Twilight belongs to SMeyer.

A/N:

So, it's me again (thecornergirl) with my chapter featuring the lovely Bella. Can't think of much to say so I'll tell you that AmandaCullen84 is up next chapter with Alice. For now, enjoy Bella.

Thanks for reading!!

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Bella

Fangri-La was located in the heart of Chicago, the country's vampire mecca. Anyone who thought about it would probably assume that someplace like Sin City or New Orleans would be the center of vampire activity here. But their vampire kingdom grew out of the ruins of the Great Chicago Fire, something that I think surprised even them. Now, it's been home to them for so long that no one even questions it anymore. If you're a U.S. vamp, chances are you've spent time in the windy city.

As we approached Fangri-La, I took time to appraise it, as I almost always did. On the outside, I knew it looked just like any other corner bar, housed within a brick building. It was made to purposely blend in.

I knew, however, that the inside was a completely different story. Decorated back in the eighties, when vampires tended to be more on the outlandish side because the fashions of the times were outlandish and they could get away with it, the bar was done up almost completely in red, with black accents here and there. Vinyl and leather dominated the bar, with candelabras hanging on each wall, providing ambiance for the room. The main light came from an old chandelier that hung from the center of the room. Chains hung from the wall and, more than once, I had wondered whether they had been meant for pleasure or pain.

Any unsuspecting humans entering the bar would probably feel like they had just entered into some gruesome sex house, populated by psychopaths and sex-fiends. Luckily for the humans, there were protections placed on the building causing humans to walk right by the bar, without ever wanting to go in. And luckily for me, Enforcers were able to get around protections like this.

"Let's grab a table," Em said as we entered the bar.

I glanced over at him surprised, but followed him to a table off in the corner without comment. We always sat at the bar when we came to Fangri-La, always. It was a tradition that started the night we met.

I waved over to Frank, who was both bartender and owner, as we took our seats. He raised his eyebrow at us, clearly curious over our new seating arrangement, before waving back. I saw him reach down and grab a Red Stripe which, I knew, he kept stocked specifically for me and a Synthetic for Em. He handed them to the waitress, a new vampire I'd never seen before, and pointed to our table.

The waitress headed over to us, checking out every inch of Emmett as she did, obviously liking what she saw.

She was a young vampire, both in human age and vamp age. I estimated the turn happened when she was twenty or twenty-one, and sometime within the past ten years. Her blonde hair was cropped short in a style that didn't quite suit her face. With crystal blue eyes the color of the sky; she had an innocent look that made her appear prettier than she actually was.

She placed our drinks in front of us, paying absolutely no attention to me as she did, and smiled at Emmett in an effort to catch his attention.

"Anything else I can get for you, hun," she asked Em, a Southern accent apparent when she talked.

"No. That'll be all for now," Em answered, without bothering to look up at the girl.

"You sure, hun? You haven't even asked to see a menu. Maybe you'd find something you'd like, if you did." She leaned into his body as she spoke; obviously hoping he would take her up on her not-so-hidden offer.

Em glanced up at her with a look of disgust on his face, surprised that she'd so blatantly throw herself at him after he'd dismissed her.

"No. My friend here and I have things to discuss. We're fine with just the drinks and some privacy," he answered.

"You don't want to waste your time with a lowly human, now, do ya? I'll take care of you in ways that she never could. Why don't you ditch the girl and meet me back at my place, after I get off work?" she asked.

I was surprised at her confidence. She was a young vampire and Emmett was both very powerful and much older than she was; not someone you'd want to piss off. But, I figured, she must have thought that she was making him an offer he couldn't refuse.

He stared her down until she finally started to look uncomfortable.

"I don't want what you're offering," he answered. "And you need to do your homework before you insult your customers, especially when that customer is an Enforcer."

"She don't scare me. I can handle Enforcers," she said obstinately, pointing over at me when she spoke.

"Not when that Enforcer is Bella Swan, you can't," he said.

She cut her eyes to me and I could see the growing fear in them; obviously my reputation had preceded me in this case.

Em leaned back in his chair so that he could see around the girl to the bar. "Frank?" he called, bringing the owner's attention to our little problem.

"Molly! Get over here!" Frank yelled anger in his voice. The staff at Fangri-La was well-trained and well-paid and Frank expected them to be professionals. Our waitress, Molly, had clearly fallen short of the professional behavior expected of her.

Molly, her eyes still on me and her posture now defensive, slowly backed away from our table. When she reached what I'm assuming she felt was a safe distance, she turned and scurried over to Frank.

"Well, that was interesting," I said, breaking the silence that had fallen over our table.

"Sorry about that, Babe," Em said.

