(Bella)

"Sam, I think this will be easier if I just direct everything to you since you're the Alpha. Everyone else, just hold your questions, okay?" I looked around at the rest of the pack. "This is going to be hard to get out."

The guys all nodded to me and Jake wrapped an arm around me.

"Sounds like a good idea." Sam agreed. "And if anyone needs to take off, do it. I'm sure Bella didn't drag us all the way out here for nothing. Especially you Jacob. Keep your head together." his voice rippled with command. He was obviously concerned for me with my friend being so close.

"Okay then. First thing, I need you to tell me what are the exact terms of the treaty with the Cullens?"

Sam hesitated, then spoke in a regal tone, reminding me so much of Billy when he spoke the old legends at tribal bonfires. I had only recently been allowed to attend them. When I first realized the truth about the Quileutes, after Sam had found me in the woods, I confronted Sam about it. He at first denied everything, claiming I had been delirious and only imagined what I saw.

"The treaty was signed in 1936 between the Quileutes and the Cullen Coven. Ephraim Black, the Alpha, and the two other wolves of the pack. Levi Uley and Quil Ateara the 2nd. The vampires Carlisle, Edward, Emmett, and the two women Esme and Rosalie.

"This group of cold ones claimed to be something different. They acted almost like men instead of monsters, so the wolves hesitated and allowed them to speak. Their eyes were different from our legends and they insisted they didn't feed from humans, so a pact was made.

"We agreed not to kill them or reveal their presence or knowledge of their kind to the humans as long as they wouldn't bite, drink from, hunt, or turn any humans. In addition, we would stay off their lands. They would stay off our lands including the reservation and La Push, the surrounding forests, and even the lands traditionally possessed by the Hoh and Makah tribes. Forks and the nearby towns are all considered neutral territory where either party may go without permission.

"Our kind have killed vampires before, so they were wise to fear us. If they break the treaty, we will not hesitate to destroy them. However, they are a larger group than we have ever faced and a conflict would not be without losses. It is best for both parties that the peace remains."

The silence was thick as I stared back at Sam. I noticed there was no mention of Jasper and Alice.

"Jasper and Alice?"

"They were not original members and are not included in the treaty. When I begin shifting, I met with Carlisle and Edward Cullen and they told me they were not turned, but had joined them and were keeping to the animal diet. I didn't believe them, but I was the only wolf and there wasn't much I could do about it. They were never officially added to the treaty, even though they did appear to keep to the Cullen ways."

"Carlisle told the truth," I reassured him. "Alice and Jasper were sired by others and found their way to the family on their own. However, the treaty was broken." I paused, allowing the words to sink in. "By Jacob Black, when he told me of the cold ones, and again when he told me that the Cullens were vampires."

Sam interrupted. "Bella, he hadn't phased yet."

Several of the pack members were growling softly, including Jacob right in my ear.

"A technicality Sam." I brushed off their reaction.

"I thought we were here to talk about the vampires, not to be put on trial." he said, his voice tense.

"I'm getting to that." I said. "But I wanted to get that out of the way first. Just keep in mind that the treaty has been violated already. However unintentionally, and it was done by the pack first."

He nodded and motioned with his hand for me to continue.

"Then with that in mind, here is my full story. All of it, all I know. Hopefully this helps you stop the vampire that has been killing people around Forks." I paused. "Just... don't judge me until you hear it all." I looked down at my hands. "I'm not proud of it all, but I learned a lot from my experiences. When I'm done telling you about my past, there is one more thing I'll need to tell you."

"That's fair Bells, we'll listen." Sam said encouragingly.

I told the pack about everything as best as I could remember, both the good and the bad. Everything from the first time I saw the Cullens in the cafeteria. I made sure to explain as much as I knew about vampires, gifts, singers, and all I could recall about their history and how they struggled to overcome their situations.

I explained how I got a bit lost in their world, but also how I wasn't unhappy exactly that it happened. How looking back on it now, it almost seemed like it needed to happen, so that I could get to where I was now.

Finally, I got to the day I was invited to play baseball with their family.

