Ah, don't own the characters, or the setting. I do own the plotline. Yay for me.
Bella hugged Alice tightly.
"Thank you. I know you can't promise that you're never going to leave, but thank you for saying that you won't leave without me again." Alice returned the hug, and then pushed Bella away.
"I'll be upstairs if you need anything. I want to see what's taking Edward so long." Bella nodded and turned back to the washing machine. As she pulled one of her dads' shirts right-side out, she too wondered what Edward was doing. 'It's taking him forever. Maybe this woman was more dangerous than we credited her for.' It was as soon as she thought this that she felt icy hands around her waist. She turned. There he was, that magnificent Adonis staring back at her through golden eyes.
"Bella…" His voice was softer and richer than velvet. She nearly swooned, but in her usual tracing of his face, she noticed something. A dark mark spread along his normally perfect white jaw.
"Edward! What happened?!" She reached up to touch his face, but he pulled away and looked again deep into her eyes.
"I think we need to discuss this with the whole family. Come on." He motioned for her to follow him upstairs and with a jerk-if you could call it that-of his head, Alice joined them at the back door. Her eyes flickered to his jaw, but she said nothing-likely on an unseen gesture from Edward. He easily swung Bella onto his back and then they were running. Bella decided to close her eyes this time. She had no real desire to watch the trees whipping unnaturally fast past them. Alice moved just a few paces behind them; Edward was the fastest by far, but Alice didn't have too much of a problem keeping up with her older brother. When they reached the large Victorian house, Bella managed to slide somewhat gracefully off Edward's back-only to trip on a root two steps later. He caught her laughing.
"Bella, what am I going to do with you? I don't know if you missed a few balance lessons when you were learning to walk, but it's been plaguing you ever since." She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Hey, we can't all move like dancers." He reached out to stroke her hair. Alice cleared her throat and Edward pulled back.
"Right. C'mon, let's get this going." They strode into the open family room and waited. Carlisle came in from the kitchen. At Bella's questioning look, he smiled.
"I took the day off from work. After Edward told me about Alice's vision, I figured we might need to assess the situation before I went in." A moment later, Esme walked in the room. Bella never did get used to that feeling of pure unadulterated love that poured from the woman. She looked at Bella with her large chocolate eyes.
"Do you know what's going on yet?" Bella shook her head.
"Edward is going to fill us all in at the same time." Both Esme and Carlisle turned to look at Edward at the same time and both started when they saw his jaw, but at a look from him, they kept their peace. Bella turned and saw that Jasper had appeared at the door along with Emmett. They were on the wrong side to see Edward's jaw. A moment later, Rosalie walked through the front door, shut it and leaned quietly against the wall. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of her brother's face, but said nothing as well. All eyes were on Edward and he walked to the front of the room.
"I know I told everybody about Alice's vision-we may be in some sort of danger. I think I've found the person her vision was talking about. She was camping last night and likely saw the wolves change. They spoke with her and she displayed no fear of them. According to the wolves, she moves as well in the dark as a nocturnal creature." The family was enraptured. Bella had never been in a room so full of people and have it be so deathly still. Edward continued.
"It was most likely I'd find out about her at her residence. I'd gotten her scent from the wolves and tracked her. I knew she was home when I visited. Such a visit has never been discovered before, but somehow, she knew I was there. I was looking for identification and anything else I could find on her. She knows how to move extremely silently, but I heard her behind me. She told me to leave-understandably enough. I wanted information, but my refusal seemed to have the opposite effect. She fought me." Every being in the room gave a small start. Emmett spoke.
"I'm sorry, she fought you? Edward, a human fighting any one of us is preposterous." Edward shook his head.
"Not this one. I got this-" he turned his head so Emmett and Jasper could see his jaw. "-from a right hook she landed. It seems to have broken her hand." The whole room stared at him as though they'd never seen him before. Emmett and Rosalie spoke simultaneously. Rosalie let Emmett go first.
"A human landed a punch on a vampire in full self-defense? But that's-that's not possible."
"I thought so too, but she did. I would've completely agreed with you before, and would still be agreeing with you at this moment, but my jaw simply says otherwise." Rosalie spoke.
"She's not a werewolf?" Edward shook his head again.
"No. She didn't smell like either a werewolf or a vampire. She's human through and through." Bella looked at him quizzically.
"You were there kind of a long time. What else happened?" He frowned.
