Chapter 2 – A Night at the Opera

BPOV

The last week of school felt like it crawled by. I was sure it was worse for Edward and his siblings because they had been through it so many times before. I followed Edward back to his house after school looking for some alone time, but boys will be boys. Instead, I watched Emmett, Jasper and Edward as they played video game. Alice and I cheered them on in between Alice covertly sticking bridal magazines in front of my face.

"We should go to Port Angeles, so we can check out the shops," Alice said meaningfully as she pointed to a wedding dress. Subtlety was never in her vocabulary. She kept her word and hadn't mentioned the engagement to anyone, but I knew she was like a time bomb of excitement ready to explode.

I decided it might be fun to torment her. I casually replied, "I can't. I have a meeting with Mr. Meade after school." I knew it killed Alice to delay planning the wedding. Luckily, Jasper chimed in to the conversation.

"I can't stand these final days of senior year," Jasper said as he stabbed the controller so fast I couldn't see it but I heard the rhythmic bang on the plastic from the rapid movement. "Everyone has senioritis. Grades have already been tallied, college acceptance letters have been out for months, so none of it matters. It's such a waste of time. You wouldn't believe the overwhelming boredom and impatience to get out of school that I get from everyone."

"Well, we have to keep up the charade. Doesn't look good when the kids of the town's preeminent doctor blow off the last days of school."

"Why do you keep going back to high school?" It was something I had always wanted to ask them.

Edward looked surprised at the question. "I thought we discussed this. We like to start over in high school so we can stay in an area longer."

"Yeah, but with home schooling and everything, is that even an issue anymore? Throw in the strides they have made in plastic surgery and you guys can probably stay in an area a lot longer than you have in the past."

"She's probably right," Emmett mused.

"Imagine not having to sit through freshman year ever again. Haven't you ever wanted to do more with your time?"

"Like what?"

"Well, you have unlimited time, resources and intelligence. Don't even get me started on physical abilities. Why don't you do more with them?" It never made sense to me. Why wouldn't they do more with their time and their talents?

They sat still as statues as the game music beeped in the background.

"I'm not criticizing you," I tried to assure them. Maybe this discussion wasn't such a good idea but I couldn't stop myself as I continued. "It just seems like such a waste of your time to go to high school over and over again."

"Ok smarty pants, what would you do if you were changed tomorrow?"

"I don't know. Assuming I was like all of you and over my desire to slaughter the town, I would go to college."

They all laughed as that seemed to contradict my argument.

"Wait! Wait! I would go to college because I'm not sure what I want to do. But you've all been to college more than once. Edward, you have multiple medical degrees. Right?"

"Yes, Rosalie does too but she was the only one of the two of us to actually practice. I just did it to help Carlisle keep current and create a new license that he could transition over to when he aged out in one of our moves."

I nodded and then pointed to my right. "Alice has a few finance degrees. Jasper has a PhD in Psychology and both he and Emmett have graduate degrees in Computer Science. Yet the biggest thing you do with them is hack the code to video games to amp them up so they are a challenge to your vampire abilities."

The guys looked a bit embarrassed.

"I don't understand why you don't put all your knowledge and education to good use. I mean, even if you didn't want to practice medicine like Carlisle, Edward, haven't you ever wanted to do medical research? With your knowledge of medicine, perfect recall and ability to take in new information you could cure diseases or develop vaccines that could save millions."

"Rosalie loves kids. Why doesn't she work with them? She could start a foundation that helps children. She could make a difference in a child's life. Alice, I already know that you can do anything. You could be setting the next great fashion trend in between trading stocks and bonds."

"Bella, the problem with that is that kind of success and those types of breakthroughs bring notoriety. It all leaves a digital footprint. We couldn't risk catching someone's attention. We can't be photographed in newspapers or technical journals. We can't be on social media."

I hated when Edward used that condescending tone. I took the gloves off.

"Well with Emmett and Jasper's skills on the computer, the first thing they could focus on doing is developing a software program that looks for and erases your digital footprint on government websites, social media and the internet. Hell, you don't have to do any of it in your name or be the face that gets credit. You could be the ones behind the scenes that feed the information to others that can. With your resources what is to stop you from owning the companies that make the breakthroughs. Hide behind shell companies, hire good people and let them take the credit. I'm just saying that with all your gifts and resources, I would think your time would be better spent making the world a better place."

The group stared at me in silence. I took that as my cue to leave. I popped off the couch and said cheerfully, "Oh, look at the time. I have to go home and cook dinner for Charlie." I kissed Edward and ran out of the house to my truck.

XXXX

EPOV

The silence could have been cut with a knife.

"Dude, I think we just got schooled."

