25

Saying goodbye to her parents was harder the second time than it had been for the first, for reasons Bella couldn't explain. She reminded herself that they were like her, like Edward and Carlisle now. They were vampires, and once they were done proving Bella wasn't going to end the world, they would have forever together, but she couldn't shake the feeling that all these so-called writings about her, were true. And that scared her, because all she wanted was to live, to love, laugh as cliché as it sounded.

While Charlie tried once again to convince her to let him travel with her, Renee seemed pretty content on staying back at the house with Eleazar, Irina, and Carmen. Bella wondered if her close encounter with the humans had scared her. It would have scared her, she thought, or maybe not. Bella wasn't affected by the smell of human blood like a normal newborn vampire was. A part of her shield they said, super control. It just made her feel like more of a freak than she already felt, of course. She'd been branded a monster, a villain, the bad guy, and she was desperate to prove that she wasn't any of those.

Once everyone had a bag packed, or several bags in Tanya's case, they gathered outside to make their plan. She could feel the nerves rolling off each of them, but poor Jasper was affected more than any of them, which she suspected had more to do with being close to her than anything else.

"So," Carlisle said, clapping his hands together and looking around. "You have all our numbers, but who knows what kind of cell reception we'll have in the Amazon. It should take us five days or so make the trip down without drawing too much attention, and another . . . Well, I don't know to find the writings. We will try to find a way to check in every couple of days."

"I have a couple contacts," Garrett stated, earning him a raised eyebrow. He shrugged his shoulders. "They owe me."

"Oh, well, if they owe you," Bella quipped. "You can trust them?"

"Never let me down yet," he said.

Bella sighed, shifting her eyes to Edward. "What do you think?"

"I think we have to take some chances, sweetheart. Sur, Garrett may be a dick —"

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

"— but he's never been a liar."

"Wow, thanks for the confidence," Garrett grumbled, folding his arms in front of him. "Look, I'll find the truth, Bella. One way, or another, I will find the truth. Put some trust in us."

"I'm putting a lot of trust in you," she said, shifting her eyes from him to Kate to Esme, Carlisle, Emmett, and finally on Rosalie. "Be careful, okay? Don't do anything stupid."

"Where's the fun in that?" Emmett scoffed, but when Bella just stared at him, he reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder. "We ain't letting you go that easy, Bella. We'll be safe, I promise."

"Thanks," she whispered. "Sorry, I don't trust easily, I guess."

"Well, good thing we do," he added with a wink. "Let's go so we can get back to some normalcy."

After another round of goodbyes, Carlisle, Esme, Garrett, Kate, Rosalie, and Emmett climbed into Emmett's black SUV. They had managed to get the back door back on, though he had already made plans to buy a new one. Bella spared the house another glance, finding her parents watching her from the living room window.

Smiling, she gave them a wave, which they returned, before she turned and climbed into the back seat of the SUV with Edward, Jasper and Alice were in the middle, and Jacob and Tanya were in the front with Jacob driving. He adjusted the mirror, looking back at her.

"Promise not to hurt him?"

"Depends on what he tells me," she quipped, and he sighed. "He kidnapped my parents, left them there to be tortured and killed. Left you there to be killed, Jake. You realize that, don't you?"

"I do," he admitted, starting the SUV. "But he's still my father, and a human."

"So were Charlie and Renee, yet he didn't care, did he? Like I said, it depends on what he tells me, doesn't it?"

Jacob frowned, but shifted into drive, pulling away from the house. Bella turned and looked out the back window, hoping she wasn't making a mistake by leaving Charlie and Renee with Eleazar.

—Stay—

For three days, Jacob drove them across Alaska, through Canada, and back into the United States, entering in North Dakota. She was convinced that he was taking the long way, especially when he stopped outside of Wright, Wyoming claiming, "I need to sleep. Unlike you guys, I actually need my rest. Especially if . . . if things get bad." He added that last quip with a glance back at Bella, who merely stared him down until he looked away.

Not trusting him, she took the keys to the SUV and they left him and Tanya, who refused to leave Jacob's side, so he could sleep. If she were honest, the smell was starting to get to her, and she wondered how Tanya could handle being so close to him. Though, maybe since they had imprinted on each other, he didn't smell like . . . Well, as Charlie put it: a skunk's ass after a hard rain.

They were parked at a rest area about ten miles outside of the city limits. While Jacob power-napped, Bella found herself pacing back and forth, checking her phone for a missed call or text from Carlisle, Emmett, or hell, even Garrett. There weren't any, and that made her worry. They had planned to drive back to Washington before chartering a private plane, knowing it would be easier for them to travel incognito Emmett said with a smirk. They would fly into Brazil before making the way on foot. Problem, of course, was that Eleazar had been exceptionally tightlipped about where Aro had traveled, simply saying, "He didn't report to me. I reported to him."

