Hellur people. It's been awhile. Sorry for that. I've been busy, and had writer's block for this story, but I'm not giving up on it just yet. I Apologize for the late update, and I apologize for any mistakes you might see in this chapter as well as the content because it might seen a bit scattered, and rushed, but there's actually a point to how it was written and what was used in context so bear with me xD Some of it will be explained next chapter, or later in the story.

Anyways Read and Enjoy people!


The days following Carlisle's decision to wait were filled with culpable tension. That coupled with tangible fear of an enemy that couldn't be seen, heard, or ascertained by any of the five senses led to a coven of extremely temperamental vampires. Alice had never seen her family so dangerously at war with themselves and each other. The little seer prided herself on her exemplary control, but even she was having trouble adapting. It was a tentative thing, corralling the more primitive side of herself into submission, so she could think clearly and succinctly again. The beast inside of her was devastated at the loss of a covenmate.

It took all the grief, anger, and despair she was suppressing, and magnified it tenfold so she couldn't breathe without choking on the bitter taste of Emmet's death- a death felt more keenly each day she was forced to watch her family persevere without him. Observing Rosalie was in fact the worst form of torture, that made her undead heart break a little every time she set eyes on her taciturn sibling. Rosalie was a withering husk of the veritable force of nature she used to be. Her alabaster skin lost the luminosity, and luster that illuminated her; setting her apart from all others. Her once fierce amber gaze was now a dull, vacant yellow.

She moved sluggishly for a vampire, as if it pained her to force her lifeless limbs into action.

Seeing Rosalie Lillian Hale delineate into a hollow shell, lacking virility, and anything resembling hope hurt beyond words.

What could she do though?

She was barely able to swallow her own anguish let alone help cull someone else's.

"This week has been utterly fantastic." Alice grumbled with an exasperated sigh. She sat up, running perfectly manicured fingernails through her uneven locks before letting her chin fall to rest on her knees. She wrapped her arms around her legs, assuming a classic subdued pose, and peered off the side of the roof. As of late, the roof had become her own personal sanctuary. She spent hours sitting on top of the house, near enough so she could draw comfort from her coven, but far enough so she didn't have to interact with them.

She couldn't help but crave space.

Ever since this maddening supernatural escapade had began in earnest, the Cullen Coven had been cooped up together in a house that suddenly seemed far too small and intimate a space for six vampires. They were united in the commonality of their pain, but unable to face it together. The duality of their current existence left Alice feeling more conflicted than normal. Nothing deserved her attention more than the remnants of her coven, but at the same time she couldn't bear the sight of them. Conversing with them, hunting with them, participating in the every day trivialities that constituted as immortal paradise filled her with an unrelenting ache instead of sedating her.

She felt like she was playing an elaborate part in a play.

The Cullen estate was her stage.

Her Coven was the cast.

Together, they masqueraded around their property with false reassurances, and weak insincere smiles trying to convince each other that the future would offer some form of reprieve, knowing how very faulty and fickle it was to place faith in a time that was not yet cemented in stone, and might not ever happen. There was no guarantee that the future would be easier to endure than the present. Emmet's death could just be the catalyst to a time of even more sorrow, where even the sky must weep salty tears. Blanketed in the darkness of Forks, Alice couldn't help but shiver, her breath frosting the air as she pondered what else could possibly go wrong.

She had stopped attending school along with the rest of her siblings.

They'd been absent from Forks high for several days now- because intermingling with humans required finesse and a certain measure of control the Cullen's just didn't possess at the moment. They had anger in spades, and sorrow in abundance-but finite control of their vampiric nature was noticeably absent. They were leaning heavily on their inner monster to cleave through their emotional turmoil-erupting into bone breaking tantrums at the slightest provocation, baring ivory fangs to warn threats away, hissing in pure animalistic rage when someone overstepped themselves in the literal and metaphorical sense.

They were far too emotionally unstable to fake their humanity.

It was as if they'd regressed to their "baby vamp" stage when their tempers were monstrous, and their control nonexistant. Emmet's death had ruined almost a century of well earned patience, and now they were working to get it back.

The only one's not succumbing to their baser instincts were Carlisle and Esme.

