Bella PoV

It hadn't been nice of Jacob to wake me up like that. My head still hurt from where it had hit the ground and I mumbled some not very flattering things about wolves and men in general.

Just wait until we are alone... I grimaced and pictured every scenario in which I took bloody revenge for my hurting head and the sudden wake up call.

Carlisle was talking to his family when I arrived and he greeted me with a small nod. "We decided to wait until Alice sees something new. Sam will order all around the clock patrols and some of us will go to town to try and find out more about Victoria and the army of new-borns she is creating. You and Jacob will be our communication line," he said in my direction. "The wolves don't trust us and the treaty forbids us and the wolves from entering each other's territory. We'll stay at our old house for the time we are here," Carlisle explained to me. "But it would be wiser not to tell your father that we've returned."

I nodded. Hopefully, Sam was keeping his promise and got Charlie out of this town soon. I wanted him nowhere near us when the battle began.

"One of us will be checking in with you every night." Again a nod from me. Charlie smiled and placed a hand gently on my shoulder. "You are a very brave girl, Bella. I assure you, we'll do everything we can to defeat Victoria and her army."

I could practically feel Rosalie roll her eyes at that but I didn't care. I didn't know why she resented me so much. One day, if I ever got the chance to, I'd ask her why but for now it didn't matter.

A rustling of leaves made me turn around. The wolves were leaving, following Sam and Jared who has phased while we talked. They didn't look back at us and again I had to shake my head at their disrespectful behaviour. I knew of their centuries-old fight and I understood why they didn't like this other but they were allies in this one and you didn't treat allies this way. Carlisle had not been anything but civilized and the rest of the family hadn't shown any sign of hostility too.

Jake had stayed, the big red wolf sitting patiently at the outside of the clearing, waiting for me to finish so he could accompany me home.

"He's a special one, isn't he?" Esme smiled in my direction and I blushed little. "He tries to see things my way even if it is against everything he's been taught to believe," I explained.

"It's hard to change something you've believed since you were born but if the reasons for changing are strong enough..." Esme hugged me affectionately. "Be well, Bella."

I returned the hug, feeling a bit like a little girl hugging her mother. Maybe they are some kind of family after all. Like an extended branch or something...

I said my goodbyes to everyone else and watched them leave, silently vanishing into the woods.

Jacob was at my side the minute they'd left, sniffing and shaking his head when the smell of vampire hit him. I laughed. "I know, I'll take a shower and change once we are back, alright?"

The next two days passed without new leads. I went to school, even though I couldn't concentrate one bit on geometrics when somewhere else an army of the undead was gathering to kill me, came home, made lunch for me and Jacob, did my homework and waited for one of the Cullens to arrive and tell me that "Everything was quiet on the Western front" as Jasper had put it when he arrived the first night with Alice.

I was sitting outside on the back of my truck with Jacob, watching the stars (which were not as many as you could see in the reservation but still) when the next member of the Cullen clan arrived. I felt Jacob stiffen at my side but he stayed where he was. It had taken me two days and a lot of persuasion to make him stay in his human form when one of the vampires showed up. I had to assure him time and time again that they wouldn't turn against him or me, that they were the good guys and that I had lived so long amongst them and never had they hurt me. At least not willingly but I didn't tell him that.

I felt the blood rush through his veins when I placed my hand on his arm. The look on his face was tense, his jaw clenched tight. He must have fought with every bit of strength he had to stay where and what he was. "It's alright," I whispered in his ear. "You can do this. Remember, I told you they are good people. They won't hurt any of us. I love you." When I gave him a small kiss on the cheek I felt him relax a little. A very small little.

This time it was Emmet's turn to show, Rosalie at his side. At the sight of the, compared to the others, huge vampire, the tension in Jacob's body returned and it took considerable strength from me to make him sit tight. "It's alright," I murmured. "He only seems scary but in the end he's just a big teddy bear."

"Teddy bear? Really? Come one Bella, you can do better than that." Emmet called from across the yard and I winced. Damn vampires and their incredible hearing abilities...

"Hm, how about marshmallow then? All squishy and soft and sweet," I joked. Neither Rosalie nor Jacob seemed too happy about our friendly teasing but someone had to break the ice.

"Sweet I can do, but soft and squishy? You saw us at the baseball field, remember? Nothing squishy and soft there as I recall."

"Yeah, on the outside maybe. But inside you remain a sweet and squishy marshmallow." I shrugged and Emmet laughed. "Okay, you win this round, Bella Swan. But this is only a temporary retreat, not a defeat."

"Are you two quite done now playing clown?" Rosalie asked sharply, stepping up, looking sternly in my direction. Immediately Jake jumped down from the back of the truck and stepped in front of me, his natural defence mechanism kicking in.

I sighed. At least he's still human... But who knows how long?

"Wow, that was fast. Nearly as fast as us." Emmet nodded in approval.

Rosalie groaned. "Can't we just deliver our message and leave? It smells of wet dog."

Before any of us could react to this really rude comment, Emmet spoke up. "Rose, I know you don't like this whole situation but there's no reason for at least not trying to be friendly. I don't think you smell like roses and rubies to them, honey."

A deep frown appeared on my head. Had Emmet just sided with us? With the enemy? And scolded his sister/girlfriend/wife?

Jacob seemed to think the same because he crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked at the pair with narrowed eyes. I jumped down the truck too and stood beside Jacob. "Emmet is right, Rosalie. Like it or not we are allies in this one. We need to treat each other with at least a little bit of respect. Isn't there enough hatred between vampires and werewolves already?"

Rosalie snorted but kept shut. Emmet grinned. "Little Bella, always the peace-maker."

"Out of necessity." I sighed. "So, is there anything new?"

"Nope, everything like always. Although, Carlisle had been to Port Angeles last night and had heard of a lot of cases of missing teens. Her army is growing each day."

"Yeah, but nothing we can't handle," Jacob chimed in, still looking at Emmet and Rosalie like he didn't know what to make of them.

"Yup, this red-haired bitch won't stand a chance." The black haired vampire winked at me and Jacob looked even more surprised.

I had to admit, I was too. Emmet seemed determined to break the ice here and he was getting really good at it. The animosity that had lingered between the wolf and the vampire had turned into precaution and this was already a huge step.

"See, I told you they are not all bad." I took Jacob's warm hand in mine and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

He huffed and stayed quiet. Emmet and I talked some more before he and Rosalie went home and Jacob and I went inside.

A welcoming silence greeted us when we stepped into the dark house. Yesterday Charlie had announced he would go on an extended fishing trip with some old friends and would stay some days. I knew he wasn't quite comfortable with me staying all alone with Jacob but after he had given me and the Jacob "the talk" and asked Sue Clearwater to check on me from time to time he had been reassured enough to leave this morning before I went to school. I knew that this must have been partly Sam's doing but didn't say anything.

It made things a lot easier, being all alone. It meant Jacob could stay with me the whole time to be the "communication line" between the vampires and the werewolves. This whole thing sounded a bit complicated to me, but who was I to judge?

Once inside I fell down on the couch in full length and look thoughtfully at the ceiling. "That didn't go that bad didn't it?" I asked Jake who had sat down beside me.