[ Chapter Two—who the fuck? ]

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   It was nearing seven p.m. when the effects of smoking finally wore off and I was able to get all my crap to fit in my Accord.

I won't lie, my Honda Accord was a pretty cool car. To me, at least. I had gotten it for my sixteenth birthday. It was a 2016 model that was extremely modified, in the sense that it was entirely pimped out.

The rims along with the brake and hood lights were entirely black, and the windows were so tinted that they looked black as well. It only made it look cooler as the overall base color of the car was white.

In other words, I had a damn tough car. It was only a shame that I rarely had to drive when I was at university.

Dad got it practically free from some shady dealer a few years back. We never could figure out why.

Looking down at the GPS, I groaned seeing as I had only been on the road for thirty or so minutes. There was still an hour and fifty minutes remaining until I would be pulling into the driveway of my parent's home in Mesa.

The forest passed by in a blur as I increased my speed, wanting to get home as fast as possible. I was not a fan of driving long distances through the night, especially seeing as I would need to be driving down mountains.

If I was correct, the forest of Northern Arizona would begin to die out within the next thirty minutes as I got closer to the deserty valley I grew up in. In fact, it shouldn't be too long until I passed by the first cacti.

Humming, I relaxed back into my seat and took one hand off the wheel in favor of running it through my hair. I was already growing tired.

Drake had decided to leave earlier as he had not smoked nearly as much weed as I had, making his recovery time quicker. Not to mention his car had already been packed after the effects of marijuana wore off.

He wished me goodbye and made me promise to visit him once we were back home in the valley before he left for the summer. I agreed, seeing as I did not have much else to do, my parents were gone and all my friends from college mostly lived out of the state. It was not like I spoke to friends from high school anymore either.

Perhaps I should get a summer job? Actually, I better get a summer job as my mom will no doubt have my neck if she realizes I'm just lazing around and spending her and my father's hard-earned money on shit all summer long.

Sighing at the thought, I eyed the box sitting next to me in the passenger seat of the car. It was my box of random things, items such as socks without a partner, knickknacks, and of course, all my weed. Plus my Juul, but I quit smoking my Juul after I became a werewolf as it did nothing for me other than cause me to cough.

It was a rather appealing idea to smoke a joint to pass the time as I drove, but I quickly banished the thought seeing as it was a pretty stupid idea. I may have been an idiotic girl, but I wasn't suicidal.

Even with my werewolf abilities, I was not sure that I could survive a car crash off the side of a mountain all because I was too high to drive straight. Slumping, I turned my attention to the radio, flicking it onto 104.7 KISS-FM.

The end of an advertisement engulfs the car before Jason Derulo suddenly began singing about Cheyenne. It was not a new song, but it was old enough that most people my age knew the song as soon as it came on.

I was no exception to this rule.

Mouthing along to the song, I used its upbeatness to keep me from potentially falling asleep at the wheel. Leaning forward, I grasped my iPhone out of the cupholder of the car deciding that a little social media scrolling wouldn't hurt anyone.

There was no one else on the road this late and I was decently good at double-tasking. Texting and driving would be fine... probably.

Opening Snapchat while making sure to avert my gaze to the road every two seconds or so, I quickly opened my now old roommate's story. She posted a few selfies of getting on the plane and landing back in her home state of California. There was also a picture of her boyfriend—who was attending community college in her home town—greeting her with a kiss.

I cringed at the picture not even wanting to remember the number of times my roommate had cheated on her boyfriend while at university here. While I did not necessarily agree with it and thought she should have just broken things off with him, I also had not told her that. We got along extremely well, and I did not want to risk it by saying something that could easily be considering overstepping.

Scrolling through a multitude of people's stories, I rose a brow at one particular video. A very familiar head of brown was leaned over a girl laying on a counter. The person in the video was so familiar because it was me.

I was doing body shots off some random girl wearing nothing but a bathing suit while I, myself, was wearing an outfit not too modest either. Then again, what else would someone expect to wear to a college party?

