Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.
Previously…
This perverse poem gave clear indication of James' past acquaintance with Alice and his intentions. Alice was the only one to escape James' clutches and he planned on remedying that.
Chapter nine: La Mort de James
Alice's POV
The flights back to Forks were tense and Jasper was suffering in the emotional climate. My terror could not have been helping him in the slightest, but he stoically refused to leave my side. Everything I had discovered about my past had been terrible. In some ways, I was glad to finally know about my past, while at the same time, I wished that I still remembered nothing of it. But more than that, I was annoyed at myself. I hadn't seen this coming, I hadn't seen the danger that this would expose my family to.
"It's not your fault, stop blaming yourself," Edward tried to soothe my guilty thoughts.
I didn't bother to reply; he could hear what I was thinking. But I felt the worst for Edward. I knew how terrifying the memories triggered by my human possessions had been. It had taken me days to escape them and Edward had had to suffer along with me.
"Really, Alice," Edward tried again. "No one cares about any of it; we just want you to be safe."
Sometimes, I wondered what I ever did to deserve such a wonderful family. Rather than trying to work it out, I just snuggled into Jasper's side, taking comfort in his presence. His arm constricted around me reflexively and I felt him relax a little. My emotions must be calming also. I resolved to try harder to see what was to come; my family needed my help to destroy James.
Edward's POV
'Thankyou,' Jasper thought to me. I could sense through his thoughts that Alice was finally beginning to relax.
Once we arrived back in Forks, we held what could only be described as a war council. Jasper once again took control and between him and Carlisle, the rest of us didn't need to do much at all. It was decided that we would return to school as planned, since we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves. The five of us should be safe at school; our main concern was Carlisle and Esme. Eventually, it was agreed that Carlisle would call the hospital, claiming that Esme was sick and insist that he stay home to care for her. It was a flimsy excuse, but the only other alternative was that Esme go to the hospital everyday and that was even less plausible.
Everyone was satisfied that the age old maxim, safety in numbers, would be sufficient to keep us safe. We instead turned our attention to making sure that James would not be safe for much longer. Jasper and I were certain that he would follow us back to Forks and most likely continue to leave sketches and poems for Alice when we went hunting. This was what would give us the opportunity to catch him. We weren't naïve enough to think we would catch him by surprise at our doorstep, but we were sure that we would be able to track his scent.
Sunday night, before we returned to school, the whole family went hunting. The predators that were available to us here were a welcome change from the deer of De Soto and everyone gorged themselves. When we returned home, James proved himself to be comfortingly predictable, leaving another sketch of Alice on the doorstep. Jasper almost smiled as he realised that James the tracker wasn't used to being tracked himself and that this simple fact would work in our favour. As per Jasper's plan, we collected the sketch and entered the house and prepared for the next day.
School on Monday passed slower than usual. Jasper made sure to walk Alice to each of her classes and by lunchtime, she was starting to get irritated by his over protectiveness. This in turn frustrated Jasper, who was just trying to keep her safe, causing him to have trouble separating his emotions from Alice's. When we returned home, Jasper, Emmett and I picked up James' scent from the last delivery and tracked it for several miles before returning home.
Tuesday was a little tense. When I was walking with Alice to gym, we both thought we saw a flash of red in the trees. Was it Victoria? Or were we just being ridiculous? Alice begged me not to mention it to Jasper.
Wednesday was much the same. We went to school like usual and then hunted in the evening. Thankfully, there were no more sightings of red hair so Alice was able to relax some. Owing to the incredibly tense situation we found ourselves in, Jasper didn't seem to notice Alice's temporary increase in tension.
Of course, James had visited our house again. Rosalie picked the piece of parchment up, while Emmett made ridiculous and zipped around the house at an impossible speed, ensuring that it hadn't been entered. It hadn't; James had no interest in our house. Carlisle filed the new sketch away with the others and the family split up to try and relax and pass the time with something enjoyable. It didn't take long for Emmett's anxiety to ruin the chess match he and Jasper were attempting.
Thursday was more of the same. School dragged, to use a modern aphorism, and when we arrived home Jasper, Emmett and I again tracked James' scent for a few miles. Jasper was correct in his assumptions about James. Although this trail and the one from Monday night seemingly followed completely different routes, after about thirty miles or so, they converged. We would soon know exactly where James was. On Friday night, the family hunted again. We were closing in on James; even though he didn't know it yet, and we wanted to stay as strong as possible. When we arrived home, we were expecting the piece of parchment and more of James' disturbing prose.
I have missed what is mine;
The scent so divine;
Blood like wine;
No longer can I dine;
It is my opine;
That you very soon will be,
Mine.
I will reclaim what is mine;
Through a plan so vulpine;
Using a tine;
In conjunction with dyne;
It is my opine;
You will be broken but eternally,
Mine.
This poem was nothing more than a threat. It didn't help us at all; it didn't teach us anything new. The next two weeks carried on much the same: we went to school, Carlisle continued to claim that Esme was sick and remained home with her and every three or fours days, the whole family went hunting. Every time we returned from hunting, there was a new sketch of Alice left for us to find and a new trail for Jasper, Emmett and I to follow. Finally, James' impatience started to show and he left another poem instead of a sketch one Saturday night.
