Chapter Sixty One

Charlie

Bella dead? I'd killed my own daughter? I couldn't believe it, he had to be lying, Bella couldn't be dead.

"Carlisle we have to find Bella."

"She's gone Chief Swan, I'm so sorry for your loss but we have to move fast. Get away from here as quickly as we can."

I grabbed his arm gasping with pain but gritting my teeth,

"He's lying, he's got her, my daughter. We have to follow him, get her away from the sick bastard,"

Carlisle shook his head sorrowfully and looking at Esme I could see she agreed with her husband but I couldn't believe she was dead.

"I have to find her, he's lying."

"No he isn't Chief, she had no heartbeat when he picked her up, she wasn't breathing either and it's too late now. Even if we could find her I couldn't bring her back."

"How do you know? How can you be so sure, you couldn't hear her heartbeat, no one could from that distance."

"I can and there wasn't one Chief Swan. If he'd left Bella here I may have been able to save her but it's too late now, too late for anything."

I sank back to my knees sobbing as I heard again the terrible noise of the branch hitting my Bella. I hadn't meant to hit her, it was all that bastard's fault and he was gone, along with Bella's body just to torture me some more. Esme came to kneel beside me putting an arm around my shoulders,

"Chief Swan I am so sorry, this is all our fault. Poor Bella."

"No, its my fault, I hit her Esme, I killed my own daughter."

I couldn't speak any more as the agony of my ribs as I sobbed became too great and I felt myself descending into darkness.

Carlisle

Between us Esme and I got Chief Swan down to the SUV and slid him in the back seat. Emmett drove with Rose in Bella's car which she got started easily enough after a few seconds under the hood. They followed us down the mountain and straight to Seattle where I looked up an old friend who knew enough not to ask too many questions, just handed me the keys to his private practice so I could patch Charlie up, at least making him more comfortable although with the pain relief I gave him I doubted he even knew what I was doing.

As I worked with Esme's help I thought about the girls. We had been forced to abandon them to The Major and although Alice would be safe enough under the Volturi's protection we couldn't expect the same for poor Charlotte. I rang Aro while Esme sat with Charlie and explained what had happened but he already knew.

"The Major has already been in contact Carlisle. I'm glad he decided to allow you to live and believe me, now the human girl is dead I'm more inclined to think I may be able to prevent your name appearing on The Major's list again. Alice was dropped at the airport and is in Caius' care, already airborne. I understand your "son" Emmett decided to play the hero and try to save the girl who was travelling with you. Still at least he survived although it could have been a very different story, you should remind Emmett if he wants to take on trained killers he needs to become one himself. Although perhaps The Major saw something in him, at least he has no further use for his other men, curious."

"I'm sorry? Emmett would never join that sadistic killer, you know that."

"Well, I suppose so. Now about the human girl's father. I understand you have him. I also understand you aren't likely to kill him yourself my friend so what do you intend doing? He cannot be allowed to live you know that, besides which I hear he murdered his own daughter."

"It was a tragic accident engineered by The Major Aro."

"That sounds extremely like him. I understand he has several unusual ways about him but that doesn't answer my question."

"At the moment I'm just trying to patch him up, but what to do with him I don't know."

"It would be better if he were to just drift away old friend."

"I'm sure it would but that's not the way I work and you know that."

"Yes unfortunately I do. Please don't make it necessary for me to call on The Major this time,. I need to know…... soon."

Sam Uley

When the report came through we could hardly believe it. Charlie had killed his own daughter and been taken away by the Cullens. What happened to them I didn't care but I wanted that sadistic killer away from our reservation so I sent the patrol out to check the area and follow the leeches off the mountain. Once they were sure he'd left they were to come straight back to the village. This wasn't our fight and we wanted no part of The Major. Even Johnny H had warned us to steer clear of him, as he had said earlier when I contacted him,

"Sam I know Charlie Swan is a friend of the tribe but there are limits to which the guardians can go in order to protect or save friends. The Major is one person we do not want to mess with and so long as he does not encroach on the reservation you are not to engage him or his men."

"I know he's a bad ass but surely the pack could take him out along with his men."

"You think so? Have you ever seen him in action? He doesn't care about anything including his own safety and he has no scruples whatsoever. He stays away from us unless we attack him and we steer clear of him."

"But even so..."

"No Sam. Let me tell you what would happen, if you attacked him and his men and were not able to kill him, then he would make it his task to wipe your tribe from the face of the earth, every man, woman, and child and they would not die easy. So long as he leaves us alone I will not put any of the tribes in jeopardy for any reason and especially not for a friend."

The pack searched the mountain without finding Bella's body not that we would have recovered it to the town in any case but I would have felt happier if we had been able to give her a proper burial. Paul and Jared found a cave with the remnants of a fire scraps of Bella's clothing among the ashes and we knew he had stripped the body and hidden it somewhere, probably in a crevice or above the snowline where it might never be found. Her scent trail was the one from her abandoned car to The Major's base and on to the cave but no further, she was gone and so was her father although he lived.

I wondered what would happen in town once they found out Charlie wasn't coming back. Rumor had it that the arsonists had surprised him on watch and murdered him taking the body away to dispose of although no signs of blood or a struggle were ever found, just the patrol car with its drivers door left open and his badge on the passenger seat. His gun was initially thought to have been taken but when it was found in undergrowth days later the barrel was twisted and bent, a mystery that was still to be solved, or rather one that would never be solved.

I went to report our findings to the elders knowing it would cripple Billy and Harry to find out that their friend was responsible for his daughter's death.

"Better dead than at the mercy of The Major."

I guess Harry was right but how Charlie would reconcile himself to that truth I found difficult to imagine,

"Why did he do it? The branch wouldn't have hurt him if it had landed and he must have known it would hit Bella instead?"

They looked at me as if I were slow,

"Of course he knew, that's why he did it. The major is a sadistic killer, it would have amused him to arrange for a father to kill his own child. You have no idea how much evil he is capable of Sam and pray you never do."

"There were stories of him before this weren't there? Why did we never hear them? Why didn't Johnny H warn us about him if he's an enemy?"

"Would it make any difference Sam? He could warn you about a volcanic eruption or an earthquake but you could still do nothing about them. The Major is like that, a cataclysm you hope to God you never encounter. Now forget him and the Swans, there's nothing you can do to alter the situation, just thank your lucky stars you are going home to Emily alive and well."