Christy put her luggage in the back of the jeep and stood there looking around at the house from outside. After a few days with them all living in the main house, Seth headed home and the part for the heater came in. Bella, Christy, Leah, and Irina ended up living in the guest house, even though it was missing a lot of furniture. They spent their days in the main house, but it gave them a little more privacy and Irina and Christy got closer as they hung out and watched some TV or talked about the fact they were both dating people who slept for a third of the day. It was kind of nice to have company during the nights, and they did tend to stay in the guest house for a lot of the night, Irina for some quiet and Christy because she wanted someone awake in the house while Bella slept. Edward was still out there and she had no idea what his plans were, but she didn't want to be surprised by them
Once she had all of her things in the jeep and the things Bella had left in the guest house, she drove the jeep up to the main house. Bella was in there eating breakfast and they had left a few things in there. They were waiting until after lunch to head out for Fairbanks. She brought a book in with her and her school bag, so she could get a little work done while they waited to take off. Most of the vampires congregated in the main room, so she took a chair in the corner to read in, giving Bella time to talk with Tanya and Leah in peace. They'd have the entire drive home to chat and Christy liked that her coven was getting closer.
"Come on, it's been weeks, just one." Emmett whined at her when he came into the room and Christy gritted her teeth and did her best to ignore him. He'd been pestering her to spar with him since the day after he got there. He didn't take it seriously, it was a game to him. That kind of attitude grated on Christy because she'd seen it before, in people who rushed out to 'have fun' in a battle and ended up getting killed or getting others killed. They didn't think about consequences of actions, it was all glory to them. "I'm gonna keep asking until you do it." He told her and Christy turned to glare at him.
"I don't hold back much in a sparring session, unless I'm training someone." She shook her head. "You aren't ready for me. Practice with Jasper for a while, if you take it seriously maybe in a couple of years you can ask again."
"I don't want to wait. You're just reading, come outside."
Christy looked passed him to see Rosalie watching this with a slight frown on her face. "It's not a game Emmett, I fight to keep my people alive, it isn't a fun way to kill time." She looked back at him. "Have you ever had to fight for your life, or the lives of people depending on you? Have you ever gone into one knowing that someone you love will get hurt if you don't win?"
"It's just sparring." He was annoying to a degree Christy found herself tempted to slap down.
"Do you even practice weekly? I train three times a week, alone if no one is there, but all the time so I'm ready if I'm needed."
"Daily." He said but Tanya shook her head at his answer and Christy crossed her arms in front of her. "Video games, I practice strategy."
It was ridiculous, this vampire was eager for a fight all the time like he was playing a real live video game. He was not ready for her at all. "Okay, you want this that badly I'll do it." She stared at him and let him do an inappropriate happy dance. "But it's both you and Rose or nothing. I'm going to teach you why fighting is serious business."
"What?" His smile faded quickly and his expression became much more serious.
"You heard me; your mouth just put Rose in the ring with me. It's appropriate, if you'd picked a fight with me outside when you came here she would have jumped in, so we're putting her in right away." Christy looked over at a resigned and slightly frightened looking blonde. "I won't kill either of you, no fire allowed." She gave him a grim smile. "I will rip limbs and heads off though. You have to in a fight, you go for the fast take down or you lose. That's why Leah's alive today and that newborn isn't, she didn't get it. It was a game to her. I don't waste time in a fight, I know there could always be others coming and I need to free myself up for the next one."
"I just want it to be you and I." He spoke with a hint of a whisper, none of his energetic babbling there.
"Oh, well I could spar with Rose first." Christy offered, "That way you see why you are fighting, you could try and get her arms from me."
"Oh my god. No, no," Emmett looked horrified and Christy didn't let her expression change as he stared at her in shock. He was falling for it and that was good, she might not actually have to teach him this one the hard way.
She leaned in toward him and spoke quietly. "You have to fight like you mean it Emmett, and you have to train like you mean it. Your coven really was just days away from being hunted down by the Volturi for what you did with Bella. You broke the law. You came very close to having a big glorious battle. Were you ready? To protect yourself and Rose, to protect the others? Or were you ready to play video games? You come back to me when you think you want to truly be ready and I'll help you, but I'm not sparring with you Emmett. You are not ready."
He left, and Christy moved to sit down in the chair, but Rosalie stepped up to her first. "Thank you for not doing it. He doesn't always think."
Christy resisted the urge to go into detail about why Emmett was more dangerous than their enemies the way he acted about fighting and just patted Rosalie's shoulder. "You're welcome."
"Would you really have fought us both?" She asked a little hesitantly.
"How else would I make him take it seriously? I take his arm, it's one thing, I take yours and he'd wake up."
"I'm really glad you talked him out of that." Rosalie shuddered just a little and walked away. Christy sat down with her textbook and started to make notes for her final class paper and ignored the way the others Cullens were staring at her. She did let herself grin a little after a moment and could hear how that made them relax, a few people let out a breath of air. It was kind of funny how scary they seemed to think she was, but she wasn't above using it.
"Good one." Jasper spoke softly and she glanced up to see him smiling just a little as well.
"I thought so." She winked at him and refocused on her work.
"That was a joke?" Alice asked in shock.
