Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.
Chapter 74 Tracks
Bella POV
33 Hours Tuesday Night
Bree helped me to my feet, the bed that we were asleep on now tilted against the wall across the room, pillows and covers scattered everywhere.
Victoria.
She stood with her hands on her hips, "Get up my pretties, you have a phone call to make . . ."
She handed me my phone and stood watching with her foot tapping . . . an unusual trait for a vampire. I suppose there would be no illusion of privacy for my phone call tonight. It didn't matter, the connection to him would still be there.
I no sooner pressed the button than I heard his voice, "Bella . . . ", it was almost a mantra . . .
"Sweetheart, It's me."
"Are you alright? Has she hurt you?" he asked. My shaky response didn't seem to convince him, but he didn't insist on details. Edward would only have relented if Alice had seen something, if he already knew what had happened, I knew him that well. God, that was a relief, at least she could let him know that I really was okay.
"Bella, did you eat and drink today? They aren't used to humans, do I need to remind her for you?" he asked, concern dripping from his voice. He needed to do something, anything for me at that moment.
"Edward, I had lunch and dinner and Masen is moving around just fine. If I sound odd, it's because Victoria woke me to make this call, sweetheart. There is something you can do for me, though," I told him.
"Name it, love," he answered immediately in the softest tone.
"Tell me you love me."
"I love you more than anything else on earth, Bella. I have from the moment I saw you and I will for all eternity, you know that."
"I do know that and I love you just the same, Edward."
"Your Dad's here, baby. I'm going to give him the phone. I'll talk to you in the morning,"
"O . . okay," I said shakily, knowing that my Dad would want to talk to me, but not wanting to give up even a moment with Edward, "I love you. I'm holding you in my dreams, husband, till I see you again."
"I'm holding you in my dreams forever, wife. I love you."
He must have handed the phone to my Dad, because the next voice was loud and boisterous.
"Bella! Bella? Are you alright?" my Dad almost yelled.
"Dad, yes, I'm here."
"I flew here as soon as I saw the APB cross my desk, baby, no one told me or I would have been here sooner," he bellowed. I knew he was upset. I knew he was scared, because now that he was there in the middle of things . . . I knew that he knew.
"Dad, I need you to do something for me."
"Anything, Bells. Anything you need," he answered immediately.
"Take care of Edward for me," I heard him gasp as I said it and start to grumble, but I continued, "Dad, I love him more than anything else in the world, and you must know about him by now with all this going on. He tried to leave me Dad, that fall, he left to protect me. You saw how I was. I need him, Dad. Please, please treat him like you would treat me. He's that important to me. Promise me."
"Bells, I . . ."
"Dad!"
"Alright, alright, I promise. I took a swing at him already and I see that it wouldn't do anything to him anyway. I'll be nice to him, Bells, if it means that much to you."
"Thanks, Dad. I love you. I . . . "
My sentence went unfinished as Victoria took the phone, clicking it off and placing it in her pocket.
"You shouldn't do things like that," Bree told Victoria, gesturing to the bed, "She's pregnant and you could hurt the baby!"
"Baby! Baby?" Victoria scoffed as she struck Bree, knocking her across the room and into the mattress that was leaning against the wall. "You mean the half breed mutant she's carrying? Is that the baby you're talking about? It can't live anyway . . . can't possibly be born into this world," she sneered.
I ran to Bree, helping her up and holding on to her arm. She would have a nasty bruise across her face, if not a black eye. Victoria stared at me and she was all of a sudden in front of me, lifting me to the wall by my neck as I clung to her arm. The rage in her face was terrifying as I sensed that she was about to fling me to the other side of the room . . . but her fingers loosened and my body slid down the mattress that I had been standing in front of. I grasped my throat with one hand, the other arm protectively around my belly where Masen lay as she withdrew a few steps, telling us to clean up this pig sty, that she would be back in an hour to make sure we had followed instructions.
I hugged Bree to me again, waiting for her trembling to stop, as well as my own. Victoria was gone, for now . . .
