I do not own Twilight and do not claim any rights.

A/N: Trying to get back on a regular posting schedule. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Thank you to my beta reader DannoCH, she rocks.

Reviews make Edward growl, so leave one!

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Chapter Twelve

Protection

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Laurent smiled, showing bright white teeth and I cringed.

"Is that what those mutts are calling me?" He asked, amused. His face held a sociable smile as he stepped closer to me. I responded by jumping backward away from him, trying to get as much distance between us as possible, even if it meant I was closer to the edge of the cliff.

"Be careful, pet," Laurent crooned, "That's dangerous. You could get yourself hurt."

"I think I'll take my chances."

I had to shout to be heard. The sound of the waves crashing was deafening. If I screamed, would anyone hear? Would it matter? Laurent would have me dead before the scream left my lips.

He chuckled lightly and tucked his hands into the pocket of his straight denim pants.

"We'll see. You have already proven yourself to be wrong today. Your friend warned you that I would come, but you had to be the hero."

"You were watching me?" I asked, feeling sick to my stomach at the idea, "How long?"

"Oh, I arrived as soon as I sensed the wolves had assembled at the border. What a perfect opportunity for me! That alpha is a foolish one, to leave you exposed with just another human girl. But then, he did not know what I truly wanted all this time. You see, pet, I spent days trying to get to you, but those pesky little dogs were always in my way."

He halted in front of my fallen bike, bent over, and placed his hands around the motorcycle.

"Don't touch that!" I shouted, jealously flaring. I didn't want his hands on anything of mine…or Jacob's.

"No need to get hysterical," Laurent said, propping the bike up on its kickstand, "I'm simply setting it right. I wouldn't harm such a thing of beauty."

I eyed him as he leaned against the bike. Laurent was toying with me, delaying whatever outcome he was planning— he would either murder me here or take me with him. Well, I was going to put up a fight…no matter how short-lived it might be.

"What do you want from me?" I said, my voice carrying over the sound of the ocean.

Laurent grinned wider. "My dear, I merely wanted to chat. Just as we are now."

"Bullshit."

His eyes widened in surprise and he drawled on in condescending glee. "The mouth on you! You were not nearly this enchanting during our last encounter." He was enjoying every moment of this…and that frustrated me to no end.

"I must say, pet, that I was fascinated to hear that you were still alive and well. I was even more intrigued when I discovered that James had been murdered by that boy that seems so fond of you. And here I thought James was unstoppable. Silly me."

His burgundy eyes flickered with something I could not place, but it was eerie the way he spoke of James' death. They had traveled together as a coven. Could Laurent really be so casual over the death of his friend?

"I thought you were with the Denali clan?" I asked.

He waved his hand to the side as if to dismiss the question. His olive skin glittered in the sunlight. "I was- and quite satisfied there at the time. They were, however, quite like your boy's coven. Vegetarian," he grimaced as if the word tasted bad on his tongue. "Irina was welcoming enough, although keeping the illusion of adhering to their diet was tiring."

He pursed his lips, shrugging again and leaning further into the bike. I watched the sun's light fleck and sparkle on his skin with each movement.

"The illusion," I repeated, my eyes narrowing on his skin, "The pack calls you the dark one because they say your skin is dark, not pale, and doesn't shimmer in the sun. And your eyes…they said they are brown."

"And what do you see?" Laurent asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I see you as I did that first day, as a vampire. With red eyes."

At this, Laurent laughed and clapped his hands together.

"Brilliant," he said, "Spectacularly brilliant. I had been told you hold power."

It must have been obvious that I had no idea what he had meant by power. I only blinked back at him as a response, so he continued.

"Irina liked to talk when we were alone. I casually inquired about the coven here and she told me all I wanted to know. That boy of yours, Edward? He can read minds. All but yours. Yet, you are still susceptible to the others' powers: Alice and Jasper's. Naturally, I wondered about my own. You do have something, don't you, that prevents you from seeing what I want you to see?"

Laurent lifted himself elegantly off of the bike. He took a few small steps in my direction and then spun on his heel, watching our surroundings.

With his back turned to me, I inched myself closer to the ledge.

He turned back, making a show of shutting his eyes and then opening them again. His blood red irises stared back at mine, waiting. "And now?"

