Cheap Thrills

by MozzarellaMermaid

If there was something I had to say I lived for; it would be the thrills. The rush, the adrenaline... So when I woke up in the body of Bella Swan I thought this could be exciting. Sadly, I was right. For all the wrong reasons. SI-OC, M for language, violence and sexual themes. Part one complete.

12. Chapter 12

Good grief, it feels like months since I updated! I mean, it's not, but I've celebrated 3 birthdays, dressed up for Halloween, done some Christmas shopping and I got bitten by a dog since last time I posted, so it feels like a lifetime. Regardless, I have prevailed through all that to bring you the latest chapter! I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think in reviews or on my writing Tumblr (MozzarellaMermaid), where you can see edits I've done for most of the characters, some deleted scenes and excerpts from other stuff I'm working on, and of course keep up to date on how the current chapter is going!

Disclaimer: I'd like to think that owning Twilight would mean I would have money, seeing as how my family's days of birth and the upcoming birth of Christ have left me in a financial pit of despair, I think it's safe to say I don't own squat.

**Quick update! It has recently come to my attention that Tanya is the one with a crush on Edward, not Irina. I'm really not sure how I ended up getting them mixed up, but in my defence they weren't fleshed out as much as some of the other characters. I don't feel like I can change it now, I could change the names but I know I've had Kali vaguely remember that Irina was the one that told on the Cullens for having an "immortal child", so it'd be a lot more than just doing a quick replace all. I'm sorry if it bothers you at all, but it's just going to stay that way for now.

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Chapter 12

"This fucking shit again?! Give me your fucking body Jasper, I'm going to kill them myself!"

"No, Kali, calm down." Jasper commanded sternly as I felt hot, angry, tears spill down my cheeks. It was news that shocked me to the core and made my heart ache. I had been trying to distance myself from him a little lately, because the guilt was overwhelming, I know that was a selfish and pathetic response but I'm only human, and he was not my Dad. There was nothing I could do regardless, he hadn't needed any blood or donated organs and he had yet to properly wake up, my presence at the Hospital could only be for emotional reasons that I just couldn't feel. Carlisle assured us that Charlie's unconsciousness wasn't an unusual response to severe trauma and blood loss whilst his mind and body healed.

Either way, what could I do? When I had asked, the Cullens had all vetoed me making unnecessary visits and putting us in danger, whilst I thought Charlie was a lovely man who definitely didn't deserve this, I had no true emotional bond with him. Not like the ones I had been building with the Cullens, who were the only ones that knew who I really was. Charlie felt closer to an uncle I rarely saw than a Dad to me, I had to think hard for prolonged conversation and it was impossible to form a bond with the man who thought I was his amnesiac daughter.

If the impossible happened and someone like Rose ended up in a similar situation, I likely would have stayed by her bedside. Though even more likely, I'd have been hospitalised too cause hell no was I letting my gorgeous sister get hurt without me acting at the very least as a meat shield. Of course that was a hypothetical situation, unlike the very real threat to Charlie's life.

The guilt was ripping chunks out of my heart, I was so angry with myself for not having done more to protect him, to help him that I didn't even notice Jasper's arms encircle me to keep me steady. My tears of frustration soaked his shirt and I slowly fisted the soft material as my inner rage grew.

"Why?" I croaked out, desperate for a reason. "He didn't do anything! And he's- he's hurt!" I yelled into his chest as I tried pathetically to stifle my sobs.

"I don't know, Darlin', but I'm going to find him." I pulled back to look up at him with wide eyes.

"Please...I won't ask anything more of you, but please, don't let them kill him," I begged feeling as helpless as my words sounded. Jasper nodded tightly and gave me a look of unwavering confidence.

"I won't let him die." He unpeeled me from his waist and held my hands, tenderly kissing my knuckles. "I'm going to go and see if we can find his trail, or if we find any clues. Stay here." I hesitated but nodded briefly until he pinned me with a hard stare.

"I won't leave." I promised, and Jasper gave me a tight smile and a kiss to my cheek before turning back to the family that had gathered around.

"Rose, Emmett, Esme, please stay here and guard Kali, this could be a ploy to separate us and lessen her protection."

Esme gave her husband a concerned look and reached out towards him automatically, "Will you be alright with just the two of you?"

Carlisle gave her a reassuring smile and a sweet kiss. "Don't worry dear, Jasper and I are more than capable of taking care of ourselves. I'll call as soon as we learn more, but Jasper's right, this may be a trap to separate us from Kali. That's why I need you here, I know you won't let any harm come to her."

Esme gave him a watery smile and stroked his cheek fondly, "Then be safe my love."

With the final goodbyes said, Jasper and Carlisle zipped out the door - they took his car because the police would likely want to talk to him and it'd be unusual for them to show up out of nowhere almost as soon as the call was received. A little part of me felt empty as I watched the car speed away. Rose placed a chilly hand on my shoulder that somehow gave me a warm feeling as impossible as that was.

"It'll be alright, they'll find him." Rose wasn't optimistic enough or perhaps she was kind enough not to make any promises, but she trusted her adopted family to find the body at least.

The idea of Charlie being killed when he had already suffered enough, made the lump in my throat double in size until it felt like I'd swallowed an apple whole.

"Yeah," I croaked out roughly and let her lead me inside as the tears started up again. She guided me to the sofa and gently pushed me down, in the corner of my eye I saw Esme disappear and Emmett came and sat on the other side of me.

"Bring it in lil' sis," He lifted a gigantic arm and dragged me into his side. Rose vanished for just a moment but came back with one of Emmett's gigantic hoodies, fresh out of the dryer and draped it over me before snuggling up to my back and idly stroking my hair.

I appreciated the gesture and let myself relax in their arms, trying to hold myself together like they were doing for me. It was comforting, and I think it kept me grounded at a time when I felt like I was going to burst at the seams. Esme soon appeared with a cup of warm tea, that I gratefully accepted. It was almost sickly sweet, not that I minded, but I looked up at her, a touch confused that she had gotten my tea wrong when she knew how I liked it.

"Sugar helps with shock, nothing better than a sweet tea for bad news... Is there anything else I can get you?" She offered kindly and I shook my head awkwardly around the two bodies cuddling me and sniffled noisily.

Her expression turned resolute and almost stern as she looked out of the windows with an air of suspicion.

"I'm going to run a perimeter, you two stay here with her." Apparently I wasn't the only one surprised by her sudden declaration.

"Are you gonna be alright on your own?" Emmett asked cautiously as he made to untangle himself from my hug.

The Cullen Matriarch pinned him with a stern look that kept him in his seat.

"Of course, I shan't be long. Please drink up before it goes cold, Kali." I nodded and tried to look grateful for her attentiveness and care even though I just wanted to cry in a corner. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I dutifully took another long sip to appease her.

"Be careful, Momma-bear," I said, giving her a watery smile that made her come around the sofa and hug my neck from behind (probably the only place she could have got in) and gave me a chaste kiss on my tear streaked cheek.

"I will, dear, and don't you worry, Carlisle and Jasper will find him," I leaned my head against hers in the only gesture I could do to return the love before she gave us all a last smile, and bolted out of the door.

"Alright, would you like a movie, a comic, or a game? I'll let you beat me on Tekken if you like?" Rose offered kindly and I couldn't help the tiny laugh that escaped.

"You know you'd lose if you were human," I said lightly, ignoring how miserable and gravelly my voice sounded. Rose gave me a soft smile and opened up the cupboard of DVD's.

"Movie it is, what are we feeling, something happy?" I nodded and sniffed again, making Emmett tug me a little closer.

"No more musicals please, you're going to torture me." My lips lifted a little in the closest approximation of a smile that I could muster, and I reached up to poke him in the face.

"Only until you learn the words," I teased, trying to go along with the atmosphere Rose was trying to cultivate, no matter how much I didn't feel like being a part of it. Rose snorted and browsed titles until she pulled out a case that was covered in mountains and beautiful fields.

"Sound of Music?" My laugh was a lot less forced as I nodded.

"Sounds great," Rose beamed at me and after starting the movie, came and took her seat by my side.

I was very grateful they didn't say anything when the tears inevitably started up again.

It was a whole day before we heard back from Jasper and Carlisle, and it wasn't good news.

"I'm sorry Kali, there was no sign of him," Jasper admitted the moment I saw his defeated expression. My heart was in my throat and I didn't realise I was biting my lip so hard until Rose, Esme, and Carlisle became as still as statues.

For a long moment everyone in front of the house made no sudden moves, I tasted copper on my lip and realised I was bleeding. Momentarily forgetting the news I'd just heard, my hand flew to my mouth and I looked around wildly.

"Moh gawd, um fo forry!" I apologised hastily underneath my hand tightly clamped over my mouth and made a dash round the house for Esme's garden.

"Kali!" Jasper called after me but I ignored him in favour of giving them some distance.

I sat down on the bench, the furthest part of her garden away from the house and softly sucked on my lip to clean it. It was only a light cut and would heal quickly, but I wasn't interested in testing anyone's control, and right now, the moment alone was what I needed.

I took a shuddering breath, barely registering the chill of the late October air on my tiny cut, all that was on my mind was how I had failed Charlie. As the hours had dragged on, my hope for Jasper finding Charlie dwindled. Carlisle had sent a text to let us know they were both alright but he hadn't said much more, which immediately gave me cause for concern; no news wasn't always good news.

I didn't even notice when hot tears started dripping down my face, completely out of my control and I felt like I was mourning Charlie already. Bowing my head in shame I waited in silence for the tears to stop and the blood to dry up, sadly I wasn't left alone nearly long enough for the former or come to a halt.

"You're going to catch a cold out here, y'know," Jasper told me gently as he slowly made his way through the carefully covered garden and eased himself into the frosty spot next to me.

"I deserve a cold, heck, I deserve pneumonia." I could see Jasper wince lightly in the corner of my eye at my dark tone but he stood and shrugged off the heavy winter coat he had left in yesterday. He swung it over my shoulders and I couldn't help but drag it tighter around me, even if I felt like I deserved to freeze to death in the shitty weather.

"I am, so, so sorry, Kali." I stiffened a little at his sudden apology, cutting through the silence, and couldn't help but look up at him with defeated eyes.

"Please- don't. I know, I know you did the best you could but that doesn't make this better right now. I'm too angry," I pleaded, turning my gaze back to my shoes as I idly watched my knee bounce.

"At me?" He asked quietly, there was a touch of vulnerability in his voice that I couldn't ignore. Grabbing his hand tightly I shook my head.

"No, at me," My voice cracked but I couldn't stop the torrent of words. "It's all my fault, if I'd have never came here then none of this would have happened. Bella would be home, Charlie wouldn't be hurt, and missing. Edward would still be a twat but at least he would have been happy, and you-" I hesitated but Jasper knew where I was going and tightened the grip on my hand.

"And I learned that there was something better and someone more compatible for me, You've brought out a light in Rose that I don't think I've ever seen anyone but Emmett do. Emmett's got a sister that adores his wife and can debate with him on any of his nerdy hobbies... Stop worrying about what you've taken away and think about what you've given us."

Whilst his words helped a little, nothing could quite fill the invisible hole in my chest.

"But it's not worth the outcome. You were all plenty happy in the end, and Charlie didn't have to die to get you there." I stuttered between sobs, Jasper released my hand in favour of wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his side.

"You don't know that he's gone, Darlin." I angrily swiped at my face and shook my head.

"You don't know that he isn't!" I retorted, my voice rising as I glared at him for his useless optimism, pulling away from his embrace enough to get a better look at him.

For a long moment he stared at me before wriggling a cold hand underneath the neck of my shirt and held onto my shoulder. Immediately I could feel the touch of his gift as it probed my emotions, for some reason this only made me angrier and the burst of rage made Jasper snarl unwillingly. I imagine most normal people would have stopped and recoiled in horror if the man they were romantically interested in growled at them like a wild animal, but not this idiot.

"You wanted to know what I'm feeling so fucking badly, enjoy!" I growled right back, my voice cracking again when I couldn't control the tears of frustration.

Jasper's face slowly smoothed out as he got control of himself and he gave me a gentle stare as he slowly exhaled.

"You need to calm down, Kali, this much stress is bad for your heart."

I made some sort of feral noise and threw off his arm and his link to my feelings as I stood over him, "I don't calm down just cause you say so! I want to smash everything within a hundred mile fucking radius, screw my weak-ass heart!"

Jasper stared at me expressionlessly for a long moment, before he slowly reached up towards my throat.

In a swift movement, he tugged down the ring pull on the back of my necklace and rolled my bracelet off my wrist with his other hand, as he gave me a tight smile.

"Then go wreck the forest, leave Esme's garden out of it though." Before the smoke began to burn, he placed my bracelet safely on the bench, and returned to stroke my cheek fondly for a brief moment.

"Wha-" By the time I figured out how to speak again it was too late to ask him anything, and I was suddenly looking at the last tendrils of the smoke from where I stood evaporate into the frosty air out of eyes that caught every minute detail.

