Chapter 9: Party

"Edward," Alice called from the top of the stairs in a terrible British accent. She appeared in the room wearing a sweater vest and a monocle, a small leather-bound book under her arm, speaking around a pipe. "Have you ever read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?"

Resting the violin and bow on his leg, Edward sat back to watch her perform. "I think my mother might have read it to me. Why?"

"There is such a thing, of which you may have encountered before, detailed in Through the Looking Glass, called an 'unbirthday.'" She sat down on the piano bench and crossed one leg primly over the other. "I appreciate the sentiment behind it, to celebrate not simply the arbitrary date one was thrust from the womb, but to appreciate every day as another that one is alive. However, I admit that I've more decided to throw Bella an unbirthday to give her the gifts we were not allowed to at the birth of Christ. I think of it of His unbirthday as much as Bella's."

"I think that Bella might argue that the trip to New York made up for it." He was glad his family wanted to give Bella all the luxuries of life, though it frustrated him that their motivation was to prepare her for their way of life when she inevitably fell in love with him and became part of the family. That was meant to be a secret dream of Edward's, not theirs to shape into reality.

"I will not be dissuaded by such nonsensical arguments. Besides, she won't have a choice as it is a surprise party. I only wanted to inform you so you might outfit yourself accordingly by this Sunday."

What would he give her? Ideas went through his mind like flashcards scattering on the floor, but, he realized with a sigh, the best gift would be to give her nothing at all. She was going to be overwhelmed and annoyed by this party and Edward would stand out as the only one who knew, or, more accurately, cared how she would feel.

"Ugh!" Alice kicked him, then said in her normal voice, "That is so boring! And of course she eats it up. What are you doing?"

"Working on—some stuff, you know." He brought the violin back up to his shoulder and squinted at the music on the stand, trying to look busy and important so she would feel obligated to leave the tortured artist to his composition. But then, why would that work on Alice?

"What stuff?" As she turned the stand towards her, he made a grab for the sheets, but she was just a second faster. "Oh! Edward! It's—you're expanding the lullaby for full orchestra! That's so sweet! And it's the healthiest thing you've done in a while."

"How do you mean?" Edward couldn't see how putting his pathetic feelings to music was anything but obsessive and stupid.

"Don't you see?—before, it was a simple piece, as easily hummed as played on the piano and sure to be hidden from Bella for years to come. Now it's a concerto – you need a orchestra to play it with you, which means you share it with a hundred people, which means you share your love with the world. It's a declaration!"

"No!" He stood up, Alice caught the violin before it hit the ground and he took the music from her hands. He had it, ready to tear it in half, but he couldn't make his hands move, so he dropped it and ran outside. It was not a declaration. He did not want Bella to know anything more about his feelings than already did. Apparently his being jealous of her jeans hadn't scared her into a restraining order – what demon from hell possessed him to say that? – a symphony would do the trick.

Yet he couldn't help but write it. The violin and cello parts had been whispering at the edges of his mind for weeks, but after leaving Bella's bedside for fear of the hospital's safety from Jacob Black, after listening to Jacob's livid thoughts as Carlisle helped Bella, after his incredibly satisfying shock when Bella stood up for the vampires, Edward couldn't help but write the notes down and hear them on the violin. His skill on the cello would not do justice to his vision, but that was coming out of the back of the library next.

Alice was still looking at the rumpled sheets of music when he came back inside. "Sorry," he said, stroking the violin as he picked it up off the chair and sat down again.

"He forgives you. I will forgive you when this is played for Bella. I don't think I can get a philharmonic in time for the party…"

"It's not done yet, anyway. I only have the string parts written and there's always—tweaking. The basses are for shit."

She rolled her eyes, disappeared for a few seconds and reappeared with a double bass, bow, stool, and pinstop. The bass was almost a half a foot taller than Alice and, combined with the sweater vest and monocle, she looked like a little girl playing dress up in her father's study. Despite the ridiculous appearance, she worked magic with the oft-neglected instrument. He spread the music on the stand and turned it to her.

At the end of her rendition of the bass part, Edward was amazed it could sound so strong and Alice said, "Okay, so it's not very good. I'll get the orchestra for her graduation party. Have it done by then." She turned the stand back to him and pressed it flat, nudging a pencil towards him with the bow. "Fix something, tell me what to do."

