Chapter 50 – Contingency plans.
50.
BPOV
I had no problem telling Edward that Alex scared the shit out of me. It was natural, even as a human, to fear fire but it was doubly so now that I was a vampire. I'd heard the high pitched keening when Laurent had been dismembered and I'd smelled the acrid purple smoke when they'd turned him to ash. I knew to be afraid of fire, I knew that flames would end me, that there could be no putting me back together if fire touched me.
I cringed every time I looked at Alex and shuddered for hours afterwards whenever someone mentioned the astounding display we'd seen in the driveway earlier that day.
We were trying so hard to keep Nessa's days as normal as possible but it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep her separated from talk of the coming war. The meetings became larger, with over fifty vampires in the house all the time she couldn't be kept from it completely.
We did our best to keep the meetings quiet and confined to the dining room, but with more and more information being gathered, and more gifts being added to the arsenal with each new arrival, the group of strategists grew to overflow even the enormous dining room.
With only five days until the war we took her out of school completely. None of us wanted her too far from us, even though we didn't want her to overhear the planning. When it was possible I took her to Renee or to Charlie if he was at home. She swam at First Beach with Sam, Emily and Seth while I went to fight lessons and Edward drew endless lines on his 'war map'.
In the early evenings Nessa and Zafrina went to the cottage to practise. Edward said he could not tell from Zafrina's thoughts what it was Nessa was practising but he was sure it was just a ruse to keep the little girl amused and away from the more strategic discussions being held at the house. I wasn't so sure. Zafrina had taken to pulling me to one side at the end of my fighting lessons to work with me on my shielding abilities.
Each time I went to the clearing I became aware that my shield was not only with me, but that I was able to manipulate it in times of conflict. It often sprang into my visual field if I was defending someone, but rarely when I was the aggressor in Jasper and Peters exercises.
I could call on it quite easily if Seth or another family member was in peril, even though I knew it was just pretend. I could stretch it to accommodate four or five now, no longer hampered by my nerves. To me it was a tangible part of me, like another skin. I felt it, could use it and could project it just as Zafrina had suggested I would be able to years ago.
What neither of us had bargained with was the force with which I could project it and retract it.
Edward said he'd been able to feel my shield creeping down his spine during our one and only practise session after Nessa's christening and I had assumed that he meant it metaphorically. But after one particularly nasty fight lesson I learned that he wasn't just using purple prose.
My group consisted of Emmett, Julian, Adam, Marcus, Ethan and myself. All the groups had been told to face off, three to a side across the clearing. We were supposed to be baddies and goodies just like in a child's game of cops and robbers. I was a goodie this time and I stood with Adam and Emmett to my right.
The other three were supposed to assume aggressive stances and advance on us so that we could each visualise then actualise our enemy's strengths and weaknesses. Julian was my enemy in this scenario.
Now I liked and respected Julian so I found it hard to see him as an enemy but I did my best and squared my shoulders ready for the fight. Adam had Marcus and Emmett had Ethan.
Just as Jasper was about to whistle to begin the exercise I saw Julian cover his mouth and whisper something to his teammates. I shook it off and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. I decided I would shift slightly further left and draw Julian away a little, giving my teammates room to tackle their opponents and also giving myself control of my own situation. I learned from Jasper to attempt to control my own fighting arena. If I controlled that I could dictate the steps within the fight.
The three baddies advanced in a line and I began to creep sideways. For the first few steps Julian followed, mirroring my steps and moving to his right, ready to engage with me. Then he switched and ran at a full sprint towards my teammates, leaving me off to the left with no opponent.
That shocked me and for a millisecond I stood stock still and did nothing. Then my training kicked in and I began to run around the rear of the new confrontation, hoping to come up behind my teammates and take whichever of the three baddies was isolated from the fight. But that didn't work either. Instead Adam dropped back and Emmett was left with three bad guys descending on him. Adam ran away. Just like that. He ran for the hills at a full sprint and I cursed out loud at his retreating back.
Julian came around Emmett's left and began to try to get him to the ground at the same time that Marcus began pushing at Emmett's chest to force him to the ground.
Now, Emmett's a giant of a man. Strong as an ox with a bee in its ass. But even he couldn't hold off three mature vampires and he was soon on the ground, prone and defenceless.
I didn't even have to think about it. My shield struck out from around me with such force it seemed to push Ethan backwards. He landed on his ass on the ground, stunning him for a precious few seconds.
