Visitors
Jacob stayed for the rest of the afternoon.
His reluctance to leave Reneesme was obvious. His mood became gradually more sombre as the afternoon dragged on, though he put on a brave face for Reneesme not allowing her to see the sadness in his eyes as they played together in the backyard. When the sun finally set, he announced that he would have to return to La Push, as it was his turn on guard tonight and slowly loped out the back door.
He had arranged a schedule with the rest of the pack to spend two days on then one day with Reneesme. I doubted whether the rest of the pack would have had any objections to this, when Jacob suffered they all did, they would all feel his pain at having to be away from Reneesme, besides the fact that none of them wanted to see Jacob in so much distress. I felt a twinge of guilt at the fact that I was the one taking her away from him, but he had a life to live and so did we. Staying in Forks for too much longer would be dangerous. Neither Edward nor I were aging for a start, while Reneesme continued to age at an alarming rate. Not to mention the fact that my face now resembled very little of my former human body, something I thought would be very difficult to explain to everybody in town.
The rest of my new family were preparing for the move to New Hampshire shortly too. Though Carlisle felt obligated to wait a couple of weeks at the hospital so that they were able to find a replacement, not that any doctor in the whole of America, and most likely the whole world, had his skill or expertise. The Cullen's had spent enough time in Forks and it was time for them to move on before suspicion arose about their unchanging appearances. It would take Emmett, Edward, Japer and Carlisle only two weeks to build the new home that Esme, Rosalie and Alice had already designed. However, they would need a place to stay in the mean time, for which purpose Edward had offered our new home. I guessed that this was a contributing factor to Carlisle's decision to stay in Forks for the extra few weeks. To allow the three of us time to settle in and some much needed alone time for Edward and I, which I was grateful for. But under the present circumstances I wanted nothing more than for my family to be back together.
"We should ring Carlisle and update him," I suggested to Edward as we watched Jacob lope grimly back into the forest. "He should know everything so that we can figure out what we're up against."
Edward nodded slowly, looking down at Reneesme who was gently running her fingers around the edge of his freshly torn skin.
"Reneesme honey, how about you take your mother upstairs, and show her the new wardrobe that Alice has put together for you?" He suggested lightly to her, taking her hand from his forehead and teasing his hair so that it covered the cut.
I knew he didn't want her to overhear the conversation her was about to have. He didn't want to frighten her with the retelling he would have to give to Carlisle of his near death experience earlier that morning, and to be honest I really didn't want to have to relive it either – maybe he sensed that.
Reneesme's face lit up instantly and she sprung from Edward's arms and skipped cheerfully towards me, grabbing my hand in her tiny one and pulling me after her. She led me up the stairs, bouncing up them two at a time. I heard Edward's fingers dialling the numbers on the keypad of his cellphone from the kitchen and swept her up in my arms so that we could escape to the far end of the house that much faster.
As was expected Reneesme's wardrobe was stacked from floor to ceiling with racks and racks of beautiful dresses, skirts, coats, sweaters and shoes. I stood gaping at the garments as Reneesme quickly dressed into a stunning deep rich purple dress that flared out from her waist and tied around the middle with a wide white ribbon. I followed her back out of the elaborate wardrobe into her room where she twirled and spun around the room with more grace than the world's most skilled ballerina. She giggled loudly and sung a meaningless tune as she spun circles around me. Her bouncing copper curls fanned out with her skirt as she twirled and a stunning grin, that mimicked Edwards dazzling smile, spread widely across her elated face. She looked amazing, I took my breath away. I swept her up in my arms and spun her around in air. She spread her arms widely and screamed with delight.
After only a few minutes I heard Edward's presence as he walked into the room, and turned to see him leaning casually against the door frame, watching us spellbound. His face glowed with adoration and his eyes sparkled with affection.
We stopped spinning and Reneesme flung her warm arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. Edward swept across the room and joined us. Wrapping both Reneesme and I in his arms and kissing us both adoringly on the top of our heads.
"What did Carlisle say?" I asked as I leaned my head against his chest.
"He was very concerned, as you would expect. He's never heard of anything like this before," he ran his fingers softly down Reneesme's hair. "It doesn't make any sense, but he is trying to get in contact with anyone who might have any information for us. Unfortunately, it's possible that the only ones who could be of any assistance to us could be…"
"The Volturi." I finished his sentence, feeling a chill rise through my body.
