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.

14. Chapter 14

Welcome baaaack! I hope you're all recovering from the winter months well, I've been pretty busy lately, surprisingly with friends instead of life stuff which is actually very nice and unusual. So, that's been cool and in between all that I managed to find time to write this!

A quick heads up, this chapter was split into two, it was getting far too long and I had so much left to cover. This chapter is actually only a little shorter than some of my previous ones, and I felt it was best to end it where I did. I discussed with a friend if I should just wait and post them both at the same time, but she thought it wouldn't be fair to make you lovelies wait any longer and I quite agree!

Some warning for this chapter, lots of fighting, and anger, and limb removal, and biting, and death. I'm pretty sure if you've read this far though, you already knew it was going to be a messy end anyway ;)

Please pop over to my Tumblr to see the new book cover (and the previous ones) in full size, see edits of how I reimagined the characters, get sneaky clips of future chapters, keep up to date on where I am with current stuff and read about new projects I'm working on! It's MozzarellaMermaid same as on here.

Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga made millions, I have about, let's see... carry the 2... divide it by 40,000... takeaway a couple million... a lot less than that. Suffice to say, I'm not profiting off of this and you're not allowed to give me money for writing this, no matter how much you want to. I know, free stories must be killing you inside.

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Peter's POV

There it was, that tug in my head, that pull, that "disturbance in the force". There was something I needed to do and something I needed to know, random words that I wasn't privy to just yet. Whatever it was that had made my gift act up, took us slightly off course but I figured it must have been important, else it wouldn't be bothering me.

My gift was weird, it made less sense to me than others, but it had helped get everyone I cared about out of tight spots enough times for me to admit it wasn't a fluke. The first 20 years or so I just assumed it was a gut instinct that all vampires had, it wasn't until I finally had time to just be myself with my foxy mate, that I realised it was a special ability. Thinking about it, it was lucky that back then no one did know I was one of those magical vampires, lord knows what shit Maria would have put me through if she did.

Thinking about Maria led me to thinking about Felipe. It sounded too coincidental for him not to be the same man, and I was absolutely positive he had lived after Maria had Jasper kill her sisters. He was a slippery guy, centuries older than most of the other vampires yet willing to be subservient to Nettie of all people. I could vaguely recall a faint memory of him instructing the newborns that younger blood was sweetest but they had to be sure to kill them afterwards, because no child could be changed. Even in my blood-crazed newborn years, I thought that was disgusting, thankfully so did many of the other newborns I fought with.

"What's wrong, hon?" My gorgeous mate tugged me out of my memories of darker times, she slowed to a jog and I followed suit. "You don't look so great, did you get another feelin'?" I nodded and made myself more comfortable in the shade of the trees we were running by, out of the light drizzle that was matting my blonde hair to my forehead.

"Yeah, we gotta change course when we hit Grand Mound, there's something we have to do up north before we hit Forks," We had just passed Portland, it would take us less than an hour to reach to Forks from here, and our detour should only add on an extra half an hour at best... well, I guess that really depends on what was waiting for us on said detour.

"Grand Mound? Anything more than that?" I examined my new thoughts as closely as I could, but it was just a solid idea, no branching parts that could lead me back to something else so I could find out more.

"There's someone we have to find, though they'll find us... and words...like a code or something. I don't know them yet but I'll know it when I see whoever we're meeting along the road," I shrugged helplessly, Charl had more faith in my gift than me, but she wasn't a fan of not knowing all the little details, something that drove her mad about me.

"Alright, but don't you steer me wrong Mr Whitlock, your brother needs you," She scolded lightly and I draped myself over her small frame and nuzzled into her cheek.

"Have I ever led you astray, Mrs Whitlock?" She folded her arms and gave me the look over her shoulder.

"Oh sugar, don't you even go there, cause we got places to be, and I ain't got all day to chew your ass out for the hundreds of times you've got us into trouble," I gave her a cheeky grin and safely widened the space between us.

"You still mad about cutting our vacation short?" She pouted a little, and her cheeks puffed out in this adorable way that made me wanna squeeze them.

"Nooo... I ain't happy about it, but I know that this is important." She gave me a stern look that made me feel the urge to salute her. "Now c'mon soldier, if you've got nothin' else to report?"

"Not yet Ma'am, my Moon Prism Powers haven't told me everything, but I'm sure I'll know when the time is right. Sure glad we liberated that phone, it'll make getting in touch with the Cullens easier, and I got a feelin' speeds gonna be of the essence," I knew from years of experience that I couldn't force my gift, no matter how little it made sense to me, it was a case of waiting until events aligned and the universe would cosmically inform me that shit was going down.

"I never should have left you that weekend," She muttered in shame as she took off down the road at Mach speeds.

"There is nothing wrong with Sailor Moon! You're just jealous you missed out on the greatest marathon about the most relatable teenage girl in the past hundred years!" I yelled as I sped after her.

"You're not a teenage girl!" She retorted over the rush of wind and rain.

"No! I'm a kawaii teenage girl!"

"Sweet Jesus, why'd I ever marry you?" I caught up to her and pecked her cheek as she bemoaned her wedded bliss.

"Cause your mama didn't raise no fool?" She kicked my ankle, forcing me to stumble into a puddle and I gaped at her as I regained my footing. "Cold, truly, cold."

She grinned that devilish grin that I would tear apart heaven and earth for.

"Most puddles tend to be, and yet you love me anyway,"

"With every breath I'll never take you glorious creature," I said reverently. She preened in satisfaction and we continued running to go save my brother and his potential mate.

I was really looking forward to meeting my probable sister-in-law, she sounded crazier than a sack of cats and appeared to have a penchant for getting into trouble, a trait we both shared. Though I don't think to the same degree, she seems a little too human to be getting into this much trouble.

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Kali's POV

Boy, oh boy, did I ever love not being a breakable bag of bones. There was no pain in my arm, no twinge in my ribs, the medicated high was fading and I was ready to deliver some swift fucking murder.

"You two hang back, I'm going to go upstairs and see who's around, alright?" I whispered. Myra nodded quickly, eyeing me nervously but Izzy didn't seem too happy with my plan.

"I want to help out! You saw what I did to Alice,- I can-" She said in frustration and I shushed her.

"You can't help until I know what's going on, and if James shows up with you, it'll raise questions, however if I just leave this unlocked and yell something mundane like, I don't know...uh, 'shut up'." I tried placating her quietly on the fly. It was the first thing I could think of that wouldn't sound like a signal and could be yelled without drawing too much attention. "Yep, I'll yell that and you guys come up, got it?" Izzy nodded glumly.

I know it was a tenuous plan at best, and I was likely to die for the second time in a day, but I had the element of surprise on my side and if I went into this with no clear plans, then even if Alice could see me when I borrowed a body (something I was curious to know) it'd be more of a jumble. A jumble of thoughts that hopefully she wouldn't pay attention to.

I gave the ladies one last smile and yelled at them loud enough for the household to hear.

"Don't fuck us about! You want to end up with more broken bones?! Stay here, and don't pull anymore of that shit!" I gave them another beaming grin and received tentative smiles in return. Izzy, being the darling bright girl she is added,

"I'll do whatever the fuck I like, you can't keep me down here forever, I will find a way out, and I'll rip your head off your Goddamn shoulders when I do, you stupid little fuck!" She gave me a bright smile and two thumbs up, I tried so hard not to laugh at her wonderful 'Kali' impersonation, it was pretty damn good.

Quietly as I could, I whispered an instruction to her.

"Punch me in the face," Her eyes grew wide and her mouth fell open.

"What? No!" She protested, in a whisper.

"Do it, it's only James' body, I won't even feel it, but it'll look good. So, c'mon, as hard as you hit Alice please,"

Izzy gave me a hesitant look but I saw her fingers twitch in uncertainty and gave her a smile,

"I've been punched in the face as a vampire before, it really doesn't hurt, promise, but if you can crack my face like you did Alice's it'll give me something to talk about with them when I get up there, they might ask me things only James knows, it'll work out fine, promise." She hesitated still and I rolled my eyes. "Think of it as me holding James back whilst you sock him in the face, trust me he deserves it," Izzy took a calming breath and nodded resolutely, her face stretched into a grin and her fist clenched.

"Well, if you put it like that- Ugh!" She socked me good, probably helped by how I leaned out my face to offer her my cheek, my jaw tightly clenched. It made my face explode in that unusual dull pain that vampires felt as it cracked, my teeth rattled in my head and I crashed into the back of the door.

"Fuck, that was a good punch, right, behave ladies, I'll call you if I don't get back first," Izzy gave me a sheepish smile and her whole body twitched as she tried to stop herself from hugging me, unsure if she should. I scooped her up quickly and pressed my good cheek against hers.

"Be careful," She told me and I nodded against her shoulder before straightening and giving her and Myra, a last wave before I gave an animalistic growl for added effect, as I slammed the door shut on my way out. I jiggled the lock back and forth for the sound, but left it unlocked so they only needed up turn the handle to leave.

Giving them a codeword to know when to join in was just something I'd done to placate Izzy, in reality I wanted to keep the pair of them as far away from this potential fight as long as I could. I would deal with all of them myself, if James got killed in the process then I'd happily chuck his soul behind me to the Saumen if I ended up in that endless dark again.

My first step up the basement stairs cracked the concrete step whilst I was trying to get a handle on vampire strength, I knew how to do it now, it was just a matter of paying attention whenever I moved. Hopefully my breaking the step just added more authenticity to 'James' irritation, I took a second to fine tune James' unfamiliar body and strength before I tried again and calmly walked upstairs, keeping a tight scowl on my face.

I came out into the kitchen and looked around. The last time I had come through here it was too hard to see, in the corner of the room there was a disgusting smell that was making me gag. An old sheet had been haphazardly thrown over a small, corpse, a morbidly curious part of me wanted to look, but when I saw a pair of light up trainers poking out the end I changed my mind and I vowed to make these cunts pay.

