Title: The Hunt

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or the characters. They belong to Stephenie Meyer

I fear who I am becoming,
I feel that I am losing the struggle within
I can no longer restrain it,
My strength, it is fading
I have to give in

A million thoughts raced through my mind. I had absolutely no clue on how to hunt. It was something that Edward said I could never witness him do. He told me that when hunting, vampires give into their animalistic behaviors. I could probably be the only vampire on the face of the Earth that didn't know how to hunt. How embarrassing.

"Is she alive?" Quil whispered. It was then that I noticed my eyes were closed and I was holding very still. I also had stopped breathing; it made the burn stop aching so dominantly. I slowly looked at him, questioningly.

"I wouldn't say alive." I muttered, still pondering over how I was going to accomplish this. I wonder if it were the same for wolves as it would be for humans when I'd be hunting. Would I be tempted to kill them if they were there? I doubted it because nothing on this earth smelled as horrible as they did. Maybe they would be able to show me how if my animalistic behavior has a defect.

"You were so still, you could have been a statue!" Embry barked, laughing as he did. I shrugged like it was completely obvious.

"It's a tendency of vampires." I could see each of them stiffen at the word. It wasn't one of their favorites, unless they were killing them. A huge grin suddenly spread across Jake's face.

"You don't know how to hunt?" He asked, trying to stifle his laughter. Quil and Embry put forth no effort at stopping their roars of laughter. I glared at them and shook my head at Jake. I felt completely pathetic. "Guess we get to teach you." He laughed.

"You don't think I'll hurt one of you, do you?" I asked, nervously biting my lip. Jake laughed once more before giving me a comforting smile.

"You couldn't if you tried." Quil howled with laughter before smiling playfully at me. I glared at him but lightened up once he smiled.

As if on cue, we began towards the forest behind the Cullen manor. Each of them took off towards the small creek that was not too far in the forest. As they leapt over it, they all morphed into their wolf forms. Seeing the transformation was incredible. It was like they were shedding their human skin, almost like it was a Halloween costume. I could see the energy ripple through their bodies as they combusted out of their human forms. It took less than a second to happen, but it felt like longer as I saw each detail of their bodies form back together.

I took off towards the direction they went. My grace surprised me highly. I was hoping that I wouldn't still be such a klutz as a vampire. I couldn't help but smile as I leapt over the creek just as skillfully as they did. Maybe hunting wouldn't be such a challenge? The thought was comforting.

The boys stunk even worse in their wolf forms. It nearly made me gag as I followed the scent to where they were running. I could hear the cars driving on the highway. Everything was so much clear. I understood now why Edward said we would never hit a tree. It was just like second nature.

The wolves stopped, sticking their noses in the air, inhaling deeply. I could smell what they did. It was a herd of deer, about two miles west of us. The burn went wild at the smell, and I took off towards the herd. I scaled the trees about a mile away from them, and leapt from tree to tree. Soon, I was perched on the edge of a large branch, staring down at the herd. I knew I didn't have much time if Jake and his friends decided to follow.

Quickly, I leapt onto the back of the largest buck I saw. The rest of the herd scatted fearfully. I heard his spine snap. The sound actually- thrilled me. My thirst was all that I could think about. There had to be someway to put out the burning. My razor sharp teeth sunk into the neck of the buck. It felt like biting into a piece of cotton candy. The warm liquid rushed into my mouth and the burn silenced as I drank greedily. The large thudding of paws told me that Jake and his wingmen were close. I slurped the rest of the blood out of the buck, and he went completely limp in my arms. It only took seconds for the entire hunt to take place. I couldn't believe that I was worried about being a defected vampire.

Jake barked, trying to laugh. I glared at him. The communication barrier was quite annoying. My best guess was that he was laughing at the fact that I knew how to hunt after all. Quil whimpered, pawing at the ground. I gave him a confused look. He nudged the deer with his nose and began to dig in the ground. Oh! He wanted me to bury the body. My sharp nails quickly dug through the thick soil as I pushed the carcass into it and buried it.

Jake whined loudly. I could tell that something had changed. The atmosphere had gotten increasingly tense as I had finished burying the deer. He motioned his head for me to follow them. We took off running away from the Cullen's land. We ran for about fifteen minutes when a strong stench of wolf hit me roughly. I couldn't help but physically gag. I realized then that we were at the infamous and invisible treaty line. Sam was waiting for us in his human form, with three wolves at his flank. I stared at Sam with my newfound eyesight. I never realized how muscled he truly was. His entire body was tense at our approach and I could see the beads of sweat forming on his forehead. His entire stature screamed Alpha and it made me reminiscent on the times when Jake was afraid of Sam. I wanted to laugh at the thought now since I knew him better, but I could still see it from that old perspective as well.

"Hello Bella." Sam said. I could tell it made him uncomfortable that I was a vampire now. His voice was strained, but Sam had impeccable control these days.

"Hi Sam." He stiffened at the sound of my voice. He clearly wasn't expecting it to sound so beautiful. I never gave much thought to how something I wanted so badly at one point in my life could affect the people that meant the most to me so easily. Everything changes when you transform.

"I know that the treaty wasn't broken, so they are still safe if they ever return. The one that changed you has been killed." Sam spoke very sternly. "Jake has told me that you have very good control already. I just want to make sure the people are safe. It is our duty to protect them."

