Important AN concerning the updates! I am so sorry about the lack of updates, but I have so many assignments, lack week I had more than I had subjects. I have less now and am more on top of them so I will be writing more!
Also, I about a month I will be going to Thailand with my friend fr twenty eight days, so I will have no computer or lap top. I will probably give you everything that I have brfore I go and then update as soon as I can after that, but I am so sorry that there will be nothing in that month. Thankyou so much for the support from my readers and reviewers, even if the amount of hits compared to review are huge :(. Anyways, on with the story.
Bella Point Of View –
The game was going great, Edward seemed amazed at the speed and strength that we displayed when we were playing and we were all having so much fun, even Rosalie.
The nomads hadn't made an appearance and I had managed to relax play the game.
But then Alice had gasped, and I knew that something was changing, I knew that gasp, I knew that this wasn't good. This wasn't the '*gasp* Gucci has a new jacket, we are going shopping.' No this was the 'something is going wrong' gasp.
We all ran over to her and I could see that the others too knew that something was wrong.
"Alice, Alice what did you see?" Jasper put calming hands on her shoulders and bent at the knees so that he was closer to her eye level. If I wasn't so worried, I probably would have laughed at the comedy of the position.
"Oh." She gasped, breathless.
"What can you see?"
"I didn't see who it was before, I can't believe that I didn't see."
"The nomads?" Carlisle asked.
"Yes."
"Are they coming?"
"Yes."
"Who are they?" Rosalie asked.
"I just didn't see, oh, no, no, no." She started to shake her head.
I ran to Edwards side, needing my mate but also needing to protect him from the unidentified threat.
"Can I run with him?"
"No, they are too close, they could catch his scent." Alice told me.
"So what, they have no chance against the lot of us." Emmett, of course was always ready for a fight. He always wanted to take things further when he wrestled with Jasper but Esme constantly thought that they were going to rip each other to shreds so she stepped in and stopped the violence.
"We want to keep the peace for as long as we can, we don't want to start a fight." Carlisle said, as calm as ever, but I knew him well enough to know that he was stressed by the new revelation.
"So we just let him stay here!" They couldn't be serious.
"Yes, we can try to confuse them, we can stick together so that they don't know who the human is." Rosalie said.
"He's tan and bright green eyes and has a heartbeat, there is no chance that they will not know who the human is." I shouldn't have snapped at her but that really didn't make any sense.
"Well I was just trying to help." Rosalie said defensively.
"But are they thirsty?" Esme was clinging to Edward, she already saw him as another son, she had since I first brought him home. I think that she knew that we were meant to be together before even I did, just from the way that I spoke about him.
"There not thirsty, but they do know that Edward is a human. I can't see what is going to happen, but…." Oh no.
We started to talk so that Edward couldn't hear us, we didn't want to scare him.
"We could still try to run with him, Bella can carry him and we can all run round ya'" Jasper said quickly.
"I still don't think that that is a good idea, the risk that they start to hunt is to big." Esme groaned.
"But, still, what can be worse than leaving him here." I told them.
"I don't want Edward to stay here, now with them."
"Who are they Alice?" Jasper asked his wife.
"We are to late now anyway, we have to stay, they are almost here now."
"How could I have let this happen?" Edward put his arm on my cheek, calming me slightly, but I was still wound up.
"I am so sorry, I should have seen this sooner." Alice muttered. Jasper put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"This isn't your fault Alice, they didn't decide to come until they heard us playing."
"So we have no idea what they are going to do after they see Edward?" I asked them.
"No there are too many possibilities, to many things that could influence their decisions."
The others form a loose protective circle around me and Edward, I knew that he wanted to speak to me know though, but we didn't have too much time left.
"The others are coming?" The look in his emerald eyes told me that he already knew the answer to that question.
"Yes, I'm sorry, so sorry." He ran his fingers thru my hair.
"Everything will be alright."
"You can't know that."
I could hear them now, the light footsteps running thru the forest. We all turned to the west. The family formed a protective triangle against me and Edward. Carlisle, the leader, was at the front, flanked by the two best fighters of our family, and the two scariest looking. There mates stood behind them and Esme stood on Edwards other side.
Then they emerged from the forest and I tensed, realizing who they where. I could see that Alice, Jasper and Emmett stiffened, I did too. This explained everything, this was why Alice wouldn't tell us who she had seen, who she was so scared, why she knew that running would be a bad idea because they would catch the scent.
James was back, his scarlet eyes dodging from Edwards eyes to hid chest, as if he could see the heart beat from where he was. James was a tracker and I knew that he thought that something was going on. He knew that we didn't hunt humans like they did, he could tell from our eyes that we still lived that way, so there had to be another reason that Edward was here. Victoria was as wild as ever, and Laurent was still taking the place of the coven leader. That charade was going to get old soon, I wondered briefly how long they had been doing that.
They were all looking at Edward and I could see the hunger flare up in James' eyes.
That wasn't good.
I automatically took a protective stance in front of him, but not an obvious one. Alice was scared of James, we could tell that, and Jasper reached back to take her hand. The others were catching on to out protective and angry stances, so they too straightened up. They weren't there the last time, so they didn't know what James looked like, but they knew the story.
