Chapter 7

I received so many ideas for this chapter. I took all suggestions and thought of ways to make this an exciting story for everyone. Unfortunately, Charlie coming back as a vampire won't be one of them.

A huge shout out to my wonderful beta, Sunflower3759. Without her this story would be ****. (You fill in the blank. LOL)

Reminder: SM owns these beautiful characters. I'm only using them for my twisted needs.

~LBC~

"Hey, Bells."

"What do you want, Jake?" Bella said flatly.

"Wow, what a way to greet an old friend." Jacob responded.

"One, you're not old and two, we're not friends. You said it yourself." Bella shot back.

"Bell, I was wrong. I shouldn't have done that to you. Listen, can we get together and talk? We've got a lot of catching up to do." Jacob's voice pleaded with her.

"Jake, I'm not going to be in town long. I don't think I'll have time. I've got a lot to do."

Jacob huffed in frustration. He looked in the restaurant and hung his head. "Yeah, sure. You don't have time for me but you have time for them. After what he did to you, you really need your head examined, Bella. You think those people even care about you?"

"Jake, you don't have the right to tell me anything. I can spend my time with anyone." Bella growled.

Jacob grabbed his hair in frustration. "Listen, Bella, Billy wants to see you."

That got Bella's attention. She wanted to talk to him too. He knew something and she needed to find out what. She looked in the window and saw Alice staring out at her. She knew that she would have time later to talk to Alice. Alice would be upset but she would understand.

Bella mouthed the words 'I'm sorry. We'll talk later.' She turned back to Jacob without waiting for a response. "Fine, Jacob. I want to talk to Billy anyway."

~LBC~

Bella jumped off Jacob's bike. She wasn't surprised that he had kept the bikes since he had been so excited to work on them. It had been a long process but she had come back from the brink because of them, and because of Jake. She remembered how she had tried so many dangerous ways to keep 'him' in her life. How irresponsible she had been to herself and her friends. Bella wondered if what she had done to drive Jake away had been worth it. Could her life have been different because of that choice?

Bella looked at the house. 'Was it always this small?' She stepped up to the door as Billy opened it.

"Hello, Bella."

"Billy."

"I didn't have a chance to talk to you earlier. I'm sorry about your dad. He was a wonderful man and the tribe will miss him terribly."

Bella's voice broke as she spoke. "Thank you, Billy."

"Bella, how are you doing with all this?" Billy asked as he wheeled his chair to the kitchen table.

"I'm fine. It's been a struggle but I know I'm a fighter. I can get through this." Bella answered. "Listen, I don't have a lot of time. What's going on, Billy?"

"Bella, your father and I were out fishing when it happened. He saw something on the beach. He wanted to investigate, always the cop. After the boat landed on shore, he took off into the woods, all I heard was a struggle and then nothing."

"What do you mean a struggle?" Bella asked cautiously. She was processing the information quickly.

"It sounded like an animals fighting." Billy replied.

Bella looked over at Jacob. He hadn't said a word. He looked at the floor,,, but he wouldn't look at her. Something clicked.

"Okay, I can see you're not going to tell me the truth, so I'm gonna lay it out for you." Bella challenged. "I know about the tribe. Jake gave me the truth a long time ago, he just didn't realize he had done it."

Billy shot a glance at Jacob. The look on his face was of astonishment and confusion. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, Bella."

"Bull shit, Billy. I'm not stupid. I've had five years to think and remember every detail of my life here in Forks. So was it vampires or werewolves that caused Charlie's death?" Bella ask, looking straight at Jacob.

Jacob stood and looked out the small kitchen window. "Damn, Bella. Why did you have to do this? Why couldn't you let it go?"

"Let it go? Fuck, Jake. How self-centered can you be? If it was Billy, wouldn't you be asking the same questions?" Bella asked in shock.

"Enough, both of you." Billy conceded. "It was both."

"Both?" Bella hadn't expected the wolves to be involved. "Who, Billy?"

"Does it matter, Bella? There was a fight. The vampire was on our land, and the boys were defending their land."

"More than one?"

"Yes, Bella." Jacob answered. "It should've been an easy fight. No one but the vampire should've been killed."

"Wait. What?" Bella felt the wheels turning. She didn't like what she was hearing. "You're making it sound like you were there. It also sounds like you are saying Charlie's death wasn't a heartattack."

Jacob cursed, "Bella, when did you get so smart?"

"I always was. I knew early on about the Cullens. It wasn't till about two years ago I started really thinking about my life."

"What made you start thinking?" Billy asked.

Bella sighed and hung her head. "Victoria."

"Who?" Billy and Jacob asked together.

"She was a vampire whose mate tried to kill me. He was destroyed in Phoenix."

"He followed you?" Jacob asked shocked.

"Yup, but he underestimated the Cullens as a group." Bella lied. She wasn't bringing 'him' into the discussion. The hows and whats of what had happened between them was none of their business.

"You were lucky, Bella."

"I don't care about that. I want to know who was there when Charlie died."

"Bella..." Jacob trailed off.

"Fuck, Jake, for once just tell me the truth." Bella growled.

"Sam and I, Bella, and the one vampire."

Bella suddenly felt her world crumble around her. "Take me back to town."

"Please, Bella. It was an accident, we didn't know he was there. If we had known we wouldn't have let him get hurt."

"Jake, just take me back."

~LBC~

Bella walked into the house and sunk her body into Charlie's favorite chair. She could still smell him on the fabric. She remembered with such detail about how he had sat here many times arguing about her moving to Seattle.

Bella realized now that moving there had been a mistake for so many reasons. She should've stayed in Forks. She could've confronted Jake about the werewolves. She could have been here for Charlie. She would have been protected here in Forks instead of exposed to Victoria and her anger.

Bella thought back to the day, two years ago when she had come face to face with Victoria.

Bella had arrived at the office before anyone else. She had seen that Jenks was already in a meeting. It had to be another VIP client. She was searching through the mountain of papers on her desk when the Jenks' meeting ended.

Knowing what the rules were with his 'special' clients, Bella scooted off into the coffee room. She closed the door most of the way and started to make some coffee for when the other employees arrived.

Bella suddenly heard a voice that had her shaking uncontrollably. It was one of those voices that she'd never forget. She carefully set the coffee pot down and inched her way to the door.

Peeking through she watched in horror as the red-headed devil floated across the room. Her company was strangely silent but seemed to be taking unspoken orders from Victoria.

Victoria continued to speak to Jenks as her eyes darted around the room. Bella and Victoria's eyes met for a brief moment. Bella scrambled back from the door and found herself cowering in the corner, waiting for the vampire to come through the door and finish her off.

Bella wondered quite often why that was the only time she had seen Victoria. In the past two years, Bella had been bracing herself for an attack that never came. She often wondered why. She was curious now if that encounter had anything to do with the Cullen's return or the fight on the rez. Was Charlie's death a result of Victoria and some plan she had?

The knock on the door pulled Bella from her unorganized and erratic thoughts. She walked to the door and pulled it open.

"Hello, Bella."

Who was Victoria's companion at Jenks' office?

1. Riley

2. Laurant

3. Irina

Of course, Bella won't know who Riley or Irina is.

Who shows up at the house?

1. Victoria

2. Edward

3. Sam

4. Alice

Rec'd:

Nobody's Little Girl by HelloElla. I cried more than once for Kid aka Bella.