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Chapter Text

The clearing was timid. Thick smoke from the still-crackling fires that had been used to get rid of the hostile newborns rose to the sky like purplish shadows.

The smell of burned venom hung heavily over the air as it bore itself deep into Bree's bones. She was doubtful she would ever be able to get rid of the sickly sweet aroma seeping into her clothes.

She felt her body shudder. It was partly because of fear and partly because of how much she craved the blood of the human standing close to her. It called her in, inviting her to step closer like a siren waiting on its prey. 

She had promised to try to control herself in exchange for getting spared from death, but the task was getting harder the more time went on. The smell of blood was dizzying and caused her to feel like she had swallowed a volcano. She was sure it was going to erupt soon if she couldn’t get away from the mortal close to her.

The young teen's eyes darted pleadingly towards the strange yellow-eyed vampires, begging for their help. Her silent plea went unanswered as none of them turned their attention to her, all of their amber eyes strictly set on the Volturi

"Felix."

Bree's face turned instinctively towards the voice. The blond sadistic girl who had said the words looked straight at her, sending shivers down her body. Something about the girl made the young vampire feel uneasy. Perhaps it was the cold empty eyes or the youthfulness of the clearly many-century-old girl that creeped her out.

Bree gulped as one of the Volturi guards took a step towards her. Her body felt like it had turned into ice. She was unable to move. 

Fear gripped her heart. She didn’t want to die. She wasn’t ready to go to the afterlife just yet. She had hardly even lived. She was just a sixteen-year-old girl who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, first getting turned into a vampire and then getting a death sentence for simply existing. She hadn't even had enough time to fall in love or travel the world, seeing different cultures, like she had always dreamed of.

"Wait," the mind reader said. "We could explain the rules to the young one. She doesn't seem unwilling to learn. She didn't know what she was doing."

Bree felt a small glimmer of hope in her chest. She was surprised that the red-headed boy had decided to try to help her.

She was not used to people helping her. 

Her whole life, her father had been abusive towards her, shouting at her and sometimes even beating her up. The latter had not happened often for the girl's luck. Her father had been too concerned about someone finding out about the abuse, so he had not dared to hurt her too badly.

The only two who had helped her were now gone, out of her life, like her mortality.

Fred had left Seattle and was somewhere safe from all of this mess. He was probably hoping that Bree would come to him like they had discussed. Little did he know that they would never see each other again.

Diego, on other hand, laid in the abandoned building that Victoria and Riley had left his remains in. His ashes would eventually become one with the building, spreading on its floors eternally.

"Of course," the amber-eyed blond man agreed. He looked at his coven member and then turned his blazing golden gaze towards Volturis. "We would certainly be prepared to take responsibility for Bree."

Bree's focus perked back to the scene she was in. She hid her surprise, wondering why the yellow-eyed vampires would offer to help her. She was nothing special. Just a girl from Idaho who had run away from her abusive home.

A bad inkling sparked inside of her. What if the yellow-eyed vampires wanted to kill her themselves? It could be a possibility. They could have let her live earlier to make it easier to concentrate on killing the other newborns, and after that, perhaps they had planned to take care of her too.

Bree held back a small whimper. She could feel how needles pierced through her heart, leaving it full of small holes from the coming betrayal.

It had been so stupid of her to think that they actually cared about her. Their leader had warned her about touching the human and that if she did, he would not hesitate to kill her.

It was clearly a foretaste of how they were going to burn her, rip her apart, and toss her pieces into a fire.

The thought of the human made Bree's eyes flicker at the brown-haired creature. Her throat tightened as flaming fire reminded her of the human's existence. It gripped itself inside her throat, blazing its soaring, hot flames in it without remorse.

Her venom decided to join the torture. The thick, sweet-tasting substance flooded her mouth, making her feel like she was about to drown. She needed to swallow, but knew that it would only add more gasoline to her already burning throat, heightening the flames within it.

Her face contorted in pain.

Her focus turned towards the Volturi as she heard the black-cloaked girl speak. "We don't make exceptions." The sadistic girl spoke, her voice full of amusement and disbelief. "And we don't give second chances. It's bad for our reputation. Which reminds me..." Volturi turned towards the human who was causing Bree's suffering. "Caius will be so interested to hear that you're still human, Bella. Perhaps he'll decide to visit."

"The date is set," the shortest yellow eye interjected, causing the sadistic girl's smile to fade momentarily. She did not, however, look at the small pixie; instead, her eyes shifted to the leader of the yellow-eyed vampires. "It was nice to meet you, Carlisle—I'd thought Aro was exaggerating. Well, until we meet again."

"Take care of that, Felix," the girl added, looking straight at Bree. "I want to go home."

Bree froze. Her face turned horrified at her impending doom. A muscular man with black hair approached her. His light grey cloak moved violently behind him as he came closer to the young girl.

He looked set on his task, ready to destroy her, causing the girl's panic to rise even further. This was her end. She would not get to see the next sunrise.

The teen felt her emotions imprison her like a zoo animal. They curled around her, making her unable to move under the pressure. It sank into her body, leaving nothing but terror behind.

Her efforts to run from her abusive home had been for nothing. She was going to die. Perhaps she should have never left Idaho and just endured her father until she was eighteen. At least that way, she would have been somewhat safe. She could have still been a human.

Suddenly, Felix's face twisted into confusion. He stopped in his tracks, turning to look at the blond Volturi, who had given him the order to kill the girl.

The surprising reaction of the man made Bree run. She felt a power strike in her feet as she flew from the clearing, leaving the danger behind. Her steps thumped steadily on the forest floor as her worn sneakers hit the soil.

She was sure that the other vampires would come after her and finish her off. She needed to be quick and hide. Maybe jump into an ocean. The water would wash off her scent and make it impossible to follow her.

The only problem with the plan was that she did not know in which direction the ocean was. She would need to find it first.

Another plan came to her mind. She could try finding Fred. He had, after all, tried inviting her to leave with him. But of course she had been stupid and declined the offer in favour of wanting to find Diego. 

Her other friend had meant a lot to her. It had been them against the world. She wondered what Diego would have done in her situation. Would he have bowed to his fate and let himself get killed? Or would he be running away from the clearing right now, like Bree was doing?

She hoped that he would have chosen the latter, like her.

The second plan was better, but like with the first plan, she did not know where she could find her plan's main executioner. In other words, she was in big trouble.

Bree ran beneath the trees that stretched themselves towards the sky. They seemed to compete with each other, trying to reach the blue horizon above them before the others could do the same.

Her face grew more and more worried. She didn’t know which direction to run in, so she ran straight. It was not the wisest choice, but at least it kept her moving. She did not have enough time to stay, wondering which direction she wanted to go in.

She only needed to pray that she would eventually reach an ocean or something else that would advance her escape further.

But luck didn’t seem to be on her side. As soon as she got out of her thoughts, Bree started hearing distant footsteps behind her. They followed her like a string attached to her hip. 

She was now truly being chased. She needed to figure out a way out of this situation—a way to cut the string. How she would do that was still a mystery, but hopefully her mind would soon clear enough to figure something out.

The girl's steps fastened. She tried to work out a plan in her mind as she ran across the forest.

Her eyes caught a cliff ahead of her. It rose majestically in front of her as she ran towards it.

She didn't know if she would be able to climb it up. Her vampire powers were still new to her, and because of Riley's lies, she wasn’t sure what her body was capable of. The boy had lied to her and the other newborns about the sun burning them to crisps, so how could she trust anything that he had told them? How would she trust in her supposed ability to be able to climb to the top of the cliff? It was too risky, especially now when she was getting chased.

The young teen decided to turn right. She sprinted in her new direction, scared that she would get caught.

Terror gripped her body as she ran. It squirmed inside of her, leaving nothing untouched. She feared that it would soon leave her immobilised and unable to move. Throw her to suffer in the hands of the yellow-eyed vampires, or even worse, the Volturi. The sadistic blond girl would surely torture her more before finally tearing her apart.

She needed to run as fast as possible until she was somewhere safe, somewhere where she could close her eyes and wonder what to do next. A place where she would feel comfortable and be far from danger.

And like lightning, a plan hit her. She needed to hide. The forest was huge, so logically, there had to be a good hiding spot somewhere. They always had one.

She needed to find a spot where her scent couldn't be caught. Maybe a river could be sufficient for her plan. It would take care of her scent, and she could swim under the water until it was impossible to follow her. If the girl got lucky, it would lead her to an ocean or lake.

Bree's scarlet eyes searched for her escape feverishly. They peered around her surroundings like hawks, trying to find prey.

After a small search, they landed on something shiny but blue. It sparkled in front of her eyes, making her face light up. A river.

She didn’t hesitate to jump into it with a splash. Her strong arms pushed her forward, helping her anxious legs propel her through the water.

The brown-haired girl could feel water filling her lungs. It swam inside of her, causing her instincts to plead her to surface. It was a horrifyingly uncomfortable feeling. She tried to shake it off as her brain reminded her of the serious situation she was in. This was not the right time to pull out of her plan. It was already in action. Surely she could deal with the feeling of being buried alive, right? She could adjust to it.

Doubt filled her body like the transparent liquid had. It suffocated her as she swam in the river.

To her relief, the steps behind her became more distant until they stopped altogether. Her mind relaxed.

The young teen's head broke the river's wavy surface. She climbed back up to the grass, couching many doses of water out of her lungs. The liquids burst onto the ground, making it wet from the substances spilling onto it.

Her right hand flew to her throat as the fire inside reminded her of her hunger. She desperately needed to feed. She would go crazy if she did not get blood soon. She knew better than to not feed. The hungrier she was, the less likely she was to be able to think clearly. 

Bree stood up, sprinting to follow the river in the same direction she had swam, wondering what to do next.

Her mind was made up when a heavenly smell hit her nose, stealing her attention from her path. Her legs turned confidently towards their new destination.

She didn’t care about anything else except the scent that hovered in the air. It was comfortingly familiar. 

A pumping heart appeared in the distance, pushing her even further into her frenzy. She needed the blood. Now.

The girl jumped towards the unexpecting human, plunging her sharp teeth into it. She could hear a distant scream as she drank.

The creature below her seemed to calm down quickly. It soon stopped moving altogether. The blood in its veins drained far too fast for her liking, leaving her with a dry mouth and a sour expression.

She took a step back to study her prey. She liked doing it for fun. It was interesting to look at the humans when they were dead. Her victim was a middle-aged male with short brown hair. His empty, chocolate-brown eyes stared unblinkingly at the sky, still fresh from the terror they had felt seconds ago.

Bree gazed at the human one more time indifferently before flying back to her path, happy to finally be fed.

Chapter Text

Bree's legs took a small push from the ground as she jumped effortlessly over a tree trunk. Her feet hit the grassy land on the other side, causing a thump to echo in the forest.

She cringed. Her senses checked out the wilderness around her, worried that someone had heard her short jump.

She had been running and hiding from the yellow-eyed vampires for a day now. It was exhausting to have to constantly be on alert, even if she did not get tired. It almost felt like she was lifting boulders. She hoped that she would be able to get out of the coven's territory soon. She just needed to find the perfect spot to get over their border without getting detected.

The brown-haired girl had found an ocean twenty hours ago. She had run towards it, feeling hope leak into her heart, only to discover that the vampire clan whose territory she was on had decided to guard their territory borders in hopes of finding her.

The tactic proved itself successful when she was dumb enough to not make sure she was alone on the ocean shore. She had been about to dive into the warm water when a man who looked straight out of Marvel comics charged at her. 

He had looked like a hulk with his enormous muscles. They were huge, making Bree happy that she had been able to flee the scene without getting killed. She would not have had any chance of fighting against the man.

Her body had somehow turned invisible in the process of fleeing him, creeping her out quite badly. She had almost wanted to cry when she hadn't been able to see her hands. At first, she had frantically fallen to the dirt, trying to see if she had made any marks on it. She thought she had died. To her relief, she had succeeded in her test.

The hulk-like man had stared in confusion at her hiding spot, turning multiple times around, trying to locate her. He had eventually taken his phone out, looking like someone would have stolen his pet.

The encounter had shaken her up, leaving her too terrified to try to go in any other direction for a while. She had climbed up a tree five kilometres from the ocean and ended up sitting on its branch for hours, attempting to practise her newfound powers.

Bree let her senses lead her towards a stream. Her brisk steps stopped as she came to it.

The water glittered magically under the sun's rays as the tranquil water revealed round rocks on the bottom of the stream. They moved slightly every time a bigger currency picked on them, pushing them further along their underwater home.

The red-eyed girl crouched down and touched the silky water. It nudged her sparkling fingers gently, making her giggle with delight. She loved how water felt to her after her transformation. She liked to think it felt like a hug, but she wasn’t completely sure how accurate her perspective was; after all, she couldn’t remember what it felt like.

She had only been four when her mother left her and her father. She hardly remembered anything about the woman. Humans seemed fond of hugging their children, so the girl wondered if her mother had used to hug her too before her death. Her father had disposed of all the pictures of the woman, leaving Bree to only imagine what she could have looked like.

The teens' gaze turned towards where the stream continued. She stood up uncertainly, not sure if she should follow it.

She took a step in the direction, wondering what she would find there. Perhaps she would see a unicorn. A beautiful creature with a rainbow mane and a white long coat to protect it from harsh winters. She could not forget its long silver horn that would rise from its place in the unicorn's head.

What was she thinking? She was being very silly right now. Of course, she wouldn’t find a unicorn. They weren’t real. Or were they? Bree tilted her head in confusion. Her dark hair fell to her sides in compliance. What if unicorns were real? Vampire's were, so who was to say the mythical horse-like creatures wouldn’t?

A wet drop fell on her head, scaring the young girl. Her face turned towards her attacker, ready to give a warning growl. To her surprise, crystal-like liquids started to fall from the sky. They filled the grey canvas, creeping towards her like bombs.

She suppressed a yelp before running under the closest tree. She looked frantically around, trying to find better shelter. She wasn’t ready to be wet again.

The rain droplets splashed to the ground, watering the plants in the forest. The sky's cries made the teen slide down against the tree trunk. Closing her eyes, she hoped the tree would feel empathy towards her and shelter her from the starting storm.

Her body tried to find warmth from the rough trunk without success. She shuddered when a few water droplets managed to go through the tree's defence and fall straight on her olive-coloured jacket. They created small, dark spots on it.

"Please," Bree whispered. Her voice sounded weak and pleading. She wouldn't be surprised if the tree above her thought she sounded pathetic and let all the rain pour down on her.

She gathered her legs closer to her, pressing them against her shirt. Was this her life now? Running away from other vampires and hiding? She didn’t want to live the rest of her life like this. Surely she deserved something better. Or did she? Was she meant to be killed all along? Was her destiny to be destroyed?

She felt her tearless sobs rock her body. They travelled from her lungs to her stomach, leaving the girl shaking from sadness.

She cried along with the sky, hoping that it would grant her permission to leave beneath the tree. She was stuck here like she had been stuck inside her home when her father told her how ungrateful spoiled brat she was and how it would be better if she were dead. Had he been right? Was she better off in the sky?

Sadness swirled in her body as she opened her mouth once again for an unheard plea. It choked her, stripping all words from her mouth and replacing them with cold sobs. They flooded from her mouth, forming a lump in her throat. It grew bigger the more she cried. And the more she did, the sadder she became.

The sky crackled as rain intensified. It started forcing itself through the tree's branches, wetting her completely. Her wet clothes became glued to her skin as the girl cried even harder.

The droplets tapped hard into the soil, splashing uncontrollably from it back towards the sky. It almost looked like they were trying to escape the world back to the safe clouds they came from.

Bree understood them. She wanted to go back home too. She wanted to see her father again, regardless of what he had done to her. She hardly even remembered what the man looked like anymore. All her memories of him were now unclear, muddy pictures, their true colours unnoticeable, and tattered by the filth on them.

Another sob escaped from her lips. It shot in the air, playing with the water, until falling down to the wet grass.

The clouds raged, colouring the forest with bright, sudden lights. Their deep, loud screams accompanied them, bringing shivers down the girl's back. She squeezed her body harder, hugging her frail legs comfortingly.

Her soggy, pale hands stared back at her, blaming her for their misfortune. It was her fault they were now made of a hard, flawless marble-like material. She was an idiotic teen who should not have trusted Riley's offer to buy her food. Why had she been so dumb? She had been warned about not trusting strangers, but of course she had not listened to all the warnings and went head first towards danger itself—a vampire. She had seen the blond boy's glowing blood-like eyes and the skin as white as a sheet, but still decided to trust him. 

She would never trust anyone so easily again. Not after what had happened to her now twice. Riley had betrayed her trust, and the yellow eyes had betrayed her too. She could only count on herself and perhaps also on Fred. He was the only one who had been deserving of her trust so far, if Diego was not counted.

Sharp pain slashed her chest at the thought of her late friend. She missed him feverishly.

Snap behind her made the young girl flinch. She shot up from her seat on top of the tree's root, her frantic sad eyes searching for the creator of the sound. It had been too sudden, too intentional, to be from an animal.

The sky lit up, lighting the forest with an intense luminous glow. Her bright scarlet-coloured eyes found an abnormal movement from their edges.

Her legs bolted from their place, carrying her with them.

She could sense the vampires behind her. Their smells saturated the air, poisoning it with their sweet scents. The rain had to have hidden them from her. It was the only explanation why she had not detected them before. How long had they watched her sob? Or had they just arrived at the scene? It was all a mystery to Bree, but she did not care to find out the answers to her questions. They would get her killed.

The girl heard their heavy boots thudding against the soil as she ran.

Mud splashed beneath her worn sneakers as her feet touched the ground even harder, motivated to get away from her dangerous chasers.

As her instinct took over, the sadness she had felt moments ago disappeared like it had never even existed. Instead, it was replaced with pure terror. It ate her body, munching on her excitedly, waiting to expand more.

The teen felt adrenaline shoot in her frozen veins as she flew in the muddy forest, tattering her clothes further. She could only think about running and how she needed to escape. Her brain felt like it was stuffed full of cotton, unable to think properly. Everything around her melted, making nature look odd with its warped shapes.

She ran blindly, hoping to find something that would help her. Her intentions proved themselves to be fruitless as the forest gave her a cold shoulder and ignored her wishes. She couldn't see through her panic, making all of her attempts to find help futile. Even the forest had ended up betraying her and instead served its owners, helping them in their pursuit to capture her.

Footsteps behind her grew closer and louder.

With desperation shimmering in her face, Bree's stiff body sprinted faster. She jumped over the river she had swam in just under a day ago. Her eyes looked at it in the air, full of longing. She hoped she could have used it again as her escape route, but the vampires behind her were now too close to her. She wouldn't be able to swim away from them, and would get herself captured.

Her face looked around, trying to find help. 

The thunderstorm raged above her, roaring like a lion. Its claws left marks on the dirt beneath her as raindrops fell hard against the soil.

The young teen got hit from behind. She tumbled into a mud pond, hissing furiously as her clothes got engulfed in the brown substance. Her pale hands started lifting her body up on the slippery ground, only for her to get slammed back into the mud. It splashed as her body hit it once again.

Thunder cracked in the sky.

"Stop resisting. You're just making this harder for yourself," a voice with a southern accent said. It vibrated strongly in the oxygen, making her feel calmer. The feeling got progressively stronger as six hands locked her in the slimy mud.

Bree struggled against the strange calmness growing inside of her. It slithered into her body, sneaking into all the possible holes and spaces inside. She hissed furiously, trying to shake the feeling off.

Hands held her still, stopping any movement she tried to make. They locked her head, keeping it touching the dirty soil.

"Bree, I know you are scared, but I need you to stay still for your own good," a male voice pleaded as she kept trying to trash around. "If you ought to stay alive, you need to calm down. We don't want to hurt you, but will if needed."

The teen hissed as an answer, trying to take a peek at the vampires holding her. She already knew, based on hearing the two male vampire voices, that one of them was the blond coven leader, the man who had spared her but later backstabbed her with no care in the world. The other one being the scary southern boy who had wanted to kill her from the start. His skin was full of crescent-shaped scars, and blond curls fell to his chin.

Image of the latter vampire woke involuntary shudders from the girl's body. They racked her, making her grateful that she was held down. Otherwise, the coven that had captured her would have seen her lonely shudders.

"Bree, dear, listen to my husband. We simply want to help you. Your safe" woman's voice danced in her ears. It was warm and calming, almost lulling her into feeling false security. But Bree was not an idiot; she knew she could not trust the yellow-eyed vampires repeatedly. They had already betrayed her trust, and she was not about to give them a new chance to do so again.

"No," she growled. Her voice had come out weaker than she had hoped. It sounded like a scared young child. She wanted to take her words back, eat them from the air, and gulp them inside of her, but it was already too late to do so. She could not take the already-said words back inside of her. Why had she opened her mouth? She could have simply growled like the creature she was now. She didn’t need to answer politely to the yellow-eyed coven.

"You will obey us. Stop squirming, and we might consider letting go of you," the southern-accented boy hissed. He tightened his hold on her, causing pain to jolt in the girl's body.

She swallowed in pain as a short silent creak shot into the air. "Jasper," another feminine voice reprimanded. Immediately, when the bell-like voice rang, the tightness in the southern vampire's grip loosened up.

"Alice. I know you know what will happen if we don't bring the newborn to our home and tell Volturi we have it seized. We can't risk endangering our family for someone who won't cooperate. I will use power if it won't come in peace with us to the house."

"It's she, Jazz. Please don't refer to her as an animal," the bell-like voice said, sounding more pissed off.

"I won't refer to it as a person before it starts acting like one."

Bree growled in response to the male's words. She was scared of him but was unwilling to let him insult her.

The mud beneath her cheeks stuck uncomfortably against her stone-hard skin. It refused to wither away as the rain tried to clean it away from her face. She felt appreciation towards the clouds; maybe they had decided to stick up to her when seeing in how weak position she was in.

"Don't you think that’s a bit harsh, Jasper? Like you said, she is a newborn—a scared one, if I may say. It's not a surprise she is not acting pleasantly nor taking our words well," the other female reasoned, her soft voice sounding more like a warm hug.

"I'm not being harsh. I simply just refer to it, like it acts," the boy called Jasper stated.

Bree's jaw tensed as her fury sparked. The emotion rolled through her body, consuming her whole being. She hissed, causing gasps around her.

"Hold on to her. We cannot risk letting go of her," the coven leader ordered. His voice had a hint of panic emerging from it.

The hands on her torso began holding her more stiffly.

The girl's eyes shot to her chest. She couldn't see it anymore. Her body was completely invisible again.

The young teen could see the yellow-eyed coven members marble-like hands through her transparent torso. They looked like they were floating in the air. 

The sight made her feel disturbed, prompting her to struggle against their hold.

She gritted her teeth in annoyance. Why didn’t her power activate when she needed it the most but came when she was already locked against the mud, captured like an animal? The scarred boy's words rang in her head. Maybe she was an animal. If so, she was going to be the best animal there could be and escape like they always did. The forest creatures always found a way out of the situation, right? She could try to do the same. She just needed a new escape plan.

A doubt came to her mind. Was planning it even worth it? There was no way she would be able to free herself from the amber-eyed monsters. They were clearly not going to let her go. The girl's eyes flashed with terror, a feeling that had started becoming too familiar to her liking.

"Bree, I need you to calm down. I know you're frustrated and scared, but everything will be fixed if you come with us," the blond leader's voice said. "We can help you with your new life, but only if you want to. Otherwise, there is no point in trying to help you. You need to work with us." He sounded like a father trying to talk to his stubborn child, awakening the rebellious side of Bree.

"I'm not scared," she hissed. Her lips pulled back, showing her pearly white teeth. Realising the yellow-eyed were not able to see them, she hid them, feeling a wave of awkwardness jump to her body.

The teen, of course, knew what she had said was a lie; in fact, she was terrified, but her capturers did not need to know that. She wanted them to believe her. Think that she was only frustrated so she could use it to her advantage. She wasn’t sure how but knew that she would figure out how when the time came.

"Don't lie to us," Jasper arraigned.

The calmness inside the girl grew again, outgrowing all her other emotions. It drowned them and pushed them aside violently. What was this strange feeling, and why was Bree feeling it? It did not make any sense at all. She knew she should have been writhing in terror or shaking in anger, but she was only able to feel peaceful. She felt the same emotion as when she had been a child and hid under her covet, reading herself to sleep.

It made her feel tipsy.

"Jasper, please," the bell-like voice sighed. This time, it sounded more annoyed than last time.

"How about we get out of the rain?" The leader suggested interrupting the starting argument and redirecting everyone's focus to the sky.

Bree had completely forgotten it was raining. Water droplets battered rhythmically against the soil. They trickled down her face, tickling her skin pleasantly. She wondered why the sky was still crying. Why was it so sad? Had it kept all the tears and pain inside the clouds and been unable to hold them anymore, pouring them all to the ground and revealing its secrets with them?

"How are we going to get Bree to our house?" one of the women asked. Her face appeared in front of the teen, kneeling on the mud to take a better look at her. The caramel-haired vampire's soft eyes looked at her empathetically.

The girl's gaze went alarmed towards the woman. She wasn’t invisible anymore. Her power did not seem to give her much help. She had heard from Fred that they could be developed, and really hoped that she would be able to do so. Her power was too unreliable to be used without worrying that she would reappear. She wasn’t even sure how to trigger it to work. So far, she had just become invisible without any warning.

Bree felt the hands on her pull her body around, her face now facing towards the sky. She could see all her capturers looking at her, their gazes full of pity.

"Perhaps she could come with us willingly?" the leader stated. He raised his blond eyebrows questioningly and looked at her with pleading eyes.

The girl shaked her head, staring at the coven before her with blazing red eyes. She was not going to go to her death without a fight.

"Please. It will be more pleasant for all of us if you won't struggle against us. I can assure you, we would much prefer to get you safely and unharmed to our home rather than have to force you there." The man spoke again, this time more assertively.

The young teen dodged his eyes, rather looking at her stomach. She let her mind loose, trying to imagine a way out of the situation. Becoming invisible seemed to be her best chance, but first she would need to get rid of the hovering hands on her soaked clothes. Mud had stained them to almost unrecognisable colours. Her olive jacket and blue jeans were now mostly brown. She doubted her hair and face were clean either. The slimy substance seemed unfazed by the rain pouring on it. It refused to leave and gripped hard against her clothes.

"Bree, listen to my husband. Wouldn’t you prefer coming willingly with us? I doubt you want to get hurt," the caramel-haired woman said. The vampire's friendly, amber eyes stared at the girl warmly as her other hand extended towards her.

The calmness Bree had felt before withdrew. It disappeared, letting her emotions crash hard against her heart. They multiplied, going over her body's edges and spilling over them. The sudden change in her body made the girl growl. She tried to trash out of her capturers arms.

Fear took hold of her once again, making her thoughts dizzy and hard to understand. She felt like crying as it rose inside of her, telling her to run far away from everything.

She surprised herself by managing to escape the marble hands, their hold on her weaker than she had expected. The vampires in front of her probably relaxing their holds when she had not been trashing and shaking.

Bree took off running, not wanting to waste her opportunity to escape, her legs carrying her away from the dangerous coven. She flew in the rain, dodging trees that came in her way. She could hear their footsteps behind her as she sped up.

"Follow her footsteps on the grass before the rain dissolves them!" The southern voice shouted from behind. It made the teen look at her body. It was once again invisible. She needed to run now, when they would struggle to follow her.

Her gaze went to her feet, realising what the boy behind her had meant. Her foot-sized mud prints tarnished the soil. They followed her, giving her location away. She would need to do something about the footprints. She was finally free and didn’t want to get caught again.

Her mind raced as she ran. She tried to come up with an idea that would solve her small problem. The most logical thing would be to run to the water and wash her sneakers, but the girl did not know would she have time for that.

Her shoes carried her forward. They felt slippery from the mud cover hanging onto them, slowing her considerably. The thought of having to run faster made her breath hitch. She was worried that she would fall to the ground and get captured for good this time. She doubted the vampires running behind her were going to be so gracious when they caught her next time. She wouldn't be able to escape from them again.

The steps of the coven behind her continued steadily. They seemed confident about chasing their prey, ready to kill her.

Bree's steps lead her to run by the river she had swum in. She continued moving, taking a look at her body as time wore on. She started getting more anxious about her power, worried that it would make her visible again.

The river came to an end, opening up to a lake. Its stormy, dark surface waited for her invitingly, tempting her to dive deep into it. The young teen's mouth widened from hope. She could dive into it and save herself.

Chapter Text

Bree swung herself towards the lake, hearing protesting yells behind her. They became more distant as she dove towards the water's surface. It broke, letting her join the underwater world once again.

The mud in her clothes and body washed off as she swam like an otter. She pushed her body smoothly through the liquid, feeling its silky brush against her skin.

Occasionally, it swirled around her, trying to sway her from her course. The girl wanted to swim as deep into the lake as possible. It would make finding her harder if the yellow eyes followed her. Her best bet would be to stay under the surface for as long as she was able to and then travel safely away from the coven's territory. She doubted they would have the patience to wait for her to resurface.

The longer she dived, the more she realised how much duller her senses were. They felt like they were full of cotton. Her eyesight was worse and blurrier. She couldn't see as far away as she had hoped. Her smell was almost completely gone, leaving her to smell occasional weak, musty odours as they pushed themselves into her nostrils. Her hearing was the only one that was not affected too badly. In fact, she heard even further than before, or at least she thought she did. She heard movements all around her—the lake creatures swimming and munching on something, the plants bending along with the water.

The young teen saw a small cave in front of her. It was decorated with alga, projecting it from outside eyes.

She listened to the sounds of the cave, wondering if she could hide in it until it was her time to leave. It could be a perfect place for her to spend some time. The cave looked small enough to not steal much attention but big enough to be in. Her eyes gazed at it for a few seconds before she propelled herself towards it.

The cave was mostly silent. She couldn't hear any creatures moving in it, making her feel more confident. She didn't want to steal anyone's home.

Her body squished inside of it, letting her finally see what the mysterious place looked like. The stone walls were full of plankton. She imagined they must have felt quite slimy. The floor itself was quite clean, only having a small patch of moss close to the entrance and a few small rocks in the left corner. If she had been younger, she would have thought it to be a mermaid's nest.

She amused the idea by imagining how the creature would sleep on the floor and laugh at her visiting fish friends' jokes.

She would love to be a mermaid. She had never understood why Ariel had wanted to leave Atlantis and live in the human world. Everything was so much more complicated here than in the fictional underwater kingdom. If she had been Ariel, she would have never even been interested in humans. They were boring creatures that slept, ate, went to work, and repeated everything again the next day. How had she survived as a human? How had she not died of boredom?

The girl's brown hair floated around her as time went by. It ticked slowly, making her convinced it was torturing her. How was she supposed to stay here in the cave for multiple hours? She was already bored to death. All of the fish were too scared of her to come close to the cave, and she had nothing else to do but be alone with her own thoughts.

Her throat started to blaze harder. She had not fed for a day now and desperately needed some blood. Only the thought of it made her venom gather in her mouth. Its thick but sweet taste was starting to become a little too familiar to her.

Bree decided that she couldn't spend her time in the cave anymore. She needed to get out. She had lost her sense of time in the cave, having no idea what time it was. It felt like she was sitting in a limbo, waiting until it was her time to run again.

Her legs pushed her light body out of the dark, stony hole. She made sure to control her strength so she would not accidentally push herself too far from the cave's entrance. She wanted to stay close to it in case she had to hide.

Her eyes widened as she spotted a trout. It swam casually in the water, not seeming to care about the vampire looking at it. A bunch of small bubbles came from the girl's mouth as she accidentally opened it out of surprise.

She could see a red substance hovering around the sea creature. Was the trout hurt? Did it not care about her because of that, or was the lake telling her to drink from the fish? Her crimson eyes narrowed. Should she taste it? The creature's blood's smell was not as appealing as humans. It smelled more like a rotten egg.

Fire ignited in her throat. It wouldn't be the end of the world if she were to taste the fish, right? She prepared herself to attack the fish and sprung towards it. Her hands took the slithery fish between them, her teeth sinking into it hungrily.

She almost gagged as the blood flooded into her mouth. The taste was absolutely disgusting. She had never tasted anything so bad before.

Her mouth withdrew from her prey. She closed her eyes, trying to forget the horrible, rotten taste of the fish. It lingered in her tongue, refusing to leave.

The young teen threw the dead sea creature away, letting it sink to the bottom of the lake. She heard a soft thump as it hit the sand-filled floor. She was glad the trout was now gone from her sight. She never wanted to see it again. The taste had truly traumatised her. She hoped no poor soul would have to eat it. How did humans enjoy its meat? She bet it tasted similar to its blood—rotten and disgusting.

Her appetite was gone. The fish had caused the fire in her throat to shrink. It had surprised her. She had not expected the bad-tasting trout to destroy her hunger so unexpectedly. She didn't know how long it would keep it away before her appetite would come rushing back, demanding to get more blood. She just needed to hope it would keep it away a bit longer so she could concentrate on her plan.

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The thunderstorm had stopped, leaving the dark lake's surface serene. It was like the storm had never even existed and had been just a hallucination, a trick of the mind.

Bree's body froze as she heard someone speak on the shore. She had come to investigate whether it would be safe for her to leave the lake or not. The latter seemed to turn out to be the case.

"Bree bee, come here. I have some blood- some yummy human blood," a booming, luring voice called. It belonged to a male. She was sure it was the hulking-looking boy. "Bree bee."

A sound of heels started echoing on the shore. They became louder and quicker until they stopped.

"What in the name of God are you doing, Emmett?!" a completely new feminine voice asked. It sounded pissed. The girl did not remember hearing it before. It has to have belonged either to the human or to the angel, like a vampire she saw in the clearing.

"I'm fishing her, Rose! Can't men fish in peace anymore?"

"No."

"C'mon babe. You need to calm down. The newborn will eventually go crazy from her thirst and come back up! It should be easy to catch her by then," the hulk-like boy reasoned. He sounded convinced by his own thought process, leaving the young teen beneath the water's surface feeling anxious. It gripped her stomach, worsening the more she thought about the boy's words. Would she lose herself to the bloodlust soon?

"I know. I'm just on the edge because of the Volturi. They will blame us if the newborn draws the attention of humans. She already killed an innocent man. Who knows who she will sink her teeth into next? We need to catch her for the sake of our family's safety," the feminine voice sighed. It sounded tired. "I'm worried that you will get hurt."

The hulk-like vampire's voice softened. "I won't, I promise. We will catch the girl and finally end all of this."

"And maybe we can also have some alone time after. Just us and the trees," the voice continued more cheekily.

"I would love that," the feminine voice answered passionately.

Bree heard multiple clicks. They sounded like two plates rubbing against each other. The noises made her withdraw back towards her cave. She felt like she was imposing herself on a situation that was not meant to be heard by anyone else except the two vampires on the lake's shore.

She swam silently through the water, only to stop after fifteen metres. She heard an odd sound. It sounded like something was breaking. Something stoney. Like a rock or a cave. A cave? Her eyes widened as she tilted her head. Was something in her cave? She didn't know if she should go find out what it was. The sound repeated itself, this time more loudly. It made her perk up. Her curiosity getting too unbearable, she started heading closer to the sound.

The water around her radiated with tension as she moved closer to the peculiar sound. It turned louder the closer she came, making her anxiety rise like a balloon. Her limbs became more shaky, slowing her down. They weighted her, trying to warn her about the direction she was going. It was not a smart choice to follow the sound; the girl knew that but wanted to still find out what it was. Her curiosity was too strong, lingering inside of her, waiting for her to sate her thirst.

The teen arrived at her destination. It had turned quiet. Not even a single sound could be heard from the location. It was like everything would have stopped moving. Her eyes scanned the spot, trying to figure out what had happened. She could not see any noteworthy reasons why.

Fear filled her. She was sure there had to be a reason for the sound. It couldn't have appeared out of nowhere. Or could it? Could a real mermaid live in the cave, eat, and sleep there? It could have found out that someone had intruded on its home and was now angry, looking for revenge, and desiring to kill its vampire visitor. Mermaids were ruthless creatures in some cultures' legends. What if this was the case in real life too? The legends always came from somewhere. Shudders went down her body. She didn't want to get eaten by a mermaid. She had survived too long to be a lunch for sushi. Resolution came to her mind. If the mermaid attacked her, she could drain it in return. She should still be faster than it, even when under water.

Hands locked her from behind, startling the young girl. Her mouth opened, flooding it with lake water. She had tried to scream but failed miserably, leaving her to feel dumb.

Bree's head swung towards her attacker. The creature's grip tightened as she tried to push herself out of its arms. She was convinced it was the mermaid. She could almost feel its wet tail behind her.

To her dismay, her crimson eyes met golden ones. It was the leader of the yellow eyes. He looked displeased at her, unsettling her with his face. The man's blond hair flowed at ease around him, seeming content in its position. His expression was firm as his eyes stared calmly at her.

He started to swim upward. The water let him carry her easily through the silky caressing material until they reached the surface. Their heads broke the tranquil water as they came into contact with air. 

The girl trashed in his strong arms, trying to bite him in panic. She was glad she was not a human because if she had been, she would have fainted from the strong emotion. It shredded her piece by piece, making her unsure if she would survive the sheer power of it. She had never felt such a strong, gut-wrenching feeling in her whole vampire existence. Her body shook like a leaf. She had to break free from the amber-eyed leader's grasp, or else she would die.

New hands stopped her before her teeth were able to strike into the man's pale skin. "Bree! You need to calm down!"

She turned towards her new raven-haired attacker, attempting to hiss, but instead a bunch of water ended up coming from her lungs. It spilled back to the lake where it belonged, happy to be released from the prison inside of her.

"Let's get her on the shore," the blond man said. "Alice, Jasper, can you help me with her?" He tightened his hold on the teen, increasing her trashes.

"Let go of me," Bree growled. Her head pumped hard against the vampire behind her, creating a thump. It echoed in the lake as the water carried it further. Her gaze was full of terror.

"Carlisle, if it's not going to calm down, I will shred it to pieces and carry the pieces to our house," the southern-accented boy hissed. He appeared next to the pixie-looking vampire.

"Jasper Whitlock! What did we talk about tearing our sister apart? You are not doing it, and that’s final," the short-haired girl exclaimed. She stared dismayingly at the scary boy next to her.

He raised his eyebrows. "I'm just telling the most easiest way to move her." He stated nonchalantly. 

"Son, we are only hurting her if it's absolutely necessary. I'm sure we will find a better way to get her to cooperate with us," the leader scolded his coven member.

Bree was astounded. She had not expected the older-looking blond to call the boy his son. She stopped to ponder why, on earth, he would say so. They were just a coven, not a family. Only humans had the latter. It was not possible for vampires to form families. They were too violent to develop relationships like that. Her old coven had basically ripped itself apart, and there wouldn’t even have been a chance for them to call each other family. Everyone had stood up only for themselves, and those who had not were usually dead in a matter of hours.

"With due respect, Carlisle, your way does not seem to be working very well," the southern-accented vampire said. "Maybe it's time to consider mine before our time runs out."

The leader sighed, looking suddenly tired. "It will work. You need to have faith, Jasper."

Bree started getting frustrated. The vampires were talking about her, like she wasn’t right next to them. They had to know she was able to hear everything they were saying. The situation maddened her, pushing a growl from deep within her lungs. It trembled her body, shaking it vigorously.

Her growl made all three sets of eyes redirect back towards her, their varying reactions flashing in their irises. The raven-haired girl looked at her quietly. She didn’t seem fazed by her sudden, animalistic sound. It almost seemed like she had expected it. The scarred boy next to her showed his teeth warningly at her, telling her that he was not going to hesitate to hurt her if she were to do anything brash. It made the girl hunch harder against her capturer, the leader of the coven.

He watched her curiously, with a hint of pity playing in his eyes. "Let's get you back to the shore."

"No," Bree protested. She tried hitting the man with her free elbow.

"Stop resisting. This is your last warning," the southern boy warned as he stopped her hand from colliding with the man behind her.

The wind picked up, throwing their wet hairs around like a baseball. The three vampires dragged her along, leaving the teen no other chance than to obey their wishes. She felt like a ragdoll. Regardless, she tried to figure out ways to get out of their grip. Maybe if she could-.

"It's not going to work. You are just going to waste your time." The raven-haired girl chimed as they swam. Her gaze turned towards Bree meaningfully. "You won't be able to escape from us again."

Terror flared in the newborn. This was it. She was going to die. Her life had finally come to its end. She hoped Diego would welcome her wherever she went in the afterlife. Perhaps she could see her mother again, hug her, and tell her how she wished she could have grown up under her care instead of her father's. There was also the possibility of her just stopping to exist. It was also a plausible theory of what might happen after death. A tad bit scarier, but logical. Everything would simply stop, like she would have never even been conscious in the first place.

