Don't Own Twilight

Bella Badass

Laurent had me pinned to a tree in the meadow. "Do the Cullens visit often?" He asked, sneering slightly.

I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes. "Obviously you already know the answer to that Laurent. No. They don't visit, they don't care, I've never been, nor will I ever be Edwards mate. So it seems you've come here for nothing."

His hand grasped my throat, his eyes closing at the feeling of my pulse. "So feisty. So… temperamental." He leaned in, mouth opening, when suddenly his eyes opened wide, and he turned me around, holding his forearm tight against my neck. "Impossible," he muttered, as we both faced the dark shadows that showed between the trees.

I scoffed, "impossible?" I struggled to pull in a breath. "Welcome to the life of Bella Swan. Where the impossible becomes possible." His arm tightened, as a line of five wolves stepped out from between the trees, lips pulled back into a snarl. "Where Vampires and huge fucking wolves are the norm."

I could feel my airway constricting even more as Laurent called out. "If you come any closer, I will kill her."

"Jesus fucking christ." I muttered, "if you don't loosen your hold on my throat I'll die anyways you fuckwad."

He gasped. "Isabella, what would the Cullen's think of such language?" He asked, even as he loosened his arm slightly.

I could feel my lip pull up into a snarl, and was grateful he couldn't see the fury that rose in my eyes, or the clinching of my fists. "Do you know what I remember of James trying to kill me, after he tracked me to Arizona?"

"No, but I am curious about how you survived. He had never failed before."

"I discovered that vampires have some similarities with humans, at least the males do."

"Oh?" He responded curiously, not taking his eyes off the wolves.

I turned in his arm, and looked up at his face. "Yes, in fact, I have no doubt that all men have the same weakness." His eyes had just begun to widen when I slammed my knee into his crotch, causing him to let go of me and crumple to the ground. I lifted a foot to run away from him when my other ankle was grabbed and pulled out from under me. "Fuck!" I yelled, trying and failing to crawl away.

"You stupid bitch. I was going to kill you quickly, but now it appears that I will need to change my plan." He snarled, pulling on me as the wolves approached so that I was straddling him. His eyes looked straight up at mine as his expression turned to a grin. "This is going to hurt."

"No, I don't want that anymore." I don't know why I was going to try and reason with him. "I thought that I wanted that when I thought that Edward wanted me. But he didn't. Now that I can't be with him I don't want to be alive forever without him."

"What gave you any idea whatsoever that your wants matter in this."

"You once tried to be a good man. You didn't join James and Victoria when they tried to kill me last year. You stayed out of it. Do that again. Leave."

He looked like he was thinking about it for a moment, but then his grip tightened on the back of my neck. "If I'm not going to make it out of here alive, I'm at least going to taste your blood."

"No, I don't want to spend forever alone." I cried out, fighting against him, even though I knew I wouldn't be able to over power him.

"Well you really should have thought of that earlier." He snarled, before pulling my head towards his and biting down on my neck. I was thrown away before I could focus on the pain of the bite. But knowing what to expect, unlike the time James had bitten me, I could feel the fire almost instantly.

"No-AAAAHHHHHHH." The burning of my throat caused by the scream distracted me from the sounds of stone pulling apart. Another thing I recognized from my meeting with James. There was a whooshing sound of flames, before footsteps approached me. I clamped my jaw shut in hopes that I wasn't about to die.

"No, Bella." Jacobs voice called, voice thick as he knelt on the ground beside me. I couldn't speak, I knew that if I opened my mouth I would be screaming.

I closed my eyes to block out the sight of my best friend falling apart at my changing. "Take her to the Cullen's old place, leave her there, and then return to the reservation. You need to be with your dad at home when Charlie begins to call looking for her."

For minutes the only thing that I could hear was Jacobs panting breaths, and I tried to focus solely on keeping my jaw clamped shut as the flames raged within me. He kicked the door inward, and ran me over to the covered couch, placing me down on it. "Bella, I'm so sorry that I couldn't protect you. Call me when you wake up, and I'll be here." Then he was gone, and the only thing I had was the pain. I don't know when, but eventually my jaw unlocked itself, and I was releasing a blood curdling scream.

Time passed slowly as the fire raged, it seemed to be an eternity. Eventually I heard an approaching car that skidded to a stop in the front lawn, and approaching footsteps as six people jumped out of the car. "Bella?" A familiar voice called out, one that I'd missed. But screams could be my only reply.

"Can you stop it? Like in Phoenix?" Another voice asked.

"It's already been more than a day, it's too late to stop it now." Another murmured reply even as cold and hard fingers pressed into my wrist.

"What happened Alice?" Someone asked.

