A/N: Here's the next chapter. Enjoy! And please don't come after me with pitchforks!

Thank you all for reviewing, adding LL to their favourites/story alerts lists and me on their favourite authors list. It means a lot to me!

I have four more chapters ready and working on a fifth. So you can look forward to weekly updates. Please remind me if I forgot. My brain is a sieve.

A very special thank you to KayMarieXW for being an amazing beta and a wonderful friend!

Thank you for your opinion on the rating matter. I am not sure the chapter in question actually warrants an M rating; I am probably being over cautious. So if I come to the conclusion that it does, I'll just change it.

Recap: Bella and Edward have arrived in Helena, setting the plan to take out Victoria in motion. But will everything go as planned?

Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing!

39. UNFORESEEN

EDWARD

Nothing goes as planned

Everything will break

In My Veins by Andrew Belle

Alice's instructions were simple—under no circumstances follow Bella and instead meet up with the others at the rendezvous point. So far my actions didn't seem to have had affected the future Alice had seen, but she didn't want to take any chances.

I wasn't particularly looking forward to seeing the others after what I had done, but I would have had to face them eventually anyway. Might as well get it over with now and not delay the inevitable.

Still, the thought didn't fill me with happy anticipation and neither did the fact that I would have to leave Bella at the airport. But I had no choice. Although I wanted to believe Bella's reassurance—wanted to believe it badly—that she wouldn't leave me, a sliver of doubt remained. How long would she put up with me before she realised that I was incapable of changing?

And so I would stay away from her. I had to trust Alice that it would turn out okay and I had to trust Bella to handle the situation.

We didn't say goodbye at the airport because of the not unlikely possibility that Victoria had someone who reported back to her at this airport too. Bella ignored me as we stepped off the plane and when I tried to talk to her in the arrival hall, she brushed me off with an irritated, "Leave me alone, Edward!" loud enough for a security guard to overhear. The woman gave me a suspicious look, her right hand on the butt of her holstered weapon.

Causing the kind of scene that would end with me locked up someone wasn't a very good idea now, so I fell back, watching as Bella strode outside with her bag over her shoulder.

Helena Regional Airport was tiny, but very busy though that was probably mostly because of the weather. It looked like it would start raining soon and people crowded in on the area by the windows, looking up at the black sky. I had to wait for Bella and her 'escort' to be gone before I left. I couldn't risk to be followed.

As I waited I searched for the minds of the vampires Alice had seen. They were already here. I couldn't see Bella anymore, but they could—in their minds, I watched her head towards the cab stand. One of the vampires closed in on her and I saw her scan the crowd. Her eyes found his and they widened, her grip on the strap of her bag tightening almost imperceptibly.

My hands clenched into fists and I locked my muscles in place because I knew the second they touched her I wanted to come after them. Hot anger boiled in my chest at the thought of having to watch what would happen without being able to do anything about it.

After that it all happened very quickly. A second vampire, easily the largest vampire I had ever see, appeared behind Bella while she was distracted, then his friend crossed the distance between them in a heartbeat and made a grab for Bella.

I ground my teeth together to keep the snarl from ripping out of my throat.

She put up the hell of a fight as they dragged her towards a black non-descript SUV that was parked nearby. They got in and drove off.

Only half a minute had passed.

Realising I had been holding my breath, I let it out slowly. My heart felt heavy. She was gone and if I didn't start following her now, I'd never be able to track her down anytime soon. But I couldn't and I forced myself to wait, every muscle locked to keep me from running after her. I hadn't thought it would be this hard to keep my promise, this painful. The urge to go after her was so overwhelming that it felt like my body was pulled into every direction at once, threatening to break under the pressure.

Then the minds finally slipped out of reach.

She's going to be alright, I told myself, but the lump in my throat wouldn't go away as I started towards the doors. It felt like I was abandoning her, although I knew that wasn't true. I was doing what she'd asked me to.

So why was it so hard?

I stepped outside into the fierce wind, buttoning up my coat as I went. The airport was about eight miles outside of Helena and I only had to walk a little distance until I was out of sight. As I walked I read the minds around me. Almost everyone was focused on the approaching storm. All flights had been cancelled because of the weather; ours had been the last to land.

