Chapter 14: Opening Moves
Bella and I both sat in her room staring at each other, the silence engulfing us.
Bella's emotions were all over the place, so I decided to remain quiet until they settled.
The growing tension between us was broken by her pleading, "Please explain why you kissed me Jasper."
"I didn't kiss you," I rebutted, appalled that she had thought I had. "You weren't breathing. I just did what they do on television."
Bizarrely, she started chuckling, which led to full-all mirth.
"You okay up there?" Charlie asked at an increased volume than his usual, probably to ensure Bella heard him through her bedroom door and up the stairs.
"Yes, I'm fine," she replied at an equally loud volume.
When she finally calmed enough to speak, she asked, "You gave me mouth to mouth for a panic attack?"
Looking sheepishly, I told her, "Yeah. I'm not Carlisle. What do I know? Was that not helpful?"
"Well the shock of your action stopped my panic, but generally no, Jasper." She smiled at me like I was adorable.
The level of affection for me was almost the same as Charlotte, but the tone of it was different, perhaps because she was human. And there was something else that reminded me of Esme before she would want to pull me into a hug. There was also a tone of endearment that mixed with the affection pulling on me asking me to be her defender and protector. Imagining myself as a human protector of any kind was ridiculous. Even though I liked this human more than any other, she was still food, forbidden food, but certainly not something to defend, as if I was a knight and she was some princess.
These feelings she generated in me were distasteful and distracted me from keeping Alice alive. Yet, Alice loved Bella and kept saying how important she was, so I tried to work through them, rather than remaining disgruntled and annoyed.
"Well, if I offended you I apologise," I let her know.
"It's fine," she smiled at me, sending out the same emotional cocktail, while somehow deepening it, as if my words and previous action had meant something significant to her.
"Why did the Chief coming home cause you to panic?" I asked curious.
"It was my fault," she answered, embarrassed. "I thought you said that he wasn't coming home. In my head you were easing me into the bad news."
Cocking my head, I tried to suss that out.
"You never visit me randomly, Jasper," she pointed out, "and never alone."
She had a point there.
"I just assumed something was wrong."
Smiling assuredly at her, I told her, "I was checking up with you, since you had been upset about your fight with the Chief. Nothing more."
"Well, next time I'll try and stay more level headed," she stated with a smile.
"At least you got mouth to mouth out of it," I teased her.
She smiled widely. "Well, there's that."
We talked a bit more before she kicked me out, claiming to be tired. The conversation had flowed easily. After I puzzled at how we could have had so much in common and been able to talk like old friends. It was odd, like she naturally fit in with my coven.
Through the rest of the summer the family continued to keep our patrols, while Peter and Charlotte guarded Bella. A couple of times, I suggested recruiting the Denalis, but the family voted against it, believing that nine vampires would be enough to deal with two. There was also talk about ecosystems and over hunting, but I paid those arguments no mind.
Near the end of September, Bella turned twenty-one. Alice convinced Carlisle and Esme that celebrating Bella's birthday would be a good excuse to have some fun and relax for a few hours. Consequently, Alice ordered her a tent for the backyard, got a grill, somehow got Bella to convince Jacob and the Quiluetes to come over, and all the Cullens showed up. I suspected Alice used Esme to get to Rosalie. What Alice didn't voice was that the party fulfilled our promise to Bella regarding meeting the family.
It was decided to ease Bella into the introductions, as all of us can be a lot for most humans, so Emmett and Esme came over to help Alice set it up, and Rosalie tagged along. Peter and Charlotte had gone hunting as a precaution. We all had, actually. It was just that they ran to Vancouver, promising to be back before festivities started.
Rosalie mostly stood against a tree watching, and I kept her company. We talked a little about the stuff with James, but mostly she spoke about her concerns related to Bella. She pointed out the risks to the family of having an alive human who had grown close to vampires. She expressed being mostly nervous about the threat to the family from James to the wolves, but Bella was a close third. There was no real way to assure her, so I just listened.
As I expected, Esme was taken with Bella, and they hit it off really well. Esme's curiosity of Bella turned into appreciation and genuine liking. But then again, I couldn't imagine anyone Alice had made into a friend that Esme would dislike, and her honest warmth and care melted everyone she met.
Surprisingly, Emmett and Bella were quickly thick as theives, seeming to share a similar sense of humour. Esme smiled at how well they were getting on, while Rosalie grumbled next to me.
When Edward arrived he was holding his breath. Emmett went over and wrapped his arm around him, holding him tight, while in a booming voice told Bella, "This here is my younger and thus less cool brother, Edward."
"Nice to meet you, Edward," Bella said with a smile, keeping the distance Edward had set, as Charlotte had told her to.
"Nice to meet you also," Edward replied, breathing in for the first time.
He struggled with his bloodlust, while Alice distracted Bella. He was throwing off massive waves of frustration. He claimed he was good enough and that the descentualise training for the last couple of months had paid off. Nevertheless, he stayed as the DJ the whole time with one of us close enough to grab him if anything went badly.
None of the other humans that attended, Chief Swan, a few of the Quiluete elders, and a few Quileute women, tempted us like Bella did Edward, so there was no real concern in that regard, as long as there was no spilled blood, especially as it being outdoors.