"I don't know. I did what Edward asked and wasn't searching for her future. Then suddenly I had a vision of her changing on the couch alone."

"I suppose we'll only know when she wakes."

Time seemed to pass slowly again. I could hear them moving around me, making calls to have movers pack up their house wherever they'd moved to. Hushed whispers, someone trying to comfort me. I'd wanted them to change me, and they'd left. The anger began to build in me even as the flames began to retreat from my extremities. But even the fury that encompassed my very soul could not stop my body from arching when the flames remained solely in my chest. As my heart beat its last beats, I heard a slight commotion as a motorcycle approached from the road. "Ugh, he smells like wet dog."

"What can we do for you?" A familiar voice asked.

"I'm here to check on her." Nobody was paying attention as my eyes opened, but when I sat up, Jacob saw it, and he was suddenly shoving past Carlisle and Rosalie to come up to me. "Bella." His voice whispered, sad.

I was distracted by the beauty of my surroundings. Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice stood around the room, watching… waiting. I turned to look at Jacob. "How were you there?"

The musical notes that my voice seemed to have become weren't enough to distract me from him putting his burning hand to my face. "What do you remember of the stories I told you on the beach that day?"

"You told me of the Cold ones and the tribes his…." Suddenly it clicked. "The wolves."

His eyes closed. "I couldn't tell you. If I had been able to tell you this wouldn't have happened."

"How could you have stopped this?" I was confused, ignoring the burn in my throat, ignoring the Cullen's watching.

"Because if Sam would have let me talk to you I could have told you about the fucking bloodsuckers who kept running through town. The ones who were killing the hikers. I could have been with you when you went hiking, I could have stopped you from going hiking."

I felt several things click. "He wasn't the only one here?"

"No, there was another who kept approaching."

I closed my eyes replaying the short conversation that I'd had with Laurent in the meadow. "How am I still alive?" I asked, shocking myself, because that wasn't what I'd been intending to ask.

"Because the grandson of Ephraim Black was not born to follow the great grandson of Levi Uley. When Sam ordered your death, I took control of the pack." His face fluttered through several emotions, before settling on angry. "Why the fuck did you antagonize him? Why didn't you run?"

The fury was back full force, and before I knew it I was standing chest to chest with him, arms wrapping around my torso to keep my hands from closing around his throat. "I tried! I lied and said the… that they visited all the time, he wasn't going to let me leave alive. What could I do? I was human." His hands ran through his hair, which drew my attention to the fact that he'd cut it. "Why did you cut your hair?" I asked, reaching up to touch it.

"Because shorter hair is more manageable as a wolf." He frowned. "Damn it Bella, I'm still mad at you."

"You're mad at me? Why?"

"Because you knew!" He yelled, despair entering his voice. "You stayed with Cullen even after you knew that he was a vampire. My dad warned you, he told me about it. Even though I didn't understand what it was about, I went to your prom and warned you. You wallowed after him for months when he left you, and you still would have gladly gone back to him."

"You don't know what you're talking about." I growled.

"I was there when Sam carried you out of the forest when that fucker left you, when they all left you. I had to listen to your dad cry to mine about how worried he was that you wouldn't eat or talk, or do anything for months."

"WHY DID YOU EVEN COME HERE JACOB?!"

He seemed momentarily shocked by my yelling. "To check on you, to give you your bike," he put the key into my hand. "And to inform you about the treaty if you want to stay in the area. You can't bite or turn a human without repercussions." Then he softly touched my face. "We could have been great Bella." He murmured, but I shoved his hand off.

"No we couldn't have Jacob." I told him calmly. He shook his head before leaving the house. I watched him go through the window, as he started to run through the woods.

There was silence for a few minutes, before I began to feel the burning again. As my hand reached up to grasp my throat to quell the thirst, Jasper stepped up Emmett right behind him. "Would you like me to show you how to hunt?"

"Us. You might need some extra muscle if you come across some humans." Emmett said calmly, grinning widely.

I nodded, suddenly unsure of whether I'd be able to keep my anger in check to hold my tongue. When they ran out the door, I followed behind them. Running brought back memories that I'd sooner forget. Holding onto Edward as he ran through the woods, being frightened that we'd hit a tree. Though now I could see why those fears were unwarranted. "Okay, this is far enough." Jasper said, coming to a stop, him and Emmett turning to me. I watched him apprehensively. "Close your eyes and listen. Breathe in, smell. Your instincts should take it from there."

