Author's Notes: I don't own any part of the Twilight universe but you guys knew that.
So here we are. Part 1 of the epilogue is now in the bag. I'm gonna get sappy on you guys for a minute, so just bear with me.
There are a few people that I absolutely have to thank for sticking with me throughout this journey. To the TwiTinis…ladies, I cannot thank any of you enough for all the humor, support, love and laughs that you have given me. I am so incredibly thankful for all of you. Michele, it was your idea to bring us all together and I will be in your debt for a life time for that. Crow, what can I say that would come close to being enough? Thank you for holding my hand and kicking my ass when it was needed.
I normally don't dedicate my chapters to anyone but this is going to be the exception. To my baby girl Taylor. Sweetheart, you are my light, my heart, my soul, my laugh, my imagination and the best of me all wrapped up in the package of a beautiful person. Thank you for all you are and all you give to me with your smiles and love.
Playlist:
Forsaken-David Draiman (Queen of the Damned soundtrack)
Snow White Queen-Evanescence
Excess-Tricky (Queen of the Damned soundtrack)
The Only One-Evanescence
Slept So Long- Jay Gordon (Queen of the Damned soundtrack)
Before I'm Dead-Kidney Thieves (Queen of the Damned soundtrack)
Not Meant for Me-Wayne Static
Bring Me to Life-Evanescence (live version will work best)
You guys have trusted me with the music for this long, so one last time…listen to the songs. All can be found on YouTube. This will give you a good idea of the direction that our heroes have taken their music.
See you all at the bottom.
Epilogue
JP POV
8 Years Later
London, England
"I am not naming my child Pubert Jr. and calling him PJ."
"My name is Jared Paul, not Jared Pubert…."
"Sell your bullshit to someone that buys it baby. I know your name is Jared Pubert Dewhurst and I am not naming this child PJ," my wife said with so much passion that I realized it was best to let this little argument go for the time being. I placed her right foot on the cushion and picked up the left, intent on rubbin' some of the fire out of her. If I hadn't learned anything in the last couple of months, I had learned that a foot rub for a pregnant woman would do wonders to save my ass.
She was beautiful stretched out on the couch in the hotel room. Her dark hair was piled messily up on her head and she was wearing one of Felix's sweatshirts, since she refused to actually buy maternity clothes. But was made her so fucking gorgeous was the way she seemed lit up from the inside and the huge curve of her very pregnant belly, complete with a little popped out bellybutton that stood out like a cherry on top of a sundae. I watched as I kneaded the sole of her foot as her hands rubbed circles across the wide expanse of her stomach in soothing circles, comforting the kiddo inside.
"Ouch," she gasped and her body jerked forward a bit.
"What! Babe, what is it?" I kinda screamed as I dropped her foot and crawled down the couch toward her. I probably looked pretty stupid on all fours over her outstretched legs but I couldn't have cared any less.
"It's nothing but too much curry this afternoon," she said sweetly. And then burped right in my face.
"Damn babe," I said as I tried to avoid the funky smell that hung in the air. "Don't scare your old man like that. Where's Nana Chip?"
"He's with Marcus, why?"
"I want him to…"
"Did someone call for Nana?" Chip said as he barreled in from the adjoining room.
"Yes."
"No."
"What's a matter, honey? Baby D not liking this afternoon's Indian cuisine?" I laughed as Chip gently pushed my wife's back up and slid onto the couch behind her. She leaned back against his chest and he immediately began to rub her shoulders. "Sweet pea, at seven months pregnant, you've got to watch what you eat. Little bit in there takes after you, not his garbage disposal father."
"His?" I asked startled. Heidi hadn't wanted to know what the baby was when we'd done the ultrasound thingy but Chip had called it a "he" more than once.
"Yes, his. Mama here is carrying that baby too high to be a girl."
I leaned over and kissed the very top of her belly. I didn't care what it was, so long as it was healthy. The fact that I was gonna be a daddy in just a few weeks still amazed me. Not the least of which was that Heidi hadn't said word one about not touring any more. But that was my girl.
