Hunter

Rubberduck697, thanks for the information on the Calculus thing. I honestly just looked it up on Wikipedia. I'm bad at math. English and science are more my things.

Thanks everyone for the support for my mom. They gave her some super painkillers, but they're making her sick.

I can't believe I forgot to do a disclaimer. I'm sorry. I don't own anything you recognize, just this awesome plot.

-

Bella's POV

I managed to find my locker and dumped my bag inside. Mike's locker was just down the hall and he made a big show of escorting me to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was okay. There were the regular additions of flags and sports ribbons on the walls. I was now a Spartan. Yay! Somebody get me a loincloth.

I checked for exits; there were over half a dozen windows and a set of large glass doors at the other side of the room. There weren't any cameras, thank god.

It was set up so that you could serve yourself at a buffet-style area. Mike led me to it and pointed out anything that was considered edible. I remembered stuffing my face with stale Lucky Charms earlier. I was still so hungry. I piled a large salad and French fries onto my tray and sat down at Mike's table. Jessica ushered another girl over to us and sat down.

"Hey, Bella, this is Angela," she said indicating a pretty brunette with glasses.

Angela wore a purple sweater, but what caught my eye was the pentagram hanging around her neck. Her manner was kind, if a little meek. She smiled pleasantly at me.

"So, Bella, what classes are you taking?" Jessica asked.

I pulled my schedule out and handed it to her. She smiled eagerly. "Great, we have Art together as well!" Her happiness diminished somewhat as she continued reading. "Wow, these are hard courses. Why are you taking that stupid Supernatural class?"

Angela looked up as she heard that. She seemed to be listening much more intently at the mention of my last class.

I weighed my answer carefully. "I like learning about strange things. You know, the unexplainable? It's interesting how people used to explain sudden illness or suspicious accidents in the past."

"Mr. Banner will like you," Angela said. "I'm in the same class." She pointed to her pentagram. "My dad's a minister. I thought it'd freak him out if he thought I was getting involved in devil-worship or something."

I laughed. "You might want to read up a little more. A pentagram is a symbol of protection. The Crucifix on the other hand," I suddenly felt like a teacher lecturing a student. "That name comes from the Latin word, 'Cruciare' which means, 'to torture'. Crucifixion is described as one of the most painful tortures human beings have ever created. Kind of puts a menacing overtone on the whole Cross thing, doesn't it?"

It occurred to me that discussing torture over lunch was probably not the best way to seem normal, but Angela seemed fascinated by my knowledge.

I stuffed some of my fries into my mouth before I could start lecturing on how to drill the nails in properly if you want to have a good, long, painful crucifixion. I was pretty sure that had happened to me at least…

The fries suddenly tasted like cardboard as I thought about the reason for why I was stuck in this stupid town. I'd screwed up, big-time. My mother was insane with grief and guilt, and my old Hunting buddies probably wanted to send me right back to hell.

Jessica quickly changed the subject to boys, and I listened like a good girl.

"Hey, speaking of boys, do you want to go to a movie with me, Bella?" Mike asked.

The invitation caught me off guard. "What?" I threw a desperate glance at Jessica and found that she was glaring at me. "Sorry, dude. I don't date. You should ask Jessica," I told him eagerly. "You guys would make such a cute couple."

Jessica's glare disappeared as she realized I wasn't trying to make a move on her man. Mike seemed a little disoriented when I pushed him next to her.

"Hey, Mikey!" a boy said from behind me. To my complete astonishment and disgust, the boy planted a kiss on my cheek and pulled Mike's chair out from under him. "Quick hogging the new girl!" he yelled. Mike made a desperate dive to catch him as he took off, but he was too slow.

I wasn't.

I jumped out of my seat and grabbed his shirt, twisting him around sending him sprawling onto the table. I grabbed his right arm and twisted it until I could hear his bones creak. The boy was of average build, with short, blond hair. I figured he'd been in my Gym class earlier.

"Do not kiss me! Got it?" I ordered, giving his arm another twist. The boy uttered a yelp of pain and nodded furiously. I let him go and pushed him away in a huff. "God, I hate it when guys do that!" I stated, digging into my fries again.

I realized that the entire cafeteria was gawking at me. "What?" I asked, somewhat confused. Slowly, the students began to turn away.

"What was that?" Mike asked in disbelief.

"That was the result of seventeen years of self-defence training."

"It wasn't that big a deal, was it?" Jessica asked.

I snorted. "He kissed me without permission. That's sexual assault, dudes," I explained. "He's lucky I didn't break his arm."

