Helloooo all you beautiful people! Thank you so much for showing up for the next episode of the Devil's Plan! I loved reading your thoughts on the last chapter and hope you enjoy this update. I will be writing the next chapter alongside getting a piece ready for this year's Baby's at the Border compilation. While I'm happy to donate my time and a story to this cause, I'm pissed the hell off that we're having to do it again. If you are inclined to think that taking children away from their parents with no plan to reunite them is not okay, please think about donating to this cause. Last year the fandom raised $18K! I'm going to be donating a continuation of my one shot, Forks Valley HOA.
Much love and appreciation to my awesome team: Sazzledazzled and Edwardsfirstkiss. They are amazing! All mistakes are mine. I tinkered a little.
SM owns Twilight. I own a kick ass water bottle that keeps my water cold for 24hrs. She still wins but at least my water is cold!
The Devil's Plan
Chapter 38
Astarte began chewing on her lip, a very human female characteristic she'd picked up from her time at Forks High School, as she nervously watched Emmett stare blindly at the wall. Once she'd fed Satan, thankfully Esme was out of the house so she only had to deal with the inquisitive Kodi as she rummaged around in the Cullen's kitchen, she'd returned to Emmett's bedroom to find him in his current state.
She didn't know how much time she had before being summoned again, so she kept a wary eye on the boy in the near comatose state and an ear open for Satan's call. Hopefully, Ba'al would be able to entertain him long enough so she could deal with Emmett.
"Em, you need to wake up. We don't have time to waste." Astarte poked his side to no avail. The large boy didn't even flinch. His blank stare caused the usually over confident demi-goddess to worry for his welfare. "Emmett, please say something. We don't have much time." Her plea went unanswered. Her fear over her
With another quick glance at the door, she quickly marched over to where Emmett silently sat and smacked the back of his head.
"What the hell?" Emmett exclaimed, glaring angrily at the visibly relieved Astarte.
"Thank the gods!" Astarte threw her arms around Emmett only to be pushed back.
"Don't fucking touch me!" He yelled, jumping up from the bed. Startled, Astarte stumbled back to fall onto the floor. Stunned, she sat on the floor staring wide eyed at the angry boy.
"Emmett, I don't understand-"
"Are you one too?
"One what?"
"You know exactly what I'm about! Are you a godamm demon?" Sighing, Astarte lowered her head and pulled her legs up to her chest. She'd deluded herself in thinking that he would accept her regardless of what she was. Now, she was worried that she'd been wrong.
"No. I'm something else." She uttered softly, her eyes still on the ground.
"What. Are. You?"
Astarte felt the unfamiliar wetness slide down her cheeks at the sound of Emmett's anger.
"I am-I was a goddess. Now, I'm not sure what I am."
"A goddess? That's just great. My brother is the Devil and I've been fucking a demon-goddess." Emmett threw up his hands and fell heavily into his desk chair, covering his face with his hands. Astarte wiped her eyes and crawled to Emmett. The irony that as a demi-goddess her followers had gotten on their knees for her and now in her lowly state, she was willingly on her knees in front of a mere human, was not lost on her.
"I'm not a demon. I promise. Please, look at me." She pleaded, tugging on his locked arms. "Please, I know I have a lot to explain and I will do that, but I have to know you understand how much you mean to me." With a soft sigh she fell back on to her bent knees in desperation as Emmett continued to ignore her. The realization that Emmett wasn't going to accept her weighed heavily on her heart. Her options at this point were few. She knew that she would return to Hell than live out her days in Earth without the man she loved by her side.
"I understand," She said softly, moving from the floor to stand in front on Emmett. "You will still need to pretend to care for me around him or else we have no hope of defeating him. He must believe that we're still a couple. However, I will do all I can to limit your exposure to me." With one more lingering look at the still silent boy, she began walking towards the door. Just as she'd reached out to turn the doorknob, Emmett's hand alighted on hers, stopping her movement. With a gasp, she turned to find him still facing away.
