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"I'll kill him myself." I heard Rose say and I nodded to her before turning my attention to the scene in front of me.

Edward was first through the door and he froze when his eyes met mine. His face held the expression of shock. I heard Rose growl in front of me, while she still glared at him. His eyes flashed briefly to Rose, then to Esme, then Emmet, before meeting my eyes once more.

The pain coursing through my body was so intense, my breath caught and my body went rigid for a moment. Esme resumed stroking my hair and Emmet gently squeezed my calf. I struggled to remain conscious concentrating on breathing and Rose snarling beside me.

"Wait… Hold on… WAIT just one fucking minute." I heard Edward say and my eyes snapped open meeting his. It wasn't like Edward to swear.. Well at least not in front of Esme. He looked panicked, maybe even a little sick. "You don't actually think I would have left her like that?" His gaze went back to Rose. "Do you people actually think I would have left her like THAT? Seriously?"

Nobody said anything. For a moment we just stared at each other not knowing entirely what to say or what to do. I couldn't speak. The pain that was coursing through my body was so intense my jaw was clenched, locked in an effort not to cry out.

"Well man if you didn't do it.. Then who the fuck did?" I briefly glanced at Emmet, silently thanking him for taking the words out of my mouth. "I mean I heard you come back after you left."

"Emmet. I didn't come back. This is the first time I have been back since I left earlier."

"Man I heard you come back through the window."

"Emmet, I swear to you on everything I love, this is the first fucking time I have been back."

I looked at Edward and from the pained look on his face as he looked at me… I just knew he was telling the truth.

If Edward didn't leave me like this… or come back and do this… then who the fuck did and what the fuck was going on? I was so confused and my head swam as my body burned.

"We will discuss this in a moment. Right now we have to help Laurent, Edward." I heard Carlisle say from behind Edward.

Laurent? What the hell was he doing here and why do we need to help him? The last time I had heard or seen him was after the baseball game, before James… before everything…

Edward stepped aside unblocking the doorway as Carlisle and Jasper half carried, half drug Laurent through the door. Laurent was pale and his left arm was twisted in an awkward angle. His right leg was bent mid thigh and appeared obviously broken. I glanced at his face and it was contorted in pain but his eyes where the same golden hue as the Cullen's.

"Emmet. I am going to need your help to set these breaks. We just need to realign the fractures and give him a few moments and he should heal." I heard Carlisle say as they sat Laurent at the table behind us.

I looked at Emmet, I watched his lips tremble as he spoke. I realized he was trying to whisper so I couldn't hear. "What happened to him?"

"I can hear you…" I said, partially annoyed that he was trying find out what was going on without me hearing. He looked at me quickly giving me an apologetic look, then looking slightly shocked that I heard him. Looking around I found everyone looking at me the same way.

"Stop staring….." I wanted to tell them to all quit staring at me like I was some kind of fucked up window display but was cut off by another wave of pain. This one started in my toes and shot upward and out. My head was pounding and my body throbbing. I closed my eyes trying to concentrate on something else.

I felt Emmet shift my legs slightly as he got up. With a quick peak I watched him get up and Rose taking his place. She began gently rubbing my feet as Esme rubbed my forehead. I closed my eyes again concentrating. I pictured last night and wondering what the hell was going on now. I felt the pain slowly begin to lessen and relax away slowly, never entirely going away but coming back down to a level I could handle. I noticed the pain got worst as my heart beat faster, I figured it was because the venom was pumping through my veins faster, but I couldn't be sure.

I was brought back to reality as I heard the sickening crunch and grinding of Laurent's bones being set back into their respective places. I heard Laurent groan and gasp as they went. I tried to tune it out. I felt Esme put her hands over my ears but it didn't help.

I tried to put my mind somewhere else. I concentrated on the crickets chirping outside. I could hear the river that ran behind the house, some three hundred yards away. The sound was soothing so I concentrated on that.

"I can heard the river…" I mumbled mostly to myself, trying to ignore the rest of the world.

"Amazing. Is she truly going through the change?" I heard Laurent ask and I realized they were done. Laurent sounded weak but better than he was a few moments ago.

"Yes she is. Although as to how and why right now are sort of up in the air." I heard Carlisle say as I heard something splash through the river, something that was running, or bounding rather, and headed towards the house.

"Something or someone is headed this way." I muttered and looked at Edward. He was still staring at me but once I spoke he turned his head towards the door, listening.

