It was finally night and I was finally alone.

I sat in the darkest corner of the hotel room, focused completely on the laptop James had reluctantly found for me in some random house we'd broken into. I wasn't sure if he'd been reluctant to leave me alone or to give me access to the computer and internet but there was something suspicious about that to me… Then again it wasn't what I felt like worrying about right now. After a moment more of thought, I buried it and thought only about catching up on the days I'd missed.

The first thing I found when I'd booted everything up and gotten past passwords and so on was that a week and a half had passed since Paul had called me up to LaPush. I took a moment to let my stone face turn to a frown: there was no real way to know how much time had been my change and how much time had been spent sleeping and drugged while James lured in my sister.

Though I could always ask him… I pursed my lips, considering how the conversation would go before I shook it off. I rather enjoyed this new life, but I wasn't going to trust James completely… Not yet.

The hotel moved with life around me, around the dead and beautiful thing I had become: I could hear their noise everywhere, could smell their perfume leaking through the towels I'd stuffed into the cracks around door. As I clicked through news and found my missing person article in the Phoenix newspapers, I thought back to all the people I'd walked past to get here, smiling as the men all did double takes and several women glared at my new face. I wondered about the man I'd killed and who it would be next. The rest of my mind was able to focus completely on fulfilling my curiosity.

The article didn't say much. As I kept searching, I saw very little that could tell me what Bella and Edward had cooked up to tell my dad. There were a couple clips of newscasts I was able to dredge up as well, mentioning briefly that Isabella had been attacked and her sister was now missing… presumed dead. There was footage of my dad going into the Phoenix hospital and a reporter saying he'd refused to comment, that my mom had refused to comment. The only thing I managed to learn was that my sister had just woken up…

So she was still in Phoenix.

Sh**.

I slammed the laptop shut, barely remembering not to crack it in half with my new strength. And of course James would know. I should have realized when he had changed his mind about heading to Forks, had allowed to me to take the reins when I was obviously still out of control and overwhelmed by the intensity of thirst and emotions and senses and vampires.

Sh**.

I wanted to kill him.

I wanted to kill Edward.

I didn't know what I wanted to do to Bella. I had too many questions, too many doubts about what was or wasn't real before I'd been bitten. I had wanted to keep her, had wanted to have my sister… but what if she did this to me?

I stared down at my bitten wrist: really? That was a concern? I loved being a vampire. I loved the eyes that followed me, the exhilaration. But… But I was so hungry. Thirsty? Oh, god, the smell leaking through the cracks in the door… It was like fire, like poison in my throat.

I had no choice.

But not here.

"Eaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" I roared in frustration. Frustration at Isabella and thirst and cameras and keeping secret.

Why not here? There were plenty of shadows, plenty places to hide my… my snack… And I had no choice, not now that I had started to think of it. Not now that my entire being was slowing fading to a pair of fangs and a thirst closer to the feel of addiction then to hunger.

I stood up sharply and just as quickly was crouching to catch the computer before it fell even an inch from where I'd held it in my stone cold lap. Frozen before me was an article, a set of pictures, a set of smiling twins whose lives had just been ripped in two separate directions. The school pictures of a dead girl named Gen and a traitor named Isabella.

I repeated that thought in my mind as the burn in my throat grew stronger.

Gen Swan is dead.

Then I slipped open the window and crept out into the darkness.

…

I made my way down the main street until I found myself in the worst neighborhood; it was the only place people were still moving around. I'd found three targets I thought I could sneak off with and was wondering how much it might matter which one I chose when a new scent trickled by.

I stiffened and was instantly facing down the alley I'd been peering out of. My new red eyes pierced through the dark to find the vampire I'd smelled.

"Genevieve."

I snarled.

Edward Cullen raised his hands before him, the picture of nonthreatening. I crept closer, ready to lunge.

"Genevieve, wait." Edward insisted. He took a step back as I crept closer. He looked so tired. How could a vampire feel tired? All I felt was life. "Genevieve, please hear me out."

"James said that I'm stronger then you now." I observed, stepping closer again as the thoughts of him with Bella, thoughts of James grabbing me because of whatever Edward had done to him flashed through my mind. "Dick."

Edward winced at the sound of my new voice and winced again at the insult. "I know this is my fault, Genevieve. I've made some mistakes… but—"

"But nothing." I stood, straightening to give him a look at the new Genevieve, hoping he noted the red in my eyes. "You ran off to save her and left me with nothing. You left me to be taken; you left me to die!" I accused, my voice growing louder. "What were you doing in Forks? What were you doing with my sister? Why couldn't you have left all of us alone?"

