Author's note: POSSIBLE TRIGGERING SCENE AHEAD.

There will be an assault scene (not sexual) later this chapter. I've included a warning right before that scene begins, so you'll know when to stop reading if that's not something you want to get into. I tried to make it pretty light while still giving enough details to give you an idea of what's happening, but I do understand that some of what I described may be enough to make some people uncomfortable.

Another thing, please don't be alarmed when the third person perspectives stops referring to Lainie as Lainie and starts calling her Nic. It's for a reason, which I will go into in the post-chapter author's note.

Chapter 5:

What was supposed to be a game of baseball had turned into a game of cat and mouse and Jasper was, admittedly, frustrated. He'd found himself sitting in the passenger seat of Carlisle's black Mercedes, Alice speeding out of Forks and in the direction of Phoenix, AZ to hide Edward's mate. Bella was in the backseat of the vehicle, distraught. Jasper didn't know if it was because she was being hunted (the girl had no sense of self-preservation) or because she didn't know when would be the next time she'd see Edward. What Jasper did know was that her distress was not helping his own.

He did not know when this game was set to end, but Edward had volunteered the family for the long haul. Jasper couldn't help but be angry at the fact that things with Lainie had ended so badly, especially since he didn't even know when he would be back to fix them.

A part of Jasper resented Edward for having brought Bella with him. It was irrational, he knew that much. But anger wasn't supposed to be rational. As if it wasn't obvious enough that the human girl was a danger magnet, Edward had thought it wise to bring her to a field filled with vampires to watch a game she wouldn't even be able to see properly, knowing nomads had very recently been in the area and potentially still were.

He wasn't angry with Bella and he would protect her to the best of his abilities, but he knew that she wasn't the human he needed to be protecting right now. Lainie was strong, he knew that much, but even the strongest, regardless of how capable they may be, shouldn't have to endure their demons on their own.

"Jasper, you're about the break the arm rest. Please stop." Alice spoke quietly, not wanting Bella to overhear.

"Sorry." He murmured just as softly.

"I'm sorry, too. I know you really want to be there for Lainie right now." Alice hated that her brother and his mate were in pain. She hated that she hadn't seen the nomads arriving with enough time to get Bella out safely. She hated how despite her gift, she couldn't give Jasper the reassurance that everything would be okay in the end. Her vision of Jasper and Lainie together meant nothing if one wrong move was made that she couldn't see or wouldn't have enough time to stop.

Jasper was silent the rest of the ride.

Jasper and the rest of the Cullens hadn't come to school that Friday. It had been sunny that day. He was missing because it was sunny and the Cullens always went camping when it was sunny. He wasn't missing because he was broken up about having broken her.

Lainie Cortes hated Jasper Hale.

She hated that he got to go on living his life as if he hadn't completed torn apart one of the only things that had been holding her together the last several months. She hated that he probably didn't even know or care what he had done. She hated that he wasn't there anymore. She hated that she still wanted him to be. She hated that she still loved him. She hated that he had never loved her.

Because if you loved someone, how could you hurt them so bad?

Lainie spent all of Saturday tucked into her bed, staring at the wall. She'd been jerked out of her thoughts when the lightning had illuminated her darkened bedroom. The sound of thunder followed shortly after and Lainie whimpered at the sound. She'd always hated the sound of it. It had always felt like a warning that something big was coming. Lainie had quickly put in her headphones to try to block out the sound. She fell asleep that night to the sound of Jared Leto's raspy vocals, her mind and heart uneasy with what the future held for her.

By Sunday afternoon, Lainie was coming to understand where Jasper had been coming from that day at school. Her paranoia had forced her to overcompensate with more positive emotions, regardless of how fake they may have been, and she had been acting extremely unlike herself. The thing about hanging around Jasper was that he had always been weirdly perceptive of her emotions and she'd made a mistake thinking that he wouldn't notice something had been wrong.

The only upside to Lainie's emotional turmoil over her and Jasper's fight had been the fact that she'd been too distracted to ponder on the strange man she'd met in Port Angeles the weekend prior. She hadn't hallucinated him again since Thursday and she hoped it would stay that way.