"Also true, but I wouldn't have really hurt Rosalie, just made him think I would." Christy explained herself and watched a mystified look cross Alice's face. "What I said was true though, he's going to get someone killed with his attitude if he isn't reined in. If I thought for a moment he was seriously ready to learn, I would have tried to teach him, but I don't start something like that with actual fighting. There is a whole mental aspect that needs to be there."
"You saw a lot of action haven't you?" Jasper asked solemnly.
"Too much, way too much." She told him and sighed.
"Christy, have you seen my laptop?" Bella asked. She was in the middle of packing to head home.
"Didn't you leave it in Tanya's office?" She called back. "Oh, don't forget the power cord." She called out as she heard Bella heading for the office.
"You two have been living together for a while now." Jasper asked.
"Why, because I know she'll forget the power cord?" Christy smiled as she listened to her human struggling to unplug the cord from the wall.
"No, it's just, you really have no problem with that?"
"My only problem is being quiet when she sleeps. It's when I do most of my homework, I read, I've been learning how to draw, anything quiet I can do. Sometimes I'll watch tv or some movies. I'll do the housework that isn't noisy, and she does the vacuuming and other things like that. Dividing up the household tasks was a new experience with me picking the midnight cleaning route."
"You could get it all done in no time."
"But she doesn't want to be a pet, and pets just eat, give affection and take up space. She wants to be my partner."
Once they'd left the house the drive back to Fairbanks was a little quiet for a while. "Alice wants to visit for spring break." Bella spoke softly, and glanced over at her.
"And what do you want?" Christy asked her.
"I think I might like for her to visit." Bella sighed and stared out the window. "Do you think I'm forgiving too easily?"
"Honestly, Alice is putting in a lot of effort. I wasn't sure about her at first, but she's gotten a lot better about how she asks you for things. I think she's trying and if you want to forgive her it would make sense to have her over. Problem is that little vampire seems to be a bit afraid of me."
"Like you weren't playing up the big and bad vampire while they were there?" Bella smirked. "I didn't think it was possible to scare an entire coven with one vampire."
"Why dear, I have no idea what you are talking about." Christy smirked and kept her eyes on the road. Bella's small chuckle was all the answer she got.
"I'll call her tomorrow and work out the details." Bella told her after a little longer.
….
It was the second weekend of the semester and Christy had a good deal of homework to get done, but she had other pressing things that had to come first. "I think I might head to Juneau or if that doesn't pan out I'll push on toward Sitka." Christy said, while lacing up her boots.
"So you're sticking to Alaska." Tanya said, while handing Christy her other boot. "No rush, we are going to have a movie marathon this weekend. Every movie I picked is about some part of history I was there for, the last thousand years."
"I get to pick too though." Leah interrupted. "I don't want dry historical crap."
"I have good movies." Tanya growled a little and it was clearly just posturing. Leah sighed heavily. "But I'm sure we have time for something you want."
"So, historical and sci fi then?" Christy teased gently, but then spoke more seriously. "Thank you for coming. I wish I could stay myself, you three have fun." Tanya had done this a few times, keeping Bella company when Christy expected to be gone a day or two. Leah was here because she could be and Irina was out hunting herself.
"For a movie marathon, we need movie snacks." Leah said from the kitchen when she looked over the cupboards.
Christy tossed her car keys to her wolf and gave Bella a gentle kiss, before pulling back and looking at Leah. "Go shopping then, you'll eat the majority of it anyway." Bella didn't snack much anymore, and her body was showing it, she was tone and lean, stronger. As a human she had to work to have a figure like the others in her coven, but she was doing it.
"Cute." But Leah sat down. "I might need a break after the first movie," She explained. "And I just got here."
"Suit yourself." Christy left and made her way south. She was running through woods or empty streets. She wasn't even near her destination when she ran across a scent that demanded she investigate, fear and blood.
Finding the child abuser was sickening, especially when she saw the little boy was beaten unconscious and his mother was half dead. Christy had been running passed their house when the smell and the small whimper caught her attention. She broke in, broke a neck and broke a rule. She needed someone to call for help to the house, they couldn't call themselves and didn't have time so Christy used the phone and pretended to be the little boy, dazed and lost and begging for help. Once she'd said enough she dropped the phone and left. They'd hopefully assume he was so hurt he didn't remember doing that.
Christy moved into the woods and listened for a little while, to see if someone would come and she heard the sirens before she started to move. "I guess I don't have to miss movie night after all." She tried to look on the bright side, but the sight in the house bothered her. Still she turned around and raced back home; she probably only missed one movie. It was the shortest hunting trip in her life here, even when she hunted in Fairbanks.
She was two blocks from the house when she smelled a scent that concerned her. Edward had come this way not that long ago. Christy picked up speed and raced forward, not liking that she was follow his scent right up to her house. "No." She muttered when she saw her backdoor opened, smashed and she ran up listening hard for any hint what was going on inside.
"Oh shit." She heard after the sound of a door opening, Leah sounded shocked. "Tanya, what, are you okay? Where is Bella?" Those words had Christy's heart sinking but she sped into the house herself and found out why Leah had sounded shocked.
Tanya was holding her leg to her body tightly, and the rip through her jeans made it clear it had been taken clear off. The livingroom furniture was in pieces and a plate with a salad was upturned on the floor. "He took her, yelling about her not losing her soul and he just took her. I tried to fight, but he countered every move I made with his damned 'gift'." Tanya told them quickly, staring at Christy. "Just left, run. He means to hide her away so no vampires can ever find her again."
