Charlie was waiting up for me. All the house lights were on. My mind was blank as I tried to think of a way to make him let me go. This wasn't going to be pleasant.
Edward pulled up slowly, staying well back from my truck. All three of them were acutely alert, ramrod straight in their seats, listening to every sound of the wood, looking through every shadow, catching every scent, searching for something out of place. The engine cut off, and I sat, motionless, as they continued to listen.
"He's not here," Edward said tensely. "Let's go."
Emmett reached over to help me get out of the harness. "Don't worry, Beau," he said in a low but cheerful voice, "we'll take care of things here quickly."
I felt a lump in my throat as I looked at Emmett. I barely knew him, and yet, somehow, not knowing when I would see him again after tonight was anguishing. I knew this was just a faint taste of the goodbyes I would have to survive the next hour, and the thought made me feel sick.
Emmett seemed to catch my mounting emotions and smiled, placing a large hand on my shoulder and giving it a little squeeze.
"Alice, Emmett." Edward's voice was a command. They slithered soundlessly into the darkness, instantly disappearing. Edward opened my door and took my hand, then drew me into the protecting enclosure of his arms. He walked me swiftly toward the house, eyes always roving the night.
"Fifteen minutes," he warned under his breath.
"I can do this." I sniffed back the threat of tears, inspiration suddenly dawning.
I stopped on the porch and took hold of his face in my hands. I looked fiercely into his eyes.
"I love you," I said in a low, intense voice. "I will always love you, no matter what happens now."
"Nothing is going to happen to you, Beau," he said just as fiercely.
"Just follow the plan, okay? Keep Charlie safe for me. He's not going to like me very much after this, and I want to have the chance to apologize later."
"Beau," His voice was urgent, but he hesitated. He pulled me into a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry for my behavior in the Jeep. Please forgive me." His voice was deeply pained, "I'm wasting time but I've never heard you so angry and I know I was wrong to behave the way I did. Please, forgive me for at least that." He kissed my cheek softly. "Now, please, hurry."
"One more thing," I whispered passionately. "Don't listen to another word I say tonight!" He was leaning in, and so all I had to do was stretch up on my toes to kiss his surprised, frozen lips with as much force as I was capable of. Then I turned and kicked the door open.
"Go away, Edward! Get the hell away from me!" I yelled at him, running inside and slamming the door shut in his still-shocked face.
"Beau?" Charlie had been hovering in the living room, and he was already on his feet.
"Leave me alone!" I yelled at him with as much anger as I could muster. I ran up the stairs to my room, throwing the door shut and locking it. I ran to my bed, flinging myself on the floor to retrieve my duffel bag. I reached swiftly between the mattress and the box spring to grab the knotted old sock that contained my secret cash hoard.
Charlie was pounding on my door.
"Beau, are you okay? What's going on?" His voice was frightened.
"I'm going home," I shouted, my voice breaking in the perfect spot.
"Did he hurt you?" His tone edged toward anger.
"No!" I yelled. I turned to my dresser, and Edward was already there, silently yanking out armfuls of random clothes, which he proceeded to throw to me.
"Did he break up with you?" Charlie was perplexed.
"No, he didn't!" I yelled, slightly more breathless as I shoved everything into the bag. Edward threw another drawer's contents at me. The bag was pretty much full now.
"What happened, Beau?" Charlie shouted through the door, pounding again.
"I broke up with him!" I shouted back, jerking on the zipper of my bag. Edward's capable hands pushed mine away and zipped it up smoothly. He put the strap carefully over my arm.
"I'll be in the truck—go!" he whispered, and pushed me toward the door. He vanished out the window.
I unlocked the door and pushed past Charlie roughly, struggling with my heavy bag as I ran down the stairs.
"What happened?" He yelled. He was right behind me. "I thought you liked him."
He caught my elbow in the kitchen. Though he was still bewildered, his grip was firm.
He spun me around to look at him, and I could see in his face that he had no intention of letting me leave. I could think of only one way to escape, and it involved hurting him so much that I hated myself for even considering it. But I had no time, and I had to keep him safe.
I glared up at my father, tears forming in my eyes for what I was about to do.
"I do like him—that's the problem. I can't do this anymore. I can't put down anymore roots in this damn place! This stupid, awful small town full of small minded idiots! I don't want to end up trapped here like Mom! I'm not going to make the same dumb mistakes she did. This town is never really going to be okay with someone like me. So what if I throw my life away on some stupid boy here? I'll still be here. I'll still be in Forks and I'll always be miserable. I hate it—I can't stay here another damn minute!"
His hand dropped from my arm like I'd electrocuted him. I turned away from his shocked, devastated face and headed for the door.
