In Another Life - Revised

Book Two: Taming the Beast

Summery: The Volturi have made their play, and sentenced Isabella and her daughters to death. Yet in the aftermath of the devastating attack, the remains of the family have to forge a new life and new direction, including how to stop the growing threat from Joham and getting revenge against the Volturi. Revised version of In Another Life.
Rating: Mature - Some graphic violence, sexual situations, and coarse language
Genre: Drama, Suspense, Action, Romance, Family
Relationships: Bella/Alice
Canon Status: Divergent Alternate Universe (Split off from the moment Edward left Bella in New Moon)

We do not own Twilight or most of the characters depicted in this Fan Fiction. No Copyright Infringement is intended… so there! Imagine Dragons, Mattman & Robin, Interscope * Kidinakorner own the rights to the song "Enemy", the lyrics are used with proper attribution. "What Could Have Been" was written by Mako and performed by Sting and Ray Chen, lyrics were used with proper attribution.


Chapter One: My God, the Shadows Are Screaming

"I wake up to the sounds of the silence that allows my mind to run around with my ear up to the ground. I'm searching to behold the stories that are told, when my back is to the world that was smiling when I turned. Tell you, you're the greatest. But once you turn, they hate us…
Oh, the misery, everybody wants to be my enemy.
Spare the sympathy. Everybody wants to be…
My Enemy."

- "Enemy" - Imagine Dragons

North of the Cullen Residence - February 6th

She walked slowly following the scent lines, ending a scant five miles from the house. There high atop a massive pine was Edward. He was crouched on one of the uppermost branches, staring into the sky at a passing plane. His look of concentration was familiar, it was the one he always wore when he was picking up on the thoughts of those around him. Then he looked away in frustration, his eyes casting down until they met hers. He watched as she began to climb the tree, until she was perched underneath him.

"What do you want?" He gave her an exaggerated frown, the last thing he needed was advice or a lecture.

"Tell me why." Her voice was calm, rational despite the confusion and mounting rage she was feeling.

"Tell you why? What does that mean?" He snapped back, deepening his already miserable sneer.

"I think you know." She said somberly, hoping to drag out his confession. "But to clarify, I want to know why… everything. Why you've done what you've done, what were your reasons?"

"I don't have to answer to you or to anyone. But I'm feeling generous, so to answer your questions, everything I've done has been to protect our family." He paused, now was finally a chance to get someone on his side. Someone who would listen to him, enough that he could convince her that he was right about everything. "I tried to protect us all. I tried to keep us all together, as a family. I tried not to let this all happen, but I don't understand why everyone seems to be turning on me." He injected as much hurt into his voice as possible, playing on her sympathies as much as he could. It was a performance he had mastered years ago, the same act he had used with the family to side with him on the decision to leave Isabella.

She let a bit of hope show on her face, but didn't respond. The words were right, and his face reflected the kindness and confusion that she had wanted to find. Except… except it was the same words, and same expression he had used a hundred times before. She felt her heart die a little as she saw past his charade, saw it for the act it had always been. She kept her expression the same, but inside her anger began to grow again.

As silence greeted him from below he knew she was hearing and absorbing what he was saying, someone was finally buying his story. He just had to close the performance with something she couldn't refute. He let that silence hang for a few seconds longer, pondering how he could phrase it. Then his head shot up as a thought occurred to him. Whether it was true or not, Alice could never prove he had lied, and with the right partner believing in him, he knew he could convince everyone that he was right.

Edward kept his voice tentative, almost thoughtful, "Isabella's personality was twisted and formed by the Volturi and that daughter of hers. I wanted her back, nothing more, so we could be a family again." He beamed down conviction in his words, convinced that she bought it completely.

She stared up at him, and after another long moment she finally responded with a slight nod. "I guess that means there's only one thing left to do." Her voice was gentle. Edward smiled down at her with the same false expression of love he'd given her his entire life, despite struggling to keep the smug grin off his face, he had convinced her, and she was going to help him. Not that she was capable of anything else, but he did have an instant of doubt when she first arrived.

"What's that?" He asked with eager anticipation, not that he expected her to express anything more than a desire to get her family back together.

