Karma's A Witch

'He's been experimenting with the reservations supply of homemade alcohol.'

Chapter Thirty-Five

12:01 am, Sunday

November 16th

Rose was still out cold. She had her blanket tucked around her and Emmett was stretching out her limbs like you have to do with coma patients. I felt like crap watching him take care of her but I knew if I offered Emmett wouldn't like it. He'd go along with it but just like when Edward took care of me when I was sick, some things are nice to do on your own. A bond thing...?

Of course, I was the one that knocked Rose out so this is a bit different. I should do something. Taking her to the hospital is out of the question. For one, mages reacted differently to medication and two, Rose was knocked out magically somehow and no human medication can fix that. Third, Carlisle is a doctor, so why would we bring her to one that didn't know what was going on, or couldn't know what was going on?

No one blamed me, I could tell. If anything, Esme was encouraging me to try again and told me every time I voiced my opinion on the matter that Rose will want me to attempt again too. Carlisle wasn't keen on the idea but I knew it was something he'd have to enforce on Rose and... well she's Rose so I didn't think she'd follow any rule that restricted her saving her child. She would do it behind his back, I knew that but if Carlisle is watching for it, it would be hard to do. Her child is precious to her, she's tough to even want it. She is going to be a kick-ass mother, as I wouldn't be doing this if the roles were reversed... I didn't think I would anyway... I respect a woman's choice though and this is the decision she's made.

"Really Bella?" Emmett asks, bending Rose's leg up toward her chest with the blanket covering all her naughty bits. She is clothed but seeing her at his mercy is a bit strange. "You see him for three minutes and you're already foaming at the-" Edward's hiss snaps Emmett's focus off me and toward my vampire. "Really man? Cool the jets; you know I'm just getting your witchling all riled up. No harm, no foul." He muttered something under his breath but I bite my lip before I remembered not to do that, to stop myself from asking Emmett what he mumbled.

'You know Emmett is just being Emmett.' I tell Edward, unsure if I should even say anything to him. I mean, is it so bad that Edward's being protective? I sip my milkshake and Edward dips down to kiss the top of my head before joining Jasper who is leaning against the wall beside the third portal on the right. Did he just treat me like a child? We were about seventy years apart, but regardless!

My shoulders drop as I join Esme and Alice at the table closer to Rose. Emmett shifts Rose to lay on her side, careful she doesn't get bed sores and Carlisle is hooking up a monitor of some kind for the unborn child. He was muttering to Emmett and he was responding when Carlisle paused in his long speech. Have I mentioned elves loved to talk? Alice right now was talking to her mother about a new look she was trying, something about long sweaters with loop scarves and leggings.

Alice may seem like she's in her own little world, one where all she cares about is outfits and things of the like but, this was her way of coping. She's taken it the hardest. Her parents have kept many secrets from her over the years and to her, well that's tantamount to not trusting her, not including her. Alice is sensitive. When Rose calls her names, she takes it personally. When she doesn't see something coming in her dreams, she feels inadequate. So to Alice, talking about clothes distracts her long enough to come to terms with how she feels about certain things. Since I've started helping Rose, if you call knocking her out for days at a time, helping... we haven't been talking as much either. I'm sure that doesn't help. Jasper is around but since he refuses to be close to her, it just reminds her that she can't have what she wants in that way either.

My poor little cousin needed to fill the silence or she'd be overcome with unwanted thoughts. She's confided so much in me.

"You know, maybe all of it is your look, Alice," I tell her as both Esme and Alice look at me with furrowed brows. "Maybe you just like keeping up with the latest fashion trends. Your look could just be... well... posh." It sounded silly outside of my head.

"She could be right; maybe your style is just looking the best." Esme agrees with me. "You love reading about it in your magazines, seeing what others are wearing so it makes sense." Alice's popped open mouth closes for a second before she squeals, her feet tapping the ground in quick succession with her arms flailing above her before she's out of her chair and attached to me around the shoulders.