"Beau, you can't leave now. It's nighttime," he whispered behind me.
I didn't turn around. "I'll sleep in the truck if I get tired."
"Just wait another week," He pled, still shocked and hurt. "Your mom will be back by then."
This completely derailed me. "What?"
Charlie continued eagerly, almost babbling with relief as I hesitated. "She called while you were out. Things aren't going so well in Florida, and if Phil doesn't get signed by the end of the week, they're going back to Arizona. The assistant coach of the Sidewinders said they might have a spot for another shortstop."
I shook my head, trying to reassemble my now-confused thoughts. Every passing second put Charlie in more danger.
"I have a key," I muttered, turning the knob. He was too close, one hand extended toward me, his face dazed.
"Please, Beau," the hurt in his voice was deep, "I can be better, I can spend more time at the house—we can do more stuff together." His voice was desperate, "Please, I just got you back."
I couldn't lose any more time arguing with him, I couldn't put him in any more danger. I was going to have to hurt him further.
Just let me go, Charlie." I repeated my mother's last words as she'd walked out this same door so many years ago. I said them as angrily as I could manage, and I threw the door open. "It didn't work out, okay? I absolutely hate Forks."
My cruel words did their job—Charlie stayed frozen on the doorstep, stunned, while I ran into the night. I was hideously frightened of the empty yard. I ran wildly for the truck, visualizing a dark shadow behind me. I threw my bag in the bed and wrenched the door open. The key was waiting in the ignition.
"I'll call you tomorrow!" I yelled, wishing more than anything that I could explain everything to him right then, knowing I would never be able to. I gunned the engine and peeled out.
Edward reached for my hand.
"Pull over," he said as the house, and Charlie, disappeared behind us.
"I can drive," I choked the words out as tears escaped my eyes.
His long hands unexpectedly gripped my waist, and his foot pushed mine off the gas pedal. He pulled me across his lap, wrenching my hands free of the wheel, and suddenly he was in the driver's seat. The truck didn't swerve an inch.
Without the task of driving to distract me I felt my body go numb, my emotions punched me square in the stomach, and I broke down in violent sobs. I would have hurt Charlie less if I had stabbed him with a knife from the kitchen. The guilt and regret poured over me till I was drowning. After everything Charlie had done for me, after being so perfectly great at being a father to me, I had said those horrible cruel things to him. I was sobbing so hard I felt myself start to shake. Edward reached out his arm and pulled me tightly to him, I clutched at his shirt, trying to steady my breathing.
"Shhh…" he rubbed my arm with his hand.
"God, I hate myself." The words barely came out.
"You were doing what you had to do to protect him." His voice was soothing.
Lights flared suddenly behind us. I stared out the back window, eyes wide with horror.
It's just Alice," he reassured me. He took my hand again.
"The tracker?" I sniffled.
"He heard the end of your performance," Edward said grimly.
"Charlie?" I asked in dread.
"Charlie's fine. The tracker followed us. He's running behind us now."
My body went cold. "Can we outrun him?"
"No." But he sped up as he spoke. The truck's engine whined in protest.
My plan suddenly didn't feel so brilliant anymore.
I was staring back at Alice's headlights when the truck shuddered and a dark shadow sprung up outside the window.
A strangled sound of panic escaped my lips and my fingers dug into Edward's shirt.
"It's Emmett!"
He wound his arm tightly around my waist.
"It's okay, Beau," he promised. "You're going to be safe."
We raced through the quiet town toward the north highway.
"I didn't realize you were still so bored with small-town life," he said conversationally, and I knew he was trying to distract me. "It seemed like you were adjusting fairly well—especially recently. Maybe I was just flattering myself that I was making life more interesting for you. Then again, I am just some stupid boy."
"I wasn't being nice," I confessed, ignoring his attempt at diversion, looking down at my knees. "That was the same thing my mom said when she left him. You could say I was hitting below the belt."
"Don't worry. He'll forgive you." He smiled a little, though it didn't touch his eyes."
I stared at him desperately, and he saw the naked panic in my eyes.
"Beau, it's going to be all right."
"It won't be, not when you have to leave," I whispered, "I just said my goodbyes to Charlie and now I'll have to say goodbye to you."
"We'll be together again in a few days," he said, tightening his arm around me. "Don't forget that this was your idea."
"It was the best idea—of course it was mine."
His answering smile was bleak and disappeared immediately.
"Why did this happen?" I asked, my voice catching. "Why me?"
He stared blackly at the road ahead. "It's my fault—I was a fool to expose you like that." The rage in his voice was directed internally.
