AN

Disclaimer: I don't know if I want to keep doing this in every chapter… it's obvious I don't own anything recognizable anyways

Chapter 2: Bring me to life – Evanescence

"So how long is she going to stay here?!" an angry voice came from downstairs. Alice had been working on my looks for what seemed like hours and had finally finished the last touch. I was actually about to join the Cullens downstairs as I heard the angry voice. Seemed like they got a visitor while Alice had been doing her magic.

"As long as she likes," Edward answered a bit hostile. The scent of wet dog hit my nose and I wrinkled it in disgust. Ew!

"The pack…"

"Will not harm her"

There was growling, which I took as my cue to make my appearance. There was a rather tall and extremely annoyed tan man towering over Edward like a thundercloud. Nessie was hugging his arm, trying to get his attention, which it seemed he couldn't refuse her, as he sent her a warm smile.

As I came down the stairs, he looked up at me with a scowl. Boy was he hating on me for no apparent reason.

"Wow, way to make a girl feel special" I muttered, but knew they all heard me clearly. Alice jumped up and down in excitement.

"So what do you think? Doesn't she clean up good?! If her hair hadn't been this short, I would be able to do more with it, but oh well… she's just so cute now!" she practically squealed and I mock-cringed. Alice had actually managed to straighten my big curls, but my hair still didn't quite reach my shoulders yet.

"Alice, you're going supersonic on us" I mocked.

"Ha ha, very funny. I liked you better when you were mysterious and modest"

"Oh, you look beautiful, my dear" Esme clapped her hands together.

"Yeah, you can actually tell she is a girl now" Emmett teased and I glared at him – not that he seemed fazed by it at all.

"You're very pretty, Ann" Nessie came to my side and dragged me further into the room. The wet-dog-smelling-guy scowled at me as if I was trying to steal his puppy. What was his deal? And didn't he know what a deodorant was? I didn't even smell that repulsive on my worst day!

Edward chuckled clearly having heard my thoughts. Oops. Better not be rude to their guests before I've even been there a day.

"It's ok, Ann, he really does stink" Edward said and was whacked on the chest by a disapproving Bella. The guy growled, probably guessing what I had been thinking.

"So does all the mutts" Rosalie commented and Emmett laughed.

"Mutts?" I asked burying my curiosity under an emotionless mask. The familiarity from earlier had made me left feeling as if I had been holding my breath and my mask void of any emotion was comforting, safe even.

"Jacob here and the wolves that were chasing you earlier are shape shifters, and they are not the only ones. There is a pack in La Push not far from here, and you were in their territory when you arrived, which is why they were chasing you. They protect the humans in this area," Carlisle explained matter-of-factly.

"Oh, so they can just chance from human to horse sized wolves whenever they like?" I wanted to clarify feeling dread slowly creep over me.

"Pretty much" Emmett answered unaware of my fright. I felt unwelcome memories invade my mind. There had been a shape shifter back… there. The Doctor had experimented on him the longest, but he didn't change into a wolf. He could become a lynx and the only reason I knew this was not only that he survived more than one turn to the laboratory, but also because he sometimes was in too much pain to change back into human. It had been awful and we had all pitied him for not being able to die faster – but in the end, he had died. Not all of us had been so lucky. I closed my eyes as I remembered the day my brother and I were picked to come to the laboratory. I fought to get my thoughts under control, as I didn't want Edward seeing my dark past and pity me. Pity would only make it so much worse.

A wave of calm rushed over me and I opened my eyes to look into the orbs of gold that was Jasper's eyes. I was grateful the empath offered me a helping hand.

"Thank you" I breathed and tried regaining my emotionless state. Oh, the pain of the past was unbearable.

"What were you thinking about? You seemed to be in so much pain," Jasper asked almost hoarsely as if he had just experienced the same pain, which – with him being an empath – he probably had.

"It was nothing. I'm sorry to cause you any discomfort," I said, not wanting to talk about it. I sent Edward a quick glance and begged him not to tell them anything. He seemed too shocked to do much more than simply nod.

An awkward silence took place and I hoped someone would just say something already. Now I remembered why I avoided contact with others. I had this special talent to make every situation awkward with my sudden fits where I got caught in the past. God, I was like a freaking broken record!

