Chapter 13: Trouble Comes in Threes
Disclaimer: "Twilight" belongs to SMeyer. "Les Yeux de la Lune" belongs to Elysabeth. The typos belong to eiluned price.
T/N: A couple of you have asked about Google Translate. Because of the way it works, it'll do a serviceable job of translating the chapters I've already done, but won't be that good on the ones I haven't. But i do encourage those of you who have some French to try reading Elysabeth's original (on my Favorites list). She is a mistress of lucidity.
Thanks for reading, and a special thanks to all of you who review. Elysabeth doesn't like to write in English, but she loves reading the reviews. She got a special kick from xiolajane's, and assures her that there is plenty plenty more to come.
Chapter 13: Trouble Comes in Threes
All good things come to an end
That old expression aptly described my situation. Spring was the season of renewal, when everything that had been asleep for the winter returned to life. For me, however, spring meant the end of many good things.
The first was school. My classmates were eager for vacation. Not I. School was the perfect excuse for spending time with Bella every day. We saw each other outside classes, of course, but school was the ideal cover for seeing her without looking like a stalker. I used the weekends to hunt. Sometimes I invited her to my house, but I didn't dare ask her over too often: I didn't want her father to get the impression that I had drawn Bella out of her isolation in her house only to isolate her at my house. Although she always accepted my invitations with enthusiasm, I expected the day would come when she would start to feel burdened by my presence, that she would want some breathing room. I wanted her to enjoy the best human life possible - her circle of friends shouldn't be restricted to vampires. Fortunately, I could count on Angela Weber, the best human friend Bella could have.
In short, school was ending and I wondered how I would survive. I had the consolation of knowing that Bella was spending her vacation in Forks. Like so many other teenagers in search of some measure of
financial independence, Bella wanted to get a summer job so she could add to her savings account, and that would keep her here. In itself, that was good news.
But ... a job! If Bella needed money, I would have happily handed over my wallet to her … and she would have refused it. With good reason. A couple could share everything, even their bank account. "What's mine is yours," as the saying went. But for friends it was, "Good fences make good neighbors." If I gave Bella money, she would want to reimburse me - and in any case, she already felt that she owed me so much that she wouldn't take even a few measly dollars from me. I found the idea of her working silly, but didn't I want her to live a normal human life? Then I had to accept that she would act like any other young person of her era, and get a job. I shouldn't interfere.
The second thing that was ending was Arago's memoir. One lunch hour, under our oak (our pine tree had become the spot for my siblings to join us, so it was difficult to read in peace there; thus, to get a bit of quiet, I sometimes led Bella to the oak so I could read to her, and my family understood my message: do not disturb), I began the very last chapter, in which Arago recounted the final journey of his life, taking us to a volcanic island in Brazil.
I was sad about finishing the book, the abettor of my and Bella's closeness. I owed a lot to Arago. In reading the last lines, I also sensed my companion's emotion. She wished as much as I did that the book would go on and on.
"The end," I read.
I detested that phrase. It signified a lot more than the end of Arago's voyages. It also signified the end of our lunchtime rendezvous, of the discussions that his discoveries provoked, of our philosophical
exchanges, and especially, of our daily dose of isolation from the rest of the world.
"It was magical. I loved traveling with him," Bella sighed, already nostalgic.
"I did too," I agreed tersely.
"I envy him. He was lucky to be able to explore so much."
Something clicked in my brain. My moroseness disappeared. I had just had an idea, a brilliant idea that would allow me to continue to spend time with Bella despite the end of school. If I could be sufficiently persuasive, we would both get what we wanted.
"We could do it too, you know. I could take you to all the places you'd want to visit."
Her brow wrinkled. "Like Arago?"
"Like Arago."
Her blank eyes turned toward me, and although she couldn't see me she seemed to be studying me, as if she was trying to understand something.
"Vampires like to travel?" she asked.
"It's a way to pass time, yes. Eternity is a long time, you know."
"You want to travel? With me?"
"Why not?" I said enthusiastically.
She seemed stunned. No, not stunned. Incredulous, rather.
"Why are you skeptical?" I asked.
She looked distracted, and I really wished I could read what she was thinking, because my idea didn't seem to appeal to her nearly as much as I had hoped.
Was she worried about spending more time alone with a vampire?
"It's only an idea. You don't have to agree to anything," I said, depressed again.
She shook her head. "It's not that. It's just that I'm having a hard time believing that someone like you would want the company of a human like me … and to go on a trip, even!"
It wasn't possible. Hadn't the last weeks shown her that her presence was precious to me? Didn't she remember anything? I had told her that vampire emotions were irreversible and that I'd be at her heels for the rest of her life!
However … thinking about it, I realized that my memory was just as bad as hers. She had assured me that she would never get tired of me, and just a minute ago I feared that she couldn't endure being with me.
"You know, I have the same thoughts as you do, Bella. I'm always waiting for the moment when you've had enough of your vampire friend. Yet I should have learned my lesson long ago since here we are both, under this oak tree."
She gave me a shy smile, then seemed once again to get lost in her thoughts. But this time her eyes were shining with a restrained excitement. Once the surprise had passed, my idea attracted her and she let herself get caught up in the possibility of discovering the world as she had always wanted. Bella had always been limited to traveling through the music of other cultures and the accounts of explorers like Arago. But now she could fulfill a dream. She was glowing …. and then her shoulders slumped. She had seen a problem.
"I can't travel like everyone else. I'm a lot of work. My mother took me to Los Angeles once. I kept asking her to describe everything around us and she couldn't really enjoy the trip because she was so busy answering my constant questions."
