I'll seek you out

Flay you alive

One more word and you won't survive

And I'm not scared

Of your stolen power

I see right through you any hour

I won't soothe your pain

I won't ease your strain

You'll be waiting in vain

I got nothing for you to gain

Bella POV

"Were going to need a better plan just going in guns blazing, someone will get killed," Adam said, as everyone re-joined us in the main room.

"What does that mean, what'd you have in mind?" I asked frowning. The longer this brainstorming took, the longer it would take to get Aleera back. Wow, I thought in disbelief, I was a one track mind right now. Was I always like this?

"Jace has explained his theory about you being a Firebird," Nate explained.

"Is that the same thing as a Phoenix?" Kade cut in confused, everyone looked to me.

"How the hell should I know? This is a dead end theory guys. None of us knows a single thing about these bird creatures, and it's a flimsy theory at that," I said in frustration. Were they really going to insist on using me as some great big secret weapon? This wasn't going to go anywhere.

"You can't deny that your not human. We need to tap into that, once we do, we'll know for sure what you are. But for now we need to assume that your our best shot at getting her back," Jace said giving me an exasperated look.

"Well, I don't know what to fucking to do, so by all means, walk me through it," I snapped angrily. This was stupid. Really stupid. Exponentially stupid.

"Well for one we aren't going anywhere near that home until we come up with a safe plan. I get the feeling they may try and turn her, probably under Kaylee's suggestion," Connor said, glancing at me apologetically. I said nothing to that, I knew it was a possibility but I didn't want to think about it.

"It'll be a lot of vamps, so they'll need a secluded area next to a large city, so probably Stockholm. I'll search the area and see what I can find," Nate said, standing and leaving as quickly as he'd arrived.

"Bella I wanted to show you something, we'll have to go downtown to see this book I looked up," Connor said after a moment of silence. All of us trying to think of some way to get Aleera without anyone actually dying, or me mostly, considering they'd all come back to life. I'd never really understood why it was so hard for them to live even just fifty years one lifetime. I understood now though. They were constantly in danger and the possibility of dying by the end of the day was something they probably discussed at the breakfast table.

"Show me what?" I asked frowning.

"There's a pretty decent library under a museum, it's a private collection of course, so we'll need to break in. But I think there may be some books in there with pictures of your markings a few of them, the section on mythology is small, but several of our books we've gotten from there," Connor explained, and I didn't miss the confused look Jace gave him. Connor looked at Adam and then to Jace, "Remember?"

"No, I know what he's talking about good thinking. Damn B, you couldn't have picked the perfect place to train in," Brandon agreed, nodding in an impressed manner.

"Okay, might as well go now then," Adam said indifferently. I had to agree, I couldn't do much, the pros were already in the room doing everything they could do. I was shit out of ideas and hunting down something that could help me figure out what's wrong with me was better then sitting around and being bitter.

"I'll go with you guys," Jace said, and Adam just nodded once as the three of us left the house.

It hadn't really occurred to me until afterwards that something off was going on. I was ultra focused on Aleera, to be fair I hadn't thought of much aside from her. Hadn't even thought about the fact that I was adopted. It made a certain amount of sense but it was quite hard to believe. Maybe it just hadn't sunken in yet.

We drove for about fifteen minutes before stopping outside of a small little museum near the outskirts of the city. It was an older looking building much like the Tretyakov Gallery, which gave me a small slice of hope. The mural I'd come across was somewhat helpful, but it really wasn't much of a clue. Okay, maybe it was, but I remained skeptical until I saw some proof that I was some all-amazing mystical bird.

"There isn't any security here," I muttered to myself as we all climbed out of the car, hope dimming all over again.

"Because witches own the building, they don't like us much, there's probably spell work or something, we'll be careful," Connor assured me, sounding unusually optimistic. I wasn't worried, these guys have gotten out of worse.

"So what are witches like?" I asked casually as we walked around to the back entrance and Connor began to pick the lock on the door.

"Angry mostly, great when it comes to hexes, especially the elemental stuff," Jace said shrugging.

"So were going through a witches private library, witches that coincidentally like to hex people," they just nodded, "guys, that's a recipe for disaster," I said incredulously. They weren't this reckless were they? Though it would explain their death rate.

"We'll be fine, we survived the Lochness Monster of Brazil didn't we?" Connor retorted rolling his eyes at me.

The door clicked open, and we each silently stepped through the threshold and again I got a wave of something that resembled the intuitions way of saying 'run like hell'. Great, now even my gut was telling me this was a bad idea. I glanced at their relaxed expressions, and sighed. These two were clueless.

We got to a basement rather quickly, which only increased my worry and not because they knew exactly where to go, but just the feel of descending down the stairs. It was ominous then anything and I searched myself for both some courage and a boost for my senses and came up high and dry. Maybe I should've taken everyone's advise and slept for a while. Too late now.

