Thanks for the reviews for the last two chapters, I really appreciate it.
Because I'm not American, there may be a few mistakes culture-wise and stuff, so I apologise in advance.
"So Bella, what brings you to Forks?" asked Carlisle. He seemed friendly enough, and his posture was relaxed. I wanted to remain tensed and ready for an attack, but I couldn't help but feel calm. It was annoying me.
"I wanted to make a new start with my life. I've been wandering around for a while, doing nothing, and I wanted to actually do something. Being on my own was started to get a bit boring too. I felt like actually having a life somewhere which would let me be close to people. And I wanted to be normal." I whispered the last bit. Becoming a vampire was still a tender subject for me.
"Were you on your own?" Carlisle asked, sounding concerned. I nodded in response. "But didn't you have a maker? Someone to look after you in the first few years."
"I had no one. I don't know who made me. I was knocked unconscious in a back alley. After that I was in immense pain all over my body. When I woke up I was in a small room on my own. I didn't know what had happened to me, but I soon found out… I travelled after that. I went to South America for a little while. I was searching for someone like me, but I never found anyone. You are the first people I have found like me."
"Not completely like you," muttered Edward. Carlisle shot him a glare before turning to me.
"In a way, Edward is right. Our diet is different to yours. I can see you feed off of humans," My contacts must have dissolved, so he could see my eyes. "We, however, feed off of the blood of animals. That is why our eyes are a different colour to yours." Well that explained the difference.
"How long are you staying in town, Bella?" Asked Esme. She seemed to be the mother figure in the house, along with Carlisle, who was the father figure.
"Hopefully for a few years, until I graduate and then maybe stay a year afterwards. Though that may be pushing it." I replied honestly, not seeing the point in lying.
"Where are you staying?" asked Alice, in her bell-like voice.
"I have a house on the outskirts of town. I'm staying there on my own."
"Well if you ever want some company, Bella, you are welcome here." Offered Esme. I smiled genuinely at her; it was nice to actually have someone be kind to me after such a long time.
"We just have to ask a few things of you Bella." Said Carlisle. I nodded, and signalled for him to continue. "I can only ask that you don't hunt near to here. It would risk exposure and we want to avoid that at all costs. Also, do you know about the Quileute tribe?"
"No, I don't." I replied.
"Near to here is the La Push reserve. It is the land of the Quileute tribe. We have a treaty with them saying that we will not go onto their land. Nor will we hunt humans or make another of us." He explained about how the treaty had come about, and where the boundaries were. He also explained the whole thing about there being a pack of werewolves protecting the land. This took me by surprise. There were so many things in this world that I hadn't dreamt would exist. I took it all in, not wanting to start a war.
"All I ask is that you don't do anything that may break the treaty. I know the treaty doesn't involve you, but we don't want to make the wolves angry. Oh, and finally, would you mind giving our diet a try? It would be less conspicuous than a rise in murder rates in Seattle and Olympia. I'm not telling you to do so, merely requesting."
I considered what Carlisle was saying. It seemed fairly sensible. But surely the blood of animals couldn't taste as good as that of humans?
"I'll try it. It makes sense to." I answered. After I had said that Alice bounced over to me and took my hand.
"Now, if you'll excuse us, we have an English play to practice." She said to everyone.
Alice dragged me by my hand up to her room. It was magnificent. There was a balcony at the far end, with a beautiful view from it. You could see the forest for miles and on the horizon the clouds were tinted a slight pink as the sun set. I gasped quietly at the sight, and Alice laughed. Her laugh was like a wind-chime in a breeze.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" She said, sighing contently. "Well I'll go grab my script, and I'll see you in a minute."
With that she dashed off, leaving me feeling confused.
"O, Juliet," Came her voice from outside. I walked over to the balcony and looked down at Alice, shaking my head. She was really keen to do this properly. I raised my eyebrows at her.
"Don't look at me like that. I thought a bit more authenticity might make this a bit more interesting. Now, come one!"
"Let me go get my script." Once I'd gotten my script out of my bag, I walked back over to her.
We ran through the scene a few times. After the fifth run through, we decided to call it a day.
"Fair Juliet, dost thou feel ready for Wednesday?" called Alice from below.
"Aye, I do," I replied, laughing. She smiled at me and disappeared. I had to admit that I'd had fun with Alice. With Alice putting on a male voice and me declaring my love for her. I was glad that her family had decided not to kill me.
By the time we had finished, it was nearly 9 o'clock, and it was dark. Alice came up to meet me, and to see me out.
We walked down the stairs and into the main room, where Edward was playing his piano and Carlisle was reading. As we walked into the room, Edward stopped playing his intricate, melancholy melody and turned to look at me.
"What is your power?" He said slowly. His voice had a slight hint of annoyance, and his eyes were tight. I didn't understand what he meant.
"Power?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"A power, a gift, something special you can do. What is it?" He asked me, seeming to grow in annoyance, not hiding his impatience.
