Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Spy Games

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 26:

I woke up to my phone alarm and didn’t give a damn. Angela’s naked body was sprawled across mine and she was so warm, so smooth, her soft hair mixing with mine, her head buried in my neck. I started rubbing her lower back gently, just to feel her skin.

“Hey baby. Good morning.” she mumbled.

I could get used to this. I had never actually slept in bed with another girlfriend all night before Angela. Besides her occasional bouts of snoring, it was very relaxing, intimate, safe and sexy at the same time.

God I must be in love. I sounded like a romantic little bitch.

Strangely enough it didn’t bother me. Thinking about what I had to do today, I realized I did have a feeling of dread, but not for myself.

“Angel? Would you do me a favor?”

“This early? I have morning breath but I doubt you want my lips on yours. A little lower maybe?”

“No but I like where your mind is at. I want you to stay at home today with Sasha. Ty will be here too. Arial will stay if I ask her to.”

“Why?” she asked, raising her head and looking at me. Even in the darkness I could tell she wasn’t happy.

“Skip a day. You never miss school. It’s four weeks until graduation. Not like you are going to learn anything new.”

“Why don’t you want me to go to school Bella?”

I took a deep breath. May as well bite the bullet.

“I don’t like the idea of you being around Edward without me there. He obviously isn’t normal but I think it is worse than I originally believed. He’s… weird… er. The way he thinks and the things he has done in the past, mostly stalking me… a part of me knows he is a harmless Bambi sucking loser but another part knows he is a whiny little homophobic bitch who could throw a tantrum if he doesn’t get his way. You are one of the things he sees as standing in his way. If he throws a tantrum, despite being a pussy he is very strong and very fast and very delusional about the world and how it works.”

“Fine, I will skip school and come with you.”

Hell no.

“That isn’t going to happen. You aren’t going anywhere near Seattle.”

“You are beginning to sound a bit bossy. I’m your girlfriend, not some toy for you to keep protected in a closet when you aren’t around.”

“Excuse me? I do not treat you like that!”

“I don’t want you to go to school without me because you might get hurt. What does that sound like to you? I know you hated being bullied when you were a kid and I’ll be damned if I am going to be bullied now by some sparkly asshole.”

“My bullies may have hit, kicked and spit on me but they didn’t try to kill me. He is as archaic as the father you have disowned. He can talk himself into thinking anything he does is right.”

“So we can compromise. Either I come to Seattle with you, you stay here and go to school with me, or you go and I go to school myself. So what is it going to be Swan?”

Damn it, this is Connolly’s fault. She hits one target and thinks she is a special forces soldier.

“Dan will be at school and I have my iPod dog whistle. I’m more worried about you. I’m not the one who is going to be looking for vampires today that don’t suck Bambi like you are. If I can live with the stress so can you.”

“Fine. I suppose we better get up. Want to take a shower together?” I offered.

“We do need to hurry. It would make sense to shower at the same time. You just have to promise not to distract me.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

I planned to take advantage of every second I had with her. I suppose in this life you never know when the next moment will be your last. Then again, I guess that is life no matter what you do.

An hour and a half later Uncle Jack and I followed Jasper and Dante in Eleanor. I let Jack drive her because he did buy her for me and I was too distracted to drive.

“What’s wrong kid?”

“Nothing is wrong.” I told him. I didn’t feel like talking about it.

“Bullshit. If there is one person I know as well as Arial and Sasha it is you. Honestly, I think I know more about you than my own daughter sometimes because you have absolutely no filter when talking to me. Talk to Uncle Jack about it. It’s not good to keep things inside.”

I looked at him in disbelief that he of all people would say that.

“Okay, so I’m not the king of sharing my feelings but I talk about them with Sasha. If not, she reads my mind. Kinda annoying at times but it has made me more emotionally healthy than I have been in the past. So spill it, I know you aren’t afraid of going to Seattle. Scared of leaving Angela alone?”

Fuck him. I needed to start working on the stone facade again.

“Yeah, a little.” I admitted.

“Asked her to stay home today right?”

“Yeah.” Jack knew me a bit too well.

