Edward's P.o.V.
The thunder rumbled irately, chasing after the quickening raindrops. The sound of a bus driving off onto the road was in the background—Bella's bus had left without her. It was just as well, because in her present condition I don't think she could have gotten on it without causing a panic.
She was hyperventilating wildly, her eyes wide with the scene before her. Her hand crushed mine with her grip, presumably strengthened by fear.
I wasn't as shocked as she was. I wasn't an emotionless jerk, but I was so used to seeing death wreak havoc with mortals that it wasn't something I blinked about anymore. I remember sitting in my death class in purgatory—Professor Celestina forced us to stare down from a cloud at humans dying in battle, dying of old age, getting murdered, committing suicide and other forms of unpleasant ends.
I was, however, more concerned about my friend.
Ra was wrapping his arms around Isis's body, his wings seeming to wither down to the muddy pavement with despair. Her blood was washing away with the cold water.
Suddenly, something heavy slumped against me. I snapped my head to the side and looked down on Bella, who was sinking to her knees. Grabbing her before she hit the ground, I was surprised to discover that she had fainted. I gently laid her down on the warm carpet of the car next to us, the doors still open from when Mike tried to drag her in there.
My knuckles ached angrily, begging to get another go at him while he was unconscious. After what he did to Bella he didn't deserve to live. My eyes darted towards the place I had left him.
Clearly, he was still knocked out. He was motionless, almost as still as Isis was. I should have been satisfied about that.
But I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Something wasn't right . . . there was an abnormally dark aura around him. It felt dangerous, wicked. Possibly even blood thirsty. But it defiantly wasn't friendly, that was for sure.
I frowned and decided to push that thought to the back of my mind—I had more important things to do, like comforting my friend. As I turned my back from him, I could have sworn I saw his eyes open wide, red with something demonic. Chilled to my stomach, I glanced back at him again. His eyes were shut; he was still out cold. Maybe I was seeing things.
But still . . . I couldn't help but leave that nagging image in line sight.
Ra didn't look up at me as I lightly put my hand on his shoulder. Under my palm he shuddered with each gasp. I sat beside him, careful not to sit on his feathers or Isis's feet.
"Ra . . . its okay . . ." I tried to comfort him. He shook his wet, dark hair, sniffling. He brought Isis closer to him and whimpered.
"Seriously, she's in a better place now," I said softly. "She might get into just as much trouble as we did in purgatory! We had a blast there, remember? That's where we met, after all. She'll be happy there—and besides, your duty is completed! She died before you could get her to truly believe, but I'm sure . . . that . . ." I struggled, getting discouraged. Ra had finally looked up, and I wasn't so sure that I didn't prefer talking to his hair.
Have you ever looked into the face of someone genuinely broken? It's like staring into the eyes of someone without a soul, as if the soul had been sucked out before them and devoured. Now imagine your best friend in that same position. Imagine them with tears running freely down their face as they looked up at you. Imagine your best friend saying to you in a crumpled voice, what mine said to me at that moment.
"Edward, I'm going to Hell."
I staggered to my feet, feeling everything in me freeze up. For a split second I thought that my heart had even stopped beating.
"What?!" I gasped out.
"I'm going to Hell," he repeated. Ra looked back at Isis's face, soaked with rain. "But if I do go down there then it will be a relief from where I am right now. Hell has nothing to offer me that I haven't already been through at this moment. How can I enjoy Heaven, anyway?" he demanded. "Heaven would seem incomplete without Isis with me."
I couldn't believe my ears. "Ra, I can't believe that you . . ."
He shot me a dagger glare. "That I what? That I fell in love with a mortal?"
"No, not that."
"Then what is it?" he spat.
"That you could be such a dummy," I said flatly. He looked as if I had slapped him. "God is merciful to those who deserve it. He'll give you another chance. And besides, Isis was a good person. She'll go to purgatory, get her duty and then come to you," I explained.
He was silent for a minute, contemplating my words. Suddenly, he broke out in a grin.
"Edward, I have a better idea," he said excitedly. Ra's wings picked up and flapped with happiness, a strong green glow surrounding the down of his feathers. "You can try to heal her! I know how good you are at healing people."
"I hadn't thought of that," I admitted slowly. "But I'm not sure that I could do that to her."
