This Chap: This was a completely on-my-own chapter. No Twilight or Midnight Sun to help out!
Disclaimer: characters are not mine :(
Chapter Fifteen: Worth It Esme:At the highest speed Bella's truck could manage, we were headed north; forest and mountains there made a sensible attempted hiding place for Bella. Rosalie continued to grumble to herself about how stupid this whole mess was, and after a while I gave up trying to intercede.
Silent, I stared out the window, barely noticing how much we were bouncing up and down. In my lap, my fingers restlessly twisted my wedding ring. I couldn't help thinking of Carlisle; the pained determination in his eyes when he decided to join the hunting party. I prayed it would not come to a hand-to-hand fight. Between them, Carlisle and Jasper could out-strategy anyone any day - but only Jasper was the trained fighter. Only he would make it out of an unplanned confrontation.
I ground my teeth together in anxiety but also rage: how could we have let those strangers get so close? We had been so focused on Bella, we had not given enough thought to the defense of our family. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
"DUCK!" Rosalie screeched, wrenching the wheel to one side. I covered my head with my hands as an angry orange flare bounced over the cabin and smashed the windscreen. Sparks spewed from the end of it, making irrationally loud sizzling noises as they settled harmlessly on Bella's clothes. Thankfully, the flare rolled off the dashboard as the old red truck forced itself through the tight U-turn Rosalie commanded of it.
I drew in shallow, rapid breaths of air. I could smell Victoria, but I couldn't figure out where. Suddenly, her hair flickered in the night like a signal tower. She was in the forest, headed back to Forks - the same way we were now facing.
"Screw this piece of crap," Rosalie muttered, jerking the truck to a loud halt by the side of the road.
"We have to get to Charlie before she does," I breathed. The death of the Chief of Police would cause an uproar in the town - especially coupled with the mysterious disappearance of his daughter and the strange Cullen family. Not to mention what it would do to Bella.
"Are you coming or not?" Rosalie called, already out of sight. Pulling myself together, I shot after her.
...
Crashing through the undergrowth towards Charlie's place, my anger and determination lost its strength and fear returned to twist my gut.
Oh God, oh God, oh God, I fretted as branches whipped my face, stinging my eyes, nearly making me lose track of Rose a few times. What are we doing? This is insane! We can't fight her!
"Stupid. Inconsiderate. Twat." Rosalie hissed to herself, wisely ducking the branches that were snapping off against my face. "Why Bella, hmm? Why that clumsy danger-magnet? So typically Edward...blach... Honestly, who else would do that? Fall in love with a human, really..."
Love.
That's why we were doing this. For Bella and for Edward, who had been made so much happier by the mere existence of this girl. He didn't care that she was clumsy - or, as it seemed, a 'danger-magnet.' I didn't care either. I didn't know much about that girl. As far as I could tell, she was nothing too out of the ordinary - timid, a little awkward and lacking in self-confidence, and of course clumsy. But one thing overcame all my fears, made me more determined and prepared than ever to face the dangers we now did. That one thing marked Bella as different; as the single most important human being on this earth, if one were to make such judgments.
She loves Edward. ...
Carlisle:
The silence was awkward. Edward struggled to keep his eyes on the road, glancing apologetically at me every few seconds. He knew there was nothing he could say, though; I didn't even know what I wanted him to assure me of. Esme would be safer once this was taken care of? That Bella was important enough, that she deserved this? That killing James was the right thing? Part of me knew that was the case. Another part insisted that this was wrong, that there had to be another way.
Oh, really, and what way is that?
I frowned, crossing my arms over my stomach. All this indecision was making me feel ill. I hated it; not having an answer, nor the time or resources to find one. Some great, inspiring leader I turned out to be.
"What's on your mind, pops?" Emmett asked, leaning forward to tap me on the shoulder.
"Oh..."
"Complex, wordy ways of blaming himself for everything," Edward explained for me, with the dryness of a joke without humour.
"So the usual," Emmett shrugged. He cuffed me on the shoulder in a brotherly and laughed. "Loosen up, man. Have some fun. This guy's gonna give us a chance to use our full potentials. Isn't that what you always say?"
I couldn't help smiling.
"I'm glad one of us will be enjoying ourselves," I said.
"Yeah, now that's more like it." Emmett laughed, and Edward and I joined him with a little less enthusiasm.
...
"Over there," Edward said, pointing with one hand as he turned the wheel with the other, pulling the car over to the side of the road. Emmett immediately headed to the back of the Jeep to get the bags of equipment we would need to destroy the body and fabricate evidence. Edward shot off into the trees without waiting for his brother, and I had to follow; Edward was our only way of finding James, and he was faster than the both of us. Even at my full speed, I could only just keep him in sight; he was far too anxious to bother slowing down for us.
Edward, wait. We must stick together.
I stopped, and Edward appeared beside me a moment later. He looked mad, but he understood where I was coming from. A second or so later, Emmett arrived with the backpack and duffel bag. Edward was quick to lay out a plan. No doubt he had been formulating it on the drive.
"I'll go ahead, Carlisle in the middle and Emmett at the back, incase James doubles back," Edward said. "There's an abandoned hut over there -" he gestured north-east "- which we'll try and get him to. If not, we may have to go undercover in the city. He was planning to do so himself, and we don't want to let that happen - Laurent was right; James is just as good at fitting in as we are. Maybe even better."
With that, he turned and sped off, determined not to let James outside of his three-mile mind-reading radius. Preparing for a grueling day of wild-goose-chasing at break-neck speed, I sprinted after my oldest-yet-youngest son.
...
Hours later, when the sun was high in the sky, Edward finally relented - temporarily, of course. I was glad for the respite, however short; I wasn't puffing for breath or any of that, but it had certainly been a strain to try and keep up. I was feeling the burn, as they say.
Sticking close to each other, we went for a quick hunt. Edward was the first finished of the three of us, and yet he seemed to have fed the most too. He wanted to make sure his senses were at their strongest to protect Bella. Watching the determination in those wary eyes made me even more certain that this - saving Bella, making sure the two of them could stay together - was the right path. Yours is a dangerous love, my son, I told him as we set off again. In the near future, it could cost you both more than you can imagine right now. Don't be scared. Everybody makes sacrifices for love. Love is always worth it.