Chapter Twenty-Five
On the day I was to go down to the Reservation, La Push to be exact, it wasn't raining. I took it as a good omen though I knew my vampire family must have been weary, even though I hadn't had any of the natives come to Charlie's house and try to tell me to stay away from them. It was a blessing to be honest, the last thing I needed to deal with was the judgmental voices of those that weren't well into my life for them to even be judgmental. Even if I knew them less than I knew about others, I was ready to defend my family if I must.
Charlie was downstairs bustling around, making sure that he would have everything that he wanted to take with us. He was probably putting drinks into the cooler and some sandwiches I had made yesterday. He was wearing one of his casual sweaters, along with a pair of his worn-out jeans, and a pair of his trusty boots he wore whenever he would go hiking with some of the police officers.
The thick layered pale green sweater that fell midway down my thy covered my brown leggings. My fishing boots fit smug on my feet and I wore my hair up in a bun. Pieces of my hair fell out of its bun, little wisps, they were naturally curly. I didn't wear any makeup on, though I had the locket I had gotten from Jasper for my eighteenth-birthday around my neck. The silver gleamed when it hit the sunlight at a certain angle, drawing attention towards the locket.
Heading downstairs after I knew I was ready; Charlie was waiting at the kitchen table with the cooler next to him. He smiled at me, "you look nice. Are you ready to head out?"
"Yeah, I am," I remarked before we headed out of the house and went towards the cruiser. Hopping into the passenger seat, Charlie sat the cooler on the floorboard in front of me. He started the cruiser and soon we were off towards the Reservation, ready to have our time with the natives at La Push.
There was no music playing from the radio, Charlie wasn't one who was crazy about having music playing. I could honestly say that I was fine with the silence in the car, there was no reason why I should feel uncomfortable. I enjoyed the silence, the humming of the engine and the heater of the cruiser being the only company that we needed now. I almost closed my eyes and focused on the heat, knowing that the heat would always make me sleepy.
I opened my eyes when we pulled onto the road where the beach was at, the parking lot was filled with many cars. Charlie was grinning, though I battled with being excited, or being weary. Who knew how they were going to react when they saw me, knowing that I still was with Jasper?
Taking a deep breath as Charlie parked the cruiser, I gripped my locket and begged God for strength. I didn't notice how Charlie was watching me, he didn't know what I was feeling, though I knew the only person who knew how I felt was Jasper. He was currently back at his house, as far as I knew he was learning how to play the guitar again so that he could play for me.
My eyes ran over the people that were on the beach, I gently smiled when I saw Emily Clearwater standing off near the shoreline with Sam. They were conversing with each other, though Sam stiffened and turned his head in my direction. His eyes scanned me, slowly but intensely, before he frowned. Disappointment flooded throughout those brown irises of his, as though he expected that I would know better than to be with one of the vampires in town.
Without even hesitating, I kept my eyes on him. I could only see half of him, but when Emily said something to him, he tore his eyes from me. She reached her hand out and placed it on his broad rust hued shoulder, he frowned but nodded his head. I could tell that he wasn't happy with what she was saying, but he would listen to her despite how they disagreed.
"Bella! It's so good to see you!" I turned my head, noticing that Sue was coming towards me, beaming as she came closer. A young boy was trailing after her, he looked like a mixture of his parents. He seemed nervous, and I smiled back at her—though it wasn't as fully enthusiastic as hers.
"It's nice to see you too." I felt my hand reach up and run my fingers against my locket, gaining strength.
A part of me wanted nothing more than for Jasper to be here, but I knew that there was treaty that was between the werewolves and the vampires. They weren't allowed to be in each other's territory and apparently, the Cullens and Hales weren't allowed to bite a human. They would break the treaty, along with telling someone about the werewolves being who they were. Jasper had confirmed my suspicions, I could only hope that the werewolves didn't find out because they would think that he had broken the treaty. He might have after all, but I would make sure that he wouldn't have anything bad happen to him.
"I'd like you to meet my son, Seth." Seth smiled at me shyly, and I couldn't help but gently smile at him. He was so young, he looked as though he was in middle school. He was too young, still pure I could see. It didn't seem as though he was a werewolf, so at least he was able to live life without worries such as being pulled into the world of werewolves.
