Genesis [Emmett Cullen] (2)

[15- Chase]

I sat into the passenger seat of Bella's truck, Esme in the driver's seat. Esme drove through Forks on Highway 101 heading south, before the road veered west. By driving Bella's truck west, we would provide a secondary diversion for Victoria, thus separating the two early in the chase.

For the first ten minutes, we sat in silence. The only noise was the sound of Bella's truck puttering down the highway.

"Are you ok?" I broke the silence. She took her eyes off the road and gazed at me wistfully.

She smiled warmly. "I'm just worried. I can't stand the thought of something going wrong."

"It won't," I said confidently, even though I was worried too. I had never experience anything remotely similar to this. The only interaction I had with other vampires was with the Denalis. And we were nothing like what we were up against. James and Victoria were what we were how our kind were suppose to be; wild, nomadic, unrestrained.

After an hour of driving, something felt different. I rolled down the window and tried to listen for the faint sound of her footsteps.

"Turn around, she's not following us anymore," I spoke softly. Esme immediately did a U turn and we made our way back to Forks. Luckily, Bella was already too far away for Victoria to catch up to, even if she knew what direction they were going. Maybe this convoluted plan would work after all.

Now it was time for phase two, protecting Bella's dad. We parked the truck inside our garage, just in case Charlie decided to pay us a visit and find Bella's car parked on the driveway.

Esme and I split up. She was watching Charlie, staying close by his house and the police precinct. But I followed Victoria. One of the many things I learnt from soccer was the importance of understanding your opponent; how they think, what their strategies were. Victoria was no different. It was like a game of cat and mouse, constant back and forth. She was clever. Following her was much harder than I had anticipated. I had no idea how, but she managed to make false trails that led the opposite direction of the way she really went.

From what I had gathered, she was trying to pick up a trail, anything that could lead her to Bella. She methodically traversed the streets and nearby roads through town, even coming to Charlie's house multiple times during the day. Thankfully, he was he at the police station and Esme always had eyes on him.

At nightfall, I rejoined Esme at Charlie's house.

"How's he doing?"

"Not very well. He was barely keeping it together at work and he spent most of the night by the phone. That poor man," she replied sympathetically.

"It will be over soon," I said through a strained smile.

"Where's Victoria now?" Esme asked.

"Port Angeles airport. She'll have to come back to Forks when she doesn't find anything."

"Good. That will buy us some time. I'll call Alice and Carlisle." We kept our communication to a minimum, primarily texting but occasionally, when we were certain Victoria was out of ear shot, we had very brief phone calls.

The latest I heard was that Alice made it to Phoenix. I wasn't surprised that they condensed a three day trip into one. Carlisle, Edward, and Emmett were in Vancouver Island in Canada. They wanted to lead the tracker as far north as possible, wait for him to get close, and then turn and ambush him. I was praying that their plan worked.

Even though it was exceptionally selfish, I wished we went with my plan. I wanted to go out and find James, not just stick around Forks and follow Victoria. Not that there was anything wrong with spending time with Esme, I'd much rather be on the front line where the action was happening. I wanted to be out, actively trying to hunt down James, Emmett by my side. All the years of fight training from Jasper seemed worthless when sitting on the sidelines. But nevertheless, I diligently performed my task.

The next few days dragged on. The only highlight of my day, if you could even call it that, was receiving updates from Alice and Carlisle. On Monday, Alice was still in Phoenix. On Tuesday, Carlisle was somewhere remote in Canada. Wednesday, however, things changed.

"Any news?" I eagerly asked Esme before dawn on Wednesday. At dusk yesterday, Victoria went up North and she hadn't come back down.

"Carlisle just called. There has been a change of plans. Alice had a new vision, something to do with James and Bella recognised Alice's drawing as her mother's living room." My eyes widen in disbelief, so James was either in Phoenix or soon would be!

Esme continued, "Carlisle lost James in Canada so they're catching the first flight out of Vancouver to Phoenix."

"Wait, how did he know where Bella's mom lives?" As soon as I asked, I realised the answer. My frozen heart sank. The school! Victoria must had checked Bella's record and found her mom's address. And I just assumed she was trying to find out where Bella went. Victoria was never truely after Charlie, Victoria was his spy, feeding intel about us to him.

Esme saw my distraught expression and folded me in her warm embrace.

"It's not your fault," she assured, gently soothing my shoulder like one would calm a restless infant. But it was. My job, the one thing I was tasked to do was follow Victoria. How could I miss her figuring out where Bella's mom lives? What was I even doing when Victoria was in the school? Actually, I distinctly remember. I was circling the school, waiting for her outside, when I should have followed her in.

I was so angry; angry at Victoria and James for putting us in this position. But I was more angry at myself for not doing my job.

Esme said Carlisle was catching the first flight out of Vancouver which was most likely around 6 am so by my estimation, they should be landing in Phoenix at about midday.

Esme and I patiently waited -well Esme patiently waited, I paced nervously- for an update as we watched over Charlie. Every minute that passed midday I grew more and more anxious. The optimistic side of me wanted to believe that maybe they had simply forgot to call. But the realist side, the side growing stronger by the minute, knew better.

Finally, at 2, my worst suspicions were confirmed. Esme answered the phone as soon as it rang. The words were too soft and fast for me to decipher.

"What is it?" Her expression was grim.

"It's Bella. She's hurt."