IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE – PLEASE READ
I know I seem to do this a lot but... I have added more to the last chapter – please go back and re-read – thanks.
if you've come back after doing that – enjoy reading.
we drove in silence. I noticed that Edward's tears still clung to my cheeks and Emmett and Carlisle looked pointedly away from my going to pieces at this.
I knew full well that James was unmerciful and would stop at nothing to get his 'prize'. if I was going to be getting in the way of his game, I would be eliminated. I needed to have my full concentration on this task and thinking of Edward's safety could end in my own safety being disregarded. so, I sealed away my heart and focused.
I let my mind range out as far as I could. James caught the sound of the jeep leaving the long driveway and entering the large forest.
-could be a decoy...I'll take it. Victoria can wait and see if there's another.
"speed up." I instructed Emmett. he nodded and obeyed, the pin on the dial inching past 200.
all I could take from the tracker's thoughts was the view of the pin-pricks of light that were the tail-lights of our jeep a few miles ahead of him.
I can smell that human even from here...they think they can run? pathetic.
I smirked. Edward's scent clung to me so much that his perfume seemed now permanently integrated with mine. James had picked up on it and tailed us. all I could hope for was that the female had taken the second decoy.
I heard his thoughts grow louder and clearer as he gained on us by inches.
-need my bag. need to keep in contact with Victoria. foolish to run in alone. especially with a coven this size, they could easily call in 'reinforcements'.
they faded again as he turned away from the track we were creating. Emmett picked up on the absence of his footfalls behind us and slammed on the brake.
did he catch on? he asked frantically, debating whether to jump out and follow James.
"no Em. he's fetching his bag from where he left it." I told him, looking out the window watching for any signs of his re-entrance.
"oh he's giving us a nice head-start. how nice." sarcasm rolled off Emmett in waves. he's confident enough to do that? does he have reason to be that sure of himself?
I ignored Emmett's silent questions. still, he understood my silence.
"we need to keep moving." Carlisle's voice came from behind us. "if not, he'll catch on that Edward's scent is merely mixed with yours."
Emmett nodded grimly and pushed his foot back to the pedal.
surely 'Bella' will not want to leave her precious Edward with others. he will be with her. Victoria will just...diminish their numbers. James' thoughts returned to my head. an image of my face, eyes black and expression terrifying, flashed through his thoughts. she will not leave her human pet.
I snarled again. Emmett, understanding, sped the car up further. Rose had boosted all the engines in the cars a few years ago making them unbearably quick for human instincts. I had joined her with this. a few years ago, my sister had still been my friend.
to clear my head of my own unwelcome thoughts, I reached again into the mind of the tracker.
why do they keep driving? they must know of my presence by now. why have they tried nothing?
if my heart could beat, it would have stopped.
without thinking, I jumped from my seat up through the glass sun-roof, the shards having no effect upon my granite skin. I landed in a crouch on the roof of the still moving jeep. my eyes roamed the forest as it flashed by, searching for him.
I shrieked out a guttural call into the night, baring my glistening teeth to the twilight.
I caught a glimpse of his dark hair as it dashed between the trees. my muscles tensed to spring as he grew steadily closer.
my hair blew about my face as I waited, the debris from the forest catching in the tendrils that whipped the through the air. I was slowly becoming less human and more demon with the want for combat.
he launched himself from the trees and collided with my stomach, catching me head-on. we flew from the jeep-roof and shattered several trees, the force of his attack too fierce to stop as we hit them.
as we descended towards the ground, I flipped in the air, making him land underneath me. I pressed my teeth to his neck, preparing to bite and rip and tear at his skin.
I heard the jeep stop and the wind of Emmett and carlisle's movements.
James' feet lifted and connected with my stomach. he kicked upwards and I was raised above the trees, looking down as the tracker stood awaiting my descent.
I righted myself and plummeted to the earth, landing on my toes a few meters apart from him.
his eyes darted to the sides, looking for method of escaping, but afraid to turn his back. I smirked as he found no get away option.
we fell into attacking crouches in synchronization. our feet moved in pattern as we circled each other, looking for a weak spot in the others defense.
I saw his knees lock together in my peripheral vision for the slightest of moments. his thoughts gave him away before he hurtled himself at me. I dodged and grabbed his arm as he whistled past. he landed and continued to run through the maze of trees.
I grinned as Emmett and Carlisle appeared at my side.
"Emmett, loop left. Carlisle, loop right" I said and they nodded, disappearing again. I ran directly after James. his track led him back to where the jeep was abandoned.
they brought their best fighters out to meet me. that means he must be at the car. he won't be alone... Alice's face flashed in his mind as he thought of who would guard him. I snarled at the way he was viewing Alice...as though she was something for him to devour.
