“I don’t think I have any choice but to kill him now,” I murmured. “Carlisle won’t like it.”
But he would understand, I was sure. We’d given this tracker the option to walk away. He wasn’t going to take us up on the offer. There was only kill or be killed now.
“How can you kill a vampire?” Bella’s voice was a whisper. I could still hear the sound of suppressed tears in it.
I should have anticipated the question.
She stared up at me with a different kind of fear than before, almost as though she was concerned the task would fall to her. Of course, I could never be sure with Bella.
I made no attempt to soften the realities. “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.” If she could control her terror, that is. “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.” Not to mention that James had made plans to kill Laurent. Perhaps I’d tip him off; that was sure to shift alliances.
“But James and the woman—they’ll try to kill you?” she whispered, her voice distorted by pain.
And then I understood. Of course she was panicking about the wrong thing as usual.
“Bella, don’t you dare waste time worrying about me,” I hissed. “Your only concern is keeping yourself safe and—please, please—trying not to be reckless.”
She ignored that. “Is he still following?”
“Yes. He won’t attack the house, though. Not tonight.”
Not while we were together. Was our splitting up exactly what the tracker wanted? But I remembered what Alice saw happening if we tried to guard Bella here. I had no love for Mike Newton, but neither he nor anyone else in Forks was an acceptable sacrifice.
I turned off onto the drive, dully noting that there was no sense of relief in reaching my home. There was no space out of harm’s way while the tracker lived.
Emmett was still riled. I wished I could tell him the tracker’s location to ease his agitation, but I couldn’t risk being overheard. The tracker had guessed that we had extra abilities—it would only help him if we gave clues as to what they were.
I noticed his thoughts drifting to the edges of my hearing just as Alice chimed in.
He meets the female now, on the other side of the river. They split up again and watch. She takes the mountainside; he takes the trees.
The extra distance didn’t make me feel any better.
Emmett’s overzealous bodyguard mindset was operating at full steam by this point. As we rolled up to the house, he leaped from the truck bed and paced to the passenger side. He wrenched the door open and reached for Bella.
“Gently,” I reminded him almost silently.
I know.
I could have stopped him. This wasn’t necessary. But then, was any precaution too much at this point? If I’d been more cautious, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.
It did feel safer in a strange way to see Emmett, massive and indestructible, cradling Bella in his colossal arms—she was barely visible behind them. He ducked through the front door before a second had passed. Alice and I were at his sides instantly.
The rest of my family was gathered in the living room, all on their feet, and in the middle of their circle, Laurent.
His thoughts were frightened, apologetic. The fear was only heightened when Emmett set Bella carefully on her feet beside me and took a deliberate step forward, a bass growl building in his chest. Laurent took a quick half step back.
Carlisle gave Emmett a warning look, and he settled back on his heels. Esme stood close to Carlisle’s side, her eyes flashing from my face to Bella’s and then back again. Rosalie was also staring at Bella, glaring at Bella, but I ignored her as best I could. I had more important things to deal with.
I waited until Laurent’s eyes flickered to me.
“He’s tracking us,” I told him, prompting the thoughts I wanted to hear.
Of course he’s tracking the human. And he’ll find her. “I was afraid of that,” he said aloud.
I need to get out of the way, his thoughts continued. James can’t think I’ve chosen another side. The last thing I need is him looking for me afterward. Laurent suppressed a shudder. Perhaps I could tell him I’m just gathering info. His face, though, when he divided from us in the woods… Better to disappear while he’s caught up in this hunt.
My teeth were grinding again. Laurent eyed me nervously.
He knew James well enough to understand the rupture he’d caused in the clearing. Though I felt no desire to do him favors, I knew he’d be grateful enough when James was dead.
“Come, my love,” I heard Alice whisper in Jasper’s ear. I hadn’t noticed him especially as we came in; he was still camouflaging himself. Jasper didn’t question Alice now, even in his thoughts. The two of them darted up the stairs hand in hand. Laurent didn’t bother to watch them leave, so effective was Jasper’s effort. I saw that Alice would write down the necessary information so Laurent could not overhear. It wouldn’t take her long to pack what they would need.
“What will he do?” Carlisle demanded of Laurent, though I could have answered as well.