Julian leapt back away from Emmett when my shield had exploded around my brother, but he hadn't stopped his advancement, just changed its direction. Marcus still held Emmett to the ground with a hand to his chest so Julian came to Emmett's other side, his right, furthest away from me, and he too leant over and held Emmett down, his body lying over his legs to stop them thrashing.
Emmett was cursing a blue streak and I knew I had no other option than to deploy my shield differently.
I crouched lower and bit into my bottom lip and steeled myself for the massive wave of energy I'd need to shake them off Emmett.
I felt the roar building in my chest and as my shield built in strength the pressure in my head built to a crescendo. It was as though a switch had been flicked when I released the thin red film of the shield and targeted it onto the two remaining baddies.
Julian bellowed as if he was in pain when the red veil slipped between him and Emmett. He jumped up off him and leapt away to join Ethan to the side of the fray.
That left Marcus. He had Emmett pinned to the ground with his hands so I concentrated my shield on Emmett's chest. It was hard to slip between the two men, they were both so strong and Emmett was actually pushing against Marcus's hands, making the bond where they joined so much tighter and stronger.
I gritted my teeth once more and with one last shriek I forced my shield in between them and pulled Emmett under its protection.
Marcus leapt away as if he'd been burned. His bright red eyes burning into me in frustration as he too moved away from the conflagration.
The instant Emmett was free from them I threw myself down onto his chest and held his face in my hands. "Are you okay?" I shouted, panicked.
He had the biggest dimples showing as he too put his hands to my cheeks. "I'm fucking brilliant, and so are you sissy." He pulled my down onto him and he kissed me soundly right on the lips.
I flew off his chest and wiped my hand across my mouth. "Ew, gross Em, jeez." I giggled. I stumbled as my shield let go and snapped back inside me.
That's when the cheering began.
EPOV
"We haven't discussed it." I said firmly.
"Well you're going to have to, you're running out of time." Aro barked. "I don't see you have that many options."
"I know." I ran a hand through my hair and stared at the war map again. No matter where I drew the circle that was to be Nessa it never felt right, never looked right to me. Nowhere was safe.
There was no way to keep her separate from the confrontation and with neither Bella nor I willing to yet discuss what was going to happen on the actual day I was left with no choice but to include Nessa on the map as 'unknown'. I had no idea if Nessa would play a part, but if she could persuade Stefan and Vladimir from their chosen path I wanted her to be able to try. Alice could see nothing other than the Romanians travelling towards us, after that we were on our own. My decisions were quite possibly going to be critical ones.
If we left Nessa somewhere safer than the clearing we'd be leaving her open to attack, without us there, and that was totally unacceptable. I toyed with the idea of her travelling with Renee and Charlie to somewhere neutral until the confrontation was resolved, or finished, but none of us that were strategising could ensure that she'd be safer with only two humans. Each and every scenario we came up with left either Nessa unprotected or alone without either wolf or vampire. I suggested she and Seth should leave, that he should take her far away from here and leave us to fight. But as Emmett had said so long ago, if we did it that way what was to stop any survivors of the fight coming back and slaughtering them later on. Nessa would not be parted from Seth, the original situation would remain and we'd be long gone and unable to defend them a second time.
I couldn't approach Seth about it and I couldn't talk to Bella about it yet. I wondered, so many times, if she had an answer for me. She had so many times before. I clung to that hope and went about my business while she went about her lessons with the larger group.
Half an hour before the lessons were scheduled to end I always made my way to Charlie's house. I kept him abreast of our strategic plans and Renee abreast of simpler plans and ideas we'd been preparing. They had a right to know but it crushed them both to know that after everything we'd been through they might just lose both Bella and Nessa anyway. I was shocked to learn just how much they were hurting knowing they may very well lose me too.
Each day, when it was time for me to leave, Charlie would draw me aside out of hearing range of his wife and beg me to keep his girls safe. He begged me to keep his friends safe. I did my best to explain to him just how many of us there now were, but nothing assuaged his fear. I could sympathise, nothing could fully assuage mine either.
The only time I gave in to it was when I was alone with Bella. She too felt the clawing fear that had crept into all our lives and it was all I could do to calm her at the end of every day so that we could at least rest in each other arms while our daughter slept in the next room.
We made love as soon as Nessa was asleep, every night, but it wasn't the spontaneous wild love we'd made before. Now it had taken on a kind of reverent feel. As though our chances might now be limited. We clung to each other desperately, we loved each other silently, our passion smothered the other until neither of us could handle it any longer and gave in to the need to just scream.
Then we'd run.
Seth stayed with Nessa in the cottage and Bella and I ran.