The bass section was finished by dusk, a steady, calm background for the rest of the instruments. He would never give this to an orchestra, but maybe it would do something good to have it finished. Then again, he thought when he was satisfied with the little lullaby for one piano it was finished. He thought when he gave in and arranged it for four hands it was finished. He thought when he wrote a little vocal accompaniment it was finished. Maybe this love song for Bella would never be finished.

What a horrible metaphor.

Getting Bella to come over unsuspectingly on Sunday was incredibly easy, even with Alice grinning like the Cheshire cat itself. When Bella mentioned exactly this, Alice's eyes widened and she thought, she knows and she guessed the theme! but she rationalized herself out of that quickly enough. Alice had put signposts from the book along the road to the house, but in the darkness, Bella didn't notice and was unsuspecting even as he led her through the house to the back woods. Alice had transplanted white rose bushes and ruined each flower by dumping red paint on them. This was the first thing Bella noticed, gasping and sidestepping into his chest. "Is—is that blood?"

"No! It's red paint." Dripping blood was much browner than that, but he didn't see any reason to tell her that.

Bella laughed a little to loudly. "Right. Paint. Like in Alice in Wonderland. Why?" As he pushed her farther into the woods, he shrugged, but allowed a smirk to form to hint that something was happening. Her expressions changed as her mind worked and she turned a grin on him when she figured it out. "It's a party, isn't it?"

Perfect timing, he pushed aside some branches and nudged her into the clearing where Alice had put a long table and set tea and cakes à la Mad Hatter and a croquet circuit on a flat part of the grass near the water. "Are those flamingos?"

"Yes," he said. "Kidnapped from the Woodland Park Zoo."

Alice, Jasper, Esme, Rosalie, Carlisle, and Emmet jumped out from behind a bush and shouted, "Happy unbirthday!"

First turning to smile at Edward, as if it was his party, then giving a broader look around for someone else to have a party for, she finally got it. "It's a party for me?" She groaned, staring at the stack of presents at the end of the table. "Why? Paying for me to travel all over the country isn't enough? You were worried I thought you all were lackluster gift-givers? I'm leaving!"

Edward snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her to the table. "No, you're not." She harrumphed and slouched in Esme's new eighteenth century Fauteuil chair.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me," she hissed. "And I'm the only one not dressed up."

"No," he said slowly. "I'm not. And Emmett's costume is an oversized top hat."

He had to admit Alice and Rosalie, as the title character and the Queen of Hearts were dressed extravagantly enough for all of them.

Alice wanted to play croquet before it got dark, but he thought Bella would be more annoyed by the idea of presents than the presents themselves, so he insisted she opened them first. Carlisle and Esme had snuck a photo of Bella, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, and himself sitting on one couch at the Christmas party, everyone smiling, Bella laughing and so beautiful it hurt. Edward looked like he thought so in the picture, like his face might melt off from happiness, but she didn't notice it in real life, so why would she notice it on pause? They'd put it in a simple Tiffany silver frame and packed it outside the blue box so she wouldn't be embarrassed.

Alice and Jasper had been thinking about their gift to Bella for days, but when the box they handed Bella was too wide and thin for earrings, he realized it had all be a rouse. Bella hadn't even taken off the wrapping before he realized what their gift actually was.

"Sheet music?" she said, opening the dark blue folder. "Oh, I can't play—" She ran her fingers over the embossed gold lettering – Bella's Lullaby – on top of the elegantly printed music. As if he wouldn't have come up with a better title. As if she was ever supposed to see this! Traitorous, horrible Alice. "You wrote me a song?" she said softly, looking at him.

"Yes, um—but this is really from Alice and Jasper." He dropped down to his haunches beside her chair, bringing them face-to-face. "I didn't get you anything. Because—I knew you wouldn't want anything."

"Will you play it for me anyway?"

How could he say no now? How could he be angry now that she was looking at him like that? He shrugged, helplessly. "Of course."

Emmett cleared his throat. Edward looked up at him, then his gaze was stolen by Jasper, absolutely glowering at Emmett for breaking the mood. "Mine and Rose's present isn't here. It's too big and expensive to bring out here, you cheapskates, so—"

Everyone laughed easily and they played croquet. He was worried that, now that the atmosphere was casual, Tanya's absence would be conspicuous, but Bella didn't seem to notice. Tanya had insisted she would love to give Bella a gift, but her thoughts, though courteous, had an odd force behind them. Alice insisted it would be better to keep it to the immediate family.