James could tell what our stances meant, who knew that we were being protective, and he knew who, for the most part, we were protecting. He smiled at Edward pleasantly, then me, and then Alice, and then back to Edward. And just like that I knew what he had planned. It took everything that I had not to throw Edward on my back right now and to run, run far away and protect him so that they would never get the chance to help him.
"Hello." Laurent said, still cautious. "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."
"Yes, we are already familiar with a few members of your……..'family'." Laurent said. Everybody looked at Jasper, Emmett, Alice and I, curious as to how we had met.
Alice cleared her throat, and I felt Jasper push courage to us.
"Yer, James is the one that knew who I was when I was a human, he was the one that gave us those leads." Alice said.
"I found that you had some quite persuasive techniques." James's eyes flickered between Jasper and Emmett. Obviously, the tracker was remembering how we had gotten all of the necessary information from him the last time.
"We mean no harm by being here, we were simply passing through." Laurent said again, the vampire was worried.
"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?"
"Yes."
"How very interesting, this lifestyle that you choose for yourself." James mused, is personality for being in charge fighting for dominance, especially now that half of the coven knew the game that they were playing, and the one that they were about to start to play.
"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. He never did, he didn't like to fight especially when they were out numbered. "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?"
I growled at the insinuation of my mate, my Edward, as nothing more than a meal, my protective instincts rose up.
"The boy is not food." Alice said.
"But the boy is a human!" Victoria thought that all humans were scum, nothing more than cattle.
"And what?" Emmett said.
"You told that human about us? That is breaking the rules. You have to kill him now." Laurent informed us, like we had no idea what the rules were.
"Or change him, obviously." Jasper said.
"He does smell very nice, doesn't he?" James said. I stiffened, as did my family and Laurent. Laurent knew what was coming, and Jasper, Alice, Emmett and I all thought that we knew. Alice gasped. And I knew then.
"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." We growled, and I knew that we had to leave, now. I threw Edward on my back and ran towards the forest. Esme and Alice sprinted after me, ready to protect me and my mate if need be.
The house came into view and I knew that the others must have stopped James, Victoria and Laurent because I couldn't hear anybody behind me.
I put Edward on the floor when we got back to the house, immediately starting to pace.
"I'm so, I'm so, so sorry."
"Bella, Bella." He put his hands on my arms and forced me to look at, not that I put up that much of a struggle. "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." I hissed at the conformation.
"What does that mean?" Edward asked them. The poor boy, I can't believe that I put him thru this. He has no idea what I am putting him thru, no idea what I have gotten him involved in. But still, I needed him. I leaned my head on his chest and he wrapped his warm arm around me. I could feel his heat seeping into me, warming me more than a hot bath ever could. I sighed quietly, feeling myself relax despite the tense atmosphere.
I couldn't answer him, but I hoped that somebody else would.
I could hear the others coming now, could get their scent on the wind. But there was something else, something extra.
Laurent.
I growled, stepping forward and putting Edward behind my back, before stepping forward in a defensive crouch, desperate to protect him.
"Relax Bella, Laurent is going to help us." Carlisle said calmingly, he put a calming hand on my shoulder, sometimes he was as good as Jasper. He went over and help into Esme, obviously Carlisle didn't trust Laurent yet either. I stood up anyways, and melted into Edward's embrace, savoring his soft human lips against my skin.
"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, obviously remembering.
"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. They remembered too, as if we could ever forget. They had tracked us for hours before we turned round and ambushed them.
"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?" Edward asked. I knew that he would be worried about us, Edward should be worried about the fact that he is being tracked by a vampire, not us.
"What happened after we left?" I 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 Edward, they were tense and I immediately thought of the worst, had they already started?
"Is that smoke?" Edward asked them. Alice, Esme and I turned to the window, and sure enough, the tell tale purple smoke that a dying vampire makes was rising up in the sky. I was glad that we couldn't smell that from here.
"You didn't!" Esme gasped.
Carlisle pulled her tighter to him.
"Sorry." He seemed distraught, He hated killing people.
"The smoke is from Victoria, we killed her." He said grimly. I felt my eyes widen.
"Oh." I looked at Edward, his eyes wide and filled with emotions. Was that…. A hint of…..joy?
"I get it." Jasper said, and I made a note to ask my brother about that later.
"But you guys could get hurt because of this." Edward said worriedly. I huffed, irritated that my mate seemed to have no sense of self preservation.
"That's not seriously what you are worrying about!"
"Yes?"
"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?"
"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. So that's why you got all tense when they come into view?"
"You noticed that?" Jasper asked, I felt Edward nod. "Observant."
'Isn't he.' I thought.
"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." Not that James seemed to ever care to much about Victoria.
"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." I was frustrated, that was an obvious answer.
"Won't he be able to track my scent to my house?" Edward asked. I tensed, oh shit. Elizabeth, I hadn't even thought of her 0 this just complicated things.
"I hadn't thought about her." I told them 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 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. I had never been more thankful for his strategic mind.
"Rosalie and I can take care of Elizabeth, if you want." Esme said, se didn't like that other people had to be involved with this, Elizabeth didn't even know what we were.
"Emmett, Carlisle and I can hunt." I said, surprising the family and my mate, I usually avoided fighting unless necessary.
"You don't want to stay with him?" Rosalie asked smugly, but still shocked. That bitch, she had to know the real reason.
"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 but the knew that I was right. I could see the understanding dawn in Rosalie's eyes and she nodded before standing still again. Maybe she hadn't known before, well I thought that that was obvious.
