Bella

In an instant, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie were standing before Victoria. I couldn't see it all very well, I was slowly losing conicousness, but I could see all the movement and it reminded me too much of the night in Phoenix. Alice appeared at my side and I was too in shock to even say anything like ask what they were doing here, why they had managed to come back at just the fight time.

"Alice, the blood…" I warned nervously, looking from Emily to Alice to the others.

"It's okay, they won't hurt you or her." Alice told me, "We've got to hurry."

She looked behind her as the figure of Rosalie went flying backward.

"Is that Rose?" I asked. "They're…"

"Yes, she's fine Bella, they're getting rid of her."

"They got rid of Rosalie!?"

"No, Victoria." She replied, and she actually rolled her eyes. "Come on,"

Alice lifted me up so easily I could have been as light as an empty sack, and I finally closed my eyes, knowing I was safe.

"Emily…" I whispered.

"Emmett will bring her." She told me gently, and we started moving, fast. "You didn't set fire to her!" she suddenly shouted to I don't know who.

"We smelt dogs," someone, I think Jasper, said.

"The wolves…" I croaked. "We need to see the wolves or they'll… they'll worry…"

"Bella, how do you know about wolves?"

I started to explain, but I was slowly losing grip on reality.

When I woke up, I had a bandage wrapped around my head and I was lying in the living room of the Cullen's house. It took me a while to remember everything and I couldn't really remember why the Cullens of all people had showed up. All but three of them… I started to wonder if he was here and my heart began to beat fast again… I wasn't sure if I wanted to be excited at the possibility of seeing him, of seeing Edward, or furious. I didn't even know if I wanted anything to do with him ever again.

"You're alive then."

I looked around, Emmett was standing in the doorway grinning at me, with his arms crossed.

"Emmett…" I managed to speak, before flopping back down on the sofa.

He arrived at my side, sitting on the floor beside the sofa. "Thought you were dead there."

"Where's Emily?" I asked, looking around me desperately.

"Rose's seeing to her."

"What!?" I asked alarmed, when he said that he looked evil, and I suddenly heard Victoria's voice in my head,

"The werewolf and the vampire…"

"Don't touch her!" I demanded, shouting and sitting upright.

"Whoaaah, Bella, calm down. I meant Rose is trying to heal her."

"She is? She's… Emily's okay? She's not a vampire?" I said, exhaling in relief as I sunk lower down on to the sofa.

"No, she's not a vampire." Emmett muttered darkly. "Rosalie sucked the venom out."

"Rosalie did?" I asked in astonishment. "How did she stop?"

I remembered all too well how hard it had been for even Edward to stop sucking the venom out of my system, the blood had tasted too good for him and he could have killed me.

Emmett shook his head. "I don't know. She's the only one of us whose never drank human blood, not once. As soon as the venom was out she just… stopped. She looked disgusted as she noticed there was blood still coming out of the cut and just wiped it clean."

"Why do you look so angry?" I asked.

"Your werewolf friends came by."

"You didn't… they're okay, right?"

"Yes, they're fine. They said they followed our trail and they thought we'd crossed to the dark side. Jasper let two of them in and they went in to the room your friend is in first, saw Rosalie sucking the venom out and got the wrong idea."

"Oh." I couldn't think what else to say.

I had all these questions I wanted to ask, and Emmett seemed to know what one of my first ones were.

"He's not coming back."

"Really?" I said, surprised to find I was actually glad.

"We're not even meant to be here."

"That's my second question." I admitted, "Why are you here? How did you find us?"

"Alice." He said simply, like that answered everything. "She saw your future disappear." He added once he noticed my confusion.

"It disappeared?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah. That only happens when you… when you die, usually."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Only now we think that she can't see past werewolves."

"You said you're not meant to be here…"

"Edward told us to stay away, to leave you be. He told Alice to stop watching your future, but she's attuned to you, so she kind of just… does."

I nodded, accepting his answer, and then tried to get to my feet.

"Bella, what are you doing?" Emmett said, sounding tired which was strange for me, vampires never sounded tired.

