[AN; Thought I had better update soon! As I've said earlier, the next chapters should come up pretty soon as they are already mostly written. 16,000 words left until I reach my target, exciting stuff! Right, here it is! Enjoy and please comment if you have any improvments or you liked reading!]
Chapter Six; Hanging on a Thread
A blur was shooting towards me, gleaming, razor-sharp teeth bared, and I couldn’t move an inch. My body braced for a pain that didn’t come, and then still didn’t come, and continued to not come for a few more seconds. Only then, through the fear and confusion that clouded my thoughts, my brain registered the deafening roar that shook the air. Now, two darkened shapes dashed about in front of me. So quickly that even with my supernatural sight I could not make out who they were.
Were there more of them? More of them fighting for the right to kill me.
At least they were distracted, and I took that as the most important reason to get a grip and move now. Both men were snarling and growling now whilst gradually moving away from me through the trees. But that didn’t ease my fear at all.
I spun around and scrambled up the rough bark of the tree behind me at a speed that made me blur into the air. Any surface would present no problem to my strength but the vertical side of the tree with its many nooks and crannies was easy to scale in no time. In less than a second I was on the other side of the trunk, facing away from where the nomad had stood, with my back pressed against the bark so hard that it almost hurt. Despite the fact that I had incredible balance that would keep me on the ledge without effort, I gripped the thin branch with both hands to make absolutely certain that I wouldn’t fall. That would be the equivalent of running towards the men with my arms above my head, pleading to be killed. Killed.
You idiot Bella, you nearly got yourself killed.
Consequences of that possibility were nightmares in my mind. My daughter would have been left with a chunk ripped from her life that in her current state would mess her up so much that... I didn’t want to think about what she would do. My family would have spent the past years fighting for me and protecting me for nothing, only a few years – to be thrown away by my stupidity and a pathetic amount of bravery. And my husband...
Where was he? Had the others encountered anybody yet? I strained my sense of hearing for any sign of distress, but all I picked up was the snarls and cracks of the two nomads that were fighting over me. Maybe they’d regrouped deeper into the trees. And they’d assumed I was alright. No one would come to help if they couldn’t hear my shouts and as soon as one of the nomads won the scrap it would take them only seconds to discover where I was hiding. I was dead.
This was a decent place to die. When my mind was too full of worries to handle I always came out here to let the calming properties of nature sooth me. I had spent summers of my childhood exploring the rough terrain of the forests with Charlie and always would come out with a graze or two on my knees and elbows from his extensive hikes. In fact, being outside in the trees was Renesmee’s favourite place too. Guess I should be thanking someone for this. To die here wouldn’t be so bad - if I forgot about all the things I was leaving behind...
In the distance the growling ceased and I could hear the sound of racing footsteps. One set heading away and one set coming closer towards me. Knowing that I had only a couple more seconds to live was a feeling that filled me from head to toe with pain. Emotional pain that made my head pound and my lips tremble uncontrollably. One of them had won and they were looking for me. My hiding spot was nowhere near good enough to disguise myself from a vampire’s senses. After searching around they’d get me. They’d get me.
“Bella?” Who was that and how did they know my name already? Someone must have sent them with specific orders. Were these soldiers from the Volturi? The voice was husky and crackly – so much so that it wasn’t recognisable. I stayed pressed up against the bark as they spoke again in the same urgent tone. “Bella?”
I wished with all the power I had left that whoever was walking along the ground below would give up the games and just go ahead and find me. Did they expect me to answer their calls? Say something like ‘Oh, I’m just up here,’ give them a cheery wave and walk over to them with a huge smile on my face. The waiting was a cruel and wicked method of torture. In fact, I was just about to loosen my grip to fall and give myself up when the voice piped up again.
“BELLA, WHERE ARE YOU?” But, this wasn’t a harsh, scheming command for me to reveal my location, it was a desperate and distraught cry out to find me for my own benefit and no one else’s... It was Edward, his voice distorted from fear. “BELLA, PLEASE! NO!”
