new train of thought for me as I began to compare our age differences. I shook my head very slightly, trying to clear those kinds of thoughts out of my head. I glanced at Edward. He was still talking expressively, his golden eyes warm as he watched me. I was extremely glad that he couldn't read my thoughts, for whatever reason.

The next morning, my voice was slightly hoarse from detailing my entire life for Edward, who had insisted upon asking me a thousand questions about the most unimportant things in the world. "Why does it matter?" I asked him, slightly aggravated.

He opened his mouth to reply, when another pair of feet came up to the door. Without bothering to knock, Alice burst in. "I knew it!" she sang. "I saw this yesterday, but I didn't tell you!" She looked at me meaningfully.

I rolled my eyes at the exact same moment Edward did. "Alice, your plan is utterly ridiculous," he said. "How do you propose to force two people to fall in love?"

"I'm not going to force you," she said, smiling devilishly. "I'm just going to tweak the circumstances a bit and let it happen on its own. I mean; it's already started!"

If I had been able to, I would have been blushing furiously. "Alice!" I said. "Would you please just go away?"

"Of course not!" she said. "First I want to know what you two have been doing all night."

"Alice, go away," I said sharply. I wasn't focusing on anything except how much I wanted Alice to leave. Then a strange thing happened. I felt slightly dizzy, although I hadn't been doing anything dizzying. But the strangest thing of all was that Alice disappeared. She would never have done that on her own.

Edward, too, looked extremely puzzled. "Where…" he began, but never got to finish.

"BELLA!" shouted Alice, dashing back up the stairs. "How did you do that?"

"I didn't do anything," I said, puzzled. "I was just sitting here the whole time. What are you blaming me for, anyway?"

She looked at me with one eyebrow raised expectantly. "Come on, Bella. One minute I was here, and the next I found myself walking away. But I never wanted to, trust me."

"Maybe it's her power manifesting itself!" said Edward excitedly. He was practically sparkling. I raised my eyebrows at him; I couldn't understand why he was getting so excited about it.

"Oh!" Alice exclaimed. "Bella, try and make that couch lift off the ground. Maybe you have telekinesis!"

I concentrated carefully on the couch, and thought about how much I wanted it to levitate itself. Nothing happened, and Alice looked disappointed.

"Maybe it's not telekinesis," she said. Then, brightening up, she said, "Try and make Edward do something!" Edward's eyes widened in the extreme, and he looked afraid for his life.

I smirked at him, and thought about how much I wanted him to stand on his head. To my extreme surprise, he suddenly was upside-down, still with a shocked look on his face. I began to laugh hysterically.

"There we are! Your power must have something to do with people, or living things, maybe," Alice mused. "You can obviously bend them to your will. That's very interesting."

My eyes brightened up at the prospect. I was definitely going to enjoy myself with this power.

AN: Wow, I must really love you guys. Not even a cliffy! Anyway, even I was surprised when Bella killed Charlie. -sobsob- Sorry about that.