CHAPTER 9

PUZZLED

Edward's POV:

I was already out of the shower by the time I heard the knock on the door. I dried myself quickly and pulled on a pair of jeans as I went to answer it. I looked through the peephole and found Sookie's blonde little head and grimaced. This fucking room is a mess. There was a dent in the wall, a broken bathroom mirror, stuff thrown all over the floor. I sighed heavily and opened the door, blocking her view. Her first glance was at my bare chest before she quickly moved her eyes up to mine.

"Hey" I smiled. She looked a little edgy and I wanted to turn back and grab a shirt but she'd see the room if I moved away. So I leaned closer behind the door.

She cleared her throat and produced her signature smile, all wide and sunny. Julia Roberts had nothing over this one here.

"Hi. Is it a bad time?" she asked awkwardly.

"No. Not at all. What's up?"

"Can I come in?"

Fuck. My eyes danced around her nervously. "This room is a mess" I winced.

"Oh, please!" she said sarcastically. "It's a hotel room" she said, as she placed her little hands on my chest and pushed her way in. She took only three steps in when she came to a halt. I grimaced, embarrassed at what she saw.

"Holy shit! You weren't kidding" she said, as she walked over to the wall with the dent and glided her fingers across it.

"I… um, fell" I said, already regretting my lame excuse, "… and hit the wall."

She turned around, holding back a smile and spotted something on the floor behind a chair. She bent down and picked it up. It was a black lace thong. She pinched it between her fingers, raising it high for me to see as she eyed me skeptically. I grimaced. She smirked.

Thankfully, she tossed it on the chair and didn't question it. Her eyes continued to scan the room and I began feeling rather irritated.

"What's up?" I asked again, trying to get her back on track.

She glanced at my chest again and then quickly moved her eyes back to mine. I casually walked over to the bed and put on a shirt, hoping to ease her awkwardness.

"I wanted to let you know that I'm leaving, back to my hometown, Bon Temps" she said.

I frowned. "So soon? I thought we wouldn't leave until tomorrow. Didn't you want to check out a couple of other places?"

"I know, but it won't be necessary after all. Eric's already told me who took Bill and he's willing to help me."

I remembered the tall vampire from last night. I remembered his thoughts too. He was pining for her. The way in which he stared at her confirmed my belief.

"And you trust him?" I asked incredulously.

She stared back at me. She didn't.

"Sookie, I don't know… there's just something about this guy that rubs me wrong."

"He has to help me or I won't help him."

"Help him?" I frowned.

She just looked at me without saying a word.

"Help him with what?"

She stared at me for a few moments before narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips.

"You really don't read my mind, do you?"

She shifted the conversation either intentionally or by pure curiosity.

"I refuse to. Those are your thoughts. I'm sure you can understand."

She continued to stare at me with narrowed eyes and smiled. "Well, my, my, you are something" she said, smiling wide and shaking her head as she walked over to the console table, lifting it off the ground and setting it back against the wall.

"Leave that alone, you don't need to do anything. Room service will take care of it." I said.

"The only thing room service is going to do is bitch and complain about what a slob you are and then make you pay an arm and a leg for it."

"They can call me what they want and charge me what they deem fit. I'll accept them both" I said as I scooped up some of the items off the floor.

"So, you didn't answer my question" I said.

Again, she ignored me and instead, asked me a question of her own.

"So… what happened with you and Bella?" she asked casually.

Her name is like a bee's sting and I wasn't expecting to hear it, much less to be asked about her.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked heatedly.

She turned around, a little startled by my tone.

"I'm just asking is all. I mean, you spoke so nicely of her back in Washington and then you turned the poor girl away in tears. Does it have anything to do with…" and she quirked a brow towards the black lace thong.

I glared back at her, making a point with my face. "That is something I wish not to discuss with you."

She frowned back at me, staring at me quietly for a long while before turning back to angle a lampshade.

"He wants me to get some information for him from a church."

"A church?"

Then there was a knock on the door and we both turned our heads towards it simultaneously. I walked over and looked through the peephole and saw a man's chest.

"Your friend is here" I frowned as I opened the door and walked back to the room without looking at him. I really didn't like this guy.

"Are you ready?" he asked in his blasé tone.

"Almost. I'll meet you downstairs" she said.

"I think I'll wait here" he mused. That did it. I turned around, shooting daggers at him..

"You heard her. Now get the fuck out of my room" I glared.

He smiled crookedly but didn't move.

"I will, just as soon as Sookie is ready."

I took a step forward before Sookie jumped in the way.

