Hallowed Moon - 6/7
Dec. 5th, 2011 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
herumtreiberChapter: The hallowed moon
Author:
Rating: R
Pairing(s): Edward/Jacob
Other Characters: Alice, Carlisle, Bella, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, Billy Black, Embry, Quil, Seth, Aro, Caius, Marcus, Jane, Alec, Demetri.
Warnings: Violence
Word Count: ~5,620
Summary: Alice has a strange vision. Edward's feelings about Jacob surface when he observes it. Is Carlisle's interpretation the correct one? Jacob and Edward embark on a journey that will take them to Tuscany, to face the Volturi and their growing feelings for each other as the very fabric of the world crumbles around them.
Disclaimer: All Twilight characters herein are the property of Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended.
Table of contents
Chapter five: The confrontation
Chapter six: The Hallowed Moon
October 12th, 11:50 pm GMT
300 feet below Meryn, Switzerland
Quil stared in awe at the huge metal boxes all around us. He nudged my shoulder. "We should've gone to the top managers!"
My gaze followed his to the uppermost corridor, where a man wearing a hardhat and kneepads was scrambling into a cavity in the midst of the huge man-made cavern we were in.
The noise was deafening. So much so that Jake and Embry had covered their ears. Frankly I'd always pictured Physics as a quiet science; scholars in lab coats would stare at their monitors and cogitate about the mysteries of the universe. This looked entirely different. Physicists and technicians rushed by us, some wearing their white lab coats while others were dressed more formally. A few people wore short-sleeved shirts despite the cold.
Right in front of us several men and women sat around a white table. Their laptops had slim cables connecting them to the measuring apparatus around them.
"And you think they would've believed us? You're nuts, Quil!" Embry fingered his t-shirt. The place was very cold but since we were vampires and shapeshifters, it didn't affect us at all.
Amidst the bustling scientists no one paid us any mind. Aro had indeed proved his worth. Using his contacts, he'd arranged for us to pass through the guards. Alec explained to them we were visiting wunderkinder, geniuses from MIT.
Now and then, the men and women would stop in their tinkering and stare at us. It never lasted more than a few seconds. Despite our safe passage inside the compound, the scientists sensed our strangeness. Their thoughts were tinged with concern regarding us. But their child-like curiosity, very similar to Aro's, prevailed and they went on with their work.
After the Volturi agreed to help us, letting Jake and the other Quileutes go, we'd planned what we would do. Time was running short. The experiment to create the God particle would take place that night.
I agreed with Quil's outburst. I had argued we should go to the committee and change their minds; if they weren't convinced we could use more persuasive means.
It was Jasper who pointed the obvious flaw. I closed my eyes, escaping for a moment the hustle and bustle of the muon particle detector on the largest collider in the world, remembering…
oOoOo
"Alice, you still can't see the future?" I turned to look at my sister. Her elfin face expressed her pensive mood. She fiddled nervously with her cell phone. Sighing, she reclined on the leather couch of the VIP lounge at the Milan Airport.
"No, Edward. It remains closed. I feel very odd, now I get what the mortals mean when they say they can't breathe!"
Jasper put his arm around her. He made no move to soothe her with his powers. Reading his mind, I knew he was conserving his strength. His thoughts ranged far ahead. Jasper was busy plotting, trying to visualize what would happen.
Carlisle sighed as he pocketed the phone he'd been using to try to reach his acquaintance at CERN. "Can't reach Marie Visier. She's the daughter of a Swiss man I treated in Alaska around 1942. She's kept in touch with me. Since Marie wrote she handled logistics at CERN, I thought…"
Jake put his hand on Carlisle's shoulder. "Don't worry, Dr. Cullen. We'll find another way."
He looked up at the young Quileute and smiled. "Thanks, Jacob. Please call me Carlisle."
I smirked when Jake tugged the hem of his cotton shirt. Obviously my wolf was uncomfortable because the shirt itched. Even when we rushed to save the world, racing towards Milan, Alice had phoned ahead to the duty-free boutique and ordered clothes for the Quileutes. Seth and Embry were enchanted by her gesture but Quil was indifferent, more interested in the Italians around us.
Jake hated his new clothes, though. He wore them because he had nothing else. I licked my lips, picturing the delectable image of Jake on white briefs bulging just at the appropriate place. His ass looked so firm and round, it was a pity it had to be covered.
