Twilight and New Moon belong to Stephenie Meyer

So, as many of you good readers know, the last few chapters were kind of fluffy. But this is it. The lid is being blown off the hatch! (hehehe, I can't wait till Lost starts running again...) This story is (sadly) reaching a climax, and eventually an ending. But there is a lot that has to happen before that! Enjoy chapter 27!

"You know this Laurent?" Brendon asked.

I nodded. I thought that he had a right to know some of my past. Especially the part that was about to came back to haunt me.

"He was in this coven with two other vampires. One named James and his mate named Victoria."

"So what's the big deal? He's just another vampire, right?" Brendon asked.

"Well, I think he's alright. It's just that…well…"I twiddled my thumbs, "He didn't do anything, but James and Victoria did kind of try to kill me…"

Brendon's eyes turned a deep black, "He did what?" His hands turned into fists, and I noticed.

"No! I said he didn't do anything! It was the other members of his coven!"

"Still, he had something to do with it." His muscles remained tight, and his balled fists clenched. He turned to look out the window, trying to hide the anger in his eyes.

"Your not going to do something stupid, are you?" I asked, and he turned back to me, confused. "I know you well enough by now to understand that this is going to lead to something bad. You kind of like to overreact."

He chuckled, "No, I'm fine. I won't do anything. I think I'm just going to go take a walk." And then he got up and left. I let out a huge breath of air and leaned back against the couch. Dealing with Brendon was like a rollercoaster. You never knew what was around the bend. Lilly walked into the room then.

"Guess who just got back?!" she squeaked in anticipation. I shrugged, but I knew all too well whose name she was about to say. "Laurent!"

And then a memory of my past stepped in. It seemed irrational that I should expect a change, but all the same, I thought he would look different. Exactly the same as when we last parted, he gazed at me with a bemused expression. His black hair and pale skin stood in amazing contrast to each other, and it was only now, when my vision had advanced and vampire's beauty no longer stunned me, that I realized that Laurent was actually rather odd looking. He was of course beautiful, that was a given at this point. The contrast of his hair and skin, the general way he stood, none of it seemed to fit together correctly. I was again amazed at the new power that I had. Something that had once seemed perfect, I could now see the flaw. There was something else that I was missing as well. I knew that I hadn't missed it, my eyesight wouldn't let me. But the fact just wasn't clicking in my mind.

I also noticed that he had a very lovely vampire draped on his arm. Her auburn hair cascaded down her back in large curls. She gazed at me with intense hatred, and I realized it was because Laurent was staring at me with such intense concentration.

"Bella Swan?" he asked, but instead of surprise, he sounded frightened. I had no idea why.

"Hi, Laurent. This is rather odd, isn't it? How have you been?" I asked politely. He never took his eyes off me. I glanced over at Lilly. She didn't seem happy, about him staring at me and about how the other girl kept her arm around Laurent's waist.

"Fine." He answered me simply. There was a large awkward silence in the room. I cleared my throat and got up to walk over. I held out my hand to the other vampire.

"My name is Bella. It's nice to meet you." She glared at my hand, obviously disgusted. I slowly lowered my hand and put it in my pocket. She didn't say anything, she just pulled Laurent upstairs. I looked at Lilly when they were gone and whispered low enough that it would be hard for anyone else to hear,

"What did I do?"

She shook her head, "That's just Irina. She can be a real-"

"I can hear you, you know!" someone shouted from upstairs. I realized it was Irina. I giggled as Lilly rolled her eyes.

"See what I mean? She and Laurent are together. But I know deep down, he and I are meant to be together!" and she twirled into the living room and fell upon the couch. I spent the rest of the day watching TV with Lilly. It eventually hit me that she had been skipping school, but it didn't really matter to me. What a few days of classes when you have an eternity of high school ahead of you?

Laurent eventually came downstairs, without Irina. Lilly ran over to him.

"Laurent! How have you been?! Irina stole you away so fast." She pouted, and it made me laugh.

"If you don't mind, Lilly, I'd like to talk to Bella alone for a second." Her pout deepened into a more pronounced frown. She just nodded and walked out of the room. With a last sad glance back at me, she dashed up the stairs.

"Hello Laurent." I said shyly. He just stood on the other side of the room and looked me up and down. Eventually he stopped at my eyes.

"I see a lot has happened since our last parting. You've certainly changed." I noticed the double meaning he implied with the word 'change'. I tried to stay casual.