"That's not what I meant," I insisted. "I was there, big deal. It didn't bother the other two. Why did James decide to kill me? There're people all over the place, why me?"
He hesitated, thinking before he answered.
"I got a good look at his mind tonight," he began in a low voice. "I'm not sure if there's anything I could have done to avoid this, once he saw you. It is partially your fault." His voice was wry. "If you didn't smell so damn luscious, he might not have bothered. But when I defended you… well, that made it a lot worse. He's not used to being thwarted, no matter how insignificant the object. He thinks of himself as a hunter and nothing else. His existence is consumed with tracking and a challenge is all he asks of life. Suddenly we've presented him with a beautiful challenge—a large clan of strong fighters bent on protecting the one vulnerable element. You wouldn't believe how euphoric he is now. It's his favorite game, and we've just made it his most exciting game ever." His tone was full of disgust.
He paused a moment.
"But if I had stood by he would have killed you right then," he said with hopeless frustration.
"I thought… I didn't smell the same to the others… as I do to you," I said hesitantly.
"You don't. But that doesn't mean you aren't still a temptation to every one of them. If you had appealed to the tracker—or any of them—the same way you appeal to me, it would have meant a fight right there."
I shuddered.
"I don't think I have any choice but to kill him now," he muttered. "Carlisle won't like it."
I could hear the tires cross the bridge, though I couldn't see the river in the dark. I knew we were getting close. I had to ask him now.
"How can you kill a vampire?"
He glanced at me with unreadable eyes and his voice was suddenly harsh. "The only way to be sure it to tear him to shreds, and then burn the pieces."
"And the other two will fight with him?"
"The red-head will. 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…"
"But James and the red-head—they'll try to kill you?" I asked, my voice raw.
"Beau, don't you dare waste time worrying about me. I put you in danger. It's my fault you had to hurt Charlie and run away from home. Your only concern should be keeping yourself safe."
"Is he still following?"
"Yes. He won't attack the house, though. Not tonight."
He turned off onto the invisible drive, with Alice following behind.
We drove right up to the house. The lights inside were bright, but they did little to alleviate the blackness of the encroaching forest. Emmett had my door open before the truck was stopped; he pulled me out of the seat, tucked me like a football into his vast chest, and ran me through the door.
We burst into the large while room, Edward and Alice at our sides. All of them were there; they were already on their feet at the sound of our approach. Laurent stood in their midst. I could hear low growls rumble deep in Emmett's throat as he set me down next to Edward.
"He's tracking us," Edward announced, glaring balefully at Laurent.
Laurent's face was unhappy. "I was afraid of that."
Alice danced to Jasper's side and whispered in his ear; her lips quivered with the speed of her silent speech. They flew up the stairs together. Royal watched them, and then moved quickly to Emmett's side. His beautiful eyes were intense and—when they flickered unwillingly to my face—furious.
"What will he do?" Carlisle asked Laurent in chilling tones.
"I'm sorry," he answered. "I was afraid when your boy there defended the human that it would set him off."
"Can you stop him?"
Laurent shook his head. "Nothing stops James when he gets started."
"We'll stop him," Emmett promised. There was no doubt what he meat.
"You can't bring him down. I've never seen anything like him in my three hundred years. He's absolutely lethal. That's why I joined his coven."
His coven, I thought, of course. The show of leadership in the clearing was merely that, a show.
Laurent was shaking his head. He glanced at me, perplexed, and back to Carlisle. "Are you sure it's worth it?"
Edward's enraged roar filled the room; Laurent cringed back.
Carlisle looked gravely at Laurent. "I'm afraid you're going to have to make a choice."
Laurent understood. He deliberated for a moment. His eyes took in every face, and finally swept the bright room.
"I'm intrigued by the life you've created here. 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 hesitated. "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… I'm sorry for what's been unleashed here. Truly sorry." He bowed his head, but I saw him flicker another puzzled look at me.
"Go in peace," was Carlisle's formal answer.
Laurent took another long look around himself, and then he hurried out the door.
The silence lasted less than a second.
"How close?" Carlisle looked to Edward.
Esme was already moving; her hand touched an inconspicuous keypad on the wall, and with a groan, huge metal shutters began sealing up the glass wall. I gaped.
"About three miles out past the river; he's circling around to meet up with the red-head."
"What's the plan?"
"We'll lead them off, and then Jasper and Alice will run Beau south."
"And then?"
Edward's tone was deadly. "As soon as Beau is clear, we hunt the tracker."
"I guess there's no other choice," Carlisle agreed, his face grim.
Edward turned to Royal.
"Get him upstairs and trade clothes," Edward commanded. Royal stared back at him with livid disbelief.
