{

I flinched as the front door to the apartment opened abruptly, revealing Bella carrying a paper bag. She closed the door and headed over to me, placing the bag on the coffee table in front of me. My stomach growled and I dug out the canned food she had brought back with her.

The packaged sausages might as well have been a sizzling steak, for all I cared. It had been over a day since I had eaten anything. I downed the meat juice that remained inside the metal tin; the lukewarm, slimy liquid went down my dry throat surprisingly easily.

Bella took the leftover garbage away from the table as I grabbed the warm bottle of water – the tap wasn't safe, she had told me, and I didn't argue with her. My eyes caught her face as I took a long pull from the bottle, her gaze focused on the nearly-dead cell phone on the seat of the couch.

"He still hasn't called you back," Bella said, her voice coming out as a statement of fact and not a question. I shook my head anyway. "I'm sorry, mom." Tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes.

"He could still be alive out there," I swallowed against the lump in my throat. Bella nodded, but I couldn't miss the grim look on her face.

}

-Chapter 12: Reality-

I trailed behind the family of vampires as we rocketed past the maze of trees and moved in the direction of the coast. My nose – though not as sensitive as a vampire's – was able to pick up the clean, salty scent of the pacific with each meter we traveled. I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face at the pleasant aroma – it was easy to tell the air was less toxic here than it was in Phoenix.

Alice ran by my side, keeping up effortlessly with me as she let the other members of her family speed ahead of us. I couldn't hear or see them anymore, but the thrashing particles in the air that were pulled forward from the supernatural speed were easy to follow, as were the settling bits of mud and debris that formed the light footprints in the forest floor.

Rosalie's face was drawn up into a grimace of unhidden disgust as Alice and I arrived at what appeared to be a random spot in the forest. The others' faces were also drawn, though more restrained than the blonde vampire's crystal clear distain. Angela maneuvered around Edward, squinting in my direction, clearly unable to make me out in the dead of night.

The sight of her here painted a frown on my face. She was the epitome of normal in the presence of the supernatural and I couldn't help but ask myself what I was doing here, so far away from the normal life I had wanted to emulate. I hadn't really had any time with my father since I came here – my life went from running from zombies and men with guns to associating with vampires.

For the tiniest moment, I understood Edward's reluctance to turn Angela into a vampire. The normality – the intrinsic innocence that the everyday people of this world lived with – was on the brink of being completely stripped away. The drama and the fear that came with associating with mythical creatures had already left its mark on her, but she was still human – still subscribed to the mortal world and its society.

It was a heavy, fleeting thought that was washed away as Alice stepped up beside me, her spiked hair only coming up to my nose as the void-like chill radiated off her skin and hit mine. Normal wasn't everything, and if it weren't for the abnormal I would have never had the chance to meet Alice and the Cullens – although I could do without some supernatural creatures.

Coincidentally, the Cullens froze in place for half a second, signaling the coming of our hosts for the evening. The soft thudding of footfalls arrived only seconds before the sight of five shirtless werewolves, jogging up cautiously to our group in their human form. I pursed my lips in amusement as I realized the hotheaded Paul was not among them; I wondered if his absence was his call or Sam's.

"Sam," Carlisle spoke at normal volume, even though the wolves had halted far enough away to consider them completely separate from us. Sam nodded back, but he certainly didn't look happy.

"Carlisle," Sam greeted with a tense voice, his eyes flitting to me and back to the Cullen patriarch. "I see Jacob was right when he told us Bella is associating with your family." He bit out the word 'family' like a curse and I narrowed my eyes at the pack leader.

"Yes," Carlisle nodded. "She became aware of us as we discovered she wasn't human." His answer was curt and to the point, though free of the barely-restrained hostility that leaked from the Quileute.

"We spotted two leeches inside our territory yesterday," Sam changed the topic abruptly, getting to the point. "We destroyed one of them, but the other got away."

"No," Edward shook his head at the pack. "We didn't know them." The bronze-haired vampire frowned as his eyes strayed above the wolves' eyes.

