God, I am so sorry I've taken so long to get this up! I've been so busy lately; we've just had really serious tests last week that decide if I get my triple science for my GCSEs – which I want dearly. Although, don't say I didn't warn you. The last chapter's AN did tell you. Still, they're over, you're all awesome for the wait and… Yeah, I'll shut up now.
It's not all fluff and games, you know.
Onwards!
The flames and smoke climbed out of every window,
And disappeared with everything that you held dear,
But you shed not a single tear for the things that you didn't need,
'Cause you knew you were finally free.
"Put me down, Edward!" I hit my hands on his back as he walked down the stairs.
"No."
"Why not?!"
"Because," he stressed the word. "I don't want to."
"Please." He stopped at the last step and put me down. I smiled up at him and he wore that crooked grin.
"Where were you taking me?" His hands went straight back to my waist, picking me up once more. "Edward!" I sighed exasperated.
I had learnt everything about the Quileute Tribe in the space of one night. Edward hadn't left anything out and I was fascinated about the gene that changed the actual make-up of a human into a wolf. It hid itself for the whole of the human's life unless the human came close to vampires and then affected every cell in the body without the human knowing. Once the unidentified cells had finished changing, they would change. Edward had only seen it once before in the thirties but didn't know anything more without actually going into a wolf's mind. The treaty line prevented that even if there was a wolf. None of the Cullens knew. I had asked him whether there were any more secrets I didn't know about and he shook his head, pulled me closer in the horizontal position we were in on my bed, resting his hand directly on my spine. Needless to say, the electricity was stronger than ever before.
He put me down on the kitchen floor– the right way up, I might add – before grinning crookedly. I eyed him carefully before glancing at the rest of the kitchen. Nothing different, except the large bouquet of flowers sitting on the counter. I think I must have squeaked because he laughed.
"Come on," Edward said, when I made no move to pick them up. "They are for you. I don't buy Charlie gifts, you know that." He picked up my hands and pulled me up, walking me over to them. It was wider than the breadbin. Gently, I placed my hands on the side of the vase, leaning in and smelling them. Freesia and lavender. I looked at him, bemused. "I thought it was only right you got to smell your scent." I think I must have blinked before throwing my arms around him and crushing my lips to his. I was well aware I was squishing him but he didn't seem to mind because he knotted his hands in my hair and pulled me closer. We were practically panting by the time I pulled away for unnecessary breath. He chuckled. "If I knew you'd react like that I would have done it earlier." I flushed with embarrassment and sniffed them again. They smelt wonderful.
I hugged him and looked up, wondering which one of the Cullens had smuggled themselves into my home for Edward. "What are we doing today?"
He seemed to be cautious as he spoke, like I would lash out at him. "I was thinking we could go to the house and do an intervention of sorts."
"An intervention?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, Carlisle was thinking earlier today – and don't take this personally – but he was thinking that you would be perfect for us to test our control." Edward watched me cautiously.
"And how would that work?"
"He thinks you'd have to concentrate on being more human than vampire and," suddenly he looked sheepish. "We'll see how long we can all spend in the room with you."
"Oh…Kay," I exhaled after thinking it over.
"Okay?" He seemed shocked I would agree to it.
"Yeah, it's the least I can do after everything that's happened."
"Nothing has happened Bella."
"Fine, if you don't count Rosalie attacking me." He blanched.
"What?"
The biggest grin appeared on my face at his reaction. Rosalie obviously had tried to hide her thoughts from him – and by the sound of it, had done very well. Of course, I didn't blame her. It was partially my fault and I should have known that someone would find me. Hunting clouded senses and that couldn't be helped.
"On my way to the hunt, she must have smelt me and gone after my scent," I shrugged like it was nothing. It wasn't but Edward was staring, wide eyed. I giggled at the immense change in emotions that this room gave off.
He smiled crookedly, frowning. "What's so funny?"
"Us."
"You have the most bizarre reactions to things, love."
"I'm going to take that as a compliment." I leant up and kissed him before pulling away and sitting in one of the wooden chairs. "So, what's for breakfast?"
"Er," that seemed to throw him at least. "I'm not sure." He grinned. "What would you like?"
I smirked. "I'd like to go to the house."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the human - vampire side of you. It was a lot easier when you were pretending to be completely human."
"Really?"
He thought about it. "No," and grinned.
