A/N: My twist on the story gets very twisty in this chapter! I hope you all stick with me through this warped version of Bella's past. I really can't wait to hear your responses, so please leave me a review at the end to let me know what you think.

Thank you to all of you who have been faithful readers since the beginning of this story. I love your reviews. I still try to respond to each and every one so you know just how important you all are to me!

My beta, ms. ambrosia is awesome! She took this crazy chapter and fixed it while on vacation with her family. That's dedication! Thank you, babe!

Just a little side note: By default, I've somehow gotten my eleven year old daughter just as obsessed with fanfic as me! And now she's even posted her own story. It's called Saving Zoe and her pename is apple11. So if you're interested in seeing a tween's view of things, check it out. I'm a proud mama!

Oh, and if you know of any T-rated stories that are any good, please let me know so I can pass them along to her.

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight. I only own my crazy twist on the story!

Chapter 27

We were all frozen in the moment, staring at Jacob, the seriousness of his words ringing out in the silence of the room. Before my human brain could process this new information, Tanya had jolted forward into a defensive crouch, a guttural growl ripped from her chest. Giving into his animal instincts, Jacob launched himself forward, but Bella pushed him back, maneuvering between the two with her arms outstretched and holding them away from each other.

My pulse quickened automatically, my heart racing. I was struggling to keep up with what was happening, my brain trying to filter and organize the extreme heap of problems in my lap. I concentrated on Bella's strained face, her eyes flickering fiercely. The shield on her thoughts dropped all at once and the machinations of her incredibly complex mind began to stream through my brain, too quickly and intensely for me to latch onto.

I propped my head in my hands as if I could stifle the attack of words and the fleeting violent and bloody images with the firm grasp of my fingers. I slammed my eyes closed, squealing in pain and confusion and thankfully, Bella must have noticed her effect on me because her thoughts began to noticeably slow, becoming sharper, more distinct. I could see her fears play out in my head: vampires and wolves fighting, Jacob and Tanya at each other's throats, and then a quick flash of Lauren with crimson eyes, and me, lying on the forest floor, broken and unconscious.

I couldn't help but absorb Bella's fears as my own, allowing a pall of deep desperation to thoroughly immobilize me. I couldn't see any way we could dig our way out of this mess. And I couldn't shut Bella's stream of consciousness out of my mind long enough to form any ideas of my own or to come up with even a remotely reliable plan of action. I was sinking under the weight of both our worries when Bella's thoughts abruptly stopped and her lips slid along my cheek, finding purchase on my neck, where she planted a soft, meaningful kiss.

We can do this, Edward. We can do it…together.

Her words washed over me, clearing my mind. I trusted Bella; with her by my side we could face anything. I shook off my fear-induced stupor and took a step toward Jacob, knowing that he would never harm me. I placed myself in front of Bella and placed my hand firmly on his heaving chest, just as Emmett stepped up behind him, craning his neck to see over Jacob's shoulder.

"Edward, what the fuck is going on?" he asked, grabbing onto Jacob's arm and tugging him out of his way. Jacob snorted in irritation, backing a few hesitant steps into the hallway, but he was obviously still on alert, ready to pounce in an instant.

"There are these huge dudes in the living room and an unconscious girl on the couch," Emmett continued to rant. "Alice is downstairs freaking out. And mom is going to be home any minute. I don't know what kind of shit your wading in, but unless you want the parental units to know about it, you better figure it out fast," he bellowed, waving his finger in the air.

I started tugging on my hair, glancing at Bella, whose gold eyes were narrowed in deep thought. Her head snapped to Tanya who slipped stealthily past her until she was standing directly in front of my brother. Emmett didn't even notice Tanya until she leaned in and sniffed his neck. He sucked in a deep breath, his body going rigid.

Tanya threw a mischievous look at Bella. "Is this one for me?" she asked.

Emmett paled, his eyes widening in fear. He stepped backward instinctually, ramming into Jacob.

"Don't you touch him!" Jacob threatened, stepping in front of Emmett, his arms crossed at his chest. "Bella!" he spat, tearing his eyes away from Tanya and turning toward her, irritated, his nostrils flaring. "The only reason the rest of the pack isn't up here, tearing this bloodsucker to shreds is because of me. I'm having a really hard time with this," he snarled through his teeth, his jaw seemingly locked closed.

