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Chapter 71

My Children


Edward


I could feel the nervousness of my family and my own was no less so. I had considered asking Carlisle to come here, but wouldn't that look too much like a defense?

During the week, the children had thought a lot about who might appear here today. I eavesdropped carefully to prepare myself for the different people.

Emily Uley was, to all appearances, really the most understanding of all. They suspected that she would not care at all what kind of creature I was, as long as it was Bella's free will to choose me. Even if I was potentially a danger, she would be able to overlook it. She herself bore - as a sign of having a life-threatening husband - a scar over the entire right side of her face. Consequently, I too wished that this Emily would come here.

Sue Clearwater. Another very likely possibility for Jake. The wife of Charlie, Bella's father. Highly esteemed member of the Quileute Council of Elders, mother of two wolves, and therefore in the know about everything. Jake thought it was obvious because of Charlie that she would come. To maybe then be able to tell Charlie everything. She was apparently a very gentle person, but I did not share Jake's suspicions.

Leah, on the other hand, was convinced that Paul Lahote would come along. Apparently he would attack me at the front door. Although he hadn't phased for some time, the prospect of killing a bloodsucker again would be alluring to him.

If Billy Black actually came, I definitely felt a certain sense of fear. Jake and Leah had shown me extensively through their thoughts what kind of person he was. I knew him only vaguely in person. Once when I brought Bella home, he and his son stood on the porch waiting for Charlie. His thoughts were very penetrating and unwavering that time. This had obviously not changed. And now that it was no longer just about his best friend's daughter, but his grandchildren, he would be very adamant with me and basically despise our love.

"Take it easy, darling," I whispered, pulling Bella into my arms. I heard her wildly beating little heart and pressed it against my chest so that the beat would calm me down myself. "Relax, Bella. I'm with you. We're getting through this conversation together. No matter what they say, at the end of the day, we'll still be together ... The worst that can happen is that they have something against me on principle and won't understand our love. And Jake and Leah will always stand by you, no matter what they may think of."

I put my hands to Bella's cheeks and sank into the ocean of liquid chocolate.

"Will or can? ... We'll see about that!", I suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice outside the door, but it made a friendly and even somewhat unconcerned impression.

Bella opened immediately and I almost smirked at the sight.

A grown man with a boorish smile and dressed only in shorts.

Wolves! I thought to myself. Jake and Leah also wore only the bare necessities when they came out of the woods.

He greeted Bella carefree and in a good mood. Then he looked at me and put on a more serious expression. He almost smirked himself.

He did not do it of his own accord, but because one would expect that of him. As a wolf, he had to meet no vampire friendly, which he himself, however, felt as a silly attitude. He trusted the judgment of Bella and her children.

"Hello, Seth," I replied in a friendly manner. I would get along with him. Quite certainly even.

"What are you going to do with them?" my angel asked, startled, when Seth asked about the kids.

I recognized the fear in her eyes and Seth's thoughts alerted me in the further course as he continued to lead the way for the children into the woods.

I love you guys, but soon you will hate me ... Why do I of all people have to do this to them? he thought on the way out. He also answered his own question. Because he was the last wolf. He hadn't been able to convince Sam to phase one last time for Jake and Leah.

His thoughts betrayed nothing of what he had obviously planned for a long time.

I was worried about my children. But Jake and Leah were very strong, both physically and mentally, and they seemed to mean a lot to Seth. So, I pushed my suspicion aside as exaggerated. As best I could ...


Again, Bella and I were startled together when the front doorbell rang anew.

Bella's heart began to race again.

I gently squeezed her hand and gave her a kiss on the forehead. It helped a little. The pounding blows stopped for a blink and then continued their work a tiny bit slower.

I smiled slightly.

"Emily!" my angel exclaimed delightedly as we opened the door, and I was pleasantly surprised at how cheerfully they both greeted each other.

For me, however, Emily still had no gaze left. However, this was obviously only due to her joy of this reunion. Not at me.