I shivered in the cool air. The crashing waves were so loud, the breeze so cold, I didn't like being up there, feeling like the slightest gust of wind would blow me into the water.

"Still red," I answered.

His lips twitched upward, but he caught himself quickly and plastered his friendly smile back onto his face.

"I control how others perceive my physical appearance. A mind power, if you will. If I want to appear human, as I have when the wolves have seen me, I matte my skin and darken my eyes. It was simple enough to convince Irina that I was abstaining from my natural diet while in her company. All I had to do was let her see my eyes as her same golden amber. She never knew how I truly nourished my thirst. It is a gift that serves me well. How convenient for me to blend in with my prey; go out in the daylight and walk among them…lure them to be alone with me before the feed. It was my most appealing trait when James requested I join his clan. With my gift, we never went thirsty." Laurent's voice lowered. "But it appears that your mind is capable of blocking me out. You see what I am, not what I show you. It is fascinating and… alluring."

His last word bothered me the most. The way Laurent was looking at me now was not the way he would look at his next meal, but something akin to admiring a trinket of extreme value.

I took another step back. Laurent's eyes were captured in mine. He seemed unable to look away as he walked steadily forward.

"I had wondered how you, a simple human, could enthrall an entire coven. They fought for you. They killed for you. And not just James. No, I learned that Victoria had also met her end through her efforts to find you. I wondered…what could be so special about this human? This pet." He said the word slowly, letting the 't' linger on his lips. "But you are captivating, aren't you? Just a human, and yet you escaped from James, who could track any victim he wished, entrapped Victoria, who could evade any predator, and you see through my tricks and smoke."

"I..." I started, trying to think quickly while inching myself further away from him, "I didn't do any of those things. Edward went after James and Victoria. He's the reason they're dead, not me. He is the powerful one and…and he will not be happy to hear that you're back. He'll go after you."

Laurent shook his head slyly.

"He is at the border, wasting his efforts on those dogs. All who have tried to keep you safe are gone. What a perfect example of irony. They are fighting over your safety and I am going to murder you right under their noses. On their very land, no less."

"M-murder?" I cried. My mind clicked into overdrive—trying desperately to search for any possible scenario in which I could escape, but there were none. I could attempt to run past Laurent and get to the bike—but that was impossible. Or I could jump from the cliff and try to survive the crashing waves below.

"Well your human life will certainly be over. But your new life! That will only just begin. Yes, I can see the appeal of a shield for a mate."

"What?" I screamed, the word mate reverberating horribly in my head.

"A protector," Laurent whispered, "You clearly possess a power to shield from others' gifts and attacks. And to think, you are only just human now. Once you are turned, the possibilities of your gift…why, they could be very beneficial to me. Oh, don't look so upset. You will enjoy your knew life. And you will enjoy me. I am an excellent mate."

He was near me now, a few more steps and he could simply wrap his long fingers around my shoulders. The image of Laurent's bright white teeth sent shivers up my spine. He would just lean in…and that would be it. I checked the ground behind me, but my feet were already at the end of the cliff. One more step and I would fall.

"Oh, God."

"Shh," Laurent said, "I will make it painless for you. Give me your hand."

I wanted to scream at him or spit or kick or curse his damned soul, but I knew better than to give myself away. So I looked up into his true burgundy eyes and nodded, reaching out my hand.

A flicker of a smile appeared on Laurent's face but I didn't get to see it fully form. Instead I stepped back one last time and felt my feet leave ground as I fell from the cliff.

I heard Laurent's offended scream pierce the sky and then drown out as the open air whipped around me. I was plummeting to the water fast.

The wind twisted me around, tampering with my sense of balance, and flipping me over so I knew neither up nor down nor which way was right. Screaming, I crossed my hands over my chest and tried to clamp my legs together so when I hit the water it would be a straight dive.

I inhaled just in time. The second my lips shut around my last breath of air my feet broke the surface and icy water swallowed me whole.

My body was like a missile plunging into the depths of the ocean. I tried to tell myself Up! That way is UP! And opened my eyes to see murky darkness as I spread out my limbs to swim my ascent.

