Oh, Mike Newton..you silly boy. Anyway, I apologize that this chapter is so short compared to the others. I can't really ramble on about shopping that long...I don't shop a lot myself, and it's just boring to me. But it picks up after this chapter. Hope you like it!
Love,
Angie Anonymous
If I hadn't been unyieldingly graceful, I definitely would have tumbled down the porch steps.
Alice had a firm grip on my elbow as she tugged me backward, away from the shaking Edward. Rosalie tagged quickly along behind her, in front of me, her face drawn. Edward's answering growl resonated from the house as Alice shoved me into the bright yellow Porsche. I righted myself in the back seat and glared as Alice positioned herself in the front, turning the keys. Bella slid quickly in next to me as Rosalie grinned from the passenger's seat.
"Sorry about Edward, again," she said, flipping her stark, blond hair over her shoulder, "we said he has a temper. He's a bit…overprotective."
"A bit," I scoffed for the second time that day, folding my arms, dis-tempered, across my chest. Bella patted my elbow.
"So, where exactly are we going, again?" I asked, my anger slowly ebbing. Alice bounced excitedly as she pulled the car out of the makeshift garage, and onto the lonely, foggy street. "Port Angeles, for shopping, of course," she stated.
Ah, heavenly, Port Angeles. I'd been there numerous times today.
"But wait, isn't it sunny there?" I asked, my eyes widening. Alice shook her head. "The sun's gone behind the clouds. It won't be back until…well, tomorrow morning." She grinned.
"Uh, how do you know that for sure?" I asked, wrapping my arms around myself as if the sun had already revealed our glittering skin. Rosalie turned completely in her seat to face me, eyeing Alice as she did. "You know how…other vampires have some sort of…extra power?" She asked, obviously searching for the right words to say. I nodded. "Alice can see the future," she told me, and my jaw dropped. Good natured jealousy swelled in my chest as I lightly tapped Alice's shoulder with the back of my hand. "That's so cool! Are there any other people like that in the family?" I asked, fighting the strange urge to say 'your' family. I was a part of it now, wasn't I? Nevertheless, it felt awkward to suddenly shove myself amongst them.
"Jasper's an Empath," Bella explained, leaning forward, looking just as excited as Rosalie. "And Edward can read minds." The non-existent blood in my veins froze, and I grimaced. "Shit," I muttered, smacking myself hard in the forehead. "What?" Rosalie, Alice and Bella asked in unison, their foreheads creasing in confusion.
"I called Edward a cry baby in my head earlier," I mumbled, sure that I had offended him, and his three sisters in the car with me. I was fully ready for the metallic tearing as they pounced on me.
But suddenly, their sweet laughter filled the air. My eyes flew open.
"Good!" Rosalie cried, clutching her stomach and doubling over the back of the seat. Alice was leaned against the steering wheel, chuckling, as the red light turned green. She sped forward, and I noticed the outskirts of Port Angeles disappearing behind us as we sped further into the town. Alice spun the Porsche into a parking space, and clapped her hands together. "Here we are!" she sang, before throwing her door open and leaping from the car. She wrenched me out of the canary-yellow vehicle and proceeded to thrust me toward the glass doors of the Port Angeles Mall.
It was nice inside, air-conditioned against the summer heat. Almost immediately, every eye in the vicinity turned toward us as we sauntered calmly through the doors, heading straight down the path past the food court and into a row of various shops. Alice pulled me into the first store, followed quickly by Bella and Rosalie.
The shopping trip was nice enough. Alice forced me to try on countess amounts of clothing, and bought much more than I needed, but stayed well within my style range. I wasn't completely alone, for she forced just as much clothing on Rosalie and Bella too. She even complimented me on my temper; Bella fought tooth and nail against the new purchases, and she said I was much more passive than she.
All in all, I got away with enough pairs of jeans to last me a lifetime, and enough shirts to match. I refused the sweaters she pushed on me, though; sweaters weren't much my thing. My style ranged more in the line of jeans, and a fitted t-shirt or tank top. I was pleased to see that Rosalie and Bella left the store with just as many bags to carry as I.
Toward the end of our trip, we meandered slowly around at little more than a human pace, arms linked. It felt nice to be in their company. I thanked them once, as Alice eyed a nice diamond necklace in the jeweler's store window. "We're sisters now, Cat," Rosalie said simply, tightening her arm around mine. Bella nodded in agreement. I grinned sheepishly, before I allowed them to tug me town the clean, linoleum path. Alice stopped abruptly in front of a store encased almost completely in pink, and I dug my heels as far into the ground as I could without harming the tiles. "No, no way!" I protested, but was no match for their combined strength. My new sisters dragged me, kicking and struggling, into Victoria's Secret as if I weighed three pounds.
"Just the bare essentials," I warned them, picking up the basic bra colors needed to live comfortably. "There, these are my size, let's go," I plead, but Alice just laughed at me. Once again, I was dragged farther into the store, and I sighed and stopped struggling. There was no putting this girl off, was there?
I allowed Alice to buy me whatever she wanted, only putting my foot down when she brought out the raciest pieces of lingerie I've ever had the misfortune to set my eyes on. She finally relented, and purchased me the basics of what I needed -too much of the basics; even in my eternal life, I'd never get around to wearing every piece of underclothing she bought me- and allowed us to leave the store.
We went back to our slow walking. I eyed the windows on the roof of the Mall. The sky was darkening to a deep blue, the stars already glittering across it. I sighed. I'd always loved the sky; it was vast and open. The stars were nice too, they were the same no matter what country you were in.
