Disclaimer :Same as always
Chapter 10
After a rough night of sleep, dreams that included Artemis and Edward starring as lovers, I had woken up early for work. The morning seemed to pass by in a haze; I had woken up and eaten breakfast, all without making the slightest noise. When I had finally made my way outside, where I expected to see Edward's car to drive me to work, which he usually did, I was shocked to see he was not there. I sighed as I turned back to the house to get the keys to my truck. My mind kept wondering where Edward was, he had always driven me to work, in fact, he didn't even spend the night with me. I thought for a minute, then the only thing that came to mind was the dream I had, where Edward and Artemis were in love. I shook my head and made my way to the truck, telling myself I had completely lost my mind. The drive to work was usually extremely boring, but for some reason, I had this feeling that something was waiting for me there, something important.
When I had finally made it to the Newton's Outdoor sporting store, I parked my truck as far from the entrance as possible, to keep myself from getting there any earlier than I needed to be. I looked at the clock in the truck before I climb out of the cab, but when I looked I noticed I was still fifteen minutes early. I sighed and turned the truck back on and began playing music. I let my mind become blank, just then, there was a knock at the window of my truck, I jumped in the air when I saw Aphrodite standing there, and she smiled politely as I rolled down the window.
"Hey, there." Aphrodite smiled as she pulled a purse up to her shoulder. Even when she attempted to dress normal, Aphrodite was still the picture of perfection. Her slender body was clothed in a pair of dark jeans and a black halter top, her red hair pulled into a pony tail. I smiled politely at her and nodded then she looked around quickly. "I don't mean to seem sketchy in any way by being here, but I saw that you would be bothered by what I said about Artemis and that you would have questions about her and Edward." I nodded in agreement; obviously she knew what she was talking about, because she had special powers to see it, so I wasn't going to deny it. "And, in my family, we don't believe in secrets. I am here to tell you about Artemis and Edward, because for centuries I have believed that secrets can kill relationships."
"I'd really like that." I wasn't sure what else to say, but I knew Edward wouldn't tell me anything, so I had no one else to turn to. Aphrodite was doing something nice for me, not to benefit herself, but because she could not stand secrets.
"First let me start off apologizing. I know this is strange, but being worshipped as the goddess of love for so long, I feel the need to save relationships wherever I am, and secrets do not save anything." Aphrodite looked into my eyes, tilting her head slightly. She looked truly concerned, and I understood. She is the goddess of love; she felt a need to protect it. I nodded. "I was not there when Edward and my sister met. Artemis had left us for several years; she never explained why she left. She simply stated she needed alone time. Well, when she returned I was able to see what she had been up to, that was when I saw what happened between her and Edward.
"Don't be mistaken, Edward and Artemis are not in love. They have never been so. Artemis has always loved Poseidon, they are forever. Sometimes, I think they loved one another before they had met, but they do have their fights. When Artemis left, I'm sure she and Don were fighting, but it was different. Artemis just left one night, with no warning. Artemis had only planned to cool off, but she got carried away and was distracted by something in the distance. She told me that she could feel something special in the distance. It brought her to the new world, where she found Edward. When she first saw Edward, he was hunting a murderer that was going for a woman in an ally. She was amazed when she read his mind; the fact that he was trying to save someone. She had to meet him, so she disguised herself as a victim to a rapist. It wasn't hard, her beauty made it easy; he had the idea, so she merely pushed him to attempt to succeed. When Artemis finally met Edward, she scanned his memories, everything she could find. She learned about his human life and his vampire life. She saw Carlisle and Esme, and then she saw his… diet. She was fascinated with him.
"I guess over time, because they had become so close, it could be considered love. But it was more of a mutual respect and fascination. Artemis is fascinated with Edward, in so many ways. She is fascinated with him because they share the same ability and are virtually the same person. Edward once thought he loved her, until he met you. When he met you, he realized that Artemis was not his love. When they spent time together they bonded on an emotional level, they understood one another." Aphrodite paused and looked away from me for a moment, her eyes toward the sky. "So many mortals believe they have found love merely because they share a common interest or because of fascination. They can never see true love, because it always seems the most terrifying, it is the same with vampires." Aphrodite's blue green eyes never moved from the sky, her gaze was stuck on something unseen. "Sometimes, love fails because it is forced." I tried to look to where Aphrodite was looking, but all I could see was dark, cloudy sky. She seemed too fixated on something in the distance, something I couldn't see. Within a moment, Aphrodite shook her head and laughed lightly. "Anyways, my life has been all about relationships and love, so wherever I go I try to save relationships." I looked away for a minute, toward the entrance of the store, it was about time for me to go in, so I turned to thank Aphrodite, but when I turned around, she was gone. When I looked out the window again, I saw Aphrodite walking past the front of the store, where Mike was standing, gawking her.