"Don't go." He said in a controlled voice. Astarte moved back to stand in from of him, their hands now clasped together.
Emmett lifted his face to meet Astarte's wet eyes.
"I do care about you," he uttered in a strained voice. "I will need you to tell me the whole goddamn truth, but that can wait until we get that thing out of my brother."
~~~TDP~~~
Bella sat nervously in front of her silent father. To his credit he'd sat silent as she'd reported her findings. His eyebrows had raised and he'd opened his mouth to speak several times, but after registering the sincerity in his daughter's eyes, he'd only nodded and listened as she continued. Now her unbelievable tale of murder and supernatural interference swirled in his head like a black tornado. Charlie Swan was a practical man. He dealt solely in facts. If he could see it, feel it, or touch it, he accepted whatever was presented. Now his precious daughter, the one thing in this world that he cherished and would unhesitatingly die for, was asking him to set aside that characteristic.
"Dad, please say something." Her brown eyes pleaded with him to believe her.
"Bella … What do you want me to say?"
"That you believe me! That you will work with me to find a way to end all of this." Bella threw her hands up in the air and flounced back into her seat. Charlie took notice of her dramatic motions with a more critical eye. He'd been lucky to not have a typical teenage daughter that dealt in drama and hysterics. He'd heard horror stories from co-workers and friends about dealing with teen daughters, making him even more grateful for his quirky and uncoordinated, non-drama queen child. But after his conversation with Dr. Gartin, he was afraid he could see the dreaded teen-girl behavior begin to leak out of his girl.
"Bella, I don't know what you want me to say. Your story is-"
"It's not a 'story'!" She yelled, slamming her palms down onto the couch cushion. "It's real! Mom and Father Ignatius wrote it all down and you've seen the stuff in the family bible."
"Okay. You found an old journal of your mother's that makes those ridic-claims," he stopped and glanced briefly at Bella, registering the anger building in her eyes. He continued feeling that he had to be honest with her. "and then, against my wishes you pursued and found the journal of a man that is a complete stranger to you, claiming that your mother's family had been murdered on various and nefarious plots put forward by the Devil. Come on, let's look at this rationally." His comment did little to calm Bella's anger.
"I'm not being irrational." She countered in a deadly serious tone that caused her father to do a double take. "I've given you the proof you need. You're just refusing to believe me. Fine! I can see that I'll have to deal with this on my own. Just like mom did!" Bella jumped up from the couch and strode towards the hallway.
"Now, you wait just a minute young lady. I will not have you…" Charlie's voice dropped in surprise as Bella kept walking. Charlie was stunned. Never had Bella walked out on him in a huff. As the determined thuds of her footsteps echoed throughout the house, Charlie sat in his darkening living room completely adrift. Being a single parent isn't easy for anyone. And raising a daughter when you had no real life experience being a girl, well, that was especially challenging. Letting out a long huff of frustration, Charlie rubbed his hands across his weary eyes. He wanted nothing more than to grab a beer and spend the next several hours watching whatever sporting event he could find. Anything but golf. But he knew a mindless respite would be fruitless as he's truly not be able of forgetting that his baby was in her bedroom worried that the Devil, the fucking Devil was after her and had something to do with Renee's disappearance. Charlie leaned back and closed his eyes. He didn't know what to do. All of his training and real-world experience didn't lend any advice for a problem like this. If his mother were still alive, he'd call her and she'd know what to do. She always did. Bella needed someone like that. Charlie had done everything in his power to be everything Bella had needed. But he wasn't the thing she needed the most.
She needed a mom.
"Thank you. I'm really not sure what else to do. She usually seeks out Mrs. Brandon for this sort of thing. But lately she and Alice haven't been as close and, well, I know that she thinks very highly of you and your husband…"
"Don't you worry about it. We think very highly of her as well and I'm more than happy to help in any way I can."
"Thank you, Esme. I really appreciate it. I'm just at a loss as how to help her."
