Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga, Life and Death, or any of the accouterments in the series.
AN: Just a reminder, this story is rated M.
Chapter 2 – A World of Myths
Bella
I do not need to eat Italian, I complained in my head to Beau for the tenth time as we walked behind Alice and Jasper who'd said she knew just the place after asking us where we wanted to eat and Beau had said somewhere serving Italian. I knew he'd done it for me. He was perfectly happy eating hot wings and greasy fries.
You really want to get barbecue or Mexican or something? The sarcasm in his mental voice clear enough that I knew he already knew the answer was a no, even if I claimed yes.
I sighed, but continued following the over-exuberant pixie. Anyone who had a chance to meet Alice would know she was sweet as well as genuinely pure and lovable. But – and it was a big but – she was beyond exhausting. We'd probably only spent about an hour in her presence so far today and I already felt like going back home and curling up, spooned against Beau. Jasper seemed to be her opposite in every way, and if she wasn't so over-excited even now, I'd almost think he must bring her down to Earth, and that was why they were together.
After a few more minutes of walking we finally arrived at a little restaurant called ICO, the word Italian was above the three letters on the the left side, and Carry Out was below on the right side. As we went inside, the place was very casual. There was a small bar set up serving beers and wine, but most of the restaurant were little square tables with rustic wooden chairs. Against one wall, there were a handful of booths. We seated ourselves at a small table that was near the back, the menus were in a small caddy on the table.
We each grabbed a menu to look at just as a waitress came over and took our drink orders.
After she left, I went through the menu and found eggplant parmesan in with the dinners. I mentally communicated my choice to Beau who responded by shoving an image in my head of him rolling his eyes at me.
Beau thought to me, Hey look, they do have buffalo wings!
I stuck my tongue out at him.
It wasn't until then that I became aware that Alice and Jasper were probably paying more attention to us than the menus in front of them, because Jasper suddenly said, "Just what are you two?"
"What?" I asked, stunned.
There was the sound of something smacking together under the table. Jasper didn't turn away from us as he spoke to Alice – who must have kicked him. "No, Alice, they aren't human. They can't be. You know what Edward said – you know what your own senses tell you. And in the limited amount of time I've been in their presence today, I have literally felt their emotionsbeing shared from one to the other. It doesn't make sense."
Alice let out an exasperated sigh.
Beau and I shared a look.
What the hell does he mean? Not human?
No clue. I mean I know that there are legends of mythological beasts in La Push, but that's all they are.
Mom used to always claim that the house she grew up in was haunted but...
Your mom was the definition of insane, Bells. Give her a science fiction book talking about leprechauns in little spaceships and she'd swear by the end of a day that it was a hundred percent fact. We both know it.
She wasn't that bad... well dad kept her from reading that kind of stuff to keep her from getting that bad.
My point exactly.
"We're human. I assure you. I was born to Charlie and Marie Swan on September 13, 1987, and she was born to Phil and Renee Dwyer on the same day," Beau said softly.
"But it brings up an excellent question. What are you? Since you started it." I looked at them intently.
Jasper opened his mouth but Alice elbowed him in the gut, hard, and he let out an uncomfortable oof.
"We're human too," she said. "At least technically." She made a put upon sigh. "It's a philosophical question more than anything else. You see, I'm clairvoyant and Jasper here is an empath... So since we can do stuff that no normal human can, are we really human?"
"And Edward?" I asked.
"He's... I suppose you could say telepathic, but since it's only one way – listening not speaking – one might say it's teleaudient. His gift is imperfect though, for example, he couldn't read your thoughts. I'm relatively sure it shocked him which was why he left so abruptly at lunch on Monday," Alice explained.
He's like us?
Not exactly though. I thought back.
Alice and Jasper were looking at us expectantly.
I grimaced. "I guess we share what some people call twin telepathy, even though we aren't related by blood. Our mothers were best of friends growing up and we happened to be born at the same time on the same day so we've always felt a sort of deep connection with each other." I shrugged.
The waitress came back with the drinks then, setting them down before asking if we were ready to order. Beau ordered his wings as well as the lasagna and I ordered my eggplant parmesan. While Alice ordered a medium cheese pizza with breadsticks for her and Jasper to share.
The instant the waitress left, Alice leaned over to Jasper and whispered something quickly in his ear that we couldn't hear. Her lips moved to fast for me to follow.
He grimaced.
Her voice was the tiniest bit louder as she whispered fiercely, "It's your own fault."
Beau and I shared another look.
They are...
...very strange
After the food arrived we all ate in silence – the quiet at the table stiflingly awkward.
…
"We're going to need the truck," I said to Beau as we stood in the rental lot.
He kept looking at a Toyota Corolla and I kept grabbing his shoulders and turning him to face the black Ford F350.
"But it's so... big... and modern." He sounded horrified.
I snickered. "Do you think that little Toyota is going to fit bookshelves and other furniture we need. Including a TV?" It was relatively big, it wasn't – technically – a monster truck, but it was close.
He scowled.
