Chapter 47
I worked until just after school would have gotten out, taking apart shelving units, calling those who'd purchased some shelving units to come pick them up, helping to load them, and rearranging the books to take up less space. Erika had her hands busy with selling and with talking with all the other shop owners that came by to talk about her retirement with her. I did feel special, because for every shop owner she talked to she managed to say something about how she wished that she'd found me earlier, and that I was a good worker. I felt like she was lobbying for me to find another job, but I hadn't started my search yet.
After parking Alice's car in the garage I got out and could hear raised voices upstairs. How they could already be arguing was beyond me, because I really thought I might beat them home from school today.
"Idiot! Moron!" Rosalie's voice was loud enough to hear from outside the house. "You have put the entire family in danger. We need to kill her before she tells anyone, we can't afford to leave her alone." That is what I heard as I opened the door.
My body started to shake and my eyes widened in shock, as MY vampires talked about murder so casually. I saw Jasper nod his head, agreeing with Rosalie. I was almost to the point of telling them I was a PROTECTOR and I couldn't let them do that, when Edward spoke up.
"She won't tell anyone." Edward's voice didn't get quite as loud.
"She's an innocent child." Carlisle spoke up finally. "I looked the other way when you killed those men who abused you Rosalie, it was a form of justice, but she is an innocent." I let out a gust of air in shock as I learned more than I ever had about these vampires. My mind circled on the fact that Rosalie had killed, I knew I'd heard mention of 'slip ups', but it was on purpose. Then I was stuck on the idea that the men that killed her, raped her, deserved what they got. I could tell the family was still talking, but I was staring at Rosalie. Could I justify her murders, being a vampire against humans? I wanted to, and I struggled to, because I did understand why she'd feel the need. Still, to go from that to suggesting this, I was stunned.
"Alice, what do you see?" Edward's use of Alice's name pulled me out of my thoughts and I
"I can't see anything," Alice seemed to growl just a little, "for if we leave her alone." I watched Edward's eyes turn to glare at Jasper and Rosalie. Carlisle had already said they weren't to kill Bella, but since Alice couldn't see anyone leaving Bella alive, someone was thinking of disobeying.
I stood near the wall, removed from this, trying to catch up. Esme looked upset, and Jasper and Rosalie looked mad. Alice was shaking her head and I hated how frustrated she looked.
"Jasper, I will stop you." Edward spoke, his voice cold. "If anyone tries to hurt her, to make her pay for my mistake, I will stop them."
"No, it doesn't need to come to that." Alice turned her eyes to Jasper and the pleading in them made my heart ache. I'd stop Jasper for her, I didn't need to hear what she had to say. "Because Bella will be my friend, I can't see what will happen if we leave her alone yet, but I can see that she will be my best friend."
A low growl came from my throat as I glared at the vampires that would hurt Alice by hurting this Swan girl. Alice's head jerked back and I watched her turn to look at me as soon as the latest vision faded. "No puppy, you don't need to do that. Please don't ever do that." She turned her eyes to Jasper. "It won't be necessary to fight Jasper, because he wouldn't hurt me like that."
Jasper seemed to just deflate and I glanced around the room for any other threat to Alice, aching at the need to do so. I got a few cautious looks, and a strangely grateful one from Edward.
"Why didn't you sense anything?" Rosalie finally seemed to see me there. I could hear the note of accusation.
"I tried, once I heard the accident, but I didn't sense any danger. I haven't gotten any warnings at all." I told her and watched Carlisle smile a little and start to relax.
"Well then, it looks like we can afford to wait and see." Carlisle spoke up, sounding much more upbeat.
The meeting was dismissed and Alice squeezed my hand and gave me a tight smile before she went to follow Edward out the front door. I could tell he needed her, so I didn't follow.
"How could you not get a warning?" Rosalie demanded and I turned to see her and Jasper had stayed with me.
