Disclaimer: This story is based off of the characters written by Stephanie Meyer in the Twilight Saga. I do not own any of these characters.

Bella

I wasn't sure how long I had been wading through darkness, but slowly I was aware of a faint light. I felt myself moving toward it, not like I was walking, more like I was drifting motionless toward it. I fleetingly wondered if I was dying, if the venom wasn't compatible with me somehow and instead of changing, I was wasting away.

That wouldn't be so bad, I thought. At least then there would be no facing the loss that threatened to crush me.

But, as the light grew closer, I felt the fire from inside me flare. It was like I was becoming the sun, my flames combining with this foreign light. My own personal "Big Bang".

I became aware of my physical body then, not just of the heat, but of each limb that was ablaze. My eyelids were heavy, and I wouldn't allow myself to open them. Not while I was still burning.

Then abruptly, I was aware of everything outside of my body as well. I still refused to move, refused to provoke my internal kiln. But alongside the fire, and away from the haunting knowledge that I would no longer be able to live the life I'd known - I could feel the world around me with complete clarity.

Without moving, I noted the texture of the soft couch I laid on. Under my index finger I counted each thread I touched.

I felt dry air around me, thick with dust, and felt each particle as it entered my airways when I inhaled. I held the breath there, and if my body had been working normally - if I wasn't on fire - I would have scrunched my nose.

The room I was in didn't seem to smell bad in itself, actually there were delicious undertones of sweet scents. Lavender, chocolate, strawberries, vanilla, but these scents were old, stale. That's not what made me scrunch my nose. The most prominent scent in the room was fresh, it was earthy in a way which I thought I would have liked if it weren't tainted by other things, like wet dog. Or the obnoxious sour smell that was the strongest, like a compost bin with a little too much rotting fruit and not enough soil and greens.

I slowly exhaled and with that motion the flames doubled in intensity. I held my breath and tried to focus on things outside of my myself. I listened hard to the things around me. But the loudest sound in the room seemed to be coming from me. The rapid beating of my heart, thrumming like it was running from the venom in my blood. It pounded so loud I was distracted for a moment, I found myself getting caught up in the quick rhythm.

When I focused I realized the beating was doing a strange thing with the venom in my system. With each beat, the heat subsided from the out most edges of my body. And with each beat, that same heat localized to my heart. It was as though my heart was drawing the venom in, like a black hole.

I pushed my hearing outward, not wanting to get lost in my rhythm of pain.

The room itself was mostly quiet, the only thing outside of my own heart was the sound of another heartbeat, maybe ten feet from where I was lying. The beat was strong, almost as loud as my own heart. And it beat fast, though more of a healthy speed than what was going on in my chest.

Panicked, it took every part of my being not to flutter my eyes open, to find out who was there. I couldn't allow myself to move, not only because I was in so much pain. But also because I was entirely aware that the other person in this room was in far more danger than they could ever imagine.

I fought a groan as I wondered who the heartbeat could belong to. Hoping beyond all hope that it wasn't Charlie.

I would find a way to destroy myself if Charlie was my first meal as a vampire. What had Edward said? Something about a Volturi in Italy. That's where he would go if he wanted to end his life.

Please don't be Charlie.

The fire continued to roar through me. Each of my limbs were now free of the heat, but my core was absolutely blistering.

I focused harder, pushing past the heartbeat in the room. Outside, there was the rustling of leaves in the wind, such a different sound now. It wasn't a collective whoosh anymore. Instead it was like I could hear each individual leaf move and rub against another, creating a quiet chorus of shhhhh.

There was a subtle swoop of wings as a bird took off out of a tree. I could hear the faint roar of flowing water. I was close to a river.

Where was I? I vaguely remembered a ceiling from one of the times I'd come to, a ceiling I had thought was familiar at the time but now couldn't place.

None of the scents around me gave any hint as to where I was. As subtly familiar as they seemed, I couldn't place those either. I shook past the thoughts, not wanting to dwell. I'd have to get out of here fast anyway, get away from the heartbeat. I focused on the sounds outside again.