"Don't pout. I'll get the paperwork done."
I headed into the building and talked with the clerk, who didn't want to rent the vehicle to me – being only eighteen years old – until I pulled out my black label credit card.
By the time I came out of the building Beau was leaning against the truck while holding his sides as he tried to resist laughing.
"What?" I growled in irritation.
He smirked and replayed the scene in my head that he'd apparently watched.
I glared at the clerk whose name was Timothy per his name tag. "Can I talk to your manager?"
"Miss, policy is policy, it doesn't matter who you talk to," he stated calmly.
I pulled my wallet out and slammed my card down on the counter. "Are you certain about that?"
The clerk's eyes widened as he took in the shiny card. "One moment, Ma'am, I'll get the papers started right away, Ma'am." He was practically stuttering in his hurry to get the words out.
Beau couldn't hold his amusement back any longer and burst into laughter.
I glowered at him before stomping over to the driver's side and climbed in. "Get in, chuckles."
I drove us to a furniture store heading south out of town so we could get the furniture we needed for the house. We shopped together for the different items we needed, getting two book shelves and a stand-up cd rack. Then we got a few small end tables and a tv and stand and checked out.
I let him drive us home, which when we got there, we took the furniture inside and left it all sitting unorganized in the living room before we headed to the bedroom.
I closed the door and then stepped over to him and his arms came around me, pulling me close and holding me there. My eyes shut of their own accord, as I rested my head against his chest. He rested his chin on top of my head.
Come on, let's go to bed, he thought to me.
I pulled back enough to rip his shirt off over his head and then stepped back even further and stripped to bare skin. It wasn't a strip tease, but Beau stared appreciatively anyways before he pulled off his own clothes as well.
We laid in the bed together, him curled around me protectively, our hands holding each others'. As we fell asleep, we dreamt of our past. The first one could have been either his or mine.
The fake IDs Renee had provided us had gotten us into the late night coffee bar that did ad-lib poetry readings. The fact that we'd snuck out of the house to get here was to be expected. I think my mother's exact words had been, "You're going to do it anyways." She'd always been like that though.
Phil was less accepting of our teenage rebellion and attitude and had tried to insist we sleep in different rooms now that we were fifteen, claiming a boy and a girl sharing a room wasn't acceptable at our age. He'd held out two days before he'd given in and allowed Beau to sleep in my room again. It was hard to do anything else when I'd refused to eat, drink or sleep for that first forty-eight hours after Beau had arrived. I'd gotten my stubborn streak from mom, so he really should have just given in before it even started.
We sat at a table for awhile, watching different people step up and read out different poems, many of them were dark and mysterious, more still were erotic and scandalous. Every once and awhile Beau's eyes would track to the back of the coffee shop where a section was free of tables and some people were dancing to the music that seemed to set the mood for the poems being read off.
I knew that Beau liked to dance, but if it wasn't ballet... it wasn't really my thing. At least it wasn't while songs like Bodies, Pony, and Erotica were playing. In fact it wasn't until the dance version of Sweet Dreams came on that I got up and pulled Beau back to the little dance floor.
The music was louder on the dance floor than in the front of the shop and a small part of me wondered how they pulled that off, I didn't waste much time on the thought though as I swayed my hips against his until he got into the swing of it and started dancing with me.
The song changed to some euro-pop tune that I didn't know, but I stayed dancing with him anyways, just enjoying letting loose. At some point, as the song changed a couple more times, I spun a little ways away from him, mixing the slightest bit of my classical training with the modern bump and grind style of dance – just showing off as I danced by myself.
When I turned to face him a few minutes later, one of the people on the dance floor had come over to him. The woman had soft red-brown locks that went half way down her back and wore a black shirt that was thin enough it left nothing to the imagination and a short skirt. I was honest enough with myself to admit she was hot, but I was surprised to see their lips locked in a dirty kiss.
Beau pulled back half a minute later, his eyes immediately flashing to me. The guilt on his face was so hard to deal with that I immediately stepped up to the woman I didn't know and locked lips with her in a kiss of my own. I noted, briefly, that her eyes were bright green, before my eyes found Beau's as he stood behind her. I backed her up against him spinning around to grind my ass against her front.
Her hands on my hips weren't as nice as his, but they weren't bad either.
I couldn't tell which of us said yes as the stranger asked us to go back to her room with us, but the small hands running over my body and pinching my nipples after we got there, as well as the lips – too soft to belong to a man – at my junction were sensations I'd never forget.
I rolled so I was facing Beau, still mostly asleep, but waking just enough to pull me away from one of the most erotic weekends of my life. When I fell back asleep again, the dream – the memory – I was seeing was definitely mine, and it wasn't a pleasant one.
My parents had only been dead for three weeks, and I had begged for the state court to emancipate me, but it had fallen through. In spite of the fact that my child ballet career that had starred me in five major musicals, two movies and several music videos and left my gross value in the high seven figures, in spite of the fact that I had an IQ of 144, and in spite of the fact that I had my driver's license already... the judge had ruled that I was to remain as a ward of the state until I was eighteen.
