Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight and I make zero off this gig

Warning: Today's chapter is rated M for the three S's: Swearing, Severing of body parts, and subjecting undead creatures to torment. Reader Beware.

*** Chapter 12 – Loss of Blood ***

Paws padded the soft earth in tandem as three wolves swept along the perimeter of the reservation in the dead of night. The landscape surrounding the wolves was a palette of grey-greens that deepened into pockets of black. Sticks cracked and broke under the assault of the large beasts' progress along the line of an invisible barrier the warriors were charged with protecting. They didn't feel the cold damp chill that hung in the air, breaths coming out in puffs of vapor illuminated by the moon before disappearing as if they had never existed.

Quil had barely passed into the shadow of a large copse of trees, the blackness cloaking him, when he came to halt and inhaled a deeper measure of the air around him, growling when he detected the scent of foreign vampires. Teeth bared, he snarled into the silent night, searching left and right as Leah and Embry flanked both his sides, aware of the enemy that was in their midst.

Red curls parted a curtain of shadow, as Victoria came into view, waiving her fingers in greeting, "Hello, puppies! We've been waiting ever so long for you to make an appearance this evening. Is this it then? Just three of you?"

Quil tilted his head back before allowing the alarm pounding in his head to echo through the night, bouncing off of trees and rocks in a howl of warning, summoning his brothers and to join the inevitable fight.

"Always with the howling, gods, I hate wolves," complained a male voice that had come forth to stand beside Victoria, hair black as crimson, eyes red as the blood he reveled in spilling, "Best to take these three out before the rest of the litter come to their aid."

Lips parted in an evil twist, revealing teeth slick with venom that shone in the moonlight.

The wolves vibrated with the desire to leap forward, but sharpened their focus on all they had learned from Jasper, allowing the vamps to make the first move, to see what the plan of attack was. Victoria merely stood there with a placid smile on her face, not bothering to shift an inch as six red-eyed demons leapt out of the air behind her, crossing the distance between the groups as fur crashed with immortal stone.

Rain couldn't resist the chance to destroy, so he had joined in the fray, twisting away from jaws of steel that threatened to close on his limbs. As the wolf's fur brushed across his back, he completed his full circle and leapt onto the creatures back, century old claws locking onto the female's muzzle and pulling her head back to twist and snap the neck of the animal.

The rest of the pack along with Bella had just arrived on the scene when Leah's form hit the forest floor, the life no longer present in her eyes as one flicker of light in the pack mind was extinguished. The wolves shuddered with the loss, a few taking to releasing mournful howls into the chilled air, while other's burned fierce with rage set aflame.

Jasper and the rest of the Cullens had arrived a moment to late to offer help to the slain female, and Jasper warned the rest, "Careful of the wolves. Their grief will make them blind to the difference between friend and foe, so they may even attempt an attack on us."

Jumping into the fray, golden eyes mixed with crimson, the human drinkers not questioning a foe that was one of their own, having been warned beforehand that enemy number one was the Cullen family and the rest were free for destruction.

Bella found that when she wasn't presented with a linear form of opponents, when they were mixed in with wolves and the Cullens, she couldn't simply hold back the others. It would take focus and separation from what was going on to mold her shield around all the forms she needed to stop, and it just wasn't possible in the current situation. So, she tried to send out direct hits that pinned the enemy to the ground where a wolf would go in for the kill, rending head from shoulders, or one of the Cullens would take them down.

Edward had seen the ghost of the past standing at the perimeter and zeroed in on Victoria, Alice and Carlisle following in his wake.

"This is fabulous. No need for me to get messy with the others, when the one I am seeking comes to me," Victoria sneered.

Edward could read her thoughts, how she had followed James to Phoenix and found the burnt shell of a building that contained a familiar video camera she knew James used to memorialize his kills. The memory card still salvageable, she had watched the last moments of his life play and knew exactly who she should blame for the loss of her mate.

