-1A/N: the next morning.

I ate breakfast quickly. Paul was still in bed. I knew Carlisle was in his office, thanks to Alice who'd made my breakfast (cereal, she didn't want to poison me apparently). I went up the stairs, hesitating by the door.

"Come in" Carlisle invited. I sighed, cursing vampires and there super hearing. I opened the door and went in. He looked surprised to see me.

"Cassie. What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to ask something"

"Sure. Anything"

"I want to find out how to wake up this supposed vampire gene in me, and I figured you would want to as well. So…will you help me?" he smiled and nodded.

"When do we start?"

"Right now if it's okay with you" I said. He nodded and pulled a blank notebook from his desk. He scribbled out a list of bullet points.

"Okay, here are the main things that sum up a vampire" he said, passing me the list. I glanced at it. Speed, strength, heightened senses, extra abilities, hypnotic personalities.

"You missed one" I said, scribbling down the word blood.

"oh, yes. I just assumed that that one wouldn't be an issue since you don't drink blood" he said.

"But maybe I need to in order to wake up this thing" he shrugged and went to a cabinet locked with a padlock. He unlocked it and returned with a bag of blood, the kind you'd find in a hospital. I raised my eyebrows as he tossed it to me.

"You suggested it" he reminded me.

"Okay. This is…weird" I said, taking the packet "do you have any scissors?" he handed me a pair. I cut open the top and took a deep breath. I wasn't squeamish about blood like Bella but I didn't really like the idea about drinking a whole packet of it.

Pretend it's cherryade I told myself.

I latched onto the bag and drunk. I was surprised. It actually tasted okay, not salty but sweet. I slurped up the whole bag.

"Wow. I never thought I'd say this but blood is good" I smiled at him. He smiled back.

"How do you feel?" I considered the question for a minute. My body felt like an electric current was running through it. I felt so alive.

"I feel…weird. Like I've only just started to live. Do I look any different?" he looked at me and shook his head.

"But that's a good thing. So we know blood affects you and we know that there is no visible sign, like red eyes. At least at the moment. If you drink too much it might change. This could have side effects. If you don't drink you could deteriorate rapidly. We also don't know how long this will last, so we should probably test you out while you're strong" I nodded and followed him as he led me outside.

"What do you want to try first, fighting or running?"

"Fighting is probably best. If Paul wakes up he'll go insane" Carlisle nodded.
"Emmett! Jasper!" he called. The pair appeared next to him.

"Yes?"

"Anyone fancy a fight?" I asked. Jasper looked startled by the request but Emmett rolled up his sleeves.
"Always"

"Emmett! You could kill her!" Jasper said.

"Oi, I am here. I'm stronger then I look. If you're so worried why don't you go first Mr oh so controlled?" I asked. Jasper stared at me for a minute, then shook his head.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll teach you fighting techniques if you show me you can use them" I nodded and shook his hand before standing in the centre of the space. Emmett squared up in front of me.

"I hope you're ready for this" he smiled.

"I'm ready" I said, leaping forward. Always better to strike first I thought. He avoided and lunged for me. I darted to the side. I noticed my movements were quicker then they'd been before. I managed to avoid Emmett's next couple of attacks, then hung back, waiting for another.

"Come on" I said "This is getting boring" he snarled and leapt forward again but I dodged and grabbed his arm as I shot past. I tugged, hoping to throw him off balance. What I wasn't expecting was for his arm to go flying into the distance. I gawped at it for a minute before Jasper shouted "Cassie! Look out" I twisted round in time to see Emmett pouncing. He knocked me to the floor, landing on top.

"Okay Em, get off" I said, pushing him. He jumped to his feet and offered me a hand.

"Well that was interesting" he said "You got a bit of strength"

"next time we fight, I'll beat you" I told him "Oh…and sorry about the arm thing. I didn't mean to do that" he shrugged.

"It's okay. Happened before, happen again. I just wanna see if you impressed Jasper enough for him to teach you some of his moves" I looked over at Jasper who seemed to be considering.

"Emmett's right, you've got some natural talent. A bit of practice and you could be good. If you want, I'll train you but you have to do whatever I say"

"Okay. When can we start!" I said, eagerly. Carlisle put up a hand to stop us.

"Before you start practicing, you should drink this" he tossed me another bag of blood. I tore this one open with my teeth and drained it "Jasper, can you teach her to hunt as well? If you don't mind"

"I don't mind. It gives me something to do" he shrugged "Come on, I'll race you" I perked up at the sound of that. Running. I always liked to run. After my mum told me to quit dancing because the lessons were too expensive and before I found art, I used to run. I'd run until I was too exhausted to run any further.

"How do…I mean, will my vampire stuff just work?" I asked. He nodded.

"It's instinct. It should work. Just run, and try to keep up" he took off, disappearing into the trees. I looked at Carlisle.

"You better go after him. I'll tell Paul where you are" I nodded, smiled, and started to run. I felt something awaken in my body, driving me on. I blinked and the entire world was different. Everything was brighter and most detailed. I could hear Jasper up ahead, almost see him. I could see footprints that should be invisible and smell things I had no idea even existed.

I drew level with Jasper who looked surprised.

"See you made it then?" he asked.

"Yeah. Where are we going, anyway?"

"Hunting. We're heading for a spot that has bears"

"Bears? I've got to wrestle a bear now?"

"You wrestled Emmett, what's the difference?"

"True"

"I'll wrestle the bear, you just watch" he told me. He stopped suddenly and I almost ran into him. He crouched low to the ground.

"Copy me" he said. I crouched, mimicking his movements as he stalked forward. I could smell something on the air, rich and strong. Blood, I recognized it. It was blood but not human. I felt something in me instinctively repulsed by the idea but I shrugged it off. I leapt into a tree with ease so I could watch as Jasper grabbed the bear and tore it's throat open without getting a single drop on him. He started to feed and I searched for a bear of my own.