College parties weren't like the movies or television shows where the girls are all dressed looking as though they're ready for bible study. No bitch, this was real-life, and real-life was dirty and insane.

I smirked seeing as it was Ryan Denmark who posted the video last week, apparently, I hadn't checked his Snap for a while.

Shaking my head, I exited Snapchat before opening Twitter. What was going on news-wise?

Another church shooting? No surprise there. Things with Iran heating up again? God, we might as well already go into World War III at this point. Oh, what was this, a school shooting? Six dead. That was horrible, the world sucked.

I could only hope that maybe, just maybe, the people of generation Z would not fail quite as hard as the boomers had and the Millenials were on the road to doing.

Heaving a breath, I lazily looked up from my phone to the road expecting to see exactly what I had all the previous times. Just empty barren unending road.

Unfortunately, that was not what I saw.

Rather, there was a man directly in front of my car as I sped over sixty miles an hour in a forty-five zone.

I was not able to get a good look at him as I slammed on the breaks too hard and too fast causing my car to go skidding but luckily it still stopped just feet away from the man who no doubt would have been dead had I looked up a second later.

My phone went flying, landing on the passenger seat just next to my box. The music was still blasting, but I quickly turned it down, still gaping in shock at the man standing calmly just a few feet away.

In the bright lights of my car, he was pale, paler than any human I had seen in Arizona before. He was wearing jeans and a random dark-colored shirt (it was either blue or black) and his shoes were some cool looking rocker boots.

However, it was the fact that this man was hauntingly good-looking that made me lose my breath. Like holy shit, he was hot. That and the fact that he had blood-red eyes that were glaring directly at me.

Oh, wait...

Frowning, I snapped out of my daze and shock, taking into account of how eerily daunting his red eyes actually looked. He was also looking at me the way a predator looks at his prey.

The wolf in me didn't like that at all, I was always the predator, it was never the other way around. Getting over the fact that this stranger was hot and scary, I placed the car in park before opening the door and stomping out.

It was not cold out since it was summer, but it was not exactly warm either. It was in the mid-seventies.

"Yo, dickface!" My thundered tone caused the male to tilt his head, though his expression did not waver. "Mind standing around somewhere else?" I waved my arms furiously, my anger only growing at the man's lack of response.

I seriously did not like how he was looking at me. Being a werewolf already gave me a short temper, and my mood had been ruined based on this long drive. Not only that but what the hell was that smell?

Why the fuck did it smell a corpse wrapped in several layers of candy? It was so sickly sweet that it was repugnant, absolutely revolting.

The man crinkled his nose, almost as though he were thinking similar thoughts. Perhaps he smelled it too? But no, he couldn't have because the smell was coming from him!

Disgusting.

Looking at him now, he appeared to be more than just pale and beautiful. No, instead he was almost too beautiful, more so resembling something angular and reflective. Almost like a crystal.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I should say the same thing," his voice was smooth like velvet with a thick British accent.

In an instant, the pale man was standing in front of me, causing me to jump back. My back hit the car door making it slam shut, my eyes widening at the sight of the man before me.

"Am I still high?"

The man took a deep breath, a smirk playing on his lips. "Unfortunately not," he replied, leaning in closer causing me to scowl, "but I must admit, you do not smell nearly as delectable as most humans."

I reeled, "Excuse me?!"

"Nevertheless," the man hummed, his hand flying forward in a flash that was similar to how quick my own movements were when I used my accelerated werewolf speed, "you'll have to do for a meal as there is no one else around and I am absolutely famished."

He flashed a set of pearly white teeth before lunging forward. However, despite his speed, the intensity of the situation finally caught up to me. Moving to the left with a speed that easily matched his own, I avoided him no doubt trying to bite me.

The pale man was giving off an extremely cold body temperature, my senses were picking up it heavily. I had grown up in a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona meaning that cold things weren't really my style.

