A/N - Here's the new chapter! I hope you all like it. I'd just like to say a quick thank you to the people that left a review on the last chapter, they really mean a lot to me. I'd really love it if you could take a minute to write one on this chapter, they honestly do make my day. Thank youuuu 3

Chapter 2 - Lucky Escape

It had been exactly one month since the Cullens had invited me into their family. The time had flown by, every day I was learning and, at last, living. I'd fill the hours doing whatever I wanted to, whether that was talking with Alice and Esme, being taught everything from history to science by Carlisle, sparring with Emmett and Jasper or learning how to play the piano with Edward. Sadly, I couldn't be in the same room as Bella for more than five minutes due to the fact that the mere mention of her name made my throat burn with thirst for her blood, however in less than two months she'd be a vampire, and I'd be able to spend as much time with her as I wanted to. I was looking forward to getting to know her, she'd been nothing but nice to me every time we saw each other, even though she was fully aware of the fact I was overcome with the desire to exsanguinate her whenever we were within any sort of proximity to each other. Rosalie, on the other hand, was a different story entirely. She'd barely said ten words to me since my arrival in June, and refused to acknowledge my presence in the family. It wasn't like she was actively picking on or being cruel to me, she just seemed to pretend I wasn't there. Esme had tried telling her to stop ignoring me, but Rosalie had argued that she was doing nothing wrong. Esme and Alice had assured me that she would warm to me in time, and Edward, having read her mind, told me she just didn't like the change of having another person in the house, but it still took a hammer to my self esteem.

Another drawback of being a Cullen was the food. It turned out the reason their eyes were yellow wasn't because they were old and weak as Riley had told me, but because they chose to live on the blood of animals rather than that of humans. I'd taken this new lifestyle in my stride, and loved the actual act of hunting, but it was difficult to get used to. Animal blood filled me up and gave me just as much energy as human blood did, but it wasn't the same. It never fully satisfied me, no matter how much I drank, and didn't taste anywhere near as good as the blood of humans, even when that blood was tainted with the bitterness of class A drugs and hard alcohol. I missed human blood immensely, but loved my new family more, so found the strength to stop myself from going on a blood binge around forks.

"Edward, Emmett and I are going hunting, do you want to join us?" Alice asked me. It was a sweltering July morning, a rarity in forks. I'd only eaten 18 hours before, but my insatiable newborn appetite demanded that I went with Alice, Edward and Emmett, so I said yes to Alice's offer and ran with them into the woods. The novelty of being able to run so impossibly fast was still yet to wear off, which was one of the reasons I enjoyed hunting so much. The feeling of the wind hitting my marble skin and the sight of the world blurring around me was unlike anything else I'd experienced in either of my lives.

After drinking a heard of deer dry, we were full and ready to go home, however a phone call from Carlisle hindered our plans of returning back to the house.

"Hey Carlisle, is there something wrong?" Alice asked after accepting Carlisle's call.

"No, everything's fine, but I'm afraid I'm going to need you to wait in the forest for a while - there's a group of about 15 hikers close to the house, and we don't think it would be in their best interests for Bree to come home quite yet." Carlisle said. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. I was, once again, inconveniencing everyone else because I was so out of control of my own body that I couldn't be trusted around humans. My family could tell me what they wanted to, but I knew none of them were as animalistic around blood as I was when they were newborns. I was the odd one out and sick of it.

"Ok, we'll wait. Call us when it's safe. Bye." Alice clicked the red button on the phone to end the call before Edward talked.

"You don't have to feel guilty Bree. I promise you it's normal to be like this as a newborn, it'll go away soon." He said, addressing my previous thoughts. I shifted uncomfortably, keeping my eyes on the forest floor. "You can't expect yourself to be exactly the same as we were as newborns. Your first few months as a vampire were very different from all of ours, even Jasper was expected to keep some level of self control. You were just left to run wild through Seattle."

"Not to mention the fact that you got turned much younger than we did." Alice added. They weren't technically wrong - my early days as a vampire and young physical age were less than ideal when it came to controlling newborn thirst and becoming 'vegetarian', but that didn't stop me from feeling bad. I forced myself to meet their gazes. Their golden eyes were soft and kind, but full of pity I didn't want.

