Elizabeth POV

I was running.

I was running away.

Someone was chasing me, someone who was much faster then I was, and I could feel them gaining quickly.

I stumbled over a tree root in my panic and pushed myself to go faster to avoid getting caught by the mysterious person chasing me.

The trees around me began to blur as my stamina began to run out; my breathing was harsher now and my brain was starving for the oxygen I was lacking.

A low, guttural growl roared from just behind me; catching me off guard immediately. I thought a vampire was chasing me, but I was wrong.

It was a werewolf.

I stumbled again and I ended up tripping right into a large clearing. The air was different here, it was thick and heavy, as if it was warning me of something.

And it was.

There, in the center of the clearing, stood a man with long sleek black hair wearing a long black cloak. Back behind him was a figure dressed the same way, but their face was hidden by the large hood of the cloak.

"Ah! Little Elizabeth! Such a strong resemblance to daddy she has, doesn't she dear?" He asked, turning to the hooded figure, who nodded slightly. "Thank you for bringing Elizabeth to us, werewolf." Aro thanked the growling beast behind me.

The large, rust colored wolf walked around me carefully. As he passed me, he looked directly into my eyes, and I was horrified to realize that I recognized him.

"Jacob?" I whimpered.

He sneered his nose and huffed in disgust as he continued forward to stand next to the hooded figure.

"Dear, do us all a favor and finish what you started. I haven't got all day and the rest of the Volturi will be so glad to know our target has been...taken care of." He spoke in an arrogant and bored tone.

The figure, very slowly, removed their hood. Long brown hair with subtle red highlights fell down around her shoulders, her full lips stretched into a creepy grin, and her sinister crimson eyes met mine.

My mother smiled brighter at me, winked, and then leapt towards my throat.

"Elizabeth, wake up!"

I lurched up from my bed, screaming and trying to run away from my mother.

"Elizabeth, calm down! It was just a nightmare!" My mother grabbed the sides of my face, and the second my eyes met her honey colored ones, I relaxed and threw myself into her arms.

"It's alright love." She cooed, cuddling me closer to her. Every time she touched me she was so gentle, I was like a feather to her.

"It was so awful!" I cried, clutching her tighter.

"It's okay, you're safe now." She sighed deeply and kissed the side of my face.

"Esme has breakfast for you. If you want it, I mean-, you should eat, but I don't want you to feel forced or-"

"It's okay, I'll eat." I giggled at her nervousness.

"Oh! Great!" She chirped, a nervous smile still on her face. "Alice laid out some clothes for you in the bathroom and Ed-your father, is waiting to talk to you downstairs." She took a breath, patted my hand, and left quickly.

"Thanks." I spoke into the silence.

I dressed in the dark blue lace dress Aunty Alice laid out and put on the black leggings and combat boot she had with the dress.

"Good morning darling niece of mine!" Aunty Alice chirped as I stepped out into the hall.

"Good morning!" I smiled.

"Here, I forgot it was going to be cold today during training." She smiled apologetically, handing me a leather jacket that was a little bit to big. "Sorry it's not an exact fit, it's your dads." She laughed a little as we turned into the kitchen.

"Hey you, sit down, I've got everything ready." Grandma Esme smiled brightly, setting a plate of eggs and fruit on the kitchen island.

I sat down and started picking at my food, my appetite was still non-existent from my nightmare.

"What's wrong sweetie?" Grandma asked.

"I just had a bad dream, I'll be fine." I sighed.

"There's more then that. Care to show me?" She grinned, raising an eyebrow.

I carefully laid my hand against her cool cheek, concentrating hard on my dream.

"Oh!" She cried in surprise at the end. "That certainly is alarming." She smiled sadly.

"I don't know where it came from. I don't fear my mother, do I?" I asked. I thought I loved her, adored her even, but now I was second guessing myself after finding out her fate for the past seventeen years.

"You...fear me?" My mother cried out softly behind me.

I whipped around quickly, finding my mother standing in the doorway of the kitchen, my father right behind her. Her honey colored eyes, that had just soothed me this morning, were wide and lined with tears that would never fall.

"Mom! I-"

"I have to go." She sobbed and left quickly.

"Elizabeth." Daddy sighed. "What was that about?" He asked, sitting at the island beside me.

"She had a nightmare last night, a nasty one." Grandma told him.

"Oh!" He exclaimed the same way she had after he saw the nightmare from Grandmas mind. "That explains everything then."

"I have to go talk to her." I got up quickly.

"Oh no you don't." Daddy laughed softly, grabbing me around my waist and sitting me back on my barstool.

"I know your mother. She's tormented by things I can't even begin to understand. She keeps trying to convince herself that she's a good mother, but she already is. She just has to recognize her worth. She loves you too much to be a bad mother to you." He smirked.

