Summary: Bella never jumped and so the Cullens didn't return to Forks until three years after leaving, when they find Bella's grave. Thirteen years later they meet a boy who leads them back to Bella and to a war greater than they could ever imagine.

Prologue

Even as a vampire I never quite became accustomed to the smell and sight of blood. I could prepare myself for it before a hunt; fight back the instant wave of revulsion as a hot spurt of the crimson fluid hit the back of my throat. But nothing could have prepared me for the stench that hit me as I entered La Push. My throat clenched convulsively and the world began to dim and, for the first time since I had been stripped of my mortality seven years ago, I thought I would faint. The scent was cloying and overwhelming, seeming to seep into every pore of my skin, allowing me no sanctuary or escape. Finally my body took over where my mind could not function and my breathing grew gradually shallower until it ceased altogether.

La Push was burning. No one ran from the flames that consumed the houses. Where screams should have filled my ears, there was only the roaring of the fire. My mind tried to deny what I already knew instinctively; the lack of any kind of human noise coupled with the heavy smell of blood in the air could only mean one thing. The people of La Push – the friends who had taken me in after my change and accepted me as family – were dead. Murdered.

Later I would learn that it had been the work of vampires. I should have realised from the start: who else would have been powerful enough to destroy a pack of werewolves? Later I would scream until my voice filled the entire forest, hating myself for leaving my family to hunt. At that moment I was only aware of a powerful tearing sensation along the barely healed scars of the wound that Edward had inflicted on me the day he left. I wanted nothing more than to find the place where Jake lay, curl up next to him and die.

Jake. Ally, friend, brother. The thought of him sent a fresh wave of pain coursing through my body. A howl of agony erupted from my lips, bouncing off the trees. I could feel myself coming apart; I was about to shatter. I would have done had I not heard something that jolted me out of my misery. A whimper. Such a small sound that no human ears could ever have heard it, but to my preternatural hearing it was like a scream in an empty stadium. Someone was alive.

I followed the whimpers as they steadily grew louder and turned into screams. They led me to the small garden behind Jake's house, to the tree house he had built in a fit of excitement upon discovering that his wife was pregnant. I tried not to remember him as he had looked that day, his face alight with happiness as he eagerly chattered about his construction plans. Instead I focused on the squirming heap of blankets that lay in the corner of his creation. Peeling back a corner, I stared down into the tear streaked face of the boy who I had loved like a son for the past two years. Jake's son, Billy, named after his grandfather who had lived long enough to hold him before succumbing to cancer.

I picked him up and cradled him against my chest, uttering soothing, nonsensical words to calm him. For a moment I couldn't understand. How had he been passed over, how had he miraculously survived the slaughter that had claimed his entire family? Then a memory surfaced. Splashes of blood in the grass beneath the tree leading to a mangled, fabric covered pile that I hadn't thought to be human. It must have been Lizzie. She had sacrificed herself to lead the blood thirsty monsters away from her son.

Something stirred on the edge of my awareness. We were no longer alone; someone stood at the base of the tree. I detected no heartbeat and I knew that no one else could have survived, so it must be one of them. One of the demons who had murdered Billy's parents, my friends. Clearly I wasn't the only one who had been drawn by Billy's cries. Drawing the blankets tighter around him, I tucked Billy back into the corner and said, "You have to be quiet now. I'll be back for you soon." He regarded me with the wide, clear eyes of his father and for a moment it seemed as if he had a greater understanding of the danger than I realised.

I rose to my feet and turned to face the fight that awaited me.