"STOP IT! " she yelled.

I can't let her tell him anything. I need to get to the bottom of this and find out who she is and how he knows her.

I cocked my head to the side, staring at him questioningly. Sookie picked up on my reaction right away.

Edward don't! Please don't let him know you can read minds.

"Is there a problem?" he asked calmly.

"No, no there is not" she interrupted. "I'm ready to go" she said as she turned and made ready to leave. I grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her back. At the same moment, he was behind me with my head in a deadlock and my neck exposed.

"ERIC!" cried Sookie.

"You do it and I swear it'll be the last taste of blood you'll ever get" I glared.

He chuckled softly against my neck. "I like you. I really do" he mused.

"LET HIM GO! NOW!" yelled Sookie.

"Not until he lets you go" he said smoothly.

I fucking hated that I had to make the first move, but with Sookie prying at my grip, I didn't really have a choice. I let her go and he slowly loosened his hold on me until his arm was completely off of me. I turned around and glared at him.

"You put your hands on me again, I swear it'll be your last" I seethed.

He smiled at me. He fucking smiled at me!. I almost jumped him then.

"You really have no idea who I am, do you?" he asked.

"And neither do I give a fuck" I spat back.

"Edward! Stop it!" snapped Sookie as the blonde fagot flashed a smile at me.

"Let's go. I'm ready to leave now" she said.

"I'm going with you" I said without moving my eyes off him.

She paused and I could see her frowning at me skeptically from my peripheral vision.

"Pardon my asking," he said, "but who are you to Sookie?"

"That's none of your fucking business."

A small smile played on his lips. "It will be" he murmured.

"Eric, would you please wait for me outside?" Sookie asked heatedly.

He stared at me blankly but intensely for a long moment before turning his eyes lazily back to her.

"I'll be just outside the door" he said softly.

I watched him as he walked out the door and left it open an inch. He didn't want me to know why he needed her help and I couldn't question her about it with him looming just a couple of feet away. I wished she could read my mind.

"Edward, you don't have to come with me. I'll be just fine. I really think you should go back home and try to talk things out with Bella."

"Bella will be fine" I said, mentally wincing at the mention of her name again.

"Edward, she needs you. Really. I'll be fine."

Bella.

I turned my eyes to the door where her name came from, frowning as to why he would even note her name. I felt like ripping the part of his brain that registered it.

"I'm going with you" I said again, turning my eyes back to hers.

She stared at me for a moment, and then sighed, surrendering the fight.

"Alright, then. Get your stuff ready. We'll wait for you downstairs." She turned to walk away but stopped just before the door and looked back at me. "Thanks" she smiled.

I turned and packed only my essentials wondering the whole time what it was that Eric wanted from her and why he repeated Bella's name in his head. I suppose I shouldn't give a shit about that second thought, but I did. I hated to hear her name be spoken by him or by any foreign tongue. It was stupid and selfish of me but I truly couldn't help it. At least this trip will put more time and space between me and her and right now, it's exactly what I needed.


Alice's POV:

I couldn't understand what was the reason of Edward's sudden onslaught of dickly behavior. It's as if a fuse went out in his head. What the fuck! I mean, I get that must be hard to try to go back to normal, post-Gabriel, but he wanted this. He wanted her and Lucian. And now, he's turned into a fucking man-whore!

"It's just not fair, Jasper" I said, as he stroked my hair on his lap.

"It's not. You're right. But it's not fair in all directions" he said.

"What do mean?"

"Well, just as it's not fair to Bella, especially after she flew all the way out there, neither is it fair to him to have to have waited for so long."

"For crying out loud, she just had a baby! Do you know how weird that would be to pop out a kid and then hop right into bed with someone else?" I asked incredulously.

"And do you know how hard it is to have to watch the woman you love most, give birth to a child that's not your own."

I give it to him. He made a point.

"I still say he could've gone about it differently. I mean, on his first night there, he goes out and gets laid! And what's worse is that I have to see him in my head. Do you have any idea how disturbing it is to watch your own brother having sex?"

"Like I said… it's not fair in all directions."

I sighed heavily, frustrated with the whole situation.

"Do you think they'll ever get back together?" I asked.

"I hope so. I mean, it's not like we're going to stop talking to Bella. And it's not like he'll ever leave Carlisle."

"He has before… when he left to Alaska when he first met her."

"Yeah, but even then you knew he'd come back. Carlisle made him. Trust me, he won't be able to part from him."

"Well, what about us? I mean, I don't know my creator and yours is dead."

