This is my first fanfic so please be kind. I promise that it gets a lot better after this first chapter. Please review.

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight.

Chapter 1

KPOV

(Flashback)

As I stare down at what I have done all I feel is disgust and self-loathing. I'm evil and shouldn't exist. How could I do this? I'm wrong. I turn and run out of the house and don't stop. I just keep running. Why can't I just die?

I wish it was that easy.

I keep running, the days and months go by and I don't notice the passing of time. Time has no importance for me any more. I'm running and trying to escape my past, if I think about it I'll curl up into a ball and I won't be able to get back up again. It's best just to try and forget about everything. Keeping my mind blank will save me the pain. But why should I be saved from the pain? They weren't.

(End of flashback)

As the forest flew by me at what should be an impossible speed, I just kept running. I don't know where and to be honest I don't really care. All I know is that I'm somewhere in America and relatively close to the sea. As long as no humans see me then I'm okay. I'm too depressed to even care what happens to me now. After what I did I don't deserve to live. I'm abhorrent, disgusting, I shouldn't exist in the first place. I'm defying nature just by being here.

Suddenly, I caught the scent of creatures familiar to me; vampires, and quite a few of them. There is even the sweet scent of something that is almost identical to my own scent. I never dreamed that it was possible. Is it possible that I'm not as rare as I thought?

For the first time in a long time I felt curious; I felt the urge to find out more. Not just curiosity, but anything. I haven't felt anything in such a long time, I've refused to let myself. They can't feel anything any more so why should I be allowed to. Besides, if I let myself feel anything it wouldn't be a good thing. No, it's best that I don't feel anything, but I can't shake of this feeling of curiosity. I find I can't ignore it any longer.

I follow the trails in through the forest to where they converge next to a river. I can tell that they go over the river and decide to investigate even further. I leap the 50 feet across the river and run through the trees again before I come into a clearing. Now I understand why all the trails meet here.

A huge white Victorian mansion looms in front of me. It has been modified and has huge glass windows round the back of the house. I never thought I would think about anything like this again. I can now identify 8 different vampire scents, the one frighteningly like my own and several others which smell a bit weird. They are all coming and going, it's obvious that this is used as a permanent residence. But aren't all vampires nomads? Why on earth would any vampire have a house, surely humans would notice all the disappearances.

I try to gather some confidence together. I can't believe what I'm about to do. I'm about to go up to the front door of a strange coven of vampires and possibly risk my life. This is probably one of the most stupid things I've ever done, but I'm past caring now.

I walk slowly at human pace up to the front door. It opens before me and it seem that I was somehow expected. Don't be stupid I tell myself. They heard you coming, you know they have impeccable hearing. Standing there was possibly one of the most beautiful people I had ever seen in my life. He had bronze hair that was messy in just the right kind of way, and his face was too perfect to even describe. And his eyes, just so golden I thought I would drown in them. A typical vampire then, but why did he have golden eyes, maybe he had contacts in?

He hissed at me; I wasn't surprised. I'm an intruder, an unknown. But amazingly his gaze wasn't hostile. He looked more surprised than like he was going to attack me.

All my confidence now ebbing away, I said timidly "I don't mean any harm. My name is Katherine."

Edward's POV

I was sitting on the couch with Bella watching Nessie play with Jacob. I still wasn't completely happy with him imprinting, but I suppose there's nothing I can do about it now. The rest of the family were spread around the house doing various things.

Suddenly, I could hear someone running through the forest. They were coming closer. They were almost at the house. I could hear their thoughts now.

Why, why now? Why do I suddenly feel something now after so long? I'm a monster. Maybe these vampires can help me. There was even that strange smell mixed in among their scents.

Maybe I'm just doomed to be a monster.

I called the family, "Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie." I knew they could hear me.

They all came running and were there in a second. "There's someone coming." They all hissed at this. "I don't know if its bad yet. They seem upset. Stay here while I answer the door. But be ready."

I knew they were coming up the porch now and towards the door. They were admiring the house. Their thoughts were changing rapidly, but they was always the undercurrent of self-loathing and sadness. I opened the door just as they got to it and I could see the surprise on her face as she took me in. I hissed out of sheer surprise. She was just like Nessie. A half-vampire...

I think I scared her. "I don't mean any harm. My name is Katherine." she said. I could see she was telling the truth.

The rest of them heard and came up behind me, leaving Nessie with Jacob. They all hissed in surprise too when they saw and smelt what she was. Carlisle was the only one who didn't, hardly anything phased him.

Katherine's POV

The rest of them came up behind the bronze haired one. I had introduced myself. I hoped they weren't violent. There was something different about these vampires. They had golden eyes, they weren't like the others. I didn't have much experience but even I knew that they weren't like other vampires.

I looked slowly over them all there were four males and four females. There was the bronze haired male, a black curly haired male that was bigger and more muscly than anyone I had ever seen, and two other blonde males, one slightly older than the other. There was on extremely small black haired female that look slightly like a pixie, a caramel hair coloured female that looked strangely motherly, another brown haired female and also a stunningly beautiful blonde haired female. They were all unnaturally beautiful and they also all had golden eyes.

