A/N: Here is the next chapter. I've been busy with school and my son has been really sick, but this story won't leave me alone. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter. More interaction with Edward and Alice and a look into the plot is coming up. Oh, and just a reminder. I am not following the TVD plots much at all, just using the characters. It is easier to work with Twilight's plots and subplots because it's set in stone, whereas TVD or The Originals plots are very intricate and that is way too much work for me considering I haven't caught up yet. I will be introducing characters from The Originals soon, but please don't expect me to follow the plots from the show except major parts.

Peace, Love, and Slyther,

Gimi aka Jess

The following Monday found Tyler and Jeremy back in school. At lunch, the two friends sat there with Angela laughing and chatting while Edward and Alice tried to figure out where Bella was.

"Did Rose mention about Bella leaving town?" Alice tried to remember the conversation her family had that previous Friday.

"I don't think so, but I couldn't hear anything about Bella or Jasper from them," Edward mumbled, playing with the apple on his tray. He looked up at the two new boys and said, "I think Rose is right, I can't read their minds either," He whispered quickly to Alice.

He tried remembering any interaction he had with the new kids and found that he can't remember if he had ever heard their thoughts. "Alice, they're all blank to me, I can't ever hear them."

"How is that possible?" Alice asked quickly as she saw the doors to the cafeteria open. In walked Bella and the rest of her friends.

Edward took in Bella, she was dressed in jeans and a long blue tank top underneath a brown leather jacket. She looked beautiful. Edward suppressed a growl as the boy, who was dating Angela… Jeremy… Stood up and gave her a bright smile and a hug.

Edward couldn't help himself, he had been in Forks for a few weeks now. Not being able to talk to Bella was killing him. He had thought that Bella would take some time and then would talk to him, but if what Emmett and Rose said was true, she may never come to him. So Edward did the next best thing. He felt his legs move and even though he heard Alice whisper furiously for him to stop, he couldn't. He needed to speak to her, he needed to hear her voice. He needed Bella.

Clearing his throat, he stood right behind Bella as her friends stood around her. In front of her stood, Tyler and Stefan. Bella looked around Tyler's arm, and Edward flinched slightly at the look of disapproval on her face. The cafeteria went silent as everyone noticed Edward confronting Bella.

"Bella, please," Edward began quietly, "Please, may I speak to you in private."

Edward had expected an uproar of no's from her friends but was surprised when Stefan turned to look at her.

Bella looked at Stefan first and his green eyes silently asking her if that is what she wanted. She looked back over to Edward and sighed. Looking back at Stefan she nodded her agreement, and he stepped aside. Bella walked towards the doors of the room, and before Edward could follow, Stefan grabbed his arm.

"I don't have to tell you, if she comes back hurt in any way, I will tear your arms from your body and light them on fire," Stefan whispered furiously. Edward closed his eyes and nodded in understanding, walking outside to meet Bella.

Stefan turned to look at Alice, who looked apprehensively back and sat down, pulling Elena into his lap.

OoOoOoO

Bella walked a few feet from the cafeteria and sat on a bench waiting for Edward to follow her. Once he came out, she stood and waited for him to join her.

"What do you want Edward," She asked quickly.

"Can we go somewhere private?"

"No, this is good enough," Bella said sternly, "What do you want?"

"I want to say-"

"No, if you want to apologize, don't."

"But Bella, I -"

"NO!" Bella all but yelled. She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye, "I don't want your apology, I don't. Why can't you understand that? I don't want anything from you, I don't want anything from your family. If Jasper forgives you, that's his business, but I don't trust you."

"Bella it was-"

"For my own good? You're dangerous?" Bella whispered furiously, a couple of lower classmen walked past them quickly, and she waited for them to be gone before continuing, "You're right, you leaving was for my own good. I was not someone I wanted to be when I was with you. I was weak when I was with you, I would do whatever you, or Alice, or any of your family wanted me to do, to be! You were no good for me. You're also right, you are dangerous to me, I gave you my heart on a platter, and you smashed it. There is nothing more dangerous than that."

