The immortal coven members that had remained in Forks, Washington reunited back at the rather lavish looking house. They had to now work out what their next steps were considering that the feral tracker had all but vanished out of the local area. It would have to be one of a strong strategy which would leave the fragile human that clung to them unharmed. Many of them just wanted to get this sorted and done with as soon as possible before they could just relax and return to their lives of living peacefully whilst coinciding with the human population.

All but precious Edward who had become so riled due to this situation being essentially all his fault. He was now attempting to push the blame on someone else to make the guilt less. For had he just left the human girl alone or remained in Alaska for a couple years until she had finished School and moved away or before the rest of the coven had moved onto another place, then this wouldn't have happened. The rest of the coven wouldn't be at risk for someone they were all convinced was just a blood singer. Not a mate. 

Therefore, he turned his attention onto the person who had last come into contact with James. This happened to be none other than Joan who was currently stripping out of the humans clothing and into her own. The smell of the human finally being enough to repulse her. The only problem that this wasn't completely Joan. Considering the girl's still hightened state of anxiety her alter ego was still mainly in control. Acting as a softening blanket to ensure she remained protected and comfortable Sargent or 'Sarge' as those of the family who had gotten to know this version of her had come to fondly call her, was very much in control. And Sarge would not take anything the stupid ginger was trying to pin on Joan.

"How could you let him get away?" Edward roared his face contorting into something that was nowhere near pretty. 

"What did you want us to do? Die for some petty little human girl who doesn't care at all for us?" Sarge replied her copper eyes boring holes into the older physically but not mentally vampire.

"Not let him get away so he can hurt Bella." Edward continued to rant as though he had taken nothing in from what had been said to him.

"So what if we died? Would that have stopped him going after Bella anyways? How would you cope telling the other members of the family that we're dead and nobody did anything to stop it?" Sarge did not like the approach the other immortal was taking and could understand Joan's general dislike of him and distaste for what he considered morals. Sarge also couldn't understand how everyone had let him continue to treat them like that and how rude he was being and still getting away with this kind of behaviour right now. If their mate wasn't currently somewhere else in the country with a bumbling idiot of a human who was being tracked down by the vampire who had gotten very close to killing them moments ago, Edward would be better off dead. 

"Now children this isn't the time to argue. Let's just sort something out so we can get this all over with." Carlilse attempted to sooth the commotion between the two adopted siblings though it didn't seem to do much. The pair having to be physically separated as Sarge sized the scrawny looking vampire up ready to tackle him to the floor and pummel him a newer prettier face. Though it wasn't as though they had gotten much further with plan two before the phone rung. Well it was more Edwards mobile that rung. And with the very obvious caller ID being Alice the whole family tuned in. 

"Bella's gone. She went to the bathroom whilst we were checking out of the hotel and now she's not here." Alice gushed and if Edward wasn't completely manic beforehand he was now. All over someone who just smelled extra nice. 

"You lost her?" Edwards rage now turned onto the two coven members who were currently present in the room. 

"What else were we supposed to do, follow her into the bathroom?" Came the additional voice of the person the Scottish vampire missed the most even though they had seen each other only hours beforehand. Carlisle being the only one who always seemed to have his head screwed on properly took the phone off the family's biggest pain in the backside. 

"Alice have you any clue where she could have gone?" This was obviously why he was both the patriarch of the Cullen family and the coven leader. He actually knew what useful questions to ask. 

"I had a vision a while back about a room full of mirrors. Bella identified it as her old ballet studio here in Phoenix. That's the only place I can think of." Alice's voice gave off a level of uncertainty before they could make the next steps. Clicking the phone onto speaker Carlisle left it on the kitchen counter so the family could all voice their opinions. Though Edward had another idea as he rushed out of the door on foot obviously intending to run out there himself. 

