Forks.

Tanya had said that it was, 'only down the road' wait until I see her. Of course I knew it was in America, but she said it would only take an hour, at most, to reach. It had been four. Running, for four hours.

I know I didn't get physically tired, but this was just ridiculous. The only stop that I'd made was to feed. It was lucky that I had a map crammed into my back pocket, otherwise I would have definitely got lost when reaching America.

Having only known the general direction the small town was in, without a map I would of been searching for Forks for days. I was going to kill Tanya.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the map Kate had given to me, smoothing out the creases left behind from being scrunched up in my skinny jeans back pocket. Fascinating, skinny jeans.

The fashion changes in life continued to amaze me. Before I left, Kate had remarked how highly amusing she thought it was that I had requested a map.

Considering how our over active minds worked, I should of, by all vampire rights, been able to give the map one quick look and then, bam, I would memorise it, and know exactly where I was heading.

I'm a pretty dis-functional vampire. I sighed wistfully at the thought of Kate, my family, back in Alaska. Laura. I couldn't help but feel guilty, paired with a horrible pang where my un-beating heart sat.

I knew our goodbye's were temporary and that it wouldn't be forever that I had left them for, but I felt terrible for how I'd just sprang it on them. They'd loved me and accepted me into their family after knowing me for five minutes.

Laura had been willing to give up on trying to track her mate, to love me, forever. Kate would of too. They risked their lives for me and my mission to find my sister. They cared for me in the after math of my failure.

They supported and accompanied me on my trip to Italy, to visit the Volturi, turning down Aro's offer of joining them. Despite the Denali's beyond acceptable reasons to not want to be anywhere near them.

Even after that, they'd put up with my foul mood for seventy years. My moping, my crying, my drinking and my lashing out. They'd loved me. But how did I repay them?

I got up one day, packed my bags and announced I was going to live with another family, leaving them all to wonder what they had done wrong. I was not just dis functional, I was down right fucked up.

As I ran, I wondered about an alternate reality. Would I have left them if we had been successful in saving my sister that day? But I already know the answer to that question, and it would of been no.

I wouldn't. My sister would of joined our family. We would of learnt and expanded our knowledge of the world together. We would of been happy.

Of course, we would have met the Cullen's at some point, that I am sure of. But it would of been under better circumstances. Maybe mine and Laura's wedding.

I sighed and take a closer look at the map, which I really didn't need to do anymore. I remembered every inch of it, but needed to feel like I had a purpose, no matter how small.

I noticed, with pleasant surprise, that I was nearly there. Cutting across jagged rocked mountains because you have skin as hard as diamond, and jumping over things because you can jump long distances, worked well as a shortcut.

Stuffing the map back into my pocket, I continued on my journey towards Forks. At the rate that I was running, I calculated that I would be there in no more than twenty minutes.

Feeling a dull vibration in my pocket, I slowed down to a walk, still much faster than a humans, and put my hand back into my pocket to fish out my mobile phone.

Mobile phones were funny little things. It still floored me that people came up with things like this, turning a random thought, fabricated from nothing, to objects. Though this one did come in handy.

I glanced quickly at the caller ID and smiled, it was Kate. Pressing the green button to answer the call, I pressed the phone to my ear. "Hello, Kate." I grinned.

"Hey, Bella. You there yet?"

Tightening my hold on my backpack, I grinned, seemingly into no where, knowing she was going to say some smart ass comment when I tell that her that I'm not. "No, not yet. Almost though!"

Kate laughed heartily and beautifully at me, over the sound of Laura's whispering, something that I couldn't quite catch, but whatever it was, it made them laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll tell her. But firrrst," she drawled. "I can't believe that you are not there yet! Do you have five thousand of the heaviest things in the world on your back, or are you just too lazy that you can't even walk an hour down the road, hmm? Oh yeah, and Laura said you left your panties in her bedroom. Soo, yeah, they're mine now!"

I could practically hear the sinful smirk in Kate's voice, and I could still hear her and Laura whispering in the background.

"Damn it, will you two stop whispering? And when I come back, I am going to take my panties back off you Katrina. Oh, by the way, I don't have five thousand heavy things on my back. You are well aware that the trip to Forks is most certainly is not an hour down the road, like Tanya so claims. It's just as well you gave me the map," I finished with a sigh.

There was more snickering on the other end. "Yeah, you're right. It is so not just a walk down the road," Kate laughed.

