Chapter 12 – Friends Again
I begged them to leave me alone. My control was slipping. I was happy to be with Edward again, but I could smell the blood in him. I smelled the blood in Alice and Esme as well. The room was packed with humans and that was the worse place for me to lose control. I felt the warning signs coming, but it was too late. Edward saw them. I escaped as soon as I could, but they were already on my trail. Before I could get in my car, a stupid human made the biggest mistake of his life. He tried to hold me hostage and used me as a human shield to keep the Cullens away. He thought he was being smart, using me to protect himself. I could hear his heart beating, hear the flow of the luscious blood in his veins and the scent of it made it irresistible. He smelled like fresh rain. He reminded me of Forks and the monster inside was starved. The veins from my eyes were more predominant and I was ready to strike. Ignoring my audience, I threw him off me and my teeth sank into his flesh. The monster within purred was its appetite was being satisfied.
The human's body fell to the ground. I tried to walk away, but the blood was a stronger call. It welled up from his wound and I couldn't resist. Right now, I wasn't Bella. I was a hunter, a predator taking down my prey. The human's heartbeat was getting weaker. I could taste it in his blood. This was more than familiar. I had to find my control. I looked up and saw the shocked expressions of the immortal faces that were looking at me. That helped. I pulled my teeth back from the human and straightened up. Some of the blood was still on my lips. I took the blood in and exhaled. Looking at the Cullens, I was ashamed. I knew I had great control, but I lost it. I was kicking myself for not hunting today before the event. The human groaned and all of us looked down. "What happened?" Carlisle and the others saw the scene. I knelt down, next to the human. His heartbeat was weak, but he could be saved. I didn't allow my venom to flow into his body. I applied pressure to the wound, "Carlisle, please help me. He could still be saved."
Carlisle walked passed his sons, who were all still statutes. "Bella, what happened?" Carlisle's hand replaced mine. I was too ashamed to admit it, but how could I hide the truth. I had an audience after all, "I bit him." Carlisle looked up at me, "You what?" My lip trembled, "I bit him." The human groaned. Carlisle made a temporary bandage on the wound. The human looked up at me and weakly screamed. My eyes widened. I held his head down and looked into his eyes, "You won't remember what happened. You tried to kill yourself, but you stopped. That's what you're going to tell people if they ask. Ok?" His glance was dazed, but he nodded once, before passing out. I took the human into my arms and stood, "I'll take him to the hospital." Carlisle's eyes widened, "Bella, how are you able to….?" I shook my head, "Not now. I have to save him!"
With the human in my arms, I held my breath and ran north. I went on the other side of Cayuga Lake and headed north. I was in Aurora, when I found a hospital. It was a late hour and hardly anyone was outside. On a bench outside the hospital, I laid my mugger down and left him. Running south, I tried to find a park for me to hunt. I needed animal's blood in me, to help my control and aid my thirst. While running, I heard others coming behind me. "Bella!" Edward wasn't far behind me, but I couldn't face him. Others were with him and they were catching up. Soon, Edward was by my side, "Bella!" Looking to my other side, Emmett and Jasper weren't far behind. "Bella, stop! We need to talk." Looking side to side, I had to get away. I pushed myself further, pushing to my limits and I sprinted ahead of them. Edward was picking up speed, but he couldn't reach me. We were nearing the lake. "Bella!" Without looking back, I leapt over the lake and landed on my feet on the other side. I stood in shock. I wasn't aware I could do that. Away from the Cullens, I hunted. I took down easy prey, because I was still in my gown. After taking down a few deer, I ran back to the gala.
When I reached my car, I felt more comfortable facing the Cullens. I didn't know how many were pursuing me, so I went inside. I wanted as many people around to act as a buffer to their questions. As I entered, the song changed into a tango. "Let's go." I looked up and Emmett was at my side. "Em?" He took my "Come on, Bella." Whirling me to face him, Emmett guided me in the tango. "What is going on with you?" "Nothing." Emmett dipped me, "Bella, you were drinking a man's blood." I rolled my eyes, "Fine, what do you want to know?" "Well?" "But first," I interjected, "I am a vampire, just not one like you." He looked at me, "What do you mean?" "I'm a Daywalker." We passed Carlisle and Esme. "Aro said the Daywalkers were killed." "So he thought. My ancestor, Darius, he knew Aro. Aro thought he killed them off, but Darius was smart. He diluted the bloodline. I was born this way." Emmett spun me, "But you were human." I sighed, "I have a theory." "I'm anxious to hear it," Edward was close by, dancing with Alice. "James." Emmett looked at me, "James?" "It was his venom that triggered the change. Edward took it all out, but it was too late. The gene recognized the venom and grew from it, becoming dominant. If you think about you, you witnessed some of the change. Carlisle said he was surprised on how quickly my leg healed."
