A/N: I know bad author for leaving you hanging on the edge like that, but hopefully this chapter will more than make up for it. I don't think this story has many more chapters left to it… so we will be starting to wrap things up soon. Dedicated to my friend Bethany… Sometimes things happen, but you can fight through it. Enjoy the new chapter!

Chapter 29 – Battle for Bella

Making their presence known, the Cullen's surrounded the four vampires huddled in the middle of the meadow. Jasper narrowed his eyes on the traitor, "I knew you were the one behind this. You can't fool an empath as much as you would like to believe you can. It's over!"

A hallow eerie laugh echoed throughout the area causing birds to fly away and anything in the area to scatter. Edward looked mad, crazy if you will, and the laugh was a dark glimpse into his psyche. "Over? No, I don't think it is over. It has just begun Jasper," he sneered. His gaze roamed until it settled on Emmett, "Bella will be mine and you will lose in the end. I am not sure what you did to her to take her from me, but you will not keep her. You see my friends here agree with me and they will do whatever it takes to get Bella for me. If you have to die in the process, so be it."

"Edward, this isn't you. Please think about what you are saying," Carlisle begged trying to reason with his first son, but he could see that it was not working.

Chuckling, James glared at all of them, "Do you even know who this man is or what he has done?"

"James!" Edward yelled a warning for the other man to stay quiet.

James tilted his head to the side and glared, "You dare…? Remember who you are dealing with here Edward. You don't control me, and I only do what I want to."

"We had a deal," Edward reminded him.

"A deal? If I remember correctly, I am the one that said we could come up here and help you because you were pissing and moaning about some bitch that left you for someone else," James laughed.

Stepping forward, Jasper walked closer to the four vampires. He noticed one of them looked edgy and nervous, like a scared animal that was about to bolt. The female appeared to be on the verge of laughter. There was a level cruelness in her eyes that reminded him of Maria, and he could feel the hate and manipulation coming off of her in droves. The third stranger had hate, anger, irritation, and coercion. It appeared that the three strangers were there to do something to Edward and Bella was the bait, but what was it? "And who might you three be?" He had to stall them to look for weaknesses and to feel out his opponent. Jasper was not going to lose a fight.

James turned his head and studied the man that spoke with a southern accent, "Us, well we are his friends." Throwing an arm around Edward, he continued, "Isn't that right Edward? I am James, this is my mate Victoria, and that man is Laurent. Who are you?" Although he already could figure out who it was; he was the man that was probably the most dangerous and the one they had to watch out for.

"I am Jasper Whitlock, Major Jasper Whitlock," Jasper answered with a smirk on his lips. He noticed the three strangers looking at his scars and the way their eyes widened slightly at the announcement of his name. He could also fear that small bit of fear that creeped into their emotions; it appeared his reputation preceded him yet again, "Now let me explain something. You will not touch Bella. We will do anything and everything we can to make sure you don't."

James started to laugh and then stopped abruptly, "Oh, I think we will do everything we can to make Edward here realize he belongs with us. That includes slicing that bitch and making him drink her dry. You see, he was with us before and he will be with us again."

Edward was confused. These people were supposed to be his friends. They were only supposed to be getting Bella back for him, not hurt her. He didn't want to hurt her, he wanted her to realize that she loved him and they belonged together. He was the one that was supposed to be in charge, "Bella is not supposed to be hurt. When I called and you agreed…"

Smirking, James looked, for lack of a better word… amused, "I agreed? I said we would get her back for you. I never said what kind of condition she would be in." Wrapping his hand around Edward's throat, he started to squeeze, "It is time for you to realize what your place is and where you belong. Animals? Really? You are such a disappointment Edward. You think because you can read minds you can control a situation, but you can't. You are not now, nor have you ever been in charge of one damn thing in your life. When you decided to rebel against 'daddy' and left, who helped you? We did. Of course we were living the highlife then when you would get us bank combinations and everything else. We would all go in and kill everyone left in the bank, take the money and leave. How we have missed that. It is time to come back home."

"Edward?" Esme and Carlisle were flabbergasted. Edward did that? Their son killed people and was nothing more than a gangster when he ran away from home. The lies were all coming to light and it was only the murderers, rapists, drug addicts… the 'bad' people that he had drank. He wasn't the man that they thought he was.

"Oh is that a shock. Too bad. Has he told you that when Jasper had a slip up, he thought it was a good time for him to slip up too? Trust me, when he came back, he didn't drink his last human. Didn't you Eddie?" James mocked.

Jasper leered, but he did not say anything or act. He did not want to make his move too soon, but it did answer the questions on why Edward felt so guilty and was so harsh when they had to cover up things and move. His "brother" wasn't upset about what he did; Edward was upset about what he did himself.

The grip on his throat wasn't completely closing off his wind pipe and he was still able to talk. "I made mistakes, but I think the biggest one was you," he growled and reached up to grabbed James's throat. His death warrant may be signed, but he would take the other man with him. Cracks appeared around his captor's neck and he continued to try to squeeze, but the grip around his neck was also increasing and he knew he was cracking too.