"Edward?" Carlisle prompted.

"From their thoughts, I believe the vampires the wolves came across were newborns." At the mention of 'newborns,' the Cullens seemed to frown all at once, all caught on the same unknown thought.

"Newborn?" Jacob spoke up from Sam's right, his face screwed up like the Cullens had been talking in Japanese.

"A newborn is a newly created vampire," Carlisle explained. "They're feral and completely driven by their instincts for the first year or so, and are much stronger than a mature vampire. In any case, Edward is right; we had no knowledge of any other vampires in the area other than Victoria."

"Are you sure one of them wasn't her?" Angela asked the wolves, her voice raising with hopefulness.

"No, sorry," one of the wolves I hadn't met answered. "Would have been hard to miss her red hair." Angela nodded and leaned back against Edward.

The back and forth went on for a few minutes more, both sides taking turns asking questions and sharing information about Victoria and the two vampires that were sighted in the reservation. Allowances were made for the wolves to patrol Forks in small numbers to keep the chances of the redhead getting to Angela lower.

I started to think my presence here at the meeting was unneeded as Carlisle explained to the wolves that they were lucky they managed to kill the newborn without any casualties; newborns tended to fight much differently than the adult vampires the wolves had killed before. A small glance from Sam to me as the mini-lesson was winding down drew my attention, and I waited for the obvious question to be asked.

"Carlisle," Sam spoke. "What do you make of the attack in Tacoma? Do you think it was a vampire attack?" The way his eyes slid over to my spot and back alerted me that he very much knew it wasn't a vampire attack. I let out a breath as Carlisle pursed his lips.

I think we both knew what Sam was thinking – probably as well as Edward knew, I would bet. I couldn't blame him for jumping to the conclusion that I was the one responsible for the Tacoma attack that was broadcast on the news; after all I had confessed to killing people to survive in the past. I admired his tact, though – however weak it was – he didn't outright accuse me of killing those people in Tacoma to my face.

"We don't believe it was a vampire, no," Carlisle shook his head.

"What, then?" Sam pried. I rolled my eyes.

"It was something like me," I spoke up. "We think." I amended, since I hadn't actually witnessed the attack.

I took the time to go over some of the things I had covered with Edward, Angela, and Alice about the larger type of infected. I emphasized their physical strength and tendency to move in small packs, but skimmed over the few weaknesses they – and I – had, like their sluggishness in comparison to vampires. It wasn't that I wanted whatever was in Tacoma to kill the wolves, it was that I didn't trust them not to use my advice to try to kill me.

Carlisle didn't comment or add to my redacted lesson, nor did any of the others, and after a little over an hour we adjourned the meeting and promised to keep in contact should something else occur. My shoulders drooped as I turned around and meandered away from the retreating wolves, who had taken off into the thicker parts of the forest to transform before they headed back to La Push.

I instinctively froze as I heard the soft footsteps of someone behind me. Cold, hard arms wrapped around my neck and someone's body pressed against my back, clutching on with a vice grip. The mass in my body squirmed and dropped, filling my calves as my legs bunched and I launched off the ground, trying to buck off the attacker. Whoever it was gasped behind me as we soared up at least three stories and scraped against an evergreen tree.

Branches snapped and groaned as our combined bodies started to plummet back to earth. The arms around me loosened and I grabbed the shoulders of the attacker over my head, clamping down and tossing them away from me as I impacted with the ground. A shrill scream faded gradually as whoever attacked me flew away and bounced off the trees in the distance.

My primitive, hive brain seemed to be in control as I crouched defensively, shifting my right arm into the four-foot blade and allowing my left hand to flow into its natural, adaptive state of writhing and pulsing tendrils. The rest of my body was alive and moving as well; the red and black vines weaving about on my torso and legs. I faced forward, toward the trail of broken forest where I had thrown the attacker, and froze in place.

