ok guys yes there is a love triangle BUT just like in the real version she's going to choose the vampire. like I said this is basically the same story with some stuff added in. now when breaking Dawn comes which is next

ELSA'S POV

I forced my eyes—frozen wide open with shock—to move, so that I could not examine too closely the oval object wrapped in tendrils of shivering, fiery hair.

Anna was in motion again. Swift and coolly businesslike, she dismembered the headless corpse.

I could not go to her—I could not make my feet respond; they were bolted to the stone beneath them. But I scrutinized her every action minutely, looking for any evidence that she had been harmed. My heart slowed to a healthier rhythm when I found nothing. She was lithe and graceful as ever. I couldn't even see a tear in her clothes.

She did not look at me—where I stood frozen to the cliff wall, horrified—while she piled the quivering twitching limbs and then covered them with dry pine needles. She still did not meet my shocked gaze as she darted into the forest after Olaf.

I didn't have time to recover before both she and Olaf were back, Anna with her arms full of Riley. Olaf was carrying a large chunk—the torso—in his mouth. They added their burden to the pile, and Elsa pulled a silver rectangle from her pocket. She flipped open the butane lighter and held the flame to the dry tinder. It caught at once; long tongues of orange fire licked rapidly across the pyre.

"Get every piece," Anna said in a low aside to Olaf.

Together, the vampire and the werewolf scoured the campsite, occasionally tossing small lumps of white stone into the blaze. Olaf handled the pieces with his teeth. My brain wasn't working well enough for me to understand why he didn't change back to a form with hands.

Anna kept her eyes on her work.

And then they were done, and the raging fire was sending a pillar of choking purple toward the sky. The thick smoke curled up slowly, looking more solid than it should; it smelled like burning incense, and the scent was uncomfortable. It was heavy, too strong.

Olaf made that snickering sound again, deep in his chest.

A smile flickered across Anna's tense face.

Anna stretched out her arm, her hand curled into a fist. Olaf grinned, revealing the long row of dagger teeth, and bumped his nose against Anna's hand.

"Nice teamwork," Anna murmured.

Olaf coughed a laugh.

Then Anna took a deep breath, and turned slowly to face me.

I did not understand her expression. Her eyes were as wary as if I were another enemy—more than wary, they were afraid. Yet she'd shown no fear at all when she'd faced Samantha and Riley… my mind was stuck, stunned and useless as my body. I stared at her, bewildered.

"Elsa, love," she said in her softest tone, walking toward me with exaggerated slowness, her hands held up, palms forward. Dazed as I was, it reminded me oddly of a suspect approaching a police officer, showing that they weren't armed…

Elsa, can you drop the rock, please? Carefully. Please don't hurt yourself further."

I'd forgotten all about my crude weapon, though I realized now that I was grasping it so hard that my hand was probably cut up now, too. I glanced down—as briefly as I could—down at my arm; the blood was still trickling down my forearm, leaving a small pool of blood in the snow.

Annna hesitated a few feet from me, her hands still in the air, her eyes still fearful.

It took me a few long seconds to remember how to move my fingers. Then the rock fell with a dull crunch into the snow, while my hands stayed frozen in the same position.

Anna relaxed slightly when my hands were empty, but came no closer.

"You don't have to be afraid, Elsa," Anna murmured. "You're safe. I won't hurt you."

The mystifying promise only confused me further. I stared at her, trying to understand.

"It's going to be all right, Elsa. I know you're frightened now, but it's over. No one is going to hurt you. I won't touch you. I won't hurt you," she said again.

My eyes blinked furiously, and I found my voice. "Why do you keep saying that?"

I took an unsteady step toward her, and she leaned away from my advance.

"What's wrong?" I whispered. "What do you mean?"

"Are you…" Her golden eyes were suddenly confused as I felt. "Aren't you afraid of me?"

"No?" I blinked a few times. "Why would I be afraid of you?"

I staggered forward another step, and then tripped over something. Anna caught me, and I buried my face in her chest and started to sob uncontrollably.

"Elsa, Elsa, I'm so sorry. It's over, it's over."

"I'm fine," I gasped. "I'm okay. I'm just. Freaking out. Give me. A minute."

Her arms tightened around me. "I'm so sorry," she murmured again and again.

