Long story short: I had a dream. A dream that stayed stuck in my head for so long that I had to write a FF about it. Maybe now my alter-egos will stop playing racket ball with it inside my head. Enjoy!—hopefully. I apologize for the formatting though...I am getting a hang of FF and it will take a bit.

--Oh and as a side warning: I do tend to cuss every now and then. It will continue throughout the story.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. All the lovely characters belong to Stephenie Meyer—unfortunately. The OC's however, I do own *muahahahaha* .

Fate is an elegant, cold-hearted whore
She loves salting my wounds
Yes, she enjoys nothing more
I bleed confidence from deep within my guts now
I'm the king of this pity party with my jewel encrusted crown.

--Polygraph, Right Now!—The Spill Canvas

Alex POV

I awoke to a coolness trickling down my cheek. My once vacant mind came anew again at the sensation. I opened my eyes to a blur of green and let a sigh escape as the rain continued to fall. This was not supposed to happen.

I was supposed to be home in bed without a care in the world except the fickle worries of the average seventeen year old. But apparently fate had other plans. Plans that involved ripping my feet right out from under me. Oh and did I mention the little part about destroying everything and everyone I knew and cared for?

So here I was, lost in the middle of god knows where. Survival instincts were the only things that kept me going, kept me knowing that somewhere those things were still looking for me. Waiting, searching to finish the job.

I know what you are thinking. How the hell did a girl end up in the middle of the woods with nothing but the clothes on her back? And what are these things that are chasing her? What happened? Who died? And the mother of all questions: Why?

As for the latter, I have no clue. Like I said fate must have been bored with its day job and just decided to drop a whirlwind of hell on me. As for the woods thing, I ran here. I just kept running, and in all honesty I have no idea how I am not dead.

Normally when evil vampires knock at your door, there is nothing a normal human girl can do to stop them. I mean come on. Super speed and strength anyone? So to answer the things question: Vampires. As for the rest of the inquiries: Your guess is as good as mine.

All I know for sure is I can't stop. I know they are still chasing me. I can feel it on the back of my neck. And this impromptu nap was about the last thing on the keep-myself-alive list. I must have passed out. A breathless chuckle escaped my lips. Most of the time me passing out involves getting hit over the head with something, not running myself to exhaustion. Apparently this time was one hundred percent self-inflicted. Joy.

The throbbing of my legs broke me from my musings. I did not need to crane my head to know that there was no way I could persuade my muscles to go any farther. My only luck in this escapade was the rain, but it was a small ounce of luck. The rain would mask my scent for a couple of hours, but once it stopped, I was screwed.

You know how a wet dog smells worse than a dry dog? Yah, you guessed it, once that rain stops I'm the wet dog. And the last thing I need is to be soaking wet and shivering all the while sporting a bright neon sign saying, "OVER HERE!" to the manic vampire stalkers.

That was the one twist of fate that I could not wrap my mind around. When it came down to the ancient werewolf versus vampire debate amongst the sci-fi freaks, I was always on the vampire side. Always. Not that I had anything against werewolves, just their tendency to walk around naked.

You have to draw the line somewhere, and watching guys randomly walk around in their birthday suits was not my thing. So sorry wolf-boys, but you lose.

So the fact that I am being hunted by vampires… of all the supernatural species fate could have sicked on me? Yah, it kind of bugs me, the irony of it all. Not to mention the fact that my best friend was one of them. Cue more irony.

So here I was in the middle of the woods, already soaked to the bone with no idea what to do next.

I had three options. Lay here and wait for the vampires, try to find some place to get my sorry ass out of the rain, or my personal favorite, die of hypothermia. Unfortunately, since two of my three options involved dying and the stubborn part of my conscience was having no part in that.

I forced my eyes open again and focused on the trees surrounding me. There had to be something I could use as shelter. Leaves, branches, logs… a cave would be nice, but I highly doubted I would be that lucky. And considering that my legs were in no mood to walk, I was pretty sure a cave was out of the question.

Not to mention bears. I laughed at my mental worry. Bears? Right. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm in bear country, but being chased by vampires probably takes priority to bears. Vampire or bear…hmmm I'll take the bear. I sighed mentally at that. You know you are screwed when bears are considered harmless to what else is out there.

My gaze finally fell on clearly the largest tree within my little circle of vision. The fact that I missed it the first three passes was a tribute to my mental state of awareness. The thing was huge.

As my eyes searched the tree's structure, I noticed an opening at the base were the roots met the trunk. It was triangular in form and just big enough for me to squeeze through. I could tell by the darkness of the shape that it opened to a considerable amount of space. Well I'll be damned, it seemed a rift was stretching through fate's little plan.

