Here is another chapter…
Edward sprawled across the long beige sectional sofa. When I perched on the edge of the sofa in front of him, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against his chest. It wasn't exactly as comfortable as a sofa cushion would be, what with his chest being hard and cold and perfect as an ice sculpture, but it was definitely preferable. He pulled the Navy Ruffa throw blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over me so I wouldn't freeze beside his body, but if that's how I went out it be a good death.
Dread owns me, pushing against me like an invisible gale, attempting to reverse my steps back to my bed. Dread has my stomach locked up tight, nothing getting in or out. Dread sets my face like rigor mortis, my teeth locked tight together. Something was wrong…
My mind was aware of the dread creeping in like a dark mist, my mind was also yelling at me that Edward was still talking in this melancholy way about his distaste for poor Romeo. My attention snapped back to him pushing everything down,
"I'll admit, I do sort of envy him here," Edward said his tone more annoyed than that of envy.
I snorted, "I'm sure you could do better than the girl, even though pretty,"
He made a disgusted sound. "I don't envy him the girl just the ease of the suicide," he clarified in a teasing tone. "You humans have it so easy! All you have to do is throw down one tiny vial of plant extracts"
"What?" I gasped, he made it seem like we do it for frivolous reasons, not the truth, sometimes the demons win and you lose the battle you have fought so hard against.
"It's something I had to think about once, and I knew from Carlisle's experience that it wouldn't be simple. I'm not even sure how many ways Carlisle tried to kill himself in the beginning after he realized what he'd become" His voice, which had grown serious, turned light again. "And he's clearly still in excellent health."
I twisted around so that I could read his face. "What are you talking about?" I demanded. "What do you mean, this something you had to think about once?"
"Last spring, when you were nearly killed by the impact of the fountain, " He paused to take a deep breath, snuggling to return to his teasing tone. "Of course I was trying to focus on getting to you, but part of my mind was making contingency plans. As I said, it's not as easy for me as it is for a human."
I drove home with desperate haste to lure the sadistic vampire who wanted to torture me to death. James. I had known it was all a ruse. Just as James hadn't known that Edward was racing to save me; Edward made it in time, but it had been a close one.
I shook my head as if I could shake away the repressed memories and tried to grasp what Edward meant. My stomach plunged uncomfortably. "Contingency plans?" I repeated now I was annoyed; his thought process was selfish.
"Well, I wasn't going to live without you." He rolled his eyes as if that fact were childishly obvious. "But I wasn't sure how to do it since I knew Emmett and Jasper would never help so I was thinking maybe I would go to Italy and do something to provoke the Volturi."
Right then my heart stopped, maybe he noticed it this time. It was uncontrolled and filled with pain.
I didn't want to believe he was serious, but his golden eyes were brooding, focused on something far away in the distance as he contemplated ways to end his own life. Abruptly, I was furious.
"What is a Volturi?" I demanded in false desire, I knew and was scared for once. They wouldn't kill him unless provoked in a way action had to be taken. If he tested their laws.
"The Volturi are a family," he explained, his eyes still remote. "A very old, very powerful family of our kind. They are the closest thing our world has to a royal family, I suppose. Carlisle lived with them briefly in his early years, in Italy, before he settled in America do you remember the story?" yeah. But he never needed to know I have lived that story.
"Of course, I remember."
"Anyway, you don't irritate the Volturi," Edward went on, interrupting ray reverie. "Not unless you want to die, or whatever it is we do." His voice was so calm, it made him sound almost bored by the prospect.
My anger turned to horror. I took his marble face between my hands and held it very tightly. "I am beyond angry, beyond hurt at the prospect of such a vile thing. If I go then I go, but you have to be here you think you doing such a thing will not have a ripple effect on the family, think of Esme. I would need you here still even when I am not, to protect Isabella, you are so incredibly selfish," hurt poured though, his fingers traced my pale face.
I finished, "If you somehow passed before me, would you want me to go off myself?"
Pain washed over his features, "I see your point," he might have but nothing could change his mind, he might stick around if I was gone to protect Bella, but once she was turned he go pick a fight, a fight he would never win.
His eyes glanced at the time, "I am guessing your father is still in his meeting, and we must go. Alice and Rose have asked for you to wear a formal dress," I scoffed stomping off to do their bidding.
Mumbling loudly, "No good bossy vampire chicks,"
I wore a forest green short sleeveless dress with side and back cut-outs, showing patches of pale skin. If I was to dress up at least Edward would be all sorts of butt hurt seeing me in this dress, I strapped the matching heels before walking back out. He stood waiting at the base of the front stairs before he could control the rage at the dress, I saw it and it brought me pleasure.
"Ready?" I smiled in amusement.
"Can you do me a favor?"
"That depends on what it is. If you wanting me to change clothes is the favor you are shit out of luck, buddy,"
He sighed; his lovely face serious. "Caprice, the last real birthday any of us had was Emmett in 1935. Cut us a little slack, and don't be too difficult tonight. They're all very excited. Theo is having the same talk to Isabella, she is just a tad more hardheaded then yourself," she was.
