Everyone's eyes immediately focused on Victoria, who then took another step toward Edward. Her movement seemed to break the spell, and Edward's face clouded with dismay as recognition dawned.
Feeling his mate's eyes on him, he glanced around to meet her curious gaze. With the barest shake of his head, he turned back to Victoria, only to see her transfer her own attention to Bella, a malicious sneer transforming her pretty features into those of a petulant toddler.
"Oh dear, what a poor stand-in you've found while you waited for me, darling Edward. But you can tell her to be on her way now that your true mate has returned to you."
And with that astonishing statement, she launched herself at Edward, only to be just as suddenly repelled by an unseen force that sent her flying backward onto the floor. Immediately, she leapt up, but in a flash, as a low growl emanated from Bella, James was in front of her, his hands on her shoulders.
"Enough, Vicky," he growled. "I have more important concerns than your silly flirtations."
The assembled onlookers watched in growing incredulity as James and Victoria seemed to wage a silent battle before she finally seemed to relent, and he took a step back. He then turned back to those in the room, including his companion, Laurent, who looked as surprised as everyone else at unfolding events.
A gasp from Alice, followed by a single expletive from Edward, once more drew everyone's attention.
But no one's attention was quite as single-minded as that of James, who now stalked toward his prey. "Little Mary-Alice Brandon, I've found you again at last."
This time, when James attempted to get close to Alice, four male vampires moved as one to block his path while their mates surrounded her in a second protective barrier.
With his progress impeded, James froze in place, his face a mask of irritation. It was at this point that Carlisle stepped forward.
"I think perhaps we may have a problem here, and I would appreciate it if the three of you could take a step back, both figuratively and physically. We have welcomed you into our home, and you, James, and you, Victoria, have already overstepped the bounds of good manners. It seems to me that your arrival is far from spontaneous and I"—he gestured behind him—"and my family would appreciate it if you would state your business."
James remained silent, although it was clear he was far from happy. To his left, Laurent raised his hands in a calming gesture before speaking.
"Dr. Cullen, I apologize for my friends' behavior; it was not our intention—"
James snorted. "Shut up, Laurent; you don't speak for me. You want to know why we're here? Well, I'll tell you. I'm Mary-Alice's sire, and she's my mate. She should pack a small bag, and we'll all be out of your hair in a few minutes."
The growl from Jasper was almost drowned out by the cacophony as everyone then spoke at once, but Carlisle held his hand up to silence them all.
"I think you better leave, all three of you."
"Not without my Mary-Alice," James snarled.
"That's not your choice to make." From behind Carlisle, Alice suddenly moved through her vampire cordon, stopping in front of James, who was now smirking triumphantly.
"There you are, little one. You know me, and you know you belong with me."
Carlisle glanced at her questioningly. "Alice?"
Cocking her head to one side, Alice regarded the sneering man with curiosity. "So, it was you, James, who turned me?"
"That's right, sweet girl. You were so ripe for the picking, locked up in the asylum. I had watched you for days, and I knew you were born to be mine. Lunatics were such easy prey back then because no one cared about them, least of all their families, but you … oh, my sweet Mary-Alice, you were so luscious and so gifted, and I knew I wanted to keep you forever. But then, after I bit you and got you out, that old fool Gerald tried to stop me—"
"Gerald? I … I remember him! He was … he was kind to me …"
"Ha, he was a vampire too and wanted you for himself."
"No! He was the only one who … who understood me, who didn't think I was mad." Alice stared at the ground as long-suppressed memories started to resurface. "He …" She looked up in horror. "He wanted to help me, get me out. And … and you killed him!"
"That old fool, he got in my way, dragging me toward the village and trying to fight me. I had to rip his head off, but then people were coming out of their houses, and I had to hide his body. By the time I got back to where I'd left you, you were gone. Where did you go Mary-Alice, how were you able to move when the transformation had already started?"
Alice glared at James, her little body almost vibrating with the pure anger she felt toward this filthy vampire. From behind her, Jasper moved to place his hands on her shoulders in a gesture of comfort and support. Oddly, though, he didn't even attempt to use his power to calm her.
"I don't know how I was able to get away; I have no memory of it, but I woke up at the bottom of an old well that was filling with water from a violent storm. Another hour and I may not have survived."
