A/N: A quick thank you to everyone who added this story in their alerts and/or added it to their favorite list. It truly means a lot to me.

Chapter 19- The lure of downfall

Peter's POV-

We had just left that crowded, disgusting mess that humans preferred to call a market- seriously, stinky humans were falling all over one another in there- when I felt a familiar scent reach my nostrils, stiffening me by reflex.

Shit!

It was her. She was here. Her scent was heavy all around the place, almost like she was standing around the corner, waiting for us to walk out of the crowds.

I panicked instantly- we had two innocent humans with us after all, my eyes wandering through the area, hoping to catch a glimpse of her, which obviously, was not to be found. While her scent was considerably fresh, she had already passed by the area, I deduced.

Was she stalking Bella? Had she somehow followed us, all the way from Forks till here?

No….

That was unlikely.

Wouldn't we have realized it if she- the she in question obviously being Victoria- had been following us since morning? It was now over twelve hours since we had first left Forks….That was too large an amount of time to stalk someone and not get noticed, even if you were as sneakily invisible as a chameleon, which she was really not.

She still had a scent that would have made her presence known long back, not to forget the fact that our powers would have given her presence away long back. Jasper would have felt her varied emotions from miles away, and I trusted my instincts to do the same for me.

Then why was her scent so heavily concentrated in this area?

It was absurd.

Okay, she could have been feeding, that was a possibility- I admit, but no sane vampire without a death wish would attempt to feed in an overly populated place such as this, unless they were aiming for a massacre, that is.

Then why was she here?

Was it as simple as being a lucky coincidence, or was it something more complicated than that?

In my peripheral vision I observed as Jasper, too, stiffened all of a sudden, recognizing the familiar scent that was surrounding the four of us.

There was no doubt in this. She was extremely close by.

I smiled to myself in determination. This ended today.

Victoria was going to die today, and I would be the fortunate one to do the honors, giving Bella the happiness of ridding the threat over her head….

"She was here." Jasper muttered to me at vampire speed and volume.

I gave him a subtle nod. My nose had always been my strong point, giving me the extra confidence I needed, but I was equally glad to know that his sense of smell had not withered with his diminished balls- that he now kept hidden in his wife's purse.

"What is it?" asked Bella, always the observant one. Angela, thankfully for us, was not as observant. She had not even noticed the fact that neither Jasper nor I had consumed any human meals in the entire day, simply pretending to eat instead- which, I repeat, was beneficial to us.

I wish Bella had been as unobservant as Angela was, but then again we would not have been here if so were the case, which I couldn't decide was good or bad.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand….

"Bella," I spoke up, my voice authoritative but still calm. I could not stress Bella by telling her the truth of Victoria being around. It was simply not required at the moment. "Go to the car- take Angela with you, sit inside and wait for us. We will be there in a few minutes."

A part of me wished to accompany Bella and Angela, coming back to end the threat once they were safe at home, but the strategist in me gleamed at the opportunity that had presented itself. There was a minimal possibility that she could have already left the area by the time I returned to trace her whereabouts or it could rain and her scent could get washed away with it. Pushing the opportunity for later was relying on luck way too much for my liking. Her scent was fresh at the moment, giving us the best chance to catch her by surprise- that is if this was not planned by her, which I had a valid reason to believe in.

I had no scent to go by, but Jasper did have a scent to recognize him, and unless she was extremely over confident about her strength and ability to defeat two seasoned vampires, she wouldn't have challenged us in this form. Anyway, her loss is my gain, and I really had no sympathy in me for my opponent.

"But," Bella weakly protested, not one to accept defeat this easily. "What is wrong?"

"Don't worry," Jasper said calmly, "We will soon be there."

Bella nodded my head, her face pulled down from the tension that was currently affecting her, much to my dislike.

This should have been avoided, and could have been avoided, though I was aware that I was hardly to blame for it. I didn't have the smallest clue that Victoria was to be found as close as Seattle. I would have ended her weeks back, if only I had known of this….