"And if you're wrong? If it's a girl, we still going with the name…"
A ridiculously loud pounding interrupted me. All of us turned toward the door of the suite, knowing it could only be one of a few people. I kissed her little outie and then pushed myself up and off the couch. I barely had a chance to open the door before Dim and Felix charged into the room like bulls.
"Dude! You won't fucking believe...hey Mommy, how's the bambino today?" Dimitri asked as he spied Heidi stretched out on the couch, as easily distracted as ever.
"Won't believe what?" Chip said, still rubbing the kinks out of her shoulders.
"We've got something you have to hear," Felix said with a look on his face that was completely stupid considering it was being worn by a man in his late thirties. I thought he kinda looked like one of the Little Rascals as I sank back onto the couch.
"You know Felix and I went out last night, right," Dimitri began as he sat down on the coffee table right in front of us. "About 1am, we were walking around and passed by this club. Wouldn't have known it was a club at all if we hadn't heard the music when the door opened." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his pack of smokes, only to meet the hairy eyeball of both my wife and Chip. With a huff, he put them back only to withdraw his ancient cell phone in their place.
"Fucker, I'm telling you, this music was smokin'. We tried to get in but the douche bag bouncer wouldn't let us past the front door. Even when we told him who we were."
"You two did not name drop?" Heidi said, laughing her ass off.
"Well, yeah, kinda," Dimitri confessed. "But I mean nothing was getting this guy to move. So we walked around the building and just kinda…"
"Tried to find a back door," Felix added. "But there wasn't a thing. Not even a supply door. It was weird. We were thinking that the sound would be great for an opening act. It was that raw."
"So anyway, we were hanging around the back of the club and well, let me let you hear it"
He squinted at the buttons of his phone and pressed a few of them before turning it to face us. The sound quality was rank. Of course, considering the phone was almost a decade old, I guessed it couldn't be expected to be much better. Dim had refused to upgrade, saying that he preferred his. But Heidi and I had laughed that he just didn't want to try and figure out a new one. I was laughing to myself when the melody coming out of the tiny little speaker shut me right the fuck up.
There was a heavy dirty bass line with a wicked drum line over it. The effect was eerie and absolutely fantastic. There was a familiarity to the cadence of the song that made my skin break out in goose bumps. But the voice. The voice that was singing made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
"Jesus, that sounds like…"
"That's what we thought, right?"
Both of them were looking at me with identical surprised expressions, nodding their agreement. The song was nothing like anything I'd ever heard him sing before but it was undeniably similar to his odd phrasing. There was an undefined growl to the vocals but still…
"Keep listening," Dimitri said with obvious excitement.
Heidi and Chip were now both staring at the little silver phone as intently as I was. The song came to a close with a primal scream as the instruments faded away. There was obvious clapping and cheering and then another song began.
This one had a techno bluesy feel to it. Obviously, a lot of keyboards in this band, whoever the hell they were. The intro was short before a new voice began to sing in a deep sultry register.
A female voice.
A female voice that I knew.
"God damn!" I yelled as I grabbed the phone out of his hand and pulled it to my ear.
The sexy as fuck lower registry that was singing flowed effortlessly into the chorus. A killer guitar line picked up just seconds before the chorus started, adding a heavy feel to the song that hadn't been there in the first verse. And then the singer switched from that deep tone into a climbing flowing tenor that made tears spring to my eyes.
You belong to me
My Snow White Queen
There's no where to run
So let's just get it over
Soon, I know you'll see
You're just like me
Don't scream anymore, my love
'Cause all I want is you
"Sweet mother of God," Chip said, tears dripping down his face too.
"Oh shit," Heidi whispered, her hand covering her mouth.
I could only utter one word as I stared a hole into the piece of plastic in my hand.
"Bella."
The streets of London were still crowded even at almost midnight as we rode silently toward the club. None of us spoke, all lost in the apprehension and excitement of the night. Felix and Dimitri were more relaxed than either Chip or me but the bouncing leg and the continued knuckle cracking gave away their anticipation. As the cars zoomed past us, I looked down at my left wrist.
