My laugh echoes through the dark streets, coupled with the equally melodic laughs of Alec and Jane. "Did you see the look on his face?" I giggle, recalling the poor human boy Jane and I had played with and, miraculously, allowed to live, mostly due to my encouragement.

"I can finally understand your fascination with humans, Jules," Jane laughs, "they're great entertainment!"

I frown a little to myself. That's definitely not why I enjoy humans. I like being around them because I am half them – a part of me belongs to their world. No matter how odd or disgusting or stupid they can be, I can't put myself too far above them because half of my DNA I share with them.

"Yeah," I say lamely. I stop walking and lean against a cool brick wall. Alec stops and leans against the wall right next to me, hardly an inch apart. I can feel sparks of tension in that short span of space between us. Jane seems to realize it too as she scrutinizes us.

"Well the sexual tension between you two has been making me feel like throwing up for the past two days so I'll leave you guys to figure it out and go entertain myself with another human." Jane lopes away gracefully, leaving me and Alec alone. I gulp.

I have no clue what to say to him. At this time last night I was cuddling with Jacob and laughing with his friends. By the time Jacob had driven me back to the hotel and I had snuck tactfully back inside, I had realized something: I have fallen hard for Jacob Black. His lips against mine.. He was so gentle and sweet.. So much different from the raw, almost predatory passion I receive from Alec. And yet I sort of like that frenzied passion. It's daring and exciting.

I look up and am met with two blood-red eyes gazing at me. "Soo.." I finally say, breaking the silence.

"Where were you last night?" he asks. The question is so random that it catches me off-guard.

"W-what?" I sputter, forgetting all the perfectly polished excuses I had prepared.

"Where were you? What were you doing? And most importantly, who the hell were you with?" his eyes are hard and incriminating. I cross my arms defiantly.

"I was wherever I wanted to be, doing things that are none of your business, with whoever I wanted to be with." I reply haughtily. Alec's eyes narrow. "Do we have a problem, Alec?" I ask while crossing my arms.

"Tell. Me." he commands, his voice like the calm before the storm.

I glare fiercely at him. Alec may be intimidating at times, but I've never actually been scared of him. He's Alec, my playful guardian. He would never harm me. I clench my teeth together. "No."

He suddenly pushes me back up against the wall, his forearm pressed tightly against my throat as solid as a steel bar. Maybe I spoke – or thought, I guess – too soon. Would Alec actually hurt me if I made him angry enough?

I squirm futilely. "Get off me, you psycho!" I growl, trying to shove him away. A half-breed is no match for a recently-fed vampire though.

"I saw some kid drop you off on a motorcycle. A motorcycle. What is he, some sort of drug dealer? Are you doing drugs? Are you fucking him?" The accusing, ridiculous questions come out of Alec's plush red lips so fast and angrily I don't even have time to respond.

"What? No, no, no! Of course not! Stop this, Alec!" I plead with him, my air supply beginning to be too low for me to be comfortable with. I claw at his arm trying to get him to release me. He growls frighteningly.

"Stop it, you pathetic little hybrid." He spits the word "hybrid" as if it's some sort of disease. His words sting.

"Stop it, you pathetic little hybrid!" a musical voice hisses angrily as I struggle and scream. Two icy arms are wrapped around me, carrying me through a snow-covered forest. I can hear the sounds of struggle behind us. I try biting the arms that are like an ice-cold jail cell to no avail.

"Mommy! Daddy! Jacob!" I scream in a voice much higher than my own, like a little girl's voice. I look up at my captor and am met with ruby eyes, snowy skin, apple-red lips, and a thick swoosh of nearly black hair.

I snap back to reality and find Alec's grip has relaxed as he stares at me blankly. Almost like he had seen the same thing as me. But.. what had I seen?

I was struggling and trying to free myself of a malicious kidnapper. I had even screamed for Jacob.. as in Jacob Black? And I had screamed for my parents.. But I've never met my parents before. Why would I cry out to my dead mother for help? Or to my father that hates me? But most importantly of all: why the hell was Alec, my best friend, carrying me struggling, screaming, and crying through a frigid forest?

Alec's arm suddenly drops and he backs away from me slowly, looking confused and almost like he doesn't even know how he got here. He glances down at his hands like they're traitors. He looks back up at me, his eyes first focusing on my now-sore neck and then drifting slowly up to meet my accusing, untrusting gaze.

"Juliet.." he whispers softly. "I'm so sorry.. I don't even know.." His lips fumble for words and I can see moisture collecting in his eyes. If he were human would he be…crying? Alec Volturi – sexy, badass, mischievous Alec Volturi – crying?

Tears prick my eyes also. I shake my head, not trusting my voice to not crack, and take off down the sidewalk in the opposite direction that I had seen Jane go. I half-expect to hear Alec's footsteps behind me but I don't, and just before I turn the corner of the street I glance back to see him rooted in the same place staring dazedly at the brick wall where I had just been.

