Volturi Outpost 23: Forks

This differs from canon on four major points: first, Edward never came back to Carlisle; Bella stayed with Charlie after the divorce; Alice hasn't yet met Jasper, and the Volturi aren't as impotent.

Oh, and also no Emily. "Five! Five major points!"

Chapter 1

Edward Masen was driving his Aston Martin out of Seattle at a speed that even Jasper Whitlock found too fast. He didn't say anything, which Edward appreciated, even though with Edward around, it didn't matter what you didn't say.

But after over half a century, Jasper had a talent for suppressing his surface thoughts. All he let out was Gotta love that built-in radar detector before he started singing along to the CD playing in the car, The '59 Sound. (Jasper gravitated towards anything remotely hinting at the 1950s, be it a car or a song.) Edward had to admit the Gaslight Anthem was decent - a bunch of frat boys who liked Springsteen and could play guitar, but still enjoyable.

They had agreed that the main office should be in the city, but Forks was so very enticing. In vampire terms the distance between Forks and Seattle was negligible - if there did happen to be any incidents over there, the outpost would have problems. And of course, Forks had almost no sunshine; only 35 days with sun a year, even fewer than Seattle, which had about 100. Besides, Edward preferred the wilderness because of his telepathy. Quiet was nice.

(Jasper's empathy meant he usually didn't like cities either, unless something like their local sporting team doing well was going on.)

A scuffle with their last meal had broken Jasper's cell, so he was searching the Forks White Pages on Edward's iPhone. A name that scrolled by almost instantly made them both start.

"Carlisle Cullen? Wasn't he your sire?"

CULLEN, DR CARLISLE

"Yes," replied Edward in a low tone.

"Can't believe the humans think he's a doctor," laughed Jasper. What a great way to feed!

Edward rolled his eyes; had Jasper never listen to one of Aro's laments? Aro certainly never kept his thoughts to himself. "Jasper? He really is a doctor. We met when he was ministering flu patients in 1917. My mother and I died in his care. Well, not that I died properly, you know."

1917! I forget how young Edward is sometimes. "Oh yeah. So he's a real doctor. Dayamn." All that blood, all the time, but never a slip?

"Never. He's never even tasted human blood. Well, not before he turned me," amended Edward. "Then, his mate. And if he's ever turned anyone else. I guarantee you that's all."

That's amazing! There was envy along with the unbelief. For Jasper felt the terror every time he killed, and he didn't like it much. Edward could relate. He had, a few times, tried going "vegetarian", but animal blood was insufficient for quenching the thirst. In retrospect, he was surprised he even lasted those ten years with Carlisle. He still made sure to only kill other monsters, never joining in with the Volturi's feasts, and Jasper always hunted with him. But, even though the humans they kill barely deserved the label, they did still fear dying.

The boys were quiet as they sped on US-12 to US-101. Jasper still singing along to his CD, except when they saw a sign for "HUMPTULIPS," which started him snorting like a schoolboy. Edward ignored him and said, "We should stop and change."

Jasper nodded. "Get into character." In Seattle they wore black Armani suits with black ties - Jasper thought they looked like Feds, but Edward knew they looked like mobsters. Either way, the outfits would call too much attention in Forks. So they pulled over and changed, too fast for humans to see, into thick, high-waisted, unflattering jeans, and flannel shirts, Edward in a red and Jasper a blue, with sheepskin jackets over that. It wasn't really quite that cold, being September, but in Forks no one would look at them twice. At least, not because of their clothing.

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For the tenth time in as many days, Bella thought of something to call Rachel Black about. And for the tenth time, she remembered that Rachel was in Spokane and unable to rush over to gossip with her. She was more used to not being able to see Becky, who had gone on a class trip to Hawaii last spring break, fallen in love with a surfer, and left as soon as she graduated high school.

If she couldn't see the twins, she could see Jake. She stopped pretending to find him as annoying as his sisters did, but she still wasn't as close to him. Well, he's a boy. You don't gossip with boys about boys and makeup and hair and clothes and celebrities. Does he even care about anything besides fixing up old cars?

