Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.
Chapter 72 Complications
BPOV
"You have to eat something, and drink. You're pregnant," Bree fussed. She had warmed up soup and made a sandwich for me along with a large glass of coke. I sat at the table with her and drank the coke, grateful for the liquid and the sugar. She poured me another.
"You know, soda isn't good for the baby, or for you. It has way too much salt in it," she kept going on, seemingly oblivious to our predicament. I shouldn't be so critical . . . everyone has a different way of coping with extreme conditions, and maybe this was hers. I drank too much coke too fast, and I started to shiver.
"Here, let me start some heat for you if you're cold," she offered, getting up and going over to the fireplace. She lit a match that she took from the mantle and turned a key, holding the match to the logs in the fireplace. Instantly there was what appeared to be a full fireplace of logs burning brightly. The heat from them did feel good as I walked over to them, noticing that they were gas logs and no trace of real wood was burning. It looked like a real wood burning fireplace that had the gas installed as an after thought. What a waste, not using real logs. There was no crackle and no smell of wood burning.
"Bree, is there any trace of a phone line in here?" I asked her.
"No. The guy, Riley pulled them all out of the wall when he first brought me down here. He laughed and threatened to pull the cable cord, but he left it so that the TV stayed on. Guess he thought it might occupy my time," she told me.
I sat back down to finish the soup that she had heated, wracking my brain to think of ways to get a signal or a message to Edward.
We washed the dishes, I have no idea why we would do such a thing. Who cared if we dirtied up our prison, but it seemed like the normal thing to do after a meal, and anything normal right now helped.
Bree boiled water and brewed us a pot of tea. After the tea was poured into cups, she looked at me and giggled, "Let's go sit and watch the eleven o'clock news and see if we have been found yet." Obviously, she had no clue just how much mortal danger she was in, and how dim the prospect of her ever getting away actually was . . . but I did.
I awoke to laughter. Maniacal, surreal laughter, as though I had woken in the middle of a nightmare . . . and I suppose I had.
"Sleeping in, pet?" Victoria asked me as she stood with her arms crossed in front of the sofa where I had fallen asleep. "Here," she spat, throwing a packet of band-aids at me, "cover that cut on her head before Riley comes down here and insists on having her for breakfast."
She was gone in an instant. Her speed didn't surprise me, but it startled Bree.
"Where did she go? Was I dreaming or was that red head just standing there throwing band-aids at you?" she asked, somewhat startled.
"No, you weren't dreaming. She was here, and even though I hate the idea of doing anything she asks, covering the wound on your head is in our best interest. Come on, help me up," I said. She rose easily and grabbed my right hand, lifting me from the elbow to help me get on my feet and then following me into the bathroom. Victoria had given me the waterproof type of band-aid that completely seals wounds and makes them watertight, airtight too, I supposed. The smell of her blood oozing was probably grating on the already strained willpower of the vampires upstairs.
Bree set about finding food for breakfast as I continued to search for chinks in the armor of our confinement. There were none . . . yet. I needed the use of my other arm. I remembered, back almost two years ago when I had first met Edward in school, I fell in gym and hurt my shoulder. Popped it out of the socket he had said. He put it back in for me. If I could just remember . . .
He held it at a certain point, put pressure pressing the shoulder straight in towards my neck, and moved the joint . . . up I think. Let's see. I went into the bedroom and leaned against the wall with my shoulder as hard as I could with my arm down. Once I was pressing. I lifted it ninety degrees and . . ."Shit!" I yelled.
"Bella, what's wrong?" Bree asked as she ran into the room.
"I need your help. I can't press against the wall and lift the arm correctly at the same time. Let me get here, in the hallway and lean on the wall so that I can push against the other wall with my other arm. Maybe if I press harder it will work," I said, almost to myself.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked, looking lost.
"Stand in front of me and hold my left arm at the elbow. When I tell you to, lift it till it's level with your shoulder, okay? Don't stop if I yell, just do it," I instructed, "Can you do that for me, Bree?"
"What is it you're trying to do?" she asked as she grabbed my elbow to comply.
"I'm trying to pop my shoulder back into the socket. Okay," I said as I leaned against the wall and pressed myself even harder against it with my good arm, using the opposite wall to push from, "Lift!"
"I stifled myself to keep from screaming as I felt the joint go back into place, feeling immediately returning to the numb arm . . . unfortunately. With the feeling came pain, but it was short lived and the shoulder actually seemed absolutely fine, just a little sore and stiff. Guess Edward knew what he was doing, after all, I mused.
The day passed agonizingly slowly with no more visits from Victoria or Riley until mid afternoon.
