A/N: WARNING! This is the longest chapter yet!

While Angela talked to her parents on the phone, I cleaned up what little mess I had made while trying to heat up my lasagna. I was done by the time she hung up.

"I can stay," she announced with a grin.

"Yes!" I exclaimed.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this excited," she commented.

"Can't a girl be happy that she gets to hang out with one of her best friends from high school?" I asked with mock hurt.

She rolled her eyes at me. "I suppose you can, Bella. So what are we going to do tonight?"

"Talk, watch a movie, umm, stay up all night to wait for Santa, you know, that kind of thing."

"I won't stay up all night," Angela informed me, "but I'm willing to stay up later than usual."

"Even better," I said with a laugh. "Then I can get some sleep too."

"So what do you want to talk about?" Angela asked as we walked back into the living room.

"I don't know… how's college going?"

"I'm top in my class," Angela offered. "I like college a lot."

"Are you a partier?" I teased her.

"No," she answered with a small smile. "I haven't changed that much."

"I didn't think you had," I assured her. "So you just kind of keep to yourself and do your school work?"

"I have a few friends," she said. "We're all the quiet studious type."

"That's good," I said.

"How about you?" she asked. "How do you like college?"

"I like it," I answered. "It's a fun experience."

"Are you a partier?" she asked teasingly.

"Far from it," I answered. Mark came in the door then.

"Oh, you're still here, Angela," he groaned. I threw a pillow at him, and it hit him in the head.

Angela laughed. "I'm spending the night."

"Really?" Mark perked up at the idea. "Let's have a movie marathon!"

"You two decide what movie we're watching, and I'll go take a shower," I proposed. "Though, I must insist that we watch Polar Express since it's Christmas Eve."

"I can live with that," Angela said with a shrug.

"Hurry," Mark prompted me as he shoved me out of the living room. "The sooner you get back the sooner we can start."

"Yes, Darling," I said sarcastically. I stuck my tongue out at him and climbed the stairs.

When I came out of the bathroom after my shower I took my time going back downstairs since I heard Mark and Angela talking. If I did break up with Mark at one point or another, he and Angela would make a great couple. They were so similar. Both were quiet and shy, both wanted to go into the medical field, both were loving and caring and they both were two of my best friends. I couldn't imagine a better pair. So I took my time, giving them an opportunity to get to know one another.

The smell of buttered popcorn filled the house, telling me that Mark had found the microwave popcorn and decided to use the time while I was in the shower to get ready for whatever movies we were going to watch.

When I finally arrived downstairs I was pulled into the living room and the lights were turned off. We all sat down on the floor and leaned on the couch. Mark and Angela had brought out the spare blankets and we all crowded under one. The bowl of popcorn sat on Mark's lap, because he was in the middle.

After we watched Polar Express we put in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and then the second, and halfway through the third one Angela fell asleep. We turned off the movie and Mark lifted her onto the couch. We covered her with a blanket and tiptoed upstairs to our room.

Once in bed Mark settled down quickly, but I was nervous. I couldn't stop thinking about Victoria, and any noise from outside made me jump. Finally, Mark couldn't take it anymore.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he pulled me closer to him. "You're so jumpy."

"I'm nervous," I admitted in a whisper.

"About…" he prompted.

"Charlie," I said. Which was true. I didn't want Victoria to find Charlie.

"What was he saying about big wolves?" Mark asked.

"My senior year there were five huge wolves. People thought that they were bears because they were so big. People also thought that the wolves were eating people. But they weren't."

"How do you know?"

"I saw them. I was hiking in the woods one day and I saw them in a meadow. I was so scared."

"I bet," Mark said, and pulled me closer. "So if the wolves don't kill people, why are you worried?"

"The wolves hunt what is killing people," I whispered. "That's what I'm afraid of."

"What do they hunt?" Mark asked.

"I can't tell you," I said after a moment's hesitation. "I wish I could."

"Why can't you tell me?" Mark asked. He rolled me over so I was facing him.

"It's not my secret to tell," I said.

"Then whose is it?" Mark asked gently.

"I can't tell you that, either," I answered with a grimace.

"Bella," Mark groaned. "Why can't you just tell me these things? Aren't husbands and wives supposed to share everything with each other?"

"I wish I could," I told him earnestly. "I wish that I could tell you every little and big secret that I have. But I can't."

"Why not?" Mark asked.

"It's for your own safety."

"I don't understand," Mark said. "How would knowing what's killing people put me in danger?" Suddenly his eyes widened. "Are you in a witness protection program?"

"You could put it that way," I said, and cringed.

"But that's not how you would put it," Mark said.

"Not exactly," I answered.

