Chapter 1: Lupine and the Lamb

It was Saturday morning, as I pushed myself out of bed and shuffled across the room to the window I remembered my promise to Jacob that I would go to La Push and we would spend the day together. When I thought of my promise my mind started to drift towards another image in my mind. Before I knew what was happening I was thinking about him, with his body like a statue and the liquid gold eyes that made me quiver. Shaking my head from side to side I pushed his face out of my head and I made a beeline for the shower. When I got into the bathroom I turned the shower on and climbed in, the hot water rolled down my body.

As I lathered up my hair I sighed softly and let mind begin to wander as I rinsed the strawberry shampoo out of my hair, on this over cast Saturday my mind decided to torture me by dredging up memories that I had worked so hard to keep locked away in the very back of my mind. When I finally snapped out of my daze the water spraying in my face was ice cold, closing my eyes I felt two trails of warm tears falling. I knew I wasn't sad I was angry that I wasn't enough for Ed...Him…reaching over and grasping the handle of the shower I turned the frigid water off and stepped out into the small bathroom.

Wrapping a towel around my body I scurried across the small hallway into my bedroom. Going to the close I yanked it open and saw the plastic bag in corner barely hidden by my clothes. At that moment the memories flashed through my head, I felt lightheaded. As soon as my knees made contact with the wood floor I realized that I had stopped breathing. Taking a deep breath the pain in my chest started to spread.

My arms and legs went numb; I wanted to scream out all my pain. When I opened my mouth nothing but a small squeak erupted from deep inside me. By the time I had feeling in my legs I remembered that I was going to be late to hang out with Jacob. Pulling myself up I rushed around and threw on the first set of clean clothes and made my way outside to my old truck. When I climbed in the cab and got the engine started the heavens above me started to release the rain it held.

Driving under fifty miles per hour I chugged down to La Push and made my way to the Black home. When I arrived I could see Billy behind one of the curtains. Giving me a quick once over he moved away from the window, soon after a large pair of russet color arms wrapped around me from behind.

"Bells it's so good to see you again" Jacob laughed as he let me go and led me to the garage behind the house. Inside the garage the unfinished Volkswagen Rabbit sat on cement blocks still. I vaguely remember Jacob saying something about them being done. What caught my eye the most was the finished bikes. I smiled at Jacob. He was smiling and patted the seat of the bike that was closest to me; the red paint job looked professional. The one beside it had a perfect black paint job "I just finished them before you got here, But I need to get oil for the engines before we can test them out." he laughed. Stretching his arms over his head he looked over at me.

"You're looking a bit better Bella, You know I'm always here to talk if you want" he said reaching over and ruffling my hair a bit so it was more of a mess than before.

Both of us began to laugh and I looked the bikes over and then my eyes moved over and I realized that Jacob was shirtless, his face had a few spot of dirt and his hair was mussed up a bit. I blushed and before I realized it Jacob was hugging me close again. This time I noticed how warm he was compared to a certain person that I would not name, but I couldn't stop myself from remembering his ice cold skin and the way he looked like a god when he was just standing on the edge of the woods that day.

Wrapping my arms around Jacob's waist I buried my face in his chest as I started to shake. As soon as I began to shake I felt a large warm hand on my back rubbing soft circles to calm me down. Soon I started to feel better and I was able to look my friend in his eyes.

"Did I say something to upset you?" he asked keeping me close enough to feel the heat radiating from his body. I shook my head and looked at him and forced a smile. "No I've just been having a really tough day already. I had another nightmare last night and it was about him." I said not even bothering to mention the love of my life that left me to as he put it protect me.

Keeping me close Jacob knew not to day say anything at all. Being so close to my friend reminded me of prom last year when we danced together. But at prom I was less coordinated than ever with the foot brace on my foot after my run in with the vampire James.

Just at the thought of the prom those liquid gold eyes invaded my thoughts again. The garage was silent as we stood there. In my mind I heard what he would have said in response to this scene.

"Take care of yourself;" he said those words last September, I lost count of how many months had passed but the pain was still there. I pulled away from Jacob and ran off out of the garage and toward the beach. I forgot that the beach was so far away. I didn't care I just needed to get away from everything. Tree branches smacked me in the face as I cut through the forest. The forest looked just like the one behind my house.

By the time I was fatigued I was surrounded by woods and lost. I spun in a circle which was a stupid idea now I had no idea which way to go.

That's when I saw something move in the distance, I sighed softly when it turned out to be a deer that was foraging for food. I still had the feeling that something was following me and that I was never going to get away from it. It was the same feeling in the pit of my stomach that I used to get in school before I knew a certain family.

"Hey, Bella where did you go" Jacob yelled as he crashed through the underbrush following the path I took, when he turned the corner around a tree I couldn't help but smile at him and run into his warm arms. "It's alright, I'm here…let's get out of here, I never liked being this far in the woods." He remarked looking around as if he could sense something watching us.

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By the time we reached the Black household Jacob had begun to tell me that even though we were on the reservation didn't mean the woods were any safer, wild animals lived everywhere.

