Chapter 33
When it started to get really dark, Bella crawled to her stomach and approached the tree line. Trying her best to stay low. She could still see the men. They had a flashlight on, pin pointing their location. They had simply sat for the last few hours, watching and waiting for the bunker door to open.
She didn't hear the voices Edward made, but she knew the men had. They stood and looked at each other, asking if they could both hear it. They picked up their gear and began walking towards the trees. Guns cocked and ready to use.
Bella gulped down the anxiety that was threatening to bubble up. She prayed Edward would be safe.
Just as she thought of him she saw fog begin to appear in her father's yard. It wasn't dense enough yet, but she knew it would be. As the seconds ticked by, the fog began to thicken. When it reached her, Bella jumped up and sprinted towards the direction of the bunker. It was difficult to see with the fog cover but she knew she had to try.
"Hey," She heard one of the men call out. And then she heard the sickening sound of gun shots, ringing through the air.
"Edward!" Bella screamed.
It was followed by a downpour of gun shots.
"I'm okay." He called back.
With fierce determination, Bella continued making her way towards the bunker door. It would need to be open for Edward when he made his way back. He didn't sound too far behind her when he had called back to her.
Finally, Bella's foot his something hard. It hurt like hell and she barely stopped herself from falling over. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out the key, unlocked the door and heaved it open. She turned around to face the fog, desperately trying to make out Edward's form. Gun shots could be heard sporadically ringing out across the yard. She prayed Edward hadn't been hit.
"Bella." The fog whispered in Edward's deep voice.
"I'm here." She called back softly. "I can hear you, you're close. Follow the sound of my voice."
There was nothing for a moment and then suddenly the fog was raised above her head. About 30 feet away she saw Edward. He made eye contact with her and then dropped the fog. She'd also seen the two men trying desperately to search for the couple in the distance. They too had seen Edward and Bella when the fog had been raised.
"Hurry!" She called out into the mist.
Footsteps could be heard approaching the door. Beating down heavily on the grass as Edward ran towards her. He made it to Bella and swung her around so that she was on the top step of the bunker staircase. Together they heaved the door up and over and began closing it behind them.
Gun shots continued to ring out, this time accompanied by a loud pings as they hit the bunker door. Bella let out a scream when she felt something pinch her side.
"What happened?" Edward called out as they closed the door.
"Just lock it." Bella requested.
Edward spun the dial to lock the door, just as the men slammed into it. They could hear muffled voices on the other side, calling out to the couple. But Bella and Edward turned and started heading down the stairs. At the bottom of the bunker, Carlisle stood in the second door way, welcoming the children back to safety.
"Are you okay?" He asked his son, panic running thickly through his voice.
"I'm fine." Edward insisted. "But Bella, something happened when we were coming in."
Edward and Carlisle both looked to where Bella was slowly making her way down the skinny stair way. She had a hand pressed to her side. Although no blood could be seen, Edward did see how the side of her jacket was ripped to shreds. He ran back up the stairs towards her and helped her the rest of the way down.
"You got our message?" Bella asked when they made their way into the bunker.
There was a loud clang as Carlisle closed and locked the door behind them.
"yes. I was very impressed. The kitchen table, Edward." Carlisle instructed his son.
Edward carefully supported her weight and walked her over to the kitchen. He helped her up onto the table and started taking the layers off her top half carefully. Carlisle joined after a moment with his hospital bag. Each layer, Bella noticed had more and more blood until she was stripped down to just her last layer. It was saturated in blood, sticking to her form.
Carlisle came over and cut the material around the area off. Edward helped her recline back onto the kitchen table and held her hand.
"I don't see an exit wound." Carlisle explained after a moment of contemplation. "I'm going to need to go hunting for it. This will hurt." He said to Bella, making eye contact with her to convey how serious the situation was. "I'll give you something for the pain, but it will still hurt."
Bella nodded and held Edward's hand more tightly. Carlisle took off his belt and placed it in Bella's mouth between her teeth.
