Chapter 16 – Human

EPOV

"What is this?" Bella's voice was filled with trepidation and she hadn't even read the words that were scrawled onto the paper yet.

I had wanted to avoid this more than anything. But she'd already caught on to too much and now she was well aware that I was hiding something. I couldn't deny her when she pleaded with me, when she reasoned with me and explained how important my honesty was to her.

I wanted to shield her from the note and all of the pain it would incite, but I was beginning to learn that I wasn't the controller of Bella's life. She was entitled to make her own decisions and I had to become familiar with what it meant to respect those decisions.

Even in moments like this one where I truly felt that this wasn't the best thing for her. Where I felt that her reading the note would do far more harm than good.

It didn't matter.

"What is this?" she questioned again, still not reading the words on the paper. Tears were beginning to well in her eyes again and the look of fear on her face brought forth my own deep anguish.

"It's a note, Bella. From… Paul," I said the words as gently as I could but I knew that some of my vehemence edged its way in. It was almost impossible to contain the weight of my rage.

"What?" Bella's eyes were filled with horror. It was far worse than I'd imagined it would be. She looked petrified and her hands immediately began to shake in what was building in to a panic attack.

"Breath, Bella. You have to breath. Stay with me. I'm here, ok? I'm not leaving," I assured her, catching her face in my hands trying to hold her eye contact. She pulled away, slipping off of my lap and on to her feet.

She walked toward the other side of the room, her eyes fixated on the note as she read the words messily scratched in ink across the paper.

"Oh."

It was all she said for a long while. She stood, staring at the note, her eyes fixated there and unmoving.

"Where did… how did…" she could barely string together a sentence in the wake of the overwhelming realization.

"It was in… Charlie found it in his mailbox, Bella." There was no gentle way to say it, and there was no easy way to tell her this.

"Charlie…" she whispered, to herself – not to me. She was drifting away, her consciousness leaving this room as she fought to escape this dawning realization. I wanted, with everything inside of me, to run to her side and pull her into my embrace, but I knew that she wouldn't respond well in this moment.

Were it not for the sound of her heart thundering in her chest, or for the way her hair stood perfectly erect on her arms, or for the tears she was desperately trying to push back down, I might not have known that she was panicking at all.

She was working hard to remain composed. To hide from me whatever turmoil this made her feel. It was apparent that she was withdrawing, especially because her eyes hadn't moved up from the paper she was holding in her hands and I knew that she was avoiding eye contact with me.

It was working. Paul was getting inside her head.

She inhaled sharply, braced herself against the wall and then exhaled, shaking as she did. And then she lifted her chin, pushed her chest outwards as much as she could without aggravating the fractures and pushed a few stray strands of hair from her face.

Then she spoke. And the sound of her voice was haunting.

Devoid. Empty. Emotionally, Bella was removing herself from this moment as actively as possible.

I expected a reaction – but this was not what I was anticipating.

"So… he knows?"

She folded the piece of paper back into a square balled her fist up around it.

"Yes."

"How much?" She questioned, fear blazing in her eyes.

"Only that he hurt you – he doesn't know anything else."

Bella bit down on her bottom lip and closed her eyes. She was working so hard to subdue the storm of emotions brewing inside of her. Her fist tightened around the folded note and her jaw clenched as she focused her breathing.

"So he was there? He was near Charlie?"

"No."

She looked up from the ground and met my eyes for a single second before turning away from me.

"How do you know that?"

I prayed for strength.

"We smell the barest trace of him on that note, and Rosalie and Emmett were keeping guard. They would know if he'd come anywhere near Forks."

Bella's eyes closed again and her lips turned down in an anguished frown. Fresh tears were welling, spilling out of her closed eyes as they pooled on her long, brown lashes.

"How do you know what he… smells like?" Her voice was so soft, the smallest trace of it wrapped around me and in it I felt every nuance of her in this moment. The ever present shame and guilt were overwhelming, crushing in the weight of their dominion over her.

I could see that she wanted to fall to pieces. She was exhausted. She was in pain; her entire body was tensed but she worked the hardest she ever had to hold herself together.

And I didn't want to answer her question, because I wasn't sure what else it would awaken in her.

"Edward," she warned, commanding me to explain.

"Bella, please." I was begging because I didn't know what else to do.

"How do you know what he smells like?"

