Disclaimer: The plot I own. The rest is I do not. All related themes, characters, places etc, are purely coincidental.

AN: There you go. I'll try to mellow down on the succeeding chapters. I fear I'm 'overkilling' it a bit. Hehe. There's plenty more to come as long as you still want more. :)

theone101: to answer, yes. Angel can read minds except Bella's and Edward's and you could say that putting people to sleep is one of his powers. As stated in the previous chapter, Angel has the power of suggestion to incapacitated people or vampires, meaning, if the person/vamp is weak, crippled, etc., he can make them do anything. scary actually, and very much familiar.

I stared at the black haired guest who was engulfed in an atmosphere of curiosity and fascination. He was well received by his audience, especially from the one who mattered most – Bella.

I hope from the deepest recesses of my existence that I was wrong. For the only one that stands to being the one who'll hurt the most was Bella.

Bella, my fiancée…

Bella who is due to be married to me on the 8th of December here in Alaska…

I swear that nothing – nothing­ can take Away Bella from me. I swear it.

Chapter 4: Cannon Ball

When it was almost midnight, Bella and I led Angel to our guest room on the first floor across Carlisle's study. Being one of them, it was only natural that Angel would require some sleep much to Bella's disappointment.

Now I had Bella all to myself in our room. As soon as she stepped foot inside I scoped her up, kicked the door softly and we plopped on our golden bed. As I cradled Bella on my chest she didn't look that surprised from my action and laughed.

She nestled her head under my chin and sighed contentedly. I looked at her and all my worry vanished. She was happy.

I kissed her hair, "What are you thinking of, love?" I crooned. She closed her eyes, "I'm… confused to be honest… I did not expect this as at all…" she murmured.

I held her face with my hand and made her look up to me. She opened her eyes and I saw her confusion from them. "I know love. Neither did we…"

She sighed, "But… for some reason I'm… kind of relieved to see Angel again… it's like deep down inside I wished for this moment… this reunion…" then her brows pulled together, "Would that make me selfish to think that?"

I smiled at her with understanding and touched the tip of her nose, "It's fairly… human to think that."

She laughed her lilting laugh softly again, "Mmm… I guess you're right. Thank you Edward."

I leaned down and kissed her, "Anytime."

"Things are happening so fast…" she murmured against my chest.

I chuckled, "That's right. Would you believe our wedding is only five days away?" I said with enthusiasm. If only I could marry her right now but I wanted everything to be right for her.

Her eyes sparkled and she smiled at me lovingly, "Yes. But it's not that hard to believe for me. I've never wanted anything so bad in my life…" she suddenly bit her lip and ducked her head, feeling abashed.

I made her look at me again as I chuckled. "You know what?" I said very softly. "What?" she whispered. I chuckled again and moved my lips to her ear, "I've never wanted anything so bad in my existence too…" I purred in her ear. She shivered and I began trailing kisses along her jaw line down to her collar bone… it was getting harder and harder to resist her… our breaths were getting somewhat erratic right now.

She gently held my face and pulled me softly away from her. "Now, now dear. You said we'd wait, let's not get carried away… " She said reproachfully but with humor.

I rolled back to my side and took a deep breath. "Ah how frustratingly long these five days are!"

She chuckled then hovered on top of me, her hands on my chest, her face inches away from mine. She was having fun tormenting me. I just glared at her and stood marble still.

She half-closed her lids and purred, it was excruciating! "Come on Edward, love… we need to wait…" she kissed me and much to my restraint, I kissed her back but she pulled away so fast and pushed me down. I glared at her again and she smiled seductively and started trailing butterfly kisses along my neck and chest.

"We decided to wait until our wedding night… and oh dear, we can't do it here…. With your family… and yes… what would my dear brother say?" she murmured between kisses.

I sighed loudly in frustration and said with gritted teeth, "You're not making this easy love."

She laughed, "I'm not?" she purred innocently.

"No." I said firmly.

"So I should stop then?" she cocked a brow playfully.

I groaned but then decided to make the most of the moment and with a swift moment I had her pinned underneath me. She glared at me as I held her hands above her head in a prison death lock.

I leaned down and whispered in her ear, "You should… but what about me?" Ha! Two can play at this game!

I began to kiss her again and trailed down and down…

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I ignored the knocking. I was busy at the moment.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Damn it, I'm busy.

BANG! The door flew open.

"Knock it of you two, wait till you're married now will yah? Let a vampire sleep and get off my sister, you hear?" came from an irritable, protective, vampire brother of Bella's.

With another loud bang, the door slammed shut, leaving a very stunned Bella and me caught in a very compromising position, both with breaths held.

I mentally counted to three, and I found out that Bella did the same as we both moved to our sides of the bed, took a moment to process and then broke into fits of laughter.

