The Man in the Long Black Coat Chapter Eleven

Edward pulled at the lapels of his long black coat. He stowed the few items he owned into its deep pockets. His cigarettes, the Zippo, the cell phone only Bella had the number to.

His fingers brushed the chain he kept in his pocket, which made him remember his first night in town, only a couple of weeks ago. He was sad to realize that he’d already spent his last night in Forks.

He waited for Charlie to drive away and knocked firmly on Bella’s front door.

"I thought I should at least say goodbye before I left," he said when she opened the door. He didn't want to give her a chance to reply, so he continued quickly.

"Thank you for what you did for me. But it has put you in danger. You will always be in danger. And for that, I offer my sincere apologies. But this family. The Cullens. They will protect you. They mean what they say, Bella. I believe you can trust them."

He breathed in unconsciously, and quickly realized it would be the last time he inhaled her luscious scent.

“But I can’t do what they’ve asked,” he said, hanging his head. “It’s not in my nature.”

She stepped onto the porch and closed the door behind her. "Are you through? Because if you came here for a pity party, you should get the hell out."

Edward took a step back.

"Seriously, Edward. Be a man. You're such a tough guy on the outside, but I swear you're nothing but a little girl deep down sometimes."

She took another step toward him, further onto the porch, and placed a hand on his arm.

"You can do this," she said. She squeezed his arm, ran her fingers down the length of it. "You're the strongest man I've ever known Edward. The fact that you’re here and I’m still alive tells me that.” She laughed. “If those people can learn how to suck on a deer’s tit, why not you?"

He laughed. “You want the truth? I don't want to go. But I have no choice."

He sighed. "I lived like they do, briefly and long ago. That’s when I discovered that there is something inside me. Something wicked. Something I can’t control.

"You're the only reason I haven't left yet. A smarter man would have been gone before Felix's arrival. Would have seen it coming."

He turned toward the forest, shrouded in morning fog.

"I told myself I would come here. I would tell you goodbye, as a courtesy. I would walk out of town the same way I came in. I would set up in another town, as I always do. I would avoid the Cullens, hide from the Volturi. It would not be an easy life, but it would be one I know I'm capable of. One I have lived successfully for a long time."

He turned back around and covered the space between him and her in one step. He reached for her, put his hand on her cheek. She leaned into it and edged closer to him.

"But I'm torn, now, seeing you here. I don't think I'm strong enough to go. Somehow, it doesn’t matter that it would be the best for everybody. I can't leave you, Bella. Please forgive me for that."

She leaned forward as if to kiss him, but Edward drew back.

“No,” he said. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "I can't. Not now.

"If I am to stay, I must go find this cabin," he said. "Cult, family, or misguided coven, I have no choice but to let the Cullens help."

He leapt off the porch and ran for the woods. He stopped a hundred yards in. He would head for the Cullens' cabin. He could pretend to try living their lifestyle for month. It would be that much longer he'd have with Bella. That much longer until he had to give her up for good.

He walked slowly to give himself time to think. But he sensed someone nearby. A member of the Volturi guard, he was sure. Spying on him. Maybe here to kill him, despite the so-called truce with the Cullens. The Volturi couldn't be trusted to honor any agreement.

He scanned for a mind to read. There. His stalker. Whoever it was anticipated Edward’s every move. Saw several steps in advance. He thought like a military man planning an ambush.

He was good, this stalker of his.

Edward stopped walking. He waited. He heard leaves rustling behind him. He stepped from behind a tree, and Bella stood before him.

He put his finger to her lips and motioned further into the forest. “Someone’s shadowing me,” he whispered. “You shouldn’t be here. But now that you are, stay close.”

She nodded and mouthed “OK.”

He began walking, looking over his shoulder to be sure Bella stayed with him.

His shadow was just up ahead.

“Edward. Bella.”

It was the scarred one.

“Jasper!” Bella said. She apparently remembered him from their brief meeting in the woods the day before. She ran up to him, and the man clearly didn’t know what to do. Edward nearly laughed as the vampire put his arms out as if he were warding off a demon. He looked enormously uncomfortable.

