Belle returned from the reservation more withdrawn than before. I felt guilty, essentially having goaded her into confronting Jacob only for her to end up back in that grey zone she was in when I first arrived.

I gave her some time to herself, explained everything to our dad before I finally crept up the stairs that night, hesitating outside her room. I gave a small knock on her door before I pushed it open slowly, trying not to be as invading as I usually was.

"Bella?" I called her name quietly, watching her unmoving figure on the bed. She sat there, by her pillow, legs crossed, simply staring out the window.

Approaching her slowly, I sank onto her bed.

"I should have come with you, I think," I started. "At least I could've sucker punched Jacob for being a dick to you."

She turned her head and looked at me, confused I think was her biggest emotion. She seemed devoid of anything else at the moment.

I shrugged, avoiding her gaze for a moment.

"I don't know what happened between you and... Edward," I said his name gently, trying not to rouse any hurt in her. "But you're so different now, Bella. I was worried when you became so close with Jacob and, if I'm honest? I was glad he was avoiding you, I thought you were trying to fill the hole that Edward left behind and it wasn't good for you." I explained, though as I did, I knew I sounded like more of a bitch than I'd wanted to.

"But you don't deserve this at all, any of it."

I had all these thought circulating in my brain, I had all these things I wanted to say but wasn't sure how to say them, or even if I could say them at all. Just like my father, I was very awkward with my words.

"You don't call me Isabella anymore," Was all she said before she turned away from me again.

My eyes widened a little, she'd caught onto something that not even I'd noticed. But she was right though.

We were so detached before, there was little to no familiarity between us until more recently. I wasn't sure what to say and I was even more unsure of what she wanted to hear, so instead of saying anything, I got up from the bed and walked towards the door.

As I went to close it fully, the sentence that came to me had the potential of fitting both of those categories.

"You're my sister, Bella."

V

It wasn't until a week later that Bella did anything other than go to school or sit in her room.

I'd watched last night's rain disappear, leaving behind a cool, wet glaze over the town, my father rushed to work, almost late and then, movement in the trees behind the house.

My body tensed with fear, praying I wouldn't come face to face with those crimson eyes again, but instead I just caught sight of a familiar backpack disappearing behind the trees.

With a sigh, I threw myself from the comfy folds of my blanket and rushed to put some shoes on. I grabbed a jacket and after locking the door, tore through the wet grass after my sister.

"Bella!" I called out to her, hopping over a tree root. She turned to look at me and rolled her eyes.

"What are you doing here? Go home," she tried to persuade me. I raised an eyebrow, disappointed that she'd even tried that.

"Bella, what are you doing?" I asked her. "The last time you were in the woods, you scared Charlie half to death and had the whole town looking for you."

She cast a glare at me and I grimaced, remembering what I'd just reminded her of.

"I'm serious though, how the hell did you sneak out the house without me hearing you and where the hell are you going?"

Bella hesitated and before she would never had bothered to give me an answer, but things were a little different between us now, still strained but better than before.

I still resented her for leaving us and for the things she said about Charlie when we were still kids, but she was dealing with something beyond my comprehension and I admired her strength at trying to go it alone. So now I had to put aside my past feelings and try and be some semblance of a sister.

"I need to see Edward." Was all she said.

I gaped at her. "Are you seriously running away right now?" I yelled, probably louder than I should have.

She flinched a little and tried to speak but I keep yelling over her.

"You're gonna do this to Charlie again?" I grabbed her arm and used all my strength to pull her back towards the house. "I thought you'd grown up a bit, Isabella. Edward is gone and you are not gonna go chasing after him when he dropped you like you were nothing and left you out in the middle of the woods."

I knew I was ranting but the sudden fury that had overcome me was astounding and suddenly it felt like we were back at square one.

"I'm not running away." She yelled over me.

Stopping my mouth from doing anymore damage, I raised an eyebrow.

"He- Edward, he used to take me to this place. It's beautiful. I just want to go and see it."

I studied her for a moment before I nodded. "Okay," I said. "But I'm coming with you."

Bella opened her mouth to argue but stopped and nodded, knowing I wouldn't let her go otherwise.

V

I don't know how long we walked, an hour maybe a little longer. I couldn't deny the view was beautiful. The sound of the birds through the trees and the river flowing next to us. I loved nature, but the closer we got to Bella's destination, the more off I felt. Everything seemed to become more quiet the further into the forest we walked.

Eventually we pushed through a lining of trees into what I assumed would be a beautiful clearing in the spring and summer months.

Now the grass was dead, the trees and bushes stripped of their leaves.

Bella stopped and it seemed like the anguish was too much as she sunk to her knees, one hand touching the dead grass and the other holding her stomach like she was in pain.

Walking slowly over, I rested a hand on her shoulder.

Before I could say a word, she pushed herself up, a breath of frustration left her. I stared at her sadly, I wanted to say something but nothing seemed good enough. Her eyes became more focused and alert and filled with some type of fear.

I turned around and saw a dark skinned man, wearing brown suit pants and a matching jacket but no shirt, his black hair long past his shoulders in dreads.

Seeing a stranger so oddly dressed in the middle of nowhere made me extremely uneasy, but it were his eyes that terrified me most.

Blood-red eyes.

The same colour I saw stare back at me from the forest and the same eyes I've seen in my dreams.

My breathing became more shallow and I moved myself in front of Bella slightly. Protective instinct took over.

"Bella." His accent washed over me, his voice seductive but his familiarity with my sister didn't go unnoticed.

They'd met before, but he scared her, if I couldn't tell before then the way her hand made a tight fist in my jacket made it obvious.

"Laurent."

I glanced back at her and then turned to face the man who was suddenly only 4 feet away from me.