"Yes. Bella just handed us our asses on a platter."

Jasper looked down at the game controller in his hand and then at Emmett. "She's right. We could develop a program that searches for our pictures and any hits on the names we are using or have used."

Emmett looked excited. "Yes. We could develop an algorithm that could search the internet and online databases…." Emmett rattled of some computer technical terms and I tuned him out.

Alice popped up from her chair and grabbed my arm and said with a laugh, "Come on. Let's hunt, and let these two guys work on their new venture."

XXXXX

RPOV

I grabbed the packages out of the trunk and made my way into the house. I used the shopping trip as an excuse for a trip to Seattle. I found Emmett and Jasper in front of six big screen televisions that were stacked in two rows of threes. To my surprise there wasn't a video game in sight. They were actually using the screens as computer monitors and I could see computer codes on the screens.

We were all proficient in hacking and coding so I could tell this wasn't game code. I walked behind the couch and gave Emmett a quick kiss on the neck. That was usually all it took to get his attention. This time, nothing.

"What are you guys doing?"

They didn't even turn around as they answered. "Ah, Bella gave us an idea and we are working on it?"

I made an effort to keep my emotions even. No need to arouse Jasper's suspicions. "What could Bella have said to inspire you two over grown boys into abandoning your video games?"

Emmett finally looked at her and gave her a brief replay of Bella asking about why they kept repeating high school and why they didn't do more with their time and resources.

"So, now you are taking life coaching advice from a human?" I couldn't keep the irritation out of my voice.

"Come on, hon. It's not like that. She really had a point."

I ignored him and went upstairs to our room. I threw the bags into the closet. I would use the return of the items as another excuse to go back to Seattle. I was reading a book when Emmett came upstairs.

"How was Seattle?"

"Fine. I met with our attorney and he said the papers should be ready in the next few weeks." That was m second excuse for going to Seattle.

"Sounds good." He stretched his arms over his head and I caught a peak of eight pack abs. Emmett saw my less than subtle look and smiled. He walked over to the bed and sat down beside me. "I think I may be going cross eyed. I know we're not supposed to feel tired but staring at the monitors for that many hours makes me question that."

I almost said, serves you right.

"What is your problem with Bella, Rose?" Emmett asked truly puzzled.

I put my book down and looked at my husband. Bella Swan had been a thorn in my side since Edward became fascinated with her. I couldn't see the attraction. She was average. She had average looks, average intelligence and an average personality. The only noteworthy thing about her was her ability to trip over her own feet.

"I don't have a problem with her." I didn't. I just wanted her out of our lives.

Emmett raised an eyebrow and looked skeptical.

I sighed and closed the book with a snap. "Really. I'm just worried. Edward's infatuation with her puts us all at risk with the Volturi."

"Come on, Rosalie. How would the Volturi find out that she knows our secret?"

"I don't know! How do they find out about anything? But they do." I tossed the book to the side in annoyance at him and the families' obdurance. Why was the rest of the family blind to the danger that she posed?

"Now we also have to worry about that nomad vampire, Victoria. You know she's out there somewhere waiting for her opportunity to strike at us because we killed her mate, James."

"Babe, that wasn't Bella's fault."

"You're right. It's ours. We shouldn't have had a human out with us that day when we played baseball. If we had just kept her out of our world we wouldn't have had a problem with James and Victoria."

"That's not true. There would have been a problem even if Bella hadn't been in the field with us. Those two were feral. They were responsible for killing those hikers and the local factory worker. Their hunting was bringing too much attention. You know that James wasn't going to comply with our polite request to leave the area. He was the type that would have ambushed us one by one to try to destroy us. It was all a game to him. Then we found out that he was the Vampire that stalked Alice and killed her sire. We would have never found that out if not for Bella."

"We also had to uproot our lives because of her twice. Edward insisted that we leave after her birthday and then made us all move back six months later. I liked San Francisco. I wanted to stay. Instead I'm in this backwater town again. And then we have to deal with Jasper's mood swings because he is on pins and needles around the girl in constant fear that he is going to attack her again."

"If Edward marries her, none of that will be a problem. He'll have to change her." Thankfully, he hadn't gone that far. "Until then, who is she going to tell? She's a good kid. I trust her."

"You trust everyone." I muttered. I loved him but sometimes he was like a giant child. He was so easy going he couldn't see the big picture.

"She's makes Edward happy. Doesn't he deserve to have what we have?"

"I don't begrudge him some happiness, but couldn't he find it with Tanya? At least she is more of his equal."

"Are you sure that's all it is?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Carlisle had hoped that you would be Edward's mate. I know he showed no interest in that happening and you said you never felt attracted to him."

