These characters and ideas all belong to my girls and yours, Stephanie Meyer
E-POV
"There's one all on his own. How convenient." The thoughts to the stray vampire froze my already dead heart. I tore Bella off the bed.
"Edward?" Her voice was confused, but unfortunately, I had no time to explain.
"He's there with a human." The vampire told his companion.
"Are the Cullen's actually coming around?"
"No, it smells like Vervain. It's not a human for drinking"
Fuck. They already smelled the human. I tried to listen to figure out if one of them had an enhanced sense of smell, but their thoughts were both on their stealth. I shoved Bella's arms in the sleeves of her coat, trying not to be careless in my haste.
I hope it's not the telepath in there.
I allowed myself a brief smile at that, and then broke down the door and rushed Bella and myself out of the cabin. They would be on my trail soon, but if I could get Bella to a car, there might be a chance she could get away. They smelled the Vervain on her—thank god—they won't want her blood.
As I was calculating the quickest, most complicated route home, I heard Emmett's and Rosalie's thoughts were approaching. I intercepted their path easily.
"Alice—" Rose started, but I tucked Bella into her arms before she could finish.
"Get her to Esme. Now." I all but snarled. For once, Rosie didn't argue with my decision. I heard Bella cry out my name when Rosalie took off.
"How many?" Emmett asked. We were taking a new route back to the other vampires so we could cut them off.
"I heard two."
"Easy. Go be with your human; I can take them."
"I'd rather be safe than sorry, Em."
What a priss.
Before I could roll my eyes, they were upon us. There were two: a male and a female. The female's eyes widened at the sight of Emmett and she was suddenly thrilled for this mountain to dismantle.
She sprung for Emmett. Meanwhile, I went for the male. His attacks were thoughtful, which was perfect for me. He considered my weaknesses and decided I was faster than I was strong. So, it would be a sparring match, then. I smiled. He decided to go for my "pretty face" first. I was careful to not cut off his attack too quickly as I had with my last encounter. I couldn't have him figure out which Cullen I was just yet.
I could see Emmett trying to pin down his opponent, but it was like watching a game of whack-a-mole. Her moves were swift, smart, and feline. But Emmett's brawn has yet to meet its match, and I doubted that would happen tonight.
I focused back onto my own fight, his fist flew towards my face, but I deftly side-stepped and tore off the offending hand. He growled and dove at me with his teeth bared. I ducked out of the way and put my hand where he was planning to bite to grab his jaw and I ripped it off. I threw it deep into the woods. He won't be able to talk, but that won't stop me from getting the information I'll need later on. He was distracted by my quick movements and his suddenly missing face long enough for me to kick his legs out from under him. I stepped on him, one foot on his chest, the other foot on his wrist. Done.
I listened to his mental voice while he was writhing in agony, and realized with a start that this was not the male voice I heard earlier. Fuck. There was a third! I tore off into the woods towards the house, towards Bella.
Soon, I found his voice. The vile creature had split up with his partners and was chasing after my beautiful Bella
I watched through the detestable villain's eyes as he caught up to Rosalie and pulled her by her long, blonde hair. Rose twisted gracefully and allowed Bella to tumble out of her arms. The vampire snatched Bella from the air, she cried out in pain, and my legs kicked into overdrive at the sound. He gave her a sniff, was repulsed by the scent of Vervain on her blood, and threw her to the ground.
The male vampire was now focused on Rosalie, so I could not see what happened to Bella. I prayed that my darling was crawling away to hide.
I switched over to Rose's thoughts in time to see her throw an elbow in the vampire's face followed by a swift kick to the gut. He stumbled back from the impact and smiled venomously. I switched over to his head to hear him pride himself on bringing his secret weapon. Rosalie took another step to position herself for a roundhouse kick. Before she could her attack, the vampire pulled a small pouch of and threw its contents at her face. Rosalie shrieked, clawing at the invisible flames she felt on her face. Vervain. He pulled her up to leer at her one last time before he finished her off. "Pity, what a beautiful face to waste."
