Race
Race
Apparently, Chapter 13 is NOT my lucky chapter-- I may sound crazy, but Edward decided to stop talking to me for a few weeks. Here goes trying to get him to do so…. This chapter again owes its existence to NoMoreThanUsual and Angeliss. Thank you, ladies.
Disclaimer: If, after all this time, you still believe that I own any of Stephenie Meyer's world, well, we really shouldn't allow you to call yourself a fan.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
I knew that we would have to keep to human pace until we had at least reached the forest edge. James was committed to the hunt, but he did not know that we knew that. The longer he thought we were clueless, the longer we would have to get Bella safe. Walking that slowly, with her by my side, was the hardest thing I have ever done. When we finally reached the trees, I did not even break my stride; I just lifted Bella onto my back and took off running the moment she was secure.
I was beyond livid, and the anger helped fuel my speed. Even with her on my back, I left my siblings far behind me. I could still not believe I had been so stupid. The entire blame for the situation rested on my shoulders, because, had I not insisted that Bella come along, if I had forgotten my selfishness for a moment, she would never have been exposed to them. They would not be hunting her. It was my fault, once again, that she was in danger.
I hardly slowed as I flung her in the back seat, and I was starting the engine as my siblings slid into their own seats. "Strap her in," I ordered Emmett tersely. I hit the gas and cranked the wheel, fishtailing the Jeep and then taking off. I had to get her out of Forks; I had to make sure she was safe. Nothing else mattered to me. I was hardly even aware of the string of profanities that streamed from my lips, low and fast as I berated myself for my own folly.
We finally hit the main road, and I pushed the Jeep even harder, forcing our speed to increase. I had to get her out of Forks. As a vast majority of the continent and its population lay to the south, that is the direction I chose. Alaska is well and good when one needs to escape from things. It does not do so well when one needs to hide a particularly mouthwatering human from a bloodthirsty tracker.
"Where are we going?" Bella demanded from the back of the Jeep. No one answered. No one even looked at her. We had to do this. She had to be safe.
"Dammit, Edward!" she cried, "Where are you taking me?"
"We have to get you away from here—far away—now." I couldn't look at her as I spoke, terrified that when I met her eyes I would see how much she hated me for this. I only pushed the Jeep faster.
"Turn around!" she shouted. "You have to take me home!" She started struggling with the harness, tearing at the straps. I was afraid that she'd hurt herself.
"Emmett," I said, calm.
My brother caught Bella's hands in his own. I'm surprised how strong she is. Still have to be careful not to hurt her, though. Don't want to imagine what Edward would do to me if I hurt her.
"No!" she cried, growing frantic. "Edward! No, you can't do this!"
"I have to, Bella, now please be quiet."
"I won't!" she screamed. "You have to take me back—Charlie will call the FBI! They'll be all over your family—Carlisle and Esme! They'll have to leave, to hide forever!"
"Calm down, Bella," I hissed, my voice colder than I intended. "We've been there before." None of us liked to think of those times—the times when someone slipped up. It hadn't happened for decades, but we still regretted every action that had led up to those investigations. I found it ironic that this time, we were running to save a life, rather than fleeing the consequences of taking a life.
"Not over me you don't! You're not ruining everything over me!" Bella continued to struggle violently against my brother's restraining grasp.
And then Alice spoke. "Edward, pull over." I can't see how this is going to turn out. We have some decisions to make. And we can't make them as long as you are so irrational.
I simply glared at my sister and hit the gas, speeding up even further.
"Edward, let's just talk this through." I know you're worried about her, but…
I couldn't take it any longer. "You don't understand!" I roared, my voice louder than I have ever allowed it to be. I watched Bella cringe in the rearview mirror. The Jeep continued to gain momentum, and with it, speed. "He's a tracker, Alice, did you see that? He's a tracker!"
Shit… my brother thought, his body stiffening. Does that mean…?
"Pull over, Edward." Alice's voice held the same ring of authority that Carlisle's had, earlier that night. I didn't want to listen to that authority. The speedometer inched past one-twenty.
"Do it, Edward."
I couldn't obey her. I couldn't. "Listen to me, Alice. I saw his mind. Tracking is his passion, his obsession—and he wants her, Alice—her, specifically. He begins the hunt tonight."