"I need you all to understand this right now. The instant I set foot in her house, I knew something was strange about her. Bella, you know you're the only person whose mind I cannot read." Bella nodded. He took a deep breath.
"With this girl-woman, whoever she may be, whatever she may be, I can't fully read her mind." The room at whole stared at him. He continued.
"It's like listening to a badly tuned radio. With you Bella, it's a blank nothing. With her, I get static. A few words here and there and some distorted images, but nothing is completely clear. And it comes and goes. When I first felt her in the room, she wanted me out, but was thinking of two men. I didn't get faces on them, but I got two names; Sam and Jake. Does anyone recognize them?" Everyone shook their heads. Edward shrugged.
"She asked me to get out and I refused until she told me some things about herself. That's when she lost it. I dodged a punch and a kick-she's fast. Not quite supernaturally, but top-line in terms of human speed. I was getting a blank read on her mind when she spun with the right hook. After breaking her hand, she tried to start with the left. I had to stop her before she damaged herself." The room was dead silent again. Rosalie had moved off the wall and was staring at him in wonder. Alice, Esme and Carlisle looked as though they'd been given a strange new candy to try and didn't know what to make of it while Emmett and Bella looked positively murderous. Jasper was looking at Bella with some concern. Carlisle spoke softly, but with a dangerous edge to his voice.
"So she felt your skin." Edward bent his head.
"It looked as though she was prepared to break every bone in her body before letting me stay. My read on her gets clearer the closer I am. When I grabbed her fist, the read came in crystal clear. She was surprised at my strength and knew to back down. I got a really bizarre memory from her-her hand was encased in ice, but it vanished quickly. When I asked her for information about herself, she'd decided to lie about a few things. I can understand why-me being an intruder and all. I've got a pretty good grasp on what she did and didn't lie about. Her name is Gaia Moore. She came in two days ago for a vacation. The state of the house told me the truth of this almost as much as her thoughts did. I'm not sure if she was lying about her plans for it, but I don't think she had much reason to since she was telling the truth about the vacation part. She's very cheeky, but didn't seem outright harmful. Unfortunately for us all, I listened in on her thoughts when I left. She's extremely intelligent with good deduction skills. She knows what we are and about the werewolves. I think she dealt more damage to her hand when I left because I heard her scream. Carlisle, keep an eye out for a strange blonde female at the clinic with a broken right hand." Carlisle nodded. "I didn't stay much longer after that. In the meantime, I think we should have a watch on her at all times-or at least until tomorrow. I'll take the first watch. There's something strange about her-stranger than just being able to land a punch and damage a vampire, or me not reading her mind. The next time I see her, I want you-Jasper to come with me. I think your ability might come into play."
"Very well." He replied. "Though I'm not sure what you expect me to find."
"I'm not entirely sure myself." said Edward. "But I have a hunch."
"Edward." Bella's voice was small. When he looked at her, she was staring at him with large eyes. There were no readable signs on her face and she asked her next question blankly.
"How long will this shift be?" He looked at her, infuriated at his inability to read her.
"A few hours, no more." To everyone's surprise, Jasper moved across the room and whispered in Bella's ear before returning to his original position. Edward looked on in utter confusion, but it suddenly dawned on him.
"Ah, that's about it. Jasper, I think we should take a car this time and park it somewhat away from her house. She'll notice a car and possibly us if we get too close, but as long as we can sense her, it'll be ok. Could you please go warm it up?" Jasper glanced at Bella and nodded. Before Bella could believe it, the room was clear and she was staring at Edward. He'd looked so animated, so enraptured by this girl he could only half-read and he'd volunteered so quickly to take the first shift…she couldn't help it. Her sorrow and jealousy reared while her own sense of self-confidence hit the floor. How could she compare to this girl she'd never even met? The image of the cliff and Edward looking at her disgustedly popped back into her mind. With Jasper gone, she felt everything full-force. But here was Edward, lifting her in his arms and moving over to the couch. He sat down and laid her across his lap before stroking her hair.
"Bella…Bella. You know this girl can't replace you-whether she damages me once or a thousand times. Her blood doesn't call to me as yours does either. She holds no allure for me. I love you. I adore you. You are the one I choose, for now, for a lifetime and for all time." Bella sighed.
