Allies

Chapter 2: Allies

Summary: Instead of James, Victoria & Laurent finding Bella & the Cullens in the field, The Bringers do.

Disclaimer: I certainly don’t own any of these characters.

Notes: This story is set during S7 of BtVS and begins during the baseball game during Twilight. I have now seen the movie – three times actually – but this story is still based on the Bookverse. I don’t usually write 1st person POV, so please wish me luck on remembering to do so!

Thank you to MaraLiz & Rorylondra for your beta help! FaithSummers also helped out on this chapter, so thank you as well!


Edward

No! It just wasn’t possible. Not my Bella, I thought as I clutched Bella closer to me. Even as Dawn explained what a Vampire Slayer was, the images that flew through Faith’s mind terrified me, especially the image of her first…Watcher…being eviscerated by a cloven-foot monster. I would never let Bella face such a creature as long as I was still alive. I met Carlisle’s eyes briefly and heard his thought clearly. He already loved Bella simply because I loved her. He would help me to protect her.

Dawn’s mind was more subtle than Faith’s had been. Where the older one’s mind was full of sharp edges and innuendo, mostly covering up a deep-seated insecurity, Dawn was refreshingly open, observing without automatic judgment. She had already come to realize that we were no threat to Bella. As she had expressed just before the battle, she was aware of our true natures, but she also seemed to figure out pretty quickly that Bella was a part of our family and we would not allow her to be harmed. Her internal thoughts, although slightly strange – and green for some reason – matched her warm smile as she slowly approached us.

The redhead’s mind was closed to me. I only caught a fleeting glimpse before she shut me out. Truthfully, I was more afraid of what they hesitated to tell us than what they were open about. More Bringers would come, they said. The safest place for Bella to be would be in Sunnydale, where they could protect her.

I should have known that Bella would agree to go with them, especially once they mentioned that it would keep her family safer if she was nowhere near them right now. My Bella always puts everyone else above herself. It was Emmett who asked to have a moment for us to have a family meeting. She seemed surprised when we all huddled around her, but I just squeezed her shoulder and turned to Carlisle, answering his unasked question.

“Yes, they are telling the truth. It would be safer for everyone that Bella loves if she wasn’t near them at the moment,” I told them, making sure that my voice didn’t carry over to the three newcomers.

“But, will Bella be safer there?” Esme asked.

“She’s not really safe anywhere,” Dawn’s voice cut in and even I was surprised to find her standing within our circle.

“I thought we were having a family moment,” Rosalie noted, her voice clipped.

Dawn just shrugged, “I got lonely.”

I looked up and realized that the other two women had disappeared. Before Carlisle could even voice his question, her thoughts echoed her spoken words.

“There was another Potential in trouble. Not as many Bringers as this time, but there was no time to waste and we won’t leave a Potential in the field without back-up, so I stayed behind since it’s unlikely that they’ll try to get Bella again so soon and Faith backed me when I said that I could get Bella to Sunnydale safely,” she said, then hesitated for a moment.

In those few seconds, I caught her stray thought, and swallowed needlessly. I knew in that moment that she and Bella put together would be a very dangerous concept. Rolling my eyes, I answered the girl’s unvoiced rhetorical question, “Dawn, we have plenty of cars. You don’t need to hotwire one in town.”

My comment sparked several reactions among my family members, including, of course, Bella.

“She can’t have my car,” from Rosalie.

“Of course, we’ll use our cars,” from Carlisle. He had apparently already decided that we would be traveling to Sunnydale with Bella, and I was incredibly grateful for his instant resolve.

“You know how to hotwire a car?” from both Emmett and Bella. Yeah, Bella and Dawn together would definitely be trouble, I realized and could see the same thought reflected in Esme’s eyes.

“Wait,” Jasper cut through the commotion, “they left you here with no visible means of transportation and just assumed that you would be able to get back to Sunnydale with Bella on your own? Why would they think it was possible?”

“Hey, my record speaks for itself,” Dawn smiled cryptically to the others, but she was well aware that I could hear her thoughts and the image of a rap sheet in her mind, compounded with a bleached-blond man teaching her to play poker, congratulating her on her win when he honestly couldn’t tell that she had been bluffing, simultaneously reassured me of her capability and also strengthened my resolve to keep Bella away from her influence. I rolled my eyes and snorted, As though I could keep Bella from doing anything that she set her mind to.

As usual, Carlisle was the voice of reason, “Let’s take this discussion somewhere more suitable to our human companions. I will go with Bella, Edward and Dawn. Everyone else, please meet us back at the house.”

After a quick nod of agreement, the rest of the family took off running into the woods and Bella climbed onto my back. Carlisle approached Dawn and after a quick word with her, she took off her vest of knives and handed them to my father. She then reached out and Carlisle stepped into her embrace. As soon as he knew she had a good grip on him, he nodded to me and we took off running back to the Jeep. I expected to hear fearful thoughts coming from the young girl, but she seemed to be enjoying the speed. Remarkably, she trusted Carlisle to transport her safely.

