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Midnight Sun, Part II
373
P.A. Lassiter
Twilight: The Missing Pieces
20. GOODBYES
I did not like this plan. It violated all my instincts even to pretend to use Bella as bait. Not
only that, but to set the trap, then abandon her to the care of others, appalled me.
My brother and sister were capable as long as they didn’t drink her blood (Jasper),
or change her to a vampire (Alice). It was so hard to control our kind, impossible really.
Though I trusted my family with most things, I didn’t trust even
myself
to keep B
ella safe.
But Bella was right. James knew she was mine and that we would stay together.
Therefore, I served as a useful decoy. If I could get him to follow me, then Bella could
escape.
These thoughts consumed me for the remainder of the drive to Charlie’
s house.
Considering everything she had already been through today, Bella remained remarkably
composed now that we had agreed to protect Charlie. Of course I cared about Charlie,
because she did, but if it came down to saving him or her, there was no contest.
Unfortunately for me, Bella felt the opposite, so I had to protect her from herself as well.
I parked the Jeep and scanned for any signs of James
no scent, no mental activity.
Good. He hadn’t been here. That gave us a little time to get Bella in and o
ut of the house.
Then he could pick up our trail.
“He’s not here,” I announced. “Let’s go.”
I didn’t know what story Bella was going to tell Charlie. In truth, I didn’t care. I
only cared that we get her out of here and that she let us do it. If Charlie di
dn’t believe her
story and came after me or my family, we would deal with that. Keeping Bella safe was my
only concern.
Emmett assisted Bella with the buckles in the back seat.
“Don’t worry, Bella,” he
said, “we’ll take care of things here quickly.”
That was Emmett, always confident, almost always cheerful. Bella had worried that
Rosalie and Emmett didn’t like her, so I was glad she’d had these moments with Emmett.
He was impressed with her plan and happy to help, especially since he’d get the chance to
“kick some vampire butt,” as he would have put it. He complained constantly that his
siblings wouldn’t give him a fair fight and grizzly bears weren’t challenging enough. The
best wrestling he got was with Rosalie in the bedroom, if the noise they made and
the
destruction they wrought were any indication. I’d have chuckled at the thought if our
current situation weren’t so dire.
To my surprise, I smelled the salty scent of tears
Bella’s tears. I didn’t know what
was causing them...fear? At any other time, alle
viating her distress would have been my
first priority, but right now, I had an overriding concern. Bella’s life
and mine, come to
that
dependent on what happened in the next few hours, if not the next several minutes.
“Alice, Emmett,” I instructed. Th
ey silently exited the Jeep and melted into the
darkness. I helped Bella from the vehicle, then held her close to me while we hurried to the
front porch. All the while I scanned the darkness for signs of James or his compatriots.
“Fifteen minutes,” I reit
erated at the door.
“I can do this,” Bella sniffed through her tears. She cupped her hands ardently
around my face and looked into my eyes.
“I love you. I will always love you, no matter what happens now.”
“Nothing is going to happen to you, Bella,” I in
sisted.
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“Just follow the plan, okay?” she said, confirming my resolve. “Keep Charlie safe
for me. He’s not going to like me very much after this, and I want to have the chance to
apologize later.”
“Get inside, Bella. We have to hurry,” I pressed. We would
do our best for Charlie,
but I wasn’t going to make any promises.
“One more thing,” she whispered fervently. “Don’t listen to another word I say
tonight!”
Abruptly
, she pulled my face to hers and kissed me, pressing her body fiercely
against mine. Caught u
nawares, I responded in kind before she broke away, turned to the
front door, and kicked it open.
“Go away, Edward!” she shouted, stunning me to inaction as she slammed the door
in my face. I stood frozen for a moment, gathering my wits, until I realized t
hat getting
away from me would be her excuse to leave town. Though Bella was presumably acting, I
felt deflated and forlorn. With her tearful eyes and sharp words, her story was more than
believable. But there was no time for dwelling on that.
