Chapter 11 As Fate Would Have It
By Thursday, Seth and I had packed up my things and moved what we could to Charlie's. All the furniture could stay as it was until it would be moved to storage or to my next apartment. I had my luggage in my truck which was running better than ever since I let the guys use it as a project for their studies. They got bonus points from their instructor just for the sheer age of the thing. She paid special attention to it and requested first dibs on buying it no matter the condition when I was ready to sell it. Charlie and Jammett were happy Jammett was moving back in for a while.
I left as soon as I could for Leah and William's place. When I arrived at their beautiful home, I could not believe my eyes. Leah was pregnant, more pregnant than possible -accelerated. She was quite slim the last time I saw her, not more than a month before.
She found that her morning sickness or "all day sickness" was better if she shifted to her wolf-self and ate like a wolf. That is to say, baby half wolf/half-vampires seem to like their venison in the raw.
There could never have been a precedent to this. Vampires do not have babies. If they could, Esme and Rosalie would have found out how and had many. Leah asked me to stay with them to be moral support. The pack was not being as supportive as they should have been.
Since Leah had to phase so often, it wasn't long into the pregnancy that the pack found out through the pack mind. They weren't sure what to do about Leah and her baby. It sickened her to know the thoughts her pack brothers had about her baby. Of course, she was afraid, too. This was unchartered area here. There were no legends like this.
Some thought the child would be a monster and should be eliminated for the safety of the tribe. The others thought that since this was a result of an imprinted pair then only a stronger protector would be the result. I sided with that.
There was a rift in the pack which manifested itself through a second pack. Jacob was now an alpha since he and Seth led resistance against killing Leah and her baby. Some who disagreed still stayed with Sam out of loyalty to him, but the split in the pack was enough to make Sam rethink what he was planning. The council also agreed that since the pair was an imprinted couple that this must be destined to be. It was likely that the anger was because by the fact that the imprinting occurred at all -prejudice.
Sue was very supportive as her sixth sense told her that the baby was going to be fine. She was staying put to keep an eye on the situation there, though. She didn't trust the wolves at all in this situation, protectors or not. She was worried that since Jake was able to break free someone else might be able to as well. So that is why she had Seth send me in her stead. She wanted to be sure her voice on the council was heard. She knew I would care for Leah and her baby.
Of course, I also realized that William would know her secret. I asked him if he had asked her any more details. At that point he knew I knew about her talent. He raised his brow at me before saying, she would only say that she knew it would all turn out fine, especially if you were to come to stay with us.
I asked Leah more about the pack split. She only said that now she can only hear Jake's pack as she is allied with him or vice versa (how it would be seen depended on who would be talking, I thought). She said it was nice to not hear certain things. Paul, for one had rather explicit thoughts of how to handle her situation. It bothered her a great deal. It bothered the others also. Before the split, when he had gone into detail to make a suggestion how to kill her and William,
Sam thought about how he was possessed by an old spirit warrior from their legends who wasn't known for mercy. He was banned from their ranks after a rather disgusting event. He had butchered a friend and neighbor but claimed that the man had been negotiating with a Cold One for immortality with the lives of his neighboring families. The truth was known as they couldn't keep secrets from each other very well in spirit form. He thought very proudly how he had ended his minor feud with his neighbor. They all knew he was banished to live alone in the mountains. Somehow the magic was stripped from him.
I asked Leah, if Sam could strip the magic from Paul should he become more of a danger to the others. She was uncertain, because so much of the original magic had changed over the years. Now that their change was physical to physical instead of physical to spirit, no one was certain it would work. It hadn't been tried since.
I asked if there had ever been a split before. She informed me that there had never been so many that had phased before. There were more spirit warriors, but as far as the legends covered, there had only been one leader.
I wondered why there had been so many and she said that there had been more vampires to traverse through the area. She wouldn't explain more, saying it wasn't the time to tell yet. Then she took a nap.
All this new knowledge meshed with what Seth told me about "his alpha" made sense. But was Jake giving a blanket "don't -tell -anyone" about Leah's baby or was it specific to me? Why didn't he want me to know or be here? Oh, right. He was crazy about me too. He was afraid the baby would hurt me or something. I just didn't believe that something created out of such a love could be like that.
After I had been with them a couple of days and saw how everything was progressing, I suggested we go about finding Carlisle. Leah looked at me as if I were nuts.