“Arial and Dan are there. I made her put a portable com in so Dan will hear everything. He is going to be walking the halls between the two classes Angela and Arial don’t have together and will be in the classroom with them the rest of the time.”

I let out a little breath. As much as I talked shit to Dan, I did trust him. He would never let anything happen to either of them.

If he could stop it.

“Let’s talk about the plan, maybe get your head right. We are going to let Jasper see if he can find any scents that could possibly lead us to a large gathering of vampires. We do not attack today. He leads the way, as far as that is concerned. Our job is to be silent and unseen. If they go after him, Dante and I will take them out. You will stay in the car.”

“Fuck you, Jack.”

“You promised.”

“You should know me better than that. I’m a spy. I lie.”

“I can’t concentrate on what I am doing if I have to worry about you.” he tried again.

“Then I would suggest you get to that Zen state you are always preaching and start concentrating. Besides it is kind of fucked up that the three of you are going to be together and you are leaving me with no back up.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“This isn’t some cop show where I stay in the car and nothing happens to me. A vampire could tear the roof off of a car just as easily as it could get to you, while you are off investigating which by the way is a waste of time. He won’t find anything.” I pointed out.

“Fine Bella, but you stick to my side, okay? Now why don’t you think he will find anything?”

“These attacks happened days ago. It rains constantly. Add the scents of the city, people, car exhausts, sewer systems, restaurants, trying to find a scent would be like finding a needle in the haystack. Seattle is a great place for vampires or a lot of vampires to hide.”

“Can’t hurt to take a look. Listen, you cannot treat Angela like she is weak and helpless.”

“I know she isn’t but this isn’t standing up to her bigoted father or some asshole guy who tries to grab her ass at a club. She isn’t ready to handle this.”

“Yeah? Renee told me you weren’t ready to face school when I first moved to Phoenix. She protected you the only way she knew how; she kept you in a box like you told me I did to Arial. Sure, you weren’t scared anymore but you weren’t living. You let fear control your life and stayed in your four walls. I realize loving someone outside of your family is new to you but this is what it means. It’s not all sunshine and roses. When you love someone you are adding another person to your carefully constructed circle whose wellbeing is more important than your own, a person you would die for. That’s a big deal and a huge responsibility but the sunshine and roses make it worth it. I’m 34 and have to color my hair to hide the grey hairs you and Arial have given me. Do you have any idea how many times I haven’t been able to sleep because I got you into this crap? You how badly I wanted to have you transferred from that Phoenix hospital to a hidden medical facility where I would keep you until this is done? You don’t have any idea how shaken up Sasha and Arial were, listening to you in that ballet studio. Arial couldn’t eat for days without puking everything she swallowed. I hadn’t seen Sasha cry like she did, ever. She had nightmares about it. Charlie was a wreck. Hell, even Renee as clueless as she can be, was crying, refusing to leave the hospital, refusing to eat, refusing to sleep for three days.”

---

“I didn’t know it was that bad.” I admitted.

“It was. How would you have felt if the positions were reversed and that was Arial it happened to? I still have nightmares about that day, Bella. If you died it would have been my fault. But I didn’t pull you, because you wanted to stay. I wanted to put you back in that box I found you in and for the first time I kind of understood why Renee did what she did but that didn’t make it right. If you love Angela you are just going to have to get used to worrying about her. She is probably sick over you being here. She fainted yesterday when she found out you were in a street race with a vampire. She didn’t have one reaction when I told her about why you moved to Forks and what the Cullens were but she cried her eyes out when I told her what happened to you in Phoenix. Now she is a part of this. She learned everything, she understands what she is getting into and she left her family to be with you. It’s not like she is alone. Arial and Hawk are there and Ty is set up in a tree outside of Forks High School with a very high powered rifle.”

“Edward is crazy. You realize this, right? Jasper wasn’t kidding about vampires falling in love. He is obsessed with me. He won’t give up.”

“Yeah, I know. We still have those bugs planted in the house. I guess Whitlock never realized it and I wasn’t volunteering. If things go bad and Jasper can’t handle it, we may have to take Eddie out. I hate to break an agreement because I need Whitlock as long as I can get him, especially if there is an army being made. We also may need his contacts to help with the Volturi. We can take them down… some of them, but once the first shot is fired and they see one of their own blown to pieces, they are going to scatter and move at light speed to attack. We are going to have to draw them out, because attacking on their home turf would be suicide. That could mean we will need more vampires than just the Cullens and the wolf pack.”