Alice supposed it was because they were old.

Elder vampires were harder to devastate.

Not that the Coven leaders had it easy. Carlisle was still going to the hospital every day to work, even though he was starting to exhibit the early signs of exhaustion; insofar as a vampire can be exhausted. It was like he was burying himself in work, desperate to alleviate a fraction of the strain that came with losing Emmet by saving as many humans as he could. If Carlisle actually needed sleep or sustenance beyond blood, he would have collapsed from malnutrition, fatigue, dehydration, or something equally incriminating a long time ago. As it stood, it was an iron will and the strength of the undead that kept him going.

Esme was faring just as poorly as her mate.

Her motherly features were permanently stuck in a grimace of concern for her family. No amount of words would reassure her of their welfare. Her son's death left a myriad of unresolved words, and feelings behind-which in turn meant a Coven of emotionally incapacitated vampires were left behind. The only ones willing to explore their emotional turmoil were Carlisle and Esme. However, the manner in which Esme chose to cope with Emmet's loss differed from her mate's. Where Carlisle poured himself over his practice, reaping every ounce of his infinitely vast stores of experience and focusing that experience on his patients-Esme withdrew from her occupation of choice. Instead of investing her time in interior decorating, and expressing herself artistically, she withdrew from her housing job.

She couldn't focus.

She couldn't make a cognizant decision about anything, let alone interior decorating while her Coven was at stake-while her family was at stake.

It wasn't in her nature.

So Esme stayed home, and she watched, observing her coven with a careful definitive eye.

Alice was always aware of the Coven matriarch's eyes on her-studying her, before visually sweeping past her to examine the next near catatonic vampire in need. With such hawk-like vigilance, it would be difficult for any amount of small oddities to escape her notice. Even a ghost would be hard pressed to slip into the Cullen's residence undetected, and Alice knew that was what Esme was waiting for. She was waiting for that supernatural presence to once again traipse into their home, and render another vampire of their motor functions, of all coherent agency.

Esme was waiting for the ghost to come back and endanger one of her children.

Alice was waiting for her gift to be useful-instead of making her feel useless.

And this was how they lived.

Treading the line between pure unadulterated fear, and resigned inexhaustible bravery; It was difficult to divorce one from the other, as they were two sides of the same rusty coin. Alice felt disinclined to stay, and face an evil they had no name for, and no real way to destroy, and yet at the same time she felt obligated to stay and protect the humans, who would fare terribly if they left. If vampires who are clinically dead cannot stave off ghosts who are dead in every sense of the word, what hope did a human have against them?

Not to mention, every person the Cullens had reached out to for help had proven to be either incredibly ignorant, or unecessarily rude. Billy had toed the line in being furious when Carlisle exumed his telephone number from the hospital archives-asking what everyone was wondering-which was, where is Bella? The "ghost expert" in question was now slipping into her third week of unrepetent silence. No one had seen, heard, or breathed a word of her in three weeks, and by now the Cullen Coven was convinced she was not coming.

Billy after smothering his end of the phone line in gruff expletives informed them that Bella was always late. It was a normal occurence, and one that the old Pack leader had made peace with years ago.

That was all fine and dandy, but people's lives were hanging in the balance.

What fortuitous venture could Bella be embarking on the was more important than cleansing Forks of their ghostly problems?

Alice couldn't fathom what was taking her so long.

So because their first plan was fruitless, her family was now taking preemptive action.

Alice sat up a little straighter, honing in on the phone ringing downstairs.

Right on time.

She cocked her head to the side listenting intently as Carlisle picked up the phone. "Hello." The Cullen patriarch intoned, his voice lilting sonorously at the greeting. For the first time in months Carlisle took a vacation day. They'd been expecting a call all day. As promised, Carlisle had petitioned a higher authority than Billy's pack of mutts for help. The higher authority in question; The Volturi, served not only as a dictorial vampire government, but they also served as a wealth of information. The vampires that this formidable group was comprised of were ancient-their lives spanning over countless centuries, and their origins seeped in the darkes trenches of human history.

They must have heard of apparitions before.

