Disclaimer. All publicly recognizable characters, settings etc, are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

This story is being betaed and pre read Savage Grace and by Letsjustdance. Thank you girls.

Thank you to all of you that took the time to review. Your words have made me very happy.

I excuse myself for the time it took for me to update. My real life was very demanding the past few months and I had little to no time to write. But now I am already working in all of my stories.

The menace

Chapter 9

Jasper Whitlock POV

Last chapter

I disconnected the computer and closed the car. I grabbed my pack of cigarettes and smoked one while I thought about the future. I heard a moan and I smiled. Alice had been right. The girl - Isabella. She changed me. But I was also right; she really was a menace to the Cullen's. I had never known how much of a threat she was until now. She had awakened me. The shift that I feel inside me is the most amazing thing that I ever felt. I feel alive with anticipation.

Today is the first day of the rest of my eternity and I can't wait.

Now

I went inside the cabin and slowly walked over to the bed. I needed to wake up the girl. She was lying on her back, sleeping as if she had not a worry in the world. She was half covered by the furs in the bed and looked warm and comfortable. I took my time to organize my thoughts and to clear my mind. I knew that it was essential that I kept a clear head right and I needed to somehow gain her trust and show her that I was somewhat regretful of my actions.

My eyes drank in her sleeping form and pleasure shot through me. She affected me more and more with each passing hour and it felt as if she was draining my energy. As if she was taking down all the walls that I had built around me as if they were nothing! I looked at my hands and then at her body and what I saw made me frown. There were bruises in the shape of my fingers on her arms and for the first time in my life as a vampire I felt something akin to shame. And yet the vision before me made something shift deep inside me. She looked so innocent, young and frail in this big bed. My eyes zeroed on the bite mark that was visible on her arm. MY BITE! I felt a strange sense of pride and happiness that she would have my mark on her body. The mark of my teeth, one proof of ownership that even the change into a vampire would not erase.

A strange sound started in my chest and it all but startled me. It was a low, deep and rolling growl coming from deep within me. A faint memory popped across my mind and played almost like a silent movie in front of my eyes, fuzzy as all of my human memories. A fat grey cat was lying in an old woman's lap. The woman was sitting on the porch of a white farmhouse; the animal was making the same kind of sound that was now coming from my chest as the old woman petted him. Besides her, sitting on the wooden floor there was a small girl, maybe 8 or 9 years old, with long golden hair playing with a porcelain doll. The woman had white hair pulled up in an elegant chignon and startling blue eyes, filled with kindness and love as she looked at me.

"Came here, my Jasper, my sweet brave boy, you have been out on the fields all morning. Drink this to quench your thirst." She said handing me a glass of cold lemonade that I gladly took. Nana! It was the first time that I remembered her since my change.

This woman was my grandmother Sophia, the woman who took care of me and my siblings when my mother died, just after having giving birth to my sister, Coralline and my brother Jackson. I was only ten years old at the time. My father had died a few months shortly after my mother in a hunting accident outside Houston, leaving us under the care of my grandmother. We were the last of the Whitlock's and my grandmother Sophia and her lifetime Cajun maid Josephine had raised us. Jackson, had unfortunately died a few years ago of a disease in his lungs.

I let the memory play.

I had so little memories left from my human days and it was so good to see the two most important persons in my life at the time. I knew that this memory had been from little before I went to war. I worked hard in the fields. I was already a man at seventeen and I was running our family's farm as head of our house and the last male of the Whitlock family. I knew that that was enough to keep me out of the war but I wanted to fight and I had already enlisted.

"You have grown up so much; you are a man now, and a wonderful one at that. I am so proud of you." She smiled a warm, bright smile as she held my other hand in hers.I sat down on the armchair beside her and savored the cold drink and the end of a long morning of work.

"Soon, this unfair war will be over and you will find a nice girl, get married and fill this house with your own children and our plantation will prosper once again. I will want at least seven grandchildren from you, so you better go looking for a nice girl at the next ball!" She said bossily and I found myself laughing as my grandmother did. But at the same time I remembered the pride I felt at her words. I would have a big family to continue our name.

The whole memory screamed happiness and satisfaction, and the images were so clear, like if it had been my vampire mind that saw them. The cat and I were making the same sound. Purring? I had never heard something like this coming from my body, although I had heard it coming from some male vampires when around their females. The ones that they call mates. Strangely I never heard Carlisle do it, and I know I never did it. But I had heard Emmet and Peter do it. For their women! For their mat…

Hell no!

