Moving Forward - J. Black

vi.

EDITED

It was spring again when Eliza got a call from Alice, the vampire getting a vision of Bella in danger. Eliza sat in the living room of the Swan home, relaxing on their couch while Alice paced nervously in hopes of Bella returning. The lights were out and the sky was dark when Bella finally made her way inside. The human let out a small shriek of terror when she flicked on the lights to see the two supernatural figures. "Alice!" Bella launched herself at the petite vampire. "Bella, what are you-" Alice struggled with her words as she saw took in Bella's perfectly intact form. "I'm sorry, I just can't believe you're here. Is-" Bella's mind worked faster than her mouth as she processed the Cullen sisters' return.

"Edward isn't with us." Eliza answered the question that Bella desired the ask most. "Eliza." Bella gave the blonde vampire a small smile when she noticed her presence as well. "Would you like to explain to me how you're alive?" Alice pushed off Bella's concerns at her vision of Bella jumping off a high cliff. "What?" Bella's racing mind settled as she took in Alice's words. "I saw a vision of you, you jumped off a cliff. Why in the hell would you try to kill yourself? What about Charlie? What about-" Alice let loose as her anger got the best of her. "I didn't try to kill myself." Bella looked at the vampire alarmed and Eliza sat up with intrigue. 

"I was cliff jumping, recreationally." Bella explained and Eliza couldn't stop the laugh from coming out of her mouth. "Recreationally." Eliza grinned at the brunette, who didn't see the humor that Eliza did. "I-it was fun." Bella defended herself when Alice still looked at her in disbelief. Alice moved herself and Bella over to the couch with Eliza, continuing her lecture.

"I've never met anyone more prone to life-threatening idiocy." Alice shook her head as Bella now faced the vampire with a cup of tea in her hand. "Does-did-did you tell him?" Bella looked between Eliza and Alice concerned. "She doesn't have a way to." Eliza answered the question as she thought about the last couple of months. "He only calls in every few months. He said he want to be alone." Alice fully explained Eliza's comment. 

Eliza picked up a new scent near the home but didn't say anything until Alice scrunched up her nose. "Bella, what is that God-awful wet dog smell?" Alice looked mortified by the scent she was picking up on. Eliza looked at her sister amused as her own senses failed to pick up the same odor. "Um, that's probably me." Bella glanced at the jacket that covered her body. "Or it's Jacob." Bella reiterated what she meant by her statement.

"Jacob who?" Alice was confused by the unfamiliar name. "Jacob's kind of a werewolf." Bella earned herself another look of disbelief and Eliza just shook her head amused. "Bella! Werewolves are not good company to keep." Alice's eyes widened as she scolded the human. "Speak for yourself." a deep voice spoke up from near the door. Alice and Eliza snapped their heads in the direction of the shifter's voice, Alice jumping to her feet alarmed. "The competition." Eliza's eyes sparkles at the jokes that she and Emmett were going to have.

"I had to see you were safe." Jacob looked past both vampires and to Bella. "I thought you couldn't protect me here." Bella pushed a small smile from her face. "Guess I don't care." Jacob stared intently at the human, weirding Eliza out. "Well, I'm not going to hurt her." Alice was obviously offended by Jacob's comment as she glared at the shifter. "No, you're just a harmless Cullen." Jacob let out a scoff as he rolled his eyes. "Harmless?" Eliza narrowed her eyes at the shifter, she could totally kick ass. "I'm talking about the other bloodsucker who tried to kill Bella because of you." Jacob ignored Eliza as he made another dig at the supernatural family.

"Victoria?" Alice looked over at Bella in surprise. "Yeah, Victoria's been around." Bella confirmed as she looked down at her lap. "Oh, how fun." Eliza thought back to the redheaded, whose mate caused so much trouble. "I didn't see her." Alice looked alarmed that she got no premonition of the spiteful vampire. "I didn't see you get pulled out of the water, either. I can't see past you and your pack of mutts!" Alice realized the effect the shifter must be having on her vision. "Don't get me upset." Jacob began to shake as his glare intensified. Eliza stood from the couch and moved closer to Alice, not liking the anger radiating off the werewolf.

