We followed her scent to Alaska, Arizona, California, and everywhere else in-between. But now...now she's finally stopped...

...In dreary little Forks.

(^^^^^^)

An enigma; that was all she could describe Miss Alice Cullen as. Small, clearly used to being praised and appreciated yet a fighter, someone that, if given the chance, would fight for what she wants. She was, to Bella's lack of surprise, a person that would also prepare to wage all out war for those of her family, and those that she loves. It surprised her when Alice growled, low and feral, when Emmett, the young but tall vampire with black hair and a squared face, decided to make a joke about Bella's...figure.

Rosalie, clearly the mature on their apparent relationship, slapped Emmett rather hard around the ear while Edward simply snorted and limped, while Esme rolled her eyes. No one else had anything to say, really.

Well, except for Bella.

Turning her head to face Alice, who was still crouched low and baring her teeth, she inquired. "You growled." Okay, less of a question and more of a statement, but the point was there when she noticed everyone else freeze up and stare at her weirdly.

Rosalie turned her head to Bella warily, as if tired but cautious. "You heard that?" when Bella nodded, Rosalie sighed in exasperation, tilting her head back and exclaiming to the skies. "Why can't anyone I meet be normal!?"

"You call Bella being able to take down Edward and a tree in the space of a minute normal?" Emmett smirked when his wife stopped her miniature rant, turning her head to him for a moment before shrugging.

"Good point." Edward had recovered by then, simply frowning as they continued to travel to their home.

Esme cleared her throat while Carlisle simply shook his head, continuing to lead his family into the house that they were going to enter before Edward pulled his...stunt. While yes, he did find his son's 'beat down' to be quite entertaining, this Bella person clearly was not human, and that was something he was intent on solving; well, that and whether she was a threat to his family.

It was clear she was a good soul in a bad place, but caution was something he had evolved into a daily routine; caution of everything. Firstly he knew she was inhuman, and that alone was a threat. Secondly, an unknown, and that was a threat as well. Lastly she took down a fully matured vampire. All of these together made her the perfect vampire killer.

"I believe we should sit inside before we interrogate our guest, yes?" she turned her head to Bella, who simply shrugged. "Good, good." She got the sense that Esme was the mother of this dysfunctional yet loving family of vampires; well, as much as a family can be without them being blood related in any way.

It was too much on her mind to take in, but she did so anyway with a strengthening headache brewing. They had questions, she knew, but the reason she'd answer is simply for that Alice girl's looks to go away, but at the same time, her inner feline hissed at the thought, and for some unfathomable reason, she decided to answer any and all questions thrown her way by Alice, Rosalie and Carlisle. The others she wasn't so sure about.

Once inside, however, Carlisle, most unexpectedly to the others, was the first to speak, his voice calm but with a layer of curiosity and an undertone of wariness underneath. He clapped his hands together softly, fingers interlaced with each other, and his eyes staring intently at the standing Bella- the only one to be standing really. Esme was sat next to him, busying herself by dusting off her attire from the woodland smell; Rosalie was nestled into Emmett's arms, twirling a small piece of hair between her fingers. Edward was watching with mild curiosity and annoyance, finding his inability to read a mind for once both a blessing and a curse- blessing because there may be others who can block him out, curse because this particular person was someone he wanted in to their minds. Jasper went out to hunt, seeing as he hadn't for a while, and all while this was occurring, Alice was staring intently at Bella's face, hoping for some sign of emotion or acknowledgement to the events surrounding her.

"Now, it is quite clear you are more than human; I am curious however, and it is completely up to you to answer, but would you mind telling us what exactly it is that you are?"

Bella simply stared at Carlisle and his whole family for a moment, before staring intently at him, his honey eyes portraying and betraying no emotion other than concern for his family, and a thirst for knowledge. Clearly he was unlike the rest of his kin, otherwise he'd be dead by now- she would know; Bella would be the one to tear him apart.

Sighing, she looked him dead in the eye. "I am quite sure the Volturi taught you everything about the mass slaughter of my kind, Doctor Cullen." Her voice was smooth, emotionless, and it was at that point Jasper flashed in, standing next to her with a simple look of calmness.

Carlisle's eyebrow rose, but it was Esme that questioned what he was about to ask himself. "You know about the Volturi?"

Bella looked at her, long and hard, as if seeing something that wasn't there before she shook her head slightly; Esme's eyes were no longer the vicious red, but amber, and her hair was not blonde, it was black. Esme did not look like him, not one bit. She found him, tore him apart at the seams, so why the flashback? Except...maybe he survived somehow, crawled through the scorched earth and fire that raged and ravaged him. Impossible, surely, but she always had that thought...

She shook her head, staring at Esme again. "Yes, I know of them. They rarely deal with the stronger races unless they want something or are about to execute a kill order."

"I hate to break up the song and dance, but can we skip to the bits that make sense?" Emmett asked, clearly impatient.

Bella simply bowed her head. "...My apologies. I am a, as you vampires call us, shifter."

