"Ｈe's not gonna cut my head off," Emmett said shooting her a look as his thumb moved rapidly up and down. "Ｈave a little faith in me will you!”
"I know, I know," Bella said, still wringing her together. "Ｈe just looks mean.”
"Ｈe's gonna look dead in a second," Emmett responded, his thumb a blur as it moved over the key pad．
Idly, Bella thought that it was amazing that he hadn't managed to crush it yet．
There was a horrible squelching noise on screen and then Emmett was rounding on Bella．
"I told you! I told you!" Emmett said jabbing his finger at Bella. "Skillz," he declared pointing at his chest, and Bella could hear the 'z' at the end of it．
Rosalie sighed deeply from her spot on the couch．
"Sometimes I cannot believe I have sex with him," she murmured tiredly, sighing once more before she went back to reading her magazine．
"I can," Alice murmured from beside Rose. "Ｈe looks like," she went on. Ｈer words came out so rapidly that Bella couldn't make them out, but whatever she said made Rosalie smile, and caused Emmett to turn around and declare, "You know it.”
"If you take a field trip to the specialty store I'm sure you can Bella could do that too," Rose said looking up from her magazine again to grin at Alice．
"Still couldn't, until after she's turned," Alice muttered, once again rapidly enough that Bella couldn't hear her．
"Aw, poor baby," Rose replied reaching out to pat Alice's knee. She knew that Alice wanted to turn Bella herself and that she was probably a year or more away from being able to do it. "You better do your homework," she added, laughing as Alice stuck her tongue out at her．
"I hope you all realize how rude you're being," Bella said knowing that what they were talking about involved her in some way, and was probably sexual. "It's like speaking another language in an elevator. I know you're talking about me.”
"She totally does that," Emmett said looking over at Rose who glared at him. Ｈe quieted down after that and busied himself selecting some new weapons for the next level in his game．
Bella and Alice exchanged at look at that, but said nothing knowing that Emmett was already fully aware that he was completely pussy-whipped．
Bella moved over to the couch to sit beside Alice, knowing that Emmett would do quite well on the next level without her backseat driving. Rose had been reading for the most of the game, but Alice had just been sitting back watching, occasionally shaking her head and Bella knew that she was aware of what moves of Emmett's were going to work before he tried them, but that she wasn't going to ruin the game for him．
Edward and Jasper were in another room of the house playing chess, and so Bella rested her head on Alice's shoulder as she sat down. As she snuggled against Alice's side, Bella's eyes caught Rosalie's and she knew that the blonde was giving her a silent reminder of their talk from the night before．
Bella nodded faintly, and then look away．
"Ｈow'd it go with Charlie today?" Bella asked．
"Fine," Alice said looking down at her. "It was kind of fun actually," she said smiling. "Not lying to your father, but getting all made up for it," Alice explained when Bella frowned a little. "Rose and I spent like an hour making it look like I had cuts and bruises, and," Alice said gently disentangling herself from Bella so that she could stand up. "Look," Alice said grinning, and then she started to limp around the room, dragging her left foot at her side as she hopped forward with her right. "It's pretty good, right?”
"You better say it's good," Rose murmured still looking down at her magazine. "She was practicing all night.”
"Really?" Bella asked smiling as Alice limped back over to the couch. It was actually a pretty authentic limp．
"Not all night," Alice said settling back down next to Bella. "Just an hour or so in the early morning," she continued. "Anyway, the cover story is that …" Alice began, however, in the middle of her sentence Bella's cell phone began to ring and she quieted down．
All of the eyes in the room turned to her as the phone rang, Emmett not even blinking as his character died a horrible death on screen. Bella reached for her bag, digging out the phone, and by the time she emerged with it in her hand and flipped it open, Jasper, Edward, Carlisle and Esme were in the room as well．
"Ｈey Jake," Bella said putting the phone to her ear. "Um hmm," she said nodding, trying to ignore the seven pairs of eyes staring at her. "Yeah … okay … I really, really appreciate it … this whole time … oh wow … really?" Bella asked her voice lifting hopefully. "That's … oh my god, that's fantastic. Yeah … yeah I will. I'll call you soon," Bella said, and then she hung up. "I know you all could hear him," Bella said looking around, knowing that all of them had heard every part of her conversation．
"So, now what?" Emmett asked, not quite believing that they were now planning on working with the wolves．
Carlisle looked over at him．
"Now we plan.”
To be continued …
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新章节23
Title: The Edge (Part 23 – Alone in the Dark）
Author: JanineFandom: TwilightPairing: Alice/BellaRating: PG-13Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Stephanie Meyer. I'm just borrowing them．
Summary: Victoria is on the prowl, and has caught her prey．
Two Days LaterBella looked around her, her heartbeat increasing as she took in the darkness that surrounded her. She began to pant, and her breath came out in loud, harsh puffs as she turned her head from side to side, taking in the complete isolation of the clearing．
She couldn't see anything except for the large, hulking silhouettes of the trees．
She couldn't hear anything except for her own terrified breaths．
She couldn't feel anything but the blinding panic crushing her chest．
Three thoughts ran through her head: Alone. In the dark. Ｈelpless．
Bella closed her eyes and tried to calm herself, taking deep slow breaths．
She opened them again a few seconds later and sighed in frustration, wondering how had she managed to get herself into this mess？
A moment later she sighed again．
She knew exactly how she had gotten into this mess. It was stupidity … and arrogance. She had been running with lions and wolves for too long. She had been lulled into a false sense of confidence. The lamb had begun to think that she was something better, something stronger, a fox maybe. She had begun to think that she was a clever fox, but fox's were prey as much as they were predators and they were hunted with much success by animals larger, smarter, more dangerous and far cleverer than they．
"Silly human," she muttered to herself. She heard Alice's soft, sweet voice in her mind as the words fell past her lips, and desperately wished that her lover was there with her, her cool hand, solid and comforting as she grasped it in her own．
"I couldn't have said it better myself.”
Bella froze, her eyes closing as her heart seized in her chest．
She had only heard that voice one time before, but she knew immediately who it was that had spoken. The voice tapped into something primal in her, something ancient and irrational. Ｈer Reptilian brain hissed ferociously at the sound, warning her of danger, of pain, and of blood. It recognized the voice calling to her for what it was …the voice of death．
"Oh god," Bella moaned, turning her head to the side, a whimper escaping from her throat as her eyes landed on Victoria's lithe figure．
The redhead was at rest, leaning against the trunk of a tree about ten meters from where Bella was standing. Ｈer posture was relaxed, her head tipped lazily against the tree trunk, her eyes trained on Bella．
