This chapter (apart from the first few pages ) was written in the past school holidays, the day after I went to a movie marathon that ended at 4.30 in the morning. I didn't get up until three that afternoon and was still writing at 1.18 the next morning, and somehow I was still tired. If the writing is sloppy, blame my bodies annoying avoidance of a regular sleeping pattern, my friend for making encouraging my idea that we should have gone to that event and the fact that all that I have eaten today are things that are usually only eaten for breakfast.
Also, I own none of the information on any of the characters, or any of the noticeable lines from any of the books from the twilight sage, including the unfinished midnight sun.
Just by the way, who thinks that S.M should keep on writing that, seriously?!! And who is looking forward to the new book!
Also, I want to thank Blue Eyes Hawk and StarDancer013 for their constant reviews, and everybody else that takes the time! To ttyyytt and muzikgirl12 for their constant support and interesting conversations. Please Review!!
Edward Point Of View –
The man with the dreadlocks stepped forward with a polite smile on his inhuman face.
"Hello." He said, still cautious, seemingly unsure about what he was facing. "My name is Laurent, and these are James and Victoria."
"I am Carlisle, and this is my family. Jasper, Emmett, Alice, Rosalie, Edward, Esme and Bella." I felt a thrill go thru me as they again referred to me as family, would I ever get used to that? That feeling of joy, love and acceptance that saturated my body whenever they called me that?
I could see the others raising their eyebrows at the word 'family'. I wondered why, but then remembered that most vampires called their groups covens, not families. Laurent seemed more affected than the other two, they still seemed like they knew something.
"Yes, we are already familiar with a few members of your……..'family'." Laurent said. Everybody looked at Jasper, Emmett, Alice and Bella.
Little Alice cleared her throat, and I felt courage getting pushed to anybody that was standing behind Jasper.
"Yer, James is the one that knew who I was when I was a human, he was the one that gave us those leads."
"I found that you had some quite persuasive techniques." James's eyes flickered between Jasper and Emmett.
"We mean no harm by being here, we were simply passing through." Laurent said again.
"We would appreciate it if you stopped hunting here, we need to remain inconspicuous." Carlisle said.
"Oh yes, I had forgotten about that. You keep a permanent residency here, is that right?" Victoria asked them, though I dobuted that she nedded the conformation.
"Yes."
"How very interesting, this lifestyle that you choose for yourself." James mused, seeming to come to life a little bit more.
"It works for us." Carlisle said with a calm smile on his face.
"We prefer this life style to the alternative." Esme said, supporting her husband.
Victoria rolled her eyes. "You have no idea what you're missing."
""I have got to ask," Laurent said, seeming to not want to start a fight. "Your eyes are still that golden colour, proving that you still live off the animal diet, but yet you have brought a snack to the game?"
Bella's growl could be heard for miles. I flinched at the volume. Bella stood dead in front of me, her arms spread slightly to protect me. Why couldn't we be the other way round?
"The boy is not food." Alice said.
"But the boy is a human!" Victoria exclaimed the word.
"And what?" Emmett said.
"You told that human about us?" Laurent said. "That is breaking the rules. You have to kill him now." The vampire seemed eager for my death, stepping forward with a look that said 'this information is obvious.'.
"Or change him, obviously." Jasper said.
"He does smell very nice, doesn't he?" James said. Everybody stiffened at that. The Cullens and Laurent looked worried but James and Victoria looked excited. Alice gasped.
"You leave him alone!" She screamed at them. "Edward isn't a toy!"
"Everything is fairer this way Alice sweetheart, they get you, but I get the boy." The Cullens growled. Bella threw me on her back, Alice and Esme followed us. We ran, at her full speed, back to the house and I tried to understand where everything had gone wrong. She ran thru the back door and gently lifted me off of her back.
"I'm so, I'm so, so sorry." She said, starting to pace.
"Bella, Bella." I said, putting my hands on her arms and she stopped pacing, looking at me with would-be tears in her eyes. "Everything will be alright."
"What will he do now?" Esme asked Alice. Her eyes went blank for a few moments before she came back too.
"He's going to track him." Bella hissed at that news, but I had no idea what was going on.
"What does that mean?" I asked them.
Bella had rested her head on my chest and I wrapped my arms round her tense frame. Alice turned round to tell me, before she snapped her mouth shut and looked towards the forest. Laurent and the rest of the family came running towards us. Bella growled when she caught Laurent's scent, Stepping from my embrace and putting me behind her back, crouching in front of me.
"Relax Bella, Laurent is going to help us." Carlisle said calmingly, placing a hand on her shoulder before walked over and wrapping an arm round Esme's waist, but still standing slightly in front of her. Carlisle obviously didn't fully trust Laurent yet either.
Bella stood up and stood next to me. I wrapped my arm round her waist and she relaxed into my side. I kissed just above her ear and she sighed.
'That's right, I might not be able to protect her, but I could relax the crap out of her. ' I thought sarcastically. But it was still nice to know that I could do something helpful all the same.
"I want no part of this," Laurent began. "I have grown sick of James and his games, and I am intrigued but this lifestyle that you have made, are there any others like you?"
"UP in Denali." Carlisle said.
"Thankyou. But you need to be careful of James, he is lethal. His tracking abilities are unparallel and he never gives up."
"We already knew that." Emmett sneered.
"I do apologies for what happened the last time that we met, but I do want you to know that I wasn't there when James found you Alice, and neither was Victoria." Laurent nodded at Alice and Jasper stood in front of her, snarling.
