Author's Note: Thank you so much for not giving up on me. I am so sorry about the long wait between chapters. I'll try not to take so long between future updates!

In case there is any confusion, this is a modern based story. Last chapter there was a reference to the year "1875", which was a statement of how other people's sexist views in the story were closer to that of the 19th century than to the 21st century that Bella currently lives in. Sorry for the confusion.

I simply live so much on Fanfiction and am so removed from Stephenie Meyer's actual Twilight stories and characters that I frankly lose track of what is Meyer's and what is fan created. Frankly, the writers on this site are so talented and inspirational. I am honestly humbled by reading some of the quality of writing and originality of thought. Case in point to Fanfiction writer's brilliance: I only recently discovered that Peter's "I just know shit" and Jasper as "The God of War" were fan-made concepts. Truly amazing.

Disclaimer: Credit to Peter's "I just know shit" and Jasper as The God of War belongs to IdreamofEddy. I do not own Twilight, nor am I Stephenie Meyer. If I was, Bella would be more kickass, less needy, and be with Jasper.

Enjoy!

Innocent until proven guilty? Right to trial-by-jury? The very notion of self defense? Apparently none of these concepts extended into the vampire world. ...At least not for those vampires mourning the loss of their recently torched mates.

To the well-trained nose, the smell of burnt vampire flesh is quite distinct. While the very smell of blood repulsed me on a basic level, the smell of former vampire reached a new level of revulsion. And yes, as a self-proclaimed human-bloodhound (don't judge. I can smell blood. And I have every right to name my special abilities!), I hold the right to rank the repulsiveness of smells, particularly once they have been imprinted into my brain.

Apparently, even when soaking wet and resembling a drowned rat, I can still be charming. How? No idea. Don't ask me. But somehow, the vampire's remains were such a small pile of ash that the ease with which I could misled the authorities was frankly startling. I just swept up the ash, returned the Lysol and the lighter to their proper places, and threw a random pile of food in a metal dish in the microwave on high. That's it. And I even had time to reflect on the smell of burnt vampire. And believe me, it's nauseating. And generally impossible for the ordinary human to detect. ...Of course I'm a freak.

After way too much time spent brown-nosing on my part (repeated "Yes, Sir," "I'm sorry, Sir," "Of course, Sir"), the firefighters finally left. Despite my frustrations on needing to act demure and kiss-ass, I was still stunned by my ability to charm them into believing me. It's surprising how easily I can take on the persona of the ditsy teenager. No, not surprising. Sickening. It really shouldn't be this simple. But I digress.

The owner of the building was exasperated to say the least. Good thing she'd known me for years and at least liked me enough to not get too pissed. Thank God. I didn't need her running to the courts, citing this as lack of responsibility and maturity and grounds to have them reconsider letting me live alone as a minor.

The emergence of a fabled creature from the Quileute legends certainly placed me in an awkward situation. I mean, it wasn't like I was living close to the reservation. So not only were these legends true, but they existed in reality not just near the reservation but in freaking Phoenix too. And all I had as defense was an impromptu, homemade flamethrower and the limited (and probably distorted) information supplied by Billy and his snot-nosed son, Jacob, that I received almost a decade ago.

Why me? Why now? Why did this freaking leech just come waltzing into my apartment and attack me? I mean, as if Phoenix wasn't a large enough city for her to find a different human, anyone else really, who was just walking alone outside? I highly doubt that there was a shortage of people outside at this moment. So why me? And why Phoenix? Over 1500 miles from Forks is where I meet my first vampire? Seriously?

Well, the Quileute legends on vampires didn't seem that far off from the real deal. And surprisingly enough, Amazon had quite the selection of texts on Quileute legends, which were all delivered to me ASAP, along with some books about the legends of some neighboring tribes. Maybe others also encountered vampires and recorded these events.

Three days, too little sleep, and way too much coffee later, I was a jittery mess, but I had received and read all of my ordered books. And boy, was I concerned. While I highly doubt all of the details of their legends held water, enough of it sounded plausible to send shivers down my spine. Sun doesn't kill them. They possess superhuman speed and strength. And their venom leaves their victims immobile from pain, eventually changing them if the venom is left to spread. Freaking wonderful. And as if all the other qualities weren't enough to scare the crap out of me, it seemed like these creatures mated for life. A vengeful vampire who slaughters entire villages for destroying his mate? Not something I wanted to deal with. But despite all of this recently-acquired knowledge, I still did not know why she targeted me, how to determine if she had a (now vengeful) mate for me to worry about, and where to go to escape a vampire hunting me. So I called Billy, hoping that I could avoid any possible drama. Mom was never really liked by the people of Forks. And I highly doubted that my refusal to live with Charlie, especially following Mom's death, was reason for any level of cordiality. And of course Jacob answered the phone.

