Chapter 11

Later that day, Bella made her way to La Push to visit Jacob and see if he had come up with a plan. She smiled as she crossed the border, eager to see Jacob again. A few minutes later and she was pulling up to Jacob's house. She went to open her door, but found that it had already been open for her, with Jacob standing there beaming at her. "Hey Bells."

"Hey," Bella went to give him a kiss, but as she got closer to him, she stopped and turned up her nose in disgust. "What in the world is that smell?"

"Got sprayed by a skunk last night." Jacob mumbled and embarrassedly looked away.

"Gross." Bella said, blowing him a kiss. "Sorry, but that's all you're going to get right now."

Jacob sighed. "I understand."

Bella hopped out of her car and began to walk towards Jacob's house. When he didn't follow, she called, "Are you coming, or what?"

"Dad said I can't go in the house until the smell goes away."

Bella smirked at the odd expression on Jacob's face. He was so cute when he was embarrassed. She hoped that the smell would wear off soon, because she really wanted to give him a kiss. "Let's go to the beach," she suggested.

Jacob nodded and the two of them made their way to the beach, walking near each other but never touching. As they got to their favorite spot, Bella took a seat on a log and Jacob sat next to her. They chatted about their time apart and Bella cracked up when Jacob told her his skunk story. Jacob wasn't one hundred percent sure, but he was guessing that the reason the tomato juice hadn't worked as well as it should have because he got sprayed when he was in wolf form and that somehow messed with the cleansing process. He was going to take a bath as a wolf and see if that helped, but he was out of juice and didn't want to repulse any customers by walking into the store smelling like a skunk.

Immediately after he told the story, Jacob's whole demeanor changed and he began to fidget with the hem of his shirt, making Bella worry. "Jacob, is something wrong?" Bella asked.

Jacob paused, trying to figure out how he was going to tell Bella his news. "I talked to Sam this morning…We came up with a plan."

"Well that's good," Bella said encouragingly. "What is it?"

"You know the other night when those two vampires came to your house?" He began. Bella nodded. "Well, I asked Quil to tell you something that wasn't true."

"What do you mean," Bella asked, offended that Jacob would think it was okay to lie to her.

Jacob sighed. "The vampire that got away…we knew who it was. It was Edward."

"Don't lie to me." Bella stood up and turned to face Jacob, protectively crossing her arms across her chest. "Edward wouldn't hurt me."

"I know. Something else is going on. We need to know why he was there. If not to kill you, then what were his intentions?"

Bella began to pace as she thought of the implications of Jacob's words. "So what's your plan, then?" She spat.

Jacob was taken aback by Bella's harsh tone. "Call him." He said simply. When Bella looked at him like he had grown two heads, he added, "You still have his number, right? Call him and ask him what he's doing. If we know his plan then maybe we can help."

Bella shook her head. "I don't want to call him."

"Then I'll call him. Can I have his number?" Jacob said. "Please."

Bella didn't answer him for a moment, trying to understand what she had Just heard. Edward was outside of her house two nights ago with another member of the Volturi, but he got away. And now, her current boyfriend wanted her to call up her ex fiancé, which is also her current boyfriends arch nemesis, and ask him about his day plans? This was becoming too much for her. And since when did Jacob believe that Edward was innocent in all of this. If anything, this should have been his clear shot at placing the blame entirely on Edward and giving him a reason to kill him.

Eventually, Bella gave in. She was too confused to try and figure out what was going on in Jacob's head. "I'll call him. I don't trust you two to be civil with each other."

Jacob sighed. "Fine. We should go back to Sam's house so he can also hear what Edward has to say." Jacob suggested.

The two of them walked to Sam's house in silence, Bella sill a bit wary of the plan. She was glad to hear that the Volturi hadn't immediately killed Edward like she thought they might, but she was also very curious to find out his plan. She would know soon enough.

As they got to Sam's house, Jacob knocked on the door and Sam let them in, leading them into the living room. "Bella, please have a seat. Jacob, you stand. I don't want my couch smelling like a dead animal." Sam joked. Jacob grumbled in discontent but stood by the couch, next to Bella who was now staring at the cell phone in her hand.

"Go ahead, Bella." Sam encouraged her.

Bella quickly typed in Edward's number and hit the send button and put the phone on speaker. It seemed to ring for hours before there was an answer on the other line."

"Bella?" Edward's voice sang through the phone. Bella was caught off guard by hearing her ex fiancée saying her name and immediately forgot what she was supposed to ask him. "Bella, are you there? Are you okay?" Edward voice started to sound worried. There was a lot of unidentifiable noise in the background and she wondered what he was doing.

