A/N: Thanks for sticking around folks. Means a lot. I own absolutely diddly squat.
Chapter 4:
I found a phone book at a local coffee shop and called a town car. Might as well travel in comfort. The pearl blue Lincoln pulled up within the hour, and I hopped inside. "How close could you get me to Washington?" I asked, ignoring the stare from the man who opened the door for me.
As he got in the front, he replied, "Washington Avenue? Oh that's not too far. About eighty miles, so it might be just a little pricey."
I smiled. "No, Washington State." I said.
His eyes got wide. "Ummm, I have never had to go that far before, and we would be sleeping on the road for a couple days, and you would have to cover all expenses. Not to mention I would need all of the money up front, not including food for yourself. And if you wanted a hotel for yourself, and the tip that I would have to automatically add. Honestly I would just take a plane." He rushed through all of this, but added, "And just for me, I would have you sign a piece of paper saying that you wanted all of this and that I am not trying to kidnap you." He still looked like he might kick me out.
"I will pay for all expenses, including hotel rooms along the way." I said as sweetly as possible.
"O-Okay." He fiddled with numbers on a sheet of paper for a moment. "It looks like its going to be about three big ones. Now one more time, are you sure?"
"Of course. The faster the better. I will give you four grand right now and another thousand upon arrival." I handed over the pretty black card Laurent had given me. "Is this okay with you? I just don't care to fly, but I don't want to keep you from any family needs."
"Not a problem," he said as he swiped my card on his handheld. "no family. Just me." He finally seemed to be on board, if not excited. I didn't doubt that the large tip had something to do with the new attitude. "Look, it's going to be really weird to have you in the backseat the whole way. Feel free to hop up here and we can actually converse on the way if you like? By the way, my name's Eddie." Of course it was. I kept the smile in place as I shook his hand awkwardly over his seat.
"Sounds wonderful, Eddie. It would get a little strange to go the whole way with no conversation. Might as well get to know each other a little. My name is Belle." His heart rate picked up a little, but he seemed friendly enough. So I got out and opened the front passenger side.
"All right Ms. Belle, where in Washington we goin'?"
"Forks." I declared. I never expected to go within a hundred miles of that place ever again.
Four days later, I was getting out of the car along the side of the road about a mile away from Charlie's house. "This is where you want to get out? Here? It's a ways away from anything." My new friend Eddie looked past me to the dense forest on either side of us.
We had actually got along very well on the ride, and apart from looking a little too happy when our skin would accidentally brush, he was a perfect gentleman the entire way. Even after he found out I was "21" years old. "No, this is perfect. There's a small path just there that leads to the place." I vaguely gestured to the woods on the left side. He squinted, trying to see it. I took the opportunity to reach back in and swipe my card again myself. He looked back just as I charged myself another two thousand and backed back out.
"He-Hey! That's completely unnecessary! You paid for way more than enough already!" He tried to type a few keys on the pad.
"That is for the good company. You earned it. Don't spend it all in one place, Eddie. Good luck." And with that I closed the door and walked right into the forest, lunchbox and new yellow jacket in tow. I figured if Laurent saw it, he would appreciate it. Even though I hadn't seen the Cullens in over a year, I had already inherited their frivolity with money. Well, I suppose some of it was giving it away, so…generosity? Eh, it didn't matter.
Now was the time to focus on the task at hand. The goddamned wolves. I would head straight to the line, not going anywhere near Charlie. The temptation just to look in on him was strong, but I squashed it, knowing it would only cause me pan. Especially since Charlie thought I was now dead. I would have to ask Jake for news regarding him. With the exception of Jacob, I had no interest in having any contact with the Quileute tribe. From what Edward explained to me, I knew roughly where the treaty line was. I was pretty sure that if I got close enough to the border, at least one of the wolves would sense me and come. I just had to make sure I was on the right side of the line. Once I was confident that I couldn't be seen from the road, I hovered above the ground and shot through the trees. I got about a half mile away from my destination when I slowed to a human pace. I was still having way too much fun with this whole flying thing. I got right to about where I knew the border was. The smell of wolf was getting stronger.
The smell wasn't as I expected. I knew from both sides that vampires and wolves smelled horrible, but it wasn't. I could easily tell it was a wolf smell, but it just smelled earthy, like freshly plowed dirt, mixed with new rain. It wasn't unpleasant at all, let alone revolting. All I did was wait. I lowered to the ground completely and sat on the damp ground. I didn't have to wait for long. When I heard the rustle of approaching company, I decided to remain seated to lower any threat.
