Chapter Ten

Bree

As promised, Edward showed me the boundaries of the Cullen land and where it ended. The other side of the river was out of bounds. He explained how the land, owned by the QuiIeute Tribe stretched from where we stood right to the coast at La Push. The Quileutes were an ancient Native American Tribe with the ability to shape-shift into Wolves. Edward wasn't sure how much I knew about werewolves, but Quileutes were not true werewolves. However, they were natural enemies and we had to be careful. They could be very dangerous. They had originally acquired the ability to transform into wolves when vampires had first arrived in the area, long before the Cullens had taken up residence in Forks. Their purpose was to protect their people. "Of course, we are not true vampires, like the kind that these people originally encountered. We don't kill humans, and this is why they tolerate our existence here. Why we were able to make the treaty with them." Edward explained.

I could smell the wolf presence very strongly at intervals along the border of the land, although we didn't encounter any that night. I heard the occasional eerie howl though. "They are just communicating with each other," he told me. "They know you're here and they are spreading the warning."

"You can hear their thought's too?" I asked, incredulously.

"Yes," he replied. "It comes in handy. I would know if there was any immediate threat, but there isn't. They are just wary of strangers. They will be keeping a close watch until they know they can trust you."

I gulped. I still wasn't one hundred percent sure I could trust myself. There wasn't any point lying to Edward either. "I'm determined to try," I replied. "Really, I am. But don't let me out on my own, just yet."

Edward and Emmett both nodded and led me away from the Quileute land.

We headed off to hunt on neutral territory. We passed near to Edward and Bella's cottage at one point and again, the wolf smell had been overpowering. Edward had been right. My natural instincts were that of repulsion and disgust. I could hear Jacob snoring loudly from inside the cottage. Edward assured me, with amusement, that it was indeed Jacob and not Renesmee.

It seemed strange to me that Edward and Bella would entrust the safety of their daughter, whom they clearly idolised, to a wolf, an enemy. I could feel another set of questions building up in my mind but I tried to suppress them because we needed to hunt.

"Any time you like Fred," Edward had said kindly. "It's important that you understand if you are going to live here with our family."

I nodded,"Later."

"OK, but you do need to know this. Jacob is special. We don't trust all the wolves quite as much as Jacob. I'll explain the reasons for this later."

"Do you completely trust him then, without any doubt? I asked.

"Where Renesmee is concerned, yes, completely. Why else would I feel comfortable leaving my daughter with him?" There was no hesitation in his reply at all.

We soon reached the mountains to the East of Forks and the hunt began. I watched with awe as Edward and Emmett tackled huge bears with complete ease. They taught me their techniques for tackling really large prey. The camaraderie that existed between them when they were in action was thrilling. I watched as they dared each other to take on bigger and bigger prey, arguing about who had killed the biggest. There was a lot of laughter and banter. Edward scolded Emmett on several occasions for showing off and playing with his food.

Edward told me not to pay too much attention to Emmett's hunting methods. "Emmett sees everything as a game." He told me to watch him instead. He then caught a mountain lion and offered it to me, saying he had had his fill. I took it gladly, as so far, I had just been watching them and I was unbelievably thirsty by now. I would get the next one for myself though, but I was nervous of fouling up in front of these professionals.

"Don't worry," Edward told me. "Take your time and focus. Timing and distance is everything. Just follow the techniques we have shown you."

It wasn't very long before I caught my first mountain lion. I was pleased that they didn't intervene. They just maintained a watchful distance, close enough to help out if I came unstuck. Emmett applauded me as I emerged from the undergrowth after drinking the animal's blood. "Nice work Fred!" he exclaimed, with a huge wide grin which seemed to stretch from one side of his face to the other. I was elated that I hadn't had to struggle with it. It had been a clean kill. "Time to tackle a bear next," Emmett said with encouragement. Evidently it was an ongoing argument between Edward and Emmett as to which was the preferable prey, lions or bears. "Emmett is stronger than me, so he prefers the challenge of the huge bears, but I am much faster so I prefer the speed of the mountain lion," Edward offered, by way of explanation.

But it was getting light now so we decided to head back. I would have to save the bears for another time. I was on such a high after this evening's hunt. It was so much more fun to have company. I couldn't remember the last time I had felt this happy, this fulfilled. This was definitely the life for me. I wanted to remember this feeling for ever.

On the way back I decided to ask Edward about how he had killed Victoria. Edward initially appeared to not want to talk about it, like the memory brought him pain, not physical pain, but emotional pain. I could see it in his eyes and feel it in his silence. I felt awkward for having asked him and so I told him it didn't matter, I had just been curious.

"Thank you, anyway," I said, as an afterthought.

"Oh, ok. Believe me, I wanted her dead more than anyone," he had replied with real bitterness. "Sorry, it's just that the memory of Bella standing so close to her, so vulnerable and defenceless, and all my efforts to keep her safe had been in vain. It is so painful for me to remember."

"Yes, I'm sorry I asked," I mumbled apologetically," I didn't mean to cause you pain."

But it was too late. The memories had already come flooding back to him. He told me how they had hidden Bella in the mountains, taking great care not to leave a trail. Jacob had carried her up there the day before to mask her scent. Then he, Edward, had been foolish enough to return to the clearing that morning to find Jacob, after an argument with Bella, and Victoria and Riley had then been able to follow his scent back up the mountain. "I led them to her," he told me with real anguish on his face.

