Chapter 03
Rebekah insisted they’d start the drive back the next day and had found them an amazing convertible that would be comfortable for all three of them. Bella objected to it for a moment, it was at least a two day drive if driving without stopping for sleep and food, she was afraid what would happen if she didn’t get off the plane with her classmates the following day. Rebekah assured her it was going to be alright and that she had to consider it a big middle finger towards the Cullens. Bella did call her father though, about how she was travelling back with some new friends instead of with her classmates and how it would to take a few days longer for her to return.
Kol chipped in that a road trip sounded fun and off they went. They stopped in Shreveport for lunch and then drove straight through Oklahoma to Kansas where they stayed the night. Bella had to admit, it was fun and it gave the three of them to get to know each other better. Not to mention the throve of history details Rebekah was telling them about New Orleans so Bella at least could finish her paper.
The most interesting part of the first part of the trip was when Rebekah and Kol were trying to remember and count the many times they had been sidelined by their siblings. While Kol was down for longer periods of time, Rebekah received the dagger treatment the most. Bella just sat in the back seat and watched the siblings bicker. Despite some of the subjects they were bickering about (murder, mayhem…), she realized it would have been fun if she had had a sibling of her own when growing up. She liked being alone, but to see Kol and Rebekah act like a real brother and sister (opposed to the Cullens) was hilarious.
Day three saw them make a detour to Yellowstone National Park, just because they could. It was where Kol discovered he could still do magic, just not as powerful as in New Orleans. He tried to push his sister to the edge of a ravine, just for fun and Bella stopped him in time for his sister not to plunge down the mountain. Immortal or not, she wanted Rebekah in one piece.
The day after, they drove to Salem. It was Rebekah’s revenge over Kol for trying to push her off the cliff the day before. Bella snickered when she told Rebekah it had been the wrong Salem, that she meant to visit Salem, Massachusetts, and not Oregon. Rebekah tried to cover up her mistake but Bella wasn’t fooled, neither was Kol.
When they arrived in Forks the next day, Rebekah commented that she could already tell Forks was the most dull town she’d ever been in and that the weather was going to ruin her hair. Even Mystic Falls had something going for it and what kind of a name was Forks anyway? What was the next town called? Spoons?
Bella only made it worse by saying La Push was close by, which caused Kol to let out a maniacal giggle as Rebekah started off a rant about pushing Forks up someone’s sparkly ass when she’d get the chance.
Rebekah’s ranting lasted up until they pulled up to the drive at the Swan house, with Rebekah letting out a whine. She found the house a bit too small for her liking, which let Kol to apologize for Rebekah’s behaviour as sometimes she could be a little bit snobby.
“Now, remember, Cuddles,” Kol said to Bella as they were getting out of the car. “You can greet your dad and all, but don’t forget to invite Bekah in so she can compel your father.”
“I’m still not comfortable with that…”
“Oh, don’t worry, little dove, it doesn’t hurt and it’ll be for the best. I mean, I’m going to have to compel all the teachers at your school as well. It’s an occupational hazard. Now, go greet your father.”
Bella entered the house and found her father sitting at the dining table, polishing his gun, much in the same way when she brought Edward home for the first time. “You’re glued to that gun, aren’t you?” Bella greeted him as she hugged him as tight as she could, glad to feel his strong arms around her again.
“You have questionable friends sometimes,” Charlie muttered as he returned the hug. “Glad to see you’re okay, Bells.”
“Of course I am,” she smiled at him. “My new friends made sure nothing happened to me. Oh, let me get them for you.” She walked to the door and smiled. “Kaleb, Rebekah, are you two coming inside or what?” She found it strange to call Kol, Kaleb, but both he and Rebekah insisted as Kol wasn’t the name on his passport.
Charlie rose from his chair when Kol entered the house. Charlie tried to make himself taller than Kol, to exert authority. It didn’t work, of course, as Kol was taller, end of. It was adorable though how her father tried. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Swan, Bella’s told me all about you, I’m Kaleb,” he introduced himself and extended his hand.
“Uh huh. You like fishing boy?”
Kol had a slight panicked look on his face as he looked at Bella who sported a wide grin. “I don’t know, sir, I haven’t tried yet, but I’m willing to?” He had done some fishing for food on a daily basis of course, when he was a child but it sucked. But for Bella he’d try anything, though he wouldn’t admit to it. Not yet. Maybe her father could make it fun.
Charlie nodded as his lips curled into a small smile. His daughter’s boyfriend almost ran for the hills when he mentioned fishing. He looked at the blond girl stepping inside his house and it reminded him of Edward’s sister, whose name he didn’t quite remember just now. He feared she was the same sort of woman and the way Edward’s sister treated his little girl was cold and standoffish, he sinceriously hoped this was not the case with Kaleb’s sister..
