Still riding the crazy train!
TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter gets a bit violent. If that's not your thing, just skip it and know that the bad guy gets his.
The song for this chapter is Clair de Lune by Imagine Music. Remember that you can play along with the story on Amazon Music using the special web address below!
HEY READERS! Want to be able to play all the songs from this story in order while you read? Well now you can! Just visit: https colon slash slash .com slash user-playlists slash 83eaf70f5fd2488da12e8f0787411603sune?ref=dm_sh_670a-24ac-70cc-3d48-5036e (Remember to replace the words with the punctuation and no spaces!)
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Disclaimer: I'm only doing this for a friend. I don't get anything from it but her undying appreciation. I certainly don't get to have fun with Emmett and the boys in my head.
*REMINDER: TRIGGER WARNING FOR VIOLENCE/BRUTALITY*
CHAPTER Thirty-Seven: Clair De Lune
EdPOV
"What happened," Carlisle snarled at me as he slammed me into the wall of his office. I pushed him off me, brushing dust from the broken sheetrock off my shoulders.
"That psychopath after her and Charlie is what happened. He showed up at the police station and shot both of them. Alice called to warn me but I was too far out to stop it from happening," I muttered miserably.
"Why wasn't anyone with her," he demanded and I winced against the thoughts flying around his head like a hurricane.
Blame.
Rage.
Regret.
Heartbreak.
Charlie's broken, lifeless body as he performed chest compressions, desperate to spare Bella from the pain of being an orphan.
Bella's body, cut open, blood everywhere as they tried to find the bullets and all her injuries.
Watching Bella get rolled away on the gurney to the ICU, nothing but layers of vacuum sealed plastic holding her abdominal organs in.
"I've called everyone to try and figure out what happened today. It seems to have been a rare chance of misfortune." He snarled at me and I held up my hands. "Esme and I were in Seattle. Alice and Jasper were in Portland with Peter and Charlotte. Rose and Emmett were supposed to be staying with her today but Rosalie had to go deliver the car she's been restoring and Bella refused to go with them. According to Rose, they argued about her staying home until someone could take her to the police station to see Charlie but Bella did agree to wait at home. She must have changed her mind at some point and left on her own to go by herself. I don't know why they were in the parking lot instead of inside the building but it was pure luck that the guy Charlie was chasing found them there. I would guess he's been watching Charlie, might even have been waiting around for the opportunity to get him alone."
"He's dead, Edward," he said dully, anger fading into sorrow. "I tried everything I could. He coded before we even got him put under."
"I know. He took the brunt of it. He tried to get in front of Bella, to protect her."
"He shouldn't have been put in that position. We were supposed to keep her safe. If someone had been with her, none of this would have happened. Sure, we might have some explaining to do to Charlie but at least he wouldn't be dead in the morgue while Bella…" He trailed off and I relived Bella's trauma in his head with him.
"She'll come through this, Carlisle. She has to."
"And what if her body can't heal from this," he asked savagely. "What if there's too much damage? Or in the attempt to let her heal enough to fix the damage, she contracts an infection that we can't fight? What if this is the end?"
"Then you'll change her," I said flatly. His eyes swung to me, crazed and panicked.
"No. I can't do that to her. Not without her permission. I won't condemn her to this-" he gestured wildly to the both of us "-for my own personal desires."
"She already told us that she wants to be changed; that being with you for eternity is the choice she's made."
"Yes but that was all hypothetical and sometime in the future when the circumstances were completely in her control. It wasn't when she was lying in a hospital bed, hanging on by a thread and unable to give consent!"
"Eternity with you," I shouted at him and he stilled. "When all her options were laid out before her, she chose an eternity with you. Even though she knew that meant hurting Charlie and saying goodbye to everyone she's ever known and loved. When she had the ability to look at what each decision would mean and how she would feel about it, she chose you. Don't try and preach about consent now. If she were awake and you asked her if she wanted to die or change and live with you, we both know what the answer would be."