"You have a decision to make, either fight with us or we will have to ask you to leave the area." Carlisle said.
Laurent nodded. "I won't fight against him, as I said, I want no part of this disagreement." He ran from the house and towards the forest.
"Fight?" I asked, but nobody answered.
"What happened after we left?" Bella asked them.
"James tried to follow but Emmett stopped him. Victoria pounced on Rosalie so Emmett let go of James and ran over to help Rosalie." I just realized that her hair had twigs in it and she had dirt smeared on her face. That wasn't going to help her liking of me. "So then James got away and we all had Victoria. She started to scream at us, telling us that they would get Edward. She started to tell us that they would always win and that they would kill anybody that tried to stop them." Jasper said.
"Then what?" Esme asked them. Jas, Emmett, Rosalie and Carlisle looked at me. They looked worried, like they could scare me with their words. As my eyes were flickering between Rosalie and Jasper, I saw something in the distance.
"Is that smoke?" I asked them. The three women that had ran me home all turned towards the window and to where I was looking, and than they gasped.
"You didn't!" Esme gasped.
Carlisle pulled her tighter to him.
"Sorry." He seemed distraught, and she put a comforting hand on his cheek. I was so confused, and of course Jasper realized that.
"The smoke is from Victoria, we killed her." He said grimly. I felt my eyes widen.
"Oh." They killed somebody, for me? I couldn't help the joy that rose up in me, not that she was dead, but because they were wiling to do that for me. I tried to stamp that down so that Jasper wouldn't feel the emotion and think that I was a total freak but he did. After analyzing my emotions for a few moments he nodded in understanding.
"I get it."
"But you guys could get hurt because of this." I said worriedly. Jasper rolled his eyes, Emmett snorted, Esme smiled warmly and Bella huffed. She then turned round in my arms.
"That's not seriously what you are worrying about!?" She exclaimed.
"Yes?" My answer sounded like a question.
"Edward this is more dangerous for you than it is for us, James is the reason that I had to get changed." Alice said meekly. Jasper sat on the couch and pulled her onto his lap.
"What?" I asked, but I had heard her story.
"When I was at that asylum, there was a vampire that worked there. He became fond of me but somehow, James caught my scent. He tried to hunt and track me, exactly what he is doing to you, and the other vampire changed me. But James got to him before I woke up and James killed the other man. That's why I was all alone when I woke up."
"Oh." I said quietly. How do you respond to something like that? "So that's why you got all tense when they come into view?" I asked them.
"You noticed that?" Jasper asked and I nodded. "Observant."
"But what do we do now? If James is tracking us, he is going to be even more pissed now that we killed his mate." Bella said.
"Well, if James is tracking Edward, than we hide Edward and we track James." Jasper said simply.
"Hide him where?"
"Here."
"But James will be able to tell where we live. James can track our scent."
"Won't he be able to track my scent to my house?" I interrupted, suddenly worried for my mother, the unsuspecting human that had no idea what type of world that she really lived in. They all tensed at my words and I knew that I was right.
"I hadn't thought about her." Bella told us quietly.
Jasper buried his head in Alice's hair, who was looking through the future. Emmett started to pace, and Rosalie looked pissed. Esme and Carlisle stood still, until Carlisle ran his fingers threw his gold coloured hair and Esme looked over at us.
"We split up into groups, two or three. A party to protect Edward, one for his mother and on to hunt James." Jasper said.
"I'm on the hunting team." Emmett said immediately and Rosalie looked at him, worried for her loved ones safety. Emmett was obviously looking forward to the now unavoidable fight.
"Me, Emmett and Rosalie are our best fighters, so we should each be on one of the teams." Jasper said.
"Rosalie and I can take care of Elizabeth, if you want." Carlisle nodded stiffly. Obviously he didn't like that his wife had to be involved in this, but thought that that would be the safest place for her.
"Emmett, Carlisle and I can hunt." Bella said, surprising everyone. I whipped my head round to look at her, she wouldn't make eyes contact.
"You don't want to stay with him?" Rosalie asked smugly, but still shocked.
"Of course I do, but the tracker will think that I would stay with Edward. James saw how I reacted to the threat at the field." They were all silent for a moment, and while I didn't like to admit that she was right, she did have a point. But still,, I wanted to stay with her. Plus I didn't want her hunting, I didn't want any of them risking themselves for me but especially not Bella.
"She's right." Jasper said thoughtfully. "So Alice and I will take him somewhere.
"Somewhere that vampires wouldn't go." Carlisle said.
"Somewhere sunny." Bella.
"Arizona." Alice said.
"Arizona?"
"Yes, Arizona. We can stay at a hotel there, I don't see anything happening there, not now at least. But we can't stay here. James is tracking the area, looking for his scent."
"Rose, Esme can you to Edward's house now." Jasper said sternly, his military past coming out to play.
They each kissed their mate before running to the door. Before she left, Esme stopped by a little keypad on the wall near the archway that lead from the entry to the living room. She typed a few numbers and than with a groan, huge metal shutters started to come up from the roof, covering the glass wall. Fancy.
"I didn't even know that we had those, did you guys know that we had those?" Emmett asked, shocked. The others all shook their head and looked at Esme, who shrugged and said –
"Just to be careful."
"Bella, go upstairs and pack a bag, plus get Edward's bag" Bella dashed from my arms and returned only moments later, with my bag over her shoulder and still trying to zip up her bag. I took my one from her and she smiled gratefully.
"Thankyou."
Was it at all ironic that I was not only putting her in danger, but her entire family and she was saying thankyou because I took my bag off of her shoulder?