His red eyes gleamed with confusion, the man tilting his head to the side. "What in the--?"

He was not able to finish his sentence as I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Yeah, cold things," his head cracked backward as I delivered a fierce punch to his face, "not really my style, and hot damn, how hard are you?" I shook my hand out, hitting him felt as though my fist had come in contact with a boulder.

Cracks appeared on the man's face from my blow before beginning to disappear. Yeah, if everything else about him wasn't a dead giveaway, this just proved the point that this man was obviously something more than human.

With his crappy personality and glaring red eyes, the only word I could use to describe the pale man was a monster.

A hissing sound emerged from the man's throat and in response, a deep thunderous growl came from me. I could practically feel my eyes turning from caramel to bright blue.

There was no more chit chat between the two of us as in a flash of a moment, the man reached out and used his right hand to grip my throat tightly. His fingers dug into my skin drawing blood and yet I was more prepared than ever.

I could not explain it, but something about this pale man brought out the worst in me. As though he and I were simply natural enemies.

Now, my knowledge of sports went solely from dance to cheer, and while both kept you in shape they were also the furthest sports from anything involving physical hostile fighting. In other words, never in my life had I taken any sort of fighting classes, so the fact that my body simply knew how to defend itself was something I wholeheartedly gave credit to my new wolfiness.

Without a second thought, I moved to the right and used my left arm to push away the man's grip on my throat. With my other hand, I easily grabbed the man by his own throat before slamming his body into the ground with as much force as I could muster.

Considering I used a good amount of strength that came with being a werewolf, the man hit the ground pretty hard. However, his hard skin was rough to maneuver, but I would manage.

Though I would not admit it out loud, getting to actually use my true abilities rather than hide them was a relief.

He did not hesitate in leaping from the ground in a quick motion, baring his teeth with a sharp hiss and crouching low. It was almost cat-like.

My teeth grew in size, and I crouched opposite of him, letting out animalistic throaty growls.

At that moment, a single word filtered through my vision. I was not sure how I knew, but I just did. Vampire. This man was a vampire.

Our movements were fluid and rapid, probably looking no more than a blur to the normal human eye as we were moving that quickly. He was most definitely strong, and yet I could not help but be proud of the fact that I was obviously stronger. Unfortunately, our speed was about even.

With a cry, I spun my leg in a kick, hitting him straight in the abdomen causing him to stumble back. I did not let his hard skin stop me, rather I used my other leg in completing a staggering blow that cracked his skin all the way up to his neck and made him going flying many feet into the air.

As the man got up this time, I noticed his movement was less quick and seemed more strained. It was obvious I had managed to hurt him, but I also knew he would heal quickly and I had to take advantage of his current weakness.

Drawing my lips back in a snarl, I moved forward watching as the man's red eyes flitted to my wrist. Immediately, he scowled, his eyes coming back up to meet my own.

"You're one of them?"

"One of who?"

"The Cullens, you're one of their dogs!"

Cullen. Wow, that was a name I had not heard in a while. Glancing down to where the vampire was looking at my wrist, I observed that his attention had previously befallen on an extremely old, but extremely important bracelet of mine.

Bella Swan, now Bella Cullen, was my older cousin whom I used to be incredibly close to. She had practically been my big sister for years.

I was young when she moved away from Arizona, three going on four to be exact, and yet she was such a big part of my life that I still remember her even now. The last time I saw her was way back at her wedding when she got married to that rich and hot Cullen family.

She had given me this bracelet then and oddly enough, I had never been able to part with it. The only time I ever took it off was when I was showering or sleeping, but when I went out it was always on.

I spoke with her over the phone until I was about nine or ten, after that we fell out of touch for good. However, my mother still talked to her sister A.K.A Bella's mom or as I knew her, Aunt Renée. Though, I had not spoken to Aunt Renée in quite a while either.

However, the main question stood, why the hell did this vampire refer to me as one of the Cullen's dogs? And this led to an even bigger question, how did this man even know of the Cullen family?

