A/N: it was surprising how many of you liked that suckfest I call chapter five, the reviews made me feel better about it. luv4ed? This chapter is for you, man. You rock.

Disclaimer: Evil: What do you own related to Twilight, oh lowly sidekick of mine?

Me: Uh, four books, about a thousand posters and Leah and Edward.

Evil: WRONG! You don't own two of those.

Me: Well, I guess I can live with 998 posters…………

Evil: I mean Leah and Edward, you idiot. Jeez, why did I hire you anyways?

Me: Aw, shucks. Do I get to keep my plot?

Evil: Yeppers.

Me: YAY!!!!!!!! *rubs hands conspiringly* Today my plot, tomorrow the world!

Evil:*fondly* that's my girl……..

CHAPTER SIX- Old wounds

Nothing will be forever gone
Memories will stay and find their way
What goes around will come around
Don't deny your fears
So let them go and fade into light
Give up the fight here

-Epica-Chasing the dragon

I was still seething as I stared at my barely-present nails.

There, you see, are levels of stupid. There's sort of stupid, and there's kind of really stupid, and there's oh-my-God-if-i-really-am-that-stupid-now-would-be-a-good-time-to-die stupid. Right now, I officially qualify into that last level. And I wasn't exactly throwing a party to celebrate the occasion.

Back when I was still messed up about Sam, Seth had said something that made me laugh quite a lot, in what I realize now was a bitter, sarcastic kind of way.

He told me that being so angry the whole time could hurt me.

I mean, I know he meant well and was like sixteen at the time, but excuse me?

He made it sound like I was angry on purpose! Like I had woken up one day and had been all, "Hmmm, how worthless all this bliss and contentment is, I'll just be a bitch who's messed up all the time and is hated by everybody."

Anger and hatred aren't like that. You don't have different layers of it, or different ways of being mad. It's this thing that gnaws at you, and refuses to let go. Not that I ever wanted to let go of the anger. Sometimes, pain is the only thing that reminds me that I'm alive.

That was exactly what I felt at myself at this point: anger, my old friend.

You see, I was always the girl who had mounds of self-control. Which was why when I realized that I had talked to Edward Cullen, I freaked but didn't put up a show.

I mean, how could I have done that? The mere thought nearly makes me throw up. I mean, urgh. He's a bloodsucker, for cryin' out loud! He actually depends on Death to exist. If that's not cliché enough to make you warn your loved ones off him, I don't know what is. And d'you know what really creeped me out? I had been nice to him.

Me, Leah Clearwater, well-known leech-hater.

Plus there was that loserly love-sucker thing. I mean, of all people to consider self-destruction over, Bella Swan? If that bitch can stand on her own feet for over ten seconds, I swear to God I'll give up all my CD's. It's supposed to be endearing or whatever. I guess I can believe that. Most males would do anything to have a partner who makes them feel proud of themselves. Which is why they're all going to hell. But of course, they all love Bella Swan because her mother never showed her how to stand on her feet for two seconds straight. Pathetic, I call it.

Well, they all learned their lesson. Jake, who really isn't that much bothered because he has her spawn, and Eddie, and the rest of the Cullens, they all learned how very twisted the whole thing was when she just dumped Eddie and took off with Nahuel. Three years of married bliss seemed quite enough for her, so she just left her family to get Volturi-fied for all she cared.

Anyway, 'nuff with the I Hate Bella Swan-Cullen 'coz she's a Hypocrite rant. Now the only one I'm really mad with is myself.

I hate all leeches. That's a given. So I probably only talked to him because of that goddamned voice of his.

All vamps have inhuman voices, but his was terrifying. I actually couldn't ignore his voice, no matter how hard I try. His voice is unimaginably perfect: deep, flowing, irresistible. The kind of voice you want to hear first thing in the morning, the kind of voice that makes you feel alive.

I looked up to glare at the owner of the said voice. He was sitting at the piano, his long ivory fingers caressing the keys soundlessly. The expression on his face was preoccupied, and there was a slight curve about his mouth, like he was imagining something that was not exactly funny, but pure, the kind of thing that makes you feel elated and the worlds seem brighter.

I jumped to my feet, not wanting these thoughts. All I needed right now was a quiet corner to brood. Listening to Cullen's music never got me in the mood to be homicidally mad.

I was striding towards the door for dear life when he began playing. I nearly growled when my body automatically responded to his music, and I froze.

Sometimes, I imagine scenes when I hear instrumentals. Not when I listen to songs, but just music. This happened right now to me. I closed my eyes as I listened.

He was deliberately making the music sound like a small stream. A soft melody, complex but simple at the same time. I could see, in my mind's eye, where the stream turned, where it was clear and where the grass of the banks touched the surface. The sun was reflected, and beneath it, smooth rocks glistened as tiny fish darted here and there.

I sighed. It was beautiful.

There was a hint of expectation now, which he had built up gradually. There was someone, a presence. The grass of the banks was a shocking green, vivid and healthy.

On the grass stood an Angel, unfolding his great white wings slowly. His bronze hairshined dazzlingly in the sunlight.

My eyes were wide open now. I whipped towards him, and he stopped playing when he saw my expression. "How- how did you do that?" I hissed, my nails digging into my palms.

"Do what?"

"That." I spat, anger taking hold of me again. "You saw him too."