Alice had even gone so far as to put in a kind of wooden temporary floor, and people did dance. The differences between the species were clear in these moments, but there was a sublime beauty in the contrasts. Ironically, line dancing seemed to be the greatest hit.
There were many tense moments, but with alcohol flowing, courtesy of our family, things eventually loosened. It helped that the pack had come to reluctantly accept Peter and Charlotte as Bella's bodyguards, despite their human diet.
It was a raging success by the standard that Bella laughed, joked, ate, drank, and danced. Then, there was the fact that none of the supernatural creatures gave away the secrets to the humans, despite the close proximity.
Bella enjoyed meeting and speaking with Carlisle, while he crowed at the gathering like it was his wet dream.
Through the evening I caught Bella looking at Edward, like her eyes were constantly drawn to him. Edward seemed to be purposefully keeping his focus on the music, no doubt as a technique to manage the bloodlust, but he was likely keeping a close eye on Bella through his gift, so she never surprised him or got too close. The few times I picked up something intense coming from him, it was frustration once more.
At home I confronted him about it.
"Her mind is silent to me," he admitted.
The family gasped.
"That's never happened before?" Carlisle confirmed.
"Never," he agreed. "Some minds are quieter or more confusing, but none are silent."
"What does this mean?" Rosalie questioned, her tone irritated, and her emotions worried.
"She is likely gifted," Carlisle answered after some thought.
"A gifted human," Edward repeated like it solved his irritation instantly.
"What kind?" I wanted to know.
"Hard to say," Carlisle told us. "Eleazar would know, as this is his field of expertise, but blocker or shield, maybe."
Nodding like that made sense, I kept my mind on analyzing Edward's feelings.
"I'm fine now," Edward told the room, but it was probably meant for me. "I can restrain myself from going after her."
"Good," Alice stated emphatically, no doubt reinforcing to him to not drain her best friend.
The family dispersed, with Alice working on seeing James in the future, and I went to visit Charlotte and Peter. When I told them about Bella potentially having an ability in her human form, Peter whistled and Charlotte looked worried.
To me it certainly explained Alice's sense of Bella's importance. Against the Volturi, or any coven that had gifted members, a shield could make all the difference.
A few days later, I visited Bella.
"No danger," I assured her when she answered the door. Once we were in her kitchen and she was making food, I told her, "I noticed that you kept gazing at Edward. Something there?"
Her cheeks pinkened and she emitted embarrassment. Finally she summoned the courage to admit, "I find myself drawn to him and am curious to get to know him."
"Maybe after this stuff with James," I told her, wanting to hold her off. "He's pretty occupied at the moment."
She oozed being disappointed.
Disliking the emotion, I told her, "Maybe I could answer some of your questions."
She took some time before she voiced, "Is he dating anyone?"
"Him and Alice are beginning to explore a relationship, so I guess you could call that dating," I answered.
Her emotions indicated that her hope had been crushed, while she muttered, "Figured." After a few seconds, contrary to her the emotions she was emitting, she asked her tone light and slightly teasing, "How about you? Any girls in your sights?"
"No," I told her. "Our mishap is the closest I've gotten to kissing a girl recently."
She laughed heartily and we settled on other topics.
When Charlotte asked me about the conversation, I told her my suspicion that Bella had begun having a crush on Edward and was attracted to him, but Alice's involvement with Edward had removed her hope. Charlotte seemed relieved.
"Nothing could alter her connection to you," I assured her.
"You never know what tomorrow holds. If she was with Edward, she would grow closer to the Cullens and perhaps not become a member of our coven. I was simply momentarily scared by that possibility," she explained.
Sending her comfort and assurance, we then said no more on the topic.
After the party Bella's regular visitors began to include Emmett and Esme, adding to Alice. Our house continued to be banned from her, unless Edward was on patrol, due to his pull towards her blood. Emmett enjoyed adding to Bella's physical exercise training, and began teaching her some defensive martial arts. She was terrible at getting her body to do what Emmett instructed, but it was allowing her an outlet for her frustrations, which was the main point. Esme talked to Bella about her future options in terms of majoring and what Bella might want to do after college.
Bella's and my conversation, coupled with her growing friendship with the family increased me feeling possessive over her. Initially I had attributed my connection to Bella becoming meaningful to me down to Alice's feelings and me accepting the claim over her. Then there was Charlotte's belief in Bella's worth and her affection towards the human that had crept into me. However, since Bella's birthday party, these explanations were insufficient. One day, taking my phone with me just in case, I ran some to clear my head, and found a beautiful spot overlooking Forks, hoping to use it in order to centre myself.
Bella might be human, but I had found her to be enjoyable company. For the first time in my life I wanted to spend time with a woman who wasn't Alice or Maria. Remembering the party and closely analysing my emotions brought the awareness that I had become territorial over Bella. A larger part of me than I wanted to admit wanted to bite her, and not solely as a necessity to keep my word. Slowing everything down in my mind, I thought through the microseconds of the party. It took a while, but eventually I figured out that something within me called me to sire her, which hadn't happened before or since Peter. My first impulse was that my reaction was due to her nature.