No, No, No, and No!

I decided that it was better to steer away from this line of thought and to just look at the girl again.

The sight of her round and firm breasts, softly moving to the rhythm of her breathing was amazingly erotic.

It was weird but now I couldn't stand the idea of sharing her, as I have shared Alice or any other woman that I had had. And I couldn't understand this, not for the life of me, because it was not only because she was gifted, it was something deeper. Maybe Peter could shed some light into all of this. He was more sensible to these questions than I, even if I was the one gifted. My mind was more rational and strategically oriented than his. My priority now had to be to devise a plan to make her accept her life with me. By my side, a voice eagerly clarified inside of me.

While I looked at her I thought that the best way to gain her over to my side was to be honest and with that certainty I made some concrete decisions. I would need to tell her the whole truth about everything. She was already trapped in our world so there was no real harm done. She guessed what I was last night and had uttered the word, vampire. There was no escape for her after that. Her destiny, as I saw it and as the Volturi law stated could only be one of two: turned or dead. There was no other way out. And I would never allow her to die, not now.

There was also no question in my mind that I was going to sire her. My venom, and my bite, no one else's on her body. I needed to have her bound to me with the strongest connection that I knew of. I wanted my sire's bite to hold her to me, to bind her to me, and me alone. She would never know how to break its hold. It was a very well kept secret.

Caius was the one to tell me how to fight the sire's bite. It all came down to hatred. You have to hate your sire and you have to want to be free of hers or his hold on you with all your heart and desire. It has to be your only wish, your only desire, your only thought, your only goal. It must go above even your need for blood, or for sex. Hatred must become the only emotion to rule your world. And hatred I had. I had given the bitch so much for a hundred years and got only scars in return. Having me by her side made her lazy, smug and greedy. It was easy to hate her and it worked.

I inhaled deeply to steel myself. She still smelled of me and of our mutual releases and it made my vampiric instincts want to claim her further.

What could I do to insure her loyalty and to ensure that she remained with me, besides telling her the whole truth and changing her?

I kidnapped her, held her against her will, faked her death to the outside world and I physically punished her. She was not happy with me and I can downright say that she hated my guts even if she lusted after me. But it was only lust and sex, nothing deeper. A sneaky thought entered my mind…What would it be like to have her love?

I snorted.

Yep, like she could ever love a bastard like you!

Focus on the task ahead, establish your plan.

As I continued to look at her trying to remain objective, a thought made my mind come to a halt. I could try and seduce her.

As far as I knew, all of her sexual experiences have been with me. It was a powerful bond when added with the venom of the sire. I had most likely been the first man to touch her intimately and I was sure that I was the first to see her naked. I could be her first real kiss. I could be the first man to enter her and to show her what it meant to be a woman. This thought thrilled me in a way that I could not understand.

A moan coming from my girl shook me from my musings and I lost control of myself for a second. The images that swirled through my head a moment ago left me in frenzy of desire. I couldn't help but to move towards her and gently lay my naked body on top of hers, delighting in its warmth and softness. She was instantly awake and stiff, staring right back at me with her expressive brown eyes. An unknown emotion filled me at the contact with those eyes. It was a warm feeling made of longing, need, want and desire and it left me off balance. It was not sent by her, oh no! She was enraged, blind fury and anger slipping from her as she tried to wriggle from under me, creating the most delicious friction.

"Let me go, get of of me, you bastard!"She yelled at me, flushed from her effort to get away from me. It angered me but I controlled myself. Patience Whitlock! Remember your prize!

"Language Isabella!" I managed to admonish her gently; my voice was husky with desire, while a smile tugged my lips. I wanted to moan and tell her to go further to the left. "I would hate to punish you again, and I know that you don't want it either. We have a lot to talk about, so maybe you could get up, shower and eat something before we sit down and talk." Anger, suspicion and loathing for me were her cocktail for the day.

I felt lost in my resolutions for a moment and all I wanted to do was to lose control and abandon myself in her.

NO!

That was not a good feeling for me. It has been the story of my life. Losing control of my life and handing it to others.

Never again! I had vowed to myself almost sixty years ago.

I won't ever again lose control. I belong to me. I own me!

But I cannot stop my head from lowering to hers and to plant a small, gentle kiss in her lips. Her gasp of surprise and her wide eyes make me smile as I felt the heat from her blush spread through her body.

