Chapter 55 Chapter Notes

Edward has been away from Bella for weeks, and now must reacclimate himself to her scent all over again. After a brief stop at her house, he runs across Victoria's scent, and can't believe that he left her and Charlie defenseless.

The Chapter title belongs to Creedence Clearwater Revival

Chapter 55 Bad Moon Rising

Thursday, November 2nd

The drive into Forks is uneventful. I know this road by heart and need to pay little attention, instead thinking about my reunion with Bella. There will be tears and recriminations, and plenty of anger and blame.

I just hope the Chief doesn't come out and menace me with a shotgun.

When I arrive in town, it's early. Bella and the Chief will already have left for school and work. As I take the turn to her street, I suddenly feel calmed by its sights and smells. I don't park in front of her house, though. If for some reason either of them were to come home, I don't want an unexplained Volvo in the driveway. Instead, I pull up into an overgrown, shaded lot a couple of blocks down and approach the house from the woods.

I scale the wall, and her scent fairly slams into me when I open her window. My throat erupts into flames, but surprisingly, my core doesn't tighten. Venom doesn't pool in my mouth. Rejoicing, I take this for a sign that maybe I'm growing past my need to consume Bella's blood. It never mattered to her, but it had always been of great concern to me.

Deciding to approach the problem head-on, I fall back onto her mattress and hold her sheets to my face. I'm dismayed at a slight tightening in my core, but continue to immerse myself in Bella's scent, focusing all my mental abilities on turning away from the call of human blood.

It doesn't work. Venom seeps into my mouth as I lie on this little bed, and I feel an overwhelming desire to feed. It takes every bit of strength I have not to wrench my mouth open in a charade of the actual act.

I fling the sheets off and bolt to my feet. What did I expect? Knowing how dangerous it would be to Bella if I lie to myself about the danger, I fully explore it. The truth is, I've been away from this delectable scent for over five weeks, so I'll have to desensitize myself all over again.

In what feels simultaneously like both heaven and hell, I lay back on her bed and breathe her scent deep into my lungs, willing myself to relax and accept that it's going to take some time to reacclimate myself. After about an hour, the raging fire in my throat recedes somewhat, and I decide it's time for the relief of some fresh air.

Knowing that Jasper and Emmett will have blocked the road to the house with limbs and debris, I leave the Volvo in its shaded spot and run to my house, finding it looking exactly the same, except that the steel shutters are in place. As I gaze up at the three-story Colonial, I'm soothed by its timeless quality.

This house will endure; I will endure.

I trot back into Forks, but still have a couple of hours until school lets out, so I drive to the little station on main street to fill my gas tank. While I stand with pump handle in hand, I catch a whiff of a sharp, clean scent on the breeze. It's Victoria, but just a molecule or so, as if she's crossed and recrossed the pavement, but not recently.

Shit. I've left Bella and Charlie alone here, with no protection. How could I have done that? Frantic, I call Bella's phone, but it goes to voicemail. I try her house, but am again disappointed, and leave a message. Finally, I call Charlie's cell, but it too goes to voicemail.

Is anybody going to answer their phone today? I try to get Charlie at the station, but all the receptionist can tell me is that he's taken a personal day. Would I like to leave a voicemail?

Would I?

I think about it for one second and it's just too macabre. Hey, Charlie. It's Edward, your daughter's vampire boyfriend. I'm back. I caught the scent of another vampire. She might be in the area. Don't want her to catch either one of you and kill you out of vengeance. Because, you were right! Bella didn't really fall through a window in Phoenix! She was tortured—

I stop there. Too macabre.

I decline and hang up. Trying to quell my rising panic, I drive slowly, following the scent. It leads me out of town and onto the 110, toward First Beach. It vanishes, and I realize she's gone into the water.

I'm left in a quandary. Do I stay here and look for Victoria? Or go to Bella's house? Or start frothing at the mouth like a mad dog?

Deciding what I need is a fortune teller, I snap my phone open and hit Alice's speed dial number. There's no answer. The family doesn't usually answer any calls from numbers they don't recognize. I try Esme and Rosalie, and am similarly disappointed. Only when I call Emmett do I get an answer. Because Emmett doesn't give a fuck.

When he answers, I just ask for Alice, telling him I don't have time to explain my absence. And then he tells me she's asleep, or in a weird trace or something. I nearly drop the phone. He tries to tell me about an incident that occurred just yesterday, about an explosion and the death of Alice's friend, but I tell him I'm in a hurry and hang up.

How odd is that? Alice and I both succumb to 'trances', or whatever they are? Realizing that I'm on my own, I take one of those deep breaths, square my shoulders, and focus all my senses on the problem at hand. Because this may well be the most important task that I've ever undertaken.

I know that in order to properly execute an intelligent reconnaissance, I'll need to keep my wits about me and concentrate, but it's nearly impossible, as I think about the very real consequences that could be playing out this very minute.

When the breeze picks up, it wafts Victoria's scent my way, but it's very weak. There's no way to tell if that's because it's rained, she'd merely flitted through, or it's been a while, and with the wind blowing, I can't tell exactly where the scent originated.

From listening to the chatter in Jacob and Billy's head, I know that the Blacks live on E Street, which is on the edge of town in a relatively unpopulated area. Continuing the search for Victoria, I drive into La Push. I speed past the Black's house, but nobody is home, so I comb the area, hoping for a hint of her scent, when I catch it, three streets over.

I pull the Volvo next to an abandoned shack and head out on foot, maddened by the difficulty of pinpointing exactly where that smell came from. It's watered down from humidity and rain, and by the overwhelmingodor of the Wolves.

It was unconscionable to leave Bella and her father defenseless, knowing that Laurent and Victoria were still at large. With Victoria's scent painted all over the area, I am in fear that what I liked to call my 'conscience' will be the thing that ends Bella's life. Truly ends it, perhaps in terror and pain.

My worst fear: Bella. DRT.