Summary: Lyra seems to be attracting the affections of all of the Cullen's, including Jasper (not romantically though). How will Edward handle this and how will everything go wrong?

Rating: T, for language, bad things (not giving anything away) and a teensy bit of violence.

Word Count: ~4.4k. I'm just going to give up on making my chapters under 4k…and the little ~ thing means around that number, for those who don't know.

DISCLAIMER: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight.

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Everybody was wide-eyed, staring at the huge TV screen in front of them in horror. The lights were out and it was dark outside, the sun having long gone below the horizon.

"Every 23rd spring, for 23 days, it gets to...eat."

"Eat?"

"You know what it eats and don't you make me tell you!" Patricia Belcher cried.

"Ooo, it's gettin' good!" Emmett squealed; everybody stared at him with curses in their eyes. He was the only one who liked horror movies, and it happened to be his night to pick.

Ever since the first home-ownable movie came out, the Cullens had held family movie nights, at least they tried to. Of course, as the new technology grabbed their attention, these nights had become few and far between. Recently they had decided to renew this tradition. Or rather, everybody but him had wanted to. They all claimed it would make him closer to Lyra, who was huddled up in the chair with her fisted hands in front of her mouth, utterly absorbed.

Jasper just couldn't keep his mouth shut.

They all sat there, flinching and yelling as the god-awful movie Jeepers Creepers played across their 60 inch plasma screen. Carlisle and Esme were having lovey-dovey time somewhere, so it was just them 'kids' and Lyra.

His family's enthusiasm disturbed Edward; he had told one person who couldn't keep a secret (oh, he would so be getting Jasper back for that) and now everybody knew about his confusing feelings for Lyra. So in their feeble attempts to get him to spill his guts to her, they had converted back to nights of watching movies together (he would get Emmett for that too). But with one modification: Lyra.

It was a little unsettling to see his family so interested in his business, especially when he himself hardly knew what it was, but he was happy to see his family slowly bonding with his affection. She had no idea what they were, who they were, but they all enjoyed being around her and vice versa; even Jasper seemed to have taken a liking to her.

Now the problem was figuring out what was going on in her head, and sorting out his own thoughts.

But right then, he was more concerned about her state of mind. Lyra was one who scared easily, from what he gathered when she called him over that first night, and her near-fetal position was worrying him. Of course she wouldn't object to the movie, because it was what her friend wanted to watch, but sometimes she was too brave. Nightmares would probably make her toss and turn all night.

A particularly gory scene came on and he cringed, as well as Lyra and Rosalie. Alice had seen it coming and was covering her eyes using Jasper's shoulder. His two brothers were the only ones laughing at the blood.

"This is disgusting." Edward stated numbly. He had seen worse, and had been worse, so it didn't really affect him, but it was certainly affecting all the girls.

"This is awesome!" Emmett guffawed.

Edward crossed his arms and continued watching, looking at Lyra every few minutes to see how she was doing. Her thoughts were scared but she was trying to be brave, to tough it out.

Then, as he was staring at her fists, wanting to uncurl them and make it so she wasn't scared, she looked up and met his eyes.

It wasn't like one of those movie moments, were everything happens in slow motion and there's an instant love-at-first-site connection, but the moment she averted her eyes, her cheeks blushed and he decided it was fair to have hope. There could be something there…

As the horribly grotesque movie continued, Edward met her glances a few more times, smiling then smirking as she looked away. Jasper seemed to be aware of his mood, but tried to concentrate on the movie instead.

The credits finally rolled and he jumped up, turning on the lights. Everybody breathed, like they had been entranced and stretched, Lyra uncurling from her ball.

"I'm siding with Edward, that was gross," she complained, flexing her legs to get the stiffness out.

"Too bad, it was my night to pick," Emmett stuck out his tongue childishly and Lyra mirrored him. It was cute when she did it.

"I'm thinking Lyra should pick a movie next time," Jasper said. They all stopped to stare at him; even if he did like Lyra, he had never really been one to talk around anybody but his family.

"Sure," Lyra shrugged casually, but everybody could see her beaming at the thought of being 'officially accepted' into their little group. Edward snorted at the thought.

