As always, thank you to everyone for your support and your reviews! We're rapidly approaching the end of the first part, but it's only the beginning of our adventure! Hope you guys enjoy this next chapter!

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Twilight, and I own nothing. My only claim is on the OC's!

Chapter Seventeen

Considering how tight airport security had gotten over the years, it seemed exceedingly easy for them to get onto the nine-twenty flight to Phoenix.

When they arrived at the airport, they headed straight to the check-in counter to pick up their boarding passes. The lady working the counter had looked mildly alarmed at the sight of James' red eyes, but had, for the most part, taken his appearance in stride – Danielle assumed she was used to seeing all sorts of eccentric looking people coming and going through the airport and had just thought James was wearing contacts or something. After they had their passes – somehow Victoria had gotten the necessary information to book a flight under Danielle's name – they went to security, where James surprised her by flashing an identification card that she had not known he had been in possession of. Once they had gotten through security they went to their gate, where they waited for about twenty five very uncomfortable minutes before they were called to board. Nobody looked twice in their direction the whole time, nobody seemed to think anything of the wild looking James and his scared, teenaged traveling companion, and before Danielle knew it, they were on the plane waiting to take off for Arizona.

She and James were in the very back of the plane. As they waited to depart, Danielle peered helplessly through the window she sat next to, barely paying attention to the rest of the passengers on they plane as they got situated and shoved things into overhead compartments. James sat next to her, looking perfectly calm and comfortable, a smirk seemingly permanently etched onto his face. The seat on his other side was unoccupied, though whether that had been planned by Victoria when she had booked the flight or was purely coincidence, Danielle didn't know.

At this point, she truly had no idea what to do. She didn't want James to take her to Phoenix, where he undoubtedly planned to use her to get to Jasper, Alice, and Bella. She wanted to try to find a way out of this, wanted to try to grab someone's attention and alert them of the situation at hand. But a cynical voice in her head kept reminding her that it probably wouldn't do her any good. James was a vampire, for crying out loud. There was nothing she, or anyone, could do to stop him from taking her wherever he wanted to. If Danielle tried to involve anyone else, they would probably just end up getting hurt, or worse, and getting innocent people hurt was the last thing she wanted. No, the only people who could help her now were the Cullen's, and as far as she knew, none of them were even aware of the fact that James had her as his hostage, let alone that they were en route to Phoenix.

Suddenly her phone began to ring, which made both her and James look at the bag she had brought with her. They then looked at each other, before James nodded toward her bag.

"See who it is," he instructed.

Danielle hesitated, then leaned down to retrieve her phone from her bag. Once it was in hand, her heart clenched when she saw that the incoming call was from her mother. She found herself thinking back to when Bella and Tyler had been in the hospital and she had skipped class to wait in the emergency room for news on their condition – the school had called to notify her mother that she had not made it to class. Looking at the time, she saw that she had missed two classes by now. Undoubtedly, the school had called Lynne again to inform her that Danielle had not made it to school that day.

"Mom, huh?" James asked, reading the name on the ID as the phone continued to ring.

"She probably knows I didn't make it to school," Danielle said quietly, staring at the phone intently and wishing with a her might that she could just tell her mother what was going on. Then maybe she could find a way to get ahold of Carlisle and tell him what had happened.

"I would advise against answering," James said. "We wouldn't want her notifying the Cullen's of our little adventure," he added, as if he could read her mind and had known what she had been thinking.

Danielle pressed her lips together tightly, her heart sinking when the phone finally stopped ringing. "I don't know what makes you think they won't find out," she said, shooting him a hateful glare. "They aren't stupid. They'll figure it out pretty quick once they fall out of contact with me."

"Who said they're going to fall out of contact?" James asked with a quirked brow. "You'll still communicate with your precious Jasper and his silly little family," he said. "You'll just be doing so under my terms. Now, send a message to your lover telling him you'll be unreachable for the next few hours so that he does not start to get suspicious should he call and be unable to reach you," James instructed.

Danielle hesitated to do as he had said. When she took too long to start typing out the text, James bared his teeth and leaned closer, one hand finding her knee and squeezing. Danielle resisted the urge to whimper as he slowly tightened his grip to the point of pain.

"Do not force me to make a scene," he warned.

Danielle finally nodded and started typing a text to Jasper. She said that she needed to work with a classmate on a project she had forgotten about during lunch and would likely not be able to call until after school. After James read the message and gave his approval, she sent it off, which prompted James to finally release his painful grip on her knee. She hoped Jasper would see through the lie, but when his reply message came through, he simply told her he understood and that he would speak to her later.

James smirked with satisfaction as he read the message, then extended his hand to her, motioning quite clearly for her to give him the phone. Danielle reluctantly passed the phone over and watched as he turned it off and shoved it into the pocket of his jacket. It was around that time that she noticed a middle aged woman sitting across the aisle. She was watching them with furrowed brows. Danielle thought there was concern in her gaze, as if she had noticed something was off about them and was contemplating intervening. But when James looked at the woman and glared in a way that said to mind her own business, the woman quickly turned away and stopped watching them.

Danielle, feeling even more helpless now, turned back to the window, crossing her arms over his chest. As the plane finally took off and they eventually broke through the grey clouds, James told her to put down the windowshade so that he would not have the sun on him. He then asked anyone around them who had left their window open to do the same, claiming he was ill and had sensitivities to light. Some seemed reluctant to do as he had asked, but one threatening glare from him had the poor strangers caving and closing their windows. With no direct sunlight hitting him, his skin was safe from sparkling and revealing his secret to those around them. Danielle could still see a hint of glimmer coming off his skin, however, but it was probably only noticeable to her because she had seen vampires in the sun before and knew what to look for.

