408Dear Translators: Thank you for your interest but I am not interested in having my stories translated. No offense meant. I had issues in the past with translations when I allowed them, and I would just prefer not to deal with the hassle of trying to keep track of my stories.
I don't own Twilight and although Bree is still SM's character, this story is mine. (PLEASE NOTE: This story was written a year and a half prior to SM's release of Bree Tanner's life. It will NOT be canon based on the fact it was written before we knew anything about Bree.)
A/N: I read in a book once that in Scotland the Gaelic definition for bree is: a great disturbance. That is what sparked the idea for this story.
They watched as the Volturi disappeared into the forest and breathed a collective sigh of relief. It was over, truly over.
Bella winced; it was not quite over for her, however, or the two men she loved. Her heart throbbed painfully as she remembered the scorching kiss Jacob had left her with before the fight. Now he was hurt, crushed fatally by a crazed newborn, and she was in a panic to see him. Edward said that he was healing rapidly and would be all right but she needed to make sure of it herself.
Edward. She winced again.
She felt torn in two. Life was much easier when she thought of Jacob as just a friend and hadn't made the connection that she loved him. No, she didn't just love him; she was in love with him. Bella put her face in her hands, still unable to face the fact that she had a decision to make. She thought it would be easy to choose Edward but was torn apart by even the suggestion of saying goodbye to Jacob. The vision she'd had of their life together and their beautiful black-haired children had stayed with her. Was that the life she wanted?
Bella looked toward the crazed newborn that had been spared. Bree. She watched as the girl struggled for control, her wild scarlet eyes returning to Bella every few seconds. Edward tried to shield her from the girl's gaze, but that didn't seem to help much.
Is that what was in store for her, too? Becoming a blood-crazed monster that had no control? For the first time she started to question the path she had chosen. Now that she knew there might be another option, could she really go through with this?
Edward turned to face her. He assessed her expression quickly, worry crossing his features.
"Bella, love, are you okay? How do you feel?"
Bella sighed and put her head against his chest to hide her expression. She didn't want him to be able to see her indecision or how disturbed the girl was making her.
"I'm fine," she whispered. "I'm just really worried about Jacob; I want to make sure he's okay!"
Edward's arms wrapped around her and held her close. He felt like his dead heart would break. He had told her that he wasn't upset over the kiss she had shared with Jacob but that wasn't completely the truth. He was upset. He was hurt, and his jealousy felt like it would suffocate him. Edward knew that Jacob had fooled her into the kiss, but he had opened the door to unleash some unknown emotion she had been repressing. Wasn't it bad enough that Edward had had to spend the night watching that dog keep Bella warm during the snowstorm when he couldn't, now this? For the millionth time, he cursed himself for leaving her.
And there lay the crux. Had he not tried to force her to live her life as a human girl out of the path of vampire influence, then this wouldn't be happening. Now he stood to lose her-again-but this time by her own hand. The irony of the situation was staggering.
"Bella, you know that you can't see Jacob right now. Charlie is with Billy and would know you lied to him about the sleepover with Alice. I promise you will see him at the first possible opportunity. Carlisle and I will go to Jacob, and I will let you know as soon as it's safe to visit." He lifted her face to his and looked into her eyes searchingly. The pain reflected back at him was crippling. He lowered his lips to hers and despaired at how remote she seemed.
The crazed newborn girl let forth a blood-curdling scream behind them; Bella winced and pulled away quickly. She tried to look around him at the young vampire struggling to get past Jasper. Edward made a disgusted noise in his throat. Really, what was Carlisle thinking adopting the little fiend? They would already have their hands full when Bella was turned, did they really need a bigger distraction? The girl screamed again and he hunched his shoulders against the onslaught.
"I think you should leave now. You'll go back to our home with Alice and wait for my call," Edward said, turning to Bella. She nodded absentmindedly not making eye contact.
"Bella?" She glanced up at him finally. "Everything will be okay… I love you." Bella nodded again. A pain flared in his chest as he realized she didn't say it in return. That was the first time that had ever happened.
Edward made a gesture to Alice who came running up beside him. She kept looking back at Jasper and the newborn with a troubled look on her face. Alice was having disturbing flickers whenever she concentrated on her visions in regards to the girl. Everything was snarled up and there seemed be large gaps and voids in what she saw.
"Alice, maybe you should take Bella home now. Carlisle and I are going to check on Jacob. The others will take care of the girl." Alice had such a strange expression on her face that he stopped and took a peek into her head. What he saw there confused him as well, and now they wore identical puzzled expressions.
Bella snapped out of her reverie and looked at them both. "What?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
Both of them faced her slowly.