“Maybe Eddie can be a friendly fire casualty.” I mused. I liked that idea a lot. My phone buzzed and I got excited, thinking it might be a text from Angela.

Instead I was reminded that Edward wasn’t my only obsessed problem. Jacob fucking Black

/Hey/

Hey? How to respond?

/WTF do u want?/

No response for a few minutes. I suppose he was thinking about it.

/It was great to see you at the bonfire last night/

Fucker.

/I was at a bonfire last night?/

Maybe that will shut him up. Nope, pleading drunk isn’t going to work.

/U and your girlfriend put on quite a show. I guess you really are bi/

“Oh my God.”

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked.

“Eddie isn’t the only obsessed supernatural creature in love with me. Jacob Black is just as clueless it seems. Him and Wheels may be victims of a tragic house fire soon.”

/Not bi you fucking idiot. GAY! What don’t you understand about this you stupid motherfucker?/

/So you’ve never been with a guy/

Finally.

/No- GAY)

/If you never been with a guy how do you know you wouldn’t like it?/

I hate him.

/What is wrong with u? u r as delusional as eddie cullen/

That shut him up… for a minute.

/I am nothing like that fucking leech!/

/u both are supernatural and I use the word super loosely, creatures who think you have a shot at dating a lesbian. U have to admit there r similarities/

/I know there is something between us. U aren’t that good of a liar./

/YES, I AM!/

God, what is with these stupid assholes?

/I don’t care if you like women. I think it’s kind of hot if that is what u are worried about. I think I could talk Leah into… maybe?/

/I fucking hate u. I am gay. I have a girlfriend I love very much. If you do not get it into your idiotic thick skull that I am not interested, I am going to arrange your death. Besides even if I were straight, I wouldn’t go out with you. I’m 18 your 16. Get over it puppy. You are getting as pathetic as Paul./

/That reminds me. Embry wanted to know if Arial was serious when she said he was cute?/

What the fuck?

/Arial thinks everything on two legs is cute when she is drunk. If he had made a move on her or she made a move on him, Hawk would have killed the boy. Probably best to tell the other kids in your litter to keep away from her. I’m with her Dad now. Want to talk to him? He mentioned Dante watched u sleep last night. In your room./

He didn’t but it sounded good.

/No!/

/Don’t text me again unless you have info on red headed vampires you can’t seem to kill despite having a huge advantage in numbers… bitch/

The texting stopped. I laid back and closed my eyes until my phone buzzed again.

Angela?

Nope.

/Why aren’t you in school today?/

“Edward fucking Cullen.” I told Jack. “He wants to know why I am not in school today. Did Jasper not tell him?”

“Apparently, Jasper only told Alice who went hunting last night to keep it from Eddie. She is trying to get back in your good graces. He said she could control her thoughts this morning. Jasper is afraid if he finds out we are going to Seattle he will invite himself and fuck everything up.”

“Huh. Well I guess I should come up with a good reason why I’m not in school today.”

/Had an accident with a dildo last night. Didn’t use enough lube. Major chafing./

/Did Angela hurt you?/

Oh shit.

/NO. And if you go near her, I swear to God I will reunite you with your devout mother/

/I was just worried/

/don’t b. I hate u. you and Jacob Black are driving me nuts. I hate you both and u seem to think u have some chance with me. Even if I were straight u said some pretty harsh words when u left and in Italy you wouldn’t even lie about changing me to save my life. What sort of low self-esteemed, pathetic, spineless waste of space would a girl have to be to take u back after that? What is wrong with u? I don’t love U! I don’t even like U!. I want to vomit in ur presence! I would rather hang out with a giant pile of dog shit all day than be anywhere near U! U are still stalking me! You are CREEPY and have MAJOR issues. Go away. Die. Kill yourself or something! Do not go around my girlfriend or you will hit the ground and your tiny dick will be blown off before your head. I will grab u by your pretty hair and make u watch your body burn before I light your head up/

Nothing. Maybe he finally got the point… nope. Another text.

