A/N: It's Wednesday, and you know what that means; another day I remembered to update on time! Even better, this chapter is actually longer than most. I'm really excited, not just because I had forgotten how long this chapter is and I'm always happy to give you peeps more, but because I also finished writing Chapter 15 of this story, which means I'm effectively staying ahead and can keep on schedule for a little bit longer. I'm honestly kind of proud of myself. Please, continue with the reviews, not only do they make me happy, but I've found the more reviews I get, the more pumped I get to write, and therefore, the more I end up writing.

Extra A/N: Any of you guys want to bother me, get updates, talk about shit, get sneak peeks, and enjoy random chaos? Go check out my discord server! Ffnet hates links so I can't post the full thing, but you just have to add the . gg in the right place, and you should be able to get in. Or just add my friend code Saiyon#4928 and I'll send you the discord server link from there. Anyway, as always, hope you guys enjoy, and I love you all!

Chapter 10

"Don't worry, I'm sure they won't kill me for this. They'll probably just call the cops and have me arrested," Riley did her best to assure Leah. She never took her eyes off of the vampires, even as she focused on thinking random thoughts. She didn't want them to know how easy Riley found it to get out of police custody.

"Riley-"

"I'll see you soon, I'm fine," Riley said. "Seriously, I'll see you in-" The sound from the other side of the phone cut off, and Riley gave a quick glance at the screen, only to groan in frustration. She knew she should have charged her phone before falling asleep. Well, she couldn't regret it now. Her phone was dead, and she still had seven vampires staring her down. "So...how are you fine folk doing this evening?"

"Does Bella know you're here?" Alice asked at last. It made the other vampires all look at Alice in confusion. Edward read Alice's mind, and he grimaced just from hearing that Riley was Bella's friend. Alice made sure to say, "This is Riley. Bella's...friend," out loud for the rest of the Cullens, at a human volume, even, already playing a part of a human in front of the intruder. They must not know that Riley knew what they were.

"Nope." Riley tried to act awkward and unsure of herself, like she was at a loss of what to do. She didn't want to make any decisions yet so Alice wouldn't know what she was planning, keeping her mind blank for Edward so that he didn't notice he was checking out the escape routes. Damn it, why did Riley have to fall so deeply asleep at the worst possible time? "I didn't want her to know about my living situation."

"You mean that you were staying at her ex boyfriend's house?" Alice asked with an arched eyebrow.

"No, I didn't know that," Riley lied. She was a master liar, but could she lie to a vampire? It didn't look like they appeared suspicious. "By 'living condition,' I meant the whole being homeless thing." She couldn't believe it, but she saw a flash of compassion across Carlisle and Esme's face. No way. They were not feeling compassion for someone who broke into their home. "It was weird that the utilities were all still on and that everything was still here, but I had confirmation that this place was abandoned. I couldn't pass up an opportunity like this, especially not during winter." Riley mixed together the truths and lies while watching their expressions. Carlisle and Esme only seemed to become more compassionate and understanding, Emmett curious, Alice conflicted, Edward grumpy, and Jasper's face was blank. No one except the hot blonde she knew was Rosalie appeared openly suspicious or hostile. Shit, looking at Rosalie, she couldn't help but take her in, eyes traveling over her body.

Emmett chuckled when he caught Riley staring. "She knows she's in deep shit and she still can't help but check you out. I think you have a new admirer, Rose."

Rosalie's glare immediately strengthened, and Riley quickly turned her eyes away with a grimace. Shit, she hadn't meant to do that; it was at times like this that Riley realized just how weak she was to blondes. Had she not been so focused on keeping her mind off certain topics, she probably would have given a flirty reply that would have gotten her in even more trouble than she was before. Not on purpose of course, but she doubted anyone would care if she meant to flirt or not.

"Edward?" Carlisle asked, way too low for a human to hear. Of course, thanks to Riley's weird hearing, she could easily listen in.

"I can't read her," Edward replied just as quietly, frustrated.