"We can go and get our bags now." Little Alice said quietly, and the other's nodded and followed her up the stairs. As soon as they were gone Bella dropped her bag, pushed mine off of my shoulder and put her hands on my face, as if she was trying to warn me of something. As if I needed to be warned. I inched closer to her and she crashed her lips to mine. She pulled me closer to her, all the lines of my body were touching hers. There was a newfound urgency in her kiss that left me breathless in the first second.
Sure, we had shared kisses before that left me breathless, that were urgent and passionate and made my body react in an ungentlemanly fashion, but they were never anything like this. I could tell that she too, was scared. This was the first time that we would be away from each other for more than a weekend, this was the first time that we would be separated and we had no idea when we would see each other again. This was the first time that we were both in danger, no matter what she said about her always being a threat to my safety.
She pulled away after a few moments, allowing me to breath, and looked me sternly in the eye. "You stay safe, alright? Do whatever Jazz and Alice tell you to do, alright?"
"Alright." I buried my head in her hair and took a deep breath, continuing to commit her smell to my memory. I didn't want her to see my eyes, because I was screwed if she did. She would see what I was trying to hide from her, the woman could read me like a book. I was probably being a bit melodramatic, there was only one James and seven of The Cullens. Three of them were hunting James, really there was no way that they could loose, this was a numbers game. James had already lost Victoria and Laurent. But still…. I couldn't live without her.
"Do I have to be away from you?"
"That's the only way that makes sense."
"I know." I sighed.
"Than why….?" She trailed off, laughing lightly.
"You can't blame a guy for trying can you?"
"I guess not." She nuzzled her face into my neck.
"What if you guys get hurt?"
"We wont, there are to many of us, plus, you just need to worry about yourself."
"Because that's so easy to do." I muttered, smirking.
I pulled her closer again, closing my eyes. By the time that I opened them again the other's were coming back to the living room and Bella was looking at them.
"Come on guys, we need to go now." Jasper said, his voice softer than it had been before.
"And can you swap your jacket for one of the ones in the bag Edward, we need to confuse the scent for as long as we can." Carlisle told me. I nodded and took off the jacket and put on one of the extra ones that I had packet. Bella grabbed my jacket and put it on over top of hers. I have to admit, no matter how inappropriate this as at this time, that I really loved seeing her in my clothes. Jasper smirked and I rolled my eyes at him, knowing what Jazz was probably thinking.
"Thankyou, you three will need to take the Mercedes, you will need the tint if you are going south." Jasper, Carlisle and Bella were all carrying small bags, Alice probably had her clothes in the bag that Jasper was carrying because all that she had was a small handbag. Emmett, on the other hand, had a big backpackers backpack. I was trying hard not to think about what was packed there.
"Let's go and get ourselves some vampire." Emmett smirked. That was more inappropriate than my ogling Bella. They all started to run towards the door and Bella picked me up again.
"We don't want anybody to catch your scent, anymore than they will anyways." She shrugged. When we got to the garage she put me back on the ground next to the Mercedes.
I opened the back door and sat in the car. Jasper and Alice were already there, sitting in the front seat and starting the engine.
"I love you." She kissed me one more time before closing the door. They pulled from the garage, and than she was gone.
I sighed.
"Come on Ed!" Alice cheered.
"Don't call me Ed."
"This will be just like a road trip!"
"Except for the fact that we are running from a vampire that wants Edward dead." Jasper drawled dryly.
"Edward, stop missing Bella, your mopeness is rubbing off on my husband."
I snorted.
"So have you ever been…. Where we are going?" Alice asked me.
"Once, when I was eight. I have an aunt that lives there."
"What is her name?"
"Caroline."
"What side?"
"My dad's little sister."
"Did you get along?"
"Yer, I guess so, why?"
"Just wondering, I don't remember any of my human family."
"Have you ever met your sisters daughter?"
"Yes."
"Well you remember her."
She threw me an annoyed glance. "That's not the same and you know it."
I shrugged, smiling.
"How long do you think that we will be there for?"
"As long as it takes. Probably only a few days. We will be back by the time that we told your mother no doubt."
"Alright."
"Are you hungry?" Jasper asked after a few moments of comfortable silence.
"A little bit, but I can wait."
"Well we can by at Seattle in four hours time or do you want to stop at Port Angeles?"
"That would be dangerous though wouldn't it?"
"Probably, but just a little bit."
"I can wait till we get to Seattle."
"Alright than." Jasper shrugged easily. We made small talk all the way to Seattle with Alice giving us regular updates. I think that Jasper told her how edgy and worried I was getting. We stopped at a McDonalds drive thru and I got the food that I was craving. Extra salty chips – yumm.
"You know that you really should sleep Edward." Alice said round two am.
"Not tired."
"Yes you are." Jasper laughed.
"Only a little bit, besides, I just don't want to sleep." If I slept, I wouldn't be able to control what I said or what I thought. If I slept I would probably dream about having to leave Bella again, I didn't want to ever have to do that again.
"After another hour I am putting you to sleep though." Jasper said. But it had only been a half hour when I felt the false fatigue start to run thru my system.
"Hey!" I slurred. "That hasn't been an hour." My voice was groggy and didn't sound like I usually did. Most of the time I didn't bother trying to fight the sleep.
"Well, two thirty, you should be sleeping by now, Bella would be pissed if she knew how late we let you stay up for." Thinking about Bella woke me up a bit. "If she call's I promise to wake you up."
