" Nante kotta koko de yatte runo desu ka," a man's angry voice shocked me out of my thoughts. I looked around the tree and saw a group of people.
Shit, how did they sneak on me? do I... I thought, trying to think and all I could think was, Yes, we're definitely in Japan, Toto, I thought to myself sarcastically.
"Um, hello," I said, wishing I had learned a little more Japanese than my current knowledge possessed as I got to my feet. The sun was still not down behind the trees yet. I wondered how I would get away from this group of people without arousing suspicion. None of them looked friendly. I wondered again how any of them had snuck on me. Had I been so into my own thoughts that I was not aware of my surroundings? I took a breath of air and was hit with a wall of inhuman aroma.
Oh... shit. How do I keep getting myself into these situations? I looked at each of the member of the group and realized that they all had red eyes. A solid evidence of what I had smelled.
Yes, more vampires. Great.
"What are you doing here?" another man asked, glaring.
"Um... I swam here, I had no idea where I was until you showed up, Japan right?" I replied feebly. I was no match against a coven of vampires. "I'll be on my way, and leave you alone..."
The man who spoke to me first looked at me for a moment then spoke in Japanese, and the man speaking English translated.
"You better, we don't like foreign vampires like you. You've all caused enough trouble for us. We don't want anything to do with that war."
I nodded, understanding, "I will be on my way, can you point the direction to Hawaii? I got lost underwater."
He translated what I said to the leader and he replied suspiciously.
"Why were you swimming in the first place?"
"I was, ah..." I stammered, "trying to get away from some vampires. They were after me in... Canada."
After he translated what I said, the group was silent so I talked again.
"So, no one here wants to get involved with the Volturi?" I asked curiously and the translator hissed before he told the others who showed a variety of reaction, from grimace to loathing looks.
"Hai," the leader said with a nod. Yes.
I bowed my head, remembering it was their custom, "Thank you for keeping out of that war. I don't like it myself either. I'm only trying to find my fam--coven."
Someone piped up, asking me a question, and caused everyone to look at me even more intently. I felt a little self conscious and took a step back warily.
"Your eyes are yellow, are the rumors true?" the translator asked after studying me. "About vegetarians vampires?"
"Yes, I am a vegetarian," I answered, watching their reaction as he relayed the response.
"Leave," the leader's words translated with a scowl. "Your kind is the worst thing that we could get involved with. Go now, the direction you seek is that way." He pointed where Hawaii was.
Feeling a little alienated, I walked out of the line of trees, around the group and onto the beach. The sun was finally behind the trees. I walked to the shoreline, swearing that their eyes never left me, watching my every move. Remembering the phone, I turned around, seeking the English translator.
"Um, excuse me," I said, "can I make a phone call before I go? My friend will be worrying about me."
He asked the leader and the leader nodded, raising one finger. One phone call, got it.
Taking the cell phone out, and took it out of the many bags and turned it on. Relieved that the ocean swim didn't crush it, even at the deepest depths of the ocean. I dialed Jacob's number.
"Bella!"
"Hey, sorry," I said, feeling better at the sound of his voice. The only thing that assured me now of all times, was the familiarity of his voice.
"Where are you? Are you alright?" he asked anxiously. I briefly wondered what time it was, or what day.
"Somewhere on the coast of Japan," I answered with a small chuckle, "it was an interesting swim. How long has it been since my promised time to call you?"
"You swam to Japan?" he asked, sounding awed then grew serious, "You mean you've been swimming for days?"
"I... guess so," I said, surprised that it was days, not just a day in the water.
"Well anyway, the coven managed to call me, asking for you," Jacob said. "They were worried that those damn vampires might have caught... you."
"They believe me?" I asked, blinking at this new development. How did they know to call Jacob? What's going on?
"Yeah, come back to Alaska, they want to talk to you about the Cullens," Jacob went on. "They wondered if it was you, and called us up to make sure. They thought it was odd that you tried to protect them, so that's why they called us. Can you please stop trying to be the selfless one, Bells?" his voice strained.
"You're on speaking terms with them? Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded, frustrated with Jacob, ignoring his complaints about me trying to save everyone.
"No, it's not that, sorry," he said quickly, "apparently the Cullens left them our numbers if anything came up and needed to call us. We never talked to them before that call about you."
"Can you give me their number?" I asked and looked at the group, wondering if they could let me make another phone call. Jacob told me the number and he wished me a safe journey then hung up.
"We heard the whole thing," the translator said, emphasizing on 'whole' to tell me they heard Jacob too. The group watched me, still wary of me. "Cullens? Alaska, not Canada?"
