Having never stepped foot in La Push, Rosalie and Emmett put in a burst of speed towards where their hearts were taking them. There were one too many cliffs in La Push, and it didn't narrow down the search for Bella. Then they saw it, Bella on the edge of the cliff with one of the wolves, they only knew that because of the size of him, shorts and lack of a shirt. It was now pouring down with rain, as they raced towards Bella. They would not make it, but as long as Bella did not hit the shallow water, they stood a chance of having her alive enough to turn her.
Rosalie let out a gut-wrenching scream as she watched Bella turn away from the wolf, only for him to push her. A boulder just below the surface of the shallow water gave Emmett enough leverage to leap up and catch his mate. The sheer and jagged surface of the cliff face meant Bella's body hit the rock face three times before he caught her. Emmett ran along the rock face before hitting the water and taking off with Bella in his arms. Rosalie was right alongside him as they run back to the house. They could hear her heart still beating despite her extensive injuries.
They crashed through the back door and laid Bella on the dining room table. Rosalie grabbed the backpack and pulled out two large syringes before they plunged both in her heart. It was all they could do. Just over half an hour later they breathe a sigh of relief, the bleeding on her head had stopped, the wound almost sealed. The venom was doing its work. "I don't know if we can move her." Emmett wondered.
"I'd rather not, but we should clean her up a little," Rosalie muttered. Bella was soaked from the rain, and covered in blood. The rock surface had shredded her clothes and skin, one of her Chuck Taylor's had been lost along the way.
"I will see what I can find." Emmett choked out.
"She will be fine, Emmett. She has to be." She whispered as she gently ripped the clothes off Bella. She didn't want to jolt her even the slightest bit. She cleaned the blood pulled by Bella's head with the wet shirt. Emmett came back with some bedsheets and towels. He quickly filled a bowl he found in the kitchen with water. With the utilities turned off, there was no hot water. They cleaned Bella as best as they could and covered her with the sheets.
The rest of the family arrive then with the Denalis in tow. They had gotten to know her very well, and loved her. It was impossible not to love Isabella Swan, a beautiful girl who was loving and kind. "Oh, God." Esme cried as Carlisle quickly moved to look over Bella.
"She is changing, the venom has already healed any internal injuries," Carlisle said.
"Why is she so quiet?" Tanya asked. In truth, her silence had not even occurred to Emmett and Rosalie. They had been so focused on making sure she was changing and cleaning her up, they had forgotten the immense burning pain the venom coursed.
"I have no idea," Carlisle answered.
"She is in pain, I can feel it, it's nowhere near the level it should be… but there is also something else building." Jasper interjected.
"I think her gift… incredible, her gift is protecting her brain." Eleazar added.
"It's minimizing the amount of pain its receptors is sending to the brain." Carlisle surmised in awe.
"Thank God," Emmett muttered. She and Rosalie were camped by Bella, holding her hand.
"Give it a few more hours and move her to your room." Carlisle sounded incredibly relieved, something they all felt. At least, Bella had been spared the pain of changing. "I will get the room ready." Esme offered, happy to keep busy even for a few minutes.
"Charlie is on his way here," Alice whispered.
"I forgot, he showed up right after Bella went over. He pulled his gun… shame it will have little effect on that fucking mongrel." Rosalie muttered.
"Wait, one of the wolves pushed Bella over the cliff?" None had ever seen Carlisle so incensed.
"Yeah, I don't know which one," Emmett answered. The only wolf they'd ever met was Jacob.
"We will have to deal with this. The wolves know very well Bella is mated to Rose and Em. They will expect us to retaliate." Jasper said.
"And retaliate, we will," Rosalie growled.
Alice was by the front door, waiting for Charlie. The man in question drove down their driveway like a man possessed, parked his cruiser haphazardly, and jumped out. "We've got her, Charlie," Alice said before he could even ask the question.
"Thank God, oh, thank God. He chanted as he pulled Alice into a hug.
"Come in." He was soaking wet, but then so was everyone else. He saw Bella lying on the dining table covered in a sheet.
"She looks like she's asleep." He murmured as he got closer. "I imagined a lot of things, but this wasn't what I expected." He added as he stared at his slowly changing daughter. Changes that weren't visible to him just yet.
"Her external injuries have all healed. The venom is doing its job." Carlisle answered. "What happened?" He asked the question on everyone's mind.
"Sue, send me to Sam's to get her a couple of things. I was there when she called to tell me Bella was on her way there. I went outside waiting for her, but then I still couldn't see her, so I decided to meet her when I heard her shouting. I started running and just caught sight of Paul, dragging Bella towards the woods. I shouted, but either he couldn't hear me or chose to ignore me.
