A/N: Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews, they really made my day. In fact, there's a rumor being spread by my dogs that a squeal was heard echoing throughout the house, but I admit to nothing. ~Sari~

Disclaimer: All characters belonging to the Twilight Series are the property of Stephenie Meyer, I'm just playing with them; however, I do own a husband who makes me laugh until I cry. This story contains mature content, and if you're not 18, you shouldn't be reading it.

Chapter Two

The Race Is On

Jasper's POV

I hung up with Peter and raced to the garage, thankful that Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie hadn't had time to get far and were turning around to meet me on the way. It wasn't really a surprise that the situation had gone critical so quickly, that's just the way things worked in my experience. But it pissed me the fuck off that Alice hadn't seen any of this happening in time to warn us. I'd given her explicit instructions that she was to continually keep watch on all of us specifically to avoid this kind of snafu, and she'd dropped the fucking ball once again. She'd been doing that too damned much lately and she was about to find out the full extent of my fucking displeasure. But first things first.

I dialed Sam's number as I pulled out of the garage on my Ducati, filling him in on what was going down when he answered. Thank God he was a reasonable bastard for a mutt, he was much easier to deal with than his beta. Jacob was immature and had a bad habit of thinking he knew far more than he actually did, which made working with him a lesson in frustration and a challenge to restrain myself from homicide.

"I'm heading to Phoenix now along with the others, then we're gonna bring the girl back here and we'll likely be coming in hot. I need to know we'll have a secure perimeter when we arrive, cause I sure as hell don't want any surprises waiting on us." No sense beating around the bush with Sam, one of the things I admired about him was his military style; simple and straight to the point, no bullshit. I could have used a couple like him in the last war I'd fought.

"You expecting trouble to follow you?" Sam asked.

"Word's gonna spread like wildfire that she's been found and things are gonna heat up quickly. Once it's known that we have her, I don't expect it to take very long before enemies start showing up to test our defenses and try to make a grab for her. It's gonna be up to you and the pack to take out anyone who comes sniffing around while we're gone. I don't want to be walking straight into a fight on our return."

"Understood. Do you want me to call in reinforcements or keep it on the down low for now?"

I took a moment to consider the situation. While the extra backup would be good, I didn't want to gather everyone in one place, either. At least, not right now. On the other hand, depending on the size of the force that decided to show up, the pack might not be able to handle it alone. There were too many pros and cons in each possible scenario, so fuck it. I was gonna go with my gut.

"Call in the Denali coven for now, but that's it. Between them and the pack, you should be able to handle it. I'm gonna try like hell to cover our tracks, but Peter's connection to me is pretty well-known and there's no guarantee that it's not already too late for that. It all depends on who's currently chasing him and whether or not they know it's him."

"Alright, keep me posted. I'll have the coven here by midnight and increase the patrols to cover the entire area. We'll make sure it stays secure." He hung up and I was thankful once again that he was a man of few words. It made my life a lot fucking easier to be able to give orders without having everything questioned to death. It did wonders for my temper, too.

Unfortunately, my temper was already boiling over the Alice situation, and I decided to take care of that next before I blew a fuse. I noticed Carlisle's Mercedes and Emmett's jeep fall in behind me as I was pondering the best way to deal with Alice, and I increased my speed now that we were all together. The faster we got to Peter, the better I'd feel.

Alice was her very own clusterfuck waiting to happen. I'm not sure exactly when everything changed, but she hadn't been the woman I'd fallen in love with for a long time now. Gratitude had brought us together, and part of me would always be grateful to her for bringing me to the Cullens at the lowest point of my life. In time, that gratitude had changed to love and I'd been happy, yet I was more angry than hurt the day I caught her in bed with Edward. Of course, he was just a distraction and she'd dumped his ass immediately after she'd been found out, but the damage had been done. By that point, it had been a long time since I'd felt anything remotely positive toward her, and while I was hurt over my brother's betrayal of me, I was just disgusted with Alice.

She couldn't handle my refusal to change who I was to suit her image of who she wanted me to be. I wasn't anyone's fucking puppet, and while I'd loved her, I wasn't about to become someone I wasn't for her and she just couldn't seem to accept this. Despite the disagreements we had over this subject on a regular basis and the fact we weren't true mates, I'd tried my best to be a good husband to her, and I'd always been faithful. I'd looked of course; I had a healthy male's appreciation for feminine beauty, but I'd never even considered touching. I was raised to treat women with respect and honor, and infidelity didn't fall into either of those categories. The fact that she could so easily be unfaithful to me showed me everything I needed to know about how wrong for me she'd become.