Some nights we ran all night long. We sprinted in and out of the forest trying to burn off some of the internal rage, the frustration and the fear.
Nothing helped.
Come morning we'd still be afraid. We were always still angry and we were always frustrated at being so fucking blind to any sort of outcome.
But, we were together.
When we arrived at the big house the following morning we were greeted by Benjamin and Tia, our Egyptian friends. Carlisle had already told me that Amun had chosen not to attend and whilst I was disappointed from a strategic point of view – Amun would have made a formidable fighter in our corner – I was glad that Benjamin had defied his maker and had come to help us.
I had hoped for some time, as had Jasper and Peter, that he'd attend and that he'd come to fight. The three of us agreed that he would head us, lead us into the fight, if he was willing of course. He was the strongest of us all.
So it was with real affection that I greeted him and his wife. He drew me into a hearty hug and Tia kissed me on each cheek before wishing us all luck in the days to come. Bella too was greeted warmly and the same good wishes were passed on to her. Nessa was kissed and patted by them both and Tia was particularly enamoured by her pretty hair and cherubic face.
It was too late to express my distaste when Randall leapt from his seat in the dining room and ran to where Bella stood in front of Benjamin. He pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her soundly on the cheek before exclaiming how happy he was to see her, again. He'd done this the day they'd arrived but it seemed he was quite happy to keep doing it.
I growled, Nessa rolled her eyes just as her mother did, my family and friends laughed at my response and Randall once again was needlessly inappropriate with my wife and got away with it scot free.
At least he had the good grace to look slightly sheepish as he retreated back into the dining room. Bella took my hand and squeezed it but it did little to lighten my mood.
Once everyone had congratulated Randall on his brilliant joke they settled back into the tasks for the day. The men moved into the dining room to stare once again at the war map. Bella and Nessa were swept away upstairs for a debriefing and some 'girl time'.
I tried to get through the meeting with the men as best I could but today my mind was on Bella, Nessa and Seth, not the fight. There was only three days to go and I was beginning to feel the pressure from all sides.
I also wasn't enjoying Randall's constant mental ribbing. He was harmless and his thoughts weren't as vulgar as they normally were so I knew he was tempering them, but they still pissed me off.
Halfway through the mornings meeting I began to hear Nessa protesting about being dressed up and being made to sit still, again, while her hair was braided. I took my chance where I saw it. I called for her and she came running down the stairs. I bore her off to the pool house for a swim, mentally patting myself on the back for having dodged the bullet that was spending any more time with Randall.
Then the men announced that they would keep me company while I watched Nessa swim. So they shifted their conversations – toned down so they could keep the bulk of the information from Nessa – to the pool house and I was treated to three hours of Randall's thoughts.
BPOV
We were all surprised and delighted with the arrival of Benjamin and Tia. They were in good spirits and Tia joined in the conversation a lot more than she had on her previous visit. I wondered if that was because Amun had chosen not to come. Benjamin too seemed more confident, more outgoing, more willing to join in than he had on their last visit.
I was happy within the group of women but by mid morning I'd had enough of gossip and fashion magazines. I wanted to be with Nessa and nearer Seth and I needed to be near Edward. I had to touch him. Even just to hold his hand for a few minutes. I needed to calm myself with his scent before I had to leave him for fight lessons in the afternoon. I had to have a hit of his scent.
I excused myself from the group of cackling women and went down to the pool house. I stood off to the side for a few minutes and watched Nessa and Seth as they swam. She was so comfortable with him and he was so respectful of her. He never let her go too far ahead and he never, ever took his eyes off her. Despite the fact that it would be almost impossible for her to drown.
I caught Edward's eye and he smiled softly. I went to him and inhaled deeply as I slid my hand into his at his side. He leant down and kissed my hair. "I needed you, how did you know?" He whispered.
I turned my eyes to his and smiled too. I didn't need to answer. He knew I needed to be near him too and he also knew why.
We stood at the edge of the pool for a while and watched our daughter laugh and play. Just like she should.
Her day was fun and games for now but the time was fast approaching when we were going to have to discuss where she would be and what she would do on the day.
I sighed at the thought and wondered if Edward had had any thoughts on the matter. I squeezed his hand tighter. "A day more, please." He whispered and I wondered for the millionth time if he had been able to read me.
"Another day." I replied.
~~~~~000~~~~~~
"I am Demetri and this is my mate Rose. We are so pleasured to meet you all." His English was fractured but it only added to his overall charm. "These are my coven peoples. Svetlana and Ivana and this is Viktor. We have come to you from Russia." He bowed lowly and Carlisle stepped forward to shake his hand.
