Sorry for the delay with this update! No worries, I'm not abandoning it, I just have a lot more on my plate than I realized. Hope you like this and I apologize for the cliffhanger in advance. Shouldn't be long until you have the second part. Thank you all for everything. :)

Enjoy.

Chapter Eleven - Seeking the Unknown

Bella paced back and forth in her bedroom early Wednesday morning, watching the clock digits drag on. It was hard for her to sleep the night before after hearing the truth about the Quileute Legends and Jacob's burdened secret he was keeping from her.

She had learned that he had been a werewolf for just under a year and the process of it all was hard on him. He had run away hoping that it'd just disappear only to find out it was a part of him, no matter where he went. Jacob had returned to La Push and instantly took his right of becoming the Alpha. He fought it but Sam was the one who convinced him that if anyone could lead the pack on the right path, it'd be him.

When Jacob broke the oath of never telling an outsider, he began to feel a little guilty but assured Bella that he didn't regret it. He knew the pack would forgive him because if anyone outside of their circle had a right to know, it'd be her. Bella may have only seen them two weeks out of a whole summer and the occasional holiday, but she was still considered family to them.

Bella had also learned that aside from Jacob, the others were werewolves as well. Sam, Quil, Embry, Paul, Leah and at that moment Seth was just going through the motions. She was warned that maybe returning to La Push for a while would be a bad idea until Jacob calmed everyone down. He promised she wouldn't be the one blamed or at fault but just wanted her to continue feeling safe while she was there.

"Screw it," she sighed and grabbed her backpack. She'd be a little early for school but she was feeling restless.

After leaving La Push the night before, her mind was on overdrive. She was always one to believe in the unseen but never did she think she'd be a part of it. Jacob Black, her best friend, was a werewolf. He could phase into an animal form and attack and kill like any other wild animal. Her sweet Jake could actually kill something.

Of course she'd be lying if she said she never saw him differently but Bella assured him that it wasn't a bad thing. "You could potentially be my hero." She said a few seconds before she left his side.

The school parking lot was empty when Bella pulled up in her truck. She glanced around and closed her eyes before looking down at the simple black skirt Alice had told her to wear. Even though the vampire had left in a hurry the evening before, Bella still wanted to see a smile appear on her friend's face.

"Bella hey!" Angela came up to her truck, her bike right beside her. "I didn't think you'd be here this early."

Bella smiled and got out of the vehicle, while throwing her bag over her shoulder. "I was up and had nothing to do."

"I hate when that happens," her friend sighed as they walked towards the bike racks. "It just happens to my every morning."

"You like the library." Bella teased a little and glanced up at the school. "Are they even open?"

"Of course they are silly." Angela laughed. "So, how are things with you and Alice?"

Bella blushed and bit her lip. "I'm actually not sure."

"Oh, you haven't seen her since Sunday night right?" Angela frowned and held the door open for the brunette. "Must suck."

Bella nodded slowly and took a deep breath. "Actually I saw her last night. I had her biology homework and she came over so I could give her a review."

"I bet." Angela teased and smiled at the deeper blush covering Bella's cheeks.

Aside from Leah, Angela was Bella's closest female friend she found herself trusting. The tall lanky brunette seemed to always have something funny to say to add an extra smile to her day. "Alice kind of left in a hurry last night," she ran a hand through her hair. "One minute we're doing homework, the next we're making out and then poof." She flashed her fingers in the air looking just as confused as she did the night before.

"Poof?" Angela repeated, raising an eyebrow. "She what, just disappeared on you?"

"More like took off faster than I could ask her what happened." Bella huffed and shook her head slightly. "I admit it was getting pretty steamy but I would've stopped..." she frowned a little, thinking about it more and more. When Alice was hunched down in the corner, she hid her face by keeping her chin tucked in. Bella didn't even get a chance to glimpse at her to detect anything the other girl was feeling.

