( Disclaimer – I do not own Twilight, New Moon, or any of its characters. Stephenie Meyer does.)

(A/N: please please please review. I'm really sad at how little reviews this is getting… unless it's bad. Then I understand I guess.)

The pain was unbearable. The pain I had felt when James had bitten me was nothing compared to this. My veins felt on fire, which I had experienced before, but not to this extent. Each pump of my dying heart sent a new wave of torture through me. My bones ached like something was breaking them over and over again. I could feel the sweat on my head, and all over my body for that matter. Whenever I would let out a scream, or twitch in pain, Edward was at my side, singing my lullaby to me. Emmett had been right when he had said that it wasn't that bad, if you had an angel.

The transformation seemed to be taking forever – much longer than three days. But one day, the pain seemed to ease off, and I knew it was almost done. I could feel my temperature fading from its fiery heat. When I thought it was done, I was relieved and embraced the coolness that was pervading me. Out of nowhere, I could feel heat again – but it was different. It wasn't the same internal heat I had been feeling for days now, no, it wasn't coming from me.

I shot off of Edwards couch with my new vampire speed. My eyes flashed open, and then closed quickly. There was a light all around me that was blinding my newly sensitive eyes. "Bella! Bella hurry! This way!" I heard Edward shouting to me.

I squinted my eyes open and saw Edward gesturing with his hand to follow him. I closed my eyes, the fire dancing around me was too bright. "What's going on?" I was groggy from my painful transformation, and hadn't processed anything yet.

"Bella, the house is on fire! Come on we have to go!" I felt him grab my hand and begin leading me out of the house. It was a weird feeling, his hands were warm.

I kept my eyes shut as he guided me out of the blazing house. It was amazing, I didn't trip or fall once. I would've smiled at this fact if I hadn't been running out of a burning house.

I knew we had made it outside because the heat of the smoldering house faded. As soon as we were a safe distance from the house Edward stopped pulling me forward. I felt him place his unusually warm hands on either side of my face. "Bella, are you okay?" He asked me slowly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I whispered, daring to open my eyes. I saw an almost frightened expression on Edwards face – either in reaction to my crimson eyes or because we had both nearly died. He pulled me into a tight hug – good thing I didn't have to breathe. He buried his head in my hair and let out small whimpers.

"Thank god you're okay. Oh Bella, I thought something might have happened to you. I was so worried." He let out a few dry sobs, and I decided to let him pull himself together before I interrogated him.

When he finally released me from the hug, I noticed the rest of his family had gathered around us. Alice was hugging and comforting a mourning Esme, who had just lost her pride and joy. The rest of family was waiting for me to finally break free of Edward. When I did, I turned around to face them – and they all gasped.

Jasper's jaw dropped, Emmett was actually checking me out, Rosalie looked jealous, and Carlisle looked impressed. Edward must have been in too panic much to actually look at me, because now he asked "What are you guys all staring at?"

Emmett ran over to me, and it no longer looked like a blur, but instead it appeared as if he was running at a normal pace. He turned me back around to face Edward. I thought Edward was going to pass out. His topaz eyes widened in amazement and I could hear his breathing had stopped. "Edward?" I asked, making sure he was okay.

He still looked fazed, but he somewhat regained his composure. He smiled sheepishly, and muttered "Absolutely beautiful." I could feel the heat rush to my face. Wait, I could blush! No, no, no! Please tell me this wasn't happening!

No, it definitely was happening. I was sure of that when Edwards shy smile turned into a smile of delight. "Oh Bella!" he shouted gleefully, as he pulled me into another suffocating hug.

It seemed that he had no intention of letting me go. "Umm, Edward, do you mind?"
He chuckled and let me down. Once again, the entire family was staring at me, now including Alice and Esme. I decided that I needed to get the attention off of me ASAP.

"Anyone mind filling me in?" The mood shifted uncomfortably, and the anger in the air was tangible.

"It was the dogs." Edward said in a tone full of hatred. I hoped this was just one of the assumptions he makes, where he always blames the werewolves. I looked over at Alice, hoping she would tell me that Edward was jumping to conclusions. Alice nodded her head, agreeing with Edward.

"No." I said in disbelief. "Jacob would have known that the transformation takes three days. He would have known that I hadn't changed yet. He wouldn't have set it on fire – he's my friend!"

"Bella, he probably thought you were already changed." Carlisle chimed in.

"Why would he think that? It's only been three days and I'm sure he knows –"

"Bella, it has been eight days." Carlisle informed me.

"What?" I asked in confusion. Transformations are only supposed to take three days. He had to be lying.

"You've been lying on my couch for the past eight days." Edward confirmed.

"Why – how?" I stuttered.

"I don't know. I haven't heard of anything like it. But that's a different matter to be dealt with later. Right now we have more potent things to worry about. We have a war." Carlisle declared. (A/N: I was going to end it right here, and leave a huge cliffie, but I didn't want to do that to you guys.)

