A/N: FYI, we're almost finished with the Twilight Section of 'Welcome to Forks'.
"You're a vampire aren't you?" Bella blurted out making Edward's hands tighten on the wheel of his car.
"What makes you say that?" He asked her; not making any sort of eye contact.
"You remember that man from before? Spike?" Bella asked him.
"Yes," Edward simply responded keeping his eyes on the road.
"I saw the way you hit him. You sent him back several feet," Bella said. Edward still didn't look at her.
"So why assume I'm a vampire?" He asked her.
"I think it's obvious. Your strength, your pale white skin, and let's not forget that you don't go out in the sunlight," she pointed out.
"I'm not saying that I am a vampire, but if I was would that make you see me in a different way?" Edward asked looking at Bella for the first time since they entered his car.
"No," she answered him. Edward flashed a brief smile before looking back at the road.
"So why exactly did you want to speak with me with Buffy not around?" Bella asked curiously.
"I didn't. I just wanted to get you away from her," Edward gave as an answer.
"Why? There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her."
"I can read minds," Edward bluntly stated as if that would sound normal in the conversation.
"You can read minds?" Bella asked sounding surprised.
"Everyone's but yours apparently," he replied.
"Why is that?"
"I honestly don't know," he said. "But that Buffy girl; there's something off about her thoughts. She constantly thinks about killing me, but that's not the weird part."
"What is?"
"A recurring thought in both her mind and her friend's is that this world doesn't exist and that we're all characters in a book," Edward answered.
"What?" Bella asked with an amused look. "That was so funny I forgot to laugh."
"As ridiculous as that sounds, Buffy seems to believe it. I don't think you should hang around her anymore."
"Buffy's my friend, Edward. She saved my life."
"Do you even know the first thing about her?" He questioned.
"No, but neither do you," she countered.
"Touché," Edward said. They rest of the drive back consisted of Bella questioning Edward further about him being a vampire. He answered all her questions, but never directly stated that he was a vampire. As the drive continued the gas light on Edward's car came on. Edward sighed and made for the nearest gas station. He always had a habit of forgetting to fill up the darn tank. It was always an afterthought considering how fast he would drive.
Back in the forest
Angel still couldn't believe that he was traveling with a coven of vampires; human drinking vampires to be exact. Angel was praying that his time with these vamps was short because the last thing he wanted was to get in a fight with all three of them at once. James kept giving him menacing glances every now and then as they traversed through the woods. He still had no way of knowing where Buffy was. He and the others were now racing through the forest headed towards town.
Angel found himself running faster than he usually did in order to keep up with the three. They were incredibly fast. Angel had never seen any vampires of their type before.
"Try to keep up slow poke!" James yelled as the three entered the quiet town of Forks. He made a jump for the closet building he could find and scaled it effortlessly; Laurent and Victoria doing the same. Angel had no problem either, but he was a tad slower catching up with them.
"What are we doing here?" Angel asked walking over to the edge of the building that was overlooking a gas station. James looked exceedingly ravenous right now. Angel looked at Victoria then back at James.
"James get's that way when we're in populated cities," she said answering his unspoken question.
"So why are we here?" Angel asked.
"James wants to see what you're capable of," Laurent answered.
"Are you saying…?" Angel started to ask.
"Bite, kill, attack, rip to shreds. Whatever suits you," James answered. "If you're going to be a part of this coven we need to know that you aren't going to be a weak link."
"I took on those wolves if you recall," Angel said making James give him a serious look. He snarled at Angel then looked back over the edge of the building. Angel stood up and spotted a nearby gas station. He saw someone walking behind it. Rolling his eyes he climbed down the building and stealthily raced to the back of the station where there was no one in sight.
"I should've known this was going to happen," Angel thought looking back up at James, Victoria, and Laurence. "I'll have to make it look convincing, but not too convincing."
"This shouldn't take long," Edward said pulling into the gas station and exiting his car. Bella got out as well to stretch her legs. "Don't wander off," Edward said to her. Bella nodded as Edward started to fill up the tank.
She started to walk behind the gas station while still trying to process discovering Edward being a vampire. She had only been in Forks for a few weeks and yet her entire world had been turned upside down. First she meets Buffy and now she's met vampires. It was far too much for one to take in at once. Before Bella could think any further someone's hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. The person attacking her put his hand around her neck and lifted her into the air.
"Spike?" Bella asked not being able to see his face, but remembering how he did the same thing to her.
"No," Angel responded lifting Bella up higher. She got a clearer view of his face and almost screamed. She held it back feeling if she did this man would kill her. "Relax. I'm not going to hurt you; much. Just don't get up," Angel said.
"Screw you!" Bella yelled and then shoved both her fingers in Angel's eyes. Angel let go of Bella, who bent down and kicked Angel's legs out from under him. Bella attempted to run, but Angel grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him.