"I wish we'd had time to prepare this." Jane said, crossing her arms. The deadly blonde exchanged a look with her twin. "Alec and I would surely find the means to persuade these mortal scientists."
Demetri nodded his assent, standing behind the petite vampire. The three Volturi guards wore dark glasses. With their long leather black coats reaching to their thighs, they looked like fashion models that would strut the catwalks for the Milanese fashion shows.
In fact, several people had tried to get their autographs. For their sake I had to push them away, having read the sanguinary minds of the Volturi.
I looked sharply at Jane. "We could use you."
When she visited me in Forks, I'd seen a side of her I liked. I found her the easiest Volturi to communicate with.
"I think we should go to that committee and force them to review their decision. If they refused, you could persuade them." I held up my hand, frowning at their thoughts. "Not kill them, just convince them."
"Don't think it would work, Edward." Jasper left his place beside Alice and stood up. He ruffled his blond hair, eliciting a sigh from the Belgian woman who was on the other aisle.
"People are hard to persuade. During the War, the generals often sent us to the wrong place. They wouldn't be dissuaded." Jasper glanced at the glass windows of the luxurious lounge, his brows furrowed in thought.
"I have to agree with Jasper." Carlisle toyed with the phone, finally putting it in the pocket of his Armani jacket. "I've had to deal with committees during my long years working in hospitals. They're very hard to persuade once they reach a consensus. Even with the Volturi behind us, we'd take too long. The experiment would go on and we'd be powerless to stop it."
Jake stalked towards me, scowling at the woman near the door who kept giving me salacious looks. "I still don't get why that experiment is so important, Edward."
I smiled at my wolf as I touched his hand. I wanted to hold it in my own but I was afraid of his reaction, since he insisted on doing his macho thing. But after a brief hesitation he held it on his own; his warmth reassured me.
He sat down, still holding my hand as he quirked an eyebrow. I hastened to try to explain, looking intently at his handsome face. "Remember I told you on the way here about the visions and how they weaved together?"
Jake let go of my hand, nodding earnestly. "Sure, I got it. My dad's tale deals with the moon and the Earth ending. I even understand that the leech turning to stone was yanked from the past somehow."
Recalling Alice's vision, the Quileute made a fist and hit my shoulder hard. "Could've told me about the pixie's vision of me at the hands of those Volturi guys!"
"I didn't want to worry you! Alice was shadowing you. I thought we'd change that future and-"
Jake brushed aside my explanations with a wave of his hand. "Doesn't matter. You kept it from me! I want you to tell me the truth, always. Do you think I can't protect myself?"
I gulped, reading his angry thoughts.
"Edward was only trying to care for you, Jake." Seth scowled at Jacob, and I wanted to hug the boy who always tried to be fair.
"I can do it myself, Seth. I want Edward to be truthful though." Jake smiled at his friend, his mood shifting to curiosity. "How did you guys manage to come here? I thought I told you not to follow me, and since my orders have that weird effect, then-"
Embry piped up from the seat beside Quil. "You told us not to follow you to Forks." The russet-colored boy waved his arms, smirking. "This ain't Forks."
"Fine, fine." Jacob turned to look at me. "You haven't explained the experiment yet, Cullen."
"The largest particle collider in the world is at CERN, beneath Switzerland and France." I made a circle with my hands. "It's very big, I don't recall how many miles of circumference. They shoot particle beams accelerating at near the speed of light-"
"Traveling at relativistic speeds." When Jacob saw my puzzlement, he smiled brightly. "I read it in a Popular Mechanics article. They shoot the beams and they hit something and new particles are created. But how can they endanger the world? They've been doing it for years!"
"The difference is the energy, Jake. This time they're dealing with enormous energies. They're trying to recreate the conditions that existed just after the Big Bang." I stopped, watching his face.
After he nodded, I went on. "They want to create a Higgs boson." I lifted up my hands, forestalling his question. "I don't know what that is, exactly. They call it the 'God particle.' If they do manage to pump nearly the same energy that prevailed around the Big Bang, won't this be enough to create another one, therefore ending the universe?"
Jake shivered as he wrapped his arms around his torso. "How can we fight against that?"
