Chapter 13: Homecoming

The time passed slowly as the Volvo flew over the rough Alaskan terrain. Edward put some music in and I just closed my eyes and listened. It was quiet, soothing music but I was in the exact opposite state. Tanya's house was about five hours south of our home in Denali. There was an uneasy feeling gnawing in my stomach. Somehow this felt like the calm before the storm, which left me nervous.

Carlisle and Esme were following us in their Mercedes. Emmett, Rosalie, Alice and Jasper were behind them in the Suburban, and Eleazar, Carmen, Tanya, Kate, and Irina were pulling up the rear in their Expedition. Our caravan slowly made its way through the rural roads that lead south. The pace was warring away at my raw nerves.

"How are you doing?" Edward's warm velvet voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

"I'm ok. How are you?"

"Fine…" He cut himself off in mid statement.

"What?" I asked now looking at him intently.

"Nothing, I am just worried that the werewolves are going to be able to track us here." He said looking at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Me too." I said in a low, concerned voice.

"Can you tell me anything more about this Daniel?" He asked.

"There really isn't much to tell. The stranger in the woods was more focused on trying to kill me than he was on Daniel." Edward clenched his hands tightly around the steering wheel when I spoke those words.

"Edward, I'm fine. See?" I reached up and stroked his cheek trying to ease his anger. His hardened features seemed to soften so I continued on.

"All I know is that the vampires tortured and killed his wife and little girl. It practically killed him." I said, my voice was pained as I forced myself to reanalyzing the stranger's memories. "But then his grief was replaced with unmitigated hatred for our kind."

"Did you get any semblance of what he was like before this happened?" He asked now looking at me full on. I searched my memories.

"He seemed to be regarded as an honorable man by the stranger in the woods."

Edward didn't say anything in response but his mind was working in overdrive analyzing everything. I was lost in my own thoughts. What were we going to do once we got to Tanya's? We couldn't stay there for very long. The pack of werewolves would eventually find us there. Were we going to have to become nomadic, bouncing from place to place forever? Was this to be our life from now on? There had to be a way to talk with the pack. To make them understand that we were no threat to them. Maybe Daniel's honorable nature could be a benefit for us. Maybe he would agree to speak with us on neutral turf so we could explain things to him. If he would agree to this then there was hope.

Then suddenly, I was pulled out of my thoughts. We were getting close to Tanya's home, but something was wrong.

"Edward, stop here." I spoke with a cautionary tone.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Humans."

"What? Bella we can't stop…" Edward had horribly misconstrued me.

"No Edward, they are firefighters. Tanya's house is on fire." I sighed saddened by the images of the house up in flames coming through their thoughts. It was raging out of control at this point. Their house was lost. I knew as well as he did that it was the werewolves that had set the inferno. Edward saw everything through my mind.

"So much for honorable." He said with a dark tone.

He pulled off the side of the road. The others quickly followed suit. We got out of the car and met up with the rest. Their faces were perplexed for a fraction of a second however we didn't even need to explain to the others what was going on. We could smell the burning wood from where we stood.

"No!" Tanya said in a breathless voice. Tanya, Eleazar, Carmen and the rest took off in a blind panic trying to prove to themselves that it wasn't real. We all ran after them into the woods towards the house. When we finally caught up with them it was at the edge of the forest line a hundred yards behind their home. The gorgeous old Colonial home was completely engulfed by the flames. The scene was so much more vivid and horrible when seen through my own eyes.

Tanya, Carmen, Kate, and Irina collapsed crying at the sight. Eleazar wrapped his arms around Carmen, trying to comfort her through his own pain. Esme, Alice, and I tried our best to comfort Tanya, Kate, and Irina. I flooded over them a wave of calm but it only helped to a certain extent. They watch on in horror as the home where they had lived for decades now crumbled into rubble and ashes before their very eyes. It was home and now it was gone.

My eyes were so fixated on the flames and my mind so focused on calming my family down that I didn't even notice the handful of humans that made up the volunteer fire department for the region at first. Once my eyes landed on one of the human men as he came around the side of the house trying in vain to douse the fire, I felt the beast within me rear its ugly head. It wanted to take over and slaughter each and every one of them. I felt myself tense up but just as I was about to lose control I felt Tanya's body quiver in my arms as I held her. I fought angst the raging beast within me to tear my eyes off of the humans and focused on her instead. She needed me right now, they all did.