While I wasn't as enraged at her actions as I would have been if I'd still loved her as I once did, it was impossible for me to allow her to get away with betraying me in such a way without any retaliation at all. It was a matter of respect more than anything else, and that level of disrespect had to be addressed, no matter who it was coming from. The same went for Edward. While we'd never been as close as I was with Emmett, he was still my brother, and he should have had more fucking respect than to betray our bond in such a way. I would never have thought him capable of something like this, but though I had a feeling Alice was the driving force behind it, the bottom line was that he'd made a choice to act on it and had to be held accountable for that choice. I was Major Jasper Fucking Whitlock, and betraying my trust came with fucking consequences.

Edward had lost his arms and legs and seen them scattered across the forest before I left him to put himself back together again. It had taken him almost a week to fuse his limbs back on as I'd warned the family against helping him in any way lest they feel my wrath as well, and he hadn't said so much as a single word to me since. The silence worked well for both of us as it didn't allow him to give me another reason to express my displeasure at his actions. He knew he'd crossed a fucking line and was intelligent enough to stay out of my way for a long time to come. The day might come when we could be brothers again, but that day was a long way off and things would never be as they were before.

Alice avoided the same fate only because Carlisle and Esme had begged for mercy on her behalf. While I didn't hold with hurting a woman under normal circumstances, I was definitely tempted to make an exception for her, and their pleas were the only thing that had stopped me from doing so. Instead, I forced her to watch as every single one of her irreplaceable one-of-a-kind designer originals went up in flames before her agonized eyes. She cared more for her things than she did for people, and I figured it was poetic fucking justice to hit her where it hurt the most. It was amazingly satisfying to watch them burn, considering some of the shit she'd tried to dress me in during the course of our marriage. She, too, wisely chose silence as her resulting course of action, and the only time we'd spoken since then was to sign the divorce papers when they came.

All in all, they'd gotten off lightly for their crimes, considering that under Vampire law I could have killed them both and been completely justified in doing so. Amusingly enough, I think Edward's disgust with Alice ran almost as deeply as mine did, and I found it to be a source of continuing amusement that Peter had chosen to pair the two of them together for this mission. I'm sure he'd had a good laugh over it as well. At the moment, however, I was lacking in the amusement department since I was going to have to deal with Alice and find out what the fuck was going on and why she was slacking on the job. Just the thought of hearing her high-pitched whine in my ear was enough to make my teeth grind, but I couldn't afford to put this off, so I dialed her number and pondered how best to approach the situation so I wouldn't end up tracking her down and ripping her to pieces.

"What do you want, Jasper?" Alice's voice came over the line, and the attitude in it immediately caused the hairs on the back of my neck to rise.

"Watch your tone with me, Alice, unless you'd like another lesson in respect," I snarled, struggling to control my temper. "Peter and Charlotte ran into trouble when they went to grab the girl, trouble that could have easily been avoided had you been following my instructions and watching the family at all times. This is exactly the kind of situation I was hoping to avoid, so what the fuck are you doing?"

"I wanted a break so I had my visions turned off and didn't see it happening. You know how tiring it is to watch so many people all the time."

"Turned your visions off? What the fuck, Alice?" She'd never been able to turn them on and off at will before so what the hell was she talking about?

"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention this to anyone. I finally found my mate and Max has the ability to nullify powers in others and then reactivate them at will. I had him turn the visions off for awhile so I could have a break and he'll turn them back on when I'm ready."

I pulled the phone away from my ear and blinked at it. Fucking blinked. Was she serious? I knew she was self-centered, but this was fucking ridiculous, and the way she spoke as if her doing this was of no importance whatsoever caused me to wonder if they'd given her a lobotomy in that mental hospital after all. Before I could get completely lost in the insanity that was Alice' mind, I quickly decided it was time she had a refresher course on exactly who she was dealing with. It was time for the Major to make an appearance.

