Chapter 8

"You got this, my sweet angel. Focus," he whispers in my ear. His voice has always been smooth and loving, especially when talking to me. He is a handsome man, with olive skin, short curly blonde hair, and celestial blue eyes. He's athletically built, and never grows a beard or a mustache. And regardless of his age, he has always looked the same; like a young man. His touch is gentle as he lifts my hand up that holds the bow. The arrow is pulled back to my ear and one eye is closed as I aim for the target across the yard that is wooded and full of obstacles.

"Father, what if I miss?"

"You'll just have to try again; we all make mistakes but we can learn from them. Now take aim," he pulls away from me. I am about ten. The bow is small, my size but the string it taut and stronger than the arm that holds it, which struggles. I let go, and the arrow goes flying above the target, missing it completely but at least hitting the tree it hangs from.

"I missed," I pouted, looking up at my father. He doesn't look displeased but instead has a warm smile on his lips.

"I wasn't perfect at first –,"

"Don't lie to her, honey," my mother comes out of the house behind us, the sliding doors open as she leans against the wall with her arms crossed and a smile on her face. Her green eyes glow under the sun. "Your daddy is just different from us, baby, but you'll get it. One day you'll be just as good as him."

One day….

"Furiae," someone's voice calls out to me, blurring the image of my dream in my mind. My mother and father disappear into the blur, leaving me alone in icy darkness. "Furiae." The voice is feminine and familiar. Forcing my eyes into slits, I notice a grogginess that takes over me, making me dizzy. Before me sits Bella and Edward, Edward in the driver's seat and Bella in the passenger. My face rests against a clear window that looks out to a beautiful glass house with three stories of windows. The forest encroaches around us on all sides except for a trail of a driveway behind the car. We could definitely be in Forks, but we are not in La push.

"Where are we?" I ask, sitting up from leaning against the window. Glancing at the clock above the radio, I notice it's almost 2 am. It took us three and a half hours to get here.

"We're at our house," Bella smiles when she speaks, "Which we share with Edward's family. It's pretty early in the morning so I figured we can get some rest and I will take you to Jacob's in the morning."

"Oh, okay."

Climbing out of the car is harder than I thought it'd be. My legs and arms ache from being in the same position for the last couple of hours. The moment I am free of the car, I stretch my arms and legs, earning a few cracks here and there. Edward and Bella both smile at me.

"I don't think Rosalie will be happy we're bringing another human to the house." Bella mutters through her smile.

"That's if she is human. I can't explain away what happened with that vampire." Edward frowns, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Let's go see, I guess." Bella suggests, and nods for the front entrance of the house that is up a few steps of a wooden porch. I follow close behind them, walking up the steps that don't creak under my weight. They must be new and strong. In the first room, right after the entrance, I can already see Edward's family standing and waiting. They are all beautiful, but only a few have smiles on their faces, and they all have a similar trait: liquid gold eyes.

This trait must mark them as vegetarian vampires; mentioned to me by Bella and Edward the first hour of our trip to Forks. It means they don't drink human blood, but that of animal instead. They all have perfectly pale skin with no marks, pink lips against the white of their faces, and well-tended hair and clothes. There are six of them, not including Bella and Edward.

As we enter the house, I can see them more clearly. There is a short, pixie hair girl with a bright smile, and the male beside her looks like he's having a hard time maintaining his cool. His eyes are narrowed and he is stiff like a statue. Another male is tall and very bulky, with a wide grin on his face. The two in the center are very parental looking, maybe the mother and father of the group. The father has blonde hair that is short, reminding me of my father, and the mother is a brunette with a warm welcoming smile. And lastly is a long blonde hair woman who scowls at me with her arms crossed against her full breasts.

"Another one?" The tall, muscular man says while crossing his arms against his firm chest, "Just can't keep them away, eh, Edward?"

"Emmett." The father figure chimes in. He's the most professionally maintained looking one of the group. A soft smile graces his sculptured face.

"Carlisle, she has some sort of strange ability. I was wondering if you may know something about it." Edward says, ignoring Emmett's playful comment.

"A strange ability?" The blonde hair man, named Carlisle, walks up to me and holds out his hand, "May I?" He asks.

I allow him to take my right hand. His own is freezing cold. He places two fingers on my wrist and counts to himself, all while looking me dead in the eyes. "And I am assuming you don't know about this ability yourself?" He asks.

