Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Claws

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 22:

Mac had a seat on a recliner, popped open a beer bottle and leaned back, taking a long drink before he began.

“Five years ago. I’m leading a team in North Korea wilds, near the Sea of Japan. 14 of us were sent to investigate a remote communication facility that was possibly being financed by a Chinese tech company that would increase their ability to conduct cyber war on the US and allies. The mission was simple. Find and destroy, leaving no trace of our presence behind. North Korea would never admit US forces reached so far into their borders and we would not be caught by the world committing acts of war against a rogue state that could lead to escalation. Simple in an out. The trouble started about four hours after we crossed the border.”

“Monsters?” Connolly guessed.

Mac nodded. “My team starts getting picked off one at a time. No gunfire, no sounds, just flashes of movement. I ordered a fall back but it didn’t matter. It was too late by that point. I’m beginning to think we stumbled on the set of some Predator movie when I come face to face with a guy standing in this small clearing I need to cross. Korean, looked and dressed like a peasant but the son of a bitch was sparkling of all things. I take a shot and nothing.”

Seeing no surprise on the men’s faces he continued.

“I figure if an M 16 isn’t taking this bastard down at fifteen feet, I got zero chance. I decided I’d go out fighting, if I was gonna be taken out by a Korean Ken doll, so I pull my blade and attack. I don’t make two steps before a flash of black knocks the son of a bitch away. Next thing I know, I’m watching a ballerina in black spandex that looked like she had blades for her hands and feet, twirling around this thing, ripping him to pieces while roaring. Then she bit his throat out. Black goo and crystal shards everywhere. I thought about running but couldn’t take my eyes off this shit.”

“So it was Jaguar field agent?” Connolly guessed.

“Just like your girl Bella is assigned to the Northwest area of the North American continent, she was assigned to the Asian territories. Bunch of assholes surround me out of nowhere, rifles raised. I’m thinking shit, the damn Koreans got me. She calls them off though. Learned later they were her support team. She makes a call, tells me in English to stay put. Chopper lands, no markings, and she asks me to come with her. Her boys are staying behind so I figure I got nothing to lose. Wind up in her safe house. She hooks me up with food, beer and a place to sleep. Course I can’t sleep but considering I had seen this sweet kid not long ago, with very sharp fingers, toes and teeth, not to mention the yellow eyes, I stay put. Next morning, she showed up.”

“Hildebrand.” Connolly guessed and Mac nodded.

“She introduces herself, friendly as can be and explains what is going on to an extent. She seemed pretty damn nice, even as she is telling me they don’t usually leave witnesses alive. She wants me to come with her, to look at the Program a bit more, see what I think. At this point I really got nothing to lose. I knew I could snap her neck but I sure as hell wasn’t hurting a kid who saved my ass and that kid was standing beside her like a guard dog, observant and tense as hell. Up to that point she was quiet but relaxed. You put Hildebrand in the equation and those girls become protective as hell. Like rip your throat out if you make a wrong move, protective.”

Ty shook his head. “I will never understand that.”

“Because you don’t really know shit about them.” Mac told him sharply. “I go with this woman, all the way to fucking Peru. She takes me inside that damn compound. What I saw…”

The anguish in his face appears for a moment before his stoic looks returned. “I’m guessing you guys saw a bit, but you didn’t see the torture, did you? The medical experiments on babies, children fighting each other, girls being cut, shot and burned to determine how fast they can heal. I kept my face neutral. I listened to her tell me all about her little kingdom, the Organization, the girls and the others around the world like them. I figure she wouldn’t be showing me all this if she just planned to kill me. She is going to want me on a support team and when I say no, then I’m dead. Maybe I snap her neck before I go down. Instead she asks me to accompany to her place off base. Turns out she had looked into my background on her way to the scene. The Jaguar girl was impressed I hadn’t been scared of the vampire and called Hildebrand from the field.”

“So she does have a house off base.” Connolly said more to himself.

“Don’t get any ideas.” Mac told him again. “That’s exactly what I am talking about. I’ve been planning this shit for years and you hear one detail and think of it as a target.”

Connolly hook his head. “Why the fuck did I save your life again?”