"I… I can't do that to her. This isn't something any of us planned for. Not to mention that doing so would break the treaty. What if I did it and she wanted to come back here someday? Visit her father's grave, live in the house he owned? We'd be prohibited from doing so under threat of death."
"Let's not worry about it just yet," I said softly. "Esme will be here shortly and offered to sit with her while you're working. I know how hard it is to just try and set all this aside, set her aside, but you need to focus on your work and then you can go watch her obsessively." He stared at the wall dejectedly before nodding and then pulling himself together.
"The animal who did this," he said, pausing at the closed door.
"I'm already on it. He won't be taking up space or air for much longer," I promised darkly. He nodded shortly and then left.
~~~~STY~~~~
I pressed the piano keys carefully, studiously. My mind was concentrated on one thing really. But playing would help force me to be calm and collected. I moved my fingers over the opening notes of Clair de Lune, recalling the conversation I'd had with Bella in the car to the same song.
"Clair de lune?"
"You know Debussy?"
"Some. My mom really liked the pianists. She used to play it during her chemo sessions. She said it calmed her down and helped her sleep."
Bella.
She'd come to mean so much to me, to all of us, in such a short time. Alice had been right, as usual.
She was currently locked away in her bedroom, sifting through vision after vision, trying to pinpoint where we could find the monster that killed Charlie and hurt Bella. So far, she hadn't been able to lock onto him, either because he was a stranger or because he wasn't making anything more than split second decisions.
I continued the song methodically as I sorted through the visions with her. It was just her, Jasper and I, waiting for the right moment to deliver justice far more quickly and deservedly than the courts could. Emmett and Rosalie were already on their way back, both of them equal parts livid, horrified and guilt-ridden. Rose said she should have insisted Bella just come with them instead of giving in to her stubbornness.
What was the saying?
Could have, should have, would have.
It didn't change anything. Now the only thing that would make anything make sense was delivering a world of pain onto the man who had pulled the trigger and set all of this into motion.
"Wait, Alice, that one," I said suddenly, watching through her mind as the man I'd watched shoot Charlie and Bella pulled into a gas station and started filling up his car, calm as anything. "That's him," I growled. They whipped down the stairs and we stormed out the door, not bothering with cars.
We needed to be quick and untraceable.
We ran through the forests past the town, loosely following the highway. Jasper's thoughts were a tangle of a bloodthirsty mission for vengeance, undoubtedly fueled by the emotions of Alice and I. Alice continued to file through visions but her thoughts were a cycle of grief and fear.
This hadn't been part of the plan.
Had it?
"Up ahead," Alice informed us. We picked up speed before we came out onto the road. A pair of headlights was approaching in the distance, still too far to see us.
"We take out the car. Grab him. Jasper, you start. Alice, you work on staging the scene so it looks like he just lost control of the car and slammed into the trees. Make some tire marks."
"What are you going to do," Alice asked, face a mask of boredom.
"I'm planning on doing everything to him that Carlisle would," I promised darkly. "He will regret ever setting foot in Forks, Washington." We waited, watching the car come closer. I immediately recognized the tan sedan from the parking lot at the station, driving above the speed limit but calmly in the growing darkness. The man behind the wheel was at ease, his thoughts a euphoric high that I noted was probably enhanced by some substance or other. Everything about him was completely forgettable. There wasn't a twisting mustache for him to curl as he made his dark plans to kill the town's top police official and his daughter. He was distinctly unremarkable, a trait he no doubt used to his advantage while he slipped in and out of places to create danger and chaos.
Just as he was about to pass us, Jasper darted in front of the car and it slammed into him, going full speed. The metal crunched and buckled under the force, curling around Jasper's stiff form. The driver's head smashed forward into the steering wheel, leaving him dazed as the airbags deployed. Steam poured from beneath the hood, curling into the air. Jasper stepped back from the wreckage he'd created and we both approached the driver side of the car while Alice stood by, waiting to start the part of this adventure.
I wrenched the door open and Jasper grabbed our victim under his arms and lifted him from the car, throwing him onto the ground. He groaned and rolled over, looking up at us, dazed.