I clung to her until I couldn't breathe, and then we were kissing. I don't know who initiated the kisses, but it didn't matter. We were holding each other tightly, fiercly. Kissing and kissing over and over again. My brain finally started working gain.

"Are you okay?" I demanded between kisses. "Did she hurt you at all?"

"I'm absolutely fine," she promised, burying her face in my hair.

"Olaf?"

Anna chuckled. "More than fine. Very pleased with himself, in fact."

"The others? Alice, Arianna? The pack?"

"All fine. It's over there, too. It went just as smoothly as I promised. We got the worst of it here."

I let myself absorb that for a moment, let it sink in and settle in my head.

Everyone was safe. Samantha was never coming after me again. It was over.

We were all going to be fine.

But I couldn't completely take in the good news while I was still so confused.

"Tell me why," I insisted. "Why did you think I would be afraid of you?"

"I'm sorry," she said, apologizing yet again—for what? I had no idea. "So sorry. I didn't want you to see that. Seems like that. I know I must have terrified you."

I had to think about that for another minute, about the hesitant way she'd approached me, her hands in the air. Like I was going to run if she moved too fast…

"Seriously?" I finally asked. "You… what? Thought you'd scared me off?" I snorted. Snorting was good; a voice couldn't tremble or break during a snort. It sounded impressively offhand.

She put her hand under my chin and tilted my head back to read my face.

"Elsa, I just"—she hesitated and then forced the words out—"I just beheaded and dismembered a sentient creature not twenty yards from you. That doesn'tbotheryou?"

She frowned at me.

I shrugged. Shrugging was good, too. Very blasé. "No, not really. I was only afraid that you and Olaf were going to get hurt. I wanted to help, but there's only so much I can do…"

Her suddenly livid expression made my voice fade out.

"Yes," she said, her tone clipped. "Your little stunt with the rock. You know that you nearly gave me a heart attack? Not the easiest thing to do, that."

In a swift motion, she ripped off a piece of her shirt and wrapped it around my arm where I had cut myself.

"I wanted to help… Olaf was hurt…"

"Olaf was only feigning that he was hurt, Elsa. He recovered much quicker than he let on." She shook her head, "Your distraction did help, though. But believe me, Olaf could have handled things on his own."

We both looked at Olaf, who was studiously ignoring us, watching the flames. Smugness radiated from every hair in his fur.

"Well, I didn't know that," I said, on the offense now. "And it's not easy being the only helpless person around. I wasn't going to just sit on the sidelines—and I won't be sitting on the sidelines next time, either!"

A dozen emotions flitted across her face before she settled on being amused. "Next time? Did you anticipate another war soon?"

"With my luck? Who knows?"

She rolled her eyes, but I could see that she was flying—the relief was making us both lightheaded. It was over.

Or… Was it?

"Hold on. Didn't you say something before—?" I flinched, remembering whatexactlyit had been before—my conversation with Honeymaren. My splintered heart throbbed out a painful, aching beat. It was hard to believe, almost impossible, but the hardest part of this day wasnotbehind me—and then I soldiered on. "About a complication? And Alice, needing to nail down the schedule for Sam. You said it was going to be close. What was going to be close?"

Anna's eyes flickered back to Olaf, and they exchanged a loaded glance.

"Well?" I asked.

"It's nothing, really," Anna said quickly. "But we do need to be on our way…"

She started to pull me into place on her back, but I stiffened and drew away.

"Define nothing."

Anna took my face between her palms. "We only have a minute, so don't panic, all right? I told you that you had no reason to be afraid. Trust me on that, please?"

I nodded, trying to hide the sudden terror—how much more could I handle before I collapsed? "No reason to be afraid. Got it."

She pursed her lips for a second, deciding what to say. And then she glanced abruptly at Olaf, as if the wolf had called her.

"What's he doing?" Anna asked.

Olaf whined; it was an anxious, uneasy sound. It made the hair on the back of my neck rise.

Everything was dead silent for one endless second.

And then Anna gasped, "No!" and one of her hands flew out as if to grab something that I couldn't see. "Don't—!"

A spasm rocked through Olaf's body, and a howl, blistering with agony, ripped from his lungs.