"Yeah, this wasn't something exactly planned though. It's a long story." I shrugged. My attempts at calming the situation were shot down. For some reason, Laurent remained very tense. He couldn't honestly be afraid of me, could he? But there was fear in his eyes. "Is something wrong, Laurent?" I questioned, and his expression became shocked. "You seem like you're not very comfortable. I know last time we saw each other the situation was rather strained, but did I do something-"

"No, no. It's just…I never thought that you would be a vampire when we next met. This complicates thing considerably…"

"Why would it complicate things? I would think it makes everything so much simpler." I said, and he just shook his head.

"Forgive me, I'm just thinking out loud. It means nothing. May I ask where Edward is?" he asked, changing the subject.

"We haven't exactly met up yet. He left, a few months after the James incident. There was some miscommunication, and I accidentally got changed by a friend after I moved to Jacksonville. Well, no technically in Jacksonville, it was in Canada. I was trying to…anyway, like I said, long story. I'm looking for Edward now."

"So Edward is not with you?" he asked. I gave him a quizzical look.

"That's what I just said."

"Just making sure."

"You're saying a lot of things that aren't making any sense. Care to clarify?" He took a deep breath and shook his head.

"It's a long story." He said simply, and then he walked out of the room. I jumped up and followed him.

"Wait, you can't just leave me at that and-" but it was too late that I realized I had grabbed his hand to try and stop him. My vision blurred and changed to a dark place. I looked around and saw an apparition of a person whom I had never thought I would see again.

Victoria. She stood not ten paces from me, talking to Laurent. My vision was suddenly cut off as my grip on Laurent's wrist abruptly ended. He had pulled away and walked out the door. I realized with dread the fact about him that I had missed earlier. Like the rest of him, his eyes had not changed since the last time I had seen him. They were still blood red.

"Bella, are you okay?" A voice asked from behind me, and I turned to see Brendon with a concerned look on his face. I shook my head.

"No, I'm terrified." His face deepened into dread as he came over and took my hand. He led me back into the living room and sat me on the couch.

"Is it Laurent? Lilly told me he had come back." I started to nod, but then shook my head again.

"I'm not afraid of Laurent. Well…I am afraid of him, but not as much afraid as I am of Victoria."

"She's here as well?" His voice remained monotone.

"I think so. I took Laurent's hand, and I saw a memory of him and Victoria. I don't know why that would be so powerful, unless she was actually here, and she was planning to finish what James started." I looked at my hand where the scar James left had once been. Of course it was gone now, my flawless skin taking its place, but the memory of it lingered.

"She would try to hurt you?" I nodded, distracted by thoughts of how this could have happened. Why now, when everything was finally starting to make sense?

"Go ask Lilly if she knows Victoria. Maybe this is just a misunderstanding." I looked at him and he smiled. "I'm sure everything will be okay."

"Promise?"

"I promise. Go talk to Lilly."

So I got up and walked toward the stairs. With my foot on the first step, I felt Brendon's hand slip into mine. I turned back to see his staring at me intently.

"I know you don't care about me the way I care about you, but please understand that I am never going to let anything bad ever happen to you." He told me, and I felt a lump form in my throat.

"I know Brendon. You're a good friend." I was a little taken aback, but I knew that his words were true. That included all of his words. I turned and walked up into Lilly's room. She was listening to her iPod, so I ripped it out of her ears.

"Lilly, do you know who Victoria is?"

"Umm, no. And by the way, I was listening to that."

"Sorry, I just had to ask. It's important."

"Why, is she out to getcha?" she asked with a giggle.

"Well, that is a distinct possibility…"

"You serious?" I nodded.

"She's a friend of Laurent's, and she tried to kill me once. I think she may try to again."

"Oh…" She seemed stunned for a moment. "Did you tell Brendon?"

"He's downstairs. He told me to ask you if Victoria had been here."

"He's not downstairs." I was taken aback.

"What?"

"I can't hear anyone downstairs. He must have left."

If my heart was still pounding, it would have skipped a beat. I ran downstairs and looked around frantically. Lilly had been right, he wasn't here. I had been too preoccupied to hear him leave. Lilly followed me down the stairs slowly. I fell to my knees and put my head in my hands.

"Bella, what's wrong?"

"Brendon doesn't think about consequences when he does things. He acts without thinking…how could this have happened?" I looked to her for support, but she only seemed confused.

"Bella, I don't understand. Where's Brendon?"

"I think he went after Laurent."

"Which means?"

"That he is going to run into Victoria." I stood up and headed toward the door. Lilly grabbed my wrist.

"What are you doing?"

"What else? I'm going after him."

Dun dun DUN! Don't you just want to start the Mission Impossible theme music right now? I'd love to know what you all think is going to happen! I'm surr you all have different opinions about what should happen to poor little Brendon! Please review!