A/N: Hello All! Welcome to chapter 3! I think I outdid myself in getting this chapter out quite quickly, haha!
To respond to a few reviews:
dvsdomingue: Haha no offense taken! I'm glad you're enjoying it. And I did write that scene hoping for a bit of a giggle, I laughed just thinking about writing that scene.
sarahmicaela88: Yup, Jake phasing will happen sooner in here because in my fic he's a bit older, and a fact that I'm skipping a lot of Twilight main story plot scenes as well. A lot of the events in the movies will meld together quite differently.
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Chapter 3:
Bella's POV
I was increasingly worried about Jake and his friends. Quil seemed slightly upset at Embry too, though he didn't talk about it. Usually as a general rule guys don't talk about their feelings. Granted I wasn't one to talk much about such things either. And it all made me wonder what exactly was going on with Sam and his gang. I'd always seen them in passing but now when I looked towards them I'd see Embry.
And Embry looked so...different. He was more muscular now and had cut his hair short like the rest of them. And he walked around with just shorts on most of the time which was odd. Then again I'd never really paid attention to how muscular Embry was or wasn't.
But now that Embry was part of their gang I paid more attention to it. I wanted to see for myself what Jake was talking about. And while I didn't live on the reservation or go to school there I did spend a lot of time there. Whenever I did see Sam he'd give Jake a look that almost made me uncomfortable. Something was going on.
Then again something was still going on with the Cullens that I couldn't figure out and it was driving me nuts. Edward hadn't quite acted the same around me since he'd seen me with Jacob in the hospital. He was more distant. Not that it should have bothered me - he wasn't my boyfriend - but he was my friend.
One night I was sitting in my bedroom working on some homework and doing various things. I sent Renee an email about what was going on. Email was something that Renee loved, she'd email me a lot and I'd email her back. She enjoyed my replies.
I sat at my desk in my pajamas, one leg folded underneath me as I finished my English paper and sat back, thinking. I felt like I knew the answer that I sought somewhere in my mind. I felt like I should know.
Shifting on my seat I looked up, looking up at my bookshelf. One of the books sitting there stuck out to me and I shifted, reaching up to take one of the books and sitting back in my seat. The cover was blue and had a native american on it. I'd gotten it years ago at a book store in Port Angeles because I'd seen Jake's tribe name on it: Quileute. It was a book of the legends of the Quileute.
Now I'd heard these stories before probably a couple hundred times that I rarely ever cracked the book. Jacob had taken a look and had said it seemed pretty accurate from what he'd always grown up with, with small changes here and there. Then again there were always small changes between the oral myth and the written down myth.
I ran my fingers over the cover of the book before opening it, looking down at the text. At first my eyes scrolled through the index before my fingers flipped the pages. I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for but I knew I'd know it when I saw it.
Eventually I stopped on a page of a picture of a carving. My fingers moved over the picture as I saw the words 'THE COLD ONE' written underneath it and I attempted to scramble up the memory of the story.
Of course I'd heard the stories of the Cold Ones. It was a story about a tribe of these creatures that fed on human blood. Billy Black had told it to me when I was just a little girl, telling me that the tribe was special in that they were the defenders of humans especially against these cold ones.
Sitting up in my seat I read over the legend again even though I knew it, to refresh my memory. I lined up the things from the legend that I knew from the Cullens.
Severely cold skin.
Strange eyes that changed color when they fed.
Super speed.
Super strength.
Speaking as though they were from a different era all together.
I sat up straighter as I shook my head. "Couldn't be..." I muttered. Resting the book on the desk and pulling up my computer again, quickly googling the words 'The Cold One'. I scanned through different articles online about myths all around the globe of these creatures. We knew them in our horror movies as Vampires.
Swallowing thickly after several minutes of searching on the internet, I slumped back in my seat, looking up at the screen. The image of the quileute cold one carving on my screen and I looked at it. Could it be possible? Could Edward be a vampire? Could Alice?
