Defeat

If there had ever been a good time for a woman to faint, it was then. My whole body was shaking with cold and fear, and I became aware of an acute throbbing behind my ear. Moreover, Edward Cullen was holding me to his body, his arms a steel cage around my waist, and I could smell his scent; sweet and provocative and very, very male. All of a sudden, the fear turned into something else and my head wasn't the only thing throbbing.

Oh, for the love of… What now, did I really turn into one of those adrenalin junkies?

He was still looking at me, expectant. Oh, right, he'd asked me a question.

"My head hurts." I said.

His eyes darkened and he looked around frantically. Teachers and students were shouting at them not to move, and I could hear the sirens of the incoming ambulances in the distance. "They'll get us out of here soon." He said, trying to sound reassuring.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "I know." I said, feeling the familiar calm seep into my bones. "I'm not afraid."

I wasn't. It was an old trick; one I had learned when I was very young. Painful memories and experiences were things I could usually block well (with some notable exceptions), and now, with the initial shock wearing out, I could feel myself getting calmer almost abnormally fast.

He seemed to notice that my body went slack against his, because he shook me carefully. "Bella, don't fall asleep, do you hear me?"

"I'm not falling asleep." I glared at him. And then I remembered. "How the hell did you get to me so fast?"

He recoiled, before frowning. "I was standing right next to you, Bella."

Yeah right, and the moon is made out of green cheese. I thought. He should've said that when I was still recovering from the shock – maybe I would have believed him then. But now…

"Liar. I saw you standing next to your car." I hissed "How the hell did you get here so fast?"

His eyes darkened from gold to amber with anger. Oh, shit!

"This is not the time and place to discuss this." He brushed me off. I narrowed my eyes.

"How about later?" I asked. His jaw clenched.

"Fine. Later."

Just then, they started to pull the van away from us. EMTs with stretchers came over, checking my pulse and attempting to put me in a neck brace. I tried to tell them I was fine, but Edward Cullen, that bastard, told them I had hit my head. As if being carried into the ambulance like some piece of meat wasn't humiliating enough, my dad arrived just in time to witness it.

By the time I managed to convince Charlie to calm down, the doctors had ran all their tests, asked their questions and subsequently determined that, lo and behold, I was alright. I couldn't believe how overblown and annoying this was, and I was willing to wring Cullen's neck for making it look like I was the second Lazarus. The only time when I was near passing out was when they wheeled Tyler in.

I had never talked to the guy, but as soon as he saw me, he started talking to me, telling me how sorry he was and how he was going to make it up to me, as if we had been friends since we were in diapers and he had committed the most horrible crime. The more he was talking, the faster his heart beat and pumped the blood out. I couldn't hear a single word, just watched the red patches on his head and arms and thought: "don't throw up, don't' throw up…"

Cullen came through the door and I immediately doubled my efforts.

"Hey, Edward, I'm so sorry…" Tyler began but he just raised his hand.

"No blood, no foul." What the hell was he talking about, couldn't he see that stuff? "What's the verdict?"

"We're fine. How come you're not strapped to a gurney like the rest of us?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"It all comes down to who you know. But don't worry; I've come to spring you." He seemed briefly worried by my greenish complexion, but then the door opened and the most fuck-hot doctor in the history of TV-shows and Harlequin books came in. As sacrilegious as it sounded, George Clooney in ER had nothing on him. He was blonde, he was pale, and he had golden eyes…

"Hi, dad." Edward said.

… And he was married… of course. I mean, of course! That was just what was supposed to happen, right? I get the brooding guy, not the hot doctor with the hottest panty-dropping smile there was. Gorgeous!

Dr. Cullen checked my wounds out and asked me if I was feeling sick, cold, or concussed. I replied no, no, and no, unfortunately. He said my dad might have to wake me up every couple of hours tonight so that they could make sure I wasn't concussed. I thought that I wouldn't mind it if he were the one to check up on me.

And then I remembered Jessica's vicious comments about Mrs. Cullen the first day and mentally kicked myself. God, I was pathetic! Wasn't it enough that the poor woman was the scorn of this Podunk city because she couldn't have children? I couldn't imagine how hard it was for her to have a hot husband and have everyone frown at her. God, I wanted to rip Jessica's throat out!