"I know Edward. I really do. It's hard though, and I hate the idea of you being gone even for a few hours on patrol." She remembered the chase they'd gone through with both James and Victoria-the hours she'd spent waiting, hoping Edward would be all right. Now she didn't have to worry about his physical safety. Just her emotional well-being. Edward leaned in. Bella felt her heart beating a mile a minute and suddenly freeze in her chest as he kissed her lightly on the forehead. Would she ever get over that reaction to him? 'God, I hope not.' She smiled and stood up. Edward followed suit and they went out to the garage. A large silver car purred in the driveway. Edward opened the rear door for Bella. She climbed in and he folded himself neatly in the front passenger seat. The car was roomy and the dark leather smelled richly of oil and pine. Jasper smiled in the driver's seat and flicked the pine-shaped ornament on the rearview window.
"They're cheesy, but they work well." He put the car in drive. Before she knew it, Bella was back at her house. Edward walked her to her front porch and pulled her into a tight embrace.
"It'll be a few hours. We'll be ok. Then I'll come back and sit in your room." Bella nodded and Edward cupped her chin with his icy hand. The chill sent pleasant shivers down Bella's spine. 'I don't think I'm ever going to get used to any of the magnificent things about this boy…' She thought. Her heart began to race again as he leaned in and stopped again as he pressed his soft, velvet lips against hers. She was in Eden. Too soon he pulled back, panting a little like she was.
"This is so ridiculously hard. Ah, Bella. I'll see you in a little bit." She blinked and he was in the car. She heard it start and watched them speed out of her driveway. With a sigh, she turned to the house, resigned. 'Dinner's not going to make itself and dad can't cook whatsoever…'
A short car ride later, Jasper and Edward were near Gaia's house. They sniffed the air and froze. Jasper turned to Edward.
"Are you sure she's still there?" Edward took a deep draught of air then growled.
"She's gone." He pushed his head out of the car and took in a few gulps of air, then glared along the road.
"She's driving out of town. It's not to Forks or the reservation. It has to be to Seattle-if she's on vacation, it's the most logical thing to do. Drive." Jasper nodded and depressed the gas pedal.
A few hours later, Edward and Jasper were in the midst of downtown Seattle. Edward scented the air while Jasper kept half an eye on the road.
"There!" Edward said. Jasper looked at the girl crossing the intersection in front of the car. She was slouched in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans.
"You're positive?" Edward nodded.
"Look at her right hand." Jasper took another look at her.
"It's bound up, but she doesn't look like it's bothering her anymore. Can she heal like the wolves?" Edward shook his head.
"I don't think so, but I don't know for sure." Jasper watched her across the intersection and onto the sidewalk.
"She's…quite good-looking isn't she?" Jasper said quietly. Edward nodded. Jasper watched her for a moment before speaking again. "Her read is pretty normal. She's curious-as anybody would be in a new city. We'll have to tail her from the car for a while." He cruised about half a block away and parked the car. They watched as Gaia went into a small bookshop. They reclined in the seats. It would be a long stakeout and she was just human after all.
She was in the store for a long time. When she came out, she was carrying an enormous stack of books. Edward and Jasper peered at the names printed on the spines. They varied in every subject imaginable-from sailing, to calligraphy to cooking. There were a few in code-breaking, some in different languages and a great number of classics. Edward was surprised. At the bottom of the stack-the first one she would've picked up was Little Women. Though the stack was huge and looked quite heavy, she carried it easily.
"She's carrying all those with a broken hand?!" Jasper said wonderingly 'How is that possible?' thought Edward morosely. 'If she can break it on me, can she heal it quickly? Or is she simply really adept at ignoring pain?'
She was heading toward them and stopped a few cars away. She'd parked her black Saturn on the sidewalk and was piling the books in the trunk. For a moment, she paused and looked at two books. Her back was to them and they couldn't see what they were. She suddenly dropped them and shook her head. With a firm slam, she closed the trunk and headed back to the shop. Edward and Jasper looked on amazed.
"How many of those do you think she'll actually read?" Jasper turned to Edward. Edward shook his head.
"She's paying for them, so probably all of them, but I have no idea how long her vacation is, so I can't say if she'll do it while on it or later. You know, it seems I have to be closer than usual to get a read on her, but when she was piling them into the trunk, she was thinking about a guy named Ed-it wasn't me. Something about a wheelchair. And when she was holding up those two books, all that I got was a flicker about mom and dad." Jasper nodded.
"That sort of makes sense. Which did she think of first?"
"Ed, then father, then mother." Jasper frowned.
