A/N: Thanks guys 'Qui Non Videntur' passed 30,000 hits xx Elizabeth's is a real place in New Orleans on Gallier street xx Another couple of place names for my Facebook group xx Alexis
I felt as if that was all too easy, I was ready to leave within twenty minutes of my return to Charlie's house. I just waited for the cab to arrive, told old Dave Harper I was off to see my mother in Florida. It will be all around the town in no time and be the first false trail for Edward to check. I can't go to Atlanta now, that's just too dangerous. So I'll fly to Birmingham Alabama, get the jeep transferred there from Memphis. I know Edward will fly, yes he's a vampire and could run quicker, but he's also arrogant so he'll fly to Atlanta from Canada after he's been to Jacksonville that is. That will gain me a day or so to waste time while I wait for my jeep. So I'll hire a car and drive a ring around Birmingham.
Going to Jasper, Dawson, Valley and Tuscaloosa, then back to Birmingham, I might even stop in each place and wander around. Once the jeep with its high-end air filter arrives a couple of days later, I'll drive to Shreveport and stay the night there. Then on to New Orleans, the last place he'll look, well next to Las Vegas, because he thinks a lady would never venture to either of those vile, degenerate places. I hope that will muddy the trail somewhat for me. Because once he doesn't find me in Atlanta he'll think back and the jeep might ring a bell and he'll find out it went to Memphis and then it will lead him to Birmingham. My false trail should gain me some more time as my scent will be old and hard to follow.
So that's my plan, first I will call the car place in Memphis and make sure that it's a rush job. Then transfer the Atlanta ticket to Birmingham, all in the name Miss Elizabeth Strand. Once there I ditch that and become Ms Isabelle Stringer, known as Sabé, my gran used to call me that. It is close enough, but different enough as well. Oh, my luck is in and the next flight to Birmingham is in one hour. Just enough time to grab a bite to eat here at the airport. By the time he finds me missing I'll be states away, thank god. Edward is so damned predictable, he'll let me stew overnight as he sees it and expects me to call him in the morning. So it will be lunchtime before he looks for me. By then I'll have laid the false trail around Birmingham.
I've arrived in Birmingham and it's a busy place and if I wasn't running from my vampire ex-boyfriend, I'd explore it in more depth. But I'll only be here a day or so and then off to New Orleans. Anyone who asks where I'm going next and a couple of people have, I tell them Memphis and Nashville. I will do as much as possible to send him on as many wild goose chases as I can. I can't help feeling I've dodged a bullet here, Edward has been behaving more like my owner than my boyfriend and I have no doubt it would escalate as time passed. I would be nothing more than a possession to him and when the time can, I think he would feel it was his right to have my blood for himself and maybe that bitch Alice too!
IOOH
Well, it sounds like my kiddo has gone. I just had a feeling everything was not so rosy since they returned. I hope she's picked somewhere safe to go. I don't have any other family, but Renee does in several places. I'm going to make sure not to let Edward anywhere near me; I swear that fool can read minds! I haven't taken time off in years, so I think now's the time. I'll just spend all my time on the Rez, maybe even stay with Billy for a week or so! Hopefully, by then he'll have given up or gone on a wild goose chase. Three locals have mentioned Bells having gone to her mother's so far this morning, I just nod and smile at them. That's the last place she'll be, thank god she takes her brains from me and not Renee!
I fend off the first call from that pompous asshole at lunchtime. I call him Edwin as usual because I know it annoys him and I also know he doesn't know I do it on purpose. He thinks I stupid, jeez he needs to look in the mirror more often. Well, that's me sorted out some time off, now I'll just finish my shift, pick up my gear and head on over to the Rez. Maybe Billy and Harry will go fishing with me tomorrow, local not off the Rez. I'm going to enjoy the boy's discomfort and make this as hard as possible for him. I bet he gets his father to phone me as if that weakling could intimidate me! They don't look much like father and son, but they are two pathetic peas in a pod! I'm so glad my kiddo saw the light before it was too late.
