Chapter 7: A World Unknown
I was running and fast, too. I didn't have my inhaler and I was struggling for air; but a creature, white and beautiful, stopped me in my path.
"Edward, what's going on?" My voice sounded slurred. A gleam glinted off of his red eyes and a malicious smile made his face unusually malevolent. Then he was at my neck, sucking my blood. I struggled but his stone-hard body seemed to overtake my frail one. I looked around for help but all I heard was a voice:
"Emma, Emma." It sounded so distant but I recognized it instantly. It was Bella.
"Bella," again my voice was slurred.
"Wake up, Emma, wake up!" The voice rang like bells and was more urgent. It was Alice and she was one of them, I was sure.
My eyes shot open and I jumped in to a sitting position ready to take flight. Then a dizzying pain took over my whole head and I swayed where I sat. The strong smell of straight bleach reached my nostrils and I blanched; I hated the smell of chemicals.
"Uhh," came a groan and I realized it was me. I put my head in my hands but the darkness behind my eyelids seemed to swirl around me.
"Emma, open your eyes," Carlisle said. I was reluctant but as soon as I did his youthful face was concerned as they looked at my pupils to see if they were dilated.
"She has a concussion. She must have hit that tree pretty hard. Lay down Emma and we'll explain everything you want to know."
"Carlisle," came Edward's voice, pleading.
"She has a right to know. There's no way to get out of it, to make an excuse for it." Edward let out a long sigh and nodded. I was so in the dark about this whole thing.
"Well, first let's figure out this whole thing before we tell her anything," Alice inferred.
"First of all, we know the vamp—I mean, person who attacked her was foreign but we don't know who sent it, what it was doing here, or what it was after," Edward listed off.
"Shouldn't that be easy? It could be here for Bella, like the other times." This voice was new and deep and what did it mean about Bella and the other times? Who sent what and what was it after? My head became dizzier and it wasn't from the concussion.
An awkward silence seemed to carry on before someone broke it.
"Um, what?" I recognized it as my own confused and raspy voice. No one seemed to notice.
"You don't think it was . . ." Bella's voice trailed off. I could suddenly feel the air around me be sucked in by sharp intakes of breath. Don't think it was what?
"They wouldn't send out one on its own, let alone a new-born. They'd be breaking their own rules. Besides, it came after Emma, not directly towards Bella, which makes it all the more confusing." Edward had definitely summed up the whole situation.
"Keep the Volturi open to our guesses because they are all we have," Alice stated. While the whole conversation went on I laid on something very soft, with my eyes closed, listening with growing confusion. I felt my head pound from the strained thinking and the concussion. Wanting to find out more, I opened my eyes to find myself staring at eight faces, four of whom I knew. Carlisle stood next to a tall and beautiful woman, youthful as well. I guessed she was the mother. Next to Alice stood a man who was big with blonde hair, but he was short compared to the other man standing next to him. This guy was huge and muscular but his face seemed soft and kind. Standing by him though was a beautiful tall blonde woman, her golden eyes concerned. I looked around the room at all the hardened and concerned topaz eyes; and then there was Bella, wrapped in Edward's arms, her face unusually pale. These were the Cullen's.
"Can I ask some things now?" I croaked. I pulled my legs off of the couch to completely sit straight. The dizziness was still there but I ignored it. I took the silence around me as a yes to my question.
"What was that person who attacked me?" I stared at Edward because he had done the same thing as the monster that attacked me.
"What were going to tell you, Emma, is going to sound out-of-worldly but please keep an open mind to it all," Edward stated. "The person who attacked you was not human but a monster, a vampire." I looked at him incredulously, his words taking time to process fully in my head.
"A vampire? You mean a blood-sucking vampire that comes out at night to attack people, and sleeps in coffins, and all that?" I was using my references of what I knew about fictional vampires, the non-existent ones.
"In a sense, yes, but you are getting fiction mixed up with what is real," Edward explained again.
"What is real?" I scoffed. "Vampires aren't . . ." realization dawned on me. Edward was a vampire. I gulped and shut up so I could listen to the rest.
"Our family," he gestured his hand to the people around him, "are vampires. However, unlike the fiction ones, we don't sleep in coffins or turn into bats. We have chosen to give up the diet of human blood but instead drink animal blood."
"But why did he come after me?"
"We haven't figured it out yet but we do have one theory you heard earlier: the Volturi."
"Who are they?"
"They are the ones in charge; they make the rules for all vampires. In a world full of temptation, there has to be control." I didn't want him to go any farther. I think I already knew what he was going to say. Too many people would go missing and it would make them more conspicuous.
Edward nodded.
"What else is true about vampires?" I was suddenly curious to know.
"Well, we have uncanny strength and beauty, and some of us have special gifts. I can read minds for example and Alice can see the future. Jasper can change the emotions of people from a tense atmosphere to a calm one." I was more confused than ever.
"Where do these powers come from?" I asked.
"As humans, we seem to have a vague ability like the ones we have now but as we pass on into this life, it strengthens and becomes more powerful over the years."
I nodded but comprehension was still not reached. Vampire, who would have guessed?
"But what did you mean about Bella and the other times?" These questions seemed to just shoot out of my mouth I was so curious.
Edward hesitated. "Well, over a year ago we had a run-in with other vampires, one of them being a hunter who went after Bella. We killed him but his mate came after her for revenge. There is this thing where we imprint on others, find our soul mates, the other half to ourselves; and instincts kick in. That is the person that you can't live without and would do anything for them, die or even kill for." He looked at Bella when he said this, then back at me as he continued. "This woman came after her to kill her and she set a bunch of new-born vampires amuck. That's when the Volturi stepped in." A shiver seemed to go through Edward.
"The ones who make the rules." I was starting to understand this whole thing but the idea of vampires still overwhelmed me. "Did they destroy all the new-borns like you did to the one who attacked me?" All the puzzle pieces began to fit as Edward began to explain.
He nodded. I closed my eyes and the images of earlier came back to me. The vampire, the fight, and then . . .
"There was one other person there with us but I didn't see where he came from. There was also this huge brown wolf that attacked the vampire before anyone else showed up." I opened my eyes to look at Edward but looked away. All I could see now were those hard chocolate brown eyes just glaring at me.
Edward hesitated. Did he know what or where that wolf came from? It was so big and shaggy, it couldn't have been local. And who was that boy? I glared at Edward trying to make my gaze uncomfortable to him to try and break his resilience to answering the question. I failed. All he did was look at the others. However, at my words Bella seemed to stiffen in Edward's arms and I was curious as to why. Did she know what attacked that vampire or who that boy is?
"Bella, do you know who he was?" I asked her to see if she would tell me.
Like Edward she hesitated but she nodded slowly. I heard a choking noise from her and then her hand flew to her mouth. She was fighting back tears.
"Bella, what's wrong? Was it something I said?" I didn't want her to cry, not here, not now. I just really wanted to know who my hero was.
"There is more, Emma, but now is not the time to tell you. There are more pressing matters at hand and soon enough you'll know," Carlisle told me. I nodded but I couldn't fight the urge to ask more!
"What now? If this situation is so bad, what will you all do?" I was worried for the Cullen's.
"We watch our backs," Edward said.
A/N: Things are heating up now! So the Volturi are involved, at least they think so but there is also Jacob. Will Emma know about him as well? Oh, and thanks to those who sent reviews!! It really made me excited when I read them. I thought, "People actually like my story! Yes!" Well it was my first and I didn't know how well it would go over but those reviews are keeping me going! Thanks again!!!
