Edward
As we approached the blanket, the sweet yet horrible smell of blood grew stronger and stronger. I could easily resist, but Bella looked slightly strained. Her facial expression was lifeless and she looked like, if she were still human, she would barf all over the hard concrete and grass of the park and then charge at the two on the blanket and lap up all the blood.
"Hello Edward and Bella Cullen. It's about time we spoke." The watcher, which I concluded was Jennifer, smiled at us as if we were long lost friends. Jennifer motioned for us to sit on the gingham-designed blanket. Sitting cautiously down, I noticed that a large cooler sat next to Jennifer's mate, Jesse. It was red, which I guessed served the purpose of causality and in case the blood spilled.
Jennifer noticed my preoccupation. "Can I offer you a sip, Edward?" she asked, extending a wine glass in my direction.
"No, thank you," I replied, as politely as I could manage.
Jennifer took a deep inhale of her blood before setting the now empty glass on the blanket. "You're probably wondering why I've been following you," she began calmly.
"Actually, we just discovered that fact," Bella replied coldly. She inhaled another breath quickly and resumed her silence.
"The reason I've been following you was to ensure you did not bring the immortal child into our home," Jennifer continued, "Of course, this is the first time in all of our years that we had to deal with such a catastrophe. Immortal children are one thing to deal with, but when a clan stands in the way, the amount of bodies we kill can get a little big."
I growled softly, growing angrier by every passing moment. "Our daughter is not an immortal child."
"Yes, Carlisle said something similar to that. I still refuse to believe it. How can a vampire reproduce? Do enlighten me, Edward."
"Bella was originally human when she conceived. The child grew in her and nearly killed her, had I not inserted venom into her heart to rescue her. Thus, she became a vampire like the rest of us."
"Do you really expect us to believe such…stupidity?" the other female, Claudiena, demanded.
"Now, now, Claudiena. I feel your illusion wavering. Please keep your control…" Jennifer replied quietly, extending her hand until it was a hair's width apart from Claudiena's arm.
Claudiena flinched but closed her eyes. I leaned closer to Bella and watched her equally concentrate in order to raise her shield. Claudiena cupped her hands together and slowly, a sphere grew from her hands. The sphere reflected the sun, causing brilliant crystals to bounce everywhere. Once the sphere was bigger than her hands could manage, Claudiena released it and let it grow bigger and bigger until it shaped itself around us. The sphere than disappeared.
Tomas, the male next to Claudiena, beamed with pride and Jennifer nodded in approval before turning back to us. "I, too, agree with Claudiena. In order to believe this story, we wish to see the child for ourselves. Only then, can we come to a conclusion."
"Of course," I replied.
At the same time, Bella had spoken and said, "Absolutely not!" Bella realized I had agreed and turned to me, her eyes narrowing yet questioning my decision.
"It appears that you two are not on the same page. We will meet with you tomorrow then." Jennifer said smugly. Bella and I rose from the blanket, as did Jennifer and Jesse.
"When will we speak?" Bella asked.
"Rest assured, Bella. We'll come to you," Jesse replied, packing the wine glasses back into the cooler. His voice was quiet and at ease, unlike the venom of Jennifer's words or the forcefulness of Claudiena's.
Jennifer picked up the blanket and folded it quickly with ease. "Until then," she said, leading her group to the Central Park exit.
I could feel Bella's anger begin to bubble up and waited for it to explode. She held it in during the taxi ride, in the elevator, and down the hall. But as soon as we entered the suite and had closed the doors, Bella unleashed her fire.
"Edward, what the hell are you thinking?!" she asked in a sharp hiss, one that probably no human could hear.
"I'm only doing what's best for our child, love," I replied soothingly. Bella, as a human, was quite fast to relax and apologize. I wondered if that was the same for vampire life.
"Don't you dare 'love' me! Are you insane? Were you not listening to Carlisle?"
"Indeed I was. As I recall, he told us not to go to war with them and to try and persuade them that we should settle this without violence."
"Huh, how ironic because that's precisely what you were doing!"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, love…I mean Bella. Wasn't it after the other covens, including the Volturi, met Nessie that they agreed to be at peace with us?" My patience was wavering a bit but I managed to keep my tone respectful and gentle.
"But Liberty is nothing like the Volturi! The Volturi didn't have an illusionist that can trick the other powers of vampires! For all we know, Edward, they can be planning to attack Renesmee and then kill the rest of us. They could be planning to put us all in a coma and then trick us into becoming a Liberty supporter. I'm not going to put our daughter or the family in serious risk!"
"But, Bella…"
"Sorry, Edward." Bella's anger was subsiding. Her face was less tense and her slight defensive crouch had straightened. "My mind is made up. There's no changing it."
Edward's phone…
Carlisle-
L following us. Meet w/ us in CP. Wants to see R.
B says no but I don't see the big deal.
What 2 do?
Carlisle's phone…
Edward-
Y was L following you? Don't think we can discuss
strategy if we can't talk openly. Meet me in
location discussed.
Edward's phone…
Carlisle-
C u there.
"Where did you go?" Bella asked as I walked back into the suite.
