Preferences

I laid on the ground and looked up at the sky. My hand rested on my full stomach. I'd be hungry again soon, I could feel it. Edward sat up next to me. We had put the carcasses back in the cave. They'd most likely never be found. Our clothing was torn and our teeth were tinted a slight shade of pink. We were savages.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked moving his head so he could look at me from the corner of his eye.

"Finally back to normal." I sighed. I could feel the energy I had been lacking filling me up again. It was a feeling I never thought I would miss.

"That's good." he nodded and looked up at the stars with me. "We used to do this a lot… didn't we?" as if he didn't know.

"Yeah, just like old times…huh?" a small smile came onto my face. "Soon you'll be doing this with Bella."

"No. I wont." he said passionately.

"Yeah right." I laughed. "You really won't have time for anyone else then." I realized out loud and my face turned sad. He looked back at me and stood up. His sudden movements made me look up at him.

"Do you really think I wouldn't make time out of my busy schedule to see you?"

I smirked. "Because you do that now don't you?"

He rolled his eyes and started to head back.

"Wait!" I called for him and got up. "Aren't you going to wait for me to get full? I thought we were hunting partners!" I looked up at him. My head came to right below his shoulder.

"I thought I didn't make time for you." he looked at me a smirked. I laughed sarcastically and jumped quickly into the trees.

"If you can keep up with me, I'll be nice." I smiled. "I may even introduce myself to Bella properly."

"Really?" he questioned, his eyes getting warmer.

"Sure, why not." I shrugged. Instantly, he was beside me.

"Lets go."

We took off through the trees, our bodies moving about the limbs like acrobats. He kept cutting me off whenever I was about to pass him. He must have felt very passionately about me meeting Bella. I decided to go in front of him quickly so he couldn't pass me again.

Unaware of the color I was following, I met the animal quicker than I had planned. I stopped instantly as two brown eyes met my own. Edward passed me and stopped then turned around.

"Does this mean I win?" he smiled, his chest moved slightly inward from his false breathing. I couldn't answer him. My eyes were locked with the animal behind him. The eyes questioned me, and then I saw him. Edward turned and saw the animal then looked back at me. "Julia?" he questioned as he came closer. He grabbed my shoulders and cut off our eye contact. "Julia, it's just a wolf. What's the matter?"

I took an uneasy step back and watched as the gray wolf ran east. I blinked several times and tried to clear my senses. I had killed wolves before. It had never effected me, but just then, I couldn't even move. I couldn't attack the wolf. He reminded me of someone.

"Julia!" Edward called out to me. I could see my sad, terrified face reflected in his eyes. I covered my mouth and muttered.

"Seth." I sunk down to my knees. A dry cry started and my shoulders shrugged with my breaths. "I've lost my appetite." I told him. Edward got down onto one knee and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"I understand." he said lowly. He waited there patiently as I collected myself. He helped me up and smiled tenderly.

"Thanks." my voice was as soft as a bell. "Let's go back to the car."

We walked slowly. Soon the sun would rise, even if it were invisible. A new day was beginning. We were going home in a few hours. We'd be back before midnight.

"I think you should be a little less clingy to Bella." I said without thinking.

"What?" he stopped and looked at me. I turned back to him. "What do you mean about that?"

"I know it's hard to trust Jacob, trust me, I know. But when you were gone, he really did help and protect her. He never lost his temper around her. I don't think he would." I said honestly.

"Julia we didn't see a real werewolf back there." he said bluntly. "Is that why you're thinking about this?"

"Yes and no." I told him honestly. "It's just that, if you protect her too much, you're going to make her mad. Then she'll start doing stuff behind your back."

"She already threatened me, she's worse than a grizzly bear remember." he smirked.

"It's not a joke Edward." I shook my head. "Bella's not going to like you not being trustworthy."

"Looks like you two have more than one thing in common." he paused. "Perhaps, you're right."

I nodded. I was always right.

"Not always." he assured me.