I swallowed, wondering if, instead of not wanting power, they would want some kind of reward from the Volturi. I backed up into the water, trying to think fast. Damnit, no chance of protecting the Denali coven now that they know I came from Alaska... How many know about the coven there anyway?
"Can I make another phone call? If it's safe for me, then I can go back to... well, Alaska, and not Hawaii," I explained, hoping they would let me.
"Are you one of the Cullens?" he persisted. I shook my head in answer and they talked among themselves at my reaction. Some looked suspicious, as though they didn't believe me, and others looked almost greedy.
"You said you were looking for your coven, you must be one of them," he translated from one of the person in the group.
"Technically, I'm not one of them," I said, "It's more like... we've been separated since before my rebirth over forty years ago."
"Before? Not after? Like, the sun has to set before the stars show?" he asked for clarification of English words. I nodded.
"I knew them in my human life. I just... found out a few days ago about the war and what happened to them."
Murmuring erupted in the group when the translator told them, talking among themselves for several long minutes.
"How can a human have known a coven? About vampires?"
"Things... happened, it's complicated. But they disappeared and left me behind and a few months later, I was turned by another vampire. She meant to kill me," I said, wondering how much was too much in telling them. Did they hear any rumors about the Cullens finding a missing vampire?
The group was silent after hearing the translation. I put the phone into the baggies, figuring that I would call the Denali coven later when I got to Hawaii, I didn't feel safe right now. I needed to get away from this group as soon as I could. I did not know how smart it was for me staying here and telling them all what I had said so far.
A man in the back asked me a question, looking frustrated.
"Why does his power not work on you?"
I grimaced, thankful that whatever power it was, did not have an effect on me.
"It's my power, I block certain abilities, I can't turn it off, sorry," I said.
He repeated what I said to the man with a power and he looked surprised then spoke again.
"I was trying to induce you into sleep," he explained, "I'm sorry, I was testing your ability to stay awake. Some can resist it longer than others, but all succumb to it, usually within two minutes. The longest lasted four."
"You can make vampires sleep?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow and the man with sleeping powers smirked and nodded.
"It's not really sleep, it's complicated and the only word I can think of describing it, is sleep," he said.
The leader stopped us from conversing any longer, looking at me coldly, "You've stayed here long enough. Go."
"Thank you," I said, bowing again and turned to the ocean, facing where Hawaii was. Without another word, I dove into the ocean, deciding not to swim as deep, only staying about a hundred or so feet below the surface. My mind was swirling around with the new people I had met and wondered if I would ever meet them again. I wished I had learned of their names, but under such circumstances, it was understandable. The tension had been so thick, I was even afraid of not being able to get away safely.
My mind went to the vampire with the ability to put others to sleep, and marveled at the thought of knocking vampires out. What does my power really do? I thought, wanting to try my powers out, but having nothing to practice against. I was beyond glad that my power seemed to let me have the ability to protect the people I loved.
Sometime later, a day or two, maybe three, I reached Hawaii and I was glad that it was nighttime as I came out of the water. Noticing that there were no city lights in the distance, I went to a rock I could sit on and took the phone out, remembering Denali coven's number. My stomach twisted with nervousness, wondering what would go from here. Did they really believe me to be Bella? How much did they know about me? Chickening out, I called Jacob instead.
"Hey Bella," Jacob greeted, trying to put sleep out of his voice.
"Sorry for waking you," I said, feeling bad for disrupting his sleep lately.
"No, it's fine, have you called them yet?"
"No, I was about to..." I said, biting my bottom lip and my eyebrows furrowed down together.
"They're happy that you were finally found," Jacob said, sensing my unease, "they want to help you."
I sighed, knowing that I would just have to get it over with. "Thanks," I said. "So they really do know it's me?"
"Yeah, I explained what happened since you came back to Forks. So, where are you now?" he asked.
"Hawaii, I had to leave Japan right away. I ran into some vampires there," I said, shaking my head at the memory.
"You and your bad luck," he chuckled, sounding strained.
"Yeah, some luck I have, but they were kind enough to leave me alone, sort of," I said as I felt empowered enough to call the coven now. "I'll call you later. Thanks for chatting. Bye."
I didn't want to lose my confidence as I heard Jacob's words."Bye, talk to you later, Bells," he said and I hung up, sighing as I stared at the keypad.
Well, no time like the present, I thought to myself as I dialed the number.
Just a small plug-in about my other story I really enjoy writing also: Live Not For Love. Several chapters are already up and the summary for that story is: In 1918, Carlisle decided that Edward's life was too precious to condemn him to a life of a vampire and tries harder to save him. He did, what are the consequences when an old man meets a young girl nearly 90 years later? Not All Human.