These stars were the same stars Demetri might be seeing right now. That fact was comfort alone. Except for the fact that my may not be seeing the stars…or anything at all.
I clenched my jaw tight, dismissing the thought viciously. No, Demetri was alive. He was coming for me. But, my mind raged, determined not to be quieted, what if the Cullens don't accept him as readily as they accepted you? You know that they aren't on the friendliest of terms with him, nor the rest of the Volturi.
I snarled inwardly at myself. If the Cullens really wanted me as much as I wanted them, then they'd accept Demetri with little to no struggle. Right? I hoped so. This was my family now, and I loved them, even if I'd only met them a mere few hours ago. They were complete, even now. But my family wasn't complete. No, not without Demetri. But was I willing to put my family in danger now, just for the sake of my own love? If the Volturi didn't want Demetri to leave, they could easily detain him. And if he was able to get away somehow, by some miracle, they'd come after him. It would most likely end in violence.
I'd take them all by myself, if it came down to it. I didn't want the Cullens to have to fight for me. It was settled, then. If the Volturi come for Demetri, I'll die. It was so simple, it was almost laughable.
The fearful side of me was screaming in my head, demanding that I take it back. It was trying to reason with me -they may not come for him! Demetri may never get away! He may never be back!- but my more sensible side was adamant. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, willing the voices to quiet.
"You okay?" Alice's voice brought me out of my thoughts, shocking me back into the real world. I did my best to smile at her, but I was sure it came out lame and half-hearted.
"I'm fine," I said, as a very familiar voice interrupted us.
"Bells!"
Mike Newton jogged across the mall, dodging people and benches. His smile was wide. Bella stiffened and rubbed her forehead, exasperated. "Dammit," she muttered angrily, before whipping around to face him. "Hey, Mike!" she crowed, her enthusiasm obviously false. I snickered.
"How are you? Wow, Bells, you look amazing!" Mike said exuberantly, wrapping his arm's around Bella's hard shoulders. She patted him on the back awkwardly, and I noticed her breathing had stopped.
Mike released her after a moment. "I haven't seen you since the wedding. How's married life?" he asked, but suddenly his eyes darted to me.
"Hey, you," he said, his voice automatically lowering to a more sultry sounding tone. It took all my self control not to howl with laughter in his face.
"Um, hey, Mike," I said, shifting my weight from my left foot to my right, though I really didn't need to. As a vampire, I could stand perfectly still for hours upon hours, and never feel discomfort.
"I never did catch your name," Mike said, grinning down at me. I glanced quickly over his shoulder. Bella, Rosalie, and Alice each had the same confused looks dominating their features. Bella giggled and pointed, poking fun at my situation.
"Uh, Caterina," I mumbled, distracted, tightening my fingers around the bags I had clutched in both hands. A soft "mmm" escaped Mike's lips as his grin widened.
"How'd you like to go out with me sometime, Caterina?" he suddenly asked, and I bit back the nearly overwhelming urge to laugh. Mike was certainly not so sweet anymore; rather, he was kind of annoying. "I don't think my boyfriend would like that too much," I managed to choke out, before I trotted lightly around him and continued to nudge Rosalie, Bella, and Alice toward the doors we'd come to converge at.
The laughter began as soon as the doors closed, and Mike's confused face disappeared behind us.
"How do you know him?" Bella asked amid fits of terrible giggles. I calmed my own laughter long enough to answer her. "I had to ask him directions to your place, when I first got to Forks."
The rest of the car ride went in a similar fashion, us laughing uncontrollably at Mike's expense. It made me feel slightly guilty, but human boys were easily distracted. I wouldn't put it past him to have forgotten about me already, as he'd seemed to forget about his infatuation with Bella as soon as he realized I was present on the scene.
Suddenly, Alice's face fell. Her eyes grew misty, and the steering wheel lurched to the left of it's own accord as her hands dropped from it. Wordlessly, Rosalie reached over and swung the car back around to the middle of the lane.
I was confused. I hadn't seen Alice wear anything on her face but an excited smile since I'd first met her, so this expression was new. I felt Bella stiffen beside me.
"What's up, Alice?" Rosalie asked as our sister suddenly burst back to life and snatched the steering wheel from her grasp. Her eyes found mine in the rearview mirror.
"I had a vision. You were screaming at someone…demanding to know 'what they did with him', Cat," Alice stated, her eyes confused and worried.
If I was human, my heart would have stopped. It must have been evident on my face, for Bella gripped my elbow like a vice and inched closer. Rosalie took my hand. "Do you have any idea what it means?" she asked, her light brows slanted inward.
"Alice, please," I choked, the tears already streaming down my face, "get us home. Now." She complied with earnest, inching the speedometer up to one hundred and sailing down the vacant road.
When the turnoff became clear, Alice swerved the car with perfect accuracy. The Porsche's tires squealed as Alice stomped on the brakes. Abandoning our bags, we leapt from the car, and darted toward the house.
The family was converged on the porch, minus Jacob and Renesmee. Carlisle was at the front, Esme close beside him. Jasper had a look of utmost concentration on his beautiful face, and as soon as I stepped into the yard, calm washed over me so crippling I almost fell. Bella, Rosalie, Alice, and I ran as fast as we could up the slanting grass.
The man standing tall just below the steps was sickeningly familiar. It was as if one of my nightmares had come to life.
He turned to face me, then, his satin hood falling to his shoulders. His black hair was cropped close to his head, his read eyes dancing with glee. My breath caught in my throat as a snarl ripped forth, drawing the word I wished I'd never had to speak again.
"Felix."