TODAY'S QUOTE:
Patience is what you have when there are too many witnesses.
Chapter Eleven:
They emerged one by one from the forest edge, ranging a dozen meters apart. The first male into the clearing fell back immediately, allowing the another male to take the front, orienting himself around the tall, dark-haired man in a manner that clearly displayed who led the pack.
The third was a woman; from this distance, all I could see of her was that her hair was a startling shade of red.
"I thought you said there were three," I hissed to Alice, who bristled.
"There were!" she defended. "I can't see him!"
The fourth hung to the back, whether as a lack of importance, or because of fear, or even something else, I did not know. He had tousled brown hair, and looked like he was nearly as well built as Emmett was. He stiffened for a moment when he saw the group, and I heard Edward, Jasper and Esme collectively gasp, before he continued moving with the group.
They closed ranks before they continued cautiously toward Edward's family, exhibiting the natural respect of a troop of predators as it encounters a larger, unfamiliar group of its own kind. As they approached, I could see how different they were from the Cullens.
Their walk was catlike, a gait that seemed constantly on the edge of shifting into a crouch. They dressed in the ordinary gear of backpackers: jeans and casual button-down shirts in heavy, weatherproof fabrics. The clothes were frayed, though, with wear, and they were barefoot. The woman's brilliant orange hair was filled with leaves and debris from the woods.
Their sharp eyes carefully took in the more polished, urbane stance of Carlisle, who, flanked by Emmett and Jasper, stepped guardedly forward to meet them. Without any seeming communication between them, they each straightened into a more casual, erect bearing.
The man in front was easily the most beautiful, his skin olive-toned beneath the typical pallor, his hair a glossy black. He was of a medium build, hard-muscled, of course, but nothing next to Emmett's brawn. He smiled an easy smile, exposing a flash of gleaming white teeth.
The woman was wilder, her eyes shifting restlessly between the men facing her, and the loose grouping around me, her chaotic hair quivering in the slight breeze. Her posture was distinctly feline.
The second male hovered unobtrusively behind them, slighter than the leader, his light brown hair and regular features both nondescript. His eyes, though completely still, somehow seemed the most vigilant. Their eyes were different, too. Not the gold or black I had come to expect, but a deep burgundy color that was disturbing and sinister.
The brown haired one sniffed the air curiously, winking at the group.
The darker man, still smiling, stepped toward Carlisle. "We thought we heard a game," he said in a relaxed voice with the slightest of French accents. "I'm Laurent, these are Victoria and James." He gestured to the vampires beside him. "And this is William."
"I'm Carlisle. This is my family, Emmett, Morgana and Jasper, Rosalie, Esme and Alice, Edward and Bella." He pointed us out in groups, deliberately not calling attention to individuals. I made a point of deliberately cleaning my fingernails, trying to play it cool.
"Do you have room for a few more players?" Laurent asked sociably.
Carlisle matched Laurent's friendly tone. "Actually, we were just finishing up. But we'd certainly be interested another time. Are you planning to stay in the area for long?"
"We're headed north, in fact, but we were curious to see who was in the neighborhood. We haven't run into any company in a long time."
"No, this region is usually empty except for us and the occasional visitor, like yourselves."
The tense atmosphere had slowly subsided into a casual conversation; I guessed that Jasper was using his peculiar gift to control the situation. I could somewhat feel it, though he knew better than to waste time trying to overwhelm me.
"What's your hunting range?" Laurent casually inquired. Carlisle ignored the assumption behind the inquiry.
"The Olympic Range here, up and down the Coast Ranges on occasion. We keep a permanent residence nearby. There's another permanent settlement like ours up near Denali."
"Permanent?" asked William, his voice layered with shock and disbelief. I tried not to look at his glaringly red eyes. "How do you manage that?"
"Why don't you come back to our home with us and we can talk comfortably?" Carlisle invited. "It's a rather long story."
James and Victoria exchanged a surprised look at the mention of the word "home," but Laurent and William both controlled their expression better.
"That sounds very interesting, and welcome." William smiled charmingly. "We've been on the hunt all the way down from Ontario, and we haven't had the chance to clean up in a while."