Anna fell to her knees at the exact same moment, gripping the sides of her head with two hands, her face furrowed in pain.

I cried out in bewildered terror, and dropped to my knees beside her. Futilely, I tried to pull her hands from her face; my palms, clammy with sweat, slid off her marble skin.

"Elsa! Elsa!"

Her eyes focused on me; with obvious effort, she pulled her clenched teeth apart.

"It's okay. We're going to be fine. It's—" She broke off, and winced again.

"What's happening?" I cried out while Olaf howled in anguish.

"We're fine. We're going to be okay," Anna gasped. "Kristoff—help him—"

And I realized in that instant, when she said Kristoff's name, that she was not speaking of herself and Olaf. No unseen force was attacking them. This time, the crisis was not here.

She was using the pack plural.

I burned through all my adrenaline. My body had nothing left. I sagged, and Anna caught me before I could hit the rocks. She sprang to her feet, me in her arms.

"Olaf!" Anna shouted.

Olaf was crouched, still tensed in agony, looking as if he meant to launch himself into the forest.

"No!" Anna ordered. "You gostraight home. Now. As fast as you can!"

Olaf whimpered, shaking his great head from side to side.

"Olaf. Trust me."

The huge wolf stared into Anna's agonized eyes for one long second, and then he straightened up and flew into the trees, disappearing like a ghost.

Anna cradled me tightly against her chest, and then we were also hurtling through the shadowy forest, taking a different path than the wolf.

"Anna." I fought to force the words through my constricted throat. "What happened, Anna? What happened to Kristoff? Where are we going? What's happening?"

"We have to go back to the clearing," she told me in a low voice. "We knew there was a good probability of this happening. Earlier this morning, Alice saw it and passed it through Kristoff to Olaf. The Volturi decided it was time to intercede."

The Volturi.

To much. My mind refused to make sense of the words, pretended it couldn't understand.

The trees jolted past us. She was running downhill so fast that it felt as if we were plummeting, falling out of control.

"Don't panic. They aren't coming for us. It's just the normal contingent of the guard that usually cleans up this kind of mess. Nothing momentous, they're merely doing their job. Of course, they seem to have timed their arrival very carefully. Which lead me to believe that no one in Italy would mourn if these newbornshadreduced the size of the Cullen family." The words came through her teeth, hard and bleak. "I'll know for sure what they were thinking when they get to the clearing."

"Is that why we're going back?" I whispered. Could I handle this? Images of flowing back robes crept into my unwilling mind, and I flinched away from them. I was close to a breaking point.

"It's part of the reason. Mostly, it will be safer for us to present a united front at this point. They have no reason to harass us, but… Jane's with them. If she thought we were alone somewhere away from the others, it might tempt her. Like Samantha, Jane will probably guess that I'm with you. Demetri, of course, is with her. He could find me, if Jane asked him to."

I didn't want to think that name. I didn't want to see that blindingly exquisite, childlike face in my head. A strange sound came out of my throat. I felt my breath quicken in panic.

"Shh, Elsa, shh. It's all going to be fine. Alice can see that."

Alice could see? But… then where were the wolves? Where was the pack?

"The pack?"

"They had to leave quickly. The Volturi do not honor truces with werewolves."

I could hear my breathing get even faster, more frantic, btu I couldn't control it. I started to gasp.

"I swear they will be fine," Anna promised me. "The Volturi won't recognize the scent—they won't realize the wolves are here; this isn't a species they are familiar with. The pack will be fine."

I couldn't process her explanation. My concentration was ripped to shreds by my fears and rising panic.We're going to be fine, she had said before… and Olaf, howling in agony… Anna had avoided my first question, distracted me with the Volturi.

I was very close to the edge—just clinging by my fingertips.

The trees were a racing blur that flowed around her like jade waters.

"What happened?" I whispered again. "Before. When Olaf was howling? When you were hurt?"

Anna hesitated.

"Anna! Tell me!"

"It was all over," she whispered. I could barely hear her over the wind her speed created. "The wolves didn't count their half… they thought they had them all. Of course, Alice couldn't see…"

"What happened!?"

"One of the newborns was hiding… Liam found him—he was being stupid, cocky, trying to prove something. He engaged the newborn alone…"

"Liam," I repeated, and my panic started rising higher. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Liam wasn't hurt," Elsa mumbled.

