Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Recap: Edward, Esme, and Rosalie haven't returned yet, but Emmett gave Bella a letter from Edward that tells what happened to them in Seattle.

A/N: Although this entire chapter is a letter, it is not in italics. Everything is in Edward's point of view, and italicized things are thoughts.

---

Chapter Eleven: Oh, the Armed Forces of Our Country

This is what occurred in Seattle. Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, and I reached the city in about an hour and a half. Based on what Alice could gather from her visions and our senses of smell, we discerned that the rogue vampire was somewhere in the downtown area.

We headed in that direction and, after a small encounter with some police forces, found the warehouse district. Most of the buildings were dilapidated and—

Rosalie has just informed me I should elaborate on the small encounter.

In short, we were driving along—

Emmett has just informed me that it was not a short encounter, and no synonym of it or related words of small and short should be used.

Very well. We were driving along a quaint street filled with small trinket shops, at a speed that was a few miles above the speed lim—

Rosalie has just informed me that if I cannot tell the story truthfully I will not be allowed to tell the story at all.

Therefore, we were driving exponentially above the speed limit. As we drove along the street, we heard a police car's sirens behind us. Aware that we'd be able to escape the humans easily, I pulled over and got out of the car. Everyone else was prepared to react if we got into any kind of trouble.

Once outside, I realized the police car was clearly pulled over, and had been for some time. Two police officers were standing outside of it and a third climbed out, having just turned on the siren.

"Shuddup, Hodie," one of those that stood on the sidewalk slurred. They were clearly inebriated, and when I got closer I realized they looked unkempt and had probably been out all night.

"Yeah, yeah," the one called Hodie moaned. "Mister Frank damn break the law Heri."

"Lookit, guys!" the third shouted. "We got a lawbreaker!"

They staggered over to me as I recoiled slightly in disgust. In the past ten seconds my opinion of humans had dropped significantly. Idiot humans, drunk on the job when they had innocent peop—

Emmett says to get on with the story and leave the editorials for later.

Well, once they came upon me Mr. Frank Heri peered into my face. "He was speeding by sixty seven and a third miles!" he proclaimed after studying me for a second, as if the number had mysteriously come from my appearance.

"Holy shit, Cras, you were right!" Hodie exclaimed in surprise. "I remember now—the radar said a lot more than its supposed to say!"

"Idiot!" Cras said for no apparent reason and hit him in the back of the head weakly, stumbling from the effort.

Oh, what a grand representation of our armed forces, Rosalie murmured to me in her head. Let's just get away from here.

At the same time I heard Emmett yell (he never trusted that I'd hear him if he thought too quietly) in his head, Don't move! Well, don't run or… do anything inhuman. These guys may be as drunk as hell, but they're still cops, they've still got guns, and they've still got radios.

I agreed with Emmett and said cautiously, "Is there a problem, men?"

They guffawed hysterically. "He—wants—to—damn—know—" Hodie gasped out between bursts of unexplainable laughter. "If—there's—a—damn—problem!"

I measured them wryly. They were distracted, that was true, but would we be able to get away quickly enough? There was always the Volvo, too. They might have gotten the license plates, there was just too much to risk, so I stayed and—

Rosalie would like to interject that if we'd left right then we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now. In my defense, the "mess" we're in right now is hardly a mess—it is exactly what we came to Seattle to accomplish.

Emmett says to shut up and get on with the story.

As I was saying, I thought it would be best to simply remain and see how things played out.

Once they were calmed down, Heri put on a tough front utterly ruined by his state of mind and said forcefully, "Urhm, sir, that's a minority violation of the lawful state of…law…uh…oh shit… um…" He fumbled around for a bit, looking for a badge.

Hodie grumbled, "Damn idjit. I'll take care of this situation, you be sure."

He stumbled up to me and tried to grab my hands, which were hanging by my sides, but I stepped back. Lurching forward, he flailed wildly and tripped onto the ground. "Damn teenager!" he moaned.

"I had enough a this!" Cras proclaimed in a mumbling tone. "Lezzget outta… oh shit there it goes…"

Unaware what the drunken man was referencing, I gazed at them warily.

"What's that look! Huh?" Heri demanded, apparently haven given up the search for his badge. He came up into my face and slurred, "Here we are, workin our asses off to save the good people of Seattle's lives so a mass murderer don't kill 'em, and here you are, trying to be here!"

Edward! I heard Esme yell to me in her thoughts. Someone's coming! A vampire! It smells the alcohol!

