Chapter Twenty-Three: Where the Fault Lies

Bella (POV)

I had found my last experience running to be exhilarating, liberating, even wonderful. This felt like the opposite, I was filled with dread and fear. If I had still been human, my heart would've been racing, and tears would've been falling freely from my cheeks. Instead, my new body simply moved. Faster and faster, through the streets of Forks towards a future that no longer held promise. Why hadn't Alice seen this? Wasn't Edward supposed to be alive in the coming fight?

I knew Angela's street very well; I had spent more time staring out their large bay window on to this street than I could actively remember from my fuzzy human memories. I risked stopping for a second under a tree at the end of the street, scanning everything for any sign of Edward. It took longer than I wanted, but eventually I found him halfway down on the opposite side of the street from Angela's house, in the front yard of a family that was out of town on a off season vacation.

I ran to him without really thinking, and what I found sent waves of pain up my spine. His eyes were motionless, his head nearly sheared off and his right arm severed and laying next to him. I fell to my knees in shock and devastation, I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. I stared for what felt like hours, but I knew it had only been seconds when the phone I had inadvertently stolen from Esme rang.

I answered. "He's gone." Was all I could say. I felt numb and could almost understand why my father looked so lifeless.

"Bella, is he burned?" Carlisle asked rather curiously.

"No, but he's in pieces." I replied helplessly.

"I need you to press those pieces together and hold them in place." Carlisle spoke as if instructing a toddler. However, it gave me hope. I dropped the phone into the grass and leaned down to press Edward's neck back together. For five long seconds nothing happened. And then the seam started to knit back together, and as it completely mended life flashed back into his eyes. He sat up and stared at me wordlessly, and I threw my arms around him.

"Bella?" He said my name in a whisper. I pulled back and looked him in the eyes, and all I could see was the man I loved. All the pain and anger were gone, so I leaned forward and kissed him. He was momentarily stiff, but quickly melted into me. After a very long kiss we finally parted, and I cupped his chin in my hands.

"Well, I'm never leaving your side again." I said feeling overwhelmed. His smile was so pure and happy, that I felt my heart swell as we leaned in to kiss again.

"He took me by surprise, but at least Mason was…" I shook my head.

"Something must've happened. They got her." I spoke softly, almost afraid to say the words. It felt like admitting she was dead, and a faint hope in my heart withered as I delivered the news. I felt my face fall into losing all emotion external emotion, inside I felt myself scream, as my rage slammed against my shield cracking it down the middle.

"I guess it doesn't matter how they did it. I just want to know how we get her back." He looked angry. But I was sure nothing could match the seething hatred I was feeling.

"Was I fool?" Mason's voice surprised us both and we looked up and over at him standing only five feet away.

"Mason, he wants you come alone." I almost couldn't meet his eyes as I spoke, and he immediately shut his eyes tightly, clenching his jaw. Then he nodded once, anguish crossed his face, and then anger. I loved Angela, but in that instant, I knew he was in love with her. When he opened his eyes, I couldn't see any hope left in him.

"Where?" He said softly, although I wasn't sure if his anger was directed at us or the two that kidnapped her.

"In the baseball field, he wants you to come alone." I said, my voice almost breaking from the emotions that were overwhelming me. He nodded once, and was gone.

The scream welling up from inside me, broke through my shield and as I released it, the inhuman sound shattered the glass of the homes nearby. Edward acted quickly and scooped me up into his arms. He carried me towards home so fast that I thought I was imagining the speed. When we were out of the earshot of human ears he stopped and set me carefully on the ground.

"I trust him, he'll bring her back I know it." Edward said, locking eyes with me as he took a hold of my shoulders.

"This is my fault. She shouldn't even be a part of our lives!" I felt so helpless, despite the power in my body there was nothing I could do.

"I thought I was the one who overreacts." He gave me a halfhearted smirk, but it didn't work. The deep funk I had fallen into was driving me a little crazy. "Bella, you can't blame yourself. I know we'll see her again; Alice would've known if she was going to die."

"Really, like her visions have been that reliable lately!" The vile emotions seizing me spat out the insult without thought, but Edward took it in stride.

"You can't blame her for that, and the important stuff I still trust her with. Even if we can't be sure of her power, I'm sure of her." Edward was holding me at arm's length, and it was almost as if he were holding me in place. I was momentarily frustrated with him and shrugged away from his touch. He looked a little hurt and returned his arms to his side. Even though his minor pain managed to affect me a little, I was still too consumed by guilt to fully care.

I stood up and ran as fast and far as I could into the endless woods. I felt Edward's presence behind me, but he was far enough back to give me space. I ran without purpose until I broke a tree line and found myself in large clearing. A light layer of snow covered the dead grass and the full moon made the entire field sparkle like I was looking into a reflection of myself in full daylight.

It took him a long minute to come up behind me, but his touch calmed me finally. I rested my hands over his, which were wrapped around my waist. "We just told the ancient man that the woman he's in love with was kidnapped." I looked over my shoulder at Edward who sighed with understanding.