She was worrying about nothing. I couldn't give a damn about being distracted from the scenery. Traveling in and of itself didn't interest me. It was only a way to be close to Bella.
Was it wrong for me to arrange this just so I could have Bella to myself? Probably. But I vowed to myself that this trip would be unforgettable for her. I wasn't the only person getting what I wanted.
I brushed aside my pang of conscience by inventing an argument that wasn't a bald "I couldn't care less about traveling—I just want to be with you."
"You think that's a problem for me? It could only be good for me to travel with a human. I'm always rushing through things. I go from Point A to Point B without paying attention to what's around me. Perhaps describing everything to you would help me see the human world differently."
Even as I spoke, I became aware that I meant what I was saying. Although I had come up with this argument just to persuade her to agree, I realized that this trip could be enriching for me too. "I'm always sure that I know everything because of my talent … Nothing impresses me anymore. So I think that it would be interesting for me to see the world in your way."
She considered this. "Being all the time with me will be difficult for you, won't it?
"To the contrary, the more I'm with you, the more used I get to your scent."
"And how will you feed yourself?"
"I can manage a week without drinking. And we'll have to choose destinations that will take us near places with wildlife."
"I don't have enough money to travel as Arago did."
Ah, now we were at the most delicate issue concerning this project.
"That's not a problem. I can take care of it."
Her eyes narrowed and she suddenly looked fierce. "That's out of the question, that you pay for this trip."
I wasn't surprised at all. Bella had a holy horror of being dependent.
"Come on, it's nothing for me," I said.
"I don't want to be spoiled rotten. You do too much for me. I owe you too much already, and my idea for a gift wasn't … workable."
"I don't need a gift," I said, irritated. Couldn't she understand that her company was the most extraordinary present that life had ever given me? "If you want to give me something, give me permission to pay for this trip."
"No! That's not a gift!"
"But it would be a pleasure for me!"
"Maybe, but it's a matter of pride. I would feel like … a gold digger."
"Please, you're the most disinterested person I know. Why deprive yourself? You're dying to travel. This summer would be perfect. We could leave after our finals and come back just before school starts again."
The question of money was forgotten for the moment, replaced by what she saw as a more important problem.
"And Charlie? Just imagine the heart attack he'll have if I take off with you."
I thought about this for a moment. Charlie didn't suspect anything about my nature. I didn't see what could make him preemptively forbid our trip. To the contrary, he wanted his daughter to have more exposure to the world, and such a journey would an ideal occasion for that.
"He doesn't know I'm a vampire. Nothing should bother him about me."
"Edward!" she said in exasperation. "I thought you understood people better than that! You could be an extraterrestrial or a zombie or a goblin, it'd be all same. It's the fact that you're a guy that will give him a heart attack."
Oh … of course. I should have suspected. For me, it was so unthinkable to imagine a physical relationship with Bella that I hadn't realized that for her father I was undoubtedly a hormone-crazed boy.
"I see. Well, he has nothing to worry about. We're friends."
And how I wished we could be more …
Bella snorted. "You go try telling him that. I'm not getting mixed up in it."
She didn't want to broach the idea to her father. Fine, I'd take care of it. It wouldn't be the first time I'd used my vampire charm to sway humans.
"Not a problem. He'll be wrapped around my little finger, you'll see. After all, I saved you from the van, and I've been in his good graces ever since. I am a hero," I said with mock condescension.
"A hero who wants to kidnap his daughter for three months."
"I'll ask Esme to help us, if need be. She'll speak on our behalf to Charlie. She can be very persuasive."
Bella remained skeptical. "Good luck with that."
"If I manage to win Charlie over, will you agree to come with me at my cost?" I asked slyly.
The Charlie problem was put aside and the money problem took the fore again. Bella considered for a long time, then declared, "You have to give me all the bills and I will pay you back little by little, from a job. Charlie told me that my computer could work at the police station. I can be a secretary there on the weekends when school starts again."
I heaved an irritated sigh. "You don't have to reimburse me."
"I won't feel right if I don't."
"It doesn't matter."
"That's my condition for going."
Fine, if that's what it took to convince her.
"Okay. It's a deal," I said sullenly.
Negotiations over, Bella recovered her enthusiasm.
"Traveling with a vampire … That promises to be very educational! Where shall we go?"
"Wherever you want."
"Anywhere in the world?"
"There are no limits to Cullen magic."
The corner of her mouth twitched. "Shall we go to Transylvania?"
I should have expected that. "Very funny," I said sarcastically.
"You don't have some Transylvanian buddies?"
"Even if I did, it would be out of the question for us to visit them. You smell too good."
She let out a nervous giggle before thinking about other destinations.
"How many countries have you visited in a century?"
"Pretty much all the places where there is little or no sun: England, Ireland, Scotland, China, Scandinavia, Siberia…"
My monotone astonished her. "You're listing all those places as if it's commonplace. Seeing so many different people, cultures, landscapes, vampires don't find that interesting?"
"Certainly. It's diverting."
She wrinkled her nose. "You don't say."
"I've told you: I travel from Point A to Point B without looking around. I pay attention to what's around me only enough to be sure that I'm not scaring anyone or drawing too much scrutiny. Now I can count on you to make me look human."
"You mean that people will notice you less because they'll be too busy looking at the blind girl with you?"
"I didn't say that!"
I thought I had inadvertently hurt her feelings, but she laughed loudly.
"That is what is going to happen, though. It's normal, you know. People aren't used to running across blind people, people in wheelchairs, lame people. It's kind of ironic when you think about it: we both attract stares. We can't lose ourselves in the crowd, because someone's always watching."