I did what he said, and before long, I could hear the pumping of a heart, along with an earthy smell. I started running silently towards the noise and leapt through the air taking down a large elk. By the time I'd drained it, I was already listening again, now feeling like I could sense further. My head tilted as I heard the thundering heartbeat that almost seemed to echo. I was running again, stopping at the mouth of a cave. Quickly picking up a rock I threw it into the opening, and waited, smirking when I heard the animal running towards me. I could feel Jasper and Emmett at the edge of the clearing, keeping their distance, but staying close in case they were needed. Just before the bear impacted, I braced my muscles, so that it was as if the bear had run into a wall. I didn't give it time to recover before my teeth were biting into its neck, ignoring the claws that tried to cut me open. It was almost like a feathers caress as much as it did to me. "Well, that was better than elk." I muttered, standing.

Jasper and Emmett had turned away, and Jasper was holding his shirt behind him. "Take this." He said gently.

I raised a brow, before looking down, and seeing that while I hadn't been harmed by the bears claws my clothing had. I know that if I'd still been human I would be blushing. "Whoops." I said, embarrassed as I ran over, and carefully put the proffered clothing on.

They turned back to me. "Do you think you need to hunt more? Or are you good to go back to the house?"

"I think I'm fine." I replied calmly, and the run back to their house was much calmer, without the urgency of needing to feed. "I can see why you all like to drive fast, if running is this exhilarating."

It seemed to only take minutes to get back to the Cullen residence, and Alice was standing there with a few shopping bags, holding them out to me. "I ran to the mall really quick after I saw what happened. Really Bella, bear for your first hunt?"

"Well, we didn't run across any Newts." I said blasé, grabbing the bags and moving up the stairs. I turned back around. "I'm taking Eddies room, if he comes back he can stay in his car." Stripping down, I hopped into the shower, not looking into the mirror, knowing I was probably covered in blood. I pondered their reaction to my demand and claiming of Edwards room. When I stepped out, I tentatively looked into the mirror, and gasped. "Holy shit." I'd always had self esteem issues, but now I felt like I was fucking gorgeous. I barely paid attention to the clothes I was pulling on from the shopping bags, before racing downstairs to the living room where the Cullen's were waiting.

"Maybe you can explain what happened to you Bella?" Carlisle asked calmly.

I nodded, before grabbing my bag and upending it on the coffee table. I opened the map, laid the compass out beside it. "Jake was helping me try to find the meadow. He didn't know that's what I was looking for, but he didn't want me going alone. I was trying to find closure, you all leaving with no warning, no good bye, hurt me a lot." I looked at Jasper. "Can you project what you feel from me to everyone so that they can understand?" When he nodded, I thought back to how I felt when they abandoned me, when there was a gaping hole in my chest. Their gasps were enough to know that it worked. "I know now that Jake had to stop talking to me because he'd changed into a wolf, but when he stopped hanging out with me, I decided to search for the meadow on my own. Well, I found it." I sighed, memories flashing through my mind. "Not long after I got there Laurent appeared-."

"Laurent?" Alice gasped, "but he was with the Denali's."

"Yes, he was in a relationship with Irina before Victoria contacted him. He was just doing recon for her, but he came across me when he was thirsty and decided that he would kill me instead. The wolves showed up before he could, and he bit me before trying to flee." I didn't tell them about the conversation I'd had with Laurent before he'd bitten me. "I did discover something though." I grinned an evil smile.

"Yes?"

"Even vampires drop to the ground when a human kicks 'em in the nuts." Their eyes widened in astonishment.

"What?"

I nodded, knowing they were speechless. "Yep, nearly broke my leg, but it happened. There was nothing else I could do. I knew I couldn't punch or kick him without breaking bones. But kneeing James in the crotch had worked momentarily in Phoenix. Well then I tried to run but he grabbed my ankle and pulled me back to him so he could bite me. Then I was tossed off to the side and the wolves were on him. Someone told Jake to carry me here and leave me."

"Why is Victoria involved?"

"Thinks I'm Eddie's mate. Wants revenge." I muttered, anger growing, despite the waves of calm that Jasper was trying to send my way. "Stop it Jasper. I'm only going to say it once, and then I'll try to forgive." He looked contemplative, but he nodded acceptance, nonetheless. I stood up and took a moment to look each and every one of them in the eye. "How could you?" I accused. "You allowed me to think of you as family, to feel for you as family, and all of you left without saying shit to me. I get that Edward didn't want me, that I wasn't good for him," I ignored the anger that Emmetts expression displayed as I continued. "You treated me as a daughter, as a sister, as a friend, and then you just left with no explanation. You disregarded any thoughts to my own choices or desires. You took that away from me. You left me unprotected. Even if you were 'tired of pretending to be human' you should have given me at least the courtesy of a goodbye."

They were all silent for a moment, before I allowed Jaspers waves of calm to affect me. Emmett stood as I sat down though. "Is that what that bastard told you?" He asked, ignoring Esme's gasp of shock. "That you weren't good for him? That he was pretending to be human? That he didn't want you?"

