Karma's A Witch

'I just hope he will survive my death.'

Chapter Three

3 am, Monday

September 15th

I hadn't slept last afternoon, I'd been awaiting trial, too nervous and freaking out to do much of anything. I was lying on my back, clean and in a new set of clothes in the middle of my bed on top of the covers. My new bed was perfect, just the right amount of firmness while still feeling like a huge pillow had just braced my fall, and boy, did I fall. Yet, sleep never came. I blamed my vampire; he was running in circles around the place, overlapping and overlapping. I could feel him, almost pinpoint him. It must be one of our soul-bound side effects, knowing what direction my vampire was in. Perhaps he also knew my location; perhaps he was actually circling me, acting the vulture to my body.

He was going to kill me; my days were numbered the moment I'd kissed him.

Alice hadn't returned, a few hours ago she had been rummaging around in the bathroom. Probably cleaning out the drawers and countertop to my sink. I'd felt bad that I hadn't been friendlier with her, with all of them. This coven-family invited me, accepted me and now I'm hiding up in my room, just waiting for my vampire to make his move, to tire of circling and drink me dry. I just hope he will survive my death.

My mood didn't improve when I realized that Angela and I had no way to contact one another. There is a house phone at the Weber's, as there is one here but I knew Mrs. Weber wouldn't allow contact. I would risk it, eventually I'd get Angela, but going from talking every day almost constantly to... nothing. I shuttered a small groan escaping my lips. I still felt disconnected from her. She'd been my only friend, confidant, sister and other half for so long that I didn't know who to turn to with all my silly worries, who to giggle with or what to do about anything. I missed her terribly.

"Bella", followed by a soft double knock on my door. "I know you're tired but if you don't wake now, you won't sleep right this afternoon." Her voice was muffled through the door. Right, the normal sleeping hours for mages were three pm to nightfall. They must have thought I'd been napping. I sighed; I wouldn't sleep right this afternoon regardless.

"You can come in." I told the door, as I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I faced the balcony doors, wanting just a glimpse of my vampire running through the woods. I knew I'd feel better if I could just see him. Esme's soft steps sounded across the carpet. The room was virtually untouched, all but one of my boxes still sealed. I hoped she wouldn't take offense to my aversion of unpacking, I wasn't ready to make this my own, I wasn't ready to settle.

"We would like to give you space and time to feel comfortable.." Esme didn't sit down; she just stood off to the side looking at me. This room felt incomplete because Angela wasn't here. We'd always shared and there wasn't much to be done about that.

I nodded to Esme, giving her a quick glance before facing the glass doors again. The view is my favorite, the endless sea of trees, the sky line lighter than the shadow's below and the endless possibilities for my vampire to hide. He circled again, the same speed and path he's been taking. I wondered if he would eventually make us both dizzy.

"Lunch is almost ready; we'd like to eat as a whole. This is an invitation that can be turned down." Esme's voice was soft, wanting me to come but not pushing me, not forcing me the way Mrs. Weber's had forced so many things. Perhaps the Weber's were one of the few covens who didn't treat their members like family? Maybe this was normal and my previous life had not been?

"I'll come down." I whispered my stomach tight with just the thought of food. I knew I was hungry, I had to be. The last thing I'd eaten was a half of a turkey sandwich before I left for the library in Seattle on my birthday. Esme nodded and made her way out of my room her shoulders heavier than when she entered.

I didn't know these people, nor did they know me. They stuck their necks out for me, the least I could do is try. I stood, studying the outside scenery longer than need be, my long socks felt strange on the carpet. I was used to my boots; I'd been able to wear them all the time at the Weber's house. Here, it was too nice inside to wear shoes, so my new-looking but very worn boots were toppled on their sides beside the bathroom door.

The sound of a door closing on the other end of the joined bathroom alerted me that Alice was coming. She didn't knock, she didn't call my name she just walked in and took in my room, I didn't bother to respond, just kept watching through the glass door as my vampire circled again. Alice frowned as she followed my gaze out the balcony doors.

