"Darnit!" I exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Esme asked, speeding into the room.

"Jake won't talk to me," I fumed. "He keeps hanging up before I can get anything in except hello."

"Why are you calling Jacob?" Emse asked, the confusion evident on her face.

"To see if they'll help us," I answered. "Mark and I have a bet on whether or not they will."

"I doubt they will," Esme said.

"Me too, but Mark said he was sure that they would if we asked, so I'm asking so I can shove it in his face that they refused."

"Is that very nice?" Esme scolded me.

"No," I said, "But he'd do the same to me."

"Oh, Bella," she sighed.

"Try calling Sam," Rosalie suggested from the next room. "Maybe he'll actually talk to you for a few minutes before hanging up."

"I doubt it," I mumbled. I called the Fork's police station.

"Fork's Police Station, how may I help you?" a bored voice said.

"Mike?" I asked.

"Bella?" he returned.

"What are you doing?" we both asked at the same time.

Mike laughed and answered first. "I got the job of temporary secretary because the real one had a heart attack and she's out on vacation until she's feeling better."

"I was calling to talk to my dad," I said, "but maybe you can answer. I need to talk to Sam Uley down in La Push, and I don't have his number. Do you have a phone book handy?"

"Sure," Mike answered. "Just a second…" he trialed off as he searched the phone book. I waited patiently for him to find the number.

"Thanks," I said once he was done. "It was good to talk to you, even if it wasn't very long."

"Yeah!" Mike agreed. "You'll have to call sometime when I'm not working so that we can get caught up."

"It may be a while before I call," I warned him.

"That's okay, I'll wait," Mike assured me.

"Talk to you later," I said.

"Talk to you later," Mike agreed.

I hung up and then picked the phone up again quickly. I dialed Sam's number.

"Hello?" a deep voice answered.

"Is this Sam?" I asked cautiously.

"This is," he answered. "And you are…"

"Bella," I answered.

"What do you want?" he asked, all civilities out the window once he heard who it was.

"We need help," I admitted. "There's a club, a group of vampires, who are killing us off one by one, and we need help. Would you be willing to help us?"

"What's in it for us?" Sam asked.

"You'd get to rid the world of quite a few vampires," I suggested.

"Not good enough,"

"What do you want?"

"Forget the treaty. If we help you., then you guys can't set foot within 50 miles of Forks ever again."

"That's not my decision to make," I said.

"Then discuss it with whomever you need to discuss it with," Sam suggested.

"He's dead," I said softly.

"That's not our problem. We will not help if it does not benefit us. We will not risk death to keep vampires alive."

"Please, Sam," I begged. Yes, that's right, I was reduced to begging. "Please. These vampires are killing anyone and everyone that I care about, and it's not even my fault this time. They've sent vampires to keep an eye on my family and on Mark."

"We're dealing with the ones in Forks, but the rest are not our problem. Have a good day, Bella."

"SAM!" I yelled, my patience gone. "You're our only hope. Please, I'm begging you as a friend, help us."

"You stopped being our friend when you chose the bloodsuckers over us," Sam told me, his patience gone too. "Do not tell me that we are friends. Isabella Marie Swan died the day that she chose Edward Cullen over her human life."

"Well, I'm Isabella Marie Cullen, so I don't see how that matters."

"You're a Cullen. We don't help the Cullens."

"Sam," I whispered, broken. "Please. I'm begging."

"Have a good day, Bella," he said coldly, and then hung up.

"I won!" I called sarcastically for anyone who was listening.

"Mark gets to be a goth for five years?" Emmett asked.

"I'll tell him to take pictures," I said.

"Poor Angela," Rosalie said, shaking her head. "I'd die if I were her."

"She married the guy," I said. "I don't feel that sorry for her."

"How are you going to make sure he follows through?" Emmett asked.

"I'm not sure," I said. "I'll figure something out."

"You'd better figure something out fast," Rosalie said, "otherwise he'll come up with some way out of it."

"He won't worm his way out of this one," I vowed. "He's tricky, but not tricky enough."

"When will you tell him?" Emmett asked.

"I'll call him now," I said.

"Can we listen in?" Emmett asked eagerly.

"Sure," I laughed. "This ought to be entertaining."

I dialed the phone and then pressed the speakerphone button before Mark could pick up.

"Hello?" he asked.

"It's Bella," I told him.

"Are you calling to tell me that you've dyed your hair black?"

"No, I'm calling to tell you to dye yours, and to invest in several things of eyeliner, and black nail polish, and a new wardrobe, and possibly get some piercings, if you want to do this correctly."

"They refused?" he asked, staggered.

"I told you they would," I reminded him. "Jake wouldn't answer my calls, and Sam told me that they won't risk death to come help vampires."

"But they were your friends!"

"You stopped being our friend when you chose the bloodsuckers over us," I quoted, imitating Sam's voice. "Do not tell me that we are friends. Isabella Marie Swan died the day that she chose Edward Cullen over her human life."