"Three nomadic vampires heard the sound of the game and came to investigate. James, Victoria, and Laurent." I said.

When I described them, I saw a look pass around the pack members. They recognized Victoria's description.

"Bella," Sam said, "I know we agreed to hold questions until later, but the female vampire, Victoria. We have chased her off recently. What do you know about her?"

I nodded slowly, making a connection. The missing hikers. "Sam, just wait, I'll probably answer your questions by the end of it. Just tell me everything you know after I finish. I promise I'll do the same."

"Deal." he agreed.

I continued where I left off. The flight to Phoenix with Alice and Jasper. The ballet studio. James lying about having my mother. Sneaking away and meeting him alone.

"God Bella, you are such an idiot!" Jacob hissed out, right next to my ear.

I laughed jerkily.

"Yep, I guess I am."

I untangled myself from Jacob's grip and nudged him. "Better back off for this next part Jake." I warned him.

He reluctantly moved off a bit, but still kept himself between me and his pack mates.

"When I got to the ballet studio, I found out that James had used old home movies with my Mom's voice on them to trick me into thinking she was there. He taunted me, played with me, and threatened me. Then he broke my leg. He smacked me around a bit as well. The Cullens were on the way to save me, but they were to late to stop him from hurting me. From biting me."

I pulled up my sleeve, the sun shining onto the scar, making it shimmer slightly.

The pack gasped as one and stopped breathing. Then, all hell broke loose. Paul lost it completely and phased on the spot, fragments of clothes flying everywhere. The rest of them shaking like mad. Curses were flying and Jacob dived on top of me, shielding me with his body. He was barely trembling, but then, he had gotten a good look at my scar this morning.

Sam phased to go after Paul who was still in wolf form, pacing around and snarling, drool dripping from his jowls as he snarled and growled. They both ran off into the trees and the rest of the guys backed off a bit at Jacob's suggestion.

"Jake, you're kind of crushing me." I said from under my friend. I felt like a pancake.

"Sorry." he said, but didn't move.

"Umm... still crushing me Jake."

"Right. Yeah." he pushed off me and I peeled myself off the blanket and looked around.

"Extra clothes are in one of the bags." I mumbled. "For Sam. Maybe it's best if Paul stays wolf until I'm done. It gets worse."

"Fuck." Jake said, dragging his hand through his hair. "Worse than that?"

He grabbed the clothes and ran them out to Sam. A few minutes later, one wolf and one re-dressed Quileute trotted back.

"Bad doggy!" I stuck my tongue out at Paul.

He whined at me.

"Sit!" I commanded, laughing when he did. "Good boy!"

The guys laughed. The wolves were massive, more like bears or horses in size, it was crazy watching him behave like a pet.

"Anyhow..." I got up, sleeve still pulled up to my elbow, going around to the guys. "I'm guessing you want a better look. Jake sure did when he found it this morning." I shot him a look over my shoulder. He looked a bit sheepish.

"Yeah, I didn't know it was possible to survive a vampire bite. Well, as a human anyhow." Sam said.

"It isn't. Usually. Well, there is more to it, but I'll tell you later." I told him. I let the guys all poke and prod my arm for a few minutes. They all commented on its temperature.

"It doesn't smell any different." Jacob supplied from where he was seated on the blanket. Apparently he got his fill of poking it this morning.

"What the fuck Jake? You sniffed it?" I shouted at him.

"Of course I did!" he said with a smirk. "Hell, if I wasn't all shaky at the time, I'd have licked it too to see if it tasted different. But then, I'd have had to taste both your arms, for comparison." he wiggled his eyebrows at me suggestively.

I blushed head to toe, stomping off to sit far away from all of them, especially Jacob, pulling my sleeve back down.

"Perv." I mumbled.

They all laughed, making me turn as red as a tomato.

"I believe I was at the part where James bit me." I started up, cutting off their laughter. "And this time, no phasing." I met each of their eyes, which had sobered up quickly.