My instincts pushed me forward, and in seconds I took advantage of the vampire's current fatigue. Launching to the side, my body easily spun through the air before my right leg darted out and kicked the vampire's head clean off his body.

His head went soaring through the air, landing on the other side of the road, as the vampire's body fell to the ground in a heap. Standing there breathing heavily, the scene of the head laying feet away from the body was something that would forever be imprinted on my mind.

Yeah, so definitely not high.

My nose scrunched in confusion as I took into account that no blood left the body. It was as though the body was made of marble with how cold he was, how he cracked, and how there was basically no internal fluids.

I repeat my earlier phrase, disgusting.

Shivering at the sight, I wasted no time in racing back to my still-running car and throwing the door open before practically falling inside. Once inside, I did not hesitate to close the door before locking them.

For seconds I sat still, hands shaking as my mind tried to wrap around what just happened. Alright, so, attacked by a blood-sucking demon of the night, that was just fucking great.

And not only that, but somehow my cousin who I haven't spoken to for years has something to do with all of this. Looking down at the bracelet that was fancy with an oddly shaped lion engraved in the center, I assumed it must have been some sort of symbol that represented Cullen.

Hot air fanned my face from the vents, a nice gesture as the freezing temperature of the vampire was seared into my brain. Playing with the bracelet, I shook my head before putting the car in drive and speeding away. While I was going quickly before, those speeds did not even compare to the current speed I was driving at.

And this time, I definitely would not be stopping until I got home, no matter who was on the road. I was not sure what I planned to do about this whole ordeal just yet, but I had a pretty good hunch.

________
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The last time I had been home was for Christmas break a few months prior. Throughout that month of break, the full moon only happened once and I was easily able to slip away into the desert where I spent the night as a beastly wolf running wild.

The thing about the Valley of the Sun was that it never fucking changed. Seasons were basically non-existent as the coldest it got temperature-wise during the winter was somewhere in the forties, and summer lasted for longer than it should. While most states had a modest four-month-long season of summer, Arizona's valley had a seemingly never-ending summer that lasted from the beginning of April,  all the way until mid-October.

Not to mention, summer was hot as balls, the average being 107 degrees Farenheight. However, as I was born and raised in Mesa, the temperature was one of those things that I have simply grown accustomed to.

Even now, in the dark of the night as I finally got off the I-17 highway and turned onto the road which would inevitably lead to my neighborhood, everything was the same. Fast food places like McDonald's, Popeyes, Chick-fil-A, and Wendy's were lit up brightly. Stores were also lit brightly, some still open even with it being late.

I passed Harkins Theatres to my right, stopping as a road light turned red. Not too many people were out this late, it was surely not as busy as it was during the day, but a good amount of cars still drove on the road.

That was another huge difference between Northern Arizona and the Valley. Up in Northern Arizona, unless you were on campus, it was extremely low in population. Here in Mesa, it was a suburb that seemed to never die. Something was constantly going on 24/7, it was always busy during the day and the nights still had much going on.

I had managed to cut the drive down with my speeding by at least thirty minutes, which was pretty good time if you asked me. My hands were still shaking and gripping the steering wheel tight; tight enough that huge dents were now imprinted in it.

Shit, now I was going to need to get it fixed.

Putting on my blinker, I turned into the neighborhood I had grown up in greeting me like an old friend. Despite it being nearly ten o'clock, there were a few teens playing basketball in their driveways, a few people walked their dogs down the street, and some even sat in their garage cutting wood.

Each house was colored in the same browns and made of stucco, with tiled roofs. It was the same in the sense that every other house was single-floor and then two-story, a picture middle-class neighborhood.

After making a few more turns in the neighborhood, I sped all the way down the street.

Home looked as it always did. Suburban and desert-y.

Sighing in relief, I pressed the button to my garage opener, mentally cursing the fact that the garage took forever to open. With no hesitation, I backed into the garage before closing the garage door and huffing out a breath.

