Chapter song: Cherry Wine by Hozier

Jasper stared at Mary, his mind frozen in fear. "Mary?" His voice, impossible though it seemed, seemed to be hoarse.

She had collapsed in his arms, a tiny motionless doll who wasn't so much as moving her eyes under her eyelids. Carlisle had been concerned enough by her symptoms that he'd quickly moved to create a small hospital ward in his office. If she didn't get better soon, he'd move her to the hospital and let Charlie know.

The thought of having to give the police chief more bad news complemented the internal grief that howled and consumed inside.

It's her gift. She knows the future, was being tormented by it, and I ignored it. And now it consumed her. He didn't deserve her if he couldn't even protect her from herself.

"Son." Carlisle gripped his shoulders and it seared through his focus on Mary in a painful burst.

"I'm not your son." He jerked the other vampire's hand off his shoulder in a rough gesture. But as he lashed out, he simultaneously broke. "Please fix her." It was all that he could say without saying something worse.

A pale hand graced over Mary's forehead fleetingly. She again seemed oblivious to the chill of the touch, an uncommon behavior for an unconscious human. Her heart was utterly slow and calm and so unlike her that it grated in the otherwise silent room.

"In all my years is existence, I've never seen a human hurt under a supernatural gift." Carlisle's face was uncharacteristically neutral, but Jasper dismissed it as hurt over his earlier rejection.

"Had you even seen a human with a supernatural gift before this?" Rosalie entered the room, having gone off Bella-guarding duty at the hospital. Her topaz eyes locked onto Mary's tiny body and her fists clenched.

Carlisle's gaze went thoughtful. "I've had my suspicions with a couple of nurses that I've worked with in the past, but none confirmed as with Bella and Mary."

"Edward being here right now would be valuable." Jasper felt the frustration that came with all the weird shit that'd been happening over the last few months. First Edward's disappearance, his scent by the crime scene, and now the strange vampire Leah had seen by the Swan's house.

A dark, angry expression crossed the she-wolf's face. "If I hadn't been so distracted by your stinky ass in Bella's house, I would've been able to catch the bitch."

Bitch? Confusion went through Jasper and he exchanged a glance with Emmett. "It wasn't Edward?"

A derisive snort. "If Edward doesn't have double Ds, then I'd be inclined to say no."

"Anything else about her?"

"She was carrying a stinky-ass sack over her shoulder."

This ordeal wasn't about the girls. It was about getting to their coven and sending a message. It made him want to question Carlisle, the one vampire old enough in the clan to have any serious enemies, so that he could get rid of the threat.

But Jasper Whitlock wasn't naive enough to believe that this was about Carlisle.

It was him who'd battled for decades in a vampiric war, he who had murdered hundreds of newborns. He was the one who'd abandoned Maria and foresworn all he'd ever known. He was the reason that the girl he loved was locked inside her own mind and her sister was near death.

But first thing was first. Before he could destroy his enemies and save his brother, he needed to make sure the girls were safe. No matter the cost.

Leah laid her head on her paws while staring at Forks Hospital, fighting every one of her instincts to fight her way to her imprint. But she trusted Jasper about as far as she could throw him, and she wasn't an impatient predator; from what her father had been telling her she'd go berserk if she saw the damage done.

They still weren't sure if she'd make it and both the wolf and Leah didn't know if they'd be able to survive either.

Will the pull disappear if they turn her into a vampire? Leah wasn't so sure, but she wasn't blind to the options. The vampires appeared attached to her and they obviously weren't accustomed to the tradition of letting nature take its course.

How dare you think about that? A male voice roared in her head even as her ears flattened in irritation. We should stop this immediately.

Shut up, cheater. Of course, her luck had gotten even worse when her ex had turned wolf just the day before. As a result of Emily dumping his useless ass for some wealthier dude from her college.

But there were some perks.

You won't tell anyone about the Cullens planning on turning Bella into a vamp. The alpha command rang through their bond and Sam instantly submitted to it. Not that he knew how to phase back anyway since he was so pissed off about Emily.

She went back to ignoring him. Other young adults and teenagers were showing signs of the Change, and it looked as though Jacob would take up the mantle of alpha. Seth, her precious baby brother, was on the the watch-list which made Leah wish that the vampires in the area would just disappear.

It would be a great bargain if she and Sam could get rid of the strange vampires in the forest and for the Cullens to leave in thanks. Jasper Hale had already had his leader in contact with the Council and he'd agreed to leave if the tribe continued to experience a growing wolf pack.

But none of that mattered to Leah as long as Bella's future remained bleak and blurry.

And that very reason was why all of the fur on her back stood when she realized that Jasper, his eyes nearly yellow from animal blood, walked towards her with the strangest expression on his face. "Easy there, girl."

Once again, the she-wolf found herself unable to move from all that goodwill he was emitting her way. A whimper went through her as she quickly realized that the vampire was putting her to sleep. It'd leave her defenseless.

"I'm so sorry, hopefully your love isn't fragile, darling."

