Okay, so I first of all I own nothing. Seriously, just call me Dodger. Second of all, for those who actually read my other story Lost, Found, and Broken, I will be continuing, I promise. I just need to get a few ideas out of my head and on paper first. Without further ado, The Gold Mine.

Chapter 1: The Mute

James, his blonde pony tail swinging to the other side of his head as his attention whirled, was the first to react to the loud, thunderous sound echoing through the wind. The scalp of fire-red hair that I know to belong to Victoria shakes as she sighs loudly. She knows, as well as the rest of us, that we will not be leaving this insignificant town of Forks just yet.

I sigh as well, the sound barely registering for the rest of my coven mates.

We all--perhaps with the exception of our leader, James—are ready to leave this area. Victoria is bored with these surroundings and lack of action that is presented here. She much prefers the loud hustle-and-bustle of cities than small town life.

Laurent is nervous. We have caught the scent of many others of our kind recently near here. Especially near the local high school, where it smells undiluted. Laurent is almost as confrontational as I am, and desperately wants to avoid a fight with this probably much larger group.

I—on the other hand—feel guilty. I grow tired of walking around and seeing the faces of humans grieving for their loved ones. The very same loved ones I have killed. In this way, I truly hate myself. My very existence requires others to die—other innocent humans. James says I shouldn't worry my "pretty little head" about such things because humans are nothing more than live stock.

But I know that's not true. Animals can't feel pain like humans can. Animals can't love as deeply as humans can. And, from all of the immortals I have ever meant, neither can we. Sometimes I wonder if we are closer to being "livestock" than the humans are.

Now, in front of me, James is listening closely to something, his head cocked to the side and ruby eyes distance.

I copy his actions, my ears straining to hear what he finds so fascinating. It is then that I heed the sound of several different voices, all possessing varying tones and pitches.

Victoria and Laurent must hear it too, because the latter replies, his tone wary, "The other coven".

Victoria and James grin simultaneously, excited at the prospect of a challenge.

Laurent exhales loudly but stays quiet. We all know what James will do now.

James takes off first, his mate hot on his heels.

Laurent begins to follow after them, but hesitates as he seeing my still form. He reaches back to my, trying to take my hand. I pull back, as he knew I would do.

Laurent and James both have once expressed…more than friendly feelings for me. And though I know James's feelings are simply there because he wants to affect Victoria or he finds my resisting him a challenges, I also know Laurent's are not. James looks at me as an object, Victoria hates me, so Laurent is the closes thing to friend I have known in a long time.

Sometimes I think that solitude might be better than this life, but I know this also is not true. I need my coven to protect me—the weak, ungifted immortal that I am.

"Isabella," Laurent calls to me quietly, dropping his hand awkwardly. He gives me a polite smile, his accent slipping out slightly. "We should be going."

I nod at him silently. Everything I do now is silent. James says this is a good quality I have and that he prefers it when "a pretty face is unmarred by unattractive nagging". Victoria insults me and often refers to me as the "lonely mute".

Laurent is the only kind one to me.

I race after him, stopping when I am just steps behind them. The forest cracks under our footsteps as we march. We slow down slightly, and I know we must be getting close to where this other coven is. James always likes to make an entrance.

Within a few moments we are greeted by the sight of a large clearing, the gray sky casting a shadow on the otherwise beautiful image. At the other end of the field stand three women and four men.

Hiding my body behind my coven-mates', I take notice of them all.

Besides their alarmingly large number, other things about their behavior confuse me. They are standing next to each other, lined up and facing us is if they are preparing for battle. But instead of holding weapons, they each held a bat or baseball. That must have been all of the noise.

This strikes me as odd. How did they know we were coming? We were being abnormally quite. It is not likely they heard us. Victoria had been covering our scents so they wouldn't know we were there. How had they known?

From this point I focus on them individually, observing them.

On the farthest left side, and also stepping forward slightly, was the man I would peg as their leader. He was tall, with light blonde hair and a face that radiated civility. He smiled politely at all of us, nodding. His hand was holding the woman's behind him. His mate, I guessed. She was very pretty—as all of our kind were—but there was a gentleness about her curves and face that made me think she was kind and soft-hearted. She had long cameral hair that fell down to her waist.

The pair next to them surprised me. Or at least the male did. His bare arms and neck were completely covered with crescent shaped scars. The sight made me shrink back in fear as Victoria, James, and Laurent all crouched forward, ready for a fight. His hair was also blonde, honey colored highlights shining from the light. He was crouched down in front of a small woman possessively. The woman, who was less than half his tall height, was shaped like a pixie. Her hair was cut short, sticking out in spikes. She was grinning brightly at the girl next to her, bouncing on her the balls of her feet.

