Dudes and dudettes! Sorry for the epic fail of the lateness of this chapter. RL just blew a hole in all my plans. Children being naughty, baby appointments (having another girl), a nasty case of swine flu (not fun), my rabbit surprising us with 9 babies, renovations, lack of sleep and then the general crap of RL. Not at all awesome.

Awesome however should go to texbelle. She cleaned up last chapter pretty magnificently…and I am forever grateful. My other beta…cerealeunblue is my sweetheart because she deals with my shit constantly!

I make no money from this, all original characters/ are owned by SM. The rest if mine J

I couldn't believe how effortless it had become to run. I remembered that when I was on Edward's back, I was constantly fearful of smashing into trees.

That was Bella though, remember?

It was impossible to do so. Things seemed to be in fast and slow motion at the same time. I could see everything that was coming up, so with one small change of the motion in my body, I could miss the huge tree.

I giggled as I leapt over boulders and kicked fallen logs. Frederick seemed amused by this exploration of my new abilities, but thankfully he didn't remark on it. As we moved into more covered area, a scent hit me hard. I pulled up and whipped my head around to take a huge whiff of it.

It was strong, setting my throat on fire and coating my mouth with venom. I pulled back my lips over my teeth and let out a small growl as I crouched making for the trees. The scent was heady but not singular. Another scent slightly less intoxicating accompanied it, and the two together made me jump faster through the branches.

As I pulled up, I looked down to see a mountain lion struggling with a full grown deer. I couldn't contain myself any longer and let my instincts take over. I stepped off the branch and landed next to the cat. It released its kill and snarled at me. I grabbed it roughly around the throat and held it away from me as I crouched down sinking my teeth into the injured deer's neck.

The warm blood flowed over my lips and into my throat quenching the thirst for the tiniest of seconds. I was vaguely aware of the lion growling and scratching at me as it tried to get me to release it. I grunted when I felt its claws pull across my stomach, but I didn't register any pain.

The deer gave a final kick of its hind legs as I pulled the rest of the blood from its body. I released it, licking my lips and then turning on the lion who know seemed to wail as it realized that I was going to eat it next. It kicked furiously, but I held on with the gentlest of touches.

"Good kitty," I murmured as it tried to bite my rock hard wrist. I smiled as I thought this was what it would feel like to have a baby gumming you. My thoughts were interrupted by the growl of the lion. It was a last ditch effort to seem intimidating, but it only caused my throat to flare up with flame. I sunk my teeth into the warm, soft flesh.

The contrast between the two was immediate. It was like eating salad then getting to dine on some rare steak. Heavenly.

All too soon though the blood had been drained, and I was left disappointed. The deer seemed to have more, but the lion's was tastier. I kicked it away with disgust still feeling thirsty.

Suddenly another deer dropped next to me kicking spasmodically. Its neck had been snapped, but its heart still beat wildly. I glanced up to see Fredericks sitting in the tree swinging his legs like a child. He smiled softly at me and saluted.

"I thought that you might be still thirsty, so I took the liberty of providing for you."

I grinned up at him before sinking to my hunches and taking the animal's neck in my hands. It was over too soon, but I was beginning to feel a bit full if that was possible.

"Sloshy."

My head whipped around, and I hunched over my prey growling protectively.

"Tanya, you know you should not interrupt a newborn when they are feeding," Fredericks chastised. I stood up and turned to see Tanya smiling at me as she leant on a tree.

"She had finished it, Fred," she remarked coolly.

Fredericks shook his head and landed beside me.

"You, my dear, are suited for this life," he said turning to me. I shrugged. I knew I rocked the awesome factor as a human, so it seemed I would rock it as a vampire. I turned to Tanya.

"Where are we?"

"We are in the Denali wilderness…far from my home. The cottage which you so politely destroyed-"

"Me! Destroyed," I spluttered feeling my anger rise. The look on Tanya's face made me frown. She was goading me. Stupid bitch.

"-was just an old thing we used to use when we wanted to be alone," she continued. I rolled my eyes and watched as Frederick chuckled.

"Bitch," I muttered.

"Ungrateful brat," Tanya snapped back. I grinned at her, and she matched mine with her own. As Frederick picked up the three drained animal, he snorted in disgust.

"Really Tanya, I do not know how you live on these stinking animals."

Tanya shrugged. "It's a choice. Sometimes it's hard; other times it's fine."

I watched as Fred placed them down in a clearing and started digging a hole with his hands.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

Tanya sat down on the grass and played idly with her hair. "We need to dispose of the evidence."

"But doesn't nature do that for us?"

"Yes and no. You see generally we never hunt the same area twice within a certain timeframe. I've already hunted here twice since your arrival, so too many dead animals would put a strain on the area. We also don't like taking too many animals from one area otherwise it may take years for the game to repopulate, or they might move else-where. It's easier for the eco system to survive that way. I thought Edward would have told you."