“I’m sorry,” Laurent said with every sign of sincerity. Sorry I ever met those demons. I should have known better than to play with fire. Damned boredom made me foolish. “I was afraid, when your boy there defended her, that it would set him off.” Of course it would. He ensured James would never quit till they were both dead. It’s as if these strangers live in some other world. Or think they do. The real world is about to intrude on that fantasy.
“Can you stop him?” Carlisle pressed.
Ha! “Nothing stops James when he gets started.”
“We’ll stop him,” Emmett growled.
Laurent eyed Emmett almost hopefully. If only it were possible. It would certainly make my life easier.
“You can’t bring him down,” Laurent warned. He seemed sure he was doing us a great favor by giving us this information. “I’ve never seen anything like him in my three hundred years. He’s absolutely lethal. That’s why I joined his coven.”
A few scattered memories of his adventures with James and Victoria ran through his head, though Victoria was always a background figure, on the fringes. James had kept Laurent’s life interesting, at least, but the sadism of these rampages had begun to bother Laurent in the last few years. By that point, there hadn’t been a safe way to disengage himself.
He wished he could feel optimistic now, but he’d seen James triumph over impressive odds. His eyes turned to Bella, and all he saw was a human girl, one of billions, nothing to distinguish her from any of the others.
He didn’t think the words before he spoke them aloud. “Are you sure it’s worth it?”
The roar that ripped through my teeth was as loud as a detonation. Laurent immediately slid into a submissive posture, while Carlisle held his hand up.
Control, Edward. This one is not our enemy.
I worked to calm my fury. Carlisle was right, though Laurent was certainly not our friend, either.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to make a choice,” Carlisle said.
There aren’t many choices left to me, Laurent thought. I can only make myself scarce and hope James doesn’t think I’m worth the trouble. His mind ranged back over the slightly less fraught conversation they’d been having before our arrival and fastened on one piece of information. I’ve clearly burned my bridges with this company, but perhaps I could surround myself with other friends. Talented friends.
“I’m intrigued by the life you’ve created here.” He felt he was choosing his words very diplomatically, trying to make eye contact with each of us. My access to his inner monologue rather ruined the effect for me. “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 imagined five strangers like Carlisle, slow to attack, but with great numbers and talents among them. Perhaps that would give James pause.
A feeling of gratitude had Laurent turning to warn Carlisle again. “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.” A few of James’s convoluted ploys ran through his memory. The tracker had patience… and a sense of humor. A dark one.
“I’m sorry for what’s been unleashed here,” Laurent continued. “Truly sorry.”
He inclined his head, submissive again, but his eyes darted to Bella and away, his thoughts mystified by the risk we were taking for her sake. They don’t understand about James, he decided. They don’t believe me. I wonder how many of them he’ll leave alive.
Laurent thought us weak. He saw our apparent domesticity as a deficiency. I’d worried the same thing earlier, but not now. Weak was not the impression I planned to leave with James. But let Laurent believe James would win. He could hide in terror for the next century and I would not mourn his discomfort.
“Go in peace,” Carlisle said, both offer and command.
Laurent’s eyes swept through the room, appreciating a kind of life he’d left behind long ago. Though this was not a palace, and he’d lived in several, there was an atmosphere of permanence and sanctuary here that he’d not felt in centuries.
He nodded once at Carlisle, and for a brief moment, I felt a strange kind of yearning from the dark-haired vampire toward my father. A sense of respect and a desire to belong. But he quashed the emotion before it could take root, and then he was racing out the door, with no intention of slowing until he was safely in the ocean, his scent untraceable.
Esme dashed across the living room to start the steel shutters rolling down the huge windows that comprised the back wall of the house.
“How close?” Carlisle asked me.
Laurent was almost outside my range and not slowing. He had no desire to run into James on his way out. He’d hear nothing we said. I reached for James. Alice’s vision had given me the direction. It was far enough that he, too, would not be able to hear our plans.
“About three miles out past the river. The tracker is circling around to meet up with the female.”
He would join her on higher ground, where he could watch in which direction we ran.
“What’s the plan?” Carlisle asked.