"I'm going to see Emily and the wolves." I said.

"Only one of the wolves is here, the big one."

"What?" I asked, alarmed. "Where's Jared?"

"Jared huh?" he said, quirking an eyebrow.

"Emmett!"

"Jasper kicked the wolves out. They're probably still outside waiting for you."

"I'm going out to see them, then. Then I'll go see Emily." I decided, making my way to the front door.

"Bella, I've been told you're not allowed to move yet."

"What?" I echoed him, irritated.

"I'll go get this Jared for you. Jasper won't like it."

"Well I don't really like you lot telling me I'm not allowed to move from this sofa." I told him moodily, but I sank back down on the sofa anyway.

Emmett grinned at me and left the room.

"Bella?" I heard his voice before I saw him. "Bella!"

He ran over to my sighed and I was so happy to see Jared. I looked in to his anxious eyes as he asked me if I was okay, stroked my hair, and hugged me to his chest.

"I will be." I replied, allowing him to hug me. "I just want to get out of here."

"You can, Bella. They aren't in charge of you."

"They're just trying to help me, I guess." I murmured in to his chest.

It was a weird feeling, how relieved I had been to see a guy I'd only known for twenty four hours, probably longer now considering I had been out for quite a while, or so I thought. As I hugged Jared, I managed to focus on the clock, it was four and it was dark out, so it was the middle of the night.

"I should probably thank them for that." He muttered,

"Yeah, me too."

"I'm sorry I didn't get to you in time. I'm sorry she even managed to get you away from me to begin with." He looked even more sorry than he had done when he was close to kissing me.

"You couldn't help it. She's faster than any other vampire I know I think." I told him.

"Bella, can I ask you a question?"

I nodded, and Jared's arm tightened around me as he looked in to my eyes.

"Is he coming back? Is Edward coming back?"

I shook my head and actually smiled. "If he did, I wouldn't go back with him."

"You wouldn't? I thought you were still hoping…" he was about to stop himself but I put a finger to his lips anyway, more as an excuse to touch him.

"I was. I kind of gave up on him a while ago." I told him in whispers, although I knew his family would hear me anyway. "It still hurts to think of him sometimes but I think that's more just because of what he did to me and the good memories we do have. But… I don't want to be with him, not anymore. If he loved me like I loved him he wouldn't have done this to me. He wouldn't have left, even if he was doing it to protect me."

I looked back in to Jared's eyes.

"Jared, I know I told you I'm not ready to be anything more than friends with you, but I hope we will be soon. I didn't realise I would feel like this with you."

"How do you feel?" Jared asked me gently.

"I feel… like when I'm apart from you I feel like I've only got half the limbs or something like that. I feel like you are amazingly handsome and sweet all in one. I feel like I really know you when I barely know you at all. I think… I think the spirits had the right idea when you imprinted on me." I laughed, and he did too. "I feel like I want to be with you. You know, when you stopped yourself from kissing me earlier, I was so disappointed."

He smiled at me swiftly. "So was I, I'll be honest with you."

"Will you kiss me now?" I asked him, moving my face closer to him.

"You actually want me to?"

I nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Please, just kiss me,"

He didn't need anymore persuading. His lips crushed to mine, they were warm and soft yet still strong, and it made my heart beat faster than it already was. His hands travelled down my back and up again, making small circles until eventually, he rested one in the small of my back and the other one in my hair. His skin burnt mine but it wasn't at all uncomfortable, to me it was just like the burning sensation of passion I felt when he kissed me; his fingers felt as if they were massaging my head, my head was starting to feel like it was going to explode with all the emotions I was feeling.

I had never been kissed before, I decided. Edward and I kissed before, but it was always broken off quickly and he would never touch me, afraid to snap me in half. Whilst Jared was gentle he was also strong and supporting me as I felt weaker and weaker the more I kissed him.

"Ahem." We both jumped and turned around, Alice, my best friend before she disappeared, was standing in the doorway with a polite smile on her face. "Sorry to interrupt."

I was surprised, because I think she actually was sorry. She moved across the room to sit in the chair opposite me.