"Alice, I'm going to say this once and only once, so you'd better fucking listen and pray than I never have to repeat myself. The war has begun, which you'd have known if you'd been doing your fucking job. I don't give a flying fuck what you want or what you need, not anymore. My job is not to cater to your wants, it's to keep all of us alive long enough to win this thing and come out the other side." She started to interrupt at this point, but I nipped that in the fucking bud right damn quick, my voice easily over-riding hers as I continued.

"I am your Major and you are my soldier, this is a very simple concept to understand even for you. This is why you will follow every fucking order I give you, to the letter, from this point forward. I don't care if you don't like it, I don't care if you're tired, I don't care if the moon is crashing down around you and you're trying to make it out of the fallout alive. All I care about is that my orders are obeyed and no one is put in jeopardy that doesn't have to be. Are you hearing what I'm saying?" I was almost roaring by the time I'd spoken the final words and I was pretty fucking certain that she understood exactly how damned serious I was. I paused for a moment, testing to see if she was finally realizing the true depth of my anger with her, and when nothing but a soft 'yes' came from her end of the line, I allowed myself a small smile of satisfaction as I continued.

"Now, you will have Max turn your visions back on immediately. Then the three of you will head directly to Forks where you will continue to monitor everyone in the family and stay put until you hear differently from me. If you have a vision of importance, you will notify me immediately. If Max turns off anyone's abilities at any time without my explicit approval, I will rip him to pieces and watch him burn. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Jasper, you're clear." A bit of attitude was beginning to creep back into her voice, and there was no fucking way I was going to allow that to go unchallenged.

"I'm done playing games. From this moment on, every single one of us is in danger, and I expect every person in this family to give one hundred percent of their time and ability to ensure our survival. If anyone can't manage to do that, then they aren't worth our time and efforts and will be removed from the family post haste. Do you understand what I'm saying, Alice?"

"I understand," she softly said, and I knew she had finally reached full understanding of just how precarious her position in the family had now become. Normally only the head of a coven could remove members, and we all knew that Carlisle would never have the heart to do such a thing. During times of war, however, I became the head of the coven due to my experience, and she was fully aware that I'd have no difficulty whatsoever with removing anyone from the family whose actions placed us in jeopardy in any way. The light had finally dawned for her and I took a moment to savor that fact as I ended the call without responding further.

Emmett's roar of laughter caused me to glance behind at the following vehicles, and I saw him throw me a thumbs up as he said, "Way to go, bro. About time the pixie learned her place."

I threw him a smirk in response and glanced at Carlisle to see how he was reacting to the conversation that had just taken place. He had a faintly disapproving look on his face, but wisely held his tongue. He knew where I stood and what I would do if necessary, so my words had come as no surprise to him even if he didn't particularly agree with my stance on the situation. Of course, this is why I lead the coven during times of crisis. He was a good diplomat, but discipline in the ranks had never been a strong point of his, and discipline was what was going to help us see this through to the end.

Putting Alice out of my mind for the present, I returned my attention to the road in front of me and the situation we were heading into. Something told me that life was about to get very interesting.

Demetri's POV

I dropped the woman's body into the dumpster knowing it wouldn't be found for awhile and turned back toward the school to await the extraction team's arrival. The relaxed hunt had been exactly what I'd needed and I was now fully prepared for the mission ahead of me. My thoughts alternated between making plans to kidnap the girl and what would be waiting for me upon my return to Volterra. The brothers were known to be very generous with their rewards for work well done, just as they were feared for the creative punishments dealt out to those who displeased them.

I was crossing the modest lawn of a quiet house in the suburbs of the city, still lost within my thoughts, when I caught a scent that immediately halted me in my tracks. Magnolia and jasmine. The strength of the scent could only mean that the girl was nearby, and I began to follow the scent trail, staying to the shadows as much as possible to avoid detection. Mere minutes later, I crossed a deserted intersection only to stop for a moment in surprise at the sight before me.

Two vampires were running about a quarter mile ahead, not as fast as they were able to, but almost too fast to avoid notice if any humans happened to see them. One of them was carrying the limp form of a young girl, the source of the scent I'd been following, and they were being chased by two others who were only a few hundred yards behind their quarry. It appeared I wasn't the only one in the city who'd been seeking the girl from the prophecy, and I growled lowly as I realized that the new situation was going to complicate my life.