“My name is Rebekah,” she introduced herself, extending her hand for Charlie to take it. When Charlie did, she pulled him closer and looked him in the eye. “My brother and I lost our parents recently and our guardian, our older brother Elijah, thought it would be a good idea for us to have a change of scenery while we try to heal from this horrible ordeal. We are forever grateful for you to open up your house to us and our brother will make sure to send you money to feed us. Your daughter assured our brother that you’d look out for us as you’d do with your own blood.”
“Yes, yes of course,” Charlie muttered. “If I can’t help other people, then what kind of police chief am I?”
Rebekah smiled as she released him from her hold and looked around. “What a wonderful home you have, Mr. Swan. Are you sure you have beds for Kaleb and I?”
“Of course,” Charlie said as he started to put away his gun. With his house now filled with teenagers it wasn’t a good idea to have it laying around. “Jacob Black helped me clear the attic and helped me bring the beds up there…” he said before looking at Bella. “Uhm, sweetheart…”
Bella looked at her father and saw the look on his face. It was the same look he had whenever he had to inform a family member someone had died. “Charlie?” she questioned a bit uneasy.
“I know you’ve just come home and you still need to unpack and all, but I’d rather you hear it from me now than in passing…”
Instinctively she moved closer to Kol and grabbed his hand. The Cullens had done something irreversible, she just knew it.
“Seth Clearwater died two days ago.”
She felt the colour drain from her face. “How?”
“One of those animal attacks we’ve been dealing with recently. He must have gotten too far away from home in the mountains, I’m sorry sweetheart. Hadn’t he been discovered, we wouldn’t have known.”
“Who found him?” She stammered, trying to keep herself from crying. Seth had always been one of her favourite kids at La Push. He was always happy and active and so pure of heart, knowing he wasn’t there any more felt as if her heart was getting ripped apart.
“Edward. He was quite shaken up by it.” He took a step towards his daughter but when she turned into the boy, Kaleb, stopped the approach. “Want me to call him for you?”
“No!” Bella said as she ran up the stairs towards her room, finding Edward sitting on her bed. “The fuck!”
“Hey, Bella,” he greeted her in his soft voice, his eyes begging for her to do the same as not to have the whole house listen in on their conversation. “I suppose your father has told you about Seth?”
“You’re not supposed to be here,” she hissed. “Get the fuck out, Edward.”
“Hey now,” he said as he got up and pulled her into his arms, locking her in. “That’s no way to talk to me, Bella, I’m glad you’re home.”
“Edward please,” she said as she tried to wiggle her way out of his hold. “You killed him, didn’t you? Because of New Orleans.”
“No, I didn’t,” he said as he ran his hands through her hair. “I did it because you broke so many rules and I told you there’d be consequences.”
Bella growled and kneed him in the groin, ending up hearing bones shatter in her knee instead of having him letting go of her. “Ow fuck!” she cried out. “You asshole! Get out of my house, now!”
“Bella, everything alright, Cuddles?” she heard Kol’s voice from outside her bedroom.
“You brought them here?” Edward immediately let go of Bella, who thankfully fell on her bed. “Bella, I am disappointed, we’re not done talking.”
Bella saw Edward jump out of her window and cursed under her breath. Her knee fucking hurt. “No, everything’s not alright,” she whined as tears ran down her cheeks.
The door almost flew off its hinges before Kol stepped inside and he quickly made his way over to her side. “Rebekah said something about sparkles, but with your dad downstairs she couldn’t be clearer nor rush upstairs… Was he here?”
“Gloating,” she said as she gritted her teeth and pulled up her jeans leg, revealing a knee which seemed to be in shambles and swelling up.
“That looks painful,” Kol said shocked. “Did he hurt you?”
“I hurt myself,” she said as she shook her head. “Tried to knee him in the privates.”
“That’s my girl,” Kol said with pride in his voice and put his arm around her. “Don’t worry cuddles, we’ll have you dancing in no time.”
“Funny,” she remarked. “I need to go to the hospital.”
“Nonsense,” he replied as he looked around. “Bekah, come have a look at Bella’s room! It’s marvellous! She has fairy lights!”
Even though she was in pain, Bella blushed at the mention of the fairy lights. It was girly, whereas she didn’t like girly activities that much. She had to admit, the spa visit of the other day hadn’t been too bad.
“Oh, you’re right, this room is great!” Rebekah said as she took a quick look around before finding Bella in agony on the bed. “I knew it, he was here!”
“There’s nothing you could have done without making Charlie suspicious,” Bella winced as Rebekah had taken a bite out of her wrist and was offering it to her. “Ew!” she exclaimed as she saw the blood appear from the two tiny holes on the other girl’s wrist.
“Just drink, little dove,” Rebekah’s tone of voice was kind as she sat down on the other side of her. “It’ll save you a trip to hospital.”
“She kneed him in the privates,” Kol grinned at his sister while Bella still looked appalled by the idea of drinking vampire blood. “He didn’t get hurt, but it’s the thought that matters.”
