Chapter 16: Alice
In New Mexico, we caught up with the other car. The original plan had been for them to hurry to the motel, but as the scents of vampires grew more and more frequent, Carlisle and Jasper decided that it was wiser to travel closer together.
"Unfortunately your scent will raise all kinds of red flags here," Jasper was saying to Jacob. "It will be safest to drive right to the room where Bella is staying. Do you think once she knows you're there, she'll let you in right away?" Jacob nodded.
"I know what to say to at least get her to let me inside so we can have a private conversation. It will be way harder to convince Leah to leave so I can talk to Bella though."
"We should be able to keep an eye on her if you can convince her to go for a walk," Carlisle said thoughtfully. "She's far less conspicuous than you are." Jacob snorted.
"No one tells Leah what to do. But I'll give it a shot."
It was Jasper who noticed first.
"There are so many vampire scents around here, but I haven't actually seen one yet," he commented after rolling down the window and sniffing the air for the second time in 5 minutes. After a few minutes of watching, I realised he was right.
On the way down, Jasper described the big cities in Texas as a kind of vampire free-for-all. Because the Southern covens barely had any use for humanity beyond a food source, they had a freedom of sorts that we were not privy to. Long sleeves, leather gloves, sunglasses, and a cowboy hat made a suitable cover from the sun. While the garb may be a little odd, the humans wouldn't give an oddly dressed person on the street another look.
As a result, even on sunny days, it wasn't uncommon to see vampires walking out in the open. To the humans, they would be unnoticeable. But to the vampires and one werewolf in the car who knew what to look for, they would be easily spotted.
"Should we call the other car?" I asked. Jasper was already dialing the phone.
"It's too quiet out there," he said to whoever answered. "I can smell other vampires, but they're all laying low, which means there's bigger trouble than them floating around right now."
"You worry too much, Jazzy," came Emmett's voice through the speaker. "I bet they're just all having a big vampire conference across town." Jasper groaned and snapped the phone shut.
"He uses humour to cope with the unknown," Jasper explained to Jacob. "It's incredibly annoying, but at least he usually takes me seriously enough to watch out regardless."
By this point, the driving had slowed down to a crawl. It was one of the reasons we all preferred to drive out of big cities. Our reflexes were useless if there was simply no room to move our car forward. It took nearly an hour, but finally, we were there. Jasper pulled into a shaded spot and cut the engine. My heart lifted as I saw Bella's horrible van parked just a few spots down from us.
"They're in room 23," I reminded Jacob when he sat without moving.
"I know that," he snapped. His face was drawn and his hands were shaking.
"What's wrong, Jake?" I asked softly.
"It's just...what if she's angry I'm here? I ignored her for almost two weeks when she needed me. What if she's so mad she doesn't want to see me anymore."
"You and Bella were great friends," I said softly. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you."
"No, he's right. She might not be," Jasper said thoughtfully. I glared at him but he ignored me. "But what does it matter? Victoria could be down that alley for all we know. It's impossible to smell her right now with all the other scents hanging around. Are you really going to let your fear of Bella being mad at you stop you from getting to her before Victoria does?"
"No." Jake tightened his jaw and pushed open the door. The door had barely opened a crack before he slammed it shut again. "That's a lot of bloodsucker," he said, rubbing his nose.
"Are you okay going in by yourself?" Carlisle asked. Jacob opened the door again and took a deliberate sniff.
"I think so. The most recent scents are a few hours old." He took a deep breath and got out of the car.
"That was cruel," I muttered to Jasper as we watched Jacob take the stairs two at a time up to the second level.
"It was exactly what he needed," he said calmly. "You coddle the humans too much, but Jacob is smart. Bella does have a bit of a temper and she may very well be angry with him at first. He needed to know that he could do it anyway more than he needed empty platitudes." I nodded absently as I kept my eyes trained on Jacob. "Hey, you okay?" Jasper asked softly.
