Disclaimer: Not mine. Go figure.
Chapter 3
Hold On
Your days; you say they're way too long
And your nights; you can't sleep at all
Hold on
And you're not sure what you're waiting for
but you don't want to no more
And you're not sure what you're looking for
but you don't want to no more
-Good Charlotte
"There's a new coven on its way to Anchorage," Demetri commented dryly.
"And you know this… how?" I questioned, rolling over in my bed to face him. He was lounging on his own bed, his hands resting behind his head and his legs hanging off the side. His position, so similar to Edward's, made me squeeze my eyes shut for a moment, before opening them once more and smiling curiously at him.
"Aro likes to keep tabs on the area. He's very protective of his stregoni benefici," he replied laughingly. I rolled my eyes, vaguely wondering how he kept tabs on me when I was on a whole other continent.
I shook my head and started to leave the room. "Where are you going?" he asked immediately. Again, my eyes rolled; he's like…him; I couldn't bring myself to say his name.
"It's that time of the month. I'm going hunting," I said as though this were the most obvious thing in the world. His face brightened and he jumped up from his bed to follow.
"Yay," he said childishly, now reminding me of Emmett. "I'm hungry."
"Thirsty," I corrected under my breath, resulting in laughter from him. I locked the door to our dorm behind us and we both climbed into my car. After turning into a vampire, I had insisted upon getting a new car. The truck was just too slow for my enhanced senses. And although the Cullen's had offered several times to get me a new car, I no longer had the option of their large bank account, and therefore settled for a new Eclipse Spyder model. It was still a bit pricey for me, about 30 grand, but still not as expensive as half the Cullen's' cars. The fact that I had almost no need to sleep greatly helped me in paying for it; I was able to work more hours than a normal college student would.
We drove down the highway in silence; Demetri knew me well enough by now to know better than to turn on the radio. I didn't listen to music. He never really pushed me to tell him why, but I knew he was extremely curious as to why the first time we rode in a car together, he turned on the radio, and I had such a panic attack that I swerved off the side of the road.
"Here we are," I said, pulling the car off the side road and parking on the edge of the woods.
We went our separate ways once we got into the woods. He liked to hunt moose, while I preferred wolves. It shocked me, that I preferred wolves. Originally I had been horrified at the fact that I was hunting wolves; Jacob was werewolf! However, after seeing a real wolf up close, they actually looked very different.
.xoxo.
"Get any wolves tonight?" Demetri asked curiously.
I scowled. "No. I couldn't find any. I had to settle for a bear."
He rolled his eyes. "I would've enjoyed a nice bear."
"Did you get your moose?" I asked scathingly. He nodded. "Then shut up."
"Someone's cranky," he commented.
"Someone's annoyed," I replied.
I shot Demetri a look and rolled onto my back, staring at my ceiling. You never realize how long life can seem until you can't sleep. I was bored out of my mind; I had finished all my homework. I jumped up.
"I'm going to go do some volunteer work at the hospital," I suggested. I knew I needed the volunteer hours; they looked good on records and such. They weren't required yet, but as I got further in the medical career, they would be.
He rolled his eyes. "I don't even have enough self-control for that."
"I'm not you," I reminded him. "Remember, I'm not drawn to human blood. At all."
He followed me to the parking lot nonetheless. "I thought you weren't coming."
"I never said that," he said, getting into the drivers seat.
"Excuse me, this is my car. And why are you coming if you don't have enough self-control?"
He didn't move from the drivers seat. "I'll wait out in the alley and you can see me on breaks." He wore an eager smile.
"You want to spar," I said; it wasn't a question.
"Yes," he breathed. "I'm getting so bored. And there's a new coven on the way, so you need to practice."
I nodded as he pulled into the parking lot at Alaska Regional Hospital and parked. "Alright." I pointed to an alley on the right of the building. "Go there. I'll see you when I take breaks." I got out of the car before he could say anything else and headed into the hospital.
