Solstice

Epilogue: Safe

If I was a human, I would have thought today's events were very overwhelming. Heck, I'm a vampire and I still thought they were overwhelming. I excused myself to walk the Amazonian coven to the door before they left. I said goodbye to my friends and they expressed how pleased they were with the outcome of the vote. Nahuel, his aunt, his father and his two sisters left with them. I could see that Nahuel was upset that his eldest sister was one of the ones that perished today. From his birth he's suffered so much lost and up until a hundred years ago, he believed he was the cause of it. No, that was my burden. If it wasn't for the fact that Aro had his sights on me and my family, so many vampires would still be alive. Though when I thought about it, the vampires that were on our side, didn't die in vain. We defeated Caius and his power hungry brother, Aro. And now everyone left standing had a chance to live in peace.

By now, it was a little after eight p.m. and I decided I wanted to check on Sarah's mom to see how she was. I called out to Edward in my mind and let him know where I was going to be, and started up my bike. The entire ride over, I replayed the fight scene in my mind. Was there anything that I could have done to prevent so many good vampires from dying? Well maybe not the Romanians, they gave me the creeps still. Before I knew it, I was at Sarah's house.

I could hear from the driveway that Sarah was home. She had just finished cooking some soup for her mom. I knocked on the door and waited till Sarah's little sister opened the door for me.

"Bella! How are you? Sarah said you guys went camping."

"Yeah we just got back in not too long ago. Some of our cousins are still here, but to be honest with you I wish I was here for the parade." Figuring the alternative of a bloody vampire battle, I was definitely telling the truth.

"Oh no you don't. There were a few people that got sick. It was only about six people maybe, my mom was one of them. She's upstairs now. She said she woke up this morning fine, and was ready to go to the parade, but she must have blacked out or something, because she couldn't remember a thing. All she knew was that she needed the bathroom really quick. My dad thinks that she must have taken some Tylenol and Pepto-Bismol because he saw the bottle by the bed. But we heard that other people weren't so lucky of having the Pepto-Bismol and have been puking their guts out."

"Oh my, is your mom okay?" I asked, I hoped Sarah's sister couldn't tell I was faking surprise. Despite what anybody said, I thought I was still a terrible actor.

"Yeah, she's upstairs resting. Sarah just brought her some chicken noodle soup." She turned her head towards the steps, "Sarah! Bella's here!"

"Thanks kid." I called as she turned to go down to the basement. Sarah bounded down the steps and ran to give me a hug.

"Bella! Oh my gosh, I wish you could have been to the concert. They were phenomenal! Thank you so much. Michael really loved it too. We got to take pictures with them. Everything was so amazing." Sarah was rambling again, which I always thought was the most adorable thing ever.

"Your sister told me about your mom, is she fine?"

"Oh yeah. The headache she had when she woke up is already gone, and she's not throwing up anymore. She's just mainly happy that it's not coming out of the other end now. Oops sorry, I guess you didn't need to know all that huh?"

Ordinarily, I wouldn't need to know, but today I was grateful that Sarah was volunteering this information. "No not at all, lady." We both laughed and she told me more about the concert. And I told her how uneventful our camping trip was.

I stayed with Sarah and her family for about an hour before heading back home. I went home to find the house empty save for Edward.

"My love," he greeted me. "How's Sarah and her mom?"

"They're fine, Sarah's mom is feeling better and Sarah had a great time at the concert today. Where is everyone?" I looked around and listened, the house was definitely empty.

"Marcus agreed to give our vegetarian way a try while he stays in Forks. Otherwise he said he'd just hunt out of town. But at least for now he's going to try it. Everyone went out hunting with him. And interesting enough, the Norwegians are staying as well. They think that the Quileutes have a lot to teach them."

"Edward how is that even going to work? They stand out more than we do, more than the Quileute Pack and they live here for crying out loud." The supernatural population in Forks was growing by the minute it seems.

It only took a few minutes for Edward to explain the cover story, and I listened intently. "Edward, this could work." I said as we walked to the cottage. Hand in hand, I let down my shield and let him know how much I loved him.