Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight books or any of its characters.
Chapter 4 You Shouldn't Have
I do not respond quickly because the fact I am kissing a vampire puts me into shock. When the shock surpasses, I respond with such passion that Edward pulls away from me.
"Sorry," I apologize.
I can only imagine what my face looks like at that moment.
"Don't be," Edward replies, but I can tell he is trying his best not to take in my scent which is now near its peak due to my quickening pulse and flush cheeks.
I gasp when I saw the Cullen's. Alice had her arms wrapped from her middle as Emmett is trying not to laugh. Carlisle and Esme are looking at me with concerned eyes. Jasper and Rosalie's expressions cannot be made out. I would not blame them for being disgusted with me.
"Don't stop on our account," Emmett says, finally letting out a laugh, but he stops when Rosalie hits him in the stomach.
"I…" I begin to say, but the mood suddenly takes a turn.
Everyone's eyes grow and Edward pulls me up and hides me behind the Cullen's before I can even blink again. I look over at Alice, and it seems the rest are doing the same, but she does not say a word.
"What's going on?" I try to ask her, but her hand quickly covers my mouth.
Her shockingly cold skin does not have much effect on me as it used to. At the beginning, I would always jump a little whenever Alice would hug me.
"Shhh," Alice hisses at me.
My eyes grow when someone starts to walk out of the woods and towards us. He is wearing a brown jacket with no shirt underneath and his blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.
"Hello," the man, who is clearly a vampire, says.
Carlisle walks up to the man and shakes his hand, because that is just who he is. He would try to talk his way out of a fight before having to fight.
"Hello, may we help you?" Carlisle asks.
"I'm just passing through. My name is James," James says.
Weird. I was thinking his name would be something more exotic.
"I'm Carlisle, and this is my family," Carlisle says, gesturing to everyone, even Edward and me.
While, Edward is, for lack of a better word, father. And then the worst thing that could happen happened. A gust of wind blew my scent right towards James.
"What do we have here?" James asks, his eyes locked on mine.
I stand as still as possible. Carlisle, as while as Alice and Emmett, stand closer to Edward to shield me.
"She's with us," Esme tell James.
James makes a small laugh and replies, "Yes, I can see that."
Before anything else was said, James was gone.
"This is bad, isn't it?" I ask.
"Very bad," Alice agrees without looking at me.
Everyone is looking at Alice as if she will know what to do.
"But didn't you just, like, claim me or something?" I ask.
Carlisle is the first to look at me since James disappeared.
"He doesn't care, Bella," he tells me sadly.
"We need to get back to the house," Alice says, and Edward has my arm and we are off.
"What do I tell Charlie?" I ask, hardly to catch my breath.
"Bella…" Edward begins to say, but he stops himself.
I look around and am surprised I find myself at the steps of the Cullens' house.
"I'm not going home tonight, aren't I?" I ask.
"No," Alice says.
"Bella, we need to keep you safe," Edward tells me.
xxx
I was put in one of the guest rooms for the night. I turn from looking out the glass wall that overlooked the forest when a knock came at the door.
"Come in," I say.
Edward walks me, and for some reason, it does not surprise me that it is him and not Alice.
"Aren't you comfortable?" he asks me.
He must think this because I am tense and I have my arms crossed. And he is right.
"Not when there's a vampire who wants to kill me on the loose," I say.
He walks up to me. He opens his arms, indicating that he wants me to walk into them. Slowly, I uncross my arms and allow myself to wrap myself around Edward. He places one hand on my head.
"I'll, we'll keep you safe," Edward says, and he kisses the top of my head.
He leads me to the bed, which I know is never used to sleep in.
"There has to be more than James wanting to kill me to have my blood," I say, not looking at Edward as I say this.
Edward lets out a small laugh. Again, not being able to read my read seems to amuse him when I say what is on my mind. At some times, I am thankful that Edward cannot read what I am thinking. Though I am sure my expressions give me away most of the time.
"I stopped him a few times from killing innocent people," Edward tells me.
And now, more than ever, I can see the influence Carlisle has had on Edward. Even though he hated him for it, Edward could not bring himself to kill for killing shake. He chose preys that were murders and rapists. The monsters that he thought he was himself.
"So, you're not the monster you say you are," I say, letting my hand touch his, but he quickly pulls it away and gets up.
"I'm still a killer," Edward mutters.
I get up and stand next to him, but I do not try to touch him again.
"You killed bad people. I'm sure you saved more people than you killed," I tell him.
"I try to make myself believe that," Edward says with a laugh.
I clear my throat after a loud pause.
"Well, I should try to get some sleep," I say.
"Good night, Bella," Edward tells me, and he leaves.
Instead of changing into the night clothes Alice has set out for me, I go to bed fully clothed. I wake up several hours later. That is when I sneak out the window. I did not know where I was going. Maybe that is why Alice could not see me.