That's when the current hit me, jerking me back and forth between each rippling wave of black water. I struggled, my tired arms and legs climbing and clamoring to break the surface once more—only this time to breathable air.

My face emerged from the water gasping and sputtering to fill my lungs with something other than saltwater. Another wave came immediately, and I ducked under it, letting it ride above me. I tried my best to swim with the current but each wave continued to fight over which direction to turn and I ended up just diving and paddling to keep myself afloat among the tumult.

A great splash came from only feet away from me, water spouting up as whatever had dove into the water crashed beneath the surface.

Laurent. Coming after me and deciding he was up for a swim after all.

I yelped, throwing my arms in front of me and attempting something that resembled a breaststroke. Only it had been years since I had swam at all, and with the current and the growing terror that Laurent would seize my legs at any second, I was getting no where. Hysterical tears had begun to run down my face.

There was no way to outswim Laurent, or any vampire I would imagine. He would capture and turn me into his bloodsucking mate and then his personal bodyguard after that by the sound of it. That was not the eternal life I had wanted or would ever want. I would be a monster, protecting Laurent and killing humans, as I'm sure he would more than encourage the inevitable newborn cravings for human blood.

Then there was really only one thing to do. The realization of it brought more tears to my eyes and I cried heavily into the water. I was going to have to drown myself. If I died in time, Laurent couldn't change me and I'd be gone. No mate. No shield.

That was the answer.

I dove head first, working my arms to get as deep into the water as possible before any stroke of instinctual will to live prevented my suicide.

But I was too late. Thin fingers closed around my ankle and I jerked wildly to get them off. They closed securely around me. I squeezed my eyes shut and thought of Charlie and Renee and how I would never see them again and started gulping mouthfuls of water into my lungs.

He was pulling me upward toward air but I didn't give up. I struggled and swallowed as much water as I could before everything went black. Then there was nothing left to work for.

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...

I never thought much about the human soul until my eighteenth birthday, when Edward had confided that he thought himself to be soulless. I had dismissed it, of course, because no creature that lovely could be damned. Edward was too wonderful. So far from sin.

So then what was to become of me? Suicide is a sin, and in this darkness that I know to be death…I can't help but feel as though I should be in hell. I had escaped Laurent after all, and would not become the demon he wished to create. So there was that one saving grace. But I took my own life…surely I would have to suffer for that in the ever after?

Except this didn't feel much like eternal damnation. This felt...like heaven. It was warm and safe, like dreamless sleep…and every once in a while I'd hear him. Edward.

Not the Voice that had mocked my loneliness months ago. This Edward brought no pain. It was comfort beyond belief to hear his whisper of a voice surround me. Say my name, murmur sweet things.

This couldn't be hell if I could hear Edward.

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"Bella."

Hmm.

"Bella, love."

Mmmm.

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Something cool was touching me and I twitched my nose in dislike. The feather-light touch returned but this time to my hair, combing lightly through it with long fingers.

I just wanted sleep, but this touch was persistent. It reached the ends of my hair and then returned to the crown, repeating its trail over and over. It was…annoying me.

I wrinkled my nose again and, as if I knew I could do it all along, parted my lips and spoke.

"Mmm. Stop it."

"Bella!" his voice was sharp with surprise, "Bella! You're awake!"

My eyes squinted together tightly, not wanting these words to be true. But, yes, I did feel awake. Cloudy and semi-sick-like, but awake.

"I know," I muttered and heard the sound of my own rattling voice this time. It sounded like death. Which reminded me…"Am I still dead?"

A soft chuckle of relief.

"No. No, love, you're not dead. You were never dead."

I opened one eye to see him and give him a skeptical look. Not dead? He hadn't been there.

Bright light streamed around him, but there he was. The perfect outline of his face hovered close to mine and he was smiling crookedly but with apparent delight. His fingers went back to my hair.

"You're awake," he repeated and lowered his face to mine. I could feel the coolness of his skin before it even touched me.

But then another voice interrupted from behind Edward, high-pitched and trilling. Edward raised himself away from me and the coolness was gone again.

"Can I see her now, Edward? I am the one that saved her after all."

My eyes darted to the direction of her voice, excitement building rapidly in my chest. It couldn't be…could it?