A desperate whimper echoed through the trees just as she lost consciousness.

Emmett leaned in his waiting room chair, closing his eyes as he concentrating on distracting himself from the blood surrounding him. He'd have to text Esme to relieve him soon, but he was glad that all of Bella's wounds had clotted enough that they could all guard her at closer quarters. A human was ridiculously fragile to any type of shaking, dropping, or squeezing.

It scared the shit out of him.

"Em." Jasper walked into the room and the large vampire nearly gasped in surprise at his appearance.

"How many deer did you drain? Your eyes practically look like piss."

The taller vampire shoved a shaky hand through his curls even as he kept approaching Bella's hospital bed. "Don't make me say. Are there cameras in here?"

"None." It'd been one of the few things that Rosalie had told him as they rotated. And then she'd pulled him into a supplies closet where they made out. But, as Emmett reminded himself as he stared at his deranged-looking brother, was besides the point.

"I don't know why we didn't listen to Mary." Jasper shoved his hand into his pocket and brought out two syringes filled with a red substance. In an instant, Emmett sprang to his feet and had his hands on his brother's shoulders.

"Are you sure about this?" There'd be no going back.

"Mary went into some weird-ass coma trying to tell us this, Emmett. Hold me back if I go for her throat."

Jasper then gently injected both vials into Bella's forearms. The scent of her blood nearly drove the other vampire into a blood frenzy, but he stopped breathing just in time.

Carlisle is going to be soo mad. But even on that thought, Emmett could hardly blame his brother. Things had hardly been looking good for the girl, and he believed that it was only Carlisle's guilt over Changing the brooding Edward that had been getting in the way of saving Bella's life. That particular member of the coven had always been pretty vocal about his overly pessimistic opinion on vampirism.

Being changed had been the best thing that had ever happened to Emmett, so maybe it was a personality trait?

"Go and tell the others now. We only have so long until her heart stops."

Emmett left the room very quickly after seeing Jasper's pitch-black eyes and heartbroken expression. Killing to save, after all, was still murder.

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I woke up to a cacophony of beautiful voices rising in rage. The filtered light burned through my retinas even as a group of beautiful people continued to argue, pretty passionately, across the strange, small library in which I'd woken up in. The white sheets and uncomfortable squeak let me know that I was in a hospital bed.

Models, they're models. My brain supplied helpfully. You're just in one of those supermodel shows so they're creating drama for the cameras.

Should I create drama to blend in? I bit my lip indecisively as the most gorgeous male of the group backed down another male model who was probably just angry that he was too old to make the final cut. The gorgeous one then glanced my way.

All sense left my body when I caught sight of his pitch dark eyes that were entirely too tormented to be human.

He appeared close enough to me to cradle my cheek within the next second. "Mary." The name was spoken out of hot model guy's Southern twang like a prayer.

"Who?" I squinted my eyes at him in confusion. It was blinding to witness how beautiful this man was while simultaneously being called a strange name.

He blinked at me and staggered back even as the older man behind him glared at us. "I can feel just how confused you are, darling. Please tell me this is a joke?"

"This is a joke?" I really didn't want to disappoint the hot guy even if nothing happening made any sense.

Old guy pushed past hot guy to shine a flashlight into my eye. "No concussion. Do you remember anything, Mary?"

"My name is Alice and..." It felt like I was shoving hard against this dense fog in my head to retrieve the one image engraved into my skull. "a graveyard. That's all."

A sudden urgency overtook my body. "Is Bella Swan dead?" The name on that gravestone made my heart beat faster.

Hot guy ruffled my hair before stepping back. He looked real sad. "See, Carlisle? Making sure they're safe is going to be real easy if you cooperate."

"How will you keep her alive with a newborn on your hands? You're being irresponsible, Jasper." Carlisle called out angrily above me.

"Listen to him." A blonde supermodel stepped forward while her golden eyes shimmered in the light prettily. "He has more experience than any of us on hostile vampires."

"He turned a defenseless human while she still had a chance!"

"This girl sees chance, Carlisle! We've seen countless times where Mary predicted the impossible, Edward himself confirmed it. If Mary said Bella didn't have a chance as a human, then we should've listened." The blonde turned dramatically away before stomping out of the same exit as Hot Guy.

Wow, these models are weird. I stifled a giggle before drifting to sleep again.

"You gotta keep staying quiet, Bells. I promise it'll be over soon."

Jasper sat at Bella's bedside with her hand in his own. Her lips were blue and no longer did warmth sear from her into his body. This was the most critical time in his plan, where Charlie Swan received the terrible news of his daughter's death and he saw the body for himself.

They had approximately a day left before a switch-up at the funeral home occurred and Bella completed her transformation at the Cullens' home. Then it'd be time for Jasper to go hunting as his family protected the girls.

How to explain Mary's amnesia would be another punishment for the police chief.

He forced himself to release Bella's hand and leave before a stray nurse discovered the terrible news.

Poor Charlie /

I promise a lot more action next chapter and less jumping around!