Chapter 51 – My little vandal
BPOV
Sometime after midnight Edward whispered into my sleeping brain that he needed to go outside to get an update from his brothers.
I don't remember his leaving or his coming back, but he was in the rocking chair as usual when I woke at 8 am.
I fled to the bathroom and then landed in his lap when I was done.
"Good morning." I sighed into his chest.
He kissed my hair and repeated my greeting then went on to tell me because it was sunny today so we'd be hiding out in the meadow, away from prying eyes, if that was alright with me.
"Oh goodie, sparkly Edward. Yum yum." I laughed, jumping up from the rocker and grabbing jean cut offs and a t-shirt from my dresser. "I'm going to have to bring some of that homework though. I'll never get it all done by Friday otherwise. I always thought being suspended sounded like fun." I pouted.
"If you could curb that left hook we'd be sitting in Math and English respectively, that sounds much more fun, doesn't it?" He teased.
"Good point Mr Cullen well played." I poked my tongue out at him and went into the bathroom to change.
He sat opposite me as I ate my cereal and asked me questions about what it tasted like and what it was made of. I just read off the back of the box the ingredients list, he probably knew what some of the things were but even I didn't know what Maltodextrose was. He suggested I put some food in a bag and bring it with us to the meadow so we could spend as much time there as we could while the weather held out. Alice had predicted rain later this afternoon, but we'd need to be back here before then anyway.
I knew that Rose would come to the meadow at midday to report on the Seth situation at the school and that Edward would be going hunting after Esme switched babysitting duties with him once we were back from the meadow. I was going to miss him terribly, we'd been together pretty much constantly since last Friday and I wasn't looking forward to being without him this afternoon. It would be nice to spend some time with Esme before Charlie came home though. As far as I knew she hadn't been inside my house yet.
Edward and I had put off going to buy a car until tomorrow, the weather was not right for him to come with me today. There was no hurry anyway, Edward drove me everywhere while I still had my cast on anyway.
Soon we were standing in the centre of the meadow grinning at each other.
Edward spread a large woolen blanket onto the ground and I sat cross legged on it and spread out my books. I offered him my tattered novel to read while I worked on my assignments but he declined, saying he'd much rather just lay still and watch me.
At first it was distraction, his quiet staring made me uneasy. But after a while I fought the inclination to stare back and got on with my work. It was warm today and I could feel the back of my neck burning in the sun. I had sunscreen in my bag and I took it out and poured some into my hand. I was rubbing it in when Edward let out a loud sigh.
"What?" I asked him.
"I've seen the movies Bella, the girl is supposed to ask the boy to rub the lotion into her skin. It's supposed to turn him on and make him fall in love with her. I feel a little ripped off now that you don't want me." His beautiful lips were pouting together in the most pathetically forced way. I laughed my head off at him!
"Oh my poor boy. I'm so sorry. I had no idea you'd not fallen in love with me yet. I have been looking for a way to make you do that too, now I've missed my chance. Damn." I giggled.
"If you asked me nicely, really nicely, I might consider doing it for you anyway. But I'm serious, it would have to be a phenomenal request." He narrowed his eyes in challenge.
"Hmm, do I want to bother? Oh I don't know. I've got all this math homework to do. It's nearly lunch time, can I be bothered trying to get you turned on enough so you'll fall in love with me?" I watched his eyes narrow again and his jaw clench. I giggled and threw my books aside. "Oh all right then, I suppose I can try. You look so desperate over there."
I rolled over onto my knees and sat beside him as he lay on his back. "Put your hands behind your head Edward." I lowered my mouth to his ear and blew softly into it. He sucked in a breath over his lips and I whispered, " Keep them there. If you move them I stop." I wanted so badly to laugh, having just echoed his own words from last night, but kept it to myself.
"Close your eyes." I whispered.
I leant over him so that my hand with the cast was lying on his chest and I braced myself on the ground with my other hand. I put my cheek to his jaw and rubbed along his stubble. It was scratchy and sharp and it felt so good on my skin. His beard was redder than the hair on his head. It shined in the sun and looked like fire against his pale skin.