"She needs rest, not bothersome chit-chat," Edward growled.

"Move out of the way," she chimed, and a small pearly hand nudged Edward's shoulder out of my line of sight.

"Alice," I croaked and felt Edward's hands gather at my head as I tried to lift it.

"She's weak," he hissed at his sister.

"She's not weak. She got away from Laurent, didn't she? She survived jumping off a cliff! She rode a motorcycle," her smile was widening as she came into view, "Bella is not weak."

I wanted to hug her, but my better judgment told me to keep movement to a minimum.

"You know what I meant. She nearly drowned."

"But thanks to me she didn't," Alice said boastfully and scooted herself onto the bed beside me. "Just in time. You know, Bella, you could have decided a little sooner that you were going to jump from that cliff. I only just made it."

I grinned back at her, taking her all in. Her petite frame and designer clothes, which she must have changed into after saving me, the flecks of light dancing on her skin and her…

"Alice!" I gasped, "Your eye!" I sat up quickly, swaying a bit to the side. Edward righted me in a second but I took no notice. A hot pink eye-patch, the exact color of her top, was draped over Alice's left eye.

"Yes," she said, touching her fingers lightly to the patch, "Laurent put up a fight. If only he had meant to take the eye! I would have seen it; but this was the unfortunate result of his backswing." She sighed. "I wish I could go after it. It's still on wolf territory though and I doubt they'd deliver. Oh, stop." She added to Edward, since had been growling at Laurent's name.

"What happened?" I asked, "Laurent had me. He grabbed my foot in the water and he-."

"That was me," Alice said, shaking her head, "Here I had lost and eye for you and you were kicking me to get away."

"Are you bothering my patient, Alice?" a smooth voice spoke from the doorway.

It was then I realized where I was. Sunlight was streaming in from multiple windows around us in a large, white room where medical equipment lined the walls. I was lying in a bed in the Cullen house and, from what I could tell, four of them were here with me. Yet only one bore any physical signs of battle.

Carlisle walked up beside where Edward was standing. Alice took my hand in hers and squeezed lightly before hopping off the bed, allowing Carlisle to get within diagnostic distance of me.

"Hello again, Bella," Carlisle said warmly, reaching into his coat pocket and procuring a thermometer.

"Wait," I said, holding my hand up and blocking Carlisle from inserting the thermometer into my mouth. "What is going on? When did you all get back? Where is Laurent? Alice, are you crazy? You fought him all on your own? And the wolves…the war…what happened? Is Jacob okay? Sam? Emmett? Why is everyone acting so calm? And," I said, yanking on a thin tube that was poking from the crook of my arm "what is this?"

Carlisle smiled, taking the tube from between my fingers and laying it flatly onto the bed.

"I inserted an IV while you were out. You're a bit dehydrated."

Well, I couldn't argue that. I adjusted myself on the bed so that all three Cullens were in my view. "Alice, fill me in here, please."

"How about this," Carlisle offered, "Alice talks while I examine you?"

"Fine," I conceded, taking the thermometer from Carlisle's hand and popping it under my tongue before looking expectantly at Alice.

"Which perspective would you like to hear first? Mine or Edward's?"

"Alice," Edward said with a warning tone.

"She deserves to know the full story. Even the gritty parts." Alice remarked, and again the overwhelming urge to hug her was there. This was what I had needed for so long, a friend on my side.

Carlisle extracted a light from a nearby desk. "Look forward please," he said softly and I obeyed. He shone the light in each of my eyes, having me follow his finger as he moved it further and closer to the tip of my nose. He smiled and nodded. All seemed well with my sight, at least. I turned back to Alice as she continued.

"When we left Forks after your birthday, Edward was adamant that I stop watching over your actions. He said he wanted you to live normally, free from 'pointy-haired psychics following your every move', I think was his phrase of choice," she said, tightening her lips as she glanced at him. "So I consented. But you're not just some channel on TV I can switch off whenever I like," she stressed, now looking directly at Edward with a defensive tone to her voice, "I'm so attuned to you because someone had me watching your every waking moment before. Nevertheless, I tried my best to suppress flashes from you. While Jasper and I were in Wyoming, however, you slipped in. Just the shortest of flashes."