"You know me so well!" Alice squeals rocking me from side to side. "I'm so glad you're around, I just can't imagine life without you Bella!" Once she calms down and I'm able to get back to my milkshake she's up and talking with renewed enthusiasm. At least I'm able to help someone, I think, as I look over at Rose getting her arm bent over her head by Emmett's gentle hands.

I would have responded to some things Alice was rambling on about but Alice never gave me the chance. Esme gives me a sympathetic look and I wonder for a moment how she does it. She had Carlisle always rambling and then Alice always rambling. When did Esme ever get a word in? I gave her the same sympathetic look back and she laughs, seemingly figuring out what I was thinking. She pats my hand and I take another drink from my milkshake cup.

I look over at Edward and I'm grateful he's distracted, speaking quietly to Jasper in short answers. They almost had their own language, Jasper talking to him in his head, asking him questions only Edward could hear and giving him answers no one else could put together to understand. He is tall, extremely still but with the slight breeze from the blowing fan, his bronze hair fluttered.

His jeans were low slung, his cotton t-shirt un-tucked and wrinkled. He looked his age, or well the age he was turned into a vampire. Esme had bought him some new things, she'd tucked them away in the bottom half of my dresser that's now officially Edward's half. He had money, he'd given her a lot but there was little she could do or say about it. She tried to protest accepting it all but Edward was adamant that if anything happened to him, that I get the rest of it. Esme agreed to put it in an account for me, which Edward eventually caved to. Edward wanted to pay her back but ended up just putting the money in a bank somewhere. He had identification now, or rather, again. He had his own 'fraudulent papers making' person, apparently different from Carlisle and Esme's person. His name is officially Edward Anthony Masen the fifth or something. He was born with that name, he just became he his own son again, is all.

The muscles in his back are covered but his shoulders can be seen since the shirt is stretched tight there. He had broad shoulders for someone so lean. I have felt the skin on his back and some on his chest. While he'd been... sexually torturing me, which of course made me react physically to just the thought, I had been given a free view of his pale, muscled chest. If only I'd been thinking clearly enough to get him to lose the pants too.

My vampire is attractive. He's protected me over and over when letting me die would have been easier for him. Even now, making me promise not to go out in the dark, although possibly excessive, his intentions toward me were becoming clearer. My vampire is from another time, what he does and says meant something different back then. He wiki'd how to date or something like that just to see what I would expect in today's times. Not that I had any expectations. I have no idea how to date.

Edward is rooting himself in my heart and it was something I'd never felt before. I mean, I loved Angela, Josh, Isaac, Alice, Esme, Charlie... but this was different. I've claimed for so long that my heart is my own but soon I think I will be unable to make that claim honestly. I wanted to ask Esme when she knew she loved Carlisle but figured Edward would know immediately when he heard her thoughts.

I'd been so intensely studying Edward's body I hadn't noticed he was looking right back at me. He is so lean, in his human years, before he was changed he must have been a runner, or constantly on his feet. I flushed when I realized my vampire was silently watching me back, I turned away to think my thoughts without him as a distraction.

"You have something to share, Edward?" Carlisle asked, standing behind Esme, which I hadn't noticed since my vampire distracted me so. I flushed brighter. Emmett came forward, sitting in the seat across from me and winked, I'm sure just to piss my vampire off again. I rolled my eyes and smiled softly. He always knew how to make everyone feel better, except when he blatantly addresses the elephants in the room. Whether it be sex, love, being asked on dates three times in one day, whatever it is, Emmett knows how to make it funny. It was only annoying some times.

No, it was annoying all the time.

Jasper and Edward stayed against the wall so to accommodate them we all turn to them. I keep my eyes averted, looking at the tops of Edward's feet. He didn't like nor need shoes. His vampire skin is super resistant. Even his feet were pretty. They were long and smooth with his bones curving in just the right way. Why did he have to be so... devastatingly dazzling? I forced our souls to meet, I forced Edward to drink from me, to be closer to me and the only thing I can say I've done for his is giving him the sun. I hadn't even done it consciously either! How could he honestly think he hadn't done enough to feel right taking my virginity?