"Carlisle, my dear friend." An amused child-like voice husked on the other end of the line. "I haven't had the pleasure of speaking to you in ages. How are things?" Alice shook her head at the deceptively sweet tone of voice. It was always a curious thing to hear exceedingly old vampires speak. They managed to sound patronizing, and enticingly sweet all at once.

"I'm sorry to say things are not well these days Aro." Their Coven leader reported, and everyone in the house could hear the strain darkening his tone. All motion, and noise had gone quiet in the house, as the Cullens focused all their attention on this one phone call. "One of my Coven is dead."

Aro made a sympathetic sound in the back of his throat. "That's terrible." He gushed in a way that was far too dramatic to be sincere. Alice heard a loud crash from Rosalie's room, as her blonde sibling eviscerated something-a dresser from the sound of it. There was a short abrupt silence from the phone before Aro spoke again, his voice smooth as silk, while also maintaing a sharp razorous edge. "Tell me what happened." The Volturi leader demanded.

"It seems a ghost possesed Emmet." Carlisle said carefully, his voice pained. "Have you ever heard of anything like that before?"

"Hrmmm." Aro hummed noncommittally, and Alice's eyes narrowed at the blase attitude of the older vampire. She understood on some level that age will desensitize you to the subtle horrors of death, but this was Emmet-her brother in all but blood that was Aro was so casually dimissing. Her fingers curved into claws, and she growled lowly- a fresh wave of anger gripping her. Just because he was old did not mean he was entitled to such apathy. Emmet's life had value and he deserved more than just a disinterested grunt when spoken about. She clicked her teeth together agitatedly, but after taking a shaky breath, she slowly realized that she was exhibiting more frustration than was called for.

"Jasper you're projecting." She reprimanded the empath gently.

Almost immediately, she felt some of her rage ebb away, and she relaxed a little.

Sorry Alice.

A soft whisper-barely a caress of the wind, and Jasper fell silent again.

"I've heard of ghosts Carlisle," Aro interrupted their dialogue, and now he had everyone's attention. Alice edged closer to the overhang of the rooftop her onyx eyes trained below her, towards the interior of the house. "I've traversed the world for many years, and heard many things about spirits. Fantasma. Boheentha. Gosuto. No matter what language you use to describe them, there is one universal thing true about them."

"And that is?" Carlisle prompted him, asking what all of them were thinking.

Aro had paused for dramatic effect, purposefully leaving his audience in suspense-an immature vice if she'd ever seen one.

Ancient immature vampires were rare...

For good reason. Most immature vampires died because of their own inept nature, or were methodically killed off by their peers.

Aro appeared to be the exception.

Alice held back a hiss.

He was such a child!

"My dear Carlisle, the one thing that is universally true about all ghosts is that you leave them alone. The only thing more detrimental to our health than fire is a ghost-and the only thing more dangerous than that are those capable of interacting with them. We genuinely have something to fear from our undead counterparts, and it would be in your best interest to make a swift exit from Forks. Do not pursue this matter because I will not help you to it's conclusion."

Her shoulders slumped in defeat, as all the metaphorical breath left her sails.

Even Vampires had to fear things that go bump in the dark.

The irony was not lost on her.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxX

Aro got off the phone a few seconds later, and Carlisle set it down on the receiver with a soft click. Alice leapt down from her perch on the roof, landing gracefully on the tips of her toes before walking at vamp speed into the house where the rest of her family was already assembled. Words escaped her as she took a seat next to Jasper on the couch. She had mixed emotions about what had just occured. Aro, the undisputed head of the vampire community had just warned them to leave Forks, and discard any recollection of these apparitions.

Out of sight-out of mind.

Edward shook his head disdainfully at the stray thought from her, before glancing expectantly at their Coven leader."Carlisle you can't seriously-"

"What would you have me do Edward?" Carlisle cut the mind reader off before his self-righteous rant began, subsequently startling the rest of the Coven. Edward was always afforded leeway in verbal discussions. Carlisle rarily ever silenced him. Because Edward was the youngest, the most volatile, and the one most desperately in need of direction-Carlisle encouraged him to speak, which in turn nourished the telepath's rebellious nature and enabled him. Edward always felt the need to express his opinion, regardless of how inappropriate or ill-timed it was, and Carlisle felt the need to cater to him. A misguided sense of guilt will do that, Alice though dryly to herself.

