A/N: I know, I know, I'm a horrible person and deserve to be shot! It's just I've finally gotten broadband that's fast enough to let me watch any TV show I want instantly, and I got a little carried away…I'm talking Lost Girl (with some Doccubus action, go Doctor Hot Pants!) and Star Trek Voyager (Seven of Nine, no need to say more) and Sanctuary, and Warehouse 13 and Farscape and Haven and Bones and Fringe and yes, I have actually watched all of those since I updated last, but I feel really guilty and I want to write dammit!
Also, my cat Diego has gone missing a week ago. Have any of you had cats that have gone missing and how long did it take them to come back, because I'm really worried.
BPOV
I've never really given much thought to the world of war. It's always seemed kind of silly to me. I mean, don't get me wrong, not everybody involved in war are idiots, some people have no choice in the matter and for them it's either fight or die. God knows I've had to once or twice. But I've always been a firm believer that if people just sat down and talked for a while, a lot of the world's conflicts would be resolved.
Probably naïve in the grand scheme of things, but it didn't stop me from giving the vampire in front of me a chance.
"Just put it down. It doesn't have to be this way." My voice was calm, soothing in the hopes that he wouldn't do anything drastic. The woods around us were, for once, silent, almost as though the creatures were waiting for the outcome. It was still dark, too early in the morning for any kind of proper illumination.
"There's no other choice. I have my orders," he responded, tone resigned.
My eyes narrowed, fingers tightening their grip on the weapon in my hands. "Screw your orders. This is wrong. It shouldn't have to end this way."
His head shook furiously. "You don't understand! You don't know what'll happen to me if I fail."
My heart tinged with sympathy. I knew exactly what would happen to him if he didn't complete his mission. But I still couldn't let it happen. Too much was on the line.
At that moment, I sensed another one of them behind me, moving silently closer on light feet. Had my ears not been conditioned to filter out the screeching wind during flight to pick up on the sounds below, I would never have heard it.
I tensed, ready to move at a moment's notice while still keeping my eyes on the one in front of me. His grip tensed on his own weapon, ready to end it all.
One in front, one behind, both with their sights on me. I was trapped.
That's when I heard it. The tiny 'crick' that signified the one behind me was about to attack. At the last second, I used my enhanced speed to dive to the left, twisting my head back to see the paintballs destined for me hit Emmett and Edward. They jerked back, surprised that they had been shot by each other now that I had moved out of their line of fire.
I barely stopped myself from bursting out laughing as Emmett let loose a howl of anguish, red paint splattered on his chest. "Why? Bella, you know that Rosalie is competitive! Now that I lost, I won't be getting sex for a week. A whole week!"
Edward scowled at me through his own face-full of paint. Both he and Emmett were the same team and now I had artfully orchestrated a situation in which they ended up shooting each other.
Ah, the joys of paintballing.
Before either of them got any ideas down the line of revenge, I rolled to my feet and took off into the woods.
"Emmett and Edward are out. I repeat, Emmett and Edward are out," I whispered into the small headset I was wearing, watching the terrain around me. It was raining and I was liberally smothered in mud, but damn, was I having fun.
"Fantastic," Alice's voice responded, making me feel all tingly inside. "Nice work sweetie."
We had originally started out Van Allens vs. Cullens, but when me and Alice came up against each other we had been unable to pull the trigger and had…accidentally ended up making out against a tree while everyone else shot us. Totally worth it, but not very constructive towards winning a game.
We had then decided to add Alice to the Van Allen side to make the teams even, six against six. They were red, we were blue. Surprisingly, it hadn't taken as long to convince Esme and Carlisle to play as I thought it would. Alice had turned out the puppy-dog eyes and they had wilted like un-watered flowers in the Sahara. It was scary.
I picked up the pace, leaping up into a tree and pushing off of it, using the foliage to shield me from any lurking enemies. So far, we were winning, having lost none to their two.
A twig cracked and I froze on the next branch, eyes wide and ears straining. I gripped my paintball gun as tightly as I could without breaking it. The moss on the tree trunk beside me filled the air with a musty scent, on the verge between pleasant and unpleasant.
The sound of a heart beat came next and I relaxed before moving on, confident in the fact that nobody in our group other than me had a heartbeat.
I was close to the border between the wolves and my family when my headset came to life again.
"Bella! We need help," Jesse gasped, the sounds of running footsteps and the 'puff' of the paintballs easily carrying over the mike.
"Yeah, Jesse and I are trapped. Carlisle and Japer have us pinned. We lost Lee," Alice continued, sounding stressed and amused at the same time.
"Dammit Bella, we need air support!"
At the sound of my sister's voice I pushed off of the branch and shot up into the air. I quickly materialized and unfurled my wings.
"What's your position?" I pushed my wings down powerfully and scanned the woods below. The darkness would stop humans from spotting me, but not vampires.
"Near the clearing where you told me your secret. They're above us on the cliff edge and if we move out of our cover to leave, they'll have us." Usually, a vampire could easily outrun the paintballs, but we had ours custom made. They were harder and much faster than normal and you had to know exactly where they were coming from to avoid them. They would also seriously injure a human and they friggin' hurt.
I tipped my left wing down drastically, turning on a dime and sweeping over the trees at ridiculous speeds. Thankfully, the rain didn't obscure my vision or slow me down, so in moments, I was above the clearing.
I could see Alice and Jesse crouching behind a large boulder, backs against a rock face. Like the rest of us, they wore camouflage overalls and face masks for unnecessary protection, with a blue cloth tied around their arms to signify teams.
