A/N: There's a reference to the 1976 movie The Omen in here.
Chapter Thirty-Two
1 Bella stood dead centre in the circle of dead trees, watching the flames dance all around them, feeling their stifling and painful heat, listening to them crackle and shriek. They painted stark shadows on everything around them and reflected off the red eyes of the vampires. It was a strangely beautiful sight, she had to admit that.
She wondered if she'd be able to feel fear, had she not fed only that morning.
Was this the end? Would her glorious immortality end not even four months after it had started? Leah and Demetri couldn't possibly believe that they could ever hope to get away with this. It made no sense! Sure, they got their enemies cornered, but that couldn't last. The fires would burn out, no matter what was feeding them, and there was no escaping the Volturi – there simply wasn't.
"Who's the lady on speaker?" Jasper said sweetly, having regained his composure after his little earlier outburst.
"Werewolf," Corin said curtly. She was by Caius's side, as if trying to shield him, but there was nowhere to go. "Children of the Moon."
The flames were circling them. A wind picked up. It was coming from the ocean and was whipping the fire into a roaring frenzy. The vampires huddled closer together.
Jasper whistled. "Well, shit." He squinted up at the starry sky. "Full moon's up in what, two hours? Looks like we're pretty fucked." It was weird to hear him swear like that.
"Can't we jump?" Bella said.
Shaking his head and keeping his eyes trained on the fire, Jasper said, "Too risky. They set up several rings. The water is too far away, so we can't jump into the ocean. The buildings all around are empty, but the wolf scent is so strong, I believe they were trying to cover up the fact that they've rigged at least a few of them."
Caius shot him an irritated glance. "They wouldn't burn down their own homes!"
"They would to save their own lives," Jasper returned, his voice dripping derision. "They've had about two days to get everything ready. That's enough time to set us a nice little trap. I for one won't blindly jump into the unknown, only to get burned to death. Also, the Quileute aren't the only werewolves waiting in the wings, lest we forget. We have no idea where the others are, but my guess is, they're close."
Bella, remembering that her lush chocolate tresses might catch on fire and light her up like a torch, pulled the stupid blowing hair up into a bun, like Jasper had taught her. "But the wolves aren't in sight, and if they do get here, our powers-"
"Won't do us any good," Jane cut in flatly. She didn't take her eyes off the fire. Its brightness made her irises glitter like huge rubies. "Not against Children. If they attack us whilst we're trapped, our chances of success are not exactly stellar."
"Depends on how many there are and on how willing they are to sacrifice their own," Alec said. He was right by his twin's side, holding her hand.
"Come out and face us, you filthy, mangy dogs!" Caius screamed at the air. His face was weirdly contorted, as if he were suffering a particularly nasty bout of migraine. This was impossible, of course. Vampires were above such things.
"I'd keep the racist insults and the gorilla chest-thumping to myself, pal," someone's voice – a woman, but not Blake's – resonated across the dark, cold, windy beach. Was that Leah? "You're in your own private ring of fire because Demetri knew you wouldn't keep your end of the bargain. You promised to talk and to listen, but he knew, just knew that you'd double-cross him out of petty racism. You are such an asshole, man."
"Fire won't last forever, sweetie," Jasper said, calm and composed, even merry. He truly was not capable of being afraid, was he? Seemed like a good thing, but then again, how could a person who knew no fear recognise real danger and act cautiously? "And once it's burned down and I'm free, I'm coming for you."
"No matter what happens to us, Demetri, you're dead," Jane said, her voice as toneless as her expression was level. "You're a traitor, and you know what happens to traitors."
"I'm not a traitor," Demetri spoke softly, but because it was amplified by the sound equipment, his voice boomed. "Our rules have not been broken, at least not by me. I pleaded with Caius when he gave me his ludicrous ultimatum to either kill someone who had committed no crime, or watch an entire tribe of people be eradicated. Not only are we not supposed to flat-out murder anyone, but the genocide you're planning to commit would draw even more attention to this place. The FBI is in Forks, wondering what exactly happened at the Cullen house. Apart from the fact that genocide is wrong, full stop, do you really believe that burning the place to the ground will cut it this time? It won't." He paused, but was only answered by the crackling of the flames, the howling of the wind, and the deep rumble of the black ocean. "I won't follow an order blindly, especially if following said order will result in catastrophe. Murdering innocent people would not only be an unforgivable crime, but it would draw way too much attention. Tell me, what exactly have you told Aro is going on here?"
Where the heck were they? With all that fire around them, Bella couldn't smell anything else anymore.
"Have you told him that Creepula over there pledged his undying loyalty and then figuratively stabbed Demetri in the back?" Leah threw in. "Because that's what happened. He promised that he'd do as he was told, and then he and Bell-Bell absconded with the demon spawn. We were about to come back here soon, so there was no immediate reason for the betrayal. Where is Re-name-me, by the way? Did you leave it hogtied somewhere?"
