A/N: I'm sorry I've kept you waiting so long, but I was terribly busy with my exams (I passed!) and then I was on holiday in Tuscany last week. I got to see Volterra and Montepulciano, where they filmed New Moon. It was amazing!
Lifelines has now over a hundred and twenty reviews, which is more than I ever dreamed I'd receive! Thank you all so much for staying with me and for giving me feedback on a regular basis! You have no idea how much I appreciate it!
Special thanks to my beta KayMarie XW, who has done a wonderful job with this chapter. Her suggestions have made it better! You should definitely check out her story Resonating Light!
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This is a two-part chapter, because there is so much happening in it that it would have gotten far too long to read comfortably on a computer screen. I hope you don't mind and that you enjoy it! Please let me know what you think about it.
Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.
20. GHOSTS, PART 1
BELLA
The night outside was as black as my soul. I sat huddled in the seat next to Edward's, staring outside without really seeing anything. I felt Edward shift every now and then— this was one of the many human habits I had yet to acquire, but I couldn't have cared less about that at the moment. It didn't matter anyway. Not right now.
We were alone; the only passengers on a plane to Minneapolis. The flight attendant had retired as soon as she'd been convinced that we were fast asleep. I would have given anything to be able to fall asleep like a human and to escape reality for a few hours. If I'd still been able to sleep, then this could have been a dream. Obviously a bad dream—a nightmare even—but a dream nonetheless. That would have been better, much better, than the living nightmare that it actually was.
But I couldn't sleep, so this was real and it was all my fault.
I'd thought it couldn't get any worse, that there was nothing Victoria could do to me now that I wouldn't be able to survive with my family and Jake at my side. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I'd been a fool to assume that she'd already hurt me as much as she could.
A few hours ago, hours that now felt like years, everything had been fine, almost perfect. I'd been happy, happier than I'd been since I was eighteen and Edward left me, and hopeful. I had allowed myself to dream of a better, brighter future, a future without darkness and loneliness and pain. I shouldn't have, I knew that now. If I hadn't allowed myself to hope, it wouldn't hurt so badly. I'd dared to hope and Victoria had taken that hope away from me again, just like she always did. I should have expected it.
I was a fool.
It was four in the morning and we'd arrive in Minneapolis in less than two hours. I wasn't looking forward to waiting, knowing it would make me feel even more on edge, but there was nothing I could do about it. As Edward had pointed out, being stuck at St. Paul for two hours was still better than being stuck in Anchorage for another fourteen while we waited for the next non-stop flight to Chicago—and it was faster than driving or running. I knew he was right, but I couldn't shake the feeling that we were running out of time. If we hadn't already.
Please let us be there in time, I thought desperately.
"We don't know it was Victoria," Jake had said before I'd even known what was going on; he'd called me down again just a few minutes after I'd gone upstairs to read a novel, something I hadn't done in almost two years.
"What?" I'd asked, confused and a little worried by the edge in his voice and his hardened expression. Then I'd looked at the frozen television screen, following Jake's gaze, and suddenly it all made perfect sense.
"I should have warned her," I whispered, only realising that I'd spoken aloud when Edward gently put his hand on my shoulder and asked, in that same calm, soothing voice he'd used ever since he and Alice showed up at my house a few hours earlier, "And what would you have told her?"
I shrugged, my hands balling into fists. I knew he was right—again—but I couldn't help feeling that I should have done something, anything. Maybe I could have prevented this, if only I hadn't been so careless. If only I hadn't assumed that Victoria would leave her alone.
No, I realised bitterly, that's not right. I hadn't simply not assumed that Victoria wouldn't go after Olivia, the only real friend I'd ever made after I left Forks; it had never even occurred to me to begin with. I hadn't seen or spoken to her in two years, had ignored all of her attempts to get in touch again until she'd given up. And for some reason that made it even worse, made me feel even more guilty than it would have if I'd known Victoria might go after someone who'd once been one of my closest friends, but hadn't acted on it.
"I should have warned her," I repeated. My hands fell back into my lap. Edward didn't answer, but he gently squeezed my shoulder, trying to give me what little comfort he could offer. I leaned into his touch despite myself, despite the fact that I hadn't forgiven him yet and maybe never could. I was grateful for his presence and tried to ignore the small voice in the back of my mind—which, curiously, sounded a lot like my mother—that kept insisting that I should keep my distance, that I should send him away after all he'd put me through.
