A/N: Sorry this one wasn't out yesterday. My family and I went to see Disney on Ice at the Palace of Auburn Hills. We left my house at four o'clock yesterday evening and didn't get back until midnight and I was too tired to write a whole chapter. So I'm sorry. However, I have to say the show was amazing!!!! It was the first one I've ever been to that I can remember and I loved it. Anyway, on to the point. To avoid confusion, this chapter picks up with Edward and Jane before the kidnapping. I wasn't going to do this part of his P.O.V. but I think there may be some important information about Melanie here. Which is why I decided to do it. Also, I'm not sure how much more of Bella and the other Cullens are going to be in this story. It's mostly about Edward and his struggle with his decisions to keep Bella safe. I'm just not sure where the others will fit in. At least not apart from Edward and the others. I will try to find places to keep you updated with their satus because there are a few important Alice things that need to be known. I'll see what I can do. Now, on with the story.

EDWARD

It was around twelve thirty when Jane and I reached Seattle (Driving two hundred miles an hour had its advantages). We still had another hour's worth of my drving before we reached Melanie's house. Damon said she'd be in school until thirty twenty and wouldn't get back until close to four. That would give Jane and I plenty of time to look around and work out a plan. I hoped Melanie wouldn't give us a hard time.

When we arrived in front of Melanie's house, I noted there was an alley behind the two story house, just like Damon said. I parked the car across the street from her house. I looked everything over replaying everything Damon told me as I quickly came up with a plan.

"Jane, drive the car around to the alley." I ordered. "It'll be harder for the neighbors to see us if we take her out through the back. They have a privacy fence."

"Don't tell me what to do." Jane growled.

"This is my mission." I growled back. "Which means, I'm in charge. Now, just do it and meet me back here. You shouldn't have to worry about being seen, we have pretty decent cloud cover."

"Fine." she replied and slid over as I slid out.

I stood beside the tree watching the house. I thought the plan through a couple times and was sure it would work. Jane was back in about fifteen minutes.

"I parked it just behind her garage." she stated venomously.

"Good." I stated. "Now, there are a few things that you need to know about her before we do this. Damon told me everything he knew." Jane crossed her arms in front of her and looked at me. I took that to mean that she was listening. "This girl is not your typical human. Her senses are nearly as attuned as ours. That'll make completely surprising her difficult. She's stronger than your average human. Damon pretty sure that she can't win a fight against us. However, he believes she could gives us a pretty nice workout. She's faster than most humans but not quite as fast as us. Her reflexes are just as good maybe better but we'll see."

"Wait, are you trying to tell me that somehow this girl was born halfway to being one of us?" Jane asked unsure of how to explain what she was thinking. Thankfully, I already knew.

"Damon says that she was born to be one of us. She was adopted when she was born and Damon's the only one who knows anything about her real parents. He wouldn't tell me much about them. Only stuff that he felt I needed to know. He did tell me that her biological mother had venom in her blood at the time of Melanie's conception. Now, it wasn't enough to have any effect on whichever on the mother. However, there was enough fluids and things exchanged between mother and daughter in the womb, that Melanie ended up with some vampire genes. Don't ask me what any of it means because Damon's the only one that knows."

Jane was slowly trying to make sense of it in her head but it wasn't working for her. To be honest, I didn't understand any of that any better than she did. All I understood was that Melanie was the daughter of someone who had been in close contact with vampire venom. But it would be impossible for any one human to have that little venom in there system. No vampire would be able to stop that quickly. I was so confused about this one girl.

"Even if I don't understand it all, I understand why Aro wants her. She's a pretty special human. I'm curious to see how long she can hold her own." Jane stated after a few minutes.

"You won't get the chance to." I stated. "Aro's already given me permission not to allow you or the other members of the guard not to touch her." Jane let out a low growl and I laughed. I flipped open my cell phone to check the time. It was about three thirty. "She'll be coming home soon. Why don't you make yourself invisible for a bit. I don't want her to get to suspicious."

"Fine." she growled and disppeared.

I leaned against the tree trying to look like I was waiting for someone. A little over a half hour later, two girls rounded the corner. I recognized the one closest to the street as Melanie.