I had just crossed the parking area and was about to slip into the trees when I heard them. For a moment I thought the vampires who had taken Bella were back—then I realised that their minds sounded different. I paused, glancing over my shoulder, but I didn't see them. But form what they could see at the moment they had to be close by. They were looking at a slice of the parking lot, the trees that clustered the side of the road and the cab stand. Judging by the angle of their respective perspectives, I summarised they were parked behind the line of cabs.

But even though they hadn't seen me yet—they appeared to have arrived late and missed me exiting the airport—they knew where I was. Or rather one of them did. The female knew where I was the way I knew that my right hand was firmly attached to my body: she felt my presence in her mind, like I was a fifth limb.

That couldn't be good.

But just because they hadn't starred in Alice's vision, didn't mean they hadn't been part of the future she had seen. And when she had spoken to Bella shortly before we had landed, she hadn't mentioned any problems. Surely, she'd have called me if that had changed.

I stopped dead in my tracks, horrified, as I realised that my cell phone was still switched off.

Damn it!

Pulling it out of my pocket, I made my way to the trees, even though it was pointless to hide. I was still on their female's radar. In the mind of her friend, I saw her frown ever so slightly as the connection to me seemed to get weaker, but she consoled herself with the knowledge that she could extend her gift further if she had to; she wouldn't lose me again.

My heart sank. I could read minds in a half mile radius, which meant that even if I couldn't hear her thoughts anymore, she'd probably still be able to sense me.

Just great.

Because I couldn't head to the rendezvous point until I got rid of them. They would follow me because they had been tasked with capturing any additional vampires that came in on the flight from Anchorage. A simple precaution? Maybe. It would explain why Alice hadn't seen them when she first had the vision—I hadn't been part of that future then. And now that I was she was focusing on how it would affect Bella's future, not mine.

As I waited for my decrepit cell phone to boot, I wondered how Victoria had been able to recruit so many gifted vampires. Gifts were the exception, not the rule. How had she found them, especially considering how weak a gift's manifestation in a human normally was? Bella was the only human I had known whose gift had been strong already. And how had she convinced them to work for her? I could see why a newborn would follow her, but a nomad? Unless of course she had created all these vampires herself. She had certainly had enough time for that.

"Come on," I muttered angrily, giving my cell phone a good shake. I should have replaced it years ago—it hadn't taken very kindly to being exposed to the harsh Siberian weather. But as many other things I owned it was a link to the past and to the happy, blissful months with Bella in Forks.

This is where nostalgia gets you, I thought, annoyed.

Twelve texts and twice as many missed calls and messages on voice mail.

I cursed silently. Obviously, something had changed in the half hour since Alice's last call.

Staying here any longer probably wasn't the most brilliant idea, but I had to know what Alice had seen. Also, she had made it very clear that I wasn't to do anything other than heading to the rendezvous point without calling her first to make sure it wouldn't backfire. It rankled a little that I had to ask my sister for permission, but in this case it was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, though admitting it even to myself rankled just as much, my sister was usually right.

Alice answered on the first ring. In the background I heard arguing voices, too far away for me to make out what they were saying, and a barely audible noise that sounded like wind whispering through the trees.

They were running.

I checked the time. It was barely an hour after noon. They shouldn't have been on their way yet.

"Alice, what's going on?" I asked. My voice sounded harsher than I had intended; I didn't want her to hear the sudden fear that had gripped me. Something was very, very wrong.

"Get out of there," she said urgently, without a snide remark about my tone. That wasn't like Alice at all and the fear tightened around my chest.

"Why?" I whispered, gripping the cell phone so hard the plastic cracked ominously. When Alice didn't answer immediately, I shouted, "Alice, tell me what's going on!"

The vampires in the car exchanged a quick look. They had heard my exclamation.

"Let's go get him," the male said, climbing out of the car into the howling wind.

The female didn't look very happy, but she shrugged and followed him. They were walking slowly as they had to go past the main airport building to get to the parking area, but once they were out of sight they started running.

So did I, cell phone pressed to my ear as I dashed through the trees.

"Something's changed," Alice choked finally. Jasper murmured something to her that I didn't quite catch, but I thought it sounded like, "It's not your fault."

"What?" I demanded. "What's changed and what isn't your fault?"

Someone growled—Jasper probably.