Work was anything but exciting, Mike kept asking about the mysterious girl that walked by the store and when I asked how he knew I knew her, he said he saw her sitting in my car with me. I tried to spend the rest of the day making like I was busy, but all I could hear was Mike talking about every inch of Aphrodite.
"She had these eyes that pierce through you. It's like she can read your thoughts." I rolled by eyes and thought to myself, no, she can just see your future and past, but I bit my lip and continued working. I hadn't even realized what day it was until I was done with working and I was making my way back to my truck, where Edward stood. I smiled, happy to see him, especially since I now knew that I was truly the only being Edward had ever fallen in love with. I was so happy to see him; I skipped over toward him and threw my arms around his neck, landing a kiss on his lips.
"Someone in a good mood?" Edward raised his eyebrow curiously, not sure of why I was in such a good mood. I blushed slightly, not sure of what to say, so I merely shrugged. Edward kissed my forehead gently and opened the driver door of my truck for me. "Sorry I was not able to drive you into work today." I shrugged and looked at Edward, who seemed very concerned.
"What's wrong?" Edward was already sitting in the passenger seat when I asked, he seemed distracted from our drive back to my house. Edward sat silent for a moment, and when we reached out destination, I saw the shiny silver Volvo sitting in the spot where Charlie's cruiser usually sits. I looked toward Edward, confused. "Um, what's going on?" I parked my truck in its usual spot, turned off the ignition and looked.
"Poseidon came by the house this morning… they want to meet in a couple of hours to discuss turning you…" Edward waited for the comprehension to hit me, he didn't wait long. I thought for a moment then nodded. So, it had been two days. I wasn't sure how to feel; excited that I would possibly have my fate changed today or terrified that I would be doomed to be human, I sighed and nodded. "I, um, I'll be back for you in an hour, after Charlie gets home." I nodded, barely moving my head. Edward must have thought I was in shock, when in reality I was a little excited."I'll be back for you."
As I walked out of the car, Edward looked at me with concern, almost longingly. I waved with a smile on my face, trying to relay a false sense of calm, but inside I felt butterflies. The house was never emptier; I wasn't really in the mood to make any dinner, so I merely just reheated some left overs, lasagna from the other night. I wasn't hungry, so I just heated it up for Charlie. I was sitting in the kitchen, staring down at a cup of milk I had poured myself when there was a knock at the door, sending me jolting. I hadn't expected anyone to be here, and then I had a nagging fear that it was one of the Theon, coming to change me, instead of waiting for the Cullens to argue against it. I gulped as I reached the door, and then there was another large bang. When I swung the door open, I was surprised to see Jacob standing there. As usual, Jacob was shirtless; his copper skin even looked warm, which I knew it was. His dark jeans had rips in it, from running through the forest so often, no doubt. There was one thing I noticed about Jacob that I wasn't used to; he had a very worried look in his face.
"Jacob… Hi." I moved out of the way of the door to make room for him to walk by, but he was so large that it was hard for him to even move around me. We both walked down the narrow hall way to the kitchen. When we made it there, Jacob was standing in front of the hall way, looking around nervously. Edward would be back soon and I wasn't ready to deal with a fight between the two of them. I watched as Jacob scanned the house, but probably more than that, so I waited for him to talk.
"Are you all right?" I looked at him confused, one eyebrow raised on my forehead. It was a question I was very used to hearing, but at this point and time, it seemed unnatural. Jacob looked confused then shook his head. "We've been sensing something strange the past few days." Jacob looked around the small kitchen quickly, then toward the front door. When he looked satisfied, he turned back to me. "Then, about two days ago, we caught sight of something; four vampires, lounging by the ocean. Clearly in an area that is protected by the agreement made with the Cullens, so we figured it wasn't them. So, we decided to watch them closely…." Jacob shook his head; his black hair shaking with every movement.
