Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I do own Arianna and Gabriel, though. Thanks to my beta, CrystalRaindrop!
Never Too Late — Chapter Eleven
Previously ...
"We will attack at twilight."
I paused briefly, unsure of what to do, what to say. I knew that, if we fought against them, we would win ... but we would lose, too, because not everyone would survive. I probably wouldn't survive. And it scared me to think that my death might not be a bad thing at all.
I bit my lip and bowed shortly before turning my back on the man I almost considered a father. I whispered numbly two words that sealed my acceptance, my fate. My future ... in which Arianna no longer existed.
"Yes, sir."
And then I walked away.
September 11th, 2038 - Saturday — 1:12 PM ( Edward POV )
"He moved so fast, Carlisle — almost like one of us," I whispered, and I sat back, my hand brushing against Bella's. I could feel her small body shaking, and I frowned as Carlisle's concerned thoughts washed over me.
"But he isn't."
It wasn't question; it was a statement. He knew, as well as I did, and as well as everyone else did, that Gabriel wasn't a Vampire. His heart beat, and his blood flowed freely. His skin was warm. He was human. But ...
"He healed himself, too, and he was so strong... Could he be ... ?" I whispered, and I didn't have to finish my sentence. Carlisle knew what I was asking.
"No. He is not like Arianna — even though Arianna is mostly human, she carries our scent. Gabriel would, too, if he were half-vampire. No. He is human."
As he spoke, his frown deepened, and Emmett paced back and forth angrily. They hadn't been present for the fight, but they had seen the blood covering Arianna's tattered clothes, and the terrified look that had haunted her eyes when I'd carried her so gently home.
Rosalie, Alice and Jasper sat silently, listening only, for they had nothing to add to our conversation, and Esme was sitting with Arianna, comforting her as best she could. Bella sat beside me, holding tightly onto me, as if she was afraid I would disappear.
Carlisle noted the contact between me and Bella, and spoke aloud.
"Edward, you said you nearly died. How?"
Bella flinched at his words, and I moved us both until I had her cradled in my arms, her head pressed against my shoulder. I knew that she was remembering only hours ago, when I had lain on the ground, dying slowly, as she could do nothing but watch on.
I spoke softly, not wanting to upset her further.
"It was the dagger he held. I don't know how, but I was unable to move the second the blade touched my skin. And it burned. It burned worse than anything. Worse even than when I was changed. He told me ... " I paused, and continued even more quietly than before. "He said that my body was burning from the inside out."
Carlisle was pacing now, and I heard Arianna sniffle softly. I turned to see my baby girl crying in the arms of my mother, and I could feel my heart breaking as I realized once more that she wouldn't allow me or Bella to touch her, because we had been trying, with everything in us, to kill the one she had come to care for so much.
I was about to speak again, but Arianna's small, quiet voice interrupted me. Her words were whispered.
"He said he was a Vampire Hunter."
I heard Carlisle's sharp intake of breath, but more than that, I heard the pain in Arianna's voice as she spoke so softly. I knew she felt like she was betraying him with each word she let slip past her pale lips.
"This changes things," Carlisle said suddenly, breaking into my thoughts with his anxious words. Arianna began sobbing once more. "We have to leave. Tonight."
"Why?" I demanded, and when he turned to look at me, his expression was frightened.
"I haven't heard of one for over two hundred years ... but Vampire Hunters rarely work alone. They work together, in large ... covens, you could say. When a new Hunter joins the coven, they sign a contract in their own blood, and they are forever loyal to their masters. There has never been, throughout history, a single Hunter who has betrayed their master."
I frowned impatiently.
"So what? Why does that matter?"
"Because," Carlisle continued, and he spoke so fast that his words mixed together. "Gabriel will not betray his master. No matter how much he loves Arianna, he will not break away from his coven."
He paused, and ran a hand through his hair. And then he turned to face our family.
"And that means that he will tell them everything he knows of us. They will attack, and they will win."
Silence swept throughout the room.
And not another word was spoken as we prepared to leave the place we now called home.
2:00 PM ( Arianna POV )
I was numb as I moved silently around my room, quickly packing the most precious of my possessions. My first teddy bear, my emerald hair clip. My favorite, worn sweater, and my baby blanket — the one that had belonged to mom when she, too, was a baby.
