I shook my head, pleading, "Please, you got to understand, these two tried to induct me into some sort of agroup to take the power from the Volturi."

She narrowed her eyes when I mentioned the coven and I went on, trying to salvage the situation.

"I found out everything today--yesterday, how the world is vying for the power. Please, believe me!" I begged.

"Then tell us your name, and we'll decide," Eleazar said, watching me and the two vampires warily, pushing the other vampires behind him. I noticed that he was the only male vampire in the coven while I thought what to do next.

"I... I can't," I said, remembering what name I had given to the two at the foot of the stairs, was Marie.

I knew I couldn't give myself away in front of two vampires in this precarious situation that could connect me to the Cullens. Then a horrible thought crossed my mind, what if the two vampires attacked this group? I could keep them safe against Naomi, but not against the plants. I looked to my right and left and saw the grass slowly growing.

"No!" I yelled, alerting everyone and looked back at the coven, "Get inside, please!"

With the warning given, I spun around and leaped over the two vampires from where I was on the stairs and sped away. I hoped they listened to me and kept themselves safe. I tried to speed faster than I had on the way here, trying to figure out how to escape the two vampires, if they were following me. I hoped they did. If they stayed behind, then that meant the coven was in danger. I paused for a moment, eyes closed and listened hard for them. I heard two pair of running steps coming in from the distance and I felt relieved. I kept going, knowing that the Denali Coven was safe for the time being.

I had no idea where I was going or what I was going to do. I knew I was about two miles ahead of them, none of the plants were stirring from their slumber. How I managed to keep ahead that much distance in the short time I ran, I had no idea, all I knew was that I had to keep them away from the coven and from myself. I wondered why the two vampires wanted me so badly if they were willing to chase me this far.

Are they really after my power? Or are they so desperate for my help that they would force anything against me into helping them out? Like I would! Over my own ashes, I pondered angrily, keeping up the pace. I felt the thirst growing painfully in the back of my throat. I had expended so much energy in the past twelve hours. I needed to hunt, and badly.

My foot ran over the snow, almost gliding as they barely touched the ground, only sending flurries of snowflakes up in my wake. To my left, I saw the early-February sun rising late in the day. I realized I was going south, and I either ended up in Washington again, or into the Pacific. In the distance, I saw a small city skyline. Beyond the skyline, I barely could smell the salt in the air.

Ocean. That's it! I'll swim, they can't follow my scent there, I thought, trying to decide. My thirst was getting to levels I could barely keep a rational thought about me. Hunt now, or later? I had no idea how far I would swim, or how fast, or how long I would be swimming. Can I get blood off seals or dolphins or other things in the ocean, I wonder?

Taking no chances, I decided I would take my risk with the oceanic blood. I kept running, not allowing myself any momentary pause in my stride as I thought through my plans.

I'll come back to the coven later, but for now, I need to escape, I thought as I came closer to the city.

At my speeds, no human could see me in town and I kept it that way. I had no time to waste by running the perimeter to get to the ocean. I sped through the town, not breathing the human scents and eventually reached a fishing pier and just before I made the jump, my phone rang. Nearly losing my balance, I steadied myself as I snatched the phone out of the bag and turned it off, not seeing who it was. I looked around, needing to waterproof the phone.

I saw an convenience store and sped inside to grab a ziploc box, mentally apologizing for stealing and return to where I was. I took the bag off and tossed it into the ocean. I took a few plastic sheets of the ziploc and stuffed the phone into a few bags worth. Taking the air out of each separate bag, I finally shoved the phone into my sports bra and looked up. I listened carefully and heard nothing but the roars of car engines and conversations among humans. I faced the ocean and dived in, swimming away from the shore and sought the depths of the ocean.

I was finally safe, for now, but I took no chances of staying in one spot on the ocean floor and I kept swimming. All I thought was to put as much distance as I could between me and Kyle and Naomi. Those two vampires were really getting on my nerves, and frankly scared my with the thought of them hurting my friends or the coven. Or any humans for that matter. I tried different ways of swimming faster, now that I was a vampire. I could tell I was only slightly faster than a human during the Olympics, but the water resistance was too much, even for me, to move through easily. I was probably swimming as fast as a dolphin.

After awhile, when I saw several different kinds of fish swimming faster than I did, I realized it was the clothes that was dragging me down.