I began to give chase myself, hindered as I was by the need to maintain at least a semi-human pace, though the others were under the same restriction and wouldn't be able to get too far ahead of me. A quick call to Felix informed him of the change in plans, and I instructed him to get a group together that could be used to intercept them somewhere up ahead where more privacy could be found for the conflict that would likely ensue, as well as to send a few more my way as back-up. His agreement given, I hung up and concentrated on the task in front of me.

This new hunt was a bit different than what I'd been expecting, but I had no doubt that the girl would be in my hands very soon. After all, I was the best tracker the Volturi had ever had and she was firmly in my sights.

Victoria's POV

What the fuck had happened? One moment the girl had been ours, and the next she was gone and we were forced to give chase. I'd thought we'd finally be through with all this shit and now here we were, running through the night chasing after the stupid girl once more. I'd tried to talk James out of it, but after he'd actually taken a bite at me in annoyance, I'd shut up and given up hope that he could be dissuaded from his goal. He was like a dog with a fucking bone, and when he got like this there was no reasoning with him.

Of course, the fact that he'd been bested in combat was a secondary reason he was so hell-bent on catching up with the vampires in front of us. Not only had they stolen his prize, they'd also made a fool of him in his eyes, and that was absolutely unforgivable. He prided himself on his prowess in combat as much as his tracking and hunting abilities, and to lose on both fronts at once was too much for him to handle. He was out for blood and nothing was going to stand in the way of him getting it now. I almost pitied them when we caught up, his creativity knew no bounds when it came to torturing and breaking someone, human and vampire alike. It was a thing of beauty to behold and I'd never tire of watching.

I sighed in a mixture of excitement and frustration as I forced my thoughts toward other topics, such as the blood I'd drunk from the mother just a short time ago. It had been delicious, the sweetest I'd had for quite awhile, and it was a shame that I hadn't had time to taste the father's before we'd been interrupted. The look on the girl's face had been priceless as she'd watched me feed, and I'd taken almost as much enjoyment from her suffering as I had from the blood itself. The mixed scents of pain and fear always heightened the experience of feeding for me, and I know that James felt the same way. It was the major reason we made a habit of playing with our food before indulging ourselves.

This led me to thoughts of what I could do to the girl once James had no more use for her. Her scent was even sweeter than her mother's and I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into her body and feel that ambrosia coating my throat. By the time I ended her life, she'd be begging for death and more than willing to embrace it if only to stop the pain. I was interrupted from my musings by James urging me to go faster, but ever since we'd made it outside of the city and away from possible human detection, I'd been moving at top speed, so his verbal prodding was useless. Damn but those vampires were fast, some of the fastest I'd ever seen, and that was saying something.

I saw James look over his shoulder and followed suit, surprised to see another vampire trailing not far behind us. I'd been so caught up in my thoughts I'd never heard his approach. His growl wordlessly urged me to go faster, he was determined to be the one to claim the girl for his own and the addition of others to the hunt wasn't settling well with him. I answered him with a growl of my own and tried my damnedest to urge a little more speed from my feet as we followed our prey into the darkening night.

Peter's POV

"We've gained another follower," Charlotte hissed as she ran at my side. My ears had picked up the new set of runnin' footsteps just as she spoke and I snarled softly in response. We were not in a good position and my protective instincts were goin' into overdrive between my mate and the girl in my arms. Things had gone to hell too damned fast and looked to be gettin' worse by the minute. The only good news we'd had so far was that the girl wasn't injured, just unconscious. We'd gotten to her in time.

"Take my phone and call the Major, let him know what's happenin'," I whispered to her. She grabbed my phone and I could hear her talkin' into it for a few minutes before she hung up and nodded to me. We were keepin' our voices as low as possible to avoid bein' overheard by our pursuers.

This entire situation would have been comical were it not for the fact that it could turn deadly at any moment. Here we were, two vampires and an unconscious girl runnin' through the streets of the city while we tried to stay out of sight of the thousands of humans who lived here, and all this while bein' chased by other vampires who wanted nothin' more than to kill us and steal the girl. It really was like somethin' out of a bad horror movie; well, minus the fake blood and gore, anyway.