“Well done,” she smiled at the girl before pressing her bleeding wrist to Bella’s mouth. “It’s just blood, darling, it will heal your knee.”
She tried hard not to gag when she reluctantly started to do as told until Rebekah removed her wrist. Bella wiped off her mouth as she had the feeling there was blood everywhere. She hoped her stomach was strong enough to keep it down. Blood freaked her out. In the mean time, she saw the swelling of her knee go down and heard it snap back in place. It was hard not to panic because of the sensation. “Thank you, Rebekah,” she said softly.
“Next time you want to kick him, please do wait until I’m present so I can cheer you on,” she smiled at her.
“So what was he gloating about then?” Kol asked as he gently rubbed Bella’s back.
“Killing Seth, but he said it was my fault because I broke the rules…”
“Unless you were the one to actually kill the boy, it really wasn’t,” Rebekah growled. Edward was showing tendencies she had experienced a lot with Klaus. “Can’t I just go and kill them all? It would make your life a lot easier.”
“No!” Bella said shocked. “Absolutely not. They’re a big family with Carlisle being a doctor. Someone will miss them and no matter how discreet you’d be, it’ll be a mess.”
“Darling, even if I have to compel the entire town…”
“You can take some fingers, how’s that?” Bella said after a moment of thought. “Then he pays for Seth’s death and it will prevent him from performing his favourite hobby.”
“What? Beating you?”
“He never beat me,” Bella rolled her eyes. “No, playing the piano is where his heart lies. Cold Ones don’t need sleep and he can play all night and day if he wants to.”
“But killing is much more fun,” Rebekah pouted.
“No killing in Forks, please.”
“Fine, we’ll do it your way,” Rebekah responded with a deep, over dramatic sigh. “I have to admit though, you said you weren’t girly. I’d say this room proves otherwise. It’s elegant.”
“Yes, and it will be the young man’s room, I’m afraid,” Charlie said as he stood in the door opening. “You girls are in the attic.”
“It’s alright,” Kol said with a smile, already his mind was working overdrive. If Edtwat had a habit of sneaking in at night, he’d be in for a surprise. It beat having to spell the windows so they wouldn’t be able to be opened by any supernatural being.
“How tired are you from travelling, Bells? If we’re going to eat tonight we’d need some groceries.”
“Yeah, we can go,” Bella said with a nod. “It’s a good opportunity to show these two around while you do your background checks, huh?”
“I’m just going to call their brother,” Charlie muttered as he walked away.
“I am so glad I brought some toys with me,” Kol smiled as he helped Bella to her feet.
“Oh, ugh. Kol.” Rebekah said, disgust was evident in her voice. “I do not wish to know the details of your sex-life.”
“You went there, Bekah, not me.” Kol pointed out with a laugh.
Bella took them to the supermarket where they ran into Jacob. She hadn’t spoken to Jacob in a long time and usually when he saw her, he’d make sure he would be out of her way because Edward was with her, but now he just stood there and looked at her. His eyes seemed to have lost their sparkle, which was no wonder after what he was going through. “Lost your ball and chain, did you?”
Bella ran up to him and hugged him tight. “I’m so sorry about Seth, Jake…” she said softly.
“Yeah,” he said after taking a deep breath and returning the hug. “Me too… I swear, everyone’s on a warpath. They’ll get what’s —- you’re not going to tell them, are you?”
“No,” she shook her head as she let go of him. “Do what you feel what’s right.”
“They killed one of us, Bella, the treaty is no longer valid.”
“I know.” When Jake didn’t say anything but just looked at her, she spoke again. “What?”
“I kinda expected you to call your boyfriend immediately, seeing as you two are two peas in a pod.”
“Well, I’m not. When’s the funeral?”
“We’re going to send him off tomorrow, if Leah ever lets go of his body that is. Will you be there?” He asked hopeful.
Bella looked over her shoulder and then back to Jacob. “Can my friends come too?” She asked carefully, knowing it was something special for an outsider to join in on a ritual, but to have her bring two extra, it was something else. “They’re good people who are going to help me.”
“Help you with what? Get rid of Douchebag? Bella, I’ve told you we’d help you with that, why did you never ask us to? Why them and not us? We’re almost family for fuck’s sake!” he breezed. “Especially now Seth’s gone… we want to help you.”
“And I have told you, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Bull.” Jacob said before he stomped out of the supermarket.
“Was he your wolf friend?” Kol asked as he and Rebekah followed Bella through the entry gates. “Quite a temper, hasn’t he?”
“He’s just upset,” Bella sulked as she stuffed her hands in her pockets with a shrug. “I don’t blame him.” Seeing Jake and how much in pain he was, made her only feel guilty again about Seth. She hadn’t killed him but he was dead because of her and it made it worse. “What are you in the mood for tonight for dinner?”
“If you don’t want me to snack on people the next few weeks we need to pay a visit to the blood bank,” Rebekah reminded her.