It was hard to yank my attention away from the body, but I did and tried to memorise the layout of the room as fast as I could. It was a relatively decent sized kitchen but it clearly hadn't been used in a very, very long time. Looking past all the decay and dust, I could see outdated, broken, appliances and cracked, yellowing tiles along the walls. There was on old dining table in the middle of the room, it was one of the less dusty pieces of furniture, however it was stained red with blood fresh enough that a little venom pooled in my mouth.

There was a back door leading into the garden, James' superior vision let me see outside the slightly open window much better than I could earlier. Well, I was almost sure we were still near Forks, the amount of trees were a big indicator, but I could also remember the smell of the same nature as Forks from my time spent in the bodies of various Cullens. It was hard to describe, my nose was so sensitive and there were a million new smells that my human brain could hardly differentiate from one another, but I knew we couldn't be far if the smells weren't so different.

I swallowed tightly and gathered up my courage, thankfully vampires couldn't shake with fear like humans could, else I'd have given myself away in an instant. I could hear movement nearby, and there were two heartbeats, I assumed those were Myra's little girls. I decided that James was likely to make an entrance, and that I was just wasting time now. So with a bang I kicked open the ajar kitchen door and heard the heartbeats jump and speed up.

"What happened, James?" A simpering Victoria asked as she rose from her chair to come closer, she latched onto me and started fawning over my cracked cheek. I shrugged her off with a glare, but she didn't even seem phased, I assumed this was the norm even though I'd been going for general irritation.

"That doll punched me, the stupid girl bled to try and get attention, a useless escape plan that failed miserably." Laurent stepped in from the doorway, and I felt my chest splutter with rage as I remembered the feeling of his foot crushing my organs under his heel until they burst. Charlie's killer looked afraid of my ire, and I realised I was glaring at him so hard it was making my eyes darken.

"I've apologised for the human, I wasn't aware he was so important to Edward's plans." This was news to me, but at least Laurent had reasoned away my sudden anger.

"I don't want to hear it," I really didn't if he said another word about Charlie, I doubt I'd be able to contain my rage. "Where is everyone?" I couldn't hear anymore movements in the house but that didn't mean they weren't close by.

Victoria gave me a funny look but answered all the same,

"Felipe and that blonde girl went off together, she needed to hunt and he seemed pretty desperate to be by her side. Edward's sister went off to hunt too, and Edward is with her. Don't you remember?" I shrugged carelessly and turned my attention to the terrified girls that backed away as soon as I caught their eyes. I wanted to tell them who I was but I would rather they be a little scared of me than have my cover blown.

As I walked closer to them I realised that they smelled wrong, something about them was off but now was hardly the time to think about that. A spark of genius hit me as I remembered something I had told the girls.

"I'm thirsty, and these things are starting to look like Peaches and Cream to me." Both of those clever girls looked up at me and I bent down so the pair behind me couldn't see my face and gave the girls a subtle wink, their surprise could have been mistaken for wide-eyed fear, thankfully. "One of you fetch me something to eat before I snap at these two," I kept my tone light but I was praying neither of them told me to go ahead and eat them.

Laurent sighed but stood,

"Well, I suppose seeing as I fed last I should be the one to go." He seemed eager to get away, as he should be, but first, he gave me a conspiratorial grin and casually came closer. "I thought you fed today though?" His question was almost suspicious, but he wasn't brave enough to outright ask anything and I was going to take complete advantage of that.

I straightened, pleased to see I was just a little taller than him, and gave him the fiercest of looks.

"Do you see my face, idiot? I'd like to get this patched up and I've just had to smell that stupid girl's blood without eating the little bitch!" I stepped into his personal space and watched him cower, his eyes barely meeting mine. "You're the one that messed up today; so where do you get the gall to question me?" Laurent took a step back as I finished yelling in his face.

"Alright, there's no need to get worked up, James," He looked away sheepishly and added casually, "If I'd have known you were going to need to hunt again, I'd have saved you some of it," 'It'?! My body went stiff.

"You ate him?" I confirmed stiffly, making Laurent raise a suspicious eyebrow, he chuckled nervously as he replied.

"But of course, I wasn't going to let good food go to waste," And that was my breaking point.

Faster than I intended to move, my hand shot out and I grabbed Laurent by his throat. Immediately, his hands scrabbled against my vice-like grip around his neck, though he wasn't choking, and given the choice, I wouldn't want him to go so easily anyway. Dragging him in closer, my steely nails pierced through his neck and I pushed them in deeper, relishing in his palpable fear as he could only struggle futilely against me, he wasn't willing to fight off his leader and I used that to my advantage.

His eyes darted madly as he tried to decide what to do but ultimately wasn't brave enough to fight back, maybe he assumed that James was only going to punish him or scare him, but I had other intentions.

I could feel the bumps and ridges of his neck bones against my fingertips, and I dug my fingers in harder, forcing my fingers around the bone. Laurent's chokes turned into desperate gurgles and gasps of air that he didn't need. I'd lifted him off the ground, but hadn't noticed until he began kicking at my legs as he tried to regain his footing, for some reason this made me angrier and my grip tightened, my fingers sinking further and further into his flesh.

As soon as I could practically close my fist inside his neck, I stiffened my fingers and yanked back hard, ripping out the front of his throat in the process with a metallic screech. His venom poured from the gaping wound in his neck, like he's become a sickly sweet smelling waterfall, his face was contorted in a mixture of shock and fear as he fell down, his hands trying to cover the fist sized hole in his throat.

Victoria was stock still, she didn't know what to do but stand there and watch in horror as I viciously ripped out his vocal chords and windpipe. Without the front of his throat, Laurent was panicking in open mouthed silence as he tried to stem the venom flowing freely down his dark jacket.

When I reached out towards him, Laurent decided to finally fight back and sunk his teeth into my hand. It felt like I just grabbed a curling iron and I had to resist the urge to yank my hand back as his venom burned me. Instead, I took advantage of his clamped jaw around my open hand, and flattened my palm over his face, stepping around him I dug my nails into his head I yanked it backwards. There was another sound like metal being ripped apart and his head tore clean off his shoulders.

The children screamed and Victoria yelped in surprise and covered her mouth. In reality the whole thing had only happened in the space of about 20 seconds. I was deadly fast as James, and because my human mind wasn't slowing me down with thinking or planning, I was reacting with his true speed and strength. I had barely gave Laurent time to react let alone time to decide whether or not it was a good idea to fight back.

His mouth was still clamped around my fingers, but I wasn't holding onto his head anymore and as soon as his jaw slacked, his head fell to the floor with a loud bang.

"James! Why did you-" Now that she was expecting it, I was unsure I could do the same to Victoria and instead cut her off with a harsh growl,

"Get out! And don't come back until you've found me something good, else the same happens to you!" Victoria was obedient and didn't want to take her chances, she left without another word, the front door slamming shut noisily as she did. I counted to ten and saw Laurent's body begin to twitch.

"Prisha, Anaya, don't look," Prisha covered her younger sisters face by burying her into her chest and turned away from me. I stomped down on Laurent's head, hard, and again, and again, and again, until his face was nothing but a mass of shards of skull, his long black dreadlocks soaked in venom and brain matter. When I looked back on this moment, I would feel queasy and ashamed at how I went about getting my justice for Charlie, but I never regretted my actions. I never felt bad for what I did to Laurent.

As soon as Laurent's body went still, I turned back to the girls and gave them a soft smile, they gave me fearful looks and I felt awful for making them see me kill him.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that, are you alright?" Prisha nodded slowly and reluctantly uncurled herself from the protective cocoon she had formed around her little sister.

"Are you... Kali?" Prisha asked suspiciously, I nodded and gave her another close lipped smile, not wanting to show off the teeth that had ripped out thousands of throats over the years.

"Yep, I told you if you got confused the password was Peaches and Cream, didn't I?" Anaya gave me a small smile, but Prisha didn't look satisfied with my answer.

"They can hear us from very far away, how do I know you're not lying?" I shrugged, running low on ideas, I was still running off that incredible high of adrenaline from killing Laurent.

"No idea, and sadly we don't have time for me to convince you otherwise, so it's up to you Prisha, but I'm getting us all out of here right now, whilst we have the chance, so what's it gonna be?" I asked and she looked fearfully down at her sister before her eyes darted over to the headless corpse of Laurent.

"Get my mama, first," She bartered and I nodded happily.

"Not a problem." I cleared my throat and yelled "Shut up!" Loud enough for the ladies underneath me to hear, who I imagine were nervously listening for my signal. My sensitive hearing picked up the sound of the door beneath me opening and we were quickly joined by Izzy and Myra, who rushed over to her kids and yanked the door open, barely giving the corpse of Laurent a second glance.

"Prish! Naya! Oh my girls, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," Myra sobbed heartily into her children's hair as she held them closely to her.

"I know you want to make sure they're okay, but we have to leave," I warned and made towards the other door leading out into a short hallway. I doubt she could really talk past her tears right now but she nodded and pulled up her children and led them away from their prison for god knows how long. Both girls looked overjoyed and were clinging to their mothers fiercely, tears streaming down their faces. Anaya pressed her free hand against her eyes and made a pained noise as she sobbed.

"Don't cry baby, it's not good for you," It was such an odd sentence and the way she said it made it sound like it was something she said often. I didn't have time to dwell on it though, we were in a hurry.

Izzy was staring down at the body of Laurent in shock and awe, I had to grab her wrist and yank her along with us.

"Did you kill him?" She asked in surprise.

"With any luck," I said tersely, I was on edge, waiting for something to go horribly wrong.

In the hallway there was a warning smell just left of the front door. A room just before the stairs that reeked heavily of decay, the three females I was ushering out of the house scrunched up their faces in displeasure as the smell assaulted them. No one felt brave enough to ask what was in there, let alone open the door. I felt a cold chill up my spine and a pair of eyes watching me. There was no heartbeat, no smell of venom or blood being pumped through a body, but when I turned around I could see a pair of eyes watching me from the cupboard.

I threw my arms in front of everyone and crouched, getting ready to take a tackle which seemed to be the vampires preferred method of attack. Nothing happened, the eyes stayed still and watched me from inside the cupboard with almost boredom.