Lainie was still utterly convinced it had been a coincidence. She wouldn't dare think otherwise.

By Monday morning, Lainie had forgiven Jasper. It had been pouring when she had left for school that morning so she knew he would be at school that day and she could apologize for how she had blown up on him when all he had wanted to do was help her.

Except he wasn't at school.

Tuesday and Wednesday all the Cullens were still no-shows. Bella Swan was gone, too.

Lainie walked out of school Wednesday afternoon feeling absolutely exhausted. The guilt at how she had treated Jasper weighed heavy on her heart and not being able to speak to him was making her lose even more sleep than usual. Her nights were plagued with new nightmares. Ones of Jasper telling her he'd never forgive her for what she'd said to him, of Jasper telling her that he hated her.

She walked to her car and was about to get in when she noticed a small orange envelope stuck below one of her windshield wipers. She reached over and pulled it out, looking around curiously. There weren't many cars left in the parking lot. She'd had to make a stop at her locker after gym to pick up her chemistry book, so she'd been one of the last ones out.

The envelope was a bit heavy. She pulled up the flap and peered inside, noticing a scrap of paper and a gold bracelet. Lainie pulled the paper out and held the envelope upside down, making the bracelet slide onto the palm of her hand.

Her blood ran cold. It couldn't be, she thought.

She looked around the parking lot, only spotting a few other cars, all empty. Lainie was the only person left in the parking lot.

She quickly unfolded the note:

Hello Nicolette,

Or do you prefer Lainie or Mary these days?

I have your friend. She misses you terribly and wishes you'd come to see her.

1524 Lawson Street

Come alone. Larissa won't enjoy what will happen if you do bring company.

- :)

It hadn't been a coincidence.

Nic didn't even think. She jumped into her car and peeled out of the parking lot, her tires screeching on the damp pavement.

The house was empty when she made it home. Rey typically didn't close the library until 4 PM, so Nic had about 30 minutes before Rey would head home for the day.

It didn't matter. She only needed two.

Nic raced downstairs to the gym, almost tripping over the last step. Her eyes immediately zeroed in on the safe Rey kept her spare gun in. She punched in the code Rey had made her memorize and pulled out the pistol.

She hadn't held a gun in so long that the object felt foreign in her small hands. But she didn't have time to think about how uncomfortable she felt holding the weapon.

She picked up the two magazines, checking to make sure she had enough rounds in both before sliding one into her jacket pocket. Nic made sure the rounds were seated properly in the other before sliding it into place. She pushed down on the slide release, allowing the first round to chamber. The last thing she did was flick on the safety before running back up the stairs and into her car. She carefully placed the gun on her passenger seat before quickly pulling out of the driveway.

The address was 15 minutes away, on the outskirts of Forks, according to her GPS, but Nic knew she could make it in less.

She stepped on the gas, only slowing down for a moment as she passed by the middle school. Rey's car was still parked in the lot and Nic felt the regret settle in her stomach as she realized how stupid she had been. She should've told Rey about the man, but she had been so deep in denial, wanting so desperately to believe that he couldn't have possibly found her. They'd been so careful. She had wanted to believe that it would have been impossible.

She tried not to think about anything other than saving Issa the rest of the way there. Her best friend was her priority. It wasn't fair that she had been pulled into Nic's mess when they'd taken the measures to ensure that her friends wouldn't have been affected. Nic's supposed suicide was supposed to have kept her safe and kept her friends safe by completely severing their connection. Apparently he was a lot smarter than they had anticipated because he had gone back to the very beginning and struck right where Nic was weak: her family.

Larissa wasn't just her best friend. Larissa was her sister in everything but blood. They'd gone through so much together, but this was something Nic didn't want them to share. She'd grown accustomed to the fact that she was never going to see Issa again, and here she was, on her way to see her sister for what was probably the last time ever.

She wasn't going to let anything happen to her, no matter what. It didn't matter if Issa walked out perfectly unscathed while Nic was rolled out in a body bag. There'd be two body bags because Nic had no intention of letting that son of a bitch take her sister, too.