My body jolted in surprise and fear.

His eyes met mine and he smiled slightly, like he could sense my fear. I steeled myself and hardened my eyes at him.

"I didn't expect to find you here," he continued, looking back to Bella.

His hand came up to twirl one of his dreadlocks as he gracefully danced around us.

"I went to visit the Cullen's, but the house is empty." He said. I grit my teeth at the Cullen's name. Of course they're the reason Bella and this sketchy guy were acquainted.

"I'm surprised they left you behind." It suddenly became clear he was circling us, like a lion circles a gazelle. He was the predator and we were the prey. "Weren't you sort of a pet of theirs?"

"She's nobody's pet." I glared at the man as he looked to me again. Bella put a hand on my shoulder and shook her head.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." She replied. I felt a wave of fury as she allowed herself to be referred to like that. I was disgusted.

Laurent grinned and moved his hands about so casually. "Do the Cullen's... visit often?"

The way he grinned and tilted his head told me he knew that they didn't. I felt Bella tense behind me and knew she'd come to the same conclusion I had.

She gasped a little and moved away, her eyes not on Laurent but on something I couldn't see.

"Yeah, absolutely, all the time."

I made no outwardly move of frustration as Bella's inability to lie made its way to centre stage once again.

We were in danger.

"I'll tell them that you stopped by," she said, plastering on a brief smile. "I probably shouldn't tell... Edward. Cause he's pretty protective."

We continued to turn, as he circled us.

"But he's far away isn't he?" Laurent asked, stepping closer.

My mind was racing, I had nothing to defend us with, I had no idea if we were going to make it home. For a brief second, I allowed myself to think about Charlie, all alone in the house.

"Why are you here?" Bella asked.

He seemed to gaze out into the forest for a moment. "I came as a... favour to Victoria." He answered.

I could no longer control my brain's reaction to this man. The utter fear and discomfort I felt. This entire interaction was dangerous and my brain was screaming at me to take Bella and get as far away from this man as possible.

But instinct told me that running wouldn't get me very far.

Bella's nails dug into my arm so hard I'm sure she would have drawn blood if not for my sleeve. Whoever Victoria was, she terrified my sister.

"Victoria." My sister noted. Laurent dwindled a little closer and I inched in front of Bella a little more. He caught my action, smiling at me, his eyes patronising as though my action was funny to him.

I glared hard, not tearing my eyes away from his. My body was tense now, I was gearing up for a fight.

"She asked me to see if you were still under the protection of the Cullens."

My entire body froze slightly. I had so many questions. Why would the Cullens be protecting Bella in the first place? And from what? Victoria? Why was she so dangerous?

"Victoria feels it's only fair to kill Edward's mate, given he killed hers." He was once again circling us. Nausea bundled in my stomach at the words he said.

Victoria, whoever the hell she was, wanted to kill Bella. My thoughts raced. I had no idea what the hell a 'mate' was.

"An eye for an eye."

I grit my teeth.

"Why don't you go tell Victoria that if she thinks she's going to lay her eyes on Bella let alone kill her, I'll rip her to shreds." I snarled at him.

He grinned, enjoying my rage.

"Eve, stop, you can't," Bella muttered to me, tugging on my arm.

"Watch me." I muttered back.

Laurent laughed, "You have fire in your blood," he tells me. "I would like to taste it."

I could hear Bella's breathing increase as the fear overwhelmed her.

"Edward would know who did it," she threatened weakly, trying to take his blood red focus from me. "And he'd come after you."

I was shaking slightly. Terror threatened to consume me.

Laurent stopped and shook his head. "I don't think he will."

"After all, how much could you mean to him if he left you here unprotected."

He sighed and looked down at the ground, seemingly conflicted.

"Oh, Victoria won't be happy about my killing you. But I can't help myself. You are so mouthwatering."

Bella was sucking in frightened breaths, I, on the other hand wasn't sure I was breathing at all.

"Please don't." She begged. "I mean, you helped us."

I gasped slightly as he appeared directly in front of us. I hadn't even seen him move.

"Hey, back off." I growled, throwing all my weight into shoving him. He barely moved, in fact, he felt like stone.

His hand wrapped around my throat and with a strength I couldn't understand threw me so far I felt like I was flying. My stomach tossed and turned and I hoped the scream I heard was my own and not Bella's.

I hit the rough bark of the tree so hard that I almost blacked out. My head throbbed, my body ached but was also numb at the same time. I felt wet.

My hand was cold, as much as it hurt, I tried to move my fingers. They dug into wet grass and dirt. I forced my eyes open, crying slightly as the light burned. I wanted to be sick.

I tried to focus on my sister, but my sight was blurry. Blinking heavily, I watched as he stepped away from Bella and focused on something else. I wanted to turn, see what was happening but I could barely move at all.

As my eyes started to clear slightly, I heard a monstrous snarl. Laurent turned to run, and was gone in a blur, stopping only at the end of the clearing as he turned to fight the thing that had chased him.

I cried out as a large wolf stopped in front of Bella and looked at her. There were a dozen of them.

My cry got Bella's attention and she turned, running towards me.

She grabbed my arms and forced me up. I screamed, as pain jolted through me so heavily I almost fell to my knees.

"I'm sorry, you have to get up." She said frantically, looking behind her.

I grit my teeth and forced myself to put one foot in front of the other, running far from this chaos I had discovered. 

A/N: 

SO. That happened huh. I know my update said the weekend but I don't start work til late tonight and my Uni work is finished for the week so I had some time and I'm feeling quite motivated. I'll try and get another part out in the next few days. I really, really want to finish this story and I'm sure you're all just as ready too. Let me know what you thought of this part!