Ch 16: Infected

EPOV

The engine roared beneath me, but it wasn´t nearly fast enough. The promise of finding Victoria at last was nearly driving me to madness. I could not waste even a second.

But before I even neared the house I caught the thoughts of Jasper and Alice. They were running towards me. I didn't even have to slow down as they latched onto my car, pulled the doors open, and crawled inside. Yet another perk of being a vampire. They were soaked in water and splashed with mud and yet I could tell by looking at their eyes that they were just as determined as I was, too concerned about Bella´s safety to care if they got wet and dirty. Not even Alice could care less at a time like this.

"Keep north on the 101. I think she knows we are after her. She has retreated back north. We´ll probably be able to catch up with her in Vancouver."

Vancouver… A mere 100 miles from Forks, in a straight line, that is, but I had no doubt that vampires would have no problems running across the Strait of Georgia and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, even if it meant running a full 40 miles on top of water. The steering wheel creaked under my grip. Only 100 miles away, and she had gotten even closer. The very thought of her being any closer than that made me sick to my stomach. How close had she gotten? I opened my mouth to ask, but then thought better of it. It would only distress me now if I learned how close she had come.

My cell phone rang again. This time it was Carlisle, "We´re up ahead of you. Pull over as soon as you see us. We´ll have to create some kind of plan."

I growled a little. Every second we waited, the more likely it was that Victoria would escape us completely. I couldn´t lose her scent again, and it was raining. Luck was not on our side. "Let´s make it quick."

Within moments, I caught sight of his car and pulled in behind. Not minding the rain, I stepped out to meet him, along with Rosalie and Emmett. But Esme was nowhere to be seen.

"I caught her scent just outside of Port Angeles." Carlisle began. I cringed, no I definitely didn´t need to know that. It was only 50 miles away from Forks. How could she have gotten so close? "But apparently she knows that we have spotted her. She immediately retreated back into Canada."

"So why did you come all the way back here? Why didn´t you follow her?"

"Because, Edward, I don´t feel comfortable having just one us going after Victoria and however many newborns she has, especially considering that Victoria retreated."

Alice cut in, "Rather unusual that she would turn back when she would only have to face you. What is she afraid of?"

"I think it´s rather clear," Jasper responded, "I don´t think she´s retreating at all. I think she is luring us into a trap."

Ah, perfect. So now we were being herded like cattle to the slaughterhouse. Well, trap or not, I wasn´t going to let her live. "What kind of trap, exactly?"

"It´s likely, I suppose, that she would lure us away from Forks so that she could make her way back south, around Seattle, and come into Forks again without ever encountering us."

My liquid hot anger seemed to freeze in my body. So she could be planning to get us away from Bella before she attacked. My immediate instinct was to run back to Bella right away to make sure she was safe. Carlisle saw the look on my face, "Esme is staying behind to protect Bella. She´ll be fine."

Or at least for now, she would be. And that would have to be enough.

"But if that´s not the case," Jasper continued, "She could be using a hunting maneuver, pulling us towards them and then circling around us, ambushing us from all sides."

I could see it clearly in my mind, just as Jasper was picturing it, being surrounded by countless nameless newborn faces. And we were only 6. I cursed myself for not requesting the werewolves' aid earlier. Other than Jacob, they were still totally unaware of the threat and too far away to contact now. We were on our own.

"We´ll need to call Esme, tell her to warn Jacob if Victoria comes closer." I said, panting through my own panic.

"You know she won´t be able to get into La Push."

I smiled bitterly, "Jacob Black made it very clear that he would be staying with her this evening."

My whole family mentally cringed. ´It´s got to be killing him to let her be alone with that wolf.´ Emmett thought, his mind switching to what activities Bella might have planned with her new, less dangerous boyfriend.

I growled low in my throat and glared at him. "Keep your thoughts to yourself, Emmett."

He bowed his head apologetically, ´Sorry.´

"Okay," Carlisle said, "I´ll make the call. But as for us, we need to figure out how to give chase."

We all turned our attention to Jasper, knowing that he was more capable in battle than any of us. He was running through multiple strategies at once, but everyone had a flaw. I couldn´t handle that. I couldn´t handle the thought that we might fail, and hearing him think about it, it was like we were doomed to fail.

Finally, Jasper voiced his thoughts, "It would be best if we weren´t too far away from each other, but we will have to spread apart somewhat. We´ll have a better chance of keeping track if we go separately."

Rosalie snorted, "Oh, perfect. So I guess once they find one of us ALONE, at least death will be quick, right?"