That's why his forceful interruption was such a surprise.

Toiling on, ignoring the puzzled stares from his Coven Carlisle shook his head, "Aro has just confirmed one of my fears. Even if we figure out where this apparition is, and why it's murdering people-there's nothing we can do. I want to help." He dragged a hand through his perfect golden hair-sliding his fingers through the silky tresses with an exasperated sigh. "I want to help." He repeated himself, his voice dropping to a low cadence, "But I won't sacrifice my family to a fruitless cause."

Esme put a hand on his shoulder offering whatever comfort he was willing to take. Carlisle sighed wearily, but placed his hand over hers. Gently he lifted her hand palm up, softly kissing the inside of her wrist,and relishing in the slight reprieve his mate gave him.

"Well, well-looks like someone other than me decided to adhere to common sense." Rosalie drawled vacantly, her voice lacking all of it's usual bite. Alice risked a glance at her blonde sibling and shuddered at the withdrawn expression on her face. She'd taken great pains not to stare at any of her siblings as she entered the room-espescially Rose, and this was why. Rosalie looked worse than the last time she saw her. Distressingly so. Her eyes once luminous and savage with life, now appeared empty. Dead. Voraciously bleak. Everything so artfully beautiful about Rosalie Lillian Hale had been swallowed in a tempest of despair.

Edward was being swept up in the same temporal storm. Nostrils flaring, he stood up his normally poised expression dissolving into one of anger. His picturesque face wrinkled into a snarl, his ivories bared in Rosalie's direction. "Just because we didn't react like a whipped dog and run away with our tail between our legs, doesn't mean we lack common sense." He informed Rosalie his snarl tapering off into one pointed condescending comment. Alice stood up as well, mindful of how close her temperamental siblings were to each other.

Rosalie who had been leaning languidly against a wall took a threatening step forward. Something dangerous flickering across her expression. "No it just means you're a moron and no more intelligent than the human swine you used to feed off of. Were you listening to Carlisle? You will have died for absolutely nothing Edward." The blonde rasped, her onyx eyes boring into the telepath with impenetrable scrutiny.

"I will have died for people far more deserving than myself." He replied gravely, his eyes flashing in anger.

Rosalie sneered coldly at him. "Spare me your martyr complex Edward. Just because they can hold on to their humanity does not mean they automatically deserve to live more than we do. Every human dies at some point, and you don't get to play god and decide when they do and don't meet their earthly demise."

"Oh, really? Are those your real feelings or are you just lashing out because the only person that mattered to you is Emmet you're just a heartless Bitc-"

"Enough!" Carlisle cut Edward off for the second time that night, this time before he said something unforgiveable. The blonde patriarch left Esme's side and intercepted Rosalie who had started moving just as Emmet's name left Edward's lips. Carlisle held her back by the shoulders, even as she thrashed in his grip, keening for a chance to brutally maim Edward for his words. Ducking past the two, Alice grabbed Edward's arm pulling him towards the opposite side of the room. He didn't speak as her hand encircled around his arm and he allowed himself to be led away.

"That was uncalled for." She told him, her voice clipped.

Edward looked away. If he was human, shame would have colored his face a deep maroon. As it was he simply huffed, and slanted a remorseful look in Rosalie's direction.

Their blond sibling was pliant in Carlisle's grasp, but her body was still shaking with rage, as she physically restrained herself from doing something extreme.

"She looks pissed." Alice observed coolly, arching a brow toward's Edward.

The telepath winced. "She want's to rip my arm off and beat me with it..."

Alice snorted in laughter.

Good for you Rosie.

Edward turned a dark glare towards her. Completely unamused at her thought. Alice made a face at him. If you don't like it stay outta my head. She advised him unabashedly.

Esme's disappointed stare silenced both of them. "I expected more from you all." She murmured.

A calm wave enveloped the room, courtesy of Jasper, and Alice sent him a grateful look. He nodded at her lightly and for a moment she felt attuned to her Southern Vampire again. They stared meaningfully at each other, but what drew her out of her Jasper induced reverie was abrupt movement out of the corner of her eye, Alice saw Rosalie suddenly still. "Rose?" She asked carefully, her head swiveling as she caught something akin to surprise, and confusion ghost across her sister's face.

