CHAPTER FOUR

Out of hand

Edward didn't go far into the forest, he wanted everything to be as easy as possible for Emma, he was so obsessed with her safety, to the extent that I felt he would make her hunt a rabbit, and that he would probably kill it first before letting her take an attempt on it. He spent the first few hours of our day screening the area for any possible risks, until he finally settled for a place to camp, a snowy meadow down by the hill.

He was cautious, more skeptical than hopeful when he set up for Emma's first lesson. He made her stand before the wind and asked her to close her eyes,

"Breath in deep Emma, and tell me what you smell," he whispered into her ears trying not to break her concentration.

"I can smell you!" she immediately answered turning her head toward him; I rolled my eyes and huffed. I knew she was going to milk it, I just didn't know she would start that early.

"No, Emma smell further into the wind, concentrate, but don't force yourself," Edward instructed in a gentle voice resting his hands on her shoulders giving her security and support.

"I can't smell anything except the coldness of the wind and lightly I can smell Bella, but that's all. I really can't Edward, why don't you believe me!?" she said in a broken voice immediately discouraged and ready to quit.

"I believe you, but we are here to help you improve that. You just need to focus," Edward confirmed in a calm voice, pleading for her to try again. With her eyes closed, he bolted into the tress like thunder and returned with a rabbit in his hands. He held it straight to her nose, and gestured me to keep quiet. An undeliberate smirk broke on my face, for at least I was not wrong about the rabbit.

"I smell it Edward, I smell it, I really do, it's a rabbit right ... a rabbit?!" she cried excitedly, and her frustrated face lightened with happiness.

Before she opened her eyes, Edward had disposed of the animal; she threw herself in his arms and screamed in celebration.

"Let's do it again," Edward demanded, trying to make use of his fake invigoration, he turned her gently into the wind again, and we all waited, but with no results. He thought his impulsive idea would give her the required nudge to boost her senses, but his plan did not pay off.

"Let's try something else," he suggested, attempting to break the desperation phase. He carried her on his back to the top of the hill, where the view is wide and extended, and asked her to determine how far she could clearly see. Though extremely simple, the outcome was also disappointing her vision was merely human.

I bitterly watched my husband desperately trying all he could to enhance her innate abilities, but with no hope. Her basic senses were not any better than any regular human, if not weaker. Edward frustration was building up because he was counting on her skills, because her strength was obviously compromised. All his attempts were doomed to failure.

Our first day was full of disappointments. Emma strength was draining, and as soon as it was dark, she curled up against Edward's shoulder and fell deep into her regular sleep.

"She is sleeping like a baby," he whispered, gently placing her head on his lap.

I still could not swallow the fact that she sleeps, ever since I became a vampire, my mind is in a state of alert that no level of caffeine could achieve. To me she was trying too hard to cling to her human side, that she deliberately oppresses her vampire desires and abilities, which probably accounts for her weakness. Either that or she is faking it all just to get my husband attention.

"I need to change my strategy, but I have no clue where to start?" he sighed in frustration interrupting my chain of thoughts.

"Do you really believe her?! You believe she actually can't do all these things? There is no doubt in your heart at all that she may be ... faking it."

I knew it wasn't the best time, but I needed to have this conversation with him, I needed to know what is the base of his trust in her, besides the fact that she is "FAMILY".

"I see Jacob has gotten to you," his voice was sarcastic but I could sense the pain behind it.

I leaned closer to him engaging my hand in his and resting my head on his shoulder; he looked deep into my eyes and continued,

"I understand that neither you nor Jacob know her, but you both know me. You should trust my judgment, if you do not trust her at least you should trust me ... You think I would risk my daughter safety for anyone. Any way I don't want us to fight; I had enough disappointment for one day."

I did not argue further because he was right. Trust ... that is all he was asking from me, and that was the least I should give him, but again I failed him, again I was not worthy of his love or trust.

Dawn broke, and Edward was still puzzled with the strategy he should adapt with Emma for her second day, one sniff into the wind and I found the answer.

"Edward, you want a new strategy right?" I baited, excited with the fresh idea evolving in my head.

