Author's Note: This one is short, again, but the Cullen's don't truly come into it until further on in the story. Think of this as the second prologue, if you will.

Also, I know the Cullen's sounds differently than you're used to seeing them, but it all has a purpose. First off, every time we see the Cullen's, it's through Bella's eyes. Of course the vampires are humanizing themselves for her, so without the human around, they would be different. Second, I know they seem callous, but that's because Bella never meet Edward, therefore Edward never blood lusted after her and Alice never had visions of how important Bella would be to their family.

Just, please, give me a chance to explain them further as the story progresses. Just remember: Edward and Bella have never met; Carlisle has never treated her in the clinic: she has no relations with the Cullen clan.

Chapter Music: Help, I'm Alive, Metric

Chapter One: Watching

"She's leaving," Alice said, breaking the hour long silence between her and Edward. They were playing their one thousand, nine hundred and eighty second game of chess, and she was losing.

Edward glanced up from his white pieces, momentarily interested in something other than their game.

They both watched as the girl that was once Isabella Swan left the house she used to inhabit. She was going back to the south, to Maria. Alice found that regrettable, but entirely unavoidable. Maria's actions were not by choice, but by pure instinct. That wasn't something Alice could foresee.

"It's too bad about Charlie." Edward sighed, toying with his bishop before deciding against it, seeing from Alice that it was a bad move.

"Do you think Jasper is right?" Alice asked. While it was more convenient to speak in half-conversations with her brother, she wanted to fill the house with sound – its silence eerie.

Their conversation was generally taboo while Jasper was around, but since they were in Forks alone, monitoring Isabella's visit, they could talk about the two year fight freely.

"Maria attacked a human." Alice said, stopping mid-motion. Her right foot hung in the air as she stood frozen in shock. It was very rarely that Alice felt surprise so strongly.

"Who, when and where?" Jasper demanded as softly as he could. Essentially, he was the planner, the tactician, and of course, the only one with a long history with the insidious Maria.

"The new girl, Isabella Swan, just now, and in front of her house."

Jasper grabbed her arm and towed her gently to the parking lot. The second bell was about to ring, and it seemed the Cullen's and Hale's would be missing their first classes of the day.

By the time Alice and Jasper had reached the Volvo, Edward, Rosalie and Emmett were waiting for them.

"Another move?" Rosalie assumed drily, studying her unchanging nails.

"If Maria has in fact attacked the police chief's daughter, then no, we shouldn't have to move, per say." Edward responded, his pristine brow furrowed.

"Wonderful, so we stay put." She said, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder and beginning to saunter away to make a dramatic entrance into her language class.

"What do you mean, stay put?" Jasper demanded, recalling the attention of his surrogate twin. "We will be going to hunt down Maria and avenge the slain human."

"No," Alice said slowly, watching as a new future emerged. "Maria isn't going to kill her..." She watched as Maria pulled back just before she drained Isabella dry. Maria eyed the human before scooping her up and continuing on her path south-east, the burning human in her clutches. "She's taking her to fight."

"No," Jasper said, "we're not letting that happen."

"There's nothing we can do, Jasper." Rosalie insisted, "She's full of human blood and already on her way. Even Edward won't be able to catch her."

"You know I would follow you into battle if it were necessary," Emmett told him brother, "but it's superfluous."

"It's not superfluous, Emmett. I've been there. I've experienced what that girl will wake up in, and it isn't in the least bit pleasant. We have to fight for her." Like I wish people had fought for me. Jasper didn't need to say it. Alice knew what should have been tacked onto the end of his declaration.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly, wishing she had been there for him when he was first changed.

"Jasper, it's impossible." Edward said, causing Jasper to growl. "I suppose we could convene with Esme and Carlisle." He sighed, bowing to his brother's mental abuse.

But nobody had sided with Jasper, and for thirty-five years Isabella had remained in the south, much to Jasper's disdain.

"I think Jasper's heart was in the right place, but a war with Maria would have been foolish. Trying to take the human from her might have sparked a war between the north and the south. And that would have been far worse than one more vampire being raised in the south." And with a rather firm sense of formality, he moved his queen and overtook Alice's rook, leaving her king wide open.

She sighed, watching the rest of the game unfold in her mind. With an air of defeat, she nudged her black king, making it tumble sadly to the chequered board.

"I believe that's nine hundred and ninety one games for me, nine hundred and ninety one games for you. A tie breaker, perhaps?" Edward proposed. After all these years, they were still at a tie.

"Another day, dear brother. For now I would like to go home to my husband and take him on a nice, long hunt. See you again, in Nunavut." Nunavut, Canada was the Cullen's current location. Rosalie detested it, and they would be moving somewhere closer to the unspoken boundary between north and south. That was why Edward and Alice had come back to Forks to secretly watch over Isabella, making sure she didn't destroy the town in a newborn-like blood lust.

"Enjoy," Edward smirked as Alice disappeared through the French doors and into the magnificent back yard. He yearned for someone to be the Alice to his Jasper, yet that person remained elusive to him.

So he sat back at let his mind wander to the poor human turned vampire in the south. Hopefully she would be fine without the Cullen's help, because after thirty-five years, she still wouldn't get any.

Author's Note: Thank you very much to my nine reviewers. I appreciate all of your comments :) Please, review and tell me what you think, I respond to each review individually, no copy and pasted responses.

Thanks,

-Maggie