"To say goodbye."

Port Angeles, February 3rd - 72 Hours earlier, before the Explosion

The lonely storage facility was surrounded by a thick mist that mostly obscured Edward from the road as he punched in the code that lifted the antiquated entry gate. Row upon row of identical structures marked only by a number, most would get lost in the sameness, especially because he hadn't been back in well over a decade. The keycode unlocked the space, the biggest and best of its kind. The dull hum of the environment conditioner irritated him a little as he made his way past a maze of canvas covered shapes. Abandoned furniture projects of Esme's, old sets of Rosalie's tools, and entire closets worth of clothes forgotten by Alice; none of it real or important in his eyes. At the back was his baby. The enamel was still intact and the black shiny surface still made his heart sing a little. The piano was in perfect condition, but a single keystroke told him it was woefully out of tune.

He spent hours correcting matching harmonics, tightening where needed, loosening where necessary. Finally... Middle C. He attempted to dance his long fingers across the keys, but with a missing finger he couldn't quite make the instrument sing like he used to. Although after a few hours practicing the timing needed to compensate for his missing appendage he was able to get the right sequence to produce a sound that could make hearts weep. E-Sharp. The first keystroke in his tribute to her.

The melody perfectly described her, the shape of her hip into her bust, the line of her neck up to her jaw. The slope of her nose, the tilt of her lips and chin. He'd crafted the sounds around her, about her. His masterpiece. He created just the right hint of beauty in a discordant cascade of notes. His last tribute to her humanity, not their love song... no the tale of their last moment together, his requiem. His pain in having to lie, her pain... no, his sacrifice. He kept that beautiful memory of her in his heart all these decades. He knew it was the right thing, to stay human, to keep her soul.

He stewed on what to do for several more hours, as he slowly went a bit crazy due the muted silence, his gift quieted for the first time in his long life. Middle C again, and again, and again. The cord started to lose tone as he struck the key until the ivory began to crack. The two hundred year old Packard baby grand had been played on four continents, seventeen countries, and hundreds of cities. He had played countless hours of music on it. It was his most cherished possession.

The cord snapped. Just like his last nerve, because the silence had been deafening since the voices went away. His power, just like his Bella was gone. His other great possession was stolen away by his own sister. In every way that mattered Bella died in that forest all those years ago. Now all that mattered was the music, but even his piano failed him, just like she had.

He closed his left fist, the keys shattering under his strength, just like the first blackened eye he should've given her. He stood knocking the stool down and back across the concrete floor. He slammed his right first into the lower keys, cracking the wood below it, imagining the impact as if it was her skin and bone. Picturing her flesh reddening and then turning purple from the slaps and hits he should have given her to learn her place. Again and again he hit his favorite thing in the world, since his other favorite thing was beyond his reach. Splintering the wood, stretching the strings, pulverizing the ivory, bending her body to his will.

He worked in silence, until all that was left was dust and rubble, he imagined it was her body broken and spent just like in his favorite dark fantasies of her. He screamed into the emptiness around him, and was met with nothing but mocking echoes that sounded just like her. He turned around and left without a backward glance. His beloved instrument, abandoned like all the rest of his family's forgotten trash. Abandoned like his Bella had abandoned him.

He knew what he had to do. If he couldn't have her, no one could.

St. Cloud, Minnesota - February 3rd

"It's another full day of this at least, are you sure stopping is a good idea?" Charlie sighed, glancing back at Zoey who was keeping somewhat quiet, but was clearly in absolute agony.

"I have to set up the barriers before I can ease her pain. I need quiet and time. The constant headlights are distracting." They had been on the road all night, and Angela was feeling drained. Her entire life uprooted, her daughter kidnapped and nearly killed, and two forced memory erasures felt like almost too much.

"Fine. I'll find some blood, you'll both need it soon." Charlie acquiesced with a sigh, then glanced over at Angela for directions.

"Heard there's a serial in the area, might be a good distraction." She cast a sideways look at him and he almost smiled back at her. The main perk of his job was finding monsters and ending them.

"Probably just another nomad." He said a still little frustrated at the discovery of how many unsolved cases were actually just vampires feeding recklessly.