Carlisle shot her a scolding look, "We won´t be alone, Rose. We can call each other if something happens."

"Sure, I´m bet they´ll just hold off killing us so we can call for reinforcements."

"As much as I hate to admit it," I said, "She has a point. If we are separated there will be no chance to regroup before someone gets hurt."

"Right now, the scent is still traceable. The closer we get, the fresher it will smell. Once they know we are closing in, my guess is that they will disperse and attempt to surround us."

"Couldn´t they be trying to separate us themselves so they can take us down one by one?"

"Not likely. If Victoria has acquired a pack of newborns, they will be very poorly coordinated. Even they know they wouldn´t have any hope going up against us one on one." Jasper said, "No… I will bet they are planning to attack us as a unit, from all sides. If we have any hope, we will have to separate."

"What about Victoria?" asked Alice, "She´s not a newborn. What about her?"

"It is only her scent we are following now, but as we get closer we will be able to detect the scents of the newborns as well, especially when they branch off. It would be best if we avoided Victoria until the newborns are disposed of, which shouldn´t take too long, and then pursue Victoria together. She will be a more experienced fighter and therefore harder to handle"

I clenched my teeth. I wasn´t sure I could just delay going after Victoria. Newborns were dangerous enough, but Victoria only had one human victim in mind, the most important human in the world. Would I really be able to pick off her little minions one by one as she continued to breathe?

I thought it best not to speak my thoughts. I would know what to do when the time came, but I just hoped it didn´t have to come to that.

"And if Victoria comes back here?"

Carlisle put a hand on my shoulder, which under normal circumstances would have comforted me, "Esme is waiting for news. Victoria is fast but she won´t be able to make it all the way back to Forks before we figure it out. If she does turn around, we will call Esme and she will simply escape with Bella."

I cringed. I had hoped Bella would never come to know of the imminent danger she was in, but perhaps I didn´t have that choice. I could imagine how frightened she would be. I remembered how it was when we were on the run before, or at least I did just before we had parted. Leaving her behind to go chase down James was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. The same fear consumed me now, that every second I was apart from her meant she was in danger. How odd. Any other day I knew that I was the most dangerous being in her life, but being away from her, exposing her to other vampires, that somehow terrified me even more.

I could only hope she didn´t come to hate me for interfering with her life, yet again.

"Alright, let´s move out. We should have them within a few hours." Jasper concluded.

In an instant we were back in our cars. ´Just a few more hours,´ I chanted to myself. Just a few more hours and I would have that vile woman in my clutches, and this time, she would not get away. Even if I ended up as nothing more than a flaming pile of ash, I would destroy Victoria.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The water felt like rock under my feet, but it still soaked my entire body. And 40 miles on water, although easily doable by a vampire, was not exactly without it´s complications. It wasn´t enough that we couldn´t be seen and had no way to hide ourselves from any passing ferry boats. The rain didn´t help much. It made the surface of the water uneven. I had almost tripped twenty times. Happily, no boaters were out in this weather, and there was a small stretch of land between the two straights, so at least we got a small break from the water. But every step made me more determined.

The little city we passed through on that little stretch of land was called Victoria.

It frustrated me to no end that I was the fastest runner, yet had to slow down in order to stay with my family. While I knew they were running as fast as they could, knowing that I had the capacity to get to Victoria faster drove me to fury. But I didn´t have time to yell at them.

As I ran again over the surface of water, I imagined Bella by my side, or rather, on my back. I imagined what it felt like to hold her in my arms, the weightlessness of her body, the softness of her skin. I imagined what it would be like if my running didn´t scare her, but rather delighted her. I thought she might laugh if she was here with me now, running on top of the water, the mist spraying into her face. The sound of her laughter was the only thing that could calm me now, that could keep me sane. I could only hope that I would hear that sound again, feel that skin again.

If I died today, what would become of Bella? Would she be sad at my parting from this world? Would she mourn me? It was selfish of me to think so, but my heart hoped that I at least meant that much to her, and yet at the same time never wanted her to shed a tear for me. I couldn´t stand it if she grieved for me if I couldn´t make her pain go away. That was another thing… There wouldn´t be an afterlife. Not even my ghost could linger on to watch over her, to protect her. Who would keep her safe? Jacob? I doubted he could after last night. But clearly someone had to, and who better than her own boyfriend? If only I had had the time to instill in him all the things that Bella needed. Did Jacob understand how fragile she was if he was so willing to take her out on motorcycles? If only I could convince him to handle her delicately, to watch out for her, because there was not a single being on the planet that courted danger like Bella did.