Lyra hopped up and accepted the water Alice handed her. Since the movie was over and there was still a good hour until she had to go home, Rosalie and Alice whisked her away upstairs. After putting the movies away Edward went up to his own room and took out his newly purchased Bulgarian dictionary. He had been working on learning it and on deciphering whatever she had been saying that night on the phone.

He knew it was an invasion of privacy, but he had to know. His burning desire was killing him. All of a sudden, he wanted to know everything about her language, her culture, the country itself. Before, Edward had just learned languages because they would be useful at some point, like French and Spanish. Italian for the Volturi and Russian for Alaska, when they stayed there. But now, he was learning it because he had too, or at least he felt like he did.

Footsteps rushed up the stairs toward his room and Edward set the heavy book aside to open the door. Emmett came flying through.

"What's got you so excited?"

"I'm bored, wanna play some football with me, Jazz and Carlisle?"

"No, I'm a little busy."

"With what? Fawning over your precious little human girl? Are you finally gonna ask her out?"

"No!" Edward replied automatically, flustered at the thought. He had a problem with words, awkwardness and incoherency when he was around her; the thought of asking her on a date was terrifying.

"Okay, okay, whatever. We'll be at Rainier Field if you wanna join." Emmett was leaving but as he turned, he spied the dictionary on Edward's table. "You didn't."

"I was curious," the seventeen year old defended. It was embarrassing to be caught in the act of language-stalking a girl who was just down the hall.

"Oh my God!" Emmett bellowed and grabbed his stomach. Good thing he didn't need to breath; he would have died from lack of oxygen he laughed so hard. On second thought, Edward wished he did need to breath.

"Shut up," he muttered and grabbed the book of the tabletop, shooing his brother out of his room. As the door shut, he heard Rosalie and Alice saying goodbye to Lyra. Not moments later, Alice was outside his room.

"It's time to bring Lyra home. I'm guessing you want to do the honors." She dangled his keys in his face and he snatched them out of her hand, growling and giving her a dirty look. She poked her tongue out at him and laughed, skipping to the door before him.

As he made his way down the stairs, Lyra looked up from putting on her thin jacket and blushed when she saw the keys in his hand. Rosalie giggled quietly at her embarrassment.

"Rose is working on my car, so Edward will drive you home," Alice lied. The yellow Porsche he had gotten for her as a present was sitting perfectly fine in the garage.

"All right," Lyra said softly and walked through the door as he opened it for her. Rose and Alice laughed so Lyra wouldn't hear and he turned to scowl at them.

"Have fun," Alice chimed suggestively and then they were out of sight.

It took 15 minutes to get to Lyra's house; she had noticed his attraction to speed and freaked out at him to slow down. Since she wasn't exactly aware of what he was, and how unlikely it was that they would crash or even get caught, he slowed down so he was ten miles above the speed limit.

"I've driven like that with you in the car before you know."

"Yeah, well I didn't notice it then," she chided.

They arrived at her house and finally a girl waited for him to open their car door before they got out. Whenever he had tried to be chivalrous with Esme or Rosalie, when they were first turned, they either turned it down or shooed him away, Rose not being very nice about it. But Lyra just smiled hugely and watched him as he made his way around the car at a human speed. He gave her a little mock bow as he opened her door.

As she took his hand they both looked at her fingers intertwined with his. A strange thrill ran through him at her touch; not like the electricity that had buzzed in the air when he was with Bella, but something that made him feel more…connected to her.

"Thank you for driving me home," she whispered, her pink face looking down at the ground. His hopes soared at that, and suddenly he was confident in his plan to ask her for a date. Just not tonight…

"You're welcome." He replied. "You'd better get inside; it's late. I think I can see your mother waiting for you," he joked, even though her parents had noticed the headlights of his car flash through their windows.

"Yeah, I'll see you later. Tell your siblings I had fun." He nodded and she walked off, her heels clicking on the pebbled concrete of her driveway. His eyes were drawn to how she walked, how it made her hair sway and how her dress fluttered with the wind…

He waited until she was inside before he flashed around into the driver's seat and drove home, more ecstatic than ever.

