A/N: Is anyone else thrown off with the whole day light savings time? I know I keep thinking it is earlier than it really is. LOL. I hope everyone is doing well. From here on out, there will be a buildup of action. Not everything at once, however, there will be a progression. I know what is going to happen overall, but I still have not decided what to do about Edward. Should he live or die? You make the call. Let me know in a review or PM.
Chapter 40 – Discovered
Scenario after scenario played out in the police chief's head. If, and that was a huge "if", what Carlisle said was true, then it should be virtually impossible to escape. If. However, if the doctor and his family were just delusional, then Charlie knew he should be able to make a clean getaway with the family being none the wiser for the time being. Did he risk it?
He had been sitting in that room trying to come up with the easiest and best course of action. Periodically, he would get up and stare out the windows, gaging the terrain, distance to the ground, and what the best escape path would be. He knew going out the door was out because there seemed to always be someone downstairs. The window in his room would be the safest bet, but there was no balcony and it was a straight drop. The dirt below would offer him some padding, however, he wasn't as young as he used to be and while he might have tried something that stupid as a rookie cop or hell even in his teen years, he would probably hurt himself if he tried it now; especially given the fact he was still recovering from his ordeal with Paul. Calling someone was also an option, but when he had tried Billy the day before, his old friend had told him in was in a safe place. Apparently Billy didn't realize how crazy the Cullen's were, and wasn't it his friend that always told him to stay away from the Cullen family. What had changed? Charlie couldn't worry about that now. Right now, he had to think of a way to escape, and now that he had been in that room for over 48 hours, he decided to just go with his gut. It had kept him alive thus far.
Pulling off the top sheet from the bed, he tried to rip the flat sheet down the middle and only succeeded becoming breathless. His head was throbbing now, but he would not give up. Yanking the fitted sheet off, he tied that to the fitted sheet and quietly opened the window. Yes, it was stupid and he would probably wind up falling anyway. Yes, this only seemed to work in movies and cartoons, but it was the only option he had at the moment. He tied one end to the bed, deciding it was the heaviest and sturdiest thing in the room, and threw the other end out the window closest to the closet door. Out the other window, there were other windows below his and the back patio. If he wanted to get caught, that would be the fastest way to do it. Luckily the window he chose did not have windows below his and had a dirt ground instead of a wooden deck. Landing on the deck would have been louder and left no cushion were he to plummet to his doom.
"Charlie," a female voice called from the other side of the door, "You really don't want to do that. You won't make it. Plus before you make it all the way down, the sheets are going to come apart and you'll fall to the ground."
How did she know? How could anyone know what he had been planning? Okay the sheets probably gave it away, but he had just thrown them out the window less than a minute ago. Clearing his throat, he asked, "What are you talking about?"
"You could always try it and see what would happen, but considering you still have a concussion, do you really want to go down that road. Besides, someone will find you before you can even get up from the ground. And I really don't think you want to land down there. Esme just put a bunch of fertilizer down there because that is where she is going to plant some roses. It kind of smells."
He had had enough! How could she know? Was it even possible that Carlisle had been telling the truth? Could he be dreaming this because of the stories the doctor told him? It was possible this was all a dream. Pinching himself, Charlie remained where he was. "Well, it's not like that would really work anyway," he muttered softly.
"What wouldn't work?"
Had she heard him? That wasn't possible. He had been practically whispering and the door was still closed, and with the wind rustling through the trees, his words would have been covered up by the sounds of the leaves blowing against each other. Stopping over to the door, he ripped it opened and found the petite woman who had looked so familiar to him. He would not let that dissuade him or distract him, "How did you know what I said?"
"I heard you," Alice grinned.
"That's not possible."
Looking past him, she could see blue sheets thrown out the window and told him, "Carlisle already explained what we were. I know you are wondering if you can believe him or not, but regardless if you accept it or not, it's true. The sooner you can accept it and believe him, the better it will be for you."
"Better for me?" Charlie crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her, "That seemed like a threat."
She shook her head, "It wasn't a threat, but you are about to see and experience things most people never experience. There are things in this world that you cannot reason through with human logic, and no amount of human reasoning or explanations will help you to understand what you are about to witness."
"You keep saying human."
"Isn't that what you are?"
