Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, any of the characters in Twilight, or anything related to the books and/or movies. If I did, I would be way too busy- doing dirty things with the Cullen boys- to sit down at my laptop and write this story. The scenes that I did borrow from Stephenie Meyer have been revamped to fit my story.

Learning to Live Again

Chapter Thirty-Five: Building Up

I knew who the high-pitched voice belonged to without turning around, and I instantly had chills go up my spine. Before I knew what was happening, Edward had shoved me behind him and was crouching in a defensive stance looking at Victoria.

"Still playing the damsel in distress for your lovesick vampire, I see. Don't worry. I'll be ending this play soon. It's time for some payback, you stupid human bitch." Her voice started out calm but by the time she'd finished it was a loud shrill.

I don't know which had me in shock more, her coming here in broad daylight, her threatening words, or the fact that we were completely oblivious to her plan of attack today. With a psychic as a best friend, you got used to knowing what was going to happen every day. That was fine with me, because I hated surprises. I couldn't move; I couldn't even form a coherent thought. Before I could take in my surroundings long enough to scream, there was a blur of bodies in front of me and the loud crashing of two hard bodies.

I took a step back to lean against my front door and slid down it until I was sitting with my legs curled up against my chest. The vampires in front of me were moving too quickly for my eyes to recognize what was going on. It appeared as if Edward had the upper hand against Victoria; however, I couldn't be sure. I couldn't even tell who the growling was coming from.

I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and turned my head, scared to see what it was. Relief washed through me for a second as I saw Emmett and Jasper running back from the woods with a stranger in tow. He didn't appear to be uncooperative, but it was obvious that he wasn't pleased with the current situation. That makes two of us, buddy.

Emmett ran straight past me to help Edward. Jasper was at my side in an instant while the other vampire stayed a few feet away. I clutched onto Jasper as he picked me up and started running towards his house. I glanced behind us to see that other vampire looking on as Emmett and Edward teamed up against Victoria. His face masked horror and sadness for a brief second before his eyes locked with mine. They were a deep red that caused a chill to run through my body. He started running behind Jasper and I. Jasper must have senses my confusion because he started offered a brief explanation to me.

"His name is Cameron, and he was helping Victoria until recently," he said bluntly.

"He looks familiar, Jazz," I whispered. I don't know why I bothered whispering anymore with all the supernatural beings that were surrounding me. It was impossible to have a secret.

"We saw him at the mall. Victoria had him following you right under my nose. I don't know how I didn't notice," Jasper self-chastised himself. I squeezed myself tighter against him a dropped a soft kiss on his neck to reassure him of himself. "He got into a fight with Victoria and decided to leave her. He didn't understand her hatred for our family and thought it was pointless to put all of the newborns in danger with the upcoming fight. She came to your house to stop him from warning us, but she got distracted when you were there as well."

"Serves her right for messing with our lives and calling me names," I mumbled against his chest. I felt his chuckle in response. "Is he the same vampire that Edward fought with?"

"No. There are a few others that are staying close to town, watching us. She has the majority of them in the bigger surrounding cities, though. They're recruiting others and causing mayhem as you well know," Jasper explained. He slowed his run when we reached the field in front of his home but didn't put me down. Cameron's run came to an abrupt stop next to Jasper.

As we started walking up to the house, Cameron kept taking sideways glances at me. "What are you looking at?" I didn't know how thirsty he was, but if he was a newborn vampire I wasn't comfortable being this close to him. Even Jasper had slip-ups from time to time.

"I don't get it. Why all the trouble for a simple, human girl?" Well, it was safe to say that I would not be making friends with Cameron because he was a dick. Jasper let out a snarl from his chest, informing our new ally that he was not to speak about me with such disregard.

"You used to be human, so I wouldn't try to sound all superior if I were you. Why all the trouble for a stupid vampire who was using you?" I retorted. Newborn or not, I had enough to be frustrated over this week and I had to take it out on someone.

"She changed me, so I felt I owed it to her. I thought I loved her, but she was just manipulating me," he explained.

"Bella changed me, too," Jasper said simply. We walked into the house and found Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Alice all waiting for us in the foyer. Carlisle and Esme looked on with curiosity while Rosalie took a fighting stance at Cameron's presence. Alice ran to Jasper and I, taking me from his arms and wrapping her own around me.

"It's alright, Rosalie," she said. "Cameron is going to help us." She pulled back and looked into my eyes. "I'm so sorry that I didn't see any of this, Bella. Having the werewolves agree to help us has really blurred my visions lately."

"It's okay, Alice. I just don't want anyone to get hurt." My lip trembled and I was passed from Alice to Esme for comfort.