Bella was surprisingly good at croquet, a sport in which she barely had to move her legs. Edward made the mistake of saying she could have her arms in a better position, leaving Alice plenty of room to tell him to show her. Bella innocently encouraged him and he wrapped his arms with hers, keeping his hips as far back as possible as his body had an instant reaction to her soft hands underneath his, her little body fitting like a gem inside stone.

He perfected the position of her arms and the mallet and the ball went flying over the wicket and into the woods. She laughed and pulled away from him, her body trembling a little. "I guess I hit too hard?" Was she scared of him? With a blush, her gaze ran up his arms. No, he decided. It was just her own reaction to their closeness.

He called an end to the game. They collected all the croquet supplies in a basket and Jasper and Edward took either end of the table and carried it back through the woods. Edward almost dropped his half when they walked past the garage and saw a cherry Ferrari 375, the color of cream soda sitting outside.

Bella saw it a few seconds later. "What?"

"Happy unbirthday," Emmett whispered as he past her and clapped Edward on the shoulder. "Bella, this is your gift, from Rose and me. A car for Edward."

"It's—" She walked forward and looked him. Mouth open, eyes wide, he looked shocked. "It's—" He shrugged. Shocked speechless, apparently. What an incredible gift.

"Emmett—you bought it. I didn't—"

"It's the thought that counts, right?" he said. "It's your thought. Edward, Bella confided in me that what she really wanted to get you for Christmas was this car you loved and lost, the color of your eyes—is the color right?" Running the back of her hand over the hood, she nodded. It was perfect. Creamy yellow-golden with a sparkle of orange underneath. "I pulled it together for her. I figured the best gift I could give her was the gift she wanted to give you."

"You wanted me to have this?" He stared at her. She smiled and nodded. His gaze became unfathomable – surprised, excited, happy, but pained. He turned back to Emmett. "How did you hide this from me?"

"Dude, I have no idea. I was working not to think about it, but I was sure you'd catch me, anyway."

Edward set the table down and walked slowly up to the car, opened the door, stared inside and then carefully put himself in the driver's seat, twisted until he was satisfied, put his hands on the steering wheal one finger at a time. "I love this car," he said.

"You'll love it even more," Rosalie said, shutting the door for him. "I amped up the engine a little bit."

Grinning, Edward got back out of the car and opened the hood, eyes gleaming at the mess inside. Emmett was right, though. She couldn't imagine a better gift, a better way to ever spend her time, than watching Edward this satisfied.

"Bella—" he said. "Thank you."

She blushed and looked down at her feet. "Don't thank me, thank—"

"No, Bella. You can thank Emmett and Rosalie if you want, though I guarantee they had a wonderful time putting this together. I'm thanking you." He closed the hood again and stepped a few feet back to survey the whole car. "I had no idea I wanted this back so much. Or that my eyes were so hot!"

Blushing up her ears and down her chest now, Bella just barely stopped herself from saying something horrible like, "You have no idea," or, "Everything about you is so hot," or, "Let me strip you naked in the back of this car." Instead, she mumbled, "You're welcome."

"Can I pick you up for school tomorrow?"

His grin was infectious and Bella began to giggle. "Yeah!" He took a few steps towards her and she took a few towards him and then they hugged very carefully. Too focused on not enjoying the hug, she couldn't gauge when to end it and there was a very awkward few attempts at pulling apart, culminating her jumping away from him and almost tripping over the ankle brace. She looked around to smile away the awkwardness, but the backyard was deserted. "Where'd they go?"

"They're putting the party stuff back in the house. I'm sorry about the presents."

"No, Edward… I'm not usually so weird about getting gifts, honestly. It's just that—I guess you all are so amazing, just beautiful, intelligent, cultured, that getting more than your company feels like overkill. And, I mean, I was expecting a car stereo or something, and I guess they did give me a car, but it's for you and you deserve the car. But the photo and the song… oh, the song! Will you play it for me now?"

"Of course." He gestured towards the house and let her lead the way. He always kept himself a few steps behind her, she noticed, and always walked on the outside of the street. Protective chivalry from another century. "You're so silly," he said after a few moments. "We get your company, too, you know. That makes us even."

Laughing ruefully, she didn't press the issue. He was too kind. He would never appreciate the difference in quality. It was like trading pomegranates for apples.

Inside, Edward opened the piano lid, moved the seat so the right side was parallel the middle of the keyboard, sat down, and took her hand to pull her next to him. She put the framed photo on the floor next to her and moved to hand him the music, but he waved it off and she set it aside as well.