She felt herself calm down. Whichever option the humans believed was true, she would be fine. None of them seemed bad except the rebirth. She didn’t want to wake up as a worm. Her panic hopped back into her. She definitely didn’t want to be the unsettling creature.

"Alice, go get Esme, Emmett, and Rose. We will need their help holding Bree down," the southern vampire instructed. His voice woke the young girl from her abyss. She looked frantically at the yellow eyes that had carried her to the small shore. It hardly had any sand and was instead caked in dirt.

The pixie in question nodded and disappeared in a flash.

"Bree, you don’t need to be frightened." The leader frowned as she tried yet again to break free. "We only want to help you."

"Let me go," the teenager pleaded. She hoped to change the coven's mind about killing her.

"I'm sorry, but we cannot do that. I understand that you would rather leave, but that would pose a danger to humans and vampires alike." The blond vampire answered back. His arms were steady around her, preventing her from moving.

The wind carried new scents into the air as multiple sounds of footsteps appeared from a distance. They tapped on the ground, nearing the trio's location. The sounds made the already terror-ridden girl more nervous. Even her dark hair tried to escape from her waiting fate as the wind urged it to fly. She needed to say her goodbyes to the earth in her mind. She wanted to thank it for getting to live in it. It had been terrible but, in some ways, a pleasant experience.

"Aww man! You managed to fish the newborn before me?! I was planning on making bait for my fishing rod!" The hulk-like boy's voice boomed loudly as his form appeared from a distance. He stopped in front of Bree, looking crestfallen.

The southern boy raised his eyebrows in answer, rolling his amber eyes. "Good thing that we caught Bree before you then."

"You don't need to be so grumpy. I know you would have wanted to try fishing her! Just admit it, man!"

"I doubt I would have," the scarred vampire said, unimpressed by his coven member's idea.

Bree eyed the two anxiously. She kept her mouth shut, not wanting to divert their attention to her. She was more than happy to stay silent in the leader's arms as long as no one paid attention to her. It wasn’t even that bad when she thought about it. She felt oddly safe.

"Hey kid, you would have at least wanted to get fished with a fishing rod, right?" the muscular boy asked. He looked at her with a playful look, undoubtedly trying to make her more relaxed. It did not, however, work. The vampire's words made her feel more on edge. How could he talk so casually to her when his coven was going to kill her?

She growled.

"Wow, feisty!" the boy stated. His dimples popped on his face as he laughed, seeming entertained by her reaction.

"Emmett!" A blond girl hissed. She had appeared along with the pixie and the caramel-haired vampire. They all stood still, looking curiously at Bree.

"I was just trying to lift the serious atmosphere," the boy defended himself. His pale palms flew to the air in defeat as he tried smiling at the blond.

The girl didn't look particularly happy. She opened her mouth in dismay. "Leave Bree alone. She is clearly scared, and you are certainly not helping her mood."

Bree looked at the two vampires. Her eyes jumped tensely between their faces, trying to figure out why the other one would have bothered to defend her. An uncomfortable burn flooded her as she felt her throat remind her of its existence. It roared inside of her, demanding something to satisfy its never-ending thirst. Her hand hit her throat, trying to squish the fire away. It was unsuccessful, only inviting a whimper out of it.

"Perhaps we should go hunting before going back to the house," the leader suggested. It caused the young teen's body to feel calmer. She would get to drink from a human before dying. She was grateful for the opportunity to quench her thirst for the last time.

Chapter Text

"Bree, will you behave if we let go of you?" The leader asked, his amber eyes pleading for an answer.

The teen was silent. She had struggled against the yellow-eyed coven's hold, refusing to move the whole way to the spot in the forest she had been dragged to. Her posture was now still, unmoving like a statue as her dark eyes evaded the vampires' gazes. She was too afraid to look into their eyes. She didn’t want to see them looking at her like she was a wild animal. It was partially true, but she did not like being compared to creatures living in the forest.

"Bree?" the man asked again. He stood patiently in his place, refusing to let her be silent. "Do we need to hunt for you, or can you do it on your own?"

The coven had explained to her how they only drank animal blood and how they wanted to blend in with the humans, living alongside the stupid creatures. The girl did not understand why they would want to do so. It was a dumb idea to try to interact with the mammals. Vampires were supposed to feed from them, kill them. They were their prey, specifically designed for the immortals to feast on. Their whole existence revolved around being a food supply for vampires. Their slushy soft bodies were so easily crushed by the immortal's strength, snapping like twigs in half. It was ridiculously easy to give them death, so they were clearly not meant to survive. None of them were nice, either. Bree had struggled as one of them, and no one had realised it. They didn’t deserve to live happy lives when they didn’t help her.

"I still think we should kill it. It's creating too much trouble for us, Carlisle. We don't have time for this. I'm sure the Volturi would be more pleased with us if the newborn were a pile of ash," the southern vampire interjected, his stance looking impatient. The scars on his skin glistened like tiny stars as he looked irritated.

"Nonsense! We are not going to do such a thing," one of the females answered. Disapproval shimmered on her face as her caramel-coloured hair played in the small wind. She looked at the leader, concerned, and then towards the young girl standing next to him.

The blond leader opened his mouth, seeming tired. "I dislike going over the same conversation multiple times, Jasper. Even my patience is not going to last forever. I know you are not happy about our decision to keep Bree alive. If you want to go back to the house, you can do so; no one is stopping you. You are not required to guard her if you don’t want to."

The southern vampire looked falteringly at Bree and the forest. His eyes were buzzing with thoughts. A sight escaped from his mouth. "I will stay."

The leader nodded, relaxing his stance. "Thank you."

Bree felt surprised. She was unsure if she could trust the coven's promise about not killing her. They could still be bluffing her, treating her like a clueless child. Hoping that she would fall for their trick. She needed to be smart and stay as silent as possible. It would ensure that her words were not used against her or be the reason she got killed. Maybe she could play along with their wishes for a while and see what would happen.

"I can go hunt something for the newborn," the hulk-like boy chimed in the conversation. He grinned excitedly, like a child getting ice cream.

"Don't take too long," the pixie next to the scarred boy warned. She didn’t look particularly happy about the boy's idea, frowning when saying the words.

"I can go with him and make sure everything goes smoothly." The blond angel-looking girl, who had stayed quiet for the most part, promised. Her chiding eyes turned towards the muscular man.

"Yes. Perhaps it's better that someone accompanies Emmett. It will keep him from…getting distracted," the leader agreed.

"Wow, thanks, pops. No one trusts me these days anymore! I don't understand why. I simply like to trifle with the animals a bit; give them some good time before they die, y'know," the boy smirked, throwing his hands dramatically into the air. "Only Bella and…Bree appreciate me anymore!"

The young teen perked up, staring completely off guard at the vampire's playful eyes. Before she was able to stop herself, her lips let out a surprised "What?" The sound startled everyone. She supposed they had not expected her to start talking. Even she herself wasn’t completely sure what had possessed her lips to let out the forbidden word. She had thought that she had agreed with herself to stay silent and keep her mouth shut, but apparently some part of her had not agreed.

"Man…I wasn't expecting her to talk. I almost thought she was mute!" The hulk-like boy exclaimed, seeming proud of himself. "You can thank me later for making her speak," he added, smiling snootily.

The air around the vampires had shifted to a more laid-back. Even the nature around them seemed to have let out a breath held too long in its lungs. The thick branches on the surrounding trees gravitated towards them, their brown, sticky fingers trying to reach the immortals.

Bree looked to her feet, feeling a rush of regret wash over her. She wanted to take her word back and pretend it hadn’t been said. She wanted to escape and run as far away from the other vampires as physically possible. However, she was stuck like glue against her capturers without any way to get rid of them.

“This is your last chance to hunt by yourself,” the blond leader said, strengthening his hold on her shoulders. She winced, afraid to say anything after her last word. She liked being the silent, almost mute girl. When she was, she ended up looking more invisible. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why, in her human life, no one had noticed her abuse, and instead she was left to suffer at the hands of her own father.

“I- ” Bree tried to mumble. She was too conscious of the eyes following her face closely. They waited for her answer patiently. Where had all of her temper gone? It felt like her body had been stripped of it, leaving her with only crumbs of the once-powerful emotions. Her instinct to growl and hiss had disappeared with the strong emotions, making her feel even more horrible. She wanted to appear more dangerous to the coven looking at her but could not muster enough of her power to do so.

“I want to hunt,” she managed to say through her lips. Her pale face turned towards her capturers, facing them like a lion. She didn’t want to be fed like a baby. She was not a child who needed help getting fed. She was perfectly capable of hunting by herself. Or was she? She had never hunted animals before. What if they were harder to hunt than humans? No, they couldn’t be. They were dumber than the other mammals, which was an accomplishment in and of itself. Human brains were so idiotic.

The young teen's eyes darted towards the forest as she tried to wonder how she was supposed to hunt.

"Close your eyes. It will help you detect an animal," the leader instructed. His hands let go of her shoulders, prepared to attack them again if needed.

Bree let her eyelids close. They turned her sight black, blocking everything around her. She smelled the air, wishing to find a scent she liked enough to pursue. She didn’t know how to find it but hoped that her instinct would be able to step in by the time she smelled the animal. Her eyes snapped open as her attention got fixed on an odd smell. It wasn’t delicious, but not exactly bad either. The sounds of hooves clicked on a hard surface, luring her closer to it.

She ran, hearing distant steps behind her. They kept up with her, refusing to leave her alone even for a second. She didn’t blame the coven for following her. They didn’t trust her yet, just as she did not trust them.

Her mind got hazy the closer the smell came, her face unable to look away from the direction of the animal. Its heart pounded undisturbed by the dangerous predator heading its way, waited for its fate eagerly, not seeming to care that the newborn was approaching. She breezed through the forest, feeling the wind whisper to her keen ears. It gave her more of the strange scent, making her run faster. Her steps thumped on the ground steadily, becoming increasingly restless the closer the animal came.

She could see it now. The deer stood on a stone, its attentive ears able to detect something was off. It turned to look at the vampire, eyes dilating from terror. Before the animal was able to do anything else, the girl jumped towards it. It stumbled to the ground as Bree's teeth pierced through its neck. Her mouth sucked the blood from it hungrily. She finally got more of the red substance she had craved. The deer did not taste as good as the humans she had fed from.

The blood stopped flooding into her mouth without a warning, leaving her wanting more. She pulled away from the dead creature, withholding a gag. She didn’t want to show disgust on her face; instead, she kept it neutral.

"You will get used to it," a voice said behind her. She turned around to see the southern vampire. Jasper's body towered over her, frozen, ready to seize her.

Next to him, the hulk-like boy stared at her curiously. His name was Emmett, if she had heard right. She should probably start referring to the yellow eyes by their names. She knew some of them, but it felt wrong to do so before they had properly introduced themselves.

"I doubt so," the teen retorted, deciding to answer. Her voice sounded a bit hoarse. The blood's taste lingered in her mouth, its odd flavour making her hope it would disperse. She didn’t believe the boy's words. How could he know she would get used to the taste? It was very possible she would forever suffer while having to feed.

"Trust me, you will. It might take a while, but it will happen," Jasper said, his body stiffening. He looked at her expectantly "Let's go back to the others."

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Bree didn’t remember much of the house she had lived in as a human. Her muddy memory showed a small house. It had been filthy and unclean from how it was hardly ever cleaned. A strong odour of alcohol had stung in the air. She had slept in a small room next to her father's room. The room had only space for a bed and a nightstand, causing her to feel a bit claustrophobic. The dust had always gathered around her until she was forced to be brave enough to ask her father for cleaning supplies. They were located in his room, where she was not allowed to go.

Now, she watched the huge contemporary house in front of her, eyes wide from astound. The coven's house rose gracefully in the middle of the forest, keeping nature off its plot. She was speechless from the building. She had expected to see a small shack overrun by plants, but instead was faced with a house bigger than her human one. How had the coven managed to pull a house like this out? Had they stolen it and killed its previous owners? Perhaps they had acquired it in some other shady way? There were millions of possibilities for how the house could have ended up for the yellow-eyes.

"We can try out some outfits and…" the pixie babbled next to the young teen. She had walked along with her, sticking to her side like a cockroach. Unable to stop herself, Bree gave a glare at the vampire. She was dumbfounded at how the raven-haired girl was walking so confidently and uncaringly next to her, whereas the scarred boy had towered over her threateningly the whole way, refusing to leave her side. It made the newborn nervous. She did not like the southern boy. He radiated danger, his scars emanating from their vicious history.

"We should let Bree settle in first," the caramel-haired woman said. The warmth in her voice radiated towards the girl, making her feel welcome. She still did not, however, trust the sudden friendliness of the coven. She needed to keep an eye on them.

"Fine! But after that, she needs to come to my room. I haven't had someone to dress up in a while! Bella is too stubborn to be my doll," the raven-haired vampire sighed, seeming frustrated. Bree wouldn’t have been surprised if the pixie had attacked her and taken her away, whisking her to be a doll.

The teen was not happy about the sinister idea. She didn’t want to be treated like a toy and be a Barbie.

"How about we clean and dress you? I'm sure you will be more than happy to get all those dirty clothes off of you," the caramel-coloured-haired woman said again. She smiled at Bree.

The girl stopped in her tracks, looking frightened at the vampire. "I really like my clothes."

"Perhaps we can buy a similar outfit for you then? Your current clothes are quite…torn and bloody. It would be shameful to force you to wear them any longer," the woman frowned.

They stood on the front porch of the house. A grey stone floor beneath them shone dully, trying its best to grab attention for itself.

Bree looked at her sneakers, too tense to look back at the vampire speaking to her. She hoped she could just be alone. She didn’t need to change her clothes or wash herself. Her marble-like skin made sure the dirt didn’t stick to her skin easily. She was fine.

"I don't want to change my clothes or wash myself," she stated, continuing to look shyly towards the stones beneath her legs.

"Don't be ridiculous! Of course you do," the pixie interjected. Her face was confronted with disgust as her eyes widened.

The newborn took a step back. She felt a growl ignite inside her lungs. It rumbled out of the useless organ, making her tremble like a twig. Her back got glued against one of her captors, the blond leader, as she was pulled backward.

"Alice!" the caramel-haired woman warned. She spun her body towards Bree, looking at her worriedly. "I'm very sorry about my daughter. She is sometimes a bit pushy."

Bree looked suspiciously towards the two, feeling again like she was in danger. Her instincts had once again taken her body as hostage, refusing to let her go. They puppeted her like a puppet master, pulling from her unsuspecting strings.

"It's a crime how horrible Bree looks. I can't let her look that way any longer. She needs a proper makeover," the pixie exclaimed back at her supposed mother.

The teen stared at her, her panicked crimson eyes giving silent stabs towards the short vampire. She didn’t care anymore if she came off as an uncontrolled beast. She couldn't let her yellow-eyed capturers decide for her. They didn’t even know her and still insisted that they knew what she wanted.

The caramel-haired vampire opened the door to the huge house. "Give her some time, Alice. She is still frightened. I'm sure she will eventually agree to get cleaned up," she pointed out, stepping inside the doorway. She turned invitingly back towards the others, waiting for them to move.

The hands holding the newborn tightened for a few seconds before they let go of her. "Let’s go inside. We can discuss this deeper in my office and introduce ourselves properly." The blond leader's voice decided behind her.

Bree's gaze went up to him, looking at the man nervously. She squinted her eyes uncertainly, not sure when to take a step towards the door.

"You heard him. Move," the scarred boy stated strictly. He pushed the girl, causing her to take multiple steps forward so she would not fall to the cold stone floor. Her sneaker clicked against the stone as she moved her legs slowly, working to steady herself before crashing down.

"That was not needed. She would have come on her own," the caramel-haired woman scolded the southern boy.

The house the young teen had been burst into was as modern-looking as its outside form. It was plastered with large windows. They sat majestically on the painted white walls, bringing light to the already white home. The furniture followed the same look as the cover of the house. It had been decorated with contemporary furniture.

Bree was led to suspicious-looking stairs, or rather, planks flying in the air. The only thing keeping them from jumbling to the floor were the walls and the iron poles beneath some of them. The planks curled to form a circle of stairs, not helping her nervousness. She had never seen such odd stairs before. Her heart would have flapped like a rabid bird if she were a human. The sight was straight out of a TV show. It was the only place she remembered seeing the suspicious stairs.

She crawled up the scary planks, praying they wouldn’t fall. She imagined she looked completely ridiculous climbing them up like a monkey, but she was too scared to walk them normally. Someone behind her started to laugh. The sound rang in the house, bouncing off the walls. It annoyed the girl, making her hiss. Her suffering wasn’t something to be laughed at.

The laugh stopped as a thump cracked. It was short-lived, but it gave the newborn satisfaction. She was almost positive the sound had come from someone hitting another person. Or at least that's what she told herself to calm her mind down. She didn’t want to growl or hiss again.

The newborn arrived at the office. Its door creaked as it closed behind her, sealing her in her new prison. She would be stuck here for a while. She could see it in the blond leader's eyes. He wasn’t going to let her leave before getting the information he wanted. The vampire still seemed too unsure of her, not trusting to let her go. "I'm sorry about the door. I have been meaning to put some oil on its hinges," he said, breaking the silence.

Bree darted her restless gaze around the room, trying to gauge the space. She wanted to make sure she knew where the closest exit was if she were to try to escape. She could go through the glass. It seemed like the most reasonable exit out of the room. The walls wouldn’t most likely appreciate her bursting through them.

The leader sat down on a black leather chair. "My name is Carlisle Cullen, and these are my sons, Jasper and Emmett. Although I suspect you have already heard their names before," the man smiled, pointing at his two coven members positioned on both sides of the girl.

The words made her flinch. How did he know she had heard their names before? Could he, too, read minds? Riley had warned her about the yellow eyes. According to him, they all had gifts and were dangerous. He had only mentioned the copper-haired boy having mind-reading abilities, but perhaps he had forgotten to mention the leader. She needed to keep herself on guard for any dangerous movements.

When the teen didn’t answer, the leader shifted his gaze to the scarred boy questioningly, like asking for something wordlessly. It creeped Bree out, shoving her over the edge. She backed down, feeling a growl starting to form in her lungs. Her spine touched the wooden door, keeping her from escaping from the unsafe space.

"Bree, you're safe. We won't hurt you," Carlisle stated, standing up, his body leaning towards her behind the desk. Emmett and Jasper had turned towards her too. They loomed over her, ready to seize the scared girl.

She had heard the line multiple times now, still not believing even a single word in the sentence. She knew they could break the promise at any minute. The clock was ticking against her, plunging the coven towards her. It urged them to attack her and finish her off. She knew they wanted to get rid of her. They had no reason to help her. She was a huge nuisance to them. The southern-accented vampire had already revealed what the coven actually wanted. He had listened to his leader's request to not attack her, knowing they would do it later.

"Please," the leader continued, "we have a lot to discuss."

Chapter Text

"Now that we have discussed your living situation, we can move on to the Volturi," Carlisle said. He had discreetly forced Bree to share information about herself. She felt like she had no choice but to reveal some to the man, as he had done so, placing her in an uncomfortable position of sharing her personal information.

She had tried her best to say as little as possible, hoping the vampire before her wouldn’t press for more. It had partially succeeded. The girl had told him her full name and more about Riley, like he had requested. After that, the leader had asked her to stay with the coven, explaining how everyone involved would benefit from it to the fullest degree. They had come to an agreement where the newborn would be let go as soon as her newborn year was over and she could control herself better. She had decided to take the offer, suspecting it was her only chance to eventually get away from the dangerous coven. The other option would have cost her life or imprisoned her fully to the house she was in.

"Bree?" Carlisle said, his amber eyes glued to her.

"Yeah," the young teen answered. Her body twitched under his gaze. She didn’t like when people stared at her. It made her feel vulnerable.

"We need to discuss what happened with the Volturi after you escaped." Worry stretched over the blond leader's face, overtaking his calm demeanour. "They feel quite humiliated for letting a newborn escape from their grasp. I fret about what they ought to do."

Bree looked down on her feet. She felt her nervousness spike. It raced inside of her against the odd, growing calmness, trying to defeat it.

"The volturi are not easily forgiving. You broke the law in their eyes, even if you did not know any better. They want to punish you and kill you for your crimes. However, I feel Aro will take an interest in your power," he continued silently. “It will be beneficial for you. He might want to chat with you and see if you want to join his coven."

"H-his coven?" Bree's eyes widened. She lifted her head, feeling uneasiness slither into her body, wrapping itself against her heart. She certainly did not want to join any coven, no matter how desperately she wanted to live.

"He won't, of course, force you to join, but I doubt he will let you away easily. Your power is quite interesting. I have never seen something like it in my time of being alive, and I doubt Aro has seen either." Carlisle sighed, moving his fingers against each other. His elbows touched the table, holding his hands up in the air. "I fear he will bring Chelsea when the time comes for the Volturi guards to arrive back here."

"Back here?" the young teen repeated, her body tightening from the words. She felt a surge of terror once again splash inside her marble-like body. The emotion was way too familiar to her now. She hoped to be able to throw it away and forbid it to ever torment her again. She was so sick of it.

"The Volturi guards left us with the promise of their return. We were demanded to catch you and imprison you before they would come back in two weeks," Carlisle explained.

Cold shudders went over the girl. She was going to die, after all.

The blond man looked at Bree. "We don't want to lock you into the house, so I hope you will still willingly stay here like we already discussed earlier. If the Volturi spares you, we will continue with our agreement and let you go when you stop being a newborn." Waiting for her response, he pursed his lips together.

"I don't want to die,'' Bree retorted. She instinctively tried to back down, but realised she was sitting on a chair.

"I know. I wish things could go differently, but we cannot defy the Volturi. It would end badly for our family," Carlisle said. His eyes stared apologetically at her. "But there is still hope; they might let you live."

The teen flipped through her mind, trying to find a way to convince the man to help her. She liked to think of her mind as a book. It had its own table of contents and index, designed to make searching for something even easier. She could always refer to one of them and try to locate the words she was looking for. Sadly, it did not help her much this time. She came up with absolutely nothing about a way to convince her capturer. Worry bordered her mind, stopping before entering it. It was almost like something was blocking it from emerging, leaving her to simply feel calm in the midst of her mind's frantic search.

The leader took her silence as acceptance, relaxing his sitting position. "Perhaps it's time to let you go. I'm sure you want to be alone for a while. Let your mind rest after everything that has happened so far." He stood up from the black leather chair he was sitting on, walking around the table closer to Bree. His shoes groaned as they came into contact with the wooden floor. "I'm sure my wife, Esme, has cleaned a room for you. She is coming down the stairs to show it to you."

The girl turned around to hear a silent creek as a door opened behind her. The office she had been sitting in for hours, finally letting her leave the room. She did not need to be told twice to leave. Her body shot up from her comfortable prison seat, starting to make its way to the woman standing hospitable on the door.

"I hope you have a pleasant stay here. You can come to me if you have any troubles." Carlisle's voice spoke behind her, filling her with an odd feeling. She didn’t know what to think of the words said to her. No one had ever voluntarily offered anything like that to her before. She had always made sure to solve her own problems; after all, she had been taught that it was selfish to push your own problems on others, and even more so if someone helped to solve them.

She decided not to trust the leader's words. He could be trying to trick her into opening up even more, which she couldn’t let happen. It was too dangerous. She was anxious from just playing with the idea in her head.

"Follow me, dear." Bree looked up to remember the caramel-haired woman. She was standing by the doorway in a flower-patterned dress. It moved gently from the teen's fast spurt of movement.

"I should come with you," the scarred boy said, stepping forward. He and the hulk-like man had stayed silent for the whole conversation, simply observing the newborn's movements. He had tensed his muscles every time she dared to even flicker her gaze at the windows.

"There is no need for that. I doubt Bree will do anything rash, right, dear?" Esme dropped her warm, amber eyes on the young teen.

Bree glanced around the room, feeling suddenly hyperaware of everyone's eyes on her. "I- '' her mouth opened, ready to assure she didn’t need any more babysitters, but was interrupted by a silvery voice.

"Absolutely not! She is going to take a bath and then try some outfits on. I don't want to hear from you before all of that is done, Jazz. I certainly hope you don’t want to pry on naked ladies." A tiny black-haired girl danced to the scenery, lifting her chin challengingly at the southern boy. "Bree will be fine. I can't see any problems rising."

The boy lifted his lips to a small smile. "I don't, ma'am. I'm satisfied with seeing only one undressed girl, if granted permission to see her." Jasper's words puzzled Bree. She didn’t understand what he was trying to imply. However, the pixie-like girl next to her seemed to giggle at the vampire's words, making her suspect that at least she knew what he was talking about.

"Jasper! We have a child in the room." Esme gasped, grabbing Bree protectively in her grasp. The sudden touch made the newborn tighten her muscles and withhold a small hiss, almost escaping from her lips. She wasn’t a child. She had just turned sixteen before turning into a vampire. That very least made her a teenager.

The boy glanced at Bree and then at the woman. "Sorry."

"We should go hunting later today." Alice smiled cheekily, forwarding her words to the southern-accented vampire. Her concentration switched to the young girl.

"Let's go! You need to be fixed," the pixie exclaimed, nudging her out of the door to freedom from the dreary office.

_____________
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A soft light illuminated the bathroom window as the young newborn was thrust into the room. It was mostly made from slippery pale tiles that reached from the floor to halfway up the walls. They looked like they were eating the poor walls, trying to climb up them like monsters in nightmares. Bree frowned. She hardly remembered what nightmares had felt like. She knew they were scary, but how badly was a mystery.

The door squeaked. “You can leave your clothes on the floor. I will pick them up when you're done bathing!” Alice chirped behind her.

The door closed, signalling that Bree was alone. She inspected the room suspiciously, scared that there was something that could cause her harm. Her sneakers smacked against the floor as small pieces of mud squished between the floor and the shoes. The lake episode had not washed her clothes fully from the brown substance. Some of the slimy material had caused staining on her clothes, refusing to let go. She was in awe at how it still stuck to her clothes after being underwater for so long. It almost creeped her out. It shouldn’t be possible for the mud stains to still manage to keep hold of her, but here she was, covered in the substance. At least the loose mud had fallen off.

The brown-haired girl started the process of taking her clothes off. She felt the fabric beneath her fingers break occasionally, making her cringe. The textile was fragile, feeling almost like cobwebs, strangled tightly on her skin, and hiding her marble-looking body. As the clothes finally fell to the ground, Bree stepped uncertainly into the slippery bathtub.

Its acrylic surface held the water in, cupping it so it wouldn’t turn the bathroom into a swimming pool. The clear liquid rose as her body collided with it. She sank slowly into the water, feeling its familiar caressing touch. Pain shot into her unbeating heart, spinning her mind away and back to her mother. She let her face form into a short smile, dreaming about the woman. It was ridiculous that the newborn still thought about her. There was no reason for her to be reminded of the stranger who had given birth to her. She couldn't even remember her mother. The teen shaked her head, determined to get the oddly comforting human out of her mind. She shouldn’t think about her. It wasn’t wise to dwell on someone who didn’t exist in her life anymore.

She started to scrub herself. All the filth and blood stuck on her body washed off, turning the water dark. The change in the liquid's colour made the girl feel uncomfortable. She jumped out of the bath, stepping onto a foot towel. It laid unsuspectingly on the ground, not knowing it was about to get wet from her feet. A pleasant feeling washed over her as her toes touched the cotton-like material. She purred happily, not expecting it to feel so soft. Her feet stood still, refusing to move from the white towel.

She fought the urge to close her crimson eyes adamantly, deciding to take the body towel hanging close to her. Her hands found it and wrapped it against her skin, gaining another purr from her chest. She sat down, cocooning herself inside the warm towel. Bree didn’t feel ready to leave the bathroom yet. She wanted to stay in the comfortable towel. Letting her eyes finally close, she let out a sight. All the negative emotions had disappeared from her in the bath, just as all the dirt had. She felt cleansed and peaceful.

The door opened with a short creak. It dragged the girl back to the edge, shooting her up, alarmed. Her frantic eyes found their way to the pixie standing in the doorway. The raven-haired girl smiled at her, excitedly holding a set of clothes in her arms. "I got you some clothes from my wardrobe. They were supposed to be for Bella when she starts understanding fashion, but she is the most closest to your size, so I decided to give them to you instead."

The young teen narrowed her eyes. The pinkish mammal was mentioned again. She seemed to be very important to the Cullens, especially to the mind reader and the pixie. Perhaps the plain-looking human was a mate of one of them. It would explain everything that had happened in the clearing a few days before.

Bree took the clothes cautiously, ready to bolt backwards if the exchange went south. Her body's muscles tightened from danger as Alice frowned. The older vampire gave her a surrendering smile and picked up her tattered clothes from the tile floor before closing the door once again as she retreated out of the bathroom.

The newborn stood still a bit longer, making sure that the steps of the raven-haired girl were truly further, before letting the white towel around her drop down. She glanced at the clothes, seeing a royal blue sweater and black jeans. They were accompanied by black underwear and boots. The clothing set was frighteningly expensive-looking. It made her almost drop them on the pale tiles. How was she meant to take these? She was afraid to even touch them. She could shred them to pieces by accident.

Her shaking hands placed them on the floor, and took the underwear from the top of the pile. She inspected them until she gathered enough confidence to put them on. The rest of the clothes found their way onto her too after agonising pondering.

The young teen left the bathroom with careful steps. Her light feet took her to the bedroom, where the bathroom belonged. The room was huge and decorated with purplish and grey tones. An unnecessary bed was placed against one of the walls, pleading for it to be used. Noise from the hallway made her crouch in anticipation. Esme halted in the room and stopped in front of her. The caramel-haired woman's cautious amber eyes looked attentively at her as another pair of footsteps followed her in. The leader, Carlisle, stepped inside the room, resting his hands on Esme's hips.

"Bree, would you like to come downstairs with us? Or would you prefer being alone a bit longer?" the man asked.

Bree took a step back, letting herself stand up. Her body tensed. "I want to stay here."

"Very well, as you wish. We will leave you alone for another hour then," Carlisle promised, trying to smile soothingly at the girl. It caused the newborn to crouch again, fearing he would try something. 

"This is going to be your room during your stay here. We use it normally as a guest room," Esme explained from her place. She seemed reluctant to leave when the leader tried to nudge her towards the door. "We are more than happy to entertain you. If you wish, I can go get you books."

"No thanks." The teen shaked her head. She gulped when the woman continued standing still. She wanted to be alone and was more than capable of figuring out something fun to do for herself.

Carlisle whispered in the caramel-haired woman's ear, leaving the third vampire curious about what the words being said were. She wondered, were they talking about her?

A TV got turned on downstairs, stealing her attention. Her head tilted towards the noise. "The Seattle murders have ceased. The city officials are relieved by the turn of events. They are still in the process of figuring out the murderer and want to remind everyone to stay away from suspicious people, even if the murders have stopped for now. You can…" the voice stated. Bree let her concentration hover back to the room she was in, only for it to get stolen back to the black screen’s voice once and for all.

Her body fled past the two surprised yellow-eyed vampires and found herself downstairs. She slipped into the room where the TV's voice was coming from. Quick footsteps followed her. She did not pay much attention to them and instead concentrated her crimson eyes on the screen. "Police have arrested George Tanner for two murders. He is suspected of having killed his own wife twelve years ago. The officers found her bones in the suspect's backyard as they had come to take a report on Tanner's missing daughter. All the clues for now are pointing at the daughter's demise, but the police are hoping to find her body to confirm the suspicion. The officers are searching for it restlessly."

The newborn's face stared horrified at the TV when her father's face got plastered on it. She felt sick in her stomach, like someone would have made her eat spoilt food. He had killed her mother. All the nights she had cried from not having a mother next to her, occasionally cursing her birther for leaving. After all this time, it had been her father all along who had made her grow motherless. He had killed her. It wasn’t as big a surprise as the girl had thought. Her heart wretched. It wasn’t far-fetched to think he could do something so horrible and heartless.

Her legs failed to hold her body up, making it collide with the floor. The impact dislodged two miniscule pieces from the floor, forcing them to fly into the air momentarily. The teen laid shaking on its wooden surface, her eyes desperately hoping to be able to shed tears as she started crying.

Why was she so upset? She had not known her mother or spent much time with her. Her body's reaction didn’t make sense. She was crying about a stranger's death. Or perhaps it was her father who had made her cry. Maybe Bree still missed him somewhere deep down. Very deep down. Her heart wretched painfully again. Its dead surface felt like it was being impaled by an arrow.

The pain weakened as the object's feathers dulled some of the emotions inside of her. Their fluffy textures caressed her back, hugging her from behind and lulling her like a baby.

A soothing voice rose to her ears. It hummed calmly behind her, soothing her like a mother would a child. She weeped, feeling more miserable than before. She had never experienced a mother’s love. It would never be in her reach—withhold from her forever. What had she done to not get loved? Was she so undeserving of love that even the emotion almost everyone had felt coming from their mothers refused to let her feel itself? Could she be worse than criminals? Bree closed her eyes. She had to be. She had killed very many humans. But to her account, they were dumb creatures. Some of the mammals even fell ridiculously often to the ground. Didn’t they have proper balance? A hint of annoyance sparked in her body as she made another weep.

A familiar smell hovered around her, confusing the girl. It was sweet, bringing honey, lilacs, and cinnamon to the air. Spattering them around the teen like petals. With the smell, strange blankets took hold of her from both sides. They pressed her with their soft but firm touch, hugging her from behind. She wanted to cuddle closer but withheld her wish. She didn’t know where the blankets had come from. They could be a trap.

"Bree, dear," a soft voice called for her. She didn’t know where it came from. Everything around her felt dimmer and bigger. It was almost like the world was expanding from her sadness in an effort to not get broken by her emotions.

The blankets around her became harder, gripping her away from the floor. They thrust her into a new blanket that was placed against her head. The tree fabrics closed around her, making her wince. She was scared they would shallow her as a whole. But would it be such a bad thing if it happened? They were soft and felt nice against her skin, so being inside of them couldn't be that horrible. She could live inside of them, pretending that the outside world didn’t exist. It could be like she didn’t exist.

The young teen let out a cry. She hoped to be able to shed tears. They were one of the only things she missed from her human life. Their healing power had always made her feel better, but now that they had abandoned her, she was left alone to grieve. To drown in her sadness.

The soothing voice was now closer. Bree felt it vibrating gently on the blanket against her head. How was it able to do so? Its strange syllables danced on her ears gleefully, ready to enter her ears. "Bree," it whispered once again.

The newborn cuddled against the blanket, feeling herself suddenly serene. The feeling had creeped on her when she had not expected it. She was mad at it for disturbing her wallowing. Her eyes opened on their own accord, facing the world again. She was curled up in Esme's arms. The woman soothed her, stroking her hair worriedly. "It's alright, dear. You're okay now."

Chapter Text

The moonlight shone inside Bree's new room through its huge windows. She sat away in the shadows, hugging herself tightly. The girl had been in Esme's embrace until she had stopped weeping. She had rushed to the third floor and closed her room's door, too embarrassed from showing weakness to the yellow eyes. They had to think she was weak, unable to handle anything sad.

As time went on, the shadows grew shorter and more pronounced. Their soft edges turned to look like lines, cutting the room like scissors. The teen sat still, looking at the first rays of sunshine that broke through the forest. She lowered her cheeks to her knees, feeling the fabric of the jeans touch her skin. Her senses were strictly on the other vampires inside the house. She didn’t want them to surprise her and barge into her room.

The TV had been turned off. The only sound the electronic device made was low static noise. All electronics made it. It was frustrating. How were humans able to handle the annoying noise coming from them? Didn’t they go crazy because of the constant hum? Or were their senses so dull that they didn’t hear the sound? The newborn squished her eyes, trying to remember what it had been like to have human senses. The only thing she was able to recall was a dim memory of her listening to a radio. She didn’t remember the song but could remember a couple beats coming from the old machine. They were silent—almost whispers—and not recognisable enough to warrant a memory of the song. The human hearing, according to her memory, seemed quite bad. No wonder the mammals didn’t notice the annoying sounds. They were practically deaf.

The newborn stood up, deciding she had moped enough. It was time for her to leave the safety of her room before someone came to check up on her. She was sure it would happen soon otherwise, and she did not need the pitying eyes of the Cullens. She was perfectly fine. Her mood swing was gone. No one could even suspect how sad she had felt a while ago. Only proof of it was in her and the yellow-eyes minds, lurking her and reminding her of her weak moment.

Bree moved silently towards the bedroom’s door. It became closer, daunting her like a child. Her stomach jolted. Maybe she was still not ready to leave. Her body turned back towards the corner she had sat in. It definitely wouldn’t hurt to stay in her room a bit longer. The girl’s lip corners lifted. They formed a gentle smile on her face. Yes, it was a better idea to stay here, safe from the other vampires lurking in the house.

Her eyes turned curiously to their new destination. She had not noticed the silver-framed mirror sitting close to the bathroom door. It looked hidden, like someone would have deliberately moved it out of sight. Had it been in the room before? The teen frowned. She dipped into her mind, trying to search for signs of the shiny object in her brain. Her memories repeated all her movements in the luxurious bedroom. She had not seen it.

She walked up to it, tilting her head curiously. It had been a while since she had seen herself, perhaps around a month. Her eyes studied her reflection. She looked so different from when she had seen herself the last time. Her appearance was more…clean and less homeless-looking. Her expensive clothes lifted her appearance; she looked like the daughter of a rich person. Or at least that’s what she thought. She wasn’t used to looking so...rich. She and her father had been poor. Sometimes she had worn the same clothes for days before finally being able to change them.

The sixteen-year-old girl narrowed her crimson eyes. Her reflection abided by her wish and made the same movement. She turned to face away from it. It was too strange for her to look at herself. Her appearance was so different from what she was used to.

It was an ironic thought. Vampires were supposed to stay the same-looking for all of their eternity, but somehow the change of clothes had made her appearance change. She didn’t look like herself anymore. Where were her dirty, blood-stained clothes? Her messy hair? It felt like they had been stolen from her, deprived of her. The person in the reflection was not her. She was her…alternative…version.

Footsteps from the hallway outside her room woke her from her mind. They came closer, alarming Bree further. She walked silently further away from the door, feeling anxiety strike her. She didn’t want to be close to the door when it opened, just in case.

She didn’t want to be murdered. The Cullens could have decided to send someone to kill her. What if they had realised how weak she was and did not want to keep her in their house anymore? Maybe they thought it was her time to leave the earth now. Or perhaps they were going to torture her before murdering her.

The newborn snarled as the door opened. It was the scarred boy. He walked inside the room, looking unimpressed by her animalistic noise. He raised one of his eyebrows disapprovingly.

Did Jasper think he was better than her? The teen hissed at the boy’s cocky attitude.

A calm feeling crept inside the brown-haired girl. It slithered inside her like a snake, leaving her struggling against its grip. She did not want the boy to finger her emotions. They were hers, not his. He had no right to touch them.

“Stop it!” She growled. She was still in alert mode, not trusting the vampire’s sudden appearance in her room.

“You need to calm down, Bree. Your tantrum won’t benefit anyone.” Jasper answered. He looked at the girl with a stoic expression. “I can feel your paranoia all the way downstairs. It disturbs me. You have to stop being stupid and handle your issues if you want me to leave you alone."

Bree glared at the honey-blond-haired boy. She did not like him. He emanated danger from his whole being. Everything in him screamed it. His skin looked so scarred that it was terrifying to even look at. The silver crescents tattooed on him told her that he had been in many fights, which he had survived. The military-like stances he took hint at how he was brought up in a strict environment. She did not understand why the rest of his coven was able to be around him. Weren’t they scared of him? Or had they been participants in the same things he had been in. It was clear the other yellow-eyes had not fought as much. The rest of the Cullens hardly had any scars, unlike their coven mate.

Jasper sighed as the girl stayed silent. He frowned, seeming to think about something. It made the newborn suddenly curious. The emotion attacked her, completely unexpected. She almost wanted to ask what he was thinking, but decided against her odd feeling.

New footsteps rang in the hallway. As they arrived closer, Emmett’s form came into view. "Hi, Bree Bee!" He grinned. His eyes focused on the girl excitedly from behind the scarred boy.

“Don’t give me nicknames,” the newborn said. Her gaze was strictly set on the two Cullens. She didn’t want to let go of her stare in case one of them moved. Why were the yellow eyes gathering at her door? Was there a reason for it, or did they just want to disturb her? Worry wretched in her stomach. Maybe they were truly going to kill her, like she had guessed.

"But you are just like them, like a fluffy little bee! You even sting like them!" the brown-haired boy stated playfully. He was clearly trying to get her to put her guard down, but she was not going to fall for his tricks. She would never do something so ridiculously stupid.