Using the data I had gathered at the party to test out my hypothesis, I began to examine everyone else's feelings towards Bella. Underneath the frustration, Edward had felt territorial over Bella, mixed with self-condemnation and disgust, which I assumed was due to him wanting to consume her so badly, and thus wanting to demonstrate a claim of her as a meal to the other vampires in attendance. Emmett wasn't territorial in the same way Edward had been, as his was mixed with brotherly and gentle affection. Was this what Rosalie had emitted jealousy about? Had she noticed how Edward, Emmett, and myself all had circled around this human girl in different ways? Carlisle was curious about her, but it had really been Esme who Bella had won over.
Esme felt motherly towards Bella in a protective form, similar to how she does with each of us, except softer, not quite as intense, but I suspected that had to do with Bella being human and Esme knowing Bella for a much shorter time than us. However, there was a sense of empathy that emanated from Esme to Bella that I hadn't felt as strongly directed towards us Cullens, although it was there to some degree with Rosalie.
It was like this information had taken my previous theories and amplified them adding confirmation to my suspicions about Bella.
I tried to consider those who had resisted her. Carlisle, although there had been the beginnings of the kind of attachment he had with Alice or Rosalie, but in a significantly diluted form, which could only be described as parental. I had never studied Carlisle's emotional climate at work, so I had no way of comparing his feelings towards Bella with other humans he liked. At the same time, Carlisle was as far from an instinctual vampire as possible, ruled almost solely by his morals and intellect. Also, I suspected that his instinctual denial was built from years of practice while working at the hospital. Just like blood, he had become nearly immune to the charms of women. Why hadn't I responded like Carlisle, or even like Emmett?
The reality that I had absorbed Alice's feelings about Bella over the last two decades simply wasn't enough to give a true explanation.
My memories of her birthday had also confirmed my suspicions that, apart from the one I had the misfortune of trying to hold a conversation with, who I had learned was named Paul, all the Quileutes also felt protective of Bella. Paul was an exception as he only projected desire at Bella. Jacob could also be an exception, as he also projected desire near Bella, but I didn't name him in the same category as Paul, since Jacob was especially protective of Bella. That probably meant that her charms extended to shapeshifters as well. Although that was most likely good for her welfare, oddly it made me uncomfortable.
Something inside of me bristled at them wanting to have a part of her. That same part argued that she was my claim and they needed to back off. Instead, I told myself that she was her own entity and entitled to have whatever relationship and experiences she wanted.
After many hours of contemplation, my conclusion was that there was not enough data to make a conclusive conclusion, so I set it aside and contemplated what James might do next. By the time my head was clearer, I had at least five thousand possibilities and only three thousand or so counter moves.
October twelfth was the first fall morning with dense heavy fog. The police were called at 8:34. The school bus driver reported, via their radio, an accident on Route 101 heading north was thirty cars deep.
We immediately mobilised, suspecting this was James' chaos. Edward and Emmett went to keep an eye on Charlie, while the rest of the family ran parallel to each other towards the scene. Alice and Rosalie were on the east side of the road, while Esme and I ran the west side, and Carlisle drove, so that we would have a human excuse for showing up to an accident. Rosalie and Esme had both gone to the trees, and Alice and I ran the ground, monitoring for scents and danger.
Even before our eyes could see what lay before us, the scent of blood hung heavy in the atmosphere. As soon as it called to us, we held our breath and continued moving forward. Additionally, as we neared the site, the fog thickened so much that it reduced our visibility. Sure, we could see the small droplets of water hanging in the air as well as around them, so we weren't impaired like the humans, by any means, but it certainly made distances more obscured than usual. Apart from the fog, they had chosen a place where there was no cellular reception.
As the scene revealed itself, it was obviously James' handiwork. It wasn't hard to admire how the cars had been arranged in a majestic tapestry of destruction. A second vampire's scent was present, which presumably was Jose's.
At the scene Carlisle pulled his car over, grabbed his medical bag, and stated, "I have to go assist."
Carlisle moved into the medley to help as many wounded as possible, and then a few seconds later an infant's cry could be heard.
"I have to go," Esme informed me, determined.
"Rosalie, help her," I commanded.
It was dangerous to expose ourselves like this, but my ability gave me the keen awareness that Esme couldn't stand on the side while an infant died. Neither could have Rosalie, if she had the chance to voice it. That left Alice and I on alert for James and/or José. I moved across the street, so that I stood near Alice, watching it all, while she watched the future.
Trying to think like James, it seemed likely that he would be near, enjoying the chaos he had caused.
It was as Laurent had told me. Moreover, what he had created had served its purpose. He had successfully split our family between protecting the Swans, helping the humans, and defeating James. Surveying the scene and noting how splintered we were, I regretted not pushing harder for the Denalis to have joined us. We simply needed more manpower.
It was too easy for James to sit just enough away to avoid our detection, while allowing him to keep an eye on the events. Like he had with the girls at the end of our driveway, he probably was perched watching, getting off on the catastrophe he had created. My assumption meant that he was likely already two or three steps ahead, and we were playing catch up.
The police had already begun to arrive before us. First on scene had been the Forks PD, but then State Troopers, and then Beaver PD, and more. However, they seemed to do little more than prevent more accidents and try to make room for the medical equipment. Even still, it seemed like everyone who had been off shift had been sent. Charlie's lack of presence became more and more concerning with each passing moment. Hopefully, Edward and Emmett had found him and were keeping him safe.
