A/N: I admit that I am a big fat fail when it comes to updating. I am also sorry for it. I will not make you read a super long note about, however…so here is the new chapter!

Disclaimer: SM owns all things Twilight, I own pink velour pajama pants…I'd say it's a close tie over who is really richer…

AlicePOV:

I sighed, staring longingly out the picture window in the living room. Jasper's run in with Maria a few days ago had made security even tighter, a feat I had not previously though possible. I was bored out of my mind. The phone rang, startlingly loud in the silence of the house.

"Alice?" Kate's voice came over the line when I picked up the phone.

"Yes?" I answered, slightly confused to be hearing from her because she and Marlane had been really upset with me for quitting the band.

"Do you think you could come over for band practice tonight?" she asked, her voice quavering a little.

"I told you..." I started to answer but she cut me off.

"I know it was supposed to be tomorrow, but I think we should meet at my house as soon as possible. I have a whole list of new songs for us to try out, like, at least a dozen, and Marlane is already here," Kate rushed on.

"Sure, I'll be right over," I said, sickening realization settling in. I hung up to phone, and turned my eyes toward Rosalie, who'd been listening silently the whole time.

"I'm right in guessing that something is horribly wrong, aren't I?" she growled. I nodded heavily.

"Meeting, now!" Rosalie shouted. Within seconds everyone had joined us in the living room.

"She's made her move," I told them, mind racing, trying to sort myself out enough to share the details.

Jasper reached out a hand, touching me lightly on the shoulder. His was seeking permission. I nodded and felt tendrils of calm unfurling through my veins.

"Kate just called and invited me to band practice," I said, "I quit the band today. She and Marlane were pissed. There is no way she would make that call of her own free will. Maria and her people must be there, waiting for me."

"We've always known Maria was after Alice, we just don't know why," Peter interjected.

"Can you see anything, how many people she might have with her?" Carlisle asked.

"Probably around twelve," I stated, "I can't see anything, but Kate said she had a dozen new songs, I think it was her way to try and warn me that there were a lot of people there."

"What are we waiting for?" Emmett cracked his knuckles, "Let's go!"

"Someone has to stay with Alice… Charlotte, Esme, will you two stay here?" Carlisle asked.

"No way, these are my friends! I can't sit around here waiting for something to happen!" I shouted, scowling at him.

"Alice, you walking into that house is exactly what Maria wants. It's a trap, and we cannot risk her getting you," Edward stated calmly. He came over to stand in front of me. "When I needed someone to protect Bella, I trusted you. Please, trust me now with your friends," he asked.

You do remember that she almost died when you trusted me, right? I thought ruefully.

"But she didn't, and neither will they," Edward promised.

"Bring them back here, I want to be the one to explain this mess to them," I begged Carlisle, my eyes meeting his.

"We should call the pack, get some back up," Carlisle said, gesturing to Bella.

"On it," she nodded, flipping her cell open. "Sam, yeah, Bella here, remember us telling you about Maria? She's made a move, taken human hostages. If your boys are getting antsy, we'd love the back up," she grinned at whatever Sam answered, and seconds later we all heard a howl in the distance.

JasperPOV

I am going to kill Maria, rip every single limb from her body, and grin while I do it, I thought to myself.

"Agreed," Edward muttered under his breath.

"We're going to meet up with some of the pack about a mile downwind of Kate's house," Carlisle told me, his hands steady on the steering wheel as he maneuvered the wet roads at top speed. In another time or place, I might have found it funny that a bunch of vampires and werewolves were racing to rescue two humans.

"Assuming they are holding them inside of Kate's house, we should split up into four groups," I started planning strategy out loud. "One on each side of the house. Unless she's changed drastically over the years, she will have guards posted, and we have to take them down with as little noise as possible. I'm going to go in first,"

"I'm with you," Edward cut in.

"Peter has more experience with Maria," I told him firmly.

"I promised Alice, so I will be going in that house with you," I could feel the determination rolling of him, and I knew any further argument would be pointless.

"Fine, you, Peter and I will enter first," I relented, "It goes without saying, but I will anyway, those two girls are our main priority. Get them out safely, even if it means letting one of Maria's soldiers live. Our second priority, however, is to try and take one of her men alive for questioning."

"But I can kill the rest?" Emmett grinned. The shit was enjoying this.

I nodded, staring out the window into the blackness of the woods as we flew past. I absolutely know that Alice would not recover from losing these two girls, and icy dread crept up my spine at the possibility that Maria hadn't even kept them alive once Kate had made the phone call.

Carlisle turned off the paved road and onto a strip of dirt that lead into the trees. It was dense and he soon pulled to a stop.

"The pack will be right through those trees," he told me.

I slipped out of the car, chuckling softly as Emmett bounded out of the back, crashing through the underbrush.

"Seth! My main man!" he called out gleefully, pounding fists with the smallest guy in the clearing. Small was relative of course, these guys were pretty damn big. And all shirtless. Was that really necessary?

"They age several years when they first shift," Edward informed me, "And according to my wife, they get 'hot.'" He sounded miffed, and I glanced at Bella in time to see her smirk at him.

"Sam," Carlisle was greeting their leader, "This is Jasper, and Peter, friends who moved here recently."

Sam gave us each a tight nod, he didn't look happy about the new kids on the block. I considered trying to calm him down, but thought better of it when I remembered Alice's reaction to unsolicited emotional manipulation.

"Jake! You're here!" Bella squealed, hugging the tall man to the left of Sam.

