Author's Note: A thousand apologies about how late this is. My only defence is that I suffered the worst case of writer's block I've ever had. Ever. It was hideous. But I won't bore you with the details, because this chapter has taken far too long to make it's appearance.

Sorry if it's, for lack of a better word, shitty. I'm still getting back into the swing of things.

Chapter Music: Monster Hospital, Metric

Chapter Six: Alone

Wind whipped thought Bella's long brown hair as she ran full tilt towards her home. Her vampire eyes didn't dry out as they were attacked by cold, two hundred miles and hour air and her shimmering limbs were a blur to all eyes but hers. She was getting closer to her surrogate family, and for that fact, she felt significant relief. No matter how much worry she felt because of her failure with Peter, she missed Maria and her fellow soldiers.

Rushing past bushes and boulders used to landmark the base, she knew there was something wrong by the smell. The usual smell of desert sand and the army was replaced with the bitter sweetness of smoke. It choked her nose until there was nothing else.

Next, she could see it. Black tendrils curled lazily skywards, the last remains of an all consuming fire, the distinct shade of a vampire-killing pyre.

Fear crawled through Bella and rooted itself in her mind, rendering rational thought useless as she pushed herself faster than ever before, desperate to get home. Maybe she missed a fight. She'd be getting home to join her fellow soldiers in a celebratory feast. Her failures would be overshadowed by her army's win.

But something inside her knew that it couldn't be the case.

"Maria!" She yelled, her feet flying faster than they ever had before, kicking up a small dust storm in her wake.

This can't be happening, she thought, I can't be alone.

Panic seeped through her as she stopped on a dime, surveying the wreckage. The safe house was a pile of ashes, the smoke pouring from the destroyed building. She could smell them all, her fallen comrades, in the middle of the pyre. They had been burned. Wiped away. Her family. The wind shifted, and she groaned, sinking to her knees in front of her once home.

"Maria," Bella cried, the shift bringing the whiff of her creator from within the pyre.

Heart breaking, Bella sat in the sand, watching the fire crackle as it died, it's life ending as it had ended the lives of her family. The wind kicked up again, this time coming from the west, bringing new smells. A car - no, cars. New vampires never smelt before. Susan, Cassandra, Hector, Yvonne. They left with the new vampires. An army of new vampires. Went into cars. Drove away, to the west. Where?

Bella stood shakily, her knees locking as she tried to stay upright. Her family was torn apart. She would follow the new vampires as long as she could.

But before she got even two steps in that direction, the wind shifted once more, bringing new, more familiar smells.

"Nicolette," she growled before lurching to the right, closer to the ruins, dodging a gray haired vampire as she streaked past Bella. Nicolette, leader of the north-western coven smiled at Bella as she straightened herself.

"I see someone beat us here. Or did you do this yourself? Tired of following Maria's orders?" She taunted, and Bella snapped, not thinking of the army that was surrounding her and Nicolette. Hands bent into claws, Bella flew at Nicolette, determined to rip the older vampire's head off and feed it to the flames, like her family was.

Nicolette ducked the attack and grabbed Bella's ankle, throwing her into the flames in one smooth motion. Bella shrieked, clawing her way out of the dying pyre to find herself surrounded by Nicolette and her army. She wanted to die. To go out with a fight and end the pain in her heart. But the survival instinct beaten into her was stronger, and she sought for a way to flee. Where would she go? She could almost feel her remaining family getting farther away, and the tracks were dissolving as Nicolette's army stomped through them.

Jasper.

The man she replaced. He would have answers for her, wouldn't he? He's survived without Maria, hadn't he?

With barely a coherent thought in her mind, Bella found the weakest link in the army's perimeter and launched herself at him, teeth bared, snarling. The newborn faltered, just for a second, but it was enough time for Bella to get her talons into his eyes and blind him, rendering him useless and her gate out of the place she once called home.

Hands clawed at her legs and powers probed her mind, but she was well trained, and she escaped both, running as fast as she could back towards the town, where the army wouldn't dare follow her. She ran north, to safety, to her escape. Especially, though, it led to Jasper. Who would be answering questions, whether she forced them out of him or not.

Author's Note: Expect updates to come fast and furiously over the next couple months. I plan for this to be finished and completed by November. And if, for some reason, it's not finished by then, it'll be going on a month long hiatus. I'll be entering National Novel Writing Month, and that'll take priority.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for more.

-Maggie