IMPORTANT!!!

I have added some new information to this chapter; I felt that it needed more. Though the majority of the original chapter remained the same, new information has been added; you may need to read it to understand further chapters. For those that don't read A/Ns, I am not sure what to say…

A/N: Hello. This is my second story on FanFiction and I have been thinking about writing this idea down for about a month now; I am extremely excited about writing it. I love to read other writers' ideas on ways that Bella and Edward meet and fall in love, so I am very excited to be telling you my idea. I hope you enjoy it…

Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight Saga, but I sure do love Stephenie Meyer for creating Edward & Emmett for me.

I just cannot believe that I got shot. I received an actual bullet wound, and I still existed… I knew that my skin was strong, impenetrable even, because I am at least half vampire, but I have never been shot before… It was strange, unsettling, and I still can't believe it, even with this piercing pain above my left breast- directly into my heart.

I just cannot emphasize it enough; this pain and realization could make anyone make an overuse of italicized words...

I mean, come on, who gets shot and lives? Okay, I know that tons upon tons of people get shot, and I know that most of the people live…

Wait. Time for a rephrase…

Who gets shot directly- as in right into, as in smack dab! - into the heart, of all organs, the most vital one to survival, and lives through it to feel the truly, truly excruciating pain of it for countless hours?

Did I mention that I have been laying here paralyzed and enduring unimaginable pain for many, many hours now?

I am in pain.

That… bullet-wound would have killed any normal human by now, of that I was positive.

That stupid bullet. Oh, I have a way better one… That stupid moron who shot me with the damn bullet!

What pained me even more than the wound was the fact that I had jumped in front of this bullet to save this man. That bullet would have killed him instantly, even though he is a full vampire. A full vampire, for crying out loud!

I knew even before I jumped that the bullet wouldn't kill me, but this shock came after the fact.

I would not have jumped to save this man if I had known that he would actually turn out to be this self-centered, egotistical monster, but I suppose that I am one to talk, I am a monster also- more so than him, even.

And I had known before I had even boarded the plane to be shot that he was a "bad-boy". You would think that this guy would be a little grateful; I had just saved his life, though he doesn't know that, yet.

Somehow, I think he knows that I did a ten-meter jump across the lot just to land in front of his heart, to spare him, even if he didn't know yet that I knew I wouldn't die in my attempt.

Either way, I highly doubted that he would care; he would probably make some comments that stated that I needed to try not to fall into any pathways that a gun may cross. I'm expecting that reaction, and I expected it before I had jumped.

Again, I knew all of this, and still, I saved him in the end.

Someone had to.

1. Overheard

There was nothing interesting on the television. I sat on the couch in my preferred attire of holey sweats, flipping through channels on the television that was sitting on the northernmost wall from me. As I was flipping through the channels, a clip of the Sunday news momentarily caught my attention.

Someone had been shot getting out of their car earlier in the week- he was found without a wallet or any ID, he was named a John Doe; someone had murdered an elderly man over bills that weren't paid- the younger man had been arrested for breaking and entering the elder's house, and stabbing him to death; a teacher had had relations with a student outside that of duties entitled to her in that position of authority... The list went on and on... It was always the same thing.

But none of that was happening here, in this tiny town of Forks, Washington; nothing ever happened in this small town except for loads of unwanted, excessive rain- lots and lots of excessive rain. Occasionally, we would have snow- just as bad as the rain, worse even. On very, very rare occasions, it would be sunny, and I was most grateful that I received even that much. Though, as soon as the sun came out for any moment, it retired to its usual spot back behind the clouds, rain taking the place of any sunshine that had been shed.

Seattle is a few hours away from here, and that is where all of the crime on the news was happening; Seattle is a city of crime's galore.

There is too much murder in this world, too many deaths, and all of the murderers had the choice- to do it? or not to do it? I never had the choice; I didn't even have control over the murder I committed. I shook my head at the violence that could have been prevented; why couldn't things be settled without the pain? It would be loads easier that way, I tell ya. Was crime and murder really necessary for getting what you wanted? I couldn't understand how someone could take the life of another, with intent, but this was coming from someone who had already taken a life, whether intended or not.

So much of this was happening nowadays; it wasn't uncommon to hear of an upcoming funeral or a new sentence to jail, especially in Seattle. Someone would get sued on occasion. I had lived in many worse places, however, and Seattle seemed tame compared to some of the cities I had inhabited in my overly long life.

Flipping through some more channels, I realized that there was nothing of interest to me on the box, so I turned it off. My adoptive parents weren't home at the moment because they were out hunting; I had already hunted the night before, so they had left me here for a while, but not before promising me that they would be home to me as soon as they could get back. The reassurance from my adoptive parents was not needed, but Carlisle and Esme insisted on treating me like a princess, though, with my horrid past, I knew deep down that I didn't deserve their kindness- they thought otherwise.

