BELLA

…he lied to me…

He lied to me.

He lied to me.

I now fully appreciate the deadliness of a quiet rage. Jen chose well with her method of showing how she is pissed. Rage is the only word for what is rising within me. That ass put me through hell. That ass did what he deemed was best for me. I had no say in the matter at all. Words fail me. There is no way to describe just how pissed I am.

"Bella, words cannot express how sorry I am."

"Care to swing that by me again?" My eyes narrow. Sorry, right, you are not as sorry as you are going to be.

"Umm…" the ass is speechless, good.

"You know what, strike that. I think I've got an idea about what you are telling me," he flinches a little at my tone. We are just warming up, Edward.

"Let me just check though, to make sure I've got it about right. You, in all your wisdom, decided, for both of us, that we were going to break up for my own good. Then you all left me behind, feeling much worse than worthless, for my own good. Does that about sum it up?" I am still speaking quietly.

"I wouldn't word it exactly that way…" Edward says in a small voice.

"That doesn't answer my question, Edward," I sound deceptively calm.

"…yes…" Edward whispers.

"I don't believe this. Okay, I do believe it. But I shouldn't have to believe it. Like any of you have any right to decide what's best for me."

"Bella…" He interrupts.

"You said enough in that forest that day. This is my time to talk," I cut him off. He takes a step back, smart.

"Do you have any idea what you put me through?"

"Hey, that's not fair! He suffered too," Alice interjects.

"Where were you for the 57 days that I was still in Forks after you guys had left, Alice?" I turn my attention to her.

"Well…uh…" She shoots a look at Edward.

"That's what I thought, so shut it. Like I said before, it's my turn to talk. I was way too quiet around you guys the first time. Now that I think about it, that's what probably gave you all the idea that you could decide what's best for me in the first place."

"There's no need to bring them into this, it was all my doing," Edward speaks up, not his smartest move.

"Shut. It. Edward. This is my time. If you are lucky, then you might get a turn much later. Now, where was I? Oh yes, what you put me through. Let's ignore, for a moment, the entire emotional trauma that's I've been through on your account. We are going to start with Victoria. You might remember her. She was James' mate. I'm sure you remember him. Well, she came after me several months after you left…"

"We didn't know she was James' mate or that she was coming after you. And we didn't know what Edward had done," Alice tries to sooth me, too bad I'm pissed at her too.

"You didn't know? Are you seriously going with that excuse? Can Edward take away everyone's will? Is Edward really the one in charge? No. But you all still left. You left because Edward asked you to. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that he also asked you not to say goodbye. And you all respected his wishes. Why? Because Edward was, and is, a part of your family. A family that I never belonged to…"

"That's not true! We all love you!" Alice would be sobbing if vampires could cry.

"If that's not a true statement, then why did you leave without saying goodbye? Why did none of you look back?"

Alice has nothing to say. None of them has anything to say. They should feel bad. I've had enough. I sneer and turn to leave.

I don't think so, darlin'. Jen says telepathically. I look at her.

What do you mean? I ask.

Think of this like a caged fight. No one enters or leaves until it is done. She answers.

It is done. I reply.

If you leave now, then you will be no better than Edward. He decided for both of you about breaking up. Now, you are deciding for both of you about not having a second chance. Jen has a point.

Did you enchant this clearing? I ask, but I already know the answer.

Of course I enchanting this clearing. You literally cannot leave until this is over, well this part anyway. So, let it all out. He needs to know. Damn, she's right.

What do you mean I literally can't leave? I'm a witch, aren't I? Please don't let her mean what I think she means.

About that, I temporarily suspended your magic. I know you would regret ending his life, he is the love of yours.

You can't do that! I don't think she can anyways.

Do you not know the definition of magic? She sounds calm.

Ha ha. What if he goes at me? Bet you didn't think of that, smartass.

