Chapter 57 Chapter notes
The confrontation in front of Jacob's house wraps up with some startling consequences.
The chapter title belongs to Bob Seger
Chapter 57 Turn the Page Thursday, November 2nd
There's something familiar about the tall man standing in the street, but the wolf can't remember what it is. He paws the door fully open and then he knows. He thinks that he knows. Is this the cold one that he attacked? The one who fed on the hiker?
Is this the one who choked him and tried to kill him?
He slowly advances on the tall man, trying to get a better look, but the memory is clouded. One thing is certain. He can smell the colored balls that the cold one had worn around its neck.
Before waking here, the last thing he remembers is creeping up on a cold one, high in the woods. He'd bitten it and had then sickened. Somehow, he had fallen into the hands of humans, and they had brought him to this shelter.
The tall man stands alone, but several humans are nearby. They all look at each other and chatter. And it's all mixed up in the wolf's dark haired boy that had fed him approaches, his hand outstretched, but the wolf is frightened and growls, baring his teeth. The boy's hand drops to his side and he halts.
The wolf edges to the side, eager to escape this place of bad smells and incomprehensible humans. He longs to return to the woods, to cold streams and running deer, to sleeping under fallen trees, running with his face in the wind. He makes eye contact with the tall man and something buried deep in his mind resurfaces.
Cold ones are our natural enemy.
He remains perfectly still and breathes deep the scent emanating from the tall man, and then he knows. This man is a cold one.
He is my natural enemy.
The wolf lets instinct drive his actions as he propels himself through the air and collides with the man, who is surprised by the attack and falls back. His teeth close on the man's arm and he starts to bite down, but strong hands come up to block his jaws from closing on the frigid flesh. He yelps as he's batted away. He lands on his side but is up immediately, jumping at the man again, teeth bared in an open-mouthed snarl of hatred and defense.
"Edward!" Bella launches herself at the wolf, finding a way between it and Edward.
"Bella, no," Edward yells, as he fends off the wolf. In seconds, Charlie is there as well, trying to pull Bella from between the gigantic, snarling animal and the superhuman creature who is battling it.
Bella feels the hot breath of the Wolf as it slobbers on her, and as she turns, sharp teeth graze her arm. She screams and falls against Edward. Charlie reaches to steady her and falls into the beast, who bites down on his shoulder. He gives a strangled yell and staggers, blood pouring from his wound.
Bella catches a glimpse of Maya as she streaks toward them. In mid-stride, she bursts into a giant black Wolf. She launches herself between Edward and the attacking animal, and they roll on the ground, biting and snarling, until Jake, phased for the second time in the last few minutes, intervenes. He gives Brady a fierce bite to the neck and he withdraws, whining. Jake stands his ground, growling at the Wolf, who yelps softly and slinks away toward the densely wooded area behind the houses.
The smell of the blood is making Bella woozy. Her blood, Wolf blood, Charlie's blood, staining his yellow shirt a bright crimson. She holds on long enough to grasp her father's hand, and from far away she hears him gasp, "What the hell?" Then his body goes limp, Bella's eyes lose focus, and all she sees is Edward's tortured face as she falls into darkness.
"Bella!" I roar, as a puddle of blood blooms under her, painting the road red. I yank her up and examine her arm, and I'm relieved to see a flesh wound. It's ragged and bleeding freely, but doesn't seem too deep. I rip my shirt off in one blinding second and press it to Bella's wound.
The blood has begun to call to me but I ignore it.
Charlie sprawls on the pavement. His heart is still beating, but erratically. Jacob runs behind his car and phases back, pulling on his ragged shorts. I throw him my phone and he's already pulling it open and dialing nine-one-one before I can frame the words. He gives the address, tosses the phone back, and runs to his house. "I've got to get clothes for Maya," he yells.
I hear the distant wail of an ambulance, far too soon to be the one that Jacob called.
"Hey, bring me a shirt!" He nods and disappears inside his house. The black Wolf has run around behind the garage and Jacob tosses clothes her way. In seconds, Maya is careening toward us. She falls to the ground near Charlie, taking his pulse and checking the dilation of his eyes.
She rolls Charlie over. His shirt comes away in bloody tatters, revealing a huge, bloody bite on his shoulder. Blood seeps insistently from the wound. "Ambulance?"
"Jacob called them." Charlie's olive complexion has faded to the color of bread dough. I need to take a breath and hold it, because, to my dismay, I find that Charlie's blood is almost as sweet as Bella's.