"Bite onto this." He instructed. "Not your tongue."
A horrified expressed came over Bella's face but she followed his orders gritting her teeth onto the leather belt. When the medication had spread, Carlisle used his forceps to reach into the bullet wound. Bella could feel the instrument moving around and poking her insides. The sensation made her want to throw up and get the thing out of her.
"I've got it!" Carlisle announced a few moments later.
Bella let out a sigh of relief. She was still in an incredible amount of pain though.
"It looks like the bullet really tore up your insides, Bella. I need to operate. Or you'll bleed out."
"How?" Bella whimpered. Fearing she wouldn't like the response.
"You can't Carlisle. There isn't enough pain medication."
"She'll die, Edward." Carlisle shouted.
The thought made him blanch. He'd just found her, he thought to himself.
"There might be away." Carlisle spoke after a moment. "But not here. We need the moonlight."
"Those men are still out there, Carlisle. They're waiting for us to leave." Edward explained to his father desperately.
"I can incapacitate them. Long enough for us to lock the door and run to the tree line. We have to try."
"Edward. Please." Bella begged.
"Okay." He whispered. "Okay." He repeated with ore conviction.
"You get Bella up the stairs. I'll worry about the rest."
Edward helped Bella sit up again and placed a clean dish cloth on her side where the gaping hole was.
"Keep pressure on it." He insisted, looping his arm around her waist and hoisting her off the table.
Together the group made their way slowly to the door and started up the stair case with Carlisle hot on their heals, making sure Bella didn't fall backwards. When the trio made it to the top of the staircase Carlisle placed his hands on the door and closed his eyes. Bella watched with rapt attention as the door and surrounding walls turned invisible.
"We can see them. But they can't see us." Edward explained in a soft voice. "He needs to know where they are. So, he can knock them out."
Bella looked around as best so she could to help locate the men.
"There." Edward pointed, showing his father where he'd spotted them off to the east.
Closing his eyes again, Carlisle raised his hands and softly spoke a spell under his breathe. Bella watched as the two men fell to the grass below them.
"How come you didn't do that earlier?" She asked Edward cheekily.
"I don't know the spell." He explained and then helped Bella through the door.
She wasn't able to keep up with the pace the men set, so Edward swung her up into his arms and began to jog at a steady pace.
"Am I too heavy?"
"As light as a feather. I'm strong, remember? You just concentrate on not throwing up or bleeding out." He joked, trying to make her smile.
Bella did crack a small smile at Edward's joke before closing her eyes and trying not to scream out in pain. Each time his foot would hit the ground a jolt would run up her body to where the jagged hole was. Her breath was coming out as pants and huffs but it was the best she could do given the pain she was in. Edward and Carlisle ran deeper and deeper into the forest. Bella noticed the air around them becoming thicker and quieter. The only sounds she could hear were her own breaths and the steady footsteps of the men. The deeper they went, the eerier it became and Bella felt like they were being followed. When she told Edward this he shook his head.
"The men will only now be coming to their senses. We're fine." He insisted. "We're alone."
"Not much further." Carlisle offered when Edward was finished reassuring her. "There's an opening up ahead that will work."
Sure enough, after a few minutes she could feel Edward begin to slow down. He placed her against a tree so that she had something to lean against and then left her to get to work. Standing in the middle of the tree opening, Edward raised his hands above his head. The ground under his feet began to tremble and then suddenly rise. Bella couldn't figure out what he was doing because the dirt had made a cloud of dust around him. When he stopped moving and the dust settled Bella could see he'd made a dirt slab, waist high and long enough for her to lay on. It was protruding out of the ground at waist height, she couldn't believe he'd been able to make it so easily. Bella pushed herself away from the tree and began stumbling her way over to the slab, assuming it was for her to lay on. Edward ran to her when he saw her trying to walk over and helped Bella the rest of the way. He half carried her, half dragged her to the dirt pile and lifted her up so that she could lay on it without straining her already exhausted body.
