Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Twilight; I'm just enjoying their company for a while, playing dress-up with Alice, working on their cars with Rosalie, and wrestling with all the guys.

Chapter Seven

Edward pulled into a parking space of a fancy Italian restaurant. His car was the only one in the parking lot. He looked at me and smiled. "Bella, I need you to trust me, everything will be alright. I've got to put a different shirt on; I have one in the trunk. So first I'm going to get out of the car, open the trunk and put on a clean shirt. Then I'm going to come around to your side open your door and we'll go in. You can order anything off the menu that you want, and I'll explain everything and answer any questions you might have. Alright?"
I nodded quickly.

Edward opened his door and walked to the back of the car. The trunk popped open and a half a minute later he shut the trunk and walked to my side of the car. He opened my door and held his hand out to help me out. I took his hand and stood up out of the car. I reached for my purse and realized that it was in my burning truck. I grimaced.

Edward noticed. He moved closer to me, searching my face for any injury, "are you okay?"

"My purse is still in my trunk."

The worry that had flooded his eyes receded. His cold hand brushed my cheek softly. "We can replace all of those things, but we couldn't ever replace you."

I looked into his eyes and felt my stomach twist into knots. How could someone I don't know make me feel this way?

Edward held his arm out for me to take and shut my door. I wrapped my arm in his and he guided me to the entrance of the restaurant. He opened the door for me and waited for me to walk in.

The hostess stood up a little taller when she saw Edward, rolling her shoulders back to push her chest out a little further. Edward didn't even look at her, his eyes never leaving me for a second. "Your most private table for two please."

I looked back and forth between the two. She picked up two menus and guided me to a round booth which was almost completely surrounded by a curved brick wall. She handed Edward a wine menu and handed us each a dinner menu. "Your waitress will be out to serve you in just a moment, is there anything else I can do for you before I leave?"

Edward shook his head and thanked her, his eyes still trained intensely on me. She waited for a half second more and then turned on her heel and walked away.

I studied Edward's face, something was different and it was bothering me. His hair was still tousled and messy, his skin was still pale. I moved over each feature and that's when I saw it. His eyes were the same topaz that Alice's had been today at lunch. I know his eyes had been black just yesterday.

"Did you get contacts?"

Edward gave me a strange look. "No, why?"
"Yesterday your eyes were black, today they're gold."

A look of shock flitted momentarily across Edward's face. "You are far more observant than I gave you credit for."

I felt pleased with myself and yet no less confused.

"Order your dinner, and then we'll talk."

I nodded and looked down at my menu. As if she had been called to our table, our waitress appeared seemingly out of thin air and introduced herself to us. "Hello, my name is Antoinette and I will be your waitress today."

She had a basket of warm, soft garlic breadsticks and she set on the centre of the table. "What can I get you to drink tonight?"

"I'd like a Coke please." I smiled at the waitress but her attention was focused entirely on Edward.

"I'd like a Coke as well."

"Can I get you an appetizer tonight?"
Edward looked at me and I shook my head. "I am ready to order though."

Antoinette turned her body slightly towards me, prepared to take down my order. "I'll have the chicken piccata please. I'd like a side of asparagus as well."

Antoinette nodded her head slightly and scribbled my order quickly. She turned back to Edward, "and for you sir?"

Edward shook his head, "Nothing for me, thank you."

Antoinette raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "I'll be right out with your drinks."

She turned and walked away. Edward chuckled softly. I picked up a breadstick and took a bite. It tasted so good; I closed my eyes and reveled in the garlic-buttery goodness.

"Would you like me to explain what happened first or would you like to ask questions?

I took another bite and chewed, delaying my answer while I pondered the possible consequences of both options. I made my decision and then swallowed the bread. "I think I would like an explanation first."

Edward nodded.

"Before I begin, I need to ask a favor. I need you to not interrupt me until I am finished, I need you to listen carefully. Most of all, you can never repeat what I'm about to tell you. Alice says we can trust you, and Alice would know. Do you agree to these conditions?"
I thought for less than a second and nodded my head.