"I'm here." Bella croaked.

Edward breathed a sigh of relief. "Is everything alright? Why are you calling? Are you in trouble?"

"Jacob's here." She began. "He told me what happened the other night."

"Bella, Jacob, please understand that I wasn't there to hurt anyone." Edward pleaded with them.

Jacob snorted. "We know that." Now tell us why you were here."

Edward paused for a moment before speaking and Bella was able to tell that the noise she heard earlier was a lot of people talking. "The Volturi sent Felix down to Forks to kill Bella. I happened to overhear their thoughts and I made up an excuse to follow him so I could stop him before he got to her."

"And now what?" Sam asked.

"Hello, Sam." Edward said politely. "Now we wait. I'm going to stop them from the inside. I've brought Alice back with me to help."

"What do you need us to do?" Jacob asked.

"Continue to guard Bella. Alice had a vision. I'm almost certain that the whole Volturi guard will be coming your way very shortly...there might be casualties." Edward said that last part almost in a whisper. Bella, Edward, and Jacob looked at each other worriedly.

"Who?" Bella murmured.

"I can't say." Edward said sadly. "But the future isn't set in stone."

"Edward, let's go." Alice could be heard in the background. Bella felt a tinge of pain in her chest at hearing her former best friend's voice.

"I'm sorry, I have to go. Our car is here." Edward said regretfully. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you what was going on before. I'll keep you updated." And on that final note, Edward hung up, not giving the others a chance to ask him anything else.

"Oh no." Bella said with tears streaming down her face.

Jacob sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms, forgetting Sam's request about him not smelling up the couch. Bella ignored the stench and fell into Jacob's warm embrace. Over and over, Bella muttered "This is all my fault" as Jacob rocked her in his arms trying to calm her down.

As Bella cried, Jacob gave a meaningful look at Sam and said, "We need to tell the others."

Sam nodded and walked out his front door, leaving Jacob and Bella alone.

Edward had just arrived at the airport in Italy with Alice when he got Bella's call. He was so shocked that she would be calling him that he didn't answer until the third ring. When Bella didn't respond right away, Edward just near had a panic attack, thinking that something horrible was going on. Once she finally answered, Edward let out a sigh of relief and was able to tell her, Jacob, and Sam, the gist of Alice's vision. Edward didn't like that Alice had lied to Jasper about her vision, but it was necessary. They both knew how Jasper would have reacted if he knew what was actually going to happen in the near future.

Once their car got to the airport, Edward hung up the phone and slid in the back of the car with Alice. Alice wasn't trying very hard to hide her disappointment at not being able to talk to Bella.

Alice gave Edward a somber look as they drove into the city of Volterra. Everything would be changing, and if they weren't careful, they would be in a lot of trouble.

When they got into the throne room, Aro was seated in the center throne, with Marcus sitting to his right and Caius on his left. The three of them were talking in hushed tones, but abruptly stopped when they heard Edward and Alice enter the room.

"Alice, my dear! I'm surprised to see you." Aro spoke, spreading his arms out wide in a welcoming gesture."

"I told you I was going to get her," Edward said.

"Yes, but one doesn't always do what they say, do they, Edward?" Aro said with a knowing look. He continued before Edward was able to respond. "For some reason, I haven't been able to get ahold of Felix."

"And why would that concern me?" Edward asked, feigning dumb. He was hoping that Aro didn't know that Edward had been partially involved in Felix's death.

Aro looked at Edward thoughtfully. "Felix is a loyal member of the Guard. When I ask him to dispose of certain…entities, he always comes through." When Edward didn't comment right away, Aro spoke again. "Do you know why you I have allowed you to live until this point, Edward?"

"Because I am valuable to the Guard." Edward offered.

"Wrong. It is because I wanted to see your face when I told you that Jane is not present in this castle, and neither is Alec." Aro said with a smirk.

"Then where are they?" Edward asked with the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach.

"I think you know exactly where they are." Aro leaned back and began to drum his fingers on the armrest of his throne.

Right after that, Alice was crippled by a new vision. Her face contorted in pain as flashes of Jane, Alec, the wolves, and Bella made themselves present in her mind and she screamed out Bella's name.

"Demetri," Aro called out for the vampire that had been waiting outside of the room for this exact moment. "Take these two to the dungeons."

I would like you all to know that I have just published the first chapter of a different Bella and Jacob story. It might take a while until fanfiction updates it onto my page, but please check it out when you have the chance. I would very much appreciate it. And don't worry, this story will still be updated regularly along with the new one.