Some would say that war is a game of chess. In reality, war is as random and risky as a game of blackjack. Only fools believed the odds were in their favor.
Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War, "do not pursue an enemy who simulates flight." We were gambling on the fact that Victoria, bloodthirsty hellion with a penchant for destruction, was not likely to heed that particular counsel. We were gambling with my most precious chip.
My brave, tenacious Bella was determined to see Jasper's plan to fruition, and part of that plan meant going against every instinct that I had to shield her from a position of vulnerability. The bodyguard in me dreaded Monday morning, when Bella was planning to return to Northeastern High School. The warrior in me hungered for the moment of revenge we knew would soon follow.
Carlisle and Esme shared my apprehension about allowing Bella to return to her school, albeit both placed greater trust in Alice's ability to track Victoria through Bree's sire bond than I did. When I called them to share our plan, Esme gently reminded me that Bella had a life here in Jacksonville; friends, hobbies, and plans that would be wrong of me to disrupt, simply because of my anxieties. Not that I needed reminding. I was fully aware of her life here, and of the boy who sought her affections. While I was ecstatic about the physical affection that Bella had shown me in the last few days, I was intensely aware that I did not know where we stood romantically. I had given my paramour my heart, but I did not know if I had any claim yet on hers.
The day before Bella planned on returning to school, the Cullen family banded together to repair her home, taking advantage of the cloudy day and the absence of Bella's neighbors to make her life just a little bit more normal. As Bella collected her clothes in Esme's large designer suitcase, Emmett single-handedly extracted the huge bald cypress that was lodged into the roof. Jasper, Alice, Carlisle, and I removed debris, moving faster than Bella could perceive with human eyes.
As I lifted a damaged wall back into place, I heard Bella giggle in the hallway.
"What's funny?" I asked her.
"Just a bunch of Vampires wearing tool belts, doing natural disaster home repair," she smiled widely, watching Jasper hamming shingles into place on her roof like a woodpecker. "My life is ridiculous," she sighed.
"It's actually a pretty good business idea," Alice commented as she lifted a couch three times the size of her body over her head. "Cullen Construction Co., Undead Design and Remodeling."
"Immortal Home Improvement," Jasper chimed in from above. "Emmett does look great in a hard hat."
Carlisle chuckled good-naturedly.
Time seemed to pause as I watched Bella interact with my family. I found myself caught up in a delightful daydream, envisioning an extraordinary yet beautifully ordinary life with her. How many more of these simple moments could we share? I fantasied that Bella and I could attend a university together. Perhaps I could obtain my medical degree anew, or study music theory, or both. I wondered what Bella would major in. I yearned to watch Bella develop her own relationships with my siblings, solidifying her place as a member of my family.
Not for the first time, I thought about offering this fragile human girl all of me, offering her my hand, my home, my name. Not for the first time, I knew with crushing certainty that Bella would not accept.
Alice must have seen my face fall, or perhaps omniscient as she was, she saw what I would need from her now. She subtly took my hand. Have faith, Edward.
We insisted that Bella spend the night at the Villa, and much to my surprise she agreed. Still, tension thrummed under the surface of our pleasant evening, like the low buzz of an electrical current. As Bella ate pizza and chatted with my family members about their recent endeavors and projects in D.C.; I repeatedly found myself needing to stifle my desire to take her and run. Our plan depended on so many factors that I could not afford to go wrong. Jasper repeatedly eased my anxieties, at times overdoing the emotional manipulation to the point where I wore a maniacal smile on my face without consent. I wondered what Bella thought of that particularly odd expression.
As I knew it soon would, the conversation naturally progressed toward talking about the day that Bella left, and my subsequent absence from my family's new life. As I recounted the weeks I spent selfishly abandoning my family, I hung my head in shame.
"Why did you go?" Bella asked.
"I was just lost," I said quietly in response. Without you, my tone implied.
When Esme shared the story about my surprise appearance announcing myself as the new resident of the clinic, Bella turned suddenly toward me with a unexpectedly warm expression.
She loves him, Esme thought contently, as if this were a fact, and I saw the the same expression reflected in her mind. My smile was genuine then. Every fiber of me wished that my mother's interpretation was true. Alas, I had no way of knowing.
Bella yawned, and rose from the dining table, ready to turn in for the night. Without speaking she walked to me and placed her hand in mine. This human girl compelled me, a creature one thousand times stronger than her, with a simple touch; I would go anywhere she led, my heart was tied to her by an invisible thread. As she began to walk up the stairs, I moved without thought.
