The next day, I spend at Seths. We don't do much, just hang out around the house and watch TV, but Harry seems.. Almost like he doesn't want me to go home. I don't even end up leaving until almost nine.

I walk home alone, although Seth had wanted to walk me. But I told him no, since it was already so late. All of my things were shoved in a backpack on my shoulder, which started aching halfway home.

Billy is sitting in the kitchen, a cup of coffee in front of him. He looks off, and he keeps looking out the window, and then to the phone.

"Hey." I greet, walking to my room. "Where's Jake?"

"Sleeping." Billy says quickly, and I get the feeling he's lying.

"Still sick?" I ask, lingering in the hallway.

"Yep."

"Okay then," I mutter, and enter my room. I set my backpack down, and yank off my clothes. I pull on sweatpants and a long sleeve tee shirt. It gets tiring, covering up all the time, but I did it to myself. Sad thing is, I wouldn't trade it. For some odd, sick reason, I like my scars. I don't know who I'd be without them.

I turn on the radio, and an old Michael Jackson song plays. I feel the urge to sing along, so I flip the radio off. I lay on bed in silence, wondering what the hell is going on with my brother. If he is sick, then I hope he gets better soon. If he isn't sick, then I hope he figures his shit out.

The sound of our phone ringing wakes me up in the morning, and I groggily roll out of bed, stumbling to the phone. Yet as I near the kitchen I see Jake has the phone.

And holy fuck, his hair is fucking gone, he seems to have grown at least another foot, and.. Fuck, he looks buff as shit. How did he change so drastically from last night?

"Everything," Jacob whispers into the phone, and I flinch at the pain tangible in his tone. "Every part of me hurts."

A moment passes, and he speaks again, his tone abrupt and flat. "No, you can't come here."

"I'll call you when I can. I'll let you know when you can come down again." He speaks quickly.

I hear someone outside the house let out a loud call, it almost sounded like "Yeeyee" and I raise my eyebrows at it.

"I've got to go." Jacob says with urgency. After a pause, he speaks again. "Right." His voice has a strange, bitter tone to it.

He's silent for a moment, and I stay where I am, watching him cautiously. "Wait for me to call."

He whispers something into the phone, something I can't hear, and he hangs up the phone. He rubs at his eyes, and freezes when he sees me.

"Jake.." I trail off, my eyes wide as I look at him. "What happened to you?"

He doesn't say anything, just looks at me morosely, and the "Yeeyee" call is heard again. With speed I didn't know he possessed, Jacob spun on his heel and hurried outside.

If I weren't in a state of shock, I would have hurried after him. Instead, I walk into the kitchen and sit in one of the chairs. I drop my face in my hands, slide my fingers through my hair, grabbing at the hair on the base of my neck.

The pain distracts me enough that I don't start crying, even though that's all that I want to do. I'm worried about my brother, and I know I won't get any answers. How do I know that? Because it's the same fucking thing that happened to Jared Cameron and Paul Uley and Embry Call, and now it's my brother. Sam Uley has his claws sunk into my brother, and I can't help him. There's nothing I can do, and I'm not going to cry about it.

-o-

I avoid my house as much as possible for the next two weeks. I end up staying at Seth's house; actually, Harry and Sue practically begged me to. Leah is annoyed by my presence, but Seth is thrilled. I sleep on the couch, and only sometimes wake up with tears dried on my cheeks. Tiffany Call has me work every day after school, since Embry is MIA, but I don't mind. It makes me feel a bit better about staying at the Clearwaters, since it means I don't just sit around their house all the time.

I try to help out around their house as much as possible, but whenever Sue catches me cleaning she waves me off. The only reason she lets me help with cooking meals is because she knows I love cooking. She even teaches me how to make her famous pies, and of course Seth was helpful, sneaking bits of it the whole time we cooked.

On Saturday, I end up going home. Not because I particularly wanted to, but because I didn't want to overstay my welcome at the Clearwater house. Besides, spending all that time with Seth was overwhelming. Not in a good or bad way, I just needed my space. Even if that means being around my now gang member brother and silent father.

I walk into the house, seeing Billy on the phone. It doesn't appear that Jacob is home, and I don't know if I should be happy or sad about that. I settle for somewhere in between.

"I'm sorry, Bella," Billy says, watching me walk in with unreadable eyes. "He's not in."