"What makes you so sure she has one Edward?" Enquired Carlisle, not understanding where Edward was coming from.
"Because I can't hear her!" He shouted, running his hand through his hair and breathing out sharply. Now I was completely lost, of course he could hear me. He had responded to me earlier, so he had to able to hear me. Alice seemed to notice my confusion.
"Not hear you speaking Bella. You see, Edward's ability is to read minds. And he can't read yours." I stood there, shocked.
"H-how?" I stammered out.
"We're not sure. It doesn't happen to all of us, just some. Like Alice, she can see the future, and Jasper, he can control people's emotions. We think it may be something to do with certain traits you may have possessed in your previous life. For example, Jasper was very charismatic in his human life. And Edward may have been sensitive to the thoughts of those around him." Carlisle explained patiently. It was a lot to take in.
"Well I don't have a power. There must be something wrong with my head, which will be why Edward can't hear me." I suppose I always knew that something wasn't right up there, but this just confirmed it. Edward snorted.
"Something's wrong with your mind. Of course…" He said sarcastically, and disappeared as he ran upstairs.
"Just ignore him; he's just annoyed he can't hear you. That's all." Alice said in a light-hearted tone. I think I was still in a state of shock, because I could barely nod. Alice and Carlisle exchanged a nervous glance, but I took no notice. I was still trying to make sense of everything, but I couldn't seem to comprehend everything.
"Maybe you should sit here for a bit," suggested Alice, sounding worried. I was unable to formulate a response as she led me to the settee. Carlisle tried to calm Alice down.
"Relax, Alice. It's a lot to take in for her within the whole of a few hours. Jasper?" He called. I was vaguely aware of another individual enter the room.
"Can you help her Jasper?" Carlisle asked quietly.
"You're the doctor Carlisle. All I'm getting from her is shock and confusion. If I tried to calm her down, this would all just come back at a later date. I'd just let her be." Jasper replied. I felt a hand on mine, probably Alice, squeezing gently.
"Usually I'd give someone a warm drink, but I can't do that…"
"Carlisle! Don't you have some packets of O negative blood here?" said Alice, her voice sounding excited.
"No! She is not drinking that in this house!" Shouted Rosalie, though in my ears, it sounded like she was talking.
"We have to try and get her back, Rosalie. It is worth a try. Plus Alice will see if she is going to lose control or if anything else will happen." Carlisle reassured her. I heard someone walking to the door.
"Fine, but I'm having no part in it." The door closed and there was silence again.
"I will go and warm up some blood in the kitchen," said Carlisle. I didn't hear him leave, but suddenly a smelt a deliciously sweet smell. It was a bit off, but it made my throat burn all the same. I could feel myself coming back.
I heard something sloshing in a container, and suddenly my eyes locked on to the course of the noise. A cup was held in front of me.
My instincts took over as I took the cup from Carlisle. I gulped the blood down within seconds. It soothed the slight burning at the back of my throat. As I came to my senses, I noticed everyone was looking at me warily. Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper were standing in front of the others defensibly. Then I realised.
They were afraid of what I was going to do.
"It's ok, she won't hurt us. She's very calm, right Jasper?" Alice announced to the rest of them. Jasper nodded.
Carlisle relaxed after this announcement and moved to take the cup from me, but Edward and Rosalie stopped him. I stood up, and Rosalie snarled at me. It was strange that such a noise would come from such a beautiful creature. Alice came to my side and growled back.
"I'm going to leave now. Thank-you. I'm so sorry about what just happened," I whispered, not meeting any of their eyes, placing the cup on the table and backing away towards the door.
"If you need anything Bella, don't be afraid to ask. And if you'd like to try our way of life, we'd be more than happy to help," said Carlisle as I reached the door. As I turned to open it Rosalie spoke.
"As if she'd manage on animals. Did you see her then? God help you if you came between her and that cup."
"Shame flooded my body, and I ran out of the door. As I reached the long drive I heard Carlisle defend me, but he was out of earshot in less than a second. My car wasn't fast enough for me to get away, so I just ran. I slowed down as I reached the road, but only to a quick run. A few cars honked at me, but I ignored them.
It didn't take me long to reach my house, and once I was inside I lost control.
My vision became tinted with red. I threw the settee against the wall, causing some plaster to fall off the wall. My shame turned to fury as I smashed my fist through the armchair by the fire.
As I let my fury take over, I destroyed the hairs, the TV, the dining table and anything else that got in my way. I heard someone approaching me quickly, but before I could defend myself, my hands were pinned behind my back and I was on the floor next to a pile of feathers. Snarls ripped from my chest, aimed at whoever was restraining me.
I sniffed the air and found that I recognised the scent.
"Edward, you bastard! Let go of me!" I struggled but he was stronger than me. Unfortunately my newborn strength had all but gone.
