AN: Okay, there was a guest review that had me laughing hysterically, so I wanted to share it: "I wonder how long Carlisle will be able to remain so self righteous with a family full of vampire magnets. I just hope he doesn't start collecting them like a crazy cat lady."

Thanks to all of you who took the time to review! It always makes my day.

Changes and Attitudes

3:25

Carlisle arrived home to find the two newborns there had already awakened in their humanoid bodies. "How are you awake already?" he demanded, staring at them in shock. "It's supposed to take 6 days!"

He wondered if there was something different about them. He quickly carried the girls inside, dropping them down onto Jasper's and Alice's bed. He figured Jasper didn't sleep and Alice was staying on the reservation, so they had no need of it, unlike everyone else in the family.

If these two follow the same pattern, they'll be awake in the next 5-10 minutes, he realized. Which means Victoria is probably awake too. Where's Jasper? I wish he was here! I don't know what to do. Nothing makes sense anymore.

xxxxxxx

3:27

Jasper raced through the forest, hearing his mate's stuttering heartbeat. His eyes scanned the trees as he ran, following the pull. He spotted her about 15 feet up, draped over a tree branch, hanging limply. The bastard who'd done it was long gone, the smell of wolves following his trail. "Track him," Jasper ordered. "Make sure he's dead."

Peter and Char ran off without a word, eager to destroy the asshole who'd dared injure their brother's mate. They followed the trail to the river and dived in, swimming along with the current, eagle eyes watching the bottom for evidence of the vampire's exit. They could tell he'd been through there recently, since the sediment had been disturbed by his passage.

Meanwhile, Jasper jumped up to the branch where his beloved rested and very carefully lifted her into his arms, jumping back to the ground with her. He laid her down gently and began searching her for injuries, quickly determining she had a broken neck.

Before he had a chance to complete his examination, he heard a menacing growl. A newborn with hungry black eyes sprinted toward him. "She's mine!" Raoul protested. "Back away!"

"She's my mate!" Jasper roared. "And you nearly killed her!"

In a matter of seconds Raoul was in pieces. Unfortunately, Jasper had used his lighter up on the previous batch of newborns he'd dispatched. He sent an emotional cocktail to Peter and Char letting them know to drop whatever they were doing and return to his side post haste.

Peter and Char had located the spot where the newborn had held himself underwater for several minutes then jumped out of the river and directly into a nearby tree. They'd started tracking him through the trees, realizing he was heading back toward the place where they'd found Bella, when they got the message from their sire. They dropped to the ground and hurried back to him, finding him inspecting his mate while surrounded by wriggling vampire pieces.

Jasper knew Bella's house was much closer than the Cullens' house, so he decided to run his mate there to turn her. Charlie already knew about his kind, so it wouldn't matter if he saw. Jasper would arrange for transport to a safer location once he had Bella stabilized. He wanted to get her inside a building though, not only for her comfort, but because he was unsure of the current situation with Victoria and the rest of her newborns. He couldn't risk being ambushed by an army while he'd be incapacitated by his mate's pain from the venom running through her veins, changing her.

With a nod of his head, he gestured for Peter and Char to gather up the puzzle pieces to bring back to Charlie's house, where he'd be able to roast them properly.

Leah and Seth had been backtracking along the river's edge when they heard vampires jump out of the river and start jumping through the trees. With Carlisle's warning of Raoul's likely method of travel firmly in their minds, having been delivered through Quil, they gave pursuit. Thus, they arrived just in time to see Jasper carefully pick up a limp, broken Bella in his arms, while Peter and Char started gathering body parts.

They better not be planning to put him back together, Leah thought crossly, relieved to see yellow eyes on the new vampires, rather than the freaky crimson of the ones who'd attacked the reservation earlier.

"Howdy! Did y'all come for the bonfire?" Peter asked cheerfully, seeming unfazed by the menacing beasts, though he subtly moved to get between them and his mate.

Both wolves nodded emphatically, able to hear how weak Bella's heartbeat was and see how pale and lifeless she seemed.

"Awesome! You don't happen to have a lighter on ya, do ya?" he asked hopefully.

Leah and Seth looked at each other then shook their heads disappointedly. Usually they carried a lighter in the pocket of their spare clothes, but with the emergency attack this afternoon, neither had taken the extra time to tie a set of clothes to their ankles before phasing.

"Right, well, we're gonna have to find one then. The Major indicated we should follow him, and he usually knows what he's doing. So, if you wanna grab a few parts and help carry, we can do this all in one trip, I think," Peter suggested.

The wolves shrugged and eagerly helped. Leah grabbed the torso, lifting it in the air with her teeth attached to the guy's belt. Seth carried one of the legs, though he dropped it the first time, having bit through the denim of the vampire's jeans and punctured its flesh. The bitter taste of venom on his tongue caused him to rapidly spit it out. He picked it up gingerly the second time, not wanting a repeat of the repugnant flavor.

Jasper raced ahead, bringing Bella into her room and lying her gently on her bed. He'd caught some disturbing scents on the way back to Charlie's house and took a minute to run back outside and investigate. Victoria had been there, along with four newborns. Carlisle and Edward had also been there, and Carlisle had started to chase after the newborn who had Bella, but had stopped just a few miles before he got to her and turned around to run back to the house instead.

Why? Why had he left Bella hanging in a tree with a broken neck? Jasper wondered. If Carlisle's trail had suddenly headed toward the Cullen house instead, he'd have understood. If something had happened to Esme, she would always be Carlisle's first priority. After all, she was Carlisle's life, just as Bella was now his.