"She's right." Jasper said thoughtfully. "So Alice and I will take him somewhere.
"Somewhere that vampires wouldn't go." Carlisle said.
"Somewhere sunny." I said.
"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.
They kissed their mates before they left. Esme stopped just before she left and typed in a few numbers to the key pad on the wall. Metal shutters started to cover the glass wall. I looked at them, shocked.
Wow.
"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."
How did I not see when they were installing those?
"Bella, go upstairs and pack a bag, plus get Edward's bag" I ran up to my room, quickly packing a bag with clothes and my phone. I grabbed Edward's bad and was back next to him all in a matter of seconds, still trying to zip up the bag. Edward grabbed his bag off of my shoulder and I smiled up at him.
"Thankyou."
"We can go and get our bags now." Alice said quietly. They all followed her up the grand staircase. As soon as they were upstairs I dropped the bag, pushed Edward's off of his shoulder and put my hands on his soft face. I warned him with my eyes to tell me if I hurt him. He started to inch closer to me and I didn't want to wait anymore. I crashed my lips to his and inhaled his amazing scent, ignoring the burn in my throat and just concentration on his taste, the feel of him against me, on my lips. I pulled him even closer, loving the feeling of him. There was a new urgency, coming not just from me but from him also. I was scared, who knew when I would see him next, who knew what would happen. Would he stay safe? Would he be alright? There were a thousand different possibilities.
I could feel his heart hammering against the both of out chests, it made me feel alive again.
I pulled away after I knew that he would need to breath, and I found myself breathless as well. I was always amazed that he managed to make me be like this, I didn't need to breathe.
"You stay safe, alright? Do whatever Jazz and Alice tell you to do, alright?"
"Alright." He buried his head in my hair, breathing in my scent. I loved the feeling of him against me, holding me as tight as he could, I couldn't wait until he was a vampire like me, so that he could hold me tight with his newborn strength. But this was good too, shit, this was perfect.
"Do I have to be away from you?"
"That's the only way that makes sense."
"I know." I heard me mate sighed.
"Than why….?" I trailed off, laughing lightly.
"You can't blame a guy for trying can you?"
"I guess not." I nuzzled my face into his 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." He muttered, I could almost hear the smirk.
He pulled me even closer, again.
"Come on guys, we need to go now." Jasper said, his voice softer than it had been before. I was startled, I hadn't even heard them come back.
"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 him. Edward took off his jacket and I put it on, Carlisle probably would be a better fit but I wanted to keep he scent with me. Jasper and Edward shared a look that I didn't understand but Jasper smirked.
"Thankyou, you three will need to take the Mercedes, you will need the tint if you are going south. The thereof us will take the Jeep." I looked at Emmett's bag, guessing that had had more lighter fluid and what not in it.
"Let's go and get ourselves some vampire." Emmett smirked. He really was just like a child – to Emmett, this was just a game, but more so fun as apposed to competition. I picked up Edward and ran towards the garage door with the family. He threw me a questioning glance.
"We don't want anybody to catch your scent, anymore than they will anyways."
He opened the back door and sat in the car, the other two were already ready and had started the car.
"I love you." I kissed him again before I closed the door. They drove away and I already wanted to be back in Edward's arms.
"Let's go lover girl!" Emmett hollered and I rolled my eyes but smirked. I had been spending all of my time with Edward and, not that I regretted that, I was starting to miss my family.
"Sir yes Sir!" I saluted.
We started to run west, the way that Alice had instructed them to go. I made sure to rub the jacket against different trees and ferns to make sure that the tracker caught the scent. We had been. We had been running inland for about three hours, starting to head north about a half hour ago, when I heard somebody behind us.
"Do you guys hear that?" I asked them.
"Yes, alright here's the plan. Emmett go to the left, I'll go to the right Bella you keep running, if he gets close enough we attack. Alright?" Carlisle said. We nodded. They ran off in their assigned directions and I pushed my legs further. After a while I heard a growl from behind me and turned back, sprinting towards my brother I quickly caught up to Carlisle, who had no idea what was happening either but told me to run ahead.
I nodded and pumped my legs further, harder. I quickly caught up to my brother, who was muttered a stream of profanities under his breath.
"Em, what happened?"
"I almost had him, I was so friggin close but that son of a bitch is fast than me."
I nodded, "It's alright, but I'll see if I can catch up." I dashed forward, catching the scent and heading further north. I followed for another hour, hearing my brother and father some way behind me, they were only in my range every now and again, I really had to strain to hear them.
I ran until I reached a small town.
"Shit." James could be anywhere, the town was small but there was enough human scent around, even if it was midnight.
I started to go thru the town anyway, tracing his scent to the bus stop, that was where the trail stopped.
"Shit."
I called the others and told them where I was, we met up about ten minutes later.
"Any luck?" Carlisle said.
"No, this was where the trail stopped."
There were only a few bus routes and at this time, we had only missed the but by ten minutes. Twenty minutes now that I had waited for the other two. We tracked the rout and caught the scent again at the next town over. I was getting frustrated, I just didn't have the patience for tracking.
But just when I thought that things wouldn't get worse, the rain started.
"I can't stand this! Why do we keep letting James get away!"
