Five
Alice led her deep into the woods.
The rain had become a steady drizzle and there was a moon-tinted mist rising up from the forest floor. Bella could feel her skin crawl with anxiety.
"Just up ahead," Alice called.
Hunting with Alice was less about hunting and more about following. There had been many times when she and Alice had hunted together where Bella had caught a scent only to be warned by Alice that she was eventually loose it.
Passing the clearing, Bella could finally smell their pray. An aged buck grazed, obliviously in the moonlight. Alice stalked to the left, while Bella flanked him on the right. Their communication was in quick facial expressions. They had hunted together for years and knew each other's tells.
Alice moved first. Summersaulting into the stag's view. The animal startled for less than half a second before Bella pounced. Her feet catapulting her up until she landed astride the beast. Her arms encircled him and her fangs sank deep into the bulging vein in its throat.
The blood was an epiphany, sharp, and salty. It had such a strong weight to it that it made Bella's body feel more tethered to the earth. She drank her fill, gulping the blood down greedily. She felt intoxicated from it. In her delirium she felt Alice approach. Felt her kneel down and take one of the buck's thighs into her hand to find the next largest vein before she too began to suck.
When Bella fell back, breathless and dazed, against the soggy ferns and moss of the forest she tried to gather her thoughts. She was still hungry and her throat still ached. Even though she was desperate to get back to Edward and Nessie, she knew she had to continue to feed, before she was strong enough to return.
Alice was in a similar situation. "The rain here always reminds me of Paris.," her voice was casual, offhanded, but it pulled Bella out of her racing thoughts and into the present.
"Paris?"
"Yep." She pulled her fingers around her lips, cleaning away the blood. "I lived in Paris during the war."
"The war? Which war?"
"WWII, in 1942."
Bella raised an eyebrow. "Jasper?"
"It was before I met him," Alice countered. She helped Bella woozily get to her feet.
"What were you doing in Paris?"
"Well," Alice began as they started to move through the forest, looking for their next kill. "I had seen Jasper, and Edward, and Carlisle and Esme but I knew I wouldn't meet them for many years yet. I was drifting for years and I was just starting to experiment with feeding only from animals and I ended up in France. I wanted to help during the war effort."
"Oh yeah?"
Alice nodded in the affirmative. "I went by Marie-Alais Baillairgé back then and I worked with the French Resistance."
"You're kidding?" Bella was genuinely surprised; she never knew this about Alice.
"It's true. What better spy than one who couldn't di—oh look." She gestured through the tree line and Bella could see the outline of a big cat stalking through the dark.
"She's hunting us," Bella noted.
Alice smirked. "She is."
After they had finished another feeding Bella asked, "Why did you leave France?"
Smiling, Alice said, "I could feel Jasper getting closer to me—it would be years yet, honestly—but he was getting closer. Every day closer. I knew I would find him in America, so I went back. Even back then, before I even met him, I knew I didn't want to miss him. Not even for a day."
Bella smiled, feeling her own tug to return back to the cottage. "Tell me what you've seen?"
Alice sighed. "It's not like that. The visions—they're not linier. It's not a domino effect where one thing brings on another. I can see Nessie waking up in the morning just fine, but I can also see her…"
"What?" Bella pressed.
Alice looked down, not wanting to see Bella. "I can see her dying in three days..."
Bella growled.
"…But I can also see Edward investing stock in a company that will one day make electric cars."
Bella felt her teeth clench. "…Electric cars?"
"Yes. The specific technology hasn't been invented yet, but someday Ness is going to be very concerned about the environment and Edward wants to support her. Also, it's better for the planet. Climate change is going to be more and more important moving forward into the future."
"So, you see," Alice went on. "I can see a million possible outcomes. Everything changes with every heartbeat. There are days when I can see Jasper and I together for centuries, and then there are other days when I can only see us together for a few more hours."
"But how do we fix this? How can I make her better?"
"I think, in this respect, it's about decision and research. Something needs to happen to cause a decision. Once that decision is made another decision will change it." Alice reached out for Bella. "I'm still looking. I'm always watching."
Bella held onto her friend. Her dearest sister. "I know, Alice. I know."
"We should go back. It'll be dawn soon."