A/N: I hope you all like it. I know ... I know... this was written really fast. I had a brain-storm and it like, hit me two hours before I had to get ready for work. The first page and a half was written last night, but the rest was done in less than an hour.

Chapter Thirty-One: A Dangerous Game

He stepped slowly into the living room to find Jade standing over the body of a panting, bleeding Isis. "What are you doing here?" He growled, advancing slowly.

"Where's Bulma?"

"Who?"

"Bulma! Don't play stupid! Where's Bulma?" He took a step towards the kitchen, both eyes on Vegeta.

Vegeta cursed himself silently. He needed to keep Jade in the living room and away from Bulma but Jade didn't want to follow his silent plan. "I don't know who you're talking about."

Jade spun around and looked at Vegeta, a crazy look in his eyes as his head cocked to the side and he got his first real good look at the man. "I know who you are!" He almost giggled, gun in his right hand waving wildly. "You're her brother! I can see her in you. Is she here too? Have my pretties come to play with me again? I've been missing my pretties. I need more. Would you like to join my pretty party?"

"No. Thank you."

Jade cackled once more and the sound sent a shiver down Vegeta's spine. Bulma wasn't safe in the closet. In fact, she wasn't safe at all. He fully grasped why she thought she had to leave and could understand the fear that she had to live with ever since she was young. Bulma was an incredible woman and there was no one else in the world that would be any better for him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure..."

"Hmm. Too bad." Jade stepped to the kitchen table. Vegeta took that moment to kneel beside Isis and check her pulse. It was steady but weak. It seemed that she had been clipped, her neck trickling blood at a steady pace, but she seemed to be doing well. He ran a hand over her reassuringly and then stood up to see where Jade was.

Still standing in the kitchen. "Come out come out wherever you are!" The man was opening and closing cupboards looking for the pregnant woman!

"She's not here."

"Yes she is. I can smell her. She's in here."

"I'm telling you, she's not here. She left for work this morning and hasn't come home."

Jade turned around so fast and lifted the gun, aiming it at Vegeta. "Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not! She's really not here. Look around!"

"I will! Don't worry. I will!" With that, Jade stalked down the hallway and looked around the bathroom and then in the linen closet, and finally in Bulma's room. "Where are you my pretty? Come out or else I'll shoot your boyfriend. Don't think I won't. I shot your dog didn't I?"

Vegeta clenched his fists and wished that he had thought of bringing in his dog. Jade would have been down a long time ago, even before he entered into the living room from the sliding glass door; but no. Vegeta tied him up outside and was pretty sure that the bulky male was freaking out. He had broken his only rule with his dog. Never leave them behind. And here he was, facing a mad man with nothing.

Don't come out Bulma. Don't believe him. Stay quiet. Keep quiet. I love you.

"Come out, come out wherever you are. I'm not going to hurt you Bulma. How could I hurt you? You're going to be my wife...and we're going to have a happy family..."

Vegeta was useless! How could he help the woman he loved if he couldn't think of a plan to lure Jade out of the apartment? He had an idea. Running to the living room he leapt out onto the balcony and looked around. It wasn't that far of a drop, if he could get Bulma...

"NO!" Jade shouted and lifted the gun once more at Vegeta. "You're staying here!"

"I wasn't going to go anywhere." He tried to keep his voice calm, but panic was starting to over take him and his brain was kicking into high gear. His protective instincts were telling him to get his mate, his woman, his life out of this highly dangerous situation but he wasn't sure how.

"You're lying to me. You're always lying to me!"

"Really. I just thought I saw Bulma on the beach."

"Really?" Jade perked up and stepped onto the balcony beside Vegeta and looked around at the passing figures. "There's no Bulma out there. You're lying to me! Quit lying!" There was something in Jade's eyes that made Vegeta back up and turn into the house, keeping one eye on the hall, the other on the insane man with the gun.

"I'm not lying to you. I really did think I saw her!"

There was a knock on the front door, even though it was soft, Jade whipped around and advanced on the door. Throwing it open, he saw Keisha standing there in a black sweater and a pair of dark blue jogging pants. Her eyes widened at the sight of him and she turned deathly pale at the sight of the gun. "Jade..."

"My pretty! You've come to play with me!" He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the apartment almost knocking her off her feet. Keisha staggered and couldn't help but let out a yelp as she was forced into Bulma's apartment.

She caught sight of her brother and saw the small shake of his head. Something was going on. Where was Bulma, why was Jade in the house, and where was Isis? "Play with you? What do you want to play?"

Jade's face broke out into an evil grin. "We're going to play hide'n'seek. Bulma's hiding from me. She's really hiding and I don't know why. I don't want to hurt her, so we're going to find her. Whoever doesn't help is going to get shot. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Keisha lifted a brow and made a face. "Fun? I'm going to go home now and hope to God that this is just a bad dream." She tried to get to the door and as soon as she cracked it open, Jade slammed his hand down on it, forcing it closed. Grabbing Keisha by the back of the hair, he dragged her away from the door and threw her into the living room. She stumbled over Isis and fell on top of the dog.

"Holy shit!" She muttered, scrambling off of the wounded canine. She looked at the body and was glad to see that she was still alive, if just barely. They needed to stop the flow of blood, but with what? Pressing her hand over the wound, she applied pressure and waited for something to happen.

Isis opened her eyes, blinking slowly and tried to stand up. "It's ok puppy. Stay there. You'll be ok." The canine growled and whined, front paws scratching at the floor. "You're mommy's going to be ok too..." She whispered to the wounded pet.

Isis tried to raise her head but let it fall once more onto the hardwood. Cursing, Keisha jumped up and dashed into the kitchen. "Where are you going my pretty?"