“I knew he was there! I was just lulling him into a false sense of security…”

“He was about to put a machete in your back before I shot him. So does she live off base or not?”

Mac shook his head, already irritated. “She has a house off base that I stay at. She lives in the compound mostly. Doesn’t want to be far from her girls. Anyway she asks me to be her personal bodyguard. I’m thinking, yeah it would give me a chance to kill her so I agree. Then I got thinking.”

“No doubt hard for you.” Ty mumbled.

“Fuck you! While you guys were using taxpayer money to get worthless degrees in philosophy and music history, I got one in psychology. I know what the hell I’m doing. Killing Hildebrand would do no good. Someone else would just take her place and if I did the deed, I would be in no position to learn anything else. So I did it. I accompanied her off sight, I was with her when she met with politicians, assets placed around the world, heads of other supernatural programs. I killed who she wanted me to kill and didn’t ask questions. I even hired a couple guys to take a shot at her so I could save her and take them out. I built her trust. I told her everything she wanted to hear and have been continuing to do so. The only thing I never learned about the Organization were the names of the High Council. Those people are never talked about but they always make the call. There is one guy who rules over them. Nobody knows who they are except the heads of the programs.”

“So you are working Hildebrand to get the names of these assholes?” Connolly guessed, impressed that this guy had that much patience.

“Better. Hildebrand wants to take over the council. She told me about six months ago. She wants it all, all the leaders dead and her in charge with her own people. She has people all over the world in influential positions loyal to her and not the Organization. She is going to make a move. We are. I am going to take out Organization assets to pave the way for her people. Then once she is in control, I’m with her and have everyone in the council together in one place, I kill them all, send out information to every journalist in the world, send information to the FBI, Interpol, MI6, CIA, blow the whole thing wide open. Take the head off the snake…”

“Hold up.” Webb stopped him. “You plan to put that bitch in charge?”

“Of course dumbass. For maybe five minutes., then I kill her. Bella will kill me as soon as I take out Hildebrand but that doesn’t matter. I got my own means to send out the information that needs to get out even if I’m dead. I don’t know the names of the Organization’s assets in the Governments and intelligence agencies. I will learn them as I am being given targets and will know the name of Hildebrand’s people. Grunt work. What about you assholes? How did you get involved? President volunteered you for a support team and you idiots thought you could save one girl from the Organization, maybe talk her into helping and take out the whole thing? You can’t possibly believe you can pull that off. Any idea of how big this group of assholes are?”

Connolly nodded his head. “We got Vivian.”

“And how long has she been working it? Since Bella came to Forks right? Got any names?”

The men looked at each other, not wanting to admit that while breaking inside the Compound system to learn about the Jaguars was easy, information on the Organization as a whole was a lot harder to find. So far, they had a junior Congressman who was a nobody.

“Besides the point. We have what you don’t. We got Bella.” Connolly told him.

Mac laughed, finished his beer and walked into the kitchen. He reentered with another beer and had a seat.

“You got nothing then. Bella is going to be by Hildebrand’s side when she takes over. She will be with me killing the targets her so called Mother deems necessary. She will do whatever that woman says.”

“Bullshit. You don’t know anything about Bella.” Ty told him defensively.

“Do you?” Mac asked. “You’ve known her, what, a few months? I’ve listened to Hildebrand obsess over that girl for years. She put Bella through hell to make her stronger. Everything she has done to that girl has been to control her. She put Bella in the right situations, like Italy, knowing if she survived, she would get stronger and more feared. A knife that isn’t sharpened constantly, grows dull so she keeps pushing her. Hildebrand controls all those girls and she doesn’t need some hunk of metal to do it. Over five hundred girls from newborn to 18 in that Compound and everyone old enough to walk would kill at her word.”

Connolly shook his head. “Not Bella. She has changed. The longer she has been away from her, she is realizing what Hildebrand has done to her, that she has been…”

“You’re still an idiot, Connolly. I’ll give you credit, if I had to rely on a frogman to plan a battle, I would take you. Figuring out what goes on in someone’s head, ain’t exactly in your wheelhouse. I know what I have seen. Hildebrand needs Bella, more than ever after this last mission. She will have her. She already does.” Mac told him.

