I must say thanks to the awsome band Evanescence for writing such great music! I think Victoria has a new theme band! X3 I hope you guys enjoy this!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Tha fab Stephanie Meyer does!

Chapter Nine: Separation

"I can't believe he would do this to us." I whispered, shocked.

"You were the one who wanted him to leave." James growled at me. His anger flared up my own.

"Yes, I wanted him to find a mate. Not go running off with a bunch of lunatic vampires who keep human's as pets!" I shot back letting acid leak into my voice.

"I have to think of a way to get that girl alone…." James stared of in speculation.

I ran faster than he did so that I could stop him in his tracks.

"Are you insane?" I screamed at him. "You saw how they acted around her and what Laurent said. They would do anything to keep her alive."

"That's my point." James acted like I was missing something obvious. "Let's have a bit of fun with them on this. I'm pretty sure they'll send out a hunting party to find me, to keep their precious human safe, so I'll lead them on a false trail, while you try and figure out where their keeping the human."

"This is ridiculous James." I put my hands on both sides of his face. "You are taking this tracking thing to an extreme."

"You don't understand Victoria." He pushed me away. "This isn't something I can control. I have to kill the human girl, it's an obsession. I won't stop until she's dead. I can't stop." He sounded desperate on that last part.

"Yes you can James." It felt like if I could cry, I would. I had never seen him so helpless. "We can go as far away from here as possible and we won't have to hurt anyone!"

He stared at me incredulously. "What? Are you developing some kind of attachment to the humans?"

"No." I said. His eyes turned towards speculation.

"Or are you starting to get soft on me?" He continued to provoke me. "You used to be so much fun Red." I was shocked when he used my old nickname. "I miss that girl, where did you take her?"

"I'm right here." I growled. He was crossing lines he knew he shouldn't cross.

"Then do as I say and don't ask questions!" He got right in my face. I had never seen him this angry either. He started to walk away from me, I was frozen in shock. "I'll follow the jeep." He said quietly. "You trail that traitor, and I'll meet you there."

He disappeared in a blur and I turned back to follow Laurent's scent. I found it easily and kept my pace far behind them. While I was running, I had time to think.

Did James really mean what he said? Was I different? I thought I was the same girl he knew from before I was changed. I wasn't even sure I knew who she was anymore. So did that mean that James was different? Had I been blinded by my love for him that I didn't see the monster he had turned out to be?

Don't say that. A little voice in my head told me. He loves you, and you love him. You're not the monsters, they are! They have strange eyes, and don't act the way a normal vampire does. You and James are normal, they're the freaks. And now they have brainwashed Laurent into thinking the way they do.

I talked myself out of my unsure attitude and was now angry that these strange vampires had reached out and stolen my friend.

It was easy enough to find the house. It was an odd house for a coven of vampires to live in. The back of the house was made entirely of glass. I could see every room in the house but only one in particular held my interest now.

The three vampires that went with the human had crashed into the living room and were glaring at Laurent. It made my dead heart swell with sadness at the thought that I may have to kill Laurent if he takes their side.

"He's tracking us," I could hear one of them saying.

I could make out Laurent's voice as if he was standing next to me. "I was afraid of that."

The dark haired female vampire flashed over to her mate and they both ran upstairs. I could see them assembling clothes in a suitcase, probably for the girl but I didn't have time to focus on that.

"What will he do?" The leader asked Laurent in chilling tones.

"I'm sorry." He answered. "I was afraid when your boy their defended her, that it would set him off."

"Can you stop him?"

I held my breath for his answer. I was relieved when he shook his head.

"Nothing stops James when he gets started." He told the truth, I had witnessed that for myself.

"We'll stop him." The muscular one promised. I growled as I realized what he meant.

"You can't bring him down." Laurent disagreed with him. "I've never seen anything like him in my three hundred years." Strange, I had never heard Laurent talk about how old he was. "He's absolutely lethal. That's why I joined his coven."

I was hurt, I thought he joined the coven because I had asked him to and he was craving companionship.

Laurent shook his head and looked at the frail human girl then he glanced back at the leader. "Are you sure it's worth it?"

The youngest vampire, the human's mate, snarled loudly, it probably would have shattered the glass wall if it wasn't so thick. Laurent cringed and for one panicked second, I thought he was going to be killed.

The leader looked grave. "I'm afraid you're going to have to make a choice."

Laurent looked speculatively at his surroundings. "I'm intrigued by the life you have created here. But I won't get into the middle of this." Relief again that he didn't want to fight with them or against us. "I bear none of you any enmity, but I won't go up against James. I think I'll head north – to that clan in Denali." He hesitated. I was glad that he was going to get away from here. Once the girl was dead, James would go after him. If he asked me if I knew where he was, would I be able to lie convincingly enough to save him? "Don't underestimate James." He said as if he were speaking to me. "He's got a brilliant mind and unparalleled senses. He's every bit as comfortable in the human world as you seem to be, and he won't come at you head on…." I was sure of that. He would feint and run, just like he always did. Now he was dragging me along the same obsessed pattern. Would it ever end? "I'm sorry for what has been unleashed here. Truly sorry." He said, echoing my thoughts. He bowed to them all.