"I'm hoping that we'll be able to. I'm trusting in the Third Wife's vision? When she watched that young Quileute save the tree during the hallowed moon." I smiled sadly at my wolf. "I'm sure the shifter is you."
Jake shook his head. "I'm not so sure, Edward. I don't have your vampire powers. I only shift." Then he frowned and turned to the window, watching the huge Alitalia Airbus that started moving outside.
"Exactly. Do you remember your father's words about shifting?" I enjoyed the way Jacob worried his lower lip, his eyes lighting up.
He nodded. "Dad said that when I shift, part of the world changes with me to make up for my larger muscles."
"If the worst happens and the experiment goes on… I'm afraid only you will be able to save the world."
Jake's stomach grumbled. The wolf shrugged, smiling at me winsomely. "The Volturi didn't feed me after they captured me. I'm hungry, man!"
I stood up from the leather chair, motioning to the other Quileutes. "Come on. Let's get you something to eat."
We left the others discussing strategy while we made our way to the restaurant. Quil, Embry and Seth sat down with us at the table, looking curiously at the other patrons.
The Quileutes ordered Bruschetta and Bresaola, except for Jacob who asked for a pizza.
When he saw me frowning, he explained, "Always wanted a pizza made in Italy. Never thought I'd had the chance, but since we're here and the world might end…"
Jake yelped when I pinched his butt. He glared at me so cutely I wanted to kiss him right then. "Have your pizza and don't worry. We'll come back someday. And the world? It won't end until you've…"
I shied away from telling him what I wanted. Jake lifted his eyebrow. "Until I have what?"
Taking a deep breath, I plunged ahead. "Until you've… fucked me."
Grinning wickedly, Jacob pinched my behind. "Nice way to motivate me, Edward!"
While their food was prepared I glared at the other patrons. Though I didn't understand their words, their thoughts were full of dirty imagery concerning what they wanted to do to Jake. Some of them wanted to have their way with me, a fact I was used to, so I let it pass. My wolf was another matter though.
I snarled at the Swiss woman two tables away who wanted to straddle Jacob's lap. If anyone was going to ride the wolf, it would be me!
Following my gaze, Jacob saw the woman flinch and hastily call for the waiter to bring her the check. He put his hand on my thigh as he sneered. "Now you know what I felt when I saw you with Bella."
After the Quileutes finished their meal, we made our way back to the lounge. This time it was Jacob who growled at the German teenager who winked at me.
Jasper was gesticulating with his arms. "I reckon we'll have to use…"
oOoOo
"Our combined powers…. you're listening, Edward?" With a start, I nodded a bit shakily. I'd been so lost in remembering that I'd missed Jasper's words. Luckily I could read his mind.
The whirring of the electrical motors around us was intensifying. The boys were gazing around sharply, their faces bereft of their previous playfulness. The gravity of the situation had finally penetrated in all of us. This wasn't a simple hunt for errant bloodthirsty vampires, or even the defense of our coven or the Quileute lands. At stake was the existence of the world - humanity itself.
I noticed Jasper was holding Alice's elbow. In his mind she was her anchor to reality, to the here and now. Sniffing the cool air, Jasper shrugged as he tried to dismiss the ever present wet dog odor coming from the shifters. Finally he continued, "I will flood this place, as much as I can reach, with a wave of euphoria."
"Why?" Jane cocked an eyebrow at Jasper; she'd been distracted when he explained his reasons at the lounge, intent on controlling her hunger for the blood of the passersby.
"I've noted that when people are euphoric, they tend to open up. They babble and I'm hoping they do so mentally, too." Jasper then pointed at me. "Edward, you will read their thoughts. If you notice anything strange, out of the ordinary, we'll strike."
"I'm useless without my powers." Alice said quietly, biting her lip as she frowned at the white floor.
Jasper gently held her arm, shaking it a bit. "On the contrary, darlin'. Your powers come from your intuition and we're gonna use that. I've noticed you've kept pouring over the plans of this place." My brother looked up at the rows of heavy equipment, dotted liberally with cables whose hum had been constant since we'd been there. "When Edward tells us what's happening, you could make some sort of connection. You might have some inkling about what's goin' on. I'm counting on you."
"What about us, Cullen?" Alec pointed to his twin and Demetri.