Once upstairs, Bella gestured for me to sit on the massive bed. I had so many questions, my thoughts running on a ticker tape.
I had reappeared in her life merely days ago, I had no right to ask her to define her feelings for me when she had said she was only beginning to forgive me. I found myself tongue-tied, and so I complied. Bella grabbed a soft grey T-shirt from her suitcase and walked toward the large master bathroom, leaving the door wide open as she entered the mirror filled room. Through the mirror I saw Bella begin undoing the buttons of the silk blouse, one button at a time. Our eyes met in the reflection. I saw her shyness transform, a smirk playing on her lips; she had intended for me to see. The gentleman in me was missing in action. I did not look away this time. She bent and peeled off the slacks with equal slowness. Bella allowed me to drink her in with my eyes.
I was hypnotized. I observed the peaks and valleys of the vision before me, memorizing her body. She stretched, wearing only her underwear, a simple plum lace set that I would never forget. I was living stone, frozen on the bed, as I watched her reach behind her and undo the clasp of her bra. This was too much; I turned away from her then.
I felt Bella climb in the bed beside me. I did not allow my eyes to look at her, but I could smell the fabric of her clothing; I was both grateful and dismayed to find she'd put on the T-shirt. Her hands unbuttoned my clothing, and I tried to recall how to ask her what she wanted, but my mouth was dry. What does this mean? The scent of her filled my head, silencing my mind. Finally pulling the fabric away from my body, her hands silently traced the scar Victoria left again. My eyes remained closed. When I found the ability to move, and pulled the comforter over us, protecting Bella from the cold, and protecting myself from the most tempting vision of my long lifetime.
"Bella, love-"
"Hush," she whispered, "I just want to look at you."
I opened my eyes.
"You're so different now," Bella mused. She traced my cheeks, underneath my eyes.
"Much has changed for me," I agreed. "The craving for your blood, for instance." I caught her hand and pressed my nose to her wrist, inhaling, like I did the first night we spent together. "It no longer calls to me."
"When did that change?"
"The moment I thought I was dying, when I thought I would never see you again. I realized with absolute certainty then, that you were my destiny." Side by side on the pillow, we stared at one another. "I'll never stop fighting for you, Bella," I promised fervently.
As she pressed herself to me, I felt it, this emotion that had been building and building in me. I could no longer hold it back. My surrender.
I dipped my head, seeking permission. "Please," I whispered against her lips. She nodded, bumping her nose against my chin in the darkness. And for the first time since Forks, just as I had visualized every day since saying goodbye to her, I allowed myself to initiate our kiss, and I kissed her with abandon.
Our lips pressed together gently, but the sensation quickly evolved into more. Our hands explored feverishly, our breath intermingled and hot on my chilled skin. I touched her and felt uncharted flesh, so unbelievably soft yet pliable, and Bella shivered beneath me. I was distracted by the juxtaposition of her shape, particularly the sharpness of her hipbones, which I suddenly wanted to memorize, to taste. I felt her heartbeat vibrating beneath my touch. I kissed her neck, allowing her to gasp for breath. She moaned my name as my teeth grazed her earlobe, and I broke us apart.
The world had stopped spinning. Bella wrapped her thigh between my hips, and nestled herself under my chin, her hands laying flat on my abdomen. The sound of my name coming from her lips in that way awoke something feral in me, and I knew I would die if I did not evoke that reaction again, and soon. At the same time, I was terrified. Bella said nothing, and soon after fell asleep curled into my chest.
My mind was reeling, elated yet confused. In that kiss I tasted something dark. It did not have a name.
I reluctantly left Bella in the early hours of the morning.
"I won't be gone long," I whispered, pressing a kiss to her hair. Bella curled up in the golden comforter, fast asleep. I followed the sound of Alice's thoughts to the living room.
Everything is set. Esme is right outside. Jasper is running a perimeter and Emmett is already inside the school.
I frowned in response. Alice's overnight attempt to anchor onto Victoria's mind had been a spectacular failure. Alice needed me with her to use my ability on Bree, to help sort the thoughts into a coherent narrative and distinguish Bree's future from her maker's. I glared at the rising sun. I wouldn't have been able to accompany Bella to school regardless, the weather was not what Bella would call, "vampire friendly" this morning, and would remain sunny until later in the afternoon.
Alice and I ran to the cabin in Amelia Island, just 20 miles outside of Jacksonville. The national park was mostly salt marsh, beach, and wetlands, and had been so heavily hit by the hurricane that it would be closed to visitors for the next several months, until the roads leading into the park could be repaired. The perfect place to keep a newborn vampire away from humans. The perfect place for a battle.
