Frozen, everything was frozen. Bella's skin, her toes, her heart. The only thing keeping her from slipping into the light of the great unknown was a warm body next to her. His heart beating for the both of them working over time. Maybe if Edward had never come back to her she would be able to be with him. He kept her safe, he was more human, he would do anything for her. Safety and security were not Bella's most important attributes needed in her life though, Jacob's protection and love would be better spent on a soul who needed the help. Bella could power through anything, even if Jacob wasn't here keeping her warm, she would survive this. Bella is a fighter, someone who thrives on any chance of hope. Give her a task and she will do it tenfold, give her an adventure and she will find you the perfect souvenir. Her soul belonged to Edward, even if one day her soul would leave once vampirism set it, as Edward believed.

She could feel Edward's eyes burning on her skin, maybe just his look could keep her warm without a werewolves body next to hers. She hated what this did to him, the anger and restraint he had to put on himself from beating Jacob into the bottom of the tent.

Frozen, that's what she felt as she fell asleep that night. She could not freeze tomorrow, not in the face of Victoria.

The next day up at camp her heart felt less frozen, it burst with adrenaline from the day to come. Jacob had left down the mountain, Seth took his place up at the top to help cover the scent. Bella said petting Seth's head like a dog. Seeing as he was so young and adored Bella he didn't find it disgraceful at all.

"Oh," Bella suddenly remembered, moving her hand sharply from Seth who whined. "I forgot about Adelaide's gift. It was so cold by the time we got set up, I didn't even think straight."

Edward, in a flash, went from his look out spot, to the tent, back to Bella where he dropped the small gift in her lap. "I've been curious about it, it has a smell." Seth whined again, this time agreeing with Edward that it certainly had an odd smell to it.

Bella carefully opened it up and found two things inside, the first being a note. "Adelaide has interesting handwriting." She said, while trying to decipher what was scrawled on the piece of paper. Finally after concentrating she gathered what it said,

'Bella,

I told you once that I needed you to trust me even if it seemed vague. In the morning, when the snow falls and your fight begins, have Edward drink this.

Love,

Adelaide'

"Wait, she wants me to drink something?" Edward said taken back by it, "If she needs you to trust her, why am I being dragged into this?"

Bella didn't pay him much attention as she pulled out the second object inside of the small package. It was Adelaide's old pill bottle, orange on the outside with the label for her migraine medicine. Inside it was no longer pills but a liquid with a strange color. Bella slowly opened it to get a better look at what it was.

As she opened it Edward's eyes dilated and started turning black, dark circles appearing under eyes, as if he was ready to pounce on fresh blood. Seth got up, his hair raising on his back, growling at the vampire who looked hungry for blood. The peculiar thing about it was that Seth didn't realize why he wanted to attack the vampire at the time, from the outside it would be because Edward's eyes darkened and he looked ready to attack. In reality, as time would tell, it was from the scent of the mysterious liquid that activated his need to protect.

Bella was in a trance from the liquid inside, she played with it, slowly rolling it around inside of the bottle to understand the consistency. It was almost as thick as blood but a bit more watered down. And the color, the color was magnificent. It was pearlescent, shades of blue and purple.

"Edward, what is this?" It was then Bella looked up to see Edward's face, which suddenly shocked her to her core. In an instance she dropped the pill bottle and right as it was about to hit the ground Edward's hand reached out, snatched the bottle, and drank the contents inside.

Bella moved back and placed a hand on Seth, unsure of what just happened. When the pill bottle was empty and Edward released it, letting it hit the ground his eyes almost immediately changed back into their normal color, but they were brighter now, almost luminescent.

"What just happened?" Edward spoke, softer than Bella ever heard him speak before. He looked up at Bella and Seth, Seth still ready to pounce on Edward should he make any sudden movements towards them.

'What did Adelaide do?' Bella thought as she was too afraid to speak.

"I don't know what she did or maybe," Edward stopped to think, "What she is?" Edward was trying to put together hints and clues, in his brain he could see every detail from when they found her to where they were now. It was like a giant puzzle but he couldn't see what the picture was trying to make.

"Edward…" Bella said cautiously, then thought, 'Can you hear me?'

"Why wouldn't I be able to hear you?" Edward said, head cocked while looking at her.

'Because the only thing I have said out loud is your name.' Bella thought again. This time Edward noticed it, Bella didn't move her lips. He was reading her thoughts.

All at once his senses began to heighten, he could hear down in the valley the sounds of the newborns from the water up to the field. He could hear the wolves growl as they came out from the woods, stepping on branches, to surprise the newborns. Jasper suddenly giving out orders on where to have everyone move, like a general in war.

"I can hear it all. How can I hear it all? How can I hear you?" Edward asked but would not get an answer right now.

Victoria appeared from behind them in their small clearing. Edward had been too distracted by this newfound strength to notice what was right in front of him. She spoke in a tone with a mixture of curiosity but demand, "Yes, how can you? Whose blood have you drank?"

Back at the house Adelaide was on edge. Charlie was at work and she was left alone in a house, which could potentially be attacked by newborn vampires if they couldn't find Bella in the clearing. She tried to calm herself, she doubted any of them would get away from the ambush. She would be safe right here at home.

The strange part was that there was little part of her wishing for just one newborn vampire to try and attack her. She wanted just a small opportunity to fight and utilize what she had learned while listening in on Jasper's training sessions. If there was more than one newborn she might be outnumbered by their speed and strength but just one would give her a chance.