It was true. It was another thing we had in common. Not a very happy thing, but it allowed her to understand that it was sometimes unpleasant to be among humans.
"Well, there go my dreams of traveling incognito," I joked. "Everyone is going to turn around and look at us as we walk by."
"I don't care what other people think. And if you can avoid trouble because people are looking at me instead of you, so much the better."
I beamed, touched that she wanted to protect me in her way.
She added, "It's never occurred to your family to visit places where there are cannibals?"
I burst into laughter, putting all the birds in the vicinity to flight.
"I see where you're going with this!"
"So what? You'd be comfortable there. You could feed on humans without regret since everybody's doing it."
"You are absurd."
"No, I'm trying to find a way to make your life more … satisfying. If I were a vegetarian in the human sense of the term, I would be unhappy about being limited to tofu for eternity."
I ruffled her hair. I'm not unhappy since I have you.
I knew she wasn't being serious, but I still took the precaution of warning her: "Cannibal tribes are off limits for our journey."
She shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, we have time to think about destinations. First, you have to jump the hurdle of persuading my father to let me go."
"I'll take care of it."
"And your family? Will they be okay with this?"
"Why wouldn't they be?"
"Well, I'm human. They're not afraid that you'll …."
"Lose control, alone with you for three months? No. They trust me."
I realized at that moment that I trusted myself too. This trip should have worried me, but it didn't. I had become strong. I could tolerate her enchanting fragrance. And to prove it to myself, I opened my sense of smell and breathed in deeply.
Flames scorched my throat for a millisecond before being extinguished by a sweet joy. She smelled heavenly.
"I trust you too," she confided to me.
"Thank you," I said, touched again.
A perfidious voice murmured in my mind. "What if she hurts herself? A little scratch could turn into tragedy."
I didn't let that thought bring me down. Was I not Bella's bulletproof bubble? I would make it so that she never had an accident.
The idea of traveling alone with Bella preoccupied me for quite a while after our conversation. The two of us. For three months. Alone with my moon.
Vampire and human traversing the world. Lion and lamb on the same path.
I was in my own little world for some time … until the day when the third good thing in my existence ended. Trouble comes in threes, they say.
But this third thing was far, far from being anodyne like the other two. This imminent ending tolled the bell on my little happy world. I was too happy, too naïve, too confident, too little on my guard to anticipate it.
That day, all of us, including Bella, had got together to play baseball.
To the casual observer, a family playing baseball in a field was nothing extraordinary.
A family of vampires playing baseball in a field, though, was rather unusual.
And a blind human able to follow a baseball game played by a family of vampires … that was astonishing. Even more, it was unbelievable.
And yet that was what was going on, on that stormy Saturday.
Alice had foreseen a thunderstorm: ideal for our game. The opportunity to play without attracting attention was so rare that we had all wanted to take part.
Bella was at my house when Alice had had her vision of bad weather to come.
"I didn't know that vampires played baseball," Bella had commented.
"Oh, yes," Alice had said gaily. "We don't play often because we need thunder."
"You do?"
"You'll understand if you come see. You'll take her with us, right, Edward?" my sister had asked.
Although the idea of playing tempted me, I had decided to refuse out of consideration for Bella. It couldn't be interesting for her. If she had been able to see us ... but that was impossible.
"Go on. I'll stay here with Bella."
Alice had wanted to object, but then seemed to understand herself why I was saying no. She had a disappointed expression as she considered the inanimate eyes of my companion.
Bella, as for her, had put her hands on her hips. "Are you kidding? I'd love to go."
Alice and I were taken aback.
"But ... you..."
"I don't see anything." She had shrugged that off, as if it were a superfluous detail. "So what? I'm the daughter of Charlie Swan, who would give up his badge rather than miss a baseball game on TV. And the stepdaughter of Phil Dwyer, a minor league player. So, do you really think that just because I can't see that I'm not a fan of baseball? My father dragged me every summer to the stadium and described the games to me. So, all I need is a Good Samaritan to tell me what is happening."
Alice's good mood returned. "Esme's the umpire. She'll be delighted to describe the action."
"Great!"
And at the beginning, that's just what happened. My mother outlined our positions and the (abnormally long) distances between bases. She told Bella who was at bat, who was catching the ball, who was running, sliding, throwing. Bella didn't miss a single move. Then, little by little, Bella no longer needed my mother's commentary to know who was hitting, running or throwing. She had recorded in her head all the sounds of our movements. Her hearing, sharper than that of the average human, allowed her to analyze our steps, how we hit and threw, and she eventually was able to figure out everything that happened on her own.
"Huh, that cannonball has to be Jasper … that fast running is surely Edward. He just made it to second base. And that gorilla's yell must be Emmett not catching the ball in time to get him out. That hit is Rosalie. Jeez, she sent the ball miles away…"
No matter where I was on the field, I listened to Bella and continued to be amazed at how accurate her commentary was. I was already astonished that she had managed to follow a human baseball game, but that she could discern our movements, vampire fast and quiet as they were, bowled me over.
It was soon my turn at bat. Emmett planned to send me a breaking ball. I pretended to be unaware of his strategy and didn't adjust my stance for it. Then suddenly, Alice had a vision that was so clear and so unexpected that it was like a whip striking my face. I missed the ball – to Emmett's delight – and turned immediately to Alice. Terrified, she let her vision play for me.
The three nomads. Less than 20 miles away. They were coming. "Oh, no," Alice gasped.
Emmett could have nailed me in the head with the ball and I would have felt less shaken.
Alice's gaze locked on mine. "I'm so sorry! I didn't see them! I was sure they were still heading north! They couldn't decide how to approach us we are so numerous, but then they figured there was nothing like a friendly game for getting to know us."
