AN ~ second chapter today, fluffiness over for now coz here come the troublesome trio! dun dun DUNNNN!
Reminder that voting for the FreeWriters One Shot Musical Cues contest starts veeeery soon so start reading! Voting is from the 13th to the 18th, you can find a link to the poll on the FreeWriters One Shot Contests page once voting opens.
Another reminder, I 3 reviews! special thanks to TwilightLover-CarlisleandEsme who has reviewed every chapter, I think...if I could thank all my beloved reviewers the list would go on 4eva so I'm going to shut up now
Disclaimer: twilight not mine :(
Chapter Thirteen: Visitors
Esme:
And so the game continued, with mostly casual banter that only occasionally required my attention. Carlisle scored a home run on his first bat, but a few innings' after that, was stopped before he even stepped up to the plate. It all happened very fast. Too fast for Bella to follow, I'd imagine. Alice's eyes went hazy, and Edward shot up to Bella's side before she could even fathom what had happened.
"Alice?" I asked, my voice strained as I hoped that Edward's determination to protect Bella was not necessary today. This had been going so well...
"I didn't see…I couldn't tell…" Alice whispered frantically as the others gathered around us.
"What is it, Alice?" Carlisle asked, his whole demeanor calm and patient. I wish I could do that. I was so tense, shifting my weight around and fidgeting incessantly as Alice explained.
"They were travelling much quicker than I thought. I can see I had the perspective wrong before."
They? I was puzzled for a moment, then remembered the 'visitors' she had mentioned earlier: strangers.
"What changed?" Jasper asked, leaning protectively over his mate.
"They heard us playing, and changed their path," Alice said, sounding a little nervous and shy, as if she somehow thought it was her fault. She probably blamed herself for organising the game today. I didn't; we needed to do something fun, let loose a little, after such a tense few weeks, and tonight's thunderstorm gave us the perfect opportunity. Otherwise, she was blaming herself for not having seen earlier. I wished she wouldn't: if not for her, we wouldn't see the future at all. We wouldn't even know the strangers were here. Bella would be in so much more danger if not for Alice.
Simultaneously, our gazes all flicked onto Bella: wasn't she what they wanted?
"How soon?" Carlisle asked, turning to Edward.
"Less than five minutes," he replied. I stiffened, the need to shuffle suddenly having disappeared. I took a deep breath, and Bella's scent rushed into my lungs, bringing a thrill of joy and a flood of thirst through me at the same time. I bit my lip and groaned silently.
"They're running. They want to play." Edward scowled, apparently not convinced by our visitors' apparently innocent desire. I swallowed the venom that had begun to seep into my mouth and pushed down my own flaring thirst.
"Can you make it?" Carlisle asked Edward, concerned eyes flickering to Bella again.
"No, not carrying-" he broke off before he could make her feel bad. "Besides, the last thing we need is for them to catch the scent and start hunting." I nodded in agreement.
"How many?" Emmett asked Alice.
"Three," she replied.
"Three! Let them come." Emmett flexed his muscles, always eager to take a challenge.
"Let's just continue the game," Carlisle suggested, though it was really a decision. Everyone had been waiting on his word. "Alice said they were simply curious."
I glanced at Bella – our conversation was probably too fast for her to keep up, but she was listening, so she would have caught at least some of it. She was a smart girl. I smiled at her.
"Are they thirsty?" I whispered to Edward quickly, so that she definitely could not hear: she didn't need to be as panicked as I was. Edward shook his head once and I nearly melted with relief. Perhaps they did just want to join the game after all.
Another shudder ran through me as my entire body was filled with Bella's scent. I just wanted Bella to be part of the family, and that didn't make her scent any easier to ignore. These visitors were a danger, no matter what their intentions.
...
Carlisle:
"You catch, Esme," Edward instructed. "I'll call it now." He planted himself in front of Bella defensively, and the rest of us returned half-heartedly to our game.
"Relax, Esme," I told her, stepping up to the batting plate. Esme crouched behind me. "Nomads pass through all the time. We have nothing to worry about."
The game played on, in total silence, as if we could somehow hide from the strangers. Bella's scent was painfully sharp now, even to me, though not in the same sense. We all knew how good she smelled, and we knew that our senses had been dulled by our diet, so it followed that the strangers would smell it stronger.
"I'm sorry Bella," Edward muttered fiercely; it carried through the empty silence. "It was stupid, irresponsible, to expose you like this. I'm so sorry." Suddenly, his breathing stopped. His eyes locked on right field. Bella's heartbeat quickened.
"Do you hear that?" Esme asked, scarcely more than a breath. I nodded slightly, and Esme stood. The whole family was now facing the sounds: footsteps, coming towards us through the forest.
...
One by one, they came. The two males had cropped hair, and the female's was an enormous banner of curls, a startling shade of red. They wore the kind of clothing one would expect on a hiker, but the garments were frayed and torn with wear, and all three travelers were barefoot.