"James is a trained tracker, we never track anything apart from the animals that we hunt – what do you expect?" Carlisle sighed.
"Come on, lets get going." I muttered. We followed the scent for a few hours, still just running thru the forest but the scent was becoming lighter.
We tracked James all thru the morning, talking quietly but not diving into anything important, we wanted to make sure that we could hear James if we got close enough. The scent was so weak, getting stronger in some parts. But we kept on running, Emmett didn't take loosing well and was determined to get James.
The rain started to stop about five and we finally caught a strong scent. We tracked the scent thru a town again almost getting lost a few times but eventually James ran thru the other exit and looped back to the other side of town, the side the we came from. James started to more or less follow the exact same rout that we had come here on, sometimes crossing paths with our old scent.
At ten o'clock, we were a few miles away from Montesano. There had been more rain here and the precipitation had just stopped, so the scent was weak again, as if the human scent didn't dilute James' enough. Were walking thru the city at a human pace because the area had become heavily populated, but followed the scent back to the forest when Emmett made a suggestion that I could have kissed him for.
"We should call the others and see how they are going."
I nodded enthusiastically and got my phone. "I'll do Jasper, Edward and Alice."
The two men chuckled. "That's what we thought." Carlisle thought, I stuck my tongue out at them.
"Bella!" Alice's thrilling voice rang thru the phone.
"Hey Alice! Where are you guys?"
"Just over halfway. We will be there at about 8:40 pm."
"Alright than, great."
"So not much luck?"
"No, the rain is just making things so much more difficult." I tried not to sound too frustrated, but she understood.
"I know Bella but everything will be fine."
"Have you seen anything?"
"No, nothing set, nobody has made any decisions."
"So you don't see Edward….dying?" I said quietly, the other two looked at me with sympathy.
"No Bella, but I just know that everything will be great, trust me."
"I will Alice, is Edward there?"
"I'll just wake him up."
"Oh don't worry, I will just call back later." I hurried, not wanting her to wake him up.
"I promised him that I would so I will anyways."
"Alright." I sighed, not really unhappy. "Oh just wait!"
"Yer?"
"Can you ask Jasper something for me?"
"What?" She asked curiously.
"When you told Edward that you had killed Victoria, he looked happy and Jasper said 'I get it', what did that mean?" I asked them
I could hear Jasper talk from where he was sitting. "He was getting all emotional that we cared enough to kill somebody for him, he wasn't exactly happy that she was dead, just that we cared enough."
"Oh. Well that is actually kind of sweet." I giggled.
"I will get him up now." Alice laughed.
I could hear them again, Edwards groggy voice saying "What?" Jasper must have put him to sleep.
"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." Alice asked. That wasn't good, what was he dreaming about?
"I am alright, thankyou for waking me up though."
" That's alright, but Bella is on the phone too." I heard Edward scramble for the phone before his excited voice rang.
"Bella!"
"Edward! Are you alright?" I was so happy to hear his voice again.
"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." He said quietly, if only he knew.
"I miss you too Edward, I love you, even if I have put you thru all of this."
"Bella this isn't your fault." Edward sounded frustrated.
"I just shouldn't have taken you to that game."
"It was fun though."
"Until we got ambushed by bloodthirsty vampires."
"Yer well, up until that bit."
"Guys I got the scent! Over this way, it's so much stronger than the other scent!" YES! I started to run towards where Emmett was, racing forward until I got to the scent, he was right.
"I have got to go Edward, Emmett just got James' scent."
"Alright, bye, be safe."
"I love you."
I could hear Carlisle telling Esme the same thing that I had juts told Edward and he ran to catch up to us.
We ran for hours still following the scent. James didn't seem to be going anywhere in particular, just trying to get away from us. We got close another few times but every time that we got too close he would go to a city or jump into a lake or something like that. But around midnight, James started to run north east, back towards Forks.
"Do you think that that is where James is really headed or that he is just running without direction?" Emmett asked.
"No, he would have to know." Carlisle said.
"Does he think that Edward is still there? I mean, he as to know by know that we don't have Edward, the scent has faded off the jacket and he went back over our scent ages ago." I told them, Carlisle just shrugged.
Oh Friday morning, we got the call.
"Esme! How are you?" I cried. Carlisle's head snapped towards me hopefully, his face lighting up like a little kid on Christmas. I smiled at his hidden little boyish nature.
"I'm just fine Bella dear, but there's been a problem."
"What's wrong?"
"James was at Edward's house."
"What!" We all exclaimed.
"He just looked around some boxes and her bedside table. The scent was also on her bed." That was kind of weird, what was he doing on her bed.
"Do you know what he looked at?"
"Just some files, a box with old family pictures and a tax return, that's all."
"Maybe he thinks that we are going to Chicago."
"Maybe."
"How long ago was he there?"
"Well Alice got the vision at nine twenty and when I got to the house at twenty to ten, James was gone."
"What time is it?" I asked the boys.
"Quarter past ten." I nodded my thankyou to Carlisle.
"We are an hour away, will you be there?"
"Yes, I will see you soon."
"Bye, mum." I hung up.
"To Forks!" Emmett exclaimed and I giggled.
We took off at a run and by quarter past 11 we were there. Carlisle ran to Esme straight away and swept her up in his embrace, kissing her senseless. I smiled at there affection before I turned away, embarrassed.
"Seriously you two, get a room." Emmett groaned.