Webb cleared his throat and looked at the others who seemed to agree. At this point they had nothing to lose and could always send the Cullens, Leah and Charlie to Alaska with a five minute extraction plan.

“Let me give you an idea of what Bella has been up to since she has been in Forks.” Webb told him.

Twenty minutes later, Mac knew everything, her friendship with the Cullens, her magical link to a human female, her improving relationship with her father and discovery about the world around her.

Mac nodded then laughed. “You guys really are dumb. Do you know why Hildebrand let her best weapon loose on the world? She wanted Bella to see she could never be a part of it. Everything that woman does has a purpose. You say she is close to her father? Great. You say she is friends with animal eating vampires, that’s great. Hildebrand would blow a gasket if she found out about this but all it does is prove her point.”

“She thinks Bella doesn’t belong here. Bella is seeing she does.” Connolly argued.

Mac raised an eyebrow and shook his head. “So let’s see, she goes to high school and rather than spending time with humans, has lunch with vampires every day. She is somehow magically linked to a human female but the biggest declaration of love she has made is breaking a guy’s face and sending him to the hospital for talking shit about this female. When she isn’t running through the woods looking to fight supernatural creatures or training wolf shifters, she is hanging out with you guys, more disturbingly Gavin. Yep, sounds like she is fitting into humanity seamlessly. Perfectly normal life.”

“Her father…” Connolly started.

“You don’t get it!” Mac yelled. “This isn’t a girl needing to be away for a while and suddenly the woman’s hold is gone! This place and these girls are a cult. They would need years of deprogramming to ever be able to function normally in society. A bunch of teenage girls live together and never fight unless ordered to for training. They don’t argue, there is no jealousy, no envy, nothing you would expect to see from children and teens. They are dedicated to each other and everyone is dedicated to their so called Mother. In that place Mother is God to them and after this last mission Bella is her prophet if not Christ himself! She got gutted in the field, lost most of her blood, her shoulder and side were missing huge chunks of flesh, and a few days later she was in the gym lifting more than she ever had before! That’s why she is so important to Hildebrand. If any of those girls have any qualms about turning on the Organization by following their Mother in a coup, Bella will dispel those doubts. They follow their Mother because they have been programmed to do so since birth. They follow Bella because they want to. They look at her with reverence. Bella will do exactly what Hildebrand wants! Why are you not getting this?”

Ty stood up quickly. “Bella is changing! She has changed!” the man yelled, stepping closer to the former Green Beret.

“She had been in the compound less than 12 hours before Hildebrand manipulated her into killing two people and eating a third. She ate a guy, the guy that named her incidentally. You people are out of your league. She may be different without her Mother around but the minute Hildebrand shows up, Bella will do what she says. The woman will be coming to Forks once a month at least, calling Bella in for a couple days a month to Peru to check her progress. Wait until her Mother gets here. Hildebrand will no doubt want to meet this Charlie Swan and you, maybe all of you. She will tell Bella to kneel at her feet and the girl will do it without hesitation in front of you all.”

“Because she has to.” Connolly stressed. “Wait, did you say she ate a guy? Like, ate, ate? Or just… she ate a guy, huh?”

Mac shook his head and took a deep breath. “Has she ever once said she would take specifically Hildebrand down? Even hint at it?”

The group looked at each other before Connolly shrugged his shoulders.

“She asked me if I could kill Mother.” the man admitted. “Because she couldn’t.”

Mac nodded his head, not surprised. “She is right. She loves the woman. The same woman who has tortured and manipulated her, her entire life. Bella has spots now. She is becoming a full Jaguar shifter and she is going to believe she needs Hildebrand more than ever. Taking her to a few movies, having a mystical girlfriend and a few fishing trips with Dad is not going to undo a lifetime of manipulation and brainwashing. By the way, the kill codes you guys have. They don’t work on her. Hildebrand is hoping you would have tried to use it. That way Bella could kill you all and Hildebrand would take the credit for protecting her, by disabling your kill code. Don’t you get it? She has everything planned. The only chance I got is to get them all in one place and kill the human council members. When I do, Bella will kill me but it will be too late to stop the information from going public. With the heads gone, chaos in the ranks, the Organization exposed to the world, the UN will have to publicly acknowledge these kids’ existence and can’t hide them from the world to use as their own personal weapons.”