Thoughts raced through my mind as I thought about everything, about the correlation's between the stories. Could the legend be true? I wasn't sure and part of me wanted to call Jake. Another part of me wanted to forget this nonsense, vampires couldn't be real. And a third part of me wanted to confront Edward and ask him outrightly. But would he actually answer my questions? I know if I were a centuries old vampire I wouldn't come out and tell people.
Unless I planned on killing them.
My breath caught in my throat until I reached to close the book and also closed the window on my computer. It had to be impossible. Closing the laptops lid before I moved to stand up, walking to sit on my bed. Of course it was impossible. Things like that just did not exist, we would know about it.
But what if we did know? What if we did know and were warned but it was so astonishing of an idea that people didn't believe them? That it was chalked up to myth and legend, ghost stories to tell children amongst a campfire.
Impossible thoughts flitted through my head. Thoughts about the legends I'd heard amongst the quileute's as I grew up and I wondered just how much of it was myth and how much of it was actually truth. Could the impossible actually be possible?
I guess it wasn't quite as farfetched as I thought. I mean things that exist today would have seemed impossible to ancient people.
I sighed heavily as I laid back on my bed, looking up at the ceiling through half closed eyes. I would ask Edward about it at school tomorrow, given that he was actually there that is. He had a tendency not to show up for school sometimes along with his siblings. Sometimes just two of them would be missing, but on sunny days it seems they all would be out of class.
That night I didn't sleep that well, I had a restless sleep that made me shift and toss and turn in my bed. I had dreams that night...well, nightmares more like it. Nightmares of the Dracula kind, images of Edward and his teeth sinking into my flesh to drain me of my life force. It wasn't the kind of nightmares where I'd wake up screaming. No, oddly I'd just wake up in a cold sweat breathing hard as my heart thumped roughly in my chest.
And in the morning I decided I was definitely going to get to the bottom of it. I had to confront him.
I went along my morning routine like normal, seeming to go through the motions as I made breakfast, ate and packed my things for school.
It didn't take long to get to school even in my old truck. But I was a bit early and I parked in a spot and waited, my eyes glancing around the parking lot anxiously as I waited for the Cullens arrival.
Finally I saw that silver volvo pull into the lot and park in its usual spot. Quickly I moved out of my truck and approached the car in time for Edward to step out. Looking up at him, I swallowed a bit. "Can I...can we talk?" I asked. Glancing around I nodded and waved a bit to Alice before looking back up at Edward.
His brow furrowed as he looked at me before he nodded. "Yeah sure.." he said, waving off his family before he walked with me a bit away from them towards a more private part of the parking lot where others weren't lingering.
But I kept walking, leading him into the forest by the school as I thought of how to phrase what I wanted to say. Of course my thoughts were all jumbled now that I knew what he was and what I wanted to ask him. I'd been rehearsing this all morning but somehow I couldn't make my ideas come out of my mouth.
Slowly I came to a stop amongst the trees, taking in a deep breath. The smells of the forest always smelled like home to me, a comfortable place since I'd practically grown up in La Push. I spent many times in my life in the woods or just near them at the beach. Everything in this town was enveloped by woods.
I took in a deep breath as I braced myself. "You're impossibly fast...and strong. Your skin is...pale white..and ice cold. Your eyes change color. And sometimes you speak like you're from a different time. You never eat or drink anything, never go out into the sunlight. How...how old are you?"
"Seventeen." he said, his voice right behind me causing me to shudder just a bit.
"How long have you been seventeen?"
"A while..."
I took in slow breaths, swallowing as realization dawned on me. I was right. "I...know what you are."
"Say it. Out loud." he insisted from behind me, feeling him step a bit closer. "Say it."
"Vampire." I muttered in a small voice.
"Are you afraid?"
At first I wasn't sure how to answer that. Yes and no I'd suppose. And then I decided. Turning to look up at him I shook my head a little. "No."