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Later that night, as Edward was duteously studying to up his Bulgarian skills, Jasper's thoughts caught his attention.

I wonder why we're all so drawn to her…it's strange, vampires being friends with a human. I feel so…connected to her. Is that weird? I've never felt this way before but then again I've never really had a friend before either… his thoughts trailed off into his inner musings, like usual.

Edward frowned at Jasper's speculations. Lately, he hadn't really been paying attention to his family's thoughts that much. How many other things had he missed? Nobody else in the house was thinking of the human girl, so why was Jasper?

"Jasper," he called out softly. Immediately, his honey blonde brother was leaning against the open door frame.

"I assumed you heard that?" he asked.

"Yes."

"…You're not mad…" Jasper concluded, tasting the atmosphere with his ability.

"No, I'm not mad. Just curious." Edward tilted his head and smiled a bit, showing he had no ill intentions. Jasper's eyes widened the tiniest bit and then he chuckled into his hand.

I'm surprised. With Bella, if any of us even when near her you went batshit crazy. What's different about Lyra?

"You tell me." Edward replied. He had called Jasper here, so he was going to get answered first.

I don't know. None of us do really. She's like a magnet; she pulls people in. There's just something about her personality, her emotions. I guess that's it: I feel…connected to her because she's more in touch with her emotions than most humans. More controlled too. He felt very relieved about that part in particular.

"Yes, I can understand that." He snickered as Emmett's loud and annoyed thoughts punched into his head; he could tell they were having one of their silent conversations.

"I can see that," Jasper nodded to the dictionary in Edward's lap. "You seem awfully intrigued by her."

"I don't know how to explain it…this whole thing is different than it was with Bella, but I can't exactly pinpoint how."

"Well, when you figure it out, let me know." Jasper turned and left, ending their little chit chat, leaving his brother to his own devices.

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It had been three days since the movie night and Edward was starting to get worried. He had texted and called Lyra at least ten times, each getting more anxious than the next. Alice and Jasper had both decided to go off on a little love trip to Vegas the night before, so Alice wasn't available to tell him what was going on. Neither of them were answering their phones.

Edward was sorely tempted to go to her house and check, to make sure she was all right. Carlisle and Esme had talked him out of it, saying that if she wanted to talk she would and that it had only been a few days. Emmett had told him to chill out, since Lyra wasn't a 'vampire stalker that didn't need sleep', so she wasn't bound to be concerned about him all the time.

That just made it worse. This urge to go run to her became stronger than it ever had been when he was with Bella. He was protective of Lyra, since she was damaged so much already. She had told him, perhaps not verbally, but physically, that she was afraid to be alone. Memories haunted her that she couldn't get rid of, and he didn't want her to suffer through those or anything like them ever again.

So on the fourth day, and still no answer, he finally decided to leave and check. He would come back feeling like an idiot.

He made it to her house in five minutes, going 110 mph the whole time, nervousness overtaking him. Could vampires have anxiety attacks? It felt like he would. He couldn't lose the girl he liked, loved, whatever, a second time. Once was more than enough.

When he saw that there were cars in her driveway he slowed down and quickly parked, hoping out and running at a human speed, in case of neighbors, to the door.

It was her brother who answered, surprise on his face when he saw the boy on his doorstep.

"Oh. Hey; it's Edward right?" he asked, pointy his finger at him. His accent wasn't nearly as heavy as the rest of his family's were.

"Yes. I'm looking for Lyra, is she here?" Thankfully he kept the panic out of his voice.

"Oh, she didn't tell you? Well, I guess she didn't have time to; our mom yanked her off to some Russian ladies etiquette retreat to help her teach all the young chicks how to be girls and stuff. I've tried to call her but they get horrible service out there." Oh. Well, he felt stupid.

"Then where's her car?"

"Our mom tends to overcompensate. She thought it would be 'fun' to haul half her closet with her and the whole grocery store too, so Elyria had to drive herself. They should be back in three or four days."

"…Who?" Edward asked, confused.

"Elyria," her brother replied slowly, like it was obvious. "Lyra is just her nickname. Her full name is Elyria."