"That's not what I meant Bella," Edward said, trying to grab her arm, to make her see reason, "I wanted a life for you away from the supernatural, I wanted you to live a human life."

"I am living a human life," Bella whispered back, "It might look different than Jessica's or Mike's, but it's my life! I choose who to be in it, and I chose you. You showed me how wrong that choice was. As for the supernatural, that is part of my life, my family is supernatural. I have wolves for brothers, vampires for siblings and a lover and a witch and a hunter for protection. They are my family, they have given my life so much more than I could ever repay. They brought me back from the brink. I would die for them any day and I know they would do the same for me."

"Bella what happened to you," Edward asked exasperatedly. He was not happy with the way the conversation was going. He wanted her to see reason, to see he did it for her, not to her. But it was not working, she couldn't see that her friends were more dangerous than he or his family ever were to her.

"I woke up," Bella snarled at him, "I was dead inside, literally dead. I wouldn't eat, sleep, or talk. All I could do was sit in a chair and watch the world pass me by. When Jasper came back, and my world got a little bit brighter," Edward scoffed, and Bella was tempted to smack him across the face, broken hand be damned, "Don't you dare! Don't you dare scoff like he is not worth the shit on your shoe. Jasper has been there for me, he watched me break, and he put the pieces back together. He watched as I bled all over my floor because I was too far gone to care." She moved back the cuff of her jacket, showing the thin, pale scar vertical of her wrist.

"What did you do?" Edward yelled, grabbing her arm to look at it carefully.

"It's a reminder of the day I wanted to die," Bella said, pulling her arm back, "It's a reminder of the day I almost let you win." She looked Edward in the eye again, "Jasper saved me that day, Jasper and Jacob are my brothers in every way that matters. Jasper found me bleeding all over my floor and controlled himself. Managed himself until Jacob came and took over. They watched over me and helped me find peace."

Bella smiled, "Damon, he came later, and I hated him for a while, I didn't want anything to do with him because of what he was. We have been through a lot together, more than you know. I love him." Edward grimaced at the thought of this other man.

"I know you think you have a chance and maybe that would have been true if you came back six months ago, but you don't now. You don't know me anymore, you don't love me."

"I do Bella, I love you so much, it killed me to leave you! To have you believe that lie, but you did, you believed it. How could you?"

"How could I? How could I not?! I never felt good enough for you, you were perfect in my eyes, and I was anything but. You told me you didn't love me and of course, you couldn't because I was not enough for you. But I moved on, I shattered but picked up the pieces, I know my worth now and whether you love me or not does not matter. I love me, and that is why we won't ever be together. Even if Damon and I don't work out, you and I will never be." Bella walked away from Edward as he couldn't seem to understand what she meant.

OoOoOoO

Bella walked back through the door, back to her friends when her phone rang. Looking down she smiled, it was her mom. Pushing the green button, she greeted her mom as it had been a while since they last talked.

"Hi mom, I can't talk for too long, lunch is almost over," Bella chirped into her phone.

"Oh, but I think you will make time for this," an all too familiar voice trilled into her ear. Instantly Stefan and Caroline's head both shot up towards Bella.

Bella's stomach dropped, "Wha- what have you done to my mom?" Bella's feet all but ran to her friends as Alice watched curiously. As if in sync, her friends were pulling out phones, making calls and distracting near by students whose attention had been drawn.

"Did you think you could hide her? Her and her pathetic little family? Did you know she was pregnant Bella? Your dear mother was going to have a son, it's that sweet? To replace you," The voice taunted Bella.

Bella began to cry, "Where is my mother, Victoria?" Bella asked harshly.

"Be a good girl, and I'll let you say goodbye to her."

"If you hurt her, I will kill you."

"Aww, there went your shot." Bella heard a laugh, and then a scream filled the phone's receiver. The voice she knew was her mother, "See you soon Bella Swan."

Bella screamed and threw her phone across the room. Alice jumped to her feet as Stefan and Caroline ran to each person and began to say, "You don't remember seeing Bella Swan at school today, you will forget you ever saw any of this." Bonnie was on the phone with Charlie from what Alice could hear. Elena had called Jasper, Alice knew that voice anywhere. He was on his way back to the school.

