Chapter nine: Impossible

A/N: This is the chapter we've all been waiting for! I was crazy excited to get this up. You have no idea. It was great fun writing this- and I've got almost all of ten written as well. Are you ready? I'm not sure but I know you're impatient so HERE IT IS! (BTW, the song is Uncle Walter from Ben Folds. He's brilliant.)

Don't make the mistake of thinking of Anna as brave.

She was no Tom Mapple, to be sure, but she was shaking like a glass of water in an earthquake.

It wasn't a good feeling.

She was never cool or collected.

She was just a good actor.

She gripped the steering wheel with a mad desperation, as if it could offer any kind of protection against the fight that was to come. It was midnight. Anna was going mad. She was preparing for the most brutal slaughter-

Stop.

She turned up her cd player and tried to focus on the lyrics of the song. "Your uncle Walter told me everything he'd do if he was president. Ah, what a perfect world this world would be if he were president... But he's NOT!" She couldn't allow herself to think about the plan. Edward freaking read MINDS, he was not a vampire to be trifle-

Stop.

She took a deep breath. And then another one. The whole attack would need to be made up completely on the spot, instinct taking over so no moves would be anticipated. Edward needed to be taken out first, because he posed the most immediate danger to her. And then Emmett, for obvious reasons.

Stop.

She groaned. How could she hide anything? It was impossible. Impossible.

She stopped. But for a different reason than before.

Impossible.

Such a foreign word, actually. When she was ten, she would have said that her becoming a vampire hunter was impossible.

Once she started out hunting, if asked, she would have said that it was an impossibility that she would ever take on such a dangerous job.

And she also would have said that mind-reading was impossible.

The teal beetle sped down the road, further from town, closer to doom. One of her knives squeaked against the red leather interior of the car. Anna inhaled. She saw one of the signposts pointing in the direction of her destination- the Cullen's home. Anna exhaled.

And gasped as she rounded the driveway to see a magnificent home, white and creamy. It was not what you would expect from a coven of vampires. It was gorgeous. She realized with a start that one of the vampires, it had to be Carlisle, was standing outside on the porch. He wasn't in exactly the same kind of stance you normally saw with a vampire, especially not the head of a pack. It wasn't territorial as much as protective. But he was definitely expecting her. Of course. She stepped out of the car, brandishing a flamethrower and holding her knives in her left hand.

Carlisle took a step back, and opened his mouth, but to speak, not to rip her throat out. This was an odd development. "I'm afraid there's been a bit of a misunderstanding here, Miss Gregorson. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Carlisle Cullen. May I ask what you're doing on my property with a flamethrower?" He was being perfectly civil, but Anna's deep rooted hatred of vampires merely caused her to divert a small amount of attention to what he was saying, never letting her guard down. Carlisle saw that he wasn't making much headway, and he took a slow step back, slowly taking a white handkerchief from his pocket and waving it slightly in surrender. Either the vampire was a better actor than Anna was, or he was completely serious. "It seems we have no secrets from you, Miss Gregorson, but let me explain a few things. You may have noticed the yellow color of our eyes? This is due to an animal, not human diet. We hunt animals in the forest for food, not people." He was taking no risk in being misunderstood. Anna paused, but in a burst of speed that surprised even Carlisle, she had a knife up to his throat. "Are you completely sure about that? How can I trust your word?" (A/N: Carlisle had decided that the last thing he should do was provoke her to attack, but he's not leaving himself completely vulnerable. Edward's home.)

The inhumanly attractive doctor looked her straight in the eyes. "If you just came inside we could explain things to you. I promise, no harm will come to you." His eyes held such a vast depth of sincerity that she was almost inclined to believe him.

Stop.

Get a freaking grip on yourself.

You know VERY well the evil in the world.

Too well.

Remember your mom and dad?

They're dead.

Know why?

Oh yeah.

Inability to act fast enough when faced with a vampire.

That's why.

They didn't want you to know about their deep, dark secret, and held off action until it became completely necessary.

Look where that got them.

Dead.

Just like you'll be if you don't just-

Gah!

Anna's intuition and prior knowledge were meeting for a final battle that would forever change the course of her life. Forever. After a long struggling minute, intuition won. It would pay to trust the leech, if only for the moment. Her shoulderblades relaxed somewhat, but she remained on guard as the worried doctor led her into the living room. Dr. Cullen, she thought, suddenly putting the name together with the face. The hospital had boasted of an immensely competent doctor of that same name. He seemed genuine. But could appearances be trusted?

