A/N: Thanks to all of you who reviewed or pm'd me with ideas. I'm trying my best to incorporate as many of your ideas as I can into the story line...

I would like to especially thank XxJasper'sAngelxX for all her help with this chapter, with me bouncing crazy ideas off her, and her patience dealing with me and also for Beta'ing this chapter for me... Muah! Love you girl!

Disclaimer: - I do not own Twilight or NCIS or anything associated with either of these two. I just write for fun. :)

A quick recap of the previous chapter -

"No," I said, shaking my head, "I cannot think of anyone who would want to murder me."

"Are you sure about that Isabella?" Ducky asked me.

"Yes. I have not made any enemies. This is my first big case here. Earlier they were all minor offences. Nothing too serious." I said. "How did he die?" I asked Ducky.

"He died of exsanguination. All the blood was drained from his body."

Hearing that I grew pale, whispering a name that still gave me nightmares. "Victoria!"

NOW

BPOV

My mind was racing. I could not believe that even now, after all this time, she was still after me. She had created a few problems after the Cullens had left, but after the pack had culled her new-born army, she had disappeared. Unfortunately she was not there on the day of the battle, but I had thought she might have given up since there was no threat since then. I should have known that she was just biding her time, waiting for me to leave the safety net the pack provided. As soon as she saw I was away from their help, she decided to make her move.

I was shaken from my reverie when Gibbs asked me who Victoria was. 'Damn it, I shouldn't have said her name out loud. Now, they aren't going to let it go. What am I going to tell them?' I thought, biting my lower lip worriedly.

"Isabella, who is Victoria?" Ducky repeated Gibbs' question.

"No... Nobody. Look, I don't even know why she cropped up in my mind. She can't possibly have anything to do with this case. I haven't seen her for years." I tried putting it off.

Gibbs and Ducky exchanged a look. I held my breath hoping they would believe me. I did not keep my hopes up too high though, I mean even I would not believe me!

"Bella, now is not the time to be keeping secrets. Either you tell us what is up, or we will have no choice but to find out ourselves." Gibbs said impatiently.

I looked at him through my lashes, wondering what I could possibly tell him that he would believe. I sighed, deciding to not say anything. I was going to lose my job either way, I had to get away. If it was Victoria I could not possibly put anyone in the team in danger. I would not have anyone else hurt in my stead. At least by not saying anything, I would not get locked up in a loony bin.

"There is nothing I have to tell you, Agent Gibbs." I said, straightening up and looking him in the eyes. He looked at me, searching my eyes for a minute, before flicking his eyes over to Ducky.

He sighed and held out his hand to me. "Badge and gun, Agent Swan." He said, looking anywhere but at me.

I swallowed slowly, determined to not cry in front of anyone. Ducky looked devastated at the turn of events. I took my gun out of its holster and removed my badge from my pocket, stretching my hand to hand them over to Gibbs.

My wrist brushed against the back of Gibbs' hand as I turned to walk out. I had decided to leave directly. I didn't think I was up to facing anyone at the moment. I could just about imagine the look on their faces. It had been just a few days, but the entire team had come to mean a lot to me. As it is disappointing Gibbs and Ducky felt bad enough. I decided to go to my apartment, which I had gotten just yesterday. I'm sure Alice had seen what had happened. If they wanted to help, they could come to talk to me there, as I had no way of contacting them. Even if I did, I was unwilling to ask them for help. My insecurities towards them had not completely abated yet.

I walked towards the elevator and had just entered when Gibbs came rushing behind me and entered alongside me. I was surprised, but still unwilling to face him. The elevator started moving towards the main floor when Gibbs reached out and pressed the emergency stop button, causing the elevator to jerk to a halt. I looked at him then, shocked at his actions. Why would he stop the elevator this way?

"So Bella... I was disappointed when you were unwilling to confide in us. When you were leaving however, I realized something and it changed my opinion of you drastically. You were willing to leave the N.C.I.S. disgraced, but were unwilling to put anyone in danger. I respect that Bella." He said without looking at me.

"Boss?" I asked confused. "I do not understand."

Gibbs turned to me then, gently lifting my right hand closer to his line of vision and running his hand gently over the bite mark I had there. A perfect imprint of James' dentition.

I gasped, looking at him searchingly, my eyes flicking between Gibbs' face and the hand with which he still held on my wrist.

"Tell me Bella, which vampire could bite you and leave you without completely draining you of your blood or turning you into a vampire too?" Gibbs asked, dropping my hand and raising an eyebrow at me questioningly.

I just continued looking at him, my brain still processing that somehow Gibbs knew about vampires!

