I waited with bated breath, hoping for the man that would answer the phone and not anyone else. For some reason, his behavior back in Alaska somehow gave me some comfort. His being seemed to scream 'leader!' in my mind. I closed my eyes as I listened to the third ring.
"Hello, Denali residence," a man answered the phone.
I lost my voice as relief filled me, and couldn't think. I stared blankly out into the star-reflected ocean, wondering how to greet the vampire. I let out a guttural sound, trying to say hi and felt embarrassment growing in me, wishing I could die on the spot.
"...Bella?" he asked. I made a sound of affirmative in my voice, not trusting myself to speak at the moment, wincing at my reaction. "Are you all right?" he asked, sounding worried. Another affirmative sound emitted from my throat, thinking that I could bury myself into the sand and never back come out for a few hundred years. Maybe I could... It was possible, except for my thirst.
"Where are you?" he asked, getting a little unnerved by my responses.
"Ha-Hawaii," I replied lamely.
"So they didn't get you," he stated, sounding a little relieved. "Can you come back to Alaska?"
"Umm..." I started, wondering which direction was Alaska. Then I thought about the two vampires on my trail and felt a little uneasy. "I don't know how long it will take me to come back there, or how or what direction to go in... or if they are still hanging around."
"We checked for them," Eleazar said, "they left Alaska a few days after you disappeared into the ocean. You did escape to the ocean, right?"
I let out another affirmative sound, and bit the bottom of my lip in thought, wondering if I should go straight back to Alaska. Who knew if the two would be getting back up and come back to Denali's house?
"Can you just tell me where I can find the Cullens?" I asked, not wanting to bring the danger to them if I could help it.
A long pause.
"You will have to go through different people," he said slowly, "like a scavenger hunt. They will tell you where to go next. They have to be... constantly on the move because of Demetri, none of them are together because of him," he explained.
"Who's Demetri?" I demanded, hating the thought of anyone chasing my potential family.
"He's one of the guard of the Volturi, and his ability is, once he knows a person's mind, he can track him or her anywhere in the world without fail," Eleazar went on.
"Damn," I cursed, wishing I could just meet all of them in one place. Then I remembered the one thing that had confused and befuddled me ever since I came back to Forks.
"Why isn't Alice coming for me? What's stopping her? Can't she see me anymore?" I asked, almost afraid of the answer.
Eleazar let out a long sigh and took a moment to himself, sending all sorts of fears through my mind.
"What is it, Eleazar?" I asked anxiously.
"She's... held as a prisoner by Volturi."
My mind went blank for a moment, wrapping my mind around what my ears heard, but could not make sense of it.
Alice... a prisoner? Oh god, this... horrible! What... I do? How...? I thought as they became more and more fragmented. Then I remembered what Jacob said, their last known whereabouts was in Eastern Europe. Does this mean... ran into... trouble... me! All for looking and searching for me... why? Why didn't I come out of there... woods sooner?!
"Bella?" he asked, bringing me back into the real world.
"Yes, uh, I'm here, oh god, what do I do?" I asked, babbling like an idiot. I would be short on oxygen if I were still human, hyperventilating. "This is all my fault, I need to save Alice and find the others! What do I do, Eleazar?"
"Calm down, Bella, this is why I wanted you to come back to Alaska so we could talk about this," he said, trying to convince me.
"Eleazar... I don't know, I'm afraid of being trapped or attacked, or something," I said, frowning. "I can trust you, right?"
Eleazar chuckled then said, "We discussed a lot of sensitive information just now and you ask me this question?"
I laughed lightly, "You're right, sorry, I... Alaska... what if they show up with other vampires?"
"Did you think we would have stayed there after you gave away our location? No, we're actually not on the continent anymore."
"So why did you want me to come back to Alaska?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows together.
"To pick you up, so to speak," he replied. "Or, if you prefer, you could stay in Hawaii and we'll get you there. But it might take a week."
"Are you coming in by boat or something?" I asked curiously, feeling better about the idea of not having to swim back to Alaska.
"By boat, yeah," he answered with a chuckle, "so, you want us to get you in Hawaii?"
"Yes please, I don't want to run into them again if I have to," I answered. "So, when do you think you'll be here?"
"About four or five days," Eleazar said, "we'll call you when we are about an hour away and we'll try to come there at night."
"Good idea," I said lightly. "Thanks... uh, I guess, for everything."
"No problem, I hope we can find them again soon."
"Me too, bye Eleazar."
