Answers

I didn't scream when she fell and I don't know why. Perhaps I was still waking up or perhaps I was just used to all of the antics. Either way, I did not scream but rather gasped and darted to the window. My hands gripped the rail, making tiny squeaking sounds on the smooth paint, and I leaned outside. It took a few moments and some serious squinting for me to finally adjust to the darkness but finally my vision cleared and I could see Alice standing at the base of the tree, looking up at me. She waved for me to come down and I almost shouted down at her but remembered Charlie was in the house. Alice must have noticed my hesitation for she smiled and pointed towards the back door. I nodded and she started walking away. As soon as she disappeared around the house I turned to race down the stairs, only to notice that my shoes were off. They weren't far, just a few feet from my bed but I couldn't remember taking them off. Maybe Charlie had at some point. I sat back down on my bed and as I began to lace up my sneakers, I felt a strange feeling creep over me.

Memories of Alice growling and grabbing my wrist were suddenly thrown into view. The feeling sent a shiver up my spine and I quickly straightened to make it go away. Alice wasn't a cruel person and I knew that. Or I knew that as of now. But, there was definitely something different, something more primal about her. And that was…intimidating to say the least. If we were going with my previous theory I was about to go gallivanting off with a vampire into the woods. I was the B horror movie slut that everyone loved to scream at for being an idiot. I knew it, and I was going to head out that door anyway. The allure of answers was all too appealing… especially since I'd been feeling so ignored lately in my questioning. I stepped lightly down the stairs, my ears tuned to any noise coming from upstairs. Thankfully there was none and I grabbed my jacket off of the kitchen chair before heading outside. Rather than waiting in the shadows to jump out and scare me like I half-expected, Alice was standing in plain sight when I came out. She smiled nervously at me and I returned it before shutting the door behind me.

"Is that jacket going to be enough?" she asked softly as I turned to her. I looked down at my windbreaker and shrugged.

"I'm fine right now."

Alice nodded with wide eyes and shoved her hands in the pockets of her own jacket. "Well…let's get a move on then. My car's just through this path here." She motioned with her hand and began walking. I followed with a quickened pace and was able to catch up with her easily. Though we were walking side by side, we weren't really walking together. Alice was very clearly off in her own head and I was completely absorbed in my own thoughts. This whole ordeal seemed a bit off to me. Sort of like I was in a dream but I knew I was dreaming or something. I didn't even know how to put all of this into words so I just walked, listening to our feet crunch beneath us.

Before too long the small path we were walking down opened up and revealed to us a stretch of highway. I looked behind me as we came upon it, wondering how I had never known of this path just behind my house. Perhaps it had been made since I'd last been here. It made sense, as it had been years. Either way I'd definitely have to explore said path more thoroughly later. A small tinkling of metal brought my attention back forward and I looked back just in time to see headlights flash in front of me. Had the headlights of this car not flashed I probably would have walked smack dab into the thing. It was a sleek black that blended perfectly with the evening. I tried to make out the subtle silver making of the car but it was too dark.

A hand was placed on the small of my back and I jumped as Alice quickly pulled away. "S-sorry," I gasped as I quickly worked at calming myself down. Alice shook it off and motioned to the car.

"Let's just get in. It's, you know, cold out."

I nodded and felt my way around to the passenger side. The door opened silently and I slid in, noting the comfort of the seats. This car was mega nice. The dashboard lights were on and I knew that one glance to the steering wheel would let me know just how nice the car was. Even as I slowly began to peek over there, a part of me didn't want to look. I knew it was because of my own slight jealousy but I couldn't help it. Chicks and cars or something…. Ah, an Infinite, not too shabby of a car at all. I scoffed to myself as Alice slid into the driver's seat and sat cross-legged. She glanced at me and ran a hand through her short hair to scratch the back of her neck.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, sending me a nervous look. I shook my head quickly.

"No, I was just…scoffing."

"Usually, people scoff at something."

"Yeah…well…I just scoff randomly."