It took a second for my brain to catch up with what had just happened and then the last ebbing sensation of my rage trickled its way into dead veins and I made the hasty decision to run.

Taking a more human pace (though still breaking records, I'm sure) I jumped over the low shrubbery fence and made my way into the forest, dodging the trees with far more ease than before because my eyes could actually keep up with my slower movements. Once I felt I was far enough in, I took a steadying breath, pulled back my arm, and with all my strength punched through the closest tree.

The bark splintered and cracked beneath Jaspers knuckles, his arm went all the way through with ease. The tree began to fall, it was going to land on top of me but with a shove I knocked it away, covering Jasper in shards of wood and falling leaves. It felt really satisfying, so I did it again, and again and again, until someone finally came out to see what the nearby sounds of deforestation was all about.

"So, does Jasper know he's become a lumberjack?" I stopped punching nature and looked up towards the voice of the glorious Rose.

"His idea, he used my necklace, not me."

Rose said nothing and watched me for a long moment before coming over and brushing the debris off of Jasper, "You're making moves you don't need to, vampires don't have to swing their arm like that, we can break the tree just by punching straight, you don't even need to pull your arm back." The news surprised me, but it felt like I was behind the wheel of a new race car, I wasn't quite sure what it was totally capable of but I could feel the power it had.

"I'll keep it in mind." Was all I said as I stopped moving to let her fix my appearance, as is her habit.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked me quietly after another minute of silence. My eyes snapped up to her face from staring at the dead leaves and brutalised trees.

"What is there left to say? You know what's happened." I said and angrily kicked at a rock, sending it rocketing into the corpse of one of the many trees surrounding me. Rose's brow pinched together as she studied me hard and finally took my hand.

"Come with me," I let her tug me further into the woods, faster and faster until we were both running, Rose kept me behind her and helpfully pulled me out of the way of anything the would impede our path.

She said nothing as we ran, just dragged me along and it gave me a moment to clear my head. The scenery whipping by me so fast I couldn't register anything until long after we'd passed it. She kept up this pace for a long time until I started to feel a little tug of thirst in the back of my throat, as Jasper's energy waned, and we slowed down to a stop in the middle of nowhere.

"Why'd you bring me here?" I asked as I looked around, it wasn't much different from the forests that we usually sped through, though the trees were perhaps a little bigger and older than some of the others.

"This is my spot." Still keeping hold of my hand, she walked with me until we could hear the sounds of running water. My ears pricked as I silently followed her, idly dodging the surrounding nature until we came upon a little brook. Next to the small stream of water running downhill, was a swinging bench that looked fairly new.

Rose released my hand and took a seat, patting the space next to her, I didn't feel like sitting down but did as she wanted and stared hard at the water that was so close I could almost kick at it.

"I know there's nothing I can say to make it okay..." She started after a long moment. "And I know I'm no consolation, I'm not the best at comforting people either, so just please, tell me what you need, and it's yours." I felt strong emotions well up inside me and gripped the seat of the bench so hard it started to crack underneath my crushing hold.

"I want to make it right, I want to save Charlie." I looked at her, Jasper's eyes shining with venom, "But you can't give me that and I don't know what to do. How do I fix this?" Although it must have looked a little strange, she tugged me close until my head was awkwardly resting on her shoulder and ran her fingers through Jasper's curly locks.

"I don't know honey, but I promise I'll do everything in my power to make this right." I slowly relaxed into her arms as the tension eased out of me with every soothing word she spoke. "You aren't alone, and I don't care what you say, it's not your fault. They chose to do this to him, not you, you've only ever tried to help him." I swallowed the lump in my throat as the guilt gnawed at me again.

"I should have done more, I should have protected him-" Rose pulled me tighter against her to halt my tirade of guilt-ridden confessions.

"We all feel the same as you, Carlisle wishes he had stayed at the Hospital, even though it would look suspicious for him to be able to pull so many hours at a time. Esme thinks we should have used Carlisle's pull at the Hospital to move him here. Jasper's beating himself up for not being able to keep his promise to you, why'd you think he gave you his body?"

I pulled away to look at her skeptically.

"To smash stuff?" I asked slowly, making her give me a sympathetic smile.

"Maybe a little, but I think he's hoping you'll punish his body, like he knows you can right now, and he can atone for his failure, I'm all too familiar with how my brother thinks whenever he feels he's done wrong." I looked down at Jasper's arm that I had torn off in a violent rage, what felt like a millennia ago, and shook my head.

"I wouldn't... He doesn't deserve that, I-I asked too much of him, it wasn't fair of me to make him promise something out of his control." I caved, Rose gave me a small smile and stroked my back comfortingly.

"I think you asked for what he couldn't give but he didn't want to let you down, which is why he was so late coming back. Carlisle said he wouldn't stop looking, kept going back to places he'd already checked in case there was a new trail, even tried to track down the car by its scent, which is incredibly difficult and rarely works... The point is, he tried, and you tried, and neither of you deserve the punishment or anger from one another or yourselves." I nodded along, though I still felt that I did.

Rose swung herself off the bench and crouched in front of me, grasping Jasper's hands.

"No, I mean it, you shouldn't punish yourself with your rage and he shouldn't punish himself by hoping you'll wreck his body," She chided sternly, practically forcing me into agreement with her glare.

"Um, okay," Though judging by her cool expression, it wasn't the answer she wanted. After a long moment her expression softened and she sighed deeply.

"I won't promise you that I'll be able to save Charlie or bring him back to you, but I promise that whatever happens, they'll pay for what they've done."

My lips twitched into the barest of smiles, that seemed to make her relax a touch."Thank you, but I don't want to put you in danger too-"

Rose cut me off with a scoff, "As if, it looks to me like their little Coven is made up mostly of weaklings that can only cause our most experienced member, a distraction, and cowards that are only brave enough to attack humans." I was still a little concerned and squeezed her hands.

"But they-"

"Shut up, it's already been decided, besides I can take care of myself you know?" She gave me a hard stare with those liquid gold eyes. "And I defend my family."

My breath hitched in my throat and I hugged her too tightly, making her squawk indignantly.

"I love you so much, Rosie, really, I do."

She pulled herself out of Jasper's strong arms and gave me a beautiful smile, "I love you too, even if you are more trouble than Bella ever was. Are you ready to switch back?"

I nodded, thinking of how I wanted to apologise to Jasper and reassure him that he did the best he could. Then I realised I left my bracelet in Esme's garden, where Jasper had taken it from me before I stole his body. "Ah, yeah, we gotta go back first."

Rose grinned smugly and fished into her pockets, "Actually I thought this might be a problem at some point, I plan on giving everyone some of these so that you won't be trapped if you couldn't change back." She pulled out her keys with a jingle, and I noticed a small gold bomb on a keyring.

"Clever," I said and took the initiative to pull it off and throw it just about 5 feet away from me. There was a short fizz before it went off and the red smoke exploded out of the small container, it dispersed in the wind fairly quickly and I stepped closer, inhaling deeply. The sweet smell overpowered me and I was suddenly stumbling like a newborn deer as I tried to catch my breath.

Rose had helpfully caught Jasper and lowered him to the ground when I exited his body, she then picked me up easily and moved me away from the dissipating smoke. I grinned up at her dazedly and held onto her as I stood unsteadily.

"Thanks, Dollface." She smiled down at me and I left her side to go sit with Jasper.

He looked like some kind of dead angel with those perfectly chiselled looks, marred by silvery scars that caught in the light. Even though they weren't open yet, I loved the way his golden curls matched those piercing eyes that could stare right through me... I felt my heart stutter a little as I watched him sleep. Barely registering my lovestruck thoughts whilst I drank him in.

What would such a perfect creature want with me? He wasn't even attracted to my looks, or my body and I couldn't offer him sex as thanks (no matter how much I wanted to), yet he had tried so hard to find Charlie, just because it was what I had wanted. I didn't deserve such devotion, surely there was nothing I could give him that he couldn't get from any other woman.

Almost reverently, I stroked his face and smiled softly.

"I'm sorry, Cowboy," I muttered softly, the wind stealing my words. His alabaster skin was smooth and cold, it was like touching stone and I couldn't help but rest my palm against cheek. There was a long pause whilst I waited for him to wake, I had forgotten to count the minutes so I had no idea how long it had been, but Rose seemed to have an idea by the looks of it.

"I think you two need a little chat, catch up with me when you're home." Rose said, I gave her a distracted nod, my eyes focused solely on the sleeping man underneath me. She flew by me, dropping a kiss to my cheek that made me smile brightly, as she disappeared into the woods.

It wasn't particularly comfortable, but I climbed on top of Jasper's chest and buried my face in the crook of his neck, the giant coat still wrapped around my shoulders acting like a blanket against the cold for both of us. Not that he needed it of course. I didn't have to wait very long for Jasper to rouse, and I almost jumped when his arm suddenly snaked across my back and cuddling him became ten times more comfortable. His body stopped feeling like stiff stone as he moved and wrapped his arms around me without question.

I felt the tears well up in my eyes and buried my face harder in his neck to stop them.

"Please don't cry, Darlin, I'm so sorry." The sincerity in his voice broke my heart, I threw my arms clumsily around his neck and shook my head furiously.

"No! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I asked so much of you! It wasn't fair of me, Charlie- he's not your responsibility, what happened-" Jasper cut off my tearful babble as he secured his hold around me and sat up, he tucked the coat around my shoulders again and rocked with me gently as I cried on the ground like a pathetic mess.

"Enough blame, Kali, this can't go on. You're going to guilt yourself into an early grave at this rate, I know this hurts you and I know how bad you feel," I finally noticed that the fingers brushing against my waist had been tapping into my feelings. "But it won't help you, you need to decide what you do next, and you can't let guilt get in the way of your choices." I pulled away to look at him in confusion, he brushed at the wet patches under my eyes and gave me the gentlest of smiles.

"What can I do? There's no trace of him," I sniffed noisily and rubbed my wet face on my shoulder.

"There comes a time during any dark situation where you'll have a moment to choose. Sometimes it's between good or bad, sometimes it's a choice of what's right and what's noble, and sometimes it's between two bad outcomes."

My brow furrowed as he spoke, "What do you mean? What does that have to do with now?"

Jasper gave me a sad smile and peeled away a strand of hair that had become matted to my face whilst I cried, "This might be one of those moments, you can choose to stop searching for him and I will take you far away where no one can hurt you." My heart stuttered at the suggestion, and a big part of me wanted to say yes, but how could I? "Or, we stay, we wait for their next move and we fight them."

I hesitated, Jasper was giving me the choice, he was giving me the out- away from a battle between gods and monsters, and if I were to turn that down I would be dragging his family into a war where they could be killed or exposed or both. This choice wasn't just mine though, besides it belonging to every member of the Cullen household that would fight alongside me, it was Bella's choice too.

"Before you make up your mind, think about it, I'll sort out some documents and money if you want to leave, or even if you don't, it never hurts to be prepared in these situations. Just know that whatever you choose, I'll stand by you." I couldn't help but launch myself at him in a messy make out session that ended up with him back on the ground.

"You're too good to me," I said softly against his lips and kissed him again, ignoring the tears that gathered in my eyes. Screw whatever moment he wanted me to be prepared for, this was the moment I needed right now.

We finally started heading back to the Cullens when the sky became too dark for me to see. I let Jasper carry me home, the extra fear from running in the dark when I was blind to the world around me was a good rush, and I felt more level-headed when he set me down in the living room.

"Kali, we were worried, are you alright?" Esme immediately went into mother hen mode and began clucking around me, checking me over and commenting on how chilly I looked. I gathered up her hands and smiled brightly, surprising them all a little, probably because it was obvious to even regular eyes that I'd been crying.

"I'm fine, Esme. There's something I want to talk to you about- all of you," I turned my gaze to the other members of the family who had gathered upon our arrival. Jasper too looked a little surprised and watched me curiously. Once everyone was seated, I smiled and clapped my hands together.

"I want to fight the nomads, I don't have a plan or a single clue how to really go about that, but that's what I want to do." I turned slightly towards Jasper with a sad smile. "I don't want to run away and pretend this never happened and hope that whatever interest this mystery 'employer' has in me or Bella goes away. I don't know what's happened to Charlie, but I know that Bella wouldn't run away just because she was in danger. Something like this happened before."

I always toyed with telling them anything about the story I had read but it was starting to get to a point where I didn't care anymore, because clearly I was the outsider in this world, everything here was as real as it appeared. Who was I to say they were fictional characters? At this point, it sounded stupid in my own head. Especially considering I was pining after one of these characters and that would be some worrying levels of fangirling if he wasn't real.

Oh my shit, am I technically a Jasper fangirl? Ahh, bollocks, who cares.

