Victoria. Victoria. Victoria.

Her name echoed throughout my mind. She was here and she had been to my house and my school. Who knows who she would hurt in order to get to me.

"Victoria," Tanya repeated. She turned to Laurent and it all clicked. "They left her alive," she shrieked.

I covered my eyes. Her growling and snarling was too loud. "Tanya," Eleazar shouted. "Enough." He nodded toward me.

One look at me and Tanya calmed down instantly. "I'm sorry Bella," Tanya murmured.

"Yes, Victoria was James' mate," Laurent confirmed. "I wasn't aware she was still alive until today. I had assumed they killed her when they killed James."

"They should have, the idiots," Kate growled.

"I don't understand." They forgot all about the lone human in the room. Why would they assume Victoria was dead? I could have told them she was still alive.

"Eleazar," Tanya looked at him and he nodded. "I supposed they never told you about mates." I shook my head. "When vampires mate it's for life. Not even death breaks the bond. Take Carmen and Eleazar for instance. Let's say I was a nomad and I killed Carmen. Eleazar would stop at nothing to avenge Carmen's death, until either I was dead, or he was dead."

"They know this," Eleazar continued. "They know how mated pairs are. Laurent…"

"Knowing Victoria she will target Bella," Laurent explained, guessing what Eleazar would say. "Especially if she knows there are no vampires to protect her. Now that we are here, she may be a little more hesitant."

"What are you thinking Laurent?" Irina asked. I guess I wasn't the only one that suspected he was hiding something.

He looked at me and sighed. "I know how she is. Victoria has never been… mentally stable. Then again neither was James. I'm certain she planned on killing Bella to make him suffer, and then killing him. I wouldn't be surprised if she planned on killing the whole family. Not that she would ever get the chance."

"Does she have any gifts?" Eleazar asked curious.

Laurent shrugged. "Not that I am aware of, however, her ability to evade other vampires was too good."

"Enhanced self-preservation," Eleazar said thoughtfully. "That could be an issue."

"We will deal with her if she returns," Tanya said firmly.

"Why?" I whispered. Six pairs of eyes turned to stare at me. "Why do you care? Why are you guys even here?"

Everyone looked to Tanya. Was she the leader? Like the doctor? It would explain why they seemed to go to her to answer questions.

Tanya nodded. Another silent vampire conversation. "Alice," Tanya said. I winced but Tanya ignored it. "A few days ago she called me. She didn't tell me that they had left Forks. I suppose I should have known. She called me and told me I needed to go to Forks. She told me you were going to kill yourself and I needed to get here as soon as possible to stop you. She gave me the date, time and location."

So Alice, I mentally winced, had seen my decision to die and instead of coming here to help me herself she sent other vampires. Did she see me suffer the entire time they were gone? Did she just watch as I sliced my arms open?

Hearing that she cared enough to send someone to save me did not make me feel better. In fact, it made me feel worse. It meant she knew what I was going through and she still chose to stay away. She left me to suffer.

"Bella," Tanya said touching my arm. "Are you alright?"

I shook my head. I was anything but alright. "Why did she bother to tell you about me? Why not let me die? It's not like she cared."

"Bella," Tanya said. She looked horrified by what I said. Or she knew what I said was true. "Alice loves you. She may have left but I'm sure she had a good reason."

I don't know who she was trying to convince, me or her. Either way it didn't work. I was certain Alice didn't give a damn about me. None of them did.

Kate checked her phone. "Tanya, we need to get Bella home. Bella's been gone for hours. Her father will start to worry."

Charlie. I had forgotten about him. My stomach dropped as I looked at my arms covered in cuts and my bandaged left arm. He was going to see them. I didn't want Charlie to worry about me although he had every right to be worried.

Laurent seemed to sense my worry. He struggled off his jacket, leaving his chest bare, and handed it to me. "Here, at least until you get settled at home."

I took the offered jacket and put it on. It smelled like him but I couldn't describe what that smell was. They all smelled the same but at the same time different.