There wasn't a reason to be so nervous. Carlisle had explained the… procedure at least three times and I knew what I had to do. Regardless, I was. There were two soft, red velvet chairs placed in a box room, next to an end table with a timer on it, one of which I had to sit on it while the others were tested. I felt like a judge, forcing convicts to their breaking point, so they would admit themselves guilty. To some, it would be boring but I was rather looking forward to the reactions, anxiety and uneasiness aside. In the time I was supposed to 'warm up' or so Edward said, I spent my time studying the details in the door. It was a deep mahogany with a few knots, not that it mattered. I was just stalling. There was a light knock on the door.
"Come in," I called.
Alice's head peaked through and the rest of her body followed. She appeared to be excited and cautious, like she didn't know what to expect – an abnormal thing for her. Timidly she stepped in and stood by the door, wisely not daring to get any closer. We gave each other soft smiles before I tapped the top of the timer and dwelled into my memories.
"Mommy, where are we going?" It was the few select memories I had of my early years as a child.
"Wait and see, Bella!" I had done my special pout to try and get her to break.
"Mommy!" I whined a lot at that age, like every other six year old on the planet.
"Get in the car, honey." Even at such a young age I never liked surprises, I was impatient to get to wherever so the shock could be over. The journey was spent mainly just listening to the radio and me trying to guess where we were off to. Once we were outside, my jaw dropped open.
"The zoo!" I had squeaked before running up to my mother and wrapping my arms around her legs.
I opened my eyes and Alice's were dark as night, filled with fury. Her jaw was tensed as she pressed herself into the wall; I could hear the plaster breaking under her force. Her lungs had ceased to move and her whole frame was frozen. I glanced at the timer, ticking away. 0:01:06, it read.
When five minutes had gone by, I found another memory like Carlisle told me to. Each time, it had to be stronger than the last. I had gone through another three before Alice flung the door open to get some 'clean' air. She had lasted sixteen minutes and forty two seconds.
The process was repeated until I had seen Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie and Esme – who also asked me if I wanted anything to eat or drink beforehand. I kindly denied. They each lasted from ten to thirty minutes and the only person left was Edward. I had cleared the air from my blood, much like Jasper could send out calm or anger. I knew this would be hard for him, but it would also be good for him too. There was an inch of fear in his eyes but it was mainly dominated by worry – for me, no doubt. What he could possibly be worried about I had no idea… He sat in the chair, golden eyes blaring at me. The rest of the room seemed to disappear and those topaz orbs were the centre of my universe.
"Stop!" I said, quickly looking away.
"What is it? Bella?"
"You're…" I laughed at the idiocy. "You're dazzling me."
"I dazzle you?" he tilted his head.
"Frequently." I tapped the timer once more and fell into my memories.
By the time I opened my eyes, Edward was as far away from me as possible, eyes a deep onyx. It made me realise the complex being we were and how fast our personalities could change. I had only ever seen him like this on the day I first say him and truly knowing what he wanted to do made me want to take his pain away. When the five minutes had past, I delved to find another and I could hear Edward push himself further into a wall as the plaster creaked. I could see him swallowing venom fast and I felt the urge to comfort him, but knowing that would make it worse.
Suddenly I felt myself falling to the ground, Edward on top of me and I pulled myself into complete vampire. We fell hard on our ribs and ended up side by side. His eyes were the same wild onyx for a few seconds and then they dulled to a deep black.
"Edward!" I said franticly. "Edward, look at me." His pupils lifted upwards to focus on me and I gave a sigh of relief. "Can you move?" He nodded faintly and tried to say something but was interrupted.
"Bella? Edward?" Carlisle called from outside. "Is everything alright?"
"No, Edward has, erm, collapsed," I said shakily. The whole family seemed to burst through the door at this point. Carlisle rushed over to see him, asking quickly what happened and doing a visual once over. Jasper had wrapped his arm around Alice and Emmett had his hands on Rosalie's shoulders. Esme was kneeling next to Carlisle, helping as much as possible.
"He's… incredibly weak. We need to get him some blood, fast. Emmett, you pick him up and run to the nearest animal you can find, Alice help him. Bella, you can go with them if you want." I nodded sharply. Edward began to protest as Emmett lifted him up, trying to lift his head up but I threaded a hand through his hair and he calmed instantly.
It was disturbing to see him limp in Emmett's arms and know that I caused him to be that way. When he could, he would attempt a smile at me. Alice and I went to find blood, eventually a large bear and hauled it onto our backs after snapping its neck, balancing out the weight between us – not that it was heavy. Emmett had put Edward down so he was slumped against a bolder and his head leaning over the back. His eyes were closed. If I didn't know any better I would have guessed he was dead. My heart twisted at the thought. We knelt down next on both sides of him and placed the neck at his mouth. I felt horrible then; I had made him so weak he couldn't even move close to drink. I sat down, wrapping my arms around my knees and watched him feed, slowly regaining strength, the colour coming back into his eyes. He was messy, something I wasn't used to seeing after he had always been so careful about hunting. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, pushed the dead carcass off of himself and crawled on his knees to rest on them in front of me. My eyes weren't seeing and I could feel the crease in my forehead.