I ran a hand over my hair, tightening my pony tail. "Kate, why did you phone me?"

There was a small silence on the phone then a slight cough. "We phoned you because the Cullen's phoned us. We had to let you know that there are wolves down in Forks."

"Wait. What?" I frowned, pulling a slight face. "Why didn't they say? Actually, it don't matter. Why would that bother me?"

There was another hesitant cough on the end of the phone. "Um, because they are shape shifters, and they're quite strong... Not to mention there is a large pack of them. The Cullen's have a treaty with them. No one allowed on each other's land, so if you were to step foot there... well, let's just say you'll be torn to shreds."

Great, I thought sarcastically. "Well that's just terrific, Kate, great. So how will I know when I am on their land? Eurgh, what's that smell?"

I crinkled my nose up. There was an awful smell coming through the thick over growth of forest that surrounded me, of which I'm sure wasn't there a minute ago. It smelled like old garbage and wet dog.

Grotesque scent but made worse by the sense of de ja vu paired with it. It reminded me of the werewolves that had been around my sisters disappearance. The smell reeked of my failure.

I stopped in my tacks, realising suddenly that Kate was hysterically shouting down the phone at me.

"Kate? I'm guessing those wolves smell awful."

I was hoping to be wrong and that there some sort of landfill site nearby, but I wasn't banking on it.

"Yes, they smell like old trash and wet dog. Why?! Do you smell it? Oh no, are you on their land?!"

I bit my lip. Oh shit. "Yes, I think I am, Kate."

My ears twitched as the sound of heavy footfalls met them. They were approaching fast. Straining my ears a little harder, I listened for how many there were. One, I could deal with one.

"Kate I have to go now. Someone is coming... right now. I hear it. I will call you when I get to the Cullen's house... if I get there. Tell everyone I love them."

I quickly hung up the phone, jamming it hard back into my pocket. My eyes jumped around me, never resting on one spot for more than a fraction of a second.

Looking frantically for anyway to get out this without causing a fight and not getting the Cullen's into trouble with the treaty. My chances were slim to none.

Keeping my eyes to the left, the sound of the footfalls came to a stop. I held up my hands in surrender, not knowing what to expect. My eyes darting, before landing on a large, sandy coloured wolf that came stalking out of the bushes.

It growled warningly at me, showing it's sharp, pointy and vicious teeth, that promised to tear me apart, painfully. It growled again, continued it's advance towards me.

I tried hard to keep still, wanting to prove I wasn't dangerous. But I couldn't help edging slowly backwards.

"Hey... I'm not going to hurt you, or cause any violence, I swear... I'm looking for a man named Carlisle Cullen... do you know him?"

The wolf blinked then shut it's mouth, hiding it's teeth that moments before had screamed my death. It turned hesitantly, as if afraid to turn it's back on a vampire, before disappearing behind the bush.

Slightly confused, I lowered my hands. With surprise, I watched as a boy came walking out from behind the bush. He wore a friendly smile and couldn't have been more than fifteen.

He was adorably young, his expression seemed to be permanently cheeky. If he didn't reek of dog, and was a few years older, I may of even found him cute. Did I mention the fact that he was nude?

His skin was a light rusty, brown colour, the kind you see in native American tribes, which got me wondering if he was a descendant of one.

The boy continued to smile at me, despite me being a blood thirsty vampire, of which I'm sure, he was supposed to naturally hate, by some sort of unspoken werewolf law. He stopped a few steps away from me.

"Your eyes, they're gold, which of course means you are like them, doesn't it? You don't kill humans," the boy spoke it as a statement, rather than a question.

I found myself feeling awkward and I didn't know why. But I deciding it was best to answer honestly, especially if it saved me my life.

I nodded my head. "Yes, I don't kill humans."

The boy's smile widened before he spoke again, holding out his hand. "I'm Seth," he introduced.

I raised my eyebrow as I took his hand cautiously. Strange boy. Strange wolf. As soon as my hand and his connected, I felt an unnatural heat in his skin. I gave a distasteful smile.

"Bella," I answered, trying to smoother my smile into a polite one.

Seth grinned again. "The Cullens, they're the only vampires I like. They're good people. I mean, vampires. Well, as nice as Vampires can get. Anyway," he rambled, withdrawing his hand.

A light blush dusted his cheekbones. "How do you know of them? Are you another member of their family?"

