Hey guys! I just wanted to give an update on what's going on since I haven't been updating recently. I recently switched jobs and my current one has had me swamped to the point all I really want to do on my days off is sleep and spend time with my boyfriend, who also switched jobs and we hardly see each other with different shifts. For right now, this will be the last chapter I'm posting, only because I don't have anything written past this one as of right now. To make it fair for you guys and give regular updates I'm putting this story ON HOLD so I can try to catch up on some writing. I will try to update soon, but I have no idea how long it's going to be before I update again. Thank you for your continued patience!
Anyway, before we jump into the next chapter of this story, one of my readers made a comment in a review about Jacob breaking the treaty. I wanted to point out that in Twilight, Stephanie Meyer herself wrote ""There are more of them now, a new female and a new male, but the rest are the same. In my great-grandfather's time they already knew of the leader, Carlisle. He'd been here and gone before your people had even arrived." He was fighting a smile. "And what are they?" I finally asked. "What are the cold ones?" He smiled darkly. "Blood drinkers," he replied in a chilling voice. "Your people call them vampires."" So, with that in mind, Jacob doesn't really break the treaty mostly in the sense, he doesn't even believe the legends are real. If he were already wolfed-out and everything, then yes, I could see what the reviewer meant about Jacob breaking the treaty then, but as he isn't, he hasn't, especially in this story. Right now, Jacob is more concerned about trying to sidle up to Bella and make her like him.
I'm honestly not trying to attack anyone or trying to put you down for making comments about my story, I'm just trying to answer a concern that had arrived. If it seems that way, I am very sorry and there are no intentions of making it seem this way. Anyway, here is the next story of "A Forgotten Love" and the long-awaited Seattle chapter. HOWEVER, in this chapter, there are going to be TRIGGERS. I took this chapter in a slightly different direction than Stephanie Meyer did and it's a little bit more graphic than in Twilight. I did put warning signs up where I felt they were necessary.
If anything triggers you while reading, I am very sorry, but I did warn you that this chapter would have them. You are more than welcome to skip over the parts that I marked out.
Chapter 12: Seattle
(Please read the A/N)
Isabelle stared up at her ceiling the following day, still mulling over everything she had learned from Jacob Black. It wasn't the part about the Cullens being vampires that shocked her. If it had, that would have just been plain stupid. No, the part that she was still intrigued over was that the one town she had picked had a neighboring pack of wolf shifters.
She wasn't naive enough to discredit the legends like Jacob clearly had, thinking they were just that: stories. Isabelle even thought that she had met a few of them: the three older teenagers that had arrived during the first hike and the only one she knew by name was Sam, who was the oldest. When she first grew close to them, their scent was much woodsier than that of Jacob and more… she couldn't place her finger on it, but the only term she could find to describe it was rougher. Based on the scents of three boys and Jacob, she deduced that Jacob must be a shifter as well, but had not yet turned.
Isabelle sighed and rubbed her face as her thoughts flew together and apart at lightning speed, connections being made and leading to the most appropriate conclusions. She couldn't wait until Seattle until she could talk to her friend and get his opinion on everything. Thankfully, that was only a week away now. She just had to get through the week and then she could disappear for a few days.
Thankfully, the week flew by for the female vampire as the sun persisted through the week, making the humans rejoice in the warmth and the Cullens being forced to stay inside their mansion. It was Friday that the clouds covered the sun back up and the Cullens were able to go back to school, claiming that where they had gone camping had got snowed in and had only just been able to get back. Of course, the gullible humans had just gobbled that excuse up, not even bothering to confirm their story. There hadn't been any snowstorms since the wreck at school and that wasn't even that bad as it had just mostly been ice.
Isabelle shook her head slightly as she sat down at the table with her friends, ignoring the look Edward gave her when she passed by him, acting like she hadn't even seen it. She greeted her friends and conversation flowed for a few minutes before it went silent. Glancing up from her conversation with Angela, Isabelle blinked when she saw Edward standing next to her. "Mind if I join you?" he asked the group politely. There was a moment of stillness before a flurry of activity. Isabelle glanced at Angela with a bemused look as several people offered their chairs up, volunteering to move to a different table.
Eventually, Edward got a seat next to Lauren and Jessica, everyone scooting around Isabelle to essentially block off the seats around her, though entirely on accident. Isabelle shot Edward an apologetic look before continuing her conversation with Angela.
Soon, talk grew to surround the dance that weekend and Isabelle joined in, gushing over some of the dresses she was being shown pictures of.