"He doesn't know where--"
"How long do you think it will take him to cross her scent in town? His plan was already set before the words were out of Laurent's mouth."
I know that, Edward. But we have to have some sort of plan, or we will lose everything we have ever worked to gain! You know that!
In the back seat, Bella gasped. "Charlie! You can't leave him there! You can't leave him!" She was thrashing even harder against the seatbelt now, and I was worrying that she would do herself harm.
"She's right," Alice said, even as a vision of Charlie flashed behind her eyes. James stood over him as he died.
I lifted my foot from the gas, feeling the friction between road and tires begin to slow our rapid escape.
"Let's just look at our options for a minute," Alice coaxed. You still have a chance of getting her out of here without gaining her hatred. Leaving her father to the tracker is not the way to do it. There is always a choice, Edward.
Always a choice. I couldn't argue with that. But I would try. The Jeep slowed even further. And then I slammed on the brakes, the tires squealing on the wet pavement like the cries of tortured souls.
"There are no options!" I hissed. She hadn't seen what James wanted to do to my Bella. Killing her would be the least of it.
"I'm not leaving Charlie!" Bella shouted. I ignored her.
"We have to take her back." Emmett said, finally speaking. We can't leave her father. And we've got to keep our family safe.
"No."
"He's no match for us, Edward. He won't be able to touch her." We won't even let him get close enough to see her. We can protect her from him, Edward."
"He'll wait."
"I can wait, too," my brother smiled, supremely confident.
"You didn't see—you don't understand. Once he commits to a hunt, he's unshakable. We'd have to kill him."
"That's an option," Emmett agreed calmly. Besides, doesn't that mean we'd have to kill him anyway? Or were you planning on running for the rest of your life? Always one step ahead of some twisted kind of vigilante justice? What sort of life is that, especially for her?
I was running out of arguments, but I was too stubborn to stop trying. "And the female. She's with him. If it turns into a fight, the leader will go with them, too." Calling Laurent the leader was faster at this point that trying to explain a charade I didn't understand myself.
"There are enough of us." We could probably take them even if you weren't there, little brother. Jasper fights like a wildcat when he has to. And he would do it for you.
"There's another option," Alice said, almost hesitant.
I turned on her. "There—is—no —other—option!" I snarled, stunning my brother into silence even in his thoughts. I had never lost my temper with Alice before. She was unsurprised as she met my eyes, staring me down. Showing me the visions she was seeing. The normal two were first—Bella as one of us, and Bella dead. The next was Bella turning me away, telling me that she no longer loved me. Another was the same situation in reverse—me telling Bella that I no longer wanted her. And then there were the scenes where Bella lay, bruised and broken, each one worse than the last. They were breaking my long- dead heart.
"Doesn't anyone want to hear my plan?" Bella asked plaintively.
"No," I growled. Alice glared at me.
You know that's no way for you to talk to my sister.
"Listen," Bella pleaded. "You take me back."
"No." I interrupted. That was a deal breaker right there.
She glared at me and continued. "You take me back. I tell my dad I want to go home to Phoenix. I pack my bags. We wait till this tracker is watching, and then we run. He'll follow us and leave Charlie alone. Charlie won't call the FBI on your family. Then you can take me any damned place you want."
All three of us stared at her, stunned that she had come up with a plan that had eluded all of us.
"It's not a bad idea, really." Emmett's surprise was evident in his tone, and I noticed that Bella looked insulted. Only Bella….
"It might work—and we simply can't leave her father unprotected. You know that." This time, the vision that flashed in my mind was of what Bella would do should we allow the tracker to kill her father. It wasn't pretty. I would do almost anything to prevent that particular vision. Everyone was looking at me, now.
But, there had to be another option. "It's too dangerous—I don't want him within a hundred miles of her."
Even now, my brother's thoughts were comforting. He was so confident that his mind quite literally could not contemplate failure, whereas mine could think of nothing but. "Edward, he's not getting through us."
"I don't see him attacking. He'll try to wait for us to leave her alone."
"It won't take him long to realize that's not going to happen."
