Chapter Twenty-Seven: An Act of Love

Cullen Residence, February 2nd

"Jacob? What's wrong?" Leah answered on the second ring, which had interrupted a small lull in conversation. Everyone knew there was more to say, but were weary of fighting each other and exhausted from the battle.

"Are you still at the Cullen house?" Jacob asked, sounding oddly nervous.

"I'm standing in their living room." Leah said, feeling the stares of every vampire in the room, until Eliza squeezed her hand, instantly calming her discomfort and making her feel at home.

"Um, could you go somewhere private?" Jacob asked, knowing the sheer number of people that he had left her with.

"Is this a private conversation that I shouldn't repeat?" Leah wasn't sure if this was exclusively pack business, but she shouldn't have made it seem like she wouldn't leave if needed.

"Ah… no, not exactly. I just. I just got a call from Michelle." Jacob didn't sound bright, usually conversations about his youngest daughter and her adventures at school on the other side of the country had him smiling for days with pride. Which always made Leah realize she was never going to have that, that feeling of accomplishment and pride in a child doing something incredible.

"How's she doing?" Leah tried not to sound concerned, but Jacob wouldn't be calling about Michelle unless there was an emergency.

"Not good, she was just kidnapped and forced to shift for the first time. If she wasn't my daughter, she would've been lost to us, roped into slavery by some asshat." His delivery was subdued, which was a total mask to keep his rage from forcing his change. He had to be calm for his daughter, and make a trip across the country soon.

"Is he dead?" Rosalie asked with the kind of anger that could only come from her own trauma. Leah tucked that away, but she could see both Isabella and Eliza notice and quietly react to learning that Rosalie was clearly not the person they expected.

"Very dead." Jacob let out a bit of his anger, but it was laced with appropriate worry and horror for his baby girl. Isabella was worried about what this would cost Michelle. Taking a life, even someone as vile as a kidnapper and possible rapist was going to weigh on her. If it didn't, then that was a whole different problem altogether. Jacob continued with a heavy sigh, "I gotta go get her, and her new pack."

"New pack?" Leah's voice rose in curiosity and confusion.

"It's a long story. You're in charge and Embry and Rebekah will back you up." Jacob gave the last as official orders, and even the vampires in the room could feel the power in his voice.

"One of us should go with you." Eliza said loudly enough to be heard through the phone.

"Not on this one, family business. I'll make sure we gather some intel though." Jacob quickly rejected the idea, and Eliza frowned glancing over at her mother. Isabella for her part just shrugged, knowing it was ultimately up to Jacob.

"Understood, go get your daughter Jacob, I hope we'll see her soon." Leah easily confirmed his needs. It wasn't the first time she had taken leadership of the pack, he had been gravely injured several decades earlier, when they didn't have a convenient supernatural doctor to turn to for help. He obviously pulled through, but it was hit or miss for a couple of days. Leah had spent that entire time in active mode, sending pack members out to find the vampire who had hurt him and setting an example by being there for everyone who was worried about their leader.

Jacob didn't spend too much time praising her, because it was her job. But he was endlessly proud and relieved that he had picked not just the right second, but someone capable of leading the pack into another age. A fact that he had been dwelling on since that day, hoping she would find her mate so that he could consider retirement. A century of leadership and he was very nearly done. This one last conflict, and he knew it was time. Especially now that one of his children turned. Even with Rachel and Rebekah in the pack, he was sure they were close to retiring as well. Leah, he knew she would never give up the wolf, especially now that her mate was an immortal.

"Well, she's withdrawing from school, so you'll see her like tomorrow or the next day." Jacob sounded more than disappointed, as if a point of personal pride had been irrevocably destroyed. Of course Leah knew this was only temporary, when Michelle adjusted she could simply return to school without much issue save for modulating her mood to keep the wolf from emerging.

"I'm so sorry about this Jake, give her a hug for me." Leah kept her voice sympathetic, and in truth wanted to go with him, because Michelle was a close friend.

"Will do, talk later." Jacob hung up and the entire room was staring at Leah, who shrugged.

"I guess we'll know more about the wolf side of this tomorrow." Leah was staring down at the phone as the call closed out and her screen quickly turned black.

"Alright, that's something. Now Carlisle, tell us about everything you've found so far." Isabella said, pulling attention away from Leah who was visibly upset and shaken by the news. Eliza pulled her close and gave her a side-hug which seemed to lift her spirits enough to rejoin the conversation. Which Carlisle immediately deflated with his grim expression.

"Brianna is dying, she has maybe a few hours to live if we can keep providing her with blood." The news hit like an anvil, both comical and devastating. Eliza just started to laugh in desperation, and Alice's moan of pain could easily be heard downstairs. Isabella just shut down, crossing her arms tightly across her chest as if to keep her heart from slipping out of her body.