My patience is starting to wain;
My plan is starting to gain,
Momentum;
The object of my desire is in sight;
The conclusion will be downright,
Gruesome.
The rules are changing;
The outlook is brightening,
Nicely;
The chase I soon will miss;
I do not look upon this,
Kindly.
As Rosalie finished reading the poem, my stomach dropped and a collective shiver travelled through every vampire in the room. Alice's thoughts were panicked even though she was certain that Jasper would protect her. That thought opened the floodgates, letting loose her fears of Jasper getting injured while protecting her, which served to only further terrify her. The feelings and emotions invoked in Jasper were incredibly powerful and his legs almost buckled from the onslaught of emotions the family was emitting. It took Carlisle's calm reassurances to remind everyone that it had been months since James started stalking Alice and he hadn't come close to her once. Alice and I, however, knew better and exchanged a look so brief that no one else in the family noticed. Victoria had gotten close.
After the family had dispersed, I sat at my piano and started to play as my mind ran over the poem, looking for its meaning. It was interesting that James' prose seemingly changed according to his purpose. The poems that were merely threats followed a very simple rhyming structure. The first poem and this more recent one were slightly more complex and were designed to convey specific pieces of information. This latest poem was warning us that James was sick of waiting and about to make his move.
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Alice's POV
This most recent poem from James was disturbing and made me shiver. It seemed to forebode what was coming; it was a warning. I had never wished for a vision so much as I did now. In vain, I had been trying for weeks to pin down James' plans or at the very least, his location, but without success. Carlisle's infuriatingly logical conclusion was that James had some knowledge of how my visions worked. Edward and I had scoured my file from the asylum, seeking any indication that my doctors had figured out how my visions worked. But there was none. Generally, I just seemed to creep them out. So how could James know?
We all piled into Edward's Volvo on our way to yet another day of scholastic hell and I couldn't remember why I had been excited to return to school a few months ago. Edward turned and gave me a stern look through the rear vision mirror. No doubt he had heard my thoughts turn melancholy. I just sighed. It was my fault that everyone's lives had become filled with worry and fear. Carlisle has had to practically quit his position at the hospital because we are scared to leave any member of the family alone. Esme's life had been impacted also; she couldn't leave the house, in case someone saw her and wondered why Carlisle hadn't returned to work.
My day was filled with classes that I gave little or no attention and so my thoughts continued to dwell on how much my presence was ruining my family's lives. Halfway though lunch, I was finally blessed with a vision. Thankfully, I had been blocking my thoughts from Edward, even if only to prevent him from listening in to my self pity, and so he did not discover its contents. I saw Carlisle in surgery, then I saw Esme with a phone being thrust into her hands; she was being restrained by a vampire. Finally, I saw myself outside the cafeteria answering my phone and then crumpling to the ground. There were no students around me and only fifteen minutes of lunch left; this was going to happen very soon. I had to do something. No one had noticed me slip into a vision so I picked up my tray and dumped the contents into a bin.
"Where are you going?" asked Jasper as he made to follow me.
"Outside for some fresh air and then to class," I replied simply, while doing my best to throw off don't-follow-me-outside vibes in Jasper's general direction.
I arrived outside the cafeteria without Jasper so I must have succeeded. I didn't have to wait long before my phone buzzed. Putting it to my ear, I listened to the instructions the vampire on the other end gave me, and then slipped away from the school and my siblings.
Jasper's POV
As I saw Alice rise from the table and throw her uneaten props in the bin, I wanted to join her while asking where she was going.
"Outside for some fresh air and then to class," she answered primly.
She was throwing off some serious irritation and frustration so I slipped back into my chair in defeat. Alice was a free spirit and I liked to control everything around me; the stress of the last few months was causing me to practically smother her with my over protective nature. I knew that Alice was quite capable of taking care of herself and that we were only moments away if anything should happen to her. That simple fact and the foul mood she was in were enough to convince me that should another vampire attempt to interrupt her just now, it would be the last thing he ever does. Pushing something slimy and of an undefinable colour around my tray, I settled down to wait out the rest of the lunch period. I did my best to ignore the waves of sympathy coming from my family.
Sitting in history class, my torture was relieved by a sharp knock at the door. My teacher answered it and was greeted by Edward, who spoke hurriedly in a hushed voice. I didn't hear everything he said because one phrase stuck out and took root in my mind.
"…family emergency…" I heard Edward say.
Before the teacher had a chance to call me over, I was practically out the classroom door. Thankfully, Edward had the presence of mind to make the apologies required to maintain our human charade. As soon as the classroom door was closed, I whirled around in the corridor to face him and demanded to know what was going on.
"I can't hear Alice," he said.
That was all I needed. I raced to her classroom, too fast for mortal eyes to see. She wasn't there. Disappearing into the woods that crept up to the edge of the school, I took cover and pulled out my phone and tried to call her. No answer. By the time Edward, with Emmett and Rosalie close on his heels, found me, I was so terror stricken that I could barely function.
"Have you tried calling her?" Edward asked calmly.