I stared at her for a long second.

Kristoff—help her—Elsa had gasped. Her who?

"We're almost there," Anna said, and she stared at a fixed point in the sky.

Automatically, my eyes followed hers. There was a dark purple cloud hanging low over the trees. A cloud. But it was so abnormally sunny… No, not a cloud—I recognized the thick column of smoke, just like the one at our campsite.

"Anna," I said, my voice nearly inaudible. "Anna, someone got hurt."

I'd heard Olaf's agony, seen the torture in Anna's face.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Who?" I asked, though, of course, I already knew the answer.

Of course I did. Of course.

The trees were slowing around us as we came to our destination.

It took her a long moment to answer me.

"Honeymaren," she said.

I was able to nod once.

"Honeymaren" I repeated.

And then I slipped off the edge I was clinging to inside my head.

Everything went black.

I was first aware of the cool hands touching me. More than one pair of hands. Arms holding me, a palm curved to fit my cheek, fingers stroking my forehead, and more fingers pressed lightly into my wrist.

Then I was aware of the voices. They were just a humming at first, and then they grew in volume and clarity like someone was turning up a radio.

"Frederic—it's been five minutes." Anna's voice, anxious.

"She'll come around when she's ready, Anna." Frederic's voice, always calm and sure. "She's had too much to deal with today. Let her mind protect itself."

But my mind was not protected. It was trapped in the knowledge that had not left me, even in unconsciousness—the pain that was part of the blackness.

I felt totally disconnected from my body. Like I was caged in some small corner of my head, no longer at the controls. But I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't think. The agony was too strong for that. There was no escape from it.

Honeymaren.

Honeymaren.

No, no, no, no, no…

"Alice, how long do we have?" Anna demanded, her voice still tense; Frederic's soothing words had not helped.

From farther away, Alice's voice. She sounded distracted. "Another five moments. And Elsa will open her eyes in thirty-seven seconds. I wouldn't doubt that she can hear us now."

"Elsa, honey?" This was Arianna's soft, comforting voice. "Can you hear me? You're safe now, dear."

Yes,Iwas safe. But was Honeymaren?

Then cool lips were at my ear, and Anna was speaking the words that allowed me to escape from the torture that had me caged inside my own head.

"She's going to live, Elsa. Honeymaren Black is healing as I speak. She'll be fine."

As the pain and dread eased, I found my way back to my body. My eyelids fluttered.

"Oh, Elsa," Anna sighed in relief, and her lips touched mine.

"Anna," I whispered.

"Yes, I'm here."

I got my lids to open, and I stared into warm gold.

"Honeymaren is okay?" I asked.

"Yes," she promised.

I watched her eyes carefully for some sign that she was placating me, but they were perfectly clear.

"I examined her myself," Frederic said then; I turned my head to find her face, only a few feet away. Frederic's expression was serious and reassuring at the same time. It was impossible to doubt him. "Her life is not in any danger. she was healing at an incredible rate, though her injuries were extensive enough that it will still be a few days before she is back to normal, even if the rate of repair holds steady. As soon as we're done here, I will do what I can to help her. Kristoff is trying to get her to phase back to her human form. That will make treating her easier." Frederic smiled slightly. "I've never been to veterinarian school."

"What happened to him?" I whispered. "How bad are her injuries?"

Frederic's face was serious again. "Another wolf was in trouble —"

"Liam," I breathed.

"Yes. Honeymaren knocked Liam out of the way, but she didn't have time to defend herhe newborn got his arms around her. Most of the bones on the right half of her body were shattered."

I flinched.

"Kristoff and Paul got there in time. she was already improving when they took her back to La Push." "She'll be back to normal?" I asked.

"Yes, Elsa. she won't have any permanent damage."

I took a deep breath.

"Three minutes," Alice said quietly.

I struggled, trying to get vertical. Anna realized what I was doing and helped me to my feet.

I stared at the scene in front of me.

The Cullens stood in a loose semicircle around the bonfire. There were hardly any flames visible, just the thick, purple-black smoke, hovering like a disease against the bright grass. Jasper stood closest to the solid-seeming haze, in its shadow so that his skin did not glitter brilliantly in the sun the way the others did. He had his back to me, his shoulders tense, his arms slightly extended. There was something there, in his shadow. Something he crouched over with wary intensity…

I was too numb to feel more than a mild shock when I realized what it was.