"Get something to keep her warm and follow me." She told Leah, knowing Tanya could heal on her own, she didn't like it but she could and they needed to save Bella.
Christy found the path on the edge of the backyard and started to run. He was the fastest Cullen but if he was trying to keep Bella alive he wouldn't be running too fast and Christy could catch up with him. Her expression was grim and determined as she raced into the woods. He was not walking away from this one, no, she was going to make him pay and if he hurt Bella in any way he would spend the rest of his existence regretting it.
"You hurt Tanya, you hurt her. You're becoming the monster you always said you were, not Christy, you. No, let me go! I don't want to leave her, dammit, listen to me Edward, listen!" Bella was yelling and Christy moved to make sure she was coming up fast from downwind. As she came close enough to see them she barely managed to not growl, seeing Bella being restrained and carried, as he ran. Christy kept herself downwind and did her best not to make noise that he'd hear over Bella's yelling. She needed to get Bella to safety.
Another vampire appeared in Edward's path and Christy watched as Alice growled and blocked his path. "Put her down, you idiot! I can't believe I didn't see you doing this, but you are not taking Bella away to be what, a prisoner? You aren't saving her Edward."
"But I'm saving her soul, and when she's away from that monster she'll start to become the Bella she used to be. She'll remember she loves me." Edward set Bella down by a tree and Christy didn't hesitate. Alice, surprised Edward by going to Bella, rather than trying to stop him, but with his attention in front he didn't see the vampire about to tackle him to the ground.
There was no mercy in her left after his attack, and Christy ripped his head off quickly, growling as she did it. He never even knew she was there. She tossed it angrily into the woods, far from his body and barely could stop herself from reaching down and completely dismantling him, but Bella screamed. "Oh god." In turning to see her, it was obvious that the idiot hadn't even considered what this cold would do to her. Bella was somewhat blue, shaking, and scared looking.
"Are you okay?" Christy moved to her side quickly.
"Oh god, he was going to lock me up in some cabin forever, so I couldn't be turned. Forever alone with just him as my jailer." Bella started to cry. "He ripped Tanya's leg right off so she couldn't follow. She tried to save me, but he beat her."
"Tanya is okay, she's okay." Christy held her tight and shared a look with Alice.
"Please don't kill him, it would devastate Esme and Carlisle." Alice pleaded, looking at his body with fear. Edward without his head was a bit of a gruesome sight for family, Christy was sure, but she didn't care at the moment. When she looked down she saw Bella's socks, but no shoes. He'd taken her out into the Alaskan wilderness with no shoes on.
"Oh god," Christy pulled Bella into her arms and held her up out of the snow. "I'm killing him, I have to, he can't ever do this to her again." She told Alice firmly and swung Bella to show Alice her socks. "Never again." Christy felt like crying at that moment, knowing how much pain Bella was probably in or would be when the feeling came back. She didn't have any body heat to give her lover.
A loud bark announced that help had arrived and Christy held Bella bridal style and took a few steps toward where Leah broke through the treeline. Boots hung around her neck, laces tied to make it possible and a blanked covered her back. She moved oddly not to dislodge those things. To violently chattering teeth Alice helped put Bella's shoes on so that Christy didn't have to set her down and the small vampires face was grim as she did it.
"Can you carry her? You're warm, and I think it might help." Christy asked Leah. She'd meant she wanted to know if there was a way to hold Bella on her back, but Leah shifted right then, leaving herself bare to the elements and held her arms out wordlessly.
"This way, I can do it this way." Leah said and Christy put Bella in her arms. Bella was having trouble even trying to talk now, and then wrapped the blanket around them both so that Leah could hold it on as well. Leah pulled Bella very close and started back through the snow. Even a wolf would be cold in this, but she kept a determined look on her face and continued on. Christy felt so touched by that, but she had work to do so she turned to Alice.
"Find his head and meet us at that house." She was cold to her, and Alice had come to try and stop Edward, but she'd pleaded for his life as well and Christy rarely wanted someone dead more than she wanted him at this moment. She grabbed his body carelessly and moved to follow Leah and Bella back home.
The only reason his body made it inside was that Christy wanted to make sure the little vampire that would follow didn't steal it. Christy tossed him in the empty wine cellar, letting his limbs flop around in a very undignified pose and slammed it shut hard enough to crack the door. She then did her best to reset the backdoor to keep the cold out, but it would need to be fixed soon if they wanted to keep it warm inside, warm enough.
"We can get the fire roaring in her bedroom." Christy told Leah, "Can you lay with her, share your heat?"
"I know, I saw the movies too, to fight frostbite you use bodyheat." Leah sighed. "I've got this." Bella was sleeping, Christy hoped, because she was so cold.
Tanya was limping around when Christy came back down after starting the fire. The Denali leader looked pissed, as she struggled with the door Christy set. "Once I heal up enough I'll go get a new door. We can't let this sit this way."
"I'm killing him." Christy growled.
"You need to let Bella be part of the decision, you always say she's part of the big decisions." Tanya pointed out and Christy growled a little deeper to hear those words.
"He would have killed her in his effort to 'protect her' and still thought it was better that way." Christy pointed out and her body shook a little. Tanya took three limping steps forward and pulled her into a hug. "I almost lost her today." Christy's voice cracked.
