A/N: Thank you everyone for your support and reviews! When I was writing this, I didn't want her to be completely perfect since even in the book she went after humans and then stopped herself. So I wanted her to have the same control as that. Enjoy the new chapter! I promise a longer one next time.

Chapter 37 – A Blessing and a Curse

Staring out the window into the dark woods, Alice's eyes scanned the area darting back and forth unable to remain still. It wasn't that she was looking for anything in particular, and as far as she knew nothing was coming, but she felt unsettled. Her latest vision frightened her, and what made it worse was that she was only getting bits and pieces of it. The vision wasn't hazy like someone wasn't undecided, it wasn't changing as if someone changed their minds, but instead it was like watching a moving and only obtaining a glimpse of it every ten minutes or so. An incomplete picture.

There were days when she hated her gift, when it would drive her daft, and today was one of those days. With a vision so full of holes, even she was left scratching her head about what was going to happen and when it would all go down. She wished she had more, she wished she could have told Carlisle more, been more help, and she couldn't. Her job was to warn her family, and sometimes she felt like she couldn't even do that. It was the inclusion of the wolves, she knew that, and yet she also felt like she should be able to find a way around that, however, try as she might, she could not fill in the holes. They were dark empty spaces that mocked her.

Four days ago, Carlisle had called the remaining members of the family together along with Peter and Charlotte and gave them the news: the wolves had called and wanted to work together. To Peter and Charlotte, something sounded fishy to them, and Alice had to admit that she had an uneasy feeling about it as well. Just like that they wanted to cooperate? While even she would admit that it would be easier to fight James, Edward, and the small contingent of vampires they would bring with the help of the pack, she wanted to know why they suddenly called and wanted to help. Any time information had passed back and forth, Carlisle was the one who usually made the call first, and never before had the tribe offered their services especially when everyone knew the fight would happen off tribal land. Something felt very wrong, and without her ability to see the future where the wolves were concerned, it put her on edge a little more.

Since that announcement, she had not been able to relax her guard. Even now as the black of the moonless sky descended upon the forest of trees, she looked for danger behind every trunk, on top of the highest branches, and deep into the shadows where nothing could be seen even with her vampire eyes. They still had some time before James and Edward returned, but was there another enemy lurking even closer? Everyone needed to remain on guard.

Pressing her hand to the cold glass, she sighed. Maybe she was too on edge. Maybe she was looking for an enemy that didn't exist. She didn't know. In the past, she had relied on her gift to help her see around the corner in front of her… and now she couldn't, or at least she couldn't get the whole picture, and it frustrated her more than anyone probably understood.

"Alice? Honey, you ok?" Peter questioned her as he stepped into the room and found her once again staring out into the black nothingness. Between the cloud cover and new moon, no light shined down from the sky causing the earth to appear as nothing but an inky nothingness.

Sighing again, she nodded. She had heard him walking down the stairs, had seen in a vision him approaching, if only everything else were that easy. "I'm fine."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Nothing to talk about." Holding up her hand, she stopped him before he could say something else, "And no, I'm not jealous of Bella. I'm actually really happy for her and Jazz. I knew it would come."

Chuckling, he commented, "Just because you see it coming doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt. You two…"

"Were just friends and never together."

"I know, but are you telling me that in the whole time you were together, you never thought of him like that?"

Her giggling voice was like a fairy's song on the wind as she turned around and faced him. Smiling as though she was thoroughly enjoying herself, she answered, "Never. I knew he was never my mate. I mean don't get me wrong, he's good looking and a perfect gentleman and his accent is sexy, but I never had feelings for him beyond friendship. Just like he never felt that way about me."

