Hi hi, there my lovely readers. Here's the update like promised. I managed to finish it on time (a few minutes ago...)

Anyway, I was really doubting about this chapter. I wanted Rachel to took a step forward and not only with the whole situation with James but also with everything she feels, which is why I called this chapter A Step Forward. It was first called Being Taught but that didn't really fit it, especially not the last bit that is pretty important.

I'm already giving too much away. You guys will read soon enough what I mean.

Thanks to all who have reviewed, followed or favourited this story (or me). You guys are the best and pretty smart too. You all figured out who was the other person in Sage's house. And then to give those who have reviewed a response...

FeatherSun19994: thank you for your review and well done with figuring it out! There will be more of him in this chapter and in the next chapter you will find out how James will manage to lure Rachel away from Sage. I'm glad you're so excited about this story and to answer that "stupid" question (which isn't a very stupid question at all): No, there will be no Elena in this story but she might make an appearance in a sequel ;) I hope you will like this chapter and further more I hope you will have a Happy New Year.

WickedlyMinx: You're probably going to "eep!" some more in this chapter ;) I hope you will like it. And Happy New Year.

Br0ken-wishes: thank you for your review and the big compliment. I'm glad you like Rachel better than Bella. I like her better too. I hope this chapter won't disappoint you and you will like it better again than the last! And Happy New Year!

Ann4ever17: that picture you have is sitting on the right track and although you're right that Damon in TVD isn't born in Italy, in the novels he and Stefan are born in Florence, Italy. As for your theory about Rachel's heart not hurting... All will be explained in this chapter. And Sage is indeed based on the TVD books. You will also figure out what he is for I've left a few clues in this chapter about that. I will talk to you again next year ;) Which brings me to the next thing: Happy New Year!

Lostfeather1: there's no need to apologize. It's not like I'm going to turn into a tyrant the moment you review too late or not at all. Sometimes you just don't have the time for it or you forget it. I'm just happy that you eventually reviewed, although I wouldn't be angry if you hadn't either. You guessed right, the other person in the house is her ex and he's going to make a big appearance in this chapter. The Cullens have figured it out by now that Rachel ran away from them and James? Well, you will see that in the next chapter. If and how they will find her... All will be revealed in due time. I hope you will like this chapter! And Happy New Year.

Okay, with all the reviews answered I will now tell you all that the next update will probably be this Sunday, the 5th of January. I haven't finished said chapter yet but I hope I will have it finished by that time.

That chapter will make things move a little faster for James will make an appearance and Rachel will have to make a choice. That much I can already tell you.

I hope you will all like this chapter and you will review it to let me know what you guys thought. I wish you all a Happy New Year and we will talk to each other again next year!

Lots of love, Emmetje

New Girl in Town

Chapter 25

A Step Forward

"Eek!"

Rachel managed to let out a yelp before she ended up on the ground. She pulled a painful face and slowly got up again, pressing a hand against her backside while pulling an even more painful face.

"Is it really necessary to go so hard on me?"

Sage, who was standing in front of her and who was only wearing a pair of training pants, put his arms over each other and gave her a stern look. "Oui, chérie. It's really necessary. What use would this training be if I would go easy on you? You would not learn anything and that would mean that your skills in real life would be of no use at all."

Rachel slowly crooked her back with her hands on her bottoms, her face pulling away in even more pain while she did so. "That's not entirely true and you know it." She leaned forward and pushed her head and arms through her spread legs. "And I would feel much happier if I wouldn't be covered in bruises after each training session."

Sage's look became even sterner. "Do you want me to teach you how to defend yourself?"

Rachel stretched herself out and put her hands on her hips. "Of course I want you to teach me. If I hadn't wanted that I wouldn't have asked you, now would I?"

"Then stop complaining," threw Sage at her. "Now again."

It had been four days since Rachel had arrived on his doorstep in a desperate try to find a safe place to hide from James, one he wouldn't be able to find.

It had been three days since she had asked him if they could pick up on her training again. The odd man had been more than willing but he also took training very serious which is why one could not find anything odd about him at the moment.