"Alright." I sighed, allowing the sleep to take me.
I dreamt that we were in the field again, but this time there was a fight. Bella was battling James and Victoria was on fire. Laurent was talking about the Denali's to the Cullen's . They weren't listening to Laurent though, they were holding up signs that said 'Go Bella!' I stood shocked, trying to get them to help her, after I discovered that I couldn't move. I woke up with a start. Alice was sitting next to me and shaking my shoulder.
"What?" I asked her, still groggy. The sun was coming threw the tinted windows by this time and Alice was glowing slightly. The clock on the dash said 10:38 am.
"Are you alright? You were starting to make funny noises again. I swear that you almost strangled yourself with that seatbelt like two hours ago."
"I am alright, thankyou for waking me up though."
" That's alright, but Bella is on the phone too." She handed me the plastic and I scrambled to get to it, overjoyed to be getting the chance to hear her magical voice again.
"Bella!" I exclaimed.
"Edward! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine Love, what about you?"
"We're alright, we almost got James a few hours ago but We lost him, we have no idea now."
"Where are you?"
"We led him inland and than north, were just in some forest now, we are near Montesano now.."
"I miss you." I said quietly. The other two looked out of their windows, as if giving us privacy.
"I miss you too Edward, I love you, even if I have put you thru all of this."
"Bella this isn't your fault." I said, frustrated.
"I just shouldn't have taken you to that game."
"It was fun though." I heard her sigh on the other end of the phone.
"Until we got ambushed by bloodthirsty vampires."
"Yer well, up until that bit."
I could hear Emmett, I think that it was Emmett, in the back ground and than the unmistakable sound of the wind blowing. Probably from her running.
"I have got to go Edward, Emmett just got James' scent."
"Alright, bye, be safe." I said.
"I love you." Than she hung up. I sighed again.
I handed the phone back to Alice.
"It's good that they have gotten this close to James, epically this early." Jasper told me.
"But what if they get hurt."
"They won't." Said Alice.
"Can you see anything?" We both asked her.
"They don't get James this time, he escapes somehow." I sat back on my seat, sighing again.
We drove for another ten hours. They got me food another two times, no matter if I said that I wasn't hungry. We stopped at a café and I got out and walked because Jasper was complaining that I was getting restless. We made small talk and Alice kept on giving us updates. Apparently Rosalie and Esme had gone to work with my mother.
Alice called ahead and made reservations at a hotel near the airport. I asked why we needed to be near there and they said 'just to be safe.'. I didn't argue any further than that.
So at 8.40pm we pulled up at the Hilton, just a few minutes drive from the airport. I hadn't been expecting something this high priced but whatever they wanted. Jasper got the key for the room whilst Alice and I looked round the lobby. There was a piano that somebody that the hotel hired had just started to play at and to the side there was a fancy bar.
"Thankyou Mr. Whitlock, we hope that you have a great stay." The woman bettered her eye lashes at Jasper and Alice walked up and hooked her arm round her husbands, smiling sweetly at the woman.
"Thankyou, my husband and I will have a great stay." She winked at the woman before strutting away with Jazz on her arm and me walking along next to them.
"Nice one." I muttered.
"Well no other woman should be hitting on my man." Alice said. Jasper snorted.
"At least you don't have to feel the emotions of the men that ogle you."
"Does that ever stop?" I asked them.
"Nope."
"Great." I muttered.
"Don't like the other men staring at Bella?" Jasper asked.
"Nope, my Bella."
"Understandable."
"It's everywhere we go! They don't even try to hide the staring!" I ranted.
They just laughed at me. "You get used to it, but that doesn't make things any easier." Jasper said. "It will be better when you're a vampire because than you can scare the guys, or sometimes girls, that stare at Bella." He smirked.
"Jasper likes to scare men." Alice said dryly. "He glares at them and than increases the fear." She rolled her gold eyes.
"I kinda like that idea." I smiled, imagining the possibilities. Jasper smirked at me, nodding. Alice just rolled her eyes. They made me eat again when we got to the room, saying something about growling teenage boys needing to eat. I just shrugged and ate the overpriced stake and potatoes.
Jasper pulled out equipment from the backpack that he had been carrying.
"I need a picture of you." He said holding up a camera. He stood up and walked over to a plain white patch of wall, I followed him.
"What for?"
"Fake ID and fake passport, just incase." I nodded after I recovered from the initial shock. Jasper took the picture and nodded in satisfaction.
"You know who to do that?" I asked him.
"What take a picture?" He asked me smirking.
"You know what I mean."
"Yes, we all can, but Alice and I usually do them."
"Wow."
"Alright, I need to go to the lobby to get these printed off, I'll be back soon."
"Alright."
"Be back soon love." Alice called from the kitchen. I had no idea what she was doing there.
Jasper came back soon enough and set to work on making my fake passport and ID.
Jasper put me to sleep again at midnight saying something about not wanting to mix up my sleeping patterns to much. I didn't sleep for to long, getting up at four and seven again, after I had fallen asleep, thankyou Jasper.
When I woke up on Friday morning, my passport and ID were made, and they almost looked better than my real ones. They only difference was that I didn't look nearly as stressed in my other pictures. Oh, and these ones had Edward Cullen on them. I got all choked up seeing the family name attached to mine. This was also Bella's chosen name, and I love knowing that I had the same name as her. I wanted all of our last names to be the same.
I heard Alice gasp and than squeal.