"It is a great pleasure to see you again Demetri. Do you recall our meeting in 1716 I believe it was?" He asked and Demetri nodded. "I was alone then, please, come in and meet my family." He led the newcomers into the living room further and pointed in turn to us as we were named. "This is my mate Esme and my children Edward, Bella, Rose, Emmett, Jasper and Alice. And this is our granddaughter Renesmee and her mate Seth. Please, please, come in and meet everyone else."
Viktor made straight for the sofa and that's where he stayed for the duration of the introductions. He never made a sound.
Demetri and Rose went clockwise around the room while the two women went counter clockwise in order to meet everyone. They group was growing fast and we hardly had any time left to learn too much more about our guests, but we did our best to cram in as much as we could.
"We only have a few days before the fight, perhaps you could tell us a little about yourselves?" Jasper asked. I knew he was eager to hear more about this talented group. I was.
"Perhaps we should go outside, there just isn't enough room in here anymore." Esme offered and people began to make their way out onto the decking and into the backyard.
When everyone had found a spot and Nessa had been sent off to her room to play Demetri set about informing us of his talents.
"Carlisle knows of my ability, yes?" Demetri asked as Carlisle nodded. "But for the others, it's not so useful as I might wish." The Russian chuckled. "When I was changed what I could do was of no need, I can cause an EMP when I want it. When Eleazar came for me in 1728 I did not know that I could be useful to Stefan, but now he believes I can be. A great many things now rely on electromagnetic pulses, now I am important." He straightened and squared his shoulders to punctuate how proud he was of that. I'd seen Edward cringe at the sound of Eleazar's name and I knew there were quite a few others around me who would rather not hear it either.
"You did not take up his offer?" Liam asked, referring to Stefan's offer for Demetri to join the Romanian guard.
"I did not. I am a free man. I work for nobody. They want me to cause EMP to harm humans. I need them to feed off, why wipe out my food source?" He scowled as though the thought was utterly ridiculous. "So, I come to America, I fight them, I win, I keep my ability for myself." And with that he nodded firmly once and took a seat next to his mate.
Svetlana and Ivana stood as one and moved to the middle of the makeshift arena. Mine weren't the only eyebrows to raise when Ivana took Svetlana's hand and kissed it. "We are mates." She said proudly. "I was bitten 1906, my sire left me for being the dead, Demetri rescues me and he brings me to Svetlana. I cannot bite humans, how you say in English Sveta?" She asked her mate, but Svetlana could only repeat in Russian what she wanted to say, neither of them knew the correct word.
I looked to Alice, I knew she had Russian on Edward's lessons list for Nessa. True to form she understood and could translate for the two girls. "Inoculate. The word in English is inoculate."
"Ah, yes. Inoculate. I can not bite someone and make them vampire. If I do bite, they can never be turned. Inoculate. Yes. Thank you Alice." Ivana nodded her thanks in Alice' direction as we all mulled over the new information.
"I would love to sit with you at some point and write down how you found this to be true." Carlisle asked politely. Again Ivana nodded.
Then the two girls returned to their seats.
That left Viktor, or so we all thought.
EPOV
I could read Viktor as easily as I could all the others, with the exception of my beautiful wife of course. But what I read from him made no sense at all. His thoughts weren't merely jumbled they were disconnected. A word here and there. A feeling then a single word followed by a mental yell. His eyes darted all around him, as though he wasn't quite sure where he was. I had noticed he said nothing and made no move to be introduced when the rest of his coven had done so and I wondered what the old man could tell us for himself, if anything.
"And Viktor?" I asked Demetri who sat beside his Rose.
"Ahh, a very sad case I'm afraid. Our friend Viktor is abandoned also. Very sad." He hung his head and swung it back and forth sadly. "I found him wandering Tikhvin in 1848, very bad sick. Very bad. He couldn't feed, very sickness." He swung his head again. "We think he is around seventy year human, maybe a little more, no way to tell. I am not sure the correct word here, but in Russian it is старческий." He turned to Alice.
"I think that might mean that he was already senile, it's a loose translation anyway." She wrinkled up her eyes in apology.
"Yes, this is it. Senileness." Demetri seemed pleased to have a word to describe it. "He does not get hungry, he does not hunt. He no danger to anyone. His skin has no shining on it, not like ours. He very old."
