**Creeps in with hands in front of face** I feel like crap for not updating, and I'm incredibly sorry for all of that. Hectic school, and **Sighs** I'm so incredibly sorry for that. But, I'm going to give you two chapters in less than a week to make up for it, is that okay? The first one will be going up today, obviously, and the second one will be going up… **thinks** Friday, January 8th? Yup. I promise, cross my heart. I understand if I've lost every single reader for being an idiot and not updating in **Checks** 6 months. Dang, I'm sorry guys. Just please don't give up on me yet, I have wonderful chapters forming inside my head right now. :D Here's the next chapter!!!
"You're a…" I began, finally figuring out why he could do so many unorthodox things.
"I'm a vampire."
I swear that I could feel my eye twitching as I look at Edward like he was crazy. Of course he was lying, there was nothing that would convince me otherwise. Without knowing, I tilted my head slightly to the side, observing him and going over a mental checklist.
Pale? Well, now that I think of it, he totally is more pale than normal!
Fangs? I don't see any, but maybe they extend!
Burn in the sunlight? Hm… well there isn't too much sunlight around here, so he could.
Undead? Holy crap! I can't hear a heartbeat, or any blood rushing through his veins.
Drinks blood? Well, he did refuse my irresistible beef stroganoff, even though he looked like he was hungry…
Going for the complete vampire victim, I backed away, fear laced in my eyes, and said, with overly enhanced drama in my voice, "No, don't eat me! I'll do anything you want!" I laughed, before seeing that Bella was compelled to stare at me like I was an idiot, while Edward was chuckling underneath his breath.
I fell down to my knees laughing, looking at the priceless look etched upon Bella's face, before realizing that I had to keep it down or Charlie would come check on us.
I got up, slowly breathing, calming myself down and looked back at the two of them, face completely solemn, my eyes cleared of emotion.
"So, you were saying?" I motioned with my hands for Edward to continue.
Before Edward continued, I ended up cracking up at their still shocked expressions, and held my stomach while holding up my hand, motioning for them to hold a second while I regained my composure.
"You're not afraid by the fact that I am a vampire?" Edward asked, while still chuckling lightly.
"You actually want me to believe that you are a vampire? You might just have some problems, but you definitely are not. A. Vampire It doesn't make any sense." I started to back away from him, remembering all of the people at the school, and how they wanted to create someone that was directly from folklore and fairytales. I laughed nervously, and looked at him. "You aren't lying, are you?"
Edward looked at me before he looked at Bella and shook his head. "Why would I lie about something like that?" He looked serious, but I felt like I should test him further.
"So you don't drink blood and every thing else? Why don't you burn up in the sun, or, or, why don't you have blood red eyes or-" I stopped, everything clicking in my head. "Is that why the Quileutes are afraid of you guys?" I was near on gasping hysterically.
Bella looked at me, and started to reach for my arm. When she touched my arm, I yanked away, instantly on guard. "Max, he doesn't hurt humans. He's a different kind of vampire."
"Oh, so I'm supposed to believe that he won't eat me if I cut myself open right now?" I said, completely hysterical.
"Max, I mean it, I promise that I won't hurt you." Edward looked at me, topaz eyes shining.
"I don't believe you, prove it." Edward disappeared. "What the heck?" I whispered.
Then, out of nowhere, he popped up behind me, small animal in his hands. "It's cruel, I know, but it's the only way that you'll believe me." He snapped its neck and drank the blood.
"O-kay, just, back away now." I backed off, getting into fighting stance.
"I can take you on Max, so just cool down, and accept what I am, because I've accepted you for whatever you are." Edward made clear. I didn't completely feel safe, like I did with Jacob, but it would only be logical for me to not fight with him, and get along, so that he wouldn't kill me before I expired naturally. Making up my mind, I figured out that I would get along for my health.
"Are we okay now, Max?" Edward looked at me.
"Heck yeah, just so long as you don't bite me." I nodded my head, putting emphasis on the word bite.
"Emmett would like her," Bella finally spoke up, smiling a little bit. "I could just imagine him trying to give her a bear hug and laughing like an idiot over her reaction."