"It doesn't matter what he said Emmett." I said quietly, beginning to feel overwhelmed.

"Doesn't matter?! I'll kill the bastard!" He said, beginning to move towards the door, but I was in between him and it in a flash, not even aware that I was yelling.

"NO, IT DOESN'T MATTER! BECAUSE EVEN IF HE LIED TO ME, EVEN IF THAT WAS HIS WAY OF PROTECTING ME, IT DOESN'T MATTER. HE BROKE ME EM. I CAN'T LISTEN TO MUSIC ANYMORE BECAUSE OF HIM. I CAN'T READ MY FAVORITE BOOKS. I'VE BARELY BEEN ABLE TO LOOK AT MY DAD FOR MONTHS BECAUSE I JUST WANTED TO DIE. IT DOESN'T MATTER, BECAUSE HE'S RIGHT. I'M NO GOOD FOR HIM. HE SHOULDN'T WANT ME. I'm never good enough. I wasn't good enough to make Charlie fight for me when Renee left him. I wasn't good enough for Renee to try to be happy in Forks so that I could have both of my parents. I wasn't good enough." Suddenly it wasn't just Emmett that was standing, looking like they were ready to run out of the door to hunt Edward down and kill him.

Rosalie pointed at me, but her eyes were sympathetic. "I'm not going to lie and say I've never had issues with the relationship you had with Edward, but that right there is exactly why we will tear him limb from limb. I didn't hate you Bella, I wanted to protect you. Given a choice for myself, this is not the life I would have chosen. I was jealous that you were trying to throw away the chance at a family, at children. But he needs to have his ass kicked for saying what he said to you, for breaking you."

"We all left when he asked us to, because he told us you were afraid of us after your party." Esme said sadly. The anger didn't build this time, it was there full force and ready to burst.

I held my hand out, "I need a phone." I said, leaving no room for denial.

Alice placed her pink phone in my hand. "I can't promise he'll answer. But it's more likely he will if it's my number. Speed dial 6."

I pushed gently against the screen, and held the phone up to my ear. It was ringing so long that I didn't think he would answer, but then there was a click, and the sound of ringing disappeared. "What Alice?" He snapped, right before the control over my temper did.

"EDWARD ANTHONY MASEN CULLEN YOU MOTHERFUCKING SON OF A BITCH. HOW FUCKING DARE YOU LEAVE ME IN THE WOODS BY MYSELF. YOU HAD TO HAVE KNOWN I'D CHASE AFTER YOU." In the back of my mind I realized he wasn't breathing. "YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO SAY WHAT YOU DID TO ME WHEN YOU LEFT, WHETHER THAT WAS HOW YOU FEALT OR NOT! YOU HAD ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT TO TREAT ME THE WAY I DID. ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS LOVE YOU-."

He interrupted my tirade. "Why are you calling from Alice's phone?"

"BECAUSE YOU LEFT ME UNPROTECTED! BECAUSE VICTORIA SENT LAURENT AFTER ME, AND NOBODY WAS HERE TO STOP HIM. BECAUSE ALICE SAW ME CHANGING ALONE AND DECIDED TO TELL THE FAMILY THAT YOU MADE ABANDON ME, SO THEY COULD COME AND BE WITH ME WHEN YOU LEFT ME TO DIE ALONE YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD." The line suddenly dropped, and I unconsciously crushed the phone in my hand, before turning around and walking out of the door. I walked directly towards a large boulder and broke it in half with a single kick. I walked into the woods, punching a tree every so often, and being glad when it fell to the ground. I knew I'd been followed, but I needed to get rid of some of my anger before I hurt somebody or broke Esme's beautiful house.

I caught the scent of a human just before I heard the footsteps of my followers running towards me. But I could run faster. I was up off the ground, leaping through trees, stopping only when I got to a small clearing where I could see Angela and Ben sitting on a log, staring into the fire. I froze in my tree twenty feet above them. "She wouldn't want you to be sad." Ben said quietly.

"I know. She was finally starting to get better, getting back to herself. She is.. she was the only friend I had. Jessica and Lauren would tolerate me, but Bella was the first one to really get me. She encouraged me to come out of my shell." Angela started crying, and Ben wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. "I just wish I'd been able to help her out of hers."

My anger, my thirst, had changed to sorrow. I sat there in a tree for hours, feeling despair for my best human friend. Eventually I quietly dropped to the ground, and ran silently away, running past a very shocked group of vampires. I don't know when the other four got there, I know there had only been two originally. I wrapped the sorrow I felt for the people who were hurt by my death around me, and began walking at a human pace. I started to mourn. Mourn for Charlie. Mourn for Renee, and Angela. Mourn for me.