His skin was a major distraction for me in the sunlight. Given the chance I'd sit for hour upon hour gazing at him as it glinted off him at every angle. I turned my head from side to side as I traced his cheekbone with my finger, watching the glitter make patterns on my hand. I ran my thumb over his lower lip and felt the growl in his chest with my hand at the same time I heard it escape from his throat.
I leant closer to his lips and ran my thumb over him again. As the growl emanated from him this time I kissed the corner of his mouth. He exhaled and I felt his cool breath on my face. I rubbed the palm of my hand across his cheek and took his neck into my hand. I held onto a handful of his hair as I growled into his ear like he did to me.
"Jesus Christ." He whispered and I giggled.
"Exactly Edward, this is what you do to me." I tongued his ear lobe and he hissed. I tugged more tightly on his hair and used my tongue to trace the shell of his ear before saying roughly, "Please Edward, please will you rub lotion into my shoulders?" I kissed him lightly from under his ear to the base of his throat and then retracing the same route on my way back to his ear. "I want you to rub it into my skin so you'll fall in love with me." I whispered. "Will you try to fall in love with me please Edward?" I teased.
EPOV
I threw her off me but kept hold of her waist, putting her on her back on the blanket carefully. I buried my lips in her throat and told her over and over that I had already fallen in love with her and that she'd won this game the instant she'd blown her breath into my ear.
She was giggling and panting at the same time, the strange mixture was so alluring I had to fight every instinct to just take her.
"You, Miss Swan, are the epitome of the word dangerous." I punctuated each word with a kiss across her throat and collarbones. "I'd like nothing more than to rub lotion into your shoulders, but in four minutes time my annoying sister is going to come through those trees there." I kept kissing her throat but began lightly tickling across her stomach and ribs so her panting abated and her giggles intensified. "If I rub lotion into your beautiful skin now the sight my sister will get when she arrives may scar her forever." Bella was writhing under my hands, desperate to get away from my relentless tickling. She was squealing and cursing me and threatening me with revenge if I didn't stop.
"I am handing you victory today Miss Swan. You did indeed manage to convince me to fall in love with you." I tickled her one last time on her belly and she swatted at my hands to let her go. Her eyes were shining brightly and her cheeks were flushed as she laughed. She sat up as I released her and she stood and ran a few paces away from the blanket.
"You don't fight fair Edward!" she laughed.
"I never said I would." I stood now too, mirroring her every move, stalking her around the edge of the blanket.
"You've got your code words Edward, what protection have I got?" She giggled.
"That is a fine point, well made Miss Swan. May I ask what you need protection from exactly?" This was a delicious game.
"You! You stalk me and molest me and I can't do anything about it. Look at you? All crouchy and growly. I have no weapons to fight that." She was crowing with laughter now as we wound round and round the blanket.
I began taking half a step more than she did with each circuit, hoping she didn't notice.
"You have more than enough weapons to protect yourself from me Bella." I said in a rough voice. She was so fucking sexy and she didn't even know it.
"Oh yeah sure. I'm not super fast like you, or super strong. I'd never be able to fight you off Edward." She was still circling the blanket but I was slowly catching her up. She'd still not noticed.
"True. However, do you really want to fight me off Bella?" I asked huskily. I took another half step and closed the distance again.
"No. Not really." She giggled.
I sprang across the middle of the blanket and tackled her around her middle. I was careful to cradle her in such a way that she didn't touch the ground with any force. I landed on my back with her hugged tightly to my chest. We were both laughing and giggling so hard as we landed we didn't hear the third voice over our own. I, however, heard the mental voice.
"Homework my ass." Rose thought as she approached us. "Is this what homework looks like these days?" Saying out loud.
I let Bella go and rolled my eyes, using my head to get Bella to look over my shoulder to where Rose was now standing, hands on hips, lips pursed.
"Hi Rose." Bella called over my shoulder, still giggling.
