28

Charlie stood on the front porch of the large white house in the Denali Mountains, watching the love of his life pace back and forth. She'd been restless and anxious for days, ever since Bella left. So had he, but he hid it better, he thought. Every once in a while she would stop and look in the direction of town, almost like she could smell the humans from here. He couldn't, but maybe she could, he thought. Charlie hadn't been tempted to stray from the house, yet Renee struggle to contain her urge to drink human blood. She tried to hide it, tried to keep him from seeing, but he did. She hadn't given in to her temptation, thankfully, but the struggle was real. It was only when Charlie was right next to her that she seemed to get any type of relief.

"Someone's coming," she said, stopping and looking toward the icy road that led to the house.

Charlie flared his nostrils as he hurried to her side, sliding his arm around her waist in case their visitors were human. However, when the large charcoal grey pick-up came into view, he relaxed, sensing the vampires in the brand new vehicle.

"It's just Jasper, Alice, and Tanya," he said, keeping his arm around her. "She's not with them."

"Why would they come back without her?"

But before Charlie could wager a guess, the sound of the front door opening drew their attention behind them where they found Eleazar, Carmen, and Irina coming out onto the front porch. Charlie didn't care for the dark-haired vampire. The way he watched them, the way he watched her, made him uncomfortable. He claimed that he was trying to find her gift, her power, but was he really as innocent as he proclaimed? Charlie wasn't convinced. There was a look in his eyes that just put him on edge.

Jasper stopped the truck at the end of the driveway before he, Alice, and Tanya climbed out. The three tensed as they made their way up to them, stopping a few feet from Charlie and Renee. There was a look on their faces that had him uneasy, a feeling of foreboding that had the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.

"Where is she?"

"She's fine, Renee," Alice insisted, putting her hand up. "She, Edward, and Jacob are running down a couple more leads, but she's fine. I promise."

Renee nodded, though Charlie could still feel the tension she felt. Hell, he felt it, too. They'd just gotten their daughter back, and now they were separated from her again.

"So why are you here? We thought you were on a mission to prove me wrong?" Eleazar asked, and when everyone looked back at him, they saw him smirking, and it took everything in Charlie's limited control not to beat the man to death. Or at least try.

"Someone, or something, killed the Quileute Tribal Council," Tanya said, and Charlie noticed the way she glared at her friend. "Jake's father, his family, Eleazar, so you might want to get that fucking smirk off your face before I rip your head off."

"I'm sorry," he said, the smirk leaving his lips. "Was it the brothers?"

"No," Jasper replied. "They weren't vampires, and their scent wasn't like the wolves, either. They were . . . different. Billy Black told Bella where she can find the rest of the writings, so they headed that way and we came back here."

"Why?" Eleazar asked, though he nodded and added, "Because of me."

"Can you really blame her? She can't trust you. Hell none of us can trust you, Eleazar," Alice quipped. "Why didn't you tell us about your work with the Volturi?"

"It wasn't relevant until you brought that little girl here," he told them, shrugging his shoulders. "I never believed she existed, not until she was changed and she woke full of power, excellent control, and a shield more powerful than I'd ever known before."

"You could have told us more about your time with the Volturi," Tanya quipped. "We brought you into our home, into our family. You're my brother, Eleazar, and you hid that part of your job from us. Why wouldn't you tell us? Knowing what Kate can do?"

"Because you wouldn't have let us stay," he admitted, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. Carmen frowned and placed her hand on his shoulder, causing him to shake his head. "I am not proud of my time with the Volturi, Tanya. I've spent the last few hundred years trying very hard not to be that man again."

"But you should have told us," Irina said, causing him to look at her. "I'm not invested in this war like Tanya is. I haven't found love with a stinky mutt."

"Watch it, Irina," Tanya snarled.

"But if he makes her happy," she added, throwing her sister a look, "then of course I would support her. Kate and Garrett? Well, it doesn't take a genius to see that they've mated. We're all at risk, Eleazar, now because you didn't disclose vital information." Irina paused before saying, "She was changed over a month ago. Why didn't you tell us then? You knew from day one that she was one from the writings, didn't you?"

"I hoped that I was wrong," he said, frowning. "I don't want her to be the girl from the writings. I want her to have a thousand years of love and happiness with Edward. I want her to have the chance to really live, but as each day passes, the signs are clearer and clearer that she is the girl from the writings, and it will not take the Volturi long to get wind of her power, and when they do, we won't be able to stop them from taking her for themselves."

"You think I'm going to let anyone take my daughter from me again?" Renee asked, drawing everyone's attention to her. "I let her go once, because she was dying and I refused to let that happen, refused to live in a world where she didn't exist. Charlie and I sacrificed everything for her, for her to live, and we sure as hell aren't going to let anyone take our second chance away again. Not cancer, not the wolves, and certainly not the Volturi. They want a war, I'll bring them the fucking war if they even think of laying even one finger on my child. And that goes for you, too. So if you are considering betraying us, you might want to think about what, or who," she added, her eyes shifting to Carmen, "you're willing to live without."