I knew there was a good chance they were gonna call for backup of their own at some point and we'd end up sandwiched between the two groups and fightin' for our lives. This prospect worried me more than anythin' else at the moment. While there was a decent chance that Char and I could take out the three behind us if it came down to it, we'd be pushin' our luck if any more joined in the fray, especially considerin' the fact that we had to keep the girl safe while we were fightin'.

"He's aware," she whispered, "Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie are with him and they're headed toward us now. He said to stay on course and not to do anything stupid. He's got everyone else headed straight home since they were too far away to be of any help to us. The pack and the Denali coven are going to secure the area there."

I nodded at her to show I'd heard and went back to tryin' to figure a way out of this mess. The problem was that I knew little of the city and we were flyin' blind while just tryin' to stay headed in the right direction. At least we were almost at the outskirts now and would be in open country soon where we could pick up speed without worryin' about bein' seen by any humans. That would hopefully make it harder for those chasin' us to group up with any others that were workin' with them, though it would also make it harder for us to meet up with the Major when we got close. I had time before I had to worry about that, though. Right now, we just had to keep from bein' caught. The next few hours passed slowly with us managin' to keep our lead and even widen it a bit before I heard Char curse beside me.

"Shit! Three more just joined the lone guy at the back, and two of them are wearing Volturi cloaks," she hissed.

I stumbled for a step before regainin' my stride, this was not good. In fact, it could be classified as one of those Bad Things I studiously tried to avoid. If the Volturi were on to us, things had just gone from bad to fuckin' worse by leaps and bounds. We'd been keepin' the Major informed via calls every fifteen minutes and I told Char to let him know the latest so he'd be prepared. If my calculations were right, based on his last location compared to ours, we were about an hour from meetin' up with them. Her calls to him had only been lastin' a minute or so on average, but it was a good five minutes before she hung up this time and returned the phone to her pocket.

"He said to keep running and hang tight, he's working on a plan and will call when it's in place," she informed me. I saw her swallow a few times and reach up to massage her throat with one hand.

"How bad is it?" I asked her, takin' a good look at her eyes for the first time since we'd started runnin'. We were puttin' out a lot of energy and it had to have been awhile since she'd fed. Her eyes were nearly black with thirst and I cursed quietly beneath my breath. We had excellent control, but bein' that thirsty around a human was an accident just waitin' to happen.

"I'm alright, still in control," she answered, but I could see that she was holdin' her breath, so I moved slightly in front of her to ensure she was upwind of the girl's scent. No sense temptin' fate when we didn't have to, especially considerin' how mouthwaterin' this particular scent was.

"Don't worry, babydoll, we're gonna get ya fed soon enough, and then it'll be time for some lovin'. Peter Jr.'s been missin' ya somethin' fierce and he's lookin' mighty forward to gettin' back where he belongs." I said, tryin' to take her mind off the thirst, but also because I was a mite pissed off that my lovin' had to be postponed thanks to the fuckers behind us. When I finally had the chance, I'd make sure they felt the full force of my displeasure over that little bit of cock-blockin'.

My words earned me a saucy wink and a grin from my mate, and I was satisfied that she was lookin' just as forward to us bein' alone as I was. Charlotte was good like that. I started tellin' jokes to continue tryin' to keep her mind off the thirst, and was in the middle of a particularly funny one about a plucked hen and a goldfish when I felt the girl begin to stir in my arms. One part of me was happy that she seemed to be comin' out of it, but it could also be really bad timin' dependin' on how she decided to react to what was happenin'. The last thing we needed was a bout of hysterics from her while we were runnin' for our lives.

Jasper's POV

Charlotte's phone call had put a new spin on the situation. If the Volturi were involved, things had just gotten a whole lot more serious. We were closing in on them quickly, but every moment's delay was a chance for them to be caught, or worse. I needed to come up with a new plan and it needed to happen fast. I was wracking my brain for the best possible solution when my attention was caught by some lights circling in the sky above me. It took only a moment to realize it was a helicopter coming in for a landing somewhere nearby, and the light bulb went off in my head. It was the perfect solution provided we could pull it off, and Emmett happened to have a license to fly one. I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, and it took only moments to formulate a plan.