He held his fingers above the keys for a few seconds, then they dropped into the sweetest, most delicate piece of music she'd ever heard. It grew steadily more powerful until the middle, warmer, then came back to its light beginnings at the end.

"You wrote that for me?"

"I—" His face was brooding. "I wrote it because of you. It's for you now. That was unavoidable, I suppose."

Oh but she wanted to kiss him. She wanted to thank him, she wanted to comfort him, and she wanted to do it with a kiss.

"Lovely, Edward," a melodious voice came from the door. Bella turned in time with Edward to see Tanya standing at the bottom of the stairway. Smile. She had to smile. She'd forgotten Tanya was here. "And, Bella, didn't you look lovely listening to it?"

Blushing hot, Bella forced herself to keep smiling, but couldn't help but look away. How was she supposed to take such mocking? Edward took one of her hands in his, cooling her all the way up one side. "If the song makes her more beautiful, I've created a miraculous success."

Incapable of looking at Edward without bursting into flame, Bella looked back up at Tanya. She didn't look angry, her expression didn't change at all, but the wooden handrail splintered underneath her hand. She let go of it and brought her hands together at the front of her body.

"I'm sorry I don't come to your party, Bella, but I have a gift for you, anyway." She glided to a table underneath the stairs and then reappeared. "It came in the mail today and from what I understand, Edward's been waiting for it."

She handed her an envelope, the sender Happy Value TV and Appliance, a small chain around the Olympic Peninsula, the recipient Edward Cullen. Bella held it out to Edward, but he shook his head. "It's really for you."

Careful not to hurt herself opening the flap, she pulled out a small pile of papers. "Dear Mister Cullen," she read allowed. "Congratulations! Thank you for your sponsorship of Isabella Swan in our annual Local Senior Scholarship. Your hard work has paid off. Isabella has been selected to receive an annual twenty thousand dollar—" She lost the ability to speak. Twenty thousand dollars? "Twenty-thousand dollars! Edward! What did you do?"

"A lot of corporations offer scholarships to local graduating students for the community good will and the tax write off. I noticed that Happy Value actually required that someone else back the senior to be put in the running, so I did." He shrugged. "Charlie knows about it. He helped me get signatures. That's a forth of your tuition to Dartmouth."

"Well—yeah! I can't believe you did this!" He gave her his half-smile and – oh, beauty – a dimple appeared on his right cheek. He was too stunning, looking up at her from under his eyelashes and Bella had to look away. Unfortunately, Tanya was the only other option. Should she thank her for giving her the envelope?

"Congratulations, Bella," Tanya said, politely. "That's a lot of money."

Imagining her living in a vast crystal palace surrounded by snow – a lot like the White Witch in Narnia, if she was honest – twenty thousand dollars probably didn't seem like much money at all. She blushed again. There had to be somewhere else she could look – aha, a clock. It was almost ten p.m.

"It's a school night." She had never felt like more of a child. She stood up and went to where she'd dropped her purse and jacket on a chair. "I should probably—"

"I'll pick you up for school tomorrow?" He stood and walked forward, blocking Tanya from view.

"I'm excited," she said. Picking up the frame and sheet music from where she'd left them by the piano bench, he slipped it in her bag for her. "Bye."

"I'm sorry about Tanya," he said, not even cloaking his voice. She supposed Tanya still would have heard him if he'd whispered. "Thanks for coming tonight and thank you so much for the car. Be careful, it's going to get really cold tonight."

Bella had write scene summaries for The Tempest still that night, but she went through her wardrobe looking for something to wear the next day instead. Her red blouse was probably too fancy for school, but it looked really nice on her, added some color to her skin. After five minutes of searching the limited places she might have thrown it – and really, it should have been in the bottom of her hamper, where she'd seen it the past three weeks since Christmas. Her next best option was her dark blue shirt, but that wasn't anywhere either. The pile of socks usually at the foot of her bed from being kicked off in her sleep was also missing. Had Charlie done laundry?

Wanting to tell him about the scholarship anyway, she was tempted to wake him, but a preliminary check of the laundry room said that the washer hadn't been touched for days. Where could her clothes be? She looked in the bathroom, under the living room furniture, in the hall closet, in all the cupboards in the kitchen. Unless Charlie was hoarding them in his bedroom, they were not in the house. It wasn't like she was in the habit of taking off her shirt outside of her house. In general, she would say that the blue shirt at least could be at Jacob's, but she had been fully clothed around him since the accident and she'd worn it the next day, hadn't she?

