A.N.: Sorry this took so long. I have a lot going on right now…? There's the auction on gaia, some art trades, student council stuff, PALs, school… but you don't need to know about all that, haha. By the way, yes, Jacob has short hair since he only grew it out because he thought Bella liked it better that way. And in this story, obviously, there's no Bella.

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Someone was outside, in the darkness. He—it looked like a he; I could be wrong.—was struggling to keep steady on an outstretched branch on the old oak tree outside my window. He looked familiar.

Even in a twisted expression of concentration, I could see the slight boyish-ness of his face. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and his russet colored skin glowed. His inky hair was cropped.

And then, he realized that I'd opened the curtains, and probably the bewildered expression on my face which he was currently mirroring. I realized who he was in those few minutes of blank silence.

Jacob?

That boy I'd met on First Beach? The laPush boy who told me about… the cold ones? What was he doing here? Did he know I'm alive? How did he know where I was? What…

My mind was moving faster than I would've thought possible. My brain barely registered his mouth moving. I guess he wanted to talk; what about was the mystery. I stumbled in my haste to open the window, but my hand froze on the latch.

Should you talk to him? Should you tell him to go away? Pretend you don't know him? Pretend you're someone else that looks remarkably like his childhood friend?

What if he tells everyone you're alive, now that he sees you? What if he already has? Could there be a whole group of people waiting down there? For you?

My brain was definitely working overtime.

You could ask him. You could tell him to be quiet. You could even ask the friendly vampires to— Bella, no. At the very least, you could find out how he knew you were here.

I yelled internally for my brain the shut the hell up.

I decided to act on instinct, so I opened the window.

No sooner had I opened the smallest crack did my door burst open.

Roran stormed in, his face no longer in the neutral mask it usually was; he was fuming.

I was staring at Roran, but then I heard an impatient sigh from outside. Jacob pulled the window back the rest of the way, and stepped in gracefully.

"I thought I smelled a dog. Get out." Roran said menacingly, in a low but firm voice. I noticed Emily and William had come also, wearing similar expressions. I remembered Emily telling me Zaciel had some business to take care of, and wasn't home today.

Jacob exhaled sharply with a defiant expression. "Gladly," he retorted, with pretend nonchalance. Then he suddenly grabbed my elbow. "I'll be taking her with me. I know the way out." He made a show of propping me over the ledge on of the window.

"W-wait!" I said, finally finding my voice. I turned to see Roran put an ice-cold hand on Jacob's shoulder; he looked slightly revolted at the physical gesture. "Let's talk first," he said.

"I don't believe there's anything to talk about." Jacob leered towards Roran, innocent façade gone.

They stared each other down. I jumped when Emily touched me lightly on my arm. I looked over at her, she was—I was surprised to see— smirking nervously. I realized I was still sitting on the window frame. I rushed to get off.

After a bit more arguing, Jacob— gracelessly, I might add—finally agreed to sit down and discuss whatever this was about. Roran led us to the living room. He seemed to be in charge now; I guess he's second in command when Zaciel isn't here.

"Tea?" Roran offered offhandedly once everyone was seated.

Jacob ignored the cup. "I'm taking her. Now." He glowered. He meant me, I guess.

Putting all the pleasantries aside, Roran replied in a similar tone. "What are you going to do with her, once you leave?"

"Return her to her father, to Forks, where she belongs!" Jacob said heatedly.

"And how are you going to explain why she's been gone for weeks when a body's already been found— the funeral already over?" Roran snarled. "Without having to reveal what we are... what you are?!"

What he was…? What Jacob was? What's that supposed to mean? Wait… Jacob knew? He knows about vampires? Well, of course he knew, from the stories, but why does he believe them now?

Jacob seemed momentarily stumped, his face looked taken aback. But he quickly regained his angry expression. "We'll figure it out." He said in a low tone, somewhat pathetically.

"I'm sure you will." Roran sneered, his voice heavily sarcastic. "We're not handing her over." Emily tightened her hold on my hand.

I was starting to get tired of being talked about like some object, like I belonged to someone. I was about to voice my feelings when Jacob broke the silence.

"Doesn't Bella get a say in this?" I mentally thanked him... a little. He turned to me. "Bella, Charlie's been miserable. He thinks it's his entire fault, that he wasn't good enough as a father."

Oh no. He's trying to make me feel guilty, and it's working. Charlie… it's not his fault, not his fault at all. It's all mine. Charlie…

Jacob continued. "Billy's been going over there almost every night to check on him. I've seen his state… not good at all." He shook his head.