Suddenly, there was a sharp pain on his back. He released Rose and whirled at the offender. A small, human girl was standing behind him, holding a pencil covered in his blood.
NO! I screamed. What was she thinking? What was she doing? He would die from her stab to the heart, but not quickly enough. He still had enough time to take her down with him.
"You little bitch!" he snarled, about to lunge at her. I prayed for a miracle; I was seconds from grabbing her.
My miracle came in the form of Rosalie, who took advantage of this distraction to kick his legs out from under him. Now, they were both sprawled on the ground.
He screamed in fury once more as I burst through the trees and snatched up my Bella. Then, I heard the distinct crack of a human bone and Bella scream in pain. The sound ripped through me, stopping me in my track. I turned to see the vampire's hand wrapped around my darling's tiny calf. In his final dying moments, he broke my angel.
Red filled vision. I wanted to destroy this monster. I wanted to remove all evidence that he ever even existed. Bella's tiny whimper brought me back to reality. She was hurt; she needed me to help her, not avenger her. I left this shithole to die, just not as slowly and as painfully as I wanted him to.
I ran as quickly as I dared with my delicate cargo, careful not to jostle her. I prayed that Alice had seen this play out, and Carlisle was at the house awaiting my beautiful patient. In fact, I swore I could hear Jasper's distant thoughts coming up towards me and running past towards the scene of the attack.
"Carlisle!" I screamed as I approached the house. Bless him, bless Alice, bless all of the gods in the heavens and below—Carlisle was waiting for me in his Mercedes with the engine running and the passenger door wide open.
I ran right into the car. Carlisle peeled the engine and we shot out of the driveway before I could properly shut the door.
"Alice just called. Thankfully Esme and I were already back at the house," Carlisle told me. "I have one of the nurses prepping a space for Bella right now."
Carlisle thought about the nurse in his mind; the poor thing had such an obvious crush on him, and he felt guilty for exploiting that crush. I was relieved.
"Edward," Bella mumbled. Her head was still tucked under my chin.
"I am so sorry, sweetheart. I am going to fix you right up, I promise."
"You're premed," she complained.
"Don't worry, Bella," Carlisle chuckled. "I will be the one actually fixing your leg. Edward's your emotional support."
"Thank god," she sighed.
I sprinkled her face and hair with gentle kisses the entire drive, to comfort both her and myself. She was alive. She was safe. She will be okay.
We arrived at the hospital in record time. Oddly enough, Bella seemed as familiar as the process as Carlisle was. She patiently bore the weight of the protective apron and didn't bat an eye as Carlisle fired up the x-ray equipment. It wasn't long before we had an image of my darling's cracked bone. Looking at it made me anxious—it was horrifying how breakable humans were.
After that, I followed Carlisle into the prepped exam room with Bella tucked safely into my chest—Carlisle's lovesick nurse has prepped it with all the necessary supplies to bind a broken bone.
Carlisle retrieved a needle's worth of morphine, to numb the pain. Bella's break was clean, but Carlisle still needed to set the bone so it could heal properly.
I laid Bella on the paper-covered vinyl exam table. As Carlisle stuck the harmless little needle in her arm, Bella's eyes squeezed tightly in the first distress I'd seen all night.
I wanted to roll my eyes. My love stabbed a vampire through the back with a pencil without hesitation but flinched at a little needle. My beautiful, perfect, backward Bella.
"That should take effect quickly, then we can get to work, Bella."
"I can't believe in just one semester of college I've encountered three horny vampires," Bella mused in her drugged-up stupor.
I frowned. "Three?" I asked. Was there an attack I missed or was just the drugs talking?
She smiled at me sleepily, "What? You're not horny?"
All I could do was shake my head at that.
Carlisle was fighting a smile. "All right, it sounds like the morphine as taken hold," he continued on professionally, "This will hurt a bit, but the drug should take the edge off."
He looked pointedly at Bella's leg and I let go of her hand to hold it steady at her thigh. Carlisle's hands jerked ever so slightly, and I heard Bella bone slide in place with a sickening crunching sound.
