CHAPTER NINETEEN

WELCOME TO THE SUPERNATURAL

The concept of witchcraft seemed so fictional to me – which of course was contradictory considering my permanent status in this world!

“So what happened at the airport?” I asked Jacob as we were driving home. I knew the basic facts, that Desiree used magic to capture him; but I wanted to know what is was like, what it felt like – magic was a foreign concept to me, all new aspects of being a vampire were more, physical feeling, beyond super-athlete! Magic seemed so mysterious.

“Ahh, well,” he started, sounding a little confused, “I’m not really to sure! I was walking down the last corridor towards the metal detector, and as I stepped through it I found myself in a locked room at Savanna’s house.”

  “And when I say locked,” he added, “I mean like with magic, or, some kinda force! I tried to break the flimsy looking door down, but couldn’t even leave a mark!”

I longed to be able to laugh at this – the thought of Jacob being too weak to knock a door down would have been funny about a week ago, when were still in Forks. But it wasn’t funny – given the circumstances. The concept of dealing with the reality of one new beyond-real being, a venevore, was more than overwhelming, but two!? It turned our world upside-down! Desiree wasn’t being subtle in expressing to us what she was either, and that she is more powerful than she looked. Somehow she knew that we were vampires, that Jacob was a warewolf, and Renesmee, half vampire and half, human – something that was meant to have been completely unique.  

I didn’t know what to say! I was a vampire who had the ability to process twenty things in a matter of seconds and I was speechless – I felt weak, human again. I was an easy target before Edward turned me, fragile and weak; but where did I stand now when I had reached invincible? Where did any of us stand against these new beings!?

“Bella,” Edward’s voice was clam as it broke my full-powered train of thought, “we will figure this out! Stop worrying so, hard,” he continued somewhat thoughtfully.

I turned to look at him. He was looking back at me, his face serious, his eyes intent. He looked worried and concerned, but strong at the same time – there was hope inside of him; something that I seemed to be neglecting. I realised that my neurotic instincts, which were kicking in from the potential threat that Desiree and her family brought, were clearly much stronger than when I was human – I guess this helped to explain why I was feeling so weak, so un-vampire!

The car came to a stop, we were home. As I momentarily continued to stare blankly at Edward I wondered whether Alice had seen anything, had she seen Jacob vanish? Had she seen Edward and I become consumed with bloodlust? I couldn’t hear that she was home yet, they would all still be in the last class of the day no doubt.

I flinched a little as Edward stroked his hand against my cheek – I wasn’t flinching out of discomfort, but the complete opposite. His touch was like an ice-pack to a fiery burn – not cold like when I was human, but soothing. I forced a slight smile in appreciation of the comfort he was giving me, then turned to get out of the car.

“Jacob!” I heard Nessie exclaim as she raced out the front door to meet us - I hadn’t even shut the door of the car yet; she would have heard us coming from the beginning of the long driveway.

“Are you okay?” she asked, the concern in her voice pained me, “what happened? You just, vanished!?”

A slight feeling of guilt rushed over me at Nessies concern for Jacob – I had brought her into this world, a world that wasn’t safe!

“I’m fine,” Jacob replied, pulling a slight grin as he spoke.

“Show-off,” I thought to myself. Jacob being his usual, witty self, was instantly beginning to mask the sombre, negative thoughts that I seemed to be generating at high-speeds.

Nessie’s face relaxed a little too, and she gave him a hug.

“Come on, lets go inside,” Edward said to me, “Carlisle’s almost here and schools finishing in a few minutes; there’s something I want to run past you first, before everyone comes home.”

I followed Edward into the house and up the stars to our room. I had no idea what he waned to talk to me about.

“Bella,” he said softy as he closed the door behind him.

“What is it? I asked.

“We don’t know how much of a threat Desiree and Savanna really are, and we don’t know anything about what they are;” I nodded for him to go on, I knew this already so wasn’t quite sure where he was going, “the point is, we need information – and we nee it quickly,” he added, “we need to know what we are dealing with because it doesn’t just effect us.”

