Chapter 46 - Hysteria

The mood in the room was ugly. Charlie sitting across from Billy clutching a shotgun, Jacob, Paul and Leah lined against one wall, Máire, Embry and Matt against the other. Rosalie hovered in the corner, within reach of the patio door, looking like she was ready to bolt.

The crackle of flames roared in the fireplace, but Bella shivered in spite of it. Her father cleared his throat, more commanding than she'd ever seen him. "Now I don't know what the hell was going on here, but that looked to me like this young lady was trying to help and you all were ready to rip her apart." Charlie turned his angry eyes on his future son-in-law and friends. "Until she's had a chance to explain herself, you all will stay put. This is my house and I'm in charge here, treaty be damned."

"You knew?" Paul looked and sounded as surprised as he felt.

"Of course I knew! I grew up listening to stories about all this crazy shit. You think I'm some kind of backwoods Barney Fife? This is my town, Lahote. You'd best be rememberin' that, son."

Bella had only ever heard her dad raise his voice once before. She'd been nothing more than a child, but the memory stuck with her. Things were about to get ugly, really fast. "Dad, he's only trying to understand," she said softly, trying to diffuse the tense situation. The second he turned his angry eyes on her, she knew she'd underestimated the magnitude of her father's rage.

"Isabella Swan, you need to stay out of this. If I'd known back then what that boy was, I'd have shoved him into a cell with Sam and Paul and let him get ripped to shreds. Edward Cullen was lucky he was gone by the time I put it all together." Then he turned his wrath on Billy. "You. All these years we've been friends and I've never said a word. I even forgave you for not cluing me in at the time. Hell, back then I might not have believed you. But so help me God, if you're still hiding things from me after tonight, vampires are the last thing you should fear."

"Now, I reckon this young lady didn't risk her neck to hear me chew all your asses out for nearly scaring the shit out of the neighbors. You're all damn lucky that wind picked up and all it sounded like was a bunch of cracking trees," he stated, gesturing to the blizzard raging outside. "So whatever you've got to say, you'd best spit it out right now."

Rosalie looked pleadingly at Bella, edging closer and closer to the door. When she'd set out on this journey, the last thing she'd expected was to get cornered in a wolf's den. "I didn't come here to hurt anyone. I'm here to help."

Bella nearly choked on her drink, spitting it across the room. "That's rich. I seem to remember that you hated me, or am I wrong?"

"I never hated you. I was trying to drive you away."

"And that's different how?"

"I was trying to save your life."

It all tumbled out. Rosalie found her mouth moving without pretense. Carlisle changing all of them against their will, the visions Alice had as a human child, Jasper's lust for blood and their family's cover-ups, the complete insanity that constantly surrounded them. Then Edward, the deal he'd made with the devil in exchange for Bella. "Alice and Edward have left. I don't know where they are, but Alice, I think she believes you're her sister. Esme was here tonight because she believes if you join our family that Edward and Alice will come back. She's trying to replace what she lost as a human. The chance to be a mother. Emmett and I won't be a part of it. We left. We never wanted this. I swear, I'm only here to help."

Silence descended on the room and Bella could see the muscles beneath Jacob's jaw tensing, his fists clenched tightly by his side. Everything about him wanted to phase, protect and hunt.

"She's telling the truth." Máire looked at Rosalie and then back to Jacob. "Dark and light," she reminded him.

Though Charlie didn't say anything, his father's words tumbled around in his mind. The story of his great grandfather, the things he'd seen and remembered of his mother along with the strange woman that followed them into the woods. Marie Swan was a witch, so far as anyone knew, but Charlie Swan reckoned she must be something more.

He'd been startled to see her standing in the snow, an almost ethereal light emanating from somewhere within her body. Perhaps it was the blood ties of family, or maybe it was foolishness, but he was inclined to trust her. Sean had always believed she'd return, passing that belief down to his own children, just as they had passed it to theirs. Never in his life had Charlie thought she would appear, at least not as long as he lived. Now looking around the room at the gathering of supernatural that had always surrounded his life, he realized that had been nothing more than fantasy.

As if reading his mind, Máire offered little in the way of explanation. "I'm here to protect Bella and you too. How I got here and why I left is a story for another night. Bella already knows as do the shifters and Billy. For now that will have to suffice."

