Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns it all.

Rated M for several reasons.

Chpt 38 FUBAR

BPOV

Sensing the tension in the air Simon gathers a still sobbing Esme in his arms an' flits out the door, calling for Elise.

"This is Bella." I answer carefully as Jasper rushes to my side, hovering over me trying to decide how best to ease the tension in my body.

Finally he drops to his knees laying his head in my lap an' automatically my free hand begins to comb through the silken strands of his hair.

"Oh god." Lisa sobs. "I'm so sorry, I don't even know who you are. Please . . . . Please help me."

"Why?" I ask stupidly as hysterical crying fills the line, I can actually hear the tears an' snot sliding down her face.

"He took me." She chokes out. "He took me from the campus, from the library. He says, says you knew my brother, that you can help me."

"Who took you Lisa?" I look up at Pete an' Char who are leaning over Jasper's desk faces dark with fury.

"The man. The cold man." She breaks down again an' my heart fills with dread.

Uselessly I make soothing noises down the phone, my other hand fisting in Jasper's hair.

Eventually she calms a little an' is able to speak again, voice punctuated by random broken sobs.

"He says you can help me, if you come. He says I'm in Forks. I'm sorry, I don't know where that is. I'm so sorry but I'm so scared, puh-leese, can you help me?"

"I'll do everythin' I can to help you Lisa." I vow.

"For my brother?" She asks quietly.

"Yes darlin', for Joshua an' for you." I close my eyes, struggling to deal with the pain swirling inside me. This is so wrong. What I did was wrong. But I tried to do my best by her. I really tried. Even though I've always known I'd pay for it one day. How did this happen . . . .

"He says you have to come. You have time, but not much." She starts crying in earnest.

"I'm comin' Lisa." I promise. "I'm comin' an' you need to believe that everythin' will be okay, can you do that darlin'?"

"No." She sobs. "I'm too scared."

"Lisa, who . . . ."

The connection ends an' my forehead bangs down onto Jasper's desk with a resounding thunk, denting the venerable old wood.

"What the fuck?" Pete snarls, voice dripping menace. "Someone's gonna die painfully for this atrocity."

Jasper pops up, lifting me easily an' settling back into the chair with me clasped protectively against his chest, rocking me gently.

As it always does in times of trouble my mental shield snaps back around me automatically, not that Jasper needs to feel what I'm feeling. To my family, who know about Lisa, it's obvious.

My mind won't function. My perfect vampire memory is in playback mode, blocking out everything else. The sight an' sound of Jasper's limbs being torn from his body as they overpowered him. The agony of having my own limbs ripped away. Crawling across the asphalt. The terror that my mate, my love, would be destroyed. The innocent young man who tried to help me. Burying his lifeless body, drained of blood. Sitting in front of a computer with Char, wallowing in guilt. Learning about his life, the tragic death of his parents. His younger sister, who he was raising. Joshua Caerphilly. My one and only human meal.

I always knew I'd pay for what I did. Knew it in my bones an' accepted it as a price worth paying to save Jasper. This is wrong. It shouldn't be her. It's my sin, my responsibility. Mine.

Suddenly, desperately needing to let something out, I scream in frustration shattering the windows an' calling plaster and debris down from the ceiling.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. My debt to pay. MINE! The black shutters clang down over my eyes, someone will die for this.

"How?" Jasper growls, chest rumbling against my back.

"No one knows J." Pete answers. "Only us. Only ever us."

Char slumps bonelessly to the floor an' my head snaps up focussing on the top of her pale blonde head over the desk. Jasper's arms tighten around me reflexively.

"I told him." She whispers forlornly.

"Who?" Pete demands.

"Carlisle." She murmurs. "We were talking, when they were here for the party. He was sayin' terrible things about J an' Bella. About how vicious an' brutal they were, how little compassion they have. So I told him. About the boy an' everythin' they've done for his sister, the scholarship, everthin'. He pushed my fuckin' buttons with his sanctimonious bullshit, I wanted to prove how little he knew you."

