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CHAPTER SIX
Relativity
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EDWARD
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I opened my eyes and found two golden orbs staring back at me, framed in short black hair. I gasped and fell off my couch. I was never this graceless before Bella. She was influencing me in ways neither of us realized. After quickly recovering from the tiny fall, I was barely on my feet before wrapping my arms around my littlest sister.
"Dammit, Alice!" I shouted, my voice laced with joy. "You scared me!"
"The great and powerful Edward?" she gasped into my shoulder. "Don't be silly."
I rolled my eyes and parted, feeling uncharacteristically frail and… human. I liked it. My mind was in thirty different places. Alice could tell, as always.
"Is Jasper with you?" I asked, rubbing at my eyes. The lights were off in the loft and my eyes had become convinced reality was in the castle, in bright eternal daylight.
She nodded. "He's inspecting our food supply," she joked. I hoped. She danced her way around my room. "Rosalie's still with this Emmett fellow, not that you were going to ask."
"Yea, I've learned not to. She's never really stayed the next morning, has she? Must be special."
Alice was probably the easiest person to be around. She and I shared insights into people. Usually, before Bella, I could read minds at will, which makes me a psychic freak even among our kind. Alice saw futures, equally as freaky, and saw every stupid mistake I was going to make before I made it. It meant she knew why I did the things I did, even supported the stupider decisions in the name of some fate she refused to show me. It made her very calming, soothing at times, this once fleeting idea that I might be loved unconditionally despite my nature. I wouldn't call her my favorite sister – just because Rosalie would tear my limbs off and set me on fire – but she was.
"They're all special," she said knowingly. By then, I had completely forgotten what I'd said. Alice was taking this somewhere. "Especially Bella. Is she—How did you leave her?"
"She left me. Daylight. She had to go," I clarified. I needed us both to know that Bella had not left me out of choice. Again, it was a nice thought, if nothing more than a thought.
Alice nodded, understanding my double meaning. "I see. Miss her yet?"
I narrowed my eyes at her but hid a smile. "You knew I was going to turn her, didn't you? You knew I'd try to save her?"
She shrugged and mirrored my smile. "I don't know what you're talking about, Edward."
"Come on, Alice. It's just us. You have plans for her."
She shook her head and remained otherwise perfectly still. Though a ball of energy when around Rose or Carlisle and Esme or especially Jazz, she was oddly quiet around me. Again, it was soothing. "I really couldn't see. Well, I saw her die. You didn't choose to save her until that very second." I scoffed so she continued, reluctantly, "Though I must admit that, knowing you, there was no other choice but to save her."
I didn't reply right away, just stared at her tiny silhouette in my badly-lit room. I normally didn't bother turning on lights but since Bella infiltrated by mind, it would become odd not to have at least a lamp somewhere. It was almost a reminder of her.
"She's more than special, isn't she? This power she has over me… it's not normal," I whispered. I felt incapable of saying it higher as though afraid someone were listening in nearby.
She stepped forward into the light of the one little lamp in the corner, not that I needed light to see the way her brows rose. They urged me to say the words I couldn't say to myself, let alone another person.
"She's my mate… isn't she?"
At this, Alice's lips curled into a smile and silence filled in the rest. Of course, she'd never tell me that because of what the knowledge would mean for my future, my actions. But it didn't need to be said. I felt it, this light inside me
Jasper knocked on the back door softly, interrupting our silent conversation and string of realizations. He knew it wasn't a very good time, could feel it in the air, but he knocked nonetheless. "Uh… Alice?" he called. "There are a lot of people out here. Really juicy, young, voluptuous people. And while I would love to give you guys your little brother-sister bonding moment, I'm like an alcoholic at an open bar here!"
We laughed as Alice went to open the door. Jazz and I shared a manly hug and reinforced it with a manlier handshake. Though completely part of the family, he wasn't my brother. He was my brother-in-law. There would always be a wall there that limited our intimacy. I didn't share with him the way I did with Rose and Alice, though something told me he and Alice shared no secrets. Telling one meant telling the other. Everything Alice saw, Jasper might as well see. Until that day in my loft when it became obvious by Jasper's much-too-cheery expression that he had no clue what he was doing at my university, who Bella was, or what to do about all the little strands of fate that Alice was attempting to manipulate just for my happiness.
"How long are we here for?" he asked Alice. She would know. She knew everything. Except this.
"He hasn't decided yet," she answered bluntly, winding herself around Jasper's waist. "He's got a few choices to make first. It could go really badly or it could go fantastically. It's up to him."
I crossed my arms and grumbled, "Yea… no pressure there, Al."
She just smirked. Something about her seemingly tired eyes told me that her plotting was only just beginning and she was just as terrified as I was of what would happen if things went really, really wrong.