Nic pulled into what looked to be an abandoned timber warehouse. There weren't any cars in sight, but it was possible that he had parked his car in the back. She didn't want to drive around to verify.

Despite how she had been acting for the past week. Nic wasn't entirely stupid. She knew she wasn't getting out of this alone, but she also knew she had to go in alone, otherwise she'd be putting Issa's life in even more danger than it already was. But, she thought, sometimes you just needed reinforcements to arrive at the absolute right time. With that thought in mind, she reached below the steering wheel to where the panic button had been placed and pushed into it, sending Rey the signal that she hoped with save both hers and Issa's lives.

She picked up the gun, careful not to place her finger on trigger, and got out of the car, using the door to shield the sight of her placing the gun in her back waistband.

As she walked in through the warehouse doors, Nic found herself praying to the God she'd long since lost faith in.

Over at the middle school, Rey was finishing up her usual closing up duties. All the lingering students had been sent out, the computers were shut down, and the library cart of books she'd been re-shelving was nearly empty.

She was in the process of placing back a copy of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time when the smart watch she always kept on her person started frantically beeping, signally Nic's panic button had been triggered.

From that moment alone, Rey acted on complete instinct. This is what she had been trained for and she'd be damned if she stopped to calculate even a single move, knowing every single second was precious.

Rey quickly grabbed her car keys and stormed out of the library, not bothering to lock the doors behind her.

The principal was absolutely horrified at her behavior as he yelled behind her, but Rey ignored him.

Her phone was to her ear as she ran to her car, dialing the number of the Forks Chief of Police, Charlie Swan. Chief Swan had been thoroughly vetted and then informed of the possibility of needing he and his officer's assistance in the take-down of a nameless, faceless criminal. Rey had been communicating with him via regularly scheduled phone calls for the last several months. He knew her only as Agent De León, and she knew the suddenness of the call would be enough to trigger him and his men into gear.

"I'm sending you the location now." She spoke rapidly, quickly pressing 'send' on the text message. "There will be a girl in there with him. If you get there before I do, you and your men need to be extra careful to ensure no harm comes to her."

Chief Swan gave the affirmative and in the background Rey heard the sound of several police sirens.

She stepped on the gas, practically pushing 70 in a 35 MPH zone.

Rey knew exactly where she was going. The warehouse had been one of the more concerning locations in the small town as they vetted several before they had left the safe house in North Carolina. Despite this, Forks had been deemed the safest town out of all the towns they'd looked into. She made a sharp right turn, knowing a short cut that would shave a couple minutes off her time and avoid her coming into contact with the police cars. Her car was unmarked and she didn't need to be stopped, nor have the cops distracted by a seemingly reckless driver.

The building was in sight when Rey heard a lone gun shot fire through the air. She pressed hard on the accelerator, pulling into the the warehouse lot a few seconds later. Nic's abandoned car was the only one visible, but she knew from the sound of the gun shot that Nic was definitely not alone. Rey could hear the sounds of sirens approaching as she quickly got out of her car.

A second gun shot rang, and the sirens were now deafening as the Chief and his men pulled into the lot. Rey had long since flicked the safety off her firearm, running into the building, intent on saving the young girl who had become like family to her the past several months.

Jasper felt some of his anger melt away as he pulled off James' left arm, tossing it in the fire they had started in the ballet studio. He held his breath, knowing that Bella Swan was rapidly losing blood in the far left side of the building. Alice joined him and Emmett a moment later, jumping on top of James and ripping off his head before tossing it into the flames.

Moments later James was officially dead. Edward and Carlisle were now rushing Bella out into the car to take her to the hospital.

Jasper, Emmett, and Alice had stayed behind, intent on burning down the building so as to not tempt the possibility of any evidence being found.

Alice was in the process of breaking down a gas pipe when she froze, an obvious indicator that she was having a vision. The vision was much blurrier than usual, the figures almost indistinguishable, but their voices perfectly discernible.

Lainie was in a warehouse. She stood nearly frozen, breathing heavily before yelling out, "I know you're here. Come out you son of a bitch."

A laugh echoed from behind a tall stack of crates. The short silhouette of a man stepped out.

