Disclaimer: I don't own Stephenie Meyer's characters.

Recap: Edward, Rosalie, Esme, and Emmett are in Seattle looking for the suicidal vampire, and Alice thinks that one of the werewolves would have helped kill Jasper if a certain someone hadn't left Forks...


Chapter Ten: Hell's Angels

"Bella," she said slowly. "Who else left right before I stopped seeing Jasper being killed?"

I stared at her in shock.

No—it couldn't be—

He'd never—

But he'd promised—

A thousand thoughts crashed through my mind at once, but they all led to one word: Jacob.

My expression must've scared Alice, because she shook me forcefully, a concerned look on her face. "Bella!"

When I didn't respond, she panicked and rushed, "Oh, Bella, I'm so sorry, I'm probably wrong, there must be some other explanation, really, it must all be a big misunderstanding on our part…"

I shook my head, still dazed, and whispered, "But—the treaty…?" It sounded like a question.

She ignored me and rattled on, "I'll tell Edward, he'll be sure to have another solution—"

"No," I said calmly. Her decision "You can't. He'll hunt down Jake immediately and kill him, just in case…"

"I can't imagine Edward doing anything like that—"

"Doing something like that to protect people he loves? And you know he hates Jake—"

"He feels indebted to Jake."
"Yes, but that isn't going to stop him…" I sighed. "Alice, I thought you'd been blocking your mind so he wouldn't see you… why the sudden change of opinion?"

She sighed. "It's—it's your reaction. You're not reacting the way I thought you would."

I looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"You seem so… calm. I expected you to instantly insist on defending Jacob vehemently. That or start to curse his name."

"Why would that make you want to tell Edward?"

"Because I was prepared!" she exclaimed. "If you started to curse Jacob's name, of course I would completely agree with you and point out that he's gone and you may never have to see him again."

"And if I defended him?"

"If you defended him? I was prepared to force you to see the light of truth by the many examples I've thought of."

"So you—you really think it must be true?" I asked bleakly after a few slow seconds.

"I—oh—Bella—" She paused. "Yes. I just can't see any other solution. Not right now, at least."

Accepting it was easy. More easy than I could've imagined. The facts all pointed to one thing. Jacob would have helped the vampires kill Jasper, for whatever reason.

Did he really hate my family so much? So much that he'd work with enemies to destroy them?

But no… it hadn't happened. Jacob had run away. I was letting myself believe her vision was the truth, and I needed to stop.

"But—but doesn't that mean the vampires will still come? Even if Jacob isn't here to help them, they'll still—"

"I know," Alice interrupted. "But I haven't seem any visions of them, so maybe in some oblique way Jacob's leaving caused them to not come."

I nodded. "Okay. Okay. Don't tell Edward. Not unless he absolutely has to know…"

"Alright," she agreed. "But if you could make him promise not to read my mind once he gets back—"

"I'll try," I assured her.

"Good," she muttered. "I'm getting sick of Latin verbs."


I got home at twelve forty-five. Charlie was asleep on the couch, the dim glow of the television showing the permanent worry lines on his face. I gently woke him up and told him I was home, then went to my bedroom after surprisingly little anger from him about my late return.

The bedroom looked menacing in the darkness. Unwilling to turn on the lights, I fumbled me way to the bed and collapsed onto it.

Why would he do it? Was it some twisted revenge on me? But no—that couldn't be it. Jacob had never been vengeful.

I couldn't help but wonder if the nameless vampires had really given him an ultimatum: help us or die. He might've volunteered to help them, done anything for a chance to kill a Cullen.

Jake had said he loved me.

But if he loved me, why would he do this to me?

After laying there for a few minutes as I frantically contemplated Alice's news, I drifted into a half-sleeping meditative state.


"Bella?" Emmett's deep voice asked.

"Yeah?" I mumbled. Rubbing my eyes, I sat up quickly. The glowing clock read 4:45.

"I just got back."

"Wait—where's Edward?" I asked, alarmed.

"He's fine! Couldn't come home yet, though, had to do some stuff first—"

"What kind of stuff?"

"Gimme a second! I'm getting there!" he said, slightly annoyed.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly.