"So, this Jasper of yours," James said to break the silence that had been stretching between them. "Which one was he?" he asked, his tone one of intrigue. "Carlisle didn't introduce everyone by name, and as I'm sure you remember, I was a little preoccupied at the time. Was he the big one, or the blonde one?"

Danielle turned a glare on him. "Does it matter?" she asked bitingly. Why was James making conversation? She didn't want to talk to him about anything, let alone Jasper.

"Well, yes, actually. It does," James countered. "I would imagine that once this is all done, he'll want to avenge the death of the woman he loves," he stated bluntly. "I'd like to know if I'm in for a good fight or not," he concluded with a smirk.

The fear that had been steadily burning in her belly exploded through her veins at his words. Both James and Victoria had threatened to hurt her more than once, but this was the first time that it had been said aloud what they intended for her in the end. James was going to kill her, simply because he saw all of this as some sick, twisted game.

A tear went rolling down her cheek, though whether she was crying out of fear or anger, she couldn't quite say. It very well may have been both. "You're insane," Danielle said as she roughly brushed the tear away.

"I wouldn't say insane," James countered nonchalantly. "I'm merely someone with a very intense hobby and a lot of time on my hands to enjoy it to the fullest," he said with an evil smile.

"Hobby?" Danielle echoed. "You hunt and murder innocent people. You're a serial killer," she hissed sharply.

"And I suppose you think Jasper and his coven are perfect angels, yes?" he retorted swiftly, keeping his voice down so that nobody could eavesdrop. "You honestly think they've never taken lives? That just because they feed on animals now that they haven't hunted and fed on people just as I do?"

Danielle didn't know what to say for a moment. The Cullen's were as close to human as they could get now, yes, but she knew they had not always been that way. They had led different lifestyles earlier on, had fed on humans when they had not know any other way of sustaining themselves. But then she shook her head, because she knew for a fact that none of them had ever done the sort of thing that James was doing now. Some of them might have taken lives in the past, but they were not evil, nor did they kill for the fun of it like James so clearly enjoyed doing.

"They are nothing like you," Danielle defended. "They're good and they help people. They don't kill for fun. They never have, and they never will!"

James laughed. "I can't say I entirely believe you. Judging by the look of that blonde male, I would say he certainly killed for fun at some point or another. One does not acquire scarring like that without living a life full of fighting and killing," he stated matter-of-factly.

Danielle stiffened, unable to help the way her eyes widened in surprise. He was talking about Jasper, that she knew with certainty. But scars? What scars? She had looked at Jasper quite a lot, and she had never seen any on scars on him.

"What are you talking about?" she asked slowly.

James looked at her for a moment, then began to smile gleefully. He looked like a kid who had just been told that Christmas was coming early. "So the truth reveals itself. He is your lover," he mused aloud. "He has not told you of his scars, then? It is nearly impossible for human eyes to see, though under the right lighting it can be done. For our kind, however, it is no trouble at all. And your Jasper is covered in battle scars. Many would consider him quite intimidating. Anyone who's survived that many attacks must be a very skilled killer."

Danielle looked toward the window again, her mind reeling. She had already known that Jasper had a rough past, but to hear that he was covered in scars that she couldn't see, that he had obviously lived a very violent life before they had met, troubled her. Not because it made her afraid of him – she trusted him implicitly, and she knew very well that he did not lead that sort of life now. No, it troubled her because she couldn't bear to think what he might have suffered through to have been left so heavily scarred in the aftermath.

"Does the truth bother you, Danielle?" James asked tauntingly. "It must be hard to realize the angel you pledged yourself to is actually a monster," he added, his tone mocking and full of spite.

Danielle whipped her head around to glare at him with hatred. "Don't talk like you know him, because you don't. You aren't even a fraction of the man that he is," she seethed. "The only monster in this scenario is you."

"If he's so reformed from his old ways, then why has he not changed you?" James countered. "Is he afraid? Is he worried he won't be able to stop himself from killing you?" James smirked again and reached out to brush his icy fingers along her arm. "Or does he simply enjoy the warmth of your skin too much make you one of us?"

Danielle jerked her arm away so that he couldn't touch her anymore. "That's none of your damn business," she snapped, seeing no use in revealing that she and Jasper had never once discussed the possibility of her becoming a vampire.

James chuckled, then shrugged a shoulder. "I suppose it doesn't matter now whether he intended to turn you or not," he said. "He will come to regret his decision not to turn you once you are dead, though." James grinned to himself in a way that proved just how insane he truly was. "It will be a very good fight indeed. I can hardly wait to see how vicious a fighter he truly is."

Danielle shook her head, ignoring the way her eyes pricked with the threat of tears at his words. "I hate you," she said with all the venom she could muster. It was the only time in her life that she had said it and truly, whole-heartedly meant it.

James just smirked. "I know you do."

They did not talk the rest of the way to Phoenix, which was perfectly fine with Danielle. They sat in tense silence, ignoring the people around them and declining any services whenever the flight attendants came by. When they finally landed, a strange feeling shot through Danielle. A large part of her was terrified to be in Phoenix, where any number of awful things could potentially take place. At the same time, she felt an undeniable thrill, perhaps even a surge of hope, to know that she was so close to Jasper again. He had said they were staying at one of the hotels close to the airport – if she could somehow get ahold of him and tell him what was going on, he would be close enough to come and rescue her and put a quick end to this nightmare.

But James still had her phone, and as they shuffled off of the airplane and walked into the crowded airport, she had no idea how she would be able to get it back and tell Jasper what was going on without James knowing about it, nor could she think of a way to get rid of James. Try as she might, she couldn't think of any way out of her current predicament. Not one that wouldn't end with James hurting or killing her, that is.