But I couldn't.
I needed him, it was as simple as that. I didn't have the strength to ask him to leave me even though reason—still speaking with the voice of my mother, which I found very odd, because if my mother was lacking something, then it was common sense—dictated that I should. I felt drained and depleted as it was. Without Edward I would have felt lost as well.
"It's not your fault," Edward said after a while. "Even if you'd warned her—and you couldn't, not without revealing our existence to her—she probably wouldn't have believed you. What would you have said to her? That a vampire was coming after her, because your former vampire ex-boyfriend killed her lover, also a vampire, in order to save your life? Besides," he paused, and I knew he was going to say the same thing he'd said to me before, the said thing Jake had repeated over and over again, trying to calm me down while we waited for Alice and Edward, "we don't even know that it was her. How do you know your friend didn't just pack her things and leave?"
"She wouldn't," I said. "She loves her parents. She'd never do that to them."
"Sometimes humans do strange things, Bella."
"Liv wouldn't hurt her parents like that," I replied, my answer sounding harsher than I'd meant it to, but Edward didn't take offence. He simply smiled sympathetically, squeezing my shoulder one last time before he let go and fell silent. I wrapped my arms around myself, looking outside again, wishing the darkness would engulf me, take me away and put an end to all that pain.
I didn't believe for a second that Liv had just walked away, leaving all she'd ever wanted, had ever dreamt of, behind.
I didn't know much about the kind of life Liv led now. I hadn't known she'd left California, but I wasn't very surprised. She'd only stayed there because of me—and her on and off girlfriend Eden—and had always wanted to return to Chicago someday, where she'd been born and raised. Aside from that I knew very little, only what had been on the news. She was working at the Cook County Hospital, where we'd both spent our horrible stint as a surgeon all those years ago. The news programme had speculated that she had probably been abducted on her way to work. Jake had been able to access the missing person's report in the database of the Chicago Police Department, but it hadn't told us anything new except for the addresses of Liv and her parents, which were now etched into my mind.
I'd known my way around Chicago once, but my memories of those six months were just as blurry and useless as all my other human memories.
"Please don't blame yourself," Edward said softly.
I didn't look up. "Who else is there to blame? Those women and children were killed because of me and poor Freya was changed because of me. Jake left his home and his pack and probably his job because of me. And now Liv might die because of me, because Victoria hates me and wants to punish me for something that was never my fault."
"Exactly." Edward's fingers gently lifted my chin, so that I was facing him again, my skin tingling slightly at the contact. I saw bitterness flicker in his eyes, bitterness he didn't bother to hide. "It's not your fault," he said again. "Victoria decided to come after you, because she's hurting and because she believes that hurting you is the easiest way to hurt me. You're as much a victim as everyone else."
He paused for a moment as one of the flight attendants peeked out from behind the heavy blue curtain, the fabric swishing quietly around his feet. When he was gone, Edward continued, "I know you feel responsible. We all do and we are. If I hadn't been so preoccupied with James that night in the clearing and if I'd paid more attention to Victoria's thoughts, I would have known that they were mates. It would have changed everything."
"Would it?" I asked. "Would you have stayed?" I probably shouldn't have asked that question then and there, when there was so much at stake, so much to be lost. I should have focused on Liv and how to save her before it was too late and shouldn't have put my own problems first.
But I did. Because I knew I would be distracted until I understood.
"Yes," Edward whispered without hesitating. "Yes, I would have stayed. I only left because I thought you'd be safer without me, without my family as a constant threat. I was wrong, obviously, just as it was wrong to leave you. I shouldn't have left because you were in danger. I shouldn't have left, because I knew that it was wrong and that my actions would hurt you. And because I loved you and knew I'd always love you. I'm sorry I didn't realise that sooner. If I had… Well, things might have turned out differently."
Silence again. The sky was beginning to turn blue, the clouds below us looking almost black in comparison. We'd sink below the clouds before the sun was up, and Alice had promised us grey skies and rain in both Minneapolis and Chicago for the next couple of days.