Silence.

For a very brief moment I want to kill her but it fades quickly. Jasper's arms continue to hold me in a vice like grip so I lower my shield an' let him feel me.

Slowly he relaxes an' I hop off his lap, flitting around the desk to crouch beside Char an' hug her tightly.

"It's not your fault." I whisper urgently.

"But . . . ."

"No!" I snarl. "Carlisle has decided to do this. Not you. Not. Your. Fault."

"I'll do anythin' to help you save her sug." She sobs.

"I know. We're family."

She nods in my arms.

Pete settles on the floor behind me, wrapping us both in his arms an' Jasper scissors his legs around us from the other side. Whitlock sandwich, one of Pete's secret fantasies I'm sure.

"What do we do?" Pete asks eventually.

"We go after her." I snarl.

"Sweet thing, it's a trap . . . ."

"No shit Sherlock!" I snap. "What else do you expect me to do?"

"At least wait for some intel darlin'." Jasper drawls, reproving me. "We never go into a situation blind if we can help it."

I swallow my growl. This situation exists because of my desire to protect Jasper, it would be crazy to endanger him to rectify it, wouldn't it?

"Lil' sis." Pete explains. "We don't know if that dick Carlisle has her or if he's our traitor an' has just passed the info onto some other asshole. God knows the world seems to be full of 'em.

I think someone needs to go back with Esme, start trackin' him from the hospital, make contact with Rosalie an' Em, see if they've found anythin'.

Rest of us need to go to Forks, scout out the area while we find Carlisle an' question his sparkly medical ass."

"I can't believe he'd do somethin' like this." Char sighs, voicing all our thoughts. "I mean, he's a pompous an' judgemental fucker but I've always kinda respected him for it. It was annoying but somehow justified, he's a doctor for fuck's sake. A vampire doctor, the strength of will it takes to do that is awe inspirin'. Why would he do this?"

"Edward." Pete an' I respond in unison.

"He blames Jasper an' I for Edward's death." I add.

"That doesn't make sense." Char huffs. "If he's the traitor he was feedin' information to Rutilio an' he was the one boxed ole Eddie up an' shipped him off to Italy."

"I don't think things always make sense when you're grievin'." Jasper says heavily. "He was always fixated on Edward, we all felt it even Esme knew, though we never talked about it in the family. The rest of 'em were just decoration to him, Alice complimented the human illusion an' I was tolerated as a necessary evil to keep her, although I think he got a perverse kick out of tryin' to improve me."

He gets to his feet, dragging the rest of us up with him.

"We need to work out what we're gonna do." He pulls me into his arms an' buries his nose in my hair. "We'll get her back safe an' sound darlin'."

"Are you lyin' to me again?" I murmur.

"Yes." He admits.

"Thanks."

"No problem." He chuckles before pulling away an' becoming all business. "Right. Pete, get Simon back in here, we need to go over the assignments as Demetri's already taken practically half the Guard with him. Make sure Elise is guardin' Esme, we don't want her runnin' about gettin' in harm's way an' fuckin' make sure she doesn't find out about Carlisle, it'll kill her. We'll worry about how to deal with that later."

Pete charges out of the door, yelling for Simon while Char an' I dart upstairs to get appropriate couture for rampaging Whitlocks.

Changed, I pause to look in the mirror. The happy smiling woman who stood here a few hours ago doing her makeup has been replaced by a hard faced, black eyed monster. I look every inch the harbinger of death I am quite capable of being. Snatching up my hat I ram it down on my head, taking Jasper's clothes an' boots with me.

Char is already back, Pete shedding his suit an' pulling on his own jeans an' boots.

I hand Jasper his clothes an' turn to Simon.

