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Carlisle's POV
When Edward came into my study, he looked flustered. The buttons of his shirt were done up wrong, so that one button wasn't fastened and all of the rest were in the wrong buttonholes. He didn't seem to have realized. It looked like he had just flung his shirt on a few seconds ago.
"What did you find, Carlisle?" he asked. His voice sounded urgent.
"I found out where Victoria Smith lives," I said.
He sighed. "So did I."
"Were you hoping it was something more interesting?" I asked him. He looked
disappointed.
"Well… yes."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Edward. I did my best," I grinned.
He laughed. "No, no. I'm sorry I'm being so rude today. I'm in a bit of a weird mood."
"Is it Bella?" I queried.
He looked like he was wondering what to say. He nodded once. "Yes. It is Bella…"
"There isn't anything wrong, is there?" I asked. I hope Bella isn't disappointing his hopes. Edward deserves the best. He's a good man.
"No," Edward said. "There's nothing wrong. Everything's right, that's the problem."
"The problem?"
"Well… with Bella and I… we just seem to be made for each other. I think I love her," Edward said. He stared intently at me, probably reading my mind.
"Isn't that a bit soon, Edward? You haven't known her for long."
"I know what I'm doing," Edward said.
"Then I support you," I said.
Edward smiled. "Thanks Carlisle."
"No problem," I said. "Back to Victoria Smith now?"
"Yes," Edward said.
I took a piece of paper from my desk, which my flowing handwriting was scrawled across. It looked like calligraphy a monk would do, for a handwritten book. I passed it to Edward.
"Victoria's address," I explained.
"Yes," Edward said, "I got the same one too. What are we going to do with the information?"
"I think we should go and see her, obviously," I said.
"When?"
"As soon as possible," I said.
"Should we go alone?" Edward asked.
"I don't know," I said. "This seems a bit dangerous for just the two of us… we don't know anything about Victoria. She could be the leader of a pack of vampires, and even though we just want to ask some questions, she could take it the wrong way and attack."
"Should Alice come too?" Edward said.
"Have you told her about the Prophecy yet? She will have a vision soon about us leaving, because we've decided. You should tell her now, before she finds out and tells the others or worries," I said.
"I'll go and tell her now," Edward said.
"We will leave in the morning," I said. "Make sure you are ready."
Edward's POV
Alice was downstairs, sitting on the sofa. She was staring blankly at the television, with an annoyed scowl on her face. Jasper was sat next to her, his long arm around her shoulders. He was running a finger up and down her arm, but Alice seemed to be ignoring him. I cleared my throat.
Alice's eyes flicked away from the TV and met mine. Her scowl deepened.
"What do you want?" she said sharply.
"Could I have a minute?" I asked Jasper. He stood up slowly, and nodded. As he passed me, he muttered something that sounded like 'good luck with her'. The door closed behind him as he left us alone.
I turned to Alice, and sat down on the floor, my legs crossed. She surprised me by getting up from the sofa and sitting opposite me, her arms clasped around her small legs. She fixed her gaze on me.
"Alice," I said.
She inclined her head slightly, as if nodding. I assumed this meant that she was listening.
"I'm sorry about ignoring you," I said.
She didn't answer.
"Carlisle interrupted us anyway. He had something to tell me. But I want to know, what would have happened if Bella and I had carried on?"
Alice frowned again. "Is that what you came down to ask me?"
I thought for a minute. "No," I answered truthfully.
"What is it then?" she said, hostility still apparent in her words. I could hear a small growl in the back of her throat, though it was obvious that she was trying not to be more annoyed with me. I admired her. I also wondered what she had seen in her vision. But now was not the time to ask.
"I wanted to say… all through my life you've been supportive of me. I don't deserve you. When have I ever given you something back?" I said, as I fiddled with a thread coming loose from the bottom of my jeans.
"Edward…" Alice said. She shuffled across the floor so she was sitting beside me. "You don't have to give me anything back. I love you."
I turned to look at her. Well, to stare.
Alice shook herself. "Obviously, not the same way as I love Jasper. I love you as a brother. You comfort me and you don't even realize it. Your presence is enough to calm me, though that could just be Jasper using his power…" she giggled. "You're my brother. Though we don't share the same blood…" she laughed again, "Though we don't share any blood, you're still my brother."
I found myself laughing softly along with her.
"Yes," I agreed. I ruffled Alice's hair, and was rewarded when she snarled, her lips pulled back over her shining sharp teeth. Just the reaction I'd wanted. "Little Alice," I muttered, and she heard, and the snarl grew louder and angrier. Her eyes were cold. She regarded me with her sharp gaze, eyes slightly narrowed.