She paced back and forth, tempted to even try and find the clearing the battle was in. By now it had to have begun, her heart raced and pounded against her frail ribcage. Hopefully Bella had opened the present and Edward had succumbed to the smell of it and drank it. She knew they would be safe if he had, there wasn't a chance that any vampire without proper knowledge of what Edward had draken could get an edge up on him in a fight. If the enemy knew then there was ways to defend, to strike back. Knowledge is power. However if knowledge was power and Adelaide hadn't given Bella or Edward anything but a vague message, then it could backfire. He had no knowledge of what would happen to him, it could work against them. It could overwhelm his system and make him uncontrollable.

"Love," Adelaide said out loud, "vampires feel things deeper than even I could. What I gave him amplifies, he will control it, he will defend her. The newborns will be destroyed by the Cullen's and the surprise visit from the wolves. Knowledge is power, the other team has less of it. They will be fine." She talked out loud to reassure herself. Talking out loud also helped her with her language barrier. Over the last few weeks whenever she was alone and out of the possible long distant earshot of vampires she had taken up the hobby of talking out loud. She could get through most conversations without stumbling over herself now.

"See? Good things. I am getting better, stronger, wiser."

Adelaide sat on her bed in her room, papers scattered all around her in a different language. It was a mixture of latin and another language. It was her language, the one she spoke. Letting out a sigh, Adelaide put one hand on a paper in front of and then the other on another paper. She closed her eyes and spoke, translated she said, "Of the paths before me, I ask to be led, show me the one with the consequences I should not dread."

Nothing happened. Adelaide sighed in frustration, normally one of the papers would become drenched in water and wither away. The answer would be clear that the path she should take would be on the other one. This meant she wasn't asking the right question or she hadn't written down enough realistic possibilities on both papers. The papers below her hands were simple, they were what she should do next. She could either run before the Cullen's returned from their battle where Edward would pursue her with questions or she could stay and hope her risk would pay off, the Cullen's would be her allies. She had listed pros and cons on each one to try and help her decide. Time was running out for her to decide.

Before Adelaide could start the process all over again she heard something coming from Bella's room. She froze, could it be a newborn? Had her half hearted wishful thinking of a small battle somehow come true?

Bella sat in a ball on the ground, her arms wrapped around her legs with her face in between her knees. She had seen Edward murder a vampire before but only while she was half conscience from almost turning into one herself. It didn't take away from the impact of watching Victoria's head get ripped off from her body. And the smell of burning vampire flesh, it was like ancient wool that sat in the attic collecting dust and spiders was being burned near her.

The battle was intense and only so because whatever Edward had draken made him faster, stronger, every sense had seemed to heighten. Seth would have had to fight, Bella might had had to fight as well, as Victoria had brought along her pawn to the battle. But the two merely hung back from the two on one battle as they thought they would only get in Edward's way.

Edward had flung Riley hard enough that his body had broken through and cut down a few trees where Edward has thrown him. Victoria realized something was wrong with Edward and had tried to direct Riley in his fighting in order to avoid it. But Edward was too fast and Victoria had been hit by a punch hard enough to knock her into the ground and leave some real nasty evidence of a body mark. Bella had no clue how long the battle lasted only that every now and then Edward would beg for her to think of something different because it kept distracting him.

At one point Riley and Victoria almost got an edge on Edward, he had been distracted by the battle in the clearing, which he could clearly hear, and Bella's thoughts. Bella was ready to jump in, she thought of a story the Quilette's had told her about a woman who purposely cut herself to distract a vampire. Before she could find something to cut herself with, Edward had read her mind, and his focus had been back on the battle.

"Adelaide has a lot of explaining to do." Edward mumbled as he put out of the fire that burned Riley's and Victoria's ashes.

"We should probably head back down the clearing, do you know what's happening now?" Bella spoke softly, looking up from her knees.

"Yeah, it sounds like it's over. We should meet up with them first. The question is, should I tell them about this mysterious drink or should we deal with Adelaide by ourselves?" Edward sounded accusatory in his question.

"What exactly did she do?" Bella questioned him, "It sounds like you want to find her and punish her. From the looks of it, however, she might have saved us."

"Or it could have killed us," Edward, always devil's advocate of the negative, "I got distracted many times. There was too much going on, too much to handle. It could have gotten us killed. Seth and I may have been able to handle Riley and Victoria on our own."

"And how would she know that?"

"How would she know that we were heading into a battle with newborn vampires?"

The two stared at each other, Bella was now standing in front of Edward. He wanted to believe the worst in Adelaide. He always did that with everybody, assuming they never had good intentions. The two were in a silent staring contest when Seth whined and stepped between them still in werewolf form.

"Okay, we will go back and reunite you with your pack. We can handle the Adelaide thing later," Edward gave in and grabbed Bella, pulling her onto his back to rush down the side of the mountain to the clearing his family had just finished their fight in. Just as he did this he heard the most gruesome scream he had ever heard. It rang in his ears, pounding, he almost fell and dropped Bella but managed to keep his composure.

"What was that?" Bella asked anxiously.

"Someone is hurt." Edward tried to listen and then heard it through the minds of multiple wolves, "Jacob."

They all felt in this moment the same thing, frozen.