I broke through the woods just in time to see him push her over the edge. I shot him, fat lot of good that did. At that point, the rest of the guys showed up to find me screaming for Bella. Jake and Embry made their way down the side of the cliff but found nothing. With the wind and the rain, they surmised the currents must-have dragged her out to sea." Charlie took a deep breath, looking down at Bella as though making sure she was really there. "I was going to arrest him when Billy…" He shook his head. "He told me I couldn't arrest Paul. He had just pushed my daughter down a sheer cliff down onto the beach. This wasn't the area they went cliff diving. This was the sandy part of the beach, there would have been no water to break her fall if the cliff surface didn't kill her first. I was apoplectic in my anger and told him to either shut up before I pushed him down the same cliff. He said If I arrested Paul, he would go to jail, and their secret would surely come out. He asked me to think about what that would do to them. They'd become government experiments. I told him I didn't care… and then he threatened you. He said he would have no reason to abide by the treaty if I arrested Paul. That was when I remembered the conversation I had with you two. I ran back to the cruiser and drove straight here."
"Why kill Bella? I mean, their whole thing is about protecting innocents. Even if he hated her being mated to vampires, she was, at that point, still human… still innocent." Edward chimed in.
"He said he didn't mean to. He just wanted to talk to Bella, but she kept arguing and called him a manwhore. He just lost it and pushed her without thinking." Charlie sighed. "I believed him, God knows he could have turned and ripped me apart when I shot him. It still doesn't mean he gets away with murder." He growled.
"They all think Bella is dead. They had no idea we saved her." Emmett looked up.
"No, if you hadn't told me, I would have thought she was dead as well," Charlie whispered.
"The rain would have washed away any scent we would have left behind." Rosalie surmised.
"Charlie, keep an eye on Bella. They know Charlie drove here to tell us if we don't show up intent on killing that wolf, they will know something is up. The fact that we aren't there already can easily be put down to us waiting for re-enforcement." Rosalie said. Both she and Emmett took a quick shower to wash the scent of Bella's blood off them. They left a lot behind every time they moved. This time, she and Emmett left more than usual as they were traveling with Bella.
They made their way down the stairs slowly and had clearly missed something. "What?" Emmett asked as he spied amused faces staring at Charlie.
"It appears he is mated to Tanya and Irina," Esme whispered. Emmett barked out a laugh.
"Well done, Charlie." He clapped the stunned man on his back.
"Like father, like daughter." Rosalie teased.
Charlie simply stared at the two beautiful women at a loss for words. He had simply looked their way when Carmen had offered to stay with him while he kept an eye on Bella. Charlie had been unable to look away the minute his eyes landed on them. It seemed they couldn't either, and knew what was going on more than he did. He heard the offered congratulations but had no idea why.
"How perfect would this have been if Bella had ended up with me." Kate piped up, earning a glare from Rosalie.
"Kate, for once in your life, please shut up. Now, can we go and deal with these wolves." Tanya now had more than a vested interest in what happened to Bella.
The wolves were lined up on the treaty line, with the elders behind them, the minute Charlie had left, they knew what was coming. If one of the vampires had killed an imprint, they would go after the Cullens, so they expected no different. What they didn't expect was to find eleven vampires instead of the seven they knew. The Cullens had called in reinforcement, and that didn't bode well for them.
"Where is he?" Rosalie growled.
"He ran," Sam answered. They were wrong, so very wrong, even if Billy didn't see it, they did. He couldn't imagine what he would do if he lost Emily.
"You expect us to simply take your word for it." Emmett with a humorless chuckle.
"Feel free to check." Sam offered much to the horror of some of the elders. Edward and Eleazar run past everyone to do just that.
"I'm so sorry." Jake offered as the tears ran down his cheeks. They all knew the boy had been in love with Bella and more than likely still was.
"You have nothing to be sorry for; you didn't kill her." Rosalie offered softly.
He's gone." Edward piped up. "It doesn't matter." He added, smirking at Quil Ateara. "What he did would drive him crazy," Edward said, his focus still on the elder.
"Quil," Billy asked.
"You should not have told the boy to run, Billy. I understand you threatening Charlie if he arrested him, but him running has exposed us all anyway. He will go insane, what he did is not something his wolf can live with. The war between the man and the wolf will drive Paul insane, and he will more than likely expose us." He informed them.
"How do we not know about this?" Sam asked.
"It happened once before, long ago. In the end, death was the merciful option."