I made a mental note to get the key from under the front mat before I went to bed for the night. That was, if I was even able to go to bed for the night. It was barely ten minutes before all my boxes, suitcase, and backpack were taken out of my car and brought inside.

The five boxes were stacked by the outside of my bedroom door, my suitcase was at the foot of my bed with my backpack resting on it, and finally, I was sat at the kitchen counter with my phone clutched tightly in my hand.

Home had a distinct smell that always reminded me of clean laundry. Yeah, it was an odd smell, but it was also so familiar that it gave me peace of mind.

The house was not too big, but it was big enough for a small family of three. Three bedrooms, one master room, two regular-sized rooms (one of which was an office), a single bathroom other than the one in the master bedroom.

Photographs lined the walls, random knickknacks on shelves, and chipped walls serving as a sign that this house was very much lived in. It was cleaner than when I was home, Mom said that when I was home the house resembled looking as though a tornado ran through it.

It was obviously an over-exaggeration, but I always smirked when she said it nevertheless.

A note was clipped with a magnet on the refrigerator from my parents.

Dear Jackie,

   Call us when you get home. There are some snacks in the pantry, but you'll need to go to the store soon (do not eat out all summer!) If we come home and the house is destroyed, we're kicking you out.

Love, Mom & Dad

It was written in pristine swirling cursive, a telltale sign that it was Mom who wrote it, as Dad's handwriting was no more legible than a third-grader. I stared at the note for a few moments, having no trouble seeing it from where I sat at the counter with my clear vision.

Calling Mom was probably the best move, and yet something in me was telling me that right now I had to do something about the vampire situation.

Cullen.

Opening my phone, I hesitated before going to contacts. Perhaps I should just ignore what happened and forget about it, simply scroll through Instagram or watch some TikToks. Maybe even make a TikTok or two.

However, even TikTok, which had admittedly been a loyal pastime since May of last year, was not something I could force myself to open. Not when the vampire's slick British accent was whispering the name Cullen over and over in my head.

Cullen.

Looking through my contacts, I frowned upon seeing that there was no number for Bella. Apparently, it had been an even longer time since I had spoken to her than I previously thought. Despite this, I was not too put off as another contact name caught my attention.

Now, it was not quite Bella, but it was surely someone who could easily lead me to contact Bella Cullen.

Auntie Renée Dwyer sat in the D section of the alphabetical contact list. She had no text message history with me and it had been so long since I called her that there was no record of her in my phone calls either.

I frowned seeing that her contact was green, a sheer sign that she had some sort of Android phone. Gross, everyone knew Apple was the way to roll in terms of cellphones.

My thumb hovered over the call button, I was not sure what time it was in Florida but I had a feeling it was much later than here. Then again, I was not sure I could wait until morning to call Aunt Renée asking about Bella.

Not when the word Cullen would haunt me all night.

That was the thought that finally shoved me over the edge and forced me to push the call button, before putting the call on speaker and placing my cellphone in front of me on the counter. It ringed for a few minutes, my long nails tapping rhythmically against the counter.

My nails had grown longer with the transformation as well, alike to constantly needing to shave and cut my hair, I was forced to file my nails down every few days.

"Hellooo?" A drawn-out greeting came through the phone suddenly, a giggle added at the end.

I rose a brow, pursing my lips while narrowing my eyes. Maybe this was the wrong number?

"Uhm, hi..." I said in a light voice, trying my best to come off as purely polite.

"Well, hello," a female voice came through, a voice in the background saying something incomprehensible before the woman laughed, "who is this?"

"This is Jackie, is this Renée Dwyer?" I questioned.

"Yes, this is Renée, and you're Jackie... Jackie who?"

So this was my aunt. My aunt who lived in Florida who currently sounded tipsy.

"Jackie Harvelle." I deadpanned and there was another moment of silence before a sharp gasp came through the phone.

