A/N: This is a fairly important chapter in the story. Gives you a bit of insight on the characters. Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters; Stephanie Meyer does.

Chapter Nine

BPOV

It's only about fifteen miles to La Push from Forks, with dense forest on either side of the road, and the wide Quillayute River running under it twice. The river is apparently very old and basically sacred to the Quileute people, hence why it was named that.

When we eventually arrive, the beach looks less empty than it usually does since the sun is peaking out more than usual today. I have only come here a few times in the past with Jacob since the possibility of me hurting myself or someone else is made drastically higher by my inability to walk on the beach sand.

Angela and I go and sit on the logs facing the beach watching the others play in the water and surf non-existent waves. The two of us opt to sit out since we don't want to go through the hassle of washing sand and salt out of our hair. Soon enough, it gets dark enough for us to light a fire.

"I swear Bella, you're going to love this!" Mike says, a bit too eager to show me the color of burning driftwood. Jessica is less than pleased. I don't have the heart to tell him that I have seen more than enough of these fires during my many trips here with Charlie and Jacob. Still, he can't take a hint.

To Mike's defense, the burning wood is actually pretty. Watching the blue-green flames lick at the wood is almost hypnotic. The fire illuminates everyone's faces as we sit around it, some warming themselves up, some roasting hotdogs and the rest just enjoying the view.

I'm startled out of the flame-induced trance when I hear the sound of multiple footsteps making their way to us. I look up and see Jacob and his friends approaching and a smile makes its way to my face.

"Bella!" Jake says with a smile as he comes to sit next to me. Mike, who had been grabbing more hot dogs, glares when he sees that his spot's been taken.

"Hey Jake, been a while. Where have you been hiding?"

"Ah, you know how it is. Billy's been keeping me busy around the house. Is that truck dead yet?"

"Yes actually," I chuckle. "It died a few weeks ago and I thought about bringing it to you but I have no idea how."

"Hello," comes a deep voice from our left. "I hope you guys don't mind if we join you." Behind the huge guy who spoke there's three others standing there, all of them tall and buff-looking. It's weird because they look old enough to be out of college, way too old to be hanging out with us.

"Not at all dude," Tyler says, eager to please. "Come on and grab a seat."

"Tyler!" Jessica hisses at him, smacking his arm.

"Relax," he mumbles, reaching for some sodas. "Here you go guys," he tosses each of them a coke.

They all sit together, their faces hard as they glance at me and Jake.

"Geez those guys creep me out," Jake whispers to me.

"I know what you mean," I mutter back.

"Try having them stalk you everywhere you go. Especially that Sam guy," the guy Jake points to looks away as if he knows we're talking about him. "He keeps giving me these weird looks, as if he's waiting for something. And he treats me all special like I saved his life or something."

"Did you tell Billy? Maybe he can talk to Sam and make him stop."

"Are you kidding? He won't listen. Sam walks around the reservation like he owns the place and everyone lets him. Especially Billy."

I immediately hate this Sam guy for bugging Jake. He's like a brother to me and whoever messes with him is messing with me too.

"Don't worry Jake. If he gets any worse I'll tell Charlie. He seems like a creep and I don't want him to try anything." Jake nods absently, looking at the fire.

We eat a few hotdogs before the mindless chatter around us gets too loud.

"Hey, do you want to take a walk?" I ask, turning to Jake.

"Sure."

As we get up, I notice Sam's eyes following us and narrowing and I walk a bit closer to Jake.

"So, anything interesting going on?" Jake asks.

"Interesting how?"

"I dunno. Any new students? Any scandalous love triangles?"

"Scandalous love triangles?"

"Hey, you gotta keep you talking in this weather, or your vocal cords will freeze over." I chuckled. I've actually been running a constant fever lately so I doubt that would happen.

"Well, I don't know about any triangles, but there are some new students. They moved here from Alaska, and their dad's a doctor."

"Really? What are they like?"

"They're all pretty nice actually. I had a sleepover with one of them yesterday actually. That's where I was before coming here."

"Cool. Alaska, huh? It's pretty cold out there. I don't know why anyone in their right mind would want to live there."

"Well Alice is pretty nice," I'm glad the darkness hides my blush. "I guess they don't exactly fit the norm when you think about it. I mean, they usually keep to themselves. And they're all really pale and cold kinda."

"Pale and cold huh? Sounds like our enemy tribe from the legends."