"I know, he let me into his mind for a second as he left. The message was clear, if he saves her, they'll be back. If he doesn't, he's going to the Volturi to end it." I looked back into Edward's eyes and I could see guilt in his face. "If my ability worked like it used too, I would've heard James' mind as he approached. Instead I almost died, and Angela…"

"Edward…" I stopped myself from saying anything overly familiar, I wasn't ready to dive into our relationship full tilt just yet. "It wasn't your fault."

"Then who is to blame? Where was Mason?" Edward asked shaking his head, and then something caught his attention.

"Alice is in trouble." He took my hand and we were moving through the forest at what felt like my top speed. As we got closer, I could hear the wolves barking and yapping at something.

"I can't let you take him!" Alice's voice was threatening, angry.

"You're all making this so hard, I'm so sorry." The other voice was Jacob, I had no doubt. I let go of Edward's hand and angled myself towards that voice. A second later I slammed into Jacob with as much force as I could. He flew back nearly fifty feet and as he landed, he shifted into a wolf. He launched himself at me, only skidding to a stop in the last five feet. The other three wolves all yapped at him, and he howled once before turning and running towards the West, fast, nearly as fast as I was just running.

I turned toward Alice, happy with myself, until my vision tracked down and found something out of a nightmare. My dad, pale and prone on the forest floor. A large gash in his throat seeping, and his body convulsing. I looked at Alice who shook her head. Alice closed her eyes in pain, then shook her head again. I looked at her suspiciously, it was plain on her face that she was ashamed of something.

"Alice, now isn't the time. Tell me what happened to Charlie!" She opened her eyes and couldn't fully meet mine.

"I told him the truth, and then." Her voice trailed off, but I could guess the rest. In her misguided attempt to make me happy she tried to turn him. "I'm so sorry Bella I never meant to..." I felt my hand flying before I had a chance to understand my action. The slap was deafening, and it left a strange dark imprint on her cheek for a long second. She reached up and touched her cheek, and then looked at me with such a look of guilt and fear that I took a step back from her.

"It was the red-head. I visited your father, I had to tell him. I couldn't stand to see him like that." Alice shut her eyes and lowered her head in shame. I reached out, tempted to throw a punch this time. Instead I placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. She flinched, and then fell into my arms.

"I'm so sorry, I found him like this just after the wolves scared her off. Then I started to run home and they caught up to me." Alice was shaking her head and talking in panic.

"Then you did something I didn't have the resolve to do. But, Alice, your timing sucks, they have Angela." Alice's eyes flew open and she shook her head in confusion.

"No, I saw her, no. She's still alive, we go to the mall. I don't understand…" Alice pulled away and fell back into a nearby tree and collapsed under the weight of her anger and confusion, weeping into her arms. Edward motioned for me to pick up my father. I swallowed once, and gave him a curt nod, before leaning down.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm here dad. I'm going to take you to a safe place, and when you wake, we'll explain everything." I gently picked him up, and a part of my mind broke a little as I took in the fact, I was holding my own father. A concept that would've been impossible for me, even when I had my legs. I didn't know what to do, I looked at Charlie for a long moment and then back at Edward in a loss of what to do next. I needed time to process everything and it didn't help that my best friend's life was still in mortal peril. He picked up Alice, who was still curled into herself, and together he led me towards home.

Esme and Carlisle were already waiting, and Esme immediately called at Edward. "Give her to me." Edward gently transferred Alice over to Esme, who quickly retreated into the house.

Carlisle helped me get my father onto a couch in his office, and then pulled me into a hug. I didn't feel like I wanted it at first, but after a moment I just buried myself in his chest, feeling my body shake from tear-less sobs. We stood that way for a long time, his patience endless. Eventually I cried myself out, and as I pulled away, he gave me the warmest smile.

"I'll look after him, he'll be fine Bella." He gave me a father's reassurance, and some of the guilt lessened from my shoulders.

I quickly turned away and ran out the back of the house. Heavy moonlight drifted down from the broken clouds and made my crystalline skin glow softly in undulating patterns. For a long time, I stood alone with my thoughts until the sun rose in the sky above me. It took me all night to realize that there was nothing I could've done and there was no one to blame. The indignation and fury that felt so natural to me when we were caught up in the chaos of the attack, was gone, and all I was left with was a deep ache. Edward eventually joined me, he didn't touch me or try to comfort me. Instead he simply stood next to me, his expression just as tortured as my own.

"Alice will be okay, I think." Edward said cautiously.

"I should apologize, it wasn't her fault." I shook my head; the word fault was starting to sound wrong to me. "I'm not ready to talk about the kiss, but I'm not angry with you anymore. Tomorrow, if Angela lives, maybe we can start again." I said, not quite able to look over at him as I spoke, but I did steal a glance after I was done and found a happy smile and a look of hope on his face. He reached out and offered his hand, which I took and squeezed it tightly.

"Now we wait." He said turning back towards the wilderness in the vague direction of the baseball field.

"She's alive, she has to be alive." Was all I had left to say. My father was suffering, my family was being threatened by wolves, and yet all I cared about was my best friend's life hanging off the ledge of fate. My only hope was an ancient vampire, whose motivations were as secret as his past.