"I'm sure she'll explain it Bella." Angela offered lightly, squeezing her friend's arm slightly before stopping by their lockers. "I see the way she looks at you, I know she wouldn't just take off without some sort of explanation, you know?"

Bella leaned against the lockers as Angela put some of her books away. She closed her eyes and wished that she could've at least had more than three hours sleep.

"Nice skirt," an angelic and magical voice flowed through her senses and for a brief moment, Bella thought she was dreaming. "Bell..." the smooth voice purred softer in left ear and she jerked a little, forcing her eyes open. Golden eyes stared back at her and perfect teeth bit into soft flesh of lips. "Are you okay?"

"Alice." Bella whispered, pushing herself off her locker and glanced at Angela. Her friend grinned and pointed towards the library, leaving the vampire and human alone. "What are you doing here?"

Alice managed to laugh and look around the empty hallway. "It's school Bella, I'm here to learn."

"I meant what are you doing here this early?" Bella asked again after regaining her composure.

The smaller girl grinned a little and leaned against the locker next to Bella. "You never answered my phone call this morning so I figured you'd be out."

"What if I was sleeping?" Bella challenged.

"Then I'd be sorry that I woke you once you answered your phone." Alice laughed softly and sighed a short while after. "Something told me you'd be here and I wanted to apologize to you for last night. I'm sorry I left like that."

Bella clutched at her bag and shifted from one foot to the other. "It's cool. I just wish you would've told me that before you took off."

Alice groaned and scratched her forehead. "Bella, it's not that easy. Believe me."

"It's not that easy to tell me to slow down, go away, or explain why you had to leave all of a sudden? I don't know what we are Alice, but I'm not ready to have my emotions tugged around like that." Bella whispered with a frown, glancing down the hallways to find a few more students arriving.

"I'm not trying to tug at your anything," Alice said desperately. "There's no way to explain any of this without it coming out all wrong."

"Do you like me?" Bella questioned seriously, tucking strands of hair behind her ear.

"Of course." Alice bit her lip and frowned a little. "How could you think otherwise?"

"Like I said, I don't know what we are." The human replied quietly. "If you want to be just friends Alice, please tell me now okay? I really don't want to be hurt in the long run."

Alice stood there silently for a few seconds before her hand reached out to grab Bella's arm before the brunette walked away. "Did you know that you literally make my heart beat whenever I'm around you?"

Bella's brown eyes glazed over as she swooned over the smooth and light voice coming from the vampire. When she repeated in her head what Alice had just asked, she bit her lip and frowned in confusion. "What?"

"I know, it sounds odd." Alice stepped closer to the human and laced their fingers together. She found she'd never get tired of feeling the warm contrast against her cold skin.

"It does," Bella licked her lips and tilted her head slightly, "but it was oddly romantic."

Alice had to smile a little and shrug. "It's true. And do you know for the first time ever, I've never felt this connected to someone... like I am with you?"

"Alice," Bella breathed and allowed the vampire to step even closer, "what are we?"

Golden eyes scanned over the beautiful face of her human as she closed her eyes, finally giving into the visions that weren't hers. "We're Alice and Bella," she whispered, her forehead pressed against the brunette's, "we're going to be going places neither of us has ever been before."

"Like?" Bella sighed; her focus was completely lost within Alice's presence.

"Time will tell my Bella." The vampire squeezed her hand and pulled back, a small smile curling up at the corners of her mouth, "I think we should talk first."

Bella didn't move at first. Her feet were planted to the floors but Alice was a lot stronger than she'd ever imagined. "Where are we going?"

"Some place quiet to talk." The short haired girl replied gently, guiding them towards the staircase and down towards the auditorium.

"I don't want to talk." Bella stopped again and Alice didn't try to drag her along. "Alice, I need to know what's going on." Her mind was now reeling faster than she could ever keep up with it. She wasn't sure what was going on but something definitely wasn't normal with the picture. She thought back to Jake and his heavy secret he laid on her the night before.

