Twilight

Chapter Two


The very next morning, Bella opened her eyes to find she was no longer in Edward's arms, but tucked perfectly into a satiny bed. She immediately sat up, a nauseous feeling eating at the bottom of her stomach as she recalled the events of the night before.

"Edward?" she called, making sure to smooth down her messy hair before he entered her room. When the door did open, Bella was surprised to see not her boyfriend, but his sister enter the room carrying a tray of steaming breakfast and a hearty smile.

"He's downstairs," Alice told her as she set the tray down on Bella's lap, "with that boy."

Bella shoved the tray away, not at all hungry. "He's awake?" she asked in surprise. Suddenly the only things in her mind seemed to be questions. "What has he said? Who is he?"

Alice crossed her arms and frowned at the abandoned meal she had taken the time to make, but chuckled at Bella's interest in the stranger. "Relax," she told her brother's girlfriend. "He hasn't said much at all. Told us he's feeling a little unwell." Alice pursed her lips and took the tray away before Bella could spill anything sliding out of bed. "Edward only just got him downstairs. He can barely walk, you know."

"Oh," Bella whispered in surprise, not so much at the fact that the injured boy from the night before was still hurt as the fact that she was wearing someone's pajamas.

"Mine," Alice said when she noticed Bella looking down at herself. "Come on," she smiled, indicating impatiently for her to follow as she left the room. "You don't want to miss him if he starts talking, do you?"

Bella shook her head and wordlessly followed her best friend through a hall and down a flight of stairs. When they entered the kitchen, Bella was surprised to see both Edward and the stranger sitting at the Cullen's large breakfast table. Jasper was sitting across the table from them with a strange look on his chiseled face, and all three boys looked up when they noticed the two girls.

The stranger boy dropped his fork as he stared into Bella's hazel eyes.

"You're…," he began, his voice no less raspy than it was the night before. He paused for a moment, and Bella looked to him encouragingly, but he choked up and trailed off.

Edward gracefully rose to the table and strode over to his girlfriend. He gave her a small hug and a warming smile.

"'Morning," she said tiredly. Edward said nothing in reply, but kept a hand around her waist and walked her out of the room.

With one last glance in the direction of the kitchen, Edward sighed. "He's doing much better, but he won't speak," he said, avoiding Bella's inquisitive gaze. "I watched him the entire night, except for the few moments I left the room to put you in a bed. I could have sworn he had been sleeping when I left, but when I returned to the room, I found he was no longer in the bed, but halfway out the window." Edward opened his mouth to continue his story, but Bella gasped, clearly shocked.

"He what—?"

"He…." Edward's brows furrowed as he recalled the incident. "He was hanging halfway out of the window," he repeated. "Before you say anything, no, I do not have a single clue as to how he was quick enough to move from the bed to the window—or how he even had the strength to open it. I caught him by his shirt, and I had to force him back into the bed. He was yelling about—…. Anyway, I told him that he was just delirious." Bella tried to picture the events with a frown. "I stayed there in the room with him until his stomach woke him up."

"Alice told me you had to help him down the stairs," Bella said, combing a strand of hair back behind her ear with her fingers. "That he could barely walk. How could he have gotten to the window?"

Edward ground his teeth together in frustration. "That's the thing; I haven't the faintest idea. I tried to get him to speak about it—speak about anything, really, but he hasn't opened his mouth once this morning except to tell me he felt dizzy. In fact, the first time he's said anything was when you walked in. And the worst of it is…I can't hear any thoughts from him at all."

"That is strange," Bella whispered, looking back towards the kitchen. "He's like me, then…." Realizing the implications of someone else who possessed her gift, she really couldn't think of much else to say. "I'll see if I can get him to say anything."

"Bella, love," Edward whispered back, brushing her shoulder with stony, gentle fingers. "He's barely made any noise at all since he got here. Don't get your hopes up."

Bella rolled her eyes and turned to enter the kitchen. The boy looked up from his empty plate and dropped his fork with a loud clatter. Bella dropped unceremoniously into the chair next to him and clasped her hands together, watching him chug a glass of orange juice.

"I hope—"

"I'm leaving," he said breathlessly as he slammed the empty glass down on the table. Both Edward and Bella blinked in surprise. Edward had been trying to get him to say something all morning, and Bella had barely said two words to the boy.

"But you can't leave!" Bella burst out. "You're hurt," she said, gesturing to his stitches.

