A/N: Hello! It's close to my self appointed bedtime here and I just had to write up a little update for this story. I had a vision for this, but I don't think it translated perfectly which makes me sad. Please read on anyway and thank you all for the support that you've given this so far.

OOOOOOOOO

Sadie brushed her hair over her shoulder as she left the confines of her bedroom. Her eyes turned briefly in the direction of Emmett's and Rosalie's bedroom, but she continued on her way down the hall and down the stairs. She brushed back a tendril of dark hair and entered the kitchen where Esme was setting out a plate loaded with pancakes. Alice and Jasper sat near the window, hands entwined, but their gaze turned onto Sadie as she took her seat on one of the stools.

"Good morning, Sadie," Esme greeted with a warm motherly smile. "Did you sleep well after your run last night?"

"Yes," Sadie muttered, not meeting the vampire's gaze as she cut into her meal. "The run, it really knocked me out..."

Alice made a small sound from her perch, but didn't say anything. For that, Sadie was grateful. She sat silently eating her breakfast. Her stomach clenched when images of her dreams flickered across her mind's eye, but she did her best to ignore it.

Her back stiffened when she heard the heavier silent step of Emmett approaching the kitchen. Sadie stared at her pancakes and chewed mechanically. She had to mentally force herself to keep her eyes on the food that sat before her. The food that suddenly looked like the worst thing in the world.

"Esme," Emmett said, leaning against the island at Sadie's elbow. "I'm going to go out for a few. You want me to bring you anything back?"

"No, I can't think of anything," Esme said, turning her back and gathering dishes into the dishwasher. "Have fun out there."

"How about you, Alice?" he asked.

"You can't afford what I want right now," Alice said with a impish smile.

Sadie held her breath as Emmett's gaze slid onto her and she felt his unnecessary breath touch her skin. "What about you, Sadie? Can I bring you anything back?"

Swallowing hard, Sadie took a shallow breath. "I'll call you if I need something from you, Emmett."

She met his gaze and saw the same look in his eyes that she had seen the night before. Her heart stopped for a moment, but she straightened her spine and looked away like she hadn't been affected. Emmett's arm brushed against hers as he straightened to his full height.

"All right," he said. "See you all later."

Sadie glanced over her shoulder as he walked out of the kitchen and strained to hear his Jeep's engine start up. Shaking her head once the engine's roar faded away, Sadie's gaze turned back towards the people in the room. She didn't miss the mischievous smirk on Alice's face as she swept the room with her dark gaze.

"What are your plans for the day, Sadie?" Esme asked, earning Sadie's attention once more.

Thank you, Sadie thought. "I thought I'd go into the city and do a little shopping on my own. There are things that I want to buy that I haven't had the time to get and I'd rather do it without people waiting on me or pulling me in different directions." She glanced at Alice as she said that last bit and Alice stuck her tongue out at Sadie. "Is it possible that you could drive me into the city and drop me off there for a few hours, Esme? I'd call you when I was ready to head back home..."

Esme smiled at her. "Sure, sweetie. We can leave when you're ready."

Sadie ducked her head and returned to her meal. She jogged up the stairs to grab her wallet from her bedroom and turned, running right into Alice. A troubled look filled the psychic vampire's eyes. Concern immediately gripped Sadie's body.

"What's wrong, Alice?" she asked, shoving her wallet into her pocket.

"I don't think that you should go into the city on your own," Alice said, leaning against the doorway. "Not when you're still figuring out your life right now...Things are not going to be in your favor if you go alone, Sadie. It's just going to get more complicated for you if you go alone."

"Hello Alice. My entire life has been complicated. It has always been complicated. I can handle it." She pressed a hand against Alice's arm. "Don't worry about me. I'm a big wolf. I can handle a little trouble from humans."

Alice sighed and shook her head. "That's not what I'm talking about, but okay then. Just don't pretend that I didn't try to warn you."

"I won't." Sadie pressed Alice in a quick hug and slipped past her. "Now I really got to go. Esme is waiting for me outside and I don't want her to wait forever."

"Have fun," Alice called after her.

Sadie headed down the hall towards the stairs and passed Rosalie, who was draped in a silken red robe. Their eyes met briefly; one ice hard, the other fleeting and soft. Rosalie sneered and turned her nose up, wiggling her hips away as she headed for another room in the house. Sadie hurried down the stairs, counting her heartbeats as she did so.

OOOOOOOOO

Sadie moved through the city with a bag draped over her shoulder, loaded with things that she'd purchased from various stores. Her nose twitched as she breathed in the various scents of the restaurants that dotted the streets and she popped into one briefly to get a turkey bacon wrap. Moving among the normal people in the city made her feel at ease and reminded her of her family that she'd loved and lost.

"Sadie!" her sister's voice called out as Sadie ran down a busy street at night . "Sadie, get your butt back here right now!"

"No way!" Sadie called back, smiling over her shoulder as she danced around trashcans and old mailboxes. "You're just going to have to catch me."

"Felix," her sister sighed.

Sadie was instantly picked up and slung over a shoulder. She laughed as fingers glided over her ribs and she breathed in the familiar sweet scent of her sister's mate. Felix carried her back down the street towards Sadie's older sister, a smile on his face when he set her down.

"Sadie, you know better than to run off," her sister chastised, putting her hands on hips. "You could get lost or hurt or –"

"But I want to be around normal people," Sadie complained, crossing her arms. "I want to be able to walk around them without feeling like that I'm carrying some big secret that could get me killed."

Sadie's sister crouched down a little so that she could look Sadie in the eye. "Sadie, I know that you want to be normal again, but there's no going back. Mom and Dad are dead. I'm a wolf and we have a pack. I have Felix, just like the others have mates like him. Some day, you're going to turn into a wolf and you're going to find your own mate. Some day, you're going to fully understand that you can't be as normal as you want to be. Not anymore. That's not the world that you live in anymore, Sadie. Not anymore."

