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Omen of a son´s betrayal
The wind swept through my hair as I ran through the thick forest. The muddy ground underneath my racing feat was damp, covered with brown leaves. The trees stood tall above, preparing for the winter that was fast approaching. The leaves were starting to lose the green color and yellow and red had started to dominate their color palette. The sky above was dark and gloomy; the thick clouds were grey and intimidating as they started to pour on the ground below.
I could hear Esme not far behind me. She didn't have the same enjoyment in running like the rest of us. She rather enjoyed slow walks which was laughable to Edward. I had always quite enjoyed it although not as much as Edward. I understood the appeal to it for him, running felt like freedom. Freedom from all the rules we had made for ourselves. I knew they hated our lifestyles sometimes. It was tiring to have to keep the same parade over and over again, it wasn´t in our nature to be like humans. It wasn´t normal, yet we all felt comfort in it and it was better than acting like the animal we really were. That´s why running felt so freeing, we didn´t have to pretend and this was the only way we could express our animalistic nature. Esme however had never had that savage side in her.
As I ran through the forest I thought about the event before. The situation was bad enough but to add the werewolves into the picture had made things, if possible, even worse. The worry started to build in my chest. Maybe this wasn´t a good idea, I should have stayed home. Things could turn terribly wrong. I slowed down my phase and looked behind me. Esme slowed her phase also. She looked in the same direction. I felt her place a hand on my arm. "Don´t worry, they will be fine. Alice would never have suggested that we should go if it wouldn´t be safe." She said reassuringly squeezing my arm.
I looked from the route we had just been running and looked at her dark eyes. "I´m not sure" I muttered skeptically. I knew that Alice had her heart in the right place and that she would never send us to go hunting if she wouldn´t be sure that it was safe. However there was a threat that even Alice couldn´t see. The werewolves were a problem. Although Emmett and Jasper were good fighters they would not be able to stand a chance against the werewolves alone. Lives could be lost, not only ours but also theirs. I did not want this to come into a fight since our relationship had become better after the fight against the newborns. It seemed that, that friendship was not meant to last long. It unnerved me to be away from the family. We weren´t far away but still I felt a feeling in the pit of my stomach that something would go wrong tonight. Esme tugged at my arm. "They´re fine Carlisle, we are not far away from home. They can take care of themselves." She muttered. I stole a glance in the other direction then looked down at Esme. She was thirsty I could see that clearly. Maybe it was safer for us to hunt, Esme was right, they would be fine.
I nodded my head with the same reluctance as before, and we darted off down the path. After five minutes I could smell a deer. I gave Esme a small nod. She smiled thankfully and with amazing speed she took the animal down and drank from its neck. She was unbelievably graceful when she did it. Although I disliked our hunting methods I had found Esme´s hunting methods quite fascinating. She tried to shield the animal from pain as best as she could.
After we had finished our meal, we made our way slowly through the forest. We walked in silence, enjoying each other´s company. It seemed like an eternity had passed since we had spent time together in silence. I felt myself relax in her presence, just watching her figure glide through the thick forest floor. And for the millionth time I thought about how lucky I was to have found her. Out of all the beating hearts in the universe, I was the one to claim hers. She had told me so many times how lucky she was that it was I who found her. That I was her savior; her knight in shining armor. But she was so wrong, she was my savior. She saved me from myself, in many ways. She shut down the endless loneliness.
She was like a soft breeze in the summer and a candlelight in the winter, lighting up the darkness in my heart.
I hadn´t noticed that I had slowed my pace down unconsciously as I admired her moving frame. Then she stopped and looked at me with a smirk on her lips.
"Do you see anything you like?" she asked playfully.
I straightened up and smiled back. "I don´t know. I think I saw a funny bird somewhere."
Her smirk fell, "a bird?" She raised her eyebrows.
"Yes indeed. A little bird that flew pass me. "I said pointing at the trees.
Her smirk returned. "Oh! I thought that you were admiring me. I didn´t know you held such fascination for birds, Dr. Cullen."
