"We didn't come here to fight," Edward spoke out into the silence between the two lines.
The Cullens were startled by Edward's lead into this meeting. All, but Emmett and Rosalie, were relieved to hear him reach out to the wolf-men. They knew that Edward would not have done so if he had not read in their thoughts a willingness to do the same. Carlisle looked to Edward for visual conformation of this deduction. Edward immediately pulled back from his bland expression, looked back to Carlisle with a slight turn of his head and gave him the cue that he needed.
"We know that the situation between Nessie and Jacob has created some ill will between us," Carlisle advised gently. "But, it is our hope that we can work pass this to mend our friendship."
Carlisle's carefully articulated words had no visible effect on the wolf-men. They continued to hold their line, their postures and their growls.
"They don't care what we want," Edward reported after a brief pause. "They're dealing with the situation in their own way."
Carlisle paused for a moment to be startled by this reply. This was all the time Rosalie needed to vocalize her reaction with a heavy dose of incredulity.
"This, this is your way, lurking around in the forest and sulking?"
Rosalie's words, and more importantly, the tenor of them, had a visible and audible effect on the shape-shifters. The attention of the wolf-men focused onto her as the level of their growl intensified. Alarmed by this, Carlisle quickly spoke up in a manner and in words designed to bring the attentions of the wolf-men back onto him, with less acrimony.
"We would like to help you. We value our friendship and we want to do everything we can to protect it."
As all of the shape-shifter's eyes turned to Carlisle, the level of their growls immediately dropped down to where it was before.
"They want us to leave them alone," Edward reported almost immediately after Carlisle spoke. "That's how we can help," Edward continued a second later.
"Well, that's not working," Alice insisted in a strident tone.
Bella overlapped the end of Alice's remark with an earnest offering. "Jacob, we just want to help."
There was a pause of silence from the Cullens as all waited on Edward's read of the shape-shifter's thoughts.
"They're saying this is not helping," Edward reported with a confused inflection. "They're protecting Jacob," Edward continued a second later. He then paused again to apprehend the shape-shifter's thoughts. Still mildly confused, Edward continued his report. "They're trying to keep us and Nessie out of their thoughts."
"How does that help Jacob," Esme queried Edward with a perplexed expression?
"They're trying to help him fight the imprint," Edward promptly answered.
"Can they do that," Bella queried with and inflection of curiosity?
"It's been done before," Edward answered back as he studied the wolf-men. "But, it's a lengthy process and it has never been one-hundred percent effective."
"Who cares what they're trying to do if we can't trust them with our backs turned" Emmett bellowed out?
Once again the growls of the shape-shifters intensified in volume as they looked to Emmett. He, in turn, crouched in his stance in anticipation of a violent response. Rosalie followed his lead and configured herself likewise. Carlisle was momentarily at a loss for words. He knew that Emmett's assertion had merit and that it was the underlying problem that brought them there. He knew that this concern had to be addressed. His mind quickly began searching for a way of expressing this in a less confrontational tone. Suddenly, before he could assemble the words, Edward spoke out in a questioning tone.
"They don't know what we're talking about."
"Of course they don't," Jasper promptly corrected. "It never happened. They don't know what they almost did.
Jasper's assertion only made the shape-shifters growl in his direction. Edward quickly read the thoughts of the wolf-men and responded to the question he found there.
"At the beginning of the summer, Alice saw a vision of Bella on the peninsula, dead."
Edward paused a second to read the thinking of the wolf-men. The other members of the Cullen family looked to him so that they could monitor this, half verbal, half telepathic conversation.
"It had to be you," Edward mildly insisted.
The wolf-men growled a louder as they locked their attentions onto Edward. He in turn scanned the line of shape-shifters for two seconds before responding to their unspoken thoughts.
"It had to be you," Edward insisted with greater force. "Alice couldn't see the event, only the aftermath."
The growls of the shape-shifters grew even louder and were, for the first time, intertwined with snarls and bared teeth.
Edward studied the shape-shifters with nearly a look of astonishment. He cared nothing for the intensity of their anger. It was the thinking behind it that was perplexing him.
"What is it," Carlisle questioned in response to Edward's stunned expression? He was eager to know what was being said.
"It wasn't them," Edward answered in a soft and bewildered tone.
"That's what they would say," Emmett argued loudly.
The wolf-men turned their snarls and growls in Emmett's direction. Carlisle continued to study Edward with a pondering expression. The rest of the Cullens were equally confused. They too looked to Edward for an explanation. He, in turn, obliged them with a quick response to Emmett's assertion.
"No, it's not in their thoughts. It's not in their memories. The only thing they have ever been trying to do is avoid us. I'm not detecting any thoughts of malice in their memories."
"Maybe it was an accidental encounter gone, bad," Jasper suggested for affect.
"No," Edward quickly corrected. "Jacob, we're all under the protection of Jacob. They wouldn't do that because it would hurt Nessie, and Jacob loves Nessie."
Suddenly the entire family understood and was stunned by the comprehension. The wolf-men continued to snarl and growl at the now penitent expressions on all the Cullens. Half a dozen seconds went by before anyone thought to ask the next question.
"Then who was it," Rosalie pondered out loud.
The Cullen family looked about themselves with baffled expressions as they considered this question. The wolf-men discontinued their snarls and tone down their growling in reaction to their introspection. Shortly, a thought from one of the shape-shifters caught Edward's attention. He turned his focus onto him quickly and then roared out a question.
"What vampire?"
The whole of Edward's family turned towards him with shocked expressions. To their knowledge there had not been a stray vampire on the peninsula for more than three years. The Cullens had grown accustomed to the idea that all vampires knew of their claim to this territory and how jealously they protected it. The idea that an unknown vampire ventured onto the peninsula unannounced was, very, unexpected. The thought that this vampire may have meant to do harm to Bella and still went unseen by Alice was mind boggling.
"That's not possible," Alice suddenly insisted. "I would have seen a vampire attacking Bella."
"The wolves say that a vampire was moving about on the peninsula between March and June of this year." Edward softly reported with a look of incredulity.
"This is a lie," Rosalie challenged with venom. "They're making this up to protect themselves."
The wolf-men growled a little louder in Rosalie's direction.
"They're telling the truth," Edward contradicted as he stared into empty space. "I see it in their memories. A vampire was here, but he's gone now."
This revelation set the Cullen family aback. All among their number were lost in contemplation with regards to the identity of this vampire. It did not take long for the whole of them to come to the same conclusion.
"The Patagonian," Bella spoke out what the others were thinking.
"I can't see him or her," Alice mumbled to no one in particular.
The shape-shifters suddenly silenced their growls in response to the Cullen's shock
ed expressions. They looked upon them with curiosity as the Cullens pondered this new information. Edward took note of a question in their thoughts a few seconds later and looked over to them with an answer.
"We had a fight with a Patagonian Coven of vampires a few years back. One of them got away. He was invisible to everyone except Bella."
Edward expressed this report softly and with a dose of introspection. Alice's remark that came behind it was strident and heavily laced with anger.
"You should have told us about this vampire," Alice punctuated this remark with an accusing point.
The growl of the wolf-men returned at a low murmur. Carlisle turned to Alice and gave her a gesture with his hand to calm down. Even as he did this Rosalie began to vent her displeasure in an exasperated tone.
"I can't believe this. We've been hunkered down for months, waiting for these flee magnets to do something and during all of this time a transient vampire was lurking about in the forest …and they knew about it …and didn't tell us."
The growl of the wolf-men grew a little louder. Carlisle momentarily gave thought to calling for calm amongst his family, but he elected to question the wolf-men instead. It was his hope that they had a good answer for their silence about this.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"We're not talking to you," Edward relayed a second behind Carlisle's query.
"Damn it," Emmett roared as he tossed his arms into the air.
The growl of the wolf-men spiked in time with Emmett's display.
"The business of the Cullens is no longer our concern," Edward continued to relay as he refocused his concentration onto the pack.
"You still should have told us," Jasper asserted in a stern voice. "An unknown vampire on the peninsula is a possible threat to you too."
The growl of the wolf-men spiked again in response to Jasper's words.
"He didn't come onto Quileute land and he took no human victims," Edward reported on behalf of the wolf-men.
"That's because he didn't want to alert us that he's here," Jasper explained angrily.
"What did he look like," Carlisle questioned in an inoffensive tone?
"They don't know," Edward began their reply. "They tracked his scent many times, but it always vanished before they got close enough to see him."
"He was probably standing right in front of you, you dumb mutts," Rosalie loudly scorned.
"Rosalie," Esme sharply admonished.
The wolf-men snarled and bared teeth in response to Rosalie's outburst.
"This vampire is visibly, audibly and aromatically undetectable to everyone except Bella, which is why he probably wants her dead," Jasper instructed without regard for the angry temperament of the wolf-men. The shape-shifters took argument with the accusation that they could not smell him. His scent was well tagged within their memories. They growled a second more before Edward responded to this thought in their heads.
"He's only invisible when you're close to him."
The growl of the wolf-men shortly trailed off into silence. The Cullens were also spent of vitriolic remarks. Carlisle shortly spoke into this silence with the hope of restoring the alliance they once had.
"We are sorry for thinking you could do this terrible thing and we hope you will forgive us. We value your partnership in the protection of this peninsula."
There was a low rumble of disjointed growls as the shape-shifters began to back away in random movements. Three seconds into this disassembly the pack suddenly stopped and looked back at Jacob standing across from Edward. The two were locked into stares with each other. The Cullens quickly took note of the attention of the pack onto them.
"No," Edward began his response to Jacob's telepathic question. "I don't know if Nessie is in danger."
The two of them stood there for three seconds more before Edward spoke again.
"Thank you, Jacob."
The large brown hued wolf-man turned and walked away in cue with the pack.
"What did he say," Bella softly queried Edward on behalf of the whole family.
"He said that they will help us track the Ghost Walker."
9- Track of the Predator
A cold wind whipped between the trees in an endless series of rapid and erratic gusts. The sound of it disrupted the usual silence of the night with its whistling and roaring as it tumbled over the landscape and through the forest. The leafless trees oscillated beneath this onslaught. Above this, the overcast was thick and dark. A quarter-moon brightened a small segment of this ceiling. A patch of dimly glowing clouds illuminated this picture like a smudge of gray paint on an all-black canvas. The forest below this was bathed in the shadow of this cloak. The white of the snow, that covered the ground, was virtually hidden from view to mortal eyes. The forest outside of Forks, Washington, appeared to be a barren landscape. The only evidence of life, were the trees that stood like the skeletons of something that once lived.
I know that smell.
A thought in the mind of Cody was tickled into existence by a faint scent that washed in on a gust of wind. He came to a stop in his tracks and shoved his snout up into the air to catch a better sample. The smell was brief, and it flew away with the wind that carried it.
That was familiar. Find it again.
Jared's thinking reacted, in turn, to Cody's consciousness ringing in his head. This hint of a scent briefly registered in his brain as well and then flew away like a tease. The impression of it danced on the edge of a memory, but his location inside the Quileute Reservation frustrated any attempt by him to reacquire the smell on his own. He and Cody were thirty miles distant from each other.
Walter was less than twenty yards away from Cody when this vaguely familiar scent registered in their collective consciousness. He immediately turned back towards his companion in response to his finding. Walter moved at a slow walk as he carefully sampled the air. He did not want to miss it should it pass his way.