It took effort and lots of fumbling, I was barely able to negotiate walking, much less lifting and positioning a mattress in place, but Bree and I straightened and righted the room none the less. There was no point in purposefully annoying the already volatile vampire.
"Who is she that she can lift you like that and toss the bed around with us on it? Is she some kind of Olympic athlete or woman bodybuilder or something?" Bree asked, stunned, as she flung the sheets onto the bed to make it.
"Something like that. Her husband was killed in an unfortunate incident involving my husband's family and she wants revenge. I don't think she's going to settle for just the money," I said, looking into her now fearful eyes. I think she finally got just how much danger we really were in, though in reality, she couldn't possible be scared enough.
"Go and get some ice for your cheek and eye before it swells anymore, I can finish this," I insisted. She nodded and headed toward the kitchen.
"Well, Masen, I'm sorry about that jolt. Victoria, the woman that has taken us from Daddy threw us off the bed. I hope you are okay in there, baby. Please don't let her scare you. Mommy is trying to keep her away from you . . . away from hurting us. She is just so angry because she lost her mate. She says that she will give us back to Daddy if he gives her money, and I know that he'll give it to her . . . I just don't think she'll let us go, unharmed. Your Daddy wanted me to tell you what was happening, he says you are amazing and intelligent and capable of understanding my words, handsome boy. I hope so. I love you and I want so badly for you to be born safely and for us to be back together with Daddy. I miss him . . . and I know you miss him, too. We don't sleep well without him, do we Masen? You just hang in there and try to be comfortable. Remember, try really hard not to bite me as long as my heart is still beating. If I go into labor and you feel like you are being squished, just know that is my bodies way of getting you out and it's okay. I know it might scare you, but you have to trust me. I love you, handsome boy," I said as I walked into the kitchen rubbing my belly.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Bree insisted, holding the ice to her face and staring at my belly.
"We're fine. Since we're up, how about a snack and some TV?" I asked in an effort to calm her, "You sit down and I'll get us something."
I looked through the fridge, glancing at cheese and yogurt and packaged sandwiches, spotting a brown wrapper like you would get from a butcher shop. It contained ground beef, which I dumped into a bowl and put back in the fridge so that I could grab pinches and snitches of it without it being noticed that I was eating raw meet. Thank God for that though, I was getting really really hungry and nothing else stopped my cravings.
Victoria did not return that night or in the morning when I knew it was time for my seven am phone call. The weather channel showed nearly white out conditions were in effect outside, and I remembered that my phone was dependent on contacting the satellite, which wouldn't be possible in these conditions. Well, at lest we still had power. I had some fruit and toast with a glass of milk for breakfast, Bree was still fast asleep. There just had to be some way for me to help Edward find me!
I did as Edward had asked and continued to talk aloud to Masen, telling him each and everything that was going on both in reality as well as in my head. We were having lunch when Victoria appeared with Riley in tow. He appeared angry and, if I knew anything about vampires . . . thirsty.
46 Hours Wednesday Noon
"Write a note to your husband," Victoria demanded, placing pen and paper in front of me. "The phones aren't working and he needs to know that you're still alive and I still expect the money on time," she spat, shoving the paper towards me on the table.
"Victoria, you already damaged this one even more than just the nasty cut I gave her. Let me end her now and there will be one less to kill when the money comes through," Riley sneered as he stalked over to Bree and grabbed her roughly by the arm. He swept her hair back over her shoulder exposing her neck to him and I panicked.
"No, don't hurt her," I yelled as he drew her close and licked his lips, his red eyes black with thirst.
"Riley! Not yet! You can go hunt after you deliver this to the Cullens! Take your time, I don't want you chancing coming back here anyway. I'll meet you Friday . . . after it's done," she said as she starred at me. So, she did intend to kill us, that much was apparent. She wanted the money first, though. There had to be something I could write to Edward that would let him know that all was not going to go well once she got the money . . . I just had to think.