Edward looked at her and then looked back at me to see if I had changed my emotions, or my forever changing expression on my face.
Too bad I disappointed him with only a confused expression managing to creep into my eyes. Of course I was going to be confused, I had no idea who this Emmett was, and even though I didn't know him, I'm sure that I would like him, just from what I've heard from Bella. I sighed, feeling fatigued from all that had happened in the past few days.
"Can I meet him?" I said, wondering how many there were of Edward's kind around here. "How many of you are there?" I asked, following my thoughts.
"My siblings, Alice, who you met today, Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmett, along with my parents, Esme and Carlisle." Edward said their names, but I knew that he could have just said an unclear number. I guess he wants me to meet them, if he's taken the liberty to tell me all their names.
"Can we go meet them now? I have nothing but time, and my internally clock is still ticking. I have three hours to kill until I was going to bed anyway. Please?" I begged, turning on the puppy dog eyes that I have adapted from Ella. They were a complete life saver when I turned them onto my mother. She would give into anything, and they mostly helped me whenever I was feeling like chocolate chip cookies.
Bella looked at Edward, waiting for a response.
Edward sighed before looking right at me, looking so deep that it felt like he was looking in my soul. "I suppose so, especially because Alice has been pestering me about getting to know you for real, ever since she gave you that hug at school."
I smiled, knowing that I wasn't even the one that changed his mind, because his mind was already set. He was going to take me to meet the rest of his family anyway, so that there were more of them to try and get me to tell him who I was.
Bella looked back and forth between the two of us and sighed, "I'm going to go get my coat, Max, do you want to wait here until Edward and I get back with the Volvo?"
"Um, how far away do you live?" I asked, trying to figure out whether or not he should go get his Volvo.
While he described how far he lived, Bella left the room and brought back my jacket and hers. Before I reply, I got a queasy feeling that welled up deep inside me, and the oh-so-lovely voice decided to pop in.
I just popped in to let you know that that dream that you had the other night, the one where you were running at speeds never known to you was foreseeing your new power. Try it out so that you can uphold your secret for a little bit longer.
Okay, what? The voice was actually helping me now? Dang, lots of things have changed. Rolling my eyes, I looked at Edward, "Nope, I think I might just run."
Edward seemed puzzled and I saw a glint in his eye. "You think that you can run all the way there? And for us to be there in enough time so that it doesn't take all night?"
I lifted my eyebrow, egging him on, trying to dare him to challenge me. "Yup."
"Let's go then."
We both jumped out of the window while Bella quietly crept down the stairs, meeting us outside. Bella looked at us like we were crazy, before jumping onto Edward's back and closing her eyes without a word from Edward. I secretly cursed the voice, hoping that it was right, because I didn't want to be a liability when Edward could have just gotten his Volvo.
Swallowing the big lump in my throat, I looked at the endless stretch of road in front of my eyes, preparing to take off.
"Just follow me, then." Edward smiled, and I could see in his eyes and Bella's that they didn't believe that I could do it.
"Take lead, cap-e-tahn." I said, not completely sure of my abilities.
Edward took off, fast. And not knowing what I was doing, I took off as well, shooting down the road at a breakneck pase. Before I knew it, I had caught up with Edward, and my legs weren't even visible, they were going to fast. Trees were flying by, colors mixing together. I couldn't even think about where I was going, because I was just watching in awe as everything zoomed by. Edward cleared his throat and I saw him turning really sharply, probably because we had missed the turn because of my fascination.
Bella's eyes had somehow managed to open in the short period of time that we had been running, and she wasn't staring at the beautiful foliage flying by, but instead at me, and at my carefree, surprised expression. Although the surprise on my face was doubled, even tripled on Bella's face, her eyes wide open, like saucer plates, blinking rapidly when she realized that I was staring at her.
Edward started going faster, testing me. But I countered it, my feet flying across the forest.
But then, as I my eyes started to adjust to the darkness surrounding me, I started to fear falling, or tripping over something, and tripping onto the ground. The ground and I had gotten pretty close over the years, and besides the other day's meeting, we were growing apart, and I happened to like it that way.