We got to the end of the staircase, which I couldn't help but be reminded of a medieval castle staircase, with the stone walls and steps and the twisting it did on the way down. Connor bent down to start picking the lock and I frowned, "Move," I ordered and he stood up confused. I stepped forward, took a deep breath and kicked at it as hard as I could next to the door knob. It crashed open, splinters of old wood flying all over the place in the process.

"Someone's impatient," Jace muttered, and I flipped him off in response. He chuckled, each of us splitting up to search the room.

Again, the floors and walls were stone, and there were no windows, but I could see two more doors at the other end of the room. I paused, surveying the room in thought. There were about rows upon rows of musty smelling old book cases and it would take forever to get through. Then that feeling washed over me and I could've screamed and did a celebratory dance that we'd come to the right place.

As if silk wrapped around my left arm, I felt it tug and gave into the pull instantly. It guided me down the remaining three steps and into the maze, eventually losing myself in it. But it didn't matter when the feeling had gotten so enormous that by the time I'd arrived I had found exactly what we'd been searching for.

The book cases were high, going about eight or nine feet tall and there were seven shelves. I reached out, but none of them felt right until I got to the third bottom row. I sat down Indian style, the first book I pulled out was practically humming. It was small, and possibly about four hundred pages long, with no title or even a name. Which didn't surprise me when I opened it up. It was a Journal.

I raised my hand, practically caressing the page as I stared down at the cursive writing. Now I knew why the mural had called to me. Inside the name Yelena Dmitrievna Polenova's name sat there on that very first page. Under it, as clear as day, I Am The Firebird.

"Wow," I murmured, flipping open the first page and then paused before finishing it. It was basically talking about her twelfth birthday and how her mother had given her this journal. But it had nothing in it about being the Firebird, so I guess that meant she hadn't learned that until later on in her life.

I set the book down, noting two other journals, both with very different names. One was from Egyptian woman named Nafretiri Atallah, and another woman who was Irish by the name of Einin Darcy. I guess it was safe to say Firebirds were female. I set both those down in my bag, overly careful for some reason. Well maybe not some reason. It was would stand to reason that I would be paranoid about this. I had no other way of discovering who I was and this was pretty much all I had to go on.

I grasped the other two books, setting one down and flipping the larger of the two open. On the front of the book were my markings. I traced them with my index finger, momentarily enthralled with the grooves it made, as if the cover were wax and they'd been etched in. Who knows maybe they were.

I flipped open the page, the words weren't in English, kind of look a like some weird code language. "Oh you have got to be joking," I muttered in disbelief. More unknown languages. "Fuck me."

I flipped through the pages for a while, coming across pictures and illustrations of things that looked and felt familiar, but weren't. As if I'd been there or seen them before in another life time, but I couldn't rule it out.

"Well I guess that settles it," I muttered, rubbing the back of my now aching neck and looking around for the other two. I must've been sitting here for at least fifteen minutes, and the library wasn't that big.

So why haven't they found me yet? I stood up quickly, almost knocking the books to the ground but caught them before they could make noise. I knew better then to call out for them and give away my location, but that didn't mean I wasn't panicking inside now.

I shoved the other two books in there, pulling out my switch blade and then pulled the bag up and around my body in case I had to run. I began edging my way through the small stretch, suddenly wishing I had my invisible guiding hand to lead me out of here. Sadly, I did not.

I crept along silently, noting the non-existent sound of my brothers. Strange that I hadn't noticed I'd taken to calling them my brothers as well. I bit my lip, taking a deep calming breath. Then a strange thick whip like sound broke the air.

"What-?" I turned, and then dropped low as green flames flew straight over my head. I watched it slam straight into a book case, and ashes exploded with little flecks of flame before dying out. "The hell," I finished and when I heard the one it came from straight over me.

I rolled, but not in time for it skim my shoulder. I cried out, stumbled up, and grimaced as my left shoulder blade seared painfully. It was as if the fire was still there. "Not fake fire," I muttered, turning and then running.

I didn't make it far before the next flaming fire ball launched itself at me. I dropped low and kept moving, even as my chin smashed off of the rough uneven stony ground. I grunted, rubbing my jaw as I staggered back up and continued to run. But I couldn't deny that I might be running in circles.

"Fuck it," I muttered. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and concentrated on everything but myself. It was hard to explain, I mean, how do you feel everything at once without feeling yourself? It was something that got me every time Adam shouted it at me. But it wasn't something you thought out, it was just something you did. Like opening an invisible door that makes the worlds gravity shift for you.

My eyes shot open and I could just feel the next ball of lethal flame flying straight at me. I didn't think about anything though. I just acted. I jumped upwards, leaning slightly, and kicked off of one shelf on angle, and then kicked off of the shelf several feet higher, and then kicked off of the previous one again until I was left standing on the top of the bookcase.

I looked around and then realized four of those stupid flaming balls of fire were directed at me in different directions. I looked around, about to drop to the ground when I realized the ground was covered in flames.