"First, a few things. Remember that at the time, I had limited knowledge of the details of the treaty myself. I was in love with Edward, and he said he was in love with me. I wanted to be like him." I saw them tense at this. "Don't start, just listen!" I scolded them.

"I hadn't asked him to turn me yet, but I wanted it already at that point. A vampire's bite start's the change in a human. It's an extremely painful process. Like being dipped in lava, only worse because you can't pass out and nothing makes it any better. Like every cell in your body is being burned alive and it lasts for about three days with no rest. And then when you come out of the other side, it's like a part of that fire lives in your throat for eternity and is only quenched by human blood. Or so I've been told anyhow. I've only had a small taste of what it is like." I tapped my hand on the bite.

"When James bit me, it was just as Edward arrived. Edward pulled him off of me and soon after the rest of the Cullens showed up. James was torn apart and burned."

"Good." Jacob growled. Several of the guys nodded in agreement.

"Do you guys remember how beat up I was when I got back?" I looked around, seeing their answers. "Well the most life threatening part was my femoral artery was cut." I pointed to my thigh. "I was bleeding out, Carlisle estimated if I had to wait on an ambulance I wouldn't have survived. Keep in mind, this was in front of seven vampires who didn't try to kill me.

"The other issue was that when James bit me, his venom got into my blood stream and the change had started." I paused here, taking a deep breath. "Edward... he doesn't believe that vampires have souls. He didn't want to take my soul from me, he thought that would be the worst thing imaginable. Worse than anything he's ever done in the past."

A tear escaped and I brushed it away roughly.

"I think he's wrong, but none of that matters anymore. If it had been up to me, I'd have said to let the venom do it's work that day. I was dying from my injuries anyhow, and I was already bitten. It was what I wanted. Looks like technically it wouldn't have even broken the treaty." I scoffed earning an annoyed glare from Sam.

"Carlisle stabilized my injuries as best he could and then Edward sucked the venom out of me, like with a snake bite. I ended up needing transfusions, but that was more from my injuries than from Edward. So yes. A Cullen did drink my blood, but think of it as a medical procedure that kept me from becoming a cold one. The one that did the biting is dead." I finished.

The guys all looked shocked and confused.

"But I checked all the Cullens eyes when you got back from Phoenix." Jacob said, frowning. "They were yellow."

"Edward didn't drink enough of my blood to turn his eyes fully red. Just enough to get the venom out. By the time we got back, he had been back to animals long enough for them to be back to gold all the way."

"So the Cullens could cheat and drink from humans and we'd never know?"

"Missing the point Jake!" I said rolling my eyes. "And it doesn't normally work like that. Vampires can't just stop drinking. It was sort of a miracle Edward was able to stop with me."

I crawled back into Jake's lap, getting a bit cold again and needing to be held together for the next part of my story. I told the pack how after Phoenix, I wanted to become a vampire more than ever. The relationship between Edward and I seemed perfect after that, except that he had to restrain himself when he kissed me. This revelation got looks of disgust from the pack.

When I got to my birthday, my throat seemed to close up and I started to shake.

"Hey, how about we take a break and have lunch." Jake suggested, holding me tight.

I nodded gratefully.

"Although all this lovey-dovey mushy talk is kinda putting me off food." he teased me, pinching my side.

"As if that was possible!" I shot back.

I was glad for the break. The guys entertained me with funny stories while chowing down on the food Emily and I made earlier. It turns out that usually the wolves hunted while they were out to keep their grocery bills in check. Sam told me there were accounts that Ephraim Black used to share his kills with Carlisle Cullen, one taking the blood and the other the flesh, but he couldn't imagine that to be true.

"Why not? It makes sense. No waste that way." I said.

Jake scoffed. "Besides that our instincts scream 'Kill' when we see each other, the smell is enough to make you throw up."

I scrunched up my forehead in confusion. "They smell fine to me. Actually they smell really good."

"Ew, Bells. Just Ew." Jake said.

"The cold ones' scent to us is like concentrated bleach in intensity, but made of syrup. Super sweet, it burns our noses when we smell it." Sam said. "Artificial smelling, it's hard to explain." He grimaced. "They claim we smell foul to them as well."