"Everything looks exactly the same." She commented, "Would you like help unpacking?" Alice took it upon herself to look into the open box, it had some of clothes in it, I'd made due with what was in there, my navy blue long socks, jean shorts and a white tank top. Alice clapped, I watched her then as she turned and walked to my closet, the box she'd looked in trailing after her magically.

Moving things were not that difficult to most mages. Angela described it to me, it's like controlling your own magically manifested arm and hand that stretches to the extreme. It never worked for me, big surprise, and Angela wasn't very good at anything except her potions. We fit well together in a coven that demanded perfection and beyond. The both of us were often left alone because of our 'failings.'

Alice made it look easy. She chatted about lunch and that she couldn't wait for me to start coming to school with her, apparently we'd both be juniors. I barely listened as I turned away from the glass doors and went to my closet, following Alice. There were empty hangers there and as I looked up, a small square was cut out and framed on the ceiling.

"Does that lead to the attic?" I asked, probably interrupting her long winded talking. She didn't seem at all put off by this.

"Yup, there isn't much up there, just a few of Esme's old things and Carlisle's college textbooks. He's a doctor at Forks General Hospital, you know." Alice started manually hanging up my shirts when the drawer to my fancy wooden dresser opened and two pairs of my socks floated into the drawer. "So I guess you basically wear the same thing but in different variations every day?"

"Pretty much," today I'd be nicer, actually participate in Alice's previous one-woman conversation.

"I wish I knew my look," Alice sounded somber. "I try all kinds of things and I have subscriptions to almost every magazine, People, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Seventeen, you name it, I probably own at least one copy. It's all to be more human or at least normal at school and to find my look." She sighed, the box becoming empty after the last article of my clothing was hung, a shorts jumper.

"Do you have more clothes?" I didn't answer as Alice went on. "Was it just natural, did you wake up one day and say, 'I know my look!' and everything fell into place?"

Alice is really strange. I shrugged, motioning for us to go downstairs. She followed me, her mouth never slowing as she described the latest look she was trying. Something about floral sun dresses, sandals and half sweaters left unbuttoned. Alice asked questions every couple of seconds but when left unanswered it didn't phase her.

The house looked the same, Emmett sitting on the couch with his arm stretched over the back, the TV flashing a baseball game. The dining room table was set; Carlisle was going around putting forks on everyone's plate. The Weber's coven never ate together. Me or Angela would cook for everyone and we'd have a free for all. I'd read about family dinners, even watched a few shows where the concept took root. I had a mini flashback of Angela and I sitting at a tiny table with a bear as our dinner guest and skittles on our paper plates we'd stolen from our kitchen.

It seemed off, strange, I couldn't grasp the fact that I was going to experience something without Angela. I stayed standing at the bottom of the stairs, Alice ran off to the kitchen to help her mother. If our mothers were coven sisters, than that made Alice my cousin. I almost face palmed, I bet she already realized that. She's been going out of her way to make me feel comfortable since I'm basically family. I had found a piece of my family, it just hadn't been my mother like I had hoped or expected.

"You smell better." A gruff voice called out across the living room and sitting room. I jolted back into my person, looking over at Emmett. He was turned on the couch facing me, a dimpled grin spread across his cheeks as my face heated. "Less bad-ass, but better."

Emmett jumped over the back of the couch, leaving the TV on as he walked toward the dining room. I followed, the openness of the main level of the house giving me an exposed feeling. Esme and Alice were carrying plates into the dining room and Emmett helped me out by pointing to the third chair on the other side of the table. I didn't want to make anything worse if I'd accidentally taken someone's seat.

"The vampire must not be able to pass through the barrier." Carlisle said, coming inside from the glass doors between the dining room and kitchen. On the other side of the glass wall there was a deck, and to the far left of the backyard before the tree line was a greenhouse. I pondered for a second if my vampire has even tried to pass through it. Since I am a magic void, barriers don't work on me, maybe when we swapped soul pieces I hadn't given him that? I wasn't sure which I wanted, for him to be able to get through the barrier to me, or not.

The silence overwhelmed me. Alice and Esme had stopped jabbering with Carlisle's announcement, Emmett stopped looking my way and I had a feeling I was missing something. What? They knew I was bound to a vampire when they decided to take me in, did they change their minds?