Emmett and Carlisle reached a conclusion the same time I did. if James arrived at the car, he would realize that Edward was never there.
where's the boy? ...oh...he was never here. clever. he must be with the one Victoria tailed...no. she would have called if she found them. she would have caught up with the truck before now.....another decoy. there was a third car.
"NO!" my blood-curdling scream echoed back a thousand times from the forest. he had figured it out.
"he's going back to Forks." I told Emmett and Carlisle as they rejoined my side.
he figured it out? Carlisle asked silently. I nodded, too panic-stricken to talk. he could catch the scent of Edward easily from the house. and what if they hadn't left yet? Alice wouldn't wait that long, surely.
we ran on, the sounds of our passage were too loud for the tracker to ignore and he ran still quicker. I made to speed up but carlisle's hand on my arm stopped me.
don't run ahead. we mustn't separate. what if you had been unsuccessful with throwing him off of you before? "we stick together." he voiced the end of his thought aloud.
I said nothing, but stayed at their speed. I inhaled again and caught James' scent as it led away from the house. he had followed the trail already and was running into the center of Forks.
I cursed under my breath. we couldn't go running through the town at our speed. we stayed under the cover of the trees. Carlisle and Emmett followed me as I followed his thoughts.
eventually, he ran out of the town. he was now two miles ahead of us. it was too much of a head start.
my phone buzzed in my pocket. I lifted it to my ear not bothering to check who it was.
"Bella." Alice's whispered voice came down the line.
"Alice? where are you?" I asked.
"we've just checked into the hotel. we're in Phoenix. Edward's asleep." she said, knowing that I would ask for him. I sighed. " but that's not important. Bella, I had a vision. James boarding a plane. before you ask, I don't know where to. it was settle air-port though."
"when was it Alice?"
"soon. in the net few days. I wasn't completely sure."
"thank you Alice." I said, thanking her for more than this information. she knew this.
"don't worry about it Bella. keep safe." and with that she hung up.
I looked to Emmett and Carlisle. they had obviously heard. their expressions were grim.
I dialed the number for Esme and waited. she answered within 2 seconds.
"Bella?" a mothers worry for her family showed in her voice.
"Esme. don't worry we're safe. how's Rose?" I asked about my sister first for Emmett. he looked to me gratefully.
"she's fine. we're both fine."
"what about the female?"
"she wasn't fooled by the jacket. she turned and ran back to town when she realized he wasn't with us."
I growled.
"okay. Esme, turn back to Forks. keep a watch over Charlie." I said.
"of course Bella."
"do you want to speak to Carlisle?" I asked her gently, handing the phone to him. Emmett and I stepped away to give them privacy.
I sat on the grass and curled my knees to my chest. we had lost them both. I had let Edward down. I had sworn that I would let nothing happen to him and now because of me, he was in the worst danger possible.
a white arm fell around my shoulders as Emmett sat next to me. I lent back into my brothers chest and closed my eyes.
"I could lose him Em." I whispered, for fear my voice would crack.
"shhhhhhh Bells. we won't let that happen." the joking demeanor that signified Emmett was gone. "we will get James." nothing will happen to Edward.
"but Em even if we do kill James, do you honestly think that he would stay with me? knowing the kind of danger he would be in?" I moved away to look into Emmett's topaz eyes.
"have you seen the way the kid looks at you? even I've noticed it and I'm not the most 'emotional' of people." he said, placing air-quotes round the word emotional. "that's more Jasper's area." he said, trying to make me smile.
I only managed a weak smile and he sighed.
"Bella. I don't think that there's anyway that either of you could stay away from the other." I looked to Emmett. I had never heard him speak from this. it was normally Jazz who came out with this sort of stuff.
"hey, I can be deep too." he said, sounding mock-insulted, interpreting my glance correctly. "come on kid." he stood, pulling me with him.
Carlisle hung up and ran back to us.
"Esme and Rose are nearly there, and they'll go to the airport to find James." he said. "we need to pick up the trail, see if we can get to him before hand.
me and Emmett nodded our agreement and we took off running after James' scent.
a day passed. we followed the scent to Canada, never stopping and never tiring. he was too far ahead for me to listen to his thoughts. I inhaled again as we reached the first few houses into the state. he had fed here. I followed his scent again, more dominant with the added blood in his body, and snarled.
it was a trick. his scent led back the way we had come, a few miles parallel to his original path. he had looped round. he was heading back to Forks.
another day past us as we sped for home. our feet hitting a rhythmic pattern into the ground that flew beneath them.
