CHAPTER NINE

Charlie was waiting for me by the time I got home.

"I suppose I should be grateful that you have some sort of social life," he said as I walked in, sitting on the stairs. "Although I should be disappointed that you skipped school."

"I left you a note," I offered, trying to ignore the stern expression he was giving me. "Angela got my homework for Biology and Geometry, and Erin got my homework for me this morning in English class. I'm only missing my Government homework, and he usually just assigns reading for Fridays."

The police look faltered. "So you're caught up on your homework?"

I nodded. "I'm ahead in English and Biology."

After a moment, Charlie cracked a smile. "Did you have fun?"

"I didn't get eaten by seagulls, if that's what you mean. Jacob was there," I added. Now that I knew he wasn't going to skin me, I headed into the kitchen and began making Charlie dinner. "I guess he knows Mike from the other times they've been out to La Push. I stopped by their store on the way back-- Billy sends his regards and wants to know if you'll call him to go fishing sometime."

"I haven't spoken to Billy in a while," Charlie muttered wistfully. "Maybe I will give him a call. Can I help?"

I nearly bounced with joy as my father came in and helped me make cheeseburgers. Jacob had beaten me at eating hotdogs, considering I'd barely touched the one I'd been given. Charlie managed to not burn them, and we spent the rest of the night watching basketball together. It was a good distraction, and I stayed up long past Charlie in order to get my Geometry homework done. Somehow, I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up with Charlie's old quilt draped over me; I stretched, my shoulders stiff, and wandered into the kitchen to get breakfast.

It was Saturday, but I still called my doctor's office like I was supposed to have done the day before and left a message. I didn't want to even think about going to the doctor, but it was still something familiar and normal… a much better alternative to the other things I had lurking in the back of my mind. After making myself a slice of toast, I went back to the sofa and began to work on my English homework, a paper on Shakespeare. I chose to write about Lady MacBeth's soliloquy in Act I, Scene V, and how it tied in to Shakespeare's attitude toward women. I flipped to the scene, grabbed my pen and doodled absentmindedly in my notebook while I read over the text.

"The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here…"

I sighed, my eyes drawing back to the word 'mortal'. I closed the book and set it on the automan with my notebook, standing up and pacing like I had weeks before. Try as I might, Jacob's story wasn't leaving me alone, and my thoughts kept returning to it. Finally, I gave up and went upstairs, turning on my computer and waiting for it to load. I pulled up my search engine and bit my lip, my fingers hovering over the keyboard. I could still just turn the computer off and forget about it… couldn't I?

Shaking my head, I typed in the word 'vampire' and hit the search button. I was presented with over seventy million hits, and for a second I just stared at the screen. Where to start? Wikipedia, some wine company and a name generator made up the top three hits, and the rest seemed to be about various novels, movies or role-playing games; it didn't look very promising. I clicked on the Wikipedia site and read over it, growing more and more skeptical about any successful research as time went on. It was the same stuff I'd heard over and over before, for the most part-- some sort of dead person who had risen from the grave and was likely just a bunch of crap stemming from a lack of understanding of the process of decay and illnesses like the plague. The usual description was a bloated figure with a ruddy complexion, clad in a burial shroud and possessing long hair and fingernails; they could be killed by chopping off their heads, cutting out their heart and setting the heart on fire, stabbing the suspected vampire through the heart with a stake made of ash, hawthorn or oak wood, and various other complicated, gruesome rituals.

The most interesting part of what I did find was that most vampires were, in fact, women rather than men… which simply cast further suspicion upon the entire idea of vampires in general. I followed a few interesting links and read about the Babylonian myth of Lilitu, or Lillith, who seemed to be one of the first actual 'vampires' and fed on the blood of newborns. Then there were the vetalas, evil spirits from Hindu mythology who possessed corpses who were often sought as slaves by sorcerers and were capable of both killing children and guarding villages. A Roman legend talked about the strige, a blood-drinking creature in the shape of a bird, and a Greek one spoke of the fanged vrykolakas, which apparently applied to both vampire-like creatures and werewolves. Then there was an evil soul from Romanian mythology, and basically looked to be a 'witch' that feasted on the blood or energy of its victims. There were two types, the Strigoi Vii and the Strigoi Morti, the former being a living creature and the latter being an undead one. There was a related entity called the moroi, which seemed to be a phantom, a vampire, a werewolf, or a living child born from two vampires.