"Charlie, out you come," Myra finally said, softly. I could practically feel my heart stutter at his name and then it sank when the mindless Charlie cadaver calmly came out of the cupboard and stared almost right through us.

"Myra what are you doing? That thing brought me here, I don't want it anywhere near me," I could feel my rage boiling underneath the surface I was still high off the adrenaline of killing Laurent and I was seconds away from another burst of outrage, James had a lot of aggression, more than I could remember feeling in other vampires and it set my teeth on edge.

"Kali, he can help," I gave up on my death glare long enough to turn around and give her an incredulous look. "The soulless dolls listen to me, Felipe had me pass command over to himself but they still have to obey me."

Though it killed me, I had to accept that this was a mindless tool that looked like Bella's father, that was it, there was nothing inside him. I was relieved I wouldn't have to attack him though, I hated this doll for existing, but attacking Charlie may have done me in right then.

Taking the initiative Myra started speaking to the abomination she had created.

"Charlie, do not listen to Felipe anymore, come with us and protect us if we are attacked." I wanted to protest about that thing coming with me but we needed all the help we could get.

With barely contained rage, I turned away from him and opened the front door so hard I pulled it off its hinges. Tossing it to the ground, I stepped out first, looking around and listening carefully for any signs of the remaining four threats. When we weren't immediately assaulted, I ushered them all out the door and we headed towards the two parked cars.

We were in a forest, but my minimal view from the window already told me that much, looking up at the house I could see it was some kind of hunting lodge that had been done up a little before being abandoned altogether, but I didn't recognise it. There was no "this was where it all began", this place was most likely the closest home they could find near Forks where screams wouldn't be heard. Seeing as I didn't recognise anything, I had no idea where to drive to but I knew I was going to drive us as fast and as far away as possible.

I didn't want to make anymore unnecessary noise by smashing windows, so I tried the handles on both and was relived that the black SUV was unlocked and the keys were dangling off the mirror.

"Get in," I commanded and everyone piled in the car, I was about to hop into the drivers seat when I hesitated as I watched fake Charlie calmly climb in the back with the children. Charlie's real body was still there, and after he had asked me to be buried where his daughter could visit, I couldn't leave him to rot under a sheet like that poor child in the kitchen.

"Kali, what's wrong?" I clenched my fists and turned to Myra, who was sitting in the back with her children.

"Can you drive?" Myra seemed surprised but nodded.

"Can you not?" I opened the back door and she dutifully stepped out and climbed into the front seat.

"There's something I need to do here, vampires can run faster than cars so I'll catch up quick. Just go on without me." Izzy looked ready to protest and began unbuckling. "Nuh uh, you're going too, you need to get out of here, I have no idea what Edward has planned for you but I know you'll be miserable, and I won't let him hurt you," She hesitated but steeled her resolve and to my frustration got out of the car.

"Vampires can run faster than cars and can carry people at the same time, I'll cling onto your back whilst you run." I wasn't confident I could get myself out safely, let alone her too, and my fast running was tenuous at best, but most of all I didn't want her to see Charlie's body.

I hadn't told her that he was dead, and I didn't want to tell her how he had died, whilst we were in the middle of an escape. I was barely coping myself with what had happened, running on survival instincts and adrenaline, I wouldn't mourn until we were safe and I didn't want to put her in that position.

"I can't run with you, now go!" I argued and glared at her, she didn't look like she was budging and I was getting ready to force her back into the car when a voice stopped me cold.

"And just what's going on here?"

Alice came into the glade along with Edward, her face turned slack for a millisecond and she looked at me in confusion.

"Why can't I see you?" I knew exactly what she meant, and I was thankful that for whatever the reason, she couldn't see either mine or James future right now. I wasn't sure if it was because of Bella's gift blocking her off, my own indecisiveness, or the fact that she was trying to look at James' future but couldn't see him because I was in his body... whatever the reason, I wasn't going to waste this chance.

An iddy-biddy fact had come to me as I absorbed the atmosphere of being in the Twilight world, something that only took a little thinking to figure out; Alice relied on her gift for everything, and without it, she was one of the weakest of the Cullens.

I gave her a jovial smile and walked over to her as casually as I could, she watched me carefully but I kept my face a cheerful mask until I was within grabbing distance and I snatched her wrist up like she had done mine and twisted it round and round. Alice fell to her knees and tried to roll with the rotations, to keep her arm intact, but I booted her in the opposite direction and tore her hand clean off, sending the little bitch rolling away.

"Guess you've got a broken wrist too,?" I taunted as I lobbed her hand from me as far away as I could.

I had expected Edward to intervene but apparently fake Charlie had taken Myra's orders to heart and was determined to defend all of us. With the blankest of looks, Charlie had rugby tackled Edward and was using every pounding blow to the boys face to keep him down and disorientated, smashing spidery cracks into his porcelain skin.

Though I had been in plenty of scraps in my life, nothing could compare to what a vampire could do and I planned to take full advantage of the power in this body. I was going to tear Alice apart for what she had done to me, and everyone Bella and I cared about, but first I had to make sure everyone got away safely.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" I yelled to Myra, and I heard the engine roar to life almost as soon as I shouted. I turned to go after Alice but found the little pixie coming in close, clutching her weeping hand against her flat chest, her eyes were honed in on me and I had never seen someone look at me with so much hatred.

I readied myself for a tackle, but she was used to feigning the obvious move and darted underneath my side, a swift kick slammed into my back and sent me flying. I crashed through the trees and skidded to a stop in the mud, before I could pick myself up she was there again, above me, her nails poised at my throat as she readied to behead me.

"You're in there aren't you?" Before I could respond, she was ragged off me by her hair and Izzy smashed her face into the closest tree over and over, the wood cracking and snapping with every slam of her skull against bark.

Shoving myself up, I grabbed onto Alice's thigh and crushed her other dainty foot underneath my boot.

"Hold her!" I yelled at Izzy and hoisted her leg over my shoulder, keeping her other foot tightly pinned beneath mine. I forced Alice into a split, her yells muffled by the mouthful of tree, as I wrenched away with all my strength and was rewarded with her leg tearing off at the hip. She screamed into the wood and I span with her leg to gain momentum before I threw it away from her as far as possible, in the opposite direction from her hand. I planned to toss this bitch throughout the damn forest.

The second her leg left my fingers I heard an audible smash of pottery and turned in horror towards Izzy, to my relief she was unhurt, Alice seemed too disorientated by the sudden loss of limb and trying to get free of the clay girls grip. As soon as her leg was removed Alice fell to the floor and Izzy dug her knee into her back and kept her pinned down, but it was clear she couldn't hold out for much longer with Alice struggling madly beneath her.

My eyes scanned wildly for the location of the sound, I caught a blur running towards me, and just behind it was a pile of white clay and tatty clothes. Edward tackled into me and rolled with me, I snapped at his neck and got a few good bites in, making him disengage and release me. I shoved myself into a crouch, ready for him to jump on me again, but instead he spoke whilst hovering close enough to grab me.

"What are you doing, James?" It seems that Alice was faster on the uptake than her brother.

"Oh just a little bit of rebelling against the plans, I'm ever so good at it, don't you know?" He stalled and I took the opportunity to lash out and headbutt him.

More cracks spread across his nose as the weaker cartilage bent inwards and his head flew back. There was a deep sense of satisfaction for finally being able to headbutt him like I had tried to all those weeks ago in his car, but it was short lived. Another blur raced over and I barely caught a glimpse of the person before my arm was suddenly detached and I was clutching at my weeping stump.

Felipe looked down at me coolly, with my arm twitching in hand.

"What is the meaning of this? I thought we were all on the same side and now you're all fighting?" I heard swears, threats and grunts as Izzy was dragged over to me kicking and screaming by Natalie, she threw her down next to me then hauled her back up by her arms.

"I'm not allowed to break this thing am I?" She asked almost carelessly, I could practically picture her disinterestedly blowing a bubble of lurid pink gum. I struggled to stand and Felipe moved fast, kicking the back of my knees to make me kneel, he booted my back and forced my face into the ground until I tasted mushy earth.

"No, it's too much trouble to fix, and we're on a schedule." Felipe reminded her sternly. None of them made moves to go after Myra and I didn't plan to bring it up, hoping the scuffle would keep the family in the back of their mind until they'd gotten far enough away, but of course I was going to do my utmost to keep their attention.

"Hey, Felipe, did y'know your 'mates' special power is to make you fall in love with her?" I taunted, turning my head to the side so I could watch them. Natalie's face dropped and her eyes darted up to Felipe in worry, before anyone could say anything more, Alice hopped over and I snorted at how stupid she looked with one leg.

"Kali is inside James, don't listen to a thing she says," Felipe seemed a little more assured and Edward stepped into my field of vision and looked at me with open surprise.

"Kali?" He questioned and I spat at the dirt crawling into my mouth and grinned up at him.

"Hey there, Fuckward," His face tightened into an angry scowl and he seemed ready to end me. "Oh by all means, kill this body, you'll just be saving me a job later," There was a long pause where everyone stared, completely unsure of what to do.

"Get out of his body," He demanded coldly and I grinned wider.

"Not possible, I'm afraid, there's absolutely no way to force me out of this body, oh, unless you kill him, of course" Your move, fuckers. Izzy struggled and wriggled her way out of Natalie's hold, before barrelling into Felipe, knocking him off of me and throwing her entire body over mine like she was some sort of animal.

"No!" She growled and glared up at the four vampires that could shatter her in an instant. "You'll have to fucking kill me first!" I was touched, truly, I even felt a little venom well up behind my eyes as she protected me.

I pushed myself up a little, and used my sole arm to reach behind Izzy and held her against my back, being half of me she was half genius, and so she immediately wrapped her arms around my neck and locked her legs around my waist as I stood. No one made any moves for a moment, they were waiting to see what my next plan was, I think my smug smirk and current host body kept them hesitant. I lowered into a half crouch, as if I was getting ready to attack them, they mimicked me and I stared to take steps to the side as I spoke, slowly making my way towards where the trees were thinnest.

"I wouldn't get any closer if I were you, else I'll Takeover your body, I've had quite a bit of practise at this and I'll use you all to fight one another, and after you've torn each other apart trying to find me, I'll burn you to ash."

