Chapter 31

Isabella felt the world return as she began to regain consciousness. She felt severely disoriented, and it took her far too long to become fully aware of her surroundings, using her hearing and sense of smell first. It took her another minute to force the images swirling around her head away . The things she just witnessed made her want to kill. That asshole's thoughtless and selfish acts of brutality brought Isabella's beast caged deeply inside of her far too close to the surface. She had a deep almost irresistible urge to eviscerate the man she'd seen in those memories, teaching him a lesson he wouldn't live through.

Isabella was about to give into that temptation when the oddest of sensations filtered through, a soothing sense of calm wafted through her body and combated her immediate urges. She felt inclined in a weird position, partially reclined with support under the back of her thighs, the small of her back, and her head. Most strangely, there was the feeling of something running through her hair lightly and repeatedly. Most of all, a wonderful and alien sense of reassuring joy seemed to invade her.

Her eyes snapped open and she found herself staring into the beautiful golden eyes of Alice Cullen. It had been so long since she had thought of that color as beautiful. Isabella could see Alice's worried expression quickly give way to a smile of immense relief. At the same time even Alice snatched the hand that had been stroking Isabella's hair away. For just the briefest of moments Isabella found herself smiling in spite of herself. Alice's mouth seemed to be moving to say something but Isabella couldn't quite seem to make it out. It was like everything was moving in slow motion and she had to struggle to keep up.

Then Isabella's mind caught up with reality, and she sat up so fast she ended up toppling awkwardly to the side. Alice had been holding Isabella in her lap, her arm supporting Isabella's head; and they were on a cushioned chair in Carlisle's office. Isabella found her hand catching Alice's shoulder briefly to regain her balance as she took stock of her surroundings. The contact sent a little shock of something through her. It took a few second for Isabella to recognize the conflicted and raw emotions were somewhat soothed by her tenuous connection to Alice.

The first thing she looked for was Eliza. Isabella's eyes came to rest on her daughter's prone form, laying next to someone that she didn't immediately recognize. Isabella examined the stranger for a few moments before realizing it had to be Bree. The girl was on her side and her long dark hair completely obscured her face. Isabella didn't let her eyes linger on her for long, as she scanned the room and continued to catalogue her surroundings. Next to Eliza sat Leah, her legs crossed and her attention totally transfixed on Eliza, concern creasing her brow and pulling her face into a tense scowl.

She noted they weren't alone in the room. Jacob was standing at the door with his arms crossed, and Carlisle and Esme stood closely together watching Isabella curiously. Rosalie stood like a statue against the farthest wall, her eyes fixed unwaveringly on Bree. Tanya was also in the room and she was watching Isabella warily. She almost reacted badly to her presence, but Tanya's expression was also twisted with a hopeless regret so she ignored her.

Isabella's perception seemed to catch fully up with her, and finally she heard Alice ask a little frantically, "Are you okay?"

Isabella ran a hand over her face and nodded slowly. "Yeah." Her voice came out rather shaky so she took a breath and tried again, this time she sounded much more sure of herself. "Yeah, I'm fine." She turned her head and gave Alice a brief but reassuring nod before she moved toward her Daughter.

"Be careful Bells." Jacob said quietly, but with a clear tone of warning.

Isabella stopped and gave him a puzzled look. His tone was one of caution rather than one of command which was the only thing that gave Isabella pause. She also wasn't sure she approved of her old nickname, the last time she'd heard it before this evening, her father was alive. Of course Jacob was still her oldest friend, so if anyone had the right to use it he did.

"Neither of them are letting any of us but Leah close. Eliza kicked me, and the other girl sent Carlisle into the wall over there when he got too close. See the hole? I mean it's a big hole." Jacob nodded towards the sizable Carlisle shaped impression in the drywall, then shrugged lightly. He made no attempt to stop Isabella as she moved closer, though.

Isabella moved around Leah and sank down to her knees between Eliza and Bree without the slightest show of hesitation. The two girls on the floor stayed unconscious and seemed completely unaware of her presence. She looked up at Carlisle, "How long was I out?"