I let a few tears fall as I shoved a few pairs of clean clothes into the backpack with trembling hands.
Oh, God, he'd tried to kill me.
I was shaking so badly. My whole body was vibrating as I tried to keep the cries of pain inside. The backpack slipped from my fingers, and I sank to the floor, burying my head in my hands as I began sobbing agian. I couldn't hold the tears back any longer, and I didn't want to.
He said he loved me. He said he'd love me forever.
So why did he hate me?
I sobbed harder, and I didn't care that everyone in the house was probably listening to me. It hurt. It hurt so much.
He loves me. He loves me. He loves me, I chanted silently, and I wished more than anything that I could believe it. But I couldn't. I wanted to. So much. And I almost did.
But he had raised his hand to kill me. He had wanted to kill me. If he loved me, he wouldn't have, no matter how much he hated my existence ... my kind. No matter how much he hated Vampires, if he loved me as he claimed, he would have never tried to kill me.
"Gabriel ... " I whimpered, and then I felt a pair of cold, comforting arms wrap around me. Without thinking, I threw myself into the arms of my mother. I knew it was her without even having to look.
"Shh, baby ... " she whispered, and her hand ran softly through my hair as she rocked me back and forth. "Shh ... "
"He s-said he l-l-loves me," I stuttered, and the tears fell faster. "B-but he d-do-doesn't. And i-it hurts, Mommy."
"Oh, Arianna ... " she whispered, and then she said nothing else. She just held me as I cried. She held me so gently, and I sobbed quietly, unable to hold everything inside. I wished more than anything that another pair of arms surrounded me — a pair that never would. I wished more than anything that he was the one holding me, comforting me.
But he would never hold me so gently again.
That thought brought on another wave of sobs, and mommy held me tighter. She whispered words of comfort in my ear, but I didn't hear them. I couldn't see through the tears, and I couldn't hear past my sobs. I could smell and taste nothing but the salt of my tears.
But I could feel.
I could feel pain, and betrayal, and hate, and love, and anger, and desperation, and so much more. And all of those feelings were raging inside of me, none of them able to take control, and none of them backing off. They danced in a never ending cycle, tearing me to pieces, breaking me apart.
"Gabriel ... " I whimpered again, and then I felt nothing. I saw nothing, except for the darkness that settled around me. And I welcomed it, for it was an escape from the horrible pain that swept through my body every time I remembered his eyes, or his smile ...
... or the way he'd lied when he told me he loved me.
2:27 PM ( Bella POV )
I brushed my fingers lightly across Arianna's face before moving away from her. We had only hours before we had to leave, but I was determined to give my baby girl that time to sleep, to escape the pain that threatened to tear her to pieces.
I sighed and bit my lip as I walked silently into the room that Edward and I shared. He heard me, of course, and he wrapped me ever-so-gently in his arms, holding me close the moment I walked in.
I sighed happily, and held myself tightly to him, afraid to let go. Afraid that, if I did, he would be taken from me again. The thought of losing him was too much to bare, so I simply buried my head in his chest and breathed in deeply, reassuring myself that he was here, and he would never leave me.
"I love you," I whispered, for it was the only thing I could think of to say.
"I love you, too, Bella, more than you could ever know," he breathed, and his arms tightened around me.
I'm not sure how long we stayed like that — wrapped up in each other, ignoring the world around us — but when he finally pulled away, his eyes were calm ... peaceful. He let his fingers dance across my cheek before he pressed his lips so gently against mine. It was a chaste kiss, but so tender, so full of love.
Love.
I felt my heart break for my daughter once more as I recalled her words earlier, so broken, so full of pain, and Edward looked at me, the peace in his eyes replaced with a worry so intense that it took my breath away.
"She really loves him," I whispered, and I refused to meet the eyes of my love. "I don't know ... how it's possible to fall so completely in love with someone after such a short time, but God, does she love him. And this, we, are hurting her."
The worry melted from his eyes and was replaced by anger. He wasn't angry at me, though. No. I knew he was remembering only hours ago, when we had watched helplessly, too far away to help, as Gabriel had tried to kill our daughter.