IOOH
Well, I've been here at my Aunt and uncles for three weeks now and no sign of the Cullens at all. Edward's not as smart as he thought he was, obviously! Teresa and Gareth aren't really my aunt and uncle, so much as Renee's second cousins. But for ease, they told me to call them that and I'm fine with it. Getting a job was easy too, they own a restaurant called Elizabeth's and gave me a job as a waitress in the afternoons and at the weekends. Plus in amongst the things Peter Whitlock sent me was falsified school record details, I can finish out my senior year here. He had my real transcripts sent to a school in Mystic Island, New Jersey as another false lead.
Then he had them copied and sent to New Orleans under my new name. So unless Edward became an IT specialist he'll never know. I started school last Monday and I was glad, don't get me wrong I don't love school, but I wanted to do this for real like normal people. The senior high isn't far from here and neither is the library. I really love what I've seen of New Orleans so far. Not so much the touristy parts, but the real city, the history, the buildings and the people. We decided to go with me being suddenly orphaned and being taken in by family. People don't tend to dig if you look like you might break down any second. I've managed to pull off a couple of stilted sobs when folks asked for too much information.
I've started to put a couple of things together in these past three weeks. Different types of vampires and other supernaturals are not just confined to wet overcast places like Washington. I keep getting a strange sensation and sure enough one is close by, but not looking to feed or hoping to cause chaos. Most are just going about their business and they eat! That floored me the first time I served one food and Gareth brought him a drink. They look nothing like the type I know at all. Natural eye colours and normal warm skin so I'm told. But they hiss and growl just the same. My aunt and uncle don't have many rules but insist I never go out during a full moon.
They also tried to give me a bracelet to wear but it burned my wrist over James's bitemark. That led to an in-depth discussion on types of vampires and werewolves! Jeez, no matter where I go, no that's not true I never met any in Phoenix that I knew of. Anyway, I now know the pack are shapeshifters, not werewolves. I also know the vampires I knew are not the first at all, more like they are a failed experiment. Oh, yeah! Witches are real too and they are very concentrated here in New Orleans and yes Voodoo's real too. So I've come to a very dangerous place, but I've never felt so free at the same time. All of this I took in my usual fashion and just accepted this is my new reality now.
Anyway, it turns out Gareth keeps a stock of blood on hand for one specific family, although none have been around for years. It was part of the sale of Elizabeth's to my aunt and uncle. They swore an oath and signed a document in blood to always serve the Mikaelson's if they ever returned to New Orleans. I smiled and nodded telling them I had a strange dream one-night last week, so that day might not be that far away. I now knew those dreams in Forks had been warnings and portents that I ignored. But now what with the feeling vampires are nearby and another dream just before finding out a family secret, I'm paying attention. This all happened the second week and it's been all quiet so far.
Although I think there is more to that thing that blocked Edward and Alice's gifts. I'll have to give it some serious thought, to work out what it is. It's a type of barrier I suppose, that blocks unwanted intrusions, I know this because it never blocked Jasper's gift ever.
IOOH
I cannot believe Bella got away from Edward so easily, no that's a lie I can. Edward is rather prone to excesses and his behaviour towards her was heavy-handed and not in the least subtle. He although highly intelligent, doesn't often think before he acts. So after his fiasco in Italy, which he refuses to speak about, it was obvious things between them were not good. No, they were over as a couple, but neither he nor Alice would accept that. Esme and I did what we always do and pretended it wasn't happening, but I saw and felt Bella's censure and disgust towards us. We were to blame for all of her ills and yet we pretended it hadn't happened and lost any respect she had for us in doing so.