He sighed impatiently. "Yes Bella, I know about vampires, now snap out of it. I need to know what's going on."

"But... you... how?" I stammered. Gibbs gave me a glare and I shook away the disorientation.

"I found out about vampires when I was 17, when I moved to Forks. I was dating one of them."

"You dated a vampire?" Gibbs looked shocked. It made me giggle mentally, no matter how wrong a situation this was to find funny. "Was your boyfriend the one who did this to you?"

"No. He actually saved me. There was a sadistic vampire called James who saw me one day with my boyfriend's family and well, he saw how the whole family was a little protective of me. This ticked off his malicious side and he decided it would be a fun game to try to hunt me against all these vampires protecting me." I told Gibbs, being careful not to mention any of the Cullens' names. I did not know how he knew about vampires, but if he had not made the connection yet after meeting Edward at the hospital I was not going to betray their secret.

"And how does this Victoria fit into all this?" Gibbs asked me.

"She was James' mate. Long story short, James tried to draw me out by making me believe he had my mother and would kill her unless I came to him alone. I gave the family a slip and went to meet him, only to realize he did not have my mother after all and James had just played our old home movies in the background when I thought he put her on the line. He tried to kill me, ended up biting me before the family showed up. Ed... My boyfriend sucked the venom out from the bite while the rest of his family killed James. Since then Victoria has been out for revenge. She wants a mate for a mate, believing that since my boyfriend killed her mate, she should kill his. Only she doesn't seem to realize that we are actually not mates and have not been together since a few months after this incident." I finished.

"Ed... huh... I should have been paying more attention at the hospital, though it never struck me that I needed to. The Cullens are the vampire family you knew?" He asked. Damn, he caught my slip.

"Um, yeah... But as I hadn't seen them for years before then, I don't think they know anything about this."

"Hmmm... Do any of them have any special powers?" Well he just kept on throwing me for a loop. He clearly had quite a bit of knowledge about vampires.

"Yes, Edward can read minds, Alice can see the future, but only based on decisions people make and Jasper can feel and manipulate people's emotions. And of-course Edward and Carlisle have excellent control of their thirst."

"Hmm..." Gibbs seemed deep in thought. I waited silently for some time before interrupting him.

"Boss... If you don't mind me asking, how did you know?" I asked him hesitantly.

"I didn't, not until you turned to leave. Your wrist brushed against my hand and I felt how cold the skin was there. I have shaken your hand earlier, so I know that was not your normal temperature. I followed you to the elevator to confirm my suspicions and I was sure once I saw the bite mark on your wrist. As for vampires, I have known for quite a few years. There was once a vampire I knew. Her name was Penelope. She was a suspect of mine in a case actually, during my first year after joining N.C.I.S. She ended up saving my life; taking a bullet that was headed for my head. It didn't harm her in any way though and a world I never knew existed was revealed to me that day." He looked at me then. "So if this Victoria female is after you, we will need to call in reinforcements as I'm sure none of us are capable of doing anything to kill her. I will call Penny as soon as I am done here. Do you think the Cullens would help? They should, considering that they are part of the original mess."

"Yes, once I tell them I'm sure they will be more than willing to help." I said, well I hoped. "Boss, do you think she was responsible for the original murder too?" I asked him.

"No, I don't. She doesn't seem to be the kind who would try to disguise her kills as human violence by shooting the victim. There has to be something else going on here. We just have to figure out what." Gibbs replied.

He re-started the elevator and we started moving towards the main floor. "Bella, I do not need to emphasize the need-to-know with this case. I have informed the entire team about the presence of vampires, including Ducky and he too suspected a vampire, but we did not mention it to you as we were unsure if you knew anything about vampires, or even if they were involved in the first place. I told the team so they know not to attempt to take on a vampire if they encounter one. Why risk lives if we can use caution? I will tell the rest of the team what you have told me, so you don't need to worry about repeating the story, but let's just keep this to us. No one else needs to be told about this."

I looked at him gratefully. Once was enough. I was not looking forward to repeating the story one bit.

As the doors opened, Gibbs continued, "I do not think you should be alone in the meanwhile. Call up the Cullens and enlist their help and I want you to stay with them if possible. If not then you will be staying with me till the case is done."

"You don't need to worry about that, Agent Gibbs. We would never say no to Bella." I heard a melodious voice say.

A big smile crossed my face as I looked up and ran to hug her.

"Alice!"

A/N: - So, was it up to your expectations? Let me know what you all think about this chapter.. About the team already knowing about vampires.. What do you guys think about the OC Penelope, who I'm going to introduce to you'll within the next couple of chapters?

Please do review and let me know :)