AN. Big thanks this week to EvilPumpkin and Angel_ Eyes1_UK, I appreciate that you guys are busy and still find time for me—just don't forget to sleep!

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Disclaimer: I can't claim to be SM, so I don't own anything.

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Aftermath

Alice's POV

Over the following weeks, I kept getting flashes of a redheaded nomad. It was not unusual for me to pick up on other vampires when they were in the vicinity. What was strange was that she didn't move on.

Jasper's POV

I had gone to borrow some music from Edward, trying to find something new that I could enjoy while Alice was out shopping. We were discussing the latest Mariners game, when Alice came in to reclaim her auction catalogue. Half way across the room she froze, her eyes glazing over. I immediately rushed to her side in case she lost her balance.

"What is it, Alice? What did you see?" I didn't like the look on her face, or the fear and uncertainty that emanated from her.

"It was the redhead I've been glimpsing. She must have been watching me. She's going to kill me."

"You mean she's going to try," I growled. "If you know when and where I'll be there to stop her! We'll have the element of surprise."

"You're not going without me," Edward chimed in. Alice looked a little more relaxed, and reached up to kiss me.

"What would I do without you, Jazz?" she said, grabbing the catalogue, "You, too, Edward. Thanks." Off she skipped, calling over her shoulder, "Try the 100 Monkeys, Jazz. You're going to love them."

Victoria's POV

I had followed and studied the strange vampires from a distance, and had found a way to isolate the one called Alice: Every Wednesday night she walked alone in the woods near the house. This Wednesday I would be waiting.

My plan was going smoothly, until two of the men revealed that they had accompanied her. I scowled at the fair one, remembering the purple smoke, and wanting to hurt him.

The brown haired one spoke. "He didn't kill your friend."

He was my mate! I wanted to scream out loud, but I was loathe to tell them anything. Didn't kill him? He's a fighter, riddled with scars. My eyes roamed the skin that was visible, picking out the bite marks. He was watching me warily, making sure he stayed between me and the girl.

The other male continued. "He would have. If he were there."

He wasn't there? But I bet you were, I thought, spinning around to glare at him.

"It was me. I had no choice." It was almost as if he was answering me.

Could he be the mind reader? I snarled and made to launch myself at him. The other two quickly reminded me how outnumbered I was, growling at me from beside him.

Moving to block my view of his mate, the fair haired one spoke. "What's done is done. You should go."

As livid as I was, there was nothing I could do. At least, not right now. But they hadn't seen the last of me.

Alice's POV

Over the next month, I kept an eye on the redhead. She hung around for a while, deciding what to do: then she left and I saw her meet up with a dark-skinned vampire, a nomad like herself. She appeared to know him quite well—maybe he was her mate? They moved on together, I saw nothing more, and drew a line under the incident.

Edward's POV

"I'm going to miss you." I carried Bella's bag out to the truck.

"It's only a week, Edward. I'm sure you'll survive."

"I'm not at all sure I will."

"Go hunting, Edward. Go shopping with Alice, drool over cars with Rosalie, clean the house for Esme, or volunteer at the hospital. Keep busy and I'll be back in no time."

"Can't I change your mind?" I swept her hair from her neck and kissed the nape. "I'm sure Angela would understand."

She leaned into me and sighed. "No. Her Mom and Dad wouldn't go if I cried off, and you know it."

"Okay." I saw her into the driver's seat and closed the door. "Have a great time, and look after yourself."

"I'll see you on Saturday night after Charlie goes to bed," she promised. Roll on Saturday.

"Bye, love." I watched until the truck was out of sight. It was going to be one long week.

It had been a long time since we last went hunting as a family, so Carlisle swapped a couple of shifts and we headed off to North Cascades National Park. We spent Sunday night and Monday tracking the wildlife wherever it went, and by the early hours of Tuesday morning, we began meandering in the general direction of the vehicles.

I spotted a small clump of eritrichium nanum, or alpine forget-me-nots, and called Esme over to see the delightful, rare flowers. The moment was spoilt by Alice's piercing cry. We all ran swiftly to her; she rarely had visions while hunting, so we knew it must be important.

As soon as I saw the horror on her face, I got a sickly feeling in the pit of my stomach. The only one absent was Bella. Then I saw the vision as Alice recalled it: Bella was in Port Angeles and she was being attacked by two vampires—the redhead and the guy with the dreads.

"We have to go to Port Angeles!" I sprinted off in the direction of our cars.

Carlisle yelled after me. "Edward, hold up. We're coming with you! Esme—you and the girls take the Jeep." I slowed my pace slightly to match Carlisle and my brothers. Before long we were jumping into Carlisle's Mercedes—he didn't even try to stop me driving. I hurtled down the twenty, heading for the one-o-one.

We had just crossed the five when Jasper's cell rang. The caller spoke too faintly to hear, and Jasper didn't say a word.

"Who was that, Jasper?" I was really worried as his mind flashed through dates and pictures of Civil War battles, his emotions all over the place. He pulled himself together and sent a wave of calm through the car.

"That was Alice," he said, too calmly. "She's been searching." He paused, then very softly added, "She can't see Bella at all."

"What does that mean? Get her back on the phone. Tell her to keep looking," I insisted.

"Edward, there's nothing to see," he pleaded. "She's tried."