"What is your point?"

"I know that you like to be wanted. Are you jealous that Bella was finally able to spark something in Edward that you couldn't?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I never thought of Edward that way and couldn't care less that some insipid teenager finally thawed out his libido."

"Ok, then can you cut her some slack? She is trying. Can't you meet her half way?"

"Sure. Whatever."

I wasn't worried. Tanya had taught me how to block Edward from my thoughts decades ago. She had stumbled on to a way to compartmentalize those things she wanted to hide from the mind reader and taught me to imagine building a brick wall around those thoughts I wanted to keep private and locking them away with a metal door. It took her time to perfect the ability but once I had it had come in handy over the years. Every once in a while, I would let him read stray thoughts so he wouldn't get suspicious. Alice had been harder to get around. I learned to make decisions at the last moment in an effort to keep my secrets.

XXXX

BPOV

"You are going to look beautiful in this."

I stood self-consciously in front of her in a bra and panty set that Alice had insisted I wear. I doubted her statement as I watched her take a red dress out of a garment bag.

Alice and Jasper had gifted Edward and I tickets to a show in Port Angeles as a graduation present. The rest of the family decided to accompany us and Alice was excited because it gave her an opportunity to dress me. One thing I had learned about my supernatural best friend was an excited Alice was a dangerous Alice.

I raised a doubtful eyebrow at the cut of the dress and let her help me put on the dress. She smoothed down the lighter than air material and turned me to face the full-length mirror in the corner of my room. I saw that the dress was deceptively demur from the front. However, the side split showed an obscene amount of leg when I walked towards the mirror.

"Alice, I can't wear this. What happens when I sit down?"

"Sit over on the chair. You'll see that all the important bits are covered."

I took a seat on the desk chair and noted that Alice was correct. I stood up again and walked back to the mirror. I had to admit, the dress made me feel sexy. I wondered what Edward would think. Alice came up beside her with a big smile on her face.

"You had quite a growth spurt when we were gone." I towered over the pixie. "You must be over 5'7 now. It makes you look like you are all legs in that dress. Edward is going to lose it when he sees you."

I hoped she was right as she helped me put on the red bejeweled shoes. I had never heard of the designer, Rene Caovilla, but I had to admit the shoes looked like something out of a fairytale. Alice popped up and handed me a matching handbag and pashmina. She took one last look at me from head to toe and pronounced, "Perfect!"

I was glad she was satisfied. I pushed my nervousness aside and concentrated on getting down the stairs without tripping on my new shoes. Edward waited at the bottom of the steps and I almost stumbled at the intensity of his stare. Charlie stood to his side and watched Edward's reaction none too happily.

I made it to the bottom step without mishap and looked down at the dress. I picked at the skirt in embarrassment. "Alice picked out the dress."

Edward hadn't blinked since he caught sight of me descending the stairs. "You're perfect," he breathed out.

Charlie rolled his eyes. His expression then changed to one of pride and he said, "You look beautiful, Bells."

I felt my cheeks heat up at the attention. "Thanks, Dad."

Alice giggled as she danced down the stairs. "We better go or we'll be late for the start of the show." She kissed Charlie's cheek. "Are you sure you don't want to come, Charlie? We have a ticket for you."

"Thanks, Alice. Musicals aren't really my thing. You guys have a good time."

Charlie looked at Edward and even without his ability to read minds, I could tell what Charlie was thinking. His expression said that Edward shouldn't have too 'good' a time with his little girl.

Edward gave him a smirk that indicated that his message was received. "We'll have Bella back a little after midnight. Good night, Charlie."

Outside, Edward paused to wrap the pashmina around my shoulders. He kissed the side of my neck as he nuzzled my neck. "You look beautiful."

"What? This old thing?"

The side of his mouth quirked into a half smile. He placed my hand in the crook of his arm and walked me to his car. A while later we were in Port Angeles and we made our way to the first-row center seats in the Performing Arts Theater. The orchestra was tuning up as we sat down. My skirt fell to the side of my leg as I shifted and got comfortable in my seat. I heard Edward's intake of breath and then saw that his eyes were glued to the expanse of leg that was displayed. The intensity of his look made me feel sexy and powerful. Maybe I should trust Alice more often.

XXXX

EPOV

She was killing me. I pulled my eyes away from Bella's eyes when Jaspers voice groaned in my head. 'Edward, if you don't calm down I'm going to have a problem.' I shrugged and subtly pointed to Bella's exposed leg. Surely, he could understand. Jasper continued in my head. 'I promise, my problem will be all of your problems if you don't dial it down and we will all miss the show.'