“How did you survive the last few days?”
“You don’t want to know, little dove,” Rebekah smiled knowingly and pointed at some lettuce. “How about a salad for tonight?”
After paying for their groceries, Bella took them to the blood bank where it didn’t take long for Rebekah to come back with a cooler filled with bags of blood. “Uhm… where are you going to keep all that?”
“In your fridge, of course,” Rebekah said with a shrug.
“What about Charlie?”
“I’ll compel him to buy another fridge so I can use this one?”
Bella was quiet as they walked back but turned around just before they would enter the house. “All this compelling won’t scramble his brain, would it?”
“Don’t worry,” Kol said as he opened the door for her. “It’s safe. Rebekah knows what she’s doing.”
After dinner, Charlie got a call from the station he needed to come in for some reason and left, which gave Rebekah the opportunity to bring their luggage up to the attic while Kol and Bella did the dishes. “Would you like me to bring some of your belongings up to the loft, little dove? Such as your wardrobe and your beautiful fairy lights?” Rebekah then called from the landing. “Now your father and Kol won’t have to do it!”
“Sure, Rebekah, whatever you feel like doing!”
Bella was pretty sure she could hear a squeal coming from upstairs and then looked at Kol, who was smirking. “What?”
“She’s probably going to decorate the entire loft now.”
“Oh, let her. This is going to be her home for the next couple of weeks,” Bella smiled at him. “We could get you some stuff too.”
“Oh yeah, such as?”
“Toy cars. GI-Joes.”
Kol sounded mortified. “No.”
“Barbies?” Bella teased as she splashed a bit of washing up liquid at him. “Pink curtains?”
“Stop it,” he chuckled and smacked her ass with the towel.
“Oh! No, I know! I know!” Bella said as she jumped around him. “A princess bed and a wardrobe filled with tiaras.”
“Oi!” Kol snorted as he put his arms around her to stop her from jumping. “What are you trying to tell me, dollface? That I’m a fairy?”
“You don’t have wings,” Bella shook her head as she looked up to him with the biggest smile on her face. “But we can fix that with one trip to the toy store.”
“You little minx,” he smiled at her. “Do that and I will have to take my revenge on you.”
“Oh yeah? How?”
“Buy me a tiara and wings and you’ll find out.”
Rebekah had taken pleasure in making the attic a bit nicer to sleep in and Bella thanked Rebekah a million times for swapping one of the beds with her own so she could sleep in her own bed. Not that Bella slept easily. She knew she should be exhausted after the day she had had but all she could do was stare at the roof.
It was in the middle of the night when she heard someone yelp, followed by a crash which made the house shake on its foundations, and some laughter she recognized as Kol’s. She couldn’t help but being curious. She quietly walked down the creaky stairs towards her room and peeked around the door Kol had left slightly ajar in case something was wrong. “Is everything alright?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, did that wake you?” Kol snickered as he flicked on the lamp on the bedside table and motioned for her to come in.
“No, I can’t sleep and you’re lucky Charlie is a heavy sleeper, a bomb could go off next to his bed and he wouldn’t wake,” she said as she walked in and sat down on the side of the bed. “What happened?”
“You see that?” Kol pointed to the innocent looking statue at the window. “It sort of works as an electric fence, anyone touching the window or window sill who’s not human gets a shock and is temporarily paralyzed as they drop to the ground.” He then put his arm around her and wasn’t surprised when she leaned into him, she had a habit of doing sot. “Why can’t you sleep?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed as she rested her head against his shoulder. “I think it has to do with Seth, or that I finally dared to try to hurt Edward… or seeing Jake… I don’t know. Maybe a combination of all the above. I’ve been a horrible friend to Jake recently. And Seth… because of Edward…”
“I’m stopping you right there, Cuddles,” he said gently. “I know it’s hard to accept, but none of this is your fault. Not even your decision to stay with Edward because you wanted to protect everyone who wasn’t you. And we’re going to change that. And yes, it’s awful and you’ll have to work through it, but all that, is not your fault.”
“I can’t just shake it off as if nothing happened.”
“I know and you’re not expected to, but it’s not worth it to lose sleep over this,” he said as he pulled her down with him as he lay back on the bed, making sure the both of them were comfortable. “Go sleep.”
“I can’t,” she giggled. “What if my dad finds us?”
“Then Rebekah will tell him to forget. Now shush and sleep. You have a paper to work on tomorrow.”
It was almost as if the Cullens were licking their wounds for the weekend and left Bella alone. She took the time to type out her paper on the computer and Rebekah hovered over her at times to make sure she got the details right. It was a little annoying, but Bella allowed her to because she was a great help as she had a great way with words.
Kol and Rebekah brought her to the edge of the reservation, hoping Bella would be safe amongst the wolves. They’d wanted to respect the rules of the tribe while Bella would go and see Seth off to the great beyond. She hadn’t joined the mourning group, but stayed at a distance because she didn’t feel like she belonged any more. Seth would have want her to be there and that’s why she had gone.
