A/N: Back by popular demand…

Victory Celebration, Part II

By

Wind of the North

"Dad says put some hunting clothes on and get down to the hospital. He, uh, he sounded pretty mad."

I raised an eyebrow. Emmett looked as unsure as he felt, and upon seeing my quizzical expression, shrugged.

"I didn't ask. But a little while ago Dr. Gerandy called with some huge emergency. He hinted that Carlisle would take it personally."

I nodded and searched through my bureau for suitable hunting clothes. I found a pair I didn't recognize—Alice's doing, no doubt—and pulled them on. I quickly sent a text message to Alice, knowing she'd get it soon enough. She was out in the woods somewhere with Rosalie and Esme, the three of them on the prowl for something red-haired and sinister.

Emmett and I met Edward by the Volvo, all of us chuckling at our uniform appearance: white T-shirts, khaki pants, and whole-heartedly masculine boots.

While we drove towards the hospital, Edward pondered aloud what Carlisle could want. "It must be serious, because he knows we have preoccupations."

I could almost hear Emmett rolling his eyes and thinking, you have preoccupations, not us.

"I've tried calling him. He's not picking up," Edward said, frowning. He did not like being ignored. Edward pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number I didn't recognize. It rang a few times before a robotic woman's voice told him to leave a message at the tone. He swore and snapped his phone shut. "The dog isn't picking up either."

We talked quietly until we entered the city limits, and Edward began concentrating on finding Carlisle's mind, and a clue to what was going on.

He must have found something, because suddenly he clutched his head and screamed. Not a scream of terror, but one of agony and rage. Edward's outburst was so unexpected that Emmett swerved into the opposite lane and into a ditch, which caused him to generate his own amount of negative feelings. I was drowning in a stew of anger and pain. Shit.

"What was that about!" Emmett demanded, but Edward was gone. So was the car door, which Edward had thrown open as he jumped out of the car.

Dr. Gerandy finished his conversation with Chief Swan and terminated the call. Over the years, he'd called many mothers and fathers to inform them of the ill fate of their children, but Charlie was an old friend, and his heart had broken when he told him that his only child had been viciously raped.

The sliding glass doors of the main entrance wheezed open and Dr. Gerandy glanced to see who it was. He took a step back from what he saw.

Edward Cullen stalked forward, his savagely dark eyes holding a fury that made the doctor press himself against the wall, the back of his neck prickling. The receptionists, who had just recovered from Dr. Cullen's fearsome conversation with the two Quileutes, disappeared under their desks altogether.

A second later, Dr. Cullen reappeared through the double doors and met Edward in the middle of the lobby. He put his hands on Edward's shoulders and looked him in the eye.

Edward's face changed so many times in that moment that Dr. Gerandy could not name each expression, but he knew they were all bad. When Edward had finally settled on fear, Carlisle led him through the double doors. The odd encounter lasted no more than five seconds.

Shaken, he followed the two Cullens into the ER. He peered around the doorway and his heart broke all over again.

Edward Cullen was on his knees next to Bella Swan's bed, holding her limp hand in one of his own and sobbing into his other. Carlisle grimly changed her IV bag of anesthesia and made a little tick on his clipboard.

The double doors opened yet again and two more Cullen boys came through (they had to be Cullens; no other family looked quite like them). The blond one kept wincing, and they both covered their noses suddenly.

Dr. Gerandy shut the door to the room to give the three occupants privacy. He did have rules to follow.

The blond, whose name escaped the doctor, gave a small nod to his brother (Emile? Emerson? Emmett? Yes, Emmett sounded right…). Emmett asked politely, "May we go in? Our father wanted us here."

A feeling of complete relaxation drifted over the doctor, loosening his tongue considerably.

"I'm sorry, but Bella is only permitted one guest at a time."

Visibly startled at Bella's name, Emmett pressed for more information. "What happened?"

Jasper didn't wait for the reply. "Please, let us go in." His voice was almost hypnotic, and Dr. Gerandy couldn't find any good reason not to acquiesce.

He turned the knob and the door swung open, revealing the still-sobbing Edward and Bella's bruised, torn, unconscious form. Emmett gasped. "Down at the reservation," Dr. Gerandy said quietly, not really sure why he being so open with total strangers. Emmett looked at Jasper.

"What the fuck did that dog do to her?"

The ride back to the reservation was tense.

Embry Call recognized the emotion roiling in his chest as fear, raw and real. He couldn't name the source, but he was sure it had something to do with what he had heard Dr. Cullen say on the phone before he and Sam beat it.

Hunting clothes.

Vampires, no doubt angry vampires, would hunt down his pack brother. Embry fought the urge to whimper.

"Sam?"

The Alpha didn't say anything. He just stared at the road.

"What are we going to do?"

Sam narrowed his eyes. "I don't know," he admitted quietly. "This is…complicated."

That's for damn sure, Embry thought. If Bella's vampire, Edward, considered Bella his mate, then they could expect to find Jacob's head on a stick very, very soon. And the worst part was, Jacob would deserve it. Jacob was three times bigger than Bella, for crying out loud! It was amazing he didn't kill her.

They crossed to reservation border and Sam stopped the car at the side of the road. Without a word, he got out of the car and ran off into the woods. A second later, an earsplitting howl broke the silence.