Alice ran over to Bella, who was in Jeremy's arms, Tyler had gone to the door waiting for Jasper and to keep anyone from leaving who wasn't yet compelled.

"Bella, Bella what happened?" Alice asked she hadn't remembered being so scared. Since she couldn't see Bella's future, she felt helpless, but she knew she heard the name Victoria and the only Victoria that could cause Bella pain would be, "Bella, please! Tell me what I can do to help!"

"Stay away from her," Elena snarled as her friends were collecting their stuff, "This is your fault! Whatever has happened, their blood is on the heads of your family!" And the group of friends left the room, Tyler picking up Bella bridal style. Alice couldn't help it, she ran after the group, pleading to help. No matter what, she always considered Bella a friend, a sister, even if Bella didn't want to be one of them anymore, she would always be family. She followed them to the parking lot, the feeling of deja vu running through her veins, but this time, Edward was not with her. In fact, his car was gone, he must have left after his talk with Bella.

Jasper pulled up in his mustang, Caroline running to open the door. She slid in the back as did Elena as Stefan sat in the front. A blue Camaro raced in behind Jasper and Alice could see Bella's boyfriend jump out of the car and took Bella from Tyler's arms. Bonnie jumped into the back seat of the car and Damon placed Bella next to her, her arms automatically went around Bella in a comforting manner. Tyler and Jeremy had both jumped into a truck and had left the parking lot already.

"Jasper, please!" Alice begged, looking over at Jasper before he took off, "Please, I want to help! I don't know what is happening, but I'm scared, I want to help Bella."

"Jasper we don't have time for this," Damon growled out, "We need to get home, we need to get to Ric and Charlie! I need to get Bella talking to me."

Stefan got out of the Mustang and ran to his brother's car, "Alice, ride with Jasper, we've got to go now." He said as he closed the door and Damon got in, pulling out from behind Jasper and speeding out.

Jasper nodded, and Alice gave him a grateful smile as she ran to the car and climbed in.

"What happened Care," Jasper asked as he peeled out of the parking lot, doing seventy down the road.

"I don't know," Caroline answered from the back seat, "She had gone outside to talk to Edward, not her idea, but had come back in. She looked fine and got a phone call from her mother. But it was evident it wasn't- wasn't her mother." Caroline's voice broke as tears began to fall, "I don't know how she found her, but she did. Jazz, Victoria killed Renee while on the phone with Bella."

Alice gasped as Jasper began to punch the steering wheel, stepping harder on the gas, they went faster, "Jasper, Victoria? The nomad Victoria?!"

Jasper nodded, too angry to talk. There was silence the rest of the trip back to the house, and everyone walked inside except for Jasper, who walked off into the woods a bit. Alice waited outside, not sure what to do. Bella was not speaking, Charlie hated her family, with good reason, and the only other person who she was comfortable with was Jasper.

Jeremy poked his head out the door, "Come on in, Damon brought Bella upstairs, Charlie and Caroline are with her right now. We're all in the kitchen, Jasper went to get Jacob, he'll be a few minutes."

Alice nodded, knowing that the brunette didn't want her there, but that was neither here nor there. Now was not the time, right now was the time to be there for Bella, even if she wasn't wanted.

OoOoOoO

"What happened?"

"Renee's dead?"

"Victoria?"

"We need to kill this bitch now!"

"Soon, she will be coming for Bella soon," Bonnie said, tears in her eyes still. She wiped them away and closed her eyes, "She is heading back to Washington, don't bother calling Elijah, by the time they get there, she will be gone."

"What about Phil and Renee's bodies?" Elena asked, "Don't we need to identify them?"

"Bella can't go to ID them, Elena," Tyler said crashing down into a chair, "She has to wait until someone finds them and calls her, it would look suspicious if she went there before anyone had found them."

