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Okay folks. There are two more chapters and then an epilogue...

Edward

I watched Bella step into the Bay. She walked in 'til she was knee deep and then dove in. Her body made minimal splash and she was out of sight for only seconds before she resurfaced about 100 feet out. Her back was to me but she quickly turned around and smiled at me.

"Get in here!" her thoughts called out to me.

I smiled and went to join her. The water felt good against my skin. It was so smooth and reminded me of the texture of Bella's skin. I swam out to her and emerged right in front of her face. She buried her face into my skin and hugged my body.

"What if he wants to take you away from us?" I asked.

It was the thing I was most afraid of. It was what I was almost sure Lucas wanted. His thoughts had reflected an actual longing for Bella. He missed her, that was clear enough even if I couldn't read minds I would have noticed that. Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper all knew it too.

"I'll never abandon you, Edward. I'd always find my way back to you. Even if it meant being away from you for years. You'll be the last person I see," she told me.

The thought of being away from Bella for any amount of time made my body ache and my chest tighten. I ran my fingers through her wet her and sighed heavily.

"I hate him, Bella."

"I know you do," she said rubbing soothing circles on my back. "He'll be gone as fast as vampirely possible."

I smiled and shook my head. We remained quiet a few moments enjoying each other's presence, the water, and the relative silence. My mind shifted over the day's events. Things had changed so quickly. Bella and I had been so happy this morning. Everything had been perfect and in order. Then only hours later everything was fucked up and unstable.

It was an odd feeling because, while I believe Bella's every word, I was still scared. I felt like she would be gone from me at any second. I knew that Bella really was my mate and our bond was unbreakable but I could see the changes in her already. Lucas was dragging her back down dark roads. I could see it in her eyes. I could hear it in her voice. I noticed it in the way she moved. I feared that when this was all said and done, Bella and I would be starting all over. I'd be picking up the pieces of her that Lucas would shatter her into. I feared that he'd break her again and that this time the damage would be too much.

Bella pulled away from me and swam a short ways away before turning on her back and launching into a slow back stroke.

"Do you believe Lucas?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"The things he said I'd done."

I knew she was talking about when Lucas had told me about her castrating him, killing people that had hurt her, killing humans in the Civil War and the thing about the eye lids. If I hadn't seen Lucas's thoughts my answer would have been no. But I had seen Lucas's thoughts.

"Yes."

"So what do you think?" she asked. The tone of her voice became deceptively nonchalant. She was hiding her feelings from me and it made me leery of how I should answer of if I should at all.

"I don't know," I replied semi-honestly.

"Do you think I'm a monster, now?"

"No," I said swimming over to her. I wanted to see her face. She was floating on her back in the water refusing to meet my eyes. I could see hers though and they were devoid of any emotion, detached and vacant.

"I killed my dad. When I realized how powerful I was, I went back to his house and drained him and some of the slaves he owned. The others fled and when I was finished, Lucas and I burned the house down. I didn't stop there either. I destroyed my mother's gravestone with my bare hands. I was angry at her for dying. I was jealous because my dad loved her so much that all he had left was hate for me. Do you think I'm a monster, now?"

"Do you want me to?" I asked because that was what it seemed like. I didn't understand what was happening. She'd been perfectly happy seconds ago and now she was…not.

"Yes."

"Bella can we please not do this. You're not a…," I began but she cut me off.

"You told Lucas that what I did to Laurent was the most disturbing thing that you've ever seen. He didn't make me do those things though. I did that because I'd imagined doing it ever since he came to your house. If you thought Lucas was a monster for making me do it how can you not think I'm a monster if I did it on my own?"

"That's not who you are anymore."

"You do know that whole thing with Laurent just happened today, right?"

I rolled my eyes but only because I really had no response to that. I looked off into the distance and saw that storm clouds were approaching. I suddenly wanted to be back home in my bed with Bella. I knew that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon.

"I'm not angry with you, Edward," she said moving gracefully out of her floating position. "I get what you're saying about me not being that person anymore. I'm better and a new part of me has developed. A part that wants to be better. A part that can compartmentalize and behave appropriately," she said with renewed intensity in her eyes. "What I need you to understand is that I am still that girl sometimes. It's a part of me. You don't have to like it but you need to recognize its existence. I'm not perfect. No where near it. The world has been hard on me and I've become a product of my environment. I'm telling you this because with Lucas around my worst qualities are going to come to the forefront. I don't want you to be surprised like you were today," she told me.

I hugged Bella to my chest and buried my face in her wet hair. I accepted her words because I knew that she was right. Bella was not the ideal person I'd created her in my mind to be. She had faults, many, many faults and I had to stop pretending like she didn't. Just because I could recognize the fact that Bella was not a saint didn't mean I loved her any less. It probably meant that I loved her more. I saw her good and I saw her bad. I loved her just the same though. I loved her utterly and entirely. I could take her flaws and love them too.