With nothing else productive to do, she sat down on her bed to work on the scene summaries. She had just started the second act when her alarm went off. Unreasonably annoyed at her disappearing wardrobe, Bella put on her fat jeans and a Scottsdale Cultural Council sweatshirt and ate Oreos and coffee while she waited for Edward to arrive. The moment she saw the stunning Ferrari purr around the corner, Bella wished she'd put a little more effort in. Stuffing her hairbrush in her backpack on the way down the stairs, she said goodbye to Charlie and got in the car.

"You look—unhappy," Edward said. The last time she'd worn this outfit was on the day before period and she wondered if that was a euphemism for PMS.

"Someone snuck into my room and stole my clothes," she said, slouching and running the brush harshly through her hair.

"What?" Edward said, his expression dire.

"No, not really. I just lost some shirts last night. And a pile of socks. Where could I have put that stuff?"

He stared at her for a few seconds. "Do you mind if I—" Then he seemed to change his opinion on asking permission and disappeared from the car. Great. Now she looked like she was bloated, pissy, and alone in a Ferrari. Edward was back in the driver's seat within thirty seconds. He tossed a fern branch in the back seat.

"Where'd you go?" she said, eyeing the foliage.

"What? Nowhere. Nothing. Everything's fine." Great! Now he was lying. She flung her hairbrush back in her bag and wrenched the zipper closed. "I'm sorry your clothes are missing. You still look beautiful."

He pulled her hair back from her face and revved the engine. He looked like he was about to start a rocket ship and Bella couldn't help but feel better.

That lasted only a few blocks. By the time they were on the main road to school, she was worried he really did think it was a rocket ship. He was driving at one-hundred-and-fifteen miles per hour. Terrifyingly, the car could go up to two-hundred-and-fifty.

"What's wrong?"

"What? Nothing." He looked himself up and down to check for problems.

"Why are you driving like a mad man?"

"This is how I drive, Bella."

"How could I not know you drive like this?" They were going to hit a tree. He was going to miss a speed bump and they were going to go flying to their deaths. She held on to the door handle and dug her other hand in between the freshly upholstered seats.

"Bella," he cooed. He wasn't even looking at the road! "Bella, this is how we are meant to drive. Your truck—hobbles. It's crying out for death. This car is—"

"On speed. This is a tweaked-out little death machine. I can't believe I wanted you to have this. A vampire is out to kill me." Edward's smile disappeared and he turned back to the road.

He slowed down for the sake of conventional safety, then sped up again, faster than before. They could just leave Forks altogether, stay in a cabin in the woods, just hunt, have sex, and learn about one another, hide from Victoria forever. Bella was watching him, biting her ring finger. She was probably worried that he had lost his mind.

Maybe this worry was making him lose his mind. A vampire he didn't recognize had been in Bella's room last night. He or she had taken her clothes, samples of her scent, perhaps even samples of her blood. Why? Alice couldn't find anything concrete in his or Bella's futures. Victoria had resorted to chanting Latin prayers in a dark room to keep him from her thoughts. He had no idea what was going to happen to Bella or how to stop it.

There was a crowd around the car the second he parked it. "Hey, hero," Mike said, as he had taken to calling him. In fact, everyone had taken to calling him that and, amazingly, the only people who did it mockingly were his own family. "Did Mayor Maguire give you this with the key to the city?" The other boys laughed through their drool.

"No, we have a cousin in town. She's a car fanatic."

"Oh, yeah, I think I saw her at the Costco, walking around with your mom," Austin said. "Goddess-woman with strawberry blond hair?"

Bella slammed her door shut and started walking towards her first class. Edward shrugged at the crowd and ran after her. When he grabbed her hand to look at him, he realized he didn't know what to say. "See you in Calculus?"

She frowned at him, then smiled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, of course."

His first period class was P.E., shared with Jasper. They were playing tennis doubles and at first he thought he could lose himself in the focused physical activity – not breaking a racket or anyone's body parts – but he had to talk to someone. Edward swiftly threw their first three games so they were out of the running. For the rest of the class, they sat on the bleachers and he brought him up-to-date.

First he ran to the Ferrari for the fern branch that heavily carried the scent. Jasper smelled it while Edward explained what happened. In the end, he shook his head. "I don't recognize it. It is not Victoria, I'm certain of that. Keep it to show to Carlisle."

