Chapter Thirty Seven

Bella

About an hour later with no word from anyone the phone rang and I ran to answer praying it would be good news but it was Fran,

"Bella could I speak to Charlie?"

"Sure Fran"

I handed the phone to my dad and went back to my station at the window, feeling really sick now, where was Jazz? I wished Peter and the others would return, they would know what to do but I hadn't been able to contact them either and I guessed it was the same, turn the cell phones off so you don't startle the prey. I heard Charlie put the phone down and looked as he came in to the room scared by his expression.

"What's the matter dad?"

"There have been several calls to the station in the past hour, a fire in the woods close to the road, seen by several drivers and another call which they thought might be a hoax, a woman seen running very fast across the main highway and I mean very fast. Does any of that ring a bell with you?"

I nodded,

"Did the callers say anything else about the fires? The colour of the flames maybe dad?

"Yeah, purple."

I felt my legs give way and dad caught me before I hit the floor and everything went black.

Charlie

I had a bad feeling when Fran told me about the calls, the fire seemed strange although neither of us knew if it had any deep significance but the running woman, that set alarm bells ringing. We both thought of Esme, we knew vampires were very fast, had she been running for her life? And if so, from what? Picking Bella up I laid her on the couch and rang Emmett's number,

"Charlie I was just about to ring you, we're headed back. Keep the doors and windows locked we'll be there in about two minutes."

He rang off before I could ask him anything so I checked the locks then carried my rifle in and knelt beside Bella who was just coming round. Tears fell down her cheeks and she was as white as a ghost.

"Dad, some thing's happened to Jazz I just know it"

"Well Emmett and Rose will be back in a few minutes and I think they might have news for us so dry your eyes and pull yourself together, you wont be any help laying there feeling sorry for yourself."

I knew I was being hard on my daughter but if not she might well collapse altogether and I couldn't help find the others and look after her. Hearing the truck pull up outside I opened the curtain enough to see it was them, then went to open the front door.

Bella

I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and got up taking deep breaths to steady myself and waited for the others to come in. I heard Dads voice first,

"What the hell happened?"

"Let's get inside and we can tell you what we know."

Emmett came in carrying Esme and laid her gently on the couch where I had been a few seconds before. I knelt beside her and saw she had several deep bite wounds and a terrible one on her temple but she opened her eyes and tried to smile at me.

"I'm OK Bella, really."

I looked at Emmett,

"What happened? Where are Carlisle and Jazz?"

"We don't know but there are other vampires in the woods tonight, at least three killed and burned. There's no sign of Carlisle or Jazz but they weren't on the pyres, I think they may have started them though."

"Where are they and who else is in the woods?"

"Victoria"

I looked at Esme unable to take in the name she uttered at first.

"Who's Victoria?"

Emmett turned to answer Charlie's question,

"You remember when Bella went missing and ended up in Phoenix?"

"Yeah"

"She was on the run from a tracker, a vampire who gets his kicks tracking down particular humans usually. Well, to cut a long story short we caught up with him when he was about to kill Bella and killed him instead. Victoria was his mate and she wanted to kill Bella to pay Edward for killing her mate. She didn't know and then didn't seem to care that Edward and Bella aren't together any longer."

"But why would this Victoria go after Carlisle, Esme and Jasper?"

"No idea, that's the strange thing but she was there, I smelled her scent."

"Who else? Victoria worked alone or with Laurent, was he there?"

"No but there were others. About a dozen, maybe more, mostly men, but at least one female. I don't know any more than that. I was hoping once her head wound heals Esme might be able to tell us more."

Esme

I was trying to remember what I'd seen but the blow to the head that sent me reeling into the bushes made my head spin and everything became a blur. We had finished hunting and ready to turn back to Forks when Jazz stiffened then called for us to run. I didn't catch what he had but Carlisle did and grabbed my arm, dragging me along.

"Come on Esme we need to get out of here. Jasper how many are there?"

He turned at my question,

"Too many Carlisle, we need to split up. You take Esme and run, go as fast as you can and get into town, its safer."

Before Jasper could say any more I heard a terrible snarl and two red-eyed vampires came flying towards us, mouth open and hands clawed ready. I screamed as Jasper snatched one from the air snapping his neck as they hit the ground. As he got up he dropped a match on the body which flared up as the flesh caught light. In the flickering light from the flames I saw Carlisle fighting the other newcomer and Jasper went to his aid then I saw three more and screamed a warning.

"Run Esme. On the road and into town. Now"

I did as Carlisle commanded but turned for one last look. Jasper was setting fire to another body and Carlisle had another pinned to the ground but I could see movement in the trees and knew there were others on their way.

Rose

Esme told her story haltingly with many stops to gather her thoughts and touch the still healing wound on her head. It sounded as if someone were determined to get hold of either Carlisle or Jasper seeing as no one chased after Esme. She had run out in front of the truck and Emmett narrowly avoided hitting her, amazed she had run so far with such a wound.

"Who is doing this Rose? It's not the wolves."

"No, I don't know who. I can't think of anyone with the kind of numbers Esme describes."

"I can"

We all turned to see Peter stride into the room along with Garrett and Charlotte, Tanya hanging back a little. Bella turned to him and went even whiter,

"Maria?"

He nodded,

"She's the only one with that kind of manpower anywhere even close to here."

"But why now? Why would she suddenly decide she wanted to find Jasper.?"