"It's nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you," Seth told me, but he quickly added, "only good things!" I smiled more at him, knowing that he was too young to worry about anything. I couldn't help but laugh some, "it's all right, Seth."
I glanced around, only to frown when I saw that Jacob wasn't here. I turned towards Sue, "where's Jacob? I thought that he would be here."
Sue stiffened and gave me a smile, one that was fake, I knew fake smiles when I saw them. After all I was an expect when it came to smiles that were not real. "He's sick, honey. Billy decided to stay home and take care of him."
Behind me Charlie arrived, "I didn't know that Jacob was sick. Billy usually tells me this whenever he can't come. Do you know how bad Jacob is?"
Sue shook her head, "I'm sorry I don't. Excuse me, some of the women wanted to ask me about some of my recipes."
Sue left before I could even absorb what she had said, which in return made uneasiness creep up again. Charlie frowned, having known that something was happening that was odd. He turned towards me, having thought that I was upset about Jacob more than I was. "It's going to be all right, Bells. I'm going to call Billy when we get back to the house. I'm sure it's nothing more than a bad flu."
I didn't think this was normal flu. I would talk to the Cullens and Hales about this when I would get home. For now, though I was here, in the den of the wolves, and I needed to act my best.
Charlie went to the fold out tables and sat the cooler down, grabbing one of the sodas from the cooler before he went towards one of the camping chairs that were spread towards the lake. He was ready to relax, while I was weary of all that was going on.
I wanted to just go back home and learn what I could from the Cullens but there was something that let me know they wouldn't tell me anything, after all it was part of the treaty. Jasper had already leaked to me that they were werewolves, any more information and the Reservation would make sure they would regret even coming to Forks to begin with.
Walking a little bit further from the group, I found a log. The black pebbles of the man-made beach crunched under the heels of my boots. I sat down on the log, my eyes traveling towards the island off to the distance. It felt like years since I had been here when I first came to Forks, though it wasn't a year yet. It only made things even more surreal to me.
Sighing, I leant back and closed my eyes. Pulling off my locket, I opened the clasp of the silver locket and smiled at the sight of Jasper. It wasn't a photograph of him when he was in the military but then again, I didn't care. He had gifted me with a young photograph of him nonetheless, one that seemed to have been taken when he had first joined the coven. I brushed my fingers against the side of the locket that had that photograph, pausing when I heard the crunching of soles against the pebbles. I slammed the locket closed and placed the locket over my head once more.
I turned my head, noting that Emily Clearwater was heading in my direction. The scar across her face even more prominent. I remembered how Jacob had wanted me to become best friends with Emily, just because we both had scars. Now though, knowing that she had become scarred from Sam most likely (due to anger) I knew that there was more to Emily than her just having a bear attack her.
"Hello, Bella. Do you mind if I sit with you?" Emily probed to me, patiently, there was no reason why she should be upset if I had said yes. She must have known that I was weary around the others, most likely she knew that I knew about the werewolves so she would expect me to be
"No, that would be fine."
Emily sat down next to me, her engagement ring glistening from the sunlight that came through the clouds. The rushing of the waves and the trees surrounded us. Conversations were flowing in the background, though neither of us knew what they were saying. Nor did we seem to care.
"Are you still with Jasper?" Emily had her attention completely on me, enough that I almost wanted to tell her to keep her questions to herself if she were someone else. She seemed invested in learning about me, there was no judgement. There was nothing more than curiosity.
"Yes, we're still together. He came home from Oxford, for Holiday," I responded, my fingers brushing against the locket. Though I still had nervousness in my voice and aura around me I felt a little bit braver while not looking at her in the eye. She smiled when she saw the locket, "that's a beautiful locket, Bella. Is it from him?"
I smiled, faintly remembering how he was so shy, nervous as he handed it to me. He had told me he had never courted a girl before. He never had the chance to do so because he had gone to war so early. By the time he had the opportunity do so he was a vampire and had more pressing matters to attend to. Such as making sure that he wouldn't kill every human he came across.
"May I see it?" Emily did not reach her fingers out, I hesitated. I imagined her taking the locket and handing it to one of the men, most likely Sam, so that he could make sure to destroy it or keep it from me. I tightened my fingers around the locket, knowing I would have the locket design imprinted into my palm.
