DISCLAIMER: -Shakes head in defeat- There are about 24 disclaimers already tacked on to this story. Do you think I'll get in trouble if I stop writing them? Only time will tell…

The Volturi were coming closer. Aro reached his hand out towards the little boy and there wasn't anything that I could do. I opened my mouth to yell something, anything, but nothing came out. I tried to move but my legs didn't work. I was frozen. I was helpless. I met the little boy's gaze, and a sick smile spread across Aro's face, just before his hand's clenched onto the little boy. And then…

"Don't, Rosalie," Esme's voice snapped. I breathed a sigh of relief as the horrible dream was interrupted. This repetitive nightmare really didn't make a whole lot of sense, but even when I woke up and was brought back to reality, a dark undertone was left over. Words like, "Volturi", "Little Boy", and "Frozen" were always there, stirring threateningly in the back of my head.

I opened my eyes and turned to look at Rose. She was standing next to…Jacob, glowering down at him. I hadn't noticed it before, but by the looks of it, he had crashed before he even made it out of the house. Poor guy.

"I wasn't going to do anything," Rosalie argued indignantly. Looking sullen, she made her way back over to me. When she saw that I was looking at her, she said, "You're up." I just nodded.

I looked around to see Edward, Esme, Seth… and Alice. As soon as I saw her, I beamed and simply said, "Hi."

Alice returned my smile, though I could see that there was still some hopelessness in her eyes. "Hey, Bella," was all that she said. As I felt a sudden draft, I shivered. Edward moved to close the front door, but a grimace from Rosalie and Seth didn't escape my notice. It took me a minute, but I finally remembered that they hated the way the other person smelled.

I shook my head quickly and said, "Don't worry about it, Edward. I'm fine." I seemed to be saying that a lot lately. Edward hesitated at the door for a few seconds, but he finally shrugged and walked back towards me. I tried to push myself into a sitting position. I was still getting used to having a huge stomach.

"How did you sleep?" He asked, reaching out and taking my hand to help me sit up.

I frowned, but as coolly as I could, murmured, "I slept great." That was another one of my common, almost daily, lies. Every once in a while, Edward would see through it because I'd said something in my sleep that gave me away. Other times, I'd be so tired that the nightmares just wouldn't come at all, but that didn't happen very often. I guess that exhaustion was a blessing in disguise.

"You were talking…" Edward began slowly. I felt my face fall and I was about to apologize for lying when I was saved by Seth.

"You said something about a baseball," Seth said with a grin. A baseball? I was about to just nod dumbly when I realized what he was talking about. At the very beginning of my dream, I'd been playing catch with the little boy. I guess that today was my lucky day. I wasn't going to get caught lying after all. "That's all I really understood," Seth added. I smiled at him gratefully.

"Yeah, I dreamed that I was a pro-baseball player. If I can't have even the slightest hand-eye coordination in real life, at least I'm lucky enough to get to dream about it," I said with a little laugh. I almost believed it myself. I was definitely getting better at the whole lying thing. If I could fool a room full of non-humans with sharp senses, I could fool anyone.

I looked around, and it seemed like everyone was fooled. Well, almost everyone. Just not Edward, but that was to be expected. It had almost become my second nature to lie, so it was naturally his second nature to be suspicious about it. I had learned not to loose my cool when Edward was staring me down intently, searching my face for a lie.

Jake snorted in his sleep and Rosalie shot him a dark look. Edward took a look between Rose and Jacob and he chuckled under his breath, before standing up. "It's been a while since you ate. I've already got some food made, I just have to heat it up," He said before making his way into the kitchen. I heard the fridge door open, close, and then the microwave started. I kind of wished that I had my cup of blood.

Jacob's breathing became faster and he made a strange noise, like he was choking. Rosalie looked like she wanted to go and give him a good kick. Esme gave Seth and me a tiny smile, and shot Rosalie a warning look before standing up to go upstairs. Vaguely, I could hear Emmett, Jasper, and Carlisle talking. She was probably going to join their conversation.

A few minutes later, Edward returned holding a plate similar to the one that he had earlier and handing it to Seth. As if he had read my mind, he was holding my cup of blood in his hand. He took a seat on my right and gave it to me with an understanding expression.

"Thanks," I said quietly. I was almost over the idea of drinking blood, but this was the first time that I'd done it in front of Seth. Would he be grossed out? Shocked? I didn't really know.

I took a sip from the cup, watching Seth's expression. He didn't seem bothered by it, and I realized that he would already have heard about my…strange diet from Jacob. I could only imagine how Leah must have reacted. It was probably on her list of reasons to stay away from all of us. If Jacob hadn't told me that she had joined them in the first place, I would never have known. Rosalie had told me that Leah refused to come within a hundred feet of the house a few days ago.

As I felt another gust of wind from the doorway, I shivered again. I put my hand to my head. I could tell that I had a low fever, but I decided not to bother Edward with this piece of information.

This time it was Rosalie who unenthusiastically moved to close the door. I opened my mouth to protest, but closed it again as Seth stood up from where he had been sitting on the ground. Was he leaving? I thought that Seth and Jake were getting used to the vampire smell…

Instead of heading for the door like I expected, Seth made his way over to me and sat on my left. Rosalie stopped walking and she turned to watch him suspiciously. I could tell that Rose didn't trust any of the werewolves, and come to think of it, they probably didn't trust her either.

Cautiously, he raised his arm to drape it around my shoulder. I couldn't tell whose reaction he was most worried about. I shivered again and he didn't seem to need any more encouragement than that. He draped his arm loosely around my shoulder, and I instantly felt better.

"Problem solved," I said. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it," He replied, before turning his attention to the food that was on his plate. He offered me a piece of toast, which I refused. I wasn't really in the mood for normal human food.

"Bella?" I heard a voice call from upstairs. It sounded like Carlisle.

"Yes?" I called back, thankful that I had my normal voice back. Before the blood, I would never have been able to make my voice carry all the way up the stairs, even if the person that I was talking to did happen to have super-hearing.

"Do you want me to take your IV out?" He called in return. I felt my eyes get wide. I only had one needle still stuck into my arm. For the first time in weeks, I would be needleless. It was another one of life's simple blessings that I used to take for granted.

"Yes!" I yelled, nearly bouncing up and down. Rosalie, Edward, Seth, and Alice all laughed. I think that I might have even heard some chuckling coming from upstairs.

"I'll be right down," Carlisle said. True to his word, he was by my side a few seconds later, with gauze (and a band aid) in his hand.

He told me to hold my arm still, and I closed my eyes in order to avoid seeing my blood as he took the IV out. I could handle drinking someone else's blood, but it still grossed me out to see my own.

I felt a slight pressure on my arm where Carlisle was holding the gauze. A minute later, he replaced the gauze with a little band aid. There was picture of a seemingly normal little boy.

"The hospital got them this last Halloween. We had some extras," Carlisle explained. I took a closer look and I realized that it was a nice-looking version of Dracula. I laughed out loud.