The world seemed to stop as Alice smiled. Bella felt her heart quicken and her breath grow louder as she gasped out of shock. A bolt of electricity ran through her, burning her veins from the inside.

The brunette's eyes blinked once as the realization of her best friend's presence dawned on her. It was all there: the black spiky hair, the minuscule stature and the high fashion clothes.

"Alice" She stated in a monotone voice. Inside, her thoughts were swirling, screaming at her, each ordering a different course of action.

There was one in particular that caught her attention. A small, almost sultry voice, that didn't scream like the others but murmured in a perverted tone.

Why is she here? She wasn't supposed to be here. Kick her out. She will ruin you again.

Bella blinked and then, rather suddenly, clutched her head and let out a blood curling scream as her mind was assaulted by a piercing pain. The burning feeling seemed to embrace her whole being, trapping her inside her own head.

And then she blinked. And noticed she was hovering over Alice with her lips curled and her teeth bared and a huge frown in her face. And as a little more realization hit her, her brain registered that she was gripping Alice's arms with such a force that the skin under it was bruising.

With a little more effort she felt House's hands steadying her by the waist as the man tried to pull her of the petite vampire, who was wincing in pain. She was wincing in pain.

Shocked out of her daze, Bella allowed Greg to pull her off Alice and shield her with his body. The tiny vampire jumped back, a look of pure shock dancing in her eyes. Her hands trembled slightly as she blinked to shake the confusion away.

"Bella, no... Not you too" Her once best friend murmured, shaking her head viciously as she back away from the petrified brunette.

The teenager tried to reach for her, extending a hand to touch the petite vampire, as if assuring that all was good, that she was sorry for what she had done, but Alice jumped back and away from her apologetic touch.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come. We'll send someone else. Don't do anything irrational" She whispered as her body shook once, all of her portraying fear of the worst kind.

Then, as quickly as it had all happened, the black haired pixie-like vampire was out of reach and out of the room. Bella blinked once and then turned her face upwards to meet Greg's concerned gaze.

"What's wrong, Bella? I've never seen you act this violently" His voice was teetering between admonishment and concern, his trembling thumb caressing the younger woman's chin as he tried to make some sort of sense from the situation.

"I... I don't know..." Was the soft reply, followed by a confused sigh.

The gray haired man opened his mouth once, his vocal cords tightening in order to produce sound, but was cut out by the sound of footsteps. Fast as lightning, Greg spun around, arms outstretched by his sides to prevent anyone from coming too close to Bella. His rugged face was set into a frown.

A boy, probably younger than Bella, stood there, hands up in a defensive and peace-making gesture as he smiled slightly. Despite his obvious younger age, the boy was taller than Greg himself, easily completing 6' 2.8''. His dark brown hair, so much like his eyes, was messy and cropped short, some falling into his eyes.

It was then that Greg really took in the boy. He was wearing a black shirt and the attire was completed by a pair of jean shorts and some worn out flip-flops. Certainly not the appropriate clothing to wear in the New Jersey winter, Greg thought as his frown turned fiercer.

"Who are you?" He asked, not for once relaxing from his uptight stance.

The boy frowned and then smiled brightly in a way that was slightly familiar to Bella, though the girl could not quite put a finger on why.

"My name is Seth Clearwater" The sent a bolt of electricity running through Bella's brain. The girl gasped in clear shock as her database found a clear match for the name, as well as the face.

The boy's eyes turned worriedly to her as he heard the soft gasp for air coming from the only female present.

"I was sent her to pick Bella up and later I was told to bring the man that was with her along as well" The dark brown eyes belonging to the boy – Seth – pierced trough her as he furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Seth... You're Harry's son, aren't you?" Bella asked, her voice trembling slightly as she took one hesitant step forward, swiftly stepping out of Greg's protection area to stand beside him.

"That's right!" That brought a smile to Bella's face. The fact that Seth had – even if only for a moment – abandoned his serious demeanor and returned to the bright grinning boy she had always known him to be was comforting. Familiar.

