Chapter One:

So that was it. He'd left me yet again. And again I found myself lying on the ground, only now it was in the meadow where we once lay together, expressing our love and whatever else it is teenaged lovers do. He'd barely been back a month…His words tore open the hole that closed with his presence, adding new lacerations into the mix.

"Bella, I'm leaving."

Again we were out in the woods, his symphonic voice was emotionless, eyes glazed over and blank. I stared at him in disbelief. What reason did he have to leave?

"But why?" I choked out, hating how pathetic my voice sounded.

"Because I don't love you."

My body went cold. He didn't love me? That couldn't be possible…

"What are you saying? After all we've been through? You promised you'd never leave me, said you needed me as much as I needed you!"

He just shook his head, "I'm sorry I lead you on as long as I did, the fact that we're in this situation is my fault."

Her eyes narrowed, I couldn't comprehend what he was saying, my mind was muddled, refusing to make sense of it all, "What do you mean?"

His amber eyes were on me, the sensation making me want to shrink back into the foliage, "Do you remember how I said your blood sings to me? That it makes me feel as no ones blood has before? I thought that because of these feelings, there may have been a part of my humanity that was salvageable, that I could feel for someone, love them even."

"But Edward, you do have humanity-"

"Bella, listen to me." He said sternly, "I feel nothing towards you, other than the obvious blood lust. I know I acted as though you meant something to me and I'm sorry about that, I was curious to see if I could ever reciprocate the feelings. But it has been made very clear to me that I can't. All I can think about it how much your blood appeals to me. How much strength of will it takes not to give in and drink it."

"But how is this possible?!" I couldn't make sense of the words he spoke, the fell away before registering completely in my brain.

"Its simple Bella, I am a vampire. Anything will a pulse in my eyes is food. I respect you as a human being but that's all you are. You're an extreme liability and I'm sorry to have kept you thinking that I cared for so long. My actions have put both your family and mine at risk too many times for this to continue any longer."

"But what about the Volturi? They'll kill me and you're family if I'm not a vampire!" I was desperate to find a way to make him stay, anything to keep him here a little longer.

Edward looked away, "They won't have to…"

I stopped cold. Was this all a joke? Had he brought me here to turn me?

The pain I felt was excruciating, my hands flew to her throat, coming away coated in blood. My eyes were wide, pupils dilated as I watched Edward walk away. His back was the last image in my head as darkness consumed me.

It was still light out when I regained consciousness, my whole body felt heavy, after-effects from the blood loss. My skin was dry and itchy where the blood had crusted over, my shirt stained red as well as my hair and anything else the blood got to on its way to the ground. Hesitantly I reached up to check the wound, fresh blood coursed through my fingers. How long had I been losing blood? Was I going to die? Most likely, I thought glumly.

I tried to stand up but the world shifted beneath my and I was on my knees. I looked at where I had been laying, blood had pooled on the ground, making the grass shine with a sickly glow.

There was rustling in the bushes to my left. I closed my eyes and prayed that it wasn't a bear or some other ravenous creature who had smelled the blood and decided to investigate, that was not the way I wanted to live out my final moments, being eaten slowly and painfully.

"Bella?"

Sam emerged from the trees into the clearing, running over and checking my wound, "What happened?"

I shook head, "I don't remember…" My reply was shaky at best, but I barely knew what happened myself, I needed some time to think it over before I told the wolves anything.

He looked at me suspiciously, but decided to leave well enough alone for the time being. He picked me up and started off in the direction of La Push, "You're taking me to the reservation?" I asked warily, not bothering to resist. I was too weak and even on a good day, any of the wolves could have massively overpowered me.

"How do you think you're father would react to the way you look right now?" Was all he said, and I knew it made perfect sense. Charlie would go crazy.

"Besides," He said, almost wistfully, "When Jacob comes back from patrol and sees you, he'll be so pissed off I'm sure he'll get the truth out of you."

"Wait Jacob? No! He's gonna blow this way out of proportion!"

Now I started to struggle, all in vain, against the brawn that was Sam. Jacob's reaction would probably be worse than Charlie's. Considering that he was a werewolf on top of it all was a scary prospect.

"Bella, someone slit your throat, we need to know who and why, obviously Jacob is the only one that's going to get anything out of you." Sam said reasonably, but his words were anything but reasonable.

Sam took me to Emily who brought me into a guest bedroom of her house and treated my wound, putting steri-strips along the laceration to keep it closed once I'd taken a shower and cleaned the blood from my body and hair.

"You're lucky, this cut isn't that deep, but you should have gotten stitches. Seeing as its too late to do so, these steri-stitches will keep the wound closed and clean." She wrapped some bandages around my neck, keeping them as thin and unnoticeable as possible, "There, now we'll just have to get you a scarf, they're all the rage with you pale-faces during the winter time right?" She asked jokingly.

My shirt and jacket had been ruined so Emily had to lend me some of her clothing. A white turtle neck and green scarf hid the wound without making it look obvious. I tied my hair into a pony-tail to make it look more casual.