"What changed, was it the trip down from Alaska?" Esme asked, looking a bit lost herself. Isabella glanced at the woman who was almost her mother once upon a time, and realized that anyone who could care that much in just a few hours could never stop loving anyone. Could it be that Esme still loved her? The idea felt absurd, but she couldn't help wondering if she could accept that love. In another life, it would be the easiest thing in the world to simply reach out for a hug. The embrace of a parent, something she hadn't felt in far too long. She shut her eyes tightly, wondering if she would ever be that for Brianna. Or was there no solution to this crazy and seemingly hopeless situation.

"That couldn't have helped, maybe hastened the progress. She was given something in the last couple of days that acted as a compound agent, introduced to interact with whatever was already present in her system. Likely contained in those strange bags of blood. I don't know the primary purpose of that first substance, but clearly it has a secondary purpose." Carlisle was sounding more and more grim, despite trying to deliver the news in as clinically detached as possible.

"Which is?" Isabella said with a raised eyebrow, her curiosity momentarily outweighing the pain of losing someone she hadn't even had a chance to get to know.

"When combined with that second toxin, it will terminate the subject." Carlisle almost winced at his choice of words, but thankfully no one took it badly.

"Is there anything we can do?" Esme whispered, her voice quivering with emotion.

"It's a chain reaction, so it is irreversible I'm afraid. If we had her before the second compound was introduced we might have been able to reverse the effect with blood using her natural regenerative properties. Now, she is fighting a losing battle against this poison, virus, whatever it is. What might be more troubling is that I've never seen a similar chemical structure in thousands of published articles on pathogens and toxins, and even my own research into things that could affect a vampire."

"So there's no hope?" Eliza said feeling utterly defeated, Leah hugging her a bit tighter.

"No, I'm sorry." Carlisle said, shaking his head.

"You're sorry!" Alice almost shouted as she appeared at the foot of the stairs, Eliza looked over at Leah who nodded slightly. Eliza smiled grimly, and then ran upstairs to take Alice's place with Brianna.

"Alice, there is no room for theatrics on this. Carlisle has done what he can, you should say your goodbyes." Edward said with an edge to his voice. Isabella's eyes widened slightly, and Alice was at her side and slightly in front of her.

"You don't speak." Alice waved her index finger at him very slowly, a warning in her eyes.

Edward noticeably balked, shaking his head. "No, I'm done with this bullshit. With you standing there as if you are her mate now."

Alice started to flinch, second guessing herself and her new relationship with Isabella, but suddenly she felt someone press up against her from behind, fingers interlacing with her own.

"She is… mine." Isabella said with a determined set of her jaw, her eyes lowered at Edward begging him to make a scene. Then she smiled and glanced down at Alice, for a fraction of a second she looked a bit like her old self, "she was always mine, and I was always hers." Her voice was soft and gentle, but then she looked up towards Edward and her face hardened again. "You never had me, and you never will."

"I don't… That's not… No… You belong to Me!" Edward shouted, leaning forward aggressively. His shoulders shook from the power of his voice, which rattled the nearby glass.

"Don't be an idiot Edward, she was never yours and you never gave a shit in the first place." Rosalie said angrily from his right side.

"Back the fuck off Rose. This is between me and Isabella." Edward almost let his hand fly free, but kept it at his side. Rose just sneered at him and almost started to respond but Esme stepped up between them.

"Edward, if you had really wanted her, would you have left? Especially after she told you that she wanted to come with us?" Esme tried, her voice and body language stiff and clearly overwhelmed with emotions. Yet even with her perpetually kind face, a hint of anger crossed her eyes directed towards her adopted son.

"No, I was doing it for her own good. I wanted to save her soul! Why can't you all understand?" Edward pleaded, shifting to a look that he always used to elicit sympathy from Esme, but her expression didn't change and he could tell this time she wasn't buying it. Isabella sighed loudly.

"My soul, there it is. The lie you just love to tell." Isabella's tired voice drew more attention than Edward's sorrowful plea.

"It isn't a lie! We're damned. You have to know that!" Edward almost stepped forward, raising his hand towards her but thought better of it and kept still.

"What I know is that you are an ignorant, arrogant, entitled, spoiled brat. You treated me like a shiny toy that you tossed away when you were bored. Except from what I can see, your family didn't feel the same way. They wanted me in their lives, they…" Isabella started, her tone sharp but then her expression dropped as she looked around the room. "They might've loved me. But no matter what you told me, you never loved me."

"I loved you, I love you!" Edward said, and this time he did try to reach up but Isabella pulled away from his touch. He immediately growled in frustration and threw up his hands in defeat.

"Actions Edward, they speak louder than words. You have never once shown me you actually cared. If you truly loved me, you would've let me be who I am. You would accept who I am now, and not try to fix me, or dictate who I want to spend time with." Isabella countered, pulling his attention back towards her.