I walked up to her slowly, how I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss every inch of her but I restrained myself and continued the act.
"Yes, I think their quite enjoyable actually. They sing in the morning despite the fact that they have little, screechy voices. And that everyone dislikes it but tolerate it because they don´t want to hurt their feelings."
"What? You said that you like my singing." Esme swatted my arm playfully.
"I thought that we were talking about birds." I said seriously.
She huffed and walked away from me. In one sweep I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her towards me. She gave out a small cry.
"Where do you think you´re going, little bird." I whispered in her ear. She giggled softly and turned in my arms.
"I love you" she said before placing a kiss on the bridge on my nose. She let out a small, girlish laughter as she wiggled from my arms and ran at full speed away from me. I stood still for a second before racing after her. It didn´t take me a long time to reach her. I reached for her hand and managed to slow us down. I turned her around and placed my lips on hers. She responded eagerly to my lips and she placed her arms around my shoulders. We were in a complete bliss when I heard the shrill ringing of my cell phone.
I wanted to ignore it so badly but then I remembered the feeling I had before. I had told them that they shouldn´t call unless it was extremely important. Esme must have sensed how I felt; she broke our kiss and looked at me with worried eyes.
I reached for my phone and prayed to god that my family was all right before I answered the phone.
"Hey Carlisle" Emmett´s deep voice came from the other end of the line. Before I could answer, he continued.
"I´m sorry to interrupt you guys but there is a problem." My breath hissed, I glanced at Esme who placed her hand on my arm in assurance.
"What is it Emmett? Is Bella all right?"
"Yeah she´s fine, it´s not her. It´s the wolves." Emmett´s voice was serious. If he was worried then there must be something terribly wrong.
"Jacob and Seth just came by and told us that the pack is coming to attack. They found out about Bella and plan to take her down to."
If my heart would still be beating, I was sure that it would have stopped at that very moment.
I felt Esme´s nails dig in my shoulder as her eyebrows creased with worry.
"Is Jacob there? Emmett, tell me exactly what happened."
"Well, Jacob and Seth came to us to warn about the pack. They say that their on our side, Edward seems convinced. They said that they're going to attack tonight but he´s not sure since they´re now on our side. Seth went to look for any sign of them. I think you should come home as fast as you can."
I nodded my head to Esme and we started to run back to the road we came from.
"Emmett, we´ll be there in twenty minutes, tops. Be careful."
"We will."
We raced through the woods at top speed. I thought about every possibility. What if we were too late?
I looked at Esme and knew that she was thinking the same thing. I took her hand in mine and encouraged her to go faster.
The forest was completely dark now and I could feel raindrops fall on my skin. We had almost reached when I smelt something that made me stop dead in my tracks. Esme tensed up, she had smelt the same thing. This smell belonged to one creature alone - a werewolf.
I stepped in front of Esme, my instincts taking a hold on me. I could hear the creature now, coming closer and closer. Until I saw two yellow eyes between the trees, I went into a crouch.
The creature was dangerously close, I heard Esme whimper beside me. I could see the creature clearly now, its fur was light grey and its body was thin and small.
How could I attack such a young thing? He was probably just a young boy. Could I kill an innocent child?
Then the creature disappeared. The smell disappeared; instead I smelt a scent of a boy. I couldn´t believe it. The wolf had phased, knowing that we were ready to attack.
Suddenly a figure appeared through the trees. I let out a sigh of relief, it was Seth.
"Carlisle and Esme" he said brightly.
I couldn´t help but smile, it was remarkable how he could stand our family, considering the fact that he had been taught to be our enemy. Despite of his young age, he surely was a bright young boy. I had always found him very likeable.
"Seth, you gave us quite the turn."
"I´m sorry I scared you." He looked shamefully down.
"It´s all right. I don´t know how to thank you and Jacob for warning us. I don´t know how we would have coped without you. Tell Jacob that I am thankful for your help. I know how hard it must be for you to stand against your friends and family." And I truly meant it with all my heart. I had always found the bonds between the wolves quite fascinating (to Edward´s annoyance) mostly because their bond was something that ran deeper than any friendship or family. They were bound for their entire lives to save the tribe, to be their protector and that bond was impossible to break.