"What are you thinking?" She found Alice looking at her with an anxious expression, the question flowing out of the vampire's mouth quickly.

"You Cullens really like to pry into my brain, don't you?" She raised an eyebrow.

Alice was seeing everything in the human's mind from her confusion of her departure the night before to the kiss and then everything went blank. Her hand was still laced with Bella's but she could see nothing. "Bell, please?"

"I'm thinking that I need some answers." Bella sighed heavily. "I don't want to talk though because my brain is already on overdrive as it is."

Knowing that she was trapped if she didn't give Bella something, she'd lose the human. She'd lose her trust, her attention and affection. She may lose it all to her brother because at that point, if Edward had the chance to do and give anything to have Bella by his side, she knew he was capable of spilling what they were.

Alice wanted to be the one to show Bella her side of the world. She wanted to be the one to sit her down and explain exactly how different they were from everyone else.

Before she did all that, the vampire wanted to share with Bella an undiscovered secret unknown to the brunette that was now following her down to the auditorium. Bella was capable of showing Alice everything in her head like pictures or a movie reel. She was able to give Alice the chance to breathe again, to feel a heart beat whenever she was close to the human. She could almost feel warm human blood pumping through her own cold undead body.

Bella was completely oblivious to her rare gift and Alice wanted to be the one to show her how amazing it was. For them both.

"I think you're sick," Alice all of a sudden blurted out. She couldn't very well tell Bella everything in the basement of the school. She'd make up a story about Bella being sick and Alice offered to take her home. Charlie would be at work so it'd work out perfectly.

"What?" Bella found herself being tugged up towards the stairs again and out towards the parking lot. "Alice, I feel fine."

Alice's head swung to the direction of the other side of the parking lot and squeezed Bella's hand tightly. "Really Bell, you're sick. Let me take you home, now."

Bella's gaze landed to where Alice was looking and she saw the silver Volvo speed towards the school. Not wanting to be faced with Edward, she decided to be 'sick' and allowed Alice to lead her to her yellow Porsche. "What about my truck?"

"We'll pick it up later. You're too sick to drive." Alice smiled and peeled out of the parking lot as quickly as she could. "Hang on tight."

The human's fingers gripped into the dashboard and her seatbelt, nodding frantically.

Bella soon found herself outside the Cullen mansion. She gripped Alice's hand as they walked up towards the front door. She was more than a little intimidated at the expense of it all. She bit her lip and hoped that no one was home because she wasn't in the mood for pleasantries. The short haired girl had her wound up in more ways than one and frustration was quickly winning over her emotions.

"Esme's home," Alice said softly, squeezing her hand gently, "but she's out back and won't bother us."

"Alice, what are we doing here?" Bella finally asked, allowing the soft cold hand drag her inside the marble and wooden house.

"Do you want the tour first?" Alice could see the confusion written behind those brown eyes. She didn't need a vision to figure out her human was starting to get a little frustrated. "How about I show you around later, come on."

Bella barely had a chance to take in all the neat and rare things scattered around the huge living room before she found herself upstairs in a white bedroom with a four poster bed and a single teddy bear sitting on top of the pillows. "Is this your bear?" She asked in a cute voice, momentarily forgetting about why she was there in the first place.

"His name is Polie," Alice replied softly, picking up the old white teddy bear and examining it, "he's been through a lot."

"How old is he?" Bella observed the roughness of the stuffed bear and when Alice handed it to her. She noticed old stains and bald spots showing where he was held the most.

"Old." Alice shrugged and smiled, sitting down on her bed and watched the girl curiously.

"So," Bella placed the bear down gently on the pillow and sat across from her friend, "what now?"

"We go into this head first." The short haired girl replied seriously.

Bella blinked and nodded, ready for whatever Alice had to say. She just found out her best friend and his 'pack' were werewolves – she could handle anything.

Couldn't she?

****