I put the fake document in my wallet but Jasper kept the passport. Bella, Emmett and Carlisle still hadn't called. I was getting anxious, I hadn't heard her voice since Thursday morning. Usually, even when she was hunting, she would call every twelve. But this was different, it wasn't just that I hadn't spoken to her or heard her voice, but that I had no idea what was going on. Alice wasn't getting very clear visions, nothing was decided yet.
We were sitting on the over priced couch in the over priced (though very nice) hotel room. The mobile phone was sitting innocently on the coffee table in front of me. I was meant to be watching the T.V., like Alice and Jasper said that they were, but they were too tense to do that. I heard the tell tale music of the Zumba add and lifted my eyes to glare at the screen, stupid Zumba. Why would anybody pay to dance in a box formation?
The phone was taunting me, threatening me with all of the possibilities of what could be happening to her, to them. I turned to look at Alice, who looked at me from the corner of her eyes but didn't move her body. I turned my head and looked back at the phone. I ran my fingers thru my hair, scratching my scalp slightly but finding that that didn't calm me anywhere near as much as when Bella did that. I sighed again before I snapped.
"What does it mean that they haven't called?"
Alice looked at me, her eyes big, bright and innocent. Too innocent. "That they have nothing to tell us, or maybe they are busy with James. Maybe James is too close, if they talk to us something might get said that gives away where you are. They wouldn't want to risk anything bad happening. Plus, maybe James doesn't know that they are near by, talking loud enough fro you to hear could give them away." She shrugged.
I nodded, turning back to look at the phone. "I hate being a human." I muttered.
"You should use your specie to your advantage before you change, you never know what you might miss."
"What do you miss the most?" I asked Jasper.
"Apart from not being thirsty and my family? Probably being able to go for walks in the sun with my friends. I really do miss the sunlight."
I nodded, understanding. "Living at rainy places all the time will suck. I love the sun."
"We can still go out in the sun, just not round the humans, except for you." Jasper said that last part slyly. I laughed.
"I wish that I could do the whole girly thing. I wish that I could go to a sleepover and eat candy and talk about my boyfriend and giggle and stay up late before crashing from a sugar high." Alice giggled.
"Can you imagine that? You, Rosalie and Bella eating candy and having pillow fights?" I laughed.
"Is that really what girls do at those things?" Jasper asked me.
"Well how would I know?" I asked only slightly offended. Just because I was human didn't mean that I knew what girls did when they slept over people's houses. Shit, besides Bella and a few other family members house that me and my parents had stayed at, I had only ever been to like, two sleepovers. Both before I was ten.
"Well you are a human." Alice said.
"But you're a girl."
"Who was born in 1902, and doesn't have any memories. What do I know about sleepovers?" She shrugged.
"We can go and ask Jessica Stanley later, she might know." I shrugged.
"I might just do that." Alice looked that much happier that I just had to laugh.
At nine o'clock, or sometime between nine and ten at least, Alice had another vision.
"Alice, Alice what do you see?" Jasper asked her. He got the pencil and pad off of the table and put them in her hand and on her lap. She drew James sitting on a bed with a file and a letter next to him. He was smiling. Then Alice started to draw the room in more detail. Shit.
"He's at my house." I told them.
"What!" They exclaimed.
"That's my mother's room, that's her bed." They looked at each other, before Alice whipped out her mobile phone.
"Pick up pick up." She muttered. "Esme! Yes we're fine. That's not what I'm calling about, yes we heard from them about ten thirty yesterday morning. But….. Esme that's what I am calling about. Were you with Elizabeth all day?" She nodded at whatever answer she got and I was digging my blunt nails into the seat cushion. Jasper reached behind him to put his hand on my shoulder. I relaxed and sat back on the seat.
"James is at their house. There are some documents that were in her room. There is a walk in wardrobe and on the top shelf there are boxes with documents. He got something from those. I need you to check which ones they are, or what boxes that James' scent is on, or is the strongest on. Alright, thankyou Esme." She hung up. "Esme is on her way back right now, Rosalie is going to stay with you mother. She has to work late today." I nodded.
"Your mother is going to be fine."
"I know Jasper, I'm just trying to remember what was in those boxes. There is stuff from Chicago in them, but that's just mostly old insurance policies, stuff from dad's job and tax files. I don't see how any of that would be useful to James."
"Maybe he thinks that that is where we are hiding you." Alice shrugged.
"Well than I guess that it's a good thing that we didn't go there." I laughed lightly.
"Yer."
At ten Esme called us again and said that everything up there had James scent on it, but that nothing really stood out. He had looked briefly at a box full of family letters and pictures. The scent was also on her bed and bedside table. I tried not to let that freak me out.
At one thirty, I was just about ready to scream, or throw the phone. I need to talk to her, or run or do something to release all of this pent up energy. I got up to start pacing, but as soon as I moved the phone started to ring, shocking me so much that I slipped on the run but caught myself on the couch. I was quite happy that I didn't hurt myself.
"Bella! What's been going on?" Alice asked excitedly.
"Oh great!" Jasper said.
"What, what's going on?" I asked, sitting next to him.
"They know where James went."
"Alright, great, we will see you soon." Alice said and my heart leapt to my throat.
"She's coming?" I asked Alice. She nodded and handed me the phone.
"Bella!"
"Edward! How are you?"
"I'm good, you're coming?"
"Yes, Alice will explain but I have got to go, I'm sorry but I'll talk to you soon."
"I love you."
"I love you too." The line then went dead.
"So she's coming back?" I asked Alice.