"Nope," I shake my head, "I lost my memory a few months back from a cliff diving accident. It hasn't fully returned to me yet. It has only happened twice now, both when I was expressing some sort of strong emotion, usually fear or anger."

"Interesting."

"This isn't good. If the Volturi find out about her and learn about her ability, they may want her." Says the mother figure of the group, a worried expression taking over his beautiful pale face.

"Or worse, they'll want to take Edward, Alice, and her and kill the rest of us. She is still human, a human who now knows our secret thanks to Edward—again." Hisses the beautiful blonde hair woman.

"Rosalie," barks Edward. "Either way, she might not be human, saving us the risk of them killing us."

"Not human? I did not consider this." Carlisle says, his golden eyes still watching mine. "Do you have any idea what you could be? You obviously are not a vampire, or anything I know about personally."

I shake my head again, "Who's the Volturi?"

Before anyone has the second to answer me, Edward quickly adds in, "She was being chased by an Italian vampire when I found her."

They all, including Carlisle, look over at him-all of them frowning except for the blonde who merely scowls. This new information must not be good if they all looked so down about it. But they still haven't answered my question.

"Let's hope they did not send him, otherwise we may have unexpected visitors. And not happy ones." Carlisle sighs, releasing my hand gently, which falls back to my side.

"I can't see her future," the pixie girl says, shaking her head when she speaks. Her eyes look confused and far away.

"And I can't hear her thoughts. Maybe she can block our abilities like Bella can." Edward states.

"Please tell me she doesn't want to be one of us?" Asks Rosalie, who speaks a little more aggressively this time.

"What, a vampire? I'm not interested, sorry." I exclaim, lifting both hands up and waving them a bit.

Carlisle smiles warmly after my comment.

"She's only here to see Jacob." Bella mentions.

"Wolf boy?" Emmett asks.

"Emmett," Bella hisses, "She doesn't know."

Things are becoming jumbled together. Volturi, me not human, my abilities, vampires, and now wolf boy? What's going on here that they aren't telling me?

"Mind explaining? Who are the Volturi to begin with? I deserve to know, especially if they are after me."

They all look at one another, but Carlisle is the first to break free and speak, "They are kind of like royalty in the vampire world. They enforce our laws."

"And what would they want with me?"

"If you do have a gift, and they find it fitting, they try and at most times, succeed, in turning the person into one of their guards." Carlisle frowns, "What kind of ability is it?"

Edward and I glance at one another. I am not exactly sure how to describe it to them, but I try. "Well, it's like a yellow light that engulfs my left arm and hand. From the sound of it, I was burning the vampire with it when I was pulling him off of Edward. He was sizzling."

"That does sound like something they may want. We'll just have to keep quiet about this until we can figure it out." Carlisle says.

Sleeping came easily to me when I lied on the couch in their living room. It was far cozier than pavement, near trashcans or the park jungle gyms. It was late at night when we arrived anyhow, and I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. When I finally awoke, it was from the sun peeking through the trees into the glasshouse. Instead of getting up and exploring, I just remained there. Staring up at the wooden ceiling. The smell of freshly cooked meals glides into the living room, filling my lungs and making me hungry. But the more I sit still, the more I think to myself.

What if Jacob doesn't want to see me? What if those men are there? Will they kick me out again? How will Billy handle seeing me? Was he a part of me being sent away? What if I am sent away again? Could I live on the streets all over again? Would I be chased by another vampire? Could I find a reliable job and a place to call home? When will I get my memories back? Will they help me with my expedition? Do I have a semi-family now?

The questions go on and on in my mind without my control. My fingers pick at one another and I bite the inside of my cheek.

"You ready to go?" Bella asks. Her voice startles me, and I jump from my lying position to me sitting up in a matter of mili-seconds. She has silently walked into the living room without me even knowing, her hands slipping into her back pockets.

I clutch at the fabric where my heart beats against my chest and hunger rolls through my belly, making gurgling sounds.

She smiles at me, "We can eat first."

"Please."

We climb into a black Mercedes Guardian and take off down the driveway and then down the main road that is empty of other cars. The forest hugs the streets as we drive along the main highway towards La Push. Bella drives safer than Edward does, with both hands on the wheel and her eyes focused on the road, all while going the speed limit.

"The last time you saw Jake was after that time we went to the movie theater, right?" She asks out of the blue. I did tell her this in the car when we were driving to Forks, but I didn't get into details.