His face fell. "Why not?"
"I haven't tried to heal anyone who was dead, Ra. The best I could do would be to heal her gash. She might still be dead after I try it," I warned.
"The word 'might' doesn't mean anything definite." He placed her so that she was facing me more. "Please try it."
I crossed my arms and thought deeply. If I did it now, it just might save her life. Or we could have a zombie on our hands. The odds tilted towards the worse end of the stick—crushing Ra's hopes would be the worst experience in my very long existence. This could be the last time that I would see my friend; unless I got sent to Hell, that is.
He saw my hesitant expression and continued. "I love her, Edward! I can't let her die just now! Please, do this for her! Do this for me!" he begged.
I groaned. "I must be out of my mind," I muttered, standing directly in front of Isis.
Ra grinned. "Thank you. I'll never forget this."
"You better not—I'm going against God's will by doing this. I could send us both to Hell and unleash an undead creature on the poor inhabitants of Forks," I said grimly. "Stand back and leave her to me. Check up on Bella to see if she's fine."
He obediently went over to the car and sat down next to her. I could hear her soft breathing, and I turned back to the task on hand with a determined air.
Isis lay flat on the wet pavement, the rain pouring onto us both. My clothes were positively drenched—maybe I would get a cold for the first time since my visit to Earth. The blood had long since vanished, making my job much easier.
I lifted my hands over the corpse and breathed in deeply. A familiar heated tingle swirled in the middle of my palm. Small sparks of purple magic spurted from my hands, spraying onto the ground.
That was the excess magic—I had to focus on getting my real magic out and running. But in order to successfully do that I would need to stop restraining my wings because of the energy it exerted. In a split second, they burst out of my back in all their soft and feathery glory, hanging over my shoulders comfortably.
The magic circulated more freely. Instead of the little shimmers coming out of my palms, there was a lavender fog spiraling smoothly and rapidly. The fog grew bigger with each muscle I strained for magic. This was a full body workout for angels.
The process was almost completed when the fog had uncurled itself and enveloped Isis. She was lost in a cloud of purple smog. I saw Ra shift uncomfortably, probably not liking not being able to see her.
I smiled, letting my hands fall to my sides. I wasn't done, but the hard part was over at least. I knelt beside Isis's body and touched her cheeks with my fingertips. Her face was as cold as ice; maybe this wouldn't go over so well?
Reluctant to turn back now, I leaned my head down to meet hers. Ra started to shout out, indignant. I fought the urge to laugh as I touched foreheads with Isis. My ability to read minds wasn't needed when it came to just now—it was obvious that Ra thought I was about to kiss her. Maybe the Prince in Snow White thought kissing dead girls was fun, but that wasn't my hobby.
I closed my eyes and used my forehead to releasing some magic into her system. I'd compare it to the Wiccan ceremony of grounding, but I couldn't be sure. Think of releasing power by pumping it out with your will.
At the point of being drained, I finally drew back from her. My purple fog was evanescent now, clearing because the energy I had was used up. My wings shook off the rain that had been sticking my feathers together.
A minute passed. Then two. Then three. I felt my heart begin to sink. Maybe I had done it wrong. I was just about to apologize to Ra when a low moan escaped Isis's frosty lips. Disbelieving, I swiveled around to see her face scrunched up in pain. Her hand crept up to clutch the back of her head where the cut had been. It was apparently still tender.
"Isis!" Ra yelped. He had scooped her up into his arms in an instant, looking hesitantly down at her. She didn't respond, but breathed gently against his neck.
His eyes were watery when he pulled away from her face to look at me.
"Thank you," he said, his face breaking out into a big grin. "Thank you so much."
"Don't thank me just yet," I said darkly. "She's still massively injured—all I did was fix her up so that she wasn't dead. If we don't get her to a hospital right now she could slip away despite what I did. And I'm not sure I could repeat the process; I'm beat."
His wings flapped uneasily, creating a small gale. After a quick measure at the skies, he looked back down at the girl in his arms.
I knew what he was thinking.
"Ra, do you think you could make it in this weather? It looks as if this is a beginning of a hurricane. You want to risk it?" I raised my eyebrows at him.
He said nothing.