"But you did, Mary-Alice, and now we can finally be together. I don't know who this fool is," he said disparagingly, pointing at Jasper, "but you're free to be mine, the way you were always meant to be." He grinned and held out a hand to her, as if he expected her to take it.
Alice stared at his proffered hand with rank disgust, for all the world as if he was offering her a handful of excrement.
It was Jasper who spoke first.
"Well, darlin', do y'all feel like a change," he drawled, gently rubbing her upper arms.
Glancing up at him, she flashed him a quick smile before looking back to James.
"Oh, James, I'd rather walk on red hot coals than spend one minute longer in your company. And my name is Alice; Alice Whitlock."
And with that, she pirouetted away from a furious James, grabbing Jasper's hand to lead him around the others and out through the patio doors into the back yard. Closing ranks, the Masens and Cullens formed an impenetrable wall as James attempted to follow her.
It was Laurent who then interjected. "James, we should go. If this is what you've been looking for all these years, I think you have your answer. Please, let us leave these people in peace."
With a snarl, James turned on his companion. "Shut the fuck up, you mealy-mouthed bastard. You know nothing!" he roared.
Emmett pushed to the front. "Okay, dude, you've had your say, you've found what you were looking for, and it's a bust, man. So, you should take your friend's advice and leave. Like, now." Towering over the smaller man, he used all his considerable presence to ensure his message was clear.
Again, Laurent raised his hands in a calming gesture, but before he could say anything, the almost forgotten Victoria decided this was the perfect time to once again push herself to the fore.
"Edward, baby, you can see I'm not with either of these losers. Why don't we go somewhere and remind one another of what we had back in New York." She smiled coquettishly and sidled closer, her previous failed foray seemingly forgotten.
As a human teenager, Bella knew she would have been intimidated by one such as Victoria and rendered insecure by her apparent romantic history with Edward. A year into her life with Edward, however, no such insecurities remained. Her transformation had not just made her physically strong and strikingly beautiful, it had repaired and even enhanced her psyche; where Jacob had worked to break her down mentally, the change—and Edward's constant support, love, and approbation—had given her a confidence and sureness she had previously lacked. For his part, Edward had constantly told her she'd been the bravest, most beautiful, and confident human he'd ever met, evidenced by her swift and irrevocable trust in him.
He now looked on in awe, admiration and pride as Bella immediately squared up to the much taller woman, unimpressed with her looks or stature.
"Listen to me, you scrawny gingernut, if I didn't make it clear the last time you tried to touch my mate, let me spell it out in words of one syllable that your tiny little mind can understand. He may have fucked you once when he was on his own and desperate for company, but he wouldn't touch your scabby ass with a ten-foot pole now. So, take a hike before I make you."
Rosalie snickered behind her. "Don't sugar coat it, Bella!"
"Woohoo, Bells, you are baaad-ass!" hooted Emmett.
Bella merely cocked an eyebrow at the redhead, whose pretty face now morphed into an ugly visage. Lurching toward the woman she believed to be the only impediment to a life of bliss with Edward, she reached out to grab Bella by the throat. Instinctively, Edward moved to deflect her, only to watch Victoria once again fly backward across the room and hit the wall with a resounding thud, a resultant crack snaking up through the plaster.
"Oh my god, Esme, I'm so sorry!" Bella cried.
Esme merely laughed. "Don't worry, Bella; it was worth it just to see that silly girl get her ass handed to her—and we can fix the wall."
Carlisle gazed at her in surprise, unaccustomed as he was to hearing his wife use such language.
All eyes were on Victoria as she got up from the floor, clearly wondering what had happened when Bella hadn't even touched her.
Unfortunately, while everyone was distracted, James made a bolt for the patio doors, slipping out to confront Alice and Jasper where they sat at the large outdoor, marble-topped table.
Inside the house, Victoria once more pleaded her case to Edward, but this time at what she probably considered a safe distance. "Edward, please, you know we had something in New York. We were great together."
Bella rolled her eyes and turned away, shaking her head at Edward. "I've done my best, love, but you need to clean up your own mess."
