"The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief"
"Come on. Let's go." I shook my head.
"I have to do something first." I slipped the jacket up my arms, not bothering to button it.
"You did that before," he noted as I fastened the yellow rose necklace. "You did something before we left Paris." I didn't answer. "Where are you going?"
"Doesn't concern you."
"Are you- are you hunting?" I didn't even bother with feeling untrustworthy. Instead I shook my head. "Then what?" My gaze shot up in the mirror, looking at him.
"Do you want to come?" He stared back at me.
"Will you tell me where we're going?"
"No. But you'll figure it quickly." Turning, I crossed my arms.
"The sun will be up soon."
I nodded. "I know."
"It's actually coming out."
"I know." He shook his head delicately.
"Why can't you just tell me where you're going?"
"Because you don't get it."
"And I never will, right?" I shrugged.
"Not until you're at least as old as I am." Guarding me carefully, he finally nodded. I took the duffle bag and left, not waiting for him. Though he kept up easily as we hit the sidewalk. I scouted the street for a fast ride.
Down the road, a silver Mercedes idled in the middle of the street. It was still early, people usually left their cars wherever, got up early and moved them. But not four a.m. early. They wouldn't miss it for a few hours. And by then we'd be gone.
I strode up to the car and opened the door. An alarm shouted across the street. Bending down, I popped the hood. Getting in front, I searched for the right cable and pulled it. The alarm died and the hood dropped with a heavy thud.
I took the driver's seat, throwing the duffle bag into the back. Edward came inside as I got the car started. I raced down the street, going too quickly, even for me. But we needed to get there now.
As I made the final turn Edward's eyes widened in recognition. I didn't know if he'd been here before. But I doubted it. He'd have no reason to. Only curiosity and I'd made sure he never had that. Not on this place.
The palace of Versailles stood tall in front of us. The golden gate and rooftop accessories glinted in the near dawn. I did a right, coming closer to the façade before stopping just short of the chapel.
We sat silently in the car for minutes before I opened my door.
"Come on." Edward came silently, following my eyes step. We came went over the gate easily, thudding against the cobblestones. We kept near the building wall. I wasn't sure of the security system. I knew it took almost half an hour to active and deactivate at opening and closing hours. Must be advanced.
We came out to the right, the entire garden in front of us. The sunrise was approaching. I watch the distant light below the trees. I took quick steps, walking across the graveled road, beyond the first of the two identical ponds.
Down stone steps and around a huge and impressive fountain. The water was still going. I watched each individual drop as I passed, coming to the end of the gravel and to the beginning of the grass. I stared going down the hill, not stopping until almost hitting the long and cross-shaped lake. Looking down, I thought back and stepped around until I hit the spot.
Sitting own, Edward joined me, having been good and not said a word the entire walk over here. Opening his mouth now, I shushed him, holding up a finger. The sun came to the tree tops. I felt my skin glow in an unnatural but still considered human-like way.
Just as the globe came above the tops, I turned around and watched the palace soar to life. Every window gleamed. The gold plated roof shone with a bright light. The water in the fountain sparkled.
This view lasts a few seconds. It only appears as the sun hit the exact right airway that the palace wakes up. It's still shining but the feel is gone. And it's okay.
I turn back, looking as the light came onto the lake.
"This is it?" he asked, voice low but incredulous. I roll my eyes and decide to be honest.
"This," I motioned with both hands to the lake, the ground, the palace, "is my favorite place on the entire planet."
"Your favorite place? Why?"
"Nostalgia, etcetera." The skin beneath my eyes twitched as a subtle smirk played at the corners of my lips.
"Bullshit," he accused. My smirk grew wider.
"There might be another reason," I hinted.
"Are you going to tell me?" I gazed over at him, wondering if I should tell him a secret. I knew he could keep it to himself but would he wonder if I really am as human as they?
"Watch the lake." I pointed towards the center. Any human would forever go without noticing but with our vision, a little narrowing of the eyes and it became quite clear.
"The reflection?" I nodded. "What is it?"
"A jewelry box," I said with a sigh. "Old silver box. The details are extraordinary." I took a deep breath, letting the mist of the grass enter my lunges.
"What's in it?"
"A necklace."
"Who's was it?" I tilted my head, leaning back on my elbows.
"A confused and very scared person. Who thought the best option was to dispose of it when they came to ransack the palace." I watched the glint. The lake wasn't deep. Barely two meters. The box would still be as pretty as when first purchased. Dark silver – almost dirty – with angles at each end and two on top, embracing. Worn details all over it, barely a flat surface.
"What's so important with it?"
"I don't know." Edward gave me a look.
