The Taxi Ride

Chapter Twenty Eight: In Flames

Fire. Fire had nearly destroyed me.

Nearly, but not quite.

Fire was deadly to vampires but it wasn't necessarily a death sentence. Not if it wasn't used correctly.

James had lead me and Jacob into a trap. After Bella had snapped at us for keeping secrets from her, Jacob and I had gone off, searching for James even more intently. We knew her cast was coming off tomorrow, which meant he was sure to strike then. And we needed him dead before that. What we hadn't counted to happen was to chase his trail into an abandoned warehouse. He had been taunting us once more with his appearance, laughing cruelly as he evaded our attempts to catch him. He'd appear, let us chase him, and then disappear, only to reappear minutes later so we could chase him once more.

It all accumulated into us falling into his trap. I hadn't been expecting it, but I should have, and I only had myself to blame for this.

He'd dropped several pounds of dynamite into the warehouse. It was lined up all over the walls, a huge pile of it right in the middle. He had used a long range remote to set the charge, so when I heard the electrical click of the dynamite being started, I was alerted to the fact we were in deep shit.

And not even my vampire reflexes would be good enough to get us out in one piece.

My last thought before the place exploded was that Bella would be really upset if the mutt got killed. So I threw my body over his.

When I finally came to, I found myself being dragged across the ground by my arms which were gone from the elbow down. I looked up with my one eye and saw a soot covered and bleeding Jake carrying me. He was limping heavily but alive and dragging me away from the roaring flames of the remains of the building. He wasn't in the least gentle in his actions, rattling the mangled leftovers of my legs, and if my vocal cords were working I would have snapped out, "Can't you be any gentler?" But I couldn't speak so I shut my lips and let my eye roll into the back of my head as the aching pain of my reforming limbs pulled me under.

I slipped in and out of consciousness, waking up once to the taste of animal blood. It tasted like dirt and I didn't want to drink it, but a strong hold was placed on my chin and held my head in place until I drained the animal. Sated, my body slipped back into blackness as it spent all it's energy repairing itself.

I woke up to the sound of snarfing sounds. Sitting up I cracked my sore neck and turned to see that a giant wolf was crouched down in the cave a few feet from me, tearing into the carcass of a deer. I immediately leapt to my feet, instincts taking over. I growled at it but the wolf merely looked at me with amber eyes, licking it's bloody chomps before delving back into it's meal.

I recognized those eyes-it was Jake. Reassured I sat down and winced. I looked myself over, happy to see that every limb and finger was accounted for. My body had fully reformed but it still ached and was tender. I was also starved. I had to eat. The blood pooling from the deer tempted me. I normally didn't go for animal blood but it was here and I was starved. I only lasted two seconds before I ambled over and sunk my fangs in. Jake didn't mind, just making a light laughing noise in the back of his throat.

When I had drank my fill and he had eaten his, we sat there in the dark. "How long have I been out?" Now that my body was put together, fear for Bella filled my mind. Where was she? Was she okay?

Jake shifted next to me, wiping off the blood on his face. "It's been three days."

"Three days?" I snarled, wrapping my hand on his throat and tossing him up against the wall. "Bella's in danger! How could you let us stay here for three days?"

"We...were...in...no...shape...to go after...her," he gasped out past my tight hold. I dropped him and he coughed, rubbing his throat.

"Shit, where could she be now?!" I began to pace the length of the cave. "She could be dead!" That thought devastated me, but the mate bond inside me, told me that wasn't the case. If she had truly been dead than I would have felt her death. But the steady thrum that was pulling me towards her let me know that she was alive, for now. "We have to go after her."

"We will," Jake said, getting up. "Both of us are all healed now. You took the worst of it." He looked me right into the eyes, an expression on his face that I had never seen before. "You saved my life. Why?"

Kindness. That's what I was seeing on his face. It was the first time he had looked at me without anger or hatred.

I wasn't used to such a look. I shrugged it off. "I didn't want Bella's friend to die. She would have been pissed at me."

"Of course," he said, disappointed that that had been my sole reason for helping him. But I wasn't here to be friends with him. The only person I cared about was Bella. And she was in who knows what kind of danger the longer we dawdled. No limit to the terrifying things James could do to her ran through my head.

"Let's head out," I told him and exited the cave. It was dusk now, which meant it was safe to travel. The scent of smoke still hung to us and to the area of the woods here. Jake must have carted us off not too far away from the sight of the explosion. "We need to find his trail."

"Can we get clothes first?"

