21. Phone Call
AN: So incredibly sorry for the long wait. I mean, first I had a piano competition, and then I had various...things going on, and then track practice...= (
Anyway, enjoy...(makes this sound like a fancy dish in some restaurant...).
I started shaking with internal rage.
The vile culprit had escaped from our fingers - and we were to blame for our lack of concentration.
If only we had finished him during our last confrontation.
Edward...calm down. People are looking, Emmett warned me.
How can I, I wanted to scream, if he's gone? James could be following Bella's delectable scent to their hotel room in Phoenix this moment!
Carlisle laid a hand on my arm patronizingly. Let us go back to the car and...think this through some more. All right, son?
I didn't respond, but Emmett and Carlisle were able to pull me with them.
With every stride my legs took, my insides twisted an inch more and burned a degree hotter. I was beyond the point of speech at this time, and I was mute when I sat in the back of the Jeep.
Don't destroy the car, Emmett warned.
Carlisle pulled out of the parking space, and drove out of the busy airport. We were back on one of the local roads, halted by a red light, when Emmett stiffened.
"Rosalie!" he gasped in shock.
I instantly snapped my head up and sniffed the air. Rose-scented perfume with just a hint of arrogance, pig-headedness, and insanity - yes, that was Rosalie.
"And Esme," Carlisle added, his eyes light with anticipation. The light changed to green and he slammed on the gas pedal, propelling the car forward. "I wonder what brings them here? Were they not following the female, Victoria?"
I gasped rather loudly as I put two and two together. If Esme and Rosalie were tracking Victoria, and they were in this city, then Victoria -
"Edward! Will you please tell us what has you so excited?" Emmett said, with a hint of worry in his voice. Of course, when Rosalie was concerned, definitely....
"Esme and Rosalie are supposed to be tracking Victoria. They are in Vancouver - right now!" I said, my voice low and urgent.
This is bad,Carlisle thought. Both James and Victoria are dangerously close to one another.
Emmett was still staring at me - his eyes blank. "I don't get it."
I slammed my forehead against the back of the seat, leaving a small dent. Ignoring Emmett's verbal abuse flung at me for denting his beloved Jeep, I spat furiously, "Are you stupid? Mentally challenged? Emmett, they're in town chasing Victoria, which means that Victoria has recently been here!"
Understanding dawned in his eyes. "Oh...."
*Can you hear any of them? Carlisle asked me.
I sifted through the thousands of murmurs crowding my mind, but none were familiar. "No - they must be a few more miles out."
"Well, we'll just follow their scents until we find them," Carlisle decided. "At this point, we have absolutely nothing to lose. Also, where do you think James is? Edward? Emmett?"
"James is probably far away from here," Emmett decided.
"Yes." I agreed for once. "I think he's trying to pick up a trace of Bella's scent again - not the decoy scents, the real scent - and follow that."
"He's probably going back to Forks and starting back over from there," Emmett continued.
Carlisle nodded in agreement. "At this time, that's perhaps the only place he can go. Two of the leads were false, so he must be trying to follow the third lead - Alice and Jasper."
My insides, which had relaxed just a mere smidgen, tightened back up. I buried my face in my hands, nearly ill with worry. If James followed the real trail, he would be more than likely to succeed and find them.
I decided to think of ways I could make death all the more painful for James, seeing as I was no help sitting and moping. Keeping my mind attuned to any trace of Esme', Rosalie', or Victoria's voice, I imagined.
I would first rip his limbs off, of course. I would be sure to do it slowly, so that the metal screeching dragged on for minutes before a limb was severed. Alice and Emmett would surely aid me in adding insult to injury. While we were staring at James' disassembled body on the ground, a fire would be built. One by one, I would toss the pieces -
If looks could kill, clouds would be dead by now. We just had to lose her scent...now!
I snapped back to the present. "Rosalie - I can hear her," I whispered.
Emmett swiveled in his seat to face me. "Where are they?" he asked, rushed.
My mind focused on the image Rosalie had in her head. I picked out all the street signs. "Four blocks ahead, turn left; two blocks, turn left again; one block, turn right."
Carlisle nodded. All right, on it.
My mind kept track of every move and turn Esme and Rosalie made. It was quite hard, seeing as Rosalie's vision did not always include the street signs, so I had to go by instinct and logic.
Two minutes later, the two were stopped in traffic. I could tell that they were not far away from us. "I think we can yell for them now," I said. "Not too loud, though."
"Esme? Esme!" Carlisle called out, at a volume undetectable by the humans surrounding us.
"Rosalie? Can you hear me?" Emmett shouted, a good bit louder than Carlisle. A few humans turned to stare, and I quickly shoved one of Emmett's rap CDs into the stereo and played it at full volume. The humans' thoughts all turned condescending toward us 'teenagers' and 'college students' (of which we were neither). I tried to think and detect Esme or Rosalie's thoughts through the so-called music.
I'm dreaming again, aren't I? That wasn't Emmett's voice. Odd - I thought that my unconscious days were behind. But that rap music that just started was a CD that Emmy-bear owned. Oh, now I'm just dreaming.
