A/N: I haven't updated this in… SHIT, over two years. I want to finish all my fics, I've just been busy…

"Thanks," I answered, relieved that I wouldn't have to go see the wolves alone. They repulsed me, though I was forced to remain polite to them. Killing one was a death sentence. "So, shall we meet when the sun comes up?"

"Not quite that soon, please, I need a bit more sleep than that," for a fraction of a second I was confused by sleep, but I remembered what he'd said about resting. "How about I call you when I'm ready to go, sound good?"

"Sure Edward, that will be fine. Where shall we meet?" I waited politely, my chin resting on my hand. I stared out into the night, waiting for his answer.

I heard a small sigh and a chuckle before he replied, "Somewhere not quite as populated. How about the boundary line?"

I scoffed as he mentioned this so called 'boundary line.' It was virtually non-existent, though technically it was still there. We came and went as we pleased, as did the wolves. The other curious thing was that he knew about it. "Sure," I agreed, still chuckling, "I'll meet you at the boundary line after you call me."

"Yes Bella, I'm sure you can remember that," I heard soft laughter and again wondered what was so funny. Of course I could remember it. "I'll see you tomorrow," he added and I took that as a goodbye.

"Goodbye, Edward Cullen," I smiled as his name rolled off my tongue. Then, in spite of myself I added, "Have a good sleep!"

He laughed louder this time and I hesitated, wondering if I'd said it wrong. "Thanks Bella, and you, well you have a good night."

"Why thank you Edward. I will, most definitely." I heard another soft chuckle from him right before I hung up.

Why was I so enthralled by him? Of course, I had no easy answer to that, but one of the possibilities could be because he was different. I had no clue what he was, he was much more informal than me…but maybe I was so drawn to him because he smelled so good. I hoped that didn't mean he was some kind of animal; I would regret killing him, I was sure of that.

"Good morning Bella," Edward said to me when he answered the phone, and I hesitated. Was this a strange greeting of his? When light shone, we greeted each other with 'Happy Light,' and when darkness came, we said 'Merry Dark.' But I liked Good Morning, it had a nice ring to it. Not like Happy Light.

"Oh, hello Edward," I replied politely. "Was your night very eventful?"

A laugh from him, and a sharp intake of breath, as if he was trying to stop laughing. "Well, I guess so. I slept, remember? So I wasn't very active…"

"Active? As in live?" I asked, puzzled yet again by his strange vocabulary.

"As in resting; you know, not awake? Oh, forget it, where are you?"

"At home in my room, why, where are you?" I waited courteously for his response.

He laughed again; why did everything I say make him chuckle? "Oh, just somewhere in the forest, on my way to the boundary line. I shall see you there."

"Yes, you shall. I'm on my way right now then," I got up off the floor and exited my room via the window, landing with a small thump. Gah; if I had been being careful, I wouldn't have made any noise.

A minute later of flat-out running and I was at the boundary line; Edward was just coming up a hill behind me, his breathing affected. I had never heard anything like it.

"Why are you breathing like that? Are you trying to smell something too far away for you to smell it properly?" Another laugh; this was going to get annoying.

"Physical activity is much more taxing on humans than vampires," he smiled at me as he approached and continued explaining, "But this is what we're here to figure out, isn't it?"

"I suppose it is, though what you need to figure out I have no idea."

Just then, a tall, dark-skinned man approached us; his black hair waved down past his chin and he was bare save for a dirty, torn pair of denim shorts hanging from below his waist.

One of the werewolves, and the Chief's son. Jacob Black. "Hello Jacob," I greeted him by smiling.

"Hey Miss Swan," he replied grudgingly, cocking his eyebrow at me. "Who's the human?"

"This is Edward Cullen," I turned sideways to grin at him, and he waved lazily. If he was nervous at all, he didn't show it.

"Morning, Jacob," he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked forwards to stand beside me. "How'd you know I was human?"

Jacob chuckled. "You don't smell terrible, you sure as hell aren't Native, and your eyes are green. You're also not" – he glanced at me and raised his eyebrows – "sparkling."

Edward laughed, and stepped forward to shake Jacob's hand. "God, could you imagine? I mean, she looks alright, but a dude…"

To my surprise, they embraced, laughing together over my sparkle. I didn't understand either species.

"We thought there were humans around this area…" Jacob began as we walked towards his town, "Well, me and a few others did. The elders weren't so convinced, but they're the ones losing their senses…"

"We knew you were here, but my adopted father was wary about approaching the tribe," Edward and Jacob walked at a far slower pace than I did normally, and slowing myself down was agonizing. As I tried to match my step with theirs, Edward continued, "In fact, he would probably shoot me if he knew I was speaking to both of you."

I couldn't leave that alone. "Shoot you?" I cocked my head to the side, confused.

Edward just laughed, again. "I'll show you a gun- I mean, a thing that shoots, sometime."

"But what can I learn now?" I was getting tired of feeling like my eyes were always closed.

