Chapter Thirty Five

Carlisle

Edward's call told me several things, he hadn't run as we suspected, he had been close until very recently and had been watching Jasper and Bella. It also told me something that hurt me deeply, he had betrayed us to the Quileutes and put all our lives in imminent danger. They had accepted that a rogue animal had been responsible for the deaths and that both Bella and Charlie were dead. The only way they could know the truth was if someone told them and that person could only have been Edward, but why?

I collected the others together and explained the situation,

"We have to leave right now and you have a choice, we could leave, get as far from the Quileutes as we can. I doubt they will pursue us far, they will be much more interested in hunting down Jasper and Bella. Or we can arrange a rendezvous and stand by them. I'll warn them but as they are already up in the mountain their best bet would be to head for the Canadian border. It will lead the wolves away from us and give me time to contact Eleazar, see if he will join us and help to protect them. I have no doubt Jasper can look after himself but he's going to need help if he is to save Bella as a newborn."

As I expected there was no dissension, everyone would stand by Jasper and Bella but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that Edward was a traitor and must die if we survived a war with the wolf pack.

Jasper was interested to hear that Edward's gift had not returned although I wasn't sure the information would be of much help in fighting the wolves and he was grateful to hear that we would meet up with them over the border to fight alongside them. I could hear the pent-up rage in his voice as he understood just how much danger Edward had put Bella in.

"Why though Carlisle? What does he gain by Bella's death? Is he that scared of her?"

"I would imagine he's more interested in getting you killed than Bella. He's frightened of what you will do to him if you ever catch up with him and without his gift he won't hear you coming."

"But he said he'll be getting his gift back soon, how does he know that when even Bella doesn't know how long her influence over his gift will last?"

I think we both saw the answer to that question at the same moment but I vocalized it first.

"My God, he thinks that by killing Bella he will break the hold she has over him and get his gift back. He would see setting the wolf pack on the two of you as the best way to kill her, the safest way for him. He is even more devious than I could have imagined."

"Right now I'm more concerned with the wolf pack than him, they know we broke the treaty and if Edward told them where we are then they may already be on their way."

"No. Unless Edward deliberately held off on warning me and I doubt that we have a little time. Sam will want to do this properly. He'll speak to the elders first and get their blessing but you should move quickly even so. We'll meet you over the border, I'll tell Eleazar what has happened and see if he will meet up with us there. We going to need all the help we can get if the entire pack appears and I fear it will."

After speaking to Jasper we left for the rendezvous but I thought of one other thing I could try to avert a war between ourselves and the wolves. The Quileute guardians wouldn't stop until either we or they were wiped out and if the Volturi heard of it they might well declare war on all the guardian tribes in retribution. Edward could be responsible for starting a genocide and I had to try anything that might avert such carnage.

I had no idea how to contact the guardian leader, all I knew was that he lived among the Inuit peoples in Alaska but Eleazar might so I rang him, fingers crossed, and after telling him of the changing situation and our plan I asked him if he knew how I could contact the guardian chief. He was stunned that I might even try such a long shot but he told me what he knew about Johnny H which was enough to give me a fighting chance of speaking to him directly.

When I got in contact with the elders of the community they were reluctant to even speak to me and I was forced to explain this was potentially a matter of life or death for us all. Then I was given another number and what sounded like an elderly woman answered. I explained the situation again and asked if I could speak to the leader of the guardians.

"What makes you think he would help even if he wanted to? A war that wiped out your kind would seem a good outcome for us Carlisle Cullen."

"A war that leads to the mass slaughter of guardians and vampires alike is not a solution it's a tragedy."

"But you are responsible for breaking the treaty you brokered with the Quileutes so what did you expect? And trying to hide the fact only makes you more guilty."

"There was no alternative. My son's mate was dying, it was the only way to save her."

"Save her? I'm not sure we see things in the same way. Isn't it also true that it was your own "son" who committed the atrocities? And attempted to frame the Quileutes for it? I really don't see why you expect us to help you."

"Edward will be caught and punished for what he did but please do not condone the death of so many for the actions of one."

"I will pass your message along but I'm not sure it will do any good."

"Please, if I could just speak to Johnny H myself."

"That's not possible Carlisle Cullen but be assured I will pass the message to him and then it is for him to decide what, if any, action to take. Goodbye."

She cut me off and I wondered if I had even gotten my message across. Who was that woman? Why was I given her number? I knew Johnny H was a man so what position did she hold in the guardian hierarchy? All I could do now was pray he would get my message and act and in the meantime join the rest of my family and stand or fall with them.

Jasper

I explained the situation to Emmett and Bella and we took off for the border but Bella still needed to hunt so we were forced to stop for a while when we came across a small group of elk drinking at a stream. I sensed the wolves weren't far behind us but if Bella was thirsty then with a newborn's lack of control she could be as dangerous to us as she would be to the wolves.

It was good to know that Edward hadn't gotten his gift back yet. Perhaps he was right in his belief that Bella's gift would continue to work on him as long as she lived. Of course, if we were right about rage triggering it that made her even more dangerous to any of us who were gifted, Eleazar and me especially. Once she saw the wolves attack she wouldn't be able to control her anger and as I would be fighting for our lives I couldn't concentrate on calming her. It was going to be an extremely dangerous situation for all of us.

Bella had tried to persuade Emmett to join the others,

"You should be with Rose if she's in danger."

But he just shook his head, he knew the wolves would be concentrated on finding us, the rest of the family were just an incidental for now. The real danger for them would come if the wolves caught up with us before we reached the others and killed us.