CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
WHAT COULD'VE BEEN DONE DIFFERENTLY

    "I say we hand her over to James and move to a different state." Thea hisses from the passenger seat of the car as Alice drives.

"Not the worst idea," Rosalie mutters.

Jasper was next to speak, "All we need to do is kill him, burn the pieces, and then it's over. He won't have to worry about him hurting Isabella."

"You're saying this like it's easy." Rosalie scoffs, "But you know Carlisle, the man's a saint. What if we don't kill him and he just keeps coming back?"

Alice's fingers were tight around the steering wheel as she drove behind Bella's orange truck. She'd just gotten her things so she could go to Phoenix. They were now heading back to the Cullen residence.

Thea could hear the faint sound of Rosalie and Jasper going back and forth. Thea looks over to her hate, seeing her eyes twitch.  Her mate recognized this too well, "Alice, what do you see?" Thea questions.

"Laurent's at the house," Alice informs.

"What?" Everyone says in unison.

"He's...warning us." Alice explains with her eyebrows knitted, "he's grown exasperated with James, so he's warning us. James is a tracker, an excellent one."

Thea pinches the bride of her nose, "Great."

Alice pulls the jeep into the residence, parking it in the driveway. Emmett soon arrives in the garage along with Carlisle, Edward, Bella, and Esme.

Thea gets out of the passenger seat, taking off the coat she wore over her baseball attire.

"I've had to fight our kind before, not easy to kill." Jasper is heard conversing with Emmett.

"But not impossible." Emmett counters. "We'll tear him apart and burn the pieces."

Thea steps over to her brother, grabbing a fresh pair of shoes from the lower cabinet and putting them on.

"I don't relish the thought of killing another creature." Carlisle admits, "even a sadistic one like James."

Rosalie sits up on the counter, her eyes on Carlisle, "what if he kills one is us first?"

Thea nods, "And what about his redhead? Isn't she gonna be after the human too?"

"Probably." Edward huffs, his fear setting in, "I'm gonna run Bella South. Can you lead the tracker away from here?"

"No, Edward." Carlisle denies, "James knows you would never leave Bella."

"Ain't that the truth," Thea mumbles under her breath, causing Emmett to grin.

"I'll go with Bella." Alice steps up, "Jasper and I will drive her South...I'll keep her safe Edward."

Thea clenched her jaw. She didn't want Alice anywhere near the danger Bella Swan brings around. And if James did find a way to follow them, Thea was too worried about what James was capable of, what he could do.

Thea walks over to the car, they were taking, "I'm going too."

Edward nods, his eyes falling on Alice, "can you keep your thoughts to yourself?"

Thea scoffs, "If you're seeing something you don't like, stop reading her thoughts." Edward hands Bella over to Alice and she leads her to the car.

Jasper comes to a stop at the back seat where he would have to sit with Bella but Thea stops him. "You can sit in the front, it'll help." Thea offers and Jasper smiles gratefully.

Did Thea want to sit in the backseat of the car with the human? Of course not. But she also didn't want Jasper to suffer, knowing he was the newest vegetarian and had trouble with his bloodlust.

Luckily for Thea, she was good with her bloodlust. She's had her moment where the smell of blood was intense but it was never anything she couldn't control. It's always been like this, ever since she was a newborn, Carlisle still claims he'd never seen any bloodlust control like Thea's.

Thea gets right behind Alice, her eyes gazing at the human for a few seconds.

She vaguely hears Rosalie go against the idea of wearing Bella's clothes so they can spread her scent across the woods. Carlisle responded by saying Bella was a part of the family and they protect the family.

"Damn, sure not my family." Thea puts on her seatbelt as she says this.

Edward stops at the open window, leaning down to Bella. She looks his way with a fearful expression, "Oh, God, if anything happens, I swear to God—"

"Nothing's gonna happen." Edward cuts her off, "There's seven of us and there's two of them. And when everything's done, I'm gonna come back and get you. Bella, you are my life now."

Thea kept her eyes out the window but she continued to roll them. The engine starts up and Edward glances over to Thea, "Don't take anything she says to heart, okay?"

Bella spares a glance at Thea, who is subtly listening but her eyes are out of the window. She looks back at Edward, not knowing what he meant.

But she surely would sooner or later.

✸

The car ride to Phoenix was quiet. The silence was a mix of worry about James and the tension between Thea and the human. Every few hours, Bella would leave voicemails to inform her she was no longer in Forks.

They arrive at a hotel in Phoenix. Thea examined the hotel room when they made it inside, white and navy blue was consistent in most of the objects in the room.

Bella walks further in, "I'm gonna try my mom one more time." She motions towards her phone, stepping to the side to make another phone call.

Alice sends her a faint nod, sitting down on the couch. Jasper sits down on a cushioned chair. Thea sits beside her mate, kicking up her feet. "She didn't answer then, she won't answer now."

A few minutes passed, and Thea ended up being correct, Bella's mother did not answer her phone call, causing another voicemail left by Bella.

Alice then freezes, her eyes frozen in one spot. Thea sits up, quickly removing her feet from the table, "Alice, what is it? What are you seeing?"

Alice frowns, "The tracker, he just changed course."

Jasper squints at his best friend, "Where's he going?" He pulls out a drawing pad while Thea grabs a pen that was left on the table. Alice began to draw out what she saw.

"Mirrors. A room full of mirrors."

Bella stands on the other side of the table, her eyes on Alice's drawing, "Edward said the visions weren't always certain." She seemed fidgety as she spoke.

"She sees the course people are on while they're on it," Jasper explains. "If they changed their minds, the vision changes."

Thea keeps her hand on Alice's back, keeping her in touch with reality. "The question is, why would the tracker go somewhere just to look at himself? Maybe he's narcissistic." Thea jokes, causing Jasper to grin with raised eyebrows.

"It's a ballet studio." Bella corrects the confusion, "That's the course he's on...a course to a ballet studio."

Alice looks up at her, along with the other two vampires, "You've been here?"

"I took lessons as a kid, the school that I went to had an arch just like that," Bella confirms the drawing.

"Was your school here in Phoenix?" Jasper questions.

"Yeah." Bella briefly says before accepting a phone call from Edward.

Thea turns back to Alice and Jasper with a frown, "She did ballet? I didn't think the human had any type of athletic bone in her body."

Thea soon figured out that Esme and Rosalie went back to Forks to protect Bella's father Charlie. While Emmett, Carlisle, and Edward were coming up to the hotel to meet up with everyone.

The daylight soon faded in the hotel room, Bella took the bed since she was the only one who needed to sleep.

"What is it?" Alice pulls Thea out of her thoughts. Thea looks down at her lap where Alice lies.

"Just thinking of what could've been done differently," Thea admits.

Alice places her hand on her mate's cheek, and Thea leans into it. "What do you mean?"

"If Edward would've stayed away from her." Thea shakes her head, a mix of frustration and disappointment on her features, "the human wouldn't be in danger right now. She could be at home with her father, or here in Phoenix, safe with her mother."

"But instead, she's being tracked down by some psychotic Bonnie and Clyde vampires." Thea rolls her eyes, "And now all of us have to put our asses on the line because of this human."

Alice's eyes were soft, "I'm sure this was not Bella's intention. But still, I understand."

"They're not gonna stop seeing each other after this, I just know it." Thea spoke in a whisper, "And how many more times do you think we're going to have to protect her from the dangers of our world? A world she isn't meant to be in."

Alice sits up, "I've seen different futures. Bella becomes a vampire in one of them."

Thea groans, "So I possibly have to spend an eternity with that?" She points to the bedroom where Bella slept, "Great."

When Alice doesn't have a response, Thea examines her face. She seemed almost...guilty. Thea sighs, "...you like her."

Alice simply nods. "And you don't...do you think you ever will?"

"Nope," Thea answers bluntly. "Her and her choices are a danger to all of us. Why would I ever like a person like that?"

Alice leans her head on Thea's shoulder. "What now?"

Thea sighs, "We keep talking...keep understanding each other's opinions, and... we respect them."

Alice smiles faintly, lacing her fingers in Alice's, "I can do that."

