Prologue

-1983-

The streets of Seattle were silent, until a terrified scream ripped its way out of the throat of a young girl. All of a sudden, she rounded the corner of a building, sprinting down the middle of the road away from whatever danger stalked her.

She had known better than to go to the park so late, but had gone anyway. And that mistake could have possibly just ended her life. Now there was a hunter chasing after her. A Fae hunter.

As she passed by an alleyway, a hand yanked her arm towards it and shoved her to the ground. The girl was up in moments, fighting stance ready as she stared down her attacker.

There were not many Fae hunters left in the world, and even less Fae, but both were incredibly dangerous. He was dressed in the all green garb of the hunters, weapons at his sides. The only thing his eyes showed were immense fury and hate directed at the girl, who was no more than sixteen years of age. She wasn't as trained in combat as he was, but she had other skills on her side. Neither of them was going down without a fight.

The hunter made his move first and the fight began. Both of them landed plenty of hits on the other, inflicting many wounds. The girl didn't particularly want to kill him, but if it meant she would be able to get away then she would.

At one point during the battle, the hunter dislocated the girl's shoulder and threw her into the brick building next to them. The air was knocked out of her lungs and she couldn't even scream as he was by her side in seconds, shoving his long dagger into her abdomen. It was buried to the hilt, and he ripped it out, the serrated edge catching on one of her ribs and cracking it. The dagger was a weapon designed to kill with one stab. Especially when one considered the deadly poultice of herbs that would kill a fae if not treated.

Before the hunter could stab again, the Fae opened her mouth and screamed an unearthly scream. He stumbled backwards as the shriek shattered his eardrums. It was a call for help.

The girl slumped back against the wall, exhausted from using her power while injured. Once she was silent again, the hunter removed his hands from his ears and started towards her with an even more intense determination on his face. He didn't make it, though, as he suddenly went flying back in the air as a figure appeared out of nowhere.

It was a woman, with long brown hair. She was facing away from the girl as she took up a defensive stance in front of the fae.

"If you know what's good for you, you will leave and never return," the woman threatened. The girl was almost entranced by her voice. It was musical and twinkling, yet still held the anger and threat needed to get her point across.

"Vampire," the hunter hissed, backing up towards the street. He knew he would not win against the woman. He glanced behind the vampire and towards the injured fae, glaring. "This is not over." With those four words, he turned and ran down the street away from danger.

Once the woman was sure he was gone, she spun quickly and was by the fae's side in a flash. The girl was bleeding, badly, and while the vampire hadn't been hunting in a week, the fae's blood did not appeal to her. It was strange.

"I'm going to have to pick you up so I can get you to safety," the woman soothed, gently sliding her arms underneath the girl's beaten body. The fae nodded and tensed, keeping a hand pressed to her abdomen, as she was lifted off the ground. Her dislocated shoulder made her arm hang down uselessly while every step the woman took jarred her ribs.

With an inhuman speed, the woman ran towards her house on the outskirts of the city where she knew she could help the young girl. They were there in less than a minute, the girl's breathing becoming labored.

Carlisle, Emmett, and Rosalie were waiting by the door when the woman, who was known as Esme, returned. They had smelt the blood when she entered the property, and wanted to know what was going on.

"Get her upstairs," Carlisle ordered as Esme handed Emmett the girl, who was only half-conscious. Emmett speeded up, passing Alice on the way. Once Esme had saved her, Alice had started seeing the girl's future intertwined with theirs. She wasn't worried, as the girl would survive this.

"Where'd you find her?" Carlisle asked as he cut off the girl's shirt.

"Alleyway. I heard her screaming. She was being attacked and I fought him off," Esme replied, pulling on rubber gloves to assist her husband. After her shirt was off, Carlisle injected a painkiller into her neck, causing her to whimper. Not long after that, she passed out.

"She's just a kid," Esme remarked as she cleaned the blood and dirt off of the fae's face. The vampire had thought that the girl had been Rosalie's age when she found her, but she actually closer to Alice's.

"I need to stop the bleeding," Carlisle answered, and set to work on the stab wound in her abdomen.

