Author's Note: Okay, well. First of all, I need to apologize for the BIGGEST BLUNDER IN THIS FANFIC SO FAR.
"THE BORDER BETWEEN FRANCE AND IRELAND?" THERE IS NO BORDER BETWEEN FRANCE AND IRELAND!!!!!!!!!
So sorry about that very absent-minded mistake. What I meant to say was, "The border of Ireland closest to France."
Here's the next chapter! You're all going to hate me till I update again! This is the cliffhanger of the century, if I do say so myself. ;)
Leave feedback! Thanks!
33. Covens
I called Tanya.
"Good," I said to Siobhan, nudging Alice and nodding. It had been a fortunate thing that she'd seen Siobhan's coven wandering around, trying to find the scent trail they'd lost, an hour before we arrived at the same destination. If Alice had not seen them, we would have passed right by each other on our way to the same goal.
Closing her eyes, Alice welcomed her next vision: one of Tanya and Kate getting off a jet and racing to meet us. "I can't tell when they'll be here, not yet," she said.
"We don't technically need them," Maggie pointed out. "It's an even match, without your two friends."
"Unless they have someone as strong as Emmett, it isn't," Esme said confidently, squeezing Emmett's arm.
Grinning, Emmett patted our mother's hand affectionately. "Don't worry, Esme, I won't let you down."
"We have decided advantages," I agreed, "but we can't get too cocky. We know the woman has at least one vampire with an ability, and my guess is she's got more than one. So everyone--just be prepared."
"Oh, Edward, why must you be such a pessimist?" Alice rolled her eyes. We need confidence, Edward, she told me in her mind. Without it, what have we got? No hope, no strength. Just cockiness.
"You be the optimist," I smirked, ruffling her hair. "I'll be the realistic one."
After shifting around for a minute, Liam asked, "How long do we wait for the women from Alaska?" I have a bad feeling about just hanging around here, he thought. Carlisle could be burned to cinders by the time we get around to leaving.
I tried not to be annoyed at him as I answered his spoken question. "We'll wait for half an hour. Siobhan called them four hours ago, right?"
Siobhan jerked her head. "Right. Just after we got back on the right trail." She berated herself in her thoughts. I cannot believe we caught the wrong scent. We've lost precious time, and now we'll waste even more waiting for those two women.
"They should be arriving any minute, now," I continued, tuning out my companions' 'voices'. "Knowing Tanya, she boarded the fastest jet she could find and paid the pilot an exorbitant amount to get here on time. They'll swim the rest of the way, if they have to."
"Who are they, exactly?" inquired Siobhan, raising her eyebrows. Are they family, I wonder? Blood relatives? Hah, no pun intended.
I grinned, which earned me a bewildered look from Liam. "Tanya and her coven-- her sisters Irina and Kate-- have been our good friends for a very long time. They were Carlisle's friends before they were mine, if that's any indication. Carmen and Elezaer are their two new members. They joined them a few years back."
To be truthful, I wasn't looking forward to seeing Tanya and her sister, because it would only remind me that our situation was desperate. We wouldn't have resorted to calling on them for help, if not for Alice's vision of the nomad we were chasing telling a tempestuous Rosalie exactly what Victoria looked like. Tanya had said her family didn't know the nomad, and Siobhan had taken the intiative and asked them to bring themselves to Ireland, to add to our numbers. I'd given her a bit of a hard time about that, but I had seen her logic: the more on our side, willing to fight, the better. Although it unsettled me to coerce Tanya and Kate into fighting for us, I knew they would villify me if we didn't ask them, and... one of us didn't make it due to inferior numbers.
Liam checkd his old-fashioned pocket watch, and replaced it with a sigh. Still twenty minutes to go. Time crawls when you're worried sick.
"We're in Le Havre," I broke the silence to reassure everyone. "We're miles away from our target in Rouen. All we have to do is muster our forces, run for five minutes, then begin the rescue."
"Five minutes could mean everything," muttered Emmett. Hang in there, Rose, baby. We're going to clean them out, and you can go home. I'll punch a couple faces in to make up for all this crap.
"And when we get there, everyone is going to wait until we formulate an attack plan." I thought it best to drive the point home. "I repeat: nobody makes a move until we all know where to go and what to do. Is that clear? I'm speaking to my family."
Edward's really shaping up into quite a man, thought Siobhan, impressed. I wonder what that Swan girl did to him. Must be true love...it's very odd, though. A human?
"Roger that, sir," said Emmett, snapping me a smart salute.
"You're a scream," I replied, deadpan.
"Of course, Edward," said Esme. I had expected such an answer from our mother, but her thoughts somewhat disturbed me. My son has a point, we need to be organized. But if I see him, will I be able to hold myself back? I haven't seen his face in so long. Carlisle's features were rendered crystal-clear in Esme's mind, coupled with a longing so intense it was painful. What if they've hurt him? Her thoughts were a darker shade. I'll kill them if they've touched him.