“It’s so good to see you,” Bella said, stopping before she embraced him, which clearly had been her plan. She nodded toward Edward, rolling her eyes. “This one needs your help. He needs a lot of your help. Typical tough guy. Can’t cope when it comes change. Blah blah etcetera.”

“Yes. Well. I may know a thing or two about that myself,” Jasper said. “Come. It’s not far.”

They entered the cabin and Edward was taken aback by its size. It was more of a summer home for the wealthy than a cabin in the woods.

“We have a few like this, scattered about the country,” Carlisle said as he walked down a sweeping staircase.

“Sit,” he said, motioning toward the sofa. “Please.”

Edward guided Bella to the end, as far away from these vamps as possible. He did not like the idea of her in a room with so many dangerous creatures.

Bella reached for Edward’s hand, and he let her take it. She intertwined their fingers and cleared her throat.

“Just so you know,” she said, looking at Carlisle. “This is a package deal.”

“It’ll have to be,” Alice said as she entered the room. “Demetri has already told Aro about you, Bella. You’ll need our protection.”

Bella smiled wide and gripped Edward’s hand more tightly.

“We should give Edward and Jasper a moment alone,” Carlisle said. Clearly, this had been the plan all along.

Edward looked to Bella and unconsciously turned his body in front of hers.

“It’s OK, silly,” Alice said. “She’ll be fine. I’ll take good care of her.” She reached for Bella’s hand.

“If you touch one hair on her --”

“Chill out, Edward,” Bella interrupted. “I know things about people. I picked you, didn’t I? Alice is good people. I may have met her only yesterday, but I trust her. I know who I should be afraid of and who I shouldn’t. It’s OK.”

He watched them leave, fidgeting in his seat.

“I don’t know how you do it,” Jasper said, now that it was just he and Edward. His accent hinted at southern roots.

“Do what?” Edward said.

“Remain in contact with a human without ravaging her.”

“It’s not easy,” Edward said. “But there 's something special about this girl, about Bella. I find the smell of her blood almost irresistible, but it's more than that. It's almost as if she sings to me in notes only I can understand, if that makes any sense.”

Jasper smiled.

“So you’re a rogue,” he said. It was not a question. Edward nodded. “Used to be one myself,” Jasper continued. “I traveled mostly the south, Texas, Mexico, that sort of thing. Until I found Alice, or she found me. When we found Carlisle, everything changed.”

Edward said nothing.

“It’s not an easy life,” Jasper said. He waited for a response, but got none.

“I struggled. I’m still struggling. But it’s worth it. I don't have to experience the pain anymore. The guilt.”

Edward shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He probed Jasper’s thoughts. He saw a battlefield, perhaps the Civil War. Bloodshed. A woman, the name Maria. Countless victims, many of them newborn vampires. He sensed that Jasper's sorrow ran deep.

“Listen,” Jasper said, interrupting Edward. “I know this sounds like a bunch of horseshit. I wasn’t sure myself. But believe me, if I can do this, anyone can.”

Edward had heard speeches like this before. He was becoming disgusted, angry. Do-gooders like this bunch acted as if one man's pain were transferable to another. As if one man's story of torture made any difference to another man. We all suffer on our own, he thought. That's the way the world really worked.

“Do not pretend we’re brothers,” he said. He stood, and he realized that he’d raised his voice louder than he'd intended. He spoke more softly, but just as firmly. “Don’t pretend you know what I’ve been through. I know you’ve suffered great tragedy, Jasper. We all have. It is the fate of mankind to suffer. But my suffering is as different from yours as night is different from day.

"You can't imagine what it's like to see into a man's mind. To read every vile thought. To see every sickening vision. Every greedy, selfish, egocentric dream he has. It doesn't endear one to mankind as a whole."

He sat back down and scowled. Neither man spoke. Edward used the moment to calm down. No good could come from him getting upset. He was afraid he'd already revealed too much.

“Just what is it you all do, anyway?” he said after a moment, changing the subject. “You travel the world and save humanity from rogues like me? Is that it? You’re vamp rehab.”