"Oh…" she had never mentioned that either. "Thanks. Well…I guess I should be going then." He excused himself and apologized to the boy for his interruption, heading back to his car. As he drove he thought about this new piece of information.

Elyria. That was a very odd name. It had a certain ring to it, and the more he thought about it, the more beautiful it became. It was unique, even for a European name, a foreign one. He liked it, and would be certain to call her that, just to see her reaction.

As he drove home, he smiled happily as he imagined what her face would look like.

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But as the days wore on, and Lyra's return date passed, there was nothing. Three days turned to five, five turned to eight. Alice and Jasper still weren't home and still couldn't be reached so he was on his own. Even Esme and Rosalie were starting to worry.

"Maybe she got held up at that camp or something?" Rosalie offered unconvincingly.

"I doubt it. I think something's wrong, this can't be right. I've tried to reach her and her parents through the house phone, but nobody is answering."

"If you're so worried, go check it out again. I'm surprised you've lasted this long," Emmett teased. Edward bit his tongue, not wanting to make Rosalie or Esme even more upset.

"Fine," he hissed and grabbed his keys.

The same as last time, within minutes he was parked at Lyra's house. But something was different; as he drove up, there was a kind of thickness in the air, a tension. It seemed to envelop the whole neighborhood.

Edward got out of his car and quietly shut the door, not wanting to send a loud noise into this quiet abyss of houses. He made his way to the door and was about to ring the bell when he heard someone inside talking.

"What are we going to do?" the voice was deep but familiar; probably Lyra's father.

"I'm so sorry. There was nothing we could do," said a different voice.

"How could you let this happen?" a younger voice shouted and Edward heard the sounds of a racing heartbeat and clothes ruffling, like the angry voice had shoved someone else. It sounded like her brother.

"I'm sorry!" her mother shouted. "How could I have known this would happen? It wasn't my fault!" Edward was confused now; what wasn't her fault? What was going on?

"Yes it is! If you hadn't had to bring all your stupid clothes Lyra would have been in the same car as you and she wouldn't have died in that crash!"

At those words, Edward froze, his hand bending the doorknob into a scrunched up ball.

Died? Who? Lyra? No, that couldn't possibly be right! She had been with her mother…

But then he remembered her brother's words.

"Elyria had to drive herself…"

"…Lyra would have been in the same car…"

She hadn't been heard from for over a week, everybody was upset, there was a medical guy there…this wasn't a joke.

It was all making sense. It was all making horrible, horrible sense. Lyra was…dead?

Lyra was dead.

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Black and white surrounded him. It was all he saw; the color was leached from everything as he drove around the city aimlessly. Even though it was probably one in the morning, he still only saw black and white. Nothing, everything colorless.

Matching his broken heart.

He was a fool. He should have never gotten involved with her! Humans were fragile, extremely so, he knew from experience. How could he have been so stupid?

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he knew who it was. Probably Esme or Carlisle, calling to see where he was. They didn't like him staying out late.

For once, as he drove down his long driveway and the giant house loomed into view, Edward did not feel the release he usually did. This was supposed to be a place where they didn't have to hide, to keep up their human façades, but now he didn't really care either way.

The voices of his family conversing reached his ears as he parked and walked up the steps to the doors.

Why's he so slow? Emmett thought grumpily. He was angry, irritated over something, but Edward didn't care about what.

Where has he been? Esme thought, her motherly tone leaking into her mental voice. This made Edward vaguely wonder what Jasper would be thinking, or feeling, in this situation.

Finally he made it through the door and Esme rounded the kitchen corner to scold him for being back so late when she saw his face.

"Edward…honey, what's wrong?" All the voices stopped and everybody came to look at him as he dropped his keys in the bowl and put his jacket on the coat hanger.

Walking past all his family members, he went straight to the couch and slouched back into the squishy leather cushions.

"Edward?" Carlisle asked, strong worry in his voice.

Is he going into shock? He seems like he is…I can't tell…can vampires even go into shock?

Edward just shook his head at his father. Carlisle sat down and put his hand on his son's arm.

"Son, what's wrong?" They all leaned in like he had gossip to share. They probably thought it was some trivial drama. Emmett in particular thought Lyra had rejected him and he was moping. Boy was he wrong.