A horn blared in Sadie's ears, startling her back into the present. She jerked back out of the way of an approaching car.

"Watch where you're going, you stupid bitch!" the driver yelled out to her in passing.

Sadie frowned and pushed her hair back out of her face. Her heart skipped a few beats as she tried to regain her composure. "Enough of the flashbacks, Sadie," she whispered to herself, getting back on the sidewalk. "They're going to get you killed one day."

The wolf entered another shop, spending a half hour in it just to buy a couple outfits and a new jacket. She carefully shoved them into the bag on her back and walked out into the real world once more. The crack of thunder boomed overhead, causing her to look up in alarm.

"Come on," she complained, stomping her foot in frustration. "I've only been out for a few hours and it's going to storm? Nature, do you have something against me?"

The thunder boomed again, louder this time as if in answer to her question. Sadie felt the first drops of icy rain hit her face and let her breath out in a frustrated snarl. She turned and headed down the street, trying to remember which stores she still needed to get into and how long she could loiter in them before the store merchants would get annoyed. People darted around her, umbrellas or jackets pulled over their heads as shields against the driving rain.

"Wimps," she muttered, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. Her nose twitched again when she smelled the scent of weed on the wind and the sound of heavy footsteps following her in the rain. "Okay...what's going on now?"

She paused briefly, pretending to check out her reflection in the window wall of the nearest store. Her gaze slid sideways and she saw three men loitering a few blocks away from her, but their eyes kept turning in her direction. Sadie felt her heart start racing and she pulled her hands out of her pockets, forming fists as she turned and continued walking.

I should duck into the nearest store and wait them out, Sadie told herself, glancing over her shoulder again and seeing those three men following behind her. They'd probably get tired waiting for me to come out and go on their way...Yeah. That's what I'll do.

Sadie glanced up at the sign for the nearest store – a makeup store – and ducked into it. She immediately regretted it as the sharp scent of dozens of different kinds of perfume assaulted her nose. Her eyes turned only once towards the front door of the shop and watched as the men walked past the shop.

I'm going to be okay.

OOOOOOOOO

Carrying more makeup than she thought she'd wear in that year alone, Sadie walked out into the light rain. She stood outside the store for a moment, breathing in as much of the fresh air as she could to clear out the scent of all that perfume. Her ears picked up on the splash of footsteps in puddles, but she saw no one as she stepped away from the makeup store.

I'm just getting paranoid now, she thought, adjusting her grip on the strap of her bag. No one is going to hurt me here. They wouldn't dare do it in the middle of the day like this...even though it's raining right now. They wouldn't...would they?

Sadie walked along the sidewalk again, her bag bouncing against her back. Her ears picked up the sound of footsteps following her and she rolled her eyes.

Okay. Now this is getting old, she thought, walking faster. Someone ought to teach these jerks a lesson about following people around and not to do it. And I guess that someone has to be me.

The wolf led her followers several blocks away until she found an alley no one was around. She slid into it and pretended to look for a way out of it.

"Hey Chica." one of the men said from behind her. "Where you running off to in such a hurry?"

"Don't you know it's rude to run away from friends?" another asked her.

"We just wanted to make sure a little lady like you was okay," the last said, smirking as he pulled a cigarette from between his lips. "Someone as young and pretty as you, shouldn't be running around a place like this all alone..."

"I'm fine by myself," Sadie told them, mentally telling her heart to stop skipping beats as she looked at those three dangerous men. "But, you're right, maybe I shouldn't have been alone...Thanks for looking out for me. I'll call my mom and go straight home with her."

She reached for the phone in her pocket and heard a small click, seeing the glint of silver in the hands of two of the men. Her breath caught when she saw the sharp knives in their hands.

Wasn't expecting that, she thought, letting her hand fall away from her pocket. Things just got a little more complicated.

"You won't be making that call tonight, Chica," the first man said with a grin as he passed his knife from one hand to the other.

"Yeah. We have better plans for you."

"And then we can send you back home to your mama," the third said, flicking his cigarette butt at her. "So be a good girl and do as your told."

Sadie shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere with you and I'm not doing anything with you. Except kicking your ass. That I will do."

The three men chuckled.

"She's got spirit," the second commented.

"We can screw that out of her," the first said.

"Let's go."

The wolf crouched down as the three men lunged for her. She managed to knock the knife out of the hands of one man and broke both of his wrists. But she recalled little of the remaining scuffle, only remembering a flurry of punches, kicks, and twisting, breaking limbs. A gasp passed through her lips as she was knocked back into the wall by the remaining thug, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she fought for air.

"You little bitch," the man snarled, pointing his knife at her. "All you had to do was give us one good night's action and we would have let you go away with your life. But no, you had to fight back. You had to hurt my boys and me...What happens to you now is on your own head, you little bitch!"

Sadie twisted out of the way, managing to avoid the knife except for a shallow cut on her shoulder. The man wheeled back and prepared to go after her again, but an bestial roar rang through the alley and the thug was thrown into the wall across from Sadie with so much force the brick cracked.

"Don't you fucking touch her!" the vampire snarled, standing protectively in front of Sadie. "Or I swear I will fucking kill you all!"

Sadie blinked as she held a hand against her shoulder. "Emmett..."

OOOOOOOOO

A/N: I still haven't come up with a name for Sadie's older sister, but Felix hit me as a good name as her sister's mate for some reason. (Let's hope that I remember that.) Please leave a comment or two in the little box and I'll read them later. Good night and good day, whenever it is where you are. Thanks! -Scarlet