Besides, she had noticed that Seth’s sister Leah and Paul Lahote weren’t looking at her as if she was friendly. This scared her as both had issues with controlling their emotions and shift. She could see Sam tried to run interference but, it wasn’t until Jacob dragged Bella towards his bike that she realized that the two wolves had been close to losing control.
“Leah blames you,” Jake said as he drove down the road. “This shouldn’t have happened.”
“Do you?”
That question only made him pull down the throttle even further, he wanted to be rid of her. “You made your choice when you chose him over me. Just be glad our fathers are still friends.”
“Jake, no.”
“If you hadn’t chosen him, they would have moved on by now and most of us wouldn’t have started to shift. If you hadn’t chosen him, you and I would be great friends like we used to be, maybe even more. If you hadn’t chosen him, you wouldn’t have alienated everyone around you. You wouldn’t have become this person that I don’t know anymore. Your light wouldn’t have gone out. If you hadn’t chosen him, he wouldn’t have killed Seth. Pure and simple. I don’t know what you did to piss him off, but it’s your fault Seth is dead.” Jacob said as he hit the brakes upon seeing Bella’s new friends. “I hope they realize how toxic you are.”
“They are the ones who are helping me get away from them…” She whispered. She knew she had blown it with Jacob, and his attitude didn’t surprise him one bit, but it still hurt to hear the words.
“Who are they, exactly?” He said after taking a deep breath. “You’re stuck to him like glue.” He continued through gritted teeth as his body had tensed and gripped his handles tightly.
“They were the ones who chased them out of New Orleans. Thanks to them, I was able to stay there longer,” she explained in hopefully such a way it wouldn’t anger him any further.
“So why did you allow them to get through to you and you shut us out?”
Bella looked over towards Rebekah and Kol, who both watched them with careful eyes from their position across the treaty line. Rebekah at least could hear every word and nodded enough for her to continue. “Jake – you wouldn’t believe everything that happened in Louisiana but I’ll tell you if you want to know.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as if to calm himself before nodding. “Go on.”
Bella got off the bike and moved so she could look at him before she started to tell the whole story. As expected, Jacob huffed or snorted at the mention of witches and how she fit in all of it. It wasn’t a surprise that he believed the part where she told him about how Rebekah was a different kind of vampire than the Cullens. “And as for getting through to me… they’re taking being patient to the extremes,” she admitted. “It’s hard to let go of things I’m used to and the best thing is, they’re not forcing me to do anything I don’t want to. They asked what I wanted to do in New Orleans or, once they got to know me, surprised me to take me somewhere I liked.” She then grinned. “I hurt myself the other day when we got into town and instead of leaving me alone, they healed me.”
“How did you hurt yourself?” Jake asked, his usual concern for her returning quick before he forced himself to push it away. He blinked through confused eyes as he looked her over for the bruising and damage that would normally be on her. “Where did you hurt yourself?”
Bella lifted up her knee and pointed at it. “He was waiting for me when we got back, ambushed me in my bedroom and held me tight. All I could do was try and hurt him… so I kneed him… and broke my knee. I should have known better. He’s this marble statue and I’m breakable,” she said with a shrug. “But I stood up for myself.”
“Can I kill him?” Jacob asked, almost whispering.
“Can you leave Edward to me?” She whispered back. “You can have anyone else.”
“Bella, I’m shocked,” He laughed. “You break your knee while trying to hurt him and you want him all to yourself?”
“Yup.” She then nodded to Kol and Rebekah. “The three of us have a plan. We devised it on our way over here.”
“I don’t know, Bella. We’ve been on them ever since Seth died, I can’t tell them who to pick.”
“Trust me, Edward won’t get off easy while we’re still here, he’ll pay for Seth. But I want to be the one to… you know…”
“You want to get him to New Orleans?”
Bella nodded in response.
“Magic is the stuff of legend, or fairytales.”
“So is shifting into a wolf or vampirism,” she pointed out. “And yet, here you are.” She could have sworn she heard Kol snicker.
“Fine. I’ll see what I can do.” Jacob sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Bella, but I have to inform you that you’re no longer welcome on the reservation for the time being but you and I can still hang out if you want.”
“I’d like that,” she said with a nod.
He then nodded towards Kol and Rebekah. “They don’t pose a threat to the tribe?”
“No,” she shook her head with a smile. “Although they both may call you toy dogs or puppies when they see you when you’re a wolf, all nice and fluffy.”
“Mean,” he said with a chuckle and planted a kiss on top of her head. “See you soon then, Bella. Take care of yourself.”
“See you, Jake,” she smiled at him and watched him speed off. She then walked over to Rebekah and Kol.
“He didn’t even apologize to you, how rude.” Rebekah noted as she checked Bella for new marks or scratches.