I pulled out my cellphone to relay the new plan to the others and we quickly changed our course to intercept the helicopter's landing spot. There was no time for finesse on this one, we needed to get in and out as fast as possible with the minimum amount of collateral damage and fuss. Carlisle was against the plan, but Emmett was overjoyed with it, as I'd known he would be. It was a given that anything remotely dangerous or out of the norm was a magnet he was irrevocably drawn to. He lived for shit like this. Carlisle was just going to have to get with the fucking program. I understood that he was a pacifist who preferred a much more diplomatic approach to everything, but there was a time and place for diplomacy and this sure as hell wasn't it. He and I were going to have to have a little chat when we got back home.

Before long we were pulling up to the small airport which was thankfully in the middle of fucking nowhere so we wouldn't have to worry about witnesses to the crime. We hid the vehicles behind a few of the buildings that were in obvious states of disrepair and likely rarely visited, they should be safe enough there. None of them were actually registered to us, so I wasn't worried about anyone tracing them back, but we needed them for our return trip and it would be a pain in the fucking ass to have to find new transportation when we were likely going to be in a hurry. I always planned for the worst and hoped for the best. It's just how I roll.

Emmett was excitedly bouncing in place when we met up, and I had to send him some calming vibes to get him to pay attention. He'd insisted on changing into all-black clothing for the mission, and had even managed to find some black fucking face paint which had been liberally applied to his forehead and cheeks. He looked like a six foot six lumberjack ninja, and all I could do was roll my eyes and stifle my laughter as I got down to business and outlined the plan for the others. From what I could see, there was only one attendant on duty along with the pilot who'd just flown in, and he was busy refueling the helicopter. Rose and Esme were going to subdue the attendant while Carlisle and I took care of the pilot and Emmett finished the refueling process. I didn't really want to kill them, so we were going to do our best to immobilize them, instead. However, if death needed to be dealt, then I'd do it. Our mission was too important to worry about some collateral damage if it was unavoidable. If all went according to plan, we'd be gone less than forty-five minutes, and there was very little chance the bodies would be discovered before we returned, dead or alive.

I sent the women off to take care of the attendant while the three of us headed toward the pilot, taking care to stay in the shadows as much as possible. While we were fast enough that we could get to him before he had time to fully register we were coming, we wanted to avoid detection as being other than human if at all possible, especially if we wanted to keep him alive. Therefore, we kept to a reasonably human pace as we snuck up on him.

He must have sensed our presence just as we got close, for he looked up and I saw his eyes widen as he realized he was no longer alone in the dark. Before he had a chance to do anything, I was behind him, and with a soft press of my fingertips to certain sensitive points on his neck, he was slumping in my arms as he lost consciousness. I tossed him to Carlisle who carried him into the nearby building, where he'd tie him up to ensure he'd remain where he was until we returned. I was glad we kept fully stocked vehicles loaded with everything we might need for an emergency, including fifty-foot lengths of rope. As Emmett took over the job of refueling the helicopter, I headed toward the office to see how the women were faring.

I'd taken no more than three steps when a blaring alarm klaxon broke the relative silence of the night, and I broke into a run. In only a few seconds, I was entering the office just in time to see Esme destroy the control panel with a few well-placed punches, and the alarm was silenced. Rosalie was holding the unconscious attendant as she tied his hands and feet together while Esme began to apologize profusely.

"I'm so sorry, Jasper! He saw us and managed to hit the alarm before we could get in here and take him out. I'm so sorry!" Her words were almost frantic, and I sent her some calming vibes to soothe her nerves.

"It's alright, Esme. Shit happens. But we need to move fast in case the alarm was programmed to automatically summon the police. I want the two of you to take the vehicles and drive another sixty miles up the road. Wait there for us and we'll meet you there after we pick up Peter." Luckily, the Ducati was currently tied to the back of Emmett's jeep so it wouldn't have to be left behind. I loved that bike and it would piss me the fuck off if I had to leave it.

With a quick nod to show they understood, Rosalie finished tying up the attendant and the two women ran from the office toward the vehicles, leaving me to return to the men and fill them in on the change of plans. It's a good thing I excelled at thinking on my feet, or the constantly changing plans would have been a nightmare. By the time I got there, the refueling was completed and Emmett and Carlisle were already buckled in and going through the pre-flight checklist.

"Fuck the list, we need to go now!" I informed them as I jumped inside, not bothering to strap in. As Emmett took off, I filled them in on what had happened, and then settled back and began to prepare myself for what lay ahead. Pulling out my cellphone, I dialed Peter's number and quickly informed Charlotte that we were on our way, then kept her on the line with me to help more accurately pinpoint their location when we got close. It was showtime.