"Okay," Bella said hesitantly, outstretching her hand for Jasper to place his car keys in, car keys to that ostentatious- and a complete waste of money for a vampire- car that 'Dr. I am living in the wrong century' used. Seriously, that man had so much compassion and goodness in him, sighing and shaking his head in defeat even when he killed the animal that was his life source, that I could only believe that he was living in the wrong century, being too good for this current world, and should have died- I don't know, say three hundred and sixty three years back? I guess even the vampire who originally changed him would refuse to acknowledge him if they ever were to come face to face. I know I wouldn't talk to such a wimp, if I were the one to sire him. A man still had to maintain his reputation in society, you know.

Jasper gave her one last reassuring look- at least he was still good for something- before the both of us, simultaneously, took a breath in, figuring out the direction in which she went, taking off in that very direction.

I turned to look at Bella once- to make sure that she was okay, believing to the fullest that I would see her soon again, very soon at that.

Two against one would be a battle of seconds indeed.

We had merely run a mile or so, tracking her- all over the place- scent when Jasper suddenly stopped in the middle of the empty alleyway.

"We should not do this. This is wrong. This feels like stabbing in the back." he shook his head, looking more like Jasper Hale than Jasper Whitlock in the moment.

I rolled my eyes. Seriously, I had no mature reaction to his statement.

"Did you even hear a word of what you just said, or was that simply for my benefit?" I questioned, truly curious to hear his answer.

Had high schools these days introduced a new course for those interested- the art of how to speak without using your brain, because Jasper seemed to be pretty fluent in it.

He sighed. "Everyone can be changed- teaching them the right path to walk on. Carlisle believes that we should not be quick to act….."

I rolled my eyes- so hard, that I almost worried about the state of my eyeballs for seconds after.

"Carlisle masters in bullshit, we have already spoken about this, man." I raised my eyebrow at him. I could accept the whole pacifist argument, though I didn't quite agree with him on it, but his notions of life were touching the extreme, bordering on the line of being considered ridiculous. He wouldn't kill another vampire- with his own bare hands- even if that vampire were to threaten his own mate….he had himself admitted to this in front of me a few decades back when I had committed the insane mistake of visiting Jasper. I often wondered if Carlisle even considered Esme to be his mate, because no vampire could declare something so unchangeable and questionable when it came to the safety of his mate. It was simply not possible, or maybe he truly was unlike any other vampire I had ever come across. Either way, I felt bad for his mate. She was on her own if she was ever threatened.

"But," Jasper weakly protested, shutting his eyes tightly.

I sighed. I knew it was not completely his fault. The Cullen's were notorious for brainwashing people. Jasper was simply following what he had been brainwashed into believing in. I was aware that that pointed towards him having a weak mind- which, possibly, could be a result of him being exploited by Maria for decades after his change. He had always had a bad experience with women, at least after his change. First Maria and now Alice- both had manipulated him into accepting and following what they thought was correct, threatening him with a personal load of unhappy emotions if he didn't comply, guilt tripping him by using his gift against him. The one thing that Jasper craved most was happiness or any other emotion that was pleasant to experience, and the both women of his life had used his only weakness against him, gaining from his misery, pushing his buttons in a way to achieve their purpose.

It was truly pitiful, but the truth.

"Jasper," I spoke up, "What do you think of Bella?"

He looked confused by my question, but answered nonetheless.

"She is unlike any human I have ever known of. She is exceptionally brave, forgiving and accepting. What Edward did to her…..it is unfathomable, but yet I can feel it that she has the strength to get up and start walking again."

I nodded my head in agreement, but my point here was something else.

"Do you think she deserves to live?" I asked, keeping my tone as nonchalant as could be.

"Of course," he spoke with no hesitation in his voice. "Now that I have actually spent some time with her- Alice and Edward never really let me speak more than two words to her- my opinion about her has considerably changed, and with the guarantee that she is going to become one of us someday, I don't see any reason to end her life abruptly."

I gave him a half nod in agreement. "What about Angela? Does she deserve to live?"

He narrowed his eyes at me in confusion, questioning my rationality, but, I swear, I did have a valid point to go with it.

"She is…." He paused, seeming to think of adjectives to associate with the girl, finally settling on "different, her optimism and unusual interests are refreshing."

"Does she deserve to live?" I asked again.

"Of course," he threw the word at me. "What kind of a question is that?"

I ignored his question and the slight irritation that came with it, asking another question of my own. "What about Chief Swan? Does he deserve to live?"