I'm fairly certain that he won't. But if he does, don't worry I have your back. Vampires can re-attach limbs later, you know. Thanks Jen, I really want to do this right now. Sighing, I turn back to a confused Edward.

"You are one lucky bastard," I inform him.

"While I'm sure he is thrilled to know that, I feel that maybe you should pick up with the story about Victoria. Just so everyone's on the same page about it," Jen interjects from her perch. I purse my lips and glance at her.

"Okay, but only because you are the one that brought it back up. Victoria came after me merely months after you left. For all you guys knew when you left, I was completely defenseless when it came to vampire attacks. Fortunately, I had presented by then. It was a good thing that Jen was with me. Oh, and the pack too. Right around the time you left, strange things started happening. It all started in Seattle. More and more newborn vampires started showing up. We were elsewhere working on my training. Our Seer, Dakota, saw Charlie being attacked, but she couldn't see what was going to attack him.

Of course we went back to Forks. Even if Charlie didn't remember me, he was still my father. The first place we went to see about what was going on was the Rez. There, we discovered that many of the guys on the Rez had started transforming into horse-sized wolves. But then, you guys already knew about that particular trait. Jen, Dakota, and I teamed up with the pack, one of which was my old friend Jacob Black."

"You spent a lot of time with that pack? Didn't your promise to me about not doing anything reckless matter at all?" Edward sounds outraged.

"Don't you dare presume to lecture me about keeping promises, Edward Cullen. And that promise was made void when I became a witch."

"WITCH!" The entire Cullen family exclaim at once. I find that very interesting.

"Yeah, surely you guys don't believe that vampires are the only kind of immortals in the world. Anyway, we spent time with the pack while we were trying to figure out the whole matter. One day, I was meditating in the clearing that Edward had shown me, looking for inner peace and emotional balance. Suddenly I heard someone approaching. You will probably be as surprised as I was to discover that it was Laurent. He entered the clearing, but kept his distance. Foolishly, I thought that the encounter was a way to reconnect with the vampire world. I was looking for closure, after all.

He told me that he was hunting and that she would be angry with him. I didn't understand what he meant, but I know enough about his kind of vampire to be wary. When I asked him what he meant, he told me. Victoria was pissed that Edward had killed her mate and she wanted to return the favor. I informed him that you had moved on and that I meant nothing to you. He said that he was sorry to hear that, but it didn't change anything. Jacob and a couple other wolves showed up and ripped Laurent to shreds. We all went back to patrol Charlie's house. There was a fire going in the back yard when we arrived.

About five or so newborns had tried for Charlie during the time I was supposed to be meditating. Jen had taken care of the matter and was burning the pieces. I'm sure you all saw a little of her skill the last time we saw each other. After that, Jen and I were annoyed, to say the least, that Victoria would go after an innocent human in her quest for revenge. So, we went on the offensive. We left the pack to their patrolling of Forks and the Rez, there were certainly enough of them. Jen taught me how to use my own gifts as a Hunter. We followed Victoria's trail to just north of Seattle. We found her creating another newborn vampire. She never saw us coming. And she never saw anything after that."

"Wow, that must have been something. It's a good thing that Jen was with you," Alice tries to play peacemaker.

"Jen has been with me every step of the way, since before I even presented. That's more than can be said for any of you."

"Okay, then. Perhaps it's time for story hour to end. They will be wondering what has happened to us back at the safe house. But, I would like to extend an invitation to the Cullen family to stay with us, if they would like." Jen cuts me off.

"Fine, but I'm going home now," I can feel my magic return to me. I project myself into my room.

I had found closure, damn vampire. I had found peace. He couldn't even let me have that. It's bad that he lied to me. It's bad that he made me believe that he didn't love me. It's worse that he made me feel like shit. It's worse still that he made me into a ghost of myself. The worst part was that, once again, the almighty vampire decided what was best for me. I had had no opinion worth his consideration at that time. He was powerful and I was weak. Well, I'm not weak anymore…ass.