Author's Note: From now on, I'll announce the POV of the narrator in CAPS before the text. I promise you no more than one change in POV per chapter, if any, though. Because this chapter is introducing both characters and their lives, in a way, it's going to have the maximum change in POVs.

Oh, and Allie's parents and their decisions might sound weird to you. They are. I will have that explained later on, though.

ALISON ANDERSON

I had no idea what I should do that day; I sat on my bed, exhausted from the shopping trip - not the trip part, but the dragging part I had to do. I hated how my fingers would be forever damaged by the plastic bags. Some day, I might just go to one of those miracle-making doctors to replace my hand just because Mom couldn't stand doing shopping on two parts, or actually going to a proper hypermarket where you could drag your shopping cart to your car.

I was staring at the ceiling of my room, contemplating whether or not I should count to hundred and sleep the day off or actually go downstairs to help Mom with lunch, when a rock landed painfully on my forehead.

"What the...?"

I glanced at the only possible source: my window.

Guess who was there?

I glared at the Weirdo from earlier today, my stomach flipping mostly in slight fear but also in excitement; I wanted to know why he was there. "If you're some kind of a stalker you might want to back off," I muttered, pulling the window down, "my uncle is a policeman and he'll have you arrested."

"Hey, wait!"

I rolled my eyes, raising an eyebrow at him from behind my window, thanking God I was on the second floor.

"Do you know Mary Call?"

That was when I frowned, never bothering to answer him; for one, he really might be a stalker (or a super awesome spy dude, but probably a stalker) and for another, I had to go call my cousin and ask her if she knew any mentally distorted men where she lived. She said it was something along the line of shoving or hitting, and started with a La or a Le.

Oh, La Push.

COLBY BLACK

"Hey, Embry," I muttered into the phone, sliding into my Ferrari.

"Colby?"

No, a teddy bear. "Yeah. Are you at home?"

"Yeah?"

"I wanna talk to Mary."

"Why?"

I huffed, tapping the window impatiently. I didn't know how to answer him; should I say 'because I think I just imprinted on her cousin', 'I totally picked the wrong time ever to imprint', or 'shut the hell up and hand the phone to your wife, Call'? "I just need to ask her about something."

"Can't you ask me?"

"Dammit, Embry, just give her the damn phone!"

"Colby!"

"Does she have a cousin who's twelve or thirteen? Short with light brown hair, blue eyes and an attitude?"

He sighed. "Couldn't you have just asked?"

"Embry," I growled in warning, not in the mood of Embry Call.

"Yes, I guess that's Allie. How did you know about her?"

"Why doesn't she ever come to La Push?"

"Answer me, Colby."

Before I could register it, my hands were shaking subtly. I had to take a deep breath to prevent myself from phasing in public; something that almost happened far too many times during the past two and a half years, ever since Randy, my sister's little imprint, told her he hated her. It wasn't only getting on my nerves, but on everyone's as well, especially Dad, Paul and Sarah herself - only she was taking it differently.

"I saw her at the supermarket this morning," I stated truthfully, "and, well, I kind of, uh, err, you know..."

"What did you do to the poor girl?"

"Stalked her home?" I didn't want it to sound like a question, it just did.

"Did you -" he paused, "Oh. What are the odds?"

"Yeah, yeah," I said, "I imprinted on her. Big surprise. Now, why am I only aware of her existence now?"

"Her mother refuses to have her come here with her father alone - we only visit them on rare occasions."

"Well, now I have a problem," I said, "How can I see her?"

He laughed. "What? Does your charm has age restrictions?"

I rolled my eyes. "Be serious."

"I can get Mary to call her, I s'pose, or-"

I stopped listening when a small hand tapped my shoulder, and I turned to see one very angry Allie Anderson, shooting daggers at me from her ocean blue eyes. "What the hell do you want from me?"

I blinked. "Uh, Embry?"

"Yeah?"

"Is that Embry Call on the line?" she asked, snatching the phone from me and pressing it to her ear. I never resisted. "Uncle Embry?" she paused, "Yeah, I'm fine and all. Who's the Weirdo with the Ferrari?"

That's me, ladies and gentlemen.

"Ah-uh," she said, "No,"-pause-"Yeah, sure, I don't think she'll mind, but I'm not going anywhere with him," -ouch?- "Okay. Okay. Tell Mary Congrats for me!"

She snapped the phone shut, eying me skeptically. "Wait, Weirdo," she mumbled before she turned on her heels and ran into her house, only to come out fifteen minutes later with a small backpack, letting herself in the passenger seat, huffing.