"Anybody ever told you you're a bit of a firecracker? Must be that Latin blood in you." He leered in Lainie's direction.

"Where's Larissa?" Lainie demanded.

"Oh," he laughed again. "Larissa isn't here. I'd wager she's probably safe in her lovely Coral Gables home. Maybe a little distraught at having lost her favorite bracelet. The only thing she had left of her best friend, Nicolette, who'd so tragically killed herself."

"You lied."

"Yes, well, I needed to get you out here alone somehow."

The vision ended there, Alice stood horrified for a moment before calling out to Jasper who had been so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn't notice his best friend's trance.

"Jasper, it's Lainie. She's in danger, there was a man, I couldn't see him, but he lured her out to the abandoned warehouse on Lawson. You need to go now." The words hadn't even completely left her mouth before Jasper was running.

(Warning: Possibly triggering scene ahead)

Nic couldn't believe how stupid she had been. He'd known exactly what he needed to do to get her to go to him and she'd been stupid enough to fall for it. From the very beginning she should have known that something wasn't right. Larissa was literally on the complete opposite end of the country. He couldn't have flown her without her having caught someone's attention, and a several day long drive would have been too risky, as well. She could have thought all of this through rationally had she actually stopped to think.

Then again, if she had actually stopped to think, she'd have realized that very few things in life were coincidences. If she'd stopped to think, Rey could have used him making himself known to Nic to their advantage and they could have caught him unaware instead.

Her stupidity had gotten her killed. Maybe her heart was still beating, but she'd effectively signed her own death warrant by showing up here.

"Why are you doing this to me? Why can't you just leave me alone?" She screamed. "Haven't you already taken enough from me?"

"It always come down to why, doesn't it?" He mused. "Truth is, Nic—"

"Don't call me that." She growled, shaking her head. "You don't get to call me that, you sick bastard."

The man only sighed as if he were dealing with a particularly petulant child. He hadn't even reacted to the insult. "The truth, Nicolette, is that I was bored. It's pretty simple, really. I woke up one day, completely dissatisfied with where my life had taken me. The constant need to repress my urges had been driving me insane for so long, and one day I just decided that I needed to make a change. And so I did."

"So you murdered my parents because you were bored?" Her disbelief was palpable. All the anger, all the pain, every single awful thing that had been plaguing her for months now was because he was fucking bored. "You're a fucking monster."

"You wouldn't be saying that at all if you knew what really lurked beyond the shadows. Me? I'm just a man with a bit of a strange urge, that's all. We all have our vices. I don't think that makes me a monster. Would a monster have warned your family that he was coming? Does that not deserve a little credit?" He asked, referencing the note he had sent her family, but didn't wait for her to answer. She wouldn't have known what to say either way. The man was deranged.

"But to answer your question, no." He shook his head, laughing, "Amber Nelson and Shelley Baker were because I was bored. Maya Clarke, Jamie Davis, and now you, were because I'd become addicted to the feeling killing had brought me." Nic recognized the names of the girls. They'd been the ones that came before her. All four were dead and she was next unless she figured out how to stall him. It'd been about 7 minutes since she'd pushed the panic button. She needed to keep him talking. Maybe Rey would make it in time. "It's such a rush, feeling their lives drain from their weakened bodies as the blood comes pouring out, staining my hands red. So beautiful." He said matter of factly, looking down at his hands reverently as if envisioning them covered in the substance. Nic felt the bile rising in her throat at the thought of him looking down at his hands covered in her parent's blood.

"So you're going to kill me." It wasn't a question. Nic knew he wouldn't have lured her out there if not to kill her.

"Of course. I can't move on to my next girl until you're dead. You're unfinished business, my dear Nicolette." He'd begun moving toward her slowly, Nic began stepping back.

"Actually, you may already know my next girl. Her name stars with Lar, ends with Issa." He grinned wickedly as her features twisted into one of rage. Nic's actions were entirely impulsive from that moment forward. She reached behind her and pulled out Rey's gun, fully intending to shot him dead. Nic quickly switched off the safety, but right before she could aim and shoot, he jumped forward, knocking her down and knocking the gun out of her hand. It landed on the floor a few feet away from where she had fallen.

