Okay, so, basically, this was written for a friend. I was out of ideas and she suggested this.

I don't own Twilight.

I decided on Victoria's POV because... well, because I actually had no idea what I was doing.

Yeah.

So, enjoy "A Game of Life and Death"! Review!

"What a bitch. Can't you ever share?"

I looked up from my meal to glare at the blonde man who'd spoken to me. He was sitting up in a tree on the edge of my clearing. "Shut up, James. It's not like you ever share."

James jumped down and walked closer to me, smiling. His bright red eyes were shining. "Hey, Victoria, baby. I was kidding."

I returned to my meal, finishing quickly so he wouldn't consider taking it from me. "So what did you want?"

"The humans are getting suspicious." He cracked his neck. "Hide the evidence and let's go."

I shredded the body and threw it into a pile under a tree. I straightened up and smiled. "Ready."

He smiled back. "Good."

We caught up with Laurent, the other member of our coven, quickly. The three of us started heading northeast. But then we heard a crack, an unnatural crack that would be hidden by the clap of thunder from human ears, but not from ours.

We came to a halt. "Who wants to play some baseball?" I asked.

"Yes. Let's start working up an appetite." James smirked. "Laurent. Lead the way."

Laurent took the lead and we turned back toward the game. Laurent was friendlier than James, easier to get along with. With him in charge, they'd let us play for sure.

As we got closer to their clearing, we were able to smell them. So many! There were at least six of them – seven, maybe eight. Then we could hear them.

"Stand together. Put on a united front."

"Bella, put your hair down."

"That won't help. I could smell it across the field."

The three of us walked into the clearing, Laurent in the lead. They stood together in a line facing us; for some reason, they felt the need to stop their game for us. I looked them over and counted – eight of them all together.

"Hello." The tallest blonde spoke first. "I am Carlisle, and this is my coven. This is Esme, Alice and Jasper, Edward and Bella, Emmett and Rosalie." He pointed to them in groups.

"So many of you. And such strange eyes." Laurent's words echoed my thoughts. Rather than red, their eyes were golden.

"We keep a permanent residence nearby; traveling does get to be somewhat tiresome, as you know. We live in peace with the humans in this town and have found other ways to satisfy our hungers."

"Interesting." Laurent smiled. "Perhaps we can learn something from each other. But first, a game of baseball?"

The one called Carlisle smiled in return. "We could use a few extra players; three of ours were just leaving. Edward?"

The bronze-haired one – Edward – glared at us and then turned, protectively shielding the girl, Bella. The one named Esme also turned to leave.

But then the wind blew the cap off her head, and blew her sweet scent toward us. The scent of blood. Even though I'd just eaten, I felt my mouth begin to fill with venom.

"Ahh..." James tasted the sweetness in the air, savoring it. "You've brought a snack."

Instantly, all of the others were between us and her.

"She's with us," Edward growled, speaking for the first time. I now recognized him as the one to tell Bella to put her hair down. "She's one of us."

Laurent held up his hands in surrender. "We understand. We shall leave." He started walking backwards.

I took two steps backwards, then stopped. James hadn't moved.

"James?" he called.

He was still staring at the human girl. I recognized the look in his eyes. He was plotting his hunt.

"James, we just hunted." He had been full before coming here, I was sure of it. He never moved on to another hunting ground unless he was satisfied. "There's no need to fight over just one human."

"You don't understand, Victoria," he answered me without ever taking his eyes off her. His voice sounded pained. "Her blood sings."

Edward growled again.

Laurent, sensing our intent to fight, stepped farther back. He spoke to the golden-eyed coven. "I bear you no ill will, and I wish not to fight you. It's a shame we never got to talk."

"There's another coven similar to ours, but smaller, in Denali," Carlisle said. How was it that he still managed to sound friendly with a fight over his human looming near?

"Thank you. Perhaps I shall stay with them for a while. I wish you luck." And then he was gone. That left me and James alone to fight.

It was another example of how easily bonds are broken among our kind. Why did these golden-eyed vampires have to be different? What held them together?

"Edward," their leader said now, "take Bella and–"

"No," he growled, glaring at James. "He wants to fight me."

"Edward." The smallest one, Alice, spoke now.

"He's a tracker, Alice. A tracker! You take Bella – you and Esme and Rosalie."

"Jasper," she said, seeming to ignore him.

Suddenly, I felt calm. I had no more will to fight.

"He'll just come back," the bronze-haired one grumbled. "Let's settle this now."

The three females gathered together to shelter the the human. Their golden-haired leader, Carlisle, also went with them.

James lunged at them, but Edward caught him and growled. "You'll never touch her."

The other two, Jasper and Emmett – they came after me. Emmett was huge and muscular, while Jasper was covered in crescent-shaped scars. I stiffened. How many had tried to kill him and failed? Hundreds? Thousands?

He smirked. "I'll take her. Help Edward with the blonde."

So it was two against James, and one against me.

I didn't bother attacking my opponent; I simply dodged all his advances. I was hoping to wear him down. I tried to move closer to James. It looked like he was having trouble. But every time I tried to position myself closer to him, Jasper pushed me away.

As he pushed me closer to the woods, I felt two instincts warring inside me. There was the instinct to fight for James – my mate – pulling me toward his fight. My instinct to escape and hide was pulling me toward the trees.

I had always had a knack for escaping. I always won at tag and hide-and-seek when I was young. I was always shoplifting, and I always got away with it. The only thing I hadn't gotten away from was a vampire.

Now there was nothing that I couldn't get away from.

My two instincts continued to pull me in both directions. Jasper continued to make me inch closer to the trees. Each step closer we took, the stronger my instinct to run pulled me.

James was losing. He needed my help.

We took one more step back. We hit the shade of the trees.

I ran.

I had a plan. I was going to run until I'd lost Jasper, then circle back and attack from a different direction. I had run for about a mile when I realized that he hadn't followed me at all.

I turned and bolted back, my pull on James overriding any instinct I felt to run. I saw a huge column of dark black smoke rise into the air and felt panic. Why had I left James alone? I ran back into the clearing.

They were gone.

The only thing they'd left behind as evidence that they'd been here was a huge bonfire. The scent of it was sickly sweet – the scent of James. I looked into the fire and recognized his long blonde locks.

I sank to the ground and let out a scream. Then I looked up at the fire, my red eyes ablaze like the flames.

James had died because of her. So she was going to have to die. If it was the last thing I ever did, I was going to kill her. I would kill her and drink her blood.

And I would enjoy it in memory of James.

- Kuramastrass -