27. Cullens

I felt his steady breathing on my neck and I ran from him. He followed me quite easily, but he could never match my speed. I was just placating him of course, letting him think I wasn't as fast as I was, then to zoom of unexpectedly.

The path in front of me tingled with life as we ran past the trees. Some animals scattered at the first sense of danger, but we mean no harm to them. I grabbed a low branch and used my momentum to launch me father ahead. I landed on the balls of my feet for a quick second and took off again, not wanting him to get even close to me now.

Edward tried to follow me, but he was beginning to trail behind, not because he was tired, but because he knew he could never beat me.

I blocked my mind from him now. Fighting with him was easy, but a race was more difficult, so to speak. If he knew what I was doing he would use it against me here. I learned how to shield my mind earlier in life, to keep my mind a private place like it should be. Syd would always get flustered when she didn't know what was going on inside my head. It did help when I ran up against someone who had that kind of talent and I didn't want them to know me. My mind was not a safe place to be. Its even hard for me to be here and its my own thoughts.

I planted my feet in the ground to a complete stop and I ran back again. I heard his intake of breath and he whizzed past me, surprised by my sudden stop. He laughed and began to come back from behind. I heard him push his legs faster, but I only did the same in return. It was sad that he was using his full strength when I wasn't. I was like a newborn when it came to this kind of thing. You only get stronger over time.

As we started getting closer to his house I decided to go my full speed. I pushed my legs to their absolute limit and even though I was going this fast I could see every little detail that flew by my head. I jumped over the river and I skid to a stop, spraying dirt on everyone in a 10 foot radius. Which was pretty much everybody.

Edward came up about 24.6 seconds later, grinning like a fool. His hair was tousled from the wind flowing through his hair. I was sure mine was the same. I looked over my clothes and saw that my pants were a little ripped but other than that the inventory was complete. I brushed the leaves and small specks of dust off my shirt and walked over to Edward.

"You know I'm not the one for gloating." I said putting my index finger on his chest. "But you just got creamed by an old lady." I beamed and turned around, ignoring the chuckles that followed. "You even had a head start, that's pretty sad."

Jacob gave me a high five while Nessie was still laughing that some finally beat her dad.

"No one's ever beaten you, dad. Did you see how fast she was going? Man I want to be on her back next time we go hunting." she flashed her teeth at my body that stiffened at the word hunt. I didn't let anyone come with me when I hunted, not because they would be in danger, but because I was ashamed of what I hunted. They saved human lives by killing animals, I was just a normal, blood sucking, vampire.

"I don't think so." Jacob said, catching my eyes. His train of thought was the same as mine.

"Maybe you can ride on my back some other time, sweetie." I smiled, petting her gorgeous hair. Her cheeks were flushed as she smiled.

I let Edward in my mind again.

"How did you learn to keep me out?"

"I got tired of Syd always poking her head into things that she shouldn't be in, so I just sort of learned to repel her. I don't exactly know how, but something I can just do." I took a few steps away from everyone. "My mind is not a safe place to be." I tacked on as an afterthought.

"Who's hungry?" Jacob called, already making his way into the house, towards the kitchen.

"You're always hungry." Alice groaned. "It's lucky Nessie can survive on-" her voice cut off as she inhaled sharply. She whirled around to look at me, then she glanced at Edward, who wore the same face of horror.

"Alice! What did you see?" Jasper asked, shaking her shoulders gently. He gazed into her eyes as she blinked and came back to us.

"I saw a wolf-" Alice began.

"It's heading this way-" Edward said.

"It's coming here with others-"

"They're going to attack-"

They both paused and looked at me.

"You, Claire. They're going to kill you."

Everyone else seemed alarmed, but my family. They each shrugged their shoulders as if it was old news and that they caught on too late.

"Aren't you worried?" Carlisle pressed, turning me around. His face was full of concern, but I wasn't that shocked. I knew this was coming sooner or later.

I was hoping later.

"Probably not. What's a few human deaths to her? She kills them herself after all." Jacob said with no remorse.

I flashed to his side, swung my hand back and snapped it in his face. His nose made a crunching noise and his head was flung back by my force. Blood was gushing out.

"Don't you ever say that you mutt." I growled, making my hands claws. I pushed him back ten feet. "Don't you ever think that I don't feel guilty for what I am. So many times I wished I could have killed myself." I chucked him into a tree and grabbed his neck, pushing him up, cutting off his air. He choked and gasped for air, clawing at me to get free. "Don't you ever think that I don't hate the very monster I am and I don't wish I could take it all back."

Jacob jerked under my hands and I felt him explode. Snarls ripped through his wolf chest as he stared me down. He jumped at me as I dodged every move he could throw at me. I pinned him down quickly, but I wasn't finished. I felt the fury pulse through my body. I tasted hot steel in my mouth and as the venom grazed over my tongue.

I flung him into the nearest tree and sprang up lightly, ready for the next move.

Reneesme then stood in front of my with her hands up, facing Jacob. He paused and his tail twitched. His growling stopped and I watched his body relax slowly. I stood up and backed away.

I realized that even though I was ready to fight for what I believe, Jacob was right. What did a few humans mean to me? Of course I would feel guilty about it later, but why couldn't I hunt animals? Was it really because it didn't effect or I was too stubborn to let it fill like human blood did? Was I really as good as I thought I was, or am I really just a monster trying to hide it's real nature?