"What do you have in mind, Bella? The look on your face is scary," Edward wondered intrigued.

"Do you smell that?" I enticed him further.

"The grizzly bear, yes I smell it and I was thinking of moving away from it, not to scare Emma away."

"No, we won't move."

"What exactly are you thinking, Bella?!" Edward inquired, scrutinizing my face trying to figure me out.

"Listen, you want a new way to force her to unleash her abilities, and that is the only way I can think of. You have to let her face the bear alone, you have to force her to face her fears," I suggested.

"No, no it's too risky. If anything goes wrong- and there is a million way it could- she won't bounce back from it, and it would be a setback we can't afford," he declared, reluctant, going through the idea with himself more than discussing it with me.

"Nothing will go wrong; it's a small bear not a mountain lion. Besides we won't be far, if we feel any possible danger, we would be immediately by her side," I added.

"I don't know Bella; this could easily get out of hand."

"To succeed we need to take a little risk Edward, don't you think?"

He was still hesitant when we left Emma-still sleeping-in the path of the wondering bear as an easy prey.

I tried the best I could to allow for enough distance between her, and us to guarantee that Edward will not rush by her side with the first scream for help.

We nested in the tallest tree that allowed a clear view of Emma's spot and impatiently waited. Soon the bear approached slowly and as I expected, it was not big at all.

"See, it is just a cub," I stated securing my grip on his hand, as he was ready to sprint for her protection.

"He is big enough to break her in two," he said skeptical and worried.

"Be patient, give her a chance to take a stand for herself, she may surprise you," I said in a calm voice, containing his distress.

As the bear got closer and closer to Emma, Edward got more and more irritated. It closed in on her, sniffing- like bears always do- she drowsily opened her trusting eyes to the terrifying sight of the bear. At a speed that only vampires could manage, she jolted on her feet, away from the bear and froze in disbelieve.

"Did you see that?" I asserted in self-satisfaction, happy my plan was paying off.

I did not get to enjoy my moment for long; once her shock was gone, she started to panic. She did not defend herself or even attempted to attack the bear, she just screamed, her voice carried all the strength she was suppressing when she called Edward's name.

"I think that is enough, it's obviously not working," Edward uttered, pain and regret reflected on his tone.

"Just give it a second more please; she needs to be sure we won't help her to act on her own. She needs to gather herself and find the source of her power," I urged, struggling to buy us more time for the trick to work.

The bear sensed Emma's fear and advanced in, cornering her against the hill, ready to charge, and the moment we were both waiting for was about to clear up... but she failed.

With its claws fully spread, the bear slapped her hard, cracking an opening on her face. I knew Edward would be going out of his mind beside me, but he was taken away by something else, something far more dangerous than the ongoing attack. He stared for a brief moment into the distant space and then darted in Emma's direction faster than I have ever seen him run. It didn't take me long to figure out what caused his sudden shock, a blow of wind into my nose and I could smell three other bears drawing near to Emma. We should have known better that a baby bear won't be travelling the woods alone, they must be his family. They must have been passing opposite the wind, that is why we didn't catch their scent. Even our superior sense of smell has its own flaws. I sprinted behind him dying to help contain the situation before it gets more out of hand.

He reached Emma's site just as the female bear arrived with her two other cubs. The 8-foot bear moved in on Edward, banging the ground hard with its paws and letting out loud warning huffs. Its fight with him was mostly to protect her cubs, who now joined the attack on Emma.

The three cubs circled defenseless Emma, taking turn attacking her with their claws, paws and teeth. Her screams ringed through the empty, freezing forest like thunder, adding to Edward's strain and rage.

He hastily engaged with the bear in a furious fight, more focused on saving Emma than on the threat in hand. When I reached the site, he was still struggling with the female bear, who was standing on its hind feet now, shoving against Edward with all its weight, and snapping its jaws at him. I tried to interfere but, he signaled me to help Emma, whom I honestly totally forgot was even there, just seeing Edward in danger.

She was already laying on the floor, one bear biting down on her legs, while the other two clamped their jaws on both sides of her neck. She was totally helpless, giving in to the bears, without even screaming anymore, it was hopeless expecting any fight from her.