"I'm not fluffy!" Bree hissed as an answer. She narrowed her crimson eyes, wanting to feel angry, but couldn’t make herself because of Jasper’s influence. The southern boy was still messing with her emotions, much to her annoyance.

The teen knew for certain that she was not fluffy. How could Emmett even think she was? Was he blind? She didn’t have fur like other animals. Vampires and humans did not have coats, if hair and other body hairs didn’t count. Or did he mean she was fluffy from inside? No, that couldn’t be it. He hardly knew her. Dread tried to break the calm surface of her emotions. It fought against Jasper’s influence, like a rabid dog, until it gave up. She had cried in front of most of the Cullens. That had to be the reason why the muscular vampire had called her fluffy. He thought she was weak.

The girl growled, startling herself. Her animalistic noises were out of control, but when she thought about them, they were understandable. She was locked inside a house with possibly murderous vampires. If she did not die in their hands, her end would come when the Volturi arrived. In other words, she was going to die, no matter what happened.

“Jazz and I want to test your powers!” Emmett’s booming voice interrupted her.

The young newborn shook her thoughts from her head and returned her full focus to the two boys standing in her doorway. She wasn’t sure how to respond. She felt like the wisest choice would be to decline. She didn’t want the two to learn more about her powers. They already knew enough. But she couldn’t help but feel curious. She wanted to be able to control her power better. It could be beneficial to her if she agreed to test them with the boys.

“I guess we can test them.” Bree agreed silently. She had to be on higher alert now. Depending on whether they went outside or not, she could try to run away.

Jasper looked at her; his eyes narrowed, like he would have guessed her thought. “We will go right behind the house. If you even dare to try to run, I will dismember you.” The blond boy hissed. “Do you understand?” His eyes stared at her threateningly, feeling like they were full of needles.

The sixteen-year-old teen nodded as her body filled with fear. It bubbled inside of her, through the uncanny calmness still hovering in the depths of her body. It seemed like Jasper had finally let go of controlling her emotions. He must have chosen to scare her into submission, knowing that she would naturally feel fear from his words.

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Thick grey clouds blocked the sun as the trio walked outside, their heavy outlines in the sky predicting rain for today. Bree’s shoes crumbled against the short sand path. It led them to a huge backyard. She wasn’t surprised at its sheer size. The Cullen’s seemed to be quite rich. The grass had been shaved recently, making it look healthy and well cared for. Some roses and tulips grew on the sides of a shining river. They looked intentionally placed, leaving her wondering who had put them there.

Body stiff from anxiety, she looked back to the house. This had been a mistake. She wanted to go back inside. At least there, she could stay in a corner and look at her room’s door, guarding it from attackers. Out here, anyone could try hurting her. She was an easy target for anyone.

Horrifying thoughts slipped into her mind. What if Jasper and Emmett had brought her here to kill her? They were alone. All the other Cullen’s were still inside the house. The scarred boy had wished multiple times that she were dead. Bringing her here alone, under the guise of wanting to test her powers, surely meant he planned to murder her. Perhaps Emmett also wanted to get rid of her. The other vampire had not vocalised his opinion about her, but maybe he was hiding it for a reason.

She took a step back, away from the boys. Her eyes widened. She had to escape.

As she moved, Jasper’s warning snarl erupted into the air. His amber eyes locked to her, like an eagle’s. “This is your last and only warning, Bree. If you dare to move even an inch, you will find yourself in pieces.” He said strictly.

"Dude, you need to calm down! The newborn hasn’t even started running yet. She just took a step back, right, Bree?” Emmett glanced at the southern vampire, worried, and then settled his gaze on the girl. “You aren’t going to move.” The brown-haired boy said, looking at her meaningfully, almost commandingly. His face was serious.

His words made her legs freeze in place. She felt too frightened to move. Maybe she was ‘fluffy’ like Emmett had proposed earlier. She acted so immensely emotionally that she even wondered if she would break and fall to pieces on her own without anyone needing to dismember her. The newborn’s legs felt like they had turned into roots. They seemed to dig their way strongly into the ground, preventing her from moving. She wasn’t sure if they were able to realise the danger she was in and help her stay still. Or if instead they hoped she would die? How would she know if her legs worked against her? She hoped, from the bottom of her unbeaten heart, that they still cared for her. If her body parts would start retaliating against her, what was she supposed to do in a situation where she needed them? They were supposed to work together with her brain to help her function.

The air felt humid around Bree. It stuck to her skin uncomfortably, surrounding her like a fog. Her focus went to movement in her right eye’s corner. Her gaze recognised Alice. The pixie walked towards the trio, looking annoyed. “Jasper Whitlock!” she shouted. “What did I just see?! We have already talked about this! Multiple times in fact.”

The young teen turned her head, terrified at the raven-haired girl's appearance. She wanted to hide. All of her instincts were now telling her to get away from the situation. She didn’t want to be in the backyard anymore.

Jasper seemed embarrassed as he saw Alice’s fierce eyes. “I know you are aware of what I think about the newborn! She could have easily escaped. We cannot risk letting her go. Catching her was hard enough!”

“She won’t escape from us, Jazz.” Alice berated him. “I’ve seen it!”

“You do not see split-second decisions, Alice. If she had escaped, you wouldn’t have been able to see it early enough.” The southern vampire reasoned with the pixie. 

Emmett and Bree stood silently, gazing at them. Alice and Jasper continued talking heatedly for a few more minutes, turning the backyard into a place of tension. It hovered in the oxygen, filling the brown-haired girl’s lungs with it. She felt it almost inside of her. Or then it was her own emotions making her think that way. She was still on edge, worried that something would happen to her.

The wind picked up and started bothering the nearby tree branches. It travelled to her hair, scattering her strands all around her face. A familiar smell made her body turn in its direction. She felt a small smile form on her lips. That scent. She had not expected to smell it but was glad to recognise it.

Fred.

She hadn’t thought the boy would come to find her. He had made it clear that he would not search for her if she did not come to their meeting spot. She wondered what had made him change his mind. Maybe he had decided not to want to be alone and hoped Bree would still be alive. She brushed the idea out of her head. That was very unlikely. Fred loved to be alone. He wouldn’t come to her because of loneliness. There had to be another reason for his appearance.

The newborn saw Jasper’s demeanour stiffen. His eyes turned to look at the direction the scent had come from. The other two Cullen’s soon followed his gaze. “Alice, Emmett, stay here with Bree. I will go investigate who that scent belongs to," he ordered before bolting off towards Fred’s scent. The scarred vampire disappeared into the forest.

“C’mon dude!” Emmett shouted after him. The boy looked disappointed. His face dropped for a second before he turned to look at Bree and Alice. The pixie had walked closer to the younger girl without her noticing. The proximity of the yellow-eye scared the teen. She took a step away from her as her emotions whirled inside of her, warning her of the raven-haired vampire.

The muscular boy’s face suddenly lightened up, and a smile cracked on his face. “We can test your abilities without Jasper then. It’s his own fault for leaving when we were going to practice them.”

Bree gave him a bewildered gaze. Shouldn’t he be worried for his covenmate? He had left alone to chase Fred. She had thought the Cullens were more like a family than a coven. That should mean they would get worried for each other. Right? At least that's what she understood from the TV while watching it as a child. Families tended to care for each other. 

Well, most families did.

“So…are you still up to test them?” Emmett asked. He glanced at Alice questioningly, waiting for a response from her.

The young teen’s face changed into confusion. She couldn’t wrap her mind around why the boy would ask the question first from her and then look at his raven-haired covenmate, expecting an answer from the pixie. It was idiotic. Why ask the question from her if her answer wasn’t going to be the one listened to? And why did the hulk-like boy think Alice was going to know her answer?

“I guess.” The red eyed girl answered. She silently decided not to reveal that she had recognised Fred’s scent. She didn’t want to let the yellow-eyed coven know how she might be able to escape from their house in the future with the help of her former covenmate. She was sure he was going to help her. If she were to tip them off to knowing the vampire’s scent, she’d surely be locked inside and not let out before Fred would give up freeing her. Did he know she was being held captive? She would need to find a way to contact him and tell him about the mess she was in.

"Nice.” The muscular vampire grinned. He clapped his hands together, rubbing them against each other. “Let’s begin! How does your gift work?”

The newborn looked at her shoes. She wasn’t exactly sure how. It just happened. Her gift had activated on its own when she needed it the most. She squinted her eyes thoughtfully, still making sure to keep an eye on the two Cullens looking at her. “I think it might activate when I’m in danger.”

“Can you try activating it without that? What do you think and feel when you become invisible?” Alice asked. She smiled at the teen, seeming to try to calm her nerves down.

Bree didn’t appreciate the pixie’s attempt. She was rightfully careful and nervous around the yellow eyes. There was no reason for her to trust them. Sure, they had not killed her yet, but that did not mean they were trustworthy. She looked at the raven haired girl, opening her mouth. “I don’t know...I felt terrified every time my gift was activated.”

“Well, it might not be that great of an idea to make you terrified,” Alice sighed. She pressed her lips together.

“It would be very easy, though,” Emmett joked. He got a disapproving look from the amber eyed pixie. He shut his mouth but continued smiling. His gaze laughed.

The young girl held back her desire to snarl. Instead of making the noise, she pushed the urge deep inside of her. It wasn’t funny that she was on edge. She just wanted to feel relaxed, but it looked like that would not happen before Fred would hopefully help her escape.

The two other vampires tried to make her power work. They suggested different ways to activate it. Telling her about the gifts of their coven’s friends. Apparently, they had somehow acquired proper friends. She had understood that vampires really didn’t have real friends, only acquaintances, but the yellow-eyed coven had gotten many friends over the centuries. It was strange.

As the sun started to set, Jasper returned. They had spent almost the whole day working on Bree’s ability without much process, much to her dismay. She had hoped to gain better control over it. Learn how to activate it, at least. But nothing had happened. She still couldn’t do anything with it. Were gifts supposed to be so hard to control? Or was she just incapable of learning the use of it?

“Jazz?” Alice asked, worried. She danced to the scarred man, interrupting their practice.

Jasper took Alice’s hands gently and started balancing between looking at Emmett and the raven-haired girl. “I didn’t catch the vampire. They seemed to have some type of gift. Every time I got closer to them, I started feeling too repulsed to continue going in their direction. It was frustrating. If they come closer to our house, we might need to figure out a way to dodge their ability.”

Alice and Emmett nodded.

The newborn, listening to the boy’s words, felt relief. Fred was safe and sound. Her unexpected emotion made Jasper’s gaze turn to her and focus on her face. However, the boy did not say anything. His eyes burned her. She was almost able to sense his confusion. Her crimson eyes filled with nervousness yet again as she wished he wouldn't ask her anything. She needed to be careful around the southern vampire and try not to feel much emotion. It would be hard, even impossible, but she didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t figure out that she knew the vampire in Cullen's territory.

“What did you see?” the hulk-like boy’s voice said, taking the teen out of her thoughts. She focused her gaze, confused, at the trio standing still. Both Emmett and Jasper were looking at Alice. The girl’s eyes looked distant, like she would have been somewhere else.

The raven-haired vampire shaked her head lightly and then concentrated on the two boys. She side-eyed Bree quickly. “We shouldn’t talk about it in front of Bree.”

The words made shivers go down Bree’s back. What could the pixie have seen that she couldn’t hear about? She felt a rush of panic rise in her body as the worst-case scenarios played in her head. She glanced around, hoping to see what the vampire had seen, but the backyard looked normal.

Chapter Text

After what Alice had seen, the vampires in the backyard had rushed inside. Bree had been ushered to go to her room before she had even managed to step inside properly. It had made her anxiety rise more. She was scared, terrified even.

Her eyes scanned the room she was in, sure that she was in danger. What if the pixie had seen Fred? Were her hopes of getting rescued going to crumble to the ground? Her stomach felt heavy with worry. She needed to figure out what the other vampire had seen. She had to. If she wouldn't, she couldn’t do anything else except wish that everything was going to be okay.

The newborn closed her eyelids. Her ears were trying to listen keenly to the conversation taking place downstairs. She attempted to concentrate on it, focusing on the sounds of the yellow-eyes.

She wasn’t able to make out many words. They were mumbled, silent like insects had been when she was human. It caused frustration to build up in her body. She had to focus harder. Her body leaned forward as she decided to move right next to her door. Her ears pressed against the white wood.

The Cullens were speaking too silently. Clearly not wanting her to hear them. Their silent whispers rang in the house, luringly, wanting to attract curiosity towards them. They didn’t seem to want to be heard only by the immortals in the kitchen. They wanted her to listen to them and figure out the mysterious words that were being said.

The whispers became louder for a second, their pitches rising angrily. The sudden pitch change didn’t make the brown-haired girl any calmer. It seemed like the conversation was making the vampires in the kitchen tenser. Her body stiffened. Her curiosity rose every second. If the thing Alice saw had something to do with her, she should be in the conversation too. The yellow-eyes were not going to get any brownie points from her if they kept what was being said secret. She had a right to know what they were talking about.

Sure, she didn’t trust the Cullens, nor did she specifically like them, but it was still unfair that she didn’t get to hear what they were talking about. She wanted to know. No, she needed to know, for her own safety.

She almost let out a frustrated growl as the voices stopped abruptly. She wanted to kick the door open and run downstairs. She wanted to demand to know what the others had talked about. That was the least they could do after kidnapping her and forcing her to stay with them. She deserved to know, especially if it was about her.

Her irritation soon turned to fear as steps started to echo in the house. They were coming to her room. She needed to get away from the door. The emotion swirled inside of her. It's grip tight as a steal. The yellow-eyes couldn't know she had been eavesdropping on them. Eavesdropping quite badly, but still, she didn’t want them to know that.

She tensed. The steps were now closer to her room than before. She had wasted her time by thinking, while she should have run. She got ready to get caught, but the steps stopped on another door and went inside it.

Oh, that’s right, there were few other rooms in the hallway she was in. She felt a tiny bit of embarrassment flow through her. She was an idiot. Why had she thought the person coming to the third floor would have come to her room? It was a ridiculous thought.

Her throat protested as her head detached from the door’s surface. It flared painfully, reminding her how she had not yet taken care of it today, demanding that she would caress it with delicious blood. She had to go ask if one of the Cullens could take her to hunt. She was desperate to feed now that her throat had announced itself. It wouldn’t stop bothering her until it was satisfied.

Bree liked to think of it as her pet. She had to feed it frequently, or else it would be dissatisfied and hangry. It would attack her, scratch her skin until it got what it wanted. Maybe even climb to her head. She was truly convinced that her bloodlust had a mind of its own. It was too stealthy and too quick. She wondered what would happen to it if she didn't take care of it for a prolonged amount of time. Would it kill her? Or perhaps literally leave huge scratch marks on her skin. Maybe she would look like Jasper with her skin so badly covered in them. She shuddered. It would be horrible.

“Bree, sweetie.”

The teen’s frightened eyes flashed to Esme. The caramel-coloured-haired woman had come to her room’s door without her noticing. She was horrified by her own senses. Why hadn’t they picked up the other vampire? Had she been too deep in her own thoughts? Nevertheless, it was not a great thing to realise that your own senses had betrayed you. She could have been killed.

“Yes?” The young girl gulped. She stood up, moving herself further away from the Cullen matriarch. They were way too close to each other for her liking. It was dangerous to be so close to other vampires. She couldn't have forgiven herself if something bad had happened.

“Me and Carlisle wondered if you’d like going on a walk with us." The caramel-haired woman requested. Her voice was warm, like a hug. “We’d like to chat with you a bit. Get to know you."

The newborn looked at her suspiciously. “I don’t know if I want to.” Her mind didn’t like the idea of going alone in a forest with two of the Cullens, but then again, she had survived living with them for two days now.

“It would mean a lot to us. Please, Bree,” Esme said. Her gaze was focused on the brown-haired girl, not letting go of her.

“Fine.” Bree muttered. Her mood shifted to determination, a feeling she hadn’t really felt yet when living with the Cullens. She could attempt to figure out what the yellow eyes had been talking about downstairs. Going to the forest could also be the perfect time to search for Fred’s scent, and if not that, leave her own scent in the air. If he ran past it, he would smell it and realise she was still alive.

She could also hunt.

“Thank you.” Esme smiled, relieved. She seemed pleased with the teen’s choice.

“Where is Carlisle?” The sixteen-year-old newborn asked. She wanted to leave for the forest as soon as possible, now that she had a few tasks. She had to get them done, or else she would be in trouble. 

“Downstairs. He went to finish his patient’s paper.” The yellow-eyed vampire answered. She offered her pale hand to the girl. “We should head to him.”

Bree declined the offer by walking past the woman. She did it carefully, worried the other vampire would get mad and hurt her. Her steps increased drastically as she heard the soft steps of the woman following her. The emotions inside of her dropped from determination to terror. Why hadn’t she just accepted the vampire’s hand? She could be in danger because of her own stupidity.

Her sneakers creaked on the wooden floor as she moved shiftily forward, towards the downstairs. With all her senses tightly on the female behind her, she started walking on the scary stairs. They still creeped her out. How could anyone walk on them calmly? They were a death trap. Transparent trap.

While walking on them, she understood how birds felt about windows. The poor things were probably deathly afraid of them, waiting for their inevitable faith in splashing straight onto the stairs and deceasing. How could humans create something so cruel like glass? It was horrible and the biggest problem for the birds and Bree. How could mammals exist and decide to create something that killed so many creatures? Who in their right mind made the transparent material?

A new thought came to her mind. Were vampires mammals? They didn’t give birth to living creatures, so were they really one of them anymore? Did the immortals have their own category in the animal kingdom? And if yes, what? Or were they something completely different—were they even animals? The girl's eyes widened as she stopped at her place.

“Bree? You don’t need to be scared of the stairs. They are not going to hurt you.” Esme’s voice hovered behind her. She sounded confused, not mad. The young teen felt relieved. She wasn’t in danger anymore. The woman had probably forgotten her refusal to hold her hand.

“I’m not scared.” The newborn hissed. She realised she was clutching the stair’s railing. It stood strongly in the air, holding the glass stairs in their places as it swirled to the ground. It was the sole reason why she wasn’t dead, lying on the ground as a corpse.

The caramel-haired vampire was wrong. She wasn’t scared. She was terrified. The glass could break at any given moment and make her fall to the ground. She technically wouldn’t die from the fall, but she still didn’t want it to happen to her. Her skin might have been hard, but she wasn’t. She couldn’t mentally handle falling down and would end up dying metaphorically.

“Alright, let’s continue our way down the stairs then. Carlisle will be ready soon.” Esme spoke softly, not sounding like she believed her.

The girl loosened her hold on the railing reluctantly and took a step down on the death trap.

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The forest shone with glee. The trees were full of life as the sunrays played soft shadows on the ground. The birds sang in the trees, and the insects crawled on the ground. 

Bree’s steps left marks on the soil as she moved behind Carlisle and Esme. The couple's hands were entwined together like vines, refusing to let go of each other. It would have been slightly funny if she hadn't been so nervous. The feeling ate her insides, telling her to be careful.

Carlisle’s golden eyes turned to her warmly. “I’m pleased to know you decided to come with us.” A small smile played on his lips. “As my family’s leader, I need to know more about you. I’m afraid the chat with you earlier left me curious. It's an unpleasant feeling. So I’d like you to tell me something about yourself, like what you do as a hobby."

“H-hobby?” The young teen repeated shakily. She had not expected the question, thinking that Cullen's leader would want to talk about the Volturi situation with her. But about something so unnecessary as hobbies? Had they really invited her to stroll in the forest for her answer to such mundane questions? She wasn’t sure how to feel.

“Yes, a hobby. What do you like to do with your spare time?” the blond man rephrased his question.

Esme chimed into the conversation. “We would love to get to know you!”

The newborn’s dark eyebrows rose. She felt completely caught off guard. Her emotions swam inside of her, confusion breaking the surface. She didn’t want to reveal much about herself, that was for sure. What was she supposed to answer? That she liked…watching TV? That wasn’t a proper answer. They would expect something else from her. Anything other than watching the bland screen the whole day. But the truth was that she had not done much else while living as a human. Her life had been quite depressing, to say the least.

“I like reading.” She settled on her answer, proud of herself for figuring out what to say. She hoped they wouldn’t ask clarifying questions. They would ruin her answer and embarrass her.

Carlisle’s head tilted, and his smile widened. “That's a marvellous hobby! I am, myself, quite engrossed by my books too. They are a magnificent way to spend some time and ruminate over things. If I may ask, what do you like reading?”

Panic rushed to the girl’s face as she gulped anxiously. “I- I like reading my school's textbooks. Especially the geography ones.”

“Oh!” Esme gasped. Her eyes had widened to resemble those of an owl. “That’s…interesting. That sounds very educational.”

Bree stayed silent. She felt a hot flush bump inside of her. Of course, the coven leader had asked her the worst follow-up question to ever exist. Her childhood hadn’t been that entertaining. She hadn’t really read any novels, except when it was required to do so for a school project. Even then, she had hardly convinced her father to buy her those books. He had hated to buy books for her, so she decided to start reading about geography. She had been interested in travelling from a young age, which made reading the school books more bearable.

She had curled up on her small bed against her comfortable duvet and read about different cultures, countries, and places. It had been exhilarating until her father found her one night and hit her. She had been left alone with a bleeding nose and a torn school book. Apparently she shouldn’t have ‘filled her head with nonsense’ as he had put it.

After that, she settled down to watching TV instead of reading all the time. The memory left an uneasiness in her movements as she walked beneath the trees. Their shadows overcast over her and stopped a metre away.

Carlisle opened his mouth. His eyes were studying her carefully. “It’s nice to know you like reading about geography. Most people prefer novels because they are easier and more enjoyable to read, but in my opinion, they should try going outside their comfort zone and read something educational every once in a while.” He smiled. ”Knowledge about geography can be very handy in certain situations.”

The newborn relaxed as she heard his answer. She had thought he would have called her a freak.

The wind breezed around the trio, clearly interested in their conversation. It stroked their hairs while flying past them multiple times, like a restless child coming back to their parents. Its caressing touch reminded the teen of a hug. She smiled slightly at the thought before she frowned. Her mind went back to a moment when Esme had hugged her and kept her in her arms as she sobbed from the revelation of her father killing her mother. A day ago, she experienced a real hug that she was able to remember. A sharp stab sank into her chest.

“What’s wrong?” Esme asked. The woman wore a concerned look on her face as she studied her. 

“Nothing.” Bree said, stiffening her body. Her back straightened as her eyes went to a tree on the left. “I’m fine.”

The caramel-haired vampire’s eyebrows went into a frown from her answer, and the woman’s head nudged slightly. Her amber eyes looked deeply at the teen’s irises, trying to make her say something more. Maybe even attempting to make her reveal her darkest secrets.

The newborn did not like it. She refused to look her in the eyes and kept her own tightly on the nature around them. She wasn’t about to reveal anything more to the Cullen’s. It could be dangerous if they knew her weaknesses. Detrimental to her safety and cause her to succumb to her death sooner than she was already going to. She couldn’t let the yellow eyes use her weaknesses against her.

Carlisle broke the brewing silence. Even nature had become more silent. The leaves whispered their dance as they rolled on the ground. “May I propose that we go hunting? I see that Bree’s eyes are getting quite dark already.”

The blond man’s words reminded the girl of her throat. It was still screaming and pleading to get blood to caress its insides. She wanted to grant that to it, so she nodded to the leader, accepting his proposal gladly.

But before they hunted, she needed to ask them urgently about the conversation earlier. She needed to know what the Cullen’s had gathered to talk about. If she didn't, she would lose her mind. She was already on the edge and did not want to lose her last bits of sanity to something as stupid as a secret conversation. She hated them. She hated how secret’s made the ones not knowing about them lull in false security. And she did not want to be lulled into that feeling. She would be able to handle whatever the yellow-eyes had been talking about.

“What did you talk about when I was upstairs?” She asked bluntly, not expecting herself to be so straightforward. She felt pride grow in her stomach as she applauded herself for having the courage to ask the question so boldly. She didn’t usually have the courage to ask something like that, so the words coming from her mouth were confusing. but it was a welcome thing to happen. She wondered how she had suddenly said them without any pressure from herself.

Carlisle’s and Esme’s faces exchanged looks. They looked stunned to hear her words, clearly not expecting her to let the words out of her lips. She had to admit that the words had been a bit out of character for her to say, but nevertheless, she was happy she had said them.

“You see, we have-.We discussed your condition.” Carlisle smiled, nodding awkwardly as the trio continued walking.

They were completely caught off guard, she noted. A small smile formed on her lips. Their reaction made her even prouder of her sudden bluntness. She was in control of the situation now, not them. She was sure she would be able to get at least something out of the two.

Carlisle cleared his throat. “We want to make sure you're comfortable while in our care.”

“What did Alice see in the forest?” Bree’s crimson eyes narrowed. She wanted—no, she needed to know.

“In the forest?” Esme repeated, confused. She looked at the blond leader, their expressions contemplating. Both of them stopped walking.

Carlisle sighed, his amber eyes turning to look at the brown-haired girl. “Alice did not see anything in the forest. She is able to see into the future. I’m profoundly sorry that we haven’t explained that to you.”

The newborn stiffened. She stared at the two. The small pixie was able to see into the future. Thread took over her. What if she had seen something about her plan to escape? How was Fred supposed to come save her when the yellow-eyed vampire’s would get notified about that from Alice? She was doomed.

“You don’t need to worry. Alice is pleasant to be around.” The caramel-haired woman smiled softly, mistaking her stiffness for nervousness.

The young teen continued staring at the two. She definitely did not like the fact that there was someone who was able to see into the future, but she needed to act normal so she wouldn't be suspected by Carlisle and Esme. She couldn’t let them start doubting that she was planning something. She needed to act untrustfully and shyly, like she normally did around them.

A fake smile formed on her lips. She shouldn't open her mouth. It would be too risky. She was too nervous at this point to try talking and worried about revealing something by accident. Her eyes moved around the area, studying the environment she was in. She wanted to distract herself from her emotions. 

The forest stood still around her. The grass beneath, smelling fresh like the lake she had swam in.

“Shall we go hunting now?” Carlisle asked again. He seemed to sense her unwillingness to talk more. For the first time, the girl felt happy to hear Cullen's leader’s words. She was more than willing to get some blood and quench her burning thirst.

After a short walk, the trio ended up stopping again. To Bree’s delight, she was commanded to go follow the scent of a bear. Her legs pushed her to its trail as she ran as fast as she could towards her lunch. She was relieved to finally be able to feed. It had felt like forever since she had eaten the last time, but now she did not need to suffer much longer.

She saw her prey. It was jogging calmly on the pliant soil, unaware of the dangerous creature stalking towards it. She smiled, thrilled at the thought of tasting its blood. Even though the animal's blood wasn’t the best, it still helped with her thirst, so she condemned it as necessary until she escaped. She wouldn’t get away with going around and killing humans while living with the Cullens.

The newborn jumped towards it, letting out a warning snarl. She tackled the brown animal to the ground, sinking her teeth deep into its soft neck. Venom pooled in her mouth as the blood rushed to her tongue.

Its dull taste tattered her mouth, but it was tasty enough to soothe her throat's roars. She had to admit that it tasted better than the deer she had drunk earlier. She didn’t understand why but was pleased with the realisation.

She enjoyed her meal until a strange feeling took over. It felt like she was being watched, like eyes were burning holes in her being. Her face rose from the bear’s neck as she sniffed the air instinctively. She needed to determine whether or not she was in danger.

The sniff filled her nose with a repulsive smell. It burned her nostrils, making her gag out of disgust. Her expression dropped to a frown. The appalling scent could only belong to-. Before she had time to finish her thought, a sleek grey-coloured wolf sneaked towards her. It’s brown eyes studying her, ready to attack.

Chapter Text

The sun’s rays hit the soil, making Bree’s marble skin sparkle. The light folded from it, falling to the ground like a disco ball.

The horse-sized wolf stared at her. Its dark grey nose sniffed the air suspiciously as she laid on the ground, too scared to stand up. She was worried it was about to attack. She wasn’t ready to go yet. Her memories of the dangerous wolves killing her former coven mates made her icy skin crawl. She wanted to run but didn’t dare to do so. She knew that if she were to, she would end up dead.

The Cullens had fought alongside the wolves. Perhaps she could try to reason with the lone wolf before its pack members came to see what was going on. It had to be possible to talk to them. They had seemed to understand the yellow-eyes in the clearing. She wondered if they were in some type of union together. It would explain why they had fought together. There weren’t really any other reasons why the Cullens and wolves would have come together like that. 

The young teen eyed the wolf. It stared at her calmly, like it was assessing her and figuring out if she was about to attack. It didn’t seem to trust her, that was for sure. Behind its brown eyes, there was nothing else except wariness. It was almost stabbing her with its gaze.

She didn’t feel safe. She needed to find a way to calm the situation. Make the wolf leave her alone. But how she was going to do so was a question she did not know the answer to. Nevertheless, the sooner she was able to do so, the better. She didn’t want to risk dying. Where were her capturers when they were needed? Why had they abandoned her when she needed them to come rescue her?

The sixteen-year-old girl let out a hiss. It was not her smartest move, but she wanted to assert dominance. Show that she was not scared of the intruder. Her hands dug themselves to the ground as she folded them tightly, feeling the dirt cluster inside her palms. She was ready to throw the wolf away if need arose. 

The wolf responded to her sudden hiss by crouching down. Its eyes narrowed dangerously as it took support from the soil as well. The ground gave in under its paws, crumbling like the old ruins she had read about in geography.

The animal growled, taking her by surprise. The girl sprung upward, letting out another hiss. She had to flee. But where exactly, she thought frantically? Her senses searched the different directions discreetly, wishing the animal before her wouldn’t notice. She fluttered her gaze quickly around, finding her previous trail of scent. 

This interaction was not going well. Soon, her only option would be to run. She could try to follow her trail back to Carlisle and Esme. Surely they had started to wonder where she was and why she was taking so long to hunt a bear. They had to be searching for her, fearing that she had escaped.

Or at least that’s what her logic said. She didn’t know how great her logic was, but she hoped it wasn’t the worst. If it were, she would be toast.

Her shimmering form started running. Her feet made dirt fly as she sped through the plants. They brushed against her, making her wonder were the green plant’s against her? Did they want to help the wolf? She needed to know which side they were on. The way they brushed against her clothes was slightly terrifying. She was scared the bushes were going to strip her of her garments.

She felt the wolf's paws hitting the ground behind her. They felt like giant’s steps, shaking the whole ground with their enormous feet. Her anxiety kicked in. What if she would genuinely die before reaching the two Cullens she had come to hunt with? It was a very real possibility.

Her run in the bushes looked like it had been a good call. She had managed to slow down the sleek grey wolf after her. She felt relief wash over her, even if it had slowed down the animal for only a few seconds. That was still something.

She desperately attempted to turn invisible. She closed her eyes while running, concentrating on her body. But there was nothing. She stayed visible. Frustration grew in her. Why didn’t her gift work? This was already the second time it refused to turn on. It was beyond frustrating that the power didn’t cooperate with her.

Bree was sure she was going to explode from the different emotions she was feeling. It was a miracle that she was still running. They whisked inside of her painfully as she flew on the forest floor, her steps taking her closer to the place she had last seen Esme and Carlisle.

She could hear the two yellow-eyes. Their words came from in front of her. Hope bloomed in her chest. She was close. Only a little bit anymore.

“Bree?”

Her trembling feet sprung faster onwards. She flew between the trees, dodging them like a rabid dog.

Her body came to a stop as she reached the two other vampires. Their eyes were glued behind her, wide from horror. Their gazes must have registered the wolf’s movement and heard its footsteps.

“Bree, what have you done?” Esme gasped. She grabbed the girl, leaving her stunned by the action.

The teen let the woman pull her against her. She had an inkling that she should just let her do so. She wasn’t sure if it was her survival instincts or something else, but she definitely wanted to follow them, instincts or not.

“Embry.” Carlisle spoke calmly. His voice resonated in the thickening air.

The girl heard how the thrumming of the ground came to an end. The wolf’s paws had stopped moving. She didn’t dare to look at what was happening behind her. She was scared to face the horse-sized animal. What if it attacked her when she turned around? She was childish. She thought that if she didn’t look at the creature, it wouldn’t see her.

Carlisle’s brisk steps moved in front of Bree and Esme. “I assume Bree surpassed the border?”

The newborn stayed silent. She didn’t even dare to breathe. Partly because she was scared, but also because the scent made her sick. It was the most vile smell she had ever smelled. She couldn’t understand how the yellow-eyed vampires were so calm. It was like she was smelling wet mould. If she were human, she would have puked out of disgust.

“I’m utterly apologetic. We haven’t had time to explain the treaty to her.”

Pawsteps started to recede, causing the young teen to turn her head slightly in the caramel-haired woman’s arms. Her eyes flashed with curiosity as they met Carlisle's. The man was looking at her, his face plastered with relief. The same emotion she had felt for a couple of minutes now, along with fear.

The blond man smiled at her encouragingly, trying to calm her down.

Someone was changing clothes. Bree heard the action as clearly as day. Fabrics rubbed against someone’s body. It confused her profoundly. She couldn’t wrap her head around the sound. What could have made a noise like that?

Soon it stopped and was replaced with footsteps. A boy came into view. His short black hair and brown eyes shone in the sun as he approached the trio.

Where had the wolf gone, and why did the brown-haired girl still smell the disgusting scent so strongly? It was disturbing.

“Carlisle.” The stranger nodded, his daggering irises locked to the newborn.

There was something familiar about the irises. She couldn’t place what, but she was sure she had seen them somewhere. She tried to jog her vampire memory, but was astounded that it wasn’t working. Her memory was supposed to be enchanted, supernatural. Why couldn’t she recognise the boy? It was odd.

“Embry.” Carlisle greeted the stranger again. He looked at him politely. “May we talk with Sam?”

The boy called Embry nodded sharply, causing a small grin to form on the blond man’s lips. “Thank you.”

“Follow me. Sam wants to meet back at the border, or can I say the crime scene.” The smelly human, Embry, said. His emotions were hidden by his blank face, not revealing themselves to the trio.

It did not help the newborn’s turmoil. She was confused and sure that something bad was about to happen. Her body was starting to stiffen more, ready to bolt from her place. She had to keep all of her concentration on it so she would not run and exacerbate the situation.

Esme’s hands stroked her back gently, nudging her to take a step back towards the direction she had almost lost her life in. Fear gripped her heart. She did not want to move.

“Bree.” Carlisle commanded. He stood a metre away from her, waiting for her to walk to him. “We need to go.”

The girl blinked. Her throat had formed a lump while she had ruminated in her thoughts.

“Let’s go, sweetie. Everything is going to be okay. We will talk to Sam, explain what happened from your point of view, and sort everything out, alright?” the caramel-haired woman comforted behind. The vampire’s hand’s contact with her marble skin hardened.

She didn’t have a choice. The young teen had to follow the others. They were going to hurt her if she disobeyed them. Before her brain had time to continue her thought, she took an unnecessarily long step towards the blond leader. Her sneakers squeaked, making her shudder backward.

Her humiliating movement did not, sadly, go unnoticed. Embry frowned, looking quite confused by her sudden movement. He had clearly never seen a vampire trembling the way she had.

The two yellow-eyes gave the boy an awkward smile. Their eyes now pleading with the young teen to walk, they turned their focus on her.

Bree hurried forward, rigid from embarrassment. Not wanting to risk delaying them with her idiotic blunders, her steps fastened.

She was becoming more convinced she was supposed to become a clown rather than a vampire. No normal immortal bounced like a ball from slight sounds, nor was the world against them either. There had to be something wrong with her. Maybe she should seriously think about a career switch. Being a vampire was clearly not for her at this point. She was on edge all the time, but she couldn’t help it. It was in her nature. Or very least, caused by her human life.

The others followed her. Their steps echoed behind her, haunting her with their sounds. She realised it had not been the best idea to lead the group. Or was she leading it? The two Cullen’s and the black-haired boy all stared at her back. Did they think she was going to bolt? Run for her life? And then decide to guard her from behind? It was a possibility. She had to admit that she was still considering fleeing away. Her nervous system would have loved the escape, but she doubted she would get far; therefore, it was useless to attempt.

Her senses located a heartbeat. It was coming from the border. Its delicious pumps brought the taste of blood to her tongue. The sweet taste of human she had missed. To her bewilderment, her nose filled with the revolting smell again. She gagged, frowning at the scent. When it had left her nostrils as she left the two vampire’s and the human behind, she had thought it would not come back. The wolf was, after all, gone, but she had been obviously wrong.

The wind played with her dark hair, moving it backwards towards the others. She stopped. Her crimson gaze had caught a person. She snarled.

“Bree! Stop it,” Esme commanded, distraught. Her hands found their way to her shoulders as she walked up to her. "Please calm down. It’s just Sam. It seems he arrived before us.”

Carlisle’s steps quickened, and he took hold of the newborn’s right hand. “You have to behave. We cannot leave the wolves any reason to break the treaty.” He lowered his voice so that only the girl heard his words.

She gulped nervously, looking into his golden eyes.

“Come on, let's go.” The blond man’s voice softened from the distress in her pupils. He and Esme nudged her onward, keeping their hands on her firmly. They had not appreciated her sudden snarl.

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The stars lit up in the sky as the trio returned to Cullen's house. They had stayed discussing the broken treaty with Sam, the leader of the Quileutes, for multiple hours. The discussion had been heated at the start, but both sides had come to an agreement eventually. The agreement being that Bree was not allowed to be left alone like the way she had been until she had better control of herself. 

She did not like it. It rubbed her the wrong way. She didn’t want to be babysitted every time she went to hunt or outside the house—not like she went outside anyways without company, but the point still stood. She hated the thought of someone staring at her when she hunted. Couldn’t she prey on the animals in peace? Why had Carlisle and Esme agreed to the dumb rule? It was infuriating.

For most of the conversation, the newborn had stayed mostly silent. She had been held by both the patriarch and the matriarch of the yellow eyes. Their grip had not left her until they were well on their way back to the house. The trip back to the modern-looking home was silent. Everyone seemed to be in their own thoughts, wondering their luck or, in the girl’s case, anxiously gazing around.

She didn’t trust the wolves after learning the truth about them. Apparently, Embry, the human boy, was actually a shapeshifter. She had smelled the wolf’s scent still in the air after his appearance because his body produced that awful smell. Sam was also a shapeshifter. How were the Cullens able to live so close to the scary creatures? She simply couldn’t understand their mental process. Weren’t they terrified about the wolves breaking the treaty on their own accord and ambushing them? She shuddered.

The trio arrived at the safety of Cullen's yard. The white house rose in front of the young teen, still making her feel in awe at its sheer size and looks. She couldn’t believe something so extravagant had been built in the middle of the forest. It wasn’t like anyone would see it, except occasional humans wandering to the house for some reason or another.

Her sneakers crossed the dirt road with ease. She wanted to get back inside. The whole meeting at the border had left her shaken up. She doubted she had ever felt so keen on going back to the house before. Even the thought of the white building made her heart ache from desperation.

Carlisle’s demeanour filled with relief as he opened the front door swiftly. He looked pleased with the outcome of the chat with Sam. The blond man forwarded her to step inside first, his eyes gleaming.

As Bree made her move, she was almost run over by Edward. The bronze-haired boy hissed furiously. “Carlisle!”

“Son.” The leader acknowledged him, his lips pressed together. “I suppose we need to have a family meeting.”

Nervousness gripped the girl. She flipped her head towards the two, eyes wide like an owl. Her feet stood still, examining the surrounding room. She was able to hear the other Cullens in their respective rooms. Their breathing quickened from the mind reader’s outburst.

“So may we go to the living room?” the leader continued.

“Yes.” Edward nodded, agreeing with his father. He didn’t look happy.

The boy’s eyes narrowed towards the newborn before he disappeared from the room, most likely going to the soon-to-be war zone, the living room. She wanted to stay downstairs. The idea of going to a room full of vampires happy to finally have a reason to destroy her didn’t seem like that great of an idea. But she doubted she was going to be given a choice, so she walked hesitantly to the start of the demonic glass stairs.

They were surely laughing at her again, pushing her already anxious body to new dimensions. She hated them.

Her faltering steps climbed up the hell-like stairs. She could feel the heat from embarrassment go up her cheeks. Glad that she couldn’t form a blush, she finished her climb, coming to the end of the stairs. She walked, worried, to the living room, trying to think of ways to escape. She needed to have an out when things went rough.

Her walk came to an end when she settled to sit on an armchair, furthest from the yellow-eyes in the room. The whole coven had gathered in the room, watching her, Carlisle, and Esme with unreadable expressions.

