Prologue

The Last Night of Cheshvan

Bella trained her eyes in the farmhouse as she stepped at the edge of the forest that faced it. Through a normal human eye, the house appeared to be white with blue shutters. But she could see the soft cracks of the paint on the walls and even its discoloration. She watched each window apprehensively. Except for the window at the bottom left of the house, which she assumed was the living room, all of the windows were pitch black. The house had an unfortunate location, found in the middle of a clearing surrounded by forests and enveloped in thick white fog.

She sniffed the cool October night air, her heightened senses picking up the different scents of the forest and even the hint of dog stench of her companion. She frowned. There was nothing here that suggested any threat, like Jane had told her and her family. So what was it they were supposed to be keeping surveillance?

She heard the crunch of leaves behind her and the stench of her friend had gotten stronger. A second later, a dark hulking figure appeared beside her. Despite the cool weather, his torso was bare and the shorts he wore hung low on his hips. His hair dripped with dew, making it glisten in the low moonlight. His skin color was completely in contrast with hers. She was pale while he was a rich color of brown. His dark brown eyes were also glued to the farmhouse as if it was the most interesting house they had ever seen. He crossed his arms over his torso, making the ligaments and hardened muscle underneath their skin pop out.

"How long are we going to stand here?" he asked, shifting his weight after a few minutes. Bella, on the other hand, remained still as a statue that she was. "A minute more of this and I'll officially feel like a Peeping Tom. Though I have to say, this fog makes it completely easy for anyone to spy this house. I mean, if they're willing to hike their way here."

Bella ignored her friend's banter. She focused on the only window that had signs of life and saw a silhouette get up and disappear. A second later, a woman with bright red curly hair that hung loosely around her neck walked out of the front door. She was about Rene's age and height. Even from several yards of distance, Bella could smell the woman's scent and the familiar thirst that clawed her throat greeted her. But Bella's filled appetite didn't make the woman as alluring as she would be if she was hungry. Instinctively, she and Jacob drew back, hiding behind tree trunks. She grasped the bark of one rather hard in order to keep her distracted from the scent.

But the woman did not glance at the forest in front of her home. As she pulled her bathrobe closer to her, she glanced at the direction of the road seemingly waiting for something or someone. Worry creased her face as she drew out a phone from one of the pockets.

"Where are you?" Bella heard her ask someone on the other line. Her tone was impatient, authoritative, annoyed, and worried. Bella identified it as the similar tone her mother would talk to her in when Bella didn't return her calls right away. "Look young lady, the last time I checked you were still grounded. If you're not here within fifteen minutes, so help me I will ground you until the end of your junior year!"

Bella heard Jacob smirk somewhere from the tree next to her. "Is this what we came here for? Wow, Aro is surely bizarre, having sudden interest in mother-teenager problems. What's the threat here?"

The woman turned and went back inside, still arguing with the person on the other line. She slammed the door shut behind her, a bit louder than Bella assumed she normally would have. Thirty seconds later, the only window that had light turned off. The house looked completely dark and a bit sinister. She turned to listen and ten minutes later, the woman's slow, silent snoring drifted to her.

It was clear that nothing else was going to happen that night as the moon slid lower and lower. Jake was already slumped against a tree trunk, sleeping silently. His face adopting that boyish vulnerability. Whenever he was asleep like this, the deep hard lines of his scowl and his frown relaxes. She was almost convinced nothing was going to happen herself and she wanted to return to the rented Mustang they had left at a gas station a few miles from here.

She wondered what Edward was doing at that moment and at the thought of her husband, the urge to run from Maine to Seattle tugged at her conviction. But she needed to stay there for his sake and for their daughter's sake. She needed to stay there because the Volturi was still breathing down their backs even after three years had passed. Carlisle had encouraged her to accept this favor from the Volturi.

For the sake of saving her daughter, Bella and her family had gathered enough of their kind to stand beside them when Bella's daughter was accused to being a child of their kind rather than being born naturally, which was a crime in their society. When others found out that the Volturi had been stopped, whispers of their weakness and possibly overthrowing them spread like wildfire. Bella feared that most of those whisperers nominated their family as the clan that could do just that.

Jane had came to their house to ask for a favor on behalf of the Volturi last week. It was a tense moment when she stepped inside their home to talk to them about a supernatural force that had alerted the Volturi. She had patronizingly asked Bella to find more about these forces and report to them about it. After she had left, they consulted each other, even bringing in Jacob's pack. They agreed that there was something more to this favor than Jane had revealed but when they had checked with Edward, he knew nothing more about it than what had Aro told Jane which was exactly what she had told them. Alice was also consulted but she drew a blank. Jane was only doing Aro's bidding and Aro himself kept changing his decisions. It seemed they had found several loopholes to blind the Cullens.

In the end, Carlisle had advised Bella to go, pointing out that it showed to the Volturi and the rest of their kind that their family was not planning on overthrowing any government any time soon. It showed that their family was still under the jurisdiction of the Volturi clan and that no unnecessary violence need to occur.

Of course, Edward and Renesmee didn't agree to sending Bella by herself especially if these forces had worried Aro enough. So Jacob agreed to accompany her. But as far as the night had gone, the whole thing was a bust. Bella was about to shake Jacob awake when the sound of a purring engine forced Bella's gaze forward back again.

Jacob stirred awake at the sound as well, his body taut and ready as they both wearily watched a motorcycle speed through the road and turn to the farmhouse's long driveway. Bella and Jacob carefully stepped back as well, retreating to the forest farther than before. They watched as the motorcycle slowed to a stop. Bella could see the one who dismounted first was a girl while the driver was a boy. The girl slid off her helmet and gave it back to the boy who remained in his seat. The girl's long, wild, curly, reddish brown hair cascaded past her shoulders and stopped halfway on her back. Even though she was about Bella's height, it looked like her long legs dominated her body, giving the impression that she was taller.