"Nothing," Edward said. "Don't worry, Alice is just having a hard time getting a read on the girl. I suppose Riley taught them all to shield themselves from her."
Bella shuddered. Riley. He had been the poor boy that had been fooled by Victoria into spear heading the newborn attack. Victoria had amassed an army of newborn vampires for the sole purpose of distracting the werewolves and Cullens enough to get her hands on Bella. Thankfully, they had pieced everything together prior to the attack. A plan was formulated to lure the vampires into the forest and keep them away from the people of Forks.
It had been successful, and-except for the accident with Jacob-there were no casualties on their side. Her heart throbbed painfully again when she thought of Jacob. She turned to Alice.
"Okay, let's go. I just want to get away from here." Alice looked at Bella thoughtfully for a moment before stooping slightly for her to climb on her back. Edward helped Bella onto Alice's back. He then wiped her hair back from her face and gave her a tender kiss. Bella smiled at him faintly, her mind still seemed elsewhere.
Alice began to run and Edward let his breath out in a sigh. He turned towards Carlisle and walked over to him.
How is Bella holding up, Edward?
"Not good. I'm worried, Carlisle. She seems so much more distant than usual. Truthfully, I have never seen her like this." He turned worried eyes to his father.
I'm sure she's just worried about Jacob. Once she is able to see for herself that he will survive the attack, everything will go back to normal.
"I hope so." Carlisle reached out his hand and gave Edward's shoulder a firm squeeze.
"Speaking of Jacob," Carlisle said aloud, "we should go and see how he's doing. I hope the others were able to get him to phase back." In all the centuries Carlisle had been practicing medicine, it had always been on humans. He was already nervous because Jacob was a shape-shifter. Essentially he was human; however, there were still marked differences between him and a normal person that may make his care more difficult.
"Let me talk to Jasper to make arrangements about Bree and then we'll be on our way." He left Edward while mulling over how best to help Jacob. He then walked towards the pyre that was still burning in the center of the field. As he approached Jasper, his thoughts shifted to the girl. What were they going to do with her?
Carlisle had always been sensitive to all forms of life. He couldn't allow an innocent sentient being to be destroyed; it would weigh too heavily on his conscience. Yes, the girl had come as part of the attacking army, but it wasn't really her fault that she had been created and unleashed on his family; that fell straight onto the shoulders of Victoria. Once the girl had realized her certain fate, she stopped fighting immediately. She had held her hands up over her head and began to keen. Carlisle had taken pity on her and stopped his family from destroying her. He knew that Jasper was vehemently against the idea, but as the patriarch of the family, Carlisle had overruled him.
He sighed as he came up behind Jasper who was slightly crouched before the girl on the floor. She had relaxed slightly once Bella had left but her eyes still wheeled around wildly as she whimpered softly. Emmett and Rosalie stood nearby in case she decided to run. Emmett was his usual affable self; he'd enjoyed the fight thoroughly and was reveling in every detail. Rosalie looked bored and stared at her nails. She looked up as Carlisle approached.
"Ugh, I'm so glad Bella left; she finally shut up." She jerked a thumb at Bree.
"Rosalie," Carlisle admonished, "I'm sure you still remember how disorienting it felt to be a newborn. We must be more sensitive to how Bree is feeling." The girl glanced up and looked at him gratefully. Rosalie sneered.
"We owe her nothing!" she spat. "Her and her 'friends' came here to slaughter our family, Carlisle! You may want to forgive and forget, but I don't think I can." She looked at the girl scornfully.
"Rose…" Emmett began softly.
"Don't 'Rose' me, Emmett! What the heck are supposed to do with her?" Carlisle watched Jasper look up and nod in agreement.
Rose continued, "Edward's little human is constantly at the house, and I'll be damned if I'll play bodyguard for Bella." Edward hissed at her from across the field, and Rosalie rolled her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Carlisle, but I agree with Rosalie," Jasper said quietly. "This girl is a liability to our family. It is much too dangerous to keep her here in Forks."
Bree sat on the floor at their feet silently, her eyes flickering from one face to another as they discussed her fate. She finally focused on Carlisle and the look of pure terror she gave him firmed his resolve.
"I will not have her destroyed, Jasper, and that is final. If we must, we will send her to Tanya's family in Denali."
Jasper opened his mouth to speak, but Carlisle held up a hand and said, "I realize we aren't on the best terms with Tanya's family right now, but as I see it, they owe us a favour. We will contact them and ask if they can come visit to discuss what happened. Bree can return with them when they leave. For now she will come to stay with us in the guest house, and Bella will just have to stay away until we can make arrangements."
Edward ran over to Carlisle.