"I demand that you take me home," Bella said, a slight tremor in her voice ruining her attempt at a resolute tone.
I pressed my fingers to my temples, squeezing my eyes shut as I tried to gain control of my emotions, tried to think past the all- consuming fear that I felt. My instincts told me to protect her, and forget everything else, but I knew that I could not do so. I could not forget my family, or hers.
"Please," she whispered, pain clear in every syllable.
I couldn't look up. But that voice broke my heart all over again. I had to do as she asked. It hurt too much to do anything else. My voice, when I spoke, sounded worn. I felt every one of my years in that moment.
"You're leaving tonight, whether the tracker sees or not. You tell Charlie that you can't stand another minute in Forks. Tell him whatever story works. Pack the first things your hands touch, and then get in your truck. I don't care what he says to you. You have fifteen minutes. Do you hear me? Fifteen minutes from the time you cross the doorstep." I knew I was being unreasonable, but I couldn't bear to giver her any more time. Every minute we stayed here was another minute he spent getting closer to her. He was already too close.
The Jeep rumbled to life, and I spun around, the tires screaming again. I raced back to the last place I had ever wanted her near again, at least so long as the tracker lived.
I hated every second of it. My Bella was in danger.
"Emmett?" Bella asked with a glance at her hands.
"Oh, sorry," he replied, letting her loose. Now that we were doing what she wanted, Bella had stopped struggling.
The next few minutes passed in silence as I tried to refine the plan, sharpening the details, and, with them, our chance of success. Finally, I spoke.
"This is how it's going to happen. When we get to the house, if the tracker is not there, I will walk her to the door. Then she has fifteen minutes." I glared at Bella in the mirror. She was far too stubborn for her own good, sometimes. But hers was the best plan we had managed to come up with. "Emmett, you take the outside of the house. Alice, you get the truck. I'll be inside as long as she is. After she's out, you two can take the Jeep home and tell Carlisle."
"No way," Emmett protested. "I'm with you."
"Think it through, Emmett. I don't know how long I'll be gone."
"Until we know how far this is going to go, I'm with you." You think he won't be able to find you. He's got eternity, Edward. He wants her. He won't stop until he has her. And if you're alone, your chances of winning against him are not very good. You can take him alone, but you already said that the woman would side with him. You also said that the leader would follow them. You're good, but not good enough to win a battle that is three to one, especially if you're trying to protect Bella as you do so. I'm with you."
I just sighed. Emmett was right. "If the tracker is there," I continued, my voice grim, "we keep driving."
"We're going to make it there before him"
I didn't doubt her.
"What are we going to do with the Jeep?" she asked.
"You're driving it home." I couldn't protect Bella and Alice both. She had to be out of harm's way, at least.
"No, I'm not." I knew that tone. It was useless to argue with her any longer. She'd made up her mind.
Against my will, I began swearing again, fast and low. It didn't help anything, but I had to do something.
"We can't all fit in my truck," Bella whispered. She was right, but I refused to comment. I didn't want to open the argument back up, not right then.
"I think you should let me go alone," she murmured.
I couldn't let that pass without comment. I wanted to shout at her, to make her see how stupid she was being, but I forced myself to speak at a normal volume, though my jaw was clenched so hard that it might have shattered had I been a human. "Bella, please just do this my way, just this once."
"Listen," she pleaded, "Charlie's not an imbecile. If you're not in town tomorrow, he's going to get suspicious."
"That's irrelevant. We'll make sure he's safe, and that's all that matters." Her father's opinion, so important to me earlier this evening, had ceased to mean much to me.
"Then what about this tracker? He saw the way you acted tonight. He's going to think you're with me, wherever you are."
"Edward, listen to her. I think she's right." I'm thinking that half the trouble is that he saw your reaction to her. He knows that she means something to you, that you'll protect her. That has to make the hunt more exciting.
"Yes, she is," Alice agreed. And if you start thinking, instead of reacting, you'll see it too.
"I can't do that," I said, cloaking my voice in ice so that they wouldn't see the pain. I couldn't help but wonder if Bella's desire to do this alone was a subtle way of telling me that she no longer wished to be with me. I wouldn't blame her in the slightest, should that be the case. I was nothing but a danger to her, after all. She needed to be away from me.
