'How had it come to this?' Bella found herself wondering, as she stood knee-deep in the icy stream. She wiped off as much of the blood and sweat that was dripping into her eyes as she could and idly noticed at the same time that there was more blood pouring from her arm. She hadn't even realised she'd been hit there, not that it seemed to matter much now. She couldn't see a way out of this one. So this was how it was going to end for her, all of her protests to her mentor that morning – was it really only earlier today? – echoed ironically in her head as she slowly looked around.

She was completely surrounded; what looked to be a whole pack of giant werewolves standing staring at her. From their size alone, she knew that there was no way these were normal wolves. Bella thought back to her school book descriptions of other supernatural creatures, yes, these had to be werewolves, or maybe even shapeshifters, they were the only options, she surmised. If the creatures were shapeshifters, she might have some chance, as she was sure she had read about some 'good' tribes of shapeshifters, ones without any interest in a witch's powers. Bella shuddered thinking that they might be true werewolves, if that were the case, she could only wish for death. Completely outnumbered and weakened from the earlier fight, she had maybe enough power for one more energy blast, not that it would do much good against a pack this size – there were five that she could see. She tried to focus again, concentrating her efforts on her only hope. Maybe she could use her powers to teleport out of there, even a short distance could help and give her a head start and a chance to get home. She focused on the power inside her, closed her eyes and - nothing. Damn! The blow to her head must have affected her more than she realized. She was too weak to teleport and there was no way she was strong enough, even when at her best, to take on a whole pack of wolves. Bella silently cursed herself for not paying more attention in class, for demanding to go out that day. But really, how could she have ever dreamed that on her first day out, she would meet not only a coven of vampires but then a pack of wolves! Not that she would go down without some sort of a fight, she decided. Resigned to her fate, Bella took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.

'Alright, let's do this.' She thought to herself as she risked another quick glance around to see which wolf might be the easiest to take down. Her fighting spirit drooped a bit as she realized that she couldn't even see all the wolves, some stood behind her, but the ones she could see in front and from the corners of her eyes looked fiercely intimidating. None of the wolves seemed any weaker than the others. In fact, the smallest wolf, a grey one directly in front of her, was snarling, its vicious teeth bared in a ferocious grimace. Well, maybe that one would be a good option to take out after all? It seemed to be the angriest so far, not that she'd had a chance to look at them all yet and she had the best chance of a direct hit with that one too. Decided, Bella took another deep breath and concentrated on drawing her power together for the one last energy blast she was sure she would ever throw.

A flash of red showed over the wolf's shoulder. It couldn't be, but it was! There, in one of the trees sat the female vampire from earlier – she had found her. Shit! The bitch sneered at Bella as she took in her circumstances, surrounded by the wolves. That sneer did it and Bella realised the perfect target for her last blast after all. With all of her remaining strength, she threw everything she had left into the energy blast, sending it high over the wolves' heads and hitting the vampire directly in the chest. She screamed in pain as the energy hit her and she burst into flames. But that was all that Bella could see, as the wolf in front of her leaped forward, claws extended and all of its sharp teeth exposed. She heard a simultaneous snarl coming from behind and then Bella dropped into the water, unconscious, as the heavy weight of the wolf crashed into her.