Rachel let out another yelp when she once more landed on the ground and before she could even recover, Sage already ordered her to get up. "Again, chérie. And try not to be so careless this time."

"This is hopeless," complained Rachel from the ground, resting her arms on her knees. "I will never be able to defeat you."

"Nonsense," said Sage, who clicked rather impatiently with his tongue and gesturing that she had to get up again. "You just don't know how to properly fight me."

Rachel crooked an eyebrow. "What on earth are you talking about? There's nothing I can do to defend myself against you. You're faster and stronger and let's not forget about the fact that you have ages of experience on me."

"Perhaps. But let's not forget about the fact that you're gifted," pointed Sage out, giving her another stern look. "Use those gifts."

Rachel let out a deep sigh while slowly getting up, brushing the dust of her sweatpants. "You know I've little to no control over them, Sage."

The odd man walked towards her and poked her in the shoulder, still with the stern look. "That's because you think too much about it. You should not think, you should feel."

Rachel slapped his hand away and glared at him. "It doesn't work like that."

"Yes, it does," disagreed Sage. "Your powers are controlled by the things you feel. When you're really angry things blow up or catch fire. When you feel uncomfortable, and it does not matter if that's because you're in an unfamiliar place or because someone is paying a lot of attention to you, you have no control whatsoever over your telepathy resulting in hearing every thought in a ten mile radius or your telekinesis coming out in the most inconvenient moments. When you are scared your powers come out in a way to protect you resulting in things floating through the air and shooting into different directions."

Rachel eyed him strangely. "Where are you going with this?"

"To the point where I want you to use them in your advantage," told Sage her before ordering: "Close your eyes and think about the times when you were happy, content and relaxed."

"Why?" wanted Rachel to know.

Sage poked her shoulder again, giving her a stern glare. "Do as I say, chérie." Rachel let out a sigh and closed her eyes. "I want you to think about when you were here last summer. I want you to remember everything you did here and everything you felt. Recall it all and let all those memories take you over." Rachel frowned, still not understanding where he was going with this and feeling rather sceptical about it. "You're not trying, Rachel. You're still not listening to me."

Rachel opened her eyes and glared. "It would be nice to know what it exactly is that I'm trying to achieve."

Her eyes met the very annoyed face of her teacher. "I'm trying to make you see my point. Now stop thinking and start feeling."

Knowing he wasn't going to leave her alone until she had done what he asked her to do, Rachel closed her eyes again and called back the memories of that last summer and feeling what she had felt in that period turned out to be a lot easier than she had expected. It was almost as if someone was sending her the emotions she had felt over an empathic connection.

"Hold on to those memories and those feelings," spoke Sage's voice from a distance. "And now imagine you're floating. High up in the sky on a big white cloud."

Rachel frowned again. "Are you serious?"

"Do as I say, chérie, or I will make you do a hundred push-ups." Rachel let out a sigh and called back the memories and the emotions before doing as Sage said and imagining that she was floating. "Do you feel it? The weightlessness? The soft caress of the air around you? The feeling of being utterly at peace?"

And much to her surprise, she did feel it. The air around her was warm and it was almost as if she could feel the clouds touch her. "I do..."

"Hold on to it," told Sage her. "Now open your eyes."

Rachel slowly opened her eyes and her mouth dropped open when she realised that all that had been standing around her was now floating through the air. And unlike when things started to float whenever she was scared and her powers came out, these objects remained floating exactly on the same spot they had been standing, just a few metres above the ground.

The shock of seeing the floating objects broke her concentration and everything fell to the ground like a dead weight, causing at least two of Sage's vases to break into a million pieces and one armour to disintegrate.

What surprised her even more was that a wide smile spread itself over Sage's face and that he started clapping. "Excellent! Well done, chérie!" he laughed. "You were absolutely wonderful."

But Rachel was still in shock. "How..." she managed to bring out. "How did you know that would happen?"

"You're not the first person with powers that I've met, Rachel," laughed Sage.

Rachel's eyes widened in both shock and interest. "You mean to say that there are people out there that can do the things I can?"