Reneesme pulled a face then lay her head back down on my chest. I felt Edward's hold tighten around us.
"We should go back to Forks," I whispered softly to him after a cold silence.
"Hmm, I suggested that to Carlisle too. He disagreed though; he thinks we should be here enjoying our new home."
"How can we enjoy it, with all this going on?" I said angrily, lifting my head to look him in the eyes.
He smiled his crooked smile down at me. "Don't worry love, I agree with you." He paused, "That's why Carlisle, Esme and the others should arrive here before morning."
His reassurance washed through me and I was immediately comforted. As a family, we could survive anything. Look at how much we had endured already.
Reneesme's head rose quickly from my chest, her face bright and excited again. "Aunty Rose is coming?" She asked in her brilliant high pitched voice.
"She'll be here when you wake," He told her.
A glittering smile spread broadly across her face, her eyes widened with excitement. She wriggled herself free from our arms and began to twirl around the room again, laughing happily like before.
Like promised the rest of the Cullen family arrived an hour before sunrise. As no-one was sure how long they were staying, they all carried large amounts of luggage – Alice had the boot of her Porsche jam packed as well as the back seat filled to the roof. Jasper just rolled his eyes as we all helped to unload her bags.
"Sorry we took so long," Carlisle apologised, as Edward and I showed him to his and Esme's room at the far end of the second floor corridor, "I had to talk to the hospital and excuse myself. Rosalie and Alice also ran down to the reservation to let Jacob and the rest of the pack know that we would be away for an unknown period of time."
The bond between the Cullen's and the wolves was strong but Carlisle felt it essential not to bring any strain to the relationship. It was a part of Carlisle's nature to avoid conflict at all costs. Jake and Seth were like part of the Cullen family now, however other members of the pack, like Sam and Leah were having a tough time adjusting.
Since Reneesme was still sleeping Edward and I left the others alone to unpack and settle in, retreating into our bedroom, Edward led me in and closed the door behind us. I wasn't tired but I lay down on the bed anyway. Edward joined me a second later; I rolled on my side and lay my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around my back, holding me closer to him.
"What are you thinking Bella?" He asked in a concerned voice.
I sighed. "I was just thinking about our whole situation."
He was silent, waiting for me to continue.
I took in a deep, unnecessary breath before I spoke again, feeling the empty sensation in my chest that had once been the sustainment of my life. "Before Reneesme, and before I became a vampire, I always believed that once I had changed our problems would be over. I wouldn't be vulnerable anymore. I truly believed nothing else would threaten my happy little existence. But first the Volturi and now this… It makes me doubt everything."
Edward tightened him arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer and laying his cheek on the top of my head, he gave a short, soft laugh. "That's how I felt – until I met you." He kissed the top of my head. "We're going to work this out, Bella. We're going to be fine, all of us."
"You don't know that," I accused.
He paused. "No, I don't. But I do know that everyone here is going to do everything in their power to keep this family safe." He kissed my hair softly again.
We lay there just holding each other for a long time. His fingers twisted in and out of my hair while I was lost deep in my troubled thoughts. Eventually I turned my head to look Edward but whatever I was about to say was suddenly forgotten when I saw the look in his eyes. They were troubled and concerned. He fought hard to conceal it from me but I had already seen.
"Edward, what is it?" I asked, pushing myself up onto my elbow to look him straight in the face.
"It's nothing Bella," he said, turning his face away to gaze out the window at the rising sun.
I placed my hand on his cheek, pulling his focus back to me. "No, it's not nothing. What's wrong?" I said in my best stern voice.
He sighed again. "Carlisle managed to get a hold of a few old friends, but they've never heard of anything like this before either." He said in a flat tone.
"Oh," I said emotionlessly before sinking back down to lay on his chest again. The horrible knot that I had in my stomach since the moment I had noticed the dark circles around Edwards eyes tightened again, I felt sick. Why us? Why now? This was meant to be the happiest time of or lives, or existences. Newly married and starting a family and a new life. It just wasn't fair. Where we being punished for something? Perhaps Edward was right, perhaps we were damned. Maybe my soul had been lost…
What was I thinking! Edward, Carlisle, Esme, Alice… this whole family was the warmest and most good hearted people I had ever met and was probably ever likely to meet. And Reneesme - my sweet and innocent Reneesme…it just wasn't right. If that was the case, and we were being punished for who we were, then there was something seriously wrong with the world.