"Don't blame me," Jasper said, and chuckled. "You brought all this upon yourself, honey – you and your knight-in-shining-armour boyfriend."
"Shut the fuck up, asshole; nobody cares what you think," Leah returned flatly.
"Let us out of here, and we'll talk," Caius spat through clenched teeth. "Maybe I'll have mercy on you."
"Full moon's gonna be making a special guest appearance." That, again, was Blake. "We're not exactly inclined to take our wolfsbane."
"You wouldn't dare," Corin said, her voice devoid of emotion, her expression unreadable, and her body language terse, but controlled. Her dark clothes and short hair were fluttering wildly about her in the frequent and violent gusts of wind. "You're be putting your own allies, as well as clueless civilians in danger. You can't afford to do that."
"Desperate times and all that," Blake replied, equally calm. "Besides, do you really think we haven't taken precautions to protect the innocent? We're not like you. We care."
"I have only ever followed the law," Demetri said. "But even if committing genocide were lawful, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. It's wrong. There's no arguing that. Here's the thing, though: times are changing, Caius. We need to start working together, because if we don't learn to cooperate amongst ourselves, we're weaker for it. It'll end up being the death of all of us. We need each other."
"You're the one who threatened to post a video of yourself on social media," Chelsea pointed out, shying away from a gust of flame and a shower of red-hot sparkles. Some of them landed on her blouse, and she slapped them out hastily. Bella watched her silently, wondering for the first time why exactly Chelsea had come back from Volterra after taking Irina there. "You're the one threatening to burn your friends of many centuries to permanent death."
"Because I want to prevent a massacre, and because I know that Caius can't be trusted to keep his promises. If you need another argument in favour of cooperation, just look around you: we got you cornered because humans, a vampire, and two kinds of werewolves have pooled resources. The technical stuff was arranged by a human, and the idea was mostly Charlie Swan's."
This wasn't going anywhere. Bella closed her eyes and gathered herself for a moment. Wherever Leah and her allies were, they had to be close. Also, Charlie was with them. Did Demetri really expect her to believe that Charlie had plotted all this? Human minds were slow and dull compared to any vampire's. There was no way that a slow human, especially Charlie, would be able to outsmart a glorious immortal. It didn't matter. Charlie was there. He was her father. He might have been convinced or even forced to play along, but he wouldn't let his only child die.
"Dad?" she cried out, trying to put as much emotion into her voice as possible. It didn't exactly come easily to her – never had. "Dad, please, if you're there, do something! Don't let them hurt me!"
A few seconds went by during which no-one spoke. Then, Charlie's voice resounded across the landscape: "Bella, I'm so sorry about everything, but no matter what you say, we can't allow the Quileute people to die. They're Jacob's friends and family! These are people you know, which shouldn't even matter, but that seems to be the only thing you care about besides yourself! Innocent people are going to be butchered. How can you even stand the thought? Don't you care? We have to-"
There was a rumble. The earth shook and groaned. The wind howled, shrieked. It felt heavy, tasted like salt and metal and blood. Pressure built up all around Bella. Was there a lightning storm coming? The sky was clear, but there was so much static electricity in the air! A little farther away, the flames sparked and shot up into the sky. All of the other vampires except for Jasper flinched and groaned, as if they were in pain. What was happening? What was happening?
The boom box screamed a high-pitched, whiny feedback noise. Sparks flew from it. Black smoke spewed. The box went dead.
"What…" Chelsea started, but trailed off when she saw the source of the commotion. Her eyes went wide. She backed off, the back of her head nearly touching the licking orange flames right behind her. "Oh, God."
From further up the beach, two figures approached: a little girl who looked to be around eight and a tall, muscular but lanky teenage boy. She was very white, had long, wavy, dark-brown hair and an eerily symmetrical face. Her skin shone faintly in the starlight. A sweet smile lit up her features. Her eyes were fixed on the vampires standing in the centre of the several circles of flames.
"Aw, crap!" That was Jasper. "Who let that thing out?"
The boy walked to her right, holding Renesmee's little hand. His skin was tan, his short hair dark and sleek. He had a sharply-angled, appealing face. His eyes were glazed over, as if they had rolled back in their sockets and were now only showing their whites. From his nostrils dripped blood; in this eerie, cold light, it looked like it was black.
Bella grabbed Jasper's elbow. "That's Seth! How did he get here?"
"Doesn't matter," Jasper said, and from the corner of her eye, she could see that he was smirking. "Now we have our old friend, leverage, back."
Renesmee led Seth to the outer ring of flames. The strong wind was whipping her beautiful hair (and by God, Bella's child was heartbreakingly beautiful!) around her head. Her smile grew when she saw Bella. She reached out her free hand.