"But you didn't. You saved her, you saved her again." Tanya whispered into her ear. "I tried, I really tried Christy, but you saved her. I was so scared that I failed you both so badly, but you fixed it." Christy squeezed Tanya to her a little tighter, but then they heard the front door open slowly. They both turned to see Alice take a few hesitant steps inside, Edward's head in her hand, before she closed it.
"You can put THAT by the fireplace in the living room." Christy growled.
"Christy! You know you can't do that." Tanya scolded her very gently. "Not without talking to Bella first."
Christy bared her teeth at the idea that Bella might chose to let him go, but she just jerked her head to still put it by the fireplace. Alice looked scared, and that might be why she did what she was told. "Can you get Tanya something to eat and get a new door for this?" She pointed out the door that wasn't serving its purpose.
"I've got it." Alice nodded and took the keys from the living room floor where Leah must have dropped them before heading out.
"I didn't want her here when we're distracted, she might take his body and I'm still hoping to kill him." Christy explained.
"What is she doing here?" Tanya asked as the Jeep started up and started to pull out of the driveway.
"She came to stop Edward." Christy acknowledge Alice's attempt.
Bella's teeth started chattering again and they could hear it. Christy grimaced and then stared at the head she'd ripped off. "I will not allow him to get away with this and be able to try again, regardless of what Bella says. I can't. I can't risk that."
"We still want to keep some relationship with the Cullens." Tanya pointed out, "But let me think about this. I might have a way to deal with this. We have every right to kill him, but if Bella won't allow that we might have other options."
"Did you want to go up to her?" Christy asked when a particularly violent shudder went through Bella's body as she started to thaw could be heard.
"I can't make the stairs." Tanya whispered and Christy ever so carefully picked her up, making sure not to hurt the leg that was trying to reattach itself.
"I've got you." She whispered and ignored that Tanya leaned in and rested her head against Christy's neck, or the few shudders that went through her body as Christy helped her upstairs and into a chair by the side of the fire. Having Bella ripped from them hurt them all, Christy could tell. She went back down to grab the head and tossed it into Bella's closet, so that no one could prevent them from making Edward pay, before she sat down in the other chair near the fireplace and they waited for Bella to recover.
They could hear the sound of wood cracking as Alice tossed the old back door away and put in the new one. They heard her leave and come back and Christy carried Tanya back downstairs and out the new backdoor for a meal, before three vampires went up to Bella's bedroom for a silent vigil as they waited for Bella to recover. Leah had fallen asleep in the bed, holding Bella, but her body heat still was doing wonders.
"How is the leg?" Christy asked after a long silence, where she'd been holding her hands closer to the fire to try and get them human warm. She was going to need to touch Bella soon and she wanted warm hands for the job. Tanya blinked and looked over at her, clearly being pulled out of her thoughts.
"Still weak, but getting better." Tanya answered just as quietly. Her eyes traveled over to Alice, who was sitting very quietly in the corner of the room looking somewhat sick with what had happened, and very quiet. "He ripped it off so I couldn't follow." Christy noticed Alice flinch at that. "I've sheltered that asshole so many times in my coven when he needed space from his own and he ripped my leg off while stealing a human under my care, my human covenmate." She was pissed.
"What happened?" Christy asked quietly, glancing over at Bella. She could hear Bella was doing a bit better, her skin was a healthier color too.
"I was out hunting, and by the time I saw him make a decision I didn't have phone reception." Alice spoke up to answer some of that question, there as a hint of pleading for them to believe her in that voice that explained why she rushed to answer. "I would have called, really, but I couldn't and it looked like he was just going to visit and try and convince her to go back to Forks and leave you all." Alice's eyes took a brief glance towards the closet doors that had his head behind them. "He heard Tanya talking with Bella about being turned and suddenly his plans changed. I came as fast as I could and I'd been hunting nearby. If I hadn't been hunting I wouldn't have been close enough to do anything."
"I know it isn't your fault." Christy told Alice gently, but then her voice hardened. "Of course it was a last minute decision, because he was so stupid about it. If he'd gotten away he would have killed her in the cold. He was running with her here, we never do that. Alice, he attacked Tanya, kidnapped MY human and she would have died if I hadn't found him quickly." Christy took a careful breath as her voice tightened. "If he'd had her longer she'd be losing body parts at the very least."
Tanya made a small sound of agreement, before speaking up, "He did all of this because I was talking about things we could do when she's turned. I was talking about her being a vampire and he broke through the door and attacked me. I knew he was unhappy with being a vampire, but that kind of response makes me think he will not let it go. As long as she's human, he's a danger to her."
"He believes we lose our souls when we are turned." Alice admitted quietly, her hands clasped in front of her as she looked at her hands rather than the others in the room. "He's religious enough to think her soul is more valuable than her life, especially if she isn't with him anymore." Alice's words were driving nails into Edward's coffin, Christy thought, but she could see how sick Alice was looking at having said that about him. Christy's respect for Alice was a lot higher after that, because Alice was putting Bella's safety before Edward's in that moment, saying something like that to Christy.
