Be Careful What You Wish For

Chapter Thirty-Three

1 Leah was standing in that stupid security room at the resort and watching the two screens that showed what was going on at the beach. Of course, she felt like a total dumbass for it. Actually, she mostly felt like a dumbass for saying nasty things about Bell-Bell in front of her freaking father, which had been a bit of a low; okay, it had been abysmal and insensitive and stupid, stupid, stupid. She'd mumbled a dull apology, but Charlie had every right to be mad at her.

Foot, meet mouth. She'd rather sacrifice herself in a grand gesture than admit that she'd been wrong or simply out of line. Sometimes, it was to despair.

She was standing in the room with the two vloggers and Billy, feeling angry and powerless and like a complete moron. Demetri had of course been right about stopping her from charging down to the beach like a drunk and rabid rhino, and without considerable backup. Phasing back in Mexico to save him from Jacob had nearly killed her. If she did it again, the wound would most likely rip open, and who knew if her body would find the strength to mend itself, then. Also, how the hell was she supposed to stay objective when her little brother was getting his brains melted by Renesthulhu? It didn't matter that he resented her even on his best day, and she angrily brushed aside the gnawing fear that his mind might be gone for good. Fuck that albino leech for not tying up the hell-spawn properly! Fuck Creepula for coming up with the brilliant idea of stealing the spawn from the actual expert, Demetri! Fuck Bell-Bell and her delusions of grandeur that lead to her being responsible for all this bullshit in the first place!

Leah nearly added one for herself and her dumb lashing out at Charlie at the worst possible moment. Yeah, she wasn't exactly Little Miss Sunshine all year 'round, and she had also contributed to the shitfest they were currently enjoying. It was important to keep that in mind. It was important to shoulder some damn responsibility. Otherwise, she'd just be a dumb hypocrite like the Cullens had been, and she didn't believe that she could stand the thought.

"I can't help but feel a bit sorry for the girl," June Cassidy said calmly, monitoring the live-feed on her laptop, her forehead creased. Her cheery outfit and bright-red New Wave hairdo matched her attitude, but seemed weirdly at odds with the gravitas of the situation.

"I don't," Leah replied sourly. "She ate my brother's brain and is directly responsible for the deaths of dozens of innocent folks, including friends of mine."

June glanced up, exchanged a look with her skinny tech-wizard pal, and focussed on her computer again. She'd parked it on one of the desks right under the security monitors. At least the technical stuff was going according to plan, even if the rest was forcing them to improvise. "That's awful. I'm sorry."

"You've got a bit of a bleeding heart issue, methinks," Leah said, knowing that she was being unpleasant on purpose. "The little monster needs to snuff it, no matter what Charlie said."

"I think he knows that," Billy said.

After her little outburst, Leah didn't feel like looking him in the eye at the moment. She squinted at the monitors. "What the..." The sentence petered out pathetically as she watched Bella run through the flames, catch fire like she was drenched in gasoline, and then get put out by Charlie. Leah and the others watched Charlie wrap his daughter in his jacket, watched Bella take her own daughter into her arms, listened to her apologise to the girl...

...and stared in muted horror as Bella threw Renesmee into the blazing flames.

A deep, throaty rumble shattered across the beach, resounding so loudly that the cameras' microphones screeched a whiny feedback. The ground shook. The fires – all of them – turned red and roared up into the sky, spewing white and orange sparks and black smoke. In the inner circle, the vampires all woke and huddled together, trying not to burn to death. Charlie, Bella, and the wolves tottered, backed away, but remained on their feet. Seth was still unconscious.