Carlisle's eyes flicked to the clock on the wall, "Almost five hours." After a beat of hesitation he decided to expand on his answer, though his voice clearly reflected his puzzlement. "You sort of…blacked out downstairs. You said Eliza's name so we brought you up here. Well… Alice brought you up here. She's the only one that you allowed close to you, you started thrashing anytime any of the rest of us moved within three feet."

Alice looked a little insecure about that detail, but Isabella gave her a quick nod of appreciation. Alice felt almost buoyant, her head was lifted so high with pride. She felt a bit apart from the rest of her family for the first time regarding Isabella, and she couldn't push down how happy it made her. She did hide her smile though, managing to keep a totally straight face.

Isabella's reaction was a bit different. After assuring Alice that she hadn't stepped over any unnecessary boundaries, she turned to the still forms of Eliza and Bree, and began to nod slowly as she glanced back and forth between them. "How long since they broke apart?"

It was Leah that spoke up this time. "Just a few minutes before you woke up." Then she looked over at Isabella with crystal clear anguish in her eyes. She lingered in that unspoken plea for reassurance before she turned back to watch Eliza.

Isabella realized with a start as she took in Leah expression, this was the first time she had seen Eliza even remotely close to unconscious, and since vampires never slept, it must've been a traumatic experience. "She'll probably be just fine in a little bit. Maybe a bit thirsty." Isabella said reassuringly as she glanced up to make sure the cooler that Eliza had brought earlier was still sitting on the desk. Even though Bree had gone through most of it, there had to be at least a couple left.

"What about Bree?" Rosalie asked out of nowhere. Isabella looked at her with a touch of surprise, that was the second time she had shown concern for the girl, it was beginning to make her hatred for the blonde ease up a bit, a very little bit.

"I'm not sure, I hope she'll wake up soon too." Isabella replied and actually managed to give Rosalie a bit of a smile, that made her calm down almost immediately. Her gaze returning to Bree.

"What happened? What did she do?" Alice's voice was full of concern, more than might normally be warranted. Isabella glanced up at Alice, and then over at Jacob with a raised eyebrow.

Jacob shrugged a little bit, "I didn't know how much you wanted them to know so I thought it was better answered by you."

Isabella nodded with a small grateful smile. She glanced up at Alice and nodded a little bit. "Eliza is… different. She was born a hybrid and then became a vampire. I'm the one who turned her. Not on purpose or anything; but when I bit her, she bit me as well." She summarized without going into detail.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the speculative look on Carlisle's face as he thought that new information over. Alice's expression was full of curiosity as she met Isabella's eyes unwaveringly, but she didn't ask further questions, sensing it wasn't the right time.

"So you knew she could safely suck the venom out of the girl?" Carlisle asked finally speaking up again.

Isabella shook her head slowly, "Not exactly. Eliza realized that it was hybrid venom inside of Bree at the same time I did. I think she was trying to duplicate what happened with us. I'm the only vampire she's ever bitten, and that was when she was a hybrid. When we bit each other all those years ago, it changed both of us. I converted her, and she altered me as well… now we're both… something else. I believe she was trying to do the only thing she could think of to save Bree."

Carlisle nodded thoughtfully, and opened his mouth to voice another question when the conversation was stopped short as a sudden growl from Eliza drew everyone's attention. Eliza's eyes snapped open and she started to leap up with a snarl of rage. Isabella's hand slid over Eliza's chest and pressed down with a gentle but consistent pressure. It was just enough to kept her pinned down. Her voice was sharp, and demanded attention.

"Eliza. Snap out of it. They were memories." She projected the words both audibly and through their connection to her daughter's frenzied mind, though she kept her daughter's chest pinned down while she thrashed.

Eliza strained for several more seconds before her eyes flicked first to her mother and then to Leah. After a second recognition sunk in, she stopped straining and relaxed back to the floor with a groan. "I feel like I've been hit by a truck." Her voice was hoarse and scratchy, and felt as dry as a bone.

"You took a giant risk." Isabella shook her head and sighed at her daughter. Leah frowned mimicked Isabella's worried exasperation.

"Risk is our business." Eliza groaned out as she started to sit up. "Need… some blood." She had barely gotten the words out of her mouth when a pack of blood landed in her lap. Both Isabella and Leah glanced over to see Alice standing next to the cooler on the desk. Eliza was too busy biting into the pack to really care where it came from.