Tanya did not look happy that I was wearing Laurent's jacket. I was about to take it off and hand it back but she smiled and hugged me. "Let's get you home."

"Do you have a car?" I asked.

"No, not yet," Tanya answered. "I will have to carry you while we run." The thought made me sick. Running with him had always made me nauseous. "Are you ready?"

I nodded and Tanya lifted me off the ground and into her arms. She tucked my head into her shoulder.

I could feel the wind as we ran to my house. Even though I could feel us running it didn't bother me. I didn't feel the usual nausea that came with running. It was probably because my eyes were covered. Normally I watched the trees go by when we ran. This was better.

I didn't move my head until the running stopped. When I pulled away from Tanya I saw that we were at the edge of the woods, behind my house.

"Why did we stop here?" I asked confused.

"I wanted to talk to you before you go inside," she informed me. "Your dad's not here so we have a little time."

I wasn't sure what time it was, but I figured if he wasn't home then he was still at work. "What about?"

"We will be taking turns watching over you from here," Tanya began. "Unless you would rather us come inside?"

I shook my head. It would be easier to plan without vampires hovering over me. "You guys don't have to watch me."

"Yes we do," Tanya disagreed. "We all want to. Plus, thanks to our cousins, there is a vampire after you. It is our job to fix the mess they made."

"I don't get it," I said to myself. Of course they heard me. I could tell by looking at them that they wanted to ask questions but for whatever reason they didn't.

"Laurent and Irina will be taking the first watch," Tanya continued. "Kate and I will be by tonight when you go to bed. If you need us just call. We can hear you. You have school tomorrow right?"

It took me a minute to remember it was Sunday. "Yes I do," I said.

Tanya looked to her family. "We will hunt while you are at school." The others nodded in agreement. "But we will be close by if you need us. We will also need to go shopping so we can get settled." Kate and Irina looked way too happy about that.

"You're staying?" I figured they would go back to… wherever they were from, now that they knew I was okay. Or after Victoria was dealt with.

"Of course we are," Tanya said. "We will be staying in our cousins house."

"Tanya already plans on getting rid of all of their stuff," Kate added with a grin.

"Not all of it," Tanya said laughing. "That TV is rather nice."

I had no idea how I felt about them moving into that house. I had a feeling I would be spending a lot of time with Tanya and her family. I wasn't sure how comfortable I was spending time with them in that house. Too many memories there, both good and bad.

Tanya walked me to the front door of my house. I pulled my keys from my pocket and unlocked the door. "My truck." How I forgot I drove my truck to the house was beyond me.

Tanya grabbed the keys from my hand. "Kate will bring your truck back," she promised me. She took the key to my truck off the key ring and tossed it behind her. I didn't bother looking to see if Kate was there to catch it.

I walked into the house with Tanya right behind me. "What are you doing?" I didn't expect her to come in.

"I want to make sure no one was in here," she told me.

She followed me to my room. I don't know what exactly she was looking for. Nothing looked out of place.

"Did you find anything?" I asked when I got to my room.

Tanya shook her head. "It was only yours and your father's scent," she said. She looked relieved.

"How can you tell?" I was curious. I heard about scents a lot from vampire's, but they never explained.

Tanya sat down on my bed and patted the spot beside her. I sat next to her. My eagerness to hear her explanation outweighed my confusion on why she was still here.

"Everyone, human and vampire, has a unique scent. Family members are a lot closer in scent than strangers. Yours is a freesia and vanilla combination, quite lovely. Your father's scent is a mixture of vanilla and charcoal. Similar to yours but not the same. I imagine your mother's scent would be more floral."

I nodded in understanding. It was interesting, hearing about how different vampires are. They looked normal, other than the beauty, eyes and skin, but they were nowhere near normal.

We sat on my bed silently for several minutes. "Kate's almost here," Tanya said tilting her head.

Sure enough I could hear the sound of my truck. It was a lot louder than I remembered. "Can you thank her for me?"