The next day, Jacob stole Bella. He really needed to stop doing that. It wasn't giving him any brownie points. Edward was upset, but I calmed him down so we didn't have to leave early. Not like going there was going to help anything. Plus he had already said he'd give her more room. The day was filled with bear hunting and an over population of deer. We knocked down the numbers to say the least and before we realized, it was time to go home. The car ride went by fast, with no annoying music and lots of talking.

As we pulled into the drive, it was around midnight, just as we had planned. Edward and I walked up the stairs together, talking about his game plan. I had bet him a shopping trip that she was on the couch, not using the beautiful bed he had bought her. We peaked in the door way, and she wasn't on the bed. I smirked at him.

"Told you." I mouthed. He huffed and went in, dropping his stuff and picking her up carefully. She woke as he put her down and welcomed him home. I went into my room and started to collect the dirty clothes that rested in my bag and in my hamper. Edward did a good job with keeping his cool and he even opened up the option of Bella going back to La Push. Then she told him how Jacob had said he would rather see her dead than be a vampire, one of us. That boy had problems. I snarled and went downstairs as I saw all the pain Edward was thinking about inflicting of Jacob.

Tell her, it will show you care. I instructed him. She liked that he had self control, but then she wanted him to slip or something. She tried to kiss him, but he didn't allow it. I smirked as I threw my clothes into the wash, then she asked about Denali. Rose was evil.

He didn't really know how to respond to her questions, it's not like we ever did anything in Denali. Tanya was the main problem. She had no control whatsoever around Edward. Finally, he simple told Bella that he preferred brunettes. I looked at my reflection. My light blond hair shinned in the lighting. I rolled my eyes; this news was new to me.

She slept perfectly in his arms and they did nothing all night. I would have never been able to stay still like he could, just watching her sleep and hearing her sleep-talk.

In the morning she went home with Alice and Edward started to make the bed. As Alice pulled back into the driveway, I went over to her, just in time to see her going into a vision. Her mind saw Bella scouring her room for a shirt. It was such a stupid vision, that I could hardly pay attention to it, until Edward came next to me, almost in an instant. He looked worried.

"What?" I asked him, shrugging. "What's the big deal? Her shirt's missing."

"She doesn't lose stuff like that." he told me.

"She's a human," I said bluntly.

"Someone was in there." his eyes narrowed

"Yeah, me and Alice."

"No, someone else." he started for his car, without thinking, I followed instinctively. He moved fiercely. "One sniff and I'll know."

"Probably not." I told him as we got into the Volvo. "If it's someone you don't know, you won't know their scent. Plus, there is more than one scent in that room."

"I'll open the window for you to come in." he turned the wheel, we were almost to her house. "You can see the color and follow the trail."

I picked up the phone that rested in the cup holder and called Alice. I told her to tell the others what was going on and she said she would. We pulled up in front of Bella's house about a minute later.

"Don't let anyone see you." he told me as he got out. Like I was that careless. He went up to the door casually and when Bella opened the door he disappeared. The window opened a second later. Quickly, I went across the yard and entered her room. He was back down in the doorway a second later. He took her to the kitchen as I looked around the room.

It was a mix of colors, worse than it was before I left for Edward. Jacob's color and Edward's seemed to mix along with Bella's. Mine and Alice's colors were bright from yesterday, but one was brighter. It was a green, sage like, with tiny specs of a blood ruby. It couldn't be.

Edward wanted to get Bella out and he called Emmett for back-up. I saw the Volvo speed off as I followed the trial. It rotated around the house and small things were gone that Bella hadn't noticed. An earring, necklace, glove, a sock, the things humans lose all the time. However, the lines were chaotic as if four year olds had been set lose. That was the second sign. As Emmett and Jasper followed the vampires scent, I followed the color. It brought us to a highway that led to Seattle, the third sign. And the final sign was the trails that waited where the other ended. Every color was speckled with the same red. A red that was all too familiar.