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Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, I am not Stephenie Meyer.

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Chapter 2- The Cullens

We made it to the Cullen's home in less than a couple of minutes, and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was large and white, with a lawn the size of a meadow.

"Do you like it?" Edward's voice was soft and kind. He was walking besides me.

"Yes." I decided to tell the truth, I couldn't keep the awe out of my voice or my eyes.

Edward and his family live like humans. They live in houses and wear clothes. But there was something strange about their eye color; they all had eyes the shade of topaz. Why is it so strange to me? Do all vampires have topaz colored eyes?

Edward gave me a soft smile then quickly left my side, leading the way towards the entrance of the house.

We entered into the first room, a large white room with the north wall completely covered in glass. The family was already seated around two of the sofas in the center of the room.

"Come with me, Ms. Swan," said the woman with the light brown hair, Esme. She moved away from the couch and walked towards me.

"Please, call me Bella."

"I thought your name was Isabella." Edward spoke from behind me. I turned quickly to see him watching me with unease. He looked away then, towards the floor and something inside of him caught my eye. He seemed sad and empty. His body language looked insecure to me, but he hid it so well. I wondered if any of his family could tell. He looked up at me again, and gave me a soft smile.

"My name is Isabella," I said to him, "but I prefer if people would call me Bella."

"Well, Bella," I turned to look at Esme as she directed me again. "Come…" She was gestured with her hand towards the stairs. "I think you need a nice hot bath and some new clothes. Come with me, and I'll help you."

"Oh, okay." I took one more look at Edward, and then followed Esme towards the stairs. Something strange was tugging at the back of my mind as I followed closely behind Esme. I turned to look at the group behind me and saw the young blonde one starring at me with hatred in her eyes. The look frightened me. I stopped in my tracks.

"What's wrong, dear?" Esme turned to look at me. She had obviously noticed how my body froze and herd my sudden intake of breath.

I looked back at Esme, then turned and looked at Rosalie once more. Her eyes held mine, her expression blank now, but somehow her eye color began to deepen, turning a deep shade of dark onyx. She's angry at me. Why is she angry at me? I said to myself. I had to go, I had to get out. I know I can be faster than most of them if I tried, I had noticed it on our run to the house.

My eyes darted to the door than back to Rosalie's. I noticed the entire family was watching me with nervousness. In one fluid motion, I flew to the door. I was out of the room before any of them could grab me. As soon as I was off the front steps, I heard Carlisle's voice. "Edward," he said.

I was only about a couple of yards into the trees when cold strong arms suddenly took hold of my waist. I was caught off guard, so I reached back to strike the one who tried to capture me. It was Edward. He dodged my punch, grabbed me, and swung me hard to the ground. I landed on my back, a loud crack echoing around the trees. Edward then crawled on top of me, pinning my hands to the wet ground.

"What are you doing!?" I yelled in his face. If it were at all possible for me to cry, I would be crying right now.

"Why are you leaving? I thought you wanted to stay?" His expression was controlled, but I saw pain tugging at the ends of his eyes. Why was he so blocked off?

"I do want to stay but… your sister, the blonde. She hates me! I can see it in her eyes! She doesn't want me to stay. I can't stay if she doesn't want me to." I could hear the desperation and hysteria in my voice, but I didn't care. I felt so vulnerable. I don't know why I trusted Edward, but I did.

Edward watched me with sympathy, and released his hands from mine as he sat back on his heels. "Rosalie doesn't hate you. She's just… jealous."

"Jealous? Why would she be jealous of me? She's gorgeous and… she has nothing to be jealous about." I closed my eyes, and waited for him to speak.

"She's jealous because of the way I look at you. I've never looked at her that way, and she doesn't like the fact that I'm… well… more interested in—" Suddenly, I heard something low and strange coming from about a mile away. It sounded like a growl, but many of them, from creatures I've never heard before. It wasn't human, but they didn't sound like any animal I knew of either.

"Is something wrong?" Edward must have noticed my sudden uneasiness. My eyes shot open and landed on him. He was staring at me with confusion and he looked tense around the shoulders.

Suddenly his face went completely blank. He wasn't looking at me anymore; he was looking to my left. The same place the sounds were coming from. I could tell he knew something was there, but how? Could he hear them too? No, he had been telling me something, he wasn't concentrating on the sounds. The creatures I could hear pulsating against my ears was too far away for him to hear if he hadn't been listening. So, how did he know?