I paused, praying that she would decide she didn't need to know. Praying that I wouldn't have to share this with her because I knew what it would do to her.

"Edward!"

"Because his scent was all over you when Jasper and Emmett found you and brought you to Carlisle."

"Oh."

It was as if I'd extinguished all remaining light from her with a few simple words. Her entire body folded inwards and her head bowed down in shame.

"And now?"

"Now?" I questioned, knowing full well what she was alluding to, but wanting to deny it all the same.

"Do I smell like him now?" Her voice was stone cold.

"No."

"You're lying," she turned her body to face me, and I walked toward her. She raised her hand, signalling for me to stop.

"I'm not lying, Bella."

"You promised me, Edward. You said no more lies," she accused, her voice devoid of emotion.

I had promised. I intended to keep my promise, but this conversation was pointless. It would only serve to upset Bella, and the details were unimportant. There was so much to being a vampire that Bella didn't – and couldn't – understand. She wasn't able to grasp how heightened and profound out senses were. Every small detail was detectable to us.

"This is pointless, Bella. What does it matter? Do you think it means I don't want to be near you? Do you think that would change how I feel toward you?"

"Answer me!"

"No. You smell like you. Like freesias and lavender. Like perfection." I moved toward her, and she threw her hand up again, stopping me dead in my tracks.

"Is Charlie safe? Can he be kept safe?"

"Yes, Paul hasn't been in the vicinity. If he had been, we would've known."

"So this note…" she breathed, glancing down at her clenched fist "was put there by someone else?"

I could see the horror of that realization reflected in her eyes.

"Yes, we believe so."

"Another wolf?"

"Unlikely. We would have caught that scent."

"A vampire?"

"No. We would've known."

"A human."

I exhaled and stared at her, waiting for her to look at me. Her eyes remained trained on the floor and her body was braced against the wall behind her.

"Yes. The note smells distinctly of human," I agreed.

"So he isn't working alone."

"Not necessarily. He might have hired someone to plant it there. This person's involvement could be insignificant. We don't know what this means yet," I offered, taking slow, small steps toward her.

I surveyed her carefully, noting how emotionless she appeared standing before me.

"Ok. I'd like to be alone now," she explained, pushing off the wall as she moved toward the bed in the opposite corner.

I looked at her, puzzled. Earlier today Bella hadn't wanted me to leave her side – the mere suggestion sent her into a tailspin of chaotic emotion.

And now she was ordering me to leave.

I stood in silence and watched as she slowly moved toward the bed. When she reached the bedside she began pulling the ivory-coloured tights off, casting them to the side of the bed.

I was frozen in place watching her. Each movement was ghost-like and absent – completely robotic.

She then gripped the hem of the dress, pulling it up and off her frail body leaving her in only a bra and white, cotton underwear.

I watched in horror, the sharp bones of her body pulling and pressing at her bruised flesh. Her back was a shocking array of colours – the bruises had deepened and darkened since Carlisle's original exam.

She groaned as she struggled to pull herself up onto the bed, and I stood in horror. Then I noticed, as she attempted to pull the covers up and over her body – I noticed the dark – nearly black, hand-print shaped bruises that were sitting at the apex of her thighs.

All of the rage that I'd been containing burst through the cracks that were forming inside of me. I was an uncontainable, irrational force with my sights set on one thing and one thing only:

Paul Lahote.

BPOV

I was numb. I couldn't feel a thing. That physical pain of my body was still there, still pulsing beneath the surface, but everything else seemed to have washed away. I was a blank canvas, devoid of all feeling.

Thoughts were traveling in and out of me, but I had no reaction to them whatsoever.

It was strange. But I couldn't muster enough emotion to care.

And although it was disturbing to some distant, far away part of myself, it was also a relief.

The only thing I could focus on now was sleep. I was tired – so, so tired. My entire body felt drained. Each cell inside of me was begging for rest.

"Ok. I'd like to be alone now," I said. I listened to my words as they fell past my lips, noting how listless I sounded.

I barely caught a glance of Edward's face, but I didn't care.

I just really didn't care.

The most I could focus on was getting myself out of the unreasonably uncomfortable clothing Alice had dressed me in. I made my way, slowly, over to the bed. And then I pulled the tights off me of, followed by the dress and struggled to climb up onto the bed.