"Naww, Emmy miss Rosie?" I asked sweetly.
"Naww, Bella likes to make fun of everybody just because she isn't getting any." Emmett retorted, and I knew that if I were human that I would be blushing.
"Hey!"
"Seriously Bella, just go and make that boy a man!"
Carlisle decided that now was the time to interrupt the conversation so that we didn't start to fight. "Anyway we should probably get going, we need to get to James."
"If he saw the Chicago files he probably thinks that we took Edward there, maybe." I said.
"So we run to the airport." Carlisle shrugged.
"Alright, good, lets get going." The three of us gave Esme a hug. We sprinted off towards Seattle, quickly catching the trackers scent, James was getting sloppy.
We were right. James went to the airport and we followed started to follow his scent.
"Look I can see James, right there!" Emmett pointed to the security gates, and he was right, just behind then, obviously just been checked, James was striding away. The tracker turned as soon as he heard Emmett's voice, looking started that we had managed to catch up.
The tracker started to sprint, at a human pace, and we ran to follow him.
"Excuse me, stop right there." The airport security man said. Shit.
"I just need to go get that man." I told the security guard.
"Well you will have to wait just like everybody else. Please go to the end of the line."
"But- "
"Ma'am please."
"Please." I said quietly, inching towards the guard. I let loose the full power of my eyes on him, and the poor human looked startled. "I just need to go and talk to that guy."
"Alright, I will just search you first." Emmett and I gave our bags to Carlisle who decided to stay because a) nothing too bad could happen with James if we where with the humans, and if something did happen we had our phones and b) there was lighter fluid in the bag. We checked and passed, the man started to use the swap on me but was lingering. Emmett glared at the man and I was quickly let go. We quickly started to run and follow James' scent. The scent stopped at a gate, there was nobody there.
"Alright, what flight was just here?" Emmett asked. I led him over to the board and we looked at the different gates and times.
"Alright, gate seventeen to L.A., just bordered. " Emmett said.
"But look at that, " I said. "Gate eighteen, to Phoenix."
"What gate is his scent strongest at?"
I walked over to the gates, frowning at the almost even scent.
"Pretty much even, come on, we have got to get back to Carlisle, we have got to make the next flight."
"Lets go and get Carlisle."
We ran back to Carlisle, ignoring the looks that the humans and the staff gave to us.
Carlisle was waiting for us outside of the security machines with Emmett's huge bag over his shoulder and the two little ones in his hands. He was looking curiously at a woman with a screaming baby, she was basically ignoring the poor child. I gave her a strange look as I ran past her.
"What did you find?"
"We tracked his scent to two gates…."
"Well where did the gates go to?"
"L.A.." Emmett said.
"Well then lets go book flights to go there." Carlisle shrugged.
"But the gates right next to that gate left just after, and they were going to Phoenix, where Edward is."
"Oh." Carlisle said. He frowned. "We need another person. Call Rosalie and get her to come up. You and Rosalie can go to L.A.," He nodded at Emmett, who nodded to him. "then Bella and I can go to Phoenix." I nodded.
"Lets go get the tickets, Em can you call Rosalie?"
"Course." He smiled at me, any chance to speak to his wife would make Emmett happy.
We walked up to the ticket booth and I could hear Emmett speaking to Rosalie, who was going to start running now, but was making sure to complain about having to hunt James. But I knew Rosalie, she was probably happy that she got to do something else beside protecting Edward's mother.
"Hello, how may I help you?" The woman manning the ticket counter asked me, before she flickered her eyes to the two men behind me, Emmett grinning his dimpled smile talking to his wife and Carlisle getting out our wallets with out ID's. I could hear her heart stutter and then start to beat faster. Emmett smirked at her, I just rolled my eyes.
"I need two tickets on your next flight to L.A., and then two tickets on your next flight to Phoenix." I told her.
"umm,…."
"Hello?" I started to wave my hand in front of her, did she not know anything about professionalism?
"Right, sorry miss, what did you need?"
"I need two tickets on your next flight to L.A., and then two tickets on your next flight to Phoenix."
"Of course ma'am, what are the names?"
"Rosalie and Emmett Cullen to L.A., and Bella and Carlisle Cullen to Phoenix."
"Do you have identification?"
"Not for Rosalie, but for the other three." The woman nodded and typed onto her keyboard. We showed her our ID's and paid for the tickets. We went to line back up at security, but I was getting edgy again. I needed my Edward.
"Alright, I am going to call the other's, tell them that we are coming."
Emmett just rolled his eyes and nodded, Carlisle patted my shoulder.
"What time is it?" Emmett asked.
"One thirty." I replied.
"Bella! What's been going on?" Alice's voice came thru the phone.
"Hey Alice! We're all good. We've tracked James to the air port. James was heading to a flight that went to L.A., but the gate next to that one went to Phoenix and the both left at pretty much the same time. We don't know what flight he got on to so Rose is coming, her and Emmett are going to go to L.A. and me and Carlisle are going to come and get you guys. The plane will get there about eight. Alright?" I paused. "But can I still talk to Edward, please?"
"Alright, great, we will see you soon."
"She's coming?" I could hear Edward ask.