"She was happy thinking about Ed. Probably a boyfriend or friend. Dad was a little strange. Pleased, but tainted with some frustration and anger. They probably fought a lot. Mom was last you said?" Edward gave his assent. "Her mother is dead. Has to be. When she thought of her, she was extremely sad-with the kind of depth that only comes with permanence." They both looked off toward the bookstore, then down to the clock on the dashboard. 'Poor kid. It's going to be a while before she comes back out.' He was right. It took another few hours before she came out of the store holding another pile, bigger-if that was possible-than the first. The spines had the same variety of subjects as the last one, but there were many more in foreign languages. Jasper turned to Edward.
"Does she speak all those, or is she trying to learn them." Edward narrowed his eyes at her.
"I can't tell. But I see Arabic, Russian, and French in there for certain." Jasper glanced at Edward, then back at the stack in Gaia's hands as she started to shove them into her trunk.
"You said she was intelligent…" Edward turned to his brother.
"Would I lie or understate that?" Jasper shook his head, not so much in denial as wonder.
"Apparently not."
Dusk was approaching. Gaia slammed the trunk shut a second time. It was full to brimming with books. She pulled a slim black wallet out of her back pocket and counted what was inside before looking around her and setting off at a brisk pace down the sidewalk. Edward and Jasper exchanged a look before getting out of the car. There was no need to be driving past her when they could walk. At the next intersection, she took a right. 'Most likely heading for the boardwalk.' Edward thought. He was right. Gaia turned down the walk and started down it-sniffing all the while. 'What on earth is she doing? It's like she's tracking…but humans can't do that. Although…' He remembered being in the nurses' office and finding out why Bella hated blood so much. She'd told him that it was the scent she hated. When he told her that she shouldn't be able to smell that, she said she could and had described the smell of blood so perfectly, Edward was left with absolutely no doubt in his mind. He took a look at the blonde figure in front of them and realized she'd stopped at one of the shops. 'It's a Krispy Kreme! Is there no end to the surprises in this girl?' He maintained a safe distance from her and since his eyesight was so good, he had no problem keeping an eye on her from quite a distance-about 200 meters. She turned away from the stand with a box of doughnuts in her hand and headed down the boardwalk again. The next time she paused, it was in front of an ice cream stand. She bought a cone and walked away lapping at it. Her next stop was a smoothie stand. After that, she wandered over to an outdoor bench and sat down, munching on the cone and chugging the smoothie. She was looking out over the bay with a curious expression on her face. Jasper turned to Edward with a smile on his face.
"Peaceful. Though she does eat a lot for such a small person." They crept in closer so Edward could get a better read on her thoughts.
"She's wondering when the last time she could do something like this was."
"There's a tinge of remorse in there." Jasper agreed. "Go on."
"She's wishing Ed was here. Definitely an old friend. Sam is out of the picture."
"Yes, she feels bad, but he's not dead, so I think there must have been some damage there."
"And she wishes that Oliver had learned from his mistakes and met the same fate as Sam, Ed, Mary, Heather, Tom and Katia…There are two others in there. Yes, Jake and Will. I think. That read is so fuzzy, I can barely make out the names. Whatever it is, she's pushing it down. I can't tell what Oliver did." He glanced over at Jasper who had literally taken a step back and was looking at Gaia with a mixture of revulsion, pity and empathy.
"There's…there's a lot of hatred in there. A lot of fury. And a huge amount of sorrow…deep too. I-I don't know for certain, but I think a good part of those people are dead. And…" He furrowed his brows. "Yes, she's feeling guilty, so she must think she played a part in the damage that was done, but wishes she hadn't. I'm glad you brought me along. She's a fascinating study, but Bella and Alice were completely right in their dreams. If everything I can read is true, this girl is exceptionally dangerous." Edward bowed his head. The mention of Bella made him long to be with her now. He'd said a few hours, but it had been more than a few at this point.
"What should we do about her?" Jasper kept his eyes focused on Gaia.
"I don't know. I think we need to know more about her. Like who all those people are and what happened to them. Or whether we should be worried that she knows about us."
"I agree."
They backed off and stood there silently, watching her from their distance as she scarfed the rest of the ice cream, flew through the doughnuts and washed everything down with the smoothie.