A wide-eyed Alice Cullen darted back through the path of destruction, her clothes torn and frayed with green smears and pieces of bracken in her hair. Her face was apologetic and shocked and her posture was nonthreatening, allowing control to return to the more active portions of my mind as I shifted out of the crouch and stood erect. My limbs melted back into their normal, human shape, and the tendrils dissolved away, leaving me completely normal looking.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the Cullens frozen in place, watching me intently. Edward was the only one crouched, the fingers of his hands extended at his sides as he shielded his girlfriend who peered out from behind him. Angela's face was as pale as a vampire's, and at that moment I had forgotten that not everyone had seen my more frightening abilities. Edward, Esme, and Angela had never witnessed them first hand.

"Bella?" Alice asked, holding her hands at her side to show she wasn't a threat.

"Alice," I returned, staring at her like she lost her mind. "What the hell was that? You don't just attack someone from behind like that!" The way I waved my hands about to illustrate my point must have been comical, at least to Emmett, who chuckled under his breath. I shot him a quick glare, but the exchange seemed to dissolve the tense atmosphere.

"I am so sorry," Alice said sheepishly, moving closer and letting out a breath. "I had no idea you would react like that." I frowned, wondering what she had expected.

"What were you even trying to do?" I asked, glancing around and noticing that most of the others had left, leaving only us and Angela and Edward, the latter two talking quietly several meters away.

"A piggy back ride," she answered under her breath. I opened my mouth to reply, but couldn't think of anything to say. A piggy back ride? "Sorry again, Bella," Alice sighed, taking a step away from me and toward the mansion. I shook my head and darted in front of her, turning my back.

"Get on, then," I told her. When she didn't say anything or make a move to climb onto my back, I looked over my shoulder. "Well, come on." Hesitantly, Alice climbed onto my back and re-wrapped her arms around my neck. "Just make sure you ask next time you want to something strange and childish," I jested as I took off running in the direction we came from.

Alice's arms tightened reflexively from the sudden burst of speed and she laughed, the vibrations of her diaphragm felt clearly from her chest pressed up against my back. We ran through the forest, her weight shifting and her grip increasing each time I leapt over a fallen tree or dodged around thick shrubbery.

On a whim, I leaped up into the tree tops and began weaving back and forth along the branches, springing off of the trunks if there wasn't a branch to touch down on. My movements were choppy as I vaulted toward the mansion from our elevated position; back in Phoenix I had often traveled from rooftop to rooftop, but never is such quick succession. Luckily, I kept my balance the whole way to the Cullens' front yard, where I landed with a heavy thud.

"That was amazing!" Alice beamed at me after she detangled herself from my back, no longer apologetic about pouncing onto me earlier.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it?" the words came out like a question as I chuckled. "You're way faster than I am, Alice; I don't see how you can find it so amazing." I shook my head at her.

"Well, I'll just have to give you a piggy back ride, then," Alice nodded to herself. "Then you can see for yourself."

A laugh bubbled out of my throat before I could muffle it as I visualized my 5'4"frame fastened to Alice's 4'10" one, sprinting through the forest looking completely ridiculous.

"Sure," I conceded, heading up to the front door of Alice's house with her trailing behind me.

I flipped through the English book that was assigned to each Senior, trying to pass the lull that seemed to stretch minutes into hours as I sat at my desk. The weekend had gone by all too quickly, and had been mildly surprised by the final exams that were to be done today and tomorrow, the last days of class until we were released for winter break. I hadn't forgotten the holidays, but the more mundane details of my life seemed to be blurred and faded in comparison to running around with vampires and, occasionally, werewolves.

The page turned to a story by Natalie Babbitt, and I smirked at the title: Tuck Everlasting. The smirk morphed into a frown as I recalled the bits and pieces of the story I remembered. I couldn't remember when or where I had read the book – or if I even had – but I knew most of the story's plot. A girl discovers a family of immortals and wrestles with her fear of death, not sure whether to drink from the fountain of eternal life or not. I flipped through the pages mechanically, not really absorbing anything I read.

