Alice knew she wasn't supposed to be keeping tabs on Bella. Everyone in the family had agreed-it was time to go back to business as normal. They couldn't afford to have a human around-beyond putting Bella in danger, it also gave their family unit a weak link that other vampires could take advantage of. That much had been made clear when James came into the picture. Eventually, Carlise was sure Edward would find a nice, vampiress that wasn't quite so vulnerable and easy to kill to fall in love with. It wasn't an attempt to insult Bella, it was just how it was. And Edward was so insistent that Bella stayed human, there hadn't been any wiggle room otherwise.
Still, Alice had somehow found a kindred spirit with the human girl, more so than she had in the past few decades. It was so rare to find someone that spending time with caused everything else to just...fall away. Sure, at first the girl had just been a distraction for her. A lovely doll to dress up when she pleased, a little meanly perhaps, to make her good enough for her brother.
But over time, she found Bella to be surprisingly intelligent. Somehow, the human had broken through the 'prey' view that all vampires have of humans, and Alice had started to see her as a friend she could openly talk to and honestly rely on. Bella gave her laughter, called her on her crap, and utterly, utterly hated any type of cute heels to no annoying end. Alice found herself calling the human 'friend'.
So, to hell what everyone else thought. Alice checked in on her as often as she could-which unfortunately wasn't that often thanks to Edward's mind reading abilities. She had to make it look like an 'accident', which was no easy feat.
But tonight, the boys were out hunting, Esme and Rosalie were out enjoying the streets of Greece, and she was alone.
Alice closed her eyes and reached forward, focusing on the human she called friend.
Terror. Confusion. Heat. Images spun around and around, until everything faded to black.
Alice pulled out of the vision, breathing hard. Porcelain hands pulled out a cell phone, browsed the internet, and within minutes booked a first rate flight within the hour, costs be damned. Vampiric speed aided her to her car. Not in the past six decades had she been this worried for someone outside of her family group-and she was sure she wouldn't be the only one once the others knew what was going on. But first, she had to get there. Before this thing happened.
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Fallow had slept a long, deep sleep. How long he had been asleep, he had no clarity towards, but it had to have been at least a day if not two since he had very painfully dragged himself over to the brook's edge half a mile from where Glycon had thrown him from the sky.
His muscles were stiff and sore. From experience, he knew putting weight on that back ankle for the first time was going to be hellfire's pain on earth. As was moving in any way shape or form, thanks to his collarbone still being broken.
The cloaking magic was still in place, gratefully. His best chance of healing properly was to be left alone for as long as possible when the altercations were this bad. As long as his wings, neck and tail weren't broken, he'd eventually be able to fly back on his own. Most other bones could be set by his own magic. The collarbone would be tricky, but once assessed, he could figure out where exactly it needed to go to heal. However….basic needs needed to be attended to. And even Fallow had some pride at least. He had to drink. Had to relieve himself, preferably away from his main resting place. He didn't dream of being able to hunt at this point, but thankfully dragons could go up to a month in between meals.
Locking his fine, arrow shaped jaw gingerly, the small dragon lifted his lithe body up and almost screeched where he stood, regardless of the fact he had kept his back foot off the ground. His collarbone and ribs couldn't be saved when he had to stand, and the muscles that had been working HARD to reknit themselves around the broken bones clearly stated their opinion about being used. Grimacing, Fallow slowly stepped his aching body fully forward into the brook, opting to soak. Immediately, relief flooded through his pain stricken form. He couldn't quite help the happy rumble that came through his chest, regardless of the way his collarbone and cracked ribs complained. Once mostly submerged in the icy water, the dragon took a more active look at his surroundings, pain quelled somewhat by the icy temperature.
The sky was now covered in clouds, and he could sense an electric current running through the air. This alone didn't worry him-quite frankly Fallow loved storms. They were fantastic to watch, although his nestmates often complained about not being allowed to fly in them. Even the largest of the dragons in the rift didn't fly during a storm-the forces in the air could easily snap a dragon's wings if the storm was violent enough, the dragon was flying in the wrong part of the storm (or the storm decided to change direction suddenly while the dragon was flying through it), or if the dragon made a simple flight miscalculation. To top it off, storms were unpredictable at best-even what seemed like a simple rain drizzle could quickly turn into something more drastic, and once a dragon was thousands of feet in the air as they preferred to fly, it was far too late to land once a storm hit.
