They call her Human Torch! Chapter 18
I was furious. I was confused. Of all the things that went through my head when I thought of bringing Kitty to Forks, seeing the Cullen's was not one of them. A part of me thought that maybe one day there was a possibility that I would run into them again but did I want to? No. Fuck no. Alice smiled and came forward a few steps, it took a second in my head for things to click into place and for me to realize that her arms were spreading as she came forward, as if she was going to try and hug me.
I don't fucking think so Bitch!
I glared at all of them as I put my arms up and let them be covered in flames. She jumped back at the same time that Jasper crouched in front of her and hissed at me. Really? Are they getting pissy with me even though they are the ones interrupting my life?! And how had the pack not caught their scents?
"What are you doing here?"
"Bella, we are not going to hurt you, you know us! Why do you have your gift on?"
"No, you won't hurt me. I would never let that happen again."
Carlisle stepped in front of them then and put his hands up in a placating motion.
"Bella, I can imagine that your feelings must have been hurt when we left Forks so suddenly. We are sorry for how it happened but we are not here to hurt you or your friend. Alice lost sight of you months ago but when she lost sight of Forks, we imagined you would be here. We just came to talk Bella, we really need to talk. Privately. We called last year when everything in the trial was going on but the pack leader, Sam, refused to give us contact information for you and we did not think it was prudent to show up in New York without speaking to you first."
Kitty freaked when he said privately, she stepped out from behind me and glared at them in anger and fear.
"No! You can't!"
"Kitty calm down. Go inside."
"Mom please! I can't leave you outnumbered with vampires!"
The Cullen's gasped in shock but I ignored them and turned to Kitty, putting my hands on her shoulders.
"Kitty you promised me that you would listen to me and do as I said if it was for your safety. I need you to stop going against me and go inside now and call Paul. I will not ask again."
Her eyes filled with tears but she nodded and turned, she used her ability and walked right through the garage door, causing the Cullen's to once again gasp. I was not happy that she showed her ability to the them but chose to talk to her about it later. I turned my glare back to them as I spoke.
"Why did you come here? Why would you come just because you thought I was going to be here?"
"We needed to talk to you."
"Yes you already said that. Why?"
"Bella, it's Victoria. We feel she may try to hurt you."
Fury. Pure, unadulterated, anger coursed through me as I chuckled at these dipshits as Tony had called them once.
"You think I don't fucking know that? She has been after me for a while, since you all left actually. What I don't get is: Why the hell are you here? You did not care enough about me when I was a defenseless human! You left me alone. Unprotected. Charlie paid the price for my mistake. You all got tired of me and left and my dad suffered because you did not think I was worth your protection! So yeah, I know she is after revenge. I don't need you here, I am taking care of this on my own. She is mine to kill. I don't need or want any of you in my life."
"It is not that simple Bella. I am sorry about Charlie, I really am. But we have lost too. She attacked while we were hunting..."
He paused, trying to collect himself after his voice cracked and his eyes filled with venom.
"Esme and Rose were alone.. she killed both of them."
I saw Emmett's face crinkle in anguish and Carlisle had his hands clenched.
"I am sorry for your loss."
Jasper stepped forward and the 2 red eyed vampires followed closely behind him.
"Bella, she has a gift of evasion. We detected 5 other scents aside from hers, I think she created newborns to help her defeat us but she found only 2 of us. Aside from Esme and Rosalie, there were 4 other piles of ash, they were no longer useful to her so she killed them. If she finds out where we are she will build an army to come for us."
"I still do not understand. Why did you come warn me?"
"Bella, we are sorry that we listened to Edward. We are sorry that we left you behind with no goodbye, we really believed that giving you a clean break would be good for you, Edward never thought that Victoria would try to avenge James and although it can't excuse what we did, you have to believe that we did not leave just because you were human or because we got tired of you. We love you and never wanted you to get hurt. We came back because we were worried about you. We have seen you on the news a lot and we are proud and impressed with everything you have become and accomplished but we still worried that Victoria would be too much to handle on your own."
"I am not alone, I teamed up with the wolves. We will take care of her."
Jasper seemed to tense up and gained a cold expression on his face.
"Bella, I know more about newborn armies than anyone else. You are stupid to believe that you and a couple of mutts can take down an army. Yes Carlisle is right, we are sorry and we do care for you very much but we have changed with this loss to our family and you have changed with your new gifts and considering that girl called you mom, you have made your own family. In the end you can hate us all you want but you need us to defeat her and we need you. This is Char and Peter, they have fought along side me in newborn wars before, I called them in to stay with us because we need numbers in case of a surprise attack and now we are here to tell you that she will bring you a shit load that you cannot handle on your own. We are willing to tolerate the mutts and work with them as a united front against a common enemy."