A crowd of girls formed a few feet from them and they had to resort to talking in Vesper metaphor.

"The vampire has to tell the girl what's going on," Jasper said.

"No."

"Yes, Edward. The puppies need to know or what limited protection they offer her is useless. She needs to know so she can watch her back. I know the vampire's worried that's just going to make her more vulnerable, but if the vampire's militarily-brilliant brother is going to come up with a plan to fix this, the girl needs to be in on it. Why shouldn't he tell her now? And I'm sure she'd be relieved to know why her clothes are missing." Edward leaned his head on his hands and scratched at his scalp. "And, you know, we learned in this chapter that the vampire's brother and sister aren't above taking matters into their own hands. If the vampire wants to be the one to tell her, he'd better do it soon."

"Jasper—" His warning tone was droned out by Coach Clapp's whistle and shout to get changed. The truth was, it didn't matter how much he warned. If he really wanted to, Jasper would tell Bella what was going on and Edward couldn't stop him.

He took the next two periods before Calculus to follow Victoria's thoughts. He hadn't given so much uninterrupted time to the task in weeks. There was nothing useful until—a street sign. He recognized it easily. E Cherry Street, it said, white on green, a few blocks east from Seattle University. Victoria was in Seattle.

He told his family his new information as they stood in the lunch line. Jasper and Alice became somehow paler than usual. "I've been trying to ignore it," Jasper said. "But it's clear to me that someone is building a newborn army in Seattle. There are at least ten there right now."

"It might not be Victoria," he said slowly. Jasper's expression didn't change, but Alice rolled her eyes at him.

Every limb went numb. He couldn't move, he couldn't think anything, but, Bella Bella Bella Bella. Victoria didn't want to kill her, she wanted to destroy her.

A few minutes before the bell, he pulled her into a corner and said, "Would you mind skipping the rest of the day?"

"No," Bella said, instantly. "I don't have my homework done for next period, anyway. What do you want to do?"

They walked to the Ferrari quickly, watching out for teachers on lunch patrol. "I need to talk to you," he said. "Why don't we go to the meadow?" He took a back entrance off campus and headed north out of town.

At the trailhead, he was grateful for the short run with her body wrapped around his. He was always on the lookout for reasons to run with her, for the mostly innocent physicality, but this time it reminded him of every reason he wanted to save her; her heartbeat on his back, her vulnerability, her trust in him, her irreverence when he threatened to kill her, the way she was never scared of him, the way she tripped when he put her back on her feet, the way her eyes lit up at the sight of their spot.

He laid out his jacket on the grass and they sat down. He told her to prepare herself. "I first saw you April twenty-second, 2005," he began. He told her of Alice's vision, listening to James's plan to kill her, his inexplicable need to protect her even while he was ravenous to kill her. He nearly left out spending the night in her bed, but it made up so much of his time with her, he couldn't. "You were having a nightmare and I had to try to help … like that night in Florida." He described their plan of attack, surprising James and his coven, and taking her back to her friend's campsite.

"You—you were the cold. You were the angel." He shrugged. She stared at him with wide eyes, then got angry. "Why have you waited so long to tell me this?"

"I didn't want you to know. It was bad enough that I was part of your life, I didn't want to hurt you further by telling you were stalked by vampires while you were camping with your friends. You don't need to know about the horrors of the world."

"Edward—" She picked up his hand with both of hers. "You can't protect me from everything." He could try. "Why tell me now?"

"I didn't save you well enough. The third vampire in the coven, Victoria, the one who got away from Jasper?" She nodded. "James was her mate and she wants vengeance for his death."

"She wants to kill you?" Gripping his hand and pulling him towards her, as if she could protect him if he only got close enough, Bella looked terrified.

"No. She wants to finish what we stopped him from doing. She wants to kill you. I'm sure she knows that will hurt me far more than ending my existence."

Holding his gaze for only a few seconds before she went to staring at her hands, she seemed incapable of looking at him. This was why he didn't want to tell her. He'd made her uncomfortable by his confession. She shouldn't know how much he loved her.

"When you said you couldn't find your clothes today, I ran to your room. There was the scent of another vampire, one I don't recognize. It took your clothes. I can't be sure of this, but I believe Victoria is building an army of vampires in Seattle. That's what's been raising the crime so drastically. I believe the vampire took your clothes to give this army your scent."