I'd worn the crest Edward had given me the entire first year after their "deaths". It made me feel connected to them both. We had all needed that connection after she was gone. It was the same reason that we'd placed an empty piano on the stage for every show that first year. No one ever played it and we always had a single white spot shining down on it as a silent homage to our missing members.
Jane had stepped up to the plate and taken over lead vocals immediately. Her range was incredible and she had her own, albeit very different, stage presence. She had done a brilliant job but there were some songs we never played. "My Immortal" and "Bring Me to Life" were her songs and no matter what we did, it never felt right playing them without her. After that first year, our sound began to change pretty dramatically. We were still EverClear but it was a different band now. It had to be.
It was nearly two years after that cold December day before we'd heard from them again. An email wishing us all a merry Christmas and congratulations had shown up on the same day that I'd married Heidi. How they'd known we were doing it that day, I didn't know or care. The fact was that she had made the day as perfect as it could be without them in attendance.
Had they not been sure of the location, nothing on the outside of the nondescript building would have told me it was a club of any type. The cold air slapped me from my memories as we filed out and onto the small sidewalk, all of us fidgeting nervously.
"How do you propose we get in?" Dim asked as he stared at the thick steel door.
"I kinda have an idea," I said as I wrenched the door open.
The inside lobby was nearly pitch black. The only light came from a handful of candles that were scattered around the room. There was another heavy door directly opposite the entrance. The room was bare, except for a large table in the center and two enormous men sitting behind it, that were now glaring at us. Both of them were clearly vampires and clearly not pleased to see the four of us standing in the room.
"Can I help you gentlemen?" the man on the right sneered. His dark skin and long dreadlocks did little to ease the obvious dislike he had for us.
I shoved the sleeve of my left arm up obviously, intent on showing him the crest on my wrist, when the door behind him flew open with a loud bang.
"Laurent! Quit being an ass and let them in."
With a squeal that sounded like kids playin', Alice came barreling around the table and threw herself into Chip's outstretched arms. The three of us watched them jump up and down while they hugged, smiles all around. The guys at the table both looked properly chastised as they watched the exchange and quickly moved to open the door for us.
"I'm sorry Ms. Whitlock; I didn't realize they were your guests."
"Whitlock?" Chip asked as he pulled back to look at the little pixie. She looked exactly the fucking same as she always had, tiny and ready to burst at the seams. But her smile was blinding as she looked at us.
"For a couple of years now. We had to make some adjustments for a while. God, they are going to die! I didn't tell them you were coming," she said as she leaned in to kiss my cheek, Chip never releasing her. "Come on guys, they're about to start," she said, grabbing Chip's hand and dragging him behind her toward the thick door.
The room beyond the entryway was enormous. There were probably a thousand people packed into the space, all gathered around tables that were scattered about. And from the first cursory glance, they all seemed to be vampires. But what actually had my attention was the stage at the rear of the room. The set up of the instruments was nearly identical to what we'd always used. Dead center was a piano. I stared at the shiny black instrument and felt my heart fucking swell.
"This way guys," Alice chirped over her shoulder as she pulled Chip along in her wake, weaving in and out of the multitude of tables that covered the floor.
We were a little more than half way across the room when I spotted them.
"I'll be damned!" Emmett yelled as he stood from his chair and grinned madly. The volume in his voice made the rest of the heads at the table swivel in our direction.
They were all there, nestled together at a table on the front right, directly in front of the stage. Esme and Carlisle, Rosalie and Jasper all called out their own surprise and obvious joy at seeing us as we neared the table.
We were all passed around the group in a blur of handshakes and hugs, no one giving a shit that we were making a scene in the middle of the nightclub. Esme and Rose kissed us all, Jasper hugged me until I thought he would crack a fuckin' rib and Carlisle pulled me into a chair beside them that magically appeared out of nowhere, as he shook Chip's hand.
"Oh God, you look so good without the dreadlocks," Esme said as she ran her hands through my shoulder length hair. "How have you been, honey?"
It felt like no time at all had passed since the last time I'd been surrounded by them. The conversation flowed easily, everyone wanting to hear how we'd all been doing. Rose and Esme shrieked when I told them about the baby while Alice looked on smugly.
