Chapter 18: Paved with Good Intentions

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." -12th century proverb

August 15th, 2007

Bella sat in her room reading up on the variations of protective enchantments. There was no way she'd be able to do all of them, but some of the complex charms piqued her interest. There was one advanced shield charm in particular that she was excited to try.

"Bells, you ready to go?" Charlie shouted up the stairs.

"Coming!" She called, setting down her books and slipping on a pair of flats.

Her nerves seemed to percolate beneath the skin. She hadn't seen any of the tribe in so long. What if they hated her? Charlie was currently in a relationship with Sue Clearwater, Leah's mother, and Bella dreaded that family confrontation most of all.

They were about to jump in the cruiser when Bella's newly charged cell phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered warily.

"Bella!"

"Alice?" How did she even get this number?

"Are you about to go to La Push?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Yes."

"Please don't go, Bella. I have a really bad feeling. You keep disappearing, and then I keep seeing...well, that's not important, but please stay at your house! We could go shopping and catch up. I used to be your best friend, Bella. Doesn't that count for anything?"

Bella formed her thoughts carefully. "It counted until you left me behind. You could have stayed, but you let me break instead."

"I'm so sorry, Bella. Please forgive me."

"I will," she paused to take a deep breath, "but not today. Goodbye, Alice."

"...No, Bella, w—"

Bella hung up the phone and swallowed thickly. Alice had been her best friend once, but that friendship had been damaged irreparably by her deliberate absence.

"Everything alright, Bells?" He raised an eyebrow as she pocketed the phone.

"I guess we'll find out."

"It'll be fine. Relax."

Bella sincerely hoped her father was right.

They pulled up to the aged, red house, and Bella slid out of the passenger side of the cruiser nervously.

"Bella?" A familiar voice called out from behind, and she was pleased to see Quil Ateara beaming as he strode across the street.

"Quil, hi!" Bella held out her hand, but the wolf gathered her into a feverish hug instead.

"Sheriff Swan," Quil nodded politely.

Charlie joined them and patted Bella's arm. "See, Bells, I told you everyone didn't hate you. I'll let you catch up with your friends and meet you at Billy's for lunch."

"Okay, see you." She waved as her dad approached the Clearwater residence then turned sheepishly back toward Quil. So much for beating around the bush.

"Nobody hates you, Bella." Then his eyebrows knit together with a hint of apprehension. "But just the same, it's probably best if you steer clear of Leah."

She nodded silently. Maybe coming here was a bad idea. She wasn't sure she'd be able to keep it together the whole day, especially if it meant having to dodge Leah the entire time.

"Bella!" Jacob's voice rang out as he jogged over. He too enclosed her in a tight hug, and Bella could hardly breathe. Finally he let her go and grinned brightly, "I'm glad you're home."

She stepped back to catch her breath and couldn't help but notice how irrationally happy her former boyfriend seemed. Sigh. Bella would have to nip that in the bud immediately.

"I'm only back for a few days, but I couldn't leave without seeing my old friends."

"Old friends?" he laughed. "Geez, Bella, you've been gone for a few months, not decades. Things haven't changed that much."

"You'd be surprised," she murmured to herself.

Jacob grabbed her hand and began pulling her down the road. "I know Emily's going to want to see you. She's missed you a lot."

"Jacob, I don't think this is a good idea..."

Even Quil looked nervous as they neared the wolf haven. They were almost to the front porch when Bella's worst fears were realized.

"NO." Leah Clearwater had just stepped outside and froze like a deer in headlights. "No...Not her. She can't be here."

"Leah," Sam's authoritative tone echoed from behind the open front door. "Bella is welcome here."

"How can you say that after what happened?" The dark haired girl was shaking.

"We would have made the same sacrifice for any other human," Sam defended.

"No." She shook her head angrily. "It's her fault they're dead."

"The blame rests with the Cullens for not taking care of it before they left..."

Bella couldn't handle it anymore. Everything Leah had said was true...she should have never come back.

She took off running toward the forest line, ignoring the blurring shouts behind her. After stumbling through the woods for five minutes she became aware that someone had followed, but when she turned to face them she was shocked to see that it was Leah of all people.

"Running away again, Bella?" Leah glared at her furiously.

"Running from you," she said pointedly. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Don't you remember what happened that last time you ran into these woods?" Despair and rage creased in the corners of the she-wolf's eyes. "If you die out here, after everything my brother did to save you, then he died for nothing. Your decisions aren't just about you anymore, Swan. Seth and Embry gave everything so you could live. You owe it to them to be a little less stupid."

"I–I'm sorry." Her words stung Bella to the core. "I never meant for them to die."