Edward just looked at me for a second and then took a breath. "First I want to tell you who attacked you. His name was Anthony and he was a vampire. He has been killing women all over Seattle. He has killed far more women than the police know about, but we went with what the police know rather than what we know."

My mouth was hanging open and Edward paused allowing what he had just said to me to sink in. After a minute he continued, his eyes never leaving mine.

"I assume that you might be asking yourself that if he was a vampire, what am I? I am a vampire as well. My entire family is. I was born in 1901 and lived until 1925. My entire family contracted tuberculosis and I was the only one still alive. My doctor was a vampire and changed me into a vampire."

"We do drink blood, however we have chosen to abstain from human blood and feed only on animal blood. The man who attacked you tonight had red eyes because he drank human blood. My eyes are golden when I've recently eaten and get darker when I need to eat. There are seven us in our family, none of us are actually related, but we live together and support one another in our choice of lifestyle. Do you have any questions?"

Edward stopped and allowed me to think. Had I not just experience what I had; everything that Edward had said would be ridiculous. I stared at the man who had just saved me and considered what he had just told me.

"How can you be out during the day?"

He smiled a beautiful crooked smile and leaned forward, "Won't hurt me. That's a myth. In fact, pretty much everything literature and cinema tell you about vampires are myths. They only thing they get right is that we drink blood."

"How did you find me?"

Edward pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. "Some vampires have special abilities. Alice has visions of the future and saw him attacking you and called me. I was sort of following you so I wasn't too far from you. I waited until I could get close enough without causing a problem."

Antoinette brought me my dinner. She turned towards Edward, "are you sure you don't want anything?"

Edward shook his hand and smiled at her. "No thank you."

She just shrugged and turned away. I took a bite and rolled my eyes into the back of my head. Edward chuckled at my reaction to the food. I chewed my food slowly and then asked my next question.

"Why were you following me?"

Edward bit his lip. "I have a special ability. I can read minds. You are the only person who I can't read. You fascinated me. You are unlike any other woman I've met."

I blushed. I was so glad he couldn't read me. I hadn't been this attracted to a man in a very long time and Edward wasn't an ordinary man by any means.

"Why were you so upset yesterday in the elevator?"

Edward's face went grim and he pressed his lips together into a thin line. "You are a beautiful woman but more than that, you smell amazing. I hadn't eaten in quite a while and being so close to you in that small elevator, I almost attacked you. You smell better than anyone I've ever been around and I nearly lost control. I'm so sorry."

My eyes grew wide and I put my fork down on my plate. Edward had nearly killed me. I had been right, his anger had been directed at me. It had been because of how I smell to him not something I had done. That meant there was no hope for a future "us". My smell would always bother him and he would have to avoid anything more than sitting across from me at dinner. I was actually surprised he could do that.

"Well, where do we go from here?"
"What do you mean?"

"Now that I know your secret, where do we go from here?"
"You mean you believe all of this?"

"I wouldn't believe this kind of thing if I hadn't experienced what I did tonight, but everything you are telling me sort of makes sense."

Edward's face betrayed his shock and he just stared at me as I sucked a long piece of asparagus into my mouth. He just watched me eat for a few minutes before he continued.

"You have already promised me not to repeat any of this information to anyone, so you are free to go. But, I'd like to get to know you better. I wouldn't blame you if you don't want to be my friend. I'm still very dangerous, as you saw in the elevator. However, I feel a very strong pull towards you and would give anything to spend some time with you."

I stared at Edward. What would such a beautiful man want with me? My eyes wandered over his gorgeous body. It was just a curiosity, he didn't want me, and he just wanted to get to know the person whose thoughts he couldn't hear.

I smiled sweetly at Edward, "I'd like to get to know you very much."

Edward's face broke out into a brilliant smile.

I popped another bite of food in my mouth and stared into his beautiful eyes.