My gaze, on the other hand, immediately went on to our other guest.

William 'Billy' Black. I sighed inwardly. It was to be expected that he, of all people, would come here.

He pierced me spitefully with his glances.

I didn't care what thoughts he was already thinking about me now. However, he didn't seem to be aware that I could hear it.

"Good day, Mr. Black!" I politely extended my hand to him.

He paid no attention to it.

I was prepared to be friendly and respectful, but he was already making it difficult for me to continue to do so.

"May I help you up the steps?" I continued to ask, taking a step toward him.

I immediately backed away again.

His gaze was enough to make his opinion of my help clear to me. His thoughts left no more room for interpretation.

'I'd rather die,' he sneered spitefully in these.

So, I merely took the bags that stood next to him and overheard his thoughtful refusal to that.

Emily and Bella of course noticed the 'slight tensions' between Billy and me. Emily therefore immediately turned to me, greeted me downright enthusiastically, and pushed me into the living room.

I willingly allowed myself to be pushed away from the front door so Billy wouldn't have the embarrassment of having to roll past me and turn his back on me.

A thought that scared him beyond measure and what he wanted to avoid at all costs.

We sat down on the couch and Billy rolled next to it silently, but with an attentive and mistrustful gaze.

Emily talked about trivialities while Bella was still busy in the kitchen.

I would help her, but I sensed that she was savoring the moment alone. She would take as much time as she could to delay the moment.

Bella jitterily balanced the tray to the living room table. I immediately took it from her and distributed everything. Three cups, the pot of coffee, milk, sugar, spoons, a small plate of cookies that we had baked yesterday afternoon with the twins on the occasion of the bonfire.

Afterwards the kitchen had looked ...

"You don't drink coffee?" asked Emily in my direction.

I inevitably had to chuckle.

She knew a surprising amount about the likes of us, but such irrelevancies had apparently not been worth mentioning.

"No. No food, no drink, no sleep," I replied as I pulled Bella facing backwards into my arms as she sat down. I was with her - she should not forget that.

Therefore, I also took her free hand in mine.

"I could have thought of it myself!" Emily stated a little embarrassed and then summoned us to tell her everything in turn.

So, we told, while Billy continued to be silent.

Bella snuggled further and further into my arms and calmed down completely. Her heart went evenly calm. It only stumbled now and then when I breathed a gentle kiss on her temple, squeezed her hand a little, or stroked her cheek.

While I registered every short cardiac arrest of Bella sympathetically and enthusiastically, I myself became more and more mistrustful.

For one thing, I could still hear the wolves and kept looking skeptically through the windows. I did not see them; they were too far away for that. They were at the edge of my gift, so I noticed everything that was happening there in the forest. And I followed it attentively.

Seth humiliated them both most nefariously. He had planned it that way and was sorry to do it to them, but I still had no clue why he did it. I would love to run right away and protect both of them from these accusations from which they could not defend themselves. One had already said such things to them too often for them to question it. Too often Billy, of all people, had praised his son to the skies and had done so for as long as the twins could think. And the additional slurs from Sam and Paul when they were back in La Push recently sounded clearly in the back of both their minds, even if it was just to provoke the transformation at the time.

On the other hand, I heard Billy's thoughts.

Emily was above all curious and saw in me only a man. The fact that I was a vampire, of all things, wouldn't make it quite so easy in her opinion, but the way she viewed us now, affectionately turned towards each other, we would probably manage everything. So were she and Sam. But Billy was already accusing Bella in thoughts and considering how he would get his grandchildren away from here. In his eyes, Bella desecrated Jacob's memory and he condemned her most nefariously. He called her a vampire whore and worse. She was not worthy to raise his grandchildren. Not worthy that the protectors of La Push, who in his opinion were the measure of all things, lived under this roof. He expected Seth to bring the twins to their senses, who would then hold me accountable for breaking the treaty. After that, they were to come with him to La Push, where he thought they belonged.

Calmly, I submitted my view on this.