Already from my vantage point I counted eleven dead. I had to give James' credit. My gift wasn't much use with this many humans about, especially with the strong emotions they were emitting, and neither would have been Edward's.
Esme had gone to the infant, only to report to Carlisle that the mother, who was in the driver's seat, was dead. After some consideration, she took the baby seat, bag, and whatever else could be found, and took it to the school bus.
"Do you mind if we direct any other children here, since it's safer than any of the other vehicles?" Esme asked the bus driver.
"Not at all," was the reply before she instructed the school children to move towards the back.
In the meantime, Rosalie had gone to other vehicles with families and begun directing those able to leave their vehicles into the school bus and thus relative safety, often separating parents from kids, since many of the parents had become trapped by the metal and plastic of their vehicles, but at least the littlest ones had been moved into a safer vehicle.
As more police arrived, and no more children were in the cars, Rosalie came and stood with us, confident that she had done all she could. Even if she had gone to medical school, she refused, even in circumstances such as these, to do little more than tell people to apply pressure to wounds. Esme, on the other hand, had wanted to stay with the children, helping the few adults in the school bus with keeping the children calm and distracted.
Once the first severely injured began to be moved by ambulances, the human cops began murmuring about Charlie, beginning with his deputies. According to their chatter, he had radioed in that he was heading this way, but hadn't shown.
"Let's go," I ordered, knowing that Charlie, Bella, and ultimately Alice were the targets, but Esme insisted on staying.
I was reluctant, since Esme wasn't a strong fighter, but she persisted, assuring me that she would take no risks, she would stay near Carlisle, and that everyone else should go to protect Charlie and Bella, as they were the most vulnerable. Unable and unwilling to argue with her logic, I relented, and no one else insisted on staying. Furthermore, they weren't my soldiers. They didn't follow my orders, and I wasn't about to try and pull rank with Esme.
"Be on guard. James or José could still be near," I insisted, before Alice, Rosalie, and I started running the road back to Forks.
"We're going to encounter Edward and Emmett in one minute and twenty seconds, but no Charlie," Alice reported.
"We must have missed something," Edward told us from a distance while he turned around and ran back towards the Swans.
We were no longer in the fog, helping visibility and scent tracking, but that also meant that we were forced deeper into the tree line, so that the stream of humans in fire trucks and ambulances wouldn't catch sight of us.
"We should go to the station," Alice instructed. And then a few seconds later she muttered her tone dispondent, "Bella has decided to leave Forks."
Even though this update most likely meant that James already had Charlie and was using him to lure Bella, we kept looking. We needed a trail, if we stood any chance of keeping Bella from James' grasp.
We were two miles from the police station when we found his cruiser hidden under a tarp, only two drops of his blood next to it giving it away.
Bella got a text and is leaving. She followed our code to indicate that she's heading south. came in from Charlotte.
I texted Edward the information, while Rosalie and Alice followed me without question. As we didn't know the destination, we followed the road Route 101 South keeping ourselves within the trees to not be seen.
She pulled into the abandoned lumber yard 20 miles from the Forks border.
It was one of the buildings we had indicated might be a location James would choose. Fortunately, it was in the direction we were heading. We left the road and cut straight for our destination.
Peter and Charlotte were at the tree line waiting for us. Peter signed to me, "Something went wrong with Bella's heartbeat when they got deeper into the building."
He reported nothing else, moving out. I wasn't sure what that meant, other than it couldn't be good.
Per our previous agreement, as soon as we were in their sights, they followed Bella's scent and we began fanning around the building, entering it from multiple directions. There was the sound of Bella's heartbeat, but it was off, distorted in a way that I couldn't pinpoint with all the walls between me and its beat, not to mention that Peter and Charlotte were radiating fear. It wasn't a good sign. Then, like a light switch Bella's heartbeat couldn't be heard.
"They recorded it and were looping it," Peter growled, confirming our worst fears.
Without her heartbeat, we had no way to know if she was dead or not. Her temporary survival was likely if James planned on trading her for Alice, but the loss of its sound shook Peter, Charlotte, and Alice tremendously, and due to my attunement to their feelings, myself as well. Emmett and Rosalie were worried, but nothing like what the others were pushing out.
The four of us started to converge. José's scent was called out, but not James'. A foreboding settled into my centre and like eating human food, it felt like an unacceptable substance was being forced into my system.
"Southwest first floor," Charlotte shouted out.
As no one else had found anything else, and we had nearly swept the entire building, I went to where she was located, finding that everyone else had done the same.
Emmett signed, "Eyes in the ceiling."
"Chloroform," Edward reported with a sniff, using sign language.
Even though I was unsure what that might mean, Rosalie radiated horror, so I figured that was a poor sign. My senses indicated that José's scent was present and then disappeared.
"Juarez," Peter muttered a second before my mind made the same hypothesis.
"Cunt," roared from my mouth.
Peter and I started looking for the mechanism, with Edward copying shortly after, no doubt seeing what Peter meant from his thoughts. Alice stood statuesque searching the future, while Rosalie along with Emmett were tracing José's scent back through the building hoping to give us some clues.
"Propane," Rosalie reported, which didn't tell us much.
"Some kind of mud from a cave of some kind, without salt water," Emmett shouted out.
A few seconds later Peter found the mechanism to open the trap door.