We all turned to where Viktor sat on the edge of the decking and I could see that it was true, his skin was pale but not sparkling in the sunlight. Wow. "No thirst?" I mumbled to myself. But I wasn't the only one. Various versions of that simple statement rent around the group, all of us wishing that our thirst would abate also.
"Please, don't think this is good thing." Demetri held out his hands as if to stop the speculation going on. "This makes things very hard for me and for Viktor also. He forgets he is Russian. He wears bracelet, his name, my name, his house and street on it. But he not know he Russian, he tell policia that he no speak Russian, while he tell them this in Russian! They think he drunk, or crazy, call me to come collect him. Last time from Siberia, gone two months. Very bad." He shook his head, all the while thinking about the hundreds of times he'd had to rescue or collect his coven mate from authorities all over Europe.
"This is the downside to immortality." Carlisle said quietly, giving us all something to think about.
How do you end the suffering of a loved one when that loved one cannot die?
"We will alert the local police chief Demetri, his name is Charlie Swan, he's a good man, Bella's father." Carlisle nodded towards Bella and Demetri turned to her and smiled his thanks. "I'll make a report at the hospital, in case he wanders off, we'll all watch him."
"Thank you. Thank you." Demetri replied.
The group soon split up into those who were going to the clearing for a fight lesson and those who wished to stay in or around the big house. Most went to the clearing. I'd read a few things about yesterday's session from Emmett's thoughts but hadn't asked Bella about it. If she'd wanted me to know she'd be the one to tell me, I guessed. Since she didn't, I obviously didn't need to know the details.
"Zafrina is going to take Nessa to the cottage while I'm at training. Is that okay with you?" Bella asked me.
I stared at her and wondered what could be happening at the cottage between those too that had Bella so concerned that she asked my advice on it. "It's fine with me." I said tentatively, trying to discern if she wanted me to disallow it on her behalf.
She said nothing more on it. She got onto her toes and kissed me softly at the corner of my mouth. "I'll see you in a few hours then. Love you."
I stood at the dining room windows and watched them all run towards the river and away to the clearing. It was a massive group now and Jasper assured me they were all doing well. Both he and Peter were sure that our strategies would give us at least a fighting chance. I hoped so.
"Come and show Demetri your plans Edward. He has some information on the guard that we didn't know before." Carlisle said as he took his seat at the dining room table.
He'd long since given up any hope that this would end peaceably and had taken his place beside me at the head of these meetings. He never once took over his rightful place as the head of this family however, he simply sat beside me as I'd asked him to do.
I waited the extra few seconds until the thoughts of those going to fight training were lost to me in the thick forest and then I took my seat. I spread the war map out in front of me and let Demetri look over it before I spoke.
"Carlisle has asked that you be placed here." I pointed to a small square on the map with his name written in it and the number 12 next to it. I could see him taking in the spaces on the page and the numbers that corresponded to the names of other vampires. Of course, to Demetri, the numbers meant as little as some of the names did. As a newcomer he hadn't had time to learn about the other gifts at our disposal.
"These numbers, they are the gifts here, in this house?" He asked with wide eyes.
"They are." I told him.
"Oh my god. This is an army. This is not happening before, no? The weather? Su, this vampire can make the weather bad? She will stand beside me? This I will enjoy to be seeing. Yes. I will fight here. This is good. This is army, this is strong. I make EMP, make diversion, get your little girl away from bad people. Yes." He said firmly with a nod of his head.
"Excellent." I told him. "Now, as you can see the other side of the clearing is a little empty. What can you tell us about the Romanians guard?" I asked hopefully.
"I have not been back there since I was asked to join, but I can tell you about the ones that were there then. Eleazar has been back, he will tell you when he gets here. Should be tomorrow or the next day." Demetri stated simply.
Carlisle's eyes flew to my face but I held my anger in check, I was getting fairly good at it by now. Only Bella and Seth could pinpoint when I was in danger of losing control. "Then we'll all look forward to what he can tell us tomorrow." Carlisle said firmly, still keeping his gaze with me.
"This space here will be for Gabriella. She is Vladimir's personal shield. I will write her name here. She is very beautiful but very bad vampire. Likes to play game with her kill. I do not like her very much." Demetri announced and then he wrote her name in the square two spaces down from Vladimir. "This Constantin, Vladimir's guard. He okay. Big man. I not like him, but he okay, much better than Stefan's guard Florin, he's a, how you say in English, ahh, aminal, no, animal. That's it, he is animal." He shuddered as he put a circle around Florins name in the square.
