Chapter 18
Eliza's pain ended when her mother severed the direct connection between their two minds. When the connection was severed, the pain Eliza was feeling in her arms and leg became a more distant, subtle throbbing. Eliza shuddered realizing her mother must have sustained an injury of some significance
Eliza looked up at Jasper who's support was the only thing preventing her from hitting the ground, and she suddenly pushed him away to stand on her own two feet. "I need you to get a hold of Carlisle right now. We need his help. People are hurt."
Jasper's expression was puzzled, "What? What do you need?"
Eliza shook her head, growling at him, "Get him on the damn phone, tell him to meet me here in three minutes or I swear by all that is holy, that if I have to; I will show up at his hospital and drag him out by his hair through the fucking walls." Noting Jasper's shocked expression, she softened her tone, but only marginally.
"Please. I don't know all the details yet, but there are two wounded and it's very bad. I promise I will answer any question you have. If you have to tell him it's an official request for assistance from the Volturi and we will owe him." Eliza said, her voice turning her request into a plea. She knew her mother well enough and knew that she wouldn't have used her power like that without need. Eliza also knew that she would never have asked for help from any of the Cullens if it wasn't an extreme emergency.
Jasper shook his head, but to Eliza's relief he didn't ask any more questions. He was already pulling out his phone. Eliza waited while it rang twice before she could hear it answered.
"Jasper? Is everything okay?" She heard Carlisle's voice. He was obviously concerned to hear from one of his children during school hours.
"No, I need you to meet me out front of the school right now. There's a major emergency. Don't waste time driving, RUN." Jasper's voice was calm but very grave, in an effort to convey the how serious the situation was.
"Tell him to bring whatever medical tools he may need for any sort of injury. I don't know any specifics yet." Eliza interjected,
Carlisle's voice hesitated only a moment, "I heard that. I'll be there in a few minutes." he said and hung up.
Jasper slid his phone into his pocket and then met Eliza's eyes, "Are you going to tell me what this is about?"
Eliza shook her head "No time now, but I promise when this is over I'll tell you anything you want to know." Eliza headed away from the dumpsters and toward the street. She was trying to control her worry, she knew her mother was hurt, but how badly she didn't know, she wondered who else was hurt. It wasn't until she was waiting in front of the school that Eliza realized she'd been followed by Jasper.
"What are you doing?" Eliza demanded when she saw Jasper standing next to her.
"I'm going with you." Jasper stated shortly, in a tone that suggested nothing that she could say would convince him otherwise.
"We don't need your help." She responded instinctively, her eyes searching for any sign of Carlisle.
"It's pretty obvious you don't know exactly what's going on either, but you were desperate enough to offer a Volturi favor unilaterally in exchange for Carlisle's help. A favor I didn't need to trade or offer you'll notice. But if something's going on, he may need help." Jasper responded stubbornly, making it clear he wasn't going to back down.
Eliza was saved making any response as Carlisle appeared with a speed that would have been invisible to mortal eyes, stopping directly in front of them, "What's the big emergency?" He was looking at the school for any signs of a major accident.
He'd been looking for signs of a catastrophe, then he saw Eliza. After finally seeing her it was easy to see what had his family so worked up. The resemblance between this girl and the Bella he remembered was striking. "Oh you must be El-"
"Time for introductions later," Eliza cut him off. "I don't know all the details yet. But I need you to come with me to my house, we've got two injured, and I'm told it's bad." Without waiting for any response she immediate ran in the direction of her house, pausing only long enough to be sure Carlisle and Jasper were following her, and that she wasn't running fast enough to outdistance them.
She took them on the shortest and simplest route to their house, making no attempt to hide their direction or location. She threw open the front and stormed inside, looking around to see if her mother had somehow beaten them there. Carlisle and Jasper followed her in.
Henry was there reading a newspaper, finishing a bowl of cereal and looked up in surprise. "Eliza? I wasn't ex... What's going on?" He asked noting Eliza's condition, knees and hands covered in dirt, clothes soaking wet, her expression wild and the guests that followed her.
Carlisle frowned at Henry, he'd been expecting some sort of medical emergency. However, it was clear that whatever he thought he might encounter upon entering the house of another coven, a slightly disheveled mortal eating Cocoa Puffs and reading a newspaper was not it. Carlisle turned to look at Eliza with an openly confused expression, only to become more confused when he saw Eliza's expression which moments before had been wild, turn blank. It reminded him of Alice when she was experiencing a vision.