"Now what on earth did you think you were going to do with that?" He asked, hovering over her in a straddling position and holding her arms down with one much stronger arm. His other arm reached into his pocket, pulling out a switchblade.

She didn't answer. She didn't think he'd been expecting one.

"See this?" He asked, switching the blade open to show it was covered in what looked to be dried blood. Nic whimpered, struggling against his hold on her arms. "That's mommy and daddy's blood. I left it on there just for you." He slashed the knife across her cheek. The sting of the open wound caused tears to well up in her eyes, but she tried her hardest to blink them away. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry, or even beg for her life.

The man was now lowering the knife to her throat, but before he could, Nic brought her right knee up and slammed it into the side of his thigh. The unexpected movement caused him to lose his balance, tipping over on his side. As he fell, the hand holding the switchblade slashed at her arm, slicing through her jacket and through the skin. It cut deep, causing a sharp, stinging pain to flow through her arm. Nic stifled a cry as she quickly righted herself and scrambled toward the gun a few feet from her right.

Just as she grabbed ahold of the gun, he slammed into her again, knocking her back down, the gun falling from her hand once more. Her head slammed down into the concrete floor of the warehouse.

"Your parents put up quite the fight, too, ya know." He grinned lasciviously before slamming the switchblade into her abdomen.

Nic screamed as she felt him twist the blade. He pulled it out, drawing his arm back before ramming it into her stomach again. Another scream. Nic blindly felt around for the gun, her eyes screwed shut in pain as he twisted the knife inside of her repeatedly.

She felt her hand touch the gun, quickly grabbing ahold of it. He hadn't noticed, too enthralled with the sight of the sticky blood staining her abdomen.

Nic pulled the trigger, not aiming at anything in particular. She couldn't think straight, her head hurt and she was losing too much blood.

The sound of the gun firing pulled him out of his trance and he scrambled off of her impulsively. In her lightheadedness, Nic somehow found the strength to aim the gun at his now slightly retreated figure. Headshot.

She pulled the trigger.

The second shot rang loudly through the air, followed shortly by the sound of the warehouse doors slamming open, Rey's frantic voice yelling out Nic's name.

The last thing she heard before passing out was the sound of sirens reverberating throughout the empty warehouse.

Jasper Hale hadn't left the hospital in days. He knew it wasn't wise being so close to so much blood without having fed, but the pain of seeing Lainie laying helpless in the hospital bed overshadowed the pain of his burning throat.

She was all he could see.

Lainie looked so fragile just laying there. If it weren't for the heart monitor next to her bed and the fact that he could hear the steady thrum of her heartbeat, he'd have thought her to be dead.

Carlisle had said that her injuries, while severe, were entirely recoverable; however, it was entirely up to Lainie and her body how fast she recuperated.

Jasper went through a mental checklist of her injuries in his mind.

Two lacerations. One to the cheek and the other to the arm. Both having required multiple stitches.

Two perforations to the abdomen. An emergency surgery had been required. She'd coded once on the operating table, but the doctors had been able to bring her back.

One minor head wound. Due to her having slipped into the coma, a CT scan had been necessary to assess the damage. It had come back clear. A small mercy.

Carlisle had told Jasper that the doctors had done the very best that they could for her.

Unfortunately, Carlisle hadn't been present due to having still been in Phoenix, so Jasper had been forced to take his word on the abilities of his colleagues at the small Forks hospital.

Carlisle had also told Jasper that the only thing they could do now was wait as her body healed. She'd wake up in her own time. Jasper hated waiting, but he'd wait an eternity if he had to.

"You need to hunt." Jasper's head snapped up at the sound of his sister's voice.

"What are you doing here?"

"Telling you to hunt, obviously." Rosalie rolled her eyes at her brother's sudden stupidity.

Jasper shook his head. "I don't want her to be alone when she wakes up."

Because Lainie was alone. Her aunt, who apparently was not actually her aunt, had come to visit a couple times, but had ultimately been pulled away for work. Work that involved putting away the bastard that had put Lainie in the hospital.