"You could have gotten hurt, how would I have explained that to Charlie, speaking of Charlie he called just as you took off, he wants you home early" he said as he walked me to my truck, When we got to my truck and I climbed into the cab. The open window was level with Jacob as he leaned in and smiled at me " Have a safe trip home and make sure to keep safe " he said tussling my hair and pulled his arm out of the truck window as I started the engine and started off down the tree made tunnel to the highway.

When I got to the high that led to Forks I prayed my truck would make it home and not break down. As I chugged down the highway just under fifty miles per hour again I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched still.

Twilight was setting in, the beautiful sky diverted my attention for long enough so that I barely saw the figure standing in the road. Turning the wheel to avoid them the front wheels of my truck went into a ditch on the side of the road. I immediately got out of the truck to see if they were all right.

"Tsk…tsk Bella, I would have thought you were a better driver than this" the figure said, the voice sounded familiar, I stood there for a minute until the name of the figure spilled from my lips. "Laurent, I thought you up north with Tanya?"The words were spilling out of me.

With a nod of his head he moved closer to me. "Yes it was nice, but there were too many rules, so I came back and you'll never guess who I ran into, Victoria, turns out she's pretty upset that your little Edward killed her mate and she's got it out for you. In fact I'm here as a favor, to look for you. Who would have thought I would have found you so quickly after returning." He said with a cold smirk that made my stomach sink.

I began to back away toward the cab of my truck; I kept my eyes on Laurent in front of me, he was moving toward me at a human pace and to a vampire that is a glacial place. As soon as I made a mad dash for the cab of my truck he was there blocking it from me. My hand instantly rose around my neck.

"You smell divinely, and I haven't had a good meal since I was in Canada. I believe they were French tourists. Sweet blood, I think from all that wine that they drink" he said with a smirk.

My heart started to beat louder, I wanted to scream but I was too far for anyone to hear me. Just then a car rolled up. "Need some help little lady?" one man from inside the car asked, I was about to answer when a cold arm wrapped around my shoulder.

"No need, we're fine… nothing really serious here, we've actually got a tow truck coming for us" Laurent said waving the men off. As soon as they were gone the cold hand on my shoulder began to tighten its grip. "Such an innocent lamb, with such an aroma" he whispered in my ear.

I tried to pull away, but every time a single muscle twitched in my body he tightened his grip till I was biting my lip to keep from crying out. That's when he let go and smirked coldly "There's no fun in it if your prey isn't running" he said with the sweetest voice he could muster I'm sure.

When his fingers slowly uncurled and let me go I made a run for the woods, I knew that it was pointless no matter where I went but I just needed to get away.

My heart was pounding, the sound was deafening in my ears as I felt the vibrations of the road hit the soles of my feet. I saw flickers out of the corner of my eyes; he was toying with me as I ran. By the time I made it halfway down the trail my legs were seizing up on me and I fell hard. I was scared, I felt him stand over me.

"Edward…he'll know you did it." I cried, I was shocked by my own tears, normally I cried when I was angry. I was pulled to my feet so fast that my head was spinning and it was hard to understand Laurent when he spoke.

"It's not nice to lie, I was by their home and it looked quite empty to me. So let's try that one again. Besides it doesn't matter, if he's gone there is no one to protect you from me. I'll have to just give Victoria some story about why you're dead" He said leaning in running his nose along my neck and taking a deep whiff. His hand was holding the arm of my shirt tightly I feel the cold radiating from his hand. That was when I saw the fear on his face… he tore the arm of my shirt and he ran off.

I looked around hoping to see what scared him but the woods were empty and silent again. I put my arms around my chest and crouched down and began to sob. I had just grazed death again and I did it alone, that's what scared me the most. Staying curled in the crouching ball I finally heard twigs breaking and I looked up and saw Charlie standing over me. I couldn't help myself I launched myself into his arms and hugged him.

"Bells, you had everyone worried sick, what have you been doing out here for four hours" he asked taking his jacket off and putting it around my shoulders. "Jacob called and said that you hadn't called him to tell him you got home safe. He was very worried when I said you hadn't arrived yet."

I looked around it was dark, instead of telling my father a vampire tried to kill me I told him the first thing that popped into my head "I thought I nearly hit an dog and I came to make sure but I got lost so I waited for someone to find me" I lied through me teeth. Charlie either didn't notice or let it pass that my shirt was missing a large part of the left sleeve. He helped me get back to the road and into my truck which had been towed out of the ditch.

Starting up the engine I started to head home, Charlie behind me the entire way in case I decided to run my truck off the road again. By the time we got home it was late, I was too scared to sleep so I sat up and doodled on a notepad, after a few minutes I looked at what I was drawing and I sighed. Deciding it was late enough I changed into my pajamas and climbed into bed. The same question buzzed in my head 'Why did he run away?' The look Laurent had on his face was fear "so what scares a vampire?" I whispered to myself as I started to drift off to sleep