Rosalie slowly wriggled out of Carlisle's almost bruising grip, a deceptively calm look on her face. "Carlisle?" His name came out as a slow question, and Rosalie sounded out his name as if she was guessing at each syllable. The Coven patriarch was facing Rosalie and Esme which meant that to Alice, Jasper, and Edward only his back was visible. However, even from their perspective, they could see the tenative arching of his muscles, and the stiffening of his posture. His fingers curled and uncurled as if he was testing each of them in turn. Suddenly his back went ramrod straight, and eerie silence descended over the room.

Rosalie's already pale face paled even further.

"Oh, god."

Then several things happened at once.

Carlisle roared, his jaw unhinging with a crack. The bestial sound filled with room with a cacophony of echoes all voicing his animalistic rage and with a speed no one knew he was capable of he tore through the air.

Rosalie had a split second to duck as his fist carved a jagged path through the wall, making wispy curved scars through the plaster, a hairsbreadth away from her she hadn't moved her head would have been torn bodily from her shoulders-an unpleasant situation for any vampire. His hand reached for her throat, and in that instant Esme crashed into him sending them both both sprawling to the floor in a tangle of limbs. "Help me hold him down!" The normally genteel woman boomed, twisting out of reach as Carlisle sought for something to relinquish her of. She didn't really need two arms right?

Alice swallowed her shock, and with a shakey nod to Jasper darted over to the grappling vampires. Dodging a stray arm, Alice agilely flipped over Esme, and arching herself in the air purposefully threw all of her weight into her landing, thrusting a knee into Carlisle's shoulder and pushing him to the ground. Edward curled around to Carlisle's other side, and with a burst of speed copied Alice's moves-albeit without the cat-like grace. Jasper utilized his own fighting experience and without asking crept behind Carlisle, encircling his arms around the older vampire's neck so he couldn't move his head.

With Esme pressed against his chest, that left Carlisle with only his legs unsecured.

Rosalie sank bonelessly against the wall, a completely bewildered expression on her face. Clearly her blonde sibling was still trying to process what had happened.

"Alice...you can't see anything right now can you?" Jasper's queried his grip tightening around Carlisle's neck as the elder vampire strained against their hold.

The seer focused intently on her gift, willing her eyes to glaze over in a vision, but instinctively knowing the activity to be pointless. Her fingers dug into Carlisle's marble flesh, as she met Jasper's gaze over the struggling vampire beneath them. "I can't see a thing." She forced the words out resignedly, her eyes casting downwards towards the Coven leader who's face was distorted into an expression of terrifying rage.

Which in itself was an expression Carlisle would never make.

There were several things that Carlisle would never do that the decrepit vampire before them insisted on doing.

Carlisle didn't slip into a manic state of insatiable anger and incoherency.

Carlisle didn't snarl in ravenous hunger, verbosely succumbing to his instincts.

Carlisle didn't attack his Covenmates.

Except this Carlisle did.

Or to be more accurate, this apparition reaping the benefits of Carlisle's vampire heritage did.

Alice stared at their Coven leader forlornly, a sense of helplessness corroding through her mental defenses. "What are we going to do?" She whispered, her amber eyes sliding over to her family. No one had an answer for her. No one knew what to do because banishing ghosts was not in their repotoire of skills, and despite popular belief vampires were not invincible. They couldn't hold Carlisle down forever. He was older than they were by several centuries. If it came down to a contest of wills, even if he wasn't in control of himself, his body was structured to outlast them.

"This is bad." Edward stated the obvious, studying Carlisle with piercing amber eyes.

"Yeah you guys are fucked."

Got that right.

Wait, what?

Alice was so startled her grip loosened on Carlisle's arm.

That was not a vampire's voice, nor did the voice belong to anyone in her Coven. All the same, she knew that voice. Her amber eyes flitted around the room, searching for the source, and lighted upon the one person who's presence she hadn't noticed, and who didn't belong there. There sitting on the threshold between the open glass door, and the backyard was a young woman who appeared to be in her late teens. What was most startling was the strawberry-frost scent emanating from her that marked her distinctively as human. A human snuck up on a Coven of vampires.