My mouth opened in disbelief. "You really are going to risk flying in this storm?! I know that you're a fairly decent flyer, but doing it now would be suicidal! Would you really like to die out there?" I pointed out to the darkening mass of ocean water that was raging from the wind and glacial raindrops. "Are you willing to have Isis die with you?"
He froze, instantly rethinking his original plan. After a small moment of contemplation, he gave up and sighed in defeat. "What do you want to do?"
"We're going to have to hitchhike," I murmured determinedly.
"Hitchhike?" Ra echoed.
"Yes, like in the movies. We just lift one of our legs and wait for someone to pass by. It works every time for the girls, so it shouldn't be a problem for us."
He stared at me. "And how do you know this?"
"Because I stayed at Bella's house today and watched TV," I admitted.
He rolled his eyes and held Isis tighter. "Enough with this! We have to get to a hospital fast, and waiting for someone to come along the road and pick us up would take to much time. Besides, they'd probably think we were hookers."
I shrugged. "Fine. But no flying either."
He stomped his foot, sending a puddle to meet Tyler who was still out cold near his car. "Then what should we do?!" he demanded in frustration.
An idea came to me, forcing a rarely used smirk to slide up my face. I strolled over to the car and dragged both Jessica and Lauren out of it, placing them near Tyler. I took Bella from the opened trunk area and shut the door behind her, placing her gently on the back seat. She didn't wake up.
"That depends," I finally responded, sliding into the driver's seat. "How greatly are you against stealing a car?"
He got the message and almost smiled. "Two angel hijackers. I don't even think God saw this one coming."
He got in the seat next to me after laying Isis next to Bella in the back. The car sputtered to life when I turned the key, which had been helpfully neglected on the seat, in the ignition. We were on the road shortly after retracting our wings; Ra seemed to have difficulty doing so at first because he hadn't deemed it necessary.
A lone bicyclist screamed and dove to the side of the road as we shot off, but I didn't pay much attention to him. I had already had my suspicions that my driving was going to be horrible, since I had never legally been out on the road before.
My fingers drummed against the steering wheel as we sped through the streets. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ra turn around to glance at the girls to see if they were alright. The worry he was feeling was almost tangible.
"It'll be alright. We'll make it," I reassured him.
"Yeah," he muttered. "But I'm not sure that Isis will."
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Bella's P.o.V.
White light and something soft around me. That was all I could feel as I slowly began to become aware of my surroundings. It was like a machine starting up, the inner workings turning rustily and the senses not quite used to what was going on. I scrunched my eyes tighter, not wanting to open them; from underneath my eyelids I could tell that the light was very bright and not something that I would generally like to be woken up to.
A voice. Was it my name that it said just now? Something cold and delicate brushed away the strands of hair that had escaped to the front of my face. They lingered longer then usual, the tips of what felt like a hand stroking my cheek gently.
"Oh, Bella," the voice said again, in soft disapproval. "I wouldn't have thought that you of all people would have fainted."
Knuckles brushed back and forth along my jaw line, ever so slight, leaving a tingling trail behind them.
My heart spluttered to life, making the hand and the kind voice freeze in place apprehensively.
"Bella?"
I opened my eyes in a daze and saw Edward sitting contentedly on a caramel colored chair. I was in a bed in the middle of a sky blue colored room, obnoxiously bright lighting overhead and what looked like an IV in the corner. A big window looked out into a dark night soaked with rain. I supposed that the yellow curtains were to bring a small amount of cheer into the depressingly bare room; aside from the still life portrait of a brown cloth near a bowl of freshly peeled oranges, the yellow curtains seemed to bring more personality in. If only the curtains didn't have smiley faces on them.
"Am I in hell?" I muttered after seeing the design. As bizarre as it was, I felt as if I was getting stared at; laughed and pointed, like I was on display. Darn smiley faces, up to no good at all. . .
He laughed, the sound of bells. "No, not hell; the hospital."
I sat up on the pillows and gave him a confused look. "Why?"
"You fainted," he said simply.
"I fainted?" I repeated in disbelief. My forehead felt a sharp pang, sending my hand up to rub it. Suddenly, I remembered the dark water on the pavement, nightmarishly dripping from—
"Where's Isis?" I demanded, throwing back the sheets of the bed. I almost succeeded in getting out of the room, but Edward held me on the bed firmly.