She was roughly five foot four inches tall and weighed no more than one hundred and thirty pounds. She had the most beautiful dark blue eyes that I had ever seen. The were like two beautiful and endless pools. Her dark brown hair that fell down past her hips was braided in the pigtail fashion. She worn a pair of wholly blue jeans with a scarf tied like a belt at the waist. A purple t-shirt that showed off just enough of her stomach to see the ruby red ring dangling from her belly button. She rounded it all off with a pair of black tennis shoes. I mentally laughed. This girl needed some serious fashion help. I made a mental to introduce her to Alice, if I ever got a chance.

Damon had given me mental images of her and she looked like a stranger then. However, once I found myself across the street from her, I started to realize that there was a familiarity in the shape of her face and body. I just couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.

I didn't know who the other girl was, though. Damon hadn't mentioned any of Melanie's friends. I heard enough of the other girl's thoughts, however to discern that her name was Cassie.

Cassie was Native America. She looked so much like Jacob, I had a funny feeling that I had just figured what happened to him. I even sniffed the air just to be sure. Sure enough, I caught a disgusting whiff of werewolf. I thought for a second about paying Jacob a visit but my job got int the way. Cassie's long black hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. She had a pretty face. Her glasses brought out her pretty brown eyes. She was tall and lean and had a slight smugness about her. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans with different kinds of beads glued to it and words written on it. It looked like they were hand decorated. She wore a long sleeved shirt and a pair of white tennis shoes.

Melanie tripped as they made their way around the corner. I mentally laughed as I was reminded of all the times I had to keep Bella from hitting the ground. I felt for sure that Melanie was going to go down but she caught herself. I figured it was her extra special reflexes. I let out another mental laugh as I thought about how Bella would've appreciated a little of that to keep her from tripping.

I was too busy taking in their appearance to notice their thoughts. I was about to tune in, to find out if Cassie was going to cause me problems, when their conversation floated my way.

"You will be there, tonight, won't you?" Cassie asked.

Curious where their was I brought Cassie's thoughts foward. Images of people singing and dancing on a stage filled my brain. I didn't listen long enough to determine that she was going to be playing Maureen Johnson in Rent at the High School tonight.

"Have I ever missed one of your performances before." Melanie questioned in a mock hurt voice.

Guilt swept over me as I realized Melanie was going to miss this one and any one that followed after. Why did I have to do this? It's for Bella. A small voice in my head reminded me.

"I know." Cassie replied. "It's just this one is really important to me and I've worked so hard."

Another wave of guilt hit me. That small voice screamed Bella even louder.

"I know." Melanie replied.

"I'm just so nervous." Cassie continued. "I want to do Idina proud but I don't think that I'm up to her standard."

You didn't need Jasper's gift to be able to tell that. Not only could I hear the anxiety in her thoughts and voice, I could see it rolling off of her in waves. I really wished I didn't have to take one of her supporters away.

"Cassie," Melanie sighed. "Like I told you over and over for the past three months, you'll do great. You were born to play Maureen Johnson. And the entire Circle is going to be in the front row cheering you on."

Curious about what she meant when she said the Circle, I attempted to pay closer attention to Melanie's thoughts. It wasn't until then that I realized, Cassie's thoughts were the only ones that I was hearing. I was intrigued by this. I haven't been locked out of any human mind since Bella's. I filed that bit of information to the back of my mind.

"Even Nathan?" Cassie questioned hopefully.

"Even Nathan." Melanie confirmed with a smile. "Now it's," she looked at her watch. "Four o'clock. The show starts at eight and your call is at six, so I want you to go home, eat, take a nice bath and try to relax until then. And I'll see you after the show."

I couldn't believe how motherly she was. In this one conversation, she helped Cassie go from anxious and apprehensive to calm and slightly more relaxed, in a way only a mother could. I marveled at the unique young lady in front of me. I wanted nothing more than to walk away from this and go back to Volterra empty handed. I probably would've if it wasn't for that voice yelling Bella's name over and over again in my head. Bella was the reason I had to go through with this. I had to remind myself of that.

"Thanks, Mel." Cassie said and threw her arms around Melanie. "I love you."

"I love you too." Melanie stated returning the hug.

I felt another wave of guilt and heard another chorus of Bella, as they pulled apart. Melanie watched as Cassie skipped down the street and turned the corner. She turned to go into the house but stopped halfway through. As she started turning back, I knew that she finally noticed me. I had no idea how, though. Knowing about her hearing, I hadn't moved a centimeter since the girls came around the corner. Maybe my hair caught the sun or something.

