Bella's POV

"Uh... Bella?"

I heard Charlie calling me from the front door while I was in the kitchen making the spaghetti for dinner. I set the burner to low, just in case he planned to distract me with another long sermon on how I should be spending more time with my 'other friends' beside my boyfriend.

I winced when I thought that. Edward still hadn't come to my bedroom, and it'd been two days. I hadn't seen him at school either. The worry was flooding me, I had to constantly fight the panic that he'd left, despite how he'd promised never to go again. Alice had promised me that everything was alright, and it only calmed my anxiety somewhat. Needless to say, Charlie was thrilled, and that made me mad.

Back to the matter at hand, I undid my apron I'd donned to protect my clothes from getting splattered with sauce, hanging it on the back of the chair. I wiped my hands on it and wandered to the front door to see what he wanted, and I stopped short. Skye was standing there at the door, soaked to the bone, holding a bag over her shoulder and as pale as death. Her eyes were red-rimmed, she'd been crying.

"Hi." Her voice was quiet, and I could tell her throat was sore from crying. I hurriedly ushered her in, ignoring Charlie entirely. I managed to remember him long enough to call over my shoulder as I hurried Skye up the stairs to my room, "You can finish up the spaghetti Dad!"

She sighed quietly when she got into my room, looking at me with tired eyes. I couldn't stop myself from staring, her eyes were red with tears, she still looked like she was about to burst into them at any given moment again. I resisted the urge to hug her, I knew she could get touchy when she was upset. Instead I asked weakly, "What happened?"

"I.. I got into a fight with Justin." She answered just as weakly, she winced and then looked away, biting her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. She still was really upset. "I... I said some things I shouldn't have said."

"Oh." I sat down heavily on the edge of my bed, and then pat the space beside me. She seemed to be debating whether or not to sit next to me, but she did eventually. I smoothed out her hair in what I hoped was a soothing gesture.

"I was just so frustrated..." Her words spilled out quickly now, I was glad the tears hadn't started. I could be as useless as Charlie was with emotional outbursts sometimes... "I shouldn't have said that to him, I know I hurt him..." She buried her face in her hands, voice muffled by her fingers, "I was just so angry!"

"It's okay, we all have our moments." I murmured quietly, winding my arms around her to hug her close. She was shivering, and it took me a moment to realize she was crying again. I held her while she let loose, knowing that she needed it.

I was a bit surprised. I hadn't seen her like this for quite some time. But then again, the girl I had known seemed to have changed so violently that sometimes I didn't think she was the same person. A wicked sense of humour, sarcastic to a fault, and confident to the point that it bordered extreme cockiness. Those were her past qualities, the ones that I was used to seeing. Now...

She cried herself out in my arms, I was grateful she was showing me her weak side. It meant she still trusted me. I waited until she slowly drew away, brushing the remaining tears from her eyes hastily. "Better?"

"Yeah..." She mumbled quietly, blushing a little. She was embarrassed?

I tousled her already messy hair, now realizing she was soaked to the bone. I sighed, and then stood her up. "You need a hot shower. We can talk after that." She gave me an odd look, but she took the towel I was offering and then went into the bathroom. I leaned on the wall outside the door, listening to the hot water beginning to pour.

Thoughts spun in my head, and I felt unease in my stomach. Did Alice know that she was here? Would she tell Edward? It wasn't like he'd forbidden me from seeing Skye again, if he had I'd probably have thrown a fit... But I knew he disliked her, it would cause problems...

She called through the door, water still running, "Bella...?"

"Yeah?" I called back, surprised to hear her calling for me. I turned to the door, to hear her better if she called me again.

"Thanks... For doing this. I didn't have anywhere else to go, it means a lot to me that you'd help me out." Her voice was tired, like she was ready to just hit the floor and fall asleep there. I winced. That must have been one hell of a fight between her and Justin...

At the thought, I froze. More thoughts spun in my head, ones I'd been trying to hide for ages. Not because I thought Edward would see it, because I thought it wasn't any of my business to be wondering about those things. Damn my hormones. I was going to ask anyway. "Um... Skye... Do you mind me asking you something?"

The water stopped, and I knew she was putting the towel on. There was a moment of silence, and then I heard her reply curiously, "Sure."

"Um..." Dammit, I was stammering! My cheeks flushed hot, and I looked at the ground, searching for my words. They had died in my throat, and I knew I was going to sound very stupid if I asked her anything. Instead I hastily went around to gather something for her to sleep in, and I handed her the clothes through the crack in the door. "You and Justin... You're uh... Romantically involved, right?"

"Sadly yes." She answered with a sigh, changing into my clothes now. I hoped they fit. She questioned now, puzzled, "But what do you want to know?"

How was I supposed to phrase this without sounding either like a creeper or like I was totally an idiot? Honestly! I stumbled over my words, knowing I was a complete dork, "Er... You and him, I mean, you've done things before, right?"

