A/N: Soundtrack for this chapter is To the Stars by Max Richter.
Bella woke from fitful dreams some days later, wondering how long this could go on. There seemed to be no shortage of would-be rapists in this neck of the woods, but surely someone would notice the string of unexplainable burns. She was frankly surprised that none of the victims...no, the perpetrators had alerted the authorities. It probably had something to do with the activities they had been engaging in immediately prior to her getting a hold of them...
The long nights were starting to take their toll, but at least she could sleep soundly when she returned home. At least the anger that seemed to shimmer visibly on her face at times was tempered, if just for a few hours. And as an added bonus, she had managed to avoid flare-ups like the close call while shopping with Leah and Alice, so placated was whatever was inside her that wanted to lash out. Of course, one could always count on the La Push pack to break her days-long streak.
They were trying, not very successfully, to blend in with the trees on the edge of Charlie's property, but were too loud to escape her notice. As soon as she reached out to listen, she recognized Paul's voice. The surge of anger whipped through her so quickly she had not yet had time to process it before she opened her front door, scooped up the two boys with help from the wind, and tossed them up into the air till they tumbled down at her feet. She didn't try to be gentle.
"You know you can just knock if you want to say hello." She folded her arms but stayed vigilant.
The way Paul glared daggers at her, you'd think it was his mother and not Jacob's that died at her hands. Paul was visibly straining with rage. The boy next to him kept his distance and looked between the two with far more fright than anything else.
"I don't think we've met," Bella said to the stranger.
"I'm Embry," he replied furtively.
Paul found his voice at last. "This was unprovoked. You have no right—"
"I have every right," she calmly replied. "You're loitering on my father's property."
"We were not!"
She shrugged. Bella remained outwardly calm, mainly because she sensed it infuriated Paul more. The part of her that was itching for a confrontation with someone who could fight back (however meekly like the wolves) was swiftly taking over.
"The wind is really strong here, Paul," she smirked. "One minute you're there, the next you're here..."
Paul turned to Embry, grinning nastily. "And this is why she's forbidden in La Push."
Bella laughed. "Oh, so this is wolf orientation? Recon on the big, bad Bella? Did you give him the how-to guide on taking down vampires yet? You know, since you've killed so many..."
"Fuck you," Paul growled.
She made a point of smirking unkindly before slowly glancing down his body. "You're not my type..."
Paul yelped when he followed her gaze, rushing to cover his exposed bits. The shorts that moments ago had adorned his body were gone...burnt to crisps judging by the flakes still tumbling gently to the ground.
With a final hateful menacing look from Paul, he and Embry hightailed it to the tree line where they would presumably shift and run back with tails between their legs...or so she liked to think. Bella wondered how long it would take for their telepathy to transmit to every one of their pack (just how many were there now?) what had happened. Fuck them. She indulged for a long, sweet minute...flames tickling up and down her body, eyes closed, and body humming in pleasure before she went back inside to get ready for school.
Fuck them. Let them come...
Inside the house, Charlie stood in the window facing Bella's shed, unnerved by what he witnessed. He wracked his memory, but no...this was the first time in almost nine years that he had seen with his own eyes what Bella could do. He couldn't help the shudder that rippled through his frame. What father could behold his child covered in flames and not tremble? And...he detested the emotion that crawled from his guts and remained like a greasy film over his skin...but how could he not in this moment feel the fear that had been his constant companion throughout Bella's life?
He didn't know what was said out there, but Charlie was a cop and an observant man. There was genuine animosity between Bella and those boys, who appeared to be La Push kids. The gears in his head grinded...those kids were in on Bella's secrets then. Because surely...surely she wouldn't incinerate random people's clothes.
His head hurt and he let his feet carry him on autopilot out of the house and towards her truck. He needed to keep his faith with Bella. Those boys came here and they didn't look friendly even before she did anything. She has every right to defend herself. And she didn't really hurt them after all. They'd come so far, the two of them, despite the distance they had yet to travel. There was still so much he needed to say...so much that he needed to understand. But they were making progress, and he wasn't about to let a couple of troublemakers undo the painstaking work of rebuilding his relationship with his daughter.
No. Bella was starting her senior year today and the last thing she needed was an inquisition from him. What she needed was a father who did his damn job and took care of her. At the very least, she needed someone to take care of her ancient truck before it broke apart mid-drive. He grabbed his tools and the supplies he'd purchased the day before, quickly jacked up her truck and proceeded to change the oil.
And when he spied the bag of zippo lighters on the passenger seat, he pointedly ignored it and carried on with his work.