Though I knew the tracker couldn’t hear, and the shutters were still groaning, I kept my voice low. “We’ll lead him off, and then Jasper and Alice will run her south.”
I knew what he was asking. I looked straight into his eyes as I answered. “As soon as Bella is clear, we hunt him.”
Though Carlisle knew this was coming, he still felt a flare of pain. “I guess there’s no other choice.”
Carlisle had been scrupulously protecting life for three centuries. He’d always been able to find common ground with other vampires. This would not be easy for him, but he was no stranger to difficulty.
We needed to hurry, not to give the tracker any more time than necessary before we gave him a trail to chase. But there were practicalities we needed to address before we could run.
I caught Rose’s eye. “Get her upstairs and trade clothes.”
Confusing the scent was the obvious first step. I’d take something of Bella’s with me, too, and create a trail that would goad the tracker forward.
Rosalie knew this, but her eyes flashed with disbelief.
Don’t you see what she’s done to us? She’s ruined everything! And you want me to protect her?
She spit the rest of her answer aloud, resolved that Bella would hear it, too. “Why should I? What is she to me? Except a menace—a danger you’ve chosen to inflict on all of us!”
Bella jerked as if Rosalie had slapped her.
“Rose…,” Emmett murmured, putting one hand on her shoulder. She shook it off. Emmett’s eyes cut to me, half expecting me to spring at her.
But none of this mattered. Rose’s spoiled temper tantrums had always been irritating, but this petty flare-up was ill timed, and time was something I didn’t have enough of.
If she’d decided to cease being my sister tonight, that was her choice and I accepted it.
“Esme?” I knew what her response would be.
“Of course!”
Esme understood the time limits. She lifted Bella carefully into her arms, much as Emmett had, though the effect was very different, and flew up the stairs with her.
“What are we doing?” I heard Bella ask from Esme’s office.
I left Esme to it, and focused on my part. The tracker and his wild partner had moved outside my range. They couldn’t hear us, but I was sure they could see us. They would see our vehicles leave. And they would follow.
What do we need? Carlisle asked.
“The satellite phones. The larger sports bag. Are the tanks full?”
I’ll do it. Emmett sprinted out the front door toward the garage. We always kept several gas drums ready for emergencies.
“The Jeep, the Mercedes, and her truck, too,” I whispered after him.
Got it.
We’re splitting into three? Carlisle was also wary of dividing our force.
“Alice sees it’s the best way.”
He accepted that.
He’ll get hurt. He doesn’t think. He just rushes in. This is all her fault!
Rosalie was assailing me with a torrent of grievances. I found it easy to tune her out. Easy to pretend she wasn’t even there.
What’s my part? Carlisle wanted to know.
I hesitated. “Alice saw you with Emmett and me. But we can’t leave Esme alone to watch Charlie.…”
Carlisle turned to Rosalie with a stern expression. “Rosalie. Will you do your part for our family?”
“For Bella?” She sneered the name.
“Yes,” Carlisle responded. “For our family, as I said.”
Rosalie glared at him resentfully, but I could hear her pondering the options. If she protracted this fit, turned her back on all of us, then Carlisle would certainly stay here with Esme rather than be on the front line, keeping Emmett from dangerous excesses. Rosalie saw only the danger to Emmett. But part of her was growing nervous about my visible detachment.
She finally rolled her eyes. “Of course I won’t let Esme go alone. I actually care about this family.”
“Thank you,” Carlisle responded—with more warmth than I would have bothered with—and then dashed out of the room.
Emmett was just coming through the front door with the large bag we kept some of our sports toys in slung over his shoulder. The bag was big enough to fit a small person. Bulky with equipment, it looked like there might already be someone inside it.
Alice appeared at the top of the stairs, just in time to meet Bella and Esme as they emerged from Esme’s office. Together, they lifted Bella by the elbows and rushed her down the stairs. Jasper followed. He was clearly on edge, tightly wound, his eyes roaming restlessly across the windows at the front of the house. I tried to use his savage appearance to calm myself. Jasper was more lethal than the thousands of vampires who’d tried to destroy him. Today he’d exhibited new skills I’d never imagined, and I was sure he had other tricks up his sleeve. The tracker had no idea what he was up against. Bella would be safer with Jasper standing guard than anyone. And with Alice beside him, the tracker couldn’t take them by surprise. I tried to believe that.