I all but run through the streets of Seattle until I reach the hotel and then I retake the course that Jacob had drove me last night. Soon I find myself passing by the WELCOME TO LA PUSH sign. And then I'm standing in front of the tiny house of Jacob Black.

I stand outside for a good five minutes just wondering why I even came. It's the early hours of the morning, probably two or three. Like he wants to deal with a frazzled teenage girl that he hardly knows. I can hear him inside; his deep, even breathing and slowed heartbeat signal that he is fast asleep. I bite my lip indecisively. I feel guilty about waking him.. But I need him.

I rap on the door with my knuckle and listen guiltily as he wakes up with a gasp like he was having a bad dream. I knock again and hear him mumble, "Comin', comin'." Moments later and the door is opened with Jacob, rubbing his eyes sleepily and his black hair more of a mess than usual wearing only a pair of sweats, standing in the darkness. When he sees me, he brightens up and gives me a big grin that I can't possibly not smile back to no matter how much Alec upset me.

"Come in," he says immediately, fumbling for a light switch. He finds it and the place floods with light as I step inside and shut the door behind me.

"I'm sorry for coming by at such a ridiculous time," I tell him, gnawing on my lip as he leads me into a cramped living room. He slumps down on the worn sofa and gestures for me to do the same. I sit next to him, separating our bodies by one small cushion. If I had thought there was sexual tension between Alec and I.. That was like a static shock compared to nuclear explosions. Every nerve in my body is acutely aware of Jacob's presence – and the fact that he is half-naked. His perfectly toned muscles are practically begging me to ogle at them. I distract myself by staring at the odd coo-coo clock on the opposite wall. Jacob doesn't seem like the coo-coo clock type.

"Don't worry about it," Jacob says good-naturedly. "Is there something wrong?"

"Not really.." I suddenly realize I have no idea what I'm suppose to say to him. I can't just blurt out that my vampire best friend is being an overprotective psychopath and I had the oddest vision of him kidnapping me. On the way here I decided that that must be some old, randomly dredged up nightmare of mine. Maybe when I was a small child and Alec seemed scarier and more intimidating. But why had my sub-conscious come up with that particular scenario? And why had I shouted for my parents and, more oddly, Jacob?

"Did something happen with your friends?" Jacob asks perceptively. I look over at him in confusion, my eyebrows furrowing.

"How did you know?" I ask warily.

He shrugs. "I mean, you come to my house in the dead of night all flustered yet unharmed. I don't know what else it could be. Besides, I don't really like the vibe I get from them just from the way you talk about them."

I smirk a little. "They're really not so bad. It's just one of them.. He's really hot-headed. He's got a hell of a temper. And he's very overprotective. We've been best friends for a really long time so he has some sort of sense of entitlement when it comes to me. He thinks he deserves to know where I am and what I'm doing at all hours of the day. It drives me crazy sometimes. He drives me crazy sometimes. It's annoying." I rant until I can manage to stop myself.

"Lemme guess – he found out that you've been sneaking around to see me?" Jacob guesses so quickly that I'm flabbergasted. Do I really make myself that easy to read?

"Yeah, sorta. He thought you were my drug dealer," I giggle at the pure absurdity of it. With the thick sexual tension between us, I decide not to mention the other thing Alec accused me of doing with Jacob.

Jacob snorts and says, "Some friend you got there."

"I know," I sigh. "But I didn't come just to rant to you about Alec."

"Alec?" Jacob cuts me off before I can continue.

"Yeah, that's my friends name.." I tell him in confusion. He couldn't possibly know Alec. Nobody knows Alec – no humans at least. Every vampire does.

A dark shadow passes over Jacob's face. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" he asks in a dark and deadly voice. My eyes widen a little. How the hell is he guessing all this? How could he possibly know that Alec would react that way?

"No of course not," I breathe. It's not very convincing but I'm too surprised to manage much more. Jacob studies me for a minute, not as much observing my eyes for lies as observing my body for damage. Satisfied with the result of his observations, he relaxes and lightens up again.

"Well if you didn't come here to rant about Alec, what did you come here for?"

Another question I'm not prepared for. I have no idea what I came here for – all I knew is that I needed to be with Jacob.

"I just.. I don't want to be alone. I want to be with you." I whisper quietly, wondering if my words carry a double meaning. When you can't figure out what your own words mean, you know life's getting confusing. As if I need any more hints to that.

Jacob smiles gently and compassionately. He opens his arms and I smile back appreciatively as I scoot over and snuggle into his side.

He brushes his fingers through my hair and then trails his fingertips over the exposed skin on my shoulder and the nape of my neck. It's the most soothing sensation I've ever felt. He kisses the top of my head and whispers, "Sleep. You'll feel better in the morning."

"Thank you," I murmur before slipping away into the darkness.