BPOV
Nobody had talked to me about yesterday's lesson yet but I really wanted to talk to Jasper about it. I knew it had been a set up and I knew that it had been Zafrina's idea. I just wanted to know if anyone had learned anything about me and my shield from what had happened.
So as we came to the clearing I searched Jasper out. I found him, deep in discussion with Peter about today's lesson.
"I need a minute Jaz." I told him and returned to my group while they set up the exercises.
Once everyone had their instructions he came for me and bore me off to the side. "You did fine." He beamed, knowing what I wanted to talk about.
"I think I did. But what was it you were hoping to see?" I asked.
"We weren't sure, but it was impressive none the less." He chuckled.
I shifted from foot to foot. "What did Zafrina say?"
He smiled wide, "She was very impressed. She asked the three boys involved if they could feel your shield. Only Emmett said he could and only once you slid it in between him and Marcus. They didn't feel it though, your opponents. They just said they felt repelled, as if they couldn't come any closer to either of you. It was pretty good." He chuckled.
"It's no help during the fight though, is it?" I pouted.
"We don't know yet. We're still working on all that." He put his hand on my shoulder but it was no good.
"I'll be relegated to the back of the fight. Shields are useless." I stomped off childishly and rejoined my group.
I slid into the fight between Holly and Aro just in time to be knocked to my ass by Siobhan. She held a hand out to me and I took it, but I just wasn't up for lessons that afternoon.
I sat the next round out and just watched. There were others who sat out too, so I didn't look like an idiot perched on the top of the rocky outcrop to the eastern side of the clearing.
Every now and then Jasper would trot over to me and ask if I was okay or to ask if I wanted to join a different group, but I said no each time.
Leah came and sat by me for a while but she was in her wolf form so conversation was nil, which suited me. Company without having to yak.
Halfway through the lessons I decided I'd take a side trip and ran to let Jasper know that I would be at the school if anyone was looking for me. He said nothing but I could tell he was worried for me. I put my hand in his and squeezed it. "I'm fine, I promise. Just not in the mood for this today. I'll see you at the house later." I kissed his cheek and then ran towards the forest.
Edward was wrong. It wasn't thirty five minutes run to the school, it was twenty five, but maybe I was just very eager to be away from the fighting today?
I slowed as I came to the back of the woods and allowed myself a soft giggle when I passed the spot where the Z4 had died. I walked casually out between the trees and made my way to the front of the administration building. It was Friday so I knew the whole site would be buzzing with activity despite Edward's absence.
I peered into the ground floor classrooms as I made my way along the length of the building and was pleased to see that all was well, as we'd left it. It had been weeks since we'd come here. Edward had promised he would keep up his duties but I knew he hadn't. He'd put it all off telling Linda to do her best without him while he dealt with a family crisis. She was probably happy about that, thinking it was a divorce from me that had kept him away.
I was still grinning smugly to myself when I marched into the outer office to announce my presence to her. She stiffened in her seat and took just slightly too long to plaster the polite smile on her face before she greeted me.
"Mrs Cullen, so nice to see you. Mr Cullen isn't in." She said in a proper voice.
"I know. I'll be in there if you need anything signed. Get me the number for the schools registration board please and then get my father on the line." I said firmly as I strode passed her desk and into Edward's office.
I had an office of my own but no assistant as yet, plus my office was in the other wing of the building, in the teaching part, and it was nowhere near ready to be occupied. Everything I needed today was in Edward's office, if she had a problem with that she didn't say it out loud.
I closed the door behind me and then I took Edward's seat. There was a stack of paperwork with brightly coloured flags all awaiting signature in the centre of his desk, so I busied myself with those while I waited for Miz Collins to complete the tasks I'd set her. There was nothing in the pile that I couldn't sign on behalf of Edward so I signed them all. I didn't bother reading any of it, Edward trusted the woman and I didn't have time to check for myself. I picked up the phone and dialled Felicity downstairs in the reception centre.
"You've got Felicity." She answered.
I had to stifle my laugh. There was no name for the school yet and it ate at Edward that she had to answer the phone this way, but he had procrastinated for over a year as to what to actually call the place so he could hardly berate her for it. "Hi Flick." I said, using her nickname. "It's Bella. Want to come up to Edward's office in say, fifteen minutes?" I asked.
"Sure. I'll see you then, you want coffee?" She asked.
"Yep. Lots of cream." I upheld my end of the illusion and then put the phone back into its cradle.