The only thing he could think of was that Carlisle must have heard Edward being attacked and had broken off his pursuit of Bella to save Edward instead. That might have been understandable, knowing the wolves were on Bella's trail and would be able to get to her faster than Carlisle himself. Yet, that theory didn't match the scents he'd found in the front yard. Carlisle had returned and put the two newborns into Edward's car, then driven away with Edward, who'd walked to the car under his own power.

There was no scent of spilled venom. The newborns appeared to be intact when Carlisle had put them in the car. Why would he help the enemy over his own family? Perhaps one of the newborns had a gift? Something that clouded Carlisle's judgment? Jasper theorized. Something that caused him to protect her life over his own children? A dangerous and powerful gift, to be sure! Something like Chelsea's gift perhaps.

He hoped for Carlisle's sake that he had a good reason for abandoning a fragile Bella in favor of the nearly immortal Edward once again, because as it stood, Jasper was ready to rip Carlisle to shreds and bury the pieces on different continents for a few decades.

The others arrived to the house and made a pile of parts in the backyard.

Jasper looked at the wolves and growled, "Bella has a broken neck. She's dying. I don't give a damn about the treaty - I'm changing her, and if you try to stop me or interfere in any way, I'll kill you in a heartbeat."

He looked fierce, incredibly intimidating, his black eyes glowing with an inner fire, and the wolves could see a glimpse of the Diablo so highly feared around the world. They knew he was deadly serious and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was fully capable of following through. They'd shared in Jacob's experience with Jasper's gift through Jake's memories, which had proven they'd be helpless against the onslaught of emotion, no matter how hard they tried to fight it.

Both wolves promptly sat on their haunches, indicating their acceptance.

Besides, she can always be turned back into a human or humanoid or whatever Alice is now, Leah reassured herself. She liked the former vampire, admired her enthusiasm for life. She knew it was shallow, selfish, and self-centered of her, but she'd only agreed to give the little pixie a chance after learning Alice was giving the wolves $5 million dollars each as payment for all they had to give up to protect the tribe. Then, once she'd taken the time to get to know Jake's girl, she'd actually come to like her and enjoy spending time with her. Leah had intended to hate Alice on principle, not just for once being a leech, but primarily because Alice had essentially done to Jasper what Sam had done to her, broken up a long term relationship in favor of an imprint.

Jasper ran into the house without another word, with everyone else staring after him. They heard him whisper apologies to Bella then begin biting her in multiple places, sealing in his venom.

Peter rubbed the back of his head in confusion. "Well, alrightly then. Don't really know what bug crawled up his ass or what the hell has been going on here, but I reckon one of us needs to locate a lighter."

He went over to the grill and searched in the cabinet beneath it, but Bella had already taken the one from there. Seth phased human, intending to go into the house and look there. Peter and Char stared at the naked boy in shock for a second, before Peter flashed over and covered Char's eyes with his hand. "Damn, boy! My wife don't need to be seeing that! What if she suddenly decides she prefers bestiality over necrophilia? Then where would I be?"

Seth cracked up, trying to cover himself with his hands, and even Leah gave a wolfish grin. Char rolled her eyes beneath his hands, knowing he was trying to lighten the mood, like he usually did.

"You think that's bad, but that's my big sister," Seth replied, indicating Leah with his head. "Believe me, she wants to see this even less than you do, but we didn't have time to grab a change of clothes before killing the vampires who were attacking our tribe this morning."

"Ah, I see. Too bad you can't keep a few strategically placed tufts of fur when you change back. Sister, eh? Well, if you want to change back, darling, I'll force myself to endure staring at your no doubt gorgeous, incredibly fit naked figure. It's a tough job, but I'm willing to take one for the team," Peter teased, waggling his eyebrows. Char elbowed him hard in the ribs, causing him to cry out and bend over in pain.

Char winked at Leah, who couldn't help feeling amused by Peter's words and antics, though she'd have been bristling if it were anybody else. Leah couldn't figure out what it was about this vampire that calmed her natural instincts. For some reason, she didn't want to kill him, didn't have the urge to decapitate him. Instead, she felt an odd sense of camaraderie, as if he was an annoying but amusing older brother. She didn't want to hurt him, and consequently, she didn't want to hurt his mate either, knowing that would hurt him as well.

"Sorry, sugar, but our spare clothes are still in the trunk of Jasper's car back in Seattle, or I'd gladly loan you something. You can have my coat if you want . . .," Char offered.

Seth winced, "Sorry, ma'am, but I'm afraid the scent would be a little too strong for us. I don't think we could keep human form with vampire scent so close to us. Our instincts would go into overdrive."

"Come get something of Bella's and Charlie's for them," Jasper called down, his voice pained.

Peter and Char quickly complied, finding the largest, loosest garments they could. Char took them outside, holding onto them with oven mitts she'd found in the kitchen to keep her scent from saturating the clothes. The wolves were highly appreciative of her thoughtfulness.

Meanwhile, Peter searched through the kitchen drawers until he found a matchbook. He also made a side trip into the pantry and the fridge.

He strolled outside and tossed a package of hot dogs to Seth. "There's nothing that says bonfire better than toasting marshmallows, but I couldn't find any, so I figured hot dogs would have to do," Peter declared. "I've got the matches, if you want to grab a stick. This puppy is gonna burn hot and fast, so you gotta be ready before I start it."

Leah shook her head and rolled her eyes, but Seth decided to play along. He grabbed the large fork from under the grill and speared a hot dog onto it. "Okay, ready," he announced cheerfully.

Peter grinned and dropped a lit match onto the pile of Raoul's parts.

xxxxxxx

AN: So Bella's changing and Jasper's not a happy camper. What do you think he's going to do when he finds out what's been happening?