"So Edwards headed out himself I'm assuming he's heading there himself. We'll head there behind him and meet you both at the studio? Fingers crossed we get there before James kills Bella." Carlisle proposed

"Yeah cause I just had my nails done and don't want to have to be burying a body." Rosalie let out a little whine at the thought and Sarge let out a chuckle at the statement. 

"Does this mean I get to light something on fire?" Sarge pondered her heavily accented voice seemed to draw the attention of the others on the phone.

"Sarge? Are you guys okay?" Jasper asked wording his sentences carefully to try and ensure that he wasn't going to over step anything by accident. 

"We're fine Jazz, Joan just needed some time." Sarge explained though this probably did nothing to help her mate who was just a bit too far away to help instantly. It was also not the right time to start questioning after all they had a human they were going to either save or bury. 

And so the remaining Cullen Coven members set out on foot towards Pheonix. What should have been a day's drive was cut significantly as the vampires used their unnatural speed to literally blur their way through the forrest and surrounding areas. 

Coming across the ballet studio they shouldn't have been surprised to see the door pulled off its hinges. Probably done by a stupidly angsty Edward. Inside the room the place looked even worse for wear. With certain mirrors upon the wall shattered with its glass acting as a second floor to the room. Alice, Edward and Jasper were currently fighting off against the tracker. Bella was laid out on the floor looking suspiciously not alive. Carlisle jumped into the role of doctor rushing towards the human girl and Sarge wanted revenge against the tracker.

After all despite being basically dead those bites actually really hurt. It was actually probably the main reason Joan had regressed and Sarge had taken over. Pain was a real strong stimuli for the alter ego. Rushing up towards her other family members Sarge essentially pushed Edward out of the way before landing a well deserved punch towards the horrible looking face of the nomad. Killing two birds with one stone. Soon enough they tuned out the sound of whatever was going on with the human girl and focused on the nomad.

Emmet and Jasper were not holding back as they started to rip the limbs off the tracker cleanly. It was a sight that nobody should have to really see. Like ever. Sarge turned their concentration to starting a fire ripping up floorboards to create a little bonfire styled segment of the room. This was then met with the starting of a fire using the lighter they had shoved in their pocked just moments before leaving the house in Forks. 

Moments later a now fully segmented dead vampire was tossed onto the fire place and Carlisle and Edward left the building with Bella rushing the not completely dead human to a hospital for further treatment. This was the time the family could finally calm down and relax. The last few hours that had passed in a blur were a new situation none of them particularly like. 

"Can we go home now?" Came the quiet voice which sounded eerily like Joan piped out from the now silent ballet studio. In the time that the three members had left Joan had slowly gained control back and she was pretty traumatised regarding what had happened. She just wanted to be back in her room watching singing in the rain and listening to the dreary weather that came along with the dreary town. 

"Joan" It was this time that Jasper finally got a chance to take another look at his wife. A quick scan over her body made him aware that something had changed. It wasn't until he saw the still healing crack like marks on her neck that he knew somewhere someone had messed up big time. Also paired with the new teeth marks upon her neck he was gearing up to murder some people. 

"I really wanna go home Jazz." Her voice was so quiet that he could only pull her into his chest and cradle her against him. He knew that had they both been human in this moment she would be crying. But the worst bit was that if they had both been human he wouldn't have had this moment and she could have gone and he would have been 24 hours away from her. 

"We'll go home princess I promise. We are never going to be separated like this ever again." He took an oath in that moment that he would never ever let someone ever encourage him to leave her behind. For it seemed that she wouldn't ever be properly safe without him there. He should have pressed further over the phone when he heard that Sarge had taken control. Whatever happened to her was all Edward's fault and that stupid human. There would be serious words spoken when the whole coven returned to Washington. Isabella Swan would not become part of their coven under any measure. This would be the end of her road with the family of vampires. 