"But he didn't," I whispered, and he looked at me, surprised that I had somehow guessed exactly what he was thinking about. "He didn't. He couldn't. He couldn't kill her, Edward. He tried, but he couldn't."
"Bella ... " he breathed, and his eyes fluttered closed as he tried to bottle up his anger. "Bella, listen to me — "
"No, Edward ... listen to me. Please. Just ... maybe we're doing the wrong thing. Maybe ... "
But I paused.
Maybe what? Maybe we should let her see him again? Maybe we shouldn't leave? ... no, I knew that was impossible. We had to leave. If we didn't, we would surely die. I bit my lip.
"Maybe we should give her a chance to say goodbye."
"He's a Vampire Hunter, Bella," Edward breathed. "A Vampire Hunter."
"But Edward, she — "
But he wasn't listening. Instead, he was pacing, and his expression was livid.
"Edward," I tried again, and I placed my hand softly on his arm. He calmed in the slightest, and turned so he was staring into my eyes. The absolute hatred — hatred for the boy who had captured his daughter's heart — swimming in his golden gaze made my still heart clench painfully. I continued, softly now.
"Edward, she loves him. Let her say goodbye."
He stared at me, unmoving. A statue with the perfection of anger, of hatred, carved into his beautiful face. But also love, for Arianna, and the conflicting emotions inside of him raged on in an unseen battle.
"Bella, he's dangerous. He could hurt her, and you want me to ler her say goodbye to him? You want me to let her go to him, even though, with one wrong move, he could kill her? Kill her, Bella. Does that mean nothing to you?"
His voice was rough with repressed anger, but the last words he spoke were whispered in desperation.
"Of course it does, Edward! But you're making her choices for her. I'm not asking you to let her run away with him. I'm asking you to let her say goodbye, Edward. She might never see him again, and if she doesn't say goodbye, or get a chance to tell him she loves him, or realize that he truly does love her as well, she will never be able to move on. She'll never be able to love again."
The silence that washed over us was anything but comfortable. As the seconds past, my desperation grew.
"Please," I breathed, and my voice was a whisper, silent almost.
He didn't answer.
"Don't do this again," I begged, and the livid anger was finally replaced by another expression — confusion.
"Again?" he questioned, and he spit the word from his mouth like poison. I stiffened, and my eyes widened the smallest bit. I hadn't seen him quite so angry in a very long time. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Bella, but we've never encountered another Vampire Hunter before, much less one that our daughter — much less anyone in this house — was in love with!"
I stared into his eyes, unwavering in my resolve, willing him to understand what my words, so simple, meant.
He did.
"That was different, Bella, and you know it."
Somehow, our conversation was no longer about our daughter, or the Hunter she was in love with. It was about us, and our — my — past mistakes.
"I don't see how," I whispered, and my voice was small, silent.
"She loves him, Bella. She loves the one who wants nothing more than to kill us."
I had to force the words past my unwilling lips. But I had to make him see.
"And I loved Jacob."
The second the words past my lips — the second I saw his face crumple in ancient pain — I wished more than anything that I could take them back. I felt like I was being torn to pieces as he tore away from me roughly and wrapped his arms around his chest. It was almost as if he was trying to hold himself, his heart, together.
"I'm sorry, Edward," I cried softly, reaching out to touch him. He pulled away, and my fingers curled against my palm, trembling, as I tried to hold the tearless sobs in.
What had I done?
"I didn't mean ... I didn't mean to say ... "
"But it's true," he interrupted, and his voice was soft, calm ... accepting. "You do love him."
I couldn't understand the look that came into his eyes then. It was pained ... agonized. Yet those words we used to describe someone's suffering paled in comparison to the absolute anguish that took over him, that tore at his heart and ripped him to pieces.
"But I don't," I whispered, begging him to understand. "Not now. Not anymore. Edward, you are the only one that holds my heart. Now and forever. Please ... please don't leave me."
The pain that came into his eyes then was different than before. It was sorrow, so deep, swimming in his beautiful, breathtaking gaze as he turned to face me.
"I could never leave you, Bella. Ever. Not again. Never again. How can you doubt me even now?"
I couldn't answer his whispered plea. I could barely manage to breathe as he placed his hand, almost warm now that I was a Vampire, on my cheek. His eyes met mine, and my knees grew weak.