"You'll be our guards. If the mortals stand in our way, you'll deal with them." Jasper paused, biting his lip. "Without killing them though. This is a highly visible place, I doubt even the Volturi could hide a dead technician."
Quil scratched his chest. "Man, I hope we return to Forks soon. These clothes itch!"
Jasper gazed at the three boys. "I trust your qualities as a shifter. Quil, you'll go with me and this one." He pointed at a scowling Demetri
"Embry, you'll go with Alice, Carlisle and Alec." He turned to smile at Jacob. "Of course, you'll accompany Edward and Seth. Jane will guard you."
As the people on the table started typing on their computers, I felt a wave of euphoria wash over me. We all beamed at each other, even Jane and the other Volturi.
I grabbed Jake's hand, squeezing it tightly until he grimaced in pain. It made me remember my task. I closed my eyes, listening to the thoughts of the people all around me. I concentrated, holding in my mind the mile-long circle that was the particle collider. The mental buzz of the technicians and scientists felt like a hive of disturbed bees.
I lost track of the time. Idly gazing at my watch a bit later, I noticed twelve minutes had passed since Jasper used his powers. When I looked at him, I saw Jazz was trembling. It was good that he held his powers in reserve. If he hadn't, he would have collapsed by now.
Sharp imagery came to me. A man in a white hardhat and dark vest was looking at his reflection as he pounded a metal cylinder, not trusting his eyes. The old guy quivered in excitement because the meters were going way off scale.
A second later I received similar thoughts from far away. The question was, where in that huge labyrinth?
I ruffled my hair and moaned in anguish.
"What's happening, Edward?"
Instead of answering Carlisle, I turned to my sister. "Alice, I'm reading a man bending down to read something. There's a huge cylinder in front of him in a tunnel that's immense? It disappears in the distance, bending slightly. It's almost as if I was watching down at the limb of the Earth from space."
"Give me more to go on, Edward!"
"The metal cylinders that compose this part of the collider? They have blue rings." I closed my eyes, willing the men and the woman to give me more information. "There's something that looks like a huge pipe, bending exactly in the middle like a washing machine exhaust. There's something happening in three places."
Alice squeezed my elbow. "And what else?"
"The one man is reading something from a B25 meter? The other just glanced at the wall, there's something like a white C painted on it." I shook my head, frowning as I tried to read the other person. "The woman thinks about being in Atlas? Seems like that anyway."
Alice jumped up and down excitedly. "I've got it!"
She looked up at the ceiling, scrunching up her face in concentration. Finally she motioned with her left arm to the far exit of the huge room. "Jasper, you go that way. It's about a mile away."
Without waiting for another word, Jasper ran desperately, followed an instant later by Quil and Demetri.
Alice motioned to the right. "The man with the hard hat is a mile and a half that way. I'll go to the woman who's in Atlas. I'm going to take a shortcut."
I started running. After we'd left that room, I stopped. Jake caught up with me a few seconds later, and I pointed to my shoulder. "Jump in, we'll get there faster."
He nodded and climbed on my back, putting his arms around my neck. My hands grabbed his warm shins as I ran, leaving Seth behind us and startling several people who had been staring at the monitors.
oOoOo
Thirty seconds later, Jacob said. "Stop! I've got an idea."
I skidded to a halt. We'd advanced about three quarters of a mile. Jacob put his feet on the concrete floor, took a step back and shifted. The clothes Alice had bought for him were ripped to shreds.
As the wolf started running, he thought at me. 'We'll be faster this way, and in this form I can sense more freely. Call it gut instinct.'
I ran behind Jacob for a second until I caught up with him. Jane was right alongside us, never missing a beat.
The wolf was so huge, he occupied almost all the corridor. The russet-colored fur shined in the light of the fluorescent strip of the overhead lights as Jacob turned his muzzle towards me. The passing light move like dancing fireflies in his dark eyes as he ran. The huge wolf skillfully evaded a startled guard who shrieked and scooted back until his back was against the wall.
As we ran farther along, I could hear the man mumbling, "A huge beast got inside, I'll kill it!"
I heard Jane's rapid steps as she ran toward the guy and a second later her cold voice. "You won't do that!"
I wanted to keep her from killing the guard but there was no time. The man with the hardhat was struggling with something. We reached him half a minute later.