“Alice said she stopped seeing you. Did you have a confrontation with the wolves?” Jasper asked before anyone had said anything. His blaming gaze stopped to look at the young teen.

“Yes. Bree crossed the border accidentally, but it’s all sorted out now.” The blond leader nodded reassuringly. “It wasn’t her fault. We should have made sure to explain the treaty to her and made sure she would not break it.”

The reveal caused growls from the scarred boy. His sister, the blond goddess, joined his snarls. Their eyes sourced Bree, clearly placing all the blame on her. 

Bree stayed silent, not daring to add gasoline to the flames. She knew what would happen if she were to say something, and it wouldn’t end well for her. Her father had taught her that.

“This is why I was against bringing her to our house and keeping her until the Volturi graces us with their presence. They gave us the option to finish her off. We should do it before she destroys our lives.” Jasper spat.

Carlisle frowned. He put his hands in his pockets, opening his mouth.

Rosalie wedged her opinion in before he had time to say anything. “I agree with Jasper. She is endangering our family, and I cannot stand that. She is too big of a risk.” The goddess sized her up.

The girl flinched under her eyes, praying that nothing would happen to her. She was quite badly freaked out, but at the same time, she was ready for the blowout. Her eyes looked discreetly around, gazing at the windows, carpets, furniture, and anything that could save her life. She could try tossing the comfortable seat she sat on. It would distract the yellow-eyes enough for her to flee.

“We are not going to kill her. The small disturbance with the Quileutes is handled. There ought to be no reason to do anything rash.” The blond man answered strictly. He locked Rosalie’s eyes to his own. “Nothing will happen to the newborn.”

His words made the golden-haired goddess roll her eyes, but she seemed to settle down in her seat. Her face and stance not as hostile as before.

“Jasper?” Carlisle called for the boy. He wore a stern look.

Jasper narrowed his eyes more, his teeth showing as he scowled. “This is too dangerous, Carlisle. You know nothing about newborns.”

The amber-eyed leader sighed, glancing at Bree. “Jasper, I’ve dealt with four newborns before. I’m fairly sure I know what I’m talking about.”

The scarred boy huffed.

“C’mon Jazz! I’m sure Bree is not going to cause us any more trouble. And if she will, it could be fun.” Emmett chimed in. He grinned proudly at his words, chuckling when the other boy gave him a glare. “Chill, dude. Seriously. Like Carlisle said, everything is handled.”

“It is going to be serious when she kills us all.” Jasper hissed.

“That’s enough!” Esme raised her voice. She stood up from her seat, walking up to the crimson-eyed girl. Her hands settled on her shoulders.

The newborn looked at the woman, side-eyeing the scarred boy. She felt his glare again. It burned her body, making her feel uncomfortable.

It was now or never. She needed to leave.

Edward’s eyes flashed as he let out a warning snarl. “Bree, do not even dare to leave your seat.”

His words made everyone else's gaze fall upon her. She squirmed as Esme’s hold on her strengthened. She was beyond terrified now. How was she supposed to escape when all of the yellow-eyes were staring at her, waiting for her to do or say something? This was not how she was supposed to flee. She had to figure out a new plan immediately. Her life depended on it.

“Please Bree. Do not make this situation worse than it already is.” Alice said. Her pleading words urged her to not take action. “If you try to escape now, Jasper will attempt to hurt you.”

But it was too late. The young teen had jumped up from her seat, shaking the caramel-haired vampire’s hands from her shoulders. Her breathing accelerated as she tried to make a run for her life. Her insides were screaming at her, telling her to leave. All of her gathered panic from the days captivated thrust open from her heart. They bled to the floor as she flew across the room, towards freedom.

Her escape was cut short as Edward appeared in front of her, effectively blocking her way out. She got thrown to the ground with a thud. Hands appeared on her back, seizing her from moving.

Splintered wood pieces flew everywhere from the floor when she got pushed against it. She let out an ear-piercing scream as pain jolted through her neck. It struck her like thunder, leaving her paralysed from fear.

This was it. She was going to die.

“Jasper!”

Chapter Text

Bree blinked. She touched her neck, still able to imagine the feel of the cracks made by Jasper. Their spider web-like lines flashed into her mind as she remembered them. The southern boy had almost killed her. The incident had happened three days ago, which marked three days of hiding in her room and being too scared to step out. Three days of avoiding the yellow-eyes.

She sat on her soft bed, not bothering to move. She was glad she had been left alone for the past few days. She felt safer.

Her gaze scanned the window located on the left side of her. It reached all the way from the floor to the ceiling. Its grey frames sank into the white wall, looking trapped. Like it had been forced on it and not let go. She related to it. She wanted to leave the environment she was in as much as it seemed to want. They were both stuck, not let free by their captors.

The girl tilted her head, closing her eyelids carefully. Her body fell against the bed’s mattress, feeling how the cushion sucked her in. She wanted to cocoon herself inside of it, but it wasn’t tragically possible, so she did the next best thing and wrapped the blanket over her body.

She breathed heavily inside of it, not caring if her oxygen had ended. She didn’t need it to survive, so why would it matter if her brain didn’t get it? It was useless. Only creatures with a heartbeat needed it, which proved how weak all of them were. She was happy that she was not locked in it, dependent on the substance in the air.

Warmness gathered around her as the fuggy oxygen floated around her. The blanket heated the small hole she sat inside. Feeling the air become harder to breathe in, she stopped moving her lungs altogether.

Her brown hair occasionally brushed the cover as she thought about everything that had happened so far. It had been a lot. In a span of five days, she had fled from the clearing, lived in a lake, been captured, interrogated, met the shapeshifters, and almost died three times. If her brain hadn’t been an advanced vampire brain but instead a dull human one, she would have probably gone crazy. She didn’t get how some of the mammals stayed sane with their small brains.

A door’s creak made the sixteen-year-old teen jump. Her hands punched the blanket frantically to the ground, her eyes spotting the blond leader. He stared at her quietly, trying to calm her down with a friendly smile.

“I apologise that I came inside so unannounced, but I thought thou would enjoy what I’m about to give you,” he greeted.

The newborn widened her crimson eyes, dumbfounded. Thou ? Could vampires have a stroke? Did she hear what the man said correctly? Or was there something wrong with the blond vampire? She frowned. What on earth did thou mean? Was she supposed to know, and if yes, was she a loser for not understanding him? Would she have to go to school again? Was the word learned there? She didn’t want to go to school. She had not finished it, but the idea of going to a place full of humans wasn’t that appealing. Their minds worked too slowly for her liking. How did humans get anything done?

Carlisle studied her, waiting for her to invite him further in. He didn’t seem to realise he had said an odd word. “Bree? May I come in?”

Bree focused back on the leader. She looked at him reluctantly, wanting him to leave her alone.

“You cannot isolate yourself from us. I understand Jasper scared you, but it is not healthy for you to sit still in this room all alone.” The man’s face dropped as he spoke.

The teen kept staring at him. Her face unreadable, she spoke. “I’m not scared of him.”

She wasn’t telling the truth, but no one needed to know that. She was more than content to pretend that everything was fine. That she wasn’t terrified to face the southern vampire—shuddering inside at the thought of seeing him again.

The blond leader didn’t look convinced. He stood still silently for a minute before sighing. “I did not come to argue with you. I wished to at least provide you with something to do.” A soft smile appeared on his lips as he added. “You mentioned you enjoyed reading geography books, so I brought you a few from my library. I reckon you’d like them.”

The young girl was momentarily stunned. Her head tilted, surprise apparent on her face. She had not expected him to offer her his books. What would he benefit from the gesture? She didn’t get why he would have decided to waste his own precious time picking books for her to read. The idea made alarm bells ring in her head. He most likely wanted something from her. She needed to be careful. Accepting the books could lead to bad things happening to her. It could be an evil scheme to take advantage of her interests and get more vital information from her. Perhaps Alice had seen her plan to escape. She had thought about Fred when the mind reader wasn’t home, so it was quite possible she had accidentally settled on the plan forming in her head. The thought of leaving Cullen's house and finding him.

“Bree? Do you wish to have the books? I’d be delighted to give them to thou.” Carlisle smiled. Excitement made its way to his expression.

“Thou?” Bree repeated. She was taken out of her speculations when the word announced its existence for the second time in the conversation. What did it mean? Her crimson eyes eyed the older vampire.

The man turned momentarily embarrassed. She saw how the emotion rushed inside of him like a flood, leaving him drowning for five seconds in its depths. “I’m terribly sorry.” He fixed his composure. “I might occasionally accidentally speak with my human time period’s English. Especially if I get thrilled. Thou means you.”

“Y-your time period’s?” The teen hadn’t thought about how old the yellow-eyes were during her stay with them. According to Riley, they were very ancient vampires, weak from their age. She wondered how old they were. Had they been alive when the cavemen lived? Were they cavemen? Her eyes widened. There was a good possibility that that was true. She couldn't believe how old they were.

“Yes. I was born in the 17th century.” Carlisle informed her casually. He studied her, amused by her reaction. It must have looked ridiculous to him.

“S- so you aren’t cavemen?” Relief spilled from her as she spoke.

Her words made all the Cullens who were present in the house burst into laughter. Their giggles travelled through the building, smacking her in the face. She had forgotten that the rest of them were able to listen to the conversation too.

Humiliation pumped inside of her, its warm, uncomfortable embrace engulfing her. Great. Now they thought she was pathetic.

Carlisle calmed down as the others kept giggling downstairs. “No. We indeed are not.”

The newborn kept her lips sealed. She looked away from the man, not having enough courage to face him. Instead, her gaze went to her blanket on the floor. She felt safe looking at it; its reassuring visuals made her feel better and sealed her ears from the laughter downstairs. She wanted the duvet to shallow her again. Her temptation to wrap it back around herself grew the more she stared at it. She was just about to pick it up when the leader's voice stopped her.

“May I ask why you think that we are, uh, cavemen?”

She avoided his gaze. Her weak voice answered silently. “Riley told us you were ancient and weak.”

The blond man raised his eyebrows entertained. His expression calmed down as he saw how uneasy she was. “It’s quite alright. You couldn't have possibly known our ages.” He comforted. "The rest of my family was born either in the 19th or early 20th centuries.”

He walked properly inside the room, showing the geography books he was holding. Their black and green covers glimmered in the room’s artificial light. The lamp made them appear more shiny than they actually were.

Her eyes skimmed towards them, like a magnet. She wanted to see what they were specifically about.

Carlisle put them on her bed and smiled. “There you go.”

Bree’s hands reached them before he had had time to finish his sentence properly. Her marble-like skin touched the book on the top of the pile. It was focusing on human geography. She itched to open it, her fingers already playing with its sharp edges, ready to open the book.

"Wait." The blond man stole her attention. “I’d like to talk about your gift before I leave you to read the books.”

The teen felt a pang of betrayal as she realised why the leader had brought the books over to her. He hadn’t done it out of kindness. He expected her to tell him about her frustrating, never-working gift in exchange for the books. Her instinct to not trust the yellow eyes had been right. He had an ulterior motive behind the nice gesture. She should have learned to trust her instincts already.

Her sour expression caught his amber eyes. “I can, of course, leave if you wish. I understand if you want to start reading the books. I’d imagine you’ve been bored for the last few days and want to do something entertaining. My shift at the hospital is going to start soon anyway. I can go there a bit early.”

The newborn’s crimson eyes widened. Her body stiffened. The leader worked in a hospital. Wasn’t he worried about killing his patients? And most importantly, why would he willingly go take care of humans? They were so fragile. It was of no use to help them. They would eventually die anyway.

The yellow-eyed vampires were the strangest immortals she had met. They drank from animals, had a human pet, and now apparently also spent time in hospitals taking care of the ugly mammals. She didn’t understand anything about their morals.

“You're a doctor?” She asked, bewildered.

“Yes. I suppose it has to sound quite odd to you.” Carlisle chuckled. “You have most likely realised we are very different from others of our kind."

She nodded cautiously, wanting to know why the Cullens were so set on not hurting humans. What was so special about them? The creatures couldn’t be trusted. Her curiosity outwitted her hurt, and she parted her lips. “Why? Humans are just food.”

The blond vampire blinked, startled by her bluntness. “They have dreams and goals just like us. God created both of our kind and theirs to co-exist.”

Bree stayed silent. She didn’t really fully believe in God. She liked to regard herself as agnostic. If the mysterious almighty had been real, surely he would have ended all the suffering the world was plagued by? Or was he just plain evil? She wasn’t sure if God was real or not, but she did know that if he was, he was a dick for making people suffer.

“I want to read.” She said, not knowing what else to say. She didn’t feel comfortable talking about the subject anymore. She wanted to move on and be alone. Get her blanket and wrap it around herself.

“Of course. Perhaps we could talk more when I come back from the hospital." Carlisle studied the girl.

She sat still for a while, eventually nodding. As the leader left her room, her gaze flew back to her new geography books. She wasn’t sure whether they were for her to keep or if she would have to return them to him after reading them. She secretly hoped she could keep them, but doubted it would happen. He would probably take them away from her after getting what he wanted. It was inevitable.

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The sky lit up with yellow flames as the darkness started to set in. The golden rays attempted to fight, but soon succumbed to the dark hood bending over them. Encouraged by the darkness, the stars emerged. Their sparkling light replaced the sun, finally happy to be seen.

Bree walked in the forest. Her head swept around like the fading sunlight, searching for the sleeping sun. The darkness was an odd occurrence when paired up with her supernatural vision. It made everything look so alien, but stunning at the same time. She remembered being in awe when her new eyes saw the world for the first time at night. Everything had looked so magical, yet so unbelievably beautiful. 

Violet tint permanently tattered her vision when the night fell but did not hide anything from her, unlike her human eyes, which were unable to see well in the darkness. With her exquisite gaze, she was able to see all the small details of her environment, no matter how dark it was. She had come to enjoy the weird-coloured tint; it was like watching the world from one of those strange-coloured sunglasses. She still didn’t fully understand why the human accessory had been made, but they had been sometimes fun to use; she had to admit it.

The newborn turned around as she heard steps behind her. She let out a frustrated snarl, not happy about the company she had been forced into. She wanted the pixie and scarred boy to leave her alone. Hadn’t she suffered enough at the hands of the pale southern boy? They had been sent to babysit her and make sure she wouldn’t escape.

Her annoyance grew when she stumped forward. Her boots leaving marks on the dirt, she turned to head back towards the modern-looking Cullen residence. She was done being watched. She had wanted to come and walk in the forest for a few hours, but hadn’t been able to concentrate on much of anything during her stay here. She needed to get out of the greenery. She supposed she had to be stuck in her room. At least that way, no one was stalking her constantly.

She also did not need to worry about the possibility of Jasper bouncing on her and killing her inside the bedroom. She trusted him the least out of the yellow eyes, but rightfully so. He was scary.

“Bree!” Alice sighed as she heard her angry snarl.

The young teen was glad the southern vampire had stayed silent for most of the time they had strolled in the forest. She didn’t want him to talk. It would remind her of his existence, and the more she thought about it, the more nervous she got. Maybe he sensed it and had decided to keep his mouth shut. She felt it was likely. He was able to feel her emotions, so if he didn’t stay silent because of that, she was worried about what the boy’s reasoning to do so was.

An owl cooed as the girl moved swiftly towards the familiar becoming front door. She was relieved to realise the two Cullens had started dropping from behind her. She could finally be alone and continue reading her geography books. She had read them for three hours before deciding to go to the forest.

She hoped the coven leader wasn’t home yet. She wanted to read a bit more before talking with him. He seemed very keen on studying her gift. It made shivers go through her back. Why was he so interested in it? It didn’t even work properly. Could some powers be permanently broken?

When she had been in Seattle's newborn army, her gift had not appeared even once. There genuinely had to be something wrong with it. She wondered if she had the courage to ask about the possibility of her gift being broken. Carlisle had to know about things like that. Maybe it wasn’t the worst idea to talk to him after all. She could use the things she learned from the discussion as tools to make her stubborn invisibility work.

She hated it. Why had she gotten the most useless power to exist? She would rather not have a gift at all than have to suffer from how out of control it was. It was almost painful to attempt to use it.

Bree walked inside. She took the treacherous stairs up to upstairs, closing her eyes tightly. She had survived for a surprisingly long time. She prayed she wouldn’t die on the glass plates carrying her wobbling legs. Her feet were back on the steady wooden floor in a blink. She had hurried to the second floor this time, not wanting to risk staying on the glass panels for too long.

A motor’s hum started to appear from a distance. Its sounds made the brown haired newborn’s head turn towards it. She was certain it had to be the leader. No one else would come to their house. Except perhaps the human pet, but to her understanding, the mind reader, Edward, had forbidden the mammal from coming over. She agreed with the boy. She didn’t want the creature to come to the house. She was sure that she would attack her if that happened, and sucking blood from the yellow-eyes pet wasn’t the most smartest idea. They were weirdly protective of the human girl.

A screech cut the air as the Cullens garage door opened. The shivering sound stopped, giving the car wanting to get in it a green light to enter. Its tyres went forward against the stone floor as it rolled inside.

The teen stood still, her eyes tightly on the staircase. She wanted to know if Carlisle had arrived back. Depending on it, she would either go back to her room to read or talk with him. Her wait was rewarded when, five minutes later, the patriarch of the yellow eyes appeared on the stairs. His doctor’s coat flung when he came to a halt.

He raised his gaze to the girl standing on top of the stairs. “I assume you are waiting for me?”

Bree nodded. She felt a spike of nervousness in her chest. What if this all would go wrong? What if she would end up embarrassing herself? She shook the ideas out of her head, wishing that they would silence themselves. She did not want them to distract her, but she wasn’t sure they would stay under the waves of her mind.

“May we then go to my office?” he asked. “Or would you rather go to your room?”

“Your office.” The newborn looked at him, her cautious stance waiting for the leader to do something. She didn’t want to move from her spot. She was standing higher than him, giving her an advance if he would approach her. Her instincts advised her to wait until he turned to head down towards his office.

The blond man gave her a quick smile and started heading back downstairs. She followed him slowly, making sure to gaze below her through the glass stairs. Their creepy shine caused the young girl to gulp. She needed to be brave. She couldn’t let the stairs scare her any further. They were just stairs. Normal transparent stairs. There was nothing odd about them. She wasn’t a bird. She’d be fine climbing them down.

Carlisle led her to his office. The room’s bookshelves were flooded with books. They seemed ready to burst—vomit all the titles off the shelves. All the colourful covers were equally terrified, gripping the bookshelves, worried to fall off. She hoped to help the poor books. They were innocent, and the evil shelves were trying to choke them.

Her feet stopped taking steps as she took the office in.

“Take a seat.” The older vampire smiled. He went around his table and sat down on its comfortable-seeming chair. His elbows appearing to the table’s surface, he laid his pale hands against each other under his chin.

The teen took the offering and sat down in the closest seat. Her posture was rigid, waiting for him to start asking questions about her. She had been interrogated the last time she'd been here. Her memories didn’t welcome the room with fondness. It only made her feel an intolerable rush to leave, but she had promised to come here. She rather wanted to discuss her power here than in her own room.

“How did your day go? Did you enjoy your time reading?” Carlisle asked casually, attempting to calm her down. He looked determined to make small talk before starting to talk about anything else. It frustrated her.

“Good…It was fun.” Bree answered. She felt awkward. 

The man nodded thoughtfully. He swept his amber gaze through her face. “I’m pleased to hear that. I saw you gaze at the books on my shelves. You are free to take a look at them if you wish.”

The girl’s muscles stiffened more. She didn’t want to give the yellow-eyes even more reasons to dislike her. She could accidentally break one of the books, and if that specific one were important, she would be in trouble. She definitely wasn’t going to touch them. The Cullens had to hate her at this point. She wasn’t going to risk making them feel even more dislike towards her.

“You don’t need to, of course.” Carlisle added quickly. His face showed a glimpse of panic as he saw her posture become more stiff. The leader mused to himself for a second before narrowing his eyes. “How have you felt after finding out about your father? I’m sure it was distressing for you to find out about what he did through the TV.”

The newborn’s eyes drifted away from the man. Why was he talking about her father? She didn’t want to think about him. Did the leader want to talk about her gift or not? If he didn’t, she wanted to leave. He was trying to pry into her life, asking her dumb questions like…a therapist. She wasn’t in a therapy session. He had no right to try to talk about her emotions. It was wrong and annoying. She didn’t need to open up to him. Was he even a licenced therapist? She hardly doubted that.

Carlisle pressed his lips, waiting for her answer. When she stayed silent, he sighed. “Bree.”

The young teen didn’t open her mouth. She kept her gaze away from his, feeling too uneasy to look up. She just wanted to hide back inside her blanket and be in its darkness. Not think about anything. Feel the soft hug of the object around her. 

“You cannot bottle up your emotions.” The blond leader's warning tone broke the silence again. He tried to force her to talk. It was obvious now. Why had she agreed to come to the office? Learning about her gift wasn’t worth the suffering she was going through at this moment. She should leave and escape to her room’s safety while she still was able to. What type of torture chamber was she in?

“I understand it’s hard to talk about your feelings, especially if they are painful, but it's important to let others help you deal with them. You do not need to do it all alone. I can see that you're struggling, so please, let me help you.” Carlisle stood up and walked closer to her. His careful steps echoed in the nearly silent house.

Only she and the man were at the Cullen residence. She hadn’t realised the fact before. She had been so engulfed in the situation happening in front of her that she had not noticed how the other yellow-eyes had slipped from the modern house. She felt dread form in the pits of her stomach. She didn’t like this, not at all. Her eyes drifted to look at the leader.

It was a mistake.

As soon as her gaze found its way to him, the older vampire seemed to take it as permission to continue approaching her. His hands came gently to her shoulders as he crouched down to her level.

The girl’s heart wretched. She felt a spike go through it, cutting through it unforgivably like a knife. A sob came through her lips unwillingly. She hadn’t allowed it to emerge, but nevertheless, it had found its way to the outside world. She felt mortified by her cry, wanting to sink into her chair. This was not how the discussion was supposed to go. Not how she had wanted her day to move forward.

“It’s alright.” Carlisle’s soft voice calmed her. His grip became tighter as he pulled her against his chest.

His gesture caused another sob to escape from her mouth. It shaked her body violently.

“You’ll be fine. I apologise, I brought your father up,” the leader’s voice soothed.

His sweet scent was all over Bree. It drifted around her, making her feel strangely secure. She let her head fall against his shirt.

The older vampire hugged her tightly, keeping her still. “We do not need to talk about him if you're not ready. Perhaps we could just be silent for a while. Let you calm down a bit, hmm? In case you’d prefer to talk, we could discuss your gift like we were supposed to.”

She withheld a third sob, attempting to surface. She couldn’t let it come. It was embarrassing enough to have cried for the second time in the presence of the yellow-eyes. Why was she like this? She was not happy about her body’s decision today. 

“I- I want to talk about my gift.” She managed to say. She still very much wanted to figure out why it didn’t work. It puzzled her, and she did not want to stay in silence. She was afraid of the silence turning into awkwardness.

Carlisle squeezed her. “Of course.”

“It’s broken.” She whispered.

“Nonsense. It is not broken. You simply need to learn to control it. It might take a while, but you’ll get a handle on it eventually, I promise.” The leader stroked her back.

“What if I won’t?”

“You will. I can assure you of that. No gift is impossible to control. You have to find its trigger and figure out how it works. It seems to activate when you're in danger.” He explained calmly. “How about we try to work its mechanism out together? I’m sure we’d find out how it works as a team.”

The newborn nodded. She let herself stay against the pale man. She miraculously didn’t feel the need to leave his embrace. To be precise, she wanted to stay in it. Not move even an inch. Being in the vampire’s arms was surprisingly cosy; his marble-like skin comfortingly warm and his eyes oozing patience, she felt at peace. The books on the shelves brought the scent of paper, filling her lungs with their pleasant smell. With her mind restful, she closed her eyes to hide the sadness in them.

Chapter Text

The couch Bree was sitting on was soft. Treacherously soft. She couldn’t believe how comfortable it was. She doubted she had ever sat on such amazing furniture before. Its grey, soft surface, along with its fillings, made sitting on it an incredible experience. She was mad about not wanting to sit on it before this moment. She wanted to purr and curl on it like a cat, but acknowledged doing it would be quite humiliating. She didn’t want to cause her own embarrassment once again.

The sun set two times in the span of time it had taken for Bree to make her gift obey her once. Now she was worried about how long it would take until it decided to let her use itself once more. The leader of the Cullens had reminded her that the gift couldn’t control her, but she doubted his words. Her invisibility almost had a mind of its own. It could have been her imagination making her think that way, but despite her pondering, she couldn’t shake off the idea of it being somehow an independent entity from her. How could she know what was true? Was her power a living creature, or was her mind subconsciously stopping itself from using it?

Her body sat against the couch as it devoured her legs inside. She watched the flashing TV. It was turned on on a channel unknown to her. Some type of show was currently broadcast on its screen. She couldn’t wrap her head around it. Her head tilted. Why would that blond girl, Hannah, want to disguise herself and not reveal she was a pop star? It would be cool to be famous. If Hannah did not want to tell her secret identity to the world, the newborn was more than ready to take her place and let the humans know about her great singing skills—she wasn’t that great of a singer, but her new vampire voice could probably take the high notes. She hadn’t tested it but felt sure of herself.

She had been with the yellow-eyes for a full week. It was terrifying to think about. Her brain couldn’t seem to accept the fact.

Emmett chuckled next to her. He had come to watch the weird show with her.

She wasn’t too fond of the fact, but had decided to still stay on the couch. She didn’t want to leave it yet. It was so heavenly to sit on. And beside, she had felt a bit better and safer around the Cullens after her short sobbing session with Carlisle. The anxiety inside of her had elevated slightly, causing her to feel calmer and less ready to bolt.

“This is a dumb show! Teenagers these days rot their brains while watching things like these.” The muscular boy rolled his eyes, amused by the show.

The young teen stayed silent. She felt better but did not still want to talk with the yellow-eyes much, except maybe with the patriarch of the coven. He had warmed in her mind the last two days while they had worked to figure out how to use her gift. He felt safer. She did not, however, trust him yet.

“Oh! Wait…You're a teenager?” Emmett gasped, his gaze flying to her like he would have forgotten she was in the room.

She truly hoped he was joking. There was no way he would have forgotten she was a teenager, right? Vampires had a great memory, so there wasn’t a reason why he would not have known she was a teenager. Was he okay? She eyed him. He did not seem to be the brightest of the Cullens. It could explain his odd behaviour.

The television went on a monetization break as it prepared to start another show. The screen changed to talk about the new phones on the market. The electronic’s annoying static noise increased a notch.

The muscular vampire turned all of his attention to Bree. He started chuckling again. "So, Bree bee, what did you think about the episode? Did you like it?” He smirked. “Or was it brain-rotting to watch like I said?”

The way his brain worked was beyond the newborn’s brain capacity. She frowned, not knowing what to answer. The show was idiotic. She didn’t like it, but at least it seemed somewhat entertaining. “Umm…”

“It was ridiculous.” A voice answered.

An hiss left the teen’s rose-coloured lips. She jumped out of her seat and turned around. Her crimson eyes saw the mind reader’s form. She had not seen him much around. His foreign scent hovered in the room’s air, infiltrating it with its toxic smell. Ruining the balance of the familiar scents.

“Excuse me?” Edward interrupted her rudely. He did not seem to apprentice her inner monologue, but she didn’t care. He didn’t really even live in the house, or at least had not been much around.

She wasn’t used to the mind reader’s presence. To be honest, she was surprised to find him here and not at the human’s house. The yellow-eyes’ pet was, for some unknown reason, interesting to him. Could it be the pink mammal’s gift? Was she a vampire magnet? The young girl pondered the reason for the bronze-haired boy’s adventures. Or maybe she was just immensely helpless. The immortals living inside the contemporary house were meddling too much with the humans. They even acted like them. It could be possible that they felt pity for the mammal and had decided to make her their pet.

“Bella is my mate.” He snarled, annoyed. “And stop calling her a mammal.”

Laughter filled the room as Emmett burst. His dimples popped on his cheeks as he bent over, holding his stomach hysterically. “A mammal? That’s-.” 

“Horrible insult.” Edward finished his sentence, imputing his own version of the end of it.

“No dude. That’s hilarious!” The muscular vampire chuckled.

“It is not hilarious, Emmett. She is insulting Bella and labelling her as simply 'mammal’. In turn dehumanising her. I have not heard Bree use Bella’s name properly in her mind even once! Surely you see the issue.” The mind reader insisted, refusing to let go of his stance. His gaze darkened as he focused his eyes on Bree.

The girl tensed as her instincts flared up, telling her to snarl to show she wasn’t scared. Her relaxed mood had shifted. It was far gone. Her eyes locked on the bronze-haired boy as she growled. She couldn’t let him out of her sight. It would be very dangerous. He could try to attack her, like Jasper had done.

Panic slithered inside of her, its strong grip taking her and pulling her under its control. 

She didn’t want to be in the living room anymore. She wanted to go back to her room—to her cotton-like bed. Lay there in a small foetal position and be alone, away from the lurking beast in the living room.

Edward’s irritated amber eyes rolled to his skull. “Stop being so paranoid! Not everything is a sign that you are going to get attacked.”

“You have tried to kill me multiple times!” Bree hissed defensively. She wasn’t going to believe the yellow-eyes lies, not when they were clearly not true. They had tried to take her life on multiple occasions. Jasper had even almost detached her head from the rest of her body. None of the experiences had been nice. She was not about to continue letting them happen.

“You’re being a moron. We have not attempted to kill you. Believe it or not, Jasper was not trying to ‘take your life’. He wanted to scare you. Make you obey,” the mind reader sighed. He stared at her, fed up, pushing his fingers through his bronze hair.

The newborn snarled.

“Chill, bee! We don’t want to hurt you. Esme and Carlisle said you weren’t completely okay, but you can’t be this paranoid.” Emmett chipped in. His face wore a concerned look. The young girl had not seen the expression on his face yet. It was strange to see a new emotion in the boy, who usually mostly joked, but on the other hand, she had not lived with the Cullens for more than a week. She was being dumb by thinking the hulk-like vampire could only be comedic relief in situations. No one was that one-dimensional.

The teen glared at the two yellow-eyes.

Her head flipped towards the arch leading to the living room as her ears picked up rapid footsteps. They were approaching the room fast, the cling of heels against wood blaring in the hallway. She had learned the individual sounds of Cullens footsteps. She was able to distinguish the coming intruder. She didn’t want her here.

Esme appeared at the archway with a dash, her soft locks dropping to her shoulders. Gaze stern, she eyed all three of the vampires in the room.

The room fell quiet. It was like everything had stopped daring to move when she arrived. The effect would have been hilarious if Bree herself hadn't been in the living room. 

She bit her lips, feeling anxiousness rise in her chest for completely another reason than the worry of getting killed. She was afraid. If her vampire body could have sweated, she would have been doing so, but tragically, it wasn’t possible. Immortals couldn’t produce any other bodily fluids than venom. The sweet substance running in her—the destroyer of her human body and the birther of her new vampiric one. She had conflicting feelings about it.

“Edward, do not make Bree spiral any further into her shell. She is at last doing some process,” The caramel-haired matriarch commanded. Her voice resonated strongly in the air, not leaving anyone room to argue. She seemed serious.

“But she-.”

Esme looked at her coven member. “I will talk about it with her later. For now, don’t pester her. She deserves to have a pleasant day. Her mental health is not good. We do not need to make it deteriorate more.”

“Fine.” The mind reader sighed dramatically. He gave one last death glare at the newborn before exiting the room.

The young teen looked unhappily at the woman. She wasn’t mentally unstable. Her mental health was doing marvellously. There was nothing wrong with her. She couldn’t have felt better. Her mind was simply careful. Not paranoid. They knew nothing about her struggles. She had every right in the world to distrust the yellow-eyes every move. They could be up to something bad. She knew that. The Cullens, as far as she knew, were still planning on giving her to the Volturi when they would arrive. She was terrified to face the sadistic girl, the one who could make her tumble to the ground in pain. How was she supposed to face her without attempting to escape?

Her mind tried to turn itself to Fre-. No, she couldn’t think about the thing. Not when Edward was in the house. She wasn’t going to risk exposing her brain to the monster close by.

“Bree?” Esme’s voice broke through her mind softly. She turned her attention to the older vampire. The matriarch stared at her, patience plastered on her expression. When the woman realised she had the brown-haired girl's attention, she extended her right hand towards her. “Come with me. I want to spend some time with you.”

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Bree was ushered into a huge room. The tall windows on its walls let the luminous sun rays in. The floor planks were topped by paint-ridden dust sheets. Their heavy stench saturated the air, causing the area to smell like dye. The furniture was minimal. A couple of dark shelves were placed in the room’s corners. They were stuffed with painting supplies, looking ready to break apart from the weight of the items. Small notches covered them as black paint tried desperately to hang on to the old wood.

The newborn’s steps stopped. She looked hesitantly around, feeling out of place in the huge room. It was staggering how big the Cullen house was. Every time she thought she had seen the whole house, she found out there was yet another room. It was unnerving. She hoped this would be the last new room she laid her eyes on.

Esme walked up to the shelves. Her hands caressed the painting supplies happily as she turned to stare at the younger vampire. “Have you painted before?”

The young teen nodded cautiously. How could she forget the horrible stick people she had painted in school’s art class? They were ugly enough to create nightmares for those who saw them. She was definitely not meant to be an artist. As a matter of fact, it was not the wisest choice to put her in front of a canvas. She would just ruin it. Make it look like it was full of rotten lines. Most of the time, the lines weren’t even straight. It was an accomplishment in itself that her lines genuinely looked rotten, but atrocious bending ‘lines’ added cherry on top of the already disgusting art pieces.

“That’s lovely! I thought that we could paint together,” the caramel-haired woman suggested softly. Her amber eyes warmed from excitement and friendliness.

“I don’t know…” The girl studied the old shelves reluctantly. “It might not be the smartest idea. I’m not that great at it.”

Esme tilted her head sympathetically. “There is no right way to paint; therefore, no one can possibly be bad at it.” The matriarch gave her an encouraging smile. “And besides, I have seen a lot of different styles of painting. Nothing can surprise me.”

Her words did not give Bree more confidence. She wanted to scream at the yellow-eye. Explain how horrible her former paintings were. She was a lost cause. There was no point in trying to teach her the world of painting. She did not belong there. Her brushes were always too stiff and bulky. Lines like noodles accompanied them, always ruining her art pieces. There was no saving her.

She eyed her surroundings, wanting to leave the strongly scented room. To her dismay, the caramel-haired woman started taking painting supplies off the shelves. She had to leave while she still could. Or should she? Would it be dangerous to disobey the yellow-eye’s request? She didn’t know what would happen if she decided to leave. Esme could get mad at her and hurt her.

The vampire in question returned to the newborn. Her pale hands were full of supplies needed to paint. She handed a delicate paintbrush to her, her lips forming a new bright smile.

The teen could have snapped the brush in half, but she didn’t follow her urge to do so. She didn’t want to be rude, even if she despised what she was about to do. “Do I have to paint?”

“We don't need to do it for long. I only want to spend some time with you, and besides, painting could help to lift your mood. Perhaps even relax you.” Her hope to not touch the canvas shattered before her eyes at the caramel-haired matriarch's words. She was doomed.

Esme looked at her reassuringly. “I'll help you.”

Bree sighed, her gaze touching the brush in her hand. Its expensive-looking fur neatly shined in its place. Her crimson jumped to the woman as she prepared to face the horror of the white canvas. “Are you sure we can’t draw instead?” Her brown eyebrows rose, hopefully. 

“Yes, I’m sure.” The older vampire answered. She walked once again to get things from the shaky-looking shelves. Her heels clicked on the wooden floor. “But I’d be happy to give you drawing supplies if you want.”

The girl’s muscles stiffened. She certainly didn’t want that to happen. She had only proposed drawing because it was more bearable than painting. She did not like it either. She wasn’t much of an artist. Reading was more relaxing. The smell and rustling of pages were comforting in their own way. They brought her to a fantasy world where she could escape her problems. Whereas drawing and painting were just stressful. There was nothing fun about either of those activities. Both were as boring as watching sporting events.

In a blink of an eye, a canvas was tossed in front of her. Its treading empty surface, staring at her, daring her to smudge it.

“There we go,” Esme said. Her voice brightened the dull-turning atmosphere.

The young teen studied the white canvas distrustfully. She touched it gently, snapping her head towards the woman. She wasn’t too glad to realise the vampire was opening the paint buckets. Their scent thrust into the room stronger than ever.

Flaring her nostrils, the teen glared. She didn’t like the smell at all. Paint had always smelled too strong and strange to her. There was something revolting in its aroma. She didn’t know what, though.

As soon as the scent had filled the air, a paint palette was placed in front of the newborn. She glanced at it, hesitating to dip her brush into the numerous wet spots of paint.

“What would you like to paint?” the matriarch asked.

The question stunned Bree for two seconds. She blinked. “I- I don’t know.”

“Is there something that means a lot to you? Or perhaps you want to paint something simple?”

The young vampire frowned. She still had no intention to reveal her deepest darkest secrets. As she thought about what to do with the paintbrush, she let her hands fall to her sides. They had been at her chest’s height for a while now, holding the brush in the air like it would have been some type of disgusting slug.

She hated slugs.

Her mind was empty. Its machine-like wheels were completely still. Their silence was louder than anything else in her head. She was in trouble. How could her mind not help her? Did she have to paint one of those suns the kids tended to make? Was it how her filled canvas was going to look, like a wobbly sun with noodle lines as rays? No, she would humiliate herself with that. She couldn’t paint the image coming to her brain. It was too horrendous. 

But what else could she make? The sooner she painted something, the better. She could leave the room after and go to her room’s peace until the doctor returned from the hospital. She couldn’t believe how calmly he had told her he was a doctor. The interaction still created shudders in her back.

“I will draw a sun.” She sighed submissively, raising her paintbrush towards the yellow paint.

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The sky turned orange as she finished her ugly painting. It had taken her an hour to make it. She was in awe, but not of the painting itself. After all, it was just a circle with lines coming from it. She was in awe because of how long it had taken to paint it. You’d think making a circle and lines would take a minute or even less, but apparently not.

She had acted ridiculously while brushing the canvas, trying everything in her power to not leave her sun looking like rotting nuclear waste, but it had all been for nothing. Just like she had guessed. The yellow sun made her want to vomit. She wanted to break the canvas and hide it from the curious eyes of the amber-eyed Cullen watching her. Regret washed over her. She should have left the room and refused to paint; instead, she had been dumb and, in turn, had to look at the astonishingly ugly thing in front of her. Her…creation.

Her hands almost went over for the black paint to add a smiley face to it. It wouldn’t change how horrible it looked, but at least the sun would seem happier if she did so.

“That’s beautiful!” Esme’s voice exclaimed from behind.

The newborn felt the need to roll her eyes. Sure, she thought sarcastically. Her painting was truly a masterpiece. Maybe the other vampire had lost her mind while watching her brush swipe on the canvas. It would be a new record for her, making someone go crazy.

It was pleasurable to finally be sarcastic. She had not done so since arriving with Seattle's newborn army to destroy the yellow-eyes. She had neither had time nor been in the right mindset to do so. It was a relief to release her withheld sarcasm. Week wasn’t a long time ratio, but yet it still felt like forever since her last thought involving sarcasm.  

She smiled as she got hit with the realisation of how she felt a bit more herself and less paranoid. Maybe the painting had truly helped to lift her mood. She had not expected it. In spite of that, she planned to not touch the paintbrush again. It was not meant to be held by her pale marble fingers.

She put the cursed thing below the painting. That way, it would stay there to remind her of the anxious job of painting she had just faced.

“I want to go to my room.” Bree said, turning to see the matriarch.

“Of course. May I also suggest you go wash yourself? You have a little paint on your clothes and face.” A warm expression stretched across Esme’s face. “Alice will want you to get changed, but she is not home, so I propose you try to change your clothes before she comes back.”

The newborn nodded urgently. She had taken up the habit of avoiding the pixie. She didn’t like how freaked out she became by the slight inconvenience regarding clothing. All of the fabrics worn by the others had to be perfect. Neatly put on them, like on dolls. If they weren’t, the clothes had to be changed. The smallest and trivial things, like small mud stains, apparently ruined the clothes to no repair.

As the teen moved to leave the room, the caramel-haired vampire spoke, “It was nice to spend time with you. I enjoyed it.”

Chapter Text

Bree looked through her window. The morning sun rose from the horizon, lighting the forest on fire. It woke the small birds outside, making them chirp happily in honour of another day.

