Well, I was still alive. In the loosest sense of the word, I suppose, since technically I was undead. But Alice hadn't tried to kill me. In fact, she actually seemed optimistic about the wedding plans. She was almost 80% certain that Renee was going to surprise Bella by being happily resigned to her daughter's upcoming marriage. Of course that meant there was an 80% chance that Bella would accept Edward's proposal while she was still human.
And so, I decided to leave the rest of the marriage discussion to Edward and Bella. I had encouraged Bella to talk with Edward about it. I hoped that seeing things from Edward's perspective might do more to convince her to go happily into wedded bliss. Without the 'sex while human' clause.
"Have you sent your announcements, yet?" Angela asked me when I slid in beside her at the table. I borrowed Bella's eyes as she and Edward settled across from us. Angela had her hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail and she looked a bit frazzled. Ben was sitting beside her reading a comic book.
"Yes, all done," I answered breezily, despite the fact that there were no invitations to send. Everyone that needed to know about the event lived in the same house as I did or was graduating with me.
"What about you, Bella?" Angela asked.
"No. There's no point, really. Renée knows when I'm graduating. Who else is there?" She asked with a shrug.
"Lucky you," Angela sighed. "My mother has a thousand cousins and she expects me to hand-address one to everybody. I'm going to get carpal tunnel. I can't put it off any longer and I'm just dreading it."
"I'll help you," Bella volunteered. "If you don't mind my awful handwriting."
Angela looked relieved. "That's so nice of you. I'll come over any time you want."
"Actually, I'd rather go to your house if that's okay - I'm sick of mine. Charlie let me off house arrest Friday night. I can come and go without filing detailed flight plans in triplicate." Bella grinned when she announced her good news. I couldn't help but grin myself.
"Really?" Angela asked, mild excitement lighting her always-gentle brown eyes. "I thought you said you were in for life."
"I'm more surprised than you are. I was sure I would at least have finished high school before he set me free."
"Well, this is great, Bella! We'll have to go out to celebrate." Angela sounded excited. She grinned at Alice and I, obviously meaning that the whole gang needed to do something together.
"You have no idea how good that sounds," Bella said with a giggle.
"What should we do?" Alice mused, probably already planning some elaborate weekend getaway. Bella knew her pretty well, too, because she stopped Alice before she could get outrageous.
"Whatever you're thinking, Alice, I doubt I'm that free."
"Free is free, right?" she insisted.
"I'm sure I still have boundaries - like the continental U.S., for example."
Angela and Ben laughed, obviously thinking Bella was kidding. I doubted that they noticed the real grimace of disappointment on my sister's face. So, where did she want to whisk Bella off to? I thought loudly.
'Rio or London. She's pondering New York or Chicago now.' My brother's handsigns were accompanied by a smirk of amusment. I giggled and reached into my fruit bowl, whirling a grape in my fingers. I brought it to my lips and then flicked it at vampire speed into the garbage can at the far side of the room as I pretended to chew. I missed having Emmett there to barrage with food bits, but at least I didn't have to worry about washing unmentionable things out of my hair every night due to his retaliation.
"So what are we doing tonight?" Alice persisted, determined to do something with Bella's newfound freedom.
"Nothing fancy, Alice. Let's give it a couple of days to make sure he wasn't joking. It's a school night, anyway." Bella's stern voice took the wind out of Alice's sails. She looked so pitiful I had to try and suggest something that would bring back the sparkle that was so intrinsically Alice.
"Ooh, I know! Play practice at our house! Charlie won't mind that, surely, and Esme hasn't seen you in so long, Bella. She's missed you," I suggested. Bella seemed genuinely thrilled by that idea and after one brief blank moment, Alice squealed in delight. Mission accomplished. Edward rolled his eyes at me, but he was smiling. Even Angela and Ben looked excited. They were getting much better at ignoring their perfectly natural fear response when in our presence, so getting an invite to the Cullen home, which was completely unheard of, would be a thrill. I heard Jessica Stanley gasp sharply from the other end of the table and lean over to whisper incredulously to Lauren about Angela and Ben's luck. No doubt Jessica would pretend to be Angela's best friend for the next two days to get the scoop on the mysterious Cullen estate.
