A/N: Sorry I've taken so long with this, real life, as it often does, got in my way. Thank you for the encouragement and the reviews. Thanks for bearing with this story so far. I hope this delivers.
JPOV
At the speed we were driving, it didn't take long to reach the hospital. Alice's eyes were completely glazed over, consumed with watching Bella's future, hoping Bella would decide to sit out tonight's chase for some reason.
I squealed into the hospital parking lot with Emmett right on my tail. We sailed into parking spots barely bigger than our cars, even in our haste we now had to be discreet. Carlisle couldn't just leave the hospital while he was on call for no reason.
Alice, anticipating my question, said, "Tell Carlisle to use the 'death in the family' excuse, they'll believe him and it could turn into the truth."
I could tell that Emmett was having trouble moving at human speed across the parking lot, he loved Bella as the little sister he lost when Carlisle changed him. Rose was more concerned with Emmett's pain if we failed than Bella's own safety. The waves of concern emanating off Esme was a testament to her devotion to her family, and to her favorite son, Edward.
After a few seconds that seemed like ages, we were through the door and into the lobby. Alice took off toward the ER, but then turned and gave me an odd look, and I realized that we all expected Edward to meet us at the door, hearing our panicked thoughts as soon as we entered the parking lot.
"They must be severely occupied," said Alice, "I can't see them anymore."
Esme then saw a nurse she had grown close to after helping the nurse redecorate her living room.
"Sheila, where is Carlisle? A close relative of his has passed away and we need to let him know."
"Carlisle is in radiology, Edward is with him. They have the car accident victims put back together and are reviewing the X-rays. I'm so sorry for your loss."
"Thank you, Sheila."
Radiology would explain why Edward hasn't heard us yet, he can't "hear" through thick lead walls, and I believe this old hospital still has a very thick layer of lead in the walls around their radiology equipment.
It would be a small miracle today if they were in there alone.
Alice reached the door first and swung it open, running to Edward and pressing her hands to both sides of his face. I didn't understand why she did this until Edward staggered under the enormous weight of her visions as he caught every minute detail. Carlisle stood there, with waves of confusion rolling off him, until Esme explained, lightning-fast, what the situation was. His eyes filled with a deep determination as he turned to Edward.
"Get up. Everyone, go back to the cars. I will go to the nurse's station and explain why I am leaving. This is the most serious situation we have ever dealt with, but we will handle it. Edward, I give you my word that we will get Bella back here alive, whether we save her tonight or find her later in Italy. I swear to you no harm will come to her, as your father and creator, I swear I will do my best. Now go!"
We ran out of the hospital slightly faster than a human could have, but luckily we didn't meet anybody on our way to the cars. I wasn't sure what Edward would do, ride or drive, but when he ripped the car keys from my hand, breaking my ring and pinky fingers, I knew he wanted to drive.
"GET IN NOW OR I'M LEAVING YOU HERE!" bellowed Edward from the driver's seat of the Vanquish, the engine already snarling as he revved the engine.
"You don't even know where she is!" screamed Alice, as she slid into the back seat, I followed her into the Vanquish, folding my long legs under the dash while slamming the door behind me. I pulled my fingers back into place before they could heal out of place.
"Damn it, Alice! Why didn't you tell me she was chasing TORNADOES! I left her to keep her safe, but she jumped from the frying pan RIGHT INTO THE FIRE! And Demetri watching her, how the HELL couldn't you see that?" Edward was screaming at my wife, the tendons in his neck jutting through his skin and my old feelings of defensiveness resurfaced. I squashed them down, now was not the time for a fight with Edward when Bella's life was on the line.
"She's getting harder to see all the time, Edward. I don't even see her every day anymore, I was lucky to see her this afternoon. Take this on-ramp southbound towards Oklahoma City, she'll intercept the tornado about twelve miles south of Bartlesville at about 7:00 p.m. It's five right now, even if you push this car to its limit, it'll be close. I see that we'll get there before Carlisle, Emmett, Rose and Esme, which is troublesome as we'll need Emmett's strength."
"We have to get there, Alice. Jasper, can I count on you to have my back if it comes to a fight?"
"Of course you can, Edward. I love Bella as much as anyone in this family."
I was surprised by the words coming out of my own mouth as I stared at the flat, prairie landscape flying by at 180 mph and climbing. I was surprised that I would want to help Edward in this way. I hadn't ever considered Bella a real part of the family until today, when I felt everyone's reactions to the danger posed to her by the Volturi and her own actions. Bella Swan changed this family when she changed Edward. We all saw the difference she made. For the first time, he was letting something other than cold calculations rule his actions. He finally understood the bonds between Alice and I, Emmett and Rosalie, and Carlisle and Esme, instead of scorning our love as a way for other people to control us. The fifty-odd years I had to live with Edward before Bella was a trying time for me, but Alice wanted to be there and I stayed for her. There were times when I was so angry with him, he would insinuate that my military training was moot if I let love determine my actions, that I wanted to scoop Alice up and take her away, but he could hear my plan and would tip off Carlisle, or worse Esme, and they would convince me to stay. Edward would act all contrite, but the same thing would happen again soon enough.