After an immeasurable amount of time fighting my vile urges, the remnants of the house were but a mere smoldering pile of cinders. I had forced myself to stop breathing and to keep my eyes on my family. I refused to think of the humans that stood unbearably within reach. Carlisle finally spoke up, breaking the depressing silence.

"We'll continue on to Forks." He said. I could feel his nervousness as he looked at me. We were going to be dangerously close to humans in Forks and it was going to be a torturous existence for me, but I gave him a weak yet reassuring smile, which was marred by my darkened eyes. I would endure no matter what. I was resolute.

We all got up and walked back to our cars in a somber silence, driving off again, leaving behind the remnants of a happier time. We entered into Canada and after another couple of hours we crossed back over to the United States. At the boarder, I saw in the mind of one of the boarder patrol officers as he watched the news the image of Esme's beautiful home suffering the same fate as Tanya's. The voice of the news broadcaster spoke of second case of suspicious arson in the area within 24 hours.

I looked over at Edward, his face showed the same look of pain that I knew was embedded on my face. Our home was gone now too. There were dark days ahead, I was sure of it.

The hours passed on as we made our way south. The further we drove the more my mind strained against the increasing population. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples trying to relieve my mind of the building pressure. I had forgotten what it felt like to have to block out so many minds and emotions. At one point we passed close to a major city and I groaned as the pressure increased greatly. Edward put his fingers through my hair and rubbed my temple with his thumb.

"I'm proud of you, Bella." He said looking at me with a warm and loving smile on his face. "I watched you restrain yourself back in Alaska. You beat it back." I gave a small smile as a wave of pride bubbled up within me. I had actually beat it back.

"Thank you, Edward." I said looking out the window at the dense forest that flanked both sides of the road. It was starting to look more and more familiar. The green moss covered trees and stones made me think of my human home. It was going to be strange returning after all this time and all that has happened. Even though I know I would not be able to go anywhere near the town. I still thought of what it would look like. I wondered if anything had changed.

A mist started rolling over the land and the cloud cover started growing denser. We were getting closer to Forks. My emotions were mixed somewhere in-between excitement from anticipation and worry. Before I knew it Edward was turning off the highway. We pulled up in front of the beautiful white house that I fell in love with what seemed like an eternity ago. It looked so desolate now but that was soon going to change. The other cars pulled up the driveway as Edward and I made our way across the front lawn and up to the front porch. Alice and Jasper came darting towards us before Emmett had even shut off the engine. Their thoughts and worries were screaming at me from across the yard.

"Alice…Jasper, I'm fine." I said with a smile. The faint scent of the human population of Forks was pulling at me, but the intensity of the beast just wasn't there. The distance of the house from the main part of the town helped. I knew it was not always going to be this easy, but for right now I was willing to take anything I could get. The rest of my family came up to meet us on the front porch with same worried faces. I was starting to get aggravated. I was going to be under a microscope from now on, and I didn't like the idea one bit.

Edward pulled me in through the threshold and my eyes fell on the beautiful interior. Everything was just as we had left it, except for the thick layer of dust. Esme will have a field day bringing it back to its pristine glory. I could already see her eyes gleaming at the prospect and it made me smile.

I followed Edward upstairs to our room. The large king-sized bed against the back wall beaconed to me. I laid down and closed my eyes. Even though the bloodlust was momentarily under control, the influx of minds and emotions was taking its toll more and more. I was going to need to get re-accustomed to the pressure.

A soft knock sounded on the other side of the door. Edward walked over and opened it. Carlisle entered the room and stared at me with concern written all over his face. He came over and sat next to me on the bed. His gaze was fixed out the glass wall towards the back.

"Bella, I need you to know that under ordinary circumstances I wouldn't have you anywhere near here for a couple more years. It is going to be pure, unmitigated torture for you to be this close to humans right now." His voice was pained but his thoughts were worse. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. I looked at him with sad eyes and he only returned my gaze in silence.

I closed my eyes once again as the pressure pounded in my head. Then a sharp pain echoed in my heart. I opened my eyes and Edward came over to my side, putting a hand on the side of my face his eyes searching mine.

"What's wrong, Bella?"

"Charlie…"