Chapter VII - A (F)lash Of (F)ire

BPOV

"Bella..."

I turned around again, my teeth bared as the fear morphed into something else, something stronger. I knew that voice, that sickly sweet, annoyingly high pitched, childlike voice.

"Bella, Bella, Bella. My, my, my."

Crouching into my attack position, I looked all around me as my mind was pulled in ten million directions at once. A snarl escaped my lips as I tried my damndest to find her.

Was I going crazy, though? Was she really here or was the pain of seeing all these old ghosts of my past exacerbating my already overactive imagination? Maybe this was all a drunken hallucination caused by seeing Mike and Jessica. Shit, what did that bastard rapist smoke to make me like this?

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Oh, little Bella. Are you enjoying having all the boys fight over you again?"

I tried to pinpoint the source of her voice but it just seemed to float through the air on the breeze, not coming from any one point in particular. I tasted the air but that only made another snarl rip through me. She's not alone.

If she really is here and I haven't flown off my fucking rocker then how the fuck did she find me? But the instant that thought ran through my head, another more fear-inducing correlation followed: the wolves. Did they bring her here? Were they working together?

The quiet suddenly surrounding me felt unnerving. It had been at least ten minutes since her voice had spoken and I was beginning to doubt my sanity. It was tested further when I picked up the sound of steady, laboring breath in the near distance. I turned sharply in it's direction and was shocked at the sight that greeted me.

It was Jake, emerging from the trees.

"Bella..."

"Jake..."

I didn't stand. I couldn't, no matter how much my brain cajoled my limbs to move. I was frozen, my lips just barely moving to form his name. My insanity at what- or whom- I had just heard was instantly pushed aside.

I could hear him though he was now silent. The beating of his heart was louder than war drums, thrumming a steady beat behind the slow staccato of his footsteps.

"Bella," he whispered again. This time his voice was less confrontational, much softer and broken. "Fuck, Bella."

I couldn't take it. The way he said my name, my old name, made my breath stutter and the hollow of my heart ache. If I had had the ability to cry, tears would have been pouring down my face. But the best I could do was choke back a dry sob as I slowly unfurled my body to properly face him.

The sight of him, though, brought me to my knees.

It was Jacob, exactly as I remembered him.

"Don't go."

My heart was breaking but I knew in my soul that I couldn't stay in Forks forever. There was a bigger world out there just waiting to be explored and if I stayed I'd regret everyday not going.

"But I have to, Jake," I whispered softly, cupping his cheek in my palm. "You gotta believe me that it's killing me to go but I can't just stay here in Forks forever."

"You don't have to stay in Forks," he told me, rolling us from our sides until I was on my back underneath him. "There's La Push, Port Angeles, Sequim, Vancouver..."

As he rattled off his list of nearby towns and cities, he peppered my face and neck with heavy, open-mouthed kisses.

"It's not the same, though, Jake," I pointed out, trying to put some space between us without having to offend him too, too badly, "and we both know it."

Though his strong grasp was keeping my body close to his, he pulled back enough for me to know he was hurt.

"Why do you need to go so badly?" he asked, a little 'v' of frustration appearing in his brow.

"Why don't you want me to go?" I countered. "It's just a trip; you're acting as if I won't come back."

"You won't," he replied, his tone a cross between sad and sharp. He pulled away from me, scrambling off the bed and crossing the room to sit in my desk chair. "You're gonna go discover the world and maybe you'll decide that the rest of the world is better than Forks and La Push. Or say you do come back- but you won't be you anymore. You'll be this girl who's seen stuff and done stuff the world over and you'll change. You won't be my Bella anymore."

My eyes widened at his diatribe. "Jake, what are you talking about?"

"It doesn't matter whether you come back or not, Bella," he said, rising from the chair and standing my in bedroom doorway. "Because if you go, you- the Bella I know and love- won't be coming back."

And he turned and left as I sat on my bed, puzzling over his words. I tossed and turned all night, alternating between crying and screaming angrily into my pillow. And he didn't say a word to me the next morning when the pack came to say goodbye. He just stood there with the same broken look on his face from the night before.