"Not until you calm down and stop destroying the house! Do you realise how close the neighbours were to coming around? They're still considering it! Just because you live in a detached house doesn't mean that sound doesn't travel…"
As he ranted I felt myself calming down. I stopped struggling and relaxed under him. I found that I couldn't breathe, because every time feathers went up my nose or in my mouth. My vision returned to normal.
"Edward." I interrupted his lecture. "How did you know where to find me?" And how did you know what was happening?"
"Alice had a vision of you revealing us. I had to stop you. How could you be so careless…" Would he ever shut up?
"Listen, can you get off of me now. I'm calm…please," I pleaded, while more feathers went up my nose. He considered it, and then stood up, allowing me to rid myself of the blasted feathers and to brush myself off.
He didn't move too far from me, probably expecting me to explode again.
Now that I could look around, I could see the extreme extent of the damage I had done. Half of the settee was in the corner of the room with plaster from the wall powdered on top of it. The ripped cushions had spilled most of their lining, which explained the feathers. The pictures which once hung on the walls were now on the floor, their glass shattered and scattered across the room. Looking around the rest of the room, I saw more of my destruction.
I had put my fist through the television and smashed the television against the wall. Above the fire place was an empty spot where the mirror once hung. It was now at the opposite side of the room, with the pieces of the armchair, which I had pulled apart.
I couldn't look any more. I was even more ashamed of myself now. What was I thinking? Was I actually thinking? I felt like crying, but it was impossible. I sobbed silently to myself, my whole body shook with the intensity of it.
Edward touched my arm, but that made it worse when I realised how little I'd considered him and his family into my little tantrum.
I fell to the floor shaking, and still sobbing. Edwards looked lost as he knelt beside me, thinking of a way to comfort me. After a few seconds, he took me into his arms and pulled me against his chest, stroking my hair to calm me down.
Curling closer to him, I noticed how good he actually smelled. Like honey and lilacs, it was very soothing. We stayed like that for about ten minutes before he pulled away.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted. I was just anxious," he whispered, looking me in the eye.
"Don't apologise. It was my fault. I overreacted, and I need to learn that there are better ways to deal with things than destroying my house." I replied, not looking away from his golden eyes.
"Let's both be sorry then," I wanted to argue and make his realise he didn't have to be sorry, but I decided it was better to get along with him than to argue with him. I extracted myself from his arms and stood up.
"Why did they send you? Why not Alice or Jasper? Or anyone else?"
"They didn't send me so to speak. Being able to read Alice's mind I was able to react the quickest when she had her vision. Also I can run the fastest." I shivered at his casual mention of their powers. I still hadn't gotten my head around that yet. Edward just laughed gently at me.
"Don't worry. You'll get used to it eventually. Probably sooner than I'll get used to not being able to hear you." He grumbled. I was actually glad he couldn't hear my mind. It was my private place, reserved solely for me.
"Come up with a reason for that yet?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood. He turned towards me and smiled that crooked grin, which would have stopped my heart. If it was beating in the first place.
"Well I don't think your head is messed up. Probably mine that it. I hear voices in my head, don't I? He laughed humourlessly. I felt a strange need to comfort him, but ignored it. He'd probably push me away anyway.
"Well, I better sort this mess out. And you'll be wanting to get back to your family to tell them that the disaster was averted." Luckily there was a tip through the forest behind my house, so I could rid of most of the broken furniture without arousing suspicion.
"No, I'll stay and help you. What kind of a gentleman would I be if I let you do all this by yourself?" I looked at him, confused as to why he was staying, but happy that he was.
"Oh then. I'm going to take the broken furniture to the tip." I picked up one half of the settee, while he picked up the other half. We then ran in silence through the forest for a few minutes before reaching the tip. We threw the settees onto a pile of rubbish, and then ran back.
As we were picking the next pieces to take he spoke.
"I would invite you back to our house tonight, after we've finished, but with the way Rosalie is acting, it may not be the best idea." He smiled at me apologetically.
"It's ok; I'll be fine on my own. And anyway, I don't deserve your hospitality. Not after tonight." He looked like he was going to argue with me, but I ran off with my next piece of furniture.
It took four more trips to get rid of everything. All that was left was the feathers, splinters of wood and shards of glass. I looked up to see him staring at me. He looked away after a fraction of a second.
"Well, there's not much left to do now, so you might as well get back to you family." I thought he looked disappointed for a second, but my mind was probably just playing tricks on me.
"Are you sure? I could help you, or I could stay over with Alice," I thought about this tempting offer, but decided against it. It wasn't fair on them.
"I've already caused enough trouble today. I'm sure Rosalie won't be very pleased if you don't go home." He considered it for a while before agreeing with me.
"You're right. It would annoy Rosalie and Esme would be worried. Well then, I'll see you tomorrow. I'll send Alice around with your car in the morning,"
"Oh yeah, thanks." I said, but he had already gone. I had forgotten that I would need my car to get to school. Or at least any human would need to car.
I hope that after tonight Edward would get along better. And possibly even become friends. Alice and I were well on the way to becoming very close.
I set my mind to the next task: cleaning up.