Connolly couldn’t believe that. “You won’t die, because Bella will know you are on our side. We let her in…”

“No!” Mack shouted, standing over the man. “She cannot know. She can take part in all the plans you can talk her into doing but she cannot know about me. If she knows I plan to betray Hildebrand she will kill me. If she stood between you and Hildebrand with a gun in her hand and a decision to make, she would kill you without a second thought, Connolly. Manson, Jim Jones, David Koresh, none of them are in Erin Hildebrand’s league when it comes to manipulating people, specifically young girls. These girls may hate the torture but everyone believes she did it to make them better, stronger. They accept their deaths as foregone conclusions and fight without fear on her word. Don’t say a damn word about me. Bella will follow Hildebrand’s plan; I get them all in one place and its over. Talk to the President while this is going on, make sure he is ready to act when it comes. I will give you a heads up, but until then, you carry on with whatever plan you can come up with and I will carry on with mine.”

The room was silent for a while, the men not having anything to say, drinking beer and gathering their thoughts.

“Why Bella?” Ty finally asked. “Why does Hildebrand have such a thing for her? Why not some other girl?”

Mac’s face fell a bit. “When the girls are 12, they are taught to kill. They are given guns and told to shoot a person in the Compound, execution style. Its always some homeless or addict from Rio or surrounding villages. The girls have a tough time with it. Killing isn’t easy for any person, not for the first time and not at that age. Most of them break down afterward and get a special dose of Hildebrand’s encouragement. Not Bella. She shot her target in the chest twice, and stood over him, watching him die, not a hint of remorse or any other emotion. Hildebrand was over the moon. They had all expected great things from her. Something about her genetic make up being perfect. There was concern over the years though. Mostly concerns about her size. she is what, 5’7 maybe 115? They thought she would be larger, stronger. Surprisingly her stature didn’t make her weak at all. After every fight her physical strength increased. Her claws became sharper, her teeth harder, her speed and strength increasing. The more she takes the stronger she becomes. She lifted a ton a few days after being gutted. She has spots on her now. She is what Hildebrand has dreamed every Jaguar would become. Every test Bella went through, every battle she survived, showed her that Bella was the one to stand by her side, to ensure the loyalty of all the girls. She controls Bella. I get it. You guys think you are doing good but its going to take years after Hildebrand is dead to deprogram her, if it is even possible. She might just go down with the ship.”

“And you might be seriously underestimating Bella.” Connolly pointed out.

Mac shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe I am. Either way, the best plan of action is to let us take part in these assassinations, get Hildebrand to the top and then kill her. Prepare yourself Connolly. The good doctor will be here in less than three weeks and when she does, try not to let it surprise you when Bella drops to her knees without thinking and allows this woman to pet her like a tame kitten. Enough of this. Tell me about these missions you guys have gone on.”

Ty sat back in his chair. “First you tell me one thing Mac. I’ll know if you are lying. You fucking this bitch?”

Mac actually laughed. “Hildebrand doesn’t have sex. She doesn’t get off the same way humans do. She gets her kicks from watching her girls. She watched Bella with her girlfriend, watches all those girls. They have cameras all over, even in their bedrooms and bathrooms. She gets off on having them kneel at her feet or sleep at the foot of her bed. She could care less about something as banal as sex. We have all met some evil motherfuckers in our lives but I promise you, she beats every one of them.”

Connolly sat back for a moment and thought of what the man had said. Something wasn’t adding up. If Hildebrand was so manipulative, going as far as sending Bella into the field to realize she didn’t belong among humans… but that made no sense. The woman couldn’t have predicted the future, could she? But what if… of course. He felt a chill run through his body and rushed out of the house, then returned ten minutes later to a silent waiting room.

Nothing was said, the team members confused, Mac wondering what the man was up to and Connolly hoping he was right and part of him hoping he was wrong. One thing didn’t make sense, one thing that stood in Hildebrand’s way of sending Bella to Forks had kept bugging him, enough to send a quick call to Vivian.

Connolly’s phone buzzed. He knew he was right; knew she wouldn’t be calling unless she had found evidence in the one place he asked her to look.