"I don't know why you're sorry, it's not like you did anything wrong. And what exactly are they saying about me now-a-days?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Why'd she look at me like I was going to reach over and yank out her heart when you told her my name? That's what I mean."

"You're legendary, Babe. Any half-intelligent vampire would be a little nervous around you. And one so young, well, she'd have to be a half-wit not to see you as a serious threat," he answered.

I leaned towards him, a smile pasted on my face, and asked, "What about you, Em? Are you frightened of me?"

The smile that spread on his face was so obviously lecherous that I leaned back and gave him a disgusted look. "Stop picturing me naked!" I hissed at him.

We'd slept with each other exactly one time, that first night we met, and it had been haunting me ever since. Em has an almost photographic memory when it comes to female bodies, and he called on his memory of mine more times than I was comfortable with. He had a certain smile that signaled when he was remembering back to that night, something that embarrassed me more than I wanted to admit.

"It's hard to be afraid of someone I've done the horizontal tango with, Babe. Besides, underneath the intense exterior of yours, I know that you're just a big pussycat," he said.

I stared at him in disbelief; no one had ever compared me to a cat before.

"Okay, maybe not a pussycat exactly," Em backpedaled, "Maybe you're more like a panther. But that's still in the cat family."

I rolled my eyes at him before deciding to drop it in an effort to get down to business.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on that has you acting all secretive?" I asked.

"We'll get to it. First, I believe we have a debt to settle," he answered as he pulled his ring off his finger with a grimace.

"Em, you don't really have to do this. I got what I wanted from the bet; you can keep your ring."

"What precisely was it that you wanted from the bet? I've always wondered why you were willing to put your Emblem on the line. The more I got to know you, the more out of character it seemed for you."

"It's not important. What matters is that I got what I was looking for, so you can keep your ring," I said, trying to evade his question.

"Nice try, Isabella; but now you really have my curiosity peaked. What, pray tell, was your goal from the bet? And you know I'm not going to let up about this so you might as well just tell me. Oh! I know! You were hoping we'd end up sleeping together, right?" he asked.

I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. I knew I'd have to tell him now, otherwise he'd assume that was the real reason.

"No, you ass, my goal wasn't to sleep with you. Look, okay, if you tell anyone this I will hunt you down and kill you. Got it?"

He laughed but agreed.

"All right, the truth is, when we met I'd been on my own as an Enforcer for about two years and I didn't have a lot of friends. Actually, I didn't have any friends. My job makes it hard to have human friends and I hadn't really met any vampires who were looking to become friends with an Enforcer. The end result was a big case of loneliness."

"When I met you, we got to talking and we clicked in a weird sort of way. So I thought there was a chance we'd be able to start up a friendship, if we just had the time to get to know each other. The bet seemed like a good way to legitimately prolong contact with you in hopes of one day becoming friends. I know, it's pathetic, but there you go. So, you see, you can keep your ring, what I really wanted from the bet was a friend and I've gotten that."

When I finished talking Em just sat and stared at me. It wasn't a normal Emmett stare –which is usually jokingly appraising - either. This one was more serious. He might on occasion jokingly look me over but, since we met, this was the first time I felt he was really taking my measure.

Finally, he broke off the stare to take a drink of the Synthetic, and then started talking. "I was lonely too, actually. I wasn't on the search for a new friend because I wasn't exactly in a trusting mood at the time, but I was looking for a distraction. I had no idea when I picked you up that night that you would end up becoming my closest friend. But now, here it is, five years later and you're both the person I trust the most and the person I care about the most. And you know what Bells? It sucks caring so much about a human. You're fragile and you're stubborn and you're job demands that you put yourself into these dangerous situations and every time we say goodbye I worry that this time will be the last time. I got the raw end of this deal. I love you kid but it sucks loving someone so breakable."

I didn't know what to say. Emmett and I didn't exactly have the type of relationship where we confessed our feelings to each other, so I was already at a loss as to how to handle our current conversation. To top it off, I had had no idea he considered me his closest friend or that he worried about me so much. In a way, I felt bad; I didn't want him to worry about me. But, at the same time, I knew it didn't matter whether the person you cared most about was an almost invincible vampire or a fragile human; you'd still worry about them. I had the same fear every time I left Emmett; that this would be our final goodbye.

"Why are you telling me all of this now," I asked.

I knew that though my confession might have been an influential force, it wouldn't have been the main motivation for him offering up his feelings like that. Em wasn't a tit for tat kind of guy, at least not when it came to emotional bearing of the soul.

"I just thought it was time. For the past five years you've been my, sort of, wingman. We vampires might not be the most social of creatures, but most of us still need people around us we can trust; we still crave friendships. If I hadn't had you these past years, I would have had no one. I just wanted you to know that," he explained.