Gently, as if I were to snap at any moment, he picked up my hands and lifted them to his mouth, kissing them, inhaling. "Talk to me."
"I hurt you," I whispered faintly.
"No."
"Yes."
"No, you didn't. I knew the consequences of what I was doing. The real mystery is why that happened to me, whether it were my fault."
"It was mine."
"No, Bella. It wasn't."
"It was. I… I made myself so… too… too vampire. It would have been better if I had let you try and …find the blood."
"It would have happened anyway, regardless."
"No."
"Bella…" he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. I didn't reply but I did notice Emmett and Alice had dispersed, leaving us to talk. I felt bad that they left, I would have had liked to have this talk later, maybe a little while after… Nevertheless I knew it had to happen at some point. Edward scooped me up, one arm catching my legs, the other around my shoulders, so that I was resting my head on his chest. His fingers lightly traced my arm, a delicate motion that forced me to flip my eyes shut and I sighed deeply.
"I love you, Bella," he said, and it was those words that released me from my torment.
"I love you, too." We sat there for some time, just in each other's arms. I wouldn't be able to give you an exact time; I wasn't paying attention. I had forgotten about the rest of the world; there was school, the rest of the Cullens and Charlie waiting for me away from Edward's embrace. In the back of my mind, I knew they were there but I was complete here. Suddenly, Edward stood, still holding me in his arms. "What are you doing?"
"There's somewhere I want to show you," he smiled that dazzling crooked grin. I must have looked like an idiot, gazing up at him, mouth parted and utterly weak. If I had been standing, I would have been the dictionary definition of swooned. However, I couldn't help but be worried.
"Is it a good somewhere?"
"Honestly, Bella," he sighed. "Would I take you somewhere bad?"
"No," I mumbled into his chest.
"Don't you want to run?"
I made no move to get out of his cradle. "I like it here a lot more." There was a stupid, soft smile on my face. He returned it, except the tender look worked a lot better on him.
His walking – or running rather – was gentle and relaxing; I found myself closing my eyes. "You look so peaceful, like you're sleeping."
"You're a good pillow," I mumbled. The chuckle rumbled through his chest, vibrating through my head.
Wondering as he ran was an unwinding feeling. Wondering what it would be like in ten years time; would he still carry me like this, me pretending to sleep and he watching down on me? Would we still be together? My dead heart shuddered. I could barely live a minute without knowing I wouldn't be able to see him again and the idea of him not wanting me… I pushed those thoughts away, and moved onto happier things. Accidentally, I had an image of Edward in a dark suit, a bow tie, the works and myself in a long, white (incredibly beautiful) wedding dress by an alter. I registered my shocked look a moment after I noticed I had opened my eyes and Edward looked down on me curiously but said nothing. Of course, the thought that Edward would want me forever was a joyous one, but marriage? I had always shied away from the idea, not wanting to become a carbon-copy of my mother – marry high school sweetheart, have a child, realise you out grew your other half and take said child away from the cramped town, live a hectic life, date a few more men, find one that loves you too and makes you feel younger, remarry, find that your child doesn't want to be involved in the new life you know you're about to have and moves back in with your ex – even if most of that story was impossible with Edward, I had been told to wait for matrimony. My mother had often drilled into my head that I should be at least twenty seven before considering a proposal… But, as much as I wished she could be, she wasn't around and I knew she would want me to be happy… Was that a kind of twisted blessing hidden away?
Unexpectedly, Edward's cell phone rang and he swung me up onto his right arm, the way a weightlifter would show off his muscles – I rolled my eyes at the macho move – so I was using it as a seat. I rested my elbow on his head as he answered the call.
"Alice?" he asked, slightly peeved that she interrupted our trip. But she wouldn't call if it wasn't an emergency, would she?
I could hear her clearly. "Edward, I need to speak to Bella. Immediately."
"What's wrong? Has something happened?"
"Please, Edward, this concerns her. Pass the phone over."
He handed it up to me, and pulled me down from his arm, leaving a hand entwined with mine. "Alice, what is it?"
"Oh, Bella. I… I think it might be too late. It's Charlie."
"Charlie?" I whispered.
