A/N: This is a chapter I'd describe as short but juicy. Please enjoy!

YOU WILL FIND OUT WHAT BELLA'S JOB IS IN THIS CHAPTER!!! SO BE PREPARED!!! AND REVIEW DAMN IT!!!!

Chapter Twelve

And the Bad News Abounds

"Isabella, this is never going to work if you spend your days moping around and your nights drinking," James snapped. Bella rolled her eyes. She knew he was right, but she missed her baby too much to care at the moment. "I know you miss Allegra, but she's in good hands. Hands that aren't expecting you back for six months-"

"James, I took care of this when you knew I didn't want to. I assassinated five people because you asked me to. I stayed here to make the mess I made look better when you knew wanted to go get my baby. So don't you dare sit there all high and mighty acting like this is my fault. They're not my clean up crew, they're your clean up crew," Bella snapped.

James stared at Bella until he realized he wouldn't be able to intimidate her. "You need to make this better, Isabella. I don't care how long it takes. If you make this better I swear to you that I will never, ever ask you to kill for me again. Do you understand?"

Bella sighed and shook her head. She could yell at him, she could demand things of him, she could treat him disrespectfully, but she couldn't disobey him. There was no getting around it. She would be staying for a little bit longer, but that didn't mean she was ready to give up the fight just yet.

"I have a life you know and a daughter. It isn't just my life being screwed up here! My baby misses me, she needs me, she wants me. You can't keep me away from her just because your cleaning crew couldn't get to my mess fast enough."

"I can do whatever I want," James said simply. Bella knew he was right, but continued to fight.

"Anyone with a big enough gun can do whatever they want, James. And I'm the only armed person in the room," she snapped.

"You wouldn't kill me even if you meant that. Anyone in your position knows that whoever they answer to has thousands more resources then they do. I could kill you and your daughter without much effort, but that's not going to happen. You, young lady, are going to do what you're told, aren't you?"

Bella didn't dignify that with an answer.

"I'm seventy-nine years old, James and you are only ninety years older than me. We've known each other for most of that time you should know better than to call me a lady at this point."

James smiled. It wasn't pleasant.

"You should know better than to try and fight me to avoid doing what's expected of you. I hope you don't mess up this time, Isabella. Just imagine what your daughter and your precious vampire will think when if after six months of waiting you don't show up."

Bella nodded and faked a happy smiled. It seemed to appease James enough to let her leave. She couldn't imagine what Allegra and Edward and the rest of the Cullens would think if she didn't come back after six months. She couldn't imagine what they would think once they found out what she had been doing, what she'd been paid to do after they left. She didn't want to think about it, didn't want to imagine it.

But she did know that it wouldn't be good.

How could it when she'd spent most of the past sixty years getting paid to kill people she'd never met?

---

"I went to the party and I had a apple juice! I went to the movies and I had a apple juice! I went to the pa-ark and I had a apple juice!" Allegra sang at the top of her little lungs. She was sitting on the kitchen counter licking the frosting off of the cinnamon roll Jacob had just given her.

She wanted to prove that she was just as musically talented as her Daddy and decided that her forte was in song writing. Allegra came up with that little number moments before asking Jacob if he wanted to hear her song. He said yes and thus the singing began.

Jacob was only at the Cullen house because Allegra wanted to play with her kitten, Chocolate never came out when any of the family was around and Edward didn't want her to be alone. It was Jacob or Hannah and Jacob was less crude and more convenient. He also had become a valuable, if improbable, ally. The Quileute pack was still suspicious of Allegra, but conceded that she wasn't an immortal child.

The wolves had no quells about doubling the efforts in search of Victoria. They did, however, mind when Emmett and Jasper tagged along. A few of the younger, more impressionable shape shifters complained about it, saying they had a hard time telling the difference between the bloodsucker they were tracking and the bloodsuckers that were helping.

Edward knew this wasn't true and fortunately so did Sam. He had a hard time excepting the Cullens into the fold, but got over it as soon as he met Allegra. She had him, Jacob and pretty much the rest of the pack wrapped around her chubby little finger.

"I went to the kit-tchen and I had a apple ju-uice!" Allegra screamed. Edward sighed and glanced at Jasper, who was trying to console Alice. She'd failed to find Bella yet again and was taking it pretty hard.