The remaining six Cullens left the ballet studio before setting the whole place on fire trying to cover up exactly what happened there. They then proceeded to rent two cars to drive their way back to Washington considering the amount of energy it had cost most of them to run the distance in the short period of time. The group had split into two with the second car consisting of Jasper, Joan and their mother figure Esme. Esme had taken the role of driver giving the only two separated mates a chance to just hold each other. For that was what her youngest daughter seemed to need most at the current moment in time. And she wouldn't allow that to not be addressed. Therefore, she decided to not mention anything when the two sat on the same seat in the back of the car, with Joan sat upon Jaspers lap facing his chest with her head pushed into his neck. 

"I'm so sorry Joan that I wasn't there to protect you" He whispered his grasp on her tight reassuring himself that he hadn't lost her. The entire journey home he continued to whisper small things to her including many apologies on his behalf. Despite knowing she wouldn't blame him for what happened he count help himself as he knew had he been more reluctant to follow everything said by Edward then he wouldn't have left her somewhere she ended up injured. 

Upon arriving back at the Cullen house in Forks Jasper carried Joan up to their bedroom to where he set up the film 'Singing in the Rain' just like he knew she would want to watch. Only when she was fully emerged in the film did he dare leave her side for a few moments to go and work out exactly what happened and why his wife was the one injured and the ginger haired idiot who had brought this upon them all currently sat cushty in a hospital in Arizona with his still very much alive human blood bag. Storming down the stairs he came face to face with the only three people at the time who could explain why she had been injured. 

"I would love to hear how the love of my life is the only one sat traumatised and injured where you all seem pretty much in one solid piece!" Jasper gnarled as he stared down the three vampires who had been around when Joan had been attacked by James.

"We have no real explanation other than that we were just not fast enough getting to her and getting him off." Emmett tried to apologise but the civil war vampire was not having his tacky excuse.

"Not fast enough, was that what you were going to call it when you called me to tell me she had been decapitated by some nomad?" His voice was getting both deeper and darker as he felt the control slip.

"We would have never let it get to that point Jasper." Rosalie tried to back her mate up though this was not working in their favour.

"I call bull. I've seen the cracks, seen the claw marks on her neck. I can bet everything on the fact that it was Sarge who pushed him off her. Not any of you bumbling idiots." Jaspers lack of control was edging to almost nonexistent as he tried to push his narrative. Knowing full well everyone of them would have acted in the same way had the roles been reversed. 

"You want me to go up there and explain to her that you guys were just not fast enough to save her life that she had to fight him off herself. And you expect me to stop her packing our bags for us to leave and not come back?" By this point Jasper wasnt sure he was in charge anymore. His voice carried through the house as though it was on a speaker phone and it had drawn the attention of what had been the disconnected Scottish Vampire. For before he could lunge out of anger at Emmett, just like he so wanted to, a small figure pressed itself into his back and two hands reached out to take his own. He spun around with such a force that it caused whomever was behind him to jump back in shock. His posture changed as he took in the appearance of his mate. For it seemed as though his words had shaken her from her calming process. And now he was angry at himself. 

"Jazz... Jasper look at me my love." Joans hands moved their way to cup his face as she took his attention away from the others in the room and directly onto herself. 

"Have you heard what they're trying to say. Joan they'd rather you dead and that stupid human here in your place."

"Jasper Whitlock, Listen to yourself. They never said anything along those lines, we had to realise there was risks with this whole stupid pursuit and this was one of them. It's no surprise that he came for me after all he knew no better that I was not Isabella." Joan denounced his claims as she continued to attempt to calm him down. 

"It didn't mean that they should have left you alone. You should have been more monitored considering the risk. I could have lost you Joan and none of these selfish no-goods seem to care." His attitude wasn't overly improving but he wasn't currently attempting to attack their other family members and that was an improvement of where they had been. 

"Look at me my love. I'm still here you've not lost me and you're not going to. I promised you eternity all those years ago. I'm not going back on my promise any time soon." Her tone was calming and Joan watched it take the desired effect as she was brought into the arms of her mate. 

Where she belonged for the rest of their eternity.