Finally, after about another minute of colors and avoiding trees, I could feel in my legs that Edward was slowing, because I was unconsciously slowing down with him. Once we had come to a stop, I noticed a couple lights up ahead, and walked slowly up to a beautiful house, made of basically glass.
"Is this where you live?" I asked, after finding my voice.
Edward let Bella down, and answered with a simple yes before looking at me like I was an experiment, which of course, creeped me out.
"Edward?" I heard a voice call out silently. "Would you like to introduce us to our guest?"
Bella of course didn't hear what had been said, and Edward only moved his head a fraction of a centimeter towards the sound. "I assume you heard that, Max, let's go meet my family," Edward said, loudly enough for Bella to hear as well, probably because he didn't want her to feel left out.
I probably would feel left out if I couldn't hear all of the little things that were being said too, but Bella seemed to be coping well, and shrugged assuming that it was nothing, or Edward would have told her.
"Max!" I heard a light, bell of a voice yell, reminding me of Alice, the one that I had met before.
And no longer than it took me to think that it was Alice, but Alice came floating down the steps at the beginning of their house, leading to the front doors. She came bounding over to where we were standing and looked at Edward weirdly for a second before Edward shook his head slightly.
It seemed that even Bella noticed this slight exchange between the two siblings, because I saw her roll her eyes. Edward leaned into her ear to say something, but then he looked at me, rolled his eyes and sighed, knowing that I would be able to hear everything that he said.
"Alice said that everyone is inside ready to meet you Max, and they don't want you to be afraid of them apparently, but I don't think that that'll be a problem, seeing how you took it when you first found out what I was." Edward turned towards the house and I could see that he was concentrating on something before he turned towards me. "They say that you smell weird, and that they really want to know your secret, especially because Alice just can't see it."
"Wait, can Alice see through stuff, like Superman? Oh gosh, where's some iron when you need it." I smiled.
"It wasn't iron that he couldn't see through, it was lead." Alice stated matter of factly, but it wasn't in a snobby way, it was in a humorous way.
"Well, I haven't been a normal kid with a normal life, and I've only really had a home for the past year or so, so I think I should get some credit for even knowing who Superman is," I rambled, noticing that I was saying way too much.
"Anyway," Alice said slowly, noticing the nervous look in my eyes, "I can see the future, not see through clothing, but I can't see you. I've never been like you, so I can't see you. Now I would just like to know what I haven't been." She smiled a completely genuine smile, like she cared.
"Come on, just bring her inside already," A booming voice came from the house, and I'm surprised that it didn't break some windows.
"Let's go," Edward chuckled.
Once we walked inside, I was flooded with lights, enclosing me from the darkness outside. It took a while for my eyes to completely adjust, seeing as my raptor vision didn't handle change in light and dark as well.
"It's so nice to meet you Max, I've heard plenty about you, and I want to know if it's true and not just some lies." I saw a very pretty woman, in her twenties or early thirties, but she had such a light face and caring eyes, that I could see her as a mother to teenagers like Edward and Alice.
"Nice to meet you too, you must be Esme, Edward's mother." I said, knowing that it was the truth.
"I see Edward has told you a little bit about me already?" She questioned, looking into Edward's eyes the same way that Alice did a moment before, as if they were having a private conversation.
"No, only your name, and that you're my mother." Edward cleared.
"Yeah, he didn't tell me anything else, and quite frankly I don't see how you can be his biological mother, because you look way too young and your basic features don't match at all." I rambled again. Dang, I needed to learn how to control my mouth.
She laughed a carefree laugh before gesturing towards a handsome man, who looked like he was in his twenties as well, who I assumed to be Edward's father. "Edward's our adoptive son," he said, his voice like bells as well.
You know, if everyone has soft voices like this, my hearing is going to be wrecked when I revert back to hearing sharp, nasally voices like the ones I hear at school.
"You must be Carlisle?" I questioned, but I knew that it was right.
He laughed, clearly amused by me for some reason.
"Emmett, just come down here and stop yelling at me in your head," Edward said quickly, rubbing his temples.
