When Edward had left the year before, Bella had sunk deep into something the word depression only began to approach. Charlie watched her anxiously at Christmas, seeing too many of the same mannerisms reasserting themselves. She was faking it, and faking it well, but the dead weight of living made it hard for her to sustain.
A few days before she left to go back to school, he confronted her over breakfast.
"I'm fine," she mumbled. "School's just...you know."
"Nope," he said, "I don't. Fill me in." He stared at her over his coffee, while she pushed food around on her plate.
She'd lost weight again, too.
"Boy stuff, Dad. Can we leave it there?"
"Which boy?" he asked, fearing the answer.
She'd shaken her head, and refused to talk more about it. When he saw her off at the bus station, he'd pressed her into a worried hug, and told her, "remember, I love you. You always have me and your mom. Don't forget that."
She'd felt badly, seeing him worry for her, and did her best to smile reassuringly, as she stepped up onto the bus.
That she wasn't riding with Alice also alarmed him. They'd been good friends, and her absence was worrisome.
She'd avoided all the Cullens since her last interaction with Jasper.
Edward might not have signed the complaint, but it could have just as easily have been one of his siblings. Maybe Emmett had done it, frustrated by his brother's promise on the family's behalf not to physically hurt Jun.
Or maybe they'd given up on keeping promises to her in general, and simply killed him.
Or frightened him so badly that he'd actually taken off, one of them writing the note.
Easy enough to do.
After the long bus ride back to Seattle, Bella was glad to wake up in her dorm room to a rainless day, unpacking her thoughts and things, and then heading for the dining hall.
Marie waved her over to the table where she and Sam had seated themselves.
As she joined them, Marie pulled her into a big hug, but Sam didn't mirror the gesture. Bella gave her a shy "hey," and a smile.
Sam looked at Marie angrily, and then at Bella.
"I'm just gonna come out and say it Bella, I can't believe what you did with Jun. That was disgusting." She stood up. "My dad had a fake charge laid against him, and it almost ruined our lives." She looked apologetically at Marie, and then back at Bella. "Your actions define you girl." Then she walked away.
Bella's face was as red as the soup in front of her.
"Um," Marie started, clearly uncertain how to proceed.
"It's OK," Bella said, "if you want to go after her. I get you guys have been friends for a while. I understand."
"No," Marie said. "We're not in second grade. I was just trying to find a polite way to express support and ask what the hell happened."
The red in Bella's cheeks deepened. She blew out a breath. "Jun and I were...together," she said softly. "It didn't go so well." She held up her hand.
Marie was trying to piece together the blush, the hand, and the vague wording, frowning as she went. "OK," she said, "and?"
"I asked him to stop, and he didn't hear me. And then I punched him, and broke my hand."
"What?" Marie said, far too loudly. Bella's look made her lower her voice. "That is NOT OK Bella! But you filed a report, right?"
Bella sighed. "They asked me to at the hospital. I explained it was consensual." Seeing Marie's look, she shook her head, knowing she wanted to argue. "Anyway, I filled in everything, but I didn't sign the form, which would've made it official. But someone did—forged my signature."
"Seriously? Wait, does this have something to do with how you wound up spending the night in jail?"
Bella nodded. "Remember the officer we had a run in with?"
Marie nodded.
"He was the one who took my complaint. He remembered me—thought I was just messing with the police. Wasting their time. It didn't help that he found my fake ID."
"I'm so sorry, Bella. I had no idea—"
"It's fine," Bella said, "the legal stuff is the least of my worries. Jun's missing. I still don't know if they took my missing person's report for him seriously."
Marie frowned. "Bella, if you told him to stop, and he didn't—"
"It doesn't matter," Bella said, not wanting to unpack the contents of that evening again. "I think he just didn't hear me."
Marie didn't argue, but asked instead, "can I tell Sam this? Please? I think she'd understand."
"If you want to, sure," she shrugged. Bella liked Sam, but the worry about Jun, and the sick feeling she had every time she thought about what the Cullens might have done, overrode everything else.
"Actually," Bella said, "Think I'm going to head for the hills. Get some air." If she hurried, she could catch the bus to the Emerald lake trail head. It was where Jun had taken her. Fresh air and solitude seemed like good things to have at the moment.
"Where to?"
"Emerald Lake," Bella said, "see you around, OK?"
"Sure," Marie said, frowning, not sure time alone really was the best thing for her friend. She looked tired. Weary. She'd check on her later, let her know how things had gone with Sam.
The sky had cleared a little by the time Bella reached the trail's edge, and she sighed in pleasure. She was completely alone, and there were promises of sunshine.
At the halfway mark, she took a side trail, rewarded by the discovery of a small opening in the trees, where the sun was making faint attempts to be seen.
It'd been less wet in the last week, and she found a nearly dry log to sit on, opening up her backpack.
She stopped, zipper halfway open, when she heard the voice behind her.
"Bella." It was breathed out with relief.
Standing, she turned slowly to face it.
Some thirty feet from her, was Jun.
Except, it wasn't quite Jun.
He was too perfect.
And when he stepped from the tree's shadows and into the light, her hand flew to her mouth, failing to stifle the sob that rose there.
His eyes were a crimson, and his skin, where the stray rays of sunlight met it, refracted the light.
"Oh God," she muttered, and went to step back.
She barely had a chance to trip, and he was in front of her, hands at her back.
"It's OK," he said.
But it wasn't OK.
She could barely speak for the pain of his fingers, gripping her flesh.