"I wasn't even going to do anything rash! I guess I'm in for it now, eh?" I said to Bella.

She laughed, "Oh, he'll come around. You know he's not as innocent as you are at your age… well before you were changed that is…" we laughed again.

"I heard that!" came a deep raspy voice from downstairs.

Bella clamped her mouth, "Oops." I chuckled again and encircled Bella with my arms. "He's right though. This can wait. Right now, why don't you go get some sleep? I don't want you passing out again."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh fine." She said glumly. "Sing for me then…"

I obliged and sang to her as I watched my fiancée drift to sleep in my arms.

Maybe I shouldn't be that wary of Angel…

The following morning, Angel wanted to spend some quality time with Bella. At that moment he suggested that, my suspicions of him came back. I was… clearly very reluctant to leave her alone with Bella… but Bella trusted him… I had no choice but to hope for the best.

Angel gave me an all too reassuring smile, "I'll bring her back, I promise. We're just going to take a walk and we'll be back before twilight."

"Okay." I said as politely as I could but somehow I still sounded hesitant.

Angel laughed, "Tell you what, take this…" he removed a silver necklace with a black metal feather pendant and handed it to me.

I stared at the object in my hand and looked at him, "What's this?"

"One half of a tracking device bewitched by our kind. Don't ask me how though, don't know myself. The other half," he showed another pendant on his neck, white feather this time, "is with me. Should you wish to bring me back just say the word while touching it and I'll appear immediately."

"I…see… well have fun then."

Just then Bella emerged from our room upstairs and bounded down the stairs. "Good morning. So shall we go?"

Angel nodded and headed for the door, "See you later."

Bella tiptoed in front of me to give me a good-bye kiss. I scooped her up instead so he wouldn't strain herself and kissed her with enthusiasm.

"My are we a little over the top with the good-bye kiss?" Bella chuckled.

"Just giving you an incentive to come back to me."

"It's just a walk, Edward. I'll always come back to you."

I sighed then put her down, "Have fun then. I love you, take care, Bella."

"I love you too Edward!"

I watched them disappear into the distance.

Before I could even knock on Alice and Jasper's door, Jasper opened it immediately. "We were expecting you," Jasper smirked and I rolled my eyes.

"I presume you want to know what I saw." Alice said matter-of-factly. She was sitting Indian style on her red couch. Jasper sat down beside Alice and I took a seat on a green bean bag.

"Yes. You've been blocking your thoughts all day."

"I had too. Everyone does – well 'cept for you and Bella that is. Your thoughts are safe from, you know." Alice wrinkled her nose.

I frowned. Then one by one Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett entered the room and found places on the floor.

"I'm concerned." Carlisle said.

"We all are." Rosalie quipped. "Having Angel here makes me so uncomfortable…"

I nodded at her glumly, "I know. There's something really wrong… I just can't put my finger on it… and now he's alone with Bella…"

Alice placed a hand on my shoulder, "I can say this at least, He's taking Bella back here later." She said reassuringly.

"And that thing he gave you would be of great use… just in case…" Jasper commented as his face darkened.

I turned to look at Alice, "Alice, have you seen anything peculiar? Anything at all?"

She scrunched up her face in thought, "So far… nothing."

"How about the…" I couldn't finish my thought.

"The wedding? Don't worry that's still on." Alice half-smiled. "But you might want to change your honeymoon destination. I keep seeing Bella with a cloaked man in Versailles…"

I stiffened, "Well… Europe's not feasible then…"

"How about somewhere in Asia? It's winter anyway. You could go to China or something… Japan seems fun too…" Esme suggested.

"Tokyo then…" I shrugged. I looked at Carlisle, "Carlisle have you contacted the Volturi?"

"I was planning on paying a visit after the wedding. But I did call him just now." Carlisle said.

"What did you tell them?"

"I asked them about the treaty Angel mentioned and they confirmed it."

"I see… did they say anything else?"

Carlisle thought for a moment then answered, "Well… they just said that they're invitation for us to join would always be open should anything happen… you see they don't really trust the other race."

I sighed, "I thought as much." I glanced back up at Carlisle, "What did you say?"

"I politely declined. The only way I would set foot in a war is if my family is involved or humans are in danger." He said firmly.

"I don't want to bring the ire prematurely… but I have a glum feeling that we might get dragged into that…" I said grimly.

"I do too. Considering the connections Angel has… and Bella's power is looking very, very good right now… for both sides…" Alice said slowly.

"I don't mind a few fights for our family." Emmett said proudly.

"Yeah, you wouldn't now, would you?" Rosalie frostily said.

"Let's just keep an eye out." Carlisle said with authority. "That's all we can do for the moment."

"I agree – Alice cut her sentence midway as she was pulled into a trance. She was having a vision. Jasper immediately put his arms around her and I snapped up my head in her direction and saw what she was seeing in her mind.