"What about James? I killed him for you." Edward countered, focusing on his big gesture. It was the most obvious thing imaginable. Isabella however, was prepared for this counterpoint and almost smiled.

"The one you killed, and then casually left me behind as a lamb to a slaughter for his mate. Did you plan for her to get me? Or, more to the point, can you honestly say if it was just me, and your family wasn't a part of it, would you have tracked him down and saved me?" Isabella kept her tone almost bright and inquisitive, as if genuinely looking for an answer, although she couldn't keep the edge out of her voice at the end.

"Of course I would have protected you, it was my entire purpose in life after I found you." Edward said with that old crooked smile and warm voice that grated at the edges of the hole where her heart used to be. She couldn't stop the sneer from curling up her top lip, her teeth gritted at the fury dredged up by what she knew had to be a lie.

"If that's true, then think about what you're saying. You were nearly a hundred years old when we met. I was seventeen. Don't you think that's a lot to put on my shoulders?" Isabella's reply made him scrunch up his eyebrows, as though the thought of her age never even entered his mind. The rest of the room had backed away from the two of them, except for Alice who lingered close by, but disengaged from Isabella physically. Close if needed, but respecting her strength. A gesture that spoke volumes in comparison to the man who had claimed to love her. Edward would've been clinging to her, holding her in place to 'protect' her. She didn't need protection anymore, she needed love and respect. Alice provided that in abundance, which made her chest ache. Two days ago she didn't think it was possible to love anyone again, now she couldn't imagine her life without the vampire standing behind her.

Edward scoffed and sputtered at her, "you were never seventeen, and that was your mother's fault. Plus, you were one that wanted to be a vampire." Edward's dismissive tone was punctuated by his aggressive stance and scowl.

"I thought you were everything, I thought your family loved me. I wanted to be a part of that, forever. That is why I wanted to be a vampire! But that love was displaced, and it wasn't real. I didn't want to share a future with you. I realize that you were just the path to her, because I wanted… I wanted Alice. God, I was just using you." Isabella almost laughed at the absurdity of what she had just said. As a seventeen year old, she had manipulated a century old man into a relationship simply to get closer to his sister, who was already in a very committed relationship with an even older vampire. It was insanity thinking about it in retrospect. Even though it wasn't by design, and her feelings were not understood, it was very much what she wanted.

"Using me!" Edward spat out so utterly frustrated and offended that his eyes were wide with rage.

"Yes, I didn't realize it back then. But, she was always the one." Isabella said, reaching back her hand for Alice who immediately took a hold and intertwined her fingers with Isabella's.

"Fine, then figure out all this bullshit without me. I'm done!" Edward turned to storm off, but Alice moved to block him.

"Edward, there is one more thing I need to know." She looked at him with hope in her heart, she honestly didn't want to hear this. But it was time, his lies had to come to the surface for everyone to hear.

"Just ask." Edward said impatiently, casting a glare towards Isabella and then down at their interlocked hands.

"Why did you do it?" Alice said, trying not to let the disgust she felt come through.

"Do what?" Edward said, shaking his head slightly in confusion.

"Interfere. After seeing my vision, knowing about my future happiness, you decided she had to be yours instead?" Alice kept it clear and concise, the weight of this revelation hanging in the air for a few seconds as he reared back and began to shake his head at her emphatically.

"He did what!?" Rosalie said through gritted teeth, her eyes wide with fury.

Alice ignored her and continued. "That first day, in the cafeteria I had a vision of Isabella and I, together as mates. Brianna, that girl upstairs was our daughter. We were very happy, and the rest of the family was with us, even you with I believe Angela Webber. Anyway, it was the distant future and we were all about to set out to explore an alien world. It was perfect."

"Sounds like science fiction, that's so cool." Emmett said with a big grin.

"That's why you have been so adamant to protect Brianna. She's your daughter?" Tanya looked at Alice, sorrow written on her face. "I couldn't grasp it, I'm so sorry."

"It's past now, and you're forgiven." Alice gave her a sad smile, knowing that it hardly mattered anymore. Her baby wasn't going to make it through the night, and her heart hung heavy just leaving her for this argument. But it had to come out, this was the time.

"That thing upstairs is not your daughter. She's a lab rat, taught to kill and sent out as cannon fodder. If you had gotten to her first, I can tell you what you would've found. A timid creature, afraid of her own shadow. Traumatized so badly that even her friends thought of her as pathetic. The only reason she thought she could help was because she didn't have the courage to fight. It wasn't compassion, it was fear." Edward said, leaning forward in smug satisfaction.

Edward had just finished, when he suddenly found himself flying through the air and out through the back window. The movement was so fast that he didn't even realize the pain radiating out like a spiderweb from the center of his chest. He flew into a large tree trunk and embedded into it nearly a foot. His ribcage nearly shattered completely, if he were human he would be dead. His body tried to compensate, but it was already drained from healing the crack in his neck. Isabella was standing in front of the shattered window for a split second before she was in front of him. She wasn't touching him, she wasn't doing anything except staring at him as if he were a bug.

