Chapter 7: Unfinished business
"Alice!" Edward called as soon as we got through the door.
"Yes?" Alice peered around the corner to stand in front of us at the foot of the stairs.
"We need to talk… When Bella and I were talking about what you have been seeing, something clicked. I think I know who she is" Edwards face was hard and serious.
"Sit down Edward, I think everyone needs to hear this" Alice's face was just as serious, but not as hard. We all sat down in the big front room, Alice and jasper sat in front of the table in the middle, while Rose, Emmett and Esme sat on the couch with Carlisle. Edward and I just stood in front of everyone.
"Okay Edward, tell us what you think, not all of us are mind readers you know" Emmett teased, obviously trying to brighten the mood himself, though there was no need as jasper seemed to be calming the situation.
"Ha Ha Ha!" Edward laughed sarcastically "Remember last spring in the clearing" Edward started, growling deep in his chest at the memory.
"Yes, James, Laurent and…" Carlisle paused realising something "Edward, I think I know what you're getting at" Carlisle started, relaxed but serious.
"Yes that's exactly what im getting at, she's not going too give up, and…" Edward glanced at me and back to Carlisle, he quietened his voice so I could only just hear it "She's not alone" I panicked then, and suddenly everything fell into place.
The girl, she ran away.
'Gang attack In Seattle' Carlisle thinks it's our kind doing this, an army of new-borns gotten out of hand.
"Alice cant see anything but hair like flames, and an unclear recognisable face"
I felt unstable, my knees went weak and just as I was about to fall, Edward caught me.
"Bella, this will be okay, do you really think we can't handle a group of new-born vampires?" Jasper chuckled, brightening the mood with his strange, magnificent talent. Edward sat me down beside Alice on the floor and sat beside me.
"But Jasper, this will be hard. We don't know how many there are, and we don't know how young they are, they could be to out of control that we cant settle them" Carlisle always was the optimistic one, along with Alice, but he was right on the down factor of this one. This was incredibly dangerous, and the thought of them all fighting to save my life… it tortured me just picturing it.
"Bella, sweetheart" Esme placed her finger under my chin to make me meet her gaze "You know we would never let anyone hurt you, not now, not ever. There is one thing im certain of in this situation, jasper has his hand with the new born ones, and he knows what he is doing. And with his help, im sure we can handle this. But we need to find out more before we even get started. At the minute we are jumping to conclusions dramatically. Until we know more…" Esme gave everyone her attention now instead of just me "we will be looking out for more information, and we will have to be extra careful" Esme finished, she went and sat in front of the television, which was just a hum in the background but there was no doubt they could all here what was going on. The atmosphere changed then, everyone stared curiously at Alice.
"Alice, what have you seen?" Edward and jasper both asked at the same time.
"Twenty-two" Alice whispered. The number must have meant something, and I knew Edward would know with out her explaining more as she could see in to her thoughts, but jasper still looked mystified, as I did.
"Twenty-Two!" Edward shouted "are you serious?" Edward seemed shocked. It was my turn to speak up.
"Twenty-Two what?! What is going on, Alice? Edward?" I was looking at them both curiously; Esme was no longer looking at the television but at Edward too, as was Carlisle and Emmett. Rosalie just stood staring out the west window wall, saying nothing.
"I can see a brief picture of the Seattle army" Alice started "I can just see them, in a large huddled group running. Its freezing, but the number twenty-two keeps flickering, sometimes more clearer then others, I think that's how many is in the group" Alice gasped "she's there" Alice whispered, I could only just hear what she said. And I had a pretty good idea who she was.
"So you're saying, I have an army of twenty-one new born vampires after me, and a sadistic one, too?!" I shouted, I was terrified, but not for myself. I didn't care about my self right now. I was terrified that my family, the people who I love, were going to fight them for me and I had no idea how many of them would come back unscathed.
"Bella, we can handle this, if that is how many, they wont be able to control themselves around each other, they will fight. And believe me, the numbers will decrease rapidly, a new born cannot travel with anyone but themselves, they will fight, and eventually cancel each other out. I know that. Trust me on this Bella. We are not in that much danger, and this will be quite fun…" jasper trailed off in thought and Edward chuckled by my side, as well as Emmett.
"I just couldn't bear… if any of you, got hurt… over me"
"Bella, Love. You have to trust us on this. And im sure we can get help, I think" Edward tried reassuring me as he always did, and then jasper kicked in. I felt fuzzy; I was panicked just two minutes ago.
"off who?" I asked. Who would be able to help them that weren't already?
"Bella, those dogs don't know about this part, if we negotiate with them, they will help us, because, really it's the same situation, its Victoria, just worse and with company" Alice answered for him; sounding chirpy.
"Listen, Bella. Don't worry about this. We all have it under control. And hey, this will be so much fun" Emmett said. I knew that would mean tearing something or someone apart. In this case he would love it even more.
"Just a piece of unfinished business, Bella" Jasper smiled.