Alice blinked a few times, then shrugged incredulously. "Good to know, I suppose. Speaking of," she paused and turned to face me, her tiny frame easily fitting in the luxury seat, "what would you like to know?" I glared at her for a moment, trying to see if she was lying. But, like always, I couldn't read the girl. So I settled for trusting her word, which probably wasn't the best idea but it was all I had.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Okay…um, who are you?"

"Alice Cullen," she laughed. I smiled in spite of myself and quickly tried to keep my not so intimidating scowl. Alice seemed to have noticed for her grin widened just a bit.

"Um…what, are you?"

"What do you think I am?"

"You didn't say you'd be asking questions."

"Quid pro quo, Clarice," Alice answered in a voice that was way too convincing as Hannibal Lector.

"Okay…that's just scary," I said, looking over my shoulder and half expecting a severed head to face me. Alice laughed again and shrugged.

"It's just…I've never really been open before. It's kind of hard for me to say, you know? But, I think it'll be easier if you just give me your guess."

I opened my mouth to protest her. In all honesty I was a little embarrassed too. 'Hey, Alice, I totes think you're a vampire' didn't seem like it would go over well except in a mental institution. But just as I was about to speak, Alice shook her head, as if I'd been thinking aloud.

"You're not wrong, Bella. Just say it."

I sighed, feeling the color rush to my cheeks. "Fine, I might maybe think that you have…vampire tendencies or something." Out of habit I shut my eyes, looking away. I could feel Alice's eyes on me but couldn't hear anything. My heart began to beat loudly and I was going to scoff at myself but decided against it due to our previous conversation. Alice still had not said anything. This was really fucking painful. I should learn to keep stupid admissions to myself. I should learn to just not be an idiot also but that just didn't seem to be in the cards.

"Your cheeks are fuming again," Alice said finally. "They do that a lot." I laughed nervously and placed my hands on my cheeks.

"Thanks for noticing."

"I didn't say it was a bad thing. Well…it's kind of a bad thing, but that's not the point."

"What are you talking about, Alice?" I looked up, rather angry now and was met with sympathetic eyes. Alice gave a nervous laugh of her own and shrugged.

"Yeah…I'm a vampire."

"No you're not."

"Excuse me?"

"No you're not."

"I think I'd know."

"Come on, Alice! It's not cool to mess with people like this. Don't you think I'm embarrassed enough?" I shouted, slapping my hands against my legs. Either logic or denial had taken over my thoughts and while I thought uttering the words would make me feel better, they just made everything worse. I could feel my self confidence, what I had left of it, dwindling away and images of what the next day at school would be like. I'd be classified as that freaky chick that was way too into Asian stuff and thought I was a fairy from Narnia or something. It scared me. I was used to being an outcast, but not necessarily a freak.

A pale hand appeared on my leg and gave it a gentle squeeze. I forced myself to look at Alice and when I did, she made no reaction to my attention. She simply looked at me. At first, I didn't know what to make of it. It was her turn to respond according to the basic rules of conversation, or in this case, accusation. But no…she was just staring at me. "You know, it would really help my sanity if you said something," I muttered finally, sick of all of this Kubrick shit.

"I'm trying to think of what to say actually. I'm usually pretty good with words but…" Alice drifted off, looking out the window into the ill-lit road. "I mean, I can't contradict what you say. I don't know what you want to hear that won't result in me lying." She looked back at me and I compared her ashen skin to the dark interior of the car. They were so starkly opposite that Alice appeared almost fluorescent in front of me. It was strange and even hurt my eyes a bit. I focused on the odd looking bags under her eyes to keep my vision from blurring.

"So…you mean to tell me that I am right. You're a vampire?"

"Yes. We, my family, have never disclosed this secret to anyone before so I'm sorry if it's not going well."

"Your whole family consists of vampires?"

"Yes, every one of them."

"So…what's your definition of vampire? Is this some weird religion like Wiccan or something?" Alice laughed, the sound filling the car and I relaxed a bit at the sound.

"If only it was that easy. We are the standard Nosferatu and Dracula type vampires, save for a few differences."

"So you…drink blood."