"Over the years I've met only a handful of women who were able to do the same things as you are able to do," told Sage her with a slight frown. "But I've met quite a lot of women and men who were able to do things that are very similar to what you can and those other women could do."

"And those men and women who can do similar things are..." started Rachel in a desperate try to find out more about whatever he was talking about.

"Witches," answered Sage before she was able to finish her question. "And a Warlock here and there."

Rachel frowned. "Wait, you're telling me I'm a witch?"

"No, I'm telling you that there are a lot of similarities between your powers and the power Witches and Warlocks possess. But you're unique, chérie. You can do things and have been able to do things since you were young that some Witches are not even able to do after practising magic their entire life."

Rachel wrapped her fingers around her chin. "So I'm kind of like an advanced type of Witch?"

"That's a good way to put it," agreed Sage. "And I would be most happy if that would be how you would call yourself from now on. I never quite liked the name the Volturi gave to those like you. Mutants." He shuddered. "Like you're some kind of freak."

Rachel could not help but agree with him. She cared deeply for Aro, Caius, Marcus and their family but when Aro had told her people like her were called Mutants, she had felt horrible. A Mutant: something unnatural and hated, a freak.

"I think it might be for the best if we start working with your powers too."

Rachel snapped out of her thoughts when Sage spoke those words out. "Are you serious?"

"Oui, chérie," chuckled Sage, finding the look on her face most amusing. "Your fighting skills will perhaps help you in sticky situations involving normal humans and those like me. But might I just remind you that you're being hunted by a Cold One and those are a lot harder to fight. A punch to the nose or a hit between the legs that have helped you to survive this far won't do the trick with them. Even worse, hits like that will end up hurting you a lot more than them and they will only give you more of a disadvantage."

"I know, I know." Rachel waved a little annoyed with her hand. She did not want to be reminded of the fact that James was still looking for her because if she thought about that, she would start to worry again and that was not something she wanted. "They are practically made out of stone which is exactly why a punch to the nose or a kick between the legs will not work. Thank you for stating the obvious."

Sage chuckled. "No need to get annoyed with me, chérie."

Rachel gave him a look. "You know I don't like to think about the situation I am in."

"And I understand it too," assured Sage her. "But not thinking about it will not make it go away. And you know what I always tell you."

"Yeah, yeah." Rachel waved with her hand again. "It's better to face your problems than to run away from them." She eyed him a little weirdly. "But isn't that exactly what I did when I came here?"

"No, you faced the problem and by doing that you came to the conclusion that staying where you were was a bad idea and gave you a disadvantage," corrected Sage her with a smile.

Rachel frowned. "So by running away I faced the problem?' Sage nodded and Rachel's frown deepened. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Just remind yourself that coming here was for the better," laughed Sage, finding her very amusing again. "Now, I believe we left off with "again"?"

To say Rachel was about to fall to the floor due to tiredness was anything but an exaggeration for she really was about to lose consciousness.

Sage wasn't an easy teacher and he certainly didn't believe in going easy on his students. It had been exactly the reason why Rachel had preferred to be training with her ex when they had first come up with the idea of teaching the human girl how to defend herself her very first summer in Lisciano Niccone.

It had been her ex's idea to start training her. He had been the one who had started to call her a walking Vampire Buffet and although it wasn't a very nice thing to say, there had been, and still was, some truth in it. And because of that he had thought it would be a good idea if she knew how to defend herself.

After a few training sessions with Sage she had ended up being so tired that whenever she relaxed, she would fall asleep on the spot. Her ex hadn't liked that so he had taken over the job of training her and Sage had taken over the job of coaching her.

But since her ex wasn't around, Rachel was left no choice but to train with Sage and she immediately remembered again why she had preferred training with her ex.

The sixteen year old dragged herself up the stairs towards her room and dropped herself on the bed once she had arrived there.

The fighting wasn't this time what made her so tired. Sage had focussed this training session more on her powers and he had forced her to use them more than just the one time to get his point across. And using them and having to concentrate so hard, drained her more than any training session ever could.