"Wait, you said you have other secrets. What other ones haven't you told me about?"

"I can't really tell you, can I?" I asked.

"Bella, I'm your husband. You can tell me anything."

"No, I really can't," I whispered. "I wish I could."

"One is about the Cullen's, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yes," I admitted.

"They aren't normal, and you know how."

"I do," I confirmed. "But that's another thing I can't tell you for your own safety."

"Why not?"

"They belong to a… to a group. The Cullens are one of the few families that are good in this group. If an outsider knows about the group, then that outsider gets killed for having inside information, unless the person who gave out information intends to add the individual in question to the group. I learned because Edward and I wanted to get married. But since that probably won't happen now, I'm just somebody who knows too much. Edward could get killed, too, for giving me the information, and his family could be in trouble too, only because they could have been involved."

"Are they mafia members?" Mark asked.

"No," I laughed, "but close enough. Why did you guess mafia?"

"You said people were trying to kill Edward, in Italy," Mark answered. "I thought maybe the Mafia was trying to kill him for giving out information."

"No, they aren't Mafia members."

"Why don't they eat? Or get tired? Or go to the bathroom? It's like they don't have to do things that normal people do."

"I don't know," I lied.

"Bella, you've been lying to me a lot lately," Mark said. "I let it slide in public because I don't want to make a scene, but I'm going to ask you for the truth now. You can either tell me and we can stay together, or we can split up and you can go back to Edward, for all I care, because I won't stay with someone who can't even tell their husband the truth."

"Mark, these things aren't my secrets to tell," I protested. "I would tell you if I could. Besides, you'd probably just think that I'm crazy and tell Charlie to ship me off to some mental institution."

"I would never do that, Bella," Mark said gently. He kissed my forehead. "Try me. Just tell me one thing that you think would make me believe that you are crazy."

"If I do, you can't tell anyone," I warned him. "Not a soul. What I tell you, you have to take with you to your grave. NO ONE can know these things."

"I promise," Mark said. "I will never tell anyone."

"The Cullens are vampires," I said quietly,

"WHAT?!" Mark exclaimed.

"Shh!" I urged him. "Don't wake Ang up!"

"Bella, how can you believe that they are vampires? Vampires don't exist."

"Yes, they do," I told him calmly. "The Cullen family is made up of 7 vampires. All drink the blood of animals, which separates them from most other vampires because most vampires drink human blood."

"You're lying," Mark said. "Vampires don't exist."

"Yes, we do," Rose announced. She had come through my window, and it took Mark by surprise.

"Rosalie?" he choked out.

"Yes?" she asked innocently.

"How did you get in?"

"The window."

"What are you doing coming in the window?"

"I am correcting your false notions."

"Vampires don't exist, though. They're just myth." Mark protested. His brain caught up with him, then. "Wait, we're in the second story of a house, and you came in the window. How exactly does that work?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "We're vampires and we turn into bats. How do you think it works?"

"You do turn into bats?" Mark asked.

"No," Rose scoffed. "We're just extremely fast and good at jumping."

"I don't believe that you're vampires," Mark said.

"And I don't believe that you're smart. How do you think I heard the conversation you and Bella are having? How do you think I know that your heart is racing? How do you think that we can go all day without eating or going to the bathroom or doing any other number of normal human things? Why do you think that we never leave our house on days when it's sunny? Granted, we aren't like the vampires of myth, but we are vampires. And if I wanted to kill both of you right now, you wouldn't even realize what was happening before you were dead. So be very grateful that I love both of you and I'm not Victoria."

"Who's Victoria?" Mark asked.

"The reason your wife is jumpy. The reason that the werewolves are out and Charlie got called into work. The vampire who's trying to kill your wife because she's mad that we killed her mate while he was trying to kill Bella."

"Werewolves?!" Mark exclaimed. "Okay, I know I'm dreaming now. This can't be real."

"Mark, you're awake," I told him softly. "It's all real. These are the secrets I have been keeping. Do you see why I've been keeping them now?"

"So why were you in Volterra?" Mark asked. "I'm assuming that you didn't tell me the truth about that, either."

"Edward thought that I had died, so he went to Volterra to get the ruling vampires to kill him. Vampires are practically impossible to kill, so he had to get someone else to do it. I had to go so he could see that I wasn't dead so he wouldn't follow through with his plan." I said. "Alice and I went. We were gone for three days. I told Charlie I went to L.A., because that's where he thought Edward was."

"So everything you've told me has been a lie," he said coldly.

"Mark…" I said, pleading.

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth?"