Around Bella, everyone save for Jasper cried out. It was like they were in severe pain. They grabbed their heads, shut their eyes, and doubled over. What was this? What was this?
"What's happening?" she yelled, grabbing Jasper's arm with both hands, her eyes darting wildly from person to person. Was this fear she was feeling? Was it confusion? How was she supposed to tell?
"Can't you hear her?" Chelsea shouted, her voice a broken, choked-up sob. She dropped to her knees, into the sand.
Bella saw with growing horror that everyone was tottering and cradling their heads in their hands. Oh, God. Renesmee had no vocal chords, and yet, everyone could hear her words, loud and clear. How was any of this possible?
Renesmee's sweet smile broadened. It looked happy, relieved, and longing. She kept holding out her hand, as if Bella could just step through the flames and take the girl into her loving arms.
"You have to go to her!" Alec said through clenched teeth. He squinted at Bella, his trembling hands still pressed against his temples. "She forgives you! She loves you! You must go to her!"
Looking at the otherworldly, lovely, alien face of her monstrous daughter, Bella couldn't help but think about the conversation she'd had with Jasper only this morning. She thought about the people she killed, about her power, her agony, her satisfaction. As the fires roared, the wind howled, the sparks flew, and the waves crashed upon the rugged beach, Bella thought about the questions she couldn't stop asking herself no matter how hard she tried.
2 It turned out that Jerry Lopes wasn't just a tech wizard, he was a pyromancing one, as well. He'd had help with the heavy lifting, sure, but the know-how had been all his, and that had led to the trap being successfully sprung the moment the vampires stupidly – and predictably – pranced into it. They were in the security room of the Oceanside Resort: Leah, Demetri, Charlie, Billy, June, Jerry, and Blake. Everyone else was around, but out of sight and range of smell. On two of the monitors, they could see what was happening at the beach.
So far, so good, Demetri was thinking, as he calmly explained as wordily as he could that Caius was the one committing treason and not him. It was important that it all be said and recorded. When Bella Swan started crying for her father, Demetri wasn't sure Charlie's resolve wouldn't totter, and a quick glance at Leah told him she was harbouring similar doubts.
Charlie, however, decided to surprise everyone with his moral fibre when he balled his hands into fists and told his daughter no. He was saying, "How can you even stand the thought? Don't you care? We have to-"
There was a rumble. The ground shook violently over at the beach – so violently, in fact, that they could feel it all the way over at the resort. A high-pitched shrieking noise made everyone flinch and cover their ears.
"What the ever-loving-" June Cassidy, the online reporter, forgot to finish that sentence. Her eyes went wide; her mouth dropped open. She shook her head slowly from side to side, staring at the monitors, her neon-green hoop earrings clanking softly. "Jer. Jerry. Pinch me."
The relatively short and very slender cameraman was clinging to his friend's arm. Colour drained from his face. "What the fuck is that?"
They still had video and audio feed, but their means of talking to the trapped vampires was gone. From further up the beach, two figures approached: a very lively Renesmee Cullen and a teenage boy. Demetri stared at the view screen in abject horror. Oh, no. Oh, no. His eyes darted to Leah. The skinny, gangly, angular boy was someone he knew should by rights not be there.
All colour drained from her face. "Seth." It was no more than a hushed little whisper.
Demetri saw the impending disaster before it could unfold. Leah turned away from the screens and made to run outside. He dashed to the door, blocking it, and grabbed Leah by her shoulders. As long as she stayed in human form, he was faster. "Leah, think! You cannot go out there!"
She twisted in his grip, her face contorted into a mask of pure, white-hot fury. Red blotches appeared high up on her expressive cheekbones. She started to tremble. "Let me go right fucking now, before I tear you a new one!"
"Listen to me: if you go out here, you die!"
"That's my brother!" she screamed into his face, but stopped struggling. Her heart was hammering wildly, her breath was ragged, and beads of sweat were covering her forehead. Her entire body was shaking badly, now, and heat baked off her like a fever. She was moments away from phasing out of sheer rage.
"If you go out there," he repeated calmly, quietly, "you die, and so will he. Breathe. Think. This is not a viable solution."
"He's right," Billy said, in clipped tones. His usually tan skin had an unhealthy greyish pallor to it. "You can't phase like this, and even if you did, the child would stop you. Don't go." He squeezed his wheelchair past the two vloggers and placed a hand on Leah's back. "Whatever solution there is to this situation, it isn't running out there in a blind fit of fury and fear."
For another few seconds, she just stared at him with her lips pressed into a thin line and her eyes narrowed. Finally, she stopped shaking, breathed in deeply, and slapped her hands to her face. "You can let go of me now, Yuppie. I'm not gonna fursplode your ass to Kingdom Come," she said, her voice and words slightly muffled.