"Yeah," Billy is silent for a moment too long. "Turns out it wasn't mono after all. Just some other virus."

"Are you talking to Bella?" I demand, walking over to him.

"He's giving some friends a ride to Port Angeles- I think they were going to see a double feature or something. He'll be gone the whole day." Billy replies, ignoring what I had asked.

Anger flares inside me, and I storm over to the phone. I rip the thing out of Billy's hands, nearly taking our phone off the wall at the same time.

"Bella?" I ask quickly, hoping she hadn't hung up.

"Rayna?" Bella asks hopefully. "Is that you?"

"Yes." I state, moving as far away from Billy as possible. "What are you doing today?"

"Um," Bella says uncertainly. "I don't have any plans."

"Meet me at the La Push diner." I say. "We can hang out."

"That sounds great." Bella says gratefully. "I'll be there in ten."

"See you then." I hang up the phone, and leave the kitchen. Billy calls after me, but I ignore him.

I drop my bag in my room, and grab a hair binder. I slide it onto my wrist, and pull the sleeve of my red sweatshirt over it. I ignore Billy again, slamming the door behind me. Quickly, I walk to the diner.

I don't end up waiting long, a few minutes after I got there Bella's truck roared into the lot. I don't give her a chance to get out, just jump into the passenger seat.

"What's going on?" Bella blurts the minute I shut the door. She throws the truck in reverse, and we tear out of the parking lot.

"I think Jake joined Sam's gang," I rush out. "I haven't even been at home for two weeks, and it's weird because Billy had nothing against it, and Harry and Sue were all too happy to have me, and I can't get answers from anyone."

"He said he was afraid of Sam, that he kept staring at him." Bella slams her hand on the steering wheel.

"Can we just.. Not talk about this right now?" I ask pleadingly. "I know you probably want to talk about it, since Jake is your best friend, but I've spent the past two weeks mulling over it in my mind and it's such a hopeless situation to me that if I think about it too much, I'm going to breakdown."

Bella is silent for a moment, and then nods. "Yeah, let's just find something to do."

"We can look for the meadow," I supply. "I'm pretty good at navigating the woods, I bet we can find it."

Bella gives me a weak smile. "That sounds good.

We drive to the same spot as last time, and Bella pulls out the map and compass. It takes a few minutes, but I finally have the compass pointing the right way.

"Let's go." I say, and we trudge into the woods together.

The forest is full of life today, all the little creatures enjoying the momentary dryness. As we walk through, the birds chirp and caw, insects buzz noisily around our heads, and occasionally we see field mice scurry through the shrubs. I tie my hair up with my binder, my curls frizzing and sticking to my neck. Our feet squish across the damp ground, but I feel uneasy.

I feel on edge, and the deeper we go, the stronger the sense of unease gets. As we get deeper, I suddenly realize that the odd sound I'm hearing is Bella's breathing.

I turn quickly, seeing that she's almost gasping for breath and clutching her chest as though it's the only thing keeping her alive. Maybe it is.

She doesn't see me look, and I quickly turn back. I don't want to embarrass her, and as long as she isn't having a heart attack I won't worry too much. Besides, it isn't the first time Bella has clutched her chest like she's holding herself together with the strength of her arms. Yet another reason I want to knock Cullen's teeth out.

The rhythm of our footsteps becomes sort of a lullaby for me, lulling my mind into nothing but figuring our way to Bella's meadow. Bella's breathing evens out, and I sigh in time, Bella is moving more efficiently. We seem to have covered four miles already, I note with enthusiasm.

With an abruptness that disorients me, I step through a large arch made by two maple vines- pushing past the chest high ferns- into a meadow.

"I think we found it," I call behind to Bella, who hurries towards me and into the meadow.

The clearing is symmetrical, perfectly round like someone had intentionally created the flawless circle, tearing out the trees but leaving no evidence of that violence in the waving grass. To the east, I hear a stream bubbling. The ground is thick with tall grass that sways in the light breeze light ripples across a lake.

As I step further in, taking in the sight, I hear a thunk next to me. I turn to see Bella kneeling at the edge of the clearing, beginning to gasp.

"Bella?" I ask in a panic, but she doesn't seem to hear me.

Bella curls into herself, a tight ball on the forest floor, gasping for breath and looking like she can't hold herself together. Everytime she does something like this, it traces back to Cullen.

Cullen must have taken her here, and now everything is hitting her at once.