Soon after, the small group of Fork's firefighters had arrived at the house. I had to watch them put out the fire from a distance.

When we had heard the fire trucks approaching, the family had ushered me into the woods. "What's going on? Why are we hiding?" The family took turns in telling me what I had missed during my change. I had officially been reported as missing by Charlie – and they were the number one suspects. They couldn't stay in the house they lived in now because people were looking for them, to interrogate and possibly arrest them. They also couldn't leave Forks, not until the war was over and done with. So they had packed their belongings and moved into the house Emmett and Rosalie lived in as a married couple. I guess it's hidden deep in the woods of Forks.

I was slightly afraid of all the sudden changes, but I didn't let it show. I didn't regret becoming a vampire, and I didn't want Edward or his family – my family, to think that I did.

We stayed until the fire was out. It had left only charred wood that was barely standing. "Edward, why did you wait so long to get me out of the house?" I asked, remembering how the house had already been completely engulfed in flames when he had.

"I was hunting." He admitted shamefully. "I-I didn't want to leave, but it had been eight days, and I was so hungry."

"It's okay. I forgive you, but why wasn't anyone else there?" I didn't believe that Edward would just leave me defenseless by myself.

"Alice, Carlisle, Esme and Jasper were all home. But when the mutts came and set the house on fire, they tried to fight them off. By the time the dogs ran off the house was already ablaze. I came running back as soon as I saw the smoke, but the house was already burning, consuming the house." He sounded very upset with himself, that he had allowed me to get in so much danger. He looked down at his feet indigenized. I picked his chin up with my finger and did my best to dazzle him. It worked – I could tell. I smiled, proud of my newfound talent. "Why do you seem so pleased that you can dazzle me?"

"Is that even a question?" I asked, laughing lightly.

"Bella, you have always been able to dazzle me." He leaned in to kiss me, but we were interrupted by an 'ahem'ing Emmett. Edward shot him a glance and ridiculed him. "Like you and Rose don't ever show PDA's?"

Emmett and Rosalie looked down in embarrassment. "I'm afraid Emmett's right." Carlisle announced. "We should be going, we don't have time to waste." With that, the entire family – or should I say coven – took off.

It was exhilarating – the run. It felt like I was flying. At such speeds I expected that my surroundings would become a blur of greens and browns, but they didn't. Each leaf was outlined and stood out individually with my sharp vision.

I found myself about to run past Edward – who had taken the lead. I knew I needed to stay behind him – because I didn't know how to get to the house – but I took a step or two ahead of Edward just to tease him. He looked at me with confusion, clearly astounded with my speed. I just shot him a smile and slowed down.

When we reached the house I couldn't help but laugh. It was almost an exact replica of the other house, just downsized a bit. I was even willing to bet that the back wall was completely glass.

I also noticed that there wasn't any yard. I think that was best though. That meant that the house was completely covered in trees, and would be hard to find.

We all headed in, and to my surprise, the inside was nothing like that of the other house. Instead of the varying shades of whites Esme had in her house, there were many colors. The dinning room was panted a deep red that was almost maroon. The living room was a green, that was a shade lighter than sage. The kitchen was a pale, pale yellow that was somehow dark. The gloominess could probably be blamed on the darkness the trees provided. All of the furniture and the floor as well, were all made of dark wood. The kitchen was the only room without hardwood flooring, it had white tile instead. There were tables in the kitchen and dinning room, which were of course for show. I had been wrong about the glass wall. I accounted that to Emmett and Rosalie wanting privacy…

I didn't get to examine anything else about the house. As soon as we were inside, we were sitting at the dinning room table and began making our war plans.

Carlisle started. "We only have one option."

If my heart still beat, it would've stopped and then shattered. I knew Carlisle was right, there was only one option left. As much as I didn't want to accept it, what choice did I have? I had chosen this life knowing all the consequences, and now I was going to have to live with them.

"No, there has to be some other way." I said, already fully aware there wasn't.

"I'm sorry Bella." Carlisle said it in a tone of sympathy, but also in a tone of finality. I knew there wasn't a point in fighting. I knew what needed to be done, and if I sat here and denied it all that would do is lessen the time we had to prepare for the war. War. I thought to myself. I'm in a war with my best friend. I sighed heavily, but nodded my head.

"Okay then, we'll need a plan." Carlisle said, taking his rightful place as leader. But no one had any idea what we should do, so we all remained silent.

I had an idea, and was suddenly glad that I was now an equal among them. I knew that if I wasn't a vampire, that they would've shot me down as soon as I'd opened my mouth. But now I had an equal playing field, and something had been bugging me since I had woken up from changing. This was the perfect excuse to find out what my power is. "I think that we should find out what my power is."

(A/N: okie-dokie, there you go. You'll find out what Bella's power is/powers are in the next chapter (and I promise it will be interesting). I also promise that within the next two or three chapters we will have some unexpected new players in the war… do you want to know who they are??? Then review so I write and update faster. Please? Pretty please. With a cherry on top?)