The rumours are starting to circulate around town that Bella is not at her mother's but hiding from Edward because he mistreated her physically. He's not helping his case by snapping at everyone and demanding they tell him where she is. I actually think he's getting serious withdrawal symptoms, her scent is fading from everywhere and he is becoming erratic, so it was just her blood he wanted. Anything that could go wrong has gone wrong! Rose and Emmett refuse to return while Edward's there, they no longer dislike him, they despise him. Alice was taken away by Jasper because she would never have gone otherwise. But they are mates and he laid down the law for the first time.
That proves whatever she and Edward were doing was seriously wrong. I had gotten several dirty looks at works and people were refusing to be treated by me now. We will have to leave soon and this will not be the first time it's Edward's behaviour that has brought us to this. I was a little surprised to see Esme smirk behind Edward's back when he told me, Bella had run away and he didn't understand why! Then it clicked he was telling me alone, he really didn't see Esme as important. Yes, she was his mother, someone he expected to cater for all his needs, but not someone he need discuss his business with! I never paid that much attention to their interactions before and now I was horrified and appalled by his attitude.
This was how he treated Bella and yes all the women in our family. Edward had never changed with the ages like the rest of us; he was entrenched in the era of his birth and short life. The worst thing was the call to Chief Swan that Edward demanded I make. It was a disaster from start to finish and he basically told us to leave Forks and never return.
"Ah, Dr Cullen, I've been expecting your call, I knew he was pathetic enough to set his daddy on me!" I gasped at that, were we that predictable?
"Well, I'll tell you what I told that pompous ass of a son of yours! I don't know where she is thank God! If I did know, I would never tell him" he grunted angrily,
"But...," I try to say something but he cuts me off,
"Why the hell do you think I'm on the reservation? Because it's the one place you people can't go! Do yourself a favour Doctor and leave Forks, you're about to be fired anyway!" barks at me and I freeze,
"What? Why?" I can't get any more words out,
"Nobody wants you here, we were all happier when you were gone before! Oh, and if that boy harasses another townsperson I'll arrest him! This is a warning, get out of my town or your lives will be made beyond miserable!
I sense malpractice suits in your future, Dr Cullen! Possible FBI investigations into your lack of previous records and lots of media coverage!" he said before slamming the phone down on me,
I will admit I was terrified and told Esme to pack everything we were leaving and would never be returning to Washington ever again. The house was up for sale by the end of the day and a fleet of removal trucks and drivers would be here the next morning. I had never been run out of town before and no matter how I looked at it this was Edward's fault. Hell, we were the only ones left here so who else was there to blame, but Edward was managing, because God forbid he take responsibility for his actions. Esme's sigh from the kitchen tore at my heart, but her whispered words floored me.
"What else will you let that boy take from me before you say enough is enough, Carlisle?"
IOOH
It often pulses this barrier thing of mine and I've felt it completely around me once. But not in the presence of vampires, so it's either werewolves or witches that set it off! I think it might be witches; my aunt and I were at the market when it happened. I felt like I was being watched when it pulsed and then a definite probing feeling brought it around both me and my aunt. She never noticed, but I did hear her mutter,
"Bloody witches are everywhere!"
New Orleans is not the safe harbour I thought it was, but I love it all the same. Maybe it because it's bright and colourful, full of life and adventure. Okay, maybe just compared to my quiet life Forks and even Phoenix. I was never exactly the life and soul of any party anywhere. Renee always managed to find fun well wherever she went. Maybe I should break out and get a tattoo or a piercing, something not me. Maybe not, but I might start with a change of hairstyle first. A change of my style of clothes too, yes start slow Bella! Hell, I don't want to chase myself back into my shell do I? Okay, I'll make an appointment tomorrow and do a little thrifting I think. I've seen loads of stores, some vintage ones as well.
I asked Aunt Teresa for an afternoon off to shop and supplement my meagre wardrobe. She smiled and waved me off that very day. I was having a great time and hardly saw anyone strange, but I did get a tingle or two so must have passed a couple of witches. It really was a strange phenomenon; I'd never have known it reacted to witches specifically if I hadn't come here! I stopped for a snack during my shopping trip and that's when it happened a witch approached me. She was chanting and tried to throw something at me, some powder. I knew my barrier was out and when I held up my hand to ward off whatever she threw. I was shocked when I appeared to throw her, into the river actually.