"Jacob, Tanya was only teasing," Bella tried to explain.

He gestured toward Tanya. "Please give me a reason not to kill her. Give me some answers here," he nearly begged, his anger nearly out of control and I marveled how he kept from phasing right there in my room. "I mean, after what happened to that girl…someone has to pay," he muttered, his anger masking the guilt and shame we were all feeling. "How do you know those bloodsuckers weren't with her?" he asked, his accusation bouncing around the room unanswered.

"There were three of them," he continued. "I could have taken them if things were different…if I wasn't so distracted…if…"

"Jacob, no one's blaming you. You did what you could. We'll figure this out," I said.

"Yeah dude, how could you take on three vamps alone? That shit is scary," Emmett added, visibly shuddering at the thought. He threw a glance at Tanya, shifting uneasily from foot to foot.

"This is actually very exciting. It's been so long since I've had a good fight. And I must say I am very intrigued by your wolves, Bella," Tanya exclaimed.

"We're not her wolves, bloodsucker!" Jacob spat, sneering at Tanya.

"Please stop fighting!" Bella begged. "Tanya is here to help. She shares my same lifestyle…and she values human life just as much as you do. She's here to teach me, to help me," Bella explained, with a lilt of desperation. I knew how important it was for her that Jacob understood and that he accepted her decision to bring Tanya back to Forks with her.

Jacob didn't initially reply, but shook his head from side to side. "I've been as supportive as I can. I know you think you need her, but having her here is just asking for trouble, Bella. The situation here is already…tense. Can't you see that?"

"Yes, Jacob please…I know how you feel…just give me some time to work some things out…with Tanya…please," she pleaded. "And tell the rest of the pack that Tanya is not like these nomads, that she is no threat…please Jacob."

"Yeah, whatever. We kind of have bigger problems now."

"What happened to Lauren?" I blurted. "Who took her?" An image of the red haired vampire entered my mind and I turned to glance at Bella. I shuddered at the thoughts she sent my way, reflections of her immediate suspicions interwoven with fragments of memory from another time. I couldn't avoid being affected by the heavy emotions in each memory, in each errant image.

I had to have my hands on her. I grasped her by the hip and tucked her into my side, running my hand from her shoulder down to her thin, elegant wrist. As Jacob began talking, I interlaced her cold fingers with mine.

"I walked down to their car as fast as I could. I wanted to get the whole thing over with so that I could phase, and let the pack know what was going on…you know, with this bloodsucker," he said, gesturing at Tanya, who simply smiled sweetly at him. He continued as if he hadn't noticed.

"The girls were behind me, making a racket and taking forever. I got down to the car and looked over it. You know what those stupid ditzes did? They slashed their own tire." He raised his arms in the air in disbelief.

"They finally made it down to the car when I was on the ground underneath it, checking out the undercarriage…to see where to place the jack. Jessica was actually admitting to the whole stupid thing, when I got my first whiff of some pretty smelly vamps. I jumped out from under the car and was about to phase when a male bloodsucker jumped out from the trees. I couldn't keep myself from phasing."

He paused, a guilt-stricken look clouding his features. "I tried to push Jessica out of the way, but I was too forceful. She flew off the road into the trees. I heard her hit something when I rounded on the vamp. He jumped at me, but I dodged him. He seemed stunned that I moved as fast as him and I could tell he wasn't prepared to fight a werewolf. He was strong though, stronger than other vamps. He finally got a hit on me and I flew back into the car. Um, there's kind of a big dent in the hood now," he said sheepishly.

"When he realized that it wasn't going to be an easy fight, he began to run. I caught him by the ankle and ripped his foot off. The rest was easy. I got his leg next and pretty soon had him in pieces," he said with relish and a thinly veiled pride. I cringed, pulling Bella tighter to me.

"Right after I pulled off his arms, I realized that I forgot about the other girl – Lauren. I called the other wolves and ran into the forest. I caught another scent…there were two others and they were going in different directions. I followed one and when the rest of the pack caught up, they went after the other. We chased them to the edge of our lands, all the way to the ocean. But they were gone. They got away," he said gravely.