"Hurry the hell up, Victoria. I can't stand here with a snack in my hand and wait like this, and you know it," he insisted. She walked over to him putting her arm around his neck and stroking his chest.
"I know you have . . . hungers, pet. In good time. Leave these alone for now, you can have all you want in town after you take this note to Edward," she said as she kissed his jaw and peeled him away from the now hysterical girl. Bree fell to her side on the floor as soon as he released her, unable to stand for sobbing.
"Get away from me then," he said as he kicked her side hard. I heard the wind leave her lungs and she collapsed, no sound coming from her.
Victoria snatched the paper from me and turned to leave, following Riley up the stairs. I ran to Bree who seemed to be starting to catch her breath, and helped her to the sofa. I brought her a cold rag for her head and one for the nasty bruises already forming on her ribs. She needed a doctor . . . and we needed a way out.
57 Hours Wednesday Night
We sat watching some movie after the Tonight Show ended, until the power went out, of course. Victoria had left a couple of flashlights on the table, expecting this I suppose. I was glad that she had stayed upstairs and not come back to do any more damage this night at least.
I had gotten Bree to drink some warm tea and I found Advil in the cabinet and gave her some. Blood had stopped coming from her nose, though she still could not draw a full breath without almost screaming. At least a few ribs were broken for sure.
I have no real idea what time it was as I stared at the flames licking the fake logs in the fireplace. I tossed my napkin into the flames and watched as the pieces burned and small bits rose up with the heat of the flame. I imagined that there would be some small bit of smoke coming from whatever chimney was above the house . . . above the house . . . the heat caused a draft and forced air to move upwards and to the outside . . . it carried ash with it, I knew that . . . and If I were cooking it would carry the smell of the food. If it carried smells, why wouldn't it carry my scent to the outside? I wondered if the heat would kill the smell, but it didn't with food . . .
I moved to sit by the fire - right by the fire so that my hair was moving from the heat. It was at that moment that I got the idea. It took me forever to get up off the floor in front of the fire, but when I finally did I managed to find a pair of kitchen scissors. I pulled my hair back into a pony tail and cut it, inch by inch, till I had a cup full or so of small hair clippings. I moved back to the fireplace and tossed a few of the clippings into the air above the fire. Some of the ignited, but some moved up the chimney with the airflow, hopefully making it out the top of the chimney and into the area around the house. I had no idea if it would work, but the combination of my sitting there and air carrying my scent up the chimney and the hair bits going up and out, it gave me at least the feeling that I was doing something that might be helpful . . . vampire noses were almost as good as wolf noses, and we had both! I settled in there by the fire while Bree slept the night away on the sofa, determined to help Edward find me, one way or another . . .
~oooOooo~
EPOV
51 Hours
It was Wednesday afternoon, Sam and Jacob had taken off in wolf form, insisting that they had a chance of tracking Riley's footsteps back to where he had come from, though some of the drifts were taller than they were at this point. I watched out the front window as they found the path he came in, meticulously going foot by foot and pawing at the snow to unearth the scent hidden there. The snow was still falling and it would be night soon. They could follow tracks while they still showed, but then it would take them hours . . . literally, to move a mile . . . but they were determined. Sam was determined to avenge his wife's injury as well as the Chief of his tribe's death by ending Victoria himself and Jacob was determined to avenge his father's death as well as saving Bella.
I had handed the note that Riley gave me to Jasper and Alice. I couldn't read it just yet, I couldn't see her handwriting and read her words to me till I knew she was safe, but I let them read it to be sure there was nothing in the note that could help us find her.
"She's alright, Edward," Alice told me, putting her tiny arms around my waist as I looked out the front window. She showed me a vision of Bella sitting on the floor by a fireplace with a fire glowing in the background. At least I knew she was warm and okay, for now.
"Thanks, Alice. We just have to get her home safely, Alice . . . we have to," I told her with a determined, almost pleading voice.
"We will, brother. We're all doing everything we can think of, you know that," she said trying to comfort me.