"I don't want to know, Alice," I warned her, knowing that her tiny head held the answer to the sex of the baby. Chip slapped my arm harshly with a huff but didn't ask her the question.
"How is she?" I asked everyone and no one at the same time.
"Good, now. Honestly though, she was a fucking nightmare the first year," Rose said with a laugh. "How many times was it she whipped Edward's ass? Four?" She looked around the room and I nearly fell out of my chair as they nodded and laughed to themselves.
"She got me and Edward that one time, remember?" Emmett chuckled as my eyes bugged out of my head.
"Yeah, but that was your own fault. We told you two not to sneak up on a newborn while they were feeding. But no….you two thought you'd be slick."
"Wait," I interrupted. "Bella, the same Bella that tripped a hundred thousand times, took them both out?" I asked, trying and failing to visualize it.
"Yep," Jasper cackled. "Took me and you," he pointed to Alice, "and Carlisle to calm her down." He looked at our apparently scared looking faces and smiled wickedly. "Its not unusual, guys. Newborns have very little control over their emotions and instincts. Bells did better than most, certainly better than I did. But you can't do stupid shit like sneak up on one while she was feeding and expect her not to go all gothic. Which, she did, all over both of them." He was all out belly laughing by the time he finished.
"Bella has always been passionate," Esme joined in. "I don't know why anyone thought she wouldn't be once she was changed. But Edward found a way to help soothe her when she gets worked up."
"How?" Chip asked, his hand threaded through Mama Cullen's.
"He plays to her. After the first couple of times, she started singing with him. We came home from a hunt one night to find them in the floor beside the fireplace, him playing the guitar and her singing. EverClear songs." Her eyes were soft as she muttered the last part in my direction.
"Yeah, we have some gorgeous recordings of the two of them," Carlisle volunteered. "That's actually how this," he nodded to the stage, "got started. She missed it and Edward, being Edward…"
"Will give her anything she wants," Dimitri finished, much to the amusement of the table.
"What has changed," Jasper said looking over his shoulder toward the stage "is what the songs are about."
"How do you mean?" Felix asked as a very tall dark skinned female vampire eyed him from the table next to us.
No one answered him because at the same moment the lights in the room went out completely. Total darkness fell over the entire room for a few seconds before a small spotlight illuminated Laurent in the middle of the stage. It was an odd sensation to realize that the only people in the room who actually needed the spotlight to see him were the guys and me.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. Just a brief announcement before we begin," his thick accented voice called out over the room. "As you all know, we have some very special…guests with us tonight." I felt all eyes in the room shift towards our table and shivered when I realized that it wasn't our status as EverClear that made us special but as humans. "Please show them your most civil courtesy."
"Translation," Emmett said as he stood up and faced the crowd. "They are not lunch, they're with us."
A round of chuckles broke out across the room as the tension relaxed in the wake of Emmett's declaration. While he'd delivered it with a smile on his face, it was abundantly clear, at least to me, that he was seriously telling some of the vampires in the room to leave us alone. I could have kissed him in that second.
"Without further ado," Laurent smoothly continued. "I give you EverMore."
The volume level of the crowd was extraordinary as the room went black again. The Cullen's were all on their feet clapping as an eerie note pierced the noise. Almost immediately a wicked bass line and drum accompaniment started up and a blue back light shone across the stage, illuminating the figures now standing there. I was absolutely dumbstruck as I tried to squint my eyes enough to make out who was on the stage. As I concentrated on that, a keyboard joined the mix. The effect was spooky as fuck and absolutely perfect.
I glanced over at Felix and Dimitri, who were both staring at the stage as if the secret to life was up there. Dim noticed me looking at him and grinned like a maniac.
"This is the song from last night," he said as he pointed toward the stage.
A tall figure with a low strung bass at his hips walked out of the shadows and toward the center mic. I knew instantly who it would be even before he stepped into the harsh white spotlight. The screams of the crowd grew exponentially as he approached, the females in the club especially going ballistic. The long fingers, the lanky strut as he moved… it could only be Edward.
I damn near fell out of my chair when I finally saw him. He took his place at the front of the stage with a cocky arrogant sneer that impressed the shit out of me. Tight as crap black leather pants and a black turtleneck shirt that looked damn near painted on against his pale skin gave him the perfect look at he played the hell out of the bass. His hair even looked longer, stupid as it seemed.
I'm over it
You see I'm falling in a vast abyss
Clouded my memories of the past
At last, I see
"Holy shit," Dimitri and I both said at the same time. His voice was unmistakable but rawer than I'd ever heard. He almost growled as he sang, much to the delight of the fangirls that had gathered in front of the stage. I was so distracted by the shift in his voice that it took a second for two things to register. Number one, Bella was not on stage and number two, Edward was playing the bass.
"When did he start playing?" I asked the table in general, shouting above the crowd's roar.
"Couple of years back, after he and Bella really started to work on this little project," Carlisle said as he leaned in close enough for me to hear.
The boy was playing the hell out of the guitar. I was thoroughly impressed with the dirty edge he was playing, not to mention that he was openly flirting with the women at his feet. I sat back in the seat, grinning at how different he seemed. The only way that tight-assed old fashioned Eddie would be sounding and behaving this way was if Bella had brought it out of him. I couldn't fucking wait to see what she would bring to the stage. I was pulled out of my own head when Edward began the chorus of the song and the place nearly exploded with the crowd's reaction.
You see I cannot be forsaken
Because I'm not the only one
We walk amongst you
Feeding, raping
But we hide from everyone
"Jesus," Felix whispered from beside me. "They're singing about being fucking vampires."
He was right. There was no mistaking that he was singing about being immortal. It was amazing and fascinating to watch. The song drove toward its climax in a furor of bass and primal screams. Even if I had not been a musician, even if I had not known Edward years ago, I would never have been able to pull my eyes away from the stage. He was fucking electrifying to watch.
We'd played for a hundred thousand people many times but never had we reached the intensity of the crowd I was surrounded by. They were all but fawning over the band and it was only a single piece into the set. The song came to a screeching scorching end complete with a guttural wail from Edward that was nearly frightening and the applause of the crowd was bordering on deafening.
The crowd roared and so did we. I could hardly contain myself as I screamed at the top of my lungs. Even Chip, who generally refused to do more than a polite clap for anyone, was wrapped arm in arm with Alice and jumping up and down. Edward looked around the room with an easy smile on his face, taking in the reaction from the adoring crowd below him. It seemed almost like slow motion as he turned his head toward the table that he knew his family waited at.
The moment his eyes caught mine, his smile grew even wider. His right hand shot out, finger extended in greeting and he laughed. From beside me, Dimitri stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled at top volume. Looking up at him, it was, again, as if no time had passed. The familiarity with the man on stage was as easy as if I'd seen him yesterday and not eight years ago.
With no pause in the set, the next song began with an eerie organ and the lights in the room all went down again. The intro was a strange cadence that fuckin' rang of Bella. After just a few seconds, the deep husky voice rang out from the back of the crowd. Every head in the room whipped around and landed on the single white light and the figure that stood in its glare.
"Good God!" Felix shouted, much to the delight of the Cullens.
Standing on a balcony that I hadn't even noticed until then was none other than my bitch. She looked exactly the same, only…better. She'd cut the ass length hair so that it now fell to just an inch or so from her waist. The bangin' bod that I'd watched night after night for so long was even hotter now, her curves more defined and her sex appeal exponentially magnified. And apparently, Chip wasn't the only one who liked her in tight short things on stage.
The dark blue leather dress was sleeveless with a high neck. But there was a large cutout on her chest that showed her collarbones and the top of a set of tatas that damn near made my mouth water. It was so tight, it almost looked like second skin and the bottom of the dress was shorter than if she'd just been wearing those sexy little boy short panty things. Her legs had always been rockin' but she towered on the edge of the balcony in the highest heel I'd ever seen her wear.
I glanced back over my shoulder to find Edward, standing on stage literally licking his lips. The dude looked like he was going to eat her alive at any second. I laughed at his obvious raging hormones and then turned back to Bells just as she started to sing.
Stoplight
Lock the door
Don't look back
Undress in the dark
And hide from you
All of you
You'll never know the way your words have haunted
I can't believe
You ask these things of me
She was singing in a range that was deeper than I'd ever heard her before. It shouldn't have surprised me though. Edward always had liked that range and for a song that they had written together, it was natural that he would have convinced her to start out so low. I watched absolutely transfixed as she slinked her way around the balcony, every person in the room, male and female, all but drooling as they watched her. With perfect timing, she descended a set of stairs right beside our table that led to the stage. As she crossed the platform, I got a good look at the back of her dress. The entire thing laced up from the top of the neck to the very bottom of the hem. Only the lacing was not pulled all the way together. Most of her back was exposed to the very edge of her ass, which swayed hypnotically with every step she took.
And there at the very base of her spine was her tattoo.
"Fuckin' A," I said as I turned to Carlisle, who looked like a proud papa as he watched the two of them. "How did her tat survive, Daddy C?" I screamed over the music to him, forgetting that it probably wasn't necessary.
"It was fully healed when she changed," he said, craning his neck and leaning in close to me. "It's only physical traits that are damaged or ill that are repaired. She'll have that mark for eternity," he finished with a smile. Just as he finished, she wheeled on the crowd and grabbed the mic.
You belong to me
My Snow White Queen
There's no where to run
So let's just get it over
Soon, I know you'll see
You're just like me
Don't scream anymore
My love
Cause all I want is you
"Holy crap!" I said to no one in particular as I let the words sink in. Her change. The song was written by Edward about her change. It was as clear as if he'd told me himself once I put it all together. Besides the obvious, I know understood the reasoning behind not letting anyone into this club to hear the fucktastic music. Bella had always written about her life, her emotions and her experiences. But combined with Edward and what their life was now, those experiences were not the sort of thing that they would ever want to share with the world.
As my bitch sang the next verse, I looked over at Chip to find him crying and laughing at the same time. I knew that of all of us, he'd missed Bella the most. She had kept in touch with him and I knew that he and Alice got together from time to time but it wasn't the same as having her near him on a daily basis. He loved her to this day as if she was his own and I was positive that she loved him every bit as much now as she always had. It was really almost comical to see him with his arm around Alice and Mama Cullen holding his hand as he watched something that none of us had thought we would ever see again.
The song continued and the notes climbed higher and higher. She had more control now than she had in the best of our performances. It was amazing to watch her from the audience vantage point. Her every move, every note was perfect. There was absolutely nothing about the entire performance that even the most hardened critic could have complained about. She was beautiful and sexy and talented beyond imagination. I sat back down in my seat as she hammered the song's ending and just relished in the surreal feel of the whole damn night.
The third song of the night was a kickin' mix of blues and metal and techno that no one else performing could have pulled off. It was a duet, sort of, with Edward more speaking the lines than really singing them and Bella holding to a single range of notes. But the best part of the song was that she was playing. The huge polished instrument stood out under the lighting rigs like a beacon when I'd first walked into the room. But seeing her sitting there, back straight as a rod and pounding the keys was dream-like. I'd seen her play thousands of times but it had never felt as moving or as powerful as it did in that moment.
I glanced around the stage at the other musicians. There was a male guitarist that looked very young and a female behind the keyboard setup that was smaller even than Alice. The drummer was just down right scary looking behind the enormous rig with his glowing eyes and jet black hair. I looked over at Jasper, only to find him staring at me intently, his eyebrow cocked up.
"A lot to take in, isn't it?" he asked knowingly.
I just nodded at him, trying to watch the show and talk to him at the same time.
"That's Peter on guitar and his wife Charlotte behind the keyboard. Friends of mine. I introduced them to Bella several years back. Edward has, of course, known them for a while but it wasn't until Bella met them that it really clicked. That's Garrett on the drums. A strange guy but not bad. And very talented. He has to be. You wouldn't believe what a slave driver she can be when they rehearse," he finished with a smile in her direction. It was obvious that as close as they had been so many years ago, they were much more so now. I still couldn't think of him wrapped in a blanket and singing "Sweet Transvestite" without cracking up. Or without missing her.
As Jasper finished his explanation, and quite frankly his creepy as hell assessment of my flying moods, the song finished and she started another one. The beat of this one was slow and erotic but heavy nonetheless. A heavy piano gave the feeling of the song a somewhat somber feel to it. When she started the first verse, it was again in that same low register. I was not the only one that found it humorous that all of the new songs seemed to be musical hard ons for Edward, getting a glimpse out of the corner of my eye at Felix as his monster shoulders shook
When she hit the chorus, she switched up an octave without so much as batting an eye and stalked away from the piano. She grabbed the mic as if it had done some horrible disservice to her and sang her fucking ass off. The words were full of bleak images and emotions but I couldn't put my finger on what she was singing about until she hit the bridge of the song.
Don't look down
Don't look into the eyes of the world beneath you
Don't look down
You'll fall down
You'll become the sacrifice
Right or wrong
Can't hold on to the fear
That I'm lost without you
If I can't feel
You're not mine
I'm not real
Edward. It always came back to Edward with my girl. Even now, immortal and bound to him in a way that I couldn't even begin to imagine, she still worried about losing him somehow. She had always poured her love for the man beside her onstage into her songs and it made me feel oddly comforted to know that at least some things never changed. I looked over at him, his eyes fixed on her as she sang. There were emotions in her lyrics that I couldn't begin to understand. I loved Heidi more than anything in the world, loved my child in her belly more than my own life. But the bond between them was almost like a life line. While I wouldn't want to exist without Heidi, they couldn't exist without the other. It was beautiful and heartbreaking to watch in its expression upon the stage. God help them if anything ever happened to the other.
I looked up at Edward as she brought the song to a close. He had that same expression etched upon his face as he watched her every move. He looked almost ravenous to touch her. It was a little odd to see him so unrestrained in his blatant desire for her. It had always been painfully obvious how much he loved her but looking at the vampire not hiding behind his human face was startling. It was raw. Feral. Animalistic. And really made me want to go back to the hotel and attack my wife.
"Watch this shit," Emmett barked out, pulling me away from my fantasy about Heidi.
The drummer started playing a nasty beat and the predatory gleam in Edward's eye got even more pronounced, hard as it was to believe. He slowly walked up behind Bella and wrapped one arm around her waist. He took her right hand in his as she looked over her shoulder coyly at him. With very deliberate slowness, he backed them both up, never breaking eye contact with her until he was right beside the piano. He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it but it was almost pornographic to watch. She stepped around him, now matching the hungry look in his eye and sank down onto the hard piano bench.
The notes were simple but added a layer to the song that made it almost evil sounding. She looked down at the keys while he obviously stared at her playing. From our vantage point, it wasn't hard to make out the tell-tale sign of his…arousal. Not that I was looking. But damn, it was hard to miss as he leaned over her like he was gonna fuckin' chomp on her at any minute. Just as the keyboard signaled a change in the direction of the song, he grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked it back roughly. He leaned all the way over her until they were face to face. My jaw dropped as he then proceeded to lick all the way across her mouth. Even from the distance, it was easy to see that she was shakin' as he released her head and stepped toward the front of the stage.
"The first time he did that, they had to stop the show because she attacked him," Emmett laughed. Looking at my girl's face, it wasn't difficult to understand that the "attack" Em was referring to wasn't the same kind as he'd meant when he told me about her feeding.
The song was gritty and dirty. A hard edged bass line gave Edward the perfect vehicle in which to showcase his new found stage persona. Every time he'd been on stage with us, the crowd had gone nuts. But had he had this kind of persona at the time, he'd have caused a friggin' riot every time he took the stage. When he stepped in front of the mic, the chicks that had gathered again at the edge of the stage all but lactated on the dude's boots as he swiveled and gyrated his hips.
Walking
Waiting
Alone without a care
Hoping
Hating
For things that I can't bear
Did you think it's cool
To walk right up
To take my life
And fuck it up
Well did you, did you
"Oh my God!" Dimitri laughed as we watched the show. "I cannot believe that is Edward."
"That is not the man that I met that first night in Atlanta," Chip howled as he clung to Ali and the oh so delectable Rosalie.
The chorus of the song got even heavier and grungier, much to the delight of the crowd. As awesome as the music was, it was again the lyrics that floored me. I had heard the story of how they met only once many years ago. But there was no doubt in my mind, or anyone in the club's, that was exactly what the song was about as he sang the chorus of the song.
I see hell in your eyes
Taken in by surprise
Touching you makes me feel alive
Touching you makes me die inside
The response from the crowd was unbelievable. They ate the shit up and were begging for more. The next verse was very much the same. Edward played the bass like he'd been doin' it forever. He openly flirted with the females in the crowd and I was reminded of my words to Bitch in Atlanta all those years ago. Every single person watching the show either wanted to be him or wanted to fuck him. Only they were much more obvious about it than any of our crowds had ever been.
As the song moved towards the bridge, Edward crouched down at the very edge of the stage and sang the words into the glowing eyes of the females gathered there. I looked up at Bella, expecting to see some sign of jealousy. I laughed, loudly, when I saw her though. Her eyes were fixed on him, or more precisely his ass, and the look on her face was pure unadulterated lust. She looked about ready to fuck him right there on the stage, not that the thought was unpleasant.
I've slept so long without you
It's tearing me apart too
How to get this far
Playing games with this old heart
I cut my eyes toward Alice and Chip, who were both openly laughing as they watched the two of them in their little cat and mouse game on stage. Chip looked like he was about to burst with pride as he watched them. Edward stood very suddenly and turned his back to the crowd. He slinked towards my girl, eyes locked with her.
I've killed a million petty souls
But I couldn't kill you
I've slept so long without you
He held the last note until the song's chorus resumed. It was odd to see Bella singing strictly backup but the effect was fantastic. They sang back and forth to each other for the remainder of the song, never once looking anywhere but at each other. The fawning women on the front row never lost their enthusiasm but it was clear to everyone in the room that they were playing for each other alone.
When the song came to a close, the crowd erupted into screams. Edward faced the crowd and gave them this little shit eating grin, like he didn't know that half the room had creamed themselves watching him. They continued on with two more songs, one by Bella that was all but an S&M performance with the way she swiveled her hips around and teased her man and then one down right scary song that Edward took the helm for. The sound of the band was so different but so similar at the same time.
When they finished the last song, I was ready for the set to wrap up so that I could talk to my girl. I was fuckin' bouncin' in my seat to see her. It was obvious that Dimitri and Felix and especially Chip were thinking the same thing. But as usual, my bitch surprised me.
"You guys like the show?" she called out, her voice now carrying a timber to it that reminded me of Alice. It was still Bella but more…beautiful. The crowd screamed their approval of the show and she smiled indulgently at them. She rose from the bench at the piano and walked toward the front of the stage. I was a little shocked to see Edward set his guitar on the stand and take her place in front of the keys.
"We have some special guests here tonight," she crooned to the crowd in a voice that dripped with sex. But the thing that had me fuckin' spellbound was that for the first time all night, Bella was staring straight at us. Edward was playing very softly behind her. My girl smiled a million watt grin at me and crooked her finger toward the three of us at the table.
"Does she mean…" Dimitri trailed off.
"Yeah, I think she does," I said as I bolted out of my chair and climbed toward the stage.
Just as I made it to the edge of the stage, the opening bars of "Bring Me to Life" flowed out of the piano. The crowd nearly took the walls down with their screams and whistles. I pulled myself up and stood face to face with my Bitch. She was more beautiful than I thought was even possible. And her smile was enough to melt me. All the peace and happiness and love I'd ever wanted for her was there shining in her gold eyes. I leaned forward and kissed her cheek just as Dimitri hugged her from the opposite side.
It was just like always. There was no need to talk about it. No need to discuss anything. We all took our places on the stage to the nearly devastating roar of the crowd. As I slung the bass strap over my shoulder, I looked out to see Alice holding a video camera up.
I took a deep breath and let the joy of the moment wash over me. We were doing what none of us had ever thought we would be able to do again. For one brief moment, one night, we were playing with Bella. I hit the first note and smiled like a fool as her voice rang through the room.
EverClear was reunited.