"You want me to kick his ass Bell's?" Rose asked. I flexed my head back and stared at my sister with wide eyes. I had never heard her use Bella's nickname, it was such a familial thing to do, I was so happy in that moment.
Bella rolled off my chest and stood up, dusting her jeans off.
"Holy shit Rose, did you just offer to beat me up on Bella's behalf?" I asked, standing up. I put my hand over my heart and with the most sincere sarcasm I could muster said, "And here I thought you didn't care. Oh Rosie, I love you big sis." I held my arms out as if I was about to hug her and she lunged at me.
"Kick his ass Rose." Bella squealed as Rose and I tumbled to the ground. She had me pinned underneath her in a millisecond. I let her do it, of course, we both knew I could easily over power her, but for the sake of the game I let her hold me down.
She ruffled my hair as I 'struggled' under her.
"You want a turn Bell's?" She asked.
"Sure. You hold him still though." And I felt Bella noogie my hair. I reached around behind my head and grabbed a hold of her ankle, preventing her from running away.
"Gotcha, what are you gonna do now baby?" I grinned up at her.
"Rose?" Bella asked, shrugging her shoulders.
"On it." Rose answered. I knew what she was about to do, I could read it in her thoughts, but I played along a little longer. Rose started tickling me along my ribs and I bucked and writhed like I was supposed to. I was ticklish, but I could stand it far longer than Bella could. My body movements were for her benefit.
I let go of Bella's ankle and she ran off towards the trees shouting how the girls had won and boys were stupid.
Rose let me up and I ran to where Bella now stood in the shadow of the tree line.
I grabbed her around her waist and threw her over my shoulder, patting her butt with my open hand, and ran with her back to where Rose stood on the blanket.
I put her down on the ground and she crossed her arms and poked her tongue out at me.
"So children, play time's over. Back to the business at hand." Rose said.
"What have you got for me Rose?" I asked as Bella began to open a packet of crisps.
"Same routine as yesterday. Seth leaves the Rez and heads straight for the high school. No deviations. The boys have only seen and heard the two skinny boys at the boundary between midnight and now, so nothing new there either." She said matter of factly.
"No sign of Jacob then?" I asked.
"Not one. If he's leaving the Rez he isn't going out the main road as a human, that's for sure. The dude Emmett thought he knew from the Auto shop leaves at seven every morning and comes back at five, so he's obviously only going to the garage and back, but we'll follow tomorrow to make sure that's all he does."
"Nobody has picked up Jacob's specific scent anywhere along the line?" I asked.
"Nope. Only on the road leading in and out. And it's not fresh either now. It's been at least three days since he left. One new thing though, one of the dogs is a chick. I haven't smelt her scent on the boundary so I don't think she's been patrolling lately, but I did smell it at the entrance to the Rez, near the road. You should get down there tonight and have a whiff yourself, it's a new scent and you'll need to know it before Sunday." I nodded, amazed at this new development.
"A female wolf? That has to be a first. I've not seen it that's for sure." Rose nodded but looked bored now.
"And Alice?" I asked.
"She's just tagging Seth. She keeps having visions about him reporting back to Jacob on a cell phone so at least we know how now. He seems pretty harmless, just a kid. You should get going soon though. Alice says the storm is coming across the mountains so it will start raining within the hour. She wants you at the school so you can hear him as he leaves. I'm going back to the boundary now. I'll see you there later." She said to me then turned to Bella and said, "Esme is going to meet you at you house in an hour. So, um, I guess I'll see you later too? Don't take any shit from him Bell's." She gave her a tiny wave and was gone.
BPOV
I just stood there staring at the place where Rosalie had been half a second prior. I must have looked as stunned as I felt because Edward started laughing.
"She's warming up. I've never seen her be nice to someone before. It's rather endearing in a weird, psychotic way." He laughed.
"Yeah, it will take a bit of getting used to, that's for sure." I laughed along.
"So with this storm on its way we should head back pretty soon." Edward said as he lowered himself onto the blanket once again.