"Please don't take offense, but we'd appreciate it if you'd refrain from hunting in this immediate area. We have to stay inconspicuous, you understand," Carlisle explained.
"Of course." Laurent nodded. "We certainly won't encroach on your territory. We just ate outside of Seattle, anyway," he laughed. I scowled at him. "Easy, kitty," he said directly to me. "We'll leave you your game."
I resisted the urge to snarl. "Sorry," Carlisle said politely, trying to diffuse some tension. "She's very, er, territorial."
I rolled my eyes. Territorial? Um, no. How about I just didn't feel like having half the town sucked dry?
"We'll show you the way if you'd like to run with us — Emmett and Alice, you can go with Edward and Bella to get the Jeep," he casually added. "Morgana too."
Three things seemed to happen simultaneously while Carlisle was speaking. Bella's hair ruffled with the light breeze, Edward stiffened, and the second male, James, suddenly whipped his head around, scrutinizing her, his nostrils flaring. A swift rigidity fell on all of them as James lurched one step forward into a crouch.
"Back off," I said through gritted teeth. "We had an agreement. You leave us our prey, and we let you pass through."
He paid me no attention, which I guess was good because my heart was thumping and I worried he'd realise I too was not vampire.
"What's this?" Laurent exclaimed in open surprise. Neither James nor Edward relaxed their aggressive poses. James feinted slightly to the side, and Edward shifted in response.
"She's with us." Carlisle's firm rebuff was directed toward James. Laurent seemed to find Bella's scent less powerful than James, but awareness now dawned on his face.
"You brought a snack?" he asked, his expression incredulous as he took an involuntary step forward.
"I told you," I said, ignoring the looks Rosalie gave me, "to back off."
"We said she's with us," Carlisle corrected in a hard voice.
"But she's human," Laurent protested. The words were not at all aggressive, merely astounded.
"Yes."
James slowly straightened out of his crouch, but his eyes never left me, his nostrils still wide. Edward stayed tensed like a lion in front of Bella.
When Laurent spoke, his tone was soothing — trying to defuse the sudden hostility. "It appears we have a lot to learn about each other."
"Indeed." Carlisle's voice was still cool.
"But we'd like to accept your invitation." His eyes flicked toward Bella and back to Carlisle. "And, of course, we will not harm the human girl. We won't hunt in your range, as I said."
"Wait!" Victoria said in a high voice, pointing at me. "She's human too."
The four sniffed the air, and I noticed William take a step forward. "We agreed we would harm any humans," he said pleasantly to his coven.
James glanced in disbelief and aggravation at Laurent and exchanged another brief look with Victoria, whose eyes still flickered edgily from face to face.
"Fine," Victoria snapped.
Carlisle measured Laurent's open expression for a moment before he spoke. "We'll show you the way. Jasper, Rosalie, Esme?" he called. They gathered together, blocking us from view as they converged. Alice was instantly at my side, and Emmett fell back slowly, his eyes locked on James as he backed toward us.
Emmett grabbed my wrist and pulled me onto his back, before we started speeding through the woods. I couldn't hear if the main group had left yet.
We reached the Jeep in an impossibly short time, and Edward almost flung Bella in the backseat.
"Strap her in," he ordered Emmett, who slid set me in the middle before leaning over me and doing her belts up because apparently she couldn't do them herself.
Alice was already in the front seat, and Edward was starting the engine. It roared to life and we swerved backward, spinning around to face the winding road. Edward was growling something too fast for me to understand, but it sounded a lot like a string of profanities.
Emmett and Alice both glared out the side windows. So did I. We hit the main road, and though our speed increased, I could see much better where we were going. And we were headed south, away from Forks.
"Where are we going?" Bella asked. No one answered. No one even looked at her, beside me, which I only did because she touched my shoulder. "Dammit, Edward! Where are you taking me?"
"We have to get you away from here — far away — now." He didn't look back, his eyes on the road. The speedometer read a hundred and five miles an hour.
"Turn around! You have to take me home!" Bella shouted. She struggled with the harness, tearing at the straps.