Rey been at the hospital when he had first arrived. Lainie had still been in the operating room, so she didn't know as much as Jasper had hoped she would in regards to her condition.

He had been frantic, asking her what had happened, but she had been adamant that Lainie be the one to tell him. All that mattered, she had said, was that when she woke, she'd finally be safe. She had said the word "when" with such surety that Jasper had forced himself to believe it as well. He wouldn't dare believe that she could slip and he'd lose her.

The last thing she told him before she had to leave, having received a call demanding her presence, was essentially a plea for him to stick by Lainie's side.

"I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to be in her life." She had said, waves of her pain flooding Jasper, mingling with his own. "She'd been so hesitant to get close to people when we first moved here, but then she met you and it was like she'd come alive again. You helped her a lot more than you realize, and then when I got to meet you, I could just see how much you cared about her, as well. Please hold onto that, Jasper. She's already lost so much, please don't let her lose you, too." Jasper could only nod, and with that she'd rushed out of the waiting room. Her phone held up to her ear as she'd argued with an Agent Bonham and an Agent Jones.

Rosalie's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "If she wakes up, she won't be alone. I'll be right here."

Jasper stared in disbelief at his sister.

"Oh don't look at me like that, Jasper." She scoffed. "I'm not entirely heartless."

"I never said you were heartless. I just never thought your heart could extend far enough to accommodate a human." A human that she hated. The words were left unspoken, but Rosalie wasn't stupid. She understood his thought process well enough.

"I never hated her, Jasper. Contrary to everyone's beliefs, I actually tolerate this human." She stared at the young blonde girl, laid motionless on the hospital bed. Her body looked small and fragile, almost child-like. Rosalie's eyes softened at the thought of what this girl had been through. She was so young, yet so strong.

Jasper, having detected a hint of fondness in Rosalie's emotions, stared at his sister with a newfound appreciation.

"Okay… I'll be back in a few hours." He said, reluctantly pulling himself up from the hospital chair he'd taken up residence in the last several days.

"I'll be right here." Rosalie said, taking over Jasper's chair,. She pulled out a Motor Trend magazine from her bag and began flipping through the pages.

"Thanks, Rose." He said, but Rosalie ignored him. She'd always been a bit uncomfortable with signs of gratitude. Jasper took one last look at Lainie's figure before sweeping out of the room, determined to hunt as quickly as possible and get back to her.

Author's note: I was gonna wait to post this until I finished writing chapter 6 so there wouldn't be too long a wait in between chapters, but then I saw your guy's reviews and I almost cried because they were so sweet, so I said, "duck it."

annoying: I guarantee that if this story was a person, they'd be hella down to marry you as well ;) 3 (omg am I showing my age with those emoticons, TikTok has me all insecure these days)

This chapter is considerably shorter than the last two I've put out, so sorry about that. This just seemed like a really good stopping point. We're also getting real close to the end of the story so I'm real excited about that since this will have been the first story for me to have ever completed!

So, if it's not obvious, I've chosen to have an extra limitation on Alice's gift. From the beginning, visions of Lainie had been blurry, and therefore, confusing. This is because Lainie was never actually Lainie. Despite the fact that she had started to identify as such and respond to the moniker, she had never really let go of Nic. Had she let go and fully embraced her identity as Lainie Cortes, Alice's visions would have cleared up because that was who she had been looking for. Once Nic realized that her Lainie persona was now essentially useless, as he had found her either way, she let go of Lainie and began to re-embrace who she actually was. Unfortunately, doing this only made Alice's visions even worse quality because, again, she was thinking of Lainie, and Lainie was mostly ceasing to exist. It was only the remnants of Lainie's fighting personality that lingered in Nic that allowed Alice's vision to be triggered. Remember, she'd been described as more of a lover than a fighter in chapter 1, so her picking up that gun with the intention to kill was all Lainie. Not Nic. Had Nic completely let go of Lainie, Alice would have never seen and they wouldn't have found out what happened until after Jasper returned to Forks. God, I hope that made sense. This may come up again next chapter, but definitely not as detailed.