I cursed. The presence of too much alcohol in a human's body multiplied the smell of his blood for a vampire, for whatever reason. It would make the vampire insane with thirst.

I searched the surrounding area for any bloodthirsty intentions, and finally found a thread, moving quickly, far too quickly—almost there, I can smell them, I can smell—oh they smell so good—and the thought of the blood infected even me and I felt myself growing thirstier—

Emmett says to get on with it.

I felt myself growing thirstier, so I took a second to shake myself out of the predatory mood.

It was a second too long.

The next thing I knew I could see her, dashing to each man and breaking their necks to immobilize them as she prepared to drink their blood.

Esme moved the fastest, pinning her down with difficulty and leaving the men, alive but badly injured and unconscious, on the ground.

Emmett, Rosalie, and I were at Esme's side in moments. We each took an arm or leg in an attempt to pin down the writhing girl.

For I'd just realized it was a girl—no more than thirteen or so—we were restraining.

Emmett finally managed to get on top of her and pin her down single-handedly. Although she seemed to be a newborn, he was able to do it with little difficulty—she must have been a particularly weak human. After a moment of struggling, she finally calmed down and submitted.

"Are you going to be quiet?" Esme whispered.

"Yes," the girl's tiny voice said. Still, Emmett kept his hold on her arms.

Remembering the injured police officers, I ran over to Heri and found a cell phone in a case on his waist. I pulled it out gingerly with a hand gloved by the corner of my shirt to prevent fingerprints and dialed 911. Dropping it on the ground, I muttered, "Let's go."

We ran to the Volvo, Emmett and Rosalie half-carrying the girl. Her thoughts were indiscernible, filled with mixes of confusion, self-pity, and extreme thirst. I slid into the front seat, Esme climbed in next to me, and the other three squeezed into the back.

Driving away faster than before, I murmured, "Don't talk."

From the rearview mirror I saw a timid nod of assent.

Speeding past the city limits, I caught sight of an empty cornfield with no thoughts a mile in each direction. Pulling up, I commanded, "Make sure you don't let go of her—her thoughts aren't clear enough yet."

Once we were all outside, I was finally able to get a good look at the girl with the help from the headlights I'd left on. She was of medium height, and looked barely more attractive than the average human, hinting that she'd not been good-looking before being transformed. As I'd suspected, she was about twelve or thirteen years old, with russet-tinted brown hair and a slightly chubby figure. She barely struggled against Emmett, save the occasional tug to see if his grip on her had loosened.

Esme stood to my side, eyes filled with love and pity looking upon the girl. Poor thing, barely more than a child, left to fend for herself…

Rosalie wondered, Why doesn't she fight? Is she really so willing for death?

Emmett thought, Cute little girl. Feel bad for her… I wish I could let her go, I feel bad restraining her—

I'd just like to say, in my defense, that Emmett punching me as I wrote the last line was utterly uncalled for and my response was completely instigated.

As I said, we all stared at the girl for a few seconds. Finally Esme asked softly, "What's your name?"

"Anna."

"Are you okay?"

There was a broken silence followed by an almost indistinguishable, "I don't want to talk about it. Just kill me, please."

"We won't." This was Emmett.

Suddenly she was completely wild with fury, struggling with difficulty against his arms. "No!" she screamed. "I'll keep killin' them! I'll reveal all of us! Do you want me to do that? Huh? You'd better just kill me!"

Wishing fervently for Jasper's abilities, I tried to calm her by shouting, "We're not going to kill you! Just let us talk to you—"

"Talk? Oh yes, talk to me all you want! Woo me to your side with slippery, slithery, words, just like—"

Emmett clamped a hand over her mouth, and only winced a little when she bit him. Rosalie stared at Anna, a mystified look on her face. She regrets it, I heard my sister think. She doesn't want this any more than I do… Better tell Emmett to stop—

And just as she thought the last bit, Rosalie commanded, "Let her go."

Emmett released her unquestioningly.

Anna stood there, suddenly unsure. She shifted her weight as her gaze flicked around to each of us. "What?" she asked jumpily. "Why—"

"You don't have to kill humans," Esme said simply.

"Yes I do! I tried not to! The lady said it would be imposs—" Then she stopped suddenly, realizing she'd said too much. There was a stark silence as the girl studied each of us in turn. "Your eyes…"

"It's the color they turn when we drink animals' blood," Esme explained.