Jasper and Carlisle were lying on their stomachs, eyes peering through the sights lined up with my mate and sister. I grinned, hovering in place as I aimed carefully.
Jasper let out a surprised squawk when the blue ball hit him in the butt, rolling over quickly to see where it had come from. When he spotted me hovering twenty feet above him smiling cheerily, he elbowed Carlisle and pointed.
As Alice's father, looking extremely strange in fatigues, turned over and aimed, I banked quickly, dodging the bullet. He went for another, but quickly froze as a blue splat appeared on the side of his head. I didn't even have to look to know that it was Clare, hiding expertly in the trees. The woman was like a ninja. "Ha!" I crowed, swooping down towards Alice. I landed quickly and dove behind the boulder, landing beside her and nudging her with my shoulder.
"This is so much fun," she laughed, wiping rain out of her eyes. "I can't believe we've never tried it before."
"Gee, I wonder why," Rosalie grumbled as she walked past our boulder, three separate splats covering her suit.
Alice giggled and I turned to look at her. She looked beyond adorable wearing her camouflage suit and toting around a huge rifle that was almost bigger than she was. Her hair was plastered to her head with droplets running down her face, swatches of mud covering various parts of her body.
Micheal came out of the woods soon after, red splat on his chest. "Game's over. Esme got me and Clare got her. Van Allens win!" Esme and Clare came out after him, talking in low tones and laughing regularly. Clare was walking with a skip in her step, holding her gun over her shoulder in a practised manner, while Esme was holding hers at her side with much less familiarity.
It wasn't long before Carlisle and Jasper made their way to their respective mates, the elder Cullen with a strange look on his face.
"You okay Mr C?" I asked, more than slightly amused. When he had first come out into the woods wearing his uniform and carrying his gun as though he wasn't sure which end to point with, I had found myself chuckling along with everyone else.
He turned to face me, holding up his rifle as though it would explain everything. "I'm almost four hundred years old and here I am playing paintball in the mud."
Micheal whistled sympathetically. "I know just how you feel, but thanks to Bella, we're used to this kind of thing. It wouldn't have been fair to actually act our ages when you have a child that can't mingle with others her age for long periods of time."
He sighed, small smile on his face. "I still feel slightly ridiculous in this outfit."
I shrugged. "There's no reason to. Don't let your apparent age and actual maturity stop you from having fun. Have you ever gone paintballing before?"
He shook his head slowly. "No."
"Well there you go. What's the point of having immortality if you're not going to try new things? You should live life to the fullest Mr C, otherwise you're just existing."
He rubbed his chin, obviously thinking about what I had said. "You're right. And it was actually rather fun." He wrapped his arm around his equally muddy, but slightly less out-of-place mate.
In response, I found my own eyes drifting to my significant other while Emmett poked fun at his father figure.
"Did I ever say how cute you look in that suit?" I asked, slightly breathless and not from exertion.
She smiled, biting her lip. "Did I ever say how great you look with wet hair?" Her gun dropped to the floor and she stepped closer.
"No, I don't think you did." My voice was slightly husky as my own gun fell beside hers.
"I guess I'll just have to show you, then," she whispered, reaching up and pulling my head down to hers. Our lips met slowly and I felt the same sense of delight and wonder as I did during our first kiss. Her lips parted slightly, invitingly and I accepted eagerly, exploring her mouth as she moved her hand to my hair, pushing me against the boulder we had used for cover.
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into me, trying to get her as close as possible. I kept tight rein on the fire inside of me, both literal and figurative, resisting the urge to pick her up and run to my room where we could just-
A paintball hit me in the side of the face.
We both froze, pulling away from each other and turning in unison to the grinning Emmett.
My left eye twitched. How many times could two people be interrupted until they both cracked? His grin faded and left as he took in our expressions.
"Um…sorry?"
My rifle was still too far away, so I grabbed one of the paint filled bags attached to our belts to be used as 'grenades' and struck with perfect aim. The ball hit him right in the face.
Not bothering to wait for his reaction, I pulled Alice to me again, brushing a wisp of her dark hair away from her smiling face. "Now, where were we?"
XXXXXXXXXX
I'm not gonna deny the fact that I'm a nerd. I loved comic books, I played chess frequently with my sister, read a great deal more than most people would consider normal. But most of all, I loved learning. I didn't have just one specific area of interest when it came to learning, it could honestly be anything, from physics, to how to bake the perfect muffin.
This love of learning naturally meant that I enjoyed school immensely when there was something new to learn. To Kill A Mockingbird was one of the few classics that I hadn't read in my childhood. Having a mother that spent her human years as the curator of a huge library meant that this was a rare thing, but we just hadn't gotten around to it. Our English teacher, Mr Mason, had decided that he would forgo the usual Wuthering Heights and mix it up a bit by introducing a different book and I had been excited.
This is why it came as such a surprise that, despite the fact that Mr Mason was reading the first chapter with the type of gusto that just wasn't present in long-term teachers, I wasn't hearing a word he said.
It wasn't a collection of things which caused my…distraction, rather one pixie-shaped one. For some reason, Alice had chosen to change into a dark blue skirt and simple white shirt after our impromptu paintballing session.
Now, I had seen Alice in a skirt before, but somehow this particular one was turning my usually fine-tuned and well-organized brain to mush.
Judging from the smug look on her face-spied when I was actually looking at her face-she knew this fact very well and had most likely planned on it.