"Yes. They caught James at the airport, heading towards the gate that was heading to L.A.. The only problem is that there was a flight going Phoenix that was right next to that one. They don't know what flight he got onto. Rosalie is going to the airport at Seattle, where they are, and her and Emmett are going to go L.A To look for him but Bella and Carlisle are coming here. Just to be safe."
"What time does their flight get here?"
"Eight o'clock tonight. We will go to the airport to meet them, fly to the next possible destination that we can but spread the scent all round the terminal so that James won't know what flight that we got onto. Than from there we can catch a flight back to Forks."
"What about the car?" That was a mundane thing to worry about, but Carlisle's car was really nice.
"Carlisle will stay with us at the airport than drive the car home." I nodded.
At seven o'clock we left the hotel for the airport.
I was so excited, I missed my Bella! And she was so close. We parked at the airport and found our way to the main entrance. There was a board that declared when all of the flight arrived, boarded and departed. There was her flight, the eight o'clock from Seattle, the flight was right on time.
We made our way to gate 18, Bella's gate, and sat on the cool plastic chairs just next to the window. I was looking at the planes that were landing and taking off, trying to see hers when it came.
"I can't stand the small of the airport." Alice said. "Smells horrible, makes my nose burn." Jasper nodded from beside her.
"Do you want something to eat?" Alice asked me.
"Alright. What time is it?"
"We have ten minutes."
"Alright. Thankyou." We all stood up and went over to the airport bar/café that was just a few meters away. They went over to look at the wall sized window, just like the one at their house and I went over to the register to order the food. There wasn't anybody else close by, just the two café workers and they hadn't noticed us yet. I could still hear Jasper and Alice talking quietly. Their voices stopped suddenly and I looked over to see Alice, still. Jasper was leading her over to the couch gently and was about to pull something from the bag that she carried, probably a notepad and a pen or something, but I never got to see.
Something hard and cold slammed into me, I was about to fall but they had their stone cold arms around me. They picked me up and held me tightly against there chest. This wasn't one of the Cullen's, I could feel the difference.
James started to run thru the airport. He was running fast than I was used to, but not the fastest that I had gone. Jasper and Alice had probably noticed my absence by now, if Alice had come up from her vision.
Before I knew what was happening we were running thru the streets and I knew that they wouldn't be able to follow us now. James ran between the cars, thru alleyways and past houses and business.
"Where are we going?" I asked, hoping that Alice might see this moment and know the location.
"We are taking a visit to Aunt Caroline."
"She isn't there, she is on holiday."
"But Edward, her house is all that I need."
We ran for a few more minutes before James started to slow. James stopped running when we reached and alleyway but put arm over my shoulder.
"Be a good boy little Edward, you know that you can't run."
I struggled a little bit at first before walking with him to the house. There was bound to be a lighter there somewhere.
I almost chuckled at that last thought.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because I like to play games, and you smell very good. How could I resist."
"I am Bella's singer, and she resists my blood."
"Really! Her singer, and she has kept you? How fascinating. Yes that will make all the better for this game of ours."
"Why?"
"Well, not only would I have killed you, but I would get the blood that she so desperately craves, but resists. Now, all of her resistance will be for nothing. If there was ever a doubt that she would come after me, now there is none." I stiffened, not just at the thought of James killing me but at the thought that Bella might just die too.
"Just leave her alone, you get your fun, you get your food, let things be James."
"No." We were at the house now and James opened the front door using the spare key that she kept under the eve. "Come on kid." James pushed me thru the door after I resisted for a little bit. James shoved me onto a chair. "Any last words Edward? I'll be sure to let them know?"
I was shocked, wasn't James rushing this a bit. "What, that's all, just 'what are your last words'?" Suddenly, I thought of another way to drag this out, incase Bella and the others were coming.
"What do you mean." James looked curious maybe even slightly frustrated. Did the hunter know that there was little time, that my family was coming to get me?
"Well, you know, there was this huge build up. Sure we have only been running from you for a few days but sitting in a hotel room for ages, well, this feels like so much longer. I expected some big dramatic event, some sort of extra way that you would prove that you won, you know? But this is all that you can come up with? What are your last words? Really?"
"Well what did you have in mind."
"I hadn't been thinking about that, I thought that we would win. But still, I expected something a bit better than whet you have got planned James. I know that they will never know about what you do here, unless Alice sees, but isn't this a little bit anticlimactic?" I frowned and shrugged. "But whatever."
James looked mad, I could tell that the tracker was trying to decide what to do. James knew that I needed to be killed soon but my words had got to him. James wanted to win, this was all just a game to him. James didn't like that I had come up with a better idea, for a human to out smart a vampire, that was like the ultimate shame for somebody like James.
"What, human, do you want me to make this painful for you?"
"No, but still." I shrugged again. "How did you find out about this place anyway?"
James stared at me.
"Come on, if you are going to kill me the least that you can do is tell me how you accomplished this." I smirked.
"I found the letter from your aunt on your mothers bedside table and the itinerary for your aunts flights on top of some box."
"Oh." Well that made a lot of sense.
"So what can I do to make this more dramatic." James started to talk, seemingly just random thoughts. "I could hurt you badly first. I could scare you. I could get a tape and film this, leave the tape here for them to watch. I could put the tape on top of you or on your body, maybe leave a little note from you or me on top. That could be fun." My blood ran cold, don't make Bella watch that, I Prayed.
"Well, first things first I guess."
"And that would be?"
James walked up to me, and from the look in my eyes I knew what he was going to do.
Please don't let James break me to badly, Bella shouldn't have to see that. I Prayed.