"You're right," I verbally conceded. "But there is a difference between you and Lucas. You changed and he didn't. You have a strong desire to be better than what you were before, to move forward and strive for redemption. Lucas doesn't. He is perfectly happy to be damned and consciously damns himself further with everything he does. He has no desire to find his soul," I told her.

She nodded her head in agreement. "You're right too but Lucas is a vampire like you and I. He was a ruthless fighter as a human and becoming a vampire solidified him both physically and mentally. It's near impossible for him to have a sudden epiphany to change just like it would be for us. I found you and therein a reason, a burning need to change for you, to be a woman that deserved to be with you. Just like I came and changed you. The only way for Lucas to change is for him to find a mate and hopefully she'll do for him what you did for me," she replied.

It was odd that my jealousy would flare up at that moment but it did. Bella was always prepared to defend Lucas, always in his corner, and always at his side. It bothered me but at that moment I decided not to speak another word against Lucas to her. It was the only way to keep myself from getting unintentionally hurt by her words.

Too soon, Bella and I were back at the house. We hadn't touched the whole run back to keep our scents off each other's bodies. I was for it though because I needed the space to steel myself in preparation of reigning myself in around her. Bella walked in the house first and went to sit next to Rosalie on the couch.

"Lucas left to go hunt," she said. "And Carlisle explained that we are to follow your lead concerning him?"

Bella nodded. "We can't let him know that Edward and I are mates or together in anyway. We can't let him know that I know he isn't my mate."

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Rose asked.

"Yes."

"Okay."

Rosalie relaxed on the couch, accepting Bella's words easier than I'd thought she would. She draped her arm over Bella's shoulders and tucked Bella into her side. Rose's thoughts were completely confident in Bella. She was even a bit at ease with the whole situation. I wondered why the hell couldn't I be that easily persuaded.

Bella

Lucas came back about two hours after Edward and I got back. He walked in the door with his red eyes brighter. They hadn't been black earlier today but he'd always said fighting made him hungry.

"Tomorrow I want you to take me out so I can try the animals," he said plopping down on the couch next to me. "Will you?"

I shrugged noncommittally and he pinched my side in response. I yelped in surprise. That was my ticklish spot and he knew it! I glared at him and swatted his hand away.

"Stop being mean to me," he said.

"I already told you I'd take you earlier!" I responded. "Stop being so whiny."

"Me? You've been pouting all day. It's cute, don't get me wrong, but you are definitely the whiny one between us," he remarked with a smile. He draped his arm over my shoulders and pulled me into his side. He buried his face in my hair before murmuring, "I really have missed you, you know."

"Yea, I know," I nodded.

Our voices were low but I knew that everyone who was at least in the room could hear us. I didn't risk looking over at Edward but I could feel his rage and frustration. My stomach churned. His displeasure with the situation made me sick but I was sure that he understood that this was all necessary. I hoped he'd gotten out all his frustrations during our little tryst by the bay. It was the roughest Edward had ever been during sex. I knew that with Lucas back and finding out that we were mates he felt the need to claim me in a physical way. I submitted to him and his needs and found myself on the receiving end of three of the most powerful orgasms. It seemed that he needed a little more soothing though so I closed his ability to any other mind but mine.

"He'll be gone soon. I promise. I love you so much," I thought at him. I couldn't risk looking at him but I knew that he was feeling better because he went over to the piano and began playing the song he'd composed for me. I couldn't stop the smile that settled over my features.

"Where were you before you decided to come looking for me," I asked Lucas as Alice painted my fingernails a pretty silvery blue color.

"I went home for a while," he answered.

"Where's that?" Jasper asked. I wasn't surprised that he was finding it the easiest to be in Lucas's presence. Everyone else was struggling, fluctuating between ignoring him and strained politeness. Jasper was always cool under pressure though. None of the Cullens let me be alone with him though. I wasn't quite sure what they thought chaperoning was going to do but there was always at least one Cullen in the room with Lucas and me. I'd promised to take him hunting today too and not so subtlety hinted that we would be going alone. In response they upped our supervision before our trip. Alice, Jasper, and Emmett were all in the room with us.

"Scandinavia," Lucas answered.

"What part?"

"Norway."

"Bella told us that as a human you were a Viking warrior," Emmett said. "Did you really wear those gold helmets with the horns sticking out?"

Lucas laughed and shook his head. "No, we didn't. Not during battles anyway. Some people wore them but only during very important ceremonies."