"You can't move that fast-" Felipe started, he already had the combat/speed advantage over me but I wasn't going to let that deter me as I adjusted my one handed grip on Izzy and interrupted him.

"No, but you can, I wonder how many of you I can trick before you figure out which one is me? I used to fall down when I took over a body, now? I don't even stumble and there is zero trace of where I go, so, which of you is ready to die today over a little human and a clay doll?" I asked maliciously, trying not to laugh at their bewilderment on what to do.

Alice was leaning against a tree to support herself, but Natalie came and gave her her shoulder the moment she indicated. With a fierce scowl, she hobbled closer and spat angrily at me,

"I don't care what it takes, I'm killing you myself," I snorted at how her threat was punctuated by her loosing inches as her heel sunk into the damp earth.

"Alice!" Edward warned and she turned round to him in anger, her voice rife with frustration as she yelled at him.

"Enough, Edward! Bella is gone! A hundred year stay in some tower in Volterra isn't going to change that! We need to get rid of her, once and for all!" The venom and pain in her tiny body was palpable, but I was taking in her words and keeping an eye on everyone.

She said they planned to give me to the Volturi, where I would be kept for 100 years until I was obedient or whatever, then I would join the guard and never see Jasper, or Rose, or Emmett, or Esme, or Carlisle, or Izzy, ever again. But was there more to it than that? Did Edward hold out some vain hope that a century's wait would bring back Bella somehow? Thinking about it, did he even know about Izzy's needs? If he planned to have her replace Bella, if only for a time, than did he even know she needed mine or Charlie's blood to keep her alive? Was that his "plan" for Charlie?

Though I had plenty of questions, there was something about Edward's face that was keeping me from mockingly asking them of him. The more I studied him, the more I realised he was acting a little bit like Izzy had. Like there were two halves of his mind pulling in different directions, he seemed so unsure all of a sudden. There was a tenseness to his whole body that I would have been concerned about if it were directed at me, but he was angled towards the trio he stood by.

Felipe seemed to notice this first and positioned himself to face Edward, Natalie looked lost and released Alice to move by his side and kept her 'mate' in front of her, like he was her shield. I knew if I moved an inch right now all their attention would snap back to me, and if they were divided, I had a better chance.

"But you said-" He started, all that high and mighty authority leaving him in his weak complaint.

"But nothing, Edward! Jazz will take me back, he has to! It doesn't matter what happens to this bitch!" Alice sounded insane, like really insane, not just the kooky variety of madness, the straight jacket and popping little paper cups of pills type.

There was something very off with both of the Cullen children, something about them seemed so wrong.

"What happened to you two?" The words were out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop myself, drawing the attention of everyone. Izzy's grip around my neck tightened briefly and I held her against my back as close as I could with only one hand.

Alice's eye's were wild with rage, as if her cat just died and I asked if she could just get a new one. My tone had been disbelieving, not spiteful, but she seemed to take it as such. With Natalie standing beside Felipe for protection, she had no one to help her as she comically hopped over to me like a one-legged ball of rage.

"You have done this to us!" She screamed at me, making Izzy flinch on my back, my calves tensed as I readied to run. "You ruined us! You damaged the future, you broke my mate-bond!" They kept saying that I broke these bonds, and I never took it more seriously than thinking I'd broken up a relationship, but what if it meant a lot more? What if breaking their bonds with their original mates, broke them somehow?

"What did I do, exactly? Serious question here, what did I actually do by choice?" She seemed lost for a moment, like she was so used to blaming me for things she had lost the reasoning behind them. "You blame me for breaking your bonds but I never meant to, and you want to make me suffer for something out of my control?

"I never once considered coming here, I didn't discover my gift until the night I woke up as Bella, and the first time I tried to use it, I hoped I'd go home. Instead I took over Jaspers body, and I was afraid of what you'd have done to me, or what my knowledge of the future could have done to you! I never meant to hurt you Alice, or you Edward, but you're both predators to me and every choice I made was to protect myself, Bella's body, Charlie or your family." Alice seemed at a loss for words, but she was still seething with rage.

Edward on the other hand, looked so heartbroken, his brow was pinched with shame and he turned to Alice with a desperate look.

"Alice, maybe... maybe it's time to stop this?" Alice blanched at his words, along with Felipe and Natalie to a lesser degree and I felt the first tinge of hope in hours.

"Stop? Are you serious?! What about Bella, Edward? You let this menace go on like this and she'll never leave, if we trap her in Volterra the Volturi promised to figure out how to bring Bella back, they get Kali, we get Bella back and everything goes back to normal!"

So that was the plan? Remove me from Bella's body and keep me prisoner whilst Bella returned home? What good was Izzy to them, then? If they didn't plan on keeping around me or Charlie to keep her alive, how could they possibly plan to pass her off as Bella? Especially when she didn't even want to be Bella.

Again, just more questions I couldn't ask.

"How far will this go?" Edward asked, his voice breaking somewhat as he spoke. "Bella...Bella would never take me back now... not after what happened to Charlie." Izzy stiffened on my back, I could feel her heart thumping erratically.

"What's happened to Charlie?" She asked him her voice full of dread, my panic and sorrow made James' dead heart clench as he spoke.

"He's dead..." I could feel her shake, her arms vibrated around my neck and a soft whimper escaped her throat as a sickly sweet smell permeated the air, the scent of her myrrh tears.

"How...?" She asked softly, her gentle voice was almost like a sob into the night, carried away by the wind. A light rain started, as if to punctuate her sorrow.

"Laurent killed him," I said stiffly, James' rough voice was helping mask my pained reply. I could feel her eyes on the back of my head but I couldn't turn away from the group to console her right now, we were in too much danger to grieve.

I could only hope that drawing this out stopped them from going after Myra and gave her enough time to get away. Alice and Edward seemed very preoccupied right now and were the only ones here when Myra drove off, so Felipe and Natalie, the only rational pair left, had no clue that she had taken her kids and gone. I was really glad that she hadn't put up more of a fight to stick around and help out in some way, maybe she ordered the fake Charlie to help, but I was so glad she was selfish enough to leave me and Izzy to fight together. I didn't want the deaths of children on my hands, and Myra had been through so much, she was jaded by her dealings with vampires but she was kind. They deserved a chance.

Me? I was a monster that had destroyed two perfectly normal vampires, stolen away a married man and gotten the father of my host body killed. If anyone deserved to die here, it was me. I think that if Izzy hadn't decided to stubbornly stay behind and fight with me, I'd have made a kamikaze attack on them. As it was, now I felt an obligation to get us both out of here in one piece.

If I died in James body, there was every chance that I would end up back in that hellish limbo again, so I wasn't worried about myself, I was worried about what would happen to Izzy for however long I was out for. The details were foggy but I don't think Bella's body actually appeared until I started waking up, so I knew I was physically safe, however briefly that may be.

"Grieve later, worry about living now," I muttered under my breath, hoping she would hear it as her quiet sobs bounced her torso against my spine.

"Okay," She whispered roughly into my back and I could see her knuckles whiten in the corner of my eye as her grip on her elbows tightened.

"Enough of this, the rain has begun, you need to transport her quickly," Felipe told the over-emotional Cullens.

"Um, and just how are we going to do that, baby?" Natalie asked, going for alluring, but her allure lost its edge in her confusion, she didn't seem very bright and the moment the plan crumbled she seemed at a loss at what to do next. She was watching me with curious interest, like she didn't quite know what to make of me, and there was fear about her, maybe not of me killing her, but perhaps more of not knowing just what I was capable of, if I could steal their bodies like it was nothing.

There was a long pause whilst they tried to figure out what they could do to get me to go along with them as myself, but before anyone came up with any ideas, Felipe startled and looked at the house.

"Wait, where's the children? I can't hear their heartbeats," Awh shit, I had a feeling he'd be the one to cotton on first. My body tensed again and I readied myself to do something, what, I couldn't say for sure. I wanted to stop him but with Izzy hitching a ride on my back, I didn't dare get too close to Felipe.

I couldn't really remember if it was true or not, but I was almost certain that human drinking vampires had an edge over the vegetarian ones in terms of strength. Which was probably half the reason the nomads had given the Cullens so much trouble. Thus, Felipe was not someone I would fuck with lightly, at least not with Izzy in such a vulnerable position.

So when he moved, I twitched but instead of heading towards me, he made towards the dilapidated house. He moved fast, faster than I'd seen the Cullens move, and was back in an instant, glaring at me with a face full of loathing.

"Where are they?" He demanded, there was a cold edge to his voice that I hadn't heard until that point. He was angry with me, just what I needed, before he seemed to be following a plan but he didn't seem to have his heart truly in it, there was no emotion. Here it was, anger and an expression that promised death. Izzy tensed on my back, and I held her so tightly against me with my one arm that I must have been hurting her, but she bravely said nothing.

"Hmm... well considering you haven't told me where we even are, I don't know how I could have directed her anywhere, let alone have any idea where she might be. My best guess? Doing 90 down a highway," I said airily. Felipe bared his teeth and narrowed his glare.

"Don't get clever with me, Bruja!" He spat, his eyes sliding off of me to search for any trace of them, but even I could smell that the rain was already washing away the scent and most likely the tracks through the mud. The moment she hit the road, she'd be almost impossible to track, something that I was very pleased about because Myra and her children had been through enough.

"Darlin, I'm a fucking genius," Alice startled at the familiar pet name from Jasper, whilst Felipe looked ready to pounce on me. "One human and one clay cadaver outwitted four immortal, invincible vampires long enough to save three lives from being under your thumb, if I die here today, I'm gonna go with a smile," Izzy perked up and finally spoke since she was informed of Charlie's death.

"So will I," Her voice was laced with pain and it about broke my heart. "I'll die proud, knowing that we did the right thing!" By the God's, her courage made me feel strong and so, so proud, but I would do everything in my power to find a way for her to live, even if it would only be a month before she would crumble, like Myra explained. She deserved at least that long to be free, I wouldn't let her die in captivity and pain, not like Charlie had.

