Bree POV

Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie appeared.  They had all changed, and Rosalie had pulled her hair back into a French plait. 

“Can't we take the Merc?  I really don't feel like getting wet,” Rosalie grumbled, as she smoothed her hands over her very close fitting jeans.

“I don't think it would be good idea for Bree to be on the ferry,” Jasper responded.  “If we run, we can keep away from the most populated areas.” 

“Fine, but you'd better have sealed our change of clothes well, Alice.  I don't like wearing wet jeans.”

Alice rolled her eyes.  “Really, Rose, do you think I like it anymore than you do?  The clothes will be fine.”

I noticed the large pack on Emmett’s back: They obviously didn't travel light.  We said our good-byes to Carlisle and Esme, and made our way out of the back door.

Once we had jumped the river, we retraced the route I had taken with Jasper and Carlisle.  Not following the same path exactly, but pretty close.  Emmett and Rosalie ran in front of me.  Jasper insisted he and Alice run behind. 

No one spoke, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence.  It seemed as if everyone was focused on their own thoughts.  I decided that I might as well use this opportunity to pump them for more information.  If I couldn't find Fred, I needed to know more about these vampires if I was going to stay with them.  Hopefully their answers would be less guarded than Carlisle's.

I was just pondering who would be the most loose-lipped amongst them, when I caught a whiff of that awful stench, and the sound of two heartbeats grew steadily louder.  Rosalie and Emmett came to a stop as a black shape emerged from the trees.  This wolf appeared to be a bit bigger than the ones I had seen earlier.  He was followed by the sandy brown wolf they had called Seth.

Jasper and Emmett immediately pushed their wives behind them and Rosalie pushed me behind her.

“Sam, Seth.”  Jasper greeted them. 

Sam?  Was it the same Sam that had been on the phone?

“We are just escorting Bree to Canada; we have no intention of crossing your border.”  He informed them.

The black wolf turned his gaze towards me and Rosalie stepped back so that I was partially hidden from him.  He narrowed his eyes, made a small grumbling sound and nodded his head.

“Isn't he going to talk?  I heard him talk on the phone.” I whispered to Rosalie.

The smaller wolf let out three small huffs.  It was as if he was laughing at me.

“They can't speak when they are in wolf form,” Jasper answered.  His tone was condescending, making me feel stupid for asking.   “By the way,” he continued. “Their hearing is almost as good as ours.”

The sandy wolf's mouth was open slightly, his tongue hanging to the side.  His dark eyes appeared to dance with amusement; I guess he had been laughing at me.  The other one simply glared at me.

“You have just let them know that you know their secret,”  Jasper explained.  “Sam is a little er... annoyed, shall we say.  They will probably follow us for a bit to make sure we stay clear of their land.” 

“Oh, great,” Was Rosalie's acerbic response.  “Can we pick up the pace?  The sooner we're away from here the better.”

We resumed our original positions and began to run a little faster.  The wolves kept pace at a distance, flanking our left side.  Eventually their heartbeats faded and they were gone.

As we ran, I thought about the wolves.  Did they really turn back into humans?   I wondered what they looked like in human form.  Carlisle said they were Native American, so I assumed they would have dark skin and hair.  They would have to be huge individuals, probably bigger than Emmett.  I guessed they would have beards, and hairy arms and chests.  Maybe they didn't smell so bad either.  How could you hide what you were if you smell like that all the time?

The wolves’ appearance had sidelined my plan to get more information.  Now they were gone, I decided to try my luck with Emmett.  He hadn't said very much at the house, but I didn't think my inquisitiveness would bother him.  I got the impression nothing bothered him much.

“Emmett,” I ventured. 

“What is it, cutie?”   His endearment was sweet, but really, I'm not five.

“Was Carlisle really a doctor?”

“No, but he is now.  He works at the local hospital.”

My stride faltered slightly at this revelation.  “A real hospital? With humans?  Real, blood-covered humans?” I prompted for clarification.

“Yup, there's not much call for doctors in our world.” 

