Well yeah I've been gone for a while but I'm updating again. So here is chapter 20.

(Chapter 20)

BPOV

I was woken up by the feeling of a cold finger poking me. I kept my eyes closed. I was still tired. "Come on Bella, I heard your heart speed up." Damn Alice. I stopped my heartbeat just to spite her.

"Ha, ha. You're so funny Bella." She said dryly. I opened my eyes finally and blinked away the sleep. I looked around and saw that we were at a hotel.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"We're in Phoenix. Jasper's in the hotel making a reservation." I nodded and got out of the car. I stretched my aching muscles and cracked my neck. Sleeping in a car was not the best. We walked inside just as Jasper got a key from the woman's hand. He had all of our luggage near him and I idly thought about how that would have looked to everyone around. One man carrying at least six bags of luggage. Way to be discreet.

He picked up the bags again and waited for us to follow him. "You know, I really have to go to the bathroom. I'll be quick." They nodded and I speed walked to the bathrooms that was in the lobby. Thankfully there was an empty stall. I finished quickly and washed my hands. They were there waiting and I followed them to our room.

It was a separate bedroom room and I was thankful for that. The whole room looked pretty comfortable in general but I knew I was going to be moping in my room for most of the time. I missed Edward more than ever. His last words were just bouncing in my head. I'm pretty sure that meant he accepted our bond.

My mind just flitted through all of our time together. I finally came to a conclusion that I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed yet. I love Edward. It could seem a little weird considering that we had only known each other, but I can't help the way I feel. That conclusion only made me miss him more.

"Are you alright Bella?" Jasper asked. I jumped in surprise. I had forgotten that we were standing in the living room.

I blinked a few times. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I just want to lie down for a while." They nodded and I went to my room. I dropped my bags down and fell to the bed. Can't time go any faster?

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I must have dozed off again because it looked later in the day. I got up and went out to the main room. Alice and Jasper looked away from the t.v. to me. "Hey sleepy head. There's takeout in the kitchen for you." Alice said in her normal, cheerful self.

"Thanks." I said as I went into the kitchen. I opened the top of the container and saw she had gotten me Chinese; a favorite of mine. I dug in and was finished within 20 minutes. I don't understand how I got that hungry. Sleeping wasn't that tiring.

When I threw away my container I went into the living room and sat in the recliner to watch t.v. with them. I had no idea what was going on but I watched. It was an older show that was silent. I liked classic books but I could never get into the silent films. They weren't my thing. I stayed and watched with them so I didn't have to be alone.

About half an hour later, Alice gasped and froze. Jasper was immediately holding her hand. "Alice, what is it?" He asked in concern.

"The tracker…he just changed course." My eyes widened. I stood and went to stand by the table in front of her.

"Where does it take him Alice?" Jasper asked while taking out a pencil and paper and placing them in her hands.

She started sketching quickly and I stared at the picture. It was starting to look like the old ballet studio that I went to when I was younger. "That place looks familiar." They both looked up at me in surprise.

"What do you mean? You've been here before?" Alice asked.

"Well it could be. It's just my old ballet studio here had an arch like that. I know a lot of ballet studios have arches but that just looks like the one I went to when I was a kid." I rambled a bit but stopped myself.

"It's fine. Was your old studio here in phoenix?" Jasper asked. I nodded and they looked at each other. My phone vibrated and I pulled it from my pocket. Edward's name flashed on the screen and I went to my room to take it.

"Hey. What's up?" I asked. Please don't let anyone be hurt.

"We've lost the tracker. The woman is still in the area. Rosalie and Esme have gone to protect your father." I wondered how much of a fight Rosalie put up. Either way I would have to thank her.

"Yeah, Alice just had a vision about it." He was silent for a second.

"I'm coming to get you. You and I are going to just go somewhere…alone where I can protect you and keep you safe." He said. I wanted to question that but I kept silent. I'm sure a group of eight would be better than two.

"Okay. When should you be here?" I asked. I cleared my throat when I heard the almost imperceptible whine. I could feel myself blush when I heard Alice's slight laughter. If she heard it then I know he had to hear it.

"Don't worry. We should arrive in about an hour or two." There was a smile in his voice. I nodded to myself. It would be dark by that time but at least it was relatively soon.

"Okay. I'll be waiting." I said with a smile.

"I…I'll see you soon." He said with a sigh.

I wanted to tell him that I loved him but I didn't want to creep him out. We hung up and I took a deep breath. Well I guess I could start getting the small things I had unpacked together. "Bella, you might want to shower before you pack up or else you won't get the chance later." Alice called to me. I smiled to myself as I went into the bathroom.

Once I had my shower…well my hour soak in the tub, I got dressed in a pair of shorts and a light top. I started packing everything up when my phone rang. I looked at the caller id and saw that it was from home. I answered with a sigh. "Hello?" I didn't want to assume it was mom because if it was Phil I would feel a bit awkward.