I glance around and luckily nobody seemed to see it happen or they were used to strange happenings around them and ignored it. I decided to return to Elizabeth's where I always felt the safest. That was definitely a personal attack on me, not random but personal! But why? Do the witches know something about me I don't? Well, it would be polite to actually try to talk to me, rather than hex me! My aunt and uncle are perplexed; they can't make head nor tail of a reason why I was being targeted. But it is never here at home, well Elizabeth's. So they wondered if there was some sort of protection on the building. Some type of a ward, stopping them from getting at me here.
IOOH
I do not understand this at all! How could she, a human, a human female at that, escape me so easily? I've been to her mother's in Jacksonville and that was a dead end. I flew to Canada to interrogate Emmett and Rose and they were both extremely rude and exceedingly nasty to me. I will have to get Carlisle to speak to them about their attitude towards me! I did get some hint of what they knew which wasn't much, it's almost as if Isabella planned it that way. But that's not possible, she isn't that clever! I was now in Atlanta and this too is a dead-end, she never came here at all. But luck is on my side and I have a hit on her school records. They have been transferred to a high school in New Jersey, I've got you now Isabella.
I can't believe this! She never turned up to start school here, they haven't even instigated a search for her either, bloody useless humans. Where are you? How could you evade me? Me Edward Cullen, your better, your superior in every way! Damn it, I need to return home, her oaf of a father has had us run out of town and he's ruined my good name in Forks! I should just kill the old fool. But Carlisle says he's on the reservation, the one place I can't go. I thought at first they might be hiding her, but no, they don't know where she is. Unfortunately, they all know she left me and are thrilled about it and even had the audacity to laugh in my face about it. I will be punishing her severely when I get her back!
First I have to work out where she went and why? What made her suddenly leave me? Obviously, nothing I did personally, she wouldn't have understood the thrall thing or dazzling as she used to call it before I left! So, who spooked her, Jasper or Jacob Black maybe? I don't understand it at all; I'm the perfect man for her, the perfect gentleman! What woman wouldn't want all the things I can give her and not be plagued by unnecessary sexual attention at the same time? Maybe I have this all wrong, maybe her father sent her away. He certainly doesn't like me, with all the lies he's spreading about my family. If it had been about Emmett or Jasper I would understand, but me, how ridiculous!
IOOH
The main door of Elizabeth's opens as if in slow motion and a man, most definitely a man, no mistaking him for a boy, walks in. Hot damn, he's the sexiest thing I've ever seen! I watch out the corner of my eye as he disappears through the back of the restaurant. I sigh as he leaves, only to see him reappear a few, maybe just two minutes later. I can't help but ogle as he straightens his cuffs, his tie and the pocket square in his jacket. Then I see it, one single drop of blood at the corner of his mouth! What is it with me and vampires? He's nothing like them though; he's more human-looking than them, more real. He glances around and catches me staring, I blush, of course, I do.
Then I tap the corner of my mouth in the corresponding spot and his tongue darts out and catches it. His finger follows to make sure it's all gone and he then sucks it slowly, into his mouth. Holy fuck! That was hot and I see a gleam in his eye letting me know, he knows it turned me on. Damn, if he's like the other type of vampire, I bet he smells how much I liked it! I thought being tucked away here on Gallier Street, would be a safe place for me. I should have known better, I'm a danger magnet. If I hide from it, the danger will just come looking for me! But here in New Orleans, the danger seems to be of a much more mature type and with way more class. Well if I'm gonna die, I could think of worse ways to go!