"Probably, yeah. I want to do something first. Stay there a minute?" I asked him.
He nodded but was wary. I grabbed my pencil case and took out my compass. His eyes widened when he saw what it was I'd retrieved.
"I was kidding when I said you had weapons Bella." He half laughed.
"Sure, sure." Was all I said. I walked to the edge of the meadow and stood at the base of the tree that flanked the edge of the trail that we used to enter this magical place. I spread my legs and got a good grip on the compass and began carving my initials into the trunk.
I heard him coming up behind me so I knew he was there, but I startled when he slipped his hands around my waist and nuzzled my neck.
"My little vandal." He crooned.
"It's called evidence Edward." I said, giggling as he kissed under my hair.
"Evidence for what?" He asked.
"As long as this tree stands here there will be evidence that I existed. Best of all there will be evidence that you did too, that we were together and that I loved you." I was having trouble with the compass because my writing hand was in a cast, but I had managed to make the straight line that was the beginning of the letter B so far.
"Allow me love?" He let my waist go and stood beside me with his hand open. I stared up at his smiling face and let the compass fall into his waiting palm. "You're doing a fine job, but it might be quicker – and better for your poor hand – if I finish it yes?" He asked and I nodded.
I took a step sideways so he could stand square on to the tree and watched as his hand flew across the bark. Shards of it were flying off in all directions as he scratched into it. He stood back to admire his handiwork and I gasped.
A perfect heart had been drawn around our initials, in his beautiful handwriting no less.
"It's beautiful Edward, thank you." I threw my arms around him and kissed him hard on his icy cold lips.
"You're most welcome. I will have to surrender myself, I am now a criminal. They may arrest me, you may have to visit me in prison and I don't eat cake, so no file." He laughed.
"Leave it to me, I know someone on the inside of the law around here. He's pretty fond of you actually. You might get off if you promise him you'll take good care of me." I giggled.
"I plan on telling him that soon anyway." Edward said quietly as we walked back towards the blanket.
Edward took me home to Charlie's. We had only just sat down at the kitchen table, me with a coffee Edward with the newspaper, when Esme arrived. She tapped daintily at the door even though Edward had already told me she was there and he'd already risen to let her in.
"Hello Esme." I said shyly.
"Hello dear, hello Edward. Did you have a nice day today?" She asked as I showed her into the little kitchen.
"Hmm mm. Very nice. The weather held out just long enough for us to get back." Edward grinned at me. He came and kissed me lightly on my temple and held me to his chest for a second. "I'll see you later tonight Bella. Thanks Esme." I watched him put his hand over his heart and close his eyes, Esme mimicked the action and not for the first time I wondered what it meant.
"Goodbye dear." Esme said. "I'll take good care of her." She hugged me to her and we both watched Edward drive out the driveway on his way to the high school to meet Alice. As we turned back into the kitchen Esme broke the silence, "You have a lovey home here Bella. Very cozy. The yellow cabinets are so very sunny." She pointed to the painted kitchen cabinets and I blushed.
"It's nothing like your place though. I love your kitchen. So much space. My mother painted those cabinets before she left." I ran my hand over the top of a cupboard door and thought about my house I Phoenix. The same yellow paint on the cabinets but a totally different kitchen layout.
I motioned towards the living room and Esme sat on the edge of the sofa. I sat in Charlie's recliner.
"Tell me a bit about your mother Bella." Esme said. Instantly my apprehension about spending hours with Esme with nothing to say left me. I told her about Renee and how I'd always been more like her mother than her daughter. Esme asked a lot of questions about Phoenix and what it was like living in constant sunshine. She seemed to hang off my every word as I described the desert and the heat and humidity. She told me what it was like in Denali, living in the frozen wilderness. She told me about the cousins that lived there, how they fitted into the clan equation and how Carlisle came to know them.
We talked about cooking and our shared love of food. It was so surreal to talk with her about this, seeing as she didn't actually eat. But she enthralled me with stories about her many failures in the early days and about how Carlisle had at one point paid for her to have a home chef so they could all stand to be in the house after she'd burnt another batch of something.
