When The House Goes Up In Flames
Chapter Ten – Waltz
They watched from the trees as Charlie pounded on the door of their home. Rosalie was brimming with anger, though it was more at the situation than anyone in particular. Over the past few weeks, she had come to view Bella as a real member of the family. Despite her reservations in the past, because Bella did not give up her humanity willingly, Rosalie began to respect her, and in time, almost love her.
Seeing Charlie here, at her home, reminded her of all the reasons she never wanted this life for Bella. Honestly, the reasons were more for herself and her life. She could admit now her jealousy, and was really trying to overcome it. The truth was that she envied Bella her life, and seeing the last piece that Bella had nearly willingly given up pushed her over the edge.
She kept having to run because of Edward's mistakes. And she was sick of it. She didn't care if he was close enough to hear her. He deserved to hear it.
It was his moronic decision to go.
Charlie was now circling the house. There was no getting rid of him – he was completely determined.
"Calm down," Emmett whispered, picking up her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. The wind picked up violently, tossing her well-made hair every which way.
They smelled it and tensed simultaneously. The dogs reminded her of too much sweat and not enough bathing – their scent was almost rancid. "Carlisle," Rosalie hissed into the empty air, hoping he would hear.
Almost immediately, both Carlisle and Esme were in front of the two of them. Panic was written all over Esme's face; Carlisle appeared calmer, but had a very apprehensive quality about him. "They're charging," he whispered. "We have to leave quickly."
"They'll follow us," Emmett said, clutching Rosalie close to him. Her anger had intensified tenfold, and once again she felt the need to blame her brother.
"Doesn't matter. I don't know how many are coming after us, or how many are chasing the other four. We can't risk a battle here – especially not with Charlie."
"We can take them. How many are there, six at most? Four of us, on our turf – piece of cake," Emmett said. He couldn't hide the broad smile, even though he knew the direness of the situation.
"Eight," Carlisle corrected.
"Okay, that's a bit tougher, but we can handle them."
"No," Esme said, a shrill element creeping into her voice. It didn't matter that she hadn't given birth to any of them – they were all her children, they had been for at least fifty years. Hearing her mother's panic, Rosalie was able to shake off some of her anger. "We don't risk it."
"Esme's right. We don't have much time until the wolves get here, so we go find the others. We regroup, we plan."
"Why are they doing this?" Rosalie asked, practically spitting the words.
"They see Bella's attack on her father as a breech of the treaty. Sam Uley has been looking for an excuse to attack since Alice returned. I imagine this means war."
"I could use a little bit of war," Emmett said. Normally Rosalie would find his goofy grin endearing, but she was still boiling with rage.
--
Edward and Bella were beginning to circle back, hoping that their pursuers wouldn't catch on and cut across. Of course, the two of them had the advantage of knowing the wolves' plans beforehand. They had a better chance of survival with their family than on their own.
"Alice, where are you?" Edward called, though in reality it was barely spoken.
Carlisle and Esme are coming to find us with Emmett and Rosalie. Follow me, we should be meeting up soon. Alice and Jasper were ducking in and out of sight a short way ahead. You said there were six wolves out here. Where are the other two?
"Later," he hissed, letting go of Bella's hand for the briefest moment so that he wouldn't slam into a tree.
The wolves were still following them, and were picking up speed. Once again, he scooped Bella up in his arms and sprinted full force towards Jasper and Alice. Edward! The call entered his head from four different voices – the rest of his family was close.
"I can see them," Alice murmured as she ran to his side.
The three of them slowed, and Edward placed Bella on the ground next to him. The wolves were still close, and they couldn't afford to stop for long. The other three had picked up Carlisle's change of place and were running to meet up with Jacob and his group.
"So where are the other two?" Alice asked.
"They're protecting the reservation, in case we catch on and try to attack them there."
"As if two of them could stop all eight of us," Emmett scoffed.
"We need to get as far away from Forks as possible," Esme said, her voice lilting and quiet. "We were leaving anyway."