"Because when the royal vampires come to make sure I'm a vampire, and I'm not, they'll kill me. And if you know about them, which they'll be able to find out, then they'll kill you too. I didn't want them to kill you, Mark. No one deserves to die because I know too much!"

"Why aren't you a vampire? Because Edward left?"

"No, he left because they can't change me. You know how Rose mentioned the werewolves? Werewolves exist to protect the world from vampires. And the La Push werewolves have a treaty with the Cullens that they can't bite any humans or the werewolves will come kill the vampires. They can't turn me into a vampire unless they bite me. So either I die, or the Cullens die. I would rather it be me than them, so I didn't ask them to do it once I knew there was no way around it."

"So he left because they couldn't change you?"

"The second time, yes."

"What about the first time?"

"He wanted me to have a normal human life," I answered. "But that really didn't work, because once he left, I unknowingly became best friends with a werewolf."

"You're not normal, are you?"

"No, not really," I admitted.

"Oh, Bella."

"Yes?" I asked worriedly.

"You… you're just too much. Did you think that if you gave me a lie that was so unbelieveable that no one would believe it that I would think it was true?"

"They aren't lies, Mark. They are the total truth."

"I can second that," Rose added.

"Bella, vampires and werewolves don't exist."

"Would you like proof, Mark?" Rose asked.

Mark laughed. "What would you do? Drink my blood? Turn into a bat? Go sleep in a coffin?"

Before I knew what was happening, Rose had grabbed Mark and was jumping out the window with him in her arms. She ran into the woods. I ran to the window just in time to see her blurred shape enter the edge of the woods.

"Rose!" I hissed. "Bring him back!"

"She'll bring him back eventually," Emmett informed me. I gasped and spun around to see him sitting on the bed.

"I'm just worried about her bringing him back in one piece," I said after I got over the shock of Emmett being in my room. "What if they run into Victoria? What if he says something that makes her mad and she slaps him and doesn't think about how fragile he is? What if-"

"Rose is only going to break a tree for him," Emmett cut me off. "And Victoria is currently on the other side of town, getting chased by Edward and Carlisle, and Alice, and Jasper and about six werewolves. So I think she's a little too preoccupied with running away to be over here worrying about Mark and Rose."

"Wait, the vampires and werewolves are actually working together?"

"Well, they kind of are. Both groups want to catch Victoria first so they can beat the others and make the final kill, but they're both working towards a common goal…" Emmett grinned at me. "There's nothing like a human in trouble that both groups love to bring enemies together."

I heard a crack in the woods then, and I turned around to glance outside. Emmett chuckled. "They're fine, Bella. Rose is bringing him back now."

"Is he okay?" I asked worriedly.

"He… he'll need a lot of time to think and rearrange his view of life and what's myth and what isn't. He'll probably ask a lot more questions."

"He'll probably wake up with a headache," Rose added as she jumped in the window with an unconscious Mark in her arms. "Poor guy fainted when he saw me knock down a tree on my own."

"Put him on the bed," I instructed her. "Emmett, can you go get me a cold and wet washcloth?"

"Sure," Emmett answered, and before I knew it he was back with the washcloth.

"Thank you," I said softly as I accepted the washcloth. I started to wipe Mark's forehead with it.

"Bella?" Mark groaned a few moments later.

"Mark? Are you okay?" I asked.

"I just had the strangest nightmare," he informed me. "In it I learned that vampires really exist and that one of your best friends can knock down a tree with her pinky."

"Rose! You didn't!" Emmett said disapprovingly.

"Well, I had hoped it was a nightmare," Mark commented. "Do you have any Tylenol, or something?"

"I'll go get it," Rose offered.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"I've been better," Mark said.

"Do you believe us now?" I asked.

"What choice do I have?" he asked. "And I know I can't tell anybody, so you don't need to remind me about that."

"Do you forgive me for not telling you before?" I asked anxiously.

"Yes, Bella, Honey. I forgive you. I even forgive you for actually listening to me and telling me." He gave me a weak grin, and I kissed his forehead.

"Here's the Tylenol," Rose announced when she came back. She handed the bottle and a glass of water to Mark. He refused to meet her gaze, but he did mumble a thank you to her.

"So this Victoria is after you?" he confirmed.

"Yes," I answered with a grimace. "She has such wonderful timing, don't you think?"

"Of course," Mark answered. "There's nothing like a crazy vampire bent on revenge on Christmas morning."

Suddenly the two vampires in the room stiffened.

"Stay in here and don't talk," Emmett ordered quietly and the next thing I knew they were out the window. I crawled under the blanket again and clung to Mark. Now that he knew the danger, he clung to me too.

Who was out there? I couldn't tell, but I hoped it wasn't Victoria.