I looked at where he was looking and saw that my outfit was next to nonexistent. I didn't mind, but I suppose it wouldn't do well to give the mutt a free show. "Fine, we can pick some clothes up, but we won't waste a second more on non-Bella related things."

He nodded his head in agreement, and we were off, to find Bella before anything worse could happen to her.


James didn't bother to hide his scent this time. He was arrogant in his victory, in believing he had triumphed over us. Newly clothed, we tracked his faint scent through the city and to an old dance studio. It was currently out of use and as I approached it, breathless with worry over Bella, I was assaulted by a plethora of different scents. All of them blood suckers.

My panic and anxiety over Bella skyrocketed. What the fuck had happened here? I could smell Bella's fear scent drenching the place. And over that, the stench of death. I broke into the building through the cracked open window and perused the place. It was a mess on the inside, with broken glass littering the dance studio from the shattered mirrors, and old dried blood stains.

Bella's blood.

My hands were shaking. There wasn't enough for her to have bleed out, but she had been hurt.

Jake let out a huge exhale behind me, his chest rumbling. "Oh no, not him again."

I whirled on my heel so fast I caused a mini wind storm. "What do you mean by that?"

He shook his head tiredly. The agitation had left his shoulders. "Bella's safe. She's been rescued."

"By who?"

"Her ex-boyfriend."


Jake's words didn't make me feel any better. In fact, they made me feel worse. Jake had divulged to me that Bella had once dated a vampire male, without knowing of his true nature. And now, she was back in his clutches. Would she go back to him? Was she in danger because of him?

Jake knew the scents, so he was able to lead the way this time. We followed the trail to a solitary house on the outskirts of town. These vampires hadn't bothered to hide their scent either, probably because they didn't know about me or Jake.

We got to the front of the house, and I was ready to storm in and beat the shit out of these vampires and get my mate back, but Jake placed a strong hand on my chest. "Don't charge in there. They're not vampires like James. They wouldn't do anything to hurt Bella. And Bella wouldn't want you to hurt them."

I wasn't inclined to believe him, but what choice did I have? I took in some deep breaths and tried to calm myself down. I didn't want to upset Bella any more if these vampires were indeed her friends. They sensed us on their doorstep and a broad shouldered male ripped open the door. He glared at us suspiciously. "Who are you?"

"We're friends of Bella," Jake spoke up, squaring his shoulders to look bigger and more menacing.

The male vampire didn't seem to believe that and he opened his mouth to probably say no when a voice called out behind him.

"I can smell Jake. Let him in."

"And the female?"

"Tell Bella Victoria is here and she'll know who I am," I said.

The broad shouldered male let Jake past him and closed the door on my face. I tried to not let that aggravate me and instead waited patiently, or as patiently as I could with knowing Bella was here, on the doorstep.

Several moments passed and the same vampire opened the door and let me in. I rudely shoulder checked him and strode into the dining room. Inside was nearly a whole coven of vampires. There was a kind looking man standing by the window, a brooding one sitting on the couch, and a pixie one hovering over by Bella's side where she was on the armchair.

I felt relief flood my body at the sight of Bella. There she was, perfection like always.

Our gazes locked and we stood there just soaking each other in. I was suddenly shy to see her. "You're hurt," I breathed out at last, noticing the bandage around her wrist.

She looked down at it, like she had forgotten it was there. "Yes, I am."

"Was it James?"

"Sorry, to cut in this reunion," the kind looking vampire spoke up. "But there are things we must discuss. Who are you?"

"I'm Victoria," I said simply.

"Which coven are you with?"

"I don't have one."

"How did you know James?"

"He was tracking Bella down, and I wanted to protect her."

"Protecting her?" the brooding vampire spoke up, scoffing. Was he the ex? Or was it the broad shouldered vampire? For now, I would equally hate them. "You have red eyes."

"And?" What was the big deal with that.

"You prey on people, why would you protect them all of a sudden?" he accused me.

"What's the big deal?" I hissed under my breath, wary that Bella would hear this. She couldn't know I was a vampire.

"Look into my eyes. What do you see?" He stood up so I could see better. I noticed they were golden brown. Before I could comment, he said, "only those vampires who drink animal blood have eyes like this. Only we have enough morals to protect humans, to not be a risk in harming them."

Panicked, I looked over at Bella. She was hearing all this!

She noticed my eyes and shook her head. "I know, Victoria. They all told me. About themselves, and about who you could be. I didn't want to believe it, but James revealed it all to me and they filled in the blanks." Her voice was flat and she wouldn't look into my eyes.