Victoria appeared at the foot of the stairs out of no where. Apparently human speed wasn't something she practiced at all. She walked over to where I was seated at the kitchen table and handed me my cell phone.
"Call your husband. You have five minutes," she said as she disappeared back up the stairs.
"Bree just looked at me, like she couldn't believe it. We're saved? Call the police!" she insisted.
"And tell them what, Bree. We have no idea where we are. Trust me, my husband is the best chance we have of getting out of here," I said as I pressed the button for Edward. Bree apparently thought we weren't being monitored . . . I knew better. I was all too familiar with vampire hearing.
"Edward," I almost sighed as I spoke his name. I knew he would be on the other end of the phone.
"Sweetheart, are you hurt?" he asked quietly.
"No, not really anyway. I have no idea where I am except that it appears to be a basement, there are no windows, Edward. Two bedrooms, a bath, kitchen, living room and a fireplace . . . but no windows. The only door upstairs is guarded by Victoria, and I assume Riley. There is another girl, Bree. Edward, they kidnapped her from Clemson on Saturday afternoon," I quickly gave him all the information that I had.
"Sweetheart, it may be close to time to deliver Masen . . . talk to him. Explain what's happening. he'll understand you, Bella. He'll help to do whatever he can. Please talk to him. I love you," he said just as quietly.
"Edward, I love you more than anything. Promise me something . . ."
"Anything," he replied without a moment's hesitation.
"Promise me that if Masen survives, you'll stay with him. You'll stick around and be his Dad. Edward promise me that you won't go to Italy or anything else if Masen lives. I have to know that he'll at least have his Dad. Promise me," I pleaded with him.
"Bella, I . . . .," he choked, I could hear him crying.
"Edward Cullen. Promise me," I demanded, tears streaming down my cheeks as I spoke with the weight of what I was saying.
"I promise. It won't come to that, though. We'll find you. She wants money as ransom, Bella. She says she will let you go for money," he told me. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. A vampire, hell bent on revenge was now willing to settle for money? Never happen. She might want the money, but she would kill me as well for revenge.
"Bella. Explain what I just told you to Masen. Trust me. Explain it several different ways, like you were talking to me trying to reason out the ifs and whys. I can't explain further," he pleaded.
"I will, sweetheart. I miss you. I hate sleeping without you. I love you, Edward. I forgive you for all the things you think you did wrong, because you didn't. Everything that happened brought us together, allowed us to be together completely. I'll always love you," I told him.
"I'll always love only you, Bella. Only you."
It was the last thing he said before she took the phone from my hand and went back upstairs.
~oooOooo~
Jasper POV
. . . eliminate possibilities . . . narrow the search area . . .
I hated to intrude on their privacy, but I had to know exactly what she told him. I hoped it would help us find her, and I was right.
"Edward, the basement that Bella described. I'm accessing the planning department for the two counties that the hundred mile search area is in. Finished basements are included on the Tax Commissioners files, along with floor plans. It may take some time to go through them, but it gives us something to go on," I told him excitedly. I immediately killed the screen tracing the locations of all Volvos in the area and accessed the Tax files for the counties.
"Can you find that on line, Jasper," Edward asked impatiently.
"Yes!" I exclaimed as I pulled one county's files up for me to go through. Unfortunately, the second county did not have their files open to on line access, and we would have to be at the courthouse when they opened at eight am tomorrow. We could do that.
"What about the call, could you trace the call, Jasper?" my brother asked, his eyes hopeful.
"No. No trace on the call. I needed another couple of minutes and apparently Victoria is aware of the time involved. She must know that we have that capability," I added.
Alice's arms were around Edward, comforting her brother, "I can draw the space she is in, Edward, square footage and all. It will help us find the house using tax records. We'll find her. Just remember, when Victoria calls back, tell her seventy two hours and make her let Bella call you three times a day. Morning, noon and night. Maybe she'll slip up on the time she allows her. It will only take one slip for us to find her."
Edward did as Alice suggested. When Victoria called moments later, he told her that he would get the money. He said he had to wait for the transaction to settle in the market, and that the funds would be available as soon as the bank opened Friday morning. Victoria was livid. Apparently she hadn't planned on waiting that long. He also gave her two conditions that went with getting the money for her. He had to talk to Bella every eight hours, starting at eleven o'clock tonight, and he had to hear from her that she was warm and not going without food and water.
He got his way. After lots of foul language and screaming . . . she agreed.
Alice and I quickly updated everyone about what was happening. They continued their jobs of searching the areas and Alice, Edward and I got to work on the computers, checking to find the right damned house where she was being held.