"Why should I?" He hissed. "What is he to me? Except a menace—a danger you've chosen to inflict on all of us."
I flinched back from the venom in his voice.
"Roy…," Emmett murmured, putting one hand on his shoulder. He shook it off.
But I was watching Edward carefully, knowing his temper, worried about his reaction. But Edward didn't speak. He seemed to be making a conscience effort to maintain composure as he and Royal glared at each other.
"Aw, hell," Emmett finally broke the silence, "C'mon, Beau."
He was at my side in half a heartbeat, swinging me again into his strong arms, and dashing up the stairs before I could react.
"What are we doing?" I asked breathlessly as he set me down in a dark room somewhere off the second-story hall.
"Trying to confuse the smell." Emmett flicked on a light, "It won't work for long, but it might help get you out." He pulled off his shirt and held it out to me.
"I don't think I'll fit…" I hesitated.
He laughed, "Of course it won't; you're probably less than half the size of me." He abruptly pulled my shirt over my head and replaced it with his own. It smelled similar to Edward's scent—sweet, alluring—but there was something woodsier about Emmett's scent. Emmett quickly dropped his jeans and handed them to me, I slid my own off and yanked his on, but I couldn't get my feet out; they were too long. He deftly rolled the hems a few times so I could stand and pulled the belt he had left on them as tight as it would go.
"Wait here," he commanded, and vanished suddenly. He was back half a second later in a new outfit, he grabbed my old clothes off the floor. "Esme," he called. She was already in the doorway and caught my clothes as he tossed them. Then he scooped me up carried me back to the stairs where Alice stood, a small leather bag in one hand. They flew down the stairs with me in tow.
Emmett set me down at the base of the stairs and went to Edward's side. It appeared that everything had been settled downstairs in our absence. Edward looked ready to leave and handed a heavy-looking backpack to Emmett who slung it over his shoulder. Esme appeared from upstairs wearing my old clothes, her hair tucked into a baseball cap. Carlisle met her and gave her something small and flat. He turned and handed Alice the same thing—it appeared to be a cell phone.
"Esme and Royal will be taking your truck, Beau," he told me as he passed. "We're hoping the scent of your clothes might confuse the tracker into thinking Esme is you." I nodded, glancing warily at Royal. He was glowering at Carlisle with a resentful expression.
"Alice, Jasper—take the Mercedes. You'll need the dark tint in the south." They nodded as well.
"We'll take the Jeep."
I was surprised to see that Carlisle intended to go with Edward. I realized suddenly, with a stab of fear, that they made up the hunting party.
"Alice," Carlisle asked, "will they take the bait?"
Everyone watched Alice as she closed her eyes and became incredibly still.
Finally her eyes opened. "He'll track you. The red-head will follow the truck. We should be able to leave after that." Her voice was certain.
"Let's go." Carlisle began to walk toward the kitchen.
Emmett gave me a gentle pat on the back, "Don't ruin that shirt," he grinned. I feebly smiled back; he considered my expression for a moment and pulled me into a tight side-hug. "We'll keep you safe, big guy." He smiled warmly.
Royal was glaring at us.
Edward as at my side as soon as Emmett had left. He caught me up in his iron grip, crushing me to him. He seemed unaware of his watching family as he pulled my face to his, lifting my feet off the floor. For the shortest second, his lips were icy and hard against mine. Then it was over. He set me down, still holding my face, his glorious eyes burning into mine.
"Remember, you are my life."
"I love you."
And he was gone.
I stood there, the others looking away from me as I fought the tears threatening to break free.
The silent moment dragged on, and then Esme's phone vibrated in her hand. It flashed to her ear.
"Now," she said. Royal stalked out the front door without another glance in my direction, but Esme touched my cheek as she passed.
"Be safe." Her whisper lingered behind them as they slipped out the door. I heard my truck start thunderously, and then fade away.
Jasper and Alice waited. Alice's phone seemed to be at her ear before it buzzed.
"Edward says the red-head is on Esme's trail. I'll get the car." She vanished into the shadows the way Edward had gone.
Jasper and I looked at each other. He stood across the length of the entryway from me… being careful.
"You're wrong, you know," he said quietly.
"What?"
"I can feel what you're feeling now—and you are worth it."
"I don't think I am," I mumble. "If anything happens to any of them, it will be for nothing."
"You're wrong," he repeated, smiling kindly at me.
I heard nothing, but then Alice stepped through the front door and came toward me with her arms held out.
"May I?" she asked.
I stared at her disbelievingly, "Well, at least you're the first person to ask permission." I shrugged in consent.
She lifted me in her slender arms as easily as Emmett had, shielding me protectively, and then we flew out the door, leaving the bright lights behind us.