The distant, far away part of myself that could care idly noticed Edward standing by the doorway. He looked horrified.

But it didn't matter.

I just wanted to sleep.

More than anything I wanted to close my eyes and sleep.

EPOV

"You'll regret it if you leave, 'y'know."

I was standing at the edge of the forest line, readying myself for what lay ahead, completely absorbed in my thoughts of revenge.

The sight of Bella, the sight of her broken and worn and checked out had erupted the quietly brewing volcano that was laying dormant inside of me. It was just too much.

The thought of his hands on her body… it snapped something inside of me. It pushed me too far over the edge and the white hot rage that had been waiting to break free was given the outlet it had been searching for.

All rational thought was gone. I was a predator now, focused on finding and executing my prey.

It was a dangerous moment to interrupt, but Alice had never been one to fear danger.

"Go away, Alice," I growled at her, my first and last warning.

"Or what? You'll attack me?" she scoffed, pushing with her hand off the ground and landing right next to me.

I snapped in her direction, roaring.

"Behave, Edward. You don't frighten me," she quipped, crouching down next to me.

"Go." I was exercising an impressive level of self-control, to be standing here next to Alice without trying to rip her apart.

"Is Bella leaving us, then?"

I growled and turned to face her.

"What?"

"Well, if you're leaving I guess Bella is too, then? You made a promise. You made several promises, actually. To Bella, most importantly. Remember? You told her you wouldn't leave. You promised her you'd protect her."

"And I am," I snapped back.

"By killing Paul?"

"Yes."

"There is an entire pack of wolves and nearly an entire coven of vampires trying to find him. He's evaded us, Edward. I'm sure he'll return at some point, but for now we know enough to know that he's not anywhere near here. What do you think you can do that we haven't already tried?"

"I'll find him," I countered.

"You won't. Bella is… somewhere else – emotionally. For now, but what happens when she wakes up and realizes that you're gone? That the promise you made to her was broken… again?"

"I can't do this anymore, Alice. I can't watch her fall apart, I can't sit by her side and silently accept all that's happened…"

"What's the alternative?"

"The alternative is that I scour every inch of this earth until I find him. And then I make him pay for everything he did to Bella. Every second of it…"

"And what about Bella, and what she needs?"

"She needs to be safe," I refuted, angling my body away from Alice, looking for an opportunity to break away from the conversation without giving her the opportunity to catch up to me.

"You don't get it, do you?" Alice was livid. Her usually chiming voice was burdened with her rage – an uncommon sight for her, and therefore appropriately alarming.

"Get what?" I shot back, my rage building and becoming more and more uncontainable as the seconds ticked past.

"You left, Edward! You left her for months. You nearly destroyed her. Before he did. YOU did THAT. And you say you want to make it right? She's falling to pieces and breaking apart and she shows more courage than you do! Despite what you did to her, she's still here. She's still fighting for you and for your relationship." Alice was shouting. Her words were cutting and there was a disturbing edge to her voice that clued me into her emotional state.

Alice loved Bella, deeply. And she blamed herself for everything that had happened.

I could relate to that.

"I'm useless to her," I explained, turning to face Alice as I pulled my body from its offensive crouch.

"She needs me to help her through this – but I don't know how. I don't know the first thing about supporting her. I watch her wade through her own complicated emotions and I don't know what to say, or what to do or how to help. And so I don't say or do anything. I just sit and watch. And I probably make it worse because of that." Alice moved to sit on the large boulder that was wedged between two grand evergreen trees. I sat next to her, and she pulled my hand into her own, gripping tightly.

"I know. I understand. I haven't even really spoken to her since all of this began. I've been watching, and waiting, hoping that I can help in some small way because I can't see her and it's maddening."

"I know. But it isn't your fault, Alice."

She turned to face me, still holding my hand her in own. Her eyes locked on to mine and smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes and it was imbued with sadness.

"I just want her to survive this," she explained, tugging at the tips of her spiky, jet black hair.

"She will," I said with as much conviction as ever. There was no way Bella wouldn't survive this. That wasn't even a possibility. I was completely devoted to her survival – in every way.

Alice nodded, agreeing, though I could sense that she wasn't absolutely certain.

Alice, without her ability to see, wasn't Alice at all. Her eternal optimism was smothered.

