Chapter 16

Unforeseen

(Jacob)

Nessie and I were at the beach, enjoying an early October day that was unusually warm for the Olympic Peninsula. It still surprised me how comfortable in the human world that she was. She had a gift that allowed her to make people like her with no effort. But still there was one human staring at us; one of the few palefaces at the beach today.

She was a young lady, maybe early twenties and I knew that I had seen her a couple of times. Her scent was strangely familiar as well; I had recently smelled it. I just couldn't remember when.

After about five minutes of staring, she finally came to talk to us. Nessie and I were wading into the water about twenty feet in. She cleared her throat and began to speak, but I could tell she was nervous. That when Nessie began to talk to her.

"Hi," my darling Renesmee said with a friendly dimpled smile. With that simple act, this lady was as helpless as anyone else would have been to her. "I know you from somewhere," Nessie added still with a welcoming smile on her face.

"You look like-" the woman started but still couldn't exactly place her. That's when she turned to me with a look of remembrance on her. "You're Jacob Black, aren't you?"

My mouth hung low and a shutter ran through my arm as the instinct to defend myself hit, but this was a human girl, not a threat. "Yeah?" I answered as Nessie grabbed my right hand to calm me, and just like that I was; completely calm.

"That's what I thought. You haven't changed at all since I saw you and Bella just before we graduated." She smiled still warmly at us before she added, "I'm Angela; one of Bella's friends."

"Oh," I began to turn red from embarrassment. How could I have forgotten her? She was pretty good looking, pretty tall for a girl and I could tell that she had a pure heart much like Bella did. "Yeah, sorry. This is my imp-… err, girlfriend Nessie." I had to stop myself from calling Renesmee what she really was to me and it hurt to use such a transitory word like girlfriend but to humans it was the right word to use.

The three of us had returned to the beach and were talking when I heard a commanding howl coming from the forest just off the beach. Even though it was Sam, I knew that what he wanted was extremely important so I decided to join them. I said goodbye to Renesmee and began to leave her. "Try and have some fun with Angela. She's one of you mom's friends, but she can't know that she's your mom. You look way too old for that," I said as I walked away with her for a minute stressing the 'way'.

Nessie hugged me and sat on a towel, waving for Angela to join her, which she did. As soon as I was into the forest I phased, not caring about what happened to the old sweat shorts I wore for swim trunks. As soon as I was wolf, I issued the command for Seth, Embry, and Quil to join me. Leah was away looking at colleges and found the new wolf. I was glad; I knew how much she disliked the whole wolf thing, and it made me relieved that she was trying to have a somewhat normal life now that she had learned to control her temper.

My pack assembled quickly. The two packs had split, fairly even numbers as far as I was concerned. I had my five… well four still in La Push plus Leah when she was here, while Sam had twelve. Many of the younger ones relied on Sam to learn to control themselves, so I wasn't upset when the young ones chose to stay with him. We had arranged it so once the young ones learned basic control, they would be able to choose which pack they wanted to belong to; almost all chose Sam, except my friends.

"What's up?" I asked Sam as the three others of my pack met in the clearing where six of his were.

"Fresh trail," Brady said through Sam. It still was weird, hearing someone else's thoughts through an intermediary, but I could only imagine what it was like for the others in my pack to get stuff third-hand.

"Do you recognize it?" I asked again trying to figure out exactly what was going on. By now the sun had begun to set, and it was dusk. It wouldn't be long before the bloodsucker would hunt if it was thirsty and I didn't think that this leech was like the Cullens.

The ten of us began to seek out this trespasser. We were horrified when we crossed it about five minutes later.

The girl I had met on the beach was on the ground writhing in pain and I could clearly see a set of teeth marks on her left arm and neck. Nessie had taken up a defensive position in front of Angela. My best guess was that Angela had went to the bathroom and the bloodsucker probably caught her as she was out of sight of anyone. I assumed that Nessie had smelled the blood and came to help Angela. But now this brought another issue to the forefront.

Even if Angela did survive, we couldn't be sure of what she would become. Luckily the beach was abandoned by palefaces, so there was no issue with others finding out but still if Angela survived the change, then would she be like the Cullens or would she be like the others. And then there was the issue that she had survived a vampire attack. Surely the Italian leeches would have something to say about that. In the end we only had one option at the current time; destroy the bloodsucker. We could deal with Angela later.