"Honey," I whisper soothingly, dropping down to wrap my arms around her. There are no tears on her face, just a broken emptiness that haunts me to the core. "I'm so sorry he did this to you."

Her eyes go to the edge of the clearing, and widen in shock. I look behind me, and see a man walking towards us.

I'm surprised; we're far away from any trails here, there's no reason we would have company. It is then that I notice the pallid skin, graceful, fluid movements, odd, sharp features. A jolt of fear rushes through me, because I don't think this is a normal man.

"Laurent!" Bella cries in surprised pleasure, startling me. I move away from her, and she stands up slowly. Cautiously, I stand next to her, surprised at her sudden change in demeanor.

"Bella?" He asks, looking more astonished than Bella.

"You remember." Bella smiles. I don't know what to do, so I slowly edged away, standing near the edge of the meadow.

He grins. "I didn't expect to see you here." He strolls towards us, and my skin starts to itch.

"Isn't it the other way around? I do live here. I thought you had gone to Alaska."

He stops ten paces away from us, cocking his head to the side. His face is beautiful, but too unnatural.

"You're right," He agrees. "I did go to Alaska. Still. I didn't expect.. When I found the Cullen place empty, I thought they moved on."

"Oh." Bella bites her lip, and wraps her arms around herself. The man watches with curious eyes. It is then that I realize his eyes are bright fucking red.

"They did move on." Bella finally spits out.

"Hmmm," He murmurs. "I'm surprised they left you behind. Weren't you sort of a pet of theirs?"

Bella smiles wryly. "Something like that."

"Hmm." He says again, thoughtful.

"Bella, we need to go." I finally speak, my eyes not leaving the man. His red ones flicker to mine, and he smiles sadistically.

"No need to leave yet. Your dear friend and I are merely having a conversation." He smiles with his teeth, bright white and gleaming.

"Rayna," Bella's eyes widen and she looks at me. I think she forgot that I was here.

"Do they visit often?" The man asks, casual, his weight shifted towards us.

Bella starts for a moment, and then speaks quickly. "Now and again," Bella's voice is too light, too relaxed. I can see through it, and so can he. "The time seems longer to me, I imagine. You know how they get distracted…" Bella is beginning to babble.

"Hmmm." He says again. "The house smelled like it had been vacant for while."

"I'll have to tell Carlisle that you stopped by. He'll be sorry he missed your visit." She deliberates. "But I probably shouldn't mention it to.. Edward, I suppose-" Bella barely manages to say the name, and her expression twists, ruining any credibility she may have had. "-he has such a temper… Well, I'm sure you remember the whole James thing." Bella rolls her eyes, waving a hand dismissively, an edge of hysteria to her voice.

James thing?

"Is he really?" The man asks pleasantly, skeptically.

"Mmhmm."

The man steps closer to us. If I weren't frozen, I would back Bella up help her lie seem believable. I don't know who this man is, but he isn't friendly.

"So how are things working in Denali? Carlisle said you were staying with Tanya?" Her voice is too high.

"I like Tanya very much," He muses. "And her sister Irina even more… I've never stayed in one place for so long before, and I enjoy the advantages, the novelty of it. But the restrictions are difficult.. Im surprised that they keep it up for long." He smiles at Bella conspiratorially. "Sometimes I cheat."

"Oh," Bella says in a faint voice. A lead ball settles in the pit of my stomach. "Jasper has problems with that too."

"Really?" The man seems interested now. "Is that why they left?"

"No," Bella says honestly. "Jasper is more careful at home."

"Yes," The man agrees, stepping closer. "I am too."

"Did Victoria ever find you?" Bella asks breathlessly.

The question stops him. "Yes," He says. "I actually came as a favor to her." He makes a face. "She won't be happy about this."

I can sense that we're in danger, and anxiety balloons in my chest. My skin itches again, and I find my fingers reaching to my stomach where my newer cuts are.

"About what?" Bella says eagerly.

"About me killing you," He answers in a seductive purr.

That stops me short, and I inhale sharply. He gives me a smile.

"She wanted me to save that part for herself," He goes on blithely. "She's sort of.. Put out, with you, Bella."

"Me?" Bella squeaks.

He shakes his head, chuckling. "I know, it seems a little backward to me, too. But, James was her mate, and your Edward killed him."

Edward killed a guy? What the fuck has Bella gotten herself into?