"Bella! Bella! Bella where are you?" Mom's frantic voice filled the line.

My eyes widened when I heard her frantic tone. What could have happened? James. "What do you want?" I asked angrily.

There was a small rustling sound before a laugh came through the phone. "Oh, you figured that out quickly. It was really too easy to find out your information. Your mother here puts up a pretty good fight. She returned home after she got a worried call from your father. You know she smells almost as good as you." I heard him growl and my mother's pleas.

"Don't touch her!" I growled.

"You can still save her. All you have to do is get away from those friends of yours. How about this? You trade your life for hers. It's simple, really." Warning bells were going off in my head but my mother didn't deserve to be in this.

"Where should I meet you?" I asked through my teeth.

"Hmm, how about your old ballet studio. And I'll know if you bring any one of your…protectors along. Your mother would pay the price for that." And he hung up. I put the phone back in my pocket and took a deep breath. Things just got all the more complicated.

I opened the door and saw that Alice and Jasper were nowhere to be seen. There was a not on the table.

Gone to check out. Meet us there.
-Jasper

This made it all the more easier. I quickly ran out of the door and to an elevator. Once I reached the lobby, I could see Alice and Jasper at the checkout. I kept my head down and made my way back to the bathroom. There was a window in the stall that I could climb out of. One stall was open and I quickly went in. The window opened easily and I slipped out. Thankfully the window was hidden from the public so no one could see me climbing out. That would have been weird. There was a cab waiting out front with someone getting out. I quickly went to the cab and hopped in the back seat.

"Do you know where Mimi's ballet studio is?" I asked. He nodded and started the car. I released a sigh of relief once I was away from them. I wasn't an idiot though. I knew that they would find me. I also knew that Edward was going to be pissed once he found me.

Going after James alone was a very stupid thing to do, I know that. I wasn't trained in combat at all and he probably had centuries of practice. The odds were not at all in my favor. My brain was being won out by my emotions though. He had my mother and I had to save her no matter what the cost. I asked the voice in my head and fighting strategies filled my head. I absorbed as much of the information as I could but there were no guarantees that all of it was retained.

Once I pulled up to the studio, I handed the drive 30 dollars and told him to keep the change. He left me on the curb and I was completely alone. I took a deep breath and exhaled. The one thing that I did have going for me was the element of surprise. James didn't know about my ability. Maybe catching him off guard would give me the jump I needed to kill him.

I opened the doors and walked in slowly. All of the lights were out and only the light from the moon illuminated the studio. There was nothing around from what I could see. He is planning something.

"Bella? Bella, is that you?" I heard her voice.

"Mom?" I ran to the doors directly in front of me and flung them open. My mouth fell open in shock when I saw a t.v. playing a clip from when I was younger. It was all a trick.

I heard his sadistic laughter and turned around. He was standing about 10 feet away from me. "That's my favorite part. You were a stubborn child, weren't you?" He grabbed my shoulder and pushed me into the wall. I heard him inhale deeply.

"She wasn't even here." I said angrily. I should have known this was all a game. How stupid could I be?

I kind of blanked him out for a while. When I came back to, he was pointing a camera at me. "And…action." He said while pressing record. What was the point of recording me? He had perfect memory.

"Oh…this will break Edward's little heart." My eyes went to his in complete rage.

"Edward had nothing to do with this!" I yelled while pushing against him. He pushed me back.

"Oh but he does. His rage will make for a more interesting game in his futile attempt to protect you. And let's continue." He moved away to film again. My rage reached its limit.

"First you trick me with my mother not being here. And now you threaten Edward. Oh you are really pissing me off." I said while glaring at him. He only smirked in amusement.

"So the human has a little backbone. You dare stand up to a vampire; someone over two times stronger than you?" He asked in amusement. Now was the time.

"Yes, I dare." I changed quickly and pushed him off of me. He flew into the window which caused it to break. He looked at me in shock before that turned into a glare.

"I knew it. Something was off about your reaction. You have a little gift. Well now my plans are ruined." He hissed as he charged at me. I ducked under him and kicked his legs from underneath him. He recovered quickly and threw me into one of the pillars. It cracked with the force but I barely felt it. I pushed off of the pillar to throw myself at him. He fell and started to flip us. I got my hands around his neck and used our momentum to slam him into the ground. His neck cracked and I saw that he was stunned for a moment.

I put my foot on his shoulder and pulled on his arm with all of my might. It came off with a sickening snap and he screamed in agony. A red haze clouded my vision and I lost it. It was like I was enjoying his screams. All I felt was my body moving and the growls coming from my throat. My vision came back to me and I saw him looking at me with fright in his eyes. Both his arms, one leg, a chunk of his neck and some of his hair were missing now. I could feel a couple of stings on my body but other than that I was relatively unharmed. I looked him in the eyes. "Now you will never be able to harm my family or my mate, ever again." Before he could make another sound, I twisted his neck off. I dropped it to the ground and took a step back. I killed him. He was really gone.