. . . eliminate possibilities . . . narrow the search area . . .
The weather forecast was calling for a winter storm tomorrow. According to them, it would be the likes of which the town of Highlands hadn't seen in years, dumping more than a foot of snow on the ground.
Though our house was equipped with a generator, it was nothing to compare to Edward's house. Our house would have the capability of running the TV and computer in the event of a power outage. That's all we would need - the TV for Emmett, and my computer but Edward . . . well Edward was prepared for anything. With Bella being human and him not knowing how long she would remain human, he had prepared for everything. His house had been built with state of the art switching devices and a generator that would come on automatically in case of a power outage, running the house as though the power were still on. Heat and air conditioning along with the refrigerator and all electric everything would continue to work normally.
"Edward, there's a storm coming. Predictions are for more than a foot of snow. One of us needs to check on the amount of gasoline you have stored and we also need food for the humans," I reminded him. He left the library, returning instantly to inform me that he would make a quick run to the store, allowing Alice and I to continue searching. We were faster on the computers, and he knew it.
~oooOooo~
EPOV 26 hours
"I'll be right back," I said to Emily and Sue as they sat, waiting for the news report to come on.
"Edward, where are you going?" Sue asked.
"Sue, there is a winter storm coming and I need to pick up supplies for the generator and fill the refrigerator," I told her.
"You're leaving to get supplies to insure the well being of the humans?" she asked incredulously.
"Sue. We are going to find Bella. She'll need food and to be kept warm, and we need the computers running to make that happen. All those things require electricity and we need gas for the generator. I'll be right back," I told her.
"I'm coming with you," she said, grabbing her coat from the rack by the door. Somehow the way she said it left no room for arguments.
We headed out the door to the garage and my fingers stroked across the hood of Bella's R8. I chuckled to myself and Sue looked at me for an explanation. "I was just thinking I couldn't bring much gasoline back in this," I chuckled and she smiled in agreement.
"No, it isn't as if this is a practical car, Edward. Beautiful, but not practical," Sue said, smiling with me.
"Well, since my car was crushed and I don't even know where Rosalie had it towed to. I suppose I'll need to borrow Jacob's truck and hope he doesn't mind," I told her.
Sue scoffed, " . . . as though Jacob would ever mind you borrowing the truck that you gave him, Edward!"
"Hold on and fasten your seat belt, Sue. Bella used to always yell at me for driving too fast, and I suppose you will too," I smiled at the thought. We got down the mountain in no time and pulled into the Walmart parking lot in Clayton, Georgia. It was less than twenty miles but all of it extremely winding mountain roads, and almost all downhill from the cabin. It took less than twenty minutes to arrive, and longer than that for Sue's knuckles to change from the white color they had become.
"Sue, would you mind getting the groceries while I buy gas containers and fill them? I want to save time. Get anything and everything you think we might need for a week or so, Sue," I said handing her a few hundred dollar bills, "I'll find you if I finish first."
I forced myself to walk at a fast human speed, purchasing the few five and ten gallon containers that the store carried. I took them to the truck and pulled to the gas station to fill them. I had the back of the truck mostly full and in truth, I had bought far more than needed, in case I had to put plan B into effect if Victoria hurt my wife. I would need the house to go up quickly to prevent any rescue attempts by my family.
I finished and parked in front of the store, heading in to find Sue. The store was crowded with people making preparations for the coming storm but I located her easily, and she was almost finished. I added a few things that I knew to be Bella's favorites and we headed to the checkout. We passed a young woman with a baby in a cart, carefully selecting items from the baby section. I was drawn to her for some reason, reading her mind reflexively. She had no money to buy the things her child needed. She was carefully selecting the essentials, worried about what he would have to do without. I stopped cold . . . though I was a very nearly invincible vampire, I felt as though I needed help to stand as I leaned against the grocery cart . . . her little boy was named Masen.
"One minute, Sue," I said as I pulled my wallet from my pocket, removing all the cash in it. I walked over to the woman, appearing to scare her with the intensity of my stare at her child, I'm sure.
"Take this, for the baby," I said, handing her the cash and turning to leave. Her mind was reeling as she realized the amount I had given her. I had no idea, really, a few thousand I suspected.
"Sir, sir . . . ," She said as she followed me, "I can't accept this." She tried to hand the money back to me and I closed her fist around it.
"Please take the money. I have a son named Masen as well, and he's in danger. I'd like to help your son . . . please take it. The money means nothing to me and it will help him," I insisted.
She stood there as though dazed, her mind filled with relief as she said, "Thank you."