The moment they stepped out of the plane, James took his long hair out of the ponytail it had been in so that it fanned around his shoulders and covered his neck. He then surprised her by pulling a baseball cap from the inside of his jacket and fixing it on his head, so that his face would be shielded from the sun. He shoved one hand into his pocket, then locked the other around her elbow and began to lead her through the airport, keeping his head ducked to avoid any direct sunlight. As they walked through the airport, she spotted a women's bathroom off to their right. The sight of the bathroom reminded her just how long it had been since she had used the restroom, and as her bladder protested, she screeched to a halt. James stopped, too, his eyes narrowing as he peered at her.

"I need to pee," Danielle said, pointing to the bathroom.

James looked at the bathroom, then back at her. "Make it fast," he instructed. He momentarily tightened his grip, pulling her a fraction closer. "Do not do anything stupid," he warned.

Danielle nodded. When James released her, she slung the bag she had brought with her over her shoulder and headed into the bathroom. She glanced back once and was unsurprised to see that James had found a spot opposite the bathroom entrance she had walked through and was leaning casually against the wall, his eyes locked on her.

The bathroom was busy, which wasn't too surprising – every women's bathroom on the planet was always full, it seemed. Danielle went into the nearest open stall and quickly went to the bathroom, taking care of business quickly and feeling loads better once she was done. When she had finished, she grabbed her bag and went to the community sink to wash her hands. It was as she was drying her hands that she glanced at her reflection, and what she saw made her frown.

There was a big bruise on her cheek from when James had hit her in the warehouse. She leaned closer to the mirror to inspect the bruise, wincing when she touched it with her fingertips and found it be tender. Danielle sighed, suddenly even more befuddled by the fact that she and James had made it so far without interference. She was obviously under duress and she had a big, ugly bruise on her face – how had nobody that had been around noticed that something was very obviously wrong with the situation? Sure, the woman on the plane had looked concerned, but she hadn't done anything to actually try to help her. Nobody had tried to help her.

Feeling disgusted and disappointed, Danielle stepped back from the mirror and grabbed her bag again. Another girl stepped up to use the sink she had just abandoned, but not before sending a text message and then setting her phone down on the counter.

Danielle paused, her eyes drawn to the phone. She glanced toward the entrance, then back at the phone. She found herself contemplating whether or not she should ask to borrow the girl's phone so that she could call Jasper and tell him what was going on while she had these few precious moments away from James. But as she wracked her brain, she could not for the life of her remember his number. She had memorized it not long after he had given it to her, but right now, in this stressful situation, she was drawing a blank. She would need her phone to call him, and that was the unfortunate way of it. Besides, if she asked for someone's phone James would be able to hear her and would know she was trying to thwart his plans. Danielle strongly suspected he wouldn't have any qualms about coming into the bathroom to get her before she could reach out to Jasper.

Danielle finally turned to leave, then froze again. It was in that moment that she realized something very important about the bathroom she was in. It was the sort of bathroom that had two entrances rather than just one, with about twenty to thirty feet of space between the two entrances. An idea sprung to mind at once, which had Danielle's heart pounding in her chest.

James would be expecting her to leave through the door she had entered. If she went through the other door, if she could somehow blend in with the crowd and avoid being seen, maybe she could get away. This could be it. Her one and only chance at escape.

Danielle looked down at her clothes. But she couldn't leave like this, she decided – he would recognize her clothes right off the bat. She had to disguise herself if she wanted this to work.

Danielle turned as a stall opened behind her and rushed inside, startling the woman who had just come out. She closed and locked the door behind her, took a quick, calming breath, then unzipped her bag and started rifling through it. Considering she had packed the bag under duress, she had no idea what she had actually brought along with her – she was pleased to see that she had brought one of her bulky hoodies. Danielle quickly pulled the hoodie on, then toed off her shoes and took off her pants so that she could change into a pair of jeans that were darker than the ones she currently had on. After she was finished changing, she stuffed her clothes back into the bag and slipped her shoes on, before exiting the stall.

With a pounding heart, she started toward the other entrance, but she was suddenly hit with a such a strong surge of nervousness and apprehension that she had to stop and take another moment to collect herself. If this didn't work, if James caught her, there would be hell to pay. Breathing deeply through her nose, she exhaled slowly and closed her eyes, telling herself that if she could just get away, if she could get out of this airport and into a cab, she would be able to lose James and start looking for Jasper. She would be in the clear and they would be able to make all of this right again.

Danielle opened her eyes, took one more calming breath, then put the hood of her hoodie up so that it covered her hair. Then, as a mom and two daughters walked past her chatting animatedly with one another, she moved to exit the bathroom with them in an attempt to pass herself off as a member of their family.

She had never felt so nervous in her whole life as she left the bathroom, but she didn't dare look to see if James had seen her. She walked right behind the mother and her daughters, who seemed to not think anything of her presence, and kept her eyes forward, trying to appear as calm and casual as possible as they quickly blended in with the bustling crowd of people navigating their way through the busy airport. Danielle had never been over fond of crowds, but today, she thanked her lucky stars for all the people around her.

She fully expected that James would discover her at any moment, that suddenly he would just appear and end her grand escape…but she made it twenty feet, then fifty, and then she was going downstairs and turning around a corner, making her way even further through the airport…and still, James did not come. Danielle finally felt brave enough to quicken her pace and started walking faster. When the doors to the outside passenger pick up area finally came into view, the relief she felt was so strong that she nearly cried. Was this really happening? Was this really working?