The anger and confusion from our last night together brought me back to the matter at hand. Instantly I was crounching again, hissing at his suprised form with bared teeth.

"Did you bring her here? Why would you bring her here?"

"Bella? What are you-"

"Don't call me that," I seethed. "Answer me! Why did you bring her here? I thought you were supposed to defend the world from vampires, not work with them!"

"What?" He looked genuinely confused but I didn't let my guard down; Jake was an excellent liar and a master of the guilt trip. "Bella, what are you talking about?"

"I said don't call me that," I growled. My head whipped back and forth, trying to pick up her scent while maintaining a careful eye on Jacob. "Smell; her scent is in the air and she's not alone."

"What? Who?"

"Victoria."

EPOV

"So, lemme get this straight: you made a treaty of sorts with the great-grandfather of the bloke tha's missin' 'cos if ye didn't he an' his pack o' werewolf tribemates woulda torn ye to pieces?"

I nodded, pinching the bridge of my nose. The incredulous tone of voice Gerrard was summarizing the story in made it sound like some cheap science fiction-fantasy novel.

"An' the only reason they didn't tear you up in the first place is 'cos ye don't eat peoples?"

"Yes," I sighed.

"An' now his progenies' here lookin' for your ex-love, who you left pretty much for dead back in Utensil, Washington-"

"I did not leave her 'for dead'!"

"Wait, son, I'm na done. Where was I? Oh, yeh, so ye left her back in Butter Knife 'cos you didn't have the man-parts to change her but she left Plastic Spoon and met me where she ended up becomin' a vampire anyway. Am I on the right track?"

I groaned my assent. Just as Gerrard went to speak again, he was cut off by an angry voice from across the lawn.

"Enough!" It was the second in command, Leah Clearwater. "We don't have time for your games, leech. Where has Bella taken Jacob?"

"Whoa, now," Emmett interjected. "Who says Bella's at fault here? What if it were Jake that took her?"

"When are ye all gon' get it through yer thick skulls that her name is Isabella?" Maggie piped up, to my surprise. "Christ."

"She hates being called Isabella," the young one who had chewed off my hand earlier argued.

"S'wot you think."

The bickering rose as insults and arguments were traded over an invisible line in the grass. I crouched on my haunches with my hands in my hair, tugging the locks as I tried to let the physical pain overshadow the pounding pseudo-headache I was experiencing.

"Enough!"

Every spoken word and thought ceased as Siobhan called the ruckus to order. But as everything went quiet, I heard- in my ears or in my head, I'm not quite sure- a high pitched, tinkling, childlike giggle off in the distance.

"Wh-"

"Shh! Did you hear that?"

I strained my hearing and picked up the faint giggle again.

"Hear what?"

"Edward?"

"Shhh!"

I moved in the direction of the sound but it mirrored my actions, being close enough that only I could hear it faintly but staying far enough away that the giggle was all I could hear.

Nuh-uh-uhhh! the voice tsked before giggling again. There was something about that voice...

"Son, what is it?"

"Shhh!" I hissed again, moving further toward the trees. "You all don't hear it?"

"Leech, if this is some sort of ploy so you can attack us when-"

"Shh!"

I had reached the forest edge now and stared into the dense grouping of trees as if the person giggling would suddenly reveal themselves. It sounded again and I looked at the people behind me; apparently the giggle was in my head since none of them seemed phased in the slightest.

The tinkling laugh went again, sounding fainter and I hesitated for only a nanosecond before shooting into the trees. It was like listening to an old car stereo, the sound filtering in and out as the signals changed. It annoyed me and, on a deeper level that I couldn't yet understand, it angered me.

The tinny laughter had me darting around trees and through thickets for a few minutes until it faded away. I swore quietly to myself when it stopped, marching forward blindly in the direction I last heard it coming from until unmistakable snarls reached my ears. I halted dead in my tracks.

"We've been protecting you for years, Bella! What the fuck makes you think I'd betray you like that?"

"I don't know, Jacob, but you're here, she's here, it's the only thing that makes sense."

"You're fucking out of your mind. And what about the fucking Cullens, huh? Are you shacking up with that bastard now? Do I have to remind you that he left you?"