Bella's POV

The darkness was comforting and there was no part of me that wanted to leave it, but try as I might, I couldn't seem to stop it from gradually receding and forcing me back toward the light. There were things I didn't want to face in the light, things that would tear my world apart and leave me alone and shattered amidst the remains. I couldn't clearly remember what those things were, exactly, but I knew they were there just as I knew I was losing the battle with the darkness.

The first thing I noticed was a sense of movement. While I couldn't feel the movement, itself, I could feel the wind whipping past my face which meant I had to be moving pretty damned fast. I could feel my feet dangling in the air, though, so I had no idea how I was actually moving if I wasn't doing it under my own power. I had no answer for that, so I decided to move on and come back to that question later. The next thing I felt was the cold. It seemed to surround me and yet there was something almost comforting about it, as if it was encasing me in a cocoon of safety. Strange.

As my senses came more fully awake I tried to stretch, but it seemed I was being held against what felt like smooth marble beneath my cheek. I quickly realized it was also the source of the cold and that it seemed to be moving as well. Ah, that answered my first question. I wasn't moving, the marble was, and I was just along for the ride. Feeling faintly pleased with myself that I'd managed to solve one mystery, I felt it safe to move on.

My arms seemed to be free so I cautiously moved one to see if I could tell more about the marble I was resting on. Running my hand over its surface, I was shocked to feel what seemed to be muscles within the hard surface, though that made absolutely no sense at all. Marble didn't have muscles and I'd never seen a piece of marble run around on its own, so the situation was becoming more puzzling by the moment. Hmm. Ok, moving on. I decided to see if I could figure out what was holding me to the marble in case that would provide some clue as to what the hell was going on. I ran my hand along one of the bindings and was shocked to feel fine hairs beneath my fingertips. Hairs? What the...?

I tentatively opened one eye and found myself getting a close-up view of a very well-muscled chest that I seemed to be resting against. Chest... ok... that made more sense of the hairs I'd felt, which must be attached to arms that were holding me to the chest. But since when were chests and arms made of ice-cold marble? Perhaps I'd better investigate further. Opening my other eye to ensure I could see everything fully in focus, I slowly raised my gaze until I encountered a pair of crimson eyes staring down at me in evident amusement. Crimson eyes? FUCK!

Memories came crashing down on me like a cement truck at high speed, burying me in the horror I'd evidently escaped from in the darkness. I could feel my body start to shake and a scream rising in my throat, but before I could give voice to it, I heard the velvety tones of my captor for the first time, each word bathed in a southern drawl that I'd have found pleasant to listen to under different circumstances.

"Easy there, pumpkin, there's nothin' to be scared of. I ain't gonna hurt ya."

My brain wanted to scoff at the utter absurdity of his words, but the blatant sincerity woven through them gave me pause. There was none of the animalistic savagery in his visage that had twisted the faces of the two who'd killed my parents, but on the other hand, I knew there was no way he could be human. Cold, marble skin, crimson eyes, the strength he had to have in order to carry me this way at a dead run without being out of breath... none of that added up to human. Some piece of knowledge that wanted to be noticed was tickling the back of my brain, but I couldn't get it to come clearly into focus, and I was too preoccupied with my current situation to worry about it right now. Speaking of which, I had no idea what my current situation even was, and that was something I needed to rectify. Perhaps I'd better ask.

"Who are you?" I asked. That seemed a safe enough question to start out with.

"Peter Whitlock at your service, pumpkin, and the pretty lady runnin' beside us is my wife, Charlotte."

I turned my head to look at the woman I hadn't even noticed before now. Pretty was such an extreme understatement that it was ridiculous. She was short, petite, and utterly beautiful, her golden hair falling in soft waves to the middle of her back, and her figure would give a supermodel a serious case of the green-eyed monster. She was a good match for the tall man holding me, his light blonde hair swept back from his face in a way that drew his handsome features into stark relief. Both of these people far surpassed the norm of physical beauty, and next to them I felt even plainer than I normally did. But I was getting sidetracked and needed to get back to the questioning at hand.

