Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and dialogue belong to Stephenie Meyer. Thank you.

Previously:

I rolled over on my side and rearranged my blankets. However, before I closed my eyes again I glanced around the room one more time to make sure that I was alone.

I wasn't.

Chapter Nine

Deviation

Standing in the corner of the room, concealed in the shadows was a man. His hard muscled body and glossy black hair were very familiar to me. As I began to realize the situation that I was in, my heartbeat accelerated, and as if it were a cue, Laurent stepped forward.

"Bella, Bella, Bella…" he sighed, as he walked closer to me on the bed. "It's funny that you should show up here, I was just getting ready to make a trip to Forks." Although his eyes were the golden color that I knew I should be able to trust, the way he was looking at me was very unsettling and I was very conscious of the hairs standing up on the back of my neck.

"Really, may I ask why?" I continued to look down, refusing to meet his penetrating gaze, but he sat on the side of my bed and reached his hand up to my chin to tilt it towards him. I quickly snapped my head away from his touch.

He continued as if nothing happened. "You may, I was actually going there as a favor to Victoria." He stated simply, and I needed no further explanation than that. Victoria had been James' mate and she had been the one who found my old Phoenix address and given it to him.

"Glad to hear you two are still keeping in touch." I knew I was done for. Everyone had gone hunting and there would be no way I could escape or even hope to fight against Laurent.

Yes, Bella. You see, our kind are very, very loyal to the ones we care about. I am truly sorry that you had to experience first hand what happens when we get distracted and lose interest." As he spoke, he stood from the bed and began pacing in a semi-circle around me. I could feel my mouth fall open, he had spoken almost the exact words that Edward had said to me in the woods. I pushed back the tears that were threatening to fall; I would not let Laurent see me cry. I was not weak.

"Edward did not 'lose interest.'" I lifted my two hands from under my blanket in order to make air-quotes. "He left because he loves me and he was afraid to hurt me." I sneered at him.

"I think you are mistaken Bella. You have to understand how difficult it must have been for Edward to be so… careful with you all of the time. It may have looked easy to you, but it takes so much for one of our kind to control our strength around humans." As if to demonstrate this point to me, Laurent stood next to the bedside table and placed his hand flat on it. Then he tilted his head to me and smirked, before crushing the solid wood nightstand into a thousand little pieces.

He brushed his hands together before continuing: "And on top of that to resist the urge to drink. Frankly, during the whole incident with James, I was surprised he even bothered with the trouble of trying to save you. But to be honest, I'm really surprised that he didn't drink from you when he decided to leave, after all you do smell so mouthwatering." He said as he began to step closer to me, and I noticed that his eyes were no longer gold, but black.

"Well that just proves that Edward loves me." I sneered back at him. Who was he to say anything about my relationship with Edward? He didn't know us.

"No, it just proves that he loved you then." He stated confidently, and I hated him for his insinuation.

"Fuck you." Nice Bella, way to instigate the bloodthirsty vampire.

"Now-now Bella. I don't really think you're in a position to be speaking to me like that. I can end your existence in a matter of seconds." He smirked at me as he said that.

I knew it was stupid, but I did not like being thought of as weak, or as one that was easily scared, so I baited him: "well then, what are you waiting for?"

He chuckled… he fucking chuckled at me like I was some amusing little toy created just for his amusement. I was so pissed off that I almost missed what he was saying. "Because I am debating whether or not drinking from you now will be worth facing Victoria's wrath later on. She really is put out with you, Bella."

"Surprise, surprise." I muttered darkly.

"You know, I actually think I would be doing you a favor, I'll make your death quick and relatively painless. And it seems that her plan is flawed anyway. Apparently you don't mean as much to Edward as James did to her, since he left you and hasn't returned. Oh well, she'll just have to deal with it." Laurent said as he began making his way toward me. I knew there would be no chance of escape, I was still seated under the comforter on the bed.

"Keep him talking." Edward's velvet voice filled my ears. I whipped my head around from side to side, vainly hoping that Edward's body accompanied his voice, but unfortunately the voice was only in my head.

I scrambled my brain for something to say, but was coming up short, so I said the first thing that I thought of. "Laurent, where is Irina?"

He laughed darkly before he answered, "Well Bella, I tried to get away from her after we received Tanya's phone call, but she knew something was up when I suggested we should separate. Long story short, I – what is that you humans say? – broke up with her? Yes, she is just absolutely in pieces over it too." He laughed again, and I was not so naïve as to not understand the double meaning, he had ripped Irina apart and most likely burned her body. I was suddenly struck with immense guilt and grief over this vampire that I had never meant. She was dead, for good this time, because of me.

It seemed to me like everything was happening in slow motion as Laurent continued to walk toward the bed. Then I heard Edward's voice say: "Threaten him."

"They'll know it was you!" I practically shouted at him, and secretly hoped that it hurt is over-sensitive ears. "When Tanya, Kate, Carmen, and Eleazar come back, they'll know it was you, and you won't be able to get away with it."

Laurent brought his hand to his face and began caressing his chin as he thought about what I'd just said. I knew it was premature, but I felt the small stirrings of hope in me. Those feelings were squashed as he tilted his head to the side and said, "I'll take my chances. I'm certain you will be worth the risk."

My heartbeat accelerated and Laurent smirked. "Beg!" Edward's disembodied voice urged me, and I could deny him nothing.

"Please, please don't." I knew I was being sincere, but the irony of the situation was not lost on me. Even at this very moment, when I am seconds from death, my greatest wish was still to be bitten by a vampire, just not this with one. I closed my eyes and tried to conjure up a vision of Edward. I love you, always, forever, I thought.