The entire experience was almost disconcerting for me, a person who had almost zero sexual responses prior to meeting Alice. Then again, a lot of different things had been happening since I had met her.
"Ms Van Allen, am I boring you?"
I jerked violently in my seat, the pen that I had been using to tap my unopened book flying across the room as I blurted the first thing that came to mind, which unfortunately happened to be "Yes."
Seeing his slowly raised eyebrow, I ran over the last few seconds and, realizing my error, quickly amended my statement. "I mean no! Of course you're not boring me." I swished my hand in a negligent gesture to reinforce my statement, sending my copy of To Kill A Mockingbird tumbling to the ground.
He lowered his head so that he could look at me over the rims of his black glasses as I snapped my book up off the floor. "Then would you care to share your musings with the rest of the class, seeing as they're so much more interesting than the works of Harper Lee?"
I shifted in the hard plastic seat, my eyes flickering to Alice, then back again. "Um, I'm gonna have to say no to that."
He rolled his eyes and released a long suffering sigh, turning back to the board. "In that case, pay attention."
I nodded sharply, barely restraining myself from saluting. "Yes Sir."
Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Alice hunching her shoulders, obviously vastly amused by my predicament.
"Well, I hope you're happy with yourself," I grumbled, too low for human ears to hear while taking care to keep at least one eye on the book that I had finally opened.
"Don't blame me," she responded, amusement clear in her voice, "You're the one who just spent the last thirty minutes with your eyes glued to my-"
"Now, now," I interrupted swiftly, "let's not make accusations about who was staring at what."
"Bella, sweetie, it's not so much an accusation as it is a statement of fact. You weren't exactly being subtle about it."
Forcing myself not to coo at the way she called me 'sweetie', I resolutely crossed my arms and turned my head to the board where Mr Mason was writing notes.
"Hey, I'll have you know that I can be very subtle. Otherwise, you would have known that I was attracted to you way before that night on the boardwalk."
I probably should have guessed that Alice would have taken that as a challenge. Had I, I most likely would have done my best to ignore her when I heard her 'accidentally' drop her pen. The inevitable result was that I, being seated directly behind her, was privy to a most tantalizing view when she stretched down to pick it up.
Feeling an unexpectedly strong flash of heat course through me, I almost launched out of my seat when the corner of my notebook abruptly caught fire. My surprised gaze was locked onto the bright blue, and thankfully small, flame as it ate it's was towards my sparse notes, before I came to my senses and smacked it out with my hand, a tiny 'poof' of ash fluttering over the edge of my desk.
"Stop that!" I snapped at it, probably a little too loud.
Silence pervaded the small room and I reluctantly looked up to see the entire class staring at me, the crazy girl half-out of her seat who was berating and beating the furniture.
Mr Mason merely crossed his arms and leaned against his desk, one eyebrow raised in question.
I lowered myself back into my seat with a nervous chuckle. "Man, the spiders around here are the size of small cats."
He sighed once and went back to his notes, displaying a patience that few other teachers had, while I sank lower in my chair, promising to ignore Alice for the rest of the class period.
Her amused chuckle didn't help.
XXXXXXXXXX
"You set your notebook on fire?" Jesse's voice didn't seem to know whether it wanted to be amused or horrified.
I fiddled with my mashed potatoes, digging small holes with my spork and filling them in with mashed carrots before covering them up again.
"It's really not as bad as it sounds," I mumbled.
"Not as bad as it sounds? 'Cause it sounds like you set your notebook on fire! In the middle of class! What if someone had seen you?"
"Firstly, I didn't exactly do it on purpose. Secondly, I was sitting at the back of the class so nobody saw me, and thirdly…it was only a small one."
Lee dropped the straw that he had been bending into a straw and leaned forward, his long hair obscuring his eyes for a moment. "You didn't do it on purpose?"
I gave him an affronted stare. Why would I want to set my notebook on fire?
He realized this and waved his hand apologetically. "Not that you would, it's just that you haven't set anything on fire since that unfortunate incident with the unicycle."
I could see Alice out of the corner of my eye mouthing the word 'unicycle', an expression of complete bewilderment on her face. It was adorable, but I didn't have the time, or inclination to enlighten her. It was an embarrassing event for everyone involved.
"I just got…distracted for a minute," I sighed.
"With?" Jesse prompted.
My eyes, traitorous organs that they were, immediately gravitated towards Alice.
Emmett's booming laugh silenced the whole cafeteria, the inhabitants pausing to watch aptly as he struggled to stifle what could only be described as manly giggles. I didn't even know that there was such a thing as a manly giggle, but there you go. He got himself under control with a helping elbow from Rosalie and the students gradually turned back to their own conversations.
"Distracted, eh?" He waggled his dark eyebrows suggestively and if I hadn't been so distracted by their distinct resemblance to dancing caterpillars, I would have flicked him with one of my peas.
I had gotten used to our new routine, Van Allen and Cullen families gathering around the biggest table to have lunch and talk shop. Being a rather cloistered child, for obvious reasons, I found it refreshing to have a new group of interesting individuals to converse with. Or in Edward's case, be stared at by. I know he meant no offence, but he stared at me with such attention, it was obvious that he expected me to start breakdancing on water at any moment.
"Does everything have to take on a sexual tone with you?" I asked.
"Your affronted tone of voice would have carried more weight if you were actually looking at me and not making goo-goo eyes at my sister."
Alice and I turned our eyes guiltily back to the other occupants at the table.