The pack had been called.

Running. He was running faster than he had ever run.

Breathing. He was breathing in deeply every time, taking in as much scent as possible.

The dark forest blurred into incomprehensible shapes, the source of every sound far behind him when it reached his ears.

Kill.

Kill.

Kill.

The vampire had no name. Only people have names, and he wasn't a person now. He was a beast, a monstrosity whose every thought was bent on pure destruction.

His mate had been harmed. Attacked. Violated.

A feral snarl ripped through his teeth and he ran faster.

The scent of his quarry was getting stronger. A werewolf could run long and hard, but even they get tired. The vampire would never tire.

Sounds filled the back of his skull, sounds a sane being would recognize as voices pleading with him to slow down, to calm down, and to think.

He didn't understand them, so he didn't listen to them.

Soon even they vanished into the void.

The vampire could sense that he was getting close. The trail was very fresh and he could hear the steady thump-thumps of a large, heavy animal running at full speed.

Then he could see it.

He lunged.

Fur in his hands.

Blood in his mouth.

Kill.

Esme tenderly stroked her daughter's hand. It was almost as pale as hers. Uncomfortable at the sight, she opted for stroking Bella's hair instead.

She hummed a sweet melody she remembered from her own childhood, the same melody she had hummed for her own infant son while he, too, struggled for life in a hospital.

The heart monitor began to emit beeps at a quicker pace, and Bella's fingers moved a little.

"Bella, dear, can you hear me?" Esme tried to sound as soothing as possible.

Bella groaned.

"I know it hurts, Bella. I know."

Bella opened her eyes and quickly found Esme. "Esme," she whispered. The emotion in that whisper took Esme's breath away.

They just looked at each other sadly until a quiet knock pulled them away from each other. The door opened a little bit and Edward stuck his head in. "May I come in?"

Esme kissed Bella's forehead and gave her chair to Edward. She glanced at Edward's face and noticed one short, brown strand of fur entwined in her son's hair. She smelled the very faint scent of blood on him, perhaps the blood under his fingernails that she could clearly see. The fur, the blood; it all indicated a very hasty shower. Perhaps Edward had simply jumped into the Sol Duc river.

She closed the door behind her and lingered, listening.

There was silence for a long time.

Finally, Bella spoke in her raspy voice. "Who brought me here?"

Edward sounded like was choking. "Sam and Embry. They found you. You'd lost a lot of blood."

"I don't remember anything after…what's happened to me?"

"You were bleeding, and Carlisle and Dr. Gerandy couldn't stop the bleeding. You have some breaks." Esme could tell that Edward was expending incredible effort to control his voice.

"Oh."

"Bella, I—"

"Where's Charlie?"

"Charlie's talking with Carlisle right now. They're writing a report."

Bella burst into tears, and Edward murmured things that Esme wasn't meant to hear. She walked away.

Carlisle was in his office, and Charlie wasn't anywhere in sight. Esme realized that Edward had lied to Bella so that he wouldn't have to admit to her that Charlie was more than likely having a very serious talk with Billy Black and Jacob's friends.

Carlisle smiled a wane smile when he saw his wife. Esme closed the door.

"This is bad, Esme." He held up X-rays. "Her upper arm is in so many pieces I can't even begin to count."

Esme flinched.

Carlisle looked out the window at the gray parking lot. "The other doctors are talking about a prosthetic. Normally I'd go along with that, but…"

Esme finished for him. "But that's no way to spend eternity."

Carlisle nodded.

Alice slipped her first edition of Vogue (mint condition, of course) into its protective sleeve and tucked it into her backpack. She threw in credit cards and a few things Jasper had given her over the years, zipping it up when there was nothing else.

Valuables, check.

Cell phone, check.

Husband, check. Well, sort of. Jasper was in Alaska, along with some other people.

Two weeks had passed since Bella's final trip to the reservation. Three days after she had been admitted to the hospital, Carlisle had gotten a call.

Sam Uley asked him to take his family and leave. Just take Bella and leave. The wolves wouldn't tell anybody.

Alice had thought the request strange at first, but now she understood. The wolves had considered themselves so much safer than the Cullens, but when a human was entrusted to their care, what happened? A wolf nearly killed her.

Humiliation. Alice smiled. The wolves were completely and utterly humiliated. And probably a little unsure about what to do now that they had witnessed a lone vampire turn a werewolf into mincemeat. It's not like they could declare war on the Cullens for avenging a girl who'd been raped.

So Carlisle said yes, they'd leave. In stages, though, so as not to invite too much suspicion. First, the Cullens made a lot of noise about Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie going back to college. After they'd been "gone" for two days, Bella disappeared from her hospital bed. Carlisle and Esme fronted $100,000 dollars for any information of her whereabouts.

Then Esme's poor sick mother died, and Esme took Edward with her.

Alice and Carlisle were officially going to the funeral, but they both knew they were never coming back. Slinging the backpack full of precious objects over her thin shoulder, she dialed the newest number on the Cullen family plan.

"Hello?"

"We're all packed. We'll be leaving any minute."

"I can't wait to see you."

The line went dead and Alice had a vision of Edward cradling Bella, whole and now quite durable, in his arms.