"Maybe. There's a farm for sale off exit 160, been on the market for nearly a year. Pictures show it's empty." Charlie nodded at Angela's directions and within ten minutes they were pulling up to a clearly abandoned farmhouse. The grass was brown, the fields overgrown and the barn in major disrepair.

"This will do. I'll get Zoey." Angela said with a small sigh, getting out and then carefully picking up her daughter. Charlie moved the car into the barn in case a local sheriff drove by and got curious.

Charlie had a flash as he touched the front door handle, the people here had been foreclosed. They had been on this farm for generations. He felt their sadness the day they had to leave, and almost physically hurt to feel the flood of those memories. He tried the lock but it was seized so he had to forcibly break open the door. There were a few pieces of furniture, including a very dirty and worn couch. But it was better than the backseat of their car, so Angela laid her daughter down gently. Charlie looked around once, and then moved towards the door.

"I'll be back by morning." He paused waiting for her response.

"Be careful." Angela said with a smirk, starting their usual exchange before he would head out alone.

"Always am." Charlie gave her a half grin and closed the door behind him gently.

Angela spent the next several hours working on her daughter's mind. Erecting mental shields that would help guide her through her thirst. Keeping her from the worst of her cravings so that she could function as herself for those first few months. The idea that each barrier would act as a dam, designed to break at certain thresholds of control. Eventually they would all fall and Zoey would never have to experience the torture of killing an innocent.

The plan had been Zoey's in the first place, and they had both spent some time figuring out the logistics of it, the actual commands needed and the back up measures that may be required. At times Angela marveled at Zoey's mind. A certified genius, and already talented in so many things. She was very curious what Zoey would be like as a vampire, but hated that she was going to find out so soon.

Charlie arrived back around dawn, the grunt of someone being forcibly pushed through the door made Angela stand to take a short break from her work. The front door burst open, and a bloody and bruised deputy sheriff was thrown through the doorway, landing roughly on the ground. Charlie followed, slamming the door behind him. The fury on his face meant one thing, and Angela just crossed her arms with a small smirk on her face.

"Found the serial?" She said holding back anger she felt looking down on this worthless piece of shit. They had hunted and killed hundreds of monsters like this. The fact that they had saved countless lives was hardly a consideration, they both just needed to remove these creatures from the world.

"Fucker has been hiding behind a badge. He had two women captive in his basement, a third partially dissected." He wasn't just angry, he was offended. He had devoted he entire human adult life to protecting the people, and to see someone betray that vow made him violent and a bit irrational.

"Almost wish it was a nomad." Angela kept her outward appearance calm, inside she was screaming with rage. Her eyes widened a fraction, and she clenched her teeth to keep from lashing out. A careless kick could kill him too quickly.

"Well, they're safe now. Now you monstrous piece of shift are going to spend the rest of your short life in agonizing pain." Charlie said as he turned towards the man again, who was trying to inch away from him.

"Fuck you!" The deputy with the name-plate P. Surry, spat blood at him.

"I'd like you to meet my daughter, she is going to show you some things." Charlie motioned towards Angela who crouched down next to the polyester clad human who was starting to feel some real fear for the first time since he was a child.

"What can you possibly do to me bitch?! When I get free, I'm going to carve you into pieces slowly!" He was so angry and afraid that he was stuttering.

"No, you are going to die knowing what it means to be a victim. To feel the realization of loss as your life is stolen from you and the blind hope of rescue. Then the horror of torture and death. But first, pain." Angela widened her eyes, and assaulted his mind with the sensation of being burnt alive, a remnant of the fires of transition. She spent some time toying with the monster, inflicting the memories of other victims she had encountered, until he was begging for death. Then she lifted him up and drained him halfway, offering the rest to Charlie. He shook his head, so she shrugged and finished him off.

"He had some blood in his basement. Enough for the rest of our trip and some for Zoey. I have it in a cooler in the trunk." Charlie said with a shrug.

"He must've given them transfusions to keep them alive. Fucker." Angela stopped herself from kicking the corpse she had dropped to the floor before continuing. Glancing over at her daughter, "Zoey's doing better, she should be in control when she wakes. Which should be around when we get to Forks."

