A/N:

Hi there, and thank you for clicking on this story!

It is an idea I have been playing with for sometime now that came from finding out that James knew Alice in her human life. The basic pretext is what if when James met the Cullen Family and his target was Alice? Of course, if I wanted to do this that meant that Bella would have to be removed from the picture but I also want to incorporate a love story between Bella and Edward without all the human x vampire angst. That got me thinking, what if Bella was already a vampire and a part of James' coven and what if she was more powerful than before? And thus, Saving Alice was conceived.

Now on with the story...

Saving Alice

"Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make."

Bram Stoker,Dracula

Chapter 1: You Are Mary, Aren't You?

I stood quietly waiting in the shadows. My ears honing in on only that one heartbeat, it was pounding hard in her chest. My throat burned wildly and my mouth filled with venom, I took in her scent and inhaled her sweet aroma.

Her heart grew ever faster, perhaps she regretted her decision to cut through the dark alleyway, the scuttle of rats and the overall darkness may be unsettling to her or perhaps she could sense her life was in imminent danger? I lurked in the shadows, her weak human eyes would not register my person until it was too late and as of now she was headed straight for me. She would not make it out of this alley for she was my prey and I her predator.

She walked quickly by me, where I hid in the shadows. She was clearly afraid; she looked only forward, her heart was racing, and she held a small gray can of mace close to her chest. She was a normal looking woman, nothing out of the ordinary. She certainly didn't seem the type to be wandering around alone at night and judging by her attire she seemed to be some kind of office worker, secretary maybe? I placed her at anywhere from thirty to thirty five years of age, she had her dark hair up in a tight bun and her blue eyes were brimming with tears. Perhaps she was lost? She grew increasingly more fearful as she came to realize she had hit a dead end, I could even see small beads of sweat collecting in the small dip on the back of her neck despite the cold chill of the night. She turned around and started back the way she came, possibly hoping to find her way home.

She was truly in the wrong place at the worst time and in an instant I was upon her and all rational thought was gone. There was only blood.

My razor sharp teeth sunk into the soft flesh of her neck, just above her artery. She didn't even have time to scream. I drank greedily satiating the terrible burn in the back of my throat with this liquid gold.

It was over too quickly and her lifeless body fell limp onto the floor. I left her mace on the floor where she had dropped it and dumped out the contents of her purse, scattering them, then I removed her jacket and tore off a sleeve before throwing it haphazardly on the floor. This would create the illusion of a struggle for the police to find tomorrow morning. I hunted two others, one homeless woman and a skeevy man who seemed keen for my attention. I doubted they would be missed too terribly and they were easy enough to dispose of.

Although the everlasting burn in the back of my throat had been cooled I couldn't help but feel dissatisfied. I had drunk enough to keep me going until our next stop but I had thought that when I joined a coven I wouldn't feel so... empty. I thought that my loneliness had been a result of my decades as a single wandering nomad and although James' offer to join his coven had been a surprise I thought it might cure my ache for something more alas it seemed some things weren't so easy.

I wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed but I figured it was about time to regroup with the others. I made my way back to our predetermined meet up location only to find that the rest of my coven was already waiting on me. Laurent flashed me a small smile, his skin had an olive-tone beneath the typical pallor, his hair a glossy black which he wore in long dreadlocks. He was of a medium build and hard-muscled, and he sat casually on an old green bench. Victoria stood stoic, her chaotic red hair quivering in the slight breeze and her beautiful face was seemingly permanently marred with her unattractive sneer. Her partner, James, stood with her but he made no show of emotion to see me, he was bored perhaps, and his light brown hair and simple features were average at best. All three of their eyes bore the signs of a freshly fed vampire, just like mine, they glowed a deep crimson red.

"Hey." I greeted casually as I walked up to them.

"Finally," Victoria sneered rolling her eyes "What took you so long?"

"Huh, that's funny I could've sworn we agreed to meet before daybreak." I snarled sarcastically "And look at that, no sun." I said all this while looking upwards, feigning concern.

"Why do we have to be waiting on you?" She retaliated

"Oh, my apologies. I didn't realize you were in such a hurry, Princess." I sneered with an exaggerated curtsy. Victoria had been the only one to show reluctance at me joining, however what James' says goes. Her ruby eyes ignited with fury. James smirked, Laurent stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked away.

"Do let me know when you're done, I for one am anxious to be out of the city" he breathed coolly. I knew he had been wanting to leave Seattle since James had picked up three other Vampire scents in the vicinity two days prior. However I wasn't worried, the scents were stale and we had them outnumbered in any case. Victoria tore her eyes off me and turned to James.