"Where's Emmett?" Rosalie asked with a callous tone to her voice. Great, now she was going to go back to hating me. Especially if I got her mate killed.

"He and Edward are fighting off Victoria. I had to get Bella away from her before she got too close," Jasper explained rationally.

"You just left your brothers there?" Esme asked in shock.

"Don't worry; they'll be walking through the door in sixteen seconds," Alice said as she looked Cameron up and down. "They're both fine, Esme."

"Thank God," I whispered as Jasper took over for Esme. He wrapped his arm low around my waist and pulled me against his chest. I was shaking, my legs trembling. I clutched onto Jasper so I wouldn't sink to the ground.

No one said anything as we waited for the last two members of our family to join us. When they walked through the front door, I let out a loud breath that I didn't realize I was holding. Jasper's grip tightened around my waist instinctively.

"Did you kill her?" Cameron asked with an edge of sadness on his voice.

"Not yet," Emmett said, obviously frustrated by this fact. "We'll get her next time, but the bitch had a couple friends with her. Edward thought it was best to return home just in case they decided to strike here as well." While he was talking, he made his way over to Rosalie and slid up against her. I could see her eyes relax as he did this.

Edward couldn't speak because he was being attacked by Esme and Alice. They were both hugging him and kissing his cheeks, making sure that he was okay. In all honesty, I would have been doing the same if my boyfriend weren't supporting me right now.

Alice suddenly pulled away from our brother and looked toward Cameron. "What are their plans? I've been trying to see them more clearly, but I'm not having any luck."

Cameron didn't say anything for a moment. I stood next to Jasper and just stared at the boy. I was guessing that he was a couple years older than me, but he looked more mature. I didn't understand how he was able to be near me without trying to take a bite, though. I thought that newborn vampires were uncontrollable their first few years.

"I don't know all the details. She's been changing her mind a lot lately," he explained. "She and I have grown apart these last few months."

"How long have you been with her?" I asked.

"She turned me almost a year ago. She was trying to replace her lost lover, but it appears as though I was a disappointment to her." I could hear the hurt and resentment in his voice.

"You're not missing out on much, man. That chick is crazy s hell," Emmett said.

"Emmett, be quiet," Esme whispered to him. Esme hated to see anyone hurting, even if they were on the other team.

"Well, tell us what you know of her plan. We have to be somewhat prepared," Jasper said. He looked over at Edward with a raised eyebrow.

"They were going to wait, but once she found out that Cameron was gone she decided to chase him. She wanted to find him before he could tell us everything he knew. They don't have any definite plans; she's just waiting until she thinks the time is right. Shockingly, Victoria was not the strong thinking partner in the vampire trio that we met up with last year. James was the muscle, Laurent was the brains, but Victoria didn't really bring much to the table," Edward explained to us all.

Cameron stood up straighter, looking at Edward with a furious scowl on his face. "You can read my mind?! Stop it, get out!"

"Yeah, tell me about it," Emmett grumbled. "It gets annoying."

Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper all chuckled despite our current situation as Edward smiled innocently.

"Hey, we have to use whatever weapons are at our disposal, Cameron. There is a psycho vampire chasing me to get revenge because we killed her crazy-as-hell, deranged boyfriend," I said loudly. I had a hysteric edge to my voice and was shaking again.

"Yeah, well, I don't know if I can let you use me," Cameron admitted. He was looking at into my eyes now, his dark red ones seeming less intimidating than before.

"We don't want to use you, Cameron. I know that it feels like you're betraying her, but how can you be so certain that she wouldn't have done the same to you?" I asked him. I moved from Jasper's arms to walk toward the taller boy. When I was standing in front of him, I noticed that his posture changed. He was standing more upright, having been closer to my scent.

"Bella…" Jasper warned from behind me. I felt him come closer to my side but I waved my hand behind me to hold him back.

"You know that she was going to use you. That's why you're so torn right now. You want to hurt her, to foil her plan, but you're still in love with her." I wasn't purposely taunting Cameron. I couldn't control myself. I was walking toward him, closer than I should have been to the newborn.

"You don't know anything about me, human," Cameron snarled at me, looking down at the floor now.

"I know that you want to hurt her but at the same time you want to make her proud," I answered. I took another step until I was less than a foot away from him. "You didn't come here to help us, did you? You came here to kill me, to prove yourself to her." I didn't say anything for a second. I heard the gasps of my family around me, felt the guys come closer to me, ready to yank me away from Cameron.

They weren't fast enough for the newborn. He grabbed me in his arms before any of them could reach me.