She had not fixed her paint-ridden clothes yet. Alice and Jasper had not returned from their hunting trip, calming her down a little. She didn’t bother changing her clothes before she was sure they were starting to return to the contemporary house.

Her fingers played with the window’s corners, swiping themselves across the wooden frames. Their delicate touch rubbed its edges desperately, like trying to get rid of the nonexistent paint on her fingers.

She had arrived at her room a couple of hours ago and looked through the huge mirror placed in one of its unfortunate corners. She pitied that specific corner. She disliked staring in its direction simply because of the mirror lurching in its short shadows.

Her clothes had indeed been very paint-ridden, just like the caramel-haired Cullen had told her. Her face was not as bad, but still not in great shape. Four lines went over her cheeks unevenly. She wasn’t sure how they had gotten there. Had the paint teleported to her face? She was sure she had not touched it at any point when she had been painting. Her clothes, however, were her own fault. She had been very aware of how some of the paint had splashed from her paintbrush onto them, tattering them rudely.

Now she was forced to soon change into a new expensive outfit. She hated how pricey all of the clothes in her wardrobe were. It made her feel bad when they got tattered with something. How was she supposed to exist, knowing she had ruined yet another set of clothes? But then again, Alice did not let anyone use the same clothes twice. It was annoying. The yellow-eyes were wasting money, like it would have been growing on trees. Sometimes the young teen wondered how much was exactly in their bank accounts. The expensive-looking furniture, the house, and the constant usage of new clothes suggested the amount was huge.

It was a mystery how they had acquired all of it. She had come to the conclusion that the reason for their wealth could be pinpointed to Alice’s visions and how long they had lived. If Carlisle, the leader who had been born in the 1600s, was the oldest, there was quite some time between now and then for the money to slowly build up.

Her ears picked up a car’s engine sounds, which undoubtedly belonged to the doctor. He had gone to the night shift to help the hospital with a sudden epidemic of accidents.

Humans were silly. Why did they get into accidents so often? Couldn’t they keep their bodies safe? It wasn’t like vampires were a problem for the Forks residents. They were safe from her kind. Protected by the shapeshifters and the Cullens. They were the luckiest mammals of the human species she had seen so far.

The clank of a car door made her legs start walking towards her door on their own accord. She wanted to go feed before changing her clothes. It wouldn't be wise to change the clothes and ruin them again with the disgusting animal blood. She did not like the taste of it, nor was she used to it, but she had to deal with it. If she had been able to dream, she would have seen dreams about juicy humans with their delicious hot blood running in their veins.

She could almost hear one of their hearts. It was coming closer—more real, too real. How did it sound so vivid? She didn’t know her imagination could do tricks like that. Could she attempt to daydream about hunting humans? Would their blood taste as delicious in her mind as in real life if she were capable of hearing the fake heart’s nervous bounding so well?

Nervous? Why did it sound nervous? Bree’s eyes thrust open. She had not even known they were closed. She had been so encaptured by the heart’s sound that-.

But she could still hear it. It pumped deliciously in the distance, coming closer to the yellow-eyes’ residence.

She had to get to it before anyone would stop her.

Her throat scorched as she flew out of her room. She went past the many doors of the house, fleeing like a cougar. No one was going to stop her from drinking the yummy, hot red liquid. She needed it. Suddenly, she didn’t care anymore if she died while attempting to get to the heavenly blood. She only wanted it, and nothing else. The stupid animal blood meant nothing to her. Its revolting taste lingered in her mouth as she recalled its taste from the last time. She would never drink it again; she only wanted the red liquid coming closer to her.

In a hurry, she ran out of the front door, leaving it hanging open. She was surprised that none of the Cullens had tried to stop her. Or maybe they were too weak and knew that. They could have given up on her, accepting that she was not meant to drink their disgusting food. 

A smell rushed to her nostrils as the outside air hit her. It was the most vile thing she had smelled. Like a wet dog, but a hundred times worse.

Carlisle’s hands stopped her in her tracks. They wrapped her tightly against his chest, not letting go of her.

She hissed at the action, not moving anymore. Her mind was clearing from the bloodlust as fast as it had started, the stench taking all the appeal out of the pumping heart. It was enough to make her body shiver, which shouldn’t be possible. She couldn’t shiver. It was impossible for vampires to do so.

“Seth is here.” The blond man announced, turning his focus from the girl to his coven members inside their house.

Seth? Who was Seth? Was he another human friend of the Cullens? A realisation dawned on the newborn’s horror-stricken expression. He had to be one of the Quileutes. He surely smelled the part. The violent stench of shapeshifters rotated in the air, making her scrunch her nose in disgust. Why did she have to endure two horrible smells in under twenty four hours? It was unfair. What did the world have against her? Had she done something to anger it?

The heartbeat came closer. A young boy with short black hair showed himself. He walked from the woods, studying the front yard anxiously, his gaze first going to Bree and then to the leader. He was maybe around fourteen, two years younger than her.

"Hi, Doctor Cullen!”

“Hello Seth. It's a pleasure to see you! What brings you here?” The blond man responded politely.

It was odd to see the shapeshifter. Had the teen missed something? Why was the boy standing in the yellow-eyes’ yard? Did he know about the treaty? He had to. There was no way he didn’t. She wondered if there was an emergency on the other side of the border. Did the Quileutes need help?

“Umm…well I know that I broke the treaty…and I’m very sorry about that, but Dr. . Cullen, I really wanted to see the newborn.”

The boy’s reason made the brown-haired young vampire snicker. A smile formed on her face as a couple of chuckles cracked out of her lips. Why on earth did the Quileute want to see her? She thought they knew she was a bloodthirsty, crazy newborn. Why would he risk coming here? Sure, she didn’t like the smell of the shapeshifters and, in turn, did not crave their blood that much when in proximity to their scents, but that did not mean she was safe to be around. It was dumb how she was thinking about the boy’s safety. She wasn’t supposed to do so. She had a feeling it had to do with how he was younger than her. Everyone around her was developmentally older than she.

Carlisle looked surprised by his words. He gave him a gentle smile. “Oh, that’s fine…I suppose. You could have alarmed us of your desire to meet Bree, and I’m sure we could have met up on the border.”

“You're right. I’m sorry.” Seth whined. He was suddenly embarrassed. “Why didn’t I think about that?”

“Not all of the options always come to mind when you need them. There is nothing to worry about. It would be ridiculous to break the treaty from an innocent mistake,” the amber-eyed vampire smiled.

The boy seemed to calm down a notch, his body relaxing. “Thanks. You're so wise, Doctor Cullen.”

“I simply have many centuries behind me. There are no minds that stay untouched by new experiences as time goes forward. And call me Carlisle; I feel we are familiar enough with each other for you to call me by my first name.” Carlisle said.

"Thanks, Dr. Cul- Carlisle.” Seth struggled to speak. His hands shaked slightly, nervous from being near vampires. Or maybe he was anxious to have broken the treaty. The girl wasn't sure which one was the reason for his emotions. 

The blond man smiled warmly, making the boy grin shyly. "So, Carlisle, can I maybe speak with Bree alone?” He continued looking at him pleadingly. “I’d really appreciate it to interview her in peace, if that’s okay.”

Interview? Bree raised one of her eyebrows, finding the boy’s choice of words weird. She suppressed her urge to let out a new group of chuckles. She wanted to know what was going on inside his head and what his thought process was like. It had to be cool based on the way he spoke.

“Do you think you can handle being around Seth without attacking?” Carlisle asked her silently. His eyes bore into the newborn’s soul, causing discomfort to flare in her chest.

Her gaze flickered to the shapeshifter and then back to the leader. He didn’t seem to have noticed Cullen’s question to her. Instead, he stared patiently, looking at the two, completely unaware of the words. She doubted he had heard anything. The words said to her had been too silent to be heard by anyone who wasn’t standing thirty centimetres away from her.

“Maybe.” She responded after pondering for the blink of an eye.

The older vampire narrowed his eyes. “Bree, you need to be completely sure. I cannot let you go if you will endanger our treaty.”

She gulped, turning to stare at the black-haired boy for a longer time. She inhaled the air around them deeply, testing whether it was going to send her over the edge. The vile, strong smell entered her nose. Its revolting scent pierced her nostrils and made her feel like she had inhaled acid.

With a mighty frown, she let out a gag.

“I will take that as a yes,” Carlisle sighed, squeezing her shoulders encouragingly. “You will have an hour to talk to him. If you don’t come back by then, we will come searching for you. Do you understand?”

The young teen nodded, alarmed by the change in the leader’s voice. It warned her against trying to escape. Told her that if she were to try to do so, she would not like the outcome. Her eyes drifted to the ground as the blond doctor let go of her. 

He gave her a sharp look before nodding politely to Seth and turning to go inside.

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The soft forest floor bounced beneath Bree’s rushing footsteps. Nature was doing its morning routine. Birds chirped in the trees. Animals rustled in their nests, unaware of the dangerous predator walking by. Nevertheless, despite the beautiful waking woods, she felt nervous. It crippled inside of her sneakily, like a cobra. She couldn’t get the amber-eyed vampire’s words out of her head. They taunted her, ruining her peaceful moment.

The boy behind her strolled more relaxedly, not seeming as anxious as before. Seth’s bouncy heart pumped his veins full of blood. Circulated the delicious red liquid in them and left her to crave the life-giving fluid going through him.

She felt venom pool in her mouth. Its sweet familiar taste urged her to take a sip from the Quileute. However, she couldn’t. No matter how frustrated the idea made her.

She wanted to taste the blood so badly. The desire was so strong that she constantly had to turn her head away from him. Unfortunately, her gaze seemed to pop right back to him when she desperately looked away.

The wind picked on her paint-tattered clothes. It tugged at their corners, trying to rip pieces from them. She didn’t like the wind today.

“So, your Bree, right?” Seth broke the tense silence.

The newborn turned to look at him. Her head tilted slightly from the strengthening smell of his blood. “Yes.”

“It’s nice to meet you! I’m Seth Clearwater,” the black-haired boy introduced himself. He jumped in front of her, stopping the girl in her tracks.

She stiffened in response, withholding a growl nearly escaping from her chest. It wouldn’t have helped to growl at the Quileute. In the worst-case scenario where she would have done so, she would have been attacked by a huge wolf. Gotten ripped apart and been killed on the spot.

That was definitely not on her list today.

The young teen had forgotten the danger of him in her nerve-cracking state. She needed to be careful around Seth. He was a shapeshifter, after all. She couldn’t risk doing something triggering to him.

Her gaze flew to the dirt beneath her boots. Her eyelids closed and then opened up again as she redirected her focus on the Quileute. The other teenager didn’t seem threatening. In fact, the wide smile on his face told her how excited he was. He really had to want to interview her.

Seth ruffled his short black hair. “So…umm…how strange it is to be a vampire? Do you miss eating popcorn?” His curious tone added, “I really want to know.”

“I don’t remember how popcorn tasted like…or any other human food in the matter.” Bree confessed. Her human memories were too dim for her to remember the individual tastes of food. It was depressing. She hoped to put human foods into her mouth and enjoy the flavours of them fully. But it wasn’t possible, not anymore.

“That’s sad.” The boy sighed, looking gloomy for a minute. His eyes started to glimmer. “Do you miss sleeping?”

She raised one of her eyebrows. Why were the questions from the shapeshifter so weird? Didn’t he have any other smarter questions to ask? He could have asked her about how she was doing. Or how she was adjusting to being a vampire. The answer would have been boring and perhaps a bit saddening, but still better than the things he was asking her currently about. “I can’t remember what sleeping felt like either, but I bet it would be nice to be able to do so.”

“Oh.” Seth gasped. “Wait, so you can’t really remember your human life?”

The newborn glanced uncomfortably towards a butterfly. Its wings flapped in the air, creating a small wind from them. She felt it as clearly as she was able to feel the bumping pain from her old memories. “I can, but a lot of the details are too dim to be recalled.”

The boy looked at her, confused.

She swung her hand under her chin, trying to figure out a way to make the meaning behind her words clearer. “It’s like my memories would have been dipped in mud and never cleaned, so they are forever tattered in the filth.” 

“That must suck.” Seth’s smile faded. He suddenly looked sorrowful. “It has to be hard to lose your memories. I wouldn’t know what to do if that were to happen to me. I’m sorry.”

She didn’t bother correcting the shapeshifter's small mistake of claiming she had lost her memories. She technically hadn’t, but the detail wasn’t important. Instead, she nodded. “I guess it is.”

The mood in the forest lightened as Seth let out a chuckle. “Hang on… I said it ‘must suck’”. His laughter became louder as he giggled at his own unintentional joke.

It wasn’t funny, but nevertheless, the contagious happiness brought a smile to the girl’s face. She did have to say the wording had been at very least interesting. It was a tiny bit ironic how he had used the word suck in front of a vampire.

A soft whimper left her body as her brain registered the strengthening scent of blood. Her throat throbbed, its hard surface feeling like it had been set on fire. She swore she was almost able to distinguish smoke coming from it. Her feverish eyes searched frantically for the reason for the worsening burn, but her scan left her with nothing. There were no clues anywhere near her as to where the odd sensation could have come from. The urge to leave the area washed over her. Her mind was telling her to run back to the contemporary house. She wanted to have nothing to do with the strengthening scent of red liquid.

Her legs squirmed impantiently, her gaze fixated on Seth.

“How have you liked living with the Cullens?” he asked innocently, not knowing about her rising inner turmoil.

“I don’t know.” She answered quickly. Her breath hitched as she looked away from the Quileute.

The yellow-eyes were scary, except for the leader and the matriarch. Esme had not seemed as daunting as before after her painting session with her yesterday. She didn’t prefer to admit it, but maybe she even liked the woman. She seemed nice. Carlisle was weirdly helpful and, to be honest, the most trustful of her capturers. She still didn’t want to trust neither of the two mentioned Cullens fully, but with time, she could very well warm up to them. They felt the safest. Bree could imagine starting to enjoy spending time with them if they truly didn’t have any plans to hurt her.

“Are you okay? You look distracted.”

The young teen returned her hazy concentration to the black-haired boy, her posture going from relaxed to agitated in milliseconds. “I want to go back.”

“But we haven’t even talked—oh. Your eyes are dark, almost pitch black. I remember Sam telling me how that means a vampire is hungry. Do you need to feed?” Seth babbled. He wore a concerned expression, stepping closer to inspect her face.

The well meaning action caused her to jump backwards, her instincts ready to attack the fourteen-year-old. She couldn’t handle his scent anymore. It was too strong and delicious, and most importantly, right in front of her. His heavenly life pumping blood was flowing inside of him, calling her to bite the boy invitingly.

The revolting smell of a shapeshifter had moved to the background in the face of her thirst. She didn’t mind it as much anymore. She wanted to sink her teeth into Seth.

With all the restraint she had gathered, the newborn turned around and fled. It was her only option. She couldn’t risk hurting the Quileute. She couldn’t kill him. Her brain reminded her of the danger of him, regardless of how harmless his appearance was. He could easily shred her to pieces. She could have enough newborn strength to fight him off for a while, but eventually she would succumb to her bloodlust and become reckless with her fighting moves. 

The grass beneath her bent from the force of her feet. The brown boots thrummed on the ground as they carried her towards the house, deemed to be somewhat safe in her mind.

Its rectangle shape came into view. The modern outerform rose from the forest like the protector in her human dreams.

Jasper bolted outside, sensing her distress. His eyes locked onto hers as he let out a growl.

“Jazz!” Alice's form appeared next to him.

Bree's face paled. She hadn't even known it could get even paler. The surprise and horror of seeing the scary pixie made her drop to a crouch. She was doomed. Truly, doomed. There was no saving her.

The yellow-eyed monster must have seen her. The thought created shivers in her back.

Her paint-ridden clothes laughed at her. Their colourful stains winked at her playfully, enjoying the show forming in front of them.

The newborn closed her eyes.

A gasp cut the air. “Why on earth haven’t you changed? You should know better than to walk around in those atrocious clothes, Bree!”

Chapter Text

The page Bree was reading turned as her marble-like fingers pulled it to the other side of the book.

She was reading about different animals. Her eyes were occupied with reading the nutritions of foxes. She had not remembered that the cunning creatures were able to eat berries. It was fascinating. “Omnivores,” she mused silently.

A picture of the cute bushy-tailed red animal picking berries jumped to her mind. A short smile appeared in her expression before she let it fade, like it had never even existed.

The door to her room opened with a boom as she got ready to turn another fragile page over. Emmett’s head popped in. The man wore a mischievous grin. “I hope you're not. We are, to my knowledge, carnivores. It would be a shame if you started drinking the nectar from the flowers. That would be next level!”

Disgust plastered on the young teen's face as her gaze found the hulk-like vampire’s. She couldn't even think about attempting to drink the disgusting liquid coming from the plants. If animal blood tasted bad, the one coming from flowers must have been horrible. She almost gagged in disgust. She would never touch the insides of the green plants. It would surely make her traumatised. The thick transparent thing dripping from them—absolutely never would she try to put that into her mouth. And over her dead body, would she actually slurp it down to her stomach. She could get sick from it. Or could she?

Were vampires able to get stomach bugs? She hoped not. She would need to ask Carlisle about it after the man returned from his hunting trip. Surely he would know.

“So...would you want to come help me and Rose?” Emmett asked. He leaned against the frame of the door. It creaked ominously under his weight, warning that it could not take much more of his lean.

“I don't know.” The newborn sighed cautiously. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go ‘hang out’ with the two, as Emmett referred to it. The muscular vampire had pestered her for the last two days, forcing her to talk with him three times each day. It was annoying. She hoped she would be left alone to suffer and read her books in peace.

“C'mon bee. It will be fun. I pinky promise! We need your help with fixing up my Jeep. I accidentally drove straight into a tree while making out with Rosalie.” His lips turned to pout as he undoubtedly repeated his yesterday's little adventure in his brain.

The teen narrowed her eyes and shut her book gently. It dutifully complied with her command, letting itself be closed without a struggle. “I don’t know how to fix cars.” She wasn’t keen on being stuck in the same room with the most horniest Cullens. She swore she had seen them slip away multiple times this week, first not realising why they had done so. Soon, however, the reason had dawned on her. They were very into each other. The car incident had just proved her theory right.

And then there was also the fact that she had heard their alone time two times.

The other mated couples living in the residence didn’t seem as occupied with their mates. They did also disappear occasionally, but not nearly as often as the hulk-like vampire and the blond goddess.

“It doesn't matter. Rose won’t let us touch the Jeep anyway. She just needs a couple of extra hands to give her tools.” Emmett raised his shoulders nonchalantly. “And I’m too bored to let both of my hands be occupied so I need your help.”

“I guess I can come,” the young girl sighed. She stood up reluctantly. “But only if you leave me alone for the rest of the day.”

“Deal.”

Bree felt her muscles relax after the man’s promise. She hadn’t known her body had stiffened. It had tightened so subtly that she had not managed to notice it. Worry flickered in her brain before she stepped towards the muscular vampire. She let it move back of her mind as she reached the door.

The Cullen led her downstairs through the scary stairs. She climbed them down quickly, skipping the last three stairs with an enormous jump. She liked to think the movement had been huge but most likely, especially for a vampire, tiny. Nevertheless, she still felt proud of it. She had managed to jump all the way to the bottom from her place on the glass stairs. It was an achievement that the hellish transparent thing hadn’t tripped her in the air maliciously.

Her silent demeanour dragged behind the other vampire. Her eyes gazed around as they took a peek inside the huge garage. Its shelves were shaking with tools she couldn’t recognise, each looking more mysterious than the last. How many tools did people need to fix cars? Wouldn’t it be more proficient if someone made one super tool to fix all the problems with rusty vehicles? Or was the world too capitalistic for that?

The newborn ruminated in her thoughts until she spotted the blond goddess. She was lying under one of the multiple cars sitting in the garage.

“Finally,” Rosalie sighed. Her head popped beneath the red car she was working on.

Emmett’s face twisted in disappointment. “Babe? Why aren’t you working on my Jeep anymore? I thought you’d only concentrate on it.”

The blonde vampire pulled herself up from under the car. Her hands full of oil, she stood up and wiped her pale hands against a towel put on top of the red car. “I wanted to make sure my BMW was doing well. And besides, you were taking too long.”

“You’re going to return to my Jeep now when I’m back, right?” The hulk-like vampire spoke, his face full of worry. He looked to be quite upset about his Jeep’s fate.

Bree didn’t get why the car worried him so much. Vampires were faster than the metal machines, so logically, there was no point in using them. They just slowed their kind down. And most importantly, the Jeep was only a car. It could be replaced easily with the enormous amount of wealth the Cullens seemed to harbour. Why bother fixing it when you could buy a new one? The Jeep in question looked too broken to be fixed. It’s front was completely ruined and flat, looking more like a metal square than a car.

Rosalie walked up to the man. “Yes, but I need to get a couple of tools first.” She turned to look at the teen standing in the garage’s doorway. Her face unreadable, she said, “Are you going to come in?”

The brown-haired girl’s gaze went to the woman, shifting then to Emmett. The mated couple stared at her, waiting for her to step inside the stuffed garage. Her eyes dropped to the concrete floor before her head nodded submissively.

She was unsure about stepping inside, but she just had to do it regardless of how reluctant she was to do the action. She had promised to help the two Cullens with the Jeep. Ultimately, it would be worth it in the end. She could spend time alone without getting interrupted when the torturous interaction would be over, like they had agreed. It couldn’t be too bad to stay in the garage for an hour or two. Hopefully, the time would go by fast.

She inspected Rosalie's face, trying to see if she seemed hostile. Her memories brought back the words the other vampire had said in the Cullens family meeting. If the newborn had had to choose one other person after Jasper, whom she didn’t trust at all, she would have chosen the blond goddess. She had proved she didn’t really care about Bree and was ready to see her get killed.

As Bree walked inside, the muscular man glanced quickly at his mate, his expression messaging something to her. The young teen darted her face around the garage, feeling a rising awkwardness inside of herself. She had no idea what he was attempting to communicate and, frankly, did not care. She wanted to do what she was asked to do and then go back to reading.

When the glancing between the two Cullens was done, Rosalie scoffed and walked to her. She seemed irritated for a blink of an eye before relaxing her features. She raised her head, eyeing the cautious girl. “Do you know any of the car tools by name? Or do I need to explain their names to you so you will be able to help?”

Under the judging stare of the woman, the newborn squirmed. “I- I don’t think so.”

“I guess I need to introduce them to you shortly then,” the blond goddess sighed more softly. Her hands found their way to her hips. “Listen closely. I don’t want to repeat myself.”

The minutes ticked by as the crimson-eyed vampire noted all the names of the hundreds of tools placed on the shelves. After the confusing introduction to them, she was put to stand next to them and give them one by one the ones Rosalie needed.

Emmett stood lazily next to her, occasionally helping her to hand the tools to his mate. His eyes studied the woman’s work, wonder sparkling in his gaze.

Clicks and clanks rang in the air as the blond vampire fixed the Jeep slowly. As the time wore on, the young girl turned more restless, her gaze not on the places it was supposed to focus on. She wished for the ‘hangout’ to soon be over. Her books had started to call for her from upstairs. She was able to feel their luring thin pages and enchanting scent hovering into her nose.

Her change in patience was noticed as Emmett rolled his eyes playfully. “Really? Bored already? Kid, we have only worked on my Jeep for an hour. I was betting you’d stay here longer.”

Bree’s eyes widened. Betted? What did the man mean by that? Had he made a bet about her? Her heart stung. Suddenly, she didn’t like the direction the day was going. She certainly did not want someone to bet on her. It was rude.

“Which means that I won,” Rosalie announced under the car. She came back up with a victorious pearly smile. “You shouldn’t have made a bet with me and known that the way the newborn is glued to her books, she would not stay away from them for multiple hours.”

“Shi-” Emmett opened his mouth to curse, but the sound of a motor cut it abruptly. The loud engine crackled like it was about to explode. The teen hadn’t heard such a loud motor before. It was almost fascinating how a car was able to make such vile sounds.

Her body stiffened as a heartbeat came to her awareness. It was delicious sounding, bringing sweet venom to her tongue. If she had been closer to it or more thirsty, she would have lost control and attacked it right on the spot, but her full belly from yesterday's hunt made her feel swollen. She didn’t want to make it worse.

“That stupid human! What have we told her about coming to our house!” Rosalie hissed furiously. She had jumped next to the delirious girl and taken hold of her when the younger vampire had imagined the tasty flavour of the arriving human’s blood. “Bree, stop breathing.”

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The newborn’s senses were on fire. She felt them eat her mind slowly as the unknown car drove to Cullen's residence. Her eyes locked on her room’s door as she held her breath, waiting for the human to leave. She had no plans to endanger her living situation, and the yellow-eyes had made it abundantly clear she was not to hurt the pinkish mammal called Bella. 

Emmett and Rosalie had forced her to her room as they had made a plan to keep the situation in check. The muscular vampire was to stay on the other side of her room’s door and seize her if she lost control. The blond woman, on the other hand, would usher Bella away. It sounded efficient, but Bree wasn’t sure the hulk-like man would truly be able to hold her off if she lost herself to bloodlust. She was stronger than him, and that would create trouble in the said scenario.

Her throat scorched from pain. The thick venom inside her mouth twirled, waiting for the right time to attack. It’s slippery grasp urged her to swallow and let the sweet substance flow freely into her throat.

The delicious smell of human blood stroked her nostrils. It pushed itself into her brain, fuzzing it and making her feel like her head was full of cotton. The thoughts in her head were slow and muddy as her hands flew to her throat, clasping it desperately.

Its soreness grew the longer the human and Rosalie were talking on the door. Their voices became more frustrated. The argument they were having turned more heated. Neither party was ready to give up what they were set to do.

“Bella, for the last time, leave! Edward will kill us if he finds out you're here.” Rosalie's voice rang sharply in the air. It’s irritated tone travelled to the young teen’s ears.

“He doesn't need to know.” The mammal called Bella reasoned.

Rosalie’s furious hiss broke from her lips. “He will find out! My brother isn’t an idiot. He will smell your scent when he comes back home and question why it’s here. We are all going to be in trouble.”

“It’s too late to hide it anyway. I’ve already left the scent. I just want to speak with Bree.” Bella reasoned determinedly. She didn’t seem like she was going to back down.

“I’m not letting you near a newborn. Edward would personally pulverise me if he finds out she has been close to you.”

Emmett chuckled, amused, from the other side of the sixteen-year-old girl’s door. He didn’t appear too worried about the human’s appearance now that Bree was safely in her own room.

It was silent for a second. “Shouldn’t I know what it’s like to be a newborn so I can get ready for it? The best way to do so would be to talk with Bree. She could tell me what it’s like from a fresh perspective. I sent Seth earlier to-”

“Seth came here because of you?” Rosalie gasped furiously. “You do realise both he and Bree could have gotten hurt?”

“No…I didn’t think about that,” Bella admitted. Her voice became silent as she acknowledged her mistake.

The girl listening to the conversation upstairs tilted her head. She wanted the human to leave the residence. The quicker it happened, the better. She didn’t wish to make Bella her meal. At least for now. The Cullens pet needed to stay far away from her, safe from her hunger. It would be better for everyone involved, even though the idea of tasting her seemed more appetising as the clock ticked onward.

Bree glanced towards the mirror. She blinked. The action was unnecessary, but gave her something else to do. To distract her mind from the human downstairs. She didn’t want to think about the creature anymore or listen to the heated conversation. It only served her throat and mind, reminding them about the delicious blood pumping in the human’s veins. She wasn’t in a state where she could have concentrated on something like that.

Her uneasiness was starting to rise. Minutes ticked by as the voices of the blond vampire and brown-haired human spoke vigorously. She couldn’t take this for much longer. She would need to escape from the window soon.

The inviting scent of blood circulated faintly in the newborn’s room. Its tasteful existence persuaded her to burst from the white walled room and attack the mortal downstairs.

The conversation stopped. The sudden, unexpected silence startled the teen. What had happened in the time she had not paid attention to the voices for them to stop so abruptly?

Her curious senses directed themselves back towards the two creatures downstairs as she leaned forward.

She could hear steps. They vibrated in the house confidently, like they had just won a battle. The beating heart got louder, as if it were coming closer. Surely the human was still at the door? Rosalie wouldn’t have let her further inside, wouldn’t she? Rosalie wouldn’t be that dumb to risk the life of the pinkish mammal. The blondie knew how big of a threat the three-and-a-half-month-old vampire was.

“Ugh! Fine! Go kill yourself, but know that it’s not my fault when you get hurt. Maybe you will learn something from defying us.” Rosalie’s infuriated, but frighteningly defiant, tone hissed.

Horror stroked into the crimson-eyed girl’s expression. No. The human couldn’t come to her room. She just couldn’t. She wouldn’t be able to control herself.

She bolted from her sitting position on the floor. The floor creaked loudly as she shot up in a hurry.

While dread polluted most of her brain, a small part of her mind reeled in satisfaction. It demanded that she would run to the human and finish her off. Kill her quickly before anyone had time to do anything. The lure to do so grew within her. The part of her brain responsible for the horrendous idea whispered to her seductively, not seeming to understand how the idea would end up dooming her to death.

She shook her head desperately. She needed to get out of here before the growing bloodlust would overtake her and make her do something that she didn’t want to.

Emmett’s panicked voice came through her door. “Crap! Rose, what are you thinking? We can’t just-.”

“It’s fine, Em. Let the human enter the room. She is too much of a mule to understand the danger she is putting herself in.”

“Like that makes this any better!” The muscular man argued.

Bella joined in. “Please. I promise I won’t stay for too long. You can hold Bree if it makes you guys feel safer. I’ll be out of the room in five minutes…sooner if needed.”

The silence engulfed the house again. Only the bothersome heartbeat and the loud veins of the mammal disrupted it. 

Bree waited tensely in the quietness, her body rigid from fear. She pleaded- prayed that she would not be forced to face the demonic human. The amber-eyed vampires couldn’t pressure her to face her.

Her marble hands flew to her throat as she let out a strangled whine, attempting to tell the older vampires that she wouldn’t be able to be any closer to Bella. She would kill her otherwise.

Her praying was heard when Emmett sighed. “Bella needs to stay on this side of the door. I will not open it for her. The kid can hear her just fine from inside the bedroom and I bet Bella can hear her too from here, right?”

The newborn’s stance eased. She wouldn't be put to endure the presence of the mouth-watering mammal from closer. She had at least some room to breathe. She still could not take too many or too deep breaths, but at the very least she didn’t need to be in the same room with the scent of Bella. She would have been doomed in that case. She still was, but not as badly as if the human would have diluted the air she was breathing.

The most concerning thing about her was how her scent was slowly sneaking beneath her door to her room. If she were to put a towel to block the scent’s entrance, would it hold it on the other side?

She ran desperately to the bathroom attached to her bedroom and snatched the biggest towel she saw. Her steps brought her back to her room and made her drop to her knees in front of the white door. She stuffed the fluffy white object in front of the slim crack under the wooden door. She had to hope this would work.

“Bree?” Rosalie’s alarmed call made her hands stop in their place. She raised her head, looking through the door like she’d be able to see the angelic woman.

Her shaky voice answered, “I- I’m fine.”

“Did you just put a towel against the door?” Emmett chuckled, amused.

“Umm…yes. I thought it might help keep the mammal’s scent away.”

“What mammal’s?” The human asked with a heavy dose of confusion in her tone.

The hulk-like man snorted. His booming voice reverberated in the hallway “Yeah, Bree. Why don’t you tell her what you're talking about?”

The young teen pulled her lips backward, showing her pearly teeth. She didn’t want to talk about unnecessary things while in so much pain. Her throat was killing her. Why couldn’t the mammal ask the questions she truly wanted to know? “I’m talking about you. You're the mammal, Bella.”

This was slightly humiliating. It was another thing to call Bella a mammal when she was not around, but to let her actually hear it? Why had she let the word slip from her mouth so easily?

“Oh! Umm…that’s…okay…I guess?” Bella said stunned. A small amount of her scent escaped to the bedroom, regardless of the towel supposed to hold it on the other side.

Bree took three steps from the door. Her body stiffened again. She held her desire to gulp, not wanting to aggravate her throat’s volcano further, but it was turning out to be harder than she thought. She wished to be able to do so safely. Her mouth was like a pool, except rather than being full of water, it was filled with venom.

Her hands clutched her throat desperately. Their marble surfaces against each other. “My throat hurts a lot.”

“If you want to ask Bree something, do it now!” Rosalie snapped, her anger and worry mixing with each other as she directed them towards the human.

“How easy is it to not hurt others?” Bella blurted quickly out.

The red-eyed girl winced. The question had made her think about her thirst even more than she had already thought about it. The mammal hadn’t clearly thought her question properly through, failing to realise the said question wouldn’t be a great thing to ask. “It’s hard.”

Her agonised answer created a short silence. It lasted only for fifteen seconds before Bella spoke. “Yes, that's what I’ve heard.” Her heart picked up as she continued carefully. “I remember Edward mentioning how Alice saw you die when the Volturi arrived back. Umm….so…how do you feel regarding that?”

The newborn blinked. She felt terror rise inside her chest. The Cullens had known she would die almost the whole time she had stayed with them. Was this the vision the Cullens had kept from her? A crushing feeling filled her unbeating heart. It took over her body like it was the easiest thing in the world. She wouldn’t survive the Volturi confrontation. Her only hope would be to escape before the dark-cloaked ancient vampires came back. She now more than ever needed to find Fred.

She felt another spike go through her heart. The teen had started to think the yellow-eyes wanted to genuinely get to know her. The last couple of days had been surprisingly nice. However, she saw how wrong she had been. They had pitied her and tried to make her comfortable in the house until her imminent death would take hold of her.

They had lied to her, and she had been idiotic and blind. Done the one thing she shouldn’t have—the thing she had sworn not to do—to start trusting them slightly.

Chapter Text

The front door opened. Thunderstorm raged outside. Its bright flashes blasted their sharp claws into the ground, leaving the dirt to wonder what had struck it.

Bree stared at the sight, bewildered. Her eyes glued to the uproar outdoors, she breathed in the moist air. It tickled her nostrils, promising the coming escape from the Cullen residence. 

The yellow-eyes wanted to go play baseball on a field apparently close to their house. They had wanted her to come with them, as they did not trust her enough to leave her alone at their contemporary house. It had presented a great opportunity for the newborn to try slipping away in the middle of the game, her main intention being to find Fred as fast as possible.

She hoped he was searching for her. If not, her chances to run away were slim. Even when she had practiced her gift with the blond patriarch of the coven before the reveal of her faith, it had not worked too well. She shouldn’t count on it.

The sound of footsteps reached her ears. They were coming nearer, their pace slowing down the closer they arrived, as if anxious to meet her.

Esme’s and Carlisle’s forms appeared from behind a wall. Their spotless clothes were delicately on them, as if the Cullens would have taken a great time putting them on. Not a single wrinkle was seen in the fabrics of the sportswear they wore. The couple smiled tensely at her as they held each other's hands tightly. 

The betrayal the young teen felt from seeing them was intense. It rolled into her, kicking her in the stomach. She crouched instinctively, baring her teeth for them to see. Her silent snarl was only heard by her mind, which trembled in her chest, ready to become louder if needed.

Rain tapped the roof violently, provoking the hallway to feel stuffed, like too many creatures would have been standing inside of it.

“Bree, we understand your upset with us, but I can assure you, we did not mean you any harm when we withheld Alice’s vision from you.” Carlisle tried to appease her. His amber eyes shone with compassion. “We only wanted you to feel safe in our care. Telling about your demise wouldn’t have improved your mental health. It was better for you to not know what would happen.”

The girl stayed silent. She glared at the two leaders of the Cullen clan, refusing to ease her stance. She would never let them trick her again.

Esme took a hesitant step towards her. “Please, Bree. We only want to help you.”

The words made the younger vampire roll her eyes. She couldn’t believe what was coming out of the yellow-eyes mouths. Did they think she was going to buy what they said? That they cared for her? If they had truly felt so, they would not have held her captive and forced her to pass away in the hands of the Volturi. They would have let her go—run from the dangerous ancient coven wanting to kill her.

“You're lying,” she hissed.

The caramel-haired woman opened her mouth. “Sweetheart, we are not ly-”

"Yes, you are. Why am I still here if you so much want to “help me”? You’d let me leave if that were the case, but it’s clearly not.” Bree spat. Nervousness flapped briefly inside of her but was soon replaced with fury. She didn’t care how rude she was being by cutting the matriarch’s word. If she were to get attacked by the yellow-eyes, it wasn’t like she would survive much longer anyway. The Volturi were to arrive in three days.

“It’s not as simple as that,” the blond doctor tried to cut back into the conversation.

"Yes, it is!” The newborn growled.

The mated couple glanced at one another, their expressions lost, searching for a hint of anything in their significant others irises to figure out what to say. As they found nothing, their troubled eyes returned to the girl.

“We truly do understand where you're coming from, but letting you go would make us the target of the Volturi. We are already deeply monitored by them. Our unusual living choice and Bella draw their attention to us enough as it is.” Carlisle attempted to explain. “We have no other choice than to keep you here. Otherwise, our family would get destroyed.”

“And there might be a chance that the Volturi will spare you. A path of action we aren’t thinking about. We still have time to figure that out and see if Alice’s vision’s outcome changes,” Esme added. Hope radiated from her voice, like she would have genuinely believed what she said. 

That made her delusional.

There was no way to save the teen other than by escaping from the Cullens and the Volturi. It was foolish to think there was a third path, casually hiding from everyone's sight. It should have been mangled with plants from unusage, easily seen because of the eye-catching messes growing in it. So there wasn't one; the imagery path in the older vampire’s mind couldn’t exist if all the odds were against it.

“I doubt they will,” Bree retorted.

The blond patriarch sighed. “You have to have faith in God. We need to pray that he helps you.”

“I don’t really believe in him.” 

“Then have hope,” Carlisle declared, his tone firm.

The newborn shaked her head, standing up from her crouch. “No.”

Esme frowned. “Surely you can attempt, at least.”

The rain calmed down a bit as the teen shaked her head again. Its droplets fell to the concrete steps outside the door, splashing back up into the air briefly before coming back to the ground with a thud.

Alice’s familiar steps danced to the hallway. Her wide smile directed itself towards the trio. “I’m so excited to go play!” She squirmed.

The crimson-eyed girl took a step back away from the pixie. She didn’t want to stand too close to her. Perhaps the other vampire could see her future clearer when near her. She didn’t want to leave anything at risk. Her escape had to happen. She needed to not think about leaving and concentrate on thinking about what she’d do when she came back to the Cullen residence after the baseball game. That could deter Alice from seeing her real plan to leave the baseball field when the right moment presented itself. She needed to be patient.

“All of you look so great with your outfits on,” the raven-haired pixie continued. Her words seemed deliberate, like she had tried to stop the brewing awkwardness and anger.

Bree looked away. She didn’t want to look at the person who was the reason for her possible death. She knew it wasn’t logical to think Alice was the cause of her death, but she wanted someone to blame. The short vampire was a perfect victim for that. Ideal creature to toss to the other end of her anger.

“You did an amazing job fixing mine and Carlisle's.” Esme smiled back pleasantly. “And Bree’s outfit is so very lovely too!”

Pride took over Alice’s expression. “Thank you! I knew you’d like them.”

Her confession made the newborn snort. Of course, the pixie would have known her coven leaders would have enjoyed the cloth pieces. She was able to see into the future and make clothes to their liking.

“Do you like yours, Bree?” The pixie asked warily.

The young teen glared at the woman. She stayed silent. It was not the business of the yellow-eyes to know whether she fancied her new outfit or not.

A small glimmer of satisfaction rushed to her as she was reminded how Alice had most likely not known how she felt about the clothes. The raven-haired vampire wouldn’t have asked the question otherwise.

As the brown-haired girl didn’t answer, Alice's expression dropped. She glanced at Carlisle and Esme “I suppose we should go soon. If we don't, Emmett is going to have a tantrum.”

“Yes, you're indeed right.” The blond patriarch nodded. He turned to look at Bree “You first.”

_____________
꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦❦꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷

The rain poured to the ground as the newborn ran towards the baseball field. Her wet clothes weighed on her, attaching to her skin like glue. Their uncomfortable touch stuck bravely on her like she’d already run away—like the clothes were attempting to stop her from doing so.

For their unfortunate luck, she wasn’t going to let them dictate what she did. Soon, she’d be away from the yellow-eyes and safe from the dangerous Volturi. 

Her eyes looked around, hoping to find an excuse not to play with the Cullens. She didn’t want to be distracted by their activity when the time came to flee.

As she arrived on the edge of the field, her eyes spotted the yellow-eyes who had run to prepare for the game when she had still been getting ready to leave the house. Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper stood firmly on the wet grass. Their expressions were clouded with impatience. 

