Chapter 9: The fun begins!

Anna fluttered down from her perch and landed lightly on the forest floor. Her first thought was of Jacob and the pack. With new vampires in the region, they would be fighting soon. A few shy deer stepped into her vicinity. The vampires had gone for now, chasing each other for once. She closed her eyes for a moment to clear her head. This was not the time to rearrange territories.

She had no idea what was going on, why there were other vamps, and what they were all upset with each other over. She absent-mindedly petted the nose of the nearest deer and tried to think straight.

She would not move until this was figured out, she couldn't leave her charges unprotected if several new blood-suckers were moving in.

Though these new ones really smelled weird. And the eyes. She seemed to remember something important about that. Oh, yeah, the Cullen's had amber eyes, cause they killed innocent animals, sometimes a few dozen in a day.

And the others had red eyes. Maybe Jacob could make sense of it all.

She looked up at the angle of the sun, only a few hours remained until nightfall. She wondered, if she got closer to the Cullen house, would she be able to hear their thoughts well enough to figure out what they were up to?

Would they be able to sense her? She doubted that. Though that blonde seemed to come close earlier.

She decided. She'd go back to the cave for now, and try approaching the house later, when it was darker and she could hide herself more completely.

Even thought it meant she wouldn't see Jacob until later that night. She hoped he would not worry. She closed her eyes and sent a pulse of comfort and love along their bond to reassure him.

She walked back to her hidden cave, now noting the sounds of raccoons and coyotes waking and moving about. They peered up at her and she stopped to scratch behind a few canine ears on her way.

She reached the cave and sat down on the heather bed to wait. Waiting is not a sprite's strong suite. She got up almost immediately and changed into more human clothing, pulling a sweatshirt over her top and trading the skirt for an old pair of comfy jeans. She considered shoes, but preferred to go without, delighting in the feel of bare feet.

Then she grabbed her drawing pad and sketched a quick picture of the new male vampire and the feral female. She never was the best artist, but it was a reasonable likeness. She could show it to Jacob and see if he knew about them.

She set it aside, stretched and curled up for a quick catnap. She awoke one hour later and finally the darkness was setting in.

She set off for the Cullen house, quietly concealing her movements in the gathering night.

It was raining lightly and she tread softly on the damp earth. She made her way to the many-windowed, large house of leeches. As she drew near, she could hear many tendrils of thought. She even thought she heard her own name mentioned once.

Mostly the vamps were thinking about vamps, what a coincidence.

She crept nearer, shields open for any stray thoughts and ears straining for snippets of conversation. They knew about the two others, the redhead and the male. Apparently there was some history there between the lion-killer and the feral female. There was talk, both mental and vocal, about revenge of some kind.

She could sense most of the coven, though she did not note Edward or the other blonde, the male. Could it be the two had finally learned to shield to better control their gifts? The others obviously had no idea of how to close their minds to unknown intrusion. She could hear them all, and the speed of their changing thought process was giving her a headache. She rubbed her temple with the back of her hand and shook her head slightly to clear it.

Anna remembered, the new vamps had spoken of 'others.' Did the Cullen coven know about that? She pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her copper head and slowly, almost without realizing it, she moved closer to the side of the house.

She could hear the human girl, thinking of Edward, and Jake, and even of Anna, herself. Again she was amazed by the selfless nature of Bella's thoughts. The girl was worried about Edward, concerned for the others in the coven, anxious over Jacob's welfare, and even wondering if Anna was okay.

Anna glanced up into the living room window, and her eyes meet Bella's, looking out into the night. For a moment, neither of them moved. They stood frozen, each surprised by the calm reaction of the other. Anna moved up to the window, her light brown eyes fixed on Bella's. She placed one hand on the glass pane.

And then she felt as if she had been plowed into by a mountain. She heard the growl and then it hit her, knocking the wind out of her and shoving her to the ground.