"Jasper, could you settle her down?" he asked. Jasper barely glanced in the direction of the kitchen and the singing faded into nothing. Edward watched her snuggle into Jacob's massive chest and fall asleep. It was just as well, he didn't want her to overhear the conversation they were about to have. Jacob took her up to her room, tucking Allegra and her kitten into her crib and came back down stairs.

"I honestly don't see why you bother with Bella, Alice," Jacob said, exhibiting his glorious lack of tact. He sat down next to Sam on one of the couches in the living room. Jacob lounged back, obviously more at ease then his Alpha. "Kaatya said she's fine. You should really be focusing on Victoria."

"I agree," Carlisle said. "Hannah told us she was fine, as well, and Hannah has yet to lead us astray."

"Bella is my friend!" Alice huffed. "I can't stand the fact that I can't see her. It makes me so nervous." Jasper wrapped a protective arm around his mate.

"We all agree with you, Alice," Esme said gently. "We all love and miss Bella but right now we know she's all right. Victoria on the other hand is loose canon, we have no idea what she's capable of." Esme reached out and touched Alice's hand. "It might make you feel better to focus your visions on something you can see."

"You don't want me to stop looking for her, do you, Edward?" Alice asked turning towards him. "You miss her as much as I do!"

"Alice, I don't want you to be upset anymore. Carlisle and Esme are right. Hannah and Kaatya said that she's fine, they'll let us know if that fact changes. For now we all need to focus on the most pressing threat. And that is Victoria."

Alice sighed, but Edward could see that she was being swayed by their logic. "Could you two go sit in the corner. It's impossible to see anything with you so close," she said to Sam and Jacob. They both nodded and made their way into the corner of the living room.

She squeezed her eyes closed and started scanning Victoria's future. Satisfied, Edward turned his attention away from her and onto Sam and Jacob. This was supposed to be a strategic meeting of sorts. They were just waiting for Kaatya and her sisters to return from their run around the area.

"Do you have any clues about what she might be planning?" Carlisle asked.

"She started showing up again around the same time you guys got back," Sam said. "She must have some gift for evasion. We couldn't corner her."

"Do you know if she had any interaction with Laurent before you…?" Edward asked, leaving off the end of the question. They had found out what had really happened to Laurent from Jacob a few days ago. It wasn't a pleasant thing to think about, especially considering how Irina would feel about it.

"Laurent did have her scent on him when we killed him," Jacob said.

"That's not good."

"Understatement of the millennia, Edward," Rosalie snapped. She could picture it in her head and unfortunately Edward was privy to that picture. Laurent telling Victoria about the child that Edward and the family loved so much. The completely helpless child that they protected like the lost treasure of Atlantis. Victoria with that information was a bad combination.

"I personally don't think we have anything to worry about," Emmett said. Rosalie and Edward growled in unison. For once they were both in complete agreement.

"Of course we have to worry!" Edward insisted.

"Victoria came here after we left to hurt us through Bella. Now she could try to hurt us through Allegra!" Rosalie said, pushing Emmett's arm off of her shoulders.

"Oh, come on, babe!" he complained. "Just hear me out." Rosalie rolled her eyes, but nodded. "There are seven of us vampires, seventeen horse sized wolves and a pack of werewolves so massive they make this house look small, do you honestly think she's going to get past all of us? It's not like when James came after Bella. Then we outnumbered them seven to two. Now it's closer to fifty one to one. There is no way she's going to get to Allegra."

"I hate to admit it," Edward sighed, "but he's got a point."

"We still need to deal with Victoria," Jacob insisted, thinking about that one in a million chance that the vampire got anywhere near Allegra.

"I agree."

The conversation stopped when Kaatya, Anya and McKay trudged in. Kaatya dusted some invisible dirt from her impeccable sky blue pant suit and curled onto the couch next to Jacob.

"Anything new?" Jacob asked. She allowed him to kiss her cheek.

"We followed her scent south then east. Pradriag and Lorcan, my brothers, are still following her, they have instructions to check back in every thousand miles with an update," Kaatya said. "I have a feeling she's given up on trying to break through our defenses. She's changed plans."

Everyone looked at Alice, who had gone completely ridged. Edward gasped and crumbled to the floor.

"She's going to Volterra," Alice breathed. "She's going to tell the Volturi we've made an immortal child. They're going to come here. They're going to kill us all."