But Jacob had broken their bond. I knew that his love for Bella would help us someday, although I had hoped it wouldn´t have been in this situation.
Seth waved his hand carelessly. "Hey! We´re not going to let anything happen to Bella or your family."
"Thank you Seth."
He nodded his head. "I think I should go back. I nodded my head. Seth phased back and hurried through the trees.
We went in the other direction to the backdoor of the house. Most of the family was scattered over the living room, except for Rosalie who was undoubtedly keeping guard over Bella. Bella´s condition was worsening. She received no nutrition at all and the fetus was growing by the minute. I had decided to put up a accommodation in my office for Bella. There I could treat her properly and hopefully find a way to help her. Although she had protested when I had showed her the room I think that she was grateful.
I listened for any signal from her but by the sound of it, she was fast asleep. I knew that she was fine, for now. There was another person in the room that I had more worries of.
Rosalie had taken her role as Bella´s guardian more seriously than I had ever dreamed of. I was starting to worry about Bella´s safety for Rosalie hadn´t hunted for a week. But that was not the only problem. I worried about her motivations. I knew from the beginning that the only reason that she was doing this was because of the fetus, not Bella´s safety. I knew that she hoped deep down inside, that Bella wouldn´t survive this. I spoke to Emmett about this, begged him to speak with her. But he shook his head and said that this wasn´t in his hands, he wouldn´t be able to speak her off this one.
With every day I saw how deeper and deeper she was going. It had taken her decades to heal her wounds. Now she had opened them again, with each day she was reminded that she couldn´t have children and now she was hoping that Bella´s child was her only chance of becoming a mother.
I feared what this would do to her. I feared that she would do something rash to make her lifelong dream come true. I had hoped that Esme could talk some sense into her but to no avail.
I feared of what would happen if Bella and the fetus would not make it. I knew that Edward was a lost cause. Even though I would chain him to my wrist and keep guard on him for eternity, I knew that I would never do that to him. Not only did I fear for Edward but for Rosalie as well. I feared that she would leave the family for good. Emmett would follow her, no matter how much he would want to stay with us. What then? Would Alice bear the loss of losing her siblings and Bella?
Jasper would follow her to the end of the world. What about Esme? Would she bear to lose all of her children?
Esme´s sigh of relief brought me back from my depressive thoughts. She placed her hand to her heart.
"I´m so glad that you´re all right. We were so worried that we were too late."
Emmett snorted "what do you think we are? Don´t you think that we can handle those little puppies?"
"No, of course not dear, I just…" Esme muttered apologetically.
"Don´t apologize Esme. You had every right to be worried." Alice said, patting her on the shoulder.
"It´s not like we´re out of danger yet. The wolves are still out there, ready to attack and I think we should be prepared." Jasper stood tensely near the front door.
"Jacob and Seth are keeping guard" Edward muttered softly. He looked terrible, his eyes were dark. I worried that he was driving himself too far. He looked at me warily but didn´t say anything. It seemed like he was almost guilty, but what could he be guilty about?
I didn´t have the time to think of it further because I heard a howl outside. It sounded like Seth was giving us a signal. Then they had come after all.
Everyone tensed up, Jasper and Emmett took their positions by the front door.
Alice and Esme took their positions few feet behind them. Edward walked to the window, his shoulders tense. Then he seemed to relax.
"It was a false alarm." Edward said.
"Seth was upset about something else, and he forgot that we were listening for a signal. He´s very young." He appeared to be disinterested but there was something under the cold surface that was plaguing him.
"Nice to have toddlers guarding the front," Emmett grumbled and moved from his place.
"They´ve done us a great service tonight, Emmett. At great personal sacrifice," I reminded him. I had hoped that the rivalry between us and the wolves would end with the battle against Victoria and the newborns. But it seemed that nothing had changed, even though Jacob had showed great sacrifice when he decided to stand up against Sam and the pack. I had hoped that they would at least try to show some respect.