Emmett whirled me, locking our bodies into a position, "So explain the eyes? One minute, they were black, then pale blue and now, they're back to brown again." "Like you, when I'm thirsty, they're black. When I'm feeding, they're blue and they go back to brown because my eyes were brown as a human. Daywalkers are more human than your kind, but we're also stronger." The song ended and the guests were applauding. I looked around and saw Emmett and I were in the center of the circle. Another thing that surprised me about what I was capable of. He and I had an entire conversation on what I was, while dancing flawlessly. Emmett and I walked through the back door to the garden, "So, how did this change finally set in?" I stepped away from him and pinched my eyes closed, "I can't talk about that right now." Esme stood with me, "Bella?" I looked at her as a tear fell, "I have to go. Can we talk about this tomorrow?" My resolve was slipping and she saw it. She put her hand up, her palm facing behind us, stopping someone's advance, "Of course."
I stepped away and sighed, "Ok, Alice, come with me, so you can get all the details." She looked at me, "How did you know?" I smiled, "Because I know you. And you look like you're going to explode." Alice beamed, "Ok." She got in my car, "What happened to your old truck?" I laughed, "Got rid of it. It wasn't fast enough." Alice's trilling laugh filled the car. I giggled myself. "Alice, I have missed you so much." Her small arms fell around my neck and her cheek pressed into mine, "I missed you too." I pulled up in front of my house and she beamed, "You're not that far from us." Getting out the car, Alice danced by my side, "By the way, where did you get your dress and who did your hair? You look amazing." I opened the door and turned on the lights, "I found the dress myself in the city and did my own hair." She hugged me again, pulling me down to her height, "You're growing up." I pushed her off, "Come on, Alice. It's not like I had you around. I had to learn to do it myself."
We sat on the couch and she got serious, "Ok, Bella, what happened?" I looked down, "Ok." I told her everything, from Laurent and Victoria, to the wolves and Jacob, to the changes in my senses. I told her about me hearing Lauren's remarks when no one else did. I told her how I was able to make Lauren be a genuinely nice person. I left out of the part about Charlie. On that part, I had to lie. I wasn't ready to face that truth. I told her I came across another vampire and he tried to kill me. Instead, I killed him. Her eyes widened, "You drank the blood from the vampire?" I grimaced, "Yes. That was a complete shock to me too." "So what else is there, Bella?" I looked down, "Come with me tomorrow. I could show you the information I got from the school archives." She looked at me, "What time?" "In the morning." Alice smacked my leg, "Bella, you know I can't do that." She looked away, then back to me, "Can you?" My head fell to the side, "Alice, Daywalker, remember?" I gestured to myself with my index finger. Her eyes slightly widened, "You can really walk in the sun?" I nodded, "Ok, come with me tomorrow. Its going to be raining really hard." She balked, "How'd you know? Even the weather said it was going to be sunny." I laughed once, "I can smell. I can feel it."
Alice and I fell back into our old habit of just talking. She told me about finding out about her human life. It disgusted me that her family would put her away in an asylum, because they didn't understand what she could do. I told her about my relationship with Jacob and making Lauren nice, again. "How can you do that? I saw you do it to the mugger. What is that?" "I call it 'compelling.' Because, basically, I look at them and compel them to do whatever I want them to, even forget what I want them to." She smiled, "Now, that is something I would like to do." Alice and I sat on my couch for hours. The thunder rolled in the distance and she smiled, "Wow. This is really great. Don't get me wrong, I liked you human, but its fun that you're one of us now." I leaned closer to him, "Alice, I'm not like you. I'm stronger and faster." Her eyes narrowed, "Fine, Bella." She smiled and I couldn't fight mine. I really did miss Alice.