There were eight vampires in the clearing.

The girl was curled into a small ball beside the flames, her arms wrapped around her legs. She was very young. Younger than me—she looked maybe fifteen, dark-haired and slight. Her eyes were focused on me, and the irises were a shocking brilliant red. Much brighter than Riley's, almost glowing. They wheeled wildly, out of control.

Anna saw my bewildered expression.

"She surrendered," she told me quietly. "That's one I've never seen before. Only Frederic would think of offering. Jasper doesn't approve."

I couldn't tear my gaze away from the scene besides the fire. Jasper was rubbing absently at his left forearm.

"Is Jasper all right?" I whispered.

"He's fine. The venom stings."

"He was bitten?" I asked, horrified.

"He was trying to be everywhere at once. Trying to make sure Alice had nothing to do, actually." Anna shook her head. "Alice doesn't need anyone's help."

Alice grimaced toward her true love. "Overprotective fool."

Then Alice's eyes slowly drifted back to me. She looked at me with a concerned, but confused expression on her face.

The young female suddenly threw her head back like an animal and wailed shrilly.

Jasper growled at her and she cringed back, but her fingers dug into the ground like claws and her head whipped back and forth in anguish. Jasper took a step toward her, slipping deeper into his crouch. Anna moved with overdone casualness, turning our bodies so that she was between the girl and me. I peeked around her arm to watch around her arm to watch the thrashing girl and Jasper.

Frederic was at Jasper's side in an instant. He put a restraining hand on his most recent son's arm.

"Have you changed your mind, young one?" Frederic asked, calm as ever. "We don't want to destroy you, but we will if you can't control yourself."

"How can you stand it?" The girl groaned in a high, clear voice. "Iwanther." Her bright crimson irises focused on Anna, through her, beyond her to me, and her nails ripped through the hard soil again.

"You must stand it," Frederic told her gravely. "You must exercise control. It is possible, and it is the only thing that will save you now."

The girl clutched her dirt-encrusted hands around her head, yowling quietly.

"Shouldn't we move away from her?" I whispered, tugging on Anna's arm. The girl's lips pulled back over teeth when she heard my voice, her expression one of torment.

"We have to stay here," Anna murmured. "They are coming to the north end of the clearing now."

My heart burst into a sprint as I scanned the clearing, but I couldn't see anything past the thick pall of smoke.

After a second of fruitless searching, my gaze crept back to the young female vampire. She was still watching me, her eyes half-mad.

I met the girl's stare for a long moment. Chin-length dark hair framed her face, which was alabaster pale. It was hard to tell if her features were beautiful, twisted as they were by rage and thirst. The feral red eyes were dominant—hard to look away from. She glared at me viciously, shuddering and writhing every few seconds.

I stared at her, mesmerized, wondering if I were looking into a mirror of my possible future.

Then Frederic and Jasper began to back toward the rest of us. Cassandra, Rapunzel, and Arianna all converged hastily around where Anna stood with Alice and me. A united front, as Anna had said, with me at the heart, in the safest place.

I tore my attention away from the wild girl to search for the approaching monsters.

There was still nothing to see. I glanced at Anna, and her eyes were locked straight ahead. I tried to follow her gaze, but there was only the smoke—dense, oily smoke twisting low to the ground, rising lazily, undulating against the grass.

It billowed forward, darker in the middle.

"Hmm," a dead voice murmured from the mist. I recognized the apathy at once.

"Welcome, Jane." Anna's tone was coolly courteous.

The dark shapes came closer, separating themselves from the haze, solidifying. I knew it would be Jane in the front—the darkest cloak, almost black, and the smallest figure by more than two feet. I could just barely make out Jane's angelic features in the shade of the cowl.

The four gray-shrouded figures hulking behind her were also somewhat familiar. I was sure I recognized the biggest one, and while I stared, trying to confirm my suspicion, Felix looked up. He let his hood fall back slightly so that I could see him wink at me and smile. Anna was very still at my side, tightly in control.