I was then promptly escorted to the kitchen, Sam standing at my side in case I should fall, and presented with a meal truly fit for a werewolf. Seriously, there was enough to feed an army and then some.

"I love your cooking Emily, but somehow I don't think that's all going to fit in my stomach…" I said, sitting down at sipping on some juice, my body thrummed, enjoying the sugar rush. Almost instantaneously I was hungry, body craving the nutrients it lost while I was out cold in the forest.

Emily laughed sheepishly, "I know, I do that to myself most days, its hard to cook small portions when you're used to the voracious appetite of a werewolf."

I just nodded in agreement, not wanting to sound rude responding with a mouth full off food. I polished off the eggs, and moved on to a muffin, my hunger seemed insatiable. Emily moved back to the oven and pulled out three loaves of banana bread then to the stove where she flipped a massive skillet full of eggs and one of equally gigantic size full of sausage. It didn't take a genius to deduce that the wolves were coming home from patrol. Suddenly I wasn't so hungry.

"Um Emily, I need to get back. I never told Charlie I was gone and he's probably about to sent out the troops seeing as I left in the morning and its…" I looked for a clock, finding it above the oven, "Five thirty."

Sam sat down across from me, amber eyes blazing, "Bella, the wolves have taken a liking to you but that doesn't mean we're going to let it slide when something happens to you that could result in a larger threat on our people. What were you doing out in the forest?"

I sighed, looking down at my half-finished muffin, it was time to put my terribly lying skills to the test, "It was…self inflicted." I added a tremor to my voice, looking down at the ground as though I was ashamed at what I'd done.

"Then what were you doing out in the woods? And why would you do something like that?" He asked, clearly not buying it.

"Edward left…I don't really know why I did it, it just kind of happened. And then I panicked and ran out into the woods, I passed out before I got too far though…" Well that answer was…somewhat truthful. Edward had been there, so I wasn't lying…completely.

Sam just looked at me, "We'll see." He said quietly.

He looked to the door and stood up, trotting out to the back where the guys would all gather and relay information before coming inside to eat enough to put a small produce store out of business. Emily looked out the window pensively for a moment before taking some keys and dropping them on the floor by my feet, "Oops, how clumsy of me…"

She met my eyes and I knew she was giving me my chance to escape, "Silvery Harley in the garage, I didn't see anything. You need a minute, Sam's not being fair. Besides, its not like you could outrun them if you wanted to, they'd find you even with the bike."

I snatched the keys and made for the front door, "Thanks, I owe you one."

I still didn't feel quite right, my legs wobbled beneath me like jell-o the first couple of steps I took, but I was quick to break into a jog to get to the garage. I found the motorcycle easy enough, wondering which of the wolves' precious bike I was about to play Grand Theft Auto with. I put on a helmet, stuck the key in the ignition and started it, kicking up the stand and taking my feet of the ground, shifting into first and sneaking out of the driveway before shifting into third and speeding out of the reservation.

I snapped the visor down on my helmet, shifting to sixty on the highway that was surprisingly dead during the dinner time rush, weaving through the occasional string of cars, determined to get home as fast as possible. I knew if I was there with Charlie the wolves wouldn't be able to do anything drastic, and I could try and come up with a good BS excuse. Although I was pretty sure I'd already screwed myself over, having little confidence under Sam's scrutinizing gaze.

I parked the bike in the driveway, taking the helmet with me indoors. Charlie came down the stairs and looked at me strangely, "Nice bike. Do I wanna know?"

I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could given the present situation, "Borrowed it from one of the guys down at the reservation. Got a ride up there and had no way of getting back in time for dinner seeing as they were all busy. I promised I'd bring it back tomorrow if no one was able to stop by and pick it up tonight."

Charlie nodded slowly, "You know how to ride that thing?"

"Well Jake taught me on some beat up old dirt bikes he fixed up a while back but yeah I do." I could feel myself bouncing nervously on the balls of my feet, itching to get up to my room, "Did you eat yet?" I asked, hoping he didn't wait for me.

"Yeah, made pasta, the leftovers are in the fridge for when you get hungry." He got a can of soda and walked into the living room to go watch some big sports game that was on tonight. Wait…sports. Oh no…

"Dad?" I asked cautiously, heart sinking into my stomach.

"Yeah Bells?" He called from his spot on the couch.

"Is Billy coming over to watch the game with you tonight?"

"Yeah he should be here any minute why?"

Oh shit.

I was never big on obscenities, but it was extremely hard not to curse out loud. If Billy was coming to watch the game, and dad wasn't going to pick him up, that means that Jacob was probably tagging along to drive him over. I suddenly felt faint, only this time blood loss had nothing to do with it.

"No reason, I was just curious." I said, trying to play it off as though I wasn't going to be interrogated by the big bad wolf on steroids, "I'm gonna go up in my room and rest, I have a migraine, it was long day. Good night in case I fall asleep."