"The same monster hurt both of my daughters, and he is not long for this world. We know he is out there, moving around and keeping to the shadows hidden behind his lieutenants and soldiers. But eventually, I will track him down and tear him into tiny little pieces. Then I'll wait until he pulls himself together, and I'll do it again and again until he understands nothing but pain. I learned a lot about that kind of torture from Victoria. Did you know there are five basic types of torture?" She paused and Edward looked terrified. "Most would have no effect on a vampire but, let me give you a taste of what I went through."

She reached out and tore off one of his fingers, triggering a scream of rage and pain. He looked at his ruined hand, which was trembling and he made an empty gasp of horror. He looked back at Isabella who was still staring at him without any anger or hatred in her eyes.

"You betrayed everyone you claimed to love. Lied to them for a century, and then had the audacity to try and claim someone again, when you knew the truth. It isn't that you forced your family to abandon me, it's that you had to make them complicit in those lies. You could've left, and they would've protected me, loved me. Made me a part of their family. So, I cannot speak for your family, but I will not suffer your presence any longer. If I so much as smell you lurking nearby, I will put an end to your miserable life. That is your final warning, I'm done with you." She had tried to sound cold, her usual dispassionate speech that could strike terror into almost anyone. But she felt hot with emotion, angry and resentful of what he had taken from her so she ranted, heated and full of all the things she had needed to say for a very long time.

Isabella started to turn, and then looked back at Edward who was still staring at his broken hand. "If you're a good boy and Esme says you have turned around, I'll consider giving this back to you." She held up his finger. "For now get the hell out of my sight."

She turned back towards the house without another glance his way. He was staring daggers at her as he clutched his hand to his throbbing chest wound and took off in a random direction as fast as he could run. Terror and rage filling him with a new emotion he couldn't quite understand, hate.

"He's my son Isabella. I cannot banish him." Carlisle said as she entered the house.

"As long as you claim him as family, we cannot be." Isabella glanced at him, and she heard a small gasp from Esme who was looking at her with such love that it made her a little uncomfortable. She hadn't meant to say it that way, to give the Cullens hope of reunion. Yet for some reason she couldn't push aside the possibility. They had meant something to her once, and as much as she had tried to wipe away those feelings, they were clearly bubbling back up, forcing her to confront her past and her future.

"I understand, I'm sorry you feel that way." Carlisle replied, glancing out towards the wilderness in the vague direction Edward had run.

"Right now he isn't important. We need to figure out Joham's plans." Isabella said shifting topics and looking away from Carlisle pointedly. She wasn't disappointed exactly, he had sided with Edward before and was just following a pattern.

"You said he experimented on both of your daughter's, does that mean he captured Eliza at some point?" Kate asked curiously, although her tone was sympathetic.

"Not exactly. He had her when I found her." Isabella corrected, holding in a sigh knowing that she was going to have to give more details than she wanted. Alice hovered close, letting her choose their level of affection. Isabella felt calm in her presence, and for once she felt as if her past wasn't just a weight. Her connection with Eliza was a point of pride and love after all.

"Oh, I assumed you turned her." Tanya said looking a bit confused.

"I did." Isabella replied simply, ready to drop the bigger bomb about Eliza.

"So he was experimenting on humans?" Carlisle asked, also clearly confused.

"No, he was experimenting on hybrids." Isabella kept her voice flat, but moved her hands behind her back and opened one for Alice to take a hold of. A second later she felt Alice lace her fingers through the open hand.

"Excuse me, do you mean a hybrid of a human and a vampire?" Carlisle sounded almost personally offended by the idea, indignant to the concept.

"Yes." Alice said as Isabella worked her jaw in anger.

"That's… not possible." Carlisle said with a horrified shake of his head.

"I assure you it is." Isabella managed, with a small sneer directed towards Carlisle who realized what he was doing and his face fell. Then Eleazar came around to stand beside Carlisle, shaking his head.

"I don't think so. It's not possible to partially convert someone. I know that Caius tried several times to see if he could halt the conversion process once it was started, but all of his attempts failed. So I don't think it's something that can be done." Eleazar spoke with authority, but Isabella just glared at him.

"It's got nothing to do with interrupting a conversion process. Joham figured out how to make a hybrid." Isabella said with a slight edge to her voice.

Carlisle let out a visible sigh, his doubt now respectful instead of offended, "I'm sorry I just don't see how it's possible that something could be half vampire, half human."