Jane's gaze moved slowly across the luminous faces of the Cullens and then touched on the newborn girl beside the fire; the newborn had her head in her hands again.

"I don't understand." Jane's voice was toneless, but not quite as uninterested as before.

"She has surrendered," Anna explained, answering the confusion in her mind.

Jane's dark eyes flashed to his face. "Surrendered?"

Felix and another shadow exchanged a quick glance.

Anan shrugged. "Frederic gave her the option."

"There are no options for those who break the rules," Jane said flatly.

Frederic spoke then, his voice mild. "That's in your hands. As long as she was willing to halt her attack on us, I saw no need to destroy her. She was never taught."

"That is irrelevant," Jane insisted.

"As you wish."

Jane stared at Frederic in consternation. She shook her head infinitesimally, and then composed her features.

"Aro hoped that we would get far enough west to see you, Frederic. He sends his regards."

Frederic nodded. "I would appreciate it if you would convey mind to him."

"Of course." Jane smiled. Her face was almost too lovely when it was animated. She looked back toward the smoke. "It appears you've done our work for us today… for the most part." Her eyes flickered to the hostage. "Just out of professional curiosity, how many were there? They left quite a wake of destruction in Seattle."

"Eighteen, including this one," Frederic answered.

Jane's eyes widened, and she looked at the fire again, seeming to reassess the size of it. Felix and the other shadows exchanged a longer glance.

"Eighteen?" she repeated, her voice sounding unsure for the first time.

"All brand-new," Frederic said dismissively. "They were unskilled."

"All?" Her voice turned sharp. "Then who was their creator?"

"Her name was Samantha," Anna answered, no emotion in her voice.

"Was?" Jane asked.

Anna inclined her head toward the Eastern forest. Jane's eyes snapped up and focused on something far in the distance. The other pillar of smoke? I didn't look away to check.

Jane stared to the east for a long moment, and then examined the closer bonfire again.

"This Samantha—she was in addition to the eighteen here?"

"Yes. She had only one other with her. He was not as young as this one here, but no older than a year."

"Twenty," Jane breathed. "Who dealt with the creator?"

"I did," Anna told her.

Jane's eyes narrowed, and she turned to the girl beside the fire.

"You there," she said, her dead voice harsher than before. "Your name."

The newborn short a baleful glare at Jane, her lips pressed tightly together.

Jane smiled back angelically.

The newborn girl's answering scream was ear-piercing; her body arched stiffly into a distorted, unnatural position. I looked away, fighting the urge to cover my ears. I gritted my teeth, hoping to control my stomach. The screaming intensified. I tried to concentrate on Anna's face, smooth and unemotional, but that made me remember when it had been Anna under Jane's torturing gaze, and I felt sicker. I looked at Alice instead, and Arianna next to her. Their faces were as empty as hers.

Finally, it was quiet.

"Your name," Jane said again, her voice inflectionless.

"Bree," the girl gasped.

Jane smiled, and the girl shrieked again. I held my breath until the sound of her agony stopped.

"She'll tell you anything you want to know," Anna said through her teeth. "You don't have to do that."

Jane looked up, sudden humor in her usually dead eyes. "Oh, I know," she said to Anna, grinning at her before she turned back to the young vampire, Bree.

"Bree," Jane said, her voice cold again. "Is This story true? Were there twenty of you?"

The girl lay panting, the side of her face pressed against the earth. She spoke quickly. "Nineteen or twenty, maybe more, I don't know!" She cringed, terrified that her ignorance might bring on another round of torture. "Sara and the one whose name I don't know got in a fight on the way…"

"And this Samantha—did she create you?"

"I don't know," she said, flinching again. "Riley never said her name. I didn't see that night… it was so dark, and it hurt…" Bree shuddered. "Riley didn't was us to be able to think ofher. He said that our thoughts weren't safe…"

Jane's eyes flickered to Anan, and then back to the girl.

Samantha had planned this well. If she hadn't followed Anna, there would have been no way to know for certain that she was involved.

"Tell me about Riley," Jane said. "Why did he bring you here?"

"Riley told us that we had to destroy the strange yellow-eyes here," Bree babbled quickly and willingly. "He said it would be easy. He said that the city was theirs, and they were coming to get us. He said once they were gone, all the blood would be ours. Riley gave us her scent." Bree lifted one hand and stabbed a finger in my direction. "he said we would know that we had the right coven, because the human would be with them. Riley said whoever got her first could have her."

