Zenith
Chapter Twenty-nine – Offer
"Italy?" I had never even left the continental United States, and she wanted me to cross the Atlantic because she asked nicely. "Why Italy?"
"Because it's the safest place to be when a rogue vampire is after you. The Volturi won't stand for her behavior much longer. She's too great a risk."
But I didn't need to contemplate the offer. Forks was my home. My family was here. And as long as Victoria was killing people in an effort to get to me, I was staying. "I won't run."
Vanessa looked grim. "Isabella, you and I are powerless against the number of vampires gathered in Seattle. Once they see what our blood does to one of them, they wouldn't hesitate to kill us. Our gifts are subtle and must be used selectively and covertly. An open confrontation would only guarantee the vampire's success."
"How many witches and warlocks are there? If we all went to Seattle now, couldn't we—"
"I'm afraid not. I would be surprised if the Volturi are'nt already monitoring the situation there. If we bring all of the remaining witches to Seattle, Aro won't hesitate to take the chance to organize a mass slaughtering. And the stage is too public. Most vampires are oblivious to our existence because that's the way Aro wants it for the time being. But how would he explain the disappearance of some two dozen new born vampires? The last thing we need is further suspicion."
I wanted to argue. I wanted her to understand that if Victoria were to bring 20 newborns to Forks, people—people that I deeply cared about—were going to die. And I would do anything not to see that happen. But as much as I was willing to risk for their safety, I knew I couldn't expect her—a mere stranger—to feel the same way. I didn't have the right to ask any more people to risk their lives for my cause. "I understand if you don't want to stay and help. This isn't your fight. But I'm still not going with you." I leaned into Jacob's side. "My place is here."
Vanessa's lips thinned into a disapproving line. "I must ask you to reconsider. Think not only of yourself, but of Charlie and hundreds of other innocent lives that are relying on us to settle Varius's debt. You're the first female descendent to be born in over 100 years, and you're already exhibiting more power than some witches manage to accumulate over their entire lives. You needlessly dying here is only condemning them to further suffering."
Jacob's arm slipped over my shoulder, bathing me in heat. Briefly I closed my eyes, drawing strength from the sensation of just being able to touch him. The reassuring play of his fingers along my shoulder—along that shoulder—matched the resolve in his voice when he said, "She's not going to die. The pack can handle anything the redhead throws at us."
"Perhaps," Vanessa murmured with quiet shrug. "Perhaps not."
"Between us and the Cullens—"
"You would put your faith in vampires?" she cut in mercilessly, her calm veneer cracked. She eyed him in blatant disbelief. "You would put her life in their hands?"
"The Cullens aren't like other vampires," I scrambled to explain, anxiously noting Jacob's murderous expression. "They strictly drink from animals and would never hurt anyone."
"Yes, I know. Otherwise you and one of them would be dead. There's no humanity in them for you to attract, and that only makes them even more unpredictable."
I shook my head against Jacob's chest. "They're good people. If you met them you would understand."
"They're not pe—"
I gasped, jumping slightly when out of nowhere a man appeared at Vanessa's side. Tall and broad with short, dark hair and a tan complexion, he was a striking contrast to Vanessa's smaller, more delicate frame. The fitted dark-washed jeans and simple blue t-shirt clinging to his chest only accentuated their differences. Sharp brown eyes set in an impassive face skimmed over my frame before sliding to Jacob and repeating the blatant appraisal.
Like Vanessa his movements were careful and calculated, but where she was fluid, he was rigid. And though they both possessed a commanding presence, this man looked decidedly more threatening.
Jacob's grip on me tightened.
"This is the girl." He spoke in an unhurried, monotonic voice.
Vanessa nodded. "Leopold this is Isabella." Her smile made a salient return. "She's very special."
He didn't spare me another glance, but peered impassively to Jacob. "This is her familiar?"
"No. Jacob here is actually a product of Camilla's dabbling. The establishment of a semi permanent stronghold by a coven in the area seems to have awakened the previously dormant shifting ability. Camilla may have been insane but no one can claim she wasn't inventive."
Leopold's eyes narrowed. "Should I annihilate him?"
I looked to Vanessa in alarm, but she chuckled as if he'd told a very clever joke. "No, that will be completely unnecessary. And such a waste of a sturdy man." She winked without actually winking.
I scowled, pouring every ounce of intimidation I owned into staring Vanessa down. "Who is Camilla and why would Jacob be familiar to her? And what does that have to do with Jacob getting annihilated. I thought you were only after vampires."