"Monday, I can't believe we'll be back so soon." Charlie let out a small short sound of mild disbelief combined with a sarcastic laugh.

"We need to stop at the townhouse in Seattle." Angela nodded thoughtfully and turned her attention back towards Zoey.

"Uriel's sending the papers?" Charlie asked, and Angela glanced back towards him.

"Yes, they should arrive later this afternoon." Angela confirmed, and then sighed and gave Charlie one of those looks that made him frown. "There's something I haven't told you about my confrontation with Lauren."

"It must've been hard, knowing she went through something like what you did." Charlie said with a half smile, half frown of sympathy.

"Yes, but there's more. Apparently some of us got the same treatment. You, me, Lauren, maybe Jessica…. And… Bella." Angela winced when she said the name. The one person she had considered to be a real friend, and now basically her sister was alive and likely insane from being buried alive for a century.

Charlie's eyes widened, and he had a flash of anger but shut his eyes and pushed that down. He had grieved for his daughter for over fifty years, and even saying her name was still difficult. He opened his mouth to shout at her a couple of times before finding his breath, "Why didn't you tell me!?"

Angela examined him for a few seconds before answering, "I'm telling you now, and before you run off half cocked, it will be nearly impossible to find her."

"Why?" Charlie sounded broken again, the look on his eyes was one she hadn't seen in decades.

"Because, she's probably buried somewhere in the middle of the Canadian wilderness." Angela spoke softly, but the news was going to break him no matter how she said it. Charlie shut his eyes tightly for several seconds before he nodded sharply and left the house, slamming the door so hard that it was nearly ripped off its hinges.

North of the Cullen Residence - February 3rd - Before the explosion

"What do you want?" Edward said with a bit of a sneer and more than a little anger, as Jasper and Adara approached him making enough noise not to startle him.

"Peace brother. I'm here to check on you." Jasper said as he sent a wave of calm towards Edward.

"I'm doing great." Edward spat back angrily, holding up his ruined hand.

"That is a result of your actions Edward, you must see that." Adara said with incredulity, but Jasper held up a hand to wave off any hostility. She gave him a look but forced herself to let go of her anger, letting Jasper know she understood his message.

"I just told the truth." Edward snapped back with frustration.

"Yes, and those truths were unconscionable. You denied Alice true happiness." Jasper said, managing to keep his voice even and his own anger absent from his voice. Still there was an edge to his accusation, but Edward just stared at him in confusion.

"I did it for you, for all of us. Alice would've torn us apart with her fixation on Bella. It was sick, wrong."

"Edward, we don't have a biological imperative and love cannot and should not be limited to gender." Adara tried but Edward just shot her a look of anger so she sighed and looked at Jasper once before leaving them to speak alone.

"Are you going to apologize for her?" Edward almost laughed at the idea, but kept his expression the same.

"No, she owes you no apology. Alice wasn't sick, she was in love. I knew we were never going to last, not after I saw them together. It took me some time to come to grips with it, in fact I was surprised when Isabella accepted your advances. Now it makes sense. It was unfair to you in a way, but you never truly wanted her. Admit it." Jasper tried, but Edward wasn't biting.

"Maybe, but it doesn't matter anymore." Edward allowed a brief moment of honesty, but quickly put his walls back up.

"Why not?" Jasper asked but his attention was drawn by a loud booming sound coming from the southwest. He looked in shock and then looked at Edward who was staring towards the sound with wide eyes. "What did you do?"

"I have no idea." Edward said with a small satisfied smile. Jasper glared at him for a few seconds examining the joy emanating from Edward. He shook his head at his brother and took off towards the sound, Adara siding up next to him after they were out of Edward's earshot.

"I feel horror, Alice is utterly desolate." Jasper looked at his wife trying to relate the fear he felt from the north. "Whatever happened, it was catastrophic. We should let Carlisle know."

Adara nodded, and they shifted towards home instead. The entire household was on alert, standing still on the back lawn looking up at the plume of black smoke rising from where Isabella's house was located. Then just as quickly as the smoke started it stopped, as the forest around them began to scream.

