Oh my Gosh! I am sooo sorry that I have not posted anything in nine months! I have no reason to give for that. Except that I was sooo lazy, I did not want to write anything. And I had no muse so it was really difficult. But I watched Nightmare on Elm Street the other day and it sparked a fire that created this chapter and a little of the next one ima post so thank Freddy Krueger! Lol. Please review, they make me all warm and fuzzy inside. By the way, I am well aware that this chap has many errors. My current beta is out on maternity leave and will not be available to beta for me for awhile. SO, if anyone of ya'll feels up to the job, I would love a new temporary beta! :) Please review! If I get atleast 5 reviews on this chapter by tomorrow night I will give you guys another chapter! :) PINKY SWEAR

A Cinderella of Sorts

Kim's POV

The sea of calm I was in after I passed out for a second time didn't last long. After what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, I saw the green light again. Except this time it advanced much, much faster. In a burst of white hot energy and light I once again was blinded. However this time instead of regaining consciousness, I was thrust into a sort of vision. I was in a dark room. It was cold, musty and underneath my back the ground was gravelly. I sat up slowly, wincing as the sharp rocks beneath me scraped me in the process. I managed to stand up after much effort and look around. Suddenly, I heard a loud scrape. The sound was akin to someone dragging their key along the side of someone's car very slowly. I shivered.

"Hello?"

"Hello."

I screamed and jumped in fright. I slowly turned around to face the direction the voice came from. When I see who it is, my blood chills and my stomach flips.

"Hello, Kim. Long time, no see."

"What do you want?"

She laughs her tinkling bells laugh, but to me it sounds too shrill. She abruptly stops laughing and shoves her hand into me, pushing me back onto my back roughly.

"Your blood of course. And I'm gonna get it. I'm coming for you Kim. Sooner or later, so you might want to start making reservations for a spot in that shitty town's cemetery," she sneers at me.

She glares at me and as if she willed it with her eyes, I am paralyzed. I struggle to move anything, something but I don't get so much as a twitch or an eye roll. Elaine simpers closer to me and kneels down next to me. I internally flinch. She has a sinister look in her eyes, much like the one Jackson had. It terrifies me, because I know I am at her mercy. I also know that she has none. Elaine touches her fingers to my elbow crease and I notice she has long, sharp, purple-polished fingernails. I am brought out of my assessment of her nails when she digs her index nail into the crease of my elbow, drawing blood. I scream, and scream. She doesn't retract her nail she just presses harder, smiling down at me wickedly. It's almost as if she is deriving pleasure from my pain, I am almost sure of it.

"Jared!" I yell as loud as humanly possible, hoping that somehow, someway he can rescue me like he did last time.

To my relief and wonder after a moment of calling out to him, Elaine's face starts to fade out from my vision and the pain slowly subsides. And the gravel beneath me turns into something soft, like a pillow and I am no longer cold, but very warm. Before long, I slip into a peaceful abyss, once AGAIN. (AN: LOL, I know she does that fade in/fade out thing a lot but bear with me. Plz). The slumber doesn't last longer than a second this time. I feel consciousness creeping up on me. I flutter my eyes open and blink against the sudden brightness of the fluorescent lights above me. And then something is blocking the light, or rather someone.

Jared.

He smiles his beautiful smile and tells me 'I'm here.' Huh, I must have said that out loud. I can't pause to smile back; instead I feel tears gathering in my eyes.

"Jared, it's Elaine."

He looks dazed for a moment and then he freezes as if what I said just registered.

"What?" he asks, with equal anger and fear lacing his tone.

"She's out there, and she's coming for me."

He stops breathing all together and I reach out to grab his hand. His large hand dwarfing my small one as I gently squeeze it.

"Jared, what are we gonna do?"

He seems to snap out of it and looks at me. The adoration, and love in his eyes promise to protect me and keep me safe. And I trust him implicitly.

"I won't let anything happen to you, Kim. You are too important to me. Without you I wouldn't survive. Do you trust me?"

My heart melts into a puddle of goo at his words as I nod my head 'yes' to answer his last question.

"Good," he smiles and then leans down.

I close my eyes and sure enough two seconds later his soft lips are on mine. I kiss him back gently, still unsure of my technique as stupid as that is. I still feel really self-conscious when I kiss Jared because I don't want him to think I'm a bad kisser or something. I know it is silly after all we've been through, but still. I concentrate on how his lips feel against my own and decide to just enjoy it. His lips were warm and smooth like marshmallows…mmm. And then they were gone and my lips were still puckered. How embarrassing. I open my eyes and see him smirking at me.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just like that I can make you look like this."