They left me to it as I made my way to my room. The last thing I did before entering my solitude was turn to the concerned vampires in the foyer. "If he comes here. I don't want to see him. Not until I'm ready, and I don't know if I'll ever be." I turned back around and entered the room, closing the door behind me. I sat on the floor, stared at the empty room.

Just like when they left me months ago, I was in a daze. About three days into my solitude, I heard a commotion downstairs, but I ignored it. I ignored the raised voices, and the hushed whispers. When I solemnly left my room to go hunt I walked past the seven in the living room without looking at them. I knew without checking that it was Rosalie who went with me this time. She didn't try to force me to talk, which I was grateful for, and when I'd hunted, she remained in vigil at my side as we made our way back to the house. The others went silent as we approached, I kept my eyes down as I walked through the door, Rosalie following closely behind. She stayed behind as I moved towards the stairs, but there were footsteps that came from the living room, and I heard someone being shoved aside. "Enough."

I kept walking up the stairs. "Isabell-."

I don't know what I did. He hadn't followed me up the stairs, he still stood at the bottom, but when he started to say my name I turned and pushed my hand out, sending him flying through the closed front door. I paused for a moment, intrigued, before continuing to my room. Time passed slowly. Every few days I went to hunt, and one notable day I glanced into the river, and happened to see that my eyes were no longer crimson. They were now a light butterscotch.

That was the first time I smiled since I'd come across Angela and Ben. I didn't stop Esme from hugging me, and I tentatively gave her a hug back. I remained in virtual solitude until the day the snow started to come down. Then one day I heard the roar of a motorcycle coming up the drive, frowning I opened the door and went to stand out of sight at the top of the staircase. There were a couple of growls from the living room, and this time I wasn't as distracted, so I smelt the stench. I slowly made my way down the staircase. The Cullens stood still as statues in the doorway of the living room as I opened the door just as Jacob raised his hand to knock. "How is Charlie?" I asked quietly, hearing a couple of sighs of relief from the living room.

He looked at me carefully. "He's doing better. He and Sue have been spending a lot of time together since Harry died. Bonding over their shared grief."

I closed my eyes. "That's good." He pulled me into a tight hug, and I cringed my nose at having his smell so close to me. "You smell like wet dog Jake."

"You smell like death and potpourri but you don't hear me bitching." He said, before glancing at the Cullens. "You're coming on a ride with me. The Doctor called and said you've been moping for nearly seven months."

I shot Carlisle a dirty look, before turning to glare at Jake. "I've not been moping, I've been mourning."

"The Doctor also said that you were less than a week old before you were able to resist human blood. We're going on a ride, and you're going to pull up your big girl panties and get the fuck up from whatever funk you're in."

"That doesn't count. It was Angela. She was my best human friend. She was crying because of me."

"It does count. No other newborn that I've heard of has ever been able to resist human blood that early on. Especially not on day one." Jasper offered from the doorway.

I raised my eyes to look at the ceiling. "I don't have any riding gear anymore."

Jacob stepped back and picked up a box wrapped in brown paper and handed it to me. He then followed me into the house when I walked over to the kitchen table to unwrap it. The box held a shiny new helmet, and a leather jacket. I smiled again. When I gave him an inquisitive look, he shrugged his shoulders. "Being alpha comes with a paycheck."

I thought about it for a few seconds before I turned around to head upstairs, calling over my shoulder. "Give me a couple of minutes." I had let Alice, Esme, and Rosalie in a few times when they brought clothes and furniture for me. I pulled my clothes off, and pulled a wifebeater on over my bra, and grabbed the pair of leather pants that was hanging in my closet. I pulled some socks on, and then the biker boots that someone had gotten me. There were a couple of gasps as I walked down the stairs, pulling my flowing hair up into a bun on the back of my head. Rolling my shoulders I walked over to the box and pulled the jacket from it, putting it on. As I picked up the helmet under my arms, I glanced up and saw the heated look I was getting. "What?"

Jake continued staring for a moment before shaking his head. "Just regretting not getting to the meadow fast enough to have kept your heart beating. I've been struggling a little that we had to wait until you weren't being held captive to get the bloodsucker."

I growled. "If I'm not allowed to mourn then you're not allowed to feel guilty Jake. So shut the fuck up about it, let me find my keys and we'll go."

I'd turned to look for my keys when I heard him mutter, "Isabella, what would the Cullen's think of such language?" Thankfully he was standing in the open doorway, because I didn't want to break another door when I leapt at him, tackling him to the ground. He was holding his hands up placatingly as I held his chin in a tight grip, one knee pressed into his chest, holding him down.