I sat down next to her and started staring at my skin. "No, he never liked to talk about hunting."

Tanya reached over and patted my hand. "Well it doesn't matter. You're a natural at it. Seriously you didn't even ruin your clothes that much."

I glanced down at my top and only just realized that these were not my clothes. I wore a white tank and grey sweat pants. My tank had claw marks across the abdomen ,but in a weird way, I kind of liked it. I had no shoes, but then neither did Frederick or Tanya.

"Oh don't worry about your clothes. I have some spare at the destruction site."

I rolled my eyes. "So how long will we be out here?"

"Not long, hopefully. Freddie will be leaving every so often to scout out for the Volturi, and once all the whispers die down, we can move you back home."

"To your house?"

Tanya nodded. "Yes"

"That is not my home Tans," I murmured as I watched Freddie kick the rest of the dirt over the hole. Tanya stared at me and then lowered her eyes.

"Yeah. You're right. I'm sorry. I just assumed…" she trailed off. I instantly felt guilty. I knew she had risked so much for me, and here I was acting like a spoiled child.

"You know that the Cullens are my family," I whispered hoping not to hurt her anymore than I already had. She glanced up at me then stood up brushing the non existent dirt from her butt.

"I know, I know," she muttered as she turned away. I was in front of her before the thought even settled in my brain.

"Tanya," I began. "I don't know what we are to each other but I am thankful that we are. You have no idea how much…feeling I have for you, but know that I have it. It's just that at the moment things are so distracting, and I think that once it is safe that it would be better that I return to the Cullens. To me they are home. They are safe. And then there is Edward. He is my mate, and I won't ask him to choose me over his family. We've been through so much."

Tanya's yellowed eyes brimmed with tears, but I knew she would never cry.

"I think you're right. Just don't leave me for too long okay?"

I grinned. "Sister, please. As if you could actually get rid of me."

*****

Hunting, running, watching Tanya try to contact Edward, hunting, learning to fight with Freddie.

These were how my days were spent. It was enjoyable to say the least. Both Tanya and Freddie were good company, but I knew something was missing. That something was Edward.

I had begun to worry when he hadn't returned any of Tan's phone calls. He had often said that there was no life without me in it, and I was freaking out that he might have done something stupid.

If he kills himself, I will kill him.

Tanya finally got a-hold of Rosalie, and as much as I craved to talk to her, I sat disgruntled as I watched Tanya consoling Rose and asking of Edward. Tanya later relayed to me that Alice had a vision, and Edward was indeed fine.

So, why won't he answer the phone?

Tanya of course wanting to please her volatile newborn was calling non stop and getting a little agitated by the amount of destruction I was creating.

It annoyed me on the fifth day.

It pissed me off on the sixth day.

He answered on the seventh day.

"Oh thank goodness. What the hell, Edward?" Tanya whispered. The relief on her face caused me to stop lobbing boulders into the next county and stare at her.

"I think you need to come up here. Irina rang Carlisle, and he told her that you disappeared and don't know what has happened."

What a liar!

She paused as she looked at me and then said, ""Uh, why don't you come up here, and I'll tell you."

I turned to see Freddie flitter through the trees in all his cockiness making me want to punch him square in the junk. It was obvious he had just hunted as his eyes blazed a deep red and was feeling mighty good about it.

Asshole.

Freddie and I had a strange relationship, but then so did Tans and I. Every time he and I were alone, he was genuine and sweet, but put Tans in the picture and he was a strutting dickhead practically begging for me to smack him. I concluded that Freddie had the hots for Tans though Tans never noticed or chose to ignore wanker-Freddie.

Tanya and I, on the other hand, were like sisters. We loved to hate each other. Most of our conversations turned into full on fights which we both enjoyed. In a weird way we were good for each other.

"Edward wants to go home, not here," Tanya hissed breaking me from my thoughts. I snarled and grabbed the nearest thing and crushed it at the thought of more time away from Edward. I looked down to see my hands full of rubble and then threw the rest at Tanya.

"Okay, okay," she murmured with a roll of her eyes. "Edward you need to come up here now."

Tanya nodded to whatever he said, and then closed the phone.

"Lover boy will be here soon," she crowed.

"Good, cause someone is in need of getting some," Freddie remarked dryly. I stuck my tongue out and took off towards the Denali's estate. Tanya had shown me the perimeter the day before, letting me know where the humans were, so I didn't accidentally run across one of their scents. Tanya followed catching up to me.

"No one is home are they?" I asked. Tanya shook her head but didn't say anything.

"It's going to be hard keeping Edward out of my head," she murmured more to herself.

"Just think, if you ruin this, I will hurt you," I snapped though I couldn't really be mad at her. Edward was coming.

Edward was coming.

She giggled. "Oh I know."

****