Charlotte was the first to drop into the hole with me shortly after. Sure enough there was José's scent along with Bella's.
Charlotte started to move down the tunnel they had dug when Alice shrieked, "Back up, back up."
Her terror was like rocket fuel, moving me faster than I had ever before.
Charlotte and I moved back up the hole to see Alice and Edward running away followed shortly by Peter, while Emmett and Rosalie were ahead of us all, getting closer to Bella's truck. Trailing behind Peter, it was three seconds later when the building burst apart and I went flying into the trees. I was just beginning to assess my state when Peter's cry of "Charlotte" could be heard.
Emmett, and Rosalie were clearing rubble along with Peter, while Alice had come over to me. She checked me over visually and then checked in with her ability. She smiled grimly, exuding relief, fear, and anger.
It only took a few seconds for Charlotte's body to be uncovered. She was leaking venom from a rip at her left foot and right hand, but otherwise fine. The building started to catch fire, so Peter picked her up. By the time he got her to the tree line Edward had returned with a buck.
"It was the first thing I found," Edward said apologetically.
"Thanks," Peter grunted.
"I've had Bambi before," Charlotte joked, "just tastes like shit."
Charlotte had latched on immediately, while Peter began aligning her body allowing the venom to do its work on her right side and I kneeled doing her left side. When she tossed the buck aside, Edward ran it back a bit and buried it.
"Anywhere else?" I asked Charlotte, as Peter ran his hands over her.
"Ready to go, Major," she answered briskly.
Sending them my gladness and relief, we stood.
I had been with the Cullens over three decades when, with Alice's help via her visions, we tracked down Peter and Charlotte, as I wanted to go to them, rather than asking them to come to me. Once they recognised us, and we greeted each other, Alice stayed a few days, getting to know them better and they her. Their emotions were nearing irritation when Alice left, returning to the Cullens, as we had agreed. She didn't emotionally seem to grasp my need to be alone with them, but respected my decision.
It reminded me a bit of spending time with the Denalis. There was only so much of each other that each coven could take.
I suspected that me being Peter's sire and their commanding officer, not to mention what we had gone through together, translated into us not growing tired of each other's company quickly.
"I'm glad you tracked us down, Major," Charlotte told me, when Alice was out of hearing range, sending me her longing.
"It's good to be here," I told her, opening my arms.
She entered them, and when my hands reached around her, she melted, like my presence soothed something deep within her.
My lips touched her forehead, flooding her inner world into me, while my ability searched every inch of her. In his perfect timing as usual, Peter pressed his chest into her back and wrapped his arms around me, reminiscent of their visit after Calgary. He put his head onto mine and breathed in my scent, causing his emotions to flood me. When I finished searching Charlotte, leaving her droplets of affection and appreciation, I entered Peter.
The time we had been apart had repaired their feelings towards each other, and their connection was even stronger than before.
"Can we lay down like before?" Charlotte asked after I had finished searching Peter.
"Certainly," I agreed.
It was practically the same position, only on the ground, on our sides, and without any skin contact. She tucked herself into me, breathing in my scent, and told me stories of their travels. Then, I shared my experiences with the Cullens, as well as the things I was learning about myself, my ability, and the world generally.
After more than a day had passed, Charlotte had left, knowing Peter and I needed time alone.
"Staying?" Peter asked, his wish for me to do so clear.
"No," I answered, sending him my regret.
"You too good for us now?" he bit back.
Looking over at him, I raised an eyebrow saying nothing.
Sighing in the way he did when he was frustrated, he asked his voice less hard, "I'm struggling, Major, to see you like this. You look like some Yankee, for God's sake."
"Clothes never mattered before," I challenged him.
He snorted. "You're a goddamn Texan, soldier, officer, and tactician. I really don't give two shits about what you put on that scarred body of yours, but I do care that I barely recognise you."
"That's the point," I answered curtly, disliking his lack of trust in me.
"You hiding or somethin'?" he asked incredulously. "You've freed yourself from Maria. What are you staying there for?"
"Learnin'," I answered.
His face twisted and emitted irritation, sadness, and more than anything longing. After a few minutes he exhaled, "I must be slow, Major. Lay it to me straight."
Looking up into the heavens, I tried to put into words what the last three decades had meant to me. "You know that most of those Maria found and changed, as well as the humans in the villages that sustained us, they were all poor. I might have been a Major in the Civil War, but I wasn't a commander. Even Maria, she might be a warlord, but her mindset isn't of a queen. There's something different about folks that grow up never having to think about the basics. Carlisle was a Lord's son, Edward was a lawyer's son, and Rosalie a banker's daughter. They think differently. Those like them are the ones ruling the world. According to Carlisle, Aro was a wealthy man's son, some Greek aristocrat or something. Marcus the same, while Ciaus was a Roman commander of some kind. Point is that most of our kind are like you, me, and Charlotte. But there are a few, and Carlisle's coven has them, where they were rulers as humans and have become the same in our world."
It took him some time before he finally asked, "You saying that you're some spy or somethin'?"
"Somethin'," I agreed. "It's a foreign land, yet it determines the rules by which we live our lives. I'm trying to understand them better."
"What for?" Peter asked, emitting hurt and confusion.
"So, if I ever needed to, I can think like them, maybe even out think them, and thus better protect that which is mine," I told him earnestly.
