Equinox
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I especially do not own any excerpts used below either.
Summary:
What if the pack waited for Laurent to attack in NM to in order to keep the treaty? What would have happened to Bella- would she be the same, would she survive intact? What would happen in the years to come? Eventual ExB 1st fanfic- please R&R!
Chapter One
The Meadow, 2006
Laurent shook his head, his face kind. "Look at it this way, Bella. You're very lucky I was the one to find you."
"Am I?" I mouthed, faltering another step back.
Laurent followed, lithe and graceful.
"Yes," he assured me. "I'll be very quick. You won't feel a thing, I promise. Oh, I'll lie to Victoria about that later, naturally, just to placate her. But if you knew what she had planned for you, Bella…" He shook his head with a slow movement, almost as if in disgust. "I swear you'd be thanking me for this."
I stared at him in horror.
He sniffed at the breeze that blew threads of my hair in his direction. "Mouthwatering," he repeated, inhaling deeply.
I tensed for the spring, my eyes squinting as I cringed away, and the sound of Edward's furious roar echoed distantly in the back of my head. His name burst through all the walls I'd built to contain it. Edward, Edward, Edward. I was going to die. It shouldn't matter if I thought of him now. Edward, I love you.
*Pg. 241 of New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
I could not replace Laurent's image with one of Edward, as hard as I tried. His beautiful, perfect face would not come to me as I watched Laurent's eyes darken and wild. I desperately tried to conjure his image up, panicking more when it would not come.
There was no way I could prepare for the attack, I did not even see him move as I was stumbling back. I was just suddenly crushed in the front and back as he took me to the ground. The agony was all over me. I knew from the searing pain in my arms and legs that several bones must have broken on impact . My head had snapped back hard into the ground and I could not even think straight, my world was all spinning images and throbbing pain. I did realize distantly that the screaming was coming from me. Laurent was at my neck, and my screams were cut off in a gurgle.
"Bella, fight!" his beautiful voice urged me. I would do anything for that angelic voice. I felt stronger just hearing it's command. I tried striking out, I tried to get free of Laurent's iron hold, but my arms were not working right. I kept trying, I really did, before the pain in my body concentrated in my neck. This pain was worse than all the rest combined. Red hot fire raced down into my chest and then to the tips of my fingers, spreading quickly as I realized what was happening. "Bella, no, Bella, keep fighting! You can't give up!" I heard Edward's plea, but I could not even concentrate. I wanted to stop the pain.
It was everywhere, I was burning. The venom in Laurent's bite must be scorching me, my veins, my body, my everything while he was draining my blood. I kept striking out at him, trying to make it stop. How long would I have to suffer until death claimed me? I wanted it to come swiftly, didn't Laurent promise that I wouldn't feel anything?
All of a sudden, I knew that I was no longer beating Laurent, I was fighting myself to get away from the pain. Trying to escape the tearing, ripping torment, I writhed as the pain overtook me. I love you Edward.
17 years later…in 2023
BPOV
I always was fascinated with dreams. Even more so now that I have none of my own. They are just so unexpected, everything can change in a dream. For instance, right now, Jacob was dreaming that he was with Seth Clearwater in Billy's house. Nothing exceptional about that, except that Seth was reclining in the dental chair that happened to be smack dab in the middle of Billy's living room. Seth was in the middle of explaining something to Jacob as I entered the dream.
"…have to let me go now. It is my time, just let the doctor put me to sleep-"
Jacob interrupted "No, Seth, there has to be a way. Don't leave, think of the pack, come on..."
Enter Dr. Bixby, Jake's middle age, short dentist, complete with the wheeled stool, latex gloves, and face mask. At the point that Dr. Bixby started reassuring Jacob with the same words said just a moment ago, I realized that he was dreaming that Seth was getting put to sleep like a pet, by his dentist, in the middle of his father's living room.
As I said, I love the fantastic nature of dreams. They are so beautifully vibrant and unexpected. The colors and images can swirl and dim, solidify or sharpen. There are no limits in dreams, and I indulge myself sometimes by spending time in the dreams of others. It makes me feel so human again.
I wondered briefly if Jake was scared of his dentist, though with all the deer and small animals Jake had eaten as a wolf, I was sure it was the other way around. There was no knowing what Dr. Bixby would find in Jake's mouth. I wish I could mess around with Jake in his dream so badly right now…but I was not exactly that person anymore. That is another matter, and I did not have time to deal with either at the present moment. I needed Jake and the pack right now.
So I appeared in front of the dental chair, all business, "Jake, it is time to wake up. You are needed. Summon the pack. All of them." Even as I spoke, the scene started dissolving, and I knew he was waking up.
If Jake hurried, it would take him fifteen to twenty minutes to get the pack gathered. He would have to wake them all up at this hour, and no one would be happy with me. When they were all together, I would get either a call on my cell or a howl carried to me on the wind. It depended on how civilized the boys and girls were feeling tonight, but knowing Jake, I would likely get a chorus of howls. He always likes to show off the strength of the pack, though he knew it pales in comparison to my strength. It is a showing of their pride and determination to survive. I envy them that sometimes. Since Jake would be cringing with the recent knowledge that I was in his very personal dream, I would expect him to be in an even worse mood. His sorrow, his panic, his confusion, his fear, they were all in that dream. Whether the dream was rational or not, it played on Jake's strong emotions and made him vulnerable. It reminded me of how I felt right now after seeing my latest vision.
Suddenly, I was running towards La Push as fast as I ever had. That vision…I would not wait for their call to come and meet them, not tonight. I would risk crossing the border before I was officially invited. They knew I would be coming anyway, so the issue really came down to semantics. No, this situation was far too important for me to hesitate about waiting for their permission. What I had seen…I was petrified of the unknown. This morning I needed the pack again, for I felt as vulnerable as a human again.
