Author's Note: It took me so long to gather an idea of how this story was going to end that I considered just deleting it, and giving up. I'm not even sure if I want to continue now, though stopping would be like surrendering a newborn child, and I don't want to give up my metaphoric baby! This story was easier to write when I was writing on spur-of-the-moment reflexes. Anyway, here it is. Read and Review! :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing. The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.
Chapter Eleven.
'All Hell is Breaking Loose / Conspiracy'
I had endured Tanya for an entire week. An entire week of her inconspicuous remarks that only I seemed to take offense to, an entire week of her finding any reason to touch Edward, or laugh at a memory I knew nothing about, an entire week of suggesting we do things that only vampires could do.
"Oh." She'd said in false astonishment when Emmett had laughed at her suggestion of a competition involving who could hold their breath the longest (apparently Emmett's record was six days – everyone else got too uncomfortable), because I couldn't take part in it. "I forgot that humans weren't as … fun."
Emmett raised his eyebrows at me.
Alice and I were in her room now, Alice having dragged me along to settle back into wedding plans, and to escape Tanya's fresh attempts at human exploitation. I grumbled and complained about her including me, but she insisted that I would appreciate having a say in the way my wedding turned out later.
"Yeah, maybe in two hundred years."I'd replied in an undertone.
"Trust me, Bella. You're opinion is important. Besides, Edward's giving his advice." She said. That was news to me.
I was incredibly reluctant to be anywhere that Edward was not lately – I couldn't trust Tanya as far as I could throw her. Which, considering she was an indestructible vampire, wasn't very far at all. So, needless to say, I had followed Alice to her room with poor grace. (Much to Tanya's pleasure, I'm sure.)
We were pouring over all the little wedding details (Alice wanted to keep the big parts of the wedding a secret, and I wondered briefly what she must usually concentrate on with Edward around to keep him from finding out) like my hair, and whether or not the wedding should be in the day or night. After every tiny detail we changed, Alice peered into the future to be sure that the wedding was still going to be okay.
"Great!" She cried after we'd decided to have lilies instead of orchids as the centerpieces – "It's going to be even better, because now Ben won't get sick and have to leave!" I tried to sound enthusiastic, too, but Alice wasn't an idiot. She knew I was distracted – more than I usually was when I was forced to make important decisions about things I wished were over already.
"Bella," She scolded, "Try to pay attention, please. For me?" She gave me her best puppy-dog faced pout. I sighed.
"Alice. I can't concentrate. Tanya is …" I looked around the room wildly, wondering where she could be, and if she could hear me from where she was.
"Out with Rosalie." Alice finished my statement for me, though that wasn't exactly where I was going. I relaxed gratefully.
"She really doesn't like me, huh?" I said lightly, feigning nonchalance.
Alice studied my face for a moment before she admitted it. "That's not it. She's just … surprised that one of our kind fell in love with one of your kind." I knew she was trying to be nice about the fact that Tanya disliked me, but I felt worse knowing that Alice, who never hid anything from me, and who was the one who revealed the mechanics of vampirism to me when Edward had refused too, was siding with Edward for once and trying to keep me in the dark. I gave her a dark look.
"Alice." I said, in a voice I hoped was ringing with severity, "What's going on?"
She was suddenly busy with papers and sketches, examples of fabrics, and RSVPS. "Look, Bella." She said, holding out a slip of paper that had been circled and returned, "Mike's coming! Isn't that great? Edward won't like it of course, and Mike probably won't be a happy camper, but who would miss out on one of your friend's weddings – especially when it's a special event, which is definitely something this town never has." So she was stalling. Two could play at this game.
"Come on, Alice, when have I ever kept anything from you? Best friends tell each other these things, you know. It's not fair to just let me waltz in here and become one of your 'family members' with you keeping huge secrets from me." I copied her pout as best I could and internally cursed my eyes for not being able to dazzle people like Edward's could.
Alice seemed to be contemplating the future for a moment before she answered, "Tanya is here to try and break you and Edward up. She's always had a 'thing' for Edward, but he's never liked her – honest. He doesn't want her here, but their coven is important to us, they are the only other coven with our lifestyle, after all. We have to keep all the ties we can, or we could be facing disastrous consequences -" She tapped her temple, emphasizing that she knew what she was talking about. "Tanya's just being rude and childish lately, but according to what I see, nothing's changing. If I see something change, I'll let you know, and you can just … skip off to Vegas or something. Okay? So don't worry, Bella." Then, she went back to choosing menus as if she hadn't just unloaded a potentially life changing secret on me.