Felipe ground his teeth so hard I almost winced at how they would have cracked if he were human, he practically vibrated with anger but yelled over his shoulder as he turned away with a snarling growl,

"Rip him apart! I need to get Myra back!" He grabbed Natalie's arm as he shot by her, dragging her into a reluctant run along with him in the vague direction Myra had fled in.

Alice and Edward were still for a moment, almost unsure but Alice was the first to react and dived at me. At the same moment, Izzy's arms tensed around my neck and I pushed away, dodging her dive by a scant inch, at the same time Izzy kicked out from her position on my back and caught Alice under the jaw, knocking her on her ass.

" Ooh! Nice!" I complimented proudly. Edward finally moved, but it was slow and he seemed confused, only taking a hesitant step towards me, something I planned to take advantage of. "Hold on tight, I'm not very good at this," I warned Izzy as I crouched low and shot off in the opposite direction from Myra. If I could give her the slightest chance by leading half the group the other way, then that's exactly what I was going to do. Besides, Alice was in no position to hunt me down with one leg and one hand, and Edward was taking his sweet ass time getting himself into gear.

The rain was getting heavier now, running fast through the already damp earth was difficult, but it was getting increasingly harder to see as James' strong eyes caught the detail in every drop and kept making me lose focus.

"L-Left!" Izzy yelled in my ear and I quickly skidded to the side and missed smashing into a tree by a few inches.

"Can you see the trees?!" I demanded of her and she yelled back her uncertain confirmation over the howl of wind that was rushing into both our ears.

"I think so- Left!" She directed again in a panic and I dodged once more, nearly clipping my one, good shoulder.

"Then guide me!" I yelled, she tried to steady her head on my shoulder so she could see better. I was terrified because if we crashed right now, we were as good as dead.

---

Peter POV

"How much further?" My super, sexy mate asked as we finally reached Port Angeles. We ran close to the edge of the Olympic National Park, Port Angeles was still a little busy even though it was late, there were plenty of cars and pedestrians to spot us underneath the bright street lamps.

"Not far now, I'll know when we get there, we need to keep near the road, that's all I got so far," Charl nodded and tightened her path towards the road, she was smaller and when she kept low she could be mistaken for a fast animal. Whilst I wasn't as big as Emmett (one of my favourite Cullens), I was still way too tall to be confused for anything but human.

Charl's unwavering trust in me as she ran full speed made me feel all kinds of love.

"Quit lookin' at my ass," My eyes snapped back up to her head with a grin.

"I was actually thinking of just how much I love you for trusting me, but if that's how you feel..." Her pretty red eyes rolled and I caught the smile at the corner of her mouth.

"So you were starin' at my ass cause you love me?" She confirmed and I nodded eagerly.

"Exactly, and your perfect ass is just one of the thousands of things I love about you-" We had just crossed a river when I felt a ping in my head as new information flooded my brain. "Wait!" Charl stopped as she finished jumping over the bridge and made to head back into the tree line, I shot by her down the road, and heard the screech of a car tearing down the highway, way past the limit. There was a sharp corner next to the bridge and the car couldn't turn fast enough and drove straight into a ditch by the roadside.

I barely caught the panicked yells of three females, and ran straight over to them, my wife in tow.

"Peter! What if they're bleeding-!" I ignored her warning and called out what I knew.

"We need to get them to the Cullens, now!" She looked surprised at my command but followed me as we hopped down the ravine they had crashed into, the black SUV had flipped on its side but it seemed to be in alright condition otherwise.

"Are you alright?" Charl yelled and we were both thankful when we saw movement. Slowly, I pulled the car into the right position and opened the door, to see the frightful, scarred and gaunt face of an Indian woman and her two children, clutching each other in the back seat. "Don't be scared, I promise we won't hurt you, we just want to help," Charl reassured sweetly, and the woman said nothing and choose instead to reach up and turn on the light inside the car.

I blinked as light flooded my senses and suddenly her fear evaporated. The woman ground her teeth and gave me a look of pure loathing that forced me to back up, mostly out of surprise.

"Get away from us! You will not take us back there!" I blinked again and Charl stood by my side.

"Please – we won't hurt you, were you being held captive?" She asked in concern and confusion, wisely keeping her distance so the woman perceived us as less of a threat.

She searched our faces rapidly, her eyes coming back to our own blazing red ones every few seconds. She chose not to answer Charl, and stared us down before she couldn't fight the urge any longer and had to wrench away her gaze to turn back to her children.

"Are you hurt?" She asked her kids and I could see the eldest holding her shoulder.

"Naya's fine, but I've cracked my shoulder, sorry Mama," The little girl apologised, but didn't seem to be in any pain, and I couldn't smell any blood at least.

The mother ushered her daughter forward and I watched, making sure not to breathe, as the injured girl pulled her hand away, and tugged up her sleeve to show her Mom what had happened. I blinked rapidly, not quite believing my eyes.

When she said cracked, I assumed she meant some sort of break, but was using a different word for it as kids do, but no, in fact she did mean cracked. Spidery, dark lines spread across her shoulder, in the centre a little chunk was missing and the inside was hollow.

"It's okay, Prish, will you be alright for now?" Her Mom soothed as she inspected her daughters arm, as if the crack was normal instead of the most abnormal injury I had ever seen.

"What-" Before I could form whatever question was on my lips, the woman threw open the door and got out with a wince, she ushered her kids out of the back, ignoring us the whole time.

"We have to keep going," She said to them encouragingly, and started to walk away, tugging both her children away by their hands.

"Hold up," I finally managed to get over my surprise and caught up to the woman's awkward shuffle, I stopped by her side instead of barring her path like I wanted, right now I knew that would be the wrong move. "Please tell us what's going on?" She pulled her kids behind her and glared at me fiercely.

"You're not with them?" She asked suspiciously, never taking her eyes off of me.

"I don't know who they are, we're here because our friend's girlfriend was kidnapped, was anyone else with you? A teenage girl?" The children perked up, giving each other conspiratorial looks, and I knew I hit the nail on the head, even if the woman didn't look like she trusted me any more than before.

"Yes," She finally said tersely, I gave her a grateful smile and continued,

"What happened to her?" I asked and her face tightened, and she looked away, her posture reeked of guilt.

"She stayed behind," She spat out and stormed past me, as fast as her banged up body would let her.

Charl gave me a desperate look, like she had no clue what more could be done and as I watched the eldest child turn back to give me a curious look, I was finally hit with the three words that I had been searching for.

"Peaches and Cream!" I yelled triumphantly, mostly happy that I'd finally learned the words that had been teasing my brain most of the day.

The children stopped and looked at me with surprise in their eyes, halting their Mom from taking another step.

"Ignore him, he'll say anything to trick us," She commanded and tried to pull her children away to no avail, they stood stock still, almost as if their mom's strength was inferior to their own. "Prish, Naya, please!" She begged and I could hear a sob making its way up her chest.

"Mama, he knows Kali, she told us that was the password," The eldest said and pulled away from her Mom to take a hesitant step towards me, "She said they were coming to save us, a family of fierce warriors, is that you?" She finished and stared up at me with a kind of nervous bravery, I smiled down at her and nodded.

"Yes, we've came to help you all and we want to take you somewhere safe, I promise we won't let anyone hurt you, and we won't take you back there, but we need to know where there is. Kali's still there isn't she?" The younger girl they had called Naya pulled her hand away from her mom's tight grip and ran to stand by her sister.

"Kali's told me I was pretty," Was all she said and I gave her a happy smile, kids were so damn cute.

"And she was right, of course," My wife complimented the sweet girl, earning a beaming smile and blush. "Won't you please let us help you, we want to get you somewhere safe, I know you must be petrified, Ma'am," Charl pleaded in that southern honey voice that I would have killed for, I nodded along and all of us looked expectantly at the woman to see what she'd do.

She sighed heavily, but steeled herself and looked me dead in the eye.

"If we don't go with you, will you force us?" She asked and I shook my head.

"We will not, we only want to help you, and if I'm assuming right, your family has suffered a terrible ordeal at the hands of my kind. If you do not want our protection then I only ask you to please tell me where you escaped from so we can rescue Kali," I pleaded honestly. If she didn't want our help I wasn't going to force it but I knew that she was at the very least my clue to finding Kali, though I did want to keep her and her children safe.

Myra studied me for a long moment before her posture relaxed somewhat and I could suddenly see just how drained this poor woman was. Her clothes, some kind of blue dress, was tatty, dirty and hung off of her in awkward ways, leading me to believe she had been starved somewhat whilst held in captivity.

" Please, can you will lead us to safety?" She gave in, her words screaming of a defeated pride that made my heart swell for her in pity. She gave us one last harsh look though, making me feel a sort of fondness for her strength. "But I swear if any harm comes to us..." The threat hung in the air, even though it held little power, Charl nodded solemnly.

"I understand," My mate looked up at me and nodded towards the car, I got the hint and gave her a hasty salute as I ran back over to the SUV and began slowly pushing it back up the ditch she had crashed in. "May we know your names?" I heard her ask over the sound of tyres squelching into mud.

"I am Myra, these are my children Prisha and Anaya, if you're not the same as those that held us, who are you?" She asked Charl, though I could see her watching me from the corner of my eye.

"I'm Charlotte Whitlock and this is my husband Peter. Our brother Jasper's sweetheart was taken by a man named Felipe, and we were on our way to Jasper when we happened upon you." I finished pushing up the car just as she finished introducing us.

Myra's scarred face pinched, and I heard her murmur,

"Felipe is the man that took us," She lifted her head and steeled her resolve. "Can you save her? She stayed behind, to let us get away, I ordered one of my dolls to help her, but she can't – He is so strong, faster than the others too, I've seen it, are you strong enough to stop him?" She warned and I hopped down next to my mate and gave her a broad grin.

"We can handle him, we promised to get Kali back after all, now, would you like Charlotte to lead you to our family? They will protect you and they'll make sure you get home. Your car seems alright and Charlotte will keep you safe whilst you drive." Myra seemed less fond of me, so far I could only put that down to being a tall male vampire, my wife's small stature was less intimidating and she did have that face that people just trusted, as long as you could get over the blazing red eyes.