"Then why bother hiding it?" When I don't answer he get's ticked. The slightest twitch at the corners of his mouth and his nose. This makes me smirk, knowing I'll always have my secrets. "We should leave. They'll open-"
"In three hours and sixteen minutes." I gazed at him. "I think we can spare two more minutes." Sighing, he remained seated. He was free to leave. I always preferred coming here alone. After that thought, I started to wonder if he really was in the dark about my thoughts.
"How often to do come here?"
"Every time I visit Paris. It's been a few years now. Unfortunately." My eyes train over the grounds, drawing their way right, staring into trees that hid the place I'd spend so many moments. "It's really quite beautiful here, isn't it?" Edward nods after a thought. Then he chuckled. I frown at him.
"I didn't think you could say something like that."
"Like what?"
"Human. You really like it here, don't you?" I look back at the lake, a last glance at the sparkle underneath before sadness hits me. I conceal it well, though.
"It's just as pretty. Almost every plant is the same. They care for it as often." A deep sigh. "And yet it's not the same. I think I miss it. And not just the people but the life I had here." I gaze goes down and I sit back up, turning the tips of my fingers over each other. "I had fun. I used to be fun." I gave him a smirk. "The kind of fun you'd approve of."
"I don't believe that," he shot back with a smirk of his own.
"It's true. I was meticulously boring."
"Its fun, isn't it?" I shrugged.
"For a while, I suppose. But it's a fantasy. And they shouldn't last. No matter how much you want them to." We stay quiet for a while, the sounds of our breaths mixed with the gentlest breeze. Then Edward spoke. I was sure he'd ask to leave again but he surprised me.
"When were you here?" I hummed.
"I came here… in 1787." That was a too vague an answer.
"How long did you stay?"
"A few months."
"Months?"
"Mhm." He continued to stare at me. "We don't have time for a story telling now."
"Then give me the for-dummies version."
"I came, I met, I left. There; the end."
"That's a PowerPoint presentation." I took a deep breath, watching my hands again.
"I'm allowed to have my secrets Edward. You know, it's not fair what you do. You take people's private and most intimate thoughts and you violate them. They're not yours to listen to."
"You can't honestly think I'm the bad one out of the two of us."
"Why not? I've never hid what I am. I kill people. I drink their blood. I like it. A lot. So much in fact I can't stop. And that's okay. I've done alright for the last couple of centuries."
Edward looks as if he's thinking of a comeback but winds up without one. Instead he falls back, hand folding over his stomach and he looks at the sky.
I watch him for a second before shrugging and falling back myself. We're inches away from each other.
"Why won't you tell me stuff about yourself?"
"Honesty goes two ways," I noted.
"Yes it does," he breathed. Turning my head to watch him, see if he was joking or not, I looked back at the sky.
"I hated you for a long time." Edward turned his head towards me, his face thoughtful but also down. "Not just because you left. I knew that was inevitable. But because you were there in the first place." I turned my head as well. "I felt so much like a teenager. Self-absorbed. Feeling sorry for myself. Thinking my existence wasn't fair." I turned my head back towards the sky, his eyes still on me though.
Processing my words Edward continues after a few moments pause.
"What made you leave him?" My mouth turned down and my shoulders slumped. "I won't tell anyone." I sat up, leaning my elbow on my folded knees, head in my palm, facing Edward. He stared up at me, looking so much like the Greek God girls gushed about.
"One of the first things he told me was to never let a human see me in the sun." Edward still sparkled like a diamond and it was hard finding words. It's not just humans who find our beauty desirable. "I was going to surprise him. I felt so good about myself. I managed to walk through town without killing anyone. He always chastised me on staying inconspicuous. But then I found him. In the sun. With a human." I raised a brow before Edward got it.
"Oh."
"Mhm. Oh. At first I was pissed. But then my anger faded – almost immediately. I thought I would have been angrier but oddly enough I felt… relieved. And yet completely ashamed."
"Why ashamed?" his voice was soft, like velvet. Comforting.
"Because I finally realized how easily I had been manipulated. And not just as a frail and insignificant human. But as a strong and extremely durable vampire. It didn't do wonders to my self-esteem, I'll tell you that." My voice is gruff and sour, ending his questions for now.
Edward sat up next to me, taking his hand at the curtain of my hair and pulling it back over my shoulder. His touch I didn't have to tense from. I watched his hand glide over my shoulder before it felt o his side, keeping him propped up.
"Why do it? Why chose to be weak?"
There's a moment of anger but it quickly fades as he knows I do not beat around the bush and rather than try to mend anyone's feelings, I'm brutally honest.
"I don't want to be-" I knew what word he wanted to finish with but besides the fact that he'd chosen a life of invisibility and dullness, he was still a decent person. I wasn't sure why he cared whether or not he hurt my feelings. Without knowing my thoughts and therefore my true feelings, he couldn't be sure I even had any.
"Like I said," I continued; my gaze fixed and piercing, "weak." I'm ready to leave now. But as I stand up, my coming movements are haltered and I'm frozen, no doubt displaying an expression of shock, confusion and worst of all, fear.