"There is no danger connected to what happened today." I frowned. "Maybe he's right and she won't talk, or maybe she'll start to think she was crazy to think anything was off, or she could get hit by a different car tomorrow, but any way I don't feel any danger. You are sure it's real danger you're afraid of? Not just someone knowing?" At my mention of Bella getting killed, I watched Rosalie relax and I didn't like that. Still it seemed to reassure her that a solution could be in the works.
"We aren't allowed to let humans know of us." Rosalie told me. "It is the main, just about only, law and it is punishable by death." I felt my jaw drop.
"What? There are laws?" I didn't like that my thoughts immediately went to my whole tribe, which had legends and many of which knew about the Cullens. "Who?"
"The Volturi are in Italy, and they are the vampire version of royalty." Jasper spoke up.
"But the Elders know." I spoke quieter and watched Rosalie's eyes widen.
"We decided years ago that your tribe didn't count, because, well," Rosalie gestured to me.
"Not fully human either." I finished for her, but I was still concerned. Hopefully other vampires would think that way too. "Well, does Bella know or does she think he pulled a Superman?"
"Well he is adopted; maybe we can claim he's from Krypton." Emmett came in and smiled just a little. "Keeping the heat off of us."
"This had better not blow up in Edward's face, because if it does we'll have to deal with it." Jasper told me and I felt like my brain was tearing apart as part of me screamed that I protect humans from vampires, and the other part felt the danger this posed to Alice and the others I cared about. I sent a silent plea to the universe to not make this an issue, because I didn't know how I could respond to it.
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That night as we stood outside the movie theater I had to ask. "Best friend?" Alice had told the entire family that Bella would become her best friend. I didn't like how that made me feel.
"Other than you, but you are on a whole other level." Alice smiled at me and leaned into me, holding my arm. I started to feel a little better. "You were jealous and you still planned to stop Jasper for me?" I grimaced as my only response and she seemed to get even closer to me as we stood in line for our tickets.
"This is the sequel. Sure you want to see it?" I asked, wondering if not seeing the first would make it hard to follow.
Alice grinned so sexily at me. "I'm sure you can catch me up while we wait for it to start. You saw the first one didn't you?" I couldn't help but blush. "Is this a lifelong obsession with Vampires?" She teased.
"Says the woman that dreamed of riding a wolf for over twenty years." I whisper back and give her a teasing smile. She looked a little embarrassed for a second, before just nudging me a little too hard. I stumbled, but nothing too obvious.
We bought our tickets and I did fill her in on the love story between a werewolf and a vampire, and the odd and truly impossible existence of a hybrid wolf/vamp. I didn't enjoy talking about the war of the vamps and wolves, because that, while much more bloody, was based on reality. She was up to date as the movie started, and we teased each other as crazy Hollywood slaughtered the truth of each of us.
"You do know what it is in two and a half weeks right?" Alice asked as we got into the car.
"Anniversary of my becoming wolf?" I answered unthinking, but then her small gasp was a reminder I hadn't mentioned that. I looked over at her when she just put the car back in park, rather than start to drive.
"You turned into a wolf on valentine's day?" She asked and I felt like a jerk when I realized what she was really talking about. What kind of girlfriend forgets that holiday exists?
"Uh, no, the thirteenth." I muttered, while I struggled with the idea that this year I had to come up with a valentines idea, present, something.
"Well, maybe we should have a party for that." Alice smiled and I was a little lost. Weren't we talking about valentines now? "I mean it did bring you to us." Her hand caressed my arm. "How long after you became wolf was it that you saw me?"
The light of the car in front of us turning on and backing away from its parking spot was almost like a spotlight on me. "Two months. I saw you in mid April." I gave her a small smile as I remembered what a goddess she was and how stunned I'd been. "I managed to hide that for about a week, and by the start of May I was living in Forks." I turned partly in my seat. "I wanted to come to you, to tell you that I'd imprinted, but it sounded so crazy and I was afraid you'd reject me immediately. That's when I decided to try and go back to school, to try and get to know you, hoping that if you knew me first you'd accept me."
She leaned in and kissed me gently, her hand caressing my cheek. "Oh Puppy." Was all she said, but then her fingers threaded through my own as she held my hand. After a moment of just being with her in silence, and I liked those moments, she started the car. "I want to do something special for Valentine's day, but it's a weekday. Can you make sure you have the night off work?"