He picked up his phone, listened to Vivian, thanked her, then smiled sadly at Mac.

“I had a hunch. Would you be willing to meet with our entire team, lay this all out for Bella if I told you I could break Hildebrand’s hold on Bella today, forever?”

Mac quietly laughed. “You manage to do that I’ll bring a case of Cuervo to the vampire house and we can play board games while talking about taking Hildebrand out. Its not going to happen.”

Connolly grinned. “One problem. You said Hildebrand planned all this, even going as far as sending Bella to Forks if she survived the Italian mission, right?”

“Yeah, its the truth. She told me about it a week before the Italian mission. Bella needed to win, to cement her place as a legend to those girls.”

“One small problem. Bella blames herself for Julie’s death, said she got lost in a bloodlust and took her eye off her. But what if Julie hadn’t died? What if she stayed by Bella’s side and they both survived? I may not have a degree in psychology but I fucked a psychologist once. Hildebrand wouldn’t want Bella’s loyalties split, right? What would have happened if Julie had survived? Would the girl have come to Forks with Bella? Not a chance. Would Bella have resisted coming to Forks without Julie? Of course she would have. I just had Vivian check out everything she could find on the Italian mission. Guess what? Julie never had a chance to stay by Bella’s side. Julie’s kill code was activated as soon as the battle started.”

“You gotta be shitting me.” Mac whispered.

“Yep, Hildebrand killed Julie. Think that might change the way Bella thinks of her?”

No one said a word, before Ty mumbled, “That evil fucking bitch.”

Mac took a deep breath. “Should probably take me to these vampires. Looks like we are having dinner there tonight. Is the place isolated?”

“Very.” Connolly assured him.

“Good, because I have a feeling if you drop this bomb on her she is going to go crazy. You know this is going to destroy her, right? Everything she believed, finding out the woman she considered a mother is the one responsible for killing the one girl she ever loved… this could blow up in our faces.”

“I’ll tell her. She needs to know. If she plans to blindly follow this woman, she needs to know everything, don’t you think?” Connolly asked.

“If she doesn’t rush off to Peru tonight, she will kill Hildebrand when she arrives here and my plan is trash.” Mac pointed out, rubbing his forehead.

Connolly disagreed. “I’m not keeping this from her. She won’t rush off. She will play the game but she is going to do it for the right reasons. I’ll tell her tonight. We both will. You on board or what? Like it or not, we are in this together now.”

Mac nodded his head after a moment.

“Better drink a lot more beer Connolly. You are about to shatter a 17 year old girl’s mind.”

Connolly shook his head. “Her mind has been shattered her whole life. This is a chance to put it back together. She has something she hasn’t had, ever. A real family. You’re plan has merit. Its a solid plan. But I won’t play Bella into believing she is working for Hildebrand. You in or not?”

Bella

It was so strange to be back. It had been a week but it seemed like a lifetime ago. As soon as I had dropped Mac off, I called the Cullens. Esme wanted to rush over, they all did and as much as I wanted to see them, I couldn’t. Telling them a member of the Organization was here was tough. They would have to stay low until Mac was gone.

I also told them Mother was coming here soon. Promising I would be at the mansion as soon as I knew Mac was at Connolly’s asleep, I pulled up to Charlie’s house.

I was so used to feeling the tightness in my chest it caught me by surprise when it was gone. Her truck wasn’t in the drive but Leah was here.

Why was Leah here? Maybe Connolly or Charlie called her, let her know I was coming back. It was too dangerous for her to be here.

Of course Mac didn’t have a car and Connolly would warn me if the man tried to watch me without my knowledge.

Before I could reach the door, Charlie was out of the house. He had his arms around me in seconds.

I hugged him, careful not to squeeze to tight and break his bones.

How did I become so attached to him that it felt so good to be in his arms? This wasn’t supposed to happen but it did. What would Mother say if she knew? No, Mother could never know. She would send me away or do something to take him out of the equation. She wouldn’t allow me to stay. If she knew about the vampires… Leah… what was I going to do? Mother trusted me but wasn’t I betraying her trust, keeping these secrets from her?

Charlie finally pulled back from me and met my eyes.