"I really wish you could come, Bella," Angela said to the vampire and Isabelle smiled softly.
"I know, but there isn't another weekend available that my friend can come up here," she replied. "I promise, I will go to prom," she added, smiling brightly.
"So you're still going to Seattle, Bella?" Edward asked, tilting his head as he looked at her. Isabelle glanced over to him with curious eyes and nodded. "Shame. I was going to see if you'd go with me," he continued with a slight frown. She blinked in shock and silence surrounded the table as the others stared between them.
"Sorry, Edward, but as I said, I'm not going this weekend," she replied after a moment, staring at him to figure out what his game was.
"That's okay," he then murmured, a crooked smile appearing on his face. "That just means you'll have to make it up to me by going to prom with me." This time, silence was echoing in the cafeteria, his words having been loud enough to carry through the tables nearby and then it was a chain reaction. Everyone was staring at them now and she forced the smile to remain on her face as she fought her instinct to snap at the male vampire.
"Yeah, sure," she finally said right as the class bell rang. She stood up and immediately left the cafeteria, ignoring the buzz of conversation. She was pissed and when Edward arrived in the Biology classroom, he could tell immediately he had done something wrong.
"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly as he sat down next to his partner and she glared at him.
"You had no right to do that, Cullen," she hissed, crossing her arms.
He had a genuine look of confusion on his face. "What exactly did I do wrong?" he then asked cautiously.
A look of incredulous disbelief appeared on her face and she turned to face him fully. "You forced me to say yes to going to the prom with you, you jackass," she whispered furiously, aware that students were coming into the classroom. "You asked me in front of pretty much the entire school that either wants to be you or be with you if I would go to prom and unless I wanted to become a social pariah, I had no choice but to say yes. That was a real asshole move, Cullen!" she finished frostily before turning away from him. She continued to ignore the rest of the students who heard her dressing down and stared at the front, waiting for class to start.
Edward didn't say anything to her for the rest of class and once the bell rang, Isabelle's stuff was gathered and she was out the door as quick as she could. She made her way to her next class and didn't spare Alice or Rosalie a glance as she sat down at her seat, fuming. Normally, she was able to draw her feelings out onto paper, but because she was at school and surrounded by vampires that didn't know her secret, she couldn't draw what she wanted and that made her even more frustrated.
Finally the school day ended and she was able to leave the school and go for a hunt to calm herself down. After she was finished, she felt marginally better and headed back home, realizing that she was in Canada. She hadn't meant to go so far out, but she needed to vent her frustrations out and better on the trees than humans, even if she couldn't drink their blood.
Arriving back at her house, Charlie's cruiser was still missing, which she was thankful for so she didn't have to answer any questions or tactfully avoid him. She meandered up the stairs and took a long shower, relaxing the rest of the way underneath the hot spray as she thought about the Cullens and their secret.
She was already starting to get tired of the secrecy behind them and knew that it was going to be soon that she would need to force Edward to give it up. But how?
The answer came to her the next evening after she spent the day with her friend in Seattle, catching up on what was new and different, asking how his wife was and everything. His parting words were cryptic as they always were: "Whatever's happening tonight happens after I leave."
**WARNING**
Like that was helpful. The bastard always did like making her try to figure out his words, even when he couldn't figure them out himself. Isabelle shook her head, drawing away from those thoughts as she walked along the dark street. She glanced around her for a moment, pausing as she took in the scene. The area her feet led her to was devoid of life by sight, but she could hear the heartbeats thrumming quickly with adrenaline as they grew closer to her. It only took her a moment to realize what was going to happen and sure enough, a small group of human males, heavily intoxicated and excited, came around the corner and both her and the group stopped in their tracks, staring at the other.
Isabelle stared with annoyance and exasperation and the males with hunger and excitement. She should have known something like this was going to happen.
"Hey baby, what are you doing here all alone?" one male called out. "You shouldn't be here all by your lonesome. Why don't you come with us and we will take care of you?"
A few others laughed at his words and she had a look of disgust on her face. "No, thank you. My boyfriend will be here any minute," she replied before turning around and then freezing. Somehow, another group had come up behind her and was standing only a few feet away from her. She couldn't understand how she hadn't heard their heartbeats as loud as they were.
She glanced between the two groups, trying to keep both of them in her line of sight as she tried to figure out what to do. She couldn't use her strength or speed to throw them off since they were human and she would most likely end up killing them.
