Part 9

Bella didn't need to follow Alice with her eyes, the human's pulsing heartbeat would have given her location away to the vampire even if they weren't in the same room together.

And the hissed conversations going on within the house between other members of the coven didn't alter Bella's focus on that rhythm. Normally that sound was a white noise to Bella while she was forced into populated areas. An irritating buzz that she would rather eliminate than tolerate.

She didn't like humans very much.

Except when she needed to feed.

That was different. That was the only real use for the creatures.

Only now there was Alice.

Bella hummed to herself as she let her eyes drift over to the human girl. She was sat with Rosalie and Emmett on the couch as they watched some programme or other on the television.

She smiled at the small human as their eyes met. Bella enjoyed the blush her gaze caused to Alice's cheeks. And the change in heartbeat. Perhaps that was a sound she could grow used to.

Jane rolled her eyes before smacking Bella on the shoulder.

"Hey!" Bella hissed at the blonde.

Jane glared and crossed her arms. "Were you even listening to me?"

Oh. Bella's eyes flicked quickly back over to see Alice paying attention to the box and not to her which she was mildly grateful for. Emmett however was grinning back at her with more enthusiasm than she felt was warranted. She chose to ignore him.

"Bella!" Jane hissed at her in annoyance.

Unfortunately, Bella couldn't ignore everyone. Especially small blonde vampires with a temper.

Sighing Bella turned and headed for the staircase, taking it down to the front door and out of the house. She expected Jane to follow her and she could feel the presence at her back so she kept going on into the woods, barely noticing the blood splattered patches of grass along her path.

Once out of sight from the Cullen house Bella took off further into the forest and out of the Cullen territory. Thoughts of heartbeats and humans were making her hungry. But she and Jane needed to talk first. She could understand her friend's anger as much as she could feel it directed towards her.

She even agreed with it.

As she broke the tree line and came into open space she stopped and waited for Jane to join her.

She wasn't however, expecting to be knocked into and thrown onto the ground.

"How could you let him live!" Jane bellowed, her red eyes on fire as she snarled at Bella.

Bella coughed up soil from her throat then slowly picked herself up out of the crater she found herself lying face down in. She huffed as she dusted her clothes off.

"You should have torn him to pieces!" Jane continued, enraged that the Cullen was still alive.

Bella sighed deeply, as if she was already tired of the conversation, and slowly made her way back towards her friend feeling a crack at her shoulder heal itself.

The blonde was still growling by the time Bella stood in front of her. "You should have destroyed them all. Including the dogs."

Bella inhaled smelling the sea air and the dirt still clinging to her clothes. She brushed more from her before giving up and sitting down. Bella dug her fingers into the ground curiously before lifting a handful of soil and grass before letting it fall through the spaces between her fingers.

Jane watched her best friend as she inched closer.

She'd never seen Bella be so lenient before. Any other vampire would have been torn asunder and set alight for such an act of treason against the Volturi.

She dug her foot into the ground and kicked some dirt at Bella. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Bella closed her eyes to the dust bath but when it was over she gaze up at Jane and gave her friend a helpless shrug. "She's human Jane."

"Great." Jane muttered before shifting her cloak out of the way and flopping down beside the taller vampire. She eyed Bella carefully now that she was shoulder to shoulder with her. "I got that Bella. Heart beat kinda gave it away."

Bella tilted her head and grinned as she played with the ground some more.

After a lengthy silence Jane huffed and hit Bella again, wanting her to talk. "You've got bigger problems than the damn human." She explained. If word got out about the shifters or about Edwards actions and Bella letting him off without reprisal… well, that just couldn't happen.

Bella laid back on the ground and looked skyward. "But she's human!" She groaned in complaint.

"Give me strength." Jane muttered to herself as she followed Bella's lead and relaxed back. "So what?" She said. "You have two options, you either kill her or you turn her." Problem solved as far as Jane was concerned. But Bella was snarling at her. Jane rolled her eyes. "You won't have a choice if the Masters find out." She warned and the threatening growl stopped.

Bella folded her arms across her chest and glared petulantly up at the evening sky.

"Can we focus on the important issue here?" Jane cut in not wanting Bella to spend hours going over what to do with the human when they had much bigger issues that needed dealt with.

Bella sat up and, although she wasn't ready to give up her sulking for the night, she asked anyway, "Which issue would that be?"

Jane's eyes widened to their fullest. "Oh my god! EDWARD!"

Bella chuckled then got to her feet, once more brushing the earth from her clothes. She started walking back in the direction they'd come from without bothering to reply to her friend.

"You can't just let him get away with that. Bella!" Jane cried out before catching up with the other vampire.

Bella waited until they were level before smiling at the blonde. "I don't plan to." She admitted before picking up her speed. To Bella the issue was Alice. The girl was too young to be turned and if she took her back to Volterra it would be a fight to get her own way. If that was possible at all, when it came to laws on humans they were pretty much set in stone and carried out to the letter. Bella herself had killed children that had been turned much too early.

But Alice wasn't far off being of age.

And Marcus would stand for her she was sure. Bella could even use the shifter pack to buy her a year before turning her mate. If she had to.

Jane bumped into Bella. "Explain please." She said still too angry at the Cullen to see anything but death as an option.