"So he's not working alone…"

Alice and Jasper had overheard the conversation Carlisle and I had with Charlie, but we hadn't even had a spare moment to discuss the implications of everything that was revealed today.

"Apparently not."

"The Volturi…?" Alice's voice quivered when she spoke the words.

"Doubtful. I'm certain he used that as a tool to make Bella feel fearful enough that she wouldn't seek out help. At first, I thought he had acted entirely in isolation, but given that there was no sign of him anywhere near Forks it means someone else delivered that letter. Whoever it is, human, is the only scent I caught off of it."

"Human… how would he have help from humans?"

"I don't know. It's possible he hired someone. The letter… it's his way of maintaining control over Bella without having to be anywhere near her – and it's working. She's completely shut off from me. The moment she read it she shut down. And I'd wager that's exactly what he wants. He managed to convince her for weeks that he was dangerous and a threat to all of us. He wants to reignite that fear in Bella."

Alice cringed, bowing her head as she pulled her hand out of mine.

"Alice?"

"I just… I can't imagine what she went through."

I nodded, remaining silent. I could see Alice's pain; it was so palpable that I felt overwhelmed by it just being in her proximity.

"I just want to hold her… I want to ease some of it. But I… I feel so…"

"Guilty?" I finished for her, relating wholly to everything she was saying.

"Yes."

"You should speak to her, Alice. She knows that your relationship has been touched by this. She can sense it," I said, remembering how uncomfortable Bella seemed in her strained interactions with Alice.

Alice nodded and jumped up from the boulder and turned to face me.

"Let's go," she commanded, extending her hand to me. I sat for a moment longer, staring into Alice's golden, shimmering eyes, finding solace in them.

There was so much that needed to be done. So much to say and do and so many things that were uncertain and dangerous. But in this moment, Alice and I had reconnected in a way that we hadn't for months.

Alice was a bittersweet reminder of home and all that I'd left behind for so long.

I placed my hand in hers and followed her, sure that she would guide me in the right direction – as she always did.

EPOV

Seven faces were gathered around the large pine table in my family's sitting room, staring at me expectantly. Every person in this room was uncomfortable beyond measure, that much was made clear to me through each of their individual thoughts and the rigidity of their body language telegraphed more of the same message.

This meeting was not about pleasure. We were not casual acquaintances sharing company for the joy of it.

This was business.

"Thank you for coming," Carlisle said as he joined me in standing at the head of the table.

"Let's cut to the chase and get on with this, alright?" Jacob Black sat in the chair closest to the doorway, and his thoughts centered entirely around how much he despised being here – in this room, in this house… for this reason.

"We intend to do just that. We've called this meeting because we believe it's highly likely that Paul isn't working alone," I explained attuning myself to the thoughts of everyone around me.

"You've got to be kidding me, right? You know we're not in on this with him."

"Yes, Jacob. We know that. We're confident that he isn't colluding with anyone from the Quileute tribe. We're grateful for all you've done to assist us in protecting Bella."

"How the hell do you know he's working with someone?"

"Charlie received a letter in his work mailbox early this morning. It was from Paul."

Jacob stiffened in his seat, his fists curling at his sides as he attempted to control his rage.

"Impossible," he replied.

We've been all over every inch of this damn place and we haven't caught his scent once. He thought to himself, internally warring with the rage this was sparking inside of him.

"Of course. We believe he didn't actually place the letter there himself. His scent was on it, but in almost undetectable amounts. Rosalie and Emmett were sweeping the perimeter that day and didn't catch his scent either. It's possible that he had someone else place it there," Carlisle offered, his voice even and tempered, contrasting Jacob's greatly.

"Damn it," Jacob huffed under his breath.

"What did the letter say?" Emmett questioned, sitting next to Rosalie and directly opposite Jacob. He looked more wired than usual and I was sure it had to do with Jacob's presence in our home.

We were all uneasy with the presence of wolves. Even Esme and Carlisle who had promoted tolerance and camaraderie between wolves and vampires were uncomfortable with the current arrangement. After everything that had happened to Bella, it was difficult to remove the tyrannous associations we'd conjured in our minds when it came to wolves.

"It was a thinly-veiled threat. He addressed it to Charlie and revealed to him many of the things we'd been hoping to shield him from," Carlisle said, clearing his throat as an obvious indication that he would indulge in this topic no further.