"She can hear you," Tanya laughed.

"Thanks Kate," I called. A beep from my horn was her response.

"It's time for me to go," Tanya said sadly. "Your father is almost home." She stood up and kissed my check. "Take care of yourself Bella. I will be nearby if you need me."

Tanya disappeared out my window in the blink of an eye.

Minutes later I heard the police cruiser pull into the driveway. I grabbed a sweater to cover my arms and made my way downstairs to greet him. "Hi Dad," I greeted.

"Bella," he said surprised.

"How was work?" I asked. It wasn't that I cared how work was going. But I felt I owed it to Charlie to at least attempt to have a conversation with him.

"Fine. What's wrong?" Charlie asked eyeing me. I didn't blame him for being suspicious. I hadn't been much of a daughter, or a person, for the last six months.

I decided to spend some more time with him before I died. That way he would have some good memories of me.

"Nothing's wrong," I lied. A lot was wrong. Vampires were back and pretending they care, and my desire to die were among them. "Do you want me to make dinner?"

Charlie stared at me surprised. In the last six months I had only cooked dinner a handful of times. One of those times I had burned my hand so bad I had to go to the hospital. It was when I learned physical pain was the key to distracting myself from him. The rest of the time Charlie either got dinner from the diner, ordered pizza, or tried and failed to cook for himself. He would also go to La Push at times and eat there.

"Are you sure?" he asked once he recovered from the surprise.

I nodded. "I'm sure."

He pulled out his wallet and handed me his credit card. "Get what you need. Don't worry about the cost." He was so relieved I was 'back to normal' that he didn't care about money.

I could feel eyes on me as I drove to the store. I didn't know for sure who it was but I assumed it was Tanya, making sure I didn't do anything stupid.

When I got to the store I had no idea what I wanted to make. Spaghetti had always been my go-to dinner choice. But it seemed to simple for tonight. So I settled on Charlie's favorite meal, steak and potatoes, and a vegetable I hadn't decided on.

I had no idea what food we had at home. I figured it wasn't much of anything. I decoded to do regular grocery shopping while I was here.

I wandered the aisles grabbing what I thought we would need for the week. I grabbed a pack of ribeye steaks, Charlie's favorite, as well as a large potato and a small one. I also grabbed some chicken and ground beef for other meals. I found asparagus on sale and figured that would make a good vegetable for tonight.

It took close to an hour to finish up my shopping. By the time I was through the checkout I spent well over $100. Thankfully being in a small town meant everyone knew each other, so the cashier didn't even blink when I handed her Charlie's credit card.

Before I could turn my truck off Charlie was standing outside, ready to help bring groceries in. "I bought some extra stuff for the week," I warned him. I didn't want him to see the receipt and get mad.

"That's fine," he said, not at all bothered by the number of bags.

We silently unloaded my truck. I knew Charlie was watching me but he never said anything. Once the bags were brought inside, I handed Charlie his card and the receipt. He tucked both into his wallet and grabbed a beer. He looked like he wanted to sit in the kitchen and watch me. After a minute he settled on going to the living room. Within minutes I could hear some type of game was on the TV.

I forgot how much I liked cooking. It was an easy way to distract me from everything that had happened. I got the potatoes ready first as they would take the longest to cook. Once they were in the oven, I prepared the steaks with some salt and pepper.

I waited until there was about five minutes left on the timer. I grilled the asparagus. Once the timer went off I pulled the potatoes out and then grilled the steaks.

For the first time in months I thought about nothing, except the food, while I cooked. It was relaxing and for a few moments I felt none of my urges.

I fixed Charlie's plate, and my much smaller plate, and took the both to the living room.

An hour later I managed to finish my plate. Charlie cleaned up the kitchen before I finished eating. I think even he was surprised when he came back and found my plate empty.

I spent another hour sitting with him, pretending to watch the game, before I went to bed. It was still early but I was tired.

Not long after I closed my eyes the nightmares began.