Chapter song: Stubborn Love by The Lumineers

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Jasper waited in the trees, holding Emmett back from the crime scene with a practiced hand signal he'd made sure all members of the Cullen clan would be able to use in emergencies. Immortality meant nothing when pitted against another immortal with the same strength and claws.

It was a lesson that he'd had engraved into his brain from the moment that his heart had ceased to beat onward as his life as a pawn had begun. His brothers and sisters in death hadn't stood a chance against him.

Rage built in him as he took in the scene. The Mallory house was framed by the forest, a common feature that all rural houses in Forks shared. The basic as hell fire pit had no empty drinks next to it, no lawn chairs, no sign that there were other people hanging out there.

For a loner like Bella, a warm empty campfire in the middle of a crowded party would've been irresistible.

"Do you smell that?" Emmett murmured, his sunny demeanor completely wiped and replaced by something far darker. While many assumed Edward was the most stuck in his time out of the Cullens, Jasper knew it was actually his more open brother who was more protective of women. His relationship with Rose, despite its appearance of being shallow and juvenile, was built on deep respect and loss.

Blinding shock went through him as he identified the scent which was entirely too faint to be a human's, but so familiar. "No."

"Creepy Eddie has finally gone too far." Emmett was already following the trail while Jasper couldn't move. It'd been Edward who'd saved him and shown him the most bearable way to live, yet he had done this?

It made no sense, but nonetheless he followed his brother because Bella deserved justice.

Underneath Edward's scent was a much fainter one. Is he just a decoy or did he pair up with another vampire? Jasper's trained military mind went to work, methodically dissecting every little detail to its smallest element.

They came to a screeching halt as a river hit their path. His fist slammed into a tree without much thought as Emmett turned swiftly around in an angry stomp. The large man's tux looked out of place in the forest, and Jasper realized rather hollowly that he himself looked no different. Nonetheless, he turned in the same direction and noticed something strange right off the bat.

"Em, where we heading?" It was certainly not in the direction of their home or the hospital.

He grunted. "The girls' house. Why pulverize a human at a crowded party rather than an isolated as hell backyard?"

"They were doing surveillance." Jasper realized out loud. How had he missed them? He couldn't help but mentally beat himself up over it.

"Must've been spooked since Eddie knows you're a scary motherfucker."

He didn't bother to argue back as he thought back to Edward's obsession with Bella. He'd been consumed with so many emotions about the girl. But violence hadn't even been hinted at.

Edward was delusional about a lot of things, but how serious it was to take a human life wasn't one of them.

They arrived at the empty, desolate house that now hurt Jasper's heart to look at. They were both in so much pain and he'd failed to protect them from that. A warning look from Emmett got him back to task and away from his self-loathing as they crouched in Forks' forest soil in a strategic circle.

A low growl. "Scent is ruined by that LaPush dog." Emmett sounded frustrated as his brother ran the half-mile distance between them. Jasper then glanced at their position and a feral smile split his scarred face.

A thrill of terror went down Emmett's spine at the sight.

"Time to catch the mutt."

••••••••••••••••••••

Leah groaned and whimpered even as another slice of pain pervaded her abdomen. She'd been dreaming of running, a stereotypical dog dream that continuously pissed her off.

Even if running was the only halfway fun pastime in her otherwise miserable and freakish life, it didn't have to taunt her with her own inhumanity.

Bella. Leah's eyes split open before leaping off of her bed and to the bathroom. She slammed the toilet lid open and proceeded dry heaving painfully with little success. Shivers went through her body as she began to take her clothes off and half-crawled to the back door in her quarters that her dad had installed just for this purpose. She sprinted to the forest on all fours.

Going wolf had gotten considerably easier in the weeks since Billy and her father had found her. Since Bella had found her. And life had transformed to an even shittier version of itself.

To make matters more confusing, Sam was openly dating Emily and that had nothing to do with her predicament. It instead had everything to do with being a werewolf and imprinting on a total stranger. She was so confused.

