"What warning?" my father all but growled.

"About James. He's a tracker, a hunter. He lives for the hunt, the excitement and the challenge. If he sees something he wants, he will not give up before he gets it. And now he wants your humans. That you protect them will make it only a so much more interesting game for him."

"He can try," Emmett tossed out his own challenge. "He will not succeed."

Laurent shook his head. "He will not give up, of that I'm sure. He is patient and will wait as long as he has to. You won't be able to protect them forever."

"Then we will go after him," my father now said fiercely. "We will turn the hunt and he will be the hunted."

"I'm sure he counts on it," Laurent said. "Victoria will help him and she's also a force to be reckoned with. They are a mated pair and she will do whatever he wants."

"What do you suggest?" Carlisle intervened.

Laurent shrugged. "I only wanted to warn you, to give you an idea who and what you are up against. You are a large group and you seem to be strong. You will find a way."

"Why the warning?" Bella now spoke up in a clear voice. "What is it to you?" I looked at her in shock that she had found the courage to speak in this situation.

Laurent inclined his head a little, possibly also intrigued. "I have become … disenchanted with James and Victory, if I may say so. I don't think their way is mine any longer. When I saw you, with your golden eyes and your ability to form such a strong bond with humans, I was fascinated. In my three hundred years I've never met people like you."

I sensed Carlisle relaxing, but neither I nor Emmett showed any signs that we let off.

"You will understand that currently is not a good time for us to talk, but I might give you direction to others like us," Carlisle now proposed.

Laurent sketched a quick bow to indicate that he would accept any help Carlisle was willing to give him at the moment.

"There is a coven up in Alaska, in Denali, that is following the same path we do. You could go see them. They will welcome you."

I had heard my family speak of the Denali clan before, but never had actually met them, even though we had lived in Alaska for several years. I knew the group consisted of at least three female vampires who all had given up living off human blood even before they had met Carlisle. I had always been curious on why we never met up, but strangely enough my family had been fairly close-lipped about the other coven and after some time I had given up asking.

"Beware of James," Laurent warned us once again and then he was gone as if he had never existed.

It took a long moment before Emmett relaxed. I sat back down again after picking up the chair I had toppled over when I had jumped to stand in front of Bella. I had no choice really, as I doubted my legs would support me much longer.

"Is he really gone," I asked Alice, who now had sat down on the other side of the table.

She closed her eyes, looking into that mysterious place inside of her where she had her visions. When she opened her eyes, she nodded shortly. "He will find the Denali clan and will live for some time with them. He will cause us no trouble to us."

I exhaled slowly, steeling myself for the next question. "What about James and Victoria? I know you have seen something back in the field."

She pressed her lips into a thin line, looking over at Emmett and the others, but not at me.

"Alice," I called her once again. "Please. I need to know." I instinctively reached for Bella's hand under the table, instantly feeling a little better for holding her. Right now I felt so damn useless, knowing that on my own I had no chance in hell to defend her from James.

She sighed then finally looked up into my eyes. "I see you dead, Edward. I'm so sorry."

I had already expected something like this, so I didn't feel particularly surprised. I know it didn't make sense, but in a way I was almost glad. At least I knew the stakes now. And Alice had said that she had seen me dead, not Bella. As long as she lived, I could and would accept everything that happened to me. Don't get me wrong, I didn't have any particular death wish - far from it - but given the alternative, I knew what I preferred.

I felt myself letting go of the tension that had me wound as tight as a watch.

I wasn't exactly surprised that the others didn't share my opinion.

"What?" Bella would have jumped up from her chair if not for my hand holding her down. Emmett wasn't so encumbered, though, and he was standing again, glaring at his sister angrily.

"I can't help it, Emmett. I'm sorry, but that's what I see. Do you think I like it? I love Edward, too. You know that."

"Then look again," he demanded. "There must be another future for Edward."

Now Alice got angry herself, though she at least remained seated. "Don't you think I haven't tried? But currently this is the most likely outcome. James is going to kill him." If she could have produced tears, I was sure she would have cried in anger.

Carlisle now intervened, holding up his hands in a calming manner. "Emmett, Alice, you're both familiar with Alice's visions. Now we know for sure what James is after and with that we will find a way to prevent it. Nothing will happen to Edward."

Emmett sat back down, though not without casting one last angry glance at Alice.

Rosalie and Jasper came into the dinning room then, a streak and a blur and they were there. Jasper immediately went to Alice's side while Rosalie found her way to my side.

With that eerie way of communication vampires possessed, Esme quickly brought them up to date, her lips vibrating so fast, they almost blurred.

Rosalie looked at me through narrowed eyes. I was sure she noticed how calm I was, but I didn't know what she was making of it.