Edward's at my side immediately. I never joke about fear. About something that could potentially show me as weak. "What is it?" His voice was low, hushed and urgent. But I don't connect his words. I'm in my own world now.
I hear myself breathe the word no but the next time I register anything in regards to movements and words, I'm standing before the crossing of the lake, watching the glimmering sight of the jewelry box. Five feet down than the last time I saw it.
My right foot extends towards the ledge when a hand catches my arm. I turn my head quickly.
"What are you doing?" I twist my arm, getting out of his grasp while simultaneously pushing him back. Edward staggers as I plunge in the icy water. Of course I do not feel the needles against my skin like a human would have. Hypothermia would have set and many more minutes would have been a sure death.
My hand gently secures the silver ornament tightly but not too tightly as I push to the surface. It's not a long trip. I'm on the grass less than two minutes after I jumped inside. My hair is plastered around my forehead, neck and upper part of my exposed chest. Edward comes down to his knees as well as I take great care in opening the box as smoothly and gently as possible.
The sight I'm met with disturbs me beyond words. For twelve seconds.
Empty.
There is no torn lining. The inside is dry, perfectly sealed in the airtight compartment. But it's empty. The red velvet interior begging for secrets and treasures. But not mine. Not anymore. My eyes finally leave the box, coming up slowly but now they were burning.
My hand drops the box, letting it sink into the frosty crystallized ground with a metallic sigh. Edward takes the box away from the ground, letting his eyes and the tips of his fingers roam over the silvery treasure.
"Where did you get this?"
I find my voice shockingly steady and it unnerves me how angry I could possibly be. I don't even recognize myself anymore. "Trianon." My head jerked in the right direction.
"What's special about the necklace?" I shake my head. "Tell me Bella."
"I don't know." His hands grasp my shoulders, making me look at him.
"Then why are you freaking out? Why hide it?"
"Because of who gave it to me."
"Who gave it to you?" I looked down, my mind coming up with too many explanations, none of them viable. I thought of the alterative. Another unviable option. None of this was acceptable. That box has never been moved in over four centuries. Or has it? No. I would have known. It's always been in the exact middle of the cross. I may be impulsive but I don't make mistakes. Until today.
Unacceptable.
"Bella!" Edward shook me back into reality. "I can't help you if you don't let me."
"Doesn't matter."
"Why? I don't understand." I snorted, standing up, feeling angrier than I've ever felt in my entire life. And that's saying something.
Shaking my head, I turn the possibilities again.
"Who knew?" I shook my head again.
"No one. I was the last to leave."
"Someone must have seen you."
"If they did, they're dead now."
"They could have talked."
"But why? Crazy lady throwing a jewelry box into the lake? Not really on the radar when there's a revolution going on."
"Who gave it to you? Just tell me." I narrow my eyes.
"Why? Why do you have to know?"
"Because I'll help you find it." My mind stops.
"Help me?" He nods. How odd. He was actually sincere. There wasn't a hint of lie anywhere in his topaz eyes. "Why would you do that?" I've calmed considerably but don't let my demeanor relax you into a trusting state. I was far more dangerous in that moment than any other in a long time. It's a good thing a human wasn't around. I wanted to kill something. Or someone.
"Because you'd never ask."
"Because I don't need help."
"I'll tell you whenever someone's lying."
"I'm pretty good at getting the truth out when I need it."
"Without hurting anyone."
"I can't promise I won't hurt anyone." That had him stop. He knew I was speaking the truth without reading my mind. I was very impatient. "I'm very angry right now," I say in the calmest voice I can. "I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep up this façade. It will break. Soon."
"What's you first instinct."
"I would very much like to kill someone."
"Not for food," he says in a realization. I shake my head, my eyes never leaving his.
"And I'm feeling creative. I might go on a spree-"
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you have this ludicrous image of me. I'll never measure up to it nor do I want to. I'd rather you know now what you sign up for." He nods but doesn't seem to hear me. Or maybe he does but he refuses to acknowledge my warning. I can't help that. If he wants to stay ignorant and blind; that is none of my business.
"I'll come if you tell me who gave you the necklace." I don't like help. I'd rather deal with things on my own. But I won't mind knowing people's most inner thoughts beforehand. It's leverage. One I could afford.
However reluctant I am, I nod my head slowly.
"Deal." Bending down, I retrieve the box and throw it into the lake once more. Edward waits patiently. "We'll have to get back to Paris." He quirks a brow. "I need new clothes," I explain. "And a lead." Seeing his mouth open, I quickly add, "and then I give you my word I'll tell you anything you want to know."
AN: Sorry for being gone so long. I haven't been struggling with writers block but I had almost finished an entire story and somehow, my computer thought it appropriate to erase every chapter so that was pretty shitty.