I rushed to
Bella’s window and entered her bedroom after she stomped up the stairs
and slammed her door on Charlie. At least it wasn’t just me, I thought wryly. I opened the
dresser and grabbed whatever clothing was within reach and tossed it to her as she stuffed
the articles into her duffle bag.
Bella was crying for real now as she yelled back and forth with Charlie through the
locked door. I heard the argument, but didn’t listen to it, as I did not need this script floating
around in my head. I was vaguely aware t
hat Bella was clearing me of any wrongdoing and
that she was breaking up with me. I knew the former wasn’t true. I hoped the latter wasn’t
true either, though I wouldn’t blame her for leaving me.
I grabbed some dirty socks and t
shirts from the floor and s
tuffed them into the bag,
then I secured it and placed it over Bella’s shoulder.
“I’ll be in the truck
go!” I directed under my breath. Exiting through the window,
I leaped into the truck, and ducked below Charlie’s sightline.
While I waited, I caught the
first snatches of thought from the tracker’s mind. He
was getting closer. Rather than hearing words, I was seeing pictures. He was in his
“hunting mind” with his thoughts switched off, operating on instinct. The primary image in
James’ mind was of a line
extending in front of him, sometimes continuous, sometimes
broken. Tracking required following a scent line
in this case, Bella’s scent
and
traversing any gaps.
James had found a mixture of Bella’s scent and mine in Forks and was tracking her
here just a
s we had expected. His timing was perfect for us, assuming he didn’t try to grab
Bella between the house and the truck. The fresh scents of my siblings and me in the area
should deter him. His mind revealed his preference for stealth and trickery over direct confrontation. It helped that we had him outnumbered.
James was close now, looking down on the house from some height. Judging from
the angle of the image in his mind, he was in one of the tall trees in the woods behind
Charlie’s house. He was watching
and listening, and feeling very smug about how fast he
had located Bella. He had not recognized that we were baiting him.
Charlie and Bella continued to argue, something about Renee coming back to
Arizona next week. And then I heard Bella’s final words: “
It didn’t work out, okay? I
really, really
hate
Forks!”
Charlie’s front door flew open. Bella raced for the truck, threw her bag in the back,
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scrambled behind the steering wheel, and started the engine. Charlie didn’t try to stop her.
When we were out of s
ight of the house, I insisted that Bella pull over and let me drive.
“I can drive,” she argued through heavy tears. I nudged her foot off the gas pedal,
then gently gripped her waist and scooted her across my lap while taking control of the
wheel.
“You wo
uldn’t be able to find the house,” I said, wanting to keep this drive safe.
Regardless of her dubious fitness to drive, I still had faster reflexes.
Bella jumped when Alice turned on the Jeep’s headlights behind us.
“It’s just Alice,” I soothed, taking her hand.
“The tracker?”
“He heard the end of your performance.”
“Charlie?”
“The tracker followed us. He’s running behind us now.”
She stiffened.
“Can we outrun him?”
“No.” But I involuntarily pressed the accelerator until the truck’s engine balked.
Emmett
was watching our backs, running behind us. When he thought we were
safely on our way, he leaped into the truck bed with a thump.
Bella, terrified, shrieked.
Ah, I should have warned her!
I covered her mouth.
“It’s Emmett!”
She quieted and I wrapped my a
rm around her waist.
“It’s okay, Bella. You’re going to be safe.”
She remained rigid with terror and I momentarily regretted not whisking her out of
town against her will. This side trip had put her in much closer proximity to James than I
ever wanted her
to be. I tried to distract her.
“I didn’t realize you were still so bored with small
town life,” I
said
. “It seemed
like you were adjusting fairly well
especially recently. Maybe I was just flattering myself
that I was making life more interesting for you.
“I wasn’t being nice,” she said, ashamed, unable to meet my eyes. “That was the
same thing my mom said when she left him. You could say I was hitting below the belt.”
“Don’t worry. He’ll forgive you
” I smiled in reassurance, but her wild eyes
revealed
her anguish.