"JACLYN!" I cringed at the loud tone, pulling the phone away from ear slightly. "Little Jaclyn, my niece! It's been years, how have you been?"

"Pretty good, yeah, it's been..." I bit my lip awkwardly, hearing her heavy breathing from the other end, "yeah good... anyway, how have you been?"

"Oh, ya' know, same old!" Auntie Renée laughed before beginning to chat my ear off. "Phil is still scouting, actually we just got home from a game afterparty. It was hilarious, Phil got up on the stage and started..." and for the next thirty or so minutes, I listened to Aunt Renée talk about how much fun she and her husband had been having in the recent years since Phil had become a scout.

She blabbered about every little detail and I dutifully listened to each word. It was not like I was uninterested as I was interested, but I was also slightly anxious to get cousin Bella's contact information.

"...And well, Phil and I are planning on taking a cruise to the Bahamas in November. We even invited Bella and her family, you remember Bella right—?"

Bingo.

"Bella? Of course, I do! How is she by the way?"

"Oh, sometimes I forget just how close you two were." Renée laughs. "As far as I'm concerned, Bella is doing more than great, but I haven't seen her for quite a few years now, somehow something always conveniently comes up when we try to see each other," her voice turned bitter.

"Oh?"

"Yep, I've told her how ridiculous it is at this point, I mean I'm not getting any younger and she seems perfectly content with visiting Charlie," I vaguely remembered Charlie Swan as my ex-uncle, also known as Bella's father, "at Christmas every year! Haven't seen Bella or Edward, her husband, in ages! Thankfully little Nessie and her boyfriend just visited me over Spring Break, can you believe Nessie is already a senior this year? Time really flies—"

"Nessie?" The name did not bring up any memories.

"Bella and Edward's adopted daughter." Bella had a kid? "Her full name is Renesmee, but most of us just call her Nessie. Poor girl, she was Edward's brother's child, but her parents died in a horrible car accident when she was an infant. Absolutely terrible." Wow, I had no clue, why had Mom not mentioned any of this to me?

"Anywho, Nessie and Jacob were considering joining us for the cruise. They were even talking about bringing one of Jacob's friends, Seth I think his name is? I don't know, but Bella and Edward aren't planning on it, their hate for the sun has grown unhealthy at this point, I'm telling you!"

Hate for the sun? But Bella grew up in Phoenix, she always loved the sun when she lived here.

"Didn't Bella like the sun and heat when you guys lived here—?" Renée easily answered my question before I even finished my sentence.

"Yes, she did, and I tell her that all the time, but for whatever reason, her opinion has changed. I even tried convincing her and Edward for us all to take a family trip down to Phoenix for a few days, visit you and your parents, see our old house and such, but they don't want anything to do with the heat! It's insane!" Renée began ranting to me about Bella.

"...You know what, you should talk to Bella." I rose a brow. "You both used to be really close and I can guarantee Bella would love talking to you!"

It seemed I did not even need to ask. In a matter of seconds, Aunt Renée had given me Bella's cell phone number along, with the Cullen family phone number. I saved both to my contact list.

"Yeah, but you should join us for the cruise in November, talk to your mom about it too. I would love to see you both, it's been so long..." she trailed off with a yawn, and I had a feeling the conversation wouldn't be lasting much longer. "...What about you though? Last time I talked to your mother she told me you were just starting..." Renée released another yawn, "...university up in Northern Arizona."

I diligently swung my legs from where I sat on the tall stool, my fingers still tapping the counter rhythmically. We had been talking for almost an hour now, and as interesting as talking to my Aunt was, the vampire's voice still bounced around in my head whispering the word Cullen.

"Yeah, but we can talk more about it tomorrow, I can tell you're tired, Auntie." I smiled softly as Renée let out a tired laugh.

"Yeah, I'll probably head to bed, Phil fell asleep like thirty minutes ago. I will call you tomorrow though, what is the time difference, three hours? I'll call you sometime in the afternoon then."