"Where did you learn that move?" He asked her recognizing it as something Buffy did to him once. Bella didn't answer him. "Where did you learn that! ?" He yelled this time.
"Put her down! Now!" Edward shouted. Angel spun around catching Edward's fist. Edward's eyes narrowed at the sight of Angel's vampire face recognizing how Spike had the same face. Edward tried to punch him with his other fist, but Angel grabbed his wrist and chucked him into the back of a car. Edward crashed against it setting off its alarm. He pulled himself out of the trunk of the car avoiding Angel's fist, which made a pretty large hole in the trunk upon impact.
Angel halted Edward's next punch and pushed him head first into the window of the car shattering it. Edward kicked Angel in the ribs as hard as he could; launching him backward as a result. Angel didn't even seem to feel the damage. He was up again and knocked away Edward's next attack nearly breaking one of the bones in his arm. Angel uppercut Edward in the mouth making him bite down hard on his bottom lips making him lose some of the blood he had drunk earlier. Edward quickly wiped his bloodied lip and ducked Angel's kick aimed for his neck. He moved to tackle Angel, but he quickly kicked him in the face with his other foot knocking him into a fence. Edward felt all his wounds stinging as he fought to stand up again. Angel advanced towards him, but felt Bella's foot connect with his private area making him wince in pain.
Angel whirled around faster than Bella anticipated and grabbed her by the neck. He growled at her and fully exposed his fangs. Bella let out a scream and that seemingly brought Angel back to his senses. He released Bella, retracted his fangs, and in a whirl of his jacket ran off into the night. Bella went to Edward's side.
"Can you stand?" She asked helping him into a sitting position
"Yeah. I'll be fine," he said. "He's the second vampire I've met to have fangs," Edward said. "He's different from me."
"So you are a vampire," Bella said catching his slip.
"I never said I wasn't," Edward responded. "Let's go before he decides to come back," he said already heading for his car.
"Impressive, wouldn't you agree?" Laurent asked the other members of his coven as Angel climbed back on top of the building.
"I would've been faster, but I wasn't expecting to fight another vampire," Angel said.
"Curious that he was protecting that human female," Victoria said.
"Maybe he wanted her blood for himself," James said still looking evilly at Angel. Angel gave a low sneer.
"I must say I didn't think you had it in you, Angel," a familiar voice said.
"Spike," Angel said then turned as did the others. Spike was at the other side of the building; his vampire face changing back to normal.
"Hold up, Angel," he said noticing how he looked ready to tear him apart. "I'm not here for a fight."
"Then what are you here for?" Angel asked.
"Not much. I just want to know what the Hell happened to me. And I take it you have no idea how we wound up here either?" Angel shook his head, no.
"Figured as much; that leaves Buffy as the only person, who could know what happened."
"You've met Buffy?" Victoria asked clenching her fists; that night still fresh in her mind.
"Yes. How do you?" Spike asked her. "She usually has a habit of never letting a vampire that see's her live to tell the tale; a few exceptions here or there," he said looking straight at Angel.
"We met once a few weeks ago," Victoria said.
"Get to the point, Spike," Angel said.
"You know where I'm getting at. I suggest we work together to track her down and find out what happened to us. After all the more vampires the merrier," he said.
"I don't trust you."
"And I don't trust you; big shock there, but I'm not interested in a fight until we discover what the Hell is going on. After that we can fight each other to our heart's content," Spike said.
The thought of working with Spike made Angel want to step out into the sun light, but he found himself saying, "Alright." He then walked straight up to Spike and looked him dead in the eyes. "But if you hurt her," he threatened.
"You won't have to worry about your precious girlfriend," Spike chuckled.
Bella and Edward made it back to her house in less than 15 minutes due to Edward's insanely fast driving. Buffy was surprised to see her truck there. Edward explained that he had is brother, Emmet, bring it back after they left the warehouse.
"Wait how did he...?"
"He may have hotwired it," Edward revealed before she even finished. "Don't worry I'm sure your precious truck is fine," Edward said giving a small laugh. Bella rolled her eyes and smiled.
"I'll see you at school tomorrow," she said and walked towards the front door. She didn't hear the sound of Edward's car leaving until she was inside.
"I know I said I'd run back, but I didn't think I'd beat you here," Buffy said on the couch as Bella stepped inside.
"Had an unfortunate run in with another vampire," Bella said sitting down on the couch as well.
"Was it Spike?" Buffy asked about to leap into combat mode despite the lack of any present danger.
"No. It was someone different," Bella answered.
"What did the vamp look like?"
"Tall. Short, dark, hair. Very muscular and he wore a dark coat."
"Angel," Buffy thought. "But he wouldn't. Would he?"
"Something wrong?" Bella asked. Suddenly the scenery started to change. Bella then her entire house faded into the dark and then Buffy felt herself getting propelled forward through the blackness. Then everything stopped and Buffy felt herself falling until she landed back in Bella's room on top of the sleeping bag she was using.