He moved towards her, seeing how she planned to try and avoid his hold, and when he changed directions to match her decision, her brain seemed to flicker, like a skip on a CD and she shifted again, avoiding capture. He watched as Alice tried to close in but Victoria slid past her as well. It was a dance of near misses wherein Victoria delighted in their frustration at not being able to get their hands on the woman.

"Bella!" Edward called across the clearing and she quickly came to his aid as he commanded, "Lock her down."

The woman turned to run away from the battle, but not quick enough to escape Bella's hold. Edward approached her, staring into defeated eyes full of resentment.

"This isn't the end."

Edward wrapped her hair around his fist, "Oh, I think it is."

"She'll send more. She'll turn the whole world if she has to," Victoria declared.

Edward began a search through her thoughts, beginning to see the truth to her words when Victoria caught on to what he was doing and started running the end of James' life over and over in her head, closing him out. She stopped struggling and closed her eyes as Edward delivered the killing blow.

Jasper had taken to Jacob's side as the two worked together, Jacob fueled by losing one of his own and Jasper thrilled to exercise his combat skills without having to hold back or stop before tearing his enemy apart. This continued until Rain gained his attention, the male vampire playing with the four wolves that were circling him, his mocking laughter filling the air every time he avoided their attempts to take him down. Dancing away from Seth, Jasper saw a flash of metal on the man and took off running towards the group.

"Don't kill him!" Jasper yelled out, leaping over the wolves and facing Rain head on,

"Who are you?"

With one eyebrow arched in disbelief he countered, "Really? You wish to exchange names right now?"

"I can see the cuff on your ear, I know you're one of Maria's, but I don't recognize you," Jasper stated.

"Ah yes, you must Jasper Whitlock, the great warrior who left behind bloody battlefields for the safe life of hunting rabbits and squirrels," Rain taunted.

"And you are?"

"Here to end you," Rain lunged for Jasper, but the other man hit him with a wave of lethargy, slowing his movements.

"Ah, ah, ah, no fair using your special powers like that," Rain held up a wagging finger, "Come now, major, certainly you can take me down without resorting to unfair advantages."

"I'm not trying to take you down," Jasper confessed as a wolf snapped from behind at Rain's back, "Seth, I know you're struggling right now, but we need him alive."

Snarls over this turn of events erupted in the circle.

"Thinking of taking me in? Convince me to talk? Surely you must know that I'm stronger than that."

"Ah, well that's a challenge I'm willing to take," Jasper sent a stronger wave of emotion, mixing it with calm and peace towards the man as he started to sink onto his knees, diffusing his will to fight back.

Emmett had approached the group and Jasper turned towards him, "Can you carry him back to the house?"

Nodding in response, Jasper surveyed the surrounding and saw that Carlisle and Rosalie had started a fire and were burning the other bodies. Wolves were limping and injured, but the only one they had lost was Leah.

Bella crossed over to where Emmett was standing with Rain in his arms. She looked askance at Jasper.

"He killed Leah! Why is he not destroyed with the others?" Bella accused as she stalked towards the lone survivor of the attack, intent on making it a complete annihilation.

"He's one of Maria's, and with that copper ring pierced through his ear, he's one of her stronger fighters. He's been marked as one of her elite," Jasper explained, "I need to take him back for questioning."

Alice spoke up, "The nomad that attacked Bella in Phoenix was here. She was seeking revenge against our family for destroying her mate, the vampire that was hunting Bella. Edward was able to see that she had wandered into Maria's territory and convinced Maria to join her plan for vengeance. However, she mentioned that Maria would send more? Why would she do that if she was only helping Victoria out? What happened to bring about that change?"

Jasper looked for his other sibling, not seeing him in the circle of individuals surrounding him and their captive and not finding him with Carlisle at the fire, "Where's Edward?"

Alice searched the group before grabbing her temples, "He's confused. I can see he's moving away from us, but he hasn't made any decision yet about where he's going."