He has been with others before, other vampires probably but it might have been while he was human. I didn't know, but if all vampires were as pretty as Jasper and Edward, then having me offer myself to him must not be much. He's had gorgeous vampire women who can take rough fucking and then there's me, virginal 'wee' thing. When he speaks in my head sometimes it sounds like he's holding back his laughter. Is that because of me, as in, more than just something I said?

I'm punishing my lips, gnawing on the thin flesh and wringing my hands before I pull my gaze away from his feet. I feel inadequate, small and useless. My throat tightens but I refuse to lose touch and start crying over something I don't know for sure. I shouldn't just jump to conclusions, just because Edward doesn't want my virginity... well I don't think he lied he could have just been protecting my feelings.

Shit, there I go again.

"Yes, we do. It seems we have a bit of an issue." Jasper spoke, I expected it to be Edward that addressed the room and against my better judgment I look up to see if I can figure out why. My vampire is staring at me intently, his eyes clear and golden as they've ever been. What is he thinking? Jasper continues. "Edward's siblings, our past companions, James, Victoria, and Laurent are... concerned." My brow furrows and I look away from Edward so I can focus on what Jasper was saying.

Wait! Jasper can read my emotions and Edward can read his thoughts. Did he just... well Edward must have followed me down my emotional little journey through Jasper! I flushed brighter watching my hands as a heavy wave of shame overcomes me. I should have controlled myself around Jasper; I should have remembered something as important as Jasper's gift! Oh, my goddess! Did he feel my confusion on whether I loved him? I mean, he could probably feel the confusion but I hadn't felt love... right? I was just wondering about it, that's all. Jasper's voice snapped me out of my head again.

"They are under the impression that Edward has been bewitched by Bella." The air in my lungs felt as if it escaped all at once. So he wasn't over-exaggerating the danger, I shouldn't go out in the night time without my vampire. "Edward and his siblings had a rough start so they take care of each other... or, in this case, they think they are protecting Edward." No one asks for Jasper or Edward to explain Edward's 'rough start'.

"Can't they just... well, meet us? They will figure out for themselves that we mean no harm that way." Esme asks, reaching over to grip the hands in my lap. She pulls them apart absentmindedly. I was gripping rather tightly and my knuckles thanked Esme silently.

"We might not have a choice." Edward's voice sounded strained and angry. He's in a mood, one that our sexcapades hadn't made better. "I think we'll be seeing them some night in the next week. No decision was made in my presence so they can take us by surprise. I imagine they will monitor us for a few days so act normal, natural."

"I can't leave Rose. You'll have to run the perimeter without me until I know my Rosie can take care of herself again." Guilt flooded my senses and I punished my bottom lip for it. Everything they were talking about, it all leads back to me. I'm at fault here. I trapped Edward to me, I knocked Rose out.

When would I stop fucking everything up?

11:47 am, Sunday

November 16th

We were told to meet on neutral ground. Edward isn't welcome on the reservation for obvious reasons so having a meeting place is for the best. Shifters killed vampires, since, as a rule, vampires are evil. They suck the life out of their victims, even Edward and Jasper had their... uh, bloody pasts. All's forgiven though. Anyone can change if they put their mind to it. Alice and I's vampire definitely put their minds to it.

Edward and I were walking toward the beach. Alice bundled me up before I left, giving me a hat that had floppy sides that protected my ears from the chill. Edward called me cute all wrapped up. Which made all the trouble Alice went to worth it. Plus, it was cold out here! Especially by the ocean which is where Bree picked our picnic location. I wanted to stay warm so I could hang out with my family as long as I could. I missed them.