My stomach dropped slightly at the obvious distress in Jacob's body language.
"What happened?" I tried to control the worry I was feeling, but with no success. Jacob automatically knew I was worried and his face stiffened a little as he cleared his throat.
"Well, they could sense us, no matter how careful we were being. It wasn't a problem at first; they all just sat up right and looked in our general direction. So Sam decided we should split up, that way they couldn't watch us as easily. Besides there is only four of them and six of us. We all figured if there was a fight, 6 to 4 wasn't bad." I could see the smirk on Jacob's face as he played with the idea of four vampires getting their asses handed to them by him and his pack. I cleared my throat, annoyed, and began tapping my toe. Jacob quickly got the hint and continued. "Well, splitting up was not the best idea." Jacob growled. "As we moved to split up, we lost sight of two of them, this wasn't a big deal, there was no way they got around us, they were probably just trying to hide in the trees or something.
"Filthy blood suckers…" Jacob's fist began to shake wildly. I took a step back, slightly worried he would change here in my tiny kitchen and there wouldn't be enough space for his massive wolf form, but within a few seconds, he was calm again. "One of the males came out of no where and attacked Paul and Embry. He wasn't like any blood sucker we have ever seen. He moved faster, it was like he could see what they were going to do before they did it." Jacob paused and looked into my eyes, hoping for me to tell him if that's what happened, but I kept my mouth shut, I was stunned and needed to hear more. "Well, when we realized they were under attack and not doing so well, we were all trying to make our way over. We weren't even a few feet from them when one of the females dropped in on us. She landed directly on Sam, knocking him down."
"Is everyone all right?" I could only imagine what had really happened. I could see the wolves, circling the Theon, until Ares and Artemis got too annoyed with the intrusion and went to solve the problem. Carlisle had told me that Ares and Artemis enjoyed hunting and werewolves were their favorite. I bit my lip with anticipation as Jacob thought of how to answer.
"Paul got hurt pretty bad, but he'll heal fast. Sam broke his leg, but other than that no damage." Jacob looked a little confused at my concern for his pack, but shrugged. "We figured that maybe Victoria had sent these vampires after you. I had to come check on you." Jacob went to take a step closer to me, but stopped where he was. His eyes were concerned, but he tried to remain as distant as possible. "So, do you know anything about these vampires?" I looked in Jacob's eyes. There was no way I could tell him that they were here to determine my humanity. He would take this as a threat and decided to attack the Theon, hurting himself in the mean time. I couldn't allow that to happen. I cleared my throat; I knew I couldn't lie to Jacob. He would instantly know, so I decided to tell the half truth.
"Yes. They're actually friends of the Cullens, here just visiting." I heard the words come out of my mouth, and I wanted to slap myself in the forehead. It was the most unbelievably story I had ever told. There was no way Jacob was going to believe this, but it was all I could give him.
"I see." Jacob's jaw clenched; he knew I had lied and it had hurt him. Instantly I felt guilty, I couldn't look into his beautiful face, not knowing that I had caused the disappointment spreading across his features. "Well, since they attacked Paul and Sam, there is no way we can ignore their presence here. If we catch them, we'll have to attack." Jacob stared into my eyes and I began to feel panicked.
"What?!" Jacob jumped a little bit at the volume of my voice, but only from surprise. "You can't do that! Jacob, you can't fight them! Look what happened already! And that was only two of them! Please, Jacob, it's too dangerous." Jacob scoffed.
"Bella, they ambushed us. That won't happen again. We can take them" Jacob stepped closer to me when he saw that panic had not left my eyes and placed his hands on my shoulders. "Relax, we can handle this." I shook my head and was about to speak when the front door opened.
"Bells?" Charlie had finally come home. Jacob moved his hands from my shoulders and took a step back. When Charlie walked into the kitchen, he was slightly surprised when he saw Jacob standing in the kitchen, but it was a pleased kind of surprised. "Jake! What are you doing here? So glad to see you." Charlie was smiling from ear to ear; he wasn't like this when Edward was here. Jacob smiled politely.
"Hey Charlie. Just came by to see Bella." Jacob looked down at me slightly, his eyes looked almost pained as he looked at me, but Charlie didn't notice this, he was too busy making himself comfortable with the leftovers from dinner the night before.