"Jacob! I need something to use as a compress. A…towel," she gasps. "Bring a couple."
Bella stirs as blood drips through the shirt I'd wound around her arm. It's on my skin, it's in my nose, it's in a deadly swirl, all around me, maddening me, making me feel reckless and wild. Maya is talking but I can't make out what she's saying.
Jacob returns with a couple of ratty towels and a threadbare tee shirt. Maya motions for him to place the towels under Charlie. She stands up and walks over to me very slowly, with one arm extended, palm out.
"Edward, I'll take care of Bella. Go get yourself together." In her thoughts I see myself, trembling and wide-eyed. I back away, feeling the fiend rise up inside me. Venom floods my mouth and all my muscles lock. I'm shocked to hear a low growl emanate from my lips.
I look down at my hands, coated in Bella's blood. I begin to gasp, and no matter how hard I try, I can't get my muscles to uncoil.
"Jacob!" Maya screams. "Get him away from here!"
He takes one look at me and pales. "C'mon," he says, as he tows me away. Our eyes meet and I see only concern. "Do you need to be restrained? I can phase."
"No. I just need some fresh air." He walks me away, one hand on my upper arm. His grip is as strong as steel. At the end of the long block, about a football field away, I stop. "Leave me here."
"You sure?" I nod and he hands me the tee shirt. I slip it on and we both hear an ambulance screaming away from us. It stops a few miles away. I close my eyes and focus, but it's just out of range. I take a few steps closer and hear snatches of conversation.
"What's wrong?" Jacob asks with a frown. "What is it?"
I feel my mouth fall open when I hear more information. "Something going on…I don't know the location." I wave my hand behind me. "Back there. Some kind of attack." I look up. "I'm not quite close enough to hear more."
Our eyes meet. "Victoria," we say, at the same time.
Jacob's mouth falls open. "Did you hear who is was? Did you hear a name?"
I listen for another minute, then look up. "Julius. Someone named Julius."
Jacob winces. "Jesus." He takes a deep breath. "I've got to get back. Billy's still in the car. Are you all right?"
I nod and he trots back to his Tempo. In moments, the car speeds past me, toward the scene of the attack. Jacob's thoughts are keen and focused, but Billy is devastated. He seethes in an uncharacteristic anger. I'm not sure what he's mad about, as all I get from him, other than bits of sentences, is a single name.
Jonas Littlefoot.
I stand at the end of the street, unable to approach Bella, lying on the fucking street, her arm mangled and bleeding. Her blood is all over me and even though I'm sucking in gulp after gulp of fresh air, I can still taste it on the back of my tongue. In a truly desperate act, I turn away from the carnage and lick the sticky residue off my hands, wishing I were anything, anyone, other than Edward Cullen.
The ambulance finally pulls up and two paramedics hop out. They introduce themselves as Chris and Hugo, and each take a patient. Chris quickly bandages Bella's arm but their focus is on Charlie, who lays in a scary puddle of blood, his heartbeat growing weaker by the second.
Maya goes back and forth between Charlie and Bella, stating her credentials and rattling off the vitals she's taken and the observations she's made. Hugo jots it all down and says, "They'll need to be transported to Forks."
"Can I ride along?" Maya asks. "That's where I work."
As soon as the ambulance departs, I walk back to Jacob's house. I pick up my bloody shirt and weigh it in one hand as I carry it to the fire. When I toss it in, it smolders for a minute before it catches. I scan the road but no bits of Victoria remain. Maya and Charlie did a good job of cleaning up. I see nothing but a stray orange bead, which I kick into the blaze.
After splashing my face and hands in the rain barrel, I unpin a towel from the clothesline and rub hard, to get rid of all the blood that was all over me. I trot back to the Volvo, parked about a mile away, and then I'm in range of the attack. And it's chaos. The street is abuzz with people talking, shouting and crying. I hear several of the Elders and Pack members. The tribal police mill about, asking questions, while an ambulance from Forks has arrived to help.
I hear Billy's calm, low voice loud and clear, but he's still upset about something. Jacob has joined his Pack, and they're in the process of examining the scene at every house. An older Indian wearing faded overalls, with his hair down and blowing in the wind, stumbles around, trying to speak to the residents, but I hear his thoughts loud and clear.
Is this because of me? Am I to blame for this atrocity?
Chief Littlefoot blames himself. Why? What could he, or anyone, have done differently?
And who was killed? And a better question is, how many?