Okay if you're following this I am assuming you have read "Jessica's Happily Ever After". BIG NEWS. I am re-doing the ending of Edward Arc, Chapter 9. It will be a lot different. But for continuity of this story line, I am moving that Ch9 original ending to Ch1 of this story as like a preface/set-up. So…stay tuned if you are into reading a new ending for Edward Arc in JHEA. Or not, no biggie. K, enjoy now!

[Jess Arc]

"The Vampire and the Wolf"

Chapter 9

My world was flipped upside down. They weren't my family. As they had me believe for the last few years.

An unfamiliar energy sparked and crackled on our opposing sides. It was built on the contrasting forces of my contempt and their desperation.

I ground my teeth together to concentrate on the present moment and stay with it. When that failed, I bit my tongue. The pain was inconsequential compared to the rest of the internal damage I was currently navigating.

Red began to cloud my vision. We were supposed to be a family. I felt it with Alice. Like she was my sister. My real sister. And I believed Edward.

I resisted from clenching my eyes shut and spiraling into a pit of despair.

"Alice," I growled. My spine stiffened as the rage flooded through me. Consuming me. I desired to verbally tear her down. Rip her into shreds. Because I knew my words could hurt her more than I could ever harm her physically. And her death would be too merciful.

Underneath the mask of my anger, I tried to deny to my audience and myself how deeply vulnerable and exposed I was in front of them. I hated them. Hated. Even Edward.

Out of the corner of my left eye, I caught Jacob's advancement forward. I stuck out my arm, thwarting him for moving any further. This was not his fight, and I knew he sensed that when he backed away from my touch.

"Why?" I cried, deliberately focusing my gaze on Alice. Her pained stare meant nothing to me for once. I was indifferent towards her feelings. Right now, this was about me. Figuring out why the hell she did it and they all lied to me.

I raised up my left wrist and rotated my scar towards her line of sight. I moved with lightning speed to be standing in front of her and shoved my wrist in her face. I repeated my question with more urgency. I prevented her shoulders from curling over by jutting my hands to force her back up. She continued to remain silent in not answering my question. The tears rolling down her cheeks didn't deter me from unleashing my fury. No one else moved towards us. They knew this quarrel was between "sisters".

"Always wasn't meant for you," I spat out in malice while she refused to meet my eyes. "It was meant for my family that you stole from me. Why would you do that, why?" I grabbed her shoulders and began to shake her petite frame in a furious passion.

No longer willing to ignore Edward's presence, I released my tight grip on Alice and directed my body to face him before I unleashed my next level of wrath reserved for my mate. "And Edward, you just went along with it? You never tried to make me remember?" My voice faded as weakness overtook me. I loved Edward. I always joked he was my "better half" or I didn't know what I did to deserve him. A distraught look rippled across the beautiful features on his face and I was torn, hesitant on what I had intended on saying next.

I wrinkled my face in concentration before looking over behind my shoulder at Jake. His broad tall and tan stature hadn't budged since I first stopped him from approaching the Cullen's, and I was reminded what it was like when someone respected your choice. His dark eyes flickered in understanding when they caught my gaze, but his impassive mask still held for our audience. For me. Because he knew this was my fight and I needed to do this my way.

At the end of the day, that was all I wanted. A choice they ripped away from me that I had already made.

"I chose you. I loved you. You knew what I wanted. And after it was taken away from me, you hid it. I knew something was off or wrong, but I never questioned you. Because we were mates. Your betrayal is almost the same as Alice's. I can at least understand why you did it. But not you." I turned my body to face Alice again. "You never really liked me. You wanted him to be with Bella. She was your best friend. Then the Volturi are in the picture and you want me to be a vampire so I stay with Edward? You knew what I wanted!" I fell to my knees and was tired of denying the tears threatening to fall. "Why? What am I missing?"

I wanted the fury to drive me. I wanted to fight with them. Maybe it was a case of Stockholm syndrome, but I couldn't wish to tear them apart. Make them hurt as bad physically as I was hurting emotionally. Esme, Carlisle and Jasper were guilty parties as well by being willing participants. However, it was Edward and Alice I felt the worse sting of betrayal from. I just wanted answers but they were giving me nothing.