"To get a towel. Bulma will be really, really mad when she comes home that you shot her dog you know." She retorted and almost smirked when she saw the crestfallen look that Jade gave her.

"Fix her!" He shouted, waving his gun around once more.

Brother and sister made eye contact and he nodded slowly. "I've got to help her. I know this dog and I know how to stop her from bleeding to death."

"Do it."

Vegeta and Keisha moved slowly into the kitchen. "Where's Bulma?"

"Front closet."

"He's crazy!"

"No kidding."

Their conversation was in nothing but the softest of whispers. "Hurry up!"

The two moved to the wounded Isis and Vegeta picked up her head while Keisha wrapped the towel around her neck and knotted it off. "Knock knock!" A woman's voice called out from the front hallway. "Jade honey. Where are you?"

"Cara! Come in my lovely." He extended a hand behind him and smiled as Cara grabbed onto it. The pair were dressed the same, black pants, black shirts, black shoes. The only difference was that Cara was in a tank top and needle thin heeled boots and Jade wasn't. Her blonde hair was still short and she had a pair of trucker sunglasses on.

"What a mess. Well done!" She cooed sweetly, wrapping her arm around Jade's.

Why the hell is all this happening now? Why can't I have a window and get Bulma out of here somehow? She should have called the cops a long time ago...why aren't they here yet? He needed to buy some more time.

"Thank you." Jade grinned.

Keisha was puzzled and didn't know too much about the new addition to the crazy game that was going on, but she knew enough to keep her mouth shut. There was no way she was going to allow herself to get into trouble.. Not while Bulma was so close.

"Oh Vegeta. I do have to say you look rather dashing kneeling on the floor for me. Now tell me. Where's your pretty little whore?" Cara had unlinked her arm from Jade's and was now moving slowly to where Vegeta and Keisha were kneeling beside Isis.

"She's not here."

Cara smiled and shook her head. "Tsk tsk. It's rather rude to lie to me, do you know that?" Reaching behind her, she pulled out a black hand gun from the small of her back and cocked her head to the side. "Bulma. I know you're in here somewhere. If you don't come out of your hiding spot by the time I count to ten, I'm going to blow a hole into your boyfriend's head. And then I'm going to go and murder your little girl." Vegeta's stomach grew cold. Rayne? She knew where Rayne was? He had been so careful and now he had somehow endangered his daughter's life, but not only hers. 18's too.

"You don't know where she is." Vegeta spat, eyes narrowing.

"Funny you should mention that..." Cara laughed coldly and pulled something out of her pocket. Holding out her hand she uncurled her fingers and laying in her palm was a perfect golden curl.

"You fucking bitch!" Vegeta screamed, throwing himself at Cara's knees, knocking her backwards.

"GET OFF HER!" Jade yelled, running to Keisha who had been trying to scramble up and get into the kitchen. He grabbed the back of her hair and tugged her into the living room. Throwing her to the ground, he lifted a booted foot and put it onto her throat. She struggled, punching and clawing at the boot as it applied more pressure to her air passage, but he wouldn't let up. "You get off of her right now, or else I'm going to kill your little sister."

Where was Bulma? Why hadn't she called the cops yet! Vegeta was on top of Cara, pinning her arms to the ground with his knees but jumped off when he saw that his sister's face was turning a dangerously dark shade of reddish purple and her eyes were watering, dampening her cheeks. "Let her go." Vegeta growled, raising up form Cara slowly, hands in the air.

Jade kept his foot where it was for a few more moments while Cara righted herself. Vegeta didn't see it coming. The butt of the gun slammed into the back of his neck and he slumped forward, pain flaring up behind his eyes. But he was still conscious.

Isis rolled over, having had enough and started to growl weakly. She staggered where she stood, the lack of blood obvious, and Jade was glad for once in his life that he had thought to shoot the dog instead of something else. Those teeth were sharp. She shook herself once, twice, three times, stumbling slightly. And then turned tail and ran out the open front door.

Smart dog. Vegeta muttered to himself. His eyes were getting heavy and he looked towards the kitchen and caught sight of a red curl. "No..." He whispered, eyes snapping open.

Bulma had crept from the closet, from her hiding place. She knew that she should have went for help when she realized that there was no reception in the closet, but she couldn't leave Vegeta and Keisha to the evil minds of Cara and Jade.

Somehow she knew that they were working together, but it surprised her to see that her once upon a time best friend was really evil. Peeking around the corner she saw that Jade's back was to her, his foot on Keisha's throat, though the pressure was gone and she was gasping for air. Cara was looking down at Vegeta.

Taking a deep breath she looked around the kitchen and her gaze landed on the cast-iron frying pan that was sitting on the stove. Thank god for being too lazy to clean. She laughed to herself. Wrapping her digits around the handle, she picked it up and crept back to the corner and looked around.

Out of no where, snarling sounds came from outside, right under the balcony. It had caught Jade's and Cara's attention. For that, she was thankful. She could hear the distinctive bark of her Isis, though wounded, she was giving it all she got, and the more masculine bark of Vegeta's cherished stud. It gave her enough time to lift the heavy frying pan into a more comfortable position and run out of the kitchen.

A yell broke from her lips and with a mighty heave, Bulma swung to pay at Jade's head, catching him off guard, throwing him forward. Bones cracked and it was as if everything slowed right down.

Jade fell forward, blood dribbling from his head, Vegeta shouted, Keisha tried to push Jade off of her and Cara turned around.

A loud bang was heard. White hot pain crashed over her body. Bulma could feel liquid heat dribbling down her chest. "NO!" Vegeta cried, shoving Cara out of the way.

But he was too slow. Bulma slumped to her knees and lifted an arm towards Vegeta and fell over to the slide. "I love...you..." She whispered and then her world went black.

A/N: I know, I know, I know. Another cliffhanger. Don't you all just love me?