I shook my head to clear it. "What?"
Alice looked up. "I'm sorry?"
"She … She still loves Edward? She's going to break us up?" My throat was closing in on me – my voice was hoarse and I couldn't breathe. I was having an allergic reaction to Tanya, I was sure.
Alice gave me a sympathetic look and wrapped her ice cold marble arms around me. "I said trying. You and Edward are fine. When I see the future, I still see you guys happily married, and I still see the wedding going smoothly… And, I will know I will soon see you thanking me for making it perfect!" She gave me a falsely severe warning look in a plain attempt at distraction. I titled my head pointedly, and Alice sighed. "If you don't believe me, you'll just have to talk to Edward."
"Bella …" Edward was almost instantaneously behind me. He had heard Alice's thoughts.
"Hey! I didn't say she could talk to you right now! What about the wedding plans? What about the wedding dress! Get out! Get out!" Alice threw the entire weight of her petite body against Edward's tall, sturdy frame with a mighty crash that shook the room, knocking RSVPs and decal examples unto the floor. Edward chuckled.
"I won't look at the dress."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
I looked warily from one to the other as they acted so incredibly normal. I was panicking! Edward caught sight of my grief-stricken face and reached out for my hand. He kissed it reassuringly. "I would never leave you, please believe me, Bella. Tanya isn't going to change anything." He met my gaze with cautious topaz eyes. They smoldered at me – almost convincingly – willing me to trust him. I nodded mutely. It wasn't him that I didn't trust, anyway.
"Are we okay then, Alice?" He turned back to gaze at his sister. But Alice had taken on the far away look that I knew too well. Edward froze next to me, obviously seeing what she was seeing.
"NO!"
I jumped – Edward's unexpected roar had frightened me. He was still looking at Alice with piercing, livid eyes. I tried very hard to understand what was going on; I came up with nothing.
Finally, Alice looked up at me, she seemed worried and on edge. "Bella – "
"Don't." Edward shot her a warning glance. Again, I got the feeling that things were being edited for my "safety". I turned to demand that Edward tell me what was happening, but I was suddenly in his arms, and all at once we were flying down the stairs toward the bright, wide living room in a flurry of panicked incredulity.
The rest of the Cullens were already there – Edward's exclamation had tipped them off to something happening. I looked around at each frightened face in turn. Esme looked beside herself with distress, Carlisle was calm as always, but his eyes were wide and stressed, Jasper was searching each face, attempting to calm the room, while grasping Alice's shaking hand firmly, and Emmett was staring at Edward with a surprised and nervous look, while subconsciously cracking his knuckles, dreaming of a fight. Edward was holding me, his face forced into its clean, remote mask.
"What's going on, Edward?" Carlisle asked shakily. I struggled in Edward's grasp – I wanted to get down, but he held fast and refused to let go of me.
"Where's Tanya?" Edward snapped. All five other Cullens jumped, startled – Alice gave Edward a look of pure shock, and the other Cullens looked taken aback.
"She's still shopping with Rosalie." Emmett offered. Edward opened his mouth to speak again, but Alice decided he couldn't be trusted to hold his temper and jumped in to finish the story without him.
"She's about to get a phone call from Denali – it seems that Kate's 'other obligations' were tracking down a werewolf that Tanya had informed her was near Denali." All six pairs of eyes were focused on me now. I felt a shudder rock my body.
"Jake!" I cried, not able to hold in the painful thoughts and memories that I had been repressing so often as of late.
"It seems that when Bella informed her of our dear Jacob's location, Tanya thought it would be prudent to call Kate and Irina with the information." Edward hissed through his teeth. "Kate may have found him by now – they are planning on holding him hostage to start an all-out vampire vs. werewolf war; thus breaking the treaty and getting their revenge. I almost want to side with the werewolves. Centuries of friendship, yeah right, then suddenly they're using us…" Edward's voice had turned mocking.
The room was filled with strange screeching noises that I realized came from me – yet I couldn't stop them. The loud, anxious sobs rocked my entire body. I caught sight of Esme's tortured expression and Emmett's surprised glance – I had never broken down in front of them before.
"Edward, set her down… Maybe we should bring her home." I could barely hear Jasper's strained whisper of worry at my reaction over my own heaving sobs. He must be feeling on the edge of hysterics, too. The thought sent a hysterical giggle through the weeping.