"Bye Bella," he said and hung up. I let out a sigh, looking up at the sky, watching the constellations sweep past.
I could feel it in me that I was going to see them again soon. My legs itched, wanting to do something to find them sooner rather than later. I had to wait here for a few days, and I had no idea if this was a safe place or a thriving place filled with vampires. I stood up on the rock and examined the area, debating on what to do next. I looked at myself, and hated the sight. My clothes had been in the ocean for several days, a week at best, and now it was drying off, the salt was encrusted in places. I closed my eyes, trying to sense how remote this location was and how far away human inhabitation was.
There's a house about three miles away, and I sense a trail that humans use... not very often, I guessed then I opened my eyes and smiled at my fortune. I heard a waterfall about half mile in and took off to use the fresh water to wash my clothes and myself. While I washed the clothes and after my bath in the springs, I watched the skies grow lighter as I thought about my time in the wilderness. This place reminded me too much of my time in Unknown, Canada. The only difference were the plants were much more tropical and more beautiful. This was paradise. I knew I couldn't stay here long, because the trail I had sensed earlier, led to this place.
With a sigh, I grabbed the wet clothes and disappeared into the trees as I sensed a pair of humans coming. Searching for a clearing to dry my clothes, I found the beach again with the rock I had sat on.
The place where I had received the news about Alice.
Alice... I thought, swallowing thickly. I couldn't help but feel that this could have been prevented if I had not been so scared of humans, of myself. So scared of losing my control. If I had come out fifteen years ago... so many what ifs! I tried to put the thoughts to the back of my head as I tenderly set the clothes on the rock and then withdrew into the trees. Who knew what boaters out there would see if they saw something shiny on the beach.
It was until about an hour after noon that the sun finally dried the clothes through. Checking for any stray humans or boats, I grabbed the clothes and put them on. Satisfied, I began exploring the trees, needing to see what sort of large game lived here in case I needed to hunt.
As I searched, I found large hogs, several types of deer, some feral goats and sheep. I sighed, not finding any predators then I remembered the shark's blood. It had tasted too good. I wonder how it will taste if I take it out of the ocean? No salt water then...
Grinning at the idea, I would take clothes off, taking full advantage of my inhuman speed underwater. I would find out just how fast I could go. Night couldn't come any faster now, I was getting antsy, wanting to try this out without worrying about being exposed to humans.
Soon, the sun fell behind the horizon, I waited without another moment, I stripped the clothes away and set it on the rock and dove in. I knew sharks were active around this time of the night, which brought a grin to my face. This was going to be exciting. I experimented with the speeds I could get to underwater, I became ecstatic with what I found. I could swim faster than any of the fish I saw underwater and reacted faster than them. I enjoyed myself underwater, the weightless freedom was amazing, not needing to breathe. I could only imagine that this must be what astronauts must feel in space in their ships, not tethered to a apparatus or a BCD vest with tank on their back.
After a time, I decided it was time to get serious and start hunting. I had seen a few sharks while I explored underwater so they were not uncommon. Several minutes of search later, I found one. I readied myself and attacked. Once I killed it by crushing the gills so it would drown, I began dragging the thrashing shark out of the water and onto the beach, not far from the rock and sat down on another one and began drinking.
I nearly melted at the taste of the blood, enjoying how it quenched my thirst for blood more than land animals ever could. I especially liked it even more without the awful ocean taste that mingled with the blood. There was no going back to the plain old deer or elks. Lions and bears may do if I couldn't be near the ocean. I suddenly remembered another theory why I liked shark so much, they were blood thirsty too, drawn in by things that bled. Like maggots to a dead carcass. I was no different. I let out a moan of pleasure, the monster in me enjoying the taste and content with the shark's blood and not human's for the first time in my existence.
After I drained the ocean predator's blood, I dug six feet in the sand easily and buried the shark. I rinsed myself off in the springs I had found earlier within the forest and laid on the rock to dry before I put the clothes back on. I was not about to get salt on the clothes again. I sighed, almost content for the moment, staring at the nearly cloudless skies. This really was paradise, no one to worry about, nothing to upset my world here.
But nothing could keep me from constantly worrying about Alice. I prayed that she was okay, that she was being treated all right.
Somehow though, in me, I felt uneasy.
Hello readers! Just thought I'd let you all know of a forum I opened. If you are a writer, or not one, but your mind is filled with too many ideas, or need juices flowing, I have a place for you! Prompts, plot bunnies for adoption, challenges, and more. Have a look!