"Emmett should stay, too," Bella continued. He definitely got an eyeful of Emmett."
"What?" he gasped, utterly flabbergasted. She doesn't want me to help protect her?
"You'll get a better crack at him if you stay," Alice agreed amicably.
I will, won't I? This is going to be great!
All I could do was stare at Alice. "You think I should let her go alone?" I demanded.
"Of course not. Jasper and I will take her." A vision of a dark car on a dark highway slipped through her mind.
"I can't do that," I protested again, but my resolve was weak. The logic was beginning to break through the fear of losing her, and I could see that they all had our best interests at heart.
Bella chose that moment to speak up again, her words wheedling as she tried to be persuasive. "Hang out here for a week--" she stopped when my eyes caught hers in the mirror; "—a few days," she amended quickly. "Let Charlie see you haven't kidnapped me, and lead this James on a wild-goose chase. Make sure he's completely off my trail. Then come and meet me. Take a roundabout route, of course, and then Alice and Jasper can go home."
Her plan had its good points, I had to admit. It held the least risk for all of us.
"Meet you where?"
"Phoenix," she said, her tone matter- of- fact.
"No. He'll hear that's where you're going," I said, growing impatient. She was a brilliant young woman, but this part of her plan was pure idiocy. He would find her.
"And you'll make it look like that's a ruse, obviously. He'll know that we'll know that he's listening. He'll never believe I'm actually going where I say I am going."
"She's diabolical," Emmett chuckled. I knew she'd be fun. I think I might agree with you not changing her now, though. We'd have to fear for our lives if she, Rose, and Alice had an eternity to make plans!
Again, I ignored him. "And if that doesn't work?" I demanded in a last- ditch effort to get her to reconsider this plan.
"There are several million people in Phoenix," she reminded me primly.
"It's not that hard to find a phone book."
"I won't go home," she replied, as though it were the most obvious answer in the world.
"Oh?" I knew there was a dangerous note in my voice, but I could not suppress it. What, exactly, was she going to do?
""I'm quite old enough to get my own place." Stubborn, stubborn Bella.
"Edward, we'll be with her."
My frustration bubbled over again. "What are you going to do in Phoenix?" I demanded.
"Stay inside," Alice replied with a shrug. Honestly. Do you think Jasper and I are stupid? What would you be doing if you were there with her instead?
"I kind of like it," Emmett mused, his thoughts focused on cornering James.
"Shut up, Emmett." Usually, his thoughts and words were refreshing, but he was beginning to get on my nerves.
"Look," he continued, ignoring me, "if we try to take him down while she's still around, there's a much better chance that someone will get hurt—she'll get hurt, or you will, trying to protect her. Now, if we get him alone…" If we get him alone we can really have some fun.
We were in town by that point, so I drove even more slowly, trying to prolong the inevitable separation even as I scanned the town for the tracker. I still couldn't hear him. Thankfully.
"Bella," I said, my voice very soft as my siblings looked away from us, "If you let anything happen to yourself—anything at all—I'm holding you personally responsible. Do you understand that?" It was a lie, though. If she got hurt, I would blame myself. But maybe she would try and keep herself safe with the warning.
"Yes," she gulped.
And then I turned back to Alice. "Can Jasper handle this?"
"Give him some credit, Edward. He's been doing very, very well, all things considered." She will be safe with us, Edward. He sees her as family too, you know. He knows how you feel about her. She will be safe.
"Can you handle this?" I knew the answer, but I needed to hear it for myself.
Alice barred her teeth and let loose a guttural snarl that echoed in the confines of the Jeep. She is my sister, Edward. I will personally destroy anyone who hurts my sister.
I merely smiled at her, finally reassured.
I still think I should tell her about my visions, though. I think she needs to know. You trust me to protect her….
"But keep your opinions to yourself," I muttered, as the dark road disappeared below the tires of the giant automobile.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Wow, I think that was the longest chapter yet…. Please let me know what you think!
And if you see any mistakes, please letme know. I can't fix what I don't see!
Also, please vote in my poll about an upcoming chapter. It will remain up until I reach the chapter in question, and I'd appreciate your input! Thanks!
Thanks for reading.