The boy winced, but shook his head. "I have to. Bye."

Bella flinched at the sound of the chair scraping against the linoleum tiles as the boy pushed himself away from the table and rose unsteadily to his feet. Edward moved to help him, but the boy motioned for him to stop.

"I'm fine."

Bella found that her first impression of the dark haired stranger was much better than the impression he was giving them now. There was nothing naive about the expression on his face. His blue eyes were set and haunted. He began to hobble around the table, using the chairs for support.

"I don't think it would be wise—"

"I don't care," the boy interrupted Edward roughly. "I still have to leave."

"You don't have to do anything," Bella cooed, ignoring his protests and walking to his side. She placed a steadying hand on his arm. "You should at least rest a little."

The boy jerked his arm away from her and eyed her angrily before limping to the open doorway of the kitchen and looking around for the foyer. "You guys are being really nice, but I really need to get out of here." When he caught sight of the front door, he ground his teeth together and practically dragged himself to it.

"But we don't even know your name. You never even told us what happened…." Bella looked to him pleadingly and, for a moment, she managed to catch his flashing blue eyes before the boy looked quickly away.

"I'm not sure what happened," he told them both as he opened the door, ignoring her request for his name. Edward tensed as the boy paused to eye his girlfriend one last time and Bella flushed slightly under the intense scrutiny. "But you don't want to go outside. Trust me. There are some huge freaking wolves out there."

Bella blanched. She had almost forgotten about Jacob, even though he had called earlier, asking for her help. "What did you do?" she gasped, her hazel eyes flashing angrily. Edward looked between the two, nonplussed.

"Me?" the boy asked, giving her an odd look. "I didn't do anything—"

Bella was upon him before he could blink. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him with surprising strength.

"What did you do to Jacob?" she repeated in a low voice, surprising the two boys present. Alice and Jasper, who had been clearing the kitchen suddenly popped their heads around the door jam, watching silently. The dark haired stranger stumbled under Bella's forceful push and his left leg gave out, sending him to the marble floor with a low thud.

"Bella—!" Edward gasped in shock.

"Are you crazy?" the boy hissed through clenched teeth as he grabbed his ankle in pain.

Bella blinked. "I'm sorry," she gasped, falling to her knees by his side. "I didn't mean for you to fall—"

The boy scrambled to his feet and, steadying himself on the open door, he growled, "You've got it all wrong. I didn't do anything to anyone."

"Then what happened to you?" Edward looked to the boy inquisitively.

The boy sighed. "You really want to know?" When Edward and Bella nodded vigorously, he carefully thought about wording. "I…. I was eating dinner with my parents when all of a sudden we were attacked by these weirdo steroid abusers with bad teeth. Every single one of them…." His eyes glazed over slightly and his playful tone disappeared. "My parents where trying to…defend me, but I really didn't have time to see what happened. Someone hit me in the back of the head, and it kind of gets blurry after that…."

Bella looked up to Edward, pity evident in her eyes. Edward first exhaled heavily through his nose and then frowned.

"And you…woke up in the forest?" he queried.

The boy nodded. "Yeah. I woke up when I fell from someone's arms and my back hit the ground. I couldn't see much from the ground, but I did see these huge wolves growling and biting the weird people who had attacked my home." The boy adopted an odd expression. "I didn't see what happened, but I one of the wolves just sort of…fell over. My stomach started hurting, and when I looked, there was a huge gash on my stomach that hadn't been there before, and I…um, passed out." It was clear to the couple that he was slightly embarrassed. "I woke up again when I heard someone humming, and I called for help."

Edward nodded. "That explains a great amount," he said. "But also instigates many more questions." Bella blushed when Edward gave her a tiny smile. "And you were humming?"

"No," was her immediate reply. He raised a perfect eyebrow in reply, and she looked to him, exasperated. "I was scared, okay?"

"So, now I have to leave," the boy said, unaware of Bella's embarrassment. "I have to make sure my parents are…okay."

Edward shook his head. "I don't think I can let you do that now."

"And why not?" the boy said, raising an eyebrow.

The vampire frowned. "For some reason, you are a target of one of Italy's largest underground mafias."


A/N: Wow, thanks you guys! It was really great to have all that feedback. I hope you like this chapter even more, though so far, I still have yet to be impressed by Twilight. I have to say, though, this crossover is sort of fun.