Her mouth opened in a silent 'O' of pain, and he immediately released his grip, leaving his palms flat to catch her if she fell.
Seeing her steady on her feet, he took a step back himself, swallowing, but not breathing.
She was shaking.
"I won't hurt you," he said.
Every single instinct in her was screaming at her to run. Now.
She stayed still, remembering what Edward had told her that day in the woods, now what seemed like millions of years ago: to never run from his kind. Ever.
So she stood her ground, legs beginning to shake, back flaring with pain where he'd held her.
"Jun," she said, his name broken and choked on her lips.
"I'm fine," he said, "I'm better than fine. This is amazing. Everything is so...clear, Bella."
"You're—" she could barely talk.
"A vampire," he finished for her.
He watched her for a moment. "Your friends," he said, with an almost derisive tone, "the Cullens. You wanted to be like them. Like me."
She nodded slightly. The feelings on this front were so confused. "I did, yes."
Oh Jun, she thought, this is because of me. The grief and guilt made her stomach contort.
"Is this why things were so complicated for you?"
She nodded.
"I love you," he said suddenly. "And I'm so sorry about what I said. She explained what they did, how they—"
"She?"
"Tory, my friend. Victoria."
Her eyes widened.
"Victoria?"
"Yes." He was watching her anxiously.
"What happened?" she managed, making herself breathe in and out.
But he was suddenly tensing, eyes flicking back and forth.
"We need to go, Bella. It's not safe."
"What?"
"Now," he said, holding out his hands. The gesture was so familiar from Edward, and yet so confusing coming from him.
She stepped further back.
"Where?" she asked. "And why?"
"I'm going to take you to Victoria," he said. "She'll change you, Bella."
She could feel the air being sucked into her lungs, and the terror rising.
She could barely make sense of what he was saying.
Then she didn't need to, because she was in his hands, snapped too quickly behind his back, head ringing with the movement.
He was protecting her, the snarling growl and hiss familiar.
Jasper, Emmett and Edward stood on the other side of the clearing, their own sounds joining his. Her bones were vibrating from it.
"Bella?" Edward called out to her.
"I'm fine," she shook out.
"Let her go," Edward said to Jun, his voice feral.
"Jun," Bella said, as calmly as she could, "you're hurting me." His grip on her forearm was tightening, and he released it, immediately.
And then they were on him.
Edward pulled her back, and her eyes widened in horror, seeing the lethal lock of Jasper's arms on Jun's head.
"NO!" she shrieked. "DON'T!"
Jasper stopped, looking at her, and then Edward, arms rigid, waiting.
Edward still had his hands on her.
"He's Victoria's creature, Bella."
"He's—this is because of me," she all but cried out. "Please don't—"
"He's not safe, Bella," Edward said. "He is Victoria's creature," he repeated. He emphasis alluded to all he'd heard in the creature's mind.
She wondered if who changed you mattered. Perhaps it did.
She'd never asked.
"Please don't," she whispered. "This is my fault. Don't make him pay for it."
She could hear Edward swallow, and then nod. Then suddenly, Jun was gone.
Her knees gave out, but she didn't fall. Edward held her gently, setting her on the log, running his hands lightly over her arms where he'd seen Jun touch her, assuring himself they were not broken.
"Did he hurt you?" he asked, watching her breathe too quickly, the shaking persisting. He pulled her water from her bag, handing it to her.
She shook her head, taking a careful sip, Edward encouraging her to have more.
Emmett and Jasper stood, backs to them, watching.
"We need to go," Jasper finally said, turning back to face Edward.
Edward didn't ask, but picked Bella up, and she startled, feeling the grip of another set of cold arms.
They were gone and running, Bella closing her eyes against the rising nausea of the movement, located too closely to the shock of what'd already happened.
When she opened them again, they were still in the woods, near the trailhead.
Edward set her down carefully, not letting go of her arm, clearly worried she'd fall over.
"How'd you know where I was?"
"Marie," Emmett said, "she was there when I went to see Sam about the team."
The team. It'd been the furthest thing from Bella's mind. Thinking of it now almost made her want to cry. It seemed so normal in comparison to what had just happened.
"She was worried about you, said you seemed upset. I came to check."
"We came to check," Edward corrected him. There was no point now in keeping it from her. The danger was clear to them all now. "Bella," he said, "you're not safe. Not with Victoria so clearly meddling. Come stay with us. Let us protect you."
She just wanted to cry.
Jun. A vampire.
At Victoria's hands.
Because of what she'd done.
"You didn't sign the complaint, did you?" she asked Edward. "Any of you."
"No," he said, "of course not."
"And you didn't have anything to do with his disappearance."
"As I told you," Jasper said.
She sat down before she fell down, the wet ground seeping into her jeans, hands folded over her face. "The bugs."
"Hers, likely. Other helpers," Edward said, crouching down beside her.
"Victoria—Tory. Jun met her at the beginning of the school year. Right after he met me," Bella said, closing her eyes. "She used him. They talked about us—oh God…" her voice morphed into a choked sob.
"This isn't your fault, Bella. It's mine," Edward said, taking her hands. "This is all her revenge on me. Trying to hurt you. Driving us apart."
She was trying to breathe normally, but the panic, and the realization of what her involvement with Jun had done was overwhelming.
"Please don't let her succeed," Edward whispered to her, coming closer, pulling her up off the ground, and into his arms. "I love you so much, Bella."
She didn't think she could feel more undeserving of anyone's love at the moment.
Edward didn't wait for a response, picking her up, whispering "let's go," and carrying to her to Alice, waiting in the car.