"Wow, again?" Rosalie joined in scathingly. "Maybe you're finally losing your touch."

"I am not!" Edward's voice rose in volume, but still kept below a human's hearing. "This is...different. With Bella, I don't hear anything. With this one, I try to listen, and all I hear is static. It's aggravating."

"I can't see her either," Alice looked upset as she admitted it. She took Jasper's hand in hers for support. "Whenever I try, I encounter static too. Like looking at a broken TV."

"And I can't get a good read on her emotions. It feels...fuzzy," Jasper added.

Well, isn't that good to know? Riley's small miracle just got a hell of a lot bigger. She didn't know why things were the way they were, but she wasn't about to think too hard about it at the moment. Thank god for her super hearing, otherwise she would have been putting in a ton of extra work for no reason. "Look, I'll never come back here, I promise. I barely touched anything while I was here. I even slept on your couch because your rooms were way too fancy for me. There's only one bedroom I kept going into, but it's because I kinda needed stuff to wear."

"Wait...whose room did you...you're wearing my clothes!" Alice gasped. "And you're matching that shirt with those pants, of all things? And why are you wearing only one of my gloves? Those don't match at all!"

Riley grimaced. "I didn't really have a choice, okay? The clothes I originally wore became kinda unusable. I tried to wear as little as I could." Which was true, because Riley couldn't stomach wearing the majority of the clothes. The pixie's tastes were way too girly and expensive for her. "I'll give you these clothes back the second I have something else to wear. Okay?" Riley hated being so pathetic. Hated pleading and begging. But regardless of how good she was at fighting and escaping and getting out of trouble, these were fucking vampires, and Riley had to be careful.

"Oh, this poor girl," Esme whispered, sounding as if she wanted to cry. Again too low for normal humans to hear, which meant Riley had to hide how much those words affected her. She fucking hated being pitied.

"You aren't honestly believing this are you?" Rosalie hissed for all to hear. "She's playing you all!"

"Damn, you sure know how to make bitchy look good," Riley purred. Immediately, seven pairs of wide eyes turned to her, and Riley realized her mistake. Whoops. Right, now wasn't a time to be flirting.

Emmett burst out laughing, and even when Rosalie elbowed him in the stomach and glared at him, he didn't appear too apologetic. "What? She's not wrong!"

"My bad, that one slipped out," Riley admitted. "I'm a bit of a flirt, I don't always mean to be. It's in my nature." It was hard, acting weak and aplogetic, admitting to her faults, showing any kind of chink in her armor. Riley had to keep reminding herself it was necessary, that it would increase her survival chance. These weren't her normal enemies, they weren't people she could seduce or trick like she could do before she ended up in La Push.

"Sweetheart, I don't know what you've gone through, but I'm sure your pare-" For normal people, it would have taken them a little longer to notice Riley's reaction. However Esme noticed in half a second, as did the rest of the vampires. Riley had only just started to tense, the light in her eyes had only just started to dim, but it made things clear; Riley and her parents certainly weren't on good terms.

"No," Riley replied flatly. "No parents."

"I'm sorry," Esme said, putting a hand to her chest, right where her undead heart squeezed painfully at the carefully concealed pain in Riley's eyes. It was hard not to mother the girl, despite the situation. To try and comfort her in some way.

Riley hissed suddenly as a heat she had gotten familiar with shot up her arm. It was so fast-in one second her fingertips tingled, and in the next, fire was burning along her supposedly healed wound until it made its way to her chest. Why? Why now? Riley hadn't even accidentally fucked it up this time!

"Riley? Are you alright?" Carlisle asked when the human bent over, clutching her arm to her chest. To Riley's disbelief, she felt something along her arm split, and then a wetness trickle down her arm and through her shirt.

Blood. Oh, fuck no, this wasn't happening. She was doing so well in surviving her first vampire encounter, and now her own body was going to get her killed!

Around her, all vampires but Carlisle froze, and Riley froze too. "Fuck...I guess I ruined your clothes," Riley managed to choke the joke out. She glanced up at the vampires, moving from one pair of bright golden eyes to the other. Wait, weren't they supposed to turn black when they smelled blood? Yet quite a few of them slowly appeared confused too.

