Believe Me Chapter 14

Truth be told, Tanya wanted so badly to laugh at the whole situation. She wanted to point out that the one man that had always been so sure in his relationship turned out to be in a false one. She was even amused by the fact that she was sure Carlisle had no idea that Esme wasn’t his mate. The man was so devote in his beliefs and inspired by Esme’s own commitment to him, that he went along with it.

Tanya and her sisters had heard the story many times as Edward was a fan of it; the boy had always thought it was romantic whereas Kate liked to always point out how eerily similar to a Florence Nightingale effect or even transference. They had always believed that Esme had initially fallen for the doctor because she was a human when they first met and he was a vampire that was a nice man; especially compared to her human husband. They were very sure that Esme fell in love with the vampire doctor that had not only helped heal while she was alive, but then turned her into a vampire and gave her a way out from her abusive marriage. They weren’t entirely sure why Carlisle had been so smitten, perhaps because of Esme already being infatuated with him and the woman’s naturally caring personality had drawn him in.

Regardless of the reasons though, the sisters, and Carmen and Eleazar had agreed as well, never believed that Carlisle and Esme were mates. Just based off of their behavior and how they acted with each other screamed platonic fondness. Esme and Carlisle seemed to be more into the chaste kisses and longing looks and light touches. Even Bella and Victoria had spent more time in each other’s personal space than what the Denali sisters thought Esme and Carlisle had spent in each other’s. Tanya was sure she had never actually seen them cuddle so much as sit or stand next to each other; she wasn’t even sure if they held hands on a regular basis…

Tanya could hear all Esme talking with her mate, making sure the girl had everything she needed as was comfortable as she healed. Tanya could hear the woman, this Leah, try to ease Esme’s concerns and Carlisle muttering to himself in another room about how he was so sure he and Esme were true loves. Just the fact that he wasn’t in the same room trying to defend his position showcased just how much they really weren’t mates; the man was a blind fool.

“Should we wait for the new lovebirds to come down and we can all talk together, or should we just start now?” Kate asked, already bored with waiting for someone to do something. Honestly she preferred to just get this meeting started, then they could meet the other wolves and hopefully train them (there was no way they were ready to fight a vampire much less one like James), then she could get a good fight in before heading home and doing something more interesting than watching a former lover’s quarrel between Carlisle and Esme.

“Can’t they just hear from where they are?” Bella asked, okay with continuing the conversation and figuring out what happened. If Leah was still hurt, Bella figured she shouldn’t move until she’s healed and knowing Esme, Leah wouldn’t be able to get out of bed for a while until the mother hen was sure Leah was all good.

“We can go down, I want to know what we’re going to do.” Leah said as she started to move the blankets off of her so she could try and get out of bed.

“Actually, since we can hear them just fine, we can stay here and listen.” Esme said as she pulled Leah’s hands aware from the blankets, quickly made sure her shifter was still safely and warmly tucked in, and sat down right next to the woman both to be close to her warrior and to prevent the stubborn wolf from trying to get up again.

“What about their facial expressions, we might miss something from up here.” Leah said as she tried her best to fight off a blush from having her imprint so close to her and fussing over her. As embarrassing as it was to not meet her imprint in a gallant way or in any way impressive; instead she had to meet her while injured because she had let her guard down and let a vampire hurt her. Leah could have looked so much cooler if she had known when she was going to meet Esme.

Esme couldn’t help but give her mate a grin, she was sure the Native woman would be trouble if Esme didn’t keep her eye on her; good thing she was a very good thing to stare at. “I think we’ll be just fine where we are.” Esme said as she pat her mate’s hands and then held them in her lap. “We can’t risk your ribs healing incorrectly and having to re-break them again, can we?”

Leah didn’t bother explaining that her ribs were already healed more than enough now that moving was perfectly okay. But honestly, she was okay sitting there with her imprint fussing over her and just being close. She was actually completely content with where they were and if anything, her brother was there to help give any extra details if needed.

“I guess we’re fine then.” Leah said, hoping that the grin she was giving Esme wasn’t showing in her tone.