Rachel groaned while staring up at the ceiling. Her body felt like it was one big bruise, her mind felt numb and she could hardly keep her eyes open. She wanted to crawl into bed and sleep until she could not sleep anymore.

A knock on the door made her groan. "Come in."

The door was opened. "My, my, chérie. You look awfully tired."

Rachel rolled herself on her right side and glared at Sage. "And whose fault is that again?"

The bronze blond haired man chuckled. "I take you will pass on the invitation to come with me to the market then?"

"I could hardly find the strength to drag myself upstairs," muttered Rachel, resting her head on her pillow again. "What makes you think I could find the strength to spend hours passing stalls and negotiating with their owners about prices?" She groaned while rolling on her belly again. "My whole body hurts."

Sage sat down beside her on bed and smiled. "A nice bath would help you with that."

Only the idea of a nice long hot bath made Rachel moan. "Don't be so cruel, Sage," she complained. "I don't think I could even make it to the bathroom without falling asleep, let alone start a bath and remain awake to prevent it from overflowing." She let out another groan. "I don't even think I could get up to start it, no matter how incredibly nice it sounds."

"A bit of persuasion will help you then," chuckled Sage. "I will start it and prevent it from overflowing. All you will have to do is drag yourself to the bathroom once it is finished."

A very grateful smile pulled itself on to Rachel's face. "You're the best, Sage."

"I am to blame for the fact that you feel this way, chérie," told the odd man her with a chuckle and he pressed a kiss on her head. "It's only fair I help you to feel a bit better."

"Thanks, Sage," called the sixteen year old after him when he walked out of her bedroom towards the en-suite. "Will you be gone for long?"

"I will try not to be," called Sage back and Rachel smiled when she heard the sound of running water. "But you know how I can get."

Rachel chuckled, certainly knowing what he meant. The last time she had gone with him to the market they had been shopping for nearly five hours and mind that, they had only been looking at food.

Sage's head peeked around the door with a smile on his face. "You should be fine and perfectly safe here as long as you don't go outside and you don't invite anyone in. I had some Witches spell the house so even Cold Ones won't be able to enter it without being invited in."

Rachel gave him a tired smile. "Always prepared for everything, aren't you, Sage?"

Sage chuckled before he disappeared again. "Always, chérie. I am not someone who likes to be surprised or get unwanted visitors."

Rachel pushed herself a little up when she remembered something. "Sage?"

"Oui, chérie?"

"I know you said I couldn't use my mobile and I had to keep it switched off to prevent it from being traced here..."

She hesitated, causing Sage to appear in the door opening. "But?"

"But can I leave Jessamine a message?" continued Rachel. "With your home phone? She's already worried about me and I don't want to worry her even more by not answering her calls."

Sage wrapped his fingers around his chin and gave her a frowning look. "I don't know, chérie. It is risky."

"I know," whispered Rachel, looking away from him and resting her head on her pillow again. "It's just... She's my best friend and she has been there for me ever since we first met. I don't want to worry her or lie to her but that's all I seem to be doing lately. And she doesn't deserve that."

"Indeed..." Sage let out a sigh, causing Rachel to look at him again. "Très bien. You can leave her a message. Give her this number and explain you're in trouble and that she has to delete the message after she had heard it and that she will give you a call as soon as she can and that you will explain everything then."

Rachel's eyes started sparkling. "Really?"

Sage nodded with a smile. "Really, chérie."

The sixteen year old got up, although it was with difficulty, and hugged the odd man tightly. "Thank you, Sage! Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, chérie." Sage petted her back, chuckling. "But now that you're up, maybe it would be wise to move to the bathroom. Your bath is almost ready."

"You really are the best," told Rachel him while letting go. "I can't thank you enough for this."

Sage rubbed her cheek. "You don't have to. Like I told you before: you're family and I would do anything for my family." Rachel gave him a grateful smile and the odd man smiled back before starting to push her towards the bathroom. "Now get in there and enjoy your bath."