"In Bella's defence, it's not entirely her fault. I chose this skirt because I know she loves this shade of blue," Alice sounded entirely too happy about that fact. "I just happen to look utterly fantastic in it."
Jasper chuckled. "Come now Alice, I thought that Rosalie was the vain one in the family."
"Well, let's be honest, if you were the one to bag an angel, you'd be pretty damn satisfied with yourself too."
"Oh, so now you've bagged me, have you?"
She turned to me, her eyes twinkling. "Well, if the shoe fits."
That outfit really did look beautiful on her. Although I'm still not sure why it was distracting me so much, it was actually pretty modest. It's not like she was parading around naked…oh, distraction.
The sound of snapping fingers pulled me out of my reverie. I jerked in my seat, my subconscious now choosing a spork to launch across the room. It hit a passing sophomore on the back of the head and I had to stop myself from whistling nonchalantly when he looked around the room for the culprit.
"Honestly Bella, are you sure that this is just Alice-related fantasising and not something more serious? You've been acting really strange lately." Jesse handed me her spork and her fruit cup which I happily opened and dug into. "And that's not even taking into account the fact that you've been sleeping more frequently and have a larger appetite."
"She's right," Lee put in. "Usually you eat about a quarter the amount of food a human would consume. Now you eat about half."
I glanced down, noticing that half the fruit cup was gone already. "Well, now that you mention it, I've been feeling a bit weird lately." I caught the worried looks Lee and Jesse exchanged with Alice and cut them off before they could ask anything else. "But nothing serious. I've just been a bit tense."
"You worried about it too?" Alice's voice was quiet, all traces of humour gone.
I chewed slowly, weighing my response. "About what?" I had a feeling I knew exactly what she was talking about, but like the others, I would have preferred it didn't exist. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option.
Alice glanced around the table. "What we've been hoping to ignore since yesterday."
"Alice," Edward started, methodically folding his unused napkin. "There's no surety that this…person will follow the pattern and arrive in Forks."
"That's just wishful thinking Edward, and you know it. The wolves told us last night that they had picked up a vampire scent when they went to check out Maple Grove. There is no point in burying our head in the sand."
I sighed and placed my spork down on the worn plastic table. "I still have some hope that the vampire in question will pick up the wolves scent and leave."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Both of our families have…dealt with interlopers before. Besides, with the way Sam sounded on the phone last night, the wolves are practically chomping at the bit to go out and hunt. It might actually get taken care of long before it reaches Forks."
"Maybe, but we don't know anything about this vampire and I don't want to make any assumptions."
"I'm going to La Push tonight, if they have any plans, they'll probably tell me then."
Alice sat up straighter. "Are you sure you can do this?"
I smiled, placing my hand over hers. "I would never have made this promise unless I was sure I could heal Emily."
She scooched her chair closer. "I know. I just don't like the idea of you being over there alone."
"Well, I don't have to be alone. Sam said that you could come too."
Her delicate eyebrows shot up to her hairline as everyone else made disbelieving noises. "Let me get this straight. The vampire-hating wolves told you that I, a vampire, could come over to their land?"
I nodded. "Apparently mates are a big thing with the wolves, what with their whole mating for life thing. They love me right now and you're my mate, so while they probably won't lavish you with flowers and sing your praises, they won't try to kill you."
Alice blinked, her long thick lashes touching her porcelain cheeks for a split second before sweeping back up. "How lovely."
"How do we know we can trust them?" Rosalie liked the wolves the least and seemed to frequently point that out.
"What, you think this is some convoluted ploy so they can get their hands on Alice?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "They wouldn't do that."
She pinned me with a stare. "Are you sure?"
"Rosalie, if there was even a slight chance that they would hurt Alice, I would never go over there with her. With the exception of Paul, I trust them."
Jesse shook her head, red hair trailing over her shoulder. "I don't think even the other wolves trust that guy. He's unhinged."
"He's also very undisciplined in a fight. He just charges, counting on his strength and ferocity to incapacitate an opponent. He shows no skill or forethought whatsoever and is relatively easy to take down. I wouldn't discount him if it came to a confrontation, but I wouldn't be shaking in my boots either."
"Don't worry, I'll protect you from the big bad wolf," Alice purred, sounding way too…erotic than was good for either of us.
"Down girl," I joked, keeping my eyes locked onto hers.
"So, when are you going over?" Lee's question was a little louder than the rest of our sub vocal conversation, obviously his attempt to break us apart before something else caught on fire. Either that or he had contracted a bad case of over-protective older brother syndrome.
I pulled back, absently wondering if Alice and I would ever be able to…consummate our relationship without me blowing up the entire house. "Straight after school. The sooner I get it done, the sooner Emily can come back from her 'recovery'. I highly doubt Sam will be happy to be apart from her for so long."
Alice rubbed my shoulder soothingly. "This is a good thing you're doing for her."
I smiled at her, wondering why, if it was such a good thing, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
XXXXXXXXXX
APOV
I always loved watching Bella, no matter what she was doing, but watching her drive a car was downright adorable. She always had both hands firmly on the steering wheel, except when she needed to change gears. They were also always the exact same distance apart, no matter which part of the wheel her hands were on. Her legs were straight, never leaning sideways and her posture would make a soldier green with envy. She wasn't rigid, despite her position, it was more like she was slouching in an incredibly orderly fashion.
"Why is it we can't stop staring at each other?" Bella asked, sounding genuinely curious about my answer. Then again, Bella was always curious about my answers. She always gave me her full attention and when she spoke to you, you just knew that she was fully committed to the conversation.