Isabella looked at Carlisle, and then sighed. She took a couple of calming breaths and squeezed Alice's hand, then as she spoke she kept her tone soft and surprisingly kind, "that's because I doubt it would occur to you. You're curious and intelligent and probably still one of the top doctors in the world. But you're far too compassionate and ethical to even contemplate some of the atrocities that this monster has committed in the name of science. He is under no moral or legal restrictions, and to be frank, he would make Josef Mengele uncomfortable with some of his experiments, a real life mad scientist, complete with delusions of godhood." She paused thoughtfully for a second, before finally delivering the explanation that was eluding Carlisle. "He discovered that vampire males can impregnate human females, and the resulting offspring is far more malleable than a vampire. Perfect for his needs."

The silence that fell over the room was absolute, as if Isabella had told them that the world was ending the next day. Utter shock painted every vampire's face with a different expression. Some held rage, others terror, a couple pain or pity.

"That's… horrible. I assume it has something to do with the rigid physical structure in female vampires leaving the natural expansion required for proper gestation impossible." Carlisle said thoughtfully. "Meaning it isn't a deficit of our kind, we can reproduce biologically."

"Well, yes. The male vampire has, um, fluid that is compatible with a human egg." Isabella cringed slightly, finding a somewhat tactful way of explaining the process.

"Why would a hybrid be a better choice, wouldn't they be nearly as indestructible as a full vampire?" Rosalie asked, curious rather than upset or angry.

"Yes and no. Their systems are still functional, they have a heartbeat even though their skin, muscles and bones are nearly impervious. The biggest advantage is that those systems are still discrete, bolstered by a functional circulatory system." Isabella explained in depth, knowing that clinical information would best suit the conversation.

"Meaning an injection is still possible. Interesting." Carlisle but a hand to his chin in thought.

"Interesting, that's vile." Rosalie glared at Carlisle for a second in anger, then glanced up towards the room with Brianna, then she stepped back and pressed herself against the back wall near the fireplace with a hopeless look on her face.

"Well, yes. But, I mean from a scientific point of view a hybrid of sound mind and body willing to submit to certain types of tests could prove invaluable to some forms of research. Clinically speaking of course." Carlisle said looking around the room, and realizing he was the only one that thought that was a good idea.

Isabella held in a growl, "his subjects were not willing. They also grow exceptionally fast, gestating within a month. If a supply of blood isn't given to the mother, the fetus feeds on her since she's the only available source. Secondly, the human body is simply not designed for a hybrid pregnancy, a simple kick can be fatal because the fetus has the strength of a vampire." Isabella continued, and every eye in the room was on her.

"Once the fetus comes to term, or the mother dies of exsanguination or injury; the hybrid will claw its way out of the womb in order to survive." Isabella shuddered a little bit and looked away. "If the mother is still alive the newborn hybrid will die of suffocation without medical intervention, because it cannot be birthed naturally."

"Immortal Children." Irina hissed out, her shoulders trembling and her voice a mess of chaotic emotions; horror, fear, and total sadness.

Isabella was quick to shake her head in disagreement, "No, not Immortal Children, they're quite able to grow and adapt, if they're given the chance."

"That sounds like he's creating abominations." Tanya said with horror, clutching her hand over her mouth, looking as if she might be ill. Her eyes were wild, frightened, and above all angry.

Isabella flinched, though with her back to most of the room, no one else caught it. She also heard a very soft growl coming from Leah, who was scowling at Tanya who seemed oblivious due to her mounting rage. Isabella affixed Tanya with a dangerous glare.

Tanya seemed to absorb the look, and the veiled implications of how Isabella had found Eliza and put two and two together.

"Eliza was a hybrid?" Tanya's voice was soft and even, her anger nearly dissipated upon realizing the insult to a woman who had saved her life.

"She was, so please watch when you throw around a word like abomination." Isabella said through gritted teeth, barely holding onto her composure and squeezing Alice's hand a bit harder.

"I'm sorry, it was not my intention…" Tanya started.

Isabella held up a hand, "Apology accepted on my behalf… Eliza…"

"All good. Leah it's okay baby, she didn't mean anything by it." Eliza said without letting any of her own anger seep into her voice. Leah looked up towards the office and smiled in Eliza's direction. The love in her eyes hit Isabella hard, it was the same look that Alice had given her earlier that evening.

"A hybrid will not kill their mother intentionally?" Tanya asked with a sympathetic look.

"They are conscious within the womb, and are aware of the person giving them life. Any damage done is not intentional. Eliza's biological mother died in childbirth." Isabella replied.

"This is all just… How do you cope with how she came into the world?" Esme asked in a way that made it clear she was talking about a mother's love, not anything related to Eliza being a hybrid.

"What else can I do, she's my daughter. I would do anything for her." Isabella said softly, knowing she would've done anything to prevent that hurt, because Eliza's life was more important than her own.