"And give them the satisfaction of having run us out of town?" Emmett was really enjoying the idea of a fight. In fact, most of them were. Even Carlisle looked to be gearing up for war.
"They'll follow us wherever we go. It doesn't matter how far. They have been waiting for this for a long time, so they're not going to back down because of something as simple as a few hundred miles." He paused. "They're getting closer. We have to move."
"We can take them, Edward," Emmett said. With the exception of Esme and Carlisle, this seemed to be the general consensus. Esme was worried, Carlisle was calculating. His sudden enthusiasm had melted away from his shoulders, and he was lost in thought. Thoughts that Edward could hear perfectly.
"No," Bella whispered. It was the first time she had spoken in almost twenty minutes, and the sound surprised Edward. Even now, he wasn't used to the silence where her thoughts should be.
"Bella, they're coming after us to kill you," Rosalie said venomously.
"No," she repeated with a much firmer voice.
"Bella," Edward sighed.
"I don't want anyone to die because of me."
"Well, we have to move quickly. They're almost on top of us," Alice hissed. "We either fight now or decide what to do when we get far enough away from them."
"We don't have a choice," Edward said. "We keep running, Bella, and they find us. It's inevitable. We fight now, we fight in a few hours – a few days. It doesn't matter. They'll catch up to us."
"Kill or be killed," Jasper said, surprisingly composed.
"I am not asking you to fight, Bella. But you need to understand that there will be a battle, no matter what we do."
The wolves were getting excited; they knew the vampires weren't moving.
"We run," she said, looking at Edward earnestly. "I can't bear to lose any of you."
"What about them?" Rosalie snarled.
"Not now, Rose," Emmett said, the boyish grin finally wiped from his face. "Run." He scanned the faces of the rest of his family before taking Rosalie's hand and flying off into the woods.
Edward grabbed Bella's hand and sped off. Carlisle and Esme were nearby, zigzagging around the brush. Jasper and Alice were not far behind, but closer to Emmett and Rosalie. The wolves were too close for comfort – he could hear them crashing through the forest, panting.
Everyone's thoughts were of their partners, of keeping them safe. But Edward tried to push them out of his head and focus on Bella and the gaining wolves.
We need to split up, go in separate groups, try to split them up, Carlisle thought, specifically for Edward. We have a better chance of survival that way. Esme and I will go east, Rosalie and Emmett will keep going until they hit the road; Alice and Jasper can circle back around to the house, get the cars. You two go north, as far and as fast as you can.
As soon as Carlisle was finished, he could hear Alice and Jasper's reaction to her vision. She had seen each direction the Cullens split off in, though she still could not see the wolves' choices.
All my love, Esme thought as she and Carlisle rapidly broke off and sped eastward.
Edward pulled Bella closer to him, urging her to run faster while guiding her change in direction. She was still quiet and her face was drawn, but blank. He hated not knowing what she was thinking about, almost more so now that she was no longer human.
A minute or so later, one of the wolves swore very loudly, causing several of the others to snarl internally at him. Then they all realized that the Cullens had split up, and that they had to change formation. None of them were well-attuned to each of the vampires' individual scents, so they split off in four directions randomly.
It was just Edward's luck that Jacob happened to be following him.
Everything that Edward passed by blurred together; it was all one unending forest, and it seemed as though he had run around these woods far too often for his liking lately. Too soon, the thoughts of his family faded away as they got farther. He was still close enough to Emmett and Rosalie to hear an occasional idea, but that was about all. This wasn't a feeling he liked at all, being stuck in his head with nothing but a pack of wolves. Their ability to communicate fascinated him, really. They all spoke to each other in their heads, which came in handy for coordinating attacks. It made perfect sense, really, and would've worked well if any of the wolves had experience in attacking several targets at once. Their plans were awkward, and they were constantly yelling at each other about everything from missteps to stray thoughts.