She opened the door, a suspicious look on her now clean face. Her hair was a wet sheet of black, the water making her dark hair look darker. She must have smoothed it down before she got out. She wore a pair of blue shorts that I really didn't like myself, and a white tanktop that I thought looked too odd on me. They fit her extremely well, she had even tied the shirt into a ball at the front, exposing her pale midriff. A stab of envy went through me. Did everybody look better than me?

She regarded me carefully, judging my embarrassed face. Then she raised her eyebrows when she read me like a book/ oh no... Here it comes... "Bella," She asked me slowly, as if savouring my embarrassment but she really was curious and a little bit creeped out, "Are you asking me if I've ever slept with Justin?"

I went red to my ears. I turned my face away, knowing the blush would give my thoughts away in an instant, mind reader or not. Why did I ask!? It wasn't my business what she did with her boyfriend! Her vampire boyfriend, a snide little voice that really reminded me of Jacob whispered into my ear.

"Why do you want to know that?" She asked me with raised eyebrows, looking very confused. Thank god, she wasn't disgusted by my prying. She was honestly puzzled.

"I just... It was that... See, er..." I really wasn't going to be able to explain things to her without making more of an idiot of myself, was I? Finally I just blurted it out. "Edward won't do anything with me and I was wondering if Justin was the same with you."

"Oh." Now she just looked surprised. She ruffled her hair out so the air could dry it better, judging her words. Finally she shook her head and told me, "Yeah, we have actually... Both before he was a vampire and after."

"Was it... Hard for him?" I asked tentively, mentally kicking myself at the innuendo I had made without meaning to. Skye shot me a little smile, she got the accidental joke. But she looked serious and I recovered quickly, "I meant was it difficult for him to control himself?"

Skye's eyebrows slanted, meeting in the middle and furrowing. She was judging her answer before she made it. She took a few long moment, moving from foot to foot before she answered me. "It... Was, sort of.. We'd been together like that before he was changed, so it wasn't like it was totally new for us... He wasn't used to his strength, of course he was worried about hurting me accidentally..."

"But you two, you still..." I was blushing fiercely again, even as I tried to further the topic. The more we talked about it the closer I was to internal combustion. But also the closer we were to answering my questions and giving me, hopefully, some peace of mind.

Skye understood my embarrassment and didn't wait for me to overcome it, she just nodded. Bless the girl. "Yeah, we do. Occasionally." She sounded bitter suddenly, something I didn't understand.

"What's wrong?"

She threw herself down on the edge of my bed again, glaring angrily at the ceiling. She spoke quickly, the bitter tone still there in her voice, "Sure we sleep together, sure he follows me around like a stalker, but does he really love me?"

That certainly caught me off guard. If he was protecting her like he was, wasn't it obvious that he loved her? I sat on the floor, leaning against her legs and wrapping my arms around my own. "Where did that come from?"

"Before he was changed, when we were friends before, he was so different." Skye murmured raggedly, sad again. I didn't like the constant flipping, but I understood that she needed to talk, so I listened. "He was playful, funny, warm... He was emotional, not afraid to tell me how he was feeling. And my god, he was so much more spirited! It's like he's done a complete attitude change! He's quiet, brooding, sarcastic... It's like I've lost my Justin."

I understood how she felt. I felt a little pang in my chest, the thought of Jacob's polar to sunny moods... And now the fact that I never saw him. She had her Justin, and I had my Jacob... The keyword being 'had' both our boys had been lost to something strange... Something we couldn't break through.

"Skye, I don't mean to be intrusive..." I began, then I scrapped it, she was going to tell me whether or not she liked it. We were past all secrets at this point, I hadn't told anybody else about my frustrations with Edward, she was going to spill some secrets of her own. "To hell with it, why doesn't Justin drink more often? Maybe then he wouldn't be so angry."

"He doesn't like drinking." Skye replied with a weak smile, it looked odd on her face. She elegantly tucked her legs under her and then flipped to lay flat on her stomach, gazing down at me while I gazed up at her. She continued softly, "He tests himself often, to see how long he can go without drinking... His endurance is on par with Edward's by now I'd think. Nowhere near Carlisle, he still gets tempted occasionally by human blood, but only when he's gone weeks without drinking..."

I thought about that while she fell silent, also lost in thought. He had been a newborn when he started to drink animal blood, and only once drank human blood, and he'd resisted, fresh from the change. I was amazed. It was possible, wasn't it? Carlisle had done it, why couldn't he? What had Skye called it, he'd brought along his conscience, so powerful, so much in love with Skye that he resisted the lure of her blood.

Like Edward. He could resist mine now, it repulsed him to think of drinking my blood. It must be like that for Justin as well. He stopped himself from hunting because it repulsed him, what he'd become, how he had to survive. Even a few years of that must have greatly helped his endurance. If he started out like that, forced himself to starve between hunts for so long, he must have been so used to being thirsty that it barely affected him.

But with that, if he was constantly thirsty... It would affect his mood. He'd be angrier, more moody... And that hurt Skye. But she kept quiet because he was suffering enough, but months of enduring that would eventually cause cracks in her armour and now she'd lashed out back at him. But that only hurt her on the rebound as well.