As I walked away with Sue, both she and the girl looked at me in disbelief. I pushed our cart to the checkout, anxious to get back to the house, though I knew I would be called if anything at all had happened. We loaded the groceries into the backseat of the truck and headed back up the mountain, Sue remembering to buckle her seat belt quickly when I first started the car. I had to laugh to myself, silly humans . . . questioning my driving skills!
"That was very nice of you, Edward. That young woman looked as though she needed some help," Sue said quietly.
"She didn't have enough money to buy what the baby needed, much less to buy food for herself and she had no one to help her, Sue. The baby's name was Masen. I had to help her," I explained.
"I never thought I'd say this. You know that I was afraid you would hurt Bella and I didn't want you near her. I was afraid to be alone with you . . . our legends . . . ," her voice trailed off, "You were supposed to be heartless, soulless bloodsuckers, Edward . . . but they were wrong. You are an extraordinary man, Edward Cullen, and I'm honored to know you. Bella is a very lucky girl to be married to you."
Her thoughts were genuine, and I felt the weight of them as she spoke.
It was starting to snow by the time I pulled up at my house to find an extra car in the yard. "Wonder who is here?" Sue muttered under her breath.
"It's Charlie," I answered quietly, grabbing some of the bags and heading towards the house with her. "He saw the APB come across his desk this morning and headed to the airport after confirming it with Carlisle. He didn't tell any of us that he was coming, it's a complete surprise," I told her.
"Oh God, Edward. He'll want to know what the hell I'm doing here . . . and Sam and Emily," she worried.
"Sue, it might just be the time to let Charlie in on a little bit of reality. It'll come better from you than anyone else. If you two are going to be together, like both your minds tell me you are," I gave her a sideways glance and a half smile, knowing that she would blush that I knew. "He will have had to be told eventually. It's me he'll blame, anyway, for Bella's disappearance," I said as I opened the door for her and followed her into the house.
"Where the hell is my daughter?" Charlie was in my face in an instant, Sue quickly moving to come between us after setting the groceries on the floor.
"I wish to God I knew, Charlie. Everything that can be done is being done to find her," I told him. He bristled as he started to name all the things that were in fact not being done.
"I spoke with the sheriff in town, your father refused the offer of a search team. He told him that Bella probably wanted to have time to think about the upcoming birth and left willingly. He let him put out the APB and telecast, but that was all. What the hell is going on? I'm not stupid. That girl would have to be drug away from you kicking and screaming, she would never have left on her own!" he screamed at me.
Carlisle was in the door in an instant, standing beside Sue, between me and my irate father-in-law. Jasper had called him when Charlie had shown up moments before. I could care less. His words cut me . . .
That girl would have to be drug away from you kicking and screaming,
she would never have left on her own!
Despite my efforts to hold it back, venom ran down my face in the form of tears and I walked to the front picture window and stood, looking out at the gazebo and the new falling snow. He was right. She would never willingly be parted from me . . .or I her.
"Sue, what the hell are you doing here, anyway? I thought you went to Denver?" Charlie spat at her.
"Sit down, Charlie. There are some things you need to know," Sue said, gesturing to the sofa. Charlie fussed and fumed and hurled insults about the way this search had been handled, but he made his way to the sofa and sat to listen to her, none the less.
~oooOooo~
Jacob POV
We were basically sent out as hound dogs, Sam and I. It made complete sense. It was amazing just how acute my sense of smell really was. I had no idea how well vampires could pick up scents, but I could smell a single drop of blood from countless miles away if the wind was blowing towards me. We ran the perimeter of the area that was being searched, making sure that no one had escaped on foot. And we made completely sure.
Sam kept talking to me in my head about how to phase to human, endless nonstop talking and rethinking and suggestions and different ways of approaching it. "Enough," I finally thought, mustering all the concentration stored anywhere in my body and I focused. Something happened. The terrain changed, or rather the level at which I viewed it changed, and I realized that I once again had hands and feet rather than paws! Sam immediately phased and hugged me. I was so excited about finally understand the thought process to phase that I hugged him back, something I did not normally do with other guys! We had been on our way back to Edward's house, Sam and I. Everyone was apparently heading in to brainstorm and regroup. It was just after daybreak.
"Alright, Jake! You got it! Let's phase back and get to the bloodsuckers house and see if they have come up with any leads yet," Sam said as he started to shake, phasing instantly into a large black wolf.
We ran the entire way through the forest, and I didn't mind the paws this time, knowing that I could get the hands and feet back when I wanted to. Sam phased with no trouble once we arrived, heading on into the house before me. It took me a few minutes to make it happen again, to phase to human again . . . but I did.