"It means he wants to hurt or kill one or all of us." A sharp snide voice exclaimed. I turned in my chair, the beautiful blond in the family pictures had taken form at the bottom of the stairs. "You can only cross the barrier if you don't mean any harm." Her voice never softened.

"Rosalie!" Esme chided, placing a large bowl of salad on the table. Esme touched my shoulder as she passed to go back into the kitchen. My face just heated, she didn't have to do that, Rosalie was absolutely right. She didn't stop though, her face glared ice daggers into my temples and I actually started to get a headache for her.

"You put this family in danger so you could have something 'different'. Well, face the consequences and stop hiding behind us. One of us could die or get seriously hurt for you and your sick twisted-"

"Stop." Carlisle warned, his calming voice he used taking on a commanding tone. He would have continued, would have further reprimanded Rosalie for simply stating the facts and I couldn't have that.

"I know he's going to kill me." I told her, or everyone really. "I knew it when I'd kissed him, when he followed me here. He hasn't tried to pass the barrier yet, he felt it and stopped, so maybe he can pass though, maybe he can get to me but he won't hurt anyone else. Alice told me tonight he won't come, so I have some time, but not a lot." Rosalie's face seemed to relax just a bit, her forehead taking on a wrinkle.

"You don't know that dear." Esme comforted another plate in her hands, this one piled with grilled chicken. She took a seat next to me, Alice across from me.

"I haven't seen you die." Alice said her voice nonchalant. Has she seen many deaths, I knew she could see the future but could she change what she saw? I shuddered imagining being born watching things happen before they did. Seeing people meet their ends and not being able to do anything, essentially having to watch twice, to experience everything twice.

"See, there is still hope." Esme added, Rosalie sitting beside Emmett across from Carlisle. She hadn't said a word since I admitted I was going to die. I'd thought too soon since she snapped at Alice next.

"Right, and you are just so, so accurate! You know you only see half of everything, you're like a genetically-elf-tweaked useless mage." Alice sighed, her head turning down. I hadn't been mad at Rosalie before but seeing the cheerful Alice take a verbal lashing from her and feel shamed by it made my insides twitch. Or, maybe something happened with my vampire right then that I couldn't understand yet, but either way I glared at Rosalie.

"Rosalie, this is your third-" Carlisle's voice was menacing now, his hand raised and his mouth a thin line. He looked like he was about to jump out of his chair any moment.

"Do you always spew hate? I guess it seems appropriate that your pretty face is hiding such an ugly person." I didn't drop my glare; I didn't take back what I said. Rosalie's eyes widened, Alice's eyes turned to my face with hope. I'd stood up for her, I was optimistic that this would make up for me ignoring her since I'd met her.

"You deserved that Rose, now keep the trap shut or I'll haul you out of here." Emmett said his voice calm. "This is a nice family dinner; you know Isabella is Esme and Carlisle's niece. She belongs here... just as the rest of us do. They took us in, we should be grateful and I know you are just looking out for everyone." Rose sighed, Emmett having brought her mood down or at least stopped anything from escalating.

"Thank you." Carlisle said, settling back into his chair. There was silence, it was awkward and I took the time to give both Rose and Alice a small smile. Alice returned it, and in the normal Alice fashion began talking away again, grabbing food as she started.

"So Bella needs clothes, she knows her look so it won't take long probably but I'd like to go. I know you and Bella want to bond, but she's my long-lost cousin too. I've known about her and wanted to meet her for so long." Esme poured herself a glass of tea from the pitcher and offered it to me, I accepted wondering if my stomach would calm enough for at least some bread. I poured my glass and continued the circle by offering the pitcher to Alice.

"If Bella feels comfortable with it, that's fine." Esme replied putting a scoop of salad on her plate. Rose scoffed but didn't say anything. She grabbed two rolls and pushed back from the table her shoulders tense as she climbed the stairs.

"She'll adjust." Emmett said, grabbing four pieces of chicken with his fork.

