Sorry Guys!!!
I had posted it but had to take it back down. I have some Good news and bad news. Good news- if you get this chapter you will get two more in a short minute. Bad news- I will not be able to write and post any time soon.
My brother is in the hospital and I have to travel to see him.
Time passed and she was beginning to fall asleep.
A couple of miles away Edward found himself running through the forest. He was hunting. Before he could find his prey a new scent caught his attention. It was a scent that didn't belong in the forest, Bella's scent. He hadn't seen her today and he was sure that she wasn't the hiking type.
His darkening eyes meant his hunger was increasing. He wanted to follow her trail but he needed to feed first. He didn't want to run the risk of hurting her.
He quickly hunted some jaguars and then returned to where he had crossed her scent.
He followed it to the meadow that he usually went to. His curiosity was peaked; there was no way that anyone could find it. It was hidden deep into the jungle and all he could smell was her scent and no one else's. Surely she wasn't absurd enough to hike by herself.
He continued following the trail past the stream. His running faltered as he smelled another scent, a jaguar was also following the faint scent of blood. His running increased as he feared for her safety.
He quickly reached the cliff. Even though the sky was getting darker and darker because of the clouds he could see the black jaguar silently and stealthily stalking his oblivious prey. He could hear Bella's steady heart beat, she was asleep.
In a flash he caught the jaguar midair. It had leaped to pounce on Bella.
With a quick flick of his fingers he broke the animal's neck and ran away with it. When he was far enough away he drank its blood. His frenzied eyes looked everywhere as he disposed of the animal. He stopped breathing and waited for the frenzy to subside. Fearing that his instincts would lead him back to Bella.
After he was in complete control of himself he returned to Bella. She was shivering in the cold breeze. He took his jacket off and covered her with it.
He jumped up on the high branches of a huge Ceiba tree. He became still as a statue as he looked at her sleeping frame.
He was blindly captivated by this girl. He couldn't help but feel the fire burning brighter and brighter the closer he was to her. He didn't dare breathe, even though he wanted to. He wanted to smell that intoxicating floral smell that has defied any other appealing smell.
His attention was interrupted by the thoughts of an all-too-familiar and all-too-hyper-mind, Alice. Half a minute passed and she reached the cliff.
She jumped up and landed safely on the top of the cliff. She carried a large pack.
Edward, honestly, do you really think that's necessary? You're not going to hurt her. She thought as she could clearly see her brother perched on the high branches of the tree.
In a sinuous motion he jumped off the branch and landed silently and gracefully on the rock. The only thing that was affected was the wind; he had created a soft breeze on his way down. Even under the warm jacket Bella shuddered.
"It's better to be safe than to put her in danger." He answered Alice's mental chiding.
Seriously, you have got to get over it. Why do you fight this? You love this girl, why are you torturing yourself?
"Because she deserves better. She doesn't need to live in constant danger. She's better than us!" As they spoke they started, in a blur, to unpack the tent and to set it up. In less than a minute it was ready for Bella.
Well, I think you need to make up your mind. The more time that passes the more that the girl's options fade away.
Edward shook his head violently. "No, I won't let that happen."
Edward can't you see? Why are you that stubborn? In her mind she flashed a new vision one that involved Bella with his family. This time he was holding her and laughing. The whole scene looked so natural, like it was meant to be. Once again, he couldn't believe it. It's one way or the other, Edward.
"No!" his voice burst through the silent jungle. It echoed several miles and caused the animals to shriek out in alarm.
Now you've done it. She stated as her mind saw Bella waking up in thirty seconds. In that time they made a fire. The soft glimmer of the flames lit the dark shadows of the forest.
Bella turned around and with her blurry vision she saw two still shadows. Her eyes widened further with fear.
"Bella? Can I ask you something? What are you doing here?" Edward's sweet velvet voice rang in her ears and for no reason she knew she was safe.
"Edward? What are you doing here?" her voice hoarse.
"No, I asked first." A small chuckle escaped his lips. Bella sat up and noticed that she was covered by a jacket. She lifted the jacket to cover her better and the same intoxicating smell lingered on it. So it wasn't a dream, Edward really smelled like that.
"Umm…" she looked down trying to think straight and to avoided the embarrassing blush that was reddening her face. "I got lost." She huffed.
It was then that she heard another silvery wind chime laugh. It didn't incapacitate her like Edward's but it was enough to cause her to stare at the small elfin, Alice. "Oh Bella. What in the world led you to get so lost in the jungle?"