He truly looked frustrated by my questions, but yet, answered. "Yes, he does. Is there a point to this?"

I gave him a smirk. "Of course there is, Jasper, you have seen how Maria worked, or how the normal vampire world works, and unless you have somehow managed to get your memory erased, you would remember it. What happens when a hunt is interrupted?"

His eyes widened in remembrance. "The vampire will go to any extreme to get their victim. Anyone who is even remotely in the way dies."

"Exactly," I nodded my head. "Let me refresh your memory for you, you remember that newborn- John something, the one with the gift of smelling like nature."

He nodded his head, knowing exactly where I was going with this.

I had sired that human, not my first but still unusual for me- I did not sire many, none of which are still living, but John had been responsible for teaching us all a very important fact about our nature. He had found his singer in another vampire's mate. The girl in question was yet not thirteen, and so the vampire had been waiting for his mate to be of legal age- creepy, I know, but if it helps, the vampire himself was only fourteen and was living with his sire and two companions. John had gone crazy when he, accidently, came across his singer in a humanly inhabited area. He wanted her blood. He craved her blood. He had even taken a step forward to attack, but had been stopped by his singer's mate approaching from the opposite direction. The girl was not so easy to reach, as was observed by John. Still he tried a few times, always being forced to step away when another vampire came close to the girl, protecting her from what would be her end. Finally, he decided that he was done waiting and attacked when the girl was out with a few human friends, laying a trap of distraction for the vampire who had been guarding her.

Long story short, all the humans that had been around that day had died a painful death, being drained of every last drop of blood in them. John had not even bothered to think about another human's life in his quest to get his singer's blood, which was the way it was for our kind. Of course, the girl's mate had then brutally killed John, but you get the point.

"So, you see why we need to act against Victoria, and fast at that. She won't care about who is with Bella- Chief Swan, Angela, the other humans in that high school or in the town of Forks. It could and would lead to a massacre, if not stopped. All it would take would be a trap to distract us and….." my words stopped in my throat, my throat suddenly feeling dry from all its use, as my eyes went wide in realization.

No….

I had to be wrong.

This had to be a misunderstanding on my part.

I instantly started running in the direction of the car, having no time to waste in giving Jasper an explanation for my actions.

This could not be a trap.

This should not be a trap.

Shit! How could I have been so stupid?

I left the girls unprotected in my attempt to end the threat. My over confidence was entirely to blame for this.

I had thought that I would be the hero in the situation, but here I was, after becoming the laughing stock of the situation.

Life had a ridiculous sense of humor, it seemed.

It should have been obvious that it was indeed a trap- a distraction to achieve what she wanted to achieve, namely getting Bella- her object to be hunted- away from those who were protecting her back in Forks.

Which were a few, for that matter, as not only were Jasper and I patrolling in the surrounding area of Forks these days, but the mangy wolves, too, were, unknowingly, keeping Victoria away from reaching Bella. They didn't know the exact reason of why Victoria kept returning to the area, but their instincts clued them on to the fact that she needed to be stopped. So, for her, the choice was almost between the devil and the deep sea…

But, this was not Forks, and the wolves were not here, unknowingly, offering me their services. Jasper and I were supposed to protect Bella- and Angela, by default, not throw them to a fate far miserable than even imagined.

No, I could not let this happen.

I increased my speed, going as fast as I could. We had not gone very far from the area, but still it would take us to a few minutes to reach the place.

"What is it? Why are you running back?" Jasper asked, still not getting the hint in his dense head.

"Jasper, it was a trap." I sighed in frustration at him. It was not his fault, at least not any more than mine, but I could not help the fact that I was pissed- pissed at him and pissed at myself. "She distracted us, making sure that we left the girls unprotected. Her scent being heavy in the air, she knew that we would fall for it."

"Oh Fuck," his eyes widened in shock and disbelief, realization suddenly striking him. He, too, increased his speed, running as fast as we could, and within a few minutes we were standing in the empty parking lot, the girls nowhere to be found…..as I had dreaded.

I fell to the ground, taking my head in my hands in annoyance towards myself, humiliation and embarrassment for my actions, worry for Bella, and a very urgent need to take revenge from Victoria.

