I stared at him blankly for one second before I understood. Then the blood drained from my face and a thin, wordless cry of horror broke through my lips.

He nodded. "I thought you, of all people, would realize what was really going on."

"Laurent," I whispered. "He's still here."

"No... I'm afraid it's worse than that," Edward groaned.

"Yeah, the wolves took care of him already," Emmett smirked. "How good do you think the wolves are...?" he mused.

"You will not pick a fight with the wolves, Emmett," Esme scolded sharply.

"I know," Emmett pouted. "They just sound..."

"We made a treaty," Carlisle said in a smooth voice, effectively ending the discussion.

Jacob blinked twice, and cocked his head to one side. "Who's Laurent?"

I tried to sort out the chaos in my head so that I could answer. "You know – you saw him in the meadow. You were there…" The words came out in a wondering tone as it all sunk in.

"You were there, and you kept him from killing me…"

"Oh, the black-haired leech?" He grinned, a tight, fierce grin. "Was that his name?"

I shuddered. "What were you thinking?" I whispered. "He could have killed you! Jake, you don't realize how dangerous –"

Another laugh interrupted me "Bella, one lone vampire isn't much of a problem for a pack as big as ours. It was so easy, it was hardly even fun!"

"It looks like you could get along with these mutts, Em," Rosalie said.

"What was so easy?"

"Killing the bloodsucker who was going to kill you. Now, I don't count that towards the whole murder thing," he added quickly. "Vampires don't count as people."

"No... we are already dead," Edward said. "I wouldn't count us either."

I could only mouth the words. "You… killed… Laurent?"

He nodded. "Well, it was a group effort," he qualified.

"Laurent is dead?" I whispered.

His expression changed. "You're not upset about that, are you?

"Not at all," Edward said. "We're all pleased with that."

He was going to kill you – he was going for the kill, Bella, we were sure of that before we attacked. You know that, right?"

"Oh... they were on our land weren't they," Carlisle guessed. "Not that it's ours really, seeing as we left."

"Not that any one of us would hold it against them this time," Edward said.

"I know that. No, I'm not upset – I'm…" I had to sit down. I stumbled back a step until I felt the driftwood against my calves, and then sank down onto it. "Laurent is dead. He's not coming back for me."

"You're not mad? He wasn't one of your friends or anything, was he?"

"My friend?" I stared up at him, confused and dizzy with relief. I started babbling, my eyes getting moist. "No, Jake. I'm so…so relieved. I thought he was going to find me – I've been waiting for him every night, just hoping that he'd stop with me and leave Charlie alone. I've been so frightened, Jacob…But how? He was a vampire! How did you kill him? He was so strong, so hard, like marble…"

"Harder than that," Emmett scoffed.

He sat down next to me and put one big arm around me comfortingly. "It's what we're made for, Bells. We're strong, too. I wish you would have told me that you were so afraid. You didn't need to be."

"It's not like you two were talking at the time," Edward muttered... he would have liked the pup to tell her this too, not wanting her too be worried about that.

"You weren't around," I mumbled, lost in thought.

"Oh, right."

"Wait, Jake – I thought you knew, though. Last night, you said it wasn't safe for you to be in my room. I thought you knew that a vampire might be coming. Isn't that what you were talking about?"

He looked confused for a minute, and then he ducked his head. "No, that's not what I meant."

"Then why didn't you think it was safe for you there?"

"Backwards again," Emmett laughed.

He looked at me with guilt-ridden eyes. "I didn't say it wasn't safe for me. I was thinking of you."

"What do you mean?"

He looked down and kicked a rock. "There's more than one reason I'm not supposed to be around you, Bella. I wasn't supposed to tell you our secret, for one thing, but the other part is that it's not safe for you. If I get too mad…too upset…you might get hurt."

"I'm counting on you, dog, to not let that happen," Edward warned and if Jacob were here right now, he would have quivered under the glare Edward was giving - the conviction behind the words.