Chapter Fifteen

After checking into a hotel room, Jasper, Alice and I sat around the room waiting for news from Edward or one of them.  Bella was in the room calling her mom every second she got and crying the next until she passed out from exhaustion.

I was sitting on the floor in the corner, candles surrounded me in a circle. My eyes closed, mediating and trying to calm my nerves.

Jasper and Alice were sitting on the couch staring at the TV blankly.

The blinds were pulled making the room dark as we sat in complete silence. I had just ordered room service for Bella.

I inhaled deeply, breathing in the smoke and exhaled.

Hearing footsteps, I opened my eyes for a second, seeing Bella coming out of the room staring at her phone.

"What do we do now?" Bella asked.

"We wait for Edward or Carlisle to call." I told her calmly nodding at the table, the tray of food "You've been sleeping most of the day so you should eat something."

"You're not going to eat?" She asked looking at me.

"I already ate earlier." I told her taking in another deep breath.

She slowly grabbed the plate and came to join me, tucking her feet underneath as she sat down on the floor.

"What are you doing?" She asked nodding at the candles, picking at her food.

"Mediating." I told her quietly. "I need all the magic energy I can gather... and if I focus hard enough I'll be able to connect to Edward's mind, see what he sees."

"Really?" She asked surprised. "You can do that?"

"I'm a witch Bella." I told her shrugging. "We can do things, with a limit of course."

I ignored her and closed my eyes again and took in another deep breath inhaling the smell of the candles burning.

I could sense my cousin starting to have a mental break down, I was worried... for my cousin, for my friends and family. I worried for their safety, but I believed in Carlisle and the family. I knew they could get rid of the Tracker while I protected Bella.

"I wish none of this had happened." Bella said quietly drawing my attention again. "Why didn't you stop me?"

I stared at her raising an eyebrow.

"I did try to stop you." I told her pointedly. "Why do you think I kept telling you to stay away from them but for some reason you were meant to find out."

"What do you mean?" She asked staring at me with a harden expression.

"All witches believe in a thing called Fate." I told her flashing a small soft smile. "Everything that happened to you, that will happen is because it's meant to be... Moving in with Charlie, learning our secrets and even meeting Edward."  I nodded at Alice and Jasper staring at me with appreciation, listening. "While I can't tell you what will happen later I do know that you and Edward are intertwined in each other's fate."

"I wish he'd call." She said sighing heavily. "They could get hurt, he could... it's not worth it."

"Yes it is." Jasper told her insistently.

I glanced over at him hearing the tone in his voice and saw the look on his face. Bella looked taken back.

"Edward's changed since he found you." Jasper told her. "And none of us want to look in his eyes or Elena's." He nodded his head in my way. "If they lose you...It's worth it."

Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my head, I let out a small painful shout, reaching up and held my head with both hands.

Someone was talking to me.

"Elena?" I heard Bella ask.

"Incoming mental message." I told them trying to decipher who it was. "Quinn... Edward... the tracker."  I felt the connection snap so sudden and cried a little in pain.  "It's gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Bella asked firmly.

I blew out my candles, getting to my feet and moved over to where my bags where, grabbing my medicine bag, trying to shake it off.

"Doesn't mean anything Quinn will try again later but it had something to do with Edward and the tracker." I told her digging through my bag and pulled out one of my vials of pain reliever.

I took a drink of my stuff and felt the aftermath headache slowly fade.

"So then what do we do now?" Bella asked panicking.

Suddenly Alice reeled forward, causing Jasper and I to look at her we got up and headed to her side, sitting on either sides, with her in the middle.

"What do you see?" Jasper asked her.

I stared into her mind, seeing what she was looking at.

"The tracker." Alice said worried deeply. "He just changed course...must be what Quinn was trying to tell us."

"Edward?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"I don't see him just the tracker."

I nodded, grabbing a pad of paper and pencil and sitting it in front of her.

