A/N: Rapid fire update three!
Bella
I give Beau three minutes before I start laying down the protection spell. I move fast, chanting low under my breath. I am thrumming with power, enough for me to shake with it. The spell is bright, perhaps the strongest one I've done.
I stumble back a few paces once it's done, every part of my body sore. I try to gasp, desperately needing air. Suddenly, I drop, my legs unable to support me anymore. I sit there for a while, minutes slipping past faster than I can count them.
Eventually, my breathing evens out, and I can take real breaths again. Vaguely, I hear my phone vibrating in the car, where I've left my door open. Thank god. They know we're gone. It'll only be a matter of minutes now.
That's when I hear it, the scream.
Beau.
Oh god.
I stare down the road, desperate for my family. It's still, quiet, no indication of any cars. No one is coming, not yet. I am the only person here. The only person who can save Beau.
I force myself up, throw myself into the ballet studio. The scene is awful, blood and broken glass. Beau is gasping, crumpled on the floor.
"Leave him alone!" I scream. Somehow, my voice holds steady despite my fear. The only other vampires I've ever met are the Denali clan, but they all had the same comforting golden eyes my family does. They are safe.
The vampire in here with us is anything but. His eyes are deeper than ruby, a startling visceral color ringed with black. Hungry, human-killing monster.
There is a real chance I'll die.
Beau gasps again and I am shaken out of my reverie. That's my family there, and no one can get away with hurting them. The hunter cocks his head, laughing a little.
"What's this? I can hear your heartbeat, but I can't smell you." For some reason, his word anger me, and I summon as much power as I can. It surges through me so fast it almost knocks me breathless. I am filled with it and for once, it is mine to control.
"Shut up!" I choke out. The power is heavy, and for it second it threatens to overpower me, but I wrest it back under my control. There's something there, thrumming and alive underneath me. It's buried so deep I can barely feel it, but it's there, pulsing and real.
Ley line.
I've read about them, even tried to find them, but my power never reached them. For a while, I thought they simply didn't exist, but now I realize the problem had been me. I couldn't have found them when I'd been so afraid of my power.
All my training had been focused on keeping my power down and under control. Safe. Ley lines didn't respond to safe. They need ferocity and raw will. After all, power only responds to power.
For minutes, I'm rooted to the spot, taking in the enormity of the power at my fingertips. The pure magic is intoxicating, pulsing along the line. I can feel how far they spread out, and for a second, I am whizzing along the lines, seeing things I've never seen, places, people, and possibility.
The hunter is speaking, and then he's attacking Beau, but the line has me, sampling me, coursing through me, waiting to see if I burn out or if I can wield it.
"Enough!"
The power bends to me the second I command it to. I set my sights on the hunter and will the power into existence. I'm undecided about how to channel it, and suddenly, a memory flits out, from when I was small. The hurricanes I would create in my nightmares come to life, so strong even my brothers couldn't break through.
Air beginning to swirl through the room, winds so fierce they threatened to steal the very air from our lungs to join their thrall.
Thankfully, it's then that my family comes. It's like every memory I had of my little hurricanes. Edward fights desperately to push through, trying to get to Beau. The hunter is trapped against the wall, thrashing hard. He remains trapped.
At the epicenter of the wind tunnel are Beau and I. Somehow, I made my way over to him, and together we made the eye of the storm.
"Bella!" Edward's wasn't more than a desperate plea, and it took me a moment to ease the power, to lessen it. I will the winds to slow, and the hunter drops, gasping despite not needing to breathe. The group divides, Jasper and Emmett taking the hunter while Edward, Alice, and Carlisle rush to Beau.
I drop to my knees, breathing hard. My head is spinning, and I can barely hear the noise over the ringing in my ears. God, it hurts. My entire body is an open wound and the receding ley line is salt in the wound. I groan softly, pushing myself to sit.
The hunter snarls, slamming his arm into Jasper's head. All three of them are snarling, snapping, but the hunter is powerful. He very nearly has the upper hand. The ley line is there, right on the edge of my power. I pull it towards me, slow and precise. I let a ribbon of it funnel out of my grasp.
It wraps around the hunter's neck, arms, and legs, loose and waiting on my command. I wait for a moment, trying to see if this will be an easy win. My brothers are tired, weak from thirst and expending their power during the track.
I pull the ribbons.
James, the hunter, falls apart like a marionette doll with its strings cut. My brothers leap apart, startled and still on their guard. Jasper looks over to me, stunned, and it doesn't take Emmett long to figure out what happened.
"Start the fire," Emmett says. He rushes to me, gathering me up in his arms. He takes me to the lobby, setting me on the counter.
"Bells?" he asks, voice warped with fear. "Tell me you're okay. Tell me where it hurts."