"What do we do now?" I asked to no one specifically.

Bella seemed to realize she needed to take control. I heard her voice in my head; it was like an internal pep talk.

Be strong, Bella. Here goes nothing.

"Okay, um Jacob, can you and the guys downstairs maybe patrol from outside for a while, where you can't be seen? Just make sure that there are no other vampires around. Edward and his family need to be protected."

"Yeah, sure Bella," he replied, defeated, his shoulders slumped. I felt badly for him; he'd done so much to help both me and Bella and been such a good friend. I didn't know how we'd ever repay him. "You know," he said, stopping in the doorway, "we should draft some sort of treaty or something…so that it's clear…you know, what kind of vamps we kill and which ones we don't."

"Okay Jacob, whatever you think is best," Bella said, grasping his hand and squeezing it. "Thank you for everything. I don't know what I would do without you," she whispered.

"I'll see you guys later. We'll be in touch if we sense any other vamps in the area," he said as he slipped through the door past Emmett. "We'll make sure you guys are safe," he promised to him as he passed, clapping him lightly on the shoulder before silently leaping down the stairs. I could hear his voice intermingling with the others, Alice's high-pitched trill rising above the rest. She was clearly upset and probably wondering what was going on. I would have to explain it all to her later.

"The girl, the unconscious one, should be taken to the hospital," Tanya said, drawing all our eyes and attention to her. "She would be safe there…from further attack and the human doctors can tend to her," she added, looking earnestly at the surprised and perplexed faces pointed at her.

"Yes, you're right. Um, Emmett, maybe you and Alice can take Jessica to the hospital…before your mom gets home?"

Emmett, who had silently been taking in all the new developments from the safety of the hallway, awakened as if he'd been in a trance. "Sure Bella. Um, yeah, okay," he stammered. I could hear his loud clumsy footfalls - so different than Jacob's - as he ran down the stairs with an urgency that would have been funny if the situation wasn't so incredibly dire.

Bella turned in my arms, directing her warm amber eyes on my face. "Tanya and I will go out and sweep the area for the other vampires, but I think Jacob's right; they're gone. Afterwards, I'm going to take Tanya to the cabin. Will you meet me there later?" she asked hopefully, as if I might deny her.

"Of course," I answered. I would do anything to be with Bella; now that she was back by my side I never wanted to be separated again.

"A car is approaching," Tanya said, tilting her head to the side.

"Meet us?" Bella asked as she walked to the window, Tanya trailing obediently behind her. Before I could answer she jumped up into the window frame and disappeared. A moment later, Tanya followed.

I heard the front door open and the tinkling of my mother's voice, announcing her arrival. "Is anyone home? Alice?"

"I'm home, Mom," I yelled down the stairs, attempting to sound as ordinary and unaffected as possible. "I'm headed out though, if that's okay. Bella's back in town and we're having dinner together," I added, hoping that she wouldn't pelt me with questions. "Her aunt is in town and she wants me to meet her," I said, making up the lie on the spot.

"Oh, well…it looks like I'm alone then," she remarked, her expression faraway and forlorn. I followed her in the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I love you." She dropped her bags on the countertop with a grunt. I placed my hands on her shoulders, lightly rubbing. I leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. She giggled appreciatively.

"I love you too. Don't be late," she reminded me, ruffling my hair in her hand like she'd been doing since I was a little kid. I felt a pang of remorse for the past, the closeness we'd somehow lost along the way. There was an ease to my childhood that I would never recover.

My life was on a new path now, wild and unpredictable, wrought with danger around every corner, but full of love and passion and Bella. As I drove to her little cabin, splattering my car with a new layer of fresh mud, I thought of how all the risks were worth it, how I was willing to sacrifice everything – a life of ignorant comfort, a rightful place in a loving and supportive family, a normal human life with the usual rites of passage - to be with Bella. To be with her forever.

Bella's cabin was very quiet when I arrived. I hesitated to get out of my car, remembering the last time I was here. I wondered where Jacob had built the fire to burn Charlotte's remains. Would I see the pyre? I reasoned that the rain would have washed any evidence of that day away as I opened the door and made my way past the mud puddles to the porch of the cabin.