Both of us were silent walking toward the beach. Me, because I felt a little dissed finding out about Edward's problem at the same time as everyone else. He had told me before about his siblings but why would wanting to meet me be so different that he couldn't say it to me? I suppose when he first returned he could have been about to tell me. I had distracted him thoroughly... but we had plenty of time after that and with our mind speak there is no excuse not to speak to me because we could literally speak at any time from any distance.

Since I was introducing Edward to my father, I wanted to clear the air before we picnicked together. Someone might notice our not so friendly atmosphere. Although, Edward isn't ever friendly anyways. It would make me feel better if we were on better terms before we're in the midst of the Swans. I stopped our walking, looking up at the side of Edward's face for a second before he turned to meet my eyes. They were burning gold and I wish he had less power over me. My heart rate picked up, I grew slick and butterflies bloomed in my stomach. He dazzled me. I almost forgot what my mission here was. Clear the air!

I took a deep breath, smelling his sweetness among the chilled scent of earth and decaying leaves. The smell of fall and Edward. Perfect. My vampire waited for me, watching my lips for a noticeable period of time. Usually, he was too quick for me to see it and I was grateful he was distracted long enough for me to see where his gaze paused. Our kiss on the balcony had been amazing, but I wouldn't do it again because he'd run right after.

'You know I cherish you.' Edward says, taking the conversation away from me. 'Trust me.' I bit my lip, wishing I wasn't so transparent but with a vampire, everything was noticed even if you think it wasn't. Okay, well then I'd trust him, because what choice did I have?

It's not like Edward has ever put me in harm's way... Besides when we first meet behind the library, and our second meeting when Emmett shifted, and our third when he held me high in a tree... Well, whatever!

'I trust you.' I say before he pulls me in the right direction again. He had super smelling so he took the lead. The others must already be there since I'd been leading us a little more to the left. Still, I meant what I said. Edward's shoulders were tense, his grip on my hand is purposefully loose and I contemplate if he's nervous about this. Is impressing my father important to him? I grinned, squeezing his loose hand and stepping up beside him.

"I can smell you!" A voice called out in front of us a moment before Edward pulled me behind his back as the leaves rustled and fast footsteps were stopped before us. Okay, Bree got enough of a bad rap on the reservation I wasn't about to let my vampire stereotype her too. I'd remind him when we get home that vampires get a bad rap too! They should stick together. So I remove myself from Edward's hand and step around him, excited to see my Were friend again.

"Bree!" I yell back even though she's a few feet in front of me. She shifts her gaze from my vampire to me a second before we're hugging. My feet leave the ground and I giggle at her. Even though she's about Alice's height she's super strong. "You look really good." And she did. She was probably making sure she always looked perfect around Seth. I wanted to ask her but knew Seth would hear. Damn super senses, they were everywhere.

Good thing my room is now soundproof. No more embarrassing noises for Emmett to make fun of me for.

Bree puts me down and I pull back to look her over again. She hadn't changed and I was grateful the cure worked for her. Of course, Riley hadn't been Carlisle's first test subject so after all this time and all their deaths there should be a cure! Bree grabs the hand Edward had just been holding and pulls me through the woods. I turn back to Edward to make sure he was still following. He knew Bree; I didn't have to introduce them. When I look back at her, she waggled her eyebrows at me suggestively and I giggled. She wanted to ask me too but super senses got in the way. Bree laughed too, a hyena laugh this time. Oh no, I hope she wasn't getting worse. But the laugh shifted quickly to a normal girl giggle.

When we reached the picnic area no one attacked me as Bree had. They took their turns, Leah going first and I introduced them all to Edward as they came. Even though he knew every thought from their head and probably knew them pretty well due to that... For appearances, I followed the proper steps of meeting people. Sue hugged him and Charlie did that man slap I'd seen Emmett do and I wondered if that was from the breeding grounds. If it started in captivity and stayed with them outside of it. Or, maybe it's a man thing.