Rose and Emmett will have to find something else to do. Jasper too, since I doubt he'll want to deal with all the humans in the house. I thought at Edward and he handsigned an affirmative. I smiled contentedly as the conversation continued around me.
"We'll do something to really celebrate this weekend, then." Alice's happy comment was met by a less than enthusiastic reply from Bella.
"Sure," Bella said, waving her hand in Alice's direction distractedly. I knew she was trusting Edward and I to reel Alice in if she tried to do anything outlandish. Angela and Alice started talking about options, though; Ben joined the conversation, setting his comics aside. I sat back and threw in suggestions from time to time.
"No. Not Seattle." It was the first time Edward had added anything to the conversation. He saved me the trouble of objecting to Ben's suggestion we head to Seattle for some amusement or another.
"Evidently there's a homicidal maniac running around Seattle and Charlie and Edward are both a little worried," Bella said quietly, laying a hand on Edward's arm. Little did Bella know that the homicidal maniac was likely Victoria, or more likely a newborn that she had created and left to his or her own devices. We hadn't told Bella specifics about Seattle, but Edward had hinted to her that the killing spree making headlines was vampire related.
"Oh, yeah. My mom mentioned that last night at dinner. Well, what about Port Angeles?" Ben suggested and they were off again. By the time lunch was over it was decided that we would all drive down for a day of fun on the beach. Not First Beach, obviously. Gonna be a nice, dreary day then I take it?
'Perfect for cloudbathing, says Alice.' Edward signed and I smiled. Saturday could definitely be fun. I pulled out my phone to text Adam about our plans and Edward growled softly under his breath. I stuck my tongue out at him so quickly that only he and Alice would have noticed.
As the official Cullen to Quileute liason, I feel it necessary to keep my Quileute contact informed as to our plans. In case a crisis arises, you know?
'Right. And you aren't hoping he'll sneak away from the rez to come see us.'
Hey, who knows. If he just happens to wander a few miles south of First Beach, he might just run into us. I thought this as innocently as possible. Edward rolled his eyes, but didn't make another comment. I smiled happily and sent off my message to Adam.
"Alice? Alice!"
Angela's voice yanked me from my reverie. She was waving her hand back and forth in front of Alice's blank, staring face. I desperately wanted to see Edward expression, but Bella had pulled her eyes from my brother to stare at Alice. My sister was definitely having a vision, and not the normal weather checking kind. This was one of those 'sucked in against her will' types of visions. Edward laughed then and I bounced vision to Angela so I could finally see his face. He looked relaxed and his laughter sounded perfectly natural, but his eyes were darker than they'd been only moments ago. I heard the thud of Edward's foot connecting with Alice's shin. She jumped, broken out of her trance.
"Is it naptime already, Alice?" Edward teased gently.
"Sorry, I was daydreaming, I guess," Alice said, with just a hint of a waver in her tone.
What did she see? No way was that just a weather bulletin.
'Later. That way if Bella asks, you won't be lying when you say you don't know.' Edward's handsign made me narrow my eyes at him. It must be pretty bad if we were keeping it from Bella. Through Bella's eyes, I saw Edward and Alice exchange a quick glance.
"Daydreaming's better than facing two more hours of school," Ben said and Alice threw herself back into the conversation with way too much enthusiasm. I noticed that Bella was looking anxious so I schooled my expression into a calm smile when she looked at me.
I kept track of Edward and Bella for the rest of the school day, knowing that Bella would try to corner Edward about Alice's vision. But Edward was engaging in evasive action. After lunch he chatted with Ben on the way to class about some assignment I knew he'd already finished. Then there was always someone else to talk to between classes to keep from being completely alone with Bella. And then when the final bell rang, Edward struck up a conversation with Mike Newton of all people, falling into step beside him as Mike headed for the parking lot. Bella trailed behind him while Alice and I went straight to the car. I slid across the leather seats.
"Alright, sister mine. Spill it." I wasn't having any of this keeping the baby sister in the dark so she didn't tell Bella crap. Alice sighed.
"Victoria is coming to Forks." Her voice was subdued and I knew this was serious.
"When, Alice?" I asked.