"Where are you taking me, and why?" This seemed to be the next most important question and the one that would really tell me whether or not I could believe him about his lack of desire to hurt me. I saw him glance at Charlotte for a moment, and then pause as if trying to choose his words carefully. That wasn't a good sign and I instinctively braced myself for impact.

"Well, pumpkin, there's a lot goin' on that you don't know about yet, and I can't really take the time to explain it all now, seein' as how we're in a bit of a tight spot at the moment. However, the short of it, is that you're a very special young woman and there's two groups of people that have been tryin' to find ya for a long time now. The group I belong to wants to keep ya safe, and the group the people chasin' us belong to want to kidnap ya and force ya to work for them, and they're not too particular how they go about doin' that."

Of all the things he could have said, I certainly wasn't expecting that to come out of his mouth and I could feel myself gaping at him stupidly. I had about a hundred questions going through my brain at the moment and no idea which one to ask first. Then the last part of his statement caught my attention and I peeked around his shoulder. Sure enough, I could vaguely see two groups of people behind us running at the same speed we were, which was pretty damned fast actually. I filed that piece of information away for later examination, and turned back to Peter just in time for him to continue.

"As for where we're headin', we're kind of workin' on that as we go. We have some help comin' our way and we're waitin' on orders." His voice was matter-of-fact, as if he did things like this every day of the week and it was nothing out of the ordinary for him. I ran a hand over my face and decided to just ask my next question and hope things would start to make sense sooner rather than later. Besides, asking questions kept my mind off other horrors I was trying to avoid thinking about at all costs.

"You're not human. What are you?" I really hadn't meant to just blurt it out that way, but what the hell.

He chuckled softly and the amusement in his eyes deepened. He seemed to deliberate for a moment, then I felt his shoulders shrug as he obviously came to a decision.

"We're vampires," was his bald response, leaving me gaping at him once more. Vampires? As in blood-drinking, coffin-sleeping, immortal, allergic to sunlight vampires? I hadn't realized I'd spoken aloud until he let out a loud laugh that startled me out of my shock.

"Well, two out of four ain't bad, pumpkin. We drink blood and we're immortal, but most of the stuff in the so-called legends you've heard of is utter bullshit. Legends always get shit wrong."

He looked like he was about to elaborate when the ringing of a cellphone interrupted him. Charlotte quickly grabbed one out of her pocket and began speaking into it too low for me to hear what was being said. I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that vampires were real. As much as I wanted to believe he was lying to me, his words had the ring of truth to them, and the idea just fit in with all I'd already seen today. I was contemplating my next question when the phone call obviously ended and Charlotte turned to us with an odd expression on her face. I idly noticed that her eyes were black instead of crimson, and filed that information away as well. I was compiling quite a list of things to examine at a later time, but too much was flying at me too quickly to be able to compute it all right now. I was so far past overload that I wished my brain had an off switch that I could simply flick until I was ready to deal with everything.

"That was the Major," she said. The Major? Was this some kind of military operation? Would they even allow vampires into the military? I didn't think so, but so much of what I'd thought I knew had proven to be untrue that at this point anything was possible.

"They're going to be delayed by a little bit. Seems they're going to hijack a helicopter and take us out of here by air so our pursuers can't follow our scent trails home and we can avoid a fight right now," she continued.

I had a bad feeling I was gaping again, that seemed to be happening a lot. Hijack a helicopter? Who the fuck were these people, er vampires? I must have spoken aloud again, because Peter let loose another of those laughs, and this time Charlotte joined in. I was a little miffed that they kept laughing at me, but seriously... who the fuck casually talks about hijacking helicopters as if they were just going to check the mail?

Peter must have sensed my growing agitation because the laughter cut off and he tried to compose his face into a more serious demeanor. He winked at me, actually winked, as he gave an explanation that was obviously meant to reassure me but fell far short of the mark.

"Don't worry, pumpkin. The Major's always got a plan up his sleeve and it's actually a good idea. A fight would chance ya gettin' hurt and we really don't want to lead them home if we can help it. We need a safe place to keep ya, after all."

Right. Fuck my life.

A/N: Once again, I apologize for the rapidly switching POVs, but it will be over soon. ~Sari~

Recommendation: Insecurities by JamesRamsey – A fantastic Jasper/Bella story that's both poignant and enthralling. This Jasper is the Major at his finest.