'No we don't, Isabella," I snapped.
"Emmett," Edward said grimly. And Emmett secured her hands in his steely grasp. I regretted being in the middle, as he had to awkwardly maneuver himself around me.
"No! Edward! No, you can't do this."
"I have to, Bella, now please be quiet."
"I won't! You have to take me back — Charlie will call the FBI! They'll be all over your family! They'll have to leave, to hide forever!"
"Calm down, Bella." His voice was cold. "We've been there before."
"Isabella Marie Cullen, you shut the hell up!" I shouted. She was giving me a headache, and the stress was making my body warm.
"Not over me, you don't! You're not ruining everything over me!" She struggled violently, with total futility. Alice spoke for the first time.
"Edward, pull over."
He flashed her a hard look, and then sped up.
"Edward, let's just talk this through."
"You don't understand," he roared in frustration. I'd never heard his voice so loud; it was deafening in the confines of the Jeep. The speedometer neared one hundred and fifteen. "He's a tracker, Alice, did you see that? He's a tracker! So's that stupid William, although of course you wouldn't know that because you can't freaking see him!"
I felt Emmett stiffen next to me, and I wondered at his reaction to the word. It meant something more to the three of them than it did to me; I wanted to understand, but there was no opening for me to ask.
"Pull over, Edward." Alice's tone was reasonable, but there was a ring of authority in it I'd never heard before. The speedometer inched passed one-twenty. "Do it, Edward."
"Listen to me, Alice. I saw James's mind. Tracking is his passion, his obsession — and he wants her, Alice — Bella, specifically. He begins the hunt tonight."
"He doesn't know where —" He interrupted her.
"How long do you think it will take him to cross her scent in town? His plan was already set before the words were out of Laurent's mouth."
Bella gasped, knowing where her scent would lead. "Charlie! You can't leave him there! You can't leave him!" She thrashed against the harness.
"Caught up, have you Bella?" I snapped. Of course I'd be sad if Charlie died, but I doubted James would kill him. He knew how big a coven this was, and he wouldn't want them to have even more reason for revenge.
"She's right," Alice said. The car slowed slightly. "Let's just look at our options for a minute," Alice coaxed.
The car slowed again, more noticeably, and then suddenly we screeched to a stop on the shoulder of the highway. Bella flew against the harness, and then slammed back into the seat. Emmett held me down.
"There are no options," Edward hissed.
"I'm not leaving Charlie!" Bella yelled. He ignored her completely.
"We have to take her back," Emmett finally spoke.
"No." Edward was absolute.
"He's no match for us, Edward. He won't be able to touch her."
"He'll wait."
Emmett smiled. "I can wait, too."
"You didn't see — you don't understand. Once he commits to a hunt, he's unshakable. We'd have to kill him."
Emmett didn't seem upset by the idea. Neither was I. "That's an option."
"And the female. She's with him. If it turns into a fight, the leader will go with them, too."
"There are enough of us."
"There's another option," Alice said quietly.
Edward turned on her in fury, his voice a blistering snarl. "There — is — no — other — option!"
Emmett and I both stared at him in shock, but Alice seemed unsurprised. The silence lasted for a long minute as Edward and Alice stared each other down. Bella broke it. "Does anyone want to hear my plan?"
"No," Edward growled.
"Bella for the love of all that is good, shut your goddamn mouth!" I could feel my shirt slowly burning now, my skin heated but not yet flaming.
Alice glared at him, finally provoked. "Listen," Bella pleaded. "You take me back."
"No," he interrupted. She glared at him and continued.
"You take me back. I tell my dad I want to go home to Phoenix. I pack my bags. We wait till this tracker is watching, and then we run. He'll follow us and leave Charlie alone. Charlie won't call the FBI on your family. Then you can take me any damned place you want."
"No," I said. "That'll never work."
"Yes it will."
"No, Bella, it won't." I was silent for a moment. "I'll fake crazy, then Bella runs after me to convince me to come back."
Emmett stiffened beside me, as did Bella. "Dad'll send you back to England," she said.
"So?" I asked. "It's not the worse institution. Alice, will it work?"