"I'm sorry," he said, and meant it. Then, he let her go.
Everyone else alternated between watching them and the screens, in silence.
"Yeah. There you go, being right about everything again. It's becoming a theme," Leah grumbled, sullen, and dropped her hands to her sides. Her eyes were bloodshot. She sniffled. "Goddamn it all to hell. How the fuck did he free himself?"
"We thought that if he were kept far away from the half-vampire girl, we could keep him tied up less tightly," Billy said, dropping his hands to his lap but not lowering his gaze. "He kept getting tangled in the restraints. Twice he nearly strangled himself."
"A common tactic of dhampir victims," Demetri said, hating the fact that he was talking about Leah's brother. "They constantly attempt escape because they can't bear to be separated from their mistress or master for long."
"Sounds an awful lot like imprinting to me." A tortured expression on her face, Leah turned around on her own axis and watched her teenaged brother standing meekly beside Renesmee, his eyes completely white, blood running in a thick rivulet out of his nose and down his chin and throat. It was dripping on his white t-shirt, dotting it in black. The sight was strangely compelling.
Next to Seth stood Renesmee, holding his hand, stretching out her free one toward the vampires – Bella, presumably. She was smiling. It looked a little like she was happy to be finally reunited with her family again. That, of course, was something innate to dhampirs: their insatiable hunger for love and attention. Fiora in Volterra wasn't all that different, even if not nearly as strong as Renesmee. It had taken her much longer to develop her powers, and she'd been fully grown before Aro had even found out about her. Then, it had almost been too late.
"Vampire powers don't work on us," Blake said, an edge to her voice. In her strong, calloused hand she was holding the syringe pen with the concentrated wolfsbane solution that would keep her from phasing into a wolf under great agony. "That girl's power won't, either. I'll call Grace and Ariel, tell them to leg it to the beach, and then the three of us can kill 'em all as long as the fires are still burning."
"That wasn't the plan," Charlie said, frowning. He glanced at her, then at Leah and Demetri, and then focussed his attention on the screens again. The spectacle unfolding down at the beach was just too bizarre. "I never signed up for murder, and before anyone says it: no, I don't care that they're already dead. They deserve a chance to give themselves up like everybody else."
To that, Leah snorted derisively.
"We all agreed to this plan," Charlie said, brows furrowing even more. "Now, I can't physically stop anyone from going rogue, but needless to say, I'd be very disappointed if you did. It'd be dumb and reckless, too. You know what will happen if we just flat-out execute them."
"Plan just got blown to pieces by the little monster," Blake said, eyebrows arched. "Charlie, we don't have much time. In one hour at the latest, we need to take our wolfsbane solution, or we'll turn whether we want to or not. I know we've taken precautions, but you seriously do not want that to happen. We're not like the wolves you're familiar with."
"Precautions or no, of course we're not risking civilian lives," Charlie retorted, and crossed his arms. "It's too dangerous."
"The blond vampire dude's gonna call our bluff," Jerry said, jabbing a thumb at the screen. "Soon as he's done writhing in agony, that is. I didn't know vampires could get the vapours, by the way."
"Usually, they don't," Demetri said dryly.
"You're immune to all that supernatural mumbo, aren't ya, Chief Swan?" June said, putting her hands to her hips. When Charlie nodded curtly, she turned to Blake, who was eyeing her with obvious wariness written all over her face. "You, too. So why don't you all go down there, tell the vampires that they can either comply or get roasted or, alternatively, mauled to death, and then get Damienella away from everyone. She's a public menace, that brat."
Everyone's eyes were on Charlie. It didn't matter what species he was; as the only resident police officer, he was automatically in charge. They hadn't voted on it, either. It just sort of happened that way. "We'd only need to restrain her for a little while," he said, looking at each of the others in turn. "I don't like it, but if push comes to shove, that kid's got to go. I've seen what she can do, and it doesn't look as if she's lost any of her powers."
"She'll only grow stronger," Demetri said. This was his area of expertise, after all. "Our original plan didn't involve having a dhampir on the loose."
"Can we get a move on, people?" Leah said brusquely. She looked like she was on the verge of punching someone in the face. "I get not wanting to stupidly rush into the jaws of death, but come on!"
"Dad?" Everyone spun around to stare at the screens, only to see Bella Swan staring in the vague direction of one of the two cameras pointed at the fire-trap. She was standing straight, unperturbed, beside Jasper. Everyone else was lying in the sand, unconscious but uneasy. "We need you down here. You're right. You're right about everything. I need a way to get to my daughter." Her voice was loud and clear, but completely devoid of emotion and therefore unreadable as far as her intentions went.