After Bella, he didn't judge the love between Alice and I as weak. He could see the greater happiness we enjoyed with each other because he had found that with Bella, and at first, he couldn't handle it. That's the real reason he left. I could feel it oozing off him when he came in that first night after he left her. It shocked everyone when he told us. I had never seen Esme as mad as she was then, but she didn't turn it on Edward, she let it out on Alice and I later. Everyone was horrified by what Edward had become after leaving her, this dour, spectral being was much worse than a judgmental cocky douche. While he was with Bella, I had grown to finally think of Edward as a brother and friend, and I would do anything to get Bella back for him.
"Speed it up, Edward! My vision's going foggy," murmured Alice.
Edward let out an inarticulate snarl and punched the gas on the already flying Aston-Martin. We blew past cars as if they were speeding in reverse. If he had blown by a cop, I don't think they would have believed their radar gun – they certainly wouldn't have caught us, but I don't think a police chopper on our tail and some road blocks would help us save Bella tonight.
Edward could barely force words out through his own panic at Bella's safety so our flight over the Kansas/Oklahoma countryside was quiet, punctuated only by Alice's murmured directions to Edward. I reached my arm back to her and clasped her hand in mine, fervently praying that we would get Bella out alive.
As much as it would kill Edward to lose Bella, Alice would lose too. She loved Bella almost as much as Edward.
As we drove, a huge, black mass of clouds began to dominate the late-afternoon sky and lightning began to flash on the horizon.
"It will be very, very close," whispered Alice.
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BPOV
The exhilaration I feel when chasing renders me unable to remember why my life sucks so bad. Maybe that's why I do it. The closer I get to a tornado, the less I feel my own sorrow. In the fight to the best readings I can, and then getting me and Jake back out of there alive completely takes my mind off Edward.
"Where are we headed Jake? The storm is headed north-northeast, I need a road."
"Okay Boss-lady, hold your horses….It looks like you'll need to take this next turn right and then make a left on the third road to the left. It's a dirt road, so we may have a bumpy ride, but that should get us right under the thing."
"Thanks Jake, you're the best."
"I know," laughed Jacob.
"Now that we have our bearings, crank out the jams Bella!"
"Crank out the jams? Who are you and what have you done with Jacob "my-steadfast-navigator" Black?"
"Chasing just puts me in a good mood. It does you too, when we chase you look so animated, so different from normal."
"What do you mean by that?"
What! I have been working on my to-do list so hard this summer!
"You look so lost most of the time, Bella. Everywhere we go, you just stare at the horizon, usually to the northwest. I don't know what has made you so depressed and angry, but it must have been bad."
"You have no idea Jacob."
"Maybe," whispered Jacob, as I turned the radio volume up, decisively ending this painful conversation.
I needed to get out of my memory-induced depression and get my mind right for this chase. I could feel that this would be a challenging storm. The storm's anvil had spread out for mile with a greenish-black core. I turn the radio off and switched to the CD player, and from the speakers blared my favorite song to chase to, right at my favorite part.
"Wish you were here, I'm a wounded satellite. I need you now, put me back together, make me right."
I punch the gas and we fly over the dirt road, Jacob begins filming the storm with "Anna Molly" providing the soundtrack. The green-black clouds seem to come almost to the ground. I switch the headlights on to see in the inky darkness of the storm. The first raindrops begin to spatter the windshield about fifteen minutes later.
"Looks like it's about to do something," Jake hollered over the bass.
"Yeah, looks like the cloud might pack a microburst, we'll need to avoid it, but it's so hard to see in this darkness," I yelled.
"Turn the radio back on and get the latest warnings list, Bella. I'll get the Doppler on the laptop."
"……severe thunderstorm warning issued for Osage, Nowata, Tulsa and Rogers county until 7:30 p.m. central time," intoned the radio studio weather man.
"Nothing good so far, what if this cell doesn't produce? Do you want to try one of the other ones in the area?"
"No, Jacob, this is the one. I can feel it. Something big is about to go down."
"Bella, do you realize just how different you are when you chase?"
"Jake, don't start this again. I don't want to talk about it."
"That's exactly your problem! Do you realize that we've spent about 90% of this summer together and I don't know a thing about you?"
"You know I don't like talking about myself."