"What just happened?" She thought looking around Bella's room. Bella was asleep in her bed and she heard Xander snoring from downstairs.
"Not even a side effect of one of Willow's spells can wake that guy up," Buffy thought while quietly exiting Bella's room for the bathroom. She shut the door and was about to use her phone to try and call Willow when she noticed something on her arm. Part of it was bandaged up. "What?" Buffy thought. She touched the bandages and then something like a bomb went off in her head. Buffy dropped her phone to the floor and grabbed her head; it was in so much pain she thought it was going to split wide open.
"Angel?" Buffy asked thinking she saw him in the woods. Angel turned and Buffy sprinted towards him. She threw her arms around Angel so glad that she finally found him. Angel, however, pushed Buffy away and took a bite out of her arm. A pained scream escaped Buffy's mouth and she punched Angel in the forehead making him let go.
"Angel," Buffy found herself repeating. Hand over her the bite marks. Angel's evil expression changed to a horrified one. He took a step forward, but Buffy backed up. Suddenly, Spike, Victoria, James, and Laurent all surrounded her. Spike grabbed her by the neck and held her tightly.
"Don't bother struggling Slayer," he said tightening his hold on her. Buffy looked at Angel, who actually looked torn between whether or not he should help her. A wolf howled in the distance getting the vamps attention.
Distracted, Spike's hold loosened allowing Buffy to slip out of his grip, and toss him towards James and Laurent knocking them both over. Buffy ran trying to ignore the pain shooting through her arm; a pack of wolves raced into the scene sending off the group of vampires.
Buffy's eyes snapped open. She was lying on the bathroom floor. "So that's what Willow meant by skipping ahead a few chapters," Buffy thought then her eyes became transfixed on the bite mark. "Angel bit me," she whispered. "He bit me," she repeated stepping out of the bathroom; rubbing her still aching head.
"I just want to try one thing," she heard someone in Bella's room say. It sounded like… Edward?
"Good grief," Buffy thought and swung open the door; Edward borke away from Bella's lips back towards the wall.
"What are you doing here?" Buffy whispered not wanting to wake up Charlie. She slowly closed the door behind her.
"He was just making sure I was ok," Bella said.
"I suppose he was giving you CPR," Buffy dryly joked. She and Edward locked eyes; both of them giving one another a harsh stare. Edward looked towards Bella.
"I should probably go," he said moving towards the window. "I'll save you a seat at lunch," he said to Bella then jumped out the window. Buffy walked over to it to make sure he was gone then almost slammed it shut.
"You should know that Mr. Pale White Skin is a…"
"Vampire," Bella finished for her.
"How did you know?" Buffy asked sitting on her sleeping bag.
"I figured it out. I didn't want to tell you because I thought you might try to kill him."
"You thought right," Buffy said. "You shouldn't be near him. He's dangerous."
"He told me the same thing three weeks ago," Bella answered.
"Three weeks. Is that how long it's been?" Buffy thought looking at her bandages.
"That should tell you something," she said out loud. "If the vamp himself says he's dangerous it's best to heed the guys warning otherwise you'll just wind up getting hurt."
"How would you know? It's not like you've been in any sort of situation like this," Bella said getting defensive. Buffy put her head in her hands letting out a long sigh. "It has happened to you," Bella realized. Buffy nodded. "Is it something that you want to talk about?"
Buffy considered not saying anything, but she's been keeping this locked up for so long; she needed to just get it out.
"His name was Angel. I didn't know he was a vampire at first. But in the end it didn't matter. I loved him. I loved him very much."
"What happened?" Bella asked.
"Something neither of us saw coming," Buffy said then sniffed; wiping away a stray tear. She'd never forget how Angel turned into Angelus. "He went bad. It was my duty to stop him. During our final encounter I thought it would be easy to kill him if he was evil. But before I could issue the final blow my friends managed to change him back to normal."
"That's good isn't it?" Bella asked.
"It would have been, but there's a catch. There always is. The world was about to end. The only way to save it was to kill Angel."
"I'm so sorry," Bella said not needing to be told the rest. "That's all you can say?" Bella thought. "Well what more can I say? I can't begin to understand having to kill the one you love," she thought. Bella got off her bed and sat next to Buffy.
"I'm not going to pretend to try to understand how you're feeling because I can't. But I'm here if you need someone to talk to," Bella said. Buffy smiled and the two girls hugged. Buffy looked at the bandages covering her bite mark and shut her eyes trying to block out the memory.
To Be Continued…
A/N: Looks like Angel isn't fully back to normal. What will this mean for him? Well if I told you that'd defeat the purpose of reading the story. Hope the flash forward part made sense.
Faith was supposed to make an appearance during this chapter, but I honestly could think of a way to use her in this one. She'll appear next chapter. Unless I get any other ideas, then next chapter "Team Angel" and "Team Cullen" will finally meet face to face. See ya!