She was led to a cream sofa centered in a spacious living room meant to allow the most light into the room as was possible. One wall was entirely made of glass. She kept her knives at the ready, at the same time politely smiling at the doctor, just to catch him off guard. It worked, to an extent. He called softly. "Edward? Bella? We have a guest." Anna was startled that Bella was there, but after a moment of thought decided that it made sense.

It could be a hostage situation, playing to her human sensitivities. They could threaten her with killing an innocent girl for their privacy, or maybe they just wanted to prove their power and willingness to kill.

"What about the rest of the coven?" Anna asked, a slight accusatory note coloring her tone. She wasn't completely sold on the whole, "My family and I only hunt animals" thing. "Out hunting in the forest for food" came a voice directly behind her. She jumped. Edward was standing there with a groggy Bella Swan. "Is she drugged?" Inquired Anna sharply.

"It is midnight. People are generally asleep at this time." Edward reminded Anna. The expression on Bella's face really clinched it for Anna. She saw the worn, tired look. Scared, afraid. But not of Edward.

Of her.

She was afraid for the sake of her undead boyfriend. It was an awkward moment which hung in the air for a moment. Anna felt that her mouth had gone dry when she whispered "So you know and," she stopped.

Impossible.

A vampire with a human girlfriend that completely accepted him for who he was?

Impossible...

A sudden thought occurred to Anna. "You've all been planning for this, haven't you? Even before I came."

Edward stepped in. "My sister, Alice, sees the future."

How am I not surprised? Anna thought. "And you read minds."

Edward nodded approvingly. "You fooled us for a while. I wondered if you'd worked that out." he paused. "But how?"

Anna's mind flashed back to the plant manipulating vampire, the way Edward had been looking at her without looking at her, the strangeness that Bella had exhibited in conversation, the knowing air...

She looked up at Edward, who looked stunned but understanding, but of different things. He had seen the attitude that she had towards vampire hunting, that was stunning. It was routine. It was common. Deducing the mind-reading, that was exceptional too, but...

"How long have you been a vampire hunter?"

Anna dropped her eyes. "Eight years. My parents were killed by a vampire when I was living in Oregon." Her expression noticeably softened when Jasper came home. She hadn't seen him yet, and he was planning on staying in another room to avoid temptation, but his calming influence was greatly appreciated by all members of the household. Rosalie and Emmett wisely decided to go to their room as well, due to their extremely intimidating looks.

Esme was... mothering. Anna had low blood sugar, and in an attempt to rectify this had gone into the kitchen to start preparing some dinner. Mostly they tried to keep out of the way.

Except Alice, eyes shining a little too brightly as she skipped to Edward's side, whispering something in his ear. It was considerate, thought Carlisle, to demonstrate a little human behavior. But now all of the Cullens were on edge. Esme was feeling a little out of practice with cooking, and enlisted Bella's help in cooking the noodles. Seventy years without human food does something to you. Bella stood up to leave the awkward scene quickly enough, but she saw that Anna was not as anxious to see her go. She saw a short flash of fear in her eyes, and with a start Bella saw just how scared Anna really was.

Questions were being asked of Anna.

Did you know your parents were vampire hunters?

How did you manage to live alone all of these years?

And other things along that line. Anna felt herself start to cry as she spilled all of the pent up feelings she had accumulated over the past eight years. It was all Esme could do not to rush in and give her a hug. But there was another thing to know.

"Can I see those knives?"

Anna handed ONE knife to Carlisle for his examination.

He ran his finger along the seemingly dull blade and nicked his hand.

"Anna?" He said slowly. "Where did your parents get werewolf claw?"

Anna fainted.

Werewolves??

Impossible.

A/N: I'm terrible. Right? What a cliffhanger! I've given up on beta readers, seeing as I have absolutely no idea how they work. But I won't give up in my quest for reviews! They're easier than a lot of things! You click a button, type, and then click another button. It's not like I'm asking you to turn straw into gold here. But how did you like it? You need to tell me. Seriously. I write better with more reviews. And wasn't this a nice long chapter? Did you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it? Because this was my favorite chapter to write- other than maybe when I started and when I introduced Tom.