"I know that," Elena said, wiping tears from her face, "But can't Elijah go there and compel the police and bring the bodies to Bella? Klaus likes Bella, as strange as that is, he would help. It's not like it will do Bella any good if they open a case for her mom, she knows who killed her, they won't find the killer."

"Let's wait for Bella and Damon first," Stefan said as everyone took a seat around the table. He looked up and saw Alice standing there, giving her a small tight smile he said, "Jasper will be back in a moment, one of the pack is always running patrol, Jake will be here soon."

As if on cue, Jasper walked in with Jake on his heels. Jake stood in the hall looking at the ceiling with a frown on his face. Alice could feel the calm that he was radiating, it was almost like a warm, familiar hug before he walked into the kitchen.

"Now we know why we didn't find anything in Seattle," Jasper said as Jake sat down next to Bonnie.

"Jasper, is Victoria really after Bella?" Alice asked quietly, moving into the room behind him. Jasper pulled out a chair for Alice and nodded.

"Yes, she's been after her since the Cullens left Forks," Jasper said, choosing to stand, "We've come close to catching her a few times, but she's slippery. She's building an army, which is what we were trying to find in Seattle this weekend, but we found nothing."

"Jasper, should we be sharing this?" Stefan asked he looked at Alice, his green eyes trained on her honey ones, "I'm sorry, but the Swans don't exactly want your family's help."

Alice could feel the table looking at her, and she nodded, "I know that, but no matter what, I still care for Bella, and I can't stand to see her hurt," Tyler scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I know we hurt her by leaving, but you have to understand, Edward was broken up about what happened at the party. That one of our family would try and hurt her because of an innocent mistake," Alice winced slightly. Not wanting to hurt Jasper by reminding him that he once sought to bite Bella. She sent her sorrow towards Jasper as he growled slightly, "The party reminded him just how volatile our lives are, how she was very human in that instance and he panicked. I don't know what he said after we left, but we all loved Bella. Jasper knows we did, we loved her and didn't want to be the reason why she died."

"Do you know how many times I've come close to death Alice?" Bella's voice echoed through the hall as she stood at the base of the stairs, Caroline holding on to her with Charlie at her back. Alice turned to look at the girl she still considered a sister, "Besides that party, which was not Jasper's fault by the way. I've been close to death several times. Almost all of them trying to protect my family and I would do it again."

Bella walked into the room, Damon blurring to her side with a tumbler of whisky, which he handed to her, she gave him a grateful smile and took a sip. "I'm not afraid to die, I'd happily have died today instead of my mom and Phil if I had the choice."

Damon opened his mouth to argue but shut it again as Bella scowled at him, "She should not have paid for my mistakes, Damon! My mother died because of me! Because of some stupid vendetta that I couldn't control, and I hate myself for it! I still see Liz's fa-" Bella began to cry again, choking on the words that she didn't want to say.

Caroline sobbed. Jasper pulled her into his chest, the pain still fresh in her mind. Charlie left the room, breaking glass could be heard from the living room. Alaric went to make sure everything was okay while Bella tried to continue.

"I st- still see her face, twa- twisted in pain. She has taken so much from me, for us! Damon, I hate that she is doing this to my family." Damon pulled Bella into his arms, her legs giving out on her. He sat down in a free chair and let her grieve.

Alice wanted to cry, she didn't need Jasper's gift to know the pain Bella and this girl Caroline were in. Alice caught Stefan's eye, taking a deep breath he said, "Liz is- was Caroline's mother and Bella's stepmother." Alice's eyes widened, "She and Charlie were newlyweds, only married for about six weeks when she was killed."

"Oh Bella, I'm sor-"

"No, please don't," Bella said, tears still falling, "Stop apologizing, please just stop! I don't want your family's apologies. I don't want Edward's, or yours or anyone. I have more important things going on than to dwell on what is done, Alice. You guys left, it's over. I don't need an apology, I really don't. My mom just died, my stepmom died, my stepdad, I have enough going on. Please just stop."

"Bells," Stefan interrupted, "What do you want to do? Go to Florida?"

Bella shook her head, "I'm going to call Elijah. Elena's right, the police getting involved will just make things harder. They won't find the killer."

