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
- 3
- 4
- 5
"Go get her tiger!" I spoke out loud for Jasper's benefit and I grinned as we let my brother off at the drive. Edward rolled his eyes, his lips pressed together in a straight line.
"I have your word Emmett, no teasing Bella. I'm lucky she's going through with the wedding, I don't need her dreading my family as well."
"Of course Edward, but we didn't mention your name at all when we made this deal. You'll just have to suffer."
I pulled the Jeep sharply out onto the road and peeled out, shouting the words to 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' as loud as I could, in my mind. Edward, the proverbial hero and villain rolled into one, turned to walk up the drive, into the sunset.
"Ha! No wonder Edward's always been so serious." I turned to Jasper who was climbing into the front seat. "Can you imagine? Edward's never had sex, not in over one hundred years! Not even once! It's not right. Do you think he'll go through with it with Bella?"
"Well, IÕm sure he'll have to analyze it from each angle, possibly do some research, and pass it by Carlisle for approval," Jasper joked. Don't get me wrong, Jazz and I love Edward, but he could be a little bookish and analytical.
"I'll bet a thousand dollars, no," Jasper continued, "not till she's turned."
"You're on then. I say yes, but after the wedding. But I guess we'll just have to beat it out of him, how else will we have proof? Wait, Alice would know, don't you think?"
"Alice tries to stay out of our bedrooms. But she's never had to try before with Edward, I guess. Anyway, she'd never tell."
"What top-secret wedding business does Alice need us for anyway? It's not like we can keep anything from Edward while we're all in the same house. He'll be onto us before we're up the driveway."
"We're about to find out." Jasper stated the obvious as we pulled into the empty lot outside of Newton's Olympic Outfitters. Alice was perched on the hood of her yellow Porsche. Her eyes were closed. There were lines of worry etched into her little elf face, accentuated by the fading light, and definitely out of place.
Jasper jumped out of the Jeep before I stopped. He was at Alice's side, feeling out her emotions. His eyes instantly widened, alarmed, and then I saw him going to work trying to calm Alice down.
"What's the matter? Floral emergency? Linen catastrophe? Chill out Alice!" I quipped, walking over to meet her.
"Jazz, Emm, this is serious. Bella is in trouble, the wedding is in trouble." Alice stated, her tone a tad calmer than the words conveyed. Jasper was good like that.
"OK Alice, take a step back and tell us what's going on," Jasper said smoothly. I saw the waves of alarm continue to wash off Alice as she looked into Jasper's eyes.
"Well," she started, grabbing Jasper's hands for comfort, "I was with Bella and then I saw Jane. A flash, but I'm getting more and more of them as Jane makes up her mind. She is going to Aro, Marcus and Caius with a proposal. Jane doesn't like Bella, I don't think she's ever been stopped before, and she seems to think that Bella has a power over us, the way we stand by her. And she sees that Aro is already interested in her as a human and she's jealous. I think the last thing Jane wants is for Bella to be a vampire. I see her playing on Aro and Caius. She's exaggerating our win with the newborns, saying that we might threaten the Volturi supremacy. She is trying to convince the Volturi to send a party out now, immediately. She says that we broke our pact, that Bella is still human. She says it's been too long. Jane wants Bella dead."
Sure sounded like Jane. That little vamp was vicious.
Speaking her visions out loud seemed to deflate Alice and she leaned fully on Jasper for support. "They are going to come, soon, before the wedding. The only chance we have is that Aro isn't convinced. Right now I see two outcomes, but they're both pretty bad, guys. Either the Volturi send a contingent here and Bella dies, that's the outcome Jane wants. Or the Vultori come and they convince Bella to change. If this happens, Aro will want her; he's already planning on threatening Edward to get Bella to go with him. That option could be pretty easy with Bella being a newborn."
Why were we all just standing around in the parking lot? "Let's get to the house and tell the others. This means a fight. We have to get ready to kill these - "
"Emm, you have to calm down!" Annoyingly enough, I was calming down. Thanks Jasper. Sometimes he could be so annoying. "Emmett, please think first. We can't tell Edward and Bella about this. If we tell them, Bella will feel compelled to turn now, before the wedding. Edward and Carlisle don't want this decision forced on her. There will be a huge argument. If she's not a vampire, we'll be forced to fight. Either way it's not going to be pleasant, and it's going to ruin everything."