Jasper turned to stare at the vampire still laying prone in Emmett's grasp, "Looks like we're doing this the old fashioned way then. Bella, can you put your emotions to the side long enough to help me question him?"

"Do I get to kill him when you're finished?"

Seeing her thirst for the man's suffering, Jasper knew he could use it to their advantage, "I'm agreeable to that."

"Lead the way."

Mat stepped in front of her, blocking her path, "Mat, move."

He leaned forward and looked her in the eye.

"Do you want me to take out Leah's killer or not? I'll come to you and the rest of the pack as soon as I'm finished," she sighed, "Please let me do this."

He stared for a few moments longer, nervous about the vengeance that was etched into her features, twisting her into something less than human. Finally, he stepped back and away from her. She didn't say anything else but followed the Cullens back to their property.

Walking in the back of the house, Jasper began issuing orders, "Emmett, take him downstairs and place him in the room. Take Rose with you. I think he'll remain manageable, but if he starts to break out of the stupor I've put him, we'll hear and come to your aid."

Emmett nodded and turned to go, Rosalie following behind him.

"Carlisle, do we still have any blood stored away?"

Carlisle looked like he didn't want to answer, but replied, "Yes."

"Good. Go ahead and fetch several pints for both Bella and I."

Bella's head whipped over to where Jasper was pulling items out of a closet, "What do we need blood for? Are we going to feed him? That seems a rather humane gesture he doesn't deserve."

"It's for us."

"What the hell, Jasper? I never agreed to that."

Crossing the room, a heavy duty power tool in his hand, Jasper stared her down, "Right now, he's more powerful than both of us. It took everything I had to knock him down, and I have a feeling this isn't going to be easy. I'm going to need you at the top of your game, and that means you will drink what is needed to do that."

Bella weighed his words in her head, debating as to whether this was a good idea and still feeling the pulse of rage over the loss of Leah beating through her body.

"Or maybe you'd like to wait and see what comes next?"

That was the breaking point in her resolve - the possibility that next time things would go worse and she would lose more of her family.

"Fine."

Carlisle returned to the room, a stack of plastic pouches in each hand, bulging with the ruby red contents they held. Esme and Alice watched the pair warily as they took the items from Carlisle's grasp.

"Carlisle, Edward has taken off, Alice has no idea when he'll be back and I have a feeling this could be worse than we imagine. We have no choice."

"I know."

Pushing past the man, Jasper descended into the basement where Emmett and Rosalie were standing guard outside a heavy metal door.

"Has he tried anything?"

Emmett answered, "No, but I can hear him scraping around in there. No point in tying him into a chair when he can break the bonds, right?"

"We'll have him immobile in no time."

With each sentence, Bella heard Jasper's voice grow colder, the friend she knew turning into some militant executioner. Emmett glanced at the power tool in Jasper's grip and the blood bags before seeing that Bella possessed a few as well.

He stared at the girl questioningly, "You sure about this?"

"I'm trying not to think at the moment."

Rosalie started to open her mouth, but Jasper shut her down, "Just go, Rose. We've got this."

His authoritative tone said the matter wasn't up for discussion and she left quietly, following Emmett back up stairs. Not bothering to look at Bella, Jasper bit into one of the bags draining the contents quickly. Bella stared at the item in her hand, not needing to breathe and yet slowly inhaling and exhaling before she followed his lead.

The flavor was more than she expected, the first taste of what she was made for, the consumption of liquid life sliding over her tongue and down her throat. She finished the first one in an instant, taking down the others with eyes closed, savoring the experience.

She looked over to Jasper, noticing that little threads of crimson had started to flow into his irises and wondered if he saw the same in hers.

"When I open this door, I want you to contain him immediately. Can you do that?"

She nodded mutely in response, her nerves firing and crackling at the energy flowing through her system.