"When Bella met James, he became way too interested in her, because of how good she smelled and his complete obsession with the hunt. While you were all busy protecting her, James got his hands on some of Bella's childhood tapes that Renee had filmed of when she tried ballet. He used the sound of her Mom's voice to trick Bella into thinking he had kidnapped her and lured Bella out of hiding, he ended up breaking her leg and biting her wrist but Edward chose to suck out the venom rather than have her turn. You all got there just in the nick of time and saved the day, you killed him, although some dumbass made the call not to go after Victoria."

They were interested and I could see they wanted more details, but I didn't want to push my luck and carried on. "My point is, something a little similar already happened and even though Bella was safe and she knew you guys wouldn't let her come to any harm, she left. She made the dumbass, reckless choice I would have made and made a break for it during the day where no one could chase her down or protect her to save her Mom." I gave them all a resolute smile and stood tall, "And that is exactly what I plan to do for her Dad."

There was a long pause and the household gave each other worried looks before Carlisle chose to speak.

"So, to clarify, you want to make the reckless choice? Kali, I would much rather you be away from all this and trust us to deal with it by ourselves." My midget height wasn't exactly intimidating, but my glare must have been by the way he withered beneath it.

"Fuck. No. I can help, and it's me they want in the first fucking place. Think about it Carlisle, they're playing this smarter than James did on his solo mission to eat Bella. They actually kidnapped Charlie instead of convincing me he was gone, not only the day I planned to go home, which no one else but us knew about, but they also picked the perfect moment whilst he was waiting for me. Not to mention they left no scent and no way to track them. After that they used our trap to try and split us up to take me back with them too, thankfully, that failed because Rose is a boss-ass bitch,"

I paused to snort at Rose's interruption of,

"This is true." With hair flip included.

"-And because I can talk for Britain. This time they've taken Charlie at the sole opportune moment when Carlisle's home and not protecting him, if history tells me anything it's that they're going to try and get me away from here using Charlie."

Jasper perked up a little and gave me a hopeful smile, "Which likely means they won't immediately kill him."

I smiled brightly and pointed at him dramatically, "Bingo! Give the cowboy a new horse, cause he is ridin' on outta here!"

Jasper rolled his eyes and came to stand next to me as he addressed the room, "We need to do this, we let this go on and it'll only get worse, they're convinced that somehow once they catch Kali, the entirety of Forks will be theirs to eat. We can't let it get to that point."

Rose stared at him with a deep frown, "You're speaking as if we're all on the fence here. We've all made the decision to help in any way we can, Jasper. If you have some idea on what to do next though, I'm all ears."

I smiled at Rose and let my fingers brush against Jasper's wrist and focused on the feelings of gratitude that had swelled within me.

He gave everyone sheepish smile and fiddled with the end of my hair nervously, as if it were his own, "Well, not exactly... I have some vague ideas but there are some things I wanted to run past Eleazar when he arrives. He has experience with hunting vampires and worked with a man that possesses tracking abilities when he was a member of the Volturi; my forte is fighting vampires, so whilst I could plan how we attack them, I would like a little more insight into their abilities, if possible."

Carlisle smiled and straightened in his seat, "A wise choice, son. Eleazar is a veritable fountain of information when it comes to gifted vampires, similarly, he may have come across an evasion ability like Victoria's during his time in Italy. He should be here tomorrow, they plan on travelling through tonight's rain."

I smiled up at Jasper and clapped him hard on the back, "Look at you, all thinking and shit."

He gave me a slightly cold look and his nose upturned just a touch, "Are you implying I normally don't think?"

I grinned and threw an arm around his waist, draping my full weight against him. "I mean there was that one time that you tried to kill me, or was that twice? It's hard to remember these days..." I said as I thoughtfully tapped my chin.

Jasper's mouth twitched and his arm came around my back and he began leading me towards the kitchen, "Yes, yes, one of my fondest memories. Now that you've made your declaration of war, let's get you something to eat."

I laughed but let him lead me away to feast. Esme followed and immediately set to work, giving Jasper a stern look when he tried to insist he could make me something, making him wither into the bar stool next to me.

"Why did you even try? I've given up at this point." I said, and caught Esme's smug smirk as she bustled about with pots and pans flying around the room at an insane speed.

"Is it so bad that I want to make you a meal?" I could barely help the bright smile as I laid my head on his shoulder.

"You're sweet, but I'm happy having you right here."

His smile lifted and he rested his chin on top of my head whilst I waited for whatever culinary miracle Esme was whipping up.

"You two do seem rather fond of one another," Esme said gently, I could tell she wanted to broach the subject of our evolving relationship and her opening sounded friendlier than I would have thought if she was disapproving; that was a good start.

"Jasper's been very good to me, and I've come to care for him very much. I know you all think it's not ideal, or the right time, but I'm very happy." I said sincerely, loving the way Jasper's arm curled tighter around me and his body tensed ever so slightly, like he wanted to steal me away.

"We're both happy," He added with a light peck to my forehead that made my insides twist pleasantly.

Esme's smile was soft and her eyes had their usual shine of kindness as she spoke.

"Then I'm also very happy, Kali, all I ask is for you to take care of one another and not to make any hasty decisions." I tried to ignore the wave of embarrassment and my eyes drifted to the side.

"Umm...I wasn't going to...I think I already said that I wouldn't-"

Esme's giggle made my eyes shoot back to her face, "I was actually talking about your safety, but I'm glad you're being smart and conscientious of Bella's feelings." The teasing smile on her face lit up her beautiful golden eyes, I could only drop my head on the table noisily and groan.

"Of course you were," I grumbled. Jasper patted my shoulder sympathetically but I could feel his chest shaking against my side, lifting my head I saw he was barely containing his laughter, my deadpan glare with added blush made him snort and look away from me.

"Oh Darlin', you gotta get your mind out of the gutter," He cut himself off with his own chuckles, I caught Esme's bell-like laugh as she dashed around the kitchen, probably doing ten tasks at once.

"Roooooseee!" I whined pathetically, my hot tamale sister from another mister appeared with a curious smile as she caught the last tendrils of laughter.

"Yes, Kali?" She asked, and folded her arms, her smile growing wider as she caught my expression.

"Your family is picking on me, can I borrow your body to duff up Jasper a bit?"

Rose's hands went to her hips as she smugly turned me down, "Not a chance, you've had your one allotted use for today."

I pouted and pointed at Jasper, "That was all this douche-bag! Dammit, Babydoll, that doesn't count!"

Esme laughed as she placed a gently steaming mug in front of me and patted my head condescendingly, "There, there, sweetheart, maybe you can 'duff him up' tomo-" Her last word was drowned out by the sudden and abrupt rumble of thunder, so loud that it made me jump. It was followed by flashes in the sky, that lit up the windows and I finally noticed the rain beating against the house.

"Dangatang, that is one hell of a storm," I exclaimed lightly and shuddered. I'd never been afraid of lightning or thunder, it seemed silly to me, but for some reason as I stared out the window, the storm left me with an ominous feeling in my gut. I took a swig from my drink, barely registering the sweet hot chocolate as it warmed me from the insides.

Maybe I was nervous about meeting new vampires? Carlisle said they would be leaving as soon as it began to rain, I had briefly wondered if they were timing leaving their home for when it was going to rain in Forks. Looking at this storm though, it didn't look like they'd need to, it'd last plenty long enough if they left now I imagined.

"You're not wrong," Esme said lightly and a small frown marred her pretty features for a minute as she craned her neck to look out the side of the window, probably at her garden. "But everything always looks brighter after a storm." She finished with a bright smile that I couldn't help but slowly reciprocate.

My thoughts drifted to the vulnerable Charlie and the unusual happenings since I arrived. I had my doubts that the aftermath of a storm would make me feel any better.

"Maybe you're right," I muttered doubtfully as I leant back against Jasper. The way he protectively curled his arms around me made me feel safe and I turned away from the dark grey sky to give him a smile as I felt the brush of his gift against my neck.

Slowly he changed those worried feelings into peaceful contentment and I looked back out the window with a wistful sigh, very grateful I was falling for a man that had ended up being my shelter in the storm.

---

Bella? POV

It was cold and damp all around me in the room I was confined to, and since the storm had started outside, it had only begun to smell worse. Every second in this dreadful place left me confused and frightened, my mind a jumble of clashing thoughts and feelings, and it was hard to think past the images and memories assaulting me. It was like my head was trying to pull in all the memories I should know, but getting extra in return. It left me with a killer headache.

Any old thing would set off a jumble of thoughts rocketing in my head. For example, there was a bucket full of sweet smelling rocks in the corner, but the bucket brought up two very different memories. Washing a car with my Mom, a red haired woman whose smile was as radiant as the sunshine she always craved, and another, though different and somewhat hazier, about chugging some foul cocktail from a bucket and trying to limbo underneath people's legs all night.

Both memories were from very different times but in my heart I knew they were from two different people. For a day or so, it didn't even register that either of these people were me, but the kind Indian woman, Myra, told me otherwise as she created me a new arm out of clay and those rocks in the bucket.

"You are a living cadaver, my little doll, but your mind is split between two people. I will do all I can to aid you, but you must take the time to work through two sides of yourself." Her cryptic words didn't help me any.

Myra seemed kind, her face was marred by scar tissue, something had happened and the more polite side of me knew better than to ask. The other side was more worried the answer would scare the shit out of me. I tried not to stare whenever she stopped working long enough to talk to me, but she still caught me and gave me a sad smile. Sometimes I would sheepishly apologise and others I blurted out how beautiful she was, making her smile tighten, like I had said something wrong. Regardless of my confusing reactions, I could see that she didn't really want to talk to me, so I tried to entertain myself and took her advice to spend more time thinking about who I am.

Every reaction to anything that happened felt wrong. Instead of just jumping in fright when I was scared, sometimes I'd threaten people or objects. There were two very different responses to every situation in my head, and my response to anything that happened was akin to flipping a coin, no personality was dominant over the other. Myra told me it was her fault and she apologised whenever I tried to talk about it - I'm sure she could see my mental suffering from the constant time we spent together, locked in her room.

The memories weren't all there either, some were fragmented and others were clearly missing altogether. I'd try to think about my parents and five different faces would appear in my minds eye, their features difficult to make out as if I was looking through a lens smeared with Vaseline. I didn't even know how I knew what Vaseline was, though I could briefly remember buying it and smearing it on door handles for some reason.

If the lack of distinctive personality and memories weren't bad enough, I had to deal with Edward. He didn't come down to visit me often, and he never spoke about anything relevant, just talked about his feelings and what he wanted, but the conversations would always go wrong. At first he'd be angry, then he was so sad and I could see his shame, though I think it was more geared towards self pity than the horrible things he had done.

Seeing his angelic face always dragged out feelings of longing and loathing, and Edward didn't help this by refusing to answer any of my questions. The more he denied me the more aggressive personality would become dominant and I'd demand answers until he left.

I could remember Edward vaguely, I knew a few simple facts about him, but then things began to clash again. He was a good man that was scared of becoming a monster, but he was a prick that had tried to control me when I wasn't his. He was a kind and gentle, but he had hurt me twice that I could remember, something about my hands and he had shattered my entire arm since I woke up.

There were no windows in the basement I had been locked in, just a handful of candles that Myra changed every few hours barely lighting up the dingy concrete room. I could remember sunlight so well, yet I'd never seen it with these eyes and this skin had never known warmth. I knew nothing but the dank, little, stone room, filled with Myra's work.

I couldn't say how long it was before I saw anyone but Myra or Edward but whilst I was trying to meditate on my memories, like Myra had instructed me to try (not that I had a fucking clue where to start with that), the lock on the door slid back and a new face I had not seen in either of my memories yet, stepped in. Slung across his back was a man I definitely recognised.

"Charlie!" I scrambled off the floor, nearly falling back on my face when I used my new arm to push myself up. The fresh limb felt weak and fragile, I had to consciously think to use it or it just became limp at my side.

"Stay right there," The strangers cold voice demanded making me freeze, he turned to Myra and slid Charlie on the floor in an undignified heap. His clothes sounded like tissue, and underneath the thick robe he wore, and I could barely see the stark white of a hospital gown. "Myra, the blood of this one should replenish her."

Myra gave me a wary glance and I could see she wanted to protest, but she dutifully nodded and made her way to the back of the room where a large fishbowl full of leeches sat. I always kept my distance from them, the slight orange tinge in the water made me nervous and if my fragmented memories were anything to go by, there was good reason to be.

Myra pulled off the makeshift lid of fabric held taut with an elastic band around the rim, and using a pair of tongs next to the bowl, she carefully gathered up a leech and walked with the wriggling creature back to Charlie. She looked down for a moment and seemed at a loss, he was badly wounded, that much I could see from my position on the floor. There were thick bandages around his arms and hands, his face was pale and he had yet to wake from the rough treatment of the newcomer.

"For God's sake woman, give it here," Faster than my eyes could have followed, he snatched the tongs from her hands and tore off the shoulder of Charlie's robe, placing the leech on his bare collarbone, a thin line of blood soon began dripping where the leech gorged itself. As soon as I realised what he was doing, I tried to stand again and made to rush him and protect Charlie. Before I could even stumble to my feet, the man was in front of me, glaring down with glittering coal black eyes.