"Shit." I was so overwhelmed by my emotions that I punched the wall in. Bella knew...she knew...it was all over.

The pixie and the big vampire jumped to their feet, ready to hold me back if I took to attacking them.

"I'm going to fucking kill James for all he did." My chest was heaving with anger.

"He's already dead. Edward took care of him," the kind vampire spoke up, his voice soothing, trying to calm me down.

"Why did you lie to me, Vicky?" Bella's voice was shaking and I felt shaken with guilt.

"I had to," was the only excuse that would come to my tongue even as others swirled in my head.

"Vampires need to protect their identity, because it's dangerous to reveal the truth. If they do, they risk death by the vampire council known as the Volturi," the kind vampire said, going over to pat Bella on the shoulder.

"Still, I thought we were past that...that you could trust me with your secret."

My chest felt like it would cave in on itself from agony. I knew this would happen when Bella found out but it didn't make it easier to take.

"She's not the only one with a secret," Jake spoke up from where he was leaning on the wall. "I've been hiding the fact from you that I'm a shapeshifter."

"What?" Bella gasped out, looking like the next secret reveal would make her drop from a heart attack.

"I also had to hide the truth because people aren't supposed to know," he said and I shot him a grateful look. He was taking some of the heat off of me.

"I don't know...I don't know what to think," Bella dropped her head into her hands.

"I think Bella needs a break," the pixie said, rubbing the back of Bella's neck. "She's been through a lot."

"I think that's a good idea. You get her ready for bed, and we'll talk to Victoria and Jake here," the bronze haired boy said.

The pixie took Bella by the elbow and steered her up the stairs. I didn't like the fact my mate was with someone else, with another vampire, and I curled my fists up, having to hold myself back from trying to rip the smaller vampire off of her. I already didn't like the fact that so many vampires were around Bella and Bella being alone with one didn't make me feel better. I wanted to tell Jake to tail them, but he seemed grudgingly trusting of them so I let it slide.

"What do you want to talk about?" I gritted out, eyeing the vampires.

"We just wanted to introduce ourselves and talk about what happened," the kind vampire said. "My name is Carlisle and I am the head of this coven."

"I'm Emmett," announced the big vampire, shooting me a silly salute.

"I'm Edward, and the vampire upstairs is Alice. She's the one who had the vision."

"The vision?"

"Alice has the power of premonition," Carlisle explained. "She can look into the future and see what happens to people. When she saw Bella in danger, at risk of being killed by James, she warned Edward and the two of them came here to rescue her. And then we came shortly after, in case Bella needed anymore protection from other rogue vampires."

So that's what had happened. I owed them my thanks, but I wasn't going to say them yet, not until I found out why they knew Bella. "And how come you knew Bella?"

Carlisle exchanged a look with Edward. The boy sighed and turned to me. "I fell in love with Bella. And I dated her. But it was hard to do so as a vampire. Her blood called to me too strongly, yet I could not resist it. So I eventually left her, along with the rest of my coven, thinking it would be for the best."

"He broke her fucking heart," Jake spat, bristling. "You almost ruined her you bloodsucker." He was growling and so was I, upset this vampire had ever thought he could lay a claim to Bella.

"I had to do what was right," Edward explained calmly and with pain in his eyes.

"What was right for you, and not best for Bella!" Jake huffed, his eyes black with anger. His shoulders tensed and it seemed like he might transform but he didn't.

"Either way," I popped my jaw, trying to but aside Edward's past with my mate for the sake of her and getting her out of here, "I appreciate the help with killing James. But now, I'm going to be taking Bella back."

Edward drew himself up to full height. "You're not taking her anywhere."

"Oh boy, here we go again," Emmett sighed, rolling his eyes like he had seen this behavior from Edward before. "Where's Jasper when you need him."

"Busy," Alice shouted out from upstairs. "And not here."

"Relax, Edward," Carlisle input. "We are going to discuss things civilly."

"There is nothing to discuss. Bella belongs with us, and not you," I said.

"Bella should decide that," Carlisle said.

"I don't think she'd want to be with a blood sucker, with a man killer. She knows that you've killed. That you've taken lives Victoria. You think she will want to stay with you after today?" Edward's lips curled up in a sneer and I had to visibly restrain myself from punching him.

"I only wish to talk to her myself, and to gauge her reaction for myself." It hurt to say that and I had to swallow the lump in my throat.

"You're free to stay here until Bella recuperates," Carlisle offered, and Jake and I settled ourselves down for a long wait.