The car stood wide open in front of me, the key fallen to the ground. They had been about to sit in the car when she had attacked, not that that would stopped the attack from happening.

We were such idiots. I could not forgive myself ever for this mistake. I had promised to keep her safe, and I had failed.

"Peter, scent the air," said Jasper, cryptically.

"What?" I raised an eyebrow in confusion. The girls were gone. What was there to scent the air in this?

"Just do it," he insisted.

I sighed, taking in a deep lunge of air, frowning instantly.

"This is not Victoria's scent." I concluded. There were two varied vampire scents in the air, giving away the presence of vampires being involved, but Victoria was definitely not one of those two scents.

"Exactly," he stated. "Do you think she hired or created someone else to do her dirty job?"

"Could be," I said with a shrug, "Only one way to find out. We follow the earlier scent. Let's see where it goes. Unless it is a dead end, we should get something out of it."

We needed to act fast….before the girls were changed, tortured, or worse, drained mercilessly.

No….

I could not let that happen.

I doubt I would be able to bear the burden of failing, if I were to not reach Bella on time.

She did not deserve it, and I would hold myself responsible for anything happening to her- for the rest of eternity, or how much ever I live, considering I was to slap the shit out of Edward for bringing her to this point of no return.

Jasper started cursing loudly, suddenly, bringing my attention back to him. "We could have stopped this even before it started. It had been so simple. We had been seven against three in the baseball field, with Laurent ready to change sides and favor the winning side. We had had the numbers on our side, and yet, Carlisle, Esme and Edward had insisted that we let those three go, not believing it even when they saw it in James's eyes that he was not going to quit this easily. Edward is a mind reader. How the fuck didn't he realize this? Even I could feel James's emotions clearly, knowing that we had unknowingly challenged him. If we had acted that day, none of this would have happened. Bella wouldn't have had to bear the pain of the injuries that James caused her, nor would she have had to live a life of being continuously scared of a vampire coming to hunt her. This is ridiculous; and all because the family did not want to do correct to the human that had been brought in our world because of their actions. Carlisle could have stopped Edward from getting close to Bella; she was not his mate- being his singer instead, the one human he should have clearly stayed away from, but did he do so- No. Did Esme, Alice or even Emmett try to stop him from ruining a human's life- no, only Rose and I had protested their decision, and we had easily been ignored, saying of how we were cold and uninviting to Edward's happiness. This is fucking bullshit!" he shouted, looking completely furious.

Okay, so he did care about Bella, and maybe, even a bit about Angela. They had connected quite a bit in today's day.

"But not any longer," he stated. "I don't care who thinks what. Even if they think I am an unchangeable monster, we have to end Victoria. This saga should have ended the day it began. I can't sit back and watch the events play out any longer. This is wrong. We did wrong to the girl, pretending as if our designer shoes would tear if we even took a step forward to keep her safe. All of us- the entire family- is responsible for bringing her in this mess, and while I have kept quiet for as long as this moment, I won't be able to face myself in the mirror if I stay quiet any longer, despite realizing what all could have been changed in the past."

I sighed, shaking my head. "Jasper, you are an idiot."

No need to mince words here.

"You don't deserve to be termed the best fighter of our kind when you couldn't even figure out the threat that was right in front of your eyes, and what all it was capable of doing if not stopped. If you want to go back to your precious 'family', I will not stop you, but I will definitely, not let someone who is hesitant to fight come with me when I go to save Bella, not caring if I lose my life in an attempt to save hers. This is really not a joke- to me. You are either in a hundred percent, or out. I can't have a vampire questioning his morals with me, while fighting to save two innocent human lives."

I was clear about this, telling him through my stance that I was the one in control here. I would not let a distracted vampire come with me on a rescue mission. His distraction and hesitance to kill could lead to my downfall, and I can't let that happen. Either he was in a hundred percent, or completely out. I would rather prefer to fall because of my own weakness than be dragged down in the mud because of another's.

He sighed, looking at the ground in defeat.

I shook my head in disbelief.

Where was the confident major that had once commanded armies? What had that fucking pixie done to his self confidence? She had ruined it for him, trying to make him feel as if she was too good for him, when the truth was hardly so.