Just then the smell of other bloodsuckers came into the night. Some of the younger wolves began to form a line to protect our flanks, with growls and snarls coming from them but after a second Seth and I recognized them; it was Edward and Bella.

"Cool it guys!" Sam commanded in his alpha voice knowing who it was and that they were there to help us. The two friendly vamps (man that still seemed wrong to think but it was true in their case) stood in front of their daughter to protect her. At first they didn't notice Angela but when Doctor Fang came into view, she was his first concern.

"Oh no!" He whispered, but it showed much more concern that that. I knew that Carlisle was horrified by what he saw. He knew many of the families in and around Forks from his time there and couldn't stand that this had happened to any of them. The doc began to try and comfort Angela by stroking her hair and talking gently to her, explaining what had happened to her.

We, aided by Edward and Bella began to tear apart the vampire, but we took care to make sure that we saved the head. Alice had not seen any sign of a nomad coming through, or she would have told us. It was possible that the leech coming to the Rez was a part of it since the fortune teller couldn't see many of our futures. Alice had been able to see glimpses of Nessie and me, but that was only because she was becoming more and more in tune with us. In fact she had seen us getting married, but couldn't see anything further than that.

"Who sent you?" Edward snapped at the head. We had taken care not to destroy any of the pieces as of yet but we did have them scattered around the beach.

A deafening roar came from the tattered vampire's remains as defiantly he refused to answer.

Jasper entered the cleaning at that moment. If there was one member of the Cullen family that scared the hell out of me, it was him. With all the scars that covered him and the usual gift he had to alter moods, he could make you feel no fear as he began to rip you to shreds. He was there for something I wasn't ready for… torture.

"You will talk," Jasper drawled with a sinister grin on his face. He looked like he welcomed this; as if it was something that he hadn't been able to do in a long time. We all knew that Jasper had experience with newborns and also with killing vamps, but this was something far more important.

"Like hell I will!" The intruder snarled which only seemed to make Jasper's smile even wider.

"Very well," Jasper said. His grin made my stomach literally turn. By now some of the wolves had begun to leave the beach. This would be something that even the toughest of the tough would have trouble watching with no reaction. There were only six of us left; myself, Sam, Seth, Embry, Quil, and Paul. All of us had taken a liking the most of the Cullens, but the blonde haired Jasper was always the hardest one to figure out. But still we were completely loyal to Bella and Renesmee because of me.

There was something about the way that Jasper looked at this stranger and the bloodsucker looked back at the blonde vamp. It was almost like he was putting the fear of god into someone who never believed that god really existed, until now. There was always something with Jasper; the scars covering him were meant to be a warning to other leeches, but I never realized that his ability also allowed him to terrify others until now.

Jasper darted over to where the vampire's left leg was laying on the ground and pulled out a zippo lighter. Opening the top and flicking the flint, a flame began to dance from the wick as he leaned down to the ground, holding the flame just inches from the leg. "Last chance," Jasper said coldly, completely devoid of emotion. He actually looked like a vampire; terrifying. The intruder still held his lips locked together, despite the fact that I could smell the fear coming from him as Jasper held the flame to the leg and it ignited in a tower of fire more than six feet high. We had doused the parts in gasoline to prepare for burning him, but were stopped by Edward. Interrogating him was a good idea, no matter how much I wish we would have just killed him. "Still want to be silent?" Jasper asked with a horrible chuckle. He was enjoying this.

Jasper darted to the vampire's right arm, preparing to set it ablaze, but was stopped by the pleas.

"No! Don't!" The bloodsucker pleaded but in the end it wouldn't do any good. We were going to burn him anyway; it would just be more helpful to get info from him on why he came here.

Edward gasped at the thoughts her heard from the nomad. "Not good," he whispered upon hearing whatever it was. He turned to Angela who had settled down in the arms of Carlisle, but was still in pain. She whimpered out, "It hurts," every few seconds, which was accompanied by Carlisle running his fingers along her head to calm her.

"What is it?" Bella asked to her husband. That term still didn't seem to fully apply to what they were; they were more than husband and wife, more than just mates. If vampires could imprint, then that would be a better description for the two of them.