Seeming to take her at her word, Charlie rounded on the wolves again, narrowing his eyes at the young detective. "I found the pictures, Paul. Your ass could have been in a sling if Internal Affairs got wind of you erasing those security tapes."

Much like a thief caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Paul's face registered a mix of disbelief and shock. "Yeah, that's right boy. I've had your number all along, I just enjoyed making you squirm. Don't suppose it would have occurred to any of you that cluing me in might have been a smart move. Christ! I'm the Chief of Police! Didn't you think that I might have been able to help you?" Billy opened his mouth to speak, but Charlie silenced him with one vicious look. "Don't bother handing me that bullshit about tribal secrets, Black. In case you've forgotten, I practically grew up beside your father's knee."

For a few minutes everyone remained silent, maybe a small sense of shame plaguing them under Charlie's red-faced accusations. Letting him in their secrets had been a point of contention more than once between the wolves and council. While they were so busy trying to cover their tracks, he'd put it all together without any help. Now there was hell to pay. Jacob grimaced, realizing that he'd unwittingly pissed off his future father-in-law two days into their engagement. It wasn't a good start.

Charlie picked up the rifle sitting next to him, cradling it like a child would a security blanket. His only daughter was in danger and damn if he was gonna sit with his thumb up his ass and let everyone else handle it. Charlie Swan wasn't cut from that kind of cloth. "If Edward Cullen is coming back here, then I wanna know what to do about it. More to the point, I wanna know how to kill the son of a bitch."

Bella had been unusually silent absorbing everything that was said. When Rosalie opened her mouth to speak again, she'd had enough. "You need to leave. Thanks for coming, but this isn't your problem." Just having Rosalie there was like a punch to the gut. A rotten piece of her past stinking up the present. The scars on her wrist began to throb and itch. The memory of Edward's venom clawing its way toward the surface again.

"It is my problem." Rosalie squared her shoulders. "Bella, do you remember the painting? Carlisle and the Volturi. After tonight, they'll hunt me. I've turned on my family. Caius is coming... he won't stop until he has you. You, Edward and Alice. You need my help."

"Help?" she blinked, "HELP?" Hysteria bubbled up inside her and Bella didn't care if she looked like a lunatic or not. Ignoring Rachel's comforting arm across her shoulders, she leapt up from her seat on the couch. A chorus of growls reverberated behind her when she strode up to the vampire then ripped the wide silver bracelet from her wrist. "The last time one of you tried to HELP me, I almost turned into a meal for James." The criss-crossed mess of scars pulsed wildy above the cords of thick blue veins. Bella could feel them, trying to jump out of her skin. "Get a good look. This is what happens when venom gets left in someone's body for too long."

Rosalie's nostrils flared, the scent of her brother warmed by the blood pumping furiously beneath Bella's cream-colored flesh. Without meaning to, her fingers reached out, tracing the pattern of their own accord. What happened next, Bella couldn't remember. The warm touch of Jacob's hands were on her shoulders and then a flash of blinding light exploded beneath her eyelids.

From somewhere in the room a rush of voices talked as she strained to hear them. Her limbs felt heavy, slogged down as if in the grave. I can't be dead, she thought. Not now. Not here. Bella struggled against the weight of her eyelids, trying desperately to force them open. She could feel Jacob next to her, smell the mixture of snow and sun on his skin.

Old Quil and Billy talked above her. Rachel's soothing voice distant in the room. A thousand needles pricked her wrist, the wild itch stinging and burning like nettles. "Bells, honey, open your eyes, baby. Open them for me."

Bella pushed harder, wanting to obey Jacob's frightened voice. Ever so slowly, she could feel the life coming back to her body, the sounds around her becoming more and more clear. Her eyelids felt like glue on her cheeks and something cool dripped down her forehead.

"Jake," she croaked, slowly seeing the lines of his worried face pull into focus. "What happened?"

Jacob blew out a sigh of relief. "Just a deep faint, honey. You're alright. Nothing happened to you."

"I want to go home. Please, take me home." Tears leaked down her cheeks, mixing with the rivulets of water from the cool washcloth that had been placed on her forehead. It was too much. All of it too much and she wanted to get away. To lay in bed with Jacob and forget everything that happened.

"Soon, sweetheart," he cajoled, squeezing her hand. "I promise."

ooo000ooo

They slipped through the forest like ghosts in the night, their light footfalls covered instantly by the swirl of blowing snow. Wolves, Fairies and Vampires travelling deep into the woods, across the heart of sacred Quileute land.