/You think I have pretty hair?/

I screamed, causing Jack to nearly run off the road.

“Jesus Christ, Bella what the hell!”

I read my text conversation to Jack.

“Yeah, he is dead. We just have to find the right time. Text Hawk and let him know Ed might be extra crazy today.”

I did as instructed and tried to relax. It would be okay. It had to be okay. I just hoped Arial and Angela kept a low profile today. He did not need to be more agitated. Hawk would keep everything calm.

Oh shit.

Hawk.

Arial (finally another POV after 25 chapters)

I have to admit when I first moved to this dump, forced to move to this dump, ruining the plans Bella and I had for my expulsion and promise to Dad to be good if we would move to Jacksonville, I had thought my life was over.

But this past year has made it all worth it. Did my move have its horrible moments? Absolutely. Was it horrible when my Dad found out about me losing my virginity and taking out my piercings, submitting me to numerous embarrassing medical tests, moving me to this rain soaked hell, seeing him yell at Sasha about putting me on birth control and having to watch Sasha beat the hell out of him for raising his voice at her? It hurt me more than it hurt him to see him get his ass kicked. I know Sasha felt the same. Listening to Bella nearly die in the studio and not being able to do a damn thing about it definitely sucked.

Did the rain make it difficult to manage my hair? Yes it did. Was there a decent salon in this town? No there wasn’t. Did I want to cry every single time I saw my sister dress like a lumber jack? Definitely. Was my tan a casualty of this mission? Sadly yes. Did I get outed by a fucking asshole werewolf for having a quickie with him? Sure did. Did I think Dad was going to shoot him? Yep. That would have been difficult to explain a dead body outside a dentist office. Was the sex with a werewolf disappointing? Pretty much. Of course he has gotten a lot stronger and probably larger since then but his obsessive tendencies and habit of pissing in his shorts every time a gun is fired near him have ruined any chance he had to improve his first lackluster performance.

Despite all these events, this year has been epic. Taking over this little school and ruling the social structure and faculty, winning state in volleyball, fucking with the Cullens, outrunning vampires in the fastest, sexiest car on Earth, staring at Jason Connolly when Dad wasn’t watching. God that man was built. Partying our ass off on Spring Break in Florida, it has been amazing and I didn’t even have to get expelled from my old school.

And the best thing of all was watching my player, hardcore, badass sister get pussy whipped by a nerd. She is bringing this dork to college with her. That in itself is hilarious. Angela has her so wrapped around her apparently magical fingers Bella would lick her feet if she asked her too.

Okay I admit the nerd is starting to grow on me a little. She showed some serious balls coming out to her old man and hasn’t backed down from being with Bella even after learning she was being hunted by a murdering lunatic with super strength and speed. Her allowing Sasha and I to take her to Seattle and break her free from the god awful wardrobe she had was another thing that earned her points. Now I just had to convince her to get a few piercings and a couple tats and she would be complete. She doesn’t even look like she wants to crawl up inside her own asshole when she sees a gun now. I have hopes for her.

And here the kid is.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked. Silly girl.

“Of course it’s not a good idea. If you only do things that are good ideas you are going to miss out on a lot of fun in life.” I continued to pick the lock, opening it with a hair pin in less than five seconds.

Wow. This was an organized locker. I sort of expected a mirror so he could fix his hair between classes and maybe a few pics of Bells he might have taken when she didn’t know he was there.

“You have any trouble getting out of class?” I asked Bella’s little Angel.

“No. Since I am now one of the queens of the school’s girlfriend, I am noticing I can do what I want. I fell asleep during first period and didn’t wake up till the bell rang. There was drool on my desk top. I figured Simms would be angry but he just smiled, told me to have a nice day and handed me his lecture notes to catch up. Weird.”

“Being the queen’s consort has its privileges. Get your game face on, here comes Hawk. We have twenty minutes to hit both these lockers.”

My Dan had a rather large box with him. I loved my Hawk.

“You have the supplies?” I asked.

“I do. Mission is a go.”

“Awesome, Set the trap in 127. Me and Bella’s little Angel here got this one.”

Hawk nodded and set the box down, taking out what he needed. The rest was mine.