Isabella gave Alice a smile of thanks. Smiling at Alice was starting to become a little bit of a habit, not that it was a habit she necessarily wanted to break. She turned back to Eliza and felt strange urge to be playful. Eliza was totally distracted with her pack of blood, so when Isabella reached out to muss up her hair she wasn't paying attention enough to avoid the attempt.

"You are such a geek." Isabella murmured in a lightly teasing tone of voice.

Alice looked at all three of them and could see palpable relief on the expressions of both Isabella and Leah. Their concern for Eliza was deep and rooted in a very familial love. She grimaced slightly, although she loved her family, she hadn't felt that level of concern for any of them, in ages. It was a strange thing to want to feel concern for someone, something greater than the static existence that she seemed to be stuck in. The last time she felt that way about anything was when she was with Bella, and again tonight with Isabella. Was her love the only thing that meant anything to her anymore? She shook her head in denial, she couldn't rest her hopes on a love that might never happen.

Eliza shook her head slightly in a vain attempt to get her hair to fall back into place after it had been mussed up by her mother. She ended up looking like she'd lost a fight with a blow dryer, but was too preoccupied with quenching her thirst to protest.

"Am I dead?" Said a small disembodied voice.

Both Isabella and Eliza whipped their heads around in unison to stare at the form of Bree, though she hadn't moved yet and she certainly hadn't spoken out loud.

Isabella looked at Eliza and said dryly. "I leave you alone for five minutes...! Okay. New house rule. Vampires are not food."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

Author's notes: These are the Author's notes for both chapters 30 and 31.

1) An announcement. Four chapters ago, there was a slight change in the status quo. DarkBella, who's help was AMAZING, and I'm eternally grateful for. (If you get the chance go check out her story Future Seen Darkly. It's awesome) Due to real life circumstances, is no longer working on this story with me.

However that being said, I've got a new partner on the story. Samantha Minuet. She started out with AMAZING reviews and then offered to spot beta. She is an amazing person and an awesome help. After her help on chapters 28 and 29 I've asked if she'd be willing to make this a collaboration between the two of us. To my eternal thankfulness. She has graciously accepted.

So if you notice a slightly different style over the past two chapters you're not crazy. She has asked one or two questions that then turn into whole new sections. (Originally chapter 31 started out with 3 memories and they were all Bree) She has been amazingly patient as I dither over a line here or there.

2) WHoooo. Hard to believe this started out as about 4k words and reached over 9k. After some debate we decided to split it up into two chapters. But post them at the same time. I'm sure this will effect the review numbers. Which i'm totally okay with.

The last chapter was REALLY dark, and really hard to write. Getting into that sort of dark emotions was hard for us. But i think it added to the story. However we added a warning at the beginning of it that the last chapter was not a *necessary* read to enjoy our story.

3) Samantha Minuet's Author's notes: Would it sound weird if I said that I enjoyed working on these chapters (30 & 31)? Not that I liked slogging through toxic emotions, but the challenge was a fascinating one. Once again Kathryn has tested me with a very ambitious idea, and together we added a ridiculous amount of additional content (seriously when we started it was half as long). I can't wait for you guys to see what's coming up next, sooo much fun stuff is coming! Until next time!

4) She's right. ^_^ lots of fun stuff coming down the pipe. Still gotta few twists and turns to navigate before our heroines (now numbering three!) get some time to relax. Gotta get through those before I get back to Eliza/Leah or Isabella/Alice

5) For those of you who reviewed and PM'd me, i hope you like the direction I'm taking Bree. I'm not promising that she won't die. (I never promise that. ANYONE could die) But I do like the direction she's going now. Here's a LITTLE secret..., I had initially planned it this way. I admit to a little bit of a psyche out in the chapter title and author's notes. I was hoping that you'd think I was going to kill her. So you wouldn't immediately guess where I was going with it. I hope you're not too mad at me!

6) I haven't responded to reviews in the last two chapters but I plan to over the next day or so, so don't think I've suddenly turned a blind eye O_O I haven't I swear. Every ONE of them is appreciated.

Please continue to read and review! We do read them and they do matter to us!