Ch 15: Compromise

EPOV

"I´m sorry you have to drive me home." Bella said, after a long moment of silence.

The sun was just setting in the west, and finally Bella´s hangover was gone. It was very doubtful that she would be sleeping tonight.

"It´s no problem. Just try to stay out of trouble for the rest of the night."

I was only half joking. I didn´t want to think of her getting into anymore situations involving alcohol or drugs while there were threats coming at her from all sides. If she knew what was good for her, she would be staying home tonight.

She didn´t disappoint me. "Not a problem. After last night I don´t think I´ll ever go to a party again. I´ll probably just catch up on school work."

I smiled. In spite of her insistence that she was nothing special, I had to admire her academic determination. "Speaking of which, have you decided what college you´re going to?"

She grimaced, gnawing on her bottom lip for a moment, sparking my curiosity, "Not really. I´ve been accepted to a lot of places. A lot of them look good, but I guess it doesn´t really matter."

I was struck with a little twinge of jealousy. She had no idea how easy her life was now. She had all options opened to her. She could be anything she wanted to be. I wondered what she would major in. On the top of my head, I had to guess literature, but who knew what wonderful things she would discover at college. Sure, I had the opportunity for knowledge time and time again, but it was all for nothing. Bella would find her passion, and set off down a path of total fulfillment. That was a joy I would never experience. I would never be able to use my knowledge to its full potential. How I envied the ease of her life.

"Which ones have you been accepted to?"

"Pretty much everything on the west coast… Oregon State, Puget Sound, Portland, Seattle, USC, all of the UCs…"

"Impressive… Though I must say I imagine you would enjoy yourself more in California. Oregon and Washington aren´t known for fantastic weather."

"Like I said, it doesn´t really matter."

"But it would be more like Arizona… Hotter."

"I don´t mind the cold." She said sharply, as if offended.

I was surprised by her offense. My mind went back to the first days of our acquaintance, when she had made it all too clear how dissatisfied she was with the Forks weather. I couldn´t say I blamed her, but it was hard to imagine that she wouldn´t mind it now when she had all but loathed it before.

"That doesn´t sound like you. I thought you hated the cold."

She looked at my pointedly, "So I changed my mind, is that a crime?"

I had to chuckle at her tiger-kitten expression. "Not at all."

As if on cue, raindrops began hitting the car. Regardless of what she had said before, I saw her face turn into a frown. Stubborn as always…

I wondered if she would still cringe away from my cold touch if I reached out to her now…

I gripped the steering wheel tighter. This wasn´t the time to think about touching her, not when I didn´t have that right. Right now I had to focus on keeping her safe. Nothing was more important than that.

Which brought me to probably the most difficult confrontation I had yet to face… Jacob. As we neared her neighborhood I could hear his thoughts. He knew I was coming to bring Bella home. His thoughts were not friendly, but he was fighting to keep his temper under control. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. No matter how much I wanted to tear into him for not keeping an eye on Bella, I had to remain calm if I was going to say what needed to be said.

We pulled into the driveway, and I caught his stare from the porch, having emerged from the front door. I couldn´t contain the growl from escaping my lips.

Bella stared at me pleadingly, distracting me from my loathing, "Please… Don´t fight."

My hands, tensed over the steering wheel, weakened instantly. Her eyes were bright, as though she was about to cry. The all-too-familiar agony of that thought instantly made me lose my desire to attack her boyfriend. I would rather he rip me apart than see her shed a single tear.

He stalked forward, his shoulders pushed upward in a clear display of masculine dominance. He got to the front passenger car door and all but pulled Bella out. My growl returned. That was far too pushy for my tastes. Bella needed to be handled gently.

He placed her behind him and held her there with his arm, protectively. It took all I had not to show him just how angry that made me, that he would dare to try to keep us apart. But I had to remember that it wasn´t my place anymore and if the situation was reversed, if I was still her boyfriend, I probably would have done the same thing.

"Get out of here, leech," he said quickly.

His remark was a little surprising. I knew from his thoughts that he wanted to hurt me just as badly as I wanted to hurt him. Instead of heeding his word, I exited the car and he said even louder, "I said get lost!"

Bella dripped his arm, starring up at him with big doe eyes like she had with me moments before. It was hard for me to understand how he couldn´t be swayed by that face. He didn´t even flinch. I stood my ground, "Jacob, I need to speak with you… alone."

The fearful Bella beside him turned back into the tiger kitten girl I loved, glaring at both of us, "Oh no… Not this again. You two need to stop acting like children and play nice. For goodness sake, I am not some meal for you to fight over."

I had to smirk for a fraction of a second. Technically, she was a meal to me…

"I mean him no harm, Bella," I assured her, "I just want to talk."

From the look on her face it was clear that she didn´t believe me. I didn´t need to read her mind to know that she was thinking about how I attacked Jacob before, breaking his collar bone. I would have been hurt by her assessment if I didn´t want to hurt him as badly as I did. I couldn´t deny that I had that look about me.

Jacob sneered, "Fine… But you´d better leave once you tell me. In fact, you better never come back."