"Don't you ever say that to me again Jacob! If you've come over just to be an asshole then I'm going to knock you on your ass until you get it through your thick fucking skull that I am not one to be trifled with."

"I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time coming to grips with my best friend being a bloodsucker now." I caught the wallet and keys that flew towards me, and I slid the wallet into my back pocket.

As I climbed onto my bike, I glanced over at him. "You pull that shit again and I'll break your fucking leg."

He rolled his eyes as he climbed onto his bike. "Do you remember how to do this?"

I scoffed, turning the bike on, grinning at the engine roaring to life. For just a moment I allowed myself to fondly remember my truck, before turning to Jacob and goading him. "Eat my dust," and then I was peeling out of the yard. I could tell some improvements had been made to my bike, and the paint had been redone. Rosalie must have done that. Jake and I sped through Forks and went halfway to Port Angeles before stopping for gas and turning around and returning to the Cullen's house.

There was some light conversation, what with both of us being supernatural beings now, we were able to talk over the sounds of the roaring bikes. We pulled into the driveway and slowed down to a stop. "I think I need to apologize to you Jacob." I said quietly.

"What for?"

"I'm sure you noticed that I was more than a little fucked up when I brought these bikes to you to help me fix them… looking back I was having some slightly concerning hallucinations."

"What kind of hallucinations?" He asked, "were you taking drugs?"

I shook my head. "No, no drugs. But every time I did something dangerous I would hallucinate that he was there. So I did a lot of stupid things to try and see him again. He told me he was going to make it like he'd never existed. But that's not something that happened. He might have taken material possessions, but he couldn't take away the way I felt for him." I frowned at the house as it came into view. "After I found the meadow, I was planning to come and burn his piano, and maybe the rest of the house with it."

"Damn Bells, didn't take you for a pyromaniac."

I grinned widely at him. "I'm pretty sure that of the two of us, you're the only one with a lighter in your pocket."

He grinned back. "Gotta take care of business somehow."

Seeing that the multi car garage door was open I walked my bike in there, smiling when I saw a spot had been cleared for me. "Thanks for this Jake… and thanks for Charlie."

"You don't have to thank me, but you're welcome." He got off his bike and pulled me into a hug. I leaned my head against his chest for a moment.

"You should head home," I told him, turning around. The swat to my ass came unexpectedly, and I had turned to punch him in the face before I could think of it.

"You're so violent now." He muttered, standing up and rubbing his jaw. When he saw me glaring at him still he shrugged. "I wanted to do it once." He then held out a slip of paper he pulled from his jacket. "If you need to talk to someone with a beating heart, call me. I know this wasn't your choice, and this hasn't been easy on you. I remember what you said to that bloodsucker in the meadow before he bit you." I growled at the memory. "That was the bravest, stupidest thing I've ever seen anybody do. I'm sorry I didn't think that way when it first happened."

"I forgave you for that a long time ago Jake. I understand why you'd have issues with my change."

He got back on his bike after he nodded at me, and I waved as he drove away. I shook my head, thinking of the day he taught me to ride, before moving inside. I hesitated momentarily inside the door, before walking into the living room to look at Alice. "I'm sorry for breaking your phone."

Alice rolled her eyes as she skipped over to hug me. "Don't apologize for my jackass brother."

"Oh, I'm not apologizing for him. I'm apologizing for me." I paused, before looking at most of the others in the room. "I'm sorry for being distant."

Esme came up and hugged me like she had the other day. "It's understandable Bella dear."

I frowned at Carlisle. "I'm still irritated that you told Jacob that I was moping."

"I remember how fired up he got you when you woke up, and thought he could help. We've been worried about you."

"Like I said, when I was broken in the woods, Jacob helped put me back together." I said sincerely. "I still don't like it, but thank you." I told him, pulling him into a hug.

Rosalie looked hesitant, but I went to her and hugged her. "Thank you for fixing up my bike. Thank you for not pushing me."

She was no longer hesitant, and she wrapped her arms tighter around me. "Just like the mutt said, you don't have to thank me for anything."

I pulled Jasper and Emmett against me. "Thank you both. I missed my brothers."

Jasper ruffled my hair. "I'm glad you're doing better. By the way, nice punch you've got there. You should have hit him harder though, might have broken his jaw."

I rolled my eyes, and steadfastly ignored the other presence in the room. "So what did I miss?"

"Well, there are a few things we'd like to talk about if you feel up to it." Carlisle said gently.

I nodded, taking one of the armchairs. "What's up."

"First of all, I know you told Jacob it wasn't a big deal, but the fact that on your first day awake you were able to resist the scent of human blood is nothing short of amazing. Nobody else that I've ever met would have been able to show such restraint. And not only that, but you sat in that tree for hours. That was fantastic, you should be proud of yourself."