Bella looked down trying got remember the reason why she had gotten lost and she was too embarrassed to admit that she was thinking of Edward. "I don't…really remember."
Oh I wish…. Alice's thoughts hinted.
Edward instinctively looked at Alice and shook his head. Her lips infinitesimally pouted. She was eager to form her friendship with Bella.
"So what are you doing here?" Bella asked. Alice looked at Edward and raised her eyebrow, tempting him.
"We were hiking. We found you here and we set up camp." He explained in his most seductive voice.
"You go hiking at night?" Bella's tone was astonished.
"No, we usually stop at this cliff. We were running a little late." He smiled wickedly at the last sentence. The mere thought of a vampire running late was humorous to him, yet it could happen.
"You should sleep Bella, we have a sleeping bag inside the tent for you to use." He encouraged. All the while, he kept his distance far away from her. The sleepy haze still clouded her mind and so she did as he asked.
"Uh…okay…thanks?" she mumbled as she went inside the tent.
As soon as the tent closed he exhaled deeply. The faint smell of her appealing scent lingered. It was enough to cause him pain but also a twinge of happiness.
I'll admit, you're better than I gave you credit for. You've just managed to single-handedly screw up the future. I hope that you're happy.
Alice sat down by the edge of the cliff, staring at the glorious jungle. The valleys and mountains filled with life.
"It makes plenty of sense to me." He answered confidently. "Alice, keep your distance. The last thing I want is for her to get close to you, it's not safe for her. She shouldn't be anywhere near us."
She huffed in frustration. Fine, Edward Cullen but mark my words. You can't change the way you feel about her.
Morning came and with it the rolling clouds of mist and rain. Bella woke up and looked around, realizing that she hadn't dreamed it. She went outside and found Edward and Alice Cullen tending the small fire. They both turned to look at her at the same time. The action triggered suspicion in her mind, something was not normal about this family.
"Hi" she said shyly.
"Good morning." Edward answered. Alice just smiled warmly.
Edward… Alice whined internally.
"We'll be getting ready to head off to take you home. I'm sure your uncle is worried about where you are." He answered Bella aloud.
"Alice, if you dare do that. You will be in trouble with me." His mouth moved so fast that it looked like remained still. He saw the image of Alice and Bella getting closer on their trip back home.
Her response was a quick slip of her tongue. All of this was too fast for Bella to catch.
"Okay, so let's go. How do we get down here? It took me several hours to make it up here. I have no idea how to climb down." Bella said as she looked down at her dirty and frayed clothes.
"I'll carry you down." He volunteered, eager to feel her close to him. To feel the warmth that radiates off her body.
"I don't know if you haven't noticed but I'm not exactly tiny. I weigh over a hundred pounds."
"It'll be easy." He leaned closer to her. "Do you trust me?" his scent and the fervor of his eyes were enough to muddle Bella's thoughts.
"Umm…what?" she mumbled unable to recall the question.
"Do you trust me?"
"In theory." She sighed. Once again the slivery laugh brought her back down to reality.
Alice was already packing up the tent and Edward was putting out the fire. She just stood around, feeling awkward as she saw them finish.
After a short wait they were ready to head down. Edward took a deep breath as he got closer to Bella and let her climb on his back. She stared wide-eyed as tiny Alice hauled the huge pack; it was her height and probably twice her weight, with ease.
They began their descent and by mistake she glanced down on the ground and tightened her hold on Edward. He seemed unbothered by the contact. Little did she know that it was taking all his will power to concentrate on the task at hand to make it seem human.
They landed with a thud on the ground as he ignored the last three feet. Alice was already waiting for them on the floor. Her eyes gleaming with excitement.
Edward tried to read his sister's mind but all she could think of was translating the Greek Classic, the odyssey, into Chinese. This was her tactic whenever she didn't want Edward to know something. He gave her a quick glare as he guessed that her mind was thinking about doing something mischievous.
"Let's get going." She chirped. Edward grabbed the pack and they walked through the trail-less jungle.
Five hours later and they reached the road. It was then that Bella realized that they didn't have a car. "Umm… Edward, where is your car? We had to drive for a good while before we came to the trail."
"Our car is around the bend, but it wouldn't really qualify as a car." He hinted, smirking as he saw the confusion on her face.
Around the bend, she saw a monstrosity of a jeep. It had huge, off-road tires, headlights, fog lights, and the wire pulling mechanism. It had everything ready.
"What in the world is this?" she huffed.
