The Secret Life of the Amercian Vampire
The Unexpected Afternoon
I was sitting on the couch, watching a game like I usually do on Sunday. Everyone but Carlisle and Edward was home, and we were all hanging out in the main room downstairs, amusing ourselves. Alice was typing furiously at the computer, working on her new fashion blog. Jasper was beside her, reading a non-fiction book about Japanese weaponry, of all things. Esme and Rosalie had their heads together, discussing a trip to Esme's island.
"...Seven days, I think," said Rose.
"Yes, that's about right," Esme said, her voice sounding preoccupied.
Making an annoyed noise in the back of her throat, Rose sighed. "He'll be home in a couple minutes, Esme. Relax."
"Who?" I asked.
"Carlisle, who else?"
I shrugged. "Edward's not here either."
That was the end of our brilliant conversation. Rose went back to trying to focus Esme's attention on something other than Carlisle. I don't think she succeded. Alice and Jasper hadn't responded to our talk; they kept up typing and reading. Sometimes they're just really boring. On the screen, the game went on, drawing me in. I tuned out every other sound, watching in ecstacy as the Gators scored an amazing touchdown. I stood up and cheered.
"Emmett!" Everyone but Esme complained.
"That was awesome!" I enthused, turning to Jasper. "Did you see that?"
Shaking his head, Jasper grinned. "I prefer FSU."
"Oh, yeah." I made my distaste known by grimacing. "I forgot. Loser."
"Did you hear something?" asked Esme.
We all stopped to listen, freezing up. "Like what, Esme?" asked Alice, then she gasped. "Oh, no," she breathed, a hand flying to her mouth.
"What?! Alice?" I hate it when she has one of her visions, because it almost always takes her about five to ten minutes to tell us what in the world she's seeing. This was no exception.
"What is it, Alice?" asked Esme, flying over to her and putting her hands on Alice's face. "Is it Carlisle?"
"Yes." Alice's eyes were wide.
"What????" I ignored the television, even when the opposing team scored.
Jasper had his arm around Alice. "Is he all right, Alice? What did you see?"
She just squeezed her eyes shut. "Stupid, immature, irresponsible, werewolves!" she growled, clenching her teeth. "I can't see!"
"Werewolves?" Esme clutched a chair for support, forgetting she could stand for years without getting tired.
Just then we heard howling, down the road to our house. We sucked in breaths that came out as hisses. Well, at first we thought it was howling, but as it came closer, I realized it was the sound of an ancient engine pushing the limits of its endurance. There was only one vehicle I could think of that was that old, traveling down our driveway. Bella's truck? But, why not Edward's Volvo? They had been together the whole afternoon, and it didn't seem like Edward would want to take the Thing for a drive.
Sure enough, the red hood of the truck came into view. I could see Edward at the wheel, his face set in grim lines. Bella was sitting in his lap, her hands clasped around his neck. The truck was squealing, spinning on the dirt road, its archaic parts shrieking in protest at the speed. Barreling toward our house, Edward slammed on the brakes inches from the M3, earning a hiss from Rose, and caught Bella before she fell into the windshield. In one move he busted out of the cab, slamming the door and dashing for the house.
As he got out I could hear the sound of...more cars? Coming down our driveway?
Edward roared as he came, "I love Bella! She's the only one! I wish they would go away!"
"Edward!" We all shouted, running onto the porch. "What is it?"
But he didn't have time to answer us. Alice shrieked. "There he is!"
She meant Carlisle, of course, even though it sounded a little weird when she said it.
I could see a pale blur at the end of the driveway.
"Where's his car?" I asked, mystified. What in the world was going on?
"They blocked it off," said Edward, bitingly.
Before we could question him further, Carlisle came tearing down the road, raising a cloud of dust behind him. If I didn't know better I would have said the dust was actually smoke, he was running so fast. He was still in his doctor's smock, and I felt a little sick when I realized the red stuff on his hands was---
"Oh, crap," I said in a strangled voice, borrowing Bella's vocabulary.
We were busted; that must've been what was going down. Carlisle had, for the first time in his entire vampy life, blown it, and blown it good. And he must have blown it in the presence of werewolves, which were now pursuing him. Or maybe it was just the police, who would have a harder time catching him, and even if they did, they wouldn't know what to do with him, anyway. I was too shocked to say anything out loud, but I bet Edward got a good earful of what I was thinking.
At Carlisle's back, the first shiny hood of a car came soaring into the driveway, then the next, and then another. I counted them as they came, each one breaking the speed limit (and possibly the laws of physics) as they rounded the curve to our hosue at over sixty miles an hour. The front car was even gaining on Carlisle, we saw to our horror, going ninety-five if it was going at all. Most of the cars were older, with dents and scratches. None of them had red and blue lights on top, at least.
Carlisle was still running, coming closer, but it looked like he was swerving to the right. He was planning to go right past us. Where was he going? "Carlisle!" I said, raising my voice, "we can--"
He cut me off, sliding to a stop and spitting out, "They're after us!"
"WHO?" We all virtually screamed.
"CARLISLE!" The first car's doors opened, and two college-aged girls leapt out, sprinting towards us, screeching hysterically.
"The fangirls!" With a fresh bout of speed (and panic, despite his usual calm air), Carlisle cleared the porch in one jmup, vaulting over the railing and disappearing into the trees. By now five other cars had parked, and eleven more girls poured out. "He went that way!" yelled the first two girls, already following Carlisle. The rest ran screaming into the woods.
"They caught him mid-operation," said Edward quickly, explaining the blood on Carlisle's hands. "I can't believe they would chase him out of the hospital during an operation! The werewolf--Jacob--actually tried to warn us, which is why Alice couldn't see. They were already all over him though, he didn't get a chance."
Gaping, we stared after the girls, dumbstruck. "What the--" Jasper started to say, but seven more cars piled in on top of the six, spilling yet more girls onto the driveway and interrupting him.
"Oh, no," hissed Edward.
"EDWAAAAARD!!!!!!" The girls made a beeline for him.
"NO!" he yelled. "STAY AWA--DON'T COME ANY CLOS--JASPER!" He backed away, still holding Bella.
Now that I knew our lives weren't in danger, the humor in the whole thing sank in. Together me and Jasper hid Edward from the fangirls, standing in front of him, filling the porch entryway. Squeals of disappointment pierced my ears. "Sorry," said Jasper, apparently answering a complaint, "no one can--what?--no, you can't give him your phone--take his shirt off?"
"Tough break, man," I laughed, watching Edward turn and run through the house. "I guess that's what happens when you're irresistable. Too bad you didn't--"
"OH MY GOSH! IT'S EMMETT!!!"
"Huh?"
An off-roading SUV squeaked to a halt, and out came fifteen girls, all of which were waving cameras in the air and shouting my name. Behind the SUV I could see two trucks and a Jeep pulling up.
I didn't stop to see how many teenagers had managed to squeeze themselves into those cars; I left town. Since Carlisle had gone right, I peeled left, bursting through the screaming Edwards fans and diving off the side of the porch. "Oooh," I heard someone say, "he's going into the woods!" I put on more velocity, running my shoulder clear through a tree. "Man, he's hot!" cried one girl, who had spied the Emmett-sized hole in the side of the tree.
"EMMETT!!!" the maddened girls shrieked.
Now Jasper was laughing, not even attempting to hold back the swarms.
Fine, I thought, as I bounded up a tree and began to jump from trunk to trunk. Jasper could laugh his happy little face off. From this elevated view I could see to the end of our driveway and onto the road, where a row of cars swerved insanely around a curve.
I knew his time was coming, too.