"Charlie, Bella has been a godsend for my boy. I will do anything to repay the favor."
"Okay then. I'll leave you to it."
"You're a good father and she knows you love her."
"Thank you." He breathed into the phone. Charlie didn't realize he'd needed that reassurance until Esme Cullen had uttered it.
"I'll call her now. Good-bye."
Charlie hit the red 'end' button on his phone and for the first time in a very long time, uttered a small prayer.
~~~TDP~~~
"Um, I don't know if now is really a good time, Esme." Bella listened as Esme Cullen pleaded with her to come over and have tea with her the next afternoon. She'd tried to politely refuse the invitation several times but Esme had persisted. She'd even thrown in the fact that her boys never had time to spend with her and that she could really use a little 'girl' time. Her pleads, hit Bella hard. Esme was alone in that big house for most of the day and from what she'd seen, the Cullen males tended to focus on themselves, leaving their mother and wife to fend for herself. The thought of Esme alone had made Bella feel as if she'd been neglecting a lot of her relationships as of late. Even though she'd told Charlie and Carlisle that she and Edward were fine. Bella knew that they were kind of on a rocky path. The fact that pure evil was on her tail, didn't assuage the guilt Bella felt. "Okay. I'll come over. Is there anything I can bring?" She asked with a sigh of resignation.
"Just bring your sweet self. Honey, I'm so excited. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon!" Esme's excitement could almost be felt through the phone and Bella smiled to herself. At least she'd made someone happy.
After a long night of fitful sleep, the morning arrived and refused to go away. Bella dragged herself out of her bed and went about getting ready for school. After her fight with Charlie, she'd stayed in her room and going over what she'd learned and trying to come up with the answers that still eluded her. Why had this predicament befallen her family? What was it about the Cygno and Nero bloodline that had aroused Satan's ire to the point that he was trying to wipe them out of existence and how long did she have before meeting the same fate? Would he wait until she was married with a child to expunge her from existence, leaving her child an orphan? Could she remove the curse by refusing to get married or have children? Bella was trying to push the religious questions to the back of her mind, deciding to approach her problem from a more solid footing.
She'd poured over the family bible and her mother's journal looking for clues and writing everything she could remember from Father Ignatius's journal. No amount of begging had changed Father Accosta's mind about allowing her to leave with the late man's diary.
By noon, she'd only succeeded in giving herself a blazing headache from reading and rereading passages in the bible, silently cursing the small and overly ornate handwriting of her ancestors. With a sigh, Bella trudged to her bathroom and proceeded to get cleaned up for her date with Esme.
Her drive to the Cullen house, was one she'd made many times, but not lately. Bella frowned as she realized that her and Edward's interactions since Christmas had taken place either at school or her house. She realized that she'd missed Esme. She missed the fluff ball that had been Edward's shadow from the moment they'd brought him home. Bella searched her mind for the last time Edward had mentioned Kodi. That's odd she thought, he hasn't mentioned him since Christmas. Bella climbed the stairs and knocked on the front door. Esme opened the door before Bella's hand had finished the motion.
"Bella!" Esme greeted, pulling the girl in for a tight hug. A large orange furry body was trying to wedge itself in between the hugging women.
"Is this Kodi?" Bella asked, pulling away from Esme to kneel down in front of the wiggling animal.
"He's gotten so big. And fluffy." She giggled as Kodi snuggled up to the girl he'd remembered fondly and licked her face.
"Yes, all he does is eat, sleep and grow." At the sound of Esme's voice, Kodi turned away from Bella and wandered back over to stand beside his mom. "Well, that and guard me." Esme patted his head as he gazed adoringly up at her.
Bella got up from the floor and brushed the blondish red hair from her jeans. "Guard you from who?"
"Oh, the mailperson, Fed Ex driver, anyone that crosses our path really-"Esme was interrupted when there was a loud explosion of yelling from upstairs. Both women's heads turned upwards to stare at the second floor of the house where the voices were coming from. Kodi began growling as one voice got louder. "and Edward." Esme sighed.