But the time was too late. Whether my death came tonight or centuries from now, Victoria´s would be within the hour. If I too only had mere moments left of life, they were not enough for me to express all that I needed to.

Bella… I would need to say something to her too. But how could I? What would confessing my undying love do for her now? It would probably make her very uncomfortable, as though I was expecting her to love me in return. Yet she needed to know, somehow. I couldn´t manage passing on without her knowing the truth. If only I had the time, perhaps I would write her a letter and have a family member deliver it to her. Well, if we encountered any delays, I knew how best to occupy my time and frustrations.

Twenty minutes later we arrived in Vancouver, and immediately found Victoria´s scent. Unfortunately, the rain made the scent weaker, but the downpour had stopped, so the scent would become even stronger the closer we got. She was still heading north. By now we could faintly pick up the scents of other vampires, both we would not be able to tell how new the newborns were until we were nearly upon them. I could only hope that they had not had the time to prepare themselves for battle. I didn´t know if I could bare it if one of my family members died today.

But I knew I couldn´t concern myself with the state of my family, no matter how much I loved them. My top priority was Bella and keeping her safe required all of my focus. As we came out of the city and into the vast wilderness of Canada, the rain stopped. Finally, a stroke of luck. Now finding them would be twice as easy.

But we had barely advanced more than 5 miles when Jasper instructed us to stop. I growled in frustration, but kept my temper in check. I knew blowing up at him would do nothing. "What is it?" I said sharply.

"Just as I predicted, they have split up. They could be preparing to surround us as we speak."

"What if this isn´t their plan?" asked Alice, "What if they really want to separate us?"

"That is always a possibility, but the likelihood that we would have any problems with a few newborns at a time would be slim. The only real danger is having dozens of them coming at us all at once."

I could only hope that I ran into Victoria first. "So what´s our next move?"

"Everyone take off and follow a different set. Keep your cell phones on hand. The closer you get, the more distinct the scents will become. You´ll be able to tell how many, and how old they are. If you have any reason to believe that it is too much for you to handle, call for reinforcements."

Emmett grinned, his teeth flashing wickedly even in shadow, "Divide and conquer, then."

He always did love a good fight. I had to stake my claim, "If you find Victoria, let me know as well. I have to be there to finish her off."

"If any of us find Victoria, we will have to pull back right away until we regroup. Victoria´s battle experience is unknown to me. I have no way of knowing if only one of us could handle her. I urge you all to sound in the call as soon as she is detected." Jasper instructed, "Okay… Move out."

For a moment, everyone paused and looked at each other. There was a kind of silent loving connection in everyone´s minds. The bond that defined us as a family. The two couples with us looked at each other with longing eyes, begging their spouses to be careful, thinking they might die if something happened to the others. The other two stood alone, their hearts suddenly miles away in Forks, sending away their spirit on the southern bound wind to guard their soul mates.

And then I could wait no longer. I was the first to break away, and I ran with all my might in the direction of the first scent I could track. In spite of my vampire sight, as I flew past the trees, I might as well have been human. Everything around me was just a blur. I couldn´t even focus in on the tiniest speck of dust. I only knew to keep moving forward towards that scent.

The scent changed direction multiple times. No doubt they discovered they were being followed. I had no idea what they would do to put the odds in their favor, but whatever they did mattered little to me now. Even if they brought me to Victoria, I would not back down. No matter what Jasper advised, there was no way I could retreat when she was within my reach. If I found a way to contact my family, all the better, but I would rather die than let her get away.

Suddenly, I came to a clearing, a meadow, and I came to a stop. The scent had changed, or rather whoever I had been chasing had clearly joined up with some help, and I could detect at least 4 distinct scents, all foreign. I swore under my breath. None of them were Victoria, and I was out-numbered.

Before I could reach for my phone to call the others, it buzzed in my pocket. I put the phone to my ear, having barely glanced at the name. "Jasper, I-."

"Turn back now, Edward!" Jasper screamed into the phone.

In surprise I cringed at the volume of his voice. "What´s going on?"

He screamed again, "Fall back!"

Over the phone I had no way of reading his mind, so I growled, "You´d better have a damn good reason."

"They aren´t newborns! Do you hear me, Edward? They are not newborns!"

I could barely process his panic, but the words were a shock nonetheless. "What?"

"We´re coming for you! Turn back now!" Was all I heard before I heard the phone click.

I kept the phone to my ear even as the dial tone rang out. What did he mean ´not newborns´? If not newborns then who was Victoria with?

