Chapter 10
"Wake up, Bella."
"Leave me alone." I moaned, not wanting to be pulled from the heaven that my mind had created in my sleep. "Sllleeepppyy."
I sat up when I heard the voice chuckle, cleary amused.
"Emmett, go away!" I yelled without opening my eyes. When he burst into loud melodious laughter I shot a pillow at him.
"Bella, please, Edward wiill kill me if, if..." he started, but stopped when I sat up. He burst into even louder laughter when he saw the look on my face.
"Emmett! Get her down her now, you idoit!" yelled Jasper from downstairs. Then, in a quieter voice but still very audible, "can't even handle a simple human girl."
"Would you like to come get her then?" Emmett mumbled, silencing Jasper immediatly.
"Where's Edward?" I asked, just realizing that he wasn't where I left him. "Emmett?"
"Shh..." he hushed me, his face screwed up into an expression that showed he was concentrating very hard. "The dogs are here."
"What?" I jumped up and grabbed a t-shirt and clean pair of jeans out of Edward's closet. He surprised me one day with an entire wardrobe and my own side of the closet. After a long and drawn out protest, I agreed to keep the clothes as long as he made Alice promise not to by me any more for at least two months.
After throwing on my favorite hoodie and tying my gym shoes, I climbed into Emmett's open arms. We flew downstairs and were greated by an irritated Rosalie. I looked around, searching for Jasper, but there was no sight of him. She knew that what Emmett had said got to him.
"So where's Edward?" I asked out loud, not particularly to anyone.
"Circling the house with Jasper and Carlisle," said Rosalie, handing me a large duffle bag. "Alice, Esme and me will stay close to the car while Emmett rides with you and your mutt friend to La Push."
I looked in shock between the two of them, the shock cleary written all over my face.
"Bella," Emmett said in a calming voice. "Victoria is moving, we found three of conven members close by, we're moving you to throw them off. You will stay in La Push until it's safe to come back."
"But...but...how will I...what will you...why..." I stopped as I felt my chest constrict. I wrung my hands together and tried to inhale, but my lungs felt like they were on fire. I gasped for air as the room began to spin.
"Bella, sit down. Put your head between your knees and concentrate on breathing," came a surprisingly sweet voice. Two pairs of cold, steel hands guided me towards a chair and patted my back as I tried to calm down.
I looked through blurry eyes into the calm face of Rosalie. "What if something happens? I'm not worth all of this."
"Bella, trust us, we will be fine. Besides, we have those silly dogs helping us this time." She smiled and I tried to return the gesture, but failed miserably.
"But last time it was only James. Now there's an entire coven...I couldn't handle it if anyone got hurt, much less if any one of you got...got..." but I had another panick attack and was forced to put my head back between my knees.
As soon as I could breath again Emmett escorted me out to the highway where we met up with Jacob and his rabbit. He smiled sheepishly as Emmett set me on the ground in front of him. I looked around to see any sign of the family I'd come to love, but was dissapointed to see nothing but endless trees and greenness, so I climbed gloomily into the backseat of Jacob's car and tried to concentrate on breathing in and out evenly.
The silnce in the car was almost unbearable after only five minutes. I tapped on the floor board with my sneaker and twitched my fingers. I couldn't stand the empty nothingness in the air.
"Where am I staying?" I asked quietly, not looking away from the green sea swiling past my window.
"With me," Jacob replied. I noticed Emmett growl quietly, and I knew if I heard it then Jacob heard it, too.
"Or she could just stay in a nice hotel by herself and wait for Victoria to find her."
That silenced the car again. Tears slowly leaked over my eyelids and I swiftly brushed them away, not wanting either of the other two passangers to know she was crying. I stared out the window and saw a flash of white. I couldn't help thinking it could be the last glimpse of Alice or Esme. I pushed the thought from my mind, not wanting to cause another panick attack and fiddled with the strings of my hoodie.
"Where's Austin?" I questioned. I saw Emmett roll his eyes.
"That crazy man is with Victoria. He's going to feed her false information, tell her we've sent you to Seattle." He replied.
"Won't she be able to track me from your house to Jacob's?" I asked concerned.
"The ladies are taking care of that. They've taken clothes from various humans in the area and are wearing about four outfits each. Trust me, no one will be able to track your scent. They're roaming all over the forest so that no one can follow any one trail."
"Wow, you've thought of anything," I sighed.
The rest of the way home was completely silent, neither front seat passenger acknowlegdeing the other's presence, the gentle hum of the well-crafted engine making the only sound. The small Black house soon came into view and Bella began to panick again. As I climbed out of the backseat, Jacob carried her bag into the house and left the front door open me.
I turned to Emmett who had left the Rabbit and was standing at my side.
"Be careful, make sure Edward doesn't do anything stupid, please. Just...just..." I had stop because I couldn't breathe again.
"Don't worry, Bella. Everything will be fine."
"You sound like Edward," I choked out through the free flowing tears.
"Well you know sometimes my brother is right, it's not very often, but happen it does." I looked at his brotherly smile and threw my arms around his neck.
"I want you to know that I love you, you're like the big brother I never had but always needed. I still need you, all of you, even Rosalie," I sniffed. The last name caught him off guard and he was almost laughing. "Tell Edward to be safe. Please?"
He smiled and hugged me tighter. "I will."
"Emmett...can't...breathe," I muttered. He laughed his booming laugh and released my spine from his iron grip.
"That's one of the reasons I'm doing this, because things would be so boring without you around." He chuckled one last time and kissed me softly on the cheek. I watched the spot where he had been for a few moments after he disappeared. I trudged up to the house as the late morning sun was concealed behind thick rain clouds.
I closed the front door and sank into the coushins of the living room couch, tears still pouring from my eyes. A few minutes went by before Jacob entered the living room and sat next to me.
"You can sleep in my room," he said without looking at me.
"I couldn't do that, Jake. I'll stay out here on the couch."
"No," he said as he grabbed my bag. "They'll be no arguing, you're staying in a bed."
I followed him to the small room and sat on the edge of the bed. Resting my head in my hands I let out a long sigh. I felt Jacob sit next to me. "I've got some life, huh? Always in danger, that's me. Relying on everyone else to keep me safe."
I held back tears as I realised that it wasn't only the vampires I had to worry about, but the werewolves, also. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I dropped my head to my knees and ran my fingers through my hair. My lungs began to burn and little black spots appeared in front of my eyes.
"Bella?" came Jacob's worried voice from somewhere far away. "What's wrong?"
I held up my hand to signal for him to just wait a minute. I concentrated on inhaling and trying to get the panick attack to subside. Slowly, the spots disappeared and my lungs were able to function again. I sat up and looked at Jacob appolagitically.
"Sorry, panick attack." I breathed.
He gave me a look that almost showed pitty, but it was quickly lost when he stood up and left the room momentarily, returning with a glass of water. "Here."
I took the glass from his hand and slowly sipped the cool water. "Thanks."
He turned to leave but I stopped him. "Jake."
"What?" his said in a flat tone.
"Really, thank you."
Then he was gone, leaving me with my own tormenting thoughts of my family being torn to shreds.