I remembered clearly the look on his face, the fire in his eyes, as he told me to leave with Renee, to move to Jacksonville - away from him.

I remembered exactly the words that he said as he ordered me away - and the pain that it caused me.

"I'm bored of you, Bella. You're no longer worth my time. Go to Florida with you mother and get on with your life."

So I did. Or at least I tried to. I really did.

I went to school for the remainder of the year. I kept my grades up. I made sure Renee's and Phil's bills got paid on time. I cooked and cleaned.

I tried hard not to think about the pain in my chest, the ache to see him.

He no longer wants you, I reminded myself now as I slipped easily through the forest. He never wanted you.

Even now, after all these years of not seeing him, I still loved him with all my heart. Even with all the pain caused by his harsh word.

I clenched my hands into hard fists as I remembered what had happened only forty years ago during the summer after I had met him.

Though it had only been two months since I had moved from Charlie's home in rainy Forks, Washington, to Jacksonville, I was still required to take the mandatory summer trip to Forks.

Charlie had picked me up from the airport as usual and we had spent the next few days in peaceful silence. I had gotten excruciatingly bored one day and had decided to take a walk through the woods behind Charlie's house like I used to do when I had lived there.

I should have known what would happen that day.

I halted in my steps now and raised my hand slowly to the place her teeth had torn into. I knew she had meant to kill me, but two vampires had appeared and torn Victoria away from me - leaving the venom to circulate through my body.

I had woken up three days later, in the Cullen's empty home. Two unfamiliar vampires sat next to me on the floor. The female was just as short as Alice but her hair was white blonde and long, just like her apparent mate's.

"Hello," her bell like voice rang unnaturally clear in my ears. "Who are you? And would you care to explain why your scent is all over the Cullen's house and where they are?"

I smiled now at the fear I had felt upon meeting Charlotte and Peter, Jasper's brother and his mate. It had taken me several hours to convince the red-eyed vampires that I didn't know where their brother's family had gone and that, should they find the Cullens, they should never mention or think about me as a vampire. After that, they had left me and I had wandered alone - away from human civilization.

I taught myself to hunt - Cullen style. Slowly, my eyes had turned from crimson to golden topazes. I hunted alone in the forest's surrounding Forks for only a year before I was entirely in control of my thirst.

It was the anniversary of my "death" and I decided to finally wander into Port Angeles to see if I could purchase a car before I would move farther away from my old home.

It was after dark when I was driving slowly through town, rejoicing in my new Prius. That was when I smelled it.

Blood. Lots of it.

I could hear the faint heartbeat as it slowed and the sobbing of several people near it. I slammed on my gas and followed the scent to a small group of familiar people.

The La Push kids had grown a lot in my year of solitude. I recognized only one of them, the biggest in their group. He was Billy Black's son Jacob and he smelled awful, like a mixture of animal and human.

Actually, they all did.

But where, I frowned in confusion. The blood I was smelling was sweet - human. I finally spotted the source of the scent in Jacob's arms.

It was a young girl. She was very pretty for a human with dark brown hair that was matted with her crimson blood and, I realized with shock, she looked exactly like I had when I was human. Her heart shaped face was grimacing in pain and I realized that she had a long gash running across her throat.

"Jacob?" I said quietly as I approached the group of four boys and the girl.

Jacob looked up at me in shock - his eyes filled with tears.

"Bella?" he asked confused as he quickly glanced between me and the girl. "I thought..."

"She's one of them," one of the others gasped.

"But she has the Cullen's eyes," another said, the youngest.

Jacob glanced back at me sharply. "Please, Bells, I'll explain later. But please, help her!"

I flashed to his side and took my "twin" from his arms. After a quick analysis I determined there was nothing I could do. The poor girl was almost dead.

"Jake..." I said quietly, the pain in my own voice evident.

Jacob's fiery hand gripped my wrist. "Turn her. Bella, I can't live without her. Turn her, please."

Hesitantly, I stared down at the girl. The excess of venom pooling in my mouth at the scent of her blood. If I didn't change her now, I would never learn who she was.

I took her wrist in my hand and quickly bit down, allowing my venom to spread through her veins.