I rapped lightly on the door before turning the knob and letting myself in. I immediately spotted Bella's still form on the couch. She didn't turn or move to acknowledge my presence and this worried me. I went to kneel before her, enclosing her cold hands in mine. I felt the urge to try and warm them before I remembered that it was a futile task.

I scanned her impassive face, silently willing her to meet my gaze. The fire in the fireplace warmed my back, snapping and flaring fervently behind me.

"Bella, love, please look at me," I pleaded.

Finally her eyes snapped to mine, her gaze so intense it was nearly as hot as the blaze in the fireplace. "You're here," she whispered, squeezing my hands to reassure me. I took a deep breath, placing my head in her lap. She ran her fingers through my hair and it was heaven. "There are things I need to tell you," she said, stopping her caress.

I raised my eyes to her as she placed her hands on my face. "I love you," she said. I climbed off the floor and up onto the couch next to her so that I could be closer.

"I love you too," I said, scooting next to her so there was little space between us.

"Tanya is hunting. She'll be gone for at least a few hours." I nodded, rubbing my thumbs along the back of her hands.

"This is hard for me, Edward," she explained. "Things happened that are so hard to remember, but you need to know the truth. I heard everything that Lauren told you…some of it was true," she said, looking up at me through her lashes. The look was so seductive that I momentarily lost focus on her words, her crimson lips, her exotic eyes driving me to distraction.

"I'm not surprised that Lauren knew my story – or at least the gossip that went around at the time. No one really talks about it anymore, but it was pretty big news when it happened. I had only lived in Forks for six months when – as far as anyone in Forks knew – I disappeared."

"I hadn't even made any friends at school yet. Jacob was truly my only friend. I spent every summer up here when I was a kid and our fathers were best friends so we were forced together a lot. Eventually, hanging out with Jacob became the thing that I looked most forward to every summer. We spent tons of time down at the beach, rain or shine. We hiked, we even fished or sometimes we just hung out on the reservation at his house playing board games or watching tv."

As she described her time with Jacob images from her memories drifted into my mind and I saw Jacob as he was younger through Bella's eyes. He was skipping stones along the water's edge at the beach or sitting at a table in a small, modest house, moving checkers on a red and black tiled board with his long fingers. I saw him climbing a tree and reaching down his arm to offer Bella a hand. The images began to fade when Bella began to speak again.

"I felt lonely once school started and I couldn't see Jacob as often and then when…my Mom and Phil died I just got so depressed that sometimes it was hard to crawl out of bed in the morning. If it wasn't for Jacob and Charlie I probably never would have." She looked down at our hands, her soft hair draping over her face. When she looked up again I was surprised that she was smiling.

"I think Charlie would have loved you," she stated with love in her eyes.

I love you.

"What happened to him?" I asked the question that I knew was the hardest for her to answer.

She swallowed audibly as if from habit. And then her mind opened and she sent a single, simple thought my way.

It hurts to remember.

"Right after James turned me we stayed in the area for a short time. I'd only been a vampire a few days when James and Victoria dragged me to Charlie's house one night so I could see how sad and devastated he was that I'd disappeared. I'd already seen the posters that were all over town - he'd thought that I'd been kidnapped and was offering his entire life savings as a reward for any information on me. James even called him one night, claiming that he'd seen me in Seattle and that I'd become a prostitute. Luckily, Charlie didn't say anything, but just hung up the phone.

"It was so horrible seeing him suffer and knowing that I'd never be able to do anything to make it better. I couldn't comfort him, I couldn't hug him. I couldn't get close to him ever again without hurting him.

"After that I knew I could never go back to Charlie. So I left Forks, just like Lauren said, but you know the real reason why. I had to escape Victoria. She tried to make me like her, but I knew who I was inside and I rejected everything she taught me. And then James was interested in me and Victoria got angry."

"She was jealous of you?" I asked.

"No, she was jealous of James," she replied meekly. "They fought over me. They both wanted me as a mate."

"What? But James turned you, right? Doesn't that mean he had some kind of claim over you or something?"

"No, not really. Victoria was the leader of the coven and she was the one who wanted me in the first place. She made James turn me because she wanted me. Laurent told me that there were others before me that she wanted for her mate, but she always accidentally drained them."