Angela furrowed her brow, but no one seemed to want to continue talking. I searched for something to ease the tension.

That was when I spotted them.

"Who are they?" I asked.

Jessica seemed to snap out of her funk and looked back. Her eyes lit up and my previous actions were suddenly wiped from her memory. I was now the receiver of her gossip. "They're the Cullens."

Oh, well that certainly cleared everything up.

Luckily, Angela elaborated. "They're Dr. and Mrs. Cullens' foster kids. They just moved down from Alaska, like, two years ago. They like to keep to themselves."

"Because all together," Jessica butted in. "Like, together-together. Emmett and Rosalie," She pointed at a blond girl and a tall, dark-haired boy, "Jasper and Alice," I turned my attention to the door as a short, dark-haired girl and a tall, blond boy came inside.

"I'm not even sure that's legal," Mike said.

"They aren't related," Angela told him.

"But they live together," Jessica whispered as Rosalie and Emmett passed our table.

It must have been my imagination, but I could've sworn Emmett grinned a little wider when Jessica spoke.

"Dr. Cullen's like this foster-dad slash matchmaker," Jessica continued.

I wasn't paying attention. The final Cullen walked into the room. I studied him closely as he walked behind his siblings. He didn't seem nearly as happy as the others did.

"Who's he?" I asked.

Jessica looked reluctant to answer. "That's Edward Cullen. He's totally gorgeous, obviously, but apparently nobody here is good enough for him."

I sighed. "When did he turn you down?" I asked.

Jessica looked alarmed. "I didn't say that!" she protested.

I leaned forward. "Don't sweat it. Luckily, you're completely over him because Mike is taking you to see a movie."

"I-I didn't exactly-" Mike began to disagree.

I cut him off with a kick to his shin, making sure I didn't hurt him too badly. I was wearing my special shoes.

"R-right! A movie. You like romantic-comedies, right?" he asked, looking at Jessica.

I stopped paying attention and started eating again. My eyes drifted over to the Cullen's table. They seemed to have their own little ecosystems. The couples sat close to each other, while Edward…

…stared at me from across the room.

I gave him my sweetest smile and enjoyed his predictable, confused reaction. I considered blowing him a kiss just to see if he would fall out of his chair, when the bell rang.

"Great, back to purgatory," I muttered, gathering up my half-eaten lunch.

Once again, my imagination must have been running wild, because I was sure I saw Edward grin.

-

Edward's POV (for a change)

The new girl, Isabella Swan, or rather, Bella Colt, was on everyone's mind. I couldn't do much more to ignore the unbearable thoughts about her. Half the boys already thought they were in love with her. I snorted as I sat down with my family. Isabella had asked about us.

"When did he turn you down?" she asked after hearing Jessica Stanley's explanation.

Jessica sputtered a response, which the new girl ignored. She then tried to manipulate Mike Newton into taking the distasteful girl on a date. When Mike began to protest, she kicked him. I laughed quietly as I listened to his surprised thoughts. My family exchanged confused glances and stared at me. It had been a while since I'd laughed.

I looked over at the new girl…and realized I couldn't hear her thoughts.

The other children's thoughts rang out loud and clear in my head, but the new girl was silent. I narrowed my eyes, suddenly weary. My family depended on me to make sure none of the people we came into contact with had any suspicions.

Bella looked over at me and started as she saw me staring at her. Instead of quickly looking away, like a normal person would, she gave me a stunning smile. Her brown eyes were filled with humour. I felt confusion cross my face. She was clearly thinking something. I just couldn't hear it.

The bell rang, and she looked away. "Great, back to purgatory."

I couldn't help but grin at that, though I quickly wiped it off when she looked back at me suspiciously.

"Here's your schedule, Bella," Angela Weber said, handing her a piece of paper. "I'll see you last period. Mr. Banner is going to love you."

"I hope so," she answered. "I try to keep the number of teachers who hate my guts limited to one." The two girls exchanged grins as they headed to their respective classes.

I grabbed my backpack and walked to my next class.

Mr. Banner…wonderful. He taught that warped history class where the Supernatural was used to explain completely normal occurrences. Ridiculous.

I sat down at my desk and opened my notebook, trying to keep from sighing. Purgatory was the right word for high school. If there was a way to atone for my sins, surely this tedious activity counted.

I looked up as I heard her voice. Bella was correcting her last name for the teacher. She glanced my way and locked eyes with me. I thought I saw the start of another smile.

Then her scent hit me.