“How?” I was baffled; how could a vampire be that close to blood all the time?  Even the thought of it made my throat itch.

“He’s developed tremendous control over his thirst.  It's taken him hundreds of years of course, but I don't think he is even tempted by human blood anymore.  It’s almost like he doesn't notice it.”

He sounded so proud of him, like he really admired him for his achievement.  But I didn't get the point.  Why set out to achieve something like that in the first place?

“What's the deal with the animal blood anyway?  Surely you all can't prefer it?” I asked next.

“I can't honestly say we prefer it.”  His head tilted slightly to the side as if pondering something of great importance.  “We all have our own reasons.”

I waited, but he didn't elaborate.  Damn, I guess he could be cagy as well.  He didn't sound annoyed however, so I pressed on.

“What's your reason?”

He slowed until he was beside me and then matched my pace.  “Initially I did it for Rose.  Carlisle has one rule for this family, and that is that we don't hunt humans.  Esme, on the other hand, has lots of rules.  But you don't need to know about those just yet.”  He gave me a small nudge as he said the last part and almost sent me flying into a tree.

“Whoops,” he apologized, as I recovered and came to run along side him again.  From the large grin on his face, I didn't think he was very sorry. 

His face turned serious again and he continued.  “Rose needed to be part of this family and I'd have done anything just so I could be with her.  Now I do it because it allows me to live this life.  I have a family.  They’re a weird, freaky bunch, I know.”  He looked over his shoulder at Jasper and Alice as he said this.  “But they're family.  I don't want to disconnect from humanity.  Hunting animals allows me to live and interact with humans.”

A mischievous glint appeared in his eye.  “Besides, humans can be really funny.  You can mess with them in so many ways.  It’s a good way to pass the time if you’re bored.”

“I really don’t think Em’s the best role model for your new life,” Jasper scoffed.  “Most of us don’t fool around with humans for fun, you know.”

“I'll remember that the next time Mike Newton bursts into tears for no reason,” Emmett retorted, eliciting a giggle from Alice and a huff from Jasper.

“I’m just letting her know this life can be fun,” Emmett continued. 

“We have fun,” Piped up an indignant Alice.

“It's gonna be a while before Bree is up to a day at the mall, Alice,” he shot back at her.

Emmett's attention returned to me.  “Once you’re not so thirsty, you’ll need something to pass the time.  You can always spend your life with your nose in a book like the humour bypass back there, or you can live a little, so to speak.”

I couldn't imagine seeing humans as a source of entertainment instead of food.  Who was this Mike that they messed around with?  Riley only mentioned the girl.  I'd also noted what he had said about the rule for staying with this family would be.  Esme hadn't mentioned that when she invited me to stay.  How could you not hunt humans?  We were vampires; that's what we did.  Besides, I’d already tried the alternative: Yuck.  I wondered if there was a get out clause to this rule.

Emmett seemed to be in a talkative mood, so I decided to keep the questions coming.  “When you say you don't prefer it, does that mean you've hunted humans in the past?”

“Even with the best of intentions, we all slip up from time to time.”  Emmett bounded over to his wife and pulled her to his side.  “All except my beautiful Rose here.  Not a drop of human blood has passed her sweet lips.”

Rose snuggled into her husband, dipping her head so I could barely see the coy smile that formed on the aforementioned lips.  Alice and Jasper let out matching groans.

“Don't start you two, we're babysitting here.”  Jasper's comment hardly registered, as I was staring at Rosalie incredulously.

“Never? Not even as a newborn?  How could you not? How do you control it?”  I'm sure my voice registered the confusion I felt.  I recalled the first month of this life.  It was intolerable.  All I could think about was feeding, trying to extinguish the fire in my throat.  How could she even focus on choosing what to hunt?

Rosalie broke away from Emmett, leaving him with the makings of a pout on his face.  She dropped back to my side; matching my pace the same way that Emmett had done earlier.