"Hey, stop, stop." Bella jumped up from the couch when Jacob took a threatening step closer to Alice. "We'll give you a minute." Alice excused Eliza and herself as she took notice of the bond between the human and shifter. "Hey, you're not going anywhere? You're going to come back right?" Bella stopped the two vampires' exit in worry. "As soon as you put the dog out." Eliza grinned as she mocked the angry shifter. "You really shouldn't provoke." Alice warned as the two walked back out of the home. "Yeah because I provoked him. With anger issues like that, a squirrel could provoke the dog." Eliza rolled her eyes.

"You're different, lighter" Alice finally took in her sister's aura. "I'm happy, Alice." Eliza laughed, brushing off the comment. "I see that." Alice looked at the blonde with a smile. Seconds later, Alice's smile dropped as her face went blank and her vision blurred. "Alice." Eliza looked at the vampire alarmed, but Alice took off into the house as soon as her vision was over. "Bella, Bella, it's Edward! He thinks you're dead and Rosalie told him why I came here." Alice confessed as she found Bella, extremely close to the shifter, in the kitchen. Bella looked at the shifter in realization, her shock turning to anger.

"How could you-why didn't you let me speak to him?!" Bella glared at the shifter. "He didn't ask for you." Jacob defended his actions with a shrug. "I don't care!" Bella scrunched her nose up in anger. "Bella! He's going to the Volturi, he wants to die too." Alice's words even struck Eliza's heart. "You dick!" Eliza grew angry as she realized that Jacob must have answered Edward's call. "If he dies, so do you." Eliza pointed her finger at the shifter, grabbing Alice's keys from the side table. Jacob rolled his eyes at the blonde's threat, not believing her, let alone looking her in the eyes.

Eliza got in the driver's side and started the car as she waited for Alice to get Bella. The two women came out of the house and Bella got in the passenger side. Seeing the driver's side open, Jacob stuck his head through Eliza's window, too close for her liking. Eliza glared at the shifter's hands that lay only mere inches from hers. "Please Bella, just stay here, for Charlie, or for me." Jacob begged the human. Eliza noticed how uncomfortable Bella was and move her hand for the clutch. Jacob sensed the blonde's movement and snatched her hand mid-air. "I have to go." Bella shook her head at Jacob's request and that was all Eliza needed to rip her hand out of the shifter's. "I'm begging you, please." Jacob begged as Eliza shifted gears. "Goodbye, Jacob." Eliza mocked as she slammed her foot on the gas, speeding away from the werewolf.

"I'm guessing you didn't rent this car." Bella glanced around the interior of the yellow Mustang that Alice was not driving them in after their flight landed. "I figured you wouldn't be opposed to grand theft auto." Alice shrugged, using the statement rhetorically. "Not today." Bella agreed and Alice grinned as she stepped on the gas. The car began to swerve and Eliza flung herself toward the wheel to stop the car from swerving as Alice was sucked into another vision. "What? What do you see?" Bella looked at both vampires alarmed.

"They refused him." Alice watched as Edward changed the way he sought his death. "So?" Bella wasn't sure what that meant. "He's going to make a scene." Alice shared the details of her vision fully. "Show himself to the humans." Eliza realized that Volterra's crowds were at their highest with the current festival. "No. When?" Bella feared for the vampire's life. "He's going to wait until noon, when the sun's at its highest." Alice took back control of the wheel as she swerved between cars.

"Alice, you've got to hurry up." Bella's worry for Edward took priority over her obvious motion sickness. "That's Volterra." Eliza pointed out the city to their right. Alice pulled into the town, beeping as she continued to speed through the sea of red capes. "Why are they all in red?" Bella looked at the crowd of people. "Saint Marco's Day Festival, they're commemorating the expulsion of vampires from the city." Alice glanced around at the crowd herself.

"It's the perfect setting, the Volturi will never let him get far enough to reveal himself." Eliza looked at the possibility that Edward would succeed at killing himself. "We have 5 minutes" Bella looked up at the giant clock tower in front of them. "Bella, just breath." Eliza took in how frazzled and on edge Bella seemed, as if she would trigger a panic attack any minute. Alice got as far as she could before she had to stop at the gates, Bella swinging the door open. 

"Eliza." Bella stopped when she realized no one made a move to follow her. "You're the only one he can't see coming." Eliza denied the possibility of going with the human. "If either of us were to go he'd read our thoughts and think we're lying, he'll rush it." Alice confirmed Eliza's defense. "Where do I go?" Bella wasn't prepared to travel through the city herself. "Under the clock tower, go!" Alice looked stressed as time continued and the human took off into the sea of red.