"I´m afraid I can´t do that."

I saw his jaw clench tightly, making the veins on his neck protrude in a grotesque display. Still, I was not afraid of him. Besides knowing that my kind were quite a bit stronger physically, I could overlook nothing when it came to making sure that Bella was safe, even if it would cost me my life.

Jacob turned away from me, pulling Bella along with him, "Then you have nothing to say here."

Charlie´s voice called from the kitchen, "Bella… You have a phone call!"

She looked hesitant, her manners conflicting with the need to keep us from fighting. I nodded to her to go ahead, but said to Jacob, "Stay back, Jacob. I have to say this to you and it can´t wait. It´s important."

Bella tentatively made her way to her house, "Don´t start anything."

"I promise."

A promise was a promise… I would not touch him.

When she shut the door, Jacob crossed his arms and waited for me to speak. I didn´t hesitate. "You and your pack are probably wondering why we are back in town…"

He nodded curtly, "It´s crossed our minds… Are you going to tell me why?"

"Yes…" I just hope he didn´t decide to attack me anyway once I told him. I took a little consolation in the fact that we were in public, meet feet from where Bella and her father stood. "There have been some problems with some other vampires coming into the area."

He turned up his nose, "Puh-lease… There hasn´t been a leech around here since you and your ´family´ left. We would have detected them."

"They aren´t here yet, but they are coming."

"Why?"

I hesitated for a moment. It was hard to admit I was wrong, but so much harder when it was something for which I couldn´t forgive myself. "They are coming for Bella."

His expression was expected, as was the panic in his thoughts, ´What?´

"One of the vampires that came after us last year got away, and apparently she told others about Bella, a family that is very powerful and determined to keep our existence a secret. Knowing that a human knows about us, they are coming here to destroy her before she can reveal our identity to the world."

Jacob´s voice was livid. "You know perfectly well that Bella wouldn´t tell anyone!"

"You don´t have to tell me. I know she wouldn´t. They don´t, and they will never take the word of a human."

"You mean to tell me that thanks to you a bunch of blood-suckers are coming after her?!"

I shut my eyes against his conclusion, knowing it was right on the mark. I couldn´t deny that Bella was in mortal danger, once again, because of me, because I was too weak to keep her safe from knowing me. It was foolish for me to have wanted her to know me, to trust me, and in revealing my secret to her I had doomed her. It seemed I was nothing more than a curse to her. By what twisted design was I meant to love the same person I would curse, the same person a part of me always yearned to drain of blood?

Before I opened my eyes again, Jacob had grabbed me and pinned me against the car. I didn't resist. I opened my eyes and stared at him calmly. "Please, Jacob. Bella didn´t want us to fight."

"Screw that! By just being here you are giving her a death sentence, you deserve to die!"

Oh, how easy it would be to die… to free Bella of danger with my death… I would do it in a beat of her precious heart.

"I won´t let them kill her," I said, totally sure of that, "I can promise you that."

"Yeah, a fine promise… from a leech."

"You don´t have to trust my word, but know that I will not be leaving Forks and nor I nor my family will be far from Bella´s side until we do away with these vampires."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Now, it was time to humble myself to probably my worst enemy… Wonderful. "We need your cooperation."

"How´s not killing you for cooperation?" He sneered.

"That´s not what I mean. I mean we are outnumbered. The family themselves are 15, but one vampire, with them but not of the family, is likely creating more newborns . There will probably be many more of them, possibly doubling their numbers, all very ruthless and vicious fighters, and there are only 6 of us. We are calling on our allies to help as well, but even if they help us, we will only have 11 in total. We need the help of the werewolves to make sure that they don´t get close to Bella."

He let go off me and stalked off, trying to keep his temper in check, and glared back at me, "You have a lot of nerve asking for my help."

"Are you saying you won´t help us keep Bella safe?"

"We won´t let anything happen to her! I won´t let them touch her!" The certainly in his voice was staggering, and I had to admire it, but sheer will alone would not save Bella.

"You alone cannot stop 30 some-odd vampires, nor can your pack. You don't even know how to fight vampires." He clenched his fists, his thoughts shifting to what he knew he could do, ripping us apart piece by piece and then burning the pieces. I corrected him, "That´s not what I mean. No matter how strong you are physically, their style of fighting could be totally unexpected for you. You wouldn´t last more than a minute."

"Stop underestimating us." Jacob growled.

"I will not take Bella´s safety likely, and neither should you!" I said, my voice louder than I wanted it to be, but the power of those words could give me the strength to move mountains.

His eyes narrowed, his thoughts shifting to something else, something that made my stomach turn for the first time in a hundred years. "Why do you care about what happens to Bella?"

But the answer was already clear in his mind… He knew. ´You still… like her?´

He even edited thoughts in his mind, as though the idea of me loving her went against all his beliefs about the monster that I was. He couldn´t fathom a monster like me being in love, and honestly considering what I had done, I couldn´t blame him. After months of running away, I couldn´t deny the truth of my love, "´Like´ isn´t what I would call it, but yes… I do."