"Edward?" Carlisle said. He sounded calm and composed, but he always did when he used his doctor voice and he was using it now.

"What is it?" I whispered. The trees were flying by at breakneck speed. Then they suddenly gave way to the road, cars zipping past. I jumped across in one massive bound and hit the ground running. The wind was blowing leaves into my face, and thin branches; I swiped at them with my left hand just to be doing something.

The vampires were still on my trail. I heard them behind me, darting through the forest. The male was tracking by scent, the female merely trailing behind. She knew where I was anyway. Besides, she didn't care much if they actually caught me or not. The Old Lady wouldn't be very happy to learn that they'd failed—and the female wasn't looking forward to telling her—but she knew that she at least would be safe. Her gift was too valuable.

She looked at the broad back of her companion for a moment. Now, if the Old Lady chose to punish him, that was perfectly okay with her. Would serve the bastard right, she thought spitefully.

Old Lady? Victoria?

"Edward?" Carlisle asked, worried, and I realised that I had been too focused on the female's mind to listen to what he was saying.

"Sorry," I replied, pushing myself to run even faster. "I was distracted. I'm being followed."

"Yes, Alice thought this was going to happen. Look, she doesn't know what happened, but whatever it was made her original vision obsolete. Edward," he paused for a moment and I got the impression that whatever he was going to say next, he would have preferred not telling me. But that wasn't like Carlisle. He always told the truth, no matter how hard. "Edward, if they catch you, it would be very, very bad," he said eventually. Sounding uncharacteristically tense, he continued, "Bad for you, but particularly bad for Bella. So make sure that they don't."

"What did Alice see?" I demanded harshly. I could feel the panic descend, but I fought it. I needed a clear head.

"I had rather not tell you, son," Carlisle said, strained.

"She saw her get killed, didn't she?" That was what I had been afraid of—that something would go wrong and that they'd kill Bella before we could reach her. The panic clawed at my mind. She can't die, I thought desperately. She just can't!

"Well… Not exactly," Carlisle replied and there was something in his voice that I couldn't immediately identify. Suppressed anger?

"Carlisle, please tell me," I whispered miserably. "Please. I have to know."

For a second or two there was silence on the other end of the line. I heard birds chirp and leaves rustle. Nobody was speaking.

Oh God oh God oh God oh God oh God.

"Fine," Carlisle finally said. He sounded weary. "In her vision, Alice saw Bella … vampire she hasn't seen before … you watch…"

"What?" I asked, unable to keep the panic out of my voice. I must have entered a low reception area; I could barely make out Carlisle's voice through the crackling static. "Carlisle, I can't hear you!"

More static and then the line went dead. Frantically, I checked how many bars I had. None. No reception. I groaned. This couldn't be happening. Why hadn't Alice seen this before? I had made the decision to go with Bella hours ago. What could possibly have changed since then that affected the future so drastically?

Focus, Edward, I told myself, but it was so hard to think through the panic. Why had I come when I had been explicitly told not to? Why did I always have to ruin everything? Why did I always think I knew better than everyone else when clearly I didn't?

I should have listened to Bella. I should have listened to Alice at the airport and I should never have gotten on that plane. It had never occurred to me that my actions might harm Bella, but it should have. And now she'd die because of me, like I had feared she would when she was still human.

What had I done?

A sob rose in my throat. I choked it back down. Breathing became impossible; my chest felt constricted, like someone had wrapped steel bands around it.

I had to make it right. But how? Apparently, Alice hadn't seen me outrun them or she would have said so. And if leading them to the rendezvous point was the solution, she would have told me. That didn't leave me with very many options. I couldn't escape as long as the female was on my trail and it wasn't like she'd eventually tire. She'd keep running as long as I did.

And if I killed her? Alice wouldn't have seen whether or not that would work, because up until a minute ago the thought hadn't even been on my mind. Alice didn't see how what ifs affected the future.

I draw a shaky breath. Killing the female was the solution. It had to be. I clung on to that thought as I ran on, my mind spinning as I considered my options. Maybe I could still change the outcome she had seen. I had to.

Because if I didn't, then Bella would pay for my mistakes and I couldn't let that happen.

A/N: Short, I know. Do I have to hide now? Please, please, please let me know what you think. You'll get a short teaser for the next chapter in return!