"Better than okay," I whispered. "I never thought I'd see her again." Jasper smiled and took my hand.
"You're planning on talking to her, aren't you?" he asked softly. I nodded. I didn't ask how he knew.
In front of Bella's door, Jacob had paused briefly. Taking a steadying breath, he lifted his hand and knocked on the door. Five seconds passed. Ten. There was no noise from the other side. Jacob knocked again.
Something's wrong.
Carlisle was no longer leisurely scanning the parking lot. Every eye was now trained on Jacob as he tried the door. It unlatched easily. The earth stood still for a moment and then everything happened at once.
"Carlisle, get over here!" Jacob roared as he disappeared into the room. The three of us launched ourselves out of the car and ran up the stairs at the fastest pace a human could manage. Across the street, the rest of our family was doing the same. As we neared the door, the smell of blood grew stronger.
"No," I whispered and pushed myself a little faster than I should have, making it to the door a few paces ahead of Carlisle.
The dingy motel room looked like something out of a crime show. There was blood splattered on the walls and pooling on the floor. One of the beds was broken and the mirror hanging on the wall had been shattered. The smell of vampires mixed with the scents of blood – one unfamiliar rancid blood and one sweet one that I was all too familiar with.
"Oh Bella," whispered Esme from the door, horrorstruck.
"Carlisle," Jacob moaned from where he was kneeling by the largest puddle of blood. "Please tell me that we made a mistake. Please tell me that this isn't Bella's blood and we just happened to come across a crime scene by accident. Please tell me she was never here."
"I can smell her blood," Carlisle said softly. "Is she still here Jacob?" There were no heartbeats in the apartment. We all knew what Carlisle was asking. Did you find a body?
"She's not here." A spark of hope entered his eyes. "Maybe she got away?"
Rosalie was moving through the room sniffing various splashes of blood. Finally she turned around and looked at him with sad eyes.
"Bella didn't actually lose too much blood. Her stinky friend is a different story. Most of the blood is hers."
"Poor Leah," Jacob whispered. "But wait, that's good! That means Bella isn't dead if she didn't lose that much blood. She must have gotten away." Jasper was shaking his head.
"There were four vampires here. There's no way she would have been able to escape alive. The only way she survived is if they decided to turn her into one of us."
A heavy silence filled the room. I wanted to scream, or cry, or both. I could see anything right now, but I knew this wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Bella was supposed to join our family, but it was supposed to be a transition filled with love and care, with her family there to welcome her when it was over.
"What are the chances she's been turned?" Jacob asked. Jasper shrugged.
"It's hard to say. Edward's talent didn't work on her, which might hint at her having a gift of her own. My sire, Maria, controls these parts and she collects gifted vampires. If the vampires that were in here were part of Maria's coven, there's a good chance that they may have at least tried to turn her."
"Tried?"
"Bella does have exceptionally sweet-smelling blood and human-drinkers aren't accustomed to denying themselves," Jasper admitted. Jacob buried his face in his hands.
"What about Leah?" he asked. Rosalie snorted.
"Her blood stinks. Even if they tried to drink from her they probably didn't get very far. It's actually way more likely that she made it out alive. The amount of blood she lost wouldn't necessarily mean she's dead."
We stood in silence for a long time. Finally Carlisle murmured "We should clean up." The rest of the family began to move mechanically around the room. Only Jacob and I stayed where we were; frozen in our shared grief.
"I can drive you to the airport," I said finally. Jacob's eyes flicked up to meet mine.
"Airport?" He repeated numbly.
"So you can go home Jake." Something inside him came back to life and he leaped to his feet, shaking uncontrollably.
"It's not over," he snarled. "She could still be out there."
"Jacob, Bella won't be human anymore." Jasper said bluntly. "I'm so sorry but the friend you knew is gone. It's better if you go home and tell the pack you were too late."
"Being turned affects everything. Our rationality, our memories, even our personalities for a time." Esme said softly. "Please save yourself the pain of seeing that firsthand." Jacob scowled.
