So here's the part where you make a choice. What if you could have that power, now? In every generation, one Slayer is born, because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule. They were powerful men. This woman is more powerful than all of them combined. So I say we change the rule. I say my power, should be our power…. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power. Can stand up, will stand up. Slayers, every one of us. Make your choice.

Are you ready to be strong?

BUFFY, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON SEVEN (CHOSEN)

Cupid's Chokehold; Chapter Thirty-Two. Bella.

I felt like I hadn't been out of Jacob's small community in eons. That wasn't true, I had gone in to town with Jacob, Sam and Charlie to deal with Billy's funeral arrangements. Everything in my life had revolved around the reservation. I just barely squeezed in my school assignments that Angela was so dutifully collecting on Thursdays. My counselor probably wanted to talk to me about graduation and finals. The school was making a lot of exceptions for me. I was certain most people wouldn't be allowed to miss this much school before their high school graduation and I was also certain that this allowance might have something to do with Charlie being Chief of Police here. I might as well have been a daughter of the president for all the special treatment I was getting.

The school was wet and empty when I pulled in to the parking lot. I parked next to a lone car that I didn't recognize and walked up to the front building where the offices were located. The school seemed so desolate and depressing without the raucous caused by the students. Some wet paper was dragged across the asphalt by the wind, without the students it was easier to see how rundown the school was. I wouldn't be missing the place once I graduated, just like I hadn't been missing it since my last day here. It almost seemed like graduation was a mere ritual now and not something that really meant anything. Graduation or not, my life wouldn't change. I would continue to be with Jacob, take care of Charlie, and become closer friends with Emily. A high school diploma sometimes meant college, but I wasn't sure it did for me. It would look better on a job application, but not much around the area required even that document and I didn't want to commute in to the city for a better job. I was fine with staying close to home, even if the job wasn't glamorous.

The front office was open and I walked back to the counseling center. One door was open-- and it wasn't my counselors. I wanted to vomit up the now sickly sweet Pop Tarts that Jake and I had eaten. The office was empty but I knew she was here. It had been a ploy, a trap. The stupid ritual of graduation had been the peanut butter to lead me here. I turned around and slipped on the linoleum floor, my shoes making a nasty squeak against it. I pushed myself up, there was no time to evaluate whether my ankles were fine or not, and made my way to the parking lot where I saw a red head shutting the hood of my truck. There were cables in her hand.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

She knew I was behind her. She had to. Edward always said that he could locate me anywhere on campus just by my scent. It had to be even easier on an empty campus. She wanted me to run, it was a game to her. She wanted to me to put up a pointless fight. She wanted to prolong this as soon as possible. I couldn't let her win, but I also couldn't just stand here and let her kill me. I wasn't suicidal. I couldn't fight her. But I could put off death and pray that Edward or Jacob or anyone would get some tiny signal that there was trouble in Forks High. I had to play her game until someone interfered.

So I ran.

I couldn't hear her behind me, but I couldn't tell if that was because she wasn't following me yet or because the blood was pounding too hard in my ears. I knew running wouldn't get me very far, at some point I would trip and fall and get hurt beyond being able to get up. It wasn't like I could go in to hand-to-hand combat with Victoria, but maybe I could do something else. She baited me, so maybe I could bait her. And ripping from limb to limb wasn't the only way to kill a vampire. Hell, I wasn't even looking to kill her; I just wanted to stop her for long enough so that I could high tail it away from her. Fire. The only other way to kill a vampire was by fire. Of course, high schools took precautions when it came to fires. And I would need a big enough fire. Of course I didn't want to burn the school down, that would be arson and the town would probably stop being so nice to the chief's daughter after she burnt the school down.

I had to stop worrying about petty things like high school buildings and start figuring out how I was going to get this fire started and how I could get the fire on to Victoria. If only I could throw it like a fireball or something. But since I wasn't expecting to obtain super powers anytime soon I would have to think of something else, another way to get fire on Victoria without getting to close to her. It hit me... like a fireball. Jake and I had been watching movies on TCM one night, old movies that Jake couldn't stand. We had been watching Night of the Living Dead. Those creatures died by fire as well and they used Molotov Cocktails. They had briefly said how to make one and I was certain I'd be able to construct one... I just had to figure out how to rig it with the supplies on campus. A glass bottle, a wick, some igniter fluid and a match. The chem Lab and the school's auto classroom.