"It's Jacob," he answered.

"Hi, can I speak with Billy?"

"Who's this?"

Of course he asked. He's going to explode. I sighed, "It's Bella."

There was a slight pause, before he erupted. "And you think you have the right to speak to Billy? You honestly think he wants to talk to you? That anyone here wants to talk to you? That you even deserve a second of our time? Who do you-"

"Jacob!" I finally managed to interrupt. "I just want to talk to Billy for a quick moment. It won't last long, but it's really important. I just-"

"No! You have caused enough trouble with your absence, hurting Charlie with your distance. And I won't let you hurt my father with your heartlessness. You're just like your druggy, skank mother. You only cause pain. Stay gone if you know what's good for you." And he slammed the phone down, the call ending abruptly.

"Well, that was effective," I muttered. If Jacob would prevent me from talking to Billy, when my life was potentially on the line, then I was going to Forks and cornering Billy. Packing my bag with the bare minimum, which now included plenty of bottles of hairspray and lighters as homemade flamethrowers, I turned to leave, only to stare into the red eyes of a rather pissed off blonde vampire.

"Freaking awesome," I yelled, exasperated. "As if my day wasn't miserable enough. You couldn't have waited five minutes?" directly my rant towards the vampire. I reached into my bag for my weapons, only for the leech to snatch my bag from me and to toss me across the room. He didn't even give me time to pick myself off the floor, instead grabbing me by the throat, hoisting me into the air, and shoving me against the wall.

"What did you do with her?" he growled. "And don't play coy with me. I can smell that she's been here."

I didn't respond, only struggled against his grip. Further incensed, he tightened his hold on me yelled, "Where is she?!" I reached for the lamp next to me, smashed it against his head, and saw no results, other than him getting even angrier, if that's even imaginable.

"What's it to you?" I spat. "Any vampire that easy to kill by little ol' me isn't worth your time."

He threw me across the room, hard enough for my body to make a sizable imprint in the wall. But I wouldn't be deterred. I was going to die. I knew that the moment he walked into my apartment. But I wasn't going to go down without a fight. Violence hadn't worked, so the least I could do was use my words to just drive him over the edge. Maybe if he gave into his instinctual rage, I would die rapidly with him lacking the control to drag it out.

Picking myself up from off the ground, just in time for him to throw me again, I yelled, "Go find yourself a better mate, one who actually has a spine." As his eyes flashed, I added, "It's pathetic how easily a mere human slaughtered your mate. How pathetic."

He threw me down, but I couldn't be stopped, "You should be thanking me. I did you a favor. Now you're free and can find a better woman."

I was done. It was all over, as I watched the last of his control snap. He growled, but then just stopped and smirked. I froze. I was expecting for him to lunge, to snap, to end me quickly. But he didn't. My plan hadn't worked. He backhanded me, and I saw stars, now too stunned to open my mouth to further bate him.

Where he made contact burned, but for some reason he still hadn't broken skin. Maybe he wanted to stop the smell of blood from distracting him? But that theory was rapidly disproved when he grabbed me and bit me repeatedly, ripping into my arms. he dropped me. He stepped away, smirking. He dipped his fingers into the blood pooling out of my wounds, spreading the blood across my body in a sick form of artwork. He then swiped at me with his bloody fingers. I flinched away, but he still sliced through my shirt, dragging his hand across my arms and chest.

My arms started to burn, and I gasped in pain. Pissed, and still hoping for a quick death, I spat at him, praying for this to push him over the edge. His eyes flashed and he lunged, only to be knocked aside by a blur. As this new vampire fought off my would-be-attacker, I just shook my head. Did I miss the memo? No hint of any supernatural activity until recently. And now, bam! An epic battle between two male vampires taking place in my freaking living room.

I tried to struggle to my feet, but the pain was starting to overwhelm me. My strange savior managed to rip off my would-be-attacker's head. He ran over to me, grimaced, and said, "There's no time to explain. I've gotta suck the venom out. It's too soon for you to change. You will, but not yet." He bent over my arms, placing his mouth to each of the wounds, and sucked. His actions reminded me of the First Aid procedures I had been taught regarding rattlesnake venom: suck the venom out of the wounds. He eventually stopped. Although I felt woozy from the lack of blood and from being thrown around like a doll, I still managed to get to my feet, assisted by this strange vampire.