There was a soft knock at the door and Linda came in. She put a small yellow note onto the centre of the desk and added another three thick files to the pile in the 'in' tray. "That's the number you requested. Your father is out of his office, I've left a message for him to return your call to here. Is there anything else you need Mrs Cullen?" She smiled sweetly but I knew it was as fake as her boobs.
"Yes, there is. These are all signed so you can take these away. I need to speak to my advisor at Peninsula and after Flick leaves I'll need to see Antony. Thanks." I handed her the stack of finished files.
"I don't think Antony is in today." She said.
"Then get him here." I barked.
She huffed lightly, too lowly for a human to hear, but I heard it. I let it slide. I knew I was being bitchy and probably bossier than I needed to be, but I didn't care. I didn't have time for bullshit today, or ever really. I needed things done, now.
The phone began beeping, alerting me to the fact that Linda had either gotten hold of my advisor, or my father was returning my call. "Bella Cullen." I announced when I picked up the handset.
"This is Janette Graham calling from Peninsula College Mrs Cullen. How can I help?" She asked.
Jan was my course advisor, also Emmett's and Alice' in the arts and trades school at the Port Angeles campus of our college. She was very helpful to us all, helped along by huge donations to the faculty and the school itself. We were always in a hurry to get something done and that included our diplomas and degrees. She was nice though and I liked her a lot.
"Hi Jan. Sorry for the short notice but I was wondering if we could have a copy of our results as soon as possible please? The schools registration board is ready to give us our license and we'll need those copies to apply." I told her.
"Sure. I've got them here. But of course you know you all passed." She giggled. "I don't know how you find the time."
"I manage." I said cryptically. "So I'll let Miz Collins know you'll be faxing them through now then?"
"I'll do it right now. Congratulations Bella, you did really well." She rang off then and I picked up the note with the number for the registration board on it.
This could go one of two ways. If I registered the name of the school without consulting Edward and we won the fight he was going to be seriously pissed, and embarrassed. If I picked a name and we lost he'd never know.
I dialled.
"Registrations, to whom can I direct your call?" The drone on the line said.
I looked again to the note, "Gavin Mercer." I said.
"Hold the line please."
A click and then it rang again. After a few seconds I got Gavin. "Licensing and registrations this is Gavin."
"Hi Gavin this is Bella Cullen. We've been speaking with you recently regarding the registration of the school at the Eclipse Industrial site." I told him, hoping he'd remember me and our school.
"Of course, hello Mrs Cullen. What can I do for you today?" He asked politely.
"We are ready to register the name of the school, I was hoping you'd be able to lodge that for me today. Also, our degree records are being faxed over from the college as we speak, so I'll be able to send those on to you so you can get moving on our license." I was practically holding my breath and crossing everything I owned while I waited for his answer to my request.
He thought on it for a moment and I heard him shuffling papers before he returned his attention back to me. "Okay, I have the registration papers here in front of me. If you've decided on a name I can slot that onto the form and get it lodged today."
I sighed in relief. "Excellent. Thanks so much. So it's going to be known as EC College." I told him, again holding my breath.
"Nice ring to it, let me put the phone down a second while I write that here." I heard the phone hit the desk and the scratching of his pen. "Okay, that's fine. I'll lodge that now so that's all done. You now have EC College." He chuckled.
"Excellent. Let me put you on hold and I'll check with my assistant, see if the faxes have come through yet." I put him on hold and dialled Linda. She told me she had all three faxes and she'd wait for the number where to on send them. I disconnected my call to her and reconnected the one to Gavin. "Okay Gavin, if you can give me your fax number I'll be sending our paperwork through in a moment." He quoted the number for me and I wrote it on the top of the yellow note paper. "Is there anything else we need to send you for the license?" I asked.
"No, Mr Cullen has sent me all that I need. It was just those three papers. So I can lodge the license application today too. You're all set. Do you have an opening date?" He asked.
"I do. September first." I told him proudly. I just hoped I was going to be around to see it open and get the chance to work in it myself.
"Great. I'll note that here, that should be fine. It takes around twelve weeks for your license to be approved but that will give you plenty of time before you open."
"Thanks Gavin. I appreciate all you've done for us." He said his goodbye and I replaced the receiver and went out into the outer office again. I handed the note paper back to Linda and asked her to send the faxes to the number printed on it.
Flick came up into the outer office just then so I ushered her into Edward's office and closed the door behind us. She sat opposite and put my coffee mug in the centre of Edward's desk. "Haven't seen you here for a while, everything alright at home Mrs C?" She asked as she stirred her own coffee.