Charlie's eyes grew wide, even though he did an excellent job keeping the rest of his expression and body language under control. Just like Leah, he was a person with a spine of steel. "She wants to help us."
"Probably only a ruse," Leah spat, and waved off. When she was angry, she didn't put nearly as much effort into controlling her temper. "That girl's the stupidest, shallowest, most inert and selfish bitch I ever-"
"Leah," Billy cut in. His voice was relatively quiet, but he was glowering at her.
All the muscles in Charlie's face tightened. He blanched. With narrowed eyes, he returned Leah's belligerent scowl. "You're in pain. I understand. But that's still my daughter, undead or no, and if there's even a tiny shred of common decency left in her, I will not turn my back on her. I don't care what you think, and frankly, I don't care much for your attitude. I won't let my daughter down, regardless of what she might do if our places were switched. Do you understand that?"
For another few seconds, Leah just kept glaring at him, but then, her shoulders slumped, her teeth unclenched, and she exhaled sharply. "I'm sorry."
"If you go, Charlie, then I'm coming with you," Demetri said, and raised his hands in order to stop Leah from protesting. "You're not well enough and, what's more important, you're too close to Seth to be able to think clearly. I'll be surrounded by people who're immune to the dhampir, so I'll be fine." Probably, anyway. "Let me go in your stead."
She chewed on her lower lip for a moment and then nodded curtly. "But the moment shit goes south, I'm out there killing that fucking brat, and I don't care what you think about that."
"That's settled, then!" June chimed in merrily. It sounded a little desperate, but Demetri for one shared her sentiment. Starting an argument amongst themselves, or lingering on resentment was a luxury they didn't have. "Chief Swan, you grab yourself a bunch of badass werewolves and a fire extinguisher and you go get 'em."
The tiniest smile curved up the corners of Charlie's mouth. It looked grim, determined, and utterly human. "Will do, Ms Cassidy. Come on, Blake," he said, grabbed the fire extinguisher hanging from the wall right next to his head, and headed to the door. "Let's clean up this mess once and for all."
3 It was already getting dark when the jet landed at the William R. Fairchild airport in Port Angeles. The entire time, Aro had tried to reach Caius or, alternatively, any of his entourage, but to no avail. He'd thought that sending Chelsea over to America a few days ago, so that she could have an eye on the whole operation and then report back, would be enough; it clearly wasn't. She was not to blame, of course, as she hadn't been ordered to ignore any directive issued by Caius, and if Caius had told her to keep radio silence, then that was what she would do.
Therefore, the emperor and his newest acquisition had no idea what to expect from their own people. This was problematic, because there was little that was more dangerous than walking into an unknown situation blindly. Still, they didn't exactly have a choice. There was a lot at stake, here. They didn't have a large margin for error. Usually, Aro had told Irina during their flight, he'd insist they take a car and drive to La Push. The directive was to behave as humanly as possible, as inconspicuously as possible. This evening, though, they were going to run; they were quicker that way, and speed was of the essence.
Irina hated getting anywhere either in the nick of time or by the skin of her teeth, because the danger of getting there just a little too late was way too great. It was strange how a thousand years could go by and unforeseen dangers could still come out of left field and threaten everything one took for granted. One of the many problems vampires as a species faced was their unfortunate tendency to freeze up whenever they were confronted with stress. That penchant for panicked immobility was partly responsible for kicking off the terrible chain of events that had resulted in Renesmee being born. Irina herself could claim that she hadn't had a choice due to Renesmee's compulsion all she liked, but the truth was, she'd frozen up and panicked just like everyone else. Okay, at first, Renesmee really had influenced her, and Irina didn't know whether she would be able to hurt the girl if the occasion called for it. Still, a lot of her quiet, petrified lethargy had been nothing but.
Now, though, everything was changing. Not only were they about to do something radical and revolutionary that would, for the first time in millennia, change the vampire world's status quo; Irina was finally being proactive and trying to find solutions for problems that concerned everyone. If that wasn't a reason to shake off the torpor and do everything in her power to succeed, nothing ever could be.
4 Bella stood in the centre of the closest ring of fire and stared at her daughter, who was still smiling sweetly even though there were thick tears running down her snow-white cheeks, who was still holding out her little hand. The wind had picked up even more. Farther down the beach, the ocean was roaring. Sparks kept flying on the trapped vampires, threatening to ignite them and burn them to ashes. Bella had never been overly aware of her surroundings, and even now, when her surroundings could easily kill her for good, her eyes were fixed on the lovely child standing at about fifteen yards away from her.