Regardless, many boisterous young dragons were lost every year by being overconfident and deciding to try their wings at flying in storms. Whether to impress a potential mate or to just prove they could do it, every single spring, newly mate-age males sprang into the air during storm season to prove a point, along with a few females (although the females of their race, Fallow had to admit, seemed a bit more reasonable overall). Few returned, and the ones that did never sprang into the air during storms again. The stories they brought back with them were always the same-being tossed around in the storm as helplessly as a hare being played with by a mountain cat. For the first time in their lives, they had become the prey, and the sky had been the predator, tossing and spinning and plunging them around to its heart's content before spitting them back out. Never again would they challenge it. Oftentimes, the dragons that returned refused to fly for weeks afterwards, and others would have to coach them out into the sky gently until they regained their confidence to fly regularly again.
That being said, Fallow wasn't in the air, and was well sheltered on the ground and well hidden beneath the trees. But this storm didn't smell normal. Something in the air made the scales on the back of his neck stand up, the line of centered flight-frills lift. The woodland animals seemed to agree-usually a few birds were flitting about even in the start of the worst storms, but the skies were utterly bare. Fallow could hear no scratching, no chirping, nothing other than the gurgling of the brook he was laying in.
Usually, dragon kind would retreat to the back of the very secure mountain caves they either found or carved out themselves with flame and claws to ensure the winds would not tear them into the skies unwillingly when a storm was near. The small dragon prince was in no condition to fly or even to travel to find a more secure location. Unlike most young dragons in his clan, he was not erupt beside himself in pride, and understood what it was to be vulnerable. With haste, Fallow clawed the smooth rock and stone bottom of the brook, instinct bringing him to understand the danger and that a plan had to be made. His broken left scapula immediately halted the motion on that side, eliciting a loud snarl of pain. Somewhere in the midst, although he should have known, the pain of his collarbone and scapula had intermingled and become hard to distinguish, as he had forgotten which was which.
Using his right claw only, Fallow managed to dig a deep enough dent in the bed of the brook to completely submerge himself a few feet under right as it hit.
Even underwater, the pale scaled dragon could hear the CRACK as the first tree beside the brook was broken in half and tossed to the side as though it weighed nothing. Like nothing he had ever heard before, several other cracks followed, and it seemed for all the world like the entire forest around him had been ripped up and tossed to the side. Rain came in unnatural, halting pours instead of a normal steady stream. Despite the pain still radiating through his body, the young dragon burrowed deeper into the brook (a bit desperately at this point. The trees that were being thrown around were much bigger than him).
It was futile. The brook's shallow waters angrily began to shake, and though Fallow tried to brace against it, he had no real purchase ability with so many injuries. As soon as the waves violently shook him to the surface, the wind found the dragon prince's wings and ripped him into the sky. The fully grown dragon prince screamed like a hatchling in fright and pain.
The stories the dragons a few years above his age group told were true. Storms were utterly gruesome. Eight hundred feet above the ground the dragon prince gritted his sprained muzzle and tried to quit shrieking in pain. His cracked ribs were now surely simply straight broken, but he had no choice in the matter. Over and over he was tumbling, his wings were being strained into directions they weren't supposed to go, and twice already his tail had almost been broken from being snapped in the wrong direction too quickly. He couldn't even tell which way he was going at this point. The pale scaled runt tried to calm himself as much as he could and think. It was unfortunate that during all those supposed flying lessons his mother gave his siblings were too busy making sure he couldn't fly or listen.
Still, he was smart. Slowly, he waited. Managed to tuck in his tail like an infant hatchling would. Then, by some miracle, he managed to force one wing completely closed with a loud screech as the motion caused further injury-and changed the way he was tumbling. Instead of tumbling diagonally and head over heels he was spinning to the side, heaving with all of his core's strength to keep some semblance of control. Fallow waited again, trying to stay calm and feeling the currents of the wind, waiting for the perfect moment until he could-there! With a jerk that caused another draconic screech to erupt from him and lose itself in the howling winds, he folded the other wing against his side, and curled his and neck in towards his belly. Still, he spun for quite a while as the storm continued, just not quite as fast. He cursed under his breath-his hope was that he would be able to drop out of the sky completely, but the storm had him in its grasp firmly even without his wings open. He was also vaguely aware that he was moving-the odd, shouldn't-exist-air-and-rain-storm was moving north and west.