I shook my head, opening my mouth to speak, but only managed to groan as I felt rain droplets hit my face. I quickly pulled my hood up over my head before answering him. "We are kind of like family, I guess. Cousins, in a way, if you will. But I have never met them before."

Looking away awkwardly as the boy stretched, I saw him grin out the corner of my eye. "Ah, that's cool. Sorry if me being naked makes you uncomfortable, our clothes shred when we shift, and I didn't think I would run into a vampire. I didn't stash an extra pair anywhere near here."

I raised an eyebrow at him, curiosity getting the better of me. "Why were you out here all alone? Aren't you like, fifteen or something?"

The boy gave a grim smile, though it quickly turned more goofier than the other's. "You think I'm fifteen? Well sadly, I'm not even that. I'm only fourteen. The others will be here in five minutes, so we need to be quick. They wont listen to reason, trust me." Seth's face took on a rather grim and frightened expression.

"I'm guessing that none of the others will want to talk to me. How many are on there way?"

Seth closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. "Only three. There's nine of us altogether. More of us are shifting everyday. The ones who are coming are Jacob, Paul and Sam. Sam is the leader of the pack. He might, and I mean this quite literally, he might, listen to you. To give you a chance. But that's a small chance."

I delicately sniffed the air. I couldn't smell them just yet, but the smell here was just plain horrific.

"Seth, do you think you can point me in the direction of where the Cullen's live, please?"

Seth pointed out to the north, west area. So straight down, and no doubt past all the wolves. I had a feeling that some of them, if not all of them, were going to be bigger than Seth.

"Thank you Seth. I appreciate it. Do you think you could get Sam to change so that we could speak, please?"

He nodded his head and gave me a small smile. "I will try, but you might have to run here."

The sound of heavy footfalls made me groan internally. Here we go, time to face off with the big bad wolves, again. Sighing, I prepared myself for the worst as growls came from behind the bushes.

Two wolves stepped out, growling a lot more fiercely than Seth had. They seemed very vicious in my eyes. One was a silvery, grey-ish wolf, and the other was a russet coloured wolf. I kept my eyes fixed on them.

I slowly put up my hands in an surrender position, like I had earlier. I turned my head towards Seth.

"Help me out here, please? You know that I'm not here to cause any trouble. I thought you said someone might listen to me?"

Seth looked at the ground sheepishly before snapping his eyes to meet mine. The bushes rustled again and I couldn't help but snap my eyes to them as a man walked out from behind them.

At least he was wearing shorts. He also, thankfully, had a spare pair in his hands, to which he chucked at Seth, who caught them and put them on gladly. The man turned towards him.

"Go home now, Seth," he commanded.

It was clear Seth had no choice in the matter. His face twisted in anger, so much so I believed he was going to refuse. The larger man noticed this and tipped his chin in warning.

Seth looked to be non consenting as he walked away. The man then focused his attention on me, stopping in the middle of the two huge and still growling wolves.

"Why are you on our land, leech?" the man all but spat at me.

I lowered my hands, shooting him a glare. That was rude. The other two wolves disappeared behind the bush, most likely to get changed too.

"Like I was saying to Seth, I did not know that this land was yours, until the last minute, by then, I had already stepped foot on it. Seth came out and I explained myself. I'm looking for someone."

I found my voice was full of confidence as I spoke to him, though I was quaking inside. I hoped he would see reason and no one would get hurt. I hoped.

"So if you didn't know until the last minute, why didn't you turn back once you had spoken to Seth? He obviously trusted you enough to shift back into his human form. Tell me who are you looking for."

The mans voice held so much command and authority, it was like I had to give him an answer or else. This pissed me off. I wasn't one of these lap dogs. Pun intended.

"I'm looking for Carlisle Cullen. By the way, Seth didn't jump to a conclusion and actually realised that I was lost. That I did not mean to stumble on to your land." The man growled at this, his face contorting with anger.

"Haven't you killed her already Sam? She's a bloodsucker and on our land, how can you even stand there and talk with her? That stench would knock anyone out."

The other two boys came out from behind the bush. I was beginning to realise that so far, everyone had the same rusty, brown skin tone as Seth. I was pretty sure they were descendants from an native American tribe. The man, Sam, whipped his head around.

"Shut up, Paul. I am doing the talking here, not you."