"When is she coming?"
Alice spoke up but had a frustrated look on her face.
"I don't know. I can't see her anymore. She must have learned more about us and our gifts or gotten along with a shield."
The red eyed vampire that Jasper called Peter spoke then too.
"There is a man that will help her build her army when the time comes but she has to prove herself to him and give him something, I don't sense anything soon, I don't know why she would wait and hide out but she is. We won't have to worry about her for a few years."
"Great. You see the future too?"
"No! I just know things."
Jasper and the one called Char sighed in exasperation.
"He refuses to admit that he has a gift but he does."
I nodded and thought about it, I feel I could take Victoria down but with an army? That would risk the lives of the wolves too much and I am not sure how big of an army we are talking here, it could be 20 or it could be 100. I would not let them back into my life, I am making a vow to myself here and now that I will never consider them family again. Jasper is right, I don't need to like them but I do need them. I could work along side them and then we would part ways when this was all over. I looked up at him and nodded.
"We do need each other. I will have boundaries set before I agree to work with you. I have no interest in talking about the past and how sorry you might be. I have a family and I do not need to add to it, we will work together when the time comes and I will agree to practice or train along with you and the wolves before the fight but never are any of you allowed to disrupt my personal life, you do not mess with my daughter in any way or form. You have no reason to be near her and no reason to give your say in my life or hers. If that is understood then I can agree to do this."
Jasper and his 2 followers agreed immediately but the rest of them looked sad and disappointed. I honest to god could not find it in me to care, the hurt that they caused was too great and now I felt nothing when it came to them, not even anger. Well, maybe a little anger.
"I will talk to the wolves tomorrow and tell them about this."
They nodded and we stood in silence for a second before Carlisle spoke again.
"Bella why does your daughter know we are vampires?"
"When I adopted her, I had to tell her everything about my life. Even the past that I am ashamed of but I knew she could be in danger one day. I told her about the wolves too."
They nodded again but I could just feel the disappointment coming off of them.
"Alice cannot see you and I cannot feel any emotions coming off you or your daughter. Is that part of your new gifts?"
"Yes. I am still working on controlling it."
"I know you told us we had to stay away from her and I promise I will but could I- could we just meet her? I just don't want her to be afraid of us."
I looked back at Alice and struggled, I did not want Kitty getting near them at all but it would help if she met them, she will have to get use to their presence if I am to fight with them. And I know I want to meet once more before we go back to New York, I want to fight with one of them and see how I do, what I need to work on when it comes to skill without my fire. Letting out a deep breath I nodded and motioned for them to follow me into the house. The living room was pretty small but I fit them all in there and went to look for Kitty. She was in my old room where I told her she could sleep, I found her on the floor hugging her knees with a worried look on her face.
"Kitty? Come on honey, calm down. I am okay."
She jumped up to hug me and asked if they were gone. I took a minute to explain everything that had happened outside and even though she had no interest in getting to know them, she was glad that I would fight Victoria with a bigger number backing me up.
"Mom, you know you could ask the X-Men for help?"
"No, I already had to talk to Charles and I do not want to drag anymore people into this."
"I understand."
I took her hand and led her downstairs, we were both tense but took deep breaths before turning the corner. Jasper's 2 friends stood by the back door and looked on in removed interest. Alice and Carlisle took a step forward and smiled at her warmly while Jasper and Emmett stood awkwardly in the middle. Alice took another step forward and extended her arm to Kitty, I don't know if she meant to hug her or just shake her hand but Kitty took a step back at the same time that I twitched my fingers and they started smoking. Alice paused and Jasper took a step in front of her. I kept my glare in place as I took Kitty hand and introduced them to her.
"Kitty, this is Jasper and Alice. Carlisle, Emmett, and those are Jasper's friends, Peter and Char? I am guessing that is short for Charlotte?"
She nodded and smiled at me and Kitty. Their red eyes were not as unsettling, maybe because they were not being sadistic assholes like James, Victoria, and Laurent.
"Guy's this is my daughter K-"
"Shadowcat. That is my nickname."