There was no knowing what could happen. In my vision, after the meeting in the woods, the future disappeared. It did not vanish because the werewolves were involved, an occurrence I learned could happen, but it was because I had no idea how I would react. When I first obtained my powers, I discovered that the werewolves affected my visions by erasing them whenever they were involved. In fact, in the beginning, I used to hang around them in order to stop the flowing images in my mind. That was before I was able to control the visions a bit more. Only since I have returned to Forks, a much more gifted vampire able to control the wolves in any situation if the need arose, have I been able to view the future around the werewolves. My gifts, well, were a blessing and a curse.
You see, my gift initially was confusing to me, and it still is in some ways. At first, I thought I was honestly loosing my mind. I was recalling memories of the Cullens, and all of a sudden, I was bombarded with images, voices, and feelings. I thought that my mind had finally snapped under all the strain, vampire or no vampire. Bella Swan, vampire psychotic. Perhaps I still was a psychotic vampire, but not because of my gifts. As a new vampire, everything was confusing, and I had no one to guide me. I struggled through controlling myself, and in time, I learned to control the gifts. In fact, I found out after awhile that I was able to turn off my acquired powers completely like flipping a mental light switch.
It wasn't until I started traveling that I found out that my power was mimicry, and somehow it was tied into the sort of force field around me. I never had another vampire walk me through the turning process, and actually for years thought that this shield was a normal thing to have as a vampire. In my travels, when I would run across another of my kind, I would pick up their power, whether it was extraordinary or not. As long as I saw the gift or had it used on me, I could reflect whatever it was, and it worked. Some vampires were afraid to attack me, while others were too territorial for their own good. My existence put others of my kind on guard because of my dietary habits and my power. It was only when I encountered a friendlier group of nomadic vampires that I even understood my shield was either my second power or somehow tied into my first power. As I said, I am still not sure how it all works.
While they were both important, I valued my mimicry . If I saw or experienced a power, I was able to mimic it. That is how I first was assaulted with Edward, Alice, and Jasper's powers. Sifting through my memories did not break my mind, it merely allowed me to absorb the powers I had seen through my memories. I remember Edward once telling me that Carlisle believed that powers were brought over from one of strongest characteristics of the person when they were human. In using his theory, I supposed that because I wanted to be a Cullen, a vampire, with every fiber of my being, that this strong desire to 'mimic' them, or become what other vampires were translated into a gift to 'become' like other vampires. Mainly, to have their gift as my own. The mental force field around me, well, I have heard many theories on it, and am still undecided.
My ability to mimic other powers helped make me into a strong and intimidating vampire. I inadvertently caused others, like the pack or vampire brethern, to fear me. . They feared me and what I could do. It is this power over the pack that has strained my relationship with Jacob and the other wolves. We still respected each other, and sometimes I did feel there was a hint of the old camaraderie and love there, but it was few and far between. We were all so changed now.
But when I looked at the future and it vanished into the thin air, it meant that it was now my reactions, unfortunately, that were not something I could predict. It was my reactions that were clouding the future from vision. I decided that I needed the wolves to be at the meeting so that I would not have to be. I would not be able to make myself stay away, but I would at least be able to cloak myself from detection. Hopefully, that I would not interact with them would stave off any negative repercussions, like a lack of control.
Ha! 'Stave off'? Now I was beginning to think like Julian. As I thought of him, I knew I needed him this morning as well. Julian was on the phone as soon as I called, it did not even have time to ring. I did not explain the situation to him as I would to the wolves, such was his unerringly loyalty. He needed no reasoning to be by my side, as the wolves would want. I had saved him from his imprisonment, and despite the grant of his freedom, he would not leave me. His reasoning was that he had served a eleven hundred years, trapped by the Volturi before I came along. Any existence was preferable to that, and he owed me his allegiance. We got along well together, and so he stayed. "Julian, I need you to come back. I need you in La Push. Follow the scent of the pack and stay in La Push unless I need you elsewhere."
"I am returning at this moment. I will be in La Push before an hour has passed" Julian assured me in his particular manner of speaking.
Before I disconnected, I thought to ask, " Have you hunted yet? The wolves will want the reassurance that La Push is safe."
"Yes, two deer," Julian responded in his no-nonsense way. It is how we get along so well together-he knows when I need him to be short. It is also why I did not want Julian to be at the meeting itself. A part of me knew with out a doubt that he would behave according to my wishes, but I feared his reactions to my reasoning and how it would affect or hinder me. That is why I wanted Julian to act as back up, only coming if I called for him.
About fifteen minutes after I woke Jake, I was approaching the old treaty border that would bring me into to La Push, and the howls sounded. It was a truly eerie sound, even to me, and I knew that the entire animal population was rushing as far away as they could get. Swerving towards their position, I could not help but be impressed that Jake had managed to get the pack together so quickly. He must have been alarmed that I requested the entire pack, I knew and then felt a twinge of regret. They did not deserve to be used like this and have their lives upset, but I felt I had no choice to involve them. They deserved to know that the Cullens were returning, but I did not need visions of the future to know that however this morning played out, it would just make my relationship with the pack harder yet. I would have to make amends later, if it were possible. As I passed the treaty border, I was glad that I at least had an invitation before entering into La Push. In the East, the sun would soon rise, but under a heavy cloud cover. A storm was brewing.
A/N:
Don't worry just yet about Julian yet,
PLEASE, PLEASE R&R- I need to know what people think of this so far!