"I am in no mood for you, sit still or I will smash your other arm and we'll need even more blood from him." I was confused, I knew I was no vampire, so why would I even need his blood in the first place? Was it some sort of transfusion? The answer was far more grim than I had anticipated.

"Is that enough?" He asked Myra curtly, she nervously nodded and the man darted out and grabbed her by the throat, "Don't lie to me, Bruja! You used at least two leeches on yourself! Fetch another." He commanded and dropped the shaking woman, she scrambled back to the tank and the cruel man threw the tongs she had forgotten at her back, making her flinch.

Still, Myra dutifully gathered the tongs and peeled another leech off the inside of the bowl and made her way back to Charlie. Gently, she pulled down the other sleeve of his dressing gown and rolled up the paper gown a little before slowly placed the writhing leech on his biceps.

I watched nervously, biting my lip to stop myself from running over and doing something stupid, lest this man hurt him more. I felt tears gather in my eyes and resisted the urge to cover them with my palms as the burn started. Myra told me that every time I cried I was liquidising the Myrrh inside me and that's what made my eyes feel like they'd had peppers rubbed into them whenever I became miserable - which was often, considering my current situation.

Not that I even knew myself what situation I was in.

Watching them hurt Charlie tore me up as memories of him shoved each other out of the way to be noticed. The time he tried to teach me how to fish, the look on his face every time I visited and every time I left, his awkward affection...all those images of his face and of the times we shared, left me with tightly clenched fists and a desperate urge to break this vampires jaw.

"Get the fuck away from him!" I finally screeched, making both people swivel round to face me. Myra looked terrified, though by the way her eyes were darting to the stranger, it was not in fear of my outburst, more what it might incur.

The man bared his teeth at me unnaturally, his brow furrowed deeply and he took threatening steps towards me.

"I said SILENCE!" I flinched automatically but before he could so much as lay a hand on me, Edward appeared in front of me and blocked his path.

"Just what is going on?!" He demanded haughtily, his hand reached behind to me and pulled me a little bit closer to him. A part of me was repulsed and the other half relieved when he took up his defensive position and glared down the man hurting my already gravely injured Father, or not father? I don't know, one of the men I called Dad?

"Your little woman is trying to stop me from healing the wounds you caused," He stated easily and glared at Edward, as if daring him to tell him he was wrong.

I unintentionally flexed my weaker arm. Even though Myra rebuilt it fairly quickly, it was not the same as when I had first awoke, there was a constant ache that ran through it and I couldn't hold my grip for long. Myra had said that they were going to get me fixed up again, but I had no idea that this was what it entailed. By the looks of her face, she wasn't happy about it either.

"Bella, you have to let us help you, Love," Edward spoke slowly as if talking to a child, it ruffled my feathers something fierce. Sure, my heads a jumble of two sets of memories, but I'm not fucking stupid.

"He's hurting Charlie! Look at him; he already looks like he's been hit by a fucking train!" Edward's mouth tightened and his eyes narrowed, I tried to pull away from him the moment he lost that somewhat familiar persona and switched to cold disapproval.

"Watch your tongue, I'll not have you speak like her." After a long moment he dropped the vice-like grip on my arm and looked away, but not before I caught the look of misery painted on his face. "You're supposed to be Bella," He said so softly, I wouldn't have heard it if I wasn't carefully watching his lips, afraid of what he might say next, the second he released me I had taken a large step away to distance myself from him.

Taking a shuddering breath, I gathered my courage and stepped closer gain.

"I could be her, just please, Edward, stop hurting him. He's my Dad." I pleaded, my eyes darting back to where Myra had moved to remove the leeches from his shoulders.

Edward looked torn, he wanted to give me what I asked but he was aware that I wasn't all Bella, but who else I was wasn't easy to define with my fragmented mind and because he refused to tell me. Myra was too afraid to divulge anything, she told me that they could hear her whisper anywhere in the house, and refused to speak of the people I assumed were holding her captive. I knew what Edward was, a vampire, and I gathered the stranger was the same, but Myra refused to say it out loud, she barely spoke but to reassure me.

It almost surprised me when she tentatively walked around Edward and came close to me, both sluggishly writhing leeches held in a glass jar.

"It is done, please, if you do not wish to cause Bella or this poor soul anymore distress, let me fix her." Edward stared at her almost suspiciously, his eyes rudely resting on the weathered scars adorning her cheeks before he stepped away.

"Will this help make her more like Bella?" He demanded, making my shoulders tense in irritation.

"It might, but most importantly it will fix the damage you have done." She accused him quietly, making his snowy white brow pinch in annoyance. I folded my arms and tried not to look smug as I stood next to her in a show of support, immediately she darted her hand free hand out to my side to stop me coming any closer. "Please let me work," She asked him in her timid voice, but her dark eyes showed a fire and inner strength that I'd never understand.

Edward nodded once and turned to leave.

"Wait!" I called, making him and the retreating foreign Vampire halt unnaturally quickly. "What about Charlie? He needs a doctor!" Myra's hand pushed harder against me, to stop me from doing something stupid like charging them.

The stranger chuckled darkly and was suddenly standing back at the door with Charlie slung carelessly over his shoulder, like he was a side of cow, not an injured human being. His smug smirk grew when he saw how incensed his actions made me.

"With the way your lover's going through your limbs, I think we should keep him on hand, don't you?" Myra had to forcibly push me back as I tried to shove past her with my one working arm.

Edward saw my reaction to the treatment of my Father, and shook his head in disappointment as he left without a word. My completely justified rage was probably very un-Bella of me, but I couldn't give a fuck. The foreign vampire left, his malicious laughter floating away with him, the door slammed shut so hard we both jumped.

Myra turned to me and ushered me onto her work table, I didn't resist as she pushed me into laying down and soothed me idly with noises. I hadn't even noticed the burn of my tears until she brushed one off my cheek.

"I know your pain, little doll, I know it well." There was a look in her eye that I could see as plain as day past the tears gathered in them. This woman was in unimaginable agony, and I couldn't help but grasp the hand stroking my cheek softly.

"What did they do to you?" I asked, barely above a whisper. I was terrified of the answer, but I had to know what they might do to Charlie, and what they might do to me.

My question seemed to break the dam and a flood of silent tears fell down her mottled cheeks.

"He took my son... Anjim slept separately from my girls, Prisha and Anaya. He went into his room and I woke when I heard his scream and a shatter, but it was too late. There was nothing I could do..." She seemed to gather herself and brought her tale to a close, wiping her face with the hem of her blue sleeve. "Now he holds them prisoner, in a cage above us, until I complete all that he asks of me and still, it's not enough for him." She finished with a hollow note to her voice.

Her story haunted me, even though I was morbidly curious to know more about what had happened to her, but she seemed done with talking and I didn't want to push.

"Let's get your arm fixed, shall we Bella?" She said kindly as she pulled up the sleeve on my ratty jumper that I believed may have belonged to one of the foreign vampire's meals, if the little bloodstain at the back of the neck was any indication.

Myra's weird skill was part gross and part fascinating. When she ran her finger along my forearm, I felt a little hum of energy go right through me and my skin started to change. The line she drew down my arm transformed into soft clay, I couldn't feel it in the same way I could feel my skin. The area she changed felt heavier when she did this, and made my stomach roll slightly at how unnatural it felt.

Taking a little plastic scalpel off the side, she cut through my clay skin and gently opened it up. I tried not to look at it or pay attention to the feelings of disgust welling up inside me whilst she worked a hole open in my arm. I shuddered as I felt the damp air of the basement enter in my hollow arm as Myra held it open and turned away to grab the leeches she had left in the jar, on the crate she kept her tools on.

I balled my hands into fists as she dropped the leeches in the hole and I briefly felt them crawl up the inside of my empty arm, probably looking for food but I had no blood, or even bones for them to latch on to. I wasn't quite sure what held me together or made me move, but it was clearly something dark that should never have been done if it required blood filled leeches from my dad.

Myra finished off her weird ritual by sprinkling the dust of ground up Myrrh inside my arm and quietly closed up the hole she had created by adding a little more clay and smoothing it until it was filled. She pressed her palm over it, then there was a sensation that warmed my arm and changed it back into unblemished flesh once more.

I tested my fingers and already they were feeling more responsive, and the leeches quickly stopped moving, making it easier to pretend she hadn't just done that and that there weren't lots of little dead creatures inside my body from when she made me.

"I'm not Bella," I finally said. Myra frowned and waited for me to continue as she gently smoothed my skin.

"Who are you then?" She prompted, probably hoping that more of the other persons memories would come back to me, like she said they would over time.

"I don't know," I said honestly, "But I'm not her, I'll never be her."

Myra stroked my long brown hair out of my face and drew my attention back to her.

"I think you might have to be," She said slowly, a look of sympathy in her eyes. "If you get hurt again, they'll have to use your Father's blood to fix you, the best way to avoid that is to do what they want and hopefully it'll all be over soon." She tried to soothe me but her words made something niggle at the back of my mind.

"She'll come and save him, even if I can't. I know she will." I said with determination I didn't know I had in me.

"Who?" Myra asked curiously, doubtful of my sudden confidence.

"The other me, she won't let them hurt him. I can feel her in my heart, she'd do terrible, stupid things to keep her word and I know she promised."

Before I could say anything else the door unlocked again and a hazily familiar face came into view. His skin was somewhere between ashy white and dark black, like he had fallen into a bowl of flour, in his hands he carried a tray with a single plate of food that didn't look all that appetising.

"Where's Felipe?" Myra asked cautiously as we both stood, the vampire wrinkled his nose at Myra's unwashed scent and the smell of the damp and mould on the walls.

"Taking care of his business, not that that is any of yours," He gave me a long, withering look, examining my face carefully and relishing in the way I shied away from his penetrating gaze before he smiled and spoke. "You do look exactly like her, but you're definitely lacking her spirit, maybe you aren't even worth the trouble of keeping alive, non?"

Did he mean Bella or the other woman? I couldn't say for sure, but as I looked at him a little closer, I was assaulted by a jumble of images and I steeled myself to look at him just as hard as he had me.

"I'm not afraid, because 'whatever happens to me, I've already declared war on you worthless little leeches.' " I spat with as much venom as I could, surprising us both with my hazy memory of a conversation with him that had something to do with bombs, I think.

He glared at me for a long moment before he threw the plastic tray to the floor, sending bits of "food" jumping off the plate and stomping away, slamming the door in the process.

"I don't think you should have done that." Myra warned ominously, I shrugged and swept my hair out of my eyes, giving her a small grin.

"She'd have never forgiven me if I didn't remind him that he was tricked by his dinner."

---

Kali's POV

I swear, this storm was some sort of shitty omen. It had only gotten worse as the hours slipped by and by the second day there were strong weather warnings across Washington and stories of floods on the news.

Thankfully the Cullen house was on a sort of hill and the rain ran straight down into the forests and roads, but it did end up creating a moat around their home that made driving a bit of a messy affair. Emmett kindly offered to check on Charlie's house for me whilst they refused to let me leave, no matter how good my ideas of disguise were! I could have borrowed Jasper's body, popped down with Emmett and no one would have known it was me and Jasper would still have been protecting me in a way.

But, no. Can you tell I was sick of being stuck indoors?

Back in my old life I was rarely still, I was always looking for the next activity, the next party, the next holiday, anything but stagnating where I was. Although the luxury of the Cullen home and its inhabitants kept me entertained, I was restless, and they could tell.

"Look Kali, you have to stay here, it's just not safe for you yet." Carlisle's tone left no room for compromise and it was starting to piss me off.

"If I stay here any longer, I'll go spare. Just let me do something." I whined, squaring up to him a little. For some reason they always seemed surprised that I'd stand up to them, or get in their face, but I doubt a cow is scared of a vegan, so same applies.

Carlisle backed down a little and massaged his temple slightly, probably one of those human habits he'd adopted when he'd met me.

"Kali-" He started with a deep sigh, I could feel the weight of his disapproval from fucking Mars, I'm sure. Jasper was hovering nearby but must have gotten fed up and suddenly I was hauled over his shoulder and carried upstairs at sound barrier breaking speeds.

With a gentle drop, I was bouncing on my bed, trying to adjust my vision when I glared up at him,

"Dammit Cowboy, I was close to breaking him!" Jasper rolled his eyes and gave me a crooked grin.

"Yeah, you were close to breaking his temper or his sanity, I get it Kali. You're fed up and you want to be of some use but you know full well that stealing my body would only put us both at risk."

Pouting, I folded my arms and glared at the fancy mirrored wardrobe against the wall.

"It's not theft if you don't stop me, besides you made me use Takeover the other day..." I grumbled and idly kicked my legs hanging off the bed, like a petulant child. Jasper raised a cool eyebrow and shook the curls out of his face.