I thought about this for a moment, “just us? Who else was there?” Then I realised – vampire life didn’t involve just “us,” we were part of an elite world, a secret world, with its own set of rules–

“The volturi!” I exclaimed, as I made the connection. He nodded slightly but continued to let me process things. He wasn’t referring to the volturi specifically, but I knew that if Desiree and her family were a threat to our existence, which we weren’t entirely sure of yet, then they would also be a threat to all vampires - and if this were the case then the volturi would no doubt be the first on the scene. “Has Alice seen something?” I asked, thinking that she may have had a vision that they were deciding to visit due to some sort of future commotion that Desiree and her family were going to cause. The idea of the volturi visiting made me nervous, we didn’t exactly sit in the best of places with them; the last time we saw them, around six years ago, they left feeling somewhat humiliated, and defeated in regards to the power that they held over us – the friendship that Aro had with Carlisle was somewhat broken, and Edward knew that our large family threatened them. 

“No,” Edward replied, “she hasn’t. But I’m thinking that we should visit.”

I clenched my teeth as I realised what he had said – despite the fact that I knew I could protect us all with my shield, I still felt nervous at the thought of seeing them; probably more out of habit than anything.

“We, as in all of us?” I asked, knowing that he probably meant himself and Carlilse, maybe Alice too. I didn’t want to think about being separated from him. 

“Just you and I,” he replied, “Carlisle needs to stay here, people will notice his absence as he’s proving pretty popular at the medical centre – and we can’t all take time off school either, we have to look normal, blend in as much as we can still.” 

“So why you and, me?” I asked, em phasing the word me – Edward had almost one hundred years over me, I was still a new vampire really; “wouldn’t Alice be more helpful?”

“Well Bella, like I said before,” he replied, “we want to blend in; if we go away then it will just look like we’ve just taken a holiday or something – and in Desiree and her families eyes, a holiday for us should be more understanding considering what Desiree has just put us through.”

He did have a point, if a few of us were to leave then Desiree and her family would get suspicious; but if Edward and I left, we would have a better chance of them buying whatever story we decided to throw their way – Desiree especially as she seemed so confident that she had power over all of us, her arrogance would hopefully get the better of her in this case.

“Plus,” Edward said, with a slight grin on his face, “your more useful to me than Alice. You can protect us from any of their gifts. If they decide to do anything that would put us in danger, I will be able to hear it in their thoughts; and if its something that they haven’t thought of yet, then Alice will be able to contact us on the cell phone – she’s already watching them closely here.”

I thought about this for a moment – I liked the idea that I was more useful to this venture than Alice, not because I was jealous of her or anything, but because this was the first time that my gift was being relied on with more certainty about the extent that I was able to push it. I had simple surprised everyone six years ago when the volturi came to kill us. 

“So your with me?” Edward asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be with –“ I stopped as I realised what he meant. “Renesmee,” I said quietly. Leaving with Edward to go to volturi would mean leaving her behind. I couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to her, especially if I wasn’t there, and both Desiree and Eric had taken a particular interest in her.

“No – “ I started, but stoped as Edward put his hands on my shoulders.

“Bella,” he said, looking directly into my eyes, “I don’t want to leave her anymore than you do, but I have a plan! We will only be gone a couple of days and the others will be with her the entire time, so they won’t touch anyone. You can protect us in the forest tonight so that we can all hunt, that way we can ensure that everyone will be together while we’re gone – and whilst Alice can’t see Desiree and her family in her visions, she will see if Renesmee’s future disappears, then we will come straight back.”

*****

I agreed to Edwards plan after a little more convincing. Though still I hated the fact that we were leaving Renesmee behind, I knew that it was more important to find out about witches and venevores, considering we were now living with some; and how to protect ourselves from them! When everyone had arrived home Edward and I filled them in on what had happened with Desiree this afternoon - including Alice who couldn’t get a vision of us - and discussed our plans to see the volturi immediately. They all seemed to agree; none of them liked the idea of a visit from them any time soon, as they would most likely blame any disruption on us – any excuse to get rid of such a large, and potentially threatening clan. Carlisle also made the point that if anyone knew anything about these other supernatural’s that they would be likely candidates – given their age.

I stood at the edge of the forest a few hours after dark, with Edward by my side. Everyone except Edward and I was going to hunt while I protected them, we would go together once they had fed. I closed my eyes, concentrating on letting my shield flow from me in multiple directions as they each went their separate ways to catch their prey.

Edward and I were to leave in about an hour to catch a flight to Italy from the international airport in Anchorage. The flight left in the early hours of the morning, but we had to drive to Anchorage first, which was around one hundred miles away, as the Seward airport had no flights there until tomorrow. Once we were in Italy we would then meet with the volturi in hopes of discovering some useful information on this new element to our supernatural world that we all faced.

Copyright © to Jonathan Cameron 2011