sorry for all the filler chapters. i can't just dive into the next exciting part, not yet, but the next chapter is a sorta filler, then BAM. the exciting stuff. :) by sorta filler, i mean it's gonna have some intense stuff in there. no spoilers. :D please continue to R&R, and most importantly, enjoy. :) i'll do my best to update as much as possible. promise.
01. Five Years: Tonight Alive
02. Stay Close: Fireflight
03. Bite My Tongue feat. Oli Sykes: You Me at Six
04. Obvious: Hey Monday
05. I Must Be Dreaming: The Maine
06. Falling Inside the Black: Skillet
07. Hurt: Thousand Foot Krutch
As I went to sleep that night—it was really late because we all drove Alice to the airport in Seattle first—a thought began haunting me, mostly because I had thought about Blade and the current situation. What if this was what he was doing? Surely he knew that a direct approach with everyone around, especially Edward, was a really bad idea, so was this just a diversion?
It was really bothering me, enough that I barely got any sleep.
I woke up to the sunrise of the beautiful morning. The sun, bright and orange, was absolutely beautiful as it made its way through the trees and into view. Most people didn't get up this early, especially on a weekend, but I gave up trying to sleep.
Surprisingly, I was quickly joined by Esme. It wasn't really surprising that she was up, obviously, but I didn't really expect her to join me.
She had a cup of hot chocolate for me, but it wasn't really hot. It was at the perfect drinking temperature—not too hot where it burned your tongue, but hot enough that it warmed your insides on its way down.
"I can't grasp everything," I admitted to her quietly, even though she really didn't ask what was on my mind. Esme didn't have to because she was just someone you opened up to, just like that. "I don't really feel good about all of this."
She sighed. "I don't either. This seems too . . . convenient. I'm not saying Alistair has anything to do with it. I think Blade's thought this through much more than they thought about."
"He knows how to torture everyone he comes across," I whispered. "He could destroy our lives, and he's sick enough to leave us alive to suffer through it."
"Not everyone," she disagreed. "Edward says he has to figure out how to torture you on his own. That's why he's so fascinated with you. He's put so much time into you that you've become someone of his liking—in more than one way."
I shuddered, but thankfully, my phone began ringing, so we were able to stop this conversation instantly. When I got to my phone, I was surprise at who it was. "Hello?"
Edward let out a soft sigh. "It's good to hear your voice again."
"I could say the same for you," I said lightly. "I thought you weren't gonna call."
"Well, we lost him," he said quietly. "Somehow, he managed to get all the way into California, and we lost his trail in the Pacific. As soon as Karma, Sapphire, and Oliver are ready, we're driving back up. We'll just have to wait for him to resurface. You know . . . my offer still stands."
I smiled, despite the fact that I knew he wouldn't like the answer and despite the fact hearing this made me feel even more uneasy. "And I still stand by my original place."
"Of course you do."
When I looked back to the windowsill, I was surprised to find Esme no longer there. It was surprising, but I moved on from it and sat down on the bed. "We have a lot to talk about when you get home."
"Anything bad?"
I could hear the worry in his tone, and it made me smile. "No. Nothing bad. It was surprising, but not bad."
He sighed in relief, and I could almost hear him smiling. "Good. I'm glad." And then, he began going into detail about their time trying to track Blade down, all the obstacles them came across.
For a minute, I just smiled, loving how great it was to hear his voice again. We hadn't really been apart long, but still. Being apart reminded me too much of that long period of absence, and I hated that.
But, after just listening to him for a bit, I realized that I needed to tell him something—my fears. "As much as I love listening to your voice, baby, there's something I need to ask you about."
"Shoot," he murmured. "You sure everything's alright?"
"I don't know," I said truthfully, voice quiet. "What if . . . what if this was his plan all along? To separate everyone so I was an easier target?"
"That's why we left some there to protect you, but that's starting to feel more likely," he agreed. "Thank you, Mayze, for bringing this back up. I'll let everyone know. Can I talk to Alice?"
My eyes widened in horror. I distinctly remember asking her what to do if this happened, and she said, "They won't ask for me. It'll be fine. If they do, tell them I'm hunting."
"You mean lie to Edward?"
"He won't understand that I couldn't wait for them to get back to go get it," she insisted. "You have to. I'll tell him it was my fault when we're all back."
So, I began biting on my bottom lip. "Uh . . . ."
"Where is she?" he asked slowly, catching on to my hesitance much faster than I thought he would.
"She went hunting," Esme said from the doorway, which surprised me more than anyone.