"You are so beautiful, Isabella, I never thought that you would take my breath away like you do!" I was aware of the low, husky quality of my voice. She was stiff as a board, confusion and disbelief flowing from her mixed with a bit of embarrassment and lust. I smiled to her once again delighting in the speeding of the rhythm of her heart at my words and smile.

I gave her one last little kiss before getting off of her. I held my hand for her to get up and that had the effect of shaking her from the stupor that my actions put her in. She swatted my hand away, running to the bathroom. Patience Whitlock! I saw that her bottom is still a deep red and I made a mental note to convince her to let me take care of it later. It needs the soothing balm again.

She stopped near the bathroom door and I could feel that she was reluctant to ask me something. I knew what she wanted and I decided to be the good guy that I have to be to win her over.

"Tomorrow you will have new clothes."I walked to my duffel bag and took out a pair of my sweats and a long sleeved tee. "Today you can use these. They are new. You may use them until you have your own clothes." I handed her the clothes and stood by as she looked at them as if they were going to bite her. I sighed. "It's only clothes Isabella. I know you will feel more comfortable wearing them than naked."

"I don't want anything from you," she spat haughtily.

"I know you don't. But I am trying here, so give me a break. If you don't want them I will be happier anyway." I wiggled my eyebrows at her and it produced the desired effect. She blushed, her heart started beating wildly and I felt a spike of lust. She scurried to the safety of the toilet, taking the clothes with her, leaving me smirking.

I walked back to the kitchen area to warm her food. Once I was finished I put the tray on the step of the fireplace. I put some more logs in it and as I looked out the window I could see that the storm that I have been waiting on is already raging. The night was going to be long and cold. I put some sweats on not bothering with a tee. Half an hour later she came out of the bathroom all cleaned up and dressed. My clothes are too big on her but it endeared me to see her in them. Her emotions were swirling with anger, fear, suspicion and disbelief, but there was also a bit of hope and a small flicker of her ever present lust for me in there. I know why. She didn't want to believe in my change, but deep down she had hoped that I would let her go.

No, baby, you are in too deep now, and after tonight your place in the human world is over. She hesitantly stepped over to the fireplace and sat on the armchair closer to the warmth and the food, wincing when her sore bottom touched the soft velvet.

"I didn't know what you liked to eat so I made you this. If you want, tomorrow you can cook something more to your liking." She just started eating, not bothering to give me an answer.

I waited in silence until she finished eating. Vampire speed I cleared the table and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and handed it to her.

She just shook her head while looking at the fire.

"Isabella." I said her name gently and she turned her head to glare at me."I know that you are pissed at me, but I have a story to tell you and I would like for you to hear it before speaking. Can you do that for me?" Sweet Jesus I had never had to talk to a human like that and I didn't like it.

"Why would I do anything for you? You have attacked me, kidnapped me, bit me and dd-drunk my blood, drugged me, and abused me, why in the world would I do anything for you?"

Well, she had a point. No need to beat around the bush.

"Because hearing what I have to say, may mean the difference between life and death for you and for your father and his friends." The only sign that I had that she had listened to what I had said was the increase in the beating of her heart. Her emotions were all gone. Again!

"I presume that you know that I am not human?" I waited for her to respond. She just gave me a stiff nod.

"I am a vampire. I have been a vampire for the last a hundred and fifty years more or less." Again her soft gasp was the only visible manifestation that she was hearing me.

"I believe that you are aware of my existence due to the Quileute legends, as I investigated and learnt that you and your father are long time friends with the tribe. I credit it to your intelligence to have linked the dots last night enough to understand the truth of what I am. However that causes us a problem."She narrowed her eyes at me, not saying anything.

"You see, one of the main laws of my kind is that any human that is aware of our existence must be either killed or changed into one of us. There are no exceptions, never. And a heartfelt promise to stay silent doesn't work either."

"What?" Wow, she knows how to speak!

"You heard me. Seeing that you are aware of our existence, our laws say that you will have to be changed into one of our kind or be killed. Usually the human's close family is also killed as a precaution, in case the human confided in someone." Fear and worry exploded from her. The emotions so strong that I had to hold on to the stone of the fireplace.

"Why? We have done nothing. I thought all of this was legends from the Quileute tribe to scare the young. Fairy tales. I only connected the dots when I saw you move, and when you d-drunk from me."She breathed and I saw her eyes filling with tears. The look on her face was strangely helpless and it stirred something deep in me.