Just past the water I made out heavy padding of large sets of paws. Then I remembered the giant wolves. I felt another shred of panic. The sound was closer than I'd like for it to be. Too close to me, and too close to my companion, whoever they may be. I clenched my jaw and continued to listen, there were eight paws total, I was sure. Two wolves. Pacing - one, two-three-four, one, two-three-four - back and forth. I swallowed.

Animals. Yes, animals were my priority to feed from. I focused on the beating of these hearts, massive and full of thick blood. Surely the humane thing to do would be to kill the beasts responsible for the deaths of several hikers passing through Forks. It seemed like they would be filling. But maybe not something I should take on so quickly?

I knew I'd be strong, but knowing my luck I'd end up being the only clumsy vampire in existence. Probably best I started with smaller prey. But they were so close, I'd have to get past them to move on to hunting.

My body tensed, I wanted to plan out a route around them, but the fire was so localized now. My heart was on fire and was desperately trying to keep up with the pain. The venom felt like it was melting my heart away, and it was close to giving up the fight.

I locked each joint into place as the venom seared through my center.

Then, not exactly abruptly - but rapidly - it was gone.

*

I continued to lay there, completely still. To my old human ears I would have been in silence. But when you could hear everything, it seemed there was no such thing.

My heartbeat was gone, it cut off just as the pain subsided, but I wasn't sure if I could move yet. I wasn't sure what sort of control I would have. All the times before, when I'd thought of becoming like Edward and his family, he'd brushed the idea off. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Not a single clue what would come naturally and what I would have to learn.

I realized the simple part was how heightened all my senses had become. I wanted to open my eyes, to take in even more. I could sense how much my mind had opened up with this transformation. I could focus on many things outside of myself, and at the same time, think about hundreds of different things. I vaguely wondered about time passing. How quickly things were moving outside of my own head.

I wanted to open my eyes. But I was afraid. Would some overwhelming urge to kill take over, I didn't want to kill whoever was still in the room with me.

I waited, listening to the heartbeat some more. Whoever it was had seemed to quit breathing. As though they were waiting for me. Like they knew I was awake.

I locked my jaw and inhaled through my nose. There was a strong, stinging pain that sliced through my throat. And overwhelming feeling that I was parched. I tried to swallow, but my throat was so dry it did nothing. I exhaled and inhaled again. Venom pooled in my mouth, some involuntary response to the heartbeat in the room, and I swallowed the venom, hoping to help ease the dry burn.

I tried to avoid thinking about the heartbeat, and focused on the sour smell in the air. That was off putting enough to keep me in control. I took one more controlled breath, and opened my eyes.

I stared through millions of tiny particles to the white ceiling above me. Color danced off of everything caught by light, if I had thought my hearing was overwhelmingly powerful, my new eyesight was otherworldly. I never knew how much my human eyes had been missing.

I blinked a few times and, still aware that I wasn't alone, I fought to keep my eyes facing forward. I wasn't sure I was ready to face whoever was here with me. I blinked a few more times, trying not to get too distracted.

"Bella?" A familiar, husky voice asked. And then I was standing.

I pressed myself against the wall, eyes wide as I stared at Jacob. He stood across the room from me, palms toward me. It felt a little like a warning, but a kind one, like he was also trying to let me know that I was okay.

I must have looked ridiculous standing on the couch this way, but Jacob's face was stern.

I held my breath, and internally cursed. Jacob was second on the list of people I definitely didn't want to accidentally make my first meal. I locked my joints and continued to stare at him.

Out of the corner of my eye examined the light, open room around me. My body wanted to relax immediately but I held my stance, I had somehow made it to the Cullen's home. My eyebrows pulled together as I realized I had not been strong enough to get myself here. I had been in and out of consciousness for who knew how long, and there was absolutely no possible way I had navigated myself here when I wasn't even aware of my own existence.

There was a dark, foggy memory of someone helping me. A memory that wasn't easy to recall.

Jacob took a hesitant step toward me, and my lips curled back as a sharp hiss escaped my teeth. I braced myself to pounce and then straightened myself immediately. My eyes widened in shock of what I'd just done. I hadn't expected a noise like that could come out of me, it wasn't something I thought about doing. It just happened. I thought about apologizing, but something in the back of my head told me not to.