She raised a placating hand. "Camilla was one my great granddaughters. She found a way to manipulate the planes in a manner that allowed her to infuse animal spirits with the human soul. As a result, a group of humans were born with the ability to change into enhanced animal forms. These individuals—which she termed "familiars"—were imbued with a loyalty to Camilla, which she exploited to have them hunt down vampires. Her intentions may have been noble, but her methods were unacceptable. There's nothing subtle about a pack of giant wolves loping through the western United States. Things got out of hand, and when she refused to help put an end to it, she had to be stopped. Jacob is a descendent of Camilla's original pack, and apparently the wolf spirit has not waned. That's what you sense, Bella, when you touch them, the residue of Camilla's power. It's more potent when they're shifted, or close to it. " As an afterthought, she turned to Leopold and said, "We should stop by Garrisa to see Akeyo and make certain there haven't been any unusual leopard sightings."
"They're crazy," Jacob muttered. "Batshit crazy."
"Jacob we're only explaining the truth so that you can try to understand the gravity of the situation."
"I think I know the history of my own people," he disagreed. "And it doesn't include a witch using us as supernatural test subjects."
Vanessa shook her head. "You know only what you were told by those who came before you. But having knowledge does not guarantee having truth."
Jacob's lips curled. "Inaccurate magic eight ball by day, lame fortune cookie by night. And for her next trick: the cootie catcher."
Leopold watched Jacob with intent impassiveness. "Should I cut off his thumbs?"
"No!" I huffed leaning forward from Jacob's side. "No you may not. And it's incredibly rude to go around asking to annihilate people or cut off their limbs. That's not a normal thing to do when you meet someone for the first time, and it's really not winning you any points."
Leopold didn't even blink, but I refused to back down under his stoic stare, as unnerving as it might have been. His entire person screamed danger; from his dark, unflinching eyes to the ready stillness of his towering stature. I recalled how silently and gracefully he had appeared from nothing more than air and had no trouble imagining just how deadly he could be.
Eventually he looked to Vanessa. "What about her thumbs?"
Jacob growled and moved menacingly forward until he was in front of Leopold, their similar heights bringing them nearly nose-to-nose. "Touch her and you'll wish your thumbs were the only things I'd ripped off."
At their side, Vanessa began speaking in a low, quick language I didn't recognize, and yet it tugged on something in the back of my mind. She said only a few things before falling silent, but Leopold seemed to get the message and stepped back, his gaze reluctantly moving from Jacob's face to the middle distance.
"You have to excuse Leopold," Vanessa said while laying a hand on Jacob's trembling arm. "People make him nauseous."
Jacob glared and shrugged off her touch. "Are you done?"
"Are you coming with us?"
His eyes met mine over his shoulder, questioning.
As much as I wanted to sit down with Vanessa and ask the dozens of questions that had run through my mind in the last hour, I couldn't rationalize the desire as an excuse to fly across the world for some for some undisclosed amount of time with a person whom I hardly knew. I wouldn't be alone. Jacob would come with me if I asked him to. He would leave behind the pack and Billy and all his obligations if he thought it was what I wanted. The decision would be a purely selfish one. To leave and take Jacob with me. I could turn my back on school, Charlie, the pack, the Cullens, and the threat of Victoria.
I would have Jacob, but it would mean losing nearly everything else.
"You won't stay here," I presumed wearily.
"No," she answered grimly. "This is not a fight we can win."
This is not a fight you can win.
"Bells, if you—"
"Thank you for the offer, Vanessa," I forced out before Jacob could say anything that would change my mind. "And for coming all the way here to explain…everything. But I can't come with you. There are people here that I care about and I won't leave them to fight my battles for me."
Jacob nodded his head in understanding—agreement?—and returned to my side. Together we faced a resigned Vanessa an indifferent Leopold.
"I cannot say that I support your decision to remain here," Vanessa said evenly, effortlessly reassembling the professional exterior she'd demonstrated at our initial introduction, "but I do accept it."
Leopold bent to the ground, where I hadn't even realized Vanessa's suitcase was sitting, and used a large hand to smoothly pluck a familiar object from inside.
"How did you get that?" I demanded, more surprised than outraged to see the package Carlisle had entrusted me with.
Vanessa accepted the small, rectangular parcel with a small smile. "I told you I've been here for the last couple days." She began carefully unwrapping the luxurious red fabric. "And this particular book puts off an energy signature too unique for me to overlook."
With the cloth folded aside, Vanessa delicately lifted a small, but thickly bound book between her hands. The cover was a faded, black leather, aged with creases and worn patches suggesting extensive use. There was no writing on the front or along the spine.
"What is it?"
"A journal. This one," she murmured, running her fingers over the soft cover, "is about 600 years old. But it's been kept in good condition. I'm curious as to where you found something so precious."