"Then ask me the most basic question. What do I eat?" he asked as he looked down at me intensely almost predatorily.
And for a moment I didn't want to know. I'd read online and I'd seen movies. I knew that vampires drank blood and part of that made my pulse quicken. But I shook my head again. "You won't hurt me." I insisted.
His hand reached out to grab my arm almost painfully as he tugged me along with him through the woods. I looked up at him curiously. "Where are we going?"
"You need to see what I am. You have to see what I look like in the sunlight." he insisted. Before I could protest I was pulled up onto his back with a small yelp, my arms gripping him as he took off running.
And boy could he run. We were whipping through the woods at a breakneck speed. So fast that I hid my face against the back of his neck and gripped him as not to become disoriented. He ran so fast, I'd never seen anything move that fast much less felt it. It almost made my stomach turn.
And before I knew it we were there, stopping. He put me down and I braced myself against a tree as I looked up at him curiously. We were at the top of the mountain, a bit out of the cloud cover and I could see the sun streaming through the trees.
I watched in fascination as I saw Edward walk towards the stream of light. Part of me wanted to tell him not to. Everything I knew about vampires stated that they couldn't go out into the sunlight, that they'd burn to death. But he was actually a vampire and I'd assume he wouldn't go into the sun if it'd hurt him. After all who would be that suicidal?
Leaning against one tree I watched as he unbuttoned his shirt and stepped into the sun. But he didn't burst into flames, there were no screams of pain as he stood there and slowly turned towards me. Instead his skin sparkled like millions of tiny diamonds were set into his pale flesh. The naked strip of his chest sparkled where his shirt was unbuttoned and my eyes moved up it and towards his face, a look of disgust marring his features.
"Wow..it...it's beautiful.." I said slowly, my fingers holding onto the tree. And it was. He wasn't beautiful like I thought Jake was, but in a different way. Part of me was attracted to him and that thought made me blush.
"This is the skin of a killer, Bella." he said as he begun moving out of the sunlight, shaking his head. "I'm a killer Bella.." he insisted as he walked past me and back into the cover of the trees.
I shook my head, slowly moving to follow him, my hands bracing on the trees. "I don't believe that.."
"It's true. I've killed people. Are you scared now?" he asked, stepping up to me in an intimidating fashion. But I found that I wasn't scared, I knew this man, we'd talked in class.
"No, you're my friend..."
"Friend..." he snickered, shaking his head. Before I knew it he was up close to me and I backed up against a tree, looking up into his golden eyes. "I'm a predator, Bella. Everything about me draws you in. My voice, my looks, even my smell. As if I'd need any of that. As if you could run, or fight me off." he said, stepping against me so he almost was pressed up against my chest, making me blush.
But I just shook my head again, I wouldn't be intimidated. "We're friends. You won't hurt me. I know it."
His hands moved up to rest on the trees on either side of my head, staring down at me intensely. "I don't just want to be your friend. I feel very...protective of you. I'm drawn to you like a moth to the flame. Your scent is like a drug to me...my own personal brand of heroin. You have no idea how much I wanted to rip that...mans head off. That man you were with in the hospital..."
"Jacob?" I asked, attempting not to be intimidated still as his hands enclosed me in, my back pressed against the tree.
A low growl rumbled in his throat and he nodded. "Yes. The...the mutt. I could smell him, I could hear him. The things he was thinking."
My brow furrowed as I tilted my head to one side. "He's my boyfriend. And what do you mean the things he was thinking? You can hear what he was thinking?"
"I can read everyones thoughts...save for one. Yours. I look at other people and hear what is in their mind. But with you theres...theres nothing. Just...silence. It's quite frustrating."
"So you can read minds? Can all vampires do that?" I asked curiously before I thought about it. "Wait...is there something wrong with me?"
He laughed and shook his head. "No, not everyone. Some vampires have talents and most of them differ. I can read minds, Alice can see the future, Jasper can sense emotions..." he explained in a soft voice. "Nothing is wrong with you. Nothing at all."