"How would we do that? They do they're best to be sure no one can find them. We don't even know what names they are using. And why would they help me? Does 'mortal enemies' mean anything to you?" Leah had a laundry list of concern with this. I was chalking it up to pregnancy hormones. Wolf hormones are probably even stronger than a human's.
First, I pointed out that she was married to her "mortal enemy" and that she was being ludicrous, but in a way that didn't have her phasing and swiping at me. Then, I told them about the Denali's. They would have kept in contact with the Cullen's as they considered each other to be family.
William was more agreeable to my line of thinking. He was worried about Leah delivering also. This was kind of a new path. The next day, after watching Leah being rather miserable, William sighed, "Leah, it would make me feel better if we could just talk to Carlisle. I do know Emmett and our link to Bella has to mean something in our favor."
She acquiesced. But she demanded that I go with them. I thought it would be best to not upset the pregnant she-wolf that could literally bite my head off. So, we packed what we needed and prepared to leave.
Our main problem was that we didn't know the exact location of the Denali coven, but two of our number were good trackers. That had to help. William spent a short while studying a map and we left in the direction he felt was most likely. Leah and I slept for the greater part of our journey, while William drove. He woke us up and announced that it would be a good time for the little mother to hunt.
I got out of their silver SUV as she stripped in the back seat and climbed out to phase. As she did, I heard a hiss and a growl from behind me. One of the Denali's, I supposed for her golden eyes, appeared. She had long platinum blonde hair and a very angry face.
"Stop!" William cried.
"She's one of those wolves that killed my Laurent!" She roared. "I want my revenge. I want at least one of them to die!"
William called to me, "Bella, is Laurent the one who was with Victoria when she tried to kill you?"
"Yes." I answered realizing I needed to help my friend. "The wolves kept Victoria and him from killing me."
"They were in violation of the treaty with the Cullens." William added. "No one can hunt humans in that area. It is their duty to protect the humans."
More golden eyed vampires appeared. I couldn't remember their names through the fear of the situation. Three females- another blonde, a strawberry blonde, and a brunette that might have been Hispanic and a male that may have been of Mediterranean descent. The paleness made it difficult to be sure.
It was obvious that they had heard our conversation before they had gracefully halted before us in their protective stances next to the first blonde. They each quickly glanced at each of us taking stock of the situation before them.
"The Cullens?" The strawberry blonde one asked, "What do you know of the Cullens."
"My name is William. I am a friend of Emmett's. It was from him that I learned about their "vegetarian" vampire lifestyle and more humane way of living. We are looking for Carlisle as we need his help." William was glad for reprieve. They noticed his eyes. He was telling the truth.
"And the human?" The male was curious. "Why are you with her? Is it because of her gift?"
"She is Edward's mate. Neither will be content in life without the other." William explained. It wasn't time to clarify about my gift.
"Yes, we've heard about that." The brunette looked at me knowingly. She reminded me of Esme.
The strawberry blonde eyed me with curiosity, but she said nothing for the moment,
"And the wolf?" The first blonde vampire pressed.
"She is my mate. If you could promise her safety, she will phase back to her human form and we can explain more fully." He eyed the first blonde.
The strawberry blonde was the one to answer, "We will harm no one, today." The first blonde ran off in an explosion of anger. She wouldn't go against her sister's word, but she wasn't going to hang around either. Leah went into the brush and I followed with her clothes. She phased and dressed. As she emerged there was a collective gasp of the remaining coven as they saw her very round belly.
"As you see, time is running out for us. We'd like Carlisle's assistance." He added as the vampire women stared with a little jealousy. I'm sure they had had Rosalie's thoughts at some point. Procreation was not in the cards for vampires -or at least their women.
The strawberry blonde, after a pregnant pause, said, "Yes, I imagine there is no other specialist for this unique situation." She offered to drive us the rest of the way so that William could hold his expectant wife after such a stressful event. She introduced herself as "Tanya" and she seemed to not know which way to look -at the road, at Leah, or at me. I had a vague recollection of Emmett being silenced after mentioning her name before. I supposed I should make no assumptions about it without hearing the full story. If she was keeping a secret that William thought I should know about, he would tell me later.
When we arrived in the lavish lodge that looked like an ad for a ski resort lodge, I could hear the brisk sound of vampire speed talking. The male, who Tanya had introduced to us as Eleazer, had a phone in his hand.
He hung up and informed us that Carlisle was on his way along with almost everybody. The way he looked at me, I knew who would be missing. My heart.
