Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way to the publishers of the Twilight series. I'm just messing about.

The Cullens had rented a beautiful log cabin by the side of a lake, with woods right behind it. It looked like the sort of house that the three bears might have lived in, if the three bears had been obscenely rich: a solidly built house, with lots of wood and massive open fires in every room. Edward seemed amused by my gasps as he showed me around.

"Do you like it?" he asked, with a suspicious note of interest.

"Yes, but I don't want it."

Edward laughed. "I do know enough about you not to buy you a house on a whim. I was considering something a bit further in the future."

"Hmm."

"You would like it more if you helped to build it," he continued. "There's a sense of satisfaction in building a house with your own bare hands."

"You've built houses?"

He seemed surprised, as if I had asked whether he'd ever seen a tree, or crossed a street. "Well, yes," he said, "a few."

"Did you build this one?"

Edward laughed again.

"No," he said, "I didn't build this. Do you really think that this is my style?"

"I've never imagined you building a house at all. So, actually I've never given any thought to the kinds of houses that you would build."

Edward grimaced then. I wondered if I'd annoyed or disappointed him, but he slid over next to me and whispered "Jane's decided to come inside." So, I guessed that was the real reason for his expression.

"Maybe we should go outside, then"

He smiled and wrapped his arm around me. "You don't want to leave Alice alone with her any more than I do. Come on, love; I don't think that she's planning on staying long. She wants to go and . . . well, she finds the house a bit claustrophobic."

He was right, of course. There was no way that I would leave Alice alone with Jane, not even for a couple of minutes. We found them both in the main lounge. Neither of them seemed to be entirely comfortable.

Alice frowned a little when she saw Edward and me enter, but Jane smirked.

"I don't know what you were hoping to achieve by coming out here," she said, "did you think that I wouldn't be able to follow?"

"Of course not," Edward replied, "I didn't think it would be much more than a pleasant stroll for you. Was it very remiss of me not to offer you a lift?"

"In one of those tin cans you like to travel about in?" Jane shivered dramatically, "I think not. That would sound more like a threat than a friendly invitation. Especially with that . . . mouthwatering scent surrounding me all the time." She took a hissing breath in through her teeth, "I don't know how you can stand so close and not be . . ." she licked her lips, "tempted."

Edward tensed next to me.

Jane noticed and her smirk widened, so that I could see a thin line of sparkling white teeth between her lips. "Yes," she said letting the 's' turn into a soft hiss, "tempting. Even you sense that, don't you, Edward? You look like Carlisle's good little puppet, letting him tug your strings however he pleases. But, deep down inside, there must be a part of you that would like to be a real boy. Why don't you try, Edward? Nobody would know."

"If you find the air in here to be too close, please do take a turn outside. I assure you that nobody would be in the least bit offended." Edward spoke stiffly.

Jane giggled, "actually, I was heading out, pretty boy, as I'm sure you already know. I need to get something to," she fixed me with a feline stare, "eat. Unless, you're willing to share your own dinner?"

Edward pulled me closer and glared at her.

"Oh, don't get so angry, it makes you look more like a marionette than ever."

"Oh, shut up!" I shouted, I was getting fed up with this little girl hissing and teasing Edward. She was being unpleasant for the sake of it. "We know what you're going to do. You know what we think about it and you know that we can't do anything to stop you. Just leave and stop rubbing everyone's face in it. I suppose that you need to survive, like any other creature," I relished that word, and said it as harshly and cruelly as she had said 'marionette'. "But you don't have to be so horrible about it, that's just rude."

"That wasn't very polite, Isabella." Jane said sweetly.

She glared at me again, just like I remembered her doing in Volterra. But, that was alright, she couldn't hurt me, and we both knew it. For a moment, this was just like Volterra: Jane glared at me hard, frowning in concentration, and nothing happened. Her gift couldn't effect me, there was nothing at all. Absolutely nothing.

Until suddenly, something did happen.

Edward's arm tightened around my waist. Then he doubled over.

Of course, Jane knew that her gift didn't work on me, so she didn't use it on me. She used it on Edward; she may not have any human feelings left herself, but she obviously remembered enough about empathy to know that she could hurt me by hurting Edward.

"I'm sorry," I said hastily, "I shouldn't have been rude."

"No," Jane replied, "you shouldn't. Unfortunately for the manikin, I don't think that you're quite sorry enough yet."

Edward jerked his arm away from me, probably afraid that he might squeeze me too hard. I tried to look at him, but his eyes and mouth were pressed tightly closed.

Alice rushed to his side. She was less fragile than me. I couldn't hold Edward now, but Alice could.

"Please," I begged Jane, "please leave him alone. I am sorry. And I promise that I will never be rude to you again."

She could see Edward buckling with pain. She must have been able to hear the desperation in my voice. But Jane just smiled.

"Please! I'll do anything you want!"

"Oh, I know that," Jane said, "I just don't want you to forget it."

She didn't move, but I think that she must have increased her gift, because Edward fell to the ground and began to shake.