Hey, guess who's back with another chapter!

My holidays are nearly over and I am crying about it.

Reviewers:

GraceEllingson - OMG Thanks so much! You are the adorable one! Hope you like this chapter!

Kat Smith - Well, since you love Backstories so much, here's a chapter full of it for you. Right, I know, sorry, I forgot too, for a moment I was wondering who it was :D Don't worry about spamming me. It's fine!

Bold Headlines read on the page:

SEATTLE DEATH TOLL RISES

POLICE ANNOUNCES SERIAL KILLER ALERT

I stared at the headline for a minute, my teeth gnawing on my lip, as my fingers tapped the pencil against key words.

Night

Missing bodies

Accomplices suspected

No leads

I scoffed at that. Of course, there weren't any leads. How would there be? They were up against a hoard of vampires after all. I glanced to see Bella and Stephen watching the news in the living room but I knew Stephen was tense by the way his arm was placed around her.

I looked down again at the paper in the small kitchen table, my mug of tea already cold on the pine.

"Hey," I quickly swiped the newspaper off the table as Bella came in, the white noise of the TV still on in the background. "Hey," I said back as she poured herself some more coffee and sat down in front of me.

I looked up to see her eyes on me, worried and big.

I frowned immediately, the strange protective urge that gripped me in her presence flaring. Bella Swan had the weird power of making me instantly want to keep her safe first. Maybe that's what her power was. That was probably why Book Edward had been so obsessed with her safety.

"What is it, Bella? I asked.

"You saw the news." She mumbled, still stirring sugar in her coffee.

I just stared at her in puzzlement. "What is they decide to move? Go somewhere else," she said. "Oh Bella," I mumbled, seeing what she was worried about. "I doubt that would happen." I said.

"You don't know that." She said.

"They picked Seattle for a reason, you know. You have nothing to worry about." I said. Yeah, except for the fact that your best friend and boy friend are dimension jumpers and are being stalked by a crazy psycho vampire who was creating an army.

"You always know what to say." She shot me a smile and I rolled my eyes. "I didn't say a thing, Bella." I said. "Yeah, but just reassuring works too, you know. Stephen…I don't know, he just freezes up and I…tried to get something out of him but…now I'm scared because he seems scared."

"Bella, you need to stop basing your emotions on those of your boyfriend's." I said severely.

"I know, aren't you the least bit worried? I know even Charlie is." She said.

"I hide it well." I muttered to myself, too low for her to hear and I was glad. I knew I would never get away with that with the Cullens or the Pack or even Stephen. They just read me so much better.

"Look, we'll be fine. Don't worry about anything but graduation, ok?" I asked and she shrugged, offering me a small smile as she picked up her cup and went off.

I waited for her to settle back next to Steph and saw him give me a glance over my shoulder.

I looked away. Stephen was scared. He just didn't want to show it around me, I realized, feeling bad. He had some semblance of normalcy with Bella. I shouldn't be taking that away from him.

I picked up the heavily marked up newspaper and clenched my jaw and fingers around the pencil.

Maybe it was Time to get to business, Victoria.

I was surprised when Carlisle opened the door, looking equally surprised to see me at his door.

I had borrowed Bella's truck to get here, leaving it parked in the vast grassland surrounding their house and his eyes quickly darted from the huge vehicle to me.

"Tulika, I didn't know we were expecting you today? Didn't you say Charlie, Bella and you were spending the day together?" he asked, moving away so I could enter.

"Yes, but Charlie got called in and Bella called Stephen over so I had to do something other than just stewing with the news," I said.

"Hey, T, I'm surprised you're driving the monster after what happened." Emmett called loudly from where he and Jasper were playing video games and Rosalie smacked the back of his head with her magazine, looking over at me with a question in her delicate eyes.

In answer, I held up the bunched paper in my hand. "What do you think is going to happen now?" I asked; my focus mainly on the back of Jasper's back.

He had stiffened when he felt the purpose in my emotions as the rest of the household began to gather, Alice, Esme and Edward. He moved to me first, frowning at the pencil lines on the paper.

"Tulika, I told you not to worry about this." He said.

"She has to. She knows this is about her." Alice said and Edward frowned at her. "There is no reason for her to get stressed over something she can't help with."

"Oh please, you always do this. You push her back exactly at the times when we need her around to tell us things. You got what you wanted; you know what happens in the books, what about us?" Alice asked.

There was a silence in which Edward glared at his little sister with little remorse, his jaw clenching audibly.

"She's right, Edward. You can't keep shutting me out of this." I said but he didn't flinch as Carlisle laid a hand on my back.

"Why don't you tell us everything, like you told Edward?" he asked calmly, shooting a look between Alice and Edward. I sighed, again resigning myself for a retelling of Twilight.

"Well, that settles it. We should go over there right now and look for them and kill them before they get here." Emmett said. "It would make sense too, they are less in numbers." He said; his hands outstretched as if to show us reason.