I put my head on my knees and took deep breaths. It was amazing that he was gone but just the fact that I had killed a man was bugging me. I heard footsteps coming towards me but I already knew who it was. They all came in and there was absolute silence. "Damn…this place is fucked up." Of course it was Emmett who broke the silence. I looked up and took a look around. Mirrors were broken, sections of the floor were missing, one pillar was completely collapsed, two other windows were broken and there were dents in the wall. I did that? Yes.

I stood and I could feel pieces of debris fall from me. I shook out my hair and pieces of glass and floor came out. So he threw me into a window or mirror and dragged me along the floor. That was my conclusion. I turned to my family and saw that Esme and Rose weren't here. "I…I don't really know how I did that." I said with a sheepish smile.

Jasper and Emmett started gathering the broken floorboards to make a fire. Carlisle, Edward and Alice came over to me. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" Edward asked with irritation in his tone. I looked down to my feet. I felt scolded.

"Edward, I thought he had Renee. Besides I am capable of handling things like this." I said while gesturing to Jasper and Emmett throwing James' remains in the fire.

He sighed. "It was still dangerous." He said with a small smile. He came over to me and I threw my arms around him. I hugged him as tightly as I could. I really missed him.

"Um Bella, you're a lot stronger than me right now." He said in a strained voice. I let up on my hold and smiled at him.

"Sorry, I'm not used to the strength control yet." I apologized. He only smiled back down at me.

Carlisle took a step towards us. "Sorry to interrupt. Bella, were you bitten?" That brought my attention back to my stinging. I hissed and pulled away from Edward. There was a bite on my wrist and one on my lower leg.

"Yeah. There's one on my wrist and one on my left lower leg." He looked at them and frowned.

"They must sting? Would you…" Edward cut him off.

"Do you want me to suck the venom out to make the sting go away?" He asked while looking at me. I nodded and he grabbed my wrist first. His teeth punctured through and it only hurt a little. He stayed there for a few seconds before moving to my leg. He crouched down and I lifted my leg to help me. I felt the same sensation and the sting was gone.

"Thank you." He smiled and pulled me to his side.

Jasper and Emmett came over to us. "We should get out of here. The building is going to collapse." Jasper commented. We nodded and ran out to Emmett's jeep that was waiting. Alice was in the middle with Jasper while Edward and I were in the back. She turned around completely to glare at me.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was? You just never come back and leave Jasper and I there waiting." She huffed. I looked at her sheepishly.

"I'm really sorry Alice. He said that he had my mother and it was all just a trick. I couldn't hear that it was a fake." I apologized. She sighed and the glare was gone.

"It's fine. I just want you to know how unbelievably stupid that was."

"Yes, that wasn't the best decision." Jasper added.

"Definitely not." Edward said from my side.

I huffed and looked at my lap. I didn't really need all of them saying what I did was stupid because I already knew. "Hey give her a break. She did singlehandedly kill an experienced vampire with no training." I smiled to myself. Emmett said the right things sometimes.

"Yes, that was quite a feat. Do you know how you did it?" Jasper asked while turning to look at me.

"Well first I asked the voice to help with techniques and pictures filled my head. But all of that was virtually useless since I kind of blanked out. Everything went red and when I came back, he was missing almost all of his limbs and was looking at me like I was the devil." I shrugged.

"What'd he say to piss you off that much Bella Bean?" Emmett asked while turning to me as well. I looked away in embarrassment. I didn't like all of the attention. I shook my head in refusal. That would be too embarrassing to answer.

I could already tell Emmett was about to bug me for answers. Before he could start though, Alice got a wicked smile and I looked at her. "That's fine Bella. We can just watch the video." My eyes widened and I shook my head. I had forgotten about the camera honestly.

"Oh no Bella. You can't have it both ways. We are watching that video and that's final." I started to bare my teeth at her but I stopped myself and gave her and apologetic smile. I changed back to my human form.

"It's best for me to stay like this so I don't accidentally snap." I explained. She smiled at me and turned around to talk to Jasper.

Edward nuzzled my cheek and I looked at him. He was smiling my smile and I couldn't help but smile back at him. I buried my head into his chest. "I missed you." I mumbled. It had only been a day but it was true. I couldn't imagine him being gone for months at a time.

He kissed the top of my head. "I missed you too love." He replied. He just hugged me to him and I was content to just lie there for the rest of my life.

Well this chapter wasn't the best but I was determined to get a chapter out. I plan to have a little short of them watching the video as the next chapter, another date between Edward and Bella for the next, and then go to the prom for the one after that. That way I'm moving fast but not too fast.

Hopefully you enjoy it. Give me some feedback.

-Lots of Love, MissRainbow13