I took a pretend sip of mine and nodded. "Yeah, everything's great. We've got a heap of relatives visiting from overseas, bit hectic, that's all." I waved away her concerns and took out a fat file from the bottom drawer of Edward's desk. "How are enrolments for this September looking?" I asked her as I opened the file.
"Great." She opened her own file and slid it across the desk so I could see the numbers for myself. "Does this mean that we are actually opening this September then?"
I could tell she was excited. She was as eager to get things going as Edward and I had been before we'd learned of the Romanians intentions. "It does. September first will be the first day. I've just lodged the registration papers and the license documents. It's really going to happen Flick." I said, catching her excitement.
She clapped her hands just like Alice would have. "Oh that's so exciting. Oh, wait, you've given it a name?" She asked.
"I have. We're going to be known as the EC College. What do you think?" I screwed up my face as if I was worried what it sounded like.
"Oh wow, that's fantastic. Is that, like, Edward Cullen College then? That's so brilliant." She ploughed on as if I wasn't there so I knew she liked it. "Hello, you've reached EC College, Felicity speaking. Yeah, that's awesome." She reverted, slightly, to the Flick I remembered from the estate agency. She must have realised it too because she suddenly sat straighter in her chair and smiled demurely. "It's a great name Mrs C. Very classy."
"I'm glad you think so. So, what I need you to do is this." I spent the next half an hour showing Flick the classes we'd definitely be running and the numbers she could enrol for the first intakes. I gave her information about marketing, publicity and also some information about the teachers I had just authorised to be employed. We'd already done the interviewing so all that had to be done was to confirm their acceptance. Flick, as the enrolments officer, would take care of all that now.
The phone beside me beeped, announcing a call being transferred from Linda to me, so Flick grabbed up the files off the desk and mouthed that she'd be downstairs if I needed anything else. I smiled and mouthed my goodbye then took up the phone.
"I have your father on the line Mrs Cullen." Linda announced.
"Put him through, thank you." She rang off, then a click, and then I had Charlie. "Hi dad."
"What's wrong?" He was panicked, I could hear it in his voice.
"Nothing dad, calm down. I'm at the school working, everything's fine. How are you and mom?" I asked.
"We're fine. What's happening with the fight? Where's Nessa, where's Edward?" He was really worried, poor man.
"Dad, I promise, everything's fine. We've got a few days yet, you know that. Nessa is at home with Zafrina and Edward is having his war meeting. I'm just here clearing up a few things. Really, we're ok. Listen, Edward and I need to see you before Sunday, do you think you could both come to the cottage tonight?" I asked hesitantly.
"Of course we can. What time? Do you need us to do something, bring something?" He was speaking so quickly and I knew it was fear.
"No dad, just you and mom. Come after your dinner, we'll be there. Listen dad, my next appointment is here, I'll see you tonight, okay?" I waited until he said he'd be there and then I hung up. "Come on in Antony." I called.
Stunning as ever he loped into the room and stood opposite the desk until I offered my hand across it. He shook it and greeted me politely before sitting in the chair and opening his diary, ready to work. "What do you need Mrs Cullen?" He asked, all business.
I leaned back in my own seat and steepled my hands under my chin as I'd seen Carlisle do a hundred times. "I have a question for you Antony. Have you ever considered running a school?"
His eyes flew open wide and I could see the shock on his face as he tried to find the answer he thought I was waiting to hear. "I don't think I know quite what you mean Mrs Cullen." He said noncommittally.
I laughed. "Please, call me Bella. Antony, I'm going to tell you a story and then I'll ask the question again." I trusted Antony. He worked hard and he'd never given me any reason to think I couldn't. I needed someone to know what was going on and I needed someone who knew about the school who could help those we left behind to run it.
I had no intention of telling him I was a vampire and that I was facing a vampire war in two days time, but I did intend to tell him that should Edward and I perish, ever, that there were certain things we needed him to do and that one of those was to take over the role of CEO and make sure our school opened.
"Okay." He said hesitantly. "I'm listening."
"Once upon a time there was this school..."
A/N: I apologise to all the Vampire Academy lovers out there for the inclusion of a pairing named Demetri and Rose, when building my army of vampires I enlisted the help of my 16 year old daughter, so three guesses as to who named this pair!
As ever, if you have enjoyed this chapter please review. It has felt a little like a consolidation chapter this one, and the next one, as though I was just wading through all the new information in order to get to the fight. If it has come across this way I am sorry, and please know that I wrote then rewrote this chapter three times trying to decide how best to include the new covens without it feelings like you are reading an encyclopedia or who's who.
Thank you so much for reading.