The west-facing cabin sat next to a small riverbank. Alice and I stopped running a mile from the site, walking at a human pace to give Bree time to adjust to our scents. Her newborn mind was on high alert, in a heightened state of fight or flight. I heard Rosalie speaking with her in a soothing tone, letting her know that Alice was coming back to see her again.
We entered the log cabin to a vision of domestic bliss. The interior had been turned into picture of rustic modernism, sunflowers and candles on a wooden table, lanterns on bookshelves, a burgundy flannel blanket folded carefully on a newly purchased loveseat. Rosalie sat in a rocking chair, watching Bree tear through a coloring book, her tiny hands moving at incredible speed, creating a prism of color. The smile on Rosalie's face was one I had only seen her give to Emmett when he did something particularly endearing. It was clear Bree had fulfilled Rosalie's deepest desire for motherhood, despite the twisted circumstances.
"Hi Bree," Alice said, her melodic voice higher than usual. "This is Edward, he's our brother. He's here to help me try that mind meld thing we did again. Would that be okay?"
Bree stopped coloring. She looked up at us from her seat on the beige carpet, and looked back at Rosalie for reassurance. Once she registered Rosalie's subtle encouraging nod, she stood and ran to me, her red eyes glowing curiously. She leaned in and inhaled deeply.
"You smell yummy," she said.
I stiffened, realizing I had introduced Bella's scent to a newborn immortal child who would likely not hesitate to track down the source of the sweet treat if left to her own devices.
No, I am not supposed to follow those smells, she thought. Miss Rosalie said that's a human smell and I won't hunt humans because I want to be a good vampire.
Rosalie had not been exaggerating. Bree's self-control was unheard of for a newborn vampire. In fact, it should have been impossible. I met Rosalie's smug gaze with astonishment.
Our girl is special, she thought at me with pride.
"You could say that again," I said in response.
"You smell yummy," Bree repeated, slightly louder. I smiled widely at her. Immortal children were said to be enchanting. I felt as though I would melt through the floor, talking with her.
Alice and I moved to the dining table and sat across from Bree. Alice took Bree's hands like a fortune teller. Bree closed her eyes and listened hard, clearly having practiced this several times during the night.
"Edward can do something special, like me," Alice said. "Except he can't see the future. He can hear what you're thinking. And I think if he helps us, we can work together to figure out where the bad lady went and stop her."
Bree peeked one eye open and looked at me in surprise. Then she refocused on her task, clearing her mind and listening. Again, I marveled at her control.
"Try and think about where you would go right now if you could go anywhere in the world," Alice said.
Bree huffed, and let her mind ponder this question. I watched Bree's thoughts and the simultaneous visions that Alice experienced. The visions were chaotic, like watching a movie play forward and then backward, skipping scenes repeatedly, sometimes playing a completely different film. I concentrated on the scenes with flashes of red.
"There," I said softly. "Bree you were thinking about something red and somewhere very blue. Try and think about wanting that again."
She complied, her little forehead creasing with effort. The flashes of red became brighter, the scene began coming into focus, as if seeing the image with glasses on for the first time.
"I got it!" Alice announced triumphantly. I watched the vision solidifying in real time, the connection strengthening. It was as if we were seeing Victoria through the lens of her other sired vampires, creatures Bree was linked to through the bond of the venom that coursed through her veins. We finally had the advantage.
Bree dropped Alice's hands and raised her little hand to me, praising me with a high-five, giving me a toothy grin. The gesture was delightful, I could not help but laugh along with Rosalie.
Alice focused on the visions, borrowing the back of one of Bree's coloring pages and drawing scenes as they came into her mind.
Her telephone began to ring. Jasper's name flashed across the screen. Alice bent to pick it up, when her mind was suddenly assaulted by two visions at once. I watch the premonitions through her mind.
A small Asian woman standing waist deep in water, her eyes frantically scanning the horizon until finding her target, the red-haired woman. She watches with confusion as the woman roars in outrage and shatters an object in her hands. Parts of a cellphone float toward the woman in the water.
Bella sitting on the cold tile floor of a locker room, her head in her hands, a heartbreaking sob escaping tearing through her. Her friend Olly dropping to her knees beside her friend and wrapping her arms around her.
"Riley kissed me." Bella says, without looking up. "I'm so confused."
"I know" Olly replies, with a sigh. "What matters is - do you love him?"
Hot tears run down Bella's face. She struggles to catch a breath.
