So it's been, like, forever since I've been on fanfiction, and I've really missed it! The first thing I decided to get back to work on now that I'm (sort of) back is this story! I'd forgotten how much I liked it... And hopefully none of you hate me too much for the long wait.

I count my breaths as I sit and wait between an old life, and a new one. I remember that counting breaths was the only way I survived the unspeakable pain of my first transition between lives; I need that same strength now, to get me through this new, duller pain. I wasn't joking when I told Fred he was my only friend, but it didn't really hit me until now. Now I sit, utterly alone, about to deliver myself into the hands of a strange group of vampires I know close to nothing about - and I have no allies.

I just want Fred to be here with me, to have his protective aura around me. I'd feel a lot safer, surer of myself if he were here.

But I've made my decision, and so has he.

I exhale breath 142. I vaguely wonder why I'm bothering to breathe at all.

I hear them coming as I inhale breath 906. I don't allow myself to exhale as I stand up from the damp grass and stand to face them. I will look strong when they arrive.

They look exactly as they did yesterday but far less uneasy. Thankfully, no one asks me about Fred's absence; maybe the mind-reader Edward has already told them about his decision.

"Bree," Carlisle greets me warmly. "How good to see you still here." Then his dull yellow eyes cloud over and his voice changes with concern. "Are you certain you have made the right choice?"

I seriously consider his question. Have I made the right choice for me? Truthfully, I am unsure. But I know there is no going back now; Fred's trail has likely gone cold in the strong wind (which I had honestly not even registered, distracted as I was by my earlier musings) and I have no idea where he may have been headed. After losing him, and especially after losing Diego... I need to abandon my old life. I need something new. I need this - this "family", as Carlisle calls them. Somehow, I just know that they can help me. They are what I need.

So I nod. "Yes," is all I say.

And then we are running.

They all run the same way: slow. But then, everything is slow for me. They know the speed with which they are all comfortable, and they naturally fall in line with each other. Some of them chat as they run, and the word "family" makes a bit more sense to me. Yet, I still find myself looking behind me nervously, watching my back. An old habit. I pay particular attention to the scarred one - he is the one who wanted me dead back when I first met Carlisle. I am sure of it: he does not want me here. But I know I am stronger than any of these ancients; I could take any of these aged vampires in a fight if I had to - at least, individually. As a team, they would be unstoppable. In fact, they were unstoppable just a week or so ago. I experienced it myself. I begin to panic internally as I remember the unsightly carnage, the omnipresent smoke-

"Hi!" someone says, a little too cheerily in comparison with my interrupted grim thoughts. A small female vampire (Alice, I remember) now runs beside me - too close for my comfort. I adjust my course so that I am at a safe distance and give her a strange look.

"I'm Alice," she says courteously, ignoring my standoffishness. "I've been really excited to talk to you. Edward says you're extraordinarily smart, for your age, and Jasper's very impressed with your emotional maturity. A newborn like you is practically unheard of! And I think-" here she pauses and looks at me pointedly, "-that you have a very bright future ahead of you." She winks.

I am very confused.

"Alice," Edward says. "Leave her be for awhile." I shoot him a grateful glance - I doubt I could have stood too much more of Alice's cryptic words and effervescent energy. A thought occurs to me: Alice is the direct opposite of me.

Edward smiles in my direction. "I was just thinking the same thing," he confesses. Then he adds, "Don't worry; she'll grow on you" in a voice low enough that only my newborn ears can pick it up.

That's when I smell it.

The logical part of my brain switches off.

I don't make it ten yards before I am tackled to the ground. I thrash against my assailant, my throat burning with an unquenchable fire. It is the scent, the gorgeous scent Riley tormented us with. It is here, it is close, and I need it. I need it NOW. Nothing will keep me from tasting this blood.

I throw all my brute strength and newborn speed into the fight, clawing and kicking and biting and screaming in frustration. But there are too many of them. I cannot break free. I need to break free. It burns, itburnsitburnsitBURNS!