"We can't march into Seattle blind. Alice's vision doesn't show us anything about us going." Rosalie snapped.

"That's because you're waiting on her to see your decisions, you aren't making it so she isn't seeing it," I said.

"So, we make a decision. Let her see how it pans out then go." Emmett said.

"It doesn't work like that, Emmett." Edward said; sitting on the arm of my chair, a hand stretched across the back of it. I could tell he was tense about this; his fingers kept twitching as if he desperately wanted to curl them into a fist.

"Be that as it may, we still have to take into account of what Tulika has just told us. What you said about Jasper is right. He was turned by Maria to become a general in her army and yes, the Volturi did put an end to us." Carlisle said.

"They will put an end to it here as well. This has made the news. If they were ignorant about it before, they aren't now." Jasper said his back to us as he stood facing out the glass windows. Alice skipped to him, lacing their hands together as they conversed silently through mere touch.

I remembered what Renee had said.

Edward and I had our own way of talking too as he could read my mind and I could read him well enough now. Renee had said it seemed intrusive to stare at us. I averted my eyes from them and instead looked up at Edward who was staring intently at Carlisle.

"Meyer portrayed them as power hungry vampire politicians. It's natural she's prejudiced." He said finally. "Perhaps, she needs to be told who they are from someone who knows them." He suggested.

Carlisle nodded slowly, staring at me as Edward finally wrapped his arm around me tightly as if he was trying to protect me from my set beliefs being broken.

Carlisle moved the lamp on the table and switched it on; making an orange glow fall on one of the portraits I had never paid attention to before. It was one of his, I realized, standing next to three other men. They all had a similar pale aquiline face and looked distinctly regal.

"You already know how I was created and most of what happened until I learned to control my bloodlust and learnt to live off animal blood. When I made my mind to pursue a life amid humans rather than live with the shadows, news travelled to Aro."

He paused, glancing once at Esme.

"Yes, he does have a reputation of scouting potentially gifted vampires for the Guard. Most people would call that being power hungry, he has a simpler explanation; One that actually makes sense if you are willing to see it from his point of view. He says that these vampire need guidance. If they aren't careful, they might wreck havoc on both human and vampire kind alike. Being in the Guard gives them room to practice their powers and also purpose to use them mindfully."

"I had no gifts, but Aro maintained it was my control and sense of compassion. I was willing to listen to his side when most of his kind would call him out as you do, Tulika." He said, softly.

"I learnt proper medicine under his care. He has mastered many things in the millenniums and I was happy to have him help because there were times when I nearly slipped. He never gave up on me though. He is one of my truest friends." He sighed.

"Marcus, I never saw him out and about much. His wife had died, see, when the roman soldiers attacked their towers. Rumors flew around even in those times and just in this case they happened to be true. She never stood a chance in the sunlight, surrounded by so many humans. It is rumored he had his vengeance in the most gruesome ways and then lapsed into the nearly vegetative state he is in now. I do not blame him though."

Again, his eyes flickered to Esme who rubbed his arm soothingly. I saw Rosalie lean into Emmett's touch and even Edward's arm tightened around me.

"Caius is another story. He is the youngest and most abrasive – or would he call it impulsive. Yes, he gives orders without thinking more than twice. Aro has never regaled in his recklessness and he has never shown much patience with him which is why Caius has never had much say in the way the Volturi runs." Carlisle finished.

"That doesn't mean that he doesn't have power though. He still sends out some of the Guard members from time to time to look up matters that have gotten his attention. Who's to say he won't do the same here? Who's to say he wouldn't order a hit without Marcus and Aro knowing?" Edward asked.

"Simple, we do as we should've done."

We all turned to stare at Jasper. Even Alice was staring up at him in surprise. Jasper turned, his fingers still holding hers as he stared at us collectively.

"We fight back against them. We contain them before they have reason to get here. If they don't show up, they will have no reason to call on you or worse, if Victoria happens to be caught, she will be unable to say anything about Tulika. There will be no threat to her; direct or indirect." He said.

"Jasper, I can't ask you to do this." I said.

"You aren't. This is also about the innocent lives being lost in Seattle. We cannot sit back and let this happen, especially not when we have it in our power to eradicate it," He said.

I shuddered in Edward's arms. He sounded like a soldier who had seen too much in his war life.

There was silence as people began to break out. Alice and Jasper retreated to the window again, the eerie conversation starting.

Even Rosalie and Emmett began to talk in hushed tones and Esme and Carlisle just sat there, holding hands as they thought about what Jasper had said.

"Tulika," Edward said.

"Hmm?" I asked, feeling his fingers probe under my chin, pulling my face up to look at him. "We will get rid of this, ok? Alice will see if anyone from the Volturi plans to show up and she's already watching for Victoria. She won't miss anything." He promised quietly, his lips brushing against my temple.

"What about the army, though? You will have to ask the pack. You will need numbers." I said my mind racing as it immediately started to plan.

"We will have numbers. We will call the cousins." Carlisle said, his fingers reaching out for his phone.

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