"I know. I'm sorry for bothering you all." I said, involuntarily keeping my voice small. Alice sighed and put her arm around me.

"Don't be sorry. You've not done anything to feel sorry for." A boyish grin spread across Emmett's face.

"Alice is right. You should be making the most out of your newborn time; you won't be as strong as me forever." He said, a tone of dare in his voice. I decided to accept his unspoken challenge.

"But Emmett, I'm not as strong as you," I replied, widening my eyes and making my voice as sickly sweet as I could. Emmett raised an eyebrow, pondering my next move. Before he had time to think of what I was about to do, I ran toward him, picked him up with one arm and slammed him on the ground. "I'm stronger." Alice and Edward laughed and cheered behind me, clearly finding humor in the image of a 5'2'', skinny, fifteen year old girl taking down an adult man with muscles that could rival a wrestler's. Emmett quickly got up and shook off the blow.

"You really shouldn't have done that, Bree." He said, a smile creeping into his voice despite his best efforts to sound menacing. He ran back at me, body lowered in a position similar to that of a sprinter starting a race, and, when he made contact with me, launched me up into the air as high as he could. I threw my head back and laughed as I hurtled further and further up into the sky, euphoria consuming me. I reached the climax of my flight about twenty feet above the canopy of the forest. I should've been worrying about being seen by any humans as I descended back toward the earth, but I was having too much fun to care.
I landed on the forest floor delicately, like a cat that had fallen off a wall. I ran back at Emmett and we continued to wrestle. Alice pulled us apart.

"Come on, you guys know how much Esme hates it when you two play fight." Alice gave us a forced stare of disapproval.

"I know, but Esme isn't here." I returned, wanting to go back to showing off my strength.

"What she doesn't know can't hurt her, Alice." Emmett said with a smirk. Alice sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I swear, you two are beyond-" Alice stopped, her eyes glazing over with a look of terror. It wasn't new for Alice to stop talking mid-sentence, it just meant she was having a vision because of her gift of clairvoyance, but there was something about this particular prediction that was different. I'd never seen Alice look so scared while having a vision. I shifted my gaze over to Edward to see how he was responding to whatever it was that Alice could see, and a near identical look of horror was plastered on his features.

"What is it, what's going on?" I pestered, desperate for information. Neither of them answered. Emmett and I stood, completely motionless, waiting for answers. A few seconds of dead silence passed before Alice came out of her daze.

"We need to get home. Now." She said. Emmett shook his head.

"No, we can't yet, the hikers would still be-" Edward cut him off.

"You don't understand, we can't wait. Bree will just have to hold her breath." I exchanged worried glances with my siblings. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep my thirst under control, but I could tell that whatever was going on had left us with no choice. Emmett turned toward me, waiting for my response.

"I'll be alright, let's just go." I said, forcing a smile. The four of us ran as fast as we could back to the house. As we got closer, I could smell the hikers Carlisle had warned us about. The attraction to their blood wasn't as unbearable as it could've been since I'd just fed, but it was still there. I made myself run in the opposite direction to them despite everything in my brain and body telling me to do otherwise, and, after what seemed like forever but was probably only one or two minutes, we arrived home. Esme stood just in the door, greeting us with a smile that immediately fell when she saw Alice and Edward's faces.

"What's wrong?" She asked. Carlisle, Jasper and Rosalie all walked over to us from the couch they'd been sitting on.

"I... I don't know how I didn't see it sooner, they must have found a loophole in my visions or something but... I..." Alice stammered, unable to get the words from her mouth. Carlisle put his hands on Alice's shoulders and spoke to her in a soothing voice.

"Alice, calm down and tell us what you saw." Alice took a deep breath before explaining what was happening.

"The Volturi - they're coming here." My stomach dropped and my world stopped. Anything, anything except them. Carlisle, somehow remaining composed, talked next.

"Do you have any idea why?" His voice stayed perfectly tranquil, but his eyes gave him away, he was as panicked as the rest of us. Alice shook her head in answer to his question.