"I've already filled him in." Jasper says, stripping quickly. "A couple of the Guard will come with us to scout around Forks an' two will go with Pete an' Char to hunt Carlisle. The rest stay here, we've recalled the ones who've just left on the missions assigned tonight, they'll report back here an' then if we need 'em, join us in Forks. Evans has already called, they found Carlisle's Mercedes in the parking lot at Penn."

"So we think he's got her?" I ask.

"Dunno sweet thing." Pete responds, dusting off his hat. "He was definitely there but we still don't know if he's got her or handed over to someone else. I'm guessin' Forks is the trap but we'll need to take a look see to know for sure."

"The werewolves?" The expression on Simon's face speaks volumes.

"These are just a bunch of hormonal wolf boys, I can't see them takin' sides with a vampire an' they should be easy to deal with assumin' they even know we're there." Jasper drawls negligently.

Sensing the indignant rebuke forming on my lips he backtracks rapidly.

"Of course, with Bella's gift they won't know an' a confrontation can be avoided. For their sake."

Major Ego on parade.

"Would they help?" Simon asks.

"No." Char says emphatically, sparing me the need to explain my painful history with the La Push pack by plunging into a recital of the edited highlights.

"Then whoever has this girl may be expecting them to attack you." He concludes.

Before anyone can answer a nervous cough claims our attention.

We look up to find Elise hovering in the doorway wringing her hands.

"Please tell me you are not here to tell me what I think you are here to tell me?" Simon sighs.

"I am sorry My Lord. She gave me the slip, she has gone. I think she overheard what was happening. She was, distraught."

"Oh fuck." Jasper growls with feeling.

Oh fuck indeed.

An' so we replan. Jasper an' I will go to Forks, my shields will keep us hidden. Pete an' Char will join Rosalie an' Em who are already heading for Pennsylvania. Nicholas will take some of the Guard after Esme an' Simon will hold the fort and co-ordinate everybody.

With last minute apologies to our guests we depart into the night. My own desperation to get to Forks spurring everyone else into action.

SPOV

I wave them off with a strange feeling of unease. Returning to the Master's office I snatch up the phone on his desk and call Demetri's cell, quickly filling him on the night's events.

"Peter and Charlotte have gone to search for Cullen." I conclude. "Can you sense where he is?"

"Somewhere in the North West United States." He answers curtly. "I can't be more specific. The Master an' Mistress?"

"Have gone after the girl."

Demetri is silent. This can either be a good thing, or a bad thing. Over the years I have learnt to treat it as a bad thing until evidence is given to the contrary. Certainly I am not going to indulge my current passion for ridiculing how he is picking up the Cowboy Coven accent.

And I hate being right.

A stream of colorful Italian invective, directed at the pilots, explodes in my ear and I hear the engines roar as the plane begins to turn.

"You let the Master and the Mistress go to save a human, who is possibly being guarded by werewolves, alone?" He finally asks, slowly and succinctly.

"Yes Brother, but they are not children of the moon, the Master says they are shape shifters who choose the form of the wolf. And even without the Mistress's gifts the Master did not seem concerned, they are only going to look."

"Simon." He says patiently. "If they find the girl in danger I don't believe they will just look, remove your rose tinted spectacles. Also you are too young to remember Caius's pogroms against the werewolves an' apparently I have neglected your education. Vampire gifts do not work against them, they are other, outside our realm of experience and therefore often outside our influence. From another branch of magic if you wish to be fanciful about it. How big is this pack?"

"The Mistress says fifteen, several years ago. But these aren't . . . ." I start to protest as my heart grows heavy in my chest.

"And your point is?" He growls.

"I will warn them immediately." I promise.

"We are comin'." He says darkly, ending the connection.

This has all happened so fast, without our usual meticulous planning and I think I am going to get my bottom spanked. But not in a good way.

I reach for the phone again quickly rapping out the Master's cell number.

It rings immediately. Unfortunately it is in the pocket of his pants, discarded on the floor beside me.

I dial the Mistress's cell. My keen ears can also hear it ringing, upstairs, in their room.

Fuck.