I glanced over at my would-be-attacker, stunned to see his body attempting to reattach it's head. I just gaped. This couldn't be real. Just then a vampire with dreadlocks burst through the window, and snarled at me and the blonde vampire helping me. My savior started and then pounced on this new vampire. Stunned, I came to my sense when I heard my rescuer yell, "I left the keys in the ignition of my car out front. Go!"

Seeing my original attacker almost completely healed, I grabbed my bag and ran. I still didn't know whether or not to trust this new vampire, but I still hoped that he wouldn't end up destroyed because of helping me. As I exited the apartment, I immediately spotted the car in question. Jumping in before I could over-think it, I floored it, not caring where I went, just as long as it was far from here.

I didn't stop driving until I was out of gas. When I finally exited the car at the gas station, I was immediately met by my strange savior, who just grinned at me.

I jumped about a foot in the air and yelled, "Oh my God!"

He just smirked and replied, "Nah, name's Peter. And is that anyway to treat your white knight?"

I just glowered, "While I'm extremely grateful to you, did you really need to sneak up on me like that? Was it entirely necessary?"

He just raised an eyebrow. "Got some fire there." He paused. "But-"

I interrupted, "Yea, well, thanks a ton." I sighed, "Wouldn't be here to give you a hard time unless you stepped in when you did. So... thanks," I said hesitantly. Since I'd only had bad encounters with vampires so far, it threw me for a loop to see this one behaving so... oddly. The past few days had been so bizarre that I wasn't even sure what the "normal" response was supposed to be.

"Don't thank me yet, sweet pea. I only got the guy with dreadlocks. The other vamp got away, and he's a tracker, so we got a problem."

Seeing my confused expression, he added "Tracker is just his extra gift. Some vamps have those. He's just talented in regards to following his prey. Speaking of such, we shouldn't be loitering. Get back in the car."

He filled the tank, glowering at me when I went to get into the driver's seat. "No offence to ya, but I'm a way faster driver than you."

"How'd you get here?"

He just smirked, "I ran, of course. Since you are in my car."

"But how'd you know where I was? Which direction to run in? I didn't even know where I was going, so how did you?"

"I just know shit."

"Is that your gift?" I asked.

He just glowered. "No. It's not my fucking gift. I just know shit," he declared. ...As if that actually made sense.

"Now get in the car. We gotta move."

He showed his "prowess" at driving by tearing out of the gas station. I just rolled my eyes, exasperated. I had been saved from death by one vampire only to die in a fiery car wreck because of this one.

As he burnt plenty of asphalt with his speed, Peter turned to me and said, "You're in deep shit to say the least. Reach into the glove compartment. There's an envelope for you there that has cash and a new set of ID's for you. Only pay in cash for now on. Don't use any bank accounts you have. Bella Swan is gone. You're off the grid for now on. Don't stop moving for the next few weeks. And then move every other week as a minimum until told otherwise. Don't make any concrete decisions. Just go at random. Follow your instincts."

He abruptly turned off of the road. "My mate's up ahead with a new car for you. Unless either of us tells you otherwise, don't stop running. Avoid other vampires at all costs. You smell exceptionally good for a human, and seem to be rapidly attracting unwanted attention." He stopped the car in front of this stunning blonde, and jumped out. I followed, and the blonde immediately tossed me a set of keys.

"I'm Charlotte," she smiled. "Hope this dork over here hasn't been giving you too much grief."

Peter immediately stepped in, "No time for chitchat. You too gotta switch clothes to at lease confuse the scent trail," he instructed, gesturing towards the house. Charlotte just handed me a pair of jeans and shirt, stating "I knew in advance, so I just got out of these."

I rapidly changed, and handed my clothes to Charlotte, who dashed in to the house at vampire speed and immediately ran back out, completely changed.

I just stared, still taken aback by some vampire actions. Peter startled me out of my daze stating, "Grab your stuff and go, Bella. Take care of yourself, well, as much as you can," he smirked.

"Nice to meet you!" Charlotte called as I closed the door to my new car. "And don't contact anyone you actually know. You don't want to lead them into trouble, and the tracker will expect that."

I was about to tear out of there, but a thought crossed my mind. "Why are you helping me? Doing all of this for me?"

Peter and Charlotte just smiled. He replied, "I just know that you're special. And that you need us right now. I don't know much, well, yet. But that's enough for now."

I just smiled, "Thank you."

"Now don't you get soft on me. I need to see more of that fire if you're gonna outsmart these vampires," he instructed.

I smirked, "Don't you worry. They won't know what hit them." And tore out of there.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it! I read all of your reviews multiple times. They are the reasons why I post what I write and not just keep them to myself. Please review! And don't worry. I haven't abandoned any of my stories.