At first, his face was filled with horror and panic, oddly even more so than when I told him Bella was in danger. After a few moments, his open mouth twisted into a cocky smirk. "Think again. She´s my girlfriend now. And no way am I going to let you separate us only to break her heart again. Don´t think I´ve forgiven you for all the pain you put her through."

His thoughts hit me hard and fast...

Bella clutching her arms to her chest, looking as though she wanted to curl up into a ball. "Why do you do that?" he asked "You do that when you're upset. Why?"

"It hurts to think about them" she whispered "It's like I can't breathe…like I'm breaking into pieces…"

Bella´s face covered with tears, her eyes bloodshot, looking so lost, looking so cold as she shivered. Her whole body was damp with the rain of the forest. They picked her up and covered her with blankets, and she closed her eyes, whimpering, "He´s gone."

I wanted to reach through his memories and touch my Bella again. I wanted to grab onto her and never let go, to tell her that I loved her madly and passionately, that everything I did was for her sake and her sake alone. But it was too late for what-ifs. I had brought Bella too much pain for one lifetime. I had brought her into a life of danger and broke her heart, and now, when she ought to be moving on into a happy life with Jacob at her side, here I was again, interfering. Yet the idea of being parted from her ever again was the worst agony I had ever felt, like my skin was spouting fire.

Because I loved her, I knew that the day would arrive when I would have to say goodbye, no matter how much it hurt to do so. Maybe I would find my release from pain… my death by choice… anything to be rid of this. Or maybe I could die at the hands of the Volturi, protecting my love. There were worse ways to go than in the name of love.

I looked at Jacob, defeated, "I won´t interfere with your relationship, Jacob, but I will keep her safe. I got her into this mess, and I´m getting her out of it… by any means necessary."

He scoffed, "How very noble."

"Laugh all you like… Are we in agreement or not?"

He hesitated for a moment, sorting through the pros and cons, considering first that he couldn´t trust me to keep my hands off Bella and then thinking that he couldn´t take any chances with Bella´s safety, even if it did mean siding with us.

"I accept," He said simply, "I´m sure I can convince Sam and the pack. Bella is one of us now, after all."

"Good… My request is that you start by fanning out across town, as we are. If any of them come close, we must be ready. Also, we will eventually have to meet to teach you how vampires fight."

"Fine… But the treaty still stands. No crossing into La Push."

I wanted to protest, fearing that any moment I left Bella´s side was too much, but I couldn´t argue that she would be protected by the werewolves there better than anywhere else. However… "If they appear in your area, you do realize we will have to advance into La Push."

He clenched his teeth, but remained calm, "Very well… but unless that happens you are not to step a foot out of line. Is that understood?"

How strange for someone younger than me to act like he was scolding me, but I tried not to let it get to me. "Understood."

"Okay, well you said what you needed to say. Now get out. I´ll call your crypt if we get any news."

"I will be close by, Jacob. Remember that."

"So will I. And I better not catch you lurking around her house at night."

"If it is necessary to keep her safe-."

He interrupted me, "I will be watching over her. She´s my girlfriend."

"And she´s my friend," I responded, "I´m not saying that I will be following her everywhere. But we have to organize. When you´re not there, I will be, and if not me, one of my family. We can´t leave her alone even for a moment. It´s too dangerous."

"Fine… Well I am here now, so get lost."

I was still hesitant to leave. The laughter of Bella´s voice on the phone kept my feet planted. I never wanted to be parted from that sound. But Jacob´s dangerous eyes broke through to me. As long as he was here, I knew I couldn´t stay. Especially when he knew how I felt about her. I would have to leave… I couldn´t even say goodbye to her.

I grudgingly got into my car and pulled away. I wanted so badly to see Bella´s face one more time, to tell her to take care of herself, to stay at home, but there was nothing I could do. I would keep an eye on her from afar.

Jacob´s eyes kept on me until I had disappeared from his sight, and I let out a sigh. Protecting her wasn´t going to be nearly as easy as her friend. I couldn´t even do all the things I thought were necessary to keep her safe, which including me never leaving her side. But in spite of our relationship rupture, I wasn´t going to let her new boyfriend jeopardize her safety, even if I no longer had a say in her life. I knew this was something I had to do, no matter what I was to her, even if she hated me for it.

Thunder sounded above me again and the rain came down harder. A moment later, my cellphone rang. Ah, just what I needed. A quick distraction from the family. I had neglected them for two long. Perhaps one of them would enjoy a quick hunt on Mt. Olympia.

But I was not prepared for the first words that met my hear, straight from Carlisle´s mouth, "We´ve got her scent, Edward. Victoria´s scent. We´re moving out now."

I nearly broke my phone as I closed it. The engine roared as I pressed the accelerator to the floor. Finally! A lead!

To be continued…

Okay! Now we will finally get into some action! Stay tuned! The next chapter will be awesome! Please review everyone! I was really late on this one, but the more reviews I get, the more reminders I have to get to work. Sometimes I totally forget the story exists until I get a review. xoxo