“Oh my God, Bella has one just like this.” Ang whispered.

“I can just imagine the look on the clerk’s face when Hawk bought all these.”

We set up our trap quickly. Hawk walked by without a word, meaning his mission was complete. It was time to sit back and watch the traps unfold.

We stayed in the corner of the hallway as the bell rang and students filled the hallways. A few tried to talk to me but I waved them off.

There he was. The primary target.

I placed a hand on Angela, hoping she could control her thoughts. I couldn’t control mine in my glee but I would guess he would be bombarded with the thoughts of everyone. He looked upset, because Bella wasn’t here of course. He was about to be really pissed off.

There you go. Open the locker quickly you little bastard.

Bingo.

The string attached to the stack base pulled out with his locker door and the avalanche of pink 12 inch dildos cascaded from his locker.

He jumped back and of course that caught the attention of everyone in the school.

Once everyone got over their surprise the entire hallway erupted in laughter and applause. A few guys congratulated Edward on finally coming out of the closet. A few girls including Lauren congratulated him on finally getting a dick over two inches.

Uh oh. Alice looked pissed. She caught my eye and I winked at her. Angela had tears in her eyes from laughing.

Edward put his book into his locker, realized we had taken the books he had in his locker already and walked off, not bothering to look at us. I wonder if he would follow our scents to the trash can we threw his books in.

Alice gave us one more go to hell look and opened her locker. She was the one I was worried about. My guess would be that she was so focused on trying to find Bella through Jasper with her useless little visions that she wouldn’t see this coming.

I was right.

She slammed her locker door open and Hawk’s trigger was activated, causing the stink canister to spray directly into her face.

Didn’t see that coming, did you bitch?

Alice looked like she wanted to vomit if she could.

“She is coming over here.” Angela whispered, sounding a little nervous.

“Don’t be a pussy, Weber.” Dan told her before I could.

“You think this is funny?!” Alice asked.

I looked down at her and wrinkled my nose.

“It was until you walked over here. God you stink. Could you please take your odor somewhere else?”

“Leave my brother and me alone.”

“Or what?”

“Or…”

“Or?” I helped her out. “You know you can’t touch us, without your family getting hunted by thousands of humans who now have the ability to kill you all. So take it like a big little kidnapping whore and go away. Stop coming to school. Tell your brother to leave Bella alone or I will make his life hell before I end it, comprende?”

“Just leave us alone!” she sort of screamed in her squeaky voice and stormed off, almost moving at unnatural speeds. Angela, Hawk and I ran after her and saw her and Edward in the parking lot, arguing, probably about whose car to take. I can’t believe that fucker bought another Volvo.

I suppose the argument was over because they both walked into the forest, leaving their cars behind. Running home it would be.

“Arial do you happen to know what that smell is in the hallway?” Mrs. Greene asked.

“I am pretty sure Alice Cullen had a stink bomb go off in her locker. If I had to guess she probably planned to place it near the school ventilation ducts. It’s a good thing her plan blew up in her face, literally.”

“I see, so it came from Alice’s locker?”

“Yep.”

“And would you know who those pink objects on the floor belong to?”

“The pink dildos? They belong to Edward Cullen. I saw them tumbling out of his locker.” I explained.

“Would you happen to know where those two are right now?”

“I saw them leave. I think they are skipping school.” I told her. It was important to be honest with adults.

“Well, vandalizing the school hallway, being in possession of inappropriate objects and skipping class, I am afraid those two will have to be suspended for the next week. I will call Dr. Cullen immediately.”

“Mrs. Greene? I would recommend expelling them for the remainder of the school year. If they want to graduate, they should be required to attend summer school.” My Dan suggested. “These are serious offenses and I believe a message should be sent that this behavior is not acceptable in a higher learning institution.”

“You are quite right, Mr. Hawk. I will inform Dr. Cullen of my decision immediately. I’m sorry you two have been traumatized by this. Please feel free to take the rest of the day off. I will let your teachers know.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Greene. You are an amazing principal and an example to us all.”

Like minions, principals needed positive reinforcement occasionally as well. Running assets is a tough job but it pays off.