There were so many myths from so many different cultures that I couldn't focus on them all. I gave up on Wikipedia and surfed through various other sites, still finding nothing that matched the story Jacob told me nor anything that reminded me of the Cullens. There were plenty of decent sites, even a few about 'real vampires'… people who felt that they were vampires, even if they didn't fit the traditional view of them. Some called themselves 'sanguines', others called themselves 'psychic vampires'. It did seem related to the myths and legends, and I hated to admit that I felt myself getting more and more drawn into this world I never knew existed. It was intriguing and I knew that I would revisit it someday, but it wasn't what I was looking for and so I moved on.

I was about to just give up on the idea altogether in a fit of frustration, but I found one last word that caught my interest. The last link I followed led me to a creature called the dhampire. It was a role-playing website, but I copy-pasted the word into the search engine and found a couple sites-- Wikipedia again, and another site-- that offered up somewhat more legitimate information. Apparently, a dhampire was the offspring of a vampire and a mortal, and although the exact nature and description of them varied as much as any other myth, there were three ideas that immediately attracted my attention. They were sometimes described as being attractive and extremely pale, tall and thin, with dark smudges under their eyes; they possessed extraordinary strength and often became defenders, protecting people from harmful vampires despite the fact that they, too, drank blood.

I leaned back in my chair, staring out my window and towards the forest. I used my toe to click off the computer's power, not bothering to shut it down properly as I stood up and went towards the window. I leaned on the wall, watching the last bits of sunlight; the clouds were rolling in again. I wanted to do something, but it wasn't even ten o' clock in the morning and there was nowhere to go, regardless. Glancing at the woods, I went downstairs and grabbed my jacket, hugging it to my chest and I went across the street and stepped into the trees.

It had been too long since I'd actually taken a walk, and with my heavy, thick shoes, I knew I could brave the slightly muddy path I had found. I focused on the trees, with their rapidly turning leaves. There were reds, bright yellows, browns… I had to hand it to Forks, it was pretty in Autumn. Thanks to my outings with Charlie when I was younger, I could recognize most of the trees and a couple of the plants, although their exact names were lost in my blurred memory. The farther I ventured into the woods, the darker it got; the trees were so thick that when I barely noticed when it began to rain. It was only when I stopped to sit and rest on a fallen tree that I noticed the sudden mist that had moved in and settled among the trees.

Without the safety of the plastic, wood and cement confines of civilization, sitting in this fog-filled forest, it was easier to think. The canopy of branches and floor of moss, dirt and ferns was more of a comfort to me than any church my mother had dragged me to had been, and as I sat, breathing in the cold, crisp and earthy air, I felt my mind began to clear. Unfortunately, it was also within this forest, this timeless place that had seen more seasons than a good portion of the inhabitants that lived around it, that made it easier to believe everything that Jacob had said and the things that I had learned on my own.

Was it possible that the legends were true? Yes, it was possible. It wasn't probable, but that didn't remove it from the realm of possibility. The world wasn't completely explored, nor were all things in this world explained. Even if the stories were exaggerated, in all things there was a grain of truth… which meant that something like that could be out there. It meant that it was indeed possible that the Cullens could be vampires. Did I believe it? It was getting harder and harder not to believe that something was going on, whether or not it had to do with some bloodsucking creature of the dark. And so far, to my dismay, it was the only theory I had that really worked.

I was suddenly angry at myself. How could I let myself believe such nonsense? My mother would pitch a fit if she knew the things I'd been reading about… Charlie probably would, too, even if he was more open-minded than most. If my own parents would freak out on me, then surely anyone else would have me carted off to the psych ward. Trying to get a second opinion was out of the question. All I had was my own iffy mind to try and solve this…

I wouldn't believe it until I had some sort of proof. I refused to confront Edward about it-- I would simply watch and wait. Eventually, something would come up. Until then, I would simply work under the idea that such a thing was one of many options, and take the proper precautions. Until I got proof, I would do nothing but carry on like normal. But even as I decided this, my mind wandered back to Amelia, the girl who'd died in Alaska. What if Edward had actually harmed her? I rubbed my temples, muttering curse-words to myself. No, he had saved my life. Regardless of who or what he really was, he was a good person.