"Mother, how far are you out?" Eliza directed her thought towards Isabella, feeling the subtle numb throbbing in her limbs become an explosion of pain when she connected. Eliza was prepared this time, so she didn't collapse again, though she couldn't stop a slight tremble that ran through her arms and legs.
"We're 3 minutes away. Do you have Carlisle with you?" Isabella's voice answered, though Eliza could tell that she was strained. She could feel the pain that each step caused her mother, but she didn't comment on it, because she could also feel Isabella's focus on her goal rather than on her injuries and she didn't want to distract from that.
"Yes Mother, he's here and so is Jasper." She said, adding the last as an afterthought and a warning to her mother.
"Tell Carlisle to prepare for two shape shifters with massive injuries, both internal and external, with a large amount of breaks and fractures." Isabella answered, completely ignoring the topic of Jasper. Whether it was through true apathy, or a focus on larger concerns at the moment, Eliza didn't know and moreover was concerned with the current crisis.
Eliza's eyes snapped back into focus and as the pain in her extremities faded once again she looked at Carlisle, "There are two Quileutes, both with massive injuries inside and out, with an unknown quantity of breaks and fractures."
Carlisle's head shot up in surprise, but he didn't ask questions, instead he turned his head to look at Jasper. "Jasper, call and get Esme. I'm going to need someone to help me, and she's the only one who's been trained as a nurse."
Jasper was on the phone to Esme as soon as the words left Carlisle's mouth. Esme picked up on the second ring and a few moments later, Jasper was sprinting out the door to meet her and bring her to the house.
Carlisle looked at Eliza and then Henry, "I'm going to need two places to put them, preferably close together."
Henry's face was serious but calm as he turned and pointed at the stairs leading to the second floor, "We've got bedrooms, a couple are right across the hall from one another, that close enough?"
Carlisle nodded "If you don't mind?" he gestured towards the stairs, for Henry to lead the way.
Henry shook his head quickly, "Pick any rooms you want, Whatever works. Eliza's room is probably the only one I wouldn't use. You'll notice it immediately, it's the one decorated with a giant picture of a dragon head on the door."
All heads in the room shot up together as they heard the distant howl of a wolf. It was a howl of urgency and it was returned from equally far away, by a single howl, which was then joined by several more.
Before any of them had time to say anything the screen door at the front of the house seemed to explode inward. Everyone's heads turned and Eliza gasped at the sight, along with anyone else in the room. Her mother stood there, barely recognizable even to Eliza's own eyes. Her black pants and shirt were hanging off of her in tatters, her hair a mess, her entire body drenched and covered in blood. Over each arm she carried the naked forms of two of the Quileutes, their bodies covered in scratches, and gouges, bleeding heavily and one of them was twisted oddly as if his back wasn't in quite the right shape.
"Where?" Isabella demanded, her voice hoarse and harsh with strain.
Carlisle took half a second to recover from his shock at the sight, and his years of medical training took over. Eliza was certain that it was due to the look and shape of the Quileutes and her mother. She didn't think Carlisle recognized Isabella in her current state. Eliza barely recognized her.
"Upstairs in the bedrooms." No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Isabella ran upstairs, Carlisle right on her heels, helping her place first one victim in bed, and then the other just across the hall.
A few moments later Jacob bounded in the door, transforming mid-stride, heedless of his nudity. "Are they going to be okay?" He demanded of everyone and anyone in a loud voice.
"I don't know yet," Carlisle's voice answered from upstairs.
A few moments later another wolf bounded through the door and seeing Jacob, changed on the spot, into Rachel Lahote whom Eliza recognized, she was Paul's mate. She also didn't seem to notice her lack of clothing "Where is he? Is he okay?" She demanded frantically. Jacob caught her before she could dash up the stairs. "We don't know yet, Doctor Cullen is working on them."
Esme ran in a few moments later, Jasper close on her heels, both of them blinking in surprise attwo more people in the room, stark naked. Eliza spoke up, to cut off any questions. "He's upstairs and he needs your help." Esme didn't waste any time rushing upstairs to join Carlisle.
Henry coughed delicately and slipped upstairs, returning a few moments later carrying two pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt and offered them to Rachel and Jacob, "Here, I think these will fit."
Jacob and Rachel blushed, as if only then becoming aware of their state of undress, taking the clothes and tugging them on in a hurry, even as they did, there was the sound of several more people running in, as the rest of the Quileutes pushed themselves through the door.