"Great. You two haven't spent nearly enough time together." Charlie turned to look at us, still smiling. He definitely preferred Jacob to Edward, too bad I didn't feel exactly that way. Charlie motioned to the microwave, which he had just placed his food in. "Don't worry about dinner tonight, Bells. You and Jake just go out and have fun."
"Jacob and I aren't hanging out today. He just came by to say hi." The words fell out so quickly, so suspiciously, Jacob's eyes were on me in an instant. I knew he was trying to read my features; he was trying to find out why I was so eager to get rid of him. It wasn't like me; I loved spending time with Jacob, so when I quickly rebuffed the idea of doing just that, Jacob was suspicious. Just as his eyes finished scanning my face, his body went rigid and there was a knock at the door.
"I got it!" I ran to the door and pulled it open, figuring that Jacob was still in the kitchen. Edward was standing at the door, a disgusted look on his face. I felt warmth behind me and realized it was Jacob, I could hear growls coming from both of them. "Dad, I'm going out! I'll be home later." Charlie's head poked out from the refrigerator, he was trying to see who was at the door, but probably figured it out and then his happy tone vanished.
"Yeah, be home before ten." Charlie closed the fridge door just as the microwave went off, took his food, and disappeared into the living room. I sighed in relief and pulled Jacob outside with me. Edward stared at Jacob, low growls in his throat, which was being returned by the now shaking Jacob.
"Bella, we have to go now." Edward reached out for me hand with uncertainty, which I found odd. Nothing in this world could keep me from Edward Cullen. I placed my hand in his, but felt a sudden tug at my shoulder, Jacob was holding onto me.
"Bella, please, just be careful." I looked at Jacob; I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I knew that he meant what he said about keeping an eye out for the Theon, and if they were looking for him and his pack, something bad could happen to Jacob, I loosened his grip from my elbow and took his hand, squeezing it tightly, our eyes locked.
"You be careful too." Jacob looked into my eyes, I had no doubt he knew what I was referring to, because a small smile crept into the corners of his mouth, a boastful smile. I smiled back, but I had a sick feeling in my stomach, as if something horrible was coming. And with that, Jacob was gone.
Again, I was standing in the field. Again, I was facing the four most beautiful creatures I had ever seen. I was standing with the Cullens, behind six of them, standing in front of me in a V shape, all accesses were protect, but though they were all nervous, I felt safe. Standing next to Edward, no matter the situation, could calm any fear I could feel. The Cullens were all extremely still, like statues. I tried to mimic their immobility, but I had less grace and that annoying need to air. I stood, fidgeting in place; we had been standing in this one area for a couple of minutes, no sign of the Theon. I turned to Edward; he was just as stiff as the rest of the Cullens.
"Are they here?" I was growing impatient; it seemed like I had waited forever for my immortality, a few minutes longer would kill me. Edward didn't answer me, but his eyes were locked on something. I sighed and looked forward, almost falling back in surprise. Standing a few feet in front of the Cullens was two of the four Theon. Aphrodite, in all her beauty, was standing in front of Rosalie, in a dark, forest green dress. The dress was unlike what I was used to seeing wrapped around her tiny frame; this dress was not completely fitted to her form. It was an empire waist dress, fitted perfectly to her bust and around her waist, but flowed at the bottom. It was longer than what I was used to seeing her in also, this dress reached down to her knee, but she was still more beautiful than anything I have ever seen.
"Sorry, we're a little late. We got side tracked." Aphrodite turned and smiled at Poseidon, she laughed a little, it was an intoxicating sound. Poseidon looked at Aphrodite discouragingly, but with a smile on his eyes. He, again, wore plain clothes. A navy blue shirt and light blue jeans.
"My sincere apologies, I do hope you have not been waiting long." Poseidon scanned each face, yet he avoided mine. Then he looked around nervously to the side of him.
"We don't mind." Carlisle stepped forward slightly and as he did, the four other Cullens moved closer to fill in his gap. Poseidon watched as they all moved, one eye brow raised.
"What's this all about?" Artemis came out of the farthest end of the meadow; she dressed casually, as I would have expected. Loose fitting light jeans with a fitted black shirt. She looked at Poseidon and Aphrodite, with an almost confused expression on her face, and when they returned it, her eyes began to scan the trees around us. Carlisle raised his eyebrow to Artemis' question.