Abandoned Warehouse, Waterfront Chicago - February 2nd

Ryan pulled a cigarette from a stylish case and flicked open a zippo as he felt his body suddenly lose all feeling and he collapsed to the ground. The metal rectangle clattering within his vision across the asphalt as a pair of heavy black boots filled up his field of view. A slender feminine hand picked up the lighter and closed it carefully, before she lowered her face towards him.

"You can speak, but only to answer my questions." Angela didn't appear angry, the cold look from her was counter to the last time they had spoken when she tried to get him to treat his baby sister with a touch of humanity. He nodded in understanding and he found himself pushing up into a sitting position, calmingly putting his hands in his lap and meeting her eyes intently. He knew this was her gift, but he had no defenses against it.

"I know you were a part of his, where is my daughter?" This was not a polite inquiry, this was something far darker. She was also pointedly using her own relationship with Zoey rather than his.

"Upstairs, back office." He said with some real fear.

"Do you think one of your new friends will bother to put you back together?" Angela said, widening her eyes slightly with the implied threat. Not that she would ever kill Zoey's brother, but she had to make him think it was a possibility.

"No, but Melanie will." Ryan said confidently, although he wasn't entirely sure Melanie would come to his rescue.

"Was she a part of this?" The question was obvious, she was weighing culpability and Ryan thought briefly about throwing Melanie under the bus before thinking better of it.

"Not willingly." He replied reluctantly.

"You have two choices Ryan. First, you help recover Zoey and we figure out if you can be a part of her life moving forward. Or I can wipe your mind now, and you'll be free from both of them forever." Her voice was soft and even, and even though Ryan was furious, it also felt like a gift either way. He couldn't understand why she was giving him a chance, but he had to take it.

"Freedom." He said after a long second of balancing his choices. His mind suddenly blank, as memories and conversations stretching back through the last decade were suddenly gone or vastly different. He was left with the knowledge that his sisters were killed during the attack on their family. He alone was turned, he was free to do as he wished now that the Caravelli's were gone… finally.

Angela stood up leaving Ryan frozen while she moved into the warehouse, using suggestions implanted in the guards scattered throughout the facility to keep her movement undetected. Approaching the final room she heard an oddly familiar voice, talking with a maniacal desperation.

"...Icky Vicky, I'm not gonna hurt you. However, given the associations… how can I not pay it forward?" The laugh that followed was hauntingly familiar and realization hit Angela hard as she entered the room a moment too late. Zoey screamed, her daughter was screaming in pain. Lauren Mallory was holding Zoey like a baby as she pulled her teeth from her neck and then gently set Zoey down on the filthy couch before standing and turning to face the new presence in the room. As she met Angela's gaze her face brightened.

"Angela. My god, it's really you." Lauren flashed over towards her, Angela didn't flinch at first until her old friend wrapped her up in her arms in a tight hug.

"Is Ben here?" Lauren asked, pulled back.

"He's gone." Angela said coldly.

"Then who is your partner?" Lauren cocked her head, her eyes wild and intense.

"Long story, can I have my daughter? We'll leave and not cause you any trouble." Angela asked, adding a bit of warmth to her voice, making it seem like a request from a friend.

"Interesting, you consider this human family. You don't have amber eyes, why do you even care?" Lauren pulled away and crossed her arms in front of her loosely, her head tilted in curiosity. Angela could feel the mad chaos of Lauren's mind. Twisted by hate and fueled by what she thought was a divine purpose, in an instant Angela knew that this wouldn't end peacefully unless she used her power to control the situation.

"Does that matter? She's my child." Angela tried again, hoping it would be enough to get through to her old friend, but she knew it was going to fail. Lauren moved her lips across her teeth a few times, then scrunching up her nose with a deep frown.

"Right… so nope. You can't leave. You'll go find the Cullens and warn them about what's coming and I can't have that." Lauren stuck out her tongue a bit, as she lowered her eyes to what would've been a menacing look. Angela was nonplussed, and just met Lauren's glare unflinchingly.

"Why would I give two shits about the Cullens?" Angela couldn't begin to fathom why the Cullens entered into the equation, she hadn't thought about that family since learning they were like her. The famous amber eyed coven. A memory flashed of them entering the cafeteria that first day Bella sat with them. All paired off except for Edward. She was jealous of them back then, wanting to be a part of that rich beautiful family. If she had only known what they were, she would never have entertained the fantasy.

"I assume Bella is with them… or the other thing." Lauren's explanation gave Angela pause, she furrowed her brow and shook her head once in disbelief.

"Bella's dead." Angela said, trying to deny any possibility that her adoptive sister was alive.

"Hardly…" Lauren then cocked her head sharply. Angela reeled as the idea of a reunion with Bella began to materialize, the shock on her face made Lauren's lips curl in a devilish smile. "Oh wait, she didn't tell you. That's delicious. Bella was the first, taken and done up hard before she was turned. Vicky was boasting about it, well to Tyler and Mike who she killed right afterwards. You know, she might've thought I was unconscious for that. Still, I bet she is still in that hole. Buried alive, for a century. She would be a monster, wanna go see if we can find her?" She asked brightly, causing Angela to gasp in horror.