"Wyoming?" I interrupted, my mouth trying to speak around the thermometer.

"Yes, Wyoming. Where better to go when you want no one else around? Jasper needed time away from humans and there are plenty of moose around. Anyway, I saw yours and Edward's futures disappear. You were in a meadow… surrounded by this rich, green grass and then…nothing. Gone. I didn't know what to do. So I called Edward, and, well, asked him if he was still alive."

Edward interjected.

"You had left with…" he paused and the muscles in his jaw flexed, "Jacob Black. I took the call while certain things…. reattached. When I heard Alice had a vision of our futures disappearing, and only my own had reappeared, I… reacted."

"He went ballistic," Alice clarified. "Emmett was no help either. I could hear him over the phone goading Edward to cross the treaty border."

There was a tap on my kneecap and I felt my right leg swing forward. Carlisle was bent over, testing my reflexes. He tested my left and then stood and removed the thermometer from my mouth. He checked it and then settled it back into his pocket.

Edward's voice hardened. "I do not regret my decision to ensure that you were still alive. Alice's visions have never contained holes before. I thought, perhaps, she had seen our deaths from Jacob's attack in the meadow and, since he had left me alive, my existence had been restored. But yours, Bella, I just didn't know. I had to be certain that you were alive."

His cool fingers slipped behind my hair, grazing the side of my neck. He rested them there, tucked just under the line of my jaw. Reassuringly feeling my pulse, I imagined.

"Edward was on a rampage. But to be fair, we all did think something had happened to you. Jasper and I committed a little grand-theft-auto out of Wyoming, Rosalie and Esme came from Montreal, and Carlisle was already on his way here for something at the hospital. He arrived first."

"You all came back, just for me?" I asked, looking from each face to the next and then settling back on Alice. It was hard to imagine such loyalty. I had thought they had all left me alone here, unwanted. And now I was to understand that the Cullens risked their lives to save mine.

"Of course!" Alice piped, "We never wanted to leave in the first place. Edward forced us out of Forks on the belief it was for your own good. Besides, I wasn't just going to sit back and assume you were dead, Bella. You're family."

I couldn't take it anymore. I leapt from the bed, throwing my arms around Alice's tiny frame and squeezing her as hard as possible. Edward was beside me, holding the tip of my elbow in case I fainted from the sudden upright position, but his alert stance softened and he placed a hand on the small of my back as I held to Alice and tried to wipe tears from my eyes at the same time.

Alice returned my embrace, wrapping her slight arms around me, careful of the IV. Eventually, I broke away, still feeling a little foggy. I fumbled slightly over my own feet while trying to make it back to the bed. Edward caught me, placing his firm hands on my waist and pulling me against his side. I leaned against him for support, my shoulder tucking under his arm and rested my head there as Alice continued the story.

"Well, I know my side of what happens next," she said, "My visions were getting shakier. All of a sudden your future reappeared while my whole family was gone. I knew then that I couldn't solely act on my visions, something was being tampered with, and I tried to reach Edward to tell him you were alive but he didn't answer his phone."

"If only I had," Edward said, shaking his head. "The treaty might still remain. Although, I don't believe there was anything that could have stopped me at that point."

"I saw you jump, Bella," Alice said, "Jasper and I separated- he to the border and I to the cliff. When I got there you were already in the water. The both of you. Laurent had gone after you. I followed shortly and was able to get to him before he reached you in the water. We struggled, he scratched out my eye, and I tore off his arms. He sunk like a rock," she said with a hint of a laugh, "and I went right to you because it seemed you were trying your best to absolve all my efforts to save your life. Once I got a hold of you, I brought you back here. Carlisle came shortly after."

At this, Carlisle stepped to Alice's side.

"You regurgitated a substantial amount of ocean water. I performed CPR to get you breathing again. I'll admit, I was worried, especially when you lost consciousness. But now, you're responding well to tests, your temperature is nearing normalcy, and we've got you hydrated. I can't rule out concussion without an MRI, but you're definitely much better than you were before. Plus, your nose seems to be healing much better after the re-break. The swelling is minimal."

