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Into the Woods
By: Everleigh Allen
Chapter 40
"What-" Alice shrieked, "the Hell?" holding her head. Visions swirled and changed by the second.
Jake running through the woods bare ass naked, and then stopped, swiveled and kicked the red headed vampire's head into the air and into the trees. He ran, laughing, as he zigzagged through the trees before jumping up into the air and pouncing on the mangled head.
Alice gasped, shaking her head in horror.
But then there was a swirl and the visions became cloudy as Alice and Edward sat transfixed, as if waiting for more and then the vision changed…
Jake, in wolf form, sniffing the forest floor and stopping upon seeing Victoria's decapitated head and licking at the dispirited yet angelic face as she stared blankly into the abyss… A little nudge of his snout and the head and seconds later it is flush with the neck and started gushing silvery venom as it fused back together. Victoria started to twitch as she healed.
"Oh, no!" Edward hissed as he started to pace over the expensive Chinese rug.
"What is it?" Esme urged again.
Alice's mouth opened and shut, opened and shut before she looked at Edward.
He stopped pacing and shook his head, lost for words.
James standing outside the Cullen house, staring at the Cullen's with dark black, hateful eyes.
Alice and Edward ran to the window from the vision, but there wasn't anyone there. They opened it, but there wasn't any trace or scent from the nomadic vampire.
"I don't understand." Alice cried, gripping at her short wisps of Black hair and Jasper struggled to maintain a comforting disposition.
"Just tell us already!" Rosalie jeered, standing up with fisted hands on her hips.
"Uh, well…" Edward sighed; pinching the bridge of his nose as his brain suddenly was invaded by angry, anguished thoughts.
Alice looked at Edward before turning toward the others. "There was a vision of Jake fantasizing in the forest, James leaving Victoria there on the ground decapitated, and then Jake found Victoria when he was trying to find Bella to claim her, but then was a vision of him kicking her head-"
"Then pouncing on it in his wolf form-" Alice added.
Edward nodded, "Then the vision changed and it showed Jake pushing Victoria's head and neck together, putting her back together."
"Which one is real?" Rosalie hissed.
"I don't know…
"Then we need to go out there before we find out and destroy Victoria before Jake gets to her." Jasper interjected as he stood up.
"I don't see us going there," Alice sighed. "I don't know why… what's keeping us here?"
"I'm so confused," Esme pouted as she sat on her couch. "What is this all about, really? We should go- yet here we sit?"
"It seems so. I don't see anything other than Jake and Victoria and that is changing by the minute."
There were many moments of silence as everyone thought about everything going on."
"Let's think about this since we don't know if Jake is actually out there or anything about Victoria and her state of being. We know Bella's still missing after the Banshee incident… something we apparently could've created. Victoria may or may not be humpty dumpty and Jake may want to drop kick her or put her back together again… but what I don't get is why are the visions changing?"
Edward shook his head. "I don't know... it just changed into different things and we usually don't see the wolves but that's changed, too."
"Like a twist of visions?" Carlisle asked sitting down next to his wife and wrapping his arm around her.
Edward looked at Alice who just shrugged; her eyes were wide and beseeching.
"Like that… but manipulated-"
"Hypnotic," Alice whispered.
"No, more like infuriating." Edward huffed, crossing his arms in defiance.
"Yeah, hi….That was ALL me," Renee grinned as she walked down the stairs with a smirk; her short wispy blond hair was thicker and brighter, her skin, wrinkle free and radiant, as if she was slightly, lightly illuminated. But her eyes were different. Her blood red eyes pierced each vampire in their place as she stepped. "Why don't you run off and help poor Bella, hmm?" She glared. "Oh, that's right… you can't leave. You can't see anything correctly, right? Yeah, well, that's all me, too!"
Renee's foot hit the bottom of the stairs with a soft thud as she sneered at the shocked, statuesque array of vampires as they watched the vampire in horror.
Carlisle was the first to recover as he watched Demetri stand protectively next to Renee. He knew they'd have to deal with the situation with delicate sensitivity as Renee was obviously a powerful vampire.
Even her burning time was shorter than usual.
They didn't even hear her heartbeat stop.
"Renee, you make a lovely vampire, I must say." Carlisle smiled kindly walking forward in greeting but stopping as soon as he saw Renee's lip curl in warning. There was still a slight, thump-thump-thump from Renee's heartbeat resonating through the silence.
Jasper was suddenly on edge, trying to figure everything out and make a plan accordingly. He knew he may need to destroy the newborn Renee, yet she was still somewhat human. He also didn't know how he was going to get passed her mate, Demetri, either. The man was simply in awe of his new mate.
"How is the burning over so quickly?" Jasper asked allowed, struggling to keep the emotions to a tolerable level.
"How?" Esme gasped. "How is she both human and vampire?"
Renee smirked, but it was more like a sneer making her pretty face into something quite ugly. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"She's going to be a hoot in Volterra, am I right?" Demetri grinned, "Aro won't even know what hit him."