My involuntary reaction hadn't seemed to bother Jake, but he didn't take another step forward. Instead he also stood straighter and his face scrunched a little. Maybe he hadn't registered my movements? I was reacting much faster than a human. All of this had occurred in under a second and a half.

"I know you're a little freaked out right now, but we kind of have to talk about a few things." Jacob said slowly. He held his hands up still.

I didn't move, I didn't know if I could or should respond. I didn't feel any sudden urges to attack him. The fire in my throat only seemed to bother me when I started to think about it, so I just focused most of my attention things that were not his blood. I examined his face, worry painted his expression. He didn't seem afraid of me at all. He looked alert but somehow comfortable.

My head cocked to one side, trying to make sense of his words. There was little to go off of, but I felt like I understood that he knew more than I'd imagined.

Still not ready to speak, I looked at the rest of him. He looked taller and more muscular than I remembered. But it seemed that he changed every time I saw him.

"I'm not really sure how to start Bells." He paused, watching me. He seemed to search for some sort of reaction, but I wasn't sure that my stone face would give everything away anymore. I didn't know how I should react. I didn't know what he knew, I wasn't even sure of myself and what I knew. He sighed.

"Okay, I guess I'll just start with the most urgent part. I know that the legends about the cold ones - about the Cullen's - are true. And I know that you are like them now."

He stood there looking at me, trying to see if I was comprehending what he was saying. I was, I had figured as much by the way he stood. I knew that I was the one missing pieces of the puzzle now.

But it made sense to me that he knew, that he understood. I couldn't explain why, it just seemed right.

Something had changed since I'd seen him at the movies, and I snorted at the thought, a grin tugging at the corner of my mouth. Well I guess a lot had. As I watched Jake, he almost looked like he wanted to smile too, even though he missed my joke.

I relaxed my knees and fell forward onto the couch. I had been fine standing, but my mind was more comfortable and my body reacted.

Jake seemed to relax a little himself, he took two more steps forward and slid over to sink in a chair across from me. I watched his movements carefully and recognized that the grace I'd seen in him before, seemed awfully inhuman. My eyes narrowed slightly as I watched him. I still didn't speak.

After a minute of staring at each other he cleared his throat and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together. "There's a lot that needs to be explained Bells. But I think that the most important part is the treaty we had with the Cullens."

I was aware that he used the word we to refer to himself and his tribe, not him and myself. I lifted my chin slightly, my eyes still narrowed.

His lips pressed together in a firm line, "Did you lose your voice when you changed or something?" Jake asked. It sounded like he was trying to tease me, but the words were too hard to seem playful.

I pursed my lips, "I don't think so," I said slowly.

My eyes widened at the sound of my new voice, it was smooth and musical. I wanted to speak more, in awe of myself and wanting to experiment with all the new things about me. Jake took in my expression and the frustration seemed to vanish from his face. He grinned at me, and I focused back on him, remembering that there were more important things to deal with right now.

"Anyways, we're offering to extend the treaty to you. As long as you don't bite a human, we will let you live in peace." He explained. "There's, you know, more to it than that but that's the general gist of it."

My eyes narrowed again, I was skeptical. Somehow it made sense that he was offering me this, but it also felt weird. Jacob hadn't believed these legends as long as I'd known him. Was it me that had got him to believe them? Was he faced with reality when I'd been bitten?

"We're you the one who brought me here?" I asked suddenly, then immediatelyI realized I had spoken very fast, probably too fast for him to understand. I opened my mouth to speak again, slower this time, but as I did he started.

"I did. Um, that's the more difficult part to explain, but Bella - I sort of have to have you agree to the treaty before I can talk to you about anything else."

I was surprised he had been able to understand me, and more surprised that he was speaking so carefully and matter-of-fact about this.

"I have no intention on hunting humans," a said, and a hint of a shutter touched the nape of my neck, "But Jake, I'm not really sure how this whole thing works." I bit my lip.

He nodded and gave me a small smile. "As long as you'll try, " he paused and his grin widened a little, "You haven't killed me yet, so that's something." He raised an eyebrow with his grin.

I pressed my lips together, and then I smiled back at him. It felt nice to have a sense of normality already. Even knowing everything was already so different.

I still wasn't sure how Jake fit in with all of this, but I was grateful I didn't have to go into this new life completely alone.