"I was just checking," Peter smiled back. He had met Alice a couple years after she had found Jasper in the café and had taken an instant liking to her. It was hard not to like the pixie-like girl after meeting her. Somehow she had the ability to melt the heart of anyone around her. He always knew that she and his best friend were never meant for each other, but that didn't mean he didn't believe that would have been good together. Now that Jasper had Bella though, he had to wonder if Alice wasn't feeling a little lonely. Always having someone by your side and then for them to disappear, regardless if you had feelings for them or not, it had to be hard. Hell, when Jasper left him and Charlotte, it had been difficult to let his best friend walk away even knowing it was for the best. So he had an inkling of what Alice might be feeling.

"I'm fine."

"Well Miss 'I'm Fine', just remember that Char and I are here for you if you need us, and I know your family is too."

"I know they are. Don't worry though. My mate is close and I will be meeting him soon."

"You will?"

"Yep," she stated emphatically, her smile growing. The face was still a blur for some reason, but she knew he was out there and soon she would be meeting him.

"Well that's good to know."

Alice plopped down on the couch and studied her friend in silence before she spoke again, "What do you think the wolves are up to?"

"You still can't see them?"

Shaking her head in disappointment, she said, "No. Jazz thinks it's because they aren't quite human and not quite wolf since I can kind of see a couple of the members periodically, but none of the wolves."

Peter scratched his chin, "It's possible. As for what their up to? I haven't a clue. I just know it all seemed sudden and they seemed kind of pushy on the phone."

"How do you know that?"

"I was standing just outside the window when Carlisle got the call."

"Does Carlisle know?"

"He knows."

She didn't press any further about what the patriarch said to him, but this new information made her a little more curious.

Patting her head, Peter told her, "Hey don't worry. We will just watch our backs around them and make sure they don't do anything to stab us in the back."

"They are good people, they're just…"

"Scared because of the past. They're prejudiced."

"Exactly."

"I can't say that we don't feel the same way. We all know about the werewolf stories and we tend to stay away from them. Hell, even the Volturi were so scared that they hunted them until they were practically extinct."

"Yep."

"Hey. Don't worry about it. Everything will work out alright and we are going to kill those bastards. You won't have to worry about James or Edward or anyone else trying to hurt you."

"Thanks Peter."

"Now that we got that out of the way, I'm going out with Emmett to sniff around."

"Why? They aren't coming back for a couple of weeks."

"It's always good to do perimeter checks so that we know what's what," he grinned and then walked out of the room and out the door where Emmett was already waiting on him.

Alice knew he was right, and part of her wished she could go along as well, but she had been ordered to stick close to the house at least until they were ready to settle things. Although it was unlikely, no one could be perfectly sure that James wouldn't send someone else to grab her, and with the holes in her vision because of the wolves, no one wanted to take the chance. In a sense, she had become a prisoner in her own home.

Suddenly, she sucked in her breath. Another vision and this one was clear as day. Bella's father was going to die at the hands of Edward on the day of the fight.

Sometimes she felt like her gift was a blessing, and other times a curse. She couldn't control the visions she got half the time, and then there were those times when something prevented her from seeing everything. This vision was like a nightmare. A bad dream that she didn't know if she could stop it. They had taken Charlie into their care, he had left to go to the office and never made it, and his lifeless body is thrown onto the ground when they all meet in the clearing. Charlie will die and Bella will be devastated. If Alice could have cried, she would have. Her heart was in tatters and hurting for her friend and for the father she had yet to meet.

Running up the stairs, she stormed into Carlisle's office where Esme and Rosalie also sat and announced, "Edward is going to take Charlie. We have to stop them."

Carlisle shook his head, "The chief is going to be staying with Billy Black on the reservation."

"That won't stop James. They get Charlie and they kill him!"

The patriarch looked at his wife and the blonde and nodded, "I'll call Billy and Charlie and we'll work something out."

Before her eyes, the vision went black. Now that the wolves were involved she could no longer see anything. Did he still die? Did he live? She wasn't sure. Her gift was a blessing and a curse, and right now she wished more than anything for Bella's sake that she could see past the holes and the emptiness.