"Yeah and Carlisle chewed me out for it later, the point is we need to be careful for now," He walked over to the door and pushed it closed before stalking back over to me with a smirk that made my heart catch in my throat. "Besides, if you're that desperate for entertainment, you could have just asked, Darlin'."

My hands were fisting the bedsheets as he lowered himself to my level and peppered my neck with soft, cold kisses. I gasped at the new feelings of pleasure brushing against me from his hand supporting my neck and through his lips, I knew it wouldn't be too difficult to fight off his gift, but I really didn't want to. I reached up and pulled on his shirt as I fell backwards, making him straddle my hips with one knee as he pulled back and gave me a smouldering grin.

"You're insatiable, Cowboy." I chided teasingly.

"Can't help it if I haven't been satiated yet, can I?" He teased me right back and I gave him a sheepish grin.

"If I could, I'd have jumped your bones already, and you damn well better be ready for it the minute I can." Jasper grinned and brushed his nose against my own, his eyes never leaving mine.

"Not even gonna let me take you on a nice date first?" I snorted and reached up to playfully nip at his bottom lip.

"Fuck that, I'm yours already, you don't need to win me over with dinner and a movie." Jasper chuckled and kissed me again.

"You're mine are you? I thought you were waiting until I signed the divorce papers so I could make a choice?"

I pulled back and giggled.

"Oh please, as if I didn't notice they'd disappeared when you hunted yesterday. I'm going to assume that since you're on top of me that you posted them instead of burned them?" I tried not to let the edge of vulnerability creep into my voice, I still couldn't believe that he'd want anything to do with me sometimes, let alone end a sixty year relationship because of my interest, among other things.

Jasper probably felt my tinge of doubt as his smile softened and his thumb rubbed against my cheek reassuringly.

"I signed them, sealed the envelope, mailed them, then went for a hunt; got a tasteless pair of foxes if I recall." I snorted at the needless explanation and leaned into the hand on my face.

"Well then, I guess that makes you, more or less, officially single, Cowboy. What do you plan on doing next?" I asked with a teasing smile.

Whenever Jasper wasn't focused on feeding me an emotion, and was just reading me, I'd slowly worked out how to tap into his feelings through that link. I couldn't control them by any stretch, but I had a sense of how he felt. There was this beautiful undercurrent of happiness to him, it touched me that I had anything to do with that and it was vastly different to my hazy memory of the moody bastard from the books.

Asking him what he wanted to do now that he was divorced, made that happiness ebb and flow like waves. I could imagine he had reasons to be happy, yet I had no doubt that the small splash on sadness and guilt was because of his choices.

Yet his smile didn't waver as he stroked my cheek and looked down at me with eyes only for me.

"I think, after all of this is over, you and me are going to run away together for a while. I'll take you somewhere sunny where we can just get away from all this madness and I can charm you properly, without a life or death situation hanging over our heads." I laughed lightly and leaned up to kiss him softly.

"Do I get a say in this, or are you just going to run away with me?" Jasper hummed for a second and finally shrugged.

"I'm going to run away with you, steal you if I have to," I grinned and nodded thoughtfully.

"Ahh, sounds like a laugh, don't forget to try and ransom me off to Rose so I can see her at some point." Jasper rolled his eyes and looked faintly unhappy, though I could feel otherwise.

"Damn it, Princess, I want you all to myself and that's exactly what I'm gonna get," He captured my mouth in another rough kiss and muted my giggles.

"Alright then," I pulled away slightly to give him a coy smile against his lip. "Steal me away, Jasper, I'm all yours."

---

Jasper's POV

If there was one thing I wanted to hear right then, it was that Kali was all mine (ignoring for now how I couldn't really touch her like we both wanted). I fervently kissed her, loving the way her soft lips crushed against mine when she leaned up to kiss me harder.

The keeping it PG rule was starting to wear us both down, I could feel her frustration just a little bit more every time we had an intimate moment, and she was very vocal and honest about how much she wanted me to take her. Or would that be her taking me? I couldn't really see her letting me dominate her in bed, though it would definitely be fun to find out if I could. The lewd way she wrapped her legs around my waist and clung onto my neck let me know that at this point I didn't have a choice either way, as soon as we could, I would have to have her.

The others around the house could probably hear what we were up to but I really couldn't care, stealing these moments with her felt good, amazing really. It was like she shot sparks of pleasant electricity through my bones whenever she smiled at me, she could practically make my heart beat. I felt so alive with her, more so than I had since actually being alive.

I luxuriated in her scent for a while longer as she desperately kissed me. Her blood no longer had the allure that other humans still held for me, though my body recognised how good she smelled, my control with her was practically perfect. Something I was pleasantly surprised by, having known nothing but that clawing thirst for well over a hundred years.

Though I'd come to care for her deeply, there were things about Kali that were still a mystery to me, and I felt that if I asked her, she wouldn't give me the whole truth. Yet still I trusted her implicitly, she'd proven herself in my eyes as a fighter and a dependable one that was desperately making up for her weaknesses in a new world. Thinking of her as someone strong enough to stare down a creature designed to kill her, terrified me, and occasionally I caught my thoughts drifting to ways to minimise the risk to her.

Of course, I could always bite her and be done with it, a little training behind newborn strength and she'd make a formidable warrior quite quickly. Her uncanny luck for surviving and lack of fear would see her through her newborn years, where a vampire was at its most vulnerable from the threat of exposure and certain death at the hands of the Volturi or a more experienced vampire. But I could see it already, she'd be fucking magnificent.

Kali groaned softly in my mouth as my hand holding her hip squeezed a little harder, when the idea of her being changed into a vampire, turned me on. I reeled back in some of the heavy lust I was projecting as the scent of her arousal practically doubled, and her kisses became more desperate. It was taking all my willpower to stop myself from hooking my thumb under her shorts and tugging them down so I could find out just how good she tasted in other places.

A vague ringing interrupted my focus for a moment, and I heard Carlisle's voice. I was about to ignore it and get back to the woman trying to desperately find some sort of relief for her mounting frustrations by attacking my mouth, but his tone gave me pause.

"Wassa'matter?" Kali mumbled around her lust filled haze, I pulled away from her slightly and cocked my head to listen to what Carlisle was saying, though Kali just took that as an invitation to start ravaging my neck.

"Ah, fuck, Kali...just- shit, stop, please?" I begged almost helplessly as her tongue and teeth dragging over my throat almost sent me over the edge. She giggled at my pleading tone but manage to pull herself off of me long enough to catch a handful of words.

"Say that again, you're breaking up... what?... Hold on, we'll be soon," The urgency in his voice made me momentarily forget about Kali and sit up. She followed me in concern and smoothed out her hair as she pushed herself up.

"What's going on?" The look on my face must have been cause for concern, but I didn't want to worry her until I knew what had gone on. I leaned down and pressed a kiss against her cheek before I stood.

"I don't know, let me go find out," I dashed out of the door and hopped over the balcony, pretending not to see Esme's disapproval as I landed.

"Good I was about to call for you, did you hear?" Carlisle immediately started, a serious expression had furrowed his usually smooth brow and I could feel a sense of urgency from him. Shaking my head, I prompted for him to explain the situation, Esme clung to his side, emitting a heavy wave of concern and nerves. Rose and Emmett were holding each other, all of them were on edge. "Eleazar and Irina are under attack by three vampire's, there wasn't enough time to ask but we're positive it's the nomads due to their proximity to Forks. We have to help them."

Straight away I was split between choices and possibilities. The reports from Emmett and Rose on the other two vampires skills left me concerned for the safety of the Denalis, but this could be another trick to get Kali alone... yet there were only three vampires and all three were attacking Eleazar and Irina.

I knew that the ex-Volturi guard would be able to handle himself well enough, but Irina and her two sisters were famed for their talents of seduction, not their battle prowess. Irina didn't even have an ability to fall back on like Kate did, for a moment I mentally begrudged Irina for her little obsession with Edward. It was likely the only reason she came with Eleazar in the first place.

"What's happening?" Kali's sudden presence made me jump slightly and like the rest of the mated pairs, I immediately reached out for her.

"Eleazar and Irina are under attack by those nomads, they're trying to lead them away from humans as best as they can, but I'm unsure how successful they'll be, they can't get close to Forks." Carlisle explained calmly, though his eyes, burning with quiet contempt, betrayed his emotions.

Kali blanched and her light grip on my arm spasmed for a moment as she processed the news.

"Wha... why?" She demanded angrily as she gathered herself. "There's no reason to attack them!" Carlisle nodded stiffly.

"Precisely, I believe this could be another of their ploys." I was glad that Carlisle was thinking along the same lines as me. "Or they are perhaps just trying to stop them from reaching us and aiding in our search for Charlie. With Eleazar and Irina we outnumber them, two to one."

He made a good point. I took in the feel of the room, everyone was concerned of course, though Emmett and Rosalie seemed to be mentally gearing for a fight, if the streaks of angry determination were anything to go by.

"We have to make a choice, now." I stated simply, making Kali turn to me in confusion.

"What are you talking about, go and help them!" She commanded, pinning me with a wide eyed glare.

"Kali, we need to make a choice on what happens to you. If you stay or come with us, you could be in serious danger-" Esme started uneasily, trying to find a way to explain it to her without it sounding mildly insulting.

Kali whipped around at almost vampire speeds and cut Esme off with her hands firmly on her hips.

"Your friends are in danger, right now! Fuck whatever danger I might in, you have to go help them! I don't know those two well enough, but I know James and Victoria enough to say that you need to go! James hunts other vampires for fun, for fucks sake!" Kali seemed almost frantic, I reached out and took her hand again, a little baffled at her sudden outburst and her rising panic.

"Darlin', if we go, we put you at risk," I spun her round to face me better and ducked down to hold her gaze. "You can't ask me to do that."

Carlisle stepped closer.

"Jasper, I need you with us. You have the most fighting experience, and the faster the nomads are dealt with, the faster we can get back home." Kali nodded vigorously.

"You have to go help, Jasper," She told me, a pleading tone running through her voice.

"I can't leave you." I told her quietly. She dragged me into a hug and muttered in my ear.

"Stupid vampire, all the nomads are chasing the Denalis and I have complete faith that you'll be able to stop them from turning tail and coming after me. Besides if they show up, I'll Takeover their asses, remove all their limbs and wrap up some wriggling torso for you in a pink bow by the time you get back." I snorted softly at her boundless confidence.

"I still can't leave you here alone."

Rose chose that moment to zoom over and place a hand on my shoulder.

"I'll stay, I know Kali's gift best and I can fix it if she does something stupid." She idly poked Kali in the side of the head. "And I'd protect her with my life." Kali stopped swiping at Rose's hand and looked up at her with a soft smile and eyes full of determination mixed with adoration.

"There you have it, we'll stay here and the rest of you go save those cousins of yours," Kali commanded and sternly pointed at the front door.

Carlisle's helpless smile removed some of the tension from the air.

"Well, we'd better do as she says. Kali, please for the love of God, behave yourself." Kali saluted and grinned.

"Only if you promise to bring back my Cowboy to me in one piece, Sir!" She shot me a sneaky look over her shoulder and I couldn't help but gather her up in my arms and relish in that confident will she just exuded, I didn't even need any supernatural powers to feel it.

"Please, stay safe." I begged her quietly, feeling like I had no more say in the matter. She pressed a warm kiss to my cheek.

"You too, handsome. Come home soon, yeah?" I gave her a crooked smile and a lingering kiss, that I could sense was making Esme and Carlisle a little uncomfortable.

"I promise." I vowed and stepped away from her with difficulty, I crossed the room to stand with Carlisle, Esme and Emmett, who flittered over and scooped his wife up in a bear hug.

"You be careful, babe," He told her as he attempted to squeeze the life out of her.

"You too, watch out for that James guy." He nodded against her and put her down on the floor, before picking up Kali and spinning her round. He dropped her to the ground and pressed a noisy kiss to her head.

"Argh, I really don't like leaving you, Robin." He groaned in frustration and pouted childishly. Kali gave him a watery smile and playfully punched his arm.

"Go get 'em for me then, Little John." Emmett straightened and nodded resolutely.

Esme and Carlisle's reminded the girls to be cautious and I gave Kali a last lingering look before forcing myself out of the door.

"She'll be safe with me, Jasper." Rose promised me and I finally dragged my eyes away from the fiery girl I could barely keep my hands off, and sped after my family in the torrential rain.

"What exactly happened?" I asked Carlisle as I matched his pace. He idly dodged trees and leapt over large puddles as he spoke with a hard edge to his voice.

"We're not sure, the reception dropped because of the storm and the speed they were moving at, but Eleazar managed to get out that they were under attack from three unknown Vampire's near the main roads around Seattle. He said he would try to keep them occupied in the forests but I'm worried about Irina..." He trailed off awkwardly, unsure how to word his concern without sounding rude.

"She's not a fighter and his devotion to her and her sisters could see him shielding her. From what I know of their fighting, she might be a hindrance at best." I finished for him, and caught the wince on Carlisle's face but he nodded glumly.