"Gaaahh!" I protest again as I gag on the vile liquid. "This is disgusting!" Then I go down for another swallow of my first animal kill.

"I know right?" Emmett laughs from somewhere behind me.

It is truly revolting, but I physically need something - anything - to satiate my thirst. I vaguely remember them throwing me onto the first beast; I drained it quickly, so desperate for relief that I could hardly tell a difference between the creature's blood and that of a person. But this one - the one I killed myself - is an entirely different story. It can hardly be considered a substitute at all.

I try to remember my last meal. I was so busy wallowing in my loneliness yesterday that I never hunted. The day prior was spent traveling with Fred, so I did not hunt then either. I can't remember my last taste of human blood. Now I long for one. Not just any one; I long for her, the owner of that delectable scent. The only reason her scent didn't affect me this way before was because I was so overly gorged on blood at the time I first smelled it. Even then, though, I remember the impression it left on me; I'm not likely to forget it.

When the animal is entirely devoid of blood, I moan and lie back on the grass, my throat still aching slightly. I am not truly satisfied. "Why would you do this to yourselves?" I ask. "It's so disgusting, so unnatural!" I hyperextend my neck so that I can affix my eyes on the Cullens. I kick the carcass away from me and it flies into a nearby tree trunk with a sickening thud. Quickly I get to my feet.

"If that's how you feel, no one's stopping you from leaving," Edward nearly snarls. I fix my eyes on him. He was so civil before; what has changed?

Then several things click into place, so obvious that I wonder how I missed them before. Riley said the scent was from the Cullen's human "pet", that she was a treat for our taking, a reward for our victory. Yesterday, Emmett said something about Edward's... fiancee. Human. I must be honed into the scent of his mate; it is her blood I so strongly desire.

Edward growls as he listens to my thoughts, so I know I'm right.

"Edward," a small but firm voice chastises. "Have some compassion; she's only a child." I recognize Esme in the group, the woman who stood between me and the scarred one (Jasper, I suddenly recall), preventing my execution and unwittingly facilitating my escape. My gaze lingers on her. Why is she so protective of me? Why does she care?

"Because she's a good person," Edward spits. "Better than me," he adds menacingly. He is itching to lunge at me, to end the threat I pose to his girl - his human girl. That tiny detail starts to sink in, its connotations... I try to imagine kissing Diego if he had been human.

There's no way he would have survived it.

"Edward, please," Carlisle says, stepping in. "Go back to Bella if you're going to be like this."

Before he can consider this course of action, I ask him, "Don't you..." I press my lips together, searching for the words. "That is, can't you... Well, do you have a sense of smell?"

At first, everyone seems shocked by my question; it is not what they were expecting me to say. Then Emmett and Alice bust up laughing, joined shortly by giggles from Rosalie and Esme. Before long, even Carlisle and Jasper lose their serious expressions. Edward keeps his cold eyes trained on me.

"Course he does!" Emmett says as his chuckles die out. "He's just plain crazy!"

I shake my head. It makes no sense to me. It is impossible, the strangest thing about this coven by far.

I consider leaving, as Edward so subtly suggested I do. Am I physically capable of becoming... vegan? Do I even want to? For what? What could this life possibly have to offer me? Discomfort, starvation, yellow eyes? I don't want those things. But as I look at Esme's warm and caring eyes, Emmett's wide and good-natured smile, Alice's happy disposition, Carlisle's deep inner peace... I see other things this coven - this family - could offer me. My old coven, so torn and divided and constantly bloodthirsty, could not compare in any way with what I see before me.

There must be something to the way they live. Something... good. The evidence is right in front of me; it seems only logical to give it a shot.

I sigh. "I'd like another try," I say, "if that's all right."

"Well, of course it is," Esme says kindly. "We all know the difficulty of this change better than you do, dear."

"Let's take another route this time," Jasper suggests.

Fear not, friends; Part 3 is already well underway! I just really like this story okay? Am I allowed to be my own fan? ;)