She wasn't afraid. She didn't think she was even capable of feeling afraid – not like this. Her thoughts returned to her first foray into the wild as a vampire, to those people she'd torn to shreds. How monstrous she'd felt. How monstrous she'd been. Trapped in a stony and alien fortress, Bella had realised that she wasn't the person she'd been before her death. Isabella Marie Swan had perished. If she'd ever had a soul, it had passed on the moment her heart had stopped beating. Whatever remained was not human, was not living, was not part of nature anymore. She was a thing. She was a monster. Carlisle had once told her that what a person was didn't make them monstrous – their actions did. What was right? What wasn't? Did it make sense to try to be good, when all that awaited a vampire after death was black nothingness? Did it make sense to try to be good when there weren't any consequences for evilness? Maybe all that the undead (not immortal – she understood this now) had left was doing as they pleased for as long as they could.
Be good for goodness's sake, Bella, Renée had always told her. Renée. Her mom. Her mom, who thought that Bella was dead and gone. They'd never see each other again. No matter how long Bella's existence might be, her mother was out of it for good – her warm, sweet, kind-hearted, idealistic mother, who had never said a bad word about another person in her life.
Not even in her human life had Bella done something good for goodness's sake. Now, she was a murderer, a monster, an alien thing. Here she was, filled to her eyeballs with the blood of innocent people, knowing that this was terrible, and feeling nothing. This was not what she had wished for when she'd begged Edward to turn her into a beautiful, thin, rich, immortal, glorious goddess. Maybe Jasper was right, and the price they paid was worth it. Her mom would disagree. Her dad did disagree. Everyone who wasn't a vampire disagreed, which should tell her all she needed to know. It didn't, though. The questions wouldn't go away. Maybe they'd never go away.
"Bella? Snap out of it." Jasper's calm, but firm voice dragged her out of her dreary ruminations. "We need to do something, and fast!"
"Do what?" She glanced at him, but quickly faced her child again – the child she'd never wanted, but had insisted be carried out to term because she had loved the idea of a perfect, sparkly trophy baby to go with her perfect, sparkly trophy husband and perfect, sparkly trophy life. Now, dozens of people were dead and millions in property damage had been inflicted. This was her fault, too, at least in a sense.
"She's your daughter," he said, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "She wants you. You have to decide what to do. Do it quickly, though; I don't think our friends here can take the onslaught much longer, and there is the werewolf situation to deal with. I'll do what I can, but it's only a temporary fix." Quickly, he dashed to every single one of the others, touched their foreheads, and sent them to sleep. It must be the sweetest relief imaginable.
He was right, of course. Now was not the time to freeze up and ponder the nature of her existence. Thoughts of good and evil and guilt and repentance, of monstrosity and dictates of nature would have to wait until the current crisis was fixed. Renesmee was Bella's responsibility. She was a problem that Bella needed to fix. Jasper had told her to grow a spine and to start behaving like a grown-up. She would show him that she was ready.
With great effort, Bella tore her eyes away from Renesmee and looked at the direction where the blown-up boom box was still smouldering. She just assumed that there were cameras or something, and that Charlie would be able to see and, hopefully, hear her. "Dad?" she said, her voice loud and clear. For once she was glad that there was no panic in her tone, which could have alarmed Renesmee. "We need you down here. You're right. You're right about everything. I need a way to get to my daughter."
5 The sky was clear, but the wind was so strong, it was whipping up sand and sparks and flames all over the place. Even if they did decide to let Caius and the others go, the vampires might just catch fire by unlucky accident. It took Demetri and his companions less than three minutes to get to the beach; Ariel and Grace were already there, keeping a safe distance from Renesmee and Seth. Both Renesmee and Seth turned their heads to look at them – she slightly confused, he dead-eyed and apathetic – and then focussed their attention on Bella again.
"She doesn't even perceive us as a threat," Blake said to Charlie, who was spear-heading the little group.
"Why should she? I broke her neck and it didn't make a lick of difference," Charlie replied, laconic, and started carefully heading forward. "Just don't let her touch you; immunity to vampire powers or no, I wouldn't risk it."
Bella and Jasper were the only ones who were awake inside the circle. They were both watching the new arrivals warily.
"Let us out of here," he said, and briefly motioned at the unconscious vampires with a move of his head. "They won't be a threat to anyone for at least another few minutes."
"You betrayed us once and just threatened to kill Leah," Demetri returned. His eyes lingered on poor Chelsea. Hadn't she returned to Volterra with Irina? Why was she here again? If anyone did not deserve to be caught in this mess, it was her. "There's no chance in hell you're getting out of that ring." That was when he felt it: crippling pain shot through his skull, as if someone had shoved a knife into his ear. He drew in a sharp and useless breath, pressed his hands to his temples, and groaned. Was the ground shaking? Was he nauseous?
YOU WILL RELEASE MY MOTHER. SHE WILL COME BACK TO ME AND SHE WILL LOVE ME. The voice was awful, a both low-pitched and screechy, metallic shriek that scratched inside his head like a thousand rats trying to gnaw their way through his brain and skull. I WILL FORGIVE YOU ALL IF YOU BECOME MY TRUE FRIENDS. YOU MUST SEE. ALL OF YOU WILL LEARN TO SEE.