The sentences contradicted themselves, commands really. Behind me, the fire roars and Beau screams. I blink hard, and suddenly my vision goes red. It jolts me all the way back into myself. My eyes are bleeding, and by the warm trickle along both sides of my neck, so are my ears. I can taste blood on my lips. My nose too, I guess.
"I…" I swipe away come of the blood covering my mouth. "I don't know."
"What do you mean? Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" Emmett's voice takes a strange panicked edge, something I've never heard in his voice.
"My whole body's sore," I say slowly, trying to catalogue all the different sensations. My body is aching from the over exertion, but the surge of power from the ley line has sent massive amounts of adrenaline coursing through my veins. Eventually, I'll feel the pain.
"God, Bells, your eyes," he murmurs, gently thumbing away the blood under them. I blink rapidly, but it doesn't really hurt. Mostly, it feels like I woke up from a sob-induced nap. Strained, not hurt. "Your ears too."
"I can hear just fine," I mumble, gingerly probing them. There's a dull ache deep in my ears and my fingers come away bloody. Just then, Jasper stumbles into the lobby. Emmett takes one look at him and herds him outside.
I sit on the counter, trying to take deep breaths. Finally, Edward, my dad, and Alice emerge. Beau is cradled in Edward's arms, his long limbs tucked in like he's in the fetal position.
"Oh, Bella," my dad gasps. Frankly, I think it's just the eye blood that makes him nervous. "Are—"
"You have to focus on Beau," I say sharply. "I'm fine, daddy, I promise." Edward hustles Beau out to the cars, setting him one of them. He calls impatiently to my dad, who nods.
"Once Beau is stable, I'll be there to look after you," he says. "For now, your brothers will have to do. Alice—"
"I understand." She's covered in blood, her delicate features pinched up in fear. "I'll take care of it, but I need to see Jasper first. Come on, Bella."
She doesn't even give me a chance to hop down, instead sweeping me into her arms. She runs me over to where Jasper and Emmett are. Jasper is sitting on the ground, face tucked between his knees.
"Just so you know," Alice says. "I'm beyond mad at you right now."
"I know," I mutter, chagrinned. She hands me over to Emmett, who perches me on his forearm.
"Seriously kid, I hope you're ready to get the riot act seven times over," he says, surprisingly serious. Jasper, having breathed in a sufficient amount of clean air, straightens up.
"I'm first," he says, frowning deeply at me. "What possessed to do that, Bella? I know you're not stupid."
"Look, the building's about to explode, can you yell at me later?" I whine. Alice sighs, gesturing to the car Beau and I can in.
"Hand her to Jasper," she says.
"I can walk, seriously," I protest, but no one bothers to listen to me.
"You got blood coming out of your eyes," Jasper says, gathering me up. "I'm not listening to a word you say right now."
While he gets me strapped in, Alice and Emmett have a quiet conversation, and Emmett sags, clearly disappointed. Jasper sighs in solidarity, whatever it is.
"What?" This, too, goes ignored. Alice takes off and Emmett makes his way to the car, folding himself into the passenger seat. "What?"
"Never mind, we gotta yell at you," Emmett says.
The three-and-a-half-hour drive takes half the time, but I still have to listen to Jasper and Emmett take turns pontificating on how profoundly stupid I was being. They yell until we pull into the garage, all the way home.
My mother stands in the doorway to the garage, waiting anxiously. A smile blooms across her face at the sight of us, and I scramble to get out of the car to get to her. She's there in a heartbeat, holding me close and suddenly my throat closes up. I was so terrified I'd never to get to see her again.
I can't bring myself to regret my choices, because I understand the panic Beau must've felt. Even my own family wouldn't have been able to stop me if it was my mom in danger, or even under the suspicion of being in danger.
"Oh, baby, what happened to you?" she asks, gently wiping away the residual blood on my face. Thankfully, everything's stopped bleeding. Unfortunately, that means the pain is coming.
"She was being dumb is what happened," Emmett announces. "Hey, Rose." My sister comes into view and I recoil a little at her expression. Someone must've told her what happened. Alice.
"We know what happened, but I don't understand how you could possibly be so monumentally stupid," Rose bites out. Emmett give me a sheepish little smile. That's the brilliant thing about my brother; he can't be angry to save his life, it's just not in him. He wraps Rose up in a tight hug, reclaiming her attention.
"We can talk about this later, but right now, I need to take care of my baby," Mom declares.
"I drew her a bath," Rose says, a slight twitch to her lips that says despite her anger, she's happy to see me. Mom rushes me upstairs, helping me into the bath. I groan, explaining about the pain and the power. She gentle with me, carefully washing me while I tell her about the ley line and how I took apart the hunter.
"It must be some sort of energy exchange," Mom says, carefully washing my hair. I feel like a little kid, safe and warm, wrapped up in the safety of my family. "You could borrow energy, but you had to pay it back with your own energy. And when you couldn't, your body had to make some, hence the pain."