How?

And what was she wearing?

Alice's eyes narrowed as she drank in the human's appearance. The woman was sitting comfortably in the doorway, one leg stretched out in the room and the other leg held up at an acute angle-a classic cool pose. One arm was resting on her upturned leg, and the other arm was in her lap holding a long mahogany staff in place. She was dressed shabbily in ripped jeans, that were stiff with dirt and grime, like she had been sleeping in the forest for the past two weeks. She didn't wear a shirt, but instead she wore an unbuttoned wife beater that might have revealed her torso, and a generous amount of cleavage had she not been wearing several layers of bandages that extended from her shoulder to her waist. Around her neck was an archaic necklace that had not been in style since the time of Christopher Columbus. It was hand made, and held the fangs of some poor toothless animal. The necklace itself was crafted in a way that was purely Native American in style, and in a rustic way fit with the woman's mystic appearance.

Her staff was also an object of interest.

From tip to tip, an onerous amount of detail went into carving the piece of wood into intricately designed masterpiece. It thrummed with purpose, just like the woman holding it did.

"And who the hell are you?" Rosalie bit out, her voice acidic and trembling with unrepentant rage. Rosalie was well past the point of verbal eloquency. Her coven leader had just attacked her, and was currently being held down by four other vampires. Alice could see her blonde sibling quake in exhaustion as emotional dissonance tore at her scattered nerves. Carlisle had actually managed to scare Rosalie.

Rosalie's venom didn't seem to register to the grinning human though.

Smiling a small wicked smile that held far too much amusement, the nameless brunette lurched to her feet, slinging her staff expertly across her shoulders and letting her hands rest on the ends. She chuckled indulgently. "My name's Bella." The brunette woman introduced herself elegantly, inclining her head at Rosalie. This was the same Bella Alice had heard speaking to Billy over the phone. She didn't think that the human was so appallingly arrogant in person.

Who knowingly walked into a houseful of vampires, and smiled impishly like that?

"You're Bella?" Esme asked, completely flabbergasted by the girl in front of them.

"The one and only." Bella remarked coolly, her gaze darting from Rosalie to Esme. "And you're...a vampire" Her hazel eyes swept in a cursory circle around the room, pausing to linger on Rosalie who stared hatefully back, before moving to each vampire in turn and finally landing on Carlisle. "I walked into a household of Vampires." The brunette concluded in amazement, before ending her examination by meeting Carlisle's coal black eyes. "Hungry vampires." The woman corrected herself quietly, before shaking head. "Billy neglected to mention that." She murmured.

"You didn't know?" Alice asked incredulously, her eyes wide.

In that moment, Carlisle tore his arm from her grip, and with his now free limb, he slammed a curved hand into Jasper's throat, throwing the empath against the wall. A splitting crack echoed throughout the room as Jasper was sent tumbling through the plaster, and into the wooden posts that made the house structurally sound. With both hands mobile now, Carlisle bucked wildly, throwing Esme off of him and sending her rolling into Edward who did his best to catch Esme in midair while slowing their momentum after they were sent careening across the floor.

In that instant Carlisle was free, and his possessed gaze flashed towards the only viable food source in the room.

Bella quirked a disbelieving brow. "You've got to be kidding me."

Her half hearted complaint meant nothing to Carlisle who lunged towards her, intent on draining her dry.

As soon as he came within touching distance of her, and his fingertips grazed her throat, Bella lifted her palm to her lips and exhaled. Carbon dioxide, oxygen and crystalline flecks of something unnatural fanned out against his face. As soon as the flecks of translucent gold made contact with his skin Carlisle started screaming, a low wailing sound wrenching from his throat. He fell to the ground spasming, his screams reaching a new pitch with each passing second.

Bella took that opportunity to jab the end of her staff into Carlisle's throat effectively silencing him, and immobilizing him. The assembled vampires gaped in awe and wonder as this little seemingly harmless human, subdued a possessed vampire several hundred years older than her with a simple touch.

"What did you do to him?" Rosalie's demanded, her voice resounding harshly in the suddenly quiet room.