"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." It was almost our turn to go thru the security, the man stared at me, confused as to why I was running thru the airport time and time again.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
We waited for two hours before Rosalie got there, she gave Carlisle and I a swift nod before letting Emmett sweep her up in his embrace. We didn't get much conversation from them after they were together again. Whilst PDA wasn't quite my thing, seeing them so happy together made me miss Edward more then ever. I sighed wistfully. Carlisle seemed to know what I was thinking.
He wrapped an arm round my shoulder and let me lean against him.
"I miss Edward."
"I know that you do sweetheart but in about….four and a half hours you will see him again. Actually the flight should be announced any second now." Just on cue, the airport staff announced the flight. I jumped up from my seat and waved goodbye to my brother and sister, before dashing towards the stewardess and handing over my ticket.
She wished me a good flight and then practically undressed my dad with her eyes. After she slowly handed him back his ticket I grabbed his hand, muttering under my breath about how you couldn't take this guy anywhere. Carlisle just laughed.
"Come on Carlisle, lets go lets go!" I was skipping up the aisle, I was so happy!
"Patience Bella, you will see Edward soon."
"Not soon enough."
Carlisle followed m quickened pace to the gate, but when I looked round, all that I could see was a distressed looking Alice.
"Alice, what happened?" Carlisle asked her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"We were right over there and then I had a vision, so Jasper started to take care of me but neither of us caught James' scent. Jasper thought that he heard something but when he looked over Edward as already gone. I left the vision then, I saw James with Edward." She said quietly. I stood staring at her, stunned. James had gotten my mate, my mate! Right from under the nose of my sister and brother! I had to suppress the rage, not just at James, Alice and Jasper, but at me too. I never should have let this happen.
"Bella, I am so, so sorry – "
"It's fine Alice, but we need to go and get Edward, where is Jasper?"
"Gone to find them."
"Do you know where to go?"
"Yes, fifty-eighth street, number twenty one."
We start to run towards the exit, we started to go at a vampire speed after we were away from the humans. I felt like I couldn't go fast enough, I got hit with a murky memory, something from when I was a human. I was trying to run, the sun was bearing down on my and I was starting to sweat in the long dress. I fell and scraped my hands and put a little hole on the knee of the dress, I felt like I couldn't run fast enough, like I was running thru wet sand.
Frustrated, I pushed my legs further, following the scent, not just James' but Jasper's too. We ran thru the streets, dogging the cars that we could break by running into them and thru the alleyways. I went to turn left at one street, where James' scent had gotten lighter, before Alice's voice called to me.
"Don't go that way! Jasper went the wrong way! Turn right!" I turned around and started to run right, the right way, and caught the scent again, so much stronger than before.
"Jasper is coming back this way now." Alice called again.
"Now, where to start?" I could faintly hear James' voice, the house was within my viewing range now. I heard a faint crack, I was so close. "Did that hurt?" The sound of stone hitting the soft flesh of a human. "What about that one?" The tracker chuckled.
I burst the door open, my growl filling the air and Edward's scent filling my senses. I took in the sight before my, Edward face twisted in pain before he looked up at me, joy lighting up his features, James grabbing his wrist hard, too hard for a human to handle without damage. I darted over, latching my teeth into James. I could hear him growl, hear Edward's heartbeat quicken. James started to realize what was happening and I knew that he would start to fight. I out my hands on either side of my face and ripped, the arm disjointing itself with a metallic shriek. I kicked James backwards and gently pushed Edward behind me, wanting him away from the danger. I crouched, ready to attack when suddenly Jas and Alice were next to me.
Carlisle got Edward, taking my mate form the house and to somewhere safe. The three of us growled and James stood up. James started to head for the back door but Jasper started to run for him, tackling James to the ground and wrapping off the rest of his arm.
"That is for my wife." I heard him mutter.
Alice darted over and ripped off the other one and I started to take off his legs, starting at the knees and then ripping off where they met at the hips. Alice took off the head and Jasper started to tear up the torso.
"do you have bags or anything like that in your bag?" I asked them.
"Yes, garbage bag."
I went and got them and together we put what was left of James into the bag, making sure not to leave anything behind. We went to straighten up the furniture, but I got distracted.
There was a photo on the mantle, Edward would have been about thirteen, with his parents standing next to him. They were all smiling and looking happy. Edward Sr. had his arm wrapped round Elizabeth's waist, she was leaning her head against his shoulder. My Edward was leaning against a chair and smiling his crooked smile at the camera. He looked so much younger, his face so much more childish, with a tanner face and a light flush on his cheeks. His hair was a bit shorter and he wasn't as tall. They were all dressed formally, at a wedding probably. He looked amazing in a tux and I was quickly becoming convinced to take the guy to prom, simply to see him in one.
So sexy, I almost giggled at my teenage thoughts.
"Naww, Isn't he pretty.." Alice giggled from next to me.
"Naww, why don't we go get him." Jasper said blankly.
"Right!" I started to run back towards the door, but stopped when I got there. "And thankyou guys, for all of this, for taking care of him and for helping me with this."
"No problem sis." Alice said.
"Yer, that is what families are for." Jasper said, I grinned at the both of them
We followed the scent to the park just up the road, Carlisle and Edward were standing in the middle of the field. They both looked towards us as was ran towards them. As soon as I could, I wrapped Edward up in my arms and held him tightly, but hopefully not to tightly. It took everything that I had not to just crush him to my chest. He wrapped his soft arms around me and buried his head in my hair, seemingly unconsciously.