I flush and imagine how I must look.

"What do you mean?"

"You look…I don't know, dazzled." He says cockily.

"Stroke that ego anymore and your head might explode," I tease.

He shrugs and then frowns, looking at my arm. I follow his gaze and gasp when I see that the injury from the vision.

"How did-what-…Jared how did that happen?" I stammer.

"It just appeared on your arm one second. We didn't do anything. Why? Do you know how it happened?" Carlisle chimed in.

I glanced over Jared's shoulder, at the doctor. I hadn't even realized he was here. I looked away from both of them and shifted on my back, pulling myself up into a sitting position. Jared after seeing what I was trying to do put his arms around me and pulled me up gently. I smiled at him gratefully. He gave me a crooked grin in return, but I could see he was freaking out on the inside. Sighing I told them about the vision I had. During the story, I can see Jared tensing up more and more as I explained what Elaine said.

"I think I know what's going on," Carlisle tells me, "Do you know how some vampires have special powers, Kim?"

I nodded. Jared had told me all this a while ago when he told me about the wolves.

"Well, it seems that Elaine can somehow distort the dimensions between reality and fantasy in order to propel herself into your dreams. It's a rare gift, but I have heard of it before."

"But how did the injury happen? It was just a dream after all," I inquire.

"Well, that's what I'm saying. It wasn't just a dream. She is actually in the dream. Whatever happens in the dream happens for real," Carlisle corrects me.

"But then that means if she killed me in a dream, then-"

"You would die in real life," Carlisle finishes grimly.

Jared looks horrified and I am sure my expression mirrors his as we both stare at Carlisle.

How am I supposed to sleep then? If she can just teleport herself into my dream and possibly kill me?

"Jared, what are we going to do?" I whisper.

He doesn't answer; instead he silently brings me to his chest and envelops me in a warm embrace. He rubs his hand up and down my back in slow comforting motions as Carlisle tries- and fails- to assuage my fear as well.

"Kim, I honestly do believe that you will be safe, at least for a little while."

I pulled away from the warmth of Jared's chest to look the good doctor in the eye.

"Why is that?"

"I think that the whole reason she decided to invade your dream today was just to warn you, to keep you on your toes and make you paranoid," he explained.

I nodded my head slowly. I guess it makes sense in a weird way. I still don't like it though. And I probably will not sleep well for a long time. Unless Jared is with me of course.

Whoa, where did that come from? I think, while blushing furiously. Jared notices and gives me a curious look. I just shake my head at him. No way am I telling him I was thinking about sleeping in the same bed as him!

"Kim?"

"Huh, yeah, what did I miss?" I rush out, glancing between Carlisle and Jared.

"I said why don't we have the pack patrol outside your house for extra protection just in case?" Carlisle suggests.

I nod my head in agreement and smile at them. Whatever they think is best. They continue to work out their collaborative protection plans for me, but I tune them out. I run over the dream one more time, trying to make sense of it once more.

"Wait a second; you said earlier that the glowing thing was to protect her. That it was her powers' way of sensing danger and protecting her. Well how can it protect her from a threat that isn't physical?"

I looked up at Jared in curiosity when he voices this wondering what they are talking about.

"I glow?" I huff, incredulously.

"Yep, a turquoise- greenish color. It's really pretty. Like anything about you isn't," Jared scoffs at the end.

I blush and choose to ignore him. Instead I look at Carlisle for an explanation.

"Another part to your powers is a visible protection barrier that whenever your body senses danger it will rise up. Like during your dream, when you sensed danger-Elaine- your body glowed. You also levitated off the bed, however I am at a loss for how that plays into your powers," Carlisle explains.

"Cool," I grin.

Jared raises an eyebrow at me. I just shrug my shoulders wearing a sheepish smile. They continue to talk for about an hour. For the most part I tune them out, but every now and then I tune back in to hear them discussing what happened during my dream and what it could mean, for those parts I listened in. Eventually, they have nothing left to talk about and Jared and I leave once Carlisle gives me the healthy go ahead. I get to the stairs and suddenly Jared sweeps me up into his arms. I let out a short screech in surprise.

"Jared, Carlisle said I am fine. You don't have to carry me," I protest.

"Maybe I want to," he retorts, winking at me.

I blush ONCE AGAIN, and let it go. Curse my stupid blushing, Jared sees it and bursts out in raucous laughter. I make a 'humph' sound and cross my arms over my chest haughtily. This only makes him laugh harder. As soon as he stops laughing, he leans over and kisses my cheek.

Aw, I internally swoon, how does a girl resist that?