"We can't change what happened," I said, when the pink sky had given way to thick grey clouds heavy with rain, the cold, crisp air outside the plane smelling of water. I didn't look at Edward, but I could feel his eyes on me. "I wish we could. I wish we could go back in time. I wish you hadn't left me me and I wish that Victoria had never changed me, but we're stuck with the consequences of the decisions we made." Your decisions, I thought, but I didn't say it out loud. Edward knew that as well as I did. "I don't know if there's a future for us."
He didn't answer for a very long time. When he did, his voice was strangely flat and hollow. "I am so sorry." Startled, I realised that he was trying not to cry. I'd never seen him lose control of himself and wished, for a moment, that I could take back what I'd just said.
No, I told myself firmly. He needed to know what he'd done to me, needed to know how I felt and if my words hurt him, then I couldn't change that, because it was the truth and I wouldn't lie to him.
There'd been too many lies already in the past.
"What you did to me," I said softly, "almost destroyed me." I did look at him then. He'd grown very still in his seat, fear flashing in his golden eyes. "I don't know what made you think that I'd ever get over you. I tried. I tried so very hard, because I knew you'd never come back. You'd made that very clear." As blurry and vague most of my human memories were, the ones of the night in the forest, of Edward telling me that he didn't love me anymore, were painfully clear and bitterness crept into my voice. Edward's gaze dropped. Maybe he was ashamed.
But maybe he didn't want me to see the pain in his eyes.
"But no matter how hard I tried I couldn't forget you. The first few months were … bad. I felt as if you had died, as if I had died. I guess you could say I was mourning, but truth was that I just wasn't dealing very well, because I didn't know how. Eventually, Charlie threatened to send me back to Florida. That was about the same time I started hanging out with Jake." I smiled at the warmth in my voice that was always there when I spoke about him. "I don't know what I would have become without him. He brought the sun back into my life. He kept me sane. But even he couldn't chase all the shadows and all the nightmares away. They became less frequent, but they always came back and sometimes I'd wake screaming, just like I had when you first left me."
A memory pushed itself to the surface of my mind, Liv charging into my room swinging a baseball bat, coming to my help, because she'd thought I was being attacked. My hands clenched into fists. "The dream never changed. I was alone in the forest and you had just left me and darkness was threatening to crush me. I always tried to run after you even though I knew that you were long gone and…" My voice broke off. I'd never told anyone about that dream, not Charlie, not Liv, not even Jake. "It hurt so much," I said, surprised at how calm my voice sounded, "and I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you for hurting me like that. I love you, Edward, and I always will, but I don't know if that's enough."
"I understand," Edward whispered, never looking up. I wanted to reach out to him and comfort him like he'd comforted me before. But this was different. This was our pain, so I couldn't take it away.
And I didn't want to.
Looking away again, I realised that I'd finally managed to think about something else and chase the image of a brightly smiling Liv to the back of my mind. When I'd seen her picture on television, I'd recognised her instantly just like Jake had, because she hadn't changed at all. She still wore her brown hair that would glow red in the sun just like mine used to, tied into a sloppy ponytail. She still had those awful black-rimmed glasses that had cost a fortune and were supposed to be very fashionable, but didn't suit her at all. What had her life been like after I'd left? She'd returned to Chicago, obviously, but aside from that? Was she still dating Eden? Did she still eat dry pasta when she wasn't in the mood to cook?
If we'd still been in touch I might have found out about her disappearance sooner. I knew how lucky I was that Jake had decided to watch the news before he went to sleep. I would have never learned that she was missing otherwise. Oh, my mind remarked dismissively at that, I'm sure Victoria would have found a way to get your attention.
Well, she'd succeeded.
I wrapped my arms around myself, anxiety slithering slowly up my spine. I was well aware that this was a trap; I wasn't that stupid. Still, if Jake hadn't called Alice while I'd been busy packing and calling the airline, I would have been on my own, and alone I didn't stand a chance. My fighting skills—if you could call them that—wouldn't keep me alive for more than half a second, but I hadn't been able to think straight. Panic had overpowered me, and when Edward had taken over, calling the airline and booking the flight, I hadn't objected. He hadn't tried to talk me out of going to Chicago, but neither he nor Alice or Jake had wanted me to go alone.
Which, I reflected, was a good thing. Just a few hours alone I would have avoided being alone with Edward like the plague. Now I was grateful that he was here. Funny, I thought with morbid amusement, how matters of life and death put everything into perspective.