"You do smell very good, not usually my taste but very good. Alice smelled very good too, probably the best that I have ever smelt, but not my singer. She smelt very floral, somehow like your Bella but still different – lighter smells."
"So this is still about Alice?"
"Some of. This is fair really, they should not be fighting this. They get her, and I get the boy. They get the one that got away, and I get her new sisters new mate, the human. Why didn't they change you straight away."
"They want to make sure that this is what I want, we will probably wait till I graduate."
"They would have waited you mean." I just shrugged again.
"Do you want to be changed?"
"Yes."
"Hmmmm, I wonder…. No, If I were to change you than you would go running back to them, I would just be doing them a favor."
"What If I stayed with you?"
"But you wouldn't, I am not stupid Edward, I know that you would leave. But you have a very good mind, you would make a very good vampire. Too bad that we will never know."
I thought that Bella was close now, I didn't know how, I just knew.
"Now, where to start?" James licked his lips and grabbed my wrist. But James grabbed to tightly. I gritted my teeth against the shooting sensation that went up my arm when he tugged. "Did that hurt?" He punched my in the stomach. I gasped and chocked on the air that came flying from my lungs, I tried to bend over, as a reflex, but couldn't. "What about that one?" The tracker chuckled.
Than the door burst open, and Bella's unmistakable growl came thru. She ran next to me and latched her teeth onto James' arm. James shouted but she just put her hands on either side of her face and bit harder. With a metallic shriek, James' arm was ripped off. The hand was still attached to my wrist but Bella didn't help me get that off, she pushed me gently backwards and kicked James, who was still growling about the arm. She crouched defensively and suddenly she was being flanked be her brother and sister. Carlisle was next to me. He grabbed me and ran me outside to the park that was just up the street.
"Edward! Are You alright, what did James do?" He asked frantically, trying to get the arm off of me. He managed but there were red marks from where the hand had been and the wrist was already starting to swell.
"Not much, just the wrist and my stomach."
"What happened to your stomach, can I look?" Carlisle looked me straight in the eyes.
"Yes." I lifted up the white t-shirt that I was wearing. There was already a nasty bruise forming there. Carlisle went into doctor mode, gently poking and prodding until he was satisfied.
He saw the wince on my face and immediately apologized. "Sorry, but I need to make sure that there was no internal damage."
"Is there?" I asked him.
"No you seem to be fine, just a bruise. But that wrist, I think that you fractured that. We will have to get that checked at the hospital. Did you get the fake ID yet?"
"Yer, and a passport too."
"Do they say Cullen?"
"Yes." Carlisle must have heard the emotion in my voice because he looked up at me from my wrist and smiled gently.
"Human or not, that name is as much yours as mine."
I smiled so wide that my face hurt, I could feel the emotion swelling up in me. "Thankyou Carlisle." I muttered.
He laughed lightly. "That's alright. Here come the others, remember to tell Bella if you can't breathe."
"What?" But than I understood what he meant. Bella ran up to me and wrapped her arms round my torso so tightly that I couldn't actually breathe, and her body pressed against the bruise that had started to form in the center of my stomach. I wrapped my arms round her but after a few moments I had to tell her.
"Ahh Bella can't breathe." I gasped.
"Oh right, so sorry." She kissed me lightly instead and I smiled against her lips. "Are you alright?"
"I am alright."
She turned to look at Carlisle. "There is a bruise on his stomach and his wrist might be fractured, we will have to get that checked at the hospital."
She turned to me and put her cold hand over the bruise. "Thankyou." I sighed, enjoying the cold.
"What happened to James?" Jasper held up the bag that was over his shoulder. The bag was an old garbage bag, I had seen them in his backpack but hadn't asked.
"Want to see what a dead vampire looks like?"
"Jasper." Bella and Alice warned.
"What?"
"Why is that bag moving?" I asked.
"Oh shit!" Jasper turned and looked at the bag. "I gotta go and do this."
"Why is that bag moving though?"
"Well you know that we can be but back together?"
"Yes."
"Well, James' body is trying to get back together.."
"Eww."
"Exactly, so what hospital will you be at and I will meet you there."
Carlisle gave Jasper the address and the extra pieceof arm that had been attached to my wrist, than Bella picked me back up. We ran back to the airport and to the car. They drove me to the hospital in mostly silence, I didn't let go of Bella the whole time. She looked so upset, and I could tell that she had a lot that she needed to say to me, but she wanted to wait until we were alone. I just didn't know when that would be next.
Carlisle went back to doctor mode after we got to the hospital. We walked into the ER and up to the stunned reception nurse.
"My son," I smiled at the term. "hurt his wrist, we need to get it looked at."
"Of course sir." She said slowly. She handed him the clip board and he filled the information for me. There wasn't anybody else there so we got to go straight in. Carlisle told the next doctor about the fracture and, when the other doctor doubted him, told him that he too was a doctor.
"Oh." The other doctor had said. He had been pretty quiet since then. I didn't need a cast, but the doctor also gave me some ice for the bruise.
Just as the other doctor finished up, Jasper walked thru the door. Alice threw herself into his arms.
"Everything alright?" He asked after he had sat, putting his wife on his lap.
"Yer, just a fracture. I've had worse." I shrugged.
"Yer like almost drowning." Bella muttered.
"That wasn't my fault." I told her.
"You almost drowned." Carlisle asked.
"Long story, stupid bike, distracting birds." He started to laugh quietly.
"So how are we getting home, do we have any flights booked?" Jasper asked after we left the hospital. We were all standing at the car.