"I went to Lyra's house and someone was there." They waited. "He said…he said…". Bending over, he braced himself on his knees and rubbed his eyes. How he wished he could cry.

"Darling it's okay," Esme rubbed his shoulder soothingly, guessing the same as Emmett now. He smacked her hand away harshly, standing up and glaring at them all.

"No it's not! Don't you get it? She's dead! Lyra. Is. Dead!" He stormed up to his room, leaving his shocked family to wallow in their thoughts.

Dead? No…no, she can't be! This can't happen again, not to Edward! Esme was thinking.

Oh God…, where his brother and father's synchronized thoughts. Only Rosalie was thinking close to the same things as him.

No, no, no! Not her! She was the one human who didn't deserve this! There must be some mistake, there has to be!

How he wished she were right.

Through Rosalie's eyes, he could see them all look at each other, some sad and some confused. They were all contemplating whether or not they should go up and console him. He growled in warning; it seemed he no longer had control over his actions or his emotions. He was suddenly glad Jasper wasn't here; he wouldn't like to think of what would happen when Jasper was affected by his raging emotions.

In the far corner of his room, he curled up and hugged his knees close to his chest. It was like Bella all over again, except this time, he felt completely empty.

He had still had room in his heart for someone after Bella left, even though he had doubted it would ever happen. Then Lyra had waltzed into his lived and everything became centered around her; even his family was focused on her whenever she was around!

So this time, when he lost the one he loved, it hurt a hundred times more than Bella. Alice had been right, that night at the ponds. When Bella left, it proved there was something better out there and he had finally found it, just to have it taken away. He hadn't even known her all that well, and she didn't really know him, yet it hurt worse than when Bella ran out of his life.

Now he was an empty void, his hard skin the shell of the person that was once there.

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Jasper and Alice returned a few days later. Alice had collapsed into Rosalie as they mourned the loss of their friend and Jasper had just stood there, utterly surprised. For all of them, the one human they had actually befriended was gone.

Carlisle had tried to console them all, even though he was saddened too. He had said that all humans died, because their lives were so short.

Edward had never harbored any violent urges towards any of his family, save Rosalie and when he was first turned, but right then he wanted to smack his father clear across the room. Yes, all humans died, but Lyra was different and it hadn't been her time. She had been seventeen for God's sake! Her life had been filled with pain and horrible things, then when it's all starting to turn around for the better, she dies? It wasn't fair!

Sensing his foul mood, Jasper suggested they all give him some alone time. Save Carlisle, who went back to work, they all went hunting and went to play some baseball in Rainier Field. It was a wise decision.

His family only came back twice, to get some fresh clothes. They had run far into Canada, busying themselves to give him some time to gather his thoughts and emotions. Carlisle came in, went to find his family, then came back to go to work at the hospital.

One the fourth day of being alone, Edward decided he would have to hunt if he were to be presentable when his family got home. He went out for a quick run, not far from home and drained three deer and a small bear before he was satisfied. He may have taken some of his anger out on the poor animals and had to rinse his hands in the river flowing through their yard before he went bad inside.

But as he walked through the door, he could tell something was off.

"Guys?" he called. Perhaps his family had come home. There was no answer.

Now wary, Edward slowly walked around the kitchen corner into the living room. There was nothing there.

Then his nose picked up a scent that was strange, unfamiliar, yet distinctive.

He turned around and stared into a pair of glowing crimson eyes.

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Muah hahahahaha! What will happen next? And please, if you have any idea, don't say it in a review where others can see it, if you're dying to know or want your suspicions verified, PM me and don't ruin it for others! There are so many possibilities, I want people to be in suspense, hence the cliffhanger.

And yes, I know Edward gives Alice the Porsche in Eclipse, but this follows a different story line remember? And the Cullen's house is different in my mind than in the movies, in case you were getting confused by the lay out I've been describing…

The little Jasper bit was for you, hitorijinsei3! I tried…

By the way, if any of you don't know what Jeepers Creepers is, don't go watch it. It's disgusting and really bad…God, that was 90 minutes of my life that I'll never get back…

R&R

-cally (^o^)