"Carlisle, are you going to change her?" Esme inquired softly. He froze for a moment before returning to his work.

"I do not know," he muttered. He was not even sure she could be changed into a vampire. It looked as if she was not even human at all, but something else. Something he hadn't seen before.

The married couple worked for a couple of hours before Carlisle was satisfied with the way the fae was stable. After setting up an IV drip, he and Esme left the room and headed towards their adopted children were waiting.

Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, and Edward were sitting in the family room, listening to a radio show and playing card games. Once Carlisle and Esme entered, however, their attention was immediately on the two elder vampires.

"The girl is stable and I don't believe she will become a vampire," Carlisle announced.

"She won't," Alice agreed. "Her body wouldn't allow it."

"What do you mean?" Esme questioned, sitting down elegantly in a chair near the door.

"She's a fae," Edward answered for her, reading Alice's mind.

"Interesting," Carlisle murmured. "According to myths, most of the fae were destroyed during the medieval ages. Very few are still alive. In fact, there are more fae hunters than there are fae."

"The man attacking her must have been a hunter then," Esme added.

"He was, but fortunately he will go after a different fae and meet an untimely death in a few years time," Alice informed the pair.

"Are you going to let her stay with us? I've always wanted a younger sister," Rosalie inserted.

"I suppose it is up to her. Would any of you have a complaint against that happening?" Esme asked. Everybody shook his or her head as a sign of allowance.

"If she wants to, she can live with us," Carlisle announced, grasping onto Esme's hand as he listened to the steady heartbeat of the girl upstairs.

She was out for five days, healing quickly. It was as if her body was not going to let her wake until she was mostly healed. After a quick examination on the fifth day of her unconsciousness, Carlisle was able to conclude that her rib was almost fully healed along with her stab wound. He had also concluded that she had advanced healing, but she wasn't healing as fast as usual. The only thing he'd been able to come up with was that whatever she'd been stabbed with had had poison or some other substance on the blade. The bruises and scrapes seemed to be healing at a normal rate, however, making the doctor think that her body only healed the severe wounds quickly and let the non-life threatening ones heal normally.

As Esme was changing the bandage on her arm, the girl started to wake up. Carlisle must have heard it as well for he was upstairs in moments. The girl was slow in waking up, groaning and moving around before finally opening her eyes and staring at the ceiling.

"Hello," Esme said, drawing the attention of the girl to her, and was shocked when she noticed her eyes. They were a Glass Forest with long eyelashes that swept over them. They made her almost-invisible freckles and slightly tan skin pop. Her hair, a dark chocolate brown, made her eyes have even more pop.

"Where am I? Who are you?" she asked in a smooth, exotic voice that was underlined with terror and a small hint of fear. Her accent was almost a combination of British, Scottish, and something else Esme could not place.

"My name's Esme and this is my husband, Carlisle. You are at our house," Esme replied soothingly.

"Why?"

"You were attacked, so I brought you here." A look of realization passed over the fae's face.

"Joseph! He found me in the park and I ran! We fought and then you—you saved me!" the girl blurted, surprised. "Thank you."

"It was no trouble at all," Esme assured her.

"Can you tell us your name?" Carlisle inquired.

"Aviana," the girl breathed. "But I go by Ava most of the time."

"It's nice to meet you, Ava," Esme greeted, holding out a hand for the girl to shake.

"You know what I am, don't you?" Aviana asked. The couple nodded. "Well, I know what you are too."

"Really?" Carlisle chuckled.

"You're vampires," she stated. Esme smiled slightly and nodded.

"We wanted to offer you something," Carlisle told her. She looked slightly confused.

"What?"

"The chance at a family."

Aviana was frozen. From her senses, she could tell there were five others downstairs. She didn't know these people, and they didn't know her. But she was being offered a place to live, a family. A family was something she did not have at that point in time. They had been slaughtered in a battle with the hunters many years prior. She missed having others around her. She absolutely hated being alone. Which was why it didn't take her long to give them her answer.

"Yes."

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I changed a few things from the original time I uploaded this, but nothing major. Please favorite, follow, and review! 3 -Lauren