And I'd kill Jasper if he--
But I couldn't allow myself to think like that. Bella had to be fine, she had to be safe. I'd just gotten her back, and I did not intend to lose her again any time soon. Part of the reason I was anxious to get on the move was because Jasper and Bella had gone the same way Carlisle and Rosalie had, on the trail we were following now. If Jasper was going to hurt her, he would have done so by now, and we would have some proof. He must have gone looking for Carlisle, and Bella insisted on coming. That's what I was drilling into my own skull, to subdue the panic raging in my mind. Carlisle was gone, Rosalie was gone. Bella was gone...and Jasper was gone.
It was just not one of the better weeks in my long and wearisome life.
"Oh, oh!" Alice danced in place. "There he is! There's Jasper!"
I could see him, too, through the medium of her thoughts. Jasper was crouched low on the ground beside a tall building, a can of some sort clutched in his hands. He had a butane lighter between the fingers of his other hand, and...a signal flare?
Everyone was watching Alice now as the vision unfolded. "What about Jasper?" asked Emmett. "Where's Bella?"
There she was! Lying on her stomach in the sand of an embankment, with another lighter, and more signal flares. I sighed with the relief of knowing she was whole and undamaged. That is, I was relieved until I saw what she was doing.
With single-minded concentration, Bella lit the end of one flare and stuck it in the sand in front of her, then bent her head and waited, listening. There was the crack of a gunshot, she scurried to a spot ten feet away, lit another flare, and stuck it in the sand. What in the world was she--
"No!" Alice and I both cried out at the same time, although mine was more a growl than anything.
Alice's thoughts were a maelstrom. Jasper, what are you thinking?! You're such an idiot! There's only you, against how many of them? And Bella's in danger! Where did you leave your sanity?
If anyone had been reading my thoughts, they would have gotten the distinct impression that I was Cain reincarnate.
How could he?
"What is it?" Everyone shouted.
"Jasper's not after Bella," babbled Alice, "he's just taken her with him on a rescue mission!"
"What?" choked out Emmett. "Bella? Is he insane?"
Esme clapped a hand to her mouth. "He'll be killed!"
"That's it! We're leaving now!" Taking Esme's hand, Emmett bent to begin running.
As much as I wanted to forget Tanya and Kate and race to Rouen, I knew we had to be sensible, to bide our time until our friends could join us. My chest felt hollow as I thought about Bella, helpless on that riverbank. "No, Emmett, we have to wait."
"Who are you, and what have you done with Edward?"
I latched onto his other arm, bracing myself as he tried to shake me off. "Listen, Emmett! I'm more eager to run and save Bella than you are, believe me. But we have to wait for Tanya and Kate. Think of Kate's ability, she'll be an asset we can't afford to go without."
"But Bella and Jasper!"
Like an air raid in our heads, Alice's next vision left me shell-shocked.
Bella was slinking quietly down the bank, unseen by the three vampires searching for her. She slid behind a large piece of metal and lay still, holding her breath. The vampires were hit by a round of small bursts of light and sound, coming from behind them. While the vampires were distracted Bella shifted around, then drew out a sharp knife and dashed to the cover of a fallen tree.
"Oh, my--"
I cut myself off as Alice's vision continued.
Jasper took a handkerchief out of his pocket and tied it to a metal brace on the building next to him, a warehouse. He faded into the shadows, the lighter still in his hand, as a vampire came up to the brace, frowning at the handkerchief. The vampire's back was to Jasper. Out of nowhere my brother appeared, seized the vampire in his grasp, and faded again. But I heard the tell-tale tearing noises, muffled by four loud gunshots.
The vision switched back to Bella.
She was still behind the fallen tree, knife in hand. The three vampires advanced on her, and one caught her scent. I held my breath. He nodded to his companions, and together they rushed the tree. Then, from the building, Jasper's four gun shots sounded, which was apparently a signal. Bella sprang out of hiding, fear in her wide eyes. "Don't come any closer!" she cried, holding the knife out in what was supposed to be a threatening manner. The vampires sneered at her, and came at her again.
"What's going on, Edward?" asked Emmett. I was too terrified to speak.
"Stay back," quavered Bella, lifting the knife higher. She stepped backwards--
And fell, the knife slashing her arm wide open.
Suddenly, the three vampires weren't laughing anymore.
"Forget it," I snarled. "Forget Tanya, forget Kate. Forget waiting!" I sprang into action, only to be stopped dead by a huge, beefy arm. "Emmett!"
"Whoa, there, kid," said Emmett, his arm like adamantium. "You're not going anywhere till you tell us what Alice saw."
"Please, Edward, what is it?" Esme's sweet face made the fire drain a little out of my veins. But only marginally.
I fought to open my teeth as I said, "I. Will. Make. Jasper. Wish. He. Had. Never. Been. Born."
And I meant it. Every single, vehement, acidic word.