The second male overtook the first in a showy move that clearly proved who the leader was. Apparently, they knew who the leader was here too: their eyes scrutinized every facet of my appearance as Emmett, Jasper and I went forward to meet them. I realised that I had been doing the same; noting that their leader had smooth black hair and the typical perfect smile. He had olive-toned skin under the vampire white, and was of a medium build. He was the most refined of the three. The female was wild; her posture catlike in both grace and ferocity. The other male appeared casual yet confident, and his features were quite nondescript. Helpful, I couldn't help noticing, when you wanted to stay hidden. Their eyes were matching burgundy red.
"We thought we heard a game," the leader said casually, the slightest French accent in his voice. I allowed myself to relax a little, comforted by his attitude, but I was hardly convinced they had no intention of harming Bella – not that they would try at the present, being outnumbered more than two-to-one.
"I'm Laurent; these are Victoria and James," the leader continued, gesturing to the other two red-eyed vampires.
"I'm Carlisle," I replied. "This is my family: Emmett and Jasper, Rosalie, Esme and Alice, Edward and Bella." I introduced us in groups, rather than pairs, to avoid drawing attention to individuals – particularly Bella.
"Do you have room for a few more players?" Laurent inquired socially.
"Actually, we were just finishing up," I said, in much the same mood as Laurent. "But we'd certainly be interested another time. Are you planning to stay in the area for long?" Jasper glanced at me approvingly, clearly having noticed my underhanded attempt at getting strategic information. The nomads, however, showed no signs of having noticed my ulterior motives. This was probably because of Jasper influencing their levels of comfort and, by association, their levels of trust. We were all starting to feel the effects of his ability.
"We're headed north, in fact," Laurent explained, "but we were curious to see who was in the neighborhood. We haven't run into any company in a long time."
"No, this region is usually empty except for us and the occasional visitor like yourselves."
"What's your hunting range?" Laurent inquired.
"The Olympic Range here, up and down the Coast Ranges on occasion," I said, gesturing to the areas to point them out to the strangers, ignoring the assumption in Laurent's question. "We keep a permanent residence nearby. There's another permanent settlement like ours up near Denali." Laurent rocked back on his heels slightly, amused.
"Permanent?" he wondered, with honest curiosity. "How do you manage that?"
"Why don't you come back to our home with us and we can talk comfortably – It's a rather long story," I said. How we were going to get Bella away from them was another thing entirely, but they were starting to trust us. Maybe that would be enough to give Edward his chance.
"That sounds very interesting, and welcome," Laurent replied, smiling in earnest now. "We've been on the hunt all the way down from Ontario, and we haven't had the chance to clean up in a while." Again, his eyes scanned my appearance.
"Please don't take offense, but we'd appreciate it if you'd refrain from hunting in this immediate area. We have to stay inconspicuous, you understand," I explained.
"Of course," Laurent nodded. "We certainly won't encroach on your territory. We just ate outside of Seattle, anyway." Laurent laughed, but I had to refrain my shudder. Instead, I invited:
"We'll show you the way if you'd like to run with us. Emmett and Alice, you can go with Edward and Bella to get the Jeep." I was glad to have three hundred years of practice at lying under my belt then, but the flawlessness of my attempt to get Bella away from the strangers was scattered in the wind within seconds.
Bella's hair was tossed by a breeze, exposing her scent. James whipped his head around, nostrils flaring, and his eyes bore into her. Edward stiffened defensively, and the rest of us followed a moment later when James lurched forward into a crouch. Edward crouched too, a snarl ripping out of his throat as he bore his teeth at James.
"What's this?" Laurent exclaimed, exaggerating surprise. James feinted to the left, but Edward was ready for him.
"She's with us," I said, leaving no room for misunderstanding. James ignored me. Realisation dawned on Laurent's face.
"You brought a snack?" he wondered incredulously, taking a step forward. Edward snarled again, even more vicious this time, and his lip curled over his teeth like a dog. Laurent stepped back.
"I said she's with us," I repeated firmly.
"But she's human," Laurent protested, amazed rather than aggressive.
"Yes," Emmett said, eyes watching James' every movement. Slowly, James came out of his crouch. Edward did not.
"It appears we have a lot to learn about each other," Laurent said politely.
"Indeed," I agreed, just as calm. Perhaps we could salvage the conversation and sort this out in a civilised manner after all.
"But we'd like to accept your invitation," Laurent continued. His eyes flickered to Bella for a moment before he added; "And, of course, we will not harm the human girl. We won't hunt in your range, as I said."
James flashed a glare at Laurent, and then exchanged a look of exasperation with the redhead female, Victoria. I examined Laurent's expression, but it showed no hints of betrayal or secrecy.
"We'll show you the way," I said. "Jasper, Rosalie, Esme?" They converged beside me, and Emmett backed away slowly, still watching James, to join Bella, Edward and Alice.