"I know you are, thank you. You're always there for me little sister, and I love you for it," I told her.
Emmett had come back shortly after midnight. He had managed to follow Riley even after he stole a car to use, but had been forced to move at human speed once they approached Atlanta, effectively loosing him. It didn't matter, we had the tracking device and the blip was showing up just fine as he moved through the city looking for prey.
. . . stay in control . . . cover all possibilities . . . keep it together . . .
Jasper was amazing as ever, and programmed the computer to show the satellite fed image of exactly where he was so that we could literally watch him and his movements. We were lucky that the lines holding the cable that fed the computer system were not down yet and we could access the satellite, though with the weight of the ice forming outside, it would not be long till we lost power and communications.
58 Hours Midnight on Wednesday
It was not lucky, though, that Charlie was viewing the screen. It was definitely not lucky that Riley chose the time while Charlie was watching to leave his car and stalk a young woman as she passed down a deserted street and through an underpass. Charlie watched in horror as Riley pressed the woman against a retaining wall and fed from her. It was not lucky that the image of her struggle slowly subsiding and the sated vampire flinging her discarded corpse unceremoniously into the brush was being viewed with crystal clarity. Sue resumed massaging his shoulders as he sat viewing the screen that she had been glued to as well, horror stricken.
"The Cullens don't kill people, Charlie. They kill animals, just the same as hunters in the woods shooting a deer. They would never do what you just saw and these other vampires that have Bella . . .they promised to return her for the money, Charlie. That boy just fed . . . he won't be thirsty around Bella. She'll be okay, Charlie, we have to believe that," Sue spoke quietly and authoritatively to Charlie as she tried to comfort herself as well as him.
I sat stone still in my chair. Unable to move with the realization that my very human father in law had just watched the vampire that held his daughter, feed from a young woman and discard her lifeless body as though it was the wrapper to a hamburger. He was wondering how the hell his daughter loved creatures that were capable of such behavior and, for the first time, he wondered what his grandson would be like.
He turned to watch as I transferred the additional ten million dollars into the account I was using for the ransom, his mind was tallying points. He was weighing the fact that I loved his daughter beyond all reason with the new knowledge that I was not human . . . that my kind did indeed use humans as a food source. He noticed that I didn't even flinch at the idea of handing over amounts of money so large he could not even realize the concept, much less the reality of exactly how much money twenty million dollars really was.
. . . he remembered my look when I had come to his house to get her only to find her gone,
. . . he remembered my standing up to him and telling him not to upset my wife in our home,
. . . he remembered the look in her eyes each and every time she looked at me,
. . . he remembered the sounds he heard coming from her when we were alone in our room.
but . . . he knew what he had just witnessed Riley do on screen.
His eyes caught mine and he stared at me for a moment. It seemed as though he was trying to see into my soul as he asked, "Edward. Explain to me what the hell a vampire is, exactly. I'm pretty sure that the Hollywood version in my head can't be correct . . ."
I turned to him, one hand in my lap and the other still on the computer keyboard and stared straight into his eyes as I answered him. "Well, Charlie, you noticed earlier that I'm cold to the touch, but I have no heartbeat or blood . . . only venom. I don't eat or sleep and I have no need for air other than to smell my surroundings. I'm incredibly fast and strong and I never ever get tired. I can't go outside in direct sunlight not because it would hurt me, but because my skin sparkles like diamonds in the sun. You can't hurt me regardless of what you try, and I'm immortal . . . I will life forever, if you think that what I am is alive," I told him as honestly and succinct as was possible. "Sue is correct about our feeding habits. We do not get hungry, we get thirsty and we feed from animals. The most common are deer and elk, but mountain lion and bear are on the menu as well as rabbits and other smaller animals in a pinch."
