He didn't put me down until we were so far from the house, I could no longer hear anyone's thoughts except Edward's. He sat down on a tree stump and pulled me onto his lap. I stared into his eyes.
"Edward, your eyes are still black. I thought you just went hunting."
"I went, but I didn't drink. While you are still so young, I want you to do all your hunting with me. I noticed yesterday that your eyes were getting darker. I didn't want to say no to Carlisle, so I went with him, Jasper and Emmet, but now you and me are going to hunt."
"Are you serious? You didn't hunt with them because you wanted to do it with me?"
"Yeah." He answered, sounding slightly dumbfounded. "Why shouldn't I?"
"You will have so much more fun with them, you stupid vampire. Don't ever not do something because of me again, okay?"
"Okay, sorry. Calm down Bella. Do you want to hunt now or not?"
As much as I wanted to say no, I really was thirsty. "Fine." I said with as much flare as possible.
"Good. We'll be hunting moose today." He said in a very comical voice that made me giggle despite myself. He smiled back at me. His perfect mouth curling into the half smile I loved so much.
Unexpectedly, he got up and bolted into the trees, letting me fall to the ground. I got up, brushing myself down, and ran after him. I was running alongside him within seconds.
"What was that for?" I yelled at him.
He stopped suddenly and I rammed into a tree trying to stop.
"I wanted to test your reflexes. I was going to say they were okay until you hit the tree."
As he said this, there was a massive crack and a thump as the tree fell to the ground. I cringed. I hadn't realised that I had hit it so hard.
"That was your fault." I said.
He smiled.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. If you hadn't run off and then stopped so sharply, I wouldn't have hit the tree. Stupid tree." I said, also smiling.
I kicked the stump of the tree, and my foot went straight through it. I groaned.
"I wish it was my strength I hadn't got."
"No you don't. Especially after we've hunted the moose. They don't like to be killed."
"You think?" I said sarcastically.
"Very funny Bella. Come on."
He took my hand and raced with me through the forest. He slowed down gradually, obviously hearing something I couldn't. That reminded me. Alice had said that I would get my hearing soon, when Edward and I were hunting alone. This was soon, and we were hunting alone. I couldn't help but hope I would be able to hear something.
I listened as hard as I could, but when I felt Edward stiffen next to me, I was disappointed; all I could hear was the wind whispering through the forest.
"Follow me." He thought. I smiled to myself; this was quite convenient; being able to hear Edward's thoughts.
As silently as I could, I followed Edward through the forest. Then I smelled it, the most beautiful scent hit me. Not quite as good as human, but very appetising all the same. I couldn't control myself. I ran faster and faster, way ahead of Edward. I could hear his thoughts somewhere in the back of my mind, but I wasn't going to listen to them.
The scent was getting stronger and stronger. I was almost screaming for the want of blood. Just as I thought I wouldn't be able to handle it anymore, I saw the moose. I didn't think about what I was doing. I ran full speed into the few moose grazing lazily on the grass. I didn't think about which one to go for, I just went for the closest one.
I lunged at the moose, knocking it to the ground with such force; I thought I surely would have killed it. Only to find out I was wrong. As I went to sink my teeth into its flesh, the stupid moose thought it would try to get up. I was out of control. As soon as I felt the animal move, I whipped my hands up to its neck, and snapped it. If I wasn't so wild, I would have felt terrible at the sound of the bones crunching, but I was wild, so I couldn't care less.
I sunk my teeth into the moose's flesh and sucked greedily. It wasn't until I looked up that I realised that the rest of the herd had scattered. With my thirst at least partially quenched, I got a bit of mind control back.
I looked around. I surprised myself when I spotted Edward the first time I scanned my surroundings. He was standing, leaning against a tree, arms crossed and glaring at me. I smiled sheepishly at him.
"Bella! I will not let you hunt on your own until you learn to control yourself! That was stupid and foolish. If I were to speak right now, I think I would explode!" I had begun to wonder why he wasn't speaking, but I guess I'd just found out.
Without warning he sprinted off into the trees. I didn't follow him, but I could still hear his thoughts, even as he got further and further away.
"Stupid Alice. It's not her fault. Yes it is! Fine; stupid Bella. No! Not her fault either. She has to learn some control! She's only a couple of months old, give her some time!" If he wasn't so angry at me, I would have found this quite comical. But under the circumstances, I just found it sad.
