A/N - My apologies for the delay in posting - a bit of RL got in the way! Hugs and kisses to all who have reviewed, added to favorites and alerts, I was thrilled to hit over 100 reviews...it is wonderful having someone show appreciation or even constructive criticsim of your work!
Many thanks and much love as always to my wonderful beta, changedbyEdward for all the encouragement and work she puts into making my stories better! MWAH! If ya get the chance, stop by her profile and read the new one shot she has written, Bring Me to Life - just a jewel! Also, another of her stories, The Letter, has been nominated for a SPARKLE award! Please head over to www(dot)thesparkleawards(dot)webs(dot)com before November 8 to vote for this awesome story!
As always many thanks to S Meyer for creating and sharing these characters - she owns all but I wish I did! Now on to chapter 8!
Chapter 8
(Edward's POV)
I lay on my stomach on the large stone slab far above the city and watched as the lights of Buenos Aires gradually came to life. Twilight. It had always been my favorite time of the day and even more so after I met her. She brought joy into my life, especially late in the night, when we lay together in her bedroom, talking for hours. Before Bella, I had dreaded the dark night that followed dusk – hated the loneliness of it, but then she came into my life and everything changed. And then six months ago everything changed again.
My self-imposed exile from everything I cherished was beginning to take its toll. Thoughts of Bella constantly fought their way into my subconscious even though I wanted them to stay hidden in the dark recesses of my mind. Although it had been nearly a century since my heart had stopped beating – I felt a dull ache in my chest since the day I left her in the forest. I had gone to meet her, prepared for a fight that never came. She believed every word I told her and didn't even try to follow when I said my final goodbye. Perhaps her feelings for me had not been as strong as she or I had believed. I saw the devastation in her eyes but I hoped that she had not suffered for long and that she had moved on with her life. There was no doubt in my mind that Mike or Tyler would have been there to help her forget.
The venom surged into my throat and I crushed to dust the stone I had been tossing from hand to hand. The thought of anyone touching my Bella sickened me and was the main reason I kept fighting the impulse to return to Forks. Although I believed my choice had been what was best for her, it didn't mean I could stand silently by as she moved on with her life. When I told her it would be as if I had never existed, part of me had hoped I would be able to close off that part of my life as well, even though I knew I would never be able to forget her.
I rolled onto my back, clasping my fingers together, and stared into the darkening sky. Thousands of diamonds twinkled at me and I closed my eyes, unwilling to allow them to cheer me. This was a mistake as well, because Bella was waiting for me there. Her mahogany tresses fell softly against her shoulders and her doe-like eyes sparkled at me as a soft pink blush warmed her cheeks. She smiled and beckoned for me to come back to her. I forced my eyes open and pushed her vision away.
She was not my only regret, however. My family was never far from my thoughts and I missed them terribly. I knew they had been trying to track me and truth be told, Emmett and Rose had come very close in their search, but I had avoided them and sensed their defeat, even though they had not been close enough for me to hear their thoughts. I couldn't talk to them. Not yet. I had been avoiding the family's phone calls, e-mails – I just couldn't bring myself to allow contact in the possibility that they would have news about Bella.
I had chosen to do what I believed was best for her. It was the only option to keep her safe. Her life had fallen into peril far too many times in the short time we had been together and I could not bear the thought of another close call or worse. She was so young and I knew that even though she felt she was ready to make the choice of eternity, it would be a mistake that she would grow to resent me for and I could not bear that pain.
My exile to South America had been, for the most part, a failure. Although I had been able to keep my family a safe distance from me, I had hoped that the time away would not only ease the pain of leaving Bella, but that it would be a learning experience as well. I had come to Buenos Aires for a reason – Victoria. Although she never appeared to us, I knew that she remained in Forks until after the prom. I assumed she was waiting for James or Laurent to return to her, but she seemed to disappear fairly quickly once she realized something had happened. I didn't really believe that she would harm Bella; however, I did want to avoid any potential threat. Trying my hand at tracking seemed to be a reasonable solution. My exile would serve two purposes, not only would it distance me from the memories, I would also have the distraction of tracking Victoria to help me cope.
At first, her trail was easy to follow as she made her way down the coast and into Mexico – there were always fresh bodies left in the wake of her passing through, but what concerned me was the pattern that seemed to be forming as I followed her. Her victims always appeared to be young lovers and the kills became more vengeful each time. My fear grew as I began finding only female remains because I knew that she had changed her ways and had begun forming an army of sorts. At first I hoped she had only made a new companion for herself, but my instincts told me it was far worse than that. I followed the remains and her trail all the way down to Buenos Aires and that was where the track had gone cold.
I stretched languidly and jumped off the rock, readying myself for my return to the city. I knew my time in South America was coming to an end, whether I continued my hopeless tracking or bit the bullet and returned to my family. I knew that Bella's memory was etched into my being and would never fade, but I believed that enough time had passed that my family might have been able to move on. Hopefully, their new projects and plans were well underway and would offer me enough distraction to be able to be near them and suffer my lost love's torment in silence.
I returned to the hotel room that I had been living out of for the past few weeks and threw my belongings together quickly, eager to depart now that my mind was set. I knew that it was not going to be an easy return to the fold; there would be many questions that I did not want to answer. Carlisle would perhaps be a buffer for me at first, but I knew that Alice would not let things go. She had been the angriest of all my family members when she realized what I had decided to do and her wrath was not something I cherished encountering, but I missed her pixie laugh more than anything and longed to have that camaraderie again.