"She eats like she's in the military." Jasper commented. Edward made no reply. 'How is it that she isn't even remotely paying attention to the glances people-especially the guys, are giving her while she's sitting there? In jeans and a sweatshirt, she's getting more looks and whistles than any of the other scantily-clad girls combined, but she doesn't care whatsoever. Is she used to the attention, or has she ever cared?' Her thoughts were vague again to him, but he could see, even through the static, that her mind was miles away. 'In New York. That must be her home town'…Edward mused. The light from the sunset was fading and the street lamps came on. All around her were couples slow walking along the boardwalk as though they had all the time in the world. Edward watched them idly and another pang of longing came over him. He missed Bella. Jasper glanced his way, but said nothing. He knew better than to point out his family's emotions-the same way Edward courteously didn't read their thoughts. After a long, long time, Gaia picked up the boxes and dumped them in a garbage can. She was heading their way, but Edward put out a hand to signal Jasper he didn't want to move back.
"I know she's coming, but I want a better look at her thoughts again." Jasper conceded and they waited for her to come closer. A cool breeze stole over the bay and blew Gaia's scent over the air. Edward sniffed and restrained the craving, but Jasper froze.
"Edward." He said in a low voice that screamed effort in every letter. "Edward, I think this just got a little harder." Edward understood. Their diet of exclusively animals was hardest for Jasper, but he was strong and would fight it.
"Move upwind if you have to." Jasper agreed and told Edward to read his thoughts since they wouldn't be able to speak. Gaia was across the street and Edward closed his eyes to focus in on her. She seemed to be in a pretty blank state of mind. But wait…
'Serial killers?' Edward thought. 'Are you serious Gaia? Serial killers? He struggled to watch as she perused some old thoughts on Mary. 'So, she was an addict? I can identify…and Jake…oh!' He dropped his grasp on her head. 'So Jake is dead.' He tuned back into the cacophony of voices in his head. There were a lot of people around and their thoughts rang like bees in a hive to him. It was hard to handle and he focused in on Jasper's thoughts.
'Edward, she's feeling moody and a little depressed. I'm getting the feeling the last bit of her life was hard for her.' Edward tuned back into Gaia as best he could. She turned the corner and was out of sight, when he got her thoughts back. The night was fully dark now and when he got a hold of her thoughts again, they rang loud and clear for the first time.
'Son-of-a-bitch, I am so sick of these rat-bastards trying to rape me!' Edward reeled in shock and sprinted to the corner. Jasper was soon beside him and they screeched to a halt in their tracks at the scene before them.
The little blonde girl was surrounded on three sides by hulking men. Edward growled low in his throat at their thoughts. These men were exceptionally dangerous. They'd killed before and the things they were planning to do to Gaia…It made him sick. Between the three of them, there was a knife and a gun. He took a step forward to help, but Jasper put out a hand. Edward looked at him in shock.
"If we move, she'll know we were tracking her. It'll completely blow us and then where will we be?"
"Jasper, if we don't do anything, she'll be killed."
"I know Edward, but she's dangerous to us. If she's killed…"
"The blood will be on our hands and you won't be able to resist the smell once it's spilled." Edward looked at his brother incredulously and Jasper bowed his head-embarrassed. They turned to look at the men again. Gaia was backing up and Jasper and Edward prepared to spring when they both froze. Gaia had moved into action and they couldn't believe their eyes. This small girl had exploded into the air with a spinning roundhouse kick that slammed her foot into their heads. These men were huge and it would take more than that to bring them down, but every one of them was caught off-guard by the pain. One of them threw a punch at her and, as if it was the easiest thing in the world, she caught his fist and flipped him on his back. For the time being, the air was knocked out of him and he couldn't breathe or move. She used that time to face one of the others who had drawn his knife. Before he could move or do anything with it, she'd locked his arm, taken the knife and broken his wrist. He yelped higher than a puppy and advanced on her. Gaia ducked and, with a fluid movement, grabbed the wrist of his other arm and rammed her forearm through his elbow. A loud scream of pain echoed through the street as he realized both his arms were useless. He backed away from her. The man she'd knocked the air out of was up and leveled another punch at her, and again, she flipped him on his back, but this time, she dropped a knee onto his chest. He gasped and choked, but she wasn't looking at him any more. The third man had drawn his gun and had the muzzle pointed straight at her. He stared at her with a smile on his face. Edward and Jasper moved forward again, but before even they had time to take a few steps, a shot rang out in the dark silence of the night and the two vampires watched in horror as the girl they were watching dropped.
I know it's mean to end it there, but I'm a jerk like that. Next chapter soon!