"I'm ready to leave now." She urged.

He nodded and with that we were off. James and Victoria led, running ahead of me and I fell into step with Laurent.

"Productive hunt?" he asked politely

"Very, and yourself?"

"Likewise."

"Excellent."

"Yes," He agreed lightly. This is usually the point where our polite small talk dissipates and I wonder whether this is better than traveling alone. The obvious benefits to being part of a coven were beginning to feel less so. We continued ever onward although I didn't know where we were heading I couldn't bring myself to care.

We ran through several cities before James came to an abrupt halt just outside the Olympic Peninsula. He merely looked up as lightning flashed and thunder shook the sky.

"What was that?" he asked quietly,

I almost laughed. What kind of weird joke was this? As if he's never seen a lightning storm? Victoria and Laurent seemed to share my confusion.

"It's just the storm." I said and my sentence was punctuated by another loud crack of thunder. Only, it didn't sound like thunder, not really, and it hadn't been accompanied by a strike of lightning. I could tell the others were thinking along the same lines as I was.

"That's curious." Laurent muttered and we were temporarily distracted by another loud crack of non thunder.

Victoria took James' hand and with a wicked grin she suggested we investigate the source of the 'thunder'.

We ran through the woods toward the cracking boom, however it wasn't long before we realized what or rather who was making all the noise. Upon picking up Vampire scents Laurent suggested we avoid them entirely, James shot him down. After all, there was no democracy in this coven. We grew closer and James nodded at me, I understood the meaning of this immediately. Ever since I had joined his coven, I had acted as the leader upon meeting others of our kind which was slightly annoying but I could understand why James had assigned this role to me. I've been told that before me it was Laurent however he didn't possess my particular skill set therefore James and I traded running positions so that I was ahead of the group, and Victoria also shuffled behind to be nearer James.

As we ran now I was front and center with the other three running behind me in a V formation. When we were positioned this way it made it easier for me to blanket them all with my gift. I stretched my fingers and I willed the cool water like sensation to overtake my body, it burst out of my palms in the form of a great white light, and it moved like water around us as I willed it to cover each member of my coven.

In a matter of seconds each person was cloaked under my shield of white light before it faded and turned completely invisible. Not even the elements could touch us now as we glided through the forest running on the grass that had been carpeted by my shield. The power coursed through my body as I held the shield steady over us willing it to stay in place with my left arm stretched out behind me, palm facing up.

I could see them now as we approached the large clearing, I sucked in a breath when I realized there were seven. This was unheard of, my coven of four was already feeling crowded but to be in a coven of seven, I shuddered at the thought. I dropped my left arm to my side but discreetly kept my palm facing up towards my coven behind me, keeping them and myself blanketed under my shield; we stepped into the clearing, keeping to formation. They stood in a line facing us, immediately the first thing that registers in my mind is their eyes.

'How strange,' I thought to myself as I scanned the group I noticed each had varying degrees of golden hued eyes. They had irises ranging anywhere from liquid topaz to a dark amber. I did my best to mask my confusion as I broke from my group, willed my shield to stretch to cover me, and approached cautiously. The man at the head of the group was tall and blond, his handsome face watched us carefully as he stepped up ahead of the group and the woman he had been standing next to.

She was slender but curvy at the same time, billows of caramel hair cascaded down her shoulders and her heart shaped face remained watchful and cautious of us. When the blond man, who I assumed to be the leader stepped ahead, a second man took his place standing by the woman with the caramel hair. He was stunning, he was taller and lean with the most shocking head of messy bronze hair, looking at him I couldn't help but compare him to statues and painting I had seen of Greek Gods. We briefly made eye contact, his expression made me feel uneasy, I had to look away. He looked frustrated and bothered by our presence and I couldn't fathom it but it made me feel uneasy. I kept my face impassive as I looked over the rest of the coven members.

The last four stood together in pairs, the first woman had her long golden hair pulled back into an intricate braid and rested on one shoulder, her hairstyle only showcased her stunning face, her beauty rivaled even that of her coven mate with the copper hair. The blonde beauty stood with a larger man, he was muscular in the extreme and he had dark curly hair that somehow matched his boyish dimples. The last couple seemed to be in contrast of each other, the man was terrifying. He had scars all up and down his neck and arms, proving to all who see them that he is not one be messed with. He had blond hair as well and he stood stoic and watchful. His mate was tiny, shorter than me and somewhat fairy like. She had short jet black hair that was spiked and going in different directions and her pretty face seemed to be analyzing us.

