Edward
I looked at Jacob Black and stared back. Then the images hit me. I saw Bella on the forest floor cold, alone, and empty. Sam Uley had carried her back to Charlie on the day I had left her. I heard Charlie talking to Billy Black.
"She doesn't do anything. She doesn't eat and when she sleeps she screams at her nightmares. Renee came down to try and get her to go to Florida and she threw a fit. She's waiting for that rotten Cullen boy."
Jacob continued to stare and I saw Bella clutching at her sides in pain like she was trying to hold herself together. I saw Victoria hovering over Bella's broken bloody body as Jacob had come upon them. I heard Bella screaming about the fire. Her legs were twisted at unnatural angles, obviously broken. Blood ran down her head from her temple. She stopped screaming but still writhed in pain. Jacob had sat with her. His pack had come back and wanted to kill her before she became a vampire. Jacob had fought for her. He had heard her heart stop beating and seen her open her bright red eyes. She had sprung up to a crouch to protect herself. She looked so lost and alone. Jacob had hugged her goodbye and that was the last he had seen of her until a few days ago.
"Edward, what's wrong?" Bella's voice barely registered. "Jake, what are you doing?"
"Showing him how badly he screwed up. He doesn't deserve you."
"Stop it Jake!" Bella was trying to save me pain?
"Fine."
You don't deserve her. You left and because of you she is worse than dead, she's one of you. I would kill you myself, treaty be damned, if it wouldn't upset her. Now you know what you've done bloodsucker.
"I'm so sorry Bella. He's right, I don't deserve you." I meant every word.
"Edward, what is going on?" Bella was worried about me?
"He showed me what happened after I left. I had no idea you were so very emotionless. I'm so sorry. How have you forgiven me after what you went through especially with Victoria?"
"What did he show you?"
"He showed me your last human moments as he saw them. You were so… so broken. I left you alone and you were tortured. She nearly killed you. I owe Jacob and the wolves my life. What I wouldn't do to go back and change what happened. I never truly appreciated it until now."
"I'm sorry you had to see that Edward."
Bella was sorry. What on earth did Bella have to be sorry about? She was sorry that I had abandoned her? She was sorry that I had to see the consequences of my actions? She was sorry that I had had to see her broken and bloody and nearly murdered?
I couldn't speak. No one had ever hated themselves more than I did. She had forgiven me after what had happened to her because of me. How was that even possible? I closed my eyes and put my head in my hands. I saw all of the images again and again. How could I fix it? I couldn't fix it. I had to sit with the knowledge that I had committed the worst crimes ever known to this earth and she had forgiven me. She was amazing and perfect and I didn't deserve any of it. I had already known that, but now it was so glaringly obvious.
I heard Alice's mind in the house. I grabbed Bella's hand even though I knew that I didn't deserve to touch her. Alice saw the Volturie. They were coming to sort things out in Seattle. Could my life get any worse? She saw them coming to forks. I swore loudly. Apparently it could get worse.
"What is going on Alice?" Jasper asked her.
"The Volturie are coming to deal with the situation in Seattle."
"Shit." I heard Bella swear.
If the Volturie found out about Alice or Bella and their unique talents our family was going to be obliterated. Alice and Bella could either join the Volturie or die trying to stay with us. I hoped the Volturie would kill me before they took Bella. I couldn't even think about living without her.
"When Alice?" I wondered how much time I had left before they killed me.
"A few weeks tops." A few weeks was all the time I had left to make up to Bella what I had done.
"We have to disappear." Bella said. "If Aro touches any of us he will know about Alice and my talents. He won't leave us in peace. Like Elezear said, he's a collector."
"We can take them."
"Emmett, don't be ridiculous. We can't fight the entire guard by ourselves." Rosalie was afraid and still managed to be condescending.
"There is no disappearing from the Volturie." I said wearily. "They have the best tracker I've ever heard of, Demetri."
"Alright everyone don't panic. We will stay together." Esme was sad but fierce.
"Alice, Come with me." Bella motioned toward the back door and they walked out.
Everyone was silent, unable to process the news. I heard the widgeon start up and take off. Apparently Bella had processed and was taking Alice out of harms way with her. I wished them the best. Bella didn't even owe me an explanation. I listened to the plane fly away with my other and much better half on board.
"We have to warn the wolves." Carlisle was thinking out loud. "There is going to be a serious vampire invasion and they need to stay out of it."
"They never will." I said. "They have to protect their land and their people."
"What are Bella and Alice doing?" Everyone echoed this thought.
"They're running." Rosalie said disdainfully.
"They're coming back. They will come back." Esme had false hope.
"They're saving themselves, wouldn't you?" I said.
Everyone was silent but their thoughts screamed. No. I would never leave my family. It was the general consensus. I, however, could not blame Bella for leaving. I didn't deserve her. Maybe she would find another life in which she would be treated like she deserved.
"We have to get rid of the newborns." Carlisle didn't like the idea of killing, but what options did we have.
I couldn't take the accusatory thoughts that were in Bella's direction so I ran. I ran to the mountains and then I ran back to the meadow. It had used to be my meadow and it had become Bella's meadow. I sat down on the damp grass and wished that I could cry. I don't know how long I stayed there ruminating on what I had done and what was to come.
Carlisle came looking for me. I heard him coming but I didn't move.
"We are all worried about you Edward." What happened to make you this withdrawn?
"Jacob Black showed me the true consequences of what I did."
You did what you thought was best for her. No one can ask more of you.
"I saw his memories of her after I left. Sam Uley found her lost and alone in laying on the forest floor the day I left her. She was repeating the words 'He's Gone'. Whenever she thought about me she held her arms tight around herself as if to hold together the pieces."