"You don't need to stay here, go," Carlisle said at vampire volume, then switching to a human volume to say, "I'm a doctor, let me help you." Damn it, why did he have to remind Riley of that? Riley couldn't help but cringe away as he reached out to help her.

"I don't feel any bloodlust," Jasper whispered at vampire volume, awed. "I didn't think she smelled good at all when I first saw her, but even now...I don't want to drain her. I don't feel any bloodlust from anyone else either."

Well, wasn't that fucking fantastic. What a great time to learn this; couldn't they realize this without having Riley bleed all over the place?

"Doctors and I don't get along," Riley said, taking Carlisle freezing for a moment at Jasper's admission to scoot back. Fuck, that was way too big of a weakness to admit. Sasha would be scolding the hell out of her if she had heard that. Her hand immediately dove into her pocket, relieved to find her locket still in the tiny bag necklace. It felt like Sasha was with her, Riley could almost feel Sasha standing next to her. Scolding her, but also being there for her. Standing against the threat together.

One by one, each Cullen took a deep breath, scenting her blood, only to find that none of them felt even a tickle in their throats in reaction. As they all started to murmur lowly among themselves in confusion and shock, Riley added, "Look, can I just have some paper towels or something? I have a friend who can take a look at it later. And the pain stopped!" Which was true, the pain was gone. The only thing left was a dull ache and the fucking bleeding.

Carlisle looked helplessly at her, but his words were firm. "I'm afraid I must insist on examining you. For you to start bleeding out of nowhere like that could be an indicator of something dangerous to your health."

"Or that she has fake blood rigged to pop to try and get sympathy," Rosalie spat.

"Rosalie!" Esme scolded.

"She is quite suspicious, you have to admit. The entire situation is just strange." Edward made it clear he wasn't talking just about the current situation revolving around finding Riley in their house and the sudden bleeding, but the vampire things as well. Damn, he was way too obvious about them being more than human, he really should work on that.

"Dear, is it just doctors that are the problem?" Esme asked.

"And nurses," Riley muttered. There it was again, admitting more weakness. She had spent way too much time with the pack and Bella, too much time relaxing. Having spent so much time in comfort, feeling safe, had dulled her too much. Why did she let herself get this bad? Why hadn't she realized how much she had been changing sooner? Her hand strayed to her pocket, to take strength from Sasha, but she stopped. Feeling for the locket could become a tell, be a sign of weakness. She had to stop doing it.

"Well, sweetie, I'm not either; I'm just a mom," Esme said. "How about you let me check you out and patch you up under my husband's instruction? And if it's anything bad, we can revisit the idea of getting you more proper help.

Riley nodded hesitantly. She wasn't exactly comfortable around Esme, but it wasn't like she had much of a choice. She was still bleeding, and she was bleeding pretty heavily considering the wound. If the bleeding didn't stop in the next few minutes, she might be pretty fucked over in more ways than one.

"Thank you." Esme gave Riley a genuine smile, which only made Riley even more wary. Who would be that happy to help someone that had broken into their house? "Okay kids, everyone out. We need some privacy."

"The boys can leave, but I'm staying here," Rosalie said sharply. She crossed her arms over her chest, daring anyone to defy her. "I'm not leaving you alone with her."

"I'm staying too. Someone has to make sure Rosalie doesn't bite Riley's head off," Alice piped up.

"Then perhaps I should also-"

"Come on Eddie, even I know not to try and hang around when a girl that isn't mine needs to take her shirt off," Emmett interrupted.

"But I-"

"Let's go," Jasper said, and the three boys left the room.

Carlisle looked between Riley and the vampire girls. "Riley's comfort is of the utmost importance. I doubt she will be comfortable around even more strangers than she already has to be around."

