Jasper Whitlock

Bella and I headed downstairs and everyone else came back inside. It was time to make a plan.

I busied myself getting Bella and Angela food as Bella sat on the couch with Angela. I took note of Angela's emotions, she was feeling a little bit of pain, dull, a headache probably. I got her some pain pills.

"How is she?" Garrett asked. "Mentally."

"She's doing okay," I answered. "A little sad, but she's okay."

"Sad?" Garrett said to himself. "Why is she sad?"

I gave Bella and Angela their food and drinks and then went back to the kitchen.

"What are we going to do?" I asked lowly, wondering if we should keep this quiet or include the girls. They needed to know, but the way we planned took a long time and until we settled on a plan, I didn't see the point.

"Simple," Peter said, "we go to Forks, we camp out, and we wait for them to return. If they grabbed both girls from there then they'll come back and that way we can keep an eye on the girls' families."

It was a solid start.

"I can feel them," Garrett said, "I say we go in and hunt them down."

Also a good plan.

"Charlotte?" I asked.

"We need to be taking the humans into consideration more," she said. "They can't fight, we'll have to protect them, they are a liability."

Also true.

"What's your plan?" Peter asked.

I looked over at Bella, she was fragile, but I couldn't leave her out of this. Going after the Cullens would give us the upper hand, but so would going to Forks. One would be the waiting game, one wouldn't. We could bring the fight to us.

"We could bring the fight to us, reveal our hand," I said, "let the Cullens know that Bella is alive."

"We don't know what that will cause," Peter said, "it's too much unknown."

"Yes, but it puts them on the offense," I said, "you never attack first, it's the only rule that keeps you alive. If they chase us then we can react accordingly. Garrett?"

"It could work."

"This is what we need to do," I said, going upstairs to find what I was after in the attic. I came back downstairs with it.

"Fuck off," Peter said, "this is not a game."

"No, it isn't," I said, "but you need to watch this."

I walked over to the girls on the couch and set the chess board on the coffee table. Bella sat up, excitement coursing through her.

"Is it time for Chess?" she asked.

"Yes, we have our army."

I knelt down and pulled the pieces out. For the Cullens I pulled out the King and Queen to represent Alice and Edward, and a Bishop and a Rook to represent Emmett and Rosalie, different, yet complimentary. For our side, the same pieces and two Pawns for Angela and Bella.

"Do you know how to play?" I asked her.

"Yes."

"Angela?"

"No."

"This is stupid," Charlotte said lowly, "a complete waste of our time."

"No, it's not," I replied. "Bella has a knack for this, you'll see, and she's a fast learner." I spoke louder for Bella and Angela to hear. "Bella, play against Angela to completion and then switch sides. Tell her what the pieces do, but don't give her any game moves. When you're done we will each have a turn against you."

"Why only me?" Bella asked.

"Because each of us will play differently and I want to see how you adapt and react to everything that gets thrown your way. Angela, you will watch and learn."

They got started and I stepped away.

"I still say this is a waste of time," Charlotte said, "you learn by doing, and what is this doing? I am not fighting alongside humans."

"This is their fight, not ours," I said, "they will be there. Do you agree, Garrett?"

"Yes." Garrett seemed distracted and dismissive. He was staring at Angela.

It was good that he agreed.

"Just watch her," I said, "we played a similar strategic game and she ended up beating me fair and square. Just watch."

And that's what we did. Bella beat Angela easily, but that was to be expected. Charlotte was next and she swiftly knocked Bella's confidence down a few pegs. Bella sat there after, thinking hard, probably trying to see where she went wrong, how she could improve. Garrett was next, he played with her, he sucked her in, made her think she was going to win and then he took her down. Bella sat and thought again.

Next was Peter, this would be a good show. Peter's technique was two-fold and I knew Bella wouldn't be expecting it.

"What's this piece?" Peter asked, holding it close to his face to examine it.

"That's the queen," Bella said, "it can move anywhere."

Bella didn't realize, not yet.

"And this one?" Peter asked, repeating the process until Bella had explained all of the pieces to him.

She was feeling frustrated, but she still hadn't worked out Peter's game.

They started playing and every fourth or so move, Peter cheated. Bella was so focused on her game, she only caught a few of them and Peter was good at lying. He claimed it was a simple mistake and she believed him.

"I wonder who invented this game," Peter said, "I bet they tasted good. Did you know that smart people taste better, Bella? I had this kid genius once and because he was a kid he tasted sweeter too. Mmm-hmm, I can still taste his blood."

Bella was not ready for this plan of attack. Peter playing dirty, Peter distracting her. No one else talked to her during the game, it had been fiercely silent, the perfect opportunity to focus, but that wasn't real life. In real life, people cheat and they never keep their mouth shut.