Through the slight green haze, which was becoming more transparent as I was near her, I even heard her inner commentary: Vampire Transportation, the eco-friendly taxi service.

It seemed there was not much that could dampen the girl’s spirit, even in the face of all that I had seen in her mind earlier. We reached the vehicle and even Carlisle could see her disappointment that the run was over. Even as he deposited her in the back seat and secured her seat belt and safety harness, he promised her that he would take her running again sometime.

I secured Bella in beside her and revved the engine before swinging around and heading back to the road. Apparently, that was Dawn’s cue to begin asking question after question. Carlisle and I had difficulty keeping up with her curious mind and had explained our ‘vegetarian’ diet and that we usually needed to go hunting every few weeks to control our hunger. She took everything in stride, although she did pout for a few minutes when we told her that we would not take her hunting with us. Her mind kept working, though, even in her silence. She wondered if we could drink blood bought from the butcher shop and if getting blood from the blood bank counted as eating ‘people’ since no one actually got hurt. It honestly made me a little nervous that she actually knew how and where diseased donated blood was disposed of as well as how much of a bribe it took to liberate some of that blood. Apparently, Hep C tainted blood is all the rage among the vampire population in Sunnydale at the moment. The image of the blond man again, this time chained up in a basement of some sort, drinking a red liquid through a straw stuck into a happy face mug nearly caused me to veer off of the road.

Having been on the receiving end of Bella’s insistence that my driving was too much for a human heart to handle, I had expected to hear some type of protest from Dawn as I corrected course and stepped harder on the gas pedal, but the only sound came from Bella as she growled my name. This broke Dawn’s sulking silence and she waved her hand at Bella, “Are you kidding? He’s like ten times a better driver than my sister. I’m numb to insane driving at this point. So far, I’ve always gotten there alive. Not always completely in one piece, but alive.”

“So, tell me more about this ‘Slayer’ business,” Bella demanded and I had to stifle a groan. Of course, Bella would want to get involved with whatever life-threatening event was about to happen. I saw the chance that I could possibly keep her out of the line of fire disappearing with every question she asked.

Dawn went through the gamut of demons and monsters that a Slayer often faced and Carlisle and I exchanged a glance. There was no way that I was letting Bella face even one monster by herself. This monster would protect her from every other monster out there, I told myself. Carlisle’s thoughts were in line with my own, well, except for the monster part anyway, and as Dawn began to tell us about the current Apocalypse on the horizon, as soon as she mentioned that some of the girls were hurt, the last remaining shred of resistance in Carlisle broke and I knew Alice would have seen his resolve to go to Sunnydale and would likely already have everyone packing for the trip.

“There is one thing, though,” Bella started.

“Ask me anything. I’m the one person who will be completely honest with you,” Dawn told her encouragingly and I read in her mind that she was telling the truth. Her thoughts were becoming increasingly clearer to me and I wondered if it was because she trusted us enough to let her guard down a little or if my ability was simply adapting to her strange mind. The green haze was completely gone now.

“Well, what are we going to tell Charlie? It’s not like he’s just going to let me leave town with no explanation,” Bella posed the problem.

“I actually have something that will help with that,” Dawn explained. In the rearview mirror, I saw her pull out a small pouch. “If you sprinkle this stuff in his food, he’ll just believe anything you tell him. It’s not ideal, but the Watchers’ Council came up with this as an alternative to kidnapping baby girls to raise them as Potential Slayers. Some parents were honored to have their daughters possibly be chosen, but most parents really aren’t keen on sending their daughters into an early, bloody death, so in times of emergencies, we have some. Most of the parents of the Potentials already in Sunnydale were either already under a Watcher’s care or Bringers killed their parents, so we haven’t had too many cases where we’ve had to convince a parent that it is everyone’s best interest to let you come with us.”

“I don’t like the idea of lying to Charlie,” Bella commented, but I knew that, ultimately, Bella would do what she needed to in order to protect her father.

“Hey, if I had parents, I wouldn’t want to lie to them either,” Dawn offered her in consolation.

Bella’s voice broke as she asked, “Did something k-kill them?”

I wished that I could be in the backseat and drive at the same time, but Dawn was quick to comfort Bella. She shook her head and clarified, “My mom had a brain tumor. The doctors thought they got it all out, but she had an aneurysm and died anyway. We called my dad a few times, but he never called us back, so he missed the funeral. He was busy being in Europe with his secretary at the time. I haven’t actually spoken with him in over a year now. Now that Buffy is back, she talked to him long enough to get official custody of me. I think he was glad that he didn’t have to worry about me anymore.”

Dawn covered up the pain she felt well for a human and I realized that her time playing poker with the blond man had paid off. It was only my century of life experience that had allowed me to hear the true undercurrent of emotion in her thoughts. I knew that it would only be a matter of time before Esme was mothering the girl within an inch of her life.