"Thank you, Carlisle."

"Yeah Bells," Emmett yelled, giving my shoulder a playful punch. "Thought for sure we were going to have to drag you away kicking and screaming."

I looked at the floor, and knew I would be blushing at the praise if I were still human. "The thirst was very strong. But… it was Angela. She's the only one in Forks who didn't give up on me, when I'd given up on myself."

Carlisle flashed a glance to Edward, before turning to look at me. "Then there's the matter of your gift."

"Gift?" I questioned, before I stopped and thought about it. "Oh, you mean when I threw Eddie through the door."

Edward growled lightly at the nickname, but I just ignored him. "Yes, do you know how you did that?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes… and no. All I did was raise my hand and… well Push. I didn't feel anything moving, but I knew I didn't want him to come near me."

"I was try-." Edward started, but my vicious snarl cut him off.

"In case you missed the memo, or you're too fucking stupid to remember what I was saying to you on the phone, you have no fucking right to anything I do anymore. You lost that right when you abandoned me and left me alone. You lost that right when you lied to the family that I was afraid of them." The fact that I knew that seemed to shock him. I was too focused on the anger to realize that the furniture that the Cullen's were sitting on was sliding away from me on the floor. He was giving me a weird look, glancing at Carlisle. "Don't look at me like that, or I'll take your entire family up on their offer to tear you limb from limb!"

I hadn't realized what was happening until the couch hit the wall, and when I looked around and saw that everybody had stayed calm and, in their seats, even though they didn't know if my gift would get violent, I felt grateful, and not a little bit of chagrin. I closed my eyes, and tried to reign it back in, before tilting my head and wanting to know if I would be able to pull the furniture back into position.

I furrowed my brow and concentrated on trying to put the furniture back in place when I felt something hard hit my knee. I opened my eyes to find myself face to face with Emmett, who was withholding a laugh. "Whoops, I guess I tried to pull everybody too close."

"This is good news," Carlisle said from a couple of feet away. "Any progress you make with your gift is to be celebrated. Especially if this is only the second time you've used it. I wonder if it's the same shield that has always blocked Edward from being able to read your mind."

I was contemplative for a second before I turned to Edward. "I want to try something." I held out my hand, "if you're willing?"

"Anything you need Bella." He said sincerely, and curious. As soon as our hands touched, I pushed out my shield. I kept my mind conspicuously blank. The others were pushed back to their original positions, and only Edward and I were left inside the bubble. I ran over the recipe for blueberry muffins in my head, eyes narrowed at him. He breathed in heavily. "Blueberry muffins."

I glanced at Jasper, who I'd imagine was about to get a torrent of emotions from Edward, and then I showed him the day of his leaving from my memory, and every moment afterwards up to, and including my change, and encounter with Angela and Ben. He'd managed to pull his hand from mine and stand up, before he was dropped to his knees from my memories. "That is why you have no right to have any opinion on my life, actions, or decisions anymore. That is why I threw you through the door." I pulled my shield back and looked at Carlisle and Esme. "I wasn't sure if it would work, but I had to make him see."

Esme had understanding in her eyes. "Of course dear."

I went upstairs after saying goodnight to everybody. I took a long shower, before pulling on some jeans and a t-shirt, and then my leather jacket, which I'd quickly fallen in love with. It was early in the morning, and I decided to go for a walk. I paused at the front door when nobody moved to follow me. "You're letting me go alone?"

Rosalie was the one who smiled at me. "Unless you'd like company."

I was in awe of the trust I was being shown, but I smiled at Rose none the less, and quickly opened the door, stepping out, and closing it behind me. I was taking a leisurely walk through the forest, it was nice in the dark, when I wasn't running after a dream. I could sense a small group of deer about a mile away to the west, as well as a mountain lion lounging in a tree branch half a mile to the northeast.

I was about seven miles away from the house when I heard footsteps coming towards me, from the opposite direction that I'd be expecting. I tensed my body and sunk down low into a defensive pose. It was just a couple of minutes before my eyes picked up movement in the distance, with flashes of red hair. Fuck. I thought, I'd left the shiny new cellphone on my dresser. Then I realized that there was more than one set of footsteps coming from that direction. Double fuck. Alice would see this, as long as the wolves didn't come. Victoria stopped with a newborn at her side, and seven more behind her.

"Ah, Isabella, we've finally managed to get you alone."

"That's what your friend Laurent thought, and look where it got him, a pile of ashes." She replied, knowing that taunting was a bad idea, but unable to stop herself. "James thought the same thing too, and he ended up a pile of ashes as well."