Loosening my fingers, I gently handed her the locket once I took it off. She took it from me, opening it so that she could see the photographs. She smiled at me, "He's quiet handsome. I can tell you have a keeper."
She handed me back the locket, questions that were ready to spill from my lips. I knew she wasn't the one to ask questions, I was certain she would tell me that I shouldn't worry about it. She craned her head to the side, her scars on her face not taking away her beauty. I had started to realize that those who absolutely loved me did not care about the scars across my face, just like those who genuinely loved Emily did not care about the scars across her face either.
I had barely gotten used to her presence when Sam started making his way towards us, there was a type of irritation in his eyes that would have chilled others when it came to their bones, but it was a challenge with me. The old Bella would have quivered in her shoes, but I had slowly begun to gain courage. Now I almost glared at him, daring him to say something about my vampires.
He had just reached us when Emily turned, smiling when she saw her fiancé. "Oh, hello Sam. I don't know if you've met before, but this is Charlie's daughter, Bella."
Sam merely studied me before he turned his head towards his fiancée, "Harry wanted to talk to you. I'll be there in a minute; I want to talk to Bella. I just wanted to assure her that Jacob is all right."
Emily stood up before she reached up on her tippy toes and kissed Sam on his cheek. She hurried off, expecting to talk to Harry. She trusted him, completely, just like I trusted Jasper. I could only hope that he wouldn't take her trust so easily to manipulate. She deserved better than him to do this to her, making up excuses so that she could go and do something else without having knowledge of what it was. I was certain she knew he was a werewolf, so why would he want her to be away?
As soon as she was gone, Sam sighed, "you shouldn't have come, Bella. You aren't welcome here."
"I don't believe that you can keep me away, I only came when Charlie wants to bring me. Explain to him why you don't want him to come, I'm sure that he'll be understanding on why you all don't want me here," I simply responded, not letting him know anything other than he was crossing a thin line if he thought that he could intimidate me like before. Of course, I was terrified now, rightfully so, but I made sure to remind myself they wouldn't harm me.
Sam pressed his lips together, before he sighed, "you're a good kid, Bella. I don't want to see anything bad happen to you."
I stood up from the log, and brushed my clothes before I cleared my throat, "well thank you, Sam. It is nice that you're concerned about me, but I know what I'm doing. They won't hurt me; Jasper won't hurt me."
"Very well, warning you is the only thing I can do. I hope that you will come to your senses before you see the true side of them."
Sam spun on his heels and made his way towards the others, while I sighed and wrapped my arms around myself. Way to feel as though I should be here. The last thing I wanted was for them to try and pull me to the other side. Did they think that I would just leave the Cullens and the Hales just like that? Did they think I would choose someone else with the snap of a wrist? They clearly did not understand the true bond I had created with my true family; it was an unbreakable bond. Just like it seemed they had an unbreakable bond with their own mates.
Charlie was having fun, so at least someone was having fun. I was tempted to bring out my phone and start texting Jasper. As soon as I thought that the phone started ringing, I sighed in relief when I saw that it was Alice that was calling. I didn't hesitate to answer it, "hey, Alice."
"Bella, do you want us to come pick you up?" Alice's chirpy voice didn't have its usual upbeat to it. It was business, I didn't know if it was a good or bad thing, all I knew was that I wanted to leave now. I wasn't welcome.
"What about Charlie? Won't he be upset?" I let my eyes wander towards where he was, sitting in the camping chair while he was talking to Harry and the other fishermen. He was laughing, there was no worry radiating from him. He was able to be himself, not chief of police, but just Charlie Swan.
"No, he won't. He'll be happy that you decided to come. In fact, he's going to have some choice words with Sam for not letting you feel welcome," Alice told me, there was no hesitation. I felt my body relax as I nodded my head, though she couldn't see me do the motion.
"Who's going to drive me to the territory line? I mean you have one between you, and I don't have a car…" I trailed off, only for Alice to speak once more, "actually I hate to say this, but you can walk to it. I mean it's only a mile away from the beach. It's not that far away."
To anyone else they would have been aggravated at even Alice having the audacity to say that they could walk to the territory line. To me it was an escape from the almost invisible hostility on the beach.
"I'll be at the line then."
