Emmett's Jeep got us most of the way to the playing field, but there was still a good half mile hike from the end of the washed out service road where I had to stop the car as it couldn't go any further. Woods surrounded us on three sides, the road that usually only was used for lumber trucks the only access. I helped Bella out of the harness and then offered her a hand down. She looked a little bit green around her nose and I watched her with concern.
"Are you okay?"
She swallowed, then nodded. "Sorry, the road was a bit more … bouncy than I expected. Just give me a second, please."
I almost laughed out loud at her expression, but stopped myself at the last moment. Instead I took her hand and led her to sit on an old tree trunk that for some reason had been left behind when its brothers had been taken away the last time this corner of the forest that been harvested. It had stopped raining for now, though dark clouds hang low over us, waiting to deliver their load of lightning and thunder.
After a minute Bella's color had improved and she gave me a weak smile as I pulled her back up to her feet.
"It's a fifteen minute hike, I'm afraid. If you think you're not up to it, tell me now and we can turn back if you want."
She shook her head. "I'm fine, really."
I took another long look at her, then accepted her statement. She did indeed look better. I placed a quick kiss on her nose, then directed her to a narrow trail that led between two trees into the woods.
I allowed her to lead – it wasn't like the trail was hard to find – and gave her a hand whenever she needed it. She placed each of her steps carefully, which slowed us down a little, but after twenty minutes the trail ended in a wide open field, where my family was already waiting for us.
Rosalie, Emmett and Esme were closest to us, sorting through the equipment which was piled on one side of the field. Carlisle was a little further away, setting up the bases, while Alice and Jasper were standing a quarter of a mile apart, tossing a ball back and forth so fast it was all but invisible to the human eye.
Our playing field was about four times larger than the standard baseball playing field, the bases each about a hundred yards apart. With my family as fast as they were, anything smaller just wouldn't work. We also didn't have a limit to the outfield.
I was sure that the others had noticed us arriving long before we had come into view, but they acted as if they had only seen us once we stepped over the line that separated the forest from the field. Esme greeted us with a warm smile while the others now went to the pitcher's mount, huddling together as they decided who would be in which team. The decision was made quickly. Alice stayed where she was while the others started to distribute themselves across the field. Jasper went to pick up a bat from the equipment pile and went to home base. Esme got ready to catch.
I led Bella over to home base.
"You'll want to watch this," I said, grinning in anticipation as I placed myself behind Esme, my hand resting lightly on her back.
Bella noticed what I was doing and looked at me questioningly. "You're not playing?"
I shook my head. "There's no way I can compete with them, really, as you'll see in a moment. I just referee. It's fun."
Jasper took a couple of unneeded warm-up swings, the aluminum bat he had picked whistling through the air so fast it was a mere blur.
"It's time," Alice called out in her clear voice then pulled back her arm and let the ball fly.
A good mile away lightning flashed. Then the ball connected with Jasper's bat with a sound very much like thunder. The ball flew almost too fast for the human eye towards the outfield, where Emmett was already racing for it. Jasper dropped his bat and headed for first base.
I heard Bella gasp next to me and a grin spread over my face as I watched Emmett leap into the air and catch the ball in mid flight.
"You're out!" I called to Jasper, who already had passed first base and was on his way to second. He made a 'damnit' gesture, but then returned without protest to Rosalie, who was waiting on the sidelines, while Carlisle took his turn on the home base.
"I think I understand now why you need the thunderstorm," Bella said almost breathlessly, watching the game with excitement in her eyes.
We played for a good half hour, no team gaining a clear advantage over the other. Bella had quickly gotten over the extraordinariness that was vampire baseball and now cheered on every hit ball and every run.
It was Alice's turn to bat and she had stepped up to the base with the bat in her left hand. Even though she was not quite as fast or strong as the others, she had the advantage of exactly knowing where the ball would go. She never once swung her bat if the ball wouldn't go through the strike zone and if it did, she would hit it with incredible precision. Rosalie was winding up for her throw, when Alice suddenly dropped the bat and straightened up, a whispered 'oh no!' on her lips.
Instantly alerted, my eyes searched for Bella, who was standing next to the equipment pile, her face flushed pink with excitement, jumping from one foot to the others as she waited for Alice to play.
"What happened?" I hissed the question, while I raced over to where Bella was standing.
"I'm sorry, Edward. I didn't see them coming. They must have heard us playing and changed their mind. They're much faster than I thought."
The nomads. It had to be.
Carlisle and the others all raced to where I now joined up with Bella.
"What's going on?" She looked – understandably – confused when she saw how we all congregated on her, my family forming a solid wall of bodies between us and the world outside.