Rachel shot him another grateful smile over her shoulder before she entered her en-suite and closed the door behind her. Just as he told her, the bath in the middle of the light coloured room was almost filled and she yelled another "thank you" towards Sage when she saw the scene in front of her. The bath was filled with bubbles, there were burning candles everywhere, soft calming music was playing in the background and on the edge of the bath were standing a wine glass, a bottle of wine in a cooler and some chocolates on a plate.

Rachel chuckled while stripping out of her sweaty training clothes and lowering herself into the bath. Whenever Sage decided to pamper someone, he certainly didn't do half a job.

She was walking beside Edward and they were putting some distance between themselves and the cinema and they were moving towards the restaurant Edward was planning to take her.

"I think it was a great movie," she told the bronze haired Vampire. "There was the perfect balance. It was romantic but not in the sickening kind of way and there were some jokes here and there but not that much that the movie couldn't be taken serious anymore." Edward pulled his nose up. "What?" she questioned. "You don't agree?"

"No, I didn't like it," told Edward her in all honesty.

She held her head to the side and gave him a curious look. "Why not?"

"I find the whole idea that you would cheat while you're married offensive." She blinked when she saw the angry look in his eyes. "When you marry you promise the other person your eternal love and devotion. Sleeping with another is breaking that promise."

She shrugged. "I do understand where you're coming from and trust me, if I would find my boyfriend cheating on me he would probably end up in the hospital with a little more than just a broken nose and manhood." She gave Edward a small smile. "I would take that as warning if I were you."

Edward frowned. "I would never cheat on you."

"It was joke. And I know," she told him while rolling her eyes. "Your ways and believes are pretty much ancient which means cheating is a death sin in your eyes." She gave him a look. "But do remember that we're only humans and humans make mistake. Sometimes we marry the wrong person or fall out of love or fall in love with another. That doesn't make us bad persons, just persons who make a bad mistake." She gave him another look. "And if you found the movie offensive because of the cheating thing..."

"It wasn't just the cheating thing," interrupted Edward, pulling his nose up again. "Why would anyone want to kill their wife so they can be with another woman?"

"We humans are stupid," she told him. "We make stupid choices and sometimes when we make them, we don't really think rational and we make them too fast." Her eyes filled themselves with a great sadness when she remembered something. "And most of the times we regret those choices very much but it's too late to change them." She shook her head, pushing that thought away. "But as I was saying... If you found the movie offensive and if you didn't like it, why didn't you just say so? We could have left earlier."

Edward looked surprised at her. "I thought you knew."

She frowned. "Why would you think that?"

"My thoughts didn't exactly hide it."

"Hold on just a minute." She stopped dead in her tracks and gave him a weird look. "Your thoughts didn't hide it? That's probably the worst excuse I've ever heard."

Edward gave her a weird look back. "It's not an excuse."

She eyed him for a moment before she realised what he meant. "Wait, you think I can read your thoughts?"

Edward frowned. "You said you are telepathic and you hinted more than once that you knew exactly what I thought."

"Not in that way," she protested. "Edward, if I was able to read your thoughts, don't you think I would have figured out what you were a little earlier?"

Edward's frown deepened. "You mean to say you can't read my mind?"

"No," she told him, looking at him weirdly. "The only thing I hear is a weird buzzing sound when I try to read your thoughts. Like I'm a radio that can only receive AM and your mind is FM."

Edward's face brightened a little. "So just like you are the first person whose mind I couldn't read, I'm that for you too."

She pulled a hesitant face. "Not exactly..."

Edward's frown returned although there was a certain curiosity in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I have a friend who can also read minds," she told him, still hesitating. "It's not like normal telepathy. It's very limited. And I hear the same buzzing sound whenever I try to read his mind. And..."

"And?" pressed Edward on, the frown had disappeared but the curiosity had grown.

"There was also someone –" Her eyes started to tear up and she spoke the word "someone" out with a lot of difficulty. "– whose mind I couldn't read without his permission. Whenever I tried it was like I walked straight into a wall."

And unfortunately for her Edward was a clever boy who quickly picked up the clues she left. "That someone was your ex, wasn't it?"

She looked away and walked on, desperately trying to hide the pain that was now standing so clearly in her eyes. "The talk about ex-boyfriends is stuff for a fifth date."