"Hi," I said, trying to bring up any kind of conversations with her. "My name's-"

"Colby," she answered for me, "You're Uncle Embry's distant cousin or something and you're taking me to his place now, at least that's what he told me and I told my mom, because they have a party for Mary Call, my cousin, because they found out she's pregnant today. My name's Allie and I don't talk to strangers, especially weirdos and stalkers, and you just might be both of them combined, so I'm not talking to you."

Did she have to leave me speechless every time she spoke?

"Er, I'm not a stalker, by the way."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and I'm a bloodsucking vampire."

For less than a second, I froze, focusing on the road, until I got that she was being sarcastic, so I decided to play along. "Too bad," I said, "Because werewolves don't like vampires."

She finally glanced my way, arching an eyebrow. "Your point."

"I'm a werewolf," I announced with all the seriousness in the world.

She rolled her eyes. "Just because I said I was a mythical creature doesn't mean you have to do the same," she said, "And try to be more creative. Werewolf? Really?"

I chuckled. "So, what about this?" I cleared my throat, "I'm a half-human, quarter vampire creature who can morph into a horse-sized wolf any time of the day, the month or the year, is immortal and can project thoughts into people's brains."

She smiled, the corners of her mouth reaching the maximum it could with her rosy cheeks. "Now we're talking!"

ALISON ANDERSON

So maybe Weirdo wasn't so bad after all; he could name powers and qualities of vampires and werewolves more than I could have ever imagined possible, and, besides, his car was pretty fast and comfortable.

"You see," he said, "I want to show you a little place where the wolves meet up with the vamps - it's called The Clearing."

That was when Mythical-Loving-Weirdo disappeared and Creepy-Stalker kicked in. "Can you please just take me to Uncle Embry's house?"

"What? Are you afraid they might hurt you?"

My smile disappeared. "No," I said, "But, please take me to Uncle Embry."

He pulled over on the side of the road, eying me warily. "Are you afraid of me, Allie?"

My heart pounded in my chest as I took in the situation. I was stupid to agree to all this to start with. I was stupid to lie to Mom and tell her Uncle Embry was the one waiting for me outside, knowing she wouldn't want to meet him. I was stupid to ride with a stranger; for all I knew maybe it wasn't Uncle Embry on the phone. Maybe he was a stalker, really. Or worse, a kidnapper who just knew too much about my family.

"No."

"Hey, hey," he soothed, his eyes softening, "I'm not-"

"Don't touch me!" I snapped when his fingers touched my shoulders. Thankfully, his hands found their way back to the steering wheel as he sighed, finally moving out of our position.

"I swear I'm not going to hurt you," he mumbled in a daze, "Never, Allie, remember that."

My breath hitched. "Please take me -"

"We're three minutes away," he grumbled, "Don't worry."

How can I not?

I buried my face in my hands, speaking my thoughts. "I'm really stupid," I mumbled into my palms, "if anything happens to me, it will be all my fault."

"Nothing will happen to you!" he yelled, making me shrink in my seat.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I sobbed dryly, never having the will to close my eyes and let my tears fall down.

Calm down, will you? his voice echoed in my head, causing me to jump, staring back at him with astonishment. He glanced at me with the corner of his eyes, and I could swear he knew why I jumped. This was all beginning to sound like a weird, unlikely dream, and my head was swirling blankly.

"D-Did you just-?" I asked breathlessly, finally losing my vision and consciousness - everything turned black.

COLBY BLACK

"Just what did you do?" Embry asked, looking at Allie (whom Mary was trying to wake) warily.

"I couldn't help it!" I said, keeping my eyes on her, too, as I did, "She freaked out and I just - I kind of -"

"Messed up. Big time."

I nodded.

"How?"

I sighed. "She started hyperventilating and she wouldn't let me soothe her," I explained, "So I told her to calm down."

He closed his eyes, cursing under his breath. "Told her as in in her head?"

I nodded.

"Colby, go home and I don't want to see you anywhere near this house tonight," he ordered, "Anywhere, if you want to ever see her again, that is. Don't ruin my happy bubble and go home."

I grimaced, taking in her fluttering eyes and paled skin, before I turned my back to her, resisted every physical law, and ran.

Author's Note:

There they were! The prologue and chapter 1. I know they're a bit shorter than my normal chapters, but they will get longer as the story progresses - just if it does. Do you want it to do? Please tell me.

I will not continue if this story isn't welcome here. I write for my pleasure more than anything else, really. But I'm not going to publish stuff here while no one reads them :)

TooToo