"But—but no—she said… I went insane… needed to drink… brought me some fhumans… couldn't control myself…" Anna's voice drifted off slowly as she looked at the ground.

"Who is she?" Esme asked gently.

"I'm not allowed to say," the girl whispered.

I listened to her mind and heard Riley never told us her name liked her red hair Nathan hated her said she would kill us Bree tried to keep quiet—

"Victoria!" I exclaimed.

She looked at me sharply. "It's Anna," she replied automatically before looking down quickly again.

Rosalie wondered, "Wait, do you mean she was there with them—"

"That makes sense!" Emmett said. "But how did she—"

"Anna?" Esme asked. "Were you ever in a battle with about twenty other newborn vampires, in a meadow somewhere near here?"

Her eyes widened and she started to run away. Although the girl was surprisingly fast, I caught up with her quickly and restrained her. This time Anna struggled defiantly and almost wiggled free of me before everyone else reached us.

"No!" she screamed hysterically. "You can't make me! Just kill me! I already told them everything! Don't hurt me again!"

In her mind I heard thoughts of excruciating pain, a pain so horrible death was preferable as long as it went on. I recognized the description.

"Jane," I informed everyone else.

Within moments Esme was kneeling on the ground next to Anna, who had collapsed into a shaking sob. "Shhh," she said soothingly, stroking her hair. "We won't hurt you. I promise. We're trying to help you. Shhh…"

When Anna's sobs had quieted, Rosalie said softly, "When did they find you?"

"Yesterday."

"Can you—can you tell us what happened? I know it'll be hard."

"Yeah…" Anna hiccupped. "It—it started when—" She broke down in tears.

Rosalie knelt down next to Esme. "I'm Rosalie. This is Edward right here." She gestured to me. "You know how vampires have different powers? Edward can read minds."

Anna looked shocked, so Esme interjected, "Don't worry—he's very respecting of our privacy."

"Would it be easier," Rosalie asked, "If you just thought through the story, then Edward could tell us?"

"I don't know," Anna whimpered. "I—I guess it might…"

"It was for me," Rosalie said encouragingly.

"Alright. I—um—okay…" Can you hear what I'm thinking? she screamed in her head.

"No need to shout," I said with a small smile.

Um, okay. Ah I don't want to do this I don't want to do this um okay well here goes.

(I will tell Anna's story as she told it, without my translations to Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie thrown in.)

Well it all started about nine months ago I got changed. Nine months ago.

It was late at night, after dinner. I was walking home from the library because my house was right off Viata Street and the library was on Newman Avenue well I guess it still is on Newman Avenue but I haven't seen it since then. And I heard two people arguing in an alley, but their voices were very weird-sounding then. Now I recognize their voices, but then they were just very silky and pretty.

I heard the woman say that she needed more, many more, and the man said he was trying but it was hard finding skilled ones. And the woman said she didn't give a damn if they were skilled or not, just as long as they were newborns.

I was very confused. I didn't know how they would know if newborn babies would be skilled. Now I know what they meant.

Then the woman said that she smelled one. The man said something else, then asked if she would do it. She said yes—she didn't trust him not to kill it.

That scared me, so I started running. I had just passed the alley when ice hands pulled me like I was a cloud backwards. They kept dragging me, but it was so dark and I was so scared I didn't know where we were going.

Then I felt something on my neck, for a split second. It was really weird because I felt like someone was putting a gun to my head, even though I knew it wasn't a gun and it wasn't even against my head, but I don't know.

Then oh god oh god oh god then the pain started. I—I can't even describe it—it started out feeling like fire but then there was ice freezing all over my body at the same time and… I can't even describe it… but I guess it's the same for everyone so I guess you know what I'm talking about.

They explained what I was, once the pain was over. I didn't believe them till I looked in the mirror. My whole life I'd just wanted to be pretty, and I'd finally gotten it, and look what I was…

But anyway, over the next few months we didn't do much. I met all of the other people. Most of them were older than me, but I was friends with some of them.

We never really saw the red headed lady, the one who'd changed me, but Riley stayed with us a lot. I never killed the people. I refused to. Riley would kill them first, then bring me. They still had blood, and it tasted so good, and I felt like I'd never drunk in my entire life, but I told him I didn't want to kill anyone. He was nice. He said that for now I wouldn't have to.

I always heard the 'for now' though.

We mostly stayed in the woods. I don't really know for how long. But one day Riley told us we had to move, so we started to move. He never told us why we were. We were too scared to ask.