"I want to do this." he said with a sigh. "I want to take responsibility for my actions. I had thought patrolling the area and letting you do the killing- when Victoria was caught- would be enough to go by, keeping my conscience clear from this black dot, but I now realize how wrong I had been. I had been following someone else's morals and ideals, pushing back my own thinking and beliefs."

"Jasper, you are a vampire." I groaned at him. "Get this in your thick head and you will live a good life."

He was a vampire, killing another of our kind was hardly a question of morality.

I had no time to give him a lecture, though. I had much more pressing matters at hand, the most important being tracking Victoria's scent. She was our last lead to reach the girls, the two scents surrounding the car unable of being tracked. Whoever had kidnapped the girls had done so, smartly, using a car, making it difficult for us to track their scent. We could track a scent while it was in the open….figuring out where a car with windows rolled up went, was next to impossible.

Jasper sighed, nodding his head. "I am in. I want to do this."

I could see it in his eyes that he truly meant what he just said. He was sure about this.

"Let's do this." I said with a nod.

He, too, nodded his head in agreement. We were going to get the girls back, come hell or high water.

Once again, we were back on the road, trying to track the source of Victoria's scent, focusing on our nose to do what it could do best.

Every few minutes either Jasper or I would give the other the direction to follow ahead, pushing every other unimportant thought out of our head. The only thing on my mind for now was to find Bella, be it in whatever condition she was to be in. While I was somewhat an optimistic person, I was not dumb. Victoria could go two ways after kidnapping Bella. Either she would drain her on spot- less likely than the alternative, or she would torture her till her mind was satisfied. I knew I would have chosen the second option, or I already had when I had caught the one responsible for Charlotte's death.

So, my only hope now was that Bella would at least be in the condition to be changed when she was found, because she was going to be found. That was not a question of 'if', but a statement of 'when'.

"I can feel her mental signature. This way," Jasper commented, leading me towards an abandoned house in the outskirts, our chase finally coming to an end.

The house- a decent size cottage- looked as if no one had resided there in decades, far away from human civilization, and the perfect place for a vampire to hide….but, the only problem was that, when I scented the air, there were only two scents to speak for- Victoria's and an unknown vampire's.

Bella and Angela were not in this house. My eyes went wide at this realization.

Where were they then?

Had she kept the girls at some other place, away from here?

She certainly wouldn't keep them unguarded, though. Were those two unnamed vampires keeping a watch on them?

Jasper stayed near the trees, in an attempt to keep his scent hidden for as long as we could, while I walked closer to the house, peeping in through the window, observing as Victoria and another vampire with short blonde hair and crimson eyes conversed with one another.

"What is the plan now, Victoria?" asked the male vampire, cheerfully.

Victoria scowled, glaring at him harshly. "Riley, I thought I had made it clear that you were to call me mistress or goddess, if you rather prefer. For a vampire their sire is their god, and it would do well for you to remember this fact in the future. I can destroy you as easily as I created you. Don't ever forget that."

I turned to look back at Jasper in disbelief, knowing that he, too, could hear the conversation from where he was standing.

'What the fuck!' he mouthed to me, making me simply shrug back at him.

"Sorry, Goddess Victoria," Riley said in embarrassment, making me realize that he was clearly a newborn. No older vampire- even if sired by her- would have fallen for that bullshit. "I just wanted to know when we were planning to get to that human whose mate tried to harm you….."

"Riley, shut up," Victoria glared at him. "Thinking and planning is my job to do. You would survive longer if you concentrated on your job instead. Now go, get me two humans to feed on. I am getting hungry, and remember, they have to have brown hair and brown eyes. It is important that I be completely fed when I go against those mutts and that pathetic excuse of a human's bodyguards. I cannot risk getting caught by either of them. I am waiting for the day when I finally reach that disgusting human. What fun I will have." She maniacally laughed to herself.

My mouth dropped open as her words reached my ears, the shock evident in my eyes.

From the tone of her voice and the meaning behind her words, it felt as if she had not kidnapped Bella and Angela. She was still biding her time before she planned to attack.

In that case, where were the girls?

Who were the two vampires who had kidnapped them?

Had we been reading the wrong plot till now?