We hadn't spoken yet about what we'd do once we arrived. Frankly, I was glad that Edward hadn't asked, because I didn't exactly have a plan. I'd have talk to Liv's parents and check out her home, but while the latter was easy, I had no clue as to how to go about the former. Liv's grandfather happened to be the mayor of Chicago, so her family was probably under siege. I would never be able to get to them, especially not if Liv's parents didn't want to see me. They were very close and Liv would have told her mother that I'd disappeared without a word and had never called or answered any of her e-mails or letters that she'd sent Jake, hoping he'd forward them to me. If she didn't want to talk to me I could hardly blame her.
But I needed to know what had happened, if Liv had mentioned anything to them, if they knew anything that might be of use. The chances that they'd be able to help us were slim at best, but I had to give it a try.
Because there wasn't really anything else I could do.
"We'll find her."
I glanced up at Edward's calm, reassuring words. He gazed at me levelly, no hint of the pain I'd seen before in his eyes. He was trying to offer comfort despite everything I'd said to him. Reaching out, he placed his hand on my shoulder again. I closed my eyes; the warmth of his touch, which I had yet to grow accustomed to, made my skin tingle.
"I hope you're right," I replied in a whisper, despair heavy in my stomach like a lump of iron.
I didn't want Liv to die because of me.
xx
As Alice had promised, it was pouring when we arrived in Chicago. Edward vanished to pick up the keys for the rental car he'd thought to arrange for, while I stood in front of the terminal in the rain and tried to remember. the first time I'd arrived here I wish I could have remembered, but my mind was blank, the memories of my first day in Chicago were gone. Knowing I'd been here before, stood probably on this very spot while I'd been waiting for a cab, but unable to remember any of it was very disconcerting.
Chicago had been Liv's idea. Without her I'd never have set foot in the city where Edward had been born and raised, the city where he'd died and where Carlisle had changed him almost a century ago. I'd enjoyed working here more than I'd expected—Liv had done her best to make me fall in love with the city—but I would never have been able to live here for more than a few months, not with Edward constantly haunting me. Liv had followed me back to Pasadena. I wasn't sure why she had, because she'd always wanted to return to Chicago, but when I'd told her I was leaving, she'd sent in her letter of resignation and started packing.
"Are you alright?"
I turned. Edward had approached without me noticing. An electronic car key was dangling from his hand.
"Yeah," I replied, frowning. "I've just been trying to remember, but I can't and that's very frustrating. I lived here for six months and all I seem to be able to remember are fragments, and not very many."
Edward smiled sympathetically. Picking up my duffel bag as well as his own carryall, ever the gentleman, he set off towards the parking lot across the street, neither of us paying much attention to the rain. Umbrellas of all colours and sized hurried past us, their owners regarding us with expressions that ranged from disbelief to shock.
Humans.
"You'll get used to it," he said after a moment, scanning the rows of parked cars for ours. "I never thought I would, but in the end I did. There are so many new memories, so many new experiences. What once was doesn't matter anymore after a while. The city the way I recollect it, partially at least," he continued after he'd unlocked the car and tossed our bags into the trunk, "doesn't exist anymore. I don't come here as often as I used to. Chicago has changed so much over the past century that it just doesn't feel like home to me anymore." He shrugged. "I can't imagine living here. Not anymore. Besides," he flashed a smile at me, and I felt my lips curve into a smile of my own almost automatically, "it wouldn't be very practical. Too much sunshine."
"Not today," I remarked as I slid into the car beside him. "I suppose you have to thank God for small favours."
As Chicago was three hours ahead of Anchorage time-wise, it was just a before noon and the streets were jam-packed full of cars and buses. According to Edward, Liv's parents didn't live that far from the airport, but as we moved about as fast as a snail, it took us almost an hour and a half to get there.
"You know what's strange?" I asked, deciding we might as well use the time to come up with a plan since I still didn't have one. Besides, Edward could probably use a distraction. He didn't seem to like being stuck in traffic any more than I did—really, was there anyone who did?—and while I could just turn up the music to drown out the words of the people around me and sit it out, he'd be forced to hear their agitated thoughts, which couldn't be pleasant at all. I'd never have noticed his tension if I hadn't been a vampire myself, because he didn't fidget as a human would have, but as vampires tended to grow very still when under stress, I was well aware of it.