He listened, his mind a blank. He was the only human other than Renee that I had ever heard silent minds from for any length of time. They were able to quiet their thoughts and just absorb what was being told to them, or their surroundings. Those abilities probably had something to do with the fact that I could not read Bella's mind at all. It was fascinating, and any other time I would have allowed a larger portion of my brain to dwell on it to try and understand them better. Right now, my mind was almost completely absorbed with Bella, and our efforts to find her.
I told him that I would answer any questions that he had, and I told him that I would never harm his daughter . . . as if he didn't know that already.
"Just let me think about this for awhile, Edward . . . it's a lot to accept about you," he said and looked right at me, wanting to be sure he understood, "Bella knows all this?"
"Bella knows everything, Charlie. She figured most of it out on her own," I said, unable to hold back part of a smile as I remembered the day in the car when she first told me she knew, "the rest I told her and she asked the rest of the family questions as well. The baby has some of my characteristics, Charlie, though we don't know which ones. Masen has a heartbeat, at least we know that much about him, as well as the fact that he has ten fingers and ten toes and seems to be incredibly intelligent already."
"But . . . how did this happen? You say you'll look seventeen forever, is that how old you were? Seventeen when this happened to you? You were human to begin with, right?" Charlie asked.
"Yes. I was born Edward Anthony Masen, June 20, 1901, in Chicago, son of Edward Senior and Elizabeth Masen. My parents both died of Spanish Influenza in 1918, and I was hours away from death when Carlisle found me," I began. I told him about Carlisle being a doctor even back then, about my being bitten and how Esme and my siblings had joined our family, though I did not elaborate on their personal histories. I answered and explained anything he asked until his questions petered out and his thoughts consumed him.
We continued to study the information at hand checking and rechecking the facts and looking for any clues to help us find his daughter, and my wife until we lost power as a result of the storm.
64 Hours Thursday Morning
It was Thursday. Morning was almost upon us and it would show clearly what the satellite feed had already told us. The storm had cleared and the skies would be blue, though clouds were scheduled to roll back in in few hours, allowing us to be outside uninhibited by covering all of our skin from view. Carlisle had called to say that the scrapes and plows were doing an amazing job of clearing the vast amounts of show that had piled up and that the main road was clear. The sun would probably even be able to dry them off in some spots before it disappeared around noon.
I heard the snow plow outside, actually. It was one of the things that Carlisle had made sure of last fall when Bella came to live with us. One of the neighbors had a plow attached to his truck and routinely did all the side roads and neighbors driveways, for a fee, and he was already out there clearing ours. It was important with a human in the house not to have her feel trapped, at least that was why Carlisle had arranged it. We could have cared less, except that a person of Carlisle's stature in the community would be able to pay for such a service, and he did use his car to go back and forth to the hospital as a means of keeping up the human facade.
. . . stay in control . . . cover all possibilities . . . keep it together . . .
This meant that, if Victoria had been turning off Bella's phone during the time it wouldn't have worked, it should still have some battery power left. That meant that I should be getting a phone call momentarily. God, I hoped so . . .
I went up to my room and locked the door, tucking under the covers of my bed and drinking in the scent of my wife that lingered there. God I missed her so. There was a limited amount of information I could give Bella on the phone, I knew that Victoria could hear our every word, but I longed to hear her voice . . . I needed to hear it.
It was a few minutes after seven, but the phone rang. I resisted picking it up till the third ring, giving Jasper each and every ounce of time with the connection that was possible.
"Bella?"
"Good morning, sweetheart," I heard her say quietly.
"Good morning, love. Are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm okay. I'm sitting in front of the fireplace. We lost power during the night and the fireplace is warm. I like watching the ashes go up the chimney and reach the outside," she told me.
"I'm under the covers in our bed, love. I was hoping you would get to call and I needed to be alone and feel you close. I know it's silly for me to hide here under the covers, but I just miss you so," I told her.
"I miss you, too, sweetheart. I am just really enjoying the fire. In the fireplace. The heat rises so I have to sit close to the flames, though they seem to cause a draft and pull the air from around me and up the fireplace," she said rather emphatically, as if she was trying to tell me something.