“Gonna ground me for leaving without a word?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Instead of answering, he ran a finger over the thin scar that now traced my forehead at my hairline, the spot that had been ripped and exposed my skull.

“Vampires?”

“Worse.”

He nodded. “The Cullens were in Peru. They saw you all land. They said you were…”

“I lived.” I told him, seeing no need to mention how close it had been. He already knew judging by his face.

“Please never do that to me again. I get it, you had to go, but finding out you were gone… I realize you don’t owe me anything, much less a notice but…”

“Dad? Calm down, please? I knew you would try to talk me out of it. I didn’t have a choice. It was better that way. We have a lot to talk about. I doubt I will be called in like that again but there are going to be visits from Mother, I went through some changes after this last fight and she is going to have to watch me closely for physical changes. I’m not worried though. It will all be fine. For the first time in a long time I think we have a chance. Mother told me things, plans… it’s a good thing. She is turning on the Organization. We are going to take it over, change things. I’ll be able to see you when I want as soon as things die down. Everything has changed. It’s going to take time and I will have a lot of work to do but it will be okay.”

I expected to see excitement in his eyes, a sense of joy or relief, something. Instead I saw confusion giving way to what could be… horror?

“Bella, what the hell are you talking about?” he asked.

“Mother. She opened up to me. I’ve finally made it, become what I needed to become and I’m ready. She wants me by her side. We are going to take over the inner council, control the Organization. She is going to change things, really change things. I’m going to get to have a say. The guy that came with me, Mac, he is a good guy. We are…”

“Bella, listen to yourself.” he said quietly.

“I am. Are you listening to me? We can end this with no danger to you, Leah, the Cullens, the guys. I can help end this. She has a plan. Me and Mac handle taking out the people who need to be taken out, we put her people in place and we are in charge! Think about it! We can do so much good, protect the world, stop taking children from their parents, reproduce our own, end the programs that aren’t working…”

“Bella. Stop. What happened to you? This is the woman who tortured you your whole life and you expect her to change the Organization for the better? You expect her to let you have any say…”

“She didn’t torture me. She tested me, made me stronger. Strong enough to survive, to win. I’m stronger than I ever have been right now and its because of her. We can change the world, protect humanity, banish evil from this world. I was wrong about her. I should have known and I guess maybe after Julie’s death and coming here I got confused but its all so clear now. We can… why are you looking at me that way?”

The man looked scared of me. Had my eyes shifted? My sight seemed normal, I checked my hands and saw no claws or spots. Why had the color drained from his face?

“Leah is here. Why?” I asked, hoping to snap him out of whatever the hell was wrong with him. Maybe it would take him a while to get used to the idea or he was needlessly worried about my safety.

“She… uh, when you were gone, the ache you normally feel when you are apart from her, did it get worse?” he asked.

“Of course . It felt like a sledgehammer had caved my chest in constantly.” I told him, not feeling the need to tell him that actually happened to me once. He was pale enough in his current state.

“How were you able to function?”

I shrugged my shoulders, remembering the sharp flare of pain in Siberia that caused me to hesitate and pierced by one of the ghoul’s claws that nearly ripped me open. Other than that flare up it was just a constant crushing pain that I had gotten used to and blocked out.

“It’s just pain, Dad. Mother taught me to live with it long ago and put it out of my mind. It felt like I couldn’t breathe but I could, I didn’t panic, came to peace with it and moved on. Why?”

Charlie looked at the house towards the second floor.

“Leah felt it too. But Leah… she can’t exactly handle pain like that. She couldn’t eat, had a hard time breathing. Her parents and Billy brought her here, hoping being near your things might calm her down. It helped a bit but Carlisle needed to sedate her. He is in your room with her, has been for days. Sue is there as well. Harry and Billy left last night.”

Oh shit. Of course Leah couldn’t handle that pain. Damn this imprint! She must have been hurting so badly. If it bothered me, it must have been so much worse for her.

“I need to see her.” I told him, dropping my bag and running inside.

Once I opened my door, I felt my heart break. She looked horrible. I could tell she was drugged by her eyes. Carlisle was in a chair by the side of her bed, taking her pulse. Her hair was wild, and her face looked as if she hadn’t slept in days.