Alice uncurled her hands from around her legs and used them to push herself off the floor. She stayed in a crouch, staring down from a few centimetres above me.
"Little Edward," she said, her words dripping with acid, and punched me.
I recoiled immediately, and she broke out into a fit of laughter.
"You were scared of me!" she said with triumph. "Edward, you were!"
"Don't be stupid," I said quickly. "I wasn't scared of you."
Alice just smiled knowingly, and laughed harder.
I growled menacingly, much like she had done a few seconds earlier.
"Okay, okay. Calm down Edward," Alice said. She held her arms up, palms towards me. Suddenly her skin began to sparkle, as a bar of sunlight fell across the room from the open window. I looked up, towards the window, and noticed a shadow on the lawn.
"Someone is outside!" Alice said.
I followed her gaze, and sure enough, a figure was striding up the lawn towards the door. It was a man, his face framed by a mass of messy black hair. He was wearing a brown suit, with a tasteless bright purple tie. On his head was a moss green hat, and his shoes were way too big and coming unstitched at the seams.
"Who's he?" Alice muttered. We moved quickly away from the window, so the light couldn't fall across our skin. This man was a human; I could smell him as he knocked on our front door. He stank.
"I don't know," I said.
I wonder if anyone is home, the man thought.
"What is he thinking?" Alice asked.
"He is wondering if anyone is at home," I said.
The man knocked on the door again. I strode over to the door and flung it open, careful to stay in the shadow cast by the balcony above the porch. It was unusual for it to be sunny in Forks, but today it was. That's why everybody was inside.
"Good morning," the man said.
"It's afternoon, actually," I said.
I wonder if they will agree… the man thought.
"What do you want?" Alice said, coming to stand behind me. She peered around my shoulder. I leaned against the doorframe.
Wow, the man thought, that girl is hot! I wonder…
"Alice," I said. "Why don't you get your boyfriend to come here?"
Alice looked at me, puzzled. "You mean Jasper?"
I spoke back to her, speaking too fast for this human to hear. "This guy thinks you're hot. I don't know what he's here for."
"What are you here for?" Alice asked the man sharply.
"I wanted to know if you'd like to join my agency," the man said. I noticed he held a camera in his hands, partly hidden by his massive stomach.
"Agency?" I said.
"Modelling agency."
"Where did you get the idea that we would like to join your agency?" I said, "Because if you think we'd be interested, you're sorely mistaken."
I slammed the door shut in the man's face.
Alice turned to me. "I don't like this," she said.
"Where did he get our address from?" I said.
"I don't know," Alice said.
Well that was a bit of a letdown. I bet if I told them how much they would get paid to model, then they would change their minds. I'll knock again and tell them.
There came another knock at the door.
I pulled the door open angrily. "What do you want now?"
The man pulled his camera out from behind his back and snapped a few pictures. I snatched the camera off him.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" I said. I was about to smash the camera against the wall when he stopped me.
"Wait! Wait until the picture develops!"
"Why?" I said suspiciously.
"I want you to join my agency," the man said.
The camera was an old-fashioned one, where the picture comes out from a slot in the camera, already printed on paper. There was a little whirr and a picture came out. I snatched it up.
It was in colour. Alice was standing behind me, with one hand on my shoulder. She had a bemused look on her face, her mouth curved up in a small smile. I was standing in front of her, with an annoyed look on my face and a crease between my brows.
"Just look at the colours!" the man said enthusiastically, peering at the photo. Alice snapped it out of my hands, and then studied it for a few seconds, before breaking out in laughter.
"What?" I said.
"-Just look how great her hair looks! And how plump her lips are-"
"What is it?" I said loudly. Alice sniggered, and the man carried on with his ravings.
"Such great fashion-sense! Such beauty-"
"Look at your face!" Alice said. "I'm keeping this photo!"
She darted away into the house, and I couldn't follow, because the stupid man was still standing on the doorstep.
"We wont join your agency," I said. "And I'm keeping this." I shook the camera in front of his face.
"But-" the man started.
I slammed the door in his face.
Alice's POV
I ran upstairs, grinning as I noticed Edward wasn't following. I folded the photo in half and tucked it between Carlisle's big wooden cross and the smooth paintwork of the wall. Carlisle had had that cross for ages, and it was always hung on the wall, in every house we lived in. I tilted my head and nodded, satisfied, as I realized you couldn't see the photo from any angle. It was wedged between the cross and the wall, and wouldn't fall out.
A few seconds later I heard the slam of a door and Edward sighing exasperatedly from downstairs. I skipped along the hallway to Edward's room, my mind filling up with random images and words, so Edward wouldn't be able to lift the hiding place of the photo from my mind.