“Bella, it’s going to be all right.”
“But it won’t be all right when I’m not with you,” she said in a tiny, frightened
voice.
No, it will be dreadful for us both,
I thought, but I didn’t want to make it worse.
“We’ll be together again in a few days,” I promised, hoping desperately that it was
true. “Don’t forget that this was your idea.” That reminder perked her up a bit.
“It was the best idea
of course it was mine.”
I tried to smile at her little joke, an effo
rt not entirely successful.
“Why did this happen? Why me?” Bella’s voice was heartbreaking. Remorse and
regret overwhelmed me.
“It’s my fault
I was a fool to expose you like that.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Bella continued. I was almost too distraught to
hear her
explanation. “I was there, big deal. It didn’t bother the other two. Why did this James
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decide to kill
me? There’re people all over the place, why me?”
I reviewed what I had heard from James before he set his sights on Bella.
“I got a good look
at his mind tonight. I’m not sure if there’s anything I could have
done to avoid this, once he saw you. It is
partially your fault,” I said. “If you didn’t smell so
appallingly luscious, he might not have bothered. But when I defended you...well, that
made it a lot worse. He’s not used to being thwarted, no matter how insignificant the
object. He thinks of himself as a hunter and nothing else. His existence is consumed with
tracking, and a challenge is all he asks of life. Suddenly we’ve presented him with a
beautiful challenge
a large clan of strong fighters all bent on protecting the one
vulnerable element. You wouldn’t believe how euphoric he is now. It’s his favorite game,
and we’ve just made it his most exciting game ever.” James sickened me. He was the
vampire version of a hurricane...even if you could see him coming, you couldn’t avoid
him, or run, or hide. “But if I had stood by, he would have killed you right then.”
“I thought...I didn’t smell the same to the others...as I do to you
.” Bella stammered
out th
e words identifying her as prey.
“You don’t. But that doesn’t mean that you aren’t still a temptation to every one of
them. If you had
appealed to the tracker
or any of them
the same way you appeal to me,
it would have meant a fight right there.”
None of
these nomads ever attempted to abstain when they were thirsty. In all
probability, they wouldn’t even think to try.
Bella shivered in fear.
“I don’t think I have any choice but to kill him now,” I uttered, thinking through
any possible options. “Carlisle
won’t like it.”
“How can you kill a vampire?” Bella inquired.
I wasn’t sure why she wanted to know, since there was no possibility that she could
do it herself. It took a vampire to kill a vampire. I didn’t want to tell her how, either, as the
procedure was unpleasant and very rarely carried out
by our clan, anyway. It was not
something she would ever have to witness. But looking at her inquisitive, frightened eyes, I
knew I could hold back nothing.
“The only way to be sure is to tear him to shreds and then
burn the pieces.”
“And the other two will fight with him?”
“The woman will. I’m not sure about Laurent. They don’t have a very strong
bond
he’s only with them for convenience. He was embarrassed by James in the
meadow....”
“But James and the woman
they’ll t
ry to kill you?” Oh! She wanted to know how
I could be ended! Silly Bella.
“Bella, don’t you
dare
waste time worrying about me. Your only concern is
keeping yourself safe and
please, please
trying
not to be reckless.”
“Is he still following?”
“Yes. He won’t attack the house, though. Not tonight.” James was methodical. He
was busy assessing our strengths and collecting information. He was in no hurry.
I maneuvered the truck down our three
mile, winding driveway and pulled up to
the porch, with Alice foll
owing behind in the Jeep. Emmett jumped out of the truck bed and
had Bella in his arms almost before we were stopped. He held her close to his chest like a
football and rushed into the house, his large body protecting her from every side. Alice and
I flanked him.
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I heard Laurent’s French
accented inner voice just before I saw him. He was
standing in our living room surrounded by the rest of my family. Emmett growled and set
Bella down beside me to free his hands. He adopted a stance of protective menace.
He’s tracking us,” I informed Laurent, as if he could alter the situation.
Laurent looked about as unhappy as I felt.
