Perpetual Existence

Chapter Twenty-Three – Collapse

Carlisle, for the first time in my existence, looks unsure. As the patriarch of our family, this situation requires a vivid imagination. I'm not sure he has one, despite his age. We not only have to come up with a fake reason for the town's people losing days of their lives and memories, but that explanation has to appease government officials.

The Volturi will require another explanation since most things that will render a human unconscious, will not do the same to a vampire.

The wolves will be the only ones other than my family to know the truth. And Charlie? I doubt Bella will expose her mother; the few memories she has shared of Renee indicate she is incapable of secrecy. Her mother's life is on the line, which Bella will not want.

My internal clock has assessed the time. To the people of Forks, Washington they believe it's a Monday, when in fact it is Thursday afternoon. Almost seventy-two hours, so there's no way people outside of town are unaware of the phenomenon that keeps our town trapped.

"Bella, you need to concentrate on your shield. It needs to remain until we can explain to the pack. Various government agencies are about two miles away, waiting for any changes in town."

She chokes on her next breath, swaying where she stands. "I don't even know how it has remained up. Call them immediately."

Carlisle is the one who calls out to them, quickly followed by Charlie. It's his words, his voice that drops Sam's defenses enough to comply. His pack members protest, but after a quick verbal agreement not to come alone, he stands before us in his human form.

For Sam, his tall and broad frame nearly glows with sweat, and the instinct to shift into his wolf form is strong. Two members of his pack flank him, each of them with the hairs on the back of their necks standing on end. Their eyes are on Bella.

"What is the meaning of this?" Sam growls, his breathing choppy. "Charlie?"

Charlie steps forward, his hands up in a gesture of "hold on." Bella snarls at the man-beasts and crouches before me.

"I have a lot to explain," Charlie states, pointing to my family and me behind him. "As do you and your tribal members."

Sam winces but holds up his chin. "You are not a member of our tribe. You didn't need to know."

"If I had known, I would've followed my wife and daughter all those years ago."

Bella cocks her head, confusion furrowing her brow. She stands and silently asks for my support by taking my hand. If Charlie had followed Renee when she took Bella as a child, where would we be today?

I can't even imagine it now. Now that I've met her. Now that I've shared countless hours in the space between death and life. I've had a taste of love and even happiness. Contentment. I no longer feel hollow, a shell.

I feel complete.

"If it would've prevented your daughter from becoming a leech…" Paul hisses from Sam's right side.

Charlie's hand reaches for his gun holster, unsnapping it. "Watch your words. You may survive a bullet to the foot, but it'll still hurt like hell."

Sam holds out his arm, stopping Paul from stepping forward. "Go back, Paul. Now."

Paul growls and steps backward until he disappears from view.

Sam clears his thought. "We need to know why your daughter is a vampire now. We need to know what happened to shield this area from us. We need to know who changed your daughter. The Cullens had agreed on a treaty decades ago, one that states they cannot bite a human."

"Looks like they bit your daughter, Charlie," Embry taunts, looking at my Bella with disgust. Though his thoughts find her beautiful.

"Mind your thoughts, too."

Sam looks confused for a moment. "You're gifted."

"Yes, and thanks to that gift, we have approximately seven minutes before this place is swarming with government officials. We can explain, but you can't be here. They will know you're different once they examine you."

Sam nods, folding his arms across his chest. "You have five minutes."

"I am the reason we are in this mess." Bella sighs and closes her eyes for a moment. "I've had the power to manipulate time since I was a child."

"The area wasn't accessible because of time?" Sam takes two seconds to allow the words to sink in. "And while you were human?"

"Yes," Charlie speaks up. "I also have the same gift, though not as powerful as Bella. My mother and her mother also had it, too."

"Fall on the stairs," Bella whispers, wincing as if remembering pains her. "I fell down the stairs at Nana's, but then I didn't."

Remarkable—some of her childhood memories remain intact.

Charlie nods. "Mom didn't even take a second to decide. You were at the foot of the stairs, your limbs at odd angles." He shudders and chokes out," Blood pooling so fast. The next thing I knew, you're at the top of the stairs and I lunged to stop you from falling."

"It was Nana." Bella's lips tremble. "It was too much, that kind of power for a human. It took a toll, and she was gone in less than a year."

Charlie tries to deny it, but the momentary grief in his eyes tells her the truth. As humans, their powers drain their bodies.

Does it mean if I hadn't bit her, in that first loop, she would've died soon after escaping the time distortion?

I have a decent imagination, but science fiction always eludes me.

"That's some Twilight Zone or superhero shit," Emmett says in awe. "They're like Superman, who reversed time to save Lois Lane in the movie?" My brother, on the other hand, enjoys the genre.

Sam crosses his arms over his chest. "Keep going, we don't have time for the long version."

"Edward recognized me as his mate instantly and his instinct was to change me immediately." Bella says all this in such a way that anyone will believe the lie.

"That's not a good reason to change her," Sam starts, but his thoughts betray him.

"Vampire mates are what imprints are to you and your pack."

Sam's thoughts suddenly disappear behind a large campfire and sickly-sweet scented incense in his mind. "Get out of my head."