I needed to get away from the war in Edward's head, so I ran in the opposite direction. No matter how I far I ran, though, I could still hear what he was thinking. It was getting fainter, but by no
means gone. This was infuriating. I couldn't bear to hear him. I kept running until I realised that I would have to run to Australia for his thoughts to go away.
His thoughts would always follow me. Or maybe, he was following me. That gave me some comfort.
I sat down on a tree stump and closed my eyes. I started thinking about the first time I had seen the Cullens in the cafeteria at Forks High School. I concentrated very hard on not listening to Edward's thoughts, trying to remember every detail.
Then I heard a rustle in the trees. I opened my eyes and looked around warily. It was still a bit windy, so after nothing came out of the forest, I resumed my recollection of the cafeteria. Not long after, I was interrupted again by a rustling in the trees. This one was louder and more distinct; it could not be confused with the wind.
I stood up. Listening hard. I started walking around the stump, looking in every direction.
"Bella? Bella! Where are you?" Huh? The thoughts still sounded faint, but I could definitely hear footsteps.
I stopped circling the stump, and strained my ears, listening for the direction he was in. I heard what sounded like a branch hitting something then;
"Stupid branch. Bella?!" What? "Stupid branch"…noise like branch hitting something…I couldn't, could I?
At that point, I decided to let Edward know where I was.
"Edward. I'm here." I called.
Before I knew it, he was standing not two feet away from me.
"Didn't you hear me calling you?" He didn't sound as angry as his thoughts had when he had left me. I looked into his eyes; they were the topaz colour of a full vegetarian vampire. I smiled to myself; vegetarian vampire.
I decided it was safe to make a little joke.
"Technically you weren't calling me; just thinking about me. But yes, I did hear you thinking
"Then why didn't you answer sooner?"
"Because I also heard footsteps."
"Footsteps? I didn't hear any footsteps."
"I think they might have been yours." I said it almost a whisper; embarrassed.
"Mine?" He asked, incredulous. "But I was a mile away. You can hardly hear things from a hundred feet away."
"I know. But I just thought, because of what Alice said, that maybe I was getting my hearing."
"What did Alice say?"
"She said that she could see me getting my hearing when you and I were hunting alone. She also said that it was getting close."
"Well, I suppose if that's what Alice saw…maybe we should test it out?" He said enthusiastically.
Then he shot off, thinking "don't follow me Bella, just listen."
I did as I was told and stayed put. I strained my ears to hear Edward. I picked up something that sounded like the wind whooshing through the trees, but it had too much structure to be that. I followed the sound in a semi-circle around me. Not moving a muscle and concentrating every part of my body on not losing the sound. Then, abruptly, it stopped.
"Edward? Are you behind me?" I asked hesitantly.
"Wow, Bella, yeah, I am. Well done. It looks like Alice was right."
"Is she ever not?" I asked.
"No." He admitted. "And her track record is still clean. Come on, let's go home?"
I started in the direction of the house, when Edward stopped me.
"Wait Bella. Maybe we should see about your eye sight too?"
"Yeah." I agreed, remembering when I had seen Edward standing among the trees just after I'd killed the moose.
"Okay, I'm going to move, and you have to try and grab my arm." I nodded.
His arm shot past my face so quickly I was surprised when I stopped it. I released him, and he flew into the trees. I sprinted after him, and grabbed his arm which was moving infront and behind him extremely quickly.
He stopped dead, and I stopped beside him; without hitting him or anything else. He turned to me and gave me his half smile. It made me blush.
"Well, I think we can safely say it will be a lot harder to hunt with you now. It was impossible when you could only smell your prey, now that you can hear it and see it better…" He trailed off, and I heard him thinking of a stronger word than impossible, without coming up with a result.
"Okay, now we can go home." He said, and bolted into the distance.
I went after him, and overtook him with ease. When I reached the house, I threw open the door, and raced up the stairs to Alice's room. I didn't bother about knocking, I just burst in (I had already checked to make sure she was alone). I danced over to her, and threw my hands around her neck.
"Thank you Alice!"
"Okay. For what, exactly?"
"You were right! I mean, not that I didn't expect you to be, but –"
"What am I right about this time?" She asked with a smile.
"I can hear! And see –"
"And run incredibly fast." Added Edward, who had appeared at the door.
I ran over to him and put my lips against his. He returned the favour and was halfway through dragging me to his room, when the most revolting smell hit my nostrils.
"Oh my God, Edward. What is that?"
He didn't answer, and I could tell he was trying not to think of it , either. He didn't do a very good, job, however, and I got the word he was trying to hide.
"Werewolf."