"But I thought that James guy was her mate."

"No. Victoria wasn't like that. She used James and Laurent to do her dirty work. She was only interested in women, but she couldn't turn them herself."

"So this Victoria was the leader of the coven? And she wanted you for her mate?" I asked, still not entirely grasping this version of reality.

"Yes. The short time I lived with them was the worst time of my life. Once I realized that I'd rather be alone, I left. But, they never completely left me alone. They kept coming back to try and find me. I think Victoria hasn't accepted that I'll never want to be with her. And now I'm afraid that she's after you…to get back at me for leaving."

"So it was never James who was after you, it was Victoria?" I asked, still confused by her explanation.

"No, um…James just did whatever Victoria told him to. But he isn't a problem anymore. Actually, James is dead. Jacob killed him."

"What? When?" I stammered out my questions. All this time I'd been picturing James stalking Bella, hunting her. I'd imagined him lurking, watching, waiting to stake his claim on her. Ever since Bella had told me how he'd attacked her - and I'd seen it in vivid detail in her memories - he'd been haunting my nightmares, a constant worrying presence in the back of my mind.

"It was after I'd come back to Forks. I'd met up with Jacob again and he'd changed just as much as I had. Remarkably, he was still my friend. He helped to build me the cabin in the woods and I watched Charlie from distance."

He was so changed.

"He'd lost a lot of weight and I could tell by his scent that he was ill. I didn't know what was wrong with him, but he wasn't healthy. My disappearance had affected every aspect of his life and it was heartbreaking to see how he'd changed." Bella turned her head to the side as if ashamed. I unlaced my fingers with hers to pull her chin back toward me, placing a chaste kiss on her lips. She didn't respond at first, but then I felt her tongue dart out at mine and she deepened the kiss, reaching out to slip her hand behind my neck. I pulled back when I needed to breathe, our foreheads still touching.

"I love you, Bella. You don't need to tell me anything that you're not ready to."

"I want to tell you. I need to," she admitted, looking deeply in my eyes.

"When I realized how sick Charlie was I couldn't help myself, I began to sneak in the house at night after he was asleep and touch his things – the dirty fork he ate his dinner with, the afghan on the back of the couch, his gun holster, the spare change in the jar by the door. I ran my fingers over the remote control where his fingers had been, pushing the buttons as if I could somehow be closer to him this way.

"One night I was on my way to Charlie's when the wind billowed in my direction and I caught the scent of a very familiar vampire along with that of my favorite wolf. I picked up my pace, running faster than I'd ever run before, as fast as my legs would take me. When I got to the house I could smell blood – human blood – and I threw myself through the open doorway.

James stood by the couch, his arm outstretched, and his fingers clenched around Charlie's throat. My father was limp, his body bent and dangling, blood from a scratch near his eyebrow trickling down his face like polluted tears. Jacob was crouched, growling, his body heaving with convulsions, his head whipping from side to side in a frenetic, crazed way.

"You don't scare me, boy," James declared unconvincingly, his eyes flickering back and forth between me and Jacob. He shook Charlie tauntingly at Jacob so that the toes of his boots scraped along the floor. Charlie moaned and my dead heart almost felt as if it came to life again. I stretched my fingers into claws and snarled menacingly at James, succumbing to every animal instinct within me as I prepared to attack."

Bella paused, overwhelmed with her memories and I heard Charlie's moan in my mind, and saw his slack form, a grubby hand coiled around his neck. I could see the trail of blood down his face so clearly it was as if I was standing right in front of him. The vision fell away when Bella's eyes found mine, the remorse in them so profound that I knew she'd be crying for Charlie if she could. She reached her hand to my face, wiping her fingers slowly along my cheek bone. She looked quizzically down at the moisture on the tips of her fingers and I realized that I was crying – for her, for Charlie, for the memory of this painful but pivotal moment in her life.

"James killed Charlie," I stated, the obvious conclusion to her tale.

"No…he didn't," she revealed. "I did."

"What? That's not possible," I affirmed, unable to even consider her confession.