I tried as much as I can to pry the bears jaws apart, but there was no way to do it without snapping off her head. Edward's full attention was with us, and the female bear capitalized on his distraction, it dug its claws in his chest, and grasped his right arm between its teeth.

We were all losing the fight to bears. They had an advantage on us and we all needed a nudge to turn the table...but how?

I was frozen for a second, a flash back of all the fights we have been through and thought we lost passed me by, from that critical moment last year with the volturi, to the night where James forced his venom into my veins... then it hit me "venom".

I planted my fangs into the little bears' veins, one by one, injecting my venom into their blood stream. The excruciating pain my venom inflicted in them provided me a chance to free Emma from their grip and gave Edward the edge he needed to finish the mother bear.

With his free hand, he forcefully punched the bear in the face, yanking its jaws open, and releasing his other arm. He then grabbed it by its neck, breaking it by one smooth move.

Edward tossed the bear away, just as I was setting fire to burn the bodies of the three cubs to avoid any venom related consequences.

Emma was still crippled in a corner down by the hill, shivering. Edward charged to her side, yelling in my direction,

"Great idea, Bella."

"A good one to compensate for a bad one," I faintly replied.

He smiled at me half-heartedly showing he was still unhappy about all that happened.

"Are you okay?" we both said in the same breath, I meant him, but he meant her.

"I really don't know," she barely answered

Wounds and cracks spread all over her face and body. She was healing but at a slower rate than us. She weakly raised her hand to touch Edward's face and softly asked,

"Are you hurt?"

Before he could answer, I pushed her hand away.

"Don't Emma, just don't. Really, what were you thinking?"

"Bella!" Edward wondered shocked.

"What was I thinking? You put me in a path of a pack of bears, and you are asking me what was I thinking?!" Emma gushed surprisingly not so weak anymore.

Before Edward could jump in to defend her I continued,

"You put all our lives at risk today Emma, just because you couldn't or you wouldn't lift an arm to defend yourself, YOURSELF Emma. Your charade needs to stop here; I won't let you hurt my family."

This time she beat Edward in answering me,

"YOUR FAMILY? YOUR FAMILY?!" she angrily screamed in a high pitched voice, that shook the trees around us and almost quaked the whole forest.

"I was part of that family before you were even born Bella, and I was in the heart of it longer than your whole existence," she furiously babbled, jolting on her feet.

"Bella, where is all this coming from? You really can't blame her for what happened here now," Edward added, frustrated and angry.

Emma was gaining more energy protesting against me, even her wounds were healing faster, her furious eyes were menacing. It was like I evoked an erupting volcano, and found the trigger to all her suppressed power.

"Why you hate me so much Bella, I mean you must know by now that I love Edward, but is that why you hate me? I mean really Bella. Because you don't have to worry, you are MARRIED to him, for god's sake you two share a baby together, how can I be a threat to that? You know what I think Bella, I think that is not the reason you resent me at all. I believe you hate me because I remind you of your human life, because I represent everything you are missing now, the advantage you once had and made Edward fall for you "being human". You hate seeing me cling with all my strength to my humanity while you easily gave it all up on the first chance you had. You hate seeing the other option; you hate not having a justification in me for your smooth and easy transition into the monstrous vampire world. But you see, everyone races to be who he really is, this is your nature and this is mine, and let me tell you something Bella, don't compare yourself to me, because even as a vampire, I am more human than you have ever been."

I did not know I slapped her, except when I heard her jaw bones crack under the palm of my hand.

"Bella!" Edward screamed at me in disbelieve.

She pulled all my triggers, pushed all my buttons, and may be even hit a scar that I didn't even knew I had. Is that it? Is that the reason behind the diffuse feeling of animosity I have for her? She stands for all the things I fought the last three years to give up on, but that is not what is really bothering me, I am more scared of how our contradiction affects Edward, she is striving for his strength, support and protection, all that I am not in titled for any longer. She is taking a part of my Edward, a part that was once solely mine.