"He has one though. It's not gold. It's made of bronze with bull horns that he retrieved himself. It's hidden; buried under a tree in Norway," I told them with an impish smile. Lucas was very proud of that damned helmet but didn't like to publicize that fact. He narrowed his eyes at me and pinched my side again. I giggled and swatted him away making Alice squeal and slap my wrist.

"You'll mess up your nails!" she chided.

"Sorry."

"Are you really going to become a vegetarian?" Jasper asked.

"I don't know. Maybe," Lucas shrugged. "Right now it's just something I've never done. When you've lived as long as me you'll be jumping at any opportunity to try anything new no matter how disturbing it seems," he replied.

"It's not disturbing," I said rolling my eyes.

"What did you think when you first heard about it?" he asked.

"Shut up," I grumbled as I indeed recalled deeming my family the Crazy Cullens when I'd heard about their diet.

"Yeah, uh huh," he replied with a knowing smirk.

After my nails had dried and Alice was pleased with my outfit, Lucas and I prepared to leave. I made sure to walk past Carlisle's office where Edward was.

"I'll be back soon," I thought. "I love you."

He winked at me in response and I went down to the porch where Lucas was waiting for me. We set out into the woods at a run. I didn't plan on taking him far. I took Lucas up to where the bears were. I didn't want him feeding on any mountain lion. Allowing him to do so felt like it would be some sort of betrayal against Edward.

"So on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being they think of me as the shit flies won't even go near, how much do the Cullens hate me?" Lucas asked.

I burst out laughing at his completely unexpected question, "I'd say somewhere between 15 and 20."

"I figured as much," he sighed. "So tell me about them. What are their gifts?"

I gave him a quick run down of the Cullens' gifts. I lied about Alice though. Lucas would be salivating for her and Jasper would have my head. I told him that she was gifted with effervescence and panache. It didn't do any harm telling him about the others. I would have preferred to keep Edward's mind reading a secret but he'd taken that cat out of the bag already.

Lucas opened his mouth to presumably ask a question but closed it when I held my hand up silencing him. There was a bear nearby and I wanted him to go after it. He sniffed the air and raised an eyebrow at me.

"What is that?"

"A bear."

"Does it taste as bad as it smells?"

"Worse. Go get 'em tiger," I said slapping his ass.

He snorted a laugh and took off after the hapless animal. Lucas took the animal quickly and latched on to it's neck. I walked over and leaned my back against a tree as I watched him feed. He had no such problems taking down the animal blood like I had for the first time. I was pretty fucking shocked. When the animal was drained, Lucas let it fall to the ground and placed his hands on his hips. He stared at the carcass thoughtfully for a few minutes before nodding his head and going, "Hm."

"Hm?" I repeatedly incredulously. "I can't even believe you were able to drink all that!"

"It was quite…repellent, but I guess it would be tolerable if you were looking for a change of pace," he shrugged.

"You amaze me," I deadpanned.

I chuckled and he went to lean against a tree across from me. He mimicked my stance, placing his right foot back against the tree and crossing his arms over his chest. I don't know how exactly but I knew that he was ready to tell me what he wanted from me. My nerves went haywire as I inwardly panicked but on the outside I was as stoic as ever. His blood red eyes locked with mine and we launched into a sort of stare down.

"Do you trust me?"

I sighed and shook my head. I wasn't replying to him in the negative and we both knew that. I was doing it out of exasperation. Whatever he wanted, I knew for certain that I was going to decline and we were going to have a huge argument about it.

"Unfortunately, I do," I replied.

He smiled his most charming smile and even though I would never admit it to him or anyone else, it made butterflies flutter deep in my stomach.

"Earlier you asked me where I'd been," he began. "I wasn't lying when I said I went back home, but that wasn't the only place I'd gone though. I spent a lot of time roaming around Asia," he told me.

"Okay," I shrugged irritably. I was ready for him to get to the point.

"China is insanely overpopulated…," he started but I cut him off. My mind made an instant connection and the rage inside me was like none I'd ever felt before. I rushed at him with a fierce growl. Our bodies collided and knocked over the tree he was leaning against. We fell to the ground as I clutched his neck in my hand.

"Lucas, this had better be a very sick fucking joke," I seethed.

His hands came up to grab my wrists. I knew that breathing was not the issue but my nails digging into him was. I did this to him often. It was a dull pain that built slowly into agony especially after the skin broke. He hated when I did this to him but he needed to feel this pain. He needed to be reminded. When my nails sliced through the tendons in his neck he fisted his hand in my hair and threw me off of him. My body went flying but somersaulted mid-air and landed on my feet before rushing at him again. I took hold of his neck once more but this time he was prepared for my attack and took hold of mine as well.

"Now calm down, Isabella," he said. "Let's talk about this like civilized adults."

