Okay, here's the next chapter!

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Provoking

I COULD NEVER FORGET HER FACE. THAT SECOND, THAT MOMENT OF SHOCK when I told Bella that I hated her was something that I could never forget. She would never forgive me and maybe I would never forgive her.

I lay in bed that night with her face haunting my thoughts. Everyone's faces haunting my thoughts. Although I was directing my words at her, they knew those words were for them too.

There was a constant battle in my mind -

Was that too harsh?

No, of course not, they had it coming.

But the look on Bella's face-

She deserved it.

Maybe I should go and apologise-

You'll do nothing, Cullen. You stay right here and do nothing. Bella's a big girl, she'll get over it.

I'm sorry, mom.

Shame your mom isn't the mind reader of the family. Now sleep!

The devil and angel never made a truce and that battle seemed to carry on further into the night. And of course, they argued over Jacob too.

He was doing it because he loves you-

That's bull-

No it isn't. Renesmee, how could you do that? How could you give him back the engagement ring?

Quite easily, she just took it off her finger and gave it to him.

You love him and he loves you more than anything and you threw that back in his face.

What does he expect? He lied to her about that damn psycho vamp who is probably just outside the window.

Maybe you should apologise-

And what? Give him the power? No. Listen, this dog needs to learn some new tricks - he needs to see that sometimes he needs to tell Renesmee things, regardless of how discomforting they may be. If he had been true from the start then none of this would have happened.

Stupid conscience. Not only did I feel guilty now, I was confused too. I didn't know what to feel anymore.

I sat up in my bed and looked out the window at the night sky and the limited silhouetted trees. The longer I sat there, the more I grew the urge to do something about Lauren. I wanted to talk to her, to confront her - but what were my chances of getting out of this house?

I could use my window.

They wouldn't know - and what did I care if they did know I'd escaped. I wouldn't go far - only a little into the forest. I would go far enough so that they couldn't hear me and so Lauren could hear me.

I put a sweater and some boots on before climbing out my bedroom window. I leapt onto the closest tree and gently climbed down. The second my feet touched the ground I ran away for the house into the world of the unpredictable darkness.

I sneaked around for a while, never sure where I was going. I would have run, but the wolves were out tonight and I didn't want to get caught by them. But they were always moving, so there was no guarantee they wouldn't find me.

Finally, I could smell her. I felt her coldness as I stood in the middle of a treeless patch. Her presence crawled down my spine like thousands of spiders.

"Lauren?" I called, quietly. "I know you're here. I know you can hear me."

Silence.

"Don't be a coward - come out. I wanna talk; it would be helpful if I could see you."

Silence.

"Isn't this what you want? Me to be alone, vulnerable?" I asked. "This isn't a trap. They don't know I've left. They think I'm curled up asleep in bed. I just wanna talk to you - girl to girl, is that really too much to ask?"

Silence.

I sighed. "Fine then, I'll continue - but I hope you're listening. I know you and I never really got on very well and I completely understand why. But before you make any rash decisions, just lemme talk to you about something." my hands were trembling like crazy, but I stood my ground.

"He never loved you, Lauren. And you know who I'm talking about. I'm sorry, but I don't see why I should break it to you lightly. I hardly think stalking me and breathing down my neck deserves kindness. But surely you knew that he didn't love you. Leonardo was a really good looking guy - he could get any girl he wanted, he did get any girl he wanted. And I'm sorry that you got dragged into that - I'm sure it was an accident. But you've let his lies change you from someone who was probably really nice to a complete bitch. It's not what you are that turned you to ice, it's who you are. I'll admit I didn't really help you out by killing the reason for your existence, but I set you free." I paused for a moment and watched my surroundings before I continued. "I know that you won't see it my way and I know that you hate me and no matter what I say you will hate me until the day I die." I stuffed my hands in my pockets to calm the shaking and sighed. "Look, I'm not expecting you to do anything for me, but all I ask is that you leave my family and the wolves out of this. This is between you and me. It's me you want, not them. I know that by hunting you, they're not helping - but I can keep them away, you know I can. And... I want you to give Tracy back. You bit her. Please, give her back - she doesn't deserve any of this-"

"-Do you think I deserved it?" I heard Lauren's voice. It was a voice that I'd hoped to never hear again. She was closer than I thought, but I never saw her.

"Well? Do you think I deserved to be forced into eternal misery with a heart as cold as the skin in my bones? Do you think I deserved to be left alone for the rest of time because of some measly, pathetic, whiney little hybrid vampire? Well?"

"N-no." I stuttered quietly, backing away from the sound of her voice.