"I believe it's called the 'puppy-dog' phase. It usually involves copious amounts of staring, statements that could only be described as sappy, romantic gestures and general feelings of euphoria." At Bella's raised eyebrow, I shrugged lightly. "I saw Jasper and Edward go through it."
Bella laughed, the sound melodious. "That must have been fun."
My lips pulled into a grimace. "Not when you're the only unmated member in a family full of couples." My voice turned quiet. "It's hard to be alone for so long."
Bella took her right hand off of the steering wheel and gently placed it on mine. "You're not alone anymore."
I felt a deep swell of happiness spread out through my body and my face split into a grin. She was still driving so I probably shouldn't have lunged at her and wrapped myself around her like a vampiric octopus, but I couldn't help myself. And she certainly didn't seem to be complaining.
Her laugh rand throughout the car again and I knew that I would never tire of hearing that sound.
Our moment eventually came to an end and I pulled back, after delivering several kisses to her conveniently placed neck. She made a soft sound in the back of her throat that sounded like a cross between a purr and a groan, her skin vibrating against my lips.
"How-how's Cory?" Her voice was a little hoarse and I found myself smiling once again. I loved that I had that effect on her. "Emmett didn't squash her, did he?"
"Oh no, he knows that if he screwed with our egg, he'd have to pay the price. She's fine. I made her seven outfits, one for each day of the week. She's wearing Tuesday right now."
"You really do enjoy making clothes, don't you?"
"Yes, yes I do. In fact, now that I have you here, you get to be my own personal mannequin. I have an entire range of clothes I want to try out. Some for your disguised form, and some for your natural form. The necessity for discreet slits in the back will make it difficult, but I like a challenge."
"For some reason, that sounded vaguely ominous."
I smirked. "Oh don't worry; it's your first time so I'll go easy on you."
"I'm assuming that you'll have to take many, many measurements of various different body parts for this to be successful?" Oh boy.
Before I could make my reply, a foul stench wafted through the open window, making my teeth click together with a loud snap. My face twisted into a disgusted grimace and I twisted, burying my face into Bella's shoulder. Ah sweet relief.
"Do they really smell that bad to you?"
My response was muffled, but I had absolutely no intention of removing my face from my own personal air freshener. "Yes. It smells like someone left old garbage out in the sun for a week, then poured sour milk all over it and then died right beside it. It's not as bad when they meet us on our land, but here their stench pervades everything."
"And are you going to keep your face attached to my shoulder for the entire trip?"
"Most likely. Although, after a while, your scent shields theirs even if I'm not this close."
Since the only thing I could see was a close-up of Bella's grey shirt, I had to rely on my ears to pinpoint our location. I could hear various people up ahead, and judging by their deep voices and slightly growly undertones, they were wolves. Six of them, and several humans.
I opened one eye and peeked out, making sure to keep my lower face close to Bella. The reservation was fairly big, but most of it was taken up with forestry and natural areas. Many of the houses were secluded, surrounded by trees and the Blacks residence was no different.
It was a small, red building made of wood, beautifully crafted with that hand-built look. The driveway was more like a gap in the trees long enough for a car to get through. A large field filled the space where a back garden usually rested and a rushing sound indicated the presence of a stream nearby. It was actually a very beautiful place. If only we could get those damn dogs off the front lawn, then we'd be all set.
Twelve pairs of eyes turned towards us as we got out of the car. I noticed that they viewed Bella with open welcome, and me with open suspicion and vague hostility. Understandable, but still annoying.
"Bella!" Seth bounded forth and swept Bella up into a huge hug, her feet leaving the ground entirely. I twitched beside him, the vampire aspect of me disliking him being so close. If I had my way, Bella would carry around a foot long stick with her and if she could stretch her arm out and touch someone with that stick, then they were too close. However, the more rational side of me understood that this was irrational.
"Hey Seth, how you been?" Bella sounded completely amused at his antics and I could see that they would become great friends.
"Pretty good. This place has been a non-stop party ever since you put the whammy on Mr Black." At that point he noticed that I was there and offered me a big grin, taking me slightly aback. "Hey Alice, nice to see you." His tone of voice said that he was being sincere, he was honestly happy to see me.
"Um, you too, Seth. Although I'm a little bit surprised that you're being so cordial towards me, seeing as we're mortal enemies and all."
He waved his hand. "Nah, I never really hated you guys. " He gingerly patted me on the shoulder in a friendly gesture. "Besides, you're Bella's girl, right? I doubt that she's pick a murdering psychopath to fall for."
I nodded, a small smile playing over my lips. "True."
"Aww," Bella cooed, slinging an arm around both of our shoulders, or at least Seth's chest. "You two are bonding."
Seth grinned and strode forward, indicating that we should follow. There were twelve people in the clearing, excluding Bella and myself. Six of them were the wolves, minus Paul. Billy Black was there, as well as the two Clearwaters. Both children seemed to take after their mother in looks, with their father being a heavyset man with long greying hair and their mother more slim.
Two men stood behind Billy. The man on his left was tall, with an aristocratic face and thick grey hair cut short. He stood with the bearing of a man well-travelled and had a kind look in his eyes, similar to my adoptive father. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that he was Jason Ayers, the Reservations resident doctor.
The man on the right looked relatively young in comparison, probably in his mid-thirties. His long hair was dark brown and came down to his shoulders, framing a masculine face with a generous helping of stubble. His arms were crossed and his legs were held apart, as though he were standing his ground.