"They're coming for me." I said, my mouth speaking before my brain could filter what I was going to say. Everyone in the room turned to me, waiting for an explanation for my outburst. "There's nothing else it could be. They know Bella's getting turned after the wedding and we haven't done anything that could make the humans suspicious. They're coming to kill me." The room stayed quiet. It was clear they weren't saying anything because they knew I was right. I could almost hear them racking their brains for an alternative reason for the Volturi's visit, but they wouldn't be able to think of anything. The deafening silence hung heavy in the room for what could've been an eternity, but was eventually broken by Carlisle.

"We don't know anything for sure, Bree. There's no need to jump to conclusions."

"Then what other reasons could they have for being here? Aro must have thought Jane made the wrong decision and now they want me dead before everyone finds out. You all know it's true." I hung my head. I couldn't bear to look at them anymore; all that did was remind me how little time I had left with my family. The deadly silence was back, confirming that they all thought what I was saying was true.

"No. This isn't going to happen." Esme said, shaking her head. "We'll just have to get some people here. We can get our cousins from denali, and I think some of the werewolves would be willing to help-"

"Esme, there's no time." Alice cut in, interrupting the formation of Esme's plan. "We haven't got days or even hours to figure this out, they're going to be here in thirty minutes." Esme stared at Alice in shock, before turning her face to look at me.

"I can't just let them murder her." She whispered, an audible wince going around the room on the word 'murder'.

"They won't. We won't let them." Said Alice, taking my hand in hers. The other vampires in the room nodded in agreement. I let a small smile make its way onto my face. I knew there was little they could do, but if I was going to die, I was going to die loved, and that was more than I could ever have asked for in the past.

The next twenty-five minutes passed in a blur. Alice told us they expected our entire coven, including Bella, to be waiting in the clearing in the woods where we played baseball when there was a thunderstorm. Esme had tried to get us to call the werewolves and ask them for their help, but Carlisle wouldn't let her, saying that the Volturi would be angry at an alliance with werewolves, and only Seth and maybe Jacob would be willing to help anyway. Everyone was frantically trying to come up with ways to overpower the Volturi if it came to it but, unsurprisingly, no one had any ideas.

Eventually, it was time for us to go down to the clearing and wait for the Volturi. Every cell in my body was shaking with anxiety - I was so scared that not even the smell of Bella's blood was able to distract me from the fear welling up inside me.

"They're close. I can hear their minds now." Edward said when we arrived at the meeting place. I tensed up and looked around at my family. All of them were standing still with their eyes fixed open, staring down the line of trees Alice said the Volturi were going to emerge from. No one, not even Bella, dared to breathe. After a period of time that was both too long and too short, the ominous cloaks moved soundlessly from the trees toward us, all in a perfectly straight, unrelenting line. As soon as I saw them, I counted how many of their coven they'd brought with them. Seven. Technically, we outnumbered them with our coven of nine, but Bella, as much as I liked her, wasn't going to be much help if it came to a fight, and the Volturi had Jane who could, if she needed to, torture us into submission. Despite my relentless wishful thinking, I knew there was nothing we'd be able to do if the Volturi wanted me dead.

The dark line of vampires stopped walking toward us and, in unnaturally perfect synchronicity, lowered the hoods of their cloaks. The vampire in the center of the line who I recognized as Aro stepped forward.

"Hello Carlisle, it's so wonderful to see you again." He said, a 'friendly' smile on his face.

"It's been too long." Carlisle replied. "To what do we owe the pleasure?" I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to stop myself from breaking down in fear.

"Jane told me about the new member of your coven and I was intrigued, to say the least. We were in the area on business anyway so I thought it would be nice if we dropped by to... check up on young Bree's progress." Aro finished, his soft voice equanimous. I made eye contact with several members of my family, all knowing that Aro wasn't telling the whole truth. I hadn't had much time to learn about the ins and outs of the Volturi, but I knew it took a lot for Aro to leave the Volturi's castle in Volterra, and nothing had been happening in the entire north of America that was important enough for Aro to want to join his guard in investigating.

"She's doing excellently, not a single-" Aro raised his hand, cutting Carlisle's words of praise for me off.