I sat up, frustrated.
"Bella," Edward started to say. I got up off the bed and stalked to the window. The forest surrounding the house was still, peaceful and quiet. Edward was suddenly behind me, his arms wrapped around me. I turned in his arms to face him. He watched me concernedly, eye filled with worry.
"I just need to get out, clear my head," I told him slowly. I pulled my eyes away from his and down to his chest. "I'm going for a run, I'll be back shortly, I promise." I stretched up on my toes, and pushed my lips into his. When I pulled away I saw that his eyes were hurting. He didn't stop me leaving though, and seconds later I was running into the dense bush on the south side of the house. I felt the cool air on my face, it was nice and refreshing. It made my clothes ruffle around my body like soft waves.
I couldn't concentrate on where I was running, not that I had to. My mind was spinning around and around in confusing and frustrating little circles.
There had to be an explanation for all this. I felt like it was just staring me in the face, only I couldn't see it.
But what did I know anyway? I was effectively still a new born, even my eyes hadn't changed completely yet. They still held an orange glow that frightened and disgusted me.
Not even Carlisle could work this out. How could I be of any use? Just like my old human days I felt weak. I couldn't even care for my own family. Like always I was just a bystander while the people around me got hurt.
That day with the Volturi, as awful as it had been, had also given me some self worth. For once I had been of some value. I had been the one to save the day. It had been my shield that had protected the one's that I loved from Jane and Alec. And now here I was back to square one. I was no use at all.
Again I began to question why Edward had fallen in love with me - useless, pathetic, weak, plain me. I had nothing within me to draw or tie him to me, I was nothing but hopeless and needy. All I did was hurt him… like I was hurting him now.
I remembered the pained look he had had in his eyes before I left. It would be just like him to blame himself for something like this, to make this all his fault. I remembered how that had hurt me in the past, to see him so sad and beating himself up. How frustrating it had been as I tried unsuccessfully to ease the blame he forced upon himself. The brooding silences, the distance I felt. Now I was doing just that to him.
I sighed and slowed down. I wasn't being fair, he needed me and I had run away.
I was about to turn and head back to the house when something caught my attention, a pounding noise in the distance.
It only took me a split second to recognise the sound. Running wolf feet.
I waited for a few minutes till the thud of the wolfs paws on the ground softened and eventually stopped, then a few moments later Jacob came strolling out of a line of bushes a hundred yards ahead of me, wearing nothing but a rugged pair of shorts.
"Hey Bella!" He called, wearing the confident smile that had once made my heart flutter. "What brings you out here?" He asked as he strolled casually over to me.
I shrugged. "You know, just this and that. I wanted to clear my head mainly."
"Oh, the sleeping thing right?" He asked curiously, as we started casually walking back towards the house.
"Yeah, sort of," I changed the subject quickly, "so what brings you these ways? We didn't expect to see you for another couple of days."
"Well actually that's just what I was wanting to talk to you all about, the thing with Edward and Rosalie," No such luck in the subject change department.
"What about it?"
"Well I was going to wait until I could tell you all together but I suppose Edwards probably already pulled it out of my head, so I might as well tell you now." He paused and thought for a moment before continuing. "Well you said that Edward and Rosalie both just sort of fell asleep right? Like completely out of the blue?"
"Yes. Why? What are you getting at Jake?" My tone was a little too harsh from all the pent up frustration.
"Well you remember how it was my night to be on patrol last night right?" I nodded. "Right, well I was about to take over from Leah, I had just changed and was searching for her. Only when I went inside her head I saw that she was attacking Emily."
I stopped dead in my tracks and gasped. She wouldn't! No matter how much Emily and Sam had hurt her she wound never, would she? A broken heart can make you do crazy things…
He held up a finger. "Wait, just let me finish. Well I couldn't believe what I was seeing so I raced over to Sam and Emily's house only to find them both fast asleep and Leah nowhere in sight. Only in my mind I could still see Leah ripping Emily into pieces."
"What..." I began to ask again, but he held up a finger once more.