"The laws are thousands of years old. They are enforced by our rulers and their guard and they do not allow mistakes. They are dangerous and vampires don't dare to defy them. They will find out about you sooner or later because my former family," I had to resist the urge to growl the word" is living in Forks and we are well known in both worlds. Every coven is obliged to go to their home to make a report of our whereabouts every five years. Our rulers will know that you, Isabella Swan, Forks resident at the same time as the Cullen family, was immune to the mind reading talent of Edward Cullen and interacted with me. They will immediately be curious and will come to see you and probably take you with them. I assure you that they will not stop until the law is fulfilled." She stood and just stared at me, her emotions silent again.

"You…monster! You…you did this to me, you sick bastard. You took everything away from me! My life, my parents, everything!" She screamed in my face. Her face flushed with her anger and indignation.

Control yourself, remember the prize, I thought to myself, as I clenched my fists attempting to control my temper at her lack of respect.

Well, time to play the sensitivity card.

"I understand your anger and your pain, I understand, Isabella. I went about this the wrong way. But you are wrong also. If I had left you alone, you would have been killed by my brother or you would have had a reprieve of three years before you were discovered and taken by the Volturi." I said with my head lowered. It was the truth but I don't even think that it registered in her head. She didn't back away from me and only kept yelling and seething in fury.

"I was fine. I was starting school. It was my second day in Forks! Then your stupid brother snaps because of me, runs away, and you blame me and I find myself in here being abused by YOU!" She screeched with tears in her eyes. I looked her right in the eye because I was not the least bit sorry of the wonderful time I had with her.

"You liked some of the things I did to you as much as I did, so quit the victim act. It is true that I kidnapped you, but I am trying to save your life now!" I said to her, my voice rising towards the end because her fury was feeding mine. I noticed that she blushed deeply at the memory of her pleasure, but she just kept on going.

"Having to make a choice that I do not want to make because I realized what you were, and having the lives of the ones that I love in my hands. How is that saving my life, you son of a bitch? Your fault! I never did anything to you, to any of you." She yelled in my ear making me close my eyes to control my temper.

"Didn't you hear a word I said? You would have lasted a day before my brother came back and drank every last bit of blood on your body. You are his singer, and it is impossible to resist that, your blood is the best thing he ever smelled. And he would kill anyone that stood in his way, not caring a bit about that. I admit that I wanted to kill you myself when I took you, because you endangered my family and our secret, but I don't want to do it not anymore. I…I have changed my mind. I am offering you a way to stay alive and to save those you love, there is not much more that I can do." I yelled back at her making her stop her rant and shrink in fear against the front door. I took a deep breath and put some space between us.

"But yelling and screaming at me won't help us now, won't help you now, Isabella. Somehow you were meant to be in the path of the supernatural world and sooner or later you would have been involved in it. At least this way you can save your family and friends." She glared incredulously at me.

"Oh, come on, how do you think the Quileute have those legends? Ever thought of that? Have you ever heard them speaking of the Tribe Protectors? Now that you know what we are, what do you think they are?" I felt the surprise and the understanding settle.

"They are shape shifters, Isabella. It is not a legend but the truth. They have a gene that is passed through generations and that allows them to change into horse sized wolves when the tribe is in danger, with a bad temper and a knack for killing any vampire that dares to cross their territory. They keep their secret as fiercely as we do, and will kill you after you are changed even if they saw you grow up." I felt the shift in her emotions and a small thread of hope settle inside of her. I had to dismiss it right away.

"Don't even think about escaping me and going to them. Even if you could escape me or the Cullen's you would be condemning them to die horribly. Our rulers would wipe out every single living creature in Forks and in that reservation, if they dared to give you sanctuary from our kind or if they tried to protect you from your fate. The wolves are powerful but they are few and we are numbered in the thousands. We are skilled fighters and many of us are gifted with abilities that make us even more powerful." Her hope disappeared in a blow of guilt but then curiosity crept over and she forgot the steady glare that she was sending my way. This girl's emotions were going to give me a whiplash.

"Abilities, what do you mean?"

"I told you a while ago that my brother Edward could not read your mind. We vampires are faster, stronger, smarter than any human being, and some of us have abilities. I know someone who sees the future, one who reads your mind, one who can see any thought that you have ever had by touching your skin, another one who just by looking at you can inflict extreme pain, another that can block all your senses and so on." Her mouth was hanging open with what she was hearing and it was not a pretty sight. Then her eyes narrowed as she glared at me.

"You, too, have an ability!" It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes. I am an empath. I can feel and manipulate emotions of those around me." And I waited for the explosion to come.