"She's in the next room, in critical condition." His eyes grew very sad and troubled.
"But . . . Isis is dead! I saw her with my own eyes, Edward; there was blood everywhere—"
"I fixed her . . . but just barely," he said quietly. I paused and settled back onto the pillows, watching him. Edward had a worry crease near one of his eyebrows, his hair dripping slightly onto the linoleum floor. He hardly noticed it until a rather impressive puddle formed at his feet.
Dimly surprised, he pointed a finger at it instinctively and let a stream of hot air evaporate the water. A haze that I often saw in Arizona was left behind, and even from the bed I could feel the inviting warmth.
"Can you teach me that?" I asked.
He looked at me incredulously. "I'm pretty sure humans aren't capable of doing that."
"Isn't there any human who can?"
"Nope." He smiled grimly.
"Fine. But can you warm me up at least? I'm really cold." I patted the space next to me to imply for him to sit down.
It wasn't until I registered is extremely wide eyes and his mouth falling open that I realized what I had said. I blushed furiously.
"No! Wait, I didn't mean it like that!" My face was burning, as was his. He looked away uncomfortably while a pale rose color bloomed in his cheeks; his eyes sparkled in what I assumed to be amusement.
Without looking at me, he extended his long, pale fingers until they grazed my shoulder. A tingling sensation of heat trickled down and seemed to fill my insides up. No longer freezing beneath the sheets, I sighed in contentment.
Edward continued to look away. He cupped his chin in one of his hands and stared thoughtfully into space after pulling away from me. What was going on with him? He wasn't acting very normal. Maybe he was still sick from this morning?
"Are you . . . alright?" I asked hesitantly.
He appeared to ignore me, too intent at staring at nothingness. The rain pounded harder against the glass in an aggressive fashion, the only source of noise in the room aside from the faint breaths coming from me. I was beginning to think he hadn't heard me when he finally answered.
"There's a lot of death here. The place positively reeks with the stench of it," he murmured. "But that's the problem; I've only been able to sense it. I haven't seen anyone yet. But it will only be a matter of time before I run into another angel."
"Another angel? That's great!" I said enthusiastically. "Guardians, right?"
"No; angels found hanging around hospitals are more commonly found in the death department." He paused, still staring into the air. "And that's what I'm worried about. It's been a while since I've conversed with an angel of death . . . Ra is another guardian, but with Death Bringers it isn't the same. We're quite . . . different."
"How?" I asked. He closed his eyes in defeat.
"Certain types of Death Bringers are assigned to make sure that their human dies the way they are supposed to."
"Can I have an explanation?" I said apologetically.
He turned to me in a grumpy way, looking harried. "Say a murderer walked into this room, and I was a death angel. I was told that you were to die due to a stroke, not due to murder. I couldn't protect you from harm; all I could do would be to divert the murderer's attention onto someone else to ensure that you died the right way."
I chewed this over before speaking. "I don't like the sound of these Death Bringers. Either way you're going to die; they just get to choose it."
Edward laughed bitterly. "It could have been so close. . ."
"What?"
His frown deepened, and he resumed his unfocused gaze. "I was very close to being a Death Bringer. If I had been, I could have been prolonging your death to fit God's plan." His face turned very soft, but very sad. "I don't think that I'd be able to live like that. . . I don't think I'd be able to watch you die in any way. I care for you much more then I should."
"I like you more then I should too," I admitted.
"But I think I might like you more then you like me," he said quietly. I was about to argue that that was not true, when he decided to go further in his angel discussion. "That's the type of Death Bringer called a "guidance angel". There's another, rather disgusting species."
"And their called?" I asked curiously.
"They shouldn't even be referred to as angels, to be honest—Morte angels are actually demons," he whispered darkly. "In the Death Bringer area, there are only two species: guidance angels and Morte angels. Compared to the guidance angel, who has the standard wings but with perhaps a darker coloring, the Morte angels are very similar to devils. Pointed horns, red eyes and maybe even an ability to possess people. But Morte angels," he hesitated, not liking what he was about to say, but said it anyway, "are the angels of people who are about to sin. Gravely sin. Murder."
