Chapter Fifty-Three: Carlie

Leah shrunk back out of sight, rustling the twigs underfoot. "It's him, it's him," she said, in a whisper, "he's here."

"How quickly the years have passed, Carlisle, my old friend," the voice replied from the hallway with the same emptiness. Behind them in the sitting room, Rosalie and Emmett stood motionless.

If I'd had any doubts about Leah's story then this was the moment I truly believed her. Demetri was well and truly in Forks.

She pulled on my arm, yanking me back into the foliage with more force than I expected. Through her grip, I felt her start to quiver; a ripple of the spine I knew only too well. I let her drag me through the entangled foliage for some way. She didn't falter until we were well out of earshot, then her back arched and the tremor became more fluid.

"No Leah, don't phase," I begged, "you've got to try to fight it, you've not told me what happened yet."

"I can't help—." She was cut off as huge wisps of grey russet fur burst out over her body. Seconds later, almond-shaped canine eyes looked back at me, framing a panting tongue and sharpened teeth. The remains of her clothes fell to the floor.

Great, now what do I do? She'll never turn back without clothes.

"Leah, get the others," I said. "Meet me at the boundary line, where the back road meets the forest along the crest of that really jagged hill. I'll wait for the others." I couldn't tell if it was a nod or not but her soft glossy mane swished before she turned into the trees. Within seconds she was gone.

Don't panic Carlie. There must be a logical explanation. Demetri was clearly involved in Nahuel's death. Maybe he'd been the one to kill him? But why? I fell to the floor. With my weight on my arms I glided like a snake through the undergrowth until I could just about hear their voices again.

"We thought an army of newborns were being created down in California," Demetri was saying. His voice was slightly muffled through the glass of the house but I could live with that; if I could hear them, then they no doubt would be able to hear me.

"There were a lot of trails that were starting to become too obvious," he continued, "and it was thought that we might be needed to intervene."

"And was there anything?" Carlisle said.

"Only a handful, not an army by any means," he said, "There will be no more problems now." I crawled forward slightly like an army cadet, arching my back to see his partly precluded form. He was looking down towards the others, who were now hidden from my view by the outer wall of the house. "But seeing as I was over in this neck of the woods," he continued, "I thought it would be rude of me not to stop by on my way back and say hello."

"It is good of you to come so far out of your way," I heard Carlisle say.

"Has there been had any trouble up here lately, what with those wolves so close?" Demetri said.

"We try not to associate with them," said Rosalie, her voice echoing from the heart of the lounge.

With that he chuckled loudly. "Ah, so you finally came to your senses. I don't know what you saw in those filthy mutts anyway." There was a silence and after a few moments, it was Demetri who spoke again, "And where are the others?" His voice sounded inquisitive but yet somehow contrived. I wished I could see their expressions.

Esme answered after a moment. "They are off hunting I'm afraid. They should be back soon, would you care to wait?"

"No, no, I wouldn't dream of imposing on you so long," he replied a little too quickly. "In fact I better be getting on my way, it's a long way back to Volterra." There was a rustling from the house.

"Then you must send our regards to Aro, Caius and Marcus," Carlisle said. "It was good of you to stop by. It's been a long time."

"I will do and you must visit us next time you're in Italy. Caius is intrigued to see how the young one, Renesmee, has developed." I shivered at the mention of my name.

"We will be sure to," Carlisle said, and there was a creak as the door swung open.

"Oh, before I go," Demetri said. "I wonder if you have seen anything of that other vampire we met last time we were in Forks? The one born of a human mother."

There was a pause.

"Nahuel?" Esme said, carefully.

"That's right. Nahuel. I'd forgotten his name," Demetri replied. "We were very impressed by him when we saw him last. I don't suppose you'd know where I could find him?"

"Not sure where he lives," Emmett said. "It's a shame Alice and Jasper are out, they found him last time."

"It is a shame indeed," Demetri replied.

"We'll let you know if we ever come across him again," Rosalie added.

"You do that," Demetri said, his voice sickly sweet. Seconds later the front door thronged shut.

There was no conversation from the house, presumably for the same reason that I was still hiding face down in dirt, in the middle of the forest. I tried to count to a thousand to ensure that Demetri would be well away. Now I couldn't even concentrate on the numbers. All I could think of was what had happened between Nahuel, Jacob and Demetri that night. Jacob and Nahuel could have been fighting, and Demetri had intervened? But Demetri wouldn't have entered into a fight he couldn't win. Unless, he had won. Unless he had come back for Jacob the following day?

"It was a risk saying the others would be back soon," I heard from the house in a small voice. It was sharp and clear. Rosalie. "They're probably two if not three days away still. Imagine if he had waited…"

I pulled myself up off the floor and started to make my way towards the house.

"He would never have waited," Esme replied. "Did you not see the way he reacted? He's scared of Edward."

"Which means he's holding something back and he didn't want Edward to find out," said Carlisle. "Newborns in California, tsk."

"But why would he come over if he had something to hide?" Emmett said. "Surely that would be too risky for him if Edward was here to read his thoughts?"

"Unless he knew Edward and the others were out of town—." Carlisle said. I heard slightly echoed footsteps. It was unlikely, but it sounded like Carlisle was pacing the kitchen area.

"Which would mean he's been watching us," Rosalie said. She raised her voice. "I told you, Esme, these things always come in threes."

I brushed the dirt off my jeans and started running towards the house.

"So why come inside if he knows they're away?" Esme said, ignoring Rose.

"To confirm his suspicions," Carlisle responded, "see which of us are here?"

"Or gauge our reactions first hand when he mentioned Nahuel?" Emmett said.

"Yeah, what was that about?" Rose replied. "He knows something doesn't he? That's why you lied."

"Come on Rose. The guy didn't even flinch when I said I didn't know where he lived," Emmett said. "He didn't ask why we'd not seen him, or if we had any plans to meet up. He didn't ask anything. He was testing us."

"So then we failed," Esme said, confused.

"I'm not so sure," Emmett said. "If he's up to something, and it has anything to do with Nahuel, then we'd do well to distance ourselves as far away as possible from it. We don't want them back do we?"

"No, we most certainly do not," Carlisle said. "But lets consider the facts for a moment. Nahuel comes to Forks, Jacob kills him - for whatever reason - and a week later Demetri pays us a visit."

"It's all too coincidental for my liking," Esme said. Through the window I saw her sit down on the arm of the sofa, and straighten an oversized cushion by her side. I made my way over.

"Exactly," Carlisle said. "What's Demetri up to?"

"Do you think he knows that Nahuel's dead?" Rosalie said. She was looking out of the window and saw me as I approached. She smiled in acknowledgement then turned back round to face the others. "Unless he's pieced it together from their scents. Carlie said the stench of Nahuel's decomposed blood was strong. Maybe he's had a good guess at what's happened from the smells in the woods by the school?"

"It would be easy for him to know," I said, walking in through the back door, "seeing as he was there that night in the woods with Nahuel and Jake."

Four incredulous gazes swept upon me.

"How do you know?" Emmett said, leaning forward on his knees from his crouched position. He glanced at the dirt all over my clothes.

"Leah saw him." I turned to the others; four dubious faces. "She did," I said, trying not to sound perplexed. "She's trying to help us."

"Or push the blame from Jacob?" Rose said. "It seems they don't like being in our bad books."

"I believe her," I said. "She knew Demetri was there."

"But there's a couple of flaws in Leah's statement," Esme said in a calm voice. She scooped her hair up into a low loose knot. "If Demetri really was here in Forks, Alice would have foreseen it—."

"That's what I said."

"And afterwards we would have smelt it," Esme continued. Emmett and Carlisle exchanged a curious glance. "If they'd known, they probably wouldn't have gone to the Amazon."

"I don't know how Esme, but Demetri must have evaded her visions. You should have seen Leah's face, she was telling the truth."

"So what did happen that night?" Emmett said. "Who started the fight between Nahuel and Jacob?"

"She didn't get the chance to tell me the whole story but she is willing to, but we have to go now."

We raced through the back streets, down the long stretch to La Push. I'd already decided I'd let Leah tell them about Jacob's disappearance in context.

As a tracker, Demetri was the leader in his field, but even he could not surpass Alice's vision. Maybe she had been too distracted keeping Ben away from Jasper to notice? Or maybe Demetri had stayed close to someone that blocked her visions, like the wolves, or me? That scenario frightened me more than anything.

"Mom, pick up," I said, panting into the phone as I ran. It was her voicemail. "Demetri's in Forks, and we don't know why. You need to come home now," I said and hung up.

It was Sam I saw first beside Seth and Leah. He looked away defiantly to the beady eyes that shone from out of the shadows around us; a subtle reminder that they were just as powerful as we were. Leah waited until Carlisle, Rosalie, Emmett and I had assembled in front of her before speaking.

"Has he gone?" Leah said to us across the invisible treaty line.

"I don't know, we should be quick," I said.

"Leah, what do you know?" Carlisle started. "Carlie said you actually saw Demetri?"

She nodded, earnestly.

"What has he got to do with all of this?" Carlisle continued.

"It's… it's what I think Jake was trying to tell you," she said, fumbling with the end of yet another T-shirt.

"Leah, start from the beginning," I said. "Remember we don't know anything." I crossed onto their side. It irritated the wolves to watch, but no one moved. I pulled her closer to where Carlisle and Emmett stood. For the first time she looked timid.

"Well, it was Thursday night," she started, stealing a glance behind her. "I was on watch, along with Seth, running the perimeter." Seth smiled back at her in encouragement. "It wasn't until the sky brightened - so it must have been sixish - that I heard Jacob in my thoughts. It was all so quick. He just kept saying Demetri's name over and over."

"I howled for the others," Seth added, "but Leah was already running. She was much nearer."

"Yeah," Leah said. "It's a fair run from La Push to the school, even from the boundary perimeter. All along the way I picked up on stray thoughts from Jacob. He's almost unintelligible when he's fighting, I've heard it before so I knew there was trouble.

"When I got there, they were attacking each other furiously—."

"Who?" Carlisle said.

"Demetri and Jacob," she said. "Jake was injured." Her eyes cast to the floor. "I tried to defend him but Demetri was so quick, so agile, he was... ripping Jake apart." I winced. "Then he threw Jacob over the cliff edge. Demetri was ready to follow him down there and finish him off but I managed to push him back, no more than holding him off for the few minutes before the others could reach me. I fear if the others hadn't turned up when they did, we would both be dead." Her eyes started to well up.

"Go on…" Carlisle said, in a soft voice.

"Seth arrived first, that's when Demetri started to run. Then Sam, Jared, Uley… the whole pack chased after him into the trees."

Sam stepped forward. "We ran to the state line, spreading out to cover as much area as we could; but it was no use, he was gone. It's like he just disappeared."

"What about Nahuel?" Emmett said.

Sam shook his head. "We don't know anything about Nahuel."

"What about Jacob?" I said, returning my attentions to Leah and her quivering lip.

"He was hurt, badly." She looked up at me anxiously. "There was a lot of blood." Behind me, Emmett sucked his breath in. "I carried him back to La Push. When he went unconscious his body phased back to human form. That brought him round a bit but he was still too incoherent to tell me what happened in either his wolf thoughts or his human tongue, merely saying your name over and over again." She gestured to me.

I shivered at the thought. How I wished I'd listened to him then.

"By the time I'd got him to Billy's, he'd started to say the name Nahuel but I had no idea why, or that he had even been there for that matter. Then they gave him strong painkillers that knocked him out."

"Who administered them?" Carlisle asked.

"Dr Franks. He came straight away. It put Jacob into a deep sleep, which they said he needed to allow his body to heal." From my side, Carlisle nodded. "Then of course the remains were found and the police moved in."

"Did you not smell Nahuel at all?" Carlisle said.

Leah and Seth exchanged a glance. "It wasn't like any vampires," he said finally.

"Billy sent me home to rest," Leah continued. "There was nothing more I could do, and I think I was causing him some nuisance in the state I was in. By the time I came back to check on Jacob, Seth and Sam were there but Jacob was gone. His wounds couldn't have healed in that time, he must have been raw."

"They were scars," I said, remembering with horror the lines that laced his chest that I'd assumed were from Nahuel's desperate defenses.

Carlisle stood forward. "We must speak to Jacob immediately."

"Did she not tell you?" Leah said, confounded. She looked at me in slight accusation. "That's what all this is about… we don't know where he is."

"We think Demetri has… got to him," Sam added, gravely.

Carlisle and Emmett reeled and even Rosalie looked surprised.

"What about his scent?" I prompted.

"Nothing," Sam said. "It goes dead at the diner not far from your house. It was about the time of the torrential rains."

"That won't have helped," Carlisle added.

"His thoughts - can you not hear them when you phase?" Rosalie suggested.

Leah shook her head and behind her I saw Sam and Seth copy.

Maybe he was out of range, so to speak. "How far away can you communicate?" I asked.

Sam stepped forward slightly. "We've never had to test it—"

"Well, we have 'lost' Jacob once before," Leah corrected. "But it wasn't for long. It was like he left our pack but once he accepted me into his new one, I started hearing his thoughts again. I've tried to leave the pack." Her head cast to Sam behind her apologetically. "It's no use, he's just not there."

"We must split up and search through the night," Carlisle said. "Sam, where have you covered so far?"

"Everywhere to the north and south up to the state lines, and along the coast. We didn't think it was worth checking the town centers, it's the last place he'd go."

"Fine, we'll go west and through the towns," Carlisle responded. "Although the populated areas will be slower."

"We'll go farther a field," Sam said. "Up the mountains and past the borders. Leave no stone un-turned." Everyone looked armed and set to go.

"Wait," a voice called out from the distance. Everyone turned to see Esme's face from the window of the Mercedes. She parked up and jumped over to the passenger door. "Leah."

"Yeah?" She said.

Esme turned away from her and opened the passenger door of the car. Benjamin climbed out hesitantly and Leah's eyes settled on him. Behind her, the wolves backed away into the shadows of the trees.

"This is Benjamin," Esme said. "He's a relative of Alice's."

Sam raised his eyebrows, while Leah's eyes widened.

"We'll explain later but in light of Demetri's recent visit, I don't want him involved in any of this mess. Charlie said it's fine for him to stay with your mother, keep him out of sight."

Sam sniffed at the air in confusion. Seth looked perplexed at the very suggestion but Leah didn't hesitate. "Of course," she said, eyes fixed on Ben.

"It's okay Benjamin," Esme said to him, "Leah will take you to Charlie."

He walked dubiously over the boundary line with his rucksack on his back looking uncomfortable with the whole arrangement. Alice would not be happy about this. After that, everyone set off in different directions.

I stopped running when I reached the engorged driveway that led to the main house. The crumpled piece of paper that Jake had tried to write to me on was still in my pocket and I ran it between my fingers. If Jacob was referring to Demetri in his letter, then what did he need me to do?

Up ahead Carlisle and Emmett were discussing scents. It seemed that they had not been able to pick up anything from where Demetri had stood in our house only hours earlier. How was that even possible?

"You okay?" Rosalie said. She turned to wait for me on the drive. "Why did you stop?"

I paused to catch my breath. "You're just going back to the house, Rose. We need to be out looking for him."

She looked down, slightly embarrassed. "Carlie, we can't take you with us."

What. "Why not?"

"It's gonna get late, you'll get tired."

"But I can't stay here on my own when Jake's in trouble."

"The wolves are taking it in turns. They can't run through the days and nights either." She followed my expression carefully. "But that's not what's bothering you is it?"

I bit my lip. "I'm fine." But her stare didn't waver. "What are we looking for? I mean, what are we gonna find… his dead body?"

She shot over to my side. "Carlie, don't think like that, he'll be fine. Jacob's a fighter."

"But that doesn't explain why no one can hear him."

"Nobody actually suggested the most obvious point, maybe he just hasn't phased in a while? There are a million explanations." She pulled an arm round me drawing me in tightly. "Don't worry, we'll find him in no time. He's most probably hiding in a cave feeling sorry for himself."

That was when I heard the first big bang.

"Emmett!" Rosalie yelled, pulling away from me. "What are you doing?"

We ran a short distance down the path to where Emmett was holding onto an enormous trunk. Carlisle and Esme had stopped by the main house and were watching him too.

"It's him," Emmett shrieked, throwing the huge tree down along the side of the driveway. It lay next to another one whose mature leaves already filled the road. "Look there are symbols on both of these trees," he said, enraged. "And I'm betting that Demetri's been making them, he must have done, otherwise we'd have smelt him, or we'd have heard him, or Alice would have foreseen his visit a week ago." He looked up at Rosalie, exasperated. "It's because of these damn symbols that we were caught off guard when he turned up at the front door. It must have been them. We didn't even hear his footsteps down the path. Nothing. It's like he appeared out of thin air." He clicked his fingers together as he spoke. Then he started gnawing at the bark where the markings had been scratched into the tree.

"What are you talking about?" Rosalie said.

"These symbols are all around the school, Rose," Emmett said. "What do we know about that night at the school?" He turned to look at us. "Alice didn't foresee anything. Not even Ben saw it coming, yet Jacob is injured and Nahuel is dead, and there's no scent of Demetri at all."

"Yet we now know, categorically, that Demetri was there at the school. Why did we not know that earlier? Because these symbols somehow sheltered it, that's why."

He rose to his feet and started pacing the grounds.

"Geez. They would never have gone to the Amazon if they'd had even an inkling of suspicion that the Volturi were about to pay us a visit," Emmett continued, his concentration fixed on the trees around the house.

"And what do you know," he continued, darting backwards and forwards. "Three more symbols around our house. That makes five in total. Sensing a pattern?" He went up to another tree that bordered the decking behind the house and started pulling it down.

"Is this really necessary?" Esme said.

"Sorry, Esme," Emmett said, not looking up. "But I don't know what on earth these symbols mean, but if they're in any way connected to him, then I'm gonna make sure that every last one of them is turned into sawdust," he said, crumbling the bark in his palm.