Bella didn't immediately answer her. Her attention was completely focused on the prostrate vampire beneath her staff. Reaching out with a questing hand the brunette stroked the side of Carlisle's face, and he snarled viciously at the touch. "Now what were you hoping to accomplish by taking control of this vessel?" It was an absent minded question, one devoid of all fear or anger. It was expressing a mild curiosity but nothing more. Bella smiled sweetly, and placed a thumb on Carlisle's forehead. The vampire immediately went slack at the touch. "I began the purging process so if I can't coerce the apparition out of him, it will be forced out in a few minutes." Her gaze cut over to Rosalie for a split second as she finally answered her question before returning to the deathly still vampire beneath her.

A garbled "Fuck you." Slipped choppily from Carlisle's mouth at her words.

Bella tsked, her eyes raking up and down Carlisle's monstrous appearance. "You're not exactly my type."

"Is now really the time to be flirting?" Edward's voice interrupted them, and Alice blinked at the visible strain darkening his features.

"Right right," Bella shook her head dismally. "Sorry Bedhead." She apologized rakishly, snorting at his unwanted input. She slipped a hand into her jean pocket withdrawing a piece of chalk. Kneeling to the ground she began to draw long slender lines around them until she was on one knee by Carlisle, and they were both encased in a perfect white circle. Sliding her staff away from Carlisle's jugular she rearranged herself so she was crosslegged in the circle, her mahogany staff resting on her knees.

Alice watched all of this happen, an increasingly puzzled expression growing on her face.

What was she doing?

"What did you do to me?!" The being that was not Carlisle screeched-echoing her thoughts. "I can't move."

Bella smiled in a way that was all teeth, and every Cullen in the room recognized the predatory look. "This is my power circle-imbued with my strength, and a conduit for my energy. Energy which is currently preventing you from leaving the circle. The cardinal rule of life is one soul-one body. You currently have two." Her evil grin widened, and she gestured to the circle. "As long as that body houses two souls you will never leave this circle."

"You trapped me." Not Carlisle hissed, baring curved fangs at Bella.

"Oh look at you, smart and pretty." Bella cooed, drawing pleasure from the way the vampire thrashed helplessly. Alice gaped at the way this woman handled herself. Teasing and taunting something far more merciless and ancient than herself. The human woman clearly had no sense of self preservation. Alice's gaze slanted to Jasper who was suddenly at her shoulder, watching Bella with starved onyx eyes. The family as a whole, had not eaten anything that would constitute as a meal in days, and Bella smelled delectable, although she also reeked of death, and another distinctly musky smell.

Alice could understand why her Southern Vampire was eyeing Bella like she was a juicy steak.

"She's not what I expected." He muttered to her, watching as Bella leaned in closer to Carlisle, prolonging her own entertainment for the moment.

Alice shook her head. "I don't think anyone expected her...That ghost has been tormenting people for weeks, and she's toying with it."

Esme's enhanced hearing picked up their whispered conversation and she nodded distractedly her eyes fixed on Bella and her mate. "What is she?" She wondered out loud, not expecting an answer from her children, and not getting one.

No one knew what Bella was.

Rosalie snorted. "She's a fucking disaster waiting to happen." The blonde vampire intoned darkly, and no one could find the words, or summon the nerve to disagree with her. Bella had slipped into their home undetected. Purposefully agitated a ghost that had taken over a vampire, and now was single handedly keeping that vampire at bay with nothing but sarcastic quips, chalk, and an invisible layer of energy no one could sense except her.

As if to cement her existence, as a living breathing paradox- Bella rose fluidly to her feet, a knowing smile on her face as if amused by the befuddled vampires in the room, and placed the palm of her hand against Carlisle's neck. "The only reason I left you in this body for as long as I did, is once I draw you out-I'm the only one that will be able to see you, and hear you speak. I know Forks is every ghosts undead playland, but you've caused far too much trouble, and now it's time for you to leave this plane."

Carlisle laughed shrilly, and the unpleasant sound made Alice grit her teeth.

Next to her Jasper tensed, and she slipped her hand in his, gently interweaving their fingers.

Her gaze remained militantly on Bella though, watching-waiting-wondering.

"You don't have that kind of power, you conceited bitch!" Not Carlisle howled, his face a mask of agony and petulant rage.