Eliza was thankful that they had all managed to put clothes on after shifting, before running into the house. She didn't think Henry had enough spare sweats to cover everyone. She noticed Tekali hastened to Jacob's side, looking him over for injuries, Leah came to a stop on the other side of Jacob, her eyes full of fear and anger. The rest of the pack stood there tensely, more than one gave Eliza and Jasper suspicious looks.
"Are they okay? What the hell happened?" A cacophony of loud and very upset voices demanded.
"We don't know yet, Dr. Cullen is working on them now." Jacob replied, holding the side of his ribs gingerly.
"What? You're letting a leech work on them? It's their fault Paul and Seth are hurt!" One of the pack members snarled accusingly, pointing a finger in Eliza's direction.
"No, they're hurt because we were stupid, ignored our instincts and got in over our heads." Jacob countered with a snarl, of his own. The pack member who'd pointed his finger looked suitably chastened by the response and bowed his head slightly in apology.
"That… right. We…stupid …. un'pared." came a guttural rasp from the top of the stairs. Eliza turned her head as her mother moved stiffly down the stairs. The newly arrived pack let out a collective gasp. Isabella's clothes hung in tatters around her frame, barely preserving modesty, much less anything else. Her skin was covered in gouges, in some places it looked like the stone-like skin had been crushed. Her hair was in complete disarray covering half of her face, matted with rain and blood and mud. She was dragging one leg slightly and one shoulder was dropped lower than the other as she stepped slowly down the stairs. She barely appeared to be human, which ironically enough, she wasn't.
Eliza had never seen her mother in such bad condition, the pain she felt in her arms and leg when the two of them had connected earlier made sense now. However, even the shock of seeing her mother like this didn't make Eliza miss Jasper's reaction. She heard him start in surprise at the same time the rest of them had. However it was Jasper's second involuntary, unneeded breath of utter shock that told Eliza that he had seen past the injuries and recognized Isabella. Jasper stood stock still as his mind struggled to confirm what his eyes were showing him.
"'ust…feed.. 'n… get… ready" Isabella said even as she took one step away from the stairs. Without the support of the rail she went toppling forward, only to be caught by Eliza, who beat Jasper there by a whisker. Eliza was doing her best to control her emotions and not panic when a wave of calm washed over her. "I've got you; I'll go out and catch something!"
"No need," Henry said rushing back into the room from the door leading to the basement. Eliza blinked in surprise to see him carrying several medical bags of blood. Eliza shifted her mother over to the couch and laid her head on the arm rest as Henry rushed forward and deposited half a dozen bags right next to her.
Eliza looked up at him an unspoken question on her face.
Henry shrugged "I'm living with two vampires, until the rest of your supply gets here, it never hurts to be prepared for an emergency."
Eliza punctured a hole in one of the bags, and held it up to Isabella's mouth, which she fastened on the bag and began to drink greedily. Eliza noticed out of the corner of her eye again that Jasper had moved to the foot of the couch and was openly staring at her mother. He looked at her as if trying to convince himself he wasn't dreaming. He very much appeared as if he were seeing a ghost.
Jacob spoke up, concerned eyes on Isabella. "She was right. We have to get ready. We ran into another pack, and probably only part of them because none of them were an alpha. The rest could follow us any time and they're probably already on the way."
"No! Safe…" Isabella shook her head firmly and began to protest, then pressed her hand to her throat, where there were several deep gouges. She swallowed several times and then pointed at Eliza. "Your p'er in 'ight… 'splain… safe." A few moments later her mother's voice was clear and very irritated in Eliza's mind. "Explain to them about your cloak, tell them that we're safe."
Eliza nodded slightly in acknowledgment, still crouched next to the couch. She turned her head to look at the pack "She was using my power during your fight. We're not in danger; they can't track us from there to here."
Jacob frowned at that, looking doubtful and confused though Leah spoke up first, her expression puzzled, "Your power? What do you mean?"
"Some vampires have certain unique gifts. One of the things I can do is a.. cloak of sorts. When I use it, everything inside is sealed in. You can see outside it, but anyone looking in sees, hears or smells anything. Nothing you do inside the bubble gets to the outside until you get to the edges." Eliza was trying to keep the explanation of her abilities as simple as possible
Leah frowned as she watched Eliza. She was worried about her brother, and equally as worried about Eliza. She looked like she was on the verge of panicking at the state of her mother. "Yes but you weren't there…"
Eliza nodded, "I know, but we can use our connection. Use one another's abilities. If we're within a few hundred yards of one another it's easy, it's hard if we're doing it over a distance like that. Whatever you were doing when she used my power was completely hidden." She didn't make mention of just how much it hurt and endangered her, and cast a hard glance at Jasper to assure his silence.
Jacob nodded very slowly, comprehension dawning, "That's why she took the extra time to start the fire isn't it, so there were no traces of us having been there in the aftermath…?"
Isabella nodded firmly. She was already on her second bag of blood. Eliza couldn't begin to describe her relief. It was obvious her mother was already looking better.
Eliza looked away from Isabella to look at Jacob, as Leah demanded "So tell us what the hell happened."
Jacob sighed, looking around as all of the eyes in the room focused on him. "We found exactly what we most feared. We went to the warehouse where Bella encountered the other vampires and wolves, only to find a pile of smoking ashes. Someone had burned it to the ground; something we hardly believe was a coincidence. Bella swore the fire she started with the vampires burned itself out before she left. The fire made it really hard to pick up any sort of decent trail."
"So we started scouted the city most of yesterday and into last night. The only thing we noticed is that there was almost no one on the streets after two am or so." Jacob said,
"Is that unusual? I mean… it's two a.m." One of the pack members spoke up. Eliza wasn't sure of his name but he looked like a younger member of the pack.
"That's what I thought." Jacob said, "But Paul pointed out that there was no indigents, no homeless people, and no sort of activity at all. How many big cities can say that about at any hour? Anyway, we waited until morning to venture into the sewers where she'd lost the wolves the other day. Seth was able to pick up a faint trail over the stench of everything else down there. You know how he's got the best sense of smell of any of us. At that point we didn't have any other options, we followed it."
"We walked into tunnels and found some that seemed to have been abandoned by the city for years, and stepped right into a horror show. There were skeletons everywhere, some very old, others more recent. And there were smells of le-vampires and wolves. I couldn't even begin to count the different number of scents. Bella suggested that we'd found the lair and that we should pull back and do some proper reconnaissance, Seth agreed with her. Paul and I overrode them because we could hear faint voices in the tunnels." He shuddered, looking over at Bella, who was finishing a third packet of blood. She didn't say anything, but she met his eyes steadily. Jacob was surprised to find that there was no accusation or recrimination in those scarlet eyes.
Jacob hung his head slightly but continued. "We followed one of the tunnels to a large opening, a room where all these pipes converged. Inside were eleven of our kind, and another six vampires. There were all these bodies there too, and I mean all sorts, men, women… children. We stayed long enough to hear a bit of their conversation. At that point we decided it would be best to fall back. Bella was really keyed in on what they were saying. Something they said got her worked up and I had to physically pull her back to keep her from attacking them on the spot. Unfortunately, we weren't as sneaky as we thought coming in, because a vampire followed us in and attacked us from behind. That drew the attention of the group in the room. Paul, Seth and I shifted, and the four of us attacked. At least they didn't expect that."
"I tried to reach any of you in wolf form to at least tell you what was happening, but I couldn't connect with any of you. None of you must have been shifted." Jacob said, looking around.
Embry frowned, "I've been in wolf form all day, just in case you needed to pass along information or something."
Eliza coughed softly, "That would be my cloak. I have a bit more control over it than she does. When I'm using it, she and I can still speak through our connection. When she uses it, as far as we've been able to tell, it's like a black hole, things may go in but nothing gets out. It works with any form of telepathy we've been able to test thus far."
Jacob sighed, "It was utter chaos, Bella and I were fighting the wolves, Paul and Seth were hitting the vampires. Bella killed five of the wolves before they had a chance to shift. The rest managed to shift though. We had the major advantage of surprise, before a vampire got his arms around Paul, and squeezed him. I've never heard a howl like that before." He cringed as he gave Rachel's hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance and apology.
"Seth pulled the vampire off and tore it's head off, only to be grabbed by another then crushed and twisted. When that happened, Bella sort of went berserk. I've never seen anyone move that fast. I finished the last two wolves that were on me, I turn around to see only dead vampires with Bella snarling like a rabid animal."
"Bella was a mess, but she took thirty extra seconds, gathering the bodies and starting a giant fire. There were enough chemicals soaked into the floor and ground I'm surprised it didn't spontaneously combust on its own. Paul and Seth were in horrible shape, and she insisted on carrying them back here, since she could do it way faster than us getting on our bikes or something. She told me there'd be help here, but didn't say any more."
Jasper listened to the entire story, remaining silent, his attention finally leaving Isabella's form after his senses confirmed irrevocably what his brain told him he was seeing. As Jacob began to relate the story, his focus had shifted to a frown of puzzlement and he finally spoke up. "Vampires working with shifters? That's... not something I've ever heard of before. Much less seen. We're almost always natural enemies. Why would they be working together?"