“Well, we didn't live in the middle of a city, so humans were few and far between.”  She began to explain.  “Carlisle, Esme and even Edward were a great help.  But ultimately, it was my choice.  I was horrified by what I had become.  Once Carlisle explained how they lived and I realised I didn't have to be a monster, I was determined never to be that monster.”

That was it?  Just sheer willpower?  She was amazing, truly amazing.  What did the ‘even Edward’ comment mean?  He seemed quite pleasant until I mentioned Bella.  Jasper probably wouldn't have been much help, with his constant growling and glaring.  I’m sure Alice's exuberance would have been unnerving. 

“How close do you get to them?”   I knew Bella had been in the house, but there were no other scents there.

“Well, we all go to school or college, go to the movies, and go shopping, of course.  Esme always joins a local charity committee where we live.”  Alice rattled off the list like it was nothing.

“That close, every day, you come into contact with them every day?”  I wasn't sure I could believe what she was saying.  If it were true, their throats must be burning all the time.  Why were they putting themselves through this daily torture?

“Pretty much.”  Her response was almost lost as I tried to understand what I was hearing.  “Of course, we can't go out in the sun, but yes, mostly it’s every day.

“Don't they notice?  I mean, your eyes aren't red, but we're so different from them.”

Jasper caught up to me then.  “Their senses are not as sharp as ours.  Some of them are suspicious but they can't pin it down.  It helps that we don’t conform to traditional vampire folklore.  We also had to practice our movements, to blend in more easily.  They have lots of little mannerisms that don't come naturally to us.  It's the smaller movements that take time to perfect.  Of course, we can't stay anywhere for too long, people would notice that we don’t age.”

Alice had come to run along side Jasper so we were now running in a line.  Both couples were holding hands.  This brought another thought into my mind.  Why were they all couples?  Was that why Edward was dating the girl?

“Why did Carlisle change you?”  The words were out before my brain caught up again, so I rushed to clarify what I meant.  “Why change couples?  Victoria only changed us one at a time.  I'm guessing that's why he calls you his children, right, because he changed you?  I mean you're not really brothers and sisters, are you? 'Cause that would be beyond gross.”  I was aware I was probably rambling, but there were still so many questions in my head.  I knew we would have to go into the water soon, so we wouldn’t be able to talk.

Before anyone could answer, Alice quickened her pace.  “If we hurry we'll be able to cross before the next ferry without being seen.  Otherwise we'll have to wait for half an hour.”  We all sped up to keep up with her.  Damn, more questions unanswered. 

On arriving at the port, Alice whipped out a ziplock bag and we all put our phones into it.  She then placed that bag into another one, then placed that into one of those vacuum bags and quickly sucked all the air out. 

“You're going to have to take your shoes off, Bree,” she demanded, practically tugging them off of my feet.  “I don't have a spare pair for you.”

The shoes were wrapped the same way and placed in Emmett's backpack.

“Are you ok in water, Bree?” asked Jasper.

“Yeah, I can swim pretty well.  How deep do you think it is?” I answered.

“We plan to just skim under the surface.  That way the bags won't get too wet.  Let me take your bag, if you haven't done this before, you'll go deeper than you have to.”  I handed Jasper my bag and watched as Emmett and Rosalie entered the water.

I could see the backpack clearly on top of the water.  It looked like it was floating.  I could make out Emmett and Rosalie's forms just under the surface.  Their arms and legs moved so efficiently.  Emmett’s torso barely moved as he kept the bag just above the surface of the water.  That was a skill worth learning.  I'd also intended to get my hands on some of those vacuum bags.

On exiting the water, I wrung out my hair and looked up to see Rosalie had already undone her plait and was towelling hers.

“We need to find somewhere to change,” said Jasper, as he squeezed the excess water from the front of his shirt.  “Stay here. I'll scout out somewhere.”

He returned two minutes later.  “We're in luck; it's late and the restrooms at the port are empty.”

As we approached them, I heard a single heartbeat.  I wasn't very thirsty, but the sound caused a growl to form in my chest.  It was low, but they all heard it.  Rosalie and Alice each grabbed one of my arms, but I threw them off easily and was heading towards the sound.