"She thought it more appropriate to kill you than Edward- fair turn about, mate for mate. She asked me to get the lay of the land, so to speak. I didn't imagine you would be so unprotected. I guess her plan was flawed."

He frowns. "I suppose she'll be angry with me."

"Then why not wait for her?" Bella chokes out.

He smiles mischievously. "Well, you've caught me at a bad time, Bella. I didn't come to this place on Victoria's mission- I was hunting. I'm quite thirsty, and you do smell.. Simply mouthwatering."

"He'll know it was you," Bella whispers. "You won't get away with this."

"And why not?" The man's smile deepens. "The scent will wash away with the next rain. No one will find your body- you'll simply go missing, like so many, many other humans. This is nothing personal, Bella, let me assure you. Just thirst."

"Please," Bella gasps.

"Just let us go," I plead, finding my voice. "We aren't the Cullens. We haven't done you wrong. Please, let us leave."

The man shakes his head. "Look at it this way, Bella, and Bella's friend, Rayna, isn't it? I am doing you a favor."

"How?" Bella chokes out.

"I'll be very quick," He assures us both now, looking from Bella to I. "You won't feel a thing, I promise. Oh, I'll lie to Victoria about that later, naturally, just to placate her. And if the Volturi knew your little friend knew about us.." He shakes his head, almost in disgust. "If you knew what Victoria had planned, I swear, you'd be thanking me."

Both Bella and I stare at him in horror. My anxiety bubbles to the surface, my skin crawls, and I finally finally finally dig my nails into my stomach, opening the newest cuts I have and relishing in the stinging pain it brings.

The man snaps his head to me, and bares his teeth. He inhales deeply, and crouches like he's going to spring at me, when suddenly, he stops.

"I don't believe it," He says in a low voice, backing away from us.

I see the wolf before Bella does. It rushes to Laurent, a hulking mass of dark silver fur, it's teeth bared and a low growl erupting from its throat. A big black wolf follows, and so do three more. One of them, a giant, rusty brown monster, is close enough to touch.

But I don't touch it, I turn and start running. I trip, fall scrape my knees on everything. I crash through every possible obstacle, and almost immediately hear Bella following me. It would be hard not hear, since both of us are making so much noise. I should have waited for her, but I couldn't. I just had to get out of there.

It takes me about three hours, but I finally come out at Bella's truck. I don't see her anywhere, but she left it unlocked. I hop in, and curl down underneath the seat. The sky has started to darken, and it makes me even more terrified.

Minutes later, the door flings open. I had forgotten to lock it, and almost scream until I see Bella.

"Fucking drive!" I yell at her while she locks her door. I see that she's sobbing, but I am too.

The roar of the engine comforts us both, and soon we calm down. Bella seems to be headed for Forks, and I vigorously shake my head.

"Bring me to La Push," I plead, digging my nails into my palms. "I need to go home."

She changes her path, now driving on the road to Forks. I want to talk to Bella about what happened, the man.. thing, who knew her, who had killed people. And Cullen who, if the man was telling the truth, had killed people as well.

What the fuck had Bella gotten into?

The truck is silent, save for the engine. Bella doesn't speak, I don't speak. When my house comes into view, I hardly give Bella a chance to stop. She slams on the breaks when I shove my door open, and I half fall out of the car.

"I'm sorry," Bella rushes out, her eyes wide and her face paler than usual. "You shouldn't have been there."

"Don't talk to me anymore." I nearly shout, and I hurry into the house.

Billy isn't home, Jacob isn't home, so it's just me. I'm glad for that fact, since my nails have dried blood on them and so does my stomach. I look like a mess, so the minute I walk through the door, I head to the bathroom and strip down to nothing.

I turn the water until it's scalding, and stand there with the stream rushing down on me. I don't know how long I stand there, letting the water burn my skin, but soon I hear someone roughly enter the house, shouting my name.

"Rayna!" I recognize Jacob's voice, and hear the concealed anger in it. "Come out here now!"

Confused, I turn the water off and quickly towel dry. I pull on my robe, run a brush through my curls, and slowly open the bathroom door. Billows of steam wafts out, and the cool air from the rest of the house wraps around my exposed skin.

"What do you want?" I ask, my voice cracking. I know I sound off, but I don't know how to sound normal right now. I don't know what to think.

Jacob is standing there with his arms crossed, no shirt on. The only thing he's wearing are jean shorts, even his feet are bare. Plus, he looks kind of dirty. The kid needs a shower.

