Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer!!!

Thank you for the reviews last chapter!!! (I managed to reply to them this time!)

On with the...wait, we've had that joke before...

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Chapter 35 – You Jump, I jump

Jessica walked through the front entrance of Macabre Nights and into the flurry that was the nightclub. She knew it was probably a bad idea, but it was the only one she had at that time. She felt like she was in a cake shop but on a diet at the same time. She could see all of the delectable pieces but knew that eating one would result in immense guilt and nausea afterwards. She had fed. She just had to hold onto that in her mind. She wasn't hungry. The thirst was there, but not prominent in her mind yet.

Moving through the crowd was harder than she expected. Hot skin touched hers as she moved, but she couldn't avoid the contact. Someone even jumped back as if they had been shocked. They probably had, by the iciness of her skin.

The personnel door was barely metres away and she itched to go through that door and find Bella. She moved to the edge of the dance floor and had a quick glance around at security. She would be able to move fast enough to be undetected, but moving the door would alert someone if they were extremely perceptive.

She decided to take the chance anyway.

She used her full speed to move past the security guard by the door, she opened it and closed it behind her and ran up the corridor. The scent of fresh blood assaulted her senses and she stopped. The coppery essence was around her and her teeth dripped with venom and her tongue begged to taste it. She tried to pull herself away, but she couldn't. Blood that was trapped behind skin and vessel was barely manageable, but blood that wasn't trapped behind anything was more potent in the air.

She moved into a room and saw the dead guards by her feet. All were wearing black-on-black outfits. Guns were spread throughout the room and blood covered almost every inch of surface. Another scent filled her nostrils and they flared in warning. It was a scent that she had tasted before, but there was something slightly off about the scent. Like milk that has been left out for slightly too long. It's still milk, but has an off taste to it. It was sour.

Jessica felt a guttural rumble reverberate through her chest as she turned around. Her limbs moved into a defensive position as she looked at the other vampire. The other vampire hissed at her. It was a warning sound. Jessica ignored the warning and they started to circle each other like sharks. They were weighing each other up, testing the waters before they plunged in.

"Where is Bella?" Jessica asked before another rough sound escaped her throat.

Harsh laughter escaped the lips of the other vampire. "Not here, that's for sure."

"But she has been here." She didn't ask it as a question. She knew Bella's scent lingered in the air like a memory.

"She was here. If she was still here, she would be dead." The amusement died from the vampire's flaming eyes.

"You'd kill her," Jessica deducted. A small smile curved the vampire's lips.

"Of course I would." There was no doubt in the tone.

At that moment, the vampire left the ground. She wasn't flying, she leapt, knocking Jessica to the ground with the sheer force of it. Jessica kicked her legs into the vampire's chest, letting the vampire's own weight carry the momentum.

Jessica was suddenly on her feet, staring at a gaping hole that had been punched through the wall. The vampire was on the other side and recognition flickered in its eyes.

"I know you," she said.

Jessica paused, but was ready for any movement. "How?"

"You were the girl Aro wanted dead. The half vampire. But you aren't half of anything now."

"You work for Aro?" Jessica asked.

"I worked for him," the vampire corrected. "I hope I still have a job. I am as he wants."

Jessica didn't understand this, but it wasn't a problem she wanted to pursue. She already had two main ones, and one of those was the vampire in front of her. She needed to kill the vampire before it killed her.

"Aro wants nothing but power," Jessica hissed in response.

"Perceptive of you." The vampire chose that instant to rush Jessica.

The force pushed them both into the monitoring equipment. Jessica could feel the uncomfortable pressure of glass pressing against her back, but that was all. There was no pain and her skin hadn't been pierced.

One word came to her mind: Impenetrable.

The vampire was back on her feet and Jessica forced blows at her, trying to distract the vampire. The vampire, however, knew how to fight. Neither of them were progressing. They were stuck in a timeless motion.