"Wha… Where?" Angela managed to sputter out.

"No idea. Probably somewhere in Washington State or maybe British Columbia." Lauren's sing-song tone was jarringly opposite of the horrors she was relaying. Bella had been buried alive for a century. Was that even something that she could tell Charlie?

Angela shook her head, suppressing her anger and horror at the possibility of Bella's fate and returned to focus on Zoey, "let us go, I don't care about your organization or goals. I just want my daughter."

"See, I know you. You were better than all of us. Not just the religious bullshit drummed into your head by your father. No, you were genuinely good. A do-gooder. I can't quite understand why you would work for scum like the Caravelli family, but still. I can guess you're the contractor. The one who kept things together here. Or maybe it's your partner, whoever it is, I can't risk you out there knowing as much as you do." Lauren's expression had shifted even darker, and Angela realized this wasn't a warning, it was a threat of violence.

"Lauren, you don't want to get in my way." Angela threatened right back, her features pressed into a hard scowl.

"Hmm, do you mean like fisticuffs? That would be an interesting idea. I mean, you might win, but you'll have to kill me. Can you do that?" Lauren's smile widened further into something almost unnatural.

"I'm sorry Lauren, believe me when I say this gives me no pleasure." Angela frowned, but pushed into Lauren's mind. Almost immediately she realized it was going to be rough, her former friend's mind wasn't just chaotic, it was fractured. It took an agonizingly long five seconds to locate her short term memories and erased everything about Zoey. Then she put her into a memory loop to keep her from realizing what was happening to her. Then she pulled out of Lauren's head and quickly moved to pick up Zoey who was already too far into the transition to reverse it.

She looked at her old friend one more time, before leaving the building. Charlie was waiting by the car impatiently, and once they had Zoey safely in the back seat they took off out of town. They were nearly an hour away before Charlie turned towards her.

"Did I hear Bella's name?" He asked hesitantly, not wanting to spark any hope that his first daughter was alive.

"That was Lauren Mallory, she did mention Bella in passing. However, I think we do need to go back to Forks. Maybe there we can find some clues."

"Why?" Charlie gave her a strained look as he pressed on the accelerator a bit harder.

"Answers about our past. I don't have the whole story." Angela hedged, not wanting to lie to Charlie any more than needed to spare him the potential truth she was still trying to wrap her head around.

"What about Zoey? We can't have a newborn just running around." Charlie glanced back at his grand-daughter curled up on the back seat, trying to hold in her screams and only barely succeeding.

"I'm gonna try something, hopefully she'll forgive me." Angela sighed as she directed her gift towards her daughter, the plan to create something to help with those first few months of newborn thirst.

"Okay, Forks it is." Charlie said wearily, looking over at Angela once as she closed her eyes to focus on Zoey. His question was clear, but he couldn't voice it… was Bella alive? He shut down the thought, it would be far too painful if it turned out to be wrong.

Cullen Residence - February 2nd

Eliza turned back towards Brianna who had just opened her eyes for the first time in a while. "How're you doing hun?"

Brianna smiled a little bit between spasms, "I'm okay, w..where d..did your mom go?" Her voice sounded like she had been dunked into a bath of ice cold water.

"She's downstairs talking to Carlisle, She'll probably be back to check on you in a few minutes." Eliza said reassuringly.

"Does he k..know what's w..wrong with me?" Brianna asked quietly, trying to control the fear in her voice. She took another moment to finish up the bag of blood as she trembled, before dropping it into the trash next to the couch. Eliza noticed that she'd already gone through most of the supply they had brought over already.

Eliza shook her head a little bit. "Not yet, but I'm sure they'll figure it out." She kept her voice gentle and attempted to reassure her again. Eliza noticed that the lines on Brianna's face were starting to thicken and with each passing second they seemed to be deepening in color. Brianna managed a small smile which Eliza couldn't quite return entirely, the worry clearly evident on her face

"How do I look?" Brianna tried to chuckle but ended up coughing coarsely after the attempt.

Eliza bit her lip gently a moment before replying, "moderately horrible."

A shudder of pain went through Brianna's body before she managed to flash a very small smile back at Eliza, "only moderately?" When Eliza smirked and began to laugh, Brianna's smile widened. "That's what I thought."

Eliza could feel the connection already, laughing in the face of misery and pain was her schtick and it was impossible not to see how this girl would fit perfectly into their little family. Alice might have already started to love her, but Eliza had to admit her own feelings were starting to solidify too. A sister, a concept that would've been an unwelcome and foreign idea not so long ago, now felt almost too good to be true. Except that person was fading away before her eyes. Then without warning, Brianna's whole body seized again, this time the sounds of pain weren't just whimpers… they were screams. It lasted for just a few seconds, but they were gut wrenching to watch.