"Sadly, in a thousand years she has spent more time honing other skills." The Denali sisters were famed for starting the legend of the Succubus before they became vegetarians, it was widely known that their prowess in the bedroom was unmatched. Unfortunately, that knowledge made for some awkward family visits.

"Yeah, I don't think her blow jobs are gonna help her here," Emmett grumbled under his breath, though everyone caught it. He was still unhappy about the time she offered to show him said oral skills that she claimed she had honed to the point where she could start draining a man's blood from his crotch without him realising. Rose hadn't taken that conversation well and we didn't see Irina for nearly fifteen years.

"Emmett!" Esme chided and he sheepishly apologised as he darted between trees.

All of the Cullens weren't the fondest of Irina, having never mated and not completely understanding the finality of that bond (well usually, not including my unique situation anyway), she was promiscuous enough to proposition most male vampires she met. I honestly wasn't sure how Eleazar lived with her without strangling her for every thinly veiled come-on she spewed.

"Irina is a very... unique woman, she's older than all of us put together, and we shouldn't judge how she spent most of that time." Esme defended the old Succubus weakly, even she wasn't particularly fond of Irina. I almost missed Rose's customary scowl when she had to spend time with the woman.

My thoughts snapped back to Rose and Kali, I wasn't a God fearing man, at least not anymore, but I prayed for their safety, I prayed that my light suspicion at this being a trap was wrong. There was an unpleasant twist in my chest, a foreboding feeling that was creeping through my old bones, and a part of me demanded to run back right now and stop whatever danger that could befall her. I almost tripped in my next step when my feet tried to turn and earned a worried look from Carlisle, who was running the closest and caught my little misstep.

"Is everything alright?" He asked cautiously and I nodded and tried to get a hold of myself, because Kali couldn't possibly need me more than our extended family did right now.

"Fine, we need to hurry though," I said and pushed the pace a little more, Emmett fell behind a little, due to him being the slowest.

Focusing on the narrow path I was dancing through the trees, I forcefully tore my thoughts away from my reckless human and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. If all three nomads were attacking Eleazar and Irina then I shouldn't really worry about them making an attack on the home, my bigger concerns should be how we were going to fare in this fight. My hand briefly ghosted over my back pocket where I always kept a filled zippo, a habit I never lost after years on the battlefield, it never hurt to be prepared.

I did in fact hope to kill the nomads, they had threatened and upset my Kali too many times now. I would keep the weakest alive, to question them on where they were keeping Charlie, assuming they were planning to use him as bait and had yet to kill him, then I'd burn that bastard too. Hopefully I could get a fire to start in this rain, long enough to light their bones ablaze, although venom was very flammable and I wasn't opposed to ripping their limbs off in the slightest.

That was about as far as my actual planning went, otherwise I was just hoping our numbers and fast actions would surprise them enough to give us an advantage. With Victoria's ability to evade capture, and James' tracking skills along with his obvious love of hunting, I was a little concerned that our extra numbers might not make a difference. It would come down to skill and experience, which I (sadly) had too much of.

It didn't take us long to reach the roads surrounding Port Angeles, from there we could hear the telltale sounds of distant crashes and vibrations in the earth from a forest under siege. Wordlessly we amped up our pace and headed toward the general area where we could hear the fight taking place.

I felt the exhilarated emotions of one of the newcomers before I saw them, they had an unfamiliar ratio of emotions, not to mention the thrill this one felt was bordering on manically insane. Trying hard to ignore the emotions of my family, I reached out and tried to find Eleazar or Irina. Doing this by emotions wasn't very easy but even in the midst of battle I felt that undercurrent of familiar lust and rolled my eyes as I led everyone north-east.

The closer we got to them, the thinner the forest became, thankfully we only lost a bit of speed jumping over all the uprooted trees. Upon clearing the last of the trail of fell trees, I saw an unfamiliar male in the distance and sped towards him, as I got closer, I saw Irina on the floor clutching at her arm that looked like it might have been bitten. He must have heard me coming but he didn't move nearly fast enough and I crashed into him with a bang, putting my whole weight and inertia into my fist to knock him back. His indestructible body went flying through the trees, crashing through bark and shrubbery until he skidded in the wet mud and leaves as he fell back to the ground.

"Irina, are you alright?" I asked probably a little more sternly than I should, but my battle instincts were in full control and all I needed to know how capable of fighting she was at that moment.

"Oh, Jasper! You saved my life!" She simpered and I took that as enough of a sign that she wasn't too badly wounded, she removed her hand from her arm and brought it to her mouth, in an attempt to try to suck out the foreign venom that burned her.

"Where's Eleazar?" Carlisle asked as he skidded next to me, Emmett listening carefully and searching in the direction I had tackled who I assumed was James, who had gathered himself up and was making a break for it.

"Somewhere over there, he tried to draw them off but this guy just wouldn't give up! I've dated guys less persistent," She whined after she spat out some of the venom. From experience, I knew this method made little difference, the best cure for the burn of another's venom was to hunt, strengthening your own natural venom and simultaneously healing yourself in the process.

Sadly for Irina, they had definitely scared off all the local wildlife, so Esme offered to stay back with her until she felt a little better and could catch up. Carlisle was clearly torn by his wife's decision, but agreed to give her five minutes before he'd come back for her.

Emmett and I took the initiative as Carlisle gave her a brief kiss, and ran off after James. Fortunately, he appeared to be trying to regroup with his friends so tracking them him wasn't difficult, even with the thick sheet of rain that was quickly washing away his scent. We found the other two at the base of a rocky cliff, that "red-headed slut" as Kali had so affectionately named her, was surrounding Eleazar along with a dark-skinned vampire that could only have been Laurent.

This time Emmett tried to take the lead and made to barrel into Victoria, as she was closest to Eleazar, but she nimbly dodged him with a shit eating grin and leapt away, disappearing up into the treetops in a single jump. Already I was mentally preparing myself for her to attack one of us in the same way as she had me when we last fought, I couldn't see a trace of where she was but I could sense her excitement. Carlisle sprinted towards the retreating Laurent, who didn't look at all pleased to see us and unlike Victoria, I could feel his nerves as he fled.

Though lucky for him, he would be the one out of his coven that would survive the longest, I had already pegged him as the most likely to spill his guts and, again unlike Victoria, his retreat seemed more hastened as he pushed his speed to the maximum to get away from us.

Carlisle gave up the chase fairly quickly, choosing instead to tend to his injured friend who seemed to have suffered a few too many bites and was more than a little out of it.

"Ah, old friend, you came," He murmured so quietly I could barely hear him over the rain.

"Of course, I'm sorry we weren't here sooner, please let me take a look at you-" Eleazar lazily pushed past Carlisle and stood unsteadily.

"Now is not the time, Irina-"

"Esme's with her, she's been bitten but not as badly as you," Carlisle told him soothingly, and tried to take another look at his adopted brothers wounds.

Emmett and I kept vigil the entire time, I couldn't even hear Victoria above me, though I could sense her with my gift. I was waiting for her to make the first move because chasing her down, even if I could sense her, would be challenging. More worryingly, I realised that whilst I had been distracted by the appearance Laurent and Victoria, I had lost track of James, as he led us to where his friends were, he himself had ran past them and now I had no idea where he went.

I pushed my gift as far is it would reach, trying to pick up anything but no, even Laurent had vanished off my radar, though I had a suspicion his was more for his own safety than whatever manoeuvrer James had planned.

Emmett wasn't nearly as patient as I was and with a hard glare at the thick canopy of leaves above us, he slammed his shoulder into the nearest tree and felled it with a noisy creak of leaning wood. The ancient tree slammed into the ground with a loud smash, splattering mud and shards of wood everywhere. Victoria had sadly used that to her advantage and had moved somewhere a little lower.

Emmett saw me tense and did the same, bringing his hands up to his shoulders, ready to grab her out of the air. In the meantime, Carlisle had convinced Eleazar to remove the tattered remains of his grey coat and let him inspect his neck. I felt a jolt of excitement as she moved and realised a moment too late that Victoria was likely to go for the most vulnerable one. She jumped through the trees like a jungle cat and launched herself at Carlisle, sending them both rolling into the cliff side and shattering a good portion of the base, burying all three of them in rubble.

Carlisle could have gotten out of the way, if he were paying complete attention and had chosen not to take the blow, making sure to shove Eleazar out of her path of attack. He yelled sharply as we dashed over, crushing the rubble beneath our feet with ease, by the time we had gotten there Victoria had bitten Carlisle's shoulder, then she sprang up choosing to tackle Emmett's waist. I skidded running towards Carlisle, and turned back to rip her off my brother as Emmett was forced backwards. Just as I came within grabbing distance she released him, ducked and kicked out at my ankles, dodging the heavy swing Emmett had made towards her face. I jumped over her outstretched leg and made to kick out at her, but she rolled out of the way of both mine and Emmett's attacks.

We danced like that for a minute, her weaving and tripping and knocking back, though not attacking, and Emmet and I trying to pin her down, whilst Carlisle quickly dug himself and Eleazar out of the rocks that had fallen onto of them both. Before we could grab her, a panic-stricken Carlisle dodged around us and was sprinting madly back in the direction we had came from.

"Carlisle?" I called out, trying to understand where he was going, knowing it must have been important to merit leaving his wounded friend behind.

"Esme!" Was his sharp reply as he ran back to his mate.

Victoria grinned and took advantage of our hesitation to hop back into the thick line of untouched trees, trying to lose us with her gift again.

"My James does so love a good hunt, and he really isn't picky about the prey either," She mused teasingly as she vanished, a lilt of madness to her voice that seemed to suddenly echo all around us.

Emmett grit his teeth in annoyance and I shoved him towards Carlisle's quickly retreating back.

"Go help him, you've dealt with him before, and I've dealt with this mad bitch, Carlisle's gonna be distracted so he'll need the backup more than I will with her." I nodded towards Eleazar. "And take him, he'll be safer with Carlisle and you, and she'd likely try to attack him to distract me." Emmett looked hesitant at the idea of leaving me alone, but gave me a brief nod and clapped me on the shoulder before gathering Eleazar on his back and noisily sprinting away, every overpowered step making the earth boom.

Before I could turn back to the fight, Victoria tried to pounce out silently from the trees once more, but this time I was ready and grabbed her arm out of the air, spun her body around and slammed her face into the nearest tree. Planting a foot on her back, I kept her pinned and twisted her arm clean off with a metallic tearing sound, tossing it carelessly behind me. She growled animalistically around the mouthful of bark and struggled away from my foot before falling into a predatory crouch, clutching her weeping stump.

Finally, her eyes looked angry and I could practically taste the palpable rage she exuded as she tried to straighten and work through the pain, to her credit she managed it in one try. Most vampires tend to flail around a lot more when they lost a limb.

Out of nowhere, I felt a rush of emotions and only briefly caught Victoria's smug (if somewhat still pained) grin as I was drop kicked from behind and face planted the ground. Recovering quickly, I rolled into a crouch and growled angrily at Laurent.

"Oh my, Laurent, he doesn't seem to like you all that much," Victoria said tauntingly as she suddenly dashed over to grab her twitching arm and hopped up into a tree to lick her wounds. Both figuratively and literally.

"I cannot imagine why," He said airily, there was a smug arrogance to his voice that irked me no end.

"Are you supposed to be more challenging than her? If I remember correctly, my little lady was tough enough to keep your ass at bay and she's just a human." I reminded him, taking pleasure in the dark scowl and the sudden shame I felt from him. "Just imagine what I'll do to you." I finished my vague threat, pumped out some fear and watched him take a hesitant half step backwards, but he held his ground through sheer irritation at the mention of Kali.

"Must everyone remind me of that beastly little girl?" He muttered darkly, both of us ignoring the tittering giggle above us.

"It's not like we didn't give you ample opportunity," Victoria said airily, her thrown voice helping to mask her location. "Good thing it's not your turn, eh?"

The dark way she said that and the cackling laugh afterwards rang some hard warning bells for me. Before I could open my mouth to interrogate her, Laurent had used my momentary confusion to grab my ankle and flip me over. I kicked up at him as he tried to jump on top of me and sent him flying back, crashing into the rubble Victoria and Carlisle had made earlier.

He rocketed back out of the dent in the cliff side and began amateurishly swiping at me, whilst I dodged his poor strike, I took the time to focus my gift into making him sleepy. It was hard to do in this situation, seeing as how vampires didn't get tired and he was full of adrenaline, but all too soon I saw the telltale droop of his eyelids and he finally crashed to one knee. He tried to shake off the lethargy I was force-feeding him and was mostly unsuccessful, I took the opportunity to smirk towards where I could sense Victoria in the trees.

Laurent flailed futilely at my feet and I made to stomp on his head but Victoria launched an enormous branch at my back, knocking me forwards and stopping the flow of my gift, which gave Laurent enough time to shake off his sleepiness and scamper back. Victoria joined him and they stood across the small clearing from me as I shrugged off the tree I had been attacked with. I felt a small wave of my own lethargy overcome me as I felt the drain from forcing my gift on Laurent, but I stood tall and refused to let them think they had any kind of upper hand.

