Chapter Thirty Four
Bella
He drove fast through the streets of Boston to our hotel leaving the car for the valet to park and taking the elevator to our floor. The door to our room was open and I heard Peters cry of distress. We walked in to a scene of carnage. Charlie lay his head at a strange angle, quite obviously dead, his hand outstretched holding a crayon in it. I looked around wildly but there was no sign of Grace just Charlotte in Peters arms. Her head was slowly fusing back on to her body, one side of her face charred as if someone had tried to set her alight.
"What happened Peter?"
He looked up at Jasper's question.
"I got a call from Charlotte, she felt uneasy and I got a weird fucking feeling so I came back leaving the car for you two. She was laying here her face smoking but she'd managed to put the fire out. Charlie was laying on the floor as he is now and Grace was gone."
I went over to Charlie and turned him over, ignoring the smell of blood as I did so, when I noticed something written on a piece of paper hidden beneath his body in thick crayon. It was one word, "Rose." Rosalie had been here, murdered my father and taken my daughter. I wanted to scream but I knew if I did it would attract attention in the hotel, which so far had been avoided. Jasper picked up Charlie's body and headed for the window,
"Bella clean up as best you can and collect our stuff, Peter get Charlotte down to the truck."
I grabbed the splintered remains of the coffee table that lay scattered on the floor around Charlie and wrapped them in a couple of towels as Jasper disappeared out onto the window ledge in the dark. There hadn't been much blood and I soon wiped the smudges from the floor with another towel leaving no trace when I'd finished. I put our stuff into the cases, crying over Graces things, especially when I saw Shadow on the bedroom floor, she hated being away from him. My sorrow was turning to hot fury as I thought about Rose. Carlisle had lied to us, he'd told Rose and she'd somehow traced us here, killing Charlie, trying to kill Charlotte and stealing my daughter. For any and all of those crimes she would die. My hands were shaking as I carried the cases through to the lounge as Jasper came back through the window.
"Peter is waiting outside Bella, are you OK to check out? If not I'll do it"
I couldn't speak, my jaw was so tight with tension, but I shook my head,
"I can do it. Then we find that bitch and she dies, along with Dr Carlisle Cullen"
He nodded his agreement and we walked out of the room and down to the lobby to check out.
"What happened to Charlie's body?"
I'd waited until we got outside to ask.
"It's in the back of the truck, we can't just leave it so Peter and I thought we'd bury him out in the countryside somewhere if that's OK with you. I don't know what else to do, we can't take him back to Forks, it's too far and if his body is found you can bet Billy and Sam will tell the authorities he was with us."
I didn't like the idea much but I could see our hands were tied so I agreed. As Jasper drove I looked in the back where Peter, usually loud and brash was holding Char so tenderly it was almost painful to watch. He stroked her hair and her face as I watched the scar where her head and body had rejoined slowly fade.
"Will her face heal up too?"
Peter looked up at me with pain filled eyes,
"No, it might get a little better but what fire has destroyed can't be regenerated. She'll always have scarring that side of her face. I have to tell you Bella that when we find Rosalie there's no way you are stopping me from killing her"
"Just so long as you get Grace's location from her first I don't care, be my guest Peter. Remember she killed Charlie too."
He nodded and leaned down to kiss Charlotte's face. She knew he was there although I wasn't sure how conscious she was with all that had happened to her.
"I'm so sorry. If you hadn't been helping us none of this would have happened."
"Hey, cut that out. We work together Bella, family is family, end of story."
Jasper held my hand and lifting it to his lips kissed it softly,
"Remember that Bella, family"
His words made me feel warm inside for a few minutes before I remembered Grace was missing.
"Where are we going?"
"The clinic, then the Cullen house."
I wasn't sure they'd be at either but I knew we had to start somewhere.
At he clinic I stayed with Charlotte while the guys went in. The place appeared deserted and locked up and they weren't long, when they got back I could smell gas on their clothes. As we pulled away I looked back to see flames shooting from the clinic windows. They'd fired the place and no one was there. I felt nothing for the destruction of Carlisle's clinic or Rose's chamber of horror. I wondered of they'd do the same to the house if it was uninhabited, well I'd soon find out. Again I stayed with Charlotte who was struggling to sit up. They were gone longer this time and while we waited my cell phone rang. I looked at the number, it was one I didn't recognize and I answered it cautiously,
"Hello?"
"Bella"
"Alice?"
"I'm so sorry I didn't see what Rose was doing until it was too late. There's no one at the house but Grace is with Rose and Esme. The guys are waiting for you to make a move. I think they just found out about the fire but they wont go back to the clinic"
"Where are they taking Grace?"
"The only place they think is safe from you, Volterra. They wont fly out until the morning so you have a head start. Tell Jazz I rang Jeff, the jet is waiting for you at a private airstrip about twenty miles south of you. I think you can stop them getting to Aro. Bella, you need to think about protecting your friends and Jazz. You can do it if you think, concentrate. Tell Jazz I said you are a shield, he'll explain. I have to go now, I'll try to meet up with you in Italy but I'm not sure I can yet. Think and concentrate and you can defeat Rose and Carlisle. Esme doesn't know what's going on, neither does Emmett. Esme thinks Grace is an orphan Rose has taken in and they are fleeing so the authorities don't try to put her in a home. Emmett thinks there is a nomad after the girls. Please don't hurt them, they really are innocent"
"I'll try Alice but I'm not making any promises. I'll go through whoever I have to get Grace back."
"You will if you remember what I told you, think and concentrate and you will be able to control your shield, Jazz will help you. Good luck Bella and love to both of you."
She was gone, leaving me with too many questions and no answers. I helped Charlotte sit up and she immediately broke into speech apologizing for what had happened. Rose had taken them by surprise, she had come through the window and attacked Char first as the only danger to her. Charlie had tried to protect Grace pushing her behind him and attacking Rose with the coffee table which was why he died then she took off with Grace the way she'd come. She thought that Charlie had written Roses name, hearing it from her thinking that Rose would kill Charlotte and we wouldn't know who'd been responsible. Carlisle had told Rose we were in town and somehow she'd traced us, presumably the same way she traced Grace and I before. When the guys came back I saw the smoke rising from the house and told them all about Alice's call as Jazz started the truck heading south as Alice had instructed.
"We need to bury Charlie before we fly out"
I nodded at Peters words and they stopped in a wooded area, Jasper carrying Charlies body while Peter scouted out an area and dug the grave with his bare hands. I stood beside my dad, tears running down my cheeks as Jasper helped him then they lay Charlie in the grave they'd dug and stood heads bowed silently in respect for a few minutes.
"Bella you go back to the car with the Major. I'll fill this in and join you."
I nodded unable to speak my thanks and Jasper put his arm around me, walking me slowly back to the car.