Of course, the reason why they could have inside conversations was because Edward could read minds. I can't believe that I didn't see that before now, especially because Angel did that with us multiple times. Maybe Edward could talk in their minds too? But then, why would he need to nod his head or shake it, like he did?
"Edward, you're a mind reader, I know, but, can you talk in other people's minds?" I asked, looking at him and breaking the current conversation.
"No, why?" Edward stated, his eyebrows coming together in confusion.
"Well, I used to know someone that could read minds, but she could also talk in the person's mind, so that they can have a complete conversation in silence, and I've seen you and your family having silent conversations." I stated, looking him straight in the eyes.
"Max, just because I'm a mind reader doesn't mean that I can do everything that a typical mind reader does. I can only read minds, and I can't read certain people's minds, like Bella's, there's nothing there. And then you, there's something blocking your mind so that I can't even read it." Edward said, eyes clearing stating dissapointment.
"Max, the mystery kid!" I heard a booming voice, the same one from before. "I've been waiting so long to meet you! Well, technically only about a week, but Eddie here wouldn't even let me think about meeting you!" Someone, who I supposed was Emmett said.
"Emmett, the big booming voice and dang, you look strong." I said, not afraid of his reaction, but just stating the truth.
"Yeah, that's the only thing I have going for me, except for cute dimples," he smiled a cheesy smile, letting his chiseled dimples pop.
I laughed a hearty laugh while looking at his expression and noticed that he had a burning curiosity in his eyes.
Then, a beautiful blonde walked down the stairs, no, glided down the stairs, and I was about to gape in awe, until I noticed the snotty look on her face, and the disgust lacing her eyes and making her way into her facials. For someone that was supposed to be meeting someone new, i.e., me, she certainly was being mean from the start.
"Rosalie, isn't it?" I stated simply, noticing that she sensed something in me, something that wasn't going to take her crap.
"I like her, she has something about her." She stated, looking at Emmett in a loving way, combined with respect for me, which I totally didn't expect.
"Well then," Edward sighed, because he was probably suspecting the worst.
"Yes, I'm Rosalie, you must be the Max that everyone seems to be always be wondering about these days. Like I said, I like you, so please don't disappoint me, because I'm rarely wrong when I read someone, it's like a gift." She said, and I believed her, especially because I could sense some coldness between her and Bella, which seemed to have some meaning.
Finally, the last person that I needed to meet came down the stairs, extremely tense, and it looked like he was constipated, or that he was trying to hold in an outburst of words or something. Every emotion that you could think of was held in his eyes, and once he came down, I got all tense as I saw him lift his nose up and inhale deeply before relaxing a little bit and staying as far away from Bella as he could.
"You must be Jasper." I concluded, seeing as he was the only one left that I hadn't met.
Alice looked between me and Jasper, and before he could say anything, she held onto his arm, and I could tell that he was her mate, boyfriend, husband, or whatever they were. "You won't hurt her, even if I can't see it."
"I know," he spoke softly. "She smells like a bird, and her blood doesn't call to me."
I felt a little bit rejected, and nervous. I smell like a bird? Well then, that just ruins my big surprise, but also, my blood doesn't call to a vampire? What does that say about me. I feel horribly dejected for some reason.
But, everyone else seemed to ignore the bird comment and they all sighed a sigh of relief, probably for the fact that they didn't have to worry about Jasper attacking anyone but Bella tonight. Jasper smiled a tight smile at me, and I couldn't help but realize that he kinda looked like he was going to attack someone at any given point in time. But then, he looked confused and oddly dejected, and I lifted an eyebrow.
"Can he feel emotions?" I asked suddenly, not knowing why.
Everyone seemed to be taken back by my comment, and I held up my hands in defense. "I didn't mean to offend anyone if he does, I was just curious, because his eyes are portraying the exact emotion that I'm feeling right now."
"Yes I can, and we weren't offended, just curious as to how you could figure that out so quickly, especially because I hadn't tried to change your emotional course." Jasper got out, talking for everyone.
Then, for the next few moments, there was an awkward silence that seemed to sweep throughout the house as if a door had been left open and took all of our coherent thoughts away from us.
But, coherent or not, Emmett looked at me strangely and his gaze seemed to be questioning. "How'd you get here?" He asked, seeing that my hair was wind blown and there were a couple leaves in my hair.
I picked those leaves out while replying, "I ran." I stated simply.
A gasp flew throughout the room, just as quickly as the awkwardness had.
"Edward, did she run as fast as you?" Rosalie asked.
"Yes, she actually did, it was amazing watching her fly through the trees on her feet." Edward said, looking at everyone in his family.
"You are a very special young lady, Max," Carlisle said, looking at me like I was amazingly special.
"But what are you?" Emmett asked, and it wasn't even as accusatory as it sounded, it was pure curiosity, and with his curly hair and the dimples on his cheeks, I couldn't help but want to tell them what had happened to me for the first years of my life. They would probably view me as a freak, and I didn't really want that, as I found that the La Push guys did after they found out about my wings.
"You don't have to tell us everything if you don't want to, Max, we're just curious," I heard Esme's soft voice say, and I knew that she would be true to her word.
But, after Edward spilt their secret, I believed that they had a right to know what had happened to me.
"Well, the first thing that you need to know is," I wiggled my wings around inside Jacob's shirt that I hadn't realized that I still had on.
"Ugh, why do you smell like dog?" Rosalie stated with disgust back into her voice.
Whoops, I had forgotten to change out of the sweatpants and shirt that Jacob had given me. Well, forgotten wasn't the right word, because I purposefully kept them on.
One, because it reminded me of him and it made me feel safe.
Two, it smelt really good.
Third, It was incredibly comfortable, and my wings were hidden well in them.
"Um… I got lost in the woods the other day and Jacob and his friends found me and took care of me while I was in a coma type thing, so they gave me Jacob's clothing so that I wouldn't be in my muddy clothing from before." I said, not completely telling the truth, but not lying either.
"Ah, and you didn't have the heart to change?" Rosalie asked.
"Nope, I just got home at 7:00." I said, trying to get her to calm down and not completely knowing why she was so mad at the simple smell of him. And, Jacob didn't smell like a dog…
"Continue Max, I'm sorry." Rosalie apologized, and I actually believed that she meant it.
"Anyway," I began, not knowing how to start what I was going to say. "I was born as an experiment, and was tortured from the day I was born…" I began, leading off and guiding around the fact that I had wings and explained everything, including the Flock.
"I feel like you're keeping stuff out, Max." Alice said lightly, noticing how I would pause and keep going after I found the words that I could use instead of wings and birds. Alice had a sad look in her eyes, and I could feel pity coming from her, but it wasn't bad pity that made me feel helpless, it was something else.
"Ok, I don't want you guys to look at me weirdly, or think of me as a freak, okay? I just want to get out of here without feeling like an outcast." I said, knowing that after I showed them my wings, I would have to start from the beginning of my story and put in the things that I had left out.
"We're vampires, I don't think that you can get weirder than that." Emmett gestured towards himself, and then back at me.
"Well, you could only think that for so long. You guys are in myth and folklore, only a little bit different, but me, and others like me have only been talked about as experiments." I said, looking towards the ground.
Everyone's eyebrows lifted up as they saw me judging the distance between the furniture that I would destroy if my wings were too big. Taking off my jacket because it was the good one without holes, I looked once more at Jacob's shirt and knew that I wouldn't be able to give it back after I tore two huge holes in it.
Without thinking about what they would say to me, I ripped out my wings, shredding two holes in it, feeling good to let my wings out after they had been curled into the small of my back. I heard the gasp that was held in for everyone, and I ruffled my feathers, feeling a little bit of dried blood in between the layers.
The brown and white speckled wings seemed like long lost friends to me, and I moved them so that they would get nice and loose. They looked magnificent if I could brag about them without being self conscious. It was just that they reached just about 15 feet, and they had grown in the time that I hadn't used them, getting stronger and more majestic. I wouldn't doubt that I would be able to carry about 200 pounds with these bad boys.
No one seemed to be able to speak, like their brains had flown out the window.
