Chapter Twenty Nine
Carlisle
She might not know it but Rosalie's actions were probably putting us in more danger than Edward's ever had. She was going to ever more extreme lengths to upset Bella who was the innocent in all this and I decided I would have to speak to her firmly. I called her into my study one evening after the others had gone to hunt and we were alone. She sat down sulkily dropping her bag,
"Well?"
"This has got to stop Rosalie."
"What?
"You know very well, this tormenting Bella. She hasn't done anything to you and now she's becoming more suspicious that you are responsible, Edward told me. You do realize if she tells her father then we might have an official visit from him. We cannot afford for that to happen."
"Why? It's no more dangerous than having his precious daughter hanging around all the time."
"Rosalie, Edward is in love with Bella Swan and you have to accept that. You cannot continue to make her life a living hell, it isn't fair."
"Lets move away then. Edward can stay here with his precious human if he likes. The wolves would just love that. You are aware they are friends with Bella's father?"
"I am but we have a treaty and they won't break it unless we do."
"Are you sure about that Carlisle?"
"Yes Rosalie I am. I have to tell you that if you don't desist I will be forced to ask you to visit Carmen and Eleazar for a while until you calm down."
She looked at me shocked by my last words,
"You'd send me away?"
"You are leaving me with no other option."
I think things might have become more heated if there hadn't been a shout from downstairs calling for me. From the tone of Esme's voice it was trouble and Rose looked terrified but I patted her arm,
"Don't worry Rosalie, there are no humans around, no heartbeats."
She nodded and followed me downstairs to find Emmett standing with a woman in his arms, a vampire and a badly injured one.
"What happened Emmett? Who is she?"
He shook his head,
"Don't know, there was a wolf attacking her when we got there, Esme and I heard the cries for help in the forest but don't worry Carlisle…"
He added the last seeing the look of concern on my face,
"We didn't cross the treaty line but it was a close thing. We couldn't leave her to be ripped to pieces by one of the guardians."
I motioned for him to set her down on the couch and examined her, there were some nasty bites on her arms and neck but she was already healing, watching us with confused red eyes.
"Rose, run into my study and get some blood from the fridge, she needs to feed and it's obvious she's a human hunter. Quickly."
Rose ran back upstairs our argument forgotten in the concern for the girl laying here. I didn't try to question her until she had emptied the blood bag Rose handed her and Esme helped her sit up. The wounds were healing but she would be left with noticeable scars from the wolf's teeth.
"Hello, I'm Carlisle Cullen, this is my wife Esme, my son Emmett and my daughter Rosalie. Can you speak now?"
She nodded and handed the empty bag to Esme,
"Thank you for saving my life. I've never come across wolves like that before. What are they?"
"Guardians, they hunt our kind, protect their tribe, these are Quileutes."
"Guardians? I've never heard of such creatures. Sorry, my name is Charlotte Scott, well it was before I became a vampire. I've heard of you Carlisle and your family, I was trying to find you when I ran into the wolf."
"You were looking for us?"
"Yes, I escaped from the southern covens and I've been running ever since. A nomad called Garrett told me about you, he said you would help me to find somewhere I could stay, safe from Pedro."
"Pedro? He doesn't come this far north I assure you. You were safe once you crossed the Mexican border. I was under the impression the Volturi sorted out that problem a long while ago. When did you escape? How long have you been running?"
"I don't know, some years. I escaped with another girl, we were about to be culled from the army. We hid out for a long time further south, we were confused and frightened. Then we started to move north but we were pursued so we had to turn south again. That went on for a long time but eventually we made it over the border. Then my friend was caught up in a sweep by the Volturi, she was killed, I saw it. They tortured her in front of some of the others before killing her. It was barbaric even by our standards."
I understood they had been unfortunate enough to be caught by one of the Volturi's sporadic clean ups and from Charlotte's description I would put money on it being The Major at its head.
Bella had to be kept away for a few days until Charlotte was fully recovered and we had to find cover story for Charlotte not to mention telling her about the human we were involved with. This started Rose off again but I stopped her with a choice, stay and hold her peace or leave. I hated doing it but she had pushed and pushed until there was nothing else for it.
We decided to tell anyone who saw Charlotte that she was Esme's cousin from California. As for telling her about Bella I took that very carefully knowing how scared most of the southern covens were of the Volturi. She was shocked of course but as a fugitive she didn't want anything to do with them, she seemed to think we were some kind of saints. living on animal blood and among humans and asked if she could stay.
Edward was concerned for Bella's safety but I thought if Charlotte had traveled as far as she had then she had plenty of experience among humans, she hadn't always been able to travel in the wilderness and we would make sure she was well fed to quench her thirst before Bella's next visit.
Charlotte did all she could to fit in and we all found ourselves warming to her. She had been in one of the Southern armies far longer than was usual, so she had some fighting skills but it seemed all she wanted was to be safe and peaceful. It took some time but eventually she told Esme the rest of her sad story. She had been one of seven children raised on a small farm in rural California when Pedro sent a recruitment party over the border and snatched her along with her elder brother but he fought too much and was killed in front of her.
From that time on she had only one thing in her mind, to find and kill the man who had murdered her brother. She spent years improving her fighting skills so she would be spared every cull and then she finally ran into her quarry once more and killed him only to find he was a commander and that's why she was about to die, it would be a lesson to any others who decided to take matters into their own hands.
It wasn't a new story, I'd heard similar when I lived with the Volturi and since, the southern covens were a law unto themselves and the Volturi had allowed them to live and spread, a way of keeping them in check when there were other more pressing problems and there were many in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as man spread across the globe more quickly and became more and better educated. Of late they had become a problem and I wasn't surprised to hear that The Major had been at work down there over the years.