I leaned over and sniffed Jake dramatically. Then shrugged laughing. "Guess I didn't get enough vampire in me to tell the difference."

"You're still all human, I'd have noticed right away if you had been even partially vamped." Jake said. "Trust me, my nose is a hundred times better than a bloodhound's."

"The last part of the story is probably going to piss you guys off again, but keep in mind everything I told you guys so far. Also keep in mind that I don't blame the Cullens for what happened. It was an accident, so keep cool." I looked around at the pack, waiting for their nods of agreement.

"I was opening birthday presents and I got a papercut. I started to bleed... and the scent caused Jasper and Edward to momentarily struggle with their control." Growls interrupted me. "However," I continued. "They didn't bite me or anything, and they left the room." I decided to leave out the part where I was shoved into the table and needed stitches.

Thinking about it again made me realize for the first time exactly why the family had left town. I had it all wrong. It wasn't because the townsfolk were growing suspicious of Carlisle's youth, or the things Edward said to me in the forest behind my house. It was that Edward realized in that moment when I started bleeding in his home that he could never love his dinner.

He had been playing with his food, much like James had been in the ballet studio, but in a much crueler way. The pain James had inflicted was a shadow of what Edward had done to me. The hole in me ripped open and I screamed silently, wishing my heart would just stop beating.

Without my permission, the rest of the story spilled out of my lips, every word that Edward spoke to me when he tore my life to shreds. I was on autopilot, not even seeing what was going on around me, reliving the scene in perfect clarity once again. I described the hole in my chest, how there had once been a tie between us, and how it felt to have it ripped away.

I found myself not in Jacob's embrace when I came out of the haze of memories, but in Sam's. The rest of the pack had left while I was unaware.

"Bella, look at me! Please!" he begged. "Bella!" he shook my shoulders.

"Sam?" I said, confused.

"Bells." he said in relief now that I was responding. Apparently I had been out of it for a while. My face was wet with tears and so was his shirt where my face had been pressed.

"It's going to be okay." he soothed. "The pack will take care of you, you aren't alone."

"Where did everyone go?" I asked.

"I sent the others off to patrol. I'll take you home when you're ready."

"Oh."

"Bells, what you described sounds like something from our legends. It's very rare, something that we don't talk about because of how painful it is to even think about. When a wolf loses an imprint, the pain of that connection being torn away causes madness. Most of the time, there is no coming back from it. That is why imprints are so sacred to us. If something happens to an imprint, it might as well kill us."

"Vampires call them mates." I said softly. "But the thing is, I don't think I'm Edward's mate anymore. I was once... but when he left... it broke. I can't, I won't accept him again. Maybe it's because I'm human and he's not. Or maybe it's because he never really accepted me like I did him. I don't know, but now I can tell it is over and it hurts more than anything. More than when I felt the fire from James' bite."

"When I first imprinted on Emily, we tried to resist the pull. I was engaged to Leah, do you remember?"

"Yes."

"I felt horrible. I still feel bad, but I can't do anything about it. When I saw Emily, my entire world was her. It didn't matter that I had been in love with Leah. It was over in that moment. Emily is Leah's cousin, they were close so Em didn't want to hurt Leah either. It was, is, torture for the three of us."

I looked into his eyes, seeing the pain there that he kept hidden from everyone.

"In the end, Emily and I had to hurt Leah, had to give in to the imprint. But Leah, she doesn't know why and she hates us both now. It is not fair to her, but how could I even begin to explain to her? I was so confused about everything and the tribal law forbids me from telling the secret to her." he looked ashamed.

"Sam, you're the Alpha, so that makes you the Chief, right?" I asked.

"Yes, until Jacob takes his place. If he ever does that is." he snorted.

"Then talk to Leah. You and Emily. Tell her the secret. Leah is a strong girl, she can take it. I know I would want to know the truth if it were me, even if it was painful rather than being left in the dark and always wondering why."

"I..." he began.

"Just do it." I nudged him.

Sam thought for a moment, his face tense. "Okay."