The three nomads. I had completely put them out of my mind since Peter and Charlotte's warning. All my fears, all my worries, had become reality. My carefree attitude of these last weeks disappeared, replaced by old anxieties and reproaches about my imprudence.
Enough. I would feel guilty later. Right now, I needed to take action.
I was next to Bella in a second. She had heard Alice's horrified reaction and realized that something was wrong.
Jasper hadn't missed our silent exchange either and ran to Alice. "What have you seen?"
''They're coming,'' she said mournfully. ''The nomads are here.''
My family gathered around me and Bella. She swallowed hard.
Carlisle took command with his confident air of authority.
"How long do we have?''
"Five minutes.''
He looked at me. ''You have to take her far from here. Can you manage it?"
"No. Not if I carry her… and besides, the worst thing would be if they pick up her scent and decide to chase after her.''
Emmett cracked his knuckles. "Let 'em come. There are three of them and seven of us. I'm always ready for a good battle."
My father shook his head. ''Let's not pick a fight. Alice, what do they want, exactly?''
"They want to play."
"Then we won't disappoint them. Let's continue the game. Edward, Emmett, Jasper, stay close to Bella. Which way are they coming ?''
"From the north, through the brush."
"Fine. The wind's at their backs. They won't catch her scent. With luck, they'll take her for one of us. Spread out.''
We obeyed, outwardly calm, but our thoughts betrayed their anxiety:
"Luck! Hah! We'll need a miracle.''
''I can smell her from across the field, even with the wind blowing the other direction.''
"Poor dear…''
"They want to play. I'll show them playing.''
''It's my fault. All my fault. I should have seen it, I should have known…''
I blocked them out. Now wasn't the time to listen to them worry – it merely heightened my own fears.
I turned to Bella. She had crossed her arms and was rubbing her shoulders to stop them from shaking. Her goose bumps had nothing to do with the weather.
I remembered her absurd idea of making friends with non-vegetarians. She was frightened now, but she was capable of overcoming her fears and offering them her hand as a sign of friendship. However…my family's tension was contagious and Bella was perhaps finally understanding that being with strange vampires wasn't conducive to her survival.
I spoke to her in a soft, relaxed tone even though I knew I wouldn't fool her into thinking that the situation wasn't grave.
"Don't move. Stay close to me, okay?" I wanted to promise her that everything would be fine, but that would have been a shameless lie.
She nodded, her face white with fear. I knew she was trying to stay calm. She was so brave. But how much could she endure? I so much wanted to have spared her this. I wanted to take her in my arms and take off flying to the other end of the world … but staying still was the only way to keep her fragrance from wafting all over the field.
The wait was intolerable. Not only did this imminent confrontation make me sick with anxiety, my masochistic tendencies meant that I was worrying about the consequences even if nothing bad happened. If this all went well, how would it affect Bella? She would realize that just spending time with my family exposed her to possible encounters with other vampires. Would she decide that it was better to no longer see me? That she should return to her previous life as a simple high school student oblivious to dangerous mythical creatures?
I rebuked myself silently. This wasn't the time either to worry about consequences when I didn't know how the encounter was going to end. I forced myself to relax. I couldn't do anything but wait. I stood in front of Bella, as did my brothers.
The game continued without enthusiasm. I unblocked my mind so I could hear the thoughts of the approaching nomads. For the moment, their minds indicated curiosity mixed with mistrust. I also heard my family's thoughts as they played. They were all concerned. This wasn't the first time that strangers sought us out, but we'd never had a human with us before.
In addition to her anxiety, Rosalie was full of rage. "This will end badly. She is putting us all in danger. See what happens when you put a human among vampires.''
I hoped she was wrong.
The nomads were here. Three crouching silhouettes, ready to flee at the least threat.
The game stopped and my family gathered in a line reminiscent of a military formation, Carlisle in the center and slightly in front to show he was our leader. I stayed behind the line, Bella next to me.
Jasper had the bat and rapped his palm hard with it, as if it were a nervous tic. I thought for an instant that he was trying to occupy his hands, then realized that his taps had the same rhythm as Bella's heartbeats. He was camouflaging them. Bravo, Jasper.
The three nomads continued toward us, though they felt intimidated by our number. They had never seen such a large coven. They observed our positioning, like a pack defending territory. They were also surprised by our civilized appearance - we seemed almost human to them.
They shared those opinions, but each considered the coming meeting differently.
As they approached, I surveyed their minds. The one in the middle was the most curious, and the friendliest. He seemed to be the weakest as well, the sort of character to figure out the balance of power and then seek the protection of the winning side in a confrontation. In other words, a parasite, a chameleon who changed his colors to fit in with the group he chose. He was slightly ahead of the two others, but I was convinced that he wasn't the leader. He was in that position simply because he had been chosen to be the spokesman for his group. His role was that of an intermediary, that was all, and the others kept him around because of his ingratiating manner, a useful asset in a universe of nomadic vampires.
The female was wary, assessing each of us, instantly determining the strongest fighters among us. It was a survival tactic, knowing whom to avoid in case an encounter degenerated into a confrontation. To her, Alice and Esme were the weakest, while Emmett, Jasper and I were the guard dogs. She was unsure about Carlisle. The chief of a coven should present himself as hard and unyielding, but she found him polite and friendly. She still didn't trust him: even though my father was truly prepared to be welcoming, she saw that as merely a ruse to get the nomads to lower their guard.
She noted our golden eyes and was intrigued. "So what do they eat?"
Apparently the idea of drinking from animals had never crossed her mind. She also observed that I seemed to trying to hide Bella from her coven's view and she studied her. I held my breath.