He described the fight with Riley and Victoria in detail. Riley, on his own would not have been much of a challenge. But Victoria was lethal. She was fast, very fast, and agile. He would not have coped if it weren't for the unexpected and invaluable help he had received from the very young and inexperienced werewolf called Seth. Bella had confused the issue herself to distract Victoria by slashing her arm open with a shard of rock. "Not the brightest of moves on her part," he admitted, "but in a way, it did help. Victoria and Riley had certainly been distracted by the smell of her fresh blood. We were able to finish them off quite easily between us. It was so fortunate that Seth had remained with us rather than joining the fight. I literally owe my life to him, and Bella's. The ironic thing is that the wolves had kept him away from the fight because he was too young, not wanting him to be hurt, and he ended up being the hero of the day."

"What about the fight in the clearing?" I asked. I decided that now I had got him talking, now would be a good opportunity to ask about Bree.

"You'll need to ask Emmett about that," he told me, "If you want first-hand experience."

"Gladly," Emmett volunteered. "It was awesome." And then he seemed to remember that he was talking to one of those that had been created to destroy him. That by all accounts I should have been there that day. "Sorry, they were friends of yours," he added.

"No, not really, well, there was only one really. The rest of them were barely more civilised than Neanderthals," and I let out a little laugh to ease the tension. "There was a young girl called Bree. I don't know if you noticed her. She would have been much younger…." I trailed off as I noticed the looks that exchanged between them.

"What?" I asked after very long silence.

"Ok," Edward eventually said after Emmett shrugged his massive shoulders and shook his head a few times.

It was clear it wasn't going to be good news.

"My brother doesn't think you would want to know the whole story, but I disagree. I often find that it is easier to understand if you know the truth, the complete truth." Edward looked at me as if seeking approval before continuing.

I nodded, confirming his beliefs. "I just want to know what happened to her. You can spare me the detail if you wish."

"Was she your girlfriend?" Edward asked me.

I told him that we were just friends, but were fairly close. That the closest thing she had to a boyfriend was a young vampire called Diego, who I hadn't seen since two or three days before the fight. I hadn't known what had happened to him either, but I suspected he had been killed by Riley, punished for being too presumptuous. He had been about to expose some of Riley's lies. There were things he knew about, that Riley would have disapproved of.

Edward then told me, in his soft and sensitive voice, obviously aware of my feelings, how Bree had surrendered at the scene, had told Carlisle she hadn't wanted to be there and didn't want to fight. How Carlisle and Esme had given her a chance and offered her protection, if she promised to behave herself.

This had all been quite plausible so far. I could imagine Bree doing that. She wasn't the bravest. But then came the crunch. The Volturi had turned up and hadn't quite seen it that way. After they had interrogated her to find out who her creator was "As if they didn't know already," Edward had spoken this line with utter contempt, they had killed her anyway.

"The Volturi don't give second chances," Emmett said, mimicking one of their voices, a female.

"I was able to hear her thoughts," Edward continued sadly, "it was awful." He shuddered at this point and looked down at the ground. "She knew what was about to happen. She knew she was going to die and she knew one of us was a mind reader so she shaped her thoughts accordingly. Firstly, she thanked us for giving her a chance. She then passed on some information she thought might be useful for us to know, that she was aware that the Volturi had known about the newborns and hadn't intervened because they had wanted Victoria to succeed in destroying us. We had our suspicions already, but I was grateful to her for confirming it." His deep soulful eyes had been full of sorrow as he continued.

"She thought she had heard Diego's scream at one point but it had been masked out by a cry from one of the wolves. She didn't know about the wolves though. She was confused. She described it as sounding like a cry from an injured animal. It was. It was Jacob. He sustained quite severe injuries that day, from Diego. I didn't know it until now, but I think from what you told me about Diego being Bree's boyfriend, it is possible that he wasn't fighting either, he was looking for her. He hadn't appeared until the fighting was over. We assumed he had been hiding, planning to ambush us after the fight and maybe take one or two of us out when we were least expecting it, but it now seems likely that he had simply been looking for her. Either way, it is just a tragedy that they didn't find each other earlier or they might both have been spared."

I had frowned at this point, not sure I had understood what he had been saying. I was mulling it over in my head, Bree and Diego, if only they had met up away from the battlefield…Jacob attacked Diego and then got injured?

"You mustn't blame Jacob," he added. "He wasn't the one who attacked Diego, if indeed it was Diego. It was one of the others, a female wolf, the only female in the pack. Jacob was just defending her because she wouldn't have stood a chance. She's not nearly as powerful as she thinks she is."

I felt Edward's pain and remorse. I felt pain for myself too. After all this time, not knowing, I didn't know if I felt relief or despair, or was it just numbness?

"Thanks," I muttered "At least you tried, and now I know."

There had been silence for most of the journey back to the house. Not through any awkwardness, but more through the grief that each of us was suffering internally after sharing the experience of reliving that day. I doubted Emmett had been suffering as much as Edward and I, being the light-hearted joker that he was, but he had been respectful of our feelings and had refrained from jerking around like he had been doing earlier. To be honest, looking back on it, I would have preferred him to have lightened the mood, but at the time it had seemed appropriate to honour my little friend by remembering, in the detail Edward had described, her last few thoughts before she had departed her short second life.

So I had gone from high to low, experienced to the full both ends of the scale, in one evening. But at least now I had closure on that episode. Bree was dead, and most likely Diego was too. I could move on. There had been no survivors.