Firstly I would like to apologize for me hiatus. And secondly, I would like to apologize for the shortness of this chapter. I just needed to write

something to get back into the swing of things. But without anymore excuses. I present the continuation of Running.

BellaPOV

Days following passed by slowly and uneventfully. The Cullen's seemed hesitant to let Aaron or me leave due to my possible falling out with the wolves. While I don't think I would do anything like that, the proof was there. Some days later and large shipment of books reached the Cullen house.

"Carlisle dear what are these?" Esme asked as she carried in the large box. Fucking vampires. I'll probably never get over that.

"A few books I ordered. We've gone through our collection here and have found nothing. It's time to exhaust our cousin's library." He took the box from his wife and set it down on the living room table. Moments later, the rest of the Cullen's appeared from different areas of the house.

"Heard there were more books to go through?" Jasper asked in his southern drawl.

"Always." Was all Carlisle said and then the vampires were off searching through the books. Aaron came down the stairs having woken up from his nap. Smiling at me, he made his way into the kitchen for what I assume was to grab a snack. Esme had been so welcoming to us and insisted that we stayed with them. Of course, we didn't object to having a nice place to stay. We felt wanted and cared for here.

"I know I cant read as fast as you all, but I'd still like to he-"My words were cut off by a sharp cry of pain. There was a book titled The Great Mysterious under a bible. The second I touched the bible to move it to the side though my hand felt as if it had been torched with fire. Dropping the book, the smell of burning flesh invaded my nose. Turning over my hand I almost puked at the sight. The skin was an angry red and pink. It looked as if someone had dripped melting candle wax over my hand. The skin was bunched up and shiny.

"Bella?!" Rosalie's voice was suddenly next to me and I looked up and saw her gaze stuck to my hand, her nostrils flared slightly.

"What happened?" Esme asked as she approached me with a first aid kit.

"I…I don't know. I just touched the book and this happened." I explained through gritted teeth. Esme began quickly digging through the first aid kit. But before she could pull anything from it, my hand began to peel. Under the damaged and burned flesh was…unmarred skin.

"What the hell?" Emmett mumbled as they all watched my hand basically repair itself right before our very eyes. After a few moments passed, my hand was as good as new. Looking down at the damaged skin on the floor, I grimaced.

"Sorry Esme." Shaken from her stupor she shook her head and waved me off before flashing off and returning with a broom and dustpan. At some point Aaron had returned and was watching from behind Emmett.

"That…was gnarly." He said with an awed expression on his face.

"Bella. What book did you touch?" Carlisle questioned. I jerked my chin in the direction of the bible lying innocently in the box. Very carefully, as if he was afraid the same would happen to him, he reached into the box and gingerly grabbed the book. When it was obvious that he wasn't going to burst into flames, he pulled the book out. Now that I wasn't in agony, I could feel something coming from the book.

"A bible?" Aaron asked. "Why would a bible burn Bella?"

"There could be many reasons. But there is one very obvious answer unfortunately." Edward was the one who spoke this time, his eye glued to mine. Full of…something I could not place. Admiration?

"I'm a demon…" My voice was low. At this revelation, no one spoke. The only thing I could hear was my own heart pounding in my ears. How could this be happening to me?