Almost in synchrony with his last shout I dropped from the branch and landed with shaky legs onto the forest floor. He’d had his back to the tree I’d used to conceal myself in. But the rush of air as I dropped made his head snap around, closely followed by the rest of his body.
“Bella!” he gasped with a expression that made him look like he was close to tears. “Oh, Bella!”
For the next second I staggered towards him and he rushed towards me, frown morphing to something close to a smile, stained with horrified panic.
“Was he going to hurt me?” I asked, dazed.
He didn’t reply. Instead he lifted me up into his arms, hitched my legs up around his back and wrapped his arms around me. Squeezing me tightly he kissed my forehead, tenderly at first and then more passionately as he moved down to touch my lips with his. Although this wasn’t the form answer I was expecting, it was definitely the one I thought. Yes. The figure would have hurt me if he hadn’t come. Yet again, I owed Edward for my life. How many more times would that have to happen before I learnt how to avoid this sort of danger?
When he stopped kissing me after a minute or so – which was a much shorter time than I would have liked – he began to carry me back towards the house while I sat still in the same position, legs hooked around his back, arms wrapped around his neck. I couldn’t bring myself to let go of him all the way back to safety as the reality of what could have happened washed over me like a vast ocean, drowning the happiness of still being alive. Hellish mental images brought shivers to my body and after a couple of seconds I was shuddering and whimpering under Edward’s grip in a pathetic fashion that matched what I’d shown previously.
“It’s alright love. You’re safe now,” he murmured, sounding well and truly shaken up himself. Maybe that had given him a feeling of my race to Volterra where he’d sentenced himself to death. Knowing that someone you love is in danger and knowing that you might be too late to save them is a feeling I would never get over. Traces of horror from that day still remained in my mind even after my transformation.
“Now,” I repeated. I was safe for now. But in a minute or two, whenever that person decided to return, I wouldn’t be. And neither would any other member of my family be.
He sighed and rested one hand on the back of my head. “That’s all that matters.”
As we entered the house the threshold seemed to erase some of my frets immediately. Despite the fact that anybody with supernatural abilities could break in here in under a second, being inside automatically seemed safer than wandering around the forest. Warmth from the radiators met with my chilled skin and sunk into it pleasurably. With one more light peck on the forehead Edward set me down on my shaky feet.
“Stay here. I’m going to get them to come inside in case one of them gets too far away alone...” He swallowed and shot me a frantic look. “Seriously Bella, if you value my sanity, stay here and do not take a step outside of that door. Promise me.”
“Promise,” I said, fingers spread wide open so no confusion was made. “Don’t follow the trail though Edward. No matter what they were going to do to me.”
He considered what I said for a while. It was unbelievably obvious that he would have gone straight after the intruder if I hadn’t stepped in, but my demand had made him think. Perhaps he now owed me for his life too, through more verbal actions than physical. For if he caught up with the trespasser and his coven, I doubted he would have come out of it alive. “Fine. But I will find out who it was and what they wanted with you. I will Bella, I promise you!”
“You don’t have to promise me anything. You saved me.”
“Only just,” he said in a flat voice. Before I could consider how close my life had been to ending he’d shuddered and left the room. I didn’t approach the door in case somehow the boundary slipped underneath me and exposed me to the outside world – which would be a breach of what I’d told him I’d do. He didn’t deserve to be pushed any more tonight.
Instead, I wrapped my arms around myself and began to walk upstairs at a perfectly human speed to the doorway of Renesmee’s bedroom. Esme was sat in the old, faded wicker chair that stood by the window, shutting a battered novel as I entered. Her eyes were shimmering a golden colour and were alight with, what I had no doubt was, fear for her family.
“Are you alright?” she asked as she stood up and appraised me, flustered and worried as any mother would be. What was strange was that she was mothering me. While, unlike any of the others, I still had a mother alive and well. At least, I hoped so.
“Just about,” I breathed.
“What happened?”