"Well, it's too late, Bella. They're gone, and here you are again, just begging for trouble. For all you know, there could still be—"

Suddenly Leah froze, her countenance instantly shifting from anger to fear as she looked around in a state of hypervigilance.

"—vampires."

She shot back into the trees, and Bella brought her hand to her pocket, gripping the edge of her wand.

Silence filled the air. The chirping of birds vanished, and even the wind seemed to still as she waited.

"I guess some things are just too good to last." A honeyed voiced echoed from behind the clearing. "I honestly thought I might never have to see you again, Bella."

Rosalie. Bella would gladly take arguing with Leah over this... "If you didn't want to see me, then why are you here?"

The stunning blond stepped into view and leaned gracefully against a tree. "You just had to fall off the face of the earth, so Edward would come crawling back to find you!"

"What?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You seriously think that's why I left...to lure him in?"

"It's bad enough that he's been pining over you this whole time, but at least he kept it to himself—"

Pining this whole time? Everything clicked into place in Bella's mind as the vague realization that Edward's unforgivable departure may have actually been based on overprotective, good intentions. Neville was right...Edward still had feelings for Bella, and now he deeply regretted his decision to leave.

"—Now all I'm hearing is 'Bella this' and 'Bella that' and 'I wish I had never left Bella'. It's pathetic."

"I agree!" she shouted at the beautiful vampiress. "It is pathetic. Edward needs to get over me." Edward had chosen flight over fight when it mattered most, and all Bella could find it in her heart to feel toward him now was loathing and resentment.

She thought Rosalie might rejoice in Bella's indifference, but the vampire only shot her a scathing glare.

"You don't know anything about vampires, do you, Bella? Edward chose you."

"And then he chose to leave. I was completely broken until Jacob and his friends helped me get back on my feet—"

"You mean the werewolves?" Rosalie spat in disgust. "That filthy pack of mutts?"

"They saved my life!" Bella shouted angrily. "And they are worth a thousand times more than you or Edward."

Rosalie lost her temper and crouched, baring her teeth menacingly, but she hesitated as a lean, silver wolf joined Bella by her side.

"You're choosing wrong again, Bella," Rosalie shook her head and hissed and lunged toward them, but Leah crashed into the vampire's side, knocking her into a tree and leaving a large gash in the side of the vampire's shirt. Rosalie shrieked furiously at the torn fabric and lunged again.

This time Bella anticipated Rosalie's movement, aiming her wand at the ground in front of Leah.

"PROTEGO DUO!"

A jet of blue light hit the ground and formed a graceful arc around the silver wolf, pulsating like hot glass being shaped in a furnace, and Rosalie skidded to a halt before hitting the undulating barrier.

"I thought Edward was joking," Rosalie shook her head in disbelief, "but it's true. You're a freak."

Leah, still in her wolf form, stared at Bella with what could only be interpreted as complete astonishment; then she took off toward the reservation, leaving Bella alone with the unhinged vampire.

"You know, I used to feel sorry for you, Bella. Hardly any friends, average looks, and that graceless lack of balance that was always getting you into trouble. But look at you now," she stepped to the side, edging closer like a sashay in slow motion. "You must be so proud of your power. It might just be the only redeeming quality you have."

Bella had heard enough. Rosalie was just trying to get in her head, and it was working. She couldn't think. She couldn't breathe.

LATESCO, she chanted frantically in her mind.

Rosalie's eyes widened – but only for a second. "You think you can hide from a vampire? I can still smell you, Bella. I can still hear your heart."

Okay, so that hadn't been the best idea. It had worked with Alice when there had been a street full of Londoners to mask the scent, but in a desolate forest? Bella was doomed.

"What do you even want from me, Rosalie – you hated it when I was with Edward."

"And I never thought I'd find something about you that I despise more, but classic Bella proves me wrong again," she laughed humorlessly. "I know about the wizard, Bella. I heard Alice trying to convince Edward to let you go, so you could be with that...freak." Her face twitched with annoyance. "Could you be more obvious? I can hear your pulse racing just thinking about him."

Bella was suddenly filled with fierce, protective desire. Neville wasn't some freak, he was...everything, and she'd be damned if that blonde vamp so much as laid a finger on him. She cast the counter charm to the disillusionment charm and seethed with rage, "If you touch him—"

"—I don't care about some wizard, Bella. I care about my family, and protecting them when something or someone threatens their happiness."

It took exactly two seconds for Bella to process exactly what Rosalie was saying. Neville wasn't in trouble...she was.

She cast a wordless shield charm as Rosalie lunged, and it solidified just as the vampire crashed into its glassy surface. The sickening sound of shatters filled the air, and Bella looked up in horror. Rosalie's shoulder now had a long, defined crack running down to her elbow, but it was healing quickly. The shield on the other hand was not repairing itself, and shards of blue crystal evaporated where a barrier had once been.

