Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or its characters

Chapter 1: Escape

The clearing was timid. Thick smoke from the still-crackling fires that had been used to get rid of the hostile newborns rose to the sky like purplish shadows.

The smell of burned venom hung heavily over the air as it bore itself deep into Bree's bones. She was doubtful she would ever be able to get rid of the sickly sweet aroma seeping into her clothes.

She felt her body shudder. It was partly because of fear and partly because of how much she craved the blood of the human standing close to her. It called her in, inviting her to step closer like a siren waiting on its prey.

She had promised to try to control herself in exchange for getting spared from death, but the task was getting harder the more time went on. The smell of blood was dizzying and caused her to feel like she had swallowed a volcano. She was sure it was going to erupt soon if she couldn't get away from the mortal close to her.

The young teen's eyes darted pleadingly towards the strange yellow-eyed vampires, begging for their help. Her silent plea went unanswered as none of them turned their attention to her, all of their amber eyes strictly set on the Volturi.

"Felix."

Bree's face turned instinctively towards the voice. The blond sadistic girl who had said the words looked straight at her, sending shivers down her body. Something about the girl made the young vampire feel uneasy. Perhaps it was the cold empty eyes or the youthfulness of the clearly many-century-old girl that creeped her out.

Bree gulped as one of the Volturi guards took a step towards her. Her body felt like it had turned into ice. She was unable to move.

Fear gripped her heart. She didn't want to die. She wasn't ready to go to the afterlife just yet. She had hardly even lived. She was just a sixteen-year-old girl who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, first getting turned into a vampire and then getting a death sentence for simply existing. She hadn't even had enough time to fall in love or travel the world, seeing different cultures, like she had always dreamed of.

"Wait," the mind reader said. "We could explain the rules to the young one. She doesn't seem unwilling to learn. She didn't know what she was doing."

Bree felt a small glimmer of hope in her chest. She was surprised that the red-headed boy had decided to try to help her.

She was not used to people helping her.

Her whole life, her father had been abusive towards her, shouting at her and sometimes even beating her up. The latter had not happened often for the girl's luck. Her father had been too concerned about someone finding out about the abuse, so he had not dared to hurt her too badly.

The only two who had helped her were now gone, out of her life, like her mortality.

Fred had left Seattle and was somewhere safe from all of this mess. He was probably hoping that Bree would come to him like they had discussed. Little did he know that they would never see each other again.

Diego, on other hand, laid in the abandoned building that Victoria and Riley had left his remains in. His ashes would eventually become one with the building, spreading on its floors eternally.

"Of course," the amber-eyed blond man agreed. He looked at his coven member and then turned his blazing golden gaze towards Volturis. "We would certainly be prepared to take responsibility for Bree."

Bree's focus perked back to the scene she was in. She hid her surprise, wondering why the yellow-eyed vampires would offer to help her. She was nothing special. Just a girl from Idaho who had run away from her abusive home.

A bad inkling sparked inside of her. What if the yellow-eyed vampires wanted to kill her themselves? It could be a possibility. They could have let her live earlier to make it easier to concentrate on killing the other newborns, and after that, perhaps they had planned to take care of her too.

Bree held back a small whimper. She could feel how needles pierced through her heart, leaving it full of small holes from the coming betrayal.

It had been so stupid of her to think that they actually cared about her. Their leader had warned her about touching the human and that if she did, he would not hesitate to kill her.

It was clearly a foretaste of how they were going to burn her, rip her apart, and toss her pieces into a fire.

The thought of the human made Bree's eyes flicker at the brown-haired creature. Her throat tightened as flaming fire reminded her of the human's existence. It gripped itself inside her throat, blazing its soaring, hot flames in it without remorse.

Her venom decided to join the torture. The thick, sweet-tasting substance flooded her mouth, making her feel like she was about to drown. She needed to swallow, but knew that it would only add more gasoline to her already burning throat, heightening the flames within it.

Her face contorted in pain.

Her focus turned towards the Volturi as she heard the black-cloaked girl speak. "We don't make exceptions." The sadistic girl spoke, her voice full of amusement and disbelief. "And we don't give second chances. It's bad for our reputation. Which reminds me..." Volturi turned towards the human who was causing Bree's suffering. "Caius will be so interested to hear that you're still human, Bella. Perhaps he'll decide to visit."

"The date is set," the shortest yellow eye interjected, causing the sadistic girl's smile to fade momentarily. She did not, however, look at the small pixie; instead, her eyes shifted to the leader of the yellow-eyed vampires. "It was nice to meet you, Carlisle—I'd thought Aro was exaggerating. Well, until we meet again."

"Take care of that, Felix," the girl added, looking straight at Bree. "I want to go home."

Bree froze. Her face turned horrified at her impending doom. A muscular man with black hair approached her. His light grey cloak moved violently behind him as he came closer to the young girl.

He looked set on his task, ready to destroy her, causing the girl's panic to rise even further. This was her end. She would not get to see the next sunrise.

The teen felt her emotions imprison her like a zoo animal. They curled around her, making her unable to move under the pressure. It sank into her body, leaving nothing but terror behind.

Her efforts to run from her abusive home had been for nothing. She was going to die. Perhaps she should have never left Idaho and just endured her father until she was eighteen. At least that way, she would have been somewhat safe. She could have still been a human.

Suddenly, Felix's face twisted into confusion. He stopped in his tracks, turning to look at the blond Volturi, who had given him the order to kill the girl.