The very thought of the vampire's actions had Jessica's mind reeling for ideas. She was glad that she could concentrate on several things at once. The vampire was still throwing punches and blows at Jessica and suddenly, the idea hit her. It hit her as the vampire sent a kick into her stomach, causing her to become airborne with the blow.

The vampire was a lab creation, just as Jessica was. What Jessica knew about vampires, she had to learn. It wasn't instinct. The blood that covered her was the blood that surrounded the room like an explosion of ketchup. She hoped the other vampire didn't know that. But by her theory, the other vampire would think Jessica had been hurt by the glass. She wouldn't know that there was only one way to kill Jessica. That way was to tear her into pieces and burn them.

As she hit the floor, Jessica let her body go still and limp. She could feel the other vampire looming over her. She had to stop herself from flinching when she felt a hand touch her, but she managed to play dead very easily. She was dead by medical standards, anyway. Her heart didn't beat and she didn't need to breath. Her skin was icy to the touch. The only way they would know if she was alive would be to hook her up to brainwave monitors, but then she would be deemed a medical impossibility.

She felt the other vampire move away and she waited for a few more seconds before she opened her eyes, surrounded by dead bodies and covered in drying blood. It felt familiar to her.

She got up and hurried out of the room. Bella wasn't at Macabre Nights. That left one other place for her to go. The Volturi.

~*~

Jacob was sat in his car, parked outside a building that was unfamiliar to him, but he wasn't planning on going outside. He needed time to think and plan. He had his laptop out in front of him and he was scrolling through the files he could find on Bella Swan. Her file said she was an English teacher, but upon further investigation, he had found no evidence of a Bella Swan teaching anywhere in the state.

He then emailed a close friend, who the private investigators had on retainer. The reply email was faster than he expected. He exchanged details with the other person and twenty minutes and a cup of coffee later, he had what he needed.

Bank statements and drafts of Bella Swan's account.

Each statement of pay in the last three months had come from Volturi Ltd. He logged on to the Volturi website to see if he could find out more about the company. They were an investors corporation who also owned various businesses around New York. What Bella did for them could have been anything from strip to secretary work.

He clicked on the 'News' link and came to another page of awards and newspaper articles on Volturi Ltd and their businesses. He gave a brief glance to each of the pictures, but one of them caught his eye. There was a man behind Aro Volturi who he recognised.

It was the man he had shot in the car park when he first met Bella. He had just found his link and the possible whereabouts of Bella Swan. His night was looking up.

~*~

Feeling better for the moment, Bella pushed herself up. The smell of coffee wafted into the room and a grin spread across her face.

"Who made the coffee?" she asked the girls.

"Alice," Rosalie said.

"I love you extra," said Bella as they walked out of the bedroom. The first person she looked at when she went into the living room was Edward. He had just finished drinking a cup of coffee and gave her a small grin. He then got up and went over to the coffee maker and filled up another cup.

Bella thought it was funny how comfortable he was in a strange house with people he didn't know. She let the thought slide when Alice pushed a cup in front of her. The coffee was in her favourite mug. There was a picture of Lara Croft and underneath that was the heading, 'Warning: Girl with gun.'

Alice usually tried to discourage her with the mug, but she knew it said how bad the situation was when Alice wasn't trying to argue with her about it.

Emmett and Jasper were like two shadows sitting on her sofa. She blinked, wondering if it was all a dream. She even tried to stare at them, wondering if it would make them disappear, but it didn't. It was all real. By the look on their faces, she knew that they were almost completely oblivious to what had happened. She tried to imagine how they must have felt, to see Rosalie beaten and everyone else covered in blood. They were handling it better than she thought they would.

"I called Carlisle," Alice said, breaking Bella away from her thoughts.

She gripped her coffee mug tighter, glad that the coffee was cool enough that it wouldn't burn her hands, but disappointed because that meant it would be lukewarm and barely drinkable.

"You did what?!" she asked, astonished.