I described Charlie and our holidays when I was little and Esme told me a bit about how the Cullen's had moved around and even a bit about the times they had moved to be nearer me as I grew up. I told her of the few times I'd seen or remembered Edward throughout my life and she had closed her eyes and put her hand over her heart when I mentioned the night my grandmother had died.
"I've seen you both do that Esme, put your hand there and close your eyes. Can I ask what it means? Or is it too personal?"
"That is a little something that Edward started not long after my own change. I was crying out for Carlisle, or Edward, to end my suffering during the change and Edward came to sit by me and he put his hand over my burning heart and told me that he and Carlisle would always take care of me. Carlisle couldn't bear to be near me as I changed, he'd imprinted on me you see, he was bound to protect me. My pain was intolerable to him. Edward sang to me and told me that the pain would go and what would be left behind was love. Love for this new life, love for my new mate and the love he would come to feel for me as part of his family. As I grew to know him and the months went by whenever I struggled with my thirst or painful human memories Edward would remind me that I was loved, and part of his family, by putting his hand on his heart. I would do the same and know that my pain had been replaced by the love of my new family. We've always done it, since that time, to let each other know that we are family, that we're loved." She smiled at me indulgently and I felt the first of my tears fall into my lap.
"That's so lovely Esme. I'm so glad Carlisle found you. That Edward loves you."
"Thank you Bella. You are loved too you know? I have always thought of you as a daughter. More so now that you are with us often, but even in the beginning you were special to me, because of Edward. He's older than me, in this life, but he is also my first born, in a way. That he loves you makes you special to me too." She touched her palm to her heart and I sobbed.
"Oh Esme, thank you." I put my own hand on my heart and she smiled warmly.
"Can I ask you something personal now Bella?" I saw the twinkle in her eye and her demeanor change and wondered where this was going.
"Of course you can." I said gingerly.
"What did the bite feel like? I've been dying to get you away from Edward to find out." She giggled at my shocked expression. "What? Oh come on, it was fucking hot, right?"
EPOV
"Edward, if you can hear me, he's about to come out to the side of building by the picnic tables." Alice was thinking as I ran towards the tree line at the school. They must be fairly close to me for Alice not to risk phoning.
I'd parked the car a few miles away in a culvert and now I was just coming to the trees that fringed the parking lot.
I stuck to the shadows and got as close as I could without revealing myself.
I heard the class coming through the hallway. The teacher was leading them out into the sun for a science experiment. Twenty or so children gathered around the tables and pulled out various books and pens and began the experiment.
I scanned the crowd visually to see if I could spot Seth amongst the boys group. He was easy to locate being a full foot taller than the other boys his age. He was brown like the pack members and had the telltale black hair of a native.
I could easily make out the mental voices from this close. Most of the boys were thinking about the actual experiment, some were thinking about their next class, others were thinking about the butt on the girl at the next table. I wasn't sure which was Seth's voice in amongst the group so I spent the lesson time familiarizing myself with the whole group. I'd be able to pick out the essential pieces of information from the jumble of thoughts if I concentrated on the words, not the sounds of the voices.
Alice might not be able to text her safely. I switched my phone to vibrate and opened my new message box.
~Have located Seth. No lock on mental voice as yet. Need sample of his scent, any ideas? Ed ~
I opened another new message and picked Emmett out of my contacts list.
~I will follow Seth to the boundary when the school lets out. See you there. Anything new? Ed ~
After a few seconds I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.
~His locker? I will fix that before I join you at your car. Alice xx ~
Good idea little sister. If she swipes something from his locker we can pass it around and we'll all be able to remember his scent, not just me.
My phone vibrated again, Emmett.
~Nobody in, nobody out. No news is good news, right?"~
I replied.
~Yes, no news equals good news. Alice is bringing Seth's scent. 30 minutes tops. Ed ~
I flipped the phone shut and put it back in my pocket.