"I can't believe you guys are giving up on her again. I guess all that stuff about family was just a bunch of talk."
"You are a special kind of stupid, aren't you," Rosalie said, moving in front of him and folding her arms.
"Not helping, Rosalie," Jasper muttered. She ignored him.
"We won't be giving up anything. If she's a vampire, she is welcome as part of our family and we will keep looking for her until we've offered her a place with us."
"Besides," I interrupted. "It's very much not safe for you to search here. And I need my visions back if we're going to find her." Jacob perked up.
"You think you'll be able to see her again?" I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
"I don't know yet. You're standing right next to me. But this part of the US isn't exactly safe for us either and having an early warning system means we'll be able to stay and look for her for longer." Jacob sighed.
"What am I supposed to tell Charlie?"
"Nothing right now," Jasper said firmly. "Let us get some more info first, then we'll stage an accident and let the authorities inform him. It will look suspicious if you come back with information that no one else knows." For a moment, Jacob looked like he was going to argue more, but then his shoulders dropped and he heaved a sigh.
"I guess there's no point in sticking around then," Jacob said dully. "You promised me a ride to the airport, Alice?"
"I'll take you," Rosalie said. "That way Alice can start looking for Bella sooner." I flashed Rosalie a grateful smile. "Besides," she added, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "It's not like it's my car you're going to stink up."
"At least two people," Jasper reminded them. "Maybe Esme?" I glanced curiously at Jasper. Rosalie, I understood...kind of. The possibility that Bella was now in the same position she had found herself in seemed to have removed the last traces of bitterness towards our youngest sister. But Esme would not have been my first choice to escort them if Jasper was concerned about running into trouble.
"Just a moment Jacob." Carlisle called from down the short hall that led to the bathroom. "Do you know if Leah was traveling by herself?" Jacob's brow furrowed.
"I can't think of anyone else who she could want to travel with," he said hesitantly.
"What did you find," Jasper asked Carlisle. He gestured for us to join him.
"The blood smells like members of the pack," he explained. "At first I wondered if it was a defense mechanism other members of the tribe had access to as well, but then I found this." He gestured towards the wall opposite the bathroom door. Five deep gouges ran diagonally from just over my shoulder height down to about a foot off the ground. I was reminded of the deep marks we sometimes saw on trees close to the boundary line.
"They look like they came from another member of the pack," Jake breathed. "But none of the others came down."
"Could Leah...?" Jacob snorted.
"Of course not. She's a girl." His face suddenly paled. "I need to call Dad," he said abruptly, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. He stalked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. It was an illusion of privacy, but we tried our best to give it to him anyway.
"Wait, so if there was a werewolf defending Bella, is it possible that she might have survived as a human after all?" Emmett asked.
"One shifter wouldn't have been able to take four vampires by herself," Jasper said. "Especially if she was young and inexperienced. That being said..." he trailed off and I nearly growled at him in frustration. The rest of the family stared at him with unblinking eyes.
"If the vampires were just opportunistic and unfamiliar with shifters, there's a chance they may have decided that Bella wasn't a meal worth dealing with Leah for." Emmett punched the air with excitement and Esme pulled me into a hug.
"Don't get excited," Jasper warned. "It's a pretty pretty slim chance." Emmett snorted.
"Our girl has been evading Victoria for almost a month now. I'd say she's the queen of slim chances."
"That bit still worries me," Esme said softly. "Even if Bella did make it away from here, we're back to where we started. No Bella, no Victoria, and now possibly an injured wolf interfering with Alice's visions."
"So does this mean I can stay after all?" Jacob asked, reappearing in the hallway. I thought for a minute.
"Go for a drive with Esme and Rosalie to give me some space to look for Bella," I ordered. "We can decide after."
"What did your father say?" Carlisle asked Jacob. He shrugged.