Why was my life so dang complicated? Stupid werewolf.

Jacob walked away, making soft noise of his padding of paws. Nessie trailed after him.

"Well that went well." Emmett said. There was a thud as Jasper and Edward both smacked the back of his head.

"Ow. Jeez I was just kidding. Always an over reaction. I feel so abused."

"Shut up, Emmett." we all growled. He grunted and folded his arms like a little five year old who didn't get his way, and walked off.

Alice cracked a smile. Jasper seemed tense, but that was probably from the scene that had just taken place. Emmett stomped off and then Rosalie went after him. Carlisle walked into his house with Esme in his hand while Edward towed me into his house with one hand while still holding Bella's hand in the other.

I sat on the couch and tried to look as innocent as possible. I failed before I even tried.

"Spill." Edward leaned forward intent on catching my every word. I looked around suddenly realizing Jason was gone. I was about to tear the house apart when Jasper saw my panic.

"He's with the rest of your family." he looked away and then smiled. "You seem to bring a lot of excitement with you. We haven't had this much fun since Bella was human."

"Jasper." Esme chided. He simply grinned at her.

"Spill." Edward repeated, growing more impatient.

Carlisle then left the room to go upstairs. I heard his door softly click. Then there was a ruffle of pages as he began to read. Again. I don't think thee has ever been a time where I've seen him not read. Book worm.

I told everyone about what had happened. Which was basically telling them everything about when I first moved to Oregon. I spoke about Syd and her temper. Edward seemed quite fascinated with the female werewolf thing. Then I moved on to our family fights, kissing Skylar, seeing Cody again, Summer, and all the way up to Shadow's death.

"I'm so very sorry, Claire." Esme patted my hand.

"But I thought you said the future always changed?" Bella popped in, seeming dormant until now.

"What Alice sees is near the future. Shadow saw what was going to happen, but it could be centuries later before it takes place." I told her. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion. Alice seemed very upset.

"And I thought I was the coolest one." Alice said throwing her arms in the air, pretending to throw a fit. Or at least I hoped she was. Then she was very serious. "It's a good thing Aro didn't know about him. He would have wanted him more than me." she said that like it was a bad thing.

Jasper rolled his eyes and kissed her gently.

I stayed for a few days, trying to answer questions every time Seth came near me. I didn't mind. It wasn't everyday that I met a new werewolf who didn't mind vampires. He pranced around following me every where I went.

Nessie finally got her ride after Jacob calmed down.

"Sorry I said that." Jake said after letting Reneesme run with me. "That wasn't right of me. Knee-jerk reaction, you know? After hating vampires for so long it just comes naturally." he put his arm around my shoulders, not seeming effected by the goose bumps on his arm.

I punched him lightly. "I guess I forgive you. But you're still moronic dog." he laughed and made me promise I'd stay in touch with everyone.

I met everyone at La Push. None of the rest of the two wolf packs had any problem with me. They just told me not to hunt around here. I think Billy even liked me. We went to go see Charlie, who was surprised to see me.

"More family, huh?" Charlie looked at Edward. "You seem to get along pretty well."

"Oh no she absolutely hates me." Edward smiled. Charlie was confused after that, but Bella told him not to worry. There wasn't going to be any need for his gun.

"Make sure you tell us when the rest of your family is coming." Carlisle told me sternly. "You're still a daughter to me and I like to take care of my own family."

"Thanks, dad"

"Yeah I just want to rip some heads off if need be." Emmett said roaring in as I was just leaving.

"Emmett!" Bella snarled.

"What? Ouch! Man I hate newborns."

"You're just upset your little sister can beat your butt."

Edward came in. "Don't do anything stupid." he put both of his arms around me. "Take care of yourself, and Jason. You don't know how much it would kill me to lose you." he breathed in my ear.

I hated it when he sweet talked me. He made it so darn hard to hate. But did I really hate him anymore? I wasn't sure.

He let go of me and kissed my cheek.

"Always the gentle." I muttered. He chuckled and walked out of the room to hold his Bella. I couldn't blame him for falling for a human. Well, unless I wanted to be a hypocrite.

Edward laughed again. "No, I guess you can't."

"What did she say?"

"I'll tell you later, Bella."

I said goodbye to everyone I had seen. Jacob even gave me a hug. Emmett wouldn't stop teasing me so I didn't know how the others lived with him. Alice was a little upset that we couldn't go shopping. I groaned. I never did like shopping. Bella laughed. Rosalie didn't come down.

"She's just upset that your so much more beautiful than her." Edward told me, with no awkwardness in his tone. Maybe things could finally get back to normal.

"You never did tell me what happened between him and Sierra." Jason said, shutting the car door. He clicked his seat belt in place as Skylar came in the back seat.

"A story for another day."

"You know, Claire, you really need to give this car back to Hannah before she calls the police." Skylar pointed out.

Jason and I exchanged a glance. We both threw our heads back laughing as I stomped on the pedal.

"What?" Skylar groaned, hating to be out of the loop. He grabbed both our seats to hoist himself up to look at both of us.

"A story for another day."

Heyy! Sorry. I know this chapter's a little boring. But if I went on to what I had originallyy planned it would have been MUCH longer. So I thought I'd cut you a break. The next one will be much more exciting I think. Jason and Trevor are going to be in wayy above their heads.

Thanx for reading! ~Kate