I forced myself to think of something else to get my hormones under control. I looked at the bewigged lady that sat on my other side. She smiled at me and I saw red lipstick on her teeth. Her oversized bosom preened in my direction and that did the trick. My libido died a sad death.

Luckily, at that point the lights flickered in the theater and then lowered. The first strains of the musical intro flowed out of the orchestra pit. Bella leaned forward in her seat as the curtains opened and she stayed like that for the whole the first act. She was mesmerized by the action on the stage and I sat mesmerized by Bella. I watched as she smiled, gasped and then cried through the various acts. I found that watching her reactions was like seeing everything new again. It made me remember the wonder of my first show as a young man in the 1930's. A moment that let me escape my new existence and let me feel like a human once again.

When the play was over, Bella wiped some tears from her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"It was just so sad. He loved her so much, but they couldn't be together."

That was my girl. Always rooting for the monster.

I place her pashmina around her shoulders again to block the cold air breeze that came off the water. We walked with the rest of the theater goers to the parking garage. Bella and I had ridden to the show with Carlisle and Esme.

"What did you think about the show, Bella?"

"I loved it, Carlisle. I saw the movie version, but I liked the live show better. It seemed more intimate. More personal."

"The cast was pretty good."

"Oh? Have you seen it before?"

"Yes, many years ago when it first came out in London. I was curious how they were going to adapt it into a musical."

"Wow. You must have seen it with the original stars. I love Sarah Brightman. She has an incredible voice."

"Yes, she and Michael Crawford will always be the voices I associate with this show."

"Did you ever read the book?"

Carlisle answered. "No, I read the serialized version that was printed in the newspaper."

"It started out in a newspaper?"

"Yes. It was first published in the French newspaper 'Le Gaulois' in 1909. But the story is much older than that."

"Really?"

"Gaston Leroux wrote it based on a story he had heard on his travels. Leroux was born in Paris in the 1800s. He had inherited a significant amount of money as a young man which he used to travel through Europe and live the high life. He blew through his entire inheritance quickly and needed a way to support himself. So, he became a writer for some papers. He was intrigued by a legend he had heard when he traveled in Italy and the premise of that legend loosely became The Phantom of the Opera. What no one knows is that legend is actually based on a true story connected to the Volturi."

"Get out! Are you saying that The Phantom of the Opera is a vampire?"

"He was a vampire."

"Seriously?"

Carlisle nodded. "Aro told me he was an Italian Renaissance composer by the name of Don Andreas Ambrosio. Ambrosio was invited to Naples to study under a Duke in Naples called Carlo Ruggerio. Ruggerio was known as a gifted composer but his music was too avant garde for the main stream. Aro and Caius took an interest in Ruggerio's music and stumbled across Ambrosio who was collaborating with Ruggerio. Ambrosio quickly became a favorite of the Volturi. The Volturi have always been great patrons of the arts. With Ambrosio's musical talent and good looks he became the darling of Naples society, something that Ruggerio had never accomplished. Aro told me that Ambrosio was one of the most handsome men he had ever seen."

"For a vampire to say that about a human, that is saying something."

"Yes. It was a sore spot for his mentor. Ruggerio's looks were like his music; sharp, jarring and disharmonic. Unfortunately, Ruggerio had a young and beautiful wife that felt the same way about his appearance."

"Let me guess. She was attracted to Ambrosio."

"Yes. It wasn't long before she and Ambrosio started an affair. At first, they were careful and hid it, but servants notice things and they talk. Eventually, Ruggerio heard whispers of it. One night, he told his wife that he was going out of town, but he circled back to his home. He caught them in flagrante delicto."

"Did he kill them?"

"Worse. Ruggerio was so angry at their betrayal, he stabbed his wife and mutilated Ambrosio. He was jealous of Ambrosio's talent and good looks. In a rage, he peeled part of Ambrosio face off and fed the pieces to his dog."

"That's gruesome."

"It was a different time and what they did was an affront to his honor. Honor was everything. When he was done torturing Ambrosio, he put their naked bodies on display outside of his home. The Volturi heard about it and Aro had one of the guard recover Ambrosio's body. He was barely alive when he was brought to Aro. He and Caius hated to lose such an up and coming talent so they decided to change Ambrosio. He was bitten while he was still breathing and most of his injuries healed."

"Most?"

"Unfortunately, the injuries to his face did not completely disappear. The wounds closed but he was horribly scarred. This was a terrible blow for someone that relied on his good looks his whole life. That was the first time Aro realized that there were some things that even venom could not heal."

"What happened to him?"