For hours, Fallow was trapped. Curled in a ball, the colorless dragon prince was mostly able to escape further injury, but the storm still kept him high in the sky, bobbing helplessly. Sometimes, he was able to see tidbits of the ground below, but most of the time, all he could see were the dark clouds of the storm. He had been dragged up far, far higher than he had ever flown. It was ridiculous, and without reason-without his wings or flight frills open, he should have dropped like any earthbound creature, but the winds were so strong they carried him when they should have had no purchase point.
He was terrified.
Even years of being his clan's tooth and fang bag, per say, couldn't prepare the young prince for this. Regardless of how many bones they had broken or how far they had chased him, Fallow had always had some sort of a snarl or a snippy retort to give.
In this situation, the wind utterly pinned every piece of him, for hours, and yet still managed to exhaust him. Regardless of how much his muscles shook as an involuntary reflex to free himself from the constant pressure, it was relentless.
He was out of snippy retorts, and quite frankly, far out of his league.
Just as he was about to fall unconscious, the wind forcefully holding him into the ball….stopped. Like a bird that had been thrown, instinctually he uncurled, spreading his wings and flight fins, following the spiral of the leftover g-forces. The edge of an unfamiliar jagged mountain range curled beneath him, and Fallow's drooping eyes widened as he took in roads, cars, and the one thing all dragons knew the rift was to avoid- humans, which meant vampires and other creatures as well.
The storm had taken him far, FAR from home.
In one final, terrorizing display, a gigantic gust of wind backhanded the young prince, sending him spinning and screeching in pain again towards the mountains. He buckled in the air, his injuries once again reminding him of their presence in front of his adrenalized numb sensation. Fallow fell like an arrow towards the mountains, terrified as a hatchling that had been pushed from the nest. At the very last minute, he was able to flare his wings to try to slow his fall, but his left wing muscle crumpled from the strain it put on his collarbone and scapula. His right wing hit a gigantic tree hard, and he was given a pain he had never known before.
Fallow hit the ground and rolled helplessly from momentum, each roll causing another screech of pain to snap from his sprained jaw. When he finally came to a stop, the colorless prince looked up at the sky venomously, and snarled at it, despite the blood now leaking out of the corners of his mouth.
So, maybe he wasn't completely out of snips and snarls.
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It was a lot easier to pretend to process the night's earlier events once she was out of Forks. Regardless of the events that had transpired there, and while she had been happy that she had met the people she had met, Bella had always felt trapped living in Forks.
Passing a stream of police cars and the Fork's fire truck lit up with sirens blaring, knowing where they were finally headed had almost caused her to run her bike off the road.
Bella had debated stopping and turning herself in, letting everyone know she was alive immediately. Besides the unwanted media and attention that would bring about, what had transpired had been straight up foul play, and the vampire hadn't just been trying to burn the house down-she had specifically been targeting Bella. It would be like planting a neon sign on her head, and Bella would be lying if she said she wasn't terrified after tonight. She no longer had the Cullens to protect her.
So she would travel, let her mom know she was alright as discreetly as she could, and figure out where to go and what to do from there.
In the meantime though, she needed to mourn. Her heart ached. She had felt like she had just started to get to know Charlie in the last few hours, and he had died protecting her-as a father would. Waking up like that had been horrific. The motorcycle helmet allowed her to cry for hours without looking like a wreck to the drivers around her.
That first night she drove. Checked the map. Stopped at a gas station, emptied her bank account into straight cash, and debated eating something but saw pizza on the rack and just couldn't bring herself to want anything. The night was mostly clear, the moon was still almost full and the further she drove the starrier the skies grew. Many of the miles she drove out of Forks were empty roads surrounded by tall trees, and while it was peaceful, she understood the danger and tried to stay alert. But, so far, there was no sign of the vampire at all throughout her drive. Blessedly, Bella was given complete peace the rest of the night.
She knew nothing of the random storm that had meteorologists scratching their heads that tore halfway across the continent and started off the coast of florida, right by the bermuda triangle.
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Renee' rolled around reluctantly in bed, groaning at the persistent knocking at the door of her apartment. It was a Sunday, who the hell delivers mail to an apartment door on a Sunday? She was in her mid forties, she needed coffee and a good…..hour….before she could claim herself functional for the day. The knocking turned to banging.
"Alright! Alright! I'm coming!" She snapped loudly, sliding her mildly arthritic knees to the floor. Hastily, she threw a morning robe over her tank top and shorts, threw her frizzy hair in a bun, and put on her fluffy purple slippers before sludging over to the door.