"He actually said that?!" Mark exclaimed. "I should go down to La Push and kick their fat lazy a-"

"Mark," I cut him off. "I told you they wouldn't. I don't expect them to come help us. So you lost the bet, and you have to carry through with the terms."

"Do I have to?" he whined.

"You're the one who set the terms!" I laughed. "Reap the consequences of your actions, and take lots of pictures. We want to see them."

"Who exactly is 'we'?" Mark asked warily.

"Everyone left in the family," Emmett answered.

"Aw, man, you have me on speakerphone!" Mark groaned.

"Yep!" I answered. "Suck it up, you big baby. You set yourself up for this."

"Bella!" he whined.

"What did she do this time?" Angela asked warily.

"She won our bet," Mark groaned.

"I'll take pictures, Bella!" Angela called. "Don't worry, I'll make him keep his end of the deal."

"Tell her thank you," I instructed Mark.

"No."

"Mark," I said warningly.

"No."

"Esme, do we have three way calling?" I asked using vampire speed.

"We do," she answered with a faint smile. She knew what I was planning.

"What was that?" Mark asked suspiciously.

"What was what?" I asked innocently.

"You said something too fast for me to catch it," Mark said.

"I asked Esme a question," I said.

"What question?"

"I asked if she had heard anything. I thought I heard a noise outside."

"Did she?"

"Emmett went to check it out," I said.

"Do you think it's those vampires?"

"I doubt it," I said. "Hey, we have another call coming in, so, uh, hold on a second. I'm going to put you on hold and switch over. I'll be right back."

I put him on hold and dialed Angela's cell phone number. I waited for her to pick up.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Ang, it's Bella," I said, "but don't say anything. Don't let Mark know that you're talking to us too."

"Who is it?" I heard Mark ask.

"It's Jessica," she answered.

"Okay, I'm going to put all three of us on the same line, okay?" I asked.

"Go for it," Angela answered.

So I did. I pushed the correct button, and then we were all talking to each other.

"Ok, I'm back Mark, and this time I brought someone else to talk to us too." I said.

"Who?" Mark asked.

"Me," Angela answered mischievously.

"I thought you said you were talking to Jessica!" Mark exclaimed.

"Ooops, my bad," she giggled.

"Bella," Mark whined.

"Angela," I said, ignoring Mark, "I'd like to thank you for offering to make him keep his end of the deal. He didn't want to relay my message of thanks along."

"Not a problem," she assured me. "It's my pleasure." I could just see her grinning evilly at Mark.

"You sure have become more mischievous since we saw you last, Angela," Emmett commented.

"Living with this oaf can do that to a girl," Angela said. "He's quite the bad influence."

"You mean my hopes that you would be a good influence on him were in vain?" Rosalie asked. I was surprised that she joined in the banter, but I didn't say anything.

"His overwhelming bad influence was stronger than my good influence," Angela said in mock sadness. "I've been corrupted for life."

"Hey, I'm still listening!" Mark protested.

"Good for you," Rosalie said. "We are talking about you, after all."

"I don't like what you're saying about me," Mark informed us.

"You know what they say about eavesdroppers," I told him wickedly.

"I'm not eavesdropping on the conversation that started with me! You're the one who brought her into this conversation!"

"Get over it, you big baby," I chided. "Your wife has a right to hear the conversation too, especially when you won't relay messages."

"Bel-laaaaaaaaaa," he whined.

We all laughed. He was just too darn cute.

"Send pictures, Mark!" I reminded him between giggles. "I expect the first one in a day or two!"

I hung up then, as not to give him time to argue. Emmett and Rosalie were practically rolling on the floor they were laughing so hard, Victoria looked on the edge of tears, if we could actually cry, and even Esme was laughing hard. I would have been impressed that Mark could make everyone laugh so hard, but I recognized the hysterical edge to everyone's laughter. We were all at the point where everything was funny because we were so afraid.

Truth be told, we were absolutely terrified of what the future held for us. We didn't know who would be next, nor did we know for sure if we would ever see each other again. We were terrified of death, despite the fact that we were all living dead anyway. We had an unspoken rule that we wouldn't talk about it, and so we all kept silent, but it was times like this when I knew that we were all scared senseless. It was nice to know that I wasn't the only frightened one.

Thank goodness for phone calls to Mark.

A/N: I think there's only a few chapters left... but I'm not entirely sure. We're getting close to the end, though.

Once again, I'd like to thank all my reviewers. :) I just hit 200 reviews. :D You guys are what keeps this coming as fast as it does. Keep it up, please!

On the topic of reviews, I did have it set so I couldn't receive anonymous reviews, but I changed that, so even if you don't have an account you can still review. I know there were a few people who wanted to review but couldn't, so enjoy the freedom of being able to review now. :)

Anyway, thanks once again. :) I owe you guys a lot!

Until the next chapter,
Addie