They were of course beautiful, all of our kind are. Our looks, I think, can be just as advantageous as our speed and strength when hunting. We're meant to be alluring, the humans never know what's hit them until it is too late.

I locked eyes with the blond man standing center his ocher eyes looked at me with an apprehensive curiosity.

"Hello," I started with a small smile addressing him, assuming from his position that he held the title of leader. "I am Isabella; and this Laurent," I said nodding my head to my right where I knew he stood beside me "And James and Victoria." I finished introducing the couple together with another tilt of the head to the left. "We thought we heard a game," I added casually noting their baseball attire as I looked to the small pile of bats and balls on the floor beside them.

He took a step forward as I had done, leaving his coven standing behind him.

"Yes," he agreed lightly "baseball has become something of a tradition for us on nights like these." he chuckled softly. I smiled in return,

"It is the great American pastime, after all." I added jokingly, wanting to keep this meeting as friendly and light as possible.

"I am Carlisle Cullen and this is my family."

Family, I thought How strange. I had never heard of a coven regarded as such, however I masked my curiosity and allowed him to continue.

"This is my wife, Esme," he said gesturing to the woman he had been standing next to "Emmett and Rosalie," he said

The muscular giant and the blonde beauty respectively

"Edward," he motioned the man next to him, the one with the copper hair and mystifying eyes. I don't know what but something about this man made me uneasy and I was grateful when Carlisle continued with introductions. The last couple the scarred man and his pixie mate were named "Jasper and Ali-"

"Mary" James hissed cutting off Carlisle's introduction. Her eyes shot to him, but they looked confused while, I didn't turn to look at him but I felt him getting closer. No one spoke, I was ready to voice my confusion when Carlisle beat me to the punch.

"Actually, I was going to say Alice." he said calmly, eyeing James as he moved from his position closer to me. At this point the entirety of the golden eyed clan was watching James, looks ranging from anger, from Jasper, to hostility, from Edward, and confusion, from a few others.

"Of course," I said trying to ease the tension "I apologize for having encroached on what is obviously claimed territory, we were just passing through." I spoke quickly, I sensed trouble and wanted desperately to avoid an altercation.

James stood directly behind me now, his actions were eliciting a response from Jasper and he changed his own position to crouch defensively in front of Alice. Victoria was crouching now too, while Laurent tried to lag behind us, not wanting to get involved in a fight. I kept on talking "We'll be leaving now." I said more to my group than theirs, as their group re-positioned to cover Alice.

They moved closer together, Carlisle was still in the front but was now being flanked by Emmett and Edward, the three of them formed a head triangle of sorts as they covered the rest of the group. Alice was all the way in the back, her petite frame hidden from view behind her family. Jasper stood protectively in front of her while Esme and Rosalie stood sentinel on either side of her. It was as if they somehow knew what James was capable of, I focused on de escalating the situation.

"No." James said simply.

"No?" Carlisle questioned softly "We do not wish to start a conflict, however we have claim over this area it would be best if you left us now." He spoke with a hint of danger in his tone while simultaneously trying to keep up the diplomatic front.

James paid him no mind and instead spoke only to Alice,

"You are Mary, aren't you? " His voice was dangerous, he crouched ready to pounce. She gave no reply, I wondered dimly how they knew of each other, I was sure this was no case of mistaken identity. Jasper let out a warning growl,

"Her name is Alice." I said my voice hard and with my right hand I grabbed James' shoulder trying to pull him out of his crouch. He ignored me and spoke to her still,

"Tell me Mary, how did you like Seattle?" he smirked.

Suddenly understanding swept over me, as I recognized the scent, she and two others were the scents we came across in Seattle, this little showdown was no coincidence. He had tracked her.

"James we're leaving. You're overstepping." I said forcefully, making sure to keep my shield steady the last thing I needed right now was for them to attack us with my shield down.

It was in that moment that Victoria pounced on me causing me to let go of my grip on James as well as my shield. The white light of the shield glowed before us falling like ethereal droplets of rain, leaving us unprotected. She had me in her grasp but she was only on top of me for a second before she was thrown off. I stood quickly to see Laurent restraining Victoria from coming at me again. James seemed to have recognized the gravity of the situation, especially now that he was vulnerable.

"Isabella!" he shouted and I recognized this as a command. Instinctively I turned to face the Cullen's who were still braced for a fight and their eyes filled with shock as I raised my palms and re formed my shield of white light around us. We took off running before it could even fade into invisibility.

A/N:

You made it! That's the end of the chapter, might as well write a review, right?