College is very busy! I will be updating as much as possible, but that may only be once a month until Christmas.
Thank you for your reviews, I will try to take the suggestions and add them to my story.
Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer created the characters, but I took them to Chicago and put them on the stage.
E POV
It has been three long weeks since Carlisle called and I haven't been able to stop thinking about what he said. We are the only competition left standing against The Chicago Outfit. I had a feeling it would come down to this, but never realized that I would have to either stand up to Capone and the entire outfit or slink away in the dead of night, virtually disappearing. Alice doesn't want us to fight, she sees us getting exposed in the inevitable gunfight, bullets deflecting from our chests like they were made of rubber.
Yet I am too proud of a man to wave the white flag and give up all my hard work to one of the vilest men alive. It took all my self control to not drain his blood the one and only time we crossed paths thus far. Al Capone has absolutely no concept of morals or right and wrong. It is a shame that I am considered to be his competition, for I have never thought what I was doing was proper or just, it is only a way to be a success when I cannot go out in the daylight. I am damned just by being what I am, my actions do not matter any longer, Capone chooses to do the wrong and deny his soul the chance for something better.
The four of us have spent many hours, whole days even, discussing what to do and where to go next. Alice is all for staying as long as possible, she is still intent on finding the mates for her and Rosie. She wants us to possibly start working for Capone as an extension of The Chicago Outfit, but I will never do that. I am fine with supplying the people of Chicago with nightly entertainment and drinks but I will not do the other things. The Chicago Outfit is very violent, killing anyone they are not pleased with, bumping off any soul that dares to stand up to them. I may be eternally damned, but I will not kill innocent humans.
Bella, my pacifist, feels like the only way we can get out of this 'alive' is to quietly shut down all the businesses and discretely leave in the dead of night. As I am proud, I cannot find a way to justify this as not being an act of cowardice. I already feel like a coward, choosing to hunt animals in place of humans, I don't think I can just leave my hard work in the dead of night. Bella wishes for us to spend time with Carlisle and Esme, she has some things she wishes to discuss with Esme. I can understand her feelings and motives for leaving so soon, but I don't think its right to just leave. She has been blocking me from her mind when she starts thinking about Esme, so I don't even know what she wants to talk to her about.
Alice hasn't seen a vision of us with Carlisle and Esme, but she hasn't seen us staying her indefinitely either. The few visions of our future are always ambiguous, they could be occurring in any city, no defining features or landmarks are seen.
Rosalie wants to travel, see some different places. I think she is just bored with the Chicago men, but I cannot be sure. Ever since her fiancé nearly beat her to death, Rosie has been careful to keep unattached in her relationships, or whatever the little trysts would be called. Rosalie doesn't care how it's done, she just wants out of Chicago. She would be fine with moving to Seattle for a while, because she truly misses our 'parents.' Ultimately, however, she wants to keep moving, perhaps take their 'shows' to other cities. Seattle isn't large enough to have the same financial success as Chicago, so we would have to move to a more metropolitan area. Recently Rosalie has even been thinking about traveling to Europe for a while. Carlisle still has a few friends who write him occasionally and we could perhaps turn our travels into a big vampire family reunion tour.
"Edward? Are you even alive?" Bella shouts, shaking my shoulders roughly.
"What! How did you sneak up on me Bella?" I shout, completely startled out of my thoughts I honestly can get lost in my own mind sometimes.
"Sneak up on you? I was standing here trying to talk to you for the last five minutes. Is everything alright Eddie?" Bella asks, stroking my cheek with her soft, delicate hand.
I pull her into my lap, something I have grown accustomed to doing in the last month. "I'm sorry Bells, I was just thinking, trying to figure out what to do here. Do we stay or do we go?" I kiss her cheek, breathing in her deliciously floral scent. How I never noticed how sweet she smelled baffles me, but it certainly pleases me to smell her so close to me. "How did I not notice your perfect scent so close by?" I ask, breathing deeper.
"I don't think you took a single breath the entire time. You were sitting here, just staring at the wall, not blinking either. I was starting to get worried and thought I was going to have to call Carlisle or something. Don't you dare doing that again, mister." Bella commands, cupping my cheek in her hand and pulling my face around so she could kiss me.
After two minutes of kissing, I finally stop and pull back to breathe. "You have nothing to worry about, dear. I don't think I can possibly not notice the only girl I have ever been this attracted to. You caught me in my deepest concentration." I kiss her once more, feeling a smile form on her full lips.
"I'm the only girl you have ever been attracted to? Even when you were human, surely there must have been a girl you fancied?" Bella taunts with a smile, snuggling into my chest.
I wrap my arms around her, holding her close to me. "We've been over this so many times, my dear. I don't even think I saw a woman properly until I saw you that day in Minnesota. For the longest time I had convinced myself that I was merely drawn to you as a best friend would be, but that obviously was not working out. I am so glad we finally figured us out." I tell her, kissing her soft hair.
"Figured us out? What is that supposed to mean, buster?" Bella asks, still buried into my chest. Are we officially courting, then? Have you realized that we are mates forever and Alice was right for once? I know you are hesitant about everything because I was unsure earlier, but I have made up my mind. Rather, my being has been changed. I feel so strongly about you, there is no doubt left in my mind. Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, don't worry about anything being 'to fast'. I am ready for whatever relationship you want.
