Prologue

I growled as I got closer to the warehouse. I couldn't believe that after everything Jenny had seen, Will would be stupid enough to go off hunting by himself. He had been with Jenny and Mark long before I had joined their little coven. He should've known better than to go against one of her visions.

I gracefully jumped up onto the roof of the building, trying to remember that I was here to save Will and not murder him, and looked in through the glass windows on the top.

The place had once been some sort of a fashion warehouse and there were numerous mannequins littered all over the place. Fake bodies everywhere, but no sign of Will anywhere on the floor. I stopped breathing and listened.

I sensed the crash before I heard it and Will came skidding into my view. He jumped up as the blonde approached him but made no move as she knocked him down. I rolled my eyes. Trust Will to be a gentleman to the end, I thought.

With a hiss, I jumped through the glass and landed on the blonde with enough force to have killed a human being. As we were both vampires, however, it simply knocked us to the ground.

"Bells," Will said, grinning and hopping up. He offered me his hand but I ignored it, gracefully jumping up. I put myself between him and the blonde.

"Don't 'Bells' me mister. You're in big trouble when we get out of this," I replied.

The blonde growled and stood up, facing us. The look of shock that crossed her face probably matched the look on my own.

If I had been human I probably would have passed out. Or had a heart attack. Or thrown up. Any number of things people do when their world gets turned upside down. My life, however, had ended roughly thirty years earlier.

I couldn't believe it. After all these years of trying to forget them. Forget him. Why did she have to show up now?

"Bella?" she whispered, walking towards us, the growl completely gone from her voice. She was exactly how I remembered her. Gorgeous, graceful, perfect in every way.

Her eyes traveled over my body in shock, as she came to a stop less than a foot away. I smiled and closed the gap between us. "Rosalie," I replied before punching her with enough force to send her flying across the room.

Chapter 1 – The Change

I tried not to scream as the pain racked through my body. This wasn't like the pain I remembered back in the ballet studio, when James had bitten my hand. Then the pain had been localized to my hand, the heat only starting to spread up my arm. This felt a lot more painful.

Maybe it was because the venom had been sucked out of me quickly back then.

Maybe it was because I had already been hurt and close to passing out before then.

Maybe it was because I had been loved then.

Whatever the reason, I now knew what true agony felt like. Every part of me was on fire. I could hear a quiet voice trying to calm me. A soothing cool hand placed on my forehead. But these were only short distractions from the pain.

I took in large gulps of air but that only seemed to increase the burning in my throat and chest.

"It's alright Bells. It'll pass soon."

I tried to nod and say I understood but all that came out was a scream. I tried to remember why I wanted this. What could possibly be worth all this pain? But I knew this was nothing compared to the pain I had been in for the past few months. I had lost everything.

In a way, I was surprised I could even feel anything.

"William Grace! What have you done?" I heard another melodious voice ask. It joined the other that had been constantly talking me through the experience.

I tried to call out to him not to stop. That it was helping. That his voice was anchoring me away from the pain and his hand was a comfort.

I groaned as he took it away and started talking quietly to whomever had entered. His hand had been a cooling presence on my burning skin, something to focus on. I felt that someone was there for me, was supporting me, that I had someone who wanted me. With the hand not there, I could only focus on the pain.

How long was this process going to take? I thought as another wave of fire ran up and down my body.

This was going to be the end of me. If I could've I would've snorted. Wasn't that the whole idea?