“At least he calmed down enough to hear what I had to say,” Bella said as she looked at Rebekah. “They didn’t hurt me. Jacob pulled me away the moment some of them were starting to lose their cool with me present there.”
“And then he almost lost it,” Kol pointed out. “Volatile shifters then?”
“Jake would never hurt me. If he feels like he’s going to lose it when I’m around, he tells me to go away or he walks away to calm himself. They’re all emotional right now, and I don’t blame them.”
“Alright,” Rebekah said with a small smile. “But tomorrow I can take some fingers, yeah?”
“You want to get expelled on your first day of school?” Bella snorted as they got into the car. “Charlie will not be happy about that.”
“Tomorrow evening then,” Rebekah smirked. “Hey, does your school have a cheerleading team?”
The first day back at school after the New Orleans trip started off on the right foot, Bella thought sarcastically as they drove up to the parking lot. As usual, the Cullens were standing in one group together. It was drizzling and overcast and they hadn’t hurried themselves into the building as much as Bella had hoped they’d do. She had parked the car but didn’t dare to step out as she kept looking at them, afraid what might happen when she would.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, Bella,” Kol said as he gently squeezed her hand. “They won’t do anything in a crowded car park, it would be quite stupid of them.”
Rebekah handed her her old phone. “You’re going to march up there and you’re going to hand him his phone back and tell him that you’re coming by tonight to pick up your things.”
“What? In the middle of the parking lot?”
“Oh yes,” Rebekah said with a big grin on her face. “Right in front of everyone.”
“I can’t do that!”
“Oh, this is getting old,” Rebekah sighed as she got out of the car. “I swear I wish I could compel some confidence in you but I can’t. So you’re going to get your arse out of the car or I will pull you out and throw you into his arms.”
“Rebekah,” Kol warned his sister before helping Bella out of the car. He put his arms on Bella’s shoulders and made her look at him. “You can do this. You’re going to start with the easy part, stroll up to them and greet them. You’ll hand Mary-Alice’s husband the proof that she’s not who she says she is. And then, you’ll address yourself to Edward,” he said in a calm tone of voice. “Rebekah and I will be right behind you, alright, Cuddles?”
“Just like we discussed,” Bella said with a slow nod.
“Exactly, pet. I know it’s different to execute the plan for real but you can do this. I know you can and so does Rebekah.”
Rebekah leaned against the car when Bella walked to the Cold Ones and sighed deep. “I have to admit, brother, humanity suits you.”
Kol scoffed. “I’m a wanker.”
“Not to her, you’re not. It’s refreshing and sweet how you handle her,” she then cocked her head as she kept her eye on Bella. “She has an awful posture though…”
Bella bit her lip as she approached the Cullens. She wanted to put her hands in her pockets but with the binder and the phone in both hands, she was unable to. They all stared at her and she lowered her head, she didn’t want to see them looking at her. She scowled when she felt a nudge from Kol in her back and lifted her head up again. Witches were assholes. “Thank you for leaving me in New Orleans,” she smiled at them. “It was what I needed.”
“Good, are you back to your senses now?” Edward remarked as he took a step towards her at the same time as she took a step back.
“Please wait your turn,” Bella said politely before looking at Jasper. “I ate so many good things, especially desserts. At points, I felt as if I could explode but it felt great, it reminded me how good food is, how good life is. I had a lot of fun discovering parts of New Orleans, parts of myself, without you.” She then looked at Edward. “And then I realized you weren’t helping me to become a better person, you were holding me back.”
“Bella, that’s not true and you know it,” Edward pleaded. “We take care of you, we’ve opened our home, our lives, up to you.”
“I am not done.” She shot at him before looking back at Jasper. “My new friend recognized Alice, he said he knew her from way back when and that she was someone we believed she was not.”
“What are you talking about, Bella?” Jasper asked with a friendly tone of voice. Bella had always liked Jasper. He was much like Kol, being the sibling who was thought of as ‘lesser’ and ‘special needs’ while he was a beautiful person on the inside. He was loyal to a fault, though, and that was the biggest problem she had with him.
Bella noticed Alice had turned paler than her usual complexion and smiled widely at Jasper. “I’ve brought you some light reading, to back up what I just said. She has a lot of skeletons in her closet, Jasper, I just thought you should know.” She handed him the folder and then walked over to Edward, who was trying to control his rage, she could tell by how his nostrils were flaring.
Rebekah and Kol had been right; it was for the best to do this in public. She handed him his phone back. “We need to talk, you and I.”
“No, we don’t, Bella,” he said as he frowned at the phone. “What’s this?”
“That’s me returning your property.”
“Why?” He took a step closer as he straightened himself up He knew Bella would be intimidated by his confidence, even if he was faking it. Bella knew there was a chance that he itched to get his hands on her but he knew that he was likely going to lose control if he did and hurt her. Can’t hurt the human, but the human could hurt herself on him instead.