Well, I guess I'll just have to bear with it. I'm not shedding my clothes for a bit of speed, I thought to myself wryly.

I had no idea how long or how far I had swam, or even how deep. Time lost all meaning in the dark depths of the sea. All I saw was some lights giving off by some of the aquatic life of the ocean, but nothing else. The pressure of the water had nothing on me either, and for that, I was glad, as well as the fact that I was not bothered by the cold.

The thirst burned white hot now, and I feared that if I went near a human, I might not be able to hold myself back. I hoped I was reaching land soon, and it meant large game for me to feed. A few times, I had come across whales of massive size, but I did not want to take their life, it would mean a waste of blood. Besides, I could not imagine myself feeding off a whale, it felt just as bad as feeding off humans.

I saw the sharp rise of the ocean floor, the water getting lighter as I rose with the ground. I felt elated that I was finally reaching somewhere, after who knew how long I spent underwater. It was a good thing that I had spent years upon years of holding my breath, this was nothing. I saw a tiger shark swimming nearby and decided that I could feed on that one.

But how? I wondered as I stopped swimming, floating where I was. I tried to picture what was the best way to drain the shark of its blood. Where are their arteries? Man, I should have paid attention to my dad when he cleaned the fish... Wasn't there something on Discovery how sharks can die right away if someone cut their gills... Around the gills maybe?

Feeling a little apprehensive, the mere thought of being near a shark sent a chill up my spine. I knew this was nothing, if the broken teeth and claws from the bears and lions had anything to say about it. Remembering this in mind, I dove in for the kill. Swimming slightly faster than the shark, I grabbed the carnivorous fish and crushed it around the body and sank my teeth into the gills, hoping for the best. Saltwater and blood mixed in as it glided down my throat, but it was nothing I had ever tasted before. The ocean taste was pretty awful, but the blood itself, it was even better than the blood of bears or lions of the mountains. It was salty, no doubt an influence from the ocean, but it was rich. Almost as rich as a human's. I shuddered at the comparison to my father's blood but I pushed it out of my mind as I focused harder on feeding.

I wondered why the blood was so rich in iron and just the right amount of salt that I could stand. I thought about the kinds of fish the shark ate and realized that fish sharks ate were all basically carnivores too, more so than the type of animals ate that land predators preyed on. I closed my eyes, enjoying the taste of the shark. I had never cared enough for seafood, only tolerating enough to eat it with my dad. But this, this I could get used to.

What about the blood of dolphins and other animals of the sea? If sharks are this good to eat, then I can only imagine... I blinked and shook my head as I tossed the now drained shark away. Get a grip Bella, you're not a mermaid! Get back on the land already.

Without a backward glance, I kept swimming up the steep slope, wondering what part of the world I was in now. I hoped the cell phone survived the ocean and its pressure on it. I winced at the thought of the phone being crushed by my carelessness.

I looked at the surface above, finally seeing it for the first time since I sank into the depths of the ocean. It wasn't long now. In the distance, I heard several boats roaring by overhead. On the ocean floor, I saw bubbles near a reef and it took me awhile to figure out what they were and my eyes widened.

Shit, divers! Of all the places to run into... I wondered about what the chances were of swimming into some divers. I quickly made my way around them, careful of not being seen. Looking back, I could no longer see the bubbles, and kept on swimming, knowing that I was getting much closer as the ground kept getting closer to the surface now. In about ten feet of water, I surfaced, taking a look around to get my bearings. I saw several young people on the beach about half a mile away, enjoying a day out. I ducked quickly before a cloud cover showed the sun.

Damn, I can't come out until night, I thought bitterly as I swam around the coastline, trying to find a safe place. If I couldn't, I would stay underwater until it was dark, or cloudy. Annoyed, I kept swimming and finally found a secluded beach. Taking a look around, ran onto the beach and ducked behind a tree to hide in the shade, in case any humans were about. No one was and I sighed of relief, taking a nice, deep refreshing breath of air into my lungs, smelling different sweet scents of the humans. Not secluded enough, but the smell was weak, telling me that not many came here often.

Sitting on the ground, I waited for the sun to set behind the trees.

So, I'm facing the east then, I observed, wondering what country I stepped in. From my observations, the teenagers had seem Asian, but for all I knew, I could be in Australia and they were visitors. Or some island and this could be Japan. I relaxed myself, enjoying the peace for the moment, unaware of silent approaching footsteps.