"I have to talk to you." She told us, and Jared wrinkled up his nose at the scent of her but I reassured him slightly by patting him on the back before moving fully away from him; though I was happy when he kept his arm round me.

"Go ahead, Alice. Actually, first I'd like to say something to you."

"Okay."

"I'd like to thank you. You saved my life today, and my friends life… if you hadn't cared enough to come for me I would be dead and Emily would be… well Emily would be one of you."

Alice laughed her twinkly laugh. "That would be terrible." She said, but I know she took no offense to what I had said. "May I speak?"

I nodded, keen to know what she was going to say.

"Firstly, I would like to say I am sorry. I… we didn't want to leave. Edward thinks he is doing what's best for you and I can tell that you're happy with him gone." I felt a little guilty, she had obviously heard what I had said about Edward.

"No, don't worry, I'm glad you wouldn't go back with him if he came back. He's hurt you a lot, I can tell but I'm glad you've found someone who will make you happy and keep you safe. Even if he is furry and walks on four legs."

I rolled my eyes and looked at Jared, but he was struggling to conceal a smile.

"Bella, what I am trying to say is, I'm really sorry and you have every right to hate me but-"

"I don't hate you, Alice. I don't hate any of you. I don't even hate Edward."

I noticed Jared look at me out of the corner of his eye, maybe annoyed, but I didn't look at him.

"I can't blame him for what he feels. And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have met Jared when I did."

Alice nodded, accepting this. "So you don't hate me… does that mean you will accept my offer of friendship?"

I pretended to consider this whilst Alice waited on tenterhooks.

"Hm… I don't know Alice…" her eyes widened as if she was in shock, and then I finally gave her my answer.

"Alice, of course I'd still like to be your friend."

"Yay!" Alice actually shouted whilst clapping her hands together and running over to me. Jared looked slightly tense, but I looked at him and nodded before returning Alice's hug.

"I can come back and visit and we can go shopping together!"

"Seriously Alice? Bella Barbie, that's what you have planned for me?"

Alice laughed and stuck her tongue out at me. "You love it, Bella. I'll make you pretty for all your future dates with Jared!"

"She's already pretty," Jared protested.

"Oh shush, don't ruin my fun!" Alice laughed and then Jared caught sight of my face, I was pretty sure I looked more aghast than ever and he laughed, too.

Alice told me she had texted Charlie for me off my phone to tell him I was staying with a friend so I could sleep and also, they couldn't have really carried me in drowning in blood. Jared slept their too, which he did confess to me was weird, staying at the house of a vampire and Sam agreed; but they stayed for mine and Emily's sake.

I woke up around midday, Jared was still asleep. He looked even more handsome when he was asleep, he still looked young and sweet. I heard voices in the kitchen but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I got to my feet carefully and made my way upstairs.

"Alice, I know you care greatly for Bella but Edward asked us not to get involved in her life." I recognised the voice as Rosalie's. "I'm glad we managed to save her but we should go back to Carlisle and Esme."

"Rose, she said she wants to see me again! I'm not just going to abandon her, we already did before-"

"Yes, and she's fine. She's found someone to be with forever, someone to make her happy! It's not fair on her to drag her back in to our lives."

I thought it was strange that Rosalie was arguing for my sake, but then again I had found it strange that she was one of the people who had come to save me. I knew they would have heard me approaching anyway, so I thought it would be better for me to enter the kitchen than sneak away.

Alice had some food on a tray, I think she had been planning on bringing me breakfast in bed. Well, breakfast on sofa. When I walked in, Rosalie smiled at me and once again I was taken aback by her sudden kindness to me.

"Hello, Bella. How are you feeling?" she asked me, reminding me of Esme.

"I'm okay. Thank you for coming to help me."

She nodded, and then with one last look at Alice disappeared out the back door.

A/N: Hey everyone! Thank you thank you thank you for all of the reviews! It means so much to me knowing that people are enjoying my writing. This chapter is quite a bit longer than all my other ones so far... do you prefer them this length or the shorter ones I have been posting? Let me know. Thank you again! x