She rubbed her temples. "Better than Bella's running away idea."
"It's too dangerous — I don't want him within a hundred miles of her."
Emmett was supremely confident. "Edward, he's not getting through us."
Alice thought for a minute. "I don't see him attacking. He'll try to wait for us to leave them alone."
"It won't take long for him to realize that's not going to happen."
"I demand that you take me home." Bella tried to sound firm. "Please," she said in a much smaller voice.
When Edward spoke, his voice sounded worn. "You're leaving tonight, whether the tracker sees or not. Morgana will fake crazy. Tell him whatever story works. Pack the first things your hands touch. I don't care what he says to you. You have fifteen minutes. Do you hear me? Fifteen minutes from the time you cross the doorstep."
"Carlisle's not going to like this," Emmett muttered.
The Jeep rumbled to life, and he spun us around, the tires squealing. The needle on the speedometer started to race up the dial. A few minutes passed in silence, other than the roar of the engine.
"Bella." Edward's voice was very soft. Alice and Emmett looked out their windows. "If you let anything happen to yourself— anything at all — I'm holding you personally responsible. Do you understand that?"
"Yes," Bella gulped.
"Same goes for you, Shortcake," Emmett joked, poking my side.
"Okay. Bella, I'm sorry for this," I said, pulling off her buckles.
"For what?" she asked, surprised. I didn't give her an answer in voice, instead choosing to slap her harshly on the face, twice. "Ow!"
I inspected my work. A red handprint was steadily appearing, and she rubbed her face.
"Okay, out," I said, pushing her out of the car roughly. "Also, sorry for this."
She held her hands out in front of her face, but I wasn't going to slap her again.
"You goddamn ungrateful bitch!" I shouted, my voice as loud as I could make it. "You think you're so amazing, don't you, Isabitch? You think you're some amazing sister who never does anything wrong and is so bloody perfect, don't you?"
She stumbled back, and I took a step forward. "Answer me!"
"No, no," she said. "I don't."
I shoved her to the ground, and she landed on her ass. "You're so fucking selfish! I hate you, so, so much! I hate everything, in this entire freaking universe!" I screamed those words to the neighbourhood, and then I actually screamed a blood-curling and glass shattering scream.
"Hey!" Dad said, running out the house. I turned to see that he had his gun in his hand, but he dropped it when he saw it was me making the noise.
"Don't even get me started on you, Dad!" I shrieked, leaving Isabella and stumbling over to his side. "You act like you care, but you don't, do you?"
"Morga-"
"I'm leaving!" I screeched, shoving past Dad and banging my shoulder against his. "I can't take any more of this bullshit!"
Behind me, Bella stood up off the ground and started following me. "Don't leave, M."
"Like you care," I snorted. I ran inside and up to my room, hastily chucking stuff in a duffle bag. I knew Bella was doing the same in her room.
"I'm sorry," Emmett said.
I jumped and turned around to see Emmett in the window. "Shit Emmett, don't scare me like that."
"I'm sorry this happened," he said.
"It's not your fault. Besides, I was gonna have a freak out eventually." I shrugged my shoulders as though I didn't care, but it was honestly tearing me apart.
"Still, it shouldn't have to happen like this."
"It is what it is."
Through the thin walls I could hear Bella and Dad having a conversation.
"No, she knows me better," she said.
"I'm her father!"
"She barely knows you."
"Please don't leave me too."
"I'll be back - I'm going to look for her and then bring her home."
I rolled my eyes. "C'mon," I said to Emmett, who had his arms open. He wordlessly picked me up and swung me onto his back, before leaping out of the window.
READ, REVIEW, FAV AND FOLLOW!
Damn, another chapter? I'm on a roll. This, kiddies, is what happens when you're on holidays.
So it's been decided that Esme's mate is William. Thank you TemporaryShadow for the name. The majority of people seem into the idea, so thats what I'm going with.
I'm planning to make him a flirty playboy kinda guy, who is actually a helpless romantic. That said, we probably won't see too much of him. He'll more be a character like Jasper - mentioned because he's a mate to someone somewhat important to Morgana. We'll see how it goes, anyway.