"This weekend." I shuddered. Well, there went the party at the beach. I grimaced, listening to my brother as he offered to drop us off and come back to have a look at Mike's ailing car. Smooth move, Captain Obvious. She's gonna know you're avoiding conversation now. You should tell her about this.
"He won't say anything to her. Not yet. Besides, trust me when I say she'll freak out. A lot. It's better if he waits until after." Alice was probably right, but that meant we had to keep her in the dark about it until…
"What day?"
"Probably Saturday. Maybe Sunday morning. She keeps changing her angle of attack." Alice said, obviously frustrated. I reached over and put my hand on her shoulder.
"Do things turn out okay?" I asked hesitantly. She sighed.
"I can't…see. Evidently the dogs are involved. But…oh!" I was about to ask what she'd seen when Edward opened the door for Bella. She jumped into the car and immediately swung around to look at us in the back seat. She opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly Alice was babbling.
"You're really not that good a mechanic, Edward. Maybe you should have Rosalie take a look at it tonight, just so you look good if Mike decides to let you help, you know. Not that it wouldn't be fun to watch his face if Rosalie showed up to help. But since Rosalie is supposed to be across the country attending college, I guess that's not the best idea. Too bad. Though I suppose, for Mike's car, you'll do. It's only within the finer tunings of a good Italian sports car that you're out of your depth. And speaking of Italy and sports cars that I stole there, you still owe me a yellow Porsche. I don't know that I want to wait for Christmas. . . ."
I stopped listening after a minute, letting her quick voice become just a hum in the background as I watched Bella out of the corner of Alice's eye. She looked frustrated and bewildered. I tilted my head her way, gestured between my siblings and then circled my index finger around my ear to indicate that I thought they were both crazy. That earned me a slight smile from Bella, but she didn't try to talk over Alice. She just settled back in the front seat and laid her hand over Edward's on the gearshift.
Edward dropped Alice and I at the mouth of our drive as usual, though by this point I half expected him to drive us to the door and suggest an afternoon with the family. But he didn't. As we climbed out, I watched through Bella's eyes as Alice threw a sharp look at Edward's face.
"See you later," he said. And then, ever so slightly, he nodded at Alice. Then Alice grabbed my hand and practically dragged me through the trees to the house."
"Alice, slow down! What's going on?" I demanded. She finally stopped running and we continued the walk to the house at a human pace.
"Edward's taking Bella to Florida to see Renee," Alice said smugly. I gaped at her.
"Edward's going to Florida? The Sunshine State?" I found that almost…amusing. I had a vision of Edward perched in a palm tree, trying to keep track of Bella and Renee on the beach. I giggled. Then again, it would be the perfect way to get Bella out of the area during Victoria's visit. Which was the very reason Edward would suggest it, I was sure. I wondered how he'd convince Bella to go with him.
"It will make the perfect excuse to move our beach outing forward a few weeks. The airline vouchers Esme and Carlisle bought her will expire soon, so no point in waiting. Besides, I think Edward will enjoy the chance to look through Renee's family albums." Alice actually sounded gleeful. I knew she could 'peek' at those albums herself by looking forward for Edward. I grinned and then thought of something that made me frown.
"How, pray tell, will they convince Charlie to let Edward and Bella go off on a weekend trip together? I know he just let her off house arrest, but this is pushing it, Alice." I was genuinely worried, despite the fact that Alice had obviously seen it happen. She giggled.
"Don't worry. Charlie's temper will send Bella on a tirade about his attitude towards Edward and then they'll argue about Renee's ability to be a proper chaperone for the visit. Needless to say, Charlie will relent. Hmm…I think he's either still in love with Renee or he's a little afraid of her."
"A little afraid of her, I think." I murmured as we finally made it to the house. We jumped to the second floor balcony. Then we parted ways. Alice went to kick the rest of the family, minus Esme, out of the house before Angela and Ben were scheduled to arrive and I went to call Adam. For once I had a really good reason to talk to him voice to voice, not just text and email. Despite the seriousness of the situation, I couldn't help the smile that came across my face when I pulled my phone from my bookbag.
Adam's POV
I hated phasing. Not that I didn't like the idea of shapeshifting. Being a wolf was...amazing. The freedom of movement, the strength, the speed ... well. Just suffice it to say being a wolf was beyond anything I had ever dreamed. But with that privilege came responsibilities and penalties. The responsibilities weren't so bad. Patrol and protection of our tribal lands was something I took very seriously and was proud to be part of. It was the penalties that made my time spent in wolf form...frustrating.