"We have lost them," Jasper said obviously annoyed at himself. He stood with a hand on Alice's left shoulder. Alice reached up and caressed his hand, pulling it to her lips for a quick kiss.

"A short while after they left us in the field, they split up," Rosalie now explained. "Their speaker went into this direction, but we thought the others to be more dangerous, so we followed them, but then they managed to shake us. They went east, but I think eventually they are going to double back and come here again." She also sounded angry at herself.

Carlisle nodded. "This is likely their plan. The question now is: what are we going to do?"

"We stand and fight." Emmett.

"We run and hide." Jasper.

The two brothers stared at each other across the table.

"I need to get back to Charlie … my dad," now Bella said, her eyes on me.

"No!" I exclaimed. There was no way I would let Bella out of my sight right now. Chief Swan couldn't protect her like my family could. He might be a cop and have a gun, but that wouldn't do anything against a vampire. All that would happen would be that he died himself in the hopeless defense of his daughter. That was if he even noticed what was going on in the first place. Vampires were very fast.

She turned her hands so that instead of me holding her hands, she was now holding mine. "You told my dad I'd be back by nine and it's already getting late. If I don't show up, he might think something happened."

She had a point there. I hadn't thought about Chief Swan's reaction. He, of course, had no idea about my family's secrets and about the dangers his daughter was in now because of me. No matter what plan we decided on, we had to think about what we tell him. If we indeed, like Jasper suggested, run, we would take Bella with us, and if we did so without telling Chief Swan anything, he might think the worst possible thing. I wouldn't put it past him to call in the FBI and who knows who, thinking of kidnapping and murder. My family was very good at hiding and I was fairly sure we would be able to disappear without a trace, but it would make the whole situation more complicated than it already was.

The question of course was what to tell him?

The truth was for obvious reasons out of the question – even if we somehow managed to convince him that we weren't a bunch of lunatics - and other than that …

Jasper looked thoughtfully at the two of us and I was sure he was thinking about some of the same things I did.

"We can't stay here," he said, his gaze on Bella. "It won't take long for James to learn about your father and I won't put it past him to use him - or anyone else of your friends for that matter - as leverage in order to get to you. They won't be more than pawns to him."

I hadn't thought about that and by Bella's reaction neither had she. Even though I didn't socialize here in Forks much outside of my family, I still knew several people in town I rather liked and wouldn't want to see hurt. Bella had managed to make quick friends at school and those friends also would be at risk.

I knew that James would have a hard time to get through my family at Bella or me. But give her a strong enough incentive to come to him – and holding Bella's father as a hostage would most certainly achieve that – Bella would try to find a way around them and I had a feeling that, somehow, she would manage it. And if she didn't somehow get away from us, James would have no problem killing Charlie Swan just for the fun of it. No problem at all.

I felt Bella's hands start to shake and a tear formed in the corner of her eyes.

"What do I tell him?" she whispered, half to herself.

"You need to find a reason why you have to leave Forks for a while. Once we've taken care of James and Victoria, we will come back."

"He won't let me go."

I thought for a moment. "How about you tell him you want to go back to your mother in Florida? Or back to Phoenix," I suggested.

She thought for a moment, but then inclined her head a little. "He won't like it," she said slowly. "And he will check with my mom. I can't go to her. It will put her at risk the same way Charlie is now in danger. But what if I don't show up there?"

"We will have taken care of the problem by then," Emmett now said with absolute conviction.

I believed him. It wasn't in my father's nature to run from anything. I wasn't so fond of it either, to be honest. If we really had to leave here – and right now it looked like it was the only valid option – then we would go to a place where we could draw out James and Victoria and then my family would take care of them. Once and for all.

Carlisle was probable the only one who actually would feel any remorse over it. But even he would fight if it was the only way to protect Bella and me; that much I knew. I looked across the table at him and saw a grim smile on his face. No, he didn't like it – but yes, he was determined to see this through.

"How?" I now asked into the round. "And where are we going?" I hoped my voice didn't betray the tension I was under.

"It doesn't really matter where we go," Jasper replied. "I would like to lay a wrong trail, away from you, but I have my doubts it will work. Maybe if it were only one of you we could take your clothes and use your scent to lead them away, but, as I said, I don't think they will fall for it. I also don't want to split you two up – it would mean that we would have to split up our forces too and I would rather avoid that."

As I was all for staying close to Bella, I only nodded.

But Jasper wasn't done. He once had been a major in the Civil War and now I was glad for his military experience.

"We'll have Bella and Edward with maybe two of us in the lead and the rest follows at a greater distance, looking out for James and Victoria. As soon as they think they're close enough, we pounce and then we take care of them once and for all." There was a feral grin on Jasper's face like I had never seen before and I felt the sudden urge to crawl into a deep hole to hide. It was obvious what he meant with 'taking care of them once and for all' and even though I fully agreed with that sentiment, it also made me a little queasy.