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BELLA
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When I woke up, all the constant sounds and smells suddenly seemed softer and farther away. It was the knowledge that I was not going insane. I wasn't human but I wasn't alone. I was still left with this residual doubt about whether or not it'd been real but something about the tingles down to my toes was too hard to deny. Even if it was purely a creation of my psychotic mind, it was one I was desperate to believe. It felt too much like years ago when I allowed myself, like any other teenage girl, to believe I was in love.
I didn't love Edward, not yet. But I admired him, even lusted for him at times of weakness, seconds when I came to believe this was about fate and not doom.
The sounds had dulled so much that I had to go in search of Emmett just to make sure he really hadn't died at the hand of Edward's harpy sister. My mind was working much quicker, putting all the pieces together. Rosalie was a vampire. I had nearly broken the code last night. She was going to kill me for breaking this unspoken covenant. Edward had saved me, but no one had saved Emmett.
It took two seconds of worry for my feet to race me to Emmett's door on the other side of the dorm. I didn't bother knocking though I could hear breathing on the other side. One breath, rhythmic and calm. I sighed with relief but opened the door nonetheless, probably breaking the handle off. I didn't linger around to inspect my handiwork.
I raced to the bedroom and surely enough, Emmett was asleep, spread out with nothing but a thin sheet to cover his manhood. I sensed something odd about the room, like something was new or out of place, and whirled around. Rosalie was on the other side of the room sitting in a large chair. She wore crimson underwear. Her hair curled around her face and her eyes fixed themselves upon Emmett's human body on the bed, narrowed in contemplation.
"He's been sleeping like that for hours. Not a care in the world," she whispered, so low that only another vampire would hear. If she could, at that moment, she'd probably force the leaves to stop rustling outside just so nothing could wake him.
"It's what humans do," I replied, unsure of what to take from the situation.
She wasn't the same femme fatale I met the night before but people are seldom as strong as they were fully clothed. I tried not to look but even with vampire enhancements, I didn't have that body. I tried to control my envy. Emotions were different when you know you're not human anymore. They crash upon the soul like waves on the shore, rocking and rearranging the sand but parting quickly. Rosalie could see the flicker of envy in my eyes and smirked. She reached for her neatly folded clothes on the chair next to her and began to dress at normal human speed.
"He's odd," she told me, as though that were to explain everything that had happened in the room. "He's… kind."
Both my eyebrows shot up. She seemed genuinely surprised. I was genuinely surprised that she was genuinely surprised. "Why is kindness odd? Why can't it be in everyone?"
Her eyes finally left Emmett and found mine. She stood before me so we were almost chest-to-chest, were she not a good half a foot above me in her heels, and tried to find some sarcasm in my tone. I just stood, slouching as always.
"You're so young," she whispered, hiding the laughter in her voice. I must have seemed like a child to her. For all intents and purposes, I was. In more ways than one. "I'm happy you remember. Edward will be glad to know."
She turned to leave but I clutched her arm and pulled her back. She flinched and I quickly let go. "I'm sorry! I'm still not used to my strength."
She didn't forgive me, just gave me a nod of understanding and waited for me to tell her what I'd so rudely manhandled her for.
"I just wanted you to tell Edward that I'll be there tonight. He doesn't have to worry about me."
She chuckled, no longer in control of her voice. Emmett stirred but didn't wake. I'd seen him fall asleep at monster truck rallies. This light hissing between immortal beings was nothing.
"Darling, Edward worries about everyone. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll realize that he's not like the rest of us."
"Of course not. He's a vampire," I hissed softly.
She chuckled dryly and leaned in as though she were sharing some big secret. "No, he's just lonely. And you, dear child, are the newest member of the family. Remember that. Remember that he worries when you let him know what I did to your friend Em."
"Did you drink from him?" I asked as she neared the door. A pause on both sides.
She turned around, a graceful swirl that I could never pull off, and smirked. "Another time," she answered and left.
I turned back to Emmett, still asleep and ignorant and beautifully human. I didn't know it then but the hunger was building. It was making me see him in a whole new light. He wasn't just my friend lying naked in bed after a night of passionate sex and he wasn't the guy who made first year math bearable. He was a snack. He was blood, pre-packaged in flimsy meat and bones and cartilage and… I gagged.
This was my friend! My best friend!
I got the hell out of there before I could take another breath of his air.
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EDWARD
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"There's something wrong with her," said Rose, slamming my back door behind her.
"With whom?" I drawled, tossing the newspaper into a corner. I put on my best psychiatrist's face and pretended to give her my full attention.
"This Bella girl. She and Emmett. There's something wrong with them."
Already, I was bored. "I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with us, love. Remember that pesky relativity thing."