"Nah, it's fine, they can stay." Riley had to bite her own tongue to stop from adding something suggestive. Instead, she started struggling to take her shirt off without using her injured arm. Esme was quick to help her after one last worried glance at Alice and Rosalie, and Riley had to stop herself from jerking away from the woman. The moment Esme managed to peel off the shirt and glove, all four vampires were greeted with a horrible sight. Riley wasn't wearing a bra under her shirt, which left her front and back on complete display. Which also meant their vampire vision took in each and every scar on her tiny body. No one had been prepared. Alice even audibly gasped.

"Oh yeah, forgot to mention, my body is kind of a shock to normal people." Damn, was Riley really so fucked up even to vampire eyes? Hell, she saw Jasper's scars, but would he be just as freaked out? If people kept reacting this way to seeing her naked, her ego would really start taking a hit. She put her uninjured hand in her pocket again, grasping the bagged locket for strength. "Or are you all stunned by my beauty?"

Riley's words startled everyone out of their staring. Esme immediately started working on cleaning Riley's wound and stopping the bleeding while the other vampires stayed quiet. Her touch felt really good to Riley despite how uncomfortable she felt around Esme, she really did love the feel of anything cold on her skin. It was as soothing as actual medical attention.

"This...is this a brand? On the lower part of your left back. Did someone do that to you?" Carlisle almost reached out to touch, but stopped himself at the last minute.

"Ah, yeah." Of course he had to bring that up first. Maybe if Riley kept quiet, he wouldn't push any further?

"Who the hell did that to you?" Rosalie demanded, and Riley was surprised at the amount of venom in her voice. "And who did that to your shoulder blade? And on your leg? On the back of your neck? There's so many scars that can't be anything but purposely inflicted."

"What does it matter? It's not like you care about me." Riley hadn't said it out of malice, but fact. She knew Rosalie cared about Bella the least out of the Cullens, and didn't want anything to do with humans whatsoever. Riley didn't know why she was asking Riley about any of this when it had nothing to do with the current situation.

"Just tell me," Rosalie snapped. "Unless you're too much of a coward to talk about it."

"Rosalie!" Esme gasped.

"Rosalie, that was uncalled for!"

"Rose, you should apologize," Alice added softly, but took Rosalie's hand. Of course Riley noticed this, realized that something about this really shook Rosalie up. Maybe she was reminded of her own past horrors by looking at Riley? Shit, Riley hadn't thought of that. She probably shouldn't get into details.

In the hall, the boys were talking. Riley heard Emmett sound upset. He wanted to go to Rosalie, to help his mate. He knew Rosalie was shaken up. Jasper wanted to know what the women saw that made them all freak out. He was an intellectual type, Riley knew that. If he could see the problem, he probably felt like he could fix it.

Edward told Jasper he didn't want to know. He sounded sick; most likely, he saw Riley's body through the others' minds. Huh, who would have guessed one of the ways Riley would be making Edward pay for what he did to Bella was by baring her body?

Riley met Rosalie's eyes and said, "I've been on the streets most of my life. I've met a lot of people. Not many have been kind."

Rosalie opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't bring herself to say anything. Before the silence could stretch on too long, it was broken by Esme, who let out a breath of relief as Riley's bleeding finally stopped. She hurried over to the giant medical kit that had been put on the table by Alice, who had gotten it at a speed a human wouldn't have been able to. They had made sure to keep Riley facing away when Alice had run off, but Riley had still noticed the sudden appearance of the medicine kit. How could she not?

"Do you mind telling me how you got the wound on your arm? It's never unique," Carlisle said, bending over closer as Esme came back with bandages.

Sure, what could it hurt? Hopefully it would also make Carlisle back the fuck up a bit more. "I got hit by lightning a while back. No idea why the fuck it started bleeding now of all times though."

"Lightning?" Carlisle sounded puzzled, but also curious. Riley didn't like it, that kind of curiosity made her nervous. Thankfully, as Carlisle bent closer for a better look, Alice seemed to notice something.

"Carlisle, your phone," Alice told her father.