The last bell would ring in twenty minutes and the parking lot would fill with all three hundred Forks High students. It would be near impossible to isolate Seth's mental voice amongst all that.
I chose a nice high branch and made myself comfortable while I waited.
The science teacher was gathering the students together now, announcing the class would end shortly and they should begin to pack up the materials they'd bought out of the classroom.
I heard one voice chant a reminder to check in before getting on the bus to the Rez. Gotcha Seth Clearwater.
Twenty minutes later Alice skipped out of the trees and into the passenger seat of my car. She handed me a sweater and we grinned at each other. I took a long pull on the scent and committed it instantly to memory.
"Bingo." She giggled.
I tapped my temple and replied, "I've got his thoughts too. We're all set. Now lets go find out about his brothers."
Within five minutes I was at the boundary line. I took the car home and Alice and I raced each other to the invisible line. I won, of course. Emmett and Jasper were waiting for us in a grove of maple trees about two miles back from the boundary line. I threw Emmett the sweater and he drank in the scent, passed it to Jasper who did the same. Rose took it and sniffed it all over before handing it back to me. I put it between the branches of a nearby tree while we caught up on the news.
"I've got a handle on his head now. I didn't know which voice was his until he mentally reminded himself to 'check in' before catching his bus to the Rez." I told the others.
"And you're sure that's him? I mean, are there any other kids enrolled there that live here?" Jasper asked.
"Esme checked, he's the only one registered. All the other native kids go to the school here." I pointed to the Reservation as I said it and they all nodded in agreement.
"I can see him more clearly now. He's hazy because he's going to be a wolf, but I can see him. I don't know if seeing him will tell us much though." Alice grimaced.
"I think it might help actually Alice." Rose said. "You might not be able to see the actual pack, but you can see how the packs decisions impact on this kid. So we might be able to work backwards from whatever you can see."
"Maybe. That all depends on if we can put names to faces and soon. We've got three days to work out exactly who's who here." Jasper said.
"The school bus will be here in one minute. I can hear his voice on the bus now. He's already checked in with Sam, could be the Beta, now he's thinking about the report he needs to give Jacob when he gets into the workshop. He's placing you at the cafeteria at lunch Alice. He's placing you there at morning tea but not at lunch Rose. He's marked the three of us absent today and Bella still suspended. It's like he's calling the attendance roll in his head. I think this is something he does everyday at this time. He's going through the motions, like it's a normal routine thing. Yes. He's thinking about this being one of the last time's he'll need to deliver this report to Jacob. He's glad about that. He doesn't want the fight to happen, wants it to go back to being peaceful at the Rez. Wants his sister to come home safely." I said wide-eyed.
"The female wolf is his sister." Emmett deduced correctly.
"Right, shouldn't be too difficult to find out what her name is and what she looks like. Bella will know, the father is a friend of Charlie's." I added.
"That's the bus now. Spread out, see if we can see anything." Rose whispered as we all dashed off in different directions around the roadside.
Alice was to my left and I heard her taking notes in her mind. 'Tall, skinny, young boy. Leather thong bracelet. Seth.' I'd not noticed the leather string around his wrist. I much preferred to tag my prey by scent. It seemed Alice was a much more visual predator than I was.
Jasper was thinking more about the scent of Seth's blood too, but not to tag and remember him. Jasper was thirsty.
Emmett ran Seth's stats through his mind in terms of his ability to thwart any altercation he'd face with the boy. Emmett measured everyone around him in terms of what it would take for him to disarm him or her.
Rose was more visceral than all of us put together. She could be cold and calculating and I recognized those traits about her in vivid mental tones as she calculated the size and speed potential of the boy who would seek to harm our family members. Hers was a primal rage. Seth was nothing more than an obstacle that would need to be eliminated in order to return Rosalie's life back to its normally tranquil state.
I ranged my mind out around us, encompassing the bus and its passengers as I searched for any further link between this boy and the wolf pack. Nothing obvious came to me and I signaled for my brothers and sisters to follow me back up the road and home to demob.