"What?" he asked disgustedly. "Why do Bella and I have to be punished for this?"
"It's not punishment, Edward, and unless you want to put Bella in danger, you will keep her away from the house. Understood?"
Edward gave him a cold look, his eyes tightening and his lips narrowing into a thin line.
"Fine. I'll just stay at Bella's house more often. I'm sure Charlie will love that."
"What choice do we have, Edward? I can't bear to destroy the girl and we can't just set her free to roam around on her own! Not to mention, I made a promise to the Volturi that we would take care of her. Do you really want to give them a reason to return?" Carlisle stared down at the girl in concern. He saw Edward shake his head at him slowly.
During the discussion, Esme joined them and put her arm around Carlisle's waist. He knew that she supported him one-hundred percent and immediately felt better. He looked at her lovingly and kissed her cheek. Edward glanced balefully at the newborn, turned on his heel, and walked away. Carlisle kneeled before the girl.
"Bree," he said softly. She looked up at him.
"Would you like to stay with our family for a little while?" She nodded mutely.
"Alright, but first we must discuss a few things. First, you are not allowed to hunt humans as long as you are with our family. You will put us in great danger if you do. Do you understand?"
Bree grimaced, but once again nodded.
"Second, you must try your very hardest not to attack Bella if she comes to the house. She is very special to Edward, and we consider her to be part of our family. I know this will be very difficult for you at first, but we will help you the best we can." Finally, the girl spoke.
"I don't understand; if you don't hunt humans, how do you survive?" She looked perplexed.
"We hunt animals, Bree. It allows us the freedom to live amongst humans for extended periods of time, to have a home. You may find this challenging at first, but, with practice, it does get easier," Carlisle answered. "Once you have passed your newborn stage and have enough control, then you can decide if you want to live the rest of your existence as we do, or you can choose to go your own way." The girl whimpered at the thought of being on her own.
"No, please! I'm afraid…" she said despairingly. "I don't want to be left alone." Carlisle sat beside Bree and put an arm around her shoulder.
"You're not alone, child," he replied softly. "As long as you try your hardest, you will belong with our family." She smiled at her savior tentatively.
"Thank you, Carlisle." She looked at the rest of the beautiful vampires around her. "Thank you all. I'll try very hard not to be a burden."
Carlisle stood up, helping Bree to her feet. "I have to go with Edward to tend to Jacob, but the others will bring you home." At the wolf's name, she growled deep in her chest, and Jasper moved to restrain her. Carlisle gave her a sharp look.
"Bree, we have an alliance with the wolves. You may not hurt any of them. Do you understand?" he said forcefully.
She continued to growl menacingly. "They killed my friends!" she hissed.
"And so did we," Carlisle said quietly.
"But they are not our kind!" she yelled angrily.
Carlisle gave Jasper a meaningful look, and the girl calmed visibly.
"You must learn to control yourself, child, for all our sakes! You may not attack the wolves; we have a treaty with them to live in peace. If the treaty is broken, it means war. Do you hear me? War!" He looked at her carefully to make sure she understood the complexity of the situation.
Bree's lip uncurled slowly as she regained control of her emotions. It was difficult, but somehow, she felt too weak to hold on to the anger. She wasn't quite sure why, but she started calming down.
"I must leave now. The others will explain everything in more detail when you get home. Bella is there right now, so you will stay in the guest house until she leaves." He gave her a careful look and nodded to the rest of his family to take her away. They sprinted through the forest and disappeared. Bree was placed in the middle to make sure she didn't escape.
Carlisle sighed and looked towards Edward.
"I know you are upset with me, son."
"I just don't think this is the best idea, Carlisle. It's bad enough Jasper took a snap at Bella last year, how will we handle a newborn?" he said with distaste.
"Well, hopefully this is just for a short while until Bella herself is turned," Carlisle said carefully. Edward growled slightly. "You know it's going to happen, Edward; there is no use fighting it."
"I know, I know… It doesn't mean I have to like it!" Carlisle raised a hand before he could continue. He wanted to get to Jacob sooner rather than later, and this was an argument they'd had repeatedly.
"Fair enough, but that doesn't change anything. We will send Bree to Denali until Bella is turned and perhaps they can help each other while adjusting to the newborn phase." Carlisle shrugged. Edward looked at the floor overcome with guilt.
"Okay, enough brooding. I have a werewolf to tend to." With that, he turned and raced into the forest. Edward sighed quietly and then chased after him.
If you're curious to know where I read about a bree, it's in the 4th book of the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon. They are amazing novels if you want something new and exciting to read!
I hope you liked the first chapter of this story! Fav alerts and reviews are the best way to show how much you love it! *wink wink*