He frowned, grimly aware that he only had himself to blame for the injudiciousness of his past sexual liaison. It must have been nigh on forty years since he'd met Victoria and hooked up with her for a one-night stand. It had proved to be one night too many as she had definitely fallen into that category of females to which he ascribed the description of "mad" and perhaps borderline "bad"—he hadn't been able to make up his mind about the latter as she seemed a little naïve and immature, but despite the fact that she wasn't, to his mind, terribly bright, she had an innate cunning and a tendency to veer toward bad behavior. She had seemed fun at the start of the evening when he met her at a Paul Simon concert in Central Park, and the sex had been … adventurous. But before the sun had even risen on a new day, Edward had had enough. After just an hour or so, she had started prattling on about soulmates and traveling the world together, and he'd put his foot down, telling her that he wasn't interested in a relationship, that they'd surely both just been looking for a night of fun before moving on, and that it was time for her to go.
Victoria had not taken rejection well, by turns becoming clingy, aggrieved, and then outright furious. She had sworn up and down they were meant to be together, then screamed that he was a selfish, arrogant prick. He could concede, in hindsight, that this latter statement might be true, but it didn't help her cause at the time, and he made no bones about the fact that she needed to leave by traditional methods or he would be happy to "help" her leave. Fortunately, she eventually departed under her own steam, but for weeks thereafter, he caught her scent and her thoughts around the building, forcing him to close up his loft apartment and relocate to the Pacific Northwest where he purchased his lake house. He'd quickly grown bored with the solitude, however, and as the 1980s morphed into the 90s, he moved back east to the home he still kept in Chicago before returning to Seattle at the turn of the millennium. He had never returned to New York.
With a huff of frustration, Edward now regarded the young woman to whom he had given not a single thought in the intervening years. "Victoria, we spent barely three or four hours in one another's company nearly forty years ago, and I doubt you've been any more troubled by the memory than I have. Bella is my mate and my wife, so you need to reel it in before she gets seriously pissed and takes you down."
The redhead flashed a look of disbelief and contempt in Bella's direction, but before she could utter another misguided word, everyone's attention was drawn to voices in the back yard. No more than a second later, Jasper came flying backward through the toughened glass of the patio doors, and all hell broke loose.
Landing on the balls of his feet, Jasper immediately shot back outside, followed in close formation by the rest of his family and Victoria. Laurent was left alone in the room, looking bewildered and conflicted.
On the patio, James seemed to be desperately trying to capture Alice, who leapt nimbly around the yard and into the trees, while Jasper stalked the man who thought he could steal away his beloved. Into their midst strode Carlisle as his family surrounded James. Victoria hovered on the periphery, seeming torn between helping her lover and avoiding being targeted as a threat.
James swore, making one more dive toward Alice, but Jasper was suddenly in front of him, his hand on James's chest.
"Take one more step, asshole, and I'll rip your fucking head off."
James sneered but took a small step back. "She's mine. I made her—"
"Stop it, stop it!" From the far end of the huge space, standing beneath the canopy of the trees that formed a loose boundary to the property, Alice screamed, a sob catching in her throat. "Jasper, make him stop, make him go!"
"You got it, honey. You heard the lady. You need to leave right now, and take your buddies with you."
James glared at him, but then turned to look at Alice.
"Mary-Alice, you belong with me. Please … come to me now, and we'll forget all this nonsense."
As Alice screamed out her negative response, Carlisle approached, placing his hand on Jasper's shoulder so the two men now formed a barrier between the interloper and the object of his obsession.
"James, you must see that your quest is hopeless. If Alice wanted to be with you, I would support her even though it would break my heart to see her leave. But she clearly wants nothing to do with you, and your role as her sire is irrelevant here. She is a mated vampire, and that bond is unbreakable, indissoluble. It's time for you to leave."
Dragging his eyes from Alice, James finally diverted his attention, first to Jasper, then to Carlisle. "One way or another, Mary-Alice is coming with me. Maybe not today—"
"Not today, pal, nor any other day," retorted Jasper, now at the end of his patience.
With an angry shake of his head, James glanced around at the small army of vampires and knew he was beaten … for now. Without another word, he shot away from the house and into the trees without looking back. A moment later, a hesitant Victoria backed away from everyone, and then quickly followed James, who could still be heard crashing through the forest.
"I … I am so sorry, everyone. Dr. Cullen, Mrs. Cullen … I … the damage … I am so sorry."
As one, they all turned to see what appeared to be a genuinely contrite Laurent, standing in a sea of broken glass. From the depths of the forest, a single shout was heard by all.
"LAURENT!"
Still, he remained in place.
"I cannot … I just … I am so tired of this … merde!"
Carlisle, ever the peacemaker, walked up to the dreadlocked vampire, placing a gentle hand on his upper arm. "Have you been with him long?" he asked, his voice full of compassion.
