Chapter Twenty Three

Having heavy conversations
About the frivolous constellations of our souls
We're just trying to find some meaning
In the things that we believe in
But we got some ways to go
Of all of the things that she's ever said
She goes and says something that just knocks me dead
You won't find faith or hope down a telescope
You won't find heart and soul in the stars
You can break everything down to chemicals
But you can't explain a love like ours

~ Science and Faith by The Script ~

(EPov)

Jasper and I ran for home, our feet pounding the earth as we ran for Carlisle, desperate to find out if they had tracked down James and Victoria's scent. If we could only latch onto them, we could find them, I felt confident of that.

But more than that, the sooner we found them, the sooner we could get back to Bella, who was on her way back to the house with Emmett. I wanted to get back before the Black boy did.

I wanted to save her father. I wanted her to be reassured and happy and safe and I wanted to give her that.

Jasper's phone started to ring and we came to a stop as he answered it.

"Alice."

"Emmett is being hunted! Laurent doubled back, he's working with Victoria and James and they're going to ambush Emmett and Bella!" I heard her voice over the phone and met Jasper's eyes.

"Call Carlisle." Jasper snapped and we turned on our heels, racing back towards our home.

I heard them long before I could see them. Laurent was wrapped around Emmett, teeth and hands tearing at each other. Emmett tore him off and threw him into the ground, the earth shaking beneath our feet. Jasper leapt into action, distracting Laurent long enough for Emmett to seize him, trapping his arms and leaving him helpless.

It was then that I realised that Bella was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is she?" I demanded. Laurent snarled and Emmett squeezed tighter. Something cracked and Laurent howled.

Stop! His thoughts were filled with agony, James will kill me. Shit, he'll kill me.

"Where is she?" I hissed, grabbing his face and forcing him to look at me.

An image flashed through his mind, James, a dark room, so familiar…

"They're at Forks High. In the gym." I said and Emmett's arms loosened briefly. Laurent was gone in a flash and Jasper leapt after him. I glanced at Emmett.

"Tell the others."

I ran faster than I'd ever run before. The thoughts of the other flashed through my mind and I ignored them.

Why the high school?

We need to get Chief Swan out alive.

She'll be OK. Dammit, she's gotta be OK… That was Emmett and I didn't need Jasper's power to feel the guilt coming off him in waves.

I ignored it. I couldn't comfort him. Not when Bella was gone.

I smelt Jacob before I heard him and we converged less than a mile from the gym. Jacob snarled at me in his wolf form, teeth glinting ferociously.

What the hell, leech? I thought you were gonna keep her safe!

"They were ambushed. Call your pack and gather outside the high school gym. They're holding Bella and Charlie there." I said before running again.

As I reached the building, Alice appeared next to me, the rest of the family just behind her.

Esme will get Bella and Charlie out. The rest of us will fight. Jasper will help you take James, Edward. Carlisle thought at me and I nodded before leaping to the open window, where Laurent's scent was still strong. He must have panicked to have led us straight to them.

I smelt blood and it was strong, hanging in the air like perfume. I saw Bella, James' hand around her throat, holding her back, but his head bent over Charlie's neck. The stench of the blood deepened but I moved towards James, holding my breath, before Victoria and Laurent could even notice my presence and grabbed Bella, flinging her behind me where I knew Esme was waiting to catch her.

Charlie crumpled to the floor, groaning in pain as I collided with James, steel on steel. Jasper moved behind him, forcing him to back away from Charlie.

Sons of bitches! James' vulgar thoughts reached me and I hissed. He lunged at me and I caught his arm, twisting it underneath me until I heard it crack, but not shatter from his body. He slipped from my reach, landing easily but Jasper was on him once more and the venom pounded through my veins as I leapt at him, seizing him by the throat.

"You belong in hell." I spat before twisting his head from his neck. It tore noisily and his eyes widened, teeth still bared.

"Bella!" Alice called desperately and I turned, James' head tumbling to the floor.

Victoria's cold, ruby eyes were fixed on mine, her lips curled into a snarl as they wrapped around Bella's wrist.

Fear crept like an insect up my spine as Bella cried out, the crunching of her bone and sinew easily reaching my ears. The sound made my head spin as Victoria dropped Bella and her thoughts reached me.

Ohh… so sweet… so strong! The ecstasy in her tone stunned me and I was sure that if we had not been there, she would have drained Bella. But she fled and I trusted that my family would take care of her as Carlisle and I ran to Bella. I heard Victoria scream and the sound of vampire flesh being torn apart, the wolves scrabbling to claim their share of the kill.

And I fell back as the beautiful, overpowering scent of Bella reached me as she slumped over her father, shuddering and crying. I choked, venom filling my mouth and Carlisle glanced at me before moving forward.

Don't force yourself. Get Jasper out of here as well.

"Jasper, go." I said hoarsely and bit back a moan as the smell washed over me again, so pungent and sweet that I could almost taste it.

"Edward, I'm sorry… I'm so sorry." Alice gasped and she fled, following Jasper. Emmett and Rosalie hung back, by the now open door with Esme, trying to get away from the temptation of Bella's scent.

"Charlie. You have to help Charlie." I heard Bella's plea and I stopped breathing, my eyes fixed on her.

"There isn't time, Bella. The others have to go, they can't be around your essence and the blood is too much. I only have time to help one of you and Charlie is-"

"Save him." Her whisper cut into my chest and I swallowed the venom, trying to force myself to her side.