“Wait,” Carlisle interrupted his train of thought. “You said ‘back’. Did your sister leave for school?”

“No,” Dawn replied, without further explanation. Even her mind was silent on that front and when Carlisle looked at me for further explanation, I couldn’t give it to him.

I saw a flash of pain cross Bella’s face and I knew that she must have some extra piece of knowledge that I did not yet possess, but since I could not read her mind, that knowledge would have to stay with Bella until I could get her alone. I thought of something that Dawn had mentioned briefly in the meadow that would effectively change the subject, but not sound like small talk.

“Dawn, you said that another girl was in danger, but that they sent less Bringers after her. Does that mean that they usually don’t send that many Bringers after each Potential as they sent after Bella?” I asked.

Dawn cringed slightly and I read that she hoped that I would forget that comment, but then she answered quietly, “That’s right. I actually have a theory on that, but I can’t be sure…at least, not until I do some research.”

“Well, let’s hear your theory anyway,” Carlisle told her. “Maybe we can help.”

We were finally home and I noted that Dawn debated with herself over how much to tell us and if she said too much, would she frighten Bella. Finally, she opted for honesty, which I was grateful for, until I heard her explanation and felt the irrepressible urge to spirit Bella far, far away from any evil that could touch her.

“My theory is that they have been watching Bella for a couple of days or even weeks now and they found out about your family. Now, normally, that should be enough to make them go after a different girl until later in the hopes that you would be separated for some reason, but instead, they came at you with forty-seven Bringers. That’s the most that they’ve ever sent after one girl by far, so I’m thinking that they really, really wanted Bella herself,” Dawn explained.

“But, why me?” Bella asked and I was reminded again of how she never saw herself the way that I could see her.

“Well, that’s where the theory part comes in,” Dawn noted. “I think you are destined to be the next Slayer, when Faith dies, and they had some way of finding that out. If they captured you and then killed Faith, you’d already be contained and they could easily slaughter the rest of the girls with only one Slayer on duty. We have a couple of others helping us, but they aren’t Slayers and most of us don’t have a chance against the uber-vamps the First likes to send after the girls.”

“Uber-vamps?” Emmett asked.

By the time Dawn had finished with her theory, she was standing in our living room, surrounded by the family. Alice wrapped an arm around Bella and I was grateful for the solidarity I read in her mind. I knew there were a lot of details to iron out, but I was suddenly certain that my family would be heading to California very soon.

“Yeah,” Dawn lamented. “We’ve already lost a couple of girls to them. They’re stronger than the average demonic vampire and don’t need an invite to get into the house. They’re nearly impossible for someone who isn’t a Slayer, or a heck of a strong Witch, to kill. I mean, I can dust a vamp – no offense – six out of ten times as long as they are relatively new, but that’s after living on the Hellmouth for a good number of years and having a Slayer for a sister. I was bound to pick up a few tricks watching her train, but there’s no way I’d ever be able to take on a Turok-Han without a mondo magical assist.”

“Why would you be taking on one of these creatures?” Jasper asked. Barely a moment later, he nearly jumped back and I guessed that the emotional onslaught probably matched Dawn’s silent tirade toward him.

“Look, buddy,” Dawn stalked over to him, “I may not be a Potential Slayer, but I’m a Watcher-in-training and I still have more experience than most of the Potentials we have. It’s not like we can call 1-800-SLAYER and get more superheroes. We have to make do with what we’ve got!”

“Well, we’re not superheroes by any stretch of the imagination, but I promise you that we will be of any assistance that we can be,” Carlisle told her, speaking for all of us.

To our vampire eyes, it seemed like her head whipped around in slow-motion, even though for a human, she nearly gave herself whip-lash. The rest of her body followed the trajectory and she turned to fully face Carlisle. “Are you serious?”

It was Esme who answered her, “We’ve talked it over. Bella has become a part of our family and for that reason alone, we would stand with her, but in hearing your story, we cannot sit idly by and allow the world to end or allow a bunch of scared girls to face it in our stead. Carlisle is a doctor; Edward has medical training as well. Alice can see the future and Jasper is an Empath. He and Emmett can help train the Potentials to protect themselves as best they can. Rosalie is very good with machinery and can help with weapons. We can all help with research. I will help take care of the girls. I’m sure they are all terrified and could use someone who will listen to them.”

I heard the surprise in Esme’s mind as she found herself with arms full of Dawn. The girl had flung herself across the room and into my mother’s embrace much faster than I would have thought possible. On impact, I heard Dawn’s mental Owie! as she slammed against Esme’s body and I made a mental note to check to make sure she hadn’t broken anything in her exuberance. Esme’s hands flitted through her hair soothingly for a moment until Dawn suddenly pulled back and looked at us.

She asked, “Hey, do any of you happen to speak Chinese?”

TBC

P.S. Thank you to Kaite, mpsshadowmaster & Rorlyondra for the Recommendations!

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