"The future? She can see the future?" I asked curiously, leaning back against the tree a bit more.
"She can." he said, pushing up from me and reaching to take my hand. Slowly he led me down a path and towards a small stream that moved through the woods. He led me towards a set of rocks, holding my hand steadily and we moved to take a seat on them. "Her visions aren't always perfect, there are spots. The future is an ever changing thing.."
"Did she see me coming?"
His face crunched a bit and shrugged. "Yes and no. Her visions of you are..blurred. She doesn't understand it, we all don't. My family is different from others of our kind. We've chosen not to feed on humans, to live amongst them. We move around...a lot. And since Alice joined our family we know people think she's strange. I'm glad she made a friend in you, she enjoys your company."
"I enjoy her company too. She's really nice." I said, thinking about my newest friend. Alice and I had become quick friends, and not once did I feel threatened by her. Looking up at him, I moved to sit with my legs folded, my hands resting on my ankles. "Did Carlisle...make all of you?"
"Not all of us. I was the first he turned. I was dying of Spanish Influenza and he turned me. Carlisle is much older though, he'd lived in Europe and came over here to the states. He has...much more control than any of the rest of us. And then years later he found his wife Esme, and then Rosalie. And Rosalie found Emmett. The only ones that Carlisle did not make were Alice and Jasper, they found us."
It felt good to talk openly with Edward, it was like we didn't have anymore secrets. But part of me knew that he felt differently than me, that he saw this as something more than what I did. I wasn't going to leave Jacob. "You know...I'm not going to tell anyone.." I said, looking up at him. "It's not my secret to tell."
He flashed me a smile and a small nod. "We do appreciate that. I like living here. We come back every now and then. We have a few places that we move between. Sometimes we pick a new town. The younger we pretend to be the longer we get to stay in one place. It gives us a sense of normalcy."
"So you've been to Forks before..?"
"Mmhm, once before. Years ago, before Alice and Jasper joined us."
And I wondered if they'd been here when the Quileute's encountered the Cold Ones of the legends. Had Edward known them? The Cold Ones that killed people in the village? I hated to think that those two in the story had been part of Edwards family.
"You have to tell me what you're thinking.." Edward said after a while of silence and I looked up at him, confused for a moment.
Then I remembered, he couldn't read my mind. I smiled a bit and shook my head. "I like having private thoughts." I said as I slowly moved to stand up, taking a few steps away from him and towards the stream, listening to the water moving over the rocks slowly. I pushed my hands into my back pockets and looked out over it, watching the water glisten in the light.
"Its very...frustrating, not hearing your thoughts." I heard him say from his place on the rock behind me. Part of me knew though that if I slipped he'd still be able to catch me.
I shrugged. "Just...things. You know they have legends of your kind in the Quileute tribe. They call you the Cold Ones. I always thought it was just a ghost story to scare little kids around the campfire."
"You spend a lot of time on La Push don't you?"
"I do. I've spent my life there.." I said, looking down at my feet and sighing a bit. "I like you. I like talking to you ya know. Spending time with you. But...but we're just friends. I'm in love with my boyfriend, Jacob. We've been together for years, I've known him my whole life. I've always planned on spending my life with him on La Push..."
I nearly jumped when I felt him behind me, his hands moving to rest on my arms as he lightly squeezed them. "I want to be more than your friend though...even though I know I shouldn't."
"Yes but right now I can only do friends. I don't know if I'll ever be able to do more. I won't hurt Jake. I refuse. He's my life. I tried life without him once, we'd broken up over something stupid once. And there was this...this hole in my chest. A physical hole, I could barely function without him.." I said slowly, but a small smile moved over my lips as I watched the rippling water. "What is the Earth to do without her Sun, after all?"