"This is Emmett's jeep. He let us borrow it for the day." Alice answered with delight.
They got in and after being tossed around for an hour they made it to her house. Bella kept the jacket on because they refused to raise the windows, they let the cold breeze and drizzly air get everything damp inside.
"Bella!" John exclaimed as he ran outside. The rest of the family stood by the front porch wide-eyed in shock. They had given her for dead.
"What in the world happened? Don't you know better than to hike alone?" He hugged her fiercely. Jasmine had tears in her eyes as she hugged Bella next.
"Oh honey, I was so worried." Her eyes turned to Edward and Alice. "Thank you for all your help."
They nodded.
"Come inside honey, you must be starving." The family huddled around her and John stayed behind to fully thank both of them.
"I don't know what to say Edward; it seems that I owe you and your family twice for saving my niece."
"It was our pleasure. We just happened to cross her while we hiked." Alice answered.
"Would you like to stay for a while, we'd loved to give you some food too or at least a home to rest in for a couple of minutes." He offered.
"We're actually not hungry…" Edward started.
"But we'd love to stay for a little while." Alice interrupted quickly.
Edward stared at her in disbelief.
They entered the house and found Bella sitting on the kitchen table eating something mushy and disgusting to them. They crinkled their nose at the appalling smell.
"Do you want something to eat?" Jasmine asked as they entered.
"No thank you." They answered.
Bella scarfed her food down. Edward grimaced forgetting that humans eat more frequently than vampires. He had to remember for next time. Next time? What next time? He caught himself.
It was then that he heard John on the phone with Jaime. "No she's fine. The Cullens found her in the jungle and brought her back."
The conversation brought back some of the hostility that he felt towards this boy and the other two. He hadn't had a chance to fully delve into his feelings. It was actually something that he was trying hard to ignore.
They made idle chatter. Bella finished her food and went to take a bath.
When she came out it was afternoon. The Cullens got up and started to leave.
Bella followed them to the jeep. "Hey, thanks for everything. I really appreciate it."
It was then that Alice's vision came to fruition. She had purposefully kept Edward out of the loop so that this could happen. She went inside the jeep as Edward turned around to face Bella.
He gave her an appreciative look as he took a deep breath to speak. The scent hit him like a ton of bricks but he had come to the realization that he wanted, no he needed,to be close to her.
"Bella, I didn't get a chance to ask you something yesterday." His voice was confident but with a nervous undercurrent. "On Friday, the day of the block party..."
He stopped as he heard Bella gasp. "You have some nerve, Edward. Are you serious?"
His crooked smile appeared and it stopped Bella's rant short. "Like I was saying, I heard you say you were going to the hospital and I wanted to know if you wanted me to go with you. If you'd like of course."
She stared at him blankly.
"Or was that an excuse to get rid of all your suitors." His smile faded, suddenly serious. Maybe even angry at the prospect of all of those rivals.
She couldn't think. She didn't know what was happening. As their gaze lengthened so did the electricity in the air. The yearning to touch the other person was almost unbearable.
Edward lifted his hand as if to touch her but quickly put it back down. Bella balled her hands into tight fists.
"Uh…sure." She answered to the question she couldn't recall. But it didn't matter to her; she could sign her soul away just so that she could stare into those deep pools of timeless mystery.
He nodded once and the crooked smile turned into a full, wide grin. He was sublimely happy. She had said yes to him!
Alice almost squealed, but she contained it. Her thoughts on the other hand were ecstatic. She wanted to bounce of walls.
Bella smiled in return and for once she almost felt normal. Like if her wounds were not healed but completely gone. Like there is no trace of them left.
"I'll see you soon then."
He turned and left. The jeep roared to life and Bella jumped at the noise. She returned to the house completely ignorant that the whole family had watched what happened.
"So…" Lenny started. "Lucky that they were hiking, huh?"
John and Jasmine glared at their son. "Don't you even dare open your mouths, all three of you. You are completely responsible for what happened to her. You know better than to let anyone hike alone." Jasmine chided them.
She walked to Bella and put her arms around her. "Oh honey, I'm so sorry these boys have no brains. Please forgive them." She pleaded.
"It's okay, I would've gotten lost if they had been with me too. I guess it's just my luck."
She went to her room to rest and all the while the image of Edward filled her mind.
Man…my head is spinning with so much that's happened
I love Alice and I just had to add her in faster than I would have otherwise. I love the relationship she has with Edward.
Let me know what you think… Good, so far?