Chapter Ninety One

Darius

I had been concerned when I saw Charlie start to feed from Marcus Mendoza, the taste of human blood once experienced never left you and Charlie had only tasted animal blood up to now but I couldn't stop him and I wouldn't have if I could. He wanted the guy to feel the real horror of becoming a victim, just like the girls he smuggled and sold had. Emmett wanted to go in and stop him but I held him back.

"Leave him Em and lets keep this as your secret for now. Its up to Charlie what he does next."

Charlie

Although I knew what I was doing and the risks involved it was the right thing to do, to make the bastard suffer for his sins as his brother would pay for his pretty soon. I hadn't known what to expect but the taste was exquisite, nothing like animal blood at all. It was like the difference between beer and a single malt whiskey. The burn in my throat, a constant since I woke up a vampire had gone for the first time, something animal blood had never managed to do and I understood why so few vampires opted for the Cullen diet. I wasn't at all sure I wanted to go back to animal blood either although the ethical dilemma was something I would need to consider.

We went back to Darius place pleased with our night's work but I still wanted to see the bastard who had kidnapped Bella and murdered Phil and Renee. He wasn't prepared to tell me though and neither were the others, they were worried I might decide to kill him myself. I wanted to, no doubt about that,but at the same time I understood their holding him for Jasper.

When the call came telling us that Felix Volturi had arrived as a live in guest of the CUllens I was glad I'd been out of the way, I'd heard about Felix from Darius and Garrett and he seemed the kind of guy it was best to steer clear of if possible. He wouldn't be interested in me, I was already a vampire but the others thought he might be keeping an eye on Bella too, ready to act if she didn't meet the Volturi deadline.

I decided to return to Seattle as the others weren't going to let me see Mendoza and Emmett would accompany me. He knew Rose would be terrified Felix might decide to take Skye back to Volterra even though they had been assured that they could bring her up.

"Rose is scared stiff of the Volturi so I have to go back Charlie. Besides it doesn't take three of us to watch over Alonso Mendoza, he's not escaping from his prison that's for sure."

I was glad to have Emmett's company truth be told, it had been a long lonely journey down to San Diego, nerve racking amongst all those humans.

"So when are they gonna tell Bella the truth? It's gonna be harder the longer they leave it."

"I know but I have to bow to Carlisle and Rose's knowledge on the subject. I just want to see her happy again. She was so full of joy when she came to tell me about Jasper and getting engaged, I never imagined for a second something would ruin it all so completely."

Emmett was a good travelling companion, he told me about his own transformation but he never gave the impression he was anything more than the luckiest guy alive, he and Rose adored each other just like Carlisle and Esme and Alice and Garrett, the kind of love you rarely saw in the human world, total and utter devotion to each other. I wondered if there might be someone out there for me, after all I hadn't had much luck as a human! It made me think about Bella and Jasper and how lucky she was to have found him before all this happened because he would stick by her, be totally devoted to her and do anything and everything to help her through the trauma. I just hoped she could see that.

As we drove up to the house Rose came out with Skye in her arms to greet Emmett but she gave me a peck on the cheek first.

"Thank God you're back Emmett, he scares me."

"Has he said or done anything to upset you Rosie?"

She shook her head,

"No but he's so intimidating, just being here. The only person who seems oblivious to it is Kat."

As she said this Kat came running out to say Hi to Emmett, he was popular with everyone, and he picked her up and whirled her round his head like a small child.

"Emmett put Kat down, she's too old to be thrown around like that."

He put Kat down and apologised to Esme who stood at the top of the porch steps but the grin never left his face.

As Kat turned and said hello to me I saw a stranger come round the corner from the garage wiping greasy hands on an old rag. This must be Felix and I could see what Emmett meant. He was huge, both tall and broad, but there was no fat on him, it was all muscle and his face looked stern, foreboding even but then Kat called his name and he smiled. I wasn't sure it was any more reassuring than his first expression but Kat didn't seem to notice, she called him over to introduce us.

"Felix, this is Charlie, Bella's dad and Emmett, Skye's daddy."

Felix hand out a hand, or what passed for one, a huge granite like fist and I shook it feeling the pent up #strength he was holding in check. Emmett hesitated then shook hands too. I wondered if he thought Felix might want to test his strength but neither showed any signs of such a challenge and then Kat spoke again.

"I showed Felix my pictures and he liked them. He's going to be staying with us and he's going to teach me to paint with oils."

The thought of this man monster painting with oils was almost comical but we could tell he was in earnest and not just winding Kat up.

Inside Carlisle called me to one side,

"Charlie take a walk with me will you?"

I thought I knew what this was about, someone had split on me about drinking human blood. We hadn't gone far when Carlisle turned to me and I decided to get in first.

"Carlisle I appreciate your concern but I'm all grown up and I make my own decisions. If I get in trouble I'll ask for help but I did what I needed to at the time and I don't regret it one bit."

He looked at me mystified and I cursed under my breath, obviously I'd been wrong.

"I think we may be at cross purposes here Charlie. I wanted to talk to you about Bella.

"Bella? Why? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing, it's just Alice and Garrett went to visit her and Alice thinks she's suspicious. She knows Jasper is hiding something, you too, and she feels it would be best to come clean now. Jasper is going to talk to her today and we think she'll want to see you then so you should be prepared for a call."

I nodded, Alice was right, once Bella got the bit between her teeth there was no stopping her and if she smelled a lie she wouldn't stop until she got the truth. I didn't envy Jasper that conversation one bit.

"Now is there something else you want to tell me?"

I debated telling him no but in the end I blurted out what we had done to Alonso's brother.

"Well as you said CHarlie you are a grown man and able to make your own choices but just be careful, its far easier as a vampire to hunt humans and the lure of their blood will only get stronger the more you taste it. That's all I am going to say on the subject, other than I am always here if you need to talk."