DISCLAIMER: Characters, setting, plots, etc. are the property of Stephanie Meyer, CW, and other parties involved in the production of Twilight and The Vampire Diaries.


Isabella Swan sat in her room, looking out of her window to the typical rainy day in Forks, Washington. During the last two weeks, she had felt extremely numb but she knew that it had to stop. She had to keep moving forward. It wasn't fair for anyone, especially her.

She couldn't dwell in the past. He had moved on, so it was only right for her to do so as well.

Taking a deep breath, she rose from the old rocking chair and began to pace

'When have I ever let a guy define me?' she thought to herself. She had been too dependent of Edward Cullen for so long that she realized that she began to lose herself. And look at her now. She was in a state of depression, sitting like a vegetable as she gazed out the window into the pouring rain. This was definitely a new development. She always thought that girls that believed their world revolved around a guy were stupid and naive. Yes, this was definitely never how she imagined show would act.

What the hell was the matter with her?

Was she going to be one of the cliche girls who think that losing a boyfriend is the end of the world? Was she going to let herself continue to worry for family and friends because she lost a boyfriend that lasted half a year, if that?

But deep down, she knew that Edward was different. And it was not just because he was a vampire. He often made her feel complete. He made her feel safe. It always seemed to her that he was her soul mate. Had she been wrong?

He definitely didn't seem to think that anymore. She was no longer a distraction for him. He never cared as much for her as she did for him no matter what he had tried to make her believe.

With a groan, she stripped down to her under clothes and pulled on some jeans and a warm sweater. Finally, she tugged on some boots and went out to the forest.

It was dark and damp, but the trees above managed to stop most of the rain from pouring down on her. She walked in silence for a few minutes before straying from the path a little to sit on a fallen tree a few feet away. It was the same tree that she had sat when she found out what the Cullens were. It seemed to make a full circle, she supposed. She needed to clear her head and this seemed the perfect place to do so.

The first thing that she needed to do was get back her friends.

Honestly, they couldn't really fault her for being depressed the last two weeks. She had lost her boyfriend, her best friend, and—even though they didn't really know—her family. It was the life that she had chosen to live not too long ago, and it was completely ripped away from her. She didn't even get proper goodbyes, but that was probably for the best. She shuddered to think of the water works that would be sure to happen if she had to say goodbye to Alice, Carlisle, or Esme.

But he friends would forgive her. At least, she hoped they would.

She also needed to make things right with Charlie and Renee. She couldn't imagine how they had been feeling lately. She was always supposed to be strong. She had always been the 'suffer in silence' type of girl. Yes, she was silent, but her silence was screaming louder than she had been the first couple of days. She felt both shame and embarrassment creeping into her and making her cheeks burn bright red.

Before she could think of it much more, she heard a rustling coming from the trees behind her. She rose and whirled around quickly and felt her heart stutter in her chest before it began to beat twice as fast as normal . . .

It was Victoria.

She could easily recognize the red hair that flickered in the wind, like fire, and the graceful, cat-like crouch that she sank into. Her eyes had a malicious glint sparkling in them and she knew she was in trouble.

Bella swallowed roughly and back up against a tree. She hoped that Victoria was alone and no one was going to creep behind her and attack her, but she couldn't be too sure. For every step Bella took back, Victoria seemed to advance. The cat had the canary corned.

"Hello, Isabella," Victoria spoke, her voice a high soprano that startled Bella. Bella had really thought that her voice would be deeper, a purr that would fit with her fierce looks more, but she was wrong. It was musical and it would fit better with the image of a blonde girl wearing a cheer skirt. Her voice was as beautiful as any of the Cullens had been. It definitely scared her more than she would ever admit. As Victoria continued to advance, Bella began to hyperventilate. She was never once for panicking, but she knew that Victoria wasn't here for anything good. When she opened her mouth to speak, she only managed to make a gurgling sound which caused the vampire to smirk. "Well, I'm glad that I managed to find you here, Isabella."

Bella only mumbled something incoherently and moved to the side slowly, towards her house. He chances of escape were slim, but she still had to try. She knew that.

Victoria noticed what she was doing and quickly blurred over to her, grabbing Bella by her throat and pinning her back to the tree. "Now, where do you think you're going, Bella?" she taunted, the malicious glint still in her eyes. "We need to talk. Or I'll talk while you listen, if you prefer."

The next moment, Bella felt herself flying before her back crashed into something roughly, knocking the wind out of her. She looked up at Victoria before once again being pinned to a tree.

"You see, your little boyfriend and his family killed my mate, Bella. And someone needs to pay." Again, Bella felt herself fly and hit another tree, except this time she felt a burning pain along her spine and the branches stabbed into her. She gave a muffled shout that only seemed to encourage the vampire. "I've never been a tracker, so I can't find your boyfriend and his family. I know it wouldn't do any good to attack them, though. I'm alone and there are seven of them. But I need to do something so that he and his brothers pay for what they did to James."

Bella felt Victoria's stone hands on her arm for a moment before a loud crack echoed in the forest. This time, she couldn't stifle her shout. It was agony. "I got in touch with my old coven mate, Laurent. He told me that the Cullens were in Denali, so I figured I'd come back to this town and harm the man that the one called Esme was guarding. I didn't know that they had left you behind. It seems that you were nothing but a pet to them, but this still is oddly satisfying."

Bella felt a sharp kick and yelled again as Victoria's foot connected to her ribs, the force sending her back against the fallen tree. Panting heavily, she tried to scramble away on her hands and knees, but Victoria was enjoying herself too much to let her prey get away.

"No, no, child. Where do you think you're going?"

There was a sharp burning on her scalp as Victoria bragged Bella up by her hair. Bella stood, leaning against the trees for support, before Victoria back-handed her roughly and pounced on her. She lifted her arm and smashed her fist against Bella's sore ribs. There crack and the strangled sobs echoed through the trees. "There is more where that came from."

The whispered promised echoed tauntingly in her head before Victoria continued her fun.

On and on it went with Victoria never letting herself bite her. No, she would be the one to make her scream, not the burning that would start if she allowed her venom to enter her system. She wanted to destroy the girl not turn her. So, she needed to make the game last before she drained every ounce of blood from her system.

Suddenly, there was a snarl to the right. It was deep and dangerous. Victoria knew that it was time to go. Before Victoria could move, there was a dark blur in front of her. The dark shadow didn't slow so she couldn't get a good look at him. As she turned to run, the shadow ripped her arms off her body. Little by little, Victoria was torn to pieces. The shadow was determined to make her suffer as she had made the girl suffer minutes prior.

Bella could feel the heat of a fire burning nearby as she was fought off the blackness that threatened to consume her. She couldn't give up, but she could barely move. The pain was leaving her, and she knew that her end was near.

She heard a soft voice speaking near her ear as something began to press against her mouth.

"Common, little Swan, drink up." The voice was deep with a hint of arrogance and definitely male, but the smell drove everything from her mind. It was the rusty smell of blood, but she swallowed compulsively and felt the warm trickle in her throat. It was disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. Bella knew it was even in her state, but she continued to drink until the arm was taken away.

She felt soft fingers run through her hair before stroking down her cheek to her jaw. She would have fought them off, but they felt very relaxing. Finally, they stroked her neck soothingly while the other hand cupped her cheek. For an instant, Bella felt the fingers tighten before her neck was pushed roughly to the side. A snap . . . a quick burn . . . then Bella knew no more.