Control [Carlisle Cullen]

1.0

Her eyes landed on the red head first.

A smirk pulled at her lips, red eyes squinting at the family in front of her as she strutted towards them. Beside her was a dark-skinned man, with long dreads falling over the front of his chest. He squared his shoulders, sizing up the other vampires - it was clear that he was the leader of the group. Eleanor noticed he held the ball Jasper hit in his hand. She slid her gaze over to the final man and a chill went up her spine. His face was set in a cocky grin, sandy blonde hair, tied back in a short pony tail.

He looked more dangerous than any of the others combined.

Eleanor took a quiet, deep breath as she willed a ball of scarlet mist to appear in each hand. She had a feeling these vampires were going to cause trouble and she wanted to be prepared in case they attacked.

The group stopped a few feet away from the Cullen family. The man in the middle held up the ball. "I believe this belongs to you."

The man tossed the ball back to them in a quick blur and Carlisle grasped the ball, twisting it around in his fingers. "Thank you."

"I'm Laurent." He introduced before motioning to the vampires flanking both sides. "And this is Victoria and James."

"I'm Carlisle and this is my family. I'm afraid your hunting activities have caused somewhat of a mess for us." He said. Eleanor could sense the hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Our apologies." Laurent answered, his brow raising slightly. "We didn't realize this territory was claimed."

"We maintain a permanent residence nearby."

A look of surprise passed across Laurent's face at the statement. "Well we won't be a problem anymore. We were just passing through."

"The humans were tracking us, but we led them east." The red head - Victoria - spoke, lips turning into a proud smile.

Eleanor's focus slid back to James. He was staring intently at Edward and Bella, head tilted to the side. She snuck a glance over to the pair, noticing that Edward was glaring right back.

She wondered if the two were having a silent conversation... or at least a one-sided one.

"Sure." Carlisle's voice cut through her thoughts and she snapped back into the current conversation. "We have a few people leaving so you can take their places."

Eleanor frowned, realizing the three vampires weren't going anywhere anytime soon. Victoria caught the ball Carlisle had tossed their way and grinned, wickedly. "I'm the one with the wicked curve ball."

The three vampires turned to talk amongst themselves and Eleanor felt the tension leave her body when Carlisle turned to face her, Rose, and Alice. He opened his mouth to say something when a cold breeze whipped through the air.

Eleanor's hair flew back and her eyes locked with Carlisle's just as a snarl ripped through the clearing. James was laughing, his crimson eyes locked on Bella. "You brought a snack."

Everyone moved quickly, crouching in front of the humans, readying themselves to attack. Eleanor brought her hands up a little higher, making sure that James would be able to see that she was a threat if he looked at her.

"The girl is with us." Carlisle spoke, his voice low. "I think it's best if you leave."

"I can see the game is over now." Laurent said. He almost looked apologetic. "We'll be leaving now. James."

James kept his eyes locked on Bella a moment longer before sliding his eyes towards Eleanor. His smirk only grew as he eyed the magic flowing through her fingers. The blonde met her eyes again before turning and walking with his coven.

Carlisle was gripping Eleanor's hand as soon as James turned and he began to pull her towards the car that they had arrived in earlier. She watched as he pulled the front door open. "Can you tell me what the hell is going on now, please?"

"James is a tracker." He told her, amber eyes locking with hers. He helped her into the car before gripping her hand. "Which means that when he catches sent of potential prey, he doesn't rest until he catches it. In this case, I believe the prey are you and Bella. Though he was more focused on Bella, I don't want to take any chances."

He squeezed her hand once more before moving around to the drivers side. Esme, Alice, and Jasper slid into the backseat as Eleanor buckled her seatbelt.

"So, what're we going to do?" Eleanor asked, quickly glancing back at the three in the backseat. Each of them wore grim expressions. "There's got to be some way to put the focus on someone else, right?"

"No." Jasper shook his head. "We're going to have to kill him. It's the only way the end the hunt that won't end in yours or Bella's blood."

Carlisle's hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"Shit." Eleanor breathed, leaning her elbows on her knees and tangling her hands in her hair. She felt a cool hand land on her back and turned her head enough to see Carlisle staring back at her.

The rest of the car ride was spent in silence, each person in the car too worried to talk. Eleanor's mind raced with different possibilities of how this hunt would end. James and Victoria had looked vicious and she wasn't sure of how easy it'd be to put them down.

While she had been training with the Cullens' long enough now to use her abilities properly, she was scared out of her mind. She hadn't been put through a situation where using her abilities could impact whether she lived or died yet.

And she wasn't sure she was totally prepared for that moment.

***

I don't really like this chapter but shit is about to go down... and don't worry, Bella and Eleanor will be having a long conversation in the next few chapters.

Enjoy, pleuvoirx

edited 4.8.2021