I heard Anna's jaw flex beside me.

"It looks like Riley was wrong about the easy part," Jane noted.

Bree nodded, seeming relieved that the conversation had taken this non-painful course. She sat up carefully. "I don't know what happened. We split up, but the others never came. And Riley left us, and he didn't come to help like he promised. And then it was so confusing, and everybody was in pieces." She shuddered again. "I was afraid. I wanted to run away. That one"—she looked at Frederic—"said they wouldn't hurt me if I stopped fighting."

"Ah, but that wasn't his gift to offer, young one," Jane murmured, her voice oddly gentle now. "Broken rules demand consequences."

Bree stared at her, not comprehending.

Jane looked at Frederic. "Are you sure you got all of them? The other half that split off?"

Frederic's face was very smooth as he nodded. "We split up, too."

Jane half-smiled. "I can't deny that I'm impressed." The big shadows behind her murmured in agreement. "I've never seen a coven escape an attack of this magnitude intact. Do you know what was behind it? It seems like extreme behavior, considering the way you live here. And why was the girl the key?" Her eyes rested unwillingly on me for one short second.

I shivered.

"Samantha held a grudge against Elsa," Anna told her, her voice impassive.

Jane laughed—the sound was golden, the bubbling laugh of a happy child. "This one seems to bring out bizarrely strong reactions in our kind," she observed, smiling directly at me, her face beatific.

Anna stiffened. I looked at her in time to see her face turning away, back to Jane.

"Would you please not do that?" she asked in a tight voice.

Jane laughed again lightly. "Just checking. No harm done, apparently."

I shivered, deeply grateful that the strange glitch in my system—which had protected me from Jane the last time we'd met—was still in effect. Anna's arm tightened around me.

"Well, it appears that there's not much left for us to do. Odd," Jane said, apathy creeping back into her voice. "We're not used to being rendered unnecessary. It's too bad we missed the fight. It sounds like it would have been entertaining to watch."

"Yes," Anna answered her quickly, her voice sharp. "And you were so close. It's a shame you didn't arrive just a half hour earlier. Perhaps then you could have fulfilled your purpose here."

Jane met Elsa's glare with unwavering eyes. "Yes. Quite a pity how things turned out, isn't it?"

Anan nodded once to look at the newborn Bree again, her face completely bored. "Felix?" she drawled.

"Wait," Anna interjected.

Jane raised one eyebrow, but Anna was staring at Frederic while she spoke in an urgent voice. "We could explain the rules to the young one. She doesn't seem unwilling to learn. She didn't know what she was doing."

"Of course," Frederic answered. "We would certainly be prepared to take responsibility for Bree."

Jane's expression was torn between amusement and disbelief.

"We don't make exceptions," she said. "And we don't give second chances. It's bad for our reputation. Which reminds me…" Suddenly, her eyes were on me again, and her cherubic face dimpled. "Caius will besointerested to hear that you're still human, Elsa. Perhaps he'll decide to visit."

"The date is set," I answered, surprising myself with my confidence.

"Perhaps we'll come visit you in a few months." Alice said, backing up my lie.

Jane's smile faded, and she shrugged indifferently, never looking at Alice. She turned to face Frederic. "It was nice to meet you, Frederic—I'd thought Aro was exaggerating. Well, until we meet again…"

Frederic nodded, his expression pained.

"Take care of that, Felix," Jane said, nodding toward Bree, her voice dripping boredom. "I want to go home."

"Don't watch," Anna whispered in my ear.

I was only too eager to follow her instruction. I'd seen more than enough for one day—more than enough for one lifetime. I squeezed my eyes tightly together and turned my face into Anna's chest.

But I could still hear.

There was a deep rumbling growl, and then a high-pitched keen that was horribly familiar. That sound cut off quickly, and then the only sound was a sickening crunching and snapping.

Anna's hand rubbed anxiously against my shoulders.

"Come," Jane said, and I looked up in time to see the backs of the tall gray cloaks drifting away toward the curling smoke. The incense smell was strong again—fresh.

The gray cloaks disappeared into the thick mist.