Leah eyed the sea of hormonal kids staring at their group with suspicion. It wasn't lost on her that she, Jacob and Seth made up the entirety of the brown demographic at this new school. Having attended the reservation school system her entire life with people that looked just like her, this would take some getting used to.
"Really, can you both chill a bit?" Jacob said, glancing at her and...yup, Bella, to no one's surprise. "I want to try to make some friends today..."
Their motley crew disembarked from two vehicles that were the polar opposite of one another. Leah, Jacob, and Seth had accompanied Bella in her dilapidated truck (though she'd long learned to never insult the damn thing in front of either Jacob or its owner)...and Alice in her ostentatious porsche. Leah sighed with envy looking at the thing. She could almost, almost get past the smell if it meant taking another ride in that sweet car. Not that she'd ever confess such a thing to the annoying pixie driving it.
It's funny, you'd think she'd be more concerned about vampires and people with destructive powers on the brink, but Leah's stomach was doing somersaults for the most mundane of reasons; she was quite nervous to start this new chapter of her life. A new white ass school. Living, more or less, with a family of fucking vampires. Cut off from her people. Well, fuck those people...she harbored no love for them. But she missed her mom. She missed having a meal and not mentally calculating how much she owed the people who cooked it. In short, she missed belonging somewhere. Her life was wildly out of her control these days and damn it, she wasn't thrilled.
Leah had been the one ready to fight, ready to lash out for so long...it was disorienting now to find herself out of that venerated spotlight and watch someone else claim the title "most likely to throw a punch..."
Bella's scowl put hers to shame. The girl was practically growling at anyone and everyone who dared sneak too long a peek at the group. Leah watched amusedly as a particularly fierce staring contest was underway between her and a group of four, whose own expressions were split evenly between surprise at Bella's obvious contempt and hatred that matched her own.
"Friends of yours?" Leah asked her.
That snapped the spell at least, and she relaxed considerably before turning to answer her. "They hate me," she answered then frowned and added, "which means they'll hate you too if we keep talking."
"I just got used to having a white best friend," grinned Leah. "Fuck that."
Bella grinned back, and she was relieved to see that she did indeed look calmer than she had a minute ago. All her worries aside, this was going to be an interesting, if not royally fucked up year.
True to her word, which felt like a million years ago now, Alice had snuck into the school sometime in the last week and fudged with the system so that she, Bella and (though it had taken more than a few proddings from Bella to persuade the obstinate vampire) Leah were sharing nearly all of their classes. Indeed, after comparing schedules, Bella was thrilled she could count on a friendly face in every single class. And she had to hand it to the diminutive pixie-she had managed to keep her away from Jessica, Lauren, and Mike as well for all but one class. It was the best start to the year she could hope for.
Except of course, Rosalie and Emmett still hadn't returned.
She had hoped...Rosalie and Emmett "graduated" last year (as did Jasper) but she really had hoped that with this milestone...Bella's first day of her one and only senior year...that she'd wake up to find her sitting by her side...But instead she had woken to ingrate wolves and more reasons to burn everything down. She tugged at her necklace, the act such a routine part of her day she had long lost track of how often she did it.
Alice was already at their table in the corner of the cafeteria when she and Leah entered. "You're telling me in all their time here, not one person noticed they never eat?" Leah mumbled as they walked towards her.
"And why high school?" She continued incredulously. "I have to repeat my senior year and I already want to kill myself."
Bella chuckled, though to be honest she often wondered the same thing herself. Blessed (or cursed, whichever way you look at it) with immortality, endlessly repeating high school would not be how she spent her time. She wondered what the Denali's did with their eternity.
Across the cafeteria, she saw that Jacob and Seth were chatting away amicably with their respective groups. The pang of jealousy seared its way across her chest before she tamped it down. She told herself she ought to be happy for them. They had been so desolate since the mess with the pack and Quil's death...it was nice to see them smiling and talking with normal people about normal things that had nothing to do with the specter of doom and gloom that seemed to hang over her. Seth especially deserved to be around people his own age and finish out his childhood. So why then did it feel like a wounded animal had taken up residence inside her chest? She turned to Leah a few steps before they arrived at Alice's table.
"Last chance to make some normal friends," she warned her.
"Last chance to avoid my fist," Leah replied without pause.
Grateful, Bella sunk into the chair and dug into her food. Next to her, Leah sniffed at the bag (packed by Esme, she knew) before gingerly doing the same.
Alice rummaged through her books and pulled out a bright folder. Bella groaned inwardly, for she had an inkling what the vampire was doing. The same exact folder was in her own bag, given to all seniors in homeroom that morning and containing career aptitude and personality tests meant to help them figure out what the hell they'd be doing with their lives. It doesn't list pyromaniac or serial killer, she wanted to snipe at the cheerful teacher droning on about college. Bella had taken one look at the papers inside before stuffing the whole thing into her bag and walking out, the bell ringing 5 seconds later and saving her from getting a detention.
