Bella was forced to pull over a few miles away from Jake's house. Continuing to drive with her hands shaking and vision blurry could be a fatal mistake. Through the trees, she saw a sliver of blue. It was First Beach, one of her favorite spots in La Push. Jake could ban her from his house but he couldn't ban her from the beach. Like it or not, it was public property. She had just as much right to be there as he did.
Bella grabbed a towel and cut through the woods to the beach. Much to her relief, the cloudy sky and cool fall air had deterred any would-be beachgoers. It would be nice not to have an audience should she lose the fight against her emotions.
Bella wandered along the beach until she came to the site of last weekend's bonfire. She sat down on a sun-bleached log and thought about Jake's behavior. Something wasn't adding up/ It wasn't like Jake to fly off the handle, refuse to pick up the phone or tolerate anyone telling him what to do. There was also the matter of his skin. It felt like there was fire flowing through his veins. There was clearly something wrong. What that something was, Bella had no idea. All she knew for sure was that it wasn't mono.
Bella got up and continued walking down the beach. She went to the spot where she'd fought with Jake. She remembered how happiness turned to anger when she refused to move in with him.
"What about me?" Jake said, shaking with anger. "Am I nothing to you?"
"Of course not," Bella exclaimed. "You're one of my best friends!"
The whole situation was her fault. She'd hadn't been treating him like he was one of her best friends. She went weeks without talking to him and even longer without visiting. Over what? One awkward school dance? Jake had every right to be angry over the way he'd been treated. It was her fault he ended up getting involved in Sam's drama. She should have known better than to let Sam take Jake home from the bonfire.
Bella buried her face into her towel. Suddenly, the pain threatening to bring her to her knees became an afterthought. What was that scent? She couldn't quite place it. Wildflowers? Honey? Maybe a touch of lavender? Had Carlisle gotten a new brand of laundry detergent? If so, she could understand why people did stupid things like the Tide Pod Challenge.
Bella wasn't sure how long she'd been standing there sniffing the towel like a lunatic when she remembered. The castle, the rain, Edward shivering. It wasn't detergent she was smelling, it was Edward. Bella tossed the towel away as if it were some vile, rotten thing. Ten seconds later, she went after it. Trying to tell herself she was only putting a barrier between her and the mid-autumn chill in the air, Bella wrapped the towel around her shoulders and laid down in the sand. When did her life become so complicated? Why couldn't she go back to a week ago and call Jake instead of messing with a coffin?
Red eyes. Growling. Snapping. Darkness creeping in. She doesn't know quite what IT is, but she knows it would be a VERY bad thing if IT got any closer.
"Run!" Her father yells.
It's probably too late but she humors him by running anyway. A fallen branch catches her foot. The ground rises up to meet her. IT has her now. Growls. Screaming. Something wet and cold pressing against her neck. Blood. Pain. Something licks her cheek. Something pulls IT off. What, she doesn't know. She belongs to the darkness now.
Bella!" Edward shouted, shaking her shoulders. "Wake up!
"Why?" Bella said, her voice hoarse. "What's going on?"
She looked up at the sky. It was a mixture of dark purple and blue like her legs the day after her first and only karate lesson. She must have fallen asleep comforted by Edward's sweet scent and the sound of waves lapping against the shore.
"We need to leave, now!" Edward exclaimed.
Bella rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Her cheeks felt wet like something really had licked her while she slept. How odd. Blood, screaming, and pain were a normal part of her nightmares. Licking? Not so much. Edward bet not have tried to wake her up with a true love's kiss.
"Okay," Bella said, wiping her face off with the sweetly-smelling towel. "Just give me two seconds and we can leave."
"No!" Edward exclaimed. "We need to leave! Now!"
"Why?" Bella asked. "What's the big hurry?"
It couldn't have been much later than nine. They still had hours left until their midnight weekend curfew time.
Instead of wasting time on explanations, Edward scooped her up and started running towards the gravel parking lot. Under normal circumstances, Bella would have objected to being carried bridal style by some guy she barely knew. On that day, she couldn't resist snuggling into the soft fabric of Edward's shirt. The scent on the towel was definitely his. Had he always smelled that way? If so, how had she not noticed?