I ignored her question – she would find out soon enough – and turned to Alice. "Do we have time to get back to the car?"
She shook her head. "It's too late. They'll be here in a minute. Oh God, I'm so sorry." Her wide eyes searched mine and I sensed something terrible in their depth. There was fear in there and whatever caused that fear, it didn't bode well for me or Bella.
West of us, close to where the sun would set if it would be visible behind the cloud cover, I saw three shapes materialize out of the trees, quickly drawing closer.
I took Bella into my arms. "Stay with me," I whispered into her ear. "Whatever happens, keep your head down and don't say a word."
I felt her nodding against my chest, a shiver running over her body as she pressed herself against me. Even if she had no idea what was going on, it was very obvious to her that something was happening that put me and my family on edge. My family rearranged themselves so that they all now faced the new arrivals. Carlisle was at the center, with Esme at his side. Rosalie and Emmett flanked them on either side placed a little bit behind them, while Alice and Jasper took the places furthest to the left and the right respectively.
As they came closer I could see that there were two males and one female. They were all beautiful, of course, even though their clothing was frayed with wear and they were barefoot. Their eyes were a deep blood red, a sure sign their eating habits were different than that of my family – they drank human blood.
The man in front was the tallest of the three, with the darkest skin I've ever seen on a vampire. The second male, who stayed at the back of the group, was as average as one as beautiful as him could be, with short, light brown hair and regular, nondescript features. The woman had striking red hair that hung in wild disarray down to the middle of her back.
All three of them moved with a predator-like grace, reminding me of large cats hunting. Their sharp eyes took in our refined appearance, the upscale clothing of my family, and - most of all - our superior numbers.
The darker-skinned one smiled an easy smile, exposing a row of gleaming white teeth. He stepped forward and addressed Carlisle, whom he easily identified as the leader of our group.
"We thought we heard a game," he said with a slight accent, which might have been French. "I'm Laurent and these are Victoria and James." He indicated his two companions.
Carlisle introduced each one of us by name, not singling any one out in particular. I felt Bella look up in surprise when he included her in our family, but luckily she kept quiet.
I never once relaxed my hold on her and my family wasn't loosening up either. It was too early in the encounter to do so and besides, Alice had seen something. I had the very strong feeling it had not been good.
"We were wondering if you'd have room for a few more players," Laurent now asked politely.
"We're sorry, but we were just about done for today. Maybe some other time," Carlisle matched Laurent's tone. "You're planning on staying in the area?" he probed carefully.
"We thought about heading up further north, actually. We were just curious when we heard you for we haven't met others of our kind in a long time."
On the surface, Laurent seemed to be friendly enough. It was really quite possible all they wanted was to socialize a little, without any strings attached, but my family couldn't afford to take any risks, not with Bella and me there.
"We have a permanent dwelling, not too far from here," Carlisle now informed them, "and we would appreciate it if you wouldn't hunt in the immediate area. We don't want to draw any attention to ourselves."
"Of course," Laurent nodded.
Vampires, by nature, were very territorial, even though it wasn't very common for them to have a permanent home for any longer period. My family was an exception, especially as they interacted regularly with humans who normally would have been their food source and nothing else. But once a vampire coven had claimed a certain area as their hunting ground, no other vampire would dare to encroach on it, unless he was out for a fight.
The woman and the other man had both studied us closely and I took great pain not to allow them to see Bella's eyes or mine. More than anything, they would give us away easiest as human. There was no way I could stop our heartbeats or hide our smell, but had to hope they wouldn't notice.
I should have known it was a futile hope. One moment it looked like they would get Carlisle's hint and go back to wherever they had came from, the next the one named James turned and inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring.
He fell into a crouch, his eyes fixed on Bella and myself, his movements copied by the woman. My family responded in kind, their ranks closing, so that all I could now see were their backs. I still could hear, though.
"What is this?" a new voice asked, and I deduced it had to be James. "Did you bring snacks?" There was something like eagerness in his voice and I didn't like his tone at all.
"They're with us," Carlisle stated with a firm voice, leaving no doubt that it wouldn't be a good idea to do anything rash.
"But they're human," Laurent responded. He sounded more surprised than anything else.
"They are with us," Carlisle repeated once more with a little bit more force, "and you will not touch them."
I saw Emmett move to one side in response to something one of the other vampires did, and for a second I caught a glimpse of Laurent, who stood upright, his hands held out in a soothing gesture.
"We already said we won't hunt on your grounds. We don't want any trouble."
"Doesn't look like that to me," Emmett now spoke up, He was growling from the depth of his chest. His back was tense and it wouldn't take much to set him off.