"I will kill you to avenge his death." I got the faintest scent of wet dog the next time the wind shifted, and knew I needed to stall.

"Killing me won't avenge his death. You want a mate for a mate, but I have no mate. Besides, Emmett and Jasper were the ones who killed him, not Edward. So it's pointless to go after me if mate for a mate is what you were searching for."

"James wouldn't have been killed if it weren't for you."

"Please, James would have been killed by someone eventually for being a monumental prick. You know he filmed his attack on me."

She grinned viciously at me even as her eyes darkened in anger. "We liked to watch the videos he'd make as we had sex."

"Too bad you didn't see this one, I remember it well." Sensing the approaching wolves, and the Cullen's from the back, I knew I needed to draw her in so that she wouldn't have time to escape. Her eyes flicked to the side and she took a step backwards. "His head went first. He'd bitten me, and I could feel the flames from the venom in my blood, but my head was turned in that direction and I watched it happen. After they tore his head off his arms came next, then his legs. Then they tore up the building we were in and set him on fire. As they sucked his disgusting venom from my veins, his body was consumed." That was all she needed as she launched herself at me. I have no idea what I was doing, but my instincts told me to dodge so I did. She flew over me and landed in a crouch behind me. I used my shield to blast her newborns away as I turned to dodge another attack. I jumped over her, and landed on her back, teeth digging into her neck. I ripped her head off, and dropped it on the ground. Her newborns were prowling around my shield, which had extended to a ten foot diameter around me. They snarled as I dismembered her body, and began patting my pockets.

I gave them a vicious grin as I pulled the zippo lighter that I'm assuming Jake slipped into my jacket pocket. I saw the wolves slip out of the woods behind them as I lit the lighter and dropped it on the Victoria pile as I dropped my shield, it took them a moment to realize they could move closer. I'd leapt at the one who'd been standing by Victoria's side the wolves tackled a newborn each. Jasper and Emmett were the first two Cullens in the clearing, and they took the other two. I grimaced when the newborn squeezed at my midsection, but I still had plenty of that newborn strength myself. Placing a hand on both sides of the newborns head I snapped it off, throwing it behind me into the pile as I fell to the ground, straddling its chest. I had him torn apart before the wolves were finished with theirs, and when I looked to the right I saw the smallest wolf being grabbed around its ribs, and I leapt again, just as the other Cullen's entered the clearing.

I flipped through the air so that my feet impacted with the newborns head, making it release the wolf, I made quick work of the body before depositing it in the flame pile behind me. I glanced over at the other wolves and saw that they were now carrying body parts to the pile as well. The large russet wolf stepped back, and ran into the woods quickly, before Jake came out, still buttoning his pants. "Jesus Christ Bella, that was awesome."

I gave him an evil grin. "Victoria was personal."

"How did you keep the others at bay while you took care of her?"

"Would you like to see?" I asked devilishly, in a very good mood despite my brief panic earlier.

He gave me a cautious look, and I walked a few steps towards him so I wouldn't disturb the fire, or the wolf who'd been injured. When I just stood there and looked at him he rolled his eyes. "Sure Bella, show me." With that he was thrown off his feet backwards, while I remained standing in the same place, I also left my shield in place, so that when he came back he would run into it. I didn't notice the other wolves checking it out behind me as Jacob came running back, grin on his face, until he ran into the invisible shield like one would a glass door. "That's how. She had to be first or she would have ran. That's what she did in the past, and that's why she sent Laurent in her place first."

The large black wolf walked into the trees, before Sam Uley returned. "Ms. Swan. I want to apologize for my behavior towards you before." I'm sure my eyes widened to the size of saucers. "I also want to apologize for not following closer behind you when you went into the woods that day. Maybe it could have been prevented."

"Mr. Uley, this wasn't the first time something like that had happened, and I'm sure if Laurent hadn't succeeded, then someone else would have. According to the few Vampires I'd met before my turning, my blood smelled particularly appetizing."

"You acted to save young Brady's life before any of us had the chance to. We thank you for it."

"Yeah Bells. That looked awesome, the way you kicked that newborn in the face." Emmett boomed.

"I'm sure Carlisle wouldn't mind looking at Brady's injuries to ensure they're healing properly after he phases back."

"Of course, I wouldn't." Carlisle said, moving to stand beside me, the rest of the family following.

Sam was still looking at me, and though Jake was the Alpha, he seemed to be letting Sam take the lead here. "Not many vampires would save the life of one of our kind, so still, we thank you."

"Thanks are not necessary Sam. I have friends amongst your pack. You all did the best you could to save my life in that meadow, even though I know you all must have hated me for my association with the Cullen's, I do not hold you at fault that you were unable to do so."