Chapter 8

Terrified tears prickled at the corners of my eyes, threatening to spill over as these three scary people advanced on me, cornering me. Knowing I was about to die I thought about the very few good times I'd had with my real mommy and later in life with the Cullens. And then my conversation with Carlisle about vampires came to mind. He said that from what he'd read that all vampires who drank human blood had red eyes, 'The wierdest thing about these people was that they all had bright red eyes that gleamed down at me like I was a piece of meat.'

With bodies hard as stone, 'Scared out of my mind I started running again, faster this time, until I bumped into something rock hard.'

And ice-cold skin, 'They were all touching me now, with their icy cold hands.'

And unnaturally perfect white teeth, 'The blonde man flashed me a dazzling smile, his white teeth sparkling.'

No. NO. There was no way, vampires weren't supposed to be real! They're just supposed to be a made up story to scare little kids!

But here they were, standing in front of me. Real live vampires, getting ready to kill me.

I know I said that vampires weren't monsters just because they drank human blood, but c'mon, I'm five years old, how can I not be scared!

I whimpered and pressed myself against the moss-covered tree, shaking violently. The three vampires suddenly hissed and whipped around, their faces contorted in disgust. Huh?

"Mutts!" Victoria screeched in anger, quickly turning to glare at me. She looked indecisive, like she was considering whether to just quickly kill me now or run from these, 'mutts.' I was praying she would choose option two.

"We don't have time, they're almost here." James snapped. Laurent seemed disappointed too but was a little more calm about it. I saw a quick flash and then James was gone and I was being lifted off my feet by the collar of my shirt. James.

"You know kid, I like you. You've got guts. I think we'll come by again for another play date." he smirked. He and the others were out of sight before I even fell back to the ground.

They were gonna come back. I didn't want them to come back. NonononononononoNO. This was too much, I couldn't handle it, I just-I...

Everything started to spin, making me dizzy. I wanted to throw up.

The faint sound of something pounding against the forest floor was the last thing I heard...

TWILIGHT-TWILIGHT

Fuzzy...

Can't see...

Eyes won't open...

Voices...

Muffled ones...

Trying to concentrate...

Slowly coming too.

I could almost understand what the voices were saying. "I think... -oming to." it was definitely a guy, but I'd never heard his voice before.

"Kid. Hey kid, can ya here me?" another guy. I moaned and forced my eyes open to be met by the sight of an Indian boy who looked to be about sixteen years old. I blinked up at him and attempted to open my mouth to answer, but all that came out was a lame, "Uuuhhh..."

Nice one Edward. Real nice.

I felt a warm hand on my forehead, "Oh you poor thing, you're burning up." a woman this time, she sounded worried.

"Where..?" I just couldn't form any real sentences. I was still in a small state of shock, and a bit dizzy.

Another muscular boy joined the first, "You alright kid? Those blood suckers must have really scared ya to make ya pass out," he sneered, "Every time I think I've seen the worst of those soulless bastards they come and do crap like this, attacking little kids," he shook his head, "It just makes me wanna-" "That's enough Paul." came the woman's voice again.

Once she came into a view I couldn't help but think of how pretty she was. Tan creamy skin, long black hair, full lips, dark brown eyes... and then she turned her head to the side to smile at me. The whole right side of her face looked cracked and scarred. Not a pretty thing to look at, but I pretended not to notice.

"I'm sorry about him hun. Paul has a bit of a temper, as I'm sure you've noticed." she chuckled, "I'm Emily Uley. This is Jarred," she pointed to the boy who'd first spoken to me, "Quill," the boy next to him, "Embry," a taller boy sitting in a chair, "My husband, Sam," a man came up behind her and kissed her head, "And Jacob." a guy sitting at the foot of the bed I just realized I was laying on.

I smiled shyly at all of them. I felt the same way I did when I first met the Cullens. Shy, small, and a little scared. I mean, these guys helped me, so they should be good, right?

"Whats your name squirt?" One of them asked... Embry I think.