The words slipped out of my mouth in one long stream. “I saw them. They were coming towards me, they were going to hurt me. Edward came just in time and they ran off. I couldn’t do anything Esme. I was such an easy prey. I can’t even protect myself and I have a daughter who’s under so many threats to watch and fight for too. It’s so confusing and I don’t know what I’m meant to do or how I’m meant to save anyone if they get into danger. I was so pathetic out there! What if next time someone is relying on me and I get it all wrong? What if...”
“Oh my gosh,” she gasped, making little sound in shock.“You shouldn’t have gone out there alone Bella. It was too dangerous! You could have been injured, or kidnapped, or even killed. Don’t ever let them drag you out there alone again! You’re still young!”
I leaned into her as she flung her arms around me a little overenthusiastically. “I was so scared Esme.”
“Rightly so, anybody would be in your situation. Especially with your little amount of experience! Any normal newborn your age would still be going crazy over any scent of blood and would not be able to even consider and analyse their actions at all. How you’ve adapted is incredible Bella! Never doubt yourself!” she exclaimed, still hugging me tightly. I was about to tell her to keep her voice down a little to avoid waking Renesmee, but I decided after her reassurance it would be a little rude.
“Don’t tell Renesmee please. I’ll cover it up with something a little less intimidating. She doesn’t need anything else to scare her.”
“Are you sure honey?” She gave me another tight squeeze. “You were never happy when Edward lied to you.”
I wondered how dark his mood had been the times when I was with Jacob, especially when I went there without ‘permission’ - not that I should have needed it at all.
“I’m sure. This is different.”
“Okay then,” she murmured, letting go of me and stepping back. “I think she may have woken once, I was downstairs checking if anyone was nearby outside and I heard the floorboards creak upstairs. Of course I rushed back immediately, thinking it was an intruder, and you have no idea how frightened I was for her! But there was no other scent up there than hers and she was laid in a different position to how she was before. Maybe it was sleepwalking, I’m not sure.”
“As long as she’s alright, that’s all I care about!” I breathed, glancing over at Renesmee. Her pale eyelids covered her eyes and a single wisp of hair that lay on her cheek stirred a little as she exhaled. It was such a peaceful picture that I almost forgot about the danger lurking outside. “Thank you for staying back here Esme. I know it must be frustrating being left behind and not knowing what’s going on. I’ve had it many times before.”
“Ah, I have too. Carlisle used to be just as overprotective of me as Edward is of you when I was first changed. He would barely let me out of the house unaccompanied. It doesn’t bother me too much anymore though. As long as you all come back, everything intact, I’m happy to stay and hold the fort. It’s one of the most important jobs anyhow!”
I laughed with little happiness. “I guess so. Do you not worry though? Do you not always think the worst?”
“We’ve been endangered so many times before that I’ve learnt to keep calm now. Of course I consider that each time they run out into the forest that one of them might never come back but they’re strong Bella. And after centuries of threats they’re all still here. So the thought of them heading out there isn’t so bad anymore.”
I nodded, but I was still confused about how she managed it. To watch her family disappear and then not have a clue what was going on out there until they finally returned would be almost torturous.
“But if it was Edward...”
“Bella?!” Rose shouted from downstairs. I shot a panicked look at the bed, but Renesmee was still asleep, breathing deeply through her mouth. “Bella?”
“Yes?” I called at the lowest volume possible that she would still be able to hear, turning to run downstairs before her shouts could do any damage.
“Bella, are you alright?” she asked, as I hastily rounded the corner and entered the kitchen where she stood, dumping a navy blazer onto the counter. “I passed Edward on the way back and he said you nearly got caught...”
“I’m absolutely fine.” I sighed, each person that came in would bring more and more attention. Just what I needed. “Did you see anyone out there?”
She shook her head, still eyeing me anxiously like I might of been hiding a missing hand or foot. “I passed a few unfamiliar scent trails though, there was a whole network of them out there. It’s not just one of us, it’s an entire coven.”
