Charlie finally came home at 7 AM. I hadn't slept at all. When Jake left an hour ago I tried to sleep but my mind wouldn't let me rest. I decided to greet Charlie downstairs.
"Morning, Dad." I chimed.
"Morning." He said with confusion. "What are you doing up so early?"
"I was just gunna ask you the same thing."
"I was at the station. Someone called about a missing persons case and I've been up all night trying to sort out the facts. I called but you must have been asleep."
"Yeah." I responded awkwardly.
"Well, I'm gunna try to get some rest before headin' out again." He said as he walked to his room.
"You can't take a sick day?" I asked.
"I could, but I swore to protect and serve."
"What were you thinking?" I asked sarcastically.
"Well I sure wasn't thinking about the sleep I would be missing." I laughed. "Night, Bells." He said as he shut the door.
My stomach started growling. I walked into the kitchen, went to the fridge and pulled out the half full carton of eggs.
"Need help?" I abruptly turned around to see Emmett leaning against the counter.
"Geeze, Emmett!" I said clutching my chest.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"Charlie is trying to sleep!" I whisper-yelled.
"He is asleep. With visions of killers dancing in his head." He said dreamily.
"Shut up." I said as I closed the fridge. My neck was hot. I remembered seeing a hair tie on the table by the door. I turned the stove on and placed a small frying pan on top of the burning red coils. I left the room to retrieve the hair tie then walked back in the kitchen while gathering all of my hair behind my head. As I walked passed Emmett I heard him gasp.
"What?" I said as I wrapped my hair up in the hair tie.
"Your back... It's..."
"Black. Jacob told me."
Emmett had a look of horror on his face.
"Bella, I'm so sorry." He walked behind me. I could feel his cold breath blowing on my skin then he kissed my left shoulder. I couldn't help but crumble inside.
"It's okay." I choked.
"No it's not... I didn't want to hurt you and that's exactly what I did. I thought I was so careful..."
I turned around. "Emmett, it's really okay. It'll be gone in a week or two. Don't beat yourself up. I'm fine. A bruise is nothing." His expression relaxed.
"Oh, little Isabella. Why do you have to be so fragile?"
"Because I'm human." I groaned.
"Do you wanna change that?" He whispered leaning into my ear.
"Emmett, stop."
"Sorry." He said backing away from me.
"Where did you go this morning?" I said as I grabbed two eggs from the carton and cracked them on the side of the pan.
"Canada." He said casually.
"Yeah, right..." I laughed.
"I did."
I looked at him in shock. "How?"
"Vampires can run really fast. Fast enough to make it to Canada and back in under two hours."
"But you left at like, four." I said as I mixed up the eggs.
"Well I hung out here for a while. I smelled Jacob coming so I thought I'd give you two some time to talk."
"How long did you stay?"
"Long enough to hear him lie to you." He said as he sat down at the kitchen table.
I turned and looked him. "What do you mean?"
"Warewolves are not crafted for killing vampires, they exist to protect humans. When a threat of any kind comes around risking the safety of humanity the warewolf gene kicks in and a new generation of wolves are born."
"So it's hereditary?"
"Yeah. It runs in their blood. Jacob is a direct descendent of the original Quileute warewolves that formed almost two hundred years ago. He is the best their pack has. Too bad he isn't properly educated." He said leaning back in his chair.
"It's a shame. If he actually knew everything about what he was he could tear this place up. In a positive way, of course."
"Maybe you could talk to him." I said with hope and cheer filling voice.
"Yeah, maybe." He said sounding not so cheerful.
I tossed the eggs about in the pan until they were fluffy, white and yellow. I turned the stove off, grabbed a plate from the cupboard and scraped the eggs off the pan onto the plate. I pulled a fork out of the drawer and started eating.
"Do you want toast? I'll make it." Emmett said suddenly sounding peppy.
"We tried that before and it didn't end so well."
"I'll be careful, I swear." He begged.
"I don't really want toast anyway." I said crushing his dream. I finished my eggs and put the empty plate in the bottom of the sink. As I turned around Emmett lifted me into his arms and carried me up the stairs to my room.
"You don't have to do that." I said as he set me on the ground.
"I know I don't have to, but it hurts your... lady region. And it's my fault so I am going to try and make the pain as minimal as possible." I laughed and laid face up on my bed. I felt a tiny gush of wind and Emmett appeared next to me leaning against a headboard that I had never seen before.
"Is this a new bed frame?" I asked.
"I got it in Canada. I put it in when you went downstairs this morning."
"I'm not going to even ask how..." He laughed.
"It's just another bad ass vampire thing." I heard the smile in his voice.
"Do you like being a vampire?"
"Hell yeah!" He exclaimed. "I'm fast, inhumanly strong and I get to see the world change before my eyes. How could I not like that?"
"True." I giggled. "Do you ever miss being human?" I asked.
"Not really. Well, kind of, I guess... I miss being out in the sun. The whole sparkling thing is a little gay." I laughed.
"I don't think it's gay. It's like the sun touching millions of diamonds at every angle. And it's not a blinding light so you can see each individual diamond shining in the light. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." I said running my index finger up and down the inside of his forearm.
"Bella?" He muttered.
"Yeah?"
"You never answered my question." I removed my hand from his frosty skin. "Do you regret it?"
I exhaled hard. "It happened really fast." I couldn't think of anything else to say. I didn't want to answer him honestly knowing that he didn't feel the same way. He didn't have to tell me, I already knew how he felt.
"But do you regret it?"
"I don't know." I muttered. He grabbed a thin strand of my hair and started twirling it around is finger.
"Do you?" I asked.
"Well we can't take it back so there's no point in regretting it." He replied.
"Yeah, but would you take it back if you could?" Anxiety paralyzed me as I waited for his response.
He finally muttered, "No." I buried my face in his ribs so he wouldn't see my gaping smile.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." I said into his shirt. I had never been so happy about being wrong in my entire life.
AN: Voila! Chapter 10 is here. I hope you enjoyed it. Keep up the R&R! And for everyone who is concerned about what Emmett's family thinks just be patient. You'll find out soon.(: I have the most wonderful, yet impatient readers! But that's why I love you(: