Disclaimer: I do not own anything having to do with the Twilight series. It's all Stephanie Meyer's.

WARNING: It's rated M for a reason people!

***

And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain, ohhh yeahhh
I know that you can love me
When there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold November rain

From the song, November Rain performed by Guns N Roses

***

Amy woke with a start and her hand went to her neck. Daylight had come, and she looked at the clock on her bedside table. 10AM. The sun was shining brightly which was odd for a November day in Washington. Was last night all a bad dream? Her covers were tangled around her legs, and she struggled to free herself. Stumbling to her dresser, she looked at herself in the mirror. There were no marks on her neck. Nothing to show evidence that Lucius Manning had been with her last night. She gripped the edges of the dresser and grimaced. But he had been here.

But where was he now? She whirled around, fully expecting him to be hiding in the shadows of her room, but there was no one – nothing there. Her cell phone rang just then, startling her from her thoughts. Her heart pounded as she went to her purse and fumbled around for the device. Bella – the caller ID showed. She frowned. Remembering.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey, Amy! I was wondering if you were up," Bella said in a very cheerful voice. Much too cheerful for Bella, Amy thought which confirmed her suspicions that all last night hadn't been a dream.

"Hey, Bella," Amy answered, trying to contain her emotions.

"Do you want to come over now and get this homework out of the way? That way we can hang out or something," Bella continued.

Amy grimaced, but managed to sound cheerful, "Sure. That sounds fine. Give me a few minutes to get dressed and I'll be right over."

"OK! See you!"

"Yeah, see ya," Amy replied.

Click.

By the time Amy took a shower and changed her clothes, the sun had disappeared behind some clouds. "Typical," she grumbled of the weather. She gathered her things up and went downstairs to find a note from her mother:

I've gone in to the hospital for the day. Will be back in time for dinner tonight.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Her mother was okay. She went out and got in her car and revved the engine. Her thoughts were a tangled mess and all she could think of was that kiss that she had witnessed . . . with Lucius' help. She gripped the steering wheel and backed out of the driveway. Slamming the Mustang in gear, she mashed the gas pedal and roared off down the street. It took about 5 minutes to drive to Bella's. As she neared Bella's house, she could see that Charlie was not home. However, Edward's Volvo was parked in the driveway. Then she saw the couple standing at Bella's beat-up truck. They were talking and smiling. Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe it HAD been all a dream. And then a voice came to her . . .

You know it wasn't a dream . . .

His voice.

She gripped the steering wheel harder and let her car roll to a stop behind Edward's. Placing it in neutral, she set the brake and threw open the door. Bella saw her and waved to her. Amy's blood began to boil. She had been good about keeping her anger reigned in, but now it was coming to the surface like a fast moving missile. Amy sprang from the car and shut the door. And where was Jacob? You would think he would have showed up, groveling like the dog he was, but she hadn't seen him since last night – before he went to Bella's. The image sprang to her mind again – fresher – as if she was seeing it all anew. She felt a presence in her mind and brushed it away. Edward. He was always poking around.

Get out of my head! she shouted.

Bella was walking towards her and Amy began to move also. They reached each other at the same time and suddenly Bella was reeling from the force of Amy's slap. WHACK! Bella clasped a hand to her cheek and gasped. Edward hissed and was at her side in an instant.

"Amy! Wha-what? I don't understand!" Bella cried, still pressing a hand to her stinging cheek.

"I think you DO understand," Amy snarled, clenching her fists.

And then she showed Edward with her mind what she had witnessed the night before. Edward's amber eyes grew large with disbelief.

"You kissed the dog?" he said. Bella whirled to look at him. She knew she couldn't lie to him especially since Amy had already showed him. "It-it was nothing," she stammered. "It was a kiss good-bye."

Amy gave a harsh laugh. "Good-bye kiss? I would have thought he had told you good-bye plenty with the fucking you two did months ago!"

Bella looked at her with shock and embarrassment Edward's eyes narrowed as he remembered the night that Jacob said "good-bye" in order for Bella to be solely with Edward. He shouldn't have been surprised that Amy knew all this. She probably searched Jacob's mind at one point. No one could read Bella's mind. He went to Amy's mind then.

You should calm down.

She looked at him then with hurt-filled eyes, and he knew what she was feeling. Betrayed. By both her lifemate and her best friend. What he didn't understand was how she knew.

"When was the last time you saw Jacob?" Edward asked.

"Last night. Right after you left, he left," she replied. Bella looked between the two of them.

"You were at Amy's?" she demanded.

Edward gave her a sideways glance, and Amy snorted and crossed her breasts with her arms. "Yes, he was at my house, but only because he and Jacob were discussing strategies, not sucking my face!"

Bella flushed, but remembered Jacob's warning. Keep Edward away from Amy.

"And you haven't seen him since?" Edward probed.

"No," Amy snapped. "I'm sure the coward is holed up somewhere too ashamed to confront me."

Amy suddenly realized what Edward was doing. He was wondering how she knew. Before he could ask anything else, she said, "I'll do my report by myself," and with that she turned on her heel and stomped back to the Mustang. Her mind closed off to nosey vampires.

Bella and Edward watched as their friend roared out of sight, the Mustang howling with anger. Bella looked up at Edward, but couldn't read his expression. She touched his arm, and he looked down at her.

"Edward, I—" she began.

"There's nothing to say. I should have seen it coming sooner. Your feelings for . . . Jacob are still there." He sighed and turned away. Bella grasped his shoulder, but Edward shrugged her off. "Please, Edward. I'm sorry. I love you. You know I do!"