Alice dropped her gaze. "We've all been talking whilst you were in your room." That earned Alice a heated scowl from Bella. "We haven't talked about what's happened. Just that we need to tell Carlisle. We need a doctor, Bella, and if we go to anyone else...Hell, if Rosalie goes to a doctor looking how she does..."

Bella sighed. She didn't want to tell Carlisle anything, but she knew it would eventually come out. She thought he would be disappointed in her. Her profession wasn't something that most people agreed with.

"When will he be here?" she asked.

"About ten minutes. He needs to know everything."

Bella put her coffee mug on the table and stood up. She went into her bedroom and holstered her Glock. She grabbed a shotgun and draped its strap over her shoulder. After what she had already seen, she didn't want to go without one.

She walked back into the living room. "Edward?" she made it a question.

"Bella," he replied and stood up. He started to walk to the door with Bella following.

Alice blocked Bella's way, ignoring the shotgun. "You can't go back out there, you'll get yourself killed!"

Bella glared at Alice, but Alice refused to back down.

"If I don't go now, they'll be better prepared when I do go, or they'll come to us. I'm not endangering you all again. It's my fault that they took you earlier. I'm not going to put you in the line of fire again."

"Bella, don't do this!" Alice screamed at her.

Rosalie was at her side. Bella expected her to protest just as much.

"She's right, Alice. She can handle it. She got us out. I wanted to go, but after what happened today,"—she shook her head—"Bella proved she's tougher than all of us put together.

Alice put a hand over her eyes, as if she was fighting some internal battle that Bella couldn't see.

"Tell Carlisle everything for me, Alice," Bella said.

"You're being a coward," Alice retorted. "You'd rather face a truckload of tigers than your own fath..." The words died on Alice's tongue and a look of shock filled her eyes.

"Carlisle is not my father, Alice. He's been like a father to me, but he will never be my father."

"I didn't mean it like that, Bella, I didn't mean to say that."

"We never mean to do anything. Charlie is dead, Alice. He was killed. He was shot for no reason other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time—"

"So was my mother, Bella. You always seem to forget about her. Everyone always seems to forget about her. It's always about Charlie. How do you think it's been for Carlisle? His wife died. His best friend died. He had to tell his best friend's daughter that her father was dead. He had to tell his own daughter that her mother was dead. But, no, you don't care about that, you don't give a shit about any of it."

Bella felt a hand touch her arm and she shrugged it off.

"Bella," Esme said in a tone of warning. She was trying to get Bella to calm down, but Bella ignored her.

"No, Esme, I'm not going to just stand here and take that." Bella turned her gaze back to Alice who had tears running down her face. Rosalie had a hand on her shoulder, but it wasn't to restrain like Esme's hand was, it was to comfort. Rosalie was poised, ready to wrap her arms around Alice.

"One day, Bella, you're going to realise how good those guns have been to you. One day they are going to break you. Everything will come crashing down around you and there will be nothing left but death. Killing for life is like fucking for virginity, Bella. You say that you help people by killing bad people, but you proved that not everyone you kill is bad. They might be to someone, but they aren't to everyone."

"Bella." Esme's grip tightened on Bella's shoulder and she could feel Emmett coming closer.

"I hope you aren't trying to bait me, Alice. I love you, but I don't have castiron control."

"Are you threatening me?" Alice asked in complete bewilderment. Her eyes widened.

Edward stepped up in front of Alice, blocking Bella's view of her.

Bella looked into Edward's eyes. They were cold and stern, but they calmed her down. She kew that Alice meant none of what she'd said, even if it had been waiting to be spoken for a long time. She knew they were all under immense stress.

"Sorry, Alice," she said. It was inadequate. She wanted to add 'I love you' but the words died in her throat. She swallowed and followed Edward out of the door.

Alice watched Bella go, feeling grief wash over her. It was like her worst fears were starting all over again. She had watched her mother leave and never come back. She feared that it would be the same with Bella.

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A/N: R&R!!!!!

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