Jacob brought us to the beach nearby, and Edward and I took a seat on a piece of driftwood. I noticed Edward sat downwind of me, and for that I was thankful – I had caught whiffs of his scent on the walk down, and had had to force myself to stop breathing again.

"Alright, Bella," Jacob stood across from us, bare arms crossed. Him I could smell, and he smelled dreadful. "What would you like to know?"

"I don't know what I know and what I don't know, nor do I know what there is to know," I replied, and Edward began chuckling beside me.

"Tell her the legend," Edward prompted, and I started to question, but Jacob held out a hand.

"This is going to be hard to believe, but please, listen to what I'm saying," Jacob smiled, just barely, and suddenly his voice changed – became more powerful – as he told me:

"Thousands of years ago, a species by the name of human walked the earth. There were six billion of them, and vampires numbered only in the thousands. Of werewolves, there were even less.

"Vampires were in hiding from the human world, living in the forests and hunting in secret. They only showed their faces at night, when the sun did not lend a glistening to their skin. Humans were their prey, even more delicious than deer or mountain lion.

"Almost no vampires strayed from hunting humans, but there were some who did. One day, these vampires believed it was time to end the human race, and create a perfect, harmonious, vampiric world; animals would be prey, and humans would be extinct.

"They began to build armies of newborn vampires to destroy the humans, and were very successful. Humans succumbed easily under the force, and were wiped out in less than a century.

"Werewolves fought valiantly to protect those humans around them, but we were outnumbered, and a great number of us perished. As vampires replaced humans, though, our numbers increased, and we swore one day that we would –"

Here Jacob broke off, and he shook his head in apparent distress. I had been sitting motionless, and as I took a large breath of air I realized I hadn't been breathing at all. "I had no idea… I had heard some rumours, about those weaker than us, but I only thought they were weak vampires, useless…" I looked at Edward, pondering once again his slow gait and "sleeping" and breathlessness…

"There are some things I don't understand…why is Edward so slow?" He rolled his eyes, but answered my question himself.

"Vampires have superior speed to humans, and never feel the need to rest. If I stood up and ran to La Push, I would become fatigued and need to sit down, or even sleep, to regain my energy. Your energy, Bella, never runs out." Edward looked at me expectantly; hoping I understood, I suppose.

I nodded slowly. "Okay…"

"Another thing that is different between us: vampires cannot reproduce. Your government knows this, and it terrifies them. If too many of you die, fighting over land, they will not have any way to make more of you…though I suspect they are working on it as we speak."

Jacob had sat down on the sand, and was watching our exchange with apparent disinterent, but his eyes flit between mine and Edward's faces eagerly. "…reproduce…?" I did not understand this word.

Edward sighed and rested his hands on his knees. "Have you ever seen a vampire who was smaller than you, had smaller limbs, was shorter?"

I nodded, and he continued, "Those were once human children. A human child, as one is called, develops into a human adult, such as I am, and you once were. Human adults…are taken, by each other, and this forms a child in the female. After nine – a short amount of time, the child comes out of the female, and another human walks the earth. It is how you were born, once."

"But when I was born, my eyes were red and I thirsted for blood," I argued, remembering that terrible first hunger. I could not remember what had been before it…

"Born as a vampire, yes. And speaking of: the building of newborn armies Jacob was talking about, do you remember how you were made a vampire?"

I shook my head, still confused. "I remember opening my eyes, seeing in a mirror that they were bright red, and feeling a terrible burning in the back of my throat…"

Edward was leaning towards me now. "Think harder Bella, did you feel anything before that?"

"I felt…" I brushed my hair back from my neck, and felt the raised bumps there; a flash of bright light and a blonde male surfaced in my memory. "I felt…pain." I hadn't felt pain in years; not since I had been born…

"And…I felt burning, terrible burning; I was screaming… I remember… a cold metal table beneath me, and my hands… my hands were slipping in blood…" But where had the blood come from? I had not drank from anything yet…

I blinked, and noticed that Edward was grinning manically at me. "You're remembering when you were human."

"You keep saying that!" I cried, exasperated. "What do you mean, I was once human?"

"All vampires were. To create a vampire, a vampire must bite a human. Then they burn in agony for some time, as their body changes; and when they wake, all that they desire is blood." Edward looked sickened.

Jacob had been silent for a while, but he spoke softly now. "Bella, if you think back before the burning, and think hard, you will remember at least the last few moments of your human life. Think harder, and you may be able to remember who you once were. All vampires have this ability; they are just unaware that they once were anything but a vampire."

Intrigued as I was, I nodded enthusiastically, though I had no idea how to think back farther than I had already gone. "I will think on it."

Edward flinched his arms in an odd way, and looked as if he were about to move closer to me, but instead he smiled and said, "I would love to hear your story."

I smiled back, and answered, "I would love to hear yours."

Does this still make sense? Is anyone interested…I'm excited to write *gasp* Bella's history next chapter :D And you will all see the vampire government for the first time… Soon this time I promise, oh my gosh D:

- Alea