"Oh," Edward said, and I felt my heart jolt a little. "I'll call her on her phone later then. By the way, they all found out . . . about everything. We had to tell them in order to explain why we were there."
"Figures," I said, laughing a little. "It'll be fine, right? They won't be in danger . . . will they?"
"It'll be better for everyone if the Volturi don't find out about it, but I think with them being imprints of shapeshifters, it'll be okay," he sighed. "I'm not really sure, though. To be safe, we'll just not let the Volturi find out."
I briefly remembered back to when he told me about the Volturi. They didn't seem like people we wanted to mess with, so I sighed. "That would be best."
Brynk surprised me when she came running into my room, her eyes wide in excitement. "Mayze!"
"What are you doing up?"
"Forget that, guess what Alistair just showed me!" she said eagerly.
My eyebrows rose, and as if on cue, Alistair came behind her with a sheepish smile. In his eyes, I could see gratitude and also . . . love. Like he said, he loved Brynk, and it seemed like she really liked him as well.
With a bright smile, I let out a sigh of content. "I'll call you back later. That was mostly what I wanted to talk to you about, and I'm sure you're busy."
"I need to go as well," he agreed. "I love you, Mayzie. More than anything else in the world."
That brightened my smile even more. "I love you, too. Get back as fast as you can."
"Oh, you better believe that I am," he said quickly, and it actually made me laugh as I was hanging up.
As soon as I did, I adverted all of my attention to Brynk, who was still just glowing. "What?"
"He showed me how fast vampires can run!" she exclaimed. "How do you manage to not flip out when Edward carried you on his back?"
I laughed. "You just get used to it, really. It really freaked me out the first time, but now, it's like nothing, especially since I'm becoming some weird freaky half vampire thing."
She suddenly looked very serious, almost like the fact that I was becoming a vampire was something she had thought about. "How . . . what made you decide you wanted to become a vampire?"
"When I realized that I was irrevocably in love with Edward, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of eternity with him," I said simply. "That and I also knew that if I died, he would find a way to get himself killed as well."
Brynk pressed her lips together in thought, and she looked up at Alistair. "Are you gonna do the same?"
"I have to say I would," he admitted quietly.
This made my eyes widen. "You told her?"
"She figured it out, really," he said, laughing a little. "I don't know how, but she did."
"You're really not that good at hiding it," she pointed out, and I had to agree with that. "Alistair, you can't do that."
"Brynk, you don't understand," he insisted. "The reason a vampire is after Bella and another is after Mayze is because vampires can only truly love once. It's part of the 'never changing' thing we have. Once we love someone, we'll love them forever. I can't live in a world where you don't exist."
She turned to me with eyebrows raised. "Well, Mayze will make me a vampire, won't you?"
I gawked at her, taken back by the randomness of the question. "Wh-What?"
"Well, Oliver and Sapphire are living forever," she began, and she began to sheepishly smile. "More importantly, you're living forever. I mean, I really do like Alistair here, and one day, I get this feeling that I'm going to love him. When you first talked to Edward, did you just know that things were gonna work?"
I shook my head. "I knew that I wanted them to, but he was very distant. He didn't want me to get close to him. When he let me get close to him, though, yes, I knew."
She looked up at Alistair. "Will you change me?"
"Brynk, you need to make sure this is what you want first," I disagreed. "I wouldn't rush into this. Once you're changed, you can't go back. Wait a while—a year. In a year, if you still want to be changed, I'll do it myself."
Her eyes lit up. "Okay! I can do that! I mean, it gives me time to get in all the things I may want to do as a human." Her eyebrows furrowed. "Can I ask you after you've been changed about things that would be better human or vampire?"
"Sure," I laughed. "Any time, Brynk. Don't worry about keeping it a secret anymore, though. Everyone else knows now."
Alistair gave me a wary glance. "Alright, but the amount of humans that know doesn't need to grow anymore. If too many find out, it's only a matter of time before the Volturi hear about it."
"No one else will know," I assured him. "If the Volturi do find out, though . . . what'll happen?"
"They'll either demand that everyone is involved be executed, or they'll probably watch everyone not already a vampire or supernatural creature of some sort be changed right there," he said simply. "It's just safer if they don't find out."
"I agree with that," I murmured. Even though I was definitely on my way to being changed, it scared me a little. Really, I didn't need anything else to worry about, but now, I was worried. Would that mean all of the pack imprints who knew have to be changed as well?
That'll go over really well with Bella.