"Hello," I said kindly to the receptionist at the front counter. "I'm Isabella Swan. I'm a med student at U of A; I was wondering if it might be possible for me to get in some volunteer hours tonight."
The woman looked scathingly at my appearance. I looked kind of odd, I'll admit. My once long, brown hair was now short and choppy, barely hitting my neck, and was much closer to black than brown. I was wearing a corset top, which clearly showed my ripples of muscle, and a pair of Tripp pants, chains and all. Demetri seemed to like the gothic look better. "I'm sorry, we don't usually allow students at this time. You should come back during more appropriate hours." She didn't look sorry at all.
"Well, you see," I argued. "I have my classes arranged in a bit of an odd schedule and this is really the only free time that I've got. I sleep early in the evening, so my nights are free."
Another man, a young doctor, looked at me leeringly. "Aw, don't be like that Susan. If she wants to volunteer, who're we to turn her away?" He motioned for me to follow him. "Come on, you can shadow me."
I smiled thankfully and hurried behind the counter, ignoring the scowl the woman gave me.
"I'm Dr. Chase," the man said. "I'm the Head of Diagnostics." I started; he was so young. "Yes, I know, but I graduated top of my class, a year early, and the previous head was retiring. They said I was best for the job." He shrugged. "It amazed me that I got such a good job and such a young age. So, tell me a bit about yourself."
"Um, my name is Isabella Swan, I'm a first year med student, I finished top of the class in pre-med."
"Where you from?"
"Um, originally, Phoenix, but then I moved in with my dad my junior year of high school in Forks, Washington."
"How old are you?"
"22," I replied. And this was true, my body technically hadn't aged over 18, but I have existed for 22 years. "So, are you the big boss man?" I asked, holding back a smile.
"Eh, I'm head of my department, but not the best doctor in the hospital."
"Oh?" I said, surprised that he would admit that. "Who is?"
"Dr. Cullen," he responded. What? No. No way in hell could this be happening. "He easily bests me. He's a great man though."
"Carlisle," I choked out. "Carlisle Cullen?"
"Yes," he said, shocked. "Do you know him?"
I shook my head quickly. "No, no, I've heard of him. You're right, he's an excellent doctor."
"Come on, I've got a couple doctors who're supposed to be meeting me in my office. You can sit in during our differential diagnosis."
I smiled. "That would be great. Thanks."
We walked to his office. Three doctors were sitting lazily in the room, waiting for him. "This is Isabella Swan," he introduced. "She's going to be shadowing me for a while. She's a med student at U of A.
"Isabella, this is Dr. Blair, Dr. Brennan, and Dr. Meyer." He looked around. "Damn it, where's Halse at?"
"She's got NICU this week," Blair responded.
"Oh, right. I should've known that," Chase told himself. "Anyway, what's the case?"
I sat there for about thirty minutes, listening to them toss out ideas and consider them. I spoke up a few times, offering suggestions. We were all just about to leave when his office door opened.
"Dr. Halse, you're late," Chase said.
"That's a great possibility if I were Dr. Halse," the smooth voice replied, smilingly. Oh no. He's not here. I'm dreaming. I covered my face with my hands.
"Dr. Cullen!" Chase exclaimed. "This is a pleasant surprise. What do you need?"
"Actually, I'm a bit short handed today. Do you have anyone to spare?"
"Sorry, not particularly. Halse is working NICU today. Although, if you explain enough to her…" I knew where he was going with this and winced as he turned to me. I looked at him warily. "Isabella, I suppose you could shadow Dr. Cullen for a while."
"Shadow?" Carlisle asked curiously.
"Yes, Dr. Cullen, I'd like you to meet Isabella Swan." I cringed. "She's a med student at U of A. She's been shadowing me, but she's pretty smart. I'm sure she would be of some help to you."
"Swan? Bella Swan?" he choked out.
I removed my hands from over my eyes and peeked up at Carlisle's shocked face. "Dr. Cullen," I said formally. "I'm Isabella Swan. I've heard so much about you. It's a pleasure to meet you." I walked over to him and extended my hand. Still in awe, he reached out and shook my hand with his icy cold one.