Bella had to restrain herself from ripping his arms off and beating him with them. He said time and again that he didn't work for the Volturi anymore, yet he'd held back the fact that his job almost a century had been to find her, if she were in fact the person these 'writings' talked about. How could she trust him? And if she couldn't trust him, had she made a mistake by leaving her newborn parents with him?

"He's not the bad guy."

Feeling her shoulders tense, Bella turned and found Tanya standing a few behind her. Her eyes shifted to the SUV.

"He's still asleep. He was snoring," she added with a laugh. "Eleazar's not a bad guy. He's passionate and protective of us. His family. His time with the Volturi isn't something he's proud of, hence why he doesn't talk openly about it. It took a lot for him to leave, and the Volturi, Bella, they don't take kindly to people leaving their service. I promise you: Eleazar is not a bad guy."

"That's what all the bad guys say," she quipped, quickly spotting Edward with Jasper and Alice kneeling next to a bunch of wildflowers.

"You don't trust me," Tanya accused, drawing her attention back to her.

"No, I don't," she admitted. "You haven't exactly been welcoming."

"I let them change you in my house. I didn't kick you out when you damaged my house," she pointed out, shrugging her shoulders before shifting her eyes back to the SUV. "He speaks very highly of you."

"He does?"

Tanya smiled and nodded as she looked back at her. "Jake didn't agree with your decision to be changed, but he wouldn't have stopped you, either. It's his nature, his heritage to disagree with our nature. Most vampires aren't like us. They do kill, they don't care about human life, but we are different. He sees that you aren't like the other, but he misses his friend."

"Misses me, huh? Funny how when I spent three years dying he didn't call, or write, or care. But as long as he speaks so highly of me, I should be happy," she murmured, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I can't even imagine how overwhelming this all must be for you, Bella."

She nodded. "Overwhelming? Overwhelming doesn't seem like the right word," Bella said, shaking her head. "The last year of my life was filled with pain and grief because I gave up, you know? I'd had the surgeries and chemo and radiation and lost my fight. My mom and dad begged me to keep going through treatments, finding trials all over the world that might give me another year. But I said no. I stopped fighting."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because it got too hard to want to live," she murmured. "Trying to be strong and brave and confident. I was alone all of the time because everything hurt my head." Bella closed her eyes as she brought her hands up, covering her ears. "I just wanted quiet and peace, and the only way I got even a little of either was if I were by myself. My mom and dad tried to help, tried to be quieter, softer. I don't know, but . . ." Bella opened her eyes, finding Alice staring at her. "Alice?"

"We need to leave," she said, hurrying over to her and grabbing her hands.

Bella's body tensed and her eyes rolled backward just before her vision went dark and then suddenly, she found herself in a large empty room. There were three men standing in the middle, all three with long black hair that had been pulled back into either ponytails or long braids. Their skin was creamy tan and they were holding an old book between them. She couldn't make out what they were saying and before she could move or think a loud bang echoed throughout the room, startling the three men, who spun around, fear and anguish marring their features. Though completely silent, she saw their mouths open as they screamed and turned to run, but before they could get more than a few steps away, her vision darkened and she found herself staring at Alice once again.

"What the fuck was that?"

"I don't think we're the only ones looking for Jacob's father," Alice whimpered. "We have maybe ten hour to find them, or they're . . ."

"Dead."

Bella, Alice and Tanya turned toward the SUV where they found Jacob leaning against the back, bent over bracing himself on his knees.

"Who, Alice? Who kills them?" Bella asked, turning back to Alice.

She shook her head. "I don't know. I can't see them. I just . . . I just see someone attacking them. I think . . . No, I know there is someone else after the writings. We have to leave now. Like right now."

"Jake, where are we going?" Bella asked, stepping toward him, but he shook his head and moved away. "Jake!"

"We're at least sixteen hours away, Bella!" Jacob yelled, throwing his hands up. "I was buying them some time, trying to figure out how to keep you from fucking killing them, and I . . . I cost them their lives, didn't I?"

Bella looked at Edward before she shook her head. "No, no, Jake." She put her hands up as she took a couple steps toward him. "I can get to them. I can stop . . . whoever, whatever is after them, okay?"

"Bella," Jacob whispered.

"Jake, I will get there but you have trust me."

