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A/N – Thanks again to all that have reviewed!

Chapter 21 – Live Bait

BPOV

I breathed out another shaky breath. It fogged out in front of me in the fresh morning air. I sat on the cold wet stone and leaned against the side of the cave wall. It was hard to see in here but the sun rise gave me enough light to see shapes and objects, but nothing in great detail.

Mandy lay next to me unconscious. Somewhere along the way she had been knocked out, luckily she wasn't bleeding.

"How much longer?" the young black haired vampire to my left said. He had been impatient, shifting weight and complaining, the entire time Victoria had told him to watch us. It seemed like we had sat here for days but in reality it had probably been more like three or four hours.

"I swear if Derek complains one more time…" said another vampire also ordered to watch us.

"Patients," Victoria cut in. She was standing at the cave entrance staring into the distance but seeing nothing.

"Why do you torture us so, Victoria," said Derek. "It's like taking a fat boy and putting him in front of an ice cream truck. Sooner or later he's gonna eat one." He took a step closer to me as he said it.

It took all I had not to lean away. It wasn't that he intimidated me, I had never really been afraid to die, but I was afraid of losing Edward and dying would definitely tear us apart.

"Need I remind you of your oath?" Victoria hissed.

Derek froze and rolled his eyes, "Well what about the other one? We don't need her, she's extra."

The other vampires in the room, about 11, perked up at this, all listening closely.

"Same rules apply to her, she is not extra, she's become a part of this, so teeth off," commanded Victoria.

The vampires slumped back into their lazy postures, seeming to pout.

I felt anger boil inside of me. This had nothing to do with Mandy; I should be the only one that had to die. "And what makes her a part of this?" I asked, my voice not as strong as I had hoped. It was the first thing I had said since we had left the house.

Victoria's attention slowly turned to me, and a cruel half smile curled her lips. "So you're saying you'd rather her not be a part of this?"

"Yes," my voice echoed in the cave.

"Very well," her eyes slipped from me to Derek, "Have a snack."

He smiled and lunged for her.

"No!" I screamed out.

Luckily anther vampire had jumped for her at the same time and instead of hitting Mandy they were fighting each other like starving wolves over a scrap of meat.

"Enough!" Victoria shouted over their growls and fighting.

They parted from each other and rose again to their feet, glaring furiously at one another.

"She's mine," Derek spat.

"She's neither of yours," said Victoria. "Swan has changed her mind; the girl is needed alive… for now."

Derek's head snapped to me and he bared his teeth angrily. He stared in silence until he couldn't take it any longer. "Why keep her alive, she's gonna die soon anyway. Why not put her out of her misery?"

I glared at him. Like he cared about our misery. No, he was too selfish to care about anything, let alone the feelings of his "food."

"Go jump in a fire," I spat. There wasn't much you could tell a vampire to do that would cause them to hurt themselves.

He sneered at me. "Fine, prolong her suffering. You can die together."

"Quiet you two," said Victoria. "Someone's coming."

We all froze, no one daring to make a move or sound. The only noise I could hear was my own heart, beating fast and uncontrollably. My breath became quicker too as I imagined weakened Edward rushing to save me, right into this trap.

"No!" I burst out. "I'll be fine, go, it's a trap. Please! I'm not worth it…" Derek's hand slapped to my mouth jarring my head against the back of the cave. My vision blurred and then focused again.

"No, let her yell," said Victoria. "He's coming faster and now in the right direction."

"No!" I screamed throwing Derek's hand aside when he let me. "Edward please go away! Just let me die!" And then I remembered Mandy was with me. I could die, but her?

I started to cry not knowing what to do. Why did these things happen? Why couldn't it have just been me in here, why did Mandy have to pay for my mistake?

And then I saw Victoria. Her eyes widened and her entire demeanor changed from confidence to confusion. "What is that?" she hissed.

She began to back up and within an instant she threw a nearby vampire into the entrance of the cave where a second later a mass of muscle and fur attacked him, clenching the vampire in an enormous mouth of sharp angry teeth. Shaking him furiously, he finally threw him to the side of the cave where the vampire slammed against the hard stone wall, and fell limply to the ground still in shock.

"Jake!" I cried out, but his eyes never left Victoria.

She relaxed and regained her confidence. Obviously Jake had taken her off guard when she was expecting Edward, but now she wasn't surprised at all, in fact she looked amused. "We meet again," she said bitterly. "Not exactly who I was expecting, but good enough to keep us entertained until he gets here."

Jake growled, bearing his fangs so that every one of his white sharp teeth could be seen.

"You'd think that sometime between the last time we met you would have taken a shower." Her nose was wrinkled along with all the other vampires in the cave. Except for Derek they were all on the back wall of the cave behind her, not sure what to do. Derek was still standing next to us, ready to attack at any command of Victoria's.

Jake just took a step forward in response.

"You don't scare me," said Victoria. "I've done my homework. You're no match for me. You're a werewolf, and if I've searched this right you're here for her." Victoria pointed to Mandy, and Jake glanced at her before looking back at Victoria angrily.

"And you'd do anything to save her wouldn't you?" she continued to taunt.

Jake bent low to spring at her, but Victoria's next words kept him in place.

"Attack and she's dead before you hit me."

Sure enough Derek had moved behind Mandy and was now holding her, ready to kill.

Jake growled and dug at the ground frustrated.

"Let's make things interesting," Victoria said enjoying the moment. She went to say something else but suddenly stopped as Edward sprang into the cave, blood stained and furious.

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