I smirked at her response, I knew almost everyone at the school had a cover name that they introduced themselves as to people they did not trust, I didn't know that Kitty had picked up on the habit though, or maybe she just never had a need to use it before now. They smiled at her and greeted her but she remained focused and cordial. She actually looked a bit like Natasha at the moment and it gave me a sense of pride to stand next to her. Jasper sighed once we were stuck in another lapse of silence and took control of the room.
"Bella, may I ask how long you are staying in Forks?"
"Until the 30th."
"I would like if we met up once or twice more, you had a good idea when you talked about training, I would like to see how compatible we are to fight side by side."
"I can agree to that."
"Then how about tomorrow?"
"I am spending the day in the reservation but we can meet in the field 2 miles behind my house at 7pm?"
They nodded and made to move out but stopped when they saw Alice turn to me. They had a concerned look on their face and I guess it it because every time she has made a move so far, I have showed aggression.
"Bella, aren't you going to ask about Edward?"
"No Alice I am not. I could care less where or how he is. You said Rosalie and Esme suffered from Victoria's attack, I am going to assume that since you did not mention Edward then he must be alive. That is all I need to know."
"You are hurt but you don't have to be! He still loves you Bella!"
"Goodbye Alice!"
She didn't take the hint quick enough and so Jasper threw her over his shoulder and dragged her out. I had to lean on the front door once I closed it because today had just been too much, I hoped it was not going to be like this every time I met up with them. Seconds after they left I heard a pounding on the floor coming from the forest. The wolves.
"Shit. Okay, let me go deal with the wolves, you go on to bed, you really need to sleep if you are going to make it out of this town with sanity intact."
She laughed but nodded as I went out the back door. I knew the pack would not be happy but they had to see logic in the plan. Now to only convince them not to attack Jasper's friends.
Friday December 30, 2011
Kitty and I were once again on Tony's jet on the way home after an exhausting couple of day's. The day after running into the Cullen's I hung out with the pack all day and was happy that they took to Kitty very well, Seth even tried flirting with her but she remained unfazed. The elders took interest in meeting her since she knew their tribe secret but of course she wrapped them around her finger too, they made me promise I would bring her to them more often now. They had not taken the news of the Cullens returning well but after a few hours of spewing insults at each other, both sides calmed down enough to get to work. I figured the peace could and would be kept as long as Edward didn't return as well.
I met up with the Cullen's and wolves every night after Kitty went to bed, I was tired and in need of sleep but I also felt much much better about my combat skills. Alice quickly learned to avoid me and Emmett was just too full of grief to get close to anyone, he trained and kept focused but that was all that he did, it was as if his reason to exist was gone but I guess it was, I had to wonder if this is what Victoria looked like as well? Carlisle held it in better but I could see in his eyes that he felt the same. Peter compared him to Marcus who apparently was a Volturi leader along with his 2 brothers Aro and Caius. I got along very well with Peter and Char, we were not exactly friends but we got along, fought very well together, and held a great respect for each other, I respected them both and Jasper after they told me about their time with Maria, I had good enough eyesight now to easily see their scars and even their way of fighting was so different than anything I had ever seen. I fought with the 3 of them and we trained all night, they taught me different tactics and I showed them some moves as well, Jasper and I actually became friends begrudgingly, I hated his wife and I was a threat to her so he was uneasy around me at first but once we started training it was like the 4 of us bonded together, not completely friends but we did feel like a team, I actually got the feeling of being a soldier when I was around them. Jasper ran a tight ship and we understood each other. I did find out through him that Edward was so depressed from losing Esme that he was holed up in a guest room in the Denali house. It pissed me off and I couldn't help but think of him as a pussy, it was a vulgar word that I wouldn't want to say out loud but it described him perfectly. She was Carlisle's mate and he was here trying his best to become a decent fighter to avenge her while he was in hiding. Alice and Carlisle tried one more time to convince me that he loved me and how much the whole family fought with him when he saw me on the news and wanted to come see if I was alright. I vented to Peter about it but he just veered me off the subject by telling me more about the Volturi, he talked about their members and the things they could do, I called in Jasper and Char and asked more about their guard member Demetri, he was a tracker and that held my interest.
"If he is a tracker, all he needs is a scent right? If we manage to find Victoria's scent next time she makes rounds through here then we take it to them, he sniffs it and he can tell us where she is?"
"Well yeah, but Bella, we can't do that. He would never agree to it and if he did it would be in exchange of something, the Volturi are greedy, they will double cross you so fast.. Besides, Peter said she would go into hiding soon, we think she knows something or senses when it's dangerous to come, it might be her gift."