"Anyway, I woke Sam up and got him to change to. He couldn't believe what he was seeing either. As you would expect it shook him up quite a bit. Well after Sam had calmed down a little we managed to track down her scent and followed it out to the boundary, only when we found her she was out cold. We couldn't wake her up no matter what we did."
My mouth hung open. What was going on here!
"This makes no sense!" I cried in frustration.
"You're telling me," he said. "Well she finally woke up after a couple of hours but has no clue what happened. She doesn't remember a thing."
"We need to get back to the others," I told him, and without waiting for his answer I turned and ran as fast as I could.
A minute later I burst through the door of the house, with Jacob a few hundred metres behind me.
Everybody was already gathered in the lounge room. Alice and Jasper were sitting on the two-seater couch talking in very fast voices. Rosalie sat on the floor with Reneesme on her lap, there was a few dolls lying on the floor in front of them which Rosalie was staring at but was not really paying any attention to. While Reneesme looked wearily around at everyone's confusing expressions with her own sleepy and worried look on her face. Emmet and Esme sat beside them on the three-seater couch, looking up at Carlisle, who was staring at Edward, who was pacing backwards and forwards in front of the large window at the front of the room.
I stopped Edward, mid pace. Placing my hands on the tops of his arms and staring into his bothered eyes. After a few seconds he took a deep breath and relaxed his posture.
"I'm sorry about before," I told him sincerely.
His head leaned to the side and he looked at me questioningly.
"I shouldn't have run off, it wasn't fair." I clarified.
His eyes instantly softened and he pulled me into him, hugging me tightly. I knew at once that all had been forgiven.
After a few moments I drew back, just enough so that I could see his face, his eyes met mine with a worried gaze.
"What does this mean?" I asked him.
He shook his head slowly, "I have no idea."
I ran my hand down his face, wanting to dispel the distressing emotions I saw in his eyes, emotions that I knew would be reflected in mine.
I turned to Carlisle.
"Any ideas?" I asked, without hope.
"Unfortunately no," he sighed. "Never, in three hundred years…" he muttered, mainly to himself than anyone else.
"Both Edward, Leah and I were all in completely different places when this happened," Rosalie said in a distant voice, "so whatever it is, I don't think it has anything to do with location."
"Or time of day," Jasper added.
"Ok, well we know that Rosalie was just sitting at home when she went under, and Leah was on patrol wasn't she?" Carlisle questioned Jacob.
"Well yeah, we found her out in the woods on the reservation, she was meant to be on patrol, but we're not totally sure because none of us where in wolf form and she doesn't remember much from before," he told the room.
"So no links there either," Carlisle mused.
I tightened my grip around Edward's waist as I remembered the heated moment of passion the he and I had been enjoying when we had received the phone call from Carlisle just before Edward had fallen asleep.
I noticed a smile played around the corner of one side of Edward's mouth, as well as a new fire that burned deep in his eyes. He remembered too.
From across the room Jasper burst into laughter, though he was trying to suppress it, and failing.
Emmet shot Jasper a confused look then followed his gaze to Edward and I before he caught up, and then boomed with laughter. I stared at him angrily.
"Is she really that boring in the sack?" Emmet laughed even harder. Rosalie smacked him hard in the chest.
I hid my face in Edward's chest which vibrated softly with a low growl.
Everyone was silent again, deep in thought - Except for Emmet who continued to laugh whole-heartedly.
I continued to hide while I ran all the new information through in my mind. Still the answer was right in front of me, just begging for me to notice. I wanted so desperately to find answers but painful memories of Edward lying limply in my arms, grief stricken and so vulnerable kept flashing through my mind. Mental images of Edward crippled in pain under the vengeful stare of Jane attempted to push their way to the front of my mind.
My breath caught. That was it! The answer that had been eluding me, it was right in front of my face the whole time! Why hadn't I thought of that sooner?
"Bella?" Edward asked as he appeared in front of me, his eyes scrutinizing my face. "What is it? What's wrong?"
I couldn't believe it, it made perfect sense!
"Bella! Please talk to me!"
"I-I think I just worked it out…" I told him, still stunned.
I felt everyone's attention from around the room on me. Even Emmet stopped laughing madly.
I looked into Edward's perplexed eyes. "Edward we've been going about this entirely the wrong way. What if the cause of all this…what if it wasn't something, but someone?"