"Sounds good, Auntie. Good night."

"Good night," she hung up soon after, leaving me to bask in the silence of the house.

Hopping off the chair, I looked at the time hanging on the wall clock. It was just after midnight, on the East Coast it was around three a.m. Renée had told me Bella and the Cullens moved away from Washington a few years prior and now lived up in Maine. They lived in some small town called Fort Fairfield.

Walking into the living room, my phone clutched tightly in my hand, I made it a point to turn on the television. The silence was suffocating and the reruns of Fresh Prince were comforting.

For a second, I debated on whether or not I should wait to try and call Bella. It was three in the morning in Maine and there was a good chance nobody would answer. However, on the other side, even if I did wake them up and they answered it would be worth it. I was attacked tonight and my only lead from the vampire man was the word, Cullen.

I shivered at the thought of the vampire. The only reason I was not taking this much worse was because of the fact that I was a werewolf. In a way, I was already used to the supernatural.

With those thoughts in mind, I did not hesitate or wait any longer to press the call button for Bella. It rang for a few minutes before going to voicemail.

"This is Bella... so uhm yeah, leave a message or something..." I tilted my head at the sound of my cousin's voice which after all the years had only changed in the manner that it sounded more clear and beautiful if that makes sense?

You would think that fourteen or so year Bella's voice would have at least aged or changed a little, but apparently not. It made me extremely suspicious.

Quirking a brow, I bit my lip. Well calling Bella didn't work and I did not want to need to wait till tomorrow so...

Scrolling through the names, I quickly pressed the call button for Cullen. Once again the phone rang for a few seconds as I stood in front of the television with my hands on my hips holding my cell phone with my shoulder.

Will Smith was currently singing the theme of Fresh Prince from inside a taxi cab. Just as I fell back against the cotton couch on the other side of the television somebody picked up the call.

"Hello?" The voice was male and smooth but gentle at the same time.

I was shocked that someone actually answered the phone this late. I was fully prepared for no one to answer.

"...Hi," I threw myself out of my shock, "uhm is this the Cullen residence?"

"It is, may I ask what the purpose of this call is?" The gentle voice questioned politely.

Ignoring his question, I simply fired the question I had been needing an answer to. "Is Bella Cullen there by any chance?"

"...Unfortunately, she is currently not—"

"Edward Cullen?" I quickly asked, deciding her husband was the next best person.

"No, but if I may—"

"How about their daughter, Renesmee?"

"No." His voice took on a more firm tone. "None of them are currently present; however, it is incredibly late perhaps tomorrow would be better—"

"No! I need to talk to Bella tonight or any Cullen for the matter..." My voice took on a desperate tone, the bright red eyes of the vampire imprinted on my brain.

"Well, you are currently speaking with Carlisle Cullen, I am the adoptive father of Edward, Bella, and Renesmee." I frowned, Renée had said Renesmee was Bella and Edward's child.

Why was Carlisle saying he was the father to all three? A vague outline of a compassionate blonde man came into my mind from fourteen years ago at Bella's wedding.

I think I had met him, he, his wife, and his daughter doted over me for a time. Actually, I'm pretty sure his daughter even gave me a piece of candy.

"Wait, but I was told that Renesmee was Edward and Bella's daughter?" My voice took on a highly suspicious note.

There was a long breath of silence. My werewolf hearing picked up on frantic hushed whispering from the other end of the phone, as though Carlisle was conversing with somebody.

"Who is this?" He finally spoke, his tone holding no room for nonsense.

Opening my mouth, I was about to explain but goosebumps suddenly arose on my body making any excess body hair on my body stand up straight. My back went rigid and my senses seemed to go into overdrive. The smell of something... dead met my nose and the sound of light airy footsteps coming from just outside the front door sounded about.

My head snapped toward the sight of the front door, pupils dilating. The vampire was back, but I had killed him. His head literally left his body, how was he back? The worst part about this whole situation? I had not yet taken the key from under the mat.