My heart knew the answer before my mind did, and it shook with terror. There was only one vampire family out there that had made their interest in Bella known…

Fear, so white hot it might have burned away the interior of my ice cold body, shot up my spine, as I heard the leaves rustle behind me, and there wasn´t a breeze on the wind. Though I had no need for breath, I found myself gasping for breath, the sound flooding my ears as though it were water. Moments later, I could hear their approach, the soft ominous crackle of leaves against shoes. I was indeed being ambushed, but alone, and by the most dangerous family in vampire history, with more power than I could ever hope to come up against.

Bella´s face flashed in my mind. How… How could I save her? The Volturi were here and they were coming for her, and I was being lured to them… for the kill? I couldn´t know what they wanted with me.

"Edward, I am delighted to finally meet you, though I had hoped the circumstances would be considerably more… pleasant." I recognized Aro´s voice from Carlisle´s memories, the same voice that sounded friendly and yet menacing at the same time. There was a quiet calm about him that was terrifying, even his soft voice sent shivers through me. "I do hope you received my letter."

I turned to face him. There were 5 others beside them, some of the faces I didn´t recognize. The little one could only be Jane. The one with the sinister face, Felix, maybe.

I did the only thing I could think of in a moment like this. "Please… I beg of you to go back."

Aro´s smile faltered in disappointment. "You know that divulging our secret to the humans is a matter of great importance, Edward. This is the only way to keep ourselves alive and well. Would you rather burn in the fire of the humans just as they did centuries ago?"

"She won´t tell a thing. I know her. She would never…"

"Humans are fickle creatures. Even if she did not intend to, it would be difficult to keep such knowledge a secret forever. We already have enough problems on our hands with keeping humans at bay. We don´t need them interfering with our existence."

"But not her!" I shouted, then my voice became a weak whisper, "Please…"

Jane snorted, "He is in love with the human girl. How odd."

Aro regarded her for a moment, and then smiled at me again. "Well then perhaps there is a way around this. Simply turn her into a vampire and we shall be on our way."

My heart, lifting for a brief moment, suddenly dropped to the very bottom of my stomach. Now, of all times, when Bella no longer loved me. Now that she was moving on with her human life, being happy, being normal… Now they had to request this of me?

With every inch of me, I could not deny that I yearned to be with Bella forever, with her flesh as cold as mine but strong enough for me to hold her tightly without breaking her. And it all seemed so easy now. I knew I loved her too much to kill her myself. Thinking she had died before had made the very thought of the taste of her blood repulsive to me. The burn remained, but I knew that the taste would not hold me captive. All I had to do was sink my teeth into her neck for one brief perfect moment and she would be with me forever. The simplicity behind the plan was sickeningly sweet.

And yet I thought of all she would leave behind. Her father, her mother, Phil, her friends, her new boyfriend, her whole future… Now that I was out of her life, all that was in her reach again. She could have a perfect human life. She could grow up, get married, have children, watch them grow up and get married… When she wasn´t mine, how could I force her into this life of constant thirst and hiding? How could I destroy her soul?

My eyes burned with unshed tears as I shook my head, "I can´t… She… isn´t mine anymore."

Aro didn´t seem surprised at my reaction. "You see, Edward. Humans are so fickle. How easily they fall in and out of love. Do not concern yourself with what should be your food."

I remembered what it felt like that day when I held Bella´s broken body in my arms, when I thought I had lost her to James. I had held her like glass in my hands, trying not to shake in agony, trying not to jostle her. I was so certain that I had been too late. And then sucking the venom from her wound, my mind becoming hazy with the frenzy of a feast, all the time screaming inside that I was killing her. The thought of her dead was the only thing that let me stop.

"No… NO! You can´t kill her!" My sight turned red. "Leave her alone!"

Aro sighed, "I hate to do this, Edward. I really do. I know Carlisle will be most unhappy with me, but I have the entire vampire race to think about. I hope you can come to forgive me."

"Like hell I will!" I shouted, flashing my teeth and tensing every muscle in my body.

I crouched down, prepared to take down any one of them that even dared to get past me. "I´ll kill you all," I whispered, wishing I couldn´t more convincing than I felt.

Felix scoffed, "That´s rich. You really think you can take down all of us?"

"I have to. You won´t lay a finger on Bella. I´ll die first."

Jane smiled, "We have something even better in mind." She snapped her fingers.

The three others rushed at me, and all thought ceased in my mind. There was only pure instinct. All I could feel was that I was about to be ripped to pieces, and my beloved Bella was in grave danger if I didn´t do something. If I could take down as many of them as I could before I died, maybe the rest of my family had a chance with the rest. I had no other choice.