"You and I are a lot of things, my friend, but civilized ain't one," I sneered.

"Well you know what I mean," he shrugged releasing my neck. I was more reluctant to let go of him but eventually I did. "Let's talk about this like the great war lords we are," he revised.

"Lucas, the Volturi would bring the wrath of hell down on us! We escaped the first time and that was fucking miraculous! I can't even believe you'd want to start up another war! Have you no self-preservation left?"

I buried my face in my hands as memories of our shared past filled my mind. I couldn't live like that again. I felt exhausted just thinking about it.

"Isabella please just hear me out," he said taking me into his arms. I didn't even fight him. I was so distressed at what he was suggesting that I just needed to be comforted by someone, anyone.

"I don't want to start another war," he said. "I want to do exactly what you're doing here with the Cullens. You have a beautiful home and an area that is claimed territory. The only difference is that you make sure that the humans who live there aren't harmed to avoid detection. I wanted to start a large and talented coven to protect a territory where we can feed as freely as we want without being detected," he explained.

"That's exactly what Ivan wanted when he settled in the south!" I countered. "Then people like you and Maria got wind of it and wanted a piece of the action. Before you knew it the south was crawling with blood thirsty vamps all fighting for blood, territory, and dominance! I will not help you start another war, Lucas!"

"There won't be any wars! All the other vampires feel exactly like you do! Their scared shitless of the Volturi but I'm not. And as long as humans don't start suspecting things the Volturi won't take action against me," he said.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not helping you. You can start your own coven. I have one of my own already. We don't drink human blood and I don't ever plan on leaving them," I said interjecting all the finality I could muster into my tone.

Lucas smiled but it wasn't the charming smile from before. It was the smile that let me know he was about to pull out his ace in the hole.

"You won't leave the Cullens or you won't leave Edward?"

My knees turned to jelly but I stayed on my feet. I schooled my face back into it's stoic countenance. My worst fears could be coming into fruition and this was not the time to show any weakness even though Lucas and I both knew he'd won.

"What are you talking about?" I responded.

"Oh come on, Isabella," he laughed. "It was so cute watching you try to hide the fact that he was your mate from me. I knew the second I laid eyes on him. I'm guessing you used Edward's mind reading to warn him that I was coming and then used Jasper to keep them all calm, correct?" he asked not waiting for my response before he continued because he already knew that he was right. "The others were contained, but Edward was not. It was quite comical to see someone so sedated yet so furious at the same time. Every time I touched or looked at you I could literally feel the daggers he glared at me. Then when you left with him, I'm guessing you let him pee on your leg to assure him things between you and I aren't what they used to be. That his place in your little cold dead heart was more secure than ever," he taunted me batting his lashes and swooning theatrically.

I turned my back on him and fisted my hands in my hair. Why the hell did I psych myself into believing I could deceive Lucas. He was too smart and he knew me too well. I would never be able to get a one up on him. It would be more likely for the sun to rise in the west.

"The thing is, baby," Lucas said, his voice softening as he took me into his arms again. "I don't care about that. I don't want to steal you from him or anything of the sort. I want you to come to Beijing with me for one month. No more, no less. You'll help me comb the city and create nine of the strongest vampires we can. You'll help me train them to fight and then you can come back to your darling Edward. Even if the Volturi decide they want to take action against me it won't be within that first month. It'll take them at least three before they know what I'm up to and then another three to actually strike. You'll be long gone by that time. Not to mention the Volturi's intervention is very unlikely to begin with. Staying conspicuous in a country like China is a non-issue. You have nothing to fear."

My mind was racing. I thought over every single last word he'd said. He made a lot of sense and he'd also crafted his plan in a way that I was fully protected from any consequences what so ever. Even so this plan was incredibly stupid and incredibly dangerous. There were plenty of reasons for me to tell him to go fuck himself but there was one thing stopping me from doing exactly that.

Edward.

Lucas hadn't threatened Edward outright but he didn't need to. I knew him well enough to know the threat against Edward's life was implied. He wouldn't have brought him up at all if he wasn't planning to use him against me just as I knew he would. So on that note, there was only one response to give Lucas.

"Give me the rest of the day to explain this to Edward. Don't come back to the house with me. I'll meet you at SeaTac first thing in the morning," I said.

"Thank you, Isabella," he smiled.

He kissed me sweetly on the forehead and left. I took a deep breath preparing for my upcoming conversation with Edward. I knew that he would not be understanding, that convincing him that I'd made the best decision was going to take all night, if ever. I ran back to the house wanting to just dive straight in and get the unpleasantness over with. When I got to the house, Edward was waiting for me out front. The look on his face was purely irate.

"If you think I'm going to let you to go to China with him, you are sadly fucking mistaken!"