"There is a flight leaving in two hours, we could make that one." Alice said.
"Do you want to drive back Carlisle, or do you want one of us too?" Jasper asked.
"No I will, just give Esme my love."
"We will."
"So, to the airport?" Bella asked.
We nodded and got into the car. Carlisle drove us, he kept his speed reasonable compared to his children.
"We need to call Rosalie and Emmett to tell them that James isn't there." Bella said.
"They probably aren't even off of the plane yet." I snorted.
"Actually they just bordered." Alice giggled.
Opps.
"Can we call them and get them off?"
"No, the plane has pulled away, about to take off. They will spend the rest of the weekend there though; they will be back about two am on Monday morning, so that they can go to school." She told us, but directing that last part to Carlisle.
"Good."
At the airport the woman was more than accommodating to our needs, but didn't take her eyes off of Carlisle the whole time. Jasper kept his back to her and she couldn't see me behind Carlisle, he was taller than me, only just, but enough. We were waiting at the gate when I started to talk to Carlisle. There were no other humans within hearing range ( that is, human hearing range.) so I decided to ask him what had been bothering me for a while now.
"How old are you?"
"How old do you think I am?"
"Twenty three." He looked shocked.
"Not many people guess that part exactly right."
"Bella told me." From her spot next to me she started to laugh lightly.
"Oh, well I assume that you didn't mean that way anyway."
"No." I started to laugh lightly with her. She rested her head on my shoulder after we had started to calm.
"I was born in London, I am not quite sure of the exact date anymore, or the exact year either. Time wasn't kept as carefully for the common people back than." He paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. " I was born in the sixteen forties, or so I believe, just before Cromwell's rule though." My eyes widened.
Wow.
"Oh." I said, Carlisle just laughed at me, as did the others.
" I can show you in more detail when we get back to the house though."
"Show?"
"Painting and what not, have you never seen my office?"
"No, just the door." I smirked.
"Oh alright than." He rolled his eyes. "Well, I will show you when I get home."
"Alright, thankyou." He smiled back at me. The flight was called then and after the girls hugged him goodbye we boarded. There was barely anybody else on the plane. They made me eat the place food, which was surprisingly good, and Jasper got me to sleep. When I woke up we were just about to land. I still hadn't been able to talk to Bella. I was glad that after the four hour drive we would be able to be alone, not that I minded spending time with the family, I just knew that she need to talk to me, and that I needed her.
Esme was at the airport to pick us up embraced each one of us, including me. She just looked so happy to see us. By the time that we got home it was eight am. I had slept again on the car trip so I wasn't to tired by the time that we got home. I had some cereal with Bella sitting next to me in the kitchen as Esme leaned against one of the counters and talked to us. Jasper and Alice had been talking to us but eventually went upstairs to be together. When I was done I convinced Esme to let me clean my own dishes and than went upstairs to be with Bella. She let me lead her up the stairs to the third floor. I took us up to her room and closed the door behind us. I took off my shoes and she did the same. I laid her on the bed and laid next to her, wrapping my arms round her and burying my nose in her hair. She wrapped her arms around me and pressed her nose into the hollow between my collarbones. I sighed at the feeling of having her with me again.
"Am I hurting the bruise" She asked me quietly, her voice muted by my chest.
"No, I'm fine." I said, and after a moments pause. "Are you?"
She looked up from my chest. "Are you serious? You just got attacked by a vampire – "
"Barley." I scoffed. This really didn't count.
"And yet you're asking of I am alright."
"Yes."
"Why."
"Because I know that something's wrong." I said seriously. She shut her eyes, but when she opened them they flashed with a new intensity.
"You got tracked by a vampire, said vampire managed to capture you from the hands of my siblings, that were literally sitting twenty meters away. You also get attacked by that vampire, and if you hadn't thought to distract James, you probably would have ended up dead. All because of me!"
"This isn't your fault!"
"How is it not! I took you to that game, I defended you to obviously!"
"Well what else could have happened."
"If we had of just told them that we were going to eat you or that we were going to change you soon, if I hadn't of growled like that, than maybe nothing would have happened."
I looked at her blankly. "Do you really believe that, James already held a grudge against all of you for getting Alice, that was part of why he tracked me. He was pissed that Alice got away, something about how this was only fair, you got the one that got away, but he got her new sisters mate."
She looked up at me, shocked. "How do you know that?"
"James told me."
"How did you manage to distract him?"
"Well I had been expecting something dramatic but all that he did was shove me on a chair and say 'any last words' so I said 'what is that it?' and went on some rant about how expected something more. He let me talk for like ten minutes, we started talk about what files he found at me mothers house."
"Oh, what was it?"
"My aunt's letter and the holiday itinerary."
"Letter?"
"The aunt that lives in Phoenix wrote to my mother and the letter had her address and said that we should meet up after she got back. She is holidaying somewhere in Ireland
"Well that makes sense."
I suddenly smirked.
"What?" She asked.
"Gunna be so awkward the next time that I see her." Bella rolled her eyes but at least she laughed a little bit. There was still sadness lingering in her eyes though.
"Bella,"
"You can say that this isn't my fault all that you want but – "
"But it isn't! If it's your fault, than it's my fault to."
"What!"
"Well If I didn't smell so good than maybe James wouldn't have decided to track me."
She stared at me blankly. " Are you seriously saying that this is your fault because you smell to good?"
"Yes."
"You can't help how you smell though."
"And you can't help that James wanted revenge."
"How about we just agree to disagree?"
"For now." I shrugged.