Would I ever die?

The question, I think, had been brewing inside my mind ever since I met the Cullens and discovered what they were. Before, when the only 'things' out there were regular human beings and the infected, it had been a non-issue – the concept of immortality had never even crossed my mind. But it was something to think about now.

I had been shot at and mauled by those vicious creatures in Phoenix. My body had been beaten and tossed into concrete and steel, and I always recovered. The rate at which I healed was like something out of the X-Men, but did that also translate to agelessness?

Would I still be here two hundred years from now? A thousand? Or would this virus burn out and consume me completely like a broken fever? I let my thoughts die out as the bell rang, closing my book and packing up my stuff to get ready for the next class.

The rest of the day passed in alternating intervals of speeding and slowing periods of time, and I was dreading another day of mindless tests. On my way to my truck, Alice intercepted me and grabbed my hand, pulling me toward her yellow Porsche, which hadn't been there at the beginning of the day. I gave her a questioning look, but allowed her to tow me along.

"What's up, Alice?" I asked.

"Carlisle has the results from your DNA tests," Alice told me with a straight face. My eyebrows shot up.

"Oh," I replied. "That was kind of fast. Don't these tests take several weeks to come back?" Alice nodded.

"Yes, usually; but Carlisle did them himself, of course, and he has a lot of free time at night," Alice opened up the passenger side door and gestured for me to get in. "And I figured you'd want to see them as quickly as possible." I smiled and nodded, climbing into the sleek car.

"What about my truck?" I asked.

"Emmett or I will take it back to your house," Alice shrugged. "Or ours." I nodded and sat back, stewing in my anxiety and nervousness as Alice tore out of the parking lot and headed for the Cullen mansion.

"Go on in," Alice told me once she parked the car in the driveway. "He's waiting for you up in his office. Let me know how it goes?" I shot her a questioning look.

"You're not coming?" I asked. She shook her head.

"No. Patient-doctor confidentiality, and all that," Alice sighed. I nodded and headed inside.

"Bella," Carlisle greeted me from behind his desk as I entered the office. Esme wasn't home, either, and I felt a little uncomfortable in that I had basically kicked her out of her own home for a few hours. "Have a seat."

"Give it to me straight, doc," I jested halfheartedly as I sat down, trying to lighten the mood. My would-be stomach was churning like I was about to go to the dentist.

"Well, there is quite a bit to cover," Carlisle flipped open a pad of paper and sat it on the desk. "I suppose I could cover how contagious you are first; would that be alright?" I nodded and sat back in my seat, forcing my insides to remain calm.

"Using the sample you provided me with, I introduced multiple human and animal blood and tissue samples. None of these tests produced any results and there was no reaction that I could see.

"This was puzzling, so I looked over the analysis of your DNA. It is mostly viral in nature, but your DNA was unable to infect or even incubate inside the dead tissue. I'll admit I felt a bit stupid after I connected the dots; of course a virus would need living tissue to infect, and so I went about procuring a living specimen to test." Carlisle looked a bit uncomfortable at his admission.

"A test specimen?" I pried. He nodded and flipped a page in the notebook.

"A rabbit," he explained. "Even days after being separated from you, your DNA completely consumed the rabbit's in a matter of seconds, converting all of the cells in its body into a sort of…derivative of its own cells, which the viral particles promptly assimilated. As far as I can tell, the cells of the organisms you consume are converted into a sort of malleable fuel. Your entire body is made up of these two components."

"But what about infecting something and not consuming it?" I asked.

"I tested that as well," Carlisle answered. "I separated the protein coats that make up the shell of your viral biology and added them to another rabbit. Small numbers of the virus ingested did absolutely nothing, though the same amount added via injection or breathed in caused a complete infection in a matter of hours – less, depending on the number of protein coats given."

"How many rabbits did you kill?" I asked, my eyes bugging out of my face.

"More than I would care to," Carlisle pursed his lips, though I could see the faintest hint of a smile. "In any case, I can say with certainty that, unless your body is blown apart and the particles somehow drift inside someone's lungs, blood contact is the only means of infection."