And the room went silent, Alice's unneeded breath caught in her throat, eyes widening to the size of saucers, with her hands, as well as feet and legs, freezing up. Then she shot up, her mouth shooting words out of its own accord, her body pacing back and forth as she spoke jumbled, incomprehensible unintelligible gibberish. "A shifter...shifter!" she stopped; clearly unaware of everyone around her, hazel eyes boring into Bella's sunshades. "You're a shifter!?"

"Apologies if this offends you miss Alice." Bella bowed, but just as her head reached eye level, the world around her froze.

Her eyes beneath her sunshades widened, the first real emotion she'd show, and her entire form froze as she came face to face. And then something happened, something straight out of legend. Alice's family faded to murky shadows, blurring before vanishing completely. Alice drew her in with everything she did, how she moved, everything she said, her mere presence was a distraction, and yet she felt clearer. Her mind fogged and cleared at the same time, her undead heart almost beat, her mouth dropped open, and Alice froze as well. She imprinted. She imprinted on a vampire, her mortal and immortal enemies. An imprint...why? Why now, of all people and of all places?

But she didn't care, she heard her inner feline purr in content, and it was only then did she feel the immense drag of gravity that Alice had become. Her world was now Alice's, her life now Alice's, everything was Alice, and for some reason, she felt that she didn't care. But, at the same time, she was well aware of the danger this could pose. She could kill the girl with a wrong move, she could hurt her beyond words with what she said, and she could do unspeakable things, like that which she had to do to survive. Her past could come back to haunt her, and that was something she never wanted Alice- no, none of the Cullens- to be apart of.

Then her world was shaken, Alice was no longer only Alice; there was her family surrounding her now, all looking worried, save for Jasper. He knew what she had done, and he simply nodded his head in approval. It was about time she did something for the loneliness and guilt, the everlasting numbness. Jasper knew, he understood, but she did not know if he cared enough to stay with the Cullens and not go with her if she left for seemingly no reason; she had done it before, and every time Jasper came running with her, but now she felt that if he followed, or any of them did, they'd get killed.

Especially Alice, and that was something she would swear to never happen.

"Bella?"

The voice of her imprint, her mate, called out to her, and she looked Alice right in the eye before doing something no one could have predicted, foreseen. She leaned that extra inch, her eyes fluttering closed as she felt soft lips press to her own. She heard a moan of pleasure from her mate, a wolf whistle from Emmett, and a soft gasp emanate from everyone else in the room. Jasper simply rolled his eyes, clapped his hands softly and then smiled a little.

But did she care? No, she would finally have something to live for, something to come home to every night and day alive and well, just to see the face of the one she loved. She vaguely recalled, somewhere in the back of her mind that the bond was not supposed to be this strong, but then again; it wasn't everyday a vampire was mated to you, and you mated to it.

She felt hands wrap around the back of her neck, keeping her in place as her mate lifted herself on her tip toes to deepen the kiss, and felt a delighted purr rumble from her chest. Wait, the purr was rumbling from her chest? Odd that vampires purr, but she herself purred, and no complaints came to mind, so she'd ignore it. It wasn't a feline purr though, it was more of a rumble if anything, something any animal would make, but not a feline itself.

Bella decided to break away, finally aware of her surroundings and that she was being stared at by a coven- family- of vampires, and her vampire travelling companion.

And again, Carlisle was the one to clear the air with a slight clearing of the throat. "Well...I..."

Rosalie took over. "The hell just happened!?"

Carlisle decided to end this line of speech quickly, lest his daughter start swearing up a storm. "How about we move on?" he coughed, unneeded, but clearly easing the tension. "You said 'mass slaughter'? There are other shifters here." His change of topic was not lost to her, and she silently praised his very existence.

"I know that," she said casually as she gently removed Alice's hands from the back of her neck. "But they are not true shifters. They mimic my kind, clearly not one of us."

"How do you figure?"

"Well, for starters they are the wrong breed, and wrong animal altogether." She explained." To second that, they are not immortal; they die of old age, though they do have extended lifespans." She sighed when she felt Alice leave her side, though she felt elated on the inside for some reason when she felt her hand press over her chest, just above her heart, and her head nestled gently in the crook of her neck a second after. "And lastly-"

"-They have a heartbeat." Alice finished for her, and Bella simply nodded. She could feel Alice nuzzling her neck, but simply threw all her attention into why, exactly, the bond was this strong already; it shouldn't be this strong, it should be impossible, something that should not happen in the first place; yet here she was, mated and bonded for the rest of her existence to a vampire.

Mated. To. A. Vampire.

She was mated to a vampire. A fucking vampire! Why wasn't she caring about this!? They're mortal enemies, something to be feared and fought with every last ounce of strength until they're dead, ripped apart and burnt to ashes.

Yet she didn't care.