"Bella," he whispered, his eyes closing. "They're in Bend, Oregon. About ten miles southeast of the city on highway twenty toward Millican. Take Fort Rock Road, go two point six miles west. It's an old white farm house hidden in some trees. Bella . . . Bella, please don't let them die. Please. I know you're angry, but —"

"I'll try." Bella gave him a look before she took a few steps backward. "I'll try, Jake."

And before he could stop her, she turned and started running, knowing that she could run faster than he could drive. She heard someone falling into step with her and when she looked over, she found Jasper on one side and Edward on the other.

—Stay—

They made it to Bend, Oregon in nine hours and twenty-seven minutes. The sky had just started to lighten in the early morning glow as they turned down Fort Rock Road, finding the little white farm house with ease. They stopped in the middle of the road, all three of them sharing a look. There was a foreboding in the air, a heaviness that worried her. Bella glanced around, unsure why the vastness scared her.

"I can't hear them," Edward said after a moment. "Jasper?"

"There's something, but I don't know what it is," he replied.

"Let's go in," Bella told them before stepping toward the house.

Edward and Jasper followed as she walked into the yard and up the front porch. She threw Edward a look when she noticed the front door was cracked, the wood splintered like someone had kicked it in. Her hands curled into tight fists before she reached out and pushed it open and stepped inside. The living room was trashed. Books thrown all over the floor, the cushions on the couch tore apart. There weren't any pictures on the walls, nor was there a television. She put her hand up, motioning for Edward to search the second story and Jasper to search the first floor with her. They nodded and split up. While Jasper headed toward the left into the back of the house, Bella bypassed the stairs and traveled down the hallway to a large door. She carefully opened it and found a set of stair leading to a basement.

Of course, she thought. Another basement.

Bella took each step slowly, carefully, cautiously. As she rounded the staircase, she found herself facing another door, this one thick, metal and open. Her stomach recoiled from the heavy stench of blood that filled the air, which only got stronger the closer she got to the door. She reached out and pushed it open, barely able to keep the scream from bubbling to the tip of her tongue. Laying on the floor of the large empty room were three men — the three men Bella had seen in Alice's vision.

Two of them were dead. Harry Clearwater's throat had been ripped out. His eyes were still open and the look of horror on his face was profound. A few feet from him laid an older man. Quil Ateara Sr. She hadn't known him well. He'd always been standoffish, reserved when it came to her. His grandson, also named Quil, had been shy, quiet around Bella. Quil Sr., like Harry, was dead. He had several long, deep cuts on his face and arms from where he had tried to protect himself, but whoever had killed him had eviscerated him.

Though, it was the third man that drew her attention. He was leaning against the wall, his hand clutching his gut, his hair handing loosely in his face. His chest was heaving, his dark eyes locked on her as she walked over and knelt in front of him.

"Been a long time, Billy."

"Not long enough," he choked out, blood spilling out of his mouth. "You should be dead."

"Should I?" she asked, and behind her, she heard Edward and Jasper enter the room, gasping as they took in the sight in front of them. "Who did this to you, Billy?"

Billy inhaled a sharp breath, only to choke as he tried to exhale. "They moved fast, faster than I've seen anyone move."

"What did they look like?" she asked.

Billy gasped, his body tensing. "I couldn't see them. They were wearing dark cloaks."

"What were they looking for?"

"Probably the same thing you are," Billy murmured, his eyes closing. "I never wanted this for you, Bella. Never. I didn't want you to die, but I didn't want this on your shoulders. You have to believe me."

"Billy, did they take the writings? The ones that attacked you, did they take the writings?"

Billy's eyes opened. "No. They took pictures I had of the writings, but they aren't complete, Bella. They don't have all of . . . of them . . ." Billy's face contorted in pain as his eyes filled with tears that spilled down his face. "I'm sorry, Bella. I'm so sorry. I . . . I was . . . I was just trying to protect my people. I just wanted them safe."

"Billy, where can I find the rest of the writings?" Bella asked.

He licked his bottom lip before saying, "There's a cave in the Cheyenne Mountains about seven miles northeast of Boehmer Creek. They're deep underground, Bella. I've only managed to get about half of the writings due to part of the writings being lost because of the cave collapsed." He grabbed her hand. "You have to learn control. If you don't, Bella, you will kill everyone."

Billy gasped, his body arching from the wall before falling backwards, his eyes closing and his hand falling from her grasp. Though she found herself reaching out to check her pulse, she didn't need to. As the sound of a vehicle pulling up outside, Bella brought her hand up to her mouth, wondering how she was going to tell Jacob Black that his father was dead.

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