"Radio Shack," I replied, pulling the new laptop I had bought out of the cardboard box. It was the first one I saw when I entered the store and the sales clerk promised with a hearty grin that it had the best Wi-Fi internet connection of the group. But then again, I hadn't completely trusted her because she had been distracted with trying to give me her phone number. She finally got it in my hands by saying, "If you need anymore help with laptops, call me."
The clerk had been so pleased with herself that she hadn't notice me throw it out in the little trash bin near the door.
"What for?" Bella asked, sitting down next to me on the bed.
"You'll see." I booted up the computer and waited for it to load. It was like watching a snail move, or watching dead grass grow. I sighed impatiently and Bella turned on the television to flip through it. Nothing good was on; nothing that caught my eye.
When it did load, I went online and typed in the website that I had memorized. Bella blinked as the screen loaded. "Chat rooms?" she asked.
"Alice's and Rosalie's idea. Carlisle thought it would be appropriate if we had an area where we could talk more openly about topics without the hassle of texting or emailing." I clicked on the "Try It For Free!" button on the side.
Guest412902 has entered Chat 3891038.
Careyful: So I told him I had enough of his BS. So I like totally kicked
his butt.
Helpful Helen223: Yeah, you go girlie!
Guest412902: Hello?
DrCC999: E, if you're out there, answer.
ElizabethSweetie: Yes?
Guest412902: Over here, C.
DrCC999 has sent Guest 412902 an email.
"DrCC999?"
"Carlisle. The rest of the family is waiting for us in a private chat room." I opened the email from Carlisle and found the screen name and password. "What the heck…?" I mumbled, reading the screen name. Bella blinked at the screen and pursed her lips together, as if she was angry but laughing.
"I'm going to kill Alice for this…" I said, half joking.
BEDward429 has entered Private Chat 60398549
FuTuReReAdEr: Glad you could join us, Bella & Edward.
BEDward429: What the heck were you thinking when you typed the
screen name, Alice?! Edward
FuTuReReAdEr: Hey, don't look at me. Emmett made the names.
BigAsABear: But you approved of it, Alice.
CullenMother: Can we all please concentrate? We have a serious issue to
talk about.
DrCC999: I agree w/ Esme. Let's try to focus here.
BEDward429: Liberty wants to come to Forks and meet Renesmee. Bella
thinks we should say no, but that might cause them to want
to go to war w/ us. Edward
BEDward429: Edward wants us to say yes, but they might be planning to ambush us when we are unarmed. Bella
PrettyAsARose: Both seem like uneasy situations.
FuTuReReAdEr: I agree w/ Rose. Both seem like nearly suicides. One
way, we go to war. The other, we have the possibility
of being attacked.
Gaspers Jaspers: We have the wolves as some advantage though.
CullenMother: Yes, but that would mean causing another fight to break
out.
PrettyAsARose: War one way or war another.
DrCC999: But every group has it's weakness.
BEDward429: Even a group that's nearly as strong as the Volturi?
Bella
DrCC999: While you were gone, I created a back-up plan.
DrCC999: You know, in case we did have to battle them.
BEDward429: Great. Bella What is it? Edward
DrCC999: I was talking on the phone with some of our friends from
the Volturi battle and I discovered that Zafrina once saw them
in action. Moreover, she saw their weakness.
BigAsABear: Excellent
PrettyAsARose: What is it?
DrCC999: When you normally watch vampires in actions, it's up to the
males to protect the females. Zafrina noticed that when
battling with another group, Jesse & Tomas would still be
be fierce, but not the center of attention.
Gaspers Jaspers: So, they hide behind Jennifer & Claudiena?
DrCC999: Exactly. My guess is that Jennifer & Claudiena are stronger
than their mates. Jesse's gift is rather useless if you're not
dead & Tomas's gift is controlled by his hands. Bind his
hands and he has no power.
BEDward429: So if we get the boys, we get the girls? Bella
BigAsABear: Sweet…
DrCC999: Hopefully, Bella's shield should protect you all. When are you
meeting with them again?
BEDward429: Sometime tomorrow. They didn't quite tell us. Edward
DrCC999: Put the plan into action then.
CullenMother: Be safe, Edward & Bella.
BEDward429 has left Private Chat 60398549.
I signed out of the chat room and closed the laptop. Bella had gotten up from the bed and was sitting quietly on the balcony. "Edward?"
"Yes, love?" I mentally winced, for I didn't know if the whole "love" thing was over yet.
Bella showed no recognition of the previous argument. In fact, I had the strangest feeling that I was forgiven and that new worries were in the way. "Do you really think it will work? Even if we do manage to attack the Liberty males, who's to say that the females might lash out at us? Who's to say they won't protect them with their lives?" she asked softly.
"Who's to say it isn't?" I replied, sitting down on the chair next to her.
Bella sighed loudly and stretched up towards the moon. "I guess I need to take my mind off it…" As the words left her lips, she suddenly grinned widely.
"We have the whole night," I mumbled softly, getting in the mood.
Bella turned to me and practically leaped off the chair towards me. I caught her easily and, still kissing her, carried her into the suite. I threw her on the bed, which gave a loud groan in complaint. I crouched again, getting ready to jump.
"WAIT!"
I paused. "What is it?"
"I actually like this shirt. Give me a moment." A blur of colors and the sound of the drawers opening and closing sounded, and then Bella appeared on the bed, wearing one of Alice's choices of undergarments.
I purred under my breath and pounced.