Jacob shrugged in response; "It was new to all of us too. Isabella was the first to stumble on it a few days ago and we've been on the trail ever since. She said pretty much the same thing you just did. Vampires and werewol- I mean shifters don't work together."
"What do we do now?" Embry spoke up, his voice still laced with anger; though this time it wasn't directed at the vampires in the room.
"Now we wait to hear about Paul and Seth…. then… we'll see." Jacob said loudly, abruptly standing up and pacing the rather crowded living room. Members of the pack backed up to give him space tomove but none of them seemed willing to leave. He looked over at the couch and Eliza. "Will she be okay?"
"I'll be fine." Isabella said before her daughter could respond. She sat up slowly, turning to put her feet on the floor but she made no move to stand up. She didn't open her eyes, but she tilted her head slightly in Henry's direction. "Thank you. You're really good at the whole 'being prepared' thing." He chuckled by way of an answer.
Slowly Isabella stood up, keeping her eyes closed she murmured quietly. "Eliza, my left arm please," She half asked, half commanded. Eliza took a second before she nodded and reached out to grip her mother's left wrist with both hands as it hung at her side.
"One.. two… three!" Eliza counted and then jerked her mother's arm back as her mother jerked forward. Isabella's entire body audibly snapped before Eliza released her mother's wrist, and her mother arched, throwing back her head and snarling at the pain of her dislocated shoulder jerking back into place. She breathed in and out several times before tilting her head to look at Eliza, finally focusing on something.
"I am going to shower, and I am going to change. I've been in a sewer all day." She stated, her icy calm voice a direct contradiction to the emotion of a few moments earlier. She turned to walk up the stairs before stopping, and said,. "Jacob, there's more than one shower. I'm sure your pack agrees that you stink. Whether Seth and Paul come through okay has nothing to do with how long you sit there smelling." She continued upstairs without looking back.
Henry chuckled and murmured to Jacob, "Let me show you to the shower."
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Author's notes-
1) Cliffhangers drive me nuts too. So I couldn't wait too long before posting this chapter.
2) In case it isn't obvious in story. The link between Eliza and Isabella is *always* there. They can always tell what one another is feeling. But when they connect enough to talk, it's a stronger connection so what one another feels gets stronger. When they connect enough to see through one another's eyes it's even more powerful. Etc.
3) Once again, massive praise to DarkBella. She has officially become a co-author on this, because of how much she does. Helping ideas. bouncing things back and forth with me. Providing ideas, and rewriting some of my prose (which can be awkward or... totally not say what I want it too). I accidentally wrote something in this story that said Carlisle split one of the wolves in two, and in a sentence mentioning both Eliza and Jasper that Bella was Jasper's mother. She gently corrected me on that. ("Wow. Bella's been a busy girl.") She is WONDERFUL.
4) I'm not sure if any of you care. But this chapter and the previous chapter are chapters that I wrote, and then deleted and massively re-wrote. They didn't come out the way I wanted originally. In the original chapter, Eliza didn't rush outside. She rushed into the bathroom. Jasper didn't come to check on her. Alice did. (He told Alice about it because he thought it might cause raised eyebrows if he went into the girl's bathroom.)
Alice was the one who contacted Carlisle and went with them to the house. Alice was the one who was stunned when she saw Bella on the stairs. I was setting it up to be their first interaction. The big reveal that Bella was back. and the first step in "Bellice". But... it only half worked. It worked for Alice. The impact on her. I could explore her thoughts and feelings. It *didn't* work on Bella. She had too many other things going on in this scene that I couldn't get her in the form of mind that *fit* a meeting of that magnitude. I wanted their first face to face to give them both a chance for reflection and impact.
(Not sure any of you care to know that. but I thought some of you may appreciate occasionally knowing the ideas that flow and some of the discarded thoughts here. If not. Feel free to tell me and I'll keep them to myself in the future.)
5) I haven't had a chance to respond the the last two chapters of reviews but i will do that tonight and tommorrow. I was too busy getting this chapter out :P i hope there aren't protests!
6) So now one of the Cullens knows that Bella is alive. O_O The rest will soon follow. So interactions aplenty coming up :O
If you're kind enough to review. I'd love to know which interaction you're looking forward to the most! (I'm guessing most will be Bella/Alice. But hopefully there's some interest in the other reactions and interactions as well.)
Lastly... if you've read. Please review. DarkBella and I both look at the reviews and it encourages us going forward.