The woman next to her was beyond gorgeous. She was much taller than the sprit-like dark haired woman. Her hair was pure golden, falling down on her shoulders like the softest silk. Behind her was a man who was three times larger than either Laurent or James. His grin was large, with child-like dimples playing at the corners of his mouth.

But it was the last man, standing by himself, that truly caught my attention. His beauty could easily rival the blonde woman's. He had a head of bronze hair, the same shade as a new penny. His body was leaner than the other two's, almost a little more boyish like. He had a square jaw and a sharp pointed nose. His mouth was set in a hard, firm line.

But the last thing I observed was their eyes. None of them possessed the normal ruby eyes the rest of us did. Instead they all had slightly different shades of gold. The beautiful bronze hair boy's were shimmering topaz.

There were close to twenty yards separating our two covens.

James nodded slightly at Laurent, silently telling him to take the lead. James sometimes did this when he wanted to appear less important than he was.

Laurent stepped forward, his arms raised in a showing of trust.

The eldest looking blonde man stepped forward, releasing the hand of his mate.

"Hello." The man called out, waving kindly. Both he and Laurent stepped slowly forward, shaking hands when they finally met in the middle. "My name is Carlisle."

"I am Laurent," my friend said civilly. He began the introduction first. "This is my coven." He waved his hand toward us, motioning for us to walk forward. "This is James, Victoria and Isabella." We each nodded as we were introduced.

Carlisle stepped back slightly, waving towards his mate. "This is my family."

I blinked in shock. Family? Not coven?

"This is my wife, Esme." He pointed towards his mate…or wife. "Alice and her husband Jasper. Rosalie and her husband Emmett, and my son Edward."

Edward. The beautiful boy's name was Edward. It suits him. Then something occurred to me. He's…alone? A beautiful person like that didn't have a mate?

"We live in the area," Carlisle went on, smiling at each of us in turn. "Permanently."

Permanently? How odd these golden eyes were.

Laurent echoed my thoughts out loud, incredulous.

The woman, Esme, stepped forward, her eyes looking on to mine with an unreadable emotion in them. "You're welcome to come and clean up at our house."

Laurent look back at James, seeking approval, and then nodded to Esme. "Thank You. We would love to accept your offer."

I looked away from Esme and my eyes sub-consciously landed on the beautiful bronze haired boy. His topaz eyes were glaring back at me, their depth holding a deep frustrated anger.

I looked away immediately, feeling embarrassed.

Laurent took my hand, motioning with his head to follow after James and Victoria, who were now being led into the woods by Rosalie, Emmett, and Carlisle. I pulled my hand from his grasp, looking away from him shamed. Laurent sighed, following after our coven-mates with fast strides.

Abruptly, I felt a dainty hand on my shoulder and jerked away in surprise.

The fairy-sized woman—Alice—and her mate stood there, each smiling at me kindly.

"Hello Bella," Alice said to me her smile turning into a full out grin.

I frowned in confusion. What did she just call me? "Isabella." I corrected, the sound of my own voice a little shocking from lack of use.

Alice laughed—it was a high, trilling laugh. "No. You're much more of a Bella. You just don't know it yet." She winked at me before grabbing her…husband's hand, giggling as they ran through the forest.

"She's right, you know?"

The voice shocked me. It was sounded like honey would sound, dripping through the smoothest silk an caressing the softest velvet. I turned around quickly, finding myself facing…Edward.

He smile at my shocked expression, his grin crooked. It left me breathless. Could he be any more beautiful?

It took me a full moment—which, as it happens, is quite a bit of time for an immortal—to realize I hadn't yet answered his question yet.

"About what?" I asked him hesitantly, not sure if James would be angry at me for speaking aloud. When I saw that Edward and I were the only one's left in the forest, I grew less tense and he answered.

"You look much more 'Bella' than 'Isabella'." He smiled at me again. "Bella means beautiful in Italian. Very appropriate."

I felt that if I could blush, I would have. I looked away from him.

"Are you doing that on purpose?" he asked abruptly, his words marked with a slight hint of frustration.

"I'm sorry?" I relied quietly, unsure of what he was talking about, yet not wanting to offend him.

"Blocking me." He said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Is it accidental?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," I admitted softly, keeping my gaze from lingering on him for too long.

Edward opened his mouth to say something again, but he was interrupted.

"Isabella!" I heard James's voice call over the meadow to me. It surprised me how crass his voice sounded now that I'd heard Edward's. I swallowed nervously, the venom burning in my throat. James didn't like to be kept waiting.

I turned to look a Edward again, his beauty straining against my eyes before I looked away. Nervously, the movement feeling oddly foreign, I lifted the corner of my lips to smile at him before I followed after my leader.