She stepped out into the much warmer climate of Phoenix, feeling a weight lift off her shoulders as she breathed in the warm, dry air. Without hesitation, she moved to flag down one of the nearby cabs waiting to pick passengers up. A cabbie pulled forward and she grinned. Just as she went to open the door however, another hand beat her to the punch. Danielle turned to look at the owner of the hand, then felt as if she had been doused with a bucket of ice water.

James was standing next to her, and he looked downright furious at her for attempting to escape his clutches. "Clever," he said, flicking her hood down so that her red hair was on display again. "But not clever enough." She thought he might hurt her right there in the public eye, that he would punish her for her actions – he certainly looked angry enough to do it. He didn't, though. Instead, he motioned for her to enter the cab. "After you."

Danielle gulped, then, after she was forced to accept that her escape plan had been a complete and utter failure, she climbed into the backseat. James followed her into the backseat and settled in next to her, closing the door behind him.

"Where to?" the driver asked, glancing at them through the rearview mirror.

James pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and handed it to the cab driver. "Take us to this address."

"You got it," the driver said, before entering the address into his GPS and pulling forward.

As they drove away from the airport, James pulled her cell phone from his pocket and passed it back over to her. He had turned it back on while she had been trying to get away, and she could see that she had new voicemails to listen to, as well as an unread message from Jasper.

"Listen to your messages," James said, his eyes still filled with annoyance as be peered at her. She didn't think he'd be forgetting her escape attempt any time soon.

Danielle did as he said, quickly going into her inbox. "You have four new messages," the automated voice revealed. "First message – Dani, why did I just get a call from the school telling me that you didn't show up? This better be a mistake, and you better not be off gallivanting around with that boyfriend of yours! Call me when you get this."

Danielle cringed and hit a button to listen to the next message, which was also from her mother. "Now your phone is off? There better be a good reason for all this, Danielle, or else you are in big trouble."

She moved on to the third message, feeling unsurprised when, once again, she heard her mom's voice. The tone was different now, though – instead of being angry, Lynne sounded worried. "Okay, this has gone on for too long. I'm starting to get really concerned. I don't care if you're with Jasper or not, just call me back okay? I need to know that you're alright. If I don't hear from you in the next hour, I'm gonna start looking for you. Just…call me, Okay? I love you."

When Lynne's fourth and final message played, however, all the concern was gone. She sounded absolutely furious now. "You went to Phoenix?! How could you – what were you – I cant even! There was a pause where Lynne seemed to need to take a moment to collect herself. "Danielle Katherine Clark, you are in the worst trouble you have ever been in! I don't care if Dr. Cullen is with you, I'm coming to Phoenix to get you. And once you're back in Forks, you are grounded for the rest of your natural born life."

Danielle cringed again as the messages ended. She clicked her phone shut and glanced at James, who looked highly amused by the whole thing. "She sounds quite furious. Shame she's coming all the way here for nothing," he said with a smirk.

Danielle shook her head, feeling sick to her stomach. She didn't want her mother to come to Phoenix, because she did not want to think what Lynne would find when she did. "I should call her and let her know – " she started to say.

"That won't be necessary," James interrupted, waving his hand dismissively. "What did Jasper say?" he asked next.

Danielle frowned at him for a moment, then opened Jasper's text to read it. Things have changed. Call when you can. Don't panic, everything here is alright. James, who had read the message over her shoulder, looked at her expectantly.

"Go on then," he said.

Danielle glanced at the cab driver, who was singing along with the radio and hardly paying attention to them, before dialing out Jasper's number and calling him. He answered on the second ring.

"Danielle? Is everything alright?" he asked, sounding worried.

Her heart lurched in her chest. Did Jasper know something was off? Was he suspicious of how much time had passed since they had last spoken? If he did know something was wrong, would she be able to tip him off without alerting James? She cleared her throat and looked at James, who was watching her closely.

"I'm fine," she lied. "Is everything okay with you?"

"Yes," Jasper said, though she could still hear uncertainty in his tone. "I tried calling earlier, but your phone was off. Why?"

Danielle glanced at James, who quirked a brow in a way that said she better not give anything away. "It died during History. I forgot to charge it last night," she lied. "I had to borrow Angela's charger during lunch. I only just now turned it back on."

"Oh, alright," Jasper said in response sounding much more at ease now. He had believed the lie.

"So what's going on?" Danielle asked.

"It's James and Victoria," Jasper said. "They've realized the trail they were following was leading them into a trap and not to Bella. Alice saw them getting on a plane, but she isn't sure where they are going yet. They keep changing their minds," he explained with a barely detectable note of frustration.

"That isn't good," Danielle said, glancing at James again. He had clearly been using his knowledge of Alice's powers to keep the Cullen's from discovering where he was going, and whom he was going with. "What are y'allgonna do now?"

"We plan to stay put for now. The others are on their way back to Forks as we speak, just in case the nomads are going back there," Jasper revealed. "Emmett will be coming back to your house to stand guard until we know where they've gone. He will be there by the time you and your mother come home."

Danielle felt her heart suddenly fill with hope. If Emmett went back to her house, he would discover that she was missing and that she had gone to Phoenix. He would be able to tell Jasper what had happened and they would be able to figure out how to rescue her from James.

She prayed he got there soon, before anything had the chance to go wrong.

Jasper sighed in her ear. "As soon as this is over, as soon as Bella is safe, I'm getting on the first plane back to Forks and coming back to you, Danielle," he said seriously. "I cannot stand being separated from you like this."

Danielle felt her throat tighten at his words. "I hate it, too. I wish…I wish you were here now." And it was the absolute truth – she would have given anything to have Jasper with her, to have him around to protect her from the monster sitting next to her.