"Uh, I'm pretty sure I won't have a job by then." I couldn't imagine the small amount of books the store still had would last long under the latest sale.
"Perfect!" Her smile managed to light up the car. "I'll get out of school early, so we can spend more of the day together. And I'm sure Rosalie will be keeping Emmett busy, so we won't have to worry about him dropping by to tease us about our first Valentine's together." Her smile was slightly mischievous. "And Edward normally manages to disappear on Valentines, because the couples will be busy with thoughts he doesn't want." I didn't add that I hoped Jasper had the sense to run too, if it really was going to be like that around the main house.
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My job was done by the 7th of February and Erika was someone I would miss, but she was moving to Arizona. I helped her move some of her belongings to the Goodwill as she worked on making the pile of things she'd take with her smaller.
My life felt completely transformed from a year ago, and on the anniversary of my first change it was almost springlike outside during the day but the sun was going down now and it was getting colder. I stood outside of my small house and took in deep breaths of the air, remembering what I'd had and what I'd lost and gained since that day.
"Um." I heard a vampire clearing his throat as if he needed to and turned to see Carlisle standing there. "Alice told us what today was." He moved to sit on a log that was set outside of the house like a bench. "and we're not sure if it is something you'd celebrate or not." I took a step closer to him since it looked like we were going to talk. "None of us are really interested in celebrating the day we changed, but we thought it might be different for you."
I sat down on the opposite side of the bench and turned to face him, debating about what to say. "I was sick for a few hours, sweating and feeling nauseous." I sighed and stared out at the woods, watching a squirrel run up a tree trunk. "It had come on really suddenly, but being this time of the year I thought it was the flu." My hand moved up to gently trace the necklace he'd given me as I joined his family. "Anger is what triggers it usually, and especially the first time, but it doesn't take much because with the fever and everything my emotions were out of wack." My hand dropped back to my lap. "I was pissed off because the damn dog wouldn't stop barking at me, he just wouldn't shut up and he never did that. I tried talking to him, feeding him, he acted like I was the biggest threat he'd ever seen." I gave a weak laugh. "So I shifted and showed him what a real bark was. That dog never forgave me for that."
"Did it hurt?"
"Yeah, it did." I turned my head to look at him. "The first few times it hurts, but that goes away." I grimaced. "I was lucky, I wasn't the first to shift, so I wasn't alone. I stood in the middle of my kitchen, about ready to destroy the back door to escape, when I heard Sam's voice in my head, explaining what was happening to me. He helped me shift back and they took care of me, well, until I imprinted two months later."
We sat in silence for a little while, before I spoke again. "When I was really little I used to stare up at the stars and wish aliens would come down and tell me I was special and they'd give me all these powers." I chuckled a little. "I guess I watched too much tv. When it happened, and I changed, I think I was the only wolf not to become depressed about it. I never really wanted to be human, I always wanted to be more." I sighed. "I got what I wanted, but I'm afraid to think what I would have become if you all didn't take me in. I wanted to be more, but how long alone would it have taken for me to be nothing more than a large wolf? It's so easy for me to lose my humanity."
"We all struggle with that." Carlisle spoke gently. "We strive to not lose what had made us human, even against the instincts that make us other." He gave me a small smile. "You aren't alone in that."
"Don't get me wrong, I love being wolf." I smiled a little more sincerely this time. "But today I can't help but think about the what if's."
"Just don't let those consume you. Some of my children let the what if's, as you call them, make them miserable. I don't want to see you do that too. It's bad enough Rosalie and Edward hate what they are."
"I'm very happy with what I am, especially since you and your family didn't hold it against me."
"So we can celebrate?" He smiled and I wondered if it was Alice that sent him out here to check while she set up some strange birthday like party at the main house.
"Wouldn't want to disappoint my Alice." I grinned, letting him know I was on to what they were up to. He just nodded and we made our way to a strange re-birthday party.
