CHAPTER 1.

Edwards's voice carried me through the forest. He was leaving. Abandoning me. He said 'no, I don't love you'. He had promised me a thousand things and now he had broken everyone of them. I gasped as the pain of my breaking heart caught up with me; my feet dragging me on, into the unknown.

"Bella! Wait! Come back! Please!" he was begging now, I could hear him running behind me, too weak to overtake and stop me. Tears started to flow down my face; I choked on my own sorrow. He had loved me, he had told me, and now he was taking everything back, breaking my heart . . .

My usually clumsy feet didn't let me fall this time. They took me onwards until I broke through the trees into the clearing. Edward gasped.

"Bella, don't be like this, PLEASE! This is as painful to me as it is for you." No that was wrong. Those were the words I wanted him to say. Instead he stood in front of me, his eyes cold and menacing, and his face expressionless, he muttered, "Bella, I don't want you. You are not good for me." And then he was gone.

I lay in the grass, staring up at the sky with unseeing eyes.

And then I screamed.

I screamed louder until my throat hurt. I was blind, my hands groped for something or someone; my body writhed in agony and I screamed . . .

And screamed . . .

And screamed . . .

Somebody touched my forehead and whispered, "It's OK now, baby. Everything is going to be fine." Somebody laughed, and as the pain grew, the sense of numbness took over. As I blacked out, the last thing I saw was a pair of green eyes staring down at me.

His voice called my name, his hands touched my unconscious body, his face smiled down at me, and his mouth formed shapes that turned into words. I stared, trying to understand what this vision was telling me, trying to make out dream from reality. I screamed again, my whole body writhing and burning. Somebody touched me and I calmed. I breathed through my nose and smelled blood, my stomach churned. I gasped as the pain sliced through my vision and I was alone in my mind.

Edward. My mind screamed, Edward, come back! Edward I need you! His face became more and more remote. My mind started to forget the crooked smile and the dazzling eyes. My mind forgot what his velvet voice did to me when he spoke. All I could remember was the pain . . .

"Is she awake?" a male voice asked. It was silky smooth and promising.

"She is regaining consciousness but she is not fully awake yet." Another male voice answered. This voice seemed to be closer to me.

"What does she keep muttering?" the first voice asked, annoyed. The second voice was silent for a minute and then whispered, "Edward. Edward come back! I need you!" the first voice laughed. The second growled and it was silent again. I opened my eyes and gasped. The boy in front of me was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. His hands worked over me with a concentrated ease that awed me. His handsome face was turned away from me, looking at some bruises on my legs which I now saw were quickly fading. His mouth turned into a smile as he saw me.

"Ah, you are awake at last." I recognized this voice as the voice that had repeated those dreaded words.

"W-where am I?" I croaked. He was strikingly beautiful. His jet black hair curled at the nape of his neck, a few spikes of fringe getting in the way of his striking eyes which were the colour of the sea and a field in spring. The only thing that gave him away was the paleness of his skin.

"You're at your new home." He said. His voice was silky smooth and so sure that that was the thing I wanted to hear. It was.

"Tell her that, and she'll run a mile." A second bored voice interjected. Black haired boy rolled his eyes and smile reassuringly at me.

"Are you a vampire?" I whispered. The boy sighed and sat back on his heels.

"Yes and no." the second voice laughed, and the owner came into view mimicking perfectly the black haired boy's voice, "Yes and no, yes and no. it's either yes or no Jason."

"It's either you shut up or I make you, Ryan." The boy called Jason growled. I flinched at the malice in his voice, but he turned a sunny smile on me and everything else seemed not to matter.

"Yes we are vampires but . . . we are different from the vampires you used to know." I closed my eyes at the mentioning of the Cullen's, even if they hadn't said their name, I knew who he meant, and the painful memories rushed back. Ryan looked at me and sighed.

"She isn't going to be an easy sport, Jez. She doesn't seem to abandon her past, to put everything behind her,"

"Yes I do. I want to forget everything and everyone of my past."

Jason smiled and said, "You are one of us, now. A vampire."

"When you said you weren't like . . . those vampires, what did you mean?"

"I meant, we were not made like this by another vampire, we were born like this. That's why our eye colour is different from theirs. But we don't feed off humans, just animals." He grinned and I sighed. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Maybe he could help me forget about Edward and his lies. . .

"What about Charlie?" Ryan laughed and sat in a wide leather armchair in front of the spitting fire.

"From now on, we are your family." I smiled and settled down into the sofa, drifting off into an unnatural sleep.