"Yell again," I said, trying to hold back my wince at her terrible nickname for Emmett - though it suited him.
"Rosalie? Can you hear me, baby? If you can, tell Esme to pull out of traffic and into a side street."
Yes! That was him, I'm sure! "Emmett? Is that really you?" she called back to us excitedly, her voice faint to my ears, though not to my mind.
"Yes, it's me, Rose! Now pull over when you can!"
Rosalie was telling Esme to pull over - thankfully, there was a small, secluded side street off to their right. Esme skillfully maneuvered the BMW through three lanes of traffic and turned into that small road.
Taking note of their surroundings, I gave Carlisle the directions to reach their position.
After several turns and twists on quite a few look-alike back avenues, we finally spotted the flashy, bright crimson convertible, obviously out of place among the broken, torn-out windows, weathered houses and rusty, falling-apart vehicles - like Bella's, I couldn't help but compare scornfully.
Emmett leapt out of the car before Carlisle was within fifty feet of them. In a flash, he was by Rosalie's side, taking her hand in his. "Oh, Rose!" he gasped before leaning down to kiss her passionately. Both their minds were overclouded with lusty thoughts filled with want for each other.
Carlisle stopped the car and stepped out, extending his arms to Esme, who ran headlong into them. They stared into each other's eyes, lost in their own world.
I had not felt like this - like a "fifth wheel", a modern-day teenager would say, ever since Bella. Now, standing there while the couples were reuniting, I felt very awkward and looking down, studying the suddenly interesting car floor.
Spotting Carlisle's cell phone, I had an idea. I reached into my pocket and came up with a handful of splintered, slivered plastic and wires.
My best guess was that I had destroyed the gadget while tossing and turning in the backseat, tormented by thoughts of Bella and worry for her safety.
I reached out to grab Carlisle's phone, sure he would not object. I stepped out of the car, slipped past the couples caught in their romantic moment and sank to the floor behind a run-down shed.
With speedy fingers, I dialed Alice's phone number and waited expectantly.
"Carlisle," Alice answered.
"Alice, it's me, Edward," I said quickly into the phone. "My phone is destroyed. You've seen that we lost their trails, correct?"
"Yes," she answered, with a hint of uneasiness. I suspected that Bella was there listening, and I had no wish to worry her.
"Speak quietly and quickly," I instructed her. "Where is he?"
"He boarded a plane," she said, her voice hard to hear over the phone, it was so quiet. "Where to, I can't tell."
"Is he going to make a move soon?"
"I just saw him," Alice explained. "I saw him in a large, spacious room with mirrors on all the walls. There were distinct arches over the doors and windows. Bella seems to recognize them slightly."
"What was James doing?" I asked, my voice nearly hysterical. I couldn't delay this anymore.
"He was holding a remote control...I don't know, Edward. This is, I think, a highly subjective vision - very fuzzy and unclear. There's no way to know what he may do from now until who knows when. However, whatever made him get on that plane - it was leading him to those rooms."
I sighed and processed that again. "Call Carlisle immediately if anything happens. We'll most likely be heading toward you and Jasper to protect Bella from all angles. Is she nearby?"
"Yes - Bella?"
There was a brief pause, some scuffling sounds from the exchange of hands, and then the voice of the most beautiful angel on earth filled my ear.
"Hello?" the slightly breathless voice asked.
"Bella," I sighed, immediately at ease with the sound of her speech.
"Oh, Edward!" she cried. "I was so worried -"
"Bella," I said through gritted teeth, somewhat exasperatedly. "I told you not to worry about anything but yourself!" I was fairly certain that she was going to grow prematurely gray with all the unnecessary fussing about she always did over nothing at all.
Old and gray...no, I couldn't linger on that image. I had to save her first, or she wouldn't even receive the chance.
"Where are you?" Those words brought me back to earth.
"We're outside of Vancouver," I said quietly, ashamed once more that James had escaped us. Stupid, stupid, I chanted. A true idiot - shirking your duty. And when Bella was concerned, at that. "Bella, I'm sorry," I mumbled, rubbing my forehead. "We lost him. He seems suspicious of us. He stays just far enough away that I can't hear what he's thinking."
I paused for half a second, and resumed when I could hear nothing but her heavy breathing from the other end.
"But he's gone now. It looks like he...got on a plane," I said quickly, not entirely sure of myself. "We think he's heading back to Forks to start over."
Bella was quiet for a moment, and spoke up again. "I know - Alice saw that he got away," she muttered.
"You don't have to worry, though," I added, hoping that my words wouldn't let her down. "He won't find anything to lead him to you. You just have to stay there and wait till we find him again."
It was amazing, the speed which the lies poured from my mouth. With each word I said that I was far from believing, myself, I felt a new pain, a new stab, of guilt. What if Alice' and Jasper's defenses weren't enough and James reached Bella? She would spend her last moments knowing that I was not only a monster, but a liar and a traitor.
"I'll be fine," her soft, melodious voice soothed me. "Is Esme with Carlisle?"
