Their kiss seemed to last forever and it kind of did because when they finally parted, the sun sent her first rays upon the grass. One ray caught in his face and made it shine. She smiled and put a hand on his cheek, striking it gently with her thumb. „Beautiful," she murmured and kissed him again, small and light, a promise for more to come.

After that they made their way home. They made sure not to be seen by anyone from his family as they made their way up to his room.

Their room, he corrected himself. There had never been a question for her to get her own room and he wouldn't let her go now.

In his room they lay on the bed, kissing some more. After a while he sat upright, her head in his lap, just enjoying the silence. He stroked her hair, and she had her eyes closed.

It was only then that he saw that something was wrong with her. Her face looked no longer peaceful. Instead, it was a grimace of pain. Her whole body tensed, and slight tremors shook her from time to time. Her eyes remained firmly closed, no matter how often he called her name and tried to wake her.

He called for Carlisle, for Esme, for someone. She had begun to whimper in pain. When Carlisle finally entered his room, closely followed by the rest of his family, her whimpers had become screams of pure agony.

Within seconds his father was at her side. He looked her over, also tried to wake her but to no avail. He went outside to get his medical bag where he had some sedatives, usually reserved for his human patients.

She had begun to spasm, her limbs flapping around helplessly.

Esme ordered her children to hold her still so she wouldn't hurt herself or one of the others. Jasper should remain at her head and try to calm her somehow.

Carlisle returned, syringe and the sedative in his hands.

„She's burning up!", Rosalie said, an undisguised panic in her voice.

„But how? Vampires don't get a fever," Emmet asked, his face strained from the force it took him to hold her arms down.

„I don't know," Carlisle confessed. He pulled some liquid in a syringe.

He nodded towards his wife and daughter, who were each holding down one of her legs. Jasper was kneeling by her face, his expression concentrated as he tried to calm her emotions.

A spasm shook her whole body and she cried out in pain. Edward had never felt so useless in his entire existence.

„Hold her down," Carlisle commanded, then he pushed the needle in her arm. As the liquid entered her body, her muscles relaxed, but the expression of pain still remained on her beautiful face. A thin layer of sweat covered her body, another abnormality for a vampire.

They stepped back, eyes fixed on the girl. „What shall we do?" asked Edward.

„We should call her parents. Maybe Jacob knows what's wrong with her," Esme replied. She didn't get to finish her sentence because at this moment, Sara's whole body convulsed. She let out a cry, her purple-and-gold eyes wide open yet unseeing. A force so great pulsed from her body that it threw all of them against the wall.

When they were able to stand up again, there wasn't the girl's body on the bed anymore. Instead, there was a huge, white wolf, eyes closed, barely breathing.

The whole family stared at the animal, their expressions a mix of fascination, horror and not-understanding-this-at-all.

„Yeah, we should definitely call Jacob," Alice broke the silence.

What's happening to me? Where am I?

Edward looked up when the thoughts entered his mind. She was awake. Weak, but awake. Within a moment he was at her side, a hand placed at her cheek.

„It's alright", he whispered. „You are still in my room. We just moved a few things around, to make it more comfortable."

Comfortable? What's wrong? Why am I feeling like this?

Her thoughts were becoming agitated quickly and Edward knew he had to do something.

„Do you remember what your father told you about his family? His tribe?"

Yes

„Well, we think you are going through something similar. Do you remember when you got this fever? It should be impossible for a vampire to get sick, but it turned out it wasn't because you were sick. You were going through your phasing."

What?

„Your father thought you didn't have the gene because it usually skips a generation. And even if you had it, there weren't any vampires around to trigger it. But apparently living with so many vampires over such a long time, did activate it somehow."

But how can that be?

„That's what we are trying to find out. Your father is here and currently talking to Carlisle. They'll be here shortly and then we can talk."

„I don't understand. She is a vampire, how can she be a werewolf at the same time?", Jacob asked helplessly, raking his hands through his already dishevelled hair.

Carlisle and Esme were at his side, both obviously shaken by what had happened.

„We don't know. The gene must have been in her blood, passed on through you and maybe she would have phased eventually when she was close to vampires. But the turn should have nullified its power. Vampires don't change, so she shouldn't have phased," Carlisle answered calmly.

Jacob shot him a look. „Yet she did. What are we supposed to do now? Should she continue to live with you? Werewolves and vampires are enemies after all. Maybe living with you will trigger something else in her, hatred or anger."

But Esme shook her head. „I don't think that it will. We are only enemies because we were taught to be. She has lived with us for nearly a year now. She is happy here and that won't change."

„Given her other… symptoms, we just have to wait and find out," Carlisle added. When he saw Jacobs questioning look, he continued. „When she was in her wolf- form, I noticed that she was breathing. Slightly, but it was there. When she phased back, her breathing stopped. Maybe being a wolf makes her more human."

„You think that she is a werewolf, a vampire and a human at the same time?" Jacob looked like he would faint any time now.

Carlisle sighed. „What I think is that we don't know anything. She is unique. There has never been something like her. The only thing we can do for her now is to wait and see and most importantly, be there for her. She will be confused. She needs us, all of us."

Jacob nodded weakly. „How can I explain this to Bella, though? She'll want to come here at once and look for herself if Sara is fine."

„Then don't tell her. Just say that Sara needed to see you and apologise for what happened yesterday. We'll tell her as soon as we know more of what's happening", Esme said, looking at her husband. Carlisle nodded. „I think that's a good idea. Don't make her worry. Tell her that Sara needs some time and will see her soon."

Jacob nodded. „Can I see her? Maybe she has questions regarding her wolf-side."

Carlisle nodded. „I'll go and ask her."

They talked for almost an hour. Jacob told his daughter everything, from the history of his tribe to his own life as a wolf. Sara listened attentively, only asking if it was absolutely necessary. Edward had wanted to give them some privacy but a pleading look from Sara had made him stay. Even Jacob didn't object when he saw how much Edward's presence calmed his daughter and gave her strength.

Afterwards they went outside, and Jacob tried to teach his daughter how to phase at will. It took her several tries, and she was clearly exhausted afterwards, so they decided to call it a day.

Jacob hugged his daughter briefly, promised to be back soon and left.

When they were back in his room, she practically collapsed on his bed. She had her eyes closed but not before Edward could see that the golden circle around her purple iris had turned dark.

She'll need to feed soon

But that could wait. He was unsure what to do, if she wanted him at her side or if she wanted to be alone so he asked.

„Shall I play you something?"

She nodded without raising her head. So, he went to his piano which they had moved in the far corner to make room for her wolf-body, sat down and began to play. He didn't pay attention to what he was playing. Only when she said: „What's that? You've never played this before." did he realise what he had done. A small smile crossed his lips. „I wrote it a long time ago. It's a lullaby."

She smiled and hummed along. At this moment she looked so much like her mother, despite her silvery hair and purple eyes that the past and the present mingled. He saw her, Bella, once the love of his life, or so he had thought, sitting on his bed, listening to him play and humming along. Bella's Lullaby he had called it because he had hummed it whenever she had fallen asleep in his arms.

She seemed to sense that something was wrong because she stood up and walked to his side. Without a word she began to play, too, a simple melody he had taught her some time ago.

Smiling, he joined her and for a time they played side by side.

Eventually, they moved to his bed, kissing but mostly holding on to each other, assuring themselves that everything would be fine.