"Ahh Bella can't breathe." Edward said breathlessly after a few moments.
"Oh right, so sorry." I kissed him lightly, still needing to feel him. I felt him smile against my lips and knew that he couldn't be to hurt. "Are you alright?"
"I am alright."
I didn't fully believe Edward, I had heard the crack and the sound of James hitting my mate. I turned to Carlisle, knowing that he would tell me the truth. "There is a bruise on his stomach and his wrist might be fractured, we will have to get that checked at the hospital."
I had to restrain myself from hissing, but found comfort that nothing was broken. Part of me wanted to rip that bag off of Jasper's shoulder and put James back together again, just so that I could rip the basted apart again. How dare James hurt my Edward! I turned around and put my cold hand on his stomach, hoping that the cold would help reduce the swelling and that he would find some comfort. "Thankyou." He sighed.
"What happened to James?" Jasper held up the bag that was over his shoulder. Edward looked at the bag curiously.
"Want to see what a dead vampire looks like?"
"Jasper." Alice and I warned my brother, I swear if Jas let Edward see…..
"What?"
"Why is that bag moving?" Edwards voice made me break eye contact with Jas and turn my eyes to the bag. The plastic was rustling, obviously James was trying to put himself back together again.
"Oh shit!" Jasper turned and looked at the bag. "I gotta go and do this."
"Why is that bag moving though?" Edward was persistent if anything.
"Well you know that we can be but back together?"
"Yes."
"Well, James' body is trying to get back together.."
"Eww." Edward's face was stricken. Was I to laugh, or protect him from my brothers words?
"Exactly, so what hospital will you be at and I will meet you there."
Carlisle gave Jasper the address and we want back to the airport, and then the hospital. I savored Edward's warmth, almost moaning at the pleasure that his body next to mine bought me.
I still couldn't believe that I had put Edward thru all of this, I never should have taken Edward to the baseball game, I should have run when Alice got the first vision. I could feel Edward studying my face, obviously he knew that I needed to speak to him, that I wanted to be with him, hopefully in the seclusion of our rooms, wrapped up in one other another. Not sexually of course, I knew that I could not do that, not yet at least. I just wanted to hold him close to me, and to be held close to him in return.
Carlisle marched up to the desk of the hospital and effectively dazzled the nurse there.
"My son hurt his wrist, we need to get it looked at." I could see Edward smile from the corner of my eye, I knew that he loved being acknowledged as a part of our family, was Edward smiling because Carlisle had called him son? Esme and Carlisle had thought of him as their son before they even met him and they became immediately overjoyed that their daughter had mated to such a wonderful young man.
"Of course sir." She said slowly. Carlisle filled In all of the necessary information using Edward's new fake ID, showing his last name as Cullen. I couldn't describe the thrill that went thru me seeing our last names the same, that name suited him greatly, though I loved his name as Masen.
The new doctor seemed shocked by his new patient and the rest of us, he also seemed to understand the danger. His heart beat speed up first in reaction to our appearances and then at our close proximity. Adrenaline started to course thru the doctors blood stream. Carlisle shifted away from the doctor after telling him what had happened and correcting the doctors diagnoses and Alice sat in the other side of the room. I smiled at him sweetly, not willing to move from Edward but wanting to make the poor man more comfortable, at least a little bit. The doctor stiffened even more when Jasper came into the room, Jasper often gave the 'predator' vibe.
"Everything alright?" Jasper asked us, looking at Edward's arm that was wrapped up.
"Yer, just a fracture. I've had worse." I felt Edward shrug against my head, which was resting against his shoulder.
"Yer like almost drowning." I muttered, remembering the story that he had told me during a biology leasson that seemed so long away, but had only been a month.
"That wasn't my fault." He told me.
"You almost drowned." Carlisle asked.
"Long story, stupid bike, distracting birds." Edward shrugged again, I frowned, not knowing that part of the story. Carlisle started to laugh at us.
The night was muggy, the hot air pressing in on us from all sides. I had missed the heat of climates like this but had grown to live the rain, the moist settings that we let ourselves like, the thick forests that I loved to run thru.
"So how are we getting home, do we have any flights booked?" Jasper asked
"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. Part of me wanted to offer to drive back with Edward but I knew that we would be more than a day and Edward needed to rest, he could do that when we got back to Forks.
"No I will, just give Esme my love."
"We will."
"So, to the airport?" I was anxious to get going.
"We need to call Rosalie and Emmett to tell them that James isn't there." I stated.
"They probably aren't even off of the plane yet." Edward snorted.
"Actually they just bordered." Alice giggled.
Well that way we wouldn't have to deal with Rosalie for the rest of the weekend.
"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." Alice told us.
"Good."
At the airport, after we had gotten our tickets and went to our gate, but stopped to get Edward some food. He got some McDonalds chips and Jasper started to tell Edward about how eating unhealthily all the time was going to kill him. He just stared at him blankly and made sure to chew obnoxiously loud. After a while there were no humans around, and Edward turned his head from my hair and looked at Carlisle.
"How old are you?"
"How old do you think I am?"
"Twenty three." I saw Carlisle's shocked face and wondered if Edward would tell him that I had already told him about Carlisle.
"Not many people guess that but exactly right."