To buy myself a few seconds of recovery time, I pinned them with a glare and bit out a question,

"Why are you attacking our friends?" I mentally winced at how winded I sounded, from the exhaustion of using my gift. Both of them grinned and began circling me, Victoria's arm had been reattached but was a little useless judging by the limp way it hung by her side as she stalked around me.

"Because we knew you feeble-hearted fools would come running to protect your 'friends'," Victoria taunted and cackled.

"What's the matter, too afraid to make a house call?" I taunted right back and felt my fingers curl into claws as I waited for them to jump me.

"Non, we were warned you were the toughest and we wanted to see you on our terms." Laurent said almost kindly. My brow furrowed but my stance never shifted.

"Oh yeah? I guess I should be flattered that I'd merit an attack from two out of three vampires, yet somehow I'm not." The dark-skinned man laughed handsomely and raised his hands in a placating move whilst taking steps closer to me. I could feel his mirth and they both thought they had me at their mercy, but I would gladly prove them dead wrong.

"We wished to meet with you, you seem to be the one hindering our plans the most, because we would like to make a trade." Victoria tittered girlishly behind her good hand and watched me with eyes full of playful malice. She reminded me of the kind of kids that would rip the wings off of butterflies and giggle as they struggled.

"You thought attacking those we care about would be a good way to get what you want? And what could you even possibly have that I would want?" I asked incredulously.

"Police Chief Charlie Swan, I believe he is the father of the girl you protect? Well, at least he used to be her father anyway, from what I hear there's a different person inhabiting Miss. Swan's body. Still, I assume you want him back all the same?" I tried not to grind my teeth or show my surprise at his alarming knowledge.

"Where the fuck did you hear that?" I growled in genuine surprise. Only a select few had any knowledge of the current situation with Bella's body. Eleazar may have told Irina and it was plausible that one of them had gotten the information out of her, yet my gut was telling me it was something that went a lot deeper than that.

Leaving me with two people that could betray Kali, and right now I didn't want to even entertain those possibilities.

"Oh, that doesn't matter right now, the better question is, what can we expect for Charlie's safe return?" Victoria asked with a manic grin stretching across her face.

"How about I don't tear off your heads and set fire to that long hair you both seem so proud to have?" Victoria chuckled, but I could feel the nerves Laurent was exuding though he didn't show them in his expression.

"Then Charlie will of course starve to death, if his previous wounds don't kill him first." He showed off his deadly white teeth with another bright smile. "We're not unreasonable, we trade Charlie for Bella, it's as simple as that."

I snorted and looked at him like he'd grown a second head.

"Like I'd agree to that, I don't even know if Charlie's still alive and I doubt whatever your people want with Bella will leave her breathing by the end of it. That's an exchange that'll never happen."

Victoria's smirk was starting to irritate me.

"I see, but does that mouthy little girl feel the same way?" Her question was completely invalid. I couldn't give a fuck how Kali felt about it, that was never a deal I'd agree to, no matter how guilty she felt for Charlie's condition, whatever that may be now.

"It doesn't matter, I'll never agree to those terms."

I heard a short buzz, for a second my battle addled senses didn't recognise it as the sound of a short vibrate on a phone, but neither of them moved to check anything. Instead, Laurent idly flicked dirt off his sleeves as he said carelessly,

"I'm afraid you've misunderstood, we're not giving you the choice, we're telling you what the choice is," He gave me a serious stare, but his face betrayed his humour at whatever predicament he felt he had me in. "We never said you would be the one to make it."

A piece of the puzzle clicked into place and I tensed up as my thoughts became frantic.

"You're going to ask Kali?" I muttered in shock.

"Is that her name now? Kali? How fascinating, our employer didn't feel like we should know that, or maybe they didn't care enough to mention..." Victoria trailed off cheerfully as she raked a hand through her hair and pulled out the debris that had made it's way into her red mop during our scuffle. "But to answer your question, yes, and if she's as desperate for his safe return as she should be, then she'll do exactly what we ask."

I growled and tapped further into my already exhausted power, trying to cower them with overwhelming fear.

"I'll kill you before let you near her!" I hadn't meant to yell, but the very real threat to her sent my instincts into overdrive and I found myself attempting to pounce at Victoria, unfortunately for me her gift seemed to work better when she was afraid and she dodged me easily in ways I wouldn't have thought possible even with accelerated reaction time.

Not disheartened, I spun around and grabbed Laurent, my paralysing fear overwhelming his fight or flight instincts long enough for me to tackle him into the ground. My mouth was already leaking venom between snarls so it was easy to pump him full of it as I tore at his neck with my teeth.

He made a strangled screaming sound and tried to pull his way out from underneath me, I grabbed his arms and using my teeth pin down his throat into the ground, I pulled back and tore off both of them with a sickening screech. Victoria tackled me off of him and tried to throw me, she didn't expect me to immediately reach out to a tree and change my trajectory, throwing myself back at her.

She ducked down and I flew over her, but landed in a crouch and sprinted after her the moment I touched the wet earth. She dodged me again, infuriating me and making me unconsciously amp up the power of my gift, which I'd definitely feel the effects of later. She tried to jump up into the trees again, but I was getting sick of her repetitive retreat and managed to grab her ankle and slammed her into the ground before she could get very far.

I tore off her loose arm again easily, pinning her with my knee in her back as she growled in the mushy dirt.

"You think it makes a difference if you kill us now?" She managed to screech out between feral growls of pain. "It's too late, you fool!"

Laurent's weak voice tried to cut her off but she awkwardly glared at him from her position on the ground.

"It doesn't matter what I say, we've already got her." I stopped moving for a moment, and my lack of pressure on her spine was enough for Victoria to roll free.

"That's a lie, there's only three of you and Carlisle or Emmett wouldn't let your friend James get that close." I retorted with confidence I could barely feel, my mind was racing a mile a minute, trying to convince myself she was lying to get me to leave them alive.

Victoria snorted but watched me carefully as she clutched her weeping stump, "And who the hell said there were only three of us?"

I felt my dead heart drop to the pit of my stomach and realised that if her entertained feelings were anything to go by, there was truth to her words. Sensing honesty was difficult for me, but sensing trickery was fairly straightforward, and neither of them were scheming.

My hands balled into fists and I couldn't force myself to linger any longer, my feet were moving before I could really make the choice for what I would do next.

"I already said you're too late! She's ours now!" Victoria yelled after me, cackling cruelly as I sprinted faster than I could remember running before. I ignored her taunts and headed towards where I could faintly feel my family, as I got nearer, the man I tackled earlier suddenly ran past me with a shit eating grin. My eyes followed him as we ran by each other but I whipped my head back, I couldn't risk wasting more time fighting.

I found Emmett first, he was running after James, his clothes were muddy and torn, and there was a freshly weeping bite on his jaw.

"Jasper, James, he-" Emmett quickly started but I cut him off as I grabbed his wrist and dragged him back in the direction he came from.

"There's more than three of them, they're after Kali," I managed to spit out, stopping his light struggles to go after James. I'm sure the danger to Rose is what truly made him overtake me and lead me back towards where he had left everyone.

"There's another vampire, Jasper thinks it's at home," Emmett hurriedly explained as we barely stopped in front of the family that had been tending to the injured Denalis, before I ran off again with my brother hot on my heels.

Carlisle carried Eleazar and fell behind in speed but there was no way I was slowing down, I had to get there before it was too late, just because some mad bitch said it had happened, doesn't make it true. There was a pull in my gut that I usually felt around Kali, that could only have been brought on by my desperation to get home to her as fast as I could.

As we ran down the side of the road, barely keeping to the trees, Emmett skidded to a stop and whipped his head back towards the black car that we had just ran by,"Was that..?"

My first assumption was that he had seen Kali, so I stopped and turned back to him.

"I just...the guy driving looked like Charlie." He stated just in time for Carlisle and Eleazar to catch up with us, Esme helping Irina along just behind them.

"What? That's impossible Emmett, Charlie couldn't drive with his arms, he can't grip a steering wheel, let alone be in any fit shape to get out of bed."

Emmett looked confused for a moment and frowned as he stared after the car, convinced of what he saw but not wanting to chase after a car when his wife could be in danger.

"What if they bit him?!" He asked desperately as he tried to choose what to do next, making Carlisle shake his head again.

"Impossible, if he wouldn't still be going through the change he wouldn't be in enough control to work a car, think about how many things you crushed in your first year as a newborn, let alone your first week."

I growled loudly in frustration, drawing the attention of everyone present.

"We don't have fucking time for this, it can't be Charlie, so let's go," I commanded harshly and sprinted towards Forks without them. I grabbed at my chest as I felt my dead heart clench, I was petrified that I was too late.

If only I knew how close I had been to nearly saving her from the horrors she would endure.

---

Kali's POV

"Are you scared?" Rose's voice dragged me out of my daydream, I was stuck staring at the door, where Jasper's look of longing and concern was plaguing my thoughts.

"Huh? No, I just- I guess I'm just worried, I've got a bad feeling about this, it seems too, I don't know, coincidental?" I offered awkwardly making Rose frown as she gently guided me towards the kitchen and decided to make me a cup of tea without asking. Not that I would have said no, I'd take anything to soothe my worry and they didn't have any whisky on hand.

"Come, talk to your sister, what's on your mind?" Rose said with a small smile, though I could see the tension in her posture. I imagine sending your mate off into battle when you were perfectly capable of joining in yourself, was difficult. Heck, I was struggling with the knowledge that Jasper was fighting when I could do nothing but wait, like a dutiful soldiers wife.

"I dunno," I grumbled as I took a seat at the breakfast bar, rested my head in my arms and sighed heavily. Rose finished adding sugar and a bag to a cup, before coming to soothingly stroke my back whilst the kettle boiled.

"Sure you do, you think that the Denalis being attacked is a coincidence, did something similar happen in your world?" She asked gently as she soothed my spine with her nails.

I shook my head and pushed myself back up so I stopped looking like a sulking dog.

"No, the Denalis didn't make an appearance in the first- in Bella's first year in Forks." Rose looked at me with a cocked head for a moment before dismissing my near slip up and continuing on.

"Alright, so what makes this feel coincidental?" I gnawed my lip and gathered my thoughts, wanting to sound like I was vaguely making sense before I said anything.

"Both of Charlie's kidnappings, the attack on me by Victoria and Laurent, and now the attack on the two people who are coming to visit," I looked up at her, trying to steal myself. "Isn't the timing just a little too perfect?"

Rose forgot to act human for a moment, and completely ignored the kettle clicking as the noise of bubbling water died down in the background.

"What are you saying?" She asked slowly, as she slid into the seat next to mine, her eyes never leaving my face as if she was expecting me to drop a bomb on her.

"I don't know, but it's true. Every time they attacked, their timing was impeccable and I know Victoria and James are gifted, but could they really hide that well from you or track that perfectly from a distance?" Rose frowned but waited for me to explain further. "Okay, so a part of me kind of thought that maybe Victoria's gift is what made her able to get the jump on us so often, and that she had a heavy hand in Charlie's kidnapping. Now, I'm not so sure."

Once I found out that the nomads were out for me, a part of me just assumed that they were the ones involved in all the goings on, but there were clues that had gone out of my head later because the "action" seemed to never fucking let up here. Now? I felt there was more going on that I wasn't seeing.

"The employer," Rose muttered, dragging me out of my bad Sherlock imitation.

"The one that wants Bella?" I confirmed and Rose nodded stiffly as she stood to finish my tea.

"We've been so distracted by the nomads that we keep forgetting there really is someone behind the scenes, pulling all the strings." I grimaced and cast my mind back. I had no idea if it was a man a woman or even a group of people. Surely, if it were the Volturi they would have just shown up, which they happily did in the original plot so I don't see the need for that now. I mentally crossed them off my list, just because I couldn't see how or why they would show up.

Heck, maybe this employer of theirs didn't want Bella or me, just came across her and found her so tasty he'd offer all of Forks to get past her vampiric guard. Though somehow that seemed even less likely, Bella smelt that divine to Edward more than anyone else because of that whole singer thing. I groaned and dropped my head on the counter top again.

"This is all so confusing, what the fuck is going on?!" I asked in frustration and Rose rubbed my shoulder soothingly, giving me a sympathetic look.

"I know this is difficult for you, I'm sorry I can't do more," She said sadly, prompting me to pick my head back up and throw myself carelessly against her stone-like body.

"Shuddup, don't you start apologising. You're fucking awesome, you made me this kick-ass necklace and my bomb-ass bracelet! Are you done with that by the way? It'd probably be best for me to have it on hand, really." I mused more to myself than her and she shook her head whilst she gave my shoulders a gentle hug.

"Thank you, and sorry, no, I haven't finished resetting all the bombs, did you want me to do it now?" She offered kindly and I smiled and pushed myself away from her cold embrace.