"What's going on?" Poseidon looked very angry as he looked to Artemis. The Cullens had obviously missed something and were now beginning to relax their statuesque stances. Edward relaxed instantly and moved away from me for a moment, taking one step forward.
"I don't know…" Artemis moved closer toward Aphrodite and Poseidon, her eyes still scanning the area around her. Her beautiful features, as well as those of her mate and her sister, were distorted into expressions of worry.
"What—? " I turned to Edward, confused as to what was happening, the rest of the Cullens gathered around him, with me beside Edward and Alice.
"Something's wrong." Edward spoke to the group, slightly worried. Carlisle nodded as everyone else looked to one another, their eyes lingering on Edward and Carlisle.
"Alice, did you see anything before we got here?" Carlisle looked to Alice, as did everyone else. Alice's wide eyes looked around to everyone and she sighed.
"I didn't see anything. Sorry." Alice looked over the group to the Theon, who were speaking to one another rapidly and then shrugged. "It's something big though." Edward nodded and sighed.
"Ares is missing…." My voice was low. I felt stupid saying this, but I had just realized the absence of one of the Theon, and I was surprised. Edward looked at me, his eyes furrowed. "Ares and Artemis attacked Jacob's pack two days ago…" Edward's eyes flew wide open, realization had hit him, but when he stood up to go toward the Theon, Aphrodite's eyes were glazed over. Artemis was standing beside her sister, ready to steady her when she came out of her vision, but her help was not needed. Aphrodite came out of it and instantly turned and ran. Artemis and Poseidon were not too far behind. Before I could ask what had happened, Edward had thrown me over his shoulder and was running.
The speed in which Edward was running at was new to me, he had never ran this fast, or maybe it was the fact that all of the Cullens were running behind us at a slower pace, but Edward was in a hurry. When the rushing wind stopped berating my ear drums, I looked around; we were no where near the meadow; in fact we were in the middle of the lush, green forest. At first, the sight was beautiful, I wanted to take it all in, but once I had turned around, all the beautiful foliage disappeared. Aphrodite was a few feet from me, kneeling on the ground sobbing as Artemis and Poseidon stood above her, holding one another with one arm, the other was on Aphrodite. It was a portrait of a tragedy. I stepped slightly closer, only for Edward to pull me back, and then I saw what Aphrodite was kneeling over. In the goddess of Love's lap, was the god of War's torso. Aphrodite was holding the torso of her mate, clawing at what she could get her hands on; tears streaming down her face, her cry echoed through the forest. My heart fell, I could only imagine her pain, and it would be as if I had lost Edward… if we were together for thousands of years.
"Wh..." I couldn't form any words; the pain I felt in my heart for Aphrodite was crushing me. Her cries were loud, filled with pain. As I looked around, I knew everyone was imagining this happening to them. Emmett held Rosalie closer, Alice and Jasper were closer than I had ever seen them, and Carlisle was holding Esme as she cried, but I could not let Edward touch me. I could not rub it in Aphrodite's face that she had lost him. Poseidon turned to me, his eyes burning with rage.
"Werewolves…" The one word made my stomach drop. Jacob; how could he do this? Put himself in such danger? My heart thudded, I looked down at Aphrodite, who dropped her head onto Ares' torso.
"My Ares! No! Not my Ares! Please, no!" The words were cries of pain. Her voice was broken with sorrow and I could do nothing but watch. "Ares! My love, my heart! My life! You can't leave me!!" She began to thrash the torso, causing loud thuds to sound though the trees. Artemis bent down next to her sister and began to hug her, trying to calm her. "He was so ignorant! So proud! My Ares, my God of War, please, please don't leave me for eternity without you!" Aphrodite's body collapsed onto Ares' torso, Poseidon dropped down to comfort her as Artemis stood up. Her eyes on the remains of her brother.
"Artemis…" Edward called out to her, his arm blocking me from moving any where near the grieving Theon. "Artemis." As Edward called her, Artemis moved her head slightly toward his voice, but something was different about her. Instead of her light, beautiful eyes, they had become dark. She turned her head toward Edward completely and I could see what Edward sensed. Artemis was gone.
"The price is high." With that Artemis disappeared from where she was into the trees.
"Bella…. We need to get in touch with Jacob… as soon as possible."Edward's body was stiff; my eyes were still glued to the scene in front of me. Aphrodite being comforted by Poseidon over the death of her mate. The price was high… but what would be the payment?