"Murderers don't deserve someone looking out for them," I muttered unhappily. "What did murderers do for society besides tear families apart?"
"It's screwy, but God isn't the only one who can send people in and out of the realm of the dead. Satan can too," Edward confessed. "And he sends Morte angels . . ."
"What about guidance angels? Are they as bad as Morte angels?"
"No, their okay, I guess. A little odd, but alright."
It became very awkward in the tiny little hospital room; we had run out of things to discuss. Edward remained silent for half an hour while I lay in bed, contemplating something. I asked him once if it had been him who had brought me here, and he told me how he and Ra had to steal the car at the beach to get here. It had been an ordeal when they raced one of the ambulances and had to clear a few things with one of the nurses, but everything pulled through in the end.
"So Isis is in intensive care?" I asked him. We had finally gotten around to talking about her.
Edward seemed to fall back into his state of despaired silence at the mention of her name. "Yes . . . Ra hasn't left her side in a while. I'm really worried about my friend, Bella . . . I've never seen him like this. I can only imagine how it must feel to be in his position at the moment . . . he loved her, Bella." Edward's gloomy green eyes twinkled as he glanced at me. "He loved her with all his heart. And she's on a hospital bed, dying . . ." He sunk his face into his hand dejectedly.
"Edward, you're the reason she's here. You're the reason she's here and alive. If you hadn't helped Ra out, Isis would still be dead right now—"
"Don't you get it?" He snapped suddenly. I drew back, taken off guard. He looked as if something invisible was stabbing him: his face was twisted into an angry and pained scowl. "I didn't help her! All I did was fix her head damage—Isis is still going to die! All I did was extend her life slightly!"
"But . . . what about . . .?" I started. Edward shook his head and made a muffled sound behind his hand.
"I did my best, but it wasn't enough . . . I know that she's going to die sometime soon. Ra is still hopeful though, he has too much faith in my healing abilities . . . but I . . . I just feel as if I'm failing my friend. I feel as if I'm letting him down when he needs me the most, and I . . ." He broke off his whisper and settled for hiding his eyes from me.
"You what?" I asked softly, placing one of my hands on his shoulders. I felt him shudder away from my touch, but I leaned forward to keep my hand on him. Unsatisfied with only a hand, I slipped out of bed and sat on the arm of the caramel arm chair.
Edward wouldn't face me. Hesitantly, afraid that he might push me away, I slid my arms around him and hugged him close to my chest. He didn't move from my touch.
Through the cloth of our shirts, I could feel the warmth of his skin and the racing, soft beats of his heart. Or maybe that was my own overreacting pulse? A spark of intensity came back and lingered between us as we froze, wondering what the next move for the other would be.
Finally, I broke the silence.
"Edward . . ." I murmured. In a friendly gesture, my fingers brushed his jaw, guiding his face to look up at me.
He very willingly obliged, and turned his head upwards. The startlingly green of his wide eyes scorched into my retinas as the world turned slowly. Suddenly, the friction turned from comforting to sexual. Suddenly, I was immensely aware of the fact that I was right next to his body; even more intensely aware of the heat of it, the delicious smell of his shoulders and neck. He froze up, probably wondering what I was thinking. Or maybe he was thinking along the same lines.
Rain was buffeting the windows noisily in the background: the light flickered when a growl of thunder went through the dark Forks skyline.
It might have been the position that we were in that made me react the way I did; after all, we were inches away. But something deep inside me awakened . . . realization? As I smelt the sweet breath of the guy who had saved my life, I realized that maybe I liked him as much more then a friend. Much, much more then a friend, I realized, when I spotted how smooth his lavender colored lips looked from this distance.
Maybe Isis's assumption had been right?
Was I in love with Edward?
I had denied this theory many times before, due to the fact he might not feel the same way. I couldn't deny it anymore. I was desperately, hopefully, irrevocably in love with the guy—I just couldn't believe how much time it had taken for me to realize it. This beautiful, perfect boy had saved my life on more then one occasion—or perhaps my virginity would be more correct. He was the only person who saw me for me, not for some oddly dressed person to be gawked at.
Edward was right there, in front of me, taunting my senses with those wide green eyes of his. A surge of something desperate overcame me and took over, my common sense completely obliterated and shattered.
And that's when I kissed him.