Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga #5) - Stephenie Meyer Page 0,251

even in his thoughts. The two of them darted up the stairs hand in hand. Laurent didn’t bother to watch them leave, so effective was Jasper’s effort. I saw that Alice would write down the necessary information so Laurent could not overhear. It wouldn’t take her long to pack what they would need.

“What will he do?” Carlisle demanded of Laurent, though I could have answered as well.

“I’m sorry,” Laurent said with every sign of sincerity. Sorry I ever met those demons. I should have known better than to play with fire. Damned boredom made me foolish. “I was afraid, when your boy there defended her, that it would set him off.” Of course it would. He ensured James would never quit till they were both dead. It’s as if these strangers live in some other world. Or think they do. The real world is about to intrude on that fantasy.

“Can you stop him?” Carlisle pressed.

Ha! “Nothing stops James when he gets started.”

“We’ll stop him,” Emmett growled.

Laurent eyed Emmett almost hopefully. If only it were possible. It would certainly make my life easier.

“You can’t bring him down,” Laurent warned. He seemed sure he was doing us a great favor by giving us this information. “I’ve never seen anything like him in my three hundred years. He’s absolutely lethal. That’s why I joined his coven.”

A few scattered memories of his adventures with James and Victoria ran through his head, though Victoria was always a background figure, on the fringes. James had kept Laurent’s life interesting, at least, but the sadism of these rampages had begun to bother Laurent in the last few years. By that point, there hadn’t been a safe way to disengage himself.

He wished he could feel optimistic now, but he’d seen James triumph over impressive odds. His eyes turned to Bella, and all he saw was a human girl, one of billions, nothing to distinguish her from any of the others.

He didn’t think the words before he spoke them aloud. “Are you sure it’s worth it?”

The roar that ripped through my teeth was as loud as a detonation. Laurent immediately slid into a submissive posture, while Carlisle held his hand up.

Control, Edward. This one is not our enemy.

I worked to calm my fury. Carlisle was right, though Laurent was certainly not our friend, either.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to make a choice,” Carlisle said.

There aren’t many choices left to me, Laurent thought. I can only make myself scarce and hope James doesn’t think I’m worth the trouble. His mind ranged back over the slightly less fraught conversation they’d been having before our arrival and fastened on one piece of information. I’ve clearly burned my bridges with this company, but perhaps I could surround myself with other friends. Talented friends.

“I’m intrigued by the life you’ve created here.” He felt he was choosing his words very diplomatically, trying to make eye contact with each of us. My access to his inner monologue rather ruined the effect for me. “But I won’t get in the middle of this. I bear none of you any enmity, but I won’t go up against James. I think I will head north—to that clan in Denali.” He imagined five strangers like Carlisle, slow to attack, but with great numbers and talents among them. Perhaps that would give James pause.

A feeling of gratitude had Laurent turning to warn Carlisle again. “Don’t underestimate James. He’s got a brilliant mind and unparalleled senses. He’s every bit as comfortable in the human world as you seem to be, and he won’t come at you head-on.” A few of James’s convoluted ploys ran through his memory. The tracker had patience… and a sense of humor. A dark one.

“I’m sorry for what’s been unleashed here,” Laurent continued. “Truly sorry.”

He inclined his head, submissive again, but his eyes darted to Bella and away, his thoughts mystified by the risk we were taking for her sake. They don’t understand about James, he decided. They don’t believe me. I wonder how many of them he’ll leave alive.

Laurent thought us weak. He saw our apparent domesticity as a deficiency. I’d worried the same thing earlier, but not now. Weak was not the impression I planned to leave with James. But let Laurent believe James would win. He could hide in terror for the next century and I would not mourn his discomfort.

“Go in peace,” Carlisle said, both offer and command.

Laurent’s eyes swept through the room, appreciating a kind of life he’d left behind long ago.