Carlisle was already back with the phones. He gave Esme one, and then brushed her cheek. She looked up at him with total confidence. She was sure we were doing the right thing, and because of that, we would be successful. I wished I had her faith.
She handed me a wad of fabric. Socks. Bella’s scent was fresh and strong. I shoved them in my pocket.
Alice took the other phone from Carlisle.
“Esme and Rosalie will be taking your truck, Bella,” Carlisle told her, as if asking permission. It was so like him.
Bella nodded.
“Alice, Jasper—take the Mercedes. You’ll need the dark tint in the South.”
Jasper nodded. Alice already knew this.
“We’re taking the Jeep. Alice, will they take the bait?”
Alice concentrated, her hands clenched into fists. It wasn’t a simple process, looking for maneuvers that never actually came in contact with any of us, but she was tuning in to these new enemies. She’d get better with time. Hopefully we wouldn’t need that. Hopefully we would end this tomorrow.
I saw the tracker flying through the treetops, focused on the fleeing Jeep. The redhead keeping her distance, following the sound of Bella’s truck as it chugged north a few minutes later. There were only the smallest of variations.
By the time she relaxed her vigil, we were both positive.
“He’ll track you. The woman will follow the truck. We should be able to leave after that.”
I thought I was ready. The passing seconds were already pounding in my head like drumbeats. But I wasn’t.
Bella seemed so forlorn at Esme’s side, her eyes bewildered, as if she couldn’t process how everything had changed so quickly. Only an hour ago, we were perfectly happy. And now she was hunted, left to vampires she barely knew for her protection. She’d never looked so vulnerable as she did standing there, alone in a room full of inhuman strangers.
Could a dead heart break?
I was at her side, my arms tight around her, pulling her off the ground. Her warmth in my arms was quicksand and I wanted to drown in it, to never pull free. I kissed her just once, worried that the plans would all crumble into chaos if I couldn’t make myself step away from her. Part of me didn’t care if every human life in Forks and La Push and Seattle were sacrificed to keep her by my side.
I had to be stronger than that. I would end this. I would make her safe again.
It felt as though all the cells in my body were dying off one by one as I set her back on her feet. My fingers lingered against her face, and then stung as I forced them free.
Stronger than this, I reminded myself. I had to shut down all this agony so I could do my job. Destroy the danger.
I turned away from her.
I’d thought I’d known what burning felt like.
Carlisle and Emmett fell into step beside me. I took the bag from Emmett. I knew what the tracker expected—that I would be too weak to let her out of my sight. I cradled the bag as though it contained something infinitely more precious than footballs and hockey sticks as I rushed down the front steps flanked by my brother and my father.
Emmett climbed into the backseat of the Jeep and I placed the bag upright beside him, then quickly slammed the door, trying to look stealthy about it. I was in the driver’s seat in a flash, Carlisle already beside me, and then we were jolting up the drive at a pace that would have horrified Bella if she’d actually been there with us.
I couldn’t think like that. I had to trust Alice and Jasper and keep my head focused on my part.
The tracker was still too far away for me to hear him. But I knew he was watching, following. I’d seen it in Alice’s head.
Turning north onto the freeway, I accelerated. The Jeep was a lot faster than the truck, but it wasn’t fast enough to get any headway, even at the maximum speed I could chance without risking the engine. But I didn’t want to outrun the tracker now. He would only see that I was pushing the Jeep hard, as though escape were truly the motive. I hoped he wouldn’t realize I’d chosen the Jeep for just this purpose. He didn’t know what else I had in my garage.
For just a flicker, he was close enough to hear.
… take a ferry? It’s a long way around otherwise. I could cut through.…
“Make the call,” I said, barely moving my lips, though I knew he was too far behind us to see my face.
Carlisle didn’t bring the phone to his ear; he kept it by his thigh, out of sight, as he dialed one-handed. We all heard the quiet click as Esme picked up. She said nothing.
“Clear,” Carlisle whispered. He disconnected.
And I was disconnected, too. I had no way to see what she was doing now. No chance to hear her voice. I shoved the despair away from me before I could start wallowing.
I had a job to do.