I nearly took the wooden cabin door off of its hinges.
The afternoon sun shined brightly overhead of Northeastern High School when I arrived. The weather would change an hour from now, just as school would let out. I followed the sound of Jasper's thoughts and slid into the passenger seat of the sedan parked in the shadows of the building. Alice must have instructed him to meet me here.
The stress and tension evaporated from my body as soon as Jasper's influence hit me, numbing me like Novocain. He nodded at me and began replaying the memory of what transpired this afternoon, answering my unspoken question.
A bell rang. Bella shut her locker and began walking, tennis shoes in hand. She wore a frown; Bella always hated gym class. After changing into a blue tank top and shorts, she walked outside into the courtyard. The students were instructed to run laps around the entire school building, an uninspired activity decided upon by the high school football coach who had started drinking Irish coffee at 10 am. Bella began to jog, focusing on her stride and trying not to fall.
Olly caught up with her in minutes.
"Hey! Bella what the hell?" Olly said, sprinting in her direction with ease.
"Hey Olly," Bella said as she continued to jog.
"Hey? How about explaining where you've been? I have been so worried. Your house was destroyed, and you were supposed to come to my house on Saturday, but you totally disappeared. My parents called your mom at the hospital, they were freaking out. You're apparently staying with your ex-boyfriend?"
Olly put her arm out, stopping her friend mid-run. "Does that seem like we're making good choices?"
"His parents are family friends," Bella said nonchalantly. "And I'm fine - I don't need supervision, I am 18 after all."
Olly contemplated for a beat."This isn't like you. What's going on with you?"
Bella looked at her friend, conflict playing across her features. Finally, she shrugged one shoulder.
Olly's face was thoughtful as she read Bella's expression. Awareness flashed in her eyes.
"He told you he loved you?" Olly intuited.
Bella crossed her arms.
"Not in so many words."
"But he said something to you."
"He told me that he pushed me away because thought he was wrong for me. But he's changed."
"And you believe him?"
"I don't know."
"Have you forgiven him?" Olly asked.
"I don't know."
Olly frowned, her blue eyes narrowing. "Do you trust him not to hurt you again?"
Bella sighed, and replied, "I don't know."
"I don't like this. This guy shows up out of the blue and you make a complete 180," Olly said. She broke into a run, turning to shout at Bella over her shoulder. "Let me know when you're back to normal and I can have my best friend back."
Jasper moved on to another memory.
Later that afternoon, Bella walked through an empty hallway of the school, lost in thought. She nearly dropped her books as she ran right into a tall boy dressed in a jersey and jeans.
"Hey, B!" he said, running a free hand through his sandy brown hair. "Is your mom okay?"
"Hi Riley. My mom will be discharged soon, just a few bumps and bruises."
"Olly's been worried."
"So I've heard," Bella muttered. Riley chuckled at her sour expression.
"Are you okay? I've been worried too," he said, dropping his gaze, trying to catch her eyes.
"Everything is fine" Bella replied as she turned away from the boy and began walking.
"Bella, talk to me," Riley pleaded, running ahead of her. "I am just trying to be your friend here."
"I said I was fine," Bella repeated. She looked around the empty hallway, uncomfortable.
Riley apparently decided to cut to the chase. "Olly said your ex was in town, and that you told her this guy had some kind of power over you." Riley said, his tone patronizing.
"That is really not any of your business." Bella began to walk again, turning the corner into a stairwell.
He followed her. "I am trying to protect you" Riley said, catching her and blocking her path.
"I'm really tired of people doing that." Bella snapped, ducking under his arm.
"Seriously, you ran away to Phoenix, and then you came here, all just to get away from this guy," He said.
Bella stopping in her tracks. "How did you - That was a misunderstanding," Bella replied, holding her books closer to her.
"Once is a misunderstanding, twice is a cry for help. You just started to heal, and he comes into your life for a weekend, and you question everything again? That sounds toxic to me."
"Why does any of this matter to you?"
A desperate expression appeared on Riley's face. "Because you matter to me." He stepped up on the stair, bringing himself level to Bella. "Because I am falling for you, Bella. And you need to know that this guy - he is not your only option."
Riley silenced her reply, pressing his lips hers.
The pressure changed in the atmosphere and the sky began to darken. The final bell was about to ring, and in a few short minutes, all of the students would come pouring out of the three sets of double doors facing the parking lot. Jasper and I sat in silence. He had succeeded in restraining me from going into the building and ripping Riley's throat out by numbing my emotions almost to the point of complete physical paralysis. The rage would only be held at bay for so long. I tried to remind myself that nothing good could come from taking a human life. Especially one that belonged to Bella's friend.