The trio dripped water, all of their hairs soaked from the sky’s cries.

Bree slowed down, stopping fully when she felt she was close enough to the other vampires. She left quite a hole between herself and the amber-eyed coven. She had no desire to get too close to them now that their lie was out. In her mind, the already scary vampires had turned into monsters. And there was nothing the coven could do about it. They had betrayed her—told her she had hope when she didn’t, and that if anything was monstrous.

Raindroplets slowed down, their pace becoming calmer. If the Cullens were to play, they should do so soon. The crimson-eyed girl was sure that otherwise the storm would stop and leave them without their baseball match. She doubted they would be able to play for too long. They had taken quite a while to leave when the storm struck.

Her muscles stiffened as a surprisingly huge drop of water splashed in her hair, its wet composure spreading onto her scalp. The ending of the storm was bad for her too. It made her escape window smaller. She needed to pray that the clouds continued giving water to the plants for a bit longer.

Alice jumped next to the newborn, her amber eyes glowing remorsefully. “I’m really sorry about-”.

The young teen lurched backwards as a hiss burst from her small lips. She wanted to have nothing to do with the pixie. Couldn’t she see how much harm she had done? She needed to stay away from her.

The raven-haired vampire frowned, offended by her reaction.

“Alice, don’t go close to the newborn.” Jasper’s furious but worried voice rang. The man rushed between her and his mate.

"Jazz, it’s fine, truly!” the short seer soothed him.

The southern-accented man narrowed his eyes. “It’s not fine. She reeks of distrust and apprehension.” The last word spat out of him, like he would have been too revolted to spell it out loud. His vigorous gaze burned holes in Bree’s face as he forwarded his new words to her. “You better be careful of your next move.”

Panic flared in the newborn’s chest. Did he know she was planning to flee? No, he possibly couldn't, or could he? Was his power to feel the emotions of others so strong that he was able to get the gist of what they were about to do? She rejected the idea, fixing her mind back on things happening around her. It was a ridiculous thought; he couldn’t be able to do something like that. One of the other Cullens should have already mentioned it if it had been true. Her mind was just playing tricks on her, encouraging her stupid fantasies.

Esme’s hands came behind her, placing themselves on her shoulders. The woman really wanted to have a death wish. If the sixteen-year-old girl hadn't  known it was the matriarch of the coven, she would have attacked her toucher in a second. The only reason she let the caramel-haired vampire lay her hands on her was because, while getting to know her a bit, she had gotten the impression that Esme wouldn’t hurt her without a good reason.

“How about you two go help the others get the game ready? We cannot waste more time if we wish to play,” the matriarch instructed her children.

Jasper and Alice eyed her quickly before leaving to help their coven members.

Esme turned the teen around, forcing her to face her. “Bree, it’s rude to hiss.”

Bree’s crimson eyes blinked defiantly. Her head rose upwards, wanting to look tough.

“I know Jasper was being rude to you, but that does not mean you have the right to be mean back to him. Show him you're the bigger person, and don’t let his provocation get into your head,” the caramel-haired woman said. She stared at the younger vampire wishfully.

“I don’t need to be the bigger person,” the newborn pointed out. As she spoke, she knew she was speaking the truth from the expression the other vampire made. She was the youngest immortal in the field, and Esme knew that. It wasn’t her job to be nice to the southern man if he wasn’t being pleasant either. He was, to her understanding, over two hundred years old while she was merely sixteen—not even legally an adult.

“I suppose you’re right,” the matriarch sighed. She pressed her lips together before speaking again. “Jasper cares about our family a lot, even if he doesn't always show it outwardly. He is scared you will end up hurting us or Alice, and feels a great need to protect our family. The way he shows it isn’t considerate towards you, and I in no way endorse or accept his behaviour, but I do want you to understand he is only looking out for the rest of us.”

The girl didn’t react to her words. She didn’t care how the scarred man felt. She was only concerned about her safety and wanted to have an easy escape.

Esme squashed her shoulder gently. “I want to apologise on behalf of my son. I’m sure he will come around and stop treating you the way he does.”

Thunder cracked in the sky, colouring the field white.

The teen shifted her gaze away from the matriarch. Hurt spawned in her unbeating heart. He wouldn’t ‘come around’. She knew they both knew that. She had a time limit in her life, which was getting shorter the more time she spent with the yellow-eyes. In three days, she would be dead if she’d stayed here. Even in her wildest dreams, Jasper didn’t start treating her well during the remaining days. It would take longer than that, which wasn’t really an option.

“We are ready to start.” Carlisle whispered silently as he walked up to the two. He wrapped his right arm behind his wife's back and raised his free hand to caress her cheek.

The caramel-haired woman smiled, letting go of Bree. She gave the doctor a small kiss on the lips. “We’ll come soon.”

“Good, Emmett is going to explode soon from anticipation,” the blond doctor smiled. He turned to look at the newborn, who was now standing awkwardly in her place. “Do you want to play with us?”

“No,” she answered.

“Then you can help me umpire the baseball match,” Esme proposed.

The newborn nodded reluctantly. She needed to seem like she wasn’t planning to do anything, and concentrating on the game might help hide her plan to flee. She couldn’t choose fully to escape, or else Alice’s visions would show it to the pixie.

“Hurry up!” Emmett shouted from his place. He stomped his feet impatiently. “You’re taking forever. I want to play.”

His action made the newborn roll her eyes. The hulk-like man didn’t need to shout. They were able to hear him just fine from the other side of the field. He was acting like a child, which was dumb because she was supposed to be the kid.

The vampires in the area constructed two teams out of each other. Jasper, Alice, and Esme would face off against Carlisle, Rosalie, and Emmett.

The grouping had confused the brown-haired teen until she figured out Esme was both an umpire and a player. She wasn’t sure how it was going to work, but she guessed they must have had a plan if they chose to put the matriarch on a team.

The baseball game began with a swing of Emmett’s steel bat. It knocked the baseball far into the forest, forcing Jasper to run after it. But as the scarred man disappeared behind the trees, it didn’t take long for the ball to fly back towards the field.

Next was the turn of the blond patriarch to swing. He waited until the ball was thrown close to him before hitting it hard and successfully. It flew back towards the forest it had returned from a minute ago.

Bree sat down on the grass, her hands playing with the spiky tips of the green plants growing from the ground. They tickled her marble skin as she brushed her hands nervously against them.

She needed to get ready to bolt. The Cullens were occupied with their game. This was her best chance to run. They wouldn’t be able to react instantly to her escape attempt if she immediately stood up and ran.

As her body swirled in anxiety, a fresh scent drifted her way. It made her head snap to it, like a magnet finding its other part. The sweet smell of a familiar vampire, Fred’s scent, infiltrated into her nostrils.

She jumped up from the grass instinctually, glancing at the yellow-eyes. They had not yet detected the scent.

Without thinking more, she sprinted towards the smell of her friend.

Chapter Text

Bree heard the distant steps of the Cullens behind her. They echoed in the unnervingly silent forest. It felt like everything had stopped to look at the chase—the animals, plants, even the storm raging in the sky. Now what was left of the once great thunderous rain was small drops of tears running down the leaves of the trees.

The newborn’s head stayed bravely looking forward regardless of the silent pleas behind her telling her to stop running—to stop her long planned escape so that she could be given to the Volturi to be killed. She wasn’t going to let the voices turn her mind around, no matter how desperate the shouts of the yellow eyes were getting. She was finally free—well, almost. She needed to find Fred and get the hell away from the territory of the rich coven.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, trying unsuccessfully to turn invisible. But just like her gift had refused to work when she had run for the first time from the Cullens, it didn’t budge this time either.

Her mind gave up trying to get it to work and instead concentrated on the scent of her friend. Fred’s familiar chestnut, rose, and honey-mixed scent hovered in the air. It led her through endlessly feeling bushes and trees. They stroked her body parts harshly as she ran between them.

The constant continuation of the same plants made her wonder, was she stuck in some type of twisted loop? She hoped she would soon find a way out of the strange-looking forest. She had no interest in getting stuck in the yellow-eyes territory for too long.

The voices behind her had ceased, causing a bad inkling in the pits of her stomach. Part of her hoped that the lack of noise meant her capturers had given up, but she knew better than that. They were still after her. Probably planning what to do.

She was afraid that if she were to get caught, she would be immediately killed by them. Surely she had now angered all the rest of them and worsened the southern-accented vampire’s desire to end her. She would be doomed if Fred didn’t soon show up from somewhere. She was really counting on him. He was her only way to escape.

Her feet thrummed against the slimy mud. It splashed around her like a protective shield, coating her in the brown substance. Her expensive clothes from the Cullens were getting completely ruined without a pity. She couldn’t care less about them. Her life was more important than the cloth pieces. Alice would surely disapprove of what she thought, but she wasn’t here, so the girl was free to think what she wanted.

The young teen moved with ease in the small rain. It wasn’t a match for her or her plans, even if it would have tried to be. Luckily for it, it wasn’t. She was almost thankful for the rainstorm. Without it, she wouldn’t have been able to escape as easily.

The water droplets fell on her face, washing away some of the smudged mud that had reached her face with the help of the strong splashes her shoes made.

A wild warning snarl reached her ears, leaving her just enough time to dodge her sudden attacker. She plunged to the ground, not daring to stop to turn around and see who had charged at her. Her feet continued running, their fast pace leaving no time to think properly as she sped through the wet forest.

She arrived at an extremely familiar river. It danced before her as its surface invited her once again to escape through it. Seeing it was like deja vu. She jumped in it without hesitation, trusting that it would help her to safety like the last time. Maybe she could swim all the way to the end of it and see what would come of it. The only downside to doing so was losing Fred’s scent.

She glanced behind her, seeing a muddy enraged Rosalie coming towards her. The blond goddess's eyes were full of rage. “Bree! I demand that you stop immediately. ”

Bree dipped under the surface of the river, starting to swim hastily along it. She had really angered the blond vampire, as her dodge a minute ago had sent the other vampire clearly to a mud pond. It was unfortunate for both of them. There was a very provoked immortal following the newborn, who most likely wanted revenge for making her fall into the filthy substance. Rosalie had seemed proud, even cocky, about her golden locks prior to the incident, and now they were dirty because of the crimson-eyed girl. She needed to swim fast so she wouldn’t be caught by the furious blond following her.

She had to hold her desire to try to appease the goddess and tell her that she could just wash her hair. Tell her it would be fine. But she doubted it would be much of a help at this moment. She was, after all, still getting chased like a rabbit towards a hole. She only needed to hope the hole had a way out on the other side.

The water tugged her from all sides as her hands and legs pushed her forward in it. She got caressed gently by it, pushed onwards by the weak stream.

Rosalie’s splash into the water carried itself onto her ears. She propelled faster ahead, attempting to shake the yellow eye from behind her.

She swam anxiously in the river, trying to fasten her pace every now and then in hopes of finally getting away. Her horrified eyes widened as she noticed how the long river folded in two directions in front of her. She didn’t want to give the Cullen behind her enough time to catch her, so she chose the left side without much thought.

She plunged in the new direction, letting the few fish swimming past her continue their way in the other direction. As they did so, a new idea struck her.

She could swim slightly away from sight and stop all of her movements. There was a small possibility of Rosalie following the fish instead of her. It wasn’t like the blond goddess was able to smell her scent under the water.

With new confidence, the young teen swam three metres onward until stopping behind a corner. She closed her eyes and wished for the best.

To her joy, her plan worked. The other immortal decided to turn to the right and moved in her new direction with long, certain kicks.

Bree waited until she couldn’t hear the woman’s movements anymore and continued her swimming route, going to the left.

The rest of the way to the end of the river was astonishingly peaceful. If she hadn't been chased by the Cullens, she would have probably stopped to admire all the things coming her way as she propelled under the water. The soil walls on both sides of her turned into solid stone ones as she went further, the colourful seaweeds bouncing around her, her performance never to be forgotten. It was magical.

As the sixteen-year-old girl neared the river’s end, she gave one more glance to the underwater world in preparation to rise back to the surface. Her eyes swept the sand with their reluctant gaze, attempting to stall her from returning to her own world. She wasn’t ready to go back up yet, but she had to. 

Timid, but assured, she rose. Her lungs exhaled, relieved, as she broke the water’s calm surface.

The rain had stopped. All that was left of it were the trees and plants shedding the water droplets off their skins. Their leaves moved in the wind and accepted the invisible air’s help in drying them.

The young teen swam cautiously to the bank of the river, her body parts coming one by one into contact with its rocky texture. She stood up on it, studying her environment. The unassuming area was filled with nature. Huge trees stared at her soul as she took a step forward. Ferns tickled her soggy clothes as she walked alertly forward. She wondered if this was still part of the Cullens territory.

Her body went rigid as a snap behind her stole her attention. She swiped around just in time to see a honey blond flash in her peripheral vision. 

Hard hands jerked her backwards and made her smack to the ground. A shocked cry left her lips as she hit the dirt with force. 

Jasper’s face popped into her field of vision. His scarred face blazed angrily—a darkened expression in his eyes hinting she was going to die. “I’m going to give you one chance to return peacefully to our house. If you decline, I will kill you.”

The newborn snarled furiously as fear took hold of her. She tried to jump back up, only to get pushed back to the ground.

“I suppose you made your choice.” The southern-accented man spit. He grabbed her by the neck, imprisoning her in his deathly hold.

She bit the vampire as her last attempt, getting a hiss out of him. It made her feel accomplished for a blink of an eye before reality set back on her. She was going to die if she wasn't able to get out of the terrifying man’s grip.

His hands tightened against her neck, causing a scream from the girl. She struggled and kicked Jasper, refusing to go down easily. She wasn’t going to give up until she was truly dead.

Her neck flared in pain as the scarred man pressed it harder. He forced her feet into the air, leaving her to flail them in vain. 

Bree closed her eyes. She could sense how her neck was about to break. It was crumbling under the southern man’s marble hands like porcelain.

To her utter shock, she fell from his hands, landing on the soft forest floor. Everything swam in her vision as she tried to make sense of what had happened. It hurt too much to move, so she ended up gazing around.

Her confused crimson irises met up with another set of red eyes. They glanced at her as their familiarity registered in her brain. Fred.

The boy stared at her, his tall features outlined against the calm sky. “Bree?”

The newborn couldn’t respond. She blinked in surprise at her friend’s sudden appearance. Her mind had not yet finished processing the fact that her saviour was in front of her. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out of it.

As silence erupted between the two, she took it as an opportunity to study his comforting features. She’d never thought she’d be so overwhelmingly pleased to see the boy’s curly blond hair and muscular body. She had only concentrated on finding him and nothing else. It embarrassed her. She hadn’t even thought about what she’d do after finding him. There hadn’t been a single thought of what they’d do in the long run, but now that they were reunited, she was left baffled by all the paths they could take. Would they form a coven? Or end up going different paths? Maybe they were going to become fugitives in the vampire world, running forever from the Volturi without breaks.

Terror came back to her expression as she remembered Jasper. Had Fred dealt with him already? She tried lifting her head to see where he had gone, but the attempt ended up causing jolting pain to travel through her body. It made her wince.

“Don’t move. That jerk hurt you quite badly,” Fred instructed. He pressed her head delicately back against the soil. The grass poked the back of her head as her head came to rest on it. 

She let the curly-haired vampire keep her still before letting a whisper come from her lips “Fred?”

The boy lifted one of his eyebrows. “Yes?”

A small smile formed on her face. It radiated in it brightly, regardless of how small it was. Fred was truly here. She had made it to safety.

The other vampire returned her smile, his warm eyes relieved. “I almost didn’t make it in time. The scarred vampire was about to light you on fire with his pocket lighter.”

“He was?” Bree gasped. She hadn’t noticed Jasper pulling anything from his pockets, but then again, her eyes had been closed.

“Yes, you were very lucky.”

The newborn’s eyes widened. She tried to avert her gaze to see where the southern-accented man had disappeared. “Where is he?”

“The asshole? I force him to back down with my power. We should be safe for now, but we do need to leave soon,” Fred explained. He looked around, tilting his head cautiously. “Where is Diego? I thought you went to search for him.”

A stab went through the girl’s heart as she frowned. She had shoved the thoughts of her other friend deep inside, wishing to never need to think about him, yet here she was about to reveal the black-haired boy’s faith to Fred. “Victoria and Riley killed him.”

“What?” The curly-haired vampire let go of her in surprise.

“I- I couldn’t find him on the battlefield and realised they must have killed him. Riley acted oddly after he disappeared, and I put two and two together.”

Fred let silence fall between them before opening his mouth. “I’m sorry for your loss. You two seemed close.”

“Thank you,” Bree said silently. A gentle sigh escaped from her as sadness took over her being. She let it swirl inside of her for a minute till pushing it away, not wanting to ruin the mood of the reunion.

Her neck tickled. It was beginning to slowly heal on its own. She opened her venom-filled mouth, dipping her fingers inside of it. She needed to help her neck heal quicker; otherwise, the two would be stuck in the area forever. Her hands became coated with the sweet substance as she pushed them into her mouth. When she deemed they had enough venom lingering on them, she brushed her fingers against the damaged parts of her neck.

As the substance touched her marble skin, it began to worsen the tingling on her skin until it faded away completely.

She felt pleased with her actions, tracing her hands carefully across her neck in an attempt to figure out if it was fully healed. To her joy, her skin felt smooth.

Fred eyed her from his place. His gaze was strictly on her. “Are you ready to go? Or do you need more time?”

The young teen sat up warily. She looked around, making her crimson eyes settle on the boy after scanning the environment. “I’m good.” She nodded.

“Great,” the curly-haired boy said. He rose from the grass. “Should we go then…or do you need to do something first?”

The words caused the newborn to freeze. She pondered in her head if there was anything she wished to do before leaving for good. It was weird that she had finally successfully escaped from the yellow-eyes. She’d thought she’d feel happier and more elated, but a strange feeling overtook her. She wasn’t sad per se, but maybe slightly wistful. The feeling was unexpected. Why did she feel it? There was nothing binding her to this place.

The murderous Cullens didn’t deserve it. She was fairly sure it had nothing to do with them. She didn’t care if they died because of her actions. In fact, they deserved to suffer for selling her to the Volturi. Or did they? The sixteen-year-old girl shook the unwanted emotion from her head. She was being silly and needed to just leave.

She stood up next to Fred, giving him a firm nod. “We can leave.”

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“So…umm…Why was one of those yellow-eyes trying to kill you?” Fred asked suddenly. His question made them stop in a peaceful forest clearing.

The two had been running for fifteen minutes. The sun was starting to set on the horizon, its golden rays overtaking the forest with their breathtakingly beautiful strokes against nature. If Bree hadn't  known better, she’d believe the sun had managed to set everything on fire, including her and Fred.

The girl pressed her lips together. “I escaped from them.”

“Escaped? You mean to tell me that their coven kept you as a hostage?” The blond boy gasped.

“Yes. They captured me and kept me guarded in their huge house. Sometimes I was allowed to go outside, but most of the time I had to stay inside.” The newborn spoke. She relieved all the memories of the long week and half in her mind. How she had drank from the animals, sat in her room, chatted with various members of the coven, and walked on the demonic stairs.

“They have a house?” Fred asked. He looked taken aback by the revelation.

“Yes. They are also rich. The leader works at a hospital.” 

“They sound...odd,” the curly-haired vampire mused. He gazed quickly at the disappearing sun and added, “But interesting.”

“I guess,” Bree answered simply. She wasn’t interested in speaking about the Cullens. They  had only brought trouble with them and almost killed her in the process of trying to force her to live in their residence. She was lucky to be free from them. To start a new life with Fred.

Her thoughts salivated at the thought of being able to go explore the world. As a vampire, she could travel almost anywhere in the world. Her immortal body couldn’t get tired or die from exhaustion, giving her a lot of new opportunities. It would be amazing to travel from continent to continent. She desired to first go to Canada, the closest country to them and the place where she was supposed to meet up with Fred originally. She would need to ask her friend if he would be willing to explore the earth together, or at least bring her to Canada.

“What did you do when I was stuck with the yellow-eyes?” Bree inquired curiously. She wanted to desperately know how long Fred had waited for her in Vancouver and why he had decided to come search for her. It puzzled her.

“Well, at the start, I waited for you and…Diego, but when I didn’t hear anything from either of you, I ended up hanging out in Vancouver for a couple of days.” The boy started. He rolled his eyes before continuing "Eventually, I began to feel a bit guilty for leaving you two alone, so I made the hard choice to try to find you.”

The newborn listened to the other vampire silently. Her eyes were set on her friend.

“I wasn’t sure where to start searching for you, so I went to Seattle and followed your scent here. I was able to detect you, but that asshole from before drove me away from Forks,” Fred spoke. “I tried to come up with a plan to sneak into the yellow-eyes territory without them noticing, but every time I tried, they somehow found out. Today I finally just decided to run here without much of a plan, and it seems like it worked pretty well.”

Bree smiled. “Thank you for coming to save me. Without you, I’d be toast.”

“I’m glad I did too,” Fred grinned. His expression turned more serious as his awkward gaze fell on her. “I couldn’t abandon my only friend.”

The young teen’s lip corners rose. Her gleeful eyes turned to look forward as she took a step onward. “I-.”

As soon as she took the step, her legs got glued to the soil. Her body became rigid as her muscles tensed up. She could smell them now. The disgusting scents of shapeshifters toxicated the air around them, more clear than ever. She should have concentrated on where they were going, but once again, her idiotic mind had not done its job. They had to get out of the territory of the Quileutes.

“Bree?” the curly-haired vampire next to her asked. He had taken a step towards her, staring at her, confused.

“We need to get out-” The girl didn’t have enough time to finish her line before a threatening noise caught her attention. She swept to its direction, fear evident in her pupils. This was not how her escape plan was supposed to turn out.

Chapter Text

The sun hid behind the tall trees, its weak rays pushing themselves into the clearing as animals began to get ready to go to sleep. The two vampires crouched in anticipation. Their eyes were set on the location of the incoming noise.

“We need to hide,” Bree hissed silently. She didn’t want to have a confrontation with the wolves. They had caused enough trouble for her in the past, and because of their alliance with the Cullens, she wouldn’t be safe around them. They couldn’t know she was in their territory yet again.

The girl flipped her crimson gaze frantically around, trying to figure out where to hide herself. To her horror, there were almost no hiding spots nearby. She and Fred would be doomed.

“Let's hide in the tree,” the curly-haired boy next to her suggested, pointing to the nearest brown tree trunk.

She nodded, accepting his proposal. The huge tree five metres from them was better than nothing. It didn’t have particularly camouflaging leaves, but at least it could possibly bring some type of coverage to the two immortals. Hiding in a bad hiding place was a lot smarter than not hiding at all.

The newborn ran to the tree, jumping to its highest-reaching branch. She didn’t want to leave anything to speculation and wanted to make sure it was as hard as possible for her to be found.

Fred climbed next to her. Their eyes met anxiously as they prayed together that everything would turn out well. There was a good chance the shapeshifters had heard their voices, which frightened her more than she was willing to admit. She did not want to get caught. Not now. She was so close to exploring the world and dodging her fate as an ash pile. She had no desire to turn into ugly grey dust.

Footsteps froze the vampires. They leaned harder against the tree, hoping it would help hide them more. 

The young teen closed her eyelids, not daring to look at what would happen when the footsteps reached the clearing. She wanted to pretend everything was going to be okay, like they weren’t going to get caught, but the likelihood of someone seeing them was too great. There was no way they wouldn’t be spotted.

She tried to think of ways to persuade the coming Quileute to let them go. Maybe she could offer to do a favour for them. Or give them whatever they wanted, as long as it did not involve killing or hurting her or her friend.

Tension crackled in the air. Its tentacles gripped onto everything they possibly could get a hold of until it felt like there was nothing to breathe in. The suspense had stolen all the oxygen around her. She didn’t need it, but she liked being able to breathe it. She felt panic rise in her chest.

“Bree?” a voice called. “I can smell you.”

They were going to die. Her escape plan was now in shatters, unable to be fixed.

“How does that kid know your name? Do you know him?” Fred whispered from his place. He stared at Bree, his gaze full of confusion.

The newborn's reopened eyes went to Seth. The fourteen-year-old boy was glancing around, trying to spot her. “He and the yellow-eyes are friends. The boy, Seth, came to their house once.”

“Dang it!” Fred snarled. He directed his eyes to the wandering boy below. “I could use my power on him, and we could run away in its guise,” he proposed.

The girl shaked her head. “No, don’t.”

The curly-haired vampire looked dumbfounded. “Why not? It would be the most logical idea.”

“I want to see if he will find us.” The brown-haired teen explained. Her explanation was weak, and the truth be told, she wasn’t sure if she believed in it herself, but something told her to stay in her place for a little longer. She wasn’t going to deny her instincts so here she was trying to reason why her blond friend couldn’t use his gift on the Quileute. It was a pathetic attempt, but she was still very least going to at least try.

“Alright,” Fred nodded reluctantly. She imagined he was not used to not using his gift when it was needed. He had used it constantly in Seattle's newborn army, making all the other newborns avoid him like a plague.

She felt a quick pang of regret at not using the boy’s gift to their advantage, but kept her mouth shut. They didn’t need it yet, and they could always put it to use as soon as things went south.

Bree averted her eyes back to the young boy strolling in the forest.

Seth moved beneath the trees. His face was full of mystification from the mystery of attempting to find the vampire he was desperately trying to search for. “Please, Bree. I pinky promise I won’t hurt you.”

The newborn stared at him, not convinced by his words.

“Or your friend, as long as he is nice,” the brown-eyed shapeshifter added.

The words made her stiffen. How did Seth know about Fred being her friend? He had probably smelled the scent of him down below, but that didn’t mean he would have realised she and the other vampire knew each other. There was no way he could’ve known that. Except if the Cullens had involved the wolves in the search for her and told them about the curly-haired boy’s scent. The yellow-eyes had to suspect she knew the vampire, which was true, of course, but an unexpected assumption. She had never shown any interest in the scent of Fred in front of them. Or had she? She wasn’t completely sure, but according to her recall, not.

The girl felt a branch's hard surface rub against her. It resided on top of her head, looking hardly even as thick as her fingers. She held her breath, wanting to gasp at the shock of its sudden movement, but managed to keep herself quiet. She couldn’t give herself away.

“Bree?” Seth had moved closer to the tree. He was bound to see her and Fred at any second now. He just needed to look up.

The last sunrays hit the two vampires, making them sparkle in thousands of colours. The unanticipated situation caused the black-haired boy to turn his head up, as he most certainly saw a glow from his eye corners. “Bree!”

They had been found.

Fred turned to look at her, his eyes pleading for permission to use his power. The yearning in his gaze burned the young teen’s skin. She had to make a choice. Fred seemed to want to use his gift, but was it really that beneficial to let him use it?

Could she try to talk to the boy below and make him understand why she wanted to leave so badly? Or did Seth already know that she would end up dying at the hands of Volturi if she stayed? He might not care about her safety. They hardly knew each other. There was no guarantee he would let her leave after hearing her out.

But then again, if he wouldn’t, Fred could get her and himself out of the scene quite quickly. The two immortals would both be safe, no matter which option she chose.

The expectation for her to choose what to do caused a wave of stress to go through her. She didn’t want to be the one to make the decision. Why couldn’t Fred do it? It was his gift.

She blinked unnecessarily and studied the eyes of her blond friend. “Let’s attempt to talk with Seth. Maybe we can reason with him and make him let us go.” She silenced her voice, only to whisper before continuing “And if that doesn't work, you can use your power on him.”

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A thump echoed in the silent forest as Bree fell onto the grass. Her feet took support from the ground as her eyes stared at the brown-eyed Quileute suspiciously. Her body was ready to bolt if necessary. She was not going to get attacked.

Fred appeared to her left, raising his head cautiously. She could see he was not pleased with the fact that she wished to speak with the younger boy.

As both of the immortals stared at the fourteen-year-old, crickets started to play their musical in the distance. Their soothing songs calmed the trio enough for them to not glare at each other.

“So..umm…” Seth stuttered nervously. His palms looked sweaty, like he would have been especially anxious.

The newborn remembered how she had used to produce the odd human substance when she had been one. She did not miss the clammy feeling accompanying sweat and was happy that the memories, including those moments, had faded to almost nothing.

"Please, Seth, let us go,” the crimson-eyed girl pleaded silently. She tried to look as non-threatening as possible, relaxing her muscles from their stiff state. It felt wrong to ease her body’s rigidity, but she didn’t want to seem too hostile. 

The black-haired Quileute shaked his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. The Cullens need you. Without your presence, they are going to get into big trouble, and no one on the reservation wants that to happen. It might affect us negatively too.”

Fred let out a growl.

The sound made Seth jump as he took a step back. “I’m really sorry, truly! If your leaving wouldn’t cause any trouble, I’d let you go, but that’s not the case.”

A short, sly look appeared on the young teen’s face. Her mouth corners threatened to rise, but managed to stay down.

“You can’t know for sure if it will cause any of you trouble.” She argued back, feeling proud of her line. The boy would have to see she was right.

However, the Quileute didn’t react to her words like she’d hoped. Instead, he just shrugged. “Carlisle knows Volturi and if he says that your leaving will result in something bad, we should believe him.”

Her irritation swept her off her feet as it proceeded to explode inside of her. The emotion’s strength surprised her. She hadn’t thought she’d get so frustrated so easily, especially because of a mortal. Her emotions were supposed to be more in check now. She was now over three months old and had tried to keep her worst anger outburst away. They had, for some reason, come back. She was not happy about the discovery. They made her wonder why they had returned so suddenly. What had happened between this moment and last week? There had to be a reason why her feelings came out more freely.

“You sound like you're repeating what he has said,” Bree pointed out, frustrated. It had been a mistake to come chat with the shapeshifter. She and Fred should have left when they had a chance. Maybe she could try hinting to the other vampire that they could leave without alarming Seth about it.

Her eyes went to Fred, trying to get his attention.

The Quileute changed his standing position, crossing his hands bravely and fixing his stance to be more assertive. It didn’t look natural to him to be in such a pose. He didn’t seem like someone who would choose to go into a position like that. “Maybe I am.”

“I don’t want to die and that will happen if I stay here.” The newborn stated dully. Her brown hair moved slightly in a gentle wind. She had said the line to the Cullens, to herself, and now, for the first time, to Seth. She didn’t want to have to fight to survive—she wanted to live a happy life. Why was it so hard to attain a peaceful existence? She must not have deserved it. It was the only explanation for why she had to constantly fight to not get slaughtered.

“Why would you die?” Seth asked, bewildered.

The girl frowned. The yellow-eyes had not told the Quileutes she was going to get killed if recaptured? How convenient for them. She should have guessed they wouldn’t have told them about that small detail. “Alice saw that I would die when the Volturi came.”

“What?” The Quileute gasped. He looked too stunned to speak. “Really? You would..die?”

She nodded cautiously, getting ready to bolt again. Her muscles tensed.

Fred tilted his head towards her. His face had twisted into a mix of disgust and worry. “I don’t completely understand what you mean by ‘Alice saw’ but in that case we really need to get you out of here.”

Her friend’s words warmed her unbeating heart. She hadn’t waited for him to be so worried about the idea of her dying; hence, she had not seen it as an important thing to tell him. It made her feel…important—like she wasn’t just a doll to be tossed aside when playtime was over.

“No! You can’t leave,” Seth commanded uncertainly.

“We can and will leave now,” Fred spat. “Bree is my friend, and I don’t want to see her get hurt.” The curly-haired boy took the young teen’s marble-like wrist and pulled her closer to him.

The action made the shapeshifter panic visibly “The Cullens must have some type of plan to keep you alive. They care about you, Bree; I’m sure of it.”

“What makes you think that way? I was very clearly just a nuisance to them. Jasper has attempted to kill me multiple times!” The young teen shaked her head stubbornly. She wasn’t going to believe anything that came out of the fourteen-year-old's mouth. No, the yellow-eyes did not care about her. In fact, she was sure that if given the opportunity, they would have ditched her gladly.

“Well, Carlisle and Esme seemed concerned about you when they called. I could hear their tones of voice when they talked with Sam,” Seth said.

Bree narrowed her eyes. She looked at her blond friend and whispered too low for the Quileute to hear, “Fred, use your gift in two minutes.”

The boy next to her nodded firmly. His body relaxed as he got ready to send his power out of him.

“They are just worried that I have escaped and want me to go back so nothing happens to their coven.” The newborn spoke more loudly as hurt flashed between her irises. She glared at the shapeshifter, not caring anymore if she seemed hostile or not. It wasn’t like she and Fred were going to stay here for much longer.

Seth glanced behind his shoulders, then turning back towards the two immortals. “What if it’s both? They could be concerned about you and their family. Neither of the options cancel each other.” 

His words resonate in the air, their syllables hovering dangerously around the girl. She shaked her head again. He didn’t understand. The fourteen-year-old hadn’t been the one living with the Cullens. She was more than capable of drawing her own conclusions, and most importantly, she was older than the black-haired boy. He was younger and didn’t understand some things. Sixteen-year-olds were significantly smarter than fourteen-year-olds. She was basically an adult, making her words more trustworthy.

She was also not unstable, like the yellow-eyes thought she was. She was fine.

As her focus went back to Seth, she started hearing steps from a distance. Her face twisted with terror as her horrified gaze went to Fred. Their irises met, and with a nod, the curly-haired vampire activated his gift.

They needed to run.

The young teen sprinted, her legs carrying her through the masses of bushes. Their spiky branches poked her as she ran. She didn’t care that she pushed herself through them, leaving holes in the plants. They deserved it. The Cullens and Quileutes both deserved to get odd holes in their bushes.

Her boots thrummed against the soil as their speed made the dirt rise after her. She and Fred would soon be completely free. They could go anywhere.

The scents of the wolves disappeared as the vampires reached the other side of the shapeshifters territory. This was it. They were officially out of anyone’s land and free to roam wherever they wished.

Bree’s chest filled with joy. Her eyes twinkled with excitement and thoughts of possibilities.

She looked at Fred, wanting to see his face. His expression mirrored her own, showing how relieved he was to be away from danger.

She doubted the Cullens were going to come after them. The grass the two ran on was not the yellow-eyes or the wolves. They had no authority here and couldn’t force her to go back.

Chapter Text

The moonlight shimmered in the sky as the two immortals sat on a group of rocks. Their forms drew themselves over the grey stones, unmoving like statues.

Bree breathed. Her lungs grew and sank in a calming rhythm, taking in all the scents from the environment. She could smell the fresh scent of grass, the caressing floral odour coming from the flowers, and the various different creatures roaming at night. The most evident smell, however, was her friend’s. Fred sat face-to-face with her, his eyes silently studying the starry sky.

They had run for two hours and finally stopped to take in what had happened. Neither of them seemed sure where to go or what to do now when their lives weren’t actively in danger. They just sat silently, wondering what to say.

The silence was comforting. They didn’t rush each other to talk, respecting each other's wants to spend some time in their own worlds.

An owl’s scream disturbed their peace. It hooted ear piercingly loudly, only for the sound to stop suddenly. It startled the newborn. She looked around, stiffening her muscles, but nothing happened. She relaxed back into her mind.

Her brain twirled with new adventures, each more exciting than another. She finally had enough time to go to the places she had read about. A soft chuckle flew from her lips. It drifted into the air before fading fully.

Her mouth corners dropped as her memories took her back six days—to the day when Carlisle had given her multiple geography books. She wondered what had happened to them. Had the patriarch taken the books back to himself? Had he burned them? No, she doubted he would have done so. He didn’t seem like a person who enjoyed burning books. The doctor had probably stashed them somewhere.

“Bree?”

The girl raised her gaze to Fred.

The boy grinned. His laughter rang in the sky as he opened his mouth in delight. “That poor owl. It sounded like it was dying. I wonder what was wrong with it. I really hope it didn’t get killed!”

His reference to the weird owl brought a smile back to the young teen’s lips. She giggled along with him. “Maybe someone did eat it.”

“Don’t say that! Who would eat such an intelligent bird?” The curly-haired vampire shaked his head disapprovingly.

“Well, the yellow-eyes could,” she suggested. The other vampire looked at her in disbelief, not looking like he was buying what she had said, so she explained what she meant further “They drink animal blood. That’s the reason their eyes are golden.”

“Why on earth would they do that? That sounds disgusting.” He rolled his eyes.

The sixteen-year-old shrugged, not feeling like explaining the weird habits of her capturers. She didn’t want to describe their odd lives to her friend. He would surely be stunned from hearing about vampires who attempted to live like humans—paid bills, had a house, and most oddly worked at a hospital, of all the places in the work field. 

“Did you have to taste one of the animals?” Fred asked. Curiosity and horror were plastered on his face as he leaned forward.

Bree’s gaze darted away from the boy as she nodded. “Yes.”

The other immortal gasped, his red eyes glued to her like a plague. “What did it taste like? Animals smell absolutely disgusting. Do they taste the same as they smell? I cannot imagine drinking from them. How did you do it?” Vampire’s questions flew into the air as his shocked expression showed itself on his face.

The girl hadn’t wanted to mention her temporary diet, but Fred’s question had forced her to answer the dreaded question. She didn’t want to lie to him, so she pondered what to say, not wanting to overexplain the dull taste of the animal blood. The specific animals she had tasted didn’t have that good of a flavour compared to the juicy blood of humans. Her own thoughts became puzzled as she wondered did some other animal species taste better than the ones she had tasted?

She opened her lips. “I- I’m not sure what to say about their taste. It’s duller and a lot less appealing than human blood, but then again, I have only tasted deer and elk. Other species might taste better than them.”

“You need to get a proper meal when we get to a city,” Fred said as his face twisted into disgust.

The brown-haired newborn nodded, moving her hands restlessly to lean against the solid rock she was sitting on. Its surface was hard and rough, as expected. Uneasiness bombarded her. It entwined her to itself, leaving her struggling in its unwanted grip. She didn’t understand why the idea of hunting proper food again sent her emotions overboard. Human blood was delicious, unlike the flavourless animal equivalent. Had the yellow-eyes manipulated and brainwashed her discreetly to make her feel the way she did?

“Talking about cities, where should we go?” She changed the subject. They really needed to choose where to go next. Though it seemed tempting to stay here on the rocks, they needed to continue moving soon.

“We could go to Vancouver,” Fred proposed.

The young teen hummed, deep in her thoughts. She tried to imagine where she could see herself travelling. Her friend's idea didn’t seem bad. In fact, she really wanted to go there, but something inside of her told her to go to another place. She didn’t think she was ready to leave the United States just yet; her instincts told her she should first do something before leaving her birth country's soil.

She bit her lips. “Can we go visit my father’s house before leaving for Canada?”

“Sure, I suppose.” The curly-haired boy raised his eyebrows. He tilted his head. “Why do you want to go there? Isn’t it a bit...idiotic?”

Bree looked to the starry sky, her crimson eyes getting mesmerised by all the sparkling balls resting on the dark canvas. Hesitantly, she attempted to gather a reason for herself and for her friend for why she wished to go to the cursed house. She closed her eyelids, taking a breath in, and turned to face Fred. “I want to go see if I can steal some items for myself.”

Her confession made the blond immortal smile. A chuckle left his mouth. “You do know that that wouldn’t be considered stealing, right? It’s your house. Well, your former home.”

“Of course I do.” The newborn rolled her eyes. Her face dropped to a more serious expression. “It’s just that I don’t really see it as my proper home, I guess.”

Fred raised his eyebrows but stayed silent, not answering her words immediately. He glanced at the dark forest, changing the subject. “We should continue running. It’s better to run at night than get stuck under the trees during the day.”

The girl hummed affirmatively. Her gaze flipped to the canopy of trees, planning the route they could run to her home city. She hadn’t been there for months. The idea of seeing it again made her stomach fill with sharp winged butterflies. They scratched her insides and pinched her organs, leaving no place untouched. She squirmed, getting up from the stone.

“We are still probably somewhere in Washington. How are we supposed to navigate our way to Idaho?” She pondered to herself, trying to figure out where exactly her former home was. After all, she couldn’t lead Fred anywhere before knowing precisely where they were. If their location couldn’t be found, they would have to stroll aimlessly in the forest, hoping to eventually find a landmark of some kind.

“I suggest we go find a road sign or a gas station.” Fred said. “Both should be sufficient for our needs.”

Bree nodded. She looked at her friend, wishing that they would end up seeing a road sign first. She didn’t want to tell the boy, but she wasn’t sure how well she’d be able to explore a gas station. Sure, it would be a night and not many humans would be inside of it, but the thought of being in a room with one of them caused shivers to go through her back. She didn’t want to be forced to go too close to them. She only wanted to drink them as her meals, not chat with them.

