Poco a Poco Chapter 7

-Lianna-

"Edward, calm down." Carlisle said almost severely, and after considerable effort, Edward's face became the emotionless mask, and Jasper relaxed slightly. I stayed frozen where I was, unsure whether it would be smart to come back into the room, and decided not as Edward tensed again.

"The woman vampire was Maria." As soon as he said it, Jasper leapt to his feet with a nasty look on his face.

"Maria got a taste of her blood?" He said quietly yet furiously. Edward nodded stiffly and motioned me back over, and I reluctantly came closer to him. Despite his angry demeanor, he took my left hand ever so gently and as Jasper came over, lifted it so that the scars there were thrown into relief. "It's a miracle she hasn't found you yet." Jasper's voice had the southern accent Edward had mentioned briefly, but it was full of almost despair.

How can she track me from just having a taste? It's not like she took something of mine to remember the scent, right? I signed quickly to Edward, who shook his head. "She wouldn't need to. I'll remember your scent for as long as I'm alive, and so will she. The blood will only give her a better reason to come after you. I told you that you needed protection, and this is why." All this time, Maria could have been hunting me down? Unease and terror started to mix in my chest, making it feel stiff.

"I don't understand…why does she have a scar from a human bite impression?" Emmett asked, and Edward snarled, making me lean away and close my eyes until it ended.

"Keep up, Emmett. She bit her own hand to keep from making noise, and the venom from Maria's saliva was enough to make the scars more vampire than human." Edward snapped. Stop it Edward. It's not his fault. I signed, annoyed, but he ignored me. "The male must have been one of her newborns, she never loved anyone more than she did Jasper." Carlisle said thoughtfully, and I looked up in surprise, then glared at Edward. Of course he would leave out important information.

"And she lived in the south before, correct?" Alice asked, rising fluidly and coming to put a tiny arm around her husband's waist as a reassuring gesture. Edward glanced at me.

If you qualify Utah as the south. I was moved to Michigan when the state couldn't find foster parents or an orphanage that would take me. Edward snarled quietly at the last part, but told Alice the state.

"Then she has probably already searched all of Utah and the surrounding states. The south has been pretty inactive lately as far as newborn armies go, which means she's moving northward." Jasper's voice was cold, and I turned a shocked expression to Edward. Newborn army? And you neglected to tell me this because??Once again, he ignored me, so I walked to stand in front of him. How much more are you not going to tell me until you deem the situation 'dangerous'? Edward, I know that you care about me, but this is ridiculous. Hey, I snapped my fingers to regain his attention as he pointedly looked away from me. yes, I'm a fragile, pretty much worthless human, but if you think she's after me and she actually is, shouldn't I know my enemy?

"You are not worthless, don't you dare say that again." Edward growled softly. THAT WAS NOT THE MAIN POINT OF MY SENTENCE, STOP THAT RIGHT NOW. I signed harshly, and glared at him, our glares on the same level of emotion. Edward, don't you keep things from me anymore, or I'll get a pad of paper and a pencil and write out everything so you can't twist my words around. I know that one of your family members will tell me.

"They wouldn't dare." Edward glared at his family, who were watching us with slightly worried expressions. I don't care what you think they would do, damn it. Now tell me, don't make me write on my arm with a sharpie, because I swear to God I will. "And you think that I would just let you do that?" Edward asked dangerously. I ignored him and looked around the room and spotted a desk and walked calmly over to it. Before I had made it three steps, Edward had a secure hand around my wrist, keeping me next to him. Damn it, Edward, you let me go right now or I will punch you again. He ignored me. Damn it, you self-absorbed, maddening, over-protective man-whore! I went to punch him dead in his perfect nose but his other cold hand incased my other wrist in his unbreakable marble grip.

"Edward, what the hell is going on?" Carlisle asked, and I took that opportunity to kick Edward fiercely in the shin, with a dull thud.

"Stop it, Lianna, don't do this. I swear, I will not let anything happen to you. You're going to have to trust me on this. Carlisle, did she break any toes?" He asked in a dead voice. I am going to kill you, rip your body into tiny pieces, burn the pieces, feed the ashes to a bear, shoot the bear, then push the carcass over a cliff, you idiot! I yelled silently at him, no longer able to sign anything, and I stepped on my toes so that Carlisle couldn't get to them without force, which I knew he wouldn't use. I was still furious, it was my problem, my life, and he wasn't telling me things!

"Edward, this is a little extreme." Esme said gently, but was looking worried for Edward's mental health. After a moment, Edward slowly let go of my wrists. Edward, I don't care if you follow me around 24/7 to protect me, as long as you stop keeping things from me. That's all I ask. I could care less if you bought an island and we stayed on it all day. Just tell me what you want to do, and why. Edward, suddenly being bi-polar, swept me up into a hug, making me gasp. "Thank you, Lianna." He sounded incredibly relieved.

"I'm going to tell Ms. Sanyer I'm going to tutor you at a music camp, and the excuse can work for your foster parent as well. You can spend the night at your house, then live here until we can find where Maria is." Edward set me down and spoke almost too quickly for me to catch.

Thank you for telling me the plan. I signed sarcastically, and Edward laughed, and I was relieved to see that he wasn't freaking out too much anymore. Now, tell your family that it was very nice to meet them, and you can take me home. I signed, and Edward laughed again, but relayed what I wished.

"I can't wait to meet you again, dear. I'll learn sign language over the evening so that we can communicate tomorrow." Esme said excitedly, and gave me a hug after Edward was done. The ghost of a smile came back. The rest of the family nodded somewhat awkwardly, considering we hadn't really had a stimulating conversation as a group, thanks to my muteness and Edward's freak out.

"Edward, are you sure you don't want Emmett or I to come with you, or even both? Just in case?" Jasper asked as Edward took my hand after we had said our goodbyes.

"No, we'll be fine, but thank you." Edward said gratefully, then led me down the steps, and then down the path, and he scooped me up again with the same effortless grace. I kept my eyes open on the way back, and the blurs of the world going by didn't make me panic like I thought they would. Edward stopped at the school and was back in seconds with my books and violin, and he carried them and me effortlessly, plus my bike back to the house, then vanished, going around and going through the window to my room.

"We're so far north. This is seeming more and more unlikely, Maria." He crooned, looking around as our newborns sniffed like dogs, trying to pick up a scent again.

"She's worth the taste, and I'm bored. Plus, Jasper would have moved north to stay away from me." I felt a pang in my dead heart when I mentioned Jasper. I still loved him, and he would come back to me.

"There is a scent that goes this way…and it's faint." A newborn said, keeping his eyes down respectfully as I brushed past him and inhaled deeply. Underneath the woodland scents was an old, fruity scent that reminded me of wine…