The first house I was moved into was a rich couple by the names of Benjamin and Virginia Garfunkel. They had one son, who was already twenty-two and living in the pool house out back. They're son's name was Royal King Garfunkel. Benjamin and Virginia were perfectly gracious while the social worker had been there, but the instant she was gone they'd explained that I was nothing more than a tax write off and that I was to share the pool house with their son and not complain about my accommodations.
Royal wasn't bad when I first went in the pool house, but as I chatted with him I'd noticed a dark glint in his eyes, and as evening had set in he'd slowly moved closer to me until his hand went around my throat.
Beau's arms tightening around pulled me away from the memories I kept buried in the deepest recesses of my mind. I'd only been with the Garfunkels for six months, and the truth was that their son had never actually raped me as we'd reached a mutual agreement but those first few nights had been terrifying until I'd gotten used to him. The next dream – memory really – I was pulled into was Beau's.
Beau stepped into the small bedroom behind Jacob and Julie, he still wasn't sure he should be with them. They were younger than him and were still finding each other, and to some extent he felt guilty intruding in their early budding relationship.
The thing was, jerking himself off only got him so far and he missed the touch of another. It had been just over a year since he'd seen me and though Charlie had tried to work with the foster family caring for me at the time so he could have gone to see me over the summer, the family I was with wouldn't hear it. As it had been pointed out, we weren't actually family.
He'd have been more comfortable dating Jessica Stanley at school to take care of his physical needs until he could see me, the real love of his life again, but I hated Jessica, so he wasn't going to touch her. I had actually been more comfortable with the idea of him having a relationship that actually meant something than one that was nothing more than sex. It was ironic, because he'd preferred it the other way when it came to me. But that was why he was here, because though he wasn't sure what – exactly – he felt for them... he did know they meant something more than an easy lay.
Julie noticed his hesitation and reached out, taking his hand and pulling him forward to her bed. Her lips pressed against his as she laid him back on the bed.
I woke with a gasp, then glanced at the clock and groaned because I knew we'd have to get up and go to school.
…
When we reached the school, we went to our separate classes – on opposite ends of campus.
My first class was English Literature 110. The professor's name was Carine Smith. She introduced herself as Ms. Smith, telling everyone that the first person to call her Mrs or Ma'am would be failed unless they were lucky enough to do it during drop week and then they might be able to save their face and go take English 100 with the other kids too stupid to understand basic literacy. I had to admit, I liked her attitude. The class for the day itself was dull, though I kept basic bulleted notes on her first day lecture.
After that I went to Analytic Geometry and Calculus I 261. As I sat down towards the back of class, I happened to notice a big guy come in and sit down towards the front, he was big enough to be a football linebacker with ease – but the thing that caught my eyes about him, were the eyes that were the same gold color as Alice and Jasper. The teacher of the class was named Leland Cull.
As I metaphorically dozed in class I checked in on Beau in the class who was currently taking. Criminology 220. He was more enraptured with his teacher's blatherings than I was in mine – even so his eyes wandered over to the copper haired Edward sitting three rows in front of him every few minutes.
Once class was over, I headed to Classical Mythology 121. Beau only had two classes this morning and one this afternoon, but I had a total of four with three during the morning. Every desk in the class had a piece of paper on it. I sat down at one close to the door. The class was close to completely full, in fact there was only one seat open – the one next to me – when Edward came in.
He flinched when he saw me, his lip raising slightly. But then he visibly calmed as stepped over and took his seat beside, even though it looked forced.
The professor stepped up to the board and wrote his name out on the the board. Lancía Draconus. The man had to be almost six and a half feet tall, and he had hair that fell all the way down his back. It was tied together in a ponytail with an extra band placed about every four inches as it fell down his back. The last band was about two inches above the end of his hair.
When he turned to face us, he was hot and he lookedAsian in his features, in spite of his height. The thing was, he couldn't have been Asian, because his skin was pale white – the whitest I'd ever seen. I wasn't a hundred percent certain as I was too far away, but I thought his eyes might have been a light gray, practically silver.
"My name is Doctor Draconus, and I am not one to mess around, so if you think this will be an easy three credits then I have another thing coming for you. On each of your desks is a paper with a name of a Deity from Greek, Roman, Celtic or Norse mythology. If you are planning on staying in this class, then I will expect a ten page essay on my desk from you on Monday. If that sounds like too much work, then you know where the administrative building is. I suggest you use it to drop this class." His voice was like burning embers in my ears and I actually grimaced, but many of the other female students leaned closer to him in their desks as he spoke.
As he gave his speech of the day, I flipped my paper over. The name on it was Bacchus.
…
When class was over and I walked outside, I suddenly had a cold hand on my wrist. I turned to look.
"It's Bella, right?" Edward's muted velvet voice asked.
"Yes," I agreed.
"Would you follow me?" he murmured.
I nodded without consciously agreeing, following him as he turned and walked away.
AN: Next chapter is going to be Edward's POV … yes, I'm evil. I know.
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