Rebreak? I grimaced and brought my fingers to the bridge of my nose and touched it lightly. There was medical tape on the bridge, I guessed Carlisle had dressed it, but it still felt tender. Carlisle knew that it wasn't just broken but rebroken. Could he tell just from looking at me? Did he know it was Jacob? Did they all know what he and I had done? Suddenly I was feeling very warm again.

"It is good to see you again, Bella," Carlisle sighed, "My family has missed you. I'll be back in a bit with something to help strengthen those lungs of yours." Carlisle gave a quick nod to Edward and patted my shoulder before leaving the room.

Edward pulled me tighter against him; his arm wrapped around my waist and held my stomach. I turned up to look at him, the blush in my cheeks burning as I realized they all had fought for me while Jacob and I were rolling around in the grass.

"And you," I said, "Tell me what happened when you crossed the border."

He hesitated, pulling the ends of his mouth down and shutting his eyes briefly to consider a way out of this conversation.

"Don't tell her!" Another voice boomed and I jumped at the sound, "Don't tell her 'til I'm there!" Thundering steps rattled the house and then Emmett was in the room, taking up a large percent of the available space and dragging a reluctant Jasper behind him by the collar. "Bella!" Emmett cried, "Alright! What'd I tell ya? It just gets better and better with you around! You should move in."

I could only gape at him in shock. He was grinning from ear to ear, with one fist pumped in the air. Jasper winced uncomfortably, inching his way back toward the doorway. Alice skipped toward him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "You'll be fine," she said softly and tucked her hand behind his back.

It was clear that Edward was becoming increasingly annoyed, an emotion I shared whole-heartedly. I was glad to see them all doing well but their avoidance of the severity of the situation was infuriating.

"It keeps getting better?" I repeated, the tone of my voice drastically different from when Emmett has said it. I was trying to contain my fuming anger. "Edward was hurt! Alice lost an eye! I almost drowned and there was a war with Jacob's pack! How can you say that Emmett? How can you all act like nothing is wrong?"

Emmett's smile quickly faded into a chagrined grimace and he darted his eyes to Edward with a look pleading him to help.

"Bella," Edward said softly.

"Don't 'Bella' me," I said, "Just…. explain how you're all alive right now. I thought this was a war. I was freaked out. I thought…" I trailed, my previous fears creeping up on me again. No one had mentioned the wolves or Jacob and how the other side had survived. Did that mean something was wrong? "Just…please… tell me that everyone is okay."

My throat clenched, and I felt the familiar sting of tears as hysteria threatened to take over. But instead it vanished. Calm serenity took its place and my heart returned to its normal rate of beats per minute. Suddenly, nothing felt as terrible as I had imagined it to be.

I turned my seething glare to Jasper.

"Stop making me feel better," I muttered. He shrugged.

"I think it's time for Bella and me to continue this conversation alone," Edward said, his voice smooth but assertive and I mentally thanked him for taking control.

Emmett's face fell. He had obviously been waiting to recount whatever had happened at the border—a fact that only fueled my anxiety that the treaty hadn't gone down without a fight.

"Alright," he said, and then his eyes instantly brightened as he grabbed Alice by the arm and hugged her to his chest, "We gotta get the ol' one-eyed monster outta here anyway."

"Stop calling me that!" Alice groaned, but she was smiling. The three of them filed out of the white room, Alice waving as she left, and soon it was just the two of us alone.

I leaned back into Edward, letting my body mold around his stone figure and inhaling his floral scent. It filled my lungs with new air. I closed my eyes to take it in and realized how badly I two things: to talk about the war…and to forget it ever happened. A large part of me was tempted to just exist here with Edward in this sunlit house and pretend everything was fine. It would be easy, wouldn't it? Pretend there was no war, no Laurent, and give in to only one reality…that I loved him.

But the better part won out, and I eventually asked him to recount the events that transpired at the border, no matter how gruesome they may be.

Edward sighed heavily. "If this is what you want, I will tell you everything, Bella. I've learned that keeping things from you only hurts us in the long run."

Us. The word sent a jolt through me.

Something touched my hair lightly. Not his fingers this time, but his lips.

"Don't tell me here. This room reminds me of a hospital," I said, twisting in his arms so I could see his face clearly, "Take me upstairs."

"To my room?"

"Yes."

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