I held Bella in a sitting position as Carlisle worked on the cast, first wrapping a protective lining around her leg, then beginning with the plaster.
Edward. How long are you planning on keeping her human? This was the best-case scenario for a fiasco like this.
"I know, Carlisle," I spoke in a low volume that Bella could not hear. It broke my heart to see her hurt at my hands. "We haven't really talked about it, yet. I've been taking the cowardly way out of this," I admitted, embarrassed of my weakness.
That doesn't sound like you, son.
I sighed, "I was planning on staying with her as a human until she explicitly asked me to become a vampire."
Doesn't that seem a bit deceptive?
"Rose gave me the idea. I was skeptical at first, but she did make some good points. I'm worried that if I'm the one to bring it up, she'll think it's what I want, and turn for me. But I don't want her to turn for anyone but herself. I don't want to put any pressure on her."
Carlisle thought about that for a few moments as he worked. He didn't have to ask if I would still want her in sickness or old age, because he knew the answer. If the roles were reserved, he would want Esme always and forever, and he knew it would be the same for Bella and me. Instead, he asked a different question.
And what will you do in the end?
"I will follow her as soon as I can," I admitted.
Carlisle did not like the answer. I knew he would mourn me, but he could not expect me to live on endlessly without my mate. And if she did not wish for immortality, I no longer had any use for it.
Carlisle finished the cast faster than any human doctor could dare to dream. Bella's head lulled back, sleepy from morphine.
"Thank you," I whispered to Carlisle.
Anything for you, son. Anything for her.
I smiled. "Not to exploit your generosity, but can I ask one more thing of you?"
His thoughts were confused but reassuring.
"I need to be sure she still feels safe with me after…" I couldn't finish the thought. "Could you give us a moment?"
That's a simple favor. I'll fetch the car and meet you out front. Take your time.
Carlisle left us.
I wound my fingers into Bella's silky hair, "Bella?" I whispered. "I need you to be coherent for just one moment, sweetheart."
She licked my wrist. "You taste cool and crisp. Like a cucumber."
That would have to be coherent enough. "Do you still want to stay with me tonight? Or would you like me to take you home?"
"I am home." Another lick.
I laughed. Whether it was out of relief that she still wanted me or at her adorable silliness, I wasn't sure. Perhaps a bit of both. "Alright sweetheart, you can stay. As long as you still feel safe with me." I lifted her from the hospital bed and cradled her against my chest, her head settled against my shoulder.
She licked my jaw, "I feel safe with you," she whispered.
"What kind of bitch-ass vampire attacks another vampire with Vervain?" I heard Rosalie complaining as we turned onto our long driveway. "It's bullshit!"
I grimaced. Rose deserved a very extravagant gift for what she did for Bella tonight. Carlisle and I walked in the door to a macabre sight. Rosalie held one of Emmett's feet in her hand, relocating the toe bones. The left side of her face was burned from the Vervain, but she otherwise looked okay. Emmett did not look so good. Along with his detached foot, his right humerus popped out at a strange angle. Alice was perched on the arm of the couch beside him, pushing his nose this way and that, trying to get the shape right. I was glad Bella was sound asleep in my arms. She had seen enough horrors for one evening.
"Carlisle." Rosalie breathed, relieved. "We were waiting for you to do the arm," she rolled her eyes at her husband, "Emmett didn't trust me with 'the guns'."
"It is my responsibility as the eye candy of this family to treat the goods with the utmost care, baby."
Rosalie smiled to herself. "Whatever."
"Where's Jasper?" I asked. I couldn't hear his mental voice.
"Gathering the vampire you tore apart," Emmett answered. "He'll want us to be there when he questions him."
"Fine. I'll get her upstairs. Esme, could you watch her tonight? Make sure she's alright?"
"Of course." Esme and I traveled up the stairs together. Once Bella was safely tucked into bed and my mother was lounged on my sofa with a book, I went down to meet my brother.
"So man," Emmett asked while we ran through the trees, "What were you and Bella up to in the special cabin."