"He won't just offer up answers, so we'll have to convince him to share what he knows," Jasper explained bluntly, "You can't back down. There's no mercy here, Bella, no matter how much he begs for it. Can you do this?"

"Just open the fucking door, Jasper, and let's get this over with."

Giving her one look, Jasper threw open the door as the man inside made a lunge for the open exit. Bella slammed him against the steel wall inside the room, his skull cracking from the impact and then immediately starting to heal again.

The two vampires entered the room and Jasper pulled the door behind him, closing them in. He busied himself with plugging in the tool he had carried down with him while Bella glared daggers at the man she had pinned down. Her power throbbing, she pushed into him, pressing his body flat with the weight of her mind, hearing his ribs crack under the pressure. Rain merely gritted his teeth and endured the matter in stony silence.

"Release him enough that I can put him back in the chair and then hold him down again."

Following Jasper's orders, Bella did as she was told and the man was bound by her invisible cords to the piece of furniture.

Rain looked from one face to the other, noticing the difference immediately, "Someone's had a little treat. Bring any for me? I'm a little worn after all that fighting."

"Sorry, we didn't save any for sharing. Terribly rude, I know," Jasper countered dryly.

"Should we get to the you questioning and me not answering part then?"

Jasper picked up the tool from the small table in the corner he had placed it on, stretching the extension cord over to stand in front of his prisoner, "Do you know what this is?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was a shop class quiz."

Ignoring the sarcasm, Jasper continued, "It's called a hot knife, not a very intimidating name I know, but its a little tool they use to cut through plastics and such, and I've made some minor adjustments and tested it enough to know it will burn its way through your skin. So, to answer your question, we are going to get to the 'me questioning part.' Only, if you insist on not answering, I'm going to insist on carving a piece of you off."

Training had hardened Rain enough that he didn't flinch or show worry. The air in the room settled and all that could be heard was the electric hum of the knife in Jasper's hand.

"So, Victoria mentioned Maria will be sending more of her people this way,"

"She always did talk too much, never really cared that much for the woman," he admitted.

Jasper trailed the blade of the knife down the side of the vampire's face, let it carve a curved line from temple down to the tip of his chin. The creature hissed in return as Bella could smell the distinct odor of burning undead flesh.

"Fuck!" Shaking out his mane of shoulder length inky black hair, "you know all you need to know, don't you?!" He snarked in response, still holding tight to the last vestiges of his nonchalant veneer, "I'm not seeing the reason why you feel the need to question me."

"Why?"

Playing dumb, Rain questioned, "Why what?"

With speed and precision, Jasper severed the man's right hand from his wrist. The room filled with a guttural scream, as he tossed the detached body part in Bella's direction and she caught it smoothly, but refused to hold it by anything other than tips of the fingers as it continued to twitch.

"Put it in that holding container over there," Jasper commanded in her direction, staring into Rain's eyes with great concentration, "See, there's this little extra treat I like to add in to this type of persuasion. A little mixture of panic and agony – helps intensify the pain, while your body goes in overdrive trying to pump venom into an organ it can't fix."

Rain's eyes twitched left to right, his mind searching for a hold, as anxiety took his brain captive. Bella could see the slick, crystallized strands of muscle and sinew that were exposed at the man's wrist as steady drips of viscous fluid weeped from the wound and fell to the floor, making a puddle.

Taking a moment to release the hold on his victim, Jasper waited for the man's eyesight to clear before he asked, "Why has Maria made us her target?"

Grinding his teeth, Rain bit out, "Oh handsome, it isn't about you, now is it?"

He chanced a glance in Bella's direction and Jasper followed the man's line of sight.

"Why does she want Bella?"

Trying for a little sarcasm and swagger, he tossed out, "You know Maria, she's not picky about her bed mates. Men, women, makes no difference to her. Maybe she's gotten lonely?" Black eyes slithered over Bella's body from head to toe, "And, I must admit, you are quite fuckable."