"No. I didn't deserve it. Your little human friend didn't deserve it but hey, life sucks. Life isn't fair-"

"Lauren, I am handing myself over to you, all I ask is that you leave my family and Tracy alone-"

"Why do you want her? She doesn't mean anything to you-"

"But she is an innocent person who you are wrongly hurting."

"I'm just impersonating you."

"What?"

She laughed darkly. "Isn't that what you're doing?" she asked. "You're hurting innocent people - emotionally anyway."

"What are you talking about-?"

"You think I don't know about your little dramas, Renesmee?" she asked. "I've been watching you. I've been watching you fall to pieces and you're breaking other people with you. You broke off your engagement with that dog earlier - I saw that. You used your gift against your friends - I saw that. You told your loving, selfless mother that you hated her- oh yeah, I saw that too. I followed him actually, your wolf, after he left your house."

My body froze up.

"Lauren, what did you-?"

"I didn't touch a single flea on his body, don't worry. I just watched him. You hurt him real bad y'know. He's heartbroken. He didn't deserve that. The funniest part is that he's the dog; yet, he's worth much more than you. And your parents... Your family... Well, they're devastated. They expected you to be angry, but they never expected you to feel so much hate towards them."

"Don't-"

"Don't what? Tell you the truth? Tell you the truth about how you're not as saint like as you're made out to be. Tell you the truth because you're just too damn stubborn to admit you're wrong, even to yourself. You're no saint, Renesmee. To be honest, even Satan himself can be more merciful than you."

"Lauren-"

"Oh no, I'm not done yet." her voice was suddenly closer, but I still couldn't see her. "Let's carry on, shall we? Leonardo didn't deserve to die. He deserved to be punished - of course he did, but he didn't deserve to die. You just couldn't handle the guilt, the shame, the betrayal. But I don't see why you had to go to all the effort to kill Leo just to try and prove something to your boyfriend - he would have come back to you anyway. He's a dog, they're not picky-"

"Okay, Lauren, I am sick of the dog jokes. This isn't about Jacob, or my parents or my family, or Leonardo or anyone. This is about you and me, so let's stick to the people in name-"

"Shame." she said quietly, "I was just starting to have fun-"

A loud roar sounded from behind the trees, the bushes rustled and I jumped as Lauren shrieked and the wolves descended on her. Just then an agonising throb pounded in my arm. I yelped and fell to the ground, crying and clinging to my arm. The pain spread and I felt sharp scratches hash across my stomach, my legs and my face - eventually I was screaming in agony.

Why is this happening?

What is happening?

After a few seconds, the scratches weren't being made anymore, but the ones already made remained, throbbing. I clung to my body and cried. My tears seeped into the cuts on my face.

"Ness?" I heard Jacob's voice and I was slightly relieved, but only slightly. He knelt down by my side.

"Jake, she's getting away!" called Embry.

"Leave her! Don't run after her!" he ordered. Then as he turned to me he grew gentle and lightly touched my burning face. I flinched.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he asked.

"What's happened to me?"

He didn't look me in the eyes, but he scanned my body and he clenched his jaw. "C'mon, I need to get you home. Now." he gently scooped me up into his arms. His hot skin burned against my wounds and I really didn't want him carrying me anyway, but I was in too much pain to argue.

As he walked with me, we didn't speak. The others finally caught up with us and only spoke to Jacob.

"Why the hell did you let her get away?" snapped Leah. "We could've got her right there."

Jacob didn't answer.

"Dammit Jacob, answer me!"

"I don't have to answer to you, Leah."

"But she's right, Jake." said Embry. "We could've had her."

"Something's wrong." he replied. "Something's really wrong - I can feel it. We can still look for Lauren. But no one is to touch her until I say otherwise."

"And what about the Cullens?"

"What about them?"

"They won't bow down to you, Jake. How exactly are you planning on getting them to agree to it?"

"By showing them what it's done to Renesmee."

"What are you talking about-?"

"Seth." he snapped.

"Right here!" I heard Seth run ahead a little so he was walking at Jacob's side.

"You said that Ness saw the forest earlier, in a vision, right?"

"Well, yeah, that's what she told me. Why?"

"I think it links. What's happened to her and what happened in that vision- There's a connection somewhere."

"Yeah. They both involve that blond bloodsucker." muttered Leah.

Jacob was silent for a long while and then he sighed. "I don't know, but we need to get her back, fast. She's bleeding heavily."

All I could remember was pain and flashes of red as Carlisle stitched me back together like some rag doll. I couldn't even remember coming back inside the house. I'd blacked out before we'd reached the forest border.

By the time I'd been stitched up, I had lost all hope of regaining consciousness. My eyes dropped shut one last time and that perfect, ghastly, everlasting darkness welcomed me.

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