"I'm not 'shacking up' with anyone, you prick. They didn't even know I was alive until they got here!"

"Maybe they did. Ever think about that? Maybe they brought Victoria."

Victoria.

I knew I had heard that voice somewhere before. It was her, she led me out here. Fucking hell, she was here. But why? After all this time why now? She had seven years to exact her revenge and she had to choose now, of all times?

I was too caught up in my bewilderment to notice that Black and Bella had gone silent. And when I did notice something was wrong, it was already too late. The loudest snarl I had ever heard in my life ripped through the air and, for the second time in a week, I was tackled on to my back.

BPOV

"I highly fucking doubt that they'd suddenly be all buddy-buddy with the bitch of the asshole who tried to kill me, Black," I growled. I was getting sick of all his attempts at mind games. I just wanted everyone to leave and I wanted my unassuming, undead existence back. Was that too much to ask?

"What the fuck, Bel-"

A minute rustling in the trees behind Jacob caught both our attention and I knew without a doubt that it was Edward. My eyes darted from the trees to Jacob. He had immediately gone tense and I recognized the look in his eye: he was ready to phase.

I lunged, hoping to beat Jacob to the punch but his large paw batted me away mid-air easily. I landed into a tree, my limbs and head hanging askew like a Raggedy Anne doll, and slid down the trunk, landing on the hard packed dirt with an uncomfortable sounding thump.

If Gerry were here, he'd be laughing his ass off, I thought, realizing just how comical I must've looked slipping down the face of the tree. I began righting myself, my broken pieces instantly correcting themselves as I snapped them back into place like a jigsaw puzzle. Thank God that didn't hurt.

"You could've hurt her!" I heard Edward yelling, bringing my attention back to the matter at hand. "Did you even see what you did, you mongrel?"

A ripping growl was Jacob's only response and Edward put a hand to his furry throat to keep the sharp, snapping jaws away from his body. All I could do was stand on the sidelines and watch; I was angry at them both but I couldn't bring myself to just leave them- and the potential answers they had- behind.

"What?" Edward cried, a look of indignation crossing his face at whatever insinuous thoughts Jacob was thinking. "God, no! You're absolutely delusional!"

"No, no, no, we share with the class here," I called out and easily manipulated my shield so that Edward was in little bubble, the only thoughts able to occupy him would be his own.

"Bella! Are you alright?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, giving him the universal look of 'nuh duh,' and he had enough shame in him to look sheepish.

"Jacob, get off of him," I ordered, hoping that the idiot would listen to me. "And phase back while you're at it, I want to be able to yell at you without having to feel like I'm abusing an animal."

"Wouldn't matter," Edward muttered. "He'd still be an animal."

With a final snap of his teeth in Edward's direction, I watched as Jacob paced away into the brush. Edward rose and began walking towards me but I held up a hand to stop him.

"Don't," I spat. "I have nothing to say to you right now."

Though the look on his face was crestfallen he quickly replaced it with stony resolve and nodded curtly. Jacob came stomping back and I scowled.

"Will you put some clothes on?" Edward hissed, his eyes shut tight and his back turned. "Or at least grab a leaf or something?"

"Why don't you just say it, Cullen," Jacob jeered, "I'm much more impressive than you and you know it. C'mon, you looked and you know I'd need more than just a leaf."

"Oh, for fuck's sake…" I muttered before bending down to grab a nearby bush by it's roots, yanking it out of the ground and tossing it to Jacob's naked form. "You're both idiots," I mumbled.

"Now will someone please explain what the fuck is goin' on here?" I demanded, glaring back and forth at the two of them.

"I heard her," Edward piped up after a long, uncomfortable silence. "Victoria. Just after the fight back at the cottage, I could hear giggling in my head and it led me here."

"I heard her, too," I acknowledged. "She was talking to me when I got here."

"Don't listen to him, Bella," Jacob urged. "He's fucking with you. They probably brought her here with them. Why d'you think they'd show up out of the blue?"

"Are you fucking delusional, Black?" Edward roared. "If I ever saw that sorry excuse for a being ever again I'd rip her limb from limb and light the match myself."