"And Renee… How can you just abandon Renee? She was hysteric at the funeral; she still doesn't believe you're dead. And everyone in town, they've—"

"Stop!" I burst out before I could stop it. I didn't want to hear anymore, I've made my decision, and I was going to stick with it. That's how I am… once I make a decision, I'm determined to see it through. But Jacob was starting to get to me. How could I have just left, without contemplating how it will affect my friends and family? Was it because, at that moment, everything just paled in comparison to him, and no one else mattered at that point?

"Jacob," I said slowly, my voice shaking slightly. "I had a good reason for leaving; I don't expect you to understand, but please, please…"

"You had a reason? Let's hear it then."

Let's hear it? Was it worth it to tell him? He would just hate me even more…

"I… don't want to tell you…"

Jacob instantly fired up. "It is about that bunch of bloodsuckers? Is that why? That one you used to hang out with, what was his name?

"…Edward?"

The name sent shivers down my spine. My hands instinctively moved to my chest, my breaths started coming in gasps.

Jacob looked at my posture with a strange expression. Was it contempt? Pity?

"Leave. Now." Emily said menacingly, talking for the first time that night. I remembered that I had told Emily, and her alone, about why I had left I the first place. She probably knew why I was behaving the way I was.

"Not until I can get her with me." Jacob shot back, standing up.

"No… Jacob…" I was practically begging. He looked at me with the same expression as before, and then he sighed.

Turning towards the front door, he spoke. "I'll be coming back for you. Count on it."

"No, wait!" I yelled after him. He turned to face me. "You aren't… you aren't going to tell anyone I'm still alive… are you?"

He paused uncomfortably. "I can't help them knowing, being what I am…"

"What you are?!" I lost it. I couldn't stand being in the dark all the time; it's about time I got some answers. "What are you? I think I ought to know what this is all about!"

He sighed heavily. "Well… you asked for it.

"Bella, I'm…" He bit his lip nervously. "Er… I'm a…."

"What the dog's chocking on is," William said from behind me. I whirled around to him, aware of Jacob growling in the background. "He's a werewolf."

Eh?

A… werewolf?

And… I'll be waking up now, right?

This can't be right.

This entire thing with Jacob is a dream.

In fact, my entire life after I moved to Forks might be a dream.

And sooner or later, I'm going to wake up to the shrill, demanding sound of the alarm clock, find myself lying in bed, in Charlie's house, and start to get ready for a school day filled with non-vampires and non-werewolves, plain old human classmates.

Yup.

So…. Should I pinch myself or something?

"Bella?" Jacob looked at me, with unmistakable concern on his face.

I looked at him. There was no way that this boy, no matter how huge and muscled he is, is a werewolf. There's just no freaking way.

I made a small, pathetic sound, just to confirm I heard what he said.

"A… werewolf?" I croaked.

He half-grinned. I just stared at him, not entirely sure what the expression on my face looks like.

He ignored my blank stare. "Now that that's out of the way," he remarked, as though a huge weight has been lifted off his chest. "Werewolves can hear each other's thoughts, so, I can't really help having my werewolf friends knowing you're alive." He shrugged innocently.

"Bu-but," I stuttered, then realization hit. Werewolves. There were more? "Th-then, don't think about it!" I blurted out.

He, unbelievably, smirked. "Can't really do that, m'afraid," his expression turned serious. "I can try… but I'll probably slip." The way he said it, and that damn smirk on his face, gave me the impression that he wasn't going to try at all.

"Jacob…" I tried the begging again.

He raised his hands, in an I-surrender pose. "Hey, I will try, but I can't guarantee that you won't find a pack of angry wolves showing up at your doorsteps one of these days."

And he was out the door before I could say another word.

I froze for a minute, then looked desperately at each of my new "family's" faces, as though they could do something about.

I stopped at Emily face. Her expression confused me. Roran and William both looked angry, but Emily looked as if… she was contemplating something. Mulling it over. She looked almost… scared at the prospect.

Then she turned to Roran, and their eyes met. Roran seemed to be uncertain for a minute, but then he nodded, and some sort of silent communication passed through them.

Without a word, Emily ran back outside and chased after Jacob.

I was still staring after her with Roran cleared his throat loudly. I turned to him, and he was pointing towards the stairs. "Pack. Now." He said with finality.

"Wait!" I called after him when he made to leave the room. "Where did Emily go…?"

He looked at me oddly for a second. I noticed, even though he wasn't older than 25 and was exceptionally beautiful, how old, weathered he sometimes looked. Completely different from Emily, who was so youthful, even though Emily had told me that Roran was her mate.