"I'm Edward." I said softly, sitting up. I hadn't even noticed that my head had been resting on a pillow and that I'd been covered by a blanket. Emily pressed her hand to my forehead again, "Hold on hun. Lay back down so I can put this on your forehead." she scolded me gently, holding up a wet cloth. I laid back down sheepishly and I felt the cloth placed on my head, cooling my feverish skin.

"Um, thank you for helping and everything, but I really need to call my parents and let them know I'm okay." I said, suddenly remembering that Emmett and Jasper had probably flipped when they didn't find me at the pick up bench at school. Plus I left my bag on the sidewalk, so who knows what they'll think about that?

"I'll get the phone." Jacob stood and stretched, yawning as he left the room to what I guessed was the kitchen. Sam kneeled next to me, "Edward, what were you doing out in the woods?" the question of the day.

I reluctantly told them about my bullying problem at school and how I'd been chased. All of them looked mad, and it honestly scared me, especially the way these guys shook.

Jacob came back in with the phone and handed it to me, "Here bud." he smiled warmly. I thanked him and took the phone, dialing Carlisle's cell phone number since I wasn't sure who would answer the house phone and I'm sure that it wouldn't be someone sane enough at the moment to listen. The phone barely rang once before Carlisle's voice answered from the other end, "Hello?" he sounded stressed.

"Carlisle? Its me, Edward."

(I was gunna end it here, do ya luv me for not?)

"Edward! Thank god you're okay. Everyones worried sick." he breathed, as if he'd been holding his breath.

"I know, I'm sorry. I just ran into some... problems..." how did I explain it? 'A group of big kids chased me around town because I got one of their little sisters in trouble in class so I ran into the woods to lose them but instead bumped into some vampires'? Yeah, that doesn't sound crazy at all.

"Problems? Are you hurt? Edward, where are you?" Carlisle demanded, and I could tell he was struggling to keep calm. I tried my best to sooth him, "Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm at Emily Uley's house." there was a long pause, "You're at the reservation?" his tone kinda scared me. Why did he sound so nervous?

I saw Sam nod tensely at me out of the corner of my eye. Huh, I guess the volume on the phone was higher than I thought, "Yeah." I said.

"Are there a group of teenage boys there?" Carlisle asked, a little more calm now. I nodded even though he couldn't see, "Uh huh."

"Okay, just ask one of them to bring you home, alright? I'll let everyone else know that you're okay." Carlisle sighed.

"Okay."

"And be careful sport." oh boy, we're back to that nervous voice that gave me goosebumps...

TWILIGHT-TWILIGHT

Jacob had been the one to offer to bring me home. He looked kinda reluctant but said that he would none-the-less. Emily had bundled me up in my coat but I was still kinda chilly as we walked through the woods.

I was suddenly lifted up and pressed against Jacob's abnormally warm chest, feeling even smaller and fragile wrapped up in his arms. He was kind of like Emmett, only paler and a lot warmer, "That better kid?" he asked.

I blushed, feeling a little awkward at being pressed up against another guy's chest but the warmth felt too good to pull away so I nodded.

Jacob, probably feeling the same way about our position as I did, let me piggy back for the rest of the fifteen minute walk.

We didn't make it halfway across the yard before Emmett snatched me away from Jacob and squished me against him. I squirmed around as much as I could, "E-emmett... c-c-can't. Breathe." I managed to squeak out.

"Careful leech!" Jacob snapped, sneering. Leech?

"Stuff it mutt! I was freaking worried sick, how the hell do you expect me to react?" Emmett growled. Mutt?

"Maybe if you hadn't taken your sweet time when picking him up from school then you wouldn't have had a reason to be worried in the first place!"

"You keep quiet! I don't know why he wasn't at the pick up bench when I got there but I sure as hell didn't expect it, so don't go acting like this is all mine and Jasper's fault!"

"It is your fault! And what the hell are you doing with a human in the first place you damn blood sucker? What, are you feeding off of him at night while he's asleep or something?"

Whoa whoa whoa! What? "What?" I gasped.