"Is Masen alright? Is anything happening with the baby, love?" I asked cautiously, eager to hear that all was well but afraid it might not be. It was too close to time to deliver him.
"I'm warm. The baby is fine, as far as I know. He still moves and kicks like normal, anyway," she said quietly.
"I love you. You are the very best thing that ever happened to me, you know that don't you?"
"I know that you are the best thing that ever happened to me. I love you, Edward. I really do enjoy watching the fire reaching up the chimney. It smells so good . . ."
"Nothing smells as good as you do, love. Your smell is all around me here in our room . . . in our bed.
"Ummmn, there is just something about the smell of a fire, though. I hate that Victoria can hear our calls, though I know she can't hear what you say to me," she told me.
She totally knew that Victoria could hear what I was saying. She knew that vampire hearing included hearing the conversation that was coming from the phone as well. She was trying to tell me something.
"Yes, that's a good thing. I wouldn't want her to hear all of what we say to each other, love. I would sound like I was obsessed with you . . . which I am," I told her.
"Well, she will only hear about my obsession with fire and how I love to watch things rise up towards the sky, free in the open air . . . "
"Don't worry, love. I'll give her the money tomorrow as soon as it's available and then I'll come and get you. Hang on, you and the baby. I love you."
"I love you, too, Edw . . . ."
She was gone, Victoria having undoubtedly snatched the phone from her. I laid, curled up in the covers that smelled of my wife for a few more minutes, replaying the conversation that I had just had in my mind over and over. Perfect recall had it's advantages.
It was odd that while I was getting personal and loving, talking about beds and smells and covers, she continued to talk about the fireplace and the fire. The fire. Something about the fire, but what? I went over and over the strange conversation, realization dawning on me . . .
Jasper met me halfway up the stairs as I headed down toward him, "The fireplace. God, she's brilliant, Edward. She's trying to get her scent out of the fireplace by sitting by it, close to it, Edward. It just might work. Emmett, Rose and Esme are going to go out and see if they can catch the scent anywhere near the area we think they have her held in. One more phone call from her this afternoon and I'll have a much better idea where she is. The sky has cleared and the satellite feed is back on. Excellent job of wiring the house, by the way, when the power went of, the generators kicked in almost instantly."
I hadn't seen Jasper this hopeful since she had been taken, well, since Alice had slipped the tracking device to Riley. He had come to the same conclusion that I had. I knew he was listening to the phone call, out of necessity, trying to figure out anything he could about where she was, and he had come to the same conclusion that I had reached. Bella was trying to help in any way she could. She was enclosed in a basement, but the fireplace vented to open air, and she was trying to get her scent out to us so that we could track her. Brilliant.
"What, what's going on?" Charlie demanded as we hurried back into the library.
"Bella called. There is a fireplace in the room where she's being held, and she's trying to get her scent out in to the open air where we can track her," Jasper explained.
"Track her? How the hell would that work? You guys can smell her?" Charlie asked, wanting information and wanting it right then.
"Charlie, we can smell a heard of deer miles away if the wind is right, and I can smell Bella from even farther than that. Her idea with the fireplace just might work," I told him.
"Well, damn, boys. Get on it then!" he insisted, questioning us no further.
Jasper phoned Jacob to see what progress they had and to let him know that Riley's tracking device showed him headed back towards us from Atlanta. Riley was apparently in a car, for now.
Jasper and Sam had followed Riley's tracks all the way to Cashiers, and were continuing on. Progress was slow, but Jacob was insisting that he could smell something, something in the air and that he had been smelling it for several hours. Jasper quickly explained Bella's idea, eliciting a loud yell from Jacob.
"That's my Chica! Brilliant! I'm not going nuts, it is her that I smell!" he yelled.
"I'll wait to see where Riley starts out on foot, then join you Jacob," I told him, "And Jacob . . . thanks man. I mean it. Thank you for being there for her."
"You don't need to thank me for that, bloodsucker. I love her, too, remember!" he said, hanging up the phone.