Also, I had a hot boy to confront. I didn't care about being aloof and sexy; Edward Cullen had an explanation to give me.


I found him talking to his father in the hallway. Both saw me approach and immediately stopped talking, which could only mean that they were talking about me. The frown on Edward's face and Dr. Cullen's polite smile just confirmed it for me.

"Dr. Cullen, I was wondering if I could have a word with Edward, in private?" I smiled.

The man nodded and gave his son a significant look, before going down the hallway. I didn't have time to stare at him; there was a bigger fish to fry with his son. I turned towards Edward and narrowed my eyes. He copied my expression.

"I guess that in cases such as these it's good to express a sense of gratitude." I said "So thank you for saving my life."

"You're welcome…"

"Now how about you tell me how you got to me so fast?"

Edward Cullen smiled condescendingly. "I was standing right next to you, Bella."

"No, you were next to your car, across the lot." I said. His smile remained, as if he was mocking me.

"You hit your head pretty hard." He said "You must've gotten memories from different days mixed up. I was right behind you when Tyler came."

Either he was trying to hypnotize me somehow or he was repeating himself a lot. I glared at him, showing that I wasn't buying it one bit. "Ok, fine, let's assume you were standing right next to me. How about the way you stopped the van? How did you do that?"

"I told you. You hit your head." He hissed through clenched teeth, as he looked around for eavesdroppers. I snorted.

"Oh, yes, because I get threatened to be turned into a waffle by runaway vehicles every day. So when I hit my head, it was just another day I was seeing, and it had nothing to do with you picking up a full size van with one hand."

"What are you implying?" he asked "That I somehow got through the parking lot in warp speed and stopped your death with my bare hands?"

I paused. Well, when he put it like that, it did sound pretty crazy. It was humanly impossible for him to do what he had done…

Unless he wasn't human.

My blood ran cold. No. Not that. Please, not that! Don't let that psycho Victoria turn out right!

I swallowed and looked at him defiantly. However, my voice shook when I said: "You can say whatever you wanna say, but I'm willing to bet there are a couple of nice big dents on the side of Tyler's car door, and they'll fit your hands perfectly."

Edward narrowed his eyes and for a second my survival instinct reared its head. Don't piss him off, my senses screamed. He's like Victoria. He's just like her. The man's dying face was in front of me, his eyes filling every inch of my vision.

The next second, Edward was shaking me by the shoulders. "Bella, snap out of it." he was saying, his voice frantic "Are you alright?" He bent down to look at my eyes, searching for signs of brain damage.

"I'm fine." I shrugged his hands off. My skin was ice cold. "What just happened?"

"You went into shock." He said, concerned. "I was about to call a nurse. Are you feeling sick? Do you need water?"

"I'm fine." I almost screamed "And don't try to change the subject."

He blinked, before he became cold again. From worried to indifferent… that guy could put a teenage girl to shame with his mood swings. "There is nothing to discuss. You hit your head. You got things mixed up. I saved you, but I most certainly am no Superman."

"You really think I'm going to let things go just like that?" I asked. Edward clenched his jaw and hissed through gritted teeth:

"It will be in your best interest to just forget about today. Erase it from your memory."

"I will if you tell me what happened." I didn't care about the plan anymore. I wanted the damned man to tell me if he was a vampire or not. It wasn't because I didn't want to believe him. More than anything, I wanted to think that Edward Cullen was just another guy, a handsome and slightly odd, but a guy nevertheless, a human. I wanted to believe him, but the more I tried the more I heard Victoria's voice in my head, describing my future and telling me she would use me to change it. "I won't let this go."

"Then I hope you enjoy disappointment." He said and stalked away.

That was enough confirmation for me.


Victoria was ecstatic when she heard of the accident, taking it as a sign that Edward was falling in love with me. She was delighted at the danger the younger Cullen had put his family in. The words "Volturi" and "punishment" came up in her rant often enough, until she suddenly realized that it might somehow impede her plans, so she instructed me to keep the secret for now.