"My power is to absorb the energy given off from the body when it lets the soul free, and I use it to do the other things I can do. I 'eat' the energy that holds us to the world, and I know for a fact vampires give that energy off too. You have a soul Alice, just so you know. We all have one." Christy glared at the closet and didn't go into details about how Edward was not being given a slap on the wrist and sent on his way this time. No, that idiot was going to pay for this.
Alice flinched. "I know you want to kill him, but can you stop planning it please." She asked with a small voice. "I see every plan and it's so," Alice's words trialed off.
"Sorry Alice." Tanya spoke up before Christy could and Christy glanced at the blonde to see she wasn't the only one that had been running scenarios through her head.
Christy stood up and moved to the foot of the bed, glancing at the two women sleeping and Leah blinked sleepily and looked up at her. "I'm going to pull up the sheets from down here to see her feet. Are your feet okay?"
"I'm fine, I healed up quickly." Leah told her quietly and Christy tugged the blankets and sheets out from under the mattress so she could gently flip them up to expose Bella's feet. She kneeled down to see two pair of feet and gently took one of Bella's into her hand and felt them. She looked at the toes and gently touched them, looking for evidence of frostbite.
"What are you looking for?" Alice asked.
"I'm checking to see if she has frostbite and we have to take her to the ER so she doesn't lose any toes." Christy explained herself. "She could have lost toes out there, the idiot didn't even think that she wasn't fully dressed."
"Is she okay?" Alice asked hesitantly. "With Leah here, I can't see anything. I'm blind and I can't see if she'll get better or not." And Christy was sure that it was why Alice was so nervous today, she had no way to know how this mess was going to end. "If she left I might see something."
"We need her to keep Bella warm, more than a vision right now." Christy told Alice and then moved to pet Leah's feet, and moved to check them as well. Leah tugged on one foot for a startled moment, trying to pull away but she stopped that and held still. "I'm so glad your hot wolf blood protects you." She told Leah gently while tucking the blanket in carefully again.
"I'm glad my 'wolf blood' can help." Leah told her with a sleepy smile. Bella had managed to sleep through it all, but it seemed like a natural sleep. Christy was starting to feel she could stop worrying, that the worst consequences might have been avoided.
Once the others heard that, Tanya hesitantly checked her leg to see if it would hold her. She took a few steps and let out a breath. "I won't be running tonight, but I can walk." She told them, and then looked at Christy. "I need to call the others and let them know what happened here."
"Not the Cullens, not yet." Christy spoke up and could see Alice squirm in her seat at that. "We all need to talk before we talk to them."
"I wasn't suggesting we call them yet." Tanya gave Christy a gentle pat on the shoulder as she stood in front of her. "No, I want our coven to know trouble is on the way."
"Why aren't you calling Carlisle?" Alice asked and they both turned to look at her. "He should know what Edward did."
"Oh, we'll call him once we know where we stand on this." Tanya explained. "By rights, we could just kill him, just like when Laurent was the one to attack Bella she had the right to kill him and not let us come to see her about it first." Christy managed to not show a grim smile at Tanya's comparing both attacks like that. It said a lot about how Tanya expected to deal with this issue and Edward had lost his 'family' status with them all if Christy was right about this. "We would appreciate it if you did not call for us until we have time to discuss how to deal with this." Tanya's voice was firm, in control, and very much a leader as she said that.
"As long as you tell them before you do something irreversible." Alice slumped in her seat as she said that, clearly unhappy, but she had to know there wasn't a defense she could launch for Edward now.
"Oh, I think that's very reasonable." Tanya said in a cold voice that had Alice shuddering a little, perhaps with a vision that hit her of what Tanya was thinking. Tanya shook her head no when Christy went to ask what the plan was. "Soon, but we need to hear from Bella first. Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll go with your plan." Christy should have been irritated, but she just nodded and focused her attention back on her sleeping coven members. Tanya had a good plan, that was clear in how upset it made Alice. Christy was going to trust her with this for now and argue for more if it wasn't enough later.
It took just one more hour before Bella woke up slowly. Alice had wandered downstairs and something was playing on the TV. Tanya had called the others and filled them in on what had happened, and they had all been ready to come right over, but Tanya asked them to wait, that after this that many vampires might overwhelm Bella. It was so considerate and Christy felt a pang of appreciation for that.
The crackle for the fire and the other warm body in the bed had Bella's eyes going wide rather quickly and Christy chuckled as Bella tensed up. "Leah's keeping you warm." She explained and watched Bella start to relax. Leah had moved to spoon Bella in her sleep, so Bella couldn't see the body against her but she could probably feel they weren't wearing much. Leah had both of them down to just underwear and bras in that bed after all. "How are you feeling?" Christy asked and squatted down in front of Bella's side of the bed.
Bella seemed to be taking inventory of her body. "Warm, good." Christy let out a relieved breath at the words. "Where is he?"
"I didn't burn him, if that's what you're asking." Christy growled. "We have to talk about what to do, but I didn't put his head back on either. If he said even one word to me I couldn't guarantee I could wait to talk to you before burning him."
Bella grimaced, but she didn't object to what Christy had done. After another moment of silence she just moved on to another question. "Is Tanya okay? Her leg, it was awful." Bella shuddered and in her sleep Leah just pulled her closer when she did that.