Phoenix

We finally arrived in Seattle. Jasper drove like he had Miss Daisy in the back or else we could have been there in an hour and a half, two hours tops. As it was it took us three and a half damn hours. My ass was sore from sitting and I was still tired from lack of sleep the night before but couldn’t sleep because Uncle Jack insisted on listening to some hard rock station that played nothing but eighties metal. Seriously? Who can sleep to that? Plus my mind was on Arial and Angela, hoping to God they weren’t being harassed by Cullens. Okay, I was worried about Angela. Arial could handle herself but I knew Dan would be with her mostly because he was her bodyguard, which until this point in our life I found to be a ridiculous necessity. She never seemed to mind unless it interfered with her social life. He was like her big teddy bear. Some kids have blankets, some kids had dolls or a puppy to make them feel safe. Arial had a 6’8 bodybuilder and combat expert. He nearly died for her once, though she never told me the full details. She was my sister and he was her big brother and would die for her without a second thought. He would keep them out of trouble. Two things I never questioned about Dan were his bravery and loyalty.

“Where are we starting first?”

“An alley where three cars were found turned over. The owners are still missing and presumed dead.”

“So Major Bloodhound is going to try to sniff out the offending vampires? Let’s grab Dante and go get my NOX refueled. Find a coffee shop, have some breakfast, maybe check out a few gun stores and get the hell out of here. If we aren’t going to attack then let him do his thing and let’s roll.”

“No. I want to know what he knows. His motivation is different than ours. He wants to protect his family. I want to protect my family and take as many murdering vampires down as I can, in that order. We have the same goal but if I came across information that would benefit me and he didn’t need to know I wouldn’t tell him. Information is power. I have no doubt he is the same. We have the same goals and I respect him but never forget we are on two different teams.”

“Point taken.” Glad to know I wasn’t the only one who trusted no one but team. Of course I learned that lesson from Jack so I was not surprised he felt that way.

“So why is Sasha going along with this agreement for me to spend time with these fuckers?”

“For two reasons. One, they are assets until the time comes that they are no longer assets. While you are there you can find out information because despite learning that you are a foul mouthed, sarcastic, extremely violent, highly trained operative and lesbian who betrayed them, those idiots, both vampires and werewolves still want you around. They are begging you to accept them and the more they think you will, the more committed they will be. Except for Edward and Alice, you should try to draw them in, like you did before. They are begging for it. As far as Edward and Alice, continue your present course of pissing them off. Same with Jake. You don’t need obsessive stalkers, but it appears it is too late for that. I’m fairly certain I will have to kill at least Edward before this is over and make it look like a vampire did it or it was an accident. I think Jasper can control Alice if he keeps a better eye on her but that has yet to be determined. Keep your eyes open. We are here.”

“Wait you said two reasons. What is the second?”

“When you are with them it is unlikely you will be attacked. Get your game face on, Phoenix.”

We stepped out and Jasper was already moving around at light speed so I kept my handy iPod vampire deterrent safely clutched in my hand, just in case this was a set up. It would be too easy for him to kill Jack and Dante and change me, blaming it on Vicki so his wife could have a best friend for eternity. The idea that she saw me as a vampire based on another vampire’s decision made me nervous. Eddie wanted me human so what other vampire had made the decision to change me? Carlisle, to avoid trouble with his old friends. Or Jasper? Alice? At this point I couldn’t trust any of them. Thank God the wolves couldn’t turn anyone with a bite. The idea of having all that hair and… I don’t even like to think about it. Plus the tattoo they all seemed to have was annoying. If you get ink it should be original. Put a little imagination into it, that’s all I’m saying.

“Anything Jasper?” Jack asked.

“No, the rain seems to have washed away any scent trails.”

I rolled my eyes. There is a surprise.

“I can take us to some areas that might be a good residence for vampires. We can check the sewer systems, and old abandoned warehouses on the docks. I have a few ideas on where I would store them.”

“So you want to lead us to abandoned dark places with no witnesses?” I asked suspiciously.

“You know I did save your life in Phoenix. You ever going to trust me?”

“If you were me would you trust you?”

He at least smiled.

“Not a bit.”

“Exactly. You want to go crawling around places where we could be ambushed easily you go right ahead. We will be having coffee.”