"Alright, 'night Bella."

I walked up the stairs, tossing the helmet onto my bed before grabbing some pink pajama pants and a black racer-back tank top, changing quickly in the bathroom. Confident that Charlie would be downstairs watching the game until late into the night, I took my hair down and brushed it out, not bothering to cover my bandages with a scarf. I threw my dirty clothes into my hamper and made my way to the bedroom slowly, making as little noise as possible.

"That was some stunt you and Emily pulled back there, Sam's not happy with you for running away."

My body screamed 'run' but know who was behind me, I had little choice but to stop and turn around. I plastered a phony smile onto my face, "Why hello Jacob, its nice to see you as well. How are you doing? Its been so long."

"Cut the crap Bella." He said shortly, looking at the bandages around my neck, "What happened to you in the forest today?"

I started backing into my room, ready to slam the door and lock it, "Edward left…-"

"Yeah Sam told me, Edward left, you didn't know what to do with yourself so you tried to slit your throat, realized you were being a dumb ass, panicked and got lost in the forest. I don't even think you can fool yourself into believing that lie Bella. Its total bullshit." Jake hissed.

"Look I don't want to talk about this."

I closed the door as quickly as I could but he caught it. I braced my weight against the door and pushed with all of my strength, socked feet slipping on the hardwood flooring. Jacob barely seemed to be trying as he opened the door, letting the force of my weight shut it for him. He was getting angrier by the second. I stumbled, having moved too fast and too much. I made my way over to the bed and laid down, burying my head beneath the covers, maybe if I played the sick card he'd go away, damsels in distress made guys think twice about being mean right?

Jake came over and pulled them away, "I don't think so. You're going to talk to me Bella." So much for that…

"What do you wanna know?" I asked, sitting up and crossing my legs, putting my head in my hands.

"For starters why your throat is slit open. And I know when you're lying so cut the crap and just tell me. I won't leave until I get a straight answer." He said sternly, standing at the foot of the bed with his arms crossed.

"Whatever happened to respecting your elders?" I tried in a feeble attempt to stall him.

"Do you think the way your acting is something I should respect?" He bit back.

I sighed, this wasn't something I wanted to talk about, especially not with Jacob. But what choice did I really have? Throwing myself out of the window in an attempt to escape didn't seem like such a smart idea.

"Edward brought me into the woods today…said he wanted to go for a walk. We got to the clearing and he said that he was leaving, that he never loved me. He apologized for leading me on, said he wished he'd never let it go on this long…" I risked a glance at Jacob, his gaze was intense but unreadable, "I told him about how the Volturi was going to kill him family if I wasn't turned, I thought that would be the one way to make him stay…but he said the Volturi wouldn't be after either of our families and then he cut me…" My voice shook, I was still in shock that the whole thing had actually happened.

I could hear Jacob's labored breathing as he fought to keep his emotions in check, "Why would he do something like that? He was trying to kill you?"

I shook my head slowly, clutching at he neckline of my tank top while I thought, "I don't think so, there are so many other ways, especially if you're out in the woods. He could have thrown me off of a cliff or torn me up and made it look like an animal got to me…I think that, he wanted to make it look like I was dead, but not actually kill me, which is why he did it out in the forest, where one of you were most likely to find me while on patrol."

"Why would he do something like that in the first place?"

I sighed, "One of the vampire leaders has the ability to see all thoughts with the touch of a hand, Edward probably wanted to be able to say that he killed me to keep me and his family safe. Being around you will also keep me clouded from Alice's psychic visions, it's a fool proof plan." The thought should have been comforting, that Edward had gone through such lengths to keep me safe. But he only did so he'd never have to bother with coming back.

"Leave it to the blood-sucker to have this planned out." He seethed.

"Don't talk about him like that!" I snapped, my voice taking on a harsh tone.

" He tried to kill you, Bella, and all you can say is that he was trying to keep you safe?" His voice was getting louder by the second, pretty soon Charlie and Billy would be up here to investigate.

"Shh, Jake, Charlie and Billy are going to hear-"

"I don't care! Bella, what he did to you was wrong!"

I could feel my eyes start to tear up, did he have to rub it in my face? I took a breath a shook my head, "Don't you think I know that?"

"No, because you're still defending him!"

Something inside me snapped, I was done having this conversation, "Get out Jacob, go downstairs and give me some space." I whispered.

He seemed to calm down at my reaction, "Bella-"

"Go…" I looked up, tears threatening to fall, "Or I'll scream."

Jacob looked at me for a moment before backing towards the door, a mix of guilt and anger clear in his auburn eyes. He knew he had to be careful about what he did next because if I actually did scream, he'd never see me again, Charlie would make sure of it. Neither of us wanted that. Despite the way I felt at the moment, I knew I couldn't bare to see Jacob gone. He was the rock in my life, even though recently he had seemed to crush me as often as support me.

I held in my tears until the door and closed behind him, collapsing into my pillow and sobbing.

Edward was gone…