She interpreted Bella's blank gaze as indifference and boredom, which reassured me a little, and the brown of her irises as the beginning of thirst. I was grateful for this false impression.
I didn't spend a long time considering the female, for the second male was drawing my attention with the strangely condensed thoughts that filled his mind. They were so chaotic and disordered that I couldn't tease them out without effort and time I didn't have. They reminded me of the background of a painting, dark and opaque. Other thoughts were in the foreground of this mental picture, and I would have to content myself with those for the moment. They were scornful. Of the three, he was the best actor, appearing relaxed even though he had no desire at all to be here in this field.
They stopped a prudent distance from us, and the spokesman took the initiative. "We heard a game in progress. I'm Laurent. And this is Victoria and James."
French. Bitten in the 17th century, based on his accent.
My father was warm to the visitors. "Carlisle. And this is my family, Emmett and Jasper, Rosalie, Esme and Alice, Edward and Bella." He indicated us with vague sweep of his arm.
Laurent gave us a smile, an honest one, I thought.
"You plan to stay long in the area?" my father asked politely.
"In fact, we were going north, but we were curious to see who lived here. We haven't met anyone in quite a while."
"I'm not surprised. This region is normally empty, apart from us and occasional visitors like you."
"What are your hunting grounds?"
"From the Olympic range to the coast."
The nomads didn't realize that my father was talking about hunting animals, not humans.
"We have a permanent residence here. There is another group like us up near Denali," he felt obliged to specify.
The three nomads were stunned.
"It's not possible. A residence. They live among humans?"
"Such a big group staying in one place? There are so few people here – they are going to run out of prey."
"Permanent? How do you manage that?" Lauren asked the question all three were thinking.
"Why don't you come to our house so we can discuss it in comfort? It's a long story."
I felt Carlisle was being much too friendly. But then, he was always ready to talk to strangers, to learn about them and for them to learn about his diet. I saw his goal: he wanted to try to introduce them to vegetarianism, or at least explain his point of view. I knew he would fail, but Carlisle never lost hope that eventually his philosophy would spread to others of our kind besides us.
Laurent was the only one of the three tempted by the offer. The two others were curious how we lived in one place, but they were uneasy about going to our house, and being on our turf.
"That's very appealing," Laurent said. "We've been on the hunt since Ontario and haven't had much opportunity to clean up." He indicated their dusty, torn clothes.
Carlisle seized Laurent's inadvertent opening to bring up something he wanted clarified right away.
"Please don't be offended, but we would appreciate it if you didn't operate in the immediate area. We want to avoid arousing suspicious, you understand."
"Naturally. We don't want to poach. In any case, we fed just outside Seattle."
Bella shivered. I hoped I was the only one to notice.
"Before we go to your house, what do you say to a game?" Laurent continued.
I saw Carlisle's plan and approved. The nomads needed to be distracted while Bella and I left.
"Two of us were just about to leave. You can replace them."
Laurent was the only one who really wanted to play. The others didn't see the point, since Carlisle had already offered them hospitality.
"Ssss …Laurent is making us waste time," the female thought with irritation.
"How tedious. Baseball ... an obsolete, dull human game," James sneered. "Something bloodier would be much more diverting."
The background images in his head were suddenly very clear to me. Now I could make out the shadows. I knew what James was.
A tracker.
Those dense, chaotic thoughts were like hundreds of little films twisted around each other: memories of his most enjoyable hunts. His victims were the stars, and they all came to the same horrible end. He replayed these films constantly, delighted in them, and was always on the lookout to add to his collection, to add a black brushstroke to the painting that represented his reason for being, his motive for everything.
Horrified, I became witness to his most brutal killings. Never had I seen anything so sadistic. He enjoyed his victims' fear. He loved to pursue even more than he liked slaking his thirst. The monster in me was an inoffensive kitten compared to him.
All at once, I felt vibrations in the palm of my hand. What was it?
I tore myself away from James's mind and returned to reality. I saw that my fingers were wrapped around Bella's wrist. It was her pulse beating against my palm. How did her wrist get there?
Stupidly, I finally understood that I was so focused on James's mind that I had pulled her to me without realizing it, controlled by a need to protect her from that black painting. Bella had come to me without protest.
The others were discussing how to divide the teams for the new game.
"Go on, Edward. We'll cover for you,"Alice told me.
Jasper was focusing on maintaining a jovial ambience. Alice and Emmett discreetly moved in front of me, blocking us from view as I led Bella to the forest. We had to get back to the Jeep at a casual pace so that the nomads wouldn't become suspicious. My arms around her shoulders, Bella and I walked at a human pace. We were almost to the trees when a new thought of James's struck me.
"She reminds me of someone."
I reflexively returned to his head to see whom he was thinking about. He was watching my father chat with Laurent, but his quick glance at Alice told me that my sister was the real object of his attention.
"This Carlisle called her Alice. Could it be….?"
A sharply detailed film rolled. A pursuit. Alice the prey, he the predator. Oh, God. He had known Alice as a human!
James couldn't get over it either. "The little Alice from the asylum! That is really the girl!"
The asylum? I sought out more details and what I discovered disconcerted me.
"Too bad she's no longer human," he thought, disappointed.
I stopped and turned a bit toward my sister. She didn't react. She didn't recognize him. I would tell her later.
Unfortunately, my movement hadn't been subtle enough. James studied me with suspicion.
"He looked at us as when I thought of her. Strange … Do you hear me, young Edward?"
I feigned ignorance and didn't react. I started walking again next to a curious Bella, though she didn't ask me why we stopped.
Nonetheless, my brief halt was fatal. I should have never stopped, even for a second. Because that second would have allowed us to avoid the sudden gust of wind that ruffled Bella's hair. Besides cursing Mother Nature, I could do nothing about the current of air that carried Bella's scent to James.
His crimson eyes immediately turned black with thirst, and his nostrils flared.
Everyone in my family tensed. The wind had reached them too, and they realized that the situation had become dramatically worse. Victoria and Laurent were astonished to discover that there was a human, a live human, among us.
I paid little attention to their reaction, because I knew we had the most to fear from James.
"A human!" He analyzed the scent as only a tracker could. "And a virgin, to boot. Floral, divine, a fragrance of innocence and purity: the most succulent of aromas. Tender, delicate, a network of delicious arteries and veins full of young vigor. She must be delectable. How is it that they haven't finished her off? That girl is a paradise on earth."
"You brought a snack?" he asked aloud.
At that moment, it wasn't my fears brought to life, but my worst nightmares. And as if the skies wanted to play a role in this horrible scene, a clap of thunder rang out.
Venom flowing in his mouth, James leapt toward us. "If they don't want her, I'll take her!"
My animal and protective instincts both came out. I too leapt, landing just in front of him. Crouching and my hands in claws, I was a half-man, half-animal shield. I showed my teeth and let loose a savage growl.
He responded the same way, infuriated that I was blocking him. We stared into each other's wild eyes.
I became aware that Bella was shaking violently behind me. James noted it too, a sadistic grin flitting across his face: he enormously enjoyed humans' fear, heightening my own bestial ferocity.
"Well, well … you don't want to share her," he thought.
I roared in response, and my reaction proved to him that I could read his thoughts.
He studied me closely and arrived at a conclusion that surprised him. "Now I understand. It's not his snack, it's his pet. I guess when you try to act like a human, you get attached to the little creatures. Too bad for you, young Edward, because I want her, your human."
I was soon joined by all my family, a stone wall surrounding Bella. She hadn't moved an inch, although she was trembling from head to foot. Even without sight, she had grasped what was going on, I knew.
Victoria stood at her mate's side, watching us, arched like a cat. Laurent was on alert, split between astonishment and fear. Carlisle was assessing him, abandoning his friendly tone for an authoritative one.
"She is with us."
"But she's human!" Laurent said, unnerved.
"Yes."
He looked at the figure behind me with incredulity. He couldn't understand our relationship with a … meal. But he suspected that if the level of tension didn't decrease, his clan would be facing seven hostile vampires in an unequal, and unwinnable, combat.
"I see that we have a lot to learn from each other," he said.
"Indeed," my father said dryly.
"It's better than we leave now and go on our way, I think. James?"
James exchanged a look with Victoria. They said nothing, but their silent communication was eloquent: they would leave the scene now, but they would remain in the area.
James stepped back, abandoning his combative stance but not his sickening smile. I saw his intentions. They enraged me.
"Alice is my only failure, and I won't fail with this one. She too had a protector, just like you. But he had more nerve. He changed her to save her and hid her, though it didn't save him. Killing him was only a minor consolation. But Fate has given me a second chance. You don't have the balls he did. You won't change her, will you? So much the better. It's more interesting that way."
He had figured me out. He knew exactly how to provoke me, to shake me, to unsettle me. And that's what he wanted, for me to try to stop him and thus make his hunt more exciting. He was playing me perfectly.
"I'll wait. I have all the time in the world. You'll end up lowering your guard sooner or later. This will be great fun, you'll see."
The chase and seeing the agony of his victim's loved ones gave him the same enjoyment as satisfying his thirst. Even better was when torture and drinking went together.
Paralyzed with horror, I couldn't stop listening to his thoughts. It was my father who pulled me away.
"Take her immediately to the house, Edward. We'll stay here to make sure they don't follow you."
In a trance, I took Bella by the shoulders and led her to the forest. I noted vaguely that Emmett and Alice were following me. As soon as we were obscured from the field, I picked Bella up, hoisted her onto my back and ran like the wind. James's thoughts were still screaming in my own head.
"I will have her. I promise you. Thank you, young Edward, it's been a long time since I've had so much fun."
My fury spurred me on so much that Alice and Emmett had difficulty keeping up with me.
I arrived at the Jeep, which we had taken for much of the way to the field. I secured the passenger seat harness around Bella while my brother and sister slid silently into the back.
"I know what you want to do. Don't rush into anything, Edward. Let's think about this."
I ignored Alice, started the Jeep and raced onto the highway. There was no question of obeying Carlisle and going to the house. We had to flee. Far, far away. It was the only possibility. I would take her somewhere safe. I would camouflage her scent. I would make her untraceable and then I would go after the tracker. I would annihilate him. I had no other choice. The tracker would never give up. As long as Bella eluded him, he would never let go.
"Hey, little brother, why are you so upset? They're going away. There are more of us than them. They won't dare fight us."
"You don't understand anything!" I yelled. "I read him like an open book! He's a tracker!"
The word resonated inside the car like an irrevocable death sentence. Emmett froze. The word explained everything. He realized then that I had every reason in the world to be panicked.
"Okay, okay. No matter what you're planning, I'll be there."
"Me too. I couldn't warn you of this so it's the least I can do. But let us help you. We're all involved, you know. Don't do anything on your own. Let's wait and see what happens."
Wait? We didn't have time to wait!
That's what we had done these last weeks, waiting for them to either leave us alone or try to meet us. Waiting had led us to lower our guard. And now we were paying the price for our mistake.
I had been negligent because I felt invincible with my family. I thought that Bella was untouchable with us around. We were the largest, strongest coven in North America. Nobody would dare challenge us.
