Chapter 11 - Full Orbit
I'd explained my idea three separate time when I decided to call a family meeting. No, my throat would never become parched and start to hurt from all the talking, but I was beginning to annoy myself.
I had Edward call everyone on their cells and let them know to meet us at Carlisle's as soon as vampirically possible. I was already on my way - headed straight for the dining room table. For being a "prop" it sure did get a lot of use.
Edward showed up a few moments behind me, taking the seat to my immediate left. Followed by Jasper and Alice. I could see the concentration on her face as she scanned the future for any impending danger. A brush of peace settled over the room - Thanks Jasper, I thought nodding my head to him.
Carlisle made his way to the head of the table with Esme on his arm. Emmett and Jacob trailed after them, punching each other and giggling the whole way. Lastly, Rose and Nessie skipped into the dining room hand in hand.
"Good! We're all here." Carlisle started. "Some of you already know, or may have noticed on your way in, we had some visitors in our house today."
Everyone stiffened at the thought.
"When Bella and I arrived home earlier this afternoon we found an unusual scent and an even more unusual trail, throughout the house and up to the cottage." Edward began.
Emmett clenched his hands into a fist and smacked them together saying, "Who do we get to kill now?"
"Relax, son, we don't know why they were here, or who they even were." Carlisle said, always on the passive aggressive side of a problem. "Go ahead, Bella, tell them what you think." He ushered me on with a casual flick of his hand.
"At first I wasn't sure. The scent was so familiar, yet…off. I knew I recognized it, but I couldn't place it. When I got to Nessie's door," I paused, then continued, "it all made sense."
Jacob sat up even taller, all his muscles flexed under his russet skin, and I think I even saw him start to shake with fury - a thing of the past. Jacob has had his wolf completely under control for 15 years now without so much as a shiver.
"The smell like Nessie!" I exclaimed, "Not exactly of course."
"Probably because she always smells like dog." Rose added, sending a distinct glare and snarl Jacob's way.
"What do you think that means?" Jasper asked, bringing the conversation back to the appropriate topic. Like usual, he was one to be the most interested in this phenomenon - always trying to outwit the players in whatever game this was we were playing.
"I'm not sure exactly, that's why we're all here. Any ideas?"
We all looked at Alice, who was still blank faced in concentration. Her eyes were closed and twitching underneath her stone eyelids. I could only imagine how things looked in Alice's mind - constantly seeing the present and the future. We put so much on her tiny shoulders, I don't know how she handled it all.
"Well - maybe..." Emmett started, but Alice shot her hand out in front of his mouth as if to tell him to shut up. Her eyelids twitched a few more times then she opened them.
She didn't look scared, she didn't really look happy either. We all waited to hear what she had to say, but instead of talking, she grabbed Edward and pulled him from the table and out of the house.
Jasper and I just stared at each other in disbelief. What was going on? I couldn't help but think she'd left us again - that bothered me, but it bothered me more that she took my husband with her. I felt out to them through my power, their lights disappearing as they reached the edge of my protection.
"What was that?" Rose finally asked breaking the heartbroken silence.
"That's a good question." Jasper replied.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." I said as I stood up and raced out the door following another trail of another scent. But this scent would never escape me, I knew it inside and out, and I would follow it forever if I had to - Edward couldn't leave me again. Not now. Not Ever!
It was two sunsets and one sunrise before I even thought about stopping. Even though I heard Jasper and Jacob tailing me, I never slowed. The trees blew past me, I was concentrating so hard on Edward that I didn't even notice the branches as they smacked against me, snapped off, and fell to the ground behind me. It wasn't until I thought about Renesmee that I finally stopped. If Jacob was following me, I was following Edward, than she was at home, practically alone. She had Rose, Emmett, and her grandpa and grandma, but her father, mother, and fiancé, were out somewhere in the woods, without her, running away from her. I couldn't do that to my beloved daughter.
So there I sat, in the middle of who knows where, on a rotted out tree stump - gasping for air I didn't need, crying tears that would never fall. Torn between the love of my life and the light of my life. I was internalizing so hard that I didn't even hear Jasper and Jacob come up beside me. I didn't even have them under my protective barrier. I hugged myself with my shield, the one comfort I had at the moment that I knew would never desert me leaving me broken with a giant hole in the middle of my chest. As if my shield wasn't enough to hold me together, I wrapped my arms around my middle and squeezed as tight as I could keeping the air from blowing through me. Not again I thought to myself as I slipped into darkness.