…"Hmm, I guess not, Bells. Good luck," Before I could even blink, Emmett was gone and I was alone. I wasn't alone for long, but I was still alone and that thought alone was terrifying to me.

As I made my way down the street towards the ballet studio and towards James, I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched. I chose to hope that it was Edward who was watching me as opposed to James or this Victoria creature that Alice had mentioned, but I also chose to believe Alice's vision when she said that Victoria was still in Forks. That fact alone terrified me even more that the stretch of lonely, poorly lit, ominous stretch of suburban Arizona street that laid out in front of me which led directly to my supposed doom.

Despite the all too warm evening, I shivered involuntarily. I was surprised that I hadn't tripped over my own two feet yet and dared to glance around in search of topaz eyes watching me, guiding me safely towards the ballet studio, but saw nothing but the silhouettes of darkened houses along the street; it must be fairly late for every single house on the block to be completely dark.

For the last stretch of my walk, I allowed my thoughts to focus on what was about to happen. Even more than that, I focused on the silver lining of the situation that James in fact did not have my mother, that she was perfectly safe in Florida with Phil. I breathed a sigh of relief as I continued down the street, but with every step, that newfound relief slowly ebbed away. When I reached the door of the studio I was nearly in a panic again and I could my hands becoming clammy as fresh terror surged through me.

I was not surprised to find the door unlocked, though. Normally, this neighborhood was relatively safe and low-maintenance, so people could afford to leave their homes and businesses unlocked, something pretty rare in much of the rest of the area.

I burst through the large wooden doors of the studio and was overwhelmed by dozens of mirrors, all of which were strategically placed throughout the room to reflect some part of my tense reflection back at me. I noticed all of this as well as the fact that James, himself, was nowhere to be found

The first thing I heard was a grainy recording of some home video of my mother and I and I again silently thanked Alice for having her fairly dependable visions. I somehow remembered where the small, outdated television set was stored in the closet in the corner with the tutus, but chose to allow the grainy tape to drone on in the background; I had come here to confront James and that was it. I didn't want to fall prey to his games and trickery anymore.

I paused in the center of the studio after I thought I had heard some kind of movement behind me near the door I had just entered the room through. As soon as I had registered the extremely faint noise and turned around to investigate, the door slammed shut with a thunderous bang, causing me to nearly have a heart attack. When I settled down again slightly, my eyes focused on the only other person in the building: James.

"I must admit, Isabella," he sneered at me, looming ever closer to me now, "I am kind of disappointed that you realized so soon that I don't have your mother."

"I'm not as dumb as I look," I retorted. I thought I heard him scoff at my comment and mutter something I couldn't quite hear.

"I can't tell, though, if you are very brave to come here all alone or very stupid,"

"What do you mean?" Now, James was standing right in front of me, his face inches away from my own. His tone caused me to become more tense than I already was and my subconscious was beginning to tell me that something very bad was about to happen. Where were Edward and his family? They needed to get here, now.

"Let's just say we're even," James took a split second to take in my puzzled expression before he answered it, "You tricked me, I tricked you…again."

My heart sank when I suddenly realized that Edward and his family weren't coming. Something bad had happened, James must have found out somehow that they were with me and brought it upon him to do something to prevent them from getting here in time to save me. I sank to the floor; new tears were welling up in my eyes. I didn't want to show this kind of raw emotion in front of James, but this new revelation was simply too much for me to bear quietly, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM!" I shrieked in utter terror, I was unable to stifle any sort of sob at this point.

James enjoyed my display of raw emotion and even had the audacity to laugh at my expense.

"They're all still alive, I promise you," he said, lowering himself to be looking straight into my eyes, "you just won't be saved tonight."

At his words, my heart shattered; it had never even occurred to me, even for a second, that any of them might be…dead. But, according to the monster crouched before me, none of them were dead and hopefully not hurt.

It took a while for the sobs to die down enough for me to form any sort of coherent words, let alone sentences, "Where are they, then? What did you do to them? Where's Edward?!" My voice became gradually more hysterical as I voiced my fears and my desperation to see Edward.

James laughed in amusement, "They're with some friends…"

"Victoria?"

"No, your little pixie friend was correct in saying that she was still in Washington, but I do have other friends, dear Bella, I'm not a loner…"

"Laurent?"

James hissed and the mention of the one vampire that had actually tried to help us get away. Apparently James and Laurent were not on speaking terms at the moment, duly noted.

The tension within the studio had caused us to lapse into silence. I found myself allowing my imagination to get the better of me, something that was not helpful to the situation in the least. I began to picture James's friends doing something terrible to the Cullens, to Edward. The thought alone brought on fresh tears, but this time I managed to keep myself together enough as to not begin sobbing again. I could imagine other sadistic vampires holding little Alice captive somewhere, although I wasn't sure how given a vampires incredible strength. I had other similar thoughts running through my mind regarding Emmett, Jasper and Carlisle as well.

The one thought that nearly killed me was what they were doing to Edward. I was sure he was getting the worst of whatever James was having his friends do to my family…what they were doing to Edward. the scene in my mind regarding Edward was not unlike a scene out of some kind of police show where the criminal is torturing his prey by having their beloved detained somewhere close by and forcing them to watch the inevitable torture that was about to be suffered by the victim.