It always startled me a little when he brought up things like that. "Fine, for tonight you will have my very best behavior,"
We were pulling up to the house now. A bright light shined from every window on the first two floors. A long line of glowing Japanese lanterns hung from the porch eaves, reflecting a soft radiance on the huge cedars that surrounded the house. Big bowls of flowers pink roses lined the wide stairs up to the front doors.
I moaned. "They seriously are going all out,"
Edward took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "This is a party," he reminded me. "Try to be a good sport."
"Sure," I muttered.
He came around to get my door and offered me his hand. They were all waiting in the huge white living room; when I walked through the door, they greeted me with a loud chorus of "Happy birthday, Caprice!" while I blushed and looked down. Alice, I assumed, had covered every flat surface with pink candles and dozens of crystal bowls filled with hundreds of roses. There was a table with a white cloth draped over it next to Edward's grand piano, holding a pink birthday cake, more roses, a stack of glass plates, and a small pile of silver-wrapped presents.
It was a hundred times worse than I'd imagined.
Edward, sensing my distress, wrapped an encouraging arm around my waist and kissed the top of my head. I asked, 'Where is my dear cousin and her mate?"
Rose snickered, "They will be here any moment,"
Edward's parents, Carlisle, and Esme impossibly youthful and lovely as ever were the closest to the door. Esme hugged me carefully, her soft, caramel-colored hair brushing against my cheek as she kissed my forehead, and then Carlisle put his arm around my shoulders.
"Sorry about this, Caprice," he stage-whispered. "We couldn't rein Alice and Rosalie in."
Alice chimed in, "They arrived," her eyes getting brighter.
We gave Bella the same treatment, if not better with Edward and myself here and screaming with a loud chorus of "Happy birthday, Bella!" she blushed crimson her face towards the floor as Theo held her close, his lips touched her own head. Theo and Edward must take notes from the other.
Alice let go of Jasper's hand and skipped forward, all her teeth sparkling in the bright light. Jasper smiled, too, but kept his distance. He leaned, long and blond, against the post at the foot of the stairs. I moved to him as Alice was about to bother my cousin. "Couldn't help me out, Uncle?"
"Not with Alice, she is a true force of nature,"
He was right, his lean arms wrapped around me, a gentle hug but he was still more standoffish with Bella.
As the night started we are about to be forced to open gifts even after asking the Cullen's to refrain from getting us anything. I stood next to Bella, it was her turn as her face paled a little more.
"Open mine and Theo's next," Alice said, so excited her voice was a high-pitched trill. She held a small, flat square in her hand.
She turned to give Theo a basilisk glare. "You promised." But he smiled showing his natural sharp I-teeth, bet it made the human girls swoon back in the day.
Before he could answer, Emmett bounded through the door. "Just in time!" he crowed. He pushed in behind Jasper, who had also drifted closer than usual to get a good look.
"I didn't spend a dime," Theo assured me. He brushed a strand of hair from her face, leaving her skin tingling from his touch, I have been there too.
She inhaled deeply and turned to Alice. "Give it to me," we all heard her sigh.
Emmett chuckled with delight.
She took the little package, rolling her eyes at Theo while she stuck her index finger under the edge of the paper and jerked it under the tape.
"Shoot," she muttered when the paper sliced her finger; she pulled it out to examine the damage. A single drop of blood oozed from the tiny cut, I moved in the instant blocking her, the one thing that could go wrong. Bella was the cause; she was a magnet for danger.
It all happened very quickly then.
"No!" Edward roared along with Theo, their cries mixed together.
He threw himself at me, flinging me back across the table, Bella was right behind me. It fell, as we did, scattering the cake and the presents, the flowers, and the plates. I landed in the mess of shattered crystal.
Jasper slammed into Edward and Theo, and the sound was like the crash of boulders in a rock slide. The three men fought, Jasper was not going to make it passed them, I groaned.
There was another noise, a grisly snarling that seemed to be coming from deep in Jasper's chest. Jasper tried to shove past Theo, snapping his teeth just inches from Edward's face.
Emmett grabbed Jasper from behind in the next second, locking him into his massive steel grip, but Jasper struggled on, his wild, empty eyes focused only on us.
Beyond the shock, there was also pain. We both had tumbled down to the floor by the piano, with my arms thrown out instinctively to catch Bella, into the jagged shards of glass. Only now did I feel the searing, stinging pain that ran from my wrist to the crease inside my elbow.
I moved to see Bella in the same state, "Shit, Bella do not move," using the table clothe to stem the flow of blood, Wrapping it as tight as possible, I smiled despite the chaos raging behind us, my eyes meeting Bella's. "Way to bring the party to a halt, Bella,"
She huffed in frustration as I was bleeding on us, hers at least was tied off.
"Emmett, Rose, get Jasper outside."