The older blonde male stepped forward and said "Welcome Katherine, why don't you come inside and we can all get to know each other. I'm sure that you have an interesting story."

At that I broke down and started crying.

I just collapsed in front of all of them and started to sob. The pain of what I'd done came back to me and I couldn't hold it back. I heard the blonde one say "Emmett, pick her up and bring her inside." Then I drew back into myself and carried on crying.

I don't know how long I stayed like that, but it must have been a long time. Every now and then I heard them talking about what was wrong with me. At one point it got so bad I heard one of the males say "I can't stand it any more Carlisle, I'm going to collapse myself with the pain. I have to leave. Call me when it gets better." I briefly wondered what he was on about until I slipped back into my own personal oblivion.

At one point I felt the pain start to subside finally. Slowly, bit by bit I began to climb out of my pit of darkness and into the light again.

Eventually, I opened my eyes and found myself lying on a surprisingly comfy sofa. There was a large damp patch under my head where I had been crying. I heard someone say "Carlisle, she's awake." I guess at one point I must have fallen asleep. It hadn't felt like it though; the pain had felt never ending.

I slowly sat up, taking in my surroundings. Then one by one all eight vampires drifted cautiously into the room. All of them had very wary eyes while staring at me.

Carlisle's POV

After I had spoken, she suddenly collapsed and burst into tears. We all just stared at her, dumbfounded. After about a minute had gone by I told Emmett "pick her up and bring her inside." What had we done to her?

Bella's POV

She was just like Nessie, my Nessie. After Nahuel we knew there was the possibility of there being others like her. We just didn't imagine they would show up here on out doorstep out of nowhere. And then promptly burst into tears. For some reason I felt I had to know her story.

Jasper's POV

The pain.

It just came off of her in unrelenting waves. I thought it would never end. I was just the passive observer, I can't imagine how bad it must have been to experience it first-hand. I was almost cripples with it, how could she handle it? Surely that kind of pain would kill somebody. The worst thing is that it's emotional pain. Something in her past is so painful to her, it's almost killing her. She must obviously keep it locked up or she wouldn't have even made it to the house. She would just be curled up in a ball somewhere. Eventually it got so bad I said to Carlisle "I can't stand it any more Carlisle, I'm going to collapse myself with the pain. I have to leave. Call me when it gets better." Then I ran out of the house as fast as I could for miles until I couldn't feel her pain any more.

Edward's POV

I could read her mind. But I couldn't see what it was that had caused her to collapse with pain. All I could see in her mind was the pain. Jasper was suffering so much he had to leave. I have to admit that I nearly couldn't stand it. It was so bad. But then I thought of Bella and Nessie and it kept me from tumbling over the edge with her.

Unfortunately we could all still hear her sobs. I could see it was hurting Alice that Jasper had to leave, and we still didn't know when he would be able to come back. Alice couldn't see when she would come out of it because she was a half-vampire and it didn't look like anything was going to happen any time soon. Esme and Carlisle were worrying too because they can't stand to see anyone in pain, Esme especially with her motherly instincts. Even Rosalie and Emmett were strangely affected by this new arrival. Emmett was depressed because of the effect she had on everyone. Rosalie had gained her motherly instinct back because of Nessie and so wanted to help Katherine. The only problem was no one knew how to help her.

When Emmett had brought her inside Carlisle told him "Put her down on the sofa." Jacob and Nessie were curious about her, but I told Jacob to keep her away until we knew more. We were all crowding round her enough as it was. They were curious because she was the first other female half-vampire we had seen. She seemed to be fully grown and Nessie was understandably curious to meet her. However, she understood that she was upset and agreed to stay out of her way. Jacob was curious, he wanted to see if that was what Nessie would become like. Luckily, for him he wasn't thinking about her in a romantic way. It's only a matter of time though.

Carlisle checked her over and he couldn't find anything physically wrong with her at all, apart from she was obviously tired and had been running for a long time. She needed to eat. But we didn't even know what type of food she ate, we didn't know anything about her at all. As the hours wore on she just kept sobbing, it was heartbreaking for everyone. No one knew what to do at all.

At one point Carlisle called us all into the dining room to talk to us. "I have to ask you all what you think we should do with her. I know we at least have to keep her with us until she can talk and move, but after that."

"I think we should wait to find out her story. Then we can decide." I replied.

All of them started murmuring and agreed with me.

"Carlisle, are you sure there is nothing we can do for her?" asked Esme.

"Yes, unfortunately. Her skin is as tough as ours so I can't sedate her. I'm afraid we'll have to wait for her to come out of it one her own." he said.

"What was it that set her off in the first place?" Emmett asked.

"I think it must have been when I said 'you must have an interesting story' that's when she started, and she hasn't stopped since." said Carlisle.