"What are you doing here?" Bella asked, feeling slow and unaware. Seth chuckled darkly, back to the serious façade.

"I already told you that I'm here to take you both" He seemed to remember something in that moment. With a friendly smile adorning his lips, he turned to Greg and offered him a hand.

"I'm Seth Clearwater and I don't think we've met" He introduced himself for the second time that day. His extended hand was shaken by the doctor, who didn't turn his frown down.

"I'm Gregory House. I'm Bella's boyfriend" He announced loudly, as if making sure that the title belong to him and him alone and that the boy wouldn't come between them.

Seth seemed thrown out of balance by the revelation but his serious gaze faltered for a second only before he regained his composure.

"You are to come with me. This place is no longer safe" The Clearwater boy said firmly, setting a heavy hand on top of Bella's shoulder, pushing her forward, towards him. The tanned Quileute sighed when he felt some resistance to his pull.

"Wait... What do you mean by 'no longer safe'? Where are we going?" Seth laughed half-heartedly, slightly shaking his head and directed his amused gaze towards Bella.

"You, miss, ask too many questions" Any comeback Bella might have had prepared for Seth's dismissive answer was lost when he bent over and picked her up, throwing the young adult clumsily over his shoulder.

The brunette – as well as House – was stunned to silence for a second before landing a well-aimed punch at Seth's back.

"Seth! Let me go!" She all but yelled, only to have Seth grunt in response, hissing at her to calm down as he started moving towards the window "What are you doing? We're on the third floor! We're going to die!"

Bella's pleas were beginning to sound frantic even to her own ears but an unnatural panic was starting to take over her, shaking the young woman to the very bones. As she opened her mouth to start screaming, Seth stopped suddenly, just beside the window and turned to Greg who was charging at them with his fist tight and ready for a punch.

Seth caught the fist mid-air. Silence filled the room as Seth let go of the rugged doctor's hand and threw him a little piece of paper he took out of his pocket pants.

"Follow us to this address. Just keep this in mind: if you lose the paper or you tell anyone about this – and I also mean Charlie – you will pay dearly, do you understand?" The threat was low and resembling a snarl. Bella coughed uneasily.

"Uh... Seth, put me down. If you let go of me I swear I won't call the police or anything..." She was cut short by Seth's bitter laugh. The boy shook his head in a 'tsk' manner before steadying one foot on the window.

"If you were to call the police, you would die. I'm here to protect you. Don't you want to see your friends again? What about Jacob?" He inquired, easily stepping out of the window and into the emergency stairs, all the while sending a death glare at Greg, who was scowling at him. His hand held his cane and it was shaking badly out of anger.

The young brunette known as Bella let out an exasperated snarl.

"Of course I want to see Jacob" Her thoughts took an abrupt turn and focused on the younger Quileute boy with whom she used to make mud pies and that she had befriended later on. His smile was contagious even when it was only a memory, she noted.

"Then come with me. He's waiting for you. In fact, he almost had a break down when he found out you had left for New Jersey, right after he... well... and just after that we discovered... uhh" The Quileute boy seemed to be having quite the trouble organizing his thoughts and ended up shaking his head "I'll explain later. It's really not in my hands to tell you this; it has to be either him or one of the Cullens"

Bella's eyes widened and, even though Seth couldn't see it, he seemed to have realized he had said something he shouldn't.

"Look, you should really try and work it out with them, ok? They found out before we did and... They really, really missed you. Esme was almost jumping out of the window when we decided it was time to pick you up" His words sounded soothing but Bella tried not to fall for it. Instead she clenched her fists tightly and ventured for another question she knew it wouldn't be answered.

"They found out what exactly?" She growled. Seth shrugged and crouched on the emergency stairs, eyeing the street under them.

"They'll tell you" Then, turning slightly to Greg, he added in a snarl "Be sure you're not followed. You wouldn't want your Bella getting hurt, now would you?" And without waiting for an answer, he leaped out of the stairs and into the empty air.

