The rain starts to fall as we race through the forest. Esme and Rosalie wear Bella's jackets and they brush past the many trees and rocks so that Bella's scent will linger. Esme does it without complaint, but Rosalie grumbles continuously.
"I don't understand why we're leading him away, we could've used her to lure him and then we could've killed him."
I grit my teeth. I know it's just because she's worried for our family and more specifically, worried for Emmet but I keep my distance so I'm not tempted to round on her. After Annabelle died, the Volturi paid us a visit. The whispers about the activities of Sebastian's group had reached Volterra and they came to investigate. They witnessed much of the fighting, maintaining a safe distance so they could observe our skills. I was too consumed with grief to sense their presence, so overcome with anger to hear their thoughts. They watched me and my family rip Sebastian's coven limb from limb. Once Sebastian and his followers were dealt with, Emmett caught the scent of the ancient vampires hiding in the shadows of the trees and mistook them for more members of Sebastian's coven. He was overpowered by the Volturi guard and would've been killed if Carlisle hadn't intervened.
A sudden thought invades my mind. It's James. He's figured it out, he knows we've led him away. We return to Bella's house to check on her Father. I can hear his thoughts and I think how curious it is that they aren't shielded from me like Bella's. He is worried, he tried to contact Bella's Mother, but hasn't managed to reach her. He is thinking about chasing Bella to the airport, but he doesn't want to cause a scene. I will him to stay inside where it will be easier to watch him and I am satisfied when I hear him change his mind. My phone rings shrilly in my pocket. Alice.
"It's Bella, she's gone!"
"What do you mean gone?"
"She's gone to face James alone and….I can't see her future anymore."
I drop the phone and I take off towards the location Alice gives me. Bella's old dance school.
Images flash through my mind, Isabella, Mabel, Annabelle. Mabel knew that her killer would come for her. He followed her, he lingered in the woods outside of her house. My family and I tried to intervene, but he was untraceable, like he was shielding his mind from my senses. Instead of being afraid, Mabel wrote about it, hoping to turn it into a story. She revelled in the excitement, turning her emotions into words that she hoped would someday make her a famous author. Despite Mabel's objections, my family and I stationed ourselves around her house, hoping to catch her stalker, but nothing happened for weeks. One day, Mabel convinced us to return home. We needed to hunt, to regain our strength so we obeyed and that's when he pounced. I'll never know the true extent of what happened, but by the time I reached them, it was too late. In his haste to claim his prize, the predator's shield had started to slip and I'd managed to trace them to the woods. He was chasing her, excitement coursing through him. I saw her through his eyes, she looked afraid, but also curious, like a part of her wondered what would happen if she stopped running. He could outrun her of course, he was chasing her for sport. I found them in the clearing, he was leaning over her still body, his mouth at her neck. The leaves and broken branches crunched beneath my feet and the air was filled with the smell of sweet, metallic blood. He barely had time to react as I snapped his neck like the twigs underfoot. I picked Mabel up, cradling her carefully against my chest, my arms wrapped around her and my face buried into her shoulder. I carried her home and I laid her gently on her bed. I cleaned the blood from her skin and I arranged her hands carefully at her sides. She looked like she could've been sleeping. Her family were out and it broke my heart to leave her there for them to find, her death unexplained, but I couldn't leave her in the woods. I had failed her, I couldn't protect her from the inevitable. I promised myself then that I would never fall in love again.
I race to the dance hall, searching for a trace of James' thoughts. Suddenly, I felt his elation, I delve into his mind and I see her in his mind. Instead of fear, her face is stubborn, determined, but he can hear the thrum of her heart as it pounds in her chest. My family are close behind, but there's no time to wait. As I enter the hall I smell the blood and my head spins. It's intoxicating and nauseating, tinged with the fear of losing Bella.
I see him crouched over her and I slam into him, throwing him against the wall. A sudden thought crosses my mind. This is how Isabella died, this is how it all began. Her killer had lured her to the place where he first saw her, where he had made the decision to turn her, to make her his forever. The dance hall. It was a time when I didn't know what a Vampire was and I couldn't fathom out how this man, barely an inch taller than me, could be so much stronger. When I found them, they were on one of the balconies which overlooked the dancefloor and he had her in his clutches, his arms wrapped around her. He bit delicately into her shoulder, just above her collarbone as he whispered gently to her, telling her how they would be together for eternity. When he sensed me approaching, he released her and he attacked. As I feebly tried to fight him off, I saw Isabelle fall to her knees, her body shaking with the venom coursing through her body. I know now that she didn't have enough venom in her system to turn, but it would've taken just one more bite for her to be immortal. I watched as her eyes focused on me and they widened in horror as she realised that I was about to die. She scrambled to her feet and then shakily walked across to the balcony. She took one last look over her shoulder at me, her eyes filled with sorrow and then she whispered one last word to me: "Run." She pitched herself over the edge and landed on the floor below with a sickening thud.
Carlisle arrives just before I tear out James's throat. Together, me and my family rip him apart and we burn the pieces. This time he won't get away. I rush to Bella's side. A crest shaped bite mark blooms on her wrist and she screams out in pain as the venom surges into her bloodstream. I could let her turn. She could be immortal and we could be together forever. This could end the heartache, the constant cycle of finding her and losing her over and over again. Or will it? Maybe I'll lose her anyway and maybe as a vampire, she won't have the ability to reincarnate, to find me again. I deliberate, knowing my time is limited.
"Carlisle…..what's my other option?"