Strong hands gripped him by the shoulders, steadying him. "Stop it, you little hell-beast! You're killing him!"
That was when he realised that he was screaming. "I'll do it! I'll do it! That's what we came here to do!"
"What did she say?" That was Charlie's voice. He might not be able to hear the child in his mind due to his natural shield abilities, but he was no fool.
The pain stopped. Still tottering, Demetri straightened up, blinked, and gave Grace, who was still grabbing his shoulders, an acknowledging nod. Even though she was still visibly worried about him, she let go, and he said, "She wants her mother out of the fire."
Charlie exchanged a little look with Blake and then, with visible effort, forced himself to face his undead daughter again. The shock of seeing her transformed into an inhuman parasite must still be colossal, but probably not as dreadful as knowing that she was a cannibalistic murderer. "If you manage to get here through the flames, we'll put you out." He glared at Jasper. "Not you, though. You stay right where you are."
Jasper smiled sweetly. "For now."
Bella frowned a little. Her eyes darted from Charlie to Demetri and back again. "Will you be able to put me out with that?" She pointed at the fire extinguisher.
"Probably," Demetri said, before Charlie had to tell his only child that there was a good chance she might burn to cinders. "But you won't be able to get past us and live. Even the water is too far away. The flames would consume you before you reached the waves. Don't try to run unless you wish to put an end to your existence." He was still nauseous, as if his stomach hadn't lost the ability to roil a thousand years ago. His own eyes wandered to little Renesmee, who was holding Seth's hand like she would an older brother's. This wasn't a child. This was an abomination. She was much, much worse than Fiora had been, even if she didn't mean to, and he still shuddered to remember all the horror and grief that Fiora had caused purely because she existed.
"I won't run," Bella replied calmly. "You need to promise me that you won't kill him, though." She took Jasper's hand. "I need him."
"That's up to him, now, isn't it?" Blake said, after getting a nod of approval from Charlie. "No-one needs to get hurt."
I WANT MY MOMMY! GIVE ME MY MOMMY!
Renesmee's alien voice roared in Demetri's mind like a hurricane made of acid, and he flinched heavily. His colleagues lying in the sand did the same, even though they were still sleeping.
"Go, Bella," Jasper said, cupped her face, and kissed her, visibly amused by Charlie's own obvious discomfort. "Do your thing. Make me proud. You can do it."
"I will," she said, offered him a hollow little smile, and dashed through the rings of fire. It caught on her, as everyone had known it would; flames licked her face and curled around her limbs and made black smoke rise from her blazing clothes. The stench of it was unbelievable; sweet and sticky and charred and cloying, it burned in everyone's nostrils.
A second later, she was through the flames, collapsing on the sand, writhing and shrieking in mindless agony. Charlie worked with reflexes worthy of a werewolf: he doused her in potassium bicarbonate. For a terrifying moment, Demetri was sure it wouldn't work, that she'd die horribly and that Renesmee would crush them all in a temper tantrum. Then, the flames puffed out, and Bella Swan lay in the sand, whimpering and charred. Her stony skin reformed quickly, as did her hair, but her clothes were gone. It didn't matter. It wasn't as if she could suffer from the cold, and vampires as a rule didn't care much about human notions of modesty.
Charlie dumped the extinguisher, took off his jacket, and covered Bella's body with it. He knelt down and took her into his arms without hesitation. For a moment, he just clung onto her, before he cleared his throat, let go, and got to his feet. His eyes were reddened. The rest of his face was almost as pale as a vampire's. "You're okay, honey," he said, his voice a little raspy. "You're okay."
She was far from okay, and Demetri knew that everyone else was thinking the same thing when he exchanged looks with them. It wasn't his place to comment, though. It wasn't the right moment, either.
Bella hopped to her feet, raised her hands to her face, and stared at them. "They were burning. I was burning. Oh, God. Oh, God!"
"Bella, focus!" That was Jasper. He clearly didn't like being the helpless one for once. Good.
"Yes." She slipped into the huge jacket and zipped it up, which made her look like a child playing dress-up with her dad's clothes. She then started to slowly walk up to Renesmee, who had turned away from the circle and was staring at her, both crying and laughing at the same time. "Renesmee, I am so, so sorry." Bella's voice was monotone as always, but it didn't even matter whether she meant what she was saying, because the girl couldn't resist the offer of affection; her nature did not permit it. Dropping to her bare knees, Bella held out her arms. "Please, let Seth go and come to mommy."