I couldn't force any words past my unwilling lips, and he mistook my silence the worst kind of way.
"Bella, how?" he whispered, and his voice broke as the ancient pain broke through and flooded all around us. "I love you with everything that I am. I have shown you that for over thirty years now. And you still doubt me. You still doubt my love for you. How can I believe that you love me the same way that I love you, if you still, every day, every time I touch you, doubt me?"
"Edward, I — "
But I couldn't continue. I began sobbing tearlessly, and his hand dropped from my face. I immediately felt empty as he moved away from me, and I wrapped my arms around myself, desperate to keep myself in one piece.
"I love you," I whispered softly, and he smiled sadly.
"I know."
He turned away from me then, and walked slowly out of the room. He paused at the doorway, though, and whispered quietly, not turning to meet my gaze, "I'll be back soon. I promise I'll be here before we leave. I just ... I'll be back soon."
He left then.
And I'd never felt more empty, more alone, then I did now.
Edward ...
2:13 PM ( Gabriel POV )
I was numb.
That really was the only way to describe it. But as I sat, waiting, I couldn't move, or think. I could barely breathe. Just the thought of watching as Arianna being ... but no, I couldn't finish the thought. I couldn't even imagine watching her fall, watching her die. Even if I had been the one who had almost killed her only hours ago, I couldn't even begin to comprehend the pain that washed over me each time I thought of her dying.
It hurt in ways I didn't know existed, and when I heard the others talking excitedly about the fight, I felt sick, and I felt pain rip through my whole body.
Oh, God ... what had I done?
I pressed my palms over my eyes and tried to hold everything in. The pain, the confusion, the nausea that swept through me now.
But then a hand, heavy and hot, clapped excitedly on my shoulder.
"You excited, Khinlock? We get to kill us some Vampires tonight!"
There was no holding it back then. I felt so sick, knowing what I had done ... how I had betrayed Arianna and her family.
I bolted from the chair I was sitting in, and I barely made it to the restroom before I fell over the trash and threw up. The acid lingered in my mouth, and I coughed several time as I fell back against the wall and slid down it. I dropped my head in my hands, and sobbed loudly, not caring who heard.
What had I done? God ... I'd betrayed the only real friend I'd ever had. I'd betrayed her family, and now they were going to die, because of me.
Because of me.
I felt sick again as I rested my cheek against the cool tile of the floor.
Why ... why was I feeling like this? Damn it! They killed my mother! I had sworn to kill them. All of them.
But as I cried, I saw her smile, and I heard her laugh — a weak echo of the beautiful sound — in my mind. I felt her lips, so soft against mine, and I felt my heart thudding painfully in my chest as I imagined her voice, her words — so soft — reassuring me, trusting me.
And I knew I couldn't do it. I couldn't raise my hand against her again. I couldn't.
It was in that moment that I realized that it didn't matter. It didn't matter what she was, or what her family was. The only thing that mattered was that I loved her. I loved her more than anything.
And in that moment, I knew what I had to do.
And, as horrible as it was, I knew that despite everything, I would do it ... because I had to. I had to.
For her.
For Arianna.
Wow. Everyone was so concerned about my fainting spell. But I'm OK now. Or, I think I am. The doc couldn't find anything wrong with me, and my mom has been making me rest a lot, so I think I'm fine. I feel better, at least.
NOTE: Just so you guys know how freaking amazing you all are, here's a little bit of random information: I have received over 7127 e-mails from FF. Over 3000 reviews, over 3000 Plus Alerts, and over 170 PMs. To me? That's ASTONISHING! Even though my life is a mess, you guys make me so happy, and you make me want to smile even when I'm down. Keep it up! ALSO: Arianna did not kill the little girl. Just clearing that up.
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NEXT CHAPTER:
I was insane. Here I was, preparing to run away from the Hunters — who, by the way, according to Uncle Carlisle, could kill us easily even though we're Vampires — and I wanted to run off to see one of them!
I laughed once more, and the sound was slightly hysterical.
And then...
... then, I heard Aunt Alice gasp loudly, and Daddy curse. Daddy pushed Mom behind him, and in less than a second, I was cradled in Aunt Esme's arms and we were running.
And then I saw him, and I immediately understood what was going on.