It didn't take much longer for Bella to snap.

"I swear to fucking god, shut the fuck up, Peter."

And he did. Now, he moved onto a new plan, indecisiveness. He would hover over a piece, move it into position, only to put it back. So many times. Bella was already at the end of her rope and this put her over the edge.

"Fuck this," she grabbed the board and threw it across the room, "I'm done."

Peter smirked and stood up. "I win by default," he said and Bella growled.

"Oh, yeah," Charlotte said to me, "this really showed us how much of an asset Bella is. Smart move, Jasper."

Bella stormed out, going to the tree line to cool off.

"You'll see," I said.

Angela got up and started picking up the chess board and pieces, it was curious behavior. Garrett helped her. Angela was too nice, too nice for this life, too nice for this fight. Shit. Charlotte was right. Focus, I needed to focus. We needed to finish playing this out.

I waited for Bella's emotions to settle down before I went after her. Angela had been playing chess against Garrett in the meantime, but he was going too easy on her. It didn't matter.

Bella was sitting at the base of a tree.

"You still need to play me," I told her.

"What's the point?" Bella asked. "Chess is too complex, I'm never going to beat anyone but Angela, and if I can't beat them in the safety of your house, hiding behind a board game, then I'm never going to be able to beat the Cullens."

"That is true," I said, "you alone won't, but we're an army now, each with our own strengths and weaknesses, I'm sure you noticed the differences in their gameplay. Charlotte was no nonsense, Garrett gave you hope, and Peter-"

"Peter was batshit crazy," Bella cut me off, "like always."

"Yes," I laughed, "but look at what he made you do. He frustrated you to the point of giving up."

"And what's your game plan?" Bella asked.

"Come back inside and I will show you."

I held my hand out for her and she took it.

"I won't win against you, will I?" she asked me.

"No, but you learn more from defeat anyway."

We had to wait for Angela and Garrett to finish their game first and I could see Bella watching intently, figuring out her next game plan. When it was our turn, I asked her a defining question.

"Which side do you want to be first?" I asked. "Ours or the Cullens."

Bella took her time to answer.

"The Cullens," she said and I had to hide my smile.

It was a smart move to make me play as us first. If she was wise, she would watch what I did, how I did it, and when we switched sides for the next game, she might actually win.

We started and Bella took her time, her moves were calculated and she wasn't just focused on her side, but mine too. I won, fairly easily, but I knew that would change. Everyone was watching the showdown and Charlotte still wasn't convinced, but this would show her. I hoped.

Bella was now us and I was the Cullens. Early on, Bella sacrificed one of her Pawns and then she sacrificed her Rook. What was she doing? She took some of my pieces too, so we were still evenly matched. We battled it out for a while before Bella sacrificed her King and then not long later she sacrificed her Bishop. She was down to her Queen and her pawn. This would be easy. I disregarded the Pawn and went after her Queen, but Bella managed to stay two steps ahead of me.

I was focused on the wrong thing.

"King me," Bella said and I realized too late that her Pawn, the one I had dismissed, had reached my end of the board.

"Do I even need to ask what you want your Pawn to become?"

"No," Bella said, "but now I have two Queens."

Yes, she did. Of course I would dismiss the Pawn, it was essentially our humans and now that Pawn was a Queen, the most valuable piece. It didn't take long for Bella to sacrifice one of her Queens to take down mine and then she hunted down my last two pieces. She won.

"That proves nothing," Charlotte said, "there's no way our humans will become Queens and what was with all the sacrificing? Who are you going to sacrifice, Bella? Which one of us do you hate the most?"

"If I was to sacrifice anyone," Bella said, "it would be myself. I am the one the Cullens want, they think I'm dead, so if I suddenly reappeared, they would take me back, I'm sure of it. They will want to finish the job."

"We're not sacrificing anyone," I said.

"Then her win is pointless," Charlotte said.

"No, it's not," Garrett said, "she showed us exactly what we need to do to win. We need to make our Pawns into Queens. I want to change Angela into a vampire," he said, "the sooner, the better."

That wouldn't work. Newborns were unpredictable, they took time to train. We didn't have time.

"I don't want that," Angela said.

Good, crisis averted.

"I do," Bella said strongly, holding both the Pawn and Queen in her hands.

No, I wouldn't change her.

"Ooh," Peter said, "look at this. Drama on the battlefront. One vampire agrees, one human as well, too bad they aren't the mated ones. Such a delectable dilemma. Tune in next time to see how this all plays out."

"Shut up, Peter," Bella and I said at the same time.