"Don't give me that shit, Bella. I know what you're up to. You don't want anyone to know you. You put up this devil-may-care front, joking with the team, but really, no one knows you at all. I want to know you, Bella, but I also know that whoever left you did a hell of a job because you can't even sleep at night. I hear you screaming his name at night, and it breaks my heart every time. You are such a great girl, Bells, but he messed you up good.
"I know I can't completely fix you, Bella, but I want to try. I'm not saying I'll replace your Edward. I don't even want to try, but I want to make you smile and laugh. I could make you happy if you would give me a chance. I've been trying to make my intentions known to you almost since the day we met, but you are so locked into your own memories that you haven't even noticed.
"How..how do you know that name?"
"I sleep next door every night. You scream his name, begging him not to leave you again. Let go Bella, let me take your pain. I'll make it better, I promise. I'll do whatever it takes to make you happy and I'll never leave you, unless you ask me to. No strings, no commitment, just let me try to put some light back in your eyes. The only time I ever see it is when you are risking both our lives."
"Jake….I can't…."
"How do you know, Bella? Have you ever tried to live without the memories? You could be happy with me."
"Jacob, it's not like that. I just can't let him go. I've been trying as hard as I can for over a year and my life is self-destructing without him. I can't live without him. I just exist. And that's been my goal. I'm not saying we didn't have our problems, because we did. We certainly had our share. Do you think I like being bound to someone who doesn't want me anymore? He told me he left because he just didn't want me anymore. I hate this, Jake. I'm ruined, you don't want me, I'm damaged. I'm not worth a sweet guy's time and effort. I'll always be missing an essential piece. I can't even imagine loving someone else, and I definitely can't think of the actual act of loving someone else. He took that away from me too."
Lightning flashed all around the Tahoe as I finished my monologue, a fitting tribute to the searing, white-hot pain of my admission. Tears I had kept hidden flowed freely down my cheeks. In that moment I hated everything about my life. The bright lightning flashes illuminated my realization that even if I ever wanted to move on, to accept another's love, I never would be able. I had given myself to Edward so completely that when he left, he took that essential part that allowed me to put love in other people. I was pragmatic enough to realize that Jacob would be good for me. He was responsible, he had a bright future, he was loyal. But for all that, I had not an ounce of attraction for him. All I could think about when I looked him in the eyes as I told him I could never love him were a different set of eyes, eyes that shone amber-gold in the darkness of my old bedroom. A pair of eyes that, in that moment, I despised for the havoc they had wreaked on my now useless life. He has reduced me to an existence of self-imposed spinsterhood. But for all my hate, I knew that I was irrevocably in love with him, and for that I hated myself most of all.
"The National Weather Service has now issued a Tornado Warning for Osage and Washington counties. If you are in the path of this storm, we urge you to take shelter immediately. Shelter in a cellar, basement, closet or bathroom in the center part of your home. This warning will expire at 7:30 p.m. This storm has the potential to produce a very strong tornado, the National Weather Service predicts a strong F3 to F4. Keep it right here for more updates on the severe weather throughout the night."
"We need to head north! We're going to miss it if we don't move now!"
"Let's get this one, Bella, we'll work on you later. I won't just let this go."
I peeled out of the gravel drive we parked in, where we were watching the storm develop and discussing my broken life. Right as I pulled out a very familiar car spun to a stop right in front of the Tahoe's front bumper.
What the hell is he doing here?
Jacob made out of the truck first, apparently he really disliked Socrates because he was laying into him about nearly killing us. I jump out to go berate the mysterious Italian guy for holding us up when Jake runs back to the Tahoe and tells me to drive.
"Apparently Dr. Tom had a change of heart and has stuck Socrates with us for the rest of this chase."
"Why? He doesn't think we can handle it?"
"I don't know. Socrates just said Dr. Tom told him to come find us. He's going to follow us to the tornado and set up his camera with us."
"UUGGHHH!" So now its peel out part deux and we actually make it on the road with Socrates following behind.
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JPOV
"Turn here and drive straight, as fast as this car will go. When this road runs out, turn right onto that highway and we will overtake them in about 15 minutes. By that time they will be in sight of the tornado. It is the biggest I have ever seen. We have a problem. Demetri has already found them, but is waiting to take her until they get closer to the tornado. Once they get in sight of the tornado, Demetri will get in their SUV. We will have to be careful about overtaking them. Run with your lights off. Jasper, it will come to a fight."
Alice pulled me into the back seat of the Vanquish with her, kissing me softly on the lips and whispering that she loved me in my ear. She said that she couldn't see the outcome of the fight because the mindless path of the tornado had blurred her sight.
"If it should come to it, I will fight and die with you. It can be no other way. One of us cannot live without the other, you know this. Jasper, we fight together. We fight for us, our family, and Bella."