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The two immortals walked next to a silent road. Their silhouettes drew themselves to the hard asphalt as they strolled forward on its cracked surface. Neither of them had any rush to get to their destination, their senses telling them it was going to be unpleasant.

They had yet to see any road signs that would have helped them on their noble quest to get to the next stop of their journey. Bree was starting to get desperate. She hoped they’d soon find something. Anything was better than just walking silently on the road, wishing to find their saviour.

The wind ripped the strands of the newborn’s brown hair, moving violently like trying to pull them out of her head. The weather was unexpectedly windy. She was not enjoying its slaps, which bolted across her face and body, leaving her feeling bare. The brewing storm in the sky worsened as clouds blocked the moon.

“So... um, you're originally from Idaho?” Fred tilted his head curiously, his gaze fixated on her.

“Kinda.” The young girl affirmed. She was not originally from there but had moved to the state with her father when she had only been a toddler. The fact made her unsure whether she could say she was originally from there or if she should claim to be from the state she had been born in.

“Kinda? What do you mean by that?” The blond boy frowned, confused. He added more hastily “You don't, of course, need to tell me if you don’t want to. I don’t want to make you feel like you have to tell me about your past.”

The teen gave the boy a smile. Her memories didn’t let her remember anything from her birth state. She knew she had been born in Nevada from what her father had told her, but that was pretty much what she knew about the early stages of her childhood. “I moved to Idaho when I was about four. I was born in Nevada.”

“Oh.” Fred nodded. He sounded still intrigued. “That’s nice for you, I guess. I bet it was nice to move.”

She didn’t say anything. She wasn’t ready to reveal more about her past to her friend and wished to keep it locked away in her imaginary locket laying safely on her neck. Only she had the key to it, and she didn’t want anyone else to get their hands on it without her permission.

The silence that had plagued them for half an hour came back. It greeted them happily, glad to be back tormenting them. The two continued walking on the asphalt. Their steps rumbled on the deathly silent road.

Minutes ticked by as Bree’s shoes rose and fell on the grey surface. Their trusty bottoms kept her bare feet safe from the little rocks that tried to wiggle their way inside the materials of the sneakers. She had thrown her sock away. She hadn’t liked them and figured they were useless. Vampires didn’t need socks. They were made for human feet—for weak and easily cuttable soft flesh. She didn’t need them to keep her own skin safe. It was made of marble-like material. An argument could be made about her not needing to wear shoes either, but she felt, for some reason, more uncomfortable about the thought of getting rid of them than the socks. Maybe she was so used to using them that she couldn’t throw them away.

Further down the road, a building appeared. It merely looked like a small dot, but it was still definitely a building. The newborn swore it had to be the gas station.

As the immortals walked closer to it, her instinct became proven right. A foreign gas station rose before them. Its lights coloured the night and brightened the surrounding area with neon lights.

A lonely slow heartbeat pumped inside the station. It lulled the teenager, inviting her to get closer. To sneak to its owner and attack the victim. Her feet stopped in their place as venom pooled in her mouth.

“Bree, is everything alright?” Fred asked. He backtracked back to the younger vampire, his eyes full of worry. 

“Yes,” she answered. She redirected her crimson gaze towards the boy. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?” He asked, bewildered. “You didn’t do anything.”

“I don’t think I can go to the gas station.” She bit her lips gently. Her lack of self-control against the bloodlust wasn’t good. She didn’t want to cause trouble by going inside the musty building. It was full of the human’s scent, whose heartbeat she was able to distinguish.

“Why not?” The blond boy asked again. He raised one of his eyebrows.

She squirmed awkwardly. “I wouldn’t be able to control my bloodlust.”

“Why would you need to control it? Just kill the human. It’s not like there is anyone else around to see you feeding on them.” Fred rolled his eyes.

The young girl blinked, surprised, as his words dwelled on her. She hadn’t thought about that. She didn’t need to stop herself from killing the mammal. There was no one stopping her from doing so except her own mind. A rush of desire charged through her. She could kill the creature. It would be an easy target.

“Let’s go! The sooner we get the map and start running to Idaho, the better. The sun is going to rise in five hours.” The blond boy attempted to motivate her.

She sighed, taking a step forward. Her breath travelled inside her lungs, drawing more venom into her mouth.

The scent of delicious human blood tattered the air as she started moving towards the gas station. The closer it came, the stiffer she became. Her muscles contracted themselves in an attempt to keep her lust for blood in check.

The loud bell on the gas station’s door rang as it swung open. Fred walked confidently in, not seeming to care if he attracted the attention of the human. Bree, on the other hand, walked more guardedly. Her pale hands were wildly caressing her throat, fear evident in her pupils.

She wandered inside rigidly, studying the small station with horror, like expecting a monster to jump from its shadows. It was quite a small building, as she had anticipated. It had a narrow aisle, accompanied by a few snack shelves placed along the way. A map rack was placed just next to a cash register.

The human was asleep. Its huge body slept peacefully, undisturbed by the noise created by the bell placed on the door. The mammal's black hair moved as it mumbled something about its mother getting a giraffe.

The human was having an odd dream. The newborn wondered what it was precisely about.

She had stopped breathing when she had walked inside the gas station. Not daring to disturb her lungs by making them move, she walked breathlessly closer to the human, keeping herself still three metres away when finally stopping.

Her ears picked up Fred’s mutter about the maps he was currently ransacking. He didn’t seem to enjoy finding the right one. The boy carelessly tossed the wrong pieces of paper on the floor, letting them smack against the cold concrete tiles.

Her focus went back to the mammal. It looked so calm in its sleep. She had never been this close to the creature without attacking. It was marvellous how she was still somewhat able to keep her mind sane regardless of the lurking instinct to kill the creature.

The teenager flipped her head towards the door. She held her desire to gulp as venom  pooled in her mouth. The sweet substance rushed in, anticipating her next move.

Her eyes bounced back to the mammal. She took a hesitant step forward, feeling suddenly unsure of what she was about to do. She didn’t want to kill the human. It looked so peaceful in its deep slumber, reminding her a bit of an otter.

She loved the small brown creatures. They were adorable. Maybe that was the reason why she didn’t wish to hurt the human. Because it looked like an otter. The thought sounded plausible, so she closed her eyelids.

Her body turned away from the mammal boy as she took a shaking step away from it. Her bloodlust was screaming at her. Telling her that she needed to attack the boy immediately. It would have been so easy to just give in. To let the lust take hold of her and let the delicious red blood of the mortal flood inside of her, but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to hurt the otter-looking creature for some unknown reason.

She gritted her teeth as pain flared in her throat. Its desperate shouts continued their pleas as she made her way back to the front door. Brain-hazy from the bloodlust and the substance's thick scent seeping around her, she used all of her efforts to not turn around.

To Bree’s utter shock, the human had stayed alive.

Chapter Text

The scent of humans hovered in the air densely. Its mouthwatering aroma circulated around Bree, tempting her to follow it as she strolled timidly across a grassy field.

Her crimson eyes were locked on a faintly familiar house. It looked old and worn out. Part of its roof had fallen, like it would have given up attempting to stay whole when its owners had abandoned it. The bright yellow paint hanging on its wooden walls was now dull and colourless, emanating the same sadness rest of the house seemed to embody.

The stars twinkled on top of the newborn as she walked the rest of the way to the old residence. Her hands fidgeted anxiously as she came to a halt.

She was home. Well, kinda. The rough-looking house was where she had grown up, but she wasn’t sure it deserved to be called her home after everything she had gone through inside of it. 

The dirty doorknob under her hand felt fragile. She was afraid of breaking it if she were to hold it any stronger. Her fingers stayed in their place, concentrating on rounding around the knob.

She gulped before finally getting enough courage to open the door. It creaked from reluctance, not wishing to let her inside the house, feeling like it was almost sensing her anxiety and wanting to protect her.

“Are you okay?” Fred’s voice spoke from behind. “We can always come back at a later time.”

The newborn turned to the boy. “I’m fine.”

“If you say so.” The blond vampire didn’t look convinced. He had a concerned glimmer in his red eyes as he stared silently at the girl.

“I promise,” the young teen said, hiding her shaky voice. “Really, I’m truly fine.”

“Why aren’t you then stepping inside?” Fred raised his chin challengingly. His gaze swept over the worn house's exterior, calculating it subtly.

A lump formed in Bree’s throat. She was aware of how she was purposely prolonging stepping inside but didn't feel like she was fully ready to go into the house. There was something stopping her from doing so. She wondered that perhaps she shouldn’t go inside from the front door but rather climb inside from her window. She hazily remembered it. The small, white-framed hole that she had sneaked out of to get some much-needed alone time from her horrible father.

She let the idea sit in her head for a blink of an eye before spinning back face-to-face with the open door. It was cleverer to just go through it; after all, she didn’t want to have opened it for nothing.

Her steps echoed as she stepped into the house. An eerie silence hung in the air, pressuring her lungs to stop breathing. With a hint of alcohol’s stench mixing with the quietness, she stopped moving her lungs altogether. The smell of it brought unpleasant memories to her mind that she rather just wished to forget.

She was greeted with the sight of a filthy living room. The dark green couch was covered with disgusting food stains. They laid on it careless of the impression they left on the once clean surface. The rest of the room wasn’t much better. It seemed like a hurricane had gone through the area, scoured it fully, and left items broken and screaming in despair.

The newborn walked further into the house, trying to bribe her memory to reveal where exactly her room had been. She concentrated on her mind, not wanting to have to search for it in the small house. How hard could it be to find the space she had lived in for twelve years?

Spider webs led her way as she fingered her hazy memories. Their delicate strings travelled bravely along the yellow walls, only stopping at a dimly familiar door. This had to be it. The door must have led to her room. She barely was able to remember the door but was now sure of it.

She froze, taking a deep breath. Oh, what a horrible mistake it had been! Her mouth got filled with dust particles. They infiltrated her mouth and throat, making her couch in despair. She scrunched her nose in disgust as the dust tingled inside her body.

This was not how she had envisioned her quick visit to her old home. Getting attacked by dust certainly had not come to her mind.

The sixteen-year-old girl pushed the door open and walked cautiously into her old bedroom. It was horrific. She had thought the living room had been in bad condition, but she guessed she had been very wrong. Her room was so much worse than it. Her former bed was broken in the middle, like someone had chopped it with an axe. Her dresser and bedside table were not in any better state, barely recognisable by the mysterious weapon used to break them.

What had happened to the small space?

Crawling made her shot from her place. She hurried to the furthest wall from the sound, pressing herself alarmed against the material as her eyes searched for the maker of the noise.

A growl came out of her lips. 

Fred’s footsteps walked guardedly to her room’s door. “Is something wrong?” the boy asked, puzzled. His head peaked from behind the corner.

Bree kept her gaze locked on the wall. She stared at it, eyes wide, refusing to look at her friend’s way. There was a creature close by. She didn’t know what, but she couldn’t risk letting it attack her. She was scared it would take her distracted attention as a sign to strike.

Fred stepped inside the room and crossed his hands. “I can’t detect any danger.”

She slowly turned her head towards him. “There is something here,” she swore. “I heard it!”

The blond boy gazed around as his red eyes narrowed slightly. He looked to be highly concentrated on his search until a wide smile came to his face. “Bree? What do you think is in the room exactly?”

“Well, I- I’m not sure. I just heard crawling.” She gulped, staring at her dirty shoes. The newborn must have sounded stupid and illogical for getting scared of crawling noises. 

“I think I can safely say the crawling didn’t come from anything dangerous.” Fred grinned.

He had certainly found the maker of the sound; she was sure of it. What other reasons were there for that huge grin to form in his face? His smile also indicated she must have embarrassed herself. The creature she had heard had to be humiliatingly harmless.

“What did it come from then?” She raised her gaze to Fred’s irises.

The boy chuckled, but as soon as he noticed Bree’s wild expression, he stopped. “Sorry. You only heard a spider. Look, it's there, behind that small painting. It might be a bit hard to spot.”

The young teen focused on the painting, detecting the small, hairy creature calmly sitting on the wall. Its scary, hairy legs moved as it created a web between the painting and the wall.

She let out an unintended growl. She disliked spiders. No wonder her senses had warned her about it. The creature was disgusting. She couldn’t look at it for long. When she had turned into a vampire, all the bugs had turned to look even more horrifying than when she had been a human. The mortals were lucky to not have as good eyesight as the immortals. She was now terrified by how scary the bugs really looked. She even saw some new ones every once in a while that bare human eyes couldn’t spot.

The spider let out a low sound.

Horror formed on the brown-haired girl’s face. She didn’t want to stay in her room any longer. The monster had invaded it, and what was once her room now belonged to it.

She rushed out of the door, passing quietly laughing Fred in the process. Her friend didn’t seem to understand her fear of bugs. Notably, spiders.

“I thought you wanted to get things from your room,” he reminded the girl.

She stopped. Yes, she was meant to do that. However, her plans had been changed due to the monster residing in it. Her room was no more. “I can’t. The spider could come from behind the painting.”

“And do what?” The blond boy snorted.

She rolled her eyes. She wasn’t glad he found this funny. The spider could be a real threat to her welfare.

“It’s just a spider.”

Precisely. They were horrible and scary. Bree wasn’t going to go near it. Her shelves and wardrobe were both close to the painting. She couldn’t even imagine what horrors she would face if she went to them. What if the malicious spider decided to torture her by attempting to settle on her head?

She shuddered.

Fred sighed. “Tell me what you want. I can get it for you.”

“Really?” The newborn’s eyes widened. He would do that for her? He’d go face the murderous creature hiding in the shadows of the painting?

“Yes.” The boy nodded. “Just say what you want fast, or otherwise I might change my mind.”

The girl stood up straighter. She pressed into her memories gently, afraid they would abandon her. Her human memories were too fragile and fleeting. “Umm…Get me a shirt and jeans from the wardrobe. Oh, and, uh, can you also try to search for my mother’s necklace? It might be on one of the shelves.”

The silver star necklace the young teen’s mother had owned had gathered dust in her room for a long time. At a time when she thought her mother had abandoned her, she refused to touch it. Her father hadn’t wanted it either, but still, for some reason, brought it with them to their house here in Idaho. But instead of him putting it on a shelf in his room, he decided to force her to take it. The small toddler she had been was not happy about it after hearing her father’s demand. So naturally, she had been beaten up for disobeying him. She had not dared to bring up removing the necklace from her room after.

“Sure,” Fred agreed. He started rummaging through her wardrobe.

Bree positioned herself close to the door, peeking inside carefully. She didn’t want the spider to notice her.

Her stare inspected the room further, making sure she would be able to remember the tiniest details of it if she wished in the future. Even if the area belonged to the spider, she wanted to be able to memorise her old room.

As both Fred and Bree were close to finishing their tasks, a heartbeat interrupted them.

The newborn’s irises darkened from hunger. She cut the oxygen from her lungs, refusing to breathe. She wasn’t ready to kill a human. Not yet. The mammal’s scent slithered inside the house’s cracks, raising a panic inside the girl.

She felt her brain go foggy. She hadn’t fed for a while, and the human they had met in the gas station had certainly not helped her thirst.

Fred let out a thrilled sound. “A human? Perfect timing.”

The sixteen-year-old girl pinched her nose desperately. She took a huge step away from the mortal’s whereabouts before beginning to run. She bolted out of the house in a hurry. She couldn’t turn around and go to the other side of the rundown residence, no matter how much she wanted to. Otherwise, a human’s life would end.

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The chill night air hit Bree’s face as she ran. She moved beneath the trees, only slowing down when she felt like she was far enough from the ominous house.

Her body relaxed as her fingers touched her throat. She needed to eventually feed, but something was stopping her from doing so. She needed to be brave and just attack a passerby. Why did she make it such a big deal to kill one of the mortals? She had happily done so a few weeks ago.

Living with the Cullens shouldn’t have affected her this much. Did the animal blood in her system make her dependent on it? A memory of its taste flew into her mind, putting its vivid flavour on her tongue. No, she doubted that was the case. She scrunched her nose in disgust. She hadn’t yet gotten used to its odd taste.

Fred’s outline came to her mind. Her head snapped back towards the house.

In her rush, she had forgotten the blond boy’s existence. He had to be confused, wondering where she had gone. Guilt hit her like a truck. She hadn't meant to abandon her friend like that. What type of friend was she if she left so unannounced, not even bothering to tell her friend where she was going?

She frowned. She needed to get back to her father’s house as soon as possible.

The sound of footsteps carried to her ears. They had to belong to Fred.

The young teen took three itching steps onward. Her legs twitched to go further to meet with her friend. She felt unsafe without him closeby. If the Cullens had appeared from somewhere, she would have been captured by them fairly quickly. Therefore, it was safer to stay close to Fred. With him, catching her wasn’t as easy as before. His and her powers were unstoppable together. There was no need to be nervous about getting ambushed.

Doubts cluttered her mind. What if he had decided to want to go his own way? Perhaps her abandoning him had been enough for the boy, and he had realised she wasn’t worth his attention. 

She winced.

She wasn’t even ready to hunt humans yet. How was he supposed to have a companion who starved themselves? She would eventually go crazy with thirst and become dangerous to be around. She was already able to feel some of her sanity disappearing. Who was to say the rate at which it was going away wouldn’t quicken abruptly? She could be a huge danger to Fred in the future if she were not to get her things together soon. The faster she drank from a mortal and got it over with, the better. 

A familiar boy appeared from a distance. Fred’s eyes went past her like he hadn’t seen her. 

His strange action caused her thoughts to become louder. She had been right. He didn’t want to be with her anymore. She was sure he was going to stop in front of her and tell her he was going to head to Canada alone.

What was she supposed to do, then? Go back to the Cullens and die? No, she would figure something else out. She wasn’t ready to get killed.

“Fr-” She called for the boy but got interrupted as his form flashed past her, smacking a wind in her face. Her panicked body started to follow him. “Stop!”

Fred halted, looking around puzzled. “Bree?”

“Don’t leave me! I promise to kill a human. For an unknown reason, I haven’t been able to do so yet.” The girl cried out.

“It would be a good thing if you’d feed.” The curly-haired boy agreed, “But where exactly are you? And why do you think I’m going to leave you?” He turned around, attempting to locate her.

She tilted her head. “What do you mean? I’m right here.” She stared at her baffled friend, confusion now drawing to her expression. She closed her crimson eyes. “And I thought you decided to ditch me because…you know, I haven’t really drank anything yet.”

“That's a ridiculous claim. Why the hell would I leave you just because you haven’t fed yet? You will do it eventually.” Fred searched for her with his eyes, skimming right through her.

Bree’s mouth opened in realisation as her concentration went to her lower abandonment. It was invisible. No wonder the boy had not seen her. She should have thought of her power sooner. It was idiotic to not have considered she might have turned see-through. Her friend's reactions should have been a dead give-away to what her gift had decided to do. It truly had a mind of its own.

“I’m sorry. While with the yellow-eyes, I discovered I had a gift too. Invisibility.”

“Wait, really? That’s great," the curly-haired boy said. His words held fascination in them. “How does it work? Are you able to turn it off?”

The newborn shook her head regretfully. “I never learned to. It just kind of happens, and before I know it, I’m invisible. Carlisle, one of the yellow-eyes, tried to help me with it.”

Fred’s eyes glimmered. “That’s so cool…I mean, sorry. It must suck you cannot control it.” He hesitated before continuing, “Maybe I could try helping you?”

“Yes!” She answered enthusiastically.

Her shoulders shrunk as embarrassment washed over her. She hadn’t meant to sound so excited. She had to have sounded like a young child. With a more steady voice, she added, “If you're sure you don’t mind helping me, of course.”

“I’d be glad to. It would be nice to not talk to an air” Fred grinned. He focused on the direction her voice came from. “It’d be a shame to never see you. We only reunited a day ago.”

The young teen gave him a short smile, stopping it when the reality of her still being invisible dawned on her. “Thank you.”

 “Don’t worry. I’m sure we will figure your gift out.” Fred nodded. He paused, looking calculatively around. “So did you and the yellow-eye make any progress?”

“Well, umm, yes. Partially,” she said, unsure of what to say. They had made some progress, she supposed. It hadn’t precisely been much, but something had at least transpired from the practice sessions. Her gaze found its way to the forest behind Fred.

As she studied it, the blond vampire opened his mouth. “Partially? Bree, I need you to be a bit more specific than that. What exactly happened, and how did it occur?”

She sighed. “I managed to turn invisible once. But only once . It hasn’t worked after that particular time.” Her power loved bullying her. She was sure of it. Why else was it so mean to her and hid her from her friend?

“And how did it end up working?”

The crimson-eyed girl returned to look at Fred. He had raised his eyebrows, waiting patiently for her answer.

“We used my emotions. The invisibility gets triggered the easiest when I get anxious or scared.” She played with her hands nervously. She was hundred percent sure the development of her gift was because of her father. Carlisle had explained different reasons for why some gifts developed, mentioning how some got their gifts from recurring occurrences where they had to develop a certain skill. She had attempted to hide from her abusive father often during her childhood in fear of getting hurt. It had taken a while, but eventually she had learned a couple great hiding spots inside the house. There was no other explanation for where her power could have manifested.

“You seemed pretty tense inside the house, and when the human approached…” The curly-haired vampire noted delicately.

Bree didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to give any hints to the boy about her past. She wasn’t comfortable enough with him to share them with him. Then there was the frightening idea of him leaving her if she spurted it out. He might not want to hear her tragic backstory, and by telling him it, she might scare him off. He didn’t look that confrontational to want to hear something like that.

Fred stepped closer to the invisible newborn. “I’m not going to ask why, because it seems a bit touchy subject to you, but you might need to tap into it. It could help with controlling your gift.”

"Maybe.” She agreed silently.

“How about we then start from the basics of your special ability? In other words, your emotions. Relaxing yourself could be a key to making yourself visible. Think happy, nice thoughts.” He suggested.

Chapter Text

Bree closed her eyes in concentration. She and Fred had tried to force her gift to make her visible for three whole hours. They had been the most frustrating, gut-wrenching hours she had experienced. At first, she had not been too irritated about being invisible, but as time went on, she slowly started to get ticked off. Was her special ability a curse?

Her loud tortuous snarl rang out in the forest. She heard terrified squeaks as animals withdrew further from the two immortals.

This was useless.

If her gift was this stubborn and did not let her control it, why bother trying anymore? She was wasting both her and her friend’s time by constantly failing in her attempts to gain some control over her frustrating power.

“I’m done,” she hissed, opening her angry dark eyes.

Fred didn’t seem happy about her words. “You need to try. We need to tame your gift, as silly as it sounds. Or do you prefer being invisible forever?”

The newborn bit her lip. She raised her head to look at the sky, too fed up to answer. The only positive thing she was waiting for was the sun. It would soon grace them with its presence. She couldn’t wait to see it.

The morning looked to be partially cloudy. Dozens of clouds moved peacefully on the blue horizon, their fluffy edges pushing themselves forward, eagerly waiting for the sun to rise. It was cute how happy they seemed, regardless of their not actually being living creatures. If the young teen would have wanted to be something in the sky, being a cloud looked the coolest. She would get to travel to so many different places and make people occasionally curse at her when she peed on them. The perfect imaginary cheered her up enough for a chuckle to come from her mouth.

“What?” Fred asked. He frowned.

“Nothing,” she said. There was no way she was going to mention her little fantasy of peeing on humans as a cloud. It would make her friend think she had fully lost her mind.

Bright rays from the bottom of the sky made her perk up. The sun. She was able to see its gentle outline. It was finally here. She was free to stop her exercise. Its presence meant she could get a good excuse to stop practising her invisibility. She and Fred had to, after all, go somewhere where mortals couldn’t spot two glittering beings. They didn’t want to end up in a news article.

A gust of wind swept across the vampires. It smelled oddly delicious. Way too tasty to just carry a bunch of mostly odourless air. Her body went rigid as her muscles tensed up. It tasted so mouth-watering.

Her mind felt foggy from bloodlust, getting ready to make her unable to follow her mind’s reason. She felt herself slipping to it, not able to resist the lure of her predatory instincts. They told her to let them take control—to let her succumb to them. She was not strong enough to stop it from happening, so she did.

Her feet led her towards the inviting scent as her throat lit up with fire. Its painful flicker of flames urged her to move quicker. Her legs took stronger pushes. She had to sate the blazing throat. Immediately .

The destination of the amazing flavour came to sight. It was a human. Its pumping juicy heart bounced joyfully, not anticipating the danger coming closer.

With a growl, the brown-haired girl attacked it. She heard a shriek as the creature felt her cold touch. But it was way too late to make the useless sound. The female was hers .

Her teeth sank into her victim's neck eagerly. The hot fresh blood pumped to her mouth, causing her to purr with delight. She was in heaven. The taste of the red liquid embraced her insides, flowing freely into her stomach. She never wanted to leave the source of her relief.

The extinguisher of her throat let out a sharp whine before falling limb. The female was dead.

She didn’t like how fast the mammal had drained out of the mouth-watering substance. She didn’t want her hunt to be over yet. She wanted more blood. A feral hiss escaped from her lips.

She tried to push her teeth deeper into the mortal’s flesh in her frenzy. When more blood didn’t flow into her mouth, she growled, frustrated. Her hands crushed the cooling body’s bones, making them crack under the pressure. A sick snap split the air as they shattered.

The sound woke her up. Her wide, bright red eyes went to the dead female. She stared at her victim, terror evident in her gaze. There was something eerily familiar about the mammal. She couldn’t at first figure out what, but as her brain pondered it, realisation slapped her in the face. 

She hardly remembered the woman’s appearance, but in a quick flash, she got a fleeting memory of her mother singing a lullaby. The creature’s facial structure and brown eyes reminded her chillingly of her old caretaker. But she was dead. She couldn’t have been alive. Her father had-.

Bree let out a sob as sharp pain stabbed her chest. She-. Her father had buried her mother’s body. The police had found it. There was no possibility that this could have been her mother. 

She looked at her now-visible marble-like fingers, which were coated in the blood of her victim. Suddenly, she felt disgusted by them. The mere thought of having her mother’s blood inside her stomach made her feel ill.

The second sob broke to surface from her chest. What if the being was really her mother? What if she had killed her? Perhaps she had escaped. She played with the idea as her lips quivered.

No, it wasn’t realistic. The officers had identified her mother’s buried body in the news and confirmed it was indeed her’s.

The sinking sadness nevertheless continued in her chest, pressuring it mercilessly. She wallowed in it for a while. Not able to pull away. It stuck to her like glue, bringing new flashes of her toddlerhood’s forgotten memories of her mother forward. She weeped, curling into a ball.

After a while, a scream stole her attention. “Mommy!” A small child stood shocked behind her. Her shivering form was carrying a stack of sticks. Tears swelled in the seven-year-old’s eyes as she saw her dead mother and began to cry.

The teen’s bloodlust returned with a rush, her sadness forgotten by its overpowering strength. She jumped on the young child, forcing the small beings' brown sticks to spread to the ground as she fell screeching against the grass.

She finished the creature off faster than she had drained the adult. The child hadn’t contained as much blood in its veins.

As her mind cleared again, the newborn took five staggering steps away from her victims. She continued staring at them, terrified of what she’d done. She had never killed a child before.

Her knees fell against the ground. She should have run as soon as she had murdered the mother. Realised that someone else could have been with her in the forest. Most humans didn’t tend to go to forests alone.

She sat on the grass, tracing her left hand’s fingers with her other hand. Her eyelids closed. She should have controlled herself better. Or fed before she had gotten as thirsty as she had been for the last four hours. It had been a dumb move to not do so, completely idiotic. Her actions had cost the lives of a mother and a daughter.

Steps from a distance alerted her to someone approaching. She didn’t bother to look in the noise’s way and instead placed her head to rest on her knees. She hugged her legs, holding them as if she were nurturing them.

Her outfit had to look quite dirty and bloody at this point. She probably looked homeless. Which she was, but it didn’t mean she wanted to go around with ragged clothes.

Fred appeared next to her, crouching down on her level. “You finally fed.”

“Yeah.”

“Did it taste good?” The curly-haired vampire asked carefully. He seemed to pick up her mood and sat properly on the grass, relaxing his stance. “You’re sad?”

“I guess,” she answered, directing her words to both of her friend’s questions.

The boy tilted his head. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Oh. That’s fine. If you don’t want to, we can just sit silently,” he nodded.

Bree gave him a short appreciative glance. “Thank you.”

The silence stretched between them until Fred spoke again. “So, do you want to come bury the humans? We need to hide them. I can do it alone if you want, but even so, it needs to be done soon. Other mortals can’t find them.”

The girl shrugged. “No, thank you.”

“If you're sad about those humans, you shouldn’t be. They are mortals, and would have ended up dead in a couple decades anyway. I would understand if you’d known them in your human life, but I doubt you did.” The blond boy pointed out. He stood up, adding, “They are just food, remember?”

She buried her head harder against her knees, feeling the weight of what she’d done again. Her friend didn’t, of course, understand her. A prick pierced through her heart. Why would he have? She let out a sob as a new jolt of pain travelled through her.

“You're being very silly. They were just humans.” Fred tried to comfort her unsuccessfully. “Now when you have finally fed properly again, it will take no time until you are back to your old self and won’t feel guilt from drinking from the mortals.”

She looked at her friend in the middle of a weep. She couldn’t. She just-. Before she registered what she had done, her legs carried themselves away from her friend. They whisked her away deeper into the forest—to where the sun's rays couldn’t reach because of the thick tree leaves.

She needed to be alone.

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As the sun attempted to push itself through the leaf canopy, it created spots on the forest floor. Nature sang around Bree, unaware of the turmoil she was feeling.

She had climbed up a huge tree. Its sturdy trunk was the biggest and most spine-chilling thing she had laid her eyes on. It had to be old. Very old. No such tree could be a young one. She wondered briefly how old it was. Was it hundreds of years? Or decades? She couldn’t recall how old trees would be able to get before they died.

Perhaps she could grow her own tree somewhere. Go take care of it as centuries passed if she wouldn’t die unexpectedly. It could be lovely. She would get a new friend for herself and live in harmony with it. Maybe it would let her live on its branches.

She smiled, but let the expression stop as her thought got redirected to the two humans she had killed.

Her unbeating heart was wretched. It felt sore from the hours she had sat alone. Fred had not come to search for her. As awareness of the situation had struck her, she figured out he didn’t want to be her friend anymore. Why else would he have abandoned her like that? He truly had had enough of her depressing, anxiety-driven life and left her on her own.

She was friendless yet again. Her human life seemed keen on recreating itself in her vampire life. The lonely years of it filled her mind, full of images of her hanging out alone. What was the point of living if everyone around you disliked you?

Her blood-stained clothes rubbed against the wood as she turned to sit in a different position. The tree, at least, hadn’t shooed her away.

A sob escaped from her chest. She felt so utterly alone and sad. Her worsening regret over killing the mother-daughter duo jumped onward. They had doubtlessly gone on a camping trip. For their horrible luck, it had ended very bloody.

The newborn shuddered. She hoped they were happy wherever they went. Hopefully they had stopped existing and were peacefully in thoughtless darkness. It sounded comforting to her.

The tree’s leaves swayed, tickling her cheeks as they brushed across her face briefly. She shielded herself from them, placing her hands in front of her face. She had no intention of letting the tree touch her like it wanted. She wanted to wallow in peace without getting interrupted.

One of the mortals had reminded her too much of her mother. She was still shaken from seeing it. It was a mystery why the female was so eerily similar to her biological mother. Was it a prank from fate? Did it want to torture her?

And then there was the innocent seven-year-old. The poor child had died by her disgusting hands. She got rid of its life, like it had meant nothing to her. She’d never imagined that she’d murder a child.

The sunlight glittered on her skin as she hid in the canopy of the tree. Her skin’s sparkles hopped joyfully around, reflecting themselves into the wood and the leaves.

The young teen had no idea what to do anymore. She didn’t want to go searching for Fred. He could get bothered by her whines. She felt like a burden to her possibly former friend. What type of immortal was she if she wasn’t able to kill humans anymore? She was supposed to be the apex predator—the creature that feasted on humans. But apparently her brain did not like the idea anymore. It couldn’t handle the thought of hurting humans, especially if they looked anything like her mother.

She was a pathetic excuse for a vampire.

Hardly surprisingly, Fred might have caught on to that and ditched her. He would probably be better off without her. Free to be a real vampire, while she rotted on her spot and slowly lost her mind. 

She hoped he’d have a good life.

Time ticked by as shadows became longer and the morning turned into the night. She sat still like a statue, not daring to move. That’s what she deserved after what she'd done.

Crickets began their irritatingly familiar song. She didn’t want to listen to them. Her brain wasn’t in the right mood to enjoy the orchestra. So she jumped back to the grass, leaving the loyal tree behind.

Her shoes flattened the green plants as she started making her way through the forest. Crestfallen expression on her face, she walked onwards. There was no certain place she immediately wished to go. She could always decide where to go when she had taken her time and strolled in the forest.

The girl had unlimited time to choose where to travel.

However, faith seemed to have other plans for her. As she hiked beneath the stars, her nose caught a scent. It was worryingly familiar. She couldn’t help but frown in confusion.

Fred. The curly-haired boy was, for unknown reasons, close by. She rushed behind a bush, not wanting him to notice her. Its sharp edges poked her when she settled inside of it, making sure she was hidden from sight.

The other immortal came to view. His eyes skimmed past the bush she was hiding in. “Bree? Are you here?”

Bree kept quiet. She didn’t want to be found.

“I know you're here. Your scent is all over the place,” the boy continued.

She closed her bright crimson eyes for a second.

“Look…I’m sorry if I came off as insensitive to your struggles. I don’t really fully understand why you are acting so sad about killing humans, but I shouldn’t have said what I said. I should have known better than that. You're allowed to feel gloomy if you want.” Fred spoke. He gazed around, hope glimmering in his expression. When nothing happened, it dropped.

“Please, can we talk?”

The newborn didn’t move. She avoided looking into the boy’s eyes, afraid he would then be able to spot her. She needed to leave before he found out where she was hiding.

A gentle stab crushed her insides. It would be better for both of them. She would be a nuisance to him, unable to feed, and turn into a numb statue when killing humans. There would be no joy in being around her. She could always drink from the animals, but she felt bad about it too. They were almost worse to murder than the mortals. And on top of that, bad tasting.

She knew Fred was intelligent enough to leave her alone . Surely he saw they were better off separate. She could be a miserable weeping mess, while he was able to enjoy life filled with happiness and excitement. 

They were too different to travel together. Her trauma would always return to her one way or another, causing her to turn into an anxious creature. She got scared even by a spider and hissed at it like it was planning to kill her. It wasn’t normal . There was nothing ordinary about her.

It would drag her friend down if he joined her ridiculous behaviour of always being on alert, scared that someone could hurt her. She would forever have to look over her shoulders to ease her fear. She couldn't, with good conscience, damn the boy to live like that.

“Bree, I’m begging you,” Fred pleaded.

The silence of the sixteen-year-old teen carried on. It steered clear of the desperate blond vampire, circling around him, demanding that he’d leave.

The moon shone down to the soil, studying the commotion happening below. Its round glowing shape started steadily going down to get closer to the two immortals. As its presence became fainter, Fred’s features became full of anguish.

Bree hated to walk away from her old friend like this, but felt like she had no other choice but to do so. He was not realising the benefit of them separating. They’d both be glad. She knew it. Well, it would not possibly be the case for her, but she was ready to spend her time in spurts of misery. Her mind had made peace with it.

She closed her eyes, concentrating on her gift. She had decided what to do. Seeing Fred so distressed had made her realise it was better if she went somewhere he was not expecting her to go. Somewhere potentially dangerous, but necessary for him to never find her. She would need to, to her own displeasure, return to the Cullens and face the Volturi. If she died, her friend would never be able to reach her, and she could rest peacefully knowing he was going to be happy—not chained or dragged by her stupid, disturbed self.

Her body became invisible as she began to run. At last, her gift had obeyed her. Finally, having a destination in mind, she created distance between herself and her friend.

Chapter Text

The grey clouds floated on the sky. Their heavy edges not leaving any gaps for the sun to break through, no matter how much daylight tried to push itself past them.

Bree ran in the forest, her stomach full of butterflies. Cold air enveloped around her. Its chilly strokes sneaked into her frozen body eagerly, waiting for her to start shivering without success.

She ignored its attempts. She had better things to do than play with the cool air. It should have known vampires didn’t feel the cold the same way humans did. It was impossible for her to get chills from it.

The young teen stepped on a stick. It snapped beneath her, creating a loud warning noise for anyone nearby. 

She was getting closer to Cullen territory. It wouldn’t be long until she’d reach it. Perhaps another ten minutes, and she’d arrive at the territory line. The thought made her nervous, sending a spur of new butterflies into the dark pits of her stomach. What exactly was she supposed to do then? She couldn't, without a doubt, just walk back into their house. Or could she? Would it be as easy as that? No. It certainly wouldn’t go well. Maybe she would try waiting for one of the yellow-eyes to spot her on the edge of their territory. All she knew, Alice could have seen her coming back, and they were currently waiting impatiently for her to return. 

But what if they were going to kill her themselves instead of giving her to the Volturi? She let out a short snarl as fear shot into her. The sixteen-year-old shaked her head. She was being silly. It wouldn’t matter who killed her. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if she instead died at the hands of the Cullens. She’d get murdered regardless of who did it, and wasn’t that what she had signed herself into—to get killed?

Her heart swelled with terror. Even if she had decided to accept her impending faith, dread slipped into her core. Was this the right thing to do? She could still turn back. No one had found her yet. She had more than enough time to leave before anyone would catch her scent and go after her.

As she was pondering what to do, she reached yellow-eyes territory. It loomed in front of her, greeting her once again.

Just before stepping inside, she came to a halt. She needed to make the choice.

The girl studied the area, too doubtful to go forward. Her timid muscles were ready to bounce even from the smallest of sounds. She needed to be on full alert.

Time crept by. Her scent drifted around the area, investigating it curiously while she busied her mind by struggling to figure out what to do. Her rumination was interrupted as nature on her right turned silent. The silence was peculiar. Usually, not possible, except if something scary enough to scare the animals was close.

Fear and uneasiness crept inside her unbeating heart. Something was very badly wrong. She sensed it within her body.

Unnoticeable shivers went down her back, her instincts erupting in a scream. She had to leave. She didn’t care where, but she just needed to run—run far away from the creeping uneasiness.

The newborn bolted, too frightened to decide her next move. The most important thing now was to escape from the terrifying atmosphere. Not a single fibre in her body wished to stay standing on her old spot. It was too dangerous. She still wasn’t sure why, but she just knew deep down inside she had to move.

Her steps followed her earlier footprints away from the frightening area. But no matter how far she ran, the feeling persisted. She wasn’t able to shake it off. It was stuck to her like glue.

Forest flashed on both sides of her as she sped up.

Her horror grew as she realised the uneasiness became stronger. She tried to find out why, but her brain wasn’t able to come up with anything logical. All of her thoughts were too scattered for her to attempt to come up with a reasonable conclusion to the sinking feeling.

Bree felt a gust of wind on top of her before she stumbled down to the ground. Her head was forced against the grass as she let out a furious growl. It poured from her lungs halfheartedly, interrupted by the rising terror.

Strong arms locked her to the ground. She trashed and panicked, her pupils dilating in dread as the grip strengthened.

"Please,” she begged.

An overfamiliar scent washed over her. The scent she had smelled on countless occasions during her time with the Cullens. Jasper. Of course, that must have explained why she felt such uneasiness. The scarred man must have controlled her emotions and made her feel terrified. He had wanted to make her unable to think straight to make it easier to catch her.

Her concentration went back to the unfolding scene. She was stuck in the southern vampire’s grip, not able to move herself. Panic rose inside of her.

“I promise not to run away,” she pleaded once more. Her voice cracked from fear “Please?”

The yellow-eye eased his hold hesitantly. “If you move even slightly, I’m going to kill you.”

The sixteen-year-old nodded, not daring to turn to look at the man. She wasn’t going to risk doing anything that could trigger him to continue his attack.

Regardless of her promise, Jasper did not loosen his grip. His stoic unmoving gaze directed at the back of her head, he waited. She felt its burning stare as she held her desire to squirm.

It felt like ages that she was held tightly against the grass. She had started to become familiar with its smell and feel when new footsteps came into her hearing range. All as brisk as they approached her. She concentrated on their sounds, estimating that two other Cullen’s were approaching. What she was also fairly sure of was that the steps belonged to Esme and Alice.

The guess was proven right as the wind brought their scents to her.

She kept her body still, focusing only on the spikey grass. If she looked harmless, they might not hurt her. The frightening encounter with Jasper had left her shaking and doubting her wish to die. The newborn wanted to prolong it as much as possible. She wanted to calm down and, at least, get killed on her own terms.