“I was afraid of that,” he replied.
Alice stepped toward Jasper and whispered the plan in his ear before they hurried
up the stairs together. Rosalie took her position by Emmett’s side as if to reclaim him from
Bella. She was as angry as I’d ever seen her. All of this upheaval over a human w
as beyond
her capacity to understand. Bella’s being
my human made the drama almost intolerable.
She’d just as soon see Bella taken by James and be done with it. Though I regretted her
attitude, her self
centered view of life was unlikely to change.
“What will he do?” Carlisle asked Laurent. Due to our fixedness, predicting
vampire behavior was not as difficult as predicting human behavior, especially if you knew
the individual in question.
“I’m sorry. I was afraid, when your boy there defended her, that it
would set him
off,” said Laurent.
“Can you stop him?”
“Nothing stops James when he gets started.”
Emmett’s muscles flexed and his chest broadened. “We’ll stop him,” he declared.
“You can’t bring him down. I’ve never seen anything like him in my three
hundred years. He’s absolutely lethal. That’s why I joined his coven.”
Though the rest of us were given pause by these words, Emmett merely grunted his
skepticism. Emmett’s confidence, and at times overconfidence, was as fundamental to his
personality as Ro
salie’s self
centeredness was to hers. As a human, he had always been the
biggest, strongest male around, known throughout Clay County, Kentucky, as the man to
beat in any physical competition. Laurent’s words were nothing new to him, a dare, a
rousing cha
llenge.
Laurent was still trying to understand my family’s response to James’ threat. He
shook his head in confusion and glanced at Bella.
“Are you sure it’s worth it?”
A fierce growl tore through me. That was
something he could understand. He
flinched an
d took a step backward.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to make a choice,” Carlisle stated, clarifying our
position. Though Laurent could not comprehend our protecting Bella, he chose,
nevertheless, not to cross us.
“I’m intrigued by the life you’ve crea
ted here. But I won’t get in the middle of this.
I bear none of you any enmity, but I won’t go up against James. I think I will head
north
to that clan in Denali.”
He thought for another moment, then added, “Don’t underestimate James. He’s got
a brilliant
mind and unparalleled senses. He’s every bit as comfortable in the human world
as you seem to be, and he won’t come at you head on....I’m sorry for what’s been
unleashed here. Truly sorry.” He took another baffled look at Bella, then gave a brief
conciliator
y bow.
“Go in peace,” Carlisle said, dismissing Laurent.
Everyone stood frozen while Laurent made his exit. The instant he was gone, Esme
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moved to a keypad across the room and released the motorized security shutters that
protected the glass wall.
“How cl
ose?” Carlisle asked me.
I’d been listening to James’ thoughts and keeping track of his position.
“About three miles out past the river; he’s circling around to meet up with the
female.”
“What’s the plan?”
“We’ll lead him off, and then Jasper and Alice wi
ll run her south to Phoenix.”
“And then?”
I felt my jaw lock and my whole body tense.
“As soon as Bella is clear, we hunt him.”
“I guess there’s no other choice,” Carlisle
said
. Silently, he added,
I’ll join you and
Emmett going north. Esme and Rosalie w
ill take Bella’s truck and head west. With luck,
James and Victoria will split up.
I nodded once in assent and began to organize the troops.
“Get her upstairs and trade clothes,” I ordered Rosalie. Trying to lead James off
Bella’s trail in two directions
from the start was worth a try.
I was already turning to brief Emmett when Rosalie hissed at me, her eyes blazing
with fury.
“Why should I? What is she to me? Except a menace
a danger you’ve chosen to
inflict on all of us.”
“Rose...,” Emmett protested. Rose shook off his hand when he tried to calm her.
I’d gotten so used to ignoring Rosalie’s raving that it took only a fraction of a
second to block any visible reaction I may have had to her outburst. I wasn’t going to
encoura
ge any more airing of her grievances in front of Bella. And enforcing civility from
Rosalie was not my place.
“Esme?”