They emerged from the trees about two minutes later. They were walking, six great huge wolves. Sam was leading them, of course. Jared and Quil were hovering out towards the edge of the group, lookin anxiously between Sam and I. On Sam's direct right was Jake. There was a small tan colored wolf in the far back who I had no name for. On Sam's left, I could only assume it was Paul. The silver wolf was growling and spitting, making a real scene. I decided acknowledging Paul wasn't going to solve anything. I kept my gaze on Sam, occasionally sparing a glance at Jake. I couldn't get any emotions from his wolf face. No doubt in my mind he knew who, and what, I was.
Sam was clearly waiting for me to speak first. I decided to try for nice. "Hello Sam. By now of course you know who I am. I will not come onto your land whatsoever. I merely wish to speak with you. If you decide after that you want me to leave forever, of course I will, but I must insist on at least a small conversation. I came here looking for answers." I waited for a response. Sam glanced back at Jacob and together they slowly backed away. The other wolves waited patiently. Quil let out a small whimper. Paul promptly turned and snapped in his direction. He hung his head in shame.
"Hey Quil. No matter what happens, I have missed you." His ears perked slightly, but other than that, he gave no indication of having heard me. Paul was furious. He turned to me and growled low from his gut. If he weren't already in wolf form, he would have phased then, without a doubt. I watched him only through my peripheral vision. I didn't spare him a full on look. I had no interest in starting a fight.
Sam and Jacob emerged from the trees, wearing boarding shorts and nothing else. Jacob was looking everywhere else but my face, whereas Sam was staring intently into my eyes. He wasn't an idiot. He could tell I looked different than the Cullens. He stopped about five feet away from me. I must have been much closer to the boundary line than I thought.
"State your business Cullen. I am not a patient man." He seemed to be putting in an effort to keep calm. Jacob was slightly trembling.
"I will be as frank as possible. I know your pack has things to attend to. I was turned into a vampire a few days ago. But I have not seen the Cullens since the day before you found me in the woods a year ago." He huffed slightly, as if to say he didn't believe that. I continued. "I was in phoenix when another vampire I had met a couple of years ago came to find me. The one with dreadlocks that you chased out of town. He said I was going to be special. He changed me. But as you can see I am not normal. I do not need hardly any blood to survive. A few sips every few days. Humans do not tempt me. I smell them, but I have no urge to harm them. My eyes are not red, they are purple. I discovered on my way here that my skin has a fain glow in sunlight, but not the diamond sparkle as the Cullens. I have a good amount of abilities that normal ones of my kind do not, and I simply came here hoping that you might know what is happening to me. I also wanted to share these things with you so that you could be aware of everything about me." I only threw that last part in there so that it looked like there was something to be gained from this as well. It felt good to be able to tell all of this to anyone, even if it was to a group that was supposed to be my enemy.
He seemed to contemplate this for a moment. He looked at Jake and they held a silent conversation. "This is very new to us, you must understand. You seem to be acting like the Bella some of us remember, and we do appreciate you keeping with the agreement put in place, even in the absence of the Cullen clan. But this is uncharted territory. We have never encountered a being such as you. You certainly are different. While we cannot deny that, we cannot permit you to cross onto our land."
"I completely understand. That was not my wish, I merely came for some answers. I know that I wish to find the Cullens before too long, but I wanted to make sure I at least found out some information about myself first. I did not come as an imposition. Merely, I just wanted to see if your old legends could shed some light for me. If I wanted to cross your borders unharmed, I could have, but I do respect you."
Jacob finally looked at me long enough to speak. "How could you possibly think that we couldn't harm you if you crossed? Is it because of the way we used to be? Because that's over Bells. You picked your side."
It was my turn to get angry. "Chose? You think I chose this? I waited for months after moving to help my Mother, and to try to cope from my own loss! I called you every day for two months before I left, even after I found out about your furry little situation. You rejected me! You made my decision for me long before I was attacker by Laurent in an alley. You think I wanted this? You think I asked him to do this? Think before you open your trap, Jacob. I waited for you. I didn't throw my phone in a river when I went to Phoenix. I made sure I still had a way for you to contact me. I would have been on the next flight back, bringing Renee if I had to. Don't you dare judge me. And I didn't say I would fight you, I just said that I could have crossed your lines. I have very good evasion tactics." The anger left his face quickly, replaced with shame. He looked back to Sam, almost as if to see if I should be trusted now.
