Adult-FanFiction.org : Books

Prelude	By : belladonnacullen Category: Twilight Series > Het > Bella/Edward Views: 5838 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
- 18
Vampires don't fidget, but I gave it my best shot. I was loading food into the empty refrigerator. I was playing with my hair. I was rolling and unrolling the sleeves of my blouse. I went food shopping earlier today because the humans would start coming tomorrow. I stocked the bathrooms with human things. I was prepared. That's me, Alice, always effortlessly prepared. Ha.
Of course, the mustard would go . . . here? Yes, this would keep my mind occupied. Almost. Not at all.
The vision hit me again, I gasped and dropped the mustard on the floor and it splattered over the clean tiles. I clutched at my temples and doubled in two. I let my body sink down to the floor. A vision of Jasper fighting off three vampires at once took up all of my mind. When I was alone like this I didn't allow myself to push the images out. It was all I could do for Jasper. It was all I could give him now.
We could have gone to him. At any time I could have told Carlisle, Edward and Esme what was going on. I didn't. I was so sure of the future. And now Jasper and my brother and sister were about to stare down fifteen vampires. I walked my mate into this.
When the vision faded I allowed myself to pull a different vision out of the recesses of my mind. I'm meeting Jasper at Sea-Tac airport and he's holding my hips and leaning his forehead into mine, looking into my eyes. I clutched myself on the floor, willing my hands to be his, willing that time to be now. But it doesn't work like that. I winced and tried not to see three newborn vampires tearing into his back.
I jumped up. I had to keep going. Letting it all fall apart now would be impractical and self-indulgent. I turned on the stereo, cleaned the mustard off of the floor, and concentrated on the proper location for lunchmeat. Thirty seconds were disposed of quite easily. Now there were seventeen minutes until Carlisle and Esme would be back.
Carlisle and Esme were hunting in preparation for Phil and Renee's arrival. They were going to find me in the kitchen, finally alone and with no excuses. They would ask me about Jasper, Emmett and Rose. I couldn't lie and I couldn't tell them anything. I couldn't put their lives at risk too. Then, four minutes later, the phone was going to ring. It was going to be a private number from a pre-paid phone. That was the part that really bugged me. If I knew the number I'd call it now. Peter wanted to know what to send for a wedding gift.
Peter and Charlotte were in The Yukon for three weeks, just like I saw ahead of time. There are no phones there. It was a good plan. It just wasn't good enough.
Valentino was never supposed to be on sentry duty the day the rest of my family arrived in Volterra. It should have been Demetri. But the plane to Italy was delayed, Rose made everyone wait overnight, and then Demetri was called to track down rumors of a werewolf in the Russian Caucasus. Valentino's presence changed everything. To be specific, it was his beheading at Emmett's hands that really did it. The future changes sometimes, it's as simple as that.
But I didn't know if I could hold this all together much longer. It could all come undone in just fourteen minutes now. I didn't know what I was going to say. Moment to moment I saw flashes of myself giving different explanations, going at it from different angles. It never turned out well. Right now I saw another one. "There are just too many outcomes to count," I explained to Carlisle and Esme with my most effective reassuring look on my face. "They'll almost definitely be back. Sure, there's a chance they might not. But I think we should have the wedding anyway." That one wasn't going to go over well.
Eleven minutes. If I could hyperventilate, I would. Where were eggs supposed to go?
I contemplated cutting the phone lines to the house. But then Peter would try Carlisle's cell phone. I could grab it and throw it in the river just as he came back. But there were just too many cell phones to call. I couldn't dispose of all of them. We needed phones. And I didn't want Peter to resort to Edward's cell. If Edward got even a hint of this, he would be able to pull more than enough information from my brain to know what was going on. That couldn't happen.
Cans of soup do not belong in a refrigerator. They should be in the cupboard, I think.
A picture appeared in my brain and was gone in a flash, reflexively. I had a filter on Edward and Bella's future these days, just to be nice. As long as things were progressing as expected, I was staying out of it. Of course the visions were always stored there, and I could just pull them out for a little look if I found the need, like I did now. This image was one I needed back immediately. Edward and Bella were coming through the doorway, wet and bedraggled, as I was arguing with Carlisle and Esme, and then the phone rang. It was Peter. No! This couldn't happen.