Softer than the wind, he uttered, "That including me and Charlotte?"
Sending him my affection, I answered, "Naturally."
Much like I suspected Esme had on Carlisle, Emmett had on Rosalie, Carmen had on Eleazar, and Charlotte had on him, Peter had imprinted himself on me when he was a newborn, and I had accepted, like Carlisle, Rosalie, and Eleazar had. Peter and I would never be romantic partners like he and Charlotte, but it was also a bond that nothing but death could eradicate. At the same time, the struggle was that I wanted us to change aspects of it.
"Maria might have learned how to be the nastiest, most cunning cunt of them all, but she didn't start the wars," I pointed out. "And you might have been a sly gambler, but you didn't create the economic forces that were plaguing the nation at the time. These things were created, they didn't just happen, and they were, more often than not, created by those like Carlisle or Aro."
"We have peace," he replied half confused and half exasperated.
"But not forever, Peter, not forever," I answered solemnly. "Nothing lasts forever, and while there's down time I'm going to learn everything I can."
His emotional cocktail told me that he didn't like it, but he could accept it, but of course Peter responded with a joke, "Being The God of War isn't enough, huh?"
Sending him a mixture of terror and fidelity, I confessed, "I was more of Maria's bitch than my own person. She is the most manipulative woman I have ever met, maybe second to Alice, but none can match Maria's sadism fuelled by her rage and pain. She formed me into the creature you met when I brought you into this world, and I want more. I'm good at following orders. I'm good at being told an objective and making it a reality. That's the shit I did, as efficiently as possible with as little cost as possible. I did it for Maria and had done something similar for years previously as a human. One day I want to shed myself of that. One day if I have to give orders again, I want it not to be because someone else gave me an objective.
"The army isn't really where the power lies, Maria might have her corner of the world, but she doesn't have real power. The power really is on who holds the strings, and currently that's the Volturi. I don't understand them yet. I don't get why Carlisle would live with them for all those decades, and then they let him go. They're considered patrons of the arts, have more connections with humans than probably any other vampire covens, keep over twenty vampires living together without fighting, if Carlisle is to be believed, and have no challengers to their rule in over a thousand years. Like Alice, they're playing a long-con, and I'm beginning to suspect that we're all pieces in their play."
"You want to be King?" Peter asked quietly.
"God, no," I laughed. "Not at all, but I do want to understand how their minds work, so when they decide to play with my coven we'll stand some chance of survival."
"And living with them Cullens is teaching you these things?" he verified.
"It is," I agreed. "Not to mention that having Alice's company is better than hurting what you and Charlotte got."
He nodded in agreement, even though he was reluctant to do so.
Over an hour passed before he stated, "You always were better than that cunt."
"Perhaps," I allowed, "but you have to remember that she formed me from the moment my eyes opened. It took you to show me the truth, and by then I didn't know how to live any differently." Sending him my gratitude and affection, I added, "I know that from the outside it might look like I traded one manipulative controlling bitch for another, but it isn't like that. I'm choosing Alice. I didn't choose Maria. The things that you see, like the clothes, they mean nothing to me, so I wear them, but don't mistake my willingness to learn and blend in as any indication that I'm not still the scariest motherfucker you ever met."
"Ugliest for sure," he quipped back.
Moving towards me, he was egging me into a fight. His emotions indicated his need for me to put him in his place, and thereby assure him that my words were true. He sent me all the emotions that he knew would bring out the warrior in me. Hoping he still knew how to take care of himself, I let go of any pretence of civility.
When I was calm once more he was under me in a position of submission cracked in multiple places, but internally more content. Then, without warning he undid my pants, put me into his mouth, and serviced me. Trusting in his intuition, I allowed my gift and its residue to flow freely. When I came my internal world was at more peace than it had been since the last time we had been together. Perhaps those early years had made it so that we would both need this from time to time.
"Let's get you fixed up," I stated evenly.
"Yes, sir," he answered with a smile.
As the memory faded into the background, gratefulness filled me. Things between Peter and I had already been altered and had become closer to what I had hoped for, not to mention how things had improved between Charlotte and I. Simultaneously, these alterations caused my concern for them to be greater than ever before.
"You good?" I checked with Peter, needing the verification.
"All good to go, both of us," he returned with a solemn expression, as if completely in tune with me, like we had been before Charlotte had entered our lives.
Attempting to narrow my ability so that it would only go to Peter, I sent my gratefulness, concern, and the complex bundle of feelings that made up my camaraderie with him. Concurrently, I signed to Emmett, "Eyes?"
"Clear," Emmett reported.
"If we follow the tunnel again?" I asked, looking at Alice.
Terror washed over her, and Edward answered, "Bomb in the tunnel. More destruction to us."
"James is good. I'll give him that," Peter growled low. His rage was burning hot.
We threw different options at Alice and she checked. It seemed like the tunnels were extremely well rigged and would likely cause us mass bodily harm if not a moderate highly likelihood of being turned to ash.
In the midst of our attempted strategising Carlisle texted us Esme's missing
Without thought, question, or word, we all ran back to the site of the wrecks, Edward widening the gap with every mile.
"Guesses?" I signed to Peter, running next to him.
He paused for a few seconds, most likely sorting through the top possibilities we had discussed over the past months.