I don't like it either, Jasper conceded. Riley's anger and conflict was out of place - something didn't fit.
I tried to calm myself, focusing on the fact that I would see Bella any moment now. The warrior in me prepared for battle; but the part of me that was merely a man knew this next part would feel like a stake through the heart.
Finally, there she was, walking out of the side door of the brick building. She held her bag in one hand. She clumsily pulled on a mint green sweater over her tank top as her body registered the cold.
Jasper sighed, and released me from his emotional chokehold with a final thought. Good luck, brother.
Bella's eyes widened as I approached. She stopped dead in the parking lot, dropping her bag to the ground. I tried not to read the fear in her expression, or the coldness in her eyes. There had to be another way.
"Not here," she said, so quietly that it could not be picked up by the human ears around her.
Dissociated, I continued to move toward her, a sea of students parting in my path. I walked like a man condemned. Fitting. I was a living corpse, after all.
I stopped a few feet away from her.
There was something I needed to say, first. Something of vital importance, that I was remiss for having neglected to make clear.
"I love you, Bella."
She took a shaky breath and looked up toward the greying sky. A drop of rain landed on her cheek, traveling down her lovely face like a tear. "That's not enough for me," she whispered.
She closed her eyes for a beat, then faced me, standing tall, like Athena, preparing to battle the Giants. If I could have torn out my heart and laid it at her feet, at her alter, I would have.
"Just, stop Edward," she said. She walked toward me, her eyes devoid of emotion. "You don't. You're just obsessed with the idea of me. From the day we met, you've seen me as this victim, a girl who was helplessly in love with you. I was just a toy to you, a thing you could break and put back together when it suited you. Just a damsel in your superhero fantasy."
Her tone became exasperated. "I was perfectly safe before you came back. I was healing. Then just like the hurricane, you swept into town and demolished the life I was building for myself, with no regard for anything but yourself. We only dated for a few months, and now you want me to be bonded to you."
I winced, hearing the words she did not say, the words she really meant - Sired to you.
"I once thought I had to convince you to chose me - how pathetic is that? I should never have had to convince someone to love me. Riley is right. This is a toxic relationship."
I found my voice, begging the goddess before me for penance. "I never meant to hurt you."
"But you did. You lied and manipulated me. How could you expect me to trust you?"
She picked up her bag, no longer meeting my eyes. "Just leave," she said. I felt my muscles freeze in place, the coldness of her words cutting through me like a silver blade.
"I can't leave Bella. If something happened to you, I'd never forgive myself."
"I am asking you to leave," she repeated, enunciating every syllable.
"Bella, don't do this" I begged.
"Leave!" Bella screamed suddenly. She brought her hands to my chest, and shoved with all of her strength. Tears poured from her eyes. She pushed me again, ineffectively. Finally, she gave up, her hands falling to her sides limply.
"You have a darkness in you, and it's going to be the death of me. Literally." She looked up at me, and I knew it was over. "I choose to live, Edward."
I had never been more grateful for Jasper's ability. As soon as I reached the car, my brother absorbed the misery that threatened to smother and gag me.
One mile outside of the Florida state line, my telephone rang. I lifted the object to my ear, my body moving on autopilot.
"We're in position," the voice on the other end of the line announced cheerfully. "Alice said operation feigned retreat worked, the army of newborns will be on Amelia Island within a day or two."
I did not reply to Tanya. Grateful though I was to the Denali sisters for safeguarding Bella in our absence, I could not shake the feeling of dread that constricted my throat.
"Your Bella is surprisingly good at acting," the strawberry blonde immortal continued. "That was quite convincing."
"Yes, it was." I agreed.
A single thought replayed in my mind, drowning out the sound of Tanya's voice in my ear. I recited the words that Bella spoke to me. These words were not the lines we had rehearsed.
"We will protect her like she is our own sister," Tanya vowed.
TO BE CONTINUED. . . But actually it's all battle from here. Thanks for tolerating all the feels and set up!
All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer, the Twilight Series. No copyright infringement intended.
Plot is mine :)
I made a Twitter for this story! Follow for chapter updates and twilight memes StardustRiley
Today's chapter was brought to you by The Share of My Heart by Sting!
Here's the link to the soundtrack on Spotify!
https/open./playlist/0kgyLShDmJwdza3uAqXi3q?si=YQuXxXruROSt35Pmwi28qQ