After Billy feigned 'innocence', my angel jumped up angerly from the sofa.

"You're taking his side? Against your family?" Billy asked litigiously.

"He IS my family!" my angel screamed and hurriedly I stood behind her.

I put an arm around her waist and thus kept her from doing something she would probably regret later.

'My family' she had declared loudly. These words touched me, even if it was just the completely wrong time. Bella had not pronounced those words so irrevocably before. They ARE my family. Bella, Leah, and Jake. I could not be without any of them anymore.

"They are MY grandchildren!" Billy tried to clarify when he noticed that I was keeping Bella away from him.

I gave him a withering gaze over Bella's shoulder that made him wince.

"And you allow your grandchildren to be tortured and lose faith in themselves?" I asked grimly as I listened to Leah and Jake lose their self-confidence more and more.

I quivered with rage.

Whatever the meaning behind all this vituperation, Seth went too far.

Emily likewise had no idea what Seth was doing out there with the kids. She was shocked.

She had supposed that which he himself had said when he arrived. To get her out of the line of fire. But now she realized that there had to be another reason. Which was why her husband had insisted that Seth come along. She considered whether they hadn't learned everything in the short week that Seth was now making up for.

What was I supposed to do?

I took Bella's face in my hands and looked at my angel. I searched for the right answer in her eyes.

Should I continue to allow Seth to torture them? That he loved them both stood beyond question. I had seen and heard it when he walked through this house as a human earlier. He was the oldest wolf there was. The most experienced. He had to know what he was doing. There had to be a reason for his behavior. Sam had even ordered him this intransigence, whereby this had nothing to do with Bella and me.

A further howl shook me to the core.

It was from Seth and appeared like rolling thunder in the minds of the twins.

Consternation stood in Bella's eyes, and I didn't doubt that it could also be seen in mine.

I was afraid. Afraid for the souls of my children.

"I'm getting our kids back before Seth wrecks them!" I whispered, sealing my promise with a quick kiss and running off.


Panic gripped me as Jake and Leah subliminally began to think about death. They were broken. Their self-confidence completely gone. Seth would pay for this!

I ran as fast as I could, still noticing behind me Emily comfortingly taking Bella into her arms and accusing Billy of seeming to know what was happening to the twins.

Quickly I reached them in the middle of the forest.

Jake and Leah lay whimpering on the ground. Crawling. Without will. All they wanted to do was lie here and never move again so they couldn't disappoint anyone else as Seth continued to devalue them.

With all my might I pushed Seth away from them and he flew far through the silence of the forest.

I knelt down between the children.

My children!

"Leah ... Jake ..." I whispered to them and rubbed them over the head reassuringly when their heavy eyelids opened a little.

In their big dark wolf eyes little will to live was to be recognized.

No! That was not allowed to be!

"He is lying. You are strong. You just have to believe in yourselves. You can free yourselves from him. He ..." I spoke further.

I had no idea if my words would reach anything in them. Whether they were capable of fighting back against these slanders. I could not leave it untried.

But Seth came rushing up to me and stopped me from continuing to talk.

His thoughts confused me for a moment.

The kids didn't seem to perceive anything but his threats, but I heard a low whisper in his head.

'Edward ... Maybe you will give them the strength they need ...' I heard softly, when he jumped towards me.

Seth had started with a fairly harmless scuffle, but I was too angry.

He had tortured the twins mentally in the most unbearable way. No matter what his reasons were, he had to pay for it.

I became reckless and did not hold back, whereupon Seth did the same. After all, he did not want to die.

Never before had I had to fight a wolf, and it was harder than I would have expected. The massive body was anything but cumbersome, as one might suspect. His teeth and claws hit me many a time. Just as I gave him hard blows that wore down his bones and I slit his skin again and again with my stiffened fingers that resembled claws. I threw him back.

Jake and Leah had straightened up.

'You will do your duty!' I heard Seth's voice, which sounded more commanding than ever.