"Good. I know it will work out. Besides, I know Emily misses having Leah around. Not that you guys aren't great, but sometimes it's nice to have girl company." I punched his shoulder lightly, making sure not to bruise my fist.

He laughed. "How did you get to be so wise, pale-face?"

I smirked. "Oh, I always have been. You just never noticed."

"Ready to go back yet?"

"Actually, there is one more thing to talk about. You'll just have to mind-meld it to the pack later."

"There's more?" He asked, incredulous.

I pulled a bottle of water from the nearly empty back-pack and popped it open. The guys had packed everything together while I was out of it. The entirety of the picnic was now collapsed into a single bag now.

"Do you know anything about the Volturi?" I asked?

Sam's face was a picture of confusion.

"There is a reason the Cullens insisted on the pack not revealing vampires to humans in the treaty besides for themselves. It is against vampire law for humans to know about them."

"Vampires have laws?" his eyebrows shot up.

"Yes, and the Volturi are the enforcers." I explained. "There are three kings and their guard, all very powerful and gifted. They live in Italy and rule vampire kind. Their main law is to keep the secret. Humans are not allowed to know that vampires are real. If a human finds out, there are only two options for them. To be killed, or to become a vampire themselves."

Sam became angry then. "Damn Cullens. How could they put you in danger like this! Do these Volturi know about you? Will they come for you?" he demanded.

"I don't know." I said. "But the Cullens didn't tell me about vampires, I learned about them from you guys."

Sam's jaw dropped in realization. "So that was the reason for your little speech about the treaty. Well played girl."

I nodded. "The thing is, if the Volturi do come for me, it won't just be me they kill. They might kill the Cullens for leaving me alive and the tribe for being a threat to vampire kind."

Sam's horrified expression met mine. "I cannot allow that to happen."

"I know, neither can I."

"Tell me everything about these Volturi."

"I don't know nearly enough." I started. "The kings are named Aro, Caius, and Marcus. They are very old, and very powerful. Carlisle lived with them for a time before Edward was born, for decades actually. He eventually moved on because he didn't agree with their way of feeding. I don't know how large their guard is exactly, but I've always gotten the impression that it is larger than the pack by far." I shot Sam a look.

Sam was trembling more than he had been all day and I frowned. Something was wrong. His gaze was locked at a point over my shoulder. I turned around quickly, standing.

My eyes focused on the edge of the clearing. A man was standing unnaturally still, but he was no stray hiker. A dizzying array of emotions swirled through me, finally settling on recognition.

"Laurent!" I was surprisingly pleased to see him.

"Bella? I thought you were... well, I was misinformed. It is good to see you." he said.

The last thing I recalled about him was that he had gone up to Denali to try the vegetarian diet with the Cullen's cousins in Alaska. Edward had implied that he had taken a liking to one of the Denali sisters, Irena.

My eyes greedily took in his appearance. It was as if I had been starved of vampiric beauty and I needed to drink him in. He wasn't as tall as most of the Cullen men, but still much taller than myself. His hair was black, his skin darker than other vampires, reflecting his heritage in his human life, but still having a paleness to it somehow. He was medium build and slightly muscular, but it was his eyes that caught my attention. They weren't as blood red as the first time I had seen him, but neither were they the gold I had become accustomed to with the Cullens.

Sam snarled loudly and I heard the tell-tale ripping of cloth behind me that indicated he had shifted. I felt the air move around me from the displacement, but Sam was careful not to hurt me. I kept my eyes on Laurent's odd orange-red ones, which were wide with fear.

"I don't believe it!" He said, his french accent ringing perfectly.

Sam stepped forward next to me, his form dwarfing mine. His eyes never left the vampire. I put my hand on his shoulder, having to reach up to do so. Laurent saw my movement and gasped in shock, his eyes darting wildly. He spun around, about to flee, but Paul and Jared were coming up behind him in the woods, making a rough triangle. Sam must have alerted them when he shifted.

"Stop!" I yelled, running straight at the startled vampire that was now surrounded before the wolves could advance on him.