"Yeah, I know. I´m just jealous. Wish I was out there." Emmett grumbled and stared outside the window.
"Seth doesn´t think Sam will attack now, "Edward muttered. He hadn´t moved from the spot by the window. His eyes were dark and the moonlight illuminated his skin. He appeared like a ghost, a ghost of his former self.
"Not with us forewarned, and lacking two members of the pack" he continued. He avoided eye contact with me. I wondered about what he had said. Seth sounded sure but he was just a boy.
"What does Jacob think?" I asked him.
"He´s not optimistic." He looked up when he said that. For one second our eyes met and for that one moment I truly saw the broken man inside the solid cover Edward had built. I saw the same guilt I had witnessed before but it was much stronger now. Then he looked down. What was he hiding from me? He was guilty about something, that, I was sure of, of what I didn´t know.
I decided that this wasn´t the time to think of this. The threat of the wolves was a far bigger problem. Jasper stood tensely by the window, Alice sat beside him. They didn´t say a word, they just were there for each other and that was all that mattered. Emmett sat on the couch, staring at the TV, flipping through channels. I knew that he wasn´t really watching but I let him be. Esme stood by the steps looking at me worriedly. I hurried up to her.
"What´s wrong?" I asked her, taking her hands into my own.
"I´m just worried" she sighed.
"They will be all right. I doubt that the wolves will attack tonight. Don´t worry darling." I tried to give her some comfort. She looked at me almost sympathetically. She stroked my arm up and down.
"Oh, honey. I´m not talking about them." I looked at her confusedly. What was she talking about?
"Don´t get me wrong. Of course I´m worried but I agree with you. I don´t think that they will attack tonight." She said with the same sympathy as before.
"Then what are you talking about?" I asked her. She smiled at me and shook her head. Then she looked up and touched my cheek.
"I´m worried about you." She said and emphasized on the last word.
"Me?"
"Yes you. You worry so much on everyone else that you forget about yourself. Have you looked yourself in the mirror lately?" I shook my head. I knew that I hadn´t really been taking care of myself lately but how could I? With everything that had happened how could I think of myself? It was absurd.
She looked at me like she could read my thoughts.
"You silly man. I know that you are scared about our family. I am too but you don´t realize that this family doesn´t run without you, and if you´re straining yourself so much I fear that this family won't stand it. You´re not alone in this Carlisle, not one man can make things better. We´re in this together."
I nodded my head. I hadn´t thought about this, at all. Maybe I had been taking things onto my shoulders. But it was my responsibility. Esme must have known exactly what I was thinking by the expression on her face.
"Carlisle, please just take one thing at a time. I worry about them too. Why don´t you just concentrate on Bella for now? Emmett and Jasper can handle the wolves. I can try to speak some sense into Rosalie and you can look after Bella." She said reasonably. I thought about it and thought that it would be all right, although she was being rather optimistic about Rosalie. But there was one thing that she hadn´t mentioned- Edward. There was something going on with him and I had to know what.
"What about Edward?" Esme bit her lip when I mentioned him.
"He can take care of himself. For now," she tried to sound convincing but I knew that she was thinking the same thing. She had noticed.
"Why don´t you look at Bella?" Esme tried to switch the topic but her expression didn´t fool me. I knew that she had the same worry for Edward as I had. But I played along. I didn´t want to upset her so I kissed her on her forehead and headed upstairs, to my office.
When I opened the door the dame vision greeted me like earlier that day. Bella lay fast asleep with Rosalie by her side. I had connected Bella to monitors in the vain hope to follow her progress but it turned out that it had nothing to say. Her condition was above anything that medicine could help. The only thing that was keeping her sustained was the IV I had set up. The soft dripping of the Colloid fluid was the only sound in the room.
I closed the door behind me softly and walked in silence towards the bed. Rosalie sat still but I could see her eyes following my every move. Her mouth was set in a thin line. I tried to ignore her; if she wanted Bella alive then I was her only hope. I stretched my hand out to check her pulse when Rosalie snapped.