Interesting. He's learned the technique to have some semblance of privacy, as shifters can hear each other's thoughts while in their wolf forms.

"What's an imprint?" Bella can't help her curiosity, and apparently, Charlie, too.

Uncomfortable, Sam sighs. "I'll explain later. Keep going; there's not much time left."

"Edward's gut reaction didn't allow me time to do or say anything other than protect myself." She waves her arms around, much too fast for a human. To Charlie, they were a blur, freaking him out a little. "This combination of a time bubble and my shield was the result. It took several loops to get Edward's instinct to pull back for us to have a conversation and um—"

"Fall in love," I finish for her. I turn back to Sam. "We figured out that the time we had to ourselves between loops, that if she could have survived a cycle, it would put an end to all this, but Death had another idea."

We explain how no matter how much we tried, she would die from something, not always by my hands.

"That was when we accepted that she needed to be changed for her to survive a loop. Survival is key, even as a vampire. The moment we accepted that truth, we were brought back to the moment in time I had first bitten her. It was if all the other loops didn't happen. All this is because the time distortion is collapsing and most of these humans haven't eaten or drunk anything in days."

"Does that mean you tried in these loops to stop from biting and changing her?"

"Killing her or changing her," I answer honestly.

Sam's eyes narrow. "What do you mean?"

Bella rolls her eyes. "Apparently, even as his mate, I smelled too good, so his battling instincts were to devour my blood and the other was to change me."

Again, it's a lie. There wasn't an instinct to change her at first, which was why we went through so many cycles.

"In other words, he had to be strong enough to bite but not kill." Sam nods. "What happens to your kind if something happens to a vampire's mate?"

All the members of my family bristle at the question. Killing mates would be a strategic advantage if a battle broke between us.

"Think of how you'd feel if something happened to Emily and amplify it by a thousand." Their history has their kind outlive their imprints and even imprint on another, to ensure the bloodlines.

Though Sam's campfire technique works well, some thoughts are too loud to keep from me. The discussion of mates brings their rules about imprints to the forefront of his mind.

"The decision on the treaty violation is too big for me to decide on my own. I will speak with the council tonight and we will continue this conversation." He barely contains the slight snarl of his lips. "Or not."

"If we can avoid further conflict and compromise, we are willing never to return to Forks, Washington," Carlisle offers.

Charlie is quick to protest; he doesn't want Bella to leave the area. "She is still my daughter, Sam. A change of diet is not enough for me to see her any different. Keep that in mind."

Sam sighs but agrees to take his words into consideration. The fact that Bella is surrounded by easy prey and hasn't shown any inclination to attack weighs heavily on his mind.

"Whatever your decision may be, do not come to our homes until the threat of the Volturi passes," Carlisle warns. "If they know of your existence, there will be consequences."

"Understood. But if they attack any human in our territory, we will have no choice but to protect our people."

"You will not survive," Carlisle replies fiercely.

I understand his warning; the entire reservation will not survive. Age doesn't matter to the Volturi.

"Understood." Sam nods, then he and Embry walk backward toward the forest in the back of the school where the other shifters in their wolf forms wait. Eight in total, a larger number than we originally thought. Three or four transform while we're in the loop.

"The walls are collapsing completely," Bella murmurs. "They'll all wake up soon."

Alice whispers, "In two minutes, twenty-three seconds. The Volturi will arrive almost an hour after this and watch from the sidelines until the authorities release us. They will arrive at our estate before we do but will remain outside. Charlie must stay with the authorities when they do. If he doesn't, Aro may be able to read his thoughts."

"Aro?" Carlisle says, horror striking his face. "He made the trip here?"

"After Jane relays what they witnessed, he and the others will arrive within a day."

"You saw all this, just now?" Bella asks, confusion putting the slightest wrinkle between her brows.

"The moment Sam stepped into the forest."

Emmett claps loudly, getting everyone's attention. "So, how are we doing this?"

"Go back to the location and position you woke in," Carlisle says, looking around.

He continues giving us instructions quickly, though Charlie isn't able to keep up. He simply goes to lie down where he woke up.

We hear the first humans starting to awaken, on the outskirts of Forks. My family returns to their positions, though my father places his medical bag beside him that he removed from the trunk of his car.

I take Bella's hand and lead her to where we were before everyone collapsed. "Ready?" I rub her arms, wanting to kiss her again.

She winks before her eyes roll back and she collapses to the ground.

I almost have a panic attack but hear her giggle to let me know she's okay.

Give the lady an Oscar.

AN: Thanks for reading!

Thanks to Midnight Cougar for helping me with the tenses. Any errors are mine since I couldn't leave it alone after I got it back. I'm writing when I can. Its been tough and this story has been blocked for a while. I had to reread it and make sure I remembered everything correctly. Hopefully the block has been lifted because this is fic is one my favorites to write at the moment.

Next week is my birthday! No real plans since I have to be up before dawn to take my daughter and sister to the airport. I hope to get some Starbucks time. Birthdays are strange for me, something bad happens almost every year. It doesn't help that I share my birthday with my late grandmother and other grandmother died on my birthday, so my birthday is sort of glossed over. Last year I had broken my ankle that required surgery. This year I hope for a good one, it's been a while since I had some quality ME time, too.