"Edward, why Edward?"
"I don't know. They were best friends in the beginning and then one night it all changed. Kodi won't have anything to do with Edward anymore." Esme forced a small smile as she shrugged her shoulders. "But let's not worry about that. We have an afternoon tea waiting." Esme forced a small smile as she put an arm around Bella's shoulders, guiding the bewildered girl towards the kitchen.
"I thought we'd set up in the porch." Bella followed Esme into the very room that Edward had confessed his perceived sins to her on that snowy night that now felt as if it were years ago instead of just a couple of months ago.
Bella took a seat on the comfortable couch remembering how she'd consoled Edward that night and promised that nothing he'd told her would change the way she felt about him. To her credit, it hadn't. But she had to admit that his actions since then had caused her a few moments of worry about him and their relationship.
"So, how are things with you?" Esme asked pouring Bella a large cup of heavenly fragrant tea.
"Um, good?" Bella answered automatically, taking a sip the fragrant Earl Grey tea.
"Good?" Esme repeated, handing over a plate of sugar cookies.
"Um, well, things aren't perfect but then no one's life is." Bella quickly shoved a cookie in her mouth hoping Esme would be placated with that answer. "These are really good by the way."
"Thank you, they used to be Edward's favorite." Esme said sadly, momentarily diverted from her cheerful interrogation.
"Used to be?"
Esme sighed, "He doesn't seem to like anything he used to, except you of course." She patted Bella's knee.
It suddenly occurred to Bella that the differences in Edward weren't just visible to her.
"You've noticed it too?" Esme's weary green eyes met Bella's concerned brown orbs.
"Oh, I suppose anyone that's gone through what he has, is due some personality fluctuations. It's, it's just that it seems like a strange time for them to kick in."
"Yeah, I think her death may have been the trigger."
"He told you?" Esme was shocked that he'd divulged that info. She'd try many times to get him to open up regarding Tanya's death, to no avail.
"He didn't seem to upset by it, which is really weird." So, Esme thought, she didn't know about the fight or Edward running of into the night. Her son had been deeply impacted by the news and then when he'd returned from wherever it was he'd gone, his whole demeanor had changed and as much as she'd hoped for him to eventually be in a place to put
"I think the whole thing was so traumatic that we've all tried to move away from it," Esme said with a small smile that didn't reach her eyes. "It's not the ending I would have wished for her, but my son is still living with the consequences of her actions, and I can't say that I wept overly long for her." Esme gasped as she realized what she'd just divulged. "You must think I'm a horrible person."
"Not at all." Bella assured her. "I completely understand those feelings. I felt the same way when Edward told me what had happened."
"Thank you." Esme wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and took a couple of deep breathes as she collected herself. "Whew, now that that's over, why don't you really tell me how things are?" Bella's first instinct was to once again give the non-committal answer, but then the need to unburden herself to someone willing to listen suddenly became all consuming.
To her credit, Esme sat and listened to the distraught girl with an open mind and open heart. She didn't try to explain away Bella's concerns or dispel them out of hand. She listened, nodded her head when appropriate and when Bella confessed that she was afraid she was next in the Devil's scheme, Esme gathered the girl into her arms and rocked her as she cried as only a mother can do.
"There, there sweetheart, we'll figure all this out." Esme crooned to the sobbing girl.
Neither of them noticed the figure observing them from the shadowed doorway. His smile was neither comforting nor kind. Rather it was one that appeared when information had been gained, generally from an unsuspecting source that could leading to an outcome that would only benefit the eavesdropper.
Creeping back upstairs, Satan could barely contain his glee. Finally the Cullen woman had proved herself helpful.
"Ba'al, I have been given the weaponry for which to secure my Swan. Instead of attempting to dissuade her, I will encourage her. Thus driving her right into my arms."
Rut Roh! Nothing good can come of this! LOL!
I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Thank you for reading!
~ruinedbyrob