The other boy, Paul shrank back a little. The final boy, I could only assume was Jacob.

"Why should I allow you to leave our land? You will only go and kill more people. My people," Sam spat.

His face did nothing to cover up the pure disgust he felt towards me. I scrunched up my face up in an effort to control my anger. I screwed my fists up into balls. This conversation was going nowhere.

"Because I do not kill humans, or cant you tell that by my gold eyes?" I asked rhetorically, sarcasm dripping from my words.

"All I want to do, is see the Cullen's. Is that such a big problem?"

Paul snorted at me. "The Cullen's are lucky to still be alive. If our ancestors had not made that treaty, they would be long dead by now."

He had a smarmy, smug look about his face, as if this were pure fact. "Paul, I am warning you, keep your mouth shut. Now is not the time. We have more pressing matters at hand, unless you have forgotten."

Paul shook his head, looking down and mumbling, "I haven't."

Jacob stepped forward. "I don't care that your eyes are gold. I will kill you right now. The Cullen's took something from me, something that meant the world to me. I swear, I will kill you."

I faked a yawn. I thought as to what it was that they took from him. It must have been something important, if he was making threats like this to someone he barely knew.

"Yeah, I don't care. Why threaten me? I did not take anything from you, did I?" I made sure to put on an arrogant face to prove my point.

I really did not care less. These people meant nothing to me. they wouldn't even be willing to reason with me. So far, the conversation was going nowhere. Jacob looked beyond furious. He began to convulse. Which I still found beyond interesting.

"Now you listen here, you filthy little bitch, I will break you. Do you understand me? I will rip you apart and burn you!" His voice held so much hate and anger in it, that I actually found it amusing,

I just thought his threats were empty. I opened my mouth to retort, as my phone began to vibrate in my pocket. I didn't dare answer it, it was best to let it ring out.

"Look, this is going nowhere. I'm leaving. I mean you no harm, Sam. But try and stop me, and I promise that you will get hurt."

Paul began to convulse as much as Jacob had moments earlier. Sam began to growl. "If that is the way you want to do this, fine. I was going to listen to reason, but then, you were never going to make it to the Cullen's."

With a snarl, I swung my fist into Sam's face before I took off running. The sound of the wolves right behind me pressed me to run faster. They were right on my tail and god dammit, they were fast.

Panicked, I began to head in the direction that Seth had mentioned. Only problem was, more wolves were coming to join in on the chase, and they were so fast. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. I'm going to die.

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to outrun them. I continued to run, as there was nothing else I could do. If I died, then I would die trying.

As I ran in the direction of a cliff face, a scent hit me. It was sickly sweet, the scent of a vampire, and it was coming from straight ahead.

I knew it was just past the trees that clustered the end of the cliff. I moved as quickly as possible, not even daring to look behind me as the wolves snapped their jaws at my heels.

They growled viciously at me, so many at a time I was beginning to become disorientated. I didn't even know what direction they was coming from any more.

As I reached the trees, I caught sight of not one, not two, but eight vampires standing there. I could see their eyes, gold. God, I could cry right now. This must of been Tanya's extended family, as she put it.

This must of been Carlisle's coven. I continued running towards them, only stopping when I reached a male. He looked to be in his mid twenty's, standing beside a woman who wore a very motherly expression.

She looked at me with so much motherly concern that I was instantly reminded of Carmen. She too looked to be in her mid twenties.

The loud snarls and growls the wolves had been making came to an abrupt stop. The man next to me stepped forward only slightly, whilst the woman who looked to be in her mid twenties smiled at me.

Catching me off guard, she pulled me into a very tender hug. "You must be Bella! Are you ok? Did they hurt you in anyway?"

I shook my head. "No, they didn't. Bu-"

Something caught my eye, halting my speech. The most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my long life. A scent that was coming from her so amazing I couldn't help but breathe deep and inhale it.

Strawberries and honey. A rare mix, but mouth watering all the same. The woman just stared at me, her angry expression and tight. "Hey! Watch out!"

"Paul! NO!"

I was so preoccupied with staring at the girl, that by the time I managed to turn around, I was hurtled backwards, with a wolf attached to my arm.

AN: Thanks to LeighJ11 for being my beta. Reviews are extremely welcome and appreciated. I would love to know how I'm doing. Also, myself and my beta are continuously going over previous chapters to edit small things and fix mistakes. We'll continue to do so to make this story better!