As her paws sank into the soft earth and she crossed into the forbidden boundary of the Cold Ones, she still wasn't sure why a shy white girl from Forks was the one who controlled her every waking breath. A girl who already had a girlfriend.

A girl who currently needed her.

Praying that the pull in her chest wouldn't disappear along with her imprint into the sprawling abyss of death that hung above them both, it never occurred to Leah to keep an eye on the trees. So it stood within the bounds of reason that she never stood a chance.

She was sent flying in the air by what could only be a freight train into her side. Her ribs broke cleanly and instantaneously healed even as her path in the air was stopped by a pair of ironclad arms that were as unyielding as anything she'd come up against.

The she-wolf growled deep and low even as a deep Southern drawl interrupted her. "Now c'mon, Leah, I'm just going to ask you a couple questions."

A deep calm overtook her even as she whined. A large hand pet her head. It was difficult to smell that sickly sweet scent she normally sensed around the bloodsuckers.

She snapped her teeth woozily and a short, harsh bark of laughter went through the monster who held her. "Fair enough." He stopped petting her.

Time seemed to slip by sluggishly for awhile and before Leah knew it, she was turned back to human form.

The man set her down onto the forest floor and she tried her best to panic but it just wouldn't happen. Something is wrong. Her nightvision, crystal-clear even while human, revealed a tall man with half-crescent scars dominating a perfect and handsome face. He was dressed to the nines with a bronze undershirt peaking from an upturned collar.

"Here, take this." The man's eyes, an inhuman black, never wandered from her own as he shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it to her.

A vampire. He's a vampire, not a man. It was difficult to remember that past the fog in her head. She struggled into the jacket jerkily. "Are you going to kill me?" Words, often her strong suit, came garbled out of her throat.

The vampire's fists tightened. "I hope not."

Finally, a thrill of the tiniest fear jolted through her mind and cleared the fog. "What were you going to ask me, leech?"

In an instant, he was directly over her with his fists cracking the tree above her head. "You broke the treaty, puppy. Right at my girlfriend's home. I'm within the treaty bounds in snapping your spine right now."

Leah gulped as whatever hold he had held on her disappeared. It took all of her willpower to not shift, but one thing kept her anchored. An older than time instinct to protect her imprint.

She was in trouble. Bella needed her. "Please let me go." Leah whispered. "Just this once."

The vampire didn't budge from his spot, but his perfect face softened a fraction and that damn fuzzy feeling of calm flooded her once again. "Leah, why were you outside the Swan house?"

Leah gritted her teeth and glared at him. Fuck him if he thought whatever weird power he had would make her compromise Bella.

"Oh, that is interesting. Does Edward have such power over you?"

Her mouth popped open at that. "Edward Cullen? You're a dumb son of a bitch if you think some leech tells me what to do."

He looked at her a long moment before running an annoyed hand through his hair as though she was the one inconveniencing him. "Look, why in the hell did we smell you outside of their house and you feel like the most lovesick-"

"For God's sake, genius, she's got the hots for Bella!" A booming voice interrupted her captor. Leah's sensitive ears rang.

Her face also burned. The scarred man instantly relinquished his posturing over her while he hit his forehead with his hand. "Why didn't I see that?"

A behemoth of a vampire, somehow even larger than the first, finally appeared next to her. "Stay focused, Jazz. We need to find the bastard." Anger was a live flame across his face.

'Jazz's face darkened. "Right. Leah, I need your help on something. Maybe, just maybe I'll let you see Bella if you're real useful."

Leah whined despite not being in her wolf form.

•••••••••••••••••••

Bre swung the burlap sack over her shoulder, utterly annoyed by the sheer weight of it. The mind reader was beginning to regenerate, and Maria had decreed that she not delay the process in any way.

So she had been forced to tote the sad son of a bitch in all of his entirety while she beat the human down with one fist. It was annoying work, especially when she had to resist the urge to suck the girl dry and to control her own strength.

This is the only way to gain her favor. Bre reminded herself. She wanted to rule her own territory after two hundred years of dicking around and getting in good with one of the Queens of the Southern Wars was a great skipping stone to begin with. As she arrived to the shady as hell warehouse that served as headquarters, it was difficult not to yawn.