I reached for my laptop and pulled up a link to the airline, booking the first available flight from Buenos Aires. I would have a bit of a layover waiting for a connection, but I was just happy to have it set in stone. I moved to close down when I noticed the blinking mail notification in the corner. "Well, you're going to have to face them sometime," I thought as I opened my e-mail account. I had moved anything from the family into a folder, leaving them unopened, but seeing that this came from Carlisle, I inhaled deeply and read his brief e-mail.
It was obvious from the tone of the note that I had hurt him deeply with my silence, yet another item to add to my growing list of regrets. The last time I had left him for this long had been shortly after Esme joined us and things had not gone well for me. But Carlisle, ever the forgiving father, had welcomed me back with open arms, and for that I would always be grateful. I knew this time I could at least return to him with a clear conscience of not taking a human life, but I was still unsure as to whether or not he would be as welcoming as before.
My love affair with a human had not been easy on my family. They had grown attached to Bella in their own way and I knew that Carlisle and Esme had truly hoped she would become one of us. I closed my eyes and stretched out on the bed, fighting the visions of her yet again. I am selfish by nature, but not even that trait could make me curse Bella to this hellish existence. The thought of destroying her soul to have her with me for all eternity was the one temptation that I had to avoid at all costs.
I sat up and stared at the white screen of the e-mail I had left open, wondering how I should respond. There would be no surprising them, as Alice probably had already alerted them that I had finally made up my mind to return to the life of the living, or our interpretation of it.
There were no words I could type that would ease Carlisle's hurt. That could only be resolved with time. I closed the laptop and packed it as well, taking one last sweeping look around the room before leaving. I had a few hours to kill before heading for the airport, but knew that it would be best to hunt before boarding a crowded flight to the States. Satisfied I had everything, I headed out into the night.
(Carlisle's pov)
I held the phone close to my ear and fought the venom that rose to my throat as I listened carefully to the details that were being laid out to me. I glanced once at Esme and she knew instantly that the pleasant moments we had just shared had been destroyed by a simple phone call. She gathered the blankets we had scattered and left the room silently, not wanting to distract me from the caller.
"Carlisle, you can't let her know what's happened," Jacob's deep timbre begged to me through the phone.
"I understand, Jacob, but it isn't something that I will be able to keep from her for very long." I closed my eyes, dreading the discussion that would have to come to pass. "It will only be a matter of time before it's all over the news and I don't want Bella to find out that way."
Jacob's silence at the other end of the line seemed to go on forever. Finally, I heard him sigh. "I know. You're right. I just hate the thought of her having to deal with this after all she's been through." He cleared his throat. "You'll tell her to call me if she needs me?"
I could hear the doubt in his voice. "Yes, Jacob. I will spare her from as much of the pain as I can and of course, I will let her know that she can contact you." I took his grunt as an acknowledgement and closed the connection.
"What is it, Carlisle, what's happened?" Esme had returned to our room, freshly showered and fully clothed. The urgency in her voice told me that she knew that it had been horrible news, even without seeing the dread written all over my face.
I turned slowly to face her. "Charlie is dead."
The words echoed through the room like thunder and I swallowed again at the venom that surged to my throat as I relayed the disturbing news. Esme's body shook with unshed tears as she mourned the loss of Bella's father and the horror of having to deliver this news to Bella She sat in silence as I moved quickly around our room, pulling fresh clothing from the closet and dressing quickly. We had been eager to head to the hospital early to bring Bella back for her weekend with us, but now the thought of facing her was almost too much to bear.
Jacob had delivered the news to me hurriedly, choking back the disgust in his voice as he had given me the gruesome details. Charlie had returned to Forks from Seattle and had gone to the reservation to fill Billy and Jacob in on the improvements in Bella's condition. They had visited for awhile, but Charlie had headed home early, shortly after supper. Soon after his departure, Sam had summoned the pack; several vampires were in the area. At first, they had assumed that it was some of us returning to the house in Forks, but unfortunately that was not the case.
It was Jacob who found him, not far from his deserted cruiser. I cringed as I recalled the hurt in his voice as he described the tortured, beaten body he had discovered. Whoever had done this was out to send a message; there was no doubt in my mind. Charlie had been drained completely and discarded like a finished fast-food meal. What disturbed me more than anything though, was that some of the bite marks on his body had been healed over, which led me to only one conclusion. Whoever had taken Charlie's life had tried to change him first.
Esme stared at me in disbelief as I uttered the last statement. "Who would want to change Charlie Swan?" She shook her head as she moved towards me. "They had to realize what kind of risk they were taking, trying to change such a prominent person in the area?"
"There is only one person that I can think would hold such a grudge to do something like this." I watched the realization cross Esme's face and nodded as she spoke.
"Victoria." She sank into the chair by the fireplace and gripped the arms of the chair so tightly that I feared they would snap. "Oh my God, Carlisle. How are we going to tell Bella?"
I moved quickly to kneel in front of her and pulled her close. "I don't know, my love, but we need to deal with it soon and unfortunately, we are not going to be able to give Bella the sheltered return to real life we had hoped for. We need the family home as soon as possible."
Her butterscotch eyes searched mine, understanding immediately what I was not saying. Victoria was back and she was not going to rest until she had righted the wrong done to her. A mate for a mate. Bella was her conquest and if we were going to stop her, we needed the entire family, a united front. I closed my eyes and prayed to a God who I could only hope had not forsaken us, begging for the safe return of all of my family and begging for guidance in the task that lay ahead.
End of chapter - reviews just might make my writing speed increase! :o)
