Hey guys!!! Here is Chapter 25 of Starlight!!! Hope you like it!!!!

Chapter 25: Vampires and Motives Uncovered

Edward sat in shock at the Cullens' table. "What? Th-there's no such thing."

"Then how do you explain us?" Emmett chortled.

"You're lying." Edward narrowed his eyes. There was no way these people were telling the truth. He'd been taken away from his Bella by a bunch of nutcases.

"Edward," Esme looked worried, "you have to believe us. You see our white skin, you've felt our cold hands, and surely you've noticed all of our eyes are an unnatural golden color."

"None of you are related." murmured Edward, "Yet you all have the same skin and eyes."

"And dude, watch this." Emmett grinned and was gone in a streak of light then back again with a rock the size of his fist. He put it in the palm of his hand and flexed. The rock crumbled and fell to the ground right before Edward's eyes.

"Whoa." Edward choked out.

"We can run at amazing speeds and never get tired, we don't have to breathe however we like to, we have excellent vision and hearing, and we can lift objects of tremendous weights and crush just about anything." Carlisle explained softly.

"Don't vampires drink blood though? You know human blood?"

Esme smiled comfortingly. "Our family drinks animal blood instead of human. That's why we have golden eyes instead of the traditional crimson."

That seemed like something the Cullen family would do. Abstain from human blood and drink animals. They were good people. (Well sort of)

"Some of us even have special powers." Carlisle went on, "For instance Alice can see the future."

"So that's how you knew about Bella!" exclaimed Edward.

Alice nodded. "Speaking of which you need to get on that case."

"Can't you just…you know…see…what Freeman wants Bella for."

Shaking her head gravelly Alice said, "When you walked through the door Edward I could see your future. I could see what you were going to ask me and why. Therefore I had already seen you talk about Bella. I don't know Bella. I can't see her future."

Edward sighed. "Nothing's ever easy is it?" he muttered sourly. "Does anyone other you have special powers?"

"Jasper can read emotions." Alice smiled at the object of her statement. Jasper reached out and took her hand. The sight made Edward's stomach tighten.

"Are you immortal?" Edwards asked trying to get his mind off Bella.

Carlisle and Esme exchanged a nervous glance. Esme coughed a little and began, "That's what we wanted to talk to you about. We are immortal. Edward, we want you to join our family. Permanently."

Edward sat there looking confused.

"You could live with us, but you'd age and we wouldn't. We want you to be a real part of our family. We'd like to make you immortal too Edward." Carlisle finished.

Horror washed through Edward. Sure their hearts were in the right places, but trading his human self for immortality would mean leaving Bella behind in the world of mortality.

"I'm sorry. I-I can't let you make me immortal. My girlfriend, Bella, is human and I can't leave her."

Carlisle bit his lip. The whole room was like a graveyard. No one was breathing.

"You could turn her." he amended.

Edward had to admit he didn't like that idea. Then a memory came rushing back to him. Bella had drawn that picture of him. The one with his white skin and topaz eyes. Bella was physic…could she have known? When he had asked her about it she'd said it was him as a vampire and that he drank animal blood instead of human.

"How do you make a human a vampire?" he half whispered.

"Well," Carlisle shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "another vampire would have to bite the human. They would go through a three day transformation and then they are immortal."

Edward was silent as he thought about biting Bella.

"I'm not going to lie to you Edward," Carlisle continued, "it's very painful."

"I couldn't do that to Bells." he murmured. "I'm sorry. I can't be an immortal. I have to find out what Freeman intends to do with Bella then I have to save her or protect her." His mind wandered wondering whether or not the guys at Ridgeway would've gotten Freeman fired yet.

Carlisle nodded understandingly. He had guessed when he saw Edward and Bella's heartbreaking farewell scene back at the orphanage that he wouldn't want to leave her in another world.

"Alice perhaps you could show Edward to his new room." Carlisle breathed.

"Come on Edward." Alice motioned for him to follow her up the staircase. When they were up she led him down a hallway and opened a door inside was a large empty room with a huge window and white walls.

"It's a bit plain right now, but you can customize it however you'd like. We'll get you a furniture catalogue and you can pick whatever you want from it."

"Thanks." said Edward.

"No problem."

"Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"Are they mad at me? Downstairs I mean about the whole immortality thing." Edward felt a little nervous about already upsetting his new family.

Alice smiled warmly at him. "Don't you worry Edward. Carlisle had already been expecting this. You have your love to worry about. We're not going to be hard on you."

"Thanks Alice. Do you have a computer I could use?"

"Be right back." Then Alice was gone. Literally five seconds later she was back again carrying a fancy looking laptop and an air mattress.

"Here you go and since you're human I'm expecting you'll want to get some sleep." She threw the air mattress on the floor along with some blankets. "Good luck. If you need anything just let me know."

Edward blew up the mattress and draped the blankets over it. He sat down with the laptop. He went straight to Google and typed in his search "Harold Freeman". To his surprise a bunch of results came up. He clicked on the first one. It was an article from a history magazine.

"Harold Freeman is an ex-historian. He is most famous for his work on ancient legends of South America. Freeman spent the last seven years of his career researching a specific legend, a legend of the Mayans. The legend speaks of a way to get riches beyond anyone's wildest imaginings and how to get the power to rule the world. In order to gain the power and treasure a person must find a girl with extraordinary powers and sacrifice her in an ancient temple located in Mexico on a stone slab on her seventeenth birthday. By doing that the person would be showered in gold, jewels, and control beyond anyone's wildest imagination. Harold Freeman took a trip down to the temple in Mexico and even talked to the Mayan leader. He claimed this trip was so he'd be able to write a book on the fascinating legend. Freeman has since then retired from his job as a historian and now runs Ridgeway Orphanage in New York City."

Edward's body went numb. He read the article over and over again, taking in every word. A girl with extraordinary powers. That had to be Bella. Freeman was going to try to sacrifice Bella to the Mayan gods on her seventeenth birthday? It seemed ridiculous that Freeman actually believed any of that nonsense. However, whether powers and riches awaited him or not Edward knew that Freeman was still going to try. He was still going to sacrifice Bella. Edward shut off the laptop and lay down on his air mattress feeling ill. How was he supposed to protect Bella from a psychopathic ex-historian who believed in Mayan gods?