"Thanks Daddy." I smiled my own smirk back at him. "I just still can't believe she's alive, or that she's here. It's been so long."

"I know how you feel." He sighed sadly.

"Hey, she'll come around. She loves you too much to give up on you." I smiled.

"Thank you darling." He smiled back, but I still saw the sad glint in his eyes. "You really should eat some breakfast. You're going to need your strength training today."

"Wait. So this means that I can train to? I thought it was too dangerous? I thought I was just supposed to watch."

"Well, I still don't want you training, I don't want you to get hurt. But, your mother and grandfather thought it would be best if you knew how to defend yourself in case a situation arose where we couldn't protect you." He sighed, worried about me.

"I'll be fine. I'll make you proud." I nodded to myself.

"You already have." He smiled adoringly at me.

****************************************

"Again." I grunted, picking myself up off the ground after uncle Jasper managed to flip me for the seventh time.

"No, I think you're done for the day. Great job kid." He smiled giving me a quick one armed hug.

"Bella? You feel up to the challenge?" Uncle Jasper smirked, turning to my mother who was watching from the tree line.

I could tell she was worried about me the whole time. She wanted to come help me, she wanted to pick me up and dust me off, give me a hug and tell me everything would be okay, but she was too afraid that she would scare me.

"I was wondering when you would ask." She grinned slightly and stepped forward.

She stopped about twenty feet away from me and smiled sadly. My father came forward and grabbed my hand, dragging me back over to his spot with him. My mother nodded in thanks to him and finished walking towards Uncle Jasper.

They started sparing, my human eyes couldn't keep up with how fast they were moving, but in between pauses I could tell my mother was winning. She moves so swiftly, so gracefully, and I thought she was absolutely beautiful. I was also slightly jealous I couldn't move that way, then I remembered that I am still half human and it was silly to try to compare myself to the strength of a full vampire.

"Hey, don't think that way about yourself." My father nudged me, quickly bringing me out my thoughts. "You have your own strengths and gifts, just like everyone here. Don't ever think that you have to be a full vampire to earn our love and respect, silly girl." He spoke in reassurance to me.

I was about to thank him, when suddenly mom and uncle Jasper started laughing hysterically. We turned to find uncle Jasper pinned underneath my mother. Everyone looked so surprised, and I suddenly got the feeling that uncle Jasper wasn't used to losing.

"Not half bad little fighter, you got a real spark in you." Uncle jasper laughed as my mother helped him pick himself up off the ground.

"The best fighters are the ones who harbor the most anger." She sighed.

"Did you learn that from the Volturi?" He asked cautiously.

"How did you think I stayed alive in the Volturi if I wasn't a good fighter?" She avoided the question.

"I heard the Cullens had a new visitor!" Jacob came out from the tree line and laughed.

"Jake!" Mom cried in delight and practically threw herself into his arms.

"Hey Bells, where ya been?" He laughed shakily as he wrapped his arms tightly around her thin frame.

She jumped out of his arms quickly, "Shut up!" She laughed, punching his arm.

"Ow! Okay, you're a little messed up in the head still, I get it." He laughed, rubbing the spot she had punched.

"Okay, well that's just not fair. You know I had absolutely no choice in that." She shot at him.

"I know, I know." He chuckled, bringing her into his arms for a soft hug. "Sorry Bells, I didn't mean to upset you. It's good to have you back."

"Yeah?" She questioned meekly.

"Yep, I'm glad you're not dead anymore." He laughed, causing her to laugh in response.

"Thanks, I'm glad too." She smiled sweetly as she pulled away and turned to face me.

"Have you met my daughter Jake?" She asked him.

"Yes, Charlie introduced us her second day here in Forks. She's a good friend to Claire." He smiled at me.

"Claire? How old is she now?" My mother asked.

"Nineteen."

"Wow, kids grow up fast, don't they?" Mom smiled sadly, and her glance she made at me out the corner of her eye did not go unnoticed.

"So why are you here?" Jacob asked my mom.

"The Volturi violated the contract I had with them. They're coming for Elizabeth in a week and a half." I saw the panic and worry she has tried so hard to hide from me surface as she talked with her best friend.

"What?!" Jacob cried. "We can't let that happen!" He boomed.

"We won't, they're not going hurt her, over my dead body."

"You're going to need more help if you plan on fighting the Volturi. Go call up some of your friends, I'm going to go talk to the pack." He spoke determinedly.

"Jake no!" She panicked, grabbing his arm. "I'm not going to let you fight my battle, not again. You were too good of a friend to me, a friend I didn't deserve. I don't owe just my life to you, I owe my Elizabeths too. Without you I would've killed myself, and her too, without knowing it. I already owe too much to you." She sighed and I saw a new part to my already complicated mother.

"Bella, we're fighting. And you found the will to live yourself, you owe me nothing." He told her and disappeared into the tree line.