I guess I understood what elemental hexes were now. I looked up and jumped, barely managing to grasp the old fashioned chandelier. I glanced around, seeing the door almost straight ahead, only a little to the left.

"Connor! Jace!" I called out, and lifted my body up as the four balls collided all at once right below me. The flames licked at my back a little and I cringed when I smelt singed hair. As they flickered out I dropped, and then hoping the fire was across the entire room I forced my body back and forth to get some momentum and then let go and flew forward.

I flew down a small cleared path and then rushed for the door only for what looked like a wave of fire crashed into another wave right in front of it. I turned to go in a different direction and then cried out falling backwards and throwing my arms out as a huge wave descended on me.

Then it just froze.

Heart pounding, I must stayed like that for a good two minutes before looking at my own hands. They weren't doing anything special from this angle, but I could almost see the vines moving and twisting back and forth a little. I suddenly twice as exhausted as I had when I'd gotten here.

Now I felt like an idiot. Why hadn't I done that before the fire ruined a perfectly good coat and blouse? I swallowed thickly, voice dry and irritated, before sitting up slowly, still pushing out a little with my mind. I tried to keep focused and with an unsteady deep breath I used all of the mental strength I had for the moment in a sort of push.

If I didn't know any better I could hear what sounded like an elastic band snapping. The fire went flying backwards and all of the flames before me evaporated. I felt something slide down my upper lip and I pressed my hand to my face. I had a nosebleed and my head hurt far worse then I'd ever felt before.

I didn't waste the opportunity and ran from the basement. Jace and Connor were waiting side by side out by the car. "You assholes," I shouted angrily.

They gave me ridiculous innocent looks and I couldn't help it when I lunged for Connor and swung at him, getting him in the cheek. "Calm down, we knew you could handle it," Jace grumbled as he struggled to pull me off of him.

"Handle it? You let me walk into a freaking trap! And you left me there!" I said shoving Jace off of me. I took a deep breath, seething on the inside. "What is it with you guys and trying to kill me to prove a point?"

"It worked didn't it?" Connor asked, standing up and rubbing his cheek as he scowled at me, "nice hit by the way."

"Screw you!"

-xxxxx-

"I think I'm a Firebird," I admitted to the main room as I entered the house, feeling a little foolish, and yet still feeling like this was a dream somehow. I felt like some kind of weight had been lifted, an unanswered question finally solved. I wish Aleera were here to celebrate with me.

"Told you so," Jace said teasingly from behind me, everyone had been waiting expectantly, aside from Nate anyways.

I looked down at my palms, one completely blank and the other with it's intricate and otherworldly flowers embedded in it. Someone put there arm on my left shoulder, and I looked back at Connor who was giving me a warm welcoming smile. "Congratulations Bella, welcome to the family of freaks. I hope you enjoy it, because you can never get away."

"Yeah, I'm sure death couldn't even save you now," Adam added cheerfully. I couldn't help it, I smiled. Because now I really did feel like I belonged with these guys, even Adam had accepted me as part of the family. This was my family, and as with the rest of them, blood didn't matter when all we had was each other. I guess it really was us against the world.

"Get some rest, we'll work on your recent discovery later, come up with a decent plan," Kade said giving me a smile, "Aleera would proud you know, about who you are. She always knew you were one of a kind."

I just smiled, still completely spent and with a migraine that could only be fixed with an aspirin the size of Texas.

I ascended the stairs, when i heard my cell phone ring just down the hall. I knew it wasn't Aleera, though a part of me hoped it was. Aleera was probably locked down pretty tightly. I flipped open the phone, and froze at Edward's voice. "Hello Bella."

"Um, hi?" i asked confused, then my rage snapped like a flame. And all of the power in the room sizzled out. It had surprised the hell out of me, but it shouldn't have. I'd ignited something inside of me. Power. "I want Aleera back Edward, you'll regret taking her."

"What a coincidence because i want you back. As soon as you turn yourself over to me and join the family you rightfully belong to, we'll let her go, you have two days," then the line went dead. I must've stood there staring into space for quite a while, a plan forming in my mind. It was a good plan.

Eyes on fire

Your spine is ablaze

Felling any foe with my gaze

And just in time

In the right place

Steadily emerging with grace

Peeling off my clothes slightly dazed i moved towards the mirror, wondering if my new abilities extended to healing as well, i did. The wound had vanished, and the markings remained as if they had never been compromised in the first place. I stared at myself in the mirror. I looked liked crap, and even a bit relieved. I knew what I was and better, soon I would get to tell the girl of my dreams in person, I would have Aleera back soon and i would make every vampire regret having even heard of me.

I smiled half heartedly at myself, without much thought, whispering, "I, Isabella Swan, am a Firebird." As if on cue both of my irises lit up in gold and red flames. Strange how the eyes always somehow hold the answers and clues to what you are.

I'm taking it slow

Feeding my flame

Shuffling the cards of your game

And just in time

In the right place

Suddenly I will play my ace