I thought about that carefully. "When you were mad before…when I was yelling at you… and you were shaking…?"

"Yeah." His face dropped even lower. "That was pretty stupid of me. I have to keep a better hold on myself. I swore I wasn't going to get mad, no matter what you said to me. But…I just got so upset that I was going to lose you...that you couldn't deal with what I am…"

"What would happen…if you got too mad?" I whispered.

"I'd turn into a wolf," he whispered back.

"You don't need a full moon."

"Obviously...you've seen them in the day time," Emmett chuckled.

He rolled his eyes. "Hollywood's version doesn't get much right."

"Actually, now that I think of it, that is different," Carlisle noted. "There are werewolves, or children of the moon, that are changed by the moon...Hmm..."

"I think the Quiletes are more like shape-shifters," Edward said, "but it doesn't really make a difference."

Then he sighed, and was serious again. "You don't need to be so stressed out, Bells. We're going to take care of this.

And we're keeping a special eye on Charlie and the others – we won't let anything happen to him. Trust me on that."

Something very, very obvious, something I should have grasped at once – but I'd been so distracted by the idea of Jacob and his friends fighting with Laurent, that I'd completely missed it at the time – occurred to me only then, when Jacob used the present tense again.

We're going to take care of this.

It wasn't over.

"Laurent is dead," I gasped, and my entire body went ice cold.

"Bella?" Jacob asked anxiously, touching my ashen cheek.

"If Laurent died…a week ago…then someone else is killing people now."

Jacob nodded; his teeth clenched together, and he spoke through them. "There were two of them. We thought his mate would want to fight us – in our stories, they usually get pretty pissed off if you kill their mate –

"Yeah...we do," Edward growled.

"You're so convinced and you haven't even met her yet, Eddy," Emmett laughed.

but she just keeps running away, and then coming back again. If we could figure out what she was after, it would be easier to take her down. But she makes no sense. She keeps dancing around the edges, like she's testing our defenses, looking for a way in – but in where? Where does she want to go? Sam thinks she's trying to separate us, so she'll have a better chance…"

"Fffffhhhh..." Edward hissed.

"This is good Eddy... they'll be able to protect her better," Emmett said.

"I know," Edward said, still looking mutinous.

"Hmmm...she might be difficult," Jasper said. "I had thought that the wolves could have handled her by now. And the way she's described as escaping like that... she must have a really high sense of self to be capable of that."

His voice faded until it sounded like it was coming through a long tunnel; I couldn't make out the individual words anymore. My forehead dewed with sweat and my stomach rolled like I had the stomach flu again. Exactly like I had the flu.

I turned away from him quickly, and leaned over the tree trunk. My body convulsed with useless heaves, my empty stomach contracting with horrified nausea, though there was nothing in it to expel.

Victoria was here. Looking for me. Killing strangers in the woods. The woods where Charlie was searching…

"Oh Bella..." Edward sighed.

My head spun sickeningly.

Jacob's hands caught my shoulders – kept me from sliding forward onto the rocks. I could feel his hot breath on my cheek. "Bella! What's wrong?"

"Victoria," I gasped as soon as I could catch my breath around the nauseous spasms.

In my head, Edward snarled in fury at the name.

"That sounds about right...you did snarl when you first realized it was Victoria," Emmett teased.

I felt Jacob pull me up from my slump. He draped me awkwardly across his lap, laying my limp head against his shoulder. He struggled to balance me, to keep me from sagging over, one way or the other. He brushed the sweaty hair back from my face.

"Who?" Jacob asked. "Can you hear me, Bella? Bella?"

"She wasn't Laurent's mate," I moaned into his shoulder. "They were just old friends…"

"Do you need some water? A doctor? Tell me what to do," he demanded, frantic.

"Shut up and listen to her," Edward groaned.

"I'm not sick – I'm scared," I explained in a whisper. The word scared didn't really seem to cover it.

Jacob patted my back. "Scared of this Victoria?" I nodded, shuddering. "Victoria is the red-haired female?"

I trembled again, and whimpered, "Yes."

"How do you know she wasn't his mate?"

"Laurent told me James was her mate," I explained, automatically flexing the hand with the scar.

He pulled my face around, holding it steady in his big hand. He stared intently into my eyes.

"Did he tell you anything else, Bella? This is important. Do you know what she wants?"

"Of course," I whispered. "She wants me." His eyes flipped wide, then narrowed into slits.

"Why?" he demanded.

"Edward killed James," I whispered. Jacob held me so tightly that there was no need for me to clutch at the hole – he kept me in one piece.