Carlisle's hand squeezed my shoulder from behind. "Let's not jump to conclusions."

We reached Port Angeles less than two hours after Alice's vision, quickly following Bella's scent to a patch of woody land at the back of an RV park, running alongside the County Courthouse. There was no sign of Bella—no scent, no blood, nothing. It was as if she'd disappeared. The four of us spread out and searched thoroughly, still coming up with nothing.

I was frantic; Jasper was trying hard to keep me calm. Emmett sat on the ground, his head in his hands, shaking it in disbelief.

"I don't know what could have happened here," Carlisle stated, trying to make sense of it. "There are plenty of scents around. It's quite a busy area, but nothing seems relevant."

I called Alice again. "It's as if she vanished, Alice…and you can't get anything after that?"

"Come on, son. We're doing no good here. We don't want to draw attention. Let's go home." Carlisle meant well, but I hated that he was right. How could we abandon Bella? With no clue where to continue looking, I let them steer me back to the Mercedes.

"Can we at least go and see Charlie? He might know something," I pleaded.

"That would raise too many questions," Carlisle reasoned, then tried to placate me. "Maybe we could stop at the hospital on the way and I can check she's not there." I had to settle for that.

We didn't find her at the hospital.

Victoria's POV

I wasn't going to let them get away with killing James. I hung around and gathered as much information about them as I could before I left to find Laurent. Laurent had always had an eye for me; with James gone I could get him to do anything I wanted.

I couldn't risk getting too close to the coven, so we based ourselves in an old disused garage in Port Angeles. I familiarised Laurent with the general Forks area and had him scout out the locale. I was uneasy as I still couldn't work out why Alice had taken the two men with her that night. I didn't want to make the same mistake again.

Laurent had been following the big man and the blond woman, and I met him at our usual spot in Webster Park. As we walked back to our base, I caught the scent of the human girl.

Playing with their little pet could be entertaining, and they would be upset when they found her drained carcass, I thought and tracked her.

She was not far away, and we found her skirting the Courthouse parking lot.

Bella's POV

It was harder than I thought, driving away from Edward, but I was looking forward to spending time with Angela. I hadn't seen much of my human friends since discovering my electricity. I turned into the driveway in time to see the cab drive off with her Mom and Dad, going to the airport.

I left my bag in the hallway while we made coffee and caught up on all the gossip. There wasn't much I could tell Angela about what I'd been doing; I didn't think "hanging around with a bunch of vampires and practising my superpowers" would be easy to swallow. So I told her how I had been getting to know Edward's family, shopping with Alice, letting Rosalie paint my nails, and beating Emmett hollow at fishing on the Wii.

Angela filled me in on Jessica and Mike getting caught necking behind the gym, although they hadn't minded much. Tyler had taken Lauren out to dinner, where she had been such a bitch that he had gone to the bathroom, climbed out the window, and left her to pay the bill.

Angela was describing the experiment Eric and Connor were trying to copy last week which resulted in filling building four with foul smelling smoke, when her parents came back home.

Angela's mom had gotten sick on the way to the airport, so they'd had to cancel their holiday. I hadn't even unpacked, so it was easy to sling my bag in the truck and drive home. Besides, I didn't want to catch anything.

Dad was surprised but pleased to see me back, and he took me to the diner to celebrate. I think he was secretly celebrating that he would not have to feed himself for the week. On Monday we ate the lasagne I had left him for Sunday, so on Tuesday I drove into Port Angeles to do a grocery shop at Safeway.

I parked and walked off to the stationery store to buy some supplies for school first. As I passed the Courthouse, I cut through the parking lot, skirting the edge backing onto the RV park. I froze as a woman appeared in front of me, her eyes as red as her hair. I turned around—surely I could walk away as long as I kept out in the open—only to come face to face with another pair of red eyes.

There was no way to escape the two of them, and with the Cullens all away hunting I had no chance of being rescued. I wondered if I would see Edward or any of the others again.

They herded me into the bushes. "She doesn't look very frightened," the redhead remarked. Pouting, she added, "She ought to at least look frightened."

"Your eyes are so pretty," I said, playing for time to think. "Such an unusual colour."

"She sounds retarded," the redhead commented, watching me with curiosity.

"They're the same colour as your hair, pretty lady." If she thinks I'm retarded I may as well play along.

The redhead thought about that as she twisted a lock of hair between her fingers.

"Can I see your pretty eyes?" I beckoned them both nearer. "Pleeeease," I whined. They came right up to peer at my face.

"Amazing. She didn't even flinch," the male said.

"Is she really that dumb that she doesn't sense the danger?" the redhead mused.

"Pretty red eyes," I said, reaching a hand to each of them. Each hand connected with a cold hard forehead, and I mustered as much hurt and hate as I could…and blacked out.

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AN. There are two particular areas that my betas wanted more drama—the meeting of Victoria with Alice, Jasper and Edward, and the end scene with Bella—apart from the fact that I suck at dramatic situations, I just wasn't feeling it. Carlisle has always influenced his family to tread the path of least resistance, and as long as Alice was safe, I felt that they would have kept things as calm as possible. As for Bella, I see her at this stage being fairly naïve, and naturally accepting of the supernatural.

The quileutes appear in the next chapter, but they are not werewolves.