"Enlighten me," he said, his voice cool and polite.
I grimaced, but I didn't take it personally. "It's OK to yell at them, you know," I replied, at which he snorted. I sighed, shaking my head just a little. You just couldn't take the gentleman out of the vampire, I guess. "Well," I continued, "according to Liv's missing person's report, she disappeared on her way to work Friday morning. I was attacked Thursday night. You said that you didn't find anything that would suggest that there was another vampire in the forest that night, aside from Freya and the others." I paused. Edward didn't seem to have anything to say—though that was probably because of a car that ignored a stop sign and didn't crash into us only because he stomped on the brakes—and I went on, "With nobody to tell her, how could Victoria have known so fast that I wasn't dead and acted on it?"
Edward frowned, momentarily forgetting to glare at the driver, who'd almost totalled his car and probably ours as well. "I suppose she could have a human contact in the city who keeps her informed, but Victoria doesn't really strike me as the kind of vampire who'd trust a human enough to let him work for her, useful as he may be. Besides, how would a human know what happened Thursday night?"
"So?" I prompted.
"Jasper, Emmett, Eleazar and I have scouted the area several times in the past forty-eight hours and we've found nothing that would indicate the presence of another vampire. Jasper and Emmett have been trying to find Adam, but he's probably dead. It would explain why Alice can't see him and I wouldn't put it past Victoria to get rid of someone who's fulfilled his purpose."
"No," I agreed, grimacing a little despite the fact that I didn't feel the least bit sorry for this Adam guy, not after I'd learned what he'd done to Freya and the other vampires. Nobody deserved to be treated like that, least of all an eleven-year-old child.
"Victoria isn't probably even in Anchorage anymore," Edward continued. "It's hard to tell, of course, because of the snow, which would have masked her trails, but personally I think she left right after she killed the last child. It would have been too dangerous for her to stay and Victoria has proved amply that she knows when it's time for her to leave. Anyway, I suspect that Victoria has no idea yet that you're not dead. As for kidnapping your friend…" He shrugged. "Victoria must have made contingency plans. A human life means very little to her, and if her first attempt at having you killed had succeeded, she'd have simply killed her and be done with it."
"It sounds like something Victoria would do," I whispered after a while, wishing I hadn't asked. My mind helpfully provided all sorts of images of Liv at Victoria's mercy and every single one made me sick to my stomach. If only I wasn't too late. If only we'd manage to find her.
If only Victoria didn't hurt her.
I balled my hands into fists. Edward glanced at me, frowning. "Bella?"
"If she hurts her," I whispered, a little surprised at the steely determination in my voice, "I'll make her suffer, I swear I will."
Edward's lips curved into a very, very cold smile. "I'll hold her down for you," he promised. "Any idea where we should go first?"
"Her parents' place, I think. They probably don't know anything, but still I want to talk to them."
Edward gave a curt nod.
Looking outside, I watched the city crawl past. Don't let us be too late, I pleaded. My words weren't directed at anyone in particular. I didn't believe in God, not really. How could I when so many bad things had happened to me? But I was sadly out of options. I needed all the help I could get and maybe, just maybe someone or something out there was listening.
If not for my sake, then for Liv's.
xx
I hadn't been paying close attention to my surroundings, wrapped up in my thoughts as I was, so Edward startled me when he said, "It's over there." He pulled up on the curb, managing to squeeze the car into a parking space I would have thought too small.
Looking outside, I followed his gaze. I was certain—as certain as you can't be when you have no visual memories of an event—that I'd never been in this part of the city before, which meant that Liv's parents must have moved sometime in the last two years. I'd feared that it would take us forever to find the right apartment building among the two dozen or so that rose into the cloudy sky, but I needn't have worried.
I felt my lips tighten as I stared at the media vans, at least half a dozen, parked in front of an apartment building on the left a little way down the street. The reporters and their camera crews were milling about on the pavement in front of it, a safe distance from the policemen on either side of the entrance, who glared at everyone happening to glance their way.
The media, it seemed, were having a field day.