I charged towards them, crashing against one of them like thunder. He gnashed his teeth at me and I could see the venom dripping from his mouth. His eyes were dark and hungry. Though a bite out of me wouldn´t erase his hunger or his fury, I knew it would hurt me tremendously, possibly immobilize me until he could finish me off… and I could do the same to him. Desperately I reached my teeth towards his jugular, but was a few inches off, and the closer I got to his neck the closer he got to mine.

So I flung him off of me as hard as I could, but within a millisecond another grabbed me from behind. I didn´t have time to react before he sank his sharp teeth into my shoulder. I held in my scream and struggled against him. His venom burned and stunned me. Another took me by the arm and pulled me down.

"No!" I screamed, pushing at them with all of my strength, but they wouldn´t budge. "No! No! NO!"

A hand was at my throat, pinning my head into the ground. I felt the hard dirt reshape itself to the form of my head. I tried biting at the unknown hand, but it was under my chin and just out of reach. I kicked my feet like a child having a tantrum. I heaved myself back and forth… Anything I could to get them to loosen their hold on me. Another form hovered over me and held me down by the chest. I focused on Jane´s evil smirking face and overwhelming dread came over me. I knew that at any moment, they would sever my head from my body and start burning me piece by piece.

"Bella!" my heart cried out suddenly, the sound echoing off the trees and mountains.

I felt the ripping, but it was in my chest. Good god, were they planning to rip me apart there too? But my eyes shot open as heat enveloped me, and I saw there was no wound on me, but a long syringe imbedded right into my heart. But how! There was nothing stronger than our skin. How could it penetrate?

I didn´t have time to consider. My body erupted in flames and agony and I screamed as loud as my voice would let me. My first thought was how it felt during my transformation, but this was so very different. It didn´t just feel like I was on fire, it felt like my skin was melting, as though acid was eating away at me. The three bodies jumped away from me and yet I could not do anything but writhe. What the hell had they done to me?

I rolled over and grasped the ground, needing any release of tensin, but found none. I could see that I was touching it but my fingers could not grasp a thing. I cried out, clutching my chest, or trying to, as I burned and melted away.

I heard voices… yelling. I heard movement, but nothing else. My own screams blocked out anything else. Never had I known this kind of pain, not even when I had become a vampire. Within moments I was begging for death. "KILL ME!!!"

But I did not die, as I wished. The pain continued, intensified, melted away even my mind so that even thinking was physically excruciating, so powerful I could no longer see. Arms grabbed me again, but could not hold onto me. I tried to push myself away from them. I grasped at the ground again, planning to drag myself away if need be. What more torture had they planned for me?

Bella…

I couldn´t die… not yet. I choked out a sob as her face came to me again, only now my mind was getting dizzy, my fingers numb. Was I dying? Not now, not when Bella needed me more than ever. I couldn't die while her life was still in danger. I hadn´t even killed one of them. Bella…

"Edward! Edward!" I heard her calling me.

The voice was strange to me, it was panicked, and higher than usual. Still it was beautiful to me. How could I leave her now? I hadn´t even gotten the chance to write a letter to her, letting her know that I loved her. I couldn´t die without doing that. She had to know that I loved her. My entire existence meant nothing if she didn´t know that.

I cried hard and out loud, not only from the pain in my body but the pain in my heart, and then my body grew weak. The pain still ate at me, but my strength was suddenly disappearing. This must be what dying felt like. But this was no peaceful death. Bella´s terrified face was before me. Bella was in danger. Bella didn´t know how much I loved her. There couldn´t be a hell that awaited me that was worse than this. To leave her behind. Would I see her again, when she died? Would the devil grant me passage to the heavens for just a moment so I could hold her in my arms again and tell her the truth? Would I see her smile again?

Bella…

For the first time in over 80 years, my mind shut down and I felt no more.

To be continued…

I received a lot of private messages from people worrying that I had abandoned the story. I am so sorry for the long wait. I am in grad school during the final weeks of my first year and naturally every big project is due within the next few weeks so I am scrambling to get everything done. Happily, once all that is done with, I have the summer, so there will be lots and lots of time to update.

I didn´t like this chapter as much as I thought I would. I´m not so much for the action scenes. Describing them is very hard for me. I miss the mushy stuff! Well, we have reached a major turning point in the story. Now the story can really take off!

Thanks to everyone for all your patience and for sticking with me! Take care of yourselves and stay tuned. Your messages really helped remind me to get this chapter done today so please continue to remind me and pressure me to work hard. I probably won´t have the next chapter in for another 2 weeks, but the sooner the better!

xoxo