"I'll be fine," I promise. Already to pain is starting to leech away in the hot water. "Is Chief Swan okay?"
"He's perfectly safe," Mom says, rinsing me off. "He woke up a few hours ago and got the message that Beau was trying to surprise his mother. He's been trying to reach him. You father will call him with the cover as soon as Beau is stable."
"Did you hear from dad about Beau?"
"We did," Rosalie says, letting herself into the bathroom. Mom helps me into an oversized robe, tying it snug around me. Rose sighs, crossing the room in a nanosecond to pull me into her arms.
"I'm so thankful you're alright," she sighs, pressing a kiss to my wet hair. "You can have tonight to rest, but you better believe you're going to get it tomorrow."
"That's more than I deserve," I joke. Rose rolls her eyes, a wry smile on her lips. She and mom help me back into my room, where they help me into my PJ's. I half-expect them to the be the footie pajamas of my pre-k days. Rose deftly brushes and braid my hair out of my face and tucks me in.
Suddenly, it occurs to me that both Rose and Mom got into my room without having to ask.
"What happened to my protection spell?" I ask. I struggle to get out of bed, and with Rose's help, we walk the perimeter of my room as I feel around for the spell. It's in shards, splintered and useless. It must've happened when I let go of the ley line, all my spells must've shattered to make room and energy to withstand the ley line.
Suddenly, I was weary of the power, and all thoughts of seeking it out again couldn't be trusted. I sigh, disappointed. I long for the rush of power the ley line gives me, but if a complete lack of control was the price, I couldn't afford it.
The aches in my body make their presence known again, and I stumble back into bed, burrowing deep into the comforter.
"Mom, will you—" I suddenly break off, embarrassed. I haven't had to crawl into bed with my mom in nearly a decade, but the thought of being here alone is almost too much to bear.
"Of course, sweetheart," she says, wrapping me in a blanket so I won't get cold. Once I'm bundled, she pulls me into her arms, cradling and crooning to me, voice sweeter than honey. The exhaustion hits and sleep pulls me in. I'm awake just long enough to register Rose kissing my forehead goodnight.
I sleep like the dead, but my sleep is anything but restful. I dream of monsters, red-eyed and hungry, chasing Beau and me. I'm faster, but Beau keeps stumbling. Every time I double back to save him, he begs me to just let him go. I dream about Alice in a cold, dark cell, getting her hair shorn for electroshock therapy. Doctors covered in sterile gowns and mask laugh at her, threaten lobotomies, but she doesn't respond, just staring ahead with a dead-eyed stare.
I jolt awake when I dream of the shocks, the bolts of lightning that made her little body jump. Mom is there, soothing me and coaxing me into wakefulness. Suddenly, I'm embarrassed at my childish neediness, and I assure her I can manage by myself.
"Okay," she says, smoothing back my hair. "I'm going to go fix you some breakfast."
Breakfast comes with a side of lectures, this time from the tag-team of Rosalie and Alice. They take turns yelling at me too, and unlike their husbands, they're decidedly more eloquent. Rosalie rattles off her grievances with such color and ferocity, I have to slump into my seat, like curling up into a ball will make it easier to bear. Alice tells me, in vivid detail, just how terrified she was, and how Jasper had to use every ounce of his power to keep her calm enough to think.
They both fizzle out after an hour, both of them thankful that not only I was alive, but Beau was too. Well. Alice was. Rosalie made no comment on the Beau front.
"So, what's the official story?" I ask, finally returning to my now cold pancakes and eggs.
"Just boys being boys," Alice says with a smirk. "The official story is that they both wanted to impress each other, so on the way up to Seattle to surprise Beau's mom, Edward let Beau drive the jeep. He lost control over the car when a deer ran out into the road and they crashed. Edward has a broken arm, but Beau got thrown through the window. Chief Swan and his mother are at hospital. Beau had surgery—broken femur and blood loss—but it's good."
"So, he'll be okay?" I make sure.
"Definitely," Alice assures me. "Edward wanted me to tell you thank you."
"How'd he get through the hospital with his fake broken arm?"
"Carlisle pulled some strings and got him 'treated' at home." Alice snickers, probably thinking of Edward and his fake sling. "He only has to wear it for a few weeks."
"I can't believe we had to sacrifice the jeep," Emmett says, glum. Jasper knocks a loose fist into his shoulder.
"We'll get you something just as good," he assures him. "A behemoth."
"It better be," he says. Everyone laughs at that, tensions eased. I could breathe easier now, physically and emotionally. The worst of the pain had passed when I was asleep and knowing that my family was safe made me smile, delirious with relief.
We were finally going to going to be okay again.
A/N: Let me know that you thought! Also, just a heads up, I'm completely redoing the prom scenes. I hated that Edward just snatched away Bella's agency in the books and made her do something she clearly didn't want to do. Of course, it won't be Bella/Beau without some resistance to prom, but at least they're not being forced against their will!