"Don't touch her! You´ll wake her up," Rosalie whispered harshly. I would be more worried that she would wake up by Rosalie´s noise. I could feel that my patience with Rosalie was running thin.
"Rosalie." I sighed.
"Don´t start with me, Carlisle. We let you have your way earlier, but that´s all we´re allowing."
I wanted to point out to her that if she wouldn´t have "allowed" me to have my way earlier, then Bella would have died. But I bit my tongue and decided that it didn´t matter for now. I didn´t want Bella to wake up because of us arguing. I put my hands up in the air in surrender and sat down on the chair beside the bed. Rosalie opened her mouth as if she was about to protest but closed her mouth.
Instead she turned her head in the other direction. She was putting up the same act she had done for years so I decided to ignore it. Sometimes it was just best to let her be.
We sat in the silence for few minutes until the door opened and Edward stepped in. I could see Rosalie´s knuckles whiten as she gripped the sides of her chair. Edward pretended like he didn´t see her and sat beside me.
He took Bella´s hand in his and stared at her face. It was remarkable how this girl had changed Edward. Never in a million years had I dreamed that he would fall for a girl like Bella. Bella was a special girl, different from others in so many ways. At that moment when I looked at them I knew that there was some hope. Bella would fight with all her might to stay with Edward; I hoped that it would be good enough.
Rosalie sat still, looking between me and Edward in disdain. I sighed and stood up, I wasn´t in the mood to deal with Rosalie right now. She was on a thin ice right now; clearly it was too much to have me and Edward in the same room with her so I walked quietly outside.
I went downstairs and met Emmett by the foot of the stairs. He smiled slightly but it seemed rather forced. How hard this must be for him. I did understand Rosalie´s motivations but it was inexcusable how she had treated Emmett the past week. I had meant to talk to Emmett, I felt like he had been left out in this chaos. I he had tried to put up a smiling face like usually but I could see the pain in his eyes each time he looked at Rosalie.
I squeezed his shoulder in assurance, he smiled back. "I´m glad you´re here Carlisle. We would be a group of messed up people if you weren´t here." I know that he was trying to make light of the situation but he seemed to be failing miserably.
He looked up the staircase like he was forbidden to go upstairs.
"Emmett, why don´t you go upstairs and check on Rosalie. I think it would mean a lot to her." I said.
Emmett looked at me skeptically. "You really think so?"
"Yes, I do." I said while pushing him slightly forwards. "Besides I don´t think it´s wise to have Edward and Rosalie in the same room. I fear they might bite each other's head off."
Emmett raised his eyebrows, a ghost of a smile appeared on his lips.
"Were you making a joke, Carlisle?" I smiled back and encouraged him to go upstairs. He smiled thankfully and hurried upstairs.
I went off to the living room. It was dark; the only light came from the moonlight. The living room was deserted except for Jasper. Esme must have gone to our bedroom. Alice was nowhere in sight.
I went up to Jasper who stood completely still by the window. I took my place beside him and stared at the dark forest outside.
"Is there any sign of them?"
Jasper shook his head. "No, but they could attack anytime. I´m not underestimating them and neither should you." He looked at me sideways.
"I assure you that I´m not but I hope that they won´t attack when Jacob and Seth are on our side."
Jasper looked straight ahead, deep in thought, then he looked at me and sighed.
"What if they're not on our side?" he said.
I stared at him in disbelief. After everything that they had done for us, how could he think such a thing? Then my rational side kicked in. Jasper was used to war and betrayal, he had lived a world were nothing mattered but death.
"Jasper, I understand your concern but think about it. Jacob would never hurt Bella that way."
Jasper looked doubtful. "Maybe your right, but I won´t take the chance" he said and turned his head towards the window. I decided to let it be and left Jasper alone by the window.
I went outside the porch to see if Jacob and Seth were anywhere to be seen. It didn't take me long to see them in the meadow. I sat down on the stone steps and stared straight ahead, enjoying the silence.