"Where will it take him, Alice?" Jasper asked staring at her face intently, he was firm but worried for his mate.

"Mirrors." Alice told us. "It's a room of mirrors."

Alice started drawing at hyper speed and closed her eyes, trying to see it clearly.  The sketch was starting to look like something bit I had no idea what it was and reading her mind wasn't helping me either other than give me a major headache.

"How do the visions work?" Bella asked coming to stand in front of the coffee table.  "Edward said they weren't always certain."

"She sees the course people are on, while they're on it." I told her earning a look. "If they change their minds, the visions change kinda like Quinn, except Quinn can see the past and future but only in dreams."

Bella looked over our shoulders seeing the drawing.

"So the course James is on now will lead him to a....ballet studio?" Bella asked trailing off.

"You've been here?" Alice asked looking up at her, stopping in mid draw. Jasper and I stared up at her too.

"No." Bella told her. "I don't know, I used to take ballet lessons as a kid, The school had an arch like that, don't you remember Elena?" She looked at me. "I used to call you and tell you how bad of a dancer I was."

"Well, I remember you talked about some kind of dancing but..." I said looking down at the drawing before thinking it through. "Could it be the same place, your school was here in..."

"Phoenix?" Jasper asked cutting me off.

I nodded at him.

A faint buzzing noise filling the room, Bella looked down at her phone and let out a sigh of relief and answered the phone.

"Edward, are you alright?"

She rushed across the room and into the bedroom, closing the door behind her so she could speak in private. I watched her go, staring at the door for a few seconds before I got up and moved to gather up my magic stuff.

I turned to Alice and Jasper.

"We should get ready." I told them.

They nodded in agreement.

----

Walking into the lobby, Alice was settling the bill while Jasper loaded up the car out front.

I decided to pull my phone out and check messages, seeing more than twenty calls and texts. Thirteen from Charlie, ten from Leah, Jacob, Sam and Jared.... at least three from Billy, Harry and the elders.  I didn't even want to know what all of them said but I read a few.

Jared shifted

While scrolling through the messages, my phone suddenly started buzzing. I stared at the ID... Paul.

I made a quick glance, biting my lip and made a choice. I hit the green button and brought the device to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Elena, where the hell have you been?" Paul asked without skipping a beat. He sounded worried. "The news on the rez is you ran away with your cousin? Everyone's been worried and trying to get a hold of you... is it true?"

I sighed, taking in a deep breath.

"It's true." I muttered watching Alice at the front desk. "I can't tell you why but something happened, Bella needed to get out of town and so I came with her, she needed me."

I heard him sigh in relief.

"So you're going to come back home right?" I heard him ask.

"I don't know..." I trailed off.

I didn't know what was going to happen, this fight could take longer or if we were all going to make it out. I couldn't make any promises.

"El... You have to come home." Paul said firmly. I could hear his musky voice, making my knees go weak kind of feeling. "I don't know what's happened but you have to."

"I can't make any promises Paul." I said slowly, seeing Bella walking towards me. "Tell everyone I'm okay, I have to go.."

I could hear the sound of Paul protesting but I didn't listen as I ended the call and frowned deeply. I turned to my cousin.

Bella had a look on her face, I tried to read her mind but only heard static, her mind was one that I just could never get too. S

"Who was that?" She asked gesturing to my phone.

"Paul." I told her earning a confused look. "Friend from the Rez, I haven't introduced you too yet."

She nodded.

"What about you?" I asked. "Are you okay?"

"Edward and Carlisle are on their way here." She told me, she tried to be confident, but I could tell she was terrified and nervous. "He said he's going to take me away."

"What about Uncle Charlie?" I asked.

"He's fine." She told me. "Quinn and Jazz are with him now, and Esme and Rosalie are watching from the outside just in case."

I sighed in relief knowing my uncle was safe.

"Well we're all checked out." Alice said coming over to us.

"Then we should get going." I told them, making them nod.