She cackled and kicked her heels into my wall. Into my wall. I growled, annoyed, but she ignored me.
"I'm telling you. They're not human. They're… nice."
It was my turn to cackle. I hadn't seen this flustered look on Rose's face since Mardi Gras 1968.
"Why is that not normal?" I asked, dropping the face. She was getting at something and had probably forgotten her words. She was prone to doing so. Rose was shallow but she wasn't stupid. Still, whenever she entered into one of those rare, new situations, she sometimes forgot the eloquence her human mother had stuffed down her throat for 18 years.
"Emmett is sweet. He—He's the type of guy who'd hold my hand in a restaurant and apologize for looking down my dress, ya know?"
I bit my bottom lip, trying to stop the laughter. Rose looked at me like I'd gone insane. She probably hadn't seen me smile in years, let alone laugh. I don't know. I don't keep track of my brooding patterns. Just like it was rare for Rosie to find a nice guy, it was rare for me to act chipper, even at levels otherwise considered normal for any human being.
"I'm glad you met a nice guy, Rose," I said sincerely, going back to read my newspaper.
"Bella too. She's a good girl. Really good girl, if you know what I mean."
I did, but I pretended not to. "How so?"
"Virgin, baby," she answered bluntly, taking off her jacket and stripping off her clothes. They smelled like Emmett and latex. If I hadn't lived through Rosie's post-Woodstock nudist phase, I'd almost be surprised. "If not, she's at least got virgin sentimentality. She walked in on Emmett sleeping naked and I thought her eyes were going to fall out of her sockets."
"So what? They're good people. He treats her like a sister."
She nodded and sat on the couch before mine. It took her a moment to say as though still pondering the right words or even preparing me for the vulnerable reveal. "I—I don't know how to behave around them." It still caught me by surprise. I could see it in her mind, a gentle buzz of self-doubt. "I had to cajole him into bed, okay? How many guys do you know that have needed cajoling?"
"Andy Warhol?" I joked.
"That's so different and you know it. The man was gay as blazes." I nodded. She knew my utter hatred of all things Warhol. "Well, we know Emmett's straight as an arrow. He almost kept up with me. He's a superhero. That's what I mean. He can't be human."
"He's human, Rose. As for how to act, be the girl you were before you were turned. Act like the real you."
She rested her hands on her lap and looked across my living room. "Is that how you act with Bella?" she asked, her voice soft and vulnerable.
"Uh… Yea, I guess. I didn't really change much, remember? You did."
She nodded and continued to drift off into outer space, probably reliving last night with Super Emmett, while I tried to catch up on the events of the world yet again. I skipped to the bottom of page 5, to the important yet not so important news.
A girl had been found ripped to pieces in the woods two towns over.
I guess that wasn't too important in a big city full of nameless face but it was to us. The report said it looked like it was done with either machinery or, less likely, human teeth.
I winced. Rose missed it, deciding instead to go take a shower. She waltzed past me just as I folded the newspaper away. I didn't want her to read it. She'd know what I knew instantly. A vampire had killed that girl. Whether it was an accident or we had a very real predator nearby, I just prayed they stayed far away from Bella.
Rose poked her head out of the shower, her hair lathered to death in white shampoo bubbles. This humanity thing was getting silly. I'd been shocked more in the last month than I had all year. "We should all get together, now that Alice and Jazz are here."
"They're taking a walk around campus. They'll be back in an hour," I answered blindly. That wasn't her suggestion, question, or implication.
"No, idiot. Triple date. If Emmett even wants to see me again."
I scoffed. "If you haven't broken him, I'm sure he'd love to."
"Good! Yes! You're right! Call up Bella."
My heart shriveled up. I didn't know why but I didn't want to see her again. I was terrified to, just like Rose was unsure how to act. It was easy in the dreams. I could probably make her forget anything unpleasant. I had endless time to correct myself. In the real world, there was just reality. If I messed up, I was done. Period. She'd be pissed at me or worse, disgusted by me. I wasn't sure if I could control myself around her. Her scent alone was superhuman.
"I—I don't have her number," I lied. "Besides, she has class and has to study and I don't even know if she'll remember to sleep—"
Rosie pursed her lips at me. "Stop making excuses. Besides, she said she'd be there tonight. Guaranteed. Let her know then."
I sighed with relief. It was always up in the air whether she'd return, whether she'd even remember, whether she'd want any more of me once she woke up.
"Relax, Edward," said Rose from the shower. "You've already won her."
"Yea," I whispered, breathless. "That's what they keep telling me."
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Vampire lessons coming soon! More disastrous dates soon to follow. I'm sorry I haven't been posting more regularly but I'm computerless until further notice. Gah.
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