“Because I have my own phone now,” Bella said as she looked up to him. “I expect you handling by property at your house with care when you pack them for me. I’m coming by tonight to talk.”
“Don’t be stupid,” he scoffed as he handed her the phone back and nodded towards Rebekah and Kol. “Have they been filling your mind with things you shouldn’t concern yourself with? Now is not the time to do things you are doing, Bella, we’re the only ones who can protect you from the Volturi.”
“No, sorry Edward, you’re not,” Bella shook her head as she thrust the phone back into his hands. “I want you to stay away from me, all of you. And you and I will talk tonight.” When she walked away, Edward grabbed her arm tightly and pulled her to him. “Let me go,” she told him as she looked at him. “I’m asking you once.”
“And then what?” Edward smirked at her. “Break your knee, again?”
She growled as she stomped on his foot.
“Relax, Bella,” Jasper said after some nudging from Alice and placed his hand on her shoulder. She had been so focused on Edward that she hadn’t expected Jasper to touch her and calm her down. She had always wondered why he was able to manipulate her emotions like that. Maybe it was because his power, combined with the emotions, worked on a different level from what her body was shielding her from. They had been so careful with making decisions because of Alice, but she hadn’t taken Jasper in account because she had considered him a good boy.
“Come along now,” Edward said as he started to pull her with him. “It’s time to end this nonsense and get back to normal. You’re acting really unbecoming.”
“No, please,” she said with a whisper. “Let me go.” She wasn’t feeling angry anymore, in fact, she didn’t think she was feeling anything at all and she had lost the will to fight. It was wrong. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t fight Jasper.
Before she knew it, Jasper’s hand was off of her and she was in Kol’s arms with Rebekah pinning Edward against the nearest wall, waving Jasper’s thumb in his face. “She asked you nicely. Many times. See this? Lay another finger on her and one of your siblings, or yourself, will lose more than just a thumb, got it, pup?”
When the other Cullens moved in to avoid further escalation or for an attack, Rebekah looked over her shoulder with a smirk and her vamp face on. “Oh, don’t even try, porcelain dolls, you’ll be next, no matter how the girl begs me not to hurt you.”
She then focused back on Edward. “You’re going to stay away from her, sparkles. She’ll come by your house tonight to pick up her belongings and tell you where you stand.”
Edward just looked at Rebekah with an amused smile on his face. “You’ll lose. You don’t know her as well as you think you do, she’ll come round.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it. Now get your asses inside or do I have to throw you in?”
“Are you okay?” Kol asked Bella as she was visibly upset. He gently started to rub her back as he held her close.
“I did it,” she said with a slight chuckle. “I did it and it was going fine until Jasper…”
“You did it and you were brilliant,” Kol agreed. “I’m so proud of you.”
“But Jasper…”
“Nope. Not hearing it, Cuddles, you were amazing. End of.” When he had noticed she had stopped shaking, he let go of her and put an arm around her. “Let’s go and learn something new, shall we?”
Bella had to admit, she liked the way she was positioned in class right now. She was in front of the class, which was stupid, but she had Kol next to her and Rebekah behind her. And on her other side was the door. She felt safe, she felt sane and for the first time in a long time, she felt she could really see this through; getting her revenge on Edward and then some. The small smirk that appeared on her face stayed for the rest of the day.
She decided to be a bit daring with dinner that night, only to congratulate herself a bit further by preparing the salmon Billy had left hanging on the door for them. She usually cooked something quick and easy for her and Charlie and had done so the last two days for the four of them. Gutting the salmon was messy and smelly work, but the meal would be cooked quickly. She decided to serve it with baked potato and some asparagus and all they had to do now was to wait for Charlie to come home while Rebekah had a light snack out of the fridge.
“I’ve never done high school,” Kol said as he leaned against the kitchen counter and watched Bella work. “It’s an unusual experience.”
“How so?” Rebekah asked with a grin. “All those sweaty teenagers who think they’re more important than others trying not to pay attention in class while pretending to pay attention in class, with all its little subcultures in the school… all ready to be played like violins.”
“It’s boring.” Kol said, rolling his eyes. “I almost fell asleep during the classes. That Mrs. Goff is terrible at Spanish and English? Don’t make me laugh. It’s not English what they’re teaching.” He then looked at Bella. “You really suffer through this every single day? You’d better hope I don’t claw my brains out of me ears from boredom.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Bella smiled at him. “At least you’re good at pretending to listen.”
“It was fun to pop open buttons from random classmates, yes,” He said with a nod. “Or open a drawer just as the teacher walked by…”
“Or heavily snoring during biology…”
“That wasn’t me,” Kol said innocently.
“Yes, it was,” Rebekah laughed. “I would have done the same, really. I mean, there’s only so much you can learn about the human anatomy from text books. It’s much more entertaining to just grab a human and rip open the chest cavity and see what’s going on. But seeing as this is your senior year, does that mean there’ll be a dance at the end of it?”