However, I didn´t get to enjoy the silence for long. In between the trees I saw Alice glide gracefully. She jumped like a ballerina to the step beside me. She looked better, she had clearly gone hunting.
"Can I sit?" she asked. I nodded my head and gestured towards the step beside me. Alice sat down gracefully and stared straight ahead.
"How are you Alice?" I asked her. Alice looked at me then shook her head and sighed heavily.
"I feel so tired. I feel so…normal and I hate it." She cried out.
I nodded my head thoughtfully. Everything seemed backwards, I could only imagine how it would feel for Alice. I had noticed that she had withdrawn herself away from everyone. She had barely spoken to Bella since she came, which I thought wouldn´t be possible. Then again I never thought any of this would be possible.
I put my arm around her thin shoulders in comfort; she leaned in and sighed again.
"What´s happening to the world? Everything feels so hopeless. I feel like I can´t rely on anything anymore." She muttered against my chest.
It was like she was speaking from my own heart. It was hopeless in so many ways.
"I mean, the whole family relies on Bella´s survival. If she dies then I don´t know what will happen." She continued deep in thought.
"Why does Edward always have to make things worse?" What was she talking about? Had Edward done something? Then I remembered the guilty look in his eyes. Could this have anything to do with that?
"What are you talking about Alice? What did Edward do?"
Alice looked at me with so much sadness in her eyes that it almost broke my heart. She moved slightly away from me and looked me straight in the eyes.
"Edward did something incredibly foolish. I don´t think he understands the severity of his actions." She paused and looked at the place where Jacob and Seth slept.
"Just tell me Alice." I begged her; I knew she had come here to talk to me about this. I had to know what was going on. Alice didn´t look at me but kept her gaze on the darkness. She took a deep breath then nodded her head.
"Yesterday when Jacob and Edward decided to talk, I sneaked off and listened to their conversation. They talked about Bella and her decision to save the fetus. They talked about the alternative, about what would happen if Bella would die." She paused and looked at me.
"Edward made Jacob promise him something, something terrible." Her lips trembled.
Suddenly I realized what she was going to say. I froze up, I couldn´t believe what she was saying. I hoped that Alice wasn´t about to tell me one of my worst fears.
"Edward made Jacob promise to kill him if Bella dies."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I told myself to calm myself, it would be all right. But I knew it wasn´t. In some ways I felt betrayed. I could have guessed this myself but I had believed, foolishly, that Edward would never do something like that again.
The day when he had come from Italy I had talked to him and asked him never to do anything like that ever again. He had given his promise, but now that I thought about it I realized how stupid I had been. Edward had said that he couldn´t imagine a life without Bella, but I had thought that he understood that killing himself wasn´t an option.
I felt a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I´m sorry Carlisle. I know how hard this is for you but there is more. Few hours ago I went to hunt and I saw a terrible vision. I saw what would happen if Bella dies." The worry shone through Alice´s eyes. I tried to steady myself and listen to her.
"I saw Jacob killing Edward. Emmett and Jasper attacked him. Then the wolves started a battle against us and then…" A small sob escaped her lips. She didn´t have to say more, I knew what would happen. I took her small frame in my arms.
"I promise you that I will do everything that I can to save Bella. If it comes to that day that she won´t make it, I promise you that there won´t be a fight. We will survive this." And I meant it. I wasn't going to let that happen. As I held Alice in my arms I decided that it was time for me talk to Edward. I wasn´t going to let him destroy our family, he had crossed the line too many times.
That night I realized that this could truly become the end of the Cullen family.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading. Firstly I would like to say how incredibly sorry I´m for the lack of post. On another note, this chapter is mostly about the effect the wolves had on the family. Also I wanted to make more out of the scene between Edward and Jacob when Edward asked Jacob to kill him. I thought about the alternative, what exactly would happen if Bella would have died. Again, this is just what I think, it doesn´t have to mirror your ideas, although I would love to hear your suggestions.
Thank you to all who read the story and those who have sticked to it, especially to my wonderful reviewers. I hope you can forgive me for the lack of update.
Please review, it would make my day :)