“No we won’t. Let’s go Jasper. We need to get an idea of how many we are dealing with and where they are. I can’t plan to take them out if we don’t know where they are.” Jack said. Dante didn’t say anything. He did look at me and shrug his shoulders as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

An hour later we were in some smelly warehouse district. A bunch of old buildings on the waterfront and not much else.

“This place reeks of vampires. Too many scents to tell with the rain but there must be a lot of newborns. They are definitely in this area.”

“Yeah and there are no homeless here.” I mentioned. “There should be. Places like this are great shelters from the rain.”

“Good job, Bella.” Jack whispered. He also grabbed my arm and pushed me behind him slightly. I noticed Dante stepped behind me and had a .45 in his hand. Sexist pigs. You can take the boys out of the military but you can’t take the military out of the boys. I decided to make my gun a bit easier to access.

“They must know we are here if they are nearby. Why haven’t they shown themselves? At least one should be checking us out. You see anything Jasper?” Jack asked.

“No and we probably won’t. They won’t be able to distinguish our scents over the other vampires they are around. Also they are probably afraid to come out into the sunlight. Old trick I used when I created newborns for the bitch who turned me. Tell new vampires the sun will burn them to ash. Every few weeks take one in secret and break him apart, burn the ashes and bring one piece back to the others to prove you are telling the truth. That way you can at least contain them in the daytime.”

“What if you want them to attack during the day?” Dante asked.

“Then you tell them they are old enough and strong enough to survive the sun now. You make them believe that the enemy is hunting them, wanting to destroy them. Tell them you are fighting for their survival. They will follow you through hell.”

“Sounds pretty evil and manipulative. This is what you did in your younger days Jasper?” I asked.

“I’m not proud of it. I’m sure your Uncle Jack and his friend here have done things they aren’t proud of.”

“No, I’m good.” Jack told him quickly. “Pretty damn proud of everything I’ve done.”

“I believe my ancestors take great pride in the warrior I am and the enemies I have vanquished. My conscience is completely clear.” Dante agreed.

“Don’t look at me, Jasper. I’m fucking awesome.” I let him know just to be clear.

We all heard it at the same time, even without Jasper’s super hearing, a scream coming from one of the warehouses. A human scream.

The three of us who still had blood pumping began running towards it immediately while Jasper stood there and probably tried to determine if the scream was one of fear or joy using his gift.

Of course he still beat us to the door as Jack was about to kick it in.

“I go first. We have no idea how many there are.” Jasper told us.

Jack put a gun to Jasper’s head and motioned him aside. Dante kicked the door and I rolled in, coming up on one knee, scanning the area with my Sig in front.

Jack and Dante took position on my sides. I had no idea where Hale was and at this moment that made me very nervous. He seemed to have found this place too easily.

Then he was in front of us, pointing to his left. I saw a collapsed three level steel storage rack with rows of boxes forming a barrier between us and the other side of this very dark warehouse. The steel didn’t look decayed or rusted meaning it was probably knocked over purposely to form a barrier.

Once our eyes adjusted to the darkness we began moving to the left when Jasper’s hand landed on my shoulder. He motioned for me to follow him to the right.

Jack shook his head no but I let him know with a look not to worry about it. I had one hand on a dog whistle and the other on my Sig and was ready for whatever he tried to pull. I slid out of my sneaks and followed Hale, Cullen Whitlock, moving as quietly as Jack taught me. I couldn’t hear Jack or Dante of course.

Jasper reached the end of the row much quicker than I did of course. He smirked at me. He thinks this is funny. I guess since he wasn’t the one who was screaming in fear it was a game to him.

He motioned for me to stay like I was some sort of puppy but I moved anyway to have a look.

I wish I hadn’t. Four vampires were on the floor surrounded by several pieces of human bodies. The freshest must have been the one who screamed, a homeless lady from the look of her. A leech had its lips on her neck and two others had ripped her arms off and were trying to drain them of blood, heedless that most of her blood was on the floor.

So this is what he means by uncontrollable newborns. Vicious motherfuckers. I zeroed in on the one with the torso, prepared to hit the whistle and start taking bitches down.