"Me too," Jasper sighed. "But hopefully – " Suddenly Jasper stopped talking for a moment, as if something had captured his attention. "Alice? Alice, what is it?" she heard him ask.

Danielle frowned and glanced over at James, who was smiling to himself with satisfaction. "Jasper? What's going on?" she asked in an attempt to catch her boyfriend's attention.

He didn't answer for a long few moments, but when he did, he sounded uneasy. "Alice has had another vision. She knows where James and Victoria are going. They're coming here, to Phoenix," he said, which made her glance at James again. That self-satisfied smile hadn't budged an inch. "I need to let you go, Danielle. I need to call Edward and tell him what is going on."

"Alright," she said with reluctance. She really, really did not want to hang up the phone.

"I'll call you once we have a plan set," Jasper promised. "I love you, Danielle."

"I love you, too."

The line went dead after that, so Danielle pulled it away from her ear and clicked it shut. "What was that about?" she asked, turning accusing eyes on James.

"I couldn't have your little Cullen friend going to your house and discovering what exactly has been going on," James said, plucking her cell phone from her hand and shoving it back into his pocket. "So I used Alice's gifts to my advantage and made sure to throw them off the scent. Now that they know I'm in Phoenix, they will not have any reason to return to Forks. Our little adventure will remain our secret for a little while long," he finished, sounding quite proud of himself.

Any hope she had felt about Emmett learning the truth instantly evaporated. Feeling completely helpless again, Danielle merely frowned at James for a moment, before deciding she no longer wanted to talk to him and turning her eyes to the window.

After a while, the cab turned into a nice looking neighborhood. Danielle took in the desert landscapes as they wound their way along the neighborhood streets, until they finally came to a halt in front of a two story house. James paid the cabbie for their ride, then stepped out of the car, ushering Danielle to do the same. Once they were standing in the driveway, the cab driver pulled away and drove off without a second glance in their direction. James grabbed her by the arm, glanced around at the surrounding houses, then led her to the front door.

He searched around for a key first, looking under the doormat and searching through some nearby potted plants. When he found nothing, he instead just grabbed the door knob and forced the door open with hardly any effort at all. He then reached back and pulled her inside the darkened house, closing the door behind them. James grinned down at her wickedly, his eyes alight with excitement.

"Welcome to the house of Renee and Bella Swan," he said, before pushing her further into the house.

Danielle glanced around in alarm, mostly because she was suddenly and completely terrified that Bella's mom might be nearby. This was, after all, her house. But the house was quiet and there didn't seem to be any lights on anywhere, which led her to believe that Renee was gone. She recalled Bella telling her that her stepfather was a minor league baseball player – with any luck, Bella's stepdad had an away game and Renee had gone travelling with him, where she would be well away from the reach of James.

"I'm going to have a look around," James announced.

He directed her toward the couch, then shoved her down so that she was sitting right on the middle. James started to turn his back on her to begin his search, but then seemed to think twice about it. Instead, he turned back around to Danielle, an evil smirk beginning to creep onto his lips. She gulped nervously. She didn't know what that look meant, but whatever it was, it certainly wasn't anything good.

"You know something, Danielle? After the stunt you pulled in the airport, I don't think I trust that you will stay put," he said, slowly stalking closer. "I think you will try to run again the moment I leave the room."

Danielle shrunk into the couch cushions as he loomed over her. "I won't run," she said, shaking her head. "It won't do me any good. We both know that. You'll just catch me again."

James nodded slowly, then shrugged. "Yes, well…better to be safe than sorry, yes?"

And then, suddenly, he was right in her personal space, one freezing cold hand clamping over her mouth as the other reached down to lock around her ankle. She barely thought to try to fight back when the hand on her ankle tightened and gave a violent twist. All Danielle heard was a sickening CRACK, then pain unlike she had felt before crashed through her as she screamed into James' hand.

Nearly an hour later, Danielle still had not moved from the couch. She couldn't move. Her ankle was broken, and it hurt so badly that the pain was almost nauseating.

Breathing deeply through her nose, she chanced a look downward. Though her shoes and her jeans hid her ankle from sight, the angle at which her foot was turned let her know that the damage was bad and that she likely wouldn't be walking anywhere any time soon. She closed her eyes as her stomach turned, grimacing and whimpering with pain uncontrollably, sweat sliding along her temples and down the back of her neck. Admittedly, she had never had much of a pain threshold, nor had she ever suffered anything worse than a broken toe. The pain she felt now was excruciating.

"You are really beginning to annoy me," James heaved out. "Can you not shut up?"

She pried her eyes open to glare at him. James had, more or less, been ignoring her after breaking her ankle. He had searched the house top to bottom, then had eventually settled in to start watching some of the home videos that Bella's mother's had kept stored in the cabinet next to the television. He was completely focused on them, his intrigue palpable. In fact, the more he was able to see of Bella's life growing up, the more interested and hungrier he had started to look.

"My ankle's broken, you asshole," she spat out.

"Really? I had no idea," James shot back sarcastically.

Danielle said nothing, just leaned her head against the back of the couch, taking another steadying breath.

"You brought this on yourself, you know," James said, his eyes still trained intently on the video he was watching. It appeared to be a video of a birthday party that Renee had thrown for Bella when she had been maybe five or six years old. "If you hadn't tried to run away, I wouldn't have felt the need to incapacitate you."

Danielle lifted her head and swung hate filled eyes in James direction. "If you hadn't kidnapped me I wouldn't have had to run in the first place!" she said loudly.

"And if your lover hadn't stolen my prize, I would never have felt the need to kidnap you," he countered without missing a beat. "Well…probably not, anyway," he corrected.