This scenario brought me a miniscule semblance of comfort in that, if this scenario was actually what was happening, it meant that Edward was somewhere nearby…perhaps even in this very building. I began imagining a two-way mirror hidden somewhere within the studio or some kind of hidden video camera providing feed to another room or office inside the building. I almost began to believe my imaginings.

"Would you like to see him?" James asked vaguely, his harsh and mocking words pulling me from my thoughts.

I didn't need to know who he was talking about. The only response I gave him was a hopefully determined nod as I scrambled to my feet, still in the middle of the studio.

James had left the studio and come back within seconds, apparently telling his 'buddy' to bring Edward to the studio.

I stood there waiting desperately staring at the now open door, waiting to see Edward. I tried not to think about what kind of state he might be in.

I heard some kind of scuffle in the lobby before I even saw the shadows cast from the moonlight. Then, I saw a tall vampire with dark brown hair and blood red eyes enter the studio, pushing Edward in front of him, holding Edward's arms behind his back in what appeared to be an uncomfortable position. I scanned Edward's body and face, making sure he was alright. His normally topaz eyes were now black with rage. I noticed that he was also looking me up and down and studying me to make sure I was alright as well. Other than his obvious discomfort and rage, Edward appeared to be fine. Before I could even think to stop myself, I broke out at a sprint towards Edward. I needed to hold him, touch him…I needed to feel for myself that he was alright…

I managed to reach Edward and the other, unknown vampire without any trouble from James. I was surprised that the other vampire let Edward go, roughly pushing him towards me. I turned to look at James, his face smug.

"We'll leave you two alone for a few minutes to get…reacquainted…" James and the other vampire glided toward the exit, choosing to ignore Edward's very distinct growl.

When I was positive we were, in fact, alone, I threw myself into Edward's cold, strong embrace. Edward laughed lightly, but also wrapped his arms around my waist tightly, as if he never wanted to let me go.

"Edward…"

"Nothing, Bella, they didn't do anything to me. They just knew where we were going to be and ambushed us," Edward saw the pain in my eyes at his use of the word, ambush and quickly stroked my cheek lightly, "No one was hurt Bella. Everyone is fine. You don't need to worry."

How could I not worry; they were my family, Edward was my entire life. If anyone had hurt any one of them, especially Edward, it would have killed me.

I had no words for the moment, so I stood up on my tippy toes and kissed him with as much urgency and passion and love I could muster. Edward returned the kiss with equal passion, urgency and love. He didn't even mind at all that my hands of their own free will had found their way into his messy bronze hair.

"Bella," Edward gasped when he finally pulled away, "we need to think of some kind of plan here…"

"Edward, if we try to think of a plan, I'm almost positive they'll know and they'll squash it…" I paused to take a deep, calming breath, "…and when they realize that we've come up with some kind of plan, they'll take you from me…I can't even think of what I'd do, Edward. I need you. I love you." For what seemed to be the millionth time tonight, I felt relentless tears streaming down my cheeks and seeping into Edward's t-shirt as I buried my face into his chest.

Edward began stroking my hair gently before taking my chin into his hand gently, forcing me to look into his eyes, "They won't do anything to me, Bella. I won't let them…and I sure as hell won't let them do anything to you. I'd rather die than see anything bad happen to you," I opened my mouth to protest that last sentence, but Edward placed two fingers against my lips to prevent me from speaking, "Now Bella, we need to think of a way out of this mess…" Edward's eyes were now boring into mine with an intensity that made my knees begin to shake. If I weren't being held up by Edward, I'd most likely be a puddle on the floor. This wasn't fair, but he was right we did need a plan.

We both knew we didn't have much alone time left, so we had quickly devised an almost fool-proof plan before James sauntered back into the studio, alone this time.

"Have we gotten reacquainted now?" he asked mockingly. Edward hissed violently at James and pushed me behind his back protectively. Not wanting to lose any kind of contact with Edward, I reached out and clutched the back of Edward's t-shirt. Picking up on my desperation, Edward reached behind his back and offered me his hand, which I took in my own and held onto it as though my life depended on it…and it probably did depend on it, too.

"Isn't that sweet," James mocked, "big strong Edward is going to protect the weak, fragile little human Isabella," James began circling again and I had to grind my teeth together to keep from correcting James as well as saying something a I was sure I was going to regret.

"You can't win, James," Edward said threateningly, rotating us so that he was always between me and James, "You might have detained us before, but I will not let you so much as even touch a hair on Bella's head. It would be in your best interests to just let us go and to forget any of this ever happened; call off the hunt, so to speak."

"Now, Edward, you know why I can't do that…it wouldn't be keeping to character. And besides, she smells absolutely delicious. Surely, you can't deny that?"

A vicious growl and snarl erupted from Edward's throat, making my draw even closer to Edward's back and cling tighter to his hand that I still held in my own. I was getting an inkling that a serious fight was about to break out and someone was going to get hurt…badly.