"You've been it for me, too, Em. I honestly don't know how I would have made it all these last years without you. I'm glad Shamus was such a pain in the ass to catch because I'm glad I ended up in this bar that night, glad I had an excuse for our bet."

Em awkwardly cleared his throat, and I knew this particular discussion was done. We'd both had about as much as we could take of the sentimental talk. Neither of us are what you would call emotional people.

"All right, enough with the mushy shit. We still have things to discuss. First, take the damn ring, Bella," he said, trying to hand it to me as he spoke.

"Em, no; it's your ring. You keep it, the bet is void."

"That's not how it works. Plus, I want you to keep it for a while. One day, I'll get it back but for now, you wear it," he said.

I considered him for a moment before I finally took the ring from him. It was too big for my fingers so I unhooked the chain holding my Emblem and hung it on there. I pulled the neck of my shirt back away from my body and let the Emblem and ring drop down, safely hidden from view.

I looked up to catch a smile on Em's face and knew he was getting a kick out of his ring hanging between my breasts. I rolled my eyes at him. "You're a perv," I said.

"I know it," he answered.

I sighed loudly, pretending to be annoyed. Really, though, his honest acceptance of his faults always made me laugh a little – it was why I let him get away with as much as I did.

"And finally, on to business," he said, keeping us focused. "I'm gonna have to go out of town for a while. I don't know how long I'll be gone; it could just be a couple of days, it could be a lot longer. I think there's a good chance you won't be able to get in touch with me while I'm gone; it depends on what the situation is when I get there. Call my cell if you have any emergencies and leave a message, I'll try to check it as often as possible. But, Babe, try not to have any emergencies; at the very least it will take me a while to get to you if you're in need of help."

"Wait, where are you going and why," I asked, both concerned and curious. In all the time I've known Emmett, this was the first time he's gone Mr. Mysterio on me.

His eyes shifted down and to the left a little before he answered, a sure sign he was either about to lie or hiding something from me. "Just something I have to deal with. It's nothing to be concerned about, it just might take me a little while to get it done and I wanted you to know so you wouldn't be worried about me."

We both knew what the unspoken part of that sentence was; he didn't want me worrying about him because he was afraid I would track him down. He didn't want me coming after him; which meant that he was hiding something from me.

"What happens if you need my help," I asked.

"I won't but, if I did, I'd get in touch with you."

"Are you sure you'd be able to?"

He paused for a moment to consider. "I'm sure," he finally answered. That time his eyes had stayed focused on me, he hadn't been lying. Or, at least, he hadn't thought he was.

"You'll come back when you're done?" I had to ask. I needed to know that he planned to return when he took care of whatever it was he had to go off to do.

"I will," he said simply, eyes focused again on me, reassuring me.

"You can't tell me what this is about," I asked, attempting one last time to figure out what was going on.

"No. I'm sorry, Bells," was all he said. No explanation and, that time, no attempt to deny that there was something he couldn't tell me.

I sat in silent contemplation for a moment, debating my options. I could try to force some answers out of him, which I knew would ultimately be unsuccessful. I could attempt to follow him when he left, but I was sure he'd be watching for me. Or, I could let him go, trusting that he would call me if he needed help and would return when he could.

I sighed loudly, knowing I only had one option.

"All right, go. I promise not to try to follow you."

"I didn't say you were going to," he said.

"It was implied. When are you planning to leave?"

"Tomorrow; sun-down," was his answer.

"Will you be careful," I asked, knowing that he would be, but needing to hear him say it anyway.

"Always," he said with a smile on his face. He liked having someone to worry about him, I knew.

I nodded my head in acceptance, knowing there was nothing else I could do.

"Let's make the most of the time we have, then. Come on and I'll kick your ass in a game of pool," I said getting up from the table as I spoke. Em was only a second behind me, both of us heading to the open pool table in the corner.

I watched Emmett for the rest of the night, trying to sort through what I was feeling. I finally admitted to myself that what I was feeling was despair.

As a bounty hunter, I knew that I wasn't the fastest. Nor was I the strongest, or even the smartest. I didn't think I was the bravest, either. What I had going for me, what had helped me earn the reputation I had and at such a young age and what had continuously kept me alive was instincts. I had learned to trust my instincts early on; that trust had paid off, my instincts were hardly ever wrong.

Now, my instincts were telling me that trouble was on the horizon. I felt sure that Em's trip would be the catalyst to this trouble. The only problem was, I didn't know what that trouble would be or whether it would come after Emmett alone, or the both of us together. Either way, I was going to be ready.

I wasn't sure if I believed in God or not, but as I got on my Ducatti and waved goodbye to Emmett, I silently prayed that I would have the chance to see him again; that this wouldn't be our last goodbye.

A/N:

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