Danielle scoffed in disbelief. "You act as if we asked for this to happen, which we didn't. We were all perfectly fine before you and your psycho girlfriend decided to come in and ruin everything. Why couldn't you just leave us alone? Why couldn't you have just left?"

James turned around to face her, a smirk dancing on his lips. "Because where would the fun be in that?" he asked.

Danielle gaped at him, anger swirling through her veins. "This isn't a game, you sick son of a bitch! These are lives you're destroying!"

Suddenly James was in front of her, crouching low so that his face was only inches from hers. Danielle jerked back, a gasp of surprise tearing past her lips. "Human lives are disposable," he growled. "You are nothing. A mere blip on the radar. A fragile, pathetic creature who will be forgotten once enough time has passed."

"You're wrong. The people I love won't forget me. Jasper won't forget me," Danielle said with confidence. "Jasper loves me."

"If your Jasper truly loved you, he would have turned you," James rebutted. "He would not have put you in danger by keeping you as his little human pet." He paused and cocked his head to the side. "Jasper made a grave mistake by not turning you. So has Edward. By killing you and Bella, I shall teach them, and all the Cullen's, a lesson they shall never forget."

Danielle glared at him, unsure which emotion she felt stronger – fear, or fury. "Why bring me here, then?" she demanded. "Why drag me all the way to Phoenix when you could have just killed me in Forks and been done with it?"

"You're right. I could have killed you in Forks," James agreed. "But if Bella is going to get away from her bodyguards, she will need a very good reason for doing so. When she realizes that I have you, she will come for you. Once I have you both exactly where I want you, then I will kill you." James smirked as he reached up to brush away a red curl that had fallen over her face. Danielle instantly recoiled away from his touch. "Besides, it will be so much sweeter to kill you here, so close to where Jasper has been hiding away. He will learn of your presence here in Phoenix precisely when I want him too, and when he realizes I have you, he will undoubtedly come for you. But it will be too late. And it will be incredibly rewarding to see the look on his face when he faces the truth – that he failed you, the woman he loves. That he was too foolish and too slow to save you. He will die knowing that your death was his fault."

Danielle wasn't sure when she had begun to cry, but she could feel the tears streaming freely down her cheeks. James was determined to kill her, there was no doubt about that. But as terrified as she was of the thought of dying in whatever horrible way James had planned, it scared her so much more to think about what might happen to Jasper in the aftermath. He would be destroyed. He would be reckless. He would want to avenge her death. And if James was as half as fierce as Laurent and the Cullen's had said, it was very possible he could get killed. It was a thought that had her feeling like she would both vomit and die of heartbreak all at the same time.

"They'll kill you," she still growled out, glaring daggers at him with her eyes. "You can't take them all on. They'll rip you to shreds."

"That, little girl, is a challenge I am more than ready to face," James said confidently, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "Let them come. I will kill them all one by one. And I shall enjoy every single moment of it."

There was a tense silence after that where the two of them merely stared at one another. The silence was eventually shattered, however, by the ringing of her cell phone.

James straightened up and pulled her phone from his pocket. This was not the first time the phone had rung – her mother had attempted to call about a half hour ago, only he hadn't allowed her to answer it. Now, however, he extended the phone to her. She could see Jasper's name on the ID.

"Pull yourself together and answer it," James commanded.

Danielle reached for the phone hesitantly, taking a calming breath or two and wiping at her now runny nose. When she felt composed enough to talk, she flipped the phone open and pressed it to her ear. "Hi," she said. She cringed when her voice came out shakier than she had intended.

"Danielle? What's wrong?" Jasper asked with concern, picking up on the waver in her voice immediately.

Danielle glanced at James, who narrowed his eyes at her in warning, and then cleared her throat. "Nothing, nothing. I'm fine. I just…started thinking about everything that's going on and it all got a little overwhelming. My emotions got the better of me, that's all," she lied.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Jasper asked with skepticism. "You sound very upset."

"Yes, Jazz, I'm fine," Danielle insisted.

There was hesitation on his side of things. "Alright, if you say so," he finally said, though she didn't think he sounded entirely convinced. "We finally have a plan set," he said, getting right down to business. "Edward, Carlisle, and Emmett are at the airport now. They were able to get seats on a flight to Phoenix, but they won't arrive until eleven o'clock tonight. Alice and I are going to take Bella to the airport and meet them there when they arrive, then Edward and Bella are going to get on a plane and get as far away from here as possible while the rest of us hunt down the nomads and end this." Jasper paused. "When that is done, I'm coming straight back to you. I swear it."

Danielle nodded slowly. "Alright," she said. She hesitated for a moment. "Jasper, I – " she started to say, knowing it would be a mistake to try to warn him of anything in front of James but feeling like she had to do something.

James moving made her stop short. He had stepped closer, and his foot was hovering over her already broken ankle. He shook his index finger warningly, silently conveying that he had no problem stepping on her already injured ankle if she tried to pull anything. Danielle gulped and lost her nerve.

"What is it, darlin'?" Jasper prompted.

"I just…want you to be safe," she said, her eyes locked on James. "Be careful, okay?"

"I will be," he promised. "I should go. There's a lot to do before the others get here."

"Alright," Danielle said. "I'll talk to you soon."

"You will. Bye, darlin'."

"Bye."

She ended the call, then glanced up at James. "Wise choice," he said, snatching the phone from her again. "Now, seeing as we have company coming, I think I need to go out and do a little scouting of the neighborhood," he said. "I need to find the perfect place for our little gathering tonight."