An irritated well put together young man in his thirties wearing a suit gave a courtesy bow, lifting a brow in obvious slight amusement. Renee' glared. "Oh, bugger off. What do you want?"
"Our contacts say that the favor owed had been dispensed, and you are no longer in need of our services. This is a letter of confirmation-please do take care, after twenty four hours, it and all copies you may attempt to make-
"Will burn up in flames, yada, yada, yada-
Renee' stopped and reeled. "The favor owed has been dispensed? What-
"All of the information is in that letter. Good day, erm, 'Madam'." the gentleman said the last phrase quite mockingly, before spinning on his heel and striding away.
"They are always so strange," she muttered, ripping open the white envelope with fancy lettering the gentleman had given her.
Renee' Dwyer,
As requested, the protection debt placed on your daughter for your service to the Dragon King two decades ago has been fulfilled. Earlier last night our confidents noted a vampire had set the house she and your former husband were living in ablaze. Your previous husband did not survive, but the dragon scale implanted in your daughter protected her from the fire. Our sincere condolences for the loss of your not-mate. As this debt is now filled, the scale has faded from her system.
Thank you again for your service to our kind. Please do not attempt to contact us again.
Renee' threw the slip on the table, and rushed back to her room, suddenly wide awake. She threw a mismatched outfit on, and couldn't buy an airplane ticket fast enough. She was going to go see her daughter.
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It had been a miracle, Bella realized, that she hadn't crashed or lost control of her motorcycle while on this trip. She had taken the highway and had been driving at high speeds for almost a full day now. When she had first started to learn to drive with Jacob, she had been straight up suicidal about it. Maybe it was her change for her sudden need to self preservation that caused it, but she had been hyper vigilant about keeping control. One wipe out, with even a little bit of blood loss and a time delay, and the vampire that had tried to kill her and succeeded in killing Charlie would certainly catch her scent. She had even bound up her hair under her helmet to keep it from blowing her scent further onto the breeze, and made sure the leather outfit covered every inch of her possible-the rather high collar of it that Jacob had once stated made her look 'like a rockstar' was pulled very tightly around her throat.
That being said, the amount of practice had truly helped her. Her arms, legs, and well, pretty much everything was absolutely killing her muscle wise at this point, but she couldn't stop. She wasn't far enough away yet.
Bella stuck to the high traffic areas when possible, but chose an L-shaped route to try to throw off her sure to be pursuer. Rather than going straight diagonally across the country to Florida, she would first head down towards Arizona and New Mexico, and then cut across towards Florida. Added plus-she would get to see the rocky mountain range while she was traveling this way as well. Obviously, she wouldn't be stopping except for absolute necessity, and then she would be booking a hotel room during broad daylight under an alias when she needed to sleep-and she would be paying with straight cash. During the night, she would always stay on the move, and during days when the skies were cloudy. Or so the plan was.
It was hard to stay focused for so long. Her heart hurt from the previous night's events. She still hadn't eaten, had drank half a bottle of water since she started while at a gas station. She was lonely, and frightened despite being surrounded by traffic at this point. Bella had been on the move for sixteen hours for the most part on a motorcycle, without a proper license, which was another worry in the back of her mind as she passed several police cars-she couldn't afford to be pulled over. Licensing had been in the works, well, before she had technically died.
This road trip wasn't as much fun-or any, really-as she had originally wanted it to be. Gratefully, she had entered the second day at this point, and the sun was rising over the horizon again as she was driving through the center of Utah. The snow capped mountains and striking scenery stilled her frantic, exhausted thoughts for a blessed few moments as she took it in. Never before had she been this far from home, alone. The mountains were almost as blue as the sky, and the road laid out before her was surrounded by fields of grass that shimmered gold in the morning light and dew.
Begrudgingly, shoving down the small voice of paranoia in the back of her head, Bella finally decided to find a place to rest. Momentarily pulling off to the side of the road, she looked at her map-she wanted to pick a town that wasn't necessarily THE capital, but somewhat populated for safety's sake. She fumbled for a few minutes before deciding-Mapleton. The town was perfect to suit her curiosity, while still being populated. She would only be stopping during broad daylight-she would be sure to be on the move before the sun started going down. That she promised herself.
Putting away the map and shouldering her heavy backpack, Bella revved her motorcycle engine and took off towards her destination.
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"Holy shit." were the words that left Emmet's mouth as he stared at the scene before them all. Even Rosalie shivered involuntarily at her mate's side.