However, the rift was apparently a small one as my legs were still refusing to work. Thus, I had to literally drag myself through the underbrush to the base of the tree. Taking hold of the top of the triangle, I pushed myself back-first into the opening.

I had never hated rain, but it felt incredible to be dry…well at least as dry as I was going to get for the time being. I curled myself up into a ball and covered myself with the leaves and moss around me. I highly doubted they would do anything against the cold, but at this point with my jeans and t-shirt soaked through and my socks squishing between my shoes, I was willing to try anything.

I let out a breath of air as the darkness began to loom over the trees. I had lost track of time, it would be night soon. Deciding not to tempt fate any longer (at least for the rest of the day), I stayed in my ball and tried to sleep. All the while praying that nothing would find me in the night.

It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark.
Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart.
You try to scream, but terror takes the sound before you make it.
You start to freeze, as horror looks you right between the eyes.
You're paralyzed.

--Thriller—Michael Jackson

I awoke to a shuffling noise. I groggily opened my eyes to the pitch black night. I had always been a light sleeper, prided myself in the fact actually, but tonight I would have given anything to stop the stupid red flags that were going off inside my head. That is until I remembered where I was.

I forced my eyes completely open, focusing intently on what lay outside the tree. For what seemed like eternity I stared until I realized there was nothing there. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing, trying to convince myself that if there where vampires out there, they would have killed me already.

My eyes flashed open again. How the hell was that thought supposed to make me feel better? Here I was waiting to become a late-night snack. Perfect. A flicker of movement in my peripheral stopped the mental berating short.

My head shot to the side as I squinted into the darkness once again. There. A shape to my left, from here it just seemed like a blob, its light coloring the only reason I could even glimpse it. My eyes stayed on the shape as it moved closer. Shit.

I scrambled back into the tree until my back met the bark. I could still see it. If I had to guess, my bet would be a wild animal of some sort. The way it moved made it a definite candidate for four legs. Maybe a wolf or a mountain lion; neither seemed to be in my best interest.

There is no way. I chastised myself. It was HUGE! There was no possible way that was a wolf or a mountain lion, which unfortunately left one other option: Bear.

This revelation started another mental tangent on how I just had to bring up the fact that bears were nothing compared to vampires. News Flash Idiot: Even though there are no vampires (at the moment), you still have to deal with the bear! My mental self was clearly blowing a casket.

Grreeeaaatttt… I escape evil vampires only to be eaten by a bear. Perfect. Fan-Flippin'-Tastic. I glared upwards and hoped fate would get the message.

Not that it would do any good. Fate was probably having a good time laughing its ass off with irony of the moment. I almost sighed, but abruptly stopped mental tangent had once again distracted me, yet the bear was moving closer still, almost at the foot of the tree. It was ambling along with its nose to the ground. That must have been the noise I heard. Well, I guess I shouldn't have cursed the red flags.

I stayed very still the entire time, not even attempting to breathe. It came to the opening of the triangle and stopped. From my cowered position I could only see part of a foreleg and torso. My eyes traveled from the knee down to the paw. And that was when I noticed it. The paws were more dog-like than anything, and they were definitely not those of a bear.

What. The. Fuck?

My eyes continued to roam from the massive paws to the foreleg up to the chest. I noticed for the first time the long, sandy fur that covered it. For some reason I exhaled with that observation. My body relaxed, if only for an instant. It wasn't a bear.

Well OK then genius, what is it?

That was where my breathing picked up again.

The giant animal seemed to notice this and stuck its head into the hole, or at least tried to. My heart leapt out of my chest and I covered my mouth to stifle the scream. Its massive head could only reach about half-way through the hole and I finally got a decent look at what had been lurking around.

It was a wolf. A huge wolf, but a wolf nonetheless. That much I could definitely tell as I took in the stout muzzle and the ragged fur around the face and neck. A low keening sound came from the wolf. I lifted my gaze to its eyes, and for some reason could not look away.

They were a light brown, almost hazel, with gold flecks protruding from the deeper brown. It was a color that was captivating in its own right, but the downright knowing of the stare was what kept me looking. It was like it knew everything. Every single little detail about my hopes, dreams, despairs, and fears. The depth of them scared me, yet pulled me in, and that was when it clicked. The eyes… they looked almost human.

No, I thought to myself as I continued to stare. They are human.

*Cue Dramatic Music*

Ok so I actually combined two chapters to make for a longer experience for you guys…so what do you think?

Reviews appreciated—don't worry I won't pull a Michael Westen on you if you choose not to voice your opinion. Little warning: the chapters ahead are not as long (for the time being)—they are a little bit less intimidating—don't tell them that it will hurt their feelings.

Luv and Fuzzy Bunnies--HV