Slipping her hand in with Charlie's, Renee turned and pulled him toward the woods, leaving the rest of their new family watching with their mouths open. She was right, of course. Charlie and Renee had just gotten their daughter back. They weren't about to let anyone take her from them again.

—Stay—

Bella stood frozen as she stared at the two figures standing just inside of their motel room. Like they were moving in perfect synchronicity, they tilted their heads to the right and then back the other way before they looked at each other once again.

"Who are you?" she heard herself asking.

"Who we are is not important," the one on the right said, though his lips never moved. "Who you are, however, is everything."

"And who am I?" she asked.

"The chosen one," he replied, and again, his lips never parted. He looked from her to Jacob and Edward.

"Um, is someone going to say something?" Jacob asked, and when Bella looked at him, she saw him looking between the three of them. "What? You all are just staring at each other. It's creepy."

"You don't hear them?" she asked, and he slowly shook his head. She shifted her eyes to Edward. "How about you?"

"No," he replied, something that she could tell deeply bothered him. It bothered her, too, though she wasn't going to admit it. Not yet, at least. "Are you speaking them? Because I see your lips move, yet you aren't saying anything."

"What?" she asked, her eyes shifting to the two men just inside the motel room. "Are you doing this?"

"They cannot hear us, because we choose for them not to."

"Oh?" she asked, folding her arms in front of her. "And why is that?"

"They do not matter," the man on the left thought. "Only you matter."

"And why do I matter?" she asked, feeling the way Edward and Jacob were staring at her.

The two men looked at one another before the one on the right spoke out loud, saying, "You are our salvation."

Bella glanced at Edward before looking back at them and laughed — full belly laughed. "Your salvation? I am your salvation."

"Yes," they replied at the same time.

"Okay, this is. . . . I don't even know," she muttered, tightening her arms around her torso. "Why do you think I am your salvation?"

"Because you are one of us," the man on the left thought.

She felt her eyes widened. "You think I'm . . . You think I am one of you?"

"Yes," they said together again.

"Why do you think I am one of you?" she asked.

"They think you are one of them?" Edward pressed, and when she nodded, he added, "What the fuck is going on?"

"I don't know."

"You are one of us," they said together.

"No, I'm not," she insisted. "I don't even know what you are."

"We are Sentinels. We have watched over the humans for the last several millennia. We used to roam free on the earth, protecting our charges, celebrating their achievements."

"That was until they drove us away." The man on the right gestured toward Edward. "The blood drinkers. They tried to harness our powers, to control us, but we managed to hide, to protect our race. However, that meant we were forced to seek refuge below the surface, where we have been waiting for your return."

"Wait!" she said, putting her hand up. "My return?"

"Yes," they said together.

"You were our leader, until the blood drinkers killed you. The prophecy said you would return, stronger than ever. You will be our salvation."

"Stop saying that!"

"We only speak the truth," the one on the left stated. "You bear our mark."

"What mark?" she asked, though she knew what he was going to say before the words, "The mark of the lunar moon," left his closed lips.

"You human body was too frail," the other one said, this time his lips parting and she knew Edward and Jacob could hear him. "The power inside you was strong, evident in your human body. You were dying, and we had lost hope that you'd be able to ascend, but the blood drinkers," he added, gesturing toward Edward, "saved you. We are thankful for them."

"I'm pretty thankful to them, too," she quipped. "You're saying I got cancer because I'm one of you?"

The men both nodded at the same time.

"But if they are the bad guys," she said, pointing to Edward. "The ones, who forced you underground, why are you thankful for them saving me?"

"Because it's your destiny," the one on the right said. "You will bring peace between both worlds, bridge us together. After the great battle, of course."

"Of course," she jibed. "And you have proof of this, right?"

"The writings are clear," the one on the left said. "The writings from our past are our future."

"This is too much," she whispered, mostly to herself before she shifted her eyes back to the two men. "Why did you kill the Tribal Council? Why did you kill his father?" she asked, gesturing toward Jacob, who tensed. "They were human, they weren't a threat to you."

"We did not kill them," the one on the right said.

"There are a few among us who don't believe you are our salvation, they believe the shapeshifters," the left one added, tilting his head toward Jacob, "are responsible for igniting the war between them and the blood drinkers who drove us underground. We tried to stop them, but they outnumbered us. They killed those brave men, took their lives without consideration of what they were starting. We must stop them."

"Stop them from what?"

"From killing the rest of his people."

And the man on the left raised his hand and pointed directly at Jacob Black.

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