Seth surprisingly took a liking to Edward. My little brother was practically bouncing asking him crazy questions about Anne Rice, if he ever met her, if she had a vampire connection and if any of her stories about the underground vampires in the human world were true? He also mentioned the Mayfield witches and asked if there was a coven like that. Edward didn't even know what he was talking about but that didn't stop Seth, who still had some puppy in him. Leah and I rolled our eyes at each other but let Seth go on. Bree looked on in fascination and I poked her in the side before she started drooling. She glared at me a little before we helped spread out the blanket and Sue started unpacked her perfectly wrapped sandwiches and Charlie opened a bag of chips.

It went well. Edward answered everything anyone asked him. Charlie asked about his past a bit and I was proud of Edward for letting Charlie know how much he regretted his mistakes but let us all know that he always targeted people that had done evil things to others.

Leah started asking me questions while Edward and Charlie debated on synthetic blood. Like Charlie knew anything about that but my vampire seemed to be humoring him well enough. Leah wrapped her arm through mine and Bree sat in front of us making a triangle while Seth switched between listening to us and listening to Edward. Sue was mixing the fruit. She swore it got soggy if you mixed it too soon.

"So, is Rose awake yet? We heard she'd been knocked unconscious by some wild magic your coven was practicing." My eyes had to have been wide as saucers. How could Leah know that? She continued. "What do they do over there? Someone must have some secret weapon that they are honing. My money is on Esme. I think that docile personality is a cover for her badassness." So the Cullen's hadn't ratted me out, they took the heat as a whole? Wow. I loved them.

"Language, Leah." Sue reminded. Closing the lid to the big bowl she had in front of her and rolling it around to mix the fruit that way. Leah was still expecting some answers and surprisingly Bree's the one that answered for me.

"No way, my money is on Bella. She's the Elder Wand." I roll my eyes at my friend. Seriously? What is up with her and Harry Potter references? "What?" She asks, rolling her own eyes back at me. "You're a witch. Esme is a witch... You don't think the whole Harry Potter thing has no merit then? I mean, I cried on my eleventh birthday when I didn't get an owl about going to Hogwarts so now that I know it might exist..." Her eyes misted over and I laughed at her.

I was a witch and never got an invitation so no, it's not... well I didn't know about a lot of shit in the magical world, like Twilight the underground society created with the intention of overthrowing the Volturi or that Vampires were real or... anything besides what Mrs. Weber shoved down my throat. Okay... maybe it is true.

Maybe.

I look at Bree's glowing face I know she's just joking with me. Oh, she had me! I punch her arm softly and she laughs at me. Seth and Charlie laugh right along with her but Edward doesn't. He's sitting stiffly about a foot away from me on the checker pattern blanket. Is it weird that I like the fact Edward's only shown emotions are in response to me when we're alone?

Everyone seems relaxed around Edward. Still, all eyes were on me, still expecting an answer on what happened to Rose. They wanted me to talk about the Cullens. Edward's eyebrow arched but not in his 'making fun of Bella' way, it was more like a warning. Right, they wouldn't want me telling the Cullen's about the reservation.

"You'll have to ask Rose," I tell them. "I know you all wouldn't want me telling the Cullen's all your business." I shrug before pulling at my sleeves and rubbing my cold hands together. The breeze from the ocean is picking up or finally sinking into my skin. Still, I don't want to leave. I wasn't sure how much time went by but they respected my answer and things flowed nicely onto other topics.

Bree invited me over for tea in her RV. Leah wanted me to read a book she got a couple days ago so we can talk about it. I think she just liked having a friend who liked to read as much as she did. Seth wanted me to watch some baseball game he was participating in next weekend with some other kids on the reservation. I thought that would be nice to see and right in the middle of Seth explaining who had what positions among his friends everyone froze. It was like a scene from a play where you expect one person in the group to start moving and talking about their thoughts only no one moved.

What was going on?