Bella bit her tongue to keep from screaming her lungs out and clenched her fists into the back of Seth's shirt, whimpering. The fall was soon gone though. With a soft 'thud', Seth landed on his legs and straightened again, before putting Bella down.

"From here on you'll walk with me, ok?" He asked, being careful as to not scare the already frightened girl "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you, ok?"

A small nod was all the response he got from the young woman in front of him and he didn't need any more. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he started to walk, stopping only to send a brief smile at Bella.

"C'mon" He muttered "I won't bite"

Sensing some sort of security with the huge gangly teen, Bella sped up to match his strides, and they walked evenly side by side. Their thoughtful silence was broken by Seth's boyish voice.

"Hey, you wanna grab something to eat?" He smiled kindly at Bella as he formulated the proposal. Stunned out of her silent daze, Bella nodded.

"I think so..." Seth took her hand in his big warm one as he dodged the moving crowd, pulling her after him. After five minutes or so they came to a halt as Seth inhaled deeply, a smile creeping up his face.

"The food here smells great. I think we might just eat here" Bella threw him a puzzled look. Clearing her throat she raised an eyebrow.

"How can you tell the food smells great? We're outside the restaurant and I can't smell anything" Seth frowned a bit but was back to his cheery self in less than a second. He gently pulled her forwards.

"I just know it. I've eaten here before. Just get in!" He pushed her inside the restaurant and anxiously signaled the waitress. The long-haired woman smiled kindly at him and nodded in acknowledgement of Bella's presence.

"What can I do for you?" She asked, turning her attention to Seth once more. The Quileute boy was showing obvious signs of uneasiness as he ran a nervous hand through his short hair.

"Get us a table please. We're in a hurry" He reached for his back pocket and took out his wallet, handing the waitress a twenty. The woman's blue eyes widened for a second before she nodded and smiled widely and led them into an available table in the far corner of the restaurant.

They picked their meals and ate in silence, only interrupted by Seth's occasional 'damn's when he checked his cell phone.

At the seventh 'damn', Seth turned his attention to Bella with a frown adorning his boyish face and opened his mouth to say something to the awkwardly silent girl in front of him, but stopped in the middle of the action and his eyes widened in fear.

The tanned boy slowly turned his head back, eyes wide with terror and his grip of his chair turned fierce, his knuckles going white. He let out a small exasperated growl.

"We have to leave" He muttered fiercely, turning his attention back to Bella, who gulped.

"Why?"

"Because I said so" He stated coldly, causing Bella to flinch and allowing him to pull her by the hand and push her towards the back door.

Bella looked back just as two men – one big and muscular and the other short and thin – turned their heads to stare into the deepest recesses of her soul. She froze in the middle of her step and gasped.

The waitress was pointing towards their table, eyes cold as ice and a devilish grin on her face as they handed her a large amount of cash.

"Come on! Move!" Seth roared in her ear, pushing her forwards. They bolted out of the restaurant and Bella felt Seth's burning hands picking her up. Holding her bridal style, he jumped up into the nearest wall, only to turn in the last second and put his foot on said wall.

Grunting, he pushed forward and jumped again, repeating the process until they had reached the rooftop. He growled when a slight noise of pursue was heard and dashed forward.

Bella didn't know how long they had missed the two men or even how long had they been jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Like ninjas... She thought with a mental chuckle.

The duo came to a halt as Seth set her heavily on the ground – or roof.

"Ok, our destination is just ahead. Stay close, ok?" He ordered harshly, before picking Bella up again and jumping down from the roof.

He let her down again and knocked on the door.

There was a short pause before an answer came from the inside. A voice that was strangely familiar to Bella's ears.

"Well, well, Seth. You're late" Said the masculine voice, a deep tone that Bella recognized.

Wide eyed, Bella took a step back.

"Jasper?"

Ok, I'm sorry for both the wait and the cliffhanger but I can explain the wait. I've been writing my book and I sort of got caught up in the whole writing process. Anyway, thanks for reading.

Kelia