Sorry about the confusion in Chapter One, Caius is alive not Athenadora. I have replaced the chapter. Love Jules xx
Chapter Three
Bella
Life goes on or so the saying goes and now I know it's right, it doesn't matter how much pain you go through, how much you think you are going to die without the person you love more in this world than anyone else. Once they are gone you find a way to get through it all, you survive. Edward left me, told me he was bored, that he no longer wanted to be with me, and he took the family with him. They went without a word of goodbye and left my world empty and cold. My mom and Charlie both tried to reach me, to tell me that I would survive the pain but the only person who could get through the glacier that surrounded me like an icy blanket was Jake.
He was like the sun slowly thawing the ice and allowing me to think and feel again. He knew there could never be anything between us, that my heart remained in its icy enclosure but he enabled me to go on. To do all the things I had to do, go to school, work, breathe, eat, sleep, and eventually even begin to dream, of a future without Edward. It wouldn't be the future I had dreamed of but it could be a future in which one day I might find a new love, a new direction to take.
Sometimes Edward still invaded my dreams, sometimes they all did, Emmett with his bear hugs and sunny grin, Alice with her boundless energy, Esme with her warm heart and Jasper with a quiet presence that told me everything would be OK, I was safe, he would watch over me. I welcomed these visitors in a way I could never welcome Edward's phantom. Whenever he visited I heard those spiteful, hurtful words that had crushed me and trapped me in that white freezing world. Then I wondered what I had ever seen in him, true that outward appearance was enough to capture any girl's heart, but inside…..well that was where the beast lived. I had never considered him a monster, not even when I discovered what he was. It wasn't until I heard those crushing words that I finally understood the true man behind the mask. Edward Cullen was cruel, heartless, and unfeeling, everything else had been an act. Perhaps he found it amusing to lead me on only to crush me but I found it hard to see any of the others doing such a terrible thing to me.
Now life led me in a new direction, I had always wanted to teach, to pass on my love of literature to others but now all I wanted was to get away from Forks, from everything that reminded me of Edward. I had been planning to go to college, we had talked about going to college together but of course, that was all gone like him.
No, I was going back to my mom's, to Florida where I had a job waiting as a librarian's assistant. I loved books so it seemed a good place to start and maybe when I settled I would go to college, train to be a librarian and work in a college library where people were keen to learn, where books were precious items and I could hide in the stacks when things got too much.
Both Charlie and Jake had tried to persuade me to stay in Forks but it held too many memories, besides which Jake would think I was staying for him and I wouldn't give him false hope, I loved him too much for that. As for dad well, he would soon slip back into his old ways and I would be no more than a memory. I promised to write and phone but I wouldn't give any assurances that I would be back any time soon.
Florida was a good choice, the sun and heat helped me to forget the Cullens, this wasn't the kind of place you would run into vampires, in general, they were far too conspicuous. I found my job rewarding especially the afternoons when we had the little kids in for story time. Their evident delight in the stories, the wide eyes as they looked at the pictures and the keenness to learn how to read for themselves reminded me of myself when I was little. Books were magical then, just like the stories inside them. Monsters were always slain unless they turned out to be good ones and the Princess always found her handsome Prince even if he did start out as a frog. Anything could happen in the world of make believe, unlike reality.
I met a few guys who asked me out and once or twice I forced myself to agree but they never amounted to much. It wasn't that I measured them against Edward, I didn't, but what I was looking for didn't seem to exist in real life. I wanted a man who made me feel the way Jasper had, safe and worthy. Maybe I wanted too much, I certainly envied Alice having someone who made her feel like she was the most important person in the world.
Maybe it was a vampire trait because I thought Esme and Rosalie were also in that category of women who were valued above everything. But then Edward had made me feel that way at first, in fact, right up until the very end when he told me how worthless and insignificant I really was.
Yet one day things changed, it was impossible to explain or point to anything in particular but the very air seemed charged. I got the feeling that the planet was holding its breath, that something monumental had happened that would alter the world I lived in. I asked my workmates if they had felt it but just got uncomprehending stares in reply. I guess it's difficult to answer a question when you don't understand it in the first place. I read the newspaper, watched the news on TV, even asked mom and Phil if they felt anything. My mom was one of those women who believed in the supernatural, feelings and portents and she agreed the atmosphere had changed,
"I think something is coming Bella. Something that will change our lives. There is a malignant force at work unseen and unknown for now, but soon….."
Phil just laughed, he took most of mom's weirdness with a pinch of salt, but I could see he looked uneasy. I watched and listened but nothing happened, yet the very air felt thick with danger and I found myself looking over my shoulder from time to time as if expecting to see a shadowy figure lurking close by.
Then one day there it was, the unknown figure in the shadows beckoning me to it and as I closed in I recognized Alice Cullen!
"Alice? What are you doing here?"
I looked around half expecting to see Edward appear too but she was alone and she looked…. terrified which scared me, after all, what was there that could terrify a vampire?
"Bella listen to me because I don't have long, they're closing in on me and they mustn't see us together.."
"Who Alice?"
"Hush and listen. You are in terrible danger Bella. You need to hide, find somewhere to hide, somewhere no one will know about. Things in my world have changed and evil is hunting down anyone who might be a threat. They'll find you Bella if you don't hide."
"Who Alice? I don't understand, you aren't making any sense."
"He'll find you eventually and keep you safe but you have to hide for now. You felt it, I know you did, the evil that's appeared. Go now, quickly Bella, they'll need your gift to win this war."
Before I could ask her any more she turned as if she heard something and then…...she was gone, leaving me alone to think about her words. Something had her running, something that scared her, something that threatened me too. A few seconds later I heard a faint scream and knew in my heart it was Alice. Whoever had been looking for her had finally caught up and she was either captured or dead. I caught a whiff of incense in the air and saw a puff of purple smoke float high above an alley a few streets away by the look of things before I turned and ran.
I had no idea where to go or who I was running from but I believed Alice and in my heart, I knew she was dead. She could have run, hidden so they couldn't find her, but instead she had chosen to track me down and warn me. Surely she must have seen that if she stayed in the open and tried to warn me it would mean death for her? She told me that someone would find me and keep me safe but who had she been referring to? Did she mean Edward?
If I needed help from him to keep safe then it must be a vampire who was looking for me. There was always Victoria, I had half expected she might hunt me down since it was my fault her mate had been killed but Alice had said something else, her world had changed and evil was on the loose. I heard her words in my head, "They'll need your gift to win the war". No, to win this war. From that I was led to believe the vampires were already at war, but with who? And what good was my gift? How could stopping someone from reading my mind help to win a war?