"Sam, you know I would never hurt anyone in Forks or La Push. I wouldn't hurt any human. Just because I've been changed, doesn't change who I am." Sam nodded quietly.

"You've always been good to the people on La Push. I will have to talk to the council tonight to see what will be done." I raised my eyebrows at him, clearly confused. They wouldn't kill me, would they? "I mean, if they will allow you on La Push or not." I nodded with relief swimming through my being.

"I won't cause any trouble, Sam. You have my word." I was glad that the pack and I had become so close. It made this much easier than it would have been. "What does Charlie know? I asked, quietly.

"He thinks that the Cullen's came back and you decided to go with them. He's upset that you never said goodbye." I sighed silently to myself. I hated the fact that I had hurt Charlie, but I would rather him be hurt and alive than the latter. What I wouldn't give for that lie to be true. If the Cullen's could still love me, I would want nothing more than to be with them. Instead, my existence is going to be lonely and loveless.

"Thank you." My voice was barely a whisper. Sam nodded and turned to go back to the reservation. Quil and Embry left with the others while Jake stayed with me. "Go change so we can talk." I laughed at his lopsided wolf grin. He did as I asked and came back in a pair of cut off shorts. I bet they have stashes hidden in the forest since they ruin clothes so much. He still was truly beautiful, even if he smelled like a landfill.

"Well, that went good." Jake laughed, smiling.

"Was it suppose to go bad?"

"Nope!" He said, making a popping sound on the 'P'. It was still a shock to adjust to the fact that Jake was comfortable already being around me. I never imagined any of this going so well.

"Jake, I know I don't have any right to ask you this, but I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" I was tentative. I didn't want to push my luck with all the kindness I was receiving. Jake rolled his eyes.

"Bells, you can ask me anything. Nothing has changed between us." He grinned, and it made me feel better.

"Can you get me some clothes from Charlie's? I kinda have none." Jake smiled, nodding, motioning for me to follow him.

We headed off into the woods and started in the direction of Charlie's house, I assumed. It was a peaceful day outside even though I felt like my world was chaotic. The birds in the trees were still chirping away and I heard the sounds of squirrels skittering across the ground. The waves hitting the sand at First Beach sounded close even though they were miles away. The cloud cover was more dense today with the smell of rain becoming more and more prominent.

I didn't realize how long Jake and I had walked for, but I soon started to recognize the woods that were behind Charlie's house. The dark memories came into my mind from the haunting day that Edward left me. These woods were what I wanted to vanish into. I thought they would swallow me whole and I'd finally be at peace, but unfortunately, things don't always work out like we plan.

"Charlie isn't home, is he?" I asked Jake as the trees started to thin out in front of us. I didn't want to take the risk of smelling the air since I didn't have full understanding of how animalistic I was or could be.

"No. He's over with my Dad. He didn't want to be alone in the house." Jake said while looking at me with saddened eyes. It broke my heart that Charlie was hurting, but nothing could be changed now. Jake and I entered the backyard and easily got through the backdoor without leaving any signs that it had been opened. I'd have to ask Jake where he learned that eventually. As we entered the house, Charlie's scent enveloped me. The ache in my throat came back slightly, but it faded when I decided this was a mind over matter ordeal. I would not become what frightened everyone when they thought of vampires. I completely refused to become a monster. "Are you okay?" Jake's voice was full of concern and I looked up at him. I guess I was doing the freakish thing where I stood still for too long.

"Yeah. It's just that I can smell Charlie's scent and I was telling myself that I wasn't going to become a monster." I sighed as I tried to shake the negative feeling from my body. Jake sighed as well and put his hands on my shoulders.

"Bella, I won't let you become a monster. You are the farthest thing from it. Don't worry, okay?" His brown eyes were radiating with kindness and sincerity. I slowly moved to hug Jake, no matter how much it made either of us want to crawl out of our skin. We weren't going to let our nature destroy our friendship.

"Thank you, Jake, for everything you've done for me." I murmured into his chest. We pulled apart and Jake gave me a grin; his way of saying not to worry about it. I smiled softly at him before we headed up the stairs and into my old bedroom.

It didn't take long to gather some clothes in an extra backpack I had in the closet. I grabbed just enough that it wouldn't look any different to Charlie if he had come in here. The clothes would be tight on me since I filled out into a more curvaceous body during the transformation, but it would have to do for now. I also grabbed the money out of my wallet, which was only 100 dollars. It was like starting from scratch, but there wasn't a single thing I could do about it.

Jake and I headed into the woods again on our walk back towards the reservation. We were both quiet as we took in the scenery and were lost in our own thoughts. All of the peace came to an abrupt end when a smell hit me like a truck. It was hot human blood rushing throughout a body not to far from us. There must have been an open wound because it was one of the strongest smells I had ever experienced. The venom began to pool in my mouth as I felt the animalistic side begin to take over and within seconds I was running full speed towards the human.

Oh boy!

Anyways, I am glad to see that you guys are enjoying this story! It has been pretty enjoyable writing it and I'm happy that people like it.

I want to give a shout-out to jasella dramione for reviewing a ton of my stories! I appreciate all the love and support you are giving me and I'm always excited to get a new reviewer! Thank you!

Be on the look out for the next chapter!

Song: It's The Fear by Within Temptation

Love,

GVE