I stopped to breathe when I got to the chem lab and smiled to myself, the school wasn't very safe at all. And Victoria didn't think it out either, sure she had done something to my truck to stop me from making a quick getaway but she hadn't thought about me trying to fight back. The Bella she knew wouldn't fight back, the Bella she knew would cower in a corner crying for someone to come and save her. In the back of my mind that was still an option, but it wasn't the smartest option. I wasn't going down without a fight now.

The chem lab was locked but the entire back wall was made of windows that faced the football field. I took off my sweatshirt, Jake's sweatshirt, and wrapped it around my arm. I turned my face away and lunged with my protected arm towards the small glass pane. It shattered, small shard scratched at my face, it was slightly painful but it would also make finding me easier. I shook my head in an attempt to get the shards out of my hair just in case I decided to run my hands through it for some stupid reason.

I needed a glass bottle and some matches. I hadn't been in the room in ages, but I knew that almost all the cupboards were kept locked when the teacher wasn't in the classroom, just in case any student decided to do something stupid with the supplies. Like make a Molotov cocktail. I looked around and thanked my lucky stars when I saw the bottles in a glass cabinet. Locked, but breakable. I was on a roll when it came to broken glass. With my arm still wrapped up I punched through the glass and grabbed a container. All these little cuts I was obtaining were going to be a bitch when they healed up, but it didn't matter as long as I was alive for them to heal.

We used matches to light the Bunsen burners. I thought back on to the last time we had to use them. They were kept in the drawers at our stations, locked but we all had a key. This school really wasn't scoring too many safety points. I pulled out my key ring and went over to my desk. I couldn't even remember who my lab partner was, so I very well couldn't feel sorry for them. They had completed basically the entire semester by their self. I hadn't interacted with them unless necessary. Once the key was in and turned the drawer opened easily. I picked up the box of matches and went to the shattered window to exit the room.

I couldn't tell how long it had been since I left the offices. It could have been two minutes; it could have been two hours. I didn't expect Victoria to wait this long to come and finish me off. But, with Edward in the area and Alice seeing the future and all I didn't expect to have to fight this by myself for too long. I peeked out the window, careful to not get cut up any more than I already was. There was Victoria, flaming red hair blowing in the wind, with red eyes to match. Her head was cocked to the side in amusement, her eyebrow up in curiosity. I guess there weren't many humans out there who were determined enough to try and fight her. I could either stand here and let her get me or try and run for it. If she ran after me, she'd get me quickly and probably prolong my death. But, this was a game and my death meant the end of that game. Maybe she wouldn't want to catch me just yet.

I lunged out the window and ran for the auto room. Breaking another window I went in and searched for what I needed. Gasoline, oil and a wick. The gasoline and oil weren't too hard to find, nicely labeled containers. I put the two into the glass bottle and handled it with care. I wasn't sure if it needed a certain amount so I stayed with a 1:1 mixture. I would just have to hope that was right. It wasn't like people would have measuring cups when they needed to use a Molotov cocktail. Through the windows on the wall I could see Victoria leisurely walking towards me. She was picking up flowers that were growing on the football field and putting them in her hair, smiling as she smelled them. God she was twisted.

I found an old rag and shoved it in to the opening of the bottle. I pulled the matches out of my pocket and realized how hard this was going to be with only two hands. If only I had a lighter. I went and leaned against the teacher's desk. I stared down at the matches, the only way I would the wick lit was if Victoria let me light and stood still while I threw it. I knew I would need to distract her. How do you distract a vampire? It sounded like the beginning of a bad joke.

There was no way to distract a vampire from a potential bomb in your hand. I said potential because I still wasn't certain this thing was going to go off. Come to think of it, there was no way to distract anyone when you have a bomb in your hand… unless the bomb was the distraction. But, a human couldn't move fast enough to get away from it, Victoria could probably get to the other side of Forks before the cocktail hit the ground… although that wasn't saying much. Forks wasn't that big and I couldn't throw that far. A solution would be to bring her closer to me, maybe draw her in with my blood. Of course, then I would either die from the cocktail explosion—I was beginning to wonder about the range of this thing—or die because the cocktail wouldn't go off and Victoria would kill me quickly, spurred on by the temptation of human blood. It was a sucky situation, no matter what, no pun intended.