Unsmiling for once, Emmett nodded. "Come on, Jasper."
Jasper struggled against Emmett's unbreakable grasp, twisting around, reaching toward his brother with his bared teeth, his eyes still well past reason. Rose just slapped him, "Your niece, you tried to eat her,"
Theo and Edward, well this was not going to end well, you could see them staring at the other. Esme, her perfect heart-shaped face was ashamed. "I'm so sorry, Bella and Caprice," she cried as she followed the others into the yard.
"Let me by, boys," Carlisle murmured.
A second passed, and then Edward nodded slowly and relaxed his stance. "Thanks, Edward. Doubt he was about to lose it and snack us,"
Carlisle knelt beside us, leaning close to examine my arm first as I tied Bella's off. I could feel the shock frozen on my face, and I tried to compose it.
"Here, Carlisle," Alice said, handing him a towel.
He shook his head. "Too much glass in the wound."
I spoke, "Fix us up, no hospital,"
Like that Edward placed me on the table, Theo just held Bella as I had Carlisle helping her first. I gave my boyfriend a hard look, "Get over it, we are both fine. It happens, but my guess is you and Theo are going to blow this to be a much larger issue,"
He said nothing in return.
I just listened to Carlisle and Bella. This was my fault, I should have used my power, I shouldn't have been scared of them finding out, she is hurt because of me.
It was my turn, Edward vanished after we ganged up on him, but he took Theo with him. I say nothing about my very bad intuition. "How are you doing, Bella?" Carlisle asked.
"I'm fine. And how're you this lovely evening?"
He smiled, "I am well, thank you for asking my dear,"
I enjoyed talking to Carlisle, he was a vast book filled with knowledge. Bella and I just talked to him while he stitched up my arm. I was lost in thought when he spoke of Edwards mother, her plea, his green eyes. He was saved and was saved for me, I hoped he knew this.
"How bad is it?" I asked Alice, I was don't caring if any heard us.
Her face tensed. "I'm not sure yet."
I finished, "How's Jasper?" Bella joined us.
She sighed. "He's very unhappy with himself. It's all so much more of a challenge for him, and he hates feeling weak."
"It's not his fault. You'll tell him that I'm not mad at him, not at all, won't you?" Bella chimed in.
I sighed, my eyes flickering from Edward. "Bella and I, we're fine, he only did what's in his nature, and neither of us hates him or even mad,"
"Of course."
Edward was waiting for me by the front door, Theo by his side. I swear if he does it, forgiveness is not in my fucking vocabulary.
Edward, he was perfect other than his thought process on some viewpoints. I rolled the window down to cut the scent of my blood out, bringing in the lush scent of pine, soil, and the calmed storm.
He scoffed, "Don't be melodramatic, please."
"Well then, don't you be ridiculous." I retorted back at him.
He didn't answer. He glared through the windshield, his expression black. He killed the engine, but his hands stayed clenched around the steering wheel.
He gave me a look, "Can I stay the night, even after we argued,"
I removed myself from my Mustang, "Edward, I love you. But right now you are wrong, you and Theo are wrong. Go home," it hurt, every step felt like I was wading through thick mud, it wanted to pull me under, but I forced each step until I was behind a closed door.
I was alone in this big house, I just sit on my bed lost when I felt her, Rose.
Soon enough her scent filled my room like a bakery and flower garden rolled into a beauty queen. "Hello, Rose,"
"Happy Birthday, Caprice. You need help," I was on my bed my dress was half on, my jammies discard on my bed.
"Yeah, go kick the shit out of Edward and Theo,"
Her laugh was music, somehow it calmed me. But she picked me up helping me dress for bed. "I just wanted to see you, everything is going to work out," but it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself and not me.
"As long as you and shorty keep your word,"
She smiled, but not too long later her face pulled into a mask of hate. "My brother has arrived, even after you asked him to go home,"
I stood; he wouldn't be staying not tonight.
He leaped right through the window, his face was serious as he glared at Rosalie. I smiled, "See you later, Rose. No worries he will be right behind you," I was very glad I was not so much like Bella, because right now my guess was she was nestled into Theo trying to apologize for some shit or another. Bella needed a goal, needed something in this life of her own even after she was one of them.
He finally spoke, "Happy birthday," he sighed and leaned down to touch his lips to mine. The kiss began much the same as usual, Edward was as careful as ever, and my heart began to overreact like it always did. And then something seemed to change. Suddenly his lips became much more urgent, his free hand twisted into my hair and held my face securely to his. And, though my hands tangled in his hair, too, and though I was clearly beginning to cross his cautious lines, for once he didn't stop.
I pulled away, and by god did it take all my will power. "Thank you,"
I was half asleep, maybe more, when I realized what his kiss had reminded me of last spring when he'd had to leave me to throw James off my trail, Edward had kissed me goodbye, not knowing when or if we would see each other again. This kiss had the same almost painful edge for some reason I couldn't imagine. I shuddered into unconsciousness as if I were already having a nightmare.