As he ran with Bella alongside him, the one thought that stuck out the most belonged to Jacob. The wolf was making it clear that he still loved Bella, body and soul, but would kill her if he had to – even if it meant an eternity of self-loathing.
The rest of the wolves were sick of Jacob's inner turmoil, and several of them were thinking (though trying not to) that he needed to stop seething and pay attention to the task at hand. Sam Uley even threatened to send him back to the reservation. Jacob, however, had more emotionally invested in a vampire war than the rest of them. He yearned for some sort of vindication.
Edward was so concentrated on the wolves' thoughts that he barely noticed Bella's hand slipping from his grip. She was letting him go and slowing down. He came to a very abrupt halt, pulling her into him. "Bella, what are you doing?"
"Shh," she said, eyes alert and wild as she scanned the surrounding area. Jacob was alone, following the two of them without knowing which vampires they were, and he was not far off. Bella was looking for something, her red-tinged honey eyes wide. There was nothing to be seen – just the same perpetual green of the forest and the occasional hint of blue above. Birds flapped their wings in the treetops, and small animals scurried away from the two demons as fast as their little legs could carry them.
The longer they stood there, the closer Jacob came. To a human, he would appear almost silent as he ran through the woods, but to Edward, he was a bumbling, crashing idiot who could barely make his way through his own element. "Bella," Edward whispered, not noticing the slight hint of panic creeping over him. He would give her thirty more seconds, and then take her away by force if necessary.
She appeared so cool and collected as she closed her eyes. Jacob was gaining on them, and Edward fought the urge to pick her up and dash away. He had wanted a fight, yet he was standing here about to run. His head filled with two very opposite forces – the preservation of Bella and the ecstasy of battle. Very suddenly, Bella threw herself around him with all the force her body could muster, knocking him to the ground.
Everything suddenly felt very strange.
Edward was not attached to his body. His conscious mind was floating above him. Or his body was gone.
He could still feel the heaviness of the corporeal world, but something about him felt so free. The feeling passed after a moment, and he remembered where he was.
"Don't move," Bella mouthed, locking her eyes with his. Her hands were like iron fetters around his wrists, and he was pinned beneath her. The feeling of weightlessness was gone, but things still felt very surreal.
"Bella, what-"
She hushed him again, so he chose to focus on the sounds of Jacob advancing through the forest. The wolf was slowing down, and soon Edward could see him.
The beast was enormous, nearly twice his size, and covered head in shaggy russet fur. Its teeth were bared in a snarl that almost reminded Edward of a scowl. Above him, Bella's breath hitched and a strange look flashed over her face, marring it for the briefest of seconds. Did she recognize the wolf, or was it just fear?
At last, Edward understood. She had been hoping that her power would work on him as well, as long as she kept contact with him. That appeared to be the case, though her face became more and more focused and intense.
They were, in essence, invisible to Jacob Black.
Clearly, however, Bella had to concentrate on keeping Edward in her barely-there realm. Considering the frustration radiating off her, he assumed that she didn't even have to think to keep herself alone invisible. He tried not to dwell too much on her internal battle, and looked back at the creature sniffing the air a few yards away.
It stood on its hind legs and cast its glance around wildly. The snarl intensified, and it landed with a soft thud on the damp earth. Slowly, it began circling the area where Edward and Bella lay. Each tread of its paws was muffled against the ground, each step delicately placed, like a waltz. It continued smelling the air for some hint of their whereabouts. Jacob was calling for reinforcements via the pack's psychic channel. The vampires' trail had suddenly ended; he knew they were nearby, but there was no trace of them. One wolf in particular was irrationally angry at Jacob; another said that they couldn't split up anymore than they already had. The one that Edward assumed was Sam Uley, the pack leader, agreed, saying that this could easily be a trap of some kind.
As the wolf continued to pace and sniff, a debate was going on within the pack. Regroup and attack one-by-one or continue on their routes.
Edward was shaken to reality when Bella gasped above him. Her whole body was shaking with the effort of keeping them hidden, and her eyes pleaded with no one in particular. He didn't dare move in case it broke her spell. He hadn't even realized that he had stopped breathing until now.