I figured it out soon enough when a reddish brown wolf came flying out of the trees to our right. Edward was up and gone before he even landed, maybe even before Jake came close enough to see him. The wolf's head tilts to the side before slowly pacing a half circle around us, going into the brush and changing back into Jacob, his bare shoulders could be seen over the twisted tree limbs and fading leaves.

"Jake, give it a rest." Seth sighs out sounded exasperated. Did Jake do this all the time then? My little brother gives me a sympathetic look before shaking his head and shoving half of his sandwich in his mouth. Charlie stands, while I look around for Edward in the direction he just left. Why would he run?

"You finally seeing your family, Bella?" Jake asked, coming out of the woods with a pair of faded jean shorts. He did look rather nice. I nod at him, smiling a little. I do miss him; he was so easy to get along with before all this fiasco. "How's your vampire? Still sucking on you? I can smell him all over you." I flinch, blush the shade of strawberries while my jaw drops open. Oh, my goddess!

My dad growls while Seth and Leah stand up with arched back shoulders. Wow, Jake just pissed off everyone. Even Bree's chest rumbled beside me. I bet she could bring down a small army; Bree is strong, fast and intelligent. 'Don't reply, he's been experimenting with the reservations supply of homemade alcohol.'

Jake is... drunk? A bit of me relaxed. He didn't mean it. Jake was just, well, not himself right now. The real Jake, my friend Jake, wouldn't ever think I was a vampire whore. Super senses did suck. Did I just smell like sex? Covered in my vampires scent? What if it was my clothes? How could he know he sucked my blood or did he guess?

I wanted to go home.

"Go back to the reservation, Jake," Charlie warned. "We know you're upset about Bella and your break up but this is her choice. She's had options after her soulbound with Edward and she chooses to stay." Jake growled, meeting my eyes. I nodded at him since he was looking at me. My vampire moved closer. Jake obviously lied about just being more than just a friend again.

Jake howls and growls, his head twisting to the side before shifting right in front of us, shredding his shorts. He'd have to walk naked through the reservation now to get back to his cottage. Stupid drunk shifter. Leah seemed to find walking naked worth what she did next. She shifted with her clothes on too, tackling Jacob as he spun around with her. Leah was gray and black, like a real rustic timber wolf. She is... beautiful. Jake growled and kicked but Leah held her ground. I stood up with Bree, watching the fight before Charlie's deep roar broke the two apart. Charlie had undressed in the woods.

Both Leah and Jake's heads bowed into the sand. He made wolf noises before they both walked back to the reservation with tails between their legs. When Jake went too slow for Leah, she snapped at his hind legs. Sue apologized, Seth and Bree laughed and Edward returned with thin lips. Why had he run?

"I think we'll be leaving. We appreciate everything you did to put this picnic together. Perhaps next time Bella and I can have you over to the Cullens? We'll have a fire." Edward didn't wait for Sue, Bree or Seth's response; he picked me up and pressed me against his chest before flitting toward the house.

'I did not wish for Jake to know of my daytime freedom.' He explained, again knowing what I was wondering before I said anything. 'I stayed near, but out of sight. He was so inebriated I doubt he realized my scent was just new, and not all over you. No one agreed with Jakes implication.' I wrapped my arms around his neck. How did he know what to say?

When we reached our home Edward went straight for the warehouse instead of our room and I had a split second of confusion until Edward released me from his grip two feet from Rose's bed. She was sitting up, her head in her hand with a grimace on her face. "Oh, Rose!" I said, rushing to her side while she sneered.

"Keep your voice down." But all her sass just made my grin even wider. She's awake! I didn't kill her! "All your cheerfulness is making me wish I didn't survive." When I tried to hug her she pushed me away with another glare. I just stepped back from her and grinned ear to ear. Emmett was opposite me, the same goofy smile on his face while Rose made sure her personal space bubble stayed clear. Even Carlisle is pushed away when he tried to help her stand up. "Stop with the fussing."

Emmett had been right. You can tell Rose is okay when she's snapping at everyone. Rose is going to be just fine.