"No!" I protested loudly, struggling even further in Edward's strong stone grip. It was a losing battle.
"Bella, Calm down. We will make everything right – don't we always?" Edward's calming, seductive voice was in my ear, and his cool, luscious breath was tickling my ear drums. I gave up struggling, but couldn't stifle the hysteria that was overwhelming me.
Carlisle still seemed confused. "Are you sure about this? It's quite farfetched, I must admit," He murmured uncertainly, looking from Alice to Edward. "It just doesn't sound like something they would do…"
"Well, I guess we know who to blame, then." Edward snarled ferociously, barely able to rein-in his anger. "Laurent."
"Too bad he's already dead." Emmett half-whined, half growled, "I would've so enjoyed tearing him apart…" Carlisle gave Emmett a reproachful look. He detested violence in all its forms, deserved or not.
It was a struggle to keep my thoughts on the present. My mind kept straying to my horrible nightmare of Edward and Tanya kissing; Jake being torn apart… Jake was being hunted. Jake was being held hostage by revenge driven vampires. War. Edward. Tanya. Danger.
Everything became a distant, echo-ey blur: I somehow went from being cradled in Edward's marble arms to being seated gently on the couch; he had surrendered me to Esme, who tried to quiet my sobbing with her arms around me, rocking me like a newborn child. Then, someone suggested appealing to the werewolves before Tanya could pass on her message from Denali, and I was suddenly being carried somewhere; I recognized the swaying motion of a lithe vampire stride.
It surprised me greatly when the Volvo stopped – when had I gotten into the car? – And Edward was talking to me, slowly and delicately, as if I were mentally ill.
"Bella, love? Are you alright?" His attractive, perfect voice was soothing, but I still couldn't force my own voice out of my throat, all that came out in response was a strangled sort of gasp. His ghostly white, icy hands grasped mine.
"Jacob?" I managed to croak. Something flickered quickly across his face. Pain? Panic? And then suddenly, I was out of the car, standing in the middle of the baseball clearing. Edward's arms were around me, and all the other Cullen's – minus Rosalie, who I gathered must've still been away with Tanya – were standing in a wary formation around us. One hard look at the far end of the clearing told me all that I needed to know - we were meeting with the wolves. How long had I been out of it? When had the pack been contacted?
Sam stepped forward hesitantly, without changing from his wolf form, gazing intently at Carlisle, with his glistening, sharp teeth exposed just slightly. Emmett seemed restless; it was obviously hard for him to restrain himself in all this excitement. I whimpered helplessly at the tense atmosphere.
Carlisle stepped forward to explain the situation to the wolves. He cleared his throat awkwardly, making eye contact with each of the wolves in turn, (this seemed to make all of them flinch anxiously.) and then started to speak. "We …" He gestured to the Cullens, Alice and Edward especially, "Have just received word, via Alice's powers, that a vampire coven from the North, one that was involved with Laurent, a vampire you killed last year…" – Emmett cleared his throat significantly; Esme shot him a furtive look – "Have been alerted to the presence of Jacob Black in their territory." I was eternally grateful to Carlisle that my name had not come up – I was already feeling guilty without having the pack aim their furious glares my way.
None of the werewolves seemed to realize the danger Jacob was in. Sam looked startled, at the very least (It was hard to tell, seeing as he was in wolf form.) I sneaked a look at Edward, who was half smug, half wary, maintaining eye contact with Seth. He sensed me watching at smiled half-heartedly at me, without any real feeling.
"They don't understand." He said, both to me, and to the others. Carlisle looked almost reluctant to go on.
"One of these vampires was … romantically involved with Laurent, and they have already asked our permission to gain revenge, and therefore break our treaty, once before. Our refusal spurned their hatred, it seems. Now, they have taken it upon themselves to start trouble. If they find Jacob, they will hold him hostage until they persuade you to fight them."
There was a very apparent ruffle and murmur of excitement and indignation flowing through the crowd of werewolves on the other side of the field at Carlisle's words. Sam snarled. Edward shifted next to me edgily. I waited with baited breath for Sam's reply.
Author's Note: Sorry if there are any minor mistakes in grammar or spelling ... It's really late and I'm finding it hard to concentrate on editing, my eyelids are drooping, I swear. Maybe I'll get a beta reader ... usually I'm good at finding mistakes, but I'm in a bit of a hurry to finish and go to bed. Let me know if you find anything. Also, let me know what you think of the story so far? Good? Bad? Rushy? Lame? I want to know!