"Thinly-veiled," Jacob said, disgust painted across his face, "what's thinly-veiled about sending a note to the dad of the girl you just raped?"

And that was the breaking point for most of us in the room.

Emmett roared and flew across the table with Rosalie close behind him, both lunging for Jacob's throat with their teeth bared.

Chaos erupted immediately. I moved to Jacob's side in a fraction of a second, Carlisle and Esme following close behind me. I grabbed Emmett by the throat, holding him in place as Carlisle wrapped his arms around his midsection, pinning him to the table. Rosalie was struggling to break free from Esme's grasp and almost did until Alice joined her and together they pulled Rosalie across the room, safely away from Jacob.

It could have stopped there – but it didn't. Sam had planned for this potential outcome and standing just at the border of our property were Embry and Jared. The moment they heard the chaos erupt they had phased and were headed straight in our direction.

Jasper flew from the room and met them outside, trying his hardest to de-escalate the situation before it dissolved further into violence and chaos.

"Emmett, enough!" I shouted, slamming his head against the pine table, effectively cracking it in half. He struggled for a few more seconds before he stilled. Carlisle and I held him there all the same, making sure that he had calmed down enough to be freed.

I quickly peered outside, looking for Jasper and the two remaining wolves. The floor to ceiling glass windows revealed Jasper locked into a fight with both wolves, one charging him from behind while the other was pinned beneath his powerful body.

I threw Emmett against the wall behind me, ran outside, colliding with the wolf that was charging in Jasper's direction.

He jumped back to his feet, shaking his head as though to brush off the collision and then he charged, full force, straight in my direction. I was prepared for this attack as I read his thoughts, anticipating each of his movements and dodging all of them before his razor sharp teeth could connect with the hardened stone of my skin.

I heard the sound of Jacob roaring, phasing into wolf form as he leaped from the porch and past me into the thick of the fight.

"STOP IT!"

Bella's voice broke through the calamity that was unfolding in front of our home. Her tired, strained voice was piercing as ever and the sight of her standing in the doorway, holding onto door handle for support was paralyzing.

Everyone froze, moved to stillness as all eyes remained focused on her.

"Please," she breathed out. Gasping as the cool night air swept past her.

"Bella, are you alright?" Carlisle moved to her side immediately but she tensed as he approached her.

"I'm ok," she assured him "but I don't understand – what's happening?"

"We had a meeting with Jacob, to discuss the next steps in finding… him. And things got a bit out of hand," Jasper explained, standing to his feet as the wolf next to him did the same.

Dammit. He really beat the crap out of her. How the fuck did this happen?

"Jacob?" Bella's weary voice called out. Jacob moved out from behind Jasper and walked towards Bella. His eyes, though he was still in his wolf form, were filled sadness.

Bella rested her hand against the fur of his head and her lips turned up into a small, but genuine, smile.

"I'm ok, Jake," she promised, her body shivering slightly from the cold, evening breeze.

The two wolves standing near the perimeter of our land whined loudly. Jacob's head turned in their direction and he seemed to nod before turning back to Bella and pressing his nose against her hand.

She smiled and rubbed quickly behind his ears.

"Go," she said gently "but please come back? Come visit me soon?"

He nodded and pressed his nose into the palm of her hand once more.

"Be safe, Jake," she whispered. And then he came to stand in front of me, his large eyes filled with questions.

Do you know the scent of the human that left the note? So we can be sure to keep track of whoever that was if they cross through again?

I nodded.

"Carlisle. The note."

Carlisle pulled the balled up note from the pocket of his shirt and handed it to me. I opened it up and held it in front of Jacob's nose.

Got it.

He turned and started walking away but stopped abruptly, twisting his head so he could make eye contact with me.

Is she ok?

I nodded.

She smells like wolf. He thought absently, though I could see the confusion on his face.

He was right – and we all knew it.

The dread I felt in knowing what that may mean overwhelmed me. I looked back at Bella and noted the renewed sadness in her eyes.

Something wasn't right.

A/N: Your reviews from the last chapter gave me life despite a very busy week and a stomach bug! Thanks to those that are reading and to those that are sharing their thoughts about this story and its progression with me. It's invaluable, as a writer, to hear from people that are reading this and to know what they think.

xx,

-mm