An eternity of silence seemed to pass as I scanned each of their faces looking for the answer they were not speaking on. Guilt was smeared over each one. I punched the ground beneath me before a violent scream emanated from my lungs.

"One of you f**king say something before I explode! Give me some god damn answers!"

Edward's stoic face looked over at Alice before his gaze was refocused on me. But Alice beat him to the punch.

"I couldn't let go of the future I saw for you and Edward. You both looked so happy. I just wanted it to come true. I didn't know you would forget your past. I thought maybe it was better that you didn't remember so you could be as happy as you were as a vampire. I am the one that convinced everyone to go with it. Be mad at me, Jess, and not them." Alice's play at being a martyr was infuriating. And they just let her do it.

I recalled brief flashes of sisterly moments with Alice. Each memory was another dagger driven into my back.

My throat constricted as a sob rose up. I shoved it back down with a vengeance.

"Don't call me, Jess!" I snapped. "It's Jessica." An inability to forgive this betrayal was igniting within me. Every passing second was adding more gasoline to the fire.

I felt nauseous but I fought through it as I shook my head at Edward in disgust. "Edward, say something! Don't let Alice take this fall for this. You're just as guilty." Alice and Edward exchanged a quick glance. Human me would have missed it.

"No, it was all me. I'm sorry. I don't know how much I can say that. I just wanted you to be a part of my family. You're like a sister to me. I didn't want to lose you when there was an easy solution to save you." I held no sympathy towards her. No compassion or understanding of her actions. My lips flattened together in irritation as I also recognized that she was deflecting the guilt from Edward. But I was somewhat okay with focusing my anger solely on her. The culprit of why my change ever even occurred.

"You knew what I believed in! After death there is an afterlife. That's where you reunite with those who die. My family will die, and I will remain here living and never see them again. Not Daniel, my mom or dad! This wasn't your choice to make. You had no right to steal that away from me." I felt pressure release on my chest as I took a few steps back from Alice and the rest of the Cullen's.

"I know this now. I am sorry, Jessica. I truly am." Her broken voice. The dejection in her gold eyes. I knew this life event would cause irrevocable damage to her and that would be my only relief upon my departure. That I wouldn't be the only one to suffer as well in the aftermath.

"Edward! Say something. I can't stand your face switching between a statue or gaping fish. Give me your reason or justification. Tell me something. Anything!" After my harsh voice rolled off the tongue, Edward wrinkled his nose before narrowing his eyes. He was in a foul mood. It was rare, but it happened on rare occasions. I was minorly elated for once he was reacting to this fucking mess.

"Well, Jessica, maybe you're seeing my expression exchange from shock, disbelief and grief as I watch this dog replay the last few weeks you've spent with him in his head," Edward replied in a spiteful tone. His jaw set, and I rejected the guilt that wanted to roll over in me.

"You have no place to say anything about that in this moment. Jake is my friend, and right now the flagging concern is your complacency with covering up what Alice did and why you went along with it. Were you ever going to tell me?!"

Edward stepped forward in my direction, his gold eyes wide with concern. I shushed the growl beginning to rumble from Jake closely behind me.

"I agreed with Alice that it seemed best to not tell you of your past when your memory was gone. I didn't want to hurt you, and I was hoping to save you from further pain. Your ignorance made you happy and you would have continued on that path until this mongrel interfered." Edward's bluntness pained me, but I knew he was honest by the sincerity reflecting in his eyes. His crystal gold eyes mistook my understanding. I imagined he was probably misreading my facial expression, as his eyes shone with a false sense of security that he thought I would be able to come back to him after this.

"No! Jake did what he thought was right! You don't get to play the victim here. I am. You can't control me. You were supposed to let me make my own choices. That's what partners do. And you had respected my choice. What Alice did was out of your hands, but you could have told me after I started calming down after my first few months as a newborn." I felt myself leaning back to collide with a solid surface. I was so focused on them I hadn't realized the distance Jacob had closed between us for his physical support as things heated up.

