Chapter Twenty Four
Emmett
It felt odd having a human girl so close and the scent of her blood made my mouth water but she was safe enough. I'd been on a diet of animal blood for a long time now and I knew Rosie would never forgive me if I slipped, especially not right now. I wondered about the guy who'd turned up to help Garrett. It was just as well he had because we wouldn't have been in time to save him or the girl. He'd single-handedly taken on a pack of wolves, was he crazy? I'd never heard of him and when I asked Rosie she just shook her head. Bella had passed out and I just hoped it was nothing serious because the idea of this had been to save her not recover her body.
Once in the truck Rose took over while I checked Garrett was healing. He was but much too slowly, venom still leaking from his wounds as they struggled to fuse without blood.
"Emmett you need to get me out of here, I'm not going to be able to control myself much longer, Bella's blood smells too good"
Rose threw him a look,
"You heard him Em, find some shelter in the trees. As soon as Carlisle gets back we'll find some one for Garrett."
He and I got back out into the sheeting rain and made for the shelter of the trees, not that the rain bothered us but it made conversation almost impossible and I was keen to find out what had happened and why the Quileute wolves were out for a spot of vampire chow, human too thinking about it.
Bella
I felt myself picked up gently and stripped of my dirty and soaking clothes and thought I should probably feel embarrassed but I didn't have the strength and I was grateful when I felt a thick heavy rug wrapped around me but the hands doing the wrapping were cold, just like Garrett's yet I knew this wasn't him, nor did it feel like the guy who had saved me in the cave. This vampire wore expensive perfume that still smelled after she'd been out in the rain for a long time. I opened my eyes slowly and recognised Rosalie Hale.
"Thank you"
She smiled at me gently,
"You're safe now Bella. Carlisle will be here soon and he'll check you over so you'd better keep still until then or I'll be the one getting told off. Do you remember what happened?"
I thought about nodding my head but remembered the last time so I croaked out a soft
"Yes. We crashed and then its all a bit foggy until I was in the cave with...Garrett!"
I struggled uselessly against her arm trying to sit up,
"Where's Garrett? Is he OK? I heard a fight."
"Garrett is fine. Emmett's with him"
"He's thirsty."
I knew I'd shocked Rosalie by acknowledging I knew what Garrett was but I couldn't play games I was just too exhausted.
"Did he tell you?"
"Yes once we were trapped, I was bleeding and it made him uncomfortable."
"Didn't that scare you? Knowing you were trapped with a thirsty blood drinking vampire?"
"I guess if you put it like that it should have but no...I trusted him to do his best to avoid the temptation. Who was it?"
"Trying to kill you? The wolves."
"Wolves? But I thought it was people, I thought I heard footsteps and voices."
"You did Bella. Vampires exist and so do shape shifters. The Quileutes are a tribe of wolf guardians."
"What do they guard?"
"The tribe, against vampires."
"So why were they out here? Their lands don't stretch this far do they?"
"No, and Garrett was no threat to them, interesting isn't it?"
I didn't understand and my head hurt too much to try making sense of her words so I changed subject.
"Emmett carried me back?"
"Yes."
"But he couldn't have climbed that shaft to get me down he's too big...unless he turns into a bat or something, but it was definitely an arm I felt around me so did Dr Cullen come for me?"
"No, that was our man of mystery. No idea who he is but its good for you he appeared when he did or you would be dead, along with Garrett."
Emmett
I told Garrett what we'd seen and done then he filled me in on what happened after he and Bella set off from the airport.
"I think I freaked her out Emmett, I'm not good at this meeting and talking to girls thing."
"You did OK at the Halloween party."
"Yeah but it went down hill after that. I have to admit I wanted to see her again so I followed her to Jacksonville but I didn't know how to let her know I was there and when I did finally get my act together it was the day her mother got remarried. We chatted and I left her a box of candy."
"Candy? Well that's innocent enough."
"Not when you break in to leave it on her bed and then she wants to know how you did it."
"Busted man!"
"Yes, she wasn't very happy about that and when she saw me at the airport she didn't look very happy either. I virtually had to beg her to let me drive her to Forks."
"But she went with you"
"Only because there was no alternative Emmett. I think she started to mellow on the drive, at least until the wolves ran the car off the road. She was bleeding Emmett and I really thought I was going to attack, it was so hard."
"But you resisted. You did well man, and she lives to tell the tale. Now you look like a white knight riding in to rescue the lady."
"I got half eaten by the wolves, how is that gallant Emmett? Anyway who did save the day?"
"A guy we've never met, called himself Jasper I think. He killed the wolf eating you and got Bella out of the cave. Maybe next time you should try something a little less dramatic, a bunch of flowers and a picnic maybe?"
"Em, I need blood. I have to go hunt, will you help me?"
I hated the thought of hunting humans, it was always a temptation but I could hardly refuse to help a friend who was injured,
"Sure, you stay here, I'll go tell Rose. We'll meet them at the house later. I guess the wolves have finished for now, with three dead, one injured, and one high tailing it for home they must be low on reserves."
"I hope you're right Em. Maybe we should hang around until Carlisle gets back."
"You look like shit man, you need to hunt soon, you're still losing venom. They'll be fine, Rose can handle herself."
I left him propped against a tree and explained the situation to Rose who to my amazement was chatting quite happily to Bella when I turned up.
"Carlisle will be here soon. Garrett needs to feed so I'm going to help him. We'll meet you back at the house in a few hours."
Rose scanned the rain fogged trees and nodded,
"Be careful you two, there might be an injured wolf out there remember."
"We will, take care of Bella and I'll take care of Garrett."
Bella looked at me through confused eyes and smiled,
"Thank you Emmett, for helping me"
"It's OK, you haven't got my bill yet. See you later."