"What the hell?" Garrett said as he pressed Kate closer to him.

Jasper hung back as his wife joined the family who seemed to be too stunned to act. He was only marginally surprised to find Esme standing next to him, she leaned over and whispered; "did you find him?"

"He's to the north lurking near his favorite clearing." Jasper whispered back, and she nodded. "I think he might be tangled up in whatever is happening up there."

Esme glanced at him, and then at Carlisle before nodding once sharply. Then she moved over and pulled her husband close to wait for news. She hated standing by, but Isabella had been clear to keep away. Carlisle looked conflicted, but if it was something major they would know soon enough.

The Waterfall Residence - February 3rd - Before the explosion

Henry opened the front door, looking for Alice or Leah. He found them both standing nearby a small group of Quileute who were fighting over the last of the pancakes. It looked like it was about to come to blows. He motioned, but couldn't get their attention. Then suddenly Alice looked over at him and her eyes went wide, she was by his side in a flash and was wrapping her arms around his waist and the back of his head as she jumped backwards with all of her strength. He felt wind on his face, and then something else as a concussive wave pushed against his feet and quickly moved up his body. His last thought before landing was annoyance that he hadn't thought to check for explosives, then blackness.

After they landed Alice realized she couldn't move, not because she was physically injured from the blast. No, it was utter emotional devastation. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry. Instead she just stared up into the sky as debris began to rain down across the large expanse of grass.

"Alice, Alice… Can you hear me?" Leah was at her side, she and a few others had lifted Henry off of her and now Leah was leaning over. Her face was just as broken as Alice felt, so she reached up and wrapped the wolf into a tight hug, pulling herself up into a sitting position as Leah buried her head in her shoulder. Leah began to sob uncontrollably, her entire body shaking violently. Alice wished she could do that, instead all she felt was numb.

It was a couple of minutes later, as the rain of ash and bits of rock and dry wall finally settled when there was a secondary explosion as the gas line caught. Leah pulled away and looked over at the house, as the remains of the first floor burst up and outward. A belch of black smoke followed by fingers of flame erupted from the basement.

Alice heard Leah scream no, and she knew her own voice echoed the sentiment, they both shouted the names of their loves meant as curses to an ambivalent god. Alice took in the damage, the second flood was mostly gone, and the first floor was now engulfed in a growing tower of flames that roared like a thousand angry lions. The smoke billowed up in a thick column that was now blotting out the sun.

Leah was on her feet trying to push forward towards the house in a hopeless attempt at rescue and Alice got to her feet to pull her back, because Eliza wouldn't want Leah hurt. Another wolf was there right alongside her pulling the screaming Leah back from the flames. Seth, her brother.

That made sense. Family. Did Alice have a family anymore? As Leah was dragged away, Alice looked at the flames, and felt a strange pull. The heat was oppressive, and she could feel her skin beginning to burn even from a hundred feet back. It would be a quick death, an end. Because there was no point in continuing now. She almost had everything back and more…

"Brianna…" Alice let out pathetically, before looking back at Leah who was sobbing into her brother's shoulder. She met his eyes and smiled before she turned towards the inferno and took a single step forward…

Suddenly there was a loud crash and something cold hit them like a tidal wave, knocking them to the ground. It was followed by a flood of inky blackness that slithered up from beneath the flames and snuffed them out like they were nothing more than a lit match. Then a body was thrown out of the rubble and landed a few feet from Alice. She glanced down and noted it was the vampire that just arrived, the fixer, Talia. She was horribly burned, and barely recognizable.

A second later there was a deafening high pitched scream, that sent the shadows into a flurry of chaos, writhing around like arms reaching out desperately to escape an infinite abyss. The scream was full of rage, fear and agony that pierced the air like an arrow. From the wisps of remaining smoke and smoldering debris a mass of three figures rose up into the air as though lifted by a thousand invisible strings.

Everyone stared with wide eyes as massive wings of shadow unfurled revealing Eliza and Brianna, who were set down gently on the ground. They were both limp and clearly injured and unconscious or dead, it was impossible to tell. For a few lingering seconds at the center of those amorphous wings was an undefined mass of pure darkness, crackling with the kind of negative energy that seemed to pull in all the light of the afternoon. The sky dimmed and for a moment it felt like the world was ending.