I didn't want to take my wings back in, but I brought them in a little bit, curling around me a little bit and shrinking together back into my back, going from 15 feet to a mere 6 feet, three feet extending to both of my sides.
The closest person to me, which was Emmett, came up and reached his hand slowly towards my wings, looking into my eyes for permission, which I granted, because I knew that he was going to touch them anyway.
After Emmett was brave enough to feel through my top layer of feathers, almost everyone else followed suit, making their way over to where
I was standing.
"Max, can you tell us the whole story now?" I heard Alice ask during her feeling of my wings. Maybe they were soft or something, you know?
So I told them, from the beginning to when Ella, my mom, and I moved here. Bella had tears in her eyes, and it looked like everyone else wanted to cry, but there were no visible tears that were welling in their eyes.
Rosalie seemed to be silently nodding her head as she listened. Maybe she was comparing it to her own life and getting something out of it?
My wings started to get tired, so I pulled them in, bringing them back underneath the bagginess of Jacob's shirt.
"Now, I want to know your stories," I implied, before I yawned a great big yawn. "Crap, I didn't mean to do that."
"I think that it's time for you guys to go back to Bella's house and go to bed, we have all the time in the world for stories, maybe you can come back tomorrow?" Carlisle asked, delight lacing his eyes, while he looked where my wings were, only a minute ago.
"Maybe…" I led off, but then remembered that I was going to Jacob's tomorrow, well, I looked at the clock, which read 1:23 am. I was going to Jacob's later today. "Not tonight, I'm going to a bonfire at La Push beach, I was invited, and they did save my life, plus, I like Jacob, he makes me feel safe.
Bella looked at Edward with a worried expression.
I knew that what I had said was something bad, because everyone looked like they were ready to hiss at me and attack or something.
"Okay then," Carlisle said, while he seemed to be the only one that wasn't really mad at me.
"We… better get going… Bella?" Edward led off.
"I'll fly back home, I remember the way." I said, glad that I didn't have to run along with Edward, even though I was able to keep up. I needed to use my wings, and think.
"See you later, Max!" Alice said, back to her perky, hyperness.
Everyone gathered around the door as I prepared to take off, letting my wings extend to their biggest distance. "Bye everyone." I said quickly, running and jumping into the air, flapping my wings gently, speeding off to Bella's house.
It took less time than I thought, and it turned out that I beat Edward and Bella back. I waited in Bella's room, wanting to ask Edward why everyone got really mad when I mentioned Jacob and his friends.
I don't think that there's anything wrong with them, except for Sam, who just happened to rub me the wrong way as my first expression of him.
Edward jumped up into the window, with Bella on his back, close to asleep.
Getting right to it, I said, "Edward, what's wrong with your family and the guys from La Push? Is there bad blood between you two or what? Because they were really nice to me for what they've done so far."
Edward looked at me and then set Bella down on the bed, who, after feeling Edward tense up was completely awake. "If you don't know what they are yet, then I can't tell you what it is we vampires hate about them." Edward said sharply.
"Oh, I'm sorry." I said, wondering what he meant. Jacob seemed extremely normal, and there was nothing about him that suggested otherwise.
I lifted my hair into a ponytail and tied it back, relieving the warmth on the back of my neck.
"Max, what's that?" Edward said, like he was shocked. He made his way over to me, looking at the back of my neck. "Are those, numbers?"
I felt all of the blood rush out of my face, my eyes went as wide as saucers, and I knew that there was something really bad happening. This couldn't be happening. I felt the back of my neck, feeling nothing, but the worried look on my face triggered Edwards and Bella's to flash in worry. Not saying anything, tears leaked out of my eyes, one landing on the ground by my feet.
My expiration date had popped up.
Hit or Miss? I hope it's a hit. Now, I promise promise promise!! That I will update on Friday. Promise, cross my heart yada yada yada. Now, please read and review, comment on the chapter, give me ideas, because I really need them in order to be able to update by Friday! I need your help, reviewers. And please just don't add it on alert and not review. I mean, if you do and then you come back, okay. I love all of you wonderful people that read my stories, and I really need some feedback!! Until Friday, tata!
~Del3195 :D