"Yes. The female has been in town. She..." I listened for a brief moment on the information that Esme was sharing with Carlisle. "She went to the house, but while Charlie was at work," I said, making sure not to frighten her. "She hasn't gone near him, so don't be afraid," I reassured her - another lie. "He's safe with Esme and Rosalie watching." Yet another lie.
Right on cue, I heard Esme's determined thoughts. This isn't getting us anywhere. We'll head back to Forks.
"What is she doing?" Bella asked.
"Probably trying to pick up the trail. She's been all through the town during the night. Rosalie traced her through the airport, all the roads around town, the school…she's digging, Bella, but there's nothing to find."
"And..." She hesitated, and started again. "You're sure Charlie's safe?"
"Yes, Esme won't let him out of her sight," I said. I knew, without a doubt, that Esme would do her best to protect Bella. Her motherly instincts were always kicking in whenever someone new joined us, but she hadn't felt that way in decades.
Bella sighed from the other end. "I miss you, she murmured after a few seconds."
"I know, Bella." Understatement of the millennium. "Believe me, I know. It's like you've taken half my self away from you." My heart ached to join her. I pressed the phone to my ear so hard that it might snap in two at any moment.
"Come and get it, then," she said tauntingly. The smile on her face was audible - I could sense it over the phone.
"Soon," I promised. "As soon as I possibly can. I will make you safe first." Hell, I would make her safe if that was the last task I would ever accomplish.
"I love you," she said quietly, her voice small and subdued.
Irrationally and unreasonably, I added in my head. "Could you believe that, despite everything I've put you through...I love you, too?" I smiled halfheartedly.
"Yes, I can, actually." I bit back a groan, knowing that the end of our conversation was drawing to a close.
"I'll come for you soon," I whispered.
"I'll be waiting."
Those were the last words I allowed myself to hear before I snapped the phone shut.
I rested my head against my knees, my mind whirling. I ran one hand idly through my hair, imagining that it was Bella's hand.
It was unjustifiable that she would love me. I couldn't give anything in return, and I would be taking so much away from her. She would never have a normal life like all other humans should; she would never be able to dismiss vampire lore as mere superstition; she would never be able to really love.
I could not really love her back.
I would never be able to.
I would die.
As soon as she took her last breath, whether it be now or in eighty years, I would be at her side, dying as well.
Right then and there, I vowed to be as 'normal' as I could. I would try to love her back as she deserved to be loved, I would live out the rest of her life as a faithful man should, and I would die when she did.
It would be so much simpler, though, if she would only stop loving me. My own heartbreak was nothing compared to saving her life, and her soul.
Hell, I would gladly allow her to take my heart, crush it into tiny slivers, stomp on it, set it on fire, and put it into a trash can if only she would stop loving me.
Stop loving me, Bella!
Please, stop!
Stop!
Stop!
"Edward? Edward!" I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up into the concerned eyes of Carlisle.
I immediately jumped up, dusting myself off. "Yes?"
"You were mumbling 'stop' repeatedly."
How queer - it was so unusual not to be aware of my own actions. Truly, it was all Bella's doing.
She was the only one that could disorient a vampire to this extent.
Idiot. Mumbling on and on like that. I glared at Rosalie, who shot daggers at me with her eyes. For some reason, at that time, I felt weak. I fidgeted and turned my gaze away.
That's right. Just look away.
I exploded, as if I had a severe mood swing. "Rosalie, will you please, please keep your thoughts to yourself?! Personally, I am sick and tired of your antagonism toward Bella! What has she done to wrong you? Why are you so determined to make life a hell for her? For me? For both of us?!"
I was unable to concentrate on her reply when Emmett knocked me clear through the shed.
He held me against the ground, rage evident in his eyes.
Don't you dare speak that way to Rose again. Am I clear?
"Emmett, back off."
Carlisle's voice was quiet and cold. Emmett took one look at his stiff, rigid form and leapt off me.
"Jeep. Now."
I wasted no time jumping back into the Jeep, not wanting to witness the couples' goodbyes.
Bella.
Bella.
Bella.
How I missed her.
When Carlisle climbed back in the car again, we zoomed clear out of Vancouver within ten minutes.
"I don't ever want to see that kind of behavior again," he fumed at us during those ten minutes. "What if a human just happened to be nearby? Hmm?"
We stayed quiet.
10 minutes later -
I still missed Bella.
20 minutes later -
I still missed Bella.
15 minutes later -
The phone rang. Carlisle had it to his ear before the ring stopped. "Yes, Alice?"
"Carlisle, Bella's gone!"
AN: Hee hee. I'm evil, cutting you off like that. But you all know what happened, yadda yadda yadda....
In regards to a few reviews I had received from some anonymous reviewers, I would like to address the..."issue" with Edward's language in his thoughts. Apparently, I can't allow him to say "God" or "Lord" or cuss. News flash: my fic, my storyline. Got it? Good. Don't got it? LEAVE.
Review!
Review!
Review!
*On knees begging* Review!
Let this be a lesson to you...my readers of my other fic, Return to Forks, were extremely unfaithful, so they'll have to wait twice as long as this story and Dartmouth to get an update.
Don't want that happening?
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