Thea smiles, leaning her head on top of Alice, "Me too."

✸

Late that next day, they began to check out of the hotel. Alice stood in the front speaking with the receptionist, Thea and Jasper stood behind her waiting patiently while Bella used the restroom.

Thea looks over to Jasper, seeing his clenched jaw. "Need to step outside?" Thea asks calmly.

Humans barged past the vampires with their luggage. Thea was slightly worried Jasper wouldn't be able to handle it.

"I am okay," Jasper responds with a strained voice.

Thea smiled softly, she'd sometimes wish Jasper had someone like she had Alice. His day would have to come eventually.

Alice turns around to them. "We're ready...Bella is still in the restroom?" She frowns.

Thea turned her head to where the restrooms were. For some odd reason, Thea began to walk towards them, entering with no sign of the human. "She's gone."

"I'm calling Edward." Alice snatched up her phone with wide eyes.

Jasper frowns, "where do you think she went?"

"...the ballet studio. I had a vision of Bella being there but I thought since she was with us, the vision would change!" Alice finalizes as she runs towards the car. "

Jasper and Thea run behind her. "The human couldn't possibly be dumber!" Thea insults.

✸

     The pedal was down to the floor as Alice drove towards the ballet studio. When they, and the rest of the Cullen's finally arrived at a safe distance, they broke out into a run with their vampire speed.

Edward, of course, was the first to arrive there.

Thea notices a broken window towards the top of the deserted ballet studio. She jumps through it, along with the other Cullens, being met with the smell of blood. Bella's blood.

Edward had James pinned up against a pillar, with no sign of letting him go.

"I've got Bella!" Alice speeds towards the girl, she'd been bitten on the wrist and the venom was slowly poisoning her body.

Thea, Emmett, Jasper, and Carlisle walk towards Edward. Carlisle places a hand on his frantic son's shoulder, "Son." His words divert Edward's attention away from James and to Carlisle, "Enough. Remember who you are. Bella needs you."

Thea spares a moment Bella's way. Her body jerked across the wooden floors covered in broken glass. She groaned in pain at the burning sensation inside her body.

"Carlisle, the blood!" Alice exclaims.

"Let your brothers and sisters take care of this." Carlisle pulls Edward away.

Emmett and Jasper snatch up James who fought back as much as he could. James pulls and tugs out of their hold, hissing as he does.

"I got him! Start the fire, get the floorboard!"

"I got it!" Thea quickly does so, ripping the floors apart and starting a fire.

James only escapes their grasp for a split second before an identical version of himself stops him in his path.

He is mixed with confusion and fear for only a split second. At first, he believed it may have been another mirror in the ballet studio, but when it smirked at him, he knew it wasn't. That second was all Thea needed to send one strong kick to his chin, causing him to be forced back into Jasper and Emmett's hold.

Thea shifts back into her form just as Alice jumps onto James's shoulder and rips his head from his body and throws it in the fire.

Alice went back over to Bella for a quick moment while Thea stayed beside her brother, continuing to tear James apart and throw him into the fire.

Jasper adds in a few extra pieces of wood, causing the fire to grow bigger.

Edward had to suck the venom from Bella's body, her blood sent him into a craze as he continued to do so even after Carlisle told him they'd cleansed the venom from her system.

Just a few more seconds and Bella Swan would be dead. Not because of James but become of Edward.

That realization was all it took for Edward to finally stop himself.

Thea felt a piece of her grow angry at the fact Edward stopped. She realized then a part of her wanted Bella dead, even if it wouldn't be by her own hands.

ragerwrites, Twilight coming to an end, Thank God! I have been so ready to get past this act💀 hopefully you guys enjoyed it tho. Y'all not even ready for Act 3, Y'ALL NOT READY!!!

Update: I wrote this chapter a few days ago and luckily I've finished off this second act. I want to say that this may be the last update for a minute because I am dealing with the potential loss of my grandfather due to strokes and it's not looking good. I will still try and write but if I don't have that motivation or if I'm not in the right headspace for a little while, this is why.

Thank you. 🫶🏾

wordcount, 2321