Sorry this took so long! I kept starting this, then scrapping it and starting a chapter for my Bones fic, then scrapping that and going for a bike ride to get rid of all the pent up creative energy. I mean, creative energy is all well and good, but when the muse is not co-operating it's best just to let it go.

Also, just for the sake of mentioning, my cat ran in here halfway through the chapter and I abandoned ship to grab him a towel and dry him off. Poor little guy was all damp and miserable! It's raining here in icky Tasmania, alternating between heat wave activity and freezing wind. Stupid climate.

So anyway, drop a review and enjoy the next (and longer) instalment of Bella Returns!

Jasper POV (because I enjoy it, and I KNOW you do too)

My first reaction as I realised THEY were doing IT again was to hide under Carlisle's limp body, but then I realised with some despair that it wouldn't help at all.

Emmett and Edward finished their scuffle and turned to me with odd expressions. I figured that they were going to ask what was wrong and I opened my mouth to explain, but then I caught sight of their eyes.

They were skittering around in their sockets wildly, looking around in apparent desperation. Their mouths were open in silent yells for – I was guessing – help.

It was like a scene from a movie where the serial killer is about to get the victim and the victim's friends are suddenly and mysteriously incapacitated and the creepy violin music gets louder....

At about that point, a wave of constricting lethargy washed over me and I tripped over myself in my strain to get up – and found myself unable to continue the attempt.

My arms and legs got that droopy feeling where they desperately need to stretch and work a bit, and it was immensely frustrating that I couldn't move them.

"GET IT OVER WITH, ALREADY!" I shouted out (I swear to you that it was in no way begging or sobbing) to wherever the girls were hiding, but it turned out mumbly and barely coherent. My response was silence – cold, daunting silence.

Edward and Emmett still were apparently prisoners in their own bodies as they were lifted several feet off the ground. I stared in horror as their heads lolled to one side as they were slowly rotated.

They looked like creepy killer stuffed voodoo dolls, with the potential to do terrible things. Again, I swear to you here and now that I was not imagining the bright red sheen that crept across each of their eyes for a split second – I nearly started to sweat.

If I sweated, it would have had to be sweating blood – which would have been quite fitting.

Ominous footsteps broke the silence, and I dragged my head laboriously upwards through the long grass and soil to look up. I couldn't see much; from my angle the long grass took on the appearance of twisted spikes barring my way.

My breath became laboured and then stopped altogether as I struggled to lean up and see past the spikes.

The sight that greeted me was undoubtedly grim. Esme stood guard (against whom; I wasn't sure) over Rosalie and Alice who were slumped on the grass, apparently channelling all the tiredness and boredom that they could in my direction, while Bella padded nearly silently forwards, arms raised as she relished in her telekinetic control over my teammates.

I felt – with some annoyance – my Adam's apple bob apprehensively.

Lying back down, I closed my eyes and pretended to be unconscious; one hand creeping to my belt and I twisted it uncomfortably, letting it flop in a random looking way.

I started breathing again, softly and deeply, so that when Bella came closer she would think I was knocked out. I could only hope that her telekinesis didn't grant her some twisted electroencephalographic sensory ability – because that would suck.

As she grew nearer to us, she leaned forwards before taking each step, peering around carefully.

"I don't see the other two!" she called over her shoulder, nervously stepping further forwards. I felt with some excitement that the tiredness receded somewhat as the girls' attention was diverted.

"They have to be there," Alice trilled back.

"Well, they're n- oh, wait, I see Carlisle," called Bella, leaning over just a little. I could smell her now, quite clearly, and I could taste the apprehension in the back of my throat as it rolled off her.

She bent down ever so slowly, crouching with one arm still absently holding the other two still as she lightly touched the dart still sticking out of Carlisle's back.

When he didn't react as she kicked him gently, she straightened. "He's down!" she shouted back, and I regained even more control of my muscles. I had to struggle inwardly to keep the excitement limited to my mind so as not to alert anyone of my consciousness.

She looked up briefly at the guys who were still hanging there, and with a tiny turn of her hand they both span in the air to face her, eyes darting around until they caught her face. They looked murderous, and Edward was attempting to set his eyes on fire to seduce her.

"Nice try," she murmured, smiling sweetly at him. His mouth contorted irritably and the both of them proceeded to mouth obscenities and threats at her. She simply grinned and moved on.

Sniffing, she turned to the area I was in and walked forwards carefully. She seemed more confident, and I double checked that all my muscles were loose and limp.

"I have Carlisle, Edward, and Emmett," she yelled over to the girls as she jerked back at a small breeze ruffling the tips of the grass. "Edward and Emmett were sitting up so I could see them, and I found Carlisle here, so where's Jasper? Was he knocked out too?"

"I don't remember!" yelled back Rosalie. "Did anyone get him?"

"Not sure," murmured Esme, and I felt Alice's amusement.

"His military mind was always going to be a problem!" Alice twittered happily, and I felt the drowsiness disappear completely and the distant sounds of three vampiresses moving towards us.

Exulting quietly, I readied myself. The three girls collectively moved a little closer while Bella still padded around near me aimlessly, and I noticed Edward and Emmett deliberately not looking at me.

The guys were occasionally stealing a glance, so I winked slowly and their faces hardened as they tried not to smile. My hearing told me that Bella had taken another step and I was mildly surprised to suddenly see a slim, smooth leg land right near me. I moved my carefully positioned hand to my hip bag, pinching a syringe delicately.

"Could he have escaped without us noticing?" called Bells absently, now at a standstill. "I mean, I was sure I saw him with them before we attacked just now, but knowing him, he could have gotten awa-"

I didn't allow her to finish. Jerking up and jamming the syringe straight into her uncoiled calf muscle and grabbing her leg in both hands, I looked up.

Her muscles tightened in surprise and I marvelled momentarily at the immense power coiled beneath my hands as her shocked face jerked violently to stare at me, eyes widened. Out of the corner of my eye I noted Emmett's gleeful expression and Edward's more pained one.

I grinned evilly as the paralysis took effect, unbalancing her and she screamed out to the others in both pain; a cry for help, and an unintelligible warning.

The poison moved fast past her leg and into the chest and heart, and I felt the spasm as she fell unconscious, giving way. Jumping up exultantly, I caught her, glancing at her closed eyes before slinging her effortlessly over my shoulder.

Looking over to the girls who were staring in shock and beginning to look murderous, I jogged rapidly backwards and looked around for Edward and Emmett.

Nowhere to be seen.

Leaping boldly to the side and ducking into the shelter of the trees as the first dart struck the trunk I was hiding behind, I peered out carefully, using Bella's body shamelessly as a shield.

I realised with immense amusement that Emmett and Edward were way above me. The other girls and I shared a moment of truce as we all paused to watch the tiny black specks far above us slowly grow bigger, and the sounds of their terrified screaming getting louder.

The seizure that wracked Bells' body right as she was knocked out must have sent them a fair way up – they had still been in her control when the dart hit her, and the shock had sent her mind into a spasm; effectively shooting them in any which direction they happened to go in. Straight up, as it happened.

Objectively, they were actually pretty lucky. Bella's fragile exterior belied the power she held in her hands and mind. If they had gone anywhere but directly upwards, they would have ended up a long way away and it would have kinda ruined the game. Especially straight down.

It still would have been funny, though.