"I'm sor-" Laurent began but stopped mid-word. The sounds of glass shattering brought me back to the present as my eyes shot open. I had expected to see Laurent's face inches from mine, but instead I was staring at a long mane of straight blonde hair. My heart leapt in my chest as I recognized Kate, and I knew that if she was here the others must be close. But my glee soon faded when I realized that Laurent intended to stay and fight her.

Laurent bared his teeth and sunk into a defensive crouch, as I heard a snarl come from Kate. It all happened so fast that I almost missed the fight, if you can even call it that. One second Laurent was about to pounce and the next I knew, Kate had her hand pressed firmly to his chest as he lay flat on his back, twitching on the ground. I immediately understood that whatever she was doing must have been an enhanced ability.

It wasn't very long before Tanya also jumped through the broken window. Seconds later, Carmen and Eleazar entered through the bedroom door. All at once, the three vampires approached Kate and Laurent and began dismembering Laurent.

"They'll be right back Bella." Carmen said as Tanya, Kate, and Eleazar jumped out of the window carrying pieces of Laurent's body. "Are you okay?" She asked.

I thought about that for a couple minutes before I answered. Was I okay? "Yes." I answered, because it was true. James had done more physical damage to me in Phoenix, and I had suffered more emotional damage in the past few months, so truthfully on the whole, I was doing pretty damn good, I just felt like a ton of bricks was resting on my chest.

Carmen just shook her head and began to speak, "I am so sorry about all of this Bella. I jus-"

"No. Don't apologize. I am an adult and I knew what I was getting myself into when I entered into a relationship with Edward. He tried to give me an out, he tried to keep me safe, but I don't want it. I am just sorry that I bring misfortune wherever I go."

"Bella, I know you don't want an apology, but I also know that none of us want you to blame yourself either." Carmen said softly, and I nodded my assent.

I turned my head toward the broken window when I smelt something burning. I became instantly nauseous when I realized it was Laurent. Not because I felt remorseful or sad about his death, but just because I was forcing Tanya and her family to kill. Trying to distract myself from what was going on outside, I asked Carmen, "how was Kate able to keep Laurent down?"

"Kate has an enhanced ability that gives her the power to run an electric current through her hands. She is able to incapacitate both humans and vampires; of course it takes much more voltage to keep a vampire down." She explained.

I turned my head toward the bedroom door as Tanya, Kate, and Eleazar entered. Figuring that they heard the beginning of the conversation that Carmen and I were having, so I continued with my next question: "Why would Laurent get so close to Kate then? He should have known you'd use your powers." The second sentence was directed more to Kate than anyone else.

"I never told him that I had a power, or that any of us did. Irina thought we were being prejudiced because of his former lifestyle, but really we just didn't trust him." Kate said.

"And for good reason apparently." Eleazar added, while wrapping his arm around Carman's waist.

"Speaking of Irina, where is she?" Tanya asked, as she looked around the room and starred at the bed as if expecting to find Irina snuggling under the covers.

My stomach plummeted as I thought about telling Irina's family that she was dead, and that it was essentially my fault. I braced myself, taking a deep breath before answering: "I am so sorry, but Laurent… Laurent told me that he killed Irina. I'm really sorry."

"You two go and back-track his scent and see if you can find her. We'll stay here and watch over Bella." Eleazar said as he motioned his head toward the window as the blur that was Tanya and Kate ran out the door.

I sat back down on the bed and rubbed the heel of my palms against my eyes, this had been a very long weekend. "Thank you." I sighed. "Carmen, Eleazar, thank you for saving me."

"Of course Bella." Carmen said reassuringly.

I looked over at the clock on the bedside table, which said that it was two in the morning. Carmen and everyone else had only left an hour and a half ago. "How did you know to come back, that I was in trouble?" I asked, even though I had an idea as to the answer.

"Alice called my cell phone." Carmen confirmed my suspicion. "She told us to go home immediately, that you were in danger. And then she hung up."

Well, at least Alice wanted to keep me alive, that was comforting. After that, the three of us waited in silence until we heard the front door open. Carmen and Eleazar immediately left the room and I followed right behind them.

When I entered the living room, everyone was crouched down on the floor; as I got closer I was able to see that there was a fifth figure on the ground. The blood rushed to my faced and was pounding in my head when I realized that it was Irina on the ground, with her body in tact. "She's okay?! Irina's okay?" I asked no one in particular.

"She will be." Eleazar said. "Laurent tore her apart, but he didn't burn her body. We were able to put her back together and eventually the venom in her system will heal all of the wounds." I was immensely relieved.

Carmen left Irina's side and walked over to me, "Bella, you've had a very rough night, I think you should try and get some sleep."

"You can use my room." Kate offered. "I'm going to stay with Irina in hers."

"Thank you Kate. Thank you everyone. I appreciate everything you've all done for me." I said before I made my way back up the stairs to get my things out of the spare bedroom and move them to Kate's room.

I knew I was too keyed up to sleep, so I pulled out my journal and began to write a note to Edward.

I feel stronger now, like a fighter. I'm fighting for you, for us. I know that when we first met you were so scared about bringing me into your "dangerous" world, but I never believed that you were dangerous, or that you were a monster. However, now after everything we have gone through: James, the incident on my birthday, and tonight with Laurent, I completely understand what you were afraid of. This world isn't for the faint hearted or those easily scared away. But as we both know, I have no sense of self-preservation, and I don't think that that is a coincidence. Everything I am is compatible with you. My blood attracted you, my silent mind gives you peace, and you make me feel alive. I truly believe that I was made for you, and I will find you.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please review, I appreciate them all!!