The last person in the group was a young woman who stood in the shelter of Sam's arms. Her long black hair was pulled back into a wooden clasp, decorated with ornate carvings. She was lithe, but not slight. Her face was beautiful, even with the three long jagged claw marks that ran across from her left temple to her jaw. She watched Bella with open curiosity and deeper in her expression, I saw hope.
Sam nodded at Bella and offered her a smile. "Bella, thank you for coming."
"No problem." She gently took my hand and laced our fingers together, tugging me forward ever so slightly.
Sam glanced at me and I could see his left eye twitching slightly, evidence of him battling his natural dislike of me. "You too, Alice."
Unlike Seth, Sam wasn't entirely happy to have me here, but he was at least being polite, which was more than my family could have hoped for in the two years we had been here prior to the Van Allens arriving. "Thank you for allowing me to accompany Bella."
Sam nodded again and cleared his throat. "I suppose introductions are in order. You know all us wolves already and of course, you know Billy." The man in question smiled like he had just won a million dollars and waved at Bella, shifting his feet slightly. Bella grinned and waved back.
Sam gestured to the Clearwaters. "This is Harry and Susan Clearwater, Seth and Leah's parents." Harry dipped his head slightly and Susan, a kind –looking woman of small stature, smiled at the both of us.
"This is Jason Ayers, our resident physician." The distinguished man also nodded, a gesture that seemed to be in abundance today.
"And last is Phoenix Townsend." The younger man lifted a hand, not quite a wave, but an acknowledgement nonetheless.
Bella raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Phoenix? Interesting name."
He smiled ruefully, revealing even white teeth. "My mother insisted on calling her children after places in America. I have a sister called Dakota and a brother called Tacoma. She was a bit eccentric."
Bella turned her attention back to Sam. "May I ask about the crowd?"
Sam had the grace to look at least a bit sheepish. "Well, the Council wanted to meet you, I'm here for moral support for Emily, and the others…well, they just thought what you did with Billy was pretty amazing and wanted to see it this time."
"Well, I aim to entertain." She moved forward purposefully, still holding my hand. Some of the wolves stiffened ever so slightly at my approach, but they held their tongues. Seth fell into step beside us and seemed to be completely oblivious to the atmosphere. Not that it was as bad as it could have been, or had been in the past, but it was still a little tense.
"You must be Emily," Bella stated, stepping forward to shake the hand of the young woman. "Pleased to meet you."
"Likewise." She took a deep breath. "I just want to thank you for doing this. I know it may seem vain, but…"
"I'm serious Emily, it's really no problem. It's kind of pointless having these gifts if I can't even do anything with them." Bella's voice slipped slightly into bitterness and I knew that there was a story there, but now was not the time to ask.
The Pack leader shifted a little closer to Emily. I knew how he was feeling, having something that his instincts were telling him was an enemy standing so close to his mate. I felt it too, but neither of us could act on it right now.
Jason Ayers chose this moment to stride forward, making a beeline for Bella. He extended his hand and shook hers effusively. "Ms Van Allen. It truly is a pleasure to meet you. I'm not exactly a stranger to…unique individuals, being the doctor to a group of young shifters, but what you can do is truly a marvellous thing."
Bella's eyes widened under the praise while I resisted the urge to draw a chalk line on the ground and declare it 'our space'.
"Nice to meet you too, Dr Ayers."
He waved his hand in a negligent gesture. "Please, call me Jason. Even after all these years, I still think of Dr Ayers as my father. Oh, if only he could see this, he would be astounded."
"Well, I'm just thankful I don't get performance anxiety."
"Ah yes, I must apologise if it seems that this has become a…spectacle of sorts, but it is very rare that we meet another supernaturally inclined individual that we know nothing of. Although my own interest stems more from the medical side of things. Healing a severed spinal cord…" His voice became awed and he shook his head. "Forgive the doddering of an old fool, I'm no doubt holding you up." This time his nod was deeper, almost a little bow and he even extended it to me. Will the wonders never cease?
"So, uh, how do you want to do this?" Sam's voice was more than a little nervous and he kept wringing his hands.
Bella shrugged. "Well, we could do it here and now or whatever you want." She turned to Emily. "It's your choice."
"He-here is good." Her voice broke slightly but still came out strong. I would've liked to see what the outcome would be, but being on Quileute land meant my newly active visions were being hampered.
"Ok then, here goes." Bella released my hand and stepped forward. The other moved backwards to give her some space and I held my breath now that she was away from me. Her tone softened as she placed her hand on the scarred side of Emily's face. "Just try to hold still."
It was different than the last time, the light wasn't as strong, nor did it look like a storm of lights were swirling around the two of them. Instead, it was calmer, almost gentle, probably because there wasn't as much damage to heal this time around. A pale blue light with swirls of darker blue surrounded Bella's hand where it rested on Emily's face. It flowed into her, then back out, then back in again, like a wave of energy. I could almost feel it from where I stood, a glorious feeling spreading out from the two people in the centre of the clearing and only my desire to watch the beautiful display in front of me stopped me from closing my eyes and revelling in the feeling.
The light became denser, focusing on the scars until there was just three intensely glowing strips along Emily's face. And then they were gone, evaporated into the air like sprinkles of glitter.
A gasp rang through the clearing, unidentified in the aftermath. The reason for the gasp, however, was clear. The scars on Emily's face were gone, as though they had never been, the skin unblemished and her face even more beautiful.
