KARI

I woke with a pounding headache. I was once again on the floor of the basement. My heads and feet were free. It took a couple seconds for my memory to catch up with me. When it did, my hand fluttered to my stomach. I started sobbing as soon as a realized the bump that was my child was no longer there.

I rolled to my side and curled into the fetal position. I continued to sob until I heard the basement door open. I looked up to see Bella standing at the top. She had her hands crossed over her chest and there was a twisted smile on her face.

"Good morning, sunshine." she said with fake cheer. She walked down the stairs and stood in front of me. "Sit up. We need to talk."

I remained on the ground in the same position. I wasn't going to give into her that easily.

"Do we have to do this the hard way?" she asked.

I didn't respond or move. She grabbed a fist full of my hair and yanked me up into a sitting position. I let out small whimper of pain because it was unexpected. I didn't give her the satisfaction of a bigger response.

"Now, listen and listen well because this could save your life." she said keeping the hair clamped in her fist. She pulled back enough to make sure I was looking at her face.

"Obviously, I have no choice but to listen." I said vemon (not literally) dripping from my voice. She yanked a little harder causing me to flinch.

"I was really hoping this conversation would end without you getting hurt." she said.

"And why would you want that? I thought you took so much pleasure in my pain?" I retorted.

"Not your pain dear. Only Edward's pain. And hurting you hurts Edward. I could careless about you if you didn't mean so much to him." she clarified. "The is, though, I've found a way that would make everyone happy."

"I doubt that." I snapped.

She backhanded me. The force would've knocked me to the floor if she wasn't still holding my hair. I felt the pain as she yanked my head back to face her. By some miracle, I didn't make a sound.

"If you value your life, you'll shutup and listen." she said through gritted teeth. I stared at her to scared to speak. "Now, the thing is, you are a very gifted human. It seems that you are immune to the mental powers of vampires, just like me. Your immunity, however, is a little more advanced than mine. You can block the physical ones too. From what I hear, Alice has only been able to see your future twice. And I've witnessed first hand how easily you throw off Jasper's powers. And I've never seen a human strong enough to need sedated to be overtaken by one vampire, let alone three."

I didn't really understand where she was going with this. I knew I could do these things. I thought it was all just a product of my refusal to submit. It felt like something anyone could do if the wanted to.

"What are you getting at?" I asked my voice shaking slightly. She gave me a small sneer.

"I'm saying, Edward didn't have a bad idea when it came to changing you. I mean, with a little training, you could could be stronger and more powerful than even me. You could help us get rid of Edward, Alice, and Esme and anyone else who dares to try and stop what we've started." she explained.

"I fail to see how I would benefit from this?" I said.

"You'll get to live and you'll enhance your gifts." she explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "What do you say?"

"I would never betray Edward that way. Not after everything he and the others have done for me. Especially, after what you and Jasper have done to me. I'd rather die." I said. Why would she even think that I would go for that?

She released my hair and began pacing. By the look on her face, I could tell she was rethinking her strategy.

"He doesn't even care, you know? If he did, he'd have found you by now. He was just being nie because he felt guilty putting you through everything that he did." she finally said.

"Edward loves me." I said back.

"I thought he loved me too." she said. Her sadness sounded almost sincere. Only, I knew her to well to believe it. "And look what became of that."

"He did love you!" I yelled. "It was your own fucking bitterness that drove him away!"

She backhanded me again. This time I hit the floor. Thankfully, my hands hit the ground first, slowly the impact when my head hit.

"You don't know anything!" she yelled.

"I know how guilty he feels for that night! I know how you blame him because there isn't anyone else to blame!" I sat up slowly as I continued yelling, "But I have news for you, Isabella, this isn't anyone's fault! It just is! If she stayed with you that night, it still would've happened! Only, all of you would've died trying to protect her! Then she would've died anyway!"

"Shutup!" Bella yelled kicking me in the stomach a couple times.

I heard a cracking noise and felt pain in my rib cage. She stopped for a minute. I could tell, as I clutched the possibly broken rib, that she was trying to calm herself.

"Well, maybe a few days with Jasper and no food will persuade you to see things my way." she finally said. "In fact, I think I'll send him down as soon as he gets back from his hunt."

She smiled then headed back upstairs. I laid back down trying not to think of the pain in my ribs. I felt the tears begin to fall. I wouldn't give in. No matter what they said or did. I owed Edward that much. He did what he could to protect me from them. Now it was my turn to protect him from the pain Bella was trying to bring him.

Because, I now knew her true motive for wanting to change me. She knew that turning me against him would be the worst way to hurt him. I take the worst kind of pain in the world to save him from Bella's plans.

"Do your worst." I whispered. "I won't be broken."

A/N: I'm sorry, it's so short. Today was the second day of tech. week for the Crucible. And it's taking most of my energy right now. I hope you like what I've done. REMEMBER THE FLYING MONKEYS AND CLICK THE LITTLE PURPLISH BLUE BOX TO REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!

Next chapter: Jasper's attempt to persuade Kari.