"It's true. Before I could attack James, Jacob phased – right there in our living room. James was so shocked that he dropped Charlie and stared at Jacob in awe. Jacob's teeth tore into James's shoulder and ripped at his flesh. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed that a vampire could be damaged so easily.

"Once James realized what was happening, he was able to tear Jacob off of him and threw him across the room. Jacob skidded, crashing violently into the wall, creating a massive hole. I swiped at James while Jacob was shaking off pieces of plaster that had crumbled on top of him, but he was too fast and too strong. He slammed me to the floor, his arm arced back to pummel me when Jacob sprung forward, his teeth snapping at James' arms and neck.

"I kicked at James' legs from the floor, distracting him for a moment, giving Jacob just enough time to lock his jaw on James side, crushing his ribs and gouging a huge chunk of flesh from his hip. I jumped up, preparing to finish James off when Jacob growled at me. I stepped back just as Jacob slammed his entire wolf form into James, his sharp canine teeth sinking into James' neck, and in one swift motion, tore the head from his body."

Unfortunately, whatever my own imagination had been lacking as I painted my own picture of this altercation in my brain, Bella's perfect memory provided. As she relived the battle in her telling, I saw the entire thing played out in perfect clarity. James' head being ripped from his body would be forever emblazoned in my brain as if I were actually there. The vacant look in his James' frozen eyes, the shock on his face at his final moment, the chunks of tattered flesh hanging from his neck when Jacob dropped his gnarled head loudly and ceremoniously to the floor, the clumsy, lumbering way the decapitated head rolled, thumping an irregular rhythm before it ultimately lost its momentum and stilled – were now my memories too.

"I think it might be easier if I just show you the rest. It's too difficult to tell it aloud," she explained, cupping my cheek in her hand. As she began to think of what happened next, she left her hand on my temple. Her touch wasn't necessary for me to hear her, but her hand seemed like a conduit from her brain to mine, sharpening our connection, as if we were one mind finally, bonded inextricably, irrevocably.

First I saw Charlie, slumped on the floor, the blood from his small wound smeared across his chin. He appeared unconscious, but his fingers twitched as if trying to clasp onto something. My vision flashed to Jacob who was still in his wolf form. He clamped down his teeth around James' headless body, arms and legs hanging, and ran out the front door, banging the lifeless form thoughtlessly against the door frame. Bella's focus turned back to Charlie; she cautiously approached him, only stopping when Jacob stepped through the door again, back in his human form.

Jacob didn't say anything, but glanced at Charlie worriedly as he reached down and tangled his fingers in the hair of head on the floor. Bella turned away and I could sense from her that she didn't want to spare even one more second thinking about James, allowing Jacob to take care of disposing with his body – tearing it up and burning his remains.

And then we were kneeling before Charlie, stilling his troubled fingers in our own. "Charlie?" I heard Bella ask. I heard the thump thump beat of his heart as clearly as Bella did and a wave of relief washed over us. He stirred, his lips mumbling incoherent words, his eyes fluttering feverishly under his closed lids.

"Charlie?" Bella asked again, more urgently, shaking his shoulder.

"Bella?" Charlie moaned weakly.

"Yes, Charlie, yes."

"Bella?" he asked again, more distinctly.

His eyes shot open, recognition washing over him in one massive, crushing wave. He sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes widening. "Bella," he said, and for an instant a smile spread across his face, brightening his eyes and reddening his pale cheeks.

"You're alive," Charlie said and then his body lurched, his hand flying to his chest.

He arched his back, panting, squeezing his eyes shut. "Arrgh!" he yelled, writhing, his fingers tightening around his shirt, grasping ineffectively at his chest.

"Charlie! No!" Bella screamed, holding him by the shoulders as he shuddered and convulsed underneath her hold in pain. His eyes found Bella one last time, his lips trembling with the desperate need to say something.

"Bel-…" he said, his index finger grazing the tip of Bella's outstretched hand. And then the thump thump stopped, his heart unable to take the strain any longer.

"No no no no no," I heard Bella repeating, her hand on Charlie's chest. His lifeless eyes were open, but no longer seeing. She pulled his body to hers, curling her own around his, holding him one last time.

End Notes:

Just a short end note, since I've rambled enough. Thank you so much for reading!