I didn't see the harm in telling her truth. "Carlisle. He said he thought I might know something about it."
"One of the vampires." She didn't sound surprised and continued to delicately turn the journal over in her hands, looking as if she wanted to open it but not daring to lift the cover. "He was correct. It was written by a witch so that it may only be used by another witch or warlock."
"So, what? It's like a spell book or something?" Jacob asked.
"You'll find that while some of the mythology surrounding witchcraft is adapted from us and some of our terms we adapt from the mythology, the majority of it is false or taken from other mystical practices." She sighed at our looks of incomprehension. "It's just a diary, Jacob."
"Whose is it?" I was worried that she was going to take it, and I would have to tell Carlisle I had lost his rare, 600-year-old journal to a 1,293-year-old witch. It was hard to imagine anyone taking that sort of news well.
But Vanessa didn't hesitate to hold it out to me. "Now I believe it's yours."
When I stepped forward to accept it, Jacob moved with me, his hand on the small of my back. I thought he was nervous Vanessa would try to spirit me away, and after everything I had witnessed, I didn't think his concern was misplaced.
"You mustn't try to read it, Isabella," she cautioned once the book was in my hands. "You must try to understand it. It's the language that's important, not the words."
I nodded even though I had no idea what she meant.
When Vanessa caught my eyes, I felt as if she really could see through to my soul. "You are a witch, Isabella. It isn't something you can choose not to be. Regardless of what course you take, there is a debt you'll have to pay when that course ends." She slipped a small ivory business card from the pocket of her suit and placed in my free hand.
Stregheria Institute
Salem, MA ~ Olympia, WA
Vanessa Dart, Dean of Admissions
An email address and telephone number were printed across the bottom.
She offered one last warm smile. "Give me a call when you're ready. We have time." Then she directed a short nod toward Leopold, who tensed as if preparing to…
"Wait!" I called out before they could disappear.
Vanessa raised an eyebrow at me.
I bit anxiously at my bottom lip. "You said you're over a thousand years old, but you look…so young."
Hearing my unasked question, she nodded. "Witches and warlocks don't age."
I blinked and they were gone from sight.
For several moments I couldn't move, couldn't focus on anything but the sudden silence that pressed in on me until only my breaths echoed ruggedly in my ears. Dark patches of color encroached on the edges of my vision.
Jacob touched my elbow. "Bella?"
I turned, heaved, and emptied my stomach into the grass.
"Jacob said we were just outside of La Push, and by the time he ran us back to the house, Vanessa's car and all of her things were gone. Charlie woke up ten minutes later."
The Cullens were very "still" people by nature, but when I concluded my hour-long recap of Vanessa's visit, I felt as if I were sitting amongst a garden of statues in their living room. Most of them were staring at me—Alice's eyes were closed and Rosalie stood looking out the window—though I didn't doubt they were all contemplating what I had said.
After Charlie had woken up and been reassured that Vanessa hadn't been insulted by his sudden bout of narcolepsy—and, yes, I'd told her we would be in touch—Jacob quickly made our excuses for the evening, and the two of us escaped the reassuring confines of the small universe where I was a good, truthful daughter with nothing more to worry about than finding a college to attend in the spring.
Jacob drove—my hands wouldn't stop shaking. And at first, he was doing just that: driving. Forks was small, so I didn't have to concentrate to realize we were going in pointless circles. I tried to think logically about the afternoon, and even made myself start with the drive home from school and the conversation Edward and I had in the kitchen. I could recall it all with perfect clarity up until the point where Vanessa sat down on the couch, and then my mind jumped in a million different directions to an endless amount of details that all seemed so vital to consider. And I was beginning to worry I wouldn't be able to remember them all when it mattered.
On our third pass of the high school, Jacob quietly asked, "What do you want to do, honey?"
I leaned back into the seat with a frustrated sigh. "I guess…we should tell the pack, right? And the Cullens. They should know."
He considered me from the corner of his eye. "And what exactly should they know?"
The nail of my thumb succumbed to the nervous crunching of my teeth. Thoughts still jumbled, I couldn't possibly begin deciphering which bits of information were too private to share and which bits were now just a part of who I was and should be tossed into the pool of general knowledge. And then there were the parts that concerned Victoria…
"All of it. We should just tell them everything."
"And you think it's a good idea to tell a group of vampires that you've been given special abilities by Satan in order to kill their kind?"
"I'm not killing anyone," I said definitively. "And the Cullens would never hurt me, Jacob. They know I'm not a threat."