The old scientist was shaking a slim tablet with a digital read out as if he couldn't believe his eyes. He was so astonished he didn't notice us. I heard the readings in his mind but to my layman's perceptions they made no sense.
I stopped but the wolf kept running. His fur was the only touch of color in the sterile environment, his steps the only natural sound in the huge tunnel.
'There's something strange farther along.' The wolf's fur bristled as Jake took a deep breath.
I ran behind my wolf. I could've stayed and talked with the man but I felt that would be a waste of time. I trusted Jacob. In his mind there was an undercurrent I hadn't perceived before. All his senses were attuned to the surroundings as if he was hunting in the forest.
For a second I lost myself in his reveries. Jacob remembered his first hunt after he'd shifted. When the disorientation due to his changed state passed there was a moment when his mind accepted the reality that he was a wolf. He had reveled in the freedom afforded by this form. He ran through the forest and chased the small mammals, smelling the plants and the animals with the broad range that was denied to humans.
The vividness of his recollections made me envy the fact he was alive. He partook of the physical world and the mystical one - the legacy of his Quileute forebears that gave him the ability to shift his form at will. There was something that tied him to this earth, something I lost when I died and became the soulless vampire I was.
Jacob made a mad rash towards a spot that to me appeared identical to the thousand cylinders we'd passed by.
As I approached that place, I noticed several peculiar things. There was a yellow notepad attached to the side of the gleaming cylinder. At first I thought it had glue that kept it fixed to that spot, but then it moved up and down several inches like a small mouse. It was hot in there. It wasn't only the heat, the strangeness lay in the fact that it seemed to ebb and flow.
I stopped running and walked rapidly towards the wolf, who stopped and was beating the cylinder with his left paw.
'A strange thing came here. It's gone now but there's something that attracts it, a weakness inside. It'll come again. Can't open the damn thing!'
Something ruffled my hair. I noticed a current of air flowing to that spot as the notepad kept jiggling up and down.
Then I sensed the strangest thing, a pull that made me stumble towards the silver cylinder. The wolf howled as his claws scrabbled desperately against the metal.
There was a rippling sensation, it passed seemingly instantaneously. Then it returned with a kind of rhythm; the shifting gravity kept changing direction, pulsing like a heartbeat.
I imagined the beam of particles travelling near the speed of light inside the cylinder. I'd read they were contained by strong magnetic fields, but they couldn't be strong enough to change the earth's gravity. The rippling went on, expanding in waves.
The bundle of particles inside was creating something that hadn't been seen since the Big Bang. Our world, the result of billion of years of expansion after that initial shock, apparently tried to adjust itself but it wouldn't hold. Nothing could withstand the energies that were channeled inside the metal sleeve that had many miles of circumference.
Nothing physical, that is.
'Stand back!'
The wolf took a step back, his forelegs and tail scraping against the concrete wall. He shifted and became Jake.
His scent calmed me amid the whirlwind of sensations that ran through both of us. The notepad was bouncing madly now and the air current was creating a mist that disappeared like a miniature hurricane into the cylinder.
Jake stumbled back. The changing gravity orientation was disorienting him, messing with his balance. And the rippling continued, its rhythm changing.
Using my strength, I shook the cylinder right in the spot where the notepad kept returning. The sound of nuts falling to the floor echoed strangely to my ears. It sounded flat, as if they were in another room far away. In desperation, my hand punched the cylinder, creating a concave dent. I kept hitting the shiny surface, shaking my head at the crunching sound of the tearing metal.
Inside there was a smaller cylinder, surrounded by thick cables with different colors. It pulsed like a human vein. I stretched my arm but couldn't reach it; the magnetic fields must have been repelling me.
The pulsing intensified as the inner cylinder bulged. There were alarm klaxons blaring put I paid them no mind. The mist was now running to the cylinder, towards a darker spot that kept changing colors. There were shades I'd never seen before, which I doubted existed in the real world. I felt my feet leaving the floor as I floated in midair and my ears thrummed with the explosive bang that threw me backwards.
Jacob screamed as he watched a pale arm shot out of the cylinder. It was cut off at the shoulder, dripping a dark liquid I recognized as venom. Thankfully it wasn't any of my family.