Looking at the ground, Laurent shook his head sadly. "Too long, monsieur. At first, I was glad of the company, but then he made it impossible to leave. He said if I did, he would find me and kill me, and I knew it was true. He is the best tracker I ever saw—I think he has been looking for Mademoiselle Alice for a very long time, and in this vast continent he finally found her. But he's just so cruel and always … always the anger boils inside him."
Carlisle nodded. "Come on, you can stay here tonight. Emmett, Rose, can you go to the hardware store and get some material to board up the doors until we can get them fixed. Es, honey, why don't you sort out a guest room so Laurent can get cleaned up. The rest of us will clear the mess, and then we'll all meet back here to talk about what happens next."
He turned briefly to see Jasper leading a still distraught Alice back toward the house, a comforting arm wrapped tight around her shoulders as she leaned into him.
He sighed. "This is a damned mess, but it's not of your making, Laurent. Please, you're welcome to stay while we sort out the best course of action."
The man's face was a picture as he looked at his host with unbridled gratitude. "Monsieur, you are too, too kind. I don't know what to say …"
"No need for thanks. We'll need your help if we're to decide what to do about James, as I suspect he won't give up that easily. Come on, let's go inside."
~o0o~
Later, once the house was somewhat straighter, bar the partially boarded up glass doors and the huge crack and dent in the opposite wall from Victoria's involuntary flight through the room, everyone gathered around the dining table. Following a long, revitalizing shower and a change of clothes, donated by Edward, Laurent looked and felt a lot better.
As late afternoon turned to evening and thence to night, they talked things out. When Laurent queried their unusual diet and lifestyle, they explained why they lived that way and how it worked, allowing them to live for long periods in one place, have a home, companionship, and an existence worth preserving. He marveled at the beauty of their house and their palpable contentment, the relationships they shared, both romantic and filial, and quietly voiced a desire to experience something similar.
For his part, Laurent gave them all the information he could on both James and Victoria. He described James's extraordinary gift for tracking and Victoria's ability to always know when to run.
By the time the sun was clear of the horizon, Alice had calmed and composed herself with the support of her surrogate mother and sisters, Jasper and Emmett had a plan in place, and Laurent was debating his future.
"I will, of course, stay to help you because I have no doubt James will return. But thereafter … I think I must move on," he said with a sigh. "Much as I'd like to stay and be a part of this wonderful family, I think a lone vampire in the midst of such … histoires de coeur … well, I think this would be tres difficile."
Esme sat forward in her chair. "I hope you know you can stay as long as you want, Laurent, but I do understand. Where will you go?"
He smiled. "Merci, ma belle femme, you are very kind, but I think I must go. Where, I do not know."
Carlisle rubbed his chin. "May I make a suggestion?"
"Bien sur, mon ami."
"I could give our friends in Alaska a call. I'm sure they would be happy for you to join them until you have more of a plan in place."
He went on to describe their "cousins" in the north, and Laurent grinned at the idea of visiting such a coven. For the first time in hundreds of years, he felt a spark of hope light up within him. For that alone, he silently promised himself that he would forever be in Carlisle Cullen's debt.
~o0o~
Deep in the forest several miles from the Cullen estate, James paced and seethed. It seemed to matter not a whit that, for much of the long night, Victoria was nowhere to be seen, having grown tired of his self-absorbed ranting and taken herself off to the nearest town to source a meal.
Returning at dawn, she found him waiting impatiently for her. Without preamble, he launched into his plan and bid her make haste to Milwaukee where they would create a band of newborns, and then return to destroy the meddling doctor and his freakish coven, extract Mary-Alice, and be on their way.
If Laurent was still there, James would take great pleasure in literally tearing him limb from limb, and then burying him twenty feet deep to molder in the ground for eternity. He would learn the hard way what it meant to betray James Weiner.
A/N: Sorry (not sorry) about James's name - I couldn't resist giving a silly name to a hateful character, just to bring him down a peg or two LOL. Thank you so much for the brilliant feedback for the last chapter and I hope I managed to respond to everyone. Honestly, you guys make my English stiff upper lip quiver, you really do. Huge thanks, as always, to Alice's White Rabbit, who is so patient with my comma confusion and my Britishisms *note to self: backward, forward, toward, not backwards, forwards, towards!* See you back here next week for more vampire mayhem. Mwah.