"Enemy tribe?"

"Yeah, don't you remember? Dad used to tell us these stories all the time; but I guess you would have forgotten. It's been a while since he told them while you were around."

"Well, I've got time," I say, my curiosity getting the best of me.

"I'm not as good at telling the stories as dad is, but I'll try anyway." He pauses to clear his throat dramatically. "There are some stories about where our tribe—the Quileutes —comes from. The legend says we descended from wolves, and that wolves are our brothers by heart. It's against the tribal law to kill them.

"Then there are also stories about the cold ones," he says, his voice almost down to a whisper. "You might better know them as vampires, blood drinkers. The stories of them are almost as old as the wolf legends, and there are some more recent. The legends say that my great-grandfather knew some of them; he's the one who agreed to make a treaty with them that keeps them off our land."

"Your great-grandfather?"

"He was a tribal elder, so is my father...so I will be. The cold ones are our natural enemies, the natural enemies of the wolves—wolves that turn into men, that is. We call them werewolves."

"Werewolves have enemies?"

"Only one."

I stare at him, shivering slightly from the cold as he speaks. Bits and pieces of the stories Billy used to tell come back to me as I listen.

"The cold ones are our enemies, but the pack that came on our territory during my great-grandfather's time was different. They did not hunt the way others of their kind did—they said they weren't dangerous. My great-grandfather made a truce with them; if they promised to stay off our lands, we would not reveal what they were...to the pale-faces," he finishes, winking at me. "Not that you're that pale, of course, you seem to have soaked up a lot of vitamin D since the last time I saw you."

"If they're not dangerous, they why was there a need for a treaty?"

"There is always a risk for humans when they are around the cold ones; even with this civil clan. You never know when their thirst could become too much for them."

"Civil?"

"They claimed not to hunt humans, only animals—it turned their eyes gold. Like I said though, there's always a risk."

"How were you able to tell the cold ones apart from the humans then?"

"Several things. The most potent is their smell; it burns our noses, so we know when they're nearby. Then, of course, it's how they feed; they drink blood, live on it like parasites. Lastly there's their physical appearance; they're pale, they either have red or golden eyes, and they look very attractive—supposedly to lure in their human prey. I suppose that would be useless for the Cullens though."

"The Cullens? Why?"

"They're like the cold ones from our legends—no, scratch that. They are the cold ones from our legends." The look on my face gives away my shock. "They say that we will know when they decide to come back; that the wolves within us will know. I don't know if they're back or not though, maybe it doesn't work for me."

I'm unable to utter a word, still trying to process the fact that the Cullens are apparently 'cold ones'—vampires—from the Quileute legends.

"Relax Bells," Jake says. "It's just a story, I don't even believe it myself."

"Well you should."

We both turn our heads, and Sam and his friends standing there.

"What do you want Sam?" Jacob asks, not hiding his irritation.

"I just came to see how you two are doing. You spent an awful lot of time over here, I was beginning to get worried."

Jacob snorts, turning away from them to look back at the waves. Sam then turns to me.

"Hi, I'm Sam," he says, extending his hand. "These are my friends Paul and Jared. Who are you?"

"Bella Swan," I mutter, shaking his hand then quickly pulling away.

"As in Charlie Swan?"

"Hey, Bella, we gotta go now..." Jessica trails off, noticing once she got nearer that Sam and his 'friends'. I turn to her, ignoring Sam completely and stand up off the fallen tree Jake and I had sat on.

"See you later Jake. And let me know if anything happens, okay?" I tell him, eyeing Sam suspiciously.

"Sure thing Bells. Let me walk you to your car."

We walk a bit in silence with Jessica walking ahead of us when I finally decide to ask.

"Hey Jake, how's Leah doing?"

He sighs deeply. "She's started hanging out with Sam and those guys last month. She goes everywhere with them. I'm actually surprised she didn't show up here today."

I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm pretty sure I don't like the idea of Leah being anywhere near Sam. He just seems to scream bad news.

We get to Angela's car and I say goodbye to Jake and lean against the car door, waiting for Angela to show up.

"Oh, Bella! I was just looking for you," Angela says as she walks up.

"Sorry, I got caught up talking to Jake," I explain.

She drops me off at home, wishing me a good weekend, and then drives off. I waste no time getting to bed, and I'm out like a light as soon as my head hits the pillow.

A/N: Sam's being a creeper, but what can you do :P R&R