"She's still healing. She can walk now, and was able to take the stairs slowly, but she isn't running home tonight, that's for sure." Christy reached out and caressed Bella's hair, and she couldn't help but inspect her ears to see they were the right color, but she did it quietly and just the one she could see. "She was terrified that we'd never see you again, so was I."
"He was planning to make sure you never did." Bella's voice started to shake. Leah woke up and when she looked over at Christy, she slowly pulled back away from Bella, so Christy could pull Bella into a hug. "I can't believe he did that to me, he was going to lock me up like I was fucking Rapunzel and watch me slowly die of old age."
"Actually, the way he took you, you wouldn't have survived the night. He took you into the wilderness without any of your things, coat, gloves, shoes, he took you without shoes. I was worried you'd lose toes tonight, but I got to you in time." Christy admitted and watched the healthy flush of Bella's face drain to white, too close to what she'd looked like at the worst of the cold. "I'm so sorry baby." Bella started to sob and Christy felt helpless as all she could do was rub her back gently and hold her.
"You two need time." Leah whispered and got out of bed and left for her own room, and a change of clothes.
"He'd really rather I was dead than a vampire and he wouldn't listen. I couldn't stop him." Bella's words were hard to make out in her crying. "He hurt Tanya to get to me and he wouldn't stop, I screamed for him to stop and he wouldn't stop." Growling could be heard in the hall and from downstairs at Bella's words. Christy had to work hard to control her own anger and just be there for Bella now, but she felt a new wave of hate for Edward rolling over her. Christy had no sense of time as she held Bella while she cried, but it felt far longer than the longest night she'd ever had in this world. It felt like Bella's pain was pouring out forever before she slowly started to pull herself together.
"We can't wait, he'll just do it again. You have to turn me." Bella's words broke Christy's heart. "I don't want to ever be taken again, I don't want to lose you and I couldn't stop him. I tried and I couldn't stop him."
"No, you wanted 23, not 19. You wanted college and I will not let that piece of shit take that from you." Christy growled just a little. "I can make sure he's never a problem again."
"What?" Bella stared into Christy's eyes. "But Esme," She stammered.
"She wouldn't want you killed to 'save your soul'." Christy tried. "That's what he was doing, whether he was too stupid to know what he'd done would make it was right away or his plan for over years, that was what he was doing."
"I can't." Bella's voice cracked. "We can't,"
Tanya chose that moment to come in, when Christy was busy wishing her human had some degree of cold blooded vengeance in her, because she wasn't practical enough to see this was the best solution. "He will remain a threat to you if we don't do something." She said and Christy moved to the side when she saw Bella's expression at seeing Tanya walking. Her human held out a hand and pulled Tanya into a firm hug. "And he is no longer family to the Denali's. Not after what he's done. He will never set foot in our homes again."
"You can't do that for me." Bella protested lightly.
"He attacked both of us Bella. I should kill him just for what he did to me alone, but taking you, that's the crime I want him to pay for." Tanya explained and Christy moved to sit at the foot of the bed as Tanya prepared her proposal, it was clear with her experience that she was framing it to get Bella to accept. Christy was willing to see what Tanya had cooked up without saying anything about how it was being framed, she just hoped it was enough, because if Tanya talked Bella into something and it wasn't 'enough' then Christy was going to have a hell of a time increasing his punishment. "He betrayed me and my family, and spit our hospitality in our faces. We killed Laurent for this, we didn't know you, so we killed him for the betrayal. I've taken Edward into my house so many times when he needed to get away. He repaid that by attacking me and stealing a member of my coven, and the human I was protecting. To not kill him is unthinkable to most covens who might hear about his crimes, though they wouldn't understand you being human, even if they knew that I believe they would kill him. They'd kill him for touching a human they'd claimed in any way."
"James." Bella whispered.
"Yes, the Cullens killed him, as was their right." Tanya nodded.
"But then Victoria came after us." Bella pointed out and Christy almost smiled at the idea the Cullens would decide to attack them. They would never try and if they did they'd never get far.
"Because she didn't agree a crime had been committed and she was his mate. Edward has no mate in that coven and if we explained what he did and planned to do, the Cullen's would agree a crime was committed." Tanya spoke and Christy watched the pain and confusion cross Bella's face. "He could never hurt you again if we killed him, but if you can't agree to that we can disable his ability to go after you while you are human and revisit his punishment when you are able to defend yourself from him."
"What do you want to do?" Bella asked and Christy watched as the door opened and Alice slipped in, looking solemn and hesitant. "Alice?"
"Bella, I've 'seen' Tanya's plan and I think you should consider it. It will stop him long enough that he no longer can do anything to you." Alice looked away and through pain gritted teeth she spoke. "His stupidity will kill you if he just walks away. He won't listen, he honestly believes your 'soul' is more important than your life. He will just escalate while you're human and you deserve your human years, your plans. You deserve them." Alice took a shaky breath. "You don't have to worry about my coven coming after yours. Half of my coven will never forgive him for what he's just done and we will all know that if he's left alive then mercy was shown. Rosalie won't forgive this, neither will Emmett. I can't forgive this." Alice moved closer and Bella reached out to take her hand, squeezing it gently.