"Go in peace." The leader said formally.

Laurent had another look around before he darted out the back door straight towards me.

He bounded over the river and stopped just as soon as he was under the cover of the forest. He smirked. "Of course, I shouldn't be surprised to find you here." He looked directly at me.

I sighed as I jumped out of the tree I was hiding in and landed right in front of him.

"James is tracking them now." Laurent told me, his coldness frightened me.

"I heard." Shock broke into my voice.

"You know what will happen now." He whispered. "You're sixth sense surely told you this would happen."

"It did, but I had other things on my mind." I whispered back. "Please don't go Laurent."

"Are you kidding?" Laurent said a little louder. "James is going to kill me for deserting him."

"I guess your right." I sighed.

Laurent came closer to me he brushed my hair out of my face. "You could come with me." He said wistfully.

"I can't he would go after us both."

"But we could be together." Laurent tried to paint the picture for me. "You know as well as I do that you have nothing in common with him. You know that I have always loved you." I stared at him in surprise. "Oh come on now." He smiled. "You know it as much as I do."

It was true that I had developed feelings for him, but not as deep as his were.

"Laurent, I do love you, but as a brother." I took his hand away from my face. "James is the one I love. I don't want to be with anyone else but him." I was so hell-bent on finding him a mate that I didn't realize that he was falling in love with me.

The look on Laurent's face told me that my words had hurt him. He had just professed that he loved me and I was sitting here rejecting him.

"If that's your decision then." He started to pull away from me. I felt a pang of sadness as he did that.

"Be safe." I whispered after him. I prayed that he would get far enough away that James wouldn't ever find him.

Laurent disappeared into the darkness, and then I was alone. I tried not to let the sadness take over. James would surely be upset with me if I told him what had happened.

Speaking of, he should have been here by know, what was he doing?

I took advantage of the aloneness and focused on what Laurent had said and what I had overheard in the house. Laurent had informed them well about James's tactics. Would we be as well informed?

I looked towards the house now. Huge metal shutters replaced the wall of glass, they had a security system. Unfortunately I could no longer see or hear what was going on in the house. Laurent had said that James and I had nothing in common, was that true? I tried to remember back to those early days in our relationship. But I couldn't find them. It was like all my human memories were gone. But did I really want to remember the good person I used to be. I was a monster now, I had killed innocent people, and I had followed James on this murderous path without even considering the consequences. I should have known when I found out that he had murdered Cecily that he was evil. But I was so blinded by my affections for him that I justified it by letting him tell me that she was the evil one. Did that make me evil now that I had followed him, that I had trusted him to never hurt me? And most importantly, what was I going to do about it?

James interrupted my thoughts.

"Is the traitor with them?" Was the first think he asked me. Not are you ok? Did you have any trouble following them? His question reminded me of how a general would order around his soldiers, not how two lovers should speak to each other. I pushed away such thoughts and answered him.

"No, he left about an hour ago." I stared at the house as I lied to him.

"What I wouldn't give to have him close." James said murderously now. "I would tear him limb from limb." He refocused his thoughts. "Did you find anything out?"

"They know that you're tracking them. They must have extra senses like you and I do, like mind reading or something."

"Are you sure?" James had never questioned my judgment before.

"They burst through the door with her and shouted 'he's tracking us.'" I tried not to let my irritation break through my voice. Apparently he was too far gone to register that. "I think they know."

He muttered to himself, like I wasn't even there.

"What do we do now?" I asked after a minute.

"Well see what they do. I'm sure they won't let the girl out of their sight." He said as he started pacing. "And her mate won't let her go with anyone else. If he comes out of the house, I'll follow him. If anyone else leaves, you follow them."

"What if it's a ruse?" I knew these vampires were quirky but crafty as well.

"If it is, then we'll come back here to regroup." He finally decided. "We'll find out if there's any information on her that would explain where they may go."

We waited a little while longer before we saw the girl's mate and two of the other coven members. James started after them.

"The human isn't with them." I grabbed his shoulder.

"But I want to find out more about this vampire. I want to know how far I can push him. He's going to try and track me; I can feel it, but its time for the hunter to become the hunted." He pushed my hand away and ran after the big white Jeep that they all climbed into.

I suppressed my anger at him. Maybe we just needed time apart that seemed to work with other couples that we had ran into.

I didn't have much time to wait. James was right; they were leaving behind three members of their coven to hold down the fort. I watched as the human and the blonde vampire climbed into the truck, I ran after them without thinking.

Then the real game began.

See you guys later!