"The Volturi," Edward whispered. We all understood. This bastard was sent by the Italian scum to spy on us or the Cullens for god only know what reason. Then when examining his clothes, Jasper found something that scared all of them. "It looks like Aro's been busy."

Bella's eyes got really wide in horror, followed by a growl from her. She snarled right at this piece of crap, a few inches from his face. First time I ever thought she really looked like a vamp.

Almost as if Edward knew that some of us wouldn't understand, he started questioning the leech.

Jasper started searching the body of the bloodsucker. Hidden under the leech's shirt on his torso was a gold necklace. The thing had to weigh pounds, and it was clear that it was solid gold; super expensive. The medallion was in the shape of a 'V' and had a coat of arms in it, in addition to a couple of rubies. This apparently meant something to Edward and Carlisle more than anyone else.

"How many?" Edward snarled at the condemned bloodsucker.

"About ten," the prisoner answered.

Edward elaborated more to Bella, "Ten new, not counting the twelve they have already. Are any of them gifted?"

The prick actually thought it was a good idea to spit at Edward's face; big mistake. "Jasper?"

On cue, Jasper flicked that lighter casually and ignited his right arm. The flames shot up as high as when his leg was burned.

The leech must of thought the answer because Edward gasped. "A shield breaker," he said looking right at Bella. We all knew what that meant; Bella would be as helpless against Jane and Alec as the rest of us.

"He was a member of the guard," Edward said just above a whisper to all of us supernaturals on the beach. An understanding gasp came from Carlisle and Bella.

"Was?" The unknown vampire said, afraid of my friends and family for the first time.

Edward nodded at Sam and almost immediately the pieces were gathered into one large pile and Jasper set them all on fire. One last pained scream came from the intruder and them there was only the sound of his burning.

"This isn't good," Bella said realizing what would happen soon. "There's only one law more absolute than secrecy and that's the murder of one of the Volturi, no matter the reason.

"Bring 'em on!" Seth crowed. "We can take 'em."

Jasper smiled at the confidence of the young werewolf. In truth they were right; a physical fight with the Volturi was possible to win with Bella forcing them to fight hand to hand, but if something should happen to Bella then our advantage would fade fast.

(Bella)

With the death of the piece of crap who came to hurt my friends, I was able to turn my attention to Angela. I wanted this for her; no I didn't want it this way, but I wanted to be able to tell her the truth about my family and let her make her own choice just like my dad had been able to. But now a vampire bit her, and there was no other option. Just like my dad, she would have to choose between becoming one of us or being killed to stop the pain. But there was something different in her case; Ben. Charlie might had found his true mate in Tanya, but I was certain that Ben was Angela's soulmate. It was hard, but I had to think of what happened to Edward when he thought I was dead. He wanted to kill himself rather than live without me. Could I really force Ben into that situation? No I couldn't. I had to break one of the most absolute vampire laws of all. He had to know the truth, consequences be damned.

This was going to be tricky. Either I could go to Washington State or I'd have to convince Ben to come back here without letting him see Angela as she was now. But as I thought of that problem, it led to another; what about Angela's family? Charlie handled the truth so well; would Angela's parents, her brothers? I was getting way ahead of myself. Telling them now was simply too risky. In the end, Jasper and the packs were right. There was only one option. The Volturi had to be overthrown; vampires had to have the chance to tell those they loved the truth and hope that the loved ones would keep the secret. This wasn't just for Angela, but for my mom too. She hadn't seen me since my wedding; Renee didn't even know she had a granddaughter. I kept trying to convince Edward to let me send her pictures, but he wouldn't let me. He was right; it was just too dangerous. Renee would want to see her, and that wouldn't be good. Renesmee looked like a teenager and had too much of Charlie in her for mom to believe she was adopted. So, in the end, there was only one path.

Angela's shriek was the loudest one yet and was accompanied by her back almost being bent in two. I heard an ear splitting crack, at least to my vampire hearing, followed by her lower body going limp. "Her spine!" I yelled horrified for what happened.

"She'll be alright Bella," Carlisle said still perfectly calm. "The venom just reached her heart. That's the most painful part of the transformation until the very end. But that was the most violent reaction to it I have even seen." Carlisle frowned, which looked wrong for his beautiful face. "She needs us all to get through this."

"What if I sucked the venom out like Edward did for me?"

Carlisle shook his head. "It's too late. Once the venom reaches the heart, there's only two options; vampire life or death." This wasn't a choice I could make for her.