"S'okay. Edward and Rose had to do some stuff, so I'm here to give everyone an update. I figured you'd be the most worried, so I came here first." After waiting for my reply, he continued, "Well, here's a letter from Edward with what happened. I don't think he trusted me to tell what was in her head exactly—"

"Whose head?" I interrupted. When he gave me a look, I winced and apologized again.

"He didn't trust me to remember everything, so he wrote it down," he repeated. "Here it is." Emmett tossed a letter on the bed with surreal speed and grace.

A though suddenly occurred to me. "Emmett? Does it—does it just come naturally? Or does it take some getting used to?"

"What?"

"Becoming a vampire. Being so fast and strong and beautiful and…" I paused. "Drinking blood. Wanting to kill people. Is it—is it a hard change?"

Emmett frowned. After a few seconds he said slowly, "No—not for me. Rosalie is my angel. I thought I was in hell at first, with the pain of transformation, but I couldn't understand why an angel would be with me in hell. When I discovered what I was, well, what I am, I was completely okay with it."

This excited me. Not everyone hated being a vampire! "Wait—so you're glad Carlisle changed you? I mean, it hasn't ruined your life or destroyed your soul?"

He laughed. "Rose and Edward can be overdramatic sometimes. They don't know what it's like to be loved before becoming a vampire… it makes all the difference."

I smiled. "So I'll be fine?"

"Mostly fine," he sighed. My face fell. "It's not that you'll regret it," he hurried on, "But not being able to see your family or friends again…"

There was a stark silence as I imagined my future.

"Of course, I think you'll have much better control to start with than I ever did. Everyone had a job of restraining me," he admitted with a wry grin. "But since you're so much more prepared than everyone else… your control might be good enough…"

"But even then, they'd be old," I said quietly. "What—what am I going to say? Before I'm changed?"

"Easy," he grinned.

I was shocked by his careless acceptance of the challenge. "What—what do you mean?"

"We'll move very far away, whether in reality or illusion. You'll get a bad quality webcam so they don't notice the difference in your appearance as much and can keep in contact with them. Every time you try to visit them, plans fall through."

"I'll do that," I murmured.

"Then," he continued, "Maybe in a few decades you have enough control."

"A few… decades?" I gulped.

"Yeah. In a few decades you have enough control, so we take you to a fantastic makeup artist who makes you look forty-five or fifty. You can see Renée and Charlie again," he said nonchalantly.

"It still seems like a lonely world," I whispered.

"It is. You feel like no one can relate to you, and that's the truth. You feel like a complete outsider whenever you go anywhere, regardless of how much stronger and more attractive you are than everyone else."

Emmett's statement didn't give me much hope, but he continued, "Then you turn around and see her—or him, in your case—smiling at you, and suddenly…" He shook his head in disbelief and confusion. "Suddenly it all becomes worth it."

There was an awkward silence. This was the longest conversation I'd had one-on-one with Emmett. It wasn't that we didn't like each other, but either Rosalie or Edward always seemed to be there.

"Thanks, Emmett," I said after a moment. "It's good to know, that there's still…" I was at lost for a word.

"Hope?" he suggested.

"Yeah."

"Well, here's your letter." Emmett gestured to the paper on the bed. "I'm gonna go tell everyone else what's up. I'll be back in a few minutes." Before I could ask any more questions, Emmett had jumped out the window and run away.

A letter sat on my bed. I opened it and started to read. This is what occurred in Seattle, it began in Edward's elegant script. It looked rather long, so I settled myself on my bed and started to read...


A/N: If any of you noticed, the bit about Rosalie being Emmett's angel is taken from an outtake of Twilight, "Emmett and the Bear," that can be found on Stephenie Meyer's website. I couldn't resist that conversation with Emmett: I always feel like he gets overshadowed by all of the other vampires.

I finally have a definite idea for the sequel! From this chapter on, I'll put a quote from the sequel at the end of each chapter as a teaser. Here's the first one:

"'I don't think five-year olds particularly like spinach.'

'Did you like spinach when you were five?'

'No...'

'That's what I thought.'"