AN: You know what? I hate homework. I despise homework. I actually usually don't do homework at all. But now my parents are pissed, so I have to start doing homework. Which means less updating. Not that much less... but less all the same. Plus, weirdly, lately its been taking me like a really long time to just write one chapter. I still get them done, and I still have inspiration, its just not as intense anymore. So sorry I don't update as much. I love you all for reading them anyway.

Disclaimer: If I were Stephenie Meyer, I would've never let them make the best book in the world into a dumb movie. That said, I'm not Stephenie Meyer and I don't own anything.

Chapter 10: Dangerous Encounters

EPOV

I was incredibly frustrated. I could barely detect Bella's scent through the rain, and the process of finding her was much more difficult than I had hoped. Not that it would stop me, of course. I would go to the ends of the earth for Bella, and the way this was going, that was probably what was going to happen. Her scent had woven its way through half of the Olympic Peninsula by now! I knew that if I could catch a good trail, I would catch up with her in no time, thanks to her weakened vampire abilities. I was still puzzling over why it was that her humanity clung to her so obstinately. It was odd. I wondered what other threads of humanity still stayed. But there would be time to figure that out later, at least, I hoped there would be. Now, however, my priority was to find her, and to do that, I needed to talk to Alice.

I fished a small silver phone out of my pocket, and quickly dialed Alice's number. The phone barely rang once before she picked up, thanks largely to her visions.

"Edward, I don't really know where she's going." It took me a moment to pick up on the fact that since she knew I was calling, she would also probably know what it was that I wanted as well. Then she continued, "She keeps changing her mind too quickly for any of my visions to be completely clear. I do know that in a few minutes, she'll be just south of Seattle, and..." Alice trailed off. I waited for a moment, but when she didn't answer I decided that I had to speak up.

"Alice?" I asked. I heard a momentary rustling on the other end of the phone, and then Jasper's voice came out of the earpiece.

"Sorry Edward, just a minute, she's having a vision." I sighed impatiently. I didn't have time for this, I needed to find Bella now. After a second, I began pacing back and forth across the middle of a clearing I had stumbled across searching for Bella.

"Edward?" Immediately, I snapped to attention. That was Alice's voice! Now she could tell me what she saw.

"What Alice?! What did you see?!" Alice sounded really worried and it was beginning to scare me. "Is Bella alright?" I asked frantically.

"I don't know Edward." She said quietly. "But I saw her with another vampire, and he didn't look too friendly. Before you ask, no he wasn't a 'vegetarian'." I blanched. My face would've paled considerably if I hadn't been a vampire, immune to such human traits.

"Where is she?" I forced out from between my teeth. Alice didn't answer for a moment, and I snapped. "Tell me dammit! Where is she?!" I immediately felt bad for yelling at Alice, but I would have time for apologies later.

"She's just south of Seattle, and she's going to be staying there for a while. Don't beat yourself up about this Edward. You'll be able to help her, I know you will." Her voice sounded not so much like she was sure, but more like she was trying to convince herself.

"Thanks Alice." I mumbled before hanging up the phone and heading full speed towards Seattle. I just hoped she was right.

APOV

Edward had called and I had been about to tell him that I had seen Bella getting to Seattle, then leaving to head for Florida to see her mother. It worried me, because to be around that many humans would surely be a struggle for a newborn vampire. But then, I had an even more disturbing vision. I zoned out for a moment, and I saw Bella smiling and talking to a man, no wait, a vampire. This vampire, however, was not like us. His eyes glowed a bright crimson, and he was staring at Bella threateningly, though from the look on her face, she had no idea. After I had snapped out of this vision and told Edward what was happening, I went off in search of the rest of the family. Jasper was with me, as he had been during the phone call, but the rest of the family was missing. Hunting, I supposed.

I picked up my cell phone and dialed Carlisle's number quickly. He picked up, and I immediately launched into a description of my vision, explaining to him why we needed to get to Seattle right away. After hearing my story, he fully agreed. He said that he didn't get a very good feeling about this vampire I was describing. Something just didn't feel right involving his interest in Bella. Not that there was anything wrong with Bella, she was beautiful. But what I saw in his eyes hadn't been desire, it had been something much more sinister, more feral. It frightened me, which I had to admit, was not an easy thing to do.

"Jasper," I called, and he appeared at my side. "We need to go to Seattle." He looked at me for a while, analyzing my expression, before he nodded and pulled me into his arms.