Bella's internal monologue startled me once again. I have never heard her sound so passionate about anything, let alone sound so passionate about me. She was so hesitant and reluctant the first week or two we were together, unsure if she really wanted to be with me, but I realized a long while ago that our relationship has been heading in a more concrete direction. I even caught her fantasizing about getting married. She was quite embarrassed when she heard me laugh in the next room. Needless to say, I was locked out of Bella's mind for several days after that.
"Marry me Isabella Marie Swan?" I ask, not exactly serious, but if she agreed, I would be the happiest man in the world.
"What? Me? Marry you? I thought you wanted a pure wife?" Bella giggles, but her mind closes once again.
"Bella, darling, do not worry about that. What are you thinking of right now?" I ask, gently pulling her face back so I can look into her eyes. Thankfully she stopped feeding on men since we agreed that we had feelings for each other. Her once bloodred eyes are now a rusty persimmon color. It is not exactly appealing but doesn't look as evil as before. A human would think it unique, but not devilish to see this color of eye. "I hate it when you shield your thoughts from me. You should know there is nothing to hide."
"Sorry, I have just been so used to not letting you in for the longest time, the effort I need to go ahead and let you into my mind just gets to be too much sometimes and I let it slip back." Bella says, lifting the shield once again.
Sometimes I forget that she naturally blocks me from her mind, her mental shield protecting her from everything. It was a pure fluke that we discovered that she could do even remove her inner shield at all. "Don't apologize darling. It's not your fault that your gift leaves me out of the loop. Some people would do anything to keep me out of their heads."
In a way, I did do the ultimate deed, didn't I? I traded my life for it. But let's get back to your original question. Do we stay or do we go? I say we go. There is no dignity in staying here any longer. I don't even think I want to dance anymore and the thought of so many men staring at me almost makes me sick. Especially when the only eyes I want staring at this are yours. Bella tells me, gesturing at her figure, running her fingers down her sides slowly.
"You have no idea how happy that sentence makes me Bella!" I tell her, my eyes following the short path she made down her body, a grin curls my lips up involuntarily.
"Actually, Edward, I do. Are you forgetting that I am sitting on your lap?" My blessed Bella giggles, leaning into me.
"Hey you two, keep it down, Rose and I are trying to do our jobs!!" Alice shouts all too loudly from down the hall. Of course she would interrupt us at the worst time.
ALICE! What an aweful cousin you have. Tell her to find her own hobby. Or maybe she can look for the bloke she says is coming for her. Bella practically growls. It doesn't take much to make my ornery, independent Bella angry, but is never lasts long. Hopefully I can recover the mood before anything else happens.
I gently move Bella's hair off her shoulders and push it behind her. I lean down and whisper into her neck, making sure the slight stubble I am permanently stuck with tickles her porcelain skin. "I just tune her out. I think she's quite fun when I don't listen to a word she says. Back to what I was talking about…"
Bella squirms when my stubbly chin scratches her neck. I have found that it drives her completely wild to be tickled in the sensitive area just beneath and behind her ears. I take my right hand and hold her still as I move my face around just a bit more and finally she gives in.
"Edward, you terrible man! How am I supposed to be mad when you tickle me like that? It's just not fair! You aren't even the person I want to be mad at!" She giggles as I twitch my chin one last time before I tenderly kiss her neck.
"Bella!! The Midnight Triplets cannot perform on stage if a third of the act is in some dark bedroom making moves on my cousin!" Allie shouts again all too loud.
"Allie, I thought you wanted me and Edward to be together? Don't you love me?" Bella shouts, getting annoyed again. My Bella, the furious kitten, pushes herself out of my chair and walks to the door.
"Bella, darling, don't do anything rash." I calmly tell her, following her and grabbing her wrist just as she is about to yank my bedroom door off its hinges.
"Bells, you know I love you, but I want tonight's dance to be spectacular. Just in case my man is here today!" Alice shouts, sounding very impatient. Can't you keep it too yourself Edward? As soon as Rose and I have mates, we can quit this whole business for all I care, but for now, I need Bella to perform with us!
"Bella, love, be nice and dance with Allie now. I have eternity to spend with you."
"That's more like it! Bella get your cute tush down here!" Alice shouts, this time in joy. I hear her hopping around the room below.
Bella gives me a quick glare and pecks me on the cheek before running down to the room they use for practice.
I think I made up my mind. The next time I hear of any troubles with Capone, I am going to just sell my businesses to them and we will pick up and head to Seattle for a while. If Alice and Rosie want to stay here, they are grown women, they can do as they please. I am fairly certain Bella will follow me to Seattle, so she can finally discuss whatever it is with Esme.
NOOO!!! You can't leave Rosie and I here!! There has got to be a better choice Edward! I just saw you and Bells packing up and moving in with Carlisle and Esme!
"Alice is something wrong?" I hear Rosie ask, apparently Alice was also gesturing rude things to the ceiling as she was mentally shouting at me.
"Alice is just a very temperamental little woman." I tell them, laying back on my bed, trying to think about how I can tell everyone else my decision.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it is a bit content heavy, but I think it is still enjoyable.
Read and Review, you know what to do!