There it is. I smell it. Cody's thinking reverberated into this communal consciousness. Still sniffing the air, he estimated that the scent was distant from his location. It's gone again, he pondered a second after. Despite this loss, the second sample confirmed the name of the source in the collective memories of all present. The Ghost Walker, Cody, Walter, Jared, Embry, Seth and Aaron roared into their thoughts all at once.
Find him, Embry instructed with a thought.
Even as he thought this, Cody and Walter were in pursuit of a scent that came and went with a gust of the wind. The two wolf-men padded out in slightly diverging directions with their snouts turned up to the air. This was a tactic commonly used by the shape-shifters to increase their chances of finding a trail. Three minutes later the two wolf-men were two-hundred yards apart, and were quickly losing hope of finding the scent again. Suddenly, another smell of the Ghost Walker spilled across Walter's person. The physical residue of his scent within his snout provided confirmation of the mental impression that had been guiding him up until then. The scent was stronger here and it persisted despite the buffeting winds. Cody spun around in reaction to Walter's find and sprinted to his location at near to his best speed. Upon his arrival, thirty seconds later, Cody got an immediate report of a smell from the Ghost Walker's person. The stench of the vampire was strong enough to track from there. He and Walter quickly set off at a sprint into the head wind that smelled of vampire.
Seth and Aaron were already racing at their best speeds to Cody's and Walter's location. They were at the far side of their patrol sector, relative to Cody and Walter, when they first noted the Ghost Walker's scent in Cody's mind. Even at their top speed they estimated a ten minute run to the location where the scent was first discovered. The ankle deep snow was hampering their efforts a little, but not enough to have a noticeable effect on their time.
On the Quileute reservation the shape-shifters, in human form at this time, were being roused from their slumber by the calls of Embry and Jared. Those that were too distant to hear their howls were contacted, by phone,
by those who were not. In twenty minutes time, the entire compliment of the Quileute shape-shifters was bounding through the forest on the hunt for the Ghost Walker.
The Quileute were motivated, to a small extent, by Jacob's need to protect Nessie. The Ghost Walker's hostile intentions towards Bella made him a possible threat to her and that was enough to warrant his death. The primary motivation, however, was simply the sport of the event. For most within the pack this was a chance to do the one thing that most occupied their dreams, hunt and kill a vampire.
Cody and Walter ran a zigzag pattern through the forest in pursuit of an odor that was being tossed about by the gusting winds like a beach ball. It took them eight minutes to follow the airborne scent to a physical trail. Sliding to a stop, they nearly ran by it. The two giant wolf-men immediately thrust their snouts towards the ground and sniffed the impacted snow. The disturbed ground was obviously trampled upon by a single traveler. The scent lingering about the foot prints registered in their minds as the Ghost Walker. Cody and Walter matched the direction of the prints with the airborne scent and then raced off down the trail at their top speeds.
Cody, Walter, wait for us. Sam Uley's thinking registered within their thoughts.
He's near, Cody answered back in his mind. The scent grows stronger by the second. His pace is slow, judging from his tracks. We can be on him before he knows we're there.
Walter and Cody read from the Ghost Walker's tracks that he was running at less than half their speed.
No, Sam responded back. The wind keeps changing. He might catch your scent. Stay back so we can move in around him.
The Quileute wolf-man pack surmised the destination of the Ghost Walker the moment Cody and Walter got a fix on his scent. His prints in the snow provided them with the probable route. Seth and Aaron were already moving on an intercept course and were expected to get their first independent scent of the Ghost Walker within the next one to two minutes. Like Cody and Walter, they were instructed to stay down wind and out of sight of the vampire. The remainder of the pack was expected to be in the vicinity three to four minutes behind them. It was anticipated that the vampire would likely catch wind of them when the whole of the pack started maneuvering to circumnavigate him. By this time they trusted their superior speed and numbers would make escape impossible.
The Malevolent Vampire Page 7