"James was watching at a safe distance and saw an opportunity and took it," he answered also using ASL.
"Esme would be much harder to control than two humans," I responded, playing devil's advocate.
"Then, José was with him. Two males with fighting skills against Esme," he replied while he made a scoffing sound. "She stands no chance."
"But José's scent was at the lumber mill," I countered.
"José took Charlie and Bella. James took Esme. She's a nice woman, and all, but she's no match for one halfly skilled male, let alone the likes of James," he offered.
Unfortunately, I had to agree with his assessment.
We followed our own trails to where the humans were still trying to untangle the cars as well as rescuing the remaining wounded. Picking up Carlisle's scent from the site, we followed it north until we came across him. We stayed in the trees away from any human eyes.
He was searching the ground, looking around, while sniffing the air discreetly.
"They got into a car. She's leaking venom," he informed us in his clinical tone. "I tracked them as far as possible, which was less than five miles and then returned here to see if I had missed something."
"Rosalie, would you see if you can trace the car," I asked, and then tacked on, "Maybe you should go too Emmett to keep her safe."
Emmett warned us, "Eyes in the trees" before they both went into action.
"What happened?" I asked him, in order to gain a clearer picture of what we were against.
"Esme was in the school bus the whole time while I worked on people," he stated evenly. "When the road was clear enough and a new school bus arrived, all the children and families were moved into the new bus. Esme told them that she was going to come to me in order to be my assistant, but told me that she was going to go a few feet into the forest in order to clear her lungs of the smell of blood before finding me.
She was there less than a minute when there were sounds of wrestling where she had gone, but she uttered no sounds of distress. I finished up with that human and started asking the officers as well as medical personnel if they had seen Esme, as a way to alert her to my concern and keep our cover, but she never arrived. I followed her scent into the forest where she had been. There I came across James' scent. Her venom was on the forest floor, most likely a leg, and then I tracked it here."
"Anything to alert the humans?" I checked, even though Carlisle was the best of us at appearing human.
"No," he answered. "There was still too much going on and I made sure to sound casual like she was around there somewhere."
Edward updated Carlisle on Charlie and Bella, while Alice checked the future and Peter, Charlotte, and I used ASL to come up with some options.
When Rosalie returned to us she signed, "Toyota Corolla 1995-2002 line that needs an oil change and transmission is burning hot, so over 200,000 miles. I followed it as far as the outskirts of Port Angeles. The scents overlapped too much and I lost it."
Double fuck. Out of everything we had considered, every possible scenario we had run, every bit of guessing we created, we were on the back foot. It was infuriating.
"Rein in your shit, Major" Peter barked.
Immediately I pulling my anger and frustration into myself.
"House," I ordered, taking charge, no longer caring about Carlisle being the Coven Master. "Carlisle you up to driving the Mercedes back, and answering any questions?"
"Of course," he replied evenly.
I had to admire his ability to present himself as human, despite the terror radiating out of him.
As we started running I heard Carlisle being asked if he had found Esme, and he responded that he hadn't, so he was going back to the house to check in, as she had probably gotten a ride back into town.
It was a testament to his years as a vampire around humans that Esme was taken and he still was able to cover himself. If the Volturi were watching, it would have been proof of the strength and courage Carlisle had.
Closer to the house I told Rosalie, "Help Emmett use his hacking skills to follow the car via CCTV."
"There's only a few traffic cameras in Port Angeles unless he went to the mall," Emmett informed me.
Grumbling at myself and how blind we were I told everyone else that my priority would be finding where they had gone.
We arrived at the house and everyone went to work.
"Let's get you more blood," Edward told Charlotte, while Alice sat on the couch and Peter joined me.
She grimaced, but agreed.
Stay close, I commanded Edward.
He made a grunting noise, but said nothing.
Edward was returning with a buck when he asked, seemingly talking to Carlisle, who was exiting his car, "What's that about?"
Carlisle froze and spoke. His tone indicated a kind of surprised happiness and relief. "Bella needed her yearly check up, and so she asked for me to do it. I was confused at first, assuming she would be uncomfortable with me until I entered the room. Then, she told me how she had bought a biological tracker meant to be surgically implanted. She requested that I perform the operation and only tell Peter and Charlotte if James outsmarted us. As she had already told you multiple times, she reminded me that she wasn't going to not go if James got to Charlie. Against my recommendation, I did as she requested. She also gave me the company's website address and the codes necessary."
While he had spoken, Charlotte had consumed the blood Edward had brought.
"Won't James smell that on her?" Peter enquired.
"I slid it so it is next to bone. If he asks, she can tell him truthfully that she had surgery there and the doctor had to put in metal to aid her," he explained.
Peter emitted shock.
Charlotte was surprised and in awe stated, "Guess our girl was one step ahead of us."
"Hop to it, then, Carlisle," Peter ordered.
Carlisle didn't respond straight away, like he had forgotten Peter was even there. "Yes, of course," he answered, sounding detached.
Sending him assurance and hope, Peter followed him, leaving Edward, Alice, and Charlotte in the sitting room.
Searching through the maps along with schematics for the lumber mill that Peter had drawn when he had scouted it, I tried to figure out where the tunnel was most likely to lead, keeping in mind the trace materials we had found. I spoke these thoughts out loud for Charlotte's sake. Even if most of my mind was on the job at hand, a small part of me kept thinking about Bella.