"Aren't you?"
"No. Have you ever seen eyes this color before? They almost seem like contacts, don't they? They aren't. I just fed, so my eyes are lighter. As I get hungry, they will turn blacker."
"Uh-huh. And you eat…?
"I drink the blood of animals. Carlisle already explained this. We are different from most of our kind because we don't want to drink the blood of humans. If we did, our eyes would be red."
Something within him told him to believe everything she was saying, and yet, he still fought it, "Look, I don't know what you teenagers are sniffing these days or what kind of brainwashing… AHHH!" One minute he was talking and the next, he was lifted into the air. High into the air. The ceilings in the house had to be at least thirteen feet, and he was sure he could reach out and touch the one above his head if he wanted to.
"Do you still believe I'm on drugs or something? Believe me when I say, I am exerting no effort in lifting you."
Charlie looked down. She had one hand on each side of his waist and had him hovering in the air with just her hands. She didn't even look winded. How? He wanted to believe it couldn't possibly be true, but maybe, just maybe, Carlisle and Alice were not completely delusional. "I got it. Can you put me down now?" As soon as his feet hit the ground, he narrowed his eyes and inquired, "How did you know I was thinking about going out the window?"
She tilted her head to the side and studied him for a moment before explaining, "Some of us have gifts. Jasper can help control emotions or make someone feel something they hadn't been feeling at the time. Edward can read minds. And then I can see the future. It was all hazy with you until you made the decision to actually jump out the window, and I saw exactly how that would end. Let's just say you would have needed immediate medical attention."
Furrowing his brow, the chief thought about what she said and then asked, "Jasper can control emotions?"
"Don't worry. He isn't using that on Bella. I'm sure she would deck him if he did. She knows about his gift though. The other reason you need to accept what you have been told… Bella will be arriving in a few hours."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that she is still your daughter, but she has gone through some changes."
"What the hell did your brother do to her?"
"Nothing she didn't want and nothing that wasn't necessary. You can talk to her when they return. Until then, it is safer if you close the window and stay in the house. If you want to come out of the room, it's fine, but don't step foot outside. Edward and James are on their way back." She left him standing there with more questions than he had before, and part of her felt guilty for it, however, she couldn't stand there any longer without saying something he was not prepared to hear. Her mate had a long way to go before he was willing to accept her in his life.
In the woods close to the Canadian border…
They were on their way back to Forks… back to danger and who knew what else they would find, but Bella and Jasper couldn't stay away, couldn't let their friends fight this war on their own. The brunette might still have a long way to go before she could completely control herself, however, she was further along than most newborns her age.
Soon after crossing the border though, she had asked if they could stop once more and feed. While it was true she had fed just a few hours before, she wanted to be sure she was so full, she would not be tempted by a human's scent. Jasper had told her it wouldn't make a difference, and it probably wouldn't, but she would take every precaution she could not to hurt people she knew.
It was probably a good thing they had stopped. After feeding, the winds had changed direction and Bella was soon smelling something god awful. If she could have, she would have thrown up all of the blood she had just drank. What the hell was that? She had smelled animal corpses while up at the cabin, but this was so much worse. Looking at her mate, she asked, "What is that, JW?"
Frowning, Jasper started to move in the direction of the stench. It almost smelled like one of the wolves from the Quileute pack, but this far North West? How was that even possible? "Stay behind me." He wanted her to go back to the truck, but if it really was a wolf then he needed to be cautious and that meant keeping his mate close to him.
Closer and closer they creeped, and soon they found a naked body on the ground. Bella jumped in front of him, and if he hadn't caught her in time, she would have been at the body before he could blink. "Stay behind me. It could be a trap!" Jasper growled.
Instinct had taken over and she had wanted to help the person if she could. Nodding, she stepped behind her mate and tried not to breathe. There was no possible way she would be enticed to bite that person, not with that stench. It was worse than rotten eggs that had been sitting too long after Easter.
Jasper's eyes scanned the area around the body. He took in a deep breath to make sure nothing and no one else was around and almost gagged on the smell. This was worse than those dogs on the reservation. His gift reached out to make sure he wasn't missing anyone or anything. They may be able to hide their presence from his eyes, and the smell covered up other smells, but there was no way a person or thing could shut down their emotions. It wasn't possible… unless they were a robot, and although technology had come a long ways, it still had a ways to go before that was possible. Nothing was around. At least not any longer.