The surprising reaction of the man made Bree run. She felt a power strike in her feet as she flew from the clearing, leaving the danger behind. Her steps thumped steadily on the forest floor as her worn sneakers hit the soil.

She was sure that the other vampires would come after her and finish her off. She needed to be quick and hide. Maybe jump into an ocean. The water would wash off her scent and make it impossible to follow her.

The only problem with the plan was that she did not know in which direction the ocean was. She would need to find it first.

Another plan came to her mind. She could try finding Fred. He had, after all, tried inviting her to leave with him. But of course she had been stupid and declined the offer in favour of wanting to find Diego.

Her other friend had meant a lot to her. It had been them against the world. She wondered what Diego would have done in her situation. Would he have bowed to his fate and let himself get killed? Or would he be running away from the clearing right now, like Bree was doing?

She hoped that he would have chosen the latter, like her.

The second plan was better, but like with the first plan, she did not know where she could find her plan's main executioner. In other words, she was in big trouble.

Bree ran beneath the trees that stretched themselves towards the sky. They seemed to compete with each other, trying to reach the blue horizon above them before the others could do the same.

Her face grew more and more worried. She didn't know which direction to run in, so she ran straight. It was not the wisest choice, but at least it kept her moving. She did not have enough time to stay, wondering which direction she wanted to go in.

She only needed to pray that she would eventually reach an ocean or something else that would advance her escape further.

But luck didn't seem to be on her side. As soon as she got out of her thoughts, Bree started hearing distant footsteps behind her. They followed her like a string attached to her hip.

She was now truly being chased. She needed to figure out a way out of this situation—a way to cut the string. How she would do that was still a mystery, but hopefully her mind would soon clear enough to figure something out.

The girl's steps fastened. She tried to work out a plan in her mind as she ran across the forest.

Her eyes caught a cliff ahead of her. It rose majestically in front of her as she ran towards it.

She didn't know if she would be able to climb it up. Her vampire powers were still new to her, and because of Riley's lies, she wasn't sure what her body was capable of. The boy had lied to her and the other newborns about the sun burning them to crisps, so how could she trust anything that he had told them? How would she trust in her supposed ability to be able to climb to the top of the cliff? It was too risky, especially now when she was getting chased.

The young teen decided to turn right. She sprinted in her new direction, scared that she would get caught.

Terror gripped her body as she ran. It squirmed inside of her, leaving nothing untouched. She feared that it would soon leave her immobilised and unable to move. Throw her to suffer in the hands of the yellow-eyed vampires, or even worse, the Volturi. The sadistic blond girl would surely torture her more before finally tearing her apart.

She needed to run as fast as possible until she was somewhere safe, somewhere where she could close her eyes and wonder what to do next. A place where she would feel comfortable and be far from danger.

And like lightning, a plan hit her. She needed to hide. The forest was huge, so logically, there had to be a good hiding spot somewhere. They always had one.

She needed to find a spot where her scent couldn't be caught. Maybe a river could be sufficient for her plan. It would take care of her scent, and she could swim under the water until it was impossible to follow her. If the girl got lucky, it would lead her to an ocean or lake.

Bree's scarlet eyes searched for her escape feverishly. They peered around her surroundings like hawks, trying to find prey.

After a small search, they landed on something shiny but blue. It sparkled in front of her eyes, making her face light up. A river.

She didn't hesitate to jump into it with a splash. Her strong arms pushed her forward, helping her anxious legs propel her through the water.

The brown-haired girl could feel water filling her lungs. It swam inside of her, causing her instincts to plead her to surface. It was a horrifyingly uncomfortable feeling. She tried to shake it off as her brain reminded her of the serious situation she was in. This was not the right time to pull out of her plan. It was already in action. Surely she could deal with the feeling of being buried alive, right? She could adjust to it.

Doubt filled her body like the transparent liquid had. It suffocated her as she swam in the river.

To her relief, the steps behind her became more distant until they stopped altogether. Her mind relaxed.

The young teen's head broke the river's wavy surface. She climbed back up to the grass, couching many doses of water out of her lungs. The liquids burst onto the ground, making it wet from the substances spilling onto it.

Her right hand flew to her throat as the fire inside reminded her of her hunger. She desperately needed to feed. She would go crazy if she did not get blood soon. She knew better than to not feed. The hungrier she was, the less likely she was to be able to think clearly.

Bree stood up, sprinting to follow the river in the same direction she had swam, wondering what to do next.

Her mind was made up when a heavenly smell hit her nose, stealing her attention from her path. Her legs turned confidently towards their new destination.

She didn't care about anything else except the scent that hovered in the air. It was comfortingly familiar.

A pumping heart appeared in the distance, pushing her even further into her frenzy. She needed the blood. Now.

The girl jumped towards the unexpecting human, plunging her sharp teeth into it. She could hear a distant scream as she drank.

The creature below her seemed to calm down quickly. It soon stopped moving altogether. The blood in its veins drained far too fast for her liking, leaving her with a dry mouth and a sour expression.

She took a step back to study her prey. She liked doing it for fun. It was interesting to look at the humans when they were dead. Her victim was a middle-aged male with short brown hair. His empty, chocolate-brown eyes stared unblinkingly at the sky, still fresh from the terror they had felt seconds ago.

Bree gazed at the human one more time indifferently before flying back to her path, happy to finally be fed.

A/N: Hi! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. English is not my first language, and on top of that, I have dyslexia, so I'm very sorry if there are any grammar mistakes! I tried to get rid of most of them, but some might have managed to stay regardless.