"As much as I trust you and your judgement Carlisle, I think it would be best if I saw for myself." Aro turned his milky red stare to me and beckoned me forward with his raised hand. "Come, child." The ancient vampire said. I glanced over to Carlisle for approval. He nodded, signalling for me to walk over to Aro.
Cautiously, I stepped toward the wall of dark cloaks and pale faces, taking as long as I could to reach them without making it obvious how paralyzingly afraid I was. Eventually, I was standing before the Volturi. I looked along the line of vampires, taking in each of them as one at a time. Other than Aro, I immediately recognized Jane, however I soon realized that the boy to her left was her twin brother, Alec, due to the striking similarity of their features. Something was strange about Alec and the way his scarlet stare fixated on me. All the members of the Volturi that were present had their eyes firmly on me, but Alec's gaze was different. The others in his coven were merely looking at me because I was the center of attention in that moment, but Alec's stare was deep and intense, almost even curious. I held eye contact with him for a second before forcing my focus off him and back to Aro.

"If you would please give me your hand." He asked. I obeyed quickly and wordlessly, wanting nothing more than to run back to the other Cullens and away from the dark-cloaked tyrants that could murder me in a second. When I put my hand into Aro's, something strange happened. I knew that his power was to read a person's every thought when he made physical contact, but I hadn't been prepared for the sensation of having my entire life play out for him. Every moment of my sixteen years that I could remember flashed behind my eyes like a projector playing back millions of pictures at impossible speeds. Memories I didn't realize I still had were also making a reappearance, there were even images of my mother, who I hadn't seen since I was two. It was over in a matter of seconds, but it felt like it could've been years. Aro released my hand..

"Hmm. Certainly an interesting read." He said to himself, his voice soft and melodic. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm just going to have Alec use his gift on you while we... discuss the matters at hand." Aro gave a civil but tight smile. Something was bothering him, I wasn't sure what, but he was undoubtedly having a problem.

"I don't know if Alec will be able to anesthetize Bella." Edward chimed in.

"Ah yes - I almost forgot dear Bella over here had such abilities. It'll certainly be fascinating to see if Bella can block Alec's gift too, however I find it highly unlikely that she'll be able to hear our conversation in her current state." Aro concluded. A small snicker escaped from a few of the Volturi guards, finding humor in Bella's mortality. Aro looked to Alec, who's eyes were still fixed on me in the same way I had noticed earlier. "Now please, Alec." He demanded, sure to keep his voice calm. Suddenly, a strange mist-like substance emanated from Alec's fingertips. It was almost clear, and would probably have been pretty much invisible to the human eye, however my keen vampire eyesight picked up on it. It crept along the ground unnaturally, making its way toward me. When it reached me, it snaked its way up my leg and into my nose, mouth, ears and eyes. For a second, I could feel it inside me, slithering around my body and filling me up, but after that second was over, nothing. All my senses went to complete black. I could still think, but everything else was gone. Although it wasn't the nicest feeling to be left completely deaf, blind, mute and unable to feel or smell anything happening around me, I was grateful for the time I was being given to contemplate what was going to happen next. I hadn't done anything to make Aro want me dead since becoming a Cullen, he'd read my mind so he knew that, but something told me that if the Volturi wanted to kill me, then that's what they'd do, whether I'd committed a crime or not. There was even the disturbing chance that I was being ripped apart and burned while under the influence of Alec's power. It was a definite possibility, I could feel literally nothing of the world around me so anything could be happening to my body. A part of me that remained hopeful though, the Volturi had had plenty of time and chances to kill me already and I doubted that they'd spend time 'discussing the matters at hand' if they'd known my fate before arriving. After a few minutes, I was snapped out of my speculations by the return of my senses. I took a deep breath, I was about to find out if I really had the eternity with the Cullens I'd hoped for. Aro looked down at me with a forced smile before looking up and addressing my family.

"We're very happy with how Bree's doing, she hasn't drawn any negative attention to herself in the month she's been with you." I let out the breath I'd been subconsciously holding, but I was still hesitant to trust what Aro was saying. He might have sounded pleased with me then, but I wouldn't have put it past him to tell us everything was fine before launching an ambush and killing us all.

"So you aren't going to hurt her?" Esme asked, motherly concern obvious in her question. Aro widened his eyes, as if he was offended at the mere suggestion that he and the other members of the Volturi had come for any other reason than to check on how well I was settling in to life with the Cullens.