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"You will fix this!" Edward seethed at the newborn vampire as she stood in the living room in defiance.
Her red eyes glinted with specks of gold and blue as she lunged for Edward, but Demetri and Jasper were quick on her and each held onto her arms. She snapped her jaw shut as she growled at him.
"Watch it, Edward!" Renee hissed, trying to get out of their grasps but since she wasn't entirely a vampire she was far weaker than they expected or even than she expected.
So Edward took his chance and got in her face, eyes dark with vehement rage. "Because of you- my Bella is missing in the woods and Jake is apparently out there somewhere with her-"
"Good!" Renee snickered struggling with their hold on her but it was futile and she knew it. She then tried to push more visuals into Edward's mind, but he ignored them, not knowing what was the truth or fabricated by Renee.
His guess was that everything coming from her was a lie.
"Bella is in the safest hands she could be in, I assure you. I've seen it."
"Seen it?" Edward roared, "YOU'VE SEEN IT?"
Renee shrugged out of Demetri's grasp and tapped at her temple. "I've seen things... okay, enough!" She snapped as she sauntered through the room, toward Edward. "We're not such different creatures, Edward." She bit out. "Yes, I can see things, just as you- as Alice. I have gifts… powers you don't know and will never know of. I know you're connection with my daughter and because of that- she's protected by the best. I made sure of it. The Fae will care for her during this delicate time."
Edward took a step forward but stilled as Demetri took one toward him. "Delicate time? What did you do, Renee?"
She cackled evilly eyes wild, "It's not what I did. I didn't do anything to her. What I did- was protect her. And with this protection she's being changed as we speak... Into one of us."
"A vampire?" Esme whispered with wide eyes.
Renee twisted with a disgusted look on her face, "Of course not! She's changed into a fairy, just like me, just like them." Her hand gestured towards the woods. "She wasn't supposed to go to them until the Solstice! She was to present the box on that day and that was the Fae's sign that she was the one they were to protect. She was to be changed on that day…" She hissed at Edward, "But you always get in the way! You always mess things up for her! But don't you worry; you'll never completely have her soul, Edward. You may try to change her, like I am now," she bit out, "but she will always be the Fae and they will always be her."
Edward narrowed his eyes at the woman before him, his temper barely controlled. "I'd never take her soul. She's my mate, as you are all too aware of now that you have a mate of your own. So, Bella wouldn't lose her soul any more than you've lost yours by Demetri."
Renee hissed and began to pushing thoughts in his head with Bella and Jake slow dancing with her in a white dress, a ring on her finger.
Edward scoffed, "You are so far off, and it isn't even funny. Bella doesn't love Jake. She doesn't even like him."
"She doesn't belong with you!" Renee screamed at him, mere inches away from his face yet a foot lower.
"Who do you think she belongs with? Jake?"
"Maybe." Renee lifted her chin with defiance.
"You think she belongs with Jake, of course you do." Edward huffed, "Because you're so fucking delusional! You see things?" Edward scoffed bitterly and sneered, "You see what you want to see. I can read your chaotic mind, if you didn't know by now and Alice is the seer, not you. You're an illusionist at best and a liar at worst."
Renee just shrugged her shoulders but looked at Alice in a bit of wonder. "I have nothing to prove to you."
I doubt you can even read minds you foolish vampire.
"You're the one who's foolish."
Renee hissed and moved towards Demetri.
"Yeah, I can read your thoughts. It's how I knew about Bella. It's how I knew about you in the river… you in Biloxi, you in New Orleans, in the Arizona desert dancing around naked in the full moonlight… I could go on and on!" If you were so observant you would know Jake tried to kidnap her and do even worse to her."
Renee recoiled away as if she had been slapped.
"You would literally be feeding her to the wolves," Alice said quietly. "I've seen it. It ends badly for Bella and Jake can barely control himself now as it is, in his wolf form and out of it."
Renee stepped two feet back, shaking her head.
"He's a fifteen year old boy!" Rosalie scoffed, "and a teen-wolf! That's so wrong on so many levels; you should be ashamed of yourself as a mother! I bet you've been affecting him, too, haven't you?"
Renee just stood there in silence.
Everyone knew the answer.
"Why don't we sit down and have a small chat, mother to mother if you want." Esme smiled, "It's obvious that we need to."
Renee nodded solemnly, wondering how it was possible she was so wrong about so many things.
"This is a far difference than the last sit down we had!" Emmett chuckled.
Renee suddenly looked abashed. "That was my fault, too." She whispered. "Everything is my entire fault… I thought by making you all a bit crazy, Bella would lose interest in having a relationship with all of you. It would scare her and she would leave. It obviously ended differently than I had expected." She gestured toward herself and then Demetri.
"Yeah, I'd say!" Emmett laughed, shaking his head in amusement. "Except now you have a vampire mate and a human husband."
She lifted her shoulder and sighed, "Phil's only interest in me is what I've created myself. It'll ware off, soon enough."
"What did you do?" Alice asked with enthusiasm. She gestured for Renee to sit on the couch and she did, followed closely by Demetri and then the others followed suit around the living room.