But, if the bomb did go off and it killed me… as long as it killed Victoria as well, then it would be okay. Of course, I'd promised Jacob that I would no longer do things so brainlessly. Becoming a martyr was in the brainless category with Jacob.

I took a deep, calming breath in an attempt to focus and formulate a plan. My theoretical backup still hadn't arrived. I realized that besides motor oil and car parts this room smelled like cigarettes. The auto teacher had to be a smoker… and maybe there was a lighter somewhere. I tore around to the other side of the desk and rifled through the drawers. My fingers grasped a cool, slim red lighter.

I had never been so sure of kismet before this.

I flipped the switch on the lighter and a bright flame went up. Relief surged through me. Of course, I still had figure out to distract Victoria so I could get this thing lit and thrown at her, but it was probably best to not think too hard about that.

I walked out of the classroom and watched as Victoria walked towards me.

"Hi, darling," her voice rolled like smooth chocolate, almost drawing me in like some sick succubus. Fear raced through me, pulsed in my veins and made my vision go fuzzy. "You tried so hard," she sounded like my mother when I told her of some failure. I missed my mother suddenly. I hadn't talked to her in ages. I was sure she knew to some extent what was going on, but I hadn't been able to just sit and discuss something with. I hoped that I would be able to do that soon. "It's sweet, really. Your determination is just inspiring," her sympathetic mom act dropped and she turned back to her seductive, demonic voice, "and you played along with my little game, Bella. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. Most little humans wouldn't be so cooperative. It's such a nice change."

She walked closer. The lighter quivered in my hand and I could hear the solution sloshing in the bottle. "You really think you're going to be able to light that and throw it at me, Bella? You can try, but we both know I would be long gone before it actually worked. What is it that they say to the losing contestant on game shows? Oh, right thanks for playing." She lunged.

"BELLA!"

I had been so caught up in her that I hadn't been aware of anything else. Amazingly, Victoria stopped and turned around to face the person calling out to me. Now. Do it now. It was as if I was possessed, not the voices in my head but the fluid and concise movements I made. I lit the makeshift fuse, chucked the cocktail at Victoria—it hit her! Then I ran back towards the auto room.

I bumped in to a cold figure, their tiny arms wrapped around me. I screamed and fought back. "Calm down, Bella!" It was Alice. I turned around and saw little Alice holding me. In the window behind her I could see Victoria up in flames, running around trying to douse out her hair. Every movement she made caused more of herself to go up in flames. "We need to get you out of here, she's gonna try and catch us on fire soon." Alice all but picked me up as she ran towards the car. It was Emmett's jeep. Emmett sat in the driver's seat, Rose in the passenger. I assumed that Alice had been in the back.

"Edward?" I asked.

Alice nodded towards the wooded area near the school. "He'll make sure everything is cleaned up. It'll just look like a freak accident. Who's stupid enough to keep a lighter in a classroom with gas in it? Seriously," she scoffed, trying to lighten the situation.

"Where's Jacob?" I asked her. It was kind of a silly question. He had no indication that I was doing anything other than speaking to my counselor about graduation or some other high school oriented thing. For all I knew, he was still sleeping the sleep of exhausted werewolf back in our bed. I momentarily brushed aside the pleasure the phrase "our bed" gave me. "Does he know?"

"He wasn't answering his phone," she cringed when she said this and my fear shot through the roof again making me sick to my stomach.

"Did—does she have—does she have an accomplice?" I stuttered out.

"We drove as close to the reservation as we could," she assured, "the only scent we could trace was hers. And that was old. We'll take you there now, but only Edward's willing to run you to the house," she pursed her lips in an effort to stop speaking. Emmett and Rosalie continued to watch the bonfire that used to be Victoria. Hopefully it would start raining soon so the clean up could begin. Vampires could do a lot of things, but firefighting wasn't one of them.

"Why won't you guys?"

Alice looked at the ground before confessing, "We don't know if the wolves will have enough control to not kill us," she said it quietly as if she wasn't supposed to tell me something else. The pieces shifted in my head.