"He knows that saying my name hurts her," Edward moaned.

"She did get…pissed off. But Laurent said she thought it was fairer to kill me than Edward. Mate for mate. She didn't know – still doesn't know, I guess – that…that…" I swallowed hard. "That things aren't like that with us anymore. Not for Edward, anyway."

Edward hissed at that; he was once again enraged and depressed all at once.

Jacob was distracted by that, his face torn between several different expressions. "Is that what happened? Why the Cullens left?"

"I'm nothing but a human, after all. Nothing special," I explained, shrugging weakly.

Something like a growl – not a real growl, just a human approximation – rumbled in Jacob's chest under my ear. "If that idiot bloodsucker is honestly stupid enough –"

Those word seem to pull Edward even more toward despair.

"Please," I moaned. "Please. Don't."

Jacob hesitated, then nodded once.

"This is important," he said again, his face all business now. "This is exactly what we needed to know. We've got to tell the others right away."

He stood, pulling me to my feet. He kept two hands on my waist until he was sure I wasn't going to fall.

"I'm okay," I lied.

He traded his hold on my waist for one of my hands. "Let's go."

He pulled me back toward the truck.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I'm not sure yet," he admitted. "I'll call a meeting. Hey, wait here for just a minute, okay?"

He leaned me against the side of the truck and released my hand.

"Where are you going?"

"I'll be right back," he promised. Then he turned and sprinted through the parking lot, across the road, and into the bordering forest. He flitted into the trees, swift and sleek as a deer.

"Jacob!" I yelled after him hoarsely, but he was already gone.

It was not a good time to be left alone. Seconds after Jacob was out of sight, I was hyperventilating.

"Great job mutt... tell her she's being stalked by a killer vampire and then leave her alone to deal with it," Edward growled.

I dragged myself into the cab of the truck, and mashed the locks down at once. It didn't make me feel any better.

"Because it wouldn't do anything to help you," Emmett smirked.

Victoria was already hunting me. It was just luck that she hadn't found me yet – just luck and five teenage werewolves. I exhaled sharply. No matter what Jacob said, the thought of him coming anywhere close to Victoria was horrifying. I didn't care what he could turn into when he got mad. I could see her in my head, her face wild, her hair like flames, deadly, indestructible…

But, according to Jacob, Laurent was gone. Was that really possible? Edward – I clutched automatically at my chest –

Edward flinched at that; how the mere mention his name cause her pain.

had told me how difficult it was to kill a vampire. Only another vampire could do the job. Yet Jake said this was what werewolves were made for…

He said they were keeping a special eye on Charlie – that I should trust the werewolves to keep my father safe. How could I trust that? None of us were safe! Jacob the very least of all, if he was trying to put himself between Victoria and Charlie…between Victoria and me.

"I wish she could just see that she doesn't need to worry about him," Edward sighed.

I felt like I might be about to throw up again.

A sharp rap on the truck's window made me yelp in terror – but it was just Jacob, back already. I unlocked the door with trembling, grateful fingers.

"You're really scared, aren't you?" he asked as he climbed in.

"Argh," Edward growled.

I nodded.

"Don't be. We'll take care of you – and Charlie, too. I promise."

"The idea of you finding Victoria is scarier than the idea of her finding me," I whispered.

"Bella," Edward hissed.

"It's the way she is, and I don't think she's ever going to change," Esme said soothingly.

"I know..." Edward sighed.

He laughed. "You've got to have a little more confidence in us than that. It's insulting."

I just shook my head. I'd seen too many vampires in action.

"Where did you go just now?" I asked.

He pursed his lips, and said nothing.

"What? Is it a secret?"

He frowned. "Not really. It's kind of weird, though. I don't want to freak you out."

"I've come to realized that nothing freaks her out," Edward said.

"Not for long, at least," Carlisle added, smiling.

"I'm sort of used to weird by this point, you know." I tried to smile without much success.

Jacob grinned back easily. "Guess you'd have to be. Okay. See, when we're wolves, we can… hear each other."

My eyebrows pulled down in confusion.

"Not hear sounds," he went on, "but we can hear…thoughts – each other's anyway – no matter how far away from each other we are. It really helps when we hunt, but it's a big pain otherwise. It's embarrassing – having no secrets like that. Freaky, eh?"

"Not so much...she's already used to someone being able to read thoughts," Jasper smirked.

"Is that what you meant last night, when you said you would tell them you'd seen me, even though you didn't want to?"

"You're quick."

"Thanks."

"You're also very good with weird.

"Yeah, abnormally so," Edward smiled.