"Alice, I don't want to talk about this, really" he said, frowning.

"Why not? " I asked dubiously. He looked like something was wrong. Like I said something that bothered him. I sat up facing him.

"Jasper? What's wrong?"

He didn't meet my gaze, instead, stared straight ahead to nowhere.

"Jasper?"

"My creator is dead, much to my contentment. However, we don't know who your creator is or whether it was a man or a woman. If your creator ever comes back to you and claims you…" he drifted off.

I understood his silence. He was afraid of losing me. This is why he got so anxious whenever I went away for long. He was always worried I wouldn't come back. I didn't talk about it anymore and I tried to change the subject.

"So… given that I helped turn Bella, she will never leave then" I beamed.

"Wrong."

I frowned back at him. "How so?"

"Edward's venom dominates yours by sex. Him being male and Bella being female, her blood yields to him" he said, taking in my blank expression before adding… "Meaning… Edward is her creator. Whether or not she possesses Gabriel's blood, no matter how strong and unique it may be… it is Edward that is her creator. He can claim her whenever he wishes too. The part that baffles me is that Gabriel allowed it. Gabriel could have easily turned her if he wanted to. His will dominates his every cell of his body. Yet, he stepped back and let Edward be the one to turn her."

I was stunned. Edward is her creator?

"But I thought Carlisle said Gabriel was non-venomous" I frowned.

"Carlisle didn't really know much about him. In fact, no one did. Gabriel kept many things about himself hidden, for whatever reason. But Gabriel's venom is extremely lethal. He was able to turn Charlie in less than an hour, whereas an ordinary vampire transformation can take up to a week. Perhaps it is the reason he didn't use it against anyone. Who knows?"

"But how could he control it, though?"

"Baby, you're talking about a man who was able to control earth, wind and fire and transform into practically anything. He could easily manipulate anything, even that of his own venom."

I thought about it for a while, thinking back to the night we found him, hunched over Bella's lifeless body, his pain so evident as he cried for her. None of it made sense. Why would he not have turned her then, knowing that he could? Why would he step aside and let Edward turn her, knowing that she would be his to claim?

"Does Edward know this?" I asked.

"He knows that he's her creator and he knows that Gabriel is venomous but I'm not sure if he's given thought to my observation, which is why I'm as lost as you are on this whole situation. It's so obvious that Gabriel didn't want to turn her. I just don't get it" he said shaking his head.

We didn't talk about it anymore. We just sat there deep within our thoughts, his back against the headboard and my head on his lap as he stroked my hair. I just couldn't get used to seeing Bella and Edward this way. They were always so close, so in sync. It really pained me to have to see them both going through this. I know he loves her, no matter how many chics he bangs, and I know she loves him, no matter how much she denies it to herself. If only there was a way to fix it for once and for all, to put humpty-dumpty together again.

I began to feel my tension melt away as Jasper moved his fingers to my throat, rubbing little circles on it. He slowly inched his way down to my collar bone, gliding his finger across out twice before slipping his hand under my neckline and working his way to my breast, all the while his calm was in full affect.

"You know," I said, as he circled my nipple with the light touch of his finger tip, "you really don't have to work your charm on me."

"Is that so?" he mused softly, nibbling at my ear.

"Nope" I said, feeling so relaxed.

"I thought you liked it when I soothed you."

"I do, but you can't enjoy it back."

"You're wrong" he murmured.

"Think about it, if you soothe me out so much that I can't really show you just how much I want to please you."

"Turn around" he ordered softly and immediately - I felt his calm retract. I straddled myself over his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. He hung his head back, gazing up at me idly for a long moment.

"God, I love you" he finally said, staring up at me with such awe.

"I love you more" I said, bringing my lips to his. He kissed me softly, sucking at my bottom lip as he glided his fingertips up and down my spine. It was kisses like these that had more effect on me than his calming ability. But then he slid his tongue into my mouth, and it was kisses like these that made me want to combust. He swirled his tongue lazily against mine as I writhed in lap, making him groan in my mouth.

"You're a frightening little monster" he said without leaving my lips.

"That was just the opening act" I smiled, sucking on his bottom lip. He chuckled softly against my lips.

"The stage is yours then. Bring on the show."

And I did just that.


Thank you for everyone who has added my story to thier favorites and alerts. I'm even more flattered by those who've added me to thier favorite authors hall of fame! WoW! I'd love to know what you think of the story so far. Your reviews are very much appreciated.

Thanks again P for not strangling me over my indescicions and last minute toss-ups.

More to follow soon...