Carlisle's eyes met mine before he looked back at her, his expression torn between pleading and resignation.

"Save him, Carlisle. Please. Save him…" Her words were so faint and before I could make a decision, she fell to her side and she cried out in agony, her eyes fluttering closed as Carlisle made his choice.

He lowered his mouth to Charlie's neck and began to drink, sucking the blood and venom out as quickly as possible.

"No!" I shouted, "Carlisle, save her!"

He ignored me, still drinking and then he paused, listening to the thudding of Charlie's heart before stooping to drink again, keeping going until the venom was gone from his bloodstream.

I knelt beside Bella. She didn't react, her eyes closed and she was completely still. I pulled her onto my knees, pushing the hair out of her face. She didn't react and as Carlisle lifted his head, pressing his rolled up jacket to Charlie's neck to stem the blood flow he finally looked at me.

"Edward, you won't be able to stop." He said, his normally golden eyes now a shining scarlet.

"I won't let her go." I gasped, the venom already filling my mouth. "I can't lose her, Carlisle."

"Edward-"

"I won't lose her!" The words shouted of me as I cradled Bella to my chest, her injured wrist lying across her chest. She was so still…

"I have to get Charlie to the hospital now or he'll die. The others can't take him, they're not accustomed to the blood." He pleaded with me. I can't save them both.

I closed my eyes and looked at Bella, tracing her cheekbone with a trembling finger. God only knew what the venom was doing to her. Carlisle's experiments have never given any proven results.

What was going to happen to her?

My heart was screaming, strained, there was a hole in my chest like a raw wound, bleeding and sore as she was torn away from me. I knew what my life would be without her and I would not let it happen. I would save her or I would die. There was no point in going on now that I knew what I could have.

I swallowed the venom in my mouth again and lifted Bella's wrist to my mouth but as soon as her essence touched my lips I felt my face wrenched up by Alice who was holding her breath and her eyes met mine.

No, Edward! You won't stop! You'll destroy her!

She choked and fell back, clamping her hand over her mouth.

I looked down at Bella's still form and tore my sleeve from my shirt, wrapping it around the bleeding wound before bending and pressing my mouth to her forehead.

"Don't leave me, Bella." I whispered, a sob choking through my words, "Please… Bella, please don't leave me…"

I smelt Jacob's approach and looked up. He was wearing torn pants and was staring at Bella's limp form, eyes wide with fear and anger.

"Bella…?" His voice was so soft and he looked at me like a frightened child, so young when faced with death, "Is she…?"

"I don't know." I murmured and he knelt beside me, touching her shoulder tentatively. I resisted the urge to swipe at him, to drive him away.

Because he loved her too.

Jacob's eyes met mine and he frowned, tensing suddenly.

"Is she going to change into one of you?"

"I don't know," I said again, "She's not… I don't know what will happen." If she would even survive this…

"I need to take her home. I don't know what's going to happen, but I need to take her somewhere safe." I stood, cradling her close. Jacob stood too, looking down at me and then her, still with that little-lost-boy expression.

Bella…

She lay on my bed, perfectly still, corpse-like. If she'd been alive, at least I might have been able to hear heart, see her chest rise and fall, understand what was happening to her. But this utter stillness terrified me.

Was anything changing? I couldn't sense a change, no difference to her appearance or scent. There was no sign of what might happen.

I sat in the chair by the bed, watching, waiting. The others were cleaning the gym. Carlisle had reasoned with the wolves to take Charlie to hospital, knowing it would be less suspicious if one of them took him in, saying there had been an accident.

Jacob was with the pack, although I had seen in his thoughts that he would be coming back to check on Bella. I couldn't stop him, not even sure that I should, given his devotion to Bella.

Alice approached and rested her hand on my shoulder, offering comfort that didn't help.

"Anything?" I whispered and she shook her head.

"No. I can't see her." She murmured, "The smell is much weaker though."

I hadn't noticed but now she pointed it out to me, I realised that she was right. The scent of Bella's essence had faded noticeably. I'd assumed that it was because I had been so close to it for a while, but I pulled the torn sleeve away from Bella's wrist and saw that the bite wound had closed, leaving a dark pink mark in its place, not like the silvery marks that scarred Jasper's skin.

I looked at Alice in shock and she stared back at me before calling Carlisle's name. He was with us in a couple of seconds and lifted Bella's wrist, running his fingers over the mark.

"She's healing." He murmured.

"Is it the venom?" Alice asked and Carlisle sighed.

"I don't know. The experiments… I never successfully studied the effects of venom on Bella's DNA. When I added the venom to the essence, I couldn't make much sense of the results. I never finished the study."

I wrapped my fingers around Bella's hand and closed my eyes, pressing my lips to her fingers. Carlisle slipped from the room and Alice curled up on the bed next to Bella, holding Bella's other hand. I blocked out my sister's thoughts and did something that I had not done since I had become a vampire.

I prayed.

A/N: Hello, my cherubs. I know, no answers yet but I promise they will be there next chapter, which will be posted in about two weeks, due to my having a 5000 word assignment due next week!

Science and Faith – Lots of reasons for this one, stretching back over Edward and Bella's relationship, their two worlds meeting and now Edward's turning to faith to bring her back, where Carlisle's 'science' has failed to give him answers.

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Lots of Love

Katie