It must've been one of the Volturi. I didn't have time to consider who because Jake pushed me. I floated away, touching the concrete wall which was cracking as pieces of it flew towards the cylinder.
Jake was nearly horizontal, his feet pointed straight to the wall as he held tightly to the jagged edge of the torn metal. His hair in disarray and a wild look on his face, he put his hand in the hole I'd created.
I bit my lip, trying to hold back my scream. There was no point in worrying about Jake's life. He was the world's hope and if he failed, the Earth would vanish just as surely as the Third Wife saw in the legend. I'd seen up close that hole; it had made me realize the forces we were fighting had no consciousness, no regard for life or humanity. They were more impersonal than the Volturi could ever hope to be.
I did not worry for Jacob because if he failed, I would vanish with him.
The air that kept disappearing didn't affect me, but I heard Jacob panting harshly. He kept moving his arm, fighting the magnetic fields like I had done.
The hole rippled again, throwing me back against the wall. Chunks of grey concrete were falling in slow motion towards the cylinder, hitting Jake who shrugged them off. Gravity was oscillating wildly now. Looking at the far side of the tunnel, I noticed that a hundred feet away, things were fine. It looked as if that was a different part of the world, normal. It wouldn't be for long if the breach in the fabric of the universe wasn't contained somehow.
I turned to look at Jacob and reached my hand to touch him. If he failed and the world ended, I wanted to die holding on to him.
Before I touched him, I saw him transform, becoming the wolf. Jake turned his muzzle sideways as he squirmed, his right paw reaching inside.
In his mind, he was holding on to something indefinable. A tiny thing he couldn't touch, nevertheless his wolf knew exactly what to do. With a twisting motion, he pushed the irregularity - the microscopic space where reality was unraveling - into the place where it couldn't do harm because the forces governing it were powerless. He sent it to the spirit world, the realm where his wolf came from.
I couldn't explain exactly what happened because it escaped my comprehension. I doubted anyone ever would, except perhaps professor Hawking.
Jake shifted back to human form as gravity returned and we fell to the floor. I recoiled when I heard the noise of Jake's arm breaking.
The notepad fell to the floor, together with the shattered pieces of concrete from the wall.
Jacob grimaced as he tried to repress his cries of pain. He moaned as he gingerly pulled his arm out of the gaping hole in the cylinder.
I bent down to gently pick him up. His bronzed skin was shiny with sweat. He tried to smile as he gasped. "We did it, Edward."
Turning to walk towards the cavernous room we'd left a few minutes before, I smiled down at my naked lover. "No. You did it, Jake."
"Couldn't have reached that thing without you, Cullen." Jake's mouth twitched in pain. I tried to walk slowly, for once thanking my unusual vampire grace. It would keep his broken arm from jostling too much.
We met Carlisle, Embry, Seth and Alice when I'd walked a few hundred feet.
After I gently laid down Jake on the ground, Carlisle crouched and touched his arm gingerly.
"We're in luck, son, I won't have to break his arm again so it heals correctly. I'll have to set it right though."
Looking intently at my wolf, Carlisle said soothingly, "How did you manage to contain the threat, Jacob?"
"I just shifted and-" Jacob yelled when Carlisle twisted his arm sharply so the bone would heal in the correct position.
He panted, frowning at my father. "You could've warned me!"
I tore off the sleeve of my shirt and bent down to wipe the sweat off his brow.
"This way is better, Jacob." Carlisle stood up to take off his jacket, draping it gently around Jacob.
I looked at my sister. "Where's Alec?"
She sighed and then looked down at Jake. "There was something strange going on. We found the woman but there was some kind of light? The metal thingy rippled and a leg was thrown out at us. The poor woman fainted. Alec went to find Jane. They're going to gather Demetri and burn him so the mortals can't analyze his body.
oOoOo
"How did you get rid of that thing, Jake? What did you call it, Edward, irregularity?" Seth was looking at us over the edge of the leather seat.
Jake sipped his cola. "Told you, Seth. It wasn't me but the wolf. I let him run the show. I just recalled dad's words. Guess when I shifted, the weakness or the thing that had been created was trapped inside the wolf's body. It hurt a lot."
I grimaced, in all the commotion, I had missed this part. I caressed Jacob's cheek while I whispered, "I'm sorry, wolf."
Leaning into my touch, he smiled at me. "Doesn't matter, Edward."