Anxiety-inducing. Awe-inspiring. Unmistakable. And impossible to disagree with. Not to me, but it came across that way to Jake and Leah.

They sank submissively to the ground again.

"Don't let him oppress you! ... You are strong!" I implored them both.

With bared teeth, Seth came at me again.

Our fight continued and I heard the inner combat in the twins.

I now understood what Bella had told me just two weeks ago. One CAN'T resist the orders of the Alpha wolf. Jake and Leah tried to fight back, but they could not escape the dictates.

'Let yourself be defeated. They're almost ready!', I heard quietly in Seth, which the kids again did not hear.

They were caught up in their own thoughts, their fight against themselves. I had a sudden clue why Seth was being so rough, let him hit me hard, and stayed on the ground beaten for a moment. I followed closely the thoughts around me as I supposedly slowly picked myself up. If necessary, to avoid Seth, if this was just a trick.

As Seth took a leap towards me, I turned onto my back in a lightning quick motion to respond to him.

But ... Leah was already standing over me. Leah protected me and pushed Seth away. The children's thoughts were the madness! They often thought the same and came up with the same ideas. I had already heard that often enough in the past weeks. But it was nothing compared to now. Their thoughts were one!

'You have to obey me!' I heard Seth determine again, but Jake and Leah let it go completely cold this time.

'You have nothing more to command us!'

I heard an exceptionally strong resonance that had an even more determined and unyielding timbre than I had heard from Seth before. It also made my body vibrate slightly due to the insistence.

The children both paused at this new sound, which was completely unfamiliar to them. They both shook their heads slightly to get rid of the almost painful sound of their own thoughts.

Seth's eyes widened.

'You don't touch our father!' they continued to threaten, as Seth himself was already whimpering and obediently pressing his stomach to the ground.

Your father! Me!

The word shook me up a bit.

I was still sitting on the ground.

I had been too fascinated by the thoughts of the two to pay attention to anything else.

Seth's eyes sparkled with surprise at this unexpected situation, but the twins had seen in it a declaration of war and immediately attacked.

Only now did I stand up, but the three wolves immediately found themselves in a fight. One could hardly tell how many different bodies were actually involved. I could do nothing.

I tried to tell Jake and Leah what Seth had done to them. Because I finally understood it.

Neither Seth nor Sam shared Billy's narrow-minded opinion! It merely provided them with the basis of what Seth should put the twins out of countenance with. Leah should claim her birthright from Seth. It was not enough for her to know theoretically that she was the Alpha wolf. She had to not only acknowledge her right, but actually make use of it. Only because of this, Seth had already insulted her so much in La Push. She needed to stand against him. She needed to challenge his authority. Leah needed to! But now something had happened that he had not expected. The law of the elder wolf of the bloodline no longer applied. Jake and Leah had claimed their right together. They were one wolf - in two bodies. Their thoughts had merged into one entity. That had caused a surprised sparkle in Seth. He had expected everything, but not this! Seth himself tried to explain mentally, but the children did not hear him. They didn't overhear him! They actually did not hear him. His thoughts were closed to the children.

I shouted it out to him.

In contrast to the twins, who perceived nothing else except their common command voice, because it simply drowned out everything else, he heard me. I heard myself in their heads, but only as a muffled whisper, which was simply too quiet under the double sound.

Seth, meanwhile, considered and soon came to a conclusion.

Whether it was true, we would possibly never know. The new chiefs of the Quileute had deposed the previous Alpha wolf. He was no longer the alpha, but only a simple wolf. Since the kids viewed Seth beyond that as an enemy, they had also broken away from the past pack - even if it consisted apart from them only of a single wolf. Thus, there were now two packs. And one of it was leaderless.

Seth tried to concentrate, which was not easy considering the still relentless fighting. It wasn't until he forcibly dragged Leah to the ground by her neck fur and tried to restrain her body with his paws that he was able to make a conscious decision.

The absolutely free sand-colored wolf looked for a new pack to which he would belong. Half a second was enough to make an oath: He would follow Leah and Jake - to the death!