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as I approached the white house, I saw Rose and Esme standing on the porch in absolute stillness. worry was etched on their faces as they waited for their husbands.
"Carlisle!" Esme's voice rang out into the silence as she ran for him. he gathered her in a hug and they stood there breathing in each others scents.
Rose had waited by the front door for Emmett. he grasped her hand and pulled her into him.
I watched the two scenes of obvious love. watching them made my heart pang. my time without Edward was hurting me.
"did you find him?" I asked as the couples broke apart. Esme shook her head.
"no. he didn't show up. Alice's vision could have changed." Rosalie said. she knew not to call. we could have been tailing them. it would have given us away. maybe it changed and she wasn't sure whether to tell us because of where we'd be. "the female's been in town though. she's been searching around the school."
"we need to call them." Esme voiced, referring to Alice, Jasper and Edward. "it's been nearly three days. they'll be worried."
Carlisle's phone was dialed and to his ear, before I could get mine out of my pocket.
"Alice?" he said into the mouthpiece. he knew we could all hear, so refrained form placing it onto speaker-phone.
"Carlisle!" Alice's slightly panicked voice came from the other end.
"Alice? what's happened?" Carlisle asked, picking up on her tone.
"a vision. two actually. the first one. he was in a dark room. watching something on a VCR. the second..." she trailed off, her voice became strangled and weak.
"Alice?!" Carlisle called into the phone.
"Carlisle, it's Jasper. the second vision. he was in a ballet studio. in Phoenix." I stiffened at this. "and Carlisle, it's soon. really soon."
"Jasper. we're going to the air-port, see of we can head him off before he gets on the plane." Carlisle said. I could see he was about to hang up.
"Carlisle, wait." I called, before dashing to his side. he handed me the phone. I pressed it to my ear.
"Jazz, is Edward awake?" I asked him.
"yeah." I heard him call Edward's name away from the phone and waited.
"hello?" I smiled as Edward's velvety voice floated down the phone.
"Edward?" I said, for that was all I could say. his name.
"Bella! are you okay? I've been worried and-" I groaned, closing my eyes.
"Edward, I told you to worry about you own safety. not mine. please." I reminded him. he seemed to ignore me.
"where are you?"
"we're back in Forks. we lost him near Canada. Edward, I'm sorry. I tried. but we know he's heading for the airport."
"I know. Alice told me." he said, simply. and he didn't sound mad that I was letting danger slip by me to him? there was only a small amount of fear in his voice, but I hated the sound of even that small amount.
"don't worry. we will find him. nothing will hurt you. just stay there and don't be worried for anyone besides yourself."
"okay. but Bella please be careful. if anything happens to you because of me-"
"Edward this is not your fault!" I told him through gritted teeth. Rosalie scoffed at my comment and I turned away from them all.
"I miss you." his quiet voice came down the line. my heart lightened somewhat. to know that he felt the same as me even in these circumstances...
"Edward, I know. I miss you so much. it's like half of myself is gone." I told him honestly.
"I love you Bella." the first genuine smile I had had for days fell to my face.
"is there any chance, even taking in what I've put you through, that you could believe I love you too?" I asked him.
"yes there is."
"I love you." I told him outright this time.
"as I love you." his voice was tender as he spoke.
"and I'll be with you soon. I promise, this will all be over very soon." my expression hardened as I refocused on my task. "bye Edward."
"bye Bella." I heard the dialing tone and slowly hung up the phone.
as I turned, I again hid my grief with a hardened mask.
"we need to get to the airport. if we can head him off there, this all ends." I said, handing the phone back to Carlisle.
Esme looked at me with such a heartbroken expression that I had to look away. if I were to look her in the eyes and see the sorrow that I was holding back, I would break down in sobs.
the rest of them nodded solemnly. even Rosalie had seemed to realize what I was going through and was shutting up.
Esme and Rose opted to stay behind to look after Charlie. if the female had been in town there was always the chance she would go there.
I slid into the driver seat of my Vanquish, ignoring the red truck that was in the corner of the garage. Carlisle sat in front with me and Emmett in the back. we slid out the driveway hitting the road in seconds.
I heard their determination in their thoughts and knew that if I had them at my sides, I would succeed. I would succeed. I had to.
if you've just read through this without reading the first authors note...this will have made no sense. so I suggest you go back and re-read the last chapter.
if you did go back and re-read the last chapter. review this chapter and the last please. I want to know what you thought about the added bit.
hattii x