“Bella? Is it really you?”

I moved quickly to her side and grabbed her hand. She was so cold but that buzz I had associated with her touch was still there. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until that moment. She was smiling though even as she fought to stay awake.

“Yeah, its really me. I’m back. I’m sorry I had to leave. I didn’t think this would happen to you. I am so sorry, Leah. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m just glad you are back. Don’t let go of my hand, please.” she mumbled and closed her eyes. Soon her breathing leveled out and I could tell she was asleep. I chanced a glance at Carlisle. He was looking at me strangely like Charlie but I recognized the emotion on his face.

He was looking at me with pity.

“What?”

“I heard you talking to Charlie in the front yard.”

I figured as much. You would think he would be excited, not having to put his wife and family at risk. I didn’t understand the pity though.

“As soon as Mac is asleep tonight, I will be over to explain everything. Its good news Carlisle, I promise.”

The man stared at me for a moment longer and finally smiled. “I’m glad you are back Bella. We were all… we weren’t sure if we would see you again. The children were in Peru when you arrived back at the base…”

“Whoa! They were near the base?”

He nodded. “Edward was reading minds of the people in the base as best as he could from a distance, trying to find out your state. I know you were… can I see? I notice the scar on your skull but I think I need to examine your collarbone and… if you could come to the hospital, quietly of course I can run some tests on your abdomen and make sure everything has healed properly.”

I shook my head. There was no need to risk me entering a hospital. “I’m fine. I was out of bed the next night, I think. The next morning I lifted 2000 pounds and ran for 30 minutes. Everything checked out okay. I’m actually faster and stronger before the fight. Mother told me some things about my physical changes. Apparently before the control subject changed the vampire venom increased in her blood to strengthen her. I’m already changing Carlisle but Mother thinks I can handle it. I’m already changing at a steadier rate than the control subject. Look.”

I gently let go of Leah’s hand and raised my arms. When I shifted, I could tell he was surprised by the rosettes that covered my body.

“On the bright side, no tail or extra body hair so I got that going for me. I believe when I change that I can shift back to human. Perhaps I can even control the extent of my shift. I would hate all my hand to hand combat skills go to waste and have to learn to fight like a complete animal. I can see being a full Jaguar would have its benefits though…”

Carlisle placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Calm down Bella. You are scarred, Were you fighting vampires?”

I shook my head. “No, something a lot worse. Ghouls. I’ll tell you all about it tonight.”

“Would you raise your shirt? Just your abdomen. I want to see the scar.”

I took a quick look at Leah to make sure she was asleep. This was the worst scar I had ever received and the bite marks on my collar bone and rib cage weren’t much better.

Raising my shirt I became irritated immediately when I saw more pity in his eyes.

“Cut it out Doc. It was close but I survived. I think the blood loss dulled most of the pain. By the time it occurred and I realized it, I was close to blacking out. I don’t even remember the trip from Siberia to Peru, so it didn’t hurt that bad. I don’t exactly want to show this off so don’t tell Esme. I know she would cry and I don’t think I could handle that. She has too good of a heart to see something like this.”

“You have a good heart too. Sue is taking a nap in Charlie’s room. I’m going to wake her just to inform her that you are back and Leah is sleeping and much better. I’ll leave you two alone for a while. Charlie and I need to talk. He has been very worried.”

I looked at Leah sleeping peacefully and took her hand gently.

“Sounds good. Thanks for taking care of her, Carlisle.”

The man nodded and then stopped at my door. He turned to face me once more.

“Bella?”

“Yes?”

“That monster is not your mother. Remember that.”

An hour later, Sue Clearwater woke, took Carlisle’s former seat and held Leah’s other hand while I stayed vigil over her.

“I didn’t know this would happen. Any of it. I’m sorry.” Bella whispered to Leah’s mother, who until this point she had never met.

The woman smiled sadly and shook her head. “Some things we are never given a choice. We make the best of it. You had no choice to go. We survived. Tell me, did you feel it too?”

I nodded.

“Then how did you live, operate, keep it hidden?”

How do I explain this to a woman who childbirth is the greatest pain she has received in this life.