Bella winced. She had been lucky to duck out of the spring dance this year because of her trip to New Orleans but she hated the dance. “Yes…”
“Oh, we need to go shopping then, little dove.”
“We don’t have to go.”
“Oh, we are.” Rebekah said, her face looking even more resolved than it had before. “Somehow I always miss the dance when I’m in high school.”
Kol snorted as he saw how uneasy Bella was and how much his sister was already looking forward to it. “It will be fun. When’s graduation?”
“Next month…” Bella said as she looked at the door. She could have sworn she heard Charlie’s car park next to hers and he could come in any moment. When he did, he was busy talking on his phone about the recent killings in Seattle. She walked over to him to give him a hug and then set the table while Kol helped her while Rebekah hid the evidence of her snack.
“How was your first day at your new school, Kaleb?” Charlie said after he hung up and grabbed a beer from his own fridge. “It smells nice, Bells,” he smiled at her and kissed the top of her head.
“It’s smaller than what Bekah and I are used to, but I suppose that’s better, too.” Kol replied with one of his rehearsed lines.
Charlie hummed in response as he sat down at the table.
“How was your day, Charlie?” Bella asked as she sat down and was soon joined by Kol and Rebekah. “What’s this about Seattle?”
“Oh, nothing. Just a couple of missing kids, we’ve been asked to keep an eye out,” he said as he took a swig of his beer. “I have to stop by the garage tomorrow to get a dent out of my car though. It felt as if a boulder was thrown off the bridge right on top of the car but when I stopped all I could see was a dent and no boulder. Must be the weather playing tricks on the metal or something.”
“Are you sure, Mr. Swan?” Rebekah asked concerned. “Do you think you were targeted specifically, maybe?”
He snorted. “Don’t be silly, we’re in Forks, not some big city.”
They continued the meal in silence and when Bella was clearing the table she spoke up again. “We’re going over to Edward’s for a bit. We won’t be long.”
“I would have thought he’d have come by this weekend.” Charlie said with a nod. “You two are always together, joined at the hip.”
“I’m trying to change that,” Bella replied.
“Well then, let me worry about those dishes and you go over to Edward’s.”
Bella couldn’t help but check out the damage to her father’s car when they got outside and sighed. There was a butt shaped dent on top of the cabin. “Fucking Emmett,” she muttered.
“How do you know?” Rebekah inquired as she looked at the dent. “I mean, it looks like an arse.”
“Emmett has a thing for jumping on cars,” Bella replied as she opened the door to her own car. “They’re trying to scare me.”
“Is it working?”
Bella huffed. What was she supposed to say to that? Yes? Yes, it scared her because they were going after Charlie. She also knew it was a scare tactic and that they probably wouldn’t hurt him but the possibility was there. No, she wasn’t scared because she had never felt more safe as than with Kol and Rebekah. And she felt guilty about it because Charlie – and Renée, in a way – always taught her to fight her own battles. She figured the rules were different seeing as her battle was against the supernatural.
The more she thought about what Emmett had done while driving towards the Cullen house, the angrier she got. His brother Edward still had to pay for killing Seth and in general, everyone else had to pay for being fucktards. Simple as that.
They had set up a plan while they were still in New Orleans where she and Kol were able to hide them all from Alice’s sight and she knew that they had to stick to it. She had wanted the plan so she could get her own revenge on the Cullens instead of having Rebekah kill them all. At the moment, it was tempting to abandon the plan and let Rebekah have a go.
Carlisle was waiting for them at the house, arms crossed over his chest and he looked angry. The moment Bella stepped out of the car he stood in front of her. If she hadn’t taken a step to close the door, he surely would have pinned her against the car. “What have you done, Bella?”
“Nothing?” Bella said confused. “I drove my friend’s car?”
“You’re upsetting the dynamic in this family, that’s what you’re doing. Get inside the house. Your friends can wait outside.”
“I’m not going inside the house,” Bella said stubbornly as she leaned against the car with her arms crossed over her chest. “Edward can come outside.”
“Bella, don’t do this,” Carlisle said kindly as he put his hand on her shoulder.
She could feel a slight tug and sighed. “Edward can come outside,” she repeated. “And please get your hand off of me.”
Kol had rounded the car and stood close by while Rebekah just stared at Carlisle, waiting to snap off one of his limbs if he didn’t comply with Bella’s request. Kol felt proud of his girl for standing up for herself and then realized he had thought of Bella as his. He had entertained the idea but to be actually thinking it was something completely different.
“You’re being difficult,” Carlisle said as he removed his hand from her, probably prompted by Edward and Alice in his head. Bella had always hated that kind of telepathy. Or telepathy in general. She preferred it the way it was with her, with them not being able to get inside her head at all.
“Am I?” Bella looked up to him. “Edward. Outside. Now.”