Then the darkness retreated into Isabella's charred and blackened body as she fell from the sky. Alice rushed forward and caught her, immediately falling to her knees cradling Isabella's broken body. Most of her skin was gone, her clothes burned off. There was a small patch on the front of her chest below where her breasts used to be that was still pink, but the burns had reached to her bones across her back and shoulders. Her mane of chestnut hair was gone too, and in places her skull was visible. Her eyes were nothing but empty sockets, and most of her face was burnt down to muscle and bone.

There was a small gasp from Isabella's body, as light filtered back into the world and then she was still. Alice pulled her up to her chest and started to rock back and forth, her mind shattered for perhaps the last time as she held her beloved's broken body. She knew that Leah had done the same thing for Eliza but at least she seemed to be alive. For several agonizing minutes there was chaos as the pack tried to triage the situation. Henry, Eliza, Brianna and the burnt up Talia were all being moved towards the Cullen house.

Alice's mind focused on that for a moment, and forced herself to look down at Isabella. Could Carlisle do anything? Fire wasn't generally fatal to a vampire unless it was hot enough to melt rock, but it could be used as a horrific weapon. The burns would never heal, and the fully conscious vampire inside would be locked inside their body until someone took mercy on them and destroyed them. Was Isabella suffering? She stared at those empty eyes for a while, ignoring anyone who tried to speak to her, searching for any sign of life.

When she felt nothing she started to squeeze the corpse in an act of mercy as she let out a wretched scream of pain and sorrow. That's when the body shifted towards her slightly. She stopped the pressure and stood, taking a second to center her mind again and then moved towards her old home as quickly as she could without jostling Isabella. When she arrived the house was in chaos as the Denali and remaining Cullens were trying to keep out of the way of the full pack save for Jacob and a very insistent Leah who just wanted to be in the same room as Eliza, but Esme was keeping her back while she was being assessed. As Alice entered through the back doors everyone fell silent. She ascended the staircase carefully and kicked open the door to Carlisle's office.

Carlisle looked over and gasped. He pointed towards a bed that had been moved in from one of the bedrooms, and Alice gently laid Isabella down. Without the weight of her beloved in her arms, she simply knelt in front of that bed for a time. Silently praying that she would heal. She didn't care if Isabella were scarred, she just wanted her healed enough to survive.

"Brianna only has a few burns, she should be perfectly fine." Carlisle said, causing Alice to look up and focus again. She nodded with a soft smile, knowing that she had someone left. Her daughter was alive, and that would be enough to give her purpose.

"Eliza?" Alice mumbled, and Carlisle motioned with his eyes towards her. "Let Leah in."

"Of course, Leah only though." The words had barely left his mouth when Leah barged into the room and almost slid to the ground next to Eliza. She picked up Eliza's intact hand and laced their fingers together.

"I'm here baby." Leah said as she started to check over Eliza's injuries. The left side of her face was burned, although nowhere near as badly as Isabella. She had some additional burns down her left side, the worst on her shoulder which was nearly down to bone. It was obvious from the angle that Isabella took the brunt of the damage while covering her daughter's as well as possible. Talia must have done the same, leaving Eliza partially covered and Brianna almost entirely protected.

Alice took a deep breath and glanced over towards Henry, he was breathing shallowly one look from Carlisle let her know he wasn't going to survive his injuries. Carlisle started to check over Isabella as Alice made her way over to Henry.

"I wish I had seen sooner, all I can do is give you what you wanted." She leaned down and bit his arm, injecting a bit of venom into his system. "You are more than deserving, I hope you enjoy this life."

She stood by his bed for a while, before turning towards Talia. She had to be the one, Isabella would've wanted to give the woman mercy. Especially after helping to save Brianna. Alice reached down and started to remove Talia's head when there was a noise from behind her.

"Mama!" Brianna screamed, sitting up with a start. She searched the room and found Alice, and then practically flew towards her. Alice opened her arms, and Brianna buried her head in her chest. After a few minutes she looked up at Alice who had her eyes closed and was just holding onto Brianna with everything she had left, then she glanced down at Talia and she frowned.

