After a few minutes of running, I found myself in front of the Uleys' house. I saw Sam walk outside, shaking slightly.

"Hey, Sam." He recognizes my voice somewhat.

"Do I know you, vampire?"

"You may. My name is Bella Swan." Sam stopped shaking instantly.

"Bella?" he squeaked. I tried not to laugh, because with a deep voice like his, squeaking sounded interesting.

"Last time I checked. I just figured I should beat Jake to the punch of telling you that I was vampire. He really should take lessons from you on not calling vampires 'leeches' or 'filthy bloodsuckers.'" Sam laughed.

"I've told him that so many times…but he doesn't seem to listen. Any way, any other thing you came over for?"

"Well, I was wondering…"I hesitated, "does this mean you're going to go after the Cullen's?" Sam furrowed his brow.

"I don't know Bella. I guess not if they didn't hurt you. Which brings me to a question. Don't you smell my blood?" I sniffed the air.

"If you're asking if I think you smell sour, no I don't. I can smell the pine and Emily's grilled cheese, but no blood or anything."

Sam looked deeply surprised. He turned around and yelled for Emily. She came out.

"Do you smell her?" I shook my head.

"My God. You can't smell human blood."

"Wait." I sniffed the air and this time I really tried. Then I stiffened and stopped breathing. "I can if I try," I said breathlessly.

"Bella…" Sam said cautiously. I stuck my index finger up. Finally, the thirst died down.

"I don't think that was such a good idea," I mumbled.

"Neither do I. Bella, I think you should go. Embry and the rest are coming, and I don't think they'll handle this well."

However, it was too late. Embry was already in the distance leading Jared and Paul. My breath caught.

"I shouldn't run. They'll go after me," I breathed. Sam nodded. By the time the group was at the house, they were doing human approximations of growls.

"Pack, calm down. It's Bella." Embry was the first to stop growling.

"Oh my gosh. Bella?" Embry said, looking mournful. I hung my head.

"I should go." Before anyone said anything, I ran away to the safety of the Cullen's house. I sniffed the air. Jacob was still here. I sighed and walked through the door. He was on the stairs, trying hard not to get to mad.

"Jake, calm," I said tiredly. "If you all will excuse me, I think I need to go take a bath." Jake stepped in.

"Actually, I was wondering if we could go for a walk."

"Jake, please. Later, all right? I promise, I SWEAR. Later. But right now, I need to calm my mind." I ran past him and within five seconds I was undressed in Alice's tub with the water all the way on hot. I listened carefully to see if any fights had broken out. Glorious silence filled my ears, and it was maintained throughout the entire bath.

After a few hours, I hopped out and got dressed. Before going downstairs, I breathed in the air. A sour stench filled my nose.

The whole pack was there, but something was slightly different. In a zip, I was in the living room and silence ensued. I was obviously the subject of the discussion.

"Can we get this little meeting over with?" I muttered grabbing a seat by Edward and Emmett.

Sam spoke first. "As I was saying, we smelled some other vampires near that meadow of yours, and we only caught glimpse of something red, or a deep orange. We think it was the female that was here while you were gone." If I could pass out, I knew I would at that moment.

"Victoria," was all my mouth could say. Edward growled and everyone else tensed.

"If she is here," Alice said slowly, "I should be able to predict when she's coming. However, if Victoria got away once, we can't do this alone."

Sam nodded. "I agree. Especially since she now has a coven." Then, something snapped. I don't know what exactly, but it wasn't a good snap.

"She's here with the coven. With her coven. Knowing her, everyone there can probably kill an entire state within an hour! You know, just when you think I steered clear of trouble, this happens. Why can't that woman accept James is dead and freaking LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!"

"That's what we're trying to find out, but nothing is leading us to any clues. Unless her reasoning is she still thinks you're human, Bella, I have a right mind to say you're in grave danger."

I snorted. "That is nothing new. YOU of all people should know that."

"What can we do? We have to think of a plan!" Esme exclaimed, darting nervous glances at me.

"If Victoria slips through our cracks and some how makes it to Forks, I guess it's then your problem. Unless we can think of a fight strategy where all of us are working together…" Finally, I interjected with something that didn't contain sarcasm.

"If we really want to know what Victoria is going to do, we should wait until Alice gets a vision. We should wait until we find out Victoria's strategy and we counteract it."

Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jacob went, "I'm with her." However, Carlisle stepped in.

"I think we should start looking now. That way there are no surprises later. All we can do with Alice is find out the strategy, which is useful and something we should do. However, we need to know the location and time frame so we know how long we have.

THEN, we find out Victoria's plan and we go against it." Jared nodded with Carlisle.

"I agree with the head honcho." Everyone laughed at the terminology.

"Well, it's settled then," Esme said carefully.

"Rosalie, Alice, Bella, half of the wolves and myself will go tonight. The rest will go tomorrow morning, bright and early.

Jacob, Embry, and Sam recruited for the night watch. Then, I realized what was different with the pack.

"QUIL?" I exclaimed. He grinned.

"Wondered when you would say hi," he laughed. I laughed with him.

"Well, that would explain why Esme said 'half of the wolves.' Huh. Okay, so should we get going?" I asked the night committee.

Everyone nodded. Edward walked up to me and pulled me into his embrace.

"Be careful out there. Don't be stupid at any time." I smelled his scent, then kissed and we left.

I could've sworn I heard Jacob gagging.

I know, I know. Short chapter. But the next one is long,

I swear to all that is holy.

-Ayame