"Why did you even come here, mutt? Was it just to yell at us for having guests?" Rosalie finally uttered with an angry glare at the shape shifter.

"Watch it, Blondie" the shape shifter growled. Well, an argument was better than awkward silence. Right?

"His name is not mutt, Auntie Rose" Nessie said with affection and a bit of annoyance. Rosalie rolled her eyes and Edward seemed uneasy. Someone was being an overprotective parent.

"If she is going to stay here, the pack has to know her smell so they don't accidently kill her if she goes hunting" Jacob said with a wrinkled nose. Maybe we didn't smell so good to him either.

"We can go to the boundaries right away if that's what you wish" Carlisle said calmly. Wait. Was they saying, what I think they were saying?

"Yes, Ann, you're going to meet the whole pack" Edward confirmed. Oh, great, just as I was beginning to think I could stick around a little longer before dying.

"They are not going to kill you. We are not letting them" Edward assured me. Oh, yeah, that is reassuring, not!

"Of course they aren't! They're only going to smell you," Nessie said with a smile and put her hand on my cheek. A picture of the entire pack – both in human and in wolf-form – flitted across my mind. They were laughing and acting like a slightly goofy family.

I took her hand gently away and smiled weakly at her. God, I hadn't smiled this much my entire vampire-life and I had only smiled like… one and a half time or something like that.

"That's great, Nessie, but I don't think they will be that friendly towards a vampire. I have met a couple of them, you know," I said.

"No worries" she simply stated with a smile, and before I knew it, we took off into the forest towards the river in vampire speed. Jacob had phased into a big, brown wolf and ran besides Nessie. It didn't take long to reach the river and it seemed Jacob had somehow contacted the others, because about ten wolves were standing on the other side eying me with uneasiness and hostility. Uh, yay, and they were going to take a whiff at me, how I was looking forward to that. Not.

"And a warm hello to you, fellow mythical creatures" I said humorlessly, which made Emmett chuckle and pad my back so I almost went flying into the river. I hissed in annoyance, but he only winked at me.

"So how is this going to go down?" I asked a bit unsurely, looking to Carlisle for help.

"Well, you just stand there and they'll come over" he said and before he even got to finish the sentence, the wolves were already coming over – reluctantly I might add.

They all took their turn sniffing to me, some growled and some almost jumped to get away from my apparently repulsive smell, but that was more than ok with me, as they didn't exactly smell like dandelions and roses themselves. The final wolf – the silver-grey one – had to be nudged forward by the black one, which I assumed to be the leader. He growled dangerously while he reluctantly moved towards me. I tensed more than I had with the others, not only because of fear, but also because he didn't smell bad… at all. I watched his every move closely and met his eyes almost calmly – don't ask me why I looked the great beast, who clearly wanted nothing more than to kill me, in the eye – but as I did the wolf stopped dead on its track. I felt something shift not only in the wolf's eyes, but in myself too. Something moved inside me and I had no idea what it was. It was as if something clicked as if I were a defective clockwork that was suddenly fixed. The other wolves seemed stunned before they began to howl and growl angrily. I started anxiously. What now? I tore my gaze away from the grey wolf, who still didn't move – weird.

"Are you positive, they won't tear me limp from limp? They look awfully much like they want to" I asked the Cullens, stepping a bit back from the pack. The grey one seemed to snap out of it and started growling threatening at me.

"Ann, get back" Edward said somewhere behind me in concern. What did he think I was doing? Dancing like a freaking leprechaun?! I was walking backwards!

"No, run, Ann!" the grey wolf was over me and had me pinned to the ground before I could even get the chance to flee. It seemed as though the whole forest was quiet all around us. The other wolves had ceased their growling and the Cullens were still as statues. The only sound was coming from the angry wolf that had me pinned to the forest-floor.

I didn't fear it anymore. It would only be a kindness to kill me, nothing more. I wondered slightly why I had feared the wolves before, maybe I just wanted to choose my death instead of death just jumping up and surprising me. But the wolf didn't kill me, it just growled furiously. Make up your freaking mind already! Kill me or don't kill, I don't care, just don't stand there and growl indecisively.

"Paul, you don't want to do that, you know you don't" Edward said. The wolf growled in his direction and almost dug its claws into my shoulders. Enough of this shit!