"Damn it," I grumbled out loud as the rain became heavier, finally starting to trickle through the living roof above my head.

Standing, I stepped through the plants and back on to the path, taking note of the direction of my footprints and following them back. I could only see a few feet ahead of me in any direction thanks to the fog. I paused a moment, hearing a noise beyond the fog, then walked faster. I was sure that it was just my imagination, but the level of my panic increased the longer I walked; had I really gone so far into the forest? There were wild animals around Forks, and I'd heard about bears or mountain lions coming down from the mountains before… The rain grew heavier, but it at least cleared away the fog and I glanced around me, making sure that I was as alone as I'd thought. As the end of the trail and my home came into sight, I suddenly smelled something sweet; I looked over my shoulder, wondering what flower would be blooming this time of year.

There was nothing there but ferns and the odd blackberry vine. I blinked, wrapping my arms around myself and stepping out into the street. My panic faded as I walked across the pavement and reached my door, going inside and locking the door behind me. I closed my eyes and took a slow, deep breath before taking off my shoes and jacket, and heading into the living room to finish my English paper. Lady MacBeth seemed just a little less creepy than before.

* * * * *

Mike and Erin dropped by on Sunday to get help… or in Erin's case, give help… with various homework assignments. We managed to explain several English concepts to Mike, and Erin somehow got me to understand a few Geometry terms. Both of them helped me with Spanish, making flash cards out of yellow, orange and pink sticky notes. We ordered pizza and watched some animated show called Code Geass, and I decided that there actually were some decent shows on television.

When Monday rolled around, I had managed to get ahead in Geometry, but I was still miserably behind in Government and Spanish. Erin tried to help me while we drove to school, tossing out random words, but I knew I was going to flunk the Government quiz the teacher had planned for the day, unless I learned by some miracle the full names of the last twenty presidents in about an hour. I slunk to English and at least felt good about turning in my paper early. The rest of that class was spent staring out the window and doodling; I focused on one of the birch trees outside, the wispy, inked branches trailing across my page and turning into obscure symbols within the paper's margins.

The thought of seeing Edward today made my palms sweat. I worked my bottom lip between my front teeth, doodling a pair of flat black eyes peering from behind the tree. I wanted to see him-- I longed to look into those eyes again and perhaps, armed with this new information, see if I could find something about him that I'd not noticed before. I wanted to see his smile. It was stupid to be so eager to be around him, and yet I couldn't get him out of my head.

As lunch drew closer, my anxiety grew. The test in Government added to the stress, and by the time my fourth class released us to lunch, I was a walking ball of strung-out nerves. Jessica seemed to pick up on it, much like Angela had in Geometry class, and she invited me to go to Port Angeles for dress shopping wither her, Angela and Lauren; they were going to leave after school. I was about to refuse, but then we walked into the lunchroom, and my heart broke at the clear absence of any Cullens. Well, there went my day…

"Bella?" Jessica prompted from behind me in the lunch line.

"I'll ask my dad," I grumbled.

My answer seemed to appease Jessica, and I spent the rest of lunch pouting as she excitedly squealed about the dance and the department store. After lunch, I used Angela's cell phone to call my dad on our way to Biology class. He agreed to let me go with the others, and that was the end of that. I sighed, handing the phone back to Angela. My disappointment grew deeper as I saw the empty seat beside mine. I had held out hope that perhaps Edward would show up for Biology, but as the minutes ticked by, that hope faded away.

The rest of the school day was promptly tuned out. I was happy when the final bell rang; some distraction was better than none, even if said distraction involved clothes I'd never think of wearing and Lauren, who looked crabby as usual. We all threw our things into Jessica's trunk and piled into the white Taurus. It would take about an hour to get to Port Angeles, and we would spend a few hours scouring the department store and surrounding shops before getting dinner at a pizza place and heading home. It would be a simple, fun trip to take my mind off the Cullens and off stupid vampire stories.

… At least, that had been the plan.