But we didn't take into account a tracker who was tenacious, clever and vicious.
Silence again descended on the Jeep. I drove, pedal to the floor, rapidly calculating what we could do, ignoring my sister's urgings to not be rash.
We had to leave. Go straight to the airport. Damn, we don't have our papers. Too bad. We don't have time to stop and get them. For now, we'll have to shake him off. I'll go south, where it's sunny. He can't follow us running during the day. He'll have to get a car. By the time he manages that, I'll be far enough ahead to lose him. I'll drive all night to Mexico. We'll find a way to sneak across the border via dirt roads. Then we'll hide in a hotel. I'll ask Carlisle to send us the documents we need to get on a plane. It's good that Alice and Emmett are with us. I'll put Alice and Bella in the first plane to … no matter where on another continent, and Emmett and I will wait for the tracker and destroy him.
There. The ideal plan. It would work. It had to.
My foot wanted to push through the floor and my hands wanted to twist the steering wheel into a figure eight. I was concentrating so much on the landscape that didn't blur by quickly enough that I didn't immediately feel the fingers on my arm. It was only her voice that could break my trance.
"Edward…"
Her murmur was filled with fear.
I turned to the passenger next to me and slowed down without realizing it.
Bella was ashen and shaken, staring at the road she couldn't see. She must be on the edge of panic, completely lost.
"Tell me what's going on. Please," she said, her voice quavering.
What an idiot I was. She didn't understand what was happening. I had slung her into the Jeep without a word of explanation, nearly manhandling her. At the moment, it certainly wasn't the three nomads who were terrifying her. It was I and my rage. I was arranging our flight while she didn't even know what it was we were fleeing.
"That James, he's a tracker," I said rapidly. I had difficulty keeping the fury out of my voice. "The hunt is his obsession. He wants you not only because you smell so good, but also because of me. My reaction set him off. I've given him an extraordinary challenge. His entire life is devoted to tracking, and he wants a challenge. You can't imagine how delighted he was when all seven of us were surrounding you. We don't intimidate him at all. He's extremely clever. He knows to wait for the right moment to attack. It's his favorite game, and he's strategic, patient, skillful, sophisticated. He's spent centuries playing with his food and has become a master in the art of the hunt." My words were blunt, but Bella had to understand how grave our situation was. "He gets more pleasure from the chase itself than from drinking, so he likes to prolong the game. And he won't give up. We have to get far away from him. And then, when I'm sure he can't find you, we can hunt him down and kill him."
She shuddered at my vindictive last words.
"It is it really necessary to do … that?"
"Yes. It's him or you," I said in a tone that brooked no argument.
She twisted her hands and slumped back in her seat.
"We're leaving now?"
"We have no choice."
"For how long?"
"Days, weeks … however long we need to get him off your trail."
She shot straight up. "You can't be thinking that? I can't run off like that, disappear without saying anything to Charlie! You'll have the F.B.I. on your tail as well as this James guy!"
"The F.B.I. is nothing compared with James."
"And you say he's a tracker, he's going to follow my scent. That could lead him straight to my house. I can't put my father in danger!"
The Jeep slowed more.
Damn me ... Her father's house, Angela's, school, all the places marked by Bella's scent would be swept by James. And he would kill without hesitation anyone in his way.
I was so focused on Bella's safety that I forgot everyone else who would be collateral damage.
"She's right, Edward. We have to come up with another plan," Alice said, adding, "She would never forgive herself if James kills her friends because he's looking for her. Is that what you want, that she's remains alive but filled with remorse and guilt for the rest of her life?"
The Jeep slowed another 10 more miles an hour.
"I have an idea. But we would need Esme's help," Bella said timidly.
I doubted that this idea could get us out of our predicament, but the
mention of our mother made Alice, Emmett and me curious.
"Go ahead."
"James needs to be convinced that I'm not here so that he'll leave my
father alone. Will he follow us?"
"He will try."
"He has to succeed. We need to arrange it so that he'll overhear our plans."
"You're insane!"
"It's the only way. We have to let him catch up with us. As for
Charlie ... you'll invite me to go camping for two or three days with
your family. If Esme asks him, he won't be able to say no to her."
"Two or three days? We can't do what we need to so quickly!"
"Wait, I'm not finished. If we need longer, we'll call my dad and tell
him that our car broke down or something. We'll come up with something. But he has to believe that I'm with a responsible adult. We
can't skip town like teenage runaways."
I considered this. Camping ... yes, that was plausible. Her father,
like everyone else in Forks, thought that we were tremendous hikers
and campers, always going off on spontaneous excursions.
But I didn't like the idea of letting James catch us. At all.
"It could work," Alice said. She concentrated on Esme. "They're
already at the house. They're waiting for us. Look, Edward. We're with you. Even if he gets to Bella's house, he won't attack us. He's alone and there are three of us."
"There are three of them too."
"No. Laurent won't come." She showed me Laurent's decision: he
preferred to not get involved and would be a neutral party. "The woman supports James, but only from afar," my sister added. "The risks tonight are negligible. The tracker won't take any action. For the
moment, he's gathering information, watching what we do. You said it yourself: he's strategic. He won't act impulsively."
I stepped on the brakes and made a U-turn. Bella understood that I had agreed to her idea.
"Thank you."
I didn't answer. I was already starting to regret this. I grabbed my cell phone and gave it to my sister.
"Call Esme. Tell her to call Charlie and work her wiles on him. And you, Bella, will go to your house. You have five minutes to get your things for camping and then you get out of there, understand?"
She nodded.