But Edward wasn't letting it go. "Do you regret it?"

She stopped again but didn't look around and asked, although she knew very well what he meant: "Regret what?"

"Breaking up with me?"

She closed her eyes and let a single tear fall over her cheek. "Every day." Then she suddenly realised what had been said and she turned around in surprise. "Wait a minute. I didn't break up with y..."

The words died in her throat when her brown eyes met two very familiar piercing blue eyes, eyes that were framed by pitch black locks. He was standing behind her dressed in his usually black clothes and he was staring at her.

Her breath hitched and her eyes filled themselves with tears. "This isn't what happened."

He took a step towards her. "Rachel..."

But she shook her head and took a step back. "This isn't what happened," she repeated. "I'm dreaming." She closed her eyes and pinched herself. "It's only a dream."

"Yes, it is." She opened her eyes again when she felt how he took her face into his hands. "No matter how badly I want it not to be a dream." Her breathing now came out rather shakily. "But it's the only way I can talk to you, tell you..."

She knew she shouldn't ask but she still did. "Tell me what?"

"That I regret it too. Every day. I regret letting you break up with me. I regret letting you walk away. But most of all I regret not being honest with you. I..."

"No," she interrupted and she quickly took steps back, away from him. She kept shaking her head while tears started to stream down her face. "This is a dream. This isn't real. And I'm not torturing myself anymore, especially not with words I so badly want to hear and that aren't real." She let out a sob. "Words I will never hear you say. Not to me. And I should not... No, I will not torture myself like this."

The hurt in his eyes was impossible to miss. "Is that what I am to you? A torture?"

"What?" She gave him a disbelieving look. "No. Or actually, yes..." She looked down. "But you're a pleasant kind of torture. You always have been and you always will be. I knew how you were and I knew what we had was doomed to end because of... Because of her. But I still let it happen. I still let myself get hurt like that." She whipped the tears away. "And I will never want to forget you or what we had."

And when she looked at him she saw in his eyes what he felt. The masks had finally disappeared. "God," he whispered. "I wish I could be selfish with you, Rachel. I really wish. But I can't. Not with you. I never could. If I had been able to be then I wouldn't have let you walk away. I wouldn't have allowed you to break up with me. I would have told you there and then when you tried that I loved you. I still love you." She closed her eyes when he said those last four words and her heart felt like it broke until a million pieces again. "I just needed you to hear this. To know this. And God damn it, Rachel! I really wish this wasn't a dream!"

"Stop..." she begged, crying now like she would never be able to do so. "Please don't do this to me..."

His hands embraced her face again and for a small moment she felt his lips on hers. But they were gone before she knew it and he lifted her chin up, forcing her to look him in the eye. "I want you to get over me, Rachel. I don't want you to forget about me but I want you to get over me. You don't deserve to be so unhappy, not if I'm the reason. So get over me, find yourself that nice guy that will make you feel warm and special inside and spend the rest of your life with him. That's what you deserve. Leave the world of the supernatural behind as good as you can and become what you always wanted so badly: to feel normal." He rubbed the tears from her cheeks and rested his forehead against hers. "Live a long and peaceful and happy life and when your time comes, die with the knowledge that you took everything life had to offer. That would be enough for me too, to know you were happy." He kissed her again and this time Rachel answered it, causing him to immediately break away. His thumbs rested over her eyes, keeping them closed. "Time to wake up, sweetheart."

Rachel gasped and shot up. The tears were streaming down her face and sob after sob escaped her lips. Her heart ached like it had when she had broken up with her ex so many months ago and her lips were tingling like they really had been kissed.

The pain of her heart, the pain the dream had caused, made her cry only harder and she buried her face in the pillows.

She was in too much pain to realise she was no longer lying in the bath, where she had fallen asleep in the first place, but in bed. Nor did she notice the figure in the door opening, the figure who was watching her cry with a truly hurt and broken look in his piercing blue eyes.

How many of you had expected this to happen? Let me know by reviewing! And a Happy New Year! The next update will be on the 5th of January, next year!