"Hey uh I need to use the bathroom first; I'll meet you out at the car." Bella told us.

I nodded at her walking outside to help Jasper finish loading the Mercedes while Alice went with Bella. While standing there I thought back to the phone call with Paul.

It made me feel bad that I couldn't tell him the truth, now with Jared being a shifter Paul would be left to himself. He only had two friends Sam and Jared and both of them had to cut ties with people.

'Elena!'

I jumped hearing a voice scream in my head, looking around and nearly had a heart attack.

"What?" I asked out loud before realizing it was in my head, Jasper looked at me strangely. "Sorry Jas... Quinn's sending another mental message."

He nodded and I turned my head a little.

'Gosh scare me to death'

'Sorry' Jazz thought apologetically. 'We've been trying to talk to you for the last five hours'

'Our connection snapped, I couldn't hear a word you girls were saying...or thinking.'

'Never mind about that, listen' I heard Quinn tell me and listened carefully before my eyes went wide.

"What is it?" Jasper asked seeing the look on my face, I ignored him and ran into the hotel, spotting Alice and went towards her, Jasper seemed to sense something was wrong and followed.

"Alice, where's Bella?" I asked in panic.

"She hasn't come out yet." She told me frowning, glancing from me to Jasper.

I frowned and shoved the door open to the single bathroom; the room was empty.

"Bella!" I exclaimed panicking and turned to Alice and Jasper who were looking in. "She's gone."

They looked at me in shock.

"Quinn told me she saw the tracker and Bella together." I told them. "At the ballet studio."

We went back out to the parking lot.

"I'm going to send Edward a mental message." told them sternly, reaching into the car and grabbed my medicine bag. "Tell him what happened."

"What are you going to do?" Alice asked.

"I think you already know." I told her firmly.

"Be safe." Jasper told me.

"I can keep him at bay for a while." I told him nodding and turned walking away, I searched for an empty spot in an alley way and glanced around for a minute before teleporting out. "I swear if we make it out of this, Bella so owes me."

-----

Arriving inside the studio, I knew I would have to pull out major magic.

But when I got there, Edward had beat me and was fighting the tracker.

Normally I would be saying something like vampire one, witch zero but I caught site of the evil vampire standing over my cousin as she laid on the ground.

I had to look twice as the tracker bit into Bella's hand making my eyes go wide. My cousin screamed in agony.

"Bella!"

James's head snapped up to where I was as I teleported down and with a big wave of my hand, he flung backwards, crashing to the floor like a rag doll.

On the inside my body was shaking with fear but the outside I masked my emotions and moved in front of my cousin.

"Stupid witch." James taunted getting back to his feet and hissed.

I was fully ready for another fight but Edward climbed out of where he was and dived at James plowing him through the floorboards.

I knew Edward could handle himself and wasted no time, whipping around and kneeled beside Bella, checking her over.

I saw a gash on her leg while I scanned her for other injuries.

"E-Lena..."

"It's okay." I muttered calmly. "You're going to be okay."

I gave her a fake gentle smile,

Edward was unleashing hell upon the bad vamp, while I tended to Bella. My eyes were gold, lifting both my hand and laid on on her leg and the other on her shoulder, healing her..

But seeing Edward, it made my connection snap a little and I knew this wasn't good for him.

"Edward stop!" I told him but he wasn't hearing me. He just kept attacking almost like he had lost his mind. "Edward!"

Carlisle showed up right then and laid a hand on Edward's shoulder, making Edward turn to him and realize he was going too far and backed off.

Emmett, Jasper and Alice dropped down from the balcony and went into attack mode, lunging at James like a pack of animals.

They started ripping out the floorboard and build a pyre, only stopping for a second looking my way.

I knew what they were asking and muttered a quick spell, holding my hand up ignoring Bella's blood that soaked it and set the pyre on fire.

I went back to healing my cousin. They ripped James apart and threw his limbs into the fire.