"I don't know why you won't even try these," Alice said a little too innocently. "They're fun. I use them when we switch to college."
Leah snorted. "Of course you do."
Alice paid her no mind. "You can at least decide what schools you're going to apply to, Bella. This way we can narrow down the list and prepare ourselves."
Bella's stomach was doing some rather unpleasant things. Alice and Esme have been not so subtly hinting at this for a while now, and while she was touched...she was also trying not to hyperventilate every time the subject came up.
"So..." Leah interrupted without pausing to breathe between bites, and Bella silently cheered her friend's lack of tact when it came to Alice. "You gonna explain your deal with those numnuts or do I have to ask the midget?"
Alice held up her hand in an impolite gesture, but then shifted to look at Bella and asked, "I have a better question. Why do you look like you haven't slept?"
"Shortie has a point...you look like hell."
Bella held her breath for a split second. Then she smoothed her features and lied through her teeth. "I'm having nightmares. You know...Quil."
Leah nodded and looked down at her food, somewhat subdued. But Alice, Bella noted with unease, remained fixated on her. Was her heartbeat giving her away? She willed herself to calm...willed her heart to stop if it bloody had to just to derail Alice from whatever train of thought she was riding before it arrived anywhere close to the truth.
Her nighttime activities were anything but healthy. Bella was smart enough to know that, on an intellectual level, she was going down a dangerous path. She was already growing bored of the precision burns she inflicted on all those men. Already she wanted to do more to them. Her imagination roared with possibilities, and it took more and more effort to hold herself back.
Leah saved her from further inquiries, quite by accident, as she was tearing through her third sandwich with such enthusiasm Alice couldn't help but divert her gaze.
"Disgusting..."
In the end it wasn't the strain of hiding her secret that set her off. It was Rosalie, or rather her absence. Bella was shocked and frankly disappointed with herself that the sight of Rosalie's locker, her parking spot, the desks she used to occupy affected her so. As the day trudged on she grew more pensieve while her thoughts tumbled about unhelpfully, reminding her that Rosalie was in all likelihood never coming back...that she was probably better off like this...that pain was the only thing Bella had or would ever bring her. Her class notes were abysmal but Alice could catch her up later.
She managed to hide all of this from her friends and outwardly keep her cool until the very end of the day. Bella had packed her things already and was waiting for them by her truck when the three stooges made an appearance. They were accompanied by Tyler, a mean-spirited boy she had little to do with until then but would still rather avoid.
He hollered across the lot. "Where's your girlfriend?"
Like they didn't know full well that she graduated. The teenagers in this town were keenly interested in the Cullens on account of their otherworldly good looks, money, and allure. She knew he was goading her, but damn did that question hurt like no other. She had no idea where Rosalie was. The Cullens most likely did but they hadn't volunteered her whereabouts and she refused to ask on principle.
"Back with Emmett most likely," Lauren piped in. "Probably got tired of the baby dyke."
The pair laughed viciously, Mike joining in. Jessica, seemingly bored, rolled her eyes and steered the group to Tyler's van, kvetching about their homework and nagging with a "can we go? I have a lot of shit to get done" before they piled in.
Bella watched them pull out, her self-doubts about Rosalie melding with the rage she'd grown so familiar with. In that moment she couldn't be sure if the hate coursing through her was for herself, the stooges, or Rosalie. She was bone-tired physically from her nighttime excursions, and drained mentally from acting like everything was fine. She was angry with Alice and Esme too because the idea of planning a future of any kind was laughable at best. She didn't deserve a future, much less a happy one. These thoughts and others just as dark pushed everything else to the back of her mind. Had anyone been watching her closely, they'd have observed the red tinge dancing across her eyes as she watched the van pull into the road...they'd have noted with alarm that in the very instant Bella's lip curled back into a sneer, Tyler's van experienced a blowout that forced him to swerve and hit a tree.
Later that night, she made a half-hearted effort to stay home, to get some sleep and act like a normal person. But sleep wouldn't come and before she knew it she was dressed and departing yet again. She went through the window, mindful that Charlie was home. Perhaps Seattle would offer more amusements to distract her. She had an idea...a terrible, risky, and downright destructive idea...but it worked before, and regardless of what Rosalie would think, she needed to temper the devil inside her before someone got killed.
Rosalie can go fuck herself too.
A/N: A bit more downward spiraling in the next chapter, but I promise we're building towards Bella and Rosalie's reunion. Only 3-4 more chapters!