I could hear them shouting at each other, caught bits and pieces of whispered conversations about how to get past the policemen and onto the eighth floor, where Liv's parents lived. I bared my teeth, snarling viciously. It was disgusting. Edward glanced my way, his face blank and devoid of emotion and his eyes hard. I didn't ask what the media people were thinking. I really didn't want to know.
"Things would be much easier if we could simply walk in there," Edward said two minutes later. With people busy staring, we'd climbed the apartment building across the street, literally scaring a nesting pigeon to death—the poor thing had taken one look at us and dropped dead after a single fluttering hop.
I grimaced.
"Well, it's true," Edward said, shrugging. "I'm going first unless you insist."
"Be my guest," I muttered. The building we'd chosen was several floors higher than the one Liv's parents lived in, which would make jumping across a little easier and we had to jump, because Edward was right. We'd never get in through the door. Luckily, there was no policeman in front of the apartment and the roof was unprotected as well.
Edward leapt across in a blur, landing on the other side with the grace of a bird of prey and the noise of a bear—a very tired and disoriented bear just out of hibernation—running headfirst into a tree. I saw him scowl and grinned. I didn't know about Edward, but the last time I'd stepped onto a scale I'd weighed roughly twenty pounds more than I had as a human, for whatever reason.
"I think you should try and land on the fire escape," Edward said, still frowning a little at the hole he must have left in the concrete.
I rolled my eyes and jumped, no nearly as gracefully as Edward had, but as that was because of the strange angle in which I had to fling myself over, I didn't give it too much thought. My fingers gripping the rail of the metal platform, I pulled myself up. I inspected the the rail to make sure my fingers hadn't twisted it, then gave the door that led into the building a tentative shove. It didn't budge. Peering through the safety glass, I saw a handle on the other side of the door.
Edward appeared next to me and very unceremoniously pried the door out of its hinges, though I had no idea how he managed to do so without any noise. As soon as we were inside, the put it back in place, although I seriously doubted that it would open after that.
Edward led the way, having a better notion of where to go. I felt anxiety stir again. Would Liv's parents talk to me? Would they even let me in? I'd understand if they didn't want to see me, but I had to talk to them. Hopefully, Edward would be able to learn something useful even if they refused.
"That's it," Edward announced eventually, jerking his chin at a door, the numbers two, eight and four above the nameplate in silver letters. Before I could change my mind, Edward had raised his hand and knocked twice.
I heard steps on the other side of the door, then a dog started barking, the kind of high-pitched yapping only a very little dog could produce. "Oh, be quiet," a woman said, annoyed, and the barking grew quieter, as if the dog had been locked into another room. Finally, the door opened, a woman looking levelly at both of us, with an expression that I didn't know what to make of.
Liv's mother hadn't changed at all. Her hair was still as dark as her daughter's, with very little grey in it, her blue eyes piercing and sharp. She was wearing a black business suit and artfully applied make-up, looking as if she'd just stepped out of an important meeting. "Well," she said, folding her arms in front of her chest and regarding me with raised eyebrows, "if it isn't Bella Swan." Her lips twitched a little. "And who might you be, young man?"
"I'm Edward Cullen," Edward replied politely as ever, throwing in a crooked smile for good measure, but unfortunately Caroline Alden didn't seem to be in the mood to be dazzled. "I'm a friend of Bella's."
"Really?" Caroline Alden pursed her lips, then snorted. "Well, as you're here, you might as well come on in. You can tell me how you got past the police." Following her inside, we found ourselves in a bright apartment. Everything in here was light. Light hardwood floor, light furniture, light accessories.
We were led into a generous living room. A little dining table with only four chairs sat in one corner, a large flat screen in another. Few pictures hung on the walls, which had been painted in what I recognised—thanks to Alice—as tangerine yellow, but the pictures that were on display had been chosen with care. Caroline and George Alden's wedding. Liv's christening. Liv's first birthday. Liv's sweet sixteen. Liv's high school graduation. Liv's graduation from med school.
"So?" Caroline Alden prompted, leaning against the frame of the door. "How'd you get in?"
"We used the fire escape," Edward replied, his lips twitching into a smile. Caroline Alden's eyebrows almost disappeared into her hairline.
"Really," she said again, somewhat ironically. It was obvious she didn't believe a word of what Edward had said. "Well." Pursing her lips, she looked first at me, then at Edward, probably trying to discern what we were really up to. "I suppose you've heard about Liv?" It wasn't really a question and she continued before either of us had a chance to reply, "You haven't spoken to my daughter in two years and suddenly you're interested in her again?" She snorted again. "I find that hard to believe."