I pushed his bedroom door open with the palm of my hand, and grinned cheekily as I saw Bella sitting on his sofa.
"Hello," I said.
Bella looked up, and smiled shyly.
"Do you want to come shopping?" I said. She looked like she needed new clothes.
"Yes, all right," Bella said.
She didn't know all the shopping would be for her.
"Meet me downstairs in two minutes," I said, and left the room.
Jasper was in my room, sitting on the bed. He was reading a book, but he put it down as I came into the room. I read the title on the cover.
"The Da Vinci Code?" I said.
"Yeah," Jasper said. He got up from the bed and kissed me softly, his lips brushing my cheekbones.
"I'm going shopping," I said.
"With who?" Jasper breathed. He was used to me saying this particular thing. I went shopping often.
"Bella," I said.
Jasper passed me my purse from the bedside table. My credit cards were bulging out of the purse.
"You'll have to get a new purse soon, Alice," Jasper said.
I nodded, and took the purse, slipping it into a handbag I grabbed from the back of a chair. Jasper handed me my jacket, and helped me put it on.
"Have a good time," he said.
I danced over to the bedroom door and blew Jasper a kiss.
"I will," I said, and closed the door.
Bella was standing by the door when I came downstairs, her fingers laced with Edward's.
"Edward is coming?" I said.
Bella nodded. "Is that all right?"
"Sure," I said. I grabbed my car keys from the hook by the door and went out onto the porch. "Decided you like shopping now?" I asked Edward.
He smiled. "No."
"Then why are you coming?" I said, opening the car and getting into the driver's seat.
Edward closed the front door behind him, and then got into the back of the car, helping Bella in beside him.
"Bella wanted me to come," he said.
"Has that man gone?" I asked. "The one that was here before?"
"Yeah," Edward said.
I looked at him in the rear-view mirror as I reversed the car back out of the drive. I noticed he had the man's camera in his hands.
"What have you got that for?" I said.
"I kept it," Edward said. "He won't come calling here again."
I saw Bella looking out of the window as we got onto the motorway. Her hands were clasped in her lap. She looked a bit uncomfortable.
"What is it?" I said.
"Nothing," Bella said.
I wondered if she felt a bit uneasy, because my car was the sort of car you might call 'expensive'. But hey. I like Porsches.
"Where are we going?" Edward said.
"Shopping," I answered.
"I knew that. I meant where," Edward said.
"Just in Forks," I said.
Edward didn't answer.
I stepped on the accelerator, overtaking a car going at forty. Humans drove so slowly!
I was just adjusting my sunglasses' position on my nose when a wave of blackness crossed over my eyes, and I lost sight of the road. I could hear a screech of brakes, and then my body went blank, and I was having a vision.
She peered around the doorway, her eyes glinting in the dusk that hung over the town. The pupils were red, silted and cat-like. A smile cut open her face like knife does butter, and in the half-light, she looked like she was moulded from wax. Her skin had an unhealthy paleness to it, but there was power in her grace, amusement in her jaw line, and evil in every inch of her manic smile.
She turned her head slightly to the left, nostrils flaring. She breathed deeply, the air rattling inside her body like maracas.
"The time is coming," she whispered.
Edward's POV
I leant back against the headrest, looking lazily ahead at the road through the windscreen.
I felt Bella squeeze my hand, and stroked my thumb lightly across her knuckles. Once again, I breathed in her scent deeply.
I should go hunting soon, I thought, it's not wise to leave it too long.
"Where are we going?" I asked Alice, leaning forward.
"Shopping," she said.
I sighed deeply. "I knew that. But where?"
"Just in Forks," she said, turning the wheel slightly to get back into the right lane as we overtook a car.
I relaxed back against the seat again.
Suddenly there was a screech of brakes, and Alice slumped forward against the steering wheel. A loud honking noise shattered the stillness, as the car's horn reacted to the pressure of Alice's body on the wheel.
Bella screamed, and the car swerved.
"ALICE!" I shouted, jumping out of my seat. I wasn't wearing the seatbelt- I didn't need to- so I scrambled quickly into the front seat. Bella continued to scream, gripping the car door in terror. The car began to spin across the road, other cars honking and slamming on their brakes.
I grabbed Alice under the arms and hauled her out of the seat, shoving her into the backseat next to Bella. Her eyes were closed, and she was shuddering violently. I didn't have time to think as I saw a van racing towards us, as the car careened across the road. The crash barrier was coming closer at an alarming rate. I needed to stop the car now, or Bella would die.
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Sorry
it took a long time to post, because I've been absolutely crushed
under a landslide of homework, and
I'm not doing tonight's homework just to send you this!
Please
review. I hurt my knee dancing and it's all knacked up, and it
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CullenLove