Bella stepped back and shook her head, blinking her slightly dazed eyes. Knowing how exhausted she was when she healed Billy, I quickly moved to her side and wrapped a supporting arm around her waist.
"Alice, I'm fine."
I shook my head at her. "The last time you healed someone, you fell asleep for fifteen hours."
"That was because it was such an old and serious wound. This one was only about a year old and not that serious."
"I'm not taking any chances."
I turned my head to look at what was happening, seeing a tearful Emily pressing her hand against her face, an expression of profound joy on her face. Sam wrapped her up in his arms and laughed, a long, happy sound that put a smile on my face. The rest of the group quickly crowded around, staring in amazement and shock. Emily must have been hugged and patted on the back about twenty tines in the space of a few minutes.
"Oh, Bella, thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me," Emily threw her arms around Bella, and by association, me, instigating a sort of awkward group hug that didn't bother her in the least. I swear, since Bella moved to Forks, fifty percent of the occupants have hugged her already.
She stepped back and wiped her eyes, Sam once again wrapping his arm around her. "Yeah, thank you so much for this." If I didn't know better, I'd swear that Sam was getting a little teary.
Bella nodded and leaned on me a bit more. Susan Clearwater noticed it instantly. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, just a little drained."
"We just need to get some food into her." I patted her stomach, hearing the tiny rumble. It was the first time I had ever heard it and it was kind of cute.
Sue smiled and exchanged a glance with the others. "Oh, I think we can take care of that. It's the least we can do."
And that was how, three hours later, I found myself firmly seated in the cocoon of Bella's arms as we sat on a log on First Beach in front of a roaring fire, with about thirty people laughing, eating and partying around us. Everyone on the Reservation who knew about the wolves, vampires and Bella had been invited to celebrate. After a while of everybody crowding Bella and speaking to her, the younger generation, plus me, had decided to build our own fire and start trading stories. Or rather, they had collected it and Bella had shot it with a fireball.
It was about eight o'clock, the sun having set long before. That left the only source of illumination the driftwood fire that was glowing blue and snapping occasionally. The atmosphere was jovial, their animosity for the vampire in their midst forgotten in their merriment.
"I swear, I've never laughed so damn hard as that day when we all saw Embry here stuck up a tree with a pissed off badger trying to get at him." Seth smacked the man in question hard on the arm. "Some Spirit Warrior you are."
Embry looked affronted. "Hey, that thing was huge, not to mention vicious." He pointed at Jacob. "Besides, I'm not the one that 'repaired' Mrs Batter's car then forgot to put the brake cords back in."
Jacob lobbed his cola can at him. "Oh, come on, I was twelve!"
Embry ducked and laughed. "Yeah, and she drove into Mr Farson's manure pile." He nudged Bella with his foot. "You should have seen him, he had to spend two whole days scraping crap off her car."
Bella almost choked on her mouthful of lemon soda. "You think that's bad? My sister, the scary vampire, is still afraid of spiders. This one time when I was six, there was a giant one in the bathtub and she jumped so hard when she saw it, she broke though the wall."
Seth doubled over laughing, but Leah had a pensive look on her face. "What are they like?"
"My family?"
Leah nodded. "I mean, we've been raised to believe that vampires were monsters, but the way you talk about your family, well…" She glanced at me. "They don't all seem so bad."
Bella sat up straighter, hugging me tightly to her chest. "They're not. Don't get me wrong, I've met some bad vampires, but I've met some bad humans too. Vampirism doesn't turn you evil, it just turns you into a vampire."
"But…they kill people." Quill looked to me. "Haven't you?"
It didn't sound accusatory, he was genuinely curious, but my voice quietened. "Yes."
"You feel guilty," Sam said slowly, almost as if he had never entertained the idea of such a thing. Hell, with the way he had been raised, he probably hadn't.
"Of course I feel guilty. It's just…when I first woke up, I didn't remember anything from my human life. I didn't know who I was, or what I was. All I knew was that my throat felt like it was on fire. I wandered for a while, not knowing what to do, and then I met some men on the road." I stiffened and Bella pressed her lips to my neck. The Quileute's were silent. "They weren't nice people. I had woken up beside a burned building so my clothes were in tatters, they saw an opportunity and were going to take it. I didn't even realize that I had killed them until after the fact, but I knew that my throat didn't burn any more."
Leah licked her lips nervously, obviously treading very carefully. "What happened then?"
"Well, I was alone for a long time. I avoided…feeding until it was absolutely necessary and even then, I tried to limit my victims to criminals, murders, rapists." I felt a small smile grow on my face. "Then I had a vision of the Cullens, of Carlisle and I realised that I could survive on animal blood. First time I tried it, it tasted like crap, but I kept going and haven't looked back since."
"But you want human blood, don't you?" Jacob asked.
"Yes and I no doubt always will. It's like a drug addiction, you have to fight it every day and every day, it gets a little easier."
"Then how does Dr Cullen do it?"
"Carlisle has unprecedented control. When he first woke up, he ran into the woods and tried to kill himself. When that failed, he shut himself off from anyone he could hurt. It was three weeks before a herd of passing deer made him snap and he attacked them. He's been training ever since and after almost four centuries, he's very good at it."
Leah looked down. "I guess in the grand scheme of things, we've been a little bit rough on you. We never really took the time to listen."
I shrugged. "It's how you were raised."
Bella chuckled and I turned to look into her twinkling brown eyes. No matter which form she wore, she was still beautiful. "Look at you, making friends."