A vampire wearing a black cloak was blazing through a trail in a dark snow filled forest, weaving in and out like a wraith. Then coming to a dead halt into a small cave. Another hooded vampire was seated on a rather large black chair with his back towards the entrance.

"Ah. I see you've finally decided to come, my dear. Come closer and let me have a look at you…" a cool old voice hissed from the black chair.

The vampire he was referring to made slow steps to face the one who was seated. From the background, a small orb of light shone near the face of the vampire. The one seated raised a white old hand and drew back the hood of the newcomer. "There you are Ms. Isabella Marie Swan. Xerxes did a good job of bringing you here." A very dazed Bella had a vacant expression on her face. Then a shrill laugh surrounded the cave.

When the vision ended Alice and I locked gazes with each other with a look of pure shock and terror.

Jasper let go of Alice and clutched his body, he felt the extreme terror that we felt. Alice and me didn't realize that we sunk down on our seats and remained still as the dead.

"What is it? What's wrong? ALICE? EDWARD?" Carlisle yelled and grabbed hold of my shoulders. Esme was hugging Alice trying to calm her down. Rosalie and Emmett took hold of Jasper who was suddenly cowering on the floor.

As the present slowly registered on my face as I stared at Carlisle's frantic face, rage erupted from my whole body as I let out growl after growl.

"What is it?" Carlisle pleaded frantically. "Xerxes brought Bella to THEM!" I hissed acerbically.

Everyone looked at me with shock. "W-what do you mean?" Rosalie stammered.

"Right now?" Emmett said his eyes big.

I was about to answer but Alice who was finally calm replied. "No."

Like the turn of the tide, all eyes were on her now. "By looking at the moon, it will happen the week before Christmas."

Jasper was calm now as well and he worked his power on us, "What's going to happen?" he asked.

As Alice explained my mind raced. Xerxes? How the hell could he be after Bella? Could Angel bring Bella to Xerxes then eventually to them? The place we saw could've been anywhere on this planet and it was also winter. That made things even more complicated. One thing's for sure. Bella's not leaving my sight from now on.

"Any plans?" Emmett questioned.

"Let's proceed with business as usual. And not let Bella be alone." Carlisle said.

I nodded, "But she can't be alone with Angel as well." I added quickly.

"Of course. One of us should always be with her even around Angel, agreed?" Carlisle prompted.

Everyone agreed.

"On to a lighter mode, let's think about the wedding first. We only have five more days to go. I don't see anything happening, thank goodness." Alice said.

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger. "Things are happening much too fast. I'm glad that Bella's missing years were solved but still, knowing that someone is after her…"

"We know. But we're all here together. It'll be hard to go through a family like ours." Esme reassured me.

By twilight, I stopped my pacing and opened the door immediately to greet Bella and Angel.

I quickly placed an arm around her waist and gave her a kiss.

"You missed me that much?" She laughed. I laughed back nervously. "What's wrong?" she suddenly became worried. Shoot, I can't hide anything from her.

I chuckled again, "I just missed you, that's all." She relaxed a bit but she wasn't convinced. "Okay. Well, I'll go see Alice for a bit." Then she ran to Alice's room leaving Angel and me.

"Hey man." Angel grinned.

I forced a smile, "Hello."

"Say, how about us boys going out tonight and throw you a bachelor party?" he said playfully.

"Bachelor party?" I raised a brow.

"Yes. We need to bond. We're going to be in-laws very soon. What do you say?"

I was about to refuse when Jasper and Emmett appeared behind me.

"Let's go Edward. Let's have some alone time with Angel." Emmett said a little too innocently and a tad too enthusiastic.

"Yes. Carlisle would come too." Jasper pressed.

"But…"

"A bachelor party sounds convenient." Carlisle commented.

I looked at Angel, he was unfazed and very much amused. "What do you say, Edward?"

I sighed. "Mmm, fine." I muttered.

It's better this way son. The girls are with Bella. They'll go out near us too. A bachelorette party as well. – Carlisle

I see. Maybe we can get something out from Angel. And I did feel a little better that the girls won't be far behind. They have Alice. And if something happens, we have Angel as hostage or victim.

Everything seems to come thundering towards Bella like a metal cannon ball being drawn by a giant magnet powered by a car battery. She wasn't kidding when she said she was a magnet for trouble. And now I was feeling very worried.

All I wanted was to marry Bella and have a good long existence with her in peace with my family.

I didn't know my simple desire was Herculean difficult to gain.

But Bella is worth anything.

Anything.

AN: More secrets, more suspicion, and more premonitions. What else is there? Marrying Bella sure has a lot of complications to go through. Stay tuned.

Give me a review regarding what you think would happen next… I'm running a little low on inspiration.

Margaux