I wouldn't have objected even if there was another option.

Because I knew it was true. Victoria wasn't just a psycho, but a vampire psycho, and one from the future to boot. How else could I explain Edward's sudden feat of speed and strength? How else could he have gotten to me so fast? How else would he have stopped that van? Damn it, I had seen the thing being towed away when my dad drove me home – it was a mess. The windows shattered, the doors dented, Tyler's parents would be lucky if they could sell that thing for parts. It shook me because it showed me just how strong these guys were. I felt sick thinking that I had spent a week at Victoria's mercy, and of all the times I had been too bold with her. The danger I had been in…

I suddenly realized how foolish my plans to tell my father had been. What would have happened if I had and he believed me? Picked up his shotgun and issued a restraining order? He'd have died in a matter of days. She had proven that she had no problem infiltrating people's houses, getting their personal belongings, killing… oh, God, did the Cullen's drink human blood? I tried imagining it – gorgeous Rosalie latched onto the neck of a burly man. Emmett ripping through a jugular. Edward with bloodstained lips.

And eyes, thousands of eyes, staring at me, dead, hopeless.

I pretended to sleep to calm Charlie down, but as soon as he went to bed I turned the nightlight on and stared at the wall. I felt sick to my core.

Obviously, I was in the hands of some really dangerous people, and it wasn't just Victoria. Somehow, the thought of a guy being able to lift a full-size van with one hand didn't make me feel fuzzy and warm on the inside. He could kill me at any moment and yet I… I had to make him fall in love with me? Lord, how could I do that? I was in way over my head, and I was terrified.


I didn't know how I went through it, but I guess that the first day was the hardest. Going to school, trying to look normal (well, as normal as I was expected to look after a near-death experience), meeting Edward. It started the moment I was out of my truck. It was as if the entire school flocked at my side. Some covered up their eagerness by acting as if I was made out of glass, babying me, offering me support, almost walking behind me with a cushion in case I suddenly decided to faint, but in the end everyone wanted to hear the story.

Lying was something I had never been good at, but necessity changes people, makes them do things they would have never dreamed of doing. I lied that day, as I had lied to my father before. I fed them the story – the reason I wasn't a grease spot on the parking lot was because Edward, who had been discussing our biology assignment with me, had pulled me out of the way. I lied boldly, extravagantly, but also, I fancied, with gusto. Nobody questioned me. In fact, they fed off the drama. Any other story, including the truth, wouldn't have been satisfying enough. The girls sighed at Edward's daring rescue, no doubt imagining themselves at my place, while the guys wished they were him, if only to be stuck between two cars with me in an intimate embrace. They demanded details. How had he held me? Was he strong? Did he say anything to me?

I refrained from drawing a picture that was way too romantic. He'd been his usual cold self. He'd acted as if he were a doctor and I – a cadaver on the dissection table. Ok, maybe I didn't put it like that, but I got the message through.

But even after spending the first part of the day telling and retelling what had happened to the eager listeners, it was the meeting with Edward that I dreaded the most. Would he be mean and scary like the first day, or pleasant and welcoming like the second? Would he be surprised I was going along with the story, or look pleased by it? Those questions plagued me, along with the knowledge that he was a vampire – one that was strong enough to kill me and fast enough to cover up his tracks before anyone noticed. It was terrifying.

I walked into biology and my heart was beating as fast as a hummingbird. I approached our table and plastered an easy smile on my face as I noticed him. He wasn't looking at me, but he turned his head slightly when I greeted him:

"Hello, Edward." I smiled.

He nodded curtly and looked away again.

And as my heart plummeted I realized there was one thing that I hadn't considered yet. The one thing that could really beat me to the ground.

Indifference.


A/N- Once again, kudos to Courtney for betaing. I hope you're getting better, hon.

In other news, I'm nanoing like crazy. This chapter, in fact, is in honor of me hitting 21,000 words (no need to apllause or anything). The first chapter of my novel is up on my nano page (username is Brouillons), or, if you want, you can find me on goodreads as well.

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