My two sisters, Alice and Rosalie, were off on a shopping spree for the entire week, as in, an entire week of their schooldays would be replaced by clothing. They would be missing school under the façade of touring colleges to which they were considering attending after graduation- they are Seniors, a year ahead of me. They had invited me along to take part in their favorite activity, like they always had, but I declined, and this was routine. Alice and Rosalie are my older sisters and they are also adopted, but they, at least, had some blood tie to Carlisle and Esme. Carlisle had turned Esme to be his mate and he had turned Alice and Rosalie because Esme had wanted children, two daughters. Yey for estrogen.

But I, Isabella Marie Swan/Cullen, have no such tie to this wonderful family. Please, for the love of everything in existence, or not so cursed, call me Bella; Isabella is just… awful.

Esme and Carlisle, and Rosalie and Alice Cullen had taken me in after my biological parents' deaths exactly, to the day, 142 years previous; today is my birthday, today I turn 142. Woo hoo, I thought sourly, let's have a party.

Today is also, most conveniently, the 142nd anniversary of the murder I committed.

It all seems very confusing but in actuality it is fairly simple: My mother, Renee, became pregnant by my father, Charlie, and I had destroyed them both- on the day of my birth, how special a baby was I? You could call it a "double murder" as a birthday present...?

I don't know.

But I suppose it would be better to leave my very biased opinion out of the storytelling…

I will start from the very beginning:

-

Phil Weston had been working for the Volturi Guard at the time that he changed my father, Charlie Swan, into a vampire around 573 years ago. Phil was, at this time, on duty as the "changer" in the Volturi Guard, so whenever Aro Volturi, the head "royal" vampire, asked that a human be changed because he may have powers in the new life, Phil was the one to change him.

It was actually a simple job, but Aro took his "prizes" – his vampires with special "talents" - very seriously, and he awarded Phil greatly.

When Charlie Swan had completed his transformation into a vampire, it was proven that Aro Volturi's assumptions were accurate- my father could tap into the minds of others. It was an extremely rare talent, mind-reading, and there was only one known person alive, at the time, who held an ability similar to Charlie's.

Aro Volturi needed merely to touch a person to instantly know every thought that the person he was touching had ever had, but Charlie's ability was somewhat different from Aro's. Charlie could hear surface thoughts of everyone in a proximity to him, even my mother. (That was probably a strange relationship). Just imagine…

There is a man, now, that has the same ability that my father had had when he was alive. The two vampires in existence today that have similar abilities to that of my father's are Aro Volturi and his son, Edward Volturi, I believe the prick's name is. Like I said, the gift is extremely rare.

Aro and his two brothers, Marcus and Caius Volturi, "ruled" over the vampire world at this time and in truth, they still were the "royal" family to all of the vampires. The Volturi Royals and their guard are the most feared force in this world.

They are very scary.

Through these men and Phil, Charlie met Carlisle- who was already 691 years young- and they become instant best friends; Carlisle told my father of his changing and what had happened to him in his human life that had led to his transformation into a vampire, and Charlie had done the same.

They were the best of friends back then, and it was through each other that they had started to accept this life. They were the only two vampires in Volterra, Italy that had chosen to be "vegetarian" vampires- only feeding off of the blood of animals, though human blood would have been preferable to any others of their kind.

Eventually, after years of living in Volterra and "befriending" the Volturi Royals, Charlie and Carlisle left Volterra to explore what the world would be like as a vampire, and they eventually went to a human college together and Carlisle became a doctor while my father became a police chief.

Several hundred years later, after traveling amongst humans and playing the role of their doctor and law enforcer, Carlisle met Esme and changed her into a vampire. He didn't want to change a person and condemn them to this life, but he made an exception for Esme because she was already dying. And there's the fact that he fell in love with the very sight of her.

Charlie saw how happy Carlisle and Esme were when they were together and he wanted to be with someone like that, but he felt that love would never find him. So he went looking and he happened to come across my mother. My human mother, at that.

Renee wasn't dying when Charlie met her, so he decided that she should stay human and she was more than happy to be that way for as long as she possibly could.

They fell in love.

Renee and Charlie got married and to their great surprise, Renee became pregnant with her vampire husband's child. They were elated… at first. Then, the complications started. My parents had never heard of anything like this ever having occurred before, so they didn't know what to do. They wanted to keep the child if it was in any way possible to do so.

It was possible to keep the child, as it turned out, but the mother would be destroyed in the laboring process.

Not only did my mother go through the complications of a rapidly growing child inside of her- she couldn't eat food because she couldn't keep it down and she was losing all of her strength because she couldn't maintain the sustenance needed- but she also had to die after being starved to death.