"Don't take it personally, she does that to everyone she first meets. I think it's kind of how she 'gets to know' people. Like if you yell at her back, she likes you, if you take it, like I do, she doesn't." Alice explained, I wondered for a moment if Rosalie really didn't like Alice. Her eyes stayed downcast and the difference between this Alice and the constantly talking Alice made my eyebrow cock. Is she really that intimidated?

"At least she didn't lose control of her magic." Carlisle complimented, "She's growing, getting better, I'd say." I became more comfortable as the salad bowl became stagnant while in arms reach. I scooped a little and took a bite of my roll to see how my nervousness reacted with food. It went down heavy, my throat tight and I couldn't help my grimace. I tried to keep the discomfort to a visual minimum. Alice noticed her tiny brow burrowing and her tiny features asking me silently if I was alright. Thankfully, she didn't bring any attention to me.

Perhaps we really will be good friends, true cousins.

"I'm not calling you off school, Alice. We'll get Bella enrolled and we'll see what she wants to do. If she doesn't want a big crowd or doesn't want to go at all, that's her choice." Carlisle pointed his fork at Alice as he confirmed her attending school. I had to think back, remembering a second later that Alice had changed the subject before to shopping. I didn't want to go at all, I was about to tell them I was fine and didn't need anything but it seemed I had yet to earn my spot in the conversation.

"Well she needs some things; she'll have to go sooner rather than later, before she starts school up for sure." Esme's kind voice had an edge to it I hadn't heard before. Was this her putting her foot down?

"She had I think, four boxes." Esme nodded at her daughter like this was proof, I again attempted to join the conversation, going to let them know that I owned a lot of books. If I could get a hold of Angela she could mail them to me. I was too late, as the conversation ball bounced again passing over me.

"Bella only had about seven or eight outfits, maybe a couple extra sock options." Alice turned to me, "Which I really like on you, by the way." She turned away just as quickly to look at her dad, were they trying to convince him? "She'll have to wear the same things every week, the kids at school... they'll notice."

I gave up. Emmett's chest rumbled like an animals and I eyed him, afraid of what a chest rumble might mean to a bear. His face was spread in a wide grin, dimples shown proudly on each cheek. He was laughing, I smiled automatically. I took in the situation, Esme and Alice teaming up against Carlisle to be allowed to go shopping, I guess that would seem funny. Emmett caught my eye and shrugged.

"So Bella," Emmett asked the conversation never stopping between the three family members at the table. "There are a few rules here that I'm sure Carlisle will get too eventually." As he said Carlisle's name he seemed to snap out of the conversation triangle he'd been sucked into. "But until then, why don't you tell me about yourself."

The table grew quiet. I put my fork down and withdrew my hands from the table top. All eyes were on me. Emmett made the rumbling noise again before the table erupted again in apologies and urges for me to share. My vampire continued circling, unfazed.

"I... uh." I looked down at my lap, "I'd like to know what's expected of me."

Mr. and Mrs. Weber had things for each of their fledglings to do. We'd have to do things around the house that took more effort to do magically than to do humanly, such as cleaning. Cleaning with magic is near impossible since there is so much to cover. This is the same principle as the laundry. You are removing dirt and tiny particles from a larger particle and it usually doesn't work out.

"Oh." Esme's brows dipped lower as she looked to Carlisle who hummed in thought. Alice took a bite of her chicken and I gave Emmett a quick glare while the others absorbed my statement. I do belief that Emmett did that on purpose. He shrugged at me, his grin picking up another notch of mischievousness.

"Well, there are a few rules." Carlisle announced. "Nothing big and we don't punish, but Esme takes care of the household things. We don't expect you to do anything like that, we do hold lessons since it is our job to teach you about the world every other night at midnight in the greenhouse."

I made a mental note as Alice chimed in adding something she remembered.

"Other people's rooms are off limits unless invited. It's based of trust with my room and my parents but Rose's room is curse protected. If you go in there without her saying, 'please come in', you get a really bad leg cramp and a horrible hair day." Since Alice was making a face I imagined that she learned from experience. I almost smiled but held it back not wanting my long lost cousin to think I was laughing at her discomfort.

"It's why I keep my hair short." Emmett winked when I met his gaze.

