Disclaimer: Twilight does not belong to me.

CHAPTER 2

Everything was so clear, defined. With the human blindness removed, I could see everything so much more clearly. I had thought that the meadow was beautiful when I first stepped foot into it. I was so wrong. There were no words that could ever describe it properly. I gave up after a second and stood up in one swift fluid motion, looking at Victoria.

"Victoria," I acknowledged her as I saw the flicker of emotions in her face. Confusion, anger, hurt. My voice sounded so much more different, more perfect.

I was bombarded with so many questions at once that I found it hard to even start answering one. It was then I realized that her lips were not moving at all. Before I even had time to register that, she lunged for me, going to kill me. I panicked for a millisecond, thinking that I would be no match for her. But then I remembered that I was not the fragile weak human any longer, but a strong vampire with the ability to protect myself.

After that, everything seemed so easy. I overpowered her and killed her so easily that I could not believe it myself. It was something I was not proud of. After all, no matter how justified it was, killing was still wrong, a crime.

The wind was blowing and the rain was falling, like any other day in Forks. The wind blew past me, bringing the scent of a really repulsive smell. Breaking off into a run to follow the scent, I soon realized that it was the scent of a human. Relieved to find out that the smell of human blood still smelled repulsive to me, I knew that my control would be superb.

The wind blew past me again, bringing a tantalizing scent to me. Vampire instincts overtook me as I followed the scent to a mountain lion feasting nearby. It was no match for me as I took it down like it was nothing at all. It claws had no effect on me, and I had far much greater strength. I was the predator and soon, there was warm liquid in my throat. My earlier thirst disappeared and I rushed back to Forks in a matter of seconds.

Arriving at the Cullen house, I was eager to see how much I had changed. It was one of the many perks, to be so inhumanly beautiful, a match for him. Stepping foot into the house, it was deserted, such a difference from the first time I visited it. Sure that Alice's room would have a mirror; I ran up to the room and found a full length mirror.

The stranger in the reflection was pale white, so beautiful, even with the crimson eyes. It didn't look like plain old Bella Swan. Wanting to be sure that it was really me, I reached out to the mirror. Sure enough, the beautiful reflection followed. Staring into the red crimson eyes, I panicked. How was I going to explain to Charlie about what I became? I knew that he had been my life, and would be my existence. But I really could not leave Charlie to fend for himself. I still loved him as a father.

I did not even want to fake my death, however unavoidable that option seemed. My leaving would probably leave Charlie helpless and my whole family would be grieving. Much as I wanted to go find them, I didn't even know where they went and I really could not bring myself to leave Charlie again. The last time that James had gotten me was enough.

Wishing that I could create an illusion to make myself look like my human self again, I knew that was impossible. But the moment I looked up into the mirror again, I looked human, like how I always looked before. The plain Bella Swan.

Then I thought back to Victoria. I had been able to red her thoughts in the meadow. I didn't think that it was possible for me to have two powers, but it was the reality. I had no idea why, but I was still pleased. It did enable me to continue living my human life. Testing out my newly discovered power, I realized that I could create illusions that I was human, make it seem like I was doing human actions.

Reality dawned on me soon enough. I had been missing for three days. No doubt that Charlie would be worried and already sent out an entire search team to look for me. Thinking of a cover story was easy enough, that I had fallen and there was nobody nearby. Given my human clumsiness, it did seem plausible and I set out to look as if I had some broken bones. When I was finally done with the illusion, I stepped out of the Cullen house and made my way to some bushes nearby.

It was not long before a search team came to the Cullen house. I had been expecting that they would come sooner, since Charlie knew the close relationship I had with the Cullens. It would have seemed like the most likely place I was in. Making a show of moaning and groaning, I was carried into an ambulance and sent off to the hospital where everything went so smoothly.

Charlie had been hysterical for the three days I disappeared. Even Renée and Phil had flown down from Jacksonville. After I finally convinced them that I was alright, they did calm down, but Charlie always kept a tight watch on me. It became even more necessary to create all kinds of illusions.

Creating illusions hardly drained my energy and I soon found it easy enough to go back into my human life after I had 'healed'. Controlling my strength and speed was hard and I struggled with it so much that I really admired the Cullens for keeping such a good cover. Even though my life was empty without him, I realized that I still had to live on, holding on to the glimmer of hope that he would come find me someday and we would be together for all eternity.

A/N: Please review. Thanks.