"I had my reasons to leave," I replied as quietly as I could, trying not to show how much Caroline Alden's words had hit home. If not for Victoria, I'd probably have forgotten Liv eventually. I was only here because of that, not because of Liv herself. "It was better," I said. "Safer."
Caroline Alden simply lifted her eyebrows at me again.
"We were attending a medical conference in Minneapolis when we heard about Olivia," Edward said. "Bella was very worried, so we decided to fly over. We're very sorry."
"Yes, everyone's being very sorry," Caroline Alden snapped, scowling at each of us in turn. "And what good does it do to be sorry? My daughter's missing, maybe already dead and people are sorry." I glanced at Edward, who shook his head slightly, just as much at a loss as I was. I didn't know what I'd expected, but certainly not this. I remembered Liv's mother as a quiet, composed woman, who'd always smiled and never said a bad word to anyone, always seeing the good in people. Then again, I'd never seen her under stress and maybe she was just as incapable of showing grace under pressure as I was.
"What else are people supposed to say to show their support?" I asked, deciding to take a more direct approach.
"Nothing at all," Caroline Alden replied harshly. "It's bad enough for us as it is. We don't need people making us feel even worse."
"We're very sorry if we've offended you," Edward said. "We didn't mean to. We're only here, because we were worried. We'll completely understand if you want us to leave."
Caroline Alden sighed and ran her hand through her hair wavy brown hair. "Oh, well, now that you're here you might as well stay. I talked George into going grocery shopping, but he should be back in a few minutes and I'm sure he'll be very happy to see you." Her blue eyes twinkled, her expression growing almost mischievous. "I'm sure he'd like to show you his newest acquisitions. His collection has grown quite a lot and as you seemed so interested in our family history the last time, I'm sure it'll be a treat for you. Besides," a little sigh, "he could use the distraction." With that she turned and stomped out of the living room. A door was opened and shut. The little dog started barking again and was barked at in return.
"What was she talking about?" Edward asked curiously.
I shrugged. "I have no idea. I do remember Liv's father telling me about their family history, but I don't remember much of it. His great-grandparents moved here around 1890, but only Liv's great-great-grandfather George senior and her great-grandmother Frances survived the Spanish Flu." I frowned. "I can't remember for the life of me why I'd be so interested in that."
Edward was looking at me with a very odd expression.
"What?" I asked. Edward shook his head, but the frown that creased his forehead didn't disappear. I was about to demand what he was thinking—if he'd picked something up about Liv I needed to know—just as Caroline Alden rushed back into the room, carrying a tray holding tea and cake. The little dog, a longhaired chihuahua as far as I could tell, was darting around her legs, still yapping furiously. Amused, I watched it run full-speed towards us, its little teeth bared and wet with saliva, then its confusion as it realised that it wasn't the only predator present. I'd never have hurt a pet—dogs, or cats for that matter, didn't taste very good—but the dog didn't know that. Bracing his paws against the floor, it tried to brake, but as the floor seemed to have been policed recently it didn't find purchase until it thought to use its claws as well. Whining, it spun around once it had managed to stop and vanished, moving surprisingly fast for so little an animal.
Caroline Alden stared after it in confusion. Turning, I saw Edward trying to stifle a laugh and, when that didn't work so well, turning it into a very convincing cough. I raised an eyebrow.
"Most people don't seem to like that … creature very much," Edward explained, his voice low and inaudible for human ears. "They find it annoying."
"Hard to believe," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "And what's so funny about that?"
"Nothing actually, just that she'd thought we'd find that thing just as irritating as everyone else."
I sighed. "Is she very angry at me?"
"No, surprisingly not. Disappointed, because Liv was very worried when you disappeared so suddenly and without any warning, but she's still very fond of you. She doesn't mind you being here. In fact, she'd glad you still seem to care about her daughter, but she's determined not to let you off the hook easily."
"I deserve that, I guess," I replied unhappily, although I probably should have considered myself lucky that Liv's mother didn't hate me as I'd feared. But I felt like I was being blamed for something that wasn't my fault, because I'd never had a say in the matter. I'd been changed against my will and I'd had to leave against my will, because if I hadn't, I would have put everyone around me in danger.