Bella's eyes widened as she looked at me. I was sure I looked nothing like the human I was masquerading as. Her hand went to her back pocket, and her eyes flicked over the room. She bit her lip and moved her hand onto the desk. The action might have spurred my curiosity, if I was capable of thinking anything else other than how good she smelt.

I shifted away as she sat down next to me and held my breath. The memory of her scent lingered in my nostrils and I struggled not to think about sinking my teeth into the pale, see-through skin to the hot, pulsing-

No!

I focussed on the bland lesson Mr. Molina was presenting. Bella sat stiffly in her seat. Her right hand kept clenching. Her pulse was so quick that I could see the blood rushing through the veins in her neck-

I jerked my head away and forced myself to think about Carlisle. He would be so disappointed in me. The other children in the room would see if I killed her. I would have to kill them all. I'd never killed innocents.

Why did she have to come here? I looked back at her, not with hunger, but with hatred. I caught her staring at me in confusion. She didn't look away, and I saw my face reflected in her beautiful brown eyes. I shifted even farther away from her and swallowed a mouthful of venom.

I wouldn't kill anyone! She couldn't make me!

I could resist for one hour. I stared at the clock, willing time to move faster. Bella stayed frozen in her seat. That confused look never left her face. I wondered what rumours she would spread about me. I wondered what I would do when the hour was up.

I could introduce myself, offer to walk her to her next class, then I could give her a real lesson on the supernatural.

Would she come? Did I even want her to?

And where was Alice? Couldn't she see what I was going to do? Was I stronger than I thought?

I checked the clock and realized there was only five minutes until the bell. Five minutes, I could last that long.

Then what? What if she said no? She was smarter than the other humans here. She'd seen my real face. Could I last another hour? She would go home to that empty house. It would be the responsible thing to do. There would be no witnesses. No one else would have to die.

The bell rang and I darted out of the room. No one was paying attention to me, though. Their thoughts centered on the girl who was scheduled to die in an hour.

I hid in my car and waited.

-

Bella's POV

I made my way to my last class and sat down next to Angela. She smiled sweetly at me before turning her attention to Mr. Banner.

I tried to keep my mind on the lesson. It was on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. My family was still living in Europe during that time period, so there was no way for us to save all those innocent girls. The real things are a lot worse. I hate witches. They're all spewing their bodily liquids everywhere. It's creepy. Hell, it's downright unsanitary! And the rabbits always get screwed in the deal, the poor little guys.

My mind kept drifting to him.

I remembered walking into the room and seeing him. I should have been scoping out the room for exits and weapons, but I was too distracted by him. There was this stupid stuffed owl sitting right behind him, and it was almost as if its wings were growing out of his back. My mom always told me that angels were watching over me, her little Bella Angelo. Beautiful Angel.

I started to smile at him, and suddenly he looked…not human. I realized for the first time that there was something wrong with him. His eyes were angry and black. My hand had instinctively gone for my knife, before I remembered that I was in a room full of witnesses. I didn't know what I was up against.

Was it possible that he wasn't human? He looked human enough, although sometimes monsters could take human form. Other than his eyes, skin, and bizarre beauty, he looked like an average teenage boy.

I sat next to him and waited for his next move. Other than him glaring at me every so often, he didn't make any move to hurt me, even though I could almost taste his desire to. Was he, like me, worried about witnesses? Did his kind only kill discretely?

The bell rang, signalling the end of my first day of school. I remembered I was supposed to go shopping and started for the door.

"Miss Colt?" Mr. Banner stopped me. "Would you mind taking the attendance down to the office?" he asked.

"Sure," I said, automatically taking the folder and leaving. I stopped at my locker and quickly grabbed my things before heading to the office.

I opened the door to find Edward Cullen arguing with the secretary. It took me three seconds to figure out that he was trying to get out of Biology. Why?

I couldn't think of any logical reason.

Edward suddenly paused and turned around slowly, glaring at me. I ducked my head and handed the attendance to Mrs. Cope, then I got the hell out of there.

I needed to look up his family. There was something not right about the Cullens. My stomach growled and I rethought my plans. First, I would go grocery shopping, then I would research the Cullens. Perhaps there had been some unexplained deaths in the area recently. I would have to be vigilant over the next few days. I would sleep with my gun under my pillow tonight. I never missed.

I got into my car, and watched as Edward Cullen climbed into the shiny, silver Volvo across the lot. His form was tense and stiff. I saw through the windows that his family was concerned. The littlest one, Alice, looked in my direction with a startled expression.

I started my car and turned the stereo up as loud as it could go. The action had the desired effect as everyone in the parking lot turned to look at me.

'Hush little baby, don't say a word,

And never mind that noise you heard.