"The fact is you are a vampire now. You will always be the enemy. There is no way around it now." Sam said, taking my attention back to him.
"Sam, how do I smell?" I asked suddenly, remembering the other thing I wanted to know.
"What?" He asked, confused by the turn in the conversation.
"I know from the Cullens that we smell repulsive to you, and vice versa. But you don't. Not to me, anyways. I can smell that you are different, but it's not a bad smell. I was just curious if it was the same way on the other end." It was then that Paul decided he would take the bullet himself, lunging forward a foot or so closer to me. "Paul, no!" Sam's alpha order stopped him in his place. I did everything in my power not to smirk. The little puppy, put in his place.
"Bella-." Sam started.
"It's Belle now, I needed a new identity."
"Fine. Belle. I don't think you are lying. And I have decided that I will go to the Counsel and I will ask them your questions."
I let a smile fill my face. "That's wonderful Sam, thank you."
He put his hand up. "Hang on. I have a problem. You seem to think that you have some way to get past our borders. I am taking a very large leap by believing a single word you say, so I think we need a little trust on your part as well."
I thought about this for a moment. I didn't see any harm in it, and I had been dying to show another person this. I finally stood up.
"You may show us, but that does not mean that you can cross our borders." Sam amended.
"I wouldn't dream of it." and with that, I rose into the air. I rose steadily until I was right to the top of the tree line. Then I gracefully slid back down and hovered just an inch over the ground, my toes dangling to just brush the tips of the fallen leaves. I thought Sam was going to pass out, so I decided to break the ice.
"Sam, I will not use this gift to double cross you. I will not go near your land, nor will I harm anyone in it. You have my word. I only showed you so that it is all out in the open. I have no secrets." I knew that the wolves have always had this super-suspicion of anything and everything, but I really hoped they weren't going to be obnoxiously stubborn about this.
"Well, you will excuse me if I cant take you completely for your word. I will leave you with two guards while the rest of us go to meet with the elders. Seth! Phase back and stay with Paul. Paul! Stay wolf. Keep your attitude in check. No crossing the line. Jared, Jacob, Quil, with me. We will be back within the hour."
As he was turning away I asked. "Sam? How much money would I have to pay you to take Paul and leave one of the others?" I kept the sweet smile in place. Jacob and Sam both let a small grin slip. Paul growled.
The small brown wolf had disappeared and returned a boy in shorts by then. He was tall and muscular for sure, but he couldn't have been near Jacob's age. Maybe thirteen at most. But he did look sweet, he even offered me a small smile as the rest of the boys turned and left.
Over his shoulder, Sam called. "Seth will keep you from getting killed, but Paul isn't a pushover." Haha very funny. I would find a way to get him back for this one.
I smiled at Seth. "Hello. My name is Belle. It's nice to meet you."
He gave me a big grin. I was going to like him. "Hi Belle! I'm Seth." I didn't think it was possible for the wolf form of Paul to look even angrier, nor growl louder. "Oh, don't mind him, his bark his worse than his bite. Well, his bite is still pretty bad, but he just has a temper. It was really cool of you to not piss off Sam. You handled all this paranoid crap really well."
"Oh Sam is just looking out for his family. I can appreciate that."
"Well, you should know, Jacob was always thinking about calling you back. He tore himself up about it for months. Last week he got the news that you had died. It took an order from Sam to not run off and do something stupid. It may not look like it, but he is so happy you are still alive… in a way." He added with a chuckle. The growling was getting louder the more he spoke. It was getting harder and harder to appreciate what this sweet boy was saying with this animal in the background.
For the first time all day, I looked Paul square in the eyes. "Look Paul. I get it. You hate me. In less than an hour, I will be out of your life and you will never see me again. Stop being such an…such an…" I had no more words. Our eyes connected, and all I could see were the massive silver orbs looking back at me. We were the only two beings in the universe, and my reason for living had finally been found. His eyes lost all anger, and all of the emotions that I had been holding back came rushing to the center of my brain. But it was irrelevant. I didn't feel the pain, or the sadness. Paul. Just Paul. He let out a soft whimper and sank to the ground, never leaving my eyes.
"Oh, shit." Seth whispered. "No, no no."
What the hell was happening?
A/N: Thoughts? R/R!