"Sam." He said before returning his gaze to me. He glanced at Rose and his expression turned annoyed. "Damn it Rose it's not my fault. When I left her it was nothing more than precautionary. There was a little blood from… well shit everyone already knows… from me taking her virginity. I felt the urge to feed. I didn't want to hurt her, so I forced myself to get up and leave. I walked through this living room and I know I told you guys 'blood' before I walked out the back door. I ran before I could do any damage. I would NOT have left her bleeding the way you guys keep picturing her in your heads. Honestly… If there was that much blood I don't know if I would have been able to stop myself from seriously hurting her. I swear when I left her there was barely anything! Bella please you have to know that! I wouldn't have left you like that." He was suddenly kneeling in front of me his face inches from mine.

He took my face in his hands, "Bella I admit I panicked when I smelled the blood. But I checked before I left. There was just a little blood, which I know was normal, but nothing that would have made it necessary to burn the sheets and bed to get rid of the smell. There was barely enough to stain the sheets…"

"Dude if you didn't do it. Then who did and why would they have bit her…. You know down there?" Emmet asked.

"And who the hell would have been stupid enough to even try to climb in through a window with six vampires downstairs." Rose asked, still sounding unconvinced.

"I think that's a good question Rose," Edward snapped "Better question would be how the hell they got past the vampires that were downstairs."

"WE THOUGHT IT WAS YOU!" Rose screeched.

"WHY IN THE HELL WOULD I HAVE CRAWLED BACK THROUGH THE WINDOW? BETTER YET! IF YOU HEARD 'ME' CRAWL THROUGH THE WINDOW, KNOWING I SAID THERE WAS BLOOD, WHY WOULDN'T YOU GO CHECK?" Edward roared back at Rose, his eyes flashing in anger.

I didn't know what to say or what to do. My heart started beating faster and the pain started to intensify again. Alice who had been quiet thus far finally stepped in.

"It wasn't Edward Rose. I know I sort of tuned them out last night but I am positive I would have seen Edward doing something like that."

"Did you smell anything when you entered the room Alice?" Carlisle asked calmly.

"I would like to say I smelled something or someone else but I honestly don't know. There was so much blood and I was worried about Bella…. Wouldn't there be a scent outside?" She asked.

"All I smelled when I left was wolf. I figured it was Sam and the boys from the other day." Edward said.

"Yeah I smelled that too and it's obvious that a wolf didn't do this." Jasper said as he placed his hands on the back of the couch, obviously trying to calm the situation down with his powers. He looked at me as my heart raced, he was concentrating on me. "Bella, do you have any idea how you are totally blocking me?"

"And me?" Alice asked walking up besides Jasper.

"Huh?" I managed to gasp out.

"I know you could sometimes block my gift from helping you but I was always able to at least feel what you were feeling. Now… I can't get anything. Every once in a while I can get a flicker of pain, but it's brief."

"Same here. I can only get flickers of your future… I seem to get the flickers when you are slightly relaxed."

"When her heart isn't going a mile a minute." Jasper said.

"Yeah." Alice confirmed.

I shrugged. I had no idea.

"Perhaps it has something to do with her change?" Carlisle asked.

The subject was dropped as Sam burst through the door without knocking. He burst in and looked directly at me before dropping to his knees. "Oh thank god!"

"Sam?" I croaked

He looked up at me. "Jake came by the house saying you were dead." He said panting. He seemed slightly out of breath. "I came as soon as he left. As fast as I could."

"How would Jake know." Emmet asked looking both confused and mad at the same time.

"Jake is working with Victoria." Laurent spoke for the first time in a while and everything sort of fell into place in my head.

"You're sure?" Sam asked through clenched teeth.

"Positive. I was coming to visit with the Cullen's and thank them for introducing me to the Denali clan. Tanya and I are getting along very well." Laurent said with a smile. "I ran into the two of them in the woods. Victoria demanded I help her kill Bella. I refused. My loyalties are no longer with her. I owe the Cullen's to much. But when I refused they attacked. Edward stumbled across us before they were able to finish the job. They took off. He called home and the others came." He finished, still sounding slightly strained but better than he was.

"Ok so now we know what happened to you but how did this happen to Bella?" Emmet asked sitting next to Edward on the floor in front of me.

"Has Jake been here to see Bella?" Sam asked getting off the floor and walking to the couch where I was surrounded by my family.

"No." I said meeting his eyes. Edward growled.

"He has been here. I smelled him as I came close. Until I saw you that's how I thought he knew you were dead." Sam said, anger and betrayal flashing in his eyes.

Jasper pushed away from the couch abruptly and walked out the door. Returning moments later. "He was outside their window and I am positive I smelled the same scent in Charlie's house after he was killed."

Everyone was silent. Thinking. I broke the silence as a fresh wave of pain coursed through my body, but this time I welcomed the pain. I didn't fight it, I relished the fact that I was burning and changing.

"He carried her." I stated through clenched teeth.

"Huh?" Emmet said.

"He carried the bitch so she wouldn't be detected." I said as the fire grew hotter.