"She didn't hesitate, she was just there helping… mom, protecting me and Eliza. There has to be something I could do. Maybe what they did to help me?" Brianna seemed determined, and Alice shrugged. She hadn't thought of that, but given Isabella's condition there was no guarantee that it would help.

Brianna looked at Talia for a few minutes before she leaned down and bit into one of the only intact bits of skin left. Then she reached down and tried to get Talia to bite her back, but Talia's mouth was sealed shut. After a few attempts to get it open she sat back in frustration. Then she looked around again and found Henry who she moved to first.

"Will he live?" She asked with a small plaintive voice. Carlisle turned and started to shake his head before he moved over to Henry and picked up the arm where Alice had bitten him.

"Yes, his heart is still viable so the venom should work." Carlisle had been considering the same approach but hadn't had time to prioritize him given Eliza's condition. He had already deemed the other vampire too far gone, but turned to give her another look after Brianna's action. Brianna shook her head, which made him pause.

"Who bit him?" Her voice was a bit upset and more assertive than before.

"I did. He deserved what he wanted." Alice said with a soft smile, looking down at Henry.

"He didn't want that." She said as she found the memory of his conversation with Eliza and Isabella that first day they arrived in Forks.

"He was a human associate of the Volturi, they all want to be turned." Alice countered, feeling a wave of horror that she had turned someone who wouldn't have consented.

"Not him." Brianna looked over and Alice just shook her head in frustration. She immediately leaned down to his ear.

"Oh god. Henry, if you can hear me I'm sorry. I didn't know." She wondered if killing him would be the right act now, but she also knew he would awaken in a few days and could offer more insight then. Or in a few months when his newborn thirst was finally under control.

"Look at this." Carlisle called them both over to Talia, at the bite site her flesh was already starting to regenerate. "At this rate she'll be healed in hours."

Alice's eyes shot open and she rushed over to Isabella, and pulled back the sheet. The small spot of intact skin was already starting to grow. She waved Carlisle over and he nodded with a look of absolute bewildered awe.

"Time and blood. I'll get some more for them right away." Carlisle headed out of the office, already pulling out his phone. Alice sat down on the floor in front of Isabella and reached out for Brianna who immediately sat next to her.

Alice wanted to reach up and touch her, but didn't want to cause her more pain, instead she just leaned close and whispered, "I'm here, Isabella, so is Brianna. Eliza will be fine, and I think both Henry and Talia will survive too."

Brianna sat back and pulled into herself and began to cry silently. Alice just reached out slowly and pulled her close. Brianna melted into her and just held on tightly while they waited for any sign.

Carlisle came in a few hours later with several bags of blood, he gave one to Brianna first who slurped it down absently, while not looking away from Isabella. He drained one into Eliza's mouth and she seemed to react positively to the nourishment, because she curled closer into Leah's embrace. He set up a drip above Talia's chest where there was the deepest open wound. He did the same for Isabella, although he couldn't tell if it was helping at all.

"I guess we wait." Alice said feeling a bit helpless, as Esme came and sat next to her. Reinforcing the fact that she did still have family. She had Brianna, and hopefully Eliza and by extension Leah. But there was also Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Adara. Even Carlisle, no matter how angry she was at his defense of Edward. She had family, and that might have to be enough. Except in the same breath she realized she would never be whole without her Isabella.

She had to come back to her.


Author's Note:

A little In Media Res for ya, and Original readers will know exactly where that first scene comes from. Going in to Book 2 I had to take a step back and really examine and outline this second half of the story. There was a lot of slow meandering in the second half, with long drawn out conversations and meetings that span chapters. The build up is a bit wasted IMO, although there are some very important plot and character beats that need to be addressed. So I made an outline, twenty-five chapters. Things will happen in a different order, and this is to accommodate the timeline and characters.

Edited the first section: 09/20 to bring it in line with the actual language used in the final chapter. This is a truncated version of the scene, with detail intentionally omitted.

Next Chapter: Cold Comfort (I've had to change this chapter name twice... sheesh)