“Why?” I whimpered. “Why now Rose? Everything was just starting to mend!”
Unexpectedly she pulled me into an awkward hug as my sentence finished. Even after Renesmee’s birth, she had still continued to care for me as if the original amount of dislike had never even existed. “It’s not going to stop just like that Bella, we have to keep fighting them off. But I didn’t recognize anybody’s scent that I passed. For all we know it could just have been nomads, we are in the middle of a forest after all! After everything that’s gone on they all tend to be a little paranoid these days. It’s probably just an overreaction.”
“Mh,” I agreed absentmindedly. Despite my answer I was certain that, no matter how many times they tried to convince me otherwise, my mind would still be set on the negative. No way was that a coincidence. In fact it was about as big a coincidence as Renesmee crossing the path of the bewildered humans last year.
She unwrapped her arms from around me and after a quick, reassuring smile, flitted off in the direction of the stairs – probably going to check on her niece. I sat down on the thick fur rug and crossed my legs like a little child. Outside, through the glass panes of the door, I could see nothing but the ebony darkness of the night. Just as I’d exclaimed to Esme earlier, the horrible anxiety of waiting started to creep over me. Looking out at the black gave me no clues to what was happening, and that emptiness in my mind only gave opportunity for concern to emerge. After what seemed like an eternity of biting my now numb lip and staring at my reflection in the glass, I pulled my knees up to my chest, rested my chin on top and then wrapped my arms around my head so they covered my ears and eyes. Unsurprisingly, the deprivation of my senses didn’t help at all, but it seemed safer somehow, to hold myself together.
Time passed. How long, I wasn’t sure of. But it was certainly long enough when a pair of cool hands prised mine away from my face.
“Bells, are you alright?” he asked. I opened my eyes to find him crouched down in front of me, his expression ridden with worry. He moved my hands away from my face so delicately that they could have been made from porcelain. Behind him the other four started to file in, hair ruffled, but otherwise unchanged by their little expedition.
“I was just worried about you,” I admitted with little shame. He’d scald me for wasting feelings on him, but I honestly did not care the slightest bit.
As I’d predicted, he was about to retaliate against my answer when Carlisle spoke. “You weren’t injured at all, Bella?”
“No, no, just a little shaken.”
He smiled nervously down at me and then continued on into the house. Alice mirrored him, as did Emmett. As for Jasper, I wasn’t sure, he must have slunk around the side, never one for too much emotional contact when I felt down. He was incredibly brave to be able to cope with not only experiencing his own worry, but being loaded with other’s too. Without thinking my eyes started to prickle and my mouth turned down into a sob-stimulated frown.
“Don’t get upset love, you’re safe now. They’ve gone.” He was now kneeling beside me, pulling my face into his chest.
“It’s just such a shock, when you don’t expect...”
“I know,” he interrupted me. “When I turned back and you’d disappeared, I thought you’d gone Bella. I thought one of the others had come round the side and taken you away or hurt you or god knows what. You have no idea how scared I was. That was enough shock to last me for a lifetime.”
“I’m sorry.” My frown became more prominent on my face. “I was so useless. I couldn’t even move Edward, he had me frozen on the spot with fear.”
“Because you should’ve stayed back. What was I even thinking?!” he muttered to himself, caressing my hair with his velvet touch. “I mean, you hardly know how to fight in a group safely, and then I let you go out by yourself!”
I pulled away from him, agitated by the amount of fault he was taking himself as always. He was staring up at the ceiling, a deep frown hanging on his lips.
“How about we blame it on the nomad, and not on ourselves?” I whispered, tugging his mouth upwards with my fingertips into a lopsided smile.
“Sure.” He kissed me tenderly on the lips, not convinced at all...
I've split the original chapter in two now, because it was just a little too long. The next should be up 31/03/11 or 1/04/11 (english dates). I'm off to Northumberland on Friday for a week and I'm not sure if I have internet up there, so I'll keep writing but may not be able to upload! Thanks!