"How do you know?" I kept my voice low in case the thing was able to hear me. "How can you tell it's there?"

He looked at me then, but his eyes were strange. They were guarded and serious. "How do you know it's there?" He was challenging me with his tone and his voice was like velvet as he held my gaze. I couldn't look away.

"I can hear them," I blurted out.

"How?"

"I was listening intently. I can hear anything within a three mile radius if I'm concentrating. But how can you? You weren't concentrating. You were talking." I suddenly remembered what he said to me. He had never looked at her the way he looked at me. What did that mean?

Edward was still looking at me, the guardedness gone from his eyes. He gave me a soft smile and said, "I can read minds."

What? Does that mean he can read my mind? "W-What?" I stammered. I was shocked and confused. "You can read minds?" Oh no! "Can you read my mind?"

"I can read everyone's mind, but not yours. It's strange to me. It has never happened before. When I first saw you, I tried. But your mind didn't make any sound to me. I wonder why that is." He cocked his head to the side, still holding that soft crooked smile. He's so gorgeous, the most beautiful person I have ever seen. I quickly dropped my eyes to my bent knees.

"Why can't you read my mind?" I risked meeting his eyes again. They were still on me.

"I don't know. I suppose your mind works differently than others. I'm going to ask Carlisle about it."

"He means a lot to you, doesn't he? I can tell by the way you say his name. You have so much respect for him."

"I do. He is my father, my creator…"

Edward's eyes shot to my left again. "We have to go."

"What is it?"

"You'll have to hear that story some other time." He smiled at me as I got up from the ground. "Race you home?"

"Sure," I said, and then I flew off into the forest towards his house. I was fast, but he was faster. I ran like an arrow from a bow, but he shot like a bullet from a gun. He sped past me, but once he saw the defeat in my eyes, he slowed his pace to match mine.

"You're so fast. It's amazing," I said.

His smile was gone, but the exhilaration never left his eyes. He nodded and turned his head to face forward.

I reached the steps before he did. I turned and watched him gracefully step up onto the stairs after me, his hair windblown. As soon as he noticed I was looking, his eyes became more serious, and his golden irises dazzled me. My lower stomach tightened, I couldn't look away. All too soon, Edward dropped his gaze to the floor, "We should go inside now," he said in a husky voice.

As I entered the house, the only ones in the living room were Carlisle, Alice and Esme.

"Hi," I said. "I apologize for running off like I did."

Esme was the first to speak, "That's alright. Are you ready for that hot bath?"

I gave her a smile and followed her up the stairs, Alice on my tail.

Once I scrubbed away all the dirt and blood and was out of the bath, Alice handed me some clothes to wear, black shorts, a white t-shirt, a lacy thin white braw and matching panties and a pair of white tennis shoes.

"If you need any help, just let me know," Alice said. "I'll be right outside. And your hair, let's see." She began running her fingers through it, "I can blow dry it if you'd like."

"Um… okay." She turned me so my back was facing her. It took her only a few minutes to blow-dry my hair. She left me alone then, and patiently waited outside with Esme.

I turned and looked into the mirror for the first time sense my change. I had seen my reflection in water, or on a piece of glass, but never in a mirror.

I looked the same as I did when I was human, but my features seemed more defined and angular. I was ghostly white, and almost beautiful, but my eyes were black and I had the dark purple bruises under my eyes. I was thirsty I could feel the burning in back of my throat. I just hadn't paid any attention to it until now. My hair was still straight and the same length as it always was, long reaching the middle of my back, but now it shaped my face beautifully, thanks to Alice's skills with a blow-dryer.

I removed my towel to take a look at my body. Every muscle was tight and defined. My hips were small but round, my waist still tiny, and my breasts were perky and still small but somehow full.

I dressed quickly, every piece of garment fit perfectly. I walked with Alice and Esme down stairs to the main room. Carlisle, Jasper and Edward were waiting for us down stairs, but Edward was the only one who noticed my entrance.

Carlisle suddenly looked up. "Well, Bella. There is much to talk about."

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I don't really know if vampires can style their hair, but I gave it a shot anyway. Oh! And you'll find out about what happened to Bella in the next chapter. Enjoy!

-PuppetStrings19