Bella was not a normal human. She loves you.
"She shouldn't. I saw Jacob's memories of Bella's last human moments. She was broken and bleeding in this meadow. Victoria bit her and then sat back to watch her burn."
There is no way you could have known that Victoria would attack Bella.
"I lied to her, the blackest blasphemy imaginable. I told her that I didn't want her anymore, that I didn't love her. She still doesn't trust me. She never told me any of the things that Jacob showed me today."
She knows you son. She knows you would blame yourself and she didn't want that for you.
"I would love to believe that you are right Carlisle."
She left to save us Edward. She and Alice are paying a great price for our safety.
"I should be paying the price to keep her safe. I owe her my life. I will never be able to repay what I stole from her."
All she wants is your love Edward. That is all she ever wanted. She wanted to be with you forever. Give her what she wants. This trouble shall pass and you will be together again. Love her to the best of your ability Edward, that is all she wants.
"That is all I want."
Bella
"They can't keep hunting in Seattle. They are going to expose us all." I fumed.
"Can you make them vegetarian?" Alice was focusing on our futures, mainly hers because mine was so hazy.
"Good idea."
"We have to get them out of the city." I said. "How the hell do we get them out without leaving a trail of blood behind us?"
"The Volturie are waiting for more deaths in Seattle."
"Perfect! If we can stop the killings maybe they won't come at all."
"I wouldn't get your hopes up Bella."
"I know. A girl can dream."
I missed Edward and I had only been away from him for a few days. I hoped that he wasn't still feeling guilty because of Jacob. He of course probably was, damn werewolf. These newborns were strong like they all were but they needed training. First they needed to be shown what they were now capable of.
Alice was going to steal a city bus in the dead of night to haul all of our newborns out into the middle of nowhere. I stayed in the warehouse babysitting. In typical newborn fashion they tried to fight with each other. I had a zero tolerance policy for killing each other.
Gena was depressed and thirsty. I couldn't let her outside the warehouse, just like the rest of them. They couldn't control themselves. She wanted to go see her family but I told her she would most likely kill them if she saw them. She had lunged at me in a temper and I had stepped aside while she dented the cement wall.
"I didn't change you Gena. You already took care of that problem."
"I'm so thirsty!"
"All in time Gena. Alice will be back any minute."
A loud engine revved outside the back doors. Alice had the lights turned off on the bus and was waiting impatiently.
"O.K people, if any of you try to bolt I might be inclined to kill you, got it?"
No one answered but they all filed obediently onto the bus in the dark. We had about twenty newborns that I had persuaded to stay with us. It wasn't like they really had a choice. Not when I needed them to save my family. If Alice disapproved she didn't say anything. I knew that Carlisle and Edward would disapprove, but I would deal with that later, if I ever saw them again.
"Have you any idea how much trouble it takes to break into a city bus barn?" Alice was tiny sitting at the giant wheel of the bus.
She watched the newborns warily, she didn't trust them any more than I did. My years of experience had taught me how volatile a new vampire could be, especially when they were thirsty.
At this point all of the newborns were thirsty. Gena was the worst because she had never hunted since the change. I would have Alice take her first to hunt before she did something that blew our cover. Alice had scouted out a place way outside of anything. It was a mansion by a lake surrounded by wilderness. It smelled as though the humans hadn't been there in months. Obviously it was a summer home for someone obscenely rich.
"Alice stop pouting."
"This bus is so slow!"
"Well, we can't always be driving yellow porches." She grinned and pushed the speed up to the ancient buses maximum.
We reached the mansion in a day on the ancient bus. It was huge built like a lodge with stone and wood paneling. I disabled the alarm and was glad there were a few televisions and computers and stereos to keep them entertained while we weren't training, which wouldn't be much down time.
"Attention!" My voice rang out to every corner of the expansive mansion.
The newborns met me in the atrium. They were all uncomfortably thirsty as was I. Mine and Alice's eyes were black rather than their usual gold. Of course Alice and I controlled our thirst much better than the new vampires who were a few weeks old at the eldest.
"We are going hunting. There shouldn't be a human within miles of this place. You have to hunt animals. They won't smell very good but they will make you strong. If any of you run off the Volturie will most likely find you and kill you. Alice and I are your best chance at survival.
They scattered as soon as I was finished talking. I followed them out and started running. I had been penned up babysitting in that damn warehouse for days now and the wind rushing past me was wonderful. I killed a mountain lion and felt instantly stronger. I felt myself being pulled toward Forks, toward Edward.
Edward must be going crazy not knowing where Alice and I were. We could be dead and he wouldn't know. I hoped that he believed in me enough to trust me to do what was best. The way Alice and I left most likely made everyone believe that we had deserted them. That thought made me sad. I couldn't think about that now. I had newborns to train and a battle to win with the worst enemy I had ever faced. I wished I had Nathan and Darius to help me, but I had made sure they didn't even remember I had existed.
I made a decision out there in the forest. Alice and I couldn't deal with twenty new vampires ourselves. We needed someone with experience. I just hoped the Darius and Nathan hadn't been killed when the Volturie had cleaned up the mess of the second southern wars.
"Alice, I'm going south. I need you to wrangle the troops for a few days."
"Where the hell are you going Bella?"
"I'm going to find some experts."
"Without you there is no way they are going to stick around."
"Attention!" They gathered in the atrium.
"Alice is in charge. Do as she says." My voice was oily and smooth effortlessly now with all the practice I had been getting.
Alice handed me a small black cell phone.
"I picked them up in Seattle they're prepaid. I'm the first speed dial."
"Perfect. I'll call you when I know something."