They knew everything. Damn pack mentality made it impossible to keep a secret unless I buried it so deep in my conscious that it never surfaced, ever. And some things, it was impossible not to think about nearly every minute of every day. Like vampires. One specific vampire for me, but vampires in general were always on someone's mind in the pack. Especially Sam, who had a deep seated hatred for the Cullen's that colored almost everything he did. And since he was the current alpha, it colored nearly everything we did as well.
Being part of a pack meant following strict rules. Rule number one: The Alpha is always right. Rule number two: If the Alpha is wrong, refer to rule number one. Other than a supernatural tendency to sprout fur and claws from time to time, Sam Uley and I had nothing in common. I was forced to dance to the beat of his drum when I heard a completely different rhythm. But I wasn't destined to be an alpha, so I just had to endure and take the small bits of free will I was allowed.
Admittedly, however, with Sarah's help and the very reluctant aid of Jacob, things were slowly getting better. I didn't get a 'lesson' every time I sent a message to Leia now. I didn't get growled at every time I thought of her while in wolf form, either. The rest of the Cullens, Edward especially, still caused the automatic anger response, but they were tolerant of Leia now. Maybe that one time Sam had almost killed me when I refused to give up talking to her had finally made it sink in. I would rather die than stay away from Leia Cullen.
Jacob had been the one to pull Sam off of me that night. That had been the turning point with Jacob, the day he had gone to the elders and convinced them the pack needed a liaison with the Cullens. Jacob Black was a true alpha and it was within his rights to lead the pack, if he so chose. He deferred to Sam because he was older and in most ways, wiser. When dealing with the Cullen's, however, Sam had trouble being objective.
I was currently trying to dance away some of my frustration. I spent a lot of extra time dancing these days. It gave me an excuse to stay after school. Any excuse not to go home was a blessing these days. My father seemed proud that I had phased. It was a great honor for the family. But he was furious with me for standing up for the Cullens. He was furious at Sarah too, but he had decided that reining her in was Jacob's job now, so he left her alone about it. Not that I spent a lot of time at home even when I wasn't at school. I had my patrols and I hung out with the pack sometimes. Not all of the boys thought I was an idiot for loving a vampire.
Yes, I, Adam Talldeer, was head over paws in love with Leia Cullen. Not that she knew about it, not that I would ever tell her. Unless by some astronomically improbable chance she could ever feel the same way about me. It's not like we had anything working in our favor. Natural enemies and all that jazz.
'...crawl upon the floor, come crashing through your door...'
I froze midstep as the sounds of REO Speedwagon sang from my phone, just barely audible over the sounds of my dance music. Speak of the devil. Or in my opinion, an angel. I dashed across the worn floor of the gym to snatch my phone from my messenger bag.
"Hello?"
"Adam, wow. Catch you at a bad time?" she asked, a teasing tone in her voice.
"What? Oh, I was dancing, sorry." I figured she meant the fact that I was breathing like I'd just run a hundred yard dash.
"Ah, yeah, okay," she said quietly. She acted oddly, almost guilty, when I brought up dancing these days. Everytime I called her on it she said she would explain someday soon. Evidently it was in some way connected to the reason I shouldn't be so keen on being her friend. No matter how many times I reassured her that nothing she could say would drive me away, she was still reluctant to tell me.
"What'd'ya need, hun?" I asked after my breathing calmed a bit.
"I'm sorry to say it's business. Victoria is going to pay us a visit this weekend." I growled softly.
"When?"
"Alice says Saturday evening or early Sunday. She's after Bella of course. Edward's taking her out of town."
"Good plan. So, where?"
"Where is Bella going or where is Victoria going to be?" she asked with a chuckle.
"Well, I meant the red haired witch, I suppose, but where are Eddie and Bells headed?"
"Bella and Edward are going to Florida. As for old Vickie, don't know just yet. Alice said she keeps changing her angle of attack, so we probably won't have anything concrete for a while, if ever. We just know she's coming. Maybe this will be enough to shake some of the stubborn out Sam and the elders. We need work together on this." She sounded so frustrated I just wanted to crawl through the phone and pull her close. I wondered idly if she'd let me. I shoved that thought aside and continued our conversation.