So after school, she called her Dad, to let him know "the truck's making that weird noise again," and so she was taking it to Jake to see if he could fix it. She called the Black's home number afterward to tell Billy the same thing.

Jake greeted her happily - he was already five inches taller than her, and easily swung her in a circle. Quil and Embry were a bit more subdued, just shaking her hand. She'd seen them around of course, but for the first time she noticed just how freakin' hot the three Quileute boys were. Tall, dark and sort of beautiful. Is it wrong to feel that way about fifteen-year-olds? True, Bella wasn't quite seventeen yet, but people could get really weird if you dated someone younger. She remembered a few years back, when a freshman girl was dating an eighth-grader - and they'd even been born in the same year, just that he'd missed the cutoff date - how nasty the gossip had gotten.

Bella found a snack while the boys checked the truck out. With the girls gone, there was no one to buy fruit, so she settled for a small bowl of potato chips and sat down across from Billy, on the couch.

"How's Rachel liking school?"

Billy shrugged. "You talk to her more than I do. Losing her mom... she doesn't talk to me much."

"What about Becky?"

He smiled at her name. "Becky is in love with Dave - and Maui - and couldn't be happier."

They talked a little more about Becky, who was trying for a baby. Bella couldn't imagine Becky as a mom. She's so young, hard enough picturing her with a husband...

Quil ran inside. "Hey Bella, I think Jake's got the truck fixed."

Bella nodded to Billy and went out. Indeed, the noise was gone.

"You, uh, you wanna stay for dinner?" asked Jake, shy once their excuse was gone.

Bella shrugged, and they went inside; Quil and Embry took off. Dinner was just frozen hamburgers warmed up on the stove. They both talked about how school was going so far, new teachers and everything. No new classmates, of course.

Afterwards as Bella and Jake washed the dishes together, Bella asked, "What's going on with Embry?" She noticed Jake and Quil giving funny looks when they thought Embry wasn't aware.

"Oh, um... Did I tell you about Sam?"

"Don't think so... Leah's boyfriend?"

He nodded. "He kinda started this gang, and I'm worried Embry wants to join."

A gang in La Push? "What kind of gang?"

"I don't know, really. He and Paul and Jared all shaved their heads and hang out together - I mean, I don't think it's bad, Dad tries to act like it's just some kinda tribal initiation thing, but everyone is so cold now. Paul used to be a good friend of mine and now I barely see him," complained Jake. "And Embry, you know, he doesn't have a dad, so - "

"So he wants to join?"

He nodded. "I think they already told him no way, but they seem like they want me and Quil real bad. It's just creepy, the way Sam looks at us."

"How long has this been going on?"

"Since the summer. Well, Jared and Paul, Sam shaved his head almost a year ago, I think."

Bella only knew Sam through Leah, and only knew Leah through the Black twins. She never seemed to like Bella, but often used to hang out with the twins before falling for Sam her eighth-grade year. She remembered that Sam used to have hair to rival Leah's then. After they got together, she barely saw them anymore, but she had heard, through the twins all last year, about the storminess of their relationship. He would sneak out most nights and didn't tell her where, although he promised it was just "tribal shit," not another woman. The three girls intimidated every Quileute girl they knew, and even a few Forks High girls, to confirm he wasn't cheating. Bella now repeated this to Jake, who nodded.

"Yeah, and now Paul and Jared've joined in. Ha, maybe they all decided to be gay together," he joked, except without a smile touching his eyes. He was clearly worried, but had no idea what to do.

"Is Billy concerned at all?"

"Not a bit. He just chuckles when I mention it, and says be patient. Like he wants me to join the gang!"

She squeezed his hand. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

He suddenly hugged her, holding her close to him. "I hope so," he whispered, then pushed her away and ran into his room.

Bella took that as her cue, said bye to Billy, and drove home.

author's note: It used to be slightly different but I decided I liked this as the first chapter instead.