I watched as the two squared off against each other.

"And what about you, Black? You and your pups showing up out nowhere! Maybe your denial is just a front, maybe you're the ones working with her!"

"Enough!" I yelled, gaining their attention and feeling slightly insulted by the looks of surprise on their faces. "The both of you being here, where I am, is just plain fucking wrong, okay! Why don't the two of you just go back to wherever it was you were before and leave me alone!"

"But Victoria-" Edward began but I cut him off quick.

"You listen to me, Edward Cullen: she is of no threat to me now. Nothing can hurt me anymore and you made your choice to stop protecting me when you left. I don't need you, I don't need your meddling family, and I don't care about whatever excuses you have floating in that stupid, empty head of yours."

I heard Jacob snickering and I turned on him, feeling benevolent enough to not leave him out of this little blame game.

"And you," I seethed, stepping towards him, "you are even worse than him. I don't even know how you found me but you can't just show up here expecting to drag me home. Look at me! You were right, Jacob! Does that make you happy?"

"What are you talking about, Bells?" he looked genuinely confused and I seethed a little more. Had he deluded himself into not remembering the things he said to me that last night in Forks?

"I didn't come back, Jacob. Don't you remember? 'If you go, you- the Bella I know and love- won't be coming back.'" I sneered at his surprised face as it paled in realization. "That's right, Jacob, You selfish prick, you left me that night before I even left Forks."

Taking a deep but unnecessary breath, I glared at both of them, my head swiveling left and right. "You. Both. Left. Me."

"Bella-"

"But-"

"No," I shouted, fed up with everything happening. "No! You both left me back then so why can't you leave me the hell alone now?

"This is what's going to happen now. I am going back to my home. Both of you are going to take your families and leave. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars, understand?"

"Bella-"

"Do you understand." Silence. "I'll take that as a yes then."

And I turned and ran back to my home.

EPOV

Everything inside of me was screaming at me to go after her. But I was glued to my spot, watching as, for the second time in as many days, she ran away from me. When I finally lost sight of her, I imagined her graceful stride as she rushed back to her new home, loping easily through trees. My thoughts were gradually joined by those of Jacob Black, like the volume on a television being slowly turned up until it reached an appropriate level.

"What are you doing here?" he spat, his eyes narrowed and his thoughts venomous.

"We were on vacation," I replied simply. "We didn't even know. The last time any of us saw her was the last time any of us was in Forks."

He scoffed but I ignored it.

"We didn't even dream she would be here in Europe. And when I saw her like… like… like that… it killed me all over again. Her being a vampire was the last thing I ever wanted for her. I always knew I was damned because of what I was; I never wanted this life- this, this half-life- for her."

"Mike Newton and Jessica Stanley," Black shared quietly after a long note of silence. In his head he replayed the events that led his pack to Ireland.

Listening to the gossip as it passed from mouth to mouth. The furtive whispers and the devilish grins as the story was mangled and twisted beyond any recognizable truth. The confrontation at the Swan's house. Charlie's reluctance, Sam's adamant dismissal, the splitting of the pack as they argued the best course of action to take.

I nodded to him as his memories faded back into the present moment. I would've done exactly what he had done. I understood.

"What about Victoria?" he asked. "We ran her off a few times a long while back. We took out her mate and we assumed that scared her off for good."

"You heard Isabella," I replied, shaking my head. "She's strong now. She can take care of Victoria herself."

"Huh. Fucking figures."

"What?" I asked sharply, the thoughts in his head taunting me.

"I guess you really don't love her."

"You know nothing about my love for her," I seethed, turning to face him.

"If you really loved her, leech, you'd be all over this Victoria situation like white on rice."

"And if you really loved her, mutt, you'd listen to what she said and leave her alone. She doesn't want either of us around and she's capable enough of handling the situation for herself."

"Pussy."

"Overbearing canine."

"If I'm the dog, how come you're running away with your tail between your legs, hmm?"

"I'm not running away, you idiot," I hissed. "I'm respecting Isabella's wishes."

"Well, what she wants and what she's gonna get are two different things entirely, bloodsucker."