"You've made a terrible mistake, Keith Montrose. You chose the wrong town to come and threaten the chief in," Jasper said casually, sounding as though this was a friendly chat. "See, we really liked Chief Swan. And his daughter? She was under our protection. But you decided to threaten that protection. And our father? He's pretty upset with the mess you've made." Keith stared up at us, the concussion from the accident mixing with the lingering drugs in his system leaving his thoughts slow and confused.
"Maybe you should have done a better job at protecting the girl if you cared so much," he said, wiping blood from his nose. Jasper's face went from pleasant to dangerous in milliseconds. His leg kicked out at lightning speed, stomping onto Keith's left leg and shattering the bone inside. Keith screamed in pain, clutching at his leg without touching it.
"Maybe we didn't make ourselves clear," I said coldly. "Bella Swan was a very important member of our family and not only did you manage to kill her father, you've left her in the precarious fight between life and death. So now we have no recourse but to deliver justice for the crimes you have committed."
"Who are you," he panted. "You aren't cops." I smiled wolfishly, showing all my teeth. He recoiled.
"You're right: we aren't cops. Normally, we are incredibly respectful of the justice system in this country but unfortunately you've made this personal for us and we just don't have the patience to wait for you to work your way through the system. And honestly, if Charlie isn't breathing, then you certainly shouldn't be." His eyes widened as Jasper pressed his foot to his leg and began to apply pressure. The echoing crack of his tibia breaking shot through the area. He screamed again and scrambled under his back before pulling out a gun and pointing it at us.
Jasper laughed.
The gun went off, the bullet crumpling against Jasper's chest before falling harmlessly to the asphalt. Keith stared at it in horror before releasing a full clip between the two of us.
"What the hell are you," he gasped in horror. I leaned down, pulling him right up to my face, relishing in the way his heart sped up.
"We're the kind of monsters you should have prayed not to piss off," I growled before punching him across the jaw, the bone cracking. Jasper began to break each of his fingers.
"You've delivered a lot of pain, Keith. It's only fair that that suffering is requited, don't you think?" He proceeded to break both arms. Keith's screams were fading into moans and groans of pain.
"Anything else you want to say before I crush his heart, Edward," Jasper asked me conversationally, leaning over Keith's limp body menacingly.
"Nope. Let's just kill him and get it over with," I said. Jasper looked down at Keith and growled.
"Everything you feel right now isn't even close to what they felt. This should have been longer, more painful, but we don't want to waste another minute on shit like you." He slammed his hand into Keith's chest, snapping his sternum and ribs. A lung was punctured, filling with blood, making Keith's breaths as ragged and difficult as Bella's had been. Shards of bone tore through his heart. We listened in silence as it slowed until stopping entirely.
"Ready for us, Alice," I called behind me.
"All set," Alice said cheerily. I turned around to see that she wrapped the car around a massive ponderosa pine, gouging up the trunk to lead authorities to believe it had taken the force of the car's accident. She had made skid marks from the tires on the road leading to the car.
"This looks perfect, darlin', just like everything else you do," Jasper murmured tenderly. He grabbed Keith's body and stuffed it into the driver seat, arranging him just so. "The cocaine on the seat was a beautiful touch. Let's just put some on his hand and nose." He leaned over and placed some of the white powder on Keith's face.
"We should head back," Alice said. "Rose and Emmett are almost home and even though Carlisle hasn't made a decision yet, I want to have everything ready for when he does. Even if that means defying him to save her."
"He's scared, Alice," I said. "I'm just not sure that he'll do it, even if she flatlines again. He's worried that she said yes before but in the face of all this, she'd say no. And that he'll be breaking the treaty."
"You might just be able to clear that obstacle," Jasper suggested before taking off into the trees. Alice and I followed.
"I'm not sure that they would consent. Charlie was close with at least half the council and you know they consider being one of us a fate worse than death."
"If anyone could persuade them that that isn't the case here, I'd imagine it's you."