With a curled lip smile, Renee's eyes glittered with excitement. "Just a little love spell. I thought I'd clean up pretty well in the divorce."
"You still can," Demetri smiled. "That is- if you don't want to tear out his jugular, first."
Renee shrugged with a sigh. "I have little interest in feeding the thirst I feel. I am sure I can still eat food."
Carlisle looked pointedly at Renee. "Wait until you're around a human that may change."
Renee nodded.
"So, my flirting with you," Carlisle interjected, "was that all you, too?"
"I've done spells for as long as I can remember- that part was true, I just failed to say how profound I am in the craft. I can make people act the way they normally wouldn't. But I also had the gift of a full moon, which exasperated it."
"It nearly got you killed." Edward glared at Renee, "and Bella and Charlie."
Renee glared back at him, "Like I said, I wasn't trying to get anyone hurt! I just thought I'd push her away from you all and she'd come back to Florida with me and all would be fine!"
"You knew it all wouldn't be fine the day we met at the water." Edward bit out menacingly. "You knew from then on your unborn child was mated to me and you've kept her in constant danger knowing she was safe with me- with us, and with Charlie."
"I already told you I thought I could change her fate!"
"So you trapezed through the states and even exposed her to another vampire, James."
Renee sat up straight. "Now, that guy was a mistake. I had no idea he was a tracker vampire. It wasn't until he was sniffing me during… uh," She looked at Demetri who just shrugged, "that I found out he was a vampire! I did my best to get away. And believe me, if it wasn't for the redhead I pushed on him, I probably wouldn't have."
"That explains Victoria and why Victoria was after Bella." Rosalie sighed.
"Victoria wanted to have Edward which is probably Renee's doing, too." Esme added.
Renee didn't disagree.
"Does your destruction of other people's lives have no end?" Edward pulled at his hair. "Victoria? It's just… I have no words!"
Renee recoiled at the harshness of Edward's words, but they were true.
"What are we dealing with, exactly?" Carlisle asked, seriously. He was in don't fuck around mode with his elbows on his knees, and his hands clasped together as if he was holding them to not wrap around Renee's throat. "Because even your mate will tell you that the Volturi will not like any of this if they ever found out." He turned slightly to give a pointed look at Demetri. "You will never be able to go back there with whatever she is. They'd destroy her."
Demetri just nodded his agreement.
Then Carlisle stared at Edward. I'm still not convinced she's telling us everything. I just want to say, hey, she's a newborn vampire and no one would even need to know she was gone. Phil's better off without her as was Charlie. But Bella and Demetri would be a bit trickier to deal with, if we need to.
Edward glared at Carlisle with a growl for a warning.
Tell me you're not thinking the same thing? Carlisle challenged him mentally. Carlisle frowned and sat backward with a shrug, realizing what he absently thought. I am obviously not saying we to get rid of your mate, Edward! I am talking about dealing with Renee and Demetri by any means necessary.
We need to claim dominance and fast or get rid of them
"What do you mean, what are we dealing with?" Renee asked sweetly, but her eyes betrayed the innocence she was trying to portray.
The Cullen's were tired of games.
"Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way would be to point out that you and your mate is outnumbered three to one."
"Excellent odds!" Emmett beamed.
"And," Carlisle continued after eyeing Emmett, "although we may lose a head or two, maybe an arm or leg in the process, I feel confident we'll fare far better than the two of you."
"I call dibs on Demetri!" Emmett fist pumped the air as the Cullen's grinned. Jasper shook his hand, both agreeing that the Volturi guard would be his. Edward nodded with a smirk that said, "I'm in."
"Three to one are not the best odds but still interesting," Jasper grinned, adjusting his collar to show all of the bite marks lining his neck. "I've slaughtered thousands of newborns, after all. She'd have no chance when I preoccupy her with feeling of all the pain of all of those butchered newborns screaming as I destroyed them… slowly."
"I love when you go all creepy psychopathic killer, Jazzy!" Alice beamed at her mate, kidding, but effectively scaring their company. She then turned to Demetri and then to Renee. "And with me being psychic, I can see any and every move you may consider." Alice smirked as Demetri and Renee's eyes drifted from Carlisle to Jasper, to Alice, and then finally onto Edward as he spoke.
"And as soon as she sees it, I see it. "
"I don't think we need to express what the hard part would be, because none of want to be kindling for a bonfire." Esme smiled softly. "So, now that we've sufficiently threatened our guests. Tell us what you have you unleashed in the woods."
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A/N: I did cut out the majority of the *gag* Jake scene. You're welcome.
So, do you think the visions real or not? How did she get them if she was "burning?" What do you think of Bella and the fairies? Didn't anyone catch when she was bitten by them? No one said anything…
As ever, thanks for those who take the time to read and especially those who review! I love your thoughts, so much. Sometimes, I can't resist and even add it in. ;)
I forgot to add in the last chapter that the lyrics were from Voodoo by: GodSmack (one of my very favorite bands)