Bursting into voiceless sobs of pure relief, Renesmee let go of Seth's hand and jumped into Bella's waiting arms, hugging her around her neck and pressing her little face against her mother's collarbone. Meanwhile, Seth groaned, closed his eyes, and dropped into the sand as if dead; he wasn't, though.
Demetri could hear him breathing. He looked straight at one of the cameras. "Seth is just sleeping." He dearly hoped this was enough to keep Leah in the security room. She still had her part to play in what was to come, but until the dhampir crisis had been dealt with – if that was at all possible – she should not blindly run into the warzone and expect to survive.
Bella hugged her daughter tightly, picked her up, and rose to her feet. She turned around slowly and locked eyes with her father. "When I decided to become a vampire, I never thought about the fact that I'd put you and mom through horrible pain," she said, rocking her trembling child back and forth. "I never thought about the consequences of my actions, never took anything seriously, never really knew what I was doing. Now I'm stuck like this, and I don't know what's right and what's wrong anymore. I don't know what I'm allowed to do and what I'm not, or if anyone has the right to judge me."
"We might not succeed in stopping you," Charlie said, before one of the werewolves could explode at her, "but we sure as heck can judge you, Bells. Look at you. Look at you. This isn't right. You chose to die and become this…this thing? Never mind the grief you caused me and your mom. Never mind the bullshit you put us through even when you were still just a regular teenager. Never mind all your lies. You killed people. You ate them. You ate human beings." His face fell. Tears welled in his eyes and tumbled down his scruffy cheeks when he blinked. He sniffled, gave Bella a defeated look, and shook his head slowly. "Oh, baby girl, what have you done to yourself?"
"I'm not sure," she replied quietly, her expression level, her body language betraying no emotion whatsoever. "But I am finally willing to do my part to fix what has been broken. I don't want to be a useless lump." She cast Jasper a look over her shoulder. "I want to have a spine. I've made a decision." Dropping to her knees again, she pushed Renesmee away a little and looked her straight in the eye. "The pain that you were put through was my fault – not mine entirely, but I am not exactly blameless in this. I understand that now, and I'm willing to admit it."
Renesmee reached out to touch her mother's face. She was still weeping, but when Demetri heard her voice in his mind telling Bella that all was forgiven, it didn't hurt. It was an illusion of peace, of course. No dhampir could stop trying to spread its influence over more and more and more people. Renesmee would grow and her powers would become even more terrifying, and the world would suffer the consequences. All their meticulous scheming and plotting would be for naught if the girl wasn't stopped. Unfortunately, they were almost out of options. The werewolves needed to decide whether they would take their antidote or not; if they didn't, everyone's lives were at risk. Once the fires burned down, Jasper and Caius and Alec and Jane would be loose. If Bella decided to join forces with her daughter, there would be no stopping them.
He needed to do something, and quickly. His thoughts wandered to Leah, and to what she had said to him earlier that day:
You're a good person, Demetri. You could be just like all the other lee…I mean, vampires I know, but you choose to be good. To me, that's an inherently human quality. You managed to hold onto at least part of who you were before they fucked you up, and knowing that that's possible gives me hope…as does knowing that someone like you and someone like me can be friends.
She'd called him human. For the first time in a long time, he actually remembered what that had been like, and he was grateful to her for that – more than she knew. He knew that if something didn't happen soon, Leah would come storming down here in order to put an end to this mess, and that would end up being the death of her. This was something he could not allow to happen. She was a force for good, complicated as she was – a strong, smart, compassionate, brave woman who deserved a long and happy life. He, on the other hand, already had had two lives: the warm, human one and the cold, undead one. A thousand years were so much more than the majority of people got. Despite the fact that he had never wished for this existence, he was glad that he'd got the chance to see so much, learn so much, meet so many interesting people – people like Leah and Charlie and Blake. People who deserved a life.
"You are what you are, and nobody can fault you for that," Bella said, and made herself smile. It looked dishonest, but the girl clearly didn't notice. "I know what that's like. I believe that our nature is something overpowering, and that it isn't always possible to overcome it. However, I also believe that there comes a time when a person needs to step up and prove that she is capable of doing so, of taking responsibility and protecting what really matters." She leaned in and placed a kiss on Renesmee's round forehead.
Demetri braced himself. He was going to move quickly, without warning, and drag both Bella and the dhampir into the flames with him. He'd hold them down, and in less than a minute, it would all be over. The pain of burning alive would, hopefully, be so great that Renesmee would not be able to compel him to let her go. He'd have to act quickly. He'd-
"I am honestly sorry that I am not able to give you what you need," Bella told the girl, and gently brushed a strand of Renesmee's brown hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry that you are not loved."
At that precise moment, Caius bolted upward, his red eyes wide, his face contorted in shock and pain. "No!"
Without preamble, Bella grabbed Renesmee by her upper arms, pulled her up, whirled around, and tossed the child into the fire.