"Maybe, but I doubt it. For a tribe of Native Americans with deep spiritual beliefs and their own pack of werewolf protectors, my people tend to be oddly hard to convince of anything they can't confirm through other than vampire resources," I said with a snarl. I was still angry about the last tribal meeting, when talk about demanding the Cullens leave the area had once again taken up most of our time. For once, to my great surprise, Sam had stood up and informed the counsel that until the Cullens did something to break the treaty, we had no right to ask them to leave. That had stopped the discussion but not the murmurs.
"Well, tell them we'd like to meet to discuss a defensive strategy. If not a meeting then at least a conference call or something. I'd really like to take care of Victoria permanently this time. It would be nice for Bella to have one less thing to fret over."
"Surely between Alice's visions and the sheer number of people looking for her, we can bring her down. I mean, we practically took down Laurent just the two of us." I heard Leia snort softly.
"Yeah, well, Laurent was distracted and taken completely by surprise by the...your pack. Victoria knows exactly what's waiting for her and you said yourself that she has a knack for slipping through whatever defensive net you set up. I really wish Edward wasn't going to Florida. Between Alice, Edward and Jasper, she wouldn't have a chance of getting out of Forks alive this time."
"Jasper? I know Alice sees things and Edward reads minds. What does Jasper do?" I asked, curious.
"He's spent a lot of time...studying military strategy. Both the human and the vampire kind."
"Huh. Why do I get the feeling that he didn't do all his studying out of books?" I asked with a dry chuckle.
"You're very intuitive, but that's not my story to tell."
"Not unless you want the entire pack to know, anyway," I said that sadly and Leia sighed quietly.
"I wish there was something we could do about that. There are so many things I want to tell you, need to tell you...I'm just afraid what the rest of the pack will think. Or do."
"Like what happened in Italy?"
"Yeah. Like what happened in Italy." The guilt and heavy sadness I heard in her response made my heart ache. As much as I wanted her to confide in me, I didn't want to betray her secrets to my packmates.
"Someday, Leia, someday you can tell me," I whispered. She was quiet for a very long moment before she spoke again.
"I almost wish I didn't have to." It was said so softly I wasn't sure I'd heard it correctly. She didn't let me dwell on it, instead she shifted topics. "I need to go. We're having play practice at the house tonight. Check with Sam and the elders and let me know what they decide? We need an answer by Wednesday at the latest."
"Will do, Leia. I'll get Sam to call a meeting tonight. I should know something tonight."
"Call me. You know I'll be up." Her voice contained a bit of humor at that last statement.
"So, what are you reading tonight?" I asked with a smile, trying to keep her on the line just a little longer. She hmmed quietly and then laughed.
"Harry Potter, I think. I haven't had a chance to order the latest one in braille, but I think Emmett's got a copy. Maybe I can talk him into reading it with me."
"Emmett?" I asked, a little surprised.
"What? Emmett reads. He just doesn't like that deep philosophical crap that Jazz and Edward like. Edward wouldn't be caught dead reading Harry Potter. Something about it being too unrealistic." I already knew that Leia didn't like that 'deep philosophical crap' either. She would rather read medical journals with Carlisle than pick up Nietzsche. I could almost imagine her shrugging and rolling her eyes.
"So says the mind reading, vegetarian vampire that fell in love with a human," I said wryly. Leia laughed and it sounded like clammering bells, slightly discordant but beautiful.
"Well, that's just Edward. Totally absurd, to steal one of his favorite words. Now, I really do have to go, Adam. I'll be waiting to hear from you tonight." As much as I would much rather talk with Leia than go hunting for Sam, I didn't try to distract her again. We quickly exchanged goodbyes and I laid my phone down with a sigh. Shoving everything in my bag, I gathered my things and went to put my bag in my locker. I slipped my phone and a clean pair of shorts into the waterproof nylon pouch that I wrapped around my leg. It was better than just tying my shorts on with a string. The only downside was that sometimes the velcro got stuck on my fur. It was worth it to keep my cellphone with me at all times. I really didn't want to miss a call or text from Leia.