"Hey, that's not what I meant." He lifted a hand off the wheel in defense. "I just think that the fewer people who know about this the better. Especially the fewer vampires. That Vanessa chick seemed big on the whole secrecy thing, and I imagine there's gotta be a reason."
I shook my head. "I trust them."
He didn't think it was the smart choice; that much was obvious from the subtle twitch of his nose and the creased line that appeared across his brow. But he also knew that trying to keep anything like this from the Cullens—from Edward—would be impossible. Not if we continued to be allies.
"It will be easier for me to just show the pack what happened," Jacob conceded.
"Then I'll tell the Cullens," I said quickly before either of us could change our minds. "Can you drop me off there?"
They had been surprised by our arrival (Alice more than anyone) but were quick to warmly invite us in. Esme even seemed genuinely disappointed when Jacob said he wouldn't be staying. Edward had watched him disappear into the woods thoughtfully before turning to me asking, "What's happened?"
And I then proceeded to tell them everything that had happened from the moment Edward had left my house to the time Vanessa had left the lake. I opened my mouth and the words started helplessly pouring out, never slowing to the point where any of them could work in a question or I could think too hard about what I was saying.
And by the time I was done talking and slumped in the Emmett-sized recliner, none of them seemed to know what to say. I stared at my lap and waited.
Carlisle, who was delicately turning through the pages of the journal I had returned to him, was the first to come around. "Aro knew?" he murmured thoughtfully. "If he is aware of the witches' purpose, why keep their existence secret?"
"Panic." Jasper stood pensively at Alice's side with one hand placed reassuringly on her shoulder. "If it were common knowledge that human blood had the potential to destroy a vampire, it would cause widespread paranoia amongst our kind. Many of us would feel the need to take the offensive. Hunt the witches down."
"That would get pretty messy," Emmett speculated. "Especially if you all can do more of that crazy soul plane stuff."
It took me a moment to comprehend that "you all" was a reference to me.
Jasper nodded his agreement. "The Volturi would have their hands full keeping things quiet."
"Yes, I'm quite sure they would," Carlisle said, looking pensively up at me from the book in his hands. "I wonder if this woman who visited you—Vanessa—explained how exactly your blood draws vampires and why it is we do not have the same reaction to your proximity?"
"She only said that it was the human blood inside of vampires that attracted them to us, and that was why you don't get the urge to…you know." I gestured vaguely to my neck
"But your blood is still lethal to us?"
"I—"
"You have to complicate everything, don't you?" Rosalie finally tore her withering gaze from the window to glare in my direction. "Since you've shown up we've had to fight another coven, uproot our lives—twice, watch one of our own nearly waste away, let those dogs into our home, and now we're supposed to harbor someone born for the sole purpose of destroying us?"
"Rosalie," Esme pleaded, looking horrified.
"No." Rosalie shook head, golden eyes fierce. "We shouldn't be putting our lives on the line for the sake of someone who's clearly made the choice not to be a part of this family. We all would have been spared a whole lot of trouble if Edward had just drained you that first day."
Edward, who had been notably silent but decidedly anxious looking, was across the room and in her face before I could decide whether or not to be hurt by her blunt wish that I was dead. His voice was low and steely, and although I couldn't see his face from where I was sitting, I could picture it smoothed into an intimidating stillness as he spoke. "I know it might be hard for you to comprehend why some people put others before themselves, as you've never committed a single selfless act in your entire petty existence, but let me make it quite clear that here you're in the minority and that you have absolutely no say as to who is or is not a part of this family."
Rosalie looked about ready to reach down Edward's throat to rip his voice box out while Emmett stood casually, but purposefully nearby, prepared to intervene if need be (although I wasn't sure whether he would be holding Edward down or Rosalie back).
Reluctantly, I slouched to my feet. "Look, Rosalie." She shot me a glare that Leah would have silently applauded. "I know that things are a mess right now—and have been for a while—but I didn't ask for any of this. I don't want to kill vampires and I don't want to be damned. I really don't want any of you getting hurt by Victoria on my behalf. But if you're that eager to have me drained, you're more than welcome to do it yourself now." I spread my hands in submission.
The tense silence following my proclamation was broken by Jasper's quiet chuckle. Rosalie hissed her disproval at him. He shrugged. "That's quite the offer. Or it would have been a week ago."
Alice began snickering into the side of her hand, but froze and turned simultaneously along with the rest of the Cullens to face the front of the house. Rosalie's lips curled into a striking scowl. "Speaking of the dogs."
After smoothing her hands once down the front of her silky blouse and giving her ruffled daughter a pointed look, Esme glided into over to open the door. There was six and a half feet of Quileute on the other side.