"I...see." no, he did not, Carlisle did not see; he could not possibly understand her, nor her breed unless she showed him in person, and to do that she'd need a reason- she was not a circus, and she did not go around shifting for those who simply wanted explanation: But if Alice asked her on the other hand...

She froze; since when did Alice matter so much? She barely knew her! Then again, Alice was her imprint, and the pull was stronger already with the vampire mating bond being active; with the imprint working she could kiss the thought of leaving goodbye- Or, at least, leaving without Alice.

She turned her head and saw the looks of shock still on some of the Cullen's faces. It was quite clear that they were all still thinking about what she and Alice had just done- not that she cared what they thought or anything. But they needed to know, and she needed to speak with her imprint, to explain things to her and only her; it would be painful to keep secrets- literally- from her mate, so she decided to simply explain. But just because she explained to Alice, did not mean everyone else needed to be around.

"Jasper...could you explain to them what just happened? I...need to talk to Alice. Alone."

Without further word, she whisked Alice into her arms and flashed out of the building quicker than a vampire could ever hope to achieve. There was a reason her kind are known as vampire hunters.

She stopped, much to Alice's annoyance, within a meadow. But her eyes widened when she saw what used to be there now gone. Where there had been ravishingly beautiful daisies and sunflowers, gorgeously tall tulips and lavender plants, there were now weeds, dead dry grass, and an air of lost love. She used to come here every fifty years, tend to this place inch by inch, and make sure that everything was safe and sound before leaving again for pack business; well, back when she was in the pack.

Shaking her head to rid herself of the memories, she heard Alice gasp, clearly taking in the field where plants had once clearly thrived. "What...Who could have done such a thing?"

Bella had no answer, so she simply removed herself from Alice and walked over to the centre of the dead meadow, taking in the death of her beautiful plants. Her plants were gone, things that she had preserved for years, just wiped out like that. Gone, like everything else in her life.

Then she felt the rage, the pure unadulterated rage, something that had not been felt for quite some time. She almost welcomed it, embracing the feeling of finally being able to feel an emotion, but a cool, cold hand that clutched her forearm- that she realised was shaking from pure anger- pulled her from one dead emotion into another; content? Happiness? Something that spread throughout her arm, sending tingles from the contact and searing its way into her dead heart was felt, and she wasn't sure what it was.

She knew she liked it though.

Her head whipped around to see two amber pools of worry looking at her, clearly fearful of her yet, at the same time, scared of what she was feeling; it was as if...Alice had a vision, didn't she?

"What did you see?"

Alice looked at her worriedly, turning her head, Bella following just in time to see a figure blur through the woods around them. The shadow was at least the average size of a human, but something was off. It...Was running like a human, yet at inhuman speeds, supernatural, almost seeming to blur at they moved without use of the shadows bending their form.

Her nose caught the scent, and she growled, low and primal. Vampire. There was a vampire, an unknown one, stalking her this whole time? She's lost her touch, and that was a dangerous thing to lose for one such as her.

The figure stopped in front of her, and she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Ashley?"

(^^^^^^)

The scent was feint, almost lost, yet she did come through here. Running with his paws pounding the ground, he came to a stop. A clearing much like an ocean, but instead a lake more than anything. He shook in utter rage that he had been outsmarted again, before lifting his head and releasing what sounded like a roar. Animalistic, feral, yet oddly a charming noise.

The scent all but evaporated when he made the decision to sniff the air near the lake, and he screamed within his head, anger coursing through his veins once more as he shifted, not bothering to place on any clothing as he waited for his pride mates.

His beta walked out first, a large scar on her otherwise perfect, golden face; a leopard was a hard shifter species to find, but Bella's...he growled softly at the mere mention of her name in his own head.

She had done nothing wrong, yet he exiled her, branding her am Omega all those years ago. He only just realised what a mistake that was when three of his pack mates died of an infection- an infection! Whenever he saw her working on patients, she made sure they walked away with little more than a slap on the wrist. If it were a female, it would be on the backside, but who was he to judge?

The anger of his foolishness rose within him again- he allowed jealousy to take over, to rule his instincts. The new medic of their pack was nothing if not inexperienced. Clearly she knew nothing, but everything pointed to her being at least capable of cleaning wounds. He thought that was good enough when he allowed her to join; clearly he was wrong.

The first died within the first day of infection; it spread quicker for them due to their naturally cold yet warm bodies- no one knew why they were cold and warm at the same time.

The second was a good friend of Bella's- a previous good friend, anyway, since the pride betrayed her. Rebecca was a cougar, literally, and someone Bella could always rely on, always looked out for. It hurt him to see her die, but at the same time that was when he realised that he needed Bella more than he previously did.

His pride could easily see what he was thinking, and Margaret, another friend of his old pride mate's, was almost killing herself on the inside form what she had done.

They all resolved to find Bella, bring her back to the pride, and make sure she never left. The getting to her should be easier than this, but the hard part would be getting her to come with them.

Carlos couldn't believe what he was thinking, but he needed her, they needed her.

It was just a matter of time...