"I found her!" Edward shouted. "Let's go!"
Suddenly, Emmett was running beside them grinning like a maniac. "Have no fear, fair maiden! We'll protect you from the foul beasts!"
"What foul beasts?" Bella asked.
"Shape-shifting monsters with razor-sharp teeth and claws!"
Bella glared at Edward. Sweet-smelling or not, she was livid that he'd roped Emmett into his stupid fantasy.
"There are no monsters in the woods," Bella said with a roll of her eyes. "Just bears, bunnies, and the occasional deer."
She'd learned long ago that real monsters lived in big houses and drove fast cars.
Something growled in the woods to their left. It was too dark to see what but Bella knew it was no bunny. It was big and angry.
"I'm not afraid of you!" Edward shouted. "Stay back or else!"
A couple of hours ago Edward wasn't even willing to open his bedroom door for her. What could have possibly changed to make him willing to fight a wild animal on her behalf?
"Come on guys, let's go!" Emmett said, honking the horn of his SUV. "The drive-thru at McDonald's closes in fifteen minutes and I'm starving."
Bella chuckled. Typical Emmett. He'd complain about dinner being late during an alien invasion.
"No!" Edward shouted into the woods. "You can't have her. She's mine!"
"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Bella asked. "What are you yelling at!"
Emmett got out of the car and shoved them into the back seat. "I said, let's go!"
Emmett didn't even bother buckling his seat belt before pulling out of the parking lot at a dizzying speed. "See ya, suckers!"
"So, is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Bella asked.
"Can't you go any faster?" Edward asked Emmett, ignoring Bella. "Those things can be wicked fast when they're hunting!"
Emmett was already going well past the speed limit. There'd be hell to pay if they passed a cop.
"Faster you say?" Emmett said, wiggling his eyebrows. "I thought you'd never ask!"
Emmett went from 80 to 100, shaving a good decade off Bella's life. Why the state of Washington deemed him worthy of a license she'd never know.
"Hey!" Bella shouted as they passed a blur of red. "Stop! we just passed my truck!"
"Leave it," Edward said. "It's not worth your life!"
"That's ridiculous!" Bella exclaimed. "I'm not abandoning my truck! We have to go back!"
"We're not going back!" Edward said. "I'll buy you a new one!"
"Better start saving, Eddie," Emmett said. "It'll cost you a whole $50 to replace that rust bucket!"
"What could possibly be so dangerous that you're willing to buy me a new truck to avoid it?" Bella asked.
Bella didn't want a new truck. She wanted her truck, the one she rode in with her father.
Werewolves, the thing I warned you about!" Edward snapped. "What were you thinking, coming to La Push! You could have been killed!"
Bella couldn't help but laugh. "I was thinking werewolves don't exist and I wanted to visit my friend."
"We saw them in the woods!" Emmett explained. "They exist. They're bigger than grizzly bears!"
Bella rolled her eyes. The guys probably saw a bear and got spooked.
"I have pictures to prove it. I'll show you." Emmett patted his pocket and cursed under his breath. "Damn it! I must have dropped it in the woods!"
Bella sighed. Two phones destroyed in a week, Emmett was going to have a fun time explaining that to Carlisle.
"I saw one crouched over you," Edward said, close to tears. "I thought it...I thought you were…"
Bella resisted the urge to comfort him. He was sixteen, not six. He should have learned long ago that werewolves and vampires only existed in fairytales.
"It was probably just a dog that licked me," Bella said with a shrug. "Nothing to freak out about."
La Push had plenty of "community dogs" that went from house to house living like kings on table scraps and belly rubs.
"It licked you!" Edward exclaimed. "Did it break the skin!"
"No!" Bella said. "Of course not!"
She couldn't imagine any of those playful pups hurting her.
"What do we do now?" Emmett asked Edward who was midway through reciting the Lord's prayer.
"Just keep driving. They won't follow us all the way to Forks."
"Think she'll change?"
"No," Edward said, inspecting a scrape on Bella's leg. "She'll be okay. It doesn't look like she was bitten."
Emmett sighed dramatically. "Darn. I've always wanted a dog."