"I told you we don't like other Mages or other supernatural's to know where we live, so please keep that a secret." Esme informed me and my plan for Angela to send me my books evaporated in a poof of disappointment. Well, damn.

"The garage is off limits." Carlisle's voice warned. "I work at Forks General here and a lot of my medical equipment is stored there. I'm a geneticist and I just feel more comfortable if the whole Warehouse was left alone." Emmett's deep chest rumbles occurred again and I eyed him, what had he laughing so much?

"There are also wards around the house. Since you were with Esme, you were able to pass through without any complications." I held back my sigh. I probably would have been able to pass regardless. Protection shields, wards, circles and all the magical things of this world didn't work with me. "It's why that vampire can only come so far."

From what Esme told me of familiar bonds we may be sharing some of our powers or gifts. If I would have bonded with Jacob I may have gotten his super strength along with his life span and he may have gotten my void ability. So applying that concept to my vampire and me, I may get his blood thrust and no one may be able to stop him magically because of me. My shutter made my chair shake, if my vampire has not tried to pass yet, he may not know that he can get through it. I didn't have any other gifts or abilities to pass on.

"We attend school here too." Alice informed. "A human education is important too, we make friends, blend in and with all the knowledge they have, it's saved us a lot of trouble. They document far better than we do!" Alice seemed excited about this fact. She had seemed worried before about the other school kids noticing my lack of outfit choices. Now she was excited for me to start. Perhaps she had really been trying to get her father to cave and let her skip school to shop with me?

I wrestled with the idea of attempting to eat more but with my vampire circling for the seventeenth billion time really started to make me nauseous. It may have also been my lack of normal hour sleep or living with a new family that I didn't know, but regardless, I was blaming the circling vulture.

"Did we miss anything?" Carlisle asked, the people around the table seemed to all give a shrug. "Well, I suppose until we get this vampire thing figure out, you shouldn't leave the warded area when it's dark."

Nodding made my head feel worse. It felt really light and hollow. For a moment I wondered if I caught a bug. Mages could still get sick we just had different symptoms and it took us longer to recover. Esme is a healer but for a virus she couldn't do much. She could bring a fever down, heal a ruptured organ, know what's ailing a person, heal a broken bone or a bleeding wound. To remove a virus or a bug from someone's system, it was almost impossible. It's kind of the same concept as cleaning with magic. There a just too many cells, too much moving, growing and changing in the body to be able to pinpoint the exact cell or virus that needs to be removed.

"Whats his name?" Alice asked her voice nonjudgmental. Since both her parents seemed so open and easy it seemed normal that Alice was the same.

"We can talk about it before you leave for school if you want..." I wasn't sure the exact time school started since the buses drove around at different times from watching out the front window at my house in Seattle. My old house, I mean. It would be when the sun rose. My heart dropped thinking about my vampire becoming still. Alice seemed to have the opposite happen to her.

"Oh wonderful! You can help me with my new look, it is Monday!" She gushed, her hands clapping and I gave Esme a scared look but her smile attempted to reassure me. Esme knew I didn't know my vampires name. Let's hope that Alice took it as well as her mother. She hadn't even known the whole story.

I picked at more of my food; my discomfort at being center of attention seemed to register since Esme asked Emmett if he had finished his writing assignment. Since I now knew that Esme and Carlisle played an active teaching role I had to wonder if the assignment was from them or high school. Alice was still grinning; I tried to bury my discomfort.

"Of course. Although Rose is cramming now, I'd be surprised if she's not struggling with it as we speak." Carlisle chuckled, dinner was coming to a close so I took another bite trying to get as much down as my stomach would allow. "I should go help her. Thanks so much for lunch, Esme." Emmett pushed off, grabbing a roll as he climbed up the stairs his dirty dishes left behind. I waited for a moment, looking between Esme and Carlisle but neither seemed bothered by his dishes.

I shook my head; they had just said nothing is actually expected of me. Was I supposed to leave my dirty dishes behind as well? My stomach turned, I didn't want to take advantage of Esme. She knew about me my whole life, thought of me as her niece, I've just been introduced to this. I didn't know her yet and I didn't have a place yet. I didn't want to start our relationship off with making her clean up after me.