"This isn't the way it was supposed to be," Alice continued, "Edward and Bella have been fighting for their love since they met. Finally guys, I could see their wedding perfectly. I could see Edward, completely happy. Can you imagine? Edward. Happy. Bella is my best friend, our sister; we can't let her die. We can't force her to change her plans, cancel her wedding, miss out on everything because of Jane." Alice spat out Jane's name. "Edward was about to have his dream come true, and now it's fading and blurry."
"Yeah, Edward was about to have a lot of things."
Alice shot me an icy look. "Not exactly where I was going with that, Emm."
"Listen Alice, I hear you. But we can't keep this from Edward. He doesn't even have to read my thoughts. It's going to be all over my face. Let's just go tell him, then do this thing."
"No Emmett, listen to Alice. I think she has a plan." Jasper was getting on board with Alice. Great, it was going to be two against one.
"Thanks Jazz, I do." Alice pulled herself upright, trying to look like an authority, I guess. "You guys need to go, now. I've taken the liberty of packing your bags. I'm going to tell everyone that I saw some minor trouble for Peter and Charlotte. Maria might be paying them a visit. So you guys went to them because we didn't want to bring trouble to Forks right before the wedding."
"I have a feeling we're not meeting Peter and Charlotte though."
"No. I want you to deliver this wedding invitation to Aro. It's a sign of good faith, to show that we don't have anything to hide. Hopefully we can counter all of Jane's negativity. Jasper can help with that."
"And what am I supposed to do?"
"Just be yourself Emmett. There's no way to keep the truth off of your face, anyone would know your intentions are true from a mile away."
"And Carlisle?" I asked
"Carlisle has the hospital. And Edward would know something was terribly wrong if Carlisle left without a word. No, he stays here with Esme and Edward and -" Alice paused to turn toward Jasper and then leaned her forehead against his shoulder. "I can't go Jazz. Bella would freak and the wedding would fall apart. Carlisle would know something was up. I have to stay here and make things run smoothly; make things seem all calm and normal. I'll try to do your usual job." Jasper pulled Alice closer, staring into her eyes. A swift nod of his head was all it took to show he agreed.
"It seems you and I are always going to Italy alone these days. And we never even get to shop," Alice pouted. "Promise me you're coming back Jasper?" she asked with an undercurrent of urgency to her voice, looking into his eyes.
"Of course," Jasper answered too quickly, and a look of mutual understanding passed between them. It was a promise that had been made before, one that they both knew couldn't be made in good faith.
"What are you guys going on about?" I tried to brighten the mood. "We're delivering an invitation. We're talking up Bella, letting everyone know how damn bad she wants to be a vampire. There's no reason to worry about not coming back." But then I worried that maybe Alice was smoothing things over a bit. Making it seem a little more non- threatening than it might be. "Alice, do you see something?"
"No Emmett, I only see two possibilities now, with some blurring around the edges because you two are deciding to go. It's just that we need to change the future completely in just a few weeks. And it's hard not being the one to do it."
"Then you should come."
"No. I'm almost certain things will be better if I stay here."
"But how are you going to keep this from Edward?"
"I've done it before, Emmett. I just have to think 'wedding, wedding, wedding.' There's actually a lot to arrange, and I'm known to go overboard. Of course Edward will suspect something's up, but I have an answer for that too."
I arched my brows and folded my arms waiting for Alice to go on. I wasn't convinced anyone could keep information from Edward.
"Well," she looked at the ground, "all of the sudden there are lots of future visions of Edward and Bella that I've been desperate to block out. I'll just allude to that. Knowing Edward, it should stop his questioning cold."
"Ha! I knew it. You owe me Jazz."
"Not yet, we never settle bets on visions of the future. I'll wait it out, I'm still not convinced," he countered.
I stopped for a half second to consider leaving Forks for Italy. No football tomorrow in the clearing. I wouldn't have to help Rose with that tune-up. No problem, she could do it herself anyway. Wait! "Whoa, Alice. What about Rose? I can't leave without saying goodbye to her. I can't lie to her. She would see right through me. And she will never let me leave without her."
"I thought about that Emmett. She's on her way. I called her too. She just wanted to wait for her nails to dry. It should be up to her to decide whether she goes."
"You think she's going to want to go out of her way to help Bella." That was crazy talk.
"No, but I know she deserves the choice. And I know she'll want to be by your side. But if she chooses not to go, I think she may have to spend the summer in Denali. Once she knows about this, she can't hang around Edward." Alice scrunched her nose. She didn't say it, but I figured she thought Rose would let all of this slip around Edward out of spite. I love Rose, but Alice might not be too far off base.