William and Leah hunted together after the call. I stayed in the house of vampires. It was decorated differently from Esme's take on the Cullen home outside Forks. Pretty much everything was white, cream, and beige there. Here were warm brown tones accentuated with golden fringed red velvety curtains and satin pillows. There were animal skin rugs, leather couches and recliners, and brass fixtures. The logs of the structure were visible like a mountain resrot's walls should be.
I sat down on the couch and sighed. I prayed Carlisle could help her.
Tanya came in and sat be side me. She looked me over.
"Did Edward tell you anything about me?" She finally asked.
"Not much really. He mentioned you were pretty much the leader of this coven." I replied, uncertain of where she was going.
"I guess I never had a place in his heart. I had hoped, but leaving you has only been trouble for him."
I didn't know what to think at first. Should I worry about having to compete with a beautiful vampire or about what trouble Edward has had.
As always, Edward won.
"What kind of trouble has he had exactly?" I asked warily, pushing my securities out of my mind.
"I'm not sure. They haven't said expressly. I just know that they are worried about him and if he comes by, I am to call them immediately."
I put my head in my hands. I wasn't sure if I could hold myself together any longer. I certainly didn't need to fall apart in front of my possible rival. What was he up to? I had assumed if I took care of myself and tried to live without him, it would please him. I was confused.
Tanya watched my emotions play across my face and how my body reacted.
"You're not doing so well either, are you?" She pointed out astutely.
"I tried. I've hoped that as long as I make myself go on that he would be able to be happy." I had failed, hadn't I? Should have I searched for him sooner? I'm sure William would have helped me. Although, Leah may not have let him out of her sight long enough.
She drew nearer to me with sympathy. "He's a stupid male, Darling. He thinks he knows what is best for you. "
"I know. I know." My frustration was nearing the surface. "I realized very shortly after he left me that he thought it was better for me to live as a human than be his vampire equal." I stood up and began to pace. "I am not happy, Tanya." I confessed. "I have worked very hard trying to keep going for his sake, for my parents, and even for Leah. But I don't know how much more of this I can do." I slowly spinned to faced her, "I'm afraid I'm loosing myself as I live so much for these others. It's not like I am being selfless. No! I am utterly selfish! I keep hoping he will come back. That he will be proud of me. All these things I do are diversions from the pain. I tried to convince myself it would make me a better person, but all I am is impatient to see his face, to feel his cold embrace, and to hear his soothing voice."
"Shh, Sweet Girl, listen to me. His family is coming soon. After this strange crisis and miracle is over, we will all look for him." She stood to embrace me."We will find your heart. We owe it to both do you" I nodded in assent and let myself be hugged and comforted. I didn't know how she could possibly owe me, but I knew that many owed Edward and Alice for trouble their gifts had prevented. Perhaps he had done enough for both of us. Maybe it was just that she cared for him and wanted him and his family to be happy.
Leah and William soon returned and Carmen, the brunette and Eleazar's wife, led us upstairs to find places to rest. My room was next to Leah and William's. She and I both slept through the night.
The next morning, I heard a vehicle in the driveway and joined the others in my slow human pace to greet those who had come. Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett were at the door by the time I got there. I was so pleased to see them. I worked hard to not just run and hug them all. They weren't surprised to see me as Eleazar had told them I was with Leah and William. But they did seem happy. Emmett just wrapped his arms around me and picked me up to spin me. So exuberant! I held to him tightly as he remembered I was likely to be dizzy after. When he stopped he let me get my footing before stepping back.
"That was from Alice. Well, the hug was. The spinning was my own fun!" I smiled up at him and Rosalie who stood quietly beside him. She gave me a slight smile, but she was as reserved toward me as ever.
I saw their eyes were light topaz meaning they had all hunted before seeing me. Esme gave me a light motherly hug and a kiss on the head. Carlislle gripped my shoulder lightly while giving me a welcoming smile.
I introduced them to William and Leah, of course Emmett and Rosalie had already known William. They explained that Alice and Jasper stayed to coordinate things back where they were staying and that they too would soon be there. Carlisle was hungry to hear all about this miraculous occurrence. Nothing like this has ever happened before and he was hungry for the knowledge he could gain.
They had a trailer on the back of their truck that they unloaded. It had been filled with medical equipment. I wondered how they got everything there so fast. Apparently they flew across the country which only took hours and they had an array of medical equipment in a storage facility only a couple hours away. Carlisle was prepared to help in any devastating event that might befall the country. He had many such storage facilities well stocked across the northern US. Suddenly, the last appeal of living in the sunny south left me.