As she turned, I quickly averted my attention to the top of the tree. I hoped that I looked like I was examining a bird or trying to find the best way to climb the tree. Anything that'd make her believe I wasn't spying on her and her best friend. I kept a watch on her out of the corner of my eye. She stared for a few seconds as if unsure of what I was doing then turned back to the house, grabbed the mail and went inside.

"Jane." I called as I heard Melanie shut the door. "Let's get this over with before I change my mind."

"I'm one step ahead of you." Jane, who was already in the front yard, sneered.

I joined her on the other side and we walked to the house. Getting in was simply a matter of scaling the side wall and crawling in the window. Just like I used to do when I visited Bella. I closed my eyes and pushed the window open before sliding in, attempting to be more quiet than normal. Being the gentleman that I was, I turned and grabbed Jane's hand to pull her through.

I heard a small in take of breath from the kitchen and knew that she knew we were inside.

"She's in the kitchen right now." I whispered. "I can't read her thoughts but I don't think she's going to try to run. I want you to go downstairs and try to get her by the bottom landing. I'll grab her from there. And don't hurt her unless you absolutely have to."

"Human lover." Jane mumbled disappointedly as she walked down the stairs.

I listened carefully to what was happening in the kitchen. I heard the sound of a knife being slid out of the cradle. Good, it was just like I thought. She either knew running wouldn't get her far or was pretend to defend herself. Either way this was going to be pretty easy. I took a few unecessary breaths as I listened to Jane walking through the living room and Melanie creeping towards her. I crept carefully down a couple steps so I could see better.

As Melanie's back came into view, Jane spoke without turning around.

"Put that down, little girl." she said in a threatening yet semi-angelic voice. "It won't do you any good anyway."

I saw Jane turn and the knife clattered to the floor. I had a feeling she had just figured out that we weren't human. Jane began walking toward her and I knew I had to do my part before Jane got bored. I walked slowly, for a vampire, until I was right behind Melanie. Thankfully, she was so worried about Jane that she seemed to have forgotten that there were to of us. I wrapped my arm around her waist and put my hand of her mouth.

She tried to scream first, a natural human response but with my hand over her mouth, it didn't do any good. So she started kicking and struggling. I had to admit that Damon was right, she was pretty strong for a human. My grip on her remained tight and in control. However, she was knocing me back a forth like a rag doll. I noticed Jane raise her eyebrow in astonishment.

Not able to stay on my feet much longer, I leaned by her ear and whispered,

"I don't want to have to hurt you. Just hold still and do what I tell you and I won't have to."

She snorted and started struggling harder. I sighed as he stuggles became so intense that I had to tighten my arm around her waist. My other hand slipped down her mouth. I felt her mouth close around it in an attempt to bite me. It, of course, had no effect. She was going to make me do what I didn't want to do but if I was going to succeed then I had to do it.

"I really didn't want to have to do this." I sighed.

I released her and grabbed the rag and choloroform from my pocket. The rag was damp and the choloroform back in my pocket before she had a chance to regester that I let her go. I wrapped my arm back around her waist and pressed the rag to her mouth. I prayed to God that Carlisle would forgive me for this. She struggled and I heard her attempts to stop breathing. It was all in vain, though, because a few seconds later she went limp in my arms.

I picked her up bridal style and headed toward the back door. Jane followed looking slightly disappointed that she wasn't able to inflict any pain. She'd probably take it out on me on the plane. That was fine with me so long as she left the inoccent alone. Jane opened the backdoor and stepped out first to make sure that no one was looking. When she signaled that it was safe. We sped to the garage and the back to the car.

As I slid Melanie into the backseat, I pushed some of her hair away from her forehead and whispered, "I'm so sorry.", as the full force of what I had just done hit me.

A/N: I hope you liked this one. I know the blood thing is a bit difficult to understand. I'm still working on a way to explain what I was thinking better but I promise you'll understand before it's over. I would've finished this a couple hours earlier but I made the mistake of eating an apple and then drinking a pop. I got acid something terrible and had to take some medicine and lie down. I almost didn't finish but I couldn't make you guys wait two days for an update. Please review or I'll drag Marcus into the sunlight at noon in the middle of Volterra and tell him you made me. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!