Rating/Warning(s)/Note(s): T, Shadows
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Prompt: Result
As soon as Sue and Charlie left on their honeymoon, the wolves and vampires got to work. The human was told to be the supervisor, mostly to keep me out of the way. Alice was really the one in charge. The only thing I supervised was feeding the pack. It kept me busy all day, though.
It started with completely cleaning the new home from top to bottom. Vampire and werewolf eyes could see dirt mine missed. Once it sparkled, Edward arrived with new paint, Sam carried in carpet with Seth hauling in the carpet pad, and Emmett and Jasper got to work on building new cabinets. Everyone closely followed Esme's designs, once Alice looked to make sure Sue would like them.
Once the remodeling work was done it took no time to pack both Sue and Charlie's houses, move everything to the new place, and unpack. The wolves were again sent out into the yard for the last part so Alice could check Sue's future reactions. Esme took over the gardens, making sure everything was planted correctly.
By the time everyone was finished the house was a masterpiece. Well, other than the wolves sprawled out and snoring. To be fair, they had worked nonstop for thirty-six hours, only taking a break to eat and when the paint wasn't quite dry. The vampires were finishing a few things up, mostly by carrying out loads of pizza boxes and two-liter bottles of soda.
We settled in to enjoy the summer. With Charlie and Sue gone for a month, the longest he'd ever been away from his job, and all the work on the houses complete, we were left with little to do. It was heaven.
Edward and I spent all the sunny days running through the forest. With his tight grip on my legs, and my strangle-hold around his throat, there wasn't an inch we didn't cover. I loved it when he would stalk his prey, without the intention of feeding, showing me how easy it was for him to sneak up on them. At least it was easy until I sneezed, gasped, breathed too loudly, or did some other human thing that made noise.
He refused to take me when he was hunting for real. It took him some time to convince me that it wasn't because I scared off the prey, but because he didn't want me to become prey. It was easy to see me startling them didn't have any effect the first time he chased a deer down after I'd spooked it. Understanding why I would become prey was a little harder to grasp.
"But I'm on your back. What makes it different if you're hunting for real?" I asked one day after he refused to hunt in earnest with me nearby.
He shook his head. "You really don't understand how tempting you are, do you?" Lying down on the grass he pulled me into his side. "I've become accustomed to your scent, true. It's enough that I don't take a bite out of you whenever we're, um, really close." He glanced over looking chagrined. "Sorry. It gets easier every day. I just don't want to risk it."
"And having me on your back wouldn't be a deterrent? I mean, I'm on your back!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air, totally bewildered. If I'm behind him, he would know not to hunt me, right?
"I don't think I can explain it. Maybe after you're changed it'll make sense, but until then?" He shook his head again. "I don't think having you on my back will help. If anything, when we hunt, it would make me want to defend myself, throw you off. The result of that could be very bad. If you became injured, began to bleed?" What little color he had in his face drained away as he shivered at the thought. "It would be my worst nightmare."
He looked up as if startled. "Is it another vampire?" I asked, my voice betraying my annoyance that we were under surveillance even deep in the woods.
"No, it's Alice…she wants us." In a heartbeat I was back on his back. I'd forgotten how quickly he could run when he really wanted to move fast. The trees that seemed to whip by before now became blurs as the wind roared in my ears.
"What's wrong?" I shouted, trying to be heard over the wind, forgetting he would hear me anyway.
He glanced back at me, and fear gripped my heart at his expression. It was enough to get me to ignore the trees flashing by without him looking where he was going.
Alice appeared from nowhere beside us, although Edward wasn't surprised. She matched him stride for stride, her focus fading in and out as she ran. Thankfully it was only another ten minutes until we crossed over into an area I recognized, and were joined by someone else. This person was actually a large, sandy-furred wolf.
Breaking from the trees, Edward jumped the river and ran straight through the open back door of the Cullen house. Carlisle was on the phone, pacing, as Esme sat on a couch wringing her hands.
"I see," Carlisle said, his voice cold and clinical. "Sedate him and get him into the MRI. I want to see what's going on." He paused while the person on the other line spoke.
What came next shocked me to the core. Carlisle sounded like a ferocious vampire. "I don't care what it costs or what kind of insurance Mr. Swan does or doesn't have. If you don't do as I say I'll have my lawyer contact you so fast for medical malpractice you'll never practice in this country again, much less this state. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
Chills ran down my spine as Edward tried to set me on my feet. My knees buckled, although I wasn't sure if it was from what I heard or how Carlisle said it. I never hit the floor, though. Edward was too fast for that. I blinked and was on the couch, Edward calling Carlisle over.
Carlisle literally growled into the phone. "I'll be there as fast as my car can fly. I expect to see results when I arrive." He paused again, my eyes trailing him as he paced, unable to move any other part of my body. "You are to extend Mrs. Swan every courtesy. I'll bring his daughter with me." With that he hung up.
I tried to open my mouth to speak, but it wasn't cooperating. "Carlisle?" Edward asked, looking at me with great concern.
"She's in shock, Edward. That wasn't the best way for her to find out something was wrong." Carlisle pushed my husband aside and looked at me. "Bella, dear, we need you to be strong. Edward will carry you to the car, then we will all drive to Seattle."
"What? What…" was all I could get out.
"We don't know for sure what happened. All I know is that Charlie blacked out. The attending said Charlie was driving, and there was an accident. I couldn't tell which came first, though, the accident or your father's unconsciousness. We'll find out more when we get there." Carlisle stood and started to give orders to other members of the family.
Edward scooped me up, telling Seth to phase to human so he could ride with us in the car. Chaos reigned for a few minutes until the tires of Carlisle's Mercedes skidded onto the asphalt. It wasn't until I felt Edward's fingers brush my cheek and heard him whisper soothing words that I realized I was crying.
I'm trying to plot out another original story, which is set during the British occupation of Charleston, SC in 1780-82, so I've been reading lots of historical documents. I'm also putting together a query list for my other original story. This story has suffered neglect as a result of divided attention. Sorry. I'd say I'd do better, but I'm going to be herding cats (teenagers) from Thursday morning on to the end of the week, so there'll be no updates those days either.
Before you get upset with me, remember: we all knew something was going to happen to Charlie.