"Alright, as long as we can leave as soon as we want to. What will you do?" She asked, though I'm sure she knew.

"You will, the Cullen's will take care of you and pay for you to go anywhere in the entire world." Judging by the light lilt of accent, Myra and her kids were possibly from England. "As for me, I'm going to head back the way you came and see if I can't save Kali myself, plus it'll tick my brother off something fierce-" Charlotte elbowed my ribs to shut me up but the children were giggling, even if I couldn't endear myself to their Mom, they seemed pretty friendly. It was astounding how resilient and trusting kids could be, I was just glad that Kali had given them some sort of password else it might have taken a lot longer to convince them to trust us.

I could feel a clock ticking in the back of my head, a countdown for the worst to come. The longer I lingered here, the closer Kali was to death.

"Hun, I have to go now, I'll call Jasper, let them know you're coming, take the long way round the forest, you'll be safer that way," Charl bit her pretty plump lip and flew into my arms.

"Be safe, don't do anything stupid," She warned and pressed a kiss to my cheek. I bit back my teasing response, Myra and my wife's solemn face told me that now really wasn't the time.

"You too," I said to her quietly and gently kissed her back, before turning to look at Myra. "How far did you drive? Did you see any signs?" A guilty expression crossed her face for reasons I couldn't fathom, but she shook her head.

"No, I couldn't read the signs... but we drove for about 30 minutes, there's a forest road that we came out of, but I don't know how many of those there were along the way," She trailed off awkwardly and I gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, that's more than enough," Before I could make any moves to leave she stopped me with a pleading look.

"Please, bring back those girls," Girls? There were more kidnapped females? I didn't have anymore time to ask, the ticking in my head was growing in intensity.

"I will," I promised her. "See you guys soon, I'll be back with everyone before you know it!" I added cheerily to the kids as I reluctantly pulled away from Charl's soothing embrace. She gave me a last look and I could feel just how much she didn't want to separate from me, but I knew she would hate herself more if two children got killed because she wanted to make sure I stayed safe.

I ducked into the treeline so I could use the phone Charl and I had stolen on the way here, without it getting wet. The rain had chosen to follow us all the way here unfortunately. I needed to call Jasper and let them know what had gone down, I only hoped my brother would pick up, his number was the only one I had bothered to learn, the rest Charl kept in her phone book. We used to memorise them but with the amount the Cullens numbers had changed over the years, I only bothered to keep track of Jasper's.

After tapping in his digits as quickly as the phone would recognise, I held it to my ear and was relieved to hear only two short rings before it was answered.

"Peter, what is it?" Jasper voice seemed a little calmer than it did from when I had called him last, I could practically feel his rage through the phone then, and I know his gift wasn't that powerful.

"We've come across a small family; a mother, Myra, and her two daughters," A part of me wanted to mention that there was something distinctly inhuman about Myra's children, but now wasn't the time. "They escaped the place that Kali's being held, they had a small crash but they're driving up to you now with Charl guarding them," I was surprised he had managed to let me finish my albeit rushed explanation as soon as I mentioned that I learned of Kali's whereabouts.

"Do you know where she is?" I could hear movement and a jumble of low voices that were quickly silenced.

"Not exactly, but I'm headed down the 'Juan de Fuca Hwy' strait, Myra said she came off a forest road and drove straight from there. I'll head on down and see if I can find her, I'll call or text if I do. How long will you be?" I asked as I dodged the trees and kept an eye out for any signs of anything out of the ordinary. There was fast chatter that I could barely catch over the rush of wind and the distortion of such a peculiar noise through a speaker.

"In the hour, Esme's staying behind to take care of this woman, Rose, Emmett, Carlisle and I are leaving now." There was a hesitant pause before Jasper spoke again. "Don't let them- Don't start killing without me," He cut himself off but I knew what he was asking.

"She won't die, brother," I could hear the wind increase through the phone as Jasper started running, there was a hollow laugh and I almost winced at the emptiness in his voice.

"Your gift tell you that?" He asked, there was only the faintest trace of hope, it was clear to see that his grief in her absence had been rough.

"No, but I'd never let anything happen to her." I told him sincerely. "You saved my mate all those years ago, I think it's high time I return the favour," The hum of laughter this time sounded more genuine, more alive and I smiled as I picked up the pace, desperate to keep my word.

"I'll hold you to that, brother," There was a light beep as Jasper hung up, probably so he could run unhindered and I pocketed the stolen phone to do the same.

The man we stole the phone from was a thief, so it only seemed fair. He was also our quick meal, it's taken us a very long time to learn to share food, but we can when we're desperate and if we were heading into a fight. I wanted us to have all the advantage a fresh meal provided.

With the new blood pumping through my body, I ran fast, too fast for the human eye to catch, but keeping to a pace where I could still observe my surroundings as I sped down the highway.

It was more than fifteen minutes before I heard something, a female voice, she sounded annoyed as the sound came closer. I hadn't been noticed yet and decided to hang back for a moment to see what information I could glean from the two people I could hear running.

"What was that?" A male asked, his voice rich with a Spanish accent.

"What? You mean the sound of you wasting your time? Why do you even need Myra! Her and those kids are just dragging you down," They stopped moving and from my low position behind some thick trees, I caught their faint outlines. "C'mon baby, let's go back, I'll make you forget all about that silly old human," The woman was pushed away and the man shook himself, like he was trying to clear his head.

"No, I need her, she's the key to my easy life – our easy life. Her gift is tremendously rare, and if all this blows up in our faces then she will make a valuable donation to the Volturi." I saw him grab her shoulders, but it was too dark and they were too far away to make out their faces. "Trust me, Princesa, you do not want to be on the Volturi's bad side." He said very seriously.

Princesa, eh? Now that I did recognise. Felipe's pet name for Nettie, back in the day, not that the accent wasn't a big enough hint but that was all I needed to hear. Keeping behind the trees I quickly miscalled Jaspers number, hanging up before he could answer. Hopefully that'll make him get his ass in gear but he couldn't be more than 30 minutes away at most and I knew my brother would be tearing through Forks right now.

So just what was I going to do until then? They were clearly looking for Myra and obviously that wasn't going to happen, I didn't want them to go looking though so keeping them here seemed to be my best option.

Well, no time like the present.

"Oh I don't know Felipe," Both vampires stiffened and turned towards me as I emerged from the shadows, like Batman. "You survived being on Maria's shit list after she had your last squeeze killed, but I think you should be more worried about my brothers bad side, because boy, oh boy, is he pissed at you."

Felipe came into the light and took a good look at my face and blanched,

"Peter-?"

"And I really don't think you'll survive being hunted down by a Whitlock twice," I continued solemnly and somehow Felipe's face fell even further,

"The Major's here?" His eyes darted wildly, and the woman by his side easily picked up on his unease and subtly shifted behind him.

"Didn't you know? You've gone and kidnapped the Major's mate." I had assumed he would know Jasper was the one that he had been pissing off, but his expression clearly said otherwise, and the shifty looking girl by his side sent a little ping in my head. "No...but you knew, didn't you?" I pointed at the blonde who took a very large step back.

"Hey, don't get me involved I don't even know who this 'Major' is," She tried to placate but even if she didn't know that name, it was clear she was keeping a lot of secrets.

"Major Jasper Whitlock," Her eyes briefly widened at 'Jasper'. "Though now he just goes by 'Jasper Hale', I like to think me and the Missus keep the Whitlock name strong whilst he shacks up with the Cullen coven." I explained and watched it all click for Felipe, his head shot around to glare at the blonde hiding behind him, and she jumped back further.

"You knew that this Jasper your sister was after, was Jasper fucking Whitlock?!" He yelled at her, making dozing birds wake up and scatter.

"No!-" She protested and tried to wrap her arms around him to soothe him, but was cut off by a swift shove to the shoulder by Felipe, knocking her back.

"She's not even your sister is she?! That Alice girl! Don't think I haven't noticed her playing from the shadows, telling you what to do!" Felipe screamed but this time it was my turn to be surprised. Alice? She couldn't be involved, surely? But how many Alice's would have it out for Jasper's new girlfriend?

The blonde girl stopped looking so frightened and started to look angry, instead of saying anything though, she took a step closer to Felipe and glared at him hard. The cowardly man froze up and I could see him struggling with something, before he relaxed altogether, and changed his whole attitude. He suddenly changed his position to stand protectively in front of her, and the girl behind him looked smug.

"I take it that you've got some kind of mind-controlling gift?" I asked, readying myself to mentally defend against whatever she might try to throw at me.

With a confident smile, she walked closer to me, Felipe keeping her behind him and glaring at me hatefully.

"You're about to find out," Her bright red eyes were almost hypnotic, but whatever she was doing affected my insides, my guts writhed and there was a pull on my heart, a little like the sort I felt whenever I was reminded of how much I loved my gorgeous mate and just like that she was all I could think about. "Shit, another mated one – Felipe, baby, take care of him, I have to get back to Alice, remember if he gets by you, he'll kill me," She told him almost simperingly.

Moments ago, I doubted Felipe would have had any complaints about that, now it looked like the threat to her life was tearing him apart and he chose to charge at me, but I was ready for his attack and moved to the left, nimbly side-stepping him.

My gift let me know two things straight away, this girl could not get back to Alice, and Felipe wasn't mine to kill. With that in mind, my first move would be to stop this smug little mind-controller getting any further. She was already trying to make her way through the trees, heading to the west, which is where I assumed Kali would be, something that I'm sure Jasper would be very pleased to hear.

"Hold up," I told her as I darted through the trees and shot after her, before I could do more than grab onto her arm, Felipe's arms encircled me and he twisted his body, trying to throw me away from her. However, I kept tight hold of her arm and took the blonde with me, I hauled her away from me using the force of Felipe's throw to give my throw more omph. She made a squeak of surprise before her voice was cut off as her back slammed into a tree and broke through the trunk, bark shooting off like shrapnel.