I ripped my way out of my mother.

I had killed her, and I had also killed Charlie…

As it had turned out, Phil had been jealous of the attention that Charlie had received from Aro- the attention that had once been his great payment for his services as "changer" - and Phil had been working to destroy Charlie's life for many years.

Phil saw Charlie's weakness after the loss of his wife, and Phil killed Charlie the only way you can kill a vampire: he tore him up and burned the pieces. Charlie, of course, did not fight Phil. Charlie was wishing for death because he had just lost his reason for existence.

He lost his love because his newborn daughter had killed her. Nice.

Carlisle knew deep down that it would be wrong to try to save his best friend, though he also knew that he would miss Charlie terribly when he was gone. Charlie wanted to die, and for Carlisle to save his internally tortured friend would be the worst act ever. In the name of friendship, Carlisle allowed Charlie his one wish, to die. Carlisle did not want to see his best friend living forever in torment.

Rosalie and Alice had tried to resist; they had become so close to Charlie and Renee Swan, and it wasn't every day that you had a human living in a vampire family's house. But Carlisle held them off, though; he too was wishing to save his companion of many years.

All that Charlie asked was that Carlisle and Esme would adopt his only daughter and for them to call her Isabella Marie. He had said that I could choose my own last name whether it be Swan or Cullen. I still haven't decided. He also wished them to help his baby to adjust to her life because he didn't know what would come of his little one.

So Carlisle and Esme Cullen carried out the promise that they had made to my father, enthusiastically I might add; Esme was more than happy to have another daughter added to the family, and she and Carlisle welcomed me with open arms.

I didn't deserve those arms.

-

And here I am with my very biased opinions again. They really don't seem so biased to me; full of truth is what my opinions are- sheer truth with no sugar on top.

Carlisle had told me the story the day that I had asked about my real parents, and he seemed to really cherish those memories. I hated that I had taken them away from him.

He and Esme would always insist that both my parents loved me with all their hearts, even though my father's wasn't beating.

So here I sit on this couch, a half- breed, half human and half vampire. My Cullen family says that the looks of my mother and father are evenly distributed in me. They have a joke to try to pacify my attitude about myself, but it doesn't work; they say that I am the most beautiful thing alive because, technically, my heart beats so I am alive, but I have some vampire in me which is always beautiful. I never agreed with them on the whole "beautiful" thing. I could NEVER compete with Rosalie. I am a "Plain Jane" and Sports Illustrated would pay big bucks for Rose's photo.

I can only be described as plain. With matching chocolate brown eyes and hair, I really don't see how I could be anything besides, well, plain. The features that are my best would be my pale skin with a blush that comes along ever so often, and indestructible, marble textured skin. I was definitely not as breathtakingly beautiful as a full vampire. Nowhere close.

But this doesn't bother me much because I am a monster that murdered both her parents exactly 142 years ago today. How could a murderer be beautiful?

She couldn't.

I consider my family to be the most beautiful people in existence because they aren't murderers and I admire them for their choice of sustenance. Animal blood is not the best option available to our kind, but human blood…

Human food is horrible. Just the smell of a… pizza makes me want to throw up, and don't get me started on cake… Really, the only human food that I enjoy is chocolate. I really like chocolate.

But my main intake is animal blood. I have never had human blood and it isn't a challenge for me to go to school and not eat the other Juniors in my class because I have no desire to murder any more people, even if they do smell amazing and mouthwatering…

Ha, ha. I drink blood and eat chocolate. Blood and Chocolate; I love that movie.

I decided that it was late enough outside now that I was starting to have bizarrely random thoughts, even for me, and it was time to go to sleep- I can sleep; actually, I have to sleep like any other human.

I really was exhausted and I didn't know why exactly, but I do know that the second my head touched the pillow, I was out.

I had bizarre dreams about random things. Mostly the dreams consisted of small memories that I have of the day I killed my parents. Sweet dreams to you, Bella.

xxxxxxx

I woke up on Monday morning to the beautiful sound of my buzzing alarm clock; I picked it up and chucked it at the wall on the other side of my bedroom. As you can see, alarm clocks are a tragic hole that I have to fix in my wall.

As much as I would have liked to stay in bed and skip school today, I knew that I would be in trouble once Carlisle and Esme found out, and they would find out because there are no secrets in a small town. I groaned.

I really hate school, and it seems natural that I would hate it because I have been a Junior in high school precisely 52 times. After a while, it gets kind of boring, and when I say "kind of" I mean that it is a pain in the you-know-what. I was so jealous of Alice and Rose for getting to skip out the entire week, but shopping with those two was a torture that I wasn't willing to face. Ever.

It only took me about five minutes to get ready for school. Thank you, vampire speed.

I arrived at school within a minute- it's a small town, so the school is really close.