Emma darted into the forest in a speed that even Edward can't manage. I looked deep into Edward's eyes trying to find any understanding, but he was totally defeated and obviously disappointed. He jolted after her and I had no other choice but to follow.

A few seconds later, Emma' tormented shrieks pierced our silence; it felt like she was torn apart by another predator. Edward froze in place for a fraction of a second, seemingly hearing some wondering thoughts, he bitterly whispered Jacob's name through his clinched teeth and sprinted in Emma's direction at full speed. I tailed behind him lacking courage to demand an explanation, though I was eaten up by questions, only one thing was clear something major has happened to our poor victimized member of the family AGAIN.

Emma screams get worse, as we got closer, her cries were not cries of help, they were cries of pure agony and deep pain. The whole pack of wolfs was waiting for us, Jacob in the lead. Seth was attending to wounded Emma, whose widened eyes and shivering body reflected the amount of terror she was suffering. Her shaking left hand held her injured right arm close to her chest, while her severed hand laid in front of her.

"You realize she is the only reason preventing me from breaking your neck right now." Edward menacingly addressed Jacob amongst the loud growls of the rest of the wolfs.

"You did this Jacob, how?! And why?! "I asked, trying to comprehend how this could have happened, and also trying to allow for Edward's outrage to slightly calm.

"We were attacking another vampire that we have been tracking for 3 days now, he is very elusive, he goes to extremes to mask his scent, and today we thought we finally got him. I really don't know how it happened, she crossed our way in a lightning speed, and I got confused. She was just at the wrong place, at the wrong time. You must know I won't deliberately hurt her." Jacob alleged, sincerity in his eyes, but that didn't make any impact on Edward.

"Well, that's a bit hard to believe, giving the speech you pitched by our house yesterday Jacob," Edward uttered agitated, through his lethal glares and clenched fist, I knew he was barely restraining himself, and I couldn't really blame him, the gruesome image of Emma severed hand laying on the ground was in the least bit infuriating.

"You know I can't hurt her, even if I wanted to. C'mon Edward, you can see through my thoughts that I am being honest," Jacob asserted.

"Well, there seem to be members of your own pack who believe you did it on purpose," Edward protested eyeing both Seth and Leah.

"You know Seth has a biased opinion, his love for her is blinding his judgment. Leah wishes I did it, just to satisfy her own hostile feelings toward her," Jacob discussed trying to get across to Edward, but devastatingly failing.

"You do know this breaks the treaty right," Edward tone was intimidating as he advanced forward in an offensive stance toward Jacob.

"You think I care about the stupid treaty," Jacob uttered accepting Edward's challenge. I placed myself between them, something I have not done in a long time. For a brief moment I was terrified about how wrong this could go, until I heard a familiar calming voice,

"You should care Jacob, we all should," Carlisle pressed in his usual prevailing firm voice, accompanied by Emmett, Jasper and Alice who moved immediately to Emma's side.

"Glad you are here Carlisle, the whole thing was an honest mistake, let's not take it to extremes," Sam interfered trying to contain the situation.

"Why you are all here? You think I can't handle it," Edward angrily demanded.

" There is nothing to handle son, you know it was a mistake, we shouldn't complicate things more than they already are, besides Emma needs us right now, she needs to be taken care of," Carlisle pleaded trying to reach to Edward's rational side and he was succeeding, until Jacob decided to make an additional statement,

"Nessie is in danger, your precious vampire is dangerous, something fishy is tailored around her. She may have you fooled, but I am not juggled by her pretense. I didn't intentionally hurt her today, but be sure; I will do whatever it takes to protect Nessie."

"Are you threatening me? Who do you think you are? Nessie is MY DAUGHTER. Just because I am allowing your imprint thing, doesn't mean I am bound by it. listen Jacob for the sake of everything we have been through, I will let you walk away now, but if I see as much as your shadow close to either Emma or Nessie, I am not so sure what I would do," Edward lethally threatened held back by Emmet and Jasper, just as Sam restrained Jacob, with pleading eyes I begged for Jacob's patience as we departed amidst the howls and growls of the rest of the wolfs pack.