I couldn't bear to think of anything that would take Alice away from me. If it came to it, we would die together, as equals, fighting for people we love. My fear for my tiny wife gripped me then, and in that fear, I recognized its counterpart rolling in waves off Edward. For those few minutes before we caught up with them, Edward and I understood each other completely. He nodded almost imperceptibly, without taking his hawk's eyes from the road, but I knew it was for me. Our fear for our loves made us equals, comrades, brothers finally.
Far ahead of us, bright red taillights blinked at us through the gloom of this very dangerous storm.
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BPOV
Socrates flashed his lights at me to pull over right as I caught sight of the massive beast of a tornado. This was beyond sheltering in a bathroom. A tornado like this would have blown me right out of that bathtub I where I sought shelter in Conway. It would have destroyed the town. The National Weather Service had not done this storm justice. It had to be an F5. The base was at least a mile wide. In the waning August afternoon light, I could see it completely uprooting the sparse trees that dotted the landscape. It flung a car out a few seconds later.
I squealed to a stop as Socrates abandoned his car on the side of the road and jumped in the back, chucking his camera bag into the floorboard. As I sped towards the tornado, I thought it odd that he would treat his high-dollar Nikon in this fashion. Most of the grads treated their cameras like their children, cradling them gently, naming them, and cleaning them constantly.
"Jake, call in a sighting confirm with Dr. Tom and have him forward the confirm to all local media," I ordered.
While Jake was talking to Dr. Tom in muted tones, so as not to ruin our now important video footage, Socrates put his hand on my shoulder as I drove. I tried to shake off the cold hand, but it stayed put – exerting a slightly painful pressure. He was making me more nervous by the minute.
"Here looks good for set-up, Bella. We've got a great sight-line," said Jacob.
"And I thought the Swan-Black team always got too close to storms. Where's that dare-devil spirit, Swan? I expected to actually get close to a tornado riding with you."
"I can get us closer, Socrates. Don't worry about that."
"Oh, I won't. I hear you get very close to tornadoes. Dangerously close, even."
The tornado was off to our left, heading northeast, about a mile away when Socrates' hand tightened very painfully on my shoulder.
"You know what Bella? I think we would get much more out of this chase alone…"
In a lightning-fast movement I recognized much too late to attempt to stop it, Socrates took Jake's head and wrenched it to the side. His neck snapped audibly, making a sickening crunch.
I screamed and swerved the vehicle. Socrates now occupied the front seat while Jacob's broken body was flung into the back.
"Keep driving, honey. And don't worry, I've been ordered to keep you alive for a while. By the way, my name is Demetri."
I was too afraid to respond. My Jake was gone. I would never hear his voice again. In this short summer he had become my best friend. He had loved me enough to try to fix me. He had loved me broken and bleeding. He was a beautiful soul, and he was gone.
"You realize what I am now don't you? I was surprised you didn't recognize the signs, as much time as you have spent with our kind. Are the Cullen's that different from us?"
"What do the Cullens have to do with this?"
"Everything, silly girl. My master find Edward Cullen to be very valuable, so I am here to capture you, his love, and take you back to my master. He will then decide what to do with you, but I expect you will be used to barter Edward's allegiance to Aro."
"Taking me isn't going to make Edward followed your Aro, he left me. He doesn't love me anymore. You've got the wrong bartering tool."
The terror was seeping in now. I knew I was about to die. The tornado was so close now. This was as close as I had ever been. I could see the raw power twisting up huge tracts of land, destroying everything in its path. The flashes of lightning lit up Demetri's face and I could see the evil glint in his eye, the realization that he was alone in a small space with a human that was no longer valuable to his master. His eyes became a subtly darker shade of muddy brown and I realized that he was wearing contacts and that his eyes were probably closer to a shade of deep burgundy, the color of drying blood.
"Mmmm…well. That changes things."
He stroked my cheek with the back of his marble white hand and told me to pull over. He drug me out of the car and onto the shoulder.
"It is a shame that everyone will think you both died in a tornado, but we have rules. But enough talk, your thin, translucent skin is driving me insane with longing, your scent pungent with caffeine and alcohol. Damaged, just the way I like it."
Demetri leaned in, keeping me in the iron grip of his arms. It was so like and unlike another grip I remembered, one so amazing it would stop my heart. This was it. My end. The dreams would finally end, my nightmare gone.
His lips brushed my neck as rain splattered my face, mingling with my tears. His cold breath felt so hideous against my skin, a mocking reminder of the best months of my life. I would soon be free of my memories' spell. Demetri growled low in his throat and I felt his razor sharp teeth resting just on the outside of my skin. As I gasped my last few breaths, I dreamed that light flooded over me, blinding me, and the most beautiful voice in history was calling my name. I found heaven on the side of an Oklahoma highway.
Review Review Review! I will attempt to finish the next chapter faster than this one. I'm sorry I killed off Jacob, but the story demanded it. There will be retribution.