"He continued to compose but he never adjusted to his scars. He went slowly mad. Like the story, he could only go out in public with a mask. Over the next century and a half he would leave his music to be found and hide in the dark when it was played in music rooms of Italian society. Italian Opera began in the 1600's and that is when he eventually haunted the opera houses. His legend grew as people caught glimpses of him in the shadows."

"As time passed, the music wasn't enough. He was lonely and he realized he would go through eternity looking like a monster. Eventually, Aro agreed to put him out of his misery but not before he wrote some of the most haunting music you will ever hear. Edward knows some of his pieces, you should ask him to play one."

Bella looked sad again, so I changed the subject. I asked Carlisle how the hospital fund raiser went. Carlisle talked about what equipment they planned to buy with the funds raised. That took up most of the ride home. We changed cars at the house and I smoothly navigated the dark winding road back to Bella's. She was quiet the entire ride home. I parked in front of her house and turned the Volvo off but neither of us moved.

"What?"

"I can't stop thinking about the story Carlisle told us. Had you heard it before?"

"Carlisle, mentioned it to all of us before. That's why he takes the changing of a human very seriously. He wouldn't want such a disaster on his conscience if it went terribly wrong. Carlisle has always wanted to study the issue but the Volturi have forbidden it. That made me think that it may be a cautionary tale for vampires started by the Volturi."

"So you don't think he existed?"

"The composer existed and was a vampire. Whether he was scarred is another story."

"You think they would do that?"

"The Volturi rule with an iron fist in a velvet glove. What better way to instill fear into changing humans indiscriminately?"

"It would be a living hell to be trapped into the body of a monster for an eternity. If the story is true, it is a very sad one."

The story really bothered her. I thought about waiting, but this might be the right moment.

"Maybe this will cheer you up."

I held out a ring box and flipped it open. Even with the limited light the ring sparked. It was an Emerald cut diamond with two large triangular Emeralds on each side of the diamond. It was stunning.

Bella gasped. "Edward!"

I dropped to a knee in front of her. "Bella, will you marry me?"

"Edward, what are you doing? I already said yes."

"Well, I wanted to lock you down with a ring." I really wanted to lock her down with a justice of the peace. Las Vegas? No, she wouldn't go for that. I settled for sliding the ring on to her finger.

She looked at her hand with tears in her eyes. "Edward, it's beautiful."

"The stones were from my Mother's ring. I had it reset to update it. If you don't like it, you can pick something else out."

"No, Edward, it's perfect. I love that it was your Mother's."

"My father picked the Emeralds because they reminded him of my Mother's eyes."

"Oh, Edward, that just makes it more special. You had her eyes, didn't you?"

"Yes. I know you can't wear it openly yet, so I got you this." I went into my pocket again and took out a long gold chain. I took the ring from her finger and then kissed her hand. I put the ring on the white gold chain and placed it around her neck.

Bella held the ring and then slid it side to side on the necklace.

"Thank you. I can't wait until I can wear it on my finger permanently."

"Soon. I'll talk to Charlie after graduation."

The porch light flickered on and the drapes opened on the front window in front of the house. I looked at the dashboard clock.

"Oh my god. Could my father be less subtle? I'm over eighteen! I shouldn't even have a curfew anymore."

"You'll always be his little girl. There's a reason he is such a good chief of police. He's smart enough to know that I have lascivious intentions toward his daughter."

Bella giggled. "Really, tell me more about these intentions."

"I need to drop the car back at the house. Why don't you go inside and show your father you are home safe and sound. If you leave your window open for me, I'll be happy to show you some of them later."

I walked Bella to her door. She gave me one last kiss in defiance of Charlie's outrageous behavior.

"Don't be too long."

I assured her I would be back soon and then drove home. I parked the car and went into the house with a jaunty walk. Bella had my ring. I was so happy and I didn't care who knew. The family was in the family room when I walked in.

Esme looked up from some blue prints. "I hope Bella enjoyed the show."

"She did."

"You don't think what we said bothered her, do you?"

"What did you say?" Rosalie asked.

"Carlisle told her the Volturi tie to the Phantom of the Opera story."

Carlisle had shared the story of the scarred tortured vampire the first time Rosalie and Emmett had seen the play with the rest of the family.

"That should give her a pause before she decides for certain she wants to be one of us." I couldn't get angry at her, I felt the same way. She needed to be sure of her choice.

"Rose!" Esme scolded.

"What? All I'm saying is that she shouldn't have any romantic illusions about this life. She is choosing to change, unlike the rest of us."

"That is Edward and Bella's business."

I didn't even bother to enter the discussion. It was better saved for when we announced our engagement to the rest of the family. I knew Rosalie's regrets, I ignored my bitter sister and went up to my room to change so I could get back to my Bella.