"I did what I thought was best for you," Edward reasoned in a pleading tone. "As did the rest of my family. I love you. I understand your confusion with Jacob. You feel drawn to him because he told you of your past. But, we're soul mates, Jessica." His level voice wavered a bit as I bet he was finally realizing the ramifications of his actions for "us".

I glanced swiftly at our audience. My former family. I regretted this was going to happen here and now. A family show down was just. But a break up was supposed to be private. My anger was now replaced by a deep hurt that seemed to not have a light at the end of a never-ending dark tunnel.

Every ounce of my sadness and grief I would come to endure in this immortal life I wanted to pin on them. And to ensure they all hurt, I was going to break Edward's heart in addition to Alice's.

"I don't believe in soul mates, Edward. I loved you. Before and after I became a vampire. If you told me the truth, we wouldn't be where we are today. But you made a choice and now we're reaping the consequences of it. It is over between us."

A part of me objected to what I was saying. What I was doing. I looked in Alice's eyes and for some reason my current pain flourished the most when taking in her defeated face. After a long, silent moment I hammered the nails in the coffin. "And I am parting from this family. I can't stand to look at you all anymore. We're not a family. Family's wouldn't do that."

Alice cried while Edward remained as still as a statue upon the announcement of my decision. "Was this ever an outcome you saw, Alice?" I snarled while staying strong and pretending I wasn't hurting too. Because I was. I really was. But they didn't deserve to know that.

"No...because the dog blocked it out," she whispered to the ground in a harsh, raspy voice as Jasper wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

I turned away from them in one swift motion and took Jake's hand as I pulled him with me. I knew he was dying to say something and instigate a fight by how his muscles twitched all over his body, but he knew that's not what I needed nor wanted in this moment. I just needed him by my side as I walked away with him towards the unknown. I knew the Cullen's wouldn't follow us. Despite their actions, I knew they respected me that much to let me go. And I resisted from turning around to run over and throw my fist in Alice's perfect face when I heard her whisper, "Always".

I clung to Jake's hand for dear life as my Dad's voice echoed in my ears for when I asked him how he defined love.

"Love is when put the other person before yourself. Their wants, needs and happiness come before your own. It makes you happy to make them happy".

AN: Wow…are we really here? The next chapter is the end of this short story. Thanks for following me down the rabbit hole of this AU. It was fun to explore. I am a sucker for "what ifs" which you may be too if you've read up to this point. The fun of BWAIJ and JHEA and then this V&W, is that it is not just one storyline set in stone. There are options. Routes. You got to see what I saw for these characters. Maybe you yourself thought of your own separate adventures of how it would end? These stories/arcs wouldn't have been possible without you, my readers. Your follows/faves/reviews encouraged me that what I wanted to share was worth writing. It's a story and thanks for allowing me to share it with you. 'Til the end- Lalaland972

LalaLand972's response to reviews:

WPear: You brought up a good question about Alice and what she would say! So, I wanted to make sure Alice's response differed between this story and what we are going to see in the revised Ch 9 for Edward Arc in JHEA. In this story, Alice is making a sacrifice by not telling Jessica about her Katie life. Putting together she doesn't remember, she thinks she is saving Katie more pain by not triggering her to remember her parents/grandparents. Again, good intentions but Alice is missing the point Jessica doesn't want to be lied to about her past. Since Jake doesn't know about that side, he wouldn't be able to re-awaken memories for her. Thank you for the continued support! Love reading your reviews and that I haven't failed you so far with my updates :) haha

MiharuTousaka: Welcome to the Jess Arc! Glad you found it too! I didn't post an advertisement in JHEA with a new chapter/Author's note update when I started it to avoid upsetting those who really liked the Edward Arc. I figured if any readers stumbled upon it themselves, they would decide if they wanted to take the adventure to see what would happen in this scenario. Glad you have enjoyed! Hope you enjoy until the end! :)