By the time we got to her house. Charlie had already heard about our plans. Esme had persuaded him to give his permission, but he still seemed suspicious. Bella, however, was a good actress. She tamped down her fear and looked enthusiastic about camping. Her hurry to pack could pass for eagerness.
"I don't like it that you'll miss class," Charlie muttered.
"Oh, Dad, two days of school is nothing."
"Exams are coming up."
"Oh, I'm a genius. I'll ace my tests, you know that," she joked.
She gave him a peck on the cheek and went to the front door.
"Are you sure you have everything you need for this sort of thing?" he asked.
"If she needs anything, she can borrow it from us," Alice assured him. "We could equip an army with all our camping gear!"
"Well, well ... going on an outing?"
A shiver ran down my spine. James. He had tracked us down. He was hiding in the edge of the woods outside the house. He was enjoying himself immensely. Bella was right: he was going to follow us and leave Charlie alone. Even though that was what we had hoped, my intuition told me this was going to end badly.
I promised Charlie to take care of his daughter - I couldn't stop my tone from being graver than it should have been - and we returned to the Jeep. Emmett and Alice waved cheerfully at him and hopped in. Once we were out of Charlie's sight, we dropped our masks.
Bella was trembling. I took her hand, trying to reassure her.
"Don't be afraid. We will get him."
"At what price? If something happens to you because of me ..."
"Stop! Don't worry about us, do you hear me? It's my fault. I got you into this, I'll get you out of it."
From the back seat, my brother patted Bella's shoulder with his enormous hand. "We'll all get you out."
When we arrived at my house, I could tell that we weren't alone: the tracker had followed us. And the woman was watching us too.
We went inside, where James couldn't hear us. Carlisle was dejected. He had hoped for a solution that didn't involve killing. But it was impossible. If James wasn't killed, Bella would be...
"Here is what I propose… " he started.
It was decided that we would be divided into three groups: Alice and Jasper; Esme and Rosalie; Carlisle, Emmett, Bella and me. The first would head south, the second east, the third north. To mislead the tracker and his partner, we would confuse the trails by having two groups carry Bella's clothes with them, while Bella would wear Esme's clothes. Our trick would soon be uncovered, but perhaps it would give us some time to get away from James.
Once everything was ready, I sniffed Bella to assure myself that her scent was masked by that of my mother's clothes.
"Hmm, that should work," I said.
Esme kissed Bella's forehead. "It will be all right, my dear."
Bella nodded bravely. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her to the garage. She resisted.
"I think that I shouldn't go with you."
I stopped and stared at her. "I won't leave you," I insisted.
"Think about it. James saw your reaction. He knows we're close, that you want to protect me. The first group he follows will be yours. He'll never think that we've separated."
Emmett chuckled in approbation. "She is quite clever."
Alice agreed. "It's true. Let's trick him by having her come with me and Jasper."
I wanted to veto this idea, but I had to admit that it had merit. I contemplated my brother and sister.
Alice and Jasper. The sibyl and the soldier. The first would foresee any attack and the other would know how to parry it. They were an infallible duo, the best to protect Bella.
"Will he fall for it?" I asked my sister.
She concentrated on James. "Yes. Since he won't be able to figure out which of the cars has the real Bella, he will follow you."
I conceded, though I hated this. "Fine."
Leaving Bella for I didn't know how long devastated me.
Alice took her by the elbow, and spoke to me. "You leave first. James is going to follow you."
Fearing that I was making the biggest mistake of my existence, I started walking to the Jeep.
"Be careful," Bella said.
I tried to keep the despair from my voice. "It'll all be fine."
She nodded. "Yes."
"Jasper and Alice will take care of you."
"I know. Don't worry. I'm in good hands." I had the impression that she too was trying to hide her worry. "This will be over soon. Everything will be back to normal, I'm sure." She wanted to convince me as well as herself, I was certain.
She shook her duffel bag filled for camping. "And next time I pack it will be for our trip in Arago's footsteps." She gave me a confident smile that was almost contagious.
I smiled weakly in return without saying anything, sure that my voice would betray my torment, and jumped into the Jeep. Tearing my eyes away from her was especially painful since I didn't know when I would see my moon again. I forced myself to sit down in the back.
I heard a thought that Jasper was unable to keep from me then. Because of his gift, he was assailed by a flood of emotions from Bella, and he couldn't hide it, as much as he wanted to spare me.
"She is all regret, terror, worry, guilt and fear."
I couldn't stop myself from looking at her through his eyes. As soon as she heard the doors of the Jeep shut, certain that I could no longer see her, Bella slumped, her smile vanishing, as if an invisible weight had landed on her shoulders. She was ashen and her expression was blank.
Carlisle started the engine. The garage door was about to open, but I was not longer inside the Jeep. As my family watched in astonishment, I ran to Bella, driven by an uncontrollable, irrational and yet completely justified urge. I nearly slammed into her, stopping myself just in time to pull her against me in a desperate embrace. I folded my arms around her, trying to absorb her essence, her warmth, her scent, her soul. I felt her hands curve around my back and she clung to me as I tried to send her all my courage and strength, all the avowals that I had never said to her.
I allowed myself to get lost in her for the shortest second of my existence.
I left her as quickly as I had appeared. But as my steps took me away from her, I was plagued by an extraordinarily clear image of the bulletproof bubble that I had surrounded her with cracking and shattering into pieces. It was painful to turn away from her, to persuade myself that anguish and paranoia was giving me hallucinations. But I forced myself not to look back and to climb into the Jeep.
When the vehicle sped out of the garage, I closed myself off from all the minds around me. I withdrew into myself. I was enveloped by the cold and the dark.
I was numb.
Empty.