Bella grinned as they dodged around the trees in the forest. She sniffed at the air and changed direction as she made Jane wait another mile or two.

"Bella!"

"Okay, okay." Chuckling Bella knocked into her friend causing her to stumbling over a fallen tree. "I thought I'd give him to you." She confessed.

"To kill?" Jane asked as her eyes lit up in anticipation.

Bella laughed and took off a little faster as her venom reacted to her closing in on several humans. "No. Sorry. Not this time." She replied to Jane as they continued to race through the woods, both of them now aware of the meal just a few miles away.

"But?" Jane was confused. How else did she get to have Edward if it wasn't to kill him?

"Don't want him now?" Bella asked with a teasing grin.

Jane growled, her fangs peeking from her lips as her temper flared up again. "Didn't say that." She muttered to Bella with narrowed eyes.

"Good, then he's all yours." Bella replied happily and spun away to concentrate on the quickest path to her evening snack.

Jane shook her head at her friend, whatever Bella was up to she was going to have to wait until the older vampire was ready to share.

They slowed down as they came to a ridge, pausing to glance out into the deeper forest. A line of smoke caught their attention, signalling a camp site.

Bella swallowed down the venom in her mouth as she watched on, her acute hearing picking up the faint sounds of voices.

Jane was caught between the hunt, thoughts on Edward and this new development in her long-time friend. "So you haven't suddenly become some human lover then?" She asked, her tone indicating just how serious the question was.

Bella scoffed, offended by the suggestion. "None for you then." She said before leaping from the rocks.

"Guess not." Jane mumbled to herself before taking a dive and free falling down the drop into the valley. As she twisted and landed feet first on the ground Jane knew Bella was already making her way to the human camp.

She took off quickly knowing Bella's threat about leaving her nothing wasn't idle.

It took her a few minutes to catch up and when she did Bella already had two dead on the ground and one in her fangs, screaming and clawing at her as she was being drained. It was an impressive sight.

And Jane would have been more than happy to stand there and watch but the sound of retreating feet caught her in a haze and she chased after the human, catching him a second or two later and tearing into his throat as she swallowed down the warm rich blood that erupted from the wound.

He screamed too but she broke his neck quickly before dropping his carcass to the ground once she'd finished feeding.

She grinned almost manically down at the body, before turning back to the camp.

"You snooze you lose." Bella informed Jane on her return as she stood by three dead and drained bodies with blood on her grinning lips.

Jane grunted, but she wasn't too upset. Her male had sated her thirst for now, and she could feed again later if she wanted to. "So what exactly is the plan?" As much as she trusted Bella she wasn't happy with the idea of returning to the Cullen house without knowing how the coven was going to be punished for their actions. It hadn't just been Edward that had acted against them.

Bella licked her lips and hands clean of blood before it became too sticky. She would still have to wash before returning to the human but that was okay. She glanced up through the trees to the darkening sky. "We should get back." Night time meant sleep for the human and Bella didn't want anyone else watching over her mate in such a vulnerable position.

"The plan?"

Bella waved her hand dismissively. "Tomorrow." She insisted. "Let's make them sweat over it tonight."

Jane grumbled to herself as they started back towards Forks again. She'd rather know the whole plan especially if she had to spend the night inside the Cullen house.

"And the dogs?" The Cullen's she could glare at and zap if she had to, but the mutts were different. They'd lost a member and had injured, they might just risk it all for the chance at revenge. Even if they had been clearly outclassed.

Bella sighed. "What would you suggest we do with them?"

"That we kill them." Jane replied straight back. "Obviously."

"No."

Jane growled and pushed her friend into a nearby tree. The older vampire crashed into the trunk sending both herself and the tree to the ground. Jane hated that when she was pissed at Bella she was the only person on Earth that was immune to her power.

"Jane!" Bella yelled after picking herself up again.

Jane finally chuckled as her friend came back with more foliage over her. "You deserved more than that." She told her, making a motion with her hand to point out that she would have already used her powers by now if she'd been able too.

"Aww." Bella consoled her friend. "Poor little vampire, all bark and no fangs."

"Bite me." Jane snarled.

Bella laughed and made to race ahead, she'd been pushed around enough for one night. "No thanks, been there done that." She called back over her shoulder.

Jane growled as Bella took off again and she hurried to catch up. "You're gonna regret that Isabella."

Bella's laughter rang out as she avoided Jane by weaving in and out of the forest trees.

The mud and dirt covering Bella would go a long way to masking the scent of blood on her. Meaning there was less need to find a river to wash off in and she could just return to Alice now that her decisions had been made.

The Cullen's would know of course, that they'd fed on humans, a vampire being much more sensitive to the smell of blood than a human nose could ever possibly be.

So maybe Jane would get to release some of her pent up frustration after all.

And Bella could do what she really craved, to watch over the human.

Hold her. Maybe.

Kiss her. Possibly. She'd most likely want to wash first before that.

Jane rolled her eyes as she noticed Bella slowly start to grin. Thinking of the human no doubt.

"Oh look, another tree."

xxxxx

AN/

I know, my bad. But looky, I'm not dead! Cool huh?

Well, I thought it was so there :P

Okay, so I've already stated that this will be over 10 chapters right? Right.

More like 15.

Whenever that happens.

Anyways, thanks for reading!