"If I were you boys, I'd take my family and leave. He's not just going to be a vampire hunting wolf, he's going to be an insane wolf who is a danger to everyone, and the government will see you all as such. Forget experimenting, you will be annihilated." Carlisle offered.
Jacob glared at his father." You told him to run, this is all your fault. He killed a girl you've known since she was a baby, but because she imprinted on vampires, you didn't care that Paul killed her. What goes around comes around. Good luck." Jacob ran before Billy could utter a word.
"You have to find him and bring him back. I'm begging you." Billy turned to the other wolves.
"We do not have to do anything. He killed an innocent girl, and you helped him run. You go and find him." Sam's voice was filled with disdain.
Despite Paul's and Billy's actions, Carlisle wasn't going to see an entire tribe suffer for it. His reason for inviting Sam and the wolves to their side of the border was not entirely altruistic. If Paul phased and hurt someone, the entire tribe would be under a government microscope, and their own existence would likely be revealed. Bella was not going to come into a world where vampires were on the ran or worse, at war with humanity.
"We have to find him and bring him back," Carlisle said, what they all already knew.
"Edward and Jasper and Alice are tracking him and have a lead on him. You guys need to join them and subdue Paul. Something only an alpha command can do right now."
Emmett stood at the door, watching it all. They were all pissed, had it not been for Alice, Bella would likely be dead, but to punish an entire tribe for one person's mistake would be wrong. Their punishment would be to deal with the crazy wolf, and that was good enough for him. He turned his back on the discussions and headed back to the house. They had finally been able to give Bella a bath, get her dressed. Bella was in the middle of the bed, changing quietly. "We should never have let her gone there." Rosalie murmured.
"She's been going there since she moved here. She attended those bonfire nights with Charlie. We couldn't have known." Emmett ran his fingers through her hair.
The two lay silently with their changing mate for the next two days. Edward, Jasper, and Alice had returned the day before. Paul had been found and returned to the reservation, the guys had also brought their truck back. Jasper had to hotwire the truck since the keys had been in Bella's pocket.
Charlie was getting to know his mates, something that had never failed to put a smile on anyone's face. The man looked so lost about the entire thing. You'd think he'd deal better having seen his daughter go through it.
'Shouldn't I be screaming, I should be burning, unable to hold on to a single train of thought, but that is not happening. Am I changing, or am I just in pain from the fall and in a coma. Is that why I can't move.
I just wish I could move, just move a little. It was not as though it was uncomfortable, but fuck, I was desperate for a bit of movement. I found it ironic that for someone who struggled to get out of bed, that for once, it was what I was desperate to do. Without the burning, excruciating pain I expected, I find I can follow everything going on. Okay, I'm changing, that much I have now figured out.'
'Oh, my shield is protecting me from the worst of the pain. Yippee. I wish it would allow me a little movement.'
'Charlie is what… go, Charlie. Like father, like daughter indeed.'
'God, Rose, and Em smelled incredible, her poor human senses hadn't really taken them in. Alice was right, she would appreciate nature more with a sense of smell so powerful.'
'I am glad Carlisle sent the guys after Paul, I hated to think people like Sue, Harry, old Quil and the wolves suffering because of one boy's stupid mistake. I saw the look of horror on Paul's face when he pushed me just before I hit my head and was knocked out cold. I remember Jake telling me about Paul imprinting on Rachel, who was not receptive to it. She apparently had issues with Paul's bed-hopping. I guess my saying I felt sorry for the poor unfortunate woman who finds herself imprinted on by him, shredded the last of his control. He called me a whore, as though he had any right to call me a whore. Asshole.'
'Oh, okay, now… shit, my heart feels as if it's going to burst right out of my chest. Three days, so close, and now you decide to give… oh, of course, my heart is the last to go. I've become a vampire and a drama queen.'
"No, we can't all be in here." Carlisle chuckled as everyone scrambled up the stairs when they heard the sudden increase in Bella's heart rate. "Emmett and Rose can stay in here, the rest of you outside. Please give Jasper some room just in case he needs to hurry in here to help." Carlisle shut the door with a smile. They seemed everyone had forgotten how volatile newborn vampires could be.
Bella's eye twitched, a twitch was a move, she could now move. She snapped her eyes open, and without any real effort, sat up at the same time. She wiggled her toes, shook out her arms, and turned her neck. Her eyes landed on her mates, again her human eyes were wholly inadequate to take in the beauty of her mates, especially Rosalie. "If I were straight, I'd go gay for you in a heartbeat." Yep, upon waking up as a vampire, those were the first words she uttered.