He looked sideways at Seth, who appeared to be bouncing on the seat as the plane hit a pocket of turbulence. "I let the wolf do what he wanted. He seemed to know the drill."
"But how could he?" Seth's brow puzzled in wonderment.
"My dad would say that the wolf is a spirit and they know much more than humans." Jake finished his drink, putting it on the tray in front of him.
Crossing his arms, he turned to look at me. "There's something I don't understand. Why did the old vampire that we found in Forks turn to stone?"
This was something I could answer. I'd been pondering the same question for a while. When Jane had volunteered certain information before she and Alec returned to Volterra, I knew my hunch had been right.
"That irregularity kept rippling, remember? It went along the collider, causing the scientists to scream in fear. By the way, they were so scared I don't think they'll repeat the experiment. My guess is that it had repercussions along time and space, worldlines as Hawking calls them. They caused the vampire you met to catapult to our time, altering his body. The molecules changed slowly into stone."
I shook my head, recalling Hawking's voicemail. He'd mentioned that if conditions in the universe weren't adequate to create life, we wouldn't have evolved. There would be no one to ask why things were this way. Could it be that the world evolved vampires and shifters so we could deal with this kind of threat? When Jake touched the irregularity, he was affected and Alice could see him in her visions. Perhaps the rippling effects went back in time and affected the universe so we could exist. If so, we had been living in a parallel world all along.
But those speculations mattered little. We had prevailed, and more importantly, Jake survived. I kissed my wolf's brow while Seth whistled.
Disregarding the kid, I went on, "Jane told me that Demetri's body also turned to stone. They couldn't burn him, so they put him in a bag to be buried in Volterra."
I caressed Jake's palm with my index finger, rubbing the life line. "I think the rippling we observed made other people disappear too. Who knows? Maybe the man who walked around the horses was affected too."
"Who is that guy?"
"Tell you later, Seth." Jake smiled at the other Quileute. "Why don't you go pester Quil for a while?"
Seth winked at me. "If you want privacy for your talk with loverboy, you just had to ask, Jake."
After Seth made his way to the front of the plane, Jacob cupped my cheek. "Are we safe from the Volturi? Do you think they will try to kidnap me again?"
"Don't think so, wolf. Aro promised he'd let us be if we saved the world and we did. He is a man of his word. Besides with Demetri gone, Caius lost one of his biggest supporters. He won't be able to threaten you again."
Jake kissed me, his tongue snaking its way into my receptive mouth just as the wolf had invaded my life to stay. He murmured against my cheek, "You recall what you said on the restaurant, Edward?"
I nodded while I rubbed my thumb across his cheek. "I do."
"Now that the hallowed moon has passed, I'm going to have my wicked way with you."
"Looking forward to it, Jake."
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Date: 2011-12-05 08:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-05 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-05 10:58 pm (UTC)Great work, just like everything else.^^
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Date: 2011-12-05 11:36 pm (UTC)Thank you!!
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Date: 2011-12-05 11:41 pm (UTC)Bad combination when I'm supposed to sleep.^^ Not that I can sleep but well.^^
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Date: 2011-12-05 11:46 pm (UTC)Let's say they will be quite exhausted afterwards.^^
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Date: 2011-12-05 11:50 pm (UTC)Oh, I'm sure that they will be exhausted after the next chapter.^^ And again, my muse is running wild with possible ideas and endings.^^
I'm practically bouncing off the walls here.^^ It's a rare occasion that a fanfiction has me in such high spirits.^^
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Date: 2011-12-06 12:16 am (UTC)I put the boys in difficult situations, but I know they'll rise to the challenge^^
And what happens next? It's like the mirror image of what transpires in Breaking dawn part 1
*smiles enigmatically*
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Date: 2011-12-06 12:17 am (UTC)But thank you! I think I know what you mean and I'm so looking forward to it.^^ (Might need a sequel then? *wink*)
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Date: 2011-12-06 03:02 am (UTC)A sequel would be interesting^^
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Date: 2011-12-06 08:09 am (UTC)Neat! Loved the Cullens, La Push Pack and Volturi teaming up to save the world from the Higgs-Boson... which is created naturally by the universe even now ;) Awesome!
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Date: 2011-12-06 01:49 pm (UTC)