Alice wanted a happy outcome for everyone, and I wanted that too, but my experience told me that battles were not won without losses. The part of me that wanted to be Alice's protector and therefore Bella's by default warred with my views of Bella's sacrifice as noble.
A few weeks after Bella had been told of James' plan, she informed Charlotte that if James got Charlie and contacted her for an exchange, she would go. Charlotte argued vehemently against it, and then started begging Bella to stay away. In my view, it was her life to do with as she pleased. Thus, if she wanted to sacrifice her life, who were we to stop her? A willingness to die in order to protect others was the reason I had been found by Maria. Humans were meant to die. Her choosing to die honourably resonated deeply with my values, so I hadn't sided with Charlotte, even when she came to me in desperation. Instead, I told Charlotte that she couldn't ask Bella to not be courageous, and encouraged Charlotte to find a way for Bella to communicate her intentions, even if she was being watched.
Eventually, Charlotte took my advice. Bella got Charlotte's word that she would allow Bella to go, and in exchange Bella agreed to be smart about it and use it as an opportunity to capture James. Not only had Bella walked into the danger, much like her father would have, she did all the things Charlotte and her had set up.
I saw her making herself into a homing beacon as her willingness to make herself into a pawn of James' game as a tactically intelligent sacrificial act. Bella was like Peter, Charlotte, and I in that way. She didn't shy away from the hard stuff. She didn't run to safety. She had instead calmly and knowingly walked towards her possible death, and likely torture, because she believed that her father was worth the effort. Or maybe she wouldn't have been able to live with herself standing on the sidelines. Either way, she was the Chief's daughter, someone who was courageous. It was an admirable quality, especially as easy as it was for her to be killed.
All of the steps put in place had been insufficient to trap James. He had simply out-played us.
The fact that even though Bella trusted Charlotte implicitly, she still had gone to Carlisle and put in place a back up plan caused me to admire her. I hoped not for Alice's sake or Charlotte's sake that she survived, but for my own. Such a person was rare in the world, and I wanted to keep her. But I didn't not allow myself to wish for it, as she was a human already in the enemy's hands.
Evidently the website Carlisle looked up gave Bella's coordinates by longitude and latitude, and by the looks of it they were on the move.
"We wait until they stop or when we're othererwise certain of the location," I suggested.
No one objected.
Carlisle and Peter came and joined me. Carlisle knew a ton about human buildings, including those from the past, while Peter and I used our experiences from the wars to try and think like James. If James was smart, which he seemed to be, the tunnel would be under the earth for at least a few miles, making it difficult for us to pinpoint them. If it hadn't been for Bella's genius, it would have taken us much longer. Maybe this is what James had been doing all these years. We thought he had been collecting intelligence on us and scheming, but it seemed like he had been doing more than that.
It was impressive and made me keenly aware that we were dealing with a far greater enemy than we had first believed. Patient, cunning, resourceful, and updated on human technology was a terrible combination without the decades, if not possibly centuries of experience he might have. It was the ultimate enemy, but every foe had a weakness, and we already knew his: he wanted Alice.
The very fact that he saw Alice as an item he'd lost made him a dead man in my book. Then there was the fact that James' death was the necessary price for the Cullens, Alice particularly, to continue living in peace. Not only had he looked at Alice in a way that did not please me, then there were his emotions regarding her as well as his demands for her. She was not his property. End stop. A man like that deserved to be put down, in my opinion. On this Peter and I completely agreed.
Then, there was the man standing next to me using every part of his knowledge and history to hunt for another vampire. Carlisle over all these years had struck me as a man who wanted peace above all else, but it seemed that even for a peacemaker and diplomat like Carlisle, taking his wife changed things. Carlisle's emotions included regret and some guilt, but he was determined and enraged. He appeared calm outwardly, but underneath he was ready to torch everything and anything that stood between him and Esme.
A part of me had always wondered the kind of person he had been in Voltura. It was hard to imagine meek, mild mannered Carlisle having intellectual conversations with Aro in between his jobs of ruling our kind. Often in my musings, I had wondered if Peter's imagination of Carlisle training as a guard or something had truth in it, especially to stay with them so long. Certainly his story of how he got turned spoke of a man of courage, a fighter, and a man of conviction. I had often wondered if his pacifism came as a result of his years in Volterra. Irrelevant of the truth of my guesses or not, what was clear was that Carlisle would want to go in and face James.
In this way, Bella and Carlisle were of similar character. However, Bella was more expendable. So, if Bella wanted to risk her life for that cause, I wasn't about to stop her, and as soon as possible, I would be entering the fray. Alice wouldn't like to have Bella dead, but Alice had shown over the decades that she understood what it meant to sacrifice what you wanted for the greater good. One human's short life in exchange for ending a vile threat that I craved to extinguish seemed like a more than fair exchange, no matter the piece de resistance Alice seemed to think that she might be. Bella's death along with Charlie's were barely the bottom of the barrel of what I would pay in order to end James' life. The trick would be to convince Carlisle to allow me to fight the battle in his stead, because no matter how trained in the art of combat Carlisle might be, no one was better suited for the kind of bastard that was James than me.
Maria had forged me well.