“Of course
Esme swept Bella into her arms and rushed up the stairs with her.
I spoke in a quiet tone. Bella did not need to hear the d
etails of our tactics.
“Emmett, grab a traveling bag from the garage, plus a tent. Carlisle and you and I
will lead James north for as long as we can, then ambush him.”
I reached into Bella’s duffle to locate the unwashed items from her bedroom floor that
held her scent. We would use them to convince James that Bella was with us.
“Rosalie, you and Esme will drive Bella’s truck west as a secondary diversion,”
Carlisle directed.
She opened her mouth to protest, but Carlisle interrupted.
“Bella is with Edwa
rd and that makes her a part of this family. We protect our
family.”
His voice rang with the authority of the patriarch that he was. Rosalie closed her
mouth, though her eyes burned with resentment. Her mind was not quiet, but I was used to
that.
Carlisl
e continued speaking at a speed and volume that Esme would hear from
upstairs, but Bella would not.
“We think James will assume Bella is with Edward and will follow him. We hope
that Victoria splits off and follows the truck. She will have no reason to at
tack or engage
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you
this is James’ game. Esme, if you are followed, keep driving west as far as possible
until Victoria stops tracking you. Then return to Forks and take up watch at Charlie’s
house. She may go back there to look for Bella when she realizes
Bella isn’t with you. We
need to keep Charlie safe.”
Alice reappeared at the top of the stairs with a small leather bag, no doubt full of
cash, credit cards, and current identification. The latter was something we had to replace
every decade or so to updat
e our birth years.
I walked to the bottom of the staircase and issued my instructions in the low, fast
cadence that humans could not decipher.
“Alice, you mustn’t let Bella out of your sight for one second. She’s a magnet for
danger and acts irrationally
when she’s frightened. She has an impulse for self sacrifice that
defies logic. You have to stay with her at all times.
At all times!”
I’ve got it, Edward. You don’t need to worry. She’ll be safe with us.
“Alice, I’m trusting you. If anything happens to her...”
Nothing will. Try not to worry.
“And don’t forget that she needs to eat
several
times a day and drink more often
than that.”
I’ve got it! I’ve got it! She will be fine, I promise.
Esme and Bella had finished exchanging clothes and joined Alice in their illfitting
attire. My mother and sister then took an elbow apiece and lifted Bella down the stairs at
near vampire speed. Jasper joined them with a duffle bag over his shoulder. It would
contain changes of clothes, including items used to hide the skin
: hats, sunglasses, gloves,
scarves, and hooded jackets were the usual items.
Carlisle doled out untraceable cell phones, one for Esme, one for Alice, and one for
us. We would use them to coordinate our efforts when our adversaries were outside of
hearing
range.
“Esme and Rosalie will be taking your truck, Bella,” Carlisle said. Bella nodded
and glanced surreptitiously at Rosalie, who was wearing a sullen expression.
“Alice, Jasper
take the Mercedes. You’ll need the dark tint in the south.” They
both nodded.
“We’re taking the Jeep,” Carlisle added.
He looked around the room at each of us, pausing for any questions. There were
none; we were ready.
“Alice, will they take the bait?” he asked.
We all stood in silence while Alice shut her eyes and focused inwardly. When she
opened them, she was sure.
“He’ll track you,” she answered Carlisle. “The woman will follow the truck. We
should be able to leave after that.”
“Let’s go,” Carlisle said to Em
mett and me, as he headed for the back door.
Our moment of separation had come. A heavy weight of dread, anxiety, and
loneliness settled in my chest, making it hard to breathe. I moved to Bella’s side, lifted her
from the floor, and pressed myself
lips and
body
desperately against her. Just for that
moment, I forgot where we were and what we were facing, as all of my tangled emotion
burned between us.
Then I set her down. I touched her face in farewell and stared into the deep wells of
her eyes, willing he
r to be safe. I didn’t know how I could possibly let her go...but I did,
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my stone heart breaking as I released her. Then I shut the door on my emotions and turned to face what was to come
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