Suddenly I feared for my family. I knew they could take care of themselves in a fight and they had the advantage of greater numbers on their side, but still, if it came to a fight they might get injured or maybe even worse. Only a vampire could kill another vampire. This was one rule I had been told a long time ago.
Bella stifled a sob against my chest and I turned my attention to her. I needed to protect her and if it was the last thing I ever did. It was my fault she was in this situation; if not for me she would be safe at home and wouldn't know anything about this craziness that was my life. I pulled her closer against my chest, one hand stroking her hair, the other around her shoulder.
"We're going to leave now," I heard Laurent say. "James? Victoria?"
"All right," James said, sounding angry, but I heard the rustle of feet as he straightened up and took a couple of steps backwards.
My family relaxed minusculely, but wouldn't slack their watchfulness.
"We're leaving," Laurent repeated once again. And then they were gone.
"Jasper, Rosalie, follow them. I want to know where they are heading. Esme, Emmett, you get Edward and Bella back to the house. We can protect them better there if they should decide to come back. Alice, what have you seen?" Carlisle took command of the situation, distributing the tasks with efficiency.
Even though I also wanted to know what it had been that had set Alice off earlier, I now had more pressing business to attend to. Bella was shaking like a leaf, her sobs now louder and out of control. On one side it pained me to see her like this, on the other hand I was almost glad she finally showed some reasonable response to a dangerous situation. She had taken the news that my family was made up of vampires far too calmly, and even if she had nothing to fear from them, not anymore at least, it was a good sign that she had at least some kind of self-preservation instinct intact.
I took her head into my hands, trying to wipe away her tears with my thumbs.
"It's all right, Bella, they're gone. You're safe. They can't do anything to you now."
She looked up at me and I was surprised that her brown eyes held anger beside her fear.
"You idiot," she said, fury rising in her voice. Her small hands balled into fists and she used them to hit me in the chest. "I wasn't afraid for me. I was afraid for you!"
"What?" I asked, sure I had heard incorrectly. Why should Bella be afraid for me? And why the hell did she say she hadn't been afraid for herself?
"What if they'd done something to you?" Now she was in full rage mode. She struggle to get away from me and I let her go. She placed her fists against her hips and glared at me.
"But," I sputtered, still trying to comprehend what was going on in her head. "It's my fault you're here, Bella. If something would have happened to anybody, it would have been you. And I would never have forgiven myself."
She tossed her hands into the air, in the universal gesture of giving up on a hopeless situation and then started to stalk towards the nearby tree line.
I looked at her retreating back, confused and beginning to feel a little bit angry myself. What was wrong with her? This wasn't normal behavior, of that I was sure, but I just didn't get what made her act like that.
"Bella," I called after her. "Where are you going?"
"Back to the car," she tossed over her shoulder.
For one moment I thought about letting her walk on, but then decided it was simply too dangerous.
"Bella, the car is in that direction." I pointed west. Bella was walking north.
She stopped and her shoulders slumped as all fight seemed to leave her. I longed to take her into my arms, to hold her and soothe her, but there were more important things to do now. I ran after her. Emmett and Esme had luckily given us this moment, but now they met us at the border between the field and the forest.
"We need to hurry," Emmett said, looking around very much on guard. He obviously didn't like the situation, but who was I to blame him for that? I didn't like it either.
I nodded, knowing what had to come next. "Esme, are you taking Bella?" I asked the woman who almost was as much a mother to me as Rosalie. She nodded.
When I had been little, Emmett or Rosalie had sometimes taken me on their backs and had raced with me through the forests of whatever place we had been staying at that time. Even with my added weight they were able to achieve incredible speeds and I always had loved it, squealing in joy as the wind rushed through my hair and the trees passed me by. I never had been afraid for I knew they would never allow any harm to come to me. I now was older and of course I refrained now from such childish activities. To get to our car as quickly as possible, though, I knew I was now in for another piggyback ride. I didn't mind, but I wondered how Bella would react.
I saw Esme talking to Bella, possibly explaining to her what they were planning to do. Bella looked at her in shock, clearly dubious at how anybody as slender as Esme would be able to carry her through the forest and still be any faster than when she would be walking on her own two feet. It clearly would take some more time for her to really understand how strong a vampire was.
"You're sure?" she asked, now loud enough for me to hear.
Instead of an answer, Esme swung Bella onto her back with ease. "Hold tight and don't worry. You won't strangle me."
I now leapt onto Emmett's back, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his middle. He got a good grip on my legs and then asked me if I was ready in a low tone.
I nodded against his back.
"Bella, you better close your eyes," I advised her before my world turned into a streaking blur of brown and green. The run was as exhilarating as I remembered from my childhood days, but my concentration was more focused on the two bodies I barely was able to make out just behind us.