We stood silent for a moment before I turned my head up to look up at him. "Please...I just want to be friends. I won't even tell Jake your secret, okay? Your secret is safe with me. Your my friend, Alice is my friend."
Slowly he nodded, loosening his grip on my arms and rubbing them lightly. "If thats what you want. I cannot protect you on La Push though.."
I laughed. "I'm perfectly safe on La Push. This is Forks.."
"Yes with a family of vampires living here. And now that you know about us...you realize the world is more dangerous than most think."
I rolled my eyes and stepped away from him slightly. "I'll be fine. But...why can't you go to La Push?"
"We just...can't. Not my secrets to tell." he said. Leaning over I froze as his lips pressed against the top of my head. "Ready to head back?"
His question stirred me from my thoughts and I nodded. "Yeah..." I said. We'd been sitting and talking quietly for a while, school was probably almost over by now. I'd actually missed a whole day of school and didn't even bat an eye. I enjoyed spending time with Edward, enjoyed it so much that I'd forgotten about classes and everything else. Well, almost everything else.
We made our way back down the mountain, him pulling me onto his back to run down quicker. And then he'd actually gotten in my truck to drive me home after sending a text to his sister telling her to drive his car home. The drive back to my house was filled with silence and I mildly wondered how he knew where I lived.
It didn't take long to pull up in front of my house and he turned off my truck. Glancing up at him slowly. "Oh...oh i'm sorry I don't know how you'll get home.."
He chuckled, flashing his pearly white teeth. "I can run home faster than any car can take me." he said as he moved out of the car. Before I could blink he was at my side, opening my door for me.
I looked up at him in surprise and laughed. "Oh, right. Vampire." I said, shaking my head as I slid out of my car, reaching to grab my backpack and pull it over my shoulder.
Watching him for a minute, he looked around and stepped towards the dent in my car. Reaching to take ahold of the metal, he tugged what seemed like lightly. But it popped the dent out and it made me blink. "Uh, wow, thanks." I said with a chuckle.
He smiled up at me before he stepped back. "No problem. Say um...um do you need a ride to school tomorrow?" he asked and when I tilt my head to one side he quickly continued. "I mean, do you want a ride to school? You won't have to drive, I could come pick you up..."
"Edward...come on not you too. Please. We're friends..."
"Yes, a ride to school from a friend."
I narrowed my eyes a bit and shook my head, leaning back against the door of the truck. "I don't think thats a good idea. People will talk. We're not together. We can hang out tomorrow though in class."
"Okay then. How about lunch?"
"Maybe. We'll see." I said, shifting uncomfortably. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and reached to look at it. Of course it was Jake.
'Hey Bells. I'm running a bit late, be at your house in a few.'
I had completely forgotten he was coming over and we were supposed to hang out, maybe go to the diner for dinner. I didn't like going to the diner, but sometimes it was fun to make Jake come with me. "Oh, okay I have to go. Look, I'll talk to you tomorrow okay?" I asked as I moved out from between him and my truck.
Walking up to my front door, I unlocked it and opened it before I looked back at where he had been, sighing. Of course he wasn't there anymore. He wasn't anywhere. Couldn't that boy even act human when we were in my neighborhood? What if my neighbors saw his inhuman speed?
And I wondered if I worried for his safety at others finding out his secret...or for others. Would he kill people if they knew? Obviously not everyone since I knew. I felt a bit stupid wondering. Of course Edward wouldn't kill people, especially right here where he lived. He had said that his family was different from others.
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A/N: Chapter fin! I know this is a bit shorter, but I just wanted this to be about Bella finding out what Edward was and confronting him. A lot of it is the way it happened in the movie, but I did change quite enough of it I think.
I debated on if I wanted to add more than I did, but I decided its better saved for the next chapter. Besides, this puts this chapter out a bit sooner and quicker after the last one {and that was my goal! Yay goals.}
As always, Read and review! I love reading reviews, and it encourages me to write. Soo please review and let me know what you think. The next chapter is already underway!