Edward closed his eyes. "I… I know." He opened them again and I sneered; they were yellow, a gold that meant he was a freak. "But let me help you. Let me do what I can to fix this." My passion was echoed in his voice, begging instead of yelling. He meant what he said.

But what was there to fix? My father, my sister, my friends; I would kill them as soon as look at them. Nothing Edward could do to fix that.

"It just takes time." Edward said softly, still pleading. "Gen, I've been there." I stared at him, not wanting to look at him but hypnotized by the strangeness of sadness in a vampire's face. "We all have. But you don't have to kill. You don't have to be a monster."

"Oh, you just wish I'd have died so you could have gone on with Bella like nothing happened." I stepped closer, finding myself close enough that I could look up straight into his guilty face. "But I'm here. And I'm coming after all of you." Dickhead winced. "And you can't stop me."

"Gen." Edward held out a hand as though he wanted me to take it, as though he wanted to lead me away from the mess I'd been plopped into. "You can come with us."

"I'm not going to become another little sheep in the Cullen clan." I spat.

"Fine." Edward said, starting to sound desperate. "There are others like us. You don't have to be alone—the Denalis—"

"You can't stop me from hunting you and you can't stop me from hunting humans."

"I'm not letting you do something you'll regret." Edward said simply.

"Oh?" I said, grinning delightedly. "You really think you have a say in this mess anymore?"

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Within the next second I had leapt back to the entrance of the alley and landed in a crouch with my teeth bared at the site of Jasper and Rosalie Hale. They showed their fangs to me, each just as ready to attack. Edward stood between us, just out of the way if they decided to charge me.

"Come with us, Gen." Edward said, trying to calm me. "We can help."

I glared at him, taking in the three of them with furious eyes. This wasn't a fight I could win, not for sure. And go with them? The idiots who'd gotten me into this mess?

I shook my head.

I ran.

…

I returned to the hotel in an incredibly foul mood to find Victoria and James waiting in the room. Victoria was glaring out the window. James had sprawled out on the unneeded bed. They both turned to frown at me while I shut the door behind me.

"I thought we were going to see my sister." I said quietly.

"Bella?" James asked. "Mmm. Yes, we're going to wait for her in Forks."

"She's in Phoenix." I said, remembering my search through the news. My temper was already close to boiling over again.

"And you are not ready to see her." James said. "Meanwhile, Forks has cloud cover and we know it much better. By the time she is near again, you'll have more control over your thirst."

"Good to hear." I grumbled. I stalked past him and picked up the computer, wondering what the heck I was supposed to do with my time if I didn't have to eat or sleep or go to school. And I couldn't talk to my friends. And I couldn't play basketball with them. And human contact in general was seeming either boring or tasty, depending on how my thoughts on each possibility ended. "But what do we do until then?" I made my way to the window in a second, brushing past him so quickly a human wouldn't have been able to see.

James was beside me just as quickly.

"We find Laurent. We teach you how to fight and use your strength right." He smiled as I scowled up at him. "Maybe we even find you a friend. The Cullen clan certainly has some numbers… Do you know anyone who would like to be a vampire, Genevieve?" He smirked.

I turned back to the window, my anger pushed down as I searched for a way to express it and found nothing. I needed one of them in front of me, one of the Cullens. All I had were the pictures in my head of what I could do when I found them, pictures of what they'd taken from me and what I could take instead. But yet again I wondered: what was I so angry about?

And where was I going to go?

...

Author's Note:

Slow. Updates. For. Everything.

But got inspired for this one so here it is! Have most of a chapter for SWBL done too so that should come soon. Not sure how I feel about it: want to get her into a bit more action but she's still figuring out what everything means so... hope you like!

Reviews!

tysedon: Thank you! And yes, this is my second priority and is a little weird to write at the same time. But i write what i can.

Fire and Ash: Thank you! Sorry I'm so slooooow.

halem847: Hmmm. Yes. super helpful. Definately the reason i started this one was to be more original. Unfortunately it's still easier to be super canon so I'm still playing with what I want to do. But rereading this comment just sparked some ideas so we'll see. Thank you!

bookadict45: here you go! Sorry I'm a sloth when i comes to writing.

Maiannaise: Thank you ;)

Lightbabe: Hope you enjoy!

bridgetlynn: AAaw, you're so sweet! Thank you for reading. Hope you've gotten more sleep in the... months?... i've taken to write this.

January Lily: we'll see how it goes: we all know how long it takes for me to decide anything. Thakns for the support!