“You found her!” Alice’s cheery voice broke the silence. Bree heard how the pixie moved next to the scarred man.

Jasper tightened his hold, making the young teen feel a joint of pain hit her neck. “We should bring it back to our house before it decides to escape.”

The sixteen-year-old hissed, not being able to stay silent. It was not the greatest idea, but she simply couldn’t stop herself from making the furious noise. She didn’t want to be referred to as an animal. Not anymore, when she had gotten used to being treated better by Fred.

“Jasper, please. Remember what we talked about?” Esme’s scolding tone said firmly. Her legs appeared next to the brown-haired girl.

“Fine. But she needs to be brought back to our house as fast as possible. It’s risky to keep her here.” With a hint of annoyance in his voice, the southern vampire spoke.

“Jazz!” Alice begged. “It would really make everything easier if you would stop being so overprotective and silly. There is no need for that.”

“I can be cautious if I want,” he argued. The newborn felt a flash of relief as his grip eased.

She moved her head as much as she dared until she had a better view of the Cullens. They all stood still like statues, preoccupied by silent conversation communicated through eyes. The grass she had stared at for a good ten minutes lured her gaze back to it, making her wonder briefly what the yellow-eyes were thinking. She wasn’t a master at knowing what was happening in their minds, but she was sure, based on the time she had spent with them, that they were arguing about something. She wished she’d be able to read minds to figure out what it was.

Esme turned her head down towards the girl, giving her a cautious smile. “Let’s head back to our house. We need to discuss together how to meet the Volturi. They are bound to arrive in a day.”

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The three vampires led Bree to their contemporary house. Cautious in case she tried escaping, their amber eyes did not leave her unwatched for a second. They arrived on the Cullens porch just as an unknown object shattered inside. The loud racket caused by it alarmed the newborn, making her take multiple stiff steps backwards. What had happened? Something had broken that was fairly clear, but what the object was and the reason why it had occurred plagued her nerve cracked mind.

Her pupils widened in fear as Rosalie’s deep growl became apparent. Was the blond goddess responsible for throwing the unknown object to the floor? She took another step back, pumping into a hissing Jasper. “You're not going anywhere.” 

The man’s words made her jump back up the small concrete steps, closer to the door where Esme was standing dumbfounded. The woman’s expression was wretched with worry as she reached out to grab the door handle.

The sixteen-year-old walked up to her, turning to look at the scowling scarred vampire once more. Shudders travelled across her marble-like body as she forced herself to turn her head to see what Esme was doing.

Remembering the ear-piercing shatter of an object, she tensed her muscles, preparing herself for a potential danger inside. She needed to be brave—just like she had been when her father had been angry and broken furniture to pieces.

She was capable of doing this as long as she stayed close to Esme. Risking her soon-ending life wasn’t worth it until she arranged to get killed by the Volturi. She had decided not to want the yellow-eyes to cut it short. The dark cloaks were used to killing vampires; their kill count reaching thousands, so she wanted them to do it. It would be quicker and, hopefully, painless.

The blond sadistic girl flashed to her mind, creating a grimace onto her face.

Her thoughts fixed themselves. She was fine with anyone of the Volturi guard killing her except her. She’d even be ready to be tortured as long as the ancient but scary thirteen-year-old stayed far away from her. The pain Jane had caused on the clearing two weeks ago fresh inside her mind, she was ready to do anything to not have to feel it ever again. She twitched as a stab of the sadistic girl’s pain reappeared on her body for a blink of an eye.

The door clicked open in front of her. She leapt backwards, ending up closer to Jasper. Her wide, crimson eyes caught a hint of annoyance from the man’s eyes as he stood motionless, trapping her path to go further away from everyone else.

“Bree, come here,” Esme called. The girl took her chance to get away from the southern vampire and hurried inside the house where the matriarch had disappeared while she was occupied by her thoughts.

Uneasiness crept over her. Her mind stunned by anxiety, she pushed her legs onward to not let them freeze in their place.

The caramel-haired woman’s voice guided Bree into the living room. The newborn studied the messy area, surprised to find Rosalie sitting on one of the seats. Her expression was calm, but unexplained frustration shone through her body language. The golden-haired immortal did not raise her eyes to look at her as she entered.

Esme wore a tight smile on her face as she sat on the grey sofa. The matriarch patted the free space next to her, inviting the younger vampire to take a seat.

The young teenager gulped, walking up to the sofa. She sat on it, holding her desire to leave. It was better for her to stay here instead of being close to Jasper. The scarred yellow-eye had not followed her for her luck. She was enough on the edge as it was and did not need to feel him staring at her with his vicious eyes.

“Carlisle and Emmett should arrive back home soon. They went to fetch something from the town. When they come, we can discuss what to do together,” Esme explained. With warmth radiating from her voice, she added, “If you want something to pass the time with, I’d be happy to help.”

Bree hesitated to answer. Her eyes met those of the matriarchs. “No, but thanks for offering.” Her gaze dropped to her hands as she started to play with her dirty sleeves.

The answer satisfied the other vampire, causing her to let out an affirming humming sound.

They sat in silence, Rosalie occasionally rolling her eyes, pissed off by an unknown reason.  The sixteen-year-old girl wanted to know why with a burning need. Her curiosity overpowering her fear, she glanced at the blond immortal.

The goddess sat motionless, her face turned towards the hallway. Growing disapproval and frustration grew behind her golden eyes. Finally, she snapped yet again. “Esme, can you please go get Edward out of my room? He is ruining it with his smell.”

The caramel-haired woman looked bewildered at her covenmate. “Edward? Why is he in your room?” Her head turned upwards, like waiting for the boy to answer the question too.

Hands freezing to their place mid-fidget, the newborn’s eyebrows rose. She had not noticed the mind reader’s presence. A new kind of dread took place in her heart. She didn’t want him to read her thoughts. Why couldn’t he be away from the house—be with his human mate? He liked being there.

Edward let out a short, frustrated growl. “I’m just trying to find a spare shirt for Bella. She fell to the mud and didn’t want to go all the way back to Charlie’s to get a new shirt. She was worried it would disturb the investigation her father is trying to ponder.”

“And he brought Bella close by. He is an irresponsible hypocr-” Rosalie cut in but did not get a chance to finish her sentence.

Esme stood up, giving a warning glare to the beautiful blond vampire. Her expression turned stricter as she stared up in the direction where Edward was. “I’ll come back soon.” She promised Bree before walking off to talk to the boy privately.

Bree straightened her back instinctively. Her gaze followed the woman, wanting to sprint off after her. She had no desire to be left alone with Rosalie. Her paranoia told her it was not a wise decision to make. People, both vampires and humans, did scary things when angry. She was certain that she did not want to be the one who could potentially get targeted by the angry amber-eye.

A sudden rush of relief overtook her body as a car’s sound filled her ears. She concentrated on it, begging that the vehicle belonged to the patriarch and the blond goddess's mate. As she didn’t hear heartbeats, hope arose in her chest.

In two minutes, Carlisle and Emmett appeared at the living room’s entrance, their gazes fixating on the young teen sitting on the grey sofa.

“Sup!” Emmett greeted her. The muscular man did not seem fazed to find her inside his home, like he’d expect to find her from here.

Carlisle’s head flipped to him, giving him a silencing look. “I’m sorry about Emmett.” He paused for a while, gathering his thoughts. The patriarch turned to look at the girl. “It's a pleasure to see you again, Bree, even if on an unfortunate occasion.”

The teen dodged his eyes, not wanting to stare into them. She was afraid he’d dig deep into her soul by doing so. The doctor was scary in that way. It felt like he was able to figure out her deepest, darkest secrets by just looking at her. The thought made her uncomfortable, so she continued playing with her sleeves. 

She heard a sight but didn’t raise her head to see who had created it. Bree wasn’t going to speak until Esme came back from the third floor. She had just decided that. It was better to wait until the matriarch came. On a more positive note, she wasn’t alone with Rosalie anymore and felt relieved that Carlisle was in the room with her. She didn’t really care too much about Emmett. He was fine to be around, but in spite of that, she wasn’t the most fond of him. Mostly because of his mate, though. Usually, wherever he was, Rosalie was.

The sixteen-year-old listened to the silent whispers from the floor above. She tried her hardest to understand what Esme and Edward were talking about but their whispers were too silent to be understood. She hated not being able to hear them. Being a vampire had really spoiled her and her occasional curiosity.

Giving up on eavesdropping on them, she continued touching her sleeves. To her surprise, the patriarch decided to sit next to her—to the same spot Esme had sat in. Did the leading couple of the coven have a psychic connection, knowing where the other one had sat? Or did he just by accident end up sitting on his wife's spot?

Esme arrived back down. “Rose, Edward is going to leave your room. I helped him choose a shirt for Bella.”

The blond goddess's lips rose to a satisfied smile. “Good.”

The matriarch walked up to Bree and sat on her other side. Her and Carlisle shared a quick look with each other.

The newborn between them began fidgeting with her whole body. The movement was unnatural for a vampire. The immortals were supposed to be stoic and unmoving when nervous. But yet, the fidgeting did not surprise her in the slightest. There was nothing normal about her, so it made sense for her to be the only vampire to do movements like that when feeling anxious.

“Is Edward going to join us?” Carlisle asked.

Esme shaked her head. “He wants to be with Bella. Especially now when Bree is back.”

“Alright. I suppose we should start then, shall we?” The blond man glanced around, wanting to see if anyone would object.

Alice danced into the room, sitting next to Rosalie and Emmett. The sixteen-year-old turned her head, startled, towards the entrance of the living room. Wasn’t Jasper going to join them?

Like she would have guessed her thoughts, the caramel-haired woman next to her smiled. “Jasper is not going to join us. We decided it might be better to let him stay away from you for the time being. He is nevertheless able to hear the conversation from his place and know what we have decided.”

The girl studied the vampire's face. When had they decided that? She tried to scroll through her memories, attempting to remember had they spoken about it when she had been in the hearing distance. How had they had enough time to decide to let the scarred man into the conversation? Alice was the only one who could have been able to make the decision, but there was no way the others would have been able to know about it. Emmett and Carlisle had just come from the town; Rosalie had been in the living room for god knows how long; and Esme had either chatted with Edward or stayed close to Bree.

Puzzled expression on her face, the young teen shifted her focus back to Cullens.

“Like we all know, the Volturi are going to arrive here in less than a day.” Carlisle started. “We need to figure out what exactly we should do and where we wish to meet them. Our house could be a viable option, but we can also meet them somewhere outside with the help of Alice’s visions.”

Bree stayed silent as the others discussed the specific location the meeting was going to take place at. She felt like it was not her place to interfere and decide where it was going to happen. After all, she did not live in the Cullen house, and it would have been inappropriate for her to give her own opinion on the matter. Her only wish was to announce to the yellow-eyes she was ready to potentially die.

It was the sole reason she came back.

After a short discussion, everyone seemed content with the idea of going to meet the Volturi in the forest. No one was pleased with the idea of them coming to their house.

As the decision had been made, the concentration turned to the newborn.

The awkwardness rolled into the atmosphere, Alice’s vision of her dying rushing to everyone’s minds.

The pixie spoke first. “Bree now has better chances to survive. I made sure she was able to escape from us on the baseball field since it heightened her chances of staying alive.”

Everyone’s gazes jumped to her in shock, the revelation leaving the other immortals speechless. The most stunned was, however, the crimson-eyed girl. She stared at the seer, eyes widened. Unable to speak, she opened her mouth, ending up closing it again after no words came out. What did Alice mean by making sure she escaped? The raven-haired vampire had seen her plans the whole time. The girl had thought she had hid them well, but it turned out that was not the case. Her heart wretched. The effort she had made to not think about escaping had been for nothing. She could have just thought about it without worrying when Edward wasn’t in the house.

“You let her escape! Were you nuts ?” Rosalie gasped. Her hissing filled the room. “We could have never found her again and might have died when the Volturi would have found out we didn’t catch her. Our whole family could have-.”

Jasper growled from downstairs. From what Bree knew about him, he probably wanted to come defend his short mate.

“Rosalie. I know this is upsetting, but it’s not going to help anyone to start blaming each other,” Carlisle reminded his covenmate. “It was wrong of Alice to not inform us of this, but what’s done is done. We cannot change the past anymore.” Next, he gave a disappointed look at the pixie.

“Pops is right. And besides, we found Bree again.” Emmett added, trying to calm his mate.

“Maybe, but what if we wouldn’t have?” Rosalie continued her angry rant.

“Rose, please. We need to concentrate on talking about Bree’s fate,” Esme chastised the irritated blond vampire. “We do not have enough time to start going over what Alice did.”

Bree looked at the erupting conversation, noticing how the seer stood up. “She was going to return to us. I saw it.”

“I don’t care what you saw!”

“Well, you should.”

“Alice. Rosalie” Esme stopped the two yellow-eyes. Her eyes fierce, she looked at them. “You can bicker when we have sorted out Bree’s situation. It’s currently a lot more important.”

The sixteen-year-old girl suppressed her want to interject. The Cullens were too naive. There was nothing to ‘sort out’. She’d die when the Volturi came. It was delusional to think otherwise, no matter what the raven-haired seer 'saw’. Her second life would come to an end, without a doubt.

She returned to play with her dirty sleeves, their fragile fabric bending under her will to where she wanted them to. Spots of blood stuck to the material, adamant to remind her of the two innocent humans she had killed a mere day ago.

Alice’s gasp stole her attention. Her gaze flew to the pixie, fear flaring into her body like a rash. What had she seen? A bad entailing lump gathered in her stomach.

Jasper rushed to the room, past Bree, finding his place next to his mate. His eyes went to his wife as his muscles tightened in preparation.

The short immortal stammered in her speech as she revealed her vision “I- I didn’t see them earlier. They must have come close to our house but decided not to approach until-.The Volturi are going to be here in ten minutes.”

Chapter Text

The seer’s words made the household descend to chaos. The air turned tense as everyone around Bree stood up, their figures hardening from the thought of the ancient vampires arriving out of the blue.

The newborn felt her chest sink. The announcement of Volturi's arrival had been so sudden, she’d not had time to process yet her existence was going to come to an end. She had thought about it—even accepted the imaginary situation—but had not adjusted her brain truly to the fact she was going to die.

Panic flared inside her brain. Perhaps she could still run away. She would be a coward if she managed to do so, but at least safe from the horrors of facing the cloaked immortals.

Her breath hitched.

No. Head shaking in reluctance, she refused to let hesitation latch itself onto her. She wasn’t going to back down. No matter what, this needed to be done. For Fred. And for the uncanny-looking woman and her child. She had to become ash.

The faraway tree she had sat in when mourning the deaths of the two humans flashed in her mind. She wondered if the Cullens could bring her remains close to the plant and let them rest there. She had promised the plant she would take care of it. That way, they could both be happy and protected. Together forever, literally.

Unknown to her, her legs attempted to escape on their own accord. To her bad luck, the rest of her body had to follow the unconscious action. As she realised what had happened, she was grabbed from all sides and thrust to the ground, her futile attempt to escape stopping before she had managed to go far.

The room filled with a thud as she fell to the wooden floor, the impact she was thrown creating a dent in the material.

Her legs were banned from deciding any of her next moves. The decision firm in her mind, she concentrated on calming her anxious body. Although she tried doing it quickly, Jasper was faster. His gift pushed itself inside of her, unwanted. The serene feeling overtook her muscles as she relaxed.

“Get up,” the southern vampire commanded. “They are almost here. You cannot be lying on the floor when the Volturi arrive, although I doubt they would care if-.”

“Jasper, me and Esme will handle her.” Carlisle interrupted him.

The man growled, “Fine.”

New hands took hold of the young teen as she was helped up. Esme and Carlisle’s scents washed over her while she took balance in their grip, steadying herself. She didn’t want to fall again. It would be embarrassing.

During her legs acting up—which, for the record, was not her fault—she had not paid much attention to the Cullens. Her mind had become fixated on the movement of her shoes. So for the first time, after Alice’s vision, her crimson eyes fell on the leader and his mate. They were standing on both sides of her like they’d never stood up from the couch in the first place and left her to sit on it alone.

“You’ll be alright,” Esme tried reassuring her. It was a dead end. Bree was not going to let the woman convince her she was going to be fine when they both knew that was not going to be the case. She wasn’t as dumb as she looked. And most importantly, old enough to realise there was nothing to be done to save her.

She didn’t even want to be saved.

The girl’s silence didn’t go unnoticed by the two. She’d wished they’d just let her do her thing and stop trying to convince her she wasn’t going to die.

Carlisle softened his hold on her arm. “Alice saw that your chances to survive are not as slim as before,” he reminded. “We’ll figure something out. I’m sure the Volturi will listen to us depending on which of them are coming.”

“I doubt so,” Jasper said, inserting himself into the conversation.

Esme hushed him away, giving him a scolding look. “Don’t listen to him. If Alice sees your surviving chances are better, she should be listened to.”

Bree shaked her head, doubtful to believe them.

A sight broke out from the matriarch’s lips, but she did not say anything else. She had clearly stopped trying to convince her, registering it was not going to be successful to try changing the mind of the stubborn newborn.

Pleasement dripped into the brown-haired girl’s expression. She had won.

Her victory was short-lived, as her ears picked up fast-paced running. The sounds were coming closer without a single heartbeat pumping near them. The inhuman sounds brought her back to the house, comprehension of her upcoming death dawning upon her face.

She gulped.

Carlisle and Esme tightened their grips on her, their amber eyes unsure if she was going to attempt bolting away.

“They are here,” Rosalie whispered.

The Cullens didn’t dare to move until the footsteps stopped on their doorsteps. Nervousness rattled in the air, suffocating the last positive emotions inside the house.

This was it. Her death was here.

Time stretched as the newborn waited for the doorbell to ring. Her nerve-cracking feelings swirled in her stomach like butterflies begging to get freed. Their screams haunted her, warned her to run, but she was stuck in her place. Her feet had glued themselves to the wooden floor in hopes of being somehow saved by their laughable action. She wished they did not truly believe in getting rescued from that. If they did, they were idiots.

The rest of her body agreed with her mind, making her twitch as the doorbell rang. The sound was ominous, promising a never-forgotten scene to unfold in front of her. She’d become ash at the end of it, but at least, would not suffer. Or at very least get tormented fast, and then her life would be taken.

Carlisle let go of her. He gave a reassured smile to the sixteen-year-old and started moving towards the front door. His form disappeared behind a wall as he walked out of the living room. Steps slowing down, he came to a halt. The patriarch must have reached the door.

With an unassuming click, the door creaked open.

“Ah, Carlisle!” an unfamiliar voice spoke. The stranger continued with a polite voice, “I’m so thrilled to see you again, my dear friend.” 

The patriarch greeted the unfamiliar vampire, keeping his tone courteous “Aro, I was not expecting your company. It’s a delight to see you…even if the situation is far from pleasing.”

“Yes, indeed. It’s quite unfortunate. Which brings me to my next question.”

Bree’s muscles turned rigid. If her face could have paled, she would have become white as a ghost. A memory from two weeks ago repeated itself in her head like a broken record. It consumed her mind, sweeping all of the other thoughts away. She remembered the yellow-eyes leader mentioning Aro when telling about his past, her crystal-clear memories recalling the leader of the Volturi without a struggle.

Aro stalled his words, like he was getting fatigued from letting them out of his mouth. “I hope you have managed to catch the newborn. I’d hate to see anything happen to you and your little…family.”

“We have, in fact,” Carlisle answered. His voice dropped as he made his tone serious. “Would you like to perhaps meet her?”

“Yes. I’d love to.”

Footsteps filled the newborn’s ears, their rhythmic pace moving on the creaking wood. The Volturi were going to walk into the living room. By her estimation, five guards were following the Cullen patriarch and Aro, the vampire world leader. Shudders created by her imagination travelled up her back. This was not good.

Panic jumped on her face as she took a breath in. This was no time to show her weaknesses. If she looked defeatable, she’d get killed faster. The pressure from the mixed emotions built up around her heart. What if she had changed her mind and did not want to die? Pleading her case could be idiotic, but maybe it was worth revisiting in her mind. Perhaps she could convince the Volturi to let her live.

Her head flipped, locking itself on the room’s entrance. The resolve solidified inside of her. She’d give herself another chance to live. Her previous assumption of being ready to die wavered away in front of her feverish need to live. In her desperation, she hardened her face, preparing to face the monstrous ancient immortals.

The girl needed to be brave.

Carlisle returned to the uneasy room. He looked around, his careful gaze bouncing from each of his coven members to another, telling them to stay put. 

Behind him, a man with black cape walked in. His strange pink-coloured eyes looked around, full of curiosity. With jet black hair falling to his shoulders, the ancient vampire sighed like he was delighted to see the yellow-eyes.

He was accompanied by four vampires. Two of them were very familiar to Bree’s terror—Jane and Alec placed themselves on the black caped man’s both sides, scowling expressions plastered on their young faces. The two other guards, or so she assumed, were unfamiliar to the newborn. She had not seen them before. One of them was a short female. She stood right behind the pink-eyed vampire, touching his cape. The contact was subtle but noticeable enough to create shudders in the sixteen-year-old's back. She for a second wondered if the short guard had a gift that needed a touch to work. The last guard was a male. He looked brawny, his huge muscles flexing as he settled to stand next to the short female.

“Is Isabella here?” The jet-black-haired man, Aro, inquired. 

Bree bit inside her cheek, being careful not to make a noise from the action. The question was dumb. If the human had been close by, he should have been able to hear her heartbeat.

“No. Not anymore. I’m afraid you missed her and Edward by fifteen minutes,” Carlisle apologised. His voice was hesitant, careful in case he would anger the ancient immortal.

Aro’s smile dropped. “Oh, that’s such a pity. I would have adored seeing her again.” He turned to Alice, a grin re-entering his expression. “But it’s marvellous to see you again, darling Alice.”

“The pleasure is all mine.” The pixie gave a polite answer. 

 Aro smiled, thrilled. He widened his enthusiastic eyes. “I’m sure you have seen how this meeting will go.”

“Yes, I do have seen a few outcomes.” As Alice's calm composure did not reveal anything worth noting, the Volturi leader focused his attention on Bree.

His spooky demeanour left her feeling uncomfortable, as the girl’s instincts told her to hide from his prying gaze. She reminded herself to stay calm and not show fear in front of the ancient immortal. 

Pleasantness oozed from Aro’s words as he opened his mouth. “You must be Bree.” 

The newborn nodded, looking down at her legs. She kept her body unmoving despite a strong pulsating urge to move it further away from the room. Wanting to stare out of the window to get an excuse not to look at the man, she flickered her crimson eyes to the huge glass panel. They returned to her feet as an emerging panic rose in her throat. Hiding her fear was turning out to be impossible.

“You aren’t really talkative, aren’t you, dear?” The ancient vampire sighed, lifting his attention from the teenager.

“She is nervous, which is quite understandable in her case.” Carlisle redirected Aro’s attention to himself.

Relief engulfed her. She felt like she was able to breathe again. As the Volturi leader's eyes were on Carlisle, she could rest assured she had time to gather some of her thoughts in peace. Perhaps attempt regaining her confidence too. Her mind needed to work quickly—pull all the strings needed to make her stay sane.

"Indeed,” Aro agreed. He turned to look at Bree yet again, eyes sparkling with yearning. “It may be time to dwell on our little problem. I got rather carried away for a second. Your Alice is so wonderful!”

“Yes, I’d like to actually propose something if you permit it,” Carlisle said.

The ancient immortal’s expression twisted to curiosity “Oh, of course, my friend.” 

Bree’s gaze went to the patriarch. She was just about as intrigued as the Volturi to hear what the blond man had to say. What could he be thinking? A proposal to the vampire world leaders didn’t seem smart. Even she, a newborn, was able to figure it out. On the flip side, Carlisle did have a history with the terrifying group of vampires. He, if anyone, could try talking to Aro.

Others in the room agreed with her, their stances tattling their emotions.

The yellow-eye closed his eyelids, reopening them as the living room’s air became thicker. “Me and Esme pondered together a day ago what to do when you’d arrive. We considered all the possibilities and ended up coming to a conclusion.” He gave a warm look in his wife’s direction. “We would be prepared to take full responsibility for Bree. If she would kill someone, we would be ready to get punished.”

Aro cut off his speech. “Carlisle, I appreciate your notion, but she has broken the law. I thought Jane went through this with you last time. I do agree that it’s such a shame to kill such an unusually gifted vampire, but the safety of the rest of us needs to be taken into consideration.”

The sixteen-year-old’s hopes shattered, their pieces falling to the wooden floor, ready to be swept to the trash can.

“I urge you to reconsider.”

“No, we have made our choice regarding her. She is dangerous to the world.” Aro’s tone shifted to remorse. His expression, however, did not give off the emotion. Instead, it was filled with calmness.

The patriarch stayed silent, looking like he was weighing down a thought. His eyes sharpened. “It would be a shame if others of our kind found out you let the newborn army in Seattle grow and befriended its leader.”

Aro’s body straightened in surprise. He took a sharp breath before rotating his head towards Jane. The two stared at each other, the sadistic girl turning humiliated. As his head returned to look at Carlisle, he said, scandalised “I did not have any knowledge of that happening.”

It was a lie. The man’s unmistakable pretend voice rang in the air, revealing his true understanding of the events. Without a doubt, he was quite well aware of his guards mishaps. Bree kept her face neutral, not desiring to let anyone see her emotions. Maybe they wanted her dead because she knew about the deal Victoria and Jane had made—the very same reason why Diego had been killed by the redhead. It made sense. They hadn’t wanted the knowledge to spread. Eliminating everyone who was not part of the deal but had found out about it seemed clever. It was unknown how the Cullens had come to know about it. Perhaps Jane had accidentally revealed it to Edward in the clearing.

A challenge did arise from the brand new information. The yellow-eyes had shown they knew about the agreement, throwing the Volturi’s plans to get rid of all involved dead. They wouldn’t dare attack them here. The ancient vampires numbers were too small to defeat the Cullens at their contemporary house.

“Then you could perhaps let Bree live. I’m sure you're curious about how her gift would develop. And like I mentioned, we will be willing to face consequences if she kills a human during her newborn year.” Carlisle softened his earlier words.

Aro’s pink eyes moved around the living room, taken aback by his friend. “I suppose we could make an exception if you are truly ready to risk your life for the child.”

“It’s settled then?” the blond vampire made sure.

“...Yes.”

Exhilaration broke out in the newborn’s chest. She had to hold down a squeal, each part of her body undergoing a splash of feelings as a sense of security filled her. The threat of dying had affected her more than she had imagined. She was going to be safe.

Chapter Text

Bree’s feet brought her in front of her former bedroom’s door. Hands quivering on its handle, she opened it, careful to not attract attention from the silent creak it made. She did not want to alarm the Cullens. Deep inside, she knew they did not care she was about to enter the room, but couldn’t help but feel nervous about the thought.

Her crimson gaze hovered around the bedroom. It still looked the same as the day she had escaped from the baseball field. A familiar glimmer caught her eye. The frightening mirror that had made her look like a stranger in the yellow-eyes clothes greeted her. Its golden frames glittered in the warm sunlight. Impressed by how the sun rays were able to reach so far into the darkest corner of the room, she tilted her head. 

Small dust flakes danced in the air, welcoming her with their complex swirls as she stepped further inside. Closing the door, she sat on her bed. It engulfed her, making her collapse to its depths. Oh, how much she had missed the soft mattress. In her adventures, she had forgotten how amazing the object felt.

She laid still for an unknown time, refusing to move. Perhaps she should have stolen the mattress earlier and taken it with her so they could have travelled together. It couldn’t have been too hard to carry it around the forest. The image of her strolling beneath the trees with the mattress popped into her mind, causing a chuckle to slip out of her mouth. Fred would have hopefully loved it, and he and the mattress could have become lifelong friends. All three of them could have lived together and gone to visit the newborn’s tree friend every now and then.

She gulped.

Meeting the Volturi had made her brain push her thoughts of Fred away. In the moment, it had been a good idea to run away from him, but now she regretted it. Was he still searching for her? Her face dropped. As she was not dead, she needed to figure out a way to contact him. Fred deserved to know where she was, at least. He didn’t need to want to be friends with her anymore—she’d fully understood why he might not—but that did not mean she could leave him uninformed of her whereabouts and what had happened.

The sixteen-year-old sat back up, feeling the mattress under her move along with her body’s movements. Maybe she could get the Cullens to help her contact him. She was stuck with them for at least a year, so perhaps they could help her in return for her not attempting to escape during that time.

Her contemplating gaze shifted around the room, stopping stunned after spotting a stack of books almost right next to her. To her utter shock, the geography books Carlisle had prior given her laid untouched on her bed’s flower sheets. Had she turned blind? How had they hidden themselves so well from her eyes? They were objects. Not creatures that could camouflage themselves. Most important was the fact they resided in her room. Why were they here? Had no one bothered to come get them?

Unbothered by her musings, the book pile stayed still. The young teen blinked, incapable of turning her head away. They did blend quite successfully into the room, fitting into its atmosphere like they were meant to be there. 

“Bree.”

The girl flipped her head towards the door. Her gaze found the eyes of the patriarch and the matriarch of the Cullens. They stood at her door, waiting for permission to get inside the bedroom.

“Come in,” she gulped, looking away from the couple. Anxiety made its way through her veins as the two yellow-eyes stepped closer. Letting unanswered questions take over her head, she felt secretly glad at the turn of events. Maybe she’d finally be able to get an answer to the question that had plagued her mind since Volturi left. Oh, how excruciating the two hours had been.

“Would you be up to talking about how to go forward?” Carlisle asked.

With Bree’s nod, the man and the woman exchanged looks. They walked up to the teen, taking careful steps so as not to frighten her.

“How are you feeling after what happened with the Volturi?” Esme sat slowly on her bed’s edge.

“I don’t know,” the newborn confessed. She at first had been exhilarated, but later a cloud of anxiety had sailed to her mind, splashing its waves on her unwilling boat. Without a reason for the feeling, she became agitated, lost in the vast ocean like a pirate.

“It’s understandable how you’re feeling. The meeting must have been petrifying to you.” The matriarch’s gentle smile surprised the girl.

The sixteen-year-old turned to stare at her sleeves. They had given her aid when the ancient vampires had come. Perhaps they’d do it at the present time too.

The blond patriarch exhaled. “I know this might not be the most pleasing arrangement to you, but if possible, we would appreciate you staying with us at least until your newborn year is over.”

"Okay,” Bree agreed. There was no rush to go anywhere. For the most part, she wanted to rest. The two weeks behind had been taxing to her, and she wished to just lay somewhere relaxing as much as possible. In addition, she had lost Fred’s friendship. The only creatures she knew were the yellow-eyes, thus it made sense to stay with them. They could give her protection while she rested.

Carlisle and Esme were stunned into silence, their reactions revealing they had not expected her to agree as smoothly.

“Thank you,” the man smiled.

The young teen’s hands froze. She hesitated before lifting her head to stare at the doctor. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” Carlisle said, “What do you wish to know?”

Bree’s eyes slid down to her marble hands. They were cowards, incapable of looking at the patriarch, as she was supposed to speak to him. Her fingers twitched. “I, ummm…I was just wondering why you decided to offer to take responsibility of me.”

Sitting tentatively to her left, the man glanced at her. “It felt like the right thing to do, as cliche as it might sound. We are the reason you were created, after all. Aro used to be my friend so I figured I had perhaps better chances at convincing him to spare you than I had with Jane in the clearing. ” He added, “And on top of that, Esme has taken a great liking to you.”

The newborn’s gaze went to the woman. “Why?”

She couldn't wrap her head around why the matriarch would enjoy her company. In her mind, it would have been more likely the older vampire would have disliked her. She was traumatised and scarred for the rest of her eternity, unable to move on from her human life. She had locked herself to her eternally lasting suffering by getting changed to a vampire, while her father’s abuse was still fresh in her mind. It had frozen along with her other attributes, damning her to be an anxious mess for the rest of her immortal life.

“You're a very lovely girl.” Esme smiled, gentleness radiating from her. Her gaze darkened as worry flickered through her irises for a short second. “I want to help you. You seemed afraid of me after I offered my hand to you a week ago, looking like you were chased when I followed you.” She ended her speech, looking like she was biting her tongue to not say more.

The young teen avoided her soft eyes. She knew she would regret telling the matriarch what she was about to say, but was going to say it nonetheless. “I was scared you were angry at me and would do something bad .”

Silence erupted, the other two vampires getting the girl’s implication. The caramel-haired woman placed her hands on top of Bree’s own. “I would never hurt you like that . I promise.”

“I can’t trust you,” the sixteen-year-old whispered.

“And that’s alright. You do not need to. It would be ridiculous to ask that of you when we have only known each other for two weeks. But I still promise to not…lay hands…on you.” 

The crimson-eyed newborn gulped.

Carlisle joined back to the conversation, tone careful as he said, “We have gotten Jasper to promise to not try to do anything drastic or inappropriate. You need to notify us if he does. I want you to feel safe here now when the danger is over.”

“Thank you.” A sight withheld unknownst to Bree got released from her lungs. The air freed from her chest, making her ease up and creating a small smile on her lips.

“Now, I think it’s time for you to go downstairs. Your friend is there,” Esme announced as warmth filled her expression.

_____________
꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦❦꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷

Bree rushed downstairs. Her feet thudded against the wooden floor as she hurried onward. As soon as the matriarch had let out the words of her friend being here, she had bolted from her open bedroom door, running like a madman towards the hallway she assumed he must have stood in.

But when she arrived there, he was nowhere near the front door. Disappointment hit her until her nose picked up Fred’s familiar scent. She followed it obediently, concentrating on it as hard as was inhumanly possible.

Her detour was rewarded upon seeing her blond friend standing restless in the living room. He studied his surroundings, looking utterly lost in the midst of the expensive furniture.

A smile formed on her face. “Fred.”

“Hi.” The boy raised his hand, cringing as he waved it.

The newborn’s mouth corners dropped. He did not want to be her friend. A short jolt of pain hit her, ripping her chest with its force. She should have known it. The betrayal of leaving him alone had sealed the coffin of their relationship and pressed it so hard it was impossible to open up.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come. I can see you do not want to hang out with me anymore. This was a mistake.” Fred concentrated on the sealing, keeping his gaze locked on it like his life depended on it. 

A splash of emotions gathered in her stomach, her eyes widening in alarm. She took a sceptical step forward. He didn’t hate her? Her boots clacked to stop at their place as she attempted to figure out why. He should have despised her. It would have made sense. But why on earth would he think she disliked him? Her puzzled brain tried to ruminate through the situation, then it clicked. She had abandoned him. The girl had left her friend without much of an explanation. Guilt re-emerged inside of her.

“It was nice seeing you!” Fred waved.

Wait . He couldn't go yet. She wasn’t going to allow him to leave like that. “Don’t go, please.”

The blond immortal stayed motionless. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be fine, really. I find it relaxing to stroll in the forest. And besides, I enjoy travelling alone.”

“No. I don’t want you to go. Not yet, at least! You just came here,” she protested. Her legs took her closer to her friend, refusing to let him go.

Fred’s head shaked, embarrassed. “You don’t need to be polite, Bree. I can see you don't want me to linger here much longer. I’ll get out of your hair.”

“I’m not being polite. I really enjoy being in your company. You're my friend. I was just dumb earlier and left because I thought I was protecting you.” She spurted the words out of her mouth, hoping to stop his determination to leave. She didn’t like how stubborn he was.

“Why would you need to protect me? I’m the older one.” Fred rolled his eyes, snorting in the process. “You are being ridiculous.”

“You’re still my friend, and friends take care of each other,” she said. It was a matter of fact. He couldn’t deny it. Even humans knew about the rule.

The boy shrugged his shoulders in sign of defeat, staring at the young teen. Though there was not much of a fight to begin with, she became relieved. Her insistence had worked. He had given up trying to head outside.

Bree’s smile returned. “I was planning to come find you.”

Her confession left the blond immortal silent. “I guess I found you first,” he shrugged.

“Yes, I guess so.” A wider grin formed on her expression. She hadn’t lost her friend.

“I wanted to return your necklace. I never had a chance to give it to you after the whole spider and human fiasco,” Fred explained. “I didn’t know where else you could have gone, so I came here, hoping I’d find you dwelling here. I’m glad my instincts were right.”

“Me too.”

The red-eyed vampire dipped his pale hand into his pocket, pulling out a delicate-looking silver necklace. It was beautiful. Just as the newborn remembered. The necklace had one single star hanging from it, adjusted to the middle of the shining chain. It swung in the air as Fred reached to hand the object to her.

She took it, eager to feel its texture. It had been so long since she’d last seen it. Over three years, she believed. Her human memories could have been betraying her, though. She didn’t want to trust the fuzzy echoes in her mind too firmly.

The necklace laid on top of her open hand. She closed her fist, hiding the souvenir, like she’d be scared it would disappear otherwise. The closed hand slipped to find a pocket, but came back unsuccessful. Why couldn’t the Cullens buy clothes that had pockets? It couldn’t be unreasonable to expect a jacket to have at least one measly hole for carrying things.

The sixteen-year-old kept the necklace irritated inside her palm. She supposed it could stay there for the time being.

She looked up at Fred, excitement rushing through her veins. Now that the danger of her death had faded, they could go on a proper adventure together.

A cold clump attached itself around her heart as awareness of her tricky situation sneaked inside her tired body. She couldn't go do that. There was no way she’d be able to go on an adventure with Fred. She had promised the Cullens to stay with them for the time being.

Bree slipped into her brain's shadows, wishing to find answers to her dilemma. She ransacked it, exploring every bit of it with a magnifying glass. There had to be a way to not break her careless promise but still get to travel. 

Her head snapped to the entrance of the living room as an idea struck her. “I’ll come back soon. Wait for me here,” she pleaded, focusing on Fred, desperate to get him to obey the command.

The blond boy nodded, assuring her with his eyes he was going to wait for her here. She loosened up, rushing to get out of the room. She flew to the stairs, looking at them viciously. They were not going to stop her. She knew they wanted to; it was apparent from the way they were so translucent, but she wasn’t going to let them win. Not anymore. They meant nothing to her. The hellish objects called stair steps were not a match for her intelligence. If someone was going to get hurt, it would be them. They should be the scared ones.

She marched them up, proud to have terrified them with her thoughts. From then on, they were her slaves and would do everything she told them to.

As long as they didn’t let her fall. A gulp formed in her throat. Yes, she’d bend just enough so they didn’t rebel and break under her.

The newborn ran to her bedroom, satisfied to find the matriarch and patriarch unmoving on her bed. They were sitting on it precisely like they had done when she had bolted downstairs to meet Fred.

“Bree.” Carlisle stood up. “I thought you would have talked a little longer with Fred. I did not expect you to come back so soon.”

“I wanted to ask your permission to do something,” she said. The scheme in her head formed itself. She was sure the yellow-eye would agree if he was genuine about his wants to make her comfortable.

“Oh.” Carlisle and Esme shared a view.

“What did you want to ask permission for?” the caramel-haired matriarch asked, curiosity clear in her tone.

The young teen’s gaze swept to the ground. She needed to be explicit. “Can I go find someone's ashes with Fred? And maybe even hang out with him for a couple of days after? The ashes should be somewhere in Seattle. I promise to come back afterwards. The trip would probably last a week or two, depending on how fast the ashes can be found.”

When she had thought about what to do, she had remembered Diego’s ashes. They must have been splattered on some corner of Seattle's dark streets. He deserved to get a better resting place, and Seattle certainly wasn't up to the job. Her heart ached as it got stung by a sharp prick, reminding her of her late friend in spite of the time that had passed.

Carlisle considered the plea. Minutes passed by as Bree prayed he would agree. The travel to go find Diego’s ashes would be enough to give her a small adventure, but hopefully keep the Cullens happy at the same time.

The man cleared his throat, recapturing her attention. “I presume that would be alright.”

As the blond patriarch’s words gave her consent to leave, she let out a small thrilled squeak. To the crimson-eyed girl’s horror, her mouth had decided to work without her authorisation. Letting humiliation flood into her as it took control over her figure, she closed her eyes. 

Instead of burying herself, she nudged herself, telling herself to calm down. She opened her eyes, pretending like she had not humiliated herself.

Her body turned around, ready to leave the bedroom. As she hurried downstairs back to Fred, she knew, however, that this was not going to be goodbye to the Cullens house. The yellow-eyes, minus Jasper, would be waiting for her eagerly until she would return to them to start the rest of her newborn year under their wing. She’d see her room again and lay on its soft silk-like cover. But before all of that could happen, she needed to go make sure Diego wasn’t going to spread himself all over the streets. No one would want to walk in his remains.