He's everything Edward wasn't, he's all man, he's beyond any definition of sexy and I know without a doubt he's absolutely dangerous! But not I sense to me,
"Hello, I thought I knew everyone who worked for the new owners, Gareth and Teresa. You, I would have remembered! I'm Elijah Mikaelson and you are?" his smooth voice asked, my knees were trying to do their impression of rubber, Omg he's a Mikaelson!
"Sabé, well it's Isabelle Stringer really, but my aunt and uncle call me Sabé" I ramble breathlessly, remembering to use my fake name,
"Well, Isabelle! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance and we will most assuredly be meeting again, very soon. I have a meeting with your uncle tomorrow, I will see you then" he replies taking my hand and kissing my knuckles lightly.
My brain was trying to wrap itself around the way my name sounded, almost as if from deep inside his chest. The way my skin burns deliciously from the touch of his lips. I didn't even see him leave; his voice was pure heaven or was that hell? No, I think, not again Bella and I slapped my own cheek hard, but it didn't seem to help much. I need a mantra, aha I know!
'No Vampires, No Werewolves, No Witches!'
But as many times as I repeated it his face floats into my view and my knuckles tingle still, where he'd kissed them. This is not good; I don't understand why I seem to attract vampires more than other people do! I am still standing there when my phone beeps in my pocket,
'Go with your heart little bird, look past the obvious and see the man! PW'
IOOH
Damn it all to hell and back! Not another human woman, no she's a girl! They, I am sure will be the death of me. I can feel my lips tingling from when I kissed the back of her hand. This feels different, this is very different! This was not like Tatia, a blind first love; this was not a warped, twisted by lies, love like Katerina's either. This was a new and slightly overwhelming, but strong new love, dare I say it could be real love? I am confused, is this what drew me back to New Orleans? I need to think, I need a drink! Where to go, Marcel lives in the house for the moment, so not the compound. Not too close to Isabelle either, I don't want to put her in harm's way. But I fear it is inevitable for her, because of who I am!
I could, of course, stay away from her! I laugh bitterly at that thought, when did I ever stay away from whatever I wanted? Ah, Rebekah's pied-à-terre* that will have to be the place for me at the moment. I'm not sure if Klaus knew of its existence? Probably not, he would have taken it away from her as well; he took his over-protectiveness to a whole new level. I was aware and that was enough, she deserves happiness too, we all do! Damn it need airing out badly, it reeks of Marcel, that too, I was aware of, before our escape from here. So many mistakes, so many lost opportunities, well, no point in dwelling on that which cannot be undone!
IOOH
That's it, that's the last time. I'm done playing second fiddle to an adolescent boy! Eighty-three years I've allowed Carlisle to put him ahead of me. I should be his main concern, but sadly I am not! So I'm leaving Forks alright, but I'm going to Canada to be with Rose and Emmett. Carlisle can stay and wait for that boy, who has finally managed to sully our good name here in Forks. If he wants to join us he'll have to choose, Edward or me! He can no longer have both; I will not have that idiot in my family anymore!
"Carlisle? I'm going ahead to Canada, but you have a choice to make! It's easy, him or me? Use the time until he arrives wisely, I'll be with Rose and Emmett. Under no circumstances are you to bring that fool with you, as I said it's him or it's me! Goodbye Carlisle" I say leaving the house and getting into my own car for once,
I can see him standing stunned in my rear-view mirror. Why I don't know, is he that blind? Did he not think this day would come, because Edward made sure it did! He smirked at me so many times when I was pushed aside by Carlisle to accommodate him. But the arrogant fool never thought this worm would turn, he was wrong! Well, he can't have it his way, not this time. He either gets Carlisle alone without the benefits of a coven or he gets nothing! The choice is Carlisle's alone, but I refuse to back down and I know Rose and Emmett will agree with me on this. Yes, it's been a long time coming, time for that child to be put in his place at the bottom of the pile!
*pied-à-terre - a small living unit, e.g., apartment or condominium, usually located in a large city some distance away from an individual's primary residence