“Carlisle, perhaps it’s best if you come down here and join us?” Tanya asked, everyone in her coven knowing that it wasn’t a question so much as a demand. They were going to be discussing a war breaking out between them, the shifters and one lone vampire. She needed to know how this one man was so much trouble and why his coven hadn’t been able to deal with him right away. Truthfully, if Edward was such a good mind reader that he claimed to be, he should have been able to pick up the tracker’s thoughts that the man wasn’t one to underestimate. In fact, the tracker likely wouldn’t have known Edward could read minds and would have likely already started planning his attack against Bella the second he decided to hunt her in that clearing. Why didn’t Edward hear anything?

With a heavy sigh of a heavily burdened man, Carlisle moved from his spot on his knees where he had been silently praying for the answers on how he could have lost Esme so easily. Was he not a good enough husband? Did he not show her enough love? What was it he had neglected with his relationship with Esme that God had taken his partner away from him?

“Very well.” Carlisle said with a forlorn tone as he quickly moved to stand in the same room as everyone else. He was alarmed to see that Edward was still under the watchful eye of Emmett and Jasper, as if they expected him to attack someone any second. Carlisle moved to put his hand on his oldest turned, “You won’t attack anyone here again son.” Carlisle softly commanded, “These are our friends and family, they deserve nothing but our kindness.” He said aloud and then silently added just for Edward’s ears: ‘If Bella is truly not your mate, perhaps God has bigger and better plans for you to overcome; perhaps Bella was just a test for you on your path to finding your real mate?’ He smiled in encouragement as Edward’s eyes shined with understanding. They were currently being tested by God and their ability to continue to trust and follow Him, even when it seems He was taking away their loves. It was a test Carlisle would be sure they wouldn’t fail; and from the nod Edward gave him, Carlisle was sure Edward wouldn’t fail either.

Edward straightened his posture and looked over the group in front of him. While he was still sure that Bella was his mate, perhaps Carlisle was right. Perhaps she was just sent as a distraction away from his real mate and he needed to show he was stronger than her temptation to prove he was indeed worthy of a mate.

“Of course Carlisle, I apologize for my behavior.” Edward said with a bowed head, seemingly genuinely sorry about how he had acted.

Kate and Emmett both couldn’t stop their snort of amusement if they had tried. Of course Edward would do a one-eighty because his beloved coven leader told him to. The glare they each received from Edward only proved them both right and made Emmett momentarily think that since Edward called Carlisle father and Carlisle called Edward son, was there some sort of hidden kink there that they were each longer to act out?

“I think we can just continue to talk about what we know and make a plan.” Edward said in a sharp tone, doing his best to not growl at the depraving thoughts Emmett had about him and their coven leader. Really, as if Edward would think about Carlisle in such a lewd way.

“I agree,” Tanya said, but was cut off by a gasp from Alice.

Alice’s eyes were wide in shock as a vision played out in her minds’ eye that only she and Edward were privy to. But given the stricken faces they each had, whatever it was that Alice was seeing, it wasn’t good and put everyone, even Seth who wasn’t normally a tense person, on edge as they waited for Alice to come out of what she was seeing.

Alice’s hand immediately grasped Jasper’s in a way to comfort her; just feeling her mate’s touch was enough to help take the edge off of an intense vision that she didn’t enjoy.

“I saw him, I saw James.” Alice explained after she took a few unneeded breathes that were only taken to help her gather her thoughts since she knew Edward wouldn’t explain what she saw unless asked due to his attempt to respect her privacy. “He’s making an army.”

“An army of vampires?” Bella asked with a frown. She knew that wasn’t good. If he gathered enough vampires, not only would they need to kill a lot of people to keep them fed, but that would also mean her new friends and family were at risk of being hurt in what was clearly a way to attack them.

“Not just regular vampires,” Alice said, looking towards her best friend that was at the center of James’ obsession, “He’s making a newborn army.” She said in a voice just loud enough for Bella to hear.

“Shit.” Kate muttered, the conversation just took a much more serious tone than she had thought would come from their little meeting.

“That’s not good.” Carlisle muttered, thinking about all the texts on the newborn wars throughout the different ages he had read when he was in Voltera and how much damage the newborns could cause.

“What makes a newborn army more dangerous than a regular vampire army?” Seth asked, not at all understanding why everyone looked so alarmed. He was thinking if things were as bad as the vampires were acting like it was, he was going to have to call Sam to come over to relay all the information to right away; preferably while they were still taking so Sam can ask any and all questions he would want to as the Alpha.

“Everything.” Tanya said with a hard glare, having seen firsthand the horrors newborns could cause; never mind an army of them. “It changes everything.”