Pandemonium broke out as soon as Edward grasped James and the fight had begun. Laurent, deciding that it was not worth it to fight the Cullen's tried to leave the meadow and run the other way. He had heard stories about the major and he did not want to find out what was true or false on his own. The stories were enough to terrify him.

Victoria rushed towards Jasper, but before she got to him, she jumped up into the trees. She knew of his gift and didn't want to be caught in the trap, but she was. Jumping down from above; her plan was to land on top of him and then rip his head off. Moving through the branches, she could see him looking for her, but she was too fast and she was able to get behind him before he could find her. She jumped, but before she could land on her prey, she was covering her ears and screaming as a fear she has never felt before gripped her, paralyzing her.

From his vantage, James saw Victoria fall and watched as Jasper moved towards his mate. He didn't think beyond that. Ripping Edward's head off of him, he dropped the two pieces and rushed towards his love intent on killing the major, but he didn't make it. He was grabbed from behind in a pair of powerful arms and could not break freak. Screaming for Victoria as he watched Jasper dismember her, he struggled to get to her with only one thought on his mind, "The Cullen coven would pay for this!"

"Now it's your turn!" Emmett moved one of the arms that were around James and holding him to the man's chin and then he twisted the body one way and the head the other successfully beheading the nomad that had threatened his mate. He carried the two pieces to the fire that Jasper had started to burn Victoria and threw his body on top of hers, "They can burn in hell together since they were mates."

It was a solemn moment as Carlisle and Esme approached the fire and threw their son on top of the flames. Living was not an option for Edward and they knew it, however, it was hard to burn someone they considered their own child. Carlisle wanted to know where he had gone wrong. Was this his fault? Could he have done something differently? Edward wasn't the man he thought he was and that was a harsh reality to face.

Placing his hand upon Carlisle's shoulder, Jasper told him softly, "This was not your fault. He was who he was because of his own choices."

"You were good to him, you both were, and he did this to himself," Emmett added.

Alice walked up to the heads of the family and wrapped them both up in a hug, "He had problems that he couldn't get past and he told me once that the voices made him a little crazy. I thought he was just talking, but I think they really did drive him mad. You couldn't have changed this outcome. I saw him burning a long time ago. I just didn't know when it would happen. I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault Alice. Maybe now he can have a measure of peace in death he didn't have in life," Carlisle whispered, his voice choked with emotion.

Their mourning had to be put on hold momentarily when they heard and smelled someone coming. It was two people and based on the scent, it was the nomad who had run away and… Rosalie. As the two vampires broke through the tree cover and into the inner sanctum of the meadow, everyone could see Rose was dragging someone behind her and had a leg in her hand… Laurent was not able to walk at the moment. However, all five of the Cullen's were on guard not only because of the nomad, but because of Rosalie. They knew she didn't like Bella or the fact that Emmett was Bella's mate. They would not let her use this as a way to enact her revenge.

"What are you doing here?" Emmett yelled. He didn't trust his ex and he wanted her gone and out of his life, but she was technically still part of the family.

Studying Rose, Jasper started to smirk and let his guard down slightly. Regret, hurt, remorse, and fear were the emotions that she was projecting; plus from the looks of it, she took down Laurent on her own. "Come to join the fight? You are a little late."

Rosalie knew that she wasn't exactly a welcome individual at the moment, but she knew something had been going on and when she snooped through Edward's things, she found his journal entry about getting people to come in and take Bella back. She saw the way her coven advanced on the meadow and hung back so that they wouldn't know she was there, and if they needed her, she would come in and help them. They hadn't, but one of the strangers ran away, and she felt it was her duty to retrieve him, "You lost one and I thought you might want him back." It had not been an easy fight, but as soon as Laurent had been distracted, she sacked him like a football player and had his leg off of him. Now he couldn't walk.

"Thank you Rose," Carlisle spoke softly. He had lost one of his family members today and he would rather not lose another one, but he still wasn't sure what her game was.

"What are you doing here?" Emmett bellowed again.

"Calm down Em. She helped us today," Jasper stated. He took a step forward and probed, "So, you want to tell me what your doin' here?"

"I…" Rose started and then paused. Clearing her throat and hoping her voice sounded stronger, she continued, "I found out that Edward was up to something and I…" She looked at Emmett and then the rest of her family before gazing at Jasper again, "I wanted to help."

"Why? You have made it abundantly clear how you feel about Bella and me!" Emmett mocked.

"I may hate her and I may not like the fact you left me for her, but no one deserves what he was planning. No one deserves to die for that, or to be kidnapped and worse," Rose argued.

Furrowing his brow, Jasper asked, "Worse? What do you mean?"

She threw the journal that she brought with her at her "twin", "It's all in there." Dragging Laurent in front of her, she probed, "Now what do you want to do with him? I think running away says he didn't want to help the others, but he was still here." Looking down at the man in front of her, she glanced up again, "I just don't think he should die."

Alice stared at the two vampires that were still situated across the field, "He isn't meant to die for this crime."

Chuckling, Jasper was holding the journal wondering if he should read it now or later and smiled, "It looks like he got a reprieve, but we aren't done with him yet."