The work was so boring. What self-respecting vampire felt the need to put a hit out on a human girl?

"It was disgusting to see your work." Gabi, Maria's pet, greeted her at the door. She sat criss-cross applesauce on a yoga mat with her eyes closed.

"I'm so glad that you used your freak powers to spy on me." Bre replied dryly. She couldn't wait to steal Gabi once she had more clout than Maria; seeing the future, how could one lose?

The seer nodded towards the burlap. "Mistress wants to talk to you, so you can leave that here."

She dropped the sack and weaved her way through the newborns, many of whom hadn't cleaned up from their last feeding. Disgusting.

"Was it done?" The tiny vamp curtly asked as soon as she was through the door.

"Hello to you too," Bre rolled her eyes as she responded, "Yeah, the girl is in critical condition in the hospital as we speak."

"Good. I need you to do some more surveillance for me."

She bit back a groan, but felt a glimmer of hope peak through. "On the Cullens?" They were even renowned among the Volturi and were considerably gifted. Defeating them would be instrumental in gaining the ability to lead a coven and earn a territory.

"Close. The girl's sister. She should have the most dangerous Cullen with her, and I need you to figure out a way to get her alone."

"When are we making our moves on them?" Bre asked, at last allowing some of her frustration to break through her facade. "When do we attack?"

Black, hungry eyes blinked at her slowly. "Why would we do that?"

It was as though she was in the twilight zone! "To make a statement. To rule."

Maria laughed outright at her. A tinkling sound that made Bre's eye twitch. "To kill the Cullens would be a loss."

"Why?"

"They're powerful. They are the conquest. If we can manipulate them, we will rule them." Before she knew it, Bre was on the ground with Maria's claws at her throat. "Now do as I say and I might give you a treat."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Color filtered through my eyes oddly and it was really difficult to not seem crazed. Three days without sleep at this point. It seemed as long as Bella's life was hanging on a thread, my visions were determined to take me out with her. Carlisle had tried to drug me asleep, but Jasper had made sure that the old vampire wouldn't do it against my will.

He'd tackled Emmett and thrown Rosalie through a window when the family had tried to take matters into their own hands.

I now stood in the living room of the Cullens, facing the family alone since Jazz stood beside Esme. "It's the only way!"

Carlisle had a deep frown on his face with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. "Her prognosis isn't clear yet, Mary. I cannot Change her while she still has a chance." His voice had a thread of cold steel in it.

"There is no future where she lives as a human. I've seen it! The longer you wait, the more I see her gravestone!" I screeched at them at the top of my lungs as my vision kept switching realities in front of me.

At this point, it took all of my concentration to walk on my own. Insanity seemed to be gripping at me, but there was no way to escape it.

"Mary Alice, please listen to him, sweetheart." Jasper zipped across the room to stand in front of me, serving as a solid wall between his family and me.

"Please listen to me. She's going to die." I whispered and it seemed as though my grip from the present was beginning to disappear entirely. Jazz's face was hardly visible against the cold, cold future.

Then he was gone. All I could do was watch outside my body as my family and I mourned over Bella's gravestone. The moment stretched tight and insidiously until it was all I could remember and the Cullens' living-room was gone.

After an eternity in that cemetery, I forgot my friends, the people standing next to me. Fear overtook my body and the last rational action I committed was reciting my name. My name, I needed to at least remember who I am. Who I was...

Mary Alice Swan. Mary Alice Swan. Mary Alice Swan...

The cemetery began to crack around me, shattering into a billion pieces into an abyss that made me shake. Dying. I could only be dying.

Mary Alice. Mary Alice. Mary Ali...

My feet were no longer touching the ground. Concentration shattered. Who was I? Something with an M, oh God, it was gone. Was anything left? Bit my lip, drew blood, did I remember anything?

Amelia. Allen. Ali. Ali? Alice? Yes Alice! Alice. Alice. Alice. Alice.

I held on as long as I could.