Bella chuckled, an ambigious smile creeping across her lips.

"I'm death's child. A mediator between the living and the dead. Sending volatile ghosts to the afterlife is my job, and I've been doing it for a very long time." The temperature in the room plunged by several degrees, and suddenly Carlisle no longer looked defiant. He looked terrified, and Bella's expression was one of chilly obstinancy. "You are one of the spirit's who has deigned yourself above death, and who dare to claim that your entitled to a life you no longer have, and a life you no longer deserve. You robbed other humans of their life in the name of vengeance, and now I will rob you of yours in their name."

Alice's eyes widened at the bold declaration.

For some reason, the words sounded rehearsed, like Bella recited them on a regular basis. Was it necessary to identify, and label a ghost before banishing it? Did she do this everytime she was confronted by a spirit who had wreaked havoc on the human plane? That would explain why the brunnette woman appeared to be bored out of her mind right now, even as she darted into motion.

Bella swung the edge of her staff against Carlisle's chest, and the petrified vampire caterwauled, clawing at the wood that held it in place. Bella grunted, but held steadfast as the writhing vampire continued to scream. If Carlisle was human he would be hoarse by now, as it was he struggled vigorously, until finally the fight bled out of him, and he went limp beneath Bella's staff, leaving the rest of the Cullens to wonder if the spirit was gone. Finally. Carlisle's eyes were closed, but the distorted expression that marred his perfect features just a few minutes ago was gone.

Bella didn't relax though. Her grip tightened on her staff and she stumbled back a step, her heel pressing against the edge of the circle. Hissing at the contact, The brunette's brow furrowed in concentration, as she slowly sat down again, her eyes unfocused. "Oi." She rasped, her breathing troubled. "Get your vampire out of my circle."

Esme frowned. "Wait a second what did you do? Is Carlisle-"

"He's fine, but if you don't get him the fuck outta my circle, he's going to get possessed again, and the strain will drive him completely insane this time." Bella snapped irritably, her temper flaring at the lack of action from the vampires in the room.

Moving quickly, Esme and Edward sped over to Carlisle at vampire speed, and lifted him up. Together they carried him across the room to the one edge of the couch that was still intact, and laid him out lengthwise, their expression's twisted up in concern and worry. Alice watched them with narrowed eyes before looking at Bella who was sitting on the ground again, this time assuming a classic medative pose, her legs crossed beneath her.

"And now for the fun part."

Bella closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

And at that precise moment Alice's eyes glazed over in a vision, one that left her head spinning and her eyes wide with shock, when it stopped. "Bella didn't banish the ghost, she willingly allowed it inside of her body!" She rushed through the explanation in one breath, her gaze flitting around the room, and pausing at each member of her family in turn. "The apparition is going to make her bleed...alot, and in the condition we're in, we'll kill her if she starts bleeding at all." Alice swallowed a mouthful of venom at the thought, and shook her head gently to clear her mind. "We need to go hunting."

Rosalie glared murderously at Bella's deathly still form. "I loathe that girl."

"You loathe everything." Edward snorted.

Alice shook her head at their not so playful banter.

Her thoughts were turned towards another avenue.

Her visions were suddenly working again, and she could only assume Bella was the cause since the ghost was still present.

"Let's go hunting guys." She said quietly.

She wanted Bella to live.

She had an infinite number of questions for her.

In the back of her mind, Aro's words warned her to tread cautiously.

The only thing more detrimental to our health than fire is a ghost-and the only thing more dangerous than that are those capable of interacting with them


And that's the end of that. We see more next chapter and get an explanation of who the ghost is and why it was killing people, although next chapter will be awhile because I have other stories to update and ever since I started watching True blood my muse has really kind of tapered off and died for this story xD I can't help it. I like how they made the vampires and the people in True blood better than in Twilight, not to mention Pamela and Tara make me happy. Anyone else excited for the new season?

Also in the middle where Aro is talking about ghosts, and he goes off into another language, he is simply illustrating his knowledge of other languages, and saying ghost in them. It went like this: Fantasme (Spanish) Boheentha.(Irish) Gosuto (Japanese)

Anyways R and R people.