"I'm not allowing Edward to be used as bait," Rosalie now exclaimed. She looked at Jasper angrily, lips pressed into a tight line.

"We can't keep Edward and Bella as prisoners here or in any other place, Rosalie. We need to find a way to end this situation and to end it quickly. Jasper is right, it's the best way." Emmett placed his arm around his wife, squeezing her shoulder gently. "You and I will stay with them and they will be safe as long we're with them."

"What about my dad?" Bella now asked. "What if they still try to get to him?"

Jasper thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. "One of us will stay behind - at least until we are very sure James and Victoria have taken the bait."

Carlisle had listened how Jasper had worked out the plan and now stood up from his seat at the end of the table. Even though he allowed every one of them to have his or her say in any matter that pertained to the family, it was always him who had the last word and him whom the others followed.

"I can't say that I like this situation," he began. "But Jasper's plan looks to be the best option we have. Emmett and Jasper, you go with Edward and Bella to her home, then come straight back. The others - go pack. Take only what we need. I do hope we will be able to come back here, but don't count on it. You know what to do."

With a plan worked out, we all sprung into action. My family had perfected the art of pulling up stakes and move at a moment's notice. It hadn't been necessary for the last two decades, for none of them had slipped and 'accidently' killed a human because they had lost control, but it had happened before that, and they were always ready for it. There was a rather large sum of cash hidden away in the house, enough to go by for several months if we had to. Carlisle would make sure that his sudden disappearance from the hospital would be believable, with a made-up family emergency giving enough reason to all of us suddenly having to move. Hopefully, this time it wouldn't be for very long and we would be able to return to Forks soon.

Emmett and Jasper accompanied us out to the Jeep. Emmett jumped once again onto the truck bed. Jasper let me have the driver's seat and while I buckled up, he helped Bella in the middle seat with the straps, then sat down next to her. I approved of that arrangement, as this granted her the best protection.

"Are you okay?" I asked her as I started the car. I longed to touch her, but settled instead to grip the steering wheel with both hands.

As the Jeep rumbled to life, she looked me into the eyes. I could see that she was scared, but there was also a firm determination to not allow the fear to rule her. She nodded shortly. "I'm okay." She gave me a tight smile.

For the whole drive to Bella's home I was skittish, constantly looking out of the windows, expecting to see James or Victoria behind a tree, a house. I knew it was futile, that I had no chance whatsoever to make them out, but that didn't stop me from trying. If anybody would see anything it would be Emmett or Jasper, and both of them seemed to be calm.

Once we reached the house, Jasper slipped out of the Jeep. He would stay close by, keeping an eye on the house and its occupants. He also would monitor Chief Swan's emotions, steering them, if needed, into a direction we wanted. Normally he wouldn't do something like this - he didn't particularly like to use his ability to manipulate people. But in the current situation we couldn't risk Chief Swan to be difficult. It would be hard enough as it was.

Meanwhile, Emmett had disappeared to check the surrounding area for the nomads. I didn't know if I hoped he'd detect them or not. If Emmett found them, then at least we knew where they were. On the other hand, if they attacked him … Emmett was strong, but two against one weren't good odds, even for him. But if it came to a fight Jasper would join him and that would equal the odd considerably. Emmett might be the strongest, but Jasper was the most experienced fighter.

Bella had finally figured out how to operate the off-road harness and was ready to leave the car by the time I got mine off.

"I have an idea how I can convince Charlie to let me go. But I will have to convince him that we two broke up, so you know whatever I'll say the next couple of minutes will not be true" She reached over to touch my cheek and I wished I could just take her and kiss her. Instead I had to settle on covering her hand with mine, even if it was only for a moment.

"I know," I whispered and nodded. "I love you."

Despite the situation, she found a small smile for me. "I love you, too, Edward. No matter what will happen, I do love you and always want to be with you."

I thought my heart was about to break that very moment. How could Bella, after all that had happened to her because of me still want to be with me? I had brought her nothing but danger, it was because of me she would be on the run until James and Victoria were taken care of, and still, still she said she loved me. What had I done to deserve a woman like her?

All the house lights on the ground floor were on – Charlie obviously was waiting up for Bella. Now that we were sure of our audience the show could begin.

We both got out. The moment Bella's feet touched the ground, her whole posture changed. She seemed to grow a couple of inches, her back stiff and straight, her hands balled into fists. She took a long shuddering breath and began to stalk towards the front door. I followed a short distance behind her my shoulders slumped forward as I tried to project dejection and anger in equal measures.

"Bella, just listen to me," I called in a pleading voice.

"You stay away from me, Edward Cullen," Bella yelled back at me. "I don't want to see you ever again."

"Please, I'm sorry. Really, just tell me what I have done," I pleaded as she ran up the steps of the porch.