"Bella!" Embry charged from the door to stand in front me and grab my hands. "Are you okay? Jacob told us everything that happened, and I know you have to be feeling really overwhelmed and frightened and maybe a little sad. But just remember that no matter what happens, you'll always have—"
There was a violent collision of bodies, Embry toppled sideways, and Quil took his place in front of me. "Hey, Bella. Heard about the whole Hell thing, which I think totally sucks. But there's an upside if you consider the fact that you have absolutely no incentive to act morally anymore You are now free to embrace your tattoo and battle scars. Anyway I thought really hard about what Jacob told us, so I was wondering…Do you think I'm sturdy?"
"Erm." I stared blankly up into his sincere face.
"I'm at least sturdier than Jake, right?" He flexed his arms, raised them, and then flexed again. "I mean, on a scale of one to ten, how sturdy would you say I am? A one being a grunt and a ten being Master Chief."
I raised my shoulders uncertainly. "Sorry, Quil. It's been a long time since I've seen Star Wars."
He blinked owlishly at me, and I heard Emmet let loose a deep guffaw from where he stood by the sofa.
"You know what?" Slowly Quil started patting my hand. "It's been a long day for you. So we're just going to pretend I didn't ask. That way we can pretend you never answered. It's what's best for everyone."
"You know, Quil, not everyone spends their afternoons with their head plugged into a box so they can date twelve-year-old boys who don't know how to duel wield their pistols." Leah entered the house behind Jacob, nose wrinkled as she eyed the contemporary furnishings in the Cullens' living room. "It smells like a unicorn shitted cupcakes in here."
"No one asked you to come," Jacob said, casually shoving Quil away and reclaiming my hand for himself.
"Summers wants me here, don't you, B?"
I groaned. "You're not going to stop calling me that, are you?"
Leah grinned wickedly. "See? Look how happy she is to see me. We're moments away from hugging." She walked to the far side of the room and pushed open a window.
"Jake, what are you guys doing here?" Not that I wasn't happy to see him, Embry, Quil, and Leah; it was just that we had agreed to meet as his house after he finished talking to the pack and I finished explaining things to the Cullens. I was a little wary of their intention in casually showing up on Carlisle and Esme's front porch.
He jerked his chin in Edward's direction. "I met up with the pack and found out the vampires had called with an offer."
I looked at Edward questioningly. "When?" No one had left the room since everyone first gathered just after my arrival.
"A few minutes before you got here," Edward answered. I knew that vampires were never physically exhausted, but I couldn't think of a more accurate way of describing Edward's appearance as he stood—shoulders hunched and hair sticking in more directions than usual—by his prim and collected sister. There was a dullness to his skin, a slackness to his face. I recalled how he had paced back and forth, hand permanently clasped in his bronze strands for the duration of my account of Vanessa's visit.
"What type of offer?" I asked more kindly.
"Alice had a vision," he said unenthusiastically, "of Victoria and 20 newborns arriving in Forks a week after graduation. Alice keeps getting flashes because of Victoria's indecisiveness, but the only thing she's changing her mind about is the number of newborns and the exact date of the attack."
I nodded grimly in acceptance. It was exactly what he had anticipated. Exactly what Vanessa had warned us of. "And what does Alice see happening?"
"That depends on what we do."
I hated this. I didn't want Edward, Jacob, or their families to be in this position where they had to risk everything because I could fight my own battles. "So what's the plan?"
There was no indecision when Edward replied, "We need to prepare. Newborns are singular from aged vampires in that they have very little finesse but a great deal of strength. Taking them down will require a certain technique. Jasper has experience dealing with newborns in the South and should be able to instruct us in how to most efficiently destroy them with as little harm to ourselves as possible."
"So Eastwood there is going to teach us how to wrangle baby leeches," Leah chipped in. She was nearly leaning backwards out the open window in search of fresh air.
"Sam agreed it was a good idea," Jacob confirmed. He tugged gently on our interlocked hands. "I came to give you a ride to the clearing."
Edward seemed surprised. "You want to begin tonight?"
Jacob smirked. "Too close to your bedtime, Cullen?"
"I only meant to express my concern for your stamina. And its unfortunate limits."
"Oh yeah," Jacob chuckled darkly "we're definitely doing this tonight."
AN: A big thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I know I respond to every review but a couple people weren't signed in or had PMs disabled, and I wanted to be able to let them know that I am indeed grateful that they take the time to drop me a line. So, thank you. :)
My guess is that I'll be posting a one-shot before I update with the next chapter of Zenith, so keep an eye out for that. It's a Jasper/Bella story I'm writing for a friend. Till then, my dears!