Had I tried calling her? What sort of question was that? Of course I had tried calling her! She didn't answer her phone. I don't know where she is. I don't know where she could have gone. Edward cut my frenzied thoughts off.
"Let's call Carlisle. Maybe she just went home," he reasoned.
"She was pretty pissed at lunch," Rosalie agreed.
Edward pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Carlisle. After a few rings, I heard the phone go to voicemail; Carlisle's phone was switched off. What did that mean? Edward hung up and tried another number. My terror started to increase again as I heard Esme's voicemail message start. Edward frowned as he hung up and tried the house. One… two… three… four… five… six… seven rings and still no answer. Something was very wrong. No one spoke a word as we all turned towards the house and started running.
"Rosalie, go back and get my car," instructed Edward as he tossed Rose his car keys. My mind was almost too frantic to register and marvel at how well she took Edward's order.
Arriving at the house did nothing to allay our fears. There was evidence of a struggle out front and we could smell the fresh scents of James and Victoria. Had Alice seen something and come to help? Wouldn't she have come to me for help?
"It's possible, Jasper, we don't know what happened," Edward soothed.
"You should see the family room," Emmett growled as he exited the house.
Those words were enough for Edward and I to realise that absolutely nothing good had happened here this afternoon. Again, no communication was necessary as the three of us started to track James' and Victoria's scents. We could also smell Esme. The trail twisted and turned through the forest, heading towards no particular destination.
"Focus, Jasper," snapped Edward. "We've been following trails like these for weeks. We know what direction he's gone in!"
Edward was right. The three of us immediately altered our course and ran to the point roughly thirty miles away from our home where all of James' trails converged. From there, we continued tracking the scent and soon caught up with a fresh trail. We could no longer smell Victoria or Esme, but Alice's scent had appeared alongside James'. The realisation that James had lured my Alice into a trap caused the venom to flow as my body prepared itself for battle; my vision was framed in a deep crimson colour. I was barely capable of coherent thought as I raced towards my Alice, although a part of my mind did register Edward's look of concern.
I pushed myself faster as the trail became fresher; Edward matched my new pace while Emmett started to fall behind. A few miles later, the scents became so strong that we knew we were almost upon them.
"Do you have a plan?" Edward asked, looking over at me.
I didn't have a plan. The only plan was to get to Alice, nothing else mattered. Somewhere in my mind, I recognised that I was crazed and not thinking my actions through as I normally would, but I couldn't convince myself to care. Edward would have heard all of that in my thoughts; I didn't need to answer him. My manners however, demanded that I acknowledge him verbally and I was just about to when I felt it: a powerful wave of emotions. There were feelings of fear, desperation, defeat, elation, triumph, excitement, and joy all mixed in together.
'I'm coming, Alice,' I thought.
And then I saw them. James had Alice pinned to a rock and was twisting her arm. The sickening crunch and snap of vampire flesh was the last thing that I remembered.
Edward's POV
'I'm coming, Alice,' Jasper thought. His thoughts were frenzied and snarled together.
Looking through Jasper's thoughts, everything was tinged with red as he ripped James away from Alice. Emmett's thoughts betrayed that he desperately wanted to help Jasper tear James to shreds, but we both knew that this fight belonged to Jasper. In the split second Jasper had taken to catalogue Alice's injuries, James had recovered and was now prepared to fight. Somewhere in the periphery, I could hear the garbled mess that was Victoria's thoughts. She was torn between wanting to help James and her instincts to run. Assessing the severity of the situation, she knew that James would not survive this and nor would she if she attempted to help.
Concluding that Victoria would not pose a threat, I gathered Alice into my arms and focused on Jasper's thoughts while Alice righted her injuries. While circling James, he was comparing every move made to those from the ruined fight from a few weeks ago. Now that he knew Alice was safe with Emmett and me, he had become the strategist again. Jasper's mind was fascinating when he was fighting and I had never been privy to this side of his mind before; he never thought like this when he wrestled with Emmett and me. Both he and James were moving closer and then stepping back and feinting to the side, searching for weaknesses. I knew that James would find none and was surprised by how many more openings for attack Jasper had perceived when compared to my own analysis.
This dance continued for a full five minutes before Jasper had decided that he had learned enough about his opponent. When he finally sprang at James, he took him off guard as he twisted one of James' arms sharply. James' thoughts now betrayed his understanding of just how serious his situation was. Up until now, he had still been quite assured of his victory. Having one's arm torn off was obviously quite sobering. Tossing the arm aside, Jasper continued to circle James. For an instant, I heard Victoria's thoughts come nearer but then she retreated back into the woods just as James lost his other arm. Without his arms, James couldn't defend himself and it took less than thirty seconds for Jasper to completely dismember him.
When he was finished, Jasper came and claimed Alice from my arms, and she clung to him as though her life depended upon it. Emmett and I gathered the pieces and started the fire. As a plume of purple smoke snaked up into the sky, I could no longer hear Victoria's thoughts.
A/N: Some kind reviewers convinced me that my poetry wasn't completely awful and once a sadistic vampire commits to making threats through prose it doesn't make sense to stop at just one.
21-July-2009
29-September-2009 -- beta'd