"You…you bastard…you have been manipulating me. Every time you did those t-things to me, I thought that I was feeling something abnormal, and it was you." She had her fists balled up at her side and her face was the deepest red I had ever seen in her. But there was no embarrassment. Oh no…only fury and a hint of deception? Hummmm!¨

"I have not manipulated you in that way, do not kid yourself. Your pleasure and lust were all yours, darling" I told her firmly. Well it was not entirely true, but she had no need to know that. It would do me no good. "I only allowed you to feel what you did to me, how your body excited me, "I lowered my voice and looked at her through my lashes "how I wanted you, how seeing you there, wanting me and the pleasure I brought you, made me wild with desire for you." I reached out to her emotions and I could feel her lust increasing, despite her attempts to deny it with suspicion. I took a deep breath and I could smell her arousal.

I approached her slowly so as to not scare her. Her eyes followed my every move her hands still balled into fists as if to fight. Slowly I lifted my hand to her face and touched her cheek gently, watching her flinch slightly at my touch.

"I am sorry for what I have put you through. I really did it with the best of intentions. I did what I thought was best for my family and even if you don't believe it, for you. "I ignored her bitter snort as I continued, "I did not manipulate your emotions neither of the times that we were together nor will I do it in the future. I want to make amends Isabella, if you let me," I held my hand to stop her furious retort as I had to present my treatment of her in a light that made her somewhat comprehend what I was trying to say. "As a man I am a bit dominant of the females that surround me, it came from my human life and I carried it through my change. It is normal for me and for the majority of the male vampires that I know of to be that way, and it is also normal for the female vampires to understand that and to submit…"I did not get to finish as she screeched in my face.

"I don't give a rat's ass about what you are. I am no vampire woman; you had no right doing the things you did to me…" Ah, no, you don't get to play the innocent abused victim in here.

"Things you enjoyed immensely while you were too lost in the throes of pleasure…"

"I HAD NO CHOICE, you bastard, you were manipulating me…" she was so close to my face that I could feel the tiny flicks of spit flowing from her mouth in her rage and her emotions were so wild that I did the only thing it came to mind to shut her up. I crashed my lips to hers in a devouring kiss that felt like as if the world, as I knew it, was coming to an end.

She fought me but after a few seconds she surrendered and her hands found a perch in my hair as she lost herself in me and in my kiss. She opened her mouth and then…nothing else mattered. The anger and the lust battled within her and only when I felt her struggling to breathe did I let her go. I was astonished at my own passion for her.

She just stood in front of me, breathing heavily and looking at me with wild eyes. I just waited for her to gather her thoughts.

"You had no right to do this to me. No matter how well founded your reasoning was, no matter what you were thinking at the moment or how sorry you are now, you had no right to destroy my life. You and your family should not be around humans, if you are not humans. You were around me and now it is me that is bound to lose my life and family. Period! Now I am a victim of both of you. Obliged to make a choice that I would never need to do if your family had stayed well away from Forks." By now tears were falling from her eyes and she was just feeling defeated, all the fight gone from her. She slumped to the floor and hugged her knees. I let her.

I sat beside her and I knew that now, at her weakest it was my time to breach her walls and to gain some trust from her. I looked around and as I saw the tears running from her eyes I did the only thing I thought off to seem sympathetic; I offered her the napkin that was on the table for her to clean up. She looked at it incredulously before shaking her head and taking it for me and blowing her nose. Quite a disgusting image. I decided to wait until she stopped sobbing before going for my ace.

"You are right about everything, but there nothing I can do for you anymore. But I can do something to prevent this from happening to other human girls, and you can help me with that. You can help me prevent my former family from doing it again." I spoke quietly, my eyes downcast. I knew we were at a crucial point and I had to come out of this as a good guy who made a mistake with her. I also had to make her see the Cullen's as a danger for all of mankind. They were looking for me and for her; they wanted her as a mate for the mind reader and to destroy me. To hell with them! Only over my dead body they will take my shield away. Or my woman! I had my work cut out for me but I could make her see things my way.

Failure was not an option. I had to turn her against them now, before changing her, so that her distrust of them would follow into her new life. But first I had to make her choose. And she had to choose right!

I continued after seeing her tear stained face looking at me with surprise. "My former family, the Cullen's, isn't a human drinker. They fed from animals in order to try to preserve the little that is left of their humanity and because they hate what they become. But they immersed themselves into the human world and they try not to act like vampires or to follow their instincts, which gathered them a lot of enemies. The Volturi, have a very tight tolerance for them."