"No one has ever heard of a woman phasing before, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. And given what we found it's the most likely scenario." Carlisle nodded and turned to give Esme a light kiss on the lips.
I waited until I heard the three of them get into Carlisle's car and pull away before I turned to Jasper.
"Why did you send Esme out with them?" He raised an eyebrow.
"We're cleaning up the blood of her missing, perhaps dead, youngest daughter," he said bluntly. "No one is enjoying this, but she was truly miserable. I thought it would be kinder for her to leave."
"Thank you Jasper," Carlisle said sincerely. Jasper nodded and walked back to the front room. I followed him out and tried to look for Bella.
Whatever hope I had that I could see her again was quickly dashed. I still couldn't see her, no matter how many times I pulled out and tried again. Once I checked Denali to make sure that Jacob was truly out of range. Kate and Tanya were gleefully pelting Carmen and Eleazar with snowballs. It was such a perfect family moment that it made me a little angry. Almost immediately I was ashamed of my knee-jerk reaction. Was I such a terrible person that I would begrudge my cousins their happy family, just because it felt like mine was one more piece of bad news away from breaking irreparably?
Suddenly I realized that Jasper was watching me with a slight frown on his face. "I just checked in on our cousins. They seem to be doing well." Jasper nodded and drew me into a hug. No more words were needed and for that I was grateful.
"At least if you can't see Bella, that means that Leah must be still with her," he said softly. Out of habit I went to check on Esme and sighed when my vision turned up dark. It was so much easier to be around Jacob and not have my gift at all than to deal with these holes in my vision. The ringing of my phone interrupted my thoughts.
"Hi, Jake," I said, lifting it to my ear.
"Can you see her?" he asked hopefully.
"Sorry." He growled in frustration.
"We caught her scent," he said. "She and Leah and the four vampires all seem to be traveling together. We tracked them down to an airstrip just outside of town but I'm guessing the scent is about twelve hours old." My hopes plummeted.
"They're gone?" I confirmed softly.
"We think so." There was a brief rustle and my sister's voice came through the phone.
"We're heading back to you. We can decide what to do next." I clicked the phone shut. Silence hung thick in the air.
"I should pay Maria a visit," Jasper said abruptly. I spun around to face him.
"Absolutely not, Jazz," I said firmly. "We'll find another way." It was no secret how much Jasper hated his creator and former lover; both for his cruel start as an immortal and for attempting to destroy the happiness he'd found the last time they'd seen each other.
But Jasper was shaking his head. "It has to be done. Best case scenario is that Bella's disappearance was Maria's doing and we'll be able to bargain for her release."
"And the worst case is that she and her faithful destroy us," I said bitterly.
"No matter how much she hates me, she wants my power for herself," Jasper reminded me. "But remember when I said something around here has the local covens spooked? She would know what it was. If Bella's not with her, that's our next lead." Carlisle shook his head in wonder.
"My son, there are times I wonder if your brilliant mind for strategy isn't another gift itself."
"Don't worry, Alice," Emmett said, grinning wickedly. "We can take them anyhow."
I nodded and absently started disguising the claw marks in the wall. Thanks to the copious amounts of blood in the carpet, there was no way to disguise this as anything other than a crime scene. All we could do was remove the traces of the supernatural as much as we could.
In the eye of the hurricane there is quiet. It felt like we should be moving. Tracking Bella or leaving to find Maria or anything. But instead, the whole family was lost in their own thoughts as they moved swiftly but silently around the motel room. I was so wrapped up in my own mind that when the door crashed open, I was startled into a crouch. A snarl rose on my lips and then died instantly as I saw who had joined us. I straightened up in surprise.
"Edward?"
~~ End Part 1~~
A/N: I'm so sorry. I can hear you all sharpening your pitchforks from here. I promise this really was the best place to end Part 1. These next few months are my busy months so I am technically on hiatus until the new year, but I do have an interlude I will post at some point.
As always, thanks to my beta, oihdsfx!