With that being said, James went to click off the television before turning back to her. Without even the faintest trace of gentleness, he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off the couch. As she fell to the floor, her legs swung around and her injured ankle hit the coffee table. Danielle cried out, her eyes ramming shut as red hot pain flared through her leg. James ignored her, uncaring of the fact that she was in pain, and dragged her toward a hall in the closet. He opened it, then flung her inside. Danielle hit the wall, whimpering as the pain continued to throb in her ankle. James merely smirked down at her unmercifully.

"Why don't you stay here and think of something good to say to Jasper whenever the time comes to say goodbye," he suggested nastily. "I'll return shortly."

With that he slammed the door shut, leaving her in the darkness of the closet. There was a thump against the door and a scraping sound, then there was nothing but silence. Danielle waited until she heard the front door open and close again before reaching for the handle – she turned the knob, but it wouldn't open. James had locked her in.

Danielle sat in the darkness of the closet with her back against the wall. Though she had made a few vain attempts to get out of the closet, none of them had resulted in anything more than her just hurting herself further whenever she put too much pressure on her ankle. So she had finally given up and resigned herself to the fact that she wouldn't be getting out until James finally came and released her from her makeshift jail cell.

Left alone with nothing but her thoughts for company, she found herself thinking about many different things. She supposed, in a way, that it was similar to one seeing their life flash before their eyes just before they died.

Danielle remembered being in pre-school and seeing a clown that had scared her so badly that she had cried in the corner for over an hour. She thought about the time when she had been seven and her mother had taken her to the amusement park in San Antonio. Danielle had gotten distracted by a vendor selling colorful balloons and had run away from her mother without giving it a second thought, which had resulted in her getting lost and her mother nearly having a heart attack. She remembered trips to her grandparents house before they had passed away, slumber parties with friends, Christmases with her mom. She thought of the friends she had made in Forks, of the lunch group and the people around town she had befriended by working in the bookshop, people she would never be seeing again. Then she thought about the first time she had met Tom in their kindergarten class, and how he had first initially won her friendship by giving her the extra pudding snack that his mom had packed in his lunch. It had been chocolate flavored.

Thinking about Tom sent an ache through her heart. It had been over a week since they had talked last, which was longer than usual for them. They had texted back and forth a few times, but she had otherwise been so preoccupied with Jasper that she hadn't found the time to actually call him and hold a real conversation. She wished she could call him now and thank him for being such a good friend – no, for being more than just a friend. For being the brother she had always wanted and needed. Tom had been her most loyal and close friend for nearly all of her life, and she loved him dearly. Now that her life was going to be cut unexpectedly short, she wouldn't be able to tell him that. Hopefully he knew it anyway, and hopefully attending her funeral wouldn't be too hard for him. Her mother would need him by her side, after all.

Her mother.

The ache in her heart worsened. Danielle wanted to say that Lynne would be strong, that she would be able to survive losing her…but she knew it was a lie. It had been just the two of them for so long. They were a team. They were mother and daughter, yes, but they were also friends. They had always taken care of each other, had always depended on one another. There were no words to properly describe the deep love and the strong bond that they had shared for all these years. Lynne had told her repeatedly throughout her life that she was the most important thing to her…and when Lynne discovered that she had been killed, Danielle knew that it was going to destroy her.

Fierce guilt swept through her. She would not be there to take care of her mother, to help her move past the heartbreak that surely lay in her future. Lynne would be left to face this world alone, suffering the loss of her only child, with nobody there to help her. Danielle had not even been able to say goodbye to her. Not properly, anyway. She desperately yearned to hear her mother's voice. To just hug her and smell her hair and tell her how much she loved her. How none of this was her fault. How she needed to somehow find the strength to move on and live as full of a life as she could. But James wouldn't let her say goodbye. She knew it without even having to ask. The time for talking to her mother had passed. The only one he let her talk to now was Jasper.

Thinking about Jasper made her heart ache so badly that Danielle was sure it would stop working altogether.

Mere months ago, she had not even known that he existed. But then she had met him, and then she had fallen in love with him, and he had quickly become the most important person in the world to her. He was so kind and good and wonderful, and he made her happy beyond words. She had never dreamed that she would meet someone like him, had never imagined that she could feel the sort of things that Jasper made her feel. Maybe it had been sheer luck that they had met, or maybe it had been fate…but either way, Jasper had come into her life, and now she could no longer picture her world without him in it. No, they hadn't been together for long, but she knew, without a shadow of doubt, that she would have happily spent the rest of her life with him. Danielle would have married him, would have taken his name and faced whatever this world had to throw at them together. All he would have needed to do was ask, and she would have said yes without hesitation.

Danielle swallowed hard, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks again.

As horrible as all of this was, as much as she wished that none of this crap with James had happened, there was no part of her that regretted meeting Jasper. Sure, if she had never met Jasper she would be home safe and sound right now, completely unaware of the fact that vampires were real and none-the-wiser that James or Victoria or even Laurent existed. But if she had never met Jasper, she would have missed out on meeting a truly incredible person. And if she had never met Jasper, she would have never gotten the privilege of knowing what it felt like to be really, truly in love with someone, and to have that someone really, truly love her back. She might be on the verge of dying, yes, but at least for these few short, wonderful months, she had had Jasper. And that was a gift she would cherish with all of her heart for the rest of her life…however long that might be.

Eventually, James returned. She knew this because the television in the living room turned on again and the home videos he had been watching resumed. James did not come to let her out of the closet, however, clearly uninterested in being in her presence or having to listen to anything she might have to say. Danielle couldn't say she minded much – she didn't particularly care to be in his presence, either.