"Edward's willing to die for me?"

Alice looked up at me and there was only honesty in her eyes, "Edward is willing to do anything for you."

"He's a bit of a drama queen in that way," Rose spoke for the first time. We all laughed, but I heard Edward growl. I smiled at him. He didn't have to be here right now, he didn't have to care, but he did.

"So, how'd you do it?" Emmett asked.

"Do what?" Attract so much danger? Even I wasn't sure.

"Kill a vampire," Rosalie clarified, "you're a human and humans can't kill vampires. Especially ones so prone to… dangerous mishaps." Rosalie wasn't trying to offend me, just stating the truth. And it was, I had no idea who to thank that that cocktail didn't go off in my hand. Come to think of it, that was probably on Jacob's brainless list as well.

"I threw a cocktail at her."

"This is a no tolerance school, Bella," Emmett said in a deeply disappointed tone.

"A Molotov cocktail," I clarified.

His face dropped and he stuck his head out the window towards Edward, "Why does she get to have all the fun?" he yelled towards him. Sitting back in the car, he grumbled. "Gets to play with werewolves, throws bombs at vampires," he looked at Rosalie, "it's not fair. I might as well be handcuffed to a bed for all the fun I get to have." Rosalie arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow suggestively. "Good point," he leaned back in his seat, relaxed again, he had a lazy smile on his face.

Alice diverted the attention from the x-rated conversation that could have been started, "We should get you back to Jacob. He might be waking up soon. If he wants to meet at the border so we can discuss everything we can. If he wants to wait for Carlisle then we can do that. I know the wolves think of him as our coven leader and they like to do things properly. Here," she grabbed something off the dashboard of the jeep, "call me, I'm number three on speed dial." She handed me a fancy silver phone.

"Hey!" Rosalie protested, "That's mine!"

I attempted to hand it back. Rosalie didn't like me to begin with; I didn't need to be upsetting her even more. Alice slapped my hand (gently, so it didn't really hurt). "Rose, you can go a day without your phone. Just remind Emmett not to sext you, okay?"

"That was once and it was in school: we were bored!" she defended herself. I was completely clueless as to what sexting was.

"And you got caught," Alice said slowly. She glanced at Edward but then turned her attention back to me, "What are you smiling about?"

I laughed, "You guys are decades old and you still act like silly children sometimes."

Edward was walking towards us, "Peter Pan syndrome, look it up," he didn't give me a chance to respond, "It's going to start raining soon," I frowned, "Alice told me," that was what the glance had been, "Alice and these buffoons," Rosalie gave him the finger, "are going to clean up this mess before the cops get here."

"Which is going to be in ten minutes."

"Nice to know Forks has a watchful eye on it," Emmett said sarcastically.

Automatically defensive of Charlie, "There's a game on, they're probably distracted."

"Nice to know they have their priorities straight." He jumped out of his car, "I'm just playin' with you, silly girl."

Edward rolled his eyes and gently led me towards the edge of the parking lot, his hand on the small of my back. At the edge between the trees and the asphalt of the road he stopped, "Come on, brave one, climb on my back."

I had heard this before, except he didn't call me a coward this time. He hadn't meant it as an insult then, but the change in name did mean something to me. Cautiously, I hoisted myself in to the piggy backing position and he began to run.

I kept my eyes open and didn't feel sick once.

AN: Holy cannoli! How did I finish that? I wrote this in two days, which I still think is insane. Let me say this, this isn't how the story was supposed to end. There was supposed to be a big show down between Edward and Victoria, but I realized that wasn't what my story was about. In Twilight Bella is far from the strong female character that I admire in other books and other TV shows. I wanted to get her to that point where I could look up to her strength. I wanted to create Backbone Bella and I really hope I achieved that.

There will be two more chapters after this one.

INCENTIVE TO REVIEW: My next story is going to be a Morganville Vampire story, which I hope to post in about a week (before Fade Out comes out). If you would like to read a piece of it, just tell me in the review and I'll send you a snippet.

PS. 1) if anyone wants to correct my Molotov cocktail go right ahead, as long as it doesn't change the chapter too much I will probably go and fix this. 2) if anyone does this at their school and I am blamed for it I will hunt you down and rub onions in your eyes.