(I was going to leave it there but then I realised I couldn't.)
We ran for the most part, and dodging trees were a lot easier when there was a strong purpose to it. Neither Edward nor I spoke after the phone call. He had heard what Alice said and understood my dire need to get back to my home. I was tense, every sound made my head turn and my eyes were peeled for an unknown thing about to spring out at me. Edward's were trained on me, worry apparent in them, although he was doing well to hide it. The house was hardly an age away but I could see the smoke in the sky from here.
"Bella, quickly," Rosalie's voice called out to me. All of the Cullens were waiting outside my house looking incredibly skittish.
My house was on fire, and my father was still inside. The beat of his heart was clear to us amongst the crackling of the flames.
"What are we doing, just standing here?!" I shrieked. "We have to save him!"
"We can't Bella," Edward said softly. "We'd burn, you know that."
"I do know that but I'm not going to let it stop me." I stormed up to the house, the heat getting hotter. Edward jumped in front of me and pulled me into a strong hug.
"Please don't. I can't bear to loose you," the plea in his voice almost broke my heart.
"Let me go, Edward." He did. I walked towards the threshold, turned and mouth 'I love you' to him. The pain in his eyes was almost tangible.
The hall had a glow to it that made me shudder, an orange tint that shone onto the ceiling that made me tremble. I could hear my father's panicking movement from upstairs so I dashed up them, making a careful note of where the largest fires were. The kitchen, the dining room and… my room. Something was pushed up against the door and I had to use my vampire strength to push it aside. It was a dresser but of more importance was the pool of blood on the floor. Charlie's eyes had closed and his wrists were bleeding. I winced and swallowed down some bile that was building up. His body felt so light as I lifted him, and I was afraid that I would break him. I side-stepped down the stairs, trying to keep balance and praying that I wouldn't slip; things would only get worse if I let that happen. The fire had crept in front of the door now and Charlie was stirring. I, myself, was starting to panic. I couldn't get out and the fire was flowing into every room in the house.
"Bella?" Edward's terrified voice called out through the burning heat.
"Edward! I can't get out. There's fire around the door and the kitchen is blocked off. I don't –" There was a loud crash as a supporting beam fell across banisters on the stairs, not three feet away from us.
"Bella?!"
"I'm fine," I coughed. "I just don't think we can get out."
"How is that fine?!" I heard him shout, mainly to himself.
I could only faintly hear now. "Edward, it's not helping her if all you're doing is worrying," Rosalie snapped.
"We need to knock down the wall," Emmett said, rather distantly and I could see him in my mind looking for something. Normally he would just use his shoulder but he would burn.
"The tree, as a battering ram," Jasper said.
"Bella," Carlisle yelled. "How is Charlie doing?"
"He still has a pulse but his wrists are bleeding. He's unconscious too."
"Listen to me very carefully. You need to put pressure on the wound, find some material to block it for the time being. Keep an eye on his pulse."
"Okay," I said back but the end of the word was blocked by the sound the tree being ripped out of the soil. I was very thankful we had no neighbours living close to us. Ripping some cloth from my t-shirt, the wounds were covered and I pressed down with moderate force, knowing too hard could snap a bone or a tendon. The first crash into the wall made me jump and Charlie began to open his eyes, the pain becoming too much. I watched the cracks in the plaster form until they collapsed and oxygen rushed in through the house; causing the fire to grow. Emmett and Carlisle pushed it and ground a hole we could slip through, the trunk covering some of the flames. I stepped outside into the clean air and placed my father down a safe distance away. Edward and Carlisle knelt down beside him at once, checking over his body for injuries, mumbling burns, sniffing every now and then…
With the same amount of shock, they said simultaneously, "Can you smell vampire?" and "These are teeth marks!"
AN: Which vampires they could be, I wonder…
NEW STORY IDEA! Yayayayayayay!
It is utterly brilliant and I can't wait to write it. The basic story is Edward is a Nazi soldier and Bella is a Jew and both are sent to Auschwitz. You know what that means… Forbidden love in incomprehensible places – and angst, lots of angst. (It's just overtaken GN so that's going to be second… Haha.) -shun- Check part of it out on my LJ (profile), I can hardly wait but I'm going to have to! You guys want updates here and now!
Oh, and guess who has freesia?! ME! Haha, you're all so jealous. Anyway, I can defiantly see why Edward found it hard to sit in that classroom. It's like a natural perfume! I added lavender… and well, it just completed my theory. Yum.
Any questions about what's happened so far, review or PM me.
Emma
PS: Your Heart Is an Empty Room by Death Cab for Cutie