Then Jasper looked over my shoulder and I heard the growl behind me. Peering quickly over my shoulder I saw the two fuckers on the second level walkway behind us. I should have noticed that when I walked in.

They jumped and I hit my whistle. Jasper hit the ground next to me and the second vampire landed on top of him.

He wasn’t team but we had the same goals. I let up on the whistle and he was moving I guess; my focus was in two different places.

One was on the sound of gunfire, presumably Dante and Jack lighting those bitches up on the other side of this wall. The other was on the vampire that just dropped in front of me. He recovered, taking his hands off his ears and swung. I think he swung. I just instinctively threw myself back and of course the damn dog whistle dropped out of my hand. Growling was next to me, but that was only a secondary thought. My first thought was the trigger. I fired. I kept firing. After the fourth shot when the bastard was on the ground with a burning stomach and chest, I raised my aim and lit his head up.

First kill. Sure the target was already dead but it still counted.

Whitlock had his vampire in a head lock so I ran by and fired into the bastard’s head for my second kill. Jack and Dante were still firing, meaning they hadn’t hit the targets. Peering around the corner I heard Whitlock yell no at the same time I felt a cold hand grab my throat and lift me in the air.

Oh fuck he was going to bite me.

Jasper had his hands on the bitch’s jaws, keeping them from closing on my neck. I managed to pull the trigger knocking the fucker back, clutching his burning chest while Whitlock ripped his fucking head off. The gunfire stopped and I ran around to see Jack and Dante surveying the scene from the ground checking overhead. I met Jack’s eyes and saw the relief. I knew the feeling.

“There are no other vampires. Not now. We need to burn this place down before whoever created these bitches realizes they were taken out by people rather than themselves.” Jasper told us.

“Why would they take out themselves?”

“Newborns tend to turn on each other. It was foolish to leave these seven alone unless someone determined they were too uncontrollable to be of use. It was very careless or planned to leave newborns on their own. The rest have been here or are coming back. Judging by the smell of this place there are a lot more of them. We need to leave. We have confirmed there is an army.”

“But not who is behind them.” Jack pointed out.

“No, but do you want to wait for them to return? How many rounds did you two fire to take those out? We know the general area and can return.”

“Do you recognize Victoria’s scent? The Volturi?” I asked.

“I can’t recognize the Volturi’s scent. I have only seen them once before and that was at a distance. There are too many here to tell but I don’t smell any trace of Victoria either. Doesn’t mean it isn’t her. Whoever is in charge will most likely watch from the water and we will never see them. Let’s light this place up and go.”

“Dante?” Jack asked.

“On it.” Dante ran outside I am assuming to the car. Something told me he brought quite a bit of explosives with him.

“You okay?” Jack asked me. “You have bruising around your neck.”

Damn it. Angela is probably going to faint again.

“Yeah, it was a close call. Jasper helped me out.” I admitted.

“You did good Bella.” Jasper told me as if I needed confirmation that I am indeed a sexy undead killing machine. “Killed two vampires, I was impressed. I appreciate you not relying on your whistle. I was having a bit of difficulty focusing. So now that I saved your life twice you starting to trust me yet?”

It was a good question.

Jasper’s phone buzzed. He took it out and showed it to me.

/Jasper I have been trying to see you all day. I saw you watching a vampire about to bite Bella’s neck. Do not let her die!/

“Do you at least trust Alice?”

That was an easy one to answer.

“No, especially after this.”

Jasper looked confused.

“She gives you a warning after the event has already happened. Also notice she told you not to let her get killed, not don’t let her get bitten.”

“It’s the same thing.” he argued.

“It really isn’t, Jasper. Keep a better eye on your wife.” Jack told him, wrapping an arm around me. “We are going home as soon as Dante blows this place. We need to make sure there are no bystanders around.”

“I don’ feel any emotions coming from anywhere nearby.”

“I think we will use our eyes all the same” Jack told him. “Meet back at the cars. You guys can follow us to Extreme Motorsports to refuel Bella’s NOX in case she has to outrun any more fucking Corvettes and then we are heading to Forks. Whether Victoria is behind this or the Volturi I don’t like knowing there is an army waiting to take out my niece and anyone who gets in their way. We need to figure out a plan of attack.”