He walked briskly to the Volvo and surprising her in the process, grabbed her wrist and dragged her along behind him. "I know you do, Bella. I love you more than anything, but we can't talk about this right now."

"What-what do you mean?"

"I can't go to La Push without you."

"La Push? Why do we need to go to La Push?"

"To tell Jacob that Lucius Manning has already gotten to Amy."

***

Billy was less than pleased to see Edward Cullen standing on his front porch, but the look on his and Bella's faces were enough for him to tell them that Jacob was at Sam's. Had been there since last night.

"I'm only doing this because you're here, Bella," Billy told her, eyeing the vampire harshly.

"I know Billy, and I'm grateful. Amy's in trouble and Jacob has to know," Bella said.

Billy's face changed then. "Amy? What's wrong? Has something happened to her?"

"Not yet," Edward interjected.

"We just need to find Jacob. Fast," Bella continued, ignoring Edward's no-nonsense response.

"Does Sam have a phone?" Edward asked. Billy looked at him and nodded. He jerked his head, motioning for them to use his phone. "Your cell phones won't get a signal out here."

Bella rushed inside and dialed the number to Sam's. Emily answered. "Emily! Is Jake there?"

"Bella?" Emily said, "yeah, Jake's here."

"Thank God!" Bella cried, she heard rustling and then Jake's voice came over the line, "Bella, what is it?"

"Jake! It's Amy! I think she's possessed or something!"

"What the hell are you rambling about?" he demanded. She knew she sounded crazy.

"Listen to me. She knew that we kissed last night. She confronted me this morning. Edward thinks it's Lucius—"

"Fuck!" Jake snarled. "Where are you?"

"Your dad's."

"I'm on my way," and then the line went dead.

Bella rejoined Edward and Billy on the porch where a very uncomfortable silence permeated the air. Billy looked up at her expectantly and Bella said, "He's on his way here."

Edward nodded.

They waited only for a few minutes and then from out of the trees came a large russet wolf running at full speed. Jacob. Bella's eyes grew wide when she realized he had no intention of slowing down, and she screamed when the huge wolf crashed into Edward and sent them reeling off the porch and into the yard. Billy chuckled.

"JACOB! EDWARD!" she screamed. She started to run to them, but Billy grabbed her wrist. She looked down at the older man and he said, "No. It's something they must do."

"They'll kill each other!"

"I doubt it. But if so, I hope it's Edward who loses."

"Billy!" she tried to jerk away, but surprisingly Billy Black was strong for a man who had spent the second half of his life in a wheelchair.

She could only watch in horror as the two men she loved most, snarled, bit, and thrashed against each other.

***

Amy took the windy curves at 90MPH. Edward would be so proud. She scowled. She wished she had never come to this god-forsaken place. Wished her mom had never decided to move here. There was nothing but pain here. Granny Watson. What would she say?

Stay strong, child.

"I caaaan't!" she howled at no one. The tires squealed as she took another hairpin curve, and she jerked the wheel as the car passing on the other side blew their horn.

Lucius. Where was he? None of it made sense to her. Why he was waiting?

He wants your essence. Your essence will make him stronger. More powerful.

Her grandmother's voice sounded strong in her head.

Granny! How can I fight him?

Silence.

She hit the steering wheel with her fist and fought back tears. She would have to leave. Run. It took him three years to come for her, maybe it will take longer the next time. Her mother. How could she leave her mother? To keep her safe. And Jacob. She still loved him. She knew now that kiss was something done out of need. Bella's need. And she really couldn't blame Bella. Or could she? Bella had two men who loved her . . . and then Amy laughed hysterically. So, did she! Jacob . . . and Lucius. But she didn't crave Lucius' affections as Bella did Jacob's. She wasn't asking Lucius to kiss her good-bye. If she needed a kiss good-bye from anyone, it was Jacob. She had not planned well. After leaving Bella's like a bat out of hell, she had the hit the road, driving aimlessly. She hadn't returned to her house to get anything such as clothes . . . or money. All she had was what she had with her. Which was not much. Then she found herself driving to the coast. To La Push. She didn't know why as she had no intention of tracking Jacob down. She just felt the pull. Like she had when she had first visited there. When she had first met Jacob at the cliffs. That seemed a lifetime ago instead of a few months.

She slowed the car down. The cliffs were just up ahead. Another two turns and they appeared on her right. She pulled the Mustang off the road and sat there staring out the windshield for what seemed like forever. Shaking her head, she zipped her jacket against the November rain which sprinkled lightly against the car. Throwing the door open, her boots crunched the gravel as she stepped out. The door slammed shut behind her, and she walked towards the cliff's edge.

This is where it all started, she thought. Is this where it would end? Her shaggy brown hair blew around her head from the wind off the ocean. The waves crashed against the rocks below and she peered precariously over the edge. Vertigo started to claim her and she hastily stepped back. She screamed when she made contact with a person. Whirling around, she wasn't in the least bit surprised to him standing there. His long white-blonde hair blew in the wind and his gray eyes and the red ring circling them shown. He was dressed elegantly in black trousers, black Italian shoes and long black coat. He smiled, showing his sharp white canines.

"Lucius."

He held out a slender hand to her, and not of her own accord did she put her hand in his. She shivered at his touch, but held his gaze. He pressed his lips to her wrist and said, "It is time, my darling."

She nodded.

To be continued . . .