"Bella told me." I started to laugh lightly as Carlisle's expression turned into one of understanding.
"Oh, well I assume that you didn't mean that way anyway."
"No." Edward started to laugh lightly with me and I rested my head on his shoulder.
"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." I took in Edwards expression of shock, worried that the age would scare him.
"Oh." His voice sounded shocked, amazed and we all laughed at him, startling the human that was starting to fall asleep at the airport bar.
" 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."
"Oh alright than. Well, I will show you when I get home."
"Alright, thankyou." He smiled back at me. The flight was called then ice and I hugged our dad goodbye. I made Edward eat the plane food again but after he ate, let him wrap me up in his arms and then nuzzle his head in my neck. He sighed contently and was asleep in minutes.
"What happened whilst I was away?" I asked Jasper and Alice. He had his legs spread over the spare seats and Alice was straddling him, her arms wrapped round his neck and hiss head buried in hers. They both turned to look at me from their seats in front of us. Alice couldn't see properly thru the gap so she sat up, straightened up her back and looked over the seats.
"Not much, just talked some more about what we missed about….before." Alice told me. I knew what she meant by before, when they were human. Most of the humans were asleep but there were a few that we still awake, listening to IPod's, reading or watching the T.V. on the back of the seat.
"I told him about the fake IDs and what not. Edward seemed pretty shocked by that. He got all chocked up when I showed them to him the next day." Jasper's ID's were the best, most of the time they looked better than the real ones.
"He likes to know that he is cared for, he hasn't been very close to his family, ever, just his mother. After his dad died they haven't spoken much to anybody else."
We spent most of the rest of the flight in silence. Edward on woke up about ten minutes before we were to land, he seemed a bit confused at first before grunting that he was awake and holding me tighter. I stroked his hair and breathed his scent.
Esme was at the airport to pick us up and practically strangled all of us when she hugged us, she was probably more worried than I was thru all of this. She was just so happy to she us that my heart swelled with the affection for my mother.
"Are you all alright? What happened to your wrist dear?" She asked Edward, glancing worriedly at the spare hand.
"Just James." He shrugged easily, part of me was concerned that he wasn't scared about what had happened, but the bigger part of me was just happy that he was physically ( for the most part ) and mentally alright.
Edward slept again on the car ride and said my name again a few times in his sleep. Every time he did Esme grinned wildly and I felt my frozen heart stutter.
As soon as we got home Jas took everybody's bag and took them to their owners respective room, including Edwards. I made Edward eat some cereal and Alice, Esme and Jasper joined us.
"Is Phoenix nice?" Esme asked us.
"Yes it was, very sunny, nice and warm. I wish that we could have gone shopping, apparently there are some good in door malls there." Alice sighed.
"Thankfully we couldn't leave the room so there was no chance to shop" Jasper grinned. Alice threw her husband a dirty look before smiling back at us. I wondered idly if she could handle more than one emotion at a time.
"We will just have to go back there one day than." Jasper and Bella groaned.
"What is wrong with that?" I asked them, curious.
"You have never been shopping with Alice, the whole experience is absolute torture." Bella shuddered. That was definitely something that I didn't want to experience. Jasper and Alice left then, after saying that they were going to go to their room and Edward finished his food whilst Esme and I caught up with each other. After Edward and finished the food, he cleaned up and then dragged me upstairs. I was glad that I could be with him right now, I needed this. Edward closed the door after we got to my room and then took of his shoes, as did I. He lead me to the bed and Helped me lay on it, than curled up next to me. He wrapped his arms round me and buried his nose in my hair, I did the same with him but with my nose in that dip between his collarbones.
"Am I hurting the bruise" I asked him quietly, making sure that my strength was still in check.
"No, I'm fine." Edward seemed to be thinking something over "Are you?"
I looked up at him from his chest. "Are you serious? You just got attacked by a vampire – "
"Barley." I was surprised that Edward didn't roll his eyes.
"And yet you're asking of I am alright."
"Yes."
"Why."
"Because I know that something's wrong." He always knew when something as wrong, he saw thru me so clearly. I tried not to think about everything that had just happened because I knew that he could see everything in me eyes, but it dawned on me that we were finally here, finally alone and that we could finally talk about everything that we needed to. The guilt crept back up and I opened my eyes to see his green ones starting back and me intently.
"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!" I exploded.
"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." There were so many ways that this could of gone, so many different things that could of happened. I loved him so much but constantly put Edward in danger.
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."
"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." That made sense, that was why James had yet to attack to viciously when we got there. Plus James would of hated to be out done by a human. That Edward had come up with a 'better' way to kill the human, would have irked James to no end.
"Oh, what was it?"
"My aunt's letter and he 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." Oh……..
"Well that makes sense."
Edward seemed to quickly think something over, then a grin lit up his face.
"What?"
"Gunna be so awkward the next time that I see her." He always knew what to say to help he. I rolled my eyes and laughed, just imagining what they could talk about if they needed to make a conversation.
"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!" How did Edward expect me to believe that?
"Well If I didn't smell so good than maybe James wouldn't have decided to track me."
Was Edward being serious? "Are you seriously saying that this is your fault because you smell to good?"
"Yes."
"You can't help how you smell though." Did he not understand that?
"And you can't help that James wanted revenge."
"How about we just agree to disagree?"
"For now." He shrugged, still smirking that bright crooked smile.