The first thing Lily noticed was pain. Pain in her head. Pain in her shoulders. Pain in her jaw. And finally pain in her hands. She seemed to always, at some subconscious level, been living with pain of some sort or another. After all, the human condition of feeling pain ensures that the one who feels it is technically alive right?

The next thing she noticed was that her wrists were bound. Well, that hadn't happened in a while. Fuck. Shit. Oh god don't think about it. Stay calm. Deep breaths. In two three, out two three. Think of one thing you can see, two you can smell, three you can hear, four you can feel, and what was the rest of the mantra? Stop.

Breathe.

Remember.

Emily. She had gone to see Emily for Leah. She had gone to see Jacob at Emily's for Seth. Jacob was in trouble. Emily was there. Emily wouldn't let anyone hurt her.

But then why did she feel so much pain?

It was then that Lily realized two separate things. The first was that she tasted blood in her mouth. The second was that there was a conversation going on around her.

"She's just a girl" someone protested. It sounded like Embry, but it could have been Quill. Lily wasn't sure who all was there.

"I didn't say it made sense. But that's why the bloodsucker's been trying to et past us. She's been heading for Forks."

They continued to bicker back and forth, whoever they were. Eventually someone interrupted.

"Excellent, we've got bait!" now that voice Lily recognized. It was Jared. He was one of the guys who followed Sam and was part of his boy's club of drugs.

Lily heard a commotion, and then sweet Jacob's voice rung out loud and clear. "Bella is not bait." Bella? Well… at least Lily wasn't being sacrificed. But then again, what were they talking about? Then, Sam's voice rung out amongst the voices.

"We will be changing out patterns. We will try leaving a few holes, and see if she falls for it. We'll have to split up, and I don't like it. But if she's really after Bella, she probably won't try to take advantage of our divided numbers. Jacob thinks you should spend as much time in La Push as possible. She won't know where to find you so easily, just in case."

They argued back and forth, but Lily couldn't concentrate on everything. Something about a Victoria, and hunting, and finally Bella sounding upset about Charlie.

It wasn't until someone started paying attention to the poor hostage on what felt like a couch that someone cleared their throat.

"Foods ready!" Emily announced, and Lily could hear shuffling out of the room. A few moments later everything went quiet again.

Then, Lily was able to see the soft light of a living room lamp. It looked cozy and well loved. Pictures hung on the wall, while a throw blanket was thrown across a couch haphazardly. Emily came into Lily's sight, but Sam quickly pushed her behind him.

"What are you?" was the gruff question presented to her.

"Excuse me? At the moment I think I'm a kidnapping victim and another in what must be a long list of physical assaults." It probably wasn't the smartest thing Lily could have said right off the bat, but what can she say? Sometimes the brain to mouth filter in hear head sometimes failed to catch everything.

"Why am I tied up? What happened? Why do I smell blood and taste blood for that matter? You could have just kicked me off your property Sam. You didn't have to put your goons out against me! I live with a nurse! How am I supposed to cover this shit up?" Lily wasn't panicking. Absolutely not.

"I won't ask again, what are you? You have fangs, but you have a heartbeat. What are you?" was Sam's only response. Emily looked heart broken, but was dismissed by Sam. It was just him, myself, and a few of the older guys from the Res left in here.

"Sam, did you shoot up too hard? Do you need Narcan? I can call Sarah; nobody would ever need to know. Please, just let me get some help for you. Please!"

She was met by silence.

"Lily, stop. Nobody is using drugs. Nobody your age should even know what that medication is. What the hell have you been learning in school? What ever happened to algebra?" Sam sighed. Then, his phone started to ring which prompted him to answer it. Lily wasn't sure who had called Sam, but he looked less and less thrilled with the conversation. Eventually, he agreed with whatever the caller had said and hung up.

"Lily, I'm sorry. The entire Quileute trip would like to offer you its humblest apologies. Please let us part in peace." With that statement, Sam untied her wrists from their bounds and bobbed his head.

"Sam, so you have a bathroom I could us please?"

"Lily, please just go. Please"

"Sam, you bound me up, hit my head, kidnapped me, had some weird ass phone call that ended with you being cryptic as possible, and finished it off by asking me what am I. I think I can impose on you a tad bit longer to see whether or not I have FUCKING FANGS!" Lily hadn't meant to yell the last part, but at towards the end of her statement she was starting to lose her barely held control.

"First door on the right" was the only response she got.

Sprinting down the hall with those directions in mind, Lily ignored everything else. Her ears were ringing now. The burning sensation was back. Calm. Just stay calm. She needed to breath and calm down. she found the bathroom easily enough. Slamming the door, not worrying about appearing rude, she flipped the light switch on. Lily had closed her eyes after flipping the light. She wasn't sure if she was ready for this.

Lily was many things, and brave was rarely one of those things. But, after tasting blood in her very own mouth, she needed answers. She opened her eyes. She had some blood on her chin, but nothing a slip lip couldn't have explained. If only she had a split lip.

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, Lily opened her mouth. There, where her canine teeth should be had been replaced by something slightly larger. Slightly sharper. And absolutely less normally human than what she had woken up with this morning.

Lily cried. She cried and burned and ached. What else could she say or think or do? Her world was crashing around her. She had finally found someplace she had felt safe, someplace she could be herself. But now? Now who was she? Better yet, what was she?

She wasn't a vampire, was she?

Lily thought back to every steak she had ever eaten, every hamburger and piece of lamb. She had never felt self-conscious for liking her meat medium rare or medium. It was just protein that drizzled down, not blood whenever she ate meat, right?

She ended up falling to the floor. She had wished the guest bathroom had thicker carpeting. It was something small, but with everything hurting and burning Lily just wanted comfort. Her body was aching, she tasted blood again, and she heard screaming in the back of her mind.

Moments passed until Lily realized it was her that was screaming. What was happening to her?

The next thing she knew, Lily's clothes started to rip along with her skin. Contents from the shower and the sink started to fall into the floor. Lily heard shouting far away, but wasn't sure what was going on. She remembered burning, like fire and a rushing sound in her ears.

Then, Emily.

Sweet, caring, kind Emily. Emily quickly grabbed Lily close to her, holding her like a mother holds a child to her when upset. Emily, who had faced who knows how many emotionally trigger transformations. Emily, who above all cared for those she loved deeper than anyone would or could ever expect.

The world slowly, agonizingly slowly stopped hurting. Lily's shoulders started to relax. Her jaw stopped aching, and eventually her heart stopped pounding. All lily knew was she was safe in Emily's arms and that she was tired.

She was so tired.