Disclaimer: I wish I did but I don't own any of the characters except the new guy.

The Passing

People like Jacob and Edward, with their...talents, were the only species that I suspected that existed from myth and legend. I mean they kind of go together, don't they? Vampires and Werewolves. That was my belief up until the day the bright orange Allied moving truck appeared, backing into the narrow gravel driveway next door. Peering out the front window, I made the decision to be a friendly neighbor and whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies for the new people. Charlie had afternoon highway patrol so he would be gone until late tonight. I plopped each cube of cookie dough in neat rows on the metal tray and slid them easily into the oven. Following the instructions I set the timer for 15 minutes and ran upstairs to finish what was left of my homework. Edward, Alice, and Jasper had gone hunting for a long weekend so I wasn't expecting any visitors of any kind. Unless Jacob had an epiphany and realized vegetarian vampires weren't that bad, but I didn't think that would happen. Ever.

15 minutes later as I was shutting my Calculus book, the timer buzzed. I had almost forgotten there were cookies in the oven. I ran back downstairs to make sure they were done, or not burned and slid them onto the counter to cool. I still had about 10 minutes before I could take them over to the neighbors. I peered out side in longing, summer had faded into a premature autumn which had the stinging bite of winter air. My eighteenth birthday was looming in the future too. I had tried to put it out of my head for the past few months, the thought of being even one more year older than Edward (even though he was over one hundred years old, I tried not to think of it that way) and one more year closer to leaving this life and Edward behind was utterly and completely unbearable.

With a plastic spatula I scrapped the cooled cookies off the tray and placed them neatly on a decorative plate. Covering it with cling wrap, I grabbed my coat and walked out the door.

When I reached the mouth of the gravel driveway, I realized it was much longer then I perceived, snaking in and out, ducking behind tree trunks and finally blinking out of view. A deep sigh escaped my lips. I spun around on my heels, carefully set the cookies on the ground so I wouldn't trip and spew them everywhere, and sprinted back to the house. I burst into the house without shutting the door, grabbed my keys on the counter and sprinted back (yes, making sure to shut the door) retrieved the cookies and hopped in the driver's seat of my truck. The loud growl drowned out any other audible sound when I turned on the ignition. I pressed lightly on the gas and turned precariously in the driveway. The trees flashed past quicker as I urged my senior-citizen truck further into the woods, wondering if the semi I had seen this morning was a illusion. But no, I was confident it was real, but how would that big a truck fit down this narrow passage?

As the trees began to thin I caught glimpses of the orange moving truck and a house. Finally I broke through the trees and slowed to a crawl, amazed at what I was seeing. A three story Victorian style mansion sat nestled in the back corner of the clearing. The orange Allied truck was backed up to the front door as people moved back an forth between it and the house carrying large manila boxes and crates. As I got closer I saw that many of the people were movers with orange shirts on and only maybe five or six of them were dressed regularly, probably the new family.

I jerked to a stop then.

Staring in a numb conscience as I recognized the two standing off to the side, one, sitting in a black wheelchair, the other half-standing, leaning on the moving truck. Jacob's eyes flashed in surprise at the sight of the familiar truck. A wide grin spread across his face. He started quickly toward my truck, in three long strides he grasped the handle and pulled the door open.

"Its a surprise to see you here." He said, still smiling.

"Well Jacob, this is technically my backyard, and what's so wrong about being a good neighbor?" I said with one foot out of my truck.

"Well then, you have the right to know who's intruding on your land." He replied as I followed him around my truck to the front of the house. "Bella, I would like you to meet my friend Jeremiah."

The first meeting took my breath away. I had only known one inhumanly perfect being in my lifetime, now I knew two.

The radiance permeated from his flushed pale skin. His cropped chestnut colored hair perfectly framed his face. And his eyes.... shimmered in the light like sunlight bursting through a prism. His irises glimmered from deep magenta to red, fading to an orange into yellow to a coral green and finally a blue and purple around the edge.

I couldn't believe my eyes. Was he a vampire? Or some other immortal god? His perfectly structured body stood with great dignity, it seemed, he held himself in high self-esteem.

"H-h-h-hi." Was the only thing that I could force past my lips. I realized my grip on the plate was crushing the cookies "I-I-I b-b-brought y-you t-these." I managed, holding out the plate of cookies to him, suddenly not feeling so well.

Pull it together Bella, you're embarrassing yourself. I thought, shaking my head to clear it. You've been around gods before. He walked casually toward me and pried the cookies out of my hands.

"Thank you." His voice rang like the tone of a thousand baritone bells.

He turned smoothly and glided away. "It was very nice to meet you, Bella Swan." And he disappeared into the house. I turned to glare at Jacob.

"What?" he asked like he was completely oblivious to what I was thinking.

"You couldn't have warned me!" I hissed "You made me look like an idiot back there!" He shrugged still smiling, obviously enjoying my humiliation. I folded my arms across my chest and stormed back to my truck.

"Wait Bella, there's something you must know." He paused, "but I'm not sure it's my information to tell."

"What Jacob!?" I asked impatiently.

He hesitated, not entirely sure what to say. "I know what you were thinking back there, and you're right." His eyes looked almost worried. "Jeremiah, he's not entirely human."

Batgirl54- Thanks, heres the next chapter, I hope you like it. Keep reviewing, thanks!