"Emily went to erase that boy's memory." Silence.

"Erase… his memory?" I repeated stupidly.

"Yes, that's her power." He clarified. "Only his memory of this night, however. But we're leaving, it's not safe to be so close to Forks and these werewolves."

And he walked back into the living room with William, heaving me standing in the deserted corridor.

---

I sighed as I took in the forests again. Would this really be my last time seeing them?

I dragged my luggage downstairs. It wasn't incredibly heavy; most of my stuff was gone, but Emily had bought me a lot of extra (and completely unnecessary) clothes, so it was still pretty heavy… for me, the human, at least. William found my struggling on the stairs, and took the duffle bag out of my hands without a word, and flung it over his shoulders as if it weighed nothing at all. Which it probably did, to him at least.

William has been acting distant ever since our last personal conversation. I still regretted making that one thoughtless remark.

The entire "family" (I still wasn't entirely comfortable with calling them my real family, you know, without the quotation marks.) had been bustling around all morning, deciding which things to pack and what needs to be airlifted and whatnot, and since I had pretty much no clue about most of what they were talking about (all I could make out was that we were moving to someplace really up north, they evidently had a house there that they'd been living in for a few years until around 20 years ago.), I mostly just sat aside and thought about things. It wasn't doing me much good, thinking, since I really had nothing to think about that didn't threaten to tear me apart.

Apparently, Emily had caught up with Jacob in time and he had no recollection of his visit at all. While rummaging through his head, though, she had also found that Jacob saw me in the forest the other day and that was why he decided to come to the house, so she deleted that particular memory, also. I overheard her saying that she saw some other things also, but was adamant on not telling me anything. They told Zaciel the entire action-packed story when he got back, and he tried to consol me that it was not my fault that they had to move, which only made me feel, if possible, worse. Roran and William both weren't really interested in speaking to me. The house was, honestly, getting quite stifling.

I made up my mind to take another walk outside but, deciding it was pretty stupid of me and I would have to be pretty thick to go out without permission again, I asked Emily first this time.

"Yes?" Emily turned to me; she had been wrapping up some unknown object.

"Um, Emily, Would it be alright it I go out to get some fresh air?" I tried my best to sound innocent.

Emily raised an eyebrow at me. "My goodness, Bella. I would've thought you'd understand that strolls in the forest aren't really in your best interests right now."

She was firm on not letting me out at first, but after I gave her all this grief about how I'm never, ever going to be here again and how much I'd miss it and how I'd always have a weight in my heart if I never even got to say goodbye to this place, I finally wore her down.

"One hour. That's it." She told me sternly. I smiled, and then walked out into the crisp forest air.

Breathing in the woodsy scent, I walked closer to the forest edge. What I told Emily wasn't exactly a lie, but I really didn't hold the forest that dearly in my heart. I would, probably, miss them though. But there would be forests where we're going to, or at least that's what I've been trying to tell myself.

I found the bench I'd been sitting in last time, but I didn't spare it a second glance. I really didn't needed to sit down, I feel like moving around would do me some good.

It was a while before I had realized how far into the forest I had gotten.

I pulled some stubborn tree branched out of my way before I walked into a clear meadow. The brightness of the afternoon sun without the trees covering ti blinded me momentarily, but my eyes quickly adjusted.

The yellowed grass rippled in the slight breeze, beckoning me to sit down. The place was so pretty, I didn't want to leave. I supposed my hour would be pretty much up, but I didn't care. I lay down, and wished everything would just fade away…

"Well, well, well…" A girly voice murmured from beyond the trees.

The next thing I saw was a blur of fiery red.

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A.n.: AHAH. I'm mean, aren't I: ) I'll update soon, I promise. At least, it won't be weeks and weeks again. xD Okay, a bit about the Fei coven. Emily is the only one with a power, she can erase memories. She doesn't like doing it, because she feels it's disrespectful and violating a person's privacy. So, yes, Willam, Roran and Zaciel all have no powers whatsoever. Fanfics where every single vampire seems to have an amazingly strong power annoy me. I mean, powers are supposed to be really rare, so you wouldn't want to go around giving every single vampire one. xP And whether or not Bella has a power... well, you'll just have to wait.

Also, now that it has happened, Eddie will be ack pretty soon.

Oh, and someone asked me why I always call Edward 'Eddie'. Well, Edward always seems so serious and nonchalant, Eddie seems t give me the feeling that he's not always so serious. I don't know, maybe I'm just weird. At least I don't call him Eddie in the fanfic. xD

REVIEW. Or else I'm never updating again, ever. Ever. D: