Thank you to Team Supersonic Bitchslap for your donation last year in the Fandom Gives Back auction. And thank you to Natty for your beta expertise!

Only two outtakes left, this one and Chapter 8. Posting Chapter 7 today and 8 will be up on Friday.

Chapter 7

Edward made a hasty retreat to his room as soon as the training session ended. The internal battle his feelings were waging on him was getting more difficult to hide.

"Fuck!" he yelled as he slammed the door, kicking at the side of his dresser.

He was too wired and couldn't focus. He turned on some music just to shut it off two minutes later. He picked up a book then tossed it across the room when the words refused to come into focus. He pulled out an old notebook intending to scribble down a few notes on Bella's idiosyncrasies before ripping the sheet out and balling it up after only writing her name.

He was attracted to her, he finally allowed himself to admit. That didn't mean he had to like her, and it sure as hell didn't mean he had to trust her. Unable to focus on anything else, he stretched out on the bed and closed his eyes, imagining an elaborate seduction. He'd have her begging while he maintained the upper hand. He'd take and take, only giving enough to make her want more until she finally cracked, spilling all of her secrets.

It wasn't until later that evening when the house had quieted down, everyone having gone to bed, that he ventured out. His trip to the kitchen for something to drink was derailed seconds after he left his refuge of his room. As he passed Bella's door he heard a series of curious thuds occasionally punctuated by an "ouch" or a laugh. He crept closer, hoping to hear more, his imagination creating one scenario after another of her hiding in the privacy of the bedroom celebrating an early victory at having been welcomed into the house and setting up the next round of deceit.

When he couldn't stand it any longer, he quietly turned the knob and opened the door an inch at a time, all the while rehearsing excuses should he be caught. There was no need, however. Bella had her back to him, completely unaware of his presence as she hopped around, testing her ability to hold herself up. She never stayed airborne for long, but her grin was permanent. There was something innocent and endearing about it, and not for the first time Edward questioned if he was too hard on her. At that thought, he shut the door as quietly as he'd opened it, but he didn't leave. For a few minutes more he stood in the hall comparing the girl he'd seen today with the faceless villain he'd been preparing for.

On Sunday the friends took it easy. Though he didn't actively engage Bella all day, he paid attention to the way she laughed and joked with the others. She was so much more relaxed than she had been the day before. Her laugh rang out regularly, she shared stories about herself, and didn't hesitate to disagree when her opinion differed. She had so much personality—something they'd all noticed in hindsight that Jane had lacked. Jane was agreeable to nearly everything; she would claim to be interested in the same things as the others without a moment's hesitation. She carefully constructed false affability. But Bella didn't try to feign fascination in the same hobbies. She was quick to scrunch her nose or say that she didn't understand the appeal to things she didn't like, while her face lit up at the mention of those she did.

When Monday morning rolled around, Edward hid out in his room, not wanting to risk being volunteered to take Bella to class. He knew he'd have to at some point, but he wasn't ready quite yet. Throughout the morning he tried to work on one of the many projects he and Emmett had going. Jasper showed up some time later, barely awake and seeming to meditate over a hot cup of coffee. Text messages came in at random as Emmett updated him on what was happening on campus. He tensed each time he heard his phone chime, but relaxed as soon as he read that Emmett hadn't seen anybody suspicious.

When an actual call came through he knew something had changed.

"Yeah?" he said, answering the line.

Calm but serious, Emmett said, "We need you over here as soon as possible."

"Who?" he asked.

"Felix."

Without wasting time on goodbyes he ended the call, relaying the information to Jasper as they hurried out the door.

After skidding into parking spot in the nearest lot, Edward began to pick out the voices of his friends inside the building. Emmett and Rosalie were in a standoff with Felix, trying to convince him to leave. Through Alice's thoughts he watched as Bella trembled, her eyes glassy with unshed tears, her whole body radiating fear and terror.

"Aw, you guys didn't have to go out of your way to welcome me back. We could've gotten together later. I've only been in town a few hours, but the fact that you're all so eager to see me just warms my heart," Felix said the moment Edward and Jasper came into view.

Edward advanced on Felix, his fists clenching at his side.

"Not here," Jasper said under his breath as he pushed him back.

"Turn around and leave," Edward warned. "Nobody wants you here. Tell your bosses they're just wasting their time."

Felix laughed, not at all affected by Edward's bravado.

Felix's expression turned serious, his attention directed toward something beyond the group. He straightened up from where he leaned against the wall. "So, this is her?"

He took a step toward Bella but was halted when the group closed in, forming a protective wall. At the sight of Bella, Felix's mind was a treasure trove of information, and Edward picked up every bit he could. He couldn't trust the veracity of Felix's thoughts knowing how well the Volturi had trained Jane to get around his ability, but taken at face value it would seem that Bella was just as innocent as she'd claimed and had no ties to the organization.

"She isn't interested, Felix," Jasper said.

"How do you know? She has no idea what I have to say. She could change her mind, you know?"

"I can't imagine anything that you have to say would interest me, so perhaps we should all just move along."

The sound of Bella's voice surprised Edward. She sounded so sure and confident, nothing like the scared girl he'd seen through Alice's mind.

"I can only imagine the horror stories they've been scaring you with. I assure you, we can offer many remarkable opportunities that you won't find anywhere else."

Edward mentally scoffed, wanted to tell Felix they hadn't even begun to scratch the surface of Volturi horror stories. But before he could speak, Bella asked, "What can you offer me?"

His head was spinning, and a sick feeling washed over him. Already? She was cracking already? He wanted to look at each of his friends and say, "I told you so."

"We're extremely powerful. We can offer you a level of protection that is incomparable to what anyone else can. We can give you an outlet for your talent, a way to use it to help others, to achieve a level of success you never dreamed was possible."

"Just wait," Alice said, her mind pleading for Edward to hold back. "Please, it'll be okay. Let him say what he has to say and just watch."

Against his better judgment, Edward did just that. He listened as Felix laid out the benefits like an infomercial spokesman. No doubt the speech had worked countless times before.

"We are unmatched… politically, economically… If you come with us, you can have everything you want out of life."

"Everything I want out of life?" Bella asked. Her voice was soft, thoughtful. Was she actually contemplating this? Or was this rehearsed between the two of them?

"Anything you want, we can give it to you."

"I want to get my degree. I want to find a job that I go to five days a week. I want a desk with pictures of friends tacked to a corkboard and a quirky little cup to hold pens. I want an apartment or maybe a house that I have to clean, take out the trash, do my laundry…"

Edward's head jerked to the side to look at Bella. Her answer stunned him almost as much as the force behind the words.

"I want to be normal. I don't need or want anything you have to offer. It would only strip me of the things I do want."

"See?" Alice taunted.

He noticed Bella start to back away when Felix called out, "So what can you do? What's your talent?"

With a humorless laugh, Bella said, "Maybe you should've started with that question. Who knows, it may be nothing important enough to warrant this kind of attention. You might be wasting your time trying to recruit me."

"Dude, she's really freaked out. We gotta get out of here before she breaks down," Jasper's thoughts said as he gave Edward a pointed look to which he responded with a tight nod.

Alice and Bella took off down the hall making a hasty retreat, while the others blocked Felix from following.

"Listen," Emmett said. "We don't want any trouble. So how about you tell your bosses whatever it takes to convince them that you tried everything you could."

Felix chuckled. "That's not exactly how this game works, you see."

"Go," Jasper said to Edward, nodding his head in the direction that the two girls had escaped. He hesitated a moment, but after realizing that Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper had everything under control, he knew he needed to get Bella and Alice out of there and back to the house.

As soon as he stepped through the door, he saw them waiting.

"Come on."

"Took you long enough," Alice teased, but there was no time to waste so he didn't respond.

"Okay, so what did you find out? What was he thinking?" Alice asked as soon as they were in the car and on the move.

"Demetri is here with him, that's how he managed to find her so fast." Edward said.

"That's what I figured. I didn't see him, but there was no way Felix could've found her so quickly after the decision was made without Demetri tracking."

"They already know a lot about her. They figured out which apartment was hers and hacked into the complex's computer system to get basic information."

"I'm right here. You can include me in this conversation too, you know."

Bella's voice was forceful, rightfully annoyed, Edward conceded as her eyes locked on his in the rear view mirror. He sighed, gearing himself up for an actual, civil conversation with her. "After they got your information from the complex, they hacked the school for more."

"Do they really not know what I can do?" She seemed genuinely confused, and if she truly had no connection to the Volturi, Edward could understand why. After all, why go through so much effort over something they knew so little about?

"They know," he said. "They just don't know the extent of it. Demetri is the one that found you, in a sense. He can track people by their energy even though he can't tell the exact nature of their abilities—he sensed you in the area and could tell that you were powerful. From what I picked up, they yanked him out of here as soon as they realized he'd found you so they could work around Alice's visions. She knows him, we've dealt with him before, and they knew she'd see what he was up to. It would've been quicker if he stayed, but they wanted to try to keep us in the dark, so they decided to risk it with strangers who would need more time to pinpoint your location."

"Yeah, well, they got around me but not you," Alice said, her mind recalling the way Edward picked up the thoughts of the scout they'd sent to find Bella.

"Anyway, they know—think—that you're telekinetic. I'm not sure how. That didn't really cross Felix's mind back there… perhaps one of the other psychics they have working for them have picked up on it, but right now the total scope of your talent is a grey area for the Volturi. They know you're powerful from the read Demetri got on you, but they have no clue, as far as I can tell, that you're actually psychokinetic."

Alice started laughing and Edward looked over at her, a little concerned by her hysterics. "Can you imagine if Felix knew? If he had found out? He would've tried so much harder. They'll be so pissed when they find out what she actually is and that Felix just let her walk away."

At first, the images in Alice's thoughts were her own imagination thinking up random scenarios but they quickly morphed into actual visions. The clearest was of the Aro, Cauis, and Marcus locked away in one of their private chambers in the middle of a screaming match. Though the details were still a little fuzzy, from the bits of the argument that Alice's vision could clearly show, it seemed that the discovery of Bella's real talent was an unwelcome shock. They were at a loss, unsure of their next move since they had no idea the extent of her ability. All of their plans had to be scrapped after their key guards had been—or will be, as the case may be—rendered useless by Bella, and none of them—especially Aro—seemed too happy.

"Do you know when?" Edward asked.

"No," Alice said, as she tried to push her mind to go deeper into the scene it had laid out. "I'll keep checking, though. There weren't any obvious indicators in that vision."

"When what?" Bella asked as she moved closer. "What did you see?"

"If we can keep the psychokinetic thing a secret, you're going to confuse the hell out of them one day," Alice said, a mischievous grin on her lips.

"If they don't find out," Edward said, taking a short pause, "when the day comes that they take bolder action, you're going to neutralize all of the gifts they'll be relying on most. They aren't going to know what do to."

Nobody said another word, each lost in thought. As they neared the house, Edward was already second-guessing himself. The events of the day had rattled him, everything pointing at his suspicion as being unwarranted. He knew he needed time to digest things, to clear his head so he could piece it all together scientifically.

Occasional glances in the rear view mirror showed Bella staring blindly at the passing scenery, and each time he was met with the sight he would've given anything to be able to get into her head.