The minute I was through the door everyone looked at me with some form of relief on their faces, though the overall feeling in the room was tremendous despair. Grief dripped from every face. It took me only a moment to react. "Oh hell no. Nope, not happening. I see your faces, all of you. We are not giving up, do you understand? Where's Edward?" I asked, not seeing his face among them.
"He went upstairs," the little dark haired pixie told me, "He just needed . . . a minute."
"Is there some new information, something that I don't know telling us that Victoria has hurt Bella?" I asked.
"No," Carlisle answered, "there is no word, nothing new, Jacob."
"Then what the hell? Let's make a plan. Regroup. I'll get Edward," I told them as I headed up the stairs two at a time.
"Edward!" I called to him. I knocked on his bedroom door, banged on it really. No answer.
"Open the door, Edward," I called to him.
"I'm really sorry about this," I said as I kicked the door open, splintering part of it as well as the frame. I saw Edward sitting on the floor at the foot of his bed clutching what looked like some of Bella's clothes.
"What the hell are you doing? Get up! We have to rescue Bella!" I shouted, trying to shake him into at least acknowledging that I was there. I walked to the foot of their bed to stand in front of him. He looked devastated, tears running down his face. He had Bella's clothes against his chest and he was holding on to his knees, like he was trying to hold himself together. It was all I could do not to loose it, slide down beside him and cry myself.
"Edward, bloodsucker . . . get up now before I yank you up. Do you hear me?" I continued, "I'm not letting her down and neither are you! Get off your stony ass, leech! Now!"
I held my hand out to him to help him up off the floor. He had to try, we couldn't give up yet . . . she wouldn't have ever given up trying to find him, I knew that for sure. He looked up at me, meeting my gaze for a moment, reached out and took my hand and I pulled him to his feet, hugging him in a very unmanly like gesture for a moment before smacking him in the arm.
"Dude, I was afraid I was going to have to carry your ass downstairs and I have no idea how heavy fucking rock is!" I told him, taking Bella's clothing from him and tossing them on the bed as I guided him towards the door and down the stairs to the living room.
Alice was screaming something about having a vision and that Bella was alive. Edward looked like he was in a trance, then I remembered that he did that sometimes when he read minds, and he was probably concentrating on what Alice was showing him.
"Hold on just a damned minute," I swore, "I thought you couldn't see when I was around?"
She explained that she had seen it before I got back, she was just now sharing it because she wanted to go over and over it to make sure that she felt it was real.
There was new found enthusiasm in the room as Jasper called everyone into his control room. He had divided up the area for the bloodsuckers to look for the Volvo in and sniff out the houses, but they wanted Sam and I to still run loops. It was a sound idea on Jasper's part.
"Jacob," Jasper got my attention, "Congratulations on the phasing, man! Are you comfortable that you can phase back at will, or is it still dicey?"
"Dicey. If I find something and I'm agitated, it could be a problem," I replied honestly. Jasper wanted us to have a way of contacting them, a cell phone. Sam had offered to help, so after we got past him acting like an asshole about using the leech's phone, he agreed and we started to head out the door.
Before we were out the door, Edward's phone rang . . . and it was Bella's ring tone that was going off. Someone that had her phone was calling. Turned out, the red head that had taken her wanted ten million dollars to return Bella, as if we bought that shit. We would still have to find her or she would kill her just for fun. Edward begged her to take him instead, but she wasn't buying it. Edward insisted on talking to Bella, and Victoria was to have her call at three o'clock, just under three hours from now. At lease he would get to talk to her . . . that might spunk him up and get him into high gear to find her!
Jasper narrow the search area somewhat by tracking the cell phone call and we headed out. Sue stayed with Emily and Edward stayed to help Jasper and Alice with the computer shit.
"Okay, Sam," I thought, "Six loops down, I thought I smelled something on the outer corner that last time. Let's take some extra time there when we loop around."
"Fine by me," came Sam's answering thoughts, "I just want to be the one to end the bitch."
"Well, since she killed my Dad, you might just have to stand in line, dog," I laughed as I thought it. Sam didn't take it as funny at all . . . no sense of humor.
The phone that was on a long strap around Sam's neck rang, startling us. We stopped and Sam phased quickly to answer it. He had to call back as phasing took more than just an instant to become human again, but Jasper answered. Charlie had shown up loaded for bear and Jasper expected a scene when Edward returned with the gas for the generator. A storm was coming and they expected the power lines to ice and tree limbs to take them down, costing us something we could not loose . . . use of the computers from lack of electricity. Edward had gone to get supplies or he would have encountered Charlie when he first arrived.
"Show time!" I thought as we quickly ran towards Edward's house and the potential World War Three that was likely happening there.