I sink into him and tuck myself under his chin. It's a perfect fit. Jared carries me all the way down the stairs and as we pass the rest of the Cullens I glance over at the redhead boy. Earlier, it had seemed like he could read my mind. I took a moment to look over him. He was handsome in a very boyish way, nothing compared to my Jared, but I can see why girls would swoon over him. As if he heard me the side of his mouth lifts up, almost imperceptibly, in a crooked grin as he looks at me. I grin back in a friendly manner. Jared tells me that we are walking back to my house since he left his truck at his place. I turn my head back into Jared's chest and snuggle into him, settling in for the long walk back to my house. He tightens his arms around me. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know, I am on my front porch and Jared is gently shaking me awake. I grumble and squish myself closer to him, refusing to wake up and move from my very comfy spot. The shaking stops and I start to think I won when I feel hot lips on my own. I gasp and I can feel him smile against my lips. I kiss him back fervently, because kissing him is even better than cuddling with him. He gently licks along the seam of my lips with his tongue, requesting permission. I immediately grant it to him, like I would deny him, I scoff internally. My tongue is met with his warm one and they tangle together gently. I've heard you have to fight for dominance over the other's mouth, but this kiss was shared. We explored each other equally. Pretty soon, I began to feel a curling in the pit of my stomach, a yearning for something. I'm not quite sure what it was. I moan into Jared's mouth when he deepens the kiss even further. He pulls back and pecks me one more time before pulling away completely. I open my eyes and see him smirking down at me.

"I'm up now," I giggle. Nothing like a little make out with Jared to rouse a girl from her sleep.

"Why did you wake me up, not that I didn't enjoy it," I giggle.

"Because I am pretty positive you don't want your dad seeing me carry you in and up to your room," he grins.

My eyes widen comically as I jerk back to the reality that I have a father and a very protective one at that. Jared's right, seeing a large, hulking man carrying in his baby girl would practically give her poor daddy a heart attack.

"Right," I agree nodding my head and attempting to climb down out of his arms.

Jared tightens his arms around me and I look at him raising a confused brow. He just chuckles.

"That's why we are going in through you're window. I just needed you awake so you can hold on to me."

I giggle and nod. He gently shifts my weight and pushes me onto his back. I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his back. I can feel him purr if that's even possible, when I settle onto him laying my head down.

Comfy, I giggle in my head as a feeling of contentment settles in my chest.

As if he feels it and agrees, a rumbling purr resounds from Jared's chest.

He stalks around the side of my house and stops underneath my window seemingly contemplating how he's going to enter. I wait patiently. And in the next second he begins to use the route I always take: climbing up the thick ropes of ivy that curl possessively around my side of the house. He huffs in exhaustion when we reach the top and he sets me down gently in such a way I have to wonder if I was too heavy for him. I frown when that thought goes through my head. I mean I know I'm not super stick-skinny but I am not chunky either.

"What's going through that beautiful little head of yours?" Jared asks when he turns around after securing my window and locking it tightly.

He reaches a large warm hand up to my forehead and smoothes my frown out with his fingers. As soon as he touches me the imprint takes effect and I feel completely soothed and relaxed.

"Was I too heavy for you or something? You look exhausted."

Jared does the one thing I didn't expect him to do when I voiced my question aloud. He laughs. And I don't mean little manly chuckles, I'm talking loud, choking, rolling on the floor clutching your ribs, type laughing. It's completely irrational but I feel somewhat snubbed at his action. As if my question was totally retarded or something. I huff and cross my arms over my chest in an annoyed manner and cross my room to plop down onto my king- sized bed. Jared's hysterics die down after a few minutes and he follows me sitting down onto the bed he pulls me into his arms and rubs his warm hands in a soothing up and down motion over my upper arms.

"I'm sorry Kim. But even the idea of you being too heavy for me was hilarious. Not only am I a super strong werewolf but honey, you weigh less than a hundred and twenty pounds. You're not exactly a chunky monkey," Jared chuckles still smiling widely.

I blush at his compliment and chide myself for being so insecure.

"It's just been a long day is all, and I am ready to catch some dream waves with my girl."

I blush even brighter after that. Jared again laughs at my expense, but I can't really hold it against him this time. He finishes laughing much faster this time and we both recline on my bed and snuggle. Jared spoons me from behind and pulls me into his chest so I am pressed against him from head to toe. I have no room for shyness or insecurity at the new position because despite how long I was out of it today I am strangely sleepy and after a few moments of listening to Jared's even breathing and steady heartbeat and I drift off peacefully into slow easy dreams…or so I thought. I was so wrong.