"It's going to be okay." He whispered soothingly. "We're going to find her and convince her to come back." It was the first major contact we'd had with each other since the vision incident. I had been angry at his refusal to come with me to help Bella. Emmett had also been on the outs with Rosalie since her comments against Bella to Edward. But I needed Jasper right now. I was falling apart, and I knew he could feel it. "She's going to be okay." He repeated. And I wanted to believe him, I really did, but I had a uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that told me otherwise, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore.

BPOV

I had an odd feeling that I was still in shock. A strong feeling in my heart was trying to convince me that Jacob still cared, and that he would come around. Yet still, the only image that would come to mind was remembrance of the bitter denial of our friendship. I thought it had hurt when Edward left me, but the feeling of adding another loss on top of that was insanely more painful.

When I had left the wolves, I had no idea where I wanted to go. It wasn't as if I had anything to do, or anyone to do it with. I gasped as the hole in my chest ripped wide open again. I had thought I would've lost the hole along with my humanity, but apparently not. It was the same with many other human traits, I had discovered. When Jacob had betrayed me and left, something had happened that I had been under the impression would never happen again. I had cried. Correction, I had sobbed, which was to be expected, but what wasn't to be expected had been the actual tears coming out of my eyes.

After running this whole way, the pain finally took over and I collapsed to the ground, just letting the misery take hold of me. It had begun raining, and the water streaming down my face masked the tears falling from my eyes. I assumed that I was somewhere near Seattle now, since that had been where I was headed, I was pretty sure.

Looking around, I noticed that I was in a small clearing, that reminded me of the meadow that I had shared with Edward. I remembered that first day we had spent there together.

The meadow, so spectacular to me at first, paled next to his magnificence.

Hesitantly, always afraid, even now, that he would disappear like a mirage, too beautiful to be real... hesitantly, I reached out one finger and stroked the back of his shimmering hand, where it lay within my reach. I marveled again at the perfect texture, satin smooth, cool as stone. When I looked up again, his eyes were open, watching me. Butterscotch today, lighter, warmer after hunting. His quick smile turned up the corners of his flawless lips. (Twilight p261)

That was one of my best memories, and one of the most painful. As my mind replayed the scene when he left me, I suddenly got very angry. I turned my face to the sky and shouted. "Why did you do this to me?! This is all your fault!" I wasn't really talking to anyone that would be able to hear, but to Edward. It was his fault. His fault that I was a vampire, his fault that Jacob hated me, his fault I would never see Charlie again, his fault...

"Well what did I do?" A voice behind me startled me into turning around. Damn. I thought. This is the second time I hadn't sensed someone sneaking up on me. I began to worry about my vampire powers. I knew I was a vampire, but how was I going to survive if I couldn't protect myself. The man behind me was gorgeous, though not as insanely beautiful as Edward. He had long black hair tied back into a ponytail, and he was muscular without being too bulky. Still, one thing disturbed me, his piercing crimson eyes. "Considering we just met and all." He cocked his head to the side and looked at me curiously.

I felt a blush rush to my cheeks. Wait, a blush? He looked just as surprised as I was. "I'm sorry, I wasn't talking to you, I didn't even know that you were there." I apologized. I shifted uncomfortably as he took a step forward to place his hand on my cheek.

"You're blushing." He said. It was a statement, not a question, but I could tell he was confused. I still felt a little uneasy around him, but I was glad to have someone that I could talk to. "How is that possible," he murmured, I'm sure mostly to himself.

"I... I guess I retained many parts of my humanity when I was changed. I've already noticed a couple of others." I answered reluctantly. I didn't really want to tell him about the crying, and I was hoping he didn't ask.

"Such as?" I sighed. He asked, I should've known he would've.

"Well, I can cry as well." I replied. The sharp lines of his face softened a bit, and I smiled sadly in return.

"Why were you crying?" The voice was gentle, but I still couldn't help but wish for a different voice. Many different voices actually, he made me kind of nervous.

"I, well, nobody wants me. I'm alone. My friends betrayed me when they found out, and I couldn't bear to stay with my ex-boyfriend's family knowing that they were just keeping me around out of pity. They were vampires, just so you know." I added, sure he'd be confused as to why I would be even considering staying with humans.

"Well..." he replied slowly. "You could stay with me."

A glimmer of hope overcame my fear, and my uneasiness around him evaporated slightly. "Thank you." I whispered. I still missed Edward and Jake, but now I didn't feel quite so alone.

AN: Okay so I decided to bring another vampire into the picture. But as you can maybe tell from some of my skilled foreshadowing, he's going to end up being more of a threat than help. Go Edward right? I know Jacob's reaction might have seemed a little off, but he was in shock. They might make up later, maybe once he comes to terms with things, but I'm not sure yet. Thanks for reading! Review!