I caught the scent just before the old lady came into view.  She was wearing layers of tattered clothes and carrying two large plastic bags.

“Oh crap,” muttered Emmett as he wrapped his arms around me, pinning my arms to my sides and dragging me backwards.  Jasper was in front of me blocking my view.  I felt his calming influence and eventually registered my whereabouts.  I was in the men’s restroom. 

Fred POV

I slowed to a gentle jog after about half an hour.  I couldn't imagine Riley would be interested in following me now.  He'd be too busy fighting the yellow-eyed vampires - that's assuming these vampires even existed.  Riley lied about everything, yellow-eyed vampires were a bit farfetched.

The moment Riley told us about this fight, I knew it would be my chance to get away.  It was only the fear of burning in the sun that made me come back after hunting.  I had intended to go off on my own, but then Bree had said she wanted to leave as well.  The thought of her being out there on her own and unprotected, bothered me.  I wasn't sure how I felt about Diego joining us.  Thankfully, he didn't seem to be as moronic as most of the others.  If he turned out to be too irritating, I could always dump them and take off on my own as planned. 

It was strange being on my own again after so long.  When I was human I was quite happy with my own company.  Being forced to share a space with the Neanderthals Riley kept dragging in was wearing.  Thankfully, I could make them keep their distance.  I wasn't even aware I was doing it at first.  I gradually noticed that the more I wanted them to stay away the more ill they looked, and eventually, I could project the feeling of unease and nausea at will.  I could even vary the strength.  If I it turned on full on they couldn't even bear to look at me.  Making the effects last after I left the room was a bonus.  I preferred to hunt on my own, and it stopped those feral idiots following me.

Then Bree arrived.  She wasn't like the others.  She didn't want to get into mindless fights and arguments.  She was so young and mostly scared.  The day Jen ripped her arm off, I couldn't stop myself becoming involved.  I projected a little, just enough to distract the rest of Kirstie's mob and give Bree a chance to grab her arm and retreat into a corner.  Riley helped her reattach it, and then took her hunting to help with the healing.

When she returned, she approached the couch where I normally sat.  I projected almost as a reflex when anyone got too close.  Bree didn't stop, however.  She just crawled behind the couch and sat there all day.  Two days later she returned from a hunt with some books and an MP3 player.  She came straight over to the couch and crawled behind it again.  Before the next hunting trip, she left the books on the arm of the couch for me.  It was such a kind gesture, no one thought about anyone but themselves in that place.

We never exchanged a single word, but each time we were forced to move, I always bagged myself a couch or armchair, and Bree would always hide behind it.  She usually returned from hunting with books and left them on the arm of the chair when she had finished with them.

It was hard to believe she had spoken to me for the first time a couple of days ago.  I could tell Raoul was spoiling for a fight, I over reacted a bit and the wave of nausea practically had them heaving all over the floor.  She guessed why I had done it and thanked me so quietly that I barely heard her.  

It didn't take long to get to Vancouver and I made my way to Riley Park.  Leaving a concentration of my scent in the area, I quickly headed for Queen Elizabeth Park; it was easier to stay unnoticed there during the day.  It was not too sunny, but I stayed in the shade afforded by the trees and kept my head down so that no one could see my eyes.  I left a scent trail around the most densely overgrown areas before looking for somewhere to wait for them.  I headed east.  I needed to get further away from all of these humans.  I'd fed well from the ferry we had sunk the previous day so it wasn't too difficult for me, but it might be for Bree.

The area became less densely populated, and then I had a stroke of luck.  A taxi pulled up to a house that was set back from the main road.  A middle-aged couple hoisted two large suitcases onto the front steps and the driver loaded them into the trunk.   “What time is your flight?”  The driver called out.  I didn't bother to listen for the answer.  I was already heading around the back.  With the size of their cases they should be gone for at least a week.  I didn't need that long anyway.

I had no idea what we would do or where we would go.  All I knew was that we had plenty of time to decide.