Reaching the body, he gently flipped it onto its back and gasped. It really was one of the wolves from the reservation and he looked hurt. It was a miracle he wasn't dead. What was he doing here? He should have been with the rest of the pack guarding the tribe. "Jared. Jared!" Jasper called out to see if the man would respond. He didn't. He shook his shoulder and received an answering groan, but the pack member never opened his eyes. Shit! This is not something he had planned for. "Darlin', I need you to listen to everything I say. I'm goin' to pick him up and carry him to the truck. We need to get him back to the reservation. I want you to take my keys, walk in front of me, and open up the truck for me. Don't go more than a few paces in front of me. I'm not sure what got him, but I don't want to take the chance it's still out there. Jared's in pretty bad shape, but he's still alive and we need to get him outta here."
"Shouldn't we get him to a hospital?"
Jasper shook his head, "He needs to be taken to the reservation. A hospital can't help him."
"What's he doing all the way out here?"
"I have no idea, darlin'. And quite honestly, I would rather get out of here now than to ponder it any further. Here's my keys. Remember to stay just a couple of paces in front of me. I'll be right behind you. We need to move quickly." He bent down and lifted the unconscious body into his arms and turned around. "Alright, let's git goin'."
Together they rushed back to the truck, and although Jasper briefly contemplated putting the wolf in the bed of the truck to get away from the stench, he knew that wasn't going to do the half dead man any favors. Placing the big man across the back seat and covering him up, Jasper told his mate to get in, and soon they were on their way. Why had a wolf wandered so far away from his pack? It didn't make any sense, however, the southern vampire knew one thing – he had to get Jared back to the pack as quickly as possible.
Pulling out his phone, he dialed the number for the alpha and got voice mail. Who knows when the leader would get the message? That did him no good and instead he hung up on the voice mail recording and dialed another number, "Billy. It's Jasper Hale. I just crossed the border with Bella and we found Jared lying unconscious in the woods near the border. I'm not sure what the hell he was doing this far north or what happened to him, but he's in rough shape. We put him in the truck and are driving towards the reservation now."
"I'll have Sam meet you at the border," Billy said quickly. He honestly wasn't sure why one of the pack members would be alone or near the border either, and he wished to God he did know. Sometimes he still longed to be one of the pack, to be able to transform and hear the others' thoughts, but his time never came and it was up to the younger generation to deal with the crisis they now faced.
Nothing more needed to be said and both men hung up the phone. There were still so many questions and Jasper knew the likelihood of hearing an explanation from the alpha or anyone else associated with the pack would be slim to none. Fuck! He had a bad feeling about this.
Red eyes had watched as two vampires carried the wolf to a truck. She had just been about to rip out the wolf's heart when she heard others coming and could smell more like her. She had to get out of there or risk being seen, and then she found a truck that smelled like the vampires and she hid from view. They had carried her prey away and had driven off. Were these the ones she had been sent to find?
Reservation…
As soon as Billy hung up the line, he turned around and gave the pack leader a hard stare, "Jared was found close to the Canadian border and he's been hurt. What happened?"
"He was following a leech," Sam responded. He had been there giving a report to the elders when Billy answered his phone.
"Following…? Why didn't he stop pursuit?"
"He came upon it as it was about to grab a hiker. He was given permission to track it and kill it."
"Jasper and Bella found him. They are bringing him here. I want you to meet them at the border. Jared is unconscious and hurt. If you need to, take others with you or you can take my truck. Bring him to my house. We will take care of him ourselves."
Nodding, Sam agreed and left the gathering. When he had told his beta he could follow the vampire, the alpha had not been expecting his friend to be hurt. They had all seen the fight and knew he was hurt. He had even sent search parties out to find their pack mate, but it was like he disappeared. No one could find him anywhere, of course, no one expected he was near the Canadian border. And now they would be indebted to the Cullen leeches. What the hell kind of vampire was Jared Cameron chasing that he had not been able to destroy it… or at least get in a few swipes. From what Sam had been able to see, his friend had been on the losing end from the beginning and that shouldn't have been possible.