Jasper looked equally shocked as me, but mouthed the word 'Riley' as soon as the man in question walked out of that house, us both hiding to avoid being noticed.

I nodded my head in agreement. We needed Riley on our side if we wanted to get an answer from Victoria, of course before we tortured and killed her.

We silently followed Riley for a while, knowing that Victoria would be waiting for Riley back at the house and so wouldn't suddenly disappear, making it easier for us to track her back.

I nodded at Jasper when Riley was far away from the house, but not quite nearing human civilization, and Jasper suddenly jumped in front of a terrified Riley, while I made my presence known from the other side, making sure that he couldn't run from either ends.

"Please don't kill me," Riley pleaded in desperation, falling to his knees all of a sudden. "I am already owned. You cannot own me. But… please let me go."

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. Owned? What the fuck was he talking about?

Jasper sent him a huge wave of calmness, opening his mouth to speak.

"We are not going to kill you. What do you mean by 'owned', though?"

I mouthed the word 'confidence' at Jasper, and suddenly a wave of confidence spread through the air, giving Riley enough courage to stand up and look into our eyes.

"My name is Riley. My sire, Victoria, owns me. She said that other vampires are always searching for newborns to own, and if I refuse to go with them, they will kill me. She told me to stay away from others of our kind for this reason. Are you two newborns, too? Is this why you don't know of this rule?"

Oh. Wow.

Victoria certainly knew how to bullshit.

"She has lied to you." I said, meeting his terrified eyes. "We are not newborns, far from it. This is Jasper," I pointed towards Jasper, "And, I am Peter. Your sire has lied to you. She does not own you, or get to treat you as her personal slave. Instead, a sire is like a companion, father or sibling to our kind. They are neither masters nor Gods."

It was ridiculous of how she was treating the young boy like a personal slave.

"But…she said…." He stuttered through his words. "How do you know?"

He looked completely stupefied as he looked from me to Jasper, waiting for us to answer his question.

"I am Peter's sire." Jasper said finally. "Does it look like I 'own' him?"

I laughed at that thought. As if!

Riley slowly shook his head. "You don't glare at him if he talks. You treat him like an equal."

"Exactly," Jasper commented. "I know that she has told you about some human girl who harmed her in the past, but that is also not the truth….."

Jasper went on to tell him the complete truth of how Edward had met Bella, how James, Victoria and Laurent had come across the Cullen's in the baseball field, how James had attacked Bella in Phoenix, and so why now Victoria was out for Bella's life.

"Oh," said Riley in a whisper. "She has been using me."

I nodded my head with a sigh. That much was obvious.

"How old are you, Riley? When were you changed into a vampire?" I asked.

He looked forlorn as he answered. "I was changed three weeks back, a day after my eighteenth birthday."

Oh. He was still a kid. No wonder he had fallen right in Victoria's thrown net.

"She told me that I was to get food for her. I had to clean the house, making it enough habitable for us to stay, and I was to talk only when spoken to….." he cried out, looking as miserable as one could be. "She would pull out my body parts if I opposed to do as she said."

I sighed. Riley would need to be rehabilitated in the future. While Maria had been a terrible person, even she hadn't treated us like we were the dirt below her shoe.

"She lied to you, Riley." I sighed. "It is not like that in the real world. You will understand this in the future. But for now, we need your help. Our human girls have been kidnapped. We had thought earlier that Victoria had managed to kidnap Bella, but…."

He cut me off, "She has not. She has been with me since morning. She had gone out for a while, but not to kidnap your human."

I nodded my head in agreement. "Yes, we do know that now."

"We need to find them," I continued, "And Victoria may have some answers for us. So, will you be on our side when we go back to question her?"

I did not want to kill the kid, but I would without hesitation if his loyalties were still on her side.

"Of course," he said with sudden confidence in his voice. "She has been using me. I want nothing to do with her anymore."

I gave him a small smile in acceptance.

I didn't know where Bella and Angela were, who was responsible for kidnapping them, and why, but what I knew was that, the way to reach them passed through Victoria.

I had a feeling that confronting her was important, in order to know which way to go ahead.

I nodded my head at Jasper and Riley, silently telling them that it was time to strike. We had no time to waste here.

We were coming for Victoria.

Her end was on its way.