“They’re the Superfriends,” Bella said, clomping down the stairs, arm-in-arm with Alice. “At least that’s what it sounded like when Alice just explained it to me.”

Alice gave Jasper a sheepish look.

“This was not going to end well,” she said, smiling, looking back and forth between the two men. “So I thought I’d give it a shot.” She turned to Edward. “We’re not exactly like the Superfriends,” she said. “But it is kind of like that. We try to stop bad things from happening. I see things. They’re not always clear, and they’re not always certain, but if a decision’s been made, I can usually tell where it’s headed from there. In your case? Let’s just say that there was no happily ever after. For you, or for Bella.”

Edward tensed up at hearing Bella’s name. He sighed. “What do you need me to do?”

“Lay off the humans,” Alice said. “Stay with us. If you feel the urge, talk to me. Or Jasper. Or anyone one of us. But maybe not Rosalie. She’s not thrilled to have a human in our midst.”

“She’s gorgeous, but the girl has permanent bitch-face,” Bella said. “I don’t know what her fucking problem is.”

“Rosalie is troubled,” Carlisle said, entering the room, Esme locked on his arm. “She doesn’t believe it is our place to involve a human. When she gets like this, it is impossible to reason with her.”

He smiled and took a seat in the big blue La-Z-Boy in the center of the room. He settled in and propped his hands on his knees. He looked Edward squarely in the eye.

“No man is an island, entire of itself,” he said.

“And every man is a piece of the continent.” Edward finished the sentence for him. “John Donne, 1572 to 1631. Meditation seventeen. I know it well. But what is your point?”

Carlisle smiled. He started to say something, but Edward cut him off.

“Donne was engaging in the wishful thinking of a poet,” Edward said. He rose from his chair and began pacing the room. “He saw the world as it should be, rather than as it really is. The truth is, every man is an island unto himself. That’s reality, Mr. Cullen. That’s the world we all live in. That’s what I must navigate each and every day. Alone, without anyone to back me up.”

“You don’t believe that,” Carlisle said, looking at Bella. “Not anymore.”

Edward looked at Bella too. She was smiling, almost smirking. It was infatuating and infuriating at the same time.

“How did you pick me?” Edward said, taking his eyes away from Bella and turning to Carlisle. “There must be dozens, even hundreds, of others who need your help. Who would welcome your help.”

“We choose,” Carlisle said, “based on who we believe has the worst chance of success. We choose those who need us the most.”

“You choose those who are certain to fail?” Edward laughed. He shook his head. “I’ve been saved by a pack of self-hating vampires! How wonderful.”

There was silence.

“We have had our failures, yes,” Carlisle admitted. “More than a few, if truth be told.” Edward scanned Carlisle’s mind, curious about these failures. He saw a tall, lanky vampire with sandy hair tied back with a piece of leather. He saw a beast, eyes the color of blood, tribal tattoos forming an intricate pattern across his hairless scalp, his savage mouth dripping blood.

Edward gasped.

He stood.

He paced the room and clenched his jaw and tensed his fingers into fists.

Bella went to him. She took his hand in hers and brought it to her face.

“What is it?” she said. “Talk to me, Edward. Maybe I can help.”

“It is nothing,” he said. “Nothing that matters.” He turned back to Carlisle.

“I'll join your coven,” he said. “I can’t guarantee success, but I do pledge to try.”

Alice squeaked in response. “I am so thrilled! You’re going to love it here, Edward. And so will you, Bella.” She worked her way between the two, taking both of their hands in hers.

“I promise.”

-30-

A/N You guys! Bella keeps doing and saying all kinds of crazy shit without my permission. She’s a handful, but she cracks me up. I can hardly keep her under control. And what of Edward? Do you think he’s really going to try? What’s up with his weird response at the end there? Time will tell, I suppose. (insert sinister laugh here)

Mazzy, oh, Mazzy. I do love her so. My wife/beta/bestfriendinthewholewide world MazzyStarla is kicking some major A this week. Just talking with her before I start to write the important bits makes this a better story. I can just shout out, “Hey, what’s Jasper like?” and get a response that changes the way I do things. If you like this even a teensy bit, it’s all her fault. ;)