I could tell he felt extremely guilty so I told him "you did nothing wrong Carlisle. No one could have anticipated this. Even Alice."

"I know. Edward, can you tell us when she's awake again?" he asked.

"Yes, I'll call you all the second she wakes up."

"Thank you." he said, "You can go back to whatever you were doing before."

I took Bella's hand and we took Nessie upstairs to sleep. We couldn't go home, not with the possibility of her waking up. I couldn't believe what I had done to deserve either of them, it's far more than I deserve.

But I couldn't bring myself to even kiss Bella. Not while I could still feel Katherine's pain. It was so intense, it felt like when I thought I had lost Bella when she was still human. I never thought I would ever see anyone in pain like that in the whole of my existence. Whatever had happened to her was bad, and we still had no idea what it was.

We spent the night just talking to each other; still Katherine cried. Would she ever stop? At one point she fell asleep, but the pain still didn't stop, it carried on in her dreams. It truly was never ending. Bella was getting better at lifting her shield from her mind so some of the night I spent listening to her thoughts. Bella also watched Nessie's dreams, anything to distract her from Katherine downstairs. We could still hear her clearly.

Jacob had left to go back to La Push. Seth was due to visit today but I told Jacob to tell him that later on in the day would probably be better. Just until we got everything sorted out. Jacob was still due to come back in the morning though, he would have to keep Nessie occupied when Katherine eventually woke up. I knew Nessie could handle it, she was extremely intelligent considering she wasn't even two years old yet. I just didn't want her to have to handle it, not until Katherine was okay again.

At about 7 o'clock the next morning we wandered downstairs again. Everyone else was up and about, no one was doing anything. We were all waiting for Katherine. We all felt that until we got it sorted out then our lives were on hold. It was irrational but we had all felt a tug on our heartstrings and we couldn't ignore it.

I didn't exactly know how Jacob felt about the whole situation. I knew he was curious because of what she was, but I didn't know if he was truly sympathetic. I hoped he was, we had all been touched by her plight even without knowing what it was. Although, if Nessie took a shining to her I knew that Jacob would do whatever it took to make her welcome.

In around half an hour we heard Nessie stirring and ran back up to her so that we would be there when she woke up. I loved watching my daughter sleep and so did Bella. Sometimes we stayed by her side while she slept just watching her dream. I have to admit sometimes I felt a little jealous that Nessie had a stronger bond with her mother than with me. It even hurt that she had an equally strong bond with Jacob. It was completely irrational to feel that way, but I couldn't help it, she was my daughter. Last night she had been dreaming about Katherine and wondering who she was. I knew that she would want to know her story too, I just hoped she wouldn't insist on hearing it at the same time as the rest of us. Of course if she insisted then Jacob would also demand that she was there. Stupid imprinting.

Nessie eventually woke up and she immediately demanded that she be taken downstairs to visit Katherine. I told her "We can go in and look at her, but no more. We have to be quiet, let her come out of this in her own time." She reluctantly agreed. When we got in there Katherine was still upset and I could still feel the pain, but she was asleep now and it was bearable. At least she was no longer sobbing. I immediately felt bad when I thought that, it made me seem like I wanted to ignore her and the pain she was in.

Nessie went up to her quietly and just stared at her face for a while. She was thinking about how much she appeared to be in pain and wished that she could help. All of us felt exactly the same way.

Just then Jacob turned up. He was surprisingly quiet, although I think that was because he knew that Katherine was here. He came in the door and whispered "Nessie." Of course she already knew that he was there but she turned around and ran into his waiting arms. Bella and I then ushered them both out to avoid disturbing Katherine.

Once we were in the kitchen Jacob turned to me and said "I talked to Seth last night and he agreed to come around later on today. I told him about the new visitor and he is looking forward to meeting her when he gets here. We are to phone him if we need to postpone again." I responded with a nod and a word of thanks. I personally think that Seth is curious about her too. I expect he will be around sooner rather than later.

After calling Jasper to tell him it was safe for him to come back we spent the next hour playing with Nessie, but always at the back of our minds was our mysterious visitor.

At around 9 o'clock I felt her mind stirring. The pain was still there but it was bearable for even her now. It was almost time for her to wake up. I called out "Carlisle, she's awake." I knew that everyone would hear. She was almost awake now. I told Jacob and Nessie "Stay here until we know it's safe and exactly what we're dealing with." He didn't put up much of a fight as his first thoughts were of Nessie's safety. She put up more of a struggle but I mollified her by saying "I will call you when you can come out. I promise as soon as it is safe you will meet her. Until then you can spend more time with Jacob." As much as I hated saying the last bit I knew that he would keep her occupied until we were ready.

Bella kissed her on the forehead and we cautiously wandered into the living room. The rest of them were slowly coming in at the same time. Jasper and Emmett were ready in case she was she was going to be a problem, but I had a strange feeling she wasn't. She had already told us she meant no harm. I silently hoped that I wasn't starting to turn into Alice. We all looked at her at the exact same time. She was awake now and she was staring at us as we entered.