I quirked a brow at Edward, what the hell man?

"They're best friends," he whispered, rolling his eyes, "He got pissed when we got married and left town for a while. I didn't realize he was back." Edward sounded less than thrilled.

"I heard that," Bella muttered under her breath.

"What's the game plan?" Jake asked Carlisle.

"Jasper is more familiar with Maria's methods, so he'll explain," Carlisle motioned me forward.

"Maria likes to set traps, this particular one is for Alice. We are fairly certain she is not aware that Kate signaled that fact to us. Kate indicated roughly ten vampires where she can see them, but I know there will be a couple more posted around the perimeter. We have surprise on our side, if we can disable her sentries with minimal noise," One of the wolves snorted, "We know she has at least two human hostages, possibly Kate's parents as well. They are our main priority, also, we need to try and capture at least one of her men alive. Peter, Edward and I will try and handle that, so feel free to maim and kill," I smiled slightly at Seth, who grinned back at me. "We'll split into four groups; Sam, you come with Peter, Edward and I, Bella, you go with Jake and Carlisle," Edward shot me a disgruntled look, "Emmett, you can team up with Seth and someone else, and Rosalie, you can go with whoever is leftover." Rosalie glared at me a minute, but nodded tightly.

"We're just gonna do whatever this guy says?" one of the pack muttered.

"Paul…" Sam replied in a warning tone.

"Okay, remember, as silently as possible," I cautioned. The pack nodded as one, slipping into the darkness of the trees to shift.

We ran close together toward Kate's, splitting off into our groups about a mile downwind.

Emmett's and the wolve's anticipation was catching, and the emotional equivalent of adrenaline was coursing through me.

Peter, Edward, Sam and I gave the house a wide berth, pausing in front of it. Sam sniffed the air.

"He can't smell anyone in front," Edward whispered to us.

I heard the sound of tearing flesh to the right of the house. "If I heard that, so did Maria, let's move," I commanded.

We raced up the steps, and some part of me remembered to be thankful that Kate's family lived outside of town next to an apple orchard, and not on Fork's main street.

There was a high pitched scream outside the house that cut off abruptly. Rosalie came in through the window, shattered glass spraying everywhere. Edward and I searched the room frantically, but saw no sign of Kate or Marlane.

Silly Jasper, like I would keep them in the living room, Maria's insidious voice crept into my head.

Edward's eyes met mine, widening in shock. Had I forgotten to mention that?

A wolf bounded through the hole Rosalie had made in the window, and I could hear Emmett and Seth taunting whoever they were engaged with at the back of the house.

"Where are you," I growled out loud.

Basement, she hissed, gleeful.

"Basement!" I repeated. Peter and Edward followed me to the basement stairway, throwing vampires out of our way as we went.

Edward threw his shoulder into the door, knocking it off its hinges and sending it sailing down the stairs and into the sentry at the bottom.

Peter followed, wrestling him down. Edward and I raced down the steps. I zoned in on Kate and Marlane immediately, feeling the terror coming off them in waves. There were only two other vamps down here, one holding each girl, and Maria was not one of them.

"Come out, you coward," I growled.

That takes all the fun out of it, she giggled.

I didn't let her nagging voice stop from fulfilling my promise to Alice, leaping at the dark haired man holding Marlane. He let go of her and grappled with me.

Such a pity you didn't bring sweet Alice with you, Maria pouted.

"You'll never get Alice," I roared so loudly it startled the guy I was fighting with. He paused for a moment, but that's all I needed to get my arms around his, pinning him.

"I got this one, kill the rest," I shouted. Edward needed no further encouragement to rip the head off the guy who'd been holding Kate. She was huddled in a corner, white-faced.

"We need to build a fire for the bodies," I muttered to Peter, who was done making mincemeat of the vampire he'd been fighting.

He ran to the top of the stairs, barking orders to the wolves and the other members of our group. It was not long before I smelled the sickly sweet scent of burning vampire flesh. Peter came back down and grabbed the vampire I was holding in place. He wasn't even struggling as Peter dragged him up the steps. I picked up Marlane, who was in a dead faint. Edward was trying to coax Kate out of her corner.

A large russet wolf came bounding down the stairs, skidding to a halt when he saw the girl in my arms.

"Aww hell," Edward muttered, "Not the time Jacob, start carrying pieces to the fire, we'll deal with that later."

"Kate," I said, waiting for her to look at me, "Alice really wants to see you, can we take you to her?"

She nodded once, reaching out a trembling hand to Edward. He pulled her to a standing position, but her knees buckled. He picked her up easily, and we carried our charges up the stairs.

"Carlisle," I called out as we exited the house, "Maria has to be near by, you and Edward take these girls back to Alice, Emmett and I will track her, see if we can find where she's hiding out."

"No, I'll take her back to the house," a deep voice rumbled from behind me. Jacob was standing there, returned to human form.

"Jake," Edward huffed in exasperation.

"Fine," I passed Marlane to Jacob, who cradled her in his arms with a gentleness I would not have thought him capable of.

"Peter," I called out, "Get that guy back to the house and restrain him, just make sure Alice doesn't kill him before I get back."

"You go it Major!" he saluted me, grinning like a fool.

Emmett bounded up, thumping me on the back.

"Let's go get this twatwaffle!" he crowed.

Yes, lets…

A/N: As always super huge shout out/thanks/love to my main chica beautifulmoreso for being awesome and pre-reading everything before I publish! So glad you got your computer back girly!