"What will Carlisle do?" She asked hesitantly.
"He needs to heal you using the moon." Edward admitted to her.
"Why?" She asked, trying to be brave, even though she was in an incredible amount of pain.
"It provides him with more power, but first-" Edward suddenly stopped and looked to the sky. His face which had been worried for her changed to deadly concern. "No matter what, you stay on here, okay?" Edward demanded in a strong voice, moving away from her.
"Wait, I don't understand." Bella begged, trying to reach for him.
"I can't explain. I don't have time to." He pleaded, raising his arms and walking around the slab, making a tight circle around it. "You'll be safe in here. Just stay put okay. Promise me!"
"I promise." Bella whispered, still incredibly confused.
Carlisle was by Edward' side in the blink of an eye. The wind had begun to pick up, whipping their hair and clothes around.
"They're upset." Carlisle stated loudly over all the blustering.
"Why?" Edward pleaded.
"We're interfering with their will."
"She's my soulmate, Dad. They can't take her from me." Edward shouted, his voice raising over the now howling wind.
"I know son." Carlisle agreed just as loudly. "But you know how they see these things. And after we tried to stop Richard's death, they're upset."
"What's happening?" Bella called from behind them. "Where did this wind come from?" The end of her question however was cut off by an enormous crash of thunder. The sky lit up with multiple lightning strikes before there was another tremendous crack. It was incredibly loud and made the dirt under their feet shake. Bella had to raise her hands to her ears to protect them from all the noise.
"I've put a protection spell around the alter." Edward told Carlisle, ignoring Bella's question. "You need to get in there with her and get to work. I'll hold them off."
"Edward-"
"We have no other choice." Edward told his father. "I can't let her die."
Carlisle nodded and stepped back into the circle Edward created earlier.
"Be careful, son." He willed.
"Where's Edward going? Carlisle? What happening?" Bella asked in a panic when Carlisle joined her in the protective circle.
"The elves on Alfheim are upset." He explained calmly. "We're interfering with fate. This won't be the last time you are hurt because of them. We need to change our plans."
"Change our plans?"
"Yes, healing you won't be enough. I need to draw some markings on you so that they can't hurt you anymore. So that any magic they use against you in the future will not work."
Bella nodded hesitantly, her eyes bouncing around his face trying to understand exactly what he was saying. Her attention was suddenly drawn to something behind Carlisle. She could see Edward battling the wind and rocks that were thrown at him from an invisible force. The elves weren't there physically Carlisle told her, but still on Alfheim.
"To make this much damage and be so far away, they must be incredibly powerful." Bella observed.
"Yes, one of the many things they hold over us. We are limited on Midgard with our powers. They are not. We must get to work now. Edward will not be able to hold them off for long."
Bella laid down and watched as Carlisle began taking vials and stones out of his satchel.
"Swallow this." He ordered, passing Bella a vial of something that was green and glowing. "Now!" He barked.
Bella threw the liquid back, trying not to think about the putrid taste and slimy texture as it slid down her throat.
"The markings I'm going to make, they'll hurt. It will be more painful than anything you've ever felt." He explained while rummaging around in his bag. "The elixir I gave you will paralyze you in a moment. I can't have you moving when I begin. You'll beg me to stop but I can't, not once I've started."
Bella swallow thickly but nodded and confidently as she could. She was already feeling the effects of the medicine by the time she thought about what Carlisle had said.
"There's something you must know." Carlisle spoke lowly, as he helped Bella lay down. "The markings will have an effect on you, on your mortality. You won't age like a normal human because the magic will seep into you. It will be bound to you and change you to be more like us. You'll live for another 200 years or so. There's no way around it."
Bella was speechless.
"I need you tell me what to do, Bella."
"Do it." She spoke up, trying to be brave. She turned her head away from Carlisle and looked at Edward instead. Trying her best to watch him and not think about what Carlisle was about to do.