It's just the beasts under your bed,

In your closet, in your head!'

If they were concerned about witnesses, there was no way he could attack me with everyone staring at me. I pulled out of my parking space and floored it. I figured my best bet for finding a decent grocery store was to head to Port Angeles. It had nothing to do with wanting to be as far away from them as I could…at least, that's what I told myself.

I drove much faster than what was acceptable, but managed to make it to Port Angeles in just over 45 minutes. I cruised around for a few minutes, searching for a good-sized store. Finally, I found one. I parked near the end of the parking lot and grabbed the money I'd stuffed into my bag. I walked inside and quickly started going over what I would need to survive on for the next few days. I grabbed a shopping cart and started strolling down the aisles.

I was gathering my usual staples; eggs, bread, milk, cereal…when I heard a gunshot.

I reacted instinctively by dropping to the floor and moving away. I peeked through the shelves and spotted four men with handguns; Walther P99's if I wasn't mistaken. None of them had masks on. That wasn't good. It meant they would be nervous about people identifying them. Nervous criminals sometimes did stupid things, like offing seventeen-year-old girls.

I checked for exits and found that I was trapped. Okay, that sucked. The four men split up and I moved again. Luckily, the store was almost completely empty aside from me, a few stay at home moms, and the cashier, a girl not much older than me.

"Open the cash register!" one of the men ordered. I heard the sound of rattling keys and a ping as it opened. "Give me the money!" he ordered.

I checked my surroundings and realized I was in the cleaning supplies aisle. I crawled down the aisle searching for a weapon.

There!

I silently pulled down a bottle of oven cleaner. The label warned that it was dangerously corrosive. Thank you WHIMS. I popped open the lid and put on my black, leather gloves. I got to my feet and peeked around the edge of the aisle. There was one gunman watching the other customers. He had his gun aimed at one of the women. She was sobbing loudly. Even from a distance, I could see that the gunman was smiling. Asshole.

I ducked back into the aisle and knocked over a broom.

"Who's there?" the startled man asked.

I knocked over something else and waited. As expected, the gunman came around the corner. I grabbed his gun and twisted it, breaking his finger. He emitted a yelp and I blasted oven cleaner straight into his eyes. He released the gun and began clawing at his eyes, howling. I punched his throat and kneed him in the gut. Once he was down, I kicked him in the temple, knocking him out.

I quickly ran to the next aisle, keeping a tight grip on both the gun and the oven cleaner. If I played my cards right, I wouldn't have to shoot anyone. I found the next gunman in the frozen meat section. I grabbed his long hair and smashed his face into the metal railing, breaking his nose and knocking him out. I stuffed his gun into my belt. My knife was still hidden, folded up in my back pocket.

Once again, I darted away in search of the final two gunmen. I hid in another aisle. I smashed a glass jar of pickles and picked up the largest piece of glass. As expected, the third gunman came running. I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and sliced into his cheek. He howled and I grabbed his gun and twisted it, breaking his finger. I brought his face down onto my knee. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"What the hell is going on out there!" the last gunman yelled.

I grabbed the third man's gun and stuck it next to the other one. I sped down the aisle and ended up at the front of the store. The gunman wasn't there. I looked at the women, asking without words.

None of them had a chance to answer. I heard the distinct sound of a gun being cocked right behind me. The butt pressed into my lower back.

I raised my hands slowly. "Oh, god, please let that be a gun," I muttered.

"How the hell did a little girl like you take down my boys?" the gunman asked. I could hear the smile in his voice. He took one hand off his gun and tilted my face to the side. "You're a pretty little thing, aren't you? How about you come with me, babe?"

Okay, unless you're a very strong dude, preferably one with a crowbar within reach, you don't ever call me babe.

I spun around and kneed the man right in his family jewels. Automatically, he dropped his gun and grabbed onto the throbbing area. I clasped my hands together and brought them down onto the top of his head. He crumbled to the ground, unconscious.

Immediately, I dropped the guns to the ground and dashed out of the store. I jumped into my car and took off. The last thing I needed was my picture in the Paper. I was just glad there weren't any cameras in that store.

I cruised around until my heart stopped pounding and found another store. I checked my face in the mirror and decided I didn't look like I just took out four armed men and went to finish my shopping.

-

Well, that was quick. I just started writing this chapter yesterday. Now I have to work on the next chapter for Wolverine. God, there's always something. Writing the fight scene was fun. I hope you enjoyed it. There's an important reason for it, though. You'll see that in a few chapters. Thanks for all the reviews.

I'll catch you later.