I had four minutes. I was out the back door and running toward Carlisle and Esme. I had to head them off. I had to keep them from thinking anything about this within three miles of the house, Edward's range give or take, unless he was focused on us. I hoped not.
They were in front of me in less than a minute. I hadn't a clue what I was going to say.
"Alice!" Esme was startled.
"Hi guys."
Carlisle and Esme exchanged a glance. They were good at exchanging thoughts, even without Edward's gift.
"What brings you out here Alice?"
"We have to talk."
Carlisle nodded. "We do."
"You're worried."
"I am."
"We can't get in touch with them at all. They haven't called."
"Alice, you don't have to repeat what I was planning to say. It doesn't make it any easier."
"It's simpler than figuring out what I should say to you."
"Alice, please." It was Esme. "I need to know they are safe. I need to know what they're doing that would keep them away this long without calling."
"I wouldn't worry so much if Jasper weren't with them. But try as I might I can't think of any reason he would leave you for so long."
Carlisle hit a nerve and I had to work very hard at not crumbling right there. A human had been drained in front of Jasper. Three newborn vampires would be on Jasper's back, attacking. I couldn't respond even if I knew what I was going to say. Instead I hugged myself and tried not to think about what Jasper was going through at this very minute. I tried to think about the vision of him walking through the gate at Sea-Tac airport. All this trying made a vocal response impossible.
Esme knew this instinctively and took a step in my direction to embrace me. But I couldn't let her do that; I couldn't break. A touch of any kind, except one from Jasper, and I would break. Then all of this would be for worse than nothing.
So instead I stepped back from Esme and looked up to meet their mutual gaze.
"They were never in The Yukon."
They didn't react. It was obvious that they had assumed as much.
"Where then?"
"I can't say."
"Alice."
"I can't say. Not for fifty years."
"The Volturi!"
I didn't move. I didn't speak.
Esme clutched Carlisle; her eyes were a bit wild. "Working for the Volturi?"
Carlisle looked from Esme to myself. I didn't look away. I owed him that. "Esme, let's think about this rationally." Carlisle looked at me with patience that seemed boundless in this moment.
"There must have been a good reason."
I nodded.
"But they've been gone longer than you expected."
I nodded again.
"Are they in trouble?"
"Some." I couldn't say how much. One glance at Esme was too much. I took in everything around me besides my adoptive parents; the birds chirping, the ants crawling by in a line, the hint of pink around the edges of the horizon, the scents of deer and fox in the air. And the scent of Edward and Bella in the air. They were close.
"Alice, why did they do this? I need to know, please."
We didn't have any more time. Edward and Bella would be walking in the door in three minutes, just as the phone was ringing.
"I'll show you why. But to do that we have to go back to the house, and I need you both to guard your thoughts. You cannot think about any of this while we're at the house. It's very important. There's a call I need to get, from Peter. I need you to agree to this before we can go. Maybe it's not fair, but it's necessary."
They looked at each other again, and both nodded their ascent in my direction. We sped back to the house and came through the back door just as the front door was opening.
Edward walked into the house with Bella in his arms. She had her arms around his neck and they were beaming at one another. Edward was the happiest I had ever seen him, almost giddy. Bella was confident and radiant. But aside from the expressions on their faces, they looked like something a cat had dragged in. Their clothing was damp, crumpled and slightly dirty and their hair hung in wet locks. Edward was missing his shirt and Bella may or may not have been wearing underwear. When Bella turned to see Carlisle, Esme and I standing there, her face turned a deep shade of red. It was mouthwatering. Edward's smile broadened as he looked down at Bella, tousled her hair, and whispered something reassuring in her ear.
"Hi," Bella squeaked in our direction. I gave a little wave and tried to look encouraging, while Carlisle and Esme managed a polite nod, both barely suppressing an outright grin.
"Excuse us," Edward requested with an uncharacteristic glint in his eye, and Bella ducked her head into his chest and giggled as he ran up to his room.
"That's why we did it." I said.
The phone rang. "Now, not another thought. Let me get this. I promise we'll talk when I'm done."
- 16
- 17
- 18
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Prelude