Eliza immediately placed a hand against Brianna's now damp forehead, venom coating her like sweat. Brianna looked up at Eliza, her voice tiny and barely audible. "It's bad, isn't it?"

Eliza hesitated a moment, she didn't want to freak Brianna out, but she didn't want to lie to her either. The girl had been through enough lies to last a lifetime.

"Yeah... it's bad." Eliza said feeling like her chest was being hollowed out, tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes.

"I... don't want to die." The girl said, in a voice so plaintive that it made Eliza shudder in sympathetic pain. Brianna then shut her eyes tightly, bracing to hold something back as another violent seizure shook her entire body.

"You won't sweetheart. We'll figure out something. I promise." Eliza told her, which caused Brianna to attempt a smile, but she couldn't hold onto it since her body wouldn't stop shaking. After a moment it was clear that the constant trembling was a sign that she was heading into the final stages before death.

"Mom, she's getting worse. She's shaking non-stop! The skin on her arms and legs is beginning to turn black. We have to do something!" Eliza's called to her mother's mind desperately grasping for an answer, any answer.

"Try giving her some more blood, see if we can slow down the process at all." Isabella said helplessly. She was out of ideas too.

"She just finished one and we're down to only two more packs. The blood isn't having much of an effect anymore. She's barely conscious now, what can I do?" Eliza replied shakily.

A great anger welled up deep inside Eliza; the helpless rage was focused on the girl, but there was more to it. It was all about Joham's, and his wretched crimes. This tangible connection to her past pressed in on Eliza, the girl was as much his victim as Eliza. But she couldn't figure out the connection. Isabella was running through it too, and then something stood out in Isabella's thoughts. "Why the switch from hybrids to vampires? What made you change?"

Eliza pondered the thought. He had spent years mixing chemicals with vampire venom and injecting them into hybrids. They were more flexible to change, in fact Eliza had been his favorite guinea pig, subjecting her to dozens of serums. So why switch to vampires? What would it possibly… Eliza's eyes flew open as a connection solidified in her mind.

"Mom, it's me. I'm the difference." Eliza said through the link with excitement.

"Wha…" Isabella's question cut off in mid-thought as Eliza's own response shut her down.

"I thought I was just a good subject because I'd survived. But what if what he did to me was the actual experiment." It was a small leap, but a revelatory one. The goal wasn't various experiments, it was a singular one designed to do something she could only guess.

"But what does he get from this?" Isabella stomped her foot in frustration as she pondered out loud, the wood floor beneath her cracking slightly. She didn't acknowledge the damage from her outburst, as she began to pace, "what in the hell is hoping to achieve?"

Isabella was walking toward the back door when she suddenly stopped. Her gaze transfixed on her own reflection caught in the slightly mirrored glass. She stood completely still as a cascade of connections fell down into an understanding that exploded in her mind.

"He's trying to use hybrid venom to change a vampire." Isabella felt the click of understanding from her daughter too.

"Do what to a vampire?" Carlisle's voice echoed from over her shoulder. This time his question was a relevant one. Isabella slowed to a stop as a terrible suspicion began to form in her mind.

"I'm not sure…" Suddenly she understood what he was trying to do. The revelation caused a surge of emotion from her daughter. It took her a half second to realize it was forcing Eliza to come to a decision of some sort. The substance of that choice drifted through their connection a half second too late, as Isabella felt her daughter begin to move.

"It's the same, there is only one way." Eliza muttered, picking Brianna up and cradling her up to her chest stroking Brianna's hair. "Welcome to the family, little one." Eliza said, kissing Brianna's forehead. "Now you need to bite down hard, and drink." Brianna could barely hear as her mind began to slowly shut down, but obeyed, finding soft flesh and sinking her teeth in deep. A thick substance rushed to her lips, filling her mouth with a different kind of blood. Not human, not the stuff Joham had fed her. This was sweeter, and somewhere inside she knew it was wrong. At the same time she felt something pierce the skin of her wrist and a flood of cold began to move up her arm.

"Eliza, no!" Isabella shouted with both her voice and through the link even though it was too late. "She's so grounded." The words echoed in Brianna's thoughts as something wrapped around her mind and squeezed. Downstairs Isabella's body froze in place, her eyes shut, then she collapsed, Alice catching her before she hit the floor.


Author's Note:

So this chapter differed somewhat from the original in a couple of major ways. First is the obviously stronger connection between Alice and Isabella, the second is that Leah and Eliza are further along in their relationship. Lastly, and most importantly, Eliza, Isabella and Alice already have an emotional connection to Brianna so Eliza's choice is far more inevitable. Of course Brianna doesn't realize how important she is... yet. I have already started the next chapter and it is nearly halfway complete. I should be able to post it sometime next week.

Thanks again for reading!