"Yes." Alice's voice was lower than a whisper but in the silent car I heard it perfectly. So, assuming that she wasn't pulling my leg, this girl was a predator. And I was sitting in her car. Smart move, Bella, really. I licked my lips, unsure of what to do or say next? I mean, what did someone do in this situation? Run, scream, ask more questions? Well, I was filled with questions and skepticism…might as well wear both of them out.

"Is there any way…without causing harm to anyone, that you can prove it to me?"

"Prove what?"

"Prove that you're…what you say you are."

Alice looked at me sideways and motioned to her lap. "You need more proof than the mere fact that I'm walking?" I took a deep breath and studied her hips. Alice must have noticed for she proceeded to swivel them in her seat, as if to show me how functional they were. I watched them, feeling a strange sensation enter me as I did so. And yes, that movement was crazy…crazy. But it wasn't enough. I had a feeling it was going to take a bit of effort before I was completely sold on this vampire thing. So I nodded to her and she sighed, looking around the car for something to prove her point. She ended up pulling out a pen from the center console and clicked it open. She held the pen up for me to focus on, then, faster than I could even hope to see, drove the pen into her other hand. I gasped, my hands flying to my mouth. But Alice merely shook her head and opened her hand. Inside lay the pen. The opening was cracked into a few pieces and the ink tube was completely bent. Alice held up her hand and I noticed that there wasn't a single blemish on it.

"When we die…our body hardens after death. Lack of oxygen or liquids or something, I don't know. I've never really asked. That's why the trucks, while painful, weren't really threatening. It was sort of the equivalent of being sandwiched between to varsity footballers running at full speed. We also heal wonderfully quickly. I don't know why either. One of the mythical traits I guess."

"Shouldn't you…like, know what's going on with your body?" I asked, somewhat incredulously at the vague answers. Alice shrugged, tracing the steering wheel of the car with one finger.

"Probably, but do you know why your skin is squishy and loose? Or why your body heals so slowly or how it heals?"

"Not off the top of my head."

"Exactly."

"But…you weren't always…this way. Wouldn't you, like, wake up with one big 'what the fuck?'"

Alice giggled again and when she smiled I studied her mouth. No fangs. But in some stories and such that I'd read, they were retractable, such as a snake. "Personally, I don't remember anything from my human life. This is all I've known. And like I said, we've never had to explain this sort of thing before. You're taking this very calmly. Are you still skeptical?"

"I'm just…in a sort of shock, I guess. And probably still skeptical, yeah. Course, I probably will be for a while. Do you have fangs?"

"Sadly, no. I've seen them in movies and they look like they'd make things easier but no. Our strength and canines are what break the skin generally."

"So where did the fang thing come from then?"

"I don't know. Like I said it makes perfect sense. We're just poorly designed."

"Quite. You're hardly a vampire at all." The both of us laughed at that and I felt another wave of ease washing over me. This…all around weirdness was becoming more and more bearable. Alice was right, I was taking this calmly. In spite of myself, I felt just a little bit proud of myself at that admission. Alice took a bit of a deep breath and I watched her torso rise in the intake.

"So…you can breathe." Alice exhaled, nodding.

"Yes, though we don't have to. No circulation or anything. It helps to look more normal and such and it's a bit of a habit."

"Ah, cool,"

It was quiet for a moment after that. Both of us were clearly struggling in the silence. But I wasn't sure of what else to say. Alice kept glancing at me expectantly and I met her eyes with question. A car passed by on the lonely street and I squinted into the headlights. Alice reached over and pulled down the visor which helped significantly and I thanked her.

"So, are you not going to ask me the most basic question?"

"Which is?" I asked, playing with my hands.

"How we…satiate ourselves?"

The blood rushed to my cheeks again, followed quickly by my palms. Alice looked as if she either wanted to smile or cry but I couldn't tell which. It was starting to get eerie again. The dark highway in a nice car in the middle of the woods. It was just like in the movies. I was going to ask what she ate, she would respond with 'me' and then leap on me and take my life. Perhaps that's why I'd refrained from asking. I didn't want to give her the buildup to the kill. I glanced over at her one more and she seemed innocent enough. Not that that meant anything at all. Innocence was probably all part of her plan. But either way, I was already stupid enough to come out here. Might as well get the answers before I met my death.