At some point she fell asleep, the stress of everything completely wiping her energy and making it impossible to stay awake. She was jerked back to consciousness, however, when the door to the closet swung open to reveal James, who looked downright giddy as he stared down at her.

"Time to come out now," he said.

He reached down to grab her by her non-broken ankle and dragged her back into the living room. Danielle tried to grab onto things as they went, her fingers scrambling to grab hold of the wall or the table or anything, but it didn't do any good. James was too strong, and before she knew it, she was lying in a heap in front of the television. It was dark, both inside the house and outside – a glance at the clock on the wall told her it was nearly nine. Danielle blinked and looked at the bright television screen as James went toward the house phone, her eyes trained on a younger version of Bella decked out in a pink tutu and ballet shoes. The home video was paused, though she wasn't sure why.

"I have a surprise for you," James said with a grin. "We were so preoccupied earlier, we didn't realize we had missed a phone call from Bella."

He then pressed a button to play whatever message had been left, Bella's voice quickly filling the room. "Mom, it's me. Listen, I need you to do something. It's important. As soon as you get this message, call me at this number." Danielle listened as she repeated the number twice. "Please don't go anywhere until you talk to me. Don't worry, I'm okay, but I have to talk to right away, no matter how late you call, all right? I love you, Mom. Bye."

"And now we start our little game," James said with an evil grin.

He picked up the phone and quickly dialed the number that Bella had given, before pressing the phone to his ear and walking closer to the television. Danielle noticed a remote in his hand, and whenever his call was finally answered, he pressed play on the video he had paused and held the phone closer to the television. "Bella? Bella?" Renee Swan said through the speakers, sounding worried and concerned. The younger Bella in the video was hiding in the corner, Danielle realized, and she looked upset. She watched the video for another second, then looked up at James. She could tell when Bella was on the phone, because he grinned widely and lifted the phone back to his ear.

"Be very careful not to say anything until I tell you to," he instructed. "Now, I don't need to hurt anyone, so please do exactly as I say and everyone will be fine for now. Say yes if you understand." James paused, then smiled. "That's very good. Now, repeat after me, and do try to sound natural. Please say, 'No, Mom, stay where you are." James paused again, then continued. "Are you alone?" Pause. "Why don't you walk into the other room, then? As you're walking, say, 'Mom, please listen to me.' Say it now." Another pause. "There now, are you alone? Just answer yes or no." Pause. "But they can still hear you if they want to?" James asked, his eyes flashing over at Danielle briefly. "Alright then," he said after a pause. "Say, 'Mom, trust me.'" She must have done so, because he looked pleased.

"Don't worry, I don't have your mother, Bella," James finally revealed. "I do however have your little friend Danielle," he said as he stepped closer to her, making her tense. James laughed as Bella said something on the other end of the line. "Do try to hide your shock. We wouldn't want to spoil the fun already," he told her in a mocking tone.

James suddenly put the phone against Danielle's ear. "Dani? Dani?" Bella was whispering furiously.

"Bella, I'm fine! Stay away! And keep Jasper away!" she yelled back urgently, taking advantage of this moment while she could. Bella's response was a muffled sob. "Don't come here! Don't do it!"

James pulled the phone away after that, leaving Danielle behind as he began to pace the room.

"Now I want you to listen very carefully," James said, his tone all business now. "I'm going to need you to get away from your friends. Do you think you can do that? Answer yes or no." She must have said no, because James frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that. I was hoping you would be a little more cooperative than that."

Suddenly James was in front of Danielle again, and as he knelt down to grab her broken ankle and twist it roughly, there was nothing she could do to stop the scream of agony that tore from her throat. It felt like he was going to tear her foot clear off her body.

"I'm going to ask you one more time, Bella," James growled over Danielle's screaming. "And you better think about your answer carefully, because Danielle's life depends on it." He twisted her ankle even more to make her scream again, just to drive the severity of the situation home. "Do you think you can get away now? Yes or no."

She must have answered yes, because James smiled and finally released Danielle's ankle. Danielle whimpered and curled in on herself, her whole body feeling as if it was on fire from the pain. "That's much better, Bella. I'm sure it won't be easy, but I believe you can get away. You will meet us at your old ballet studio. You know which one I speak of. And if I get the slightest hint that you have company, I assure you that Danielle will die," he promised. "You must know enough about us by now to realize how quickly I would know if you tried to bring anyone along with you, and how little time I would need to end your friend's life. Do you understand? Yes or no." James smiled wider. "Very good, Bella. We will be anxiously awaiting you arrival."

James tossed the phone away carelessly after that, before crouching down in front of her. Danielle was crying again, though whether it was because of the pain in her ankle or the fact that Bella had given into James's demands, she wasn't sure.

"We are almost at the end of our journey, Danielle," he said, nodding to her. "You have been an enormous help. For that, I thank you."

Danielle panted for a moment, still recovering from the torture he had just inflicted on her. Then, in a surge of anger, she spat in his face. "Go to hell!" she seethed.

James slowly wiped the spit away from his face, then gave her a look. His eyes had gone black with anger, but he made no move to hurt her again. "Defiant to the very end. I'm almost impressed," he hissed.

Danielle said nothing, just continued to glare at him with all the fire and hatred she felt.

James finally blinked and moved to stand again. "Time to go to our final stop and wait for our friend to join us," he announced.

Then he was yanking her up from the floor and tossing her over his rock hard shoulder. Danielle tried to fight back, tried to hit him and knee him and jam her elbow into his neck to make him let her go, but it did no good. All she accomplished was bruising and hurting herself. James ignored her, completely unfazed by her behavior, and moved to grab her bag, which looked fuller than she remembered it being. Then they were walking through the front door and leaving the Swan house behind.

Let me know what you think!