The blade made contact with the man's abdomen, pushing through clothing and into what should be impenetrable flesh, but sliding in fluidly, Jasper cutting an arc across the man's midsection, while he amped up the amount of agony mixed this time with a healthy dose of despair. Rain howled and screamed in response. Withdrawing the instrument, the blade sizzled as the venom coating cooked, filling the room with another wave of burning petroleum smell.

Bella had decided not to watch the carnage unfolding, but to focus on the man that was the source of all the action.

Was he a man or a monster?

She could see how Jasper would have been extremely useful to Maria, he was without emotional response to the person he was torturing, solely focused on obtaining the answers he needed. Maybe he was more like a machine - a detached, single-minded soldier of destruction. Gone was the congenial smile and country drawl, replaced by something that she hoped they could put back in the box now that it had been unleashed.

This time Jasper jolted the man's eyes open with a push of excitement and anticipation, "Should I ask you the question again?"

"She wants Bella destroyed," Rain had been stripped of all resistance, having grasped the reality that Jasper would carve him apart piece by piece without hesitating and the only way to avoid further pain was to give him what he desired, "The first group of scouts to check on the Cullens had a lone survivor who came back and relayed what she had seen of Bella's power. Yes, it had originally started as a way to dig a knife into your side by hurting your new coven and granting Victoria a favor that she would be indebted to Maria for, Maria will never allow someone who could tip the power scale in her favor to live. Now that I've failed at completing the mission, she'll know the situation is worse than she originally thought and will probably launch a full scale assault."

"I don't want any power," Bella interrupted, as both men turned to look at her, "I just want to be left alone. I'm no threat to Maria."

Rain started to laugh lowly, "Naivety, how precious. Oh, you're a threat to us all. Destruction without contact, a force that I would assume only grows with human blood. Those eyes and that face so intoxicating and innocent, the perfect seduction that no one would suspect. Make the right moves, and the world could lay at your feet. Think about it – this planet is grossly overpopulated. As your subjects, we would attack until blood ran in overflowing rivers. You could bathe in it and we would lick every inch of your naked flesh clean, completely loyal to one who held it all in the confines of her mind. You need only act."

Bella let tendrils of her power wrap delicately around Rain's throat until she squeezed them tightly, crushing his voice box, successfully cutting of his words, lest he try and tempt her any further.

"Let him go, Bella," Jasper instructed.

Turning slightly from the two, she stared at the wall, and released him, hearing the sounds of his body scramble, cells scratching to piece themselves back together.

"How soon will she send another wave of fighters? Do you know any of her plans?"

Scoffing, the prisoner scratched out a response, "Come now, Major, you didn't expect her to reveal all her cards so early in the war, did you? This isn't over, that's all I can tell you."

"Then you're are of no use to me," Jasper sentenced before standing up and twisting the man's neck until flesh stretched taught, splintered and tore, separating head from body. Standing next to the chair, dangling Rain's head by a handful of ebony hair, he addressed Bella, "I assume you want to return to the reservation, let them know what's going on."

Darkened eyes met his as she uncoiled the tensely held shield from the corpse, "Yes, of course."

Jasper took in her hollow expression, pleased that they were able to get what they had, but wondering if Bella could handle having taken part in the questioning, "You need to feed."

Startled and slightly panicked, she spit out, "What?"

"Go hunt, Bella, before you return to them. Take down something and replenish your strength, grab hold of who you were before you entered this room."

Nodding without saying anything else, Bella ran from the house and into the shadows.

A/N: Sssooooo… let's have a little share time. That's the first ever fight/attack/violence scene I've ever written. This thing has taken me days to complete, having to step away and come back to edit and add on. I hope it worked. Sometimes I feel my writing is bland when it comes to action and leaves readers bored in a simplistic plot line. I decided to step out on a limb and shake things up a bit. I must confess, I didn't realize just how much thought to lining up the pieces just the way I wanted them would be. Xoxo-Ginja