A jolt shot through me, I flinched, my elbow snapping away from the table and hitting the back of my wooden dining chair. My vampire had stopped. Had that been from him? I rubbed my elbow telling Carlisle I was fine with a small palm out hand gesture. Stretching the joint out helped and I asked to be excused, Esme agreed, confirming that I should just leave the dirty plates where they sat.

"Just let me know when you're getting ready." I told Alice standing unsteadily. I tried to shake it off, tried to get the electricity to stop. I took two stairs at a time, hoping and gripping the railing to move faster. My door was open and I was out on the balcony before the feeling increased. My fingertips tingle, my toes vibrate and the cold of the outside air makes it better, easier to experience. What was this?

And my vampire moved forward, closer, passed the magical barrier.

Emmett took his shirt off as he ran out to the yard. He stopped to look up at me, his eyes narrowed. I ignored Emmett; he could blame me if he wanted. Maybe I should have told them that magic didn't work with me, that it could also be passed on to my vampire but I couldn't. Carlisle joined him but my vampire didn't come forward.

My imagination ran wild. I should go to him, to let this family here be, to live as if I hadn't disrupted them. The railing of the balcony dug into the palms of my hands, my body acting on its own accord moving closer to the edge where even my hips were flush with the drop off. The last I'd seen him had been almost twenty-eight and a half hours ago. I needed to see him; I needed to be nearer, to feel him.

"Bella?" Alice's voice snapped me out of my trance, the urge still pulling at me. I shivered the current still pulsing within me and awakening all my tiny goosebumps to stand tall. "You should be careful, the railing isn't that sturdy."

He turned, he stepped away. I flinched in his direction. Why would he fight our connection? He should want to... kill me, touch me, anything really. But to walk away? To resist? This isn't what I expected nor what I want!

"You're starting to scare me." Alice sounded closer than before, her hand gripped around my elbow and she tugged. I stumbled backward, not looking away from where my vampire contended with his, no, our urges. The electricity snapped as he crossed the barrier, the loss of the connection, the spark, it forced me to collapse. My knees and elbows scuffed on the hardwood floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to tug you so hard." Alice helped me to my feet, her apologies continuing. I couldn't focus on her voice, just his pull, the direction my vampire was going. He ran, he ran farther from me, too quick, so fast. There isn't any way I could catch him. Alice guided me to my bed, the back of my knees buckling as I hit the edge and I bounced for a moment.

"Alice, listen." Her voice stopped her face serious. I needed to tell her, someone, anyone really that my vampire won't be affected by magic. That I can't do anything with magic. I opened my mouth, I wanted to tell her. "It wasn't you, I'm just clumsy."

She didn't look convinced, probably realizing that I had wanted to say something else to her, something different yet changed my mind at the last moment. Alice dropped it, asking if I wanted her to get Esme to heal the scratch marks. I shook my head from side to side, my vampire moving farther and faster. To prove to myself that I wanted this to be happening, that I wanted him to be farther away, I stood, motioning for Alice to lead the way to her room.

"No, you stay here, I'll go through the bathroom and model all the options for today." I didn't argue, my whole body seemed drained. I could stand but I wasn't sure about actually walking. I didn't want to make a fool of myself by falling a second time.

What was that strange electricity between us? As if the connection realized I'd questioned it, the spark shifted, the Goosebumps returned. My vampire stopped suddenly and harshly. Had my vampire felt it too? What did it mean, exactly? I didn't want to ask Rose or Emmett if they had the same things in their bond. Not only had Esme told me it was considered private but I think both Emmett and Rose are not exactly fans of mine. Emmett seemed fine with me until my vampire crossed the line, literally. Was this unusual? As far as I know I'm the only one bound to a vampire, there isn't any way I could find our or anyone I could ask. I shivered in the dark room and the open balcony door making me cold. Perhaps, it was actually the loss of the electricity. It fizzled out, the tingle in my fingers died and I closed my eyes to stop the sudden onset of tears threatening to come forth. I knew his direction; I just couldn't feel him like before. I couldn't pinpoint him, he was too far away.

I want my vampire to come back.