Edward's eyes opened wide as he followed.
"The Volturi," I said weakly. Everyone was silent, I couldn't even hear them breathing. "What if it's another vampire?" I continued, more for my own benefit than anyone else's. "What if the Volturi found a new member of their guard? Someone with an ability, one like Jasper's. Someone who could put others to sleep the way Jasper affected others moods. We embarrassed them and threatened their authority, how can we not expect retaliation?"
Everyone was silent for a brief moment.
"It's certainly possible," Carlisle deliberated. "Though, I would have thought that we would have noticed the scent an unfamiliar vampire lurking around Forks."
"Surely the dogs would have picked up a scent on the reservation," Rosalie added curtly.
"Nothing caught my attention in the area that we found Leah in," Jacob said, ignoring her rudeness. "But then again, Rosalie and Alice had been down to the reservation that day. If Leah or Sam had picked up on anything they would have thought that it had just been there scent."
"If you found a trail would you be able to distinguish if it was one of our scents or not?" Esme asked politely from her position on the couch.
"Sure, if it was Rosalie's I would be able to pick up the stench from a mile away." Jacob said casually, leaning against the door frame.
Rosalie hissed at him from across the room then Reneesme picked up a doll and hit her square in the forehead with it.
"Be nice," she scolded in her musical voice, waving her finger at Rosalie's nose.
The room erupted into a tense laughter, the loudest coming from Emmet and Jacob. Rosalie shot a disgusted look in Emmet's direction but he continued to laugh anyway. The edgy atmosphere lightened just a tiny bit.
After a few moments Carlisle cleared his throat quietly and everyone fell silent again.
"Would you be able to send someone out to try and hunt for an unfamiliar scent on the reservation?" Carlisle asked turning to Jacob again.
"Yeah, sure thing doc," he answered before turning and loping out into the forest once more.
"Even if they do find a scent on the reservation, that still doesn't explain how Edward went under," Alice pointed out.
"I haven't been on the reservation for weeks," Edward said, before turning back to me and running his fingers through my hair. His eyes were on mine but were distant and deep in thought. My own thoughts were centred only on him. Even now I found it hard to concentrate on anything while wrapped so tightly in his arms. I was distracted by the way the golden tint in his eyes seemed to swim like liquid, and the small creases that appeared on his brow as his mind travelled at a hundred miles an hour and they way his arms held strongly around my waist. I was in the middle of admiring the way his perfectly chiselled chest rose and fell with every intake of breath when suddenly his entire body went rigid. My eyes automatically focused in on his, they had opened wide with a new knowledge.
His eyes then flicked quickly to the window, scanning the trees across the lawn.
"What is it, Edward?" I asked, following his line of sight but seeing nothing of consequence.
His eyes moved swiftly back to mine.
"It's here." He said in alarm. "The scent, it must be here."
I questioned him with my eyes, I wasn't sure I understood.
He turned to Rosalie. "They must have found us here. It makes sense. You and I were decorating alone here for almost a week. This vampire - if that's what it is - could have easily followed us back to Forks. Like Carlisle said, we would have almost definitely picked up a scent around the house back in Forks. Perhaps they caught your scent again and followed it to the reservation. That would definitely form a link between the three cases."
Everyone looked to Carlisle again.
"It's definitely possible," he agreed.
"We should search the area," Edward half ordered, loosening his grip around my waist and turning towards the door.
"Wait," I said, catching him by the front of the shirt. "We should go in peers, just in case. If they're still out there, then we don't know what they could be capable of. They've already made it fairly clear that they're not out to make friends."
Edward nodded, he may not have agreed but he knew better than to argue.
"Rosalie and Esme, could you stay here with Reneesme?" I asked. Reneesme turned and made the cutest grumpy face you could ever imagine at me. "We won't be far," I comforted her, "and we won't be long."
Alice and Jasper stood up. "We'll go north," Jasper offered.
"I ran south earlier, that's where I met Jacob," I told them. "There's nothing that way."
"Ok, Emmet and I will search east if you and Edward go west," Carlisle instructed. "Try and meet up with Jacob if you can, he'll be in wolf form and Edward will be the only one able to communicate with him."
Edward stiffly nodded once before taking my hand and leading me swiftly out the door.