I got the same stare that I did every morning from Mike Newton.

I was escorted from class to class by Eric Yorkie, like I was every day.

And Tyler Crowley was holding my tray when I entered the cafeteria at mid-day.

This was all getting very boring.

My family and I have only been here for two months, but it seems like long enough that everyone would be used to the fact that there are new people in the town now. And yet, these three boys would not leave me be. It was extremely frustrating, let me tell you.

They were troublemakers anyways; Tyler Crowley makes it a habit of his to run over people with his van, but they always live; Eric Yorkie steals the test answers from his teachers and passes all of his classes with flying colors; Mike Newton stalks girls, and right now he is stalking me. Creepy.

xxxxxxx

School ended after hours of torture, and I got a call from Esme and Carlisle saying that they would be a few more days getting back because they had had an urge to visit Isle Esme- the Isle that Carlisle gave to Esme as a gift- and would be there for a few more days. I was truly glad that they had decided to do something together; it was… sweet.

They asked me how I was and if I wanted them to come back now.

Of course, I said I was fine and that they should really stay as long as they wanted, they never get enough time alone. Again, this is mainly my fault.

xxxxxxx

I was driving home when I heard an unmistakable sound; a werewolf was changing back to a human. It was odd that a werewolf would be here in its wolf form at this time of the day.

I decided to be snoopy and investigate; werewolves intrigue me, and my family doesn't understand it.

I parked my truck at the local mini-mart and made a run for where I had heard the sound. They would not know that I was there, I smell and sound like a human; they would think that I was just anyone else. This was a good thing.

I heard talking so I listened closely; I'm not sure why I was so interested in the first place…

"So, what did Leah do for me this time?"

"I think you are going to really like this one, Jake."

"I really hope so; I need him gone, Embry."

"She knows that and she couldn't agree more; we all know how much Leah hates the vampires.

I listened to this and I was shocked. I knew some of the werewolves' names that lived around here, and I knew that these two were Jacob Black and Embry Call. I wondered what they were talking about. What would Leah Clearwater have that Jacob Black could possibly want? And what could it do to this vampire they are talking about?

"A bullet? That's what she made? All this waiting and all the girl could come up with is a bullet!" Jacob yelled; he obviously wasn't happy with the "gift".

"Oooh, Jake. This is not just a bullet. It is made of werewolf tooth and claw and vampire skin and teeth. It is the strongest thing out there, and it is faster than anything, even vampire speed; he will not see this coming. The leech won't have the time to run away like the coward he is. And get this- you shoot it directly into his heart and he is dead. Like BAM." I heard the guy, Embry, chuckle with haughty laughter.

"How does that work?" Jacob sounded amused now, and a bit hopeful.

"Well, you know that a vampire's heart is harder than diamond, right?" I heard a head nod. "Well, this bullet is harder than that."

Silence.

"So what do you think, Jake?"

"I think that I need to be nicer to Leah, and that is me saying that." It was true, from what I heard, Jacob and Leah didn't get along very well; he couldn't stand to be inside her head when they were both wolves. Being this interested in werewolves, I knew some things; werewolves' lives were like a soap opera.

I almost blew my cover when a giggle almost escaped my lips.

"Wow." Embry seemed stricken. "This will make it even better for you. She doesn't want payment this time; all Leah wants is for you to hit this directly into his heart, and the bullet will do the rest. She wants this bloodsucker gone just as much as you do."

Uh, oh. This doesn't sound good.

"No payment? Huh. Well, I want the leech gone, so I will go in a few days. I was planning to do it at the festival; that way, there will be more witnesses." Witnesses? What does this guy care about witnesses for? Strange werewolf.

Another silent giggle. I swear, I haven't giggled this much in years- literally.

"Ha, ha. I just hope you don't get caught, dude, Billy would be so pissed, Jake. I have a feeling he isn't going to like this one bit when he finds out."

"My dad isn't going to find out. Only you, me, and Leah know, and by the time I kill the damn leech it will be too late for any of them to try to stop me." I could hear the smile in his voice, and it made me sick. What was the festival that he was going to? More importantly, who was he going to shoot?

"All right then, man. Umm, Leah doesn't have much faith in your aim… so she made this bullet to where the only thing that will make it explode is a vampire's heart- directly. If you happen to miss"

"I won't."

"I don't doubt you, Jake, but Leah does. So if you happen to miss, it won't explode. If everything goes well and you hit him directly in the heart, he will burst into flames, and like I said, this bullet is faster than anything; Leah made sure it was. The guy won't survive."

It was ominously quiet for a few moments and then Jacob Black broke the silence; his voice clearly implied the hatred he was feeling and the satisfaction he would have in the near future…

"Goodbye, Edward Volturi."

A/N: Please, tell me if you like it in a review. It only takes a minute.