"Only because you have that annoying habit of building bridges."
"Hey, if we hadn't built our bridge, we'd never have gotten together."
I craned my head forward and breathed against her soft lips. "That's true." God, but she was a fantastic kisser.
"You two are so damn cheesy. I can't believe I'm saying that about a vamp, but there you go." I pulled away from her warm lips and she groaned in disappointment. Seth was busily munching on potato chips.
"Dude," Bella whined. "Don't interrupt the kissing time. Never the kissing time."
He snickered. "With the way you guys were going at it, I doubt you would ever have stopped."
Bella flicked a peanut at him. "Shut it, weirdo."
"Weirdo? You're the one who shoots fireballs and heals people with a touch. You're the weird one."
"I am not."
Seth purposefully nodded his head to Bella's left side, at the edge of the group. Our gazes followed to observe the eleven squirrels that had been slowly gathering ever since Bella had sat down. As we watched, one of them skittered forward and tugged on Bella's shoelace. She reached down and handed him another peanut, which he promptly began eating.
Bella popped a peanut into her mouth and chewed slowly. "I can see how that would seem strange to someone who's not used to it."
"This is a frequent occurrence?" Leah asked, brushing her dark bangs from her face.
"Oh yeah, happens all the time." Bella glanced at her watch, wincing slightly. "Speaking of time, we should probably get going. This was supposed to be a short trip."
As it turns out, it took another half an hour to extricate ourselves from the group, Bella had to receive about fifty more hugs, well wishes and gratitude's. By the time we got to the car, it was almost ten.
"That was actually sort of fun," I said, surprised by the admission. The wolves had been courteous and they hadn't seemed as hostile, no doubt due to the slight calming influence Bella exuded. I also noticed that only five of the Council had shown up out of eight. The other three, as well as Paul, had chosen to avoid coming. I knew it was because I was there and not all of the people on the Reservation would welcome me, no matter how close I was to Bella.
"I know. Did the smell bother you?"
I shook my head. "No, after a while, your scent made it bearable."
"I have a good feeling about this, it could mean no more animosity between our groups. I know that some people stayed away because you were there, but most were polite. I think they even warmed up to you a little bit at the end there."
"I'm thrilled."
Her mouth curved into a smirk. "Please Alice, try to curb your enthusiasm. Oh, by the way, I was wondering if you would like to go flying again tomorrow. I know this really great mountain range that has some amazing views."
I grinned and rested my head on her shoulder. "I'll always say yes to flying with you. But in that case, you might as well let me out here. I haven't hunted in a while." I would have to be careful now that I was spending so much time with Bella. Her scent soothed my throat, but I would still need to feed. If I spent too much time with her and forgot, when she left, I could be way hungrier than I had thought.
"Sure." She pulled over to the side of the road and I opened the door.
"I guess I'll see you in the morning," she sighed.
"Yeah." I rested my hand on her cheek and pulled her in for a kiss. It lasted a full three minutes now that we didn't have anyone to interrupt us. Part of me wanted to just grab her and hightail it to the nearest soft surface, but the responsible side made me pull away. "Tomorrow," I promised.
"Bye," she whispered.
I gave her one more peck and slipped out of the car. As she drove away, the red lights bright in the darkness, I could see her watching me in the rear-view mirror. The puppy dog phase was a powerful thing.
I sighed to myself and ran into the woods, nostrils flaring as I scented the air for something to eat. As I suspected, now that Bella was gone, my throat was burning more strongly than I had anticipated. I caught the scent of a large deer and gave chase, letting it get a bit ahead of me to burn off some energy.
It wasn't until I had been tracking my second deer for about ten minutes that I realized something was wrong. A feeling pricked the back of my neck, the tingling sensation of someone being watched. I stopped moving and looked around me warily, still too close to wolf territory to get a clear vision. The wet leaves squished beneath my feet and I tensed my muscles, primed to run at a moment's notice.
I heard them before I saw them. There were three, two males with heavier footsteps than the remaining female. Vampires, one of which was no doubt our mystery killer from Port Angeles. But there was only supposed to be one, the wolves had picked up no more scents and the amount of killings would only feed one vampire.
I froze and snapped my head to the left, waiting a few moments until three vampires emerged from the trees. They were nomads, as evidenced by their tattered clothing, each with red eyes. The one in front was tall, with dark skin and an almost elegant bearing. His dark hair was held in dreadlocks.
The woman was crouched slightly, as though she were expecting an attack at any moment. Or was stalking something. Her pale skin was a perfect back drop for her mane of fiery hair and her teeth were a bit sharper than average.
But it was the third vampire that made my eyes widen. His long dirty blond hair was tied up in a ponytail and he wore a tattered leather jacket, jeans and nothing else. He wore a smirk on his face and I knew that despite the positioning, he was the true leader I this group.
He also made fear curl in my stomach like something alive. I may not have had my visions, but every instinct was screaming in my mind to get away from him, that he was dangerous and that if I stayed here, I would die.
He laughed in delight, a low, dangerous sound. "Well, well, well. Mary Alice, fancy meeting you here."
A/N: Don't hate me! I'm sleepy and I had to end it here.
I'm sorry for taking so long to update once again and I'll try to do better, but no promises. I know this chapter wasn't my best, but it was hard to get out for some reason. I'm also sorry for any typos, I was rushed in getting this out.
Leave your reviews so I can feel horribly guilty and update faster. That is, if I have any followers left…