"Hm? What about it?" Carlisle reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone, which was currently lit up. He glanced at the screen, and Riley watched as his eyebrows arched in surprise. Riley was able to catch a glimpse of the screen, but Carlisle's hand was covering the important parts. All Riley could make out was something about over seven missed calls. The phone had clearly been on silent mode, but given that they were vampires, it was still a bit of a surprise that they hadn't noticed the phone going off sooner.

"Is everything okay?" Riley asked curiously.

"It's the-it's Sam," Carlisle said, correcting himself at the last minute.

"What do they want?" Rosalie sounded completely disgusted at the mention of them. Yup, that part was definitely the same as in the books.

"I don't know, but it must be urgent. I should take this." Before he could choose to return the call, the phone lit up once more, showing that Sam was calling again. Carlisle accepted the call, saying, "Sam, what a surprise. What can we help you with?"

"I didn't know until just now, but it seems one of mine has been staying at your place," Sam said with forced politeness.

"One of yours?" Carlisle asked. Four pairs of golden eyes turned to Riley automatically.

"Yes. She's not a wolf or imprint, but she's still part of my pack. I admit I was at fault for not knowing she had been staying at your residence. I should have looked into exactly where she had found to live on such short notice."

"It was quite the shock to come home to," Carlisle said.

There was a pause. "Is she alright?" Sam asked, and he actually sounded upset, worried. For Riley. Huh. Go figure.

"Well…" Carlisle's hesitancy was met with multiple snarls in the background. Again, it was supposed to be inaudible to Riley so she kept her face blank, but Alice had no problem arching an eyebrow at the reaction while Rosalie scowled.

"Is she alive?" Sam demanded, all traces of fake pleasantry gone. In fact, he sounded absolutely furious. "I swear, if you hurt her-"

"No harm came to her from us, Sam, I assure you," Carlisle quickly interjected. "However, she has a wound on her arm. From lightning I believe? It started bleeding while we were talking-"

"She's bleeding? In front of vampires?" Paul demanded from the background. There were more snarls from Sam's side, both from shifters in their human forms and some as wolves. Apparently somewhere along the line of hearing Riley was in danger had caused some of them to shift. Even Sam appeared to be on the verge of shifting, if his suddenly heavy breathing and low growl was any indication.

"We are tending to her as we speak. None of us have been tempted by her blood." Carlisle was quick to assure the wolves, but it didn't sound like his words helped convince any of them, judging from even more wolven snarls coming from the line.

"Like hell you haven't. I want her back. Now," Sam said at last. His voice left no room for argument. "Name your price for her return, leech. But she better be safe and unharmed. Is that understood?"

Carlisle turned to Riley. "It appears you have some people who want you back home. Am I right to believe that you know a man named Sam Uley?" He handed Riley the phone, deciding the least volatile situation would come from Riley talking to the wolves herself.

Riley took the phone with her uninjured hand and for a moment, just stared at it. She wasn't sure what to do, what kind of response she would get from them. She glanced over at Rosalie, who looked surprised and annoyed to be looked to for help out of all the current Cullens, but she made a waving gesture with her hand telling Riley to get on with the conversation. Well, fuck it, surely the Cullens wouldn't actually turn this into a real hostage situation, would they? And Riley couldn't just refuse to talk to her pack.

"Uh...sup?" Riley asked awkwardly.

Immediately, she was met with a wave of voices, all of which were filled with relief. Some were asking if she was okay, others if she was hurt, and of course some demanding to know what she was thinking, how she could be so stupid as to stay at an abandoned house in the first place. What felt craziest to Riley was the overwhelming love she felt from each and every one of them.

It was then that it finally hit her, that she came to realize something that should have been obvious to Riley for a while now. The entire time she had been trying to figure out how to get out of the Cullen situation, she hadn't even given the pack a thought. She had relied on nobody but herself for so long to get out of every situation, because ever since Sasha's passing, she had been alone. But the chorus of voices reminded Riley of how much things had changed. Reminded Riley that if she had thought to reach out to them, that they would have helped her in a shifter's heartbeat.

Riley wasn't alone anymore.