My energy was draining quickly.

Carlisle saw the look on my face, taking in the situation and rushed over to us. Carlisle laid a hand on my shoulder and kneeled beside us. Alice and Edward followed.

"I tried to stop the bleeding." I told him weakly. "Her femoral artery's been severed, she's losing to much blood for me to heal."

He nodded gently helping to fix her wounds.

There was a lot of blood pooling around her but I ignored it.

"It's on fire!" Bella shrieked suddenly. "My hand!"

Edward and I shared a look with Carlisle.

"That bastard bit her." Edward said firmly. "Venom."

"We have to do something." I told them feeling my hands start to shake but I stayed focus on what I was doing. "I can stop the bleeding, and ease the pain but I can't stop the changing..."

"You have to make a choice, Edward." Carlisle said working on Bella while I continued healing her, despite my energy draining. "Either let the change happen.."

"No!" Edward said sharply.

Alice appeared beside us.

"It's going to happen." Alice told us. "I've seen it."

"It doesn't have to be that way." Edward said.

"Elena find me a tourniquet, a rag a shirt." Carlisle told me.

I nodded, keeping one hand on Bella while I used the other to rip the sleeve from my jacket and handing it to Alice who aided Carlisle and I.

"It's burning!"

"It'll be okay Bella." I told her trying to stay strong.

"What's the other choice?" Edward asked Carlisle. "You said."

"Tighter." Carlisle told Alice. "Above the knee."

"You can suck it out." I said glancing up at Edward for a second.

"Yes." Carlisle said nodding at me.

"I-won't be able to stop." Edward trailed off.

"Find the will to stop." Carlisle told him. "But choose, she only has a few minutes left."

I felt tears in my eyes.

Goddess, please not my cousin'

Edward heard that and looked at me before looking down at Bella, thrashing in pain, eventually he grabbed her hand, she tried to pull away.

"It's alright Bella." He told her softly. "I'll make it go away."

He looked at her and started to suck the venom from her hand, they stared at each other intensely.

Bella slowly stopped screaming and became quiet, I knew she would fine and slowly started to heal her closing my eyes so I could focus more.

"Edward stop." I heard Carlisle say and my eyes snapped open. "Her blood is clean, you're killing her."

Edward didn't listen and continued drinking.

I frowned.

'Edward stop!' I shouted into his mind as loud as I could "Edward!"

Bella looked like she was losing consciousness and made me panic.

"Edward!"

Edward's eyes suddenly snapped to mine, almost on instant realizing what he was doing, he let go of Bella's hand and stared in shock and pain.

I sighed in relief, shaking my head to stay awake.

I removed my hands from Bella. Edward picked her up bridal style. He held her like she was a break able prized doll.

I stood up but stumbled a bit, Carlisle quickly stood and caught me.

"Thanks." I mumbled politely. "That was a lot of healing, I stopped the bleeding in her leg but I'm afraid I can't heal any broken bones or anything like that."

"We'll have to take her to a hospital." Carlisle said holding his arm out to keep me stabilized.

Edward and I nodded, we turned seeing the others finishing up and Carlisle called out to them to hurry up and then head home.

I picked up my medicine bag and walked out with Edward and Carlisle laying her in the backseat of Carlisle's car.

Edward sat behind with her while Carlisle and I got in front, Carlisle started the car up and slowly drove off.

Laying tiredly against the passenger seat, I dug into my pocket and pulled out my phone, hitting a number and held the phone to my eat.

"Hello? Elena are you okay?!"

"I'm okay, everything's fine.. it's finished." I told her closing my eyes feeling tired. "I need you to do me a favor, let Quinn in on it too."

I felt Carlisle glance at me as I told Jazz everything that happened and asked her if she would make up a story to tell Charlie, because Jazz could use her gift to make Charlie believe anything, she didn't like using it a whole lot but this was important.

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4/22/2024