Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

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Chapter 8: Laurent- Emotions

As the last of the embers of Victoria's pyre burned, I contemplated the fight. She didn't seem to put up a fight. She was giving up, she lost her mate. Even if James didn't fully reciprocate her love, he was still the love of her life.

Like Bella, even if Edward didn't reciprocate her love, she would still love him until the end of time. My heart broke for her. Yes, I would kick Edward's ass, at the very least.

I searched my brain for any clue to where Victoria could have led him to. The only clue I had was that he was at the airport last. I debated on whether or not I should check in on Bella at the hotel or run over to the airport first.

I decided to go the airport first. I found my way back to the city, all I had to do was follow the delicious scent of human blood. On the way I called Bella.

"Hey, how are you holding up?" I asked.

"I'm good," she sounded more cheerful than she had in days but not by much, "actually, I have company."

"Is everything okay?" I was worried.

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine. It's Alice."

Jealousy flooded my system. I couldn't say why. Rationally I knew that Bella could and did have more than one friend, but she was my friend, my little sister. My vampiric nature made me all the more possessive. I was jealous and possessive and then I got angry. Alice; the same Alice Cullen that left Bella all alone to fend for herself, dared show up at her room. How dare she?

"What's she doing there?" I asked. If was difficult to try to keep my voice steady and calm for Bella.

"Oh, yeah, what are you doing here?" Bella asked her friend.

"Laurent, don't get your panties in a twist. Jasper and I came to help. I came to keep Bella company and Jasper-"

Bella cut her off, "You never mentioned anything about Jasper, where is he now?" She asked curiously.

Relief washed over me as I realized that Jasper wasn't with Bella in that room. She had told me early on that the catalyst of the Cullen's departure was an attack by Jasper.

"That is a fat stack of emotions, man," Jasper drawled from behind me.

I turned around and saw him leaning against a tree.

"I can tell by your confusion that you must be talking to my wife and that phone. I know, trust me, she does it all the time to me, too," he said with a short laugh.

"Tell him I said 'hi', I'll keep an eye on Bella until you guys get back," Alice said before the line went dead. Apparently she thought that I was going somewhere with him. There was more of a chance I would kick his ass first.

"I could have you torn in pieces before you can say 'the South is rising'." He must have seen me sizing him up. I suddenly felt subdued and vulnerable.

"You think you're coming with me?" I asked skeptically.

"Alice said that we're going to the airport."

"Yes, I am going to the airport. Edward went somewhere by plane and I was going to see if I could figure out which airline he took." I took off running. I didn't wait for him, I still wasn't convinced that I needed his help.

He caught up quickly. I think he was actually going slower to keep pace with me. It was a little emasculating.

He tried to get me to talk about my emotions, ha, I thought to myself, who's emasculated now? Like I was going to talk to him about my jealousy and anger.

I heard from my left footfalls; fast, vampire footfalls running towards us. It sounding like there were three of them and they outnumbered us.

"Dude, don't panic. Look at them, they're newborns." We stopped running and the newborns hurtled past us like a herd of elephants. I didn't understand how he could be so calm, newborns were volatile and feral, not to be taken lightly.

"Look, they might be after us," he told me, "I don't know why, but it just seems odd for a pack of random newborns to roaming around. If they come back, we're going to take them out. Just don't let them get their arms around you and when you attack, try to come at them from the side." His impromptu tutorial couldn't have come at a better time: the groups of newborns were doubling back to where we stood. We took a defensive stance. As the newborns came closer, I crouched lower, but Jasper straightened up with his palms forward a a sign of peace.

He spoke to them, "Who sent you here?"

The first vampire was a tall and lanky, he had brown hair and bright red eyes, none of them were any much older than a few months. The second one was taller with a muscular build and blonde hair, and the third was the only female in the group. She was petite with mousy brown hair.

The second vampire spoke, "No one sent us here," his voice was ringing with petulence, "but I know you are an enemy, look at your eyes! I can even smell the human on him." He looked at me.

I couldn't make the connection, what was so important about my orange-y eye color and Jasper's golden colored eyes? I knew it was a rare but it certainly wasn't an aggressive lifestyle. Jasper was still firmly in control.

"Who is your sire?" He was eerily calm.

"My mate," the second vampire answered.