"No," Edward said firmly, his eyes meeting mine. "You don't deserve that."
Caroline Alden, oblivious to our exchange, placed the tray carefully on the small coffee table in front of the sofa where we'd sat down, handing Edward a steaming mug of tea, which he immediately held out for me to take. I suppose old habits died hard, even human habits.
"Well," Caroline Alden said, stirring sugar into her own cup, "I'm curious. Why exactly have you come? And don't tell me it's because you're worried about Liv. People don't get on a plane and fly four hundred miles just because someone they were once friends with disappeared."
Edward and I exchanged a quick glance. I couldn't possibly tell her that I knew who'd taken her daughter and why, not because she wouldn't believe me—knowing her mother, she just might—but because it would have been too dangerous for her to know.
She sighed, putting her mug aside without ever having touched it. "You're not going to tell me, are you? Well, I guess now that you're here, I might as well tell you what I know. Why don't you tell me what you already know and I fill in the blanks?"
I quickly glanced at Edward, who nodded ever so slightly. Wishing I was able to look into Caroline Alden's mind as well, which must have been a very interesting place, I gave a short account of what we'd learned so far, editing just a little.
"You know almost everything already, then." Caroline Alden smiled thinly. "Well, we know that Liv disappeared on her way to work, because the hospital called her home when she didn't show up for her shift and her girlfriend—well, ex-girlfriend I guess—Eden Wallace, who happened to take the call, informed us. Dad thinks her abduction's connected to his upcoming election, but I don't really believe that. He's just a mayor for heaven's sake, not the President of the United States. It's what I told the police, but of course they're more inclined to believe him."
"Has your daughter noticed anything strange recently?" Edward asked. "Was someone following her, someone she's never seen before? Did she mention something like that to you?"
Caroline Alden pursed her lips, frowning. "Not that I recall. You'd have to ask Eden, though they haven't exactly been on speaking terms lately. Liv thinks it's time to move on, Eden doesn't agree." She waved her hand dismissively. "That kind of thing, you know. She only knows about Liv's disappearance, because they still live together as she hasn't found a place to stay yet." She looked at me. "Liv and Eden moved into the manor after she'd left Pasadena. I don't know if you remember. I think George took the two of you on a tour once, because it's really impressive. Nobody's lived in there for ten years, with us moving out when Liv left to go to college, but as it was always meant to be hers anyway, we gave it to her when she came back."
"The manor down in Lincoln Park?" I asked slowly, trying to remember. I faintly recalled a row of beautifully restored houses right at the edge of the park, all of them very impressive to behold. My memories were dim, as if I was seeing everything through steamed up glass. "The house next to it," I asked eventually, just to be sure my mind wasn't making things up, "did it have stained glass windows? With, uh, angels or something?"
"Victoria's Riflebirds," Edward said.
"I beg your pardon?"
"They're Victoria's Riflebirds," Edward explained, smiling a little at our confused expressions, but it was a strange, hollow smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Australian birds-of-paradise."
"How would you know that?" Caroline Alden asked suspiciously, then obviously decided that it didn't matter very much right now. "Anyway, that's the one. I'll give you Eden's number, so you can give her a call. Just a moment." She disappeared back into the kitchen, where I could hear her rummage around, searching for something to write. The dog, apparently having recovered, was yapping again, his nails clicking noisily over the tiles.
"Let's drop our bags off at my place before we go see Eden," Edward suggested, still with that odd expression on his face that I had no idea what to make of and frankly wasn't in the mood to try and decipher. Talking to Liv's mother hadn't told us anything new and I seriously doubted that Eden would know anything, provided she'd even speak to me, of course—our relationship had always been a little strained. I hoped we'd at least come across the scent of the vampire who'd taken her, despite the fact that it had been raining as much in Chicago in the past two days as it had been snowing back home. The rain would have washed everything away.
"I suppose," I replied, just as Caroline Alden returned with Eden's number. I stuffed the yellow post-it into the pocket of my jeans and thanked her, unable to quell the frustration that was hovering in the back of my mind.
What if we didn't find anything at all? What would we do then?
How was I supposed to save Liv when I had no way of tracking her down?
tbc
xx
What do you think?