Every nodded in agreement, Elena still had her own reservations, even though it was her idea, Klaus had sucked her dry the summer before; he had taken Stefan away from her, and she hated him for it, but somehow he thought of Bella as family.

Bella had left the room to make the call, Damon going with her. He was not happy about it, but he would put up with the hybrid for the sake of his girl.

"Jasper," Alice said quietly, "Jasper, how did this all happen? Please, explain this to me. What is Victoria doing, I can't see anything, but an army?"

Jasper nodded, "She has been building a newborn army. She followed us to Virginia."

"Virginia?"

"Yes, Bella and Charlie needed to get away after… Uh, Bella's accident. We went to Virginia because Peter had told me I would find what I was looking for there."

"But what about the sun?" Alice asked, "Jasper, how do you look so different, how can you be around Bella now when you couldn't before? Please just help me understand. I don't know how things are so different after less than a year."

"Alice, it's not important," Jasper said, "Maybe one day I'll tell you, but not now. Now we have to train," He looked at Bonnie, "How soon is she coming? Can you see how many?"

Bonnie shook her head, "I can't tell how many, but I know it'll be a dozen at least. We've got maybe a month? Her numbers keep changing because they keep killing each other off, but I know she's coming before the weather gets warmer."

Everyone stood from the table and headed down into the basement, Alice pulled on Jasper's arm, "What is going on?"

Jasper looked at his ex-wife, his face determined, "We're going to train. Less than a month, we have a fight on our hands."

Alice looked even more panicked as she watched Charlie and Alaric head for the stairs, "But, there are humans in your family, they can't fight!"

"They are human, and they make their own choices. We have enough vampires and wolves, Charlie and everyone else will be all right."

"Jasper, I have to tell Carlisle about this, the family will want to help, the Volturi will find out about the newborn army, they will come for all of us."

Jasper thought about this as Bella and Damon walked back in, looking at the two cold ones she said, "Elijah and Klaus will be here in a couple days. Renee wanted to be cremated and so did Phil, so they are taking care of that and flying up."

Jasper nodded, "Bella, Alice thinks we should tell the family about what is going on. The Volturi will know what is happening and will surely be coming to take over the situation."

"Whatever you think is the best Jazz, I'm going to lay down for a bit," Bella said walking passed the basement entrance and up the stairs.

Damon watched his girl walk away, turning to Alice, "Look I don't know you, but I trust Jasper, and that's not easy to come by, my confidence. Tell your family if you must, but if they come in here and make things harder for Bells. If they come and hurt her or talk about the past that she apparently does not want to talk about, I will not hesitate to rip any of you apart and feed you to Jake in a bowl." He said pointing at the stairs, "She loved you all at one time, but until you earn back that love, you are all just as much the enemy as the red haired bitch." He began to walk towards the stairs himself but then turns for a moment, "Oh and this goes without saying. If your brother can't keep his opinions or hands to himself, I will kill him," Damon walked up the stairs to be with his girl.

Jasper and Alice stood there for another moment before he walked her to the door, as he opened it he said, "Alice, I've known Damon Salvatore since my human days. We served in the army together. He isn't kidding. He will kill Edward if he hurts Bella again."

Alice turned to look at Jasper as she stepped out the door, "You would allow him to do it? Edward was your brother Jasper."

Jasper nodded, "Edward was my brother, but he stopped as soon as he hurt Bella. Damon has always been my brother, my comrade, my friend and he loves Bella with everything he is. He won't allow her to be hurt or manipulated. He almost ripped Emmett's head off the other day."

"You've changed Jasper," Alice whispered in defeat, but Jasper shook his head, "No, I haven't. I am protecting my family, this is my family, this is where my loyalties lie. Tell the Cullens they are welcome to help or they can stay out of the fight, that is their choice." With that, he closed the door.

Alice stood there for a moment longer, trying to comprehend what just happened, Bella was in danger. Jasper had no loyalties to the Cullens, for the first time in a long time, Alice was not sure of her own future or that of her family's.