The hole was only a few inches wide, but Rosalie would be through with just a few more well placed hits. Bella's wand arm was shaking, what was she going to do? Suddenly a light voice entered her mind.

If you're in danger – if you need help for any reason – throw this on the ground as hard as you can.

Of course! Bella fumbled into her pocket with her free hand and pulled out Hermione's mysterious parting gift.

She chucked the shoelace at the ground as hard as she could...and nothing happened.

Maybe she didn't throw it hard enough, or perhaps it just took a minute to work.

Several seconds ticked by, and Bella whimpered as her dominant arm trembled violently. She was going to have to run for it, and she was going to lose.

Another heavy crunch landed against her shield, and the hole widened to the size of a basketball...or even a quaffle, Bella mused in a moment of ill-timed, morbid humor.

Running through all the spells in her mind that she'd studied, Bella tried to think of a last ditch way to somehow save herself. There was one spell that might work, an illusory projection of pain, but how could she even think about using it? She'd be a monster...worse than the vampire she now faced. But what else could she do?

Rosalie crashed against the shield, and it began to crumble completely. She watched the beautiful immortal's face shift until it appeared grotesquely distorted, and Bella knew she had no choice.

"Crucio!"

The blonde fell back, writhing and screaming, and Bella's will crumbled. She saw Neville flash through her mind, and she dropped her arm with a gasp, cutting off the spell at once.

"I'm sorry," her voice trembled slightly. Surely there was another spell she could have used...any other spell.

The vampire weakly rose to her feet. "And Edward said we were the ones with no souls," she whispered just loud enough for Bella to hear.

"I was just trying to stop you," she choked.

Rosalie stared at Bella with an eerie sense of finality. "I am...through with you."

Bella was about to cast another shield charm when a jet of red light struck her assailant full force.

"Damned right, you're through with her."

The air caught the Bella's throat as she turned to face her savior. Neville, holding a musty, oversized boot without laces, faced Rosalie looking fierce.

The stunning spell had little effect, and the blonde beauty jumped to her feet, growling menacingly.

"Incarcerous!" Ropes exploded from the tip of Neville's wand, wrapping themselves around Rosalie's body, but she was no ordinary vampire, and the bonds were broken within seconds.

"PROTEGO DUO!" Bella poured every last fiber of strength into casting the new shield, and fiery blue light enveloped Neville and herself in an undulating, molten cocoon which the vampire didn't even try to penetrate.

Bella made her way over to Neville, careful not to break the connection of her wand.

"You found me," she shuddered a relieved exhale as she fell into his arms.

"Are you alright?" He peered at her with worry and a hint of something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just get out of here!"

Neville peered around the forest with a worried look. "The portkey's not active, and international apparition's too risky."

So that's what the shoelace had been for. It was connected to Neville's portkey...Bella had no idea how Hermione had managed to pull that clever bit of magic off, but her friend wasn't the brightest witch of her age for nothing. It was too bad that she hadn't thought of a way for them to return. Bella tried to think...If only they could get back to the safety of the reservation.

"The vampires here made a pact not to breach the borders to LaPush. We're only a minute or two from the boundary line, if you could just—"

"I can't apparate somewhere I've never seen," he shook his head hopelessly.

"Then let me try."

Bella had never successfully apparated, but if she didn't find a way, she and Neville might be slaughtered by Rosalie in her psychotic quest for familial peace.

She pictured the inside of Jake's living room, she imagined the two of them appearing...

Ugh, it wasn't working.

Her wand arm throbbed, but she held on for dear life, determined not to lose to Rosalie before she could try again. Bella felt her pulse overlapping with Neville's, who held her tightly. She felt the current flowing deeply between the two of them. She pictured Jacob Black's living room. She felt the wooden floorboards beneath her feet. She felt the light breeze coming in from the window. She felt a hooking sensation behind her navel...

With a loud crack Bella and Neville materialized inside the familiar red house, where they toppled into a gathering of surprised and utterly confused werewolves.

Dun, Dun, DUNNNNN! Sorry if you really love Rosalie. She was the best candidate for Attempted Bella-cide, since she was the one in New Moon who callously told Edward that Bella had "died". She's a pretty shallow person when it comes to understanding others (aside from Emmett probably [hopefully]), so she might've thought (after the aforementioned sequence of events in this fic) that getting rid of Bella would actually help Edward move on.

Also, I was never going to have Bella apparate, but someone in the reviews gave me a great idea, and I've decided to use it! There's another plot twist coming up. It's hard to get everything 'just right' though, so bear with me. Thanks so much for reading and offering feedback! I hope you've enjoyed the ride so far! -V