"Yeah, he got really sick, almost couldn't drive home. When we got back to his place, he got even worse-and then three men came into the room. One was named Jared. He was the one that took me out of the house, but I am not sure who dropped me off in Montana." I explain.

"Sam, Paul and Jared, most likely. Look," she sighs, "I probably shouldn't be doing this, taking you there and all, especially if it was Sam who had you taken away."

I can see her point. They'll most likely kick me out again when they see me. But I need to see Jake. I need to see that he got through whatever had gotten a hold of him. Something deep in me needs to know.

I sigh also, resting my elbow on the window seal of the car and lying my head on my hand that sits up. The forest passes in greens and browns, beautiful as it is mysterious. There is enough room between the trees to go running around them without getting snagged by brush.

"Are you sure this is the right decision?" She asks hesitantly.

"I don't know," I reply slowly. "I have to try, though. He didn't want me to leave." Then again, he could have been delirious from the sickness. He had a crush on Bella, not me, so why did he request for me to stay behind with him? Or maybe he just didn't want to be alone.

"He's different now, Furiae," she starts, "I mean, really different. Physical and personality. He's not the same Jacob."

"And you're not the same Bella." I point out. A silence rings through the car for a few minutes, leaving us in an awkward state. She sighs, breaking the quiet. "You're right." Is all she says. "I have broken the rules before, so what would hurt doing it again?"

I am not sure what she means, but we remain silent until we arrive in La Push. The morning sun breaks through some of the gray clouds above, but it drizzles. The beach is to our right, and small houses dot the land to our left between large trees and forest. My heart thumps loudly and quickly in my chest. I am finally here. And I am not sure what to do.

We pull into the dirt path that leads up to the Black's house, and as we pull into the yard, Billy comes rolling out of the house with a beautiful native woman behind him. Bella exits the car first, and he smiles when sees her, but as I climb out, his smile falls.

"Furiae," he starts, he pauses his movement on top of the ramp. "I wasn't expecting to see you."

Again. He wasn't expecting to see me again. Was he truly part of me disappearing? Did I rub him the wrong way or something when I lived here? I don't think so; he was usually out with friends. What am I to say to that?

"She's here to see Jacob."

"Jacob's not here." He sharply replies.

I frown deeply, closing the car door as I hadn't before. The drizzling of the rain dampens my hair and clothes, sticking them to my body. But I ignore it all while a frustration builds up inside me.

"So you didn't want me around. You were part of the reason I was sent away."

Every fiber of me screams in the inside. I feel betrayed. I feel broken. The one family I came to know after my amnesia just tosses me away like I am nothing. My fists clench tightly at my sides, and I feel a burning surrounding them.

All their eyes fall down to my arms and hands. I glance down too. My hands are glowing yellow. They are hot, burning with my anger and betrayal.

"It-it's not like that," Billy says softly.

"Not like what? That I was trash you could just throw away!" I hiss, my fists tighten and the glowing runs up my arms. "I am a human being!"

"Are you?" He asks. My heart drops and lump grows in my throat, "Are you really human?"

Without my control, tears well up in my eyes, burning them as they fall down my cheeks, sizzling the farther they fall. The rain pelts me harder than before. But as the rain falls next to my arms and hands, the droplets evaporate.

'He's different from you and I,' I hear my mother's voice whisper in the back of my mind.

"I-I," The light around my arms disperses until there is no glowing left. Bowing my head, I step back away from the car and away from them, "I don't know."

"Furiae…" Bella reaches out for me.

But without another word, I burst off down the trail and out onto the main road, heading for the beach. I evade trees and their branches that get in my way and relish when I hear the sound of waves crashing against the rocky shore. Ahead of me I can see the cliff that I fell from. It's ominous against the gray background, dark even. I skid to a stop once I reach the rocky ground, falling to my knees on the rough, but smooth surface of the rocks and pebbles. My hand bury themselves into the sand underneath the surface of the rocks, the cold layers smoking slightly from when my arms were once glowing.

"Who am I? What am I?" I shout at the ground. The water spills over my hands, uncovering the sand from my finger and rushing along my kneecaps, dampening my pants even further.

I lose control over my tears completely, wailing to myself as I lift my hands up and embrace my arms. "Why is this happening to me?" I cry.

"Furiae?" His voice rings through my sobs.