Then we got to a big meadow and got attacked. It was so scary. There were big wolves everywhere, and they killed so many of my friends… and there were some vampires I didn't know that killed a lot of my friends too.

I got so scared—I knew there weren't enough of us. I knew I'd be killed too. So I climbed up to the top of a tree, but then I remembered how good vampire's sense of smell is, so I ran away as fast as I could into the woods.

I'm really good at directions so I remembered where Riley had taken us from. I love Seattle. I know it. I wanted to go back. I never realized the consequences…

I managed to find the city with little difficulty. I decided to go to my house, thinking my parents and brothers would be worried.

I'd never been around humans since being changed. I thought the only reason I lost control and had to drink blood from the dead bodies because their blood was pouring out of them.

I was wrong.

It was night, so no people were out on the streets. I was so focused on getting to my family that I didn't realize what humans' scents did to me. I made it to my house.

I'm sure you can guess what happened.

This whole time Anna had been curled up on the ground, and as she told us about her family her body had begun to quake violently and sobs were ripped from her body.

Well, because of that… I tried to kill myself. So so many times. I tried to hang myself, shoot myself… none of it worked. But I'd seen vampires being killed, at the battle—I knew there was a way.

One of the things Riley had drilled into our heads was that we shouldn't ever be obvious about being vampires, that we had to be careful about who we killed, or the most powerful vampires in the world would kill us.

I knew that if I didn't find a way to kill myself as soon as possible, I would tear apart so many lives through the centuries… so I purposely killed people that would be noticed, and I fed as often as I could.

Finally yesterday the vampires came. I was in the woods and a voice said, "Hello."

It was a vampire, I could tell. He was big and had dark skin and short hair. A little girl stepped out of the shadows next to him, and I realized she was a vampire too.

I didn't respond to the man. He sighed and said, "We really can't have newborns doing things like this. You think they'd know to be subtle."

"I know," the little girl sighed. "But too late. We'd better hurry up—we have to be in Mexico by tomorrow."

"Want to have some fun first?" the big one offered.

"Well, if you insist," she said with a mean glint in her eyes.

I had no idea what they were talking about. I knew they were going to kill me, though, and that was good. I was happy. It might be painful, yes, but I could deal—

And at that moment all thought stopped. The pain was worse, far worse than my changing had been, and I regretted my decision—I should've killed stupid, unimportant people, no one would notice, so what if they died, at least I would live—I thought it must be hell. I knew I deserved it and it felt terrible enough.

But after a moment the pain stopped. I was on the ground, sweating, and I heard the girl laugh. They were standing above me dominantly. I started to cry—that hadn't been death, I'd have to go through it again.

"I should've let the werewolves kill me," I whispered dejectedly.

Within moments I was wrenched up by the man. "What did you say?" he screamed into my face.

"The—the werewolves!" I stuttered. "They—they killed all the other newborns fast—"

And then I was alone. I guess they'd run away. I don't know if I scared them or if they had to tell someone about the werewolves or what.

Once they'd left, though, I wanted to die again, for doing what I'd done… I didn't care about the pain they'd created, now that I didn't have to go through it any more. So I started to attack people even more than ever, to make them remember about me.

"And here I am," she whispered, a twisted and ironic tone in her voice.

As she'd told the story we realized what it meant—the Volturi know about the werewolves.

"Oh, poor girl," Esme said sympathetically and hugged her. "But you don't have to go through that again. We'll protect you, and teach you how to drink animal blood—"

"—and how to tackle a grizzly," Emmett interjected with a grin.

Rosalie nodded. "It's not easy, but it's a better option. At least for us. And I think it will be for you."

Anna gazed at us in wonder. "Could I?"

Esme smiled. "Yes. We'll take you hunting right now—you look as though you need it."

"We need to bring news to everyone else, though, so they can prepare," I said. "Emmett, would you mind?"

"Sure," he agreed.

I think that Emmett probably would have scared her when we taught her how to hunt, which is why—

Emmett just told me to write that he wouldn't scare Anna, she is his new favorite little vampire.

Anyway, we will show her how to hunt and be back in Forks within an hour or so after Emmett gets there. We don't want any humans near Anna, so Bella, stay at home. Some of us will come to your house as soon as possible.

Warn the werewolves. Well, I suppose you can't, so Bella, can you call Billy or one of the wolves?

We're going to go now. We'll be back soon.

--Edward

---

A/N: Teaser—

"'Remind me again why I didn't take home ec in high school?'"