"I know but if we can find her before that, then she won't have an army, we can take her down easily. The Volturi will at least listen if we tell them that she will build an army and that she will threaten exposure. I would not step in there if I were human but now if they try to fight us or force us to stay there then I will just burn the place down. I can go alone actually, their gifts will not work on me but I know they will on you."
"ABSOLUTELY NOT! You are not going alone. If they agree, it would be a good plan, to catch her off guard. We will go with you."
"Jasper, as much as I appreciate it, honestly I would rather go alone than share a plane ride with Alice. I know she goes where you go and vice versa so..."
He had sighed and fought me about it but finally agreed that Peter and Char would look better flanking me and it would give the chance that the Cullen name would be left out of the whole equation just in case things went south. We agreed that Peter and Char would meet me in New York a few days after new years, Kitty was glad about that because their dry humor grew on her, they reminded her of Logan. I made a vow to not let any vampires become family to me, I could easily keep it but I had to admit that Peter and Char could become friends to us if I let them, they would fit in perfectly with us, but I would not let that happen if they came with the Cullen baggage. Kitty was excited that they would stay with us a day or 2 before we left to Italy and another few days when we came back, she was upset that I would not let her go with me but I assured her that I would come back to her, even if I had to burn down the whole damn castle to do so.
Once we landed I held my arm tightly around her middle and took off. I had traded luggage in exchange for backpacks, it was easier and a sure way to not drop something mid air. Kitty laughed the whole time but I made sure not to go too high up so she would not feel out of breath. Once we left our things in our rooms and unpacked we decided to go to the store and buy some last minute things for tomorrow. Every one had plans or simply could not come so tomorrow would just be Kitty, Nat, and I. She did not want to intrude but I did not want her being alone either so I practically begged her to join us.
"Hey mom?"
I beamed once again, still not getting tired of her calling me mom.
"What's up?"
"I was just wondering.. just thinking about Nat and how you didn't want her to be alone so you invited her?"
"Yeah? Did you want it to just be you and I this time?"
"No, no. I am happy that she won't be alone, I was just thinking about Colossus.."
"Ooh who is that?"
"It's not like that, don't look at me like that!"
I thought it might be a crush but I actually believed her because she pulled a face that told me there was nothing romantic there.
"Okay, who is he? A student?"
"Yeah, I've told you about him before, he is the friend I have that doesn't really fit in like I didn't. He is from Russia originally, he was adopted at 4 by another Russian couple and they raised him until he was 14 but then he developed his ability and they were scared of him, it got worse and by 15 they left him at the school. They sign for his trips and send all the money he needs but now he is 17 and he has only talked on the phone with his parents since they dropped him off there. I use to hang out with him whenever there was a group activity, we are the same when it comes to being anti-social I guess."
"That's horrible, poor boy. Why didn't you ever tell me more about him? And why haven't I ever seen him or met him? I go to the school every week and the students came for thanksgiving."
She looked down and I saw a look of guilt cross her face.
"What happened with him baby girl?"
"Nothing really, but that's kinda the problem, we hung out every single day and did our homework together but then when I started talking to you he was happy for me, he almost started crying with me when I told him that you wanted to adopt me but then he got distant, I don't know what happened, we don't really talk anymore but the last couple times we did he seemed irritated every time I brought you up. I just thought he was happy for me and that is not even the problem, I mean it hurts but I hurt more knowing that he is always alone, I enjoy being alone at school but I come home to you and the rest of our family on the weekends. He only talked to me and now he doesn't even have me, h-he must be lonely and I don't know why he pushed me away. Mom he stayed at school alone for thanksgiving and I think it was just so he wouldn't be around me here."
Her shoulders started shaking as a few tears slipped down her cheeks. My own tears welled up, I hurt for her but I also hurt for this boy that I hadn't even met, if he was just like Kitty, and I took her away from him then maybe he resents me? Still he wouldn't avoid her because of me surely?
"I will talk to him on Monday night when I take you back to school okay?"
"No! Really it's fine. I'm sure he will start talking to me again eventually okay?"
"Kitty what if he is going through something that he doesn't feel comfortable talking to you about or if he needs something? Either way I want to meet him, I don't know how I could miss such a big part of your life after so many times that I have gone to the school."
She smiled up at me but I could see the nerves in them too. I felt an immediate reaction to Kitty when I first met her, I could only hope that it would go well with this kid that she is apparently very similar to.