"They stay in selected towns for a few years and they go to school and have jobs sometimes, in contact with humans every day. They often forget that they are not human and every time they relate with humans, there is a very high risk that they put someone into the situation that you are now. "I reveled in the tightening of her jaw and in the dangerous glint in her eye as what I was saying it a soft spot inside of her, and I continued. This was going my way. I was not exactly lying, but bending the truth just a bit to suit my needs.

"We leave behind us a parade of broken hearts and possible mistakes like yours. Often humans link the dots and acknowledge our strangeness and they have to relocate quickly. They think that humans forget easily, but it is a lie. Your human mind is not a sieve as one of my brothers likes to say. Decades later they are still remembered and recognized." I looked at her to see her eyes alight with understanding.

"Yes. I don't think I would ever forget one of your faces. And I only saw you for a day!" I nodded enthusiastically.

"So you see, the potential for disaster is always present. I tried to talk them out of doing it, but they want to preserve what last of their humanity, so I always lose. They are always starving, always in a fight for control that never ceases. And still they mingle with teenagers, dazzling them with their looks and scents. I am tired of that. So, last night, I decided to go back to my natural diet of human blood, which provides us with a much better control. I have severed all links to my old family. And I am going to found my own family. I am done with the Cullen's and they way's. I am going back to be a vampire." Her panic shot through my very bones.

"You are going to hunt people like me? You are going to k-kill m-me now?" She asked trembling like a leaf, fear lacing every word, trying franticly to get away from me.

I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close to me, preventing her from doing something stupid.

"No, no…I am not going to kill you…shhhhh…stay quiet so that I may let you go…I won't kill you…I promise." Even without knowing if it would work I sent her waves of calm. A few minutes later she calmed down enough for me to relax my grip.

"I am not going to kill you Isabella. I am going to hunt the criminal, those who deserve death because they prey on the weak. I am going to start my own family with my oldest brother and his wife. I am going to choose a place where we vampires can live quietly and then I am going to see what I can do for a living." I continued to feed her calm, even though I did not knew if she was calming down because of my power, because of my words or because of my hands that were gently caressing her scalp.

"I won't kill you, darling. But you have to know that my former family is hunting us down. If they find us, they will try to kill me and then they will take you under the pretense to keep you safe. But remember that you are Edward's singer. He will kill you sooner or later. He will do anything to gain your trust and when he gets you alone, it will be over. At school he was planning to murder your entire class just to get to you." I paused to emphasize my words, and once again her horror washed through me. I took advantage of her fear to hold her closer to me. She did not protest.

"No one of them will protect me?" She asked in a trembling voice.

"They may try, but in the end…you are a human and he is their son and brother for the last hundred years. Who do you think they will choose?" As I lifted my eyebrow to her I saw her red rimmed eyes. She was beautiful like this. I shook my head and composed my face to show her my sorrow.

"I am sorry, but no one will be able to save you. Not even me, Isabella. Because they will take you away, and I won't be allowed to get close to you." I scanned her emotions. They were faint but I could feel the despair, the horror and the pain. But the main feeling was will to survive. She was where I wanted her all along. Desperate enough to see me as the alternative. So, I went for the kill.

"I know we started on the wrong foot, but I can give you a chance of survival. I can make you strong and powerful. But you Isabella, you have now a very important decision to make. I can turn you into an immortal like me, and you can be a part of my family, or coven as we call it. You will be safe and protected and you will want for nothing. I promise you to take care of you and that you will have nothing to fear from me. I will only ask for your respect and unwavering loyalty against anyone from outside. You will be able to protect your family and friends from afar, and keep them safe from the interference of the Cullen's. So Isabella, what it will be? Will you become like me and live a life beyond your wildest dreams by my side or will you choose to die?"

She looked at me and so much was going on in those eyes that I had to give her a break. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights and I really would not like to be in her shoes. But she had to decide. Even if it was only a lie that I would end her life if she choose wrong. There was no way in hell that I would kill her. If necessary I would change her against her will. She would be easy to train to obey even with her ability. And I knew a very skillful vampire from my war days that was skilled with memories. It would be easy to erase her memory. This was nothing new to me.

"You don't have to choose now. You can rest and take your time. Tomorrow my brother and his wife will be here and only by then you have to decide. I will leave you alone here tonight. I will be close outside doing some things, always in view of the cabin. I promise you that I won't come back until you ask for me. You can eat, read or sleep. You will be safe and no one can come in."

I gave her a kiss on her forehead and a last little squeeze and was out the door before she could utter a word. All I had to do now was to wait.