I said goodbye her before I hung up and went over to Charlie, he had been taking a long sip of soda before he looked up at me. I pushed some of my fallen strands of hair behind my ear again, enough that he looked at me with concern. He flickered his eyes over everyone, seeing if anyone had said anything troublesome to me to make me feel unwelcomed.
"Hey Dad, I was thinking about heading home…" I didn't want to outright tell him what had just happened, but Charlie nodded his head before he went to get up from his spot on the chair, "I'll be back in twenty, fellas. Just go to take Bella home."
I shook my head, quickly telling him, "actually Alice is going to pick me up about a mile from here. Her car just got cleaned and I don't want her to deal with the beach pebbles and stuff getting into her floorboard."
The men next to Charlie stiffened, their eyes flickering towards me, as they had fine pressed lines upon their lips. Their eyes darkened and their hands clasped the arms of their camping chairs tightly, as though they couldn't believe I would invite a vampire to their territory line.
"That's fine. Tell her hi from me." Charlie got up from his spot anyway and hugged me, "you let me handle this. I won't let anyone get away with bullying you. I promised you I'd take care of you."
Warmth came at me as though I had been swallowed by a tsunami. Tears began to prickle from my eyes, and I pulled away from him. Quietly I thanked him before I went towards the parking lot. I could feel eyes on me, a few of them were sad—they must have belonged to Sue and Emily, maybe even Seth. The others on the other hand didn't care what would happen to me. I had already dug my grave and gotten into the coffin, they were ready to seal the lid and hammer in the nails for me. They would be hugging Charlie, telling him how they had tried to warn me to be more careful, but I wouldn't listen to them.
Alice wasn't in her car when I was at the territory line, I would have been scared if I didn't know she was vampire when it came to her speeding. She stood in front of me, her arms out and open. Edward stood next to her; his eyes were scanning around us—his features sour when he investigated the forest. He was waiting to see if any of the wolves were coming to check on us.
Wearing a white button up shirt, which must have belonged to Edward, a pair of designer jeans and one of her trusty pair of nice slip ones Alice still appeared glamorous despite having a simpler outfit than normal. There was no jewelry except for her wedding ring, while Edward wore one of his ensembles that included his navy blue peacoat over his designer sweater and jeans. His dress shoes gleamed from the sunlight that peeked through the clouds.
I rushed over and Alice wrapped her arms around me, holding me against her. The mint scent that came with being a vampire was soothing to me. It wasn't the same comfort as Jasper gave me, but it was still enough that made me feel braver than I did without any of my vampires.
"Did they do anything? Did they say anything?" Alice asked me softly, she didn't know what happened when I was at the Reservation. Something to do with her not being a werewolf. It brought her distraught.
"Sam told me to stay away from you, he seems to be one of them," I answered her truthfully though I added, "how did you know to call me?"
Alice smiled at me, "I just had a feeling to be honest. There was something that told me I should call you. So, I did. Esme told me it was my motherly instincts. I never thought I would have motherly instincts. I think it's just sisterly instincts."
"Still thanks for picking me up. I just want to go home." Edward nodded his head this time, coming over so that he could put me into the car. He gave me a soft smile, putting his hand on my shoulder before he shut the door for me.
I leant back against the cool leather, my eyes closing as I took in the warm heater, while in the front of the car Alice turned on the radio. It was a classical music channel, it soothed me. Alice and Edward didn't say anything to each other, they knew I didn't need a lot of noise.
"We're here Bella."
I sat upright, my eyes taking in their home instead of mine. I frowned, as I turned towards them. Alice informed me, "it's better if you stay here until Charlie heads home. He'll make sure that none of the natives will try and talk to you again. He doesn't like how they tried to corner you."
"Charlie won't mind?" I let my eyes take in the house, my house, not Charlie's. It was mine too. It was more home than it ever would be at Charlie's. I found my true family, my true home.
"Of course not! Edward heard Charlie basically think that we're his family too! We are honorary Swans after all!" Alice gushed, happiness brimming from her face as Edward got out of the car and came around—opening the driver's seat so that Alice could get out of the car. She came around and helped me out, one of the things I loved about this family was how old fashioned they were.
Together the three of us went up the driveway, ready to spend time with the family. I would rather spend time in a den of vampires then a den of werewolves any day. I would prove to the Reservation that they were wrong.
twilight doesn't belong to me