I growled, not in the mood for this, "Just because I have to hear everything about your sex life doesn't mean you're going to find out anything about mine!"
"Touchy."
"Yeah, I'm touchy, you big galoot. My girlfriend almost died tonight! She's at home with a broken leg because of me!"
"Dude, Bella loves you. She isn't going to hold any of that against you."
"Well, she should," I snarled. I slowed us to a walk. I could hear Jasper's metal voice now.
"Finally," Jasper sighed when Emmett and I came into sight. He was sitting on the forest floor beside the vampire from my first encounter, using his enhanced empathy to keep this guy sedated. The feelings of peace and safety Jasper was emitting was so strong it was almost tangible. He was really laying it on thick; this vampire must have been livid. Jasper had gotten this vampire almost fully intact again: he was only missing his jaw and his left leg.
Jasper knelt beside him and forced this vampire to feel friendly towards the three of us.
"Hey friend, I'm here to help you," Jasper said, slipping into his Southern drawl.
The vampire was perplexed. He didn't understand why he felt so amicable towards this stranger. All he knew what that he trusted this guy to keep him safe and that confused him more.
Jasper pointed at me, "My brother over there can read minds. So if you can just think for us who you are, and what you need in these parts, we can help you get on your way. Let's start with your name. Can you think your name for us?"
Laurent
"Laurent," I repeated for them.
"Laurent? Well, Laurent, I am pleased to meet you, My name's Jasper. That's my brother Edward, and my other brother Emmett. We're here to help you. Let us hear your tale, and we'll go and see if we can find these pesky missing parts of yours, you got that?"
Laurent began his tale for his bizarre new friend. I repeated the words he thought aloud for my brothers to hear.
"For over four hundred years I roamed the Canadian Wilderness on my own." He smiled to himself. "I'm a bit of a legend in those parts. Literally. You can study the spiritual traditions of the Algonquian-speaking First Nations. There, you will see legends of a cannibalistic monster that preys on the weak and socially disconnected. Yours Truly.
"They were damn close, unfortunately, the tales of my own conquest soon transformed into essentially cautionary tales about isolation and selfishness, and the importance of community. However, it was fun to see some of my best work memorialized in their legends.
"Idiots.
"One day about three years ago, I was approached by a new vampire. He gave a cautionary tale of his own: a tale where our kind was dying out despite how strength and power.
"He told me there was a great vampire, a powerful vampire with a dream. He said apart, we were growing weak, but if we could come together and create a large coven, we would grow stronger. Begin to live a life of luxury rather than living as beasts in the wilderness.
"By the time I was recruited, he had gained enough followers to have others do the dirty work for him. He has incredible talent on his side. He began his coven by seeking humans with "potential" and turning them. Once, he had a suitable number of powerful followers, he sought out existing vampires to join his crusade. He has a vampire who can sense other vampire's talents, he has a vampire who can shield themselves and others in a way that other vampires cannot sense their presence. He has vampires with dark powers even nightmares would fear. James—the vampire you just destroyed—is his most prized tracker.
As Laurent recalled his mission, Jasper's control on his emotions was slipping. He was unable to quell the anger, the hate. Laurent's thoughts became a great lightning-filled cloud of chaos and destruction. It took a while before he could control his thoughts into sentences I could comprehend.
"When our master discovered the existence of your coven, he was elated. A telepath, an empath, and a psychic all with a close bond with one leader. All he would have to do was convince one of you, and he would gain seven skilled vampires. Until he discovered what monsters you truly were. Living among humans. Disgracing your power by feeding from animals. Killing your own kind.
"When you killed Thomas in the woods, it crossed a line. Laurent recalled the face of the vampire who attacked Bella at the horrid party. His mate. "Thomas could see relationships, and our leader found that enjoyable; he liked to see who was most loyal to him."
It broke his heart when he sent James, Victoria, and I to kill your coven. He would love to see you join our side, but your actions are inexcusable. You could barely defeat the three of us, and our leader will never give up. He has an arsenal of vampires at his disposal, and is willing to create more for his cause."
You will all be punished for what you have done to your brothers."