"Yes, that would be great, Dr. Chase. Thank you," Carlisle said to Dr. Chase. "Come on now, Ms. Swan."
I winced and followed him out the door. I could see the wheels turning in his head as we walked down the halls. We stopped walking in a deserted hall and he spun to look at me, taking in my appearance. I must admit, I did look rather frightening. "What happened to you, Bella?" he whispered.
I ignored his question. "Don't you dare tell him, Carlisle," I said.
He looked at me, shocked. "Why ever not?"
I looked away, hiding my anguish. "He won't want to know," I said, my voice filled with obvious pain. "It'll just annoy him. It's better for everyone that he doesn't know I'm here."
Carlisle didn't answer, and I felt my cell phone vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out and flipped it open. "Yes Demetri," I said as I held the phone to my ear.
"You've been in there forever," he complained. "When are you coming out to play?"
I lowered my voice to respond, though I knew Carlisle would still be able to hear me. "First of all, I've barely been in here for an hour. And I'll come out later, ok. I'm volunteering, I can't just take random breaks to come out and entertain you. Go find some other play mate for a while." I thought about that. "Actually, no, don't. Just get over yourself. I'll see you later." I snapped my phone shut before he could say goodbye.
I glanced over at Carlisle. I'd never seen him like this, never seen him… well, angry. "Is that why you don't want me to tell Edward?" he asked, fighting to keep his voice calm.
For a fleeting moment, I had no idea what he was talking about. After a second, it hit me full force. "Are you kidding me?" I hissed incredulously. "No! And even if it was, that's the way Edward wanted it. He's got no room to judge me anymore, nor do you. I'm trying to get on with my life. I'm sorry I can't just fall out of love with him as easily as he can with me."
We didn't speak for a while, with the exception of the few comments he threw in when we were dealing with patients in the ER. For some odd reason, my words seemed to have confused him.
After a couple hours in the ER, I decided it would be best to go out and spar a bit with Demetri. "Hey Carlisle." He looked up at me from his patient. "I'm going to go meet someone real quick. I'll be back in about 15 minutes, ok?"
He nodded. "Sure, that's fine Bella."
I walked briskly through the hospital and out a side door. The minute I was out the door, someone leapt at me, pinning me to the ground. I looked up into the excited eyes of Demetri. "And what if that hadn't been me?"
"I could smell you," he replied, still not moving. I shoved his shoulders and he flew back. He jumped to his feet, crouching down into an attack position. I copied his movements.
"You know, this is really stupid," I said as I dodged a punch. "We could get caught out here."
He shrugged as we circled each other. I threw a punch and he ducked, grabbing my arm and spinning me behind him. I stumbled as he threw me away from him, and jumped up to avoid his foot that tried to knock me over. I went for a punch once again and he ducked out of the way at the last minute. I didn't think to stop myself as my fist went flying into the brick wall and I heard the bones in my knuckles snap.
"Ow, shit!" I cursed loudly. Demetri hurried to my side and carefully lifted my hand to examine it.
"You broke your knuckles," he said, chuckling.
"It hurts," I groaned. I was usually much better with handling pain.
He slid his arm around my shoulder and held the door open for me. "Then it's a good thing we're at the hospital."
Preview of Chapter 4: Anger Management
My tires screeched as I pulled into their driveway. The car wasn't even fully stopped and I was out the door and running to the house. I burst in, not bothering to knock, and almost screamed in anger. Actually, I'm pretty sure I did. He was fighting with Edward, and I mean truly fighting. They were both at each other's throats. Emmett was on standby, no doubt ready to help his brother if it got too serious.
"Demetri!" I screamed. They both ignored me. Alice looked at me anxiously. I stepped forward and punched him hard in the shoulder with my left hand, the right was still in a cast; he flew back into the wall. Everyone in the room looked at me in awe. "I told you not to come here," I growled.
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