Jacob was inching ever closer as he continued his dance around them.
Very suddenly, Edward lurched into the visible world and was on his feet, staring down a rabid-looking beast.
--
Normally so unnaturally graceful, Alice stumbled. Before she even had the chance to fall much, Jasper wrapped her up and set her back on her feet, clutching her hand even tighter than before.
"What did you see?" he asked as he watched the terrified expression on her face. He wanted to stop, to take her in his arms, to comfort her, but they had to keep running. There were two wolves not far behind them, and if they stopped, Alice's visions would go blank and they would lose their upper hand.
"Edward… and Bella… they've… ended."
"A wolf?" Alice nodded blankly. "Anyone else?"
"No." Her voice was taught. Neither of them had any idea of Bella and Edward's state – dead, alive, injured, in the midst of a battle. The wolves behind him and his wife still sprinted, following their trail. They were uncomfortably close, but neither he nor Alice had quite the speed of Emmett and Rosalie, let alone Edward needed to completely lose them.
"Do we go back?" Dragging Alice was slowing them down significantly, and he had to hit her lightly to keep her moving. It was not something he enjoyed doing.
"We have to…" Every time Alice put her life in front of her family's Jasper both loved her and hated her a little bit more. She was, in his eyes, absolutely perfect, but he wished that she would see how much he needed her, what his life would be like if he did lose her. Usually, she would see that too and immediately reassure him.
He tried to calm himself as he calmed her.
"I can't keep going this way without knowing, Jasper," she whispered finally.
Swiftly as he could, he changed their direction so that they would double back, to the north, and go find Bella and Edward. He could only hope that the rest of his family was safe, and that they could improvise a plan.
"Where did you last see them?"
"They were stopping. I don't know why. Then, nothing. They had no future. Nothing."
"We'll find them."
--
Rosalie and Emmett were all alone, with the exception of two wolves behind them. A few minutes ago, they had both noticed that their family had all veered off in different directions. While it bothered Emmett for only a moment that they weren't in on the plan, his excitement for the situation overpowered whatever malcontent he had. He wished he could say the same for Rosalie.
"Rose, just because we don't know exactly what the plan is doesn't mean we're not a part of it." She snorted beside him, leaping around a tree. "We're probably supposed to keep going the way we're going, and we'll be meeting at a common point. Try to get the wolves confused, you know?" She snorted again.
"They didn't tell us for a reason."
"No, I'm pretty sure that they couldn't. We were all spread out as it was."
"Right. It was inevitable."
"Rose, would you keep your voice down a little?" he pleaded, knowing that the louder she got, the more likely it was that their pursuers would hear. Definitely two of them, crashing through the woods. One of them sounded huge: every time he jumped and landed, the earth shook a little bit. Emmett loved that feeling.
He had to shake that thought off. Didn't want to be on the same level as a werewolf.
After about twenty minutes, they hit the pavement of the highway and ran across, safely avoiding the only two cars for miles. The sound of the wolves was drowned out by the cars' engines, but only for a while.
If they continued along the road, they had a chance of meeting up with whoever got the car – that would probably be Alice and Jasper. However, they had a chance of giving the wolves an opportunity to attack. So Emmett ducked into the forest on the other side, pulling Rosalie with him, and ducked around trees. He kept one eye on the road as they continued to run.
"I don't understand why we don't just turn around and fight them," Rosalie said. "Two inexperienced werewolves? You and I can handle that, easily." Emmett couldn't hide his smirk. "C'mon, Emmett, wherever the rendezvous point is, we'll be there. Can't we have a little fun while we're at it?" She was just trying to find a way to vent her anger, he knew that. He also recognized that voice all too well. It was sultry and seductive, and she used it to purposefully get him to do something he didn't really want to do.
In this case, he really did want to, though.