As Tanya explained the plan Christy fought the urge to say it wasn't enough. It would do the job, which was usually all she wanted out of a situation and she forced herself to ignore the desire for vengeance and look at whether it would destroy the threat and it would. Bella got incredibly pale as it was explained to her, but she gave a brief, small, nod of consent when she realized that the three vampires in her room all agreed it was a workable plan. Bella worked out a chance for him to redeem himself in the future, she left a loophole that Christy hoped he never managed to use. Christy left Alice with her lover as she and Tanya went to start to take care of it.
There was a lot of work that happened over that Friday night as they enacted the sentence, and they left with a very slowly healing Edward in the back of the Jeep to drive to the Cullen's house with Alice, Tanya, and Christy. Alice assured them he wasn't going to come to before they explained everything and got there, so he wasn't going to cause a scene on the road. The Cullens were going to act as his jailers, it was the 'Denali coven' effort to keep their relationship with the others in the Cullen coven, handing him over like this. Leah stayed with Bella at the house. Irina came to keep both of them company as well.
Halfway to the new Cullen house in a small town in British Columbia, Christy pulled out her cell phone. "Cullen residence, we do everything but windows!" Emmett said with a chuckle and Christy could hear Esme scolding him in the background for how he answered the phones. It sounded like they were doing some cleaning at the house. Hopefully they were ready for this mess that was coming.
"You need to round up your coven, because we are demanding retribution for actions taken against us." Christy said formally, as she was learning was the way of older covens. It wasn't so far off from what she would have chosen to say herself if this had all been her idea.
"Christy? Oh shit, what did he do?" Emmett picked up who was at fault quickly and he sounded a bit panicked that Christy was mad. Her being the one to call had been a decision they made. "Christy wants retribution!" He yelled out in the house and the other end of the phone went quiet for a moment and then Christy could hear fast movement as people whipped open doors and came running.
"Christy?" Carlisle's voice was on the phone, clearly he took it from Emmett.
"Edward has gone too far and we can't look the other way this time. I let him get away with attacking me and I didn't hurt him last time, but this will not be forgiven."
"Put it on speaker." Rosalie's voice demanded of her coven leader. "Oh god, what did he do now?" She asked.
"Rose." Carlisle scolded her.
"Your golden boy has Christy pissed at us. I'd like to know if I'm going to die and why!" Rose yelled at him.
Christy hit mute for a second on her phone. "Wow, I had no idea they were that scared of me." She muttered to Tanya and heard Alice let out a long breath of air behind them. "If this weren't so sad it would be funny." She let go of the button and could tell by the odd sound of the phone they had the speaker on at the Cullen house.
"What has he done and what do you want?" He asked and Alice's phone started to ring as someone was probably frantically trying to get her involved.
Alice didn't answer it, she just spoke up. "Edward was colossally stupid and I'm escorting him back to our house with Christy." Was all she said.
"Edward, what did you do?" Carlisle growled.
"He is still reattaching his head." Christy said and a woman gasped. "He can't hear or respond yet."
"Was that really necessary?" Carlisle asked, a hint of a growl in his voice.
"Oh yes it was." Christy said firmly. "He attacked our Fairbanks home, attacked Tanya and ripped her leg off, and then took Bella out of the house without any cold weather gear and ran, RAN for miles with her before he was caught. He planned to abduct her and make her live out the rest of her life in a remote cabin, never seeing us again. He didn't plan on how to keep a human alive in the subzero temperatures, didn't have a car, didn't let her put on shoes and she was freezing when I got there. If he'd gotten away she would have died before they found any cabin."
"Oh my god." Esme sounded stunned.
"I have checked and we're lucky she doesn't have frostbite. If she'd lost a single toe I don't think that I would have been able to stop myself from killing him immediately, as was it was very close." Christy wasn't sure she could have stopped if it wasn't for Tanya.
Finally, Tanya spoke up. "It was an act of war Carlisle. I want you to know that, because even though we are letting our current relationship with your family color our response, that is what he's done. If he had done this to any other coven they would massacre the lot of you."
"Tanya, you know we'd never condone what he's done. I am so sorry." Carlisle spoke brokenly. "We value our friendship so much, I can't imagine why he did something like this."
"You let him hold dangerous self hating beliefs and didn't correct it." Christy explained coldly. "No soul, so what was he going to do when he realized that Bella was planning to become one of us? He truly believes she's better off dead. You let that continue and now he almost killed her to 'save her soul'. If he hates what he is that much, I really would have preferred he end himself, not her." And there was a chance that he might end himself, but Christy wasn't warning anyone about that. He'd been suicidal in the books and she wouldn't mind if he returned to that. If he went to the Volturi now, with Bella already choosing to be a vampire and him showing that was why he attacked, Christy was pretty sure everyone but him would be safe.
"I told you, I told you Carlisle." Esme whispered in pain. Clearly she'd been upset about Edward's beliefs before.
"She screamed for him to stop hurting Tanya. She screamed for him to let her go as he kidnapped her." Christy stabbed them with her words. "Bella screamed and I'll see him in hell before he ever makes her scream again." She looked over at Tanya and wanted one more thing clear. "Tanya fought for me, I was out hunting. She was hurt on purpose so she couldn't follow; he did that to her on purpose as a calculated move, and as a coward he wasn't there to face me himself. I'll make him pay for that as well. Tanya has been nothing but wonderful to us and to think he hurt her pisses me off to no end." Tanya reached out and took Christy's free hand, squeezing it gently and then just holding it for a little while. Christy knew it was a hint to Tanya's feelings, but she didn't care at the moment to worry about it.