"I cut one of the wolves," I said immediately. Carlisle nodded.

"I don't know much of their physiology, but I do know that those with the ability to transform hardly ever get sick. Their temperature runs much higher than yours does and their bodies appear to be able to fight off your virus. That's not to say they couldn't be infected – I cannot say that for sure without samples from them as well – but I am saying it would be more difficult to infect them, since their immune system would kill off the infection before it took root."

"What about its lifespan?" I asked. "Is there any way to kill off the virus and cure me?" Carlisle sighed and reached under his desk, presenting me with the jar he collected my sample with.

"The virus is fast growing," Carlisle answered. "The mass consumed and used as fuel for it is the only thing that is burned, so to speak. I added pieces of a freshly killed rabbit, as well as a live one, as the virus count of the sample began to drop off. But, as soon as the fresh meat was introduced, the virus began to multiply again. As far as I can tell, the virus – and you, by extension – can live indefinitely, so long as there is material to fuel the virus."

"So why can't you just make an antivirus?" I asked. "You have the samples – I can give you more if you need some." Carlisle shook his head and closed the notebook, rubbing his face in a very human-like way.

"There is so much I don't understand about that sample," Carlisle mused. "I could spend the next decade examining it and still have more to learn, but there is one thing I am certain of, Bella.

"I cannot cure you of the virus. I ran tests on the DNA composition of the combined sample – both the virus and the biomass – and the results came back with Sylvilagus floridanus; cottontail rabbit. I tried again with a surplus of Squirrel DNA, and the composition changed to a hybrid of both. I added more squirrel, and the composition neared ninety percent squirrel."

"I don't understand," I gripped the edge of the desk.

"A human is transformed into a vampire through venom, which changes the human DNA to vampire DNA. But there's still a clear trail from the vampire to the human, as there is a relationship with a function and its derivative. The virus you…" Carlisle dropped off. "There is no such link between human DNA and the DNA you possess at this moment; it is interchangeable but cannot change a human into your species."

"I don't understand," I repeated robotically, my grip on the desk tightening. "What are you saying?"

"You are not infected with the virus. You are the virus, and have always been. You have never been a human." Carlisle said the last bit slowly, but I could already feel my head shaking in defiance.

"No," I said. "No. I remember who I am – I have memories…" I cut off and looked down, remembering all the people I had killed. Their thoughts still swam inside my mind, as vivid as my own. Movies I had never seen and places I had never gone.

"You are not Isabella Swan, technically," Carlisle said in a delicate voice. "You never have been. She was consumed by the virus like everything else, and somehow her body was reconstructed and her memories were absorbed."

"No…" I whispered, the wood of the desk splintering in my fingers.

"I understand how…devastating this information must be, but I thought you had the right to know," Carlisle whispered. My breathing sped up and I could feel my insides writhing.

"No!" I shouted, slamming my fists down on the desk and completely obliterating the antique, sending splinters in every direction. The floor cracked and Carlisle shot up out of his seat, moving backward as he put his hands out in a non-threatening gesture.

I have to get out!

My body moved on its own, rushing through the pane of glass with speed I had never reached before. The shards of glass bounced away and scattered on the grass outside as my momentum carried me toward the river. My feet touched down hard on the damp soil and I was in motion again, blurring into the green forest without a conscious direction as I tried to force all the thoughts out of my head.

I smashed through trees as the red and black tendrils writhed on the outside of my body, but I didn't bother to conceal them or will them into a shape. I let myself go completely and howled as I ran, my bounds beginning to grow in size as I soared above the canopy and hurtled back toward the earth.

Who am I?

End notes: Sorry about the nearly-two-weeks gap in updates. It happens.

So, anyway, the proverbial shit will hit the metaphoric fan next chapter, so be sure to bring a bib when you get that next email update. I'm not saying Bella is going to kill a lot of people or anything, but yes, lives will be lost.