Only now they heard him again, but for the next attack it was too late. Before Seth realized what was happening to him, Jake grabbed him by the back of the neck so that Leah could free herself from under him. The twins no longer needed to think about what they were going to do. They knew it. They reacted to each other with deadly precision, to every emotion. Their mind power functioned as one thought, not even really needing to express their complete reasoning in thought anymore. Seth had no more chance. He suspected this superiority and fought back as stubbornly - but also panic-stricken - as he could. So it happened that Seth was able to tear himself away so far that he pushed Leah's muzzle aside, which immediately bored into Jake's shoulder.

Quickly, I ran behind Jake to catch him.

His shoulder was shattered, just dripping with blood, and he was screaming in pain. His screaming ended abruptly. His widened eyes seemed to focus on something beside me, but I didn't know what.

I recognized nothing through his thoughts except the agony of the injury.

I brushed his hair out of his face, felt for his pulse, checked to see if he was breathing normally, and briefly searched in vain for his shoulder joint before I let my hand rest on his heart.

It beat quietly?

"Dad?" he was still mumbling as he looked directly at me.

"I'm here, Jake!" I said before he slipped into unconsciousness. "Jake!" I screamed at him in fear, but he stopped responding.

Leah still stood growling in front of me, ready to defend us from Seth.

But Seth was not an enemy!

"Leah," I yelled at her to get her attention and finally she also phased back.

She squatted in front of me, looking fearfully into her brother's face, still giving Seth a mistrustful gaze.

"The syringes Carlisle gave you recently ..." was all I said, and Leah was already flying through the woods.

She ran a bit, took a huge leap forward, and phased in the jump.

"Wow ...!" I heard Seth, who was honestly impressed.

I wondered why. That's what the kids were doing all the time.

He knelt with us as soon as Leah left.

"I'm sorry!" he affirmed.

I knew it and nodded. When I lifted Jake onto my arms, he also phased again.

In thoughts, he was already apologizing to Leah. It had gotten completely out of control. Since he didn't know how much time he had with the twins, it had to be drastic. The fact that he was no longer heard came as a complete surprise. But he also said emphatically that wolves survived much worse than a broken shoulder.

I just nodded as I saw Leah already rushing into the house.

Jake wasn't going to die, Seth was sure of that, but still I uncontrollably worried about him.

Bella was waiting for us at the patio door and had put her hands over her mouth in shock. Desperate tears were streaming down her cheeks.

I would so much like to take her in my arms and comfort her, to tell her that it looked worse than it actually was, that Jake had only lost consciousness because of the pain, that he would live, that his supernatural healing would fix everything. But I didn't have time for that, and besides, I wasn't convinced of it myself yet.

"It's going to be all right!" I just said and went on into the living room.

Billy's face froze as I came through the doorway.

After Leah's hasty appearance, Emily had thought that something must have gone wrong, had put a blanket over the sofa, and was in the kitchen getting water. While she had no medical training, she had always tended to the wolves of the pack, provided the injuries had not disappeared by the time they reached her house.

Gently, I put Jake down and tried to lay him down so that his ribs could heal unhindered. His shoulder, on the other hand, was badly injured. It was basically no longer recognizable as such and the arm hung down limply and without support through a joint.

Wearing Bella's bathrobe, Leah came rushing down the stairs holding Carlisle's little box in her hands.

I took it from her and quickly read the labels.

Using Jake's and Leah's blood, Carlisle had developed painkillers just for the two of them. If I took the wrong shot, it would make the pain worse. I tried not to think about how they had figured that out.

First, I took the injection for Leah.

"Leah. Lie down," I said frantically, already pulling her to the other end of the corner sofa.

She played the strong one and downplayed her own pain. Like her mother!

All three wolves were covered with countless wounds and had at least some slightly broken bones in their bodies. I straightened Leah a bit so that her chest would be relieved as much as possible.

The serum was not only for general pain, it was also supposed to have an anesthetic effect.