He looked directly into my eyes, his amber eyes scorching. "Who was that?"

"How am I supposed to know?" I demanded, with a groan. "You know what? Shucks to you."

That was all. I just turned around and left.

This time, he didn't play his charm, either.

*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)**(*)

My life is…..weird.

Yeah, weird should be enough to start off with. From weird, my life goes on to being cataclysmically terrible.

Cataclysmically terrible. Yeah, I like that, though I'm not entirely sure what it means.

I decided to change into wolf form. Running around as a wolf has a lot of advantages, and forgetting everything except for the basic primal instincts was one of them.

Not to mention being able to scare the crap out of innocent bystanders when I develop a sudden interest in the newspapers while in wolf form, but Jake never lets us do that anymore. I swear, ever since the Dawn of The Spawn, he's taking responsibility seriously. Gone were the days of mucking around with motorbikes. Besides, I know for a fact that motorbikes remind him of someone we all wanna forget.

Anyways, I was running along, enjoying the slight whistle of the wind. Running always gives me this exhilarating sense of power, like I could get anywhere I wanted, like I could control the ground below me. Soon enough, my exasperation died away in the sheer ecstasy of moving so fast.

Not for long, though. I swear, there's probably some law that says that giving Leah Clearwater some peace was illegal.

I heard Jared.

Which was extremely weird, since I'm not even in their pack anymore. But Jared's slightly husky voice sounded in my head clearly enough. "Emergency!" he yelled. "Anyone?"

I caught a glimpse of his thoughts. Bloodsuckers. Bloodsuckers are coming here.

Without thinking, I changed direction and began powering towards La Push. "Are they close?" I aimed my thoughts at Jared.

"Leah?" he sounded incredulous.

"Yeah, me. Get over it and answer the question!" I snarled.

"'Round fifteen minutes distance from here in their speed. They're in a hurry." He replied. "Is Jake with you?"

Jake! I suddenly froze and began retracing my steps. "I'm getting him, you get the others!" I yelled.

When you run as fast as I was running now, you don't have to think. You just focus on everything up front and down below. I didn't even think about the unexpected visitors as I neared the Cullen household. I just opened my barrier and screamed mentally. "Jacob, Seth, Cullen, anybody who can hear me, I have an emergency and I need Jacob!"

Jake came out the door just as I reached it. "What's up? Edward said….." He began, confused. I began tugging at his clothes (no R-rated mental image intended) and he burst into wolf form. "What….?"

I quickly showed him what Jared had seen.

"In which case, I'm coming with you." A quiet voice said behind me. I recognized his voice at once, of course.

I barked. "It's your kind out there, and if things get ugly,-"

"-It'll be even better that you have me with you." He interrupted, stubbornly.

Jake was mulling this over. "He's right. He knows his own kind better than us. Plus, that mind-reading thing might come in handy."

I growled. "But-"

"No but's, Clearwater." Jacob said in his I'm-a-good-leader voice. "He's coming with us. If you have a problem, well, too bad."

I nodded unwillingly. At least he wasn't doing his Alpha voice. If it were Sam, he'd have to use the Voice™ left, right and center to get anything done. Jacob really was a true leader.

"Nice." He commented, and I realized that my barrier was still down. "Never got a compliment out of you before, Clearwater."

"You know I think you're an awesome Alpha." I mumbled. "Now, chick-flick moments aside, we really have to leave. Think you can keep up, Cullen?"

"I don't think outrunning puppies can be much of a challenge." His voice was exquisitely amused.

I managed to be pissed about that, even though the way he said it was beautiful. It all came back to that annoyingly perfect voice.

We set off, and I was shocked to find that Cullen was fast. Great. He had to be good at that, too, didn't he? We ran at roughly at the same speed, and Jake ran off to our place to pick up the rest of the pack. I could feel pure joy radiating off Edward, and I recognized someone who loved this form of transport as much as I did. I stretched my legs to their full length, and put on an extra boost on my speed.

It was ridiculous, really. Here we were, running towards a grave, possibly deadly encounter but we were blissfully happy on our way. We were almost laughing.

We saw a gathering just near the border. Wolves, and humans. No, wait, not humans. Maybe vampires. Cullen and I exchanged a look, and he nodded. Yep, vamps.

We reached the group. The vampires stood out from the rest. There were three of them, two of them strikingly dark. Both the dark vampires looked vaguely familiar.

But when I met eyes with the fair one, my heart stopped.

The next few seconds were in slow motion. I heard the sharp intake of breath from the vampire next to me. Through my mind's eye, I imagined his expression. Flawless agony.

I knew what Jake would feel. Bewildered pain.

Re-awakened pain.

I leapt forward, in a position of shielding everyone from the newcomers. I knew how much they could and had hurt everyone I loved. A low growl escaped my throat.

The fair one looked at me. "Leah?"

I bared my teeth. She knew already, anyway.

"Well, I'm back." Said Bella Swan.

A/N: Well, I'm back.If you saw this coming, well,you're luckier than I am, 'coz I sure didn't. I just go where my stories take me.

It's nice to be writing after all this time. I had a severe, major, oh-my-God-i-wanna-die kind of bout of writer's block. By the way, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!! They really gave me incentive to come back.

See you. Until then, remember that no-one's as abstract as Evil's sidekick.

PLEEEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!