The boy leaned in and grabbed her hand to pull her close. She didn't seem to be resisting. Instead, she hid in his shirt for a while, her body shaking in tremors. She was crying and the boy was comforting her. A second later, the girl seem to have composed herself a bit, her hands wiping her face. She pulled away from the boy but he seemed reluctant to let her go.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay, Angel?" Bella heard the boy's voice ask. It was soft and caring with a very subtle hint of desire.

The girl's hair shook a bit as she nodded. "Yeah. I'll be fine. Everything just seems hard to digest now. But everything's done. There's no other way but to continue on with life."

"No one's forcing you get back to reality just yet, Nora. Stay at my place, how about that?"

From somewhere from Bella's left, she heard Jacob scoff. "Oh, what a sleaze. He just wants to get in her pants."

"No, I'll be fine," she said in an honest stab at calming her voice, fidgeting with her hands. "I need to check up on my mom and Vee anyways." Her head whipped up at him. "Do you think Mrs. Parnell knows about Scott?"

"I don't know. But she'll know soon enough. I'm sorry about Scott. He was a great man."

The girl remained silent as she nodded again. Bella could hear the girl's sniffles and she was positive the girl was crying again. When she spoke, her voice was thick and nasal. "I'm just glad I didn't lose you."

"What is this, a scene in 'The Days Of Our Lives'?" Jacob whispered again, his eyes rolling. "Why do we need to see this, Bella?"

The light in a window of one of the upper floor room flicked on. This had caught the attention of the girl and the boy. The girl quickly let go of the boy's hands and started making her way to the house. Probably not wanting to wake up her mother, which Bella had assumed was the woman earlier, the girl walked in the grass to silence her footsteps. But as she was reaching their patio, the boy finally dismounted his motorcycle and lifted his own helmet off his head. His height surprised Bella. She guessed he was about six feet or an inch above that mark. His dark hair curled behind his ears and his skin was smooth and as dark as Jacob's. The boy was lean and muscular with an easy, almost arrogant gait. He rushed to her side and placed his arms around her again in a tight embrace.

"Be safe Angel. I'll see you in your dreams later." The words were spoken quietly, meant only for the girl but Bella heard it as if it was yelled across to them. The girl nodded again, curled her finger on his shirt, and pulled him in for a kiss before going inside the house.

As the boy strode back to his motorcycle, Jacob quietly stepped closer to the edge of the forest. "Well that felt like a scene from a cheesy chick flick," he commented. Bella followed him, her eyes still on the boy.

But as she studied him closer, she felt a shiver run through her body, something she had never felt before since she had woken up to the life of a vampire. He looked like he was younger than twenty but older than seventeen. But his onyx eyes held wisdom older than what his body suggests. She froze as she sniffed the air again but this time, the breeze had picked up the smell of mint, ground, and spices that she assumed was coming from the boy. Even if the scent was innocent enough, it was almost too strong as if it was the only smell coming from the boy. Bella also noticed the absence of the smell that triggered her thirst whenever a human is around. So if she didn't sense that with the boy, was he human?

The answer came to her almost immediately when the boy zipped past them. The air around him cackled as if it was alive with electricity. Jacob stiffened beside her and she knew she wasn't the only one who felt it. They exchanged a wide-eyed look. Was he the one they came after? Was he the one Aro felt like a threat?

The boy seemed to have sensed something as well as he turned his head over his shoulder. At that exact moment, the boy's deep velvety black eyes met her bright golden ones. The velvety quality of his eyes immediately turned steely. Bella sensed his intention and was already retreating deeper in the woods. Jacob was following her, transforming to the large russet wolf while he ran.

They must have placed twenty miles between the boy and themselves when they heard the roar of his engine stopping where they were a few minutes ago. They didn't stop as they heard the boy following them with unearthly stealth and deadly silence. To Bella's horror and surprise, the boy was easily following them, matching their speed effortlessly. He jumped over fallen branches and gracefully dodged other obstacles. It was only when they had crossed the forty mile radius away from the house did Bella notice the boy had stopped following.

She slowed and glanced behind her before stopping. The boy was nowhere to be found. She fanned her hair out in a swift movement, her breathing even as if she hadn't just sprinted miles while a being she had never encountered before raced after them. Jacob's huge wolf head towards her and she knew they were thinking the same thing. She knew the same questions swirled inside Jacob's head.

What was that boy? How can he match vampire and werewolf speed that well?

Bella fished her phone out of her pocket and dialed Jane's number. She waited for her to pick up. She looked apprehensively around, keeping her senses alert. She also threw up her shield around her and Jacob just in case the boy had powers beside unnatural speed.

"What exactly are we dealing with here?" Bella asked as soon as Jane picked up her phone.

"What do you mean?" the short impatient reply came from Jane's end.

"A creature that I've never encountered before chased us down the forest, not an easy feat for any other creature I know. So tell me Jane, what are we dealing with?"

Jane was silent for a few seconds, probably relating the boy's incredible speed to Aro. "He saw you?"

"Yes."

Silence again. When Jane spoke, her voice was harsh and irritated. "That was messy of you Isabella Swan Cullen. We'll have to start all over. Come back a month after. Hopefully by then the boy would have forgotten about you, though I highly doubt it. We'll let this blow over and we'll look past it. But the next time you mess up, there will be consequences."

The line went dead and silence fell over them.