"A whole army. Wow. What is she planning to do with the army?"

"I don't know." Her gaze was kind, if worried, but he couldn't help but feel he'd wholly let her down. "I've been searching for her, but it hasn't done much good."

"Your 'business' in the South, what brought you near to Florida – was that Victoria?"

"Yes. I did my best to track her movements, but I'm terrible at it. I couldn't get a handle on her whereabouts at all. But, Bella, I promise you I will do everything in my power to protect you from this."

Bella didn't say anything. It had to be a shock to learn you had been the prey of vampires twice in one year. He was quiet for a few minutes to let her process everything.

"I can't believe you saved me. You didn't know me—why did you save me?"

Because you're the other half of me. "I didn't stop to question it. I never have." Her eyes were big and glossy with the threat of tears. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, still at a loss for words. "Has anyone told you about how Rosalie found Emmett? He was attacked by a bear and she found him while she was hunting. He was so close to death, but she killed the bear and carried him to Carlisle, anyway. Over one hundred miles, which is still almost two hours at our speed, the scent of human blood all around her, but she made it. What motivated her? She saw something in his face."

"And they've been together ever since," Bella finished for him. "But you and I—" Edward stiffened. He didn't want to say it and see her pity. Smiling and shaking her head, she saved him with, "You're such a good person. That's why you can hear other people's thoughts: because you won't hurt them with the knowledge." She grossly overestimated him, but Edward laughed and shook out his shoulders. Better to have her believe that. "But I bet you thought I was cute, too."

Cute. Not even Mike Newton thought she was just "cute."

Bella lay down on his jacket, taking a deep breath of his scent, warmed by her own body heat. After a few moments, Edward lay next to her, petting the tips of her hair splayed out in the grass. "I want to tell Jacob."

"Absolutely not," he said, but took a deep breath and continued, "Fine. Jasper pointed out that the wolves will only be able to protect you if they know what's after you and he's right. If you insist on putting yourself in danger by spending time with him, there's no need to double your losses."

"Jake's not a threat to me," she said, soothingly.

"Of course he is. He's a threat to everyone he comes in contact with. So am I. I just can't—help myself with you. And you can't help but be with Jacob, which—just—tell him. That's fine."

The little tug of his fingers on her hair felt inexplicably good. She wished she could touch his hair, shining in the muted afternoon light, but—his was so close to his face. If she got so close to his mouth, she'd have to touch it. If she touched it with her fingers, she'd have to— She cleared her throat. "If Victoria is building an army… how big an army are we talking about?"

"Jasper thinks it's about ten right now, but she's not done or Alice would have a clear vision of her plan."

"Ten—couldn't Jacob and the pack help? That would double your numbers."

"We don't need him. Tanya has agreed to bring her coven when the time comes."

The instant rush of jealousy almost made her dizzy. This was ridiculous. The woman offered to save her life and Bella would still prefer it if she left and never saw Edward again. "That's—very generous."

"Carlisle has helped them in the past, now they're helping us. They're old friends."

As her jealousy faded, she remembered her original position. "Jacob will want to help." Edward snorted, clearly unaffected by Jacob's opinions. "If you're so nervous he'll hurt me, you have to admit he and the pack are built for fighting. There's no reason not to totally overwhelm her, is there?" Edward shrugged. "Come on," she honeyed. "They won't think you're dangerous anymore if they see you're willing to stop other vampires who are."

"They shouldn't think we're dangerous because we agreed to a treaty, Bella. I don't need to subject my family to the dogs just to prove a point we've already made." She turned away from him. The pack was hostile, but they weren't that bad. He ran his hand through her hair. "I'm sorry. I know you love Jacob, but werewolves are our natural enemies. It's evolution. Of course I would work with them to help you if there was no other choice, but there is. They aren't needed."

"Please, Edward. They might not be needed to protect me from Victoria, but it will help me if you work together. Emotionally, it will help. I'm not asking you to be friends with him," she assured him. She didn't want them to be friends. She could just barely deal with her feelings for both people when they were separate. It would be impossible if they were together. "I just want you to create a strategy for stopping my murder and put it to action. They're going to come up with their own counterattack if you don't work together and contrasting plans can only hurt our side."

He stared at her silently for a few minutes, then a little smile lit up his face. "That's firm logic. Okay. Tell Jacob what's going on and ask Sam Uley to call me with a time to meet." As he rubbed her head again, she couldn't help but respond, pushing into him like a cat.