"Natalie!" Felipe yelled and rushed to her side, I dash past them, and before she could get up off the ground, I grabbed a fistful of Natalie's long blonde hair and dragged her along with me. She howled at me like she was in pain, but hair pulling, heck even tearing out hair, didn't hurt. I was trying to lead them both to the road where I was planning to keep them occupied for as long as possible.

Felipe grabbed hold of Natalie's leg and tried to tug her away from me, I didn't stop running though, her hairs started ripping out and she screamed for Felipe to let go, he automatically released her, and I readied myself for the sudden lack of resistance and used it to launch her out of the forest and across the road. Felipe tried to pass me with a single minded desire to go to Natalie but I swung my leg out and kicked him in the opposite direction.

"I'm sure you were a much better fighter when you were only protectin' your own ass," I taunted but he didn't fall for the bait and scrambled up to run towards Natalie again, I grabbed his arm as he got close and spun him into the nearest tree, felling it, the top of the wet pine crashed across the road. I hoped that would make a good marker for Jasper and his merry gang of vegetarians, in case I couldn't hold them both so close to the road. Lucky for me the only fighter here was Felipe, and he was hindered by whatever weird ability Natalie was using and her command to keep her safe.

If I kept the offensive on Natalie and continued knocking Felipe back, I could probably keep them busy for a little while, killing them both would be much quicker, though more time consuming in the long run, especially if Natalie decided to get involved as well. However that special little magic in my head told me that Felipe was off limits, someone wanted him dead more than me and they needed the kill to rectify their own mistake. I wasn't sure who but I knew I wouldn't have received any kind of warning if it wasn't for someone I liked or cared about, my assumption was Jasper but I'm sure I'd know when they got here and I'm sure that they'd make their desire to kill this cowardly, old, bastard known.

I just hoped that the Cullens got here fast, keeping them occupied like this meant I couldn't keep my promise to Jasper. The best I could do was to rely on my gift and hope that I'd be notified the second someone made the choice to kill Kali.

"Y'all are gonna keep me company for a while, so let's try to get along," I said with a menacing grin, directing my sarcastic request at Natalie, who was scrambling out of the wet dirt to try and get away. Not that I'd let them.

---

Kali POV

There were a few bare clips but we made it safely through the woods and came out onto a rocky beach. I couldn't hear Alice or Edward behind me, but Alice wasn't likely to let me go now. I barely hesitated as I ran towards the shore line and kept as low as I could as I ran through the foamy, ebbing waves, hoping that they would wash away my footprints and hopefully my scent.

The beach curved inwards, and the sea was peppered with giant boulders that had fallen from the nearby cliffs. I was trying to keep the big rocks at my back whilst we ran, but I felt we were too exposed. At least in the safety of the trees I felt like I could lose my pursuers a little better, but now we were out in the open and Izzy's back was too unguarded for my liking.

So I thought fast, throwing away ideas as fast as they formed, in a last ditch effort I asked Izzy over the salty wind,

"Do you need to breathe?" I could feel her surprise but she yelled back hesitantly,

"I'm not sure? What are you thinking?" I bit my lip and tried to explain my thoughts to her.

"We need to get out of view, vampires don't need to breathe and Myra's cadavers are designed to look human even though they aren't, your insides are hollow and I'm pretty sure you don't have proper organs. However I can still hear your heartbeat, so do you have lungs, do you need to breathe?" I asked in a bit of a rushed panic, the longer we were taking, the more worried I became about them catching up.

"I haven't got a clue! Do you want me to find out, now?" We had little other options, dodging back into the forest would just take me closer to them and they'd likely have more luck catching my trail if I did. I was already going forwards, unsure of which direction we were headed or if we could even outrun them like this, and my only choice was to continue onward until we got into the public eye and I could work out how to get back to the Cullens.

"Fuck it! Hold your breath as long as you can, Izzy, I'll keep running, if you run out of breath at all then it's a no go, if not then we're swimming! Keep an eye over my shoulder and let me know if you see them!"

"Got it!" I heard her take a sharp intake of breath and I tried to pick up the pace now that there were less obstacles in my path.

It was a pity that there wasn't any time for me to enjoy the sensations of running like this. I don't think I'd ever pushed a body so fast, but I could feel my strength waning. James' missing arm and the venom that had bled out was seriously starting to sap my energy, I really didn't want to have to hunt like this but if it came to it I would. Animals only, of course. Unless an old ex from my world showed up or something, cause fuck no was I murdering a person and a vampire in the same day.

A voice raked over my mind with words like claws, reminding me Charlie had died today, that I had essentially killed him with my stupidity and my choices. It took everything in me to ignore the accusation echoing in my mind, I just kept reminding myself of what I had told Izzy, that we had to grieve later and survive now. I repeated it over and over like a mantra until it was the only thing I could hear as I barrelled along the shore through the dark and the rain.

I kept up my fast pace and was about to ask Izzy if she had ran out of breath yet when she squeaked and hers arms closed around my throat so hard it almost hurt.

"Edward!" She informed me over the howl of the wind and I gritted my teeth and tried to go faster. "I don't need air!" She told me quickly and I pressed her against my back harder and kept low.

"We're gonna try and lose him in the ocean, hold on tight!" We were coming up to a tall cliff that hung over the ocean, underneath there were huge chunks of rock that had eroded away over time. Picking the moment where we would be out of sight the longest, I dove to the right and used the boulders to cover myself as I threw us under a crashing wave.

It was hard to see even with vampire eyes, underwater at night, but I kept pushing us further out to sea, running as fast as I could along the sea floor and forcing my way through the strong current the weather had whipped up. Not breathing was weird but I was too terrified to care about that, and I was concerned that Izzy might actually need air, and had been lying to give us a chance to get away. Something I definitely would have done cause I'm a fucking idiot.

When I felt we were far enough out from the shore and the faint traces of light from the sky looked far enough above me, I kicked off the sea floor and used James' strong legs to propel us through the water. We seemed to be getting somewhere until a hand wrapped around my ankle and I was tugged backwards, a stream of bubbles left my mouth in place of my terrified shriek. I looked back to the somewhat nonchalant face of Edward who had latched on tightly to my ankle and was tugging me backwards with ease.

Izzy's legs unlatched from my waist and I could see her trying to kick him over my shoulder, but the water was sapping all the force from her attacks and she only annoyed Edward at best. I twisted in the water and tried to use my momentum to boot him in the face but he just grabbed my other leg and stared trying to pull me back to shore. I wrenched a leg free only for him to snatch it back again and I realised that he was far better at fighting under water than me.

A strong current made Izzy loosen her grip on my shoulders and in a panic I stopped fighting and twisted to wrap my arm around her, holding her tightly against my chest. Edward never stopped dragging me back to shore and his speed and the way he worked with the current made him get us back quite fast. Being at the severe disadvantage, and unwilling to travel too far out to sea to the point where we might get lost, I let him drag us back, planning to fight him on shore.

Izzy wasn't having it though and continued kicking at him whilst I held her snugly against my chest, it was almost comical at how ineffective her normally powerful attacks were underwater. It was hard to catch her attention in the dark ocean, but I think she saw me shake my head for her to stop. As soon as we were in shallower waters, I kicked out of Edwards grasp and sprinted to the shore, Izzy wrapped around me like a koala.

"Kali, please wait!" The unusual tone and the fact that he actually used my name made me hesitate, Izzy seemed somewhat reluctant to keep running too, she unhooked her arms from around me and dropped carefully to the pebble beach.

"Edward, you know what you're doing is wrong, stop this, let us leave," She begged a tone of defeat in her voice that made my heart break for her, she'd had every right to be absolutely done with this situation and to stop living in fear of Edwards wrath.

"I know, I'm so, so, sorry," The emphasis on his apology made me a little angry.

"No, no you're not, if you were sorry you would never have gone this far Edward," I told him harshly and he gave me a guilty look.

"You don't understand, the bond you broke-" He tried to explain but I cut him off.

"I did no such thing, stop saying that like I told Bella to break up with you or something," Edward flinched a little at my reprimand but nodded.

"You're right, it's not your fault," He gave me another miserable look as he continued. "When the bond broke it started driving me mad, truly mad, and I could only see red, it was a little like the cloud that descends on us when we hunt, but it never lifted no matter how much I drank. Then the same thing happened to Alice and she came up with a plan that worked around the little she could see, to get rid of you and repair what had broken." He seemed finally willing to spill it all and although I was worried about waiting around here, I had to get my answers.

"What did you hope to achieve, Edward? You've said you wanted to give me the Volturi, but then things start conflicting. Why did you make Izzy, if you plan on getting Bella back, what would be the point of going to all this trouble?" I asked him and although he seemed hesitant and ashamed, he answered.

"The doll-" I glared at him harshly and swiftly nipped that mindset in the bud.

"Her name is Izzy-Mae, she's not 'the doll', and don't you dare think so little of her." Edward nodded and looked at Izzy, I could see it was a little difficult for him to do so now, though it wasn't earlier. Although earlier he was more assured in his plans.

"Izzy-Mae was made in an attempt to fix my bond, I think Alice wanted to test if it would fill the void, but it didn't work and I couldn't just kill her after that..." Izzy twitched beside me and I turned and saw a face full of rage.

"You still hurt me though, didn't you? I was basically just born, I was terrified and you shattered my fucking arm!" Edward flinched and nodded glumly.

"You're right I did, and I apologise, I truly do. That day when you woke up, and you were like her," He nodded towards me and I raised an eyebrow. "It about killed me, I was burning inside with rage and I wanted to smash you into little bits but I managed to hold myself back enough to do the least amount of damage I could. I'm not trying to excuse myself." He said quietly and I bit back a snort.

"So how'd all this shit come about? You guys just stumble upon each other and make a plan to fuck over your family and me?" I asked somewhat sarcastically.

"Alice had visions of a tenuous future without you, she saw visions of Felipe and Natalie, and used Natalie's gift to trick Felipe into believing they were mated so he would help us... Natalie can feel bonds of love and loyalty, and manipulate them to fall in love with her long as they aren't mated, she told me and Alice that our mate bonds were damaged beyond repair. I went along with everything, I didn't question it, all I wanted was Bella back home, and I would have done anything to achieve that," He said and hung his head again in shame.