Before I was able to ask Angela, Sam stared snarling and growling at her quivering and crying body being tended to by Carlisle. I could only guess that he figured that she had to be killed before the transformation could proceed. It was risky, I knew that, for someone who didn't choose this life to be a newborn. While myself and Charlie had been in control of ourselves, there were countless stories of newborns who didn't. Entire cities had been destroyed. But Edward knew that I would be myself, so wouldn't Ang? My best friend would do whatever it took to be a good person. I had to trust that.

Seth phased back to human and stood in front of Carlisle and Angela. Yet another thing that I could never thank him enough for. I smiled at his help; no wolf would intentionally strike someone under another wolf's protection. No matter what, it would lead to a fight that wouldn't stop until one side was completely eliminated.

Jacob must have been able to talk Sam into backing off. He trusted us, and I still couldn't thank him enough. He and Renesmee; I smiled at the thought for one of the first times. She could do worse. We'd need all of the packs help to defeat the Volturi, and this time it would be a fight. I had to train; my shield needed to be even more powerful. Kate and Garret would be here in the morning to help me practice. And then there was the fact that Eleazar was certain that dad would be gifted. Maybe they could help him too. Another shield would be great. But they seemed to think his gift was more offensive. If that was true, then we could do it. The Volturi might fall.

Carlisle was still attending to Angela, closely examining her injuries in addition to the bites. She didn't look good.

"Her right arm is shattered, radius and ulna in addition to her right shoulder being completely dislocated," Carlisle said softly running his soft fingers along her exposed skin, which seemed to relieve some of the pain.

"Can't you do something?" I pled for my best human friend. "Give her something?"

Carlisle shook his head, as he started to manipulate her arm. "I can't administer any narcotics. Do you remember what happened when you had venom and morphine?" I did. The painkiller didn't do any good, and only served to paralyze me. "I am going to try and reduce her arm, but I will need extra help to do it." There were two wolves back in their human forms plus myself and Edward over next to them to help in any way possible.

Carlisle pulled and twisted on her arm, using only the upper part, not trying to further damage Angela's radius and ulna. There was the sound of sickening cracks and pops as the ball slipped back into the socket accompanied by shrieks of agony from Angela. If I could still get sick, I would have. After about five seconds of Carlisle working, Angela's screams quieted into whimpers.

I tried to sooth Angela, putting my hands gently on her shoulder as Carlisle worked quickly to fasten a splint to her arm. After finishing on her arm, Carlisle went back to her head, gently running his fingers through her hair while he was thinking about something. Then it hit me; Carlisle had never asked Angela what she wanted.

"Ang?" I said gently into her ear. Her answering cries of pain made me remember when James had stomped on my leg, breaking it. "I can stop the pain, but it might kill you." I felt the beginning of tears in my eyes, even though that was impossible anymore.

Edward looked at me concerned, while Carlisle shook his head. "Bella, it's too late," Carlisle corrected sounding worried. He turned to Angela, realizing that he had never asked her to make her choice. "Angela, we can stop it but it will cost you your life, but if you decide to let it run its course, the pain will end in a few days and you'll have eternity."

Angela still whimpered in pain and I couldn't help to feel guilty. I knew what she wanted and that was Ben. Assuming she decided to endure the pain, I had to tell Ben immediately. Angela cried for me and I gently rubbed the back of her left hand. "I'm here Ang."

"Bella, I can't do it," she whimpered, tears filling her eyes.

I knew she could, but needed a lot of help through the beginning. "You can. Just stay with me. It's three days of hell, but then you won't feel pain again." I knew I was only speaking of the physical; she'd have a ton of emotional pain, but that didn't matter right now.

My words seemed to calm Angela and she agreed to endure the transformation. "Stay with me. Please," she cried again.

"I promise," I answered even thought I knew that I couldn't. I still had to tell Ben the truth, which meant that I'd have to leave as soon as I got home. Carlisle gently picked her up and carried her to the Mercedes. I stayed right beside her and her head rested on my lap as I tried to comfort her on the ride to the Cullen's.

I still hadn't told them what I'd need to do as soon as we got her comfortable. I had to leave, and it needed to be ASAP.

AN: There it is. Chapter 16. What do you all think. Please review and thanks for reading.