"Okay…how do you satiate yourself?"

Much to my surprise, Alice looked extremely relieved and leaned in a bit closer to me. "We don't prey on humans. Like you, we only eat animals."

"Humans are animals."

"Fine, technical, we only feast on animals of the non homo sapiens species."

"Oh, well, that's cool then. Glad I'm not going to be eaten."

"Did you think I was going to eat you?" Alice's face fell after her question and I kicked myself in the head, mentally of course. All of this was clearly a sensitive topic and I was just slandering it. Way to go.

"I…no, I didn't. I'm sorry, Alice. I didn't mean it like that," I said quietly, looking down at my jeans.

"Well, if you didn't mean it, don't look so forlorn." I looked over and she gave me a comforting smile before adjusting her shirt. It was a cute shirt, I noticed. Hugged her nicely and showed off her cleavage. Not that I was looking, mind you. "So," she began, breaking my staring, "do you have any more questions?"

"Well, I'm sort of going to take this in stride, if that's okay with you. But I do have one more question."

"Shoot."

"Why did you decide to tell me?"

Alice's eyes narrowed at this and she furrowed her brow curiously. "Because you're a persistent little thing. The family was starting to worry that you'd lose it if we didn't come up with something better than the little white lies we'd been feeding you. And…I might perhaps enjoy your company too much to push you away forever." I smiled at that but couldn't dwell on the comment for too long. Because soon after she spoke her expression to one of dire seriousness. It was a little bit intimidating actually and I felt myself leaning away from her as she spoke again. "But, Bella, this is serious. If we're found out, we'll have to move and no one wants to do that until necessary. So, if you could keep this under wraps, it'd be appreciated. Not so much as writing it in your journal, if you keep one."

I nodded, then gained a mischievous look of my own. "You should know if I keep a journal, Alice."

"I should?" I blinked once slowly and she got my meaning. Her eyes darted from side to side nervously and she crossed her arms.

"You don't keep a journal. I'm…sorry about that, Bella. It was dreadfully intrusive and if you feel the need to berate me or something, I accept it fully."

"No, there's no need for that. But, why did you allow yourself to get caught? You're obviously sleuth and speedy."

Alice licked her lips and smiled as if she held a precious secret. It was a smile that I didn't altogether trust yet didn't fear. It was…fun. "I suppose that there was a part of me, the bad girl part of me, that wanted to be caught by you. I know that sounds horribly perverse and I probably am horribly perverse but that's the best explanation I've got. I'm sorry…again. And I'll continue to apologize until…ever."

"It's okay, Alice. I'm glad you told me. Though…I still don't get why?"

Alice sighed, throwing her eyes to the ceiling as if it held the answers. Then she leaned forward to where we were just a few inches apart. And when she spoke, she spoke in a whisper like an excited child. "There's something…fascinating about watching you, or any other human I imagine, sleep. You're so…uninhibited and beautiful and so completely human. I mean, you, for instance, stretch very languidly, mumble and make the most glorious facial expressions. It's a beautiful thing to watch.

I blushed at the mentioning of the adjective and Alice laughed once more, placing her own hands on my cheeks. "Now, you do have to work on that. While we don't prey on you, that doesn't mean that you're not appetizing. And all of this blood rushing does not help cravings." I nodded and she smiled, rubbing my cheeks slowly until I felt the heat disappear. When she let her hands drop, her face stayed in the same spot just inches away. I made sure to breathe through my nose, we were that close. Alice seemed to be studying my eyes and I tried my best to hold contact with hers. Not that it was hard, they were so stunningly golden. And she really was so pretty. Looking at her wasn't all that much of a problem, even if I felt a little weird doing so. This whole ordeal was just off. I didn't like it. But I liked being with her. Lesser of two evils, I supposed.

"You're very interesting, Bella Swan," Alice said after a few more seconds. I took this opportunity to lean back a ways and scoffed.

"Yeah…I'm the interesting one. Says the vampire."