"You are seriously pushing your luck, son," he said as he cracked the knuckle of his left hand against his right.

I was flooded with anticipation, I took it as my cue from Jasper to attack. I lunged at the first vampire and began wrestling him. He was strong but unskilled. He went to wrap his arms around my neck as I ducked back behind him and kicked his legs out from underneath him. As soon as he was on the ground I stepped on his back and was about to yank his arms from the sockets when the girl jumped on my back. I kept my foot on the first vampire's back and reached over my head to grab the girl. Her hold on me was solid and her teeth were dangerously close to my neck when suddenly, she was gone. Quickly, I reached down and resumed disassembling the vampire below me. I saw that Jasper already had the blonde torn to pieces. I had to admit: he was good. He was standing with the girl in a choke hold and she looked sleepy.

I gathered firewood for the fire while Jasper questioned the girl.

"Tell me now, who created you and your friends?"

"I only saw her twice, I never knew her name."

"What did she look like?" Jasper said through clenched teeth, he looked tired of her games.

A look of pure terror overtook her face and I wondered if that was Jasper's doing.

"She has long, wavy red hair." We both knew who she was referring to and before she even finished speaking the word 'hair', Jasper had her in pieces.

We piled the stone body parts into the fire and watched long enough to ensure that every piece caught fire, then we left to go on our original mission.

We ran to the airport and on the way I sheepishly said my thanks to him.

The terminals were mostly empty now that it was later in the day. I was relieved, I would need to hunt before returning to the hotel. We followed his very faint trail awkwardly right up to the Brazilian Airlines check-in counter.

Jasper said, "I know you're headed back to Bella. I swear, if you hurt her; if you so much as misplace one single hair from her head, I will hunt you down and kill you mercilessly. You know I will."

"Bella's my best friend, at least I never attacked her and I would never leave her! She was supposed to be family to you! You left her like she didn't even matter!" I let all of her injustices boil over and course through me and I wanted him to feel it all.

"Look, you need to calm down before you slip and kill someone. I'm getting on a plane to Rio to find Edward," he put his hand on my shoulder and a sense of calm came over before I could shrug off his hand.

I stood there trying to fight the calm because I was still mad, but it was winning. In my calmer frame of mind, I could think clearly.

"Try to keep Bella up to speed with what you find, she's not doing well. She needs all the help she can get on her mission to find Edward," I said. I was a little peeved at how my voice sounded forgiving when that wasn't how I felt. I cursed his influence over my emotions as I walked towards the automatic doors to leave.

Just past the door, I could feel his influence break and my emotions rushed back to me, including my blood lust.

After a quick hunt, I returned to to the hotel to overhear a disturbing conversation as I approached our room.

"...I could do it for you, but I would have to prepare. Or if you'd like, we can go to Carlisle. I did mean to ask you now that I'm finally here if you would like to go back with me," Alice offered.

I was enraged. I knew what they were talking about. Not only did Alice come and try to steal Bella from me, she was trying talk Bella into something that she wasn't ready for yet.

"I don't know, Alice," Bella said, sounding unsure.

Could Bella really want to go, too? Maybe I misread the entire situation, maybe she did want to go back to the Cullens. I would be a fool to think she would choose me over the Cullens. I didn't know what I would say, I turned around. I wasn't sure if I intended to sit on the step behind me or to just keep walking, but as I turned away I heard Alice huff.

"Oh, good lord," she said in an exasperated tone.

"What?" Bella asked.

"Hold on." Then I heard shuffling and the door opened and she called my name.

"Laurent, wait," Alice said as she call for me.

"What do you want from me?" I was nearing a point of defeat.

"To straighten out some things, you pessimistic idiot."

Ha, she thought she would straighten some things out, I'd show her.

"No! She's my friend, you wont just take her!"

"Laurent, you don't understand," she said calmly, "Bella doesn't want to come with me, but she thought for sure that you weren't coming back, even though I told her you were."

"Well, I'm going to go see her then. Jasper got on a plane to Rio, I thought you should know."

She gave me a big smile and said, "I do know," then she winked and skip back into the room to say goodbye to Bella.

It broke my heart that Bella had such abandonment issues because of the Cullens and Jacob. The only thing I could do was just be there for her and continue to be there.

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A/N: I'm very excited about the upcoming chapters and I can't wait for you all to sink your little vampire teeth into them!