"Yes, Tanya has been wonderful to us as well." Carlisle said, his voice rough with emotions. "I will make sure he understands what a huge mess he's made."
"Yes, you will. You will have lots of time to make sure he learns what he should have learned in the past hundred years." Christy felt the evil smirk on her lips and could see Alice glance toward the back of the Jeep where he was laying. "We have taken our retribution out on him, and your retribution will be to care for him and fix his fucking mind."
"We will, we will work with him." Carlisle agreed quickly.
"I don't think it will be an issue, but if he comes near Bella again, or badgers her, I will come back and destroy him completely." Christy told them. "And if you were negligent in keeping him under control I will spread the wealth all over you."
"He's the fastest of us, how are we going to keep him away from Bella if he's gone crazy?" Rosalie asked, "Why punish us when he's the idiot. Can't you just take it out on him, we can't control him."
"Rose, that's your brother, we have to try." Esme pleaded.
"I've taken measures to make it easier." Christy admitted slowly. "Harder in some ways, but easier to not break my demands at least."
"No, we took those measures Christy." Tanya spoke up. "We are in agreement on his punishment and if Bella were not as soft hearted as she is, we would have been in agreement for killing him outright. Don't mistake this second chance for anything that would happen again if he so much as upset us."
"Is Bella okay?" Rosalie asked before anyone could ask what she'd done to Edward to make things easier.
"She had mild hypothermia, but luckily Leah was there and could help her warm up. She begged me to turn her right away so she couldn't be stolen again. I think she's a bit afraid to be human now, because he made her so helpless. We chose this punishment rather than turn her early or have her live in fear. Still, I worry that she'll still live in fear until she is turned. He's pretty much guaranteed she won't pick staying human now, not when she's so powerless as one." Christy spoke more gently to Rosalie and she was glad to hear the gasp and sympathy from her. Anything she said to them would get back to the telepath she was delivering once he woke up, and he could use some of this information. "I expect a return to her nightmares for a while."
"Of course." Rosalie whispered.
"She will overcome this, she's already overcome so much of what he's done, and we will help her." Christy said and noticed they were getting off the main road so they were coming in to the Cullen house. She hadn't been here before, they'd just moved to Canada recently to be closer to Bella and this was the first visit between covens.
They stopped in front of a large house and Christy stepped out and closed the door behind her. Alice was a little slower to face her family with this, and Christy gave her a small reassuring smile, that she hid again as she moved to the back of the Jeep.
"We are so sorry." Carlisle spoke up, the others having all followed him outside. "He will not do this again."
Christy opened up the back of the jeep and pulled on the red shirt they'd placed on him. His head was looking mostly healed. "He will need to be fed soon." She said and turned to look at them. "We removed all risk to my coven, and once Bella is a vampire we are willing to discuss returning his legs."
Esme screamed on seeing him, as Christy rolled him out and onto the ground. His body bounced a little as he fell and rolled to a stop. "He shouldn't be able to escape you again."
"Why did you take his arms and legs? This is barbaric!" Carlisle looked horrified.
"I didn't want him to run away from you, and I could have taken just his feet, but he cut Tanya off at the knee, so I did that." Christy pointed to the two stumps. "He grabbed Bella and dragged her outside where she would have died of frostbite or hypothermia. He took her just wearing socks, so if she lived she would have lost both feet so I took both legs."
"And the arms?" Rosalie asked hesitantly with something resembling horrified curiosity.
Tanya spoke up, "After we'd removed his legs Christy tried to see how fast, how dangerous, she could be if she didn't use her legs and just dragged them around and we determined he could still attack Bella if he snuck out. If Bella was caught alone, she'd be at risk and there was a way to 'walk' on hands that didn't take Christy long to discover. We left him one, it's just under him at the moment."
"Did you burn them? Will you burn them?" Carlisle asked, in a whisper as he moved closer to stare at his son laying in the back of the jeep.
"I hid them and since I made Leah come with me but blindfolded her, only I can find them. Alice can't." She could see he was caught between guilt, anger and shock. "Alice pled for his life rather well, but,"
"But he really would have killed Bella Friday and he won't stop trying to get her if we got him whole, and even if we tried really hard, we couldn't promise he'd never escape. I had to agree to this or either Bella or Edward were going to die." Alice finished and she looked shaken.
"Once Bella stops having nightmares and isn't filled with fear, and if he seems to be remorseful we might consider sending you an arm, but those legs are staying off until she's vampire and if he's still an issue after that you won't get them then."
"I wanted a baby. I'm not taking care of that asshole. I wasn't thrilled being turned, but I would never actually hurt or kill Bella because she wants this. It's her choice and she's getting to make it. That asshole tried to take her choice." Rosalie muttered and turned her glare to Carlisle. "Alice saved your wonderboy. Have fun."
They left Alice at home and it looked like she was convincing the Cullens that this really was the best deal they could expect, given the situation. Alice didn't volunteer that she'd probably been exactly what they needed to talk Bella into this, that her approval of the plan made it so, or that she hinted that if anyone carried him around he might be able to read the minds of a wolf that hid the limbs, but if Leah didn't know where they went, no one could find out. Christy already knew, but Alice volunteered the information and for that if Alice ever needed a different coven, one was waiting for her.