Therefore, I pulled open the bathrobe, felt for the broken ribs and applied the syringe when a reddish-brown hand grabbed me roughly by the forearm.

"Don't touch my grandchildren!" Billy snapped at me.

"Billy!" sharply retorted Emily, who was already in the process of washing out Jake's injuries with the warm water and cleaning the blood from his shoulder.

"My children are suffering!" I returned bitingly, freeing my arm whereby I pushed Billy back a bit along with the wheelchair, and sank the hypodermic needle in.

Billy said no more.

I pulled the robe over her again.

"Relax, Leah. Just lie still and keep breathing," I said as I gently stroked her cheek.

She acknowledged it with a grateful nod and implied smile.

Immediately I turned to Jake.

He was more seriously injured, but I did not hear his pain.

I took the next syringe and applied it to the shoulder.

I didn't know how effective Carlisle's remedy actually was. Hopefully one injection was enough to take away his pain.

When Emily was done with Jake, she flipped the blanket over him a bit and took care of Leah. I held Jake's arm in the right position and otherwise cooled the shoulder with my hands.

I couldn't tell if that helped him in any way. I just hoped it would.

Bella was leaning over the back of the sofa holding her son's hand. She looked completely devastated. Tears were still streaming down her cheeks.

"Jake's pretty tough!" I repeated Emmett's erstwhile words, leaning toward her a bit.

She put a hand on the back of my neck and our heads fell against each other at the forehead.

"He'll wake up as soon as the pain allows," I said as soothingly as I could.

She nodded.

Weak and restless. Of course. As long as a child was injured, the mother had to wallow with worry. Just as I did. My gaze slid back and forth between Leah and Jake, but Leah's pain seemed to subside. She tried to breathe deeper and deeper, which hurt less and less.

Under my fingers it burned.

The wolf healing was underway in Jake and I could feel the bones regenerating. A slight vibration as the countless splinters pulled themselves back to their intended position.

Silently, time passed.

Four minutes. - Thirteen minutes. - Twenty-seven minutes. - Thirty-eight minutes. - Until I could finally make out actual bones under my hands.

Only now, as I slowly calmed myself down, did I let my gaze glide around the room.

Leah no longer felt any pain and had sat up straight in the meantime. Bella was visibly more relaxed after Jake continued to breathe steadily and his heart was beating so strongly that she could feel it on his wrist, too. I no longer had to worry about Jake passing away.

I only gave Billy a quick gaze. He was still sitting in his wheelchair in the same place where I had pushed him earlier.

In his thoughts was only concern for his grandchildren, which he kept glued to. As Jake lay there, it reminded him of his own son. An image he could probably never erase from his memories.

Emily, on the other hand, sat at Jake's feet, only slightly worried.

She was sure that everything would be all right.

I viewed past her and looked at Seth. He hadn't wanted to stand in the way, so he had sat down at the dining table. He rested bent over on his arms.

With his eyes closed and without thought. He slept. Since he was not insignificantly injured, that was probably good for him.

I looked back at my children, but promptly cast my gaze back to Seth.

Something was not right. I didn't like his face. Pale as death and cold sweat on his forehead. I concentrated. His heart! It was beating, but worryingly weak.

"Seth!" I said clearly.

No response.

I repeated it, considerably louder this time, and walked up to him now that Emily was holding Jake's arm in the right position.

He did not move. He had wrapped the towel, with which Emily had tried to wipe away everyone's blood, around his neck. It was soaked with blood. His broad and muscular shoulders had covered it from the sofa. I pulled it aside and froze in shock for a split second. I saw a gaping wound on the upper cervical vertebrae. The blood veins, vertebrae and nerves were blurred into one mess.

Seth was not asleep, he was unconscious!

"Call Carlisle!" was all I said, and Bella understood my own helplessness.

Immediately, she rushed to the first available phone and dialed.

I quickly grabbed a clean towel from the kitchen to press the wound closed, lifted Seth up in my arms and was already through the door with him.


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