"Why would he do that? Wasn't he a family friend?" Jasper asked, trying to understand.

"Yeah he was but when Bella left he sort of lost it." Sam explained. "He went around for weeks saying that he wanted to kill Edward for driving her away. He kept saying that Bella was supposed to be his. Crazy shit like that. He started to withdraw from the pack. We figured he was grieving and let him be…. I guess I should have kept a closer eye on him."

"Not your fault Sam." I muttered as my eyes closed thinking about Charlie.

"Ok let's say he carried Victoria here… one why carry her?" Emmet asked.

I chuckled at the confused look on Emmet's face as Jasper answered. "To mask her scent. So we wouldn't know she had been here."

"Why go through all the trouble. I mean, if she was able to get in the house without us knowing she was in…. and why not just kill her? Why did she leave her alive." Emmet asked looking at me.

"I don't know." Jasper answered honestly. I looked at Edward, making eye contact.

"With the amount of blood there was in the room when I got in there… it's amazing she is alive." Alice said quietly.

"Ok but why bite her cooter? Why not just bite her neck and get on with it?" Emmet asked obviously trying to get it straight in his head.

"Maybe it was the blood? Even though there wasn't much it might have drawn her to it?" Carlisle speculated. Everyone was quiet, thinking. I continued to look in Edward's eyes as the pain rolled through me.

"No…Think about it." I said, panting through the pain, after a few moments. "She wants Edward to feel pain for killing James. She isn't stupid. What would hurt Edward more? Her killing me? Or Edward thinking he possibly killed me?" I said through clenched teeth.

Edward didn't say anything but his eyes lit up as he thought about it. "I would have welcomed death if I thought I was the one who killed you. Shit I would have welcomed it if there was a chance that I was the one to do it. Even though I know I wasn't the one to bite you… I would have doubted myself."

"I think that's what she was counting on. I also think that she would have bled me more if I didn't start to wake up and then Alice walked in…. She probably panicked and figured she had done enough damage." I could see the rage rolling off Edward and I took his hand. "You can't blame yourself for leaving me Edward. I know you and I know that's what you are doing. You thought I was safe and NO ONE would have though she was crazy enough to sneak through the window and do this."

"I am just glad you are alive. I know you weren't ready for this…"

"It's ok Edward. This way I get to stay with you forever and you don't have to torture yourself by being the one who tried to turn me. It's not your fault."

"I'll kill her for touching you and the dog for helping her. Sorry Sam." He seethed and tried to stand up but I grabbed his hand restraining him slightly shaking my head.

He sat back down glaring at me. "She wont get away with this Bella."

"I don't want her to." I said smiling before curling my lip up and growling out the rest, "I want to be there and my first meal as a newborn, will be wolf." I glanced at Sam who smirked nodding. "Sorry Sam." I said slightly embarrassed for talking about killing one of his pack.

"Bella, I don't blame you. If he had anything to do with killing your father and doing this to you…. He isn't part of my pack. You and Charlie were family to the pack, you were under our protection, if he broke the rules… he is on his own. The pack sticks with family and he chose to pick a stranger over family." Sam finished folding his arms over his chest.

"So if we can't go kill him right now… Or go after the redhead… What do we do?" Emmet asked looking at me. You could see the rage rolling off him too.

"If this is what Bella wants… and it's her right. We will pretend like she is dead. If you are mad go out and destroy something. It will make it seem like you are grieving." Jasper said and Carlisle nodded in agreement.

"Then when my change is done… we will hunt her and Jake. Neither one will know we are coming. Until it's to late." I finished sneering. Rage, pain, and betrayal from Jake coursing though my body. "They wanted to play games… I will give them what they asked for."

I felt Rose squeeze my ankle and I looked down at her. She was smirking, proudly. "You definitely are my sister."

I smiled back and closed my eyes.

"Love would.. are you comfortable enough? We should probably take you back upstairs and close the blinds. If we are going to make it look like you are dead it wouldn't be unreasonable for me to keep you close to me for a while before we tried to bury you."

I nodded my head in agreement. I felt exhausted and even though I didn't know if I could actually sleep, the thought of laying in Edward's arms was sounding soothing and relaxing.

"Yes Bella you should relax as much as you can. I don't know if it is a blessing or a curse you are able to stay conscious through all this, but either way we will do what we can to make you comfortable until the pain leaves." Carlisle said joining the rest of us at the couch.

I felt Edward pick me up and cradle me to his body as he carried me up the stairs. He laid me on the bed and crawled in beside me, wrapping his arms around me, and holding me tightly.

"Try and relax love. I won't leave you again." He whispered in my ear as I willed the pain away. The coolness of his skin helped ease the burning just enough I was able to drifted into unconsciousness.