They removed the furniture from an extra bedroom and set it up like a hospital. After everything was hooked up and running, Carlisle asked Leah if he could check her over. She was reluctant about it but she agreed as William was about to burst with anxiety. They couldn't see anything through the sonogram. They couldn't use a needle to pierce her womb for a sample. It appeared that the placenta was made of supernaturally thick half vampire half wolf tissue.
Carlisle couldn't contain his enthusiasm. Emmett was worried. Would the baby be able to be contained? What would it be like? Would he need to protect the rest of us? These things had gone through all our minds at one point or another in some form or other, but was pushed out. He wished Edward and Jasper were there for all the gifts and help they would be.
Carlisle thought the delivery would be soon. She had only been pregnant for a month or so!
We were all sitting in the living room that evening listening to Emmett and William recap their time together. Just as Leah stood up to go to the bathroom, her water broke. William jumped to her side in a blur. Everyone stood at attention. Eleazar and Emmett went to boil water. It was a good errand for extraneous people, because a watched pot never boils, especially in Alaska.
Rosalie helped William carry Leah gently up the stairs. Esme set to cleaning up the amniotic fluids in the floor. The other vampire ladies went to work making sure there were clean towels and blankets for the baby.
As soon as she began to go into active labor, Emmett and the extraneous non-medical, shouldn't- be -around- any -kind -of -blood -vampires went out into the woods.
I was too engrossed in the birth of my godchild to wonder whatever they might do.
It seemed to be a good birth. Active labor only lasted 15 minutes before the wails of a tiny girl were filling the the house. Leah cried and William would have if he could have. After Carlisle checked her out, we passed her around. Everyone was in awe of her. She was absolutely beautiful! So like the two of them.
She had raven black hair and tan skin. Carlisle had used a flash light to look at her lightly iridescent skin. She was a plump round healthy baby with a lovely smile. She seemed more intelligent that human babies as she looked around with purpose. She already had teeth, but she was wise enough to not bite down as her mother nursed her. She latched on easily and let out a contented sigh as she was fed her first meal. She fell asleep soon after that.
We were all quite amazed and wondering if she would be content with milk or if she would want blood, since she was half vampire. Leah's body seemed to require some to grow her. Since she had teeth, I wondered how long it would be before she could hunt her own deer? Would the accelerated rate of growth continue now that she was born?
Alice and Jasper joined us just in time to enjoy the new innocent life. We all finally relaxed a little.
Leah seemed to be doing well, but Carlisle wanted to keep an eye on her. She appreciated his concern but wanted to be cleared to return home. It's one thing to be with your vampire husband and clearly another to be with extraneous others. She was convinced to stay a couple more days, just to be on the safe side.
She confided in me that the vampire stink was overwhelming. I remembered that she said William's scent though strong wasn't like other vampires'. She expected the cause to be that they were made for each other. Her scent didn't bother him as badly as the other wolves bothered him either, actually it kinda worked like pheromones on him. The other wolves' smell was a different matter. They just stank. There were many reasons they lived in their hidden mountain home away from her "brothers."
It appeared that Alice could not see wolves' futures nor their half-vampire children's. She said it made her visions staticky if she was looking at someone else's future while that person was near a wolf. She preferred to be near Leah or the baby as being next to a wolf or half-wolf seemed to block out her visions completely. Otherwise, she was getting headaches from the imperfect sight like a person trying to wear the wrong prescription glasses.
Since everyone else had flickering futures, she knew that in the long run we were all safe. From time to time she and Jasper would run off so she could try to see other things. It was unclear how something was about to happen. Decisions had to be made. She would share with us when she got a better picture.
Jasper told Leah that the baby exuded contentment in her arms and she was pleased. He said she had a generally congenial personality. We hoped that would be enough to assuage the fears of those who were overly worried about the baby being a killer. Although I'm not sure they would take the word of a vampire either.
After a long discussion, Leah and William announced that their sweet bundle of joy would be named Anneliese Joy. They chose Joy as her middle name because it was the sum total of their family at the moment. They both just thought the name Anneliese fit her.
Anneliese was so amazing. She was growing fast. After a few days of observing mother and child, Carlisle told them they could go back to their home. William promised to measure her daily and send the stats to Carlisle.
As they prepared to go home, I wasn't sure of what I wanted to do. Or rather, I didn't know if what I wanted to do would be accepted. I wanted to stay with the Cullens until they found Edward.