"She's going to hate this, Alice." Jasper said, stating the obvious again.
Alice's red convertible swung into the parking lot. She gracefully jumped over the door, and was by my side in another bound. She circled her arms around me and began kissing my neck instead of saying hi. I tried hard to concentrate on everything that Alice had said, because I suddenly just wanted to take Rose back to the car. She was too tempting in a red summery dress that showed off all of her curves.
"So what's up? More planning for the wedding?" The distaste was not hidden in Rose's voice. In her defense, she was just upset because her and Bella seemed to have different values. Rose wanted to be human, and that wasn't in the cards for her anymore. Bella wanted to be a vampire, and now she was getting her wish. Rose felt like Bella was stomping all over her biggest dream, and she took it personally. The fact that we were talking about Rose's wish and Bella's life was lost on her. I loved her, but truly, everything that came into Rose's orbit was inevitably about her.
I thought the explanation for this meet-up might be better coming from me. "Not exactly, Rose. There's a problem and Edward and Bella need our help," I started. But Rose was quick to interrupt.
"Surprise, surprise! What's it this time? Sasquatch wants a piece of her? Is an army of aliens coming to hunt fragile Bella down? What do those two want us to do this time?"
"Rosalie," Alice tried this time, "Edward and Bella don't know anything about this. Jane wants to bring the Volturi here immediately to kill Bella, and I want us to stop them."
The seriousness of the situation silenced Rose; I could see an awkward look pass across her face, like she may have been embarrassed by her brash attitude. Rosalie was really nice, deep down. But she quickly re-arranged her features to give an air of business-like inquiry. "What is your plan, Alice? Are the others on their way here?"
"Rose baby, Jazz and I are going to Volterra. We're going to bear witness to Bella and Edward's intentions. Alice wants Bella and Edward to stay focused on the wedding and stuff. She doesn't want to mess this up for them. So we're getting as few of us involved in this as possible. I think she's right."
"Is this for real? Emm, really?" Rosalie asked me.
"It's all set Rose, except that I couldn't leave without seeing you. Alice says you should have the choice about whether you want to go. But baby, I don't want to bring you to the Volturi. I don't want to see you in danger like that. Go to Denali; hang out with Tanya, Kate and Irina. I'll be back really soon."
"Emmett Ames McCarty Cullen, you are not going anywhere without me." Rose actually stomped her foot.
"I knew you'd say that Rose, I packed a bag for you. I hope you don't mind," Alice chimed.
"Alice, I'm sure you did a better job than I ever could."
"Really, Rose?" Now it was my turn to ask her. "You're going?" She hugged me ferociously as an answer.
"Wait, wait. Emmett, what if you're too concerned about protecting Rosalie? We'll need all our focus, no distractions." Jasper was always thinking strategy.
"You are not going to fight!" Alice was on her feet, in Jasper's face. She held his arms, "This is not a fight!" she almost shouted in his face. She looked at me and at Rose, "You are going on a peace-keeping mission. I have to trust you boys to stay calm. Going with thoughts of fighting is a death wish. This is not a fight." She finished much softer than she had started.
"When do we leave Alice?" Rose asked softly, probably trying to bring Alice back down to earth.
"Your plane leaves in three hours, 27 minutes, on time." Alice was still disconcerted. "It's Delta flight 498, with a connecting flight to Rome in Miami. You're all good with this? It's your last chance."
"If anyone has any objections to this mission, let them speak now or forever hold their peace." I said in my best preacher impression. No one laughed.
"Alice, you're sure about this?" Rose asked. "We've never done anything like this before without Carlisle."
"If he knew, I think Carlisle would be proud," Jasper said. "We've never done anything like this before because it never would have occurred to us. Carlisle has been our conscience."
"Remember," Alice said as Jasper, Rose and I piled into the Jeep, a definite buzz in the air, "I've seen Bella changed before her birthday in September. Focus on Aro; tell him we're keeping our end of the agreement. If we haven't done anything wrong, there is no reason for them to come to Forks."
I gunned the engine and Alice assured us that she'd handle all of the stranded cars. It felt really good to be doing this, like maybe I had been in the background of my family's life for far too long. As the lights of downtown Forks faded behind us, I remembered a very different family meeting from last year, one where Jasper, Rose and I were looking for Carlisle's permission to end Bella's life. Jasper was right, we never would have thought to do this before. It seemed Bella Swan might have changed all of us for the better.
- 3
- 4
- 5
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