I sighed. Love. Why couldn't it ever be like it was in the stories, simple and happy? Did anybody ever get their 'happily ever after' or had we been lied to since we were children?

She spent the next two days at my home, helping out with chores and random things. Charlie permitted it because not only was Skye a quiet help but she was an excellent cook. It made so there was some new food around and the fact that I didn't need to worry about cooking dinner all the time. When she said she should leave, Charlie invited her to come around whenever she wanted.

I walked her to her apartment, unsure of whether or not she was really okay with going back. Though I wouldn't tell her I knew, I'd heard her softly sobbing herself to sleep, quiet enough so it was just a whisper underneath the rain. I knew she'd be ashamed if I told her I knew, so I let her believe I was oblivious.

When she got to her apartment building, she turned and embraced me tightly. I laughed quietly and hugged her back just as tightly. "Take care of yourself, okay Skye? I'll be back to check in on you."

"Yes mom." Skye replied with a soft laugh, giving me a soft squeeze before she let me go and vanished into her apartment building.

Skye's POV

I didn't expect to find anybody inside, and my expectations were met. I shouldered my bag, dumped it on my bed and sighed. He wasn't here. The unease and guilt started again.

The door suddenly slammed loudly, and I jumped, turning around quickly. Not nearly quickly enough. It felt like a hammer blow struck my chest, and I was against the wall gasping for air and suddenly I couldn't breathe at all. An icy white hand was sealed around my throat, effectively cutting off my air supply. I froze.

"Welcome home Christine."

I would have spat a deadly insult if I could have drawn breath but it was impossible. My lungs were crying in pain, and my head was becoming too heavy for me to keep up. Blurs had appeared in the corners of my vision, I knew I was dying. My eyes were about to roll back into my head as my brain began to shut down from lack of oxygen when the hand released me.

I collapsed onto my knees, breathing greedily. Oxygen filled my lungs, relieving the pain almost instantly in my chest. I could see clearly now, the blurs in the corners disappearing as I breathed. I didn't care who stood over me, my body told me to breathe first and insult later.

"My apologies Christine, I did need to get your attention first..." The silky voice apologized mockingly, and I looked up into the smiling face of the translucent vampire Aro. I coughed for a moment at his feet, wondering if he was quite amused by my behaviour.

I staggered to my feet, placing my hand on the wall. Finally I met his milky burgundy eyes, my own glaring. He smiled a little, and I wondered what he'd seen in my head when he was touching me. I placed my hand over my throat, feeling the stinging cold there still. I was probably going to end up bruising there. "What do you want you leech?"

"I needed to speak to you, that is all..." Aro said gently, the words flowing soothingly from his lips, but I didn't trust him for a moment. He'd lowered his hood, revealing his long jet black hair. He examined me again, and smiled, revealing his glistening teeth to me. "And it helps that your newborn friend is not here to interrupt us..."

He planned this. The horror was drowned out in my fury, but I knew it was useless to show that, he'd only find it amusing. What wrath was there that I could bring down on him? If he was going to kill me, I couldn't stop him. How easily I accepted that fact was shocking, the terror was still there, spiralling madly in my brain and body, but the acceptance eased it.

"You see... I grow impatient of your little charade." Aro said almost sadly, gesturing with his free hand. I watched them wearily, was he going to attempt to throttle me again out of amusement? "All of us have grown impatient sadly... And we believe it may be time to simply get rid of you and the newborn threat ourselves because it seems no one else can."

"I'm working as fast as I can Aro, how the hell do you expect me to get close to the Cullens when you won't give me time to let them trust me!?" I snapped angrily, the fear beginning to pound restlessly in my veins he could hear that, I didn't doubt it for a moment. "If you break your word to me now, every single vampire will start to rebel against you. And it doesn't matter how strong you are, you can't beat them all Aro."

He was watching me closely, a sickening expression of lust on his face. He wanted to drink my blood, no matter what it cost him. I hid a little smile, it was almost worth having fragrant blood to see him squirm like he was. The anger flickered in those milky eyes of his, he was growing frustrated. "We'll see human."

"You can leave now, I think you got your point across." I growled angrily, hands clenching into fists. The fear was coursing happily through my veins now, adding adrenalin to my bloodstream. Without warning his hand on was on my throat again this time, though there was little pressure, he could have been stroking my skin.

"I will enjoy satisfying my thirst on your blood Christine." His voice was soothing, silky, almost near a cat's purr. He stroked my throat again, more than likely reading the disgust in my mind. He squeezed gently, not enough to cut off my air but enough to give me a sound warning. "I will drink from you, and then we will settle this childish feud of ours once and for all." And just like he'd appeared, he was gone that quickly.

Fear finally overcome my senses, the terror overwhelmed me as I was now out of death's arms. I fell to my knees, shivering madly as the tears came. I was so close... So close. Too close. And I cried. My entire body shook, and I knew in the small part of my still sane mind, we were far from over.

AN

Whoo, um... Not much to say here really, but it will get better next chapter, promise! Questions, concerns, comments? Throw a review my way!

Evie