"What's taking them so long?" Emmett groaned swinging the metal bat around annoyingly. Ah he of little patience our big brother. "Alice where are they?" I opened my mouth to answer when we heard the strangest sound that was similar to the sound the grizzly bear made when Emmett was in the midst of hunting. "Okay what the hell was that?"
"Are they… alright?" Esme asked cautiously. I closed my eyes trying to picture the pair of them. They seemed… okay, except for the fact that Bella was sitting on ground staring at Edward with an expression that I would admit was pretty hilarious.
"They're fine," I murmured reopening my eyes. "And they should be here in a few seconds." Right on cue Edward and Bella appeared through the thick forest out to the rocky area the three of us were sitting on. Esme instantly started towards the pair tailed by Emmett. Rosalie merely started towards our field without another word. Stuck up little brat...
"Was that you we heard, Edward?" Esme asked.
"It sounded like a bear choking," Emmett announced. Wow, way to beat around the bush Emmett. Mental claps. Bella smiled sheepishly.
"That was him." Yep we are defiantly going to get along together. She already knows the golden rule, when in doubt blame Emmett or Edward (ignore the fact that it may or may not be their faults.. blame them anyway).
"Bella was being unintentionally funny," Edward clarified. Ah so that explains Bella on her butt staring at Edward bewilderingly.
I danced up to them quickly in order to make the timing perfect. "It's time," I announced right as a roll of thunder crashed. Okay so I enjoy being dramatic… but its fun. Bella looked a little shaken but she would be alright, or at least that's as far as I could see.
"Eerie, isn't it?" Emmett asked winking at Bella.
"Let's go," I smiled grabbing Emmett's large hand and darting to the field that made the field I visited to save Bella from being clunked in the head look like a sand box for toddlers. After a slightly enthusiastic cheer from Bella (hey she was trying, she was surrounded by a bunch of vampires), Edward raced after the two of us. Bella stayed behind with Esme and from what I could hear/ see, she was explaining that Edward's story of her falling off the cliff was a little exaggerated. Besides Rosalie, her story probably was one of the more heartbreaking. She was like a mother to all of us (including the annoying parts of parenting that was informing us when we cheat).
"All right," Esme called. "Batter up." I took my position of pitcher in the center of the field as Emmett lined up to bat. Bella looked slightly bewildered, possibly from how far apart our bases were. Within three tenths of a second, the ball was rocketing from my hand straight into Jasper's.
He'll hit it this time Edward, be ready. I thought hoping he was paying attention. Stealing one swift glance at him, he nodded without looking at me. With a brief grin, I threw the ball again and with a thunderous crash, it flew into the forest with Edward already gaining on its speed.
So it went on, usually neck and neck all the time. We would score points, they would. Carlisle was up at bat, Edward catching when the vision hit me. Three figures moving through the woods towards us, two males and one female. Snarling… One male crouched ready to attack, I gasped in alarm. Edward's eyes flew to mine as I repeated my vision mentally to him.
"Alice?" Esme called anxious as Edward dashed to Bella's side. For some of the few times in my existence, I found myself struggling for words.
"I didn't see – I couldn't tell," I mumbled. The others had all surrounded us by then.
"What is it, Alice?" Carlisle calmly asked. Such a good father, leader, even though he treated us all as mature adults and never abused his authority or our respect, whenever we needed to look to someone he was there.
"They were traveling much quicker than I thought. I can see I had the perspective wrong before." Edward snarled quietly under his breath. He knew more than anyone what was coming.
"What changed?" Jasper asked automatically becoming protective. He worried about me too much, the nomads wouldn't want me. It's about someone else that is a little more… human.
"They heard us playing, and it changed their path," I admitted. It was my fault; I should've seen it coming. I wish I could've seen it before it was too late. The expressions flickering across their faces proved they knew exactly what I was talking about.
"How long?"Carlisle asked Edward. He grimaced snarling briefly under his breath.
"Less than five minutes. They're running-they want to play." I placed my palms over my face. They put too much faith in me, they always do.
"Can you make it?" Carlisle asked. A flicker of a vision passed through my mind of Edward attempting to carry Bella out. Take note of the key term: attempting.
"No, not carrying," he cut short for Bella's sake. I'm not even sure why they try to do it anymore, she knows everything and is pretty aware that not all vampires are as nice as us, especially when you're warm and have a nice scent. "Besides, the last thing we need is for them to catch the scent and start hunting."
"How many?" Emmett asked.
"Three," I replied briefly. Of course this in his mind wouldn't be a problem.
"Three! Let them come," he scoffed flexing his muscles. It's been a long time since he's gotten to show off, unfortunately now wasn't the time to mess with them. We all turned to stare at Carlisle praying he had some sort of magic solution to this.
"Take your hair down," Edward instructed in a low voice. I shook my head as Bella slid the rubber band out of her hair and Edward pulled most of it forward around her face.
"The others are coming now." This girl handles stress very well… creepily well actually. Most people would be screaming something along the lines of I'm going to die! Of course we would never let that happen but still it's the normal reaction.
"Yes, stay very still, keep quiet, and don't move from my side, please," Edward hissed. Oh who's he fooling? I don't even think he tricked Bella into thinking that he was mister calm and collected. We kept playing but it was almost hilariously obvious that it was just for show. Nobody would hit anything other a bunt and Em, Rose, and Jazz hovered close by.
"That won't help," I sighed the guilt weighing in. "I could smell her across the field." Edward shot me a dark look.
"I know," he hissed. 'I'm sorry Edward, this is my fault. Please don't blame yourself.' Yea, telling Edward not to blame himself is like telling a fish to leave the ocean and go square dancing.
It was painfully obvious when we all attempted to discard our tense and nervous expressions for effortless and calm. The sets of three footsteps echoed through the forest as the trio approached. The guilt and terror for my friend almost completely destroyed my perfect façade. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Bella's expression of almost confusion as they came closer. Despite her knowledge of us being different than other vampires, I don't think she really knew the extend of how much acting we do each day. Merely the way we walk could give away that we weren't quite human.
"We thought we heard a game," the first olive-skinned man smiled. "I'm Laurent, these are Victoria and James." Victoria grinned in a way that I thought was supposed to be amusement, yet it still gave me the chills. James I'm not going to even lie, just seems creepy to me.
"I'm Carlisle," he announced taking charge. "This is my family, Emmett and Jasper, Rosalie, Esme and Alice, Edward and Bella." Bella's eyes widen slightly when her name was said. No Bella, stay calm, don't draw attention to yourself.
"Do you have room for a few more players?" Laurent asked happily. I watched Carlisle closely, he was better at this than all of us.
"Actually we were just finishing up. But we'd certainly be interested another time. Are you planning to stay in the area for long?" The sooner they get the hell out the better, we don't need any more unexplained homicides even if they're not in the direct area.
"We're headed north, in fact, but we were curious to see who was in the neighborhood. We haven't run into any company in a long time."
"No, this region is usually empty except for us and the occasional visitor, like yourselves."
AN: Okay bad place to end but I am still alive and if enough people are interested I'll keep writing.