"No, of course not, we have no intention of harming Bree unless she does something that breaks our laws." I looked back at my family. They all had expressions within the spectrum of relief, all except Edward, who's face mirrored my wariness. "We can trust you not to do that, can't we Bree?" Aro asked.

"Yes." I said, my throat almost too dry to speak.

"Excellent!" Aro clasped his hands together in delight. "Thank you all for your time. Bree, it has been lovely to meet you." Aro beamed. Without another word, he and the rest of the Volturi had left to return to whichever circle of hell it was that they came from. The second they were gone, I was met with crushing hugs from Esme, kind words from Alice, laughter about my level of panic from Emmett and, of course, rudeness from Rosalie.

"So all of that was for nothing?" The blonde said, her tone short and irritated. "Well, thanks for the waste of time, I guess." Esme shot her a look that could kill.

"Bree had every right to be worried, stop being so insensitive." Esme held me tighter, like she was trying to protect me from what Rosalie was saying.

"Except she didn't really, did she? The Volturi could've been here for so many reasons, she didn't need to get herself and everyone else so worked up about it." Rosalie snapped.

"No, Bree was right, the Volturi were here to kill her." Edward said. Everyone turned to face him, silenced by his revelation.

"What? They couldn't have been, if they wanted her dead then-" Edward cut Rosalie off.

"I heard it in their thoughts when we had our senses taken away. They'd been guarding their minds up until that point, actively trying to not think about why they were there, but they must have assumed Alec's power would block my mindreading so they let their thoughts come naturally while we were deprived of our senses. Their original plan was to kill Bree while Alec had us under control, no matter what she showed Aro when he looked into her mind." Edward finished. I exchanged a confused glance with Esme. This was completely out of character for the Volturi, if they wanted someone dead, they died. Something was very, very wrong.

"Then what stopped them from killing her?" Esme asked. Edward paused before speaking.

"Alec. He asked Aro not to kill her." I took a sharp intake of breath. I hadn't been expecting that.

"Alec? Why?" I questioned. None of this made sense. My brothers and sisters had told me about Alec and Jane, or 'the witch twins' as Emmett called them. They were both known for relishing in other people's pain and misery, why would one of them deprive themselves of an opportunity to see someone killed? Even Carlisle seemed puzzled.

"He wasn't sure, it was like he hadn't figured out his reason for wanting you alive, he just sort of knew he did." Everyone was looking at me now, searching me for answers. I looked down, feeling awkward under the scrutiny of my family. I was conflicted on how to feel, on the one hand, I was overcome with relief, but there was also a feeling of confusion. What was it that had made this boy want to spare me? Why did he care? I shifted my gaze up to Carlisle, who was making intense eye contact with Edward. I recognized what a stare like that meant almost immediately; Carlisle was telling Edward something through his thoughts, something he didn't want the rest of us to hear.

"It's a possibility." Edward murmured, trying to keep his voice low in the hope that the rest of us wouldn't notice. Unfortunately for him, I did.

"What's a possibility?" I asked.

"Nothing of importance." Carlisle lied, his usual fatherly smile breaking on his lips.

"Please just tell me, I-" Edward interrupted me before I could finish.

"Bree, you don't need to know." I opened my mouth to protest, but said nothing, deciding to drop the matter. They weren't going to tell me anything, no matter how much I pressed them for answers, so there was nothing I could do except let it go. Besides, I had bigger things to worry about. There was the possibility that Alec would change his mind and the Volturi would come back and follow through with their original plan. Even if I hadn't been killed today, I was still on the Volturi's radar, which, from what I could tell, was never a good thing. I let out a long sigh. Was a a few peaceful months while I settled in to my new life really too much to ask? All my problems - from the burning newborn thirst to the cult of vampire authoritarians who could come and kill me at a moment's notice - were crushing me. I desired nothing more than for everything to be alright, for my perfect forever with the Cullens to begin. Maybe for once the universe would give me what I wanted.

A/N - Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it's a little weird to just straight away do a jump to a month after the first chapter but I tried writing a second chapter that was set when Bree got to the Cullen house and it just didn't work so this was kind of the only way I could do it. Please tell me what you thought, thank you for reading!