He tossed a grin at her and with ease, stopped and turned all in one motion. They stood for a few seconds, waiting to hear the oncoming wolves. A car whizzed by, but Emmett caught the faintest sound – something leaping through the air and landing with a thump to the ground. It came from a little ways down the road, on the opposite side. The wolves had not yet even crossed the freeway.
"Shall we?" he said, flashing his grin down at her. She smiled back, though it was more of a twitch at the corner of her mouth; she still worried about laugh lines from time to time.
They waited for the next car to zoom by before stepping out into the open air and staring at the opposite side of the road. The wolves weren't slowing down yet – they didn't even know that their prey had stopped. Or that their prey had suddenly turned into the predator.
Hand in hand, Emmett and Rosalie swept across the asphalt and into the other side of the forest, rushing towards their targets.
But they never met them. The wolves had changed direction – they were running deeper into the trees, already out of their reach. Running, presumably, towards other members of the Cullen family. Whatever had been the original plan was changing, quickly. Before even pausing a moment to think, the two of them were now running after the wolves, following them to their family.
--
Out of the corner of his eye, Carlisle watched Esme warily. She was trying to keep composed, but the anxiety was eating her alive. The thought of losing any of her children tore her apart, and he longed to reach out and tell her that everything would be fine, that they would each make it out alive. That this was a mere bump, not an obstacle. Unfortunately, he couldn't do so without stopping, and that put their lives at risk.
A single wolf was following them, rushing gracefully through the foliage and keeping close on their trail. It was almost as elegant on its feet as the two of them were.
At the same time, Esme would sporadically look up at Carlisle through hooded eyelids. Were she still human, she would be on the verge of tears by now. No, she would be a hysterical wreck. No, actually, that was a lie as well. She would be as composed as she was at that moment, though sick with worry, and she would do what she had to for her children.
Even though Edward couldn't have all of Bella, he was immensely happier than she had ever seen him. He practically beamed every time he entered the room lately, and even on the days when he seemed convinced that Bella would never love him back, there was something in the way he walked that hadn't been there before. He was almost happier than when Bella had been human because he knew they would have each other forever. Being a vampire was like being frozen for thousands of years – any change, no matter how minor, was essentially permanent. And for Esme, knowing that her loneliest son would never have to be lonely again, for the rest of her existence… well that filled her with more joy than anything else. Almost anything, she thought, eyes flitting back to her Carlisle.
So she focused on this. She focused on the idea that what was happening now would turn out well and that she would never again see Edward as empty as he had been.
This was for the love of her family.
"Esme," Carlisle said, coming to a very sudden halt and pulling her into him, "the wolves have turned around."
"What?" Panic crept back into her voice. She couldn't contain it. "Edward and Bella." He nodded slightly, somehow knowing what she could only guess. "We're going after them." Again, he nodded, and they began to run in the direction they had come.
--
Immediately, the wolf started pawing the ground with irritation and made to lunge at Edward. He was prepared to sidestep him, take Bella, and then run, but she was still unseen near his feet. The mass of fur snarled and pushed back on its heels, preparing to leap through the air, directly at Edward's throat.
Bella appeared directly in front of Edward, arms wide in a protective stance. "Jake, no!" she screamed. The way her power worked continued to confuse Edward, but he had no time to ponder. The wolf was screaming at top volume in his head and letting loose a weighted howl at the same time. Bella was looking up at it with no element of fear or even hatred.
The wolf turned and sprinted back before circling around and galloping directly at them.
Bella whispered, "Run." It was the last thing Edward heard before he picked her up with ease and took off, a lightning bolt leaving behind a cloud of dust, a ghost in the forest.
A/N: I just wanted to correct a few of my own mistakes I noticed. There was one point where I referenced Carlisle being at work, and they are supposed to be incognito, so that nobody knows the Cullens are back in Forks. So that makes no sense. I've forgotten all the other mistakes that I wanted to correct. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are eagerly awaiting the next one. Because the next one's going to be a doozy.
Yes, I know, you hate me for that.