It mattered not that Alice had left as discreetly as she thought she could. The others of her coven had shortly and rather quickly after followed, and joined her on the flight. Even Edward had, once he had realized the vision she had had, although he had decided to stay mostly out of sight.
It was barely at the crack of dawn when they all arrived at the former chief of police's house. The house was swarming with police cars and both of the town's fire trucks. Esme' gripped Carlise's hand tightly, and Alice let out a small cry. It was clear that the fire had been burning for hours at this point, and despite the firefighters' attempts to stop it, had no inclination to die off. Black smoke billowed in the air, visible to all for miles once the sun was further up in the sky. But the fire….
The fire was intense. Out of every window and door, orange flames surged and sprang violently, their heat laughingly threatening the vampires. Carlisle watched as two firefighters burst through the front door holding the remains of a blackened, shriveled body stuck in a strange position. Of all the things, his face was the only thing left that could be recognized. Carlisle grimaced, covered his wife's eyes too late (regardless of the things they had done and been through, a part of him felt the need to), resisting for a moment when she pushed against his hand.
"Have they brought her….?
The question hung in the ungodly hot air among the group. Edward's eyes were cast downward, unsurprising grief and guilt gripping his expression.
"She's not dead."
Seven pairs of golden eyes immediately turned to the sound as Jacob Black stepped out of the burning forest behind Isabella Swan's house, covered in sweat, his jaw clenched from the effort of not transforming for the second time in eight hours. Immediately the coven was on high alert. Alice's nose curled as the smell hit her. Jacob leaned his bare back against a tree trunk, obviously tired.
"After you lot left, Bella was utterly in pieces. She started hanging out with me again, just like old times. Unfortunately, it was too late for me to be human," he snapped the last word vehemently. "Your kind's presence causes us to change. To guard. To protect. It isn't fair."
"Oh, boo hoo," Rosalie snapped irritably. Jacob audibly snarled, and the group tensed for a moment.
"Why are you telling us this?" Carlisle asked calmly, not unkindly-quelling the tension between the two parties momentarily with purpose. He saw underneath the aggressive demeanor, the boy was distraught. After all, regardless of the type of change, all creatures of sorts went through a type of existential crisis for the first decade or so after being human. He could understand the boy's plight. Not that he himself was hesitant to protect his family-he would of course do so viciously if needed.
Angrily, Jacob Back kicked the ground, leaving a three foot deep crater.
"Because I can't follow her! My pack leader is forcing me to stay in Forks. When the whole pack was here Bella was still inside the damn house. Somehow, she must have been alive, because now her scent left a new trail outside the house."
"You believe Bella is alive," Carlisle repeated slowly and clearly. A doubtful scoff made itself known from the back of the vampiric group-Rosalie. A sharp look from Esme quieted the blond. The wolf-boy, meanwhile, nodded to the elder vampire.
"I know it. Earlier last night I visited her-we had had a fight. I left her motorcycle and riding stuff back here. She went to her truck, then she took her motorcycle and went south."
"She rode a motorcycle out?" Alice repeated, disbelievingly.
"It's the main way we spent time together. I taught her." The wolf replied, cocking a small smirk. "She was absolutely awful at it, at first."
"That's dangerous!" Alice snapped.
"I was watching her!" Jacob replied forcefully, anger starting to rouse the change in him again. His body began to shake, causing the vampires to once again be on edge.
"How did she get out?" Esme interrupted, doubtfully looking again at the roaring inferno.
Jacob shrugged, smiling tersely. "I have absolutely no idea. Her scent starts on the tree by her room's window, but as far as I can tell, the bark didn't even scrape her skin. Go back and sniff around by her back window if you don't believe me-even your kind should be able to pick up her scent there."
"Already done. As far as I can tell, wolf boy is right-her scent is there. Although, we can't track her scent as well." Edward quite suddenly said, making his presence known further. The glare the werewolf gave him could have melted metal with its anger.
Jacob bared his partially pointed teeth. "One other thing. One of your kind did this. A red haired female. The pack chased her until she was outside of Forks. Find Bella before she does."
And with that, Jacob Black disappeared into the night. Carlisle sucked in a breath.
"Victoria."
"Why would she go with fire, of all things?" Rosalie asked, rather bemusedly.
"She never was what we would call one of the most sane vampires, Rose," Emmett replied.
"Her and James did make quite the perfect couple," Carlisle agreed, emitting an air of serenity in the midst of the chaotic, burning scene.
"Alice." Edward said impatiently.
"Already on it."