“Pain doesn’t matter. We learn to compartmentalize it, put it in a box and ignore it. We have to. If we focus on pain we are distracted. If we are distracted, we lose. If we lose, we lose the battle and die. That isn’t an option so Mother trains us our whole lives, trains us to be immune to pain. I feel pain, it just doesn’t matter. Pain can be good to someone like me. It lets me know I am still alive. Leah has never felt that kind of pain thankfully. I don’t want her to have to ever again but I will be taking trips, having to return to Peru for a couple days a month and perhaps traveling the country or other countries, taking care of tasks assigned by Mother. I won’t be gone long, not like this time but it will hurt. I will work with her, teach her to meditate through the pain, handle it and still be able to function. They key is knowing that even though the pain makes you feel like you are going to die, know that you won’t and continue functioning.”

Sue shook her head and smiled.

“You’ve had a lot of pain in our life, haven’t you? You’ve grown up with nothing but pain, right? Charlie hasn’t told me much but from what I gathered I can take a guess that your life has been hell.”

“When you grow up in hell, you don’t know that it is hell. You become used to it. I used to hate the pain. There were many times I hated Mother. But because of what she did, I am still alive now.”

It was then that Leah woke up again, to find her mother holding one of her hands and other in mine.

“Feeling better?” Sue asked.

Leah nodded her head but her eyes stayed on me.

“You are really here? I thought I felt you die.” she told me quietly, almost a whisper.

“I don’t die easily. I’m sorry you hurt so much. There is so much we don’t know… I didn’t think it would get worse the farther I was away. I will help you. We will learn to deal with being apart long distances. It isn’t going to be pleasurable.”

“Or you could stay close. I’m sorry, what I said, what I asked before you left. It wasn’t right and I won’t bring it up again. Just don’t leave. I never thought I would see you again.”

Bella leaned over and kissed Leah gently on the forehead.

“We have a lot to talk about, calmly I promise. Wait until these sedatives are out of your system completely and we will I promise. Its going to be okay Leah. I will make sure you stay okay.”

My phone rang from my pocket. I pulled it out and saw Mac’s number. Motioning to Sue and Leah to be quiet, I stepped out into the hall.

“Mac? They get on your nerves already. I can bring you the car, give you a tour of the town. Charlie is helping take care of a friend’s daughter so she can be close to the Hospital if she needs it. Her mother is here with her so its probably best if you don’t stop by yet.”

“I’m catching a ride with Connolly. Meet me at the Cullens in two hours.”

I instantly tensed. No, he couldn’t know about the Cullens. If he knew he would tell Mother who would send a force after all of them, know that I was lying to her, Charlie, probably Leah would have to go into hiding.

“I… I don’t know who you are talking about.”

How would I explain killing Mac before he could talk? I couldn’t anyway. I wasn’t near him and it would only take a few seconds for him to text. Mother needed Mac and me to execute her plan. How the hell did he find out? Did Connolly tell him? Why would he?

I heard Mac take a deep breath followed by a shaky exhale.

“It’s time we talked. Really talked. Its time you know exactly what I am to Hildebrand, what I am planning to do to her… it’s time you know the truth about what she has done to you. Do not call her. Just meet with me. Everyone will be there. Bella… you are going to hear some things that aren’t going to be easy to cope with. I need you to promise to stay calm.”

What kind of promise is that? How could I stay calm when my world was spinning already. Who was this man? Was he not dedicated to Mother? I never picked up any deception in his voice. He has been with her for years. What was he saying? He wanted me to remain calm. Calm about what exactly?

“I can’t promise that.” I decided on.

“Yeah, I guessed. Could you at least promise to not tell Hildebrand about any of this until you hear what I have to say?”

That was easy. He knew about the Cullens. How could I call Mother without turning them in as well.

“Yes, that I can promise. I will see you in two hours.”

In two hours, this would make sense. It had to. I needed some control over my life. Everything felt like is was being twisted, like I was on one of those rollercoasters I had seen in a movie, having no control, being turned upside down, just a passenger along for the ride.

I knew everything about Mother. I knew what she did to make me stronger, I finally knew she loved me, I could make this world a better place and still have my friends and new family in it. I just had to trust her.

What could Mac, an apparent traitor ever say to me that would make me doubt her?