I chewed on my lip as I studied him.

"What changed then? Why are you sorry now?" I drilled him mercilessly.

"I finally realised that even if Bella came back now, she'd hate me and I could never be with her again, not after what happened to Charlie." Izzy tensed up next to me and I reached out and gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

"And just like that you're back to normal?" I reaffirmed with him, disbelievingly.

"The bond – it finally stopped hurting when I came to that conclusion, it wasn't a pain that hurt me, it was like a pain that enraged me, made me blind to how wrong my decisions were until the worst came to pass,"

Izzy and I shared a look and she continued our questioning.

"So now you feel bad about Charlie? You put leeches on him in front of me whilst he was in a hospital gown!" I could feel her rage and she took a threatening step towards him. "And now, what?! We're supposed to feel bad for you? Quit hanging your head like you have the right to stare at your shoes, you look me in the fucking eyes when you apologise for being the reason my dad is dead!" Those sweet smelling tears started up again, and I dragged her against me, and tried to quell her grief fuelled rage, though there was a storm brewing in my own chest and a big part of me just wanted to kill Edward here and now and just be done with the bastard.

However he finally looked sane, his eyes weren't mad with grief and his body was no longer tensed in rage. I had too many reasons to not kill him, but most of all, if he was to die then it was not up to me.

"If you're truly sorry as you claim, Edward, then you're going to stop this now, and let us go back to the Cullens," He looked away, unsure and I narrowed my glare. "Edward." I snapped and he flinched again.

"I don't know what to do," he said slowly, stumbling over his words a little.

"Exactly what I said, you tell me where we are and how to get home, and then you walk away from this, what happens after that is up to you, and frankly, you can apologise in as many eloquent ways or as many times as you like, but I will not forgive this nor will I invite you to come back with us." I said sternly, James' gruff voice adding more malice to my tone than I felt, I was just so tired.

Before he could open his mouth I saw a blur racing across the beach, Alice, who had apparently found her leg, though not her arm.

As fast as I could, I spun Izzy out of my hold and ran forward to meet her tackle head on. There was a sound like thunder as we crashed and her faster momentum made her force me back. I grunted as I held my ground to the best of my ability, my feet sliding back through the wet pebbles.

"You're not LEAVING!" Alice screamed in my face and let me force her backwards only to step to the side, throw me down and pounce on my back. Her fingers clawed into my hair and her teeth sunk into my neck, I growled in pain and frustration as the burn of her venom mingled with James'. She didn't stop there though, her teeth began scissoring into my throat as she tried to bite my head off via gnawing through my neck.

Before I could do more than struggle, she was wrenched off my back and thrown away by Edward.

"Enough of this Alice! Just, stop, please!" He begged, gold eyes glistening in the dark from the venom that had gathered there. She skidded back, kicking up a slew of pebbles as she righted herself, her face was feral with rage as she screeched.

"NO! It's not over! I-" She froze for a moment and it took me a long moment to realise she was having a vision. Edward perked up too as he read her mind and shot a panicked look towards the woods we had came from.

"It is over Alice, let's just stop this and go home-" He started, trying to reason with her to little avail.

"Shut up!" She screamed and her tiny body shook with rage.

Izzy had been held back by Edward when I ran head on to meet Alice, but had dived to my side the moment she was free from his unwanted protection.

"Kali!" She called out to me as I tried to right myself, my head was tilting to the side, and I couldn't control the thick muscles in my neck that were spasming from the burn of her venom and the trauma of being practically beheaded. "Are you okay?" She asked in somewhat hushed, panicked tones. I wanted to nod but managed a semi-gurgled,

"Yeah," Once Izzy confirmed that I was okay, she stood in front of me protectively and turned her scowl towards Alice.

"Alice, if you don't get out of here right now, I swear to God, I will kill you myself," She threatened and I believed her, there was a tone of sorrow in her threat and I could understand it somewhat. The memories she might have gleaned from Bella led her to believe that this woman was growing to be her sister, and now she felt she had to take her out of the picture to protect me.

I was slightly embarrassed that I'd been taken down so easily but it wasn't like I really stood a chance like this. One arm down, and sans the ability to actually see her attacks, it was a miracle I'd done as well as I had in the first place, I think it was only her ability being blocked and Edward's hesitation that had gotten me this far. Felipe handing me my ass in milliseconds proved as much.

Alice clawed at her own face in a mad rage and screeched like a wounded animal.

"Shut up you little freak! I've come too far to let it end like this!" She stiffened again for a moment and she seemed to focus wholly on Izzy, Edward made to make moves towards her but wasn't quick enough on the uptake to stop Alice dashing around him and clawing at Izzy's face.

There was a sound like pottery being smashed as Izzy howled in pain and covered herself with her hands, she collapsed to her knees, her body jerking with pain as she cried out. Though my head lolled around weakly on my shoulders, I still scrambled over to her in a mad panic and kicked out towards Alice making her back off, before Edward stood protectively in front of me to stop her pulling that shit again.

"Let me see, baby, let me see," My voice quivered in fear that the worst had happened and she was dying, I couldn't lose her too, not after today. She awkwardly reached out towards me, removing a hand from her face and the little I could see made my blood boil with a newfound rage that had just begun to quell from my exhaustion.

Izzy's eyes had been completely shattered, there were cracks spreading from around her hollow sockets, the bridge of her nose was gone as well, and by the looks of it, it hurt. Her hands were shaking and it seemed it was taking everything she had not to keep flopping around like a fish out of water from the pain. I steadied her shoulder and she jumped slightly, I realised she wasn't sure it was me after my long silence whilst I studied her face.

"I've got you, baby-doll, don't you worry none, we'll have Myra patch you up, just hang tight," I was getting the hang of speaking around the awkward lump in my throat, left over by Alice's attack on me. Talking seemed difficult for her too, so she just shakily nodded in response.

James was wearing a long, open trench coat, and was the only thing I could use as any sort of bandage, so I tore off the sleeves using my one good arm and my impossibly sharp teeth, and pressed one sleeve into Izzy's hand. "Tie this around your eyes for now, I'll take care of everything," I stood and turned to Alice, her eyes were insane with rage and black as that hellish abyss where I had said goodbye to Charlie.

Edward hovered uncertainly, he wasn't quite sure where his loyalties lay, so I gave him one last chance.

"Edward. You keep her safe, if you want to make up for even a microgram of the shit you've done then you protect my girl, understand?" I asked him quietly, leaving no room for arguments or split desires. He stiffened at being addressed but nodded resolutely after only a moments pause.

"What are you going to do?" He asked cautiously as I stroked a hand down Izzy's arm reassuringly and stood, clutching the other sleeve I had torn off, it was soaked in my venom from my missing arm, but considering what I was using it for, I was hoping that could be in my advantage.

It was awkward but I wrapped it around my neck and used James' nimble fingers to tie it as best as I could.

"I'm going to end this," I said menacingly and Izzy reached out towards me, I grabbed her hand out of the air and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"You can't-" He started but I cut him off with a look.

"You just fucking watch me,"

Alice looked at me with nothing but hate, and I her. The bitter rage in my chest swelled as I mentally vowed to end this little pixie bitch once and for all.

---

Ooooh angry Kali, and poor, darling Izzy! I put that girl through so much crap.

Right then, part one! What did you guys think? Enough fighting for ya? Enough limb removal? Did you enjoy Laurent's death as much as I enjoyed writing it (heck, I even enjoyed the rewrite!)? Please do let me know! Hearing what you think is ever so helpful to my creative process. Some of you have made guesses that were so good I had to take inspiration from them, and every demand for an update always makes me preen with happiness! Of course, don't feel like you have to, I'd just love to hear what you think!

And a big thank you to everyone of you darlings that has left me lovely reviews, added this story to your lists and even added me to your favourites and follows, I can't possibly thank you dolls enough!

So let's cover a couple of things whilst (if) I still have you. I believe Peter would have watched Sailor Moon and there isn't a damn thing you can say to change my mind. Now that the tough part's over with, Laurent's death! Besides totally having it coming, I've been planning the death of one of the nomads for a while now, for a long time it was going to be Victoria, but Laurent stole the show and I felt he was perfect.

Some people might not agree with how easily Kali killed Laurent (both in the sense of the actual scene and how unflinching she was about it) but I have a few points to make here. First, Kali is in a body that she has said already has more raw anger than her previous hosts, Kali would most definitely kill the man who murdered someone she cared for (especially when said guy calls Charlie, it). As for Laurent's lack of struggle I hope I made that clear that at first he didn't think James would actually kill him and was just taking out his aggression on the man. He started to bite back when he realised James was serious but by that point it was too late. Oh, and of course simpering Victoria wouldn't interfere with her darling James.

I like playing with Peter's power, and it's rather handy for everyone involved! I will be later showing that it isn't perfect and that he can't get it right every time, but that's a while off. Peter helping Myra seems like something he'd have done regardless of if he needed to get information from her or not, and her children are smart and brave, they'd be willing to hear him out.

It's finally come to light that Myra's "children" were never real, they're dolls that she made, however I have been hinting that she'd been using her own blood to sustain them. Though you can totally be forgiven for not noticing, it was pretty subtle. Myra is somewhat detached from all the dolls she has made for Felipe, but will not let them hurt her children, this is something I plan to cover in the next chapter or so.

Finally a little on these broken bonds. You've probably all noticed my different take on the mate bond, Rose briefly explained it to Kali a while back and she told her that there are two types of mate bonds, domestic and feral and that it is rarely love at first sight. Instead two people can start "bonding", if both parties are open to the relationship. So with this in mind when Kali inadvertently broke Edward and Alice's mate bonds, she did a lot more damage to Alice than to Edward, just because of the stage of his mate bond. However breaking the bond, sent both of them crazy and that has been the heart of their OOC-ness for the entire story. Edward has finally accepted the finality of his bond with Bella, but can only do so because they haven't been together nearly as long as Alice and Jasper, and he's finally starting to come to his senses.

I do have more to cover on that so I won't say much more, but that's it broken down for you.

Next time: Rose gets some sweet revenge whilst Kali and Alice make their last stand.