Sue had already arrived when they landed on the steps of the longhouse. Thin, buttery light and the smell of dried herbs and licorice root poured out of the open doorway as they filed inside. Old Quil sat in a rocker beside the hearth, smoke rings from his father's wooden pipe in his hands circling around his head.

His black eyes stared transfixed at Rosalie. Never before had a cold one been allowed safe passage through their land. There was no time for welcomes and he had none to give. The last half hour had been passed in silent thought. Now his words seemed to echo off the musty walls, shaking loose the dust from the rafters.

"It would seem that Billy was right after all. There is still evil lurking beneath her skin." Taking a long pull off the pipe, he chose his next words carefully, not ready to fully trust the cold one with his secrets. "An impediment, if I'm not mistaken."

"I think you may be right," Leah agreed, turning to her mother. "Can it be removed?"

Sue shook her head, unsure of how to help. "I can take her to the clinic, but it's not a hospital. I'm not a surgeon. If we cut open her wrist, we risk damaging her nerves or worse. She could bleed out on the table."

In the corner of the room, Máire prayed to Danu to give her guidance, wishing she had time for the proper offerings needed to see. This was beyond her skill, beyond the magic of her people. It was in her power to heal, but even on the field of battle, swords must be removed from the breast or else the flesh closed around them. She longed for the knowledge of her people, for those whose power it was to reach inside the body and pluck forth the offending object.

"I can help." The normally hardened voice was soft and tentative, almost inaudible to the others in the room. "I can smell it, see it. I know where the nerves are and how to suture a vein." Sue's face must have registered some surprise, because a brilliant smile pulled across Rosalie's face, making her appear almost human. "Johns Hopkins," she shrugged, thinking of how those years she'd spent practicing on cadavers hadn't been in vain. "Carlisle made us," she stated, as though it was normal for every father to force their children through medical school. Of course, if you were a Cullen, made into an immortal by a mad scientist, attendance was mandatory whether you wanted to or not.

"No." Embry's hard eyes focused on the enemy. "You're not getting near her blood. I won't allow it." The very idea had his wolf screaming in outrage. "Jacob won't allow it."

Leah looked between her mother and Rosalie, torn between what was right and what might end Bella's suffering. Nobody else knew what it was like to live with the reminder of your past branded on your skin. If it were possible to excise Sam from her memory, she might have leapt at the chance. "I don't think it's up to us," she whispered.

Máire reached for Matt's hand, needing the magic within him to see. Only moments later she opened her eyes and addressed the room. "It will be alright. Danu has let me see. Bella will not be harmed."

"Grandmother, do you really think this is wise?" questioned Matt. "Exposed, our blood is too potent, too tempting for a vampire."

"Light and dark. Good and bad. There is always a balance in nature. Bella is not balanced. This is the way."

Embry roared, angered beyond words at his imprint. "Jacob will never allow this thing anywhere near Bella's blood. You're out of your mind! I'm not going to allow it! She'll suck her dry and then run."

Unfazed by his anger, Máire sidled closer to Rosalie and searched her eyes. "You've never tasted human flesh." It wasn't a question, but Rosalie answered anyway. "No. I have killed my enemies, but by my hand, not for thirst. I never wanted this life. I won't take away from another what was ripped from me." Máire's heart recognized hers and the longing in it. Both had suffered the loss of a child, one in reality and the other in dreams.

Old Quil smiled at the exchange, wisely understanding what was taking place. "Perhaps an agreement can be made. It would be far too dangerous for Jacob or even you, Embry, to be in the same room when it is done. However, I believe that Leah can control the wolf inside of her. Máire and Mathúin won't allow any harm to come to Bella and will be there too."

Again, Embry looked at Rosalie. The stone of her skin glittered near the fire. In life she might have been alluring, but immortality had twisted all such beauty, leaving not much more than a monster in her place. "If any harm comes to Bella, you'll die pleading for mercy at my hand."

Rosalie nodded her head in agreement, hoping that to be true. "That's a promise I expect you to keep."

AN: So a few answers, finally? The way this story started was me thinking one night about how the venom might have affected Bella and what the ramifications would be.

Thanks to all of you who have sent me such kind messages wishing me luck with my Novella, A Thousand Words. It's appreciated more than you know.