"You got a fucking tattoo?" I exclaim, interrupting whatever he was trying to say. There's an intricate design on his shoulder, one that looks oddly familiar. The black ink shines against his russet skin.

"I smell blood." Jacob says suddenly, and seems to examine my exposed skin. I pull my robe tighter around me. His eyes turn dark, like he just realized something awful. "Let me see your arms."

"Are you on drugs?" I blurt, my blood running cold. Fuck, why is he doing this?

"Let me see your goddamn arms!" Jacob shouts this time, slamming his hand straight through the wall. I jump back, flinching. Holy shit, he's gotten strong.

"Fuck you, Jacob, and your stupid fucking secrets, and your pathetic crush on Bella, and your stupid relationship with dad, and your stupid new friends!" I shout back, feeling anger rip through my body in a fast, sudden rush. "Fuck you!"

Jacob snaps his eyes to mine, and it looks like his body is shaking, vibrating. He snaps his neck to the side, and back to me. A low growl rumbles through his chest, and it looks like his muscles are spasming.

"Jacob?" I say in a small, scared voice. As fast as it came, my anger leaves, instead leaving me terrified of Jacob.

Slowly, he stops shaking, and he bows his head like he's ashamed. "Let me see your arms." He speaks each word deliberately, faint traces of anger lingering in his tone.

"Why do you get to have secrets, and I don't?" I demand, and for some stupid reason I feel tears pricking the back of my eyes, my chest feels light and heavy all at the same time, and I feel dizzy.

"Because mine aren't about cutting myself." Jacob snaps harshly, and his skin does the weird twitching thing again.

"I don't cut myself." I say weakly, my blood turning to ice. I've been so careful, how does he know? I feel everything come crashing down around me, and turn to grip the bathroom counter.

"Prove it, then." Jacob practically sneers, and I screw my eyes shut, grinding my teeth together.

"Leave me alone, Jacob." I say, trying to breath evenly in my nose and out of my mouth. I don't need to have a panic attack right now.

He doesn't move, just stares at me in pity. When I see the look, I almost drop to the floor with the wave of anger that passes through me.

I roughly shove him, making him fly into the wall across from me. I don't know where that strength came from, but I don't have time to think about it because of the rage racing through me.

Jacob growls , and yet again his skin twitches. Almost like a reflex, I growl louder than he does. I have no idea why I did that, and from the look on Jacob's face, he doesn't know either. He stares at me openly, almost in shock, and runs out of the house so fast I barely see him leave.

I yell in frustration, and slam my fist against the bathroom counter top. To my utter shock, it cracks, sending spider-like splinters through the ceramic. I stare for a minute, trying to wrap my head around what I just did, but I can't.

Almost in a trance, I walk to my room, and slam the door shut, locking it. I don't bother putting clothes on, just lay on my bed with my robe wrapped around me. The anger has subsided, and I feel numb.

The numbness wraps around me, crashes over me in waves, and I sink into it willingly. I've been feeling too much lately, and I want it to stop. I want it all to stop.

hiiii, I'm so sorry for the late update, I've had a hectic week but updates will return to normal now! thank you for all the support, hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter!

Darkdust27- that is what the book says, and you'll understand more about why Paul is acting like he is in a few chapters. I plan on doing a POV for him fairly soon.

Friendlyneighborhoodhufflepuff- oh dang u might be right woAh.

Flowerchild23- thank u!

Inyushademons14- buckle up, it's gonna be a heck of a ride here on out.

Guest-i honestly can't thank you enough for your lovely review, ahh. Thank you so so so much, and I'm glad that you'll keep reading the story regardless of the pairings! I'm not sure what I'll do about the whole Jacob Bella situation, but I don't know. Ah. Decisions.

Guest- you're quite intuitive.

Guest- I'm still not quite sure what I'll do yet, but The character list is set how it is because of Rayna and Seth's friendship. I wanted to focus on that more than anything else in the beginning.

Guest- ahh, I'm glad someone caught that little bit.

Izaria- I mean, if you want to send me in an OC for Leah's best friend/imprint, I'm all for it. I'd love to put in a low-key leah pairing tbh.

Rumtreiberinqueen- thank u! I'm so glad you're excited, you made my day!

Pink lightspeed ranger- thank u! In answer to your question, you'll find out soon.