She ripped the door open, then was inside. Before I could say another word, she slammed the door into my face. I could hear Charlie's concerned voice through the door, but couldn't make out the words. Heavy feet ran up the wooden stairs inside.

I stepped back from the porch to see the lights in Bella's room go on. For a second I wondered if I should attempt to climb up the trellis on the side of the house to help her pack, then realized that this was rather impractical. Besides, if Charlie should find me in her room our whole ruse would be for nothing.

So, with a heavy heart, I returned to the Jeep and climbed inside. I wished I'd had my family's hearing to be able to listen in on Bella's words, to know what she was saying to her father to convince him to let her leave. She hadn't told me exactly what her plan was, but I was sure she knew how to handle her father.

I backed the Jeep out of the driveway then drove for a block, until I couldn't see her house any more. As soon as Bella was out of the house, she would come here with her truck and we would drive together to our home where the others would already wait for us. I had not even put the Jeep into park when the passenger door opened and Emmett slipped inside. He took one look at me and sighed.

"She's doing fine, Edward. Her father will let her go."

"And you know that how? Do you now have Alice's abilities?" I all but yelled at him. It wasn't that I was in any way angry at my father, but I just had to let out some steam and he was the nearest target.

Emmett just looked at me until I lowered my gaze. "Sorry," was all I said. I hadn't meant to snap at him.

"It's all right, son," Emmett spoke with a gentle voice, the same one he had used when I had been younger and I had been scared for one reason or another. Back then it had always managed to calm me down and now, after all those years, it still had the same effect on me. I longed to crawl into his arms, like I had done as a kid, but obviously I couldn't do that anymore. Still, it didn't stop me from wishing.

"I'm scared," I admitted in a whisper. "If anything should happen to Bella, I will never be able to forgive myself."

"Nothing will happen to her or to you for that matter," Emmett said, reaching out to place a cold hand on my arm. "We will protect you both. I promise."

I didn't know how Emmett was able to promise that, especially in light of what Alice had seen, but somehow it still made me feel a little better.

I fell silent, watching my father as he listened in on Bella's fight with her father. I really wanted to know what she was telling him, but didn't know how to ask Emmett. I knew whatever it was, it would be hurting her. She loved her father and the only way for him to let her go would be to tell him lies. On one hand I hoped she would be convincing, for her father had to believe her. But on the other hand I wished she didn't need to do it, because I knew what it would cost her.

Emmett's head shot up. "She's coming," he only said.

I waited for the faded red truck to come around the corner. The truck stopped next to the Jeep and through the windows I could see Bella was crying. I practically already had wrenched my door open when Emmett pulled me back.

"Jasper is going to drive her. She's fine."

Just then Jasper opened her door and somehow maneuvered her onto the passenger side of the truck, taking the wheel himself. For one moment I saw Bella's wide eyes then the darkness swallowed her, as Jasper sped up, with us following them.

At the house I got out of the Jeep as quickly as possible, running to Bella's door. If I'd have vampire strength, I would have pulled the door right off its hinges. Bella virtually fell into my arms and I held her shaking form while around us the family got ready. Distantly, I noticed that it had been decided that Esme would stay behind, keeping an eye on Bella's father until it was certain that James and Victoria were both following us. Only then would she follow us as well. Rosalie and Emmett ushered us into the back seat of Carlisle's black Mercedes, but the others went into the BMW and my Volvo.

Doors slammed closed, then the powerful engine of the Mercedes purred to life and we were all heading south.

tbc

AN: Dear readers,

I do have to make a confession. This is it. There is, at least for now, nothing more.

I started writting this story last March (that's March 2009). I was going strong, when suddenly *bamm* I ran into a wall. I tried to go on. I do have a plan where this is going. But I ... just ... couldn't ... get it ... down on paper (or into the computer as it was). I had the story sitting on my hard drive for a long time, as my policy so far always has been not to post in incomplete story. I've kept going back to it, tried a couple of new starts but without any success.

But then I realized that this was by far the longest story I've ever written. I do *like* the story. I want to show it to the world. So I sent it to my friend for beta (who went above and beyond the call of duty - this is so not her fandom it's not even funny any more) and after she sent it back to me, I began posting. Maybe I was hoping by getting feedback, I would finally find the drive to get through that blasted wall in my head. And the feedback and the reviews are a rush, I tell you.

Still I haven't managed to write anything more. I do have a couple of ideas though and once I have a bit more time, I will try to finish this. I haven't given up on the story. But I don't know if this is going to be next week, or next month, or next whatever. When I come back, it will be after I finish the story, so I won't let you hang like this again.

Thanks for everybody who reviewed so far and everybody who's going to do so.

I'm sorry letting you all hang like this. Just ... please be patient.