"Aw, don't be like that, baby," called out the male who spoke as they drew closer, circling around her and forcing her closer to the wall. "We won't bite… much," he then added with a dark smirk and a nod to someone in the other group. The next thing she knew, she was grabbed from behind, her arms forced behind her back as their arms wrapped around hers and had their fingers interlocking against the back of her head, forcing her to be unable to move unless she used her vampiric strength.
She gasped as someone then punched her in the stomach, but then smirked lightly as they cried out in pain as they hit her rock hard body.
"You little bitch!" he yelled, backhanding her across the face. Her face followed the motion, letting out a sudden cry since she wasn't entirely expecting it. When she looked back up, she froze, her eyes wide in terror as she saw the man who had slapped her. He looked so much like Sondario from her human years and it scared her shitless, irrationally thinking that Sondario had come back from the dead to finish what he had started all those years ago.
"Please," she begged, shaking her head as her eyes filled with tears that would never shed. She thought she had been over that, but evidently not, even after over a thousand years later. "Please…" Her body was shaking and it was as if she were that small, insignificant human again. She couldn't even think of using her strength to break free from the hold or using her speed to get away. All she could do was just stand there, frozen in her memories.
Then all of a sudden, there was a loud screeching sound that pierced her ears and she was broken out of her memories with a cry at the sound. The whole group of people looked to the street and Isabelle nearly cried with relief when she saw that it was Edward in his shiny silver Volvo, a look of furious anger on his face as he exited his car.
"Hey man, back off!" the Sondario-look-alike called out, now brandishing a gun that she hadn't realized he had. "I'm warning you!" He pulled the gun up, his finger on the trigger as Edward continued to walk forward. The next thing she knew, there was a gunshot and then a scream of pain as the bullet ricocheted off of Edward and into someone behind her.
"What the fuck, man?" the man with the gun yelled in fear, backing up. Isabelle was let go from the hold and she fell to the floor in a heap, still shaking slightly.
"Isabella, go to the car," Edward said, his voice low and dark as he fought his vampiric side. Isabelle looked up at him and stared at him for a moment before he growled the words again. "Isabella! Car. Now!"
As if she had been zapped, Isabelle got to her feet and made her way to the car, ignoring the screams behind her, and when she got into the Volvo, she glanced at Edward and stared in shock as she watched him throw the humans around like ragdolls. "Edward!" she screamed, knowing that if he killed any of them, he would be in trouble, especially since he was using his vampiric strength and speed.
At her voice, Edward froze and then immediately turn around and got in the car, speeding away and back to Forks. There were no words said between them during the drive, each staring out the window. At some point, he reached for the heater and turned it on before she could protest that she didn't need it, but the kept her mouth shut, knowing that in normal and human circumstances, she would have been shivering with shock and cold and in pain from the punch and slap. Thankfully, she didn't think that Edward had seen either hit, which means she could ignore that part of his questions once they started coming out.
**END WARNING**
It wasn't until they had passed her house that she realized that he wasn't taking her home and she spoke for the first time since she screamed his name. "Where are you taking me?" she asked, her voice quiet.
"You don't like hospitals, so I'm taking you to the next best thing: Carlisle," Edward said, his voice strained with anger still.
"What about Charlie?" Isabelle didn't even fight his decision, knowing that she would have needed to be seen by someone had she been human, regardless if they hadn't truly touched her.
"Alice will call him and let him know you are spending the night here. You guys ran into each other while in Seattle and Alice really wanted you to come over. He'll accept that," Edward spoke, staring out the windshield. Isabelle nodded before relaxing against the seat, staring out the window.
Well, she had wanted him to make him tell her his secret. It seemed like she was getting what she wished for.
Well, there we go! I feel like that's a good cliffhanger to leave for you guys. I hope that the trigger warning helped you guys. This was a little bit difficult for me to write out as I didn't want to be too graphic, but I also couldn't let it be just the vanilla version. Let me know in the reviews what you thought or send me a PM about it.
Also, I am reiterating that I am putting this story on hold for right now until I am able to sit down and hash a few chapters out. This means there will not be a sneak peak of the next chapter unfortunately, but as that one is only partly finished, it wouldn't be that fair.
One last thing that I just remembered! I'm pretty sure that once I actually start getting the chapters fleshed out and written, I'm going to need a new beta. My best friend is unable to continue being mine due to school. If you're interested, please shoot me a PM! This is my first time asking for a beta that I don't personally know, so I have no idea how the actual beta process works in regards to other writers, which means you'll have to bear with me, but hopefully we will mesh well together! :D
Thank you guys once again for staying with me so far and I hope you continue to do so during this time!
Katie