"Oh god no, that's the least pressing thing, I have my necklace, that'll be enough for now, I'm sure." Rose nodded but the smile dropped from her face as suddenly tensed, her eyes slid towards the living room and she slowly stood, walking back through the archway. I followed immediately, and Rose held up a hand and indicated for me to stay still.

Her back was angled in a half crouch, as if she was expecting to receive a football tackle, her fingers were splayed into claws, her French manicure suddenly looking lethal. After a very long moment (at least it felt like a fucking eternity to me, what with how on still the house suddenly felt) I hesitantly asked,

"Rose?" My voice had dropped to a whisper unintentionally as my concern spiked, my fingers itched towards my pocket, still used to reaching for my incense tin in times of danger.

"There's a car." She said stiffly, and so fast I almost missed it. I slowly walked up behind her and rested my hand on her shoulder, I could almost feel her vibrate with tension and strength underneath my fingers.

"Enemy?" I asked quietly, trying not to distract her.

"Can't tell," Was her short reply as she stalked closer to the door, not stopping me from following her this time. She stiffened again before we reached the door and I could practically see her ears twitch as she listened as hard as she could.

Her gaze shot to the window facing the drive in the living room, it was hard to see through the thick sheet of rain, but even I could see a dark, oddly shaped person walking up the driveway, very slowly, to let us know they was coming. As they came more into focus, I could see a man, along with the legs someone slung over his shoulder, walking as if the added weight was nothing. As soon as she was sure that this wasn't a benign visit, Rose growled out,

"Stay here," And stormed out of the front door, before I even had the chance to protest.

"Oh, hell no!" I muttered under my breath and stomped right after her, already forming a mini plan in my mind.

The rain soaked through my shirt and jacket almost instantly, my hair matting to my face and forcing me to messily push it back as I made my way towards Rose.

"And here she is, the woman of the hour, it's been an awful lot of trouble to meet you, Kali." I swallowed and came to a halt next to Rose, drinking in the sight of the foreign vampire in front of us. His eyes were practically glowing red, and his soaking hair was still voluminous with short, black curls. There was a tinge to his skin that was a few shades more olive than Rose, who stood protectively by my side. For a moment I ignored the clearly unconscious man over his shoulder, though the presence of a human filled me with dread. All I could see of what I assumed was a man, were a pair of long legs, his jeans were covered in patches of dried mud and blood, I tore my eyes away and tried not to think that he had likely brought his own dinner with him.

Gathering myself I stared him down with practised ease,

"And I'm supposed to give a shit? Get your fucking sparkly ass outta here before we make you." The vampire's eyebrows shot up and he stared me down coolly, the smile slipping only slightly from his face.

"I heard you had quite the mouth. So you'll 'make me' will you, and what, pray-tell, can you do, perra?" He mocked with a small smile, like he was talking to an amusing, yet stupid child.

I narrowed my gaze, ground my teeth and forced on my best look of anger as I made to move past Rose.

"How about I fucking show you?" I spat at him and his smirk grew as I tried to get in his face until Rose forcefully yanked me behind her.

"Kali!" She scolded harshly, and stared the stranger down, positioning herself in front of me. "Who are you?" She demanded.

"Just someone with a vested interest in seeing wrongs righted, and from what I hear, niñita, that girl is the embodiment of wrong." I tried not to let his righteous tone get to me, though I mean, he was right and all.

When I had rushed him, I wasn't angry at all, in fact my plan was to get as close as I could (and as far from Rose simultaneously) to use my necklace and Takeover this fuckwad. Sadly, I couldn't even whisper that to Rose and I knew she was unlikely to let me anywhere near him. So I'd have to figure out another way to get close.

"The embodiment of wrong? Dunno shit about that, awesome? Yes. Wrong? Not so much. And I don't believe you answered my pretty friends question; who the fuck are you?" The vampire only smirked arrogantly and swept a hand through his soaked hair, slicking the curls back for a moment.

"I am Felipe, and I have come to make a trade with you, Kali." The smirk returned as he threw the person off his shoulder, the person's back slammed into the muddy ground with a wet slap and I dumbly stared for a moment before I moved towards him on instinct.

"Charlie?" I mumbled in awe and again Rose pulled me back by my arm and kept a tight grip on my wrist, leaving unintentional bruises that I didn't notice until much, much later.

"Stay." Rose commanded almost harshly, her eyes never leaving Felipe for fear of what he might do if she looked away for a moment. I, on the other hand, couldn't pull my eyes away from the unconscious Charlie, I was scanning every visible body part, trying to discern what had been done to him, if anything. His dirty clothes, that were clearly not his from the way they hung loosely, made it difficult to tell if he'd been hurt, along with the grimy bandages thickly wrapped around his arms.

"In exchange for the man Charlie, you will come with me, without putting up any fuss." He stated, the smile leaving his face as he waited to see what I'd do next.

"Not happening, we'd never-" Rose began her angry tirade but I cut her off.

"Fuck it, let's go." Rose finally tore her eyes away from Felipe to gape at me.

"Are you insane!? He's going to kill you!" She screeched, making me wince a little at the way her shrill voice echoed in the rain and my ears.

I gave her a resolute look and tried hard to convey my plan to Takeover Felipe the moment Charlie was safely away from me and I could get close. I knew it was risky, but I was almost positive he wouldn't go to all this trouble just to kill me the moment he had me next to him. There was a bigger reason behind this and we needed to find out why they were going to so much trouble to capture me, capturing him right back would be the most ideal method to finding out why. Though seeing as how Felipe knew my real name, I could only hope he didn't know of my gift.

"Oi, Felipe, are you gonna kill me?" I yelled over the howl of the wind, scrunching my eyes as they were pelted with more rain.

"No," He said easily and I grinned at Rose.

"See?" Rose gave me a look that was somewhere between exasperation and rage.

"Well, of course he's going to say that! You're not going, end of discussion!" She yelled, giving the storm a run for its money with her rage. I was a little touched at how much she cared, but I knew I could do this and that the only other choice was her fighting him. A choice I was not even entertaining, because we had no idea who this stranger was, we had no backup and no clue if he did, this wasn't someone from the story I remembered.

"I have to." I said simply, and tried to tug my arm out of her vice-like grip. Rose narrowed her eyes and I saw the glimmer of calculation, the concerned fog for me that clouded her thoughts had finally cleared enough for her to realise what I was planning.

"No." She rejected my plan, knowingly, and I suddenly found myself skidding backwards in the mud. I thought I heard the sound of thunder, but as I came to a stop I realised Rose had tackled into Felipe and she was trying to wrestle him away from Charlie's body.

"Rose, don't!" I yelled as I flailed helplessly in the thick mud.

"Get Charlie inside!" She yelled back, her voice becoming more distant as she moved her fight away from him and I. I knew she had attacked Felipe to give me the opportunity to save Charlie, and I couldn't waste it, no matter how much my heart screamed at me to help her and leave the wounded man I pretended was my dad to fend for himself. Gritting my jaw I chose to do as she asked, if I got him inside I could come back and help her. With that mantra running firmly in my head, I tried to get up.

Scrambling to a stand, and slipping in the mud a few times, I ran back to Charlie, my legs getting even muddier as I did. I skidded to a halt and fell down next to him, Rose managed to drag Felipe away from us, or at least that's what I assumed as I saw clashing blurs getting further away from me until they disappeared into the trees. Taking the chance, I awkwardly tried to gather him on my back, but he was insanely heavy, I assumed his unconscious dead weight was just too much for Bella's muscles and instead I laid him flat on his back and attempted to drag him towards to Cullen's house by gripping under his arms and trying my hardest not to slip into the mud.

My feeble arms and lungs were burning with ache as I awkwardly dragged him backwards, I kept shooting glances over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't pulling him through one of the many puddles and extremely muddy patches on my path back to the house, inevitably I lost my footing and fell backwards. Landing on my backside and elbows in a damn puddle, I made a vague growl of frustration and made to get my grip back on Charlie, but the moment I touched him again, his eyes flew open and he stared almost right through me.

"Charlie? Dad? Dad, it's me, Bella!" I tried to get his attention and waved a muddy hand in front of his face, if he could move by himself then I could get him to safety much faster.

"You're Bella." He said in an almost monotone and pushed himself into sitting with ease. I stared at him in confusion, knowing something wasn't quite right.

"Dad..?" I tried again and leaned closer to get a better look at him through the mud and rain soaking him to the bone.

Charlie's eyes seemed to finally snap to mine, and I smiled encouragingly, he had really been through a lot and likely needed time to gather himself.

"Let's get you out of the rain, c'mon." I stumbled a little as I got up, because of the mud almost glueing me to the ground, and ended up on my knees. Charlie however stood quickly and turned around to where he could hear the sounds of crashing in the forest. "Don't worry about that now, I know you're confused but we have to get inside." As soon as I managed to stand I tried to turn him around by his shoulders, careful not to touch his arms.

When I touched him he pivoted and I briefly saw his hand as he backhanded me, smashing his hand into my temple with tremendous force, I crashed into the ground and rolled, the force of his hit making me skid. My vision doubled, tripled and the figure walking quickly towards me practically vibrated in and out of reality. My arm was roughly yanked upwards, the rest of my limp body following as I was draped over Charlie's shoulder, my head flopped downwards and I finally blacked out.

The next time I opened my eyes, there was a pounding in my chest and I felt a familiar pull in the pit of my stomach. There was a hum of movement beneath me and I realised I was awkwardly sprawled out on what I assumed was the back seat of a car, my wrists and ankles bound tightly. I lifted my aching head up just enough to see Charlie was driving us down a long country looking road.

"'Asper?" I mumbled groggily, my mouth moving on its own accord as I called out for him, I swear I could feel him, but my skull was a mess of pain and hurt and I had to lay back down or risk vomiting.

If only I had known just how close he really was.

Suddenly, the blinding pain in the side of my head hit me as we bounced over a pothole and my eyes closed tightly to block out the jarring sensation. I kept my eyes closed and petered in and out of consciousness for the rest of the journey, I couldn't say how long it was or how far we drove.

I realised I was being moved again, but thinking hurt so I just waited until the pain ebbed enough for me to work through what the fuck was going on.

When I finally came to, I was in a cold cage and crowded around me were four vampires, grinning down at me through the rusty bars. I tried to get up but realised just how short my cage was and settled for wriggling into a kneeling position, my hands still bound behind my back, as I glared at the familiar faces. It made my head hurt more to focus my eyes so much, but like hell was I showing one iota of weakness.

"Fuck, you guys are stupid, you've just brought some hellish wrath upon yourselves." I threatened.

"From your vegetarian friends?" One of them asked mockingly, though my eyes couldn't focus fast enough to see whose mouth had moved in the dark room.

Still I grinned fiendishly and spoke with the boundless confidence I had instilled in myself from every life threatening moment in my existence, up until this point.

"Nah, from me. I'm gonna kill you all." If there was one thing that my reckless life had taught me, it was that if this was my last day I was going out with a fucking bang, and I was gonna take as many of them with me as I could.

---

Before I address the current chapter, I'd like to briefly address an anonymous review I received.

I don't get paid to do this, and neither do any other writers on here. We accept your criticism and we all love to hear your advice and it helps if you point out fixable flaws, but if our stories aren't your cup of tea, leave. No one's forcing you to read this, my story isn't integral to the Twilight world/plot in any way, so if you don't like it just go find something else. Better yet, write what you want to see and give the rest of us more to read.

Moving on. This chapter was more of a build up for things to come than action packed, but I did sneak my first extended fight scene in, which I hope you liked because they are not easy to write and I had to go back at one point cause I realised I'd just abandoned Eleazar under some rubble. My bad.

As for the Bella? POV Scene, I wanted to cover a little what it's been like for her and what's going on in her head. She's a complete split between the personalities of Bella and Kali, the memories she has can recall are all blurry and only little snapshots, for instance she can remember spending time with Charlie as Bella, but she wouldn't have the slightest clue what they spoke about or did. Maybe time will fix that, maybe not, I'll leave you to guess about that for now.

As for Myra, she has a very unique ability that I plan to cover more in the next chapter when her and Kali meet, along with this new Bella. For now, just know she is a very beaten down woman who will do anything to protect her remaining children. I've left little clues all over as to her ability and its limitations, but you'll have to wait until next time to find out how it works.

I'm loving writing the little scenes between Kali and Jasper, but that was going to be the last one for a little while, sadly! In return, you're going to get explanations and finally discover just who is really behind everything.

Thanks so much for sticking around and for being so very patient, I really hope you enjoyed and that you'll let me know if you did, I adore reading reviews! And a big shout out to my friend vortexFM, her help has been integral to me getting this done and dusted. Together we've come up with some really interesting ideas for future plot, a side story for what's been happening to Bella, and even some future works. You are a gem, babydoll!

Next time: Kali's bravado reaps the worst kind of consequences and she gets a little taste of hell.