It had taken us twenty minutes to hike through the forest from the car to the field we played in. On the way back it could have been no more than a minute before I made out the Jeep waiting for us at the end of the road.
As I jumped clear of Emmett and turned to help take Bella from Esme's back, I could see she hadn't taken my advice. Her eyes were impossibly wide and she was more than just a little green around her nose now. Normally I would have made her sit down with her head between her knees to calm her troubled stomach, but we didn't have the time for that. Out here in the open we were just too vulnerable. Instead I opened the passenger door of the Jeep and helped her up inside. I quickly followed, while Esme took the driver's seat and Emmett jumped onto the truck bed.
I barely had Bella's safety harness on when Esme turned the Jeep around and we were bouncing down the narrow access road at breakneck speed. I struggled with my own harness and eventually managed to click it into place. Esme, of course, hadn't bothered and she was sitting on her seat as if somebody had welded her to it.
"Are you all right?" I called over the roar of the Jeep's engine to Bella.
It was still light enough outside to see Bella's pale face. Her hands were clamped tightly to the seat and I she looked like it took everything she had not to get sick right then and there. I don't know if she had heard me, for I didn't get any response from her, so I reached out and took her hand into mine. At my touch, she looked up and I gave her an encouraging smile.
"You don't need to worry," I called. All I got in response was a weak smile that disappeared after only a second.
Once we reached the highway, driving got much smoother, though Esme picked up speed until we were going way beyond the posted limit. She gave us both a quick smile, but then turned her concentration back to the road. Through the back window, I saw Emmett standing on the flatbed, his hands on the rollover bar, looking through the forest to either side of the road. Once I thought I saw a shadow move through the woods, but when I saw that Emmett didn't change his stance, I concluded that it had to be either Carlisle or Alice, or, maybe, that I just had imagined it.
By the time we arrived at the house, it was lit up like a Christmas tree. Every single light in the house had been switched on and in the now falling darkness it stood out bright, warm and welcoming.
I fumbled to open the harness, then reached over to Bella to help her to get out of hers. She was pale, almost as pale as my family. When Emmett jumped down from the back of the Jeep she started, looking around with saucer-like eyes.
"What's going on?" she asked me in a whisper, keeping close to my side while we walked inside the house.
"War council. We need to find out what those other vamps are planning and how we will react to it," I explained in a hushed voice as I pulled her into the dinning room. Carlisle, Esme and Alice had already gathered around the table, while Emmett had disappeared to sweep the area around the house. I found a seat for Bella, then sat down next to her. Rosalie and Jasper were both still absent and I didn't know if this was a good or a bad sign.
"What do they want from us?" Bella now asked.
I wished I could tell her that I didn't know and that she didn't need to worry, but I knew that this would be a lie. I had a very good idea what they wanted. I just didn't know how to tell Bella. How does one tell the woman he loved that she was nothing better than a delicious meal for James? I had told her before about her oh-so-irresistible smell, but I believed she didn't fully understand the consequences of it yet.
I turned to take her hand. "I would think they want you," I stated, looking into her eyes. "But they won't get you. We won't allow it."
My eyes gazed over to my family – well at least those who were currently with me – to see their confirmation. Carlisle and Esme looked certain, but in Alice's eyes I saw fear and doubt, and this didn't do anything to make me feel any better.
"But why me? Couldn't they go for anybody else?" Bella asked, her face still pale, her free hand covering her mouth. "Not that I want them to kill anybody else, but what makes me so special?"
"I did mention how you smell to vampires?" I reminded her of what I had told her in Port Angeles in what now seemed such a long time ago. Had it really been less than a week?
"Oh!" she said. She now also looked at my family, looking for confirmation. "Is that true? Do I really smell so good to you?" she asked in a small voice.
Carlisle nodded. "You have a very appealing scent to us, much more so than most other humans. When we're not too thirsty, we normally have no problems being around most people. You on the other hand …" he didn't finish the sentence for which I was grateful. Bella didn't need to know all the details.
"It's not just that," a new voice said, a voice with a very distinct French accent.
I was up from my chair